scholarly journals Rescuing Ontological Individualism

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Francesco Guala

Abstract Standard defences of ontological individualism are challenged by arguments that exploit the dependence of social facts on material facts – i.e. facts that are not about human individuals. In this paper I discuss Brian Epstein’s “materialism” in The Ant Trap: granting Epstein’s strict definition of individualism, I show that his arguments depend crucially on a generous conception of social properties and social facts. Individualists however are only committed to the claim that projectible properties are individualistically realized, and materialists have not undermined this claim.

The vapour pressure theory regards osmotic pressure as the pressure required to produce equilibrium between the pure solvent and the solution. Pressure applied to a solution increases its internal vapour pressure. If the compressed solution be on one aide of a semi-permeable partition and the pure solvent on the other, there is osmotic equilibrium when the com-pression of the solution brings its vapour pressure to equality with that of the solvent. So long ago as 1894 Ramsay* found that with a partition of palladium, permeable to hydrogen but not to nitrogen, the hydrogen pressures on each side tended to equality, notwithstanding the presence of nitrogen under pressure on one side, which it might have been supposed would have resisted tin- transpiration of the hydrogen. The bearing of this experiment on the problem of osmotic pressure was recognised by van’t Hoff, who observes that "it is very instructive as regards the means by which osmotic pressure is produced." But it was not till 1908 that the vapour pressure theory of osmotic pressure was developed on a finu foundation by Calendar. He demonstrated, by the method of the "vapour sieve" piston, the proposition that “any two solutions in equilibrium through any kind of membrane or capillary surface must have the same vapour pressures in respect of each of their constituents which is capable of diffusing through their surface of separation"—a generalisation of great importance for the theory of solutions. Findlay, in his admirable monograph, gives a very complete account of the contending theories of osmotic pressure, a review of which leaves no doubt that at the present moment the vapour pressure theory stands without a serious rival Some confusion of ideas still arises from the want of adherence to a strict definition of osmotic pressure to which numerical data from experimental measurements should he reduced. Tire following definitions appear to be tire outcome of tire vapour pressure theory :— Definition I.—The vapour pressure of a solution is the pressure of the vapour with which it is in equilibrium when under pressure of its own vapour only.


Author(s):  
Neha V. Harne ◽  
Vaibhav K. Nadkarni ◽  
Purnima Nadkarni ◽  
Jigna Garasia

Female fertility begins to decline many years prior to the onset of menopause despite continued regular ovulatory cycles. Although there is no strict definition of advanced reproductive age in women, infertility becomes more pronounced after the age of 35. In the female, the number of oocytes decreases with age until the menopause. Oocyte quality also diminishes, due in part to increased aneuploidy because of factors such as changes in spindle integrity. Although older male age affects the likelihood of conception, abnormalities in sperm chromosomes and in some components of the semen analysis are less important than the frequency of intercourse. Age is as accurate as any other predictor of conception with assisted reproductive technology.


1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irving Kirsch

As understood by neodissociation and sociocognitive theorists, hypnotic responses are instances of self-deception. Neodissociation theory matches the strict definition of Sackeim and Gur (1978) and sociocognitive theory matches Mele's looser definition. Recent data indicate that many hypnotized individuals deceive themselves into holding conflicting beliefs without dissociating, but others convince themselves that the suggested state of affairs is true without simultaneously holding a contrary belief.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 473-473
Author(s):  
Joseph C. Klink ◽  
Ali Khalifeh ◽  
Dinesh Samarasekera ◽  
Kamol Panumatrassamee ◽  
Jihad Kaouk

473 Background: The word heminephrectomy originally referred to the removal of half of a kidney with a duplicated collecting system. In the era of partial nephrectomies, heminephrectomy is sometimes used to describe the removal for tumor of >30% of the parenchyma of a non-duplicated kidney. We herein propose a new definition of heminephrectomy: excision of the upper or lower pole of the kidney, removing at least 30% of the parenchymal mass, cutting to hilar fat, and transecting the collecting system. Methods: Our institutional database of robotic and laparoscopic partial nephrectomies was queried for patients who underwent a partial nephrectomy for tumor between 2002 and 2011. Patients who had a heminephrectomy for obstruction in a duplicated collecting system were excluded. The patients who had a heminephrectomy by our strict definition were compared to the remainder of patients who had a partial nephrectomy. Logistic regression was used to compare outcomes between the two groups. Results: 61 patients met our strict definition of heminephrectomy out of 643 patients who underwent a partial nephrectomy for tumor. Heminephrectomy and non-heminephrectomy patients were similar in age, gender, BMI, ASA score, proportion of left- versus right-sided tumors, solitary kidney status, preoperative creatinine and GFR. (all p>0.1). The tumors in the heminephrectomy group were larger (5.1 vs. 2.8 cm, p<0.001) and had a higher R.E.N.A.L nephrometry score (8.5 vs. 6.5, p<0.001). Operative outcomes reflected the high complexity of performing a heminephrectomy. Estimated blood loss was greater (373 vs. 267 ml, p=0.04), operative time was longer (214 vs. 185 minutes, p<0.001), warm ischemia time was longer (25 vs. 20 minutes, p=0.002), and the rate of intra-operative complications was greater (11% vs. 4%, p=0.02) in the heminephrectomy group. On multivariable analysis adjusted for age, preoperative GFR, R.E.N.A.L. score, and warm ischemia time, heminephrectomy was a significant predictor of lower post-operative GFR (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our strict definition of heminephrectomy performed for tumor in a non-duplicated system will allow precise clinical and research communication about heminephrectomy patients and may aid in the prediction of outcomes after partial nephrectomy.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludwig Paul

AbstractIn the period 1935-1940, the Iranian Language Academy (Farhangestān) proposed over 1,600 indigenous terms to replace words of Arabic or European origin. Seventy years later, an assessment of the effects or “success” of this activity may be attempted. The Farhangestān’s success cannot be measured easily, by counting the successful words. A study of it requires a strict definition of the term “success” and a detailed analysis of the origin, semantics, usage, stylistics, etc. of each word. The analysis proposed here, using sixty terms, yields a scale of increasing success along which the coined terms may be arranged. The article aims to show that any exact numbers indicating the Farhangestān’s word-replacing success are of limited value; and that it is more interesting to ask how the new terms have been established and how they have systematically changed, and often enriched, the vocabulary of Persian.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 1450041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Salvail ◽  
Christian Schaffner ◽  
Miroslava Sotáková

We study quantum protocols among two distrustful parties. By adopting a rather strict definition of correctness — guaranteeing that honest players obtain their correct outcomes only — we can show that every strictly correct quantum protocol implementing a non-trivial classical primitive necessarily leaks information to a dishonest player. This extends known impossibility results to all non-trivial primitives. We provide a framework for quantifying this leakage and argue that leakage is a good measure for the privacy provided to the players by a given protocol. Our framework also covers the case where the two players are helped by a trusted third party. We show that despite the help of a trusted third party, the players cannot amplify the cryptographic power of any primitive. All our results hold even against quantum honest-but-curious adversaries who honestly follow the protocol but purify their actions and apply a different measurement at the end of the protocol. As concrete examples, we establish lower bounds on the leakage of standard universal two-party primitives such as oblivious transfer.


1988 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 368-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.O. Ho-Yen

The epidemiology of the post viral fatigue syndrome was studied for the years 1985–86. With a strict definition of the syndrome, it was found that there were many misconceptions about this illness. The sex incidence was nearly equal with a similar pattern of twin peaks at 25–29 years and 40–45 years. At diagnosis, 56% were ill for three to six months and only 9% for more than two years. It is estimated that this syndrome is more common than infectious mononucleosis.


Vestnik MGTU ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-167
Author(s):  
Yuri Leonidovich Voytekhovsky ◽  
Alena Alexandrovna Zakharova

In addition to the standard description of the structures and textures of crystalline rocks the mathematical approaches have been proposed based on a rigorous determination of the petrographic structure through the probabilities of binary intergrain contacts. In general, the petrographic structure is defined as an invariant aspect of rock organization, algebraically expressed by the canonical diagonal form of the symmetric Pij matrix and geometrically visualized by structural indicatrices - surfaces of the 2nd order. The agreed nomenclature of possible petrographic structures for an n-mineral rock is simple: the symbol Snm means that there are exactly m positive numbers in the canonical diagonal form of the Pij matrix. New types of barycentric diagrams have been proposed. To describe the massive texture, the concept of Hardy - Weinberg equilibrium has been proposed. This boundary classifies barycentric diagrams into areas within which canonical types of Рij matrices and topological types of structural indicatrices are preserved. The change in the organization of the rock within a type is quantitative, the transition from one type to another means structural restructuring. The methods are used to describe ijolites and urtites of the Khibiny massif, the Kola Peninsula. In the modern taxonomy of rocks, the boundaries between them are mostly conditional and are drawn according to the contents of rock-forming minerals, for example, between ijolites and urtites - according to the contents of nepheline and pyroxene. The strict definition of the petrographic structure proposed by the authors makes it possible to introduce into petrography the constitutional principle (structure + composition), which is successfully acting in mineralogy.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Embring ◽  
Eva Onjukka ◽  
Claes Mercke ◽  
Ingmar Lax ◽  
Anders Berglund ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: There is a lack of consensus concerning the definition of re-irradiation and re-irradiation volumes in head and neck cancer (HNC). The aim of the present study is to introduce a more strict definition of the re-irradiated volume that might better predict the risk of serious side-effects from treatment. Methods: Fifty-four consecutive patients re-irradiated for HNC cancer were retrospectively analysed. CT images were deformably registered and the dose distributions accumulated after conversion to EQD2. Patients with a cumulative dose of ≥100 Gy in the overlapping volume (V100) were included in the study. Survival data and radiation-related acute and late toxicities were recorded. Results: The overall survival of all included patients at 2 and 5 years was 42.6% and 27.3% respectively and the progression free survival at 2 and 5 years was 32.5% and 28.5% respectively. The overall rate of any event of severe (grade ≥3) acute and late toxicity was 26% and 51%, respectively. We found that severe acute toxicity was more common in patients who had a larger overlapping volume (V100 >mean) where 43% of the patients experienced grade ≥3 acute toxicity, compared to the patients with smaller overlapping volumes (V100 <mean) where only 11% had severe toxicity (p = 0.02). The seemingly high rates of late toxicity in the present study could be due to the use of a more strict definition of re-irradiation. In previous studies also patients with low dose overlap are included and our results imply that there is a risk that previous studies might have overestimated the risk-benefit ratio in re-irradiation of HNC.Conclusions: Our study describes the outcome of a patient material where a more strict definition of the re-irradiated volume is used. With this definition, which could better describe the volume of highest risk for serious complications, we found that larger such overlapping volumes result in an increase in severe acute side-effects. A clear definition of re-irradiation and re-irradiation volumes is of utmost importance for future studies of HNC to make results from different studies comparable.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document