scholarly journals Hope and the Problem of Divine Silence

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 157-178
Author(s):  
Aaron D. Cobb
Keyword(s):  
Human Agency ◽  
Personal Concern ◽  
Divine Hiddenness ◽  
Ability To Act

The silence of God either by itself or in circumstances of profound suffering can induce hopelessness and despair, eroding a person’s ability to act in ways conducive to her own good. Given the role of hope in human agency, the loss of hope is an event of a significant moral and personal concern. And the standard responses to the problem of divine hiddenness may not address the existential crises occasioned by God’s silence. This paper seeks to develop and address this challenge by evaluating two potential responses to the problem of despair-inducing experience of divine silence.

Characteristics Of The Structure Formation Of Gypsum Binder Modified With Zinc Hydrosilicates

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-46
Keyword(s):  
Synergistic Effect ◽  
Physicochemical Properties ◽  
Structure Formation ◽  
Silicic Acid ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Crystal Formation ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Chemical Factors ◽  
Sorption Characteristics

The authors' methodic for assessing the role of chemical and physic-chemical factors during the structure formation of gypsum stone is presented in the article. The methodic is also makes it possible to reveal the synergistic effect and to determine the ranges of variation of controls factors that ensure maximum values of such effect. The effect of a micro-sized modifier based on zinc hydro-silicates on the structure formation of building gypsum is analyzed and corresponding dependencies are found. It is shown that effects of influence of modifier on the properties of gypsum compositions are determined by chemical properties of modifier. Among the mentioned properties are sorption characteristics (which depend on the amount of silicic acid and its state) and physicochemical properties - the ability to act as a substrate during crystal formation. The proposed method can also be extended to other binding substances and materials. This article contributes to the understanding of the processes that occur during the structure formation of composites, which will make it possible to control the structure formation in the future, obtaining materials with a given set of properties.

Pathogenesis of Age-related Cataract: a systematic review of proteomic studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Karakosta ◽  
Argyrios Tzamalis ◽  
Michalis Aivaliotis ◽  
Ioannis Tsinopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Oxidant Stress ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Human Lens ◽  
Nuclear Cataract ◽  
Cataract Formation ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Age Related

Background/Objective:: The aim of this systematic review is to identify all the available data on human lens proteomics with a critical role to age-related cataract formation in order to elucidate the physiopathology of the aging lens. Materials and Methods:: We searched on Medline and Cochrane databases. The search generated 328 manuscripts. We included nine original proteomic studies that investigated human cataractous lenses. Results:: Deamidation was the major age-related post-translational modification. There was a significant increase in the amount of αA-crystallin D-isoAsp58 present at all ages, while an increase in the extent of Trp oxidation was apparent in cataract lenses when compared to aged normal lenses. During aging, enzymes with oxidized cysteine at critical sites included GAPDH, glutathione synthase, aldehyde dehydrogenase, sorbitol dehydrogenase, and PARK7. Conclusion:: D-isoAsp in αA crystallin could be associated with the development of age-related cataract in human, by contributing to the denaturation of a crystallin, and decreasing its ability to act as a chaperone. Oxidation of Trp may be associated with nuclear cataract formation in human, while the role of oxidant stress in age-related cataract formation is dominant.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Evan Franklin
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Causal Role ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Agent Causation ◽  
The Right

This chapter lays out the book’s central question: Assuming agency reductionism—that is, the thesis that the causal role of the agent in all agential activities is reducible to the causal role of states and events involving the agent—is it possible to construct a defensible model of libertarianism? It is explained that most think the answer is negative and this is because they think libertarians must embrace some form of agent-causation in order to address the problems of luck and enhanced control. The thesis of the book is that these philosophers are mistaken: it is possible to construct a libertarian model of free will and moral responsibility within an agency reductionist framework that silences that central objections to libertarianism by simply taking the best compatibilist model of freedom and adding indeterminism in the right junctures of human agency. A brief summary of the chapters to follow is given.

Mother, baby and Facebook makes three: does social media provide social support for new mothers?

2018 ◽  
Vol 168 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Archer ◽  
Kai-Ti Kao
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
New Mothers ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Extreme Stress ◽  
Ability To Act

Many mothers can find themselves increasingly isolated and overwhelmed after giving birth to a new baby. This period can be a source of extreme stress, anxiety and depression, which can not only have an economic impact on national health services, but can also have long-term effects on the development of the child. At the same time, social media use among most new mothers has become ubiquitous. This research investigates the role of social media, potentially as a mechanism for social support, among Australian mothers of young children aged from birth to 4 years. The findings indicate that participants had mixed responses to their social media use. While social support was deemed a benefit, there were also some negative aspects to social media use identified. The findings highlight the need to critically interrogate social media’s ability to act as a source of social support for new mothers.

scholarly journals Habit and Skill in the Domain of Joint Action

Topoi ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith H. Martens
Keyword(s):  
Joint Action ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Individual Action ◽  
Complex Action ◽  
Controlled Processes ◽  
Know How ◽  
Joint Agency ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Skillful Action

AbstractDichotomous thinking about mental phenomena is abundant in philosophy. One particularly tenacious dichotomy is between “automatic” and “controlled” processes. In this characterization automatic and unintelligent go hand in hand, as do non-automatic and intelligent. Accounts of skillful action have problematized this dichotomous conceptualization and moved towards a more nuanced understanding of human agency. This binary thinking is, however, still abundant in the philosophy of joint action. Habits and skills allow us agentic ways of guiding complex action routines that would otherwise overwhelm our reflective capacities. In this paper, I look at how theories of skill, habit, and know-how in individual action can inform a non-dichotomous account of joint action. I argue that a fuller understanding of joint agency has to understand not only group know-how, but also the role of attention and the highly integrated types of control that allow agents to act together.

scholarly journals The creative economy as a versatile policy script: exploring the role of competing intergovernmental organizations

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 502-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Vlassis ◽  
Christiaan De Beukelaer
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Creative Economy ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Nations Development ◽  
Economy Policy

Since the early 2000s, several intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) have advanced the idea that the creative economy could be a ‘feasible development option’. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) took the lead by preparing the 2008 and 2010 Creative Economy Reports, whereas the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UNDP executed the 2013 report. The article – based on an actor-centred institutionalism – explores the role IGOs have played in the promulgation of the ‘creative economy’ policy agenda. Through a socio-political analysis, we reveal how IGOs act and interact with each other vis-à-vis ‘creative economy’ policy agenda making. On one hand, the article seeks to highlight why and how IGOs include the creative economy within their priorities and use the concept, influence or challenge its orientations. On the other hand, it aims to examine their ability to act in common in order to globalize the ‘creative economy’ policy agenda and create new forms of cultural industries governance.

scholarly journals Religion in the Yugoslav conflicts: post-war perspectives

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 256-275
Author(s):  
Christian Moe
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Holy War ◽  
Religious Wars ◽  
Yugoslav Wars ◽  
Post War ◽  
Critical Notes ◽  
The Way

The wars that dissolved Yugoslavia – were they religious wars? Why are conflicts increasingly coded as religious, rather than as, for example, social or ethnic? What constitutes a ‘religious’ or ‘holy’ war. This article attempts an inventory of important cat­egories and hypotheses generated in the relevant literature so far, with a few critical notes along the way. The author considers the role assigned to religion in structural, cultural, and actor-oriented explanations of the Yugoslav wars. Structural and cultural explanations downplay the role of human agency and, hence, of moral responsibility; actor-oriented approaches focus on it.

scholarly journals The end of media logics? On algorithms and agency

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 4653-4670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Klinger ◽  
Jakob Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Human Agency ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Network Media ◽  
Media Logic

We argue that algorithms are an outcome rather than a replacement of media logics, and ultimately, we advance this argument by connecting human agency to media logics. This theoretical contribution builds on the notion that technology, particularly algorithms are non-neutral, arguing for a stronger focus on the agency that goes into designing and programming them. We reflect on the limits of algorithmic agency and lay out the role of algorithms and agency for the dimensions and elements of network media logic. The article concludes with addressing questions of power, discussing algorithmic agency from both meso and macro perspectives.

scholarly journals NF-κB/Rel Transcription Factors in Pancreatic Cancer: Focusing on RelA, c-Rel, and RelB

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derya Kabacaoglu ◽  
Dietrich A. Ruess ◽  
Jiaoyu Ai ◽  
Hana Algül
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Ductal Adenocarcinoma ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Additional Tumor ◽  
Light Chain Enhancer ◽  
Oncogenic Function

Regulation of Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB)/Rel transcription factors (TFs) is extremely cell-type-specific owing to their ability to act disparately in the context of cellular homeostasis driven by cellular fate and the microenvironment. This is also valid for tumor cells in which every single component shows heterogenic effects. Whereas many studies highlighted a per se oncogenic function for NF-κB/Rel TFs across cancers, recent advances in the field revealed their additional tumor-suppressive nature. Specifically, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), as one of the deadliest malignant diseases, shows aberrant canonical-noncanonical NF-κB signaling activity. Although decades of work suggest a prominent oncogenic activity of NF-κB signaling in PDAC, emerging evidence points to the opposite including anti-tumor effects. Considering the dual nature of NF-κB signaling and how it is closely linked to many other cancer related signaling pathways, it is essential to dissect the roles of individual Rel TFs in pancreatic carcinogenesis and tumor persistency and progression. Here, we discuss recent knowledge highlighting the role of Rel TFs RelA, RelB, and c-Rel in PDAC development and maintenance. Next to providing rationales for therapeutically harnessing Rel TF function in PDAC, we compile strategies currently in (pre-)clinical evaluation.

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