Pieces of Mind

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Figdor
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
Entire Range ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Literal Interpretation ◽  
Psychological Capacities

Many people accept that chimpanzees, dolphins, and some other animals can think and feel. But these cases are just the tip of a growing iceberg. If biologists are right, fruit flies and plants make decisions, worms and honeybees can be trained, bacteria communicate linguistically, and neurons have preferences. Just how far does cognition go? This book is the first to critically consider this question from the perspective of the entire range of new ascriptions of psychological capacities throughout biology. It is also the first to consider the role of mathematical models and other quantitative forms of evidence in prompting and supporting the new ascriptions. It defends a default literal interpretation of psychological terms across biological domains. It also considers the implications of the literal view for efforts to explain the mind’s place in nature and for traditional ways of distinguishing the superior moral status of humans relative to other living beings.

Literalism and Moral Status

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Figdor
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Moral Standing ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Moral Boundaries ◽  
Psychological Capacities

Chapter 9 presents the idea that Literalism undermines current social and moral boundaries for moral status. Possession of psychological capacities, moral standing, and respectful treatment are a standard package deal. So either many more beings enjoy moral status than we now think, or the relative superiority of human moral status over other beings is diminished. It introduces the role of psychological ascriptions in drawing social and moral boundaries by examining dehumanization and anthropomorphism. It argues that in the short term Literalism does not motivate us to do more than make minor adjustments to current moral boundaries. We can distinguish the kinds of psychological capacities that matter for moral status from the kinds that best divide nature at its joints. In the long run, however, Literalism prompts us to reconsider the anthropocentric standards that govern current moral boundaries.

scholarly journals Storytelling and `Character': Victims, Villains and Heroes in a Case of Technological Change

Organization ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Whittle ◽  
Frank Mueller ◽  
Anita Mangan
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
The Self ◽  
Routine Work ◽  
Social Positioning ◽  
Face Saving ◽  
Positive Light

In this article we examine the role of stories in the temporal development of images of the self at work. Drawing on an in-depth case study of technological change in a UK public-private partnership, we highlight the role of stories in the construction, maintenance and defence of actors' moral status and organizational reputation. The analysis focuses on the development of one `character' as he shifted from the role of innocent victim to implied villain to heroic survivor within the stories constructed during routine work conversations. We argue that stories are intimately linked to the forms of `moral accounting' that serve to deal with the challenges to `face' and social positioning that accompany `failed' organizational change. Stories, we suggest, are likely to be invoked when an interactional encounter threatens the participants' sense of social worth. Stories in which we present ourselves in a positive light—for instance as virtuous, honourable, courageous, caring, committed, competent— comprise a key component of face-saving strategies designed to maintain our social positioning: processes that are often intensified during periods of organizational change.

scholarly journals Simple mathematical models for controlling COVID-19 transmission through social distancing and community awareness

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed S. Elgazzar
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Small World ◽  
Vaccination Rate ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Community Awareness ◽  
Sufficient Degree ◽  
And Control

Abstract The novel COVID-19 pandemic is a current, major global health threat. Up till now, there is no fully approved pharmacological treatment or a vaccine. Also, its origin is still mysterious. In this study, simple mathematical models were employed to examine the dynamics of transmission and control of COVID-19 taking into consideration social distancing and community awareness. Both situations of homogeneous and nonhomogeneous population were considered. Based on the calculations, a sufficient degree of social distancing based on its reproductive ratio is found to be effective in controlling COVID-19, even in the absence of a vaccine. With a vaccine, social distancing minimizes the sufficient vaccination rate to control the disease. Community awareness also has a great impact in eradicating the virus transmission. The model is simulated on small-world networks and the role of social distancing in controlling the infection is explained.

scholarly journals The role of mathematical models and scoring systems in detecting dysgerminoma in a young patient

2016 ◽  
Vol 87 (9) ◽  
pp. 675-675
Author(s):  
Nabil Abdalla ◽  
Joanna Winiarek ◽  
Agnieszka Timorek ◽  
Wlodzimierz Sawicki ◽  
Krzysztof Cendrowski
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Young Patient ◽  
Scoring Systems

scholarly journals Intracellular coupling modulates biflagellar synchrony

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (174) ◽  
pp. 20200660
Author(s):  
Hanliang Guo ◽  
Yi Man ◽  
Kirsty Y. Wan ◽  
Eva Kanso
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Live Cells ◽  
Basal Bodies ◽  
Slip Mode ◽  
Biological Parameters ◽  
Hydrodynamic Coupling ◽  
Dimensionless Ratio ◽  
The Individual

Beating flagella exhibit a variety of synchronization modes. This synchrony has long been attributed to hydrodynamic coupling between the flagella. However, recent work with flagellated algae indicates that a mechanism internal to the cell, through the contractile fibres connecting the flagella basal bodies, must be at play to actively modulate flagellar synchrony. Exactly how basal coupling mediates flagellar coordination remains unclear. Here, we examine the role of basal coupling in the synchronization of the model biflagellate Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using a series of mathematical models of decreasing levels of complexity. We report that basal coupling is sufficient to achieve inphase, antiphase and bistable synchrony, even in the absence of hydrodynamic coupling and flagellar compliance. These modes can be reached by modulating the activity level of the individual flagella or the strength of the basal coupling. We observe a slip mode when allowing for differential flagellar activity, just as in experiments with live cells. We introduce a dimensionless ratio of flagellar activity to basal coupling that is predictive of the mode of synchrony. This ratio allows us to query biological parameters which are not yet directly measurable experimentally. Our work shows a concrete route for cells to actively control the synchronization of their flagella.

Mathematical Modeling of Supply Chain Management Systems

2010 ◽  
pp. 344-357
Author(s):  
N. Anbazhagan
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Stochastic Models ◽  
Management System ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Supply Chain Management System

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the practice of coordinating the flow of goods, services, information and finances as they move from raw materials to parts supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Different supply chains have been designed for a variety of firms and this chapter discusses some issues in this regard. This chapter attempts to find why we require different supply chain for different companies. In this chapter we discuss the role of stochastic models in supply chain management system, and also discuss other mathematical models for SCM.

Freedom as the Guarantor of the Possibility of the Highest Good

2020 ◽  
pp. 264-282
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Insole
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Highest Good ◽  
First Cause ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Free Actions

The chapter articulates the following problem: given all that Kant’s notion of freedom, and the intelligible realm can achieve, what precisely is the role of God? That is, what do we need God for? And then, even if we have identified a role which God is expected to fill, there is the further question of whether God can fulfil this role, consistently with Kant’s wider commitments. It is suggested that God either seems to be ‘too much’, or ‘not enough’: ‘too much’, in that God can seem redundant, given all that is achieved by the notion of freedom, and ‘not enough’, in that, were God needed to make up some sort of deficit in our moral status, this would seem to violate Kant’s restrictions on human freedom, which is always ‘all or nothing’, such that all our free actions must come as a first cause from ourselves, and ourselves alone. This is a problem that threatens the cogency of Kant’s ‘moral proof’, which is to say, his understanding of the relationship between the highest good, happiness, and the existence of God.

Part I Theoretical Foundations, Ch.5 The Psychological Foundations of Human Rights

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kar Robin Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Emergent Phenomenon ◽  
Psychological Capacity ◽  
Psychological Capacities ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

This article examines the role of psychology in the historical foundation of human rights. It provides an account of the psychological capacities that humans use to identify and respond to rights and analyses the distinctive ways that humans reason about rights. It also discusses the basic psychology of rights and obligations and considers the place of the psychology of rights and obligations in a contemporary evolutionary framework. This article argues that while humans have an innate psychological capacity to identify and respond to rights, the more specific phenomenon of respect for human rights is at least in part a culturally emergent phenomenon.

Migration from plastic packages into their contents. I. The role of mathematical models

1995 ◽  
Vol 350 (1694) ◽  
pp. 379-406 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Diffusion Coefficients ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Diffusion Equations ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Successful Model ◽  
Plastic Packages

Materials contained in plastic packages can transfer (migrate) into the contents. In some circumstances, such as packages of food, drink or medicine, the consequences of this migration can be unpleasant or even harmful. Many countries, and the European Community, have adopted legal regulations designed to limit the amount of migration. It is shown, partly by discussing one example in some detail, that certain quantitative criteria in such regulations are unsatisfactory. The reasons include ( a ) improper recognition of the importance of package geometry, ( b ) invalid assumptions about a correspondence between concentrations in the contents and mass transfer per unit area of the package-contents interface and ( c ) failure to account, in an adequate manner, for the inevitable variability between nominally identical package systems. The principal theme of the paper is that these faults could have been, and can be, substantially ameliorated by proper use of mathematical models. Common shortcomings in the previous (but very limited) use of mathematics are exposed partly by detailed examination of a recent research paper. The paper discusses the requirements of a successful model and considers the simplest type, namely diffusion equations with diffusion coefficients that are independent of the concentrations of the migrant in either the plastic or the contents. Particular solutions are chosen to illustrate faults in existing legislation and practice, and because they are thought to be good candidates for testing against data. It is argued that future experiments would be more successful and more useful if they were planned and conducted in teams involving mathematicians.

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