A formação humana na perspectiva histórico-ontológica

The theme of human formation is at the centre of the philosophy of education, whose aim is precisely the process of human promotion brought about by education. Starting from the critical vigilance proper to philosophy, the text sketches a phenomenology of the present time, verifying that the ideas prevailing in education at present are centred on the critique of reason and on the notions of truth and objectivity. This neo-pragmatism, which in the attempt to oppose metaphysics becomes deeply metaphysical, reducing everything to language, is contested by the authors with Marx's thoughts as a historicising philosophy that concerns not abstract subjects, but real individuals, historical subjects that are constituted as a synthesis of social relations. To that end, the authors resort to the historical ontological reflection on human formation contained in Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. The article concludes by defending the proposition that access to the classics is a necessary condition for human formation.

Single-spin measurement using single-electron transistors to probe two-electron systems

We present a method for measuring single spins embedded in a solid by probing two-electron systems with a single-electron transistor (SET). Restrictions imposed by the Pauli principle on allowed two-electron states mean that the spin state of such systems has a profound impact on the orbital states (positions) of the electrons, a parameter which SET's are extremely well suited to measure. We focus on a particular system capable of being fabricated with current technology: a Te double donor in Si adjacent to a Si/SiO2, interface and lying directly beneath the SET island electrode, and we outline a measurement strategy capable of resolving single-electron and nuclear spins in this system. We discuss the limitations of the measurement imposed by spin scattering arising from fluctuations emanating from the SET and from lattice phonons. We conclude that measurement of single spins, a necessary requirement for several proposed quantum computer architectures, is feasible in Si using this strategy.

Patient based method of assessing adverse events in clinical trials in rheumatology: the revised Stanford Toxicity Index

We describe the progress towards developing a patient rated toxicity index that meets all of the patient-important attributes defined by the OMERACT Drug Safety Working Party, These attributes are frequency, severity. importance to patient, importance to the clinician, impact on economics, impact on activities, and integration of adverse effects with benefits. The Stanford Toxicity Index (STI) has been revised to collect all attributes with the exception of impact on activities. However, since the STI is a part of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). impact on activities is collected by the HAQ. In particular, a new question asks patients to rate overall satisfaction, taking into consideration both benefits and adverse effects. The nest step in the development of this tool is to ensure that the STI meets the OMERACT filter of truth, discrimination, and feasibility. Although truth and feasibility have been confirmed by comparisons within the ARAMIS database, discrimination needs to be assessed in clinical trials.

"Procedural Strategy" by Carlos Pinto de Abreu, lawyer

Como Carlos Pinto de Abreu refere e bem, no seu livro e no seminário, entre juízes, partes ou sujeitos processuais, advogados ou solicitadores, magistrados do Ministério Público ou testemunhas, peritos ou funcionários, encontramos “pessoas que podem ser mais ou menos sérias”, por sinal “motivadas por outros interesses que não os de servir a Verdade e a Justiça”; Abstract: Carlos Pinto de Abreu as regards and well in his book and seminar, between judges, parties or procedural subject, lawyers or solicitors, prosecutors and witnesses, experts or officials, found "people who may be more or less serious" , by the way "motivated by interests other than those serving the Truth and Justice".

Quase-verdade e pragmatismo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The greener grass: da autorrepresentação em Alanis Morissette

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Literatura - Especialidade em Teoria da Literatura

Vom Finanz- zum Wissenschaftsbetrug : Methode, den Irrungen in der medizinischen Literatur beizukommen [From financial to scientific fraud : Methods to detect discrepancies in the medical literature].

Fraud is as old as Mankind. There are an enormous number of historical documents which show the interaction between truth and untruth; therefore it is not really surprising that the prevalence of publication discrepancies is increasing. More surprising is that new cases especially in the medical field generate such a huge astonishment. In financial mathematics a statistical tool for detection of fraud is known which uses the knowledge of Newcomb and Benford regarding the distribution of natural numbers. This distribution is not equal and lower numbers are more likely to be detected compared to higher ones. In this investigation all numbers contained in the blinded abstracts of the 2009 annual meeting of the Swiss Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation (SGAR) were recorded and analyzed regarding the distribution. A manipulated abstract was also included in the investigation. The χ(2)-test was used to determine statistical differences between expected and observed counts of numbers. There was also a faked abstract integrated in the investigation. A p<0.05 was considered significant. The distribution of the 1,800 numbers in the 77 submitted abstracts followed Benford's law. The manipulated abstract was detected by statistical means (difference in expected versus observed p<0.05). Statistics cannot prove whether the content is true or not but can give some serious hints to look into the details in such conspicuous material. These are the first results of a test for the distribution of numbers presented in medical research.

COMMIT: Convex Optimization Modeling for Microstructure Informed Tractography.

Tractography is a class of algorithms aiming at in vivo mapping the major neuronal pathways in the white matter from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. These techniques offer a powerful tool to noninvasively investigate at the macroscopic scale the architecture of the neuronal connections of the brain. However, unfortunately, the reconstructions recovered with existing tractography algorithms are not really quantitative even though diffusion MRI is a quantitative modality by nature. As a matter of fact, several techniques have been proposed in recent years to estimate, at the voxel level, intrinsic microstructural features of the tissue, such as axonal density and diameter, by using multicompartment models. In this paper, we present a novel framework to reestablish the link between tractography and tissue microstructure. Starting from an input set of candidate fiber-tracts, which are estimated from the data using standard fiber-tracking techniques, we model the diffusion MRI signal in each voxel of the image as a linear combination of the restricted and hindered contributions generated in every location of the brain by these candidate tracts. Then, we seek for the global weight of each of them, i.e., the effective contribution or volume, such that they globally fit the measured signal at best. We demonstrate that these weights can be easily recovered by solving a global convex optimization problem and using efficient algorithms. The effectiveness of our approach has been evaluated both on a realistic phantom with known ground-truth and in vivo brain data. Results clearly demonstrate the benefits of the proposed formulation, opening new perspectives for a more quantitative and biologically plausible assessment of the structural connectivity of the brain.

Mosaico mediterráneo. El Arte como herramienta de diálogo intercultural

El presente trabajo de investigación doctoral reflexiona sobre el aporte de las prácticas artísticas contemporáneas en los procesos de diálogo entre culturas en el Mediterráneo. En las dinámicas de percepción, acercamiento y (re)conocimiento del otro y de las culturas otras, todos los medios informativos y de comunicación pueden ser, por un lado, válidos y efectivos como, por otro, pueden desviar de la verdad y difundir fácilmente numerosos prejuicios. Frente a la “síntesis” operada por los medios de comunicación tradicionales, donde “el Otro” es a menudo objeto de representaciones estereotipadas, las prácticas artísticas, en su sentido más amplio, contraponen un “análisis” que puede permitir, en diferentes casos, la eliminación de las barreras y un mayor acercamiento a la cultura otra. En la presente investigación se quiere trazar un itinerario teórico que parte de las hipótesis orientalistas, pasa por las filosofías del encuentro con el otro; los estudios sobre la participación; las actuales reflexiones sobre la estética relacional; las definiciones históricas y socio-políticas del Mediterráneo; hasta llegar a reconocer en el arte, en la creación artística, el medio de comunicación más eficaz y penetrante a la hora de refinar el conocimiento y (re)descubrir los diferentes aspectos de las culturas de los países y de los pueblos del Mediterráneo. En el espacio plural del Mediterráneo las prácticas artísticas y creativas actuales actúan como un campo de experimentación y un territorio de debate valioso e importante para el desarrollo del discurso intercultural.

Ambulatory monitoring of physical activities in patients with Parkinson's disease.

A new ambulatory method of monitoring physical activities in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients is proposed based on a portable data-logger with three body-fixed inertial sensors. A group of ten PD patients treated with subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) and ten normal control subjects followed a protocol of typical daily activities and the whole period of the measurement was recorded by video. Walking periods were recognized using two sensors on shanks and lying periods were detected using a sensor on trunk. By calculating kinematics features of the trunk movements during the transitions between sitting and standing postures and using a statistical classifier, sit-to-stand (SiSt) and stand-to-sit (StSi) transitions were detected and separated from other body movements. Finally, a fuzzy classifier used this information to detect periods of sitting and standing. The proposed method showed a high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of basic body postures allocations: sitting, standing, lying, and walking periods, both in PD patients and healthy subjects. We found significant differences in parameters related to SiSt and StSi transitions between PD patients and controls and also between PD patients with and without STN-DBS turned on. We concluded that our method provides a simple, accurate, and effective means to objectively quantify physical activities in both normal and PD patients and may prove useful to assess the level of motor functions in the latter.

Voiko totuutta tavoittaa? : direct cinema -tyylisuunnan käyttö dokumenttielokuvassa

The subject of this study is the use of direct cinema style in documentary film. The main purpose of this thesis was to the research the ways in which direct cinema style attempts to show and achieve truth in documentary films. The following questions were posed: Is it possible to depict reality in a documentary film; how does the choice of using this style affect the final documentary? The essential purpose of this study was to try to see whether the direct cinema style works when trying to achieve truth in a documentary film. This work consints of two elements, the theoretical part and the short documentary. The theoretical part deals with the history, the truth, and the direct cinema- style in documentaries. The theoretical information of direct cinema has been used when making the short documentary. In the documentary Tuloaula 2 I have studied the way in which using direct cinema -style works in practise. The documentary has followed as strictly as possible the direct cinema style. I was the director, the cameraman and the editor of my documentary film. In the documentary film Tuloaula 2 it appeared that the direct cinema style works best when filming everyday life. By using this style it is easy for the director to observe and leave his own persona in the background. The strength in using the direct cinema style is that it enables the viewer to build his/her own impression on the subject. Even though the direct cinema style aims to achieve objectivity the director has to make numerous subjective choices during both the filming and the editing process. These subjective choices automatically effect the "truth" of the documentary film. The difficulty in a direct cinema style is the large amount of material. This often leads to a long editing phase, which is not often possible in the busy production schedules. The direct cinema style is not at its best when shooting people who are passive because their attention often focuses too much on the camera. In general, the best way to make a documentary film would be to use many documentary styles in one film and not to srictly concentrate on only one style.

Joan Sales, una traducció i una novel·la sense punt final

La història de la traducció francesa d’Incerta glòria i les relacions epistolars entre l’autor i el seu traductor permeten entendre millor el procés de composició de la gran novel·la de Joan Sales, sempre necessitat d’explicar la seva veritat i permanentment insatisfet amb la seva obra

Efficient total variation algorithm for fetal brain MRI reconstruction.

Fetal MRI reconstruction aims at finding a high-resolution image given a small set of low-resolution images. It is usually modeled as an inverse problem where the regularization term plays a central role in the reconstruction quality. Literature has considered several regularization terms s.a. Dirichlet/Laplacian energy, Total Variation (TV)- based energies and more recently non-local means. Although TV energies are quite attractive because of their ability in edge preservation, standard explicit steepest gradient techniques have been applied to optimize fetal-based TV energies. The main contribution of this work lies in the introduction of a well-posed TV algorithm from the point of view of convex optimization. Specifically, our proposed TV optimization algorithm or fetal reconstruction is optimal w.r.t. the asymptotic and iterative convergence speeds O(1/n2) and O(1/√ε), while existing techniques are in O(1/n2) and O(1/√ε). We apply our algorithm to (1) clinical newborn data, considered as ground truth, and (2) clinical fetal acquisitions. Our algorithm compares favorably with the literature in terms of speed and accuracy.

Comisiones de la verdad y justicia penal en contextos de transición

Una de las cuestiones más controvertidas en la problemática de la justicia de transición es la relativa a las Comisiones de la Verdad. En este artículo se analizan estos órganos de investigación desde el prisma de la obligación de proveer justicia ante las graves violaciones de derechos humanos y se plantea en qué condiciones una fórmula basada en la verdad y la reparación puede servir a los fines de la justicia penal.