How the mind comes to life: The physics and metaphysics of dissipative structures

This monograph tries to illuminate the process of live and mind by focusing on a thermodynamic perspective. In doing so a fundamental link is offered between psychology and neuroscience on the one hand and physics on the other hand. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics applied on human structures leads to explanations for highly complex processes like self-healing, the forecast of the structuring of stable neuronal connections or the importance of feedback loops for the formation of metastable neuronal structures. Besides energy there is evidence for the necessity of a second concept: information. To integrate this into a resilient ontology a new definition for „biological information” is required and will be provided. Transferring in analogy the thermodynamic framework of energy to biological information leads to what I shall call Dual Dissipation Theory (DDT). Its essentials will be presented and a short introduction, why dualism can be supported if introduced correctly. Finally, DDT suggests the following insight:The common concept for life is „energy flow“ and „information flow“, grounded in dissipative structures. It could offer a plausible heuristic for the explanation of mind and consciousness closing the gap from physics, i.e. non-ecquilibrium thermodynamics, to neuroscience and psychology.

Saúde vulgar e fabricação do corpo a partir de Georges Canguilhem

O texto parte de uma conferência de Canguilhem sobre o estatuto do conceito de saúde. Trata-se de uma exegese da citação de Epicteto nas Entrevistas (Livro II, 17) que busca explicitar a dupla dimensão da saúde como questão filosófica e como conceito vulgar. Busca-se articular esta formulação tardia e singular da obra de Canguilhem em seu projeto de uma história das ciências da vida compreendida como tarefa filosófica. Neste sentido cabe evocar questões centrais de sua tese Normal e Patológico – especialmente a disjunção entre o par antinômico saúde e doença e a dupla cromática fisiologia-patologia. Enquanto conclusão é oferecida uma articulação do problema com a crisecovid em curso, entendida a partir de impasses do campo biomédico e respostas insatisfatórias das ciências sociais e da filosofia.Palavras-chave: Canguilhem. Corpo. Conceito de saúde. Pandemia. Epicteto. Vulgar health and body fabrication from Georges Canguilhem ABSTRACTThe text is part of a conference by Canguilhem on the status of the concept of health. It is an exegesis of the quote from Epictetus in the Interviews (Book II, 17) that seeks to explain the double dimension of health as a philosophical issue and as a common concept. The aim is to articulate this late and singular formulation of Canguilhem's work in his project for a history of the life sciences understood as a philosophical task. In this sense, central issues of his Normal and Pathological thesis should be evoked – especially the disjunction between the antinomic pair health and disease and the chromatic physiology-pathology pair. As a conclusion, an articulation of the problem with the ongoing crisis is offered, understood from the impasses in the biomedical field and unsatisfactory answers from the social sciences and philosophy.Keywords: Canguilhem. Body. Health concept. Pandemic. Epicteto.

Mechanism of shaping membrane nanostructures of endoplasmic reticulum

Recent advances in super-resolution microscopy revealed the previously unknown nanoscopic level of organization of endoplasmic reticulum (ER), one of the most vital intracellular organelles. Membrane nanostructures of 10- to 100-nm intrinsic length scales, which include ER tubular matrices, ER sheet nanoholes, internal membranes of ER exit sites (ERES), and ER transport intermediates, were discovered and imaged in considerable detail, but the physical factors determining their unique geometrical features remained unknown. Here, we proposed and computationally substantiated a common concept for mechanisms of all ER nanostructures based on the membrane intrinsic curvature as a primary factor shaping the membrane and ultra-low membrane tensions as modulators of the membrane configurations. We computationally revealed a common structural motif underlying most of the nanostructures. We predicted the existence of a discrete series of equilibrium configurations of ER tubular matrices and recovered the one corresponding to the observations and favored by ultra-low tensions. We modeled the nanohole formation as resulting from a spontaneous collapse of elements of the ER tubular network adjacent to the ER sheet edge and calculated the nanohole dimensions. We proposed the ERES membrane to have a shape of a super flexible membrane bead chain, which acquires random walk configurations unless an ultra-low tension converts it into a straight conformation of a transport intermediate. The adequacy of the proposed concept is supported by a close qualitative and quantitative similarity between the predicted and observed configurations of all four ER nanostructures.

Beröring och begränsning

Touch and Restriction: On the Human-Animal Interface Climate crisis and mass extinction show the need to reshape our understanding of human culture in relation to non-human lifeforms. The article considers touch as a point where the border between humans and other species may be renegotiated. Three supplementary modes of human thought, which combine explanation, speculation, and imagination, are interrogated in terms of how they each deal with the tactility of cross-species interaction: philosophy, mythical representations in literature and art, and documentary film. Interface is used as a common concept for how bodies remain distinct from each other while also being able to connect with each other. First, I present how the interface is conceptualized in general by philosophers like Derrida, Nancy and Harman, and between humans and animals in particulars by thinkers like Wood and Michaux. Then, I relate the discussion to how two mythical motifs, focusing on instances of erotic touch across species lines, have been represented in literature and visual art: Leda and the swan, and Pasiphaë and the bull. Finally, I move on to two documentary films: Robinson Devor’s Zoo (2007) and Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Unser täglich Brot (2005). The idea of zoosexual intercourse is contrasted to the distanced violence of the industrial keeping of animals. I suggest how touch show the possibility of a cross-species communion otherwise negated by late-modern industrial capitalism.

Health and well-being education as basic element of the Sustainability Mindset

For developing a sustainability mindset it is necessary go through an eco-sustainable individual and common concept of health, well-being and lifestyle. The aim of this article is to explain the links that exist between health, well-being, lifestyle and development of sustainability mindset. First, the constituent elements of well-being, mental health and mental disease will be analysed, then the health concept, pathology and determinants of health and the implications that they have in the source of the lifestyle. Finally, the strategies that can be used to change unhealthy lifestyles in the perspective of sustainability will be examined. L’educazione alla salute e al benessere come archetipo fondante dell’educazione alla sostenibilità Per sviluppare una mentalità orientata alla sostenibilità è necessaria un’azione formativa che passi attraverso una concezione ecosostenibile della salute, del benessere e dello stile di vita sia a livello individuale che collettivo. L’obiettivo di questo articolo è quello di esplicitare i raccordi che esistono fra salute, benessere, stile di vita e sviluppo della substinability mindset. Sono dapprima analizzati gli elementi costitutivi del concetto di benessere, di salute mentale e di disturbo mentale, successivamente sono illustrati i costrutti di salute, patologia e determinanti di salute e le implicazioni che essi hanno nella genesi dello stile di vita. In ultimo, sono affrontate le strategie che possono essere utilizzate per cambiare gli stili vita meno salubri nell’ottica della sostenibilità.

Some Recent Developments in theory of Metric Spaces

The topology on a set X is formed by a non-negative real valued scalar function called metric, which may be understood as measuring some quantity. Because some of the set’s attributes are similar, there’s a distance between any two elements, or points. Quite evocative of the common concept of distance that we come across in our daily lives. Because its topology is entirely defined by a scalar distance function, this sort of topological space has a distinct advantage over all others. We may reasonably assume that we are familiar with the qualities of such a function and are capable of dealing with it successfully. Instead, a generic topology is frequently dictated by a set of perhaps abstract rules. Frecklet initially proposed the concept of a metric space in 1906, but it was Hausdorff who coined the phrase metric space a few years later.

Towards a New Semantic Metric for Error Detection Based on Program State Redundancy

Fault tolerance techniques are generally based around a common concept that is redundancy whose measurement is required. A suite of four semantic metrics is proposed to assess program redundancy and reflect their ability to tolerate faults. Literature shows that one of these metrics, namely state redundancy, is limited to compute program redundancy only in their initial and final states and ignores their internal states. Consequently, the authors focus in this paper to overcome this shortcoming by proposing a new redundancy-based semantic metric that computes the redundancy of the different program states including internal ones. The empirical study they perform shows that the proposed metric is a measure of program redundancy in one side and is an error detection indicator in another side. Moreover, they demonstrate that it is more accurate than the basic state redundancy metric in detecting masked errors. It is useful for testers to indicate if a tested program is error-free and to pinpoint the presence of masked errors even if the final states are equal to the expected ones.

Vulnerability: Types, Causes, and Coping Mechanisms

The paper is aimed at bringing to limelight by explaining the concept of vulnerability specifically its types, causes and coping strategies among others. Vulnerability has threatened lives, nations and organizations at diverse magnitude. Being a common concept among health workers, the understanding of the concept is underestimated to people in other works of life. Therefore, understanding this concept will not only be of theoretical benefits but also enable vulnerable class know when they are vulnerable and how to cope with vulnerability. Though, the functioning of vulnerability is interlinked and connected to poverty among other factors. The methodology for this paper is purely descriptive. Areas covered include clarification of concepts, types of vulnerability, vulnerable groups, causes of vulnerability and coping mechanisms of vulnerability. Therefore, the paper concluded that apart from individuals, nations and organizations are vulnerable and also exposed to shocks, threats and risks that can be mitigated by deploying coping mechanisms that prevents vulnerability from becoming chronic.

BiTEs, DARTS, BiKEs and TriKEs—Are Antibody Based Therapies Changing the Future Treatment of AML?

Nearly four decades after their conceptualization, antibody-based therapies are slowly being added to the treatment landscape of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). While the antibody–drug conjugate gemtuzumab ozogamicin is the only antibody-based therapy that has been approved for AML treatment thus far, several bispecific antibodies have been developed and shown early encouraging results. Bispecific antibodies comprise a wide variety of constructs that share the common concept of simultaneous binding of a surface target on malignant cells and most commonly CD3 on T cells leading to an endogenous, HLA-independent, immune response against malignant cells. However, the use of bispecific antibodies in AML has been limited by the absence of highly specific leukemia-associated antigens leading to on-target, off-leukemia side effects as well as reduced efficacy due to antigen escape. Herein, we discuss the history and evolution of bispecific T cell engagers as well as various adaptations such as dual affinity retargeting antibodies, bi- and tri-specific killer engager antibodies. Common side effects including cytokine release syndrome and management thereof are highlighted. Lastly, we expound on the future direction and integration of such antibody-based therapies with other immunotherapies (programmed cell death-1 inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor T cells).

PENELISIKAN KONSEP MAKNA KONSEPTUAL DAN LEKSIKAL PADA ISTILAH BIDANG STRUKTUR BANGUNAN-TEKNIK SIPIL

This research aims to identify by exposing differences in meaning in words/terms used in the field of civil engineering, especially in building structures field, between existing meanings according to civil engineering field and in general meaning words (based on KBBI). The method used in this study is a descriptive qualitative method. This research was preceded by a literature study to obtain research data related to SNI civil engineering-building structure. The techniques used are listened and recorded techniques. The data source is a list of terms in the field of building structure contained in SNI. Data analysis is performed by agih and padan method. The outcomes of this study, obtained several terms in the field of building structures that have conceptual meaning and lexical meaning, such as base words tendon, diafragma, partisi, suffixes words like, tulangan, partisi, kebakaran, sambungan, and compound words like, tangga berjalan and cangkang berusuk. The conceptual meaning of these terms has more specific meaning towards the subject of building structure than its lexical meaning. Yet, both conceptual meaning and lexical meaning have similarities to the concepts it is used for. Thus, it can be noted that the use of vocabulary /term in a field has a special meaning according to the field, initially refers to a common concept first before being interpreted in a more particular field. Keywords : conceptual meaning; lexical meaning; language varieties; building structure field; civil engineering. AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi dengan cara memaparkan perbedaan makna pada kata/istilah yang digunakan dalam bidang teknik sipil, khususnya bidang struktur bangunan, antara makna yang ada sesuai bidang teknik sipil dengan makna kata secara umum (berdasarkan KBBI). Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini, yakni metode kualitatif deskriptif. Penelitian ini didahului dengan kajian kepustakaan untuk mendapatkan data penelitian terkait SNI struktur bangunan-teknik sipil. Teknik yang digunakan adalah teknik simak dan teknik catat. Sumber data berupa daftar istilah dalam bidang struktur bangunan yang terdapat dalam SNI. Analisis data dilakukan dengan metode agih dan metode padan. Hasil penelitian ini, yakni didapatkan beberapa istilah pada bidang struktur bangunan yang memiliki makna konseptual dan makna leksikal, seperti kata dasar tendon, diafragma, partisi, kata berimbuhan, seperti tulangan, partisi, kebakaran, sambungan, dan kata majemuk, seperti tangga berjalan dan cangkang berusuk. Makna konseptual pada istilah-istilah tersebut memiliki arti yang lebih spesifik ke arah bidang struktur bangunan dibanding dengan makna leksikalnya. Namun, baik makna konseptual maupun makna leksikalnya memiliki kemiripan konsep yang diacunya. Dengan demikian, dapat diketahui bahwa adanya penggunaan kosakata/istilah dalam suatu bidang yang memiliki makna khusus sesuai dengan bidangnya, pada mulanya mengacu pada konsep yang umum terlebih dahulu sebelum dimaknai lebih dalam lagi dalam bidang tertentu Kata kunci : makna konseptual; makna leksikal; ragam bahasa; bidang struktur bangunan; teknik sipil