Kant's philosophy of the aesthetic and the philosophy of praxis

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Association for Economic and Social Analysis.This essay seeks to reconstruct the terms for a more productive engagement with Kant than is typical within contemporary academic cultural Marxism, which sees him as the cornerstone of a bourgeois model of the aesthetic. The essay argues that, in the Critique of Judgment, the aesthetic stands in as a substitute for the missing realm of human praxis. This argument is developed in relation to Kant's concept of reflective judgment that is in turn related to a methodological shift toward inductive and analogical procedures that help Kant overcome the dualisms of the first two Critiques. This reassessment of Kant's aesthetic is further clarified by comparing it with and offering a critique of Terry Eagleton's assessment of the Kantian aesthetic as synonymous with ideology

Marx, the labour theory of value and the transformation problem

This article reconsiders what Marx says about the transformation problem in Chapter IX of Capital Volume III, in the light of Marx's claim, made in Capital Volume I, that the value of a commodity is determined by the socially necessary labour time that goes into its production. The article criticises the traditional way of thinking about the transformation problem, according to which what Marx is doing in Chapter IX is considering the transformation of values into prices ('prices of production'). I argue that Marx's prices of production may be thought of as modified values. The discussion in Chapter IX is usually seen as a supplement to the labour theory of value. On this view its purpose is to explain how and why the prices of commodities sometimes deviate from their values. Against this view, the paper argues that Marx's remarks in Chapter IX can be seen as an elaboration on or development of the labour theory of value. It is a refinement of the account offered in Capital Volume I, which takes into consideration what Marx had in mind there when he introduced the notion of socially necessary as opposed to actual labour-time. The paper draws attention to the importance of Marx's distinction between the individual value of a commodity (determined by actual labour-time) and its social value (determined by socially necessary labour-time). It also draws attention to the methodological difficulties that are generated by any attempt to read Marx in this way

Patterning and process parameter effects in 3D suspension near-field electrospinning of nanoarrays

The extracellular matrix (ECM) contains nanofibrous proteins and proteoglycans. Nanofabrication methods have received growing interest in recent years as a means of recapitulating these elements within the ECM. Near-field electrospinning (NFES) is a versatile fibre deposition method, capable of layer-by-layer nano-fabrication. The maximum layer height is generally limited in layer-by-layer NFES as a consequence of electrostatic effects of the polymer at the surface, due to residual charge and polymer dielectric properties. This restricts the total volume achievable by layer-by-layer techniques. Surpassing this restriction presents a complex challenge, leading to research innovations aimed at increasing patterning precision, and achieving a translation from 2D to 3D additive nanofabrication. Here we investigated a means of achieving this translation through the use of 3D electrode substrates. This was addressed by in-house developed technology in which selective laser melt manufactured standing pillar electrodes were combined with a direct suspension near-field electrospinning (SNFES) technique, which implements an automated platform to manoeuvre the pillar electrodes around the emitter in order to suspend fibres in the free space between the electrode support structures. In this study SNFES was used in multiple operation modes, investigating the effects of varying process parameters, as well as pattern variations on the suspended nanoarrays. Image analysis of the nanoarrays allowed for the assessment of fibre directionality, isotropy, and diameter; identifying optimal settings to generate fibres for tissue engineering applications

Predicting survival from colorectal cancer histology slides using deep learning: A retrospective multicenter study

BACKGROUND: For virtually every patient with colorectal cancer (CRC), hematoxylin-eosin (HE)-stained tissue slides are available. These images contain quantitative information, which is not routinely used to objectively extract prognostic biomarkers. In the present study, we investigated whether deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) can extract prognosticators directly from these widely available images. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We hand-delineated single-tissue regions in 86 CRC tissue slides, yielding more than 100,000 HE image patches, and used these to train a CNN by transfer learning, reaching a nine-class accuracy of >94% in an independent data set of 7,180 images from 25 CRC patients. With this tool, we performed automated tissue decomposition of representative multitissue HE images from 862 HE slides in 500 stage I-IV CRC patients in the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort, a large international multicenter collection of CRC tissue. Based on the output neuron activations in the CNN, we calculated a "deep stroma score," which was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) in a multivariable Cox proportional hazard model (hazard ratio [HR] with 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.99 [1.27-3.12], p = 0.0028), while in the same cohort, manual quantification of stromal areas and a gene expression signature of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) were only prognostic in specific tumor stages. We validated these findings in an independent cohort of 409 stage I-IV CRC patients from the "Darmkrebs: Chancen der Verhütung durch Screening" (DACHS) study who were recruited between 2003 and 2007 in multiple institutions in Germany. Again, the score was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR 1.63 [1.14-2.33], p = 0.008), CRC-specific OS (HR 2.29 [1.5-3.48], p = 0.0004), and relapse-free survival (RFS; HR 1.92 [1.34-2.76], p = 0.0004). A prospective validation is required before this biomarker can be implemented in clinical workflows. CONCLUSIONS: In our retrospective study, we show that a CNN can assess the human tumor microenvironment and predict prognosis directly from histopathological images

Crime or social harm? A dialectical perspective

This paper proposes to examine some of the core philosophical issues to have arisen out of the recent calls to move "beyond criminology". It will be claimed that the dismissal of crime as a "fictive event" is premature, as crime does indeed have an "ontological reality". Nevertheless, it will be asserted that the relation between harm and crime is contingent rather than necessary. Accordingly, this paper will argue that there is merit to the claim that we should unify research on social harm through the creation of a new field, a step which would have the added benefit of constructing an alternative venue for crimes of the powerful scholars who wish to explore the destructive practices of states and corporations unconstrained. This paper, therefore, will also offer a dialectical definition of social harm based upon classical Marxist strains of ontological thought

A Joint Venture of Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics, Coupled Cluster Electronic Structure Methods, and Liquid-State Theory to Compute Accurate Isotropic Hyperfine Constants of Nitroxide Probes in Water

The isotropic hyperfine coupling constant (HFCC, Aiso) of a pH-sensitive spin probe in a solution, HMI (2,2,3,4,5,5-hexamethylimidazolidin-1-oxyl, C9H19N2O) in water, is computed using an ensemble of state-of-the-art computational techniques and is gauged against X-band continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurement spectra at room temperature. Fundamentally, the investigation aims to delineate the cutting edge of current first-principles-based calculations of EPR parameters in aqueous solutions based on using rigorous statistical mechanics combined with correlated electronic structure techniques. In particular, the impact of solvation is described by exploiting fully atomistic, RISM integral equation, and implicit solvation approaches as offered by ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) of the periodic bulk solution (using the spin-polarized revPBE0-D3 hybrid functional), embedded cluster reference interaction site model integral equation theory (EC-RISM), and polarizable continuum embedding (using CPCM) of microsolvated complexes, respectively. HFCCs are obtained from efficient coupled cluster calculations (using open-shell DLPNO-CCSD theory) as well as from hybrid density functional theory (using revPBE0-D3). Re-solvation of “vertically desolvated” spin probe configuration snapshots by EC-RISM embedding is shown to provide significantly improved results compared to CPCM since only the former captures the inherent structural heterogeneity of the solvent close to the spin probe. The average values of the Aiso parameter obtained based on configurational statistics using explicit water within AIMD and from EC-RISM solvation are found to be satisfactorily close. Using either such explicit or RISM solvation in conjunction with DLPNO-CCSD calculations of the HFCCs provides an average Aiso parameter for HMI in aqueous solution at 300 K and 1 bar that is in good agreement with the experimentally determined one. The developed computational strategy is general in the sense that it can be readily applied to other spin probes of similar molecular complexity, to aqueous solutions beyond ambient conditions, as well as to other solvents in the longer run

Deafening silence? Marxism, international historical sociology and the spectre of Eurocentrism

Approaching the centenary of its establishment as a formal discipline, International Relations today challenges the ahistorical and aspatial frameworks advanced by the theories of earlier luminaries. Yet, despite a burgeoning body of literature built on the transdisciplinary efforts bridging International Relations and its long-separated nomothetic relatives, the new and emerging conceptual frameworks have not been able to effectively overcome the challenge posed by the ‘non-West’. The recent wave of international historical sociology has highlighted possible trajectories to problematise the myopic and unipolar conceptions of the international system; however, the question of Eurocentrism still lingers in the developing research programmes. This article interjects into the ongoing historical materialist debate in international historical sociology by: (1) conceptually and empirically challenging the rigid boundaries of the extant approaches; and (2) critically assessing the postulations of recent theorising on ‘the international’, capitalist states-system/geopolitics and uneven and combined development. While the significance of the present contributions in international historical sociology should not be understated, it is argued that the ‘Eurocentric cage’ still occupies a dominant ontological position which essentially silences ‘connected histories’ and conceals the role of inter-societal relations in the making of the modern states-system and capitalist geopolitics

Cholecystojejunostomy varices demonstrated by enteroclysis

Varices in unusual sites constitute a minor but significant cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with liver disease. We report a case of varices across the anastomotic line between the jejunum and gallbladder after cholecystojejunostomy. Although such varices have been demonstrated by angiography, to our knowledge they have never been demonstrated by small bowel enema (enteroclysis). We report a case and describe the findings on enteroclysis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42391/1/261-22-5-474_22n5p474.pd

The Structure of IR Luminous Galaxies at 100 Microns

We have observed twenty two galaxies at 100 microns with the Kuiper Airborne Observatory in order to determine the size of their FIR emitting regions. Most of these galaxies are luminous far-infrared sources, with L_FIR > 10^11 L_sun. This data constitutes the highest spatial resolution ever achieved on luminous galaxies in the far infrared. Our data includes direct measurements of the spatial structure of the sources, in which we look for departures from point source profiles. Additionally, comparison of our small beam 100 micron fluxes with the large beam IRAS fluxes shows how much flux falls beyond our detectors but within the IRAS beam. Several sources with point- like cores show evidence for such a net flux deficit. We clearly resolved six of these galaxies at 100 microns and have some evidence for extension in seven others. Those galaxies which we have resolved can have little of their 100 micron flux directly emitted by a point-like active galactic nucleus (AGN). Dust heated to ~40 K by recent bursts of non-nuclear star formation provides the best explanation for their extreme FIR luminosity. In a few cases, heating of an extended region by a compact central source is also a plausible option. Assuming the FIR emission we see is from dust, we also use the sizes we derive to find the dust temperatures and optical depths at 100 microns which we translate into an effective visual extinction through the galaxy. Our work shows that studies of the far infrared structure of luminous infrared galaxies is clearly within the capabilities of new generation far infrared instrumentation, such as SOFIA and SIRTF.Comment: 8 tables, 23 figure

Low frequency 1/f noise in doped manganite grain-boundary junctions

We have performed a systematic analysis of the low frequency 1/f-noise in single grain boundary junctions in the colossal magnetoresistance material La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_{3-delta}. The grain boundary junctions were formed in epitaxial La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_{3-delta} films deposited on SrTiO_3 bicrystal substrates and show a large tunneling magnetoresistance of up to 300% at 4.2 K as well as ideal, rectangular shaped resistance versus applied magnetic field curves. Below the Curie temperature T_C the measured 1/f noise is dominated by the grain boundary. The dependence of the noise on bias current, temperature and applied magnetic field gives clear evidence that the large amount of low frequency noise is caused by localized sites with fluctuating magnetic moments in a heavily disordered grain boundary region. At 4.2 K additional temporally unstable Lorentzian components show up in the noise spectra that are most likely caused by fluctuating clusters of interacting magnetic moments. Noise due to fluctuating domains in the junction electrodes is found to play no significant role.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure