The segregation of damaged components at cell division determines the survival and aging of cells. In cells that divide asymmetrically, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aggregated proteins are retained by the mother cell. Yet, where and how aggregation occurs is not known. Recent work by Zhou and collaborators shows that the birth of protein aggregates, under specific stress conditions, requires active translation, and occurs mainly at the endoplasmic reticulum. Later, aggregates move to the mitochondrial surface through fis1‐dependent association. During replicative aging, (...) aggregate association with the mother‐cell mitochondria contributes to the asymmetric segregation of aggregates, because mitochondria in the daughter cell do not carry aggregates. With increasing age of mother cells, aggregates lose their connection to the mitochondria, and segregation is less asymmetric. Relating these findings to other mechanisms of aggregate segregation in different organisms, we postulate that fusion between aggregates and their tethering to organelles such as the vacuole, nucleus, ER, or mitochondria are common principles that establish asymmetric segregation during stress resistance and aging. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease pandemic fundamentally disrupted humans’ social life and behavior. Public health measures may have inadvertently impacted how people care for each other. This study investigated prosocial behavior, its association well-being, and predictors of prosocial behavior during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and sought to understand whether region-specific differences exist. Participants from eight regions clustering multiple countries around the world responded to a cross-sectional online-survey investigating the psychological consequences of the first upsurge of lockdowns in spring 2020. Prosocial behavior (...) was reported to occur frequently. Multiple regression analyses showed that prosocial behavior was associated with better well-being consistently across regions. With regard to predictors of prosocial behavior, high levels of perceived social support were most strongly associated with prosocial behavior, followed by high levels of perceived stress, positive affect and psychological flexibility. Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of prosocial behavior were similar across regions. (shrink)

Comparative studies on the Hindu philosophy, the Śaiva Siddhānta, and the Vedanta.

Sūkṣmāgama: Volume III, Chapters 54 to 85. Critical Edition. By S. Sambandhaśivācarya, B. Dagens, M.-L. Barazer-Billoret, and T. Ganesan with the collaboration of J.-M. Creisméas. Collection Indologie, vol. 114.3. Pondichéry: institut FranCçais de Pondichéry, 2018. Pp. cxcviii + 348.

The Anthropocene is built on complex technological systems that span the globe. Historians of science have done much to document the emergence of this “technosphere.” Yet more interdisciplinary and regionally diverse approaches are needed to understand the complexity and unpredictability of the technosphere in our Anthropocene times. Rather than assuming a single planetary phenomenon, this essay emphasizes the widely varied lived experiences of the Anthropocene. Taking industrialized mining and oil drilling as examples of the technosphere, it examines three African localities (...) of resource extraction—the Congolese Copperbelt, the South African Witwatersrand, and the Niger Delta in Nigeria—to ask why the environmental transformations of large-scale industry have caused violent protest in one locality but apparent acquiescence in others. The concept of the Anthropocene urges historians of science to connect questions about scientific knowledge and technology to issues of environmental change, economic organization, political power, social differentiation, and cultural imagination. This broad approach, the essay suggests, can prove extremely fruitful in explaining historical variations and contemporary responses to the Anthropocene. (shrink)

This study described the relationships between academic class and student moral sensitivity and reasoning and between curriculum design components for ethics education and student moral sensitivity and reasoning. The data were collected from freshman (n = 506) and senior students (n = 440) in eight baccalaureate nursing programs in South Korea by survey; the survey consisted of the Korean Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire and the Korean Defining Issues Test. The results showed that moral sensitivity scores in patient-oriented care and conflict were (...) higher in senior students than in freshman students. Furthermore, more hours of ethics content were associated with higher principled thinking scores of senior students. Nursing education in South Korea may have an impact on developing student moral sensitivity. Planned ethics content in nursing curricula is necessary to improve moral sensitivity and moral reasoning of students. (shrink)

Histone variant exchange is a novel epigenetic regulator of cognition. We speculate that H2A.Z, a variant of canonical histone H2A, exerts unique effects on transcription during distinct stages of memory formation, ultimately acting to maintain memory of previous transcriptional states and poise genes for re‐activation. Hippocampus‐dependent memory formation is initiated by transient expression of memory‐related genes, which support the storage of recently acquired memories. Soon after, memories undergo systems consolidation, which transfers memories from the hippocampus to the cortex for long‐term (...) storage, and requires ongoing re‐activation of memory‐related genes. We speculate that learning‐induced H2A.Z eviction from nucleosomes initially contributes to stimulus‐induced transcriptional induction needed for the initial process of memory consolidation. During systems consolidation, we speculate that delayed incorporation of H2A.Z into nucleosomes of memory‐related genes in the cortex is needed to poise genes for rapid re‐activation, thus supporting the long‐term process of memory stabilization.Also watch the Video Abstract. (shrink)

We consider whether given a simple, finite description of a group in the form of an algorithm, it is possible to algorithmically determine if the corresponding group has some specified property or not. When there is such an algorithm, we say the property is recursively recognizable within some class of descriptions. When there is not, we ask how difficult it is to detect the property in an algorithmic sense. We consider descriptions of two sorts: first, recursive presentations in terms of (...) generators and relators, and second, algorithms for computing the group operation. For both classes of descriptions, we show that a large class of natural algebraic properties, Markov properties, are not recursively recognizable, indeed they are \-hard to detect in recursively presented groups and \-hard to detect in computable groups. These theorems suffice to give a sharp complexity measure for the detection problem of a number of typical group properties, for example, being abelian, torsion-free, orderable. Some properties, like being cyclic, nilpotent, or solvable, are much harder to detect, and we give sharp characterizations of the corresponding detection problems from a number of them. We give special attention to orderability properties, as this was a main motivation at the beginning of this project. (shrink)

Das Buch besteht aus zehn Essays, die sich mit den fur die postmoderne Wende relevanten Mechanismen auseinandersetzen. Indem die Autorin die Moderne als -mannlich-, und die Postmoderne als -weiblich- bestimmt, widmet sie sich auch modernen feminisierten Mannerfiguren und den Typen literarischen Wissens in der avantgardistischen und postmodernen Poetik. Zwei Essays handeln von den kulturellen Stereotypen moderner Nationen sowie vom sozialistischen Imaginarium des Titoistischen Jugoslawiens. Die Autorin bewegt sich souveran und zugleich spielerisch durch die europaische Kultur - von der antiken Philosophie (...) bis zu den neuesten kroatischen Prosaisten. Das essayistische Buch uberzeugt durch seine wissenschaftliche Ernsthaftigkeit, Innovativitat und argumentative Kraft.". (shrink)

Kannada translation with original Sanskrit text on Śaktiviśiṣṭādvaitavedānta.

On Anubhavādvaita in the form of dialogue between guru and disciple.

In the article, we consider the objections of the capability approach to Rawls’s theory of public justification. The objection is that Rawls’s theory is considered with an exclusive focus on reason and rationality as essential properties of justice, excluding from the domain of justice people who do not possess these properties (such as people with severe cognitive impairments). We point out the shortcomings of the alternative proposal to the capability theory, which is based on the dignity of the species, because (...) we claim that no valid normative conclusions can be derived from the concept of the species. We conclude by adopting a model of public justification according to which duties and rights are determined by reasonable people (ideal legislators). Reasonable people impartially judge the principles of justice even for those who do not participate in the process of justification but deserve the recognition of rights by universalizing these rights. Through universalization, they justified these rights for themselves and for those they represented by presenting adequate representatives in the process of justifying the principles of justice for those who do not have the capability to be reasonable and rational. (shrink)

The paper presents the results of a preliminary study aimed at examining the validity and reliability of the newly constructed questionnaire Questionnaire on teaching for critical thinking. Conceptually, the paper is based on the generic model of teaching for critical thinking and its key dimensions. 209 teachers and educators (formal and non-formal education) in the Republic of Croatia participated in the study. The research participants were asked to complete an online survey questionnaire. The design of the questionnaire items followed the (...) mentioned generic model. The initial version of the survey questionnaire contained 46 items, and after the analyses, 36 items were retained. Factor analysis was performed and 6 factors were extracted (and 6 scales were constructed). Reliability of all scales is satisfactory – the coefficients of the internal consistency type Cronbach alpha range from.73 to.92. Through the conducted validation, the first research steps were taken in the confirmation of the validity and reliability of the questionnaire on teaching for critical thinking. In conclusion, the application of the questionnaire on teaching for critical thinking in further research can contribute to the improvement of teaching for critical thinking in the Republic of Croatia, and can thus contribute to the development of students’ critical thinking competency. (shrink)

The question in the title involves two main issues: 1) should women enjoy the same right as men to fight in armed combat? 2) is it useful to have women-combatants?. I will argue that we need to address both issues. In other words, the issue of rights, including gender rights, is not sufficient to answer the question of the role of women in warfare, in general, and combat positions, in particular. In exploring the usefulness of women in combat, I will (...) look at two case-scenarios which I consider vital for answering the question at hand. My conclusion is that women do have a place in warfare and should be allowed to take up the position of combat soldiers. I have argued that the main normative ethical theories, namely Deontology, Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics and Ethics of Care, do not pose insuperable and irreconcilable objections to my interpretation of the question. (shrink)

Recent research points to the fact that new medical technological innovations are just as relevant in the context of long‐term care or chronic care as they are in the context of acute care. In the spirit of the Nuffield Foundation recommendations, this paper explores the possibilities of using robotic aides in long‐term care and identifies the tensions that must be considered and addressed if robotics is to be introduced successfully in nursing homes. Our examination is two‐pronged. First, we delve into (...) a fundamental issue surrounding AI, namely that of consciousness. We argue that automation will always have only a limited use in caregiving since caregiving as an activity requires the use of human‐type, that is, organic, consciousness. We support the thesis that the emergence and formation of human‐type consciousness require feelings such as empathy and the sense of touch, which, in turn, create the sense of kinship with fellow human beings. And second, we examine the benefits as well as risks of using robotic aides such as ZORA and PARO in long‐term care facilities. More specifically, we look at ZORA's use in a group setting, and PARO's use in an individual setting. We emphasize that long‐term care is one‐on‐one care, including but not limited to intimate care. Crucially, we argue that touch is at the heart of this type of care. We argue that some of the tensions with the use of robotic aides are generated precisely because of the lack of human touch. (shrink)

Standard views of personal identity over time often hover uneasily between the subjective, first-person dimension (e. g. psychological continuity), and the objective, third-person dimension (e. g. biological continuity) of a person’s life. Since both dimensions capture something integral to personal identity, we show that neither can successfully be discarded in favor of the other. The apparent need to reconcile subjectivity and objectivity, however, presents standard views with problems both in seeking an ontological footing of, as well as epistemic evidence for, (...) personal identity. We contend that a fresh look at neutral monism offers a novel way to tackle these problems; counting on the most fundamental building blocks of reality to be ontologically neutral with regards to subjectivity and objectivity of personal identity. If the basic units of reality are, in fact, ontologically neutral – but can give rise to mental as well as physical events – these basic units of reality might account for both subjectivity and objectivity in personal identity. If this were true, it would turn out that subjectivity and objectivity are not conflictive dimensions of personal identity but rather two sides of the same coin. (shrink)

Our paper focuses on the philosophical perspective of constructing active caring masculinities agencies in the contemporary feminist discourse. Since contemporary feminisms are not simply anti-essentialist, but more importantly, polyphonic, we believe that it is far more appropriate to talk about ‘masculinities’ as opposed to ‘masculinity’. We are proposing a revised understanding of the self in which the self is not defined primarily in the dichotomous, categorical one-other relationship. We use Paul Ricoeur’s anthropology to describe the self as relational, as well (...) as Joan Tronto’s recent perspective on care which fits well with a Ricoeurian reconstruction of the self. We also engage with Raewyn Connell’s discourse on masculinity and more specifically, hegemonic masculinity. By using ‘caring masculine agencies’ as an alternative to ‘masculinity as reactive anti-femininity’, we are proposing a paradigm shift that hopefully is flexible enough to respect the dynamism inherent to any act of gender-identification. (shrink)

In this paper I examine Russell’s account of memory in both the acquaintance and the neutral monist periods, more specifically, the years from 1910 until 1927, with emphasis on The Problems of Philosophy, Theory of Knowledge, and The Analysis of Mind. I argue that memory is central for understanding how knowledge works, which is the main reason it remained in the focus of Russell’s analysis even after the gradual shift to neutral monism. I propose that memory played a not insignificant (...) role in that shift. While this paper aims to show that Russell’s theory of memory in the acquaintance period faced serious difficulties—mainly related to the commitment to direct realism—I argue that there is a consistent similarity and continuity between the theory of memory in the acquaintance period and that in the neutral monist period. Russell considered a similar type of memory to be paradigmatic and epistemically primary in both periods—a consideration, dictated, no doubt, by his commitment to the principles of Occam’s razor and psychological plausibility. (shrink)

Text představuje pragma-dialektický přístup k argumentaci. Věnuje se představení nástrojů standardní verze (ideální model kritické diskuze, argumentační schéma, argumentační struktura) i rozšířené verze (typ komunikační aktivity, strategické manévrování). Následně ilustruje užití předložených nástrojů na případové analýze videa „Přemluv bábu“. Standardní verze je využita k zodpovězení otázky „Jakou argumentaci Mádl a Issová předkládají? Je zde představen postup rekonstrukce argumentační výpovědi: identifikaci argumentačně relevantních prvků textu a rekonstrukci argumentační struktury a užitých argumentačních schémat. Rozšířená verze pragma-dialektiky je užita k zodpovězení otázky „Jaké (...) argumentační strategie Mádl a Issová používají, aby zvýšili přijatelnost vzhledem k zamýšlenému publiku?“ Je zde předložena charakterizace typu komunikační aktivity angažované politické komedie a omezení, které z jejích konvencí vyplývají. Následně je předložena analýza strategie užití tzv. strategické kontraproduktivity. (shrink)

Analysis of the patterns of cell lineage observed during development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, combined with selected cell ablation experiments, has revealed that while many cell fates are autonomously (intrinsically) determined, cell–cell interactions are required for a number of developmental decisions. Earlier genetic analysis of one key gene, lin‐12, had shown that this gene controls a number of bi‐potential fate decisions involving such cellular interactions. Molecular analysis of this gene is now providing clues to its mode of action in (...) mediating these cell‐fate decision. (shrink)

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.--Kāśī Hindu Viśvavidyālaya, 1994) under title: Śaktiviśishṭādvaita Vedānta, eka samīkshātmka anuśīlana.

Classical commentary on a part dealing with substance (dravya) of Praśastapādabhāṣya, ancient compendium of the Vaiśeṣika school in Indic philosophy, by Praśastapādācārya.

On the fundamentals of Vaiśeṣika and Nyaya school in Hindu philosophy with Saptapadārthīṭīkā commentary.