Ontology by Stipulation

In previous work the author suggested that many ontological disputes can be viewed as merely verbal, in that each side can be charitably interpreted as speaking the truth in its own language. Critics have objected that it is more plausible to view the disputants as speaking the same language, perhaps even a special philosophy-room language, sometimes called Ontologese. This chapter suggests a different kind of deflationary move, in a way more extreme (possibly more Carnapian) than the author’s previous suggestion. The chapter supposes we encounter an ontological dispute between two sides, the A-side and the B-side, and we assume that they are speaking the same language so that (at least) one of them is mistaken (perhaps the common language is Ontologese). The author’s suggestion is that we can introduce by stipulation two languages, one for each side, such that in speaking the A-side stipulated language we capture whatever facts might be expressed in the A-side’s position, and in speaking the B-side stipulated language we capture whatever facts might be expressed in the B-side’s position. In this way we get whatever facts there might be in this ontological area without risking falsehood. A further part of the argument consists in explaining why the stipulation maneuver applies to questions of ontology but not to questions of mathematics (such as the Goldbach conjecture). One basic point is that mathematics has application to contingencies in a way that ontology doesn’t.

New Insights into the Origin of the World-Class Jinding Sediment-Hosted Zn-Pb Deposit, Southwestern China: Evidence from LA-ICP-MS Analysis of Individual Fluid Inclusions

The Jinding deposit in the Lanping basin, southwest China, is the largest sandstone-hosted Zn deposit in the world and the second largest Zn-Pb deposit in China. However, questions related to the metal compositions and origin of the ore fluids remain. In this study, microthermometry and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) were employed to determine the properties and compositions of individual fluid inclusions trapped in sphalerite and calcite. The results show that the fluid inclusions trapped in sphalerite and calcite have similar homogenization temperatures (79°–173°C with the majority 100°–130°C), salinities (10.3–29.1 wt % NaCl + CaCl2 equiv with the majority 24.5–27.4 wt % NaCl + CaCl2 equiv), and concentrations of alkali and alkali earth elements (e.g., Na, Ca, Mg, K, Sr, Ba, Li, Rb, and Cs). However, the concentrations of ore and associated metals (e.g., Pb, Sb, Ag, and Tl) in the fluid inclusions hosted by sphalerite are significantly higher than those hosted by calcite. Based on these observations, we propose that the sulfides including sphalerite were precipitated from a low-temperature, high-salinity, Ca-rich, metal-rich fluid, while the gangue minerals such as calcite crystallized subsequently from fluids depleted in metals due to prior precipitation of sulfides, and that the high salinities of the fluid inclusions are likely due to a combination of seawater evaporation and subsequent dissolution of evaporitic sequences during fluid percolation. The LA-ICP-MS analyses reveal that the fluid inclusions have K/Na, Rb/Na, and Cs/Na ratios within the range of modern basinal brines, and Li/Na, Ba/Na, and Ca/Na ratios share similar compositions with the ore fluids of basement interacted deposits in the world. The Jinding ore fluids contain ~200 to 650 ppm Pb, based on the data of fluid inclusions trapped in sphalerite. The estimated concentrations of Zn in the ore fluids are also very high at ~200 to 6,500 ppm. Our results reveal that anomalously metal rich fluids played a critical role in the formation of the giant Jinding sediment-hosted Pb-Zn deposit. We concur with the previous suggestion that sulfide precipitation at Jinding occurred when ascending metal-rich brines encountered an H2S-rich, Ca-rich fluid, which was produced by interaction of hydrocarbons with evaporites, in the cap of the Jinding dome.

Click Trains do not Alter Auditory Temporal Order Judgements

Brief periods of repetitive stimulation (click trains) presented either contiguous or simultaneous to an interval have been previously shown to impact on its perceived duration. In the current investigation we asked whether the perception of temporal order can be altered in a similar way. Participants completed a dichotic spectral temporal order judgement task with the stimuli titrated to their individual thresholds. Immediately prior to the judgement, participants were presented with five seconds of click trains, white noise or silence. We extended previous work on this topic by using each participant’s accuracy and response time data to estimate diffusion model parameters so that the cognitive mechanisms underlying any effect of click trains on the response could be disentangled. There was no effect of stimulation condition on participant’s accuracy, or diffusion model parameters (drift rate, boundary separation or non-decision time). The present findings therefore suggest that click trains do not influence temporal order perception. Additionally, the previous suggestion that click trains induce an increase in the rate of information processing was not supported for this temporal order task. Further work probing the limits and conditions of the click train effect will help to constrain and extend theoretical accounts of subjective timing.

No Predictable Relationship Between Presacral Vertebral Number and Hes7 Intron Number Across Mammals

In mammals, the number of vertebrae and the somites they derive from is highly limited. Nevertheless, there are some lineages that have an increased number of presacral vertebrae and thus an elongated trunk. This suggests that somitogenesis, the process of somite formation in early development, is altered in these lineages. According the ‘clock and wavefront’ model of somitogenesis, temporal information of somite boundary formation is generated by a traveling wave of cyclic expression of oscillator genes. Hes7 has been suggested to be a key oscillator gene of this molecular segmentation clock. A previous study showed that reducing the number of introns within the Hes7 gene results in a more rapid tempo of Hes7 oscillation and an increased number of presacral vertebrae. Variation in Hes7 intron number could therefore be a potential evolutionary mechanism for varying vertebral number across mammals. In order to test this hypothesis, Hes7 intron number is here compared to presacral vertebral number across a variety of mammals.No significant relationship between both metrics could be detected as their variation across the mammalian phylogeny is fundamentally different. Integrating our data in the previously published mathematical model of Hes7 oscillation confirms the finding that variation in intron number does not predict variation in presacral vertebrae, rendering a direct causal relationship unlikely. However, our data support the previous suggestion that at least two introns are required for Hes7 pace making function of the segmentation clock.

Bait-attending amphipods of the Tonga Trench and depth-stratified population structure in the scavenging amphipod Hirondellea dubia Dahl, 1959

Background The hadal zone encompasses the deepest parts of the world’s ocean trenches from depths of ∼6,000–11,000 m. The communities observed at these depths are dominated by scavenging amphipods that rapidly intercept and consume carrion as it falls to the deepest parts of the trenches. New samples collected in the Tonga Trench provide an opportunity to compare the amphipod assemblages and the population structure of a dominant species, Hirondellea dubia Dahl, 1959, between trenches and with earlier data presented for the Tonga Trench, and other trenches in the South Pacific. Methods Over 3,600 individual scavenging amphipods across 10 species were collected in seven baited traps at two sites; in the Horizon Deep site, the deepest part of the Tonga Trench (10,800 m) and a site directly up-slope at the trench edge (6,250 m). The composition of the bait-attending amphipods is described and a morphometric analysis of H. dubia examines the bathymetric distribution of the different life stages encountered. Results The amphipod assemblage was more diverse than previously reported, seven species were recorded for the first time from the Tonga Trench. The species diversity was highest at the shallower depth, with H. dubia the only species captured at the deepest site. At the same time, the abundance of amphipods collected at 10,800 m was around sevenfold higher than at the shallower site. H. dubia showed clear ontogenetic vertical structuring, with juveniles dominant at the shallow site and adults dominant at the deep site. The amphipods of the deeper site were always larger at comparable life stage. Discussion The numbers of species encountered in the Tonga Trench is less than reported from the New Hebrides and Kermadec trenches, and six species encountered are shared across trenches. These findings support the previous suggestion that the fauna of the New Hebrides, Tonga and Kermadec Trenches may represent a single biogeographic province. The ontogenetic shift in H. dubia between the two Tonga Trench sites supports the hypothesis of interspecific competition at the shallower bathymetric range of the species, and the presence of competitive physiological advantages that allow the adults at the trench axis to exploit the more labile organic material that reaches the bottom of the trench.

A new species of Pleurothallis (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae) from northwestern Ecuador with affinities to both subgenera Ancipitia and Scopula

A new species, Pleurothallis ecomingae, from near Chical, Carchi Province, Ecuador, is described and illustrated. This species is unique in that it has characteristics typical of both subgenera Scopula and Ancipitia. The plant has narrowly lanceolate leaves with a near-apical fascicle of single-flowered peduncles, previously only seen in Scopula. And, it has flowers with a minute, pubescent, tri-lobed lip in which the basal lobes are modified into ‘horns’, and an apical orifice in the central lobe, a feature previously only seen in Ancipitia. This intermediate morphology supports the previous suggestion that, at least based on morphology, the two subgenera should be combined.

Reinvestigation of two-phonon γ-vibrational band in neutron-rich 114Pd

The level structure in neutron-rich [Formula: see text]Pd nucleus has been reinvestigated by measuring prompt [Formula: see text] rays emitted in the spontaneous fission of [Formula: see text]Cf. A two-phonon [Formula: see text]-vibrational band built on the 1639.3[Formula: see text]keV level is observed, which confirms the previous suggestion from a [Formula: see text]-decay experiment. Systematical comparison supports the assignment for a two-phonon [Formula: see text]-vibrational band in [Formula: see text]Pd. Triaxial projected shell model calculations for the multi-phonon [Formula: see text] bands of [Formula: see text]Pd are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Neutron Laue diffraction study of the complex low-temperature magnetic behaviour of brownmillerite-type Ca2Fe2O5

The atomic and magnetic structure of brownmillerite Ca2Fe2O5has been refined against single-crystal neutron Laue diffraction data collected at 300, 100 and 10 K under zero-field and low-magnetic field (35 Oe = 35 × 103/4π A m−1) conditions. Ca2Fe2O5is a canted G-type antiferromagnet withPcm′n′ symmetry, the magnetic moments on Fe being directed approximately along the crystallographiccaxis at room temperature. The refinement results show clearly that this magnetic structure persists down toT= 10 K, despite a previous suggestion that an anomalous magnetic susceptibility enhancement observed in Ca2Fe2O5single crystals between 40 and 140 K might signify a reorientation of the antiferromagnetic easy axis fromctoabelow 40 K. Alternative explanations for this susceptibility anomaly are considered in terms of the evidence for partial or short-range loss of order in the anomalous regime, possibly due to the presence of multiple competing sublattice interactions.

Proxy comparison in ancient peat sediments: pollen, macrofossil and plant DNA

We compared DNA, pollen and macrofossil data obtained from Weichselian interstadial (age more than 40 kyr) and Holocene (maximum age 8400 cal yr BP) peat sediments from northern Europe and used them to reconstruct contemporary floristic compositions at two sites. The majority of the samples provided plant DNA sequences of good quality with success amplification rates depending on age. DNA and sequencing analysis provided five plant taxa from the older site and nine taxa from the younger site, corresponding to 7% and 15% of the total number of taxa identified by the three proxies together. At both sites, pollen analysis detected the largest (54) and DNA the lowest (10) number of taxa, but five of the DNA taxa were not detected by pollen and macrofossils. The finding of a larger overlap between DNA and pollen than between DNA and macrofossils proxies seems to go against our previous suggestion based on lacustrine sediments that DNA originates principally from plant tissues and less from pollen. At both sites, we also detected Quercus spp. DNA, but few pollen grains were found in the record, and these are normally interpreted as long-distance dispersal. We confirm that in palaeoecological investigations, sedimentary DNA analysis is less comprehensive than classical morphological analysis, but is a complementary and important tool to obtain a more complete picture of past flora.

Involvement of the IAA-Regulated ACC Oxidase Gene PnACO3 in Pharbitis Nil Flower Inhibition

The study examined the influence of light and auxin on the transcription level of PnACO3, a gene involved in ethylene production, in relation to the inhibitory effect of ethylene on flower induction in the short-day plant Pharbitis nil (=Ipomoea nil). Exogenous auxin was shown to increase the level of PnACO3 mRNA, with the effect depending on the experimental conditions. Light did not affect the level of PnACO3 mRNA. Applying auxin to seedling cotyledons at the beginning of inductive night boosted PnACO3 transcriptional activity even threefold during the next few hours, supporting our previous suggestion that the inhibitory effect of auxin on P. nil flowering results from its stimulatory effect on ethylene production.