Should Authors be Requested to Suggest Peer Reviewers?

As part of a continuous process to explore the factors that might weaken or corrupt traditional peer review, in this paper, we query the ethics, fairness and validity of the request, by editors, of authors to suggest peer reviewers during the submission process. One of the reasons for the current crisis in science pertains to a loss in trust as a result of a flawed peer review which is by nature biased unless it is open peer review. As we indicate, the fact that some editors and journals rely on authors’ suggestions in terms of who should peer review their paper already instills a potential way to abuse the trust of the submission and publishing system. An author-suggested peer reviewer choice might also tempt authors to seek reviewers who might be more receptive or sympathetic to the authors’ message or results, and thus favor the outcome of that paper. Authors should thus not be placed in such a potentially ethically compromising situation, especially as a mandatory condition for submission. However, the fact that they do not have an opt-out choice during the submission process—especially when using an online submission system that makes such a suggestion compulsory—may constitute a violation of authors’ rights.     

Autonomy and interdependence: beliefs of Brazilian mothers from state capitals and small towns

This study aimed to investigate characteristics of Brazilian mothers' beliefs system, in the dimensions of autonomy and interdependence. A group of 600 women, half from state capitals and half from small towns, participated in the study. They were individually interviewed with Scales of Allocentrism, Beliefs about Parental Practices and Socialization Goals. Paired and Independent samples t tests and Multivariate GLM were performed. The results indicate that although mothers from both contexts value autonomy, mothers inhabiting small towns considered the relational dimension as the most important; whereas mothers inhabiting capitals valued equally both dimensions, either in their beliefs about practices or in the socialization goals for their children. Mothers from small towns have a higher mean score for allocentrism than mothers living in capitals. Thus, place of residence proved to be a relevant variable in the modulation of maternal beliefs. Educational level was not a significant factor in the variables considered and with this group of mothers. The study results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the understanding of the complex relationship between dimensions of autonomy and interdependence in mothers' beliefs system.     

On the Ethics of Democratic Access to Web Information

Floridi’s work, although diverse and multifaceted, portrays a solid coherence across his different lines of work. Among his wealth of interests and results, we highlight his recent work on information logics, on the ethics of information technology, and his rigorous (and vigorous) philosophical analysis of recent technological trends and developments in information technology. In the present article we illustrate, by means of some connecting arguments, the diversity and coherence of Floridi’s work. We also show how his work, although fundamentally philosophical in nature, can be used to build solid foundations for scientific and entrepreneurial endeavours of higher quality. More specifically, we discuss how the combination of results from the three lines of work referred to above can be used as ground for the organisation of higher quality programmes to augment the capabilities and effectiveness of governmental systems through information and communications technology, a trend that has been explored in many nations and that has been coined Electronic Government. Electronic Government programmes that improve the capabilities of citizens to interact with each other and with governments, as well as the capabilities of governments to listen to the needs and aspirations of citizens, have the potential to contribute to the construction of more democratic states. Electronic Government systems that rely on ready made models to prescribe to citizens how best they should interact with each other and with the public administration are, however, by construction non-democratic. Hence, it can be a moral and ethical matter for governments to choose which line of technological development they take.     

Evidence for the substantia nigra pars compacta as an essential component of a memory system independent of the hippocampal memory system

The aim of the present study was to test if the nigrostriatal pathway is an essential component for a water maze cued task learning and if it works independently of the hippocampal memory system. This hypothesis was tested using an animal model of Parkinson's disease in which male Wistar rats were lesioned in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) by the intranigral infusion of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), thus causing a partial depletion of striatal dopamine. SNc-lesioned and sham-operated animals were implanted bilaterally with guide cannulae above the dorsal hippocampus in order to be tested after the administration of 0.4 microl 2% lidocaine or saline into this structure. The animals were tested in a spatial or in a cued version of the water maze, memory tasks previously reported to model hippocampal-dependent spatial/relational and striatal-dependent S-R learning, respectively. Hippocampal inactivation, but not SNc lesion, impaired learning and memory in the spatial version of the water maze. An opposite situation was observed with the cued version. No significant interaction was observed between the SNc lesion and hippocampal inactivation conditions affecting scores in the spatial or in the cued version of the water maze. These results suggest that the nigrostriatal pathway is an essential part of the memory system that processes S-R learning and that it works independently of the hippocampal memory system that processes spatial/relational memories.     

Schrödinger logics

Schrödinger logics are logical systems in which the principle of identity is not true in general. The intuitive motivation for these logics is both Erwin Schrödinger's thesis (which has been advanced by other authors) that identity lacks sense for elementary particles of modern physics, and the way which physicists deal with this concept; normally, they understandidentity as meaningindistinguishability (agreemment with respect to attributes). Observing that these concepts are equivalent in classical logic and mathematics, which underly the usual physical theories, we present a higher-order logical system in which these concepts are systematically separated. A classical semantics for the system is presented and some philosophical related questions are mentioned. One of the main characteristics of our system is that Leibniz' Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles cannot be derived. This fact is in accordance with some authors who maintain that quantum mechanics violates this principle. Furthermore, our system may be viewed as a way of making sense some of Schrödinger's logical intuitions about the nature of elementary particles.The authors very much would like to thank the anonymous referee for his quite interesting suggestions, which contributed significantly to improve the paper.Presented byJan Zygmunt;     

A new formulation of discussive logic

S. Jakowski introduced the discussive prepositional calculus D ₂as a basis for a logic which could be used as underlying logic of inconsistent but nontrivial theories (see, for example, N. C. A. da Costa and L. Dubikajtis, On Jakowski's discussive logic, in Non-Classical Logic, Model Theory and Computability, A. I. Arruda, N. C. A da Costa and R. Chuaqui edts., North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1977, 37–56). D ₂has afterwards been extended to a first-order predicate calculus and to a higher-order logic (cf. the quoted paper). In this paper we present a natural version of D ₂, in the sense of Jakowski and Gentzen; as a consequence, we suggest a new formulation of the discussive predicate calculus (with equality). A semantics for the new calculus is also presented.     

Post-training down-regulation of memory consolidation by a GABA-A mechanism in the amygdala modulated by endogenous benzodiazepines

In rats, amygdala benzodiazepine-like immunoreactivity decreases by 29% immediately after the animals step down from the platform of an inhibitory avoidance apparatus and decreases by a further 45% immediately after they receive a training footshock. The decrease is attributable to a release of diazepam or diazepam-like molecules. The immediate post-training intraamygdala injection of the central benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil (10 nmole/amygdala) causes memory facilitation, and that of the GABA-A agonist muscimol (0.005 to 0.5 nmole) causes retrograde amnesia. Pretraining ip flumazenil administration (2.0 and 5.0 mg/kg) attenuates the effect of post-training muscimol by a factor of at least 100. The higher dose of pretraining flumazenil also causes memory facilitation. The data suggest that post-training consolidation is down-regulated by a GABA-A mechanism in the amygdala modulated by endogenous benzodiazepines released during training and at the time of consolidation.     

Creating new social identities in children through critical multicultural media: the case of Little Bill

Multicultural education emerged from the political struggles of the 1960s and 1970s and advocated the inclusion of women and ethnic and racial groups in school curricula and children's media. Recently multiculturalism has evolved to include a critical perspective by focusing on stigmatized social identities such as race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, and disability. Little Bill, a children's animated television series, is an example of applied critical multiculturalism. In this chapter, we present a case study of one episode, "A Ramp for Monty," to illustrate the merits of this approach, which may increase the number of social identities children relate to and increase the degree of understanding they may bring to the differences inherent in social identities.