A Branching Space-Times Perspective on Presentism

The chapter constructs a notion of the present that is both relativity-friendly and serves the metaphysical role required by presentism. It draws a distinction between a static present based on simultaneity and a dynamic present based on co-presentness. Co-presentness points to a dynamic role of the present in separating a fixed past from an open future. That dynamical role is linked to the idea that dynamic change must be based on the indeterministic realization of possibilities for the future. In working out the formal details of this idea, the chapter makes use of the rich notion of modal correlations that BST offers. Depending on what exactly the modal correlations are like, the analysis delivers different regions of the past, present, and future of a given event.

Road to Metastasis: The TWEAK Pathway as a Discriminant between Metastasizing and Non-Metastasizing Thick Melanomas

Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and its worldwide incidence is rapidly increasing. Early stages can be successfully treated by surgery, but once metastasis has occurred, the prognosis is poor. However, some 5–10% of thick (≥2 mm) melanomas do not follow this scenario and run an unpredictable course. Little is known about the factors that contribute to metastasis in some patient with thick melanomas and the lack thereof in thick melanoma patients who never develop metastatic disease. We were therefore interested to study differential gene expression and pathway analysis and compare non-metastatic and metastatic thick melanomas. We found that the TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) pathway was upregulated in thick non-metastasizing melanomas. MAP3K14 (NIK1), BIRC2 (cIAP1), RIPK1, CASP7, CASP8, and TNF play an important role in inhibiting proliferation and invasion of tumor cells via the activation of the non-canonical NF-κB signaling pathway. In particular, this pathway sensitizes melanoma cells to TNF-alpha and activates the apoptosis module of the TWEAK pathway in thick non-metastasizing melanomas. Hence, our study suggests a potential role of the TWEAK pathway in inhibiting thick melanoma from metastasis. Exploitation of these genes and the pathway they control may open future therapeutic avenues.

Cr-Based Sputtered Decorative Coatings for Automotive Industry

The present work aims to study the impact of O and N addition on Cr-sputtered coatings on plastic (polycarbonate, PC) used in automobile parts, as a promisor alternative for auto part metallization, while eliminating the usage of toxic hexavalent chromium. The coatings were deposited using DC magnetron sputtering from a single pure Cr target in a reactive atmosphere (N2 and/or O2). The deposition of the coatings was performed maintaining the total pressure constant and close to 1 Pa by tuning Ar pressure while reactive gases were added. The target current density was kept at JW = 20 mA·cm−2. Structural characterization revealed a mixture of α-Cr, δ-Cr, β-Cr2N, and CrN crystalline structures as well as amorphous oxides. The coating hardness ranged from 9 GPa for the CrON coating to 15 GPa for the CrN coating. All deposited coatings showed a particularly good interface adhesion; adjusting the amount of O and N made it possible to tune the optical properties of the Cr-based coatings as desired. The promising results open future industrialization of sputtered Cr-based coatings for automotive industries.

The Open Future, Classical Style

In this chapter, the author defends his view against the core complaint that it invalidates what has been called “Will Excluded Middle” (either it will be that p or it will be that ~p), and an associated principle that has recently been called “Scopelessness”. According to scopelessness, will is “scopeless” with respect to negation; there is no semantic distinction between ~Willp and Will~p. In this chapter, it is argued that the data that seems to support scopelessness is adequately explained by the thesis that will is “neg-raising predicate”. In normal contexts, “No one should do that” certainly pragmatically implies “Everyone shouldn’t do that”—but the former sentence does not semantically entail the latter; this is, in part, to say that should is a neg-raiser. In general, the author defends the crucial scope distinction between ~Willp and Will~p, and responds to several objections to this view.

The Assertion Problem

In this chapter, the author responds to a family of related objections to the doctrine of the open future—roughly, problems stemming from the observation that what are plausibly future contingents are often nevertheless properly assertible (despite being, on the author’s view, false). He responds to this family of problems by developing several related themes: (i) even if the author’s view is true, it is properly ignored in ordinary life; (ii) an assertion may assert what is false but nevertheless communicate what is true, and this can explain the appropriateness of that assertion; (iii) there is plausibly replacement talk that we could use that would enable us, if we wished, to avoid saying what is false, but would nevertheless allow us to communicate in satisfactory ways. In the end, then, there is no compelling “assertion problem” for the view defended in this book.