scholarly journals Beyond Perrault's experiments: Repeatability, didactics and complexity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Barontini ◽  
Matteo Settura
Keyword(s):  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Soil Column ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Laboratory Model ◽  
Soil Hydrology ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Contemporary Epistemology

Abstract. The studies conducted in the second half of the Sixteenth Century were crucial both for the birth of the modern hydrological science and for the modern epistemology. Thanks to quantitative observations and to the new experiment–based scientific approach, the Sun was about to be fully recognized as the engine of the hydrological cycle, instead of an endogenous engine within the Earth, originally conjectured by Aristotle to explain the water supply of great rivers. In this context of great vitality and rapid cultural changes, two works were published on the origin of springs. In 1663 Gaspar Schott published the Anatomia physico–hydrostatica fontium ac fluminum (Physical–hydrostatic anatomy of springs and rivers), deeply rooted in the Aristotelian epistemology and based on the ancient humanistic and dialectical method. In this book, Schott cited some observations recently made about the capability of the water to rise within a soil column. Pierre Perrault referred to these observations as a starting point to design the experiments reported in his classical opus De l'origine des fontaines (On the origin of springs), published in 1674. With this approach Perrault places himself in the perspective of a deeply renewed epistemology: only a decade passed between the publication of Schott's opus and Perrault's one, but their perspective is radically different. At the same time, the questions posed on the hydrological cycle and on the soil hydrology, which are hardly reproducible by means of a controlled laboratory model, severely tested the modern scientific approach at its beginning. Perrault seems to be aware of such difficulties and, after discussing the results of the experiments, he moves the point of view from the scale of the laboratory model, to that of the catchment. This choice makes him a progenitor of the contemporary epistemology of complexity, which is framed both on laboratory analysis and on cases study. Thus even if Perrault's conclusions went in the direction of the ancient opinion, his work is not only seminal for hydrology, but also it helps to enlighten some intricate features of scientific revolution. Aiming at contributing to understand the importance of Perrault's opus, we will discuss his epistemological relevance through the lens of the repeatability of the experiments, of the intriguing didactic aspects which, starting from his experiments, arise for modern teaching of hydrology, and of his attitude to face the complexity of the hydrological processes.

scholarly journals Beyond Perrault's experiments: repeatability, didactics and complexity

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 1907-1926
Author(s):  
Stefano Barontini ◽  
Matteo Settura
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Soil Column ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Laboratory Model ◽  
Soil Hydrology ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Hydrological Science

Abstract. The naturalistic and philosophical studies conducted in the second half of the 17th century were crucial both for the birth of modern hydrological science and modern epistemology. Thanks to quantitative observations and to the new experiment-based scientific approach, the Sun was about to be fully recognized as the engine of the hydrological cycle. In this context of great vitality and rapid cultural changes, Pierre Perrault published his classical opus De l'origine des fontaines (On the origin of springs) in 1674. The opus presents a discussion on the origin of springs and contains the report of a set of experiments of water flow through a soil column, which may be considered the first of modern hydrology. In assessing the importance of Perrault's opus, we will discuss his epistemological relevance by looking at the novelty of his approach, at the repeatability of the experiments, at the intriguing didactic aspects for the modern teaching of hydrology and at his attitude in facing the complexity of hydrological processes. Perrault places himself in the context of a novel experimental epistemology. On the basis of our analyses he seems to be aware that the processes involved in the hydrological cycle and in soil hydrology are hardly reproducible by means of a controlled laboratory model. This circumstance put the modern scientific approach to a severe test at its very beginning. It is suggested that some of Perrault's epistemological and methodological reflections are precursors of the modern epistemology of complexity. Thus even if Perrault's conclusions followed an ancient opinion, his work is not only seminal for hydrology, but also helps to enlighten some features of the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

Le mécanisme institutionnel de I'Eglise catholique abordé sous I'angle de la science administrative

1969 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Langrod
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Religious Organizations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Administrative Proceedings ◽  
Administrative Science ◽  
The Catholic Church

Within the development of the studies of religion by the social sciences, a place ought to be given to a scientific approach to the administrative aspect of religious organizations. Yet this is an aspect of the Catholic Church to which very little attention has been paid so far; various lawyers and historians have underlined its importance. An approach from the point of view of the administrative science would make it possible to give the necessary importance to the methods of management and to the administrative proceedings. It would then be possible to envisage the social reality of an institution as an 'administra tive fact'. But this is only feasible if the starting point is a pluridisci plinary approach which would transform the administrative science into a science of synthesis (law, ethics, sociology, social psychology, political science). The study of the functioning of religious organizations and its repercus sion on their internal functions offers great scientific possibilities, especially at a time when the Catholic Church is passing through profound changes. In order to do this, it is necessary to create some adequate concepts which cannot be the same as those used for the study of other institutions. Some steps in this direction have been undertaken both at the level of the universal Church, as well as the diocesan level. The scientific and practical results of the development of such studies can be of great importance. This, for instance, would allow one to situate the Church's efforts for adaptation and reorganization within an appropriate theore tical framework.

LES AXES DE LA CRÉATION ET LA NAISSANCE DE LʹIMAGINAIRE COMME LANGAGE MYTHIQUE

Trictrac ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Danciu ◽  
Petru Adrian Danciu
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Written Form ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Religious Systems ◽  
Rich Spectrum

The axes of the creation and birth of the imaginary as a mythical language. Our research follows the relationships of the concepts that are taking into account creation on the double axis of verticality and horizontality. We highlight those symbolic elements which would later constitute the mythical language about the sacred space-temporality. Inside this space-temporality a rich spectrum of mythical images develops; images capable of explaining the relationships of the creation plans. Without a religious perception of the temporality, the conceptualization of the axis would remain a philosophical approach. Through our point of view, the two are born simultaneously. Thanks to them, creation can be imagined. The first “frozen” formula of the mystical human spirit can be thought, brought to a palpable reality, expressed in an oral and then a written form. Studied together, temporality (sacred or not) and space are permanently imagined together. For example, a loss of mundane temporality in the secret ecstasy that offers to the soul an ascending direction does not mean getting out of universal temporality, but of its mundane section. In the sacred space the soul relates to time. Even the gods are submitted by the sacred, Aeon sometimes being synonymous to destiny. The universal creator seems to evade every touch, but not consistently, only when he avoids the descent into its created worlds. In sacredness, time and space seem or become confused, both expressing the same reality, by the immediate swing from thinking to deed. The mythical imagery conceives the displacement in the primary space-temporality by the spoken word. So, for something to appear and live, the spoken word is required. Even the divine dream appears as a pre-word of a creator’s thought. The thought follows the spoken word, the spoken word follows the gestures which finally indicate the meanings of the creative act, controlling the rhythm of the creation days. These three will later be adapted through imitation in rite. We are now situated at the limit of the physical world, a real challenge for the mythical imagery. The general feature of the mythical expression on the creation of the material world is the state of the divinity’s exhaustion, most often conceptualized by sacrifice or divine fatigue. The world geography identifies with the anatomy of a self-gutted god. Practically, material creation is most likely the complete revelation of God’s body autopsy. As each body decomposes, everything in it is an illusion. An axial approach of the phenomenon exists in all religious systems. The created element’s origin is exterior, with or without a pre-existing matter, by a god’s sacrifice or only because it has to be that way. This is the starting point of the discussion on the symbolism of axiality as a reason for the constitution of the language of creation, capable of retelling the imaginary construction of myth in an oral and then written form.

L’absence chez Michel Butor. L’Emploi du temps et Degrés

2012 ◽  
pp. 66-80
Author(s):  
Michał Mrozowicki
Keyword(s):  
Human Memory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Michel Butor ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Narrative Mode ◽  
The City

Michel Butor, born in 1926, one of the leaders of the French New Novel movement, has written only four novels between 1954 and 1960. The most famous of them is La Modification (Second thoughts), published in 1957. The author of the paper analyzes two other Butor’s novels: L’Emploi du temps (Passing time) – 1956, and Degrés (Degrees) – 1960. The theme of absence is crucial in both of them. In the former, the novel, presented as the diary of Jacques Revel, a young Frenchman spending a year in Bleston (a fictitious English city vaguely similar to Manchester), describes the narrator’s struggle to survive in a double – spatial and temporal – labyrinth. The first of them, formed by Bleston’s streets, squares and parks, is symbolized by the City plan. During his one year sojourn in the city, using its plan, Revel learns patiently how to move in its different districts, and in its strange labyrinth – strange because devoid any centre – that at the end stops annoying him. The other, the temporal one, symbolized by the diary itself, the labyrinth of the human memory, discovered by the narrator rather lately, somewhere in the middle of the year passed in Bleston, becomes, by contrast, more and more dense and complex, which is reflected by an increasinly complex narration used to describe the past. However, at the moment Revel is leaving the city, he is still unable to recall and to describe the events of the 29th of February 1952. This gap, this absence, symbolizes his defeat as the narrator, and, in the same time, the human memory’s limits. In Degrees temporal and spatial structures are also very important. This time round, however, the problems of the narration itself, become predominant. Considered from this point of view, the novel announces Gerard Genette’s work Narrative Discourse and his theoretical discussion of two narratological categories: narrative voice and narrative mode. Having transgressed his narrative competences, Pierre Vernier, the narrator of the first and the second parts of the novel, who, taking as a starting point, a complete account of one hour at school, tries to describe the whole world and various aspects of the human civilization for the benefit of his nephew, Pierre Eller, must fail and disappear, as the narrator, from the third part, which is narrated by another narrator, less audacious and more credible.

OWNERSHIP IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AND THE STATE AS THE HOLDER OF THE PROPERTY RIGHT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION IN 1991

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1993-2005
Author(s):  
Shemsije Demiri ◽  
Rudina Kaja
Keyword(s):  
Legal Aspect ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
State Function ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Republic

This paper deals with the right to property in general terms from its source in Roman law, which is the starting point for all subsequent legal systems. As a result of this, the acquisition of property rights is handled from the historical point of view, with the inclusion of various local and international literature and studies, as well as the legal aspect devoted to the respective civil codes of the states cited in the paper.Due to such socio-economic developments, state ownership and its ownership function have changed. The state function as owner of property also changed in Macedonia's property law.The new constitutional sequence of the Republic of Macedonia since 1991 became privately owned as a dominant form of ownership, however, state ownership also exists.This process of transforming social property into state or private (dissolves), in Macedonia starts from Yugoslavia through privatization, return and denationalization measures, on which basis laws on privatization have been adopted. Because of this, there will be particularly intensive negotiations regaring the remaining state assets.

Enzyme Promiscuous Activity: How to Define it and its Evolutionary Aspects

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 400-410
Author(s):  
Valentina De Luca ◽  
Luigi Mandrich
Keyword(s):  
Gene Evolution ◽  
Sequence Divergence ◽  
High Specificity ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Enzyme Promiscuity ◽  
Primary Activity ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Main Activity

: Enzymes are among the most studied biological molecules because better understanding enzymes structure and activity will shed more light on their biological processes and regulation; from a biotechnological point of view there are many examples of enzymes used with the aim to obtain new products and/or to make industrial processes less invasive towards the environment. Enzymes are known for their high specificity in the recognition of a substrate but considering the particular features of an increasing number of enzymes this is not completely true, in fact, many enzymes are active on different substrates: this ability is called enzyme promiscuity. Usually, promiscuous activities have significantly lower kinetic parameters than to that of primary activity, but they have a crucial role in gene evolution. It is accepted that gene duplication followed by sequence divergence is considered a key evolutionary mechanism to generate new enzyme functions. In this way, promiscuous activities are the starting point to increase a secondary activity in the main activity and then get a new enzyme. The primary activity can be lost or reduced to a promiscuous activity. In this review we describe the differences between substrate and enzyme promiscuity, and its rule in gene evolution. From a practical point of view the knowledge of promiscuity can facilitate the in vitro progress of proteins engineering, both for biomedical and industrial applications. In particular, we report cases regarding esterases, phosphotriesterases and cytochrome P450.

Design of Inhibitors for Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate Dehydrogenase (GAPDH) Enzyme of Leishmania mexicana

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 784-795
Author(s):  
Krisnna M.A. Alves ◽  
Fábio José Bonfim Cardoso ◽  
Kathia M. Honorio ◽  
Fábio A. de Molfetta
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Dynamics ◽  
Molecular Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Binding Site ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Leishmania Mexicana ◽  
Receptor Complexes ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Selection Of

Background:: Leishmaniosis is a neglected tropical disease and glyceraldehyde 3- phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is a key enzyme in the design of new drugs to fight this disease. Objective:: The present study aimed to evaluate potential inhibitors of GAPDH enzyme found in Leishmania mexicana (L. mexicana). Methods: A search for novel antileishmanial molecules was carried out based on similarities from the pharmacophoric point of view related to the binding site of the crystallographic enzyme using the ZINCPharmer server. The molecules selected in this screening were subjected to molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. Results:: Consensual analysis of the docking energy values was performed, resulting in the selection of ten compounds. These ligand-receptor complexes were visually inspected in order to analyze the main interactions and subjected to toxicophoric evaluation, culminating in the selection of three compounds, which were subsequently submitted to molecular dynamics simulations. The docking results showed that the selected compounds interacted with GAPDH from L. mexicana, especially by hydrogen bonds with Cys166, Arg249, His194, Thr167, and Thr226. From the results obtained from molecular dynamics, it was observed that one of the loop regions, corresponding to the residues 195-222, can be related to the fitting of the substrate at the binding site, assisting in the positioning and the molecular recognition via residues responsible for the catalytic activity. Conclusion:: he use of molecular modeling techniques enabled the identification of promising compounds as inhibitors of the GAPDH enzyme from L. mexicana, and the results obtained here can serve as a starting point to design new and more effective compounds than those currently available.

scholarly journals Practices of sustainability and the enactment of their natures/cultures: Ecosystem services, rights of nature, and geoengineering

2021 ◽  
pp. 053901842199894
Author(s):  
Frank Adloff ◽  
Iris Hilbrich
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Knowledge Cultures ◽  
Rights Of Nature ◽  
Value Of Nature ◽  
The One ◽  
And Control

Possible trajectories of sustainability are based on different concepts of nature. The article starts out from three trajectories of sustainability (modernization, transformation and control) and reconstructs one characteristic practice for each path with its specific conceptions of nature. The notion that nature provides human societies with relevant ecosystem services is typical of the path of modernization. Nature is reified and monetarized here, with regard to its utility for human societies. Practices of transformation, in contrast, emphasize the intrinsic ethical value of nature. This becomes particularly apparent in discourses on the rights of nature, whose starting point can be found in Latin American indigenous discourses, among others. Control practices such as geoengineering are based on earth-systemic conceptions of nature, in which no distinction is made between natural and social systems. The aim is to control the earth system as a whole in order for human societies to remain viable. Practices of sustainability thus show different ontological understandings of nature (dualistic or monistic) on the one hand and (implicit) ethics and sacralizations (anthropocentric or biocentric) on the other. The three reconstructed natures/cultures have different ontological and ethical affinities and conflict with each other. They are linked to very different knowledge cultures and life-worlds, which answer very differently to the question of what is of value in a society and in nature and how these values ought to be protected.

scholarly journals Transformation of the Flow Regime of a Large Allochthonous River in Central Europe—An Example of the Vistula River in Poland

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Wrzesiński ◽  
Leszek Sobkowiak
Keyword(s):  
Flow Regime ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Vistula River ◽  
Basin Water

Identification of river flow regime and its possible changes caused by natural factors or human activity is one of major issues in modern hydrology. In such studies different approaches and different indicators can be used. The aim of this study is to determine changes in flow regime of the largest river in Poland—the Vistula, using new, more objectified coefficients and indices, based on data recorded in 22 gauges on the Vistula mainstream and 38 gauges on its tributaries in the multi-year period 1971–2010. The paper consists of three main parts: in the first part, in order to recognize changes in the flow regime characteristics along the Vistula, data from gauges located on the river mainstream were analyzed with the help of the theory of entropy. In the second part gauging stations on the Vistula mainstream and its tributaries were grouped; values of the newly introduced pentadic Pardé’s coefficient of flow (discharge) (PPC) were taken as the grouping criterion. In the third part of the study a novel method of determining river regime characteristics was applied: through the recognition of the temporal structure of hydrological phenomena and their changes in the annual cycle sequences of hydrological periods (characteristic phases of the hydrological cycle) on the Vistula River mainstream and its tributaries were identified and their occurrence in the yearly cycle was discussed. Based on the detected changes of the 73-pentad Pardé’s coefficients of flow four main types of rivers were distinguished. Transformation of the flow regime was reflected in the identified different sequences of hydrological periods in the average annual cycle. It was found that while transformation of the Vistula River regime occurred along its whole course, the most frequent changes were detected in its upper, mountainous reaches, under the influence of the flow characteristics of its tributaries. This allowed the Vistula to be considered the allochthonous river. These findings are interesting not only from a theoretical point of view, but they also can be valuable to stakeholders in the field of the Vistula River basin water management and hydrological forecasting, including flood protection, which has recently become a matter of growing concern due to the observed effects of climate change and human impact.

scholarly journals Traditional Applications of Tannin Rich Extracts Supported by Scientific Data: Chemical Composition, Bioavailability and Bioaccessibility

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Maria Fraga-Corral ◽  
Paz Otero ◽  
Lucia Cassani ◽  
Javier Echave ◽  
Paula Garcia-Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Chemical Nature ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Chemical Profile ◽  
Traditional Use ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Food Applications

Tannins are polyphenolic compounds historically utilized in textile and adhesive industries, but also in traditional human and animal medicines or foodstuffs. Since 20th-century, advances in analytical chemistry have allowed disclosure of the chemical nature of these molecules. The chemical profile of extracts obtained from previously selected species was investigated to try to establish a bridge between traditional background and scientific data. The study of the chemical composition of these extracts has permitted us to correlate the presence of tannins and other related molecules with the effectiveness of their apparent uses. The revision of traditional knowledge paired with scientific evidence may provide a supporting background on their use and the basis for developing innovative pharmacology and food applications based on formulations using natural sources of tannins. This traditional-scientific approach can result useful due to the raising consumers’ demand for natural products in markets, to which tannin-rich extracts may pose an attractive alternative. Therefore, it is of interest to back traditional applications with accurate data while meeting consumer’s acceptance. In this review, several species known to contain high amounts of tannins have been selected as a starting point to establish a correlation between their alleged traditional use, tannins content and composition and potential bioaccessibility.

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