Psychologie des wissenschaftlichen Schaffens und Wissenschaftslehre

Journal for General Philosophy of Science - Die Wissenschaftspsychologie wird als ein Gebiet interdisziplinärer Forschungen an der Grenze zwischen Psychologie und allgemeiner Theorie und...     

Clustering with relational constraint

The paper deals with clustering problems where grouping is constrained by a symmetric and reflexive relation. For solving clustering problems with relational constraints two methods are adapted: the standard hierarchical clustering procedure based on the Lance and Williams formula, and local optimization procedure, CLUDIA. To illustrate these procedures, clusterings of the European countries are given based on the developmental indicators where the relation is determined by the geographical neighbourhoods of countries.Extended version of the paper presented at the European meeting of the Psychometric Society, Groningen, June, 19–21, 1980.This work was supported in part by the Boris Kidri Fund, Yugoslavia.     

Models for stronger normal intuitionistic modal logics

This paper, a sequel to Models for normal intuitionistic modal logics by M. Boi and the author, which dealt with intuitionistic analogues of the modal system K, deals similarly with intuitionistic analogues of systems stronger than K, and, in particular, analogues of S4 and S5. For these prepositional logics Kripke-style models with two accessibility relations, one intuitionistic and the other modal, are given, and soundness and completeness are proved with respect to these models. It is shown how the holding of formulae characteristic for particular logics is equivalent to conditions for the relations of the models. Modalities in these logics are also investigated.This paper presents results of an investigation of intuitionistic modal logic conducted in collaboration with Dr Milan Boi.     

Gödel’s Natural Deduction

This is a companion to a paper by the authors entitled “Gödel on deduction”, which examined the links between some philosophical views ascribed to Gödel and general proof theory. When writing that other paper, the authors were not acquainted with a system of natural deduction that Gödel presented with the help of Gentzen’s sequents, which amounts to Ja?kowski’s natural deduction system of 1934, and which may be found in Gödel’s unpublished notes for the elementary logic course he gave in 1939 at the University of Notre Dame. Here one finds a presentation of this system of Gödel accompanied by a brief reexamination in the light of the notes of some points concerning his interest in sequents made in the preceding paper. This is preceded by a brief summary of Gödel’s Notre Dame course, and is followed by comments concerning Gödel’s natural deduction system.     

Uncovering a New Moral Dilemma of Economic Optimization in Biotechnological Processing

The trend of emerging biorefineries is to process the harvest as efficiently as possible and without any waste. From the most valuable phytomass, refined medicines, enzymes, dyes and other special reactants are created. Functional foods, food ingredients, oils, alcohol, solvents, plastics, fillers and a wide variety of other chemical products follow. After being treated with nutrient recovery techniques (for fertilizer production), biofuels or soil improvers are produced from the leftovers. Economic optimization algorithms have confirmed that such complex biorefineries can be financially viable only when a high degree of feedstock concentration is included. Because the plant material is extremely voluminous before processing, the farming intensity of special plants increases in the nearest vicinity of agglomerations where the biorefineries are built for logistical reasons. Interdisciplinary analyses revealed that these optimization measures lead to significantly increased pollen levels in neighbouring urban areas and subsequently an increased risk of allergies, respectively costs to the national health system. A new moral dilemma between the shareholder’s profit and public interest was uncovered and subjected to disputation.     

Computerized cognitive training during physical inactivity improves executive functioning in older adults

The hippocampus is closely tied to spatial navigation, a central component in cognitive functioning, and critically involved in age-associated cognitive decline and dementia. This study evaluated a novel, cognitive computerized spatial navigation training (CSNT) program targeting the hippocampus, with expectation of mitigating possible cognitive decline with bed rest (BR). During a 14-day BR study with 16 healthy, older men (mean age = 60 ± 3, range = 55–65 years), half received CSNT for 12 days in 50-min sessions and half were controls (watching documentaries). This design uniquely controlled diet, sleep, and other personal and environmental activities. Although there were no cognitive declines in controls post-BR, CSNT participants demonstrated significant increases in executive/attention ability and processing speed, and continued spatial navigation testing showed improvement to 400 days post-BR. This intervention may prove useful to mitigate cognitive declines known to occur in long periods of immobilization and could have broader implications in protecting against age-related cognitive decline.     

Permanent and transient effects of repeated preweaning stress on social and sexual behaviors of rats

We have reported that exposure of preweaning male and female rats to a model of unpredictable mild physical stressors (Neo-A) can decrease the behavioral and hormonal responses to acute and chronic stress as adults. In this paper we have analyzed the effect of Neo-A on development of social behaviors, including aggressiveness, social dominance, and sexual behavior in adulthood. The subjects were divided into two groups: Neo-A (daily exposed to unpredictable mild stresses- from day 2 up to day 15 of suckling; n = 30 litters) and controls (C) (undisturbed rats, except for testing, during the same period of life; n = 26 litters). When day 6 pups were submitted to a social clustering test the Neo-A group showed a higher rate of litter-mate clustering than C. The 35 days Neo-A males and Neo-A females submitted to a social behavior test after 24 h of social isolation also showed higher scores of time spent in active social interaction than controls, as well as a higher ratio of animals showing aggressive playing. A second social behavior test performed after 48 h of social isolation at days 75-80 of age revealed that only Neo-A females displayed increased social behavior and aggressive behaviors, whereas controls did not. A water competition test performed at 24 and 48 h after water deprivation showed that Neo-A adult males spent more time in possession of the drinking device and drank more frequently than C. When adult proestrous females were exposed to a sexual behavior test, the Neo-A group showed shorter latency and higher scores of lordosis quotient. These results support the view that exposure to this model of repeated mild stress early in life stimulates the development of social behavior, dominance and sexual behavior.     

Traumatization of group leaders in their work with displaced persons

Displaced persons are a special, threatened group of people, participants in this war, who were suddenly forced to abandon their homes. The majority of them were, overnight, left without anything they had, some even without their closest family. They all have one thing in common: they have all lost so much. Work with such people is directed toward overcoming their feelings of loss and abandonment and preventing psychical decompensation. Groups of displaced persons temporarily sheltered in the Rijeka region have been observed to be markedly regressed, with increased sensitivity, a low degree of tolerance, great demands on society and strongly expressed projective tendencies. Therapists suffer personal traumatization in working with displaced persons. This paper describes the reactions and feelings of group leaders caused by manifestations of group dynamics in different phases of exile.