Metacognition as Evidence for Evidentialism

Metacognition is the monitoring and controlling of cognitive processes. I examine the role of metacognition in ‘ordinary retrieval cases’, cases in which it is intuitive that via recollection the subject has a justified belief. Drawing on psychological research on metacognition, I argue that evidentialism has a unique, accurate prediction in each ordinary retrieval case: the subject has evidence for the proposition she justifiedly believes. But, I argue, process reliabilism has no unique, accurate predictions in these cases. I conclude that ordinary retrieval cases better support evidentialism than process reliabilism. This conclusion challenges several common assumptions. One is that non-evidentialism alone allows for a naturalized epistemology, i.e., an epistemology that is fully in accordance with scientific research and methodology. Another is that process reliabilism fares much better than evidentialism in the epistemology of memory

Governance issues in developing and implementing offsets for water management benefits: Can preliminary evaluation guide implementation effectiveness?

This article explores governance issues in developing innovative pollutant offset programs by focusing on a case study being piloted at the Gisborne Recycled Water Plant in Jacksons Creek, a rural sub-catchment of the Maribyrnong River north of Melbourne, Australia. The paper offers preliminary lessons from the ongoing design and anticipated challenges facing this innovative program based on reflections from the literature and project progress to-date. This case exemplifies a form of adaptive governance – an approach well suited to achieving broad sustainability objectives – and for which an early assessment is both appropriate and opportune. Adaptive governance is characterized by governmental collaboration with civil society groups, social learning through public participation, and experimentation leading to more flexible policy outcomes. Early assessment affords the possibility of mid-course corrections, drawing on experience acquired elsewhere. We contend that the approach being developed in Victoria through this pilot program has implications beyond the use of recycled wastewater for achieving various social objectives. It may also contribute to the development of an expansive water quality offset framework applicable to point source discharges, nonpoint source pollution, and sewerage overspills. Moreover, the approach can be applied to design of offset systems elsewhere – with appropriate economic savings and effective application to multiple water quality challenges if potential problems are discerned early

Tertiary hypothyroidism in a dog

<p/> <p>A nine-year-old male entire Labrador was diagnosed with pituitary dependent hyperadrenocorticism. Following seven months of successful mitotane therapy, the dog presented with marked weight gain, seborrhoea and alopecia. Routine clinicopathological analyses revealed marked hypercholesterolaemia. Serum total and free thyroxine (T4) concentrations were below their respective reference ranges. Serum thyroid stimulating hormone (cTSH) concentration was within reference range. TSH and thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) response tests revealed adequate stimulation of total T4 in both, and cTSH in the latter test. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a mass arising from the pituitary fossa, with suprasellar extension. A diagnosis of tertiary hypothyroidism was made. Following four weeks of levothyroxine therapy, circulating cholesterol concentration had declined, weight loss had ensued and dermatological abnormalities had improved. Euthanasia was performed four months later due to the development of neurological signs. A highly infiltrative pituitary adenoma, with effacement of the overlying hypothalamus was identified on post mortem examination. Tertiary hypothyroidism has not been previously reported in dogs.</p

Quantum Hall effect and Landau level crossing of Dirac fermions in trilayer graphene

We investigate electronic transport in high mobility (\textgreater 100,000 cm$^2$/V$\cdot$s) trilayer graphene devices on hexagonal boron nitride, which enables the observation of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and an unconventional quantum Hall effect. The massless and massive characters of the TLG subbands lead to a set of Landau level crossings, whose magnetic field and filling factor coordinates enable the direct determination of the Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure (SWMcC) parameters used to describe the peculiar electronic structure of trilayer graphene. Moreover, at high magnetic fields, the degenerate crossing points split into manifolds indicating the existence of broken-symmetry quantum Hall states.Comment: Supplementary Information at http://jarilloherrero.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Supplementary_Taychatanapat.pd

Congenital hepatic fibrosis leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Congenital hepatic fibrosis is an uncommon cause of portal hypertension. Despite the presence of portal hypertension, hepatocellular and renal function are usually well preserved. Congenital hepatic fibrosis is included in the group of congenital diseases of fibropolycystic disorders. These include a broad spectrum of clinical diseases which are usually accompanied by hepatic involvement.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 27-year-old Iranian woman with congenital hepatic fibrosis leading to cirrhosis and subsequently hepatocellular carcinoma.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Advanced cirrhosis was diagnosed and our patient was scheduled for liver transplantation. During preparation for transplant, a hepatic mass was discovered which was found to be hepatocellular carcinoma. Radiofrequency ablation was performed and our patient was referred for transplantation.</p

The effects of an area-based intervention on the uptake of maternal and child health assessments in Australia: A community trial

Background Recognition of the importance of the early years in determining health and educational attainment and promotion of the World Health Organization Health for All (HFA) principles has led to an international trend towards community-based initiatives to improve developmental outcomes among socio-economically disadvantaged children. In this study we examine whether, Best Start, an Australian area-based initiative to improve child health was effective in improving access to Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services. Methods The study compares access to information, parental confidence and annual 3.5 year Ages and Stages visiting rates before (2001/02) and after (2004/05) the introduction of Best Start. Access to information and parental confidence were measured in surveys of parents with 3 year old children. There were 1666 surveys in the first wave and 1838 surveys in the second wave. The analysis of visiting rates for the 3.5 year Ages and Stages visit included all eligible Victorian children. Best Start sites included 1,739 eligible children in 2001/02 and 1437 eligible children in 2004/05. The comparable figures in the rest of the state were and 45, 497 and 45, 953 respectively. Results There was a significant increase in attendance at the 3.5 year Ages and Stages visit in 2004/05 compared to 2001/02 in all areas. However the increase in attendance was significantly greater at Best Start sites than the rest of the state. Access to information and parental confidence improved over the course of the intervention in Best Start sites with MCH projects compared to other Best Start sites. Conclusion These results suggest that community-based initiatives in disadvantaged areas may improve parents' access to child health information, improve their confidence and increase MCH service use. These outcomes suggest such programmes could potentially contribute to strategies to reduce child health inequalities

Microscopic Polarization in Bilayer Graphene

Bilayer graphene has drawn significant attention due to the opening of a band gap in its low energy electronic spectrum, which offers a promising route to electronic applications. The gap can be either tunable through an external electric field or spontaneously formed through an interaction-induced symmetry breaking. Our scanning tunneling measurements reveal the microscopic nature of the bilayer gap to be very different from what is observed in previous macroscopic measurements or expected from current theoretical models. The potential difference between the layers, which is proportional to charge imbalance and determines the gap value, shows strong dependence on the disorder potential, varying spatially in both magnitude and sign on a microscopic level. Furthermore, the gap does not vanish at small charge densities. Additional interaction-induced effects are observed in a magnetic field with the opening of a subgap when the zero orbital Landau level is placed at the Fermi energy

Tradeoff between Stability and Maneuverability during Whole-Body Movements

Understanding how stability and/or maneuverability affects motor control strategies can provide insight on moving about safely in an unpredictable world. Stability in human movement has been well-studied while maneuverability has not. Further, a tradeoff between stability and maneuverability during movement seems apparent, yet has not been quantified. We proposed that greater maneuverability, the ability to rapidly and purposefully change movement direction and speed, is beneficial in uncertain environments. We also hypothesized that gaining maneuverability comes at the expense of stability and perhaps also corresponds with decreased muscle coactivation.We used a goal-directed forward lean movement task that integrated both stability and maneuverability. Subjects (n = 11) used their center of pressure to control a cursor on a computer monitor to reach a target. We added task uncertainty by shifting the target anterior-posterior position mid-movement. We used a balance board with a narrow beam that reduced the base of support in the medio-lateral direction and defined stability as the probability that subjects could keep the balance board level during the task.During the uncertainty condition, subjects were able to change direction of their anterior-posterior center of pressure more rapidly, indicating that subjects were more maneuverable. Furthermore, medio-lateral center of pressure excursions also approached the edges of the beam and reduced stability margins, implying that subjects were less stable (i.e. less able to keep the board level). On the narrow beam board, subjects increased muscle coactivation of lateral muscle pairs and had greater muscle activity in the left leg. However, there were no statistically significant differences in muscle activity amplitudes or coactivation with uncertainty.These results demonstrate that there is a tradeoff between stability and maneuverability during a goal-directed whole-body movement. Tasks with added uncertainty could help individuals learn to be more maneuverable yet sufficiently stable

Survivability Is More Fundamental Than Evolvability

For a lineage to survive over long time periods, it must sometimes change. This has given rise to the term evolvability, meaning the tendency to produce adaptive variation. One lineage may be superior to another in terms of its current standing variation, or it may tend to produce more adaptive variation. However, evolutionary outcomes depend on more than standing variation and produced adaptive variation: deleterious variation also matters. Evolvability, as most commonly interpreted, is not predictive of evolutionary outcomes. Here, we define a predictive measure of the evolutionary success of a lineage that we call the k-survivability, defined as the probability that the lineage avoids extinction for k generations. We estimate the k-survivability using multiple experimental replicates. Because we measure evolutionary outcomes, the initial standing variation, the full spectrum of generated variation, and the heritability of that variation are all incorporated. Survivability also accounts for the decreased joint likelihood of extinction of sub-lineages when they 1) disperse in space, or 2) diversify in lifestyle. We illustrate measurement of survivability with in silico models, and suggest that it may also be measured in vivo using multiple longitudinal replicates. The k-survivability is a metric that enables the quantitative study of, for example, the evolution of 1) mutation rates, 2) dispersal mechanisms, 3) the genotype-phenotype map, and 4) sexual reproduction, in temporally and spatially fluctuating environments. Although these disparate phenomena evolve by well-understood microevolutionary rules, they are also subject to the macroevolutionary constraint of long-term survivability