scholarly journals Motor Skill and Moral Virtue

2017 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 139-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Fridland

AbstractVirtue ethicists often appeal to practical skill as a way of understanding the nature of virtue. An important commitment of a skill account of virtue is that virtue is learned through practice and not through study, memorization, or reflection alone. In what follows, I will argue that virtue ethicists have only given us half the story. In particular, in focusing on outputs, or on the right actions or responses to moral situations, virtue ethicists have overlooked a crucial facet of virtue: namely, that through practice, virtuous agents develop a cache of perceptual skills that allow them to attend to, detect, and identify the relevant features of a perceptual array, the selection of which is central to recognizing and categorizing a situation as a moral situation of a particular type. In order to support this claim, I will appeal to empirical studies of motor expertise, which show that an expert's capacity to attend to and recognize relevant perceptual inputs differs in important respects from the layperson's. Specifically, I will argue that performing the right action in the right circumstances improves an agent's ability to attend to and identify the morally relevant features of a moral situation.

2021 ◽  
pp. 296-318
Author(s):  
Sybilla Daković

The Croatian protiv preposition is a rare preposition with a complementary genitive case government. Although lexicographical sources note the spatial and non-spatial meanings of this preposition, empirical studies only confirm the meanings from the abstract domain of adversativeness, i.e. expressing the opposite position, contradiction, disagreement with something, limiting, counteracting or protecting against something. The task that we set for ourselves in this work is to determine the resource of the Polish translation equivalents of the Croatian protiv preposition. The analysis will be carried out on a parallel corpus excerpted from contemporary Croatian literature written in 20th and 21st centuries and respective Polish translations. The work will use the method of translation equivalence, belonging to comparative linguistics methodology. The study will consist of two parts. The first part will determine the meanings of the protiv preposition present in the built corpus and the right and left side environment of this preposition will be examined. The second part will be dedicated to equivalence. A resource of Polish equivalents will be presented and their lexical, grammatical and semantic features will be determined. Similarities and differences in the expression of similar content in both languages will be indicated and an attempt will be made to determine the translator’s selection of factors for individual equivalents, e.g. in the form of limitations in the right and left side environment, shade of meaning or stylistic value. The statistical analysis will be an important element of the study, which in addition to the semantic characteristics will help determine the main Polish equivalent of the Croatian protiv preposition. The conducted study can be used in the lexicographic practice, didactics and translation.


Author(s):  
Яна Валерьевна Самиулина

В настоящей статье предпринята попытка исследовать отдельные проблемные аспекты института потерпевшего в российском уголовном процессе. В этих целях подвергнуты анализу правовые нормы, регламентирующие его процессуальный статус. Раскрываются отдельные пробелы уголовно-процессуального законодательства в сфере защиты законных прав и интересов потерпевшего. Автор акцентирует внимание на том, что совершенствование уголовно-процессуального законодательства в части расширения правомочий потерпевшего по отстаиванию своих нарушенных преступлением прав следует продолжить. На основании проведенного исследования действующего законодательства в части регламентации прав потерпевшего от преступления предлагается расширить перечень получаемых им копий постановлений, указанных в п. 13 ч. 2 ст. 42 УПК РФ. Автор предлагает включить в перечень указанной законодательной нормы право получения потерпевшим копии постановления об избрании конкретного вида меры пресечения, избранного в отношении подозреваемого (обвиняемого). Для создания действенного механизма защиты интересов потерпевших от преступления юридических лиц предлагаем ч. 9 ст. 42 УПК РФ изложить в следующей редакции: «в случае признания потерпевшим юридического лица его процессуальное право в уголовном процессе осуществляет представляющий его профессиональный адвокат». This article attempts to investigate certain problematic aspects of the institution of the victim in the Russian criminal process. For this purpose, analyzed the individual norms governing his procedural status. Separate gaps of the criminal procedure legislation in the sphere of protection of the legal rights and interests of the victim are disclosed. The author emphasizes that the improvement of the criminal procedure legislation in terms of the extension of the victim’s authority to defend his rights violated by the crime should be continued. On the basis of the study of the current legislation regarding the regulation of the rights of the victim of a crime, it is proposed to expand the list of decisions received by him, referred to in paragraph 13, part 2 of article 42 Code of Criminal Procedure. The author proposes to include in the list of the indicated legislative norm the right to receive the victim a copy of the decision on the selection of a specific type of preventive measure, selected in relation to the suspect (accused). To create an effective mechanism for protecting the interests of legal entities victims of a crime, we offer part 9 of art. 42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation shall be reworded as follows: «if a legal entity is recognized as a victim, his procedural right in criminal proceedings is exercised by the professional lawyer representing him».


Toxins ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Colin Eady

For 30 years, forage ryegrass breeding has known that the germplasm may contain a maternally inherited symbiotic Epichloë endophyte. These endophytes produce a suite of secondary alkaloid compounds, dependent upon strain. Many produce ergot and other alkaloids, which are associated with both insect deterrence and livestock health issues. The levels of alkaloids and other endophyte characteristics are influenced by strain, host germplasm, and environmental conditions. Some strains in the right host germplasm can confer an advantage over biotic and abiotic stressors, thus acting as a maternally inherited desirable ‘trait’. Through seed production, these mutualistic endophytes do not transmit into 100% of the crop seed and are less vigorous than the grass seed itself. This causes stability and longevity issues for seed production and storage should the ‘trait’ be desired in the germplasm. This makes understanding the precise nature of the relationship vitally important to the plant breeder. These Epichloë endophytes cannot be ‘bred’ in the conventional sense, as they are asexual. Instead, the breeder may modulate endophyte characteristics through selection of host germplasm, a sort of breeding by proxy. This article explores, from a forage seed company perspective, the issues that endophyte characteristics and breeding them by proxy have on ryegrass breeding, and outlines the methods used to assess the ‘trait’, and the application of these through the breeding, production, and deployment processes. Finally, this article investigates opportunities for enhancing the utilisation of alkaloid-producing endophytes within pastures, with a focus on balancing alkaloid levels to further enhance pest deterrence and improving livestock outcomes.


2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 512-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Floyer-Lea ◽  
P. M. Matthews

The acquisition of a new motor skill is characterized first by a short-term, fast learning stage in which performance improves rapidly, and subsequently by a long-term, slower learning stage in which additional performance gains are incremental. Previous functional imaging studies have suggested that distinct brain networks mediate these two stages of learning, but direct comparisons using the same task have not been performed. Here we used a task in which subjects learn to track a continuous 8-s sequence demanding variable isometric force development between the fingers and thumb of the dominant, right hand. Learning-associated changes in brain activation were characterized using functional MRI (fMRI) during short-term learning of a novel sequence, during short-term learning after prior, brief exposure to the sequence, and over long-term (3 wk) training in the task. Short-term learning was associated with decreases in activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, posterior parietal, primary motor, and cerebellar cortex, and with increased activation in the right cerebellar dentate nucleus, the left putamen, and left thalamus. Prefrontal, parietal, and cerebellar cortical changes were not apparent with short-term learning after prior exposure to the sequence. With long-term learning, increases in activity were found in the left primary somatosensory and motor cortex and in the right putamen. Our observations extend previous work suggesting that distinguishable networks are recruited during the different phases of motor learning. While short-term motor skill learning seems associated primarily with activation in a cortical network specific for the learned movements, long-term learning involves increased activation of a bihemispheric cortical-subcortical network in a pattern suggesting “plastic” development of new representations for both motor output and somatosensory afferent information.


1984 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 1007-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Brizzolara ◽  
Anna Maria Chilosi ◽  
Gianni Luigi De Nobili ◽  
Giovanni Ferretti

Evidence for normal development of linguistic but poor visuo-perceptual skills has been obtained with the neuropsychological assessment of a case of early left-brain injury. Data suggest the transfer of linguistic functions from the left to the right hemisphere at the expense of visuo-perceptual capacities for which the right hemisphere is potentially specialized.


Author(s):  
H. Ensaff

Populations' diets typically fall short of recommendations. The implication of this on ill health and quality of life is well established, as are the subsequent health care costs. An area of growing interest within public health nutrition is food choice architecture; how a food choice is framed and its influence on subsequent food selection. In particular, there is an appeal to manipulating the choice architecture in order to nudge individuals' food choice. This review outlines the current understanding of food choice architecture, theoretical background to nudging and the evidence on the effectiveness of nudge strategies, as well as their design and implementation. Interventions emphasising the role of nudge strategies have investigated changes to the accessibility, availability and presentation of food and the use of prompts. Empirical studies have been conducted in laboratories, online and in real-world food settings, and with different populations. Evidence on the effectiveness of nudge strategies in shifting food choice is encouraging. Underpinning mechanisms, not yet fully explicated, are proposed to relate to salience, social norms and the principle of least effort. Emerging evidence points to areas for development including the effectiveness of choice architecture interventions with different and diverse populations, and the combined effect of multiple nudges. This, alongside further examination of theoretical mechanisms and guidance to engage and inspire across the breadth of food provision, is critical. In this way, the potential of choice architecture to effect meaningful change in populations' diets will be realised.


2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (1) ◽  
pp. 4955-4961
Author(s):  
Mathieu Gontier ◽  
Barbara Romeyns

In industry segments such as automotive and industrial equipment the use of compressed porous materials is well known to improve the global acoustic performance of the complete system. Such porous materials should be designed in a specific way in order to reach a significant acoustic sealing performance at different compression rates. Unfortunately, there are no standard measurement procedures nor predefined material characteristics that allow the selection of the right material with the optimal acoustic performance. The main goal of this research is to link acoustic performance of compressed porous materials with intrinsic material characteristics using statistical techniques.


Author(s):  
Andy Dong ◽  
Alice M. Agogino

Abstract In design synthesis, engineering prototypes make an ideal representation medium for preliminary designs. Unlike parametric design wherein a pre-specified design is parametrically varied, design synthesis demands artistic creativity and engineering experience to transform the previously known components, relationships and designs into a new form. The process compels the designer to ascertain which prototypes will, in some sense, best satisfy the design task. The challenge in this assignment lies in selecting the “right” design prototype. This selection process typically entails an objective evaluation of different designs that perform the same functions or have similar intended behavior and comparing trade-offs between alternate designs. This paper introduces a multi-objective spectral optimization algorithm for the selection of design prototypes based upon their functional representations. The optimization algorithm returns an index of rank, scoring the functional similarity of the proposed design to the goal design. Two illustrative examples apply the algorithm to the selection of a heat fin and beam.


2018 ◽  
pp. 7-79
Author(s):  
S.Yu. Vdovichenko ◽  
◽  
T.D. Fakhrutdinova ◽  

The objective: depression of obstetric and perinatal complications at pregnant women with pathological increase of body weight during pregnancy on the basis of studying of clinical-functional, endocrinologic, metabolic, morphological features of condition of fetoplacental complex and development of advanced algorithm of treatment-and-prophylactic actions. Materials and methods. We conducted examination of 264 patients who consisted on the account concerning pregnancy in female consultations of Kiev. By a method of selection of 178 women were included in retrospective research and 86 – in prospective. The main group was made by 39 pregnant women with whom led individual discussions, control – 142 women, that received traditional references in female consultation. Results. Use of the algorithm improved by us allows to improve obstetric (decrease of frequency of a preeclampsia by 12.3%; anomalies of a patrimonial deyalnost for 8.4%) and perinatal outcomes (depression of level of an asphyxia at a delivery for 9.4% and post-natal adaptation for 7.8%) deliveries of women with an excessive increase of body weight during pregnancy. Conclusion. The received results grant the right to recommend the algorithm improved by us for wide use in practical health care. Key words: obstetric and perinatal pathology, pathological increase of body weight, prophylaxis.


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