Using fMRI in experimental philosophy: Exploring the prospects

This chapter analyses the prospects of using neuroimaging methods, in particular functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), for philosophical purposes. To do so, it will use two case studies from the field of emotion research: Greene et al. (2001) used fMRI to uncover the mental processes underlying moral intuitions, while Lindquist et al. (2012) used fMRI to inform the debate around the nature of a specific mental process, namely, emotion. These studies illustrate two main approaches in cognitive neuroscience: Reverse inference and ontology testing, respectively. With regards to Greene et al.’s study, the use of Neurosynth (Yarkoni 2011) will show that the available formulations of reverse inference, although viable a priori, seem to be of limited use in practice. On the other hand, the discussion of Lindquist et al.’s study will present the so far neglected potential of ontology-testing approaches to inform philosophical questions

Origen del Alineamiento Submarino de Pascua: morfología y lineamientos estructurales

Indexación: Web of Science; Scielo.ABSTRACT. The Easter submarine alignment corresponds to a sequence of seamounts and oceanic islands which runs from the Ahu-Umu volcanic fields in the west to its intersection with the Nazca Ridge in the east, with a total length of about 2.900 km and a strike of N85°E. Recent bathymetric compilations that include combined satellite derived and shipboard data (Global Topography) and multibeam bathymetric data (from NGDC-NOAA) are interpreted both qualitatively and quantitatively by using a morphological analysis, which was comprised of the determination of bathymetric patterns, trends in lineations and structures; height measurements, computation of basal areas and volumes of seamounts, in order to establish clues on the origin of this seamount chain and to establish relationships with the regional tectonics. In the study region 514 seamounts were counted, of which 334 had a basal area less than the reference seamount (Moai). In general, the largest seamounts (>1000 m in height) tend to align and to have a larger volume, with an elongation of their bases along the seamount chain. On the other hand, smaller seamounts tend to be distributed more randomly with more circular bases. As a consequence of the morphological analysis, the best possible mechanism that explains the origin of the seamount chain is the existence of a localized hotspot to the west of the Salas y Gómez Island. The corresponding plume would contribute additional magmatic material towards the East Pacific Rise through canalizations, whose secondary branches would feed intermediate volcanoes. It is possible that within the Easter Island region there would be another minor contribution through fractures in the crust, due to the crustal weakening that was produced by the Easter Fracture Zone.RESUMEN. El alineamiento submarino de Pascua es un cordón de montes submarinos e islas que comprende, por el W, desde los campos volcánicos Ahu-Umu y, hasta el E, su intersección con la elevación de Nazca, con una extensión total de ca. 2900 km y un rumbo de ~N85°E. Compilaciones recientes de batimetría que incluyen datos derivados de satélites y obtenidos por buques (Global Topography) y datos batimétricos de ecosondas multihaz (NGDC-NOAA), se interpretaron cualitativa y cuantitativamente mediante análisis morfológico que consistió en la determinación de patrones batimétricos; tendencias de los lineamientos y estructuras; mediciones de alturas, áreas basales y cálculo de volúmenes de montes submarinos; para establecer indicios sobre el origen del alineamiento y asociaciones con la tectónica regional. Se contabilizaron 514 montes submarinos en la región de estudio, de los cuales 334 tuvieron un área basal menor que el monte de referencia (Moai). En general, los montes más grandes (>1000 m de altura) tienden a alinearse y a tener un mayor volumen, con un alargamiento de sus bases en el sentido de la tendencia, en cambio los menores, tienden a distribuirse más aleatoriamente, siendo sus bases más redondeadas. Como consecuencia del análisis morfológico, el mejor mecanismo que explicaría el origen de las cadenas volcánicas, sería por la existencia de un punto caliente localizado al W de la isla Salas y Gómez. Esta pluma también aportaría material magmático adicional hacia la dorsal del Pacífico oriental a través de canalizaciones, cuyas ramas secundarias alimentarían volcanes intermedios. Es posible que en el área de la Isla de Pascua exista otro aporte menor por fracturas de la corteza dado el debilitamiento cortical que produjo la Zona de Fractura de Pascua.http://ref.scielo.org/sdjcy

Do People Think Consciousness Poses a Hard Problem?: Empirical Evidence on the Meta-Problem of Consciousness

In a recent paper in this journal, David Chalmers introduced the meta-problem of consciousness as “the problem of explaining why we think consciousness poses a hard problem” (Chalmers, 2018, p. 6). A solution to the meta-problem could shed light on the hard problem of consciousness. In particular, it would be relevant to elucidate whether people’s problem intuitions (i.e. intuitions holding that conscious experience cannot be reduced to physical processes) are driven by factors related to the nature of consciousness, or rather by factors that are independent of consciousness. Whether people hold problem intuitions, and what factors drive those intuitions, are largely empirical questions. However, there is a lack of empirical research on these issues to date. The results of four studies will show that (1) problem intuitions are not widespread, and (2) when they arise, they do so because of factors that are unrelated to the nature of consciousness. This suggests that consciousness is, after all, not so problematic

SOLID STATE MORPHOLOGY AND SIZE TUNING OF NANOSTRUCTURED PLATINUM USING MACROMOLECULAR COMPLEXES

Indexación: Web of Science; Scielo.The macromolecular complexes Chitosan●(PtCl2)n and PSP-co-4-PVP●(PtCl2)n, were prepared from the respective polymer and PtCl2 in metal:polymer molar ratios 1:1 and 1:5. Pyrolisis of the macromolecular complexes Chitosan●(PtCl2)n and PSP-co-4-PVP●(PtCl2)n at 800 °C under air affords cubic nanostructured Pt in the pure phase. The morphology of the pyrolityc products depends on the molar metal:polymer ratio; i.e. a "cotton" 3D shape for the 1:1 ratio and a 'foamy" 3D shape for the 1:5 ratio. On the other hand, the particle size depends on the polymer nature, obtaining Pt nanoparticles as small as 6 nm for the chitosan precursors in both molar ratio.http://ref.scielo.org/8p5h2

Youth and public policies of digital inclusion in argentina: new practices of communication and socialization in a province of frontera

Desde el año 2010 en Argentina se vienen implementando políticas públicas de comunicación e inclusión digital, ante esto, se reflexiona a partir de los usos y apropiaciones que hacen los jóvenes de las Tecnologías de la Información y la comunicación (TIC) que viven en la comunidad rural de El Fuerte, departamento Santa Bárbara, provincia de Jujuy. Teniendo en cuenta el impacto social y cultural que tienen las políticas sociales de inclusión digital destinadas a disminuir las brechas de acceso, como el Programa Conectar Igualdad (PCI) que tiene sus orígenes en el año 2010 y el Plan Federal de Internet reorganizado en el año 2016. Esto permitió, que estudiantes de muchas de las escuelas que funcionan en contextos geográficos rurales sean destinatarios de una computadora (netbook) y la posibilidad de conectividad a Internet satelital en el establecimiento educativo y espacios públicos de las comunidades destinatarias de estas políticas, lo que modificó muchas de las prácticas cotidianas de las juventudes.Since 2010, in Argentina, public policies for communication and digital inclusion have been implemented, reflecting on the uses and appropriations made by young people in Information Technology and communication in the rural community of El Fuerte, Santa Bárbara department, province of Jujuy. Taking into account the social and cultural impact of social inclusion policies aimed at reducing access gaps, such as the Programa Conectar Igualdad (PCI), which has its origins in 2010 and the Federal Internet Plan reorganized in the year 2016. This allowed students from many of the schools operating in rural geographic contexts to be recipients of a netbook and the possibility of satellite internet connectivity in the educational establishment and public spaces of the target communities of these policies. Which modified many of the daily practices of youth

Les dommages causés par un membre indéterminé d’un groupe et sa possible réception dans le Droit Civile Chilienne

El artículo aborda el daño causado por el miembro indeterminado de un grupo y propone una posible aplicación en el ordenamiento jurídico chileno, tomando en consideración que el Código Civil no lo contempla dentro de sus normas destinadasa la responsabilidad extracontractual. Con ese objetivo, se analizan, en primer lugar, las principales propuestas de la doctrina científica, especialmente extranjera. A continuación, se revisa la situación de esta forma de daño en el Derecho Comparado, especialmente en los ordenamientos jurídicos europeos que lo acogen. Finalmente, se propone un mecanismo de integración del vacío que se observa en la legislación chilena, justificando la reparación de este daño a partir de diversas disposiciones contenidas en el propio Código Civil y en otros textos legales.The article is about the damage caused by an unidentified member of a group. The author proposes a possible implementation of this damage on the Chilean legal system, taking into account that the Civil Code does not include it among itsnon-contractual liability rules. With this aim, the main academic opinions - foreign most of them - are analyzed in the first place. Next, the situation of this damage in Comparative Law is reviewed, especially in the European legal systems that include it. Last, a mechanism to fill the gap observed on Chilean law is proposed, justifying the reparation of this damage on the basis of several norms of the Civil Code itself and other legal texts.L’article discute les dommages causés par un membre indéterminé d’un groupe et propose une application possible dans le droit chilien, en prenant en considération le fait que le Code Civil ne pas couvre cette question dans leurs règles de la responsabilité. À cette fin, nous analysons d’abord les principales propositions de la doctrine scientifique, en particulier étranger. Nous passons en revue l’état de cette forme de dommage en droit comparé, dans les systèmes juridiques européens qui les accueillent. Enfin, nous proposons un mécanisme d’intégration de l’écart observé dans la législation chilienne et que justifique la réparation de ces dommages avec une nouvelle interpretation de diverses dispositions du Code Civil lui-même et d’autres lois

Cosmonauts of the future: transhousing experiences for post-welfare times

[Resumen] En el contexto posterior a la crisis inmobiliaria de 2008 se ha renovado el interés en modelos de vivienda alternativos y colectivos, mientras se mantiene cierta incomprensión mutua entre la disciplina arquitectónica y las experiencias reales de vivienda radicalmente diferentes. Ante esta situación, este artículo recorre la tradición formada por las experiencias que, entre la comuna y la covivienda, han intentado transitar hacia formas antiautoritarias de alojamiento humano, deteniéndose en los casos particularmente longevos y exitosos que arrancaron en los países nórdicos en los años setenta. De su estudio se propone el concepto de transvivienda como herramienta para reinterpretar los antiguos ensayos del futuro y ayudar a que los nuevos casos puedan cumplir su objetivo de transformarse en pasados de un mejor porvernir.[Abstract] There has been a renewal of public interest in alternative and collective housing models in the post-2008 real estate crisis context. However, it remains a certain mutual incomprehension between the architectural discipline and the radically different housing experiences. Thereupon, this article traces the tradition of practices that, between commune and cohousing, have tried to move towards anti-authoritarian forms of human accommodation, focusing in the particularly long-lasting and successful cases that arose in the seventies in the Nordic countries. From their study, the concept of tranhousing is suggested as a tool both to reinterpret the old experiments of the future, and to help the new attempts to achieve their goal of becoming the past of a better future

The Memory Works: Between Monuments and Ruins, The Case of Contemporary Budapest

This review article argues that Benjamin’s project to  construct a political explanation of the surrounding cultural world in developed capitalist societies, raised to a source of knowledge about the historical truth, finds an unmatched case of study in the contemporary ruinous urban nature of Budapest. Departing from the park of statues Memento Park, some urban features of the city are examined in the light of Benjamin’s semantics of the fragment to try to answer whether these thoughts apply to the discarded material world of our time. Could the already-there in Budapest provide a motivational basis for a reconstruction of the surrounding material world from the fragments of the past? The local phenomenon of romkocsma is addressed to wonder whether re-use of ruins could house this emancipatory potential or serve the interests of the hegemonic groups and the contemporary dominant discourse

El sector productor de carne bovina brasileño en un contexto nacional e internacional : un enfoque desde la gestión de la cadena de abastecimento (SCM)

The study of regional competitiveness of agricultural markets stresses the importance of market dynamics into a Supply Chain Management (SCM) framework. The aim of this paper was to carry out a descriptive analysis of the Brazilian beef meat sector focusing on the role of inter-firm collaboration as a source of value-added and competitive strength into the MERCOSUR context. It was applied two conceptual frameworks. The first one developed by Lambert and Cooper (2000) focus on an integration of the SCM and the second, proposed by Obersojer and Weindlmaier (2008) focus on an Efficient Consumer Response (ECR). From the first approach, it was identified structural problems that limit the integration of the SCM process of this sector, mainly due to difficulties to implement quality and safety standards due to its regional diversification. From the second, we concluded that distrust in the relationship between processing companies and retailers and a lack of strategic consumer orientation were the main obstacles for subsequent implementation of an ECR framework in the beef meat sector. Finally, it is desirable a management structure that enforces the capability of the different areas to increase the coordinating level among its respective chains. Keywords • • • Brazil • MERCOSUR • • • Brasil • MERCOSUREl estudio de la competitividad regional es de fundamental importancia para analizar la dinámica de los mercados agrícolas. El objetivo de este artículo fue realizar un análisis descriptivo del sector brasileño de carne bovina focalizado en el rol de la cooperación entre empresas y unidades productivas como fuente de valor agregado y fuerza competitiva en el contexto del MERCOSUR. Fueron aplicados dos modelos conceptuales. El primero, desarrollado por Lambert y Cooper (2000) focalizado en la integración de la cadena de abastecimento (SCM) y el segundo propuesto por Obersojer y Weindlmaier (2008) focalizado en la Respuesta Eficiente al Consumidor (ECR). Para el primer enfoque fueron identificados problemas estructurales que limitan la integración del proceso de SCM en este sector, principalmente debido a las dificultades en la implementación de padrones de calidad, seguridad y diversificación regional. Para el segundo se concluye que la desconfianza en la relación entre las firmas de procesamiento y retail, además de la falta de estrategia de orientación al consumidor son los principales obstáculos para la implementación de un cuadro de ECR en el sector de carne bovina. Finalmente, se sugiere una estructura de gestión empresarial que promueva la capacidad operativa y nivel de coordinación entre las respectivas áreas productivas y cadenas de abastecimento.Fil: Valdés, Rodrigo. Universidad de Talca (Chile)Fil: Díaz Osorio, José. Universidad de Talca (Chile

PASTIS: Bayesian extrasolar planet validation. I. General framework, models, and performance

A large fraction of the smallest transiting planet candidates discovered by the Kepler and CoRoT space missions cannot be confirmed by a dynamical measurement of the mass using currently available observing facilities. To establish their planetary nature, the concept of planet validation has been advanced. This technique compares the probability of the planetary hypothesis against that of all reasonably conceivable alternative false-positive (FP) hypotheses. The candidate is considered as validated if the posterior probability of the planetary hypothesis is sufficiently larger than the sum of the probabilities of all FP scenarios. In this paper, we present PASTIS, the Planet Analysis and Small Transit Investigation Software, a tool designed to perform a rigorous model comparison of the hypotheses involved in the problem of planet validation, and to fully exploit the information available in the candidate light curves. PASTIS self-consistently models the transit light curves and follow-up observations. Its object-oriented structure offers a large flexibility for defining the scenarios to be compared. The performance is explored using artificial transit light curves of planets and FPs with a realistic error distribution obtained from a Kepler light curve. We find that data support for the correct hypothesis is strong only when the signal is high enough (transit signal-to-noise ratio above 50 for the planet case) and remains inconclusive otherwise. PLATO shall provide transits with high enough signal-to-noise ratio, but to establish the true nature of the vast majority of Kepler and CoRoT transit candidates additional data or strong reliance on hypotheses priors is needed.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 23 pages, 11 figure