Essentializing the binary self: individualism and collectivism in cultural neuroscience

Within the emerging field of cultural neuroscience (CN) one branch of research focuses on the neural underpinnings of “individualistic/Western” vs. “collectivistic/Eastern” self-views. These studies uncritically adopt essentialist assumptions from classic cross-cultural research, mainly following the tradition of Markus and Kitayama (1991), into the domain of functional neuroimaging. In this perspective article we analyze recent publications and conference proceedings of the 18th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (2012) and problematize the essentialist and simplistic understanding of “culture” in these studies. Further, we argue against the binary structure of the drawn “cultural” comparisons and their underlying Eurocentrism. Finally we scrutinize whether valuations within the constructed binarities bear the risk of constructing and reproducing a postcolonial, orientalist argumentation pattern

Assignment markets with the same core

In the framework of bilateral assignment games, we study the set of matrices associated with assignment markets with the same core. We state conditions on matrix entries that ensure that the related assignment games have the same core. We prove that the set of matrices leading to the same core form a join-semilattice with a nite number of minimal elements and a unique maximum. We provide a characterization of the minimal elements. A sucient condition under which the join-semilattice reduces to a lattice is also given.core, semilattice, assignment game

Radiocarbon reservoir ages and hardwater effect for the northeastern coastal waters of Argentina.

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates were obtained for 18 mollusk shells collected alive along the Buenos Aires province coast, Argentina, over the period AD 1914–1935. Reservoir ages were estimated for all samples on the basis of the tree-ring calibration curve for the Southern Hemisphere (SHCal04, McCormac et al. 2004) and the marine ΔR values calculated as the difference between the conventional 14C age and the age deduced from the marine, mixedlayer model calculation (Marine04, Hughen et al. 2004). For most coastal locations, a great ΔR scatter was observed, ranging from 191 to 2482 yr, which is explained by the input of varying content of dissolved carbonate by rivers and groundwater (“hardwater effect”) and indicates a serious limitation for shell-based 14C chronologies. Within the interior of Bahía Blanca estuary, ΔR values ranged from –40 to 50 ± 46 as a consequence of the local geological particularities of the environment. This suggests that, with some restrictions, the marine calibration curve with standard parameters (ΔR = 0) could be used at this location.Fil: Gomez, Eduardo Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía; ArgentinaFil: Borel, Claudia Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Aguirre, Marina Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Daniel Emilio. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Fragmented designs: Social circulation of images on rheidae eggs in pampa and northern patagonia

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del análisis de la decoración de fragmentos de cáscara de huevo de Rheidae recuperados en cuatro sitios arqueológicos del curso inferior del río Colorado, transición pampeano-patagónica oriental (Argentina). Estos diseños se comparan con los de las cáscaras decoradas de otras áreas de Pampa-Patagonia, incluyendo huevos enteros. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren una trayectoria temporal particular para la decoración de huevos de Rheidae, que se manifiesta con mayor intensidad durante parte del Holoceno Medio y el Holoceno Tardío inicial (ca. 5600-1000 años AP). Se concluye que la distribución espacial amplia de motivos semejantes, en conjunto con los patrones detectados en otras evidencias arqueológicas (i. e., materias primas líticas), señala un contexto de redes de interacción social abiertas entre los grupos cazadores-recolectores.This work discusses the results of the analysis of decorated Rheidae eggshells recovered from four archaeological sites situated on the lower reaches of the Colorado River in the eastern PampaPatagonian transition (Argentina). The designs are compared to motifs found on decorated eggshell fragments and complete eggs from other areas of Pampas-Patagonia. The results suggest a particular temporal trajectory for eggshell decoration, which occurs most intensively during part of the middle Holocene and the beginning of the late Holocene (ca. 5600-1000 years BP). The discussion concludes that the extensive spatial distribution of similar motifs and the analysis of other archaeological evidence (i. e. raw stone materials) points to the existence of open social networks among hunter-gatherer groups.Fil: Carden, Natalia Marina. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Departamento de Arqueologia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Gustavo Adolfo. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Departamento de Arqueologia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Tandil. Investigaciones Arqueologicas y Paleontologicas del Cuaternario Pampeano; Argentin

Towards a Functional Explanation of the Connectivity LGN - V1

The principles behind the connectivity between LGN and V1 are not well understood. Models have to explain two basic experimental trends: (i) the combination of thalamic responses is local and it gives rise to a variety of oriented Gabor-like receptive felds in V1 [1], and (ii) these filters are spatially organized in orientation maps [2]. Competing explanations of orientation maps use purely geometrical arguments such as optimal wiring or packing from LGN [3-5], but they make no explicit reference to visual function. On the other hand, explanations based on func- tional arguments such as maximum information transference (infomax) [6,7] usually neglect a potential contribution from LGN local circuitry. In this work we explore the abil- ity of the conventional functional arguments (infomax and variants), to derive both trends simultaneously assuming a plausible sampling model linking the retina to the LGN [8], as opposed to previous attempts operating from the retina. Consistently with other aspects of human vi- sion [14-16], additional constraints should be added to plain infomax to understand the second trend of the LGN-V1 con- nectivity. Possibilities include energy budget [11], wiring constraints [8], or error minimization in noisy systems, ei- ther linear [16] or nonlinear [14, 15]. In particular, consideration of high noise (neglected here) would favor the redundancy in the prediction (which would be required to match the relations between spatially neighbor neurons in the same orientation domain)

A Dynamic Semi-Circular Bending Configuration for the Rheological Characterization of Asphalt Mixtures

Many experimental procedures have been proposed for the determination of the rheological properties of asphalt mixtures. Among them, the indirect tensile test (ITT) has gained a lot of attention because of its relative simplicity and advantages. However, a biaxial state of stress is developed into the sample and then, the Poisson ratio must be estimated or measured for the calculations of the dynamic modulus. Looking for a testing configuration with the same simplicity and advantages, this paper proposes the Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) geometry with dynamic loading conditions in order to characterize the rheological properties (dynamic modulus and phase angle) of asphalt mixtures. Samples compacted in the laboratory or cored from in-service pavements can be used. A uniaxial state of stress is developed in the lower plane surface of the sample doing negligible the influence of the Poisson ratio on the dynamic modulus calculations. A specific experimental configuration was adopted and a 2D-FEM model has been used for the development of an equation for the calculation of the dynamic modulus. Two different asphalt mixtures were tested at diverse testing temperatures and loading frequencies. The obtained results have been analyzed and compared with those acquired with the more conventional testing configuration in uniaxial compression. An excellent agreement has been found for either the dynamic modulus or the phase angle with both sets of results. It could be concluded that the SCB configuration has been validated as a simple and promising methodology for the characterization of the viscoelastic response of asphalt mixtures