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General Notion (general + notion)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Sand in the machinery?

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 6 2005
Comparing bureaucrats', politicians' attitudes toward public sector reform
This article addresses the general notion that bureaucrats may oppose the introduction of reforms in the public sector, and that their views concerning reform will differ from that of politicians. Such a situation may create a sense of conflict between the two spheres, but different views on public sector reform can also follow other conflict dimensions. Two such dimensions are outlined: the one between political parties, and the one between a political-administrative elite and a group of more peripheral politicians and administrators. The hypotheses set forward are tested by comparing local authority politicians' and administrative leaders' views on public sector reform. The data does not support the notion of general conflict between politicians and administrators, or that of conflict of interest between an elite and a more peripheral group. In general, politicians and administrators have rather similar views, but there is a wide difference between political parties. The administration places itself somewhat in the middle between political extremes, being moderately positive towards most reforms. [source]

Francis bacon's behavioral psychology

JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 3 2007
Paul S. Macdonald
Francis Bacon offers two accounts of the nature and function of the human mind: one is a medical-physical account of the composition and operation of spirits specific to human beings, the other is a behavioral account of the character and activities of individual persons. The medical-physical account is a run-of-the-mill version of the late Renaissance model of elemental constituents and humoral temperaments. The other, less well-known, behavioral account represents an unusual position in early modern philosophy. This theory espouses a form of behavioral psychology according to which (a) supposed mental properties are "hidden forms" best described in dispositional terms, (b) the true character of an individual can be discovered in his observable behavior, and (c) an "informed" understanding of these properties permits the prediction and control of human behavior. Both of Bacon's theories of human nature fall under his general notion of systematic science: his medical-physical theory of vital spirits is theoretical natural philosophy and his behavioral theory of disposition and expression is operative natural philosophy. Because natural philosophy as a whole is "the inquiry of causes and the production of effects," knowledge of human nature falls under the same two-part definition. It is an inquisition of forms that pertains to the patterns of minute motions in the vital spirits and the production of effects that pertains both to the way these hidden motions produce behavioral effects and to the way in which a skillful agent is able to produce desired effects in other persons' behavior. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Growth in epiphytic bromeliads: response to the relative supply of phosphorus and nitrogen

PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
G. Zotz
Abstract Insufficient nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) frequently limit primary production. Although most nutrient studies on vascular epiphytes have focused on N uptake, circumstantial evidence suggests that P rather than N is the most limiting element for growth in this plant group. We directly tested this by subjecting a total of 162 small individuals of three bromeliad species (Guzmania monostachia, Tillandsia elongata, Werauhia sanguinolenta) to three N and three P levels using a full-factorial experimental design, and determined relative growth rates (RGR) and nutrient acquisition over a period of 11 weeks. Both N and P supply had a significant effect on RGR, but only tissue P concentrations were correlated with growth. Uptake rates of N and P, in contrast, were not correlated with RGR. Increased nutrient supply led to an up to sevenfold increase in tissue P concentration compared to natural conditions, while concentrations of N hardly changed or even decreased. All treatment combinations, even at the lowest experimental P supply, led to decreased N:P ratios. We conclude that P is at least as limiting as N for vegetative function under natural conditions in these epiphytic bromeliads. This conclusion is in line with the general notion of the prevalence of P limitation for the functioning of terrestrial vegetation in the tropics. [source]

Structural modification of acyl carrier protein by butyryl group

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 1 2009
Bai-Nan Wu
Abstract Fatty acid synthesis in bacteria is catalyzed by a set of individual enzymes known as the type II fatty acid synthase. Acyl carrier protein (ACP) shuttles the acyl intermediates between individual pathway enzymes. In this study, we determined the solution structures of three different forms of ACP, apo-ACP, ACP, and butyryl-ACP under identical experimental conditions. The structural studies revealed that attachment of butyryl acyl intermediate to ACP alters the conformation of ACP. This finding supports the more general notion that the attachment of different acyl intermediates alters the ACP structure to facilitate their recognition and turnover by the appropriate target enzymes. [source]

Scripture as Guru in the Sikh Tradition

RELIGION COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2008
Pashaura Singh
The study of the Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth, is quite useful in understanding the general notion of ,scripture' as a cross-cultural phenomenon. In fact, the study of a text as scripture is not only concerned with its textual problems, the reconstruction of its history, the formation of the canon, and its contextual meaning, but also with its ongoing role in the cumulative tradition of a religious community, both as a normative source of authority and as a prodigious living force. Perceived from this angle the reception of the Adi Granth as Guru by the Sikh community is highly significant. [source]

,Quid sit anima': Juan Luis Vives on the soul and its relation to the body

RENAISSANCE STUDIES, Issue 4 2010
Lorenzo Casini
On account of his insights into human nature and conduct, the Renaissance humanist Juan Luis Vives (1493,1540) has occasionally been called ,the father of modern psychology'. Even if the praise regarding his originality is not completely undeserved, it is something of an exaggeration to consider him the initiator of modern psychology without further qualifications. The aim of the present article is to analyse Vives's discussion of the general notion of the soul in his treatise De anima et vita (1538), and to show how deeply rooted it is in the tradition of philosophical psychology that goes back to Plato and Aristotle. Special attention is also paid to the influence of traditional medical theories, such as Galen's conception of the bodily instruments of the soul. Moreover, following the Neoplatonic tradition, Vives uses the analogy of light to explain how an immaterial soul can be united with, but not affected by, a physical body. It is argued that this approach is based on Nemesius of Emesa's treatise De natura hominis, a source that has not been duly appreciated in previous studies. [source]