Philosophy, Sex and Feminism

The central aim of this paper is to argue that sex is an important area of study for philosophers, and that the present vitality of the philosophy of sex stems largely from the contributions of feminist thinkers. "Sex" refers to three distinct areas: gender sex, erotic sex, and sexual politics. In all these areas, prejudice and habit create difficulties in discussing sex; underlying those prejudices are some traditional models of the person in which sexuality threatens the real self. Feminist philosophy of sexuality involves critiques of those models, and of various forms of gender with them.Le but principal de cet exposé est de faire valoir l’importance pour les philosophes, des problèmes de la philosophie de la sexualité, et particulièrement de la pensée féministe en ce domaine. “Sexualité” désigne trois domaines distincts: la division des sexes, l’érotisme, et les aspects politiques. Dans les trois domaines, les préjugés rendent difficiles la pensée aussi bien que le discours. Derrière ces préjugés, il y a des conceptions traditionnelles de la personne qui opposent la sexualité et le moi authentique. La philosophie féministe de la sexualité fait la critique de tels modèles, ainsi que de plusieurs formes d’essentialisme qui s’y rattachent

Restoring emotion\u27s bad rep: the moral randomness of norms

Despite the fact that common sense taxes emotions with irrationality, philosophers have, by and large, celebrated their functionality. They are credited with motivating, steadying, shaping or harmonizing our dispositions to act, and with policing norms of social behaviour. It\u27s time to restore emotion\u27s bad rep. To this end, I shall argue that we should expect that some of the “norms” enforced by emotions will be unevenly distributed among the members of our species, and may be dysfunctional at the individual, social, moral, or even species levels. I”ll adduce three considerations in support of that pessimistic view: The fallacy of adaptive fixation, the moral randomness of group selection, and the lack of fit between “natural norms” set up by evolution and those moral and social norms we would like philosophy to justify

Dielectrophoresis: A Review of Applications for Stem Cell Research

Dielectrophoresis can discriminate distinct cellular identities in heterogeneous populations, and monitor cell state changes associated with activation and clonal expansion, apoptosis, and necrosis, without the need for biochemical labels. Demonstrated capabilities include the enrichment of haematopoetic stem cells from bone marrow and peripheral blood, and adult stem cells from adipose tissue. Recent research suggests that this technique can predict the ultimate fate of neural stem cells after differentiation before the appearance of specific cell-surface proteins. This review summarises the properties of cells that contribute to their dielectrophoretic behaviour, and their relevance to stem cell research and translational applications

Lobster (Panulirus argus) captures and their relation with environmental variables obtained by orbital sensors for Cuban waters (1997-2005)

Dados de captura da lagosta Panulirus argus na plataforma cubana foram comparados com concentrações de clorofila (Chl a) e valores de Temperatura de Superfície do Mar (TSM) obtidos pelos sensores Sea Viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (SeaWIFS) e Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), respectivamente. Uma análise de correlação cruzada foi realizada entre as anomalias padronizadas das variáveis ambientais (Chl a e TSM) e as anomalias padronizadas de capturas da lagosta para cada zona de pesca no período 1997-2005. Para as águas profundas adjacentes às zonas de pesca não foi observada uma sazonalidade evidente da Chl a. De forma geral, os menores valores de Chl a ocorreram ao sul da Ilha. Na maioria das zonas de pesca, a captura da lagosta apresentou os maiores coeficientes de correlação com valores de Chl a com defasagem de dois e três anos. Já em relação à análise com dados de TSM, os coeficientes de correlação cruzada apresentaram valores significativos apenas a partir de uma defasagem de 1,5 anos para praticamente todas as zonas de pesca. Neste estudo confirma-se que, em águas cubanas, correlações cruzadas significativas entre estas duas variáveis ambientais medidas por satélite e as capturas da lagosta espinhosa ocorrem principalmente durante o ciclo de vida planctônico desta espécie.Chlorophyll concentrations (Chl a) data obtained from the Sea Viewing Wide Field of View Sensor (SeaWIFS) ocean color monthly images, Sea Surface Temperature (SST) pathfinder data obtained from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors, and lobster (Panulirus argus) captures at the Cuban shelf were examined in order to analyze their spatial and temporal variability. A cross-correlation analysis was made between the standardized anomalies of the environmental variables (Chl a and SST) and the standardized anomalies of lobster captures for each fishery zones for the period between 1997 and 2005. For the deep waters adjacent to the fishing zones it was not observed a clear Chl a seasonality and on average the lowest values occurred south of the Island. It is with the three years lag that Chl a had the greatest numbers of significant correlation coefficients for almost all fishing zones. However, the cross-correlation coefficients with SST showed higher values with 1,5 year lag at all zones. Since the two environmental variables obtained by satellite sensors (SST and Chl a) influence the lobsters mainly during the planktonic life cycle, the cross-correlation with lobster captures begin to show significant indexes with lags of 1.5 years or more

Dielectrophoresis based discrimination of human embryonic stem cells from differentiating derivatives

Assessment of the dielectrophoresis(DEP) cross-over frequency (f xo), cell diameter, and derivative membranecapacitance (C m) values for a group of undifferentiated human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines (H1, H9, RCM1, RH1), and for a transgenic subclone of H1 (T8) revealed that hESC lines could not be discriminated on their mean f xo and C m values, the latter of which ranged from 14 to 20 mF/m2. Differentiation of H1 and H9 to a mesenchymal stem cell-like phenotype resulted in similar significant increases in mean C m values to 41–49 mF/m2 in both lines (p < 0.0001). BMP4-induced differentiation of RCM1 to a trophoblast cell-like phenotype also resulted in a distinct and significant increase in mean C m value to 28 mF/m2 (p < 0.0001). The progressive transition to a higher membranecapacitance was also evident after each passage of cell culture as H9 cells transitioned to a mesenchymal stem cell-like state induced by growth on a substrate of hyaluronan. These findings confirm the existence of distinctive parameters between undifferentiated and differentiating cells on which future application of dielectrophoresis in the context of hESC manufacturing can be based

Clasificación de los dominios magnéticos del sur de Perú a través de la aplicación de SOM al modelo del vector de magnetización

An important concentration of Cu-Mo porphyry deposits is located in the Paleocene-Eocene and Superior Cretaceous belts from Southern Peru. The study area has approximately 130x33 kilometers in the NW-SE direction located between 71° • 69"5' Longitude West and 16° - 17°3' Latitude South. The purpose of this work was to use the existing airborne magnetic data from the Multinational Andean Project (MAP) acquired in 2000-2001 to characterize and differentiate the magnetic anomalies. To accomplish it, we have created and used thematic maps, Magnetization Vector lnversion (MVI) and Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) applied to the MVI results lo automatically classify the anomalies. The need to find new copper deposits in the country, many of them being under cover highlight the importance of using !hose tools to analyze the characteristic of the known deposits and use them to identify new targets with similar characteristics for further investigation