Chronic migraine is a difficult disease to diagnose, and its pathophysiology remains undefined. Its symptoms affect the quality of life and daily living tasks of the affected person, leading to momentary disability. This is a pilot, randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trial study with female patients between 18 and 65 years old with chronic migraine. The patients underwent twelve mindfulness sessions paired with anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with current intensity of 2 mA applied for 20 (...) min, three times a week for 4 weeks. In addition, 20 min of mindfulness home practices were performed by guided meditation audio files. A total of 30 participants were evaluated after the treatment, and these were subdivided into two groups—active tDCS and sham tDCS, both set to mindfulness practice. The FFMQ-BR, MIDAS, and HIT-6 questionnaires were used to evaluate the outcomes. After the treatment, the active mindfulness and tDCS group showed better results in all outcomes. The sham group also showed improvements, but with smaller effect sizes compared to the active group. The only significant difference in the intergroup analysis was the outcome evaluated by HIT-6 in the post treatment result. Our results provide the first therapeutic evidence of mindfulness practices associated with left DLPFC anodal tDCS with a consequent increase in the level of full attention and analgesic benefits in the clinical symptoms of patients with chronic migraine. (shrink)

Context: Research in the contemplative field has focused on trainable capacities that foster self-regulation and integration. From a psychological perspective, mindfulness and personality research ….

Este artigo tem como objetivo discutir os principais resultados apresentados pelas pesquisas “Relações étnico-raciais e de gênero no contexto das práticas pedagógicas: escrevivências e invenções na educação básica” e a pesquisa “Ensino de História e Cultura Afro-brasileira, Africana e Identidade: desafios e implicações nas Práticas pedagógicas”[1]. Dialogamos com os métodos adotados nas pesquisas, a etnoescrevivência e a pesquisa ação colaborativa, tomando os Ateliês de Pesquisa como dispositivo de construção de dados e intervenção, que possibilitou a construção de um movimento formativo (...) e coautoral, pautado na colaboração e na reflexão sobre a prática. As discussões teóricas dialogam principalmente com hooks ; Lima ; Pimenta ; Silva e Costa e outros/as autores/as. Os resultados apontaram que ao tomar como centralidade as narrativas da experiência docente e suas histórias de vida no entrelace do desenvolvimento profissional, os APs provocaram deslocamentos nos processos formativos com os temas raça e gênero, produzindo reflexão e alteração nas práticas pedagógicas. Demonstraram ainda, que não basta ser colaborador da pesquisa para que a cocriação e coautoria se estabeleçam, é fundamental que o ethos da confiança, a relação ética e horizontal seja construída ao longo do processo, haja vista que o modus operandi dos Ateliês de Pesquisa prima pela horizontalidade, invenção e experiência ancoradas no real do cotidiano escolar como propulsoras da produção do conhecimento pedagógico considerado como conhecimento científico do campo da docência. (shrink)

O trabalho busca suscitar questões e inferências sobre a utilização de plataformas digitais de comunicação, como conformações capitalistas entendendo que esses ambientes agem na incorporação de significações, com seus sentidos, na mediação de um sistema ideológico-discursivo que age nos sujeitos e na sociedade. Para tal, situa a informação como um dispositivo, um infômato que sempre medeia e armazena e é capaz de formar e ser formada, alicerçada em conjuntos de pertencimentos em contínuos significados compartilhados. Reflete sobre a compreensão discursivo-ideológica da (...) informação, sua capacidade de agir como máquina performativa. Ao olhar para uma ontologia sobre o político da informação é possível reconhecer uma reflexão crítica sobre as mediações que constituem a informação enquanto objeto social. (shrink)

A INDEVIDA CRIMINALIZAÇÃO DA MORALIDADE:O CRIME DE CASA DE PROSTITUIÇÃO SOB O PRISMA DO PATERNALISMO PENAL.

Efforts have been dedicated to the understanding of social-ecological systems, an important focus in ethnobiological studies. In particular, ethnobiological investigations have found evidence and tested hypotheses over the last 30 years on the interactions between human groups and their environments, generating the need to formulate a theory for such systems. In this article, we propose the social-ecological theory of maximization to explain the construction and functioning of these systems over time, encompassing hypotheses and evidence from previous ethnobiological studies. In proposing (...) the theory, we present definitions and two conceptual models, an environmental maximization model and a redundancy generation model. The first model seeks to address biota selection and its use by human populations. The second emphasizes how the system organizes itself from the elements that were incorporated into it. Furthermore, we provide the theoretical scenario of plant selection and use from an evolutionary perspective, which explicitly integrates the phylogenetic relationships of plants (or other living resources) and human beings. (shrink)

Efforts have been dedicated to the understanding of social-ecological systems, an important focus in ethnobiological studies. In particular, ethnobiological investigations have found evidence and tested hypotheses over the last 30 years on the interactions between human groups and their environments, generating the need to formulate a theory for such systems. In this article, we propose the social-ecological theory of maximization to explain the construction and functioning of these systems over time, encompassing hypotheses and evidence from previous ethnobiological studies. In proposing (...) the theory, we present definitions and two conceptual models, an environmental maximization model and a redundancy generation model. The first model seeks to address biota selection and its use by human populations. The second emphasizes how the system organizes itself from the elements that were incorporated into it. Furthermore, we provide the theoretical scenario of plant selection and use from an evolutionary perspective, which explicitly integrates the phylogenetic relationships of plants and human beings. (shrink)

Efforts have been dedicated to the understanding of social-ecological systems, an important focus in ethnobiological studies. In particular, ethnobiological investigations have found evidence and tested hypotheses over the last 30 years on the interactions between human groups and their environments, generating the need to formulate a theory for such systems. In this article, we propose the social-ecological theory of maximization to explain the construction and functioning of these systems over time, encompassing hypotheses and evidence from previous ethnobiological studies. In proposing (...) the theory, we present definitions and two conceptual models, an environmental maximization model and a redundancy generation model. The first model seeks to address biota selection and its use by human populations. The second emphasizes how the system organizes itself from the elements that were incorporated into it. Furthermore, we provide the theoretical scenario of plant selection and use from an evolutionary perspective, which explicitly integrates the phylogenetic relationships of plants and human beings. (shrink)

Este artigo aborda noções de gênero no âmbito do sistema socioeducativo e reflete sobre a condição da adolescente restrita e privada de liberdade. A situação dessas jovens atravessa questões históricas e socioculturais e marca a mulher que se encontra nessa condição. Partimos da noção de gênero para figuratizar “o lugar de fala” em que essas adolescentes e jovens institucionalizadas estão inscritas, o tempo-espaço de onde compartilham vivências e experiências possibilitadas pela MSE. A necessidade dessa discussão se justifica em decorrência do (...) crescimento da violência que vem incidindo sobre a mulher, a qual se reflete no aumento do número de internações de adolescentes mulheres no sistema socioeducativo. (shrink)

Objetiva verificar como está caracterizada a Ética da Informação nos Programas de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação no Brasil por meio dos projetos de pesquisa, artigos e disciplinas dos Programas citados que possam estar abordando a área. Desenvolve, a fim de atingir estes objetivos, uma pesquisa básica, quantitativa e descritiva, sob a técnica de Análise de Conteúdo. Infere que há uma disparidade significativa com relação ao tópico da ética profissional do bibliotecário entre os indicadores de pesquisa e produção; que o (...) papel da docente Isa Maria Freire nos assuntos que relacionam Ética da Informação com a Web é um destaque, e que Maria Nélida González Gómez, por mais que tenha sido vista sua participação só num projeto de pesquisa, ainda assim contribuiu com a criação de um livro em 2017 sobre Ética da Informação. Conclui que é interessante outro trabalho acadêmico sobre o mesmo assunto, aplicando, por exemplo, uma amostra e, além de coletar artigos, projetos e disciplinas, livros e capítulos de livros. Conclui, ainda, questionando a necessidade de haver uma ”simetria” entre quantidade de projetos e artigos sobre um determinado assunto, bem como destaca a importância da Ética da Informação em função de desafios ético-informacionais propostos por tópicos como plágio e fake news. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta os resultados de pesquisa que teve como objetivo a avaliação de oito livros didáticos de filosofia para o ensino médio, selecionados como os principais livros disponíveis no mercado editorial brasileiro. Apresenta o referencial teórico sobre conteúdos e metodologias mais adequadas para o ensino de filosofia no nível médio, expõe a metodologia empregada para a análise dos livros e discute os resultados obtidos.

Livro-texto de introdução à lógica, com (mais do que) pitadas de filosofia da lógica, produzido como uma versão revista e ampliada do livro Forallx: Calgary. Trata-se da versão de 13 de outubro de 2022. Comentários, críticas, correções e sugestões são muito bem-vindos.

The demand for integrating and sharing heterogeneous data online has attracted the interest of cultural institutions in making information access and retrieval more effective via Semantic Web technologies. The present study proposes a digital repository for 3D scans of modernist sculptures in public spaces in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a view to ensuring access, use, reuse and preservation of this information. This is a qualitative exploratory experimental study based on the scientific literature and specific empirical material. (...) It presents the analysis results of vocabularies for physical artifact documents and their digital counterparts on the Semantic Web and a discussion on how these align with the nature of the metadata determined here, as well as a metadata modeling prototype implemented on the Tainacan platform and aimed at cataloging digital 3D replicas. We claim that the proposed model for documenting cultural heritage assets on Tainacan is easy to implement, in that it uses accessible technology with a wide internet user base, highly expressive in its descriptions of 3D and multimedia content and based on well-established metadata and ontology standards recommended by regulatory bodies and communities such as the World Wide Web Consortium and International Organization for Standardization. Keywords: networked heritage documents, digital repositories, 3D digitization, semantic annotation. (shrink)

Resenha do livro de Juan Adolfo Bonaccini, Maria de Paz Nunes Medeiros, Markus Figueira de Silva e Oscar Frederico Bauchwitz (Org.). Metafísica: história e problemas: atas do I Colóquio Internacional da Metafísica . Natal: EDUFRN, 2006, 332 páginas. [Coleçáo Metafísica n. 5].

What we generally regard as ‘the face’ should be semiotically understood not as something given and monolithic, but rather stratified – it is at least threefold: biological (face), physiognomic (expression), perceivable (visage) – and relational as it has to be put within a narrative in order to make sense. The face lies at the centre of a whole semiotic system, the form of life, revolving around the issue of identity (which the face – the visage, to be precise – embodies (...) and still does not resolve). What we may call ‘the natural face’ is not, as common sense would suggest, the precondition of the ‘culturalized’ one (featured with modifications ranging from make-up and proper masks to surgery), but rather just one of the possible semiotic masks a person may choose to wear. At the same time, the mask does not have to be reduced to a deceptive device only (nor to be meant merely as a material object), being in fact at the centre of a more complex axiology. The classic veridictory square articulating the opposition between Being and Seeming may provide a suitable model for the semiotic square of ‘visageness’, so that we would have: Face, Disguise (the place of the mask proper), Fake, Anonymity. Based on these theoretical premises, the paper finally addresses popular music and outlines a provisional map of the pragmatics of the mask (subtractive vs. additive, ritualistic vs. continuous, material vs. virtual, mask as face vs. face as mask), as a suggestion for further studies. (shrink)

This is the report on the XVI BRAZILIAN LOGIC CONFERENCE (EBL 2011) held in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between May 9–13, 2011 published in The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic Volume 18, Number 1, March 2012. -/- The 16th Brazilian Logic Conference (EBL 2011) was held in Petro ́polis, from May 9th to 13th, 2011, at the Laboratório Nacional de Computação o Científica (LNCC). It was the sixteenth in a series of conferences that started in 1977 with the aim of (...) congregating logicians from Brazil and abroad, furthering interest in logic and its applications, stimulating cooperation, and contributing to the development of this branch of science. EBL 2011 included more than one-hundred and fifty participants, all of them belonging to prominent research institutes from Brazil and abroad, especially Latin America. The conference was sponsored by the Academia Brasileira de Ciências (ABC), the As- sociation for Symbolic Logic (ASL), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Centre for Logic, Epistemology and the History of Sciences (CLE), Laboratório Nacional de Computação o Científica (LNCC), Pontif ́ıcia Universidade Cato ́lica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC- Rio), Sociedade Brasileira de Lógica (SBL), and Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). Funding was provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient ́ıfico e Tecnolo ́ gico (CNPq), Fundac ̧a ̃o de Amparo `a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Fundação Euclides da Cunha (FEC), and Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). The members of the Scientific Committee were: Mário Folhadela Benevides (COPPE- UFRJ), Fa ́bio Bertato (CLE-IFCH-UNICAMP), Jean-Yves Béziau (UFRJ), Ricardo Bianconi (USP), Juliana Bueno-Soler (UFABC), Xavier Caicedo (Universidad de Los An- des), Walter Carnielli (CLE-IFCH-UNICAMP), Oswaldo Chateaubriand Filho (PUC-Rio), Marcelo Esteban Coniglio (CLE-IFCH-UNICAMP), Newton da Costa (UFSC, President), Antonio Carlos da Rocha Costa (UFRG), Alexandre Costa-Leite (UnB), I ́tala M. Loffredo D’Ottaviano (CLE-IFCH-UNICAMP), Marcelo Finger (USP), Edward Hermann Haeusler (PUC-Rio), Décio Krause (UFSC), João Marcos (UFRN), Ana Teresa de Castro Martins (UFC), Maria da Paz Nunes de Medeiros (UFRN), Francisco Miraglia (USP), Luiz Car- los Pereira (PUC-Rio and UFRJ), Elaine Pimentel (UFMG), and Samuel Gomes da Silva (UFBA). The members of the Organizing Committee were: Anderson de Araujo (UNICAMP), Walter Carnielli (CLE-IFCH-UNICAMP), Oswaldo Chateaubriand Filho (PUC-Rio, Co- chair), Marcelo Correa (UFF), Renata de Freitas (UFF), Edward Hermann Haeusler (PUC- RJ), Hugo Nobrega (COPPE-UFRJ), Luiz Carlos Pereira (PUC-Rio e IFCS/UFRJ), Leandro Suguitani (UNICAMP), Rafael Testa (UNICAMP), Leonardo Bruno Vana (UFF), and Petrucio Viana (UFF, Co-chair). (shrink)

Entrevista concedida por Antonio Negri a Homero Santiago e Mario Marino por ocasião do lançamento da segunda edição da tradução brasileira de A anomalia selvagem: poder e potência em Espinosa.

On an expressivist view, ethical claims are not fact stating; instead they serve the alternative function of expressing our feelings, attitudes and values. On a deflationary view, truth is not a property with a nature to be analyzed, but merely a grammatical device to aid us in endorsing sentences. Views on the relationship between expressivism and deflationism vary widely: they are compatible; they are incompatible; they are a natural pair; they doom one another. Here I explain some of these views, (...) extract some necessary distinctions, and put these to use for understanding expressivism. I argue that contrary to the opinions of some, deflationism doesn’t help with problems of objectivity, knowledge and reasoning in ethics. I suggest alternative expressivist treatments of these problems, and show how expressivism as a metaethical view must have consequences for our ethical lives and beliefs. In particular it must affect the way we deal with ethical consistency—when norms or beliefs conflict—and ethical incompleteness—when ethical questions have no right answer. (shrink)

Satz posed the term "legal gerrymandering for human interest," referring to the redrawing of the natural baseline of protections for other animals to further human use of them. One of the domains where this exists most clearly is in scientific research on animal models. An animal model is sufficiently like humans in anatomy, physiology, or psychology to be used in research considered too harmful or risky for humans. I argue that the use of animal models is, by its very nature, (...) ethical gerrymandering and a corruption of the self-correcting component of the scientific process. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie Jahrgang: 65 Heft: 1 Seiten: 67-88.

A Constituição dos Atenienses é uma pequena obra acerca da politeia de Atenas e das condições que permitem que a democracia permaneça em Atenas como forma de gerenciar a vida da polis. Esta obra representa um problema filológico e historiográfico, porque, embora esteja no corpus das obras de Xenofonte, ela é considerada obra de outro autor, conhecido como Pseudo-Xenofonte ou “Velho Oligarca”. Trata-se de um pamphlet de orientação oligárquica que apresenta Atenas como um mundo ao contrário, em que os piores (...) comandam e os melhores são como escravizados pela multidão ignorante. (shrink)

The use of facial recognition systems in concerts provides a perfect pretext to semiotically discuss the role of the face in contemporary culture, identifying different strategies and axiologies (systems of values). In his visionary essay Bruits (“noises”) from 1977, the French thinker Jacques Attali establishes a close connection between music and power and locates it in the site of the collective unfolding of music: the concert hall. Following this hint, the article reconstructs the current debate on facial recognition systems in (...) the music business, with a particular focus on concerts and festivals. The different positions (of musicians, authorities, and professionals) are outlined (some are openly in favor, others openly against), key moments are identified (Beyoncé’s concert in Cardiff, 2017; Jacky Cheung’s in Nanchang, 2018; Taylor Swift’s at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, 2018; the “banfacialrecognition.com” campaign launched in 2019; the case of Barbara Hart at Brandi Carlile’s show at the Madison Square Garden, 2022) and, finally, the issue is framed within the broader debate about the face as an indexical marker of presence, identity, and humanity (the contrast between Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben and American sociologist and design theorist Benjamin Bratton is addressed). (shrink)

One of the mammalian groups absent from the Finlay et al. study is cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and porpoises). Inclusion of cetaceans would be useful for assessing the generalizability of the authors' conclusions. Recent findings suggest dolphins may differ from the general pattern observed by Finlay et al. I encourage Finlay and her colleagues to include developmental neurobiological data on cetaceans, when available.

Smith et al. propose that the most parsimonious explanation for identical responses of humans and nonhumans under the same conditions is not always the simplest cognitive explanation but could be the one that has the most logical consistency across species. The authors provide convincing evidence and a reasonable argument for declarative consciousness as a shared psychological property in humans, monkeys, and dolphins.

In 2006, based on the advice of 50 international experts, the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology issued a consensus statement on the nomenclature and management of children who have a phenotype that is neither typical male nor female (Lee et al. 2006). Responding to a decade of criticism over the terminology that had been in place, including such terms as intersex, hermaphrodite, or pseudohermaphrodite, they proposed to call those conditions in which the patient (...) does not have the typical male or female gonads, chromosomes, or anatomy "disorders of sexual development."While this proposed change in nomenclature is helpful, in order to truly effect a .. (shrink)

Early Buddhist texts were first being composed and compiled during South Asia’s Iron Age, and thus contain many references to iron and other metal technologies. This article examines one metalworking image that came to play a special role in the imagination of early Buddhists: the red-hot iron ball. I argue that the iron ball, which comes to be a torture device in hell, force-fed by hell wardens, is a mimesis of the pi??ap?ta, or almsfood offered to monks and nuns by (...) the laity. Around iron ball imagery clusters a set of related Buddhist concerns: anxieties about undisciplined and deceitful monks and nuns, especially in relation to taking alms; the public perception of the sa?gha; the conceptualization of Buddhist hells as an unfortunate karmic result of lacking discipline; and the relationship between these hells and Indian juridical forms of punishment. (shrink)

This text presents some elective affinities and differences between the works of two powerful media theoreticians of the 20th century: Water Benjamin and Vilém Flusser. Both authors have shaped original perspectives on the relationship between art and technology. While holding a special place for the theory of photography, both have reflected upon the history of writing and its transformations during Modernity. In addition, both Benjamin and Flusser dedicated important texts to the question of translation and the philosophy of language. This (...) text also examines the differences between the Benjaminian theory of writing and image reproduction connected to his concept of post-auratic images, and, on the other hand, the Flusserian theory of technical and post-historical images. (shrink)

RESUMO Não há Estado sem os indivíduos. Para Rousseau a construção do Estado requer a participação direta dos cidadãos. A participação ativa dos cidadãos resultará na expressão da vontade geral. É a vontade geral que, via pacto social, dará vida e união ao Estado. O Estado é um projeto de corpo político. A participação ativa dos cidadãos com vistas a impedir a corrupção e a dissolução da sociedade remete à concepção da soberania popular. Nessa modalidade de soberania, os cidadãos seriam (...) capazes de construir e manter os fundamentos da sociedade civil. Rousseau, como um contratualista, pensa a sua época e as soluções políticas para os problemas reais de seu tempo. Portanto, é desse cenário entre a teoria e a prática que Rousseau partirá para configurar a distinção e a relação desse importante tripé: soberano, Legislador e príncipe. ABSTRACT There is no State without subjects. For Rousseau, statebuilding requires the direct participation of citizens. The active participation of citizens will result in the expression of the general will. It is the general will that via social pact, will give life and unity to the state. The state is a political body design. The active participation of citizens in order to prevent corruption and dissolution of the society refers to the conception of popular sovereignty. In this mode of sovereignty, citizens would be able to build and maintain the foundations of civil society. Rousseau, as a contractualist, thinks his time and political solutions for the real issues of his time. So it is this scenario between theory and practice, which Rousseau will start to set up the distinction and the relationship of this important tripod: Sovereign, Legislator and Prince. (shrink)

Este artigo procura desenvolver o conceito de "crítica" no primeiro romantismo, sobretudo em seus principais representantes, Friedrich Schlegel e Novalis. A partir destes autores já não se pode falar de uma obra de arte desvinculada da reflexão sobre ela, mas, por sua vez, a própria "critica" deve se tomar arte.

Resumo O presente artigo trata do conceito heideggeriano In-der-Welt-Sein. O objetivo, por sua vez, é o esclarecimento do significado e da função do artigo “der” que encontramos na referida expressão. Para tanto, o artigo foca predominantemente nos modos-de-ser dos entes intramundanos e no fenômeno da Weltanschauung, tomando-os como os elementos fundamentais para uma compreensão satisfatória e global do evento do In-der-Welt-Sein, enquanto sinônimo geral da existência do Dasein. Desta forma, tanto os modos-de-ser dos entes intramundanos como a estrutura da Weltanschauung (...) são tomados como aqueles fenômenos que, representados na expressão In-der-Welt-Sein pelo artigo “der”, singularizam “mundo” enquanto sentido do ser desvelado para a compreensão do Dasein – inapelavelmente manifestado em alguma especificidade concreta. Palavras-chave : In-der-Welt-Sein, Mundo, Weltanschauung, Ente intramundano, Vorhandenheit. ZuhandenheitThe present article treats of the heideggerian concept In-der-Welt-Sein. The goal, in turn, is the clarification of the meaning and function of the article “der” we find in the expression. To this end, the article focus predominantly on the manners-of-being of the intraworldly beings and in the phenomenon of the Weltanschauung, taking them as the fundamental elements for a satisfactory and global understanding of the event of the In-der-Welt-Sein, while general synonym of the existence of Dasein. Thus, manners-of-being of the intraworldly beings and the structure of the Weltanschauung is taken as those phenomena that, represented in the expression In-der-Welt-Sein for the article “der”, they make single “world” while sense of being watched for the understanding of Dasein – unappealably manifested in some concrete specificity. Keywords : In-der-Welt-Sein, Intraworldly beings, Vorhandenheit. Weltanschauung, World, Zuhandenheit. (shrink)

Internal auditing has been adding value in organisations across all sectors for many years. This paper is based on research by the authors into this value in the UK, widened to include the contribution by internal auditing's professional development worldwide. This development is based mainly on international internal auditing standards, now receiving recognition by governments, regulators, external auditors and other authorities across the world. Not least by the worldwide requirements of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2003, and board responsibility for (...) the effectiveness of internal control. The paper discusses how the assurance, compliance and consultant roles of internal auditing are being recognised today at board level in many organisations as valuable contributors to good governance practices. (shrink)

The contention that medical artificial intelligence (AI) should be ‘explainable’ is widespread in contemporary philosophy and in legal and best practice documents. Yet critics argue that ‘explainability’ is not a stable concept; non-explainable AI is often more accurate; mechanisms intended to improve explainability do not improve understanding and introduce new epistemic concerns; and explainability requirements are ad hoc where human medical decision-making is often opaque. A recent ‘political response’ to these issues contends that AI used in high-stakes scenarios, including medical (...) AI, must be explainable to meet basic standards of legitimacy: People are owed reasons for decisions that impact their vital interests, and this requires explainable AI. This article demonstrates why the political response fails. Attending to systemic considerations, as its proponents desire, suggests that the political response is subject to the same criticisms as other arguments for explainable AI and presents new issues. It also suggests that decision-making about non-explainable medical AI can meet public reason standards. The most plausible version of the response amounts to a simple claim that public reason demands reasons why AI is permitted. But that does not actually support explainable AI or respond to criticisms of strong requirements for explainable medical AI. (shrink)

Publishing has become, in several respects, more challenging in recent years. Academics are faced with evolving ethics that appear to be more stringent in a bid to reduce scientific fraud, the emergence of science watchdogs that are now scrutinizing the published literature with critical eyes to hold academics, editors and publishers more accountable, and a barrage of checks and balances that are required between when a paper is submitted and eventually accepted, to ensure quality control. Scientists are often under increasing (...) pressure to produce papers in an increasingly stringent publishing environment. In such a climate, timing is everything, as is the efficiency of the process. Academics appreciate that rejections are part of the fabric of attempting to get a paper published, but they expect the reason to be clear, based on careful evaluation of their work, and not on superficial or unsubstantiated excuses. A desk rejection occurs when a paper gets rejected even before it has entered the peer review process. This paper examines the features of some desk rejections and offers some guidelines that would make desk rejections valid, fair and ethical. Academics who publish are under constant pressure to do so quickly, but effectively. They are dependent on the editors’ good judgment and the publisher’s procedures. Unfair, unsubstantiated, or tardy desk rejections disadvantage academics, and editors and publishers must be held accountable for wasting their time, resources, and patience. (shrink)