Coherent Perspective Research Articles

Grand designs! analysing the conceptual tensions associated with new physical education and health and well-being curriculum

The positioning of physical education in the school curriculum continues to reflect external discourses circulating in political and social milieu. As increasing austerity measures influence and restrict educational priorities, we consider that there is an urgent need for physical educationalists to articulate a rationale for an educational contribution which is worthy of investment and which avoids the pitfalls of conceptual ambiguity and/or reliance on narrowly drawn health evidence. We, therefore, write as teacher educators, working within a critical framework, who are concerned by the disconnection between competing visions of physical education, when examined from contemporary sociological and philosophical perspectives. With reference to the policy opportunities available in Scotland, we identify how cultivating salutogenic approaches, where a broad, but nevertheless coherent perspective on health and well-being is advanced could offer enhanced prospects for the centrality of physical education in education and schooling. However, apart from the contribution of Quennerstedt, quite how such approaches can be modelled in curriculum has received little critical attention. We see the potential in applying Tiberius's philosophical and social psychological ideas on developing reflective wisdom and of nurturing in education productive experiences which can help pupils deepen their understanding of the health and well-being decisions they make and of the lives they choose to live. After reviewing the contextual influences on policy, we have begun to consider in embryonic terms the methodological possibilities for teachers as insightful and active curriculum decision makers in years to come. We conclude by summarising the benefits of re-conceptualising experiences in physical education in order to help pupils' make informed decisions which are based on enhanced self-awareness and a perspective on the world that views physical education as an essentially optimistic and good endeavour which is worthy of sustained commitment.

Multiple Layers of CD80/86-Dependent Costimulatory Activity Regulate Primary, Memory, and Secondary Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus-Specific T Cell Immunity

The lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) system constitutes one of the most widely used models for the study of infectious disease and the regulation of virus-specific T cell immunity. However, with respect to the activity of costimulatory and associated regulatory pathways, LCMV-specific T cell responses have long been regarded as relatively independent and thus distinct from the regulation of T cell immunity directed against many other viral pathogens. Here, we have reevaluated the contribution of CD28-CD80/86 costimulation in the LCMV system by use of CD80/86-deficient mice, and our results demonstrate that a disruption of CD28-CD80/86 signaling compromises the magnitude, phenotype, and/or functionality of LCMV-specific CD8(+) and/or CD4(+) T cell populations in all stages of the T cell response. Notably, a profound inhibition of secondary T cell immunity in LCMV-immune CD80/86-deficient mice emerged as a composite of both defective memory T cell development and a specific requirement for CD80 but not CD86 in the recall response, while a related experimental scenario of CD28-dependent yet CD80/86-independent secondary CD8(+) T cell immunity suggests the existence of a CD28 ligand other than CD80/86. Furthermore, we provide evidence that regulatory T cells (T(REG)s), the homeostasis of which is altered in CD80/86(-/-) mice, contribute to restrained LCMV-specific CD8(+) T cell responses in the presence of CD80/86. Our observations can therefore provide a more coherent perspective on CD28-CD80/86 costimulation in antiviral T cell immunity that positions the LCMV system within a shared context of multiple defects that virus-specific T cells acquire in the absence of CD28-CD80/86 costimulation.

Vassilis Cutsuridis, Amir Hussain and John G. Taylor (eds): Perception–action cycle. Models, architectures, and hardware

Vassilis Cutsuridis, Amir Hussain and John G. Taylor (eds): Perception–action cycle. Models, architectures, and hardware

The economics associated with persistent pain

This review aims to assess the economic impact of inadequate, inappropriate and ineffective treatments of persistent pain from the perspective of the individual, their families and communities, healthcare systems, economies and societies in general. The economic impact of persistent and chronic pain poses a substantial burden on individual patients, their families, employers, economies and societies in general. It is recognized that the impact of persistent pain is greater than most other health conditions, due to its effects on rates of absenteeism, reduced levels of productivity and increased risk of leaving the labour market, as well as the costs to the healthcare system and other government agencies. The burden of suffering that pain imposes on individuals and the enormous costs that society has to bear as a result clearly demonstrate that policy makers at governmental level and commissioners, and healthcare decision-makers alike should adopt a broad, strategic and coherent perspective in determining issues relating to service provision and resource allocation.

Committed to Coordination? How Different Forms of Commitment Complicate the Coordination of National and Urban Planning

This article focuses on the coordination of national infrastructure planning and municipal urban planning in Sweden. A case study of a current planning project, where a planned high speed railway meets the centre of a medium-sized city, serves as a basis for a discussion about the commitment of the main parties to cooperate for coordinated planning. The study reveals a gap in terms of the commitment signalled to joint efforts, and thus also the expectations of their respective counterpart. Depending on the definition of commitment, both parties can be seen as highly committed, but while the railway agency has its commitment orientated primarily towards the transport system as such, i.e. the content of the cooperation, the concern of the municipality is more about commitment to the continuity of the cooperative efforts, i.e. the process of cooperating. The paper concludes by pointing at some wider implications of the analysis. In particular, the lack of a coherent spatial perspective in the national planning system, and the prospects for institutional conditions for coordination to be made more explicit, are discussed.

A Philosophically Informed Teaching Proposal on the Topic of Energy for Students Aged 11–14

Learning about energy is recognized as an important objective of science teaching starting from the elementary school. This creates the need for teaching simplifications that compromise the abstract nature of this concept with students’ need for a satisfactory qualitative definition. Conventional teaching approaches have failed to respond to this need in a productive manner. In an attempt to maintain consistency with how energy is understood in physics, they tend to either provide abstract definitions or bypass the question what is energy?, which is vitally important to students. In this paper, we describe the epistemological barriers that are inherent in conventional attempts to introduce energy as a physical quantity and we suggest that shifting the discussion to a philosophically-oriented context could provide a means to address them in a productive manner. We propose a teaching approach, for students in the age range 11–14, that introduces energy as an entity in a theoretical framework that is invented and gradually elaborated in an attempt to analyze the behavior of diverse physical systems, and especially the various changes they undergo, using a coherent perspective. This theoretical framework provides an epistemologically appropriate context that lends meaning to energy and its various features (i.e. transfer, form conversion, conservation and degradation). We argue that this philosophically informed teaching transformation provides a possible means to overcome the various shortcomings that typically characterize attempts to introduce and elaborate the construct of energy while at the same time it allows integrating, in a meaningful and coherent manner, learning objectives relevant to the understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS), which is recognized as a valuable component of learning in science. In this paper, we outline the rationale underlying this teaching approach and describe a proposed activity sequence that illustrates our proposal.

Perspectives of Youths and Adults Improve the Care of Hospitalized Adolescents in Spain

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine and compare the preferences and priorities of youths and adults about the best ways to improve hospitals to have an impact on the quality of life of hospitalized adolescents. MethodParticipants in this study were 364 adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age (96 hospitalized) and 148 adults (96 parents of patients and 52 health professionals). All the participants completed a questionnaire about their preferences and priorities with regard to hospitalization. ResultsA high degree of agreement among the youths and the adults was observed, especially regarding the importance assigned to agreeableness of clinical staff to improveadolescents’ experience of hospitalization. Some discrepancies also were observed. The youths granted more importance to issues related to filling in time, specifically to the leisure technology available for patients. The adults assigned more importance to the organization of the hospital stay, in particular, for adolescents to be admitted with patients of the same age and for them to receive academic support in the hospital. ConclusionsAdolescents express a coherent perspective about the aspects that may help them feel better in the hospital that in some ways is different from the perspective of the adults who care for them.

The International Year of Biodiversity: A Celebration and Cogitation

To both celebrate and reflect upon this International Year of Biodiversity, Biotropica has invited opinion articles from a number of scientists across the globe. As lightly edited personal opinions, the commentaries reflect the diversity of passionate and often controversial views expressed across the scientific community. Thus, these commentaries should provide much food for thought, and hopefully some inspiration, on how we perceive biodiversity on our currently human-dominated planet and how we should respond to its loss. BY DECLARING 2010 AS THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF BIODIVERSITY (see http://www.cbd.int/2010/about/), the United Nations has sought to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity and ‘to elevate biological diversity nearer to the top of the political agenda’ (Johns 2009). Perhaps it is also atonement for the conclusive failure to meet the 2010 Biodiversity Target, which sought to ‘achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth’ (COP 6 Decision VI/26.11). Although this background is not promising, we should certainly promote and publicize this Year of Biodiversity to both celebrate the considerable biodiversity that remains as well as to raise awareness of how much there is to lose. Biotropica is celebrating this Year of Biodiversity by presenting this Special Section on biodiversity, representing the variously diverse opinions and thoughts of tropical scientists from across the globe. We have asked these tropical biologists to present, from their own perspective, their views about some aspect of biodiversity, biodiversity research or conservation that they feel passionate about. To preserve the personal style of each contribution, the editorial hand has been applied lightly. The resulting collection of Commentaries gives plenty of material for thought, discussion and debate, and we hope that this will, indeed, be the legacy of this Special Section. More than this, though, we also hope that this collection of papers will stimulate our readers to be challenged to think beyond the matters that most immediately concern them in their research activities. No doubt all our readers already do this to some extent, in which case these Commentaries will add further food for thought. No doubt also that some of these Commentaries might enlighten you, dear reader, while others will infuriate you, but we hope that they will, collectively, be enjoyed. The topics covered by the Commentaries are diverse, and as such may be a good sketch of the diversity we encounter among tropical ecosystems and tropical biologists. As an editorial team, we did what most ecologists do: we categorized the commentaries into groups sharing similar characteristics and sought to identify the general patterns found within each category. We largely failed, but by doing so, we effectively succeeded in our original intention of soliciting the personal and diverse views of our invited contributors. This in turn has given us pause for thought. If this collection of established ecologists and conservationists is unable to deliver an overarching coherent perspective about what really matters in biodiversity research and conservation, then what chance is there of communicating the nature of the challenge of biodiversity loss, and solutions to this challenge, to a wider public and its political leadership? Maybe the solution is beyond the reach of the tropical ecology community, and maybe it lies in other fields of science and enquiry. Maybe the solutions should be founded far more in political activism and engagement than in pure or applied science. Or perhaps this diversity of views from scientists encapsulates the multiplicity of solutions that is needed for a truly successful approach. All of these possibilities are found in the diversity of Commentaries you will find in the following pages.

Reflective Knowledge: Apt Belief and Reflective Knowledge, Volume II, by Ernest Sosa.

Reflective Knowledge is the second volume of Sosa’s Apt Belief and Reflective Knowledge, following A Virtue Epistemology (2007). Reflective Knowledge extends his account of virtue epistemology, primarily by focusing on reflective knowledge and issues of epistemic circularity. Part one prepares the way for Sosa’s own views through a series of critical discussions of Moore, Chisholm, Strawson, Reid, Sellars, and Davidson. These are models of philosophically informed history of philosophy that engage philosophical issues but are sensitive to interpretative issues and take our understanding beyond textbook history. In part two, Sosa defends the value of reflective knowledge, and argues that virtue epistemology neither undermines knowledge nor makes it ‘too easy’. The most striking aspect of the book is the defence of an externalist analysis of the idea of a virtuous circle. Sosa argues for a form of virtue reliabilism according to which a belief is knowledge only if it is true and apt by virtue of its ‘correctness deriving from its manifesting certain cognitive virtues of the subject, where nothing is a cognitive virtue unless it is a truth-conducive disposition’ (p. 135). He is thus an externalist who criticizes Moore for thinking that ordinary perceptual knowledge requires knowing one is not dreaming, rather than simply not dreaming. However, he also distinguishes ‘reflective’ knowledge from ‘animal’ knowledge. The former requires defensibly apt belief, that is, belief about the aptness of one’s belief and a sufficiently coherent perspective on its aptness that allows one to defend it against relevant sceptical objections. So at the level of reflective knowledge, Sosa is also a coherentist, criticizing Moore for thinking that reflective knowledge requires prior knowledge that one isn’t dreaming rather than simply presupposing it in a web of mutually supporting belief that enhances the justification of all. The reflective/animal distinction, Sosa argues, corresponds to Descartes’ distinction between scientia, which Descartes enjoys once he has achieved his theological perspective on the truth-conduciveness of his clear and distinct judgements, and cognition, possessed by atheist mathematicians who lack such a reflective perspective. It is also key, Sosa thinks, to the understanding of his own epistemological project. Sosa thus rejects Reid’s criticism of Descartes’ project as viciously circular.

Rethinking intractable conflict: The perspective of dynamical systems.

Intractable conflicts are demoralizing. Beyond destabilizing the families, communities, or international regions in which they occur, they tend to perpetuate the very conditions of misery and hate that contributed to them in the first place. Although the common factors and processes associated with intractable conflicts have been identified through research, they represent an embarrassment of riches for theory construction. Thus, the current task in this area is integrating these diverse factors into an account that provides a coherent perspective yet allows for prediction and a basis for conflict resolution in specific conflict settings. We suggest that the perspective of dynamical systems provides such an account. This article outlines the key concepts and hypotheses associated with this approach. It is organized around a set of basic questions concerning intractable conflict for which the dynamical perspective offers fresh insight and testable propositions. The questions and answers are intended to provide readers with basic concepts and principles of complexity and dynamical systems that are useful for rethinking the nature of intractable conflict and the means by which such conflict can be transformed.

Restless bodies, buried texts: Sikorski, The General, and the archive

ABSTRACTAnna Jadowska's film General: Zamach na Gibraltarze/The General: Assassination at Gibraltar (Jadowska 2009) emerged from a wider project undertaken by the Polish television station TVN and historian and journalist Dariusz Baliszewski, who has spent approximately fifteen years investigating the death of General Wtadystaw Sikorski. The Polish Commander-in-Chief died in a plane crash in Gibraltar on 4 July 1943, in what Baliszewski believes was a British-Polish-Soviet conspiracy. Baliszewski has never been able to decisively prove his speculations, as many of the pertinent documents are buried in archives. As is clear from the documentary series General/The General (Jadowska and Kazen 2009), his investigation continually comes up against traces and copies, and a similar logic of simulation penetrates the very heart of his theory of Sikorski's death. What Baliszewski encounters on the level of historical investigation, the film and documentary series continue on the level of form, as the historical reconstructions copy the archival footage, digital manipulation copies photographic indexicality, and the split screens fracture a coherent perspective into multiple visions. Despite the commercial and ‘postmodern’ associations of Jadowska's film, however, I argue that her aesthetics of fracture, lacuna and invention not only remain true to the incompleteness of our knowledge concerning Sikorski's death, but are also sensitive to the uncertainty and creativity of historical work in general. Her film's restless physical bodies and agitated cinematic framings also resonate in fascinating ways with the fate of Sikorski's body after his death, which underwent several burials and exhumations.

The Cost and Burden of Chronic Pain.

There are enormous costs which society has to bear as a result of the burden of chronic pain and its suffering.Policy makers at governmental level and commissioners, and health care decision-makers alike should adopt a broad, strategic and coherent perspective in determining issues relating to service provision and resource allocation.

GOBERNABILIDAD Y SOSTENIBILIDAD: Reflexiones y retos antes los procesos globales

At present time the environmental conditions have been lashed by diverse socioeconomic, cultural impacts and in certain political causes. The ecosystem at central Cuba, well-known as Escambray or Guamuhaya, in which coffee, livestock, and many other agricultural productions have traditionally been developed biggest results, received influences of modern approaches and models, crossed by urban and global culture, increasing its fragility. So the issues about government and sustainability are closed to these concepts too. From these points of view are built some reflections to explain the relationship among position of the government, decisions maker, and sustainability, taking in account the influences of the global process in human behaviours. It is concluded that isn´t enough the best intentions in actions but it is necessary to joint willingness in a real participatory system and coherent perspective.

Valuation at the Time of Crisis: Methodological Issues

These slides presented at the International Conference of the Ukranian Property Expertize and Management Institute (Odessa, Sept. 7-9, 2009) look into current valuation predicaments (specifically, with respect to the Professional Valuation) and discern the lack of vision among its practitioners. This seriously compromises the role of valuation as the public interest profession. The contention is made that the role of valuers in the pricing processes is non-neutral, that to some extent it is true that Valuation profession in aggregate not merely reflects but creates prices and seriously influences pricing processes on many markets. That is why it is of primary importance to understand that valuers should fulfill their aspirations to work in public interest and towards the sustainable development of markets, and to realize that their current practices are highly procyclical, or, worse, tautological. Yet their existing methodology based on methodological individualism and the transference of notions from the 'ideal market setting' seriously handicaps them in these efforts and perpetuates current troubles. The plea is made to create the International Multidisciplinary Committee on Economic Measurements (including representation from Professional valuation, Investment-Financial Valuation, Accounting Measurements etc) to inquire into the root causes of defects in existing valuation methodology which is grounded in the unsustainable neoclassic-modernist- positivist ideological synthesis. Of the inferences made are the following: -The pricing authority and power of Professional Valuation is on the wane, as suggested by RICS/IPD Valuation 'accuracy' indices. -The methodological grounds of Economic Measurements are neglected (and there has been very little development here since 1970th, despite the veritable flowering of complex valuation techniques) - Various types of Economic Measurements are too disjointed to offer any coherent perspective into the future or see the benefits of interdisciplinary dialogue. - The not-so-negligible role of Valuers (of different stripes) as the party implicated in the fomentation of the current economic crisis is explored and put into context. -The Professional Valuation fails to perceive real foundations of its methodology and has much to gain by looking back into its original works written during the time of its institutionalization in US of 1930th and even to the thought of antiquity. -There is going to be more acute understanding of the effects of liquidity pricing and more distrust of fundamental pricing as currently practiced. -Public value considerations need to become the integral part of all commercial valuations, yet existing methods to elicit it are seriously deficient in point of underlying methodology. - Existing Economic Measurements Standards (such as SFAS 157, IVSs, PEVG) are in need of serious revision and their redevelopment needs to incorporate macro-economic perspectives of the impact of the respective professions on the markets.

Sense of coherence moderates late effects of early childhood Holocaust exposure

This study evaluated child Holocaust survivors with an emphasis on potential protective factors facilitating participants' adaptation to post-Holocaust life. We examined Antonovsky's (1979, 1987) salutogenic paradigm, testing the mediating and moderating effect of participants' sense of coherence (SOC) on the association between early childhood deprivation due to Holocaust persecution and posttraumatic stress later in life. The nonclinical sample, composed of 203 child Holocaust survivors born between 1935 and 1944 completed questionnaires on Holocaust survival exposure, inventories on current health, posttraumatic stress, and SOC. The results indicated that SOC moderates the association between traumatic experiences during the war and posttraumatic stress, and SOC acts as a protective factor, buffering the impact of traumatic Holocaust experiences on child survivors in old age. Survivors with a less coherent perspective on the meaning of their life showed greater vulnerability for posttraumatic complaints. The moderating role of the SOC may suggest promising avenues of therapeutic interventions for child Holocaust survivors and other adults with early childhood trauma.

The Unpaid Care Work-Paid Work Connection

In order to provide a coherent perspective of gender differences in the of work, this paper argues, the many intersections of paid and unpaid must be brought to light. It is well documented that gender-based wage differentials and occupational segregation continue to characterize the division of labor among men and women in paid work. Yet, unpaid in social reproduction, subsistence production, family businesses, and the community is often ignored. When it is taken into account, it is usually done in a very limited manner, equating unpaid with the traditional roles women play in raising children and performing maintenance chores. Beyond the obvious gender inequalities characterizing the latter, unpaid constitutes an integral part of any functioning economy, and as such is linked to economic growth, government policy, migration, and many development issues. The paper concludes that the world of work cannot be treated in complete disregard to unpaid forms of labor, and gender equality must be understood through the lens of the paid-unpaid continuum.

Neurodynamics of Cognition and Consciousness (Perlovsky, L.I. and Kozma, R., Eds.; 2007) [Book review

This volume grew up from a series of lectures presented at the World Congress of Computational Intelligence in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in summer 2006. The book is divided into two parts. Part I is about Neurodynamics of Cognition and Consciousness, and contains reviews from major players of the field. The papers are carefully selected, and what makes the book particularly exciting is that the authors have partially overlapping, but still very original views. Part II, Cognitive Computing for Sensory Perception, is somewhat more eclectic than Part I, but still gives excellent examples for the application of the general neurodynamic principles. The book, as a well-edited whole, offers a coherent perspective and many remarkable details. It is recommended to anyone who would like to learn more about the field of neurodynamics.

Benefits of religious beliefs for cancer patients: A response to Dawkins and Hitchens

Two brilliantly written and perhaps surprisingly popular books, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens, discuss in great detail the potential dangers associated with organized religions and religious beliefs [1,2]. Both writers have unquestionably—and quite eloquently— expressed a coherent perspective on the role of religion in the daily life of individuals and its disconcerting impact on both history and our current geopolitical environment. In their respective books, these authors forcefully discuss how many individuals—including, apparently, themselves— lack a fundamental requirement for a belief in God in the face of serious health concerns, such as advanced and progressive malignant disease. Unfortunately, however, both authors either fail to appreciate, or have chosen not to acknowledge, the extraordinary importance that a very “personal God” may play in the lives of many individuals forced to deal with these profoundly life-changing situations. In a brief section of his book (page 352) entitled “Consolation,” Professor Dawkins writes [1]:

Mencius on Becoming Human (review)

Reviewed by: Mencius on Becoming Human Franklin Perkins Mencius on Becoming Human. By James Behuniak Jr.Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. Pp. xxviii + 186. $40.00. In Mencius on Becoming Human, James Behuniak provides a comprehensive reading of the Mencius, ranging from cosmology and metaphysics to familial relations and human ethical development. This reading is frequently enlightening, sometimes surprising, and consistently interesting. Behuniak displays a thorough knowledge of Warring States texts and a remarkable ability to draw these together into a coherent perspective on the Mencius. The basic claim of the book is that the early Chinese worldview was oriented by processes rather than substances and that the language we use to discuss it should reflect this difference. While this basic claim is fairly common, connecting to claims that the early Chinese worldview is nondualistic and organic, Behuniak is particularly thorough in reconstructing its details and applying it to the Mencius. This work is done primarily in chapter 1, which argues for a common worldview that explicates the structure of the world through transformations and patterns of qi 氣, which Behuniak, following Manfred Porkert, translates as "configurative energy." This configurative energy takes on various arrangements or shapes, which in their particularity influence but do not determine subsequent changes: Given the fact that no shape is immutable in this cosmology, shape must be considered not as the fixed 'nature' of a thing but rather as the momentary consummation of an ongoing process—one that is, in itself, the dynamic starting point for the next phase of transformation. Shape, then, is something that indicates a 'disposition' rather than a fixed 'nature.' By virtue of causal propensity (shi 勢), the 'disposition' of any configuration issues spontaneously into features that both define and reconfigure the trajectory of its discursive formation. (p. 9) In establishing this worldview, Behuniak draws on a number of early texts, including the Zhuangzi, Daodejing, and Yijing, as well as the recently unearthed Guodian bamboo strips. He ties these together nicely with a discussion of Tang Junyi's "Exposition on the Unique Kind of Basic Spirit in Chinese Culture." This placement of the Mencius in a broader context is one of the strengths of this book, and reflects one of Behuniak's greatest skills as an interpreter: his insistence on context and continuity, emphasizing that the Mencius should make sense in the broader context of Warring States thought and that its ethical and political views cannot be isolated from its (and our) metaphysical assumptions. The difficulty, as he admits, lies in discovering what these metaphysical assumptions were, particularly in Confucian texts that rarely discuss ontology. Some readers may object to reading the Mencius in the context of the Zhuangzi and the Yijing, but Behuniak's interpretation is strengthened by placing Mencius in a narrower context as well, that of Si-Meng thought, which refers to the line of Confucian thought running through Zisi to Mencius. Mencius has long been associated with the Great Learning (Daxue) and Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), but most Chinese scholars have [End Page 596] taken the Guodian texts as supporting this linkage and filling out one line of Confucian thought. Behuniak is the first person writing in English to use these materials extensively to inform the Mencius, and this is one of the great values of his book. Although the reconstruction of Mencius' own cosmological and metaphysical views necessarily remains speculative, Behuniak rightly concludes that the burden of proof lies with those who want to read the Mencius as discontinuous with this broader context. He nicely summarizes the place of his own interpretation: To those accustomed to a more generic reading of human development in the Mencius, the argument ahead might be anticipated as radical. I feel, however, that what follows is the more conservative reading. To read the notion of human development as end-driven in the Mencius is to present Mencius as a truly revolutionary theorist of 'human nature' in classical China. I am not prepared or inclined to argue such a radical interpretation. The following assessment is more modest. I maintain that Mencius is working within the parameters of certain commonly held assumptions: assumptions about botanical growth, transformation, development, and about the...

Rényi dimensions and pedodiversity indices of the earth pedotaxa distribution

Abstract. Pedodiversity, the study and measurement of soil diversity, may be considered as a framework to analyze spatial patterns. Recently, selfsimilar multifractal patterns have been recently reported in the pedotaxa-abundance distributions at the planetary scale. This is the result to be expected from the complexity of earth soil systems. When the state of soil is understood as the outcome of nonlinear chaotic dynamic, highly irregular patterns with so-called multifractal behavior should be common. This opens the opportunity to use parameters of fractal theory to characterize pedodiversity. We compute Rényi generalized dimensions for the abundance distribution of pedotaxa for the five landmasses and the whole World drawn from the most detailed available global dataset based on the second level of the FAO 1974 classification units. We explore the effective relationship between diversity indices and Rényi dimensions. We show how multifractal analysis unifies diversity indices and how they should be interpreted offering a coherent perspective with a single mathematical procedure to analyze spatial patterns of the pedosphere.