Are philosophers functionally integrated enough to socially know?

According to accounts like Alexander Bird’s Minimal Functional Account of social knowledge, various groups like those within the sciences can socially know that , even if no particular individual within that group knows that . Bird’s primary example of a group that has such knowledge is the community of semiconductor physicists – which, as he contends, is sufficiently functionally integrated to satisfy accounts like his own. But, what about specialist communities within philosophy? Do they satisfy accounts like Bird’s own? Should they? As I will suggest in this article, some of them should, but do not appear to do so – at least, as of yet.Peer reviewe

Defining terminology and outcome measures for evaluating overdose response technology : an international Delphi study

Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research,Grant/Award Number: 181006; Health Canada Substance Use and Addictions Program, Grant/Award Number:2122-HQ-000021.Introduction: Various novel harm reduction services leverage technology to reduce the rising number of drug poisoning deaths, particularly among those who use drugs alone. There is significant variability in terminology and outcome measures in reporting these interventions, complicating efforts to build a comprehensive knowledge base. Thus, we conducted a Delphi study to establish consensus and heterogeneity in these metrics. Methods: Panellists from three stakeholder groups (people who use drugs, virtual harm reduction service operators and academics) participated in a multi-round Delphi study. The first round included open-ended questions to propose items in three categories: terminology, demographic information and outcomes. Subsequent rounds included options from a previously conducted scoping review for consideration. Likert ratings were used to achieve consensus, with a 70% threshold. Final rounds involved ranking terminology that reached a consensus. Results: Of 23 initial participants, 14 completed the fourth survey round. ?Overdose response technology? was identified as the most appropriate term for these harm reduction technologies. This definition includes drug contamination alerts, overdose response hotlines and applications, wearable overdose detection technology and overdose detection tools. Fourteen demographic outcomes reached a consensus for data collection, including name or handle, neighbourhood, age, gender, past overdose experience, substance used, amount and route of use. Six service use outcomes were recommended: response type, service outcomes, morbidity and mortality, overdose events, responder arrival time and post-rescue care. Discussion and Conclusions: The study results are recommended to standardise terminology and guide future research and knowledge dissemination in the field, ensuring clear communication with a shared language.Peer reviewe

PyTICS : an iterative method for photometric light-curve intercalibration using comparison stars

Funding: RV acknowledges support from STFC studentship ST/Y509589/1. JVHS acknowledges support from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) grant ST/V000861/1.Intensive reverberation mapping monitoring programs combine ground-based photometric observations from different telescopes, requiring intercalibration of light-curves to reduce systematic instrumental differences. We present a new iterative algorithm to calibrate photometric time-series data of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) using 100s of comparison stars on the same images, building upon the established method of ensemble photometry. The algorithm determines telescope-specific and epoch-specific correction parameters, and simultaneously computes a multicomponent noise model to account for underestimated uncertainties based on the scatter in the comparison star data, effectively identifying problematic epochs, telescopes, and stars. No assumptions need to be made about the AGN variability shape, and the algorithm can, in principle, be applied to any astronomical object. We demonstrate our method on light-curves taken with ten 1-m telescopes from the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) robotic telescope network. Comparing our results to other intercalibration tools, we find that the algorithm can more accurately quantify the uncertainties in the data. We describe additional corrections that can be made for particularly bluer AGNs like Fairall 9, arising due to systematic effects dependent on star colour.Peer reviewe

Terrestrial evidence for volcanogenic sulfate-driven cooling event ~30 kyr before the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction

Funding: The study was funded by UK Natural Environment Research Council grant NE/S002324/1 awarded to R.M.J., S.K.L., G.D.P., and B.E.v.D. L.K.O. is supported by the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (grant no. 024.002.001). T.R.L. is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF-FRES-2317666).Alongside the Chicxulub meteorite impact, Deccan volcanism is considered a primary trigger for the Cretaceous- Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction. Models suggest that volcanic outgassing of carbon and sulfur - potent environmental stressors - drove global temperature change, but the relative timing, duration, and magnitude of such change remains uncertain. Here, we use the organic paleothermometer MBT'5me and the carbon-isotope composition of two K-Pg-spanning lignites from the western Unites States, to test models of volcanogenic air temperature change in the ~100 kyr before the mass extinction. Our records show long-term warming of ~3°C, probably driven by Deccan CO2 emissions, and reveal a transient (<10 kyr) ~5°C cooling event, coinciding with the peak of the Poladpur "pulse" of Deccan eruption ~30 kyr before the K-Pg boundary. This cooling was likely caused by the aerosolization of volcanogenic sulfur. Temperatures returned to pre-event values before the mass extinction, suggesting that, from the terrestrial perspective, volcanogenic climate change was not the primary cause of K-Pg extinction.Peer reviewe

JWST-TST DREAMS : quartz clouds in the atmosphere of WASP-17b

Funding: D.G. acknowledges funding from the UKRI STFC Consolidated grant No. ST/V000454/1. H.R.W. was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government's Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant No. EP/Y006313/1). A.G. acknowledges support from the Robert R. Shrock Graduate Fellowship. J.G. acknowledges funding from SERB research grant No. SRG/2022/000727. R.J.M. is supported by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant No. HST-HF2-51513.001, awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS 5-26555. We acknowledge the MIT SuperCloud and Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center for providing high performance computing resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center. N.E.B. acknowledges support from NASA's Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (grant No. NNH19ZDA001N-ICAR) under award number 19-ICAR19_2-0041.Clouds are prevalent in many of the exoplanet atmospheres that have been observed to date. For transiting exoplanets, we know if clouds are present because they mute spectral features and cause wavelength-dependent scattering. While the exact composition of these clouds is largely unknown, this information is vital to understanding the chemistry and energy budget of planetary atmospheres. In this work, we observe one transit of the hot Jupiter WASP-17b with JWST's MIRI LRS and generate a transmission spectrum from 5-12 μm. These wavelengths allow us to probe absorption due to the vibrational modes of various predicted cloud species. Our transmission spectrum shows additional opacity centered at 8.6 μm, and detailed atmospheric modeling and retrievals identify this feature as SiO2(s) (quartz) clouds. The SiO2(s) clouds model is preferred at 3.5-4.2σ versus a cloud-free model and at 2.6σ versus a generic aerosol prescription. We find the SiO2(s) clouds are comprised of small ~0.01 μm particles, which extend to high altitudes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere also shows a depletion of H2O, a finding consistent with the formation of high-temperature aerosols from oxygen-rich species. This work is part of a series of studies by our JWST Telescope Scientist Team (JWST-TST), in which we will use Guaranteed Time Observations to perform Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres through Multi-instrument Spectroscopy (DREAMS).Peer reviewe

From the Mythic to the Manègethe horse as intermediary between classical and Renaissance poetry in the work of Ronsard

Ronsard’s passion for the equestrian arts and his technical knowledge of the practice can be felt throughout his poetry. A contemporary at the royal stables of the riding master François de Carnavalet, the poet fuses his personal equestrian experiences from that time to the classical stories of horses of the past in order to praise at once the art of horsemanship and the art of poetry.Peer reviewe

Discipline-based social identity and organizational identity as predictors of approaches to learning and evaluation of teaching

The present research aimed to tease apart the meaning of the “student” identity in higher education by distinguishing the concepts and affordances of discipline-based social identity and organizational identity. Across three studies we examine discipline-based and organizational social identities’ relations to educational outcomes and evaluations of the student experience. Our first study (n = 203) examines the relationships between identity, engagement, and satisfaction with the course and university. The results suggest that discipline identity predicts students’ commitment to their study and their degree satisfaction. Students’ organizational identity predicted their university and degree satisfaction. In Study 2A (n = 240), we examined organizational and discipline identity in relation to deep and surface learning, as well as performance undermining behaviours (procrastination and self-handicapping). We found that organizational identity failed to explain variance in deep learning beyond the variance explained by discipline identity. Moreover, discipline, but not organizational identity, indirectly reduced performance undermining behaviour. In Study 2B (n = 109), not only we replicated Study 2A, but also used a cross-lagged longitudinal design to see which identity was causally more potent. Discipline identity in one semester predicts both changes in discipline and organizational identity in the following semester. In contrast, organizational identity predicts organizational identity in the following semester but fails to predict change in discipline identity. Taken together, our studies suggest that there is benefit in understanding both discipline-based and organizational social identities in terms of understanding students’ educational outcomes and experience.Peer reviewe

Pierrot and his world : art, theatricality, and the marketplace in France, 1697-1945

Pierrot, a theatrical stock character known by his distinctive costume of loose white tunic and trousers, is a ubiquitous figure in French art and culture. This richly illustrated book offers an account of Pierrot's recurrence in painting, printmaking, photography and film, tracing this distinctive type from the art of Antoine Watteau to the cinema of Occupied France. As a visual type, Pierrot thrives at the intersection of theatrical and marketplace practices. From Watteau's Pierrot (c. 1720) and Édouard Manet's The Old Musician (1862) to Nadar and Adrien Tournachon's Pierrot the Photographer (1855) and the landmark film Children of Paradise (1945), Pierrot has given artists a medium through which to explore the marketplace as a form for both social life and creative practice. Simultaneously a human figure and a theatrical mask, Pierrot elicits artistic reflection on the representation of personality in the marketplace

Staging Revolutions and the Many Faces of Modernism: Performing Politics in Irish and Egyptian Theatre. By Amina ElHalawani.

Staging Revolutions and the Many Faces of Modernism: Performing Politics in Irish and Egyptian Theatre. By Amina ElHalawani. London and New York: Routledge, 2024; pp. 170 + x.Non peer reviewe

Impurity band formation as a route to thermoelectric power factor enhancement in n-type XNiSn half-Heuslers

Funding: The EPSRC is acknowledged for support under award EP/N01717X/1, EP/N01703X/1, EP/X02346X/1, EP/L017008/1, EP/R023751/1 and EP/T019298/1 and for a PhD studentship for S.A.B.Bandstructure engineering is a key route for thermoelectric performance enhancement. Here, 20–50% Seebeck (S) enhancement is reported for XNiCuySn half-Heusler samples based on X = Ti. This novel electronic effect is attributed to the emergence of impurity bands of finite extent, due to the Cu dopants. Depending on the dispersion, extent, and offset with respect to the parent material, these bands are shown to enhance S to different degrees. Experimentally, this effect is controllable by the Ti content of the samples, with the addition of Zr/Hf gradually removing the enhancement. At the same time, the mobility remains largely intact, enabling power factors ≥3 mW m−1 K−2 near room temperature, increasing to ≥5 mW m−1 K−2 at high temperature. Combined with reduced thermal conductivity due to the Cu interstitials, this enables high average zT = 0.67–0.72 between 320 and 793 K for XNiCuySn compositions with ≥70% Ti. This work reveals the existence of a new route for electronic performance enhancement in n-type XNiSn materials that are normally limited by their single carrier pocket. In principle, impurity bands can be applied to other materials and provide a new direction for further development.Peer reviewe