Refutation of Searle's Argument for the Existence of Universals

Searle proposes an argument in order to prove the existence of universals and thereby solve the problem of universals: From every meaningful general term P(x) follows a tautology Vx[P(x) v -P(x)], which entails the existence of the corresponding universal P. To be convincing, this argument for existence must be valid, it must presume true premises and it must be free of any informal fallacy. First, the validity of the argument for existence in its non-modal interpretation will be proven with the help of the formal deductive system F. Secondly, it will be shown that a self-contradictory tautology concept is employed, which renders the premises meaningless. Consequently, the inconsistency will be emended through redefinition and the argument's ensuing correctness will be demonstrated. Finally, it will be shown that the argument for existence presupposes the existence of universals in its premise and hence begs the question

Bending of beams of thin sections

The tendency toward economy of material and lightness of structure has long since led to the increased application of beams having large ratios of moment of area W to cross-sectional area F. This paper tries to provide an answer to how thin the beams can be

BGVAR: Bayesian Global Vector Autoregressions with Shrinkage Priors in R

This document introduces the R package BGVAR to estimate Bayesian global vector autoregressions (GVAR) with shrinkage priors and stochastic volatility. The Bayesian treatment of GVARs allows to include large information sets by mitigating issues related to overfitting. This often improves inference as well as out-of-sample forecasts. Computational efficiency is achieved by using C++ to considerably speed up time-consuming functions. To maximize usability, the package includes numerous functions for carrying out structural inference and forecasting. These include generalized and structural impulse response functions, forecast error variance, and historical decompositions as well as conditional forecasts

Metaanalyse zur genetischen Prädisposition bei Parodontitis unter Verwendung von Polymorphismen

Die Volkskrankheit Parodontitis beschreibt die entzündliche Degeneration des Zahnhalteappa-rates, die auf lange Sicht zur Lockerung einzelner Zähne und sogar zum Verlust der gleichen führen kann. Nach neuesten Zahlen ist in Deutschland jeder zweite jüngere Erwachsene und sogar zwei von drei jüngeren Senioren von dieser Krankheit betroffen.1 Da es sich um eine entzündliche Erkrankung handelt, spielen Entzündungsmediatoren, sog. Zy-tokine, eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Pathogenese der Parodontitis.2 Einige Polymorphismen auf den Genabschnitten einzelner Zytokine wurden in zahlreichen Studien bezüglich ihres Ein-flusses auf das Erkrankungsrisiko für Parodontitis untersucht. Zu den Interleukinen 1 alpha (1α), 1 beta (1β), 4, 6, 8, 10 und 17 sowie zu dem Tumornekrosefaktor alpha (TNF-α) konnten viele Studien mit zum Teil widersprüchlichen Resultaten identifiziert werden. Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation wurde eine Metaanalyse aller bis zum 30.12.2016 auf PubMed publizierten Arbeiten zum IL-1α +4845G/T, IL-1α -889C/T, IL-1β +3954C/T, IL-1β -511C/T, IL-4 -590C/T, IL-6 -174G/C, IL-6 -572G/C, IL-8 +781C/T, IL-8 +396T/G, IL-8 -251A/T, IL-10 -592C/A, IL-10 -819C/T, IL-10 -1082A/G, IL-17 -197G/A, TNF-α -238G/A und TNF-α -308G/A Polymorphismus durchgeführt. Zu allen 16 Polymorphismen wurde jeweils zum do-minanten und rezessiven Modell die Odds Ratio (OR) und das 95%-Konfidenzintervall (95%-CI) berechnet. Die Ergebnisse der Analyse des IL-1β +3954C/T Polymorphismus deuten darauf hin, dass Per-sonen mit dem Genotyp TT sowie Träger des T-Allels ein erhöhtes Risiko besitzen, an Paro-dontitis zu erkranken. Weiterhin lassen die Resultate der Analyse des IL-10 -592C/A Polymor-phismus vermuten, dass wiederum Personen mit dem Genotyp AA sowie Träger des A-Allels häufiger an Parodontitis leiden. Zu den Polymorphismen IL-1α -889C/T, IL-6 -174G/C, IL-8 +781C/T, IL-8 +396T/G und TNF-α -238G/A wurden zum Teil signifikante Werte berechnet, jedoch konnten diese nur in Sensitivitätsanalysen generiert werden oder der Literaturbestand war nicht ausreichend, um ein aussagekräftiges Ergebnis zu erzielen. Bei den restlichen neun Polymorphismen konnte kein statistisch signifikanter Einfluss auf das Parodontitisrisiko nach-gewiesen werden.The periodontal disease describes the inflammatory degeneration of the tooth retaining appa-ratus, which can lead to a long-term relaxation of individual teeth and even to the loss of the same. According to the latest figures, in Germany every second younger adult and even two out of three younger seniors are affected by this disease.1 Since it is an inflammatory disease, inflammatory mediators, so-called cytokines, play a deci-sive role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease.2 Some polymorphisms on the gene sections of individual cytokines have been investigated in numerous studies regarding their influence on the disease risk for periodontal disease. The interleukins 1 alpha (1α), 1 beta (1β), 4, 6, 8, 10 and 17 as well as the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) could be identified in many studies with partly contradictory results. In this thesis, there is shown a meta-analysis of all publications on PubMed until 30.12.2016 about the IL-1α +4845G/T, IL-1α -889C/T, IL-1β +3954C/T, IL-1β -511C/T, IL-4 -590C/T, IL-6 -174G/C, IL-6 -572G/C, IL-8 +781C/T, IL-8 +396T/G, IL-8 -251A/T, IL-10 -592C/A, IL-10 -819C/T, IL-10 -1082A/G, IL-17 -197G/A, TNF-α -238G/A and TNF-α -308G/A polymor-phisms. For all 16 polymorphisms, the Odds Ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (95%-CI) were calculated for the dominant and recessive model. The results of the analysis of the IL-1β + 3954C/T polymorphism indicate that persons with the genotype TT as well as carriers of the T allele are at increased risk of developing periodontal disease. Furthermore, the results of the analysis of the IL-10 -592C/A polymorphism suggest that persons with the genotype AA as well as carriers of the A allele suffer more frequently from periodontitis. Some significant values were calculated for the polymorphisms IL-1α -889C/T, IL-6 -174G/C, IL-8 +781C/T, IL-8 +396T/G and TNF-α -238G/A are generated only in sensitivity analyzes or the literature stock was not sufficient to achieve a meaningful result. In the remaining nine polymorphisms, no statistically significant influence on the risk of peri-odontal disease could be demonstrated

Disentangling capabilities for industry 4.0 - an information systems capability perspective

Digital technologies revolutionise the manufacturing industry by connecting the physical and digital worlds. The resulting paradigm shift, referred to as Industry 4.0, impacts manufacturing processes and business models. While the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of Industry 4.0 have been extensively researched, the ‘how’ remains poorly understood. Manufacturers struggle with exploiting Industry 4.0’s full potential as a holistic understanding of required Information Systems (IS) capabilities is missing. To foster such understanding, we present a holistic IS capability framework for Industry 4.0, including primary and support capabilities. After developing the framework based on a structured literature review, we refined and evaluated it with ten Industry 4.0 experts from research and practice. We demonstrated its use with a German machinery manufacturer. In sum, we contribute to understanding and analysing IS capabilities for Industry 4.0. Our work serves as a foundation for further theorising on Industry 4.0 and for deriving theory-led design recommendations for manufacturers

The Currency of Wiki Articles – A Language Model-based Approach

Wikis are ubiquitous in organisational and private use and provide a wealth of textual data. Maintaining the currency of this textual data is important and difficult, requiring large manual efforts. Previous approaches from literature provide valuable contributions for assessing the currency of structured data or whole wiki articles but are unsuitable for textual wiki data like single sentences. Thus, we propose a novel approach supporting the assessment and improvement of the currency of textual wiki data in an automated manner. Grounded on a theoretical model, our approach makes use of data retrieved from recently published news articles and a language model to determine the currency of fact-based wiki sentences and suggest possible updates. Our evaluation conducted on 543 sentences from six wiki domains shows that the approach yields promising results with accuracies over 80% and thus is well-suited to support assessment and improvement of the currency of textual wiki data