COVID-19 is an acute respiratory illness with higher mortality in older adults. This condition is spread person-to-person through close contact, and among policies employed to decrease transmission are the improvement of hygiene habits and physical distancing. Although social distancing has been recognized as the best way to prevent the transmission, there are concerns that it may promote increased depression symptoms risk and anxiety, mainly in older adults. This cross-sectional study aimed to verify self-concept of social distancing in adults compared to (...) older adults. All participants, over 18 years and residents of São Paulo state, were invited to join this research study by a message application and answered an interdisciplinary questionnaire during the period from May 23 to June 23, 2020. The questions were divided into the following aspects: sociodemographic data, financial conditions, routine-related perception, perception of health, physical and emotional state, and eating habits. The younger adult group was composed of 139 participants, with a mean age of 43.15 years, and the older adult group was composed of 437 participants with a mean age of 67.59 years of both sex. Changes in routine during the period of social distance were reported by 95% of adults and 96.8% of older adults, but adults indicated more significant alterations in routine. Although there was no difference between groups for several aspects, adults revealed greater alterations in sleep quality, evacuation frequency, and more difficulty to perform daily activities at home. Further studies are necessary to follow up the impacts of social distancing among adults and older adults in different socioeconomic contexts to better understand the long-term alterations and the necessity of interventions. (shrink)

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the need for hospital clinical ethics committees by studying the frequency with which ethical dilemmas arose, the perceived adequacy of the process of their resolution, and the teaching and training of staff in medical ethics. DESIGN: Interviews with individuals and three multidisciplinary teams; questionnaire to randomly selected individuals. SETTING: Two major London children's hospitals. RESULTS: Ethical dilemmas arose frequently but were resolved in a relatively unstructured fashion. Ethical concerns included: the validity of consent for investigations and treatment; (...) lack of children's involvement in consent; initiation of heroic or futile treatments; resource allocation. Staff expressed the need for a forum which would provide consultation on ethical issues, develop guidelines for good ethical practice, undertake teaching and training, and provide ethical reflection outside the acute clinical setting. CONCLUSION: Multidisciplinary, accountable and audited clinical ethics committees with predominantly advisory, practice development and educational roles could provide a valuable contribution to UK clinical practice and perhaps in other countries that have not developed hospital clinical ethics committees. (shrink)

This study assesses the retractions of scientific articles in engineering journals indexed on the Web of Science from 1945 to 2015. The data set was built based on documents containing the keywords retracted, retraction, withdrawal, or redress. We used database exploration techniques, including Structured Query Language and analysis of variance, for data analysis. We analyzed 238 retractions published by 117 journals. The most common reason for retraction was unethical research, and higher impact factors journals tended to publish more retractions. In (...) conclusion, most of the analyzed retractions were the result of unethical research and were retracted by editors. (shrink)

The foundation of Mathematics is both a logico-formal issue and an epistemological one. By the first, we mean the explicitation and analysis of formal proof principles, which, largely a posteriori, ground proof on general deduction rules and schemata. By the second, we mean the investigation of the constitutive genesis of concepts and structures, the aim of this paper. This “genealogy of concepts”, so dear to Riemann, Poincaré and Enriques among others, is necessary both in order to enrich the foundational analysis (...) with an often disregarded aspect (the cognitive and historical constitution of mathematical structures) and because of the provable incompleteness of proof principles also in the analysis of deduction. For the purposes of our investigation, we will hint here to a philosophical frame as well as to some recent experimental studies on numerical cognition that support our claim on the cognitive origin and the constitutive role of mathematical intuition. (shrink)

Countries throughout the world are counting the health and socioeconomic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the strategies necessary to contain it. Profound consequences from social isolation are beginning to emerge, and there is an urgency about charting a path to recovery, albeit to a ‘new normal’ that mitigates them. Children have not suffered as much from the direct effects of COVID-19 infection as older adults. Still, there is mounting evidence that their health and welfare are being adversely affected. Closure (...) of schools has been a critical component of social isolation but has a far broader impact than the diminution of educational opportunities, as important as these are. Reopening of schools is therefore essential to recovery, with some countries already tentatively implementing it. Children’s interests are vital considerations in any recovery plan, but the question remains as to how to address them within the context of how society views children; should they be regarded as pawns, pathfinders or partners in this enterprise? (shrink)

In the passage of time from the 1960s to the 1970s, the Brazilian artist Waldemar Cordeiro developed his first works in computer art by applying the mathematical concept of “derivative function.” Around the same time, he organized and took part in exhibitions, and composed a series of essays envisaging that the use of digital resources would become an inevitable process for the future of information reception and artistic communication. A closer look at Waldemar Cordeiro's production, both artistic and theoretical, after (...) almost 50 years of his first forays into the field of art and technology, is an excellent opportunity not only to revisit his trajectory, but to rewrite the history of digital art and our conception of it, locating Brazil and Latin America as situated centrally, not peripherally, in relation to the European and North American narratives. Drawing from theorists in the field of informational esthetics as well as scholars in the field of media such as Arlindo Machado and Vilém Flusser, this article seeks to demonstrate, through the analysis of Waldemar Cordeiro's theoretical–artistic productions, the relationship between his work, the field of cybernetics, and his utopian and social vision of artistic production. (shrink)

Journal Name: Semiotica Issue: Ahead of print.

Para Peirce, a generalidade tem um caráter distributivo, isto é, o caráter de uma lei que pode ser aplicada a qualquer coisa que possa existir numa classe, sem afirmar se há alguma coisa ou qual é essa coisa, mas fornecendo uma descrição de como os individuais dessa classe devem ser selecionados (EP 2:284, 1903). Rodrigues (2017) afirma que Peirce não considera que a generalidade expressa nos quantificadores universais tenha o caráter coletivo, no sentido de significar um determinado grupo singular, uma (...) coleção dada. Em 1905, Peirce (EP 2:352-353) afirma que “um termo coletivo é singular, pois ele denota um grupo dado e um uma coleção dada”. Em 1908, no entanto, Peirce utiliza o termo ‘coletivo’ para descrever a classe dos signos que possuem objeto dinâmico de terceiridade, que é a categoria da generalidade. Entretanto, ele também emprega o termo “distributivo” para descrever a classe dos signos que possuem objeto imediato de terceiridade. Notamos, assim, que, ao propor suas dez tricotomias, Peirce emprega tanto o termo “coletivo” quanto o termo “distributivo” para descrever o modo de ser da terceiridade, ou seja, da generalidade. Logo, embora Peirce tenha negado que a generalidade tenha o caráter coletivo no caso dos quantificadores lógicos, ele considerou usar o termo “coletivo” vinculado à generalidade dos objetos dinâmicos. É necessário, portanto, discutir o sentido do termo “coletivo” aplicado à terceiridade na tricotomia do objeto dinâmico. Esse é justamente o objetivo deste artigo que começa apresentando o problema do uso dessa terminologia na semiótica e as noções de coletivo e distributivo na semântica e na filosofia. Em seguida, mostra como os termos aparecem nos textos em que Peirce concebe as dez tricotomias e foca no uso do termo “coletivo” a partir de duas cartas, uma para William James, de 1909, e outra para o lógico inglês P. E. B. Jourdain, de 1908. A partir delas, apresentamos a relação entre o termo “coletivo” e a noção de continuidade que culmina na distinção das coleções finitas e enumeráveis e coleções infinitas e inumeráveis, sugerindo que a noção de coletivo no objeto dinâmico tem o sentido de uma coleção infinita e inumerável, associando a noção de objeto dinâmico à noção de contínuo. (shrink)

Uma seção da Gramática Especulativa de C.S.Peirce – Dez classes de signos – recebeu, a partir de 1903, um importante tratamento diagramático. Neste artigo, são apresentados e discutidos dois diagramas desenvolvidos por Peirce para as dez classes, incluindo esboços desses modelos.

As cidades brasileiras contemporâneas possuem espaços que ora privilegiam a realização de negócios e ora a construção de cidadania. Para compreender como são ocupados destes modos se faz necessário analisar as cidades; desde sua definição, passando pelo contexto político e econômico, para então compreender seu aspecto social. Assim, este artigo busca compreender se e em que medida as características dos espaços públicos impactam no processo de construção de cidadania. Analisando por meio de observação flutuante dois espaços públicos que são duas (...) praças urbanas centrais, localizadas em duas cidades no mesmo contexto metropolitanos. Perpassa-se pelo debate regional com o intuito de evidenciar que os conflitos são equivalentes nas diversas escalas; contudo a demonstração do contexto da Região Metropolitana do Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte/SP, objetiva tornar evidente que as estruturas físicas locais, dos espaços públicos urbanos centrais não direcionam as relações sociais e suas disputas, mas são um meio e resultado dessas. (shrink)

In the UK an increasing number of Clinical Ethics Committees (CECs) have been developed mainly in response to local need and interest. Their functions include education of health professionals, of policy and guideline development, and case review (both retrospective analysis of topics and advice on acute cases). The UK Clinical Ethics Network, a charitable foundation provides CEC s with help, support and advice and enables them to share their experience The legal status of UK CECs is unclear but some legal (...) commentators have suggested that CECs lack competencies and procedural rules necessary for acute case review. The UKCEN has proposed core competencies for CECs that lists the ethical, operational and procedural skills, knowledge and personal attributes required and how they may be acquired, assessed and maintained. Their implementation might lead to the development of ethical and legal governance which should benefit to future patient care. (shrink)

Este artigo visa introduzir o texto Descrição de Apolo em Belvedere, de Johann Joachim Winckelmann, escrito em 1755, em Roma. Tal introdução relaciona o pequeno texto traduzido à questão moderna do sublime.

Partindo das analises do criticismo kantiano, este texto investiga as concepções romântica e moderna de sublime e de imaginação. Se, por um lado, a concepção romântica inaugura o mundo moderno, por outro, a expressionista mostra os limites dessa mesma modernidade. Para ambas, entretanto, a Crítica do Juízo de Kant é o âmbito privilegiado no qual podemos precisar as distinções.

Este artigo procura pensar qual a importância da noção de “liberdade” para o conceito de história em Rousseau e Voltaire. Em ambas as perspectivas de abordagem, a história moderna segue uma norma teleológica ou há um espaço para a ação política?

Criado por homens de natureza poética e, portanto, obra por excelência da imaginação, o mundo civil dos primeiros tempos poderia ser conhecido, segundo Giambattista Vico, mediante a elaboração e a adoção de um aparato metodológico-científico que estabelece os princípios dos desenvolvimentos humanos. Tal aparato consistiria na própria Ciência Nova, obra viquiana que pretende conferir legitimidade ao conhecimento histórico, tão desprestigiado pela tradição cartesiana, mesmo de tempos remotos nos quais a faculdade imaginativa excedera à razão. Trata-se, então, neste artigo, de compreender (...) o conceito de imaginação na teoria do conhecimento de Vico e as rupturas e continuidades que o filósofo estabelece com o legado cartesiano proveniente do século anterior. (shrink)

A balance needs to be struck between facilitating compassionate access to innovative treatments for those in desperate need, and the duty to protect such vulnerable individuals from the harms of untested/unlicensed treatments. We introduced a principle-based framework to evaluate such requests and describe its application in the context of recently evolved UK, US and European regulatory processes. 24 referrals were received by our quaternary children's hospital Clinical Ethics Committee over the 5-year period. The CEC-rapid response group evaluated individual cases within (...) 48-hours; the main referrers being haematology/oncology, immunology or transplant services. Most requests were for drug/vaccine/pre-trial access or biological/cellular therapies. The majority of individual requests were approved ; neutral or negative opinions were given in 5, including 3 group requests. Recently evolved regulatory processes share common criteria and conditions to our framework including: demonstration of clinical need; sound scientific basis with lack of viable alternative; risks-benefit/best interests evaluation; arrangements for fully informed consent; no compromise of arrangements to test treatment for licensing purposes; consideration of resource implications. There are differences between individual processes and with our framework, with respect to procedures, scope, application format, costs and obligation to make available all outcome data. Our experience has emphasized the need for an independent, principled, consistent, fair and transparent response to the increasing demand for innovative treatment on a compassionate basis. We believe that there is a need for harmonization of the recent proliferation of regulation and legislation in this area. (shrink)

In his 1903 Syllabus, Charles S. Peirce makes a distinction between icons and iconic signs, or hypoicons, and briefly introduces a division of the latter into images, diagrams, and metaphors. Peirce scholars have tried to make better sense of those concepts by understanding iconic signs in the context of the ten classes of signs described in the same Syllabus. We will argue, however, that the three kinds of hypoicons can better be understood in the context of Peirce's sixty-six classes of (...) signs. We analyze examples of hypoicons taken from the field of information design, describing them in the framework of the sixty-six classes, and discuss the consequences of those descriptions to the debate about the order of determination of the 10 trichotomies that form those classes. (shrink)

The objective of this study is to compare the quantity of citations that retracted and nonretracted articles received in engineering based on articles indexed in the Web of Science database and published between 1945 and 2015. For data analysis, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used along with the Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Mann–Whitney, Tukey–Kramer tests and descriptive statistics. The data set included 238 retracted and 236 nonretracted articles, with the retracted articles cited 2,348 times and nonretracted articles cited 2,957 times. (...) The results highlight that retraction does not end citation, thus threatening scientific credibility. (shrink)

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) ao analisar o diálogo Apologia de Sócrates de Platão afirma que Sócrates não se vale da retórica para defender-se das acusações recebidas no tribunal ateniense. Ele não faz uso de um discurso que visa a adulação do júri pela comoção e piedade. De acordo com Foucault (2009), o filósofo faz uso da fala franca (parresía) e procura examinar as acusações recebidas em busca da verdade e da promoção da justiça. Sócrates segue o conselho de seu daímon que (...) o orienta a não preparar um discurso de defesa e pratica o exame das acusações no tribunal. Sócrates age na contramão do que até então era praticado naquele espaço, colocando-se em risco de vida e sendo, posteriormente, sentenciado a pena de morte por envenenamento. (shrink)

Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica e imagens de obras de arte, o artigo discute aspectos da história da Estética e da sociedade atual. Apresenta reflexões marxianas sobre a sociedade capitalista e o processo de embrutecimento dos sentidos humanos para, a seguir, abordar as relações estabelecidas entre a Indústria Cultural e a sociedade de consumo com o intento de debater o processo de estetização da sociedade. Finaliza ao apontar a obra de arte e o efeito catártico proporcionado por ela como modos (...) de estabelecer novas relações com a realidade e com as diferentes manifestações que buscam retratá-la. (shrink)

Os signos e as classes dos signos estão entre os tópicos mais importantes do sistema filosófico de Charles S. Peirce. As 10, 28, e 66 classes de signos são classificações desenvolvidas especialmente a partir de 1903 e representam um grande refinamento da divisão fundamental de signos – ícone, índice, símbolo. Nossa abordagem aqui define uma estratégia de visualização das classificações dos signos, com especial atenção para as 10 e 66 classes de signos. O livro está dividido em duas partes: (i) (...) bases teóricas, (ii) diagramas para as classes de signos. Na Parte I (bases teóricas), são apresentadas introdutoriamente as noções fundamentais das categorias fenomenológicas, classes de signos, as tricotomias e diagramas, assim como implicações gerais de nossa abordagem, metodologia e aplicações. Na Parte II (diagramas para as classes de signos), são apresentados e discutidos os modelos das classes, propostos por Peirce e seus comentadores, incluindo uma introdução detalhadamente documental de nossos modelos, 10cubes e 3N3, diagramas dinâmicos para as classes de signos. (shrink)

The dependence on history of both present and future dynamics of life is a common intuition in biology and in humanities. Historicity will be understood in terms of changes of the space of possibilities as well as by the role of diversity in life’s structural stability and of rare events in history formation. We hint to a rigorous analysis of “path dependence” in terms of invariants and invariance preserving transformations, as it may be found also in physics, while departing from (...) the physico-mathematical analyses. The idea is that the invariant traces of the past under organismal or ecosystemic transformations contribute to the understanding of present and future states of affairs. This yields a peculiar form of unpredictability in biology, at the core of novelty formation: the changes of observables and pertinent parameters may depend also on past events. In particular, in relation to the properties of synchronic measurement in physics, the relevance of diachronic measurement in biology is highlighted. This analysis may a fortiori apply to cognitive and historical human dynamics, while allowing to investigate some general properties of historicity in biology. (shrink)

[fr] Dans les Ḫaṣā’iṣ, Ibn Ǧinnī (m. 392/1002) fait état, incidemment, d’une différenciation entre parlers arabes nomades et sédentaires, ces derniers étant caractérisés par une perte partielle de la flexion désinentielle (’i‘rāb). Dans la mesure où Ibn Ǧinnī se réfère sur ce point à une source antérieure de près de deux siècles d’une part, indique qu’il n’y a presque plus, à son époque, de bédouin au parler « châtié » (faṣīḥ, c’est-à-dire fléchi mu‘rab) d’autre part, on peut voir dans ses (...) remarques une reconnaissance implicite d’une situation de diglossie, les parlers nomades étant à l’origine de la variété haute (al-luġa al-‘arabiyya al-faṣīḥa). Cette situation est d’ailleurs révélée par une anecdote, où l’on voit un même usager, d’origine bédouine, alterner ce qu’Ibn Ǧinnī appelle « les deux manières de parler » (ǧihatā al-kalām), avec et sans flexion désinentielle. Malgré les apparences, il ne s’agit pas de sociolinguistique et d’histoire de la langue. Il s’agit de théorie du langage, avec l’hypothèse d’un phénomène d’entropie, liée à l’utilisation de la langue, l’utilisateur se passant, par d’autres moyens, de la flexion désinentielle, source de difficulté et d’erreurs. Il s’agit aussi et surtout d’un discours épilinguistique, conforme à l’idéologie linguistique (thèse de la faṣāḥa bédouine) et à la théologie (thèse de la « langue du Ḥiǧāz » comme al-luġa alfuṣḥā), deux thèses difficilement conciliables. (shrink)

In semiotics, final causation can be related to the process of determination (PAPE, 1993). From Peirce’s point of view, determination is not a causal determinism, but a delimitation of a range of possibilities. One starts from objects towards interpretants, in a process mediated by the sign, in which the dynamic object works as a force that constrains interpretants to correspond to their objects. The correspondence between object and interpretant is important because it is through a generated interpretant that the object (...) of a sign can be known. Even though this process of determination coincides with the idea of final causation, there is a certain indeterminacy in it. For Peirce (EP 2:353, 1905), vagueness and generality are two types of indeterminacy. In the terms of the phenomenological categories, vagueness is an indeterminacy of the order of firstness, generality an indeterminacy of the order of thirdness, and both, to some extent, are opposed to that which is defined, which belongs to secondness. Each aspect of the sign may vary according to the three phenomenological categories. Consequently, degrees of imprecision are added to the semiotic process, which is a determination process. Peirce asserts that the perfect precision of thought is theoretically unattainable (SS 11, 1903). Every sign is vague or general at least to some degree. In this paper, we seek to perceive degrees of indetermination and causality from an analysis of the kinds of objects and interpretants proposed by Peirce in the system of 28 sign classes. (shrink)

The management of child protection concerns arouses strong emotions and controversies and creates ethical tensions for all concerned. This paper provides a rational analysis of some of the issues involved and suggests responses to them. The ethical and legal duties of health-care professionals are to act in the best interests of the child by safeguarding children and reporting concerns. But this may involve conflicts with parents and produce reluctance of professionals to become involved, especially in controversial types of abuse. Mandatory (...) reporting of concerns might overcome such reluctance, but may be ineffective in the face of diagnostic uncertainties. Assembly of a stronger diagnostic evidence base would seem ethically justified, but organization of the necessary case controlled studies might be problematic. Even with a comprehensive evidence base, individual diagnoses of abuse will always involve value judgements that should be underpinned by effective training and assessment of core competencies of professionals. These manoeuvres are unlikely to prevent both justified and vexatious complaints, often in relation to breaches in professional duties or concerning professional misconduct. The tendency to blame experts may have contributed to a reluctance of other professionals to become involved, despite proposals for reforms in the expert witness and court systems. Current approaches to child protection may neither promote greater understanding nor be in the best interests of children. A revised social contract for the effective protection of children could include: a duty of care that adequately addresses the primacy of the child's welfare; the acquisition of a sound evidence base; professional transparency and accountability (but with protection from malicious and vexatious complaints); and a shift emphasis towards a more inquisitorial system that embraced the principles of truth and reconciliation. (shrink)

This article presents some results of a research on computational strategies for the visualization of sign classification structures and sign processes. The focus of this research is the various classifications of signs described by Peirce. Two models are presented. One of them concerns specifically the 10-fold classification as described in the 1903 Syllabus (MS 540, EP 2: 289–299), while the other deals with the deep structure of Peirce’s various trichotomic classifications. The first is 10cubes, an interactive 3-D model of Peirce’s (...) 10-fold classification, as described in the Syllabus. The second is 3N3, a computer program that builds equivalent diagrams for any n-trichotomic classification of signs. We are specially interested in how a graphic design methodology, associated with computer graphic resources and techniques, can contribute to the construction of interactive models that serve as tools for the investigation of C. S. Peirce’s theory of signs. (shrink)

We outline a process, undertaken at a large tertiary children's hospital, intended to provide practical guidance and support for those involved in the management of children with life-limiting conditions. Initial discussions with representatives of clinical and support services identified communication problems and ethical dilemmas as key issues. These were further explored in multidisciplinary hospital meetings, culminating in a conference (Living Well, Dying Well) where individual perspectives - clinical, multi-faith, parental and legal - and cases were presented. Communication problems were found (...) to involve unrealistic expectations, failures of anticipation and difficulties in discussing sensitive issues, while ethical dilemmas arose from balancing burdens and benefits, clinical uncertainty, respecting autonomy and achieving equity and justice in delivery of care. An integrated service has been developed that is intended to provide clinical and spiritual care, psychosocial and ethical support, advice and mediation for children, families and staff, and to address the latter's educational and training needs. (shrink)

The classifications of signs are among the most important topics of Peirce's theory of signs. The 10 classes of signs were developed from 1903 and represent an important refinement of the fundamental division of signs into icons, indexes, and symbols. In this paper we present two diagrammatic models for 10 classes, proposed by Peirce, and an interpretation of the reasoning behind their development, based on the analysis of preparatory versions of these models.

Resumo: Mente é, para Peirce, um sistema de crenças que age para alcançar um determinado propósito. Não apenas Peirce atribui mente a instituições e grupos sociais, mas o desenvolvimento da mente depende da extensão dela além das mentes humanas individuais. Portanto, comunidades ou instituições sociais incorporam hábitos sociais e agem como mentes, com propósitos próprios, fixando crenças de dois tipos: crenças de importância vital e crenças teóricas, que têm relação com o conhecimento e a verdade. Redes sociais, na internet, podem (...) ser vistas como uma complexa mente social composta por indivíduos e suas mídias digitais, as quais englobam gadgets, algoritmos e plataformas. Se as redes sociais na internet atuam de forma a atingir certas crenças, de que tipo elas são? São crenças de importância vital ou crenças teóricas que conduzem ao conhecimento e à verdade? Esses dois tipos de crenças são suficientes para entender os modos de ação das redes sociais na internet? (shrink)