Realist and liberal understandings of ethics as the dominant approaches to ethics in international relations are unable to respond efficiently to the call of the other in the age of war against terrorism as they revolve around the needs and the interests of the self. Such self-centred understandings of ethics cannot respond to the other ethically and respect the other in its otherness. Therefore, in this work I attempt to develop responsive ethics by drawing on Levinasian ethics which can create (...) the possibilities of concrete non-violent responses to the other in the age of war against terrorism. (shrink)

Realist and liberal understandings of ethics as the dominant approaches to ethics in international relations are unable to respond efficiently to the call of the other in the age of war against terrorism as they revolve around the needs and the interests of the self. Such self-centred understandings of ethics cannot respond to the other ethically and respect the other in its otherness. Therefore, in this work I attempt to develop responsive ethics by drawing on Levinasian ethics which can create (...) the possibilities of concrete non-violent responses to the other in the age of war against terrorism. (shrink)

This paper is a theoretical and empirical investigation into whether persons in subordinate social contexts possess agency and if they do, how do we recognise and recover their agency given the oppressive conditions of their lives. It aims to achieve this through forging closer links between the philosophical arguments and the ethnographic evidence of women's agency. Through such an exercise, this paper hopes to bridge the existing gap between feminist theoretical interventions and feminist politics as well as to increase ‘sociological (...) awareness’ within feminist philosophical arguments. In order to think about women's agency in oppressive social contexts, the paper evaluates the suitability of existing theoretical frameworks for examining, describing and capturing the autonomy of persons and concludes that a new and a more complex thinking is required to facilitate thinking about human agency within oppressive transcultural contexts. The social context of subordination, the exhibition of agency within and oppressive context and the application of the new theoretical framework is illustrated in an extensive empirical study of the contact with modernity and its accompanying ideas of autonomy and individual rights of rural women belonging to two districts in Rajasthan, North western India. (shrink)

A central question in the study of presuppositions is how a presupposition trigger contributes to the meaning of a complex expression containing it. Two competing answers are found in the literature on quantificational expressions. According to the first, a quantificational expression presupposes that every member of its domain satisfies the presuppositions triggered in its scope, and according to the second, a quantificational expression presupposes that at least one member of its domain satisfies the presuppositions triggered in its scope. The former (...) view implies that an interrogative clause, a kind of quantificational expression, presupposes all of its possible answers’ presuppositions, whereas the latter view implies that an interrogative clause presupposes that the presuppositions of at least one of is possible answers are satisfied. This paper contributes to the debate by showing that ‘alternative’ interrogatives, formed with or, project presuppositions in the same, distinctive manner that other disjunctive constructions do: generally, universally. A theory that treats disjunctive words as restricted variables, bindable by various quantificational operators, is extended to account for the presuppositions of ‘alternative’ interrogatives, disjoined declaratives, and disjoined conditional antecedents in a uniform manner. The paper then explores some ways to reconcile the proposal with two special cases where interrogatives have been claimed to have weaker presuppositions: constituent interrogatives in presupposition-weakening contexts, and polar interrogatives containing bias-inducing scalar particles like even. (shrink)

The very name of Bihar, a district in the eastern part of India, evokes images of anarchy, banditry, and disarray. Already traversed by distinct cultural zones - Bhojpuri, Mithila, Magadha, and the tribal zone of Jharkhand - Bihari society is characterized by bloody clan conflict over territorial rights. The doggedness with which the region's protagonists form militias is a perpetual source of front-page news. Pitted against the Brahmans and Bhumihar Rajputs, the large landowners, are the herding and soldier castes such (...) as the livestock-herding Yadavas, the farming Kurmis, and the former saltpeter miners, the Noniyas, whose economic, social, and political growth has given them real power. And although Magadha's rich Buddhist past attracts pilgrims and tourists, and Mithila's beautiful painted murals and villages draw art connoisseurs, Bihar ranks as one of the least safe regions of India. The rate of banditry and other crime reaches surprising levels. (shrink)

We explore a network architecture introduced by Elman (1988) for predicting successive elements of a sequence. The network uses the pattern of activation over a set of hidden units from time-step 25-1, together with element t, to predict element t + 1. When the network is trained with strings from a particular finite-state grammar, it can learn to be a perfect finite-state recognizer for the grammar. When the network has a minimal number of hidden units, patterns on the hidden units (...) come to correspond to the nodes of the grammar, although this correspondence is not necessary for the network to act as a perfect finite-state recognizer. We explore the conditions under which the network can carry information about distant sequential contingencies across intervening elements. Such information is maintained with relative ease if it is.. (shrink)

A cost analysis of the utilization of new expensive vascular grafts is performed, applying the methodology of decision analysis to the theoretical case of a sixty year old male patient undergoing femoropopliteal grafting for limb threatening ischemia. The problem is presented graphically as a decision tree, uncertainties are quantified in terms of probabilities and end outcomes are evaluated in monetary terms. This informations is then utilized to calculate cost values associated with alternative actions.Based on initial cumulative patency figures of the (...) new more expensive grafts and the known performance of the older grafts, the initial high expense for the new grafts is justified economically, if the saphenous vein is not available. This analysis, apart from giving an answer to a specific clinical problem, can be viewed as a general model for cost analysis of surgical procedures. (shrink)

Çıkarım, en genel anlamıyla, verili önermelerden bir sonuç önermesi elde etmektir. Verili önerme bir tane olduğunda, bu önermeden yola çıkarak bir sonuç önermesi elde etmeye doğrudan çıkarım denir. Verili önerme sayısı birden çok olduğunda ve sonucun elde edilmesi bu verili önermeler arasında bir bağlantı kurmayı gerektirdiğinde çıkarıma dolaylı çıkarım denir. Bu çalışma, klasik mantıkta bir önermenin eşdeğeri veya karşıtının doğruluk değerini saptamak üzere ortaya konulmuş doğrudan çıkarımlar ile ilgilidir. Çalışmanın amacı, üç temel doğrudan çıkarım türünden hareketle yeni doğrudan çıkarım türleri (...) ortaya koymaktır. Bu amaçla öncelikle, iki temel çıkarım türü olarak ele alınan dolaylı ve doğrudan çıkarımların ne olduğu incelenecek, daha sonra mevcut doğrudan çıkarım türlerinin neler olduğu ele alınacaktır. Ardından bu doğrudan çıkarımların kısaltılmış adlandırmaları üzerinden ikili ve üçlü kombinasyonları alınacak; elde edilen yeni eşdeğerliklerin dört kategorik önerme üzerinden sembolik gösterimleri sunulacak; her bir eşdeğerliğin sembolik gösteriminin ardına bu sembolik gösterimleri örnekleyecek biçimde önerme karşılıkları verilecektir. Böylece öncekilerden farklı olacak şekilde yeni doğrudan çıkarım türleri ortaya konulmuş ve örnekleriyle birlikte açıklanmış olacaktır. Son adımda, elde edilen yeni doğrudan çıkarım türlerindeki eşdeğerlik kuralları sırayla sunulacaktır. Söz konusu yeni doğrudan çıkarım türlerinin sağladığı eşdeğerliklerin kendi aralarında zayıf ve güçlü eşdeğerlikler olarak bölümlenebileceği ileri sürülecektir. Elde edilen sonuçlar doğrultusunda yeni eşdeğerlik kurallarından dördünün zayıf, diğer dördünün ise güçlü eşdeğerlik kuralı olduğu ifade edilecektir. (shrink)

The principle of identity is one of the three basic principles of reason on which classical logic rests. The other two basic principles of reason are principle of noncontradiction and of the excluded middle. These principles were accepted almost unquestionably until the beginning of the twentieth century. Therefore, classical logic, which adhered to these principles, continued to prevail. Today, however, one of the most interesting debates in the field of science is whether these fundamental principles on which classical logic rests (...) can be seen as necessary and invariable truths. With this discussion, a logic emerged in the twentieth century, rejecting the basic principles of reason. In this study, we will examine the logics -non-reflexive logics- that rejects or limits the principle of identity, from which the other two principles of classical logic are derived. First of all, we will talk about the origins of non-reflexive logic. Next, the basic assumptions of the identity principle of classical logic will be discussed. Finally, we will discuss the reasons for which non-reflexive logic rejects or limits the principle of identity, in other words, which assumptions of the identity principle are considered problematic. (shrink)

Pourquoi refuser une médiation? Quels sont les mécanismes, humains, sociologiques, professionnels qui peuvent pousser certains acteurs, parties à un différend, à préférer le coût, la durée et l’aléa d’un contentieux à la tentative de trouver rapidement un accord satisfaisant? Pour comprendre ces ressorts, il faut s’intéresser aux enjeux de pouvoir.

A l'heure où l'on souligne l'émergence indienne du post -colonialisme, Bollywood et ses films à grand budget se penchent sur le passé colonial. Héritière d'une littérature romanesque et tributaire des exposi­tions universelles, la guerre des images livrée entre la Grande-Bretagne et l'Inde à travers le support du cinéma, traduit un décalage. Tandis que la machinerie hollywoodienne s'est emparée d'un regard sur l'Inde à travers de grandes fresques d'aven­ture et de guerre, la riposte indienne s'est focalisée sur les répercussions psychiques intimes (...) de la domina­tion. Mais des fondements communs cimentent ces deux traditions. La guerre des images renvoie-t-elle au règlement de compte d'une déconstruction post-moderne, ou apporte-t-elle, comme l'induit Ashish Nandy, l'indice supplémentaire d'une culture partagée, celle de la colonisation?With India's emergence from the post-colonial age coming under the spotlight, Bollywood's big-budget films are turning to the country's colonial past. In the war of images being waged through the cinema between Great Britain and India, the two sides are out of phase. While the Hollywood machine views India through epic stories of war and adventure, India' s riposte focuses on the intimate psychological repercussions of domination. And yet, the two traditions are bonded together by their common foundations. Does the war of images echo scores being settled over a post-modern deconstructing trend? Or, as Ashish Nandy deduces, is it a new indication of a shared colonial culture? (shrink)

When Ian Hacking won the Holberg International Memorial Prize 2009 his candidature was said to strengthen the legitimacy of the prize after years of controversy. Ole Jacob Madsen, Johannes Servan and Simen Andersen Øyen have talked to Ian Hacking about current questions in the philosophy and history of science.

En este artículo analizamos la figura de Alexandra Elbakyan y su proyecto Sci-Hub, en cuya web se encuentran alojados más de 85 millones de documentos científicos a los que se puede acceder gratuitamente.Reflexionaremos sobre los cercamientos al conocimiento científico, el colonialismo en la producción académica y las propuestas que trabajan por un acceso abierto a la información científica. Tomaremos como referencia la desobediencia protagonizada por Elbakyan que, como mujer joven, no occidental e ideológicamente comprometida con posiciones anti neoliberales, representa una (...) identidad no hegemónica. (shrink)

(1996). Servan and the birth of human rights. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 515-519.

Deamination of adenosine in RNA to form inosine has wide ranging consequences on RNA function including amino acid substitution to give proteins not encoded in the genome. What determines which adenosines in an mRNA are subject to this modification reaction? The answer lies in an understanding of the mechanism and substrate recognition properties of adenosine deaminases that act on RNA (ADARs). Our recent publication of X‐ray crystal structures of the human ADAR2 deaminase domain bound to RNA editing substrates shed considerable (...) light on how the catalytic domains of these enzymes bind RNA and promote adenosine deamination. Here we review in detail the deaminase domain‐RNA contact surfaces and present models of how full length ADARs, bearing double stranded RNA‐binding domains (dsRBDs) and deaminase domains, could process naturally occurring substrate RNAs. (shrink)

L’ouvrage codirigé par Antoine Garapon et Pierre Servan-Schreiber vise à illustrer un changement de « paradigme » opéré au cours des dernières années dans la régulation des affaires internationales.En effet, traditionnellement, l’activité des entreprises multinationales est organisée selon le droit de l’Etat de leur siège social, et éventuellement selon le(s) droit(s) des Etats au sein desquels elles poursuivent leur activité. Par exemple, dans l’affaire Siemens, chaque acte illicite pouvait ainsi être soumis à trois droits nationaux (p. 10). Par conséquent, (...) l’organisation d’institutions complexes comme les entreprises multinationales dont le siège, les actionnaires et l’activité marchande sont généralement situés dans des Etats distincts a ouvert à ces dernières des possibilités inégalées de contournement des lois étatiques. En particulier, ces institutions ont structuré certaines de leurs opérations commerciales et financières de manière à ce que l’office du juge devienne ineffectif .. (shrink)

Tools for coping with a deceptive world.

Comprehensive study of the Vākyapadīya of Bhartr̥hari, work on semantics and philosophy of Sanskrit grammar.

RNA editing is a major post-transcriptional mechanism that changes specific nucleotides at the RNA level. The most common RNA editing type in humans is adenosine to inosine editing, which is mediated by ADAR enzymes. RNA editing events can not only change amino acids in proteins, but also affect the functions of non-coding RNAs such as miRNAs. Recent studies have characterized thousands of miRNA RNA editing events across different cancer types. Importantly, individual cases of miRNA editing have been reported to (...) play a role in cancer development. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of miRNA editing in cancer, and discuss the mechanisms on how miRNA-related editing events modulate the initiation and progression of human cancer. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future directions of studying miRNA editing in cancer. RNA editing is introduced by ADAR or APOBEC enzymes, leading to specific nucleotide changes, respectively. The interplays between RNA editing and miRNAs may play important roles in cancer. This graphical abstract shows four major mechanisms through which miRNAs interact with RNA editing to confer a functional impact on tumor development. (shrink)

Previous studies of Zika virus (ZIKV) pathogenesis have focused primarily on virus‐driven pathology and neurotoxicity, as well as host‐related changes in cell proliferation, autophagy, immunity, and uterine function. It is now hypothesized that ZIKV pathogenesis arises instead as an (unintended) consequence of host innate immunity, specifically, as the side effect of an otherwise well‐functioning machine. The hypothesis presented here suggests a new way of thinking about the role of host immune mechanisms in disease pathogenesis, focusing on dysregulation of post‐transcriptional RNA (...) editing as a candidate driver of a broad range of observed neurodevelopmental defects and neurodegenerative clinical symptoms in both infants and adults linked with ZIKV infections. The authors collect and synthesize existing evidence of ZIKV‐mediated changes in the expression of adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADARs), known links between abnormal RNA editing and pathogenesis, as well as ideas for future research directions, including potential treatment strategies. (shrink)

Genetic variability is considered a key to the evolvability of species. The conversion of an adenosine (A) to inosine (I) in primary RNA transcripts can result in an amino acid change in the encoded protein, a change in secondary structure of the RNA, creation or destruction of a splice consensus site, or otherwise alter RNA fate. Substantial transcriptome and proteome variability is generated by A‐to‐I RNA editing through site‐selective post‐transcriptional recoding of single nucleotides. We posit that this epigenetic source of (...) phenotypic variation is an unrecognized mechanism of adaptive evolution. The genetic variation introduced through editing occurs at low evolutionary cost since predominant production of the wild‐type protein is retained. This property even allows exploration of sequence space that is inaccessible through mutation, leading to increased phenotypic plasticity and provides an evolutionary advantage for acclimatization as well as long‐term adaptation. Furthermore, continuous probing for novel RNA editing sites throughout the transcriptome is an intrinsic property of the editing machinery and represents the molecular basis for increased adaptability. We propose that higher organisms have therefore evolved to systems with increasing RNA editing activity and, as a result, to more complex systems. (shrink)

ḥeleḳ 1. - Elul, Tishre - Adar -- ḥeleḳ 2. Nisan-Av.