Comments on Denis Fisette “Franz Brentano and higher-order theories of consciousness”

Nos últimos anos, a pesquisa sobre a psicologia de Brentano vem buscando na mereologia uma base teórica que pudesse ajudar a tratar e a resolver grandes problemas, tais como a questão da unidade da mente apesar de ser constituída por muito atos mentais simultâneos e consecutivos ou a questão da unidade de cada um destes atos mentais apesar de serem constituídos de muitos componentes descritivos. Usando a formalização da mereologia de Husserl feita por de Gilbert Null, podemos examinar mais detidamente algumas reinvindições de Brentano assim como seus problemas e consequências

Neither ghost nor zombie. Subjective consciousness raising from the stream of thought

peer reviewe

Compte-rendu de Pierre-Jean Renaudie et Claude Vishnu Spaak (dir.), Phénoménologies de la matière (CNRS Editions, Paris, 2021, 363 p.)

editorial reviewe

Naturalité de la catégorisation sémiotique: de la genèse perceptuelle à la déférence sémantique à l’égard du référent

En revenant « aux sources (naturelles) du sens », les Principia Semiotica du Groupe µ jettent un solide pavé dans la mare de toute une tradition sémiologique qui, partant des textes linguistiques (puis visuels), avait plutôt insisté sur la grande inventivité et la grande diversité culturelle des systèmes de signes. En soulignant la dimension résolument naturelle et motivée de la sémiose, le Groupe µ s’en prend frontalement à un certain « axiome de conventionalité » dominant dans la sémiologie contemporaine, notamment dans son paradigme structuraliste. Par le même geste, le Groupe µ s’en prend aussi en droite ligne à une épistémologie d’« idéalisme linguistique (ou plus généralement symbolique) », qui s’est imposée dans la seconde moitié du XXème siècle sous l’influence d’un certain « tournant linguistique » et qui a vu, dans les catégorisations conventionnelles, la source de toute sémiose mais aussi de toute production de connaissance. Par son attention aux sources perceptuelles de la sémiose la plus originaire, le Groupe µ réhabilite tout à la fois une certaine épistémologie réaliste, qui estime que le monde est déjà organisé avant sa structuration dans telle ou telle langue et qu’il motive même cette structuration, et une certaine épistémologie empiriste, qui voit dans l’expérience sensible le lieu de cette motivation et dès lors la source première de la sémiose et de la connaissance. En insistant sur la continuité des processus cognitifs naturels qui régissent cette sémiose avec d’autres dispositifs matériels présents dans le monde animal ou même vivant, la sémiogénétique s’avère aussi solidaire d’une épistémologie plus naturaliste et matérialiste que culturaliste et « glossocentriste ». Reste toutefois que les étapes ultérieures de la sémiose (avec la fonction de renvoi propre à la sémiose indirecte ou l’interprétation propre à la sémiose consciente) rendent, pour le Groupe µ, toute sa place à une sémiose intersubjective plus arbitraire et culturellement dépendante. À partir de nos propres travaux sur la déférence sémantique, nous montrons cependant que la division du travail linguistique, qui garantit cette intersubjectivité du sens, n’implique pas forcément la conventionalité qu’on lui associe généralement, mais qu’elle peut elle aussi, pour certains signes au moins, être liée à une épistémologie réaliste qui s’attache à la motivation naturelle plutôt qu’à l’arbitraire conventionnel de la sémiose.   As they go back « to the (natural) sources of meaning », Groupe µ’s Principia Semiotica tend to question the whole semiotic tradition, which, by looking mainly at texts, had mostly insisted on the great inventiveness and cultural diversity of sign systems. By putting the stress on the naturalness and non-arbitrariness of semiosis, Groupe µ challenges the « axiom of conventionality » that prevails in contemporary, especially structuralist, semiotics. At the same time, Groupe µ tackles the epistemology of « linguistic (or more generally symbolic) idealism », which became prevalent as a result of some « linguistic turn » in the twentieth century and took conventional categorization as the only source of semiosis and knowledge. By taking a close look at perceptual sources of primal semiosis, Groupe µ restores an epistemology, which is both realist – as it takes the world’s organization to be prior to, and an incentive for, its structuration by language – and empiricist – as it takes sense experience to be the way such an incentive operates and therefore to be the first source of semiosis and knowledge. Because it stresses that the natural cognitive processes which rule such a semiosis are continuous with other material processes within the living world, semiogenetics turns out to stand by an epistemology which is also more naturalistic and materialist than culturalist and language-oriented. Yet, according to Groupe µ, the further stages of semiosis are the locus of an intersubjective semiosis, which is more arbitrary and culture-dependent. Our own work on semantic deference however shows that the division of linguistic labour, which ensures the intersubjectivity of meaning, does not necessarily entail conventionality, but can also, for at least some words, be linked to a realist epistemology, which attaches great value to the naturalness rather than arbitrariness of semiosis

The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey X. Lyα\alpha Equivalent Widths at 2.9<z<6.62.9 < z < 6.6

We present rest-frame Ly$\alpha$ equivalent widths (EW) of 417 Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) detected with Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at $2.9 < z < 6.6$ in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Based on the deep MUSE spectroscopy and ancillary Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry data, we carefully measured EW values taking into account extended Ly$\alpha$ emission and UV continuum slopes ($\beta$). Our LAEs reach unprecedented depths, both in Ly$\alpha$ luminosities and UV absolute magnitudes, from log($L_{\rm Ly\alpha}$/erg s$^{-1}$) $\sim$41.0 to 43.0 and from Muv $\sim$ -16 to -21 (0.01-1.0 $L^{*}_{\rm z=3}$). The EW values span the range of $\sim$ 5 to 240 \AA\ or larger, and their distribution can be well fitted by an exponential law $N = N_{\rm 0}$ exp($-$EW/$w_{\rm 0}$). Owing to the high dynamic range in Muv, we find that the scale factor, $w_{\rm 0}$, depends on Muv in the sense that including fainter Muv objects increases $w_{\rm 0}$, i.e., the Ando effect. The results indicate that selection functions affect the EW scale factor. Taking these effects into account, we find that our $w_{\rm 0}$ values are consistent with those in the literature within $1\sigma$ uncertainties at $2.9 < z < 6.6$ at a given threshold of Muv and $L_{\rm Ly\alpha}$. Interestingly, we find 12 objects with EW $>200$ \AA\ above $1\sigma$ uncertainties. Two of these 12 LAEs show signatures of merger or AGN activity: the weak CIV $\lambda 1549$ emission line. For the remaining 10 very large EW LAEs, we find that the EW values can be reproduced by young stellar ages ($< 100$ Myr) and low metallicities ($\lesssim 0.02$ $Z_{\rm \odot}$). Otherwise, at least part of the Ly$\alpha$ emission in these LAEs needs to arise from anisotropic radiative transfer effects, fluorescence by hidden AGN or quasi-stellar object activity, or gravitational cooling.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in A&A (MUSE UDF Series Paper X

The use of continuous light to suppress pre-harvest sexual maturation in sea-reared Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) can be reduced to a four month window

In Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. sexual maturation is concomitant with a redistribution of the somatic resources and the development of nuptial colouration responsible for the low commercial value of mature fish (Michie, 2001). Maturing fish also exhibit an altered feeding activity (Kadri et al., 1996; Kadri et al., 1997a and b) and increased pathogen susceptibility (Bruno, 1989; St-Hilaire et al., 1998; Currie and Woo, 2007) likely to compromise growth, health and welfare of the cohabiting immature cohort. The suppression of pre-harvest sexual maturation is therefore a priority in the salmon on-growing industry and is achieved by photoperiodic manipulation of the stock in the form of continuous artificial-light (LL) applied between the winter and summer solstice during the second year at sea. This 6-month period LL-regime is recognized as the most efficient by providing a key environmental signal that phase-advances the so-called “spring decision window” such that a reduced proportion of the stock meets the developmental/energetic thresholds required to proceed through maturation (Taranger et al., 1998; Endal et al., 2000; Oppedal et al., 2006). Current knowledge on the photoperiodic entrainment of reproduction in Atlantic salmon suggests that terminating LL-exposure before the summer solstice could be equally efficient at suppressing sexual maturation. This study tested this hypothesis on a commercial scale with the objective of reducing energy usage and potential welfare impacts associated with the long-term use of powerful lighting systems in sea-pens (Migaud et al., 2007a)

armA and Aminoglycoside Resistance in Escherichia coli

We report armA in an Escherichia coli pig isolate from Spain. The resistance gene was borne by self-transferable IncN plasmid pMUR050. Molecular analysis of the plasmid and of the armA locus confirmed the spread of this resistance determinant

Predicting global habitat suitability for stony corals on seamounts

Aim Globally, species distribution patterns in the deep sea are poorly resolved, with spatial coverage being sparse for most taxa and true absence data missing. Increasing human impacts on deep-sea ecosystems mean that reaching a better understanding of such patterns is becoming more urgent. Cold-water stony corals (Order Scleractinia) form structurally complex habitats (dense thickets or reefs) that can support a diversity of other associated fauna. Despite their widely accepted ecological importance, records of scleractinian corals on seamounts are patchy and simply not available for most of the global ocean. The objective of this paper is to model the global distribution of suitable habitat for stony corals on seamounts. Location Seamounts worldwide. Methods We compiled a database containing all accessible records of scleractinian corals on seamounts. Two modelling approaches developed for presence-only data were used to predict global habitat suitability for seamount scleractinians: maximum entropy modelling (Maxent) and environmental niche factor analysis (ENFA). We generated habitat-suitability maps and used a cross-validation process with a threshold-independent metric to evaluate the performance of the models. Results Both models performed well in cross-validation, although the Maxent method consistently outperformed ENFA. Highly suitable habitat for seamount stony corals was predicted to occur at most modelled depths in the North Atlantic, and in a circumglobal strip in the Southern Hemisphere between 20° and 50° S and shallower than around 1500 m. Seamount summits in most other regions appeared much less likely to provide suitable habitat, except for small near-surface patches. The patterns of habitat suitability largely reflect current biogeographical knowledge. Environmental variables positively associated with high predicted habitat suitability included the aragonite saturation state, and oxygen saturation and concentration. By contrast, low levels of dissolved inorganic carbon, nitrate, phosphate and silicate were associated with high predicted suitability. High correlation among variables made assessing individual drivers difficult. Main conclusions Our models predict environmental conditions likely to play a role in determining large-scale scleractinian coral distributions on seamounts, and provide a baseline scenario on a global scale. These results present a first-order hypothesis that can be tested by further sampling. Given the high vulnerability of cold-water corals to human impacts, such predictions are crucial tools in developing worldwide conservation and management strategies for seamount ecosystems. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

TL1A and IL-18 synergy promotes GM-CSF-dependent thymic granulopoiesis in mice

Acute systemic inflammation critically alters the function of the immune system, often promoting myelopoiesis at the expense of lymphopoiesis. In the thymus, systemic inflammation results in acute thymic atrophy and, consequently, impaired T-lymphopoiesis. The mechanism by which systemic inflammation impacts the thymus beyond suppressing T-cell development is still unclear. Here, we describe how the synergism between TL1A and IL-18 suppresses T-lymphopoiesis to promote thymic myelopoiesis. The protein levels of these two cytokines were elevated in the thymus during viral-induced thymus atrophy infection with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) or pneumonia virus of mice (PVM). In vivo administration of TL1A and IL-18 induced acute thymic atrophy, while thymic neutrophils expanded. Fate mapping with Ms4a3-Cre mice demonstrated that thymic neutrophils emerge from thymic granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs), while Rag1-Cre fate mapping revealed a common developmental path with lymphocytes. These effects could be modeled ex vivo using neonatal thymic organ cultures (NTOCs), where TL1A and IL-18 synergistically enhanced neutrophil production and egress. NOTCH blockade by the LY411575 inhibitor increased the number of neutrophils in the culture, indicating that NOTCH restricted steady-state thymic granulopoiesis. To promote myelopoiesis, TL1A, and IL-18 synergistically increased GM-CSF levels in the NTOC, which was mainly produced by thymic ILC1s. In support, TL1A- and IL-18-induced granulopoiesis was completely prevented in NTOCs derived from Csf2rb-/- mice and by GM-CSFR antibody blockade, revealing that GM-CSF is the essential factor driving thymic granulopoiesis. Taken together, our findings reveal that TL1A and IL-18 synergism induce acute thymus atrophy while promoting extramedullary thymic granulopoiesis in a NOTCH and GM-CSF-controlled manner. (Figure presented.)</p