Identification of the Oligocene to early Miocene loricariid catfish †Taubateia paraiba as a member of the Rhinelepinae

Correct identification of fossil taxa is immensely important for dating molecular phylogenies and understanding when and how quickly modern biodiversity evolved. Fossils that are available for a clade of interest and can be directly incorporated in the phylogenetic analysis are considered primary sources of time calibration, whereas calibrations inferred from other studies are secondary (Arroyave et al., 2013). Studies of taxonomic groups that lack fossils must either expand their analyses to include fossilized outgroup lineages, use secondary calibrations, or use more problematic primary calibrations, e.g., vicariant geologic events. The use of vicariant geologic events to calibrate phylogenies poses the risk of circular reasoning, because the goal of many such studies is to determine how geologic events have affected diversification. Near et al. (2012) argued that fossil calibrations external to clades of interest, but still within the broader Actinopterygian (ray-finned fishes) tree, could be used as means of calibrating a generalized molecular clock, but internal calibrations are still valuable for refining such inferences (Arroyave et al., 2013).

Come Macbeth si lava le mani. La concezione diderotiana del movimento fra i primi scritti di estetica teatrale e i Salons

In the pages of Diderot, theatre is able to enclose a precise sense of movement. By distancing itself from conventions, poses, mannerisms, and affectations, the stage gesture can embody a fundamental dynamism and vitalism. Such a gesture should be read in the light of Diderot’s materialistic conception of nature. The centrality of body language and of pantomime is a leitmotiv of the art of the French eighteenth-century actor. However, in Diderot’s formulation of a dramaturgy of space and motion, as well as in the theorization of the aesthetic relationship between actor and spectator, we find a peculiar synthesis of the dichotomies illusion / fiction and sensitivity / detachment, which emerge with regard to the fictional status of theatre in the Enlightenment environment. In this sense, the analogy with the pictorial sphere turns out to be a fundamental resource. There is a sort of circular reasoning that induces in Diderot the desire of reforming theatre on the basis of painting: a painting which is however conceived in a radically dramatic way. Concepts such as absorption, theatricalization, decisive moment, unity of action, and fourth wall are applied to theatre as well as to painting. Therefore, they can be included within a more general interpretation of the sense of movement, according to the principles of fluidity, harmony, and transformation that regulate both nature and the work of art.

Fractures and skin lesions in pediatric abusive head trauma: a forensic multi-center study

Abusive head trauma (AHT) and its most common variant, the shaken baby syndrome (SBS), are predominantly characterized by central nervous system-associated lesions. Relatively little data are available on the value of skeletal and skin injuries for the diagnosis of SBS or AHT. Thus, the present study retrospectively investigated 72 cases of living children diagnosed with the explicit diagnosis of SBS during medico-legal examinations at three German university institutes of legal medicine. The risk of circular reasoning was reduced by the presence of 15 cases with confession by perpetrators. Accordingly, the comparison with the 57 non-confession cases yielded no significant differences. Skeletal survey by conventional projection radiography, often incomplete, was found to be performed in 78% of the cases only. Fractures were found in 32% of the cases. The skull (43%) and ribs (48%) were affected most frequently; only 8% of the cases showed classic metaphyseal lesions. In 48% of the cases, healing fractures were present. Skin lesions (hematomas and abrasions) were found in 53% of the cases with the face (76%), scalp (26%), and trunk (50%) being the major sites. In 48% of the cases, healing skin lesions were observed. Nearly 80% of the cases with fractures also showed skin lesions. The data prove that SBS is frequently accompanied by other forms of physical abuse. Therefore, skeletal survey is indispensable and should always be done completely and according to existing imaging guidelines if child abuse is suspected.

Response to Comment on “Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities"

Zu et al. 2020 (1) proposed a simple, parameter-free, information-arms-race theory to explain the distributions of plant-herbivore interactions and plant-volatile associations observed in plant-herbivore communities. We received a comment by Bass and Kessler (Oct. 2020) questioning this theory and suggesting that a simpler neutral model can explain the observed distributions. This, with our response, went to peer review and was not published (Oct. 29, 2020). The authors have decided to publish their comment on EcoEvoRxiv (2) and so here, we are posting our reply. In sum, we present arguments to show that the comment from Bass and Kessler is based on an incorrect understanding of our study and furthermore suffers from circular reasoning, and that therefore their conclusions are not supported.

Response to Comment on “Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities”

Zu et al. 2020 (1) proposed a simple, parameter-free, information-arms-race theory to explain the distributions of plant-herbivore interactions and plant-volatile associations observed in plant-herbivore communities. We received a comment by Bass and Kessler (Oct. 2020) questioning this theory and suggesting that a simpler neutral model can explain the observed distributions. This, with our response, went to peer review and was not published (Oct. 29, 2020). The authors have decided to publish their comment on EcoEvoRxiv (2) and so here, we are posting our reply. In sum, we present arguments to show that the comment from Bass and Kessler is based on an incorrect understanding of our study and furthermore suffers from circular reasoning, and that therefore their conclusions are not supported.

A Simple Course in Capital Theory: A Misunderstood Debate

This short paper is a demonstration of the difficulty with the textbook production function which uses the notion of capital as a factor of production. Because, this notion is logically incompatible with the other notion of the money value of capital needed for distribution theory. Theories of production and distribution become incompatible. Outside a one commodity world, this leads to insurmountable circular reasoning. The value of capital cannot be measured without first knowing its distributional parameters (e.g. real wage or the profit rate) and if they are known the marginal productivity theory based on the notion of the relative scarcity of capital as a factor of production is not only superfluous but meaningless. The scarcity of something which cannot be measured even in theory cannot be defined.

Extirpating Inherently Biased Rote Approaches, Replacing them with Critical Thinking-Based Interpretation of Evidence

Physical anthropology embraces a hunger for understanding the ecosphere in which we live, its impact on the life and health and our impact environmental signature. This has been pursued tenaciously, utilizing speculative approaches, with lesser attention to assuring adherence to fundamentals. The resulting perceptions of the environment and of the people therein, both contemporary and ancient, have been subject to a variety of biases. Although many are obvious and discussed in detail in this manuscript, it seems appropriate to question why they have persisted. What benefit does the biased individual gain? Certainly not advancement beyond circular reasoning, which itself reinforces the proponent and their philosophies. It certainly is easy to pursue studies and their promulgation by rote, minimizing cognitive effort expenditure. It is easier to pontificate a technique, than to pursue and assure its independent validation. It is easier to assume that students are performing correctly, without expending the rigor/time of/for actually testing fundamentals and assuring the validity of one’s own techniques. It is easier to stalwartly defend the status quo that has defined one’s life to date, than to subject it to potential modification and thus to consider critical thinking as an existential threat. Perhaps that explains apparent aversion to and attempts to block promulgation of evidence that application of scientific methodology to physical anthropology provides an opportunity for meaningful contributions beyond salvage work. The latter has value, but physical anthropology can offer much more. Extirpating the biases would be a major step in that direction and resurrect logos.

Multicultural Counseling Competence: A Construct in Search of Operationalization

The work of many great scholars has proliferated a sizable body of knowledge on the construct of multicultural counseling competence. However, the construct’s operationalization remains obscured, perplexing, and frustrating to practitioners who attempt to translate the scholarship into practice. We identify ten definitional problems that prevent the construct from evolving into a cohesive form that can inform practitioners’ work. These include: an indistinct purpose, culturally general/culturally specific divide, terminological interchange, confusing competency with competence, lack of integration, no definition, ambiguity, equivocation, circular reasoning, and divergence. Furthermore, the three major models of the construct—skills-based, adaptation, and process-oriented—share six limitations. They lack interdependence, prescriptive methods, deep incorporation of culture, coherent designs, conclusive research support, and they are oversimplifications. We call on the community of our fellow scholars to collaborate in reconceptualizing this complex construct into a sound, applicable guide for practitioners’ work with diverse clients.

Advice

Challenging long-held assumptions about the identification and characterization of Wisdom Literature, this chapter examines: (1) how the scholarly category of biblical Wisdom Literature entails a developmental model of literary development in which the book of Proverbs functions as a paradigmatic text; (2) the circular reasoning involved in evaluating texts according to vocabulary and genre; and (3) other literary strategies shared by these texts, including notions of knowledge, its transmission, and survival across generational lines. Beyond a developmental model, a broad category of knowledge production and literary craft facilitates comparisons between texts like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, Ben Sira, and others. These texts build and comment on the ancient Near Eastern literary and social institution of father-to-son instruction. The advice given in these instructions, and their framing themselves, reflect on the transmission of life-preserving and life-enriching knowledge across generational lines that enables the father to transcend his own individual death and persist in the success of his descendants.