Pain Medicine in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

A significant amount of empirical progress has been made in the management of pain over the last century,largely as a result of the introduction of a more effective pharmacological agent and the developmentof a better understanding of the principle of molecular development that governsits use. Much remains to be learned from the mechanisms and treatment of pain by researchers and practitioners. This review article will discuss regarding the important aspects of pain control in oral and maxillofacial facial surgery.

When answers are hard to find, change the question: Asking different causal questions can enable progress

This chapter argues that changing the causal questions asked by psychiatric research programmes might facilitate progress in finding the causes of mental disorders. K. Codell Carter’s (2003) The Rise of Causal Concepts of Disease shows that empirical progress sometimes requires a change in the causal questions that researchers ask. The philosophical claim that causal explanation is contrastive implies that projects that seek ‘the causes of disorder’ might pursue this aim in multiple ways. Some causal questions will turn out to be easier to address than others. This means that when research programmes stall, it is worth trying to restart progress through switching the causal questions asked. The chapter considers one type of causal question, ‘Why do some people with condition X find it harmful and others harmless?’, that might plausibly be fruitfully addressed more often than at present.

What shapes the cultivation effects from infotaining content? Toward a theoretical foundation for journalism studies

Infotaining formats are gaining rapid popularity over the past decades. So far, studies often attempt either to define what infotainment is, how the technological and economic changes have given rise to the format, or what effects it exerts, but rarely consider all three aspects together. This raises the possibility that the properties of infotaining formats are under-defined, leading to a confusion about the effects from infotaining content. This article explores (1) where infotainment comes from, (2) what its constitutive properties are, and (3) why its potential cultivation effect should differ from other formats. From synthesizing these notions, an integrated model derives that combines insights from journalism studies and cultivation theory in order to explain how the technological and economic forces shape the infotaining content being produced, and its cultivating effects on the public further. Scholars from across multiple subfields can use this framework to make common theoretical and empirical progress.

A Test: Hume's Missing Shade of Blue

This paper discusses a possible test of Hume's ‘missing shade of blue’ and whether it might be possible to make some empirical progress on the question. Towards this end seventy-two students were tested to see if they could determine the correct color ratios of missing black and white shades ranging from a consecutive gap of two out of 236 possible combinations, to a consecutive gap of ten of out of 236 possible combinations. On the most difficult test, four of the seventy-two students correctly determined a missing shade, though these same four all claimed to have above-average experience with art.