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Methods in examining Sense-perception : John Philoponus and Ps.-Simplicius

Le présent texte discute les méthodes utilisées par Philopon et Pseudo-Simplicius lorsqu’ils commentent la théorie de la perception sensible d’Aristote, et il marque leurs différences. Philopon fait un fréquent usage de théories médicales et de matériel empirique, empruntés principalement à Aristote, afin de mettre en lumière non pas seulement les activités des différents sens, mais aussi une certaine conscience ainsi que la façon dont nous expérimentons nos états intérieurs. Par contre, son contemporain Athénien, Pseudo-Simplicius, méconnaît complètement de tels aspects. Sa méthode est déductive : il fait appel à une thèse générale, empruntée en partie à Iamblichus, dont il déduit des thèses relatives à la perception sensible. L’accent est mis ici sur la doctrine de Philopon, car son recours à des perspectives médicales donne lieu à un mélange intéressant de théories platoniciennes et de théories médicales empiriques.The paper discusses the methods applied by Philoponus and Pseudo-Simplicius in commenting on Aristotle’s theory of sense-perception, and indicates their differences. Philoponus frequently employs medical theories and empirical material, mostly taken from Aristotle, to highlight not only the activities of the particular senses, but also a certain kind of awareness and the way we experience our inner states. By contrast, his Athenian contemporary Pseudo-Simplicius disregards such aspects altogether. His method is deductive : He relies on some general thesis, partly taken from Iamblichus, from which to derive theses on sense-perception. The emphasis falls on Philoponus’ doctrine since his reliance on medical views leads to an interesting blend of Platonic and medical/empirical theories

Electrochemical detection of miRNAs

The recent progress made in the development of electrochemical methods for microRNA (miRNA) detection is presented. This progress is conceived to be largely due to the invention of novel assay methodologies and the use of various bioreagents and nanostructures. These enable a rigorous control over the sensing interface, provide enormous signal amplifications and single-base mismatch specificity. Femtomolar or even subfemtomolar detection limits were shown to be feasible by electrochemical assays. Thus electrochemical detection methodologies are of perspective for diagnostic miRNA detection

Reliable microspotting methodology for peptide-nucleic acid layers with high hybridization efficiency on gold SPR imaging chips

One-step direct immobilization of peptide-nucleic acid (PNA) probes onto gold surfaces through Au–S chemistry is critical in terms of generating self-assembled monolayers with high hybridization efficiency. We found that this problem is more severe if the immobilization is performed by contact microspotting to generate PNA arrays. Therefore, here we propose a novel microspotting-based immobilization method to generate PNA arrays with high hybridization efficiency on bare gold surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) chips. The essence of the approach is to spot thiol labelled PNA strands prehybridized with a short complementary DNA strand instead of conventionally used single stranded PNA (ssPNA) probes. After immobilization the complementary DNA strands could be easily removed to activate the surface confined PNA probes. The incubation time and the type of spotting needle also have a marked influence on the hybridization efficiency of the PNA layers. However, we show that if all other conditions remain the same, PNA layers from prehybridized PNA probes exhibit superior hybridization efficiency than those from ssPNA probes

Magnetic monitoring, geochemical and mineralogical analysis of settled dust from North and Central Transdanubia, Hungary

Ferromagnetic grains in airborne dust are important indicators of vehicle traffic, some industrial sources and combustion/heating. Settled dust consists mainly of diamagnetic material; therefore accessory ferromagnetic grains are readily indicated by magnetic measurements. In this paper settled dust samples collected on a monthly basis in the years 2008–2011 were studied. Non-destructive magnetic measurements were followed by geochemical and mineralogical analyses. In selected samples we identified airborne anthropogenic materials (e.g. silicate and magnetite spherules), minerals from the natural environment and organic material. Seasonally appearing materials (e.g. soot in winter, plant fragments and pollen in summer) increased the mass of the settled dust, but not the magnetic susceptibility. Thus, we realized that the generally interpreted mass susceptibility in environmental magnetic studies would not always appropriately characterize the magnetic pollution. In the interpretation we gave preference to total susceptibility because of its direct connection to the pollution, except in comparison with metal concentrations. Trends in magnetic pollution were eventually analyzed for 19 sampling sites. Irrespective of the degree and source of the pollution the monthly variation curves of magnetic susceptibility exhibit a general maximum (March–April), followed by gradual decrease. A corresponding peak is observed in the amounts of dust. Both can be explained by re-suspension of dust settled in winter. The additional maxima in the mass of the dust (June and August, respectively) are probably due to contribution from vegetation and/or an artifact from algaecide. For three key sampling sites comparison was made between the concentrations of 12 metals and the respective mass susceptibilities and good linear correlation was found for Fe, Mn and Zn for all, for Cr, Cu, Pb, V, Ba, Sr and Zr for two sampling sites. Cd, which is enriched in all samples, does not correlate with the magnetic susceptibility

Morálpszichológia és etika az antikvitásban és a középkorban = Moral psychology and ethics in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages

A tervezett kutatás középpontjában az emberre mint autonóm, racionális agensre vonatkozó fogalmaink antik és középkori története állt. Öt résztémát vizsgáltunk meg részletesebben: (i) az ember mint autonóm, racionális agens elgondolásának kialakulása a Kr. e. 6-4. században; (ii) az akaratgyengeség problémája Platónnál; (iii) az elhatározás (proaireszisz) fogalmának története; (iv) a morális felelősség problémája a kései antikvitásban; (v) szándék és cselekedet szerepe a morális értékelésben: 12-14. századi viták. Az egyes résztémák kapcsán a nemzetközi tudományosság mércéivel mérve is jelentős eredményekre törekedtünk; emellett a premodern etikai tradíció fontos forrásait fordítottuk magyarra. A projektum céljai között szerepelt eredményeink nemzetközi konferenciákon és műhelyszemináriumokon való bemutatása, külföldi szakértők meghívása, továbbá az ELTE Ókori és Középkori Tanszéke szakkönyvtárának fejlesztése. | The proposed research project focused on the history of our notion of man as an autonomous, rational agent in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. We examined five sub-topics in more detail: (i) the emergence of the notion of man as an autonomous, rational agent in the 6-4th Century BCE; (ii) the problem of akrasia in Plato; (iii) the history of the concept of „deliberate decision” (proairesis); (iv) the problem of moral responsibility in Late Antiquity; (v) the respective roles of intention and of act in moral evaluation: debates in the 12-14th Century. In working out the sub-topics, we aimed at significant results even by international standards. In addition, we translated into Hungarian important sources of the pre-modern ethical tradition. In the framework of this project, we presented our results in international conferences and workshops, we invited experts from abroad, and we developed the Library of the Department of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at Eötvös University, Budapest