Emmanuel Lévinas and structuralism

O estruturalismo alcançou seu zênite de influência no pensamento francês nos anos 60 e 70 do séc. XX, quando Lévinas escreveu os seus livros mais importantes. Gostaria, portanto, de examinar sua concepção das implicações filosóficas desta corrente teorético-metodológica, cujo impacto nas sciences humaines quase não deixou nenhum pensador francês indiferente na época. Lévinas acusou o estruturalismo de não passar de uma ilusão, na medida em que sua espontaneidade subjetiva faz com que impulsos e instintos sejam descritos como valores da razão prática. Todavia, apesar da divergência entre Lévinas, para quem a ciência deve estar a seriço da ética, e Lévi-Strauss, que concebia a ética no melhor dos casos como resultado da pesquisa cient. e não como seu fim, ambos pensadores embasaram sua ética na mesma premissa: respeitar a alteridade do Outro, de cada pessoa, cada sociedade e cada cultura. A crítica de Lévinas não visava a refutação do estruturalismo mas suas premissas teóricas. Se elas pudessem ser ratificadas, alguém poderia justificar a metod. estruturalista. Portanto, a palavra-chave aqui é "se". Sua crítica não é nenhuma negação absoluta. Sua principal crítica foi a de que o estruturalismo era uma teoria científica que não deixava nenhum lugar para a ética; portanto, Lévinas também considerava o estruturalismo uma ameaça ao judaísmo, onde a ética ocupa um importante lugar. No início do séc. XX, Rosenzweig - assim como Lévinas no seu fim - buscou propor uma saída da concepção de totalidade porque não deixava lugar adequado para o estatuto do ser humano como sujeito. Para Rosenzweig, tratava-se antes de mais nada de uma revolta contra a filos. idealista de Hegel, enquanto que para Lévinas compreendia uma crítica do estruturalismo que dava primazia a estruturas inconscientes sobre a subjetividade. humana. Apenas esta pode servir de base para uma ética que fosse o propósito maio

Cooperation between STAT3 and c-Jun Suppresses Fas Transcription

Decreased Fas expression during tumor progression often results in a loss of Fas-ligand (FasL)-mediated apoptosis. Human and mouse melanoma exhibit an inverse correlation between the degree of Fas cell surface expression, tumorigenicity, and metastatic capacity. The expression of dominant negative Stat3 or c-Jun in melanoma cells efficiently increased Fas expression and sensitized cells to FasL-induced apoptosis. Stat3+/− as well as c-Jun−/− cells exhibited increased Fas cell surface expression and higher sensitivity to FasL-mediated apoptosis. Suppression of Fas expression by Stat3 and c-Jun is uncoupled from Stat3-mediated transcriptional activation. Our findings indicate that Stat3 oncogenic activities could also be mediated through its cooperation with c-Jun, resulting in downregulation of Fas surface expression, which is implicated in the tumor's ability to resist therapy and metastasize

Unexpected consequences of demand response : implications for energy and capacity price level and volatility

Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2014.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 90-94).Historically, electricity consumption has been largely insensitive to short term spot market conditions, requiring the equating of supply and demand to occur almost exclusively through changes in production. Large scale entry of demand response, however, is rapidly changing this paradigm in the electricity market located in the mid-Atlantic region of the US, called PJM. Greater demand side participation in electricity markets is often considered a low cost alternative to generation and an important step towards decreasing the price volatility driven by inelastic demand. Recent experience in PJM, however, indicates that demand response in the form of a peaking product has the potential to increase energy price level and volatility. Currently, emergency demand response comprises the vast majority of demand side participation in PJM. This is a peaking product dispatched infrequently and only during periods of scarcity when thermal capacity is exhausted. While emergency demand response serves as a cheaper form of peaking resource than gas turbines, it has recently contributed to increases in energy price volatility by setting price at the $1,800/MWh price cap, substantially higher than the marginal cost of most thermal generation. Additionally, the entry of demand response into the PJM capacity market is one of primary drivers for capacity prices declining by over fifty percent. This study investigates the large penetration of emergency demand response in PJM and the implications for the balance between energy and capacity prices and energy price volatility. A novel model is developed that dynamically simulates generation entry and exit over a long term horizon based on endogenously determined energy and capacity prices. The study finds that, while demand response leads to slight reductions in total generation cost, it shifts the bulk of capacity market revenues into the energy market and also vastly increases energy price volatility. This transition towards an energy only market will send more accurate price signals to consumers as costs are moved out of the crudely assessed capacity charge and into the dynamic energy price. However, the greater volatility will also increase the risk faced by many market participants. The new market paradigm created by demand response will require regulators to balance the importance of sending accurate price signals to consumers against creating market conditions that decrease risk and foster investment.by Tal Z. Levy.S.M. in Technology and Polic