12,064 research outputs found
The art of being human : a project for general philosophy of science
Throughout the medieval and modern periods, in various sacred and secular guises, the unification of all forms of knowledge under the rubric of âscienceâ has been taken as the prerogative of humanity as a species. However, as our sense of species privilege has been called increasingly into question, so too has the very salience of âhumanityâ and âscienceâ as general categories, let alone ones that might bear some essential relationship to each other. After showing how the ascendant Stanford School in the philosophy of science has contributed to this joint demystification of âhumanityâ and âscienceâ, I proceed on a more positive note to a conceptual framework for making sense of science as the art of being human. My understanding of âscienceâ is indebted to the red thread that runs from Christian theology through the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment to the Humboldtian revival of the university as the site for the synthesis of knowledge as the culmination of self-development. Especially salient to this idea is scienceâs epistemic capacity to manage modality (i.e. to determine the conditions under which possibilities can be actualised) and its political capacity to organize humanity into projects of universal concern. However, the challenge facing such an ideal in the twentyfirst century is that the predicate âhumanâ may be projected in three quite distinct ways, governed by what I call âecologicalâ, âbiomedicalâ and âcyberneticâ interests. Which one of these future humanities would claim todayâs humans as proper ancestors and could these futures co-habit the same world thus become two important questions that general philosophy of science will need to address in the coming years
The Masers Towards IRAS 20126+4104
We present MERLIN observations of OH, water and methanol masers towards the
young high mass stellar object IRAS 20126+4104. Emission from the 1665-MHz OH,
22-GHz H_2O and 6.7-GHz CH_3OH masers is detected and all originates very close
to the central source. The OH and methanol masers appear to trace part of the
circumstellar disk around the central source. The positions and velocities of
the OH and methanol masers are consistent with Keplerian rotation around a
central mass of ~ 5 Msun. The water masers are offset from the OH and methanol
masers and have significantly changed since they were last observed, but still
appear to be associated to the outflow from the source. All the OH masers
components are circularly polarised, in some cases reaching 100 percent while
some OH components also have linear polarisation. We identify one Zeeman pair
of OH masers and the splitting of this pair indicates a magnetic field of
strength ~ 11 mG within ~ 0.5" (850 AU) of the central source. The OH and
methanol maser emission suggest that the disk material is dense, n > 10^6
cm^-3, and warm, T > 125 K and the high abundance of methanol required by the
maser emission is consistent with the evaporation of the mantles on dust grains
in the disk as a result of heating or shocking of the disk materialComment: 9 pages, 7 figures and 6 table
Presupernova collapse models with improved weak-interaction rates
Improved values for stellar weak interaction rates have been recently
calculated based upon a large shell model diagonalization. Using these new
rates (for both beta decay and electron capture), we have examined the
presupernova evolution of massive stars in the range 15-40 Msun. Comparing our
new models with a standard set of presupernova models by Woosley and Weaver, we
find significantly larger values for the electron-to-baryon ratio Ye at the
onset of collapse and iron core masses reduced by approximately 0.1 Msun. The
inclusion of beta-decay accounts for roughly half of the revisions, while the
other half is a consequence of the improved nuclear physics. These changes will
have important consequences for nucleosynthesis and the supernova explosion
mechanism.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Deer reduce habitat quality for a woodland songbird: evidence from settlement patterns, demographic parameters, and body condition.
Understanding avian responses to ungulate-induced habitat modification is important because deer populations are increasing across much of temperate Europe and North America. Our experimental study examined whether habitat quality for Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) in young woodland in eastern England was affected by deer, by comparing Blackcap behavior, abundance, and condition between paired plots (half of each pair protected from deer). The vegetation in each pair of plots was the same age. The Blackcap is an ideal model species for testing effects of deer on avian habitat quality because it is dependent on dense understory vegetation and is abundant throughout much of Europe. We compared timing of settlement, abundance, age structure (second-year vs. after-second-year), and phenotypic quality (measured as a body condition index, body mass divided by tarsus length) between experimental and control plots. We used point counts to examine Blackcap distribution, and standardized mist netting to collect demographic and biometric data. Incidence of singing Blackcaps was higher in nonbrowsed than in browsed plots, and singing males were recorded in nonbrowsed plots earlier in the season, indicating earlier and preferential territory establishment. Most Blackcaps, both males and females, were captured in vegetation prior to canopy closure (2â4 years of regrowth). Body condition was superior for male Blackcaps captured in nonbrowsed plots; for second-year males this was most marked in vegetation prior to canopy closure. We conclude that deer browsing in young woodland can alter habitat quality for understory-dependent species, with potential consequences for individual fitness and population productivity beyond the more obvious effects on population density
Applications of Skylab EREP photographs to mapping landforms and environmental geomorphology in the Great Plains and Midwest
The following evaluations of Skylab photographs were undertaken: (1) the 1290 Skylab S190A and S190B photographs of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota were evaluated in detail in terms of coverage, cloud cover, photographic quality, endlap, detectability of roads and stereorelief, and utility for geomorphologic mapping, and (2) the utility of the Skylab photos were tested for interpretive analytic mapping of geomorphologic features over large areas representative of different parts of this region. Photointerpretative maps of analytic geomorphology were obtained for various test areas representative of the varied landscapes in the region. These maps are useful for regional land-use planning, ground-water exploration, and other environmental geomorphologic-geologic applications. Compared with LANDSAT-1 MSS images, Skylab photos afford almost as extensive overviews of large areas but in considerably greater detail, and for many SL photos, moderate stereorelief. However, repetitive multiseasonal, cloud-free coverage by high-quality photos is very limited and many areas have no coverage at all
MACROPHAGE-COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR STIMULATES SURVIVAL AND CHEMOTACTIC BEHAVIOR IN ISOLATED OSTEOCLASTS
Photonic band mixing in linear chains of optically coupled micro-spheres
The paper deals with optical excitations arising in a one-dimensional chain
of identical spheres due optical coupling of whispering gallery modes (WGM).
The band structure of these excitations depends significantly on the
inter-mixing between WGMs characterized by different values of angular quantum
number, . We develop a general theory of the photonic band structure of
these excitations taking these effects into account and applied it to several
cases of recent experimental interest. In the case of bands originating from
WQMs with the angular quantum number of the same parity, the calculated
dispersion laws are in good qualitative agreement with recent experiment
results. Bands resulting from hybridization of excitations resulting from
whispering gallery modes with different parity of exhibits anomalous
dispersion properties characterized by a gap in the allowed values of
\emph{wave numbers} and divergence of group velocity.Comment: RevTex, 28 pages, 7 Figure
How Much Longer Will it Take? A Ten-year Review of the Implementation of United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 61/105, 64/72 and 66/68 on the Management of Bottom Fisheries in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2002 adopted the first in a series of resolutions regarding the conservation of biodiversity in the deep sea. Prompted by seriousconcerns raised by scientists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and numerous States,these resolutions progressively committed States to act both individually and through regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) to either manage bottom fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction to prevent significant adverse impacts on deep-sea species, ecosystems and biodiversity or else prohibit bottom fishing from taking place.Ten years have passed since the adoption of resolution 61/105 in 2006, calling on States to take a set of specific actions to manage bottom fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) from the adverse impacts of bottom fishing and ensure the sustainability of deep-sea fish stocks. Despite the considerable progress by some RFMOs, there remain significant gaps in the implementation of key elements and commitments in the resolutions. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) has prepared this report to assist the UNGA in its review in 2016 and to address the following question: How effectively have the resolutions been implemented
Effects of Roundup on Behavior, Growth, and Mortality of Larval Blue Dashers, Pachydiplax longipennis
The objective of this study was to determine if Roundup (active ingredient: Glyphosate) causes negative effects on behavior, growth, and mortality of larval Pachydiplax longipennis. Larvae were captured from rainwater-filled mesocosms at Hancock Biological Station in Murray, KY. Larvae were exposed to one of four concentrations of Roundup (0mg/L, 2.5mg/L, 5mg/L, or 10mg/L). Daphnia consumption, seek refuge, and anti-predator trials were conducted at 7 and 14 days post-exposure. Growth and survival trials were carried out for eight weeks using different larvae. There were no significant differences among treatments for whether or not larvae ate offered Daphnia for Day 7 (c2 =1.915, df =3) or Day 14 (c2 =1.283, df =3). For the trials on Day 7, Roundup concentration did not have a significant effect on the time the larvae took to consume 1, 2, or 4 Daphnia; however, exposure significantly increased the time the larvae took to consume three Daphnia (P=0.036). For the trials on Day 14, concentration did not have a significant effect on the time the larvae took to consume 1 or 2 Daphnia; however, Roundup significantly increased the time the larvae took to consume 3 (P=0.050) or 4 Daphnia(P=0.029). In the seek refuge trials, there were no significant differences among treatments for the number of pokes required to elicit a behavioral response to hide during Day 7(c2=9.458, df =6) or Day 14 (c2 =5.759, df =6). In the anti-predator trials, there were no significant differences among treatments for the number of pokes required to elicit a fleeing response during Day 7 (c2 =1.336, df =3) or Day 14 (c2 =1.976, df =3). The behavioral response variables measured in the seek refuge and anti-predator trials were not significantly influenced by Roundup concentration, trial day, or size of the larvae. Roundup concentration and exposure week had a significant effect on growth (head width and body length) (
Workflow and Performance Under Computer Mediated Interruptions
Technologically enhanced computer mediated communication (CMC) environments create a trade-off between eliminating delays and increasing performance. In such environments, incoming interruptions can break the âflowâ of work and deteriorate performance. In this regard, we describe a mechanism that explains why particular types of information are attended to, and how such interruptions interrupt work flow creating deterioration in performance. Specifically, this study investigates to specific facets of interruptions, the influence of task presentation format and interruption relevance on performance. Results showed significant performance differences related to different presentation format and interruption relevancy. Furthermore, flow had a significant effect on work performance. Future research should future propose more comprehensive taxonomies of both interruption in task characteristics, and examine the effects of such interruptions in systematic ways and in different contexts
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