The Evolution of Suffering, Epiphenomenalism, and the Phenomena of Life: Evidential Problems for Naturalists

Paul Draper argues that the central issue in the debate over the problem of suffering is not whether the theist can offer a probable explanation of suffering, but whether theism or naturalism can give a better explanation for the facts regarding the distribution of pain as we find them. He likewise maintains a comparison of relative probabilities considering the facts of suffering; atheological naturalism is to be preferred. This essay proceeds in two phases: (a) It will be argued that mainstream positions in naturalistic philosophy of mind make it difficult to take pain as anything but epiphenomenal and therefore not subject to evolutionary explanation. While the distribution of suffering is a difficulty for the theist, the naturalist has equal difficulty explaining the fact that there is any suffering at all in the first place. Thus, the facts of suffering offer no advantage to the atheist. (b) Phenomenologists suggest that there is an intrinsic connection between animal life, pain, and normativity (including a summum bonum). The mere occurrence of life and normativity are, at least prima facie, more likely on the assumption of theism than atheism, so the theist may have a probabilistic advantage relative to the atheist. Phases (a) and (b) together support the overall conclusion that the facts of pain as we find them in the world (including that there is any pain at all) are at least as great, if not greater, a challenge for the atheist as they are the theist.

Особенности истечения в вакуум микроструй невязкой жидкости

Experimental results of the outflow of ethanol microjets from the capillary (vertical flow in the direction of gravity) and from the hole in the wall (in the horizontal direction) are presented. It is shown that a long-term flow of a microjet of a liquid in a vacuum exhibits a high degree of instability with sudden changes in direction, structure, observed density and differs significantly from the well-studied modes of outflow into the atmosphere, as well as from short-term modes of outflow into vacuum. The main features of the flow and the conditions for the onset of instability are described. A probable explanation of the reasons for the destruction of the microjet is given.

Orientation of buried people in the necropolises of Bystryanka culture (northern foothills of Altai, Scythian-Saka time)

The article presents the results of studying the orientation of buried in a certain sector of the horizon on the basis of materials from the excavations of the necropolises of the Bystryanka archaeological culture. Information about 168 burials investigated at 26 necropolises of the northern foothills of Altai of the Scythian-Saka period was used. It has been established that the dominant tradition was to direct the buried people with their heads to the western sector of the horizon. At the same time, deviations are recorded due to various factors. A number of approaches traditionally used in this kind of research were used to interpret the identified orientations. The authors concluded that the observed deviations from the westerly direction are associated with the seasonal movement of the sun. At the same time, a possible basis on which the population of Bystryanka culture relied when orienting the dead is the sunset point. The most probable explanation for the spread of directions other than those in the West is the contacts with carriers of other cultural traditions. Opportunities for further study and interpretation of the revealed patterns in the orientation of the buried people based on the materials of the Bystryanka culture are associated with a more detailed analysis of individual necropolises, including the specification of the landscape features of specific monuments. Of particular importance is the expansion of the data used by attracting information about unpublished complexes. In addition, the correlation of the considered element of the ritual with other indicators of funeral practice, including the peculiarities of the position of the buried people and the traditions of placing goods in the grave, seems promising.

MPE Computation in Bayesian Networks Using Mini-Bucket and Probability Trees Approximation

Given a set of uncertain discrete variables with a joint probability distribution and a set of observations for some of them, the most probable explanation is a set or configuration of values for non-observed variables maximizing the conditional probability of these variables given the observations. This is a hard problem which can be solved by a deletion algorithm with max marginalization, having a complexity similar to the one of computing conditional probabilities. When this approach is unfeasible, an alternative is to carry out an approximate deletion algorithm, which can be used to guide the search of the most probable explanation, by using A* or branch and bound (the approximate+search approach). The most common approximation procedure has been the mini-bucket approach. In this paper it is shown that the use of probability trees as representation of potentials with a pruning of branches with similar values can improve the performance of this procedure. This is corroborated with an experimental study in which computation times are compared using randomly generated and benchmark Bayesian networks from UAI competitions.

Probable causes and risk factors for positive SARS-CoV-2 test in recovered patients: Evidence from Brunei Darussalam

We report findings of a national study in Brunei Darussalam indicating that one in five recovered patients subsequently test positive again for SARS-CoV-2 - this risk is nearly three times higher in older patients (age 53 and above) than younger ones (below age 53). Review of clinical and epidemiological records do not support reinfection or reactivation as likely causes of the 're-positive' observation. Instead, prolonged but intermittent viral shedding is the most probable explanation. We discuss the implications of these findings for infection control and clinical practice.

Kajian Variasi Sekuens Interspesies dan Filogeni Kelelawar Pteropus sp. Menggunakan Gen COI

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis variasi interspesies kelelawar Pteropus sp. dan menjelaskan hubungan filogeni Pteropus sp. dengan spesies Pteropus lain yang terdata di GenBank berdasarkan Gen COI. Analisis sekuens menggunakan Geneious v5.6.4 dan menunjukkan adanya variasi interspesies sekuens gen COI pada ketiga sampel Pteropus sp. yang ditunjukkan oleh adanya perbedaan 5 pasang basa nukleotida pada urutan sekuens sampel nomor 157, 160, 421, 427 dan 652 dengan jarak genetik 0,006. Filogeni Ke-3 sampel kelelawar Pteropus sp. dengan spesies Pteropus lain dilakukan menggunakan MEGAX. Hasil filogeni menunjukkan bahwa sampel yang diteliti merupakan kelelawar dari genus Pteropus tetapi belum dapat dipastikan spesiesnya, karena ketika pohon filogeni dikonstruksikan membentuk satu klaster sendiri. Penjelasan dari proses tersebut adalah penyortiran garis keturunan yang tidak lengkap dan terjadinya hibridisasi, serta diduga bahwa primer yang digunakan kurang mampu dalam membedakan variasi intrespesies terhadap kelelawar genus PteropusThis study aimed to analyze the interspecificvariations of bats from Pteropus sp. and describethe phylogenetic relationship of Pteropus sp. with other Pteropus species recorded inGenBank based on the COI gene. Sequenceanalysis by Geneious v5.6.4 showed interspecificvariations of COI gene sequences in all threesamples of Pteropus sp. which was indicated byvariations in 5 nucleotide base pairs in thesequences number 157, 160, 421, 427 and 652with 0.006 of genetic distance value. Phylogeneticof the 3 bat samples of Pteropus sp. with otherPteropus species was carried out by MEGAX.Phylogenetic analyses showed that the samplesstudied are bats of the genus Pteropus, but theexact species cannot be determined because thesamples were grouped in the same cluster duringphylogenetic tree construction. The most probable explanation for this observation is hybridization between two different Pteropus spesies and also it is assumed that the primersused are not capable to distinguish interspecificvariations of the bats from the Pteropus genusPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis variasi interspesies kelelawar Pteropus sp. dan menjelaskan hubungan filogeni Pteropus sp. dengan spesies Pteropus lain yang terdata di GenBank berdasarkan Gen COI. Analisis sekuens menggunakan Geneious v5.6.4 dan menunjukkan adanya variasi interspesies sekuens gen COI pada ketiga sampel Pteropus sp. yang ditunjukkan oleh adanya perbedaan 5 pasang basa nukleotida pada urutan sekuens sampel nomor 157, 160, 421, 427 dan 652 dengan jarak genetik 0,006. Filogeni Ke-3 sampel kelelawar Pteropus sp. dengan spesies Pteropus lain dilakukan menggunakan MEGAX. Hasil filogeni menunjukkan bahwa sampel yang diteliti merupakan kelelawar dari genus Pteropus tetapi belum dapat dipastikan spesiesnya, karena ketika pohon filogeni dikonstruksikan membentuk satu klaster sendiri. Penjelasan dari proses tersebut adalah penyortiran garis keturunan yang tidak lengkap dan terjadinya hibridisasi, serta diduga bahwa primer yang digunakan kurang mampu dalam membedakan variasi intrespesies terhadap kelelawar genus Pteropus