Budo as philosophical background of Karate-Do: does the training method really matter?

Background. The practice of Japanese originated martial arts, like Karate-Do, is associated with an individual “path of enlightment” or the way of living (Do), that surpasses the athletic practice for itself. The concept of Budo, with all values, moral principles and patterns of behaviour, is traditionally linked to this path or way, being the philosophical background of the practice. The globalisation of the Karate-Do have created two main ways or training methods with different main goals – traditional one and sports Karate-Do. Problem. The main objective of this study is to compare the evaluations of different Budo- associated aspects, values, principles and domains, to find the differences between karateka who are engaged in both training methods. Method. A questionnaire was applied, in Portugal, to a group of 78 karateka with more than two years of continued training, who are engaged or use a traditional or sports training method. Results. The results show a high and similar evaluation scores of all items questioned on both training methods, only with single and not consistent differences. Conclusion. Without generalising, we can assume that karateka observe the philosophical background of Karate-Do (Budo) in only one way, even when they are engaged in different methods of practice with different main goals. So, Karate-Do philosophy is one,only daily practices in dojo and goals differ. However, further investigation is needed to support these conclusions

The systemic dimension of operational decision in complex systems work

This paper refers to some of my research findings on Decision Making processes in complex systems work. Starting as a complex cognitive process strongly contextualized in the operating environment, it ends up, in complex systems work, as an equally complex network of actors and systems (human and technological) that are confronted, in real time, with uncertainty , a large amount of information and feedback and with multiple standards and operating procedures...Complex systems work; Operational Decision; Mental Model; Situational awareness; Systemic decision

Elastic shocks in relativistic rigid rods and balls

We study the free boundary problem for the "hard phase" material introduced by Christodoulou, both for rods in (1+1)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime and for spherically symmetric balls in (3+1)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Unlike Christodoulou, we do not consider a "soft phase", and so we regard this material as an elastic medium, capable of both compression and stretching. We prove that shocks must be null hypersurfaces, and derive the conditions to be satisfied at a free boundary. We solve the equations of motion of the rods explicitly, and we prove existence of solutions to the equations of motion of the spherically symmetric balls for an arbitrarily long (but finite) time, given initial conditions sufficiently close to those for the relaxed ball at rest. In both cases we find that the solutions contain shocks if and only if the pressure or its time derivative do not vanish at the free boundary initially. These shocks interact with the free boundary, causing it to lose regularity.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures; v2: small changes, matches final published version; v3: typos in the references fixe

Induced pluripotent stem cells, a giant leap for mankind therapeutic applications

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) technology has propelled the field of stem cells biology, providing new cells to explore the molecular mechanisms of pluripotency, cancer biology and aging. A major advantage of human iPSC, compared to the pluripotent embryonic stem cells, is that they can be generated from virtually any embryonic or adult somatic cell type without destruction of human blastocysts. In addition, iPSC can be generated from somatic cells harvested from normal individuals or patients, and used as a cellular tool to unravel mechanisms of human development and to model diseases in a manner not possible before. Besides these fundamental aspects of human biology and physiology that are revealed using iPSC or iPSC-derived cells, these cells hold an immense potential for cell-based therapies, and for the discovery of new or personalized pharmacological treatments for many disorders. Here, we review some of the current challenges and concerns about iPSC technology. We introduce the potential held by iPSC for research and development of novel health-related applications. We briefly present the efforts made by the scientific and clinical communities to create the necessary guidelines and regulations to achieve the highest quality standards in the procedures for iPSC generation, characterization and long-term preservation. Finally, we present some of the audacious and pioneer clinical trials in progress with iPSC-derived cells.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Homogeneous cosmologies from the quasi-Maxwell formalism

We show how to use the quasi-Maxwell formalism to obtain solutions of Einstein's field equations corresponding to homogeneous cosmologies - namely Einstein's universe, Godel's universe and the Ozsvath-Farnsworth-Kerr class I solutions - written in frames for which the associated observers are stationary.Comment: 15 pages, references adde

CSR and Social Marketing: What is the desired role for Universities in fostering Public Policies?

The paper aims to identify the role of Universities in fostering public policies, through the promotion of social responsibility, and the implementation of social marketing initiatives. This innovative approach is particularly interesting since the literature does not cover, until now, the importance of adopting a social responsibility strategy within Universities, in order to foster public policies for development. First, Corporate Social Responsibility should be developed at Universities. For this purpose, an integrative approach that embraces marketing, economic, ecological, and social aspects is proposed, through the design of a strategic action plan, which includes three operational levels: analysis, implementation and assessment. Second, in order to foster the impact of public policies for development, social marketing initiatives should be implemented among institutional and social networks where Universities assume an increasing strategic role.Corporate Social Responsibility; Government Policy; Social Marketing