The Roles of Creativity and Open-Mindedness in Implementing Sustainable Solutions

Environmental virtue ethicists recognize the importance of the moral virtues for addressing environmental problems. In addition, I argue that there are at least two important intellectual virtues required in the process of developing and implementing environmentally sustainable systems of living: creativity and open-mindedness. A high degree of creativity is needed in the search for environmentally sustainable solutions, whether that be in developing new technologies, in imagining more efficient economic systems, or in reconsidering our current ways of living. But creativity on its own is not sufficient for implementing these solutions; open-mindedness is also essential. Open-mindedness allows us to appreciate and understand the sustainable solutions developed by others and to consider how those approaches might be implemented in our own context. These two intellectual virtues work in tandem to allow both a wide-ranging search for new ideas and the change in ways of thinking needed to make them a reality.

Synthese ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan T. Wilson

AbstractThe idea that moral virtues form some sort of “unity” has received considerable attention from virtue theorists. In this paper, I argue that the possibility of unity among intellectual virtues has been wrongly overlooked. My approach has two main components. First, I work to distinguish the variety of different views that are available under the description of a unity thesis. I suggest that these views can be categorised depending on whether they are versions of standard unity or of strong unity. Standard unity claims that the possession of one virtue implies possession of all the others. Strong unity claims that the virtues are, in some sense, all the same thing. By exploring what these different versions of unity would look like when applied to intellectual virtues, I aim to provide a menu of options for future work in virtue epistemology. I then develop and defend one of these options in more detail, arguing that the initially less plausible strong unity has merit when applied to the intellectual sphere. In these two ways, I aim to show that the possibility of unity among the intellectual virtues is deserving of serious consideration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhao ◽  
Qirui Wu ◽  
Xiuqing Gong ◽  
Jinfeng Liu ◽  
Yujie Ma

AbstractOsteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone malignancy that affects children and young adults. OS is characterized by a high degree of malignancy, strong invasiveness, rapid disease progression, and extremely high mortality rate; it is considered as a serious threat to the human health globally. The incidence of OS is common in the metaphysis of long tubular bones, but rare in the spine, pelvis, and sacrum areas; moreover, majority of the OS patients present with only a single lesion. OS has a bimodal distribution pattern, that is, its incidence peaks in the second decade of life and in late adulthood. We examine historical and current literature to present a succinct review of OS. In this review, we have discussed the types, clinical diagnosis, and modern and future treatment methods of OS. The purpose of this article is to inspire new ideas to develop more effective therapeutic options.


Phronesis ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marguerite Deslauriers

AbstractThis paper considers the distinctions Aristotle draws (1) between the intellectual virtue of phronêsis and the moral virtues and (2) among the moral virtues, in light of his commitment to the reciprocity of the virtues. I argue that Aristotle takes the intellectual virtues to be numerically distinct hexeis from the moral virtues. By contrast, I argue, he treats the moral virtues as numerically one hexis, although he allows that they are many hexeis 'in being'. The paper has three parts. In the first, I set out Aristotle's account of the structure of the faculties of the soul, and determine that desire is a distinct faculty. The rationality of a desire is not then a question of whether or not the faculty that produces that desire is rational, but rather a question of whether or not the object of the desire is good. In the second section I show that the reciprocity of phronêsis and the moral virtues requires this structure of the faculties. In the third section I show that the way in which Aristotle distinguishes the faculties requires that we individuate moral virtues according to the objects of the desires that enter into a given virtue, and with reference to the circumstances in which these desires are generated. I then explore what it might mean for the moral virtues to be different in being but not in number, given the way in which the moral virtues are individuated. I argue that Aristotle takes phronêsis and the political art to be a numerical unity in a particular way, and that he suggests that the moral virtues are, by analogy, the same kind of unity.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Dimitriadis ◽  
Joana Neto ◽  
Adam R. Kampff

AbstractElectrophysiology is entering the era of ‘Big Data’. Multiple probes, each with hundreds to thousands of individual electrodes, are now capable of simultaneously recording from many brain regions. The major challenge confronting these new technologies is transforming the raw data into physiologically meaningful signals, i.e. single unit spikes. Sorting the spike events of individual neurons from a spatiotemporally dense sampling of the extracellular electric field is a problem that has attracted much attention [22, 23], but is still far from solved. Current methods still rely on human input and thus become unfeasible as the size of the data sets grow exponentially.Here we introduce the t-student stochastic neighbor embedding (t-sne) dimensionality reduction method [27] as a visualization tool in the spike sorting process. T-sne embeds the n-dimensional extracellular spikes (n = number of features by which each spike is decomposed) into a low (usually two) dimensional space. We show that such embeddings, even starting from different feature spaces, form obvious clusters of spikes that can be easily visualized and manually delineated with a high degree of precision. We propose that these clusters represent single units and test this assertion by applying our algorithm on labeled data sets both from hybrid [23] and paired juxtacellular/extracellular recordings [15]. We have released a graphical user interface (gui) written in python as a tool for the manual clustering of the t-sne embedded spikes and as a tool for an informed overview and fast manual curration of results from other clustering algorithms. Furthermore, the generated visualizations offer evidence in favor of the use of probes with higher density and smaller electrodes. They also graphically demonstrate the diverse nature of the sorting problem when spikes are recorded with different methods and arise from regions with different background spiking statistics.


Author(s):  
P.Pandiarajaa , Et. al.

In the Agriculture sectors the pressure is increased immensely due to the rise in population. In this present year we mainly witness a move from conventional methods to the advanced technology with advent of the technology. Machine Learning and Text Processing have transformed the quality and the quantity of agriculture. The real time monitoring systems along with hybridization of species paved away for resource efficiency. Scientists and researchers across the globe are mainly shifting towards collaborative projects and ideologies to explore this field for saving society. The optimal solution has been provided by racing in the tech industry. This application will be portable, scalable and durable that provides help for initiating new areas in the agriculture field. So, this survey focuses on machine learning methodologies along with Text Processing systems in agriculture. This startup’s private and public sector which is around the world that provides smart and sustainable solutions are briefly discussed. Based on agriculture this scenario, limitations, applications, development and future parameters are also briefly explained. The greatest challenge for the future agriculture lies in making agriculture research and extension more demand driven and client oriented. In addition, laboratory analysis has been undertaken to assess the nitrogen status and the soil carbon of fresh paddy soils and the used paddy soils as well as saplings. During the first season of 2011 the data collected on pests, disease incidence and severity and yield are being compiled for analysis. Therefore, integrated research to develop a bottom up participatory technology extension approach using new technologies is suggested for sustainable development in agriculture.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-70
Author(s):  
MIRELA IULIANA SUNDRI

Economic theory and international practice confirm the role of clusters as catalysts for competitiveness based on innovation and internationalization. Europe is facing the challenge of becoming a fair and prosperous society based on a modern, competitive and resource-efficient economy. Mobilizing industrial actors towards a clean and circular economy through in-depth cooperation along value chains as well as the use of new technologies, sustainable solutions and disruptive innovation are critical to achieving this goal. Clusters play an important role in operationalizing smart specialization strategies. Eco-clusters aim to increase the competitiveness of enterprises included in "cluster" structures in sectors of economic relevance, by concentrating resources and developing the production of innovative goods such as technologies, products, services, with the greatest possible reduction of waste. Constanta County, through its strategic positioning, through the concentration of economic activities, education and research is an area of maximum interest for the development of eco-innovation and eco-clusters. This study highlights the premises for the establishment of eco-clusters in the Constanta area, given their role as a driver in greening economic policies in the region and developing partnerships in order to obtain clean products. Through eco-clusters, there are also developments in the process of eco-innovation and implementation of sustainable development strategies in the Constanta area, as a means for a long-term socio-ecological transition.


mSystems ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengyi Li ◽  
Changsheng Zhang ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Hantian You ◽  
Luhua Lai

Cadmium pollution is one of the major environmental problems due to excessive release and accumulation. New technologies that can auto-detect cadmium ions with good biocompatibility are in urgent need.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert ◽  
Richard Gonzalez

Research supports the central role cognitive strategies can play in successful concept generation by individual designers. Design heuristics have been shown to facilitate the creation of new design concepts in the early, conceptual stage of the design process, as well as throughout the development of ideas. However, we know relatively little about their use in differing disciplines. This study examined evidence of design heuristic use in a protocol study with 12 mechanical engineers and 12 industrial designers who worked individually to develop multiple concepts. The open-ended design problem was for a novel product, and the designers’ sketches and comments were recorded as they worked on the problem for 25 min and in a retrospective interview. The results showed frequent use of design heuristics in both disciplines and a significant relationship to the rated creativity of the concepts. Though industrial designers used more heuristics in their concepts, there was a high degree of similarity in heuristic use. Some differences between design disciplines were observed in the choice of design heuristics, where industrial designers showed a greater emphasis on user experience, environmental contexts, and added features. These findings demonstrate the prevalence of design heuristics in individual concept generation and their effectiveness in generating creative concepts, across two design domains.


2013 ◽  
Vol 860-863 ◽  
pp. 1725-1728
Author(s):  
Fan Biao Bao

This document focus on the car's dynamic performance characteristics.Because MATLAB has many advantages such as intuitive, clear physical meaning, a small amount of programming, data visualization and high degree of merit. This paper Computes and analysis with the introduction of an instance practice vehicle models.In light of the specific model parameters, this paper has analyzed car driver and driving resistance balance, power balance and power factor based on the application of Mat Lab's data analysis and graphics, and drawn the relevant graph, according to the mapping feature maps.The paper analysis of the car comprehensive power the car's dynamic graphing features calculation and research method are provided. The paper has provided new ideas of vehicle parameter selection and design.It has some practical value.


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