Emotional and learning behaviour in mice overexpressing heat shock protein 70

The effects of inducible heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) on emotional and learning behaviour as well as hippocampal long-term potentiation was investigated in transgenic HSP70 overexpressing mice. In active two-way avoidance learning (shuttle box) as well as spatial 8-arm radial maze learning, the HSP70 overexpressing mice showed diminished learning performance. In several tests there was no indication of differences in anxiety behaviour between transgenic mice and wild-type mice. This suggests that impairment in learning behaviour is unrelated to the learning task and motivational aspects of behaviour. To investigate the neurophysiological correlate of learning, long-term potentiation experiments were performed. In transversal hippocampal slices, an enhanced amplitude of the population spike was found in HSP70 overexpressing mice. It was hypothesised that enhanced potentiation in conjunction with potentiation effects due to learning led to learning impairment.     

Responsible Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: Contextualizing Socio-Technical Integration into the Nanofabrication Laboratories in the USA

There have been several conscious efforts made by different stakeholders in the area of nanoscience and nanotechnology to increase the awareness of social and ethical issues (SEI) among its practitioners. But so far, little has been done at the laboratory level to integrate a SEI component into the laboratory orientation schedule of practitioners. Since the laboratory serves as the locus of activities of the scientific community, it is important to introduce SEI there to stimulate thinking and discussion of SEI among practitioners, which would eventually contribute toward the responsible development of this technology. In this article, through an example (at the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF), practitioners of which represent a section of the nano researchers’ community in the USA), it is shown how a SEI component can be incorporated into the laboratory orientation schedule of the practitioners from diverse disciplinary and institutional backgrounds. Results show that, at CNF, the practitioners enjoyed the discussion since most of them learned about SEI for the first time in their professional career. At the same time, some of them were also knowledgeable about SEI and contributed to the debates. Moreover, the SEI orientation had significant positive impact on the scientific community enabling them to self-reflect upon their own research and its implications for the wider society. This article also describes the efforts that were undertaken to disseminate this form of SEI orientation to other 13 USA universities within the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN, one of the biggest networks funded from National Science Foundation for Nanotechnology research, of which CNF is a part). As a result of this effort, most of the NNIN sites have already started or were in the process of integrating a SEI component into their nanofabrication laboratories to make their users aware of SEI, ensuring eventual robust socio-technical integration in the NNIN laboratories. In the future, this form of SEI orientation can also be disseminated to other nanofabrication laboratories in the USA.     

Perceptions of Nano Ethics among Practitioners in a Developing Country: A Case of India

Many developing countries have allocated significant amounts of funding for nanoscience and nanotechnology research, yet compared to developed countries, there has been little study, discussion, or debate over social and ethical issues. Using in-depth interviews, this study focuses on the perceptions of practitioners, that is, scientists and engineers, in one developing country: India. The disciplinary background, departmental affiliation, types of institutions, age, and sex of the practitioners varied but did not appear to affect their responses. The results show that 95% of the Indian practitioners working in the area of nanoscience and nanotechnology research recognized ethical issues in this research area, and 60% of them could offer specific examples, which included possible ill effects on environment and human, use as a weapon, hype, professional ethics, laboratory testing on animals, cyborgs, widening the gap between rich and poor, self-replication, and longevity of human life. The results may offer opportunities for future cross-cultural research, as well as offer examples that can be used to raise the awareness of other practitioners in India and elsewhere regarding the importance of ethical issues.     

A Comparative Study on Vaastu Shastra and Heidegger's ‘Building,Dwelling and Thinking’1

This article aims to correlate Vaastu Shastra, an ancient Indian theory of architecture, with Heidegger's ‘Building, Dwelling and Thinking’ as they explain architecture in relation to the world where we live and build. Design as an evolutionary learning process is fundamentally a hermeneutic. Interestingly, some of the basic principles of Vaastu Shastra are coincidently similar to the points made by later Heidegger. As such, the main concern is to explain how man is related to the building and the universe, i.e. it establishes a relationship between man and nature. In this context, a dwelling place should be a place where environment is always suitable for human beings to live comfortably. In this article, first Vaastu Shastra is discussed, and then attention is drawn to the prominent parallels between Vaastu and Heidegger.     

Ecology and its Spiritual Significance: a Christian Reading

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - The present paper is based on the contention that there are two conceptions of the understanding of nature, nature as an object and nature as...     

Value Education: Eastern and Western Human Value and Virtues

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - The present education system is mainly object oriented material in nature but not subjective or spiritual. We study mainly subject viz. physic,...     

Gandhi Beyond Public Reason Liberalism

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - Since contemporary societies are deeply multicultural and plural, the partisan ideological politics obviously animate conflict of opinions and...