Cognitive Theories of Concepts and Wittgenstein's Rule-Following

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Marco Cruciani ◽  
Francesco Gagliardi

In this article, the authors try to answer the following questions: How can an object/instance seen for the first time extend a category or update a concept? How is it possible to determine the reference of a concept that represents a behaviour? In the first case, the authors discuss the learning of inferential linguistic competence used to update a concept through an approach based on prototype theory. In the second case, the authors discuss the learning of referential linguistic competence used to determine the reference of a concept (i.e., determination of an actual behaviour) through an approach based on embodied cognition. The authors show how combining prototype-based and embodied categorization in Wittgenstein's rule-following praxis (the individual and community dimension), linguistic learning of a concept (inferential competence), and determination of its reference (referential competence) can be traced back to the same model.

Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Jagels ◽  
Viktoria Lindemann ◽  
Sebastian Ulrich ◽  
Christoph Gottschalk ◽  
Benedikt Cramer ◽  
...  

The genus Stachybotrys produces a broad diversity of secondary metabolites, including macrocyclic trichothecenes, atranones, and phenylspirodrimanes. Although the class of the phenylspirodrimanes is the major one and consists of a multitude of metabolites bearing various structural modifications, few investigations have been carried out. Thus, the presented study deals with the quantitative determination of several secondary metabolites produced by distinct Stachybotrys species for comparison of their metabolite profiles. For that purpose, 15 of the primarily produced secondary metabolites were isolated from fungal cultures and structurally characterized in order to be used as analytical standards for the development of an LC-MS/MS multimethod. The developed method was applied to the analysis of micro-scale extracts from 5 different Stachybotrys strains, which were cultured on different media. In that process, spontaneous dialdehyde/lactone isomerization was observed for some of the isolated secondary metabolites, and novel stachybotrychromenes were quantitatively investigated for the first time. The metabolite profiles of Stachybotrys species are considerably influenced by time of growth and substrate availability, as well as the individual biosynthetic potential of the respective species. Regarding the reported adverse effects associated with Stachybotrys growth in building environments, combinatory effects of the investigated secondary metabolites should be addressed and the role of the phenylspirodrimanes re-evaluated in future research.


2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Orlowsky

Abstract A large number of infrastructural concrete buildings are protected against aggressive environments by coating systems. The functionality of these coating systems is mainly affected by the composition and thickness of the individual polymeric layers. For the first time ever, a mobile nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensor allows a non-destructive determination of these important parameters on the building site. However, before this technique can be used on steel-reinforced concrete elements, the potential effect of the reinforcement on the measurement, i.e. the NMR signal, needs to be studied. The results show a shift of the NMR profile as well as an increase of the signals amplitude in the case of the reinforced samples, while calculating the thickness of concrete coating leading to identical results.


2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Hess ◽  
Philippe Ganier ◽  
Jean-Noel Thibault ◽  
Bernard Sève

The aims of the present study were first to compare the amino acid dilution method performed using labelled animals with that using labelled diets, and second to determine real digestibilities and total ileal endogenous losses of N and amino acids. Two diets containing pea cultivars (Solara and Amino) and a protein-free diet were compared in a 3 × 3 Latin-square experiment. The three pigs were each prepared with an ileo-rectal anastomosis and were continuously infused with [1-13C]leucine. For each cultivar,15N-labelled and unlabelled diets were formulated. The real digestibility and endogenous losses of leucine were higher when obtained by labelling the pig than by labelling the foodstuff. This was due either to the inadequate estimation of the endogenous protein enrichment in the first case or to the importance of dietary N recycling in the second case. However, in both cases the ileal endogenous losses of N and amino acids were higher than the basal losses determined with the protein-free diet. There were significant differences between the two pea cultivars in terms of phenylalanine and leucine when measured with labelled diets. It is suggested that, although ileal endogenous losses may be underestimated, using labelled feedstuffs is of great interest due to the direct estimation of the individual amounts of amino acids.


Projections ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-36
Author(s):  
Francesco Sticchi

AbstractSince the emergence of embodied cognitive theories, there has been an ever-growing interest in the application of these theories to media studies, generating a large number of analyses focusing on the affective and intellectual features of viewers’ participation. The body of the viewer has become the central object of study for film and media scholars, who examine the conceptual physicality of the viewing experience by associating body states with parallel intellectual and moral constructions. In this article, I contribute to the study of embodied cognition and cinema by drawing upon Baruch Spinoza's philosophy, especially from his process-based notion of the body. I will put this ecological and dynamic concept of the body in connection with recent studies on enactive cognition, and define a radical enactivist approach to be applied in the discussion of the experiential dynamics of Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Gangnus ◽  
Bjoern B Burckhardt

Abstract The outbreak of COVID-19 has raised interest in the kinin–kallikrein system, as symptoms were postulated to be in connection. Viral blockade of the angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2 impedes degradation of the active kinin des-Arg(9)-bradykinin, which thus increasingly activates bradykinin receptors known to promote inflammation, cough, and edema – symptoms that are commonly observed in COVID-19. However, lean and reliable investigation of the postulated alterations is currently hindered by non-specific peptide adsorption, lacking sensitivity, and cross-reactivity of applicable assays. Here, an LC-MS/MS method was established to determine the following kinins in respiratory lavage fluids: kallidin, bradykinin, des-Arg(10)-kallidin, des-Arg(9)-bradykinin, bradykinin 1-7, bradykinin 2-9 and bradykinin 1-5. This method was fully validated according to regulatory bioanalytical guidelines of the European Medicine Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration and has a broad calibration curve range (up to a factor of 103), encompassing low quantification limits of 4.4–22.8 pg/mL (depending on the individual kinin). The application of the developed LC-MS/MS method to nasal lavage fluid allowed for the rapid (~2 hours), comprehensive and low-volume (100 µL) determination of kinins for the first time. Hence, this novel assay supports current efforts to investigate the pathophysiology of COVID-19, but can also be extended to other diseases.


1953 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-396
Author(s):  
G. V. T. MATTHEWS

1. Homing experiments were carried out with 338 Manx Shearwaters from Skokholm Bird Observatory, Pembrokeshire. The especial advantages of this species for such work are described. 2. With sunny conditions, strong homeward orientation was shown by birds released at points unknown to them. Early in the season these releases gave very fast, complete returns, more than half back on the first 2 nights. Those on the first night were unequivocal evidence of long, direct flights over unknown country. 3. One shearwater homed at least 3050 miles across the Atlantic in 120½ days. 4. There was a decline in the proportion of returns later in the season, probably due to a loss of stamina. 5. With conditions of heavy cloud the homeward orientation broke down and returns were poorer. 6. The stage of the individual incubation shift has some effect on the homing performance. 7. For the first time we have a demonstration of complete evidence for navigational ability in a wild bird. The suggestion of a form of sun navigation is in line with evidence obtained with pigeons and gulls. The failure of workers with other species to produce such evidence is not considered to weigh against the possibility of navigational ability of this kind in all proven homers. 8. The sun-navigation hypothesis is investigated. Although shearwaters fly to the burrows after dark they are unable to navigate after sundown. Determination of the latitude from the sun's altitude can only be tested in this species by transequatorial experiments. 9. Determination of longitude by time differences was tested by attempting to desynchronize the necessary internal ‘chronometers’. The first attempt was in conclusive owing to cloudy conditions at release. A second attempt was also partially thwarted by the weather, but gave suggestive results favouring the hypethesis. More experiments of this nature are required. 10. An analysis of the range of shearwaters from the colony, based on banding results, is given. 11. The Wilkinson flight-duration recorder was used on this species, but did not give satisfactory results.


2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 4-12
Author(s):  
Lorne Direnfeld ◽  
James Talmage ◽  
Christopher Brigham

Abstract This article was prompted by the submission of two challenging cases that exemplify the decision processes involved in using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides). In both cases, the physical examinations were normal with no evidence of illness behavior, but, based on their histories and clinical presentations, the patients reported credible symptoms attributable to specific significant injuries. The dilemma for evaluators was whether to adhere to the AMA Guides, as written, or to attempt to rate impairment in these rare cases. In the first case, the evaluating neurologist used alternative approaches to define impairment based on the presence of thoracic outlet syndrome and upper extremity pain, as if there were a nerve injury. An orthopedic surgeon who evaluated the case did not base impairment on pain and used the upper extremity chapters in the AMA Guides. The impairment ratings determined using either the nervous system or upper extremity chapters of the AMA Guides resulted in almost the same rating (9% vs 8% upper extremity impairment), and either value converted to 5% whole person permanent impairment. In the second case, the neurologist evaluated the individual for neuropathic pain (9% WPI), and the orthopedic surgeon rated the patient as Diagnosis-related estimates Cervical Category II for nonverifiable radicular pain (5% to 8% WPI).


1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-193
Author(s):  
Ольга Віговська

У статті теоретично обґрунтовано феномен конструктивного самозбереження особистості як ознаки самоактуалізації, розкриття власного потенціалу і побудови перспективи розвитку особистості та емпірично виявлено ознаки психологічної детермінації домінуючого інстинкту у конструктивній самореалізації жінок з різним соціальним статусом. Зазначено, що проблема самозбереження асоціюється з особливостями прояву інстинкту самозбереження людини, але потреби вищого порядку зумовлюють соціальну природу її поведінки, яка локалізована у найвищій точці самореалізації. Теоретично обгрунтовано, що самореалізація визначає тенденцію раціональної організації життя людини та проявляється у її почутті задоволеністю життям. З’ясовано, що психологічну основу конструктивного самозбереження становлять індивідуально-типологічні характеристики людини, які відображають психофізіологічні та психосоціальні резерви самореалізації особистості. Розроблена програма емпіричного дослідження, а також комплекс використаних методів математичної обробки результатів дослідження дає змогу конкретизувати психологічний зміст детермінації домінуючого інстинкту у конструктивній самореалізації жінок вікового діапазону 35-45 років та з різним соціальним статусом. У жінок, які виховують проблемну (хвору) дитину, домінує інстинкт "егофільного типу", що виражається у їх надмірному егоцентризмі і супроводжується низькими показниками самоактуалізації, на відміну від досліджуваних жінок, які виховують здорових дітей і у яких на фоні вираженої тенденції до самоактуалізації домінує базовий інстинкт "дослідницького типу" та "лібертофільного типу". This article theoretically proves constructive phenomenon of self identity as signs of self-disclosure own potential and prospects of development of individual construction. In addition, it empirically showes signs of psychological determination of the dominant instinct in a constructive self-determination of women with different social statuses. It was noted that the issue of self-preservation is associated with the peculiarities of manifestation of self-preservation instinct of man, but it needs higher-order cause social nature of the behavior that is localized at the highest point of self-realization. It theorized that self-realization determines the trend of rational organization of human life and manifests itself in its sense of life satisfaction. It was found that the psychological basis of constructive self-preservation of the individual make individually-typological characteristics of a person that reflect physiological and psychosocial reserves of self-realization. The developed program of empirical research, as well as the methods used complex mathematical processing of results of research allows to specify the content of the psychological determination of the dominant instinct of constructive self-realization а women age range of 35-45 years and with different social status. Women who bring up the problem child dominates the instinct of self-preservation, which is reflected in their excessive self-centeredness, and is accompanied by low levels of self-actualization, as opposed to the study of women who are raising healthy children and that against the backdrop of a pronounced tendency to self-actualization, dominated by basic instinct "research type" and "independent type."


Author(s):  
Rachel Ablow

The nineteenth century introduced developments in science and medicine that made the eradication of pain conceivable for the first time. This new understanding of pain brought with it a complex set of moral and philosophical dilemmas. If pain serves no obvious purpose, how do we reconcile its existence with a well-ordered universe? Examining how writers of the day engaged with such questions, this book offers a compelling new literary and philosophical history of modern pain. The book provides close readings of novelists Charlotte Brontë and Thomas Hardy and political and natural philosophers John Stuart Mill, Harriet Martineau, and Charles Darwin, as well as a variety of medical, scientific, and popular writers of the Victorian age. The book explores how discussions of pain served as investigations into the status of persons and the nature and parameters of social life. No longer conceivable as divine trial or punishment, pain in the nineteenth century came to seem instead like a historical accident suggesting little or nothing about the individual who suffers. A landmark study of Victorian literature and the history of pain, the book shows how these writers came to see pain as a social as well as a personal problem. Rather than simply self-evident to the sufferer and unknowable to anyone else, pain was also understood to be produced between persons—and even, perhaps, by the fictions they read.


Author(s):  
O. Yu. Atkov ◽  
S. G. Gorokhova

The individual dynamics of the allostatic load index was revealed mainly due to changes in the glucose level, body mass index, which makes it applicable for assessing the short-term adaptation to the stay in the conditions of shift work


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