Introduction: Examined Live – An Epistemological Exchange Between Philosophy and Cultural Psychology on Reflection

Besides the general agreement about the human capability of reflection, there is a large area of disagreement and debate about the nature and value of “reflective scrutiny” and the role of “second-order states” in everyday life. This problem has been discussed in a vast and heterogeneous literature about topics such as epistemic injustice, epistemic norms, agency, understanding, meta-cognition etc. However, there is not yet any extensive and interdisciplinary work, specifically focused on the topic of the epistemic value of reflection. This volume is one of the first attempts aimed at providing an innovative contribution, an exchange between philosophy, epistemology and psychology about the place and value of reflection in everyday life. Our goal in the next sections is not to offer an exhaustive overview of recent work on epistemic reflection, nor to mimic all of the contributions made by the chapters in this volume. We will try to highlight some topics that have motivated a new resumption of this field and, with that, drawing on chapters from this volume where relevant. Two elements defined the scope and content of this volume, on the one hand, the crucial contribution of Ernest Sosa, whose works provide original and thought-provoking contributions to contemporary epistemology in setting a new direction for old dilemmas about the nature and value of knowledge, giving a central place to reflection. On the other hand, the recent developments of cultural psychology, in the version of the “Aalborg approach”, reconsider the object and scope of psychological sciences, stressing that “[h]uman conduct is purposeful”

Aspecto bacteriológico do leite caprino no estado da Paraíba: estudo de casos.

Resumo: Objetivou-se avaliar o perfil bacteriano do leite caprino associado à aplicação de práticas higiênicas utilizando o kit de ordenha manual desenvolvido pela Embrapa Caprinos e Ovinos em Unidades Produtoras (UP) selecionadas no semiárido paraibano. As coletas do leite foram feitas diretamente do latão de cada propriedade após a ordenha durante três dias consecutivos. As amostras de leite foram acondicionadas em frascos plásticos contendo o conservante Azidiol® e enviadas ao laboratório da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco em Recife - PE para a Contagem Bacteriana Total (CBT). Observou-se que antes da utilização do Kit apenas 25,0% das UP apresentaram CBT dentro do limite estipulado pela Instrução Normativa nº 37 do Ministério da Agricultura Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA) de 500.000 UFC/mL. Após sua aplicação, esse número foi para 70,8% demonstrando eficácia dessas práticas para a melhoria da qualidade do leite produzido. A aplicação do Kit Embrapa de Ordenha Manual® para Caprinos Leiteiros durante o processo da ordenha poderá garantir uma melhor qualidade bacteriológica do leite contribuindo para inserção do produtor na cadeia produtiva oferecendo um produto que atenda ao mercado consumidor. Abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the bacterial profile of goat milk associated with the application of Good Agricultural Pratices using the kit developed by Embrapa for hand milking goats and sheep in Productive Units (PU) selected in the semiarid region of Paraíba. The milk samples were taken directly from the churn of each property after milking for three consecutive days. Milk samples were stored in plastic bottles containing the preservative Azidiol® and sent to the laboratory of the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco in Recife - PE for Total Bacterial Count (CBT). It was observed that prior to using the kit only 25.0% of PU had CBT within the limits stipulated by the Normative Instruction 37 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) of 500,000 CFU/mL. After its application, there was a reduction to 70.8% demonstrating the efficacy of these practices to improve the quality of milk produced. Implementation of the Embrapa Kit® for Dairy Goats during the milking process can ensure a better bacteriological quality of milk contributing producer inclusion into the production chain by offering a product that fits the consumer market

A functional-cognitive framework for attitude research

In attitude research, behaviours are often used as proxies for attitudes and attitudinal processes. This practice is problematic because it conflates the behaviours that need to be explained (explanandum) with the mental constructs that are used to explain these behaviours (explanans). In the current chapter we propose a meta-theoretical framework that resolves this problem by distinguishing between two levels of analysis. According to the proposed framework, attitude research can be conceptualised as the scientific study of evaluation. Evaluation is defined not in terms of mental constructs but in terms of elements in the environment, more specifically, as the effect of stimuli on evaluative responses. From this perspective, attitude research provides answers to two questions: (1) Which elements in the environment moderate evaluation? (2) What mental processes and representations mediate evaluation? Research on the first question provides explanations of evaluative responses in terms of elements in the environment (functional level of analysis); research on the second question offers explanations of evaluation in terms of mental processes and representations (cognitive level of analysis). These two levels of analysis are mutually supportive, in that better explanations at one level lead to better explanations at the other level. However, their mutually supportive relation requires a clear distinction between the concepts of their explanans and explanandum, which are conflated if behaviours are treated as proxies for mental constructs. The value of this functional-cognitive framework is illustrated by applying it to four central questions of attitude research

Social Cohesion, Structural Holes, and a Tale of Two Measures

EMBARGOED - author can archive pre-print or post-print on any open access repository after 12 months from publication. Publication date is May 2013 so embargoed until May 2014.This is an author’s accepted manuscript (deposited at arXiv arXiv:1211.0719v2 [physics.soc-ph] ), which was subsequently published in Journal of Statistical Physics May 2013, Volume 151, Issue 3-4, pp 745-764. The final publication is available at link.springer.com http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10955-013-0722-

Annihilation of low energy antiprotons in silicon

The goal of the AE$\mathrm{\bar{g}}$IS experiment at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) at CERN, is to measure directly the Earth's gravitational acceleration on antimatter. To achieve this goal, the AE$\mathrm{\bar{g}}$IS collaboration will produce a pulsed, cold (100 mK) antihydrogen beam with a velocity of a few 100 m/s and measure the magnitude of the vertical deflection of the beam from a straight path. The final position of the falling antihydrogen will be detected by a position sensitive detector. This detector will consist of an active silicon part, where the annihilations take place, followed by an emulsion part. Together, they allow to achieve 1$$ precision on the measurement of $\bar{g}$ with about 600 reconstructed and time tagged annihilations. We present here, to the best of our knowledge, the first direct measurement of antiproton annihilation in a segmented silicon sensor, the first step towards designing a position sensitive silicon detector for the AE$\mathrm{\bar{g}}$IS experiment. We also present a first comparison with Monte Carlo simulations (GEANT4) for antiproton energies below 5 MeVComment: 21 pages in total, 29 figures, 3 table

Prospects for measuring the gravitational free-fall of antihydrogen with emulsion detectors

The main goal of the AEgIS experiment at CERN is to test the weak equivalence principle for antimatter. AEgIS will measure the free-fall of an antihydrogen beam traversing a moir\'e deflectometer. The goal is to determine the gravitational acceleration g for antihydrogen with an initial relative accuracy of 1% by using an emulsion detector combined with a silicon micro-strip detector to measure the time of flight. Nuclear emulsions can measure the annihilation vertex of antihydrogen atoms with a precision of about 1 - 2 microns r.m.s. We present here results for emulsion detectors operated in vacuum using low energy antiprotons from the CERN antiproton decelerator. We compare with Monte Carlo simulations, and discuss the impact on the AEgIS project.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, 3 table