127 research outputs found
Whither Evidentialist Reliabilism?
Evidentialism and Reliabilism are two of the main contemporary theories of epistemic justification. Some authors have thought that the theories are not incompatible with each other, and that a hybrid theory which incorporates elements of both should be taken into account. More recently, other authors have argued that the resulting theory is well- placed to deal with fine-grained doxastic attitudes (credences).
In this paper I review the reasons for adopting this kind of hybrid theory, paying attention to the case of credences and the notion of probability involved in their treatment. I argue that the notion of probability in question can only be an epistemic (or evidential) kind of probability. I conclude that the resulting theory will be incompatible with Reliabilism in one important respect: it cannot deliver on the reductivist promise of Reliabilism. I also argue that attention to the justification of basic beliefs reveals limitations in the Evidentialist framework as well. The theory that results from the right combination of Evidentialism and Reliabilism, therefore, is neither Evidentialist nor Reliabilist
Feasibility Study on Laser Cutting of Phenolic Resin Boards
AbstractLaser cutting is the most widely implemented application of lasers in industry. The many advantages of this process stimulate users in industry to cut many different materials, such as wood and wood composites āparticleboard, plywood, etc.ā, which are being cut with excellent results and productivity. Phenolic resins boards are a new substitute of wood in highly aggressive environments. In the present work we study the feasibility of CO2 lasers to cut phenolic resin boards and assess the potential health hazards of the vapours and residues produced, since its thermal degradation may produce toxic organic vapors
An optimisation approach for the e-grocery order picking and delivery problem
[EN] Traditional supermarket chains that are adopting an omni-channel approach must now carry out the order picking and delivery processes to serve online orders, previously done by the customer. The complexity of the logistics processes has increased, therefore modelling and optimising e-grocery operations becomes definitely important. Since there are few studies modelling order picking and delivery processes, we propose an approach that simultaneously optimises the decision variables of different functions which have traditionally been treated separately. In this study, we present a linear programming model for store-based e-fulfilment strategies with multiple picking locations. The proposed model optimises the allocation of online orders to stores, based on the e-fulfilment costs. As well as minimising the picking and delivery costs, the proposed approach consolidates workloads in order to avoid idle times and reduce the amount of resources required. A weighted sum method is applied to compute the solution, integrating parameters that represent different store features such as the product range, sales mode and physical store activities. The proposed model has been tested on one of the largest grocery sellers, showing that substantial savings can be achieved by reallocating orders to different stores, time windows and delivery vehicles. By focusing on optimising e-fulfilment resources, this approach serves as a guide for traditional grocery sellers to redesign their supply chains and to facilitate decision-making at a managerial level.Funding was provided by Universidade de Vigo.Vazquez-Noguerol, M.; ComesaƱa-Benavides, J.; Poler, R.; Prado-Prado, JC. (2022). An optimisation approach for the e-grocery order picking and delivery problem. Central European Journal of Operations Research. 30(3):961-990. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-020-00710-9S96199030
The interplay of phonology and orthography in visual cognate word recognition: an ERP study
This study examined the role of phonological and orthographic overlap in the recognition of cognate words by recording electrophysiological and behavioral data. One hundred and ninety-two words were selected: 96 cognate words listed according to their phonological and orthographic overlap vs. 96 noncognate words. Twenty-four proficient European Portuguese-English bilinguals performed a silent reading task with a masked priming paradigm. The results showed that phonology interacts with semantic activation at N400 modulations. Phonological priming effects were dependent on the orthographic overlap of cognate words. Thus, the distinctive processing of cognate words seems to be due to their cross-linguistic similarity, which is consistent with a localist connectionist account on cognate representation and processing.The research reported in this paper wasfunded by FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology), by NSRF (National Strategic Reference Framework), by COMPETE (Operational Agenda for Competitiveness Factors), a program created by the EU as part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), (PTDC/PSI-PCO/104671/2008) and by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (PSI2009ā12616) and Plan E
Development of marine-based nanocomposite scaffolds for biomedical applications
Despite
the
increasing
attention
that
marine
organisms
are
receiving,
many
of
those
are
not
efficiently
exploited
and
subproducts
with
valuable
compounds
are
being
discarded.
Two
examples
of
those
subproducts
are
the
endoskeleton
of
squid,
from
which
Ī²-Āāchitin
and
consecutively
chitosan
can
be
obtained;
and
fish-Āābones,
as
a
source
for
the
production
of
nano-Āā
hydroxyapatite.
In
this
work,
inspired
in
the
nanocomposite
structure
of
human
bone,
marine-Āā
based
nanocomposite
scaffolds
composed
by
chitosan
and
nano-Āāhydroxyapatite
(nHA)
were
developed
using
particle
aggregation
methodology.
Chitosan
was
obtained
from
endoskeleton
of
giant
squid
Dosidicus
Gigas
while
fish
hydroxyapatite
nanoparticles
were
synthesized
from
fish-Āābones
by
pulsed
laser
in
deionized
water.
An
innovative
methodology
was
used
based
on
the
agglomeration
of
prefabricated
microspheres
of
chitosan/nHA,
generally
based
on
the
random
packing
of
microspheres
with
further
aggregation
by
physical
or
thermal
means
to
create
a
marine
nanocomposite
(CHA)
.The
morphological
analysis
of
the
developed
nanocomposites
revealed
a
low
porosity
structure,
but
with
high
interconnectivity,
for
all
produced
scaffolds.
Furthermore,
the
nanocomposite
scaffolds
were
characterized
in
terms
of
their
mechanical
properties,
bioactivity,
crystallinity
and
biological
behavior.
The
obtained
results
highlight
that
the
chitosan/nHA-Āābased
marine
nanocomposite
can
be
a
good
candidate
for
biomedical
applications,
namely
on
bone
regeneration
Semiconductor gellan gum based composite hydrogels for tissue engineering applications
Publicado em "Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine", vol. 7, supp. 1 (2013)Semiconductor hydrogels can be developed by combining the intrinsic
electrical properties of semiconductors with the specific characteristics
of hydrogels. These hydrogels have recently attracted much attention
for applications in tissue engineering, especially formulations incorporating
pyrrole and excellent biocompatibility. Several studies have
reported that electrical stimulation influences the migration, proliferation
and differentiation of stem cells and other cell lines [1]. The goal
of this work is to use in situ chemical polymerization of polypyrrole
(PPy) with gellan gum (GG) in order to obtain a new generation of
semiconductor composite hydrogels. For the synthesis of GG/PPy composites,
GG at 1.25% (w/v) final concentration was prepared in distilled
water at room temperature. The solution was then heated under
stirring at 90Ā°C for 20 min. Temperature was decreased to 65Ā°C and Py
was added under vigorous agitation. The crosslinker solution (CaCl2,
0.18%) was added at 50Ā°C. After 2 h, GG/Py composite hydrogels
were obtained. In a further step, GG/Py samples were immersed in a
solution of oxidizing agent in PBS and the reaction was carried out for
18 h under agitation at room temperature. Finally, the samples were
frozen at -80Ā°C for 48 h and lyophilized. The characterization of GG,
GG/PPy and PPy samples was performed by scanning electron microscopy
(SEM). The incorporation of PPy in the gellan gum was confirmed
by SEM analysis. The coating with PPy increases the thickness of each
sheet in 3 fold when compared with GG samples. Conductivity tests
were also performed. For cytotoxicity assay, the samples were rehydrated
with complete culture medium. MTS and DNA quantification assays
were performed to evaluate the metabolic activity and proliferation of
L929 fibroblast cells after 1, 3 and 7 days in culture with GG, GG/PPy
and PPy samples. MTS assays clearly indicate a proportional relation
between the cell viability and the PPy concentration: higher concentrations
of PPy resulted in lower cell viability. These results show that
lower concentration of PPy incorporated in the GG hydrogels can provide
an adequate electrical stimulus to improve cell behavior. In conclusion,
semiconductor hydrogels can be an excellent platform for tissue
engineering and electrochemical therapy application
Metacognition as Evidence for Evidentialism
Metacognition is the monitoring and controlling of cognitive processes. I examine the role of metacognition in āordinary retrieval casesā, cases in which it is intuitive that via recollection the subject has a justiļ¬ed belief. Drawing on psychological research on metacognition, I argue that evidentialism has a unique, accurate prediction in each ordinary retrieval case: the subject has evidence for the proposition she justiļ¬edly believes. But, I argue, process reliabilism has no unique, accurate predictions in these cases. I conclude that ordinary retrieval cases better support evidentialism than process reliabilism. This conclusion challenges several common assumptions. One is that non-evidentialism alone allows for a naturalized epistemology, i.e., an epistemology that is fully in accordance with scientiļ¬c research and methodology. Another is that process reliabilism fares much better than evidentialism in the epistemology of memory
Is there an orthographic boost for ambiguous words during their processing?
The present study explores the issue of why ambiguous words are recognized faster than unambiguous ones during word recognition. To this end we contrasted two different hypotheses: the semantic feedback hypothesis (Hino and Lupker in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 22:1331-1356, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.22.6.1331 ), and the hypothesis proposed by Borowsky and Masson (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 22:63-85, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.22.1.63 ). Although both hypotheses agree that ambiguous words benefit during recognition in that they engage more semantic activation, they disagree as to whether or not this greater semantic activation feeds back to the orthographic level, hence speeding up the orthographic coding of ambiguous words. Participants were presented with ambiguous and unambiguous words in two tasks, a lexical decision task (LDT) and a two-alternative forced-choice task (2AFC). We found differences between ambiguous and unambiguous words in both the LDT and the 2AFC tasks. These results suggest that the orthographic coding of ambiguous words is boosted during word processing. This finding lends support to the semantic feedback hypothesis.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI2015-63525-P) and by the Research Promotion Program of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2016PFR-URV-B2-37). This has also been partially supported by the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) through the state budget with Reference IF/00784/2013/CP1158/CT0013. The first author also holds a grant from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2015PMF-PIPF-16)
The Gender Congruency Effect across languages in bilinguals: A meta-analysis
In the study of gender representation and processing in bilinguals, two contrasting perspectives exist: integrated vs. the autonomous (Costa, Kovacic, Fedorenko, & Caramazza, 2003). In the former, cross-linguistic interactions during the selection of grammatical gender values are expected; in the latter, they are not. To address this issue, authors have typically explored the cross-linguistic Gender Congruency Effect (GCE: a facilitation on the naming or translation of second language [L2] nouns when their first language [L1] translations are of the same gender, in comparison to those of a different gender). However, the literature suggests that this effect is sometimes difficult to observe and might vary as a function of variables such as the syntactic structure produced to translate or name the target (bare nouns vs. noun phrases), the phonological gender transparency of both languages (whether or not they have phonological gender cues associated with the ending letter [e.g., āāaā for feminine words and āāoā for masculine words in Romance languages]), the degree of L2 proficiency, and task requirements (naming vs. translation). The aim of the present quantitative meta-analysis is to examine the robustness of the cross-linguistic GCE obtained during language production. It involves 25 experiments from 11 studies. The results support a bilingual gender-integrated view, in that they show a small but significant GC effect regardless of the variables mentioned above.This paper was funded through the state budget with reference IF / 00784/2013 / CP1158 / CT0013. The study has also been partially supported by the FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). Government of SpaināMinistry of Education, Culture and Sportsāthrough the Training program for Academic Staff (Ayudas para la FormaciĆ³n del Profesorado Universitario, FPU grant BOE-B-2017-2646), the research project (reference PSI2015-65116-P) granted by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the grant for research groups (reference ED431B 2019/2020) from the Galician Government, as well as by the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal) through the state budget (reference IF / 00784/2013 / CP1158 / CT0013). Finally, the study has also been partially supported by the FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653
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