" Vivid . . . immense clarity . . . the product of a brilliant and extremely forceful intellect." — Journal of the Royal Naval Scientific Service "Still a sheer joy to read." — Mathematical Gazette "Should be read by any student, teacher or researcher in mathematics." — Mathematics Teacher The originator of algebraic topology and of the theory of analytic functions of several complex variables, Henri Poincare (1854–1912) excelled at explaining the complexities of scientific and mathematical ideas to (...) lay readers. Science and Method, written in 1908, has been appreciated by a wide audience of nonprofessionals and translated into many languages. It defines the basic methodology and psychology of scientific discovery, particularly in regard to mathematics and mathematical physics. Drawing on examples from many fields, it explains how scientists analyze and choose their working facts, and it explores the nature of experimentation, theory, and the mind. 1914 edition. Translated by Francis Maitland. (shrink)

The article by Dupras and Bunnik. makes a fundamental contribution in the context of the current boom in personalized medicine. We propose an additional crit...

The objective of this study is to analyze the measurability and interfirm comparability of sustainability performance through the qualitative content analysis of 12 sustainability reports of mining firms using the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. The systematic comparison of information disclosed in 92 GRI indicators sheds light on the reasons underlying the impossibility of rigorously measuring and comparing the sustainability performance of firms from the same sector, which are supposed to be strictly following the same reporting guideline. These reasons include qualitative (...) aspects of sustainability, lack of compliance with GRI protocols, indicator contingency, ambiguous or incomplete information, data heterogeneity, and report opacity. The study makes it possible to return to the very notion of sustainability, its meaning, and flexible application by organizations. The results are discussed from three different theoretical perspectives, each of which proposes possible and complementary explanations of the main findings. (shrink)

Most human societies have undergone much greater change over the last few decades, or even years, than in the preceding millennia. This is partly due to the emergence of various phenomena in medici...

-- v. 3. From modernity to modernism (towards a metaphilosophy of daily life).

SummaryThis paper is divided into two parts. The first sketches an interpretation of the thing in itself, the noumenon and the transcendental object which clarifies the connection between these conceptions and shows that each has a “critical” function. This is accomplished by linking them with transcendental reflection. It is shown that such reflection requires the distinction between two ways of considering an object and that “noumenon” and “transcendental object” characterize alternative descriptions of an object considered as it is in itself. (...) The second part deals with the problem of affection. Although the theory of “transcendental” or “double affection” is rejected, it is argued that affection, like objects, can be considered from two points of view . Thus, while there is no distinct event entitled “transcendental affection”, there is a transcendental consideration of affection. Moreover since such a consideration involves analytic judgments about how the affecting object must be thought, the appeal to categories such as causality does not violate “critical” structures. (shrink)

Fulfilling consumer expectations of corporate social responsibility can bring strategic advantage to firms. However, research on the topic is fragmented across disparate disciplines, and a comprehensive framework to connect CSR supply and demand is missing. As a result, firms often supply CSR that does not attract demand, as signified by pessimism about ethical consumerism in recent years and the inconclusive link between corporate financial and social performance. In this study, we propose a framework of strategic CSR management to define how (...) a company’s supply of CSR could meet consumer demand for ethical products by aligning managerial and consumer perspectives. We then investigate empirically whether such a strategic approach, which integrates potential demand in CSR management, would influence consumer choice of products with CSR components. Our hybrid choice modeling allows the inclusion of psychological biases caused by social desirability and cynicism to increase result validity. The findings support the explanatory power of the framework and reveal that consumers prefer some CSR elements while others adversely affect choices. This study advances the understanding of strategic CSR management and its impact on consumer choice and helps managers include the right mix of CSR characteristics in their products to satisfy ethical consumers. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 7, July 2020, Page W1-W1.

Ce livre n'est pas un expose de la metaphysique cartesienne, mais s'attache a la pensee qui l'anime et qui cherche en elle son expression. Ce mot expression introduit un premier postulat: une philosophie n'a de sens que par reference a une certaine vision du monde dont precisement elle veut etre l'expression. A l'origine il y a un esprit qui regarde l'univers, l'homme, Dieu et qui s'etonne de les voir comme on ne les a encore jamais vus: c'est cette vision neuve (...) qu'il veut exprimer dans un texte qui est, a la fois, pensee coherente et parole communicable. Qui dit expression dit donc volonte de communication. La vision du monde - c'est le second postulat - n'est en aucune facon une sorte d'essence intemporelle et elle ne peut etre separee de son environnement historique. Ainsi tout texte a deux contextes: l'ensemble ordonne d'idees duquel il tient son sens et un certain dialogue qu'il doit rendre propice a la transmission de ce sens, les interlocuteurs n'appartenant pas tous au meme milieu culturel, comme on dit aujourd'hui. (shrink)

Organoids, in general, have become an established theme in bioethics. However, brain organoids are almost unique due to the vital and symbolic nature of the organ they reproduce, albeit partially,...

RésuméNous introduisons la notion de structure algébrique dynamique, inspirée de l'évaluation dynamique et de la théorie des modèles. Nous montrons comment cette notion constructive permet une relecture de la théorie d'Artin-Schreier, avec la modification capitale que le résultat final est alors établi de manière constructive. Nous pensons que ce que nous avons réalisé ici sur un cas d'école peut être généralisé à des parties significatives de l'algèbre classique, et est donc une contribution à la réalisation du programme de Hilbert pour (...) l'algèbre classique.We introduce the notion of “Dynamic Algebraic Structure” inspired by Dynamic Evaluation and Model Theory. We show that this constructive notion allows a rereading of the Artin-Schreier-Robinson solution for the 17th Hilbert Problem. So, once we know how to reread the proofs, this kind of abstract theory contains an algorithm which computes the concrete result . Our method gives a constructive semantic for certain parts of abstract classical mathematics.The idea is the following: replace the classical algebraic structures “constructed” by Choice and Principle of Third Excluded Middle , by DAS and dynamic evaluations of these DAS. Then TEM is replaced by construction of branching in the trees of dynamic evaluation of the DAS. If Choice is used in the form of Godel completeness theorem, it is not really necessary to use it for obtaining concrete results: in DAS, Choice is simply replaced by … nothing!. This is because the classical proof is by contradiction: “if there were not a sum of squares then some formal theory would admit a pathological model”. The constructive reasoning is more direct: since the pathological theory proves 0 = 1 we know how to construct the sum of squares … and classical models have disappeared in the proof. They are replaced by dynamic evaluations of DAS. We think that we have given, for an academic example, a new method, realizing a kind of Hilbert Program for significant parts of classical algebra. (shrink)

BackgroundSince 2006, the genetic testing company 23andMe has collected biological samples, self-reported information, and consent documents for biobanking and research from more than 1,000,000 individuals, through a direct-to-consumer online genetic-testing service providing a genetic ancestry report and a genetic health report. However, on November 22, 2013, the Food and Drug Administration halted the sale of genetic health testing, on the grounds that 23andMe was not acting in accordance with federal law, by selling tests of undemonstrated reliability as predictive tests for (...) medical risk factors. Consumers could still obtain the genetic ancestry report, but they no longer had access to the genetic health report in the United States. However, this did not prevent the company from continuing its health research, with previously obtained and future samples, provided that consent had been obtained from the consumers concerned, or with health reports for individuals from other countries. Furthermore, 23andMe was granted FDA authorization on February 19, 2015, first to provide reports about Bloom syndrome carrier status, and, more recently, to provide consumers with “carrier status” information for 35 genes known to cause disease.DiscussionIn this Debate, we highlight the likelihood that the primary objective of the company was probably two-fold: promoting itself within the market for predictive testing for human genetic diseases and ancestry at a low cost to consumers, and establishing a high-value database/biobank for research and personal information).SummaryBy dint of this marketing approach, a two-sided market has been established between the consumer and the research laboratories, involving the establishment of a database/DNA biobank for scientific and financial gain. We describe here the profound ethical issues raised by this setup. (shrink)

Given a 4-tuple of Boolean variables (a, b, c, d), logical proportions are modeled by a pair of equivalences relating similarity indicators ( \({a \wedge b}\) and \({\overline{a} \wedge \overline{b}}\) ), or dissimilarity indicators ( \({a \wedge \overline{b}}\) and \({\overline{a} \wedge b}\) ) pertaining to the pair (a, b), to the ones associated with the pair (c, d). There are 120 semantically distinct logical proportions. One of them models the analogical proportion which corresponds to a statement of the form “a (...) is to b as c is to d”. The paper inventories the whole set of logical proportions by dividing it into five subfamilies according to what they express, and then identifies the proportions that satisfy noticeable properties such as full identity (the pair of equivalences defining the proportion hold as true for the 4-tuple (a, a, a, a)), symmetry (if the proportion holds for (a, b, c, d), it also holds for (c, d, a, b)), or code independency (if the proportion holds for (a, b, c, d), it also holds for their negations \({{(\overline{a},\overline{b}, \overline{c}, \overline{d})}}\) ). It appears that only four proportions (including analogical proportion) are homogeneous in the sense that they use only one type of indicator (either similarity or dissimilarity) in their definition. Due to their specific patterns, they have a particular cognitive appeal, and as such are studied in greater details. Finally, the paper provides a discussion of the other existing works on analogical proportions. (shrink)

Networks for the exchange and/or sharing of genetic data are developing in many countries. We focus here on the situations in the US and France. We highlight some recent and remarkable differences between these two countries concerning the mode of access to, and the storage and use of genetic data, particularly as concerns two-sided markets and dynamic consent or dynamic electronic informed consent. This brief overview suggests that, even though the organization and function of these two-sided markets remain open to (...) criticism, dynamic e-IC should be more widely used, especially in France, if only to determine its real effectiveness. (shrink)

The practice and development of modern medicine requires large amounts of data, particularly in the domain of cancer. The future of personalized medicine lies neither with “genomic medicine” nor with “precision medicine”, but with “data medicine”. The establishment of this DM has required far-reaching changes, to establish four essential elements connecting patients and doctors: biobanks, databases, bioinformatic platforms and genomic platforms. The “transformation” of scientific research areas, such as genetics, bioinformatics and biostatistics, into clinical specialties has generated a new vision (...) of care. Molecular tumor boards are one response to these changes and are now providing better access to next-generation sequencing and new cancer treatments to patients with inoperable or metastatic cancers, and those for whom the usual treatment has failed. However, MTB face a crucial ethical challenge: maintaining and improving the trust of patients, clinicians, researchers and industry in academic medical centers supported by private or public funding rather than providing genetic data directly to private companies. We believe that, in this era of DM, appropriate modern digital communication networks will be required to maintain this trust and to improve the organization and effectiveness of the system. There is, therefore, a need to reconsider the form and content of informed consent documents at all academic medical centers and to introduce dynamic and electronic informed consent. (shrink)

This edition contains a new introduction by Stefan Kipfer, explaining the book’s contemporary ramifications in the ever-expanding reach of the urban in the ...

A possible relevant meaning of Hilbert’s program is the following one: “give a constructive semantic for classical mathematics”. More precisely, give a systematic interpretation of classical abstract proofs about abstract objects, as constructive proofs about constructive versions of these objects.If this program is fulfilled we are able “at the end of the tale” to extract constructive proofs of concrete results from classical abstract proofs of these results.Dynamical algebraic structures or geometric theories seem to be a good tool for doing this (...) job. In this setting, classical abstract objects are interpreted through incomplete concrete specifications of these objects.The structure of axioms in geometric theories gives rise in a natural way to distributive lattices and pointfree topological spaces. Abstract objects correspond to classical points of these pointfree spaces.We shall insist on the Zariski spectrum of distributive lattices and commutative rings and give a constructive interpretation of the Krull dimension.We underline the fact that many abstract objects in classical mathematics can be viewed as points of spectral spaces corresponding to distributive lattices whose definition is concrete and natural.Two important facts are to be stressed.First, abstract proofs about points of these pointfree spaces can very often be reread as constructive proofs about constructible subsets of these spaces.Second, function spaces on these pointfree spaces are often explicitly used in elegant abstract theories. The structure of these function spaces is fully constructive: indeed by the compactness theorem, “all is finite”. The constructive rereading of the abstract proofs is in this setting is nothing but the simple constatation that abstract proofs use correctly axioms.RésuméUne manière pertinente de revisiter le Programme de Hilbert serait la suivante: « donner une sémantique constructive pour les mathématiques classiques ». Plus précisément donner une interprétation systématique des preuves classiques abstraites au sujet des objets abstraits, en terme de preuves constructives au sujet de contreparties constructives de ces objets abstraits.Si ce programme est rempli, nous sommes capables « à la fin de l’histoire » d’extraire des preuves constructives de résultats concrets à partir des preuves classiques abstraites de ces résultats.Les structures algébriques dynamiques, ou ce qui revient à peu près au même les théories géométriques, semblent être un bon outil pour réaliser ce travail. Dans cette optique, les objets abstraits des mathématiques classiques sont remplacés par des spécifications incomplètes mais concrètes de ces mêmes objets.La structure des théories géométriques donne naissance de manière naturelle à des treillis distributifs et à des espaces topologiques sans points. Les objets abstraits utilisés par les mathématiques classiques correspondent aux points classiques de ces espaces sans points.Dans cet article, nous illustrerons ce phénomène principalement avec le spectre de Zariski des treillis distributifs et celui des anneaux commutatifs, en indiquant notamment un équivalent constructif de la notion de dimension de Krull.Nous insistons sur le caractère extrêmement général de l’interpétation des objets abstraits idéaux des mathématiques classiques comme des points d’espaces spectraux associés à des treillis distributifs qui sont définis de façon naturelle et concrète.Souligons deux faits d’expérience importants.Tout d’abord, les preuves abstraites au sujet des points de ces espaces sans points peuvent en général être relues comme des preuves concernant les parties constructibles de ces espaces.Enfin, les espaces de fonctions continues sur ces espaces sans points sont souvent utilisés dans d’élégantes théories abstraites. Ces espaces de fonctions sont bien définis constructivement. Cela tient au « théorème de compacité » qui nous dit que dans le cadre en question « tout est fini ». La relecture constructive des preuves abstraites n’est alors rien d’autre que la constatation que les axiomes géométriques sont utilisés de manière correcte. (shrink)

The Löwenheim-Hilbert-Bernays theorem states that, for an arithmetical first-order language L, if S is a satisfiable schema, then substitution of open sentences of L for the predicate letters of S...