The Concept of Disorder Revisited: Robustly Value-Laden Despite Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-161
Author(s):  
I—Rachel Cooper

Abstract Our concept of disorder is changing. This causes problems for projects of descriptive conceptual analysis. Conceptual change means that a criterion that was necessary for a condition to be a disorder at one time may cease to be necessary a relatively short time later. Nevertheless, some conceptually based claims will be fairly robust. In particular, the claim that no adequate account of disorder can appeal only to biological facts can be maintained for the foreseeable future. This is because our current concept of disorder continues to be laden with ethical and political values in multiple ways.

Author(s):  
Kathleen Stock

The author’s argumentative strategy for the book is introduced, and situated methodologically. An explanation follows that in the first half of this book a theory of fictional content known as ‘extreme intentionalism’ is proffered, with the argument that it should be taken very seriously as an adequate account of fictional truth. Some critics of the theory are canvassed and extreme intentionalism is differentiated from certain other positions with which it might be confused. It is then indicated how, in the second half of the book, it will be shown that extreme intentionalism and the lessons learnt from it can illuminate cognate questions in the philosophy of fiction and imagination. The author’s aim in this book is explained as being to construct three complementary explanatory theories simultaneously, one about fictional truth, one about fictional content, and one about imagination. In each case the methodological approach employed is distinguished from that of straightforward conceptual analysis. Finally, several advantages of the proposed approach are pointed out.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Schomäcker

<P>Can consciousness be scientifically explained? While scientific knowledge of the brain is still lacking in many ways, philosophers like Joseph Levine and David Chalmers have already argued that such an explanation is impossible. The book addresses this widely discussed argument from a new angle: It starts from the fact that the arguments for the so called “explanatory gap” rely crucially on our current concept of consciousness. The present work therefore looks at the possibility of conceptual change as a way to remove the obstacles to a scientific explanation of consciousness. It presents a possible development of our concept of consciousness which would allow for an explanation and shows that the arguments for the gap can therefore be refuted. </P>


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Spellman ◽  
Daniel Kahneman
Keyword(s):  

AbstractReplication failures were among the triggers of a reform movement which, in a very short time, has been enormously useful in raising standards and improving methods. As a result, the massive multilab multi-experiment replication projects have served their purpose and will die out. We describe other types of replications – both friendly and adversarial – that should continue to be beneficial.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 197-200
Author(s):  
Milan Minarovjech ◽  
Milan Rybanský ◽  
Vojtech Rušin

AbstractWe present an analysis of short time-scale intensity variations in the coronal green line as obtained with high time resolution observations. The observed data can be divided into two groups. The first one shows periodic intensity variations with a period of 5 min. the second one does not show any significant intensity variations. We studied the relation between regions of coronal intensity oscillations and the shape of white-light coronal structures. We found that the coronal green-line oscillations occur mainly in regions where open white-light coronal structures are located.


Author(s):  
P. Maupin-Szamier ◽  
T. D. Pollard

We have studied the destruction of rabbit muscle actin filaments by osmium tetroxide (OSO4) to develop methods which will preserve the structure of actin filaments during preparation for transmission electron microscopy.Negatively stained F-actin, which appears as smooth, gently curved filaments in control samples (Fig. 1a), acquire an angular, distorted profile and break into progressively shorter pieces after exposure to OSO4 (Fig. 1b,c). We followed the time course of the reaction with viscometry since it is a simple, quantitative method to assess filament integrity. The difference in rates of decay in viscosity of polymerized actin solutions after the addition of four concentrations of OSO4 is illustrated in Fig. 2. Viscometry indicated that the rate of actin filament destruction is also dependent upon temperature, buffer type, buffer concentration, and pH, and requires the continued presence of OSO4. The conditions most favorable to filament preservation are fixation in a low concentration of OSO4 for a short time at 0°C in 100mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 6.0.


Author(s):  
R. Padmanabhan ◽  
W. E. Wood

Intermediate high temperature tempering prior to subsequent reaustenitization has been shown to double the plane strain fracture toughness as compared to conventionally heat treated UHSLA steels, at similar yield strength levels. The precipitation (during tempering) of metal carbides and their subsequent partial redissolution and refinement (during reaustenitization), in addition to the reduction in the prior austenite grain size during the cycling operation have all been suggested to contribute to the observed improvement in the mechanical properties. In this investigation, 300M steel was initially austenitized at 1143°K and then subjected to intermediate tempering at 923°K for 1 hr. before reaustenitizing at 1123°K for a short time and final tempering at 583°K. The changes in the microstructure responsible for the improvement in the properties have been studied and compared with conventionally heat treated steel. Fig. 1 shows interlath films of retained austenite produced during conventionally heat treatment.


Author(s):  
M. J. Carr ◽  
J. F. Shewbridge ◽  
T. O. Wilford

Strong solid state bonds are routinely produced between physical vapor deposited (PVD) silver coatings deposited on sputter cleaned surfaces of two dissimilar metal parts. The low temperature (200°C) and short time (10 min) used in the bonding cycle are advantageous from the standpoint of productivity and dimensional control. These conditions unfortunately produce no microstructural changes at or near the interface that are detectable by optical, SEM, or microprobe examination. Microstructural problems arising at these interfaces could therefore easily go undetected by these techniques. TEM analysis has not been previously applied to this problem because of the difficulty in specimen preparation. The purpose of this paper is to describe our technique for preparing specimens from solid state bonds and to present our initial observations of the microstructural details of such bonds.


Author(s):  
Vladimir Popenko ◽  
Natalya Cherny ◽  
Maria Yakovleva

Highly polyploid somatic nucleus (macronucleus) of ciliate Bursaria truncatella under goes severe changes in morphology during cell division. At first, macronucleus (Ma) condences, diminishes in size and turns perpendicular to longitudinal axis of the cell. After short time, Ma turns again, elongates and only afterwards the process of division itself occurs. The biological meaning of these phenomena is not clear.Localization of RNA in the cells was performed on sections of ciliates B. truncatella, embedded in “Lowicryl K4M” at various stages: (1) before cell division (Figs. 2,3); (11) at the stage of macronucleus condensation; (111) during elongation of Ma (Fig.4); (1111) in young cells (0-5min. after division). For cytochemical labelling we used RNaseAcolloidal gold complexes (RNase-Au), which are known to bind to RNA containing cell ularstructures with high specificity. The influence of different parameters on the reliability and reproducibility of labelling was studied. In addition to the factors, discussed elsewhere, we found that the balance of mono- and bivalent cations is of great significance.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
KERRI WACHTER
Keyword(s):  
Low Dose ◽  

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