bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dendritic mitochondria reach stable positions during circuit development
Authors: Faits Michelle C , Zhang Chunmeng , Soto Florentina , Kerschensteiner Daniel
Published: January 2016

Mitochondria move throughout neuronal dendrites and localize to sites of energy demand. The prevailing view of dendritic mitochondria as highly motile organelles whose distribution is continually adjusted by neuronal activity via Ca2+-dependent arrests is based on observations in cultured neurons exposed to artificial stimuli. Here, we analyze the movements of mitochondria in ganglion cell dendrites in the intact retina. We find that whereas during development 30% of mitochondria are motile at any time, as dendrites mature, mitochondria all but stop moving and localize stably to synapses and branch points. Neither spontaneous nor sensory-evoked activity and Ca2+ transients alter motility of dendritic mitochondria; and pathological hyperactivity in a mouse model of retinal degeneration elevates rather than reduces motility. Thus, our findings indicate that dendritic mitochondria reach stable positions during a critical developmental period of high motility, and challenge current views about the role of activity in regulating mitochondrial transport in dendrites.
Gate-tunable superconducting quantum interference devices of PbS nanowires
Authors: Kim Hong-Seok , Kim Bum-Kyu , Yang Yiming , Peng Xingyue , Lee Soon-Gul , Yu Dong , Doh Yong-Joo
Published: January 2016

We report on the fabrication and electrical transport properties of gate-tunable superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), made from a semiconducting PbS nanowire contacted with PbIn superconducting electrodes. With a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the plane of the nanohybrid SQUID, periodic oscillations of the critical current due to the flux quantization in SQUID are observed up to T = 4.0 K. A nonsinusoidal current–phase relationship is obtained as a function of temperature and gate voltage, which is consistent with a short and diffusive junction model.
Emission behavior of trifluoromethyl bis-styrylbenzene derivative
Authors: Mochizuki Hiroyuki , Sonoda Yoriko , Sasaki Fumio , Azumi Reiko
Published: January 2016

We measured detailed photophysical properties of 1,4-bis(4-trifluoromethylstyryl)benzene (3PV-CF3). 3PV-CF3 showed a high fluorescence quantum efficiency and a high radiative rate constant. Furthermore, we evaluated the emission behavior of 3PV-CF3 under excitation of femtosecond laser pulses. Microcrystals of 3PV-CF3 were prepared easily by spin-coating, and were confirmed for amplified spontaneous emission. It has a low threshold of 34 µJ cm−2.
Trends and topics in eye disease research in PubMed from 2010 to 2014
Authors: Boudry Christophe , Denion Eric , Mortemousque Bruno , Mouriaux Fréderic
Published: January 2016

Background: The purpose of this study is to provide a report on scientific production during the period 2010–2014 in order to identify the major topics as well as the predominant actors (journals, countries, continents) involved in the field of eye disease.Methods: A PubMed search was carried out to extract articles related to eye diseases during the period 2010–2014. Data were downloaded and processed through developed PHP scripts for further analysis.Results: A total of 62,123 articles were retrieved. A total of 3,368 different journals were found, and 19 journals were identified as “core journals” according to Braford’s law. English was by far the predominant language. A total of 853,182 MeSH terms were found, representing an average of 13.73 (SD = 4.98) MeSH terms per article. Among these 853,182 MeSH terms, 14,689 different MeSH terms were identified. Vision Disorders, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration, and Cataract were the most frequent five MeSH terms related to eye diseases. The analysis of the total number of publications showed that Europe and Asia were the most productive continents, and the USA and China the most productive countries. Interestingly, using the mean Five-Year Impact Factor, the two most productive continents were North America and Oceania. After adjustment for population, the overall ranking positions changed in favor of smaller countries (i.e. Iceland, Switzerland, Denmark, and New Zealand), while after adjustment for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the overall ranking positions changed in favor of some developing countries (Malawi, Guatemala, Singapore).Conclusions: Due to the large number of articles included and the numerous parameters analyzed, this study provides a wide view of scientific productivity related to eye diseases during the period 2010–2014 and allows us to better understand this field.
Multifunctional carbon dots for live cell staining and tissue engineering applications
Authors: Jin Lin , Ren Kai , Xu Qinwei , Hong Tianzeng , Wu Shuyi , Zhang Yilei , Wang Zhenling
Published: January 2016

Carbon dots (CDs) based nanomaterials have great potential in a wide range of biomedical areas, including bioimaging, biosensor, and tissue engineering. Thus, it is highly desired to develop novel cost‐effective, eco‐friendly and easy to scale‐up fabrication for CDs based nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Herein, we developed a facile synthesis of CDs by a one‐step hydrothermal method. The synthesized CDs showed stable photoluminescence, high‐resolution imaging of live cells and low cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the CDs were prepared to electrospun nanofiber mats (CDs‐NFMs), where enough carboxylic acid moieties and hydroxyls on the surface of the nanofibers, leading to excellent biocompatibility and fluorescence property. More importantly, cell proliferation on the CDs‐NFMs was much better than that on NFMs without CDs; moreover, CDs‐NFMs could also guide cells growth along the nanofibers and enhance the cellular activities, which indicated that the functional groups on the surface of the CDs play a critical role in supporting cellular activities. Combining with excellent fluorescence property, we anticipate that this finding greatly enhances great potential applications of CDs for cell culture, tissue engineering as well as other biomedical applications. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:73–80, 2018. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers
The need for logbooks to evolve in the undergraduate medical setting
Authors: Gouda Pishoy
Published: January 2016

None
The role of PfEMP1 as targets of naturally acquired immunity to childhood malaria: prospects for a vaccine
Authors: BULL PETER C. , ABDI ABDIRAHMAN I.
Published: January 2016

ThePlasmodium falciparumerythrocyte membrane protein 1 antigens that are inserted onto the surface ofP. falciparuminfected erythrocytes play a key role both in the pathology of severe malaria and as targets of naturally acquired immunity. They might be considered unlikely vaccine targets because they are extremely diverse. However, several lines of evidence suggest that underneath this molecular diversity there are a restricted set of epitopes which may act as effective targets for a vaccine against severe malaria. Here we review some of the recent developments in this area of research, focusing on work that has assessed the potential of these molecules as possible vaccine targets.
To what Extent do Australian Health Policy Documents address Social Determinants of Health and Health Equity?
Authors: FISHER MATTHEW , BAUM FRANCES E. , MACDOUGALL COLIN , NEWMAN LAREEN , MCDERMOTT DENNIS
Published: January 2016

Evidence on social determinants of health and health equity (SDH/HE) is abundant but often not translated into effective policy action by governments. Governments’ health policies have continued to privilege medical care and individualised behaviour-change strategies. In the light of these limitations, the 2008 Commission on the Social Determinants of Health called on health agencies to adopt a stewardship role; to take action themselves and engage other government sectors in addressing SDH/HE. This article reports on research using analysis of health policy documents – published by nine Australian national or regional governments – to examine the extent to which the Australian health sector has taken up such a role.

We found policies across all jurisdictions commonly recognised evidence on SDH/HE and expressed goals to improve health equity. However, these goals were predominantly operationalised in health care and other individualised strategies. Relatively few strategies addressed SDH/HE outside of access to health care, and often they were limited in scope. National policies on Aboriginal health did most to systemically address SDH/HE.

We used Kingdon's (2011) multiple streams theory to examine how problems, policies and politics combine to enable, partially allow, or prevent action on SDH/HE in Australian health policy.
The Performative Return: Israeli and Palestinian Site-Specific Re-enactments
Authors: Ben-Shaul Daphna
Published: January 2016

In this article Daphna Ben-Shaul explores politically engaged Israeli and Palestinian site-specific re-enactments that pursue what she terms a ‘performative return’. This includes performed aesthetic and political re-enactments of real-life events, which bring about a re-conceptualization of reality. Three contemporary cases of return are discussed with regard to the historical precedent of Evreinov’s 1920 The Storming of the Winter Palace. The first is an activist, unauthorized return to the village of Iqrit in northern Israel by a group of young Palestinians, whose families were required to leave their homes temporarily in the 1948 war, and have since not been allowed to return. The second is Kibbutz, a project by the Empty House Group, which involved an unauthorized temporary settlement on an abandoned site in Jerusalem. The third is Civil Fast, a twenty-four-hour action by Public Movement, which was hosted mainly on a central public square in Jerusalem, integrated into the urban flow. The article draws attention to the fine line these actions straddle between political activism and aesthetic order, and explores their critical and performative effectiveness. Daphna Ben-Shaul is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts, Tel Aviv University. Her current research on site-specific performance in Israel is funded by a grant from the Israeli Science Foundation. She is the editor of a book on the Israeli art and performance group Zik (Keter, 2005), and has published articles in major journals.
Psychoneuroendocrinology: A Scientific Domain of the Future or a Dream From the Past?
Authors: Brambilla Francesca
Published: January 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology (PNE) has been a method used in the past to investigate brain biochemical functions in normal and pathological mentation. These studies have subsequently uncovered variations in normal biochemical functioning. It is still being debated, however, how these variations correlate with well-defined psychopathologies.

Future studies in PNE shows promise in many areas of contemporary neurospychiatry. For example, research focusing on variations in neurotransmitter, neuropeptide, and neurohormone secretory tonus might enhance our understanding of specific personality characteristics and behavior. PNE may also be essential in investigating the correlation between hormonal variations and symptoms observed across various psychiatric disorders. PNE might likewise be important for new therapeutic approaches. Finally, PNE can be used to investigate psychoneuroimmunoendocrine relationships.

New PNE methodologies must be developed to make this branch of neuroscience more appropriate for the study of localized brain functions.
Computer Applications in Psychiatry
Authors: Conti Luciano , Rossi Alberto , Massimetti Gabriele
Published: January 2016

The application of computers in psychiatry affords clinicians endless possibilities in terms of information gathering, processing, and sharing. Some systems have been designed and are currently in use, expanding the knowledge of psychiatric pathology and its treatment. This review highlights the uses of computers in psychiatry and the progress being made in this area.
Is costly punishment altruistic? Exploring rejection of unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game in real-world altruists
Authors: Brethel-Haurwitz Kristin M. , Stoycos Sarah A. , Cardinale Elise M. , Huebner Bryce , Marsh Abigail A.
Published: January 2016

In the Ultimatum Game (UG), incurring a cost to punish inequity is commonly termed altruistic punishment. This behaviour is thought to benefit others if the defector becomes more equitable in future interactions. However, clear connections between punishment in the UG and altruistic behaviours outside the laboratory are lacking. We tested the altruistic punishment hypothesis in a sample of extraordinarily altruistic adults, predicting that if punishing inequity is predictive of altruism more broadly, extraordinary altruists should punish more frequently. Results showed that punishment was not more prevalent in extraordinary altruists than controls. However, a self-reported altruism measure previously linked to peer evaluations but not behaviour and on which extraordinary altruists and controls did not differ, did predict punishment. These findings support suggestions that altruistic punishment in the UG is better termed costly punishment and may be motivated by social, but not necessarily prosocial, concerns. Results also support prior suggestions that self-reported altruism may not reliably predict altruistic behaviour.
Habituation of visual adaptation
Authors: Dong Xue , Gao Yi , Lv Lili , Bao Min
Published: January 2016

Our sensory system adjusts its function driven by both shorter-term (e.g. adaptation) and longer-term (e.g. learning) experiences. Most past adaptation literature focuses on short-term adaptation. Only recently researchers have begun to investigate how adaptation changes over a span of days. This question is important, since in real life many environmental changes stretch over multiple days or longer. However, the answer to the question remains largely unclear. Here we addressed this issue by tracking perceptual bias (also known as aftereffect) induced by motion or contrast adaptation across multiple daily adaptation sessions. Aftereffects were measured every day after adaptation, which corresponded to the degree of adaptation on each day. For passively viewed adapters, repeated adaptation attenuated aftereffects. Once adapters were presented with an attentional task, aftereffects could either reduce for easy tasks, or initially show an increase followed by a later decrease for demanding tasks. Quantitative analysis of the decay rates in contrast adaptation showed that repeated exposure of the adapter appeared to be equivalent to adaptation to a weaker stimulus. These results suggest that both attention and a non-attentional habituation-like mechanism jointly determine how adaptation develops across multiple daily sessions.
Sensitive and homogenous immunoassay of fumonisin in foods using single molecule fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
Authors: Bian Yannan , Huang Xiangyi , Ren Jicun
Published: January 2016

In this paper, we reported a homogeneous immunoassay for sensitive detection of FB1in maize using single molecule fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). Our results demonstrate that the quantitative FCS method is rapid, simple and highly sensitive. It can easily be extended to detect other chemical contaminants for food safety.
Synthesis and characterization of DNA fenced, self-assembled SnO2 nano-assemblies for supercapacitor applications
Authors: Nithiyanantham U , Ramadoss Ananthakumar , Kundu Subrata
Published: January 2016

Self-assembled, aggregated, chain-like SnO2 nano assemblies are synthesized at room temperature within an hour in DNA scaffold. Formation and growth mechanism are elaborated. The SnO2 nano-assemblies are utilized as potential anode material in electrochemical supercapacitor studies.
Signaling preferences of substituted pyrrole coupled six-membered rhodamine spirocyclic probes for Hg2+ion detection
Authors: Biswal Biswonath , Mallick Debajani , Bag Bamaprasad
Published: January 2016

Six-membered spiro-ring expanded probes in rhodamine scaffolds exhibit Hg2+ion specific dual mode signaling responses; specificity is achieved with tuning substituents on the appended pyrrole receptor.
Effect of anion type on the synthesis of mesoporous nanostructured MgO, and its excellent adsorption capacity for the removal of toxic heavy metal ions from water
Authors: Chowdhury Ipsita Hazra , Chowdhury Arpita Hazra , Bose Pallab , Mandal Sanjoy , Naskar Milan Kanti
Published: January 2016

MgO nanostructures with controllable morphology and tunable textural properties synthesized via aqueous based route in the absence of organic templates were found to be excellent adsorbent for the removal of Pb(ii) and Cd(ii) ions from water.
Steric stabilization of nanoparticles with grafted low molecular weight ligands in highly concentrated brines including divalent ions
Authors: Worthen Andrew J. , Tran Vu , Cornell Kevin A. , Truskett Thomas M. , Johnston Keith P.
Published: January 2016

Whereas numerous studies of stabilization of nanoparticles (NPs) in electrolytes have examined biological fluids, the interest has grown recently in media with much higher ionic strengths including seawater and brines relevant to environmental science and subsurface oil and gas reservoirs.
Universal stabilisation design for general non‐linear systems under wave partial differential equation actuator dynamics with time‐varying moving boundary
Authors: Cai Xiushan , Lin Yuhang , Zhang Junfeng
Published: January 2016

A universal stabilisation formula is presented for globally (or locally) asymptotical stabilisation for general non‐linear systems governed by wave actuator dynamics with time‐varying moving boundary in this study. Stability analysis is developed with passivity‐based synthesis approach and infinite‐dimensional backstepping transformations. Under the backstepping transformations and the control law design, the original system is transferred to the target system. Then the authors prove that the target system is asymptotical stable. Moreover, it is shown that the stability of the original system is equivalent to that of the target system. Finally, three examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design technique.
Flexible‐structured phase‐shifted multiple‐full‐bridge DC–DC power supply with wide range output
Authors: Zhang Di , Zhang Donglai
Published: January 2016

A novel hybrid topology with the optimised structure for wide range output power supply is proposed in this study. The phase‐shifted multiple‐full‐bridge (PSMFB) converter is composed of multiple full‐bridge DC–DC power converters and high‐frequency transformers. For different requirements, it guarantees the power capacity with several smaller high‐frequency transformers and a smaller filter by a PSMFB with proper design. With the control strategy of only one phase‐shifted controller, all the modules can fulfil the output change with the phase‐shifted angle. The effectiveness of the proposed converter was verified using simulation and experimental results of a 1 kW converter system.
A rigorous comparison of sexual selection indexes via simulations of diverse mating systems
Authors: Henshaw Jonathan M. , Kahn Andrew T. , Fritzsche Karoline
Published: January 2016

Significance

How does sexual selection differ between males and females? What is its role in the speciation process? Answering such questions requires a reliable method to measure sexual selection, so that we can compare its strength between the sexes and across taxa. The development of appropriate measures has led to sustained controversy, however, with no measure being widely accepted. We provide to our knowledge the first rigorous comparison of indexes of sexual selection. Our results unambiguously support the use of a recently defined measure, the Jones index, over more established indexes of sexual selection such as the Bateman gradient.
Explanation and Relevance: Comments on James G. Greeno's ‘Theoretical Entities in Statistical Explanation’
Authors: Salmon Wesley C.
Published: January 2016

Since Professor Greeno's paper is, to my mind, both philosophically interesting and somewhat technical, it seems to me that the most useful function I can serve as a commentator is to try to provide some of the background necessary to understand the paper, and to attempt to put his discussion in some philosophical perspective. My main aim will be to relate his discussion to the issues that have been at the forefront of the philosophical discussion of scientific explanation in recent years.

It would be hard to dispute the claim that Professor Carl HempePs work has dominated the discussion of the nature of scientific explanation for the last twenty-two years - since the publication of the classic article with Paul Oppenheim on the logic of explanation.
Capacities and Natures
Authors: Fisk Milton
Published: January 2016

The last two decades have witnessed a basic change in the philosopher's working model for capacities. The change has been from a stimulus-response model to a fine-structure model. The stimulus-response model was an attempt to understand capacity propositions by means of conditional propositions in which the antecedents expressed operations in certain circumstances and the consequents expressed realizations of the capacities in question. No attempt is made on this model to relate such conditional propositions to components of the entities with the capacities. An entity with a capacity is just a black box.

Now the conditional proposition to which a capacity proposition is related on the stimulus-response model is a modal conditional. It expresses the idea that the behavior characteristic of the capacity must follow upon those operations in those circumstances for an entity like one with the capacity.
Fisk on Capacities and Natures
Authors: Aune Bruce
Published: January 2016

Fisk begins his discussion by asserting, that the FS model attempts to complete the SR model by accounting for the necessity with which, according to the SR model, a capacity will be exercised when certain operations are performed. He argues that the FS model ultimately fails in this task, and he seeks to improve upon the FS approach by grounding the relevant necessity in an entity's nature - a component that defenders of the FS model ignore or misinterpret. For the most part my comments will concern the general strategy of his paper rather than details of the arguments he offers.

Since the major focus of Fisk's paper is on the necessity with which, according to his description of the SR model, a capacity is exercised under certain conditions, it is worth emphasizing that this idea is pretty implausible.
Research Programmes and Induction
Authors: Feigl Herbert
Published: January 2016

At the risk of being ostracized (if not annihilated) by the community of Popperians present, I wish to remark that Professor Lakatos is - and, I think - cannot help being, a second-level inductivist. If Professor Kuhn has pointed out (most eruditely) that science quite frequently is in a rut, and occasionally gets out of it (and into a new one), then Professor Lakatos appraises problem and theory shifts, and methodological innovations in the sciences, in the light of his criteria of ‘progress’ or ‘degeneration’. There can be little doubt that he wishes to serve (at least) in a critical and/or advisory capacity to scientists. But he can do that only if he ‘places his bets’, i.e., conjectures as to the fruitfulness of a method, and along with it of a theory engendered or supported by such a method along the lines of success or failure, whichever may be plausibly indicated.
Feyerabend's Pragmatic Theory of Observation and the Comparability of Alternative Theories
Authors: Townsend Burke
Published: January 2016

The line which separates theory from observation, once drawn with some assurance by students of the structure of science, has more recently come under a great deal of criticism. Some critics allow that there is a distinction to be made between theoretical claim and observational record, but maintain that the distinction merely indicates the character of the directions toward the extremes on a continuous spectrum of scientific statements and cannot usefully be taken as a fiduciary mark for the bifurcation of the language of science. Others, among whom is numbered the object of my attention today, Paul Feyerabend, will not admit the legitimacy of the distinction at all in the form in which it has customarily been cast. Under the distinction in this customary form, Feyerabend, it would seem, would want to judge all statements to be theoretical.
The Significance of Piaget's Researches on the Psychogenesis of Atomism
Authors: Čapek Milič
Published: January 2016

What is remarkable about the history of atomism is the fact that it can be traced back to the very beginning of human reflection on nature. It is needless to recall the Pythagorean monadism and the names of Leucippus, Democritus and Lucretius: atomism is clearly as old as the first scientific and even proto-scientific explanations of nature. What is even more remarkable is that human thought was able so early and without the aid of microscope and measuring devices to anticipate one of the main findings of modern science. The significance of this anticipation is not diminished by the fact that only the most general features of modern atomism were present in the thought of its ancient ancestors: it was still quite an achievement in the fifth century B.C. to hold the view that space is infinite, that matter is homogeneous and discontinuous in its structure and that all diversity and all changes in nature are reducible to the configurations and displacements of homogeneous, permanent units.
Randomness and Knowledge
Authors: Coffa J. Alberto
Published: January 2016

Until recently, the debate concerning whether chance, randomness and disorder are ever instantiated in Nature has been considerably one-sided. Since Aristotle, the mainstream of philosophical thought seems to have been nearly unanimous in agreeing that these characters exist only ‘in the mind’. The shared conviction that every event has a cause or a determining condition led most philosophers who addressed themselves to the topic to the conclusion that there is no randomness in things.

The disquieting suggestion of twentieth century physics that the appeal to probabilities in our attempt to describe the world was not merely a convenient device, dispensable in principle, but maybe the best that can be done, brought the classical problem of chance back to the attention of philosophers of science. Those committed to a realistic interpretation of science felt it was incumbent upon them to provide a realistic interpretation of chance.
Nowness and the Understanding of Time
Authors: Fitzgerald Paul
Published: January 2016

The phrases ‘Absolute Becoming’, ‘Pure Becoming’, ‘Temporal Becoming’, and ‘Temporal Passage’ which figure so prominently in discussions about time seem to have the same halo of meanings associated with them. Those who say that they believe in the objective reality of Absolute Becoming (or Pure Becoming, etc.) maintain that it is a feature peculiar to time, which distinguishes it from any spatial dimension. They sometimes claim in addition that Absolute Becoming explains some of the facts or alleged facts about time which lack spatial analogue. One such fact is the curious tendency of causes to bring about effects later rather than earlier than themselves. Another is the ‘passage’ of time in contrast to the static character of space, which dynamism may or may not be the same as its supposed ‘arrow’ or ‘irreversibility’ or ‘anisotropy’.
Unified Theories and Unified Science
Authors: Causey Robert L.
Published: January 2016

Discussions of unified science frequently suppose that the various scientific theories should be combined into one unified theory, and it is usually supposed that this should be done by successive reductions of the various theories to some fundamental theory. Yet, there has been little systematic study of the characteristics of unified theories, and little foundational support for the use of reductions as a unifying procedure.

In this paper I: (a) briefly review some of my previous work on microreductions, (b) state some conditions which are necessary in order for a theory to be unified, (c) argue that when certain identities exist between the elements in the domains of two theories, then the only satisfactory way to combine these two theories into one unified theory is by a microreduction, and (d) indicate briefly some further applications and consequences of this work.
Meaning in Science and Mathematics
Authors: Fitzgerald Paul
Published: January 2016

Philosophers working in the logical empiricist tradition, such as Rudolf Carnap and Carl Hempel, have held that theoretical terms get their meanings from their connections with observational terms in the postulates of scientific theories. They have tried to explain exactly how this happens, in the sense of giving a logical reconstruction of it. For various reasons, to be discussed below, the belief arose that it is impossible in general to give explicit definitions of theoretical terms. Attention thus shifted to showing how correspondence rules relating theoretical and observational terms give ‘partial interpretations’ to the theoretical terms.

Three objections can be raised against the way in which this enterprise was conceived and carried out. These objections involve what will here be called (1) ‘The Problem of the Theoretical-Observational Dichotomy', (2) ‘The Meaning-Magic Problem', and (3) ‘The Problem of Unwanted Interpretations'. The purpose of this article is to set forth the second
and third of these objections and develop a solution to them.
Assurance and Agnosticism
Authors: Agassi Joseph
Published: January 2016

The scientific ethos of the modern Western world contains two conflicting moods, of utter lack of assurance and of utter assurance. The question posed here is, how do the two go together? The answer I offer is, all assurance is contingent on the supposition that our system as a whole, still survives, but there is no assurance for the survival of the system as a whole.

The mood of agnosticism, expressed in the music of Schoenberg and Webem (even though the latter, at least, was profoundly religious), in the art of Jackson Pollack and Franz Kline, in Buñuel’s ‘Los Olvidados’, and in ever so many other manifestations of the modern world, is philosophically best expressed in Bertrand Russell's ‘Free Man’s Worship’.
Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Science
Authors: Putnam Hilary
Published: January 2016

For over a hundred years, one of the dominant tendencies in the philosophy of science has been verificationism: that is, the doctrine that to know the meaning of a scientific proposition (or of any proposition, according to most verificationists) is to know what would be evidence for that proposition. Historically, verificationism has been closely connected with positivism: that is, at least originally, the view that all that science really does is to describe regularities in human experience. Taken together, these two views seem close to idealism. However, many twentieth century verificationists have wanted to replace the reference to experience in the older formulations of these doctrines with a reference to “observable things” and “observable properties”. According to this more recent view, scientific statements about the color of flowers or the eating habits of bears are to be taken at face value as referring to flowers and bears; but scientific statements about such “unobservables” as electrons are not to be taken as referring to electrons, but rather as referring to meter readings and the observable results of cloud chamber experiments.
The Hierarchy of System Specifications and the Problem of Structural Inference
Authors: Zeigler Bernard P.
Published: January 2016

The activity of modelling proceeds by successive rounds of constructing abstract representations of reality and testing them against real world data. Since the testing is a comparison of behavior generated by the model with behavior observed for the modelled real system, it cannot directly validate the model structure, i.e., its claim as to how the real system works. This raises a central issue in modelling: is it possible to ascertain, even allowing an infinite comparison of behavioral data, that a model truly represents the mechanism underlying a real behavior?

To consider this issue, along with others of a similar fundamental nature, theories of modelling and simulation are being developed ([1], [2], 19]). The author's theory ([8], [9], [10]) consists of a set of postulates about the objects and activities involved in the modelling enterprise (a model of modelling) phrased within the theory of systems ([3], [5], [6], [7]) and employs the tools of the latter to consider such issues as the structural inference one mentioned above.
Philosophy of Medicine: Prolegomena to a Philosophy of Science
Authors: Grene Marjorie
Published: January 2016

The question before us is hard to get a handle on, or so I have found. For one thing, philosophy of science has been for almost half a century a growing industry, by now indeed a far flung empire, with its national and international organizations, its subsidiaries, its power struggles, its captains of industry, its apprentices and rising young executives. You name it, we've got it! Philosophy of medicine, on the other hand, though growing fast, largely, I fear, for practical rather than intellectual reasons, is a late comer. There isn't as much of it and there hasn't been time to develop the schisms that really make an academic discipline look as if it's doing something. For philosophy of medicine to instruct philosophy of science, therefore, seems a little like the corner grocer's telling General Foods how to run their business.
Is Scientific Realism Tenable?
Authors: Sellars Wilfrid
Published: January 2016

(1)

This paper is an excellent example of putting a cart before the horses. It was originally conceived as a reply to my critics, of whom there have been many, and, in particular, to my fellow symposiasts, whose careful exploration of and sympathetic disagreement with certain views of mine which are not inappropriately labeled ‘scientific realism’ have deserved a response which they have so far not received.

(2)

Many of the criticisms could, I believe, be construed as matters of detail and countered by a myopic strategy of confessing error here and claiming misunderstanding there, all supported by a judicious use of self-quotation. And, in moderation, of course is not inappropriate. I have made mistakes and, I believe, I have been misunderstood, and where the relevant points are reasonably substantial they should be noted for the record.
Perception and Primary Qualities
Authors: Maull Nancy L.
Published: January 2016

Early modern science, according to a misleading and now widely accepted thesis, introduced a split or schism between a world of colorless, imperceptible particles, on the one hand, and the familiar world of perception, on the other. One of the most important dilemmas of modern philosophy, of course, seems to follow directly from this alleged rupture: For how are the two seemingly incongruous worlds to be “reconciled”? This way of formulating the problem, however, seems to be based on a misunderstanding of early modern science, on an interpretation that underestimates the very real difficulties that scientists faced in putting forward hypotheses about unseen minute bodies. If we start to pay attention to the way in which knowledge claims about the properties of atoms or corpuscles were advanced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in fact, it becomes increasingly obvious that such fundamental properties were first attributed to minute bodies on grounds of strict analogy, that is, on the grounds that allperceptiblebodies exhibited precisely the properties of size, shape, motion, and so forth.
Theory-Ladenness and Theory Comparison
Authors: Jones William B.
Published: January 2016

Both the most controversial and the most widely publicized aspect of the “new empiricism” of Feyerabend Hanson Kuhn and Toulmin is the thesis (rightly or wrongly) attributed to them that irrationality and subjectivity play a central role in science. The idea that science is pervaded by apt parallels to religious conversion and political propagadizing has achieved truly surprising currency. The epistemological root of this view is the belief that the theory-laden conception of observation which these philosophers espouse effectively prevents any rational comparison of the observational support commanded by competing theories. It has even been pointed out that in the absence of a neutral observational language in terms of which to identify and describe the objects or processes with which rival theories are (supposedly) concerned, there can be no real basis for calling them “rivals”.

It is the intent of this paper to set forth conditions which, if met, would provide a rational basis for believing, even in a context in which observation is theory-laden, that two theories are rivals and that one of them enjoys observational support that is superior to that enjoyed by the other.
The Role of Psychology in Functional Localization Research
Authors: Klein Barbara V.E.
Published: January 2016

It takes no more than a passing acquaintance with functional localization research in the neurosciences to notice that psychological notions often come into play in the characterization of human brain functions. In the past, such notions were taken primarily from one form or another of associationism; currently, they are adopted from the language of information processing. A rather typical example can be found in a recent article by A.R. Luria (see also). He describes the human brain as made up of three main blocks incorporating basic functions. These functions are described as follows:

The first block regulates the energy level and tone of the cortex, providing it with a stable basis for the organization of its various processes …. The second block … plays a decisive role in the analysis, coding and storage of information …. We can easily identify areas in the second block that are respectively responsible for the analysis of optic, acoustic, cutaneous and kinesthetic stimuli.
Approximative Explanation
Authors: Girill T. R.
Published: January 2016

Sometimes, when an explanandum E is a quantitative claim, we are unable to explain why the specific numerical value mentioned in E is correct. Sometimes an explanans X is available, however, which accounts for a statement E' asserting a value close to that mentioned in E. Although X strictly speaking provides evidence against E, it is in some circumstances seen as approximatively explaining E along with E'. Such an approximative explanation may be defined as follows:

A set of statements X constitutes an approximative explanans for an explanandum E iff (i) there exists a statement E' such that X adequately explains E', and (ii) E' approximates E.

Explanans X is linked to the desired explanandum E only indirectly, by means of E's closeness to E'. Hence, a special problem arises about the conditions under which such an approximative explanation is really acceptable.
The Metalogic of Quantum Logic
Authors: Mittelstaedt Peter
Published: January 2016

In order to establish the object language of quantum physics, we begin with a quantum mechanical system S (atom, nucleus, elementary particle) and consider propositions A,B,… about this system S which can be proved or disproved by measuring processes. These propositions will be called elementary propositions. We will assume here that elementary propositions are value definite, i.e.,there always exists an experimental testing procedure which decides between truth and falsity of the respective proposition.

The logical connectives A ∧ B (A and B), A ∨ B (A or B), A → B (A then B) and ┐ A (not A) will be defined by means of dialogs. A dialog is a formalized kind of discussion between two participants, the proponent P who asserts a certain proposition and the opponent 0 who attempts to refute it.
Statistical Evidence and Belief Functions
Authors: Seidenfeld Teddy
Published: January 2016

In his recent monograph [7], Professor Shafer has offered us an alternative to Bayesian inference with his novel theory of belief functions and, in his current paper [8], has characterized his position by pointing to two basic differences it shares with Bayesianism. First, belief functions are non-additive so that the degree of belief assigned to the disjunction ‘A1 or A2’ may be larger than the sum of the degrees of belief assigned to the separate disjuncts. Second, the theory of belief functions has its own rule for determining the commitments to changes in degrees of belief when evidence is compounded. So, instead of the Bayesian postulate of conditionalization, that is, in place of using Bayes’ theorem to identify the commitments to changes in probability when evidence accumulates, the theory advocated by Professor Shafer relies on a proposal he traces to A.P.Dempster, which he calls Dempster’s rule for combination of belief functions.
In Praise of Truth and Substantive Rationality: Comments on Laudan’s Progress and Its Problems
Authors: Koertge Noretta
Published: January 2016

Like most philosophers, Laudan [7] believes that by and large science makes cognitive progress and that the development of science is more or less rational. His book deals with two major problems:

(a)

In what sense does science progress? What is scientific progress?

(b)

Wherein lies the rationality of the growth of science? What is scientific rationality?

In the main body of this paper, I first summarize and evaluate some of Laudan’s criticisms of his predecessors. Then I outline and criticize Laudan’s own theory of scientific progress and scientific rationality. In the Postscript I sketch my own views concerning the issue of changes in the canons of scientific rationality and the problem of using history to evaluate normative theories of scientific rationality.
Statistical Laws and Personal Propensities
Authors: Skyrms Brian
Published: January 2016

By “Propensities” I mean the kind of probabilities that figure in laws of nature. Propensities might be (i) relative frequencies, finite or long run, de facto or modalized, or (ii) reflections of our epistemic probabilities or (iii) sui generus theoretical notions. I believe that the whole family of relative frequency proposals (i) are inadequate. As an alternative I wish to suggest (ii) an epistemic account of propensities and of nomic force in general, in the spirit of Hume, Mill, DeFinetti, Ayer, Suppes and Jeffrey. Whether accounts of the third kind differ in substance or in name only from the sort of account that I am proposing is a nice question, to which. I will devote some brief closing remarks.
Scientific Problems: Three Empiricist Models
Authors: Nickles Thomas
Published: January 2016

One component of a viable account of scientific inquiry is a defensible conception of scientific problems, i.e., a conception which meets logical demands and which also fits or explains basic “data” arising from the history of that inquiry, including an account of how problems arise. In this paper I shall argue that three standard empiricist models of problems—essentially the logical positivist and Popperian views—satisfy neither the historical requirements nor even the logical conditions (except, weakly, in the case of Popper). These failures are instructive, however. They represent steps toward the solution of the “problem” problem—the problem of developing a model of problems rich enough to account for the data. In the weakest sense (which is all I need), ‘accounting for’ a datum means explaining how that aspect of scientific inquiry is possible. I shall not have space here to consider promising recent work on problems by Laudan (1977) and others.
Quantum Logic and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Authors: Hughes R.I.G.
Published: January 2016

There is no such thing as “The Quantum Logical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics”. Rather, there is a cluster of interpretations, all of which can be described as “quantum logical”. Here I provide a general framework for discussing interpretations of this kind, and then locate various suggestions within it. The presentation owes much to van Fraassen (see, in particular, van Fraassen 1974 ); his “modal interpretation” is one of those I discuss, along with those of Jauch, Putnam and Kochen. I begin by rehearsing some orthodox quantum theory.

Within quantum mechanics we deal with a set 0 of measurable quantities, or observables (position, momentum, components of spin and so on). Experiment can determine the value of an observable for a given system: the values so determined will be real numbers. A maximal amount of information about what the result would be for a given system, whatever experiment we chose to perform on it, is available once we know the state of the system.
The Philosophical Relevance of Statistics
Authors: Mayo Deborah G.
Published: January 2016

The foundations of a number of scientific theories are more or less relevant to philosophy. The better a theory is at elucidating the structure of science and scientific method the more a study of its foundations is relevant for philosophers, particularly philosophers of science. But while philosophers have studied probability and induction, statistics has not received the kind of philosophical attention mathematics and physics have. Although the terms “philosophy of induction” and “confirmation theory” are common, the term “philosophy of statistics” is rarely used; and despite the fact that modern statistical methods have been used increasingly in a number of sciences, specific developments of statistics have been little noted in the philosophy of science literature.

Statistics has been fundamental for determining such things as whether a substance causes cancer, which method of psychotherapy gives the most recoveries, whether censorship causes the instability of nations, whether a fossil belongs to a man or a chimpanzee, whether there is regularity in the oscillations of the velocity of gas in the sun's atmosphere, whether an individual authored a piece of writing, whether the economy will improve, and numerous other issues involving uncertainties.
Reductionist Research Programmes in Psychology
Authors: Richardson Robert C.
Published: January 2016

Contemporary psychology has been dominated by two distinct paradigms, each of which have given rise to comprehensive and fruitful research programmes. The functionalist programme purports to explain our cognitive capacities — what Noam Chomsky (1965, pp. 3 ff.) dubs our “competence” — in terms of the operations and transformations effected on the available “information”. Explaining, e.g., an ability such as color perception means isolating the cues on which we rely in making our judgments as to color, and proceeding to explain how, on the basis of information available from such cues, we could come to reach our actual judgments. This will involve explaining, for example, how it is that our perceptions of color are constant and reliable despite substantial variation in the intensity of light impinging on the retina — particularly since the intensity of such light seems to be the only relevant parameter which could guide our judgments.
The “Established Maxim” and Causal Chains
Authors: David Kline A.
Published: January 2016

There is an ancient principle for which a number of writers on time and causation feel a certain allegiance. Bertrand Russell puts the idea with his characteristic flare for style: “… it seems strange—too strange to be accepted, in spite of bare logical possibility—that the cause, after existing placidly for some time, should suddenly explode into the effect, when it might just as well have done so at an earlier time, or have gone unchanged without producing its effect.” (Russell 1912, pp. 178-179). The maxim has a habit in the history of thought of lying unnoticed but once spotted leading its viewer to less than cautious theses. With maxim in hand, David Hume (1739, p. 76) concludes that simultaneous causation is impossible, Myles Brand (1980) concludes that every causal relation is one of simultaneity, Russell.(1912) declares that the very notion of causation is incoherent.