bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early gesture recognition with adaptive window selection employing canonical correlation analysis for gaming
Authors: El‐Shazly E.H. , Abdelwahab M. M. , Shimada A. , Taniguchi R.
Published: June 2016

A new early gesture recognition system that uses different features obtained from MYO sensor is presented. The beginning part of each gesture is detected and used by the system to train the authors’ recognition algorithm. To preserve the different features temporal alignment for each movement, two‐dimensional (2D) principal component analysis was employed to obtain the dominant features by processing the obtained data in its 2D form. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is used to find a space where the projection of similar training testing pairs becomes highly correlated. Finally, the testing sequence is matched to the training set that gives maximum correlation in the new space obtained by CCA. Low processing complexity, storage requirement, accurate and fast decision obtained on the newly collected data set are factors that promotes the authors’ algorithm for real‐time implementation.
Per‐unit power costs of traditional and innovative OHLs: a multi‐criteria comparison
Authors: Lauria Davide , Mazzanti Giovanni , Quaia Stefano
Published: June 2016

The need to increase power transmission capability in electrical power systems led to the proposal of possible alternatives to the traditional three‐phase (3P) AC overhead transmission lines (OHLs). In addition to high‐voltage DC connections, the alternatives include non‐conventional solutions such as 4P AC lines and combined AC–DC lines. All these solutions have been examined in recent works where, however, the technical and economic aspects are usually separately analysed. On the contrary, a proper comparison among different solutions requires a combined technical–economic evaluation and, therefore, a systematic methodology based on a multi‐criteria approach. This study compares the various possible OHL solutions resorting to an original methodology that joins technical and economic aspects. The former are taken into account by means of the loadability curves (properly computed for each solution). The latter include various cost items (for investment, energy losses, reliability and land occupation) computed for each solution. The different aspects are joined by computing the per‐unit‐of‐transportable‐power cost of each solution. This parameter provides, for any given line length, a total cost normalised in terms of the theoretical transmission capability of each solution and, thus, an interesting comparison tool among different solutions.
Real‐time verification of new controller to improve small/large‐signal stability and fault ride‐through capability of multi‐DER microgrids
Authors: Baghaee Hamid Reza , Mirsalim Mojtaba , Gharehpetian Gevork B.
Published: June 2016

Decentralised control methods of voltage‐source inverters‐based multi‐distributed energy resource (DER) microgrids and microgrids hierarchical control scheme studied in earlier researches limited to primary and secondary control levels while the proposed control scheme is completely analysed so that the three hierarchical control levels modelled for both grid‐connected mode and islanded modes. In this study, the proposed hierarchical control scheme adds new control loop to control the reactive power reference by a fuzzy logic controller to have the benefit of increasing the system stability margins. In addition to the small‐signal events, it maintains the stability of microgrids faced with large‐signal disturbances such as short circuits, line outage, heavy motor starting etc., and improves fault ride through capability. However, power sharing to loads and network is sufficiently done. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed hierarchical controller, simulation studies have been performed on a microgrid consisting of four units of distributed generation with local loads and in presence of main grid using MATLAB/SIMULINK software (offline simulations) and OPAL‐RT real time digital simulator for verification.
‘Phoenix’ reflectarray unit cell with reduced size and inductive loading
Authors: Makdissy Tony , Gillard Raphaël , Fourn Erwan , Ferrando‐Rocher Miguel , Girard Etienne , Legay Hervé , Le Coq Laurent
Published: June 2016

This study presents a new Phoenix unit cell with reduced size (λ0/3 at centre frequency). Three different techniques are investigated to preserve a complete 360° phase range, with quasi‐linear and parallel phase responses over a reasonable frequency band, in spite of this small size. The phase cycle successively uses two different printed elements with complementary capacitive and inductive responses. The studied techniques aim at increasing the insufficient inductive effect. As a demonstration, a 1877‐element reflectarray is fabricated with the technique compatible with a single‐substrate fabrication process. Measured results show a 1 dB gain bandwidth of 11.3%.
Parameters estimation of noise amplitude modulation signal
Authors: Ren Jiaqi , Dai Xuchu , Wang Ning , Li Hui
Published: June 2016

This study proposes a maximum likelihood (ML) estimator for parameter estimation for a complex noise amplitude modulation (NAM) signal. The NAM signal is a general expansion of the exponential signal in which the noise is not circularly symmetric. In the proposed estimator, a non‐parametric modified interpolation on Fourier coefficients method is first applied to produce a coarse estimation. Then, a gradient descent method is applied to refine the parameters. The modulation noise to complex additive white Gaussian noise ratio, which is an implicit unknown parameter, is calculated and refreshed at each iteration. For signal‐to‐noise ratios above the threshold, the variances of the coarse estimation are derived and shown to be independent of the modulation index. The probabilities of a divergence in different gradient descent methods are derived; the pure Newton's method is adopted based on the consideration of both computational complexity and practical applications. Monte Carlo simulations verify the variances and the threshold effect of the coarse estimation; the variances of the ML estimator are demonstrated to asymptotically approach the Cramér–Rao bounds.
Statistical investigation of AC breakdown voltage of nanofluids compared with mineral and natural ester oil
Authors: Peppas Georgios D. , Charalampakos Vasilios P. , Pyrgioti Eleytheria C. , Danikas Michael G. , Bakandritsos Aristides , Gonos Ioannis F.
Published: June 2016

In this study, three different insulating liquids, natural ester, mineral oil which is currently used by the Public Power Corporation of Greece and a nanofluid of surface coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles into a natural ester matrix, were subjected to AC voltage stress and their statistical breakdown voltage was measured and compared. Three different electrode configurations were used during the measurements in order to study the effect of non‐uniform fields on the breakdown voltage distribution. Four different statistical distributions were used for the statistical processing of the experimental results. The two of them were the frequently used normal and Weibull distributions; in addition, Gumbel and generalised extreme value (GEV) function distributions were studied. It was shown that, in most cases, the experimental data followed GEV and Weibull functions rather than normal or Gumbel. Therefore, GEV statistics fits indiscriminately better to the experimental results concerning breakdown voltage, for the three different electrodes configuration and the three understudied insulating oils. The experimental results indicated that nanofluid has better performance, in terms of dielectric breakdown voltage, compared with natural ester oil and mineral oil, hence nanofluid is considered as a potential substitute of the conventional dielectric liquids, with enhanced properties and prospects.
Parallel‐in encoding of quasi‐cyclic low‐density parity‐check codes
Authors: Zhang Peng , Du Shuai , Liu Changyin , Jiang Qianqian
Published: June 2016

Serial‐in encoders for quasi‐cyclic low‐density parity‐check (QC‐LDPC) codes are widely used. To provide flexible interfaces and reduce complexity, three parallel‐in QC‐LDPC encoders are proposed. One consists of shift‐register–adder–accumulator (SRAA) circuits, the others consist of rotate‐left‐accumulator (RLA) circuits. It is shown that a partially parallel‐in encoder is comparable to or even superior to a serial‐in one based on the same circuits; an RLA‐based encoder is preferable to a SRAA‐based one with the same speed, whether they are partially parallel‐in or fully parallel‐in.
Performance and electrical characteristics of hybrid carbon nanotube field effect transistors
Authors: Ossaimee Mahmoud , Shaker Ahmed
Published: June 2016

The performance and electrical characteristics of hybrid carbon nanotube field effect transistor (CNTFET) are studied. Hybrid CNTFET consists of heavily doped carbon nanotube (CNT) as a one contact connected to intrinsic CNT as a channel. The opposite side of the channel is connected to a metal as the other contact. If the source is the metal and the drain is the heavily doped, this type is called metal–semiconductor hybrid CNT or MSH‐CNTFET. While when the source is the heavily doped and the drain is the metal, this is called semiconductor–metal hybrid CNT or SMH‐CNTFET. The electrical characteristics of the device has been studied using a two‐dimensional (2D) quantum mechanical simulator by solving 2D Poisson's equation self consistently with Non‐equilibrium Green function (NEGF). The proposed devices are found to overcome the ambipolar conduction of Schottky barrier CNTFETs and improve frequency performance of metal–oxide–semiconductor CNTFETs.
Electron energy distribution function, effective electron temperature, and dust charge in the temporal afterglow of a plasma
Authors: Denysenko I. B. , Kersten H. , Azarenkov N. A.
Published: June 2016

Analytical expressions describing the variation of electron energy distribution function (EEDF) in an afterglow of a plasma are obtained. Especially, the case when the electron energy loss is mainly due to momentum-transfer electron-neutral collisions is considered. The study is carried out for different EEDFs in the steady state, including Maxwellian and Druyvesteyn distributions. The analytical results are not only obtained for the case when the rate for momentum-transfer electron-neutral collisions is independent on electron energy but also for the case when the collisions are a power function of electron energy. Using analytical expressions for the EEDF, the effective electron temperature and charge of the dust particles, which are assumed to be present in plasma, are calculated for different afterglow durations. An analytical expression for the rate describing collection of electrons by dust particles for the case when the rate for momentum-transfer electron-neutral collisions is independent on electron energy is also derived. The EEDF profile and, as a result, the effective electron temperature and dust charge are sufficiently different in the cases when the rate for momentum-transfer electron-neutral collisions is independent on electron energy and when the rate is a power function of electron energy.
Synchronization unveils the organization of ecological networks with positive and negative interactions
Authors: Girón Andrea , Saiz Hugo , Bacelar Flora S. , Andrade Roberto F. S. , Gómez-Gardeñes Jesús
Published: June 2016

Network science has helped to understand the organization principles of the interactions among the constituents of large complex systems. However, recently, the high resolution of the data sets collected has allowed to capture the different types of interactions coexisting within the same system. A particularly important example is that of systems with positive and negative interactions, a usual feature appearing in social, neural, and ecological systems. The interplay of links of opposite sign presents natural difficulties for generalizing typical concepts and tools applied to unsigned networks and, moreover, poses some questions intrinsic to the signed nature of the network, such as how are negative interactions balanced by positive ones so to allow the coexistence and survival of competitors/foes within the same system? Here, we show that synchronization phenomenon is an ideal benchmark for uncovering such balance and, as a byproduct, to assess which nodes play a critical role in the overall organization of the system. We illustrate our findings with the analysis of synthetic and real ecological networks in which facilitation and competitive interactions coexist.
Quantum chemical study of the geometrical and electronic structures of ScSi3−/0 clusters and assignment of the anion photoelectron spectra
Authors: Tran Quoc Tri , Tran Van Tan
Published: June 2016

The geometrical and electronic structures of ScSi3−/0 clusters have been studied with the B3LYP, CCSD(T), and CASPT2 methods. The ground state of the anionic cluster was evaluated to be the 1A1 of rhombic η2-(Si3)Sc− isomer, whereas that of the neutral cluster was computed to be the 2A1 of the same isomer. All features in the 266 and 193 nm photoelectron spectra of ScSi3− cluster were interpreted by the one- and two-electron detachments from the 1A1 of rhombic η2-(Si3)Sc− isomer. The Franck-Condon factor simulation results show that the first broad band starting at 1.78 eV in the spectra comprises several vibrational progression peaks of two totally symmetric modes with the corresponding frequencies of 296 and 354 cm−1.
Chemical pressure effects on crystal and magnetic structures of bilayer manganites PrA2Mn2O7 (A = Sr or Ca)
Authors: Deng Guochu , Sheptyakov D. , Pomjakushin V. , Medarde M. , Pomjakushina E. , Conder K. , Kenzelmann M. , Studer A. J. , Gardner J. S. , McIntyre G. J.
Published: June 2016

The crystal and magnetic structures of the bilayer manganites PrSr2Mn2O7 (PSMO) and PrCa2Mn2O7 (PCMO) have been studied by neutron powder diffraction. It was found that PSMO crystallizes in space group I4/mmm, while PCMO adopts space group Cmc21 at room temperature. The difference in the structure arises from chemical pressure induced by the Ca substitution for Sr on the A sites, which causes different Jahn-Teller distortions. In PSMO, the MnO6 octahedra suffer a small elongated distortion, while those in PCMO adopt strong compressed distortion along the axial direction. In addition, the octahedra in PCMO show a+b0c0 rotation and a0b+c+ tilting in the Glazer notation in comparison to PSMO. As a result, these two compounds adopt very different magnetic structures: The magnetic structure of PSMO is an A-type magnetic structure (Im'm'm) with propagation vector k = (0, 0, 1) and magnetic moments in the ab plane. In contrast, a C-type antiferromagnetic magnetic structure (Cm'c2′1) with the multiple propagation vectors (k = (0, 12, 12) and (0, 12, 0)) and magnetic moments mainly along the b axis is found in PCMO. The critical exponent of the magnetic phase transition is around 0.345 for PSMO and 0.235 for PCMO, indicating 3D and 2D XY transitions, respectively. The strong Jahn-Teller distortion induced by the chemical pressure is believed to suppress the double exchange and favour super-exchange in PCMO, leading to the dramatic difference in the magnetic structure.
Dark current analysis in high-speed germanium p-i-n waveguide photodetectors
Authors: Chen H. , Verheyen P. , De Heyn P. , Lepage G. , De Coster J. , Balakrishnan S. , Absil P. , Roelkens G. , Van Campenhout J.
Published: June 2016

We present a dark current analysis in waveguide-coupled germanium vertical p-i-n photodetectors. In the analysis, a surface leakage current and a bulk leakage current were separated, and their activation energies were extracted. The surface leakage current originating from the minority carrier generation on the Ge layer sidewalls, governed by the Shockley-Read-Hall process and enhanced by the trap-assisted-tunneling process, was identified as the main contribution to the dark current of vertical p-i-n photodiodes at room temperature. The behavior of this surface leakage current as a function of temperature and reverse bias voltage is well reproduced by using the Hurckx model for trap-assisted-tunneling.
Influence of hydrostatic pressure on the built-in electric field in ZnO/ZnMgO quantum wells
Authors: Teisseyre Henryk , Kaminska Agata , Birner Stefan , Young Toby D. , Suchocki Andrzej , Kozanecki Adrian
Published: June 2016

We used high hydrostatic pressure to perform photoluminescence measurements on polar ZnO/ZnMgO quantum well structures. Our structure oriented along the c-direction (polar direction) was grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on a-plane sapphire. Due to the intrinsic electric field, which exists in polar wurtzite structure at ambient pressure, we observed a red shift of the emission related to the quantum-confined Stark effect. In the high hydrostatic pressure experiment, we observed a strong decrease of the quantum well pressure coefficients with increased thickness of the quantum wells. Generally, a narrower quantum well gave a higher pressure coefficient, closer to the band-gap pressure coefficient of bulk material 20 meV/GPa for ZnO, while for wider quantum wells it is much lower. We observed a pressure coefficient of 19.4 meV/GPa for a 1.5 nm quantum well, while for an 8 nm quantum well the pressure coefficient was equal to 8.9 meV/GPa only. This is explained by taking into account the pressure-induced increase of the strain in our structure. The strain was calculated taking in to account that in-plane strain is not equal (due to fact that we used a-plane sapphire as a substrate) and the potential distribution in the structure was calculated self-consistently. The pressure induced increase of the built-in electric field is the same for all thicknesses of quantum wells, but becomes more pronounced for thicker quantum wells due to the quantum confined Stark effect lowering the pressure coefficients.
Determination of temperature dependency of material parameters for lead-free alkali niobate piezoceramics by the inverse method
Authors: Ogo K. , Kakimoto K. , Weiß M. , Rupitsch S. J. , Lerch R.
Published: June 2016

Sodium potassium niobate (NKN) piezoceramics have been paid much attention as lead-free piezoelectric materials in high temperature devices because of their high Curie temperature. The temperature dependency of their material parameters, however, has not been determined in detail up to now. For this purpose, we exploit the so-called Inverse Method denoting a simulation-based characterization approach. Compared with other characterization methods, the Inverse Method requires only one sample shape of the piezoceramic material and has further decisive advantages. The identification of material parameters showed that NKN is mechanically softer in shear direction compared with lead zirconate titanate (PZT) at room temperature. The temperature dependency of the material parameters of NKN was evaluated in the temperature range from 30 °C to 150 °C. As a result, we figured out that dielectric constants and piezoelectric constants show a monotonous and isotropic increment with increasing temperature. On the other hand, elastic stiffness constant c44E of NKN significantly decreased in contrast to other elastic stiffness constants. It could be revealed that the decrement of c44E is associated with an orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition. Furthermore, ratio of elastic compliance constants s44E/s33E exhibited similar temperature dependent behavior to the ratio of piezoelectric constants d15/d33. It is suspected that mechanical softness in shear direction is one origin of the large piezoelectric shear mode of NKN. Our results show that NKN are suitable for high temperature devices, and that the Inverse Method should be a helpful approach to characterize material parameters under their practical operating conditions for NKN.
Flowers in Australia: Phytochemical Studies on the Illawarra Flame Tree and Alstonville
Authors: Hendra Rudi , Keller Paul A.
Published: June 2016

The first reported phytochemical studies on two species of flowers in Australia enabled the identification of six secondary metabolites from Illawarra flame tree flower (Brachychiton acerifolius) and seven secondary metabolites from the flowers of the Alstonville (Tibouchina lepidota). Pelargonidin 3-(6-coumarylglucoside)-5-(6-acetylglucoside) was found to be responsible for the red colour of B. acerifolius, whereas malvidin 3-(coumarylglucoside)-5-(acetylxyloside) was responsible for the purple colour of (T. lepidota) flowers. (2S)-4,5-Dihydroxyflavanone 7-O-β-d-glucuronide methyl ester was isolated for the first time from B. acerifolius, and its absolute configuration was determined by circular dichroism spectroscopy. Some of the traditional uses of B. acerifolius could also be correlated with the known activity of the isolated metabolites.
Thyroid hormones inhibit TGF-β signaling and attenuate fibrotic responses
Authors: Alonso-Merino Elvira , Martín Orozco Rosa , Ruíz-Llorente Lidia , Martínez-Iglesias Olaia A. , Velasco-Martín Juan Pedro , Montero-Pedrazuela Ana , Fanjul-Rodríguez Luisa , Contreras-Jurado Constanza , Regadera Javier , Aranda Ana
Published: June 2016

Significance

We show here that binding of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine to the thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) antagonizes TGF-β/SMAD (mothers against decapentaplegic)-dependent transcription. Transcriptionally inactive TR mutants that do not bind coactivators retained most of the capacity of suppressing transactivation by TGF-β/SMAD, whereas selective mutations in the DNA binding domain abolished this action. TGF-β is a major profibrogenic cytokine, and through this transcriptional mechanism, the hormone-bound TRs act as an endogenous barrier to moderate liver and skin fibrosis. These antagonistic actions on TGF-β/SMAD transcription suggest that TR ligands might be used to block the progression of fibrotic diseases. The natural hormone cannot be used clinically because of severe adverse effects, but novel synthetic ligands with fewer effects might be potentially developed and used.
Sustained deposition of contaminants from the
Deepwater Horizon
spill
Authors: Yan Beizhan , Passow Uta , Chanton Jeffrey P. , Nöthig Eva-Maria , Asper Vernon , Sweet Julia , Pitiranggon Masha , Diercks Arne , Pak Dorothy
Published: June 2016

Significance

Despite numerous publications reporting the accumulation of petroleum hydrocarbons associated with the
Deepwater Horizon
spill on the seafloor, the mechanisms of their delivery to the seafloor remain unclear. We demonstrate sedimentation of black carbon derived from the in situ burning of surface oil slicks for about 2 mo following the cessation of burning while other contaminants from the spill, including bioactive barium derived from drilling mud, continued to sediment for at least 5 mo after the well was capped. We also show that the episodic sinking of spill-associated substances was mainly mediated by marine particles, especially diatoms. Together, these data demonstrate delivery mechanisms of contaminants from the spill to benthic ecosystems in the deep Gulf of Mexico.
The relationship between oscillatory EEG activity and the laminar-specific BOLD signal
Authors: Scheeringa René , Koopmans Peter J. , van Mourik Tim , Jensen Ole , Norris David G.
Published: June 2016

Significance

In this study, we demonstrate that α-, β-, and γ-oscillations can be related to activity in different cortical layers in the human brain. These cortical layers are believed to instantiate feedforward and feedback information streams. Electrophysiological oscillations in α- (8–12 Hz), β- (15–30 Hz), and γ- (40–100 Hz) bands have also been associated with different roles in feedforward and feedback processes and to different cortical layers in nonhuman animals. By simultaneously recording laminar functional MRI (fMRI) and EEG, we could directly link oscillatory signals to activity in cortical layers in humans. This research provides an important neural basis for noninvasive research into the role of cortical layers in information processing using laminar fMRI alone or combined with EEG.
Engineering control of bacterial cellulose production using a genetic toolkit and a new cellulose-producing strain
Authors: Florea Michael , Hagemann Henrik , Santosa Gabriella , Abbott James , Micklem Chris N. , Spencer-Milnes Xenia , de Arroyo Garcia Laura , Paschou Despoina , Lazenbatt Christopher , Kong Deze , Chughtai Haroon , Jensen Kirsten , Freemont Paul S. , Kitney Richard , Reeve Benjamin , Ellis Tom
Published: June 2016

Significance

Bacterial cellulose is a remarkable material that is malleable, biocompatible, and over 10-times stronger than plant-based cellulose. It is currently used to create materials for tissue engineering, medicine, defense, electronics, acoustics, and fabrics. We describe here a bacterial strain that is readily amenable to genetic engineering and produces high quantities of bacterial cellulose in low-cost media. To reprogram this organism for biotechnology applications, we created a set of genetic tools that enables biosynthesis of patterned cellulose, functionalization of the cellulose surface with proteins, and tunable control over cellulose production. This greatly expands our ability to control and engineer new cellulose-based biomaterials, offering numerous applications for basic research, materials science, and biotechnology.
Dynamic recruitment and activation of ALS-associated TBK1 with its target optineurin are required for efficient mitophagy
Authors: Moore Andrew S. , Holzbaur Erika L. F.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Mitochondria are key regulators of cellular metabolism and are defective in a number of human disorders. Here, we examine how living cells selectively eliminate damaged mitochondria through the autophagosome-lysosome system. We find that the serine/threonine kinase TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) and its downstream target optineurin (OPTN) are recruited to mitochondria after acute damage, where they coordinate engulfment by autophagosomes. Loss or chemical inhibition of TBK1 stalls mitophagy, resulting in the accumulation of damaged mitochondria. Because mutations in both TBK1 and OPTN are associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, these results suggest that disordered mitophagy may be associated with selective neurodegeneration.
Sirtuin-dependent reversible lysine acetylation of glutamine synthetases reveals an autofeedback loop in nitrogen metabolism
Authors: You Di , Yin Bin-Cheng , Li Zhi-Hai , Zhou Ying , Yu Wen-Bang , Zuo Peng , Ye Bang-Ce
Published: June 2016

Significance

Nitrogen availability influences morphogenesis, antibiotic production, and virulence/pathogenicity in actinomycetes. This work provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying nitrogen metabolism regulation. Glutamine synthetases (GlnA) were acetylated by the acetyltransferase AcuA, which was regulated by the nitrogen regulator GlnR. Acetylation inactivated GlnA4 (GSII). Acetylated GSI-β (GlnA1) exhibited a remarkable ability to directly interact with GlnR and enhance GlnR–DNA binding, thereby modulating target gene transcription in response to nitrogen availability. The results indicated that GSI-β plays a central and essential role in nitrogen metabolism through not only controlling glutamine synthesis but also serving as the nitrogen signal for GlnR activation. These findings substantively extend our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying nitrogen metabolism in actinobacteria, which include antibiotic-producing actinomycetes and pathogenic mycobacteria.
Transposon mutagenesis identifies genes and cellular processes driving epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Kodama Takahiro , Newberg Justin Y. , Kodama Michiko , Rangel Roberto , Yoshihara Kosuke , Tien Jean C. , Parsons Pamela H. , Wu Hao , Finegold Milton J. , Copeland Neal G. , Jenkins Nancy A.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) contributes to metastasis and chemoresistance in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the genes driving EMT are poorly understood. Here, we describe a transposon mutagenesis screen that made it possible to identify 233 candidate cancer genes (CCGs) that are enriched for genes driving EMT in HCC. Twenty-three CCGs are predicted to function early in tumorigenesis, and alterations in these genes are associated with poor HCC patient survival. Validation studies showed that deregulation of the most highly mutated CCGs activates an EMT program that enhances HCC cell migration and also confers sorafenib resistance. Thus, transposon mutagenesis appears to provide an excellent resource for identifying genes regulating EMT in human HCC and for potentially identifying new drug targets for HCC.
Narrative Explanation and The Theory of Evolution
Authors: Ruse Michael
Published: June 2016

A common complaint of biologists is that their subject receives poor treatment from philosophers—it gets but a fraction of the attention accorded to physics and chemistry, and what little it does receive, is usually of the type where ‘All swans are white’ is taken to be a paradigmatic example of the state of biological thinking. It cannot be denied that this complaint is, to a great extent, justified; however, there are some notable breaches in the wall of ignorance and silence, amongst which must be numbered The Ascent of Life by T.A. Goudge. In this book, starting from what is obviously a very wide knowledge of biology, Goudge attempts a careful and thorough analysis of one of the major achievements of biological thought, evolutionary theory. The conclusions that Goudge draws are many; nevertheless, one can discern running through them a common theme, namely that whilst evolutionary theory is indeed a legitimate branch of science, to assume that it is a science of the same nature as physics and chemistry would be a grave error. Goudge argues that, despite certain similarities to other branches of science, the essential aims, methods and results of evolutionary theory are peculiar unto itself.
Berkeley and the Perception of Ideas
Authors: Odegard Douglas
Published: June 2016

It is important to try to understand Berkeley's exact position on what it is for someone to perceive an idea. He is frequently presented as holding that to perceive an idea is to be confronted by an object which is in some sense mind-dependent and private, and, if taken in a certain way, such a remark is not inaccurate. But the interpretation which renders it accurate needs to be specified and this is a task which awaits completion. Until it is completed, questions like ‘Can Berkeley account for everything we, as plain men, legitimately want to say?’, ‘Are his arguments against the possibility of mind-independent material substances sound?’, and ‘Is he right to hold that the ideas involved in different sense modalities are always different?’, cannot be finally resolved.

George Pitcher, in “Minds and Ideas in Berkeley”, makes a good start on the problem, but he does not consider a sufficient number of alternative analyses of ‘So and so perceives such and such an idea’. As a result he fails to pinpoint the exact analysis which Berkeley himself would favour.
The Firm But Untidy Correlativity of Rights and Obligations
Authors: Braybrooke David
Published: June 2016

The correlativity of rights and obligations is one of the few stock topics in the basic repertory of English-speaking philosophy th-t is considered suitable for assignment to philosophers specializing in political philosophy (even so it is a topic that must be shared with ethics). It is a topic perennially discussed, chiefly (I think) for reasons that have little to do with its importance: namely, just because it is a recognized topic and because it appears to be a safely tidy one that lends itself readily to being tidied up further by formal or quasi-formal considerations. For my part, I wish more effort went into discussing less tractable subjects like the individuation of rights and their delimitation vis-à-vis one another.

What I have to contribute to the subject of correlativity, returning to the scene of my comments on David Lyons’ paper, “The Correlativity of Rights and Duties,” is mainly a stint of annual or biennial repair-work, designed to restore the obvious — the truth that rights do imply obligations and cannot be understood without accepting this implication.
Primary and Secondary Qualities
Authors: Campbell Keith
Published: June 2016

The philosophy of primary and secondary qualities is in a state of some confusion. There is no agreement as to the basis upon which the two classes of quality may be distinguished—a host of features, as diverse as perceptible by more than one sense and belonging to the definition of matter, are offered as the mark of the primary. There is not even agreement on which qualities belong to which group. Shape, size and solidity are generally held to be primary, while colours, smells, and the like (I) are favoured secondary candidates. But for large numbers of qualities, for example being acidic, malleable, rust-proof—or, among perceptible qualities, glistening and vibrating—we are offered no effective guidance.

Inevitably, in such a situation, we are without clear answers to the questions; Why should any distinction be made between primaries and secondaries? Must all qualities be the one or the other? To the solution of which problems does the distinction serve as a preliminary step? What special relationship is there between primary qualities and scientific theory, or between secondary qualities and peculiarities in perception?
Sensation and Synecdoche
Authors: Matthews Gareth B.
Published: June 2016

Sometimes in THE CONCEPT OF MIND Gilbert Ryle describes what he is up to in a way which is quite unhelpful. The following passage will serve as an example of what I mean:

To talk of a person’s mind is not to talk of a repository which is permitted to house objects that something called ‘the physical world’ is forbidden to house; it is to talk of the person’s abilities, liabilities and inclinations to do and undergo certain sorts of things, and of the doing and undergoing of these things in the ordinary world, (p. 199)

I call this passage unhelpful because it commits the fallacy of false alternatives. It would have us think that talk of a person's mind is either (1) talk of a special non-physical repository or else (2) talk of a person's abilities, liabilities, inclinations, etc.—but not both. Yet surely talk of the mind as a non-physical repository might be one way of talking about a person's abilities, liabilities, inclinations, etc.

Perhaps what Ryle should have said is that to speak of the mind as a non-physical repository that houses special, mental objects is a figurative way of putting what could be reported literally in talk of a person’s abilities, liabilities, inclinations, etc. Certainly that is a point Ryle tries to make in his book. Indeed it is a major burden of THE CONCEPT OF MIND to identify and analyze those figures of speech, or tropes, in which mental activities and capacities are commonly reported and described. The idea seems to be that we are misled philosophically by our failure to recognize the tropological character of what we commonly say about the mind and by our naivete as to how the tropes work.
Remembering the Past of Another
Authors: Puccetti Roland
Published: June 2016

There has been a tendency in recent literature on personal identity to treat puzzle cases as unfair intrusions upon the discussion, like proposing to play chess without the Queen. Thus Terence Penelhum speaks of ‘imaginary worlds’ where our normal criteria do not hold and Sydney Shoemaker refers approvingly to G. C. Nerlich's dictum that it is a universal truth of our world, and not of ‘all possible worlds', that only by being identical with a witness to past events can one have the knowledge of them we have in memory.

I would agree that where puzzle cases involve changing basic features of our physical universe, e.g. in having people's bodies go out of existence in one place and reappear in another, as recently envisaged by J. M. Shorter, there is some point in talking of ‘imaginary’ or ‘possible’ worlds. But where puzzle cases propose no such basic changes but ground the discussion in physiological possibilities, however unfeasible technologically, this seems an arbitrarily harsh description. It would be like Nineteenth Century philosophers saying talk of flying machines and heart transplants belongs, not to another age merely, but to other worlds.
On the Alleged Incompleteness of Certain Identity Claims
Authors: Nelson Jack
Published: June 2016

In Mental Acts Professor Peter Geach asserts that “‘The same’ is a fragmentary expression, and has no significance unless we say or mean ‘the same X’, where ‘X’ represents a general term … ” In Reference and Generality Geach interjects the following note: “I maintain that it makes no sense to judge whether x and y are ‘the same’, or whether x remains ‘the same’, unless we add or understand some general term ‘the same F’.” Here, as in Mental Acts, he goes on to say that not any general term will serve to complete ‘the same’ constructions; only substantival terms will suffice for this purpose. Finally, in his article, “ldentity,” Geach asserts that “When one says ‘x is identical with y’, this … is an incomplete expression; it is short for ‘x is the same A as y’, where ‘A’ represents some count noun understood from the context of utterance—or else, it is just a vague expression of a half-formed thought.” (We should not, incidently, conclude from this last remark that Geach thinks all and only count nouns are substantival terms.
Leibniz and Materialism
Authors: Wilson Margaret D.
Published: June 2016

Seventeenth century discussions of materialism, whether favorable or hostile towards the position, are generally conducted on a level of much less precision and sophistication than recent work on the problem of the mind-body relation. Nevertheless, the earlier discussions can still be interesting to philosophers, as the plethora of references to Cartesian arguments in the recent literature makes clear. Certainly the early development of materialist patterns of thought, and efforts on both the materialist and immaterialist side to establish fundamental points in the philosophical analysis of mind, have considerable historical interest at the present time. This paper attempts to clarify the significance of some of leibniz's views in connection with the materialist thesis. I do not have in mind his rather notorious parallelism, though some of the points made below bear indirectly on the character of this position (or perhaps on the question whether he held it consistently). Instead, I will examine his approach to arguments against materialism.
God and Rationality
Authors: Solomon Robert C.
Published: June 2016

Is belief in God rational? Over a century ago, Hegel (following Kant) and Søren Kierkegaard established one set of parameters for discussing that question, but in a language that appears opaque to many philosophers today. Very recently, Alvin Plantinga, James Ross, and George Mavrodes have been debating similar issues in a modern analytic idiom. In this essay, I want to use this modern philosophical language in an attempt to clarify certain issues surrounding the relevant notion of “rationality” and related notions essential to the natural theologian, and in so doing attempt to make presentable the dispute between Hegel and Kierkegaard.

For our purposes here, I take “rationality” to be predicated of an epistemological concept of belief, even if, as I believe, any such notion would have to be a special case and a logical derivative of a more general notion of “rationality” as primarily practical.
La méthode cartésienne et l'interprétation de P.A. Schouls
Authors: Duchesneau François
Published: June 2016

Monsieur Schouls a établi un certain nombre de points, avec lesquels je me declarerai d'accord. Je crois qu'il a raison d'affirmrr que pour Locke, le fondement de toute connaissance au niveau initial de l'expérience est un divers de la sensation ou de la réflexion formé par des combinations d'idées unies ensemble. D'autre part, la description de la maniere dont l'esprit acquiert la connaissance générale (general knowledge) par un processus d'abstraction et done d'analyse me semble conforme à l'épistémologie de Locke.

Mais je crois que par ce processus, l'esprit atteint seulement le niveau de la connaissance générale; la connaissance générale elle-même consiste dans la démonstration (reasoning) et, meme si la démonstration se raméné à une chaîne d'intuitions, conformément au modèle cartésien des Regulae, c'est seulement dans l'illatio que l'on peut situer ce que M. Schouls qualifie de synthèse: c'est cette illatio qui constitue proprement la science.

D'où le problème de cette éthique démontrable dont il faudrait établir, conformément à cette thèse, le mode de formation “synthétique” à partir d'axiomes et de principes.
Reply to Lycan
Authors: Morick Harold
Published: June 2016

My paper “On the Indispensability of Intentionality” is faulted on two counts by William Lycan:

(i)

I fail to show that there are any non-intentional psychological verbs

(ii)

my argument against eliminative materialism contains a false premiss.

I intend to deal swiftly with Lycan's indictment, as I believe it to be patently insubstantial. The aim, in my paper, of pointing out that there are non-intentional psychological verbs was to show that Lycan and others have been mistaken in believing that every psychological verb is intentional.

I shall respond first to (ii), to Lycan's charge that the fifth premiss of his reconstruction of my argument against eliminative materalism is false, or at least not obviously true. The premiss reads: “If language takes place, it takes place between persons.” The eliminative materialist can reasonably deny this premiss, Lycan maintains, since it “seems plausible” to predict that we will someday be able to explain, with no reference to people's mental states or activities, what language is and how it works. I believe that because this “prediction” is in fact self-contradictory, it casts no doubt whatsoever on the fifth premiss of my anti-materialist argument.
Utilitarianism: the Classical Principle and the Average Principle
Authors: Sikora R. I.
Published: June 2016

Act Utilitarianism has traditionally been regarded as the view that you should always perform the action that will bring about the greatest possible excess of happiness over unhappiness or, if there is no such alternative, the least possible excess of unhappiness over happiness.1Following Rawls, I shall call this the classical principle. An alternative which Rawls calls the average principle is the view that you should always do the thing that will bring about the highest possible average happiness level. Rawls, Rescher and Broad2regard the average principle as superior to the classical principle, and there are considerable grounds for supposing that Mill accepted the average principle.3Smart favours the classical position but confesses that if someone doesn't feel the same way, he doesn't know how to argue with him.4
On Doing What One Wants To Do
Authors: Taylor Gwennyth
Published: June 2016

Liberalism, as currently manifest in the permissive, consumer society powerfully invokes the principle that, questions of harm aside, human beings ought to be able to do what they want to do; and, by implication, not be coerced into doing what they do not want to do. Liberty, defined in terms of want satisfaction, all wants being taken at par, and used by the more extreme adherents of liberalism as a necessary and even sufficient condition for the good life, is said to be increased or diminished with greater or decreasing opportunities for the satisfaction of wants: every want, given its rightful due, a success story.

As an adjunct to this first principle comes another, also of great political importance; namely, that it is for the subject of the want to say what his wants are, he being, logically speaking, in an impregnable position to identify these shy denizens of his mental world.
Protagoras Unbound
Authors: White F. C.
Published: June 2016

In this paper I want to do the following things. First I want to show that in the part of the Theaetetus where the relationship between knowledge and perception is examined, the concept of knowledge that is in question is very clearly characterized. We are left in no doubt as to what is to count as knowing. Secondly I want to unravel in some detail the case that Socrates puts on Protagoras’ behalf where he draws on what Protagoras actually wrote (151 E-152C); as opposed to what he may have taught secretly to his pupils (152C-160D). Thirdly I wish to argue that if we let the dialogue speak for itself, it is manifest that this case put up on Protagoras’ behalf at 151 E-152C is not overthrown; it is not even shaken.

In that part of the dialogue (151 D-186E) where the question is under examination whether or not knowledge and perception are the same, Socrates uses an idealized concept of knowledge. That is, he restricts the use of the word by setting down what he will consider to be the essential characteristics of knowledge, the sufficient and necessary conditions of its being instantiated. An excellent piece of philosophical procedure.
Observation and Subjectivity in Quine
Authors: Morick Harold
Published: June 2016

“There ceases to be any reason to count awareness as an essential trait of observation.”

-from “Stimulus and Meaning”

As W. V. Quine sees it we must, in the interests of science, resist “the old tendency to associate observation sentences with a subjective sensory subject matter,” because such sentences are “meant to be the intersubjective tribunal of scientific hypotheses“; observation sentences are meant to be the independent and objective control of scientific theory. Accordingly, Quine has developed a behaviouristic operational definition of an observation sentence for the purpose of dispelling the air of subjectivity which surrounds the notion of observation (WB 19).

In this paper I argue that his observation-sentence definition, or criterion, fails to fulfil this purpose. In the first half of the paper (sections 1 and 2), I describe in particular the kind of subjectivism which most worries Quine-what he calls the epistemological nihilism of Hanson, Kuhn and Polanyi-and I then turn to Quine's remedy, his observation criterion.
The Causality of Finite Modes in Spinoza'sEthics
Authors: Lennox James G.
Published: June 2016

A central difficulty in the way of understanding Spinoza's metaphysical system is that of reconciling two apparently contradictory theories of the causation of finite modes (i.e., individual entities) found in hisEthics.The easiest way to present the problem is to place these two accounts side by side.

A. All things which follow from the absolute nature of any attribute of God must forever exist, and must be infinite; that is to say, through that attribute they are eternal and infinite. (E1P21)

A thing which has been determined to any action was necessarily so determined by God. (E1P26)

Together, these propositions entail (at least) that (a) God is a necessary and sufficient condition for the occurrence of any action, and (b) that anything so determined is eternal and infinite. Compare these implications with the following.

B. An individual thing or a thing which is finite and has determinate existence cannot exist nor be determined to action unless it be determined to existence and action by another cause which is also finite and has a determinate existence; and again this cause cannot exist nor be determined to action unless by another cause which is also finite and determined to existence and action, and so on,ad infinitum. (E1P28)
The Inference to the Best Means1
Authors: Darwall Stephen L.
Published: June 2016

Some recent writers on practical reasoning have had it that reasoning about what to do differs in logical structure from theoretical reasoning. In particular, Anthony Kenny and G.E.M. Anscombe have argued that there are permissible inferences in practical reasoning which lack analogues in theoretical reasoning. Such discussions seem inevitably to draw their impetus from what Aristotle had to say on the topic, both in the Nicomachean Ethics and elsewhere.