Euler's theorem under the microscope

In this article Geoff Tennant summarises the first half of Imre Lakatos's seminal 1976 book, "Proofs and refutations: the logic of mathematical discovery". Implications are drawn for the classroom treatment of proof.

Eternal peace, perpetual war? A critical investigation into Kant's conceptualisations of war

Most discussions of Immanuel Kant's political theory of international politics focus on his work on Eternal Peace and its normative and empirical relevance for contemporary international relations and international law. Yet for all his concern with peace, Kant's work is characterised by a fascinating preoccupation with the concept of war and its role in human history. The purpose of this essay is to investigate critically Kant's different conceptualisations of war and to evaluate his writing as a critique against contemporary versions of Liberal war and peace, as well as recent attempts to reduce war to an immanent logic of biopolitics.

An evolutionary innovation perspective on the selection of low and zero carbon technologies in new housing

The Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code) will require new homes in the United Kingdom to be ‘zero carbon’ from 2016. Drawing upon an evolutionary innovation perspective, this paper contributes to a gap in the literature by investigating which low and zero carbon technologies are actually being used by house builders, rather than the prevailing emphasis on the potentiality of these technologies. Using the results from a questionnaire three empirical contributions are made. First, house builders are selecting a narrow range of technologies. Second, these choices are made to minimise the disruption to their standard design and production templates (SDPTs). Finally, the coalescence around a small group of technologies is expected to intensify with solar-based technologies predicted to become more important. This paper challenges the dominant technical rationality in the literature that technical efficiency and cost benefits are the primary drivers for technology selection. These drivers play an important role but one which is mediated by the logic of maintaining the SDPTs of the house builders. This emphasises the need for construction diffusion of innovation theory to be problematized and developed within the context of business and market regimes constrained and reproduced by resilient technological trajectories.

Beyond description to pattern: The contribution of Batesonian epistemology to critical realist research

This paper proposes a limitation to epistemological claims to theory building prevalent in critical realist research. While accepting the basic ontological and epistemological positions of the perspective as developed by Roy Bhaskar, it is argued that application in social science has relied on sociological concepts to explain the underlying generative mechanisms, and that in many cases this has been subject to the effects of an anthropocentric constraint. A novel contribution to critical realist research comes from the work and ideas of Gregory Bateson. This is in service of two central goals of critical realism, namely an abductive route to theory building and a commitment to interdisciplinarity. Five aspects of Bateson’s epistemology are introduced: (1) difference, (2) logical levels of abstraction, (3) recursive causal loops, (4) the logic of metaphor, and (5) Bateson’s theory of mind. The comparison between Bateson and Bhaskar’s ideas is seen as a form of double description, illustrative of the point being raised. The paper concludes with an appeal to critical realists to start exploring the writing and outlook of Bateson himself.

Aesthetical and narrative uses of the trench in the Hollywood cinema of 1918-1930

Throughout history of painting, the representation of landscape has been considered a laboratory for the human gaze on the world. The First World War and its new approach to the battlefield altered deeply the classical forms of representation, and replaced them with a mechanised and fragmentary vision, which was related with the development of photography and cinema. As Vicente J. Benet has analysed, Hollywod cinema used these deep changes in its filmic versions of the conflict, although it organised them following a narrative logic. In this text we intend to study how the battlefield and, particularly, the trench, are inserted in this logic of the history of landscape painting. We do so through some Hollywood films from the period 1918-1930. Firstly, we approach the trench as a composition value which can structure the image and guide the camera movement. In the second place, we study how it creates a dialog between its inside, melodrama scenery, and the outside, battlefield and danger. In both cases, we conclude that the trench as a form and as a narrative element plays a structuring and integrative role with the storytelling logic.

Intrinsically Multivariate Predictive Genes

Canalizing genes possess such broad regulatory power, and their action sweeps across a such a wide swath of processes that the full set of affected genes are not highly correlated under normal conditions. When not active, the controlling gene will not be predictable to any significant degree by its subject genes, either alone or in groups, since their behavior will be highly varied relative to the inactive controlling gene. When the controlling gene is active, its behavior is not well predicted by any one of its targets, but can be very well predicted by groups of genes under its control. To investigate this question, we introduce in this paper the concept of intrinsically multivariate predictive (IMP) genes, and present a mathematical study of IMP in the context of binary genes with respect to the coefficient of determination (CoD), which measures the predictive power of a set of genes with respect to a target gene. A set of predictor genes is said to be IMP for a target gene if all properly contained subsets of the predictor set are bad predictors of the target but the full predictor set predicts the target with great accuracy. We show that logic of prediction, predictive power, covariance between predictors, and the entropy of the joint probability distribution of the predictors jointly affect the appearance of IMP genes. In particular, we show that high-predictive power, small covariance among predictors, a large entropy of the joint probability distribution of predictors, and certain logics, such as XOR in the 2-predictor case, are factors that favor the appearance of IMP. The IMP concept is applied to characterize the behavior of the gene DUSP1, which exhibits control over a central, process-integrating signaling pathway, thereby providing preliminary evidence that IMP can be used as a criterion for discovery of canalizing genes.

The Indetermination of Senior

The commitments and working requirements of abstract, applied, and art of, economics are assessed within an analogy with the fields of inert matter and life. Abstract economics is the pure logic of the phenomenon. Applied positive economics presupposes many distinct abstract sciences. Art presupposes applied economics and direct knowledge of the specificities which characterize the time-space individuality of the phenomenon. This is an indetermination clearly formulated by Senior and Mill; its connection with institutionalism is discussed. The Ricardian Vice is the habit of ignoring the indetermination; its prevalence in mainstream economics is exemplified, and its causes analyzed.

The Ricardian vice and the indetermination of senior

The general commitments and working requirements of abstract, applied, and art of science, including economics, are assessed. Pure economics deals with the logic of the phenomenon. Positive socio-economics presupposes pure economics and many distinct sciences. Art presupposes socio-economics and direct knowledge of the specificities which characterize the time-space individuality of the phenomenon. This indetermination was partially formulated by Senior and Mill; graduate education in economics is considered in its light. The habit of ignoring it is the Ricardian Vice, as named by Schumpeter; the prevalence of the vice is exemplified, and its causes analyzed.

A machine learning approach for genome-wide prediction of morbid and druggable human genes based on systems-level data

Background: The genome-wide identification of both morbid genes, i.e., those genes whose mutations cause hereditary human diseases, and druggable genes, i.e., genes coding for proteins whose modulation by small molecules elicits phenotypic effects, requires experimental approaches that are time-consuming and laborious. Thus, a computational approach which could accurately predict such genes on a genome-wide scale would be invaluable for accelerating the pace of discovery of causal relationships between genes and diseases as well as the determination of druggability of gene products.Results: In this paper we propose a machine learning-based computational approach to predict morbid and druggable genes on a genome-wide scale. For this purpose, we constructed a decision tree-based meta-classifier and trained it on datasets containing, for each morbid and druggable gene, network topological features, tissue expression profile and subcellular localization data as learning attributes. This meta-classifier correctly recovered 65% of known morbid genes with a precision of 66% and correctly recovered 78% of known druggable genes with a precision of 75%. It was than used to assign morbidity and druggability scores to genes not known to be morbid and druggable and we showed a good match between these scores and literature data. Finally, we generated decision trees by training the J48 algorithm on the morbidity and druggability datasets to discover cellular rules for morbidity and druggability and, among the rules, we found that the number of regulating transcription factors and plasma membrane localization are the most important factors to morbidity and druggability, respectively.Conclusions: We were able to demonstrate that network topological features along with tissue expression profile and subcellular localization can reliably predict human morbid and druggable genes on a genome-wide scale. Moreover, by constructing decision trees based on these data, we could discover cellular rules governing morbidity and druggability.

Insights into the concept of fish welfare

Fish welfare issues are predicated on understanding whether fish are sentient beings. Therefore, we analyzed the logic of the methodologies used for studying this attribute. We conclude that empirical science is unable to prove or to disprove that fish are sentient beings. Thus, we propose a combined ethical-scientific approach for considering fish as sentient beings. The most difficult ongoing question is to determine which conditions fish prefer. Approaches to assess fish preferences should be rigorously and cautiously employed. In light of these considerations, attempts to establish physiological standards for fish welfare are discouraged, and a preference-based definition of fish welfare is proposed.

The Development of a Universal In Silico Predictor of Protein-Protein Interactions

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are essential for understanding the function of biological systems and have been characterized using a vast array of experimental techniques. These techniques detect only a small proportion of all PPIs and are labor intensive and time consuming. Therefore, the development of computational methods capable of predicting PPIs accelerates the pace of discovery of new interactions. This paper reports a machine learning-based prediction model, the Universal In Silico Predictor of Protein-Protein Interactions (UNISPPI), which is a decision tree model that can reliably predict PPIs for all species (including proteins from parasite-host associations) using only 20 combinations of amino acids frequencies from interacting and non-interacting proteins as learning features. UNISPPI was able to correctly classify 79.4% and 72.6% of experimentally supported interactions and non-interacting protein pairs, respectively, from an independent test set. Moreover, UNISPPI suggests that the frequencies of the amino acids asparagine, cysteine and isoleucine are important features for distinguishing between interacting and non-interacting protein pairs. We envisage that UNISPPI can be a useful tool for prioritizing interactions for experimental validation. © 2013 Valente et al.

Information technology as a technical resource for the memories: memories of UNATI-Marília in the virtual environment

UNATI (Open University of the Third Age), UNESP, Marília campus, has offered subsidies for the development of this work aimed at researching the existing relationships between information mediation processes and technological devices, especially computers, assuming that reading practices and textual construction in online environments could help the “third age” population to have access to these devices, thus promoting digital inclusion in this group. Mediation was presented as an interventionist action that, by introducing an intermediate element in the learning process, causes a rupture in the ways of living and personal digital inclusion processes hitherto experienced. In the context of a workshop, we found out that there is a physical relationship between subjects and technological supports and such a contact proved to be necessary, considering that handling a computer required knowledge of procedures, thus furthering a logic of use. It turned out to be necessary to develop actions that would enable the handling of a computer so as to bring about acceptance of these supports. Accordingly, activities were developed so as to articulate reminiscent processes, memories of older adults, the writing down of such memories and the creation of a blog to bring enhanced visibility to the content produced by older people. Such actions have shown that remembering, writing down and posting can reshape not only social relations but somehow significantly promote digital inclusion among older adults.

ADHD and medicalization: consideration of the senses and meanings of symptoms presented by children diagnosed

The present paper is a reflection on the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and its relations to the process of medicalization as well as the meanings and perspectives apprehended through three case studies of children diagnosed with such disorder in a doctoral research in which the main purpose was to understand the meanings and peculiarities of ADHD symptomatology .We’ve utilized the model of qualitative research, grounded in psychoanalytic perspective, and conducted the psychodiagnosis for three children who were referred for psychological treatment. The survey found that those children had few experiences of both continence and frustration tolerance. It was evidenced how the school uses the logic of medicalization to try solving the problems with their children when it came to the school dimension. The variety of symptomatic manifestations and psychic dynamics presented by the cases that were studied revealed the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the referred diagnosis.

Alteração da fertilidade do solo como indicador do processo de antropização e presença de atividades não agrícolas no assentamento rural Horto Aimorés, municípios de Bauru e Pederneiras/SP =: Change of soil fertility as an indicator of the anthropization process and presence of non agricultural activities at the rural settlement Horto Aimorés, cities of Bauru and Pederneiras/ SP

Pós-graduação em Geografia - FCT