Discursive Control, Non-Domination and Hegelian Recognition Theory: Marrying Pettit’s Account(s) of Freedom with a Pippinian/Brandomian Reading of Hegelian Agency

The aim of this article is to combine Pettit’s account(s) of freedom, both his work on discursive control and on non-domination, with Pippin’s and Brandom’s reinterpretation of Hegelian rational agency and the role of recognition theory within it. The benefits of combining these two theories lie, as the article hopes to show, in three findings: first, re-examining Hegelian agency in the spirit of Brandom and Pippin in combination with Pettit’s views on freedom shows clearly why and in which way a Hegelian account of rational agency can ground an attractive socio-political account of freedom; second, the reconciling of discursive control and non-domination with Hegelian agency shows how the force and scope of recognition become finally tangible, without either falling into the trap of overburdening the concept, or merely reducing it to the idea of simple respect; third, the arguments from this article also highlight the importance of freedom as non-domination and how this notion is, indeed, as Pettit himself claims, an agency-freedom which aims at successfully securing the social, political, economic and even (some) psychological conditions for free and autonomous agency.

Feleucin-BO1: A Novel Antimicrobial Non-Apeptide Amide from the Skin Secretion of the Toad, Bombina orientalis, and Design of a Potent Broad-Spectrum Synthetic Analogue, Feleucin-K3

Feleucins-BV1 and -BV2 are recently-described prototypes of a novel antimicrobial nonapeptide (AMP) family identified in the skin secretion of the bombinid toad, Bombina variegata. They are encoded on different precursors that also encode a novel bombinin. Here we describe the identification of feleucin-BO1 (FLGLLGSLLamide) which is co-encoded with a different novel bombinin, named feleucin precursor-associated bombinin (FPA-bombinin-BO), from the skin secretion of Bombina orientalis. Synthetic feleucin-BO1 displayed activity against a reference Gram-positive bacterium. Staphylococcus aureus (MIC 34 μM) but was inactive (> 250 μM) against the Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli, and the yeast, Candida albicans. This pattern of activity was similar to that of the prototypes. Design and synthesis of a cationicity-enhanced analogue, feleucin-K3 (F-K3), in which the amino acid residues at positions 3 (G), 6 (G) and 7 (S) of feleucin-BO1 were substituted with Lys (K) residues, resulted in a peptide with significantly-enhanced potency and spectrum of activity. The MICs of F-K3 against the reference microorganisms were 7 μM (S. aureus), 14 μM (E. coli) and 7 μM (C. albicans). These data indicate that the skin secretions of amphibians can continue to provide novel peptide templates for the rational design of analogues with possible therapeutic utility.

Mathematical anxiety is linked to reduced cognitive reflection: A potential road from discomfort in the mathematics classroom to susceptibility to biases

Background
When asked to solve mathematical problems, some people experience anxiety and threat, which can lead to impaired mathematical performance (Curr Dir Psychol Sci 11:181–185, 2002). The present studies investigated the link between mathematical anxiety and performance on the cognitive reflection test (CRT; J Econ Perspect 19:25–42, 2005). The CRT is a measure of a person’s ability to resist intuitive response tendencies, and it correlates strongly with important real-life outcomes, such as time preferences, risk-taking, and rational thinking.

Methods
In Experiments 1 and 2 the relationships between maths anxiety, mathematical knowledge/mathematical achievement, test anxiety and cognitive reflection were analysed using mediation analyses. Experiment 3 included a manipulation of working memory load. The effects of anxiety and working memory load were analysed using ANOVAs.

Results
Our experiments with university students (Experiments 1 and 3) and secondary school students (Experiment 2) demonstrated that mathematical anxiety was a significant predictor of cognitive reflection, even after controlling for the effects of general mathematical knowledge (in Experiment 1), school mathematical achievement (in Experiment 2) and test anxiety (in Experiments 1–3). Furthermore, Experiment 3 showed that mathematical anxiety and burdening working memory resources with a secondary task had similar effects on cognitive reflection.

Conclusions
Given earlier findings that showed a close link between cognitive reflection, unbiased decisions and rationality, our results suggest that mathematical anxiety might be negatively related to individuals’ ability to make advantageous choices and good decisions.

Cationicity-Enhanced Analogues of the Antimicrobial Peptides, AcrAP1 and AcrAP2, from the Venom of the Scorpion, Androctonus crassicauda, Display Potent Growth Modulation Effects on Human Cancer Cell Lines

The non disulphide-bridged peptides (NDBPs) of scorpion venoms are attracting increased interest due to their structural heterogeneity and broad spectrum of biological activities. Here, two novel peptides, named AcrAP1 and AcrAP2, have been identified in the lyophilised venom of the Arabian scorpion, Androctonus crassicauda, through “shotgun” molecular cloning of their biosynthetic precursor-encoding cDNAs. The respective mature peptides, predicted from these cloned cDNAs, were subsequently isolated from the same venom sample using reverse phase HPLC and their identities were confirmed by use of mass spectrometric techniques. Both were found to belong to a family of highly-conserved scorpion venom antimicrobial peptides - a finding confirmed through the biological investigation of synthetic replicates. Analogues of both peptides designed for enhanced cationicity, displayed enhanced potency and spectra of antimicrobial activity but, unlike the native peptides, these also displayed potent growth modulation effects on a range of human cancer cell lines. Thus natural peptide templates from venom peptidomes can provide the basis for rational analogue design to improve both biological potency and spectrum of action. The diversity of such templates from such natural sources undoubtedly provides the pharmaceutical industry with unique lead compounds for drug discovery.

Automotive waste heat recovery: Working fluid selection and related boundary conditions

This paper presents the rational for the selection of fluids for use in a model based study of sub and supercritical Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The study focuses on multiple vehicle heat sources and the potential of WHR ORC’s for its conversion into useful work. The work presented on fluid selection is generally applicable to any waste heat recovery system, either stationary or mobile and, with careful consideration, is also applicable to single heat sources. The fluid selection process presented reduces the number of potential fluids from over one hundred to a group of under twenty fluids for further refinement in a model based WHR ORC performance study. The selection process uses engineering judgement, legislation and, where applicable, health and safety as fluid selection or de-selection criteria. This paper also investigates and discusses the properties of specific ORC fluids with regard to their impact on the theoretical potential for delivering efficient WHR ORC work output. The paper concludes by looking at potential temperature and pressure WHR ORC limits with regard to fluid properties thereby assisting with the generation of WHR ORC simulation boundary conditions.

Resonantly Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization Spectrum of the Neutral Green Fluorescent Protein Chromophore

The photophysics of the green fluorescent protein is governed by the electronic structure of the chromophore at the heart of its β-barrel protein structure. We present the first two-color, resonance-enhanced, multiphoton ionization spectrum of the isolated neutral chromophore in vacuo with supporting electronic structure calculations. We find the absorption maximum to be 3.65 ± 0.05 eV (340 ± 5 nm), which is blue-shifted by 0.5 eV (55 nm) from the absorption maximum of the protein in its neutral form. Our results show that interactions between the chromophore and the protein have a significant influence on the electronic structure of the neutral chromophore during photoabsorption and provide a benchmark for the rational design of novel chromophores as fluorescent markers or photomanipulators.

Measurements of immune responses for establishing correlates of vaccine protection against HIV

Well-defined correlates of protective immunity are an essential component of rational vaccine development. Despite years of basic science and three HIV vaccine efficacy trials, correlates of immunological protection from HIV infection remain undefined. In December 2010, a meeting of scientists engaged in basic and translational work toward developing HIV-1 vaccines was convened. The goal of this meeting was to discuss current opportunities and optimal approaches for defining correlates of protection, both for ongoing and future HIV-1 vaccine candidates; specific efforts were made to engage young scientists. We discuss here the highlights from the meeting regarding the progress made and the way forward for a protective HIV-1 vaccine.

Preface Writers Are Consistent

The preface paradox does not show that it can be rational to have inconsistent beliefs, because preface writers do not have inconsistent beliefs. I argue, first, that a fully satisfactory solution to the preface paradox would have it that the preface writer's beliefs are consistent. The case here is on basic intuitive grounds, not the consequence of a theory of rationality or of belief. Second, I point out that there is an independently motivated theory of belief--sensitivism--which allows such a solution. I sketch a sensitivist account of the preface writer's (consistent) doxastic state.

Performing Struggle: Parrhesia in Ferguson

‘The enigma of revolts.’ You can almost hear the sigh at the end of this sentence. Foucault is making a statement here, published under the title ‘Useless to Revolt’, on that ‘impulse by which a single individual, a group, a minority, or an entire people says, “I will no longer obey”’. In this short piece, I question the two sides of the enigma – how to label the revolt – is the act of rioting, such as what we witnessed in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014 ‘proper resistance’ – and, how to understand the ēthos of the rioter. The label of counter-conduct, I argue clarifies the enigma as it allows us, challenges us even, to see the event as political. Counter-conduct provides a new framework for reading spontaneous and improvised forms of political expression. The rioter can then be seen as political and rational, as demonstrating ethical behavior. The ēthos of this behavior is represented as an ethics of the self, a form of parrhēsia where the rioter risks herself and shows courage to tell the truth, the story of her community.

Authenticity, Identity and Sustainability in Post-war Iraq: Reshaping the Urban Form of Erbil City

Issues of authenticity and identity are particularly significant in cities where social and cultural change is shaping active transformation of its urban fabric and structure in the post-war condition. In search of sustainable future, Iraqi cities are stretched between the two ends of the spectrum, authentic quarters with its traditional fabric and modern districts with their global sense of living. This paper interrogates the reciprocal influences, distinct qualities and sustainable performance of both authentic and modern quarters of Erbil, the
capital of the Iraqi province of Kurdistan, as factors in shaping sustainable urban forms for Iraqi cities. In doing so, the paper, firstly, seeks to highlight the urban identity as an effective factor in relation to sustainable urban form. Secondly, the city of Erbil in Iraq has been chosen as a field study, due to its regional, social, political and historical role in the region. Thirdly, the study emphasises the dynamic activities and performance of residential projects according to rational sustainable criteria. The research concludes that urban identity and the sense of place in traditional and historical places should inform design strategies in order to achieve a more sustainable urban context.

A Characteristic Function Approach to Inconsistency Measures for Knowledge Bases.

Knowledge is an important component in many intelligent systems.
Since items of knowledge in a knowledge base can be conflicting, especially if
there are multiple sources contributing to the knowledge in this base, significant
research efforts have been made on developing inconsistency measures for
knowledge bases and on developing merging approaches. Most of these efforts
start with flat knowledge bases. However, in many real-world applications, items
of knowledge are not perceived with equal importance, rather, weights (which
can be used to indicate the importance or priority) are associated with items of
knowledge. Therefore, measuring the inconsistency of a knowledge base with
weighted formulae as well as their merging is an important but difficult task. In
this paper, we derive a numerical characteristic function from each knowledge
base with weighted formulae, based on the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence.
Using these functions, we are able to measure the inconsistency of the knowledge
base in a convenient and rational way, and are able to merge multiple knowledge
bases with weighted formulae, even if knowledge in these bases may be
inconsistent. Furthermore, by examining whether multiple knowledge bases are
dependent or independent, they can be combined in different ways using their
characteristic functions, which cannot be handled (or at least have never been
considered) in classic knowledge based merging approaches in the literature.

Revision over Partial Pre-orders: A Postulational Study

Belief revision is the process that incorporates, in a consistent way,
a new piece of information, called input, into a belief base. When both belief
bases and inputs are propositional formulas, a set of natural and rational properties, known as AGM postulates, have been proposed to define genuine revision operations. This paper addresses the following important issue : How to revise a partially pre-ordered information (representing initial beliefs) with a new partially pre-ordered information (representing inputs) while preserving AGM postulates? We first provide a particular representation of partial pre-orders (called units) using the concept of closed sets of units. Then we restate AGM postulates in this framework by defining counterparts of the notions of logical entailment and logical consistency. In the second part of the paper, we provide some examples of revision operations that respect our set of postulates. We also prove that our revision methods extend well-known lexicographic revision and natural revision for both cases where the input is either a single propositional formula or a total pre-order.

Turning Indium Oxide into a Superior Electrocatalyst:Deterministic Heteroatoms

The efficient electrocatalysts for many heterogeneous catalytic processes in energy conversion and storage systems must possess necessary surface active sites. Here we identify, from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, that controlling charge density redistribution via the atomic-scale incorporation of heteroatoms is paramount to import surface active sites. We engineer the deterministic nitrogen atoms inserting the bulk material to preferentially expose active sites to turn the inactive material into a sufficient electrocatalyst. The excellent electrocatalytic activity of N-In2O3 nanocrystals leads to higher performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) than the DSCs fabricated with Pt. The successful strategy provides the rational design of transforming abundant materials into high-efficient electrocatalysts. More importantly, the exciting discovery of turning the commonly used transparent conductive oxide (TCO) in DSCs into counter electrode material means that except for decreasing the cost, the device structure and processing techniques of DSCs can be simplified in future.

The incentives of a resource owner: Evidence from a private oyster fishery

European flat oyster Ostrea edulis fisheries were once abundant around the UK coastline. The sole remaining productive O. edulis fishery in Scotland is in Loch Ryan. This fishery has been privately owned and managed by a single family since 1701. Economic theory predicts that ownership, whether public or private, is a necessary condition for rational fishery management. In this paper, a series of four leases and a licence are examined, covering an 85-year period over the 20th and 21st century, to examine whether the management of the Loch Ryan fishery conforms to the expected norms of rational management. The leases show that, over this period, the owners appear more willing to expend resources on regulating tenant behaviour, supporting the conclusion that successive generations of owners developed an evolving sense of what "rational management" might require. The results of this study could inform the management of other fisheries - both public and private - by emphasising the importance of learning from experience.

Testing preference formation in learning design contingent valuation (LDCV) using advanced information and repetitive treatments

Policymakers have largely replaced Single Bounded Discrete Choice (SBDC) valuation by the more statistically efficient repetitive methods; Double Bounded Discrete Choice (DBDC) and Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE) . Repetitive valuation permits classification into rational preferences: (i) a priori well-formed; (ii) consistent non-arbitrary values “discovered” through repetition and experience; (Plott, 1996; List 2003) and irrational preferences; (iii) consistent but arbitrary values as “shaped” by preceding bid level (Tufano, 2010; Ariely et al., 2003) and (iv) inconsistent and arbitrary values. Policy valuations should demonstrate behaviorally rational preferences. We outline novel methods for testing this in DBDC applied to renewable energy premiums in Chile.