Science versus the Humanities: Hyman on Wollhein on Depiction

I criticize John Hyman’s criticism of Richard Wollheim’s account of depiction or pictorial representation. The underlying issue appears to be fundamental: do we go with Hyman’s account of the essence of depiction as straightforwardly geometrical, or do we agree with Wollheim that depiction must be understood as proceeding through the human mind

On the Consistency of Approximate Maximizing Estimator Sequences in the Case of Quasiconcave Functions

This paper demonstrates consistency for estimators obtained by approximately maximizing a sequence of stochastic quasiconcave functions on RP that converges in probability pointwise to a non-stochastic function. In the scalar parameter case all that is necessary for consistency is that the parameter value of interest is a unique maximizer of the limiting function. However, in the vector parameter case certain further conditions on the limiting function are necessary to establish consistency. The paper also discusses the relation of these results to existing results on the consistency of estimators obtained by approximately maximizing concave functions and to the concepts of hypoconvergence and epiconvergence.

Acute oxygen sensing: diverse but convergent mechanisms in airway and arterial chemoreceptors

Airway neuroepithelial bodies sense changes in inspired O2, whereas arterial O2 levels are monitored primarily by the carotid body. Both respond to hypoxia by initiating corrective cardiorespiratory reflexes, thereby optimising gas exchange in the face of a potentially deleterious O2 supply. One unifying theme underpinning chemotransduction in these tissues is K+ channel inhibition. However, the transduction components, from O2 sensor to K+ channel, display considerable tissue specificity yet result in analogous end points. Here we highlight how emerging data are contributing to a more complete understanding of O2 chemosensing at the molecular level

Gel Estimation and Inference with Non-Smooth Moment Indicators and Dynamic Data

In this paper we demonstrate consistency and asymptotic normality for Generalized Empirical Likelihood (GEL) estimation in dynamic models when the moment indicators being used are the non-differentiable functions of the parameters of interest.