Formal semantics for propositional attitudes

Contemporary logic is confined to a few paradigmatic attitudes such as belief, knowledge, desire and intention. My purpose is to present a general model-theoretical semantics of propositional attitudes of any cognitive or volitive mode. In my view, one can recursively define the set of all psychological modes of attitudes. As Descartes anticipated, the two primitive modes are those of belief and desire. Complex modes are obtained by adding to primitive modes special cognitive and volitive ways or special propositional content or preparatory conditions. According to standard logic of attitudes (Hintikka), human agents are either perfectly rational or totally irrational. I will proceed to a finer analysis of propositional attitudes that accounts for our imperfect but minimal rationality. For that purpose I will use a non standard predicative logic according to which propositions with the same truth conditions can have different cognitive values and I will explicate subjective in addition to objective possibilities. Next I will enumerate valid laws of my general logic of propositional attitudes. At the end I will state principles according to which minimally rational agents dynamically revise attitudes of any mode.

Macroscopic description of the external and middle ear of paca (Cuniculus paca Linnaeus, 1766)

Abstract: Paca (Cuniculus paca), one of the largest rodents of the Brazilian fauna, has inherent characteristics of its species which can conribute as a new option for animal experimantation. As there is a growing demand for suitable experimental models in audiologic and otologic surgical research, the gross anatomy and ultrastructural ear of this rodent have been analyzed and described in detail. Fifteen adult pacas from the Wild Animals Sector herd of Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Unesp-Jaboticabal, were used in this study. After anesthesia and euthanasia, we evaluated the entire composition of the external ear, registering and ddescribing the details; the temporal region was often dissected for a better view and detailing of the tympanic bulla which was removed and opened to expose the ear structures analyzed mascroscopically and ultrastructurally. The ear pinna has a triangular and concave shape with irregular ridges and sharp apex. The external auditory canal is winding in its path to the tympanic mebrane. The tympanic bulla is is on the back-bottom of the skull. The middle ear is formed by a cavity region filled with bone and membranous structures bounded by the tympanic membrane and the oval and round windows. The tympanic membrane is flat and seals the ear canal. The anatomy of the paca ear is similar to the guinea pig and from the viewpoint of experimental model has major advantages compared with the mouse ear.

Emergence of clonal complex 5 (CC5) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in a Brazilian hospital

In this study, genotyping techniques including staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and restriction-modification tests were used to compare the molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates recovered at two times within a 10-year interval (1998 and 2008) from a tertiary Brazilian hospital. In addition, the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were analyzed. All 48 MRSA isolates from 1998 and 85.7% from 2008 (48/56 isolates) displayed multidrug-resistance phenotypes and SCCmec III. All but one of the 13 representative SCCmec III isolates belonged to CC8 and had PFGE patterns similar to that of the BMB9393 strain (Brazilian epidemic clone of MRSA; BEC). In 2008, we found an increased susceptibility to rifampicin and chloramphenicol among the SCCmec III isolates. In addition, we detected the entrance of diverse international MRSA lineages susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT), almost all belonging to CC5. These non-SCCmec III isolates were related to the USA 300 (ST8-SCCmec IV; PFGE-type B), USA 800 (ST5-SCCmec IV; subtype D1), USA 100 (ST5-SCCmec II; subtype D2), and EMRSA-3/Cordobes (ST5-SCCmec I, type C) clones. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the emergence of isolates genetically related to the EMRSA-3/Cordobes clone in southeast Brazil. In this regard, these isolates were the most common non-SCCmec III MRSA in our institution, accounting for 8.9% of all isolates recovered in 2008. Thus, despite the supremacy of BEC isolates in our country, significant changes may occur in local MRSA epidemiology, with possible consequences for the rationality of MRSA empiric therapy.

A volta de Ulisses: anotações sobre a lógica de planos e compromissos

This paper criticizes the conventional theory of choice for being grounded on a minimal set of rationality axioms. We claim that this theory does not take due account of the fact that agents are driven by motives other than the pursuit of material self-interest. Our departure point is logic of commitments and planned action, which helps us to identify some puzzles in the conventional theory of choice. As a way out, we discuss the Kantian perspective and the notions of metapreference and metaranking. We then build a model of choice which points to the possibility of a systematic treatment of higher order preferences and incommensurable objectives.

Macroanálise, regulação e o método uma alternativa ao holismo e ao individualismo metodológicos para uma macroeconomia histórica e institucionalista

Macro-analysis, regulation and the method: an alternative to the methodological holism and individualism to a historical and institutionalist macro-economy. The paper examines the epistemological conditions that make the "regulationist" macro-analysis a possible alternative to the traditional equilibrium approaches. It shows how these analyses allow to overcome the structure-agent dilemma as from the concept of contextual rationality and of a hol-individualist methodology that, combined with the notion of strong historicity, find wide theoretical basis in Bourdieu's sociology, in Braudel's works on economical history and in Lukács's ontology on the social being. The paper also explains its historical origins and concludes with a synthesis of the method and the necessary steps to accomplish this type of macroeconomics approach.

Estratégias periféricas sessenta anos depois do acordo de Bretton Woods

After sixty years, the Bretton Woods Agreement continuous to be a reference for the debates concerning institutional organization of the international monetary system. This paper compares some features of the arrangements that have emerged in that context with the recent wave of institutional reforms in the international financial architecture. We explore some arguments suggesting that, in an instable financial environment, is possible to envisage a strong rationality in strategies for emerging economies associated with a more active capital flows and exchange rate management. Apparently, those strategies are not dissimilar to the ones today's advanced countries had used in Bretton Woods Era.

O Estado e suas razões: o II PND

The State and its reasons: the 2nd PND. This paper intends to contribute to the debate on the reasons why the Geisel administration (1974-78) chose - as it faced an adverse conjuncture - an accelerated growth agenda which was materialized in the 2nd PND (National Development Plan). In order to do so, it resorts to a methodological definition which is based upon an institutionalist approach and favors the interaction between the political and the economic variables. Contradicting the literature that interprets the strong presence of the State and the regional decentralization of the 2nd PND as signs of neopatrimonialism, it is advocated that this category of analysis is inadequate to explain the government’s choice, although this aspect is embedded in the Brazilian social-historical formation. The political rationality of the plan must be investigated in the conjuncture itself, marked by the liberalization project, which does not clash with the plan’s economic rationality - on the contrary, it is complemented by it.

A psicologia econômica como resposta ao individualismo metodológico

This paper aims at presenting and discussing some of behavioral models developed by Economic Psychology which is considered an irrelevant field of research for many economists yet. On highlighting the multidisciplinary convergence notably from economists' interests by psychology, it is done emphasis to the discussion of the role played by methodological individualism in the psychological reduction of the homo economicus. Such a reduction has, on the one hand, made harder the conciliation between the individual and the collective level of analysis. On the other hand, it made closer economists and psychologists in the common interest of developing methods capable of understanding the economic behavior under a perspective which allows the integration of the complexity of collective dimension in which the individual makes part.

A complexidade e o construtivismo na economia

Complexity and constructivism in economics. This paper attempts to show and summarize the concept of rules, order and complexity introduced around the mid-twentieth century by Friedrich August von Hayek. It also attempts to create a current parallel between those concepts and the field of complexity economics. At the time of his writings, the author sought to present arguments against the Cartesian rationality. Nowadays, the concepts presented by him could also serve as arguments against the way of thought used in mainstream microeconomics. A debate can now be seen between the mainstream microeconomics and the authors of the complexity theory applied to the economy, which can be understood as explanations guided by generic assumptions versus natural explanations guided in a computational approach.