<i>Not</i> Wanted: On Scharp's Solution to the Liar

Kevin Scharp argues that the concept of truth is defective, and is therefore unable to play its intended role in natural language truth-conditional semantics. As such, for this theoretical purpose, Scharp constructs two replacements: ascending truth and descending truth. Scharp applies the resultant theory, AD semantics, to the liar sentence, thereby obtaining a novel solution to the liar paradox. The aim of the present paper is fourfold. First, I show that, contrary to Scharp’s claims, AD semantics in fact yields an inconsistency when applied to standard liar sentences. Second, I diagnose the problem: AD semantics mishandles negation. I propose an alternative treatment, resulting in what I call AD* semantics. Third, I show that AD* semantics gives Scharp the resources required to respond to an alleged revenge paradox that has been raised against his view. Finally, I argue that, these consequences notwithstanding, it remains unclear whether AD* semantics provides an adequate account of alethic paradoxes more generally

Weighted Blankets and Sleep Quality in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Single-Subject Design

Purpose: The purpose of the single-subject study was to explore the possible relationship between weighted blanket applications and sleep quality in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and behavioral manifestations of sensory processing deficits. Method: Two 4-year-old participants diagnosed with ASD who also experienced sleep disturbances took part in a single-subject design study. Objective sleep measures and caregiver surveys were tracked for a baseline period of 7 days followed by a 14-day weighted blanket intervention and a 7-day withdrawal phase. Results: Caregiver reports and objective data were evaluated using visual analysis and the percentage of non-overlapping data methods. The results suggest minimal changes in sleep patterns because of the weighted blanket intervention. Findings included using a weighted blanket intervention enhanced morning mood after night use and a significantly decreased time to fall asleep for one participant. Conclusion: The converging evidence from a small but growing literature base indicates that weighted blankets may not strongly influence sleep quality in some children with ASD and sensory processing deficits who demonstrate increased sleep disturbances. Future directions include studies replicating the single-subject design with increased participants and updated outcome measures

Pancreatic Islet Transplantation

Islet transplantation offers hope to many patients with diabetes, who envision a life free of glucose checks and insulin injections. What are the barriers to its widespread implementation

Scharp on inconsistent concepts and their engineered replacements, or: Can we mend these broken things?

Kevin Scharp’s influential work on the alethic paradoxes combines an extensively developed inconsistency theory with a substantial conceptual engineering project. I argue that Scharp’s inconsistency theory is in tension with his conceptual engineering project: the inconsistency theory includes an account of concepts that implies that the conceptual engineering project will fail. I recommend that Scharp revises his account of concepts, and show how doing so allows him to resolve the tension. The discussion is important for ongoing work on conceptual engineering. Firstly, it is important to get clear on whether Scharp’s conceptual engineering project is—or could be—successful. Secondly, the issues discussed herein may generalise to other conceptual engineering projects, such as explication and ameliorative projects. In particular, the discussion has implications for how conceptual engineers can think about concepts and their relation to how we use words

How to find an attractive solution to the liar paradox

The general thesis of this paper is that metasemantic theories can play a central role in determining the correct solution to the liar paradox. I argue for the thesis by providing a specific example. I show how Lewis’s reference-magnetic metasemantic theory may decide between two of the most influential solutions to the liar paradox: Kripke’s minimal fixed point theory of truth and Gupta and Belnap’s revision theory of truth. In particular, I suggest that Lewis’s metasemantic theory favours Kripke’s solution to the paradox over Gupta and Belnap’s. I then sketch how other standard criteria for assessing solutions to the liar paradox, such as whether a solution faces a so-called revenge paradox, fit into this picture. While the discussion of the specific example is itself important, the underlying lesson is that we have an unused strategy for resolving one of the hardest problems in philosophy

Right Hemisphere Damage and Theory of Mind Deficit: A Deficit in the Theory?

This study assessed whether right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) adults’ deficits in processing alternative meanings of lexical ambiguities would extend to semantic feature representations of unambiguous lexical items. If so, RHD deficit was expected to affect only activation/deactivation for subordinate features that are incompatible with the most common representations of unambiguous words (e.g., ‘rotten’ for ‘apple’). Contrary to predictions, neither RHD nor control participants evidenced a change in activation over time for this type of subordinate features. Continued research on RHD adults’ communicative strengths and weaknesses will have future implications for clinical assessment and management

Generalization of a Novel, Implicit Treatment for Coarse Coding Deficit

The language comprehension deficits in adults with focal right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) can cause considerable social handicap. To date, however, treatment for language deficits in this population remains almost entirely untested. This abstract reports a single-subject experimental design study, performed to investigate whether Contextual Constraint Treatment -- a novel, implicit, stimulation-facilitation treatment for language comprehension processes -- can yield generalized gains to broader measures of language comprehension in adults with RHD. The focus of Contextual Constraint Treatment (CCT) is motivated by two major accounts of common language comprehension problems in adults with RHD: coarse coding and suppression deficits. The patient in this study had a coarse coding (CC) deficit, so we describe here only the CC version of the treatment. CC processes activate wide-ranging aspects of word meaning independent of the surrounding context, and CC deficits in adults with RHD impair the processing of distant meanings or features of words (e.g., “rotten” as a feature of “apple”)1. CC is a partially domain-general language comprehension process. That is, CC ability predicts aspects of discourse comprehension, is hypothesized to underpin figurative language comprehension, and is involved in processing phrasal metaphors2. Thus, treatment that improves CC processes has the potential to generalize to a range of communicative outcomes. CCT is novel in aiming to facilitate comprehension processes implicitly, through contextual prestimulation. This approach contrasts with the majority of treatments for neurologically-based cognitive-linguistic disorders, which are direct, explicit, and/or metalinguistic. We implemented this approach to avoid confounding treatment of impaired processes with irrelevant, and potentially difficult, task demands, as adults with RHD who can perform well on implicit assessments of language processing often have difficulty with metalinguistic assessments of the same processing operations2

Implicit Treatment of Underlying Comprehension Processes Improves Narrative Comprehension in Right Hemisphere Brain Damage

Language comprehension deficits in adults with focal right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) can cause considerable social handicap. To date, however, treatment for these deficits remains almost entirely untested. This abstract reports an investigation of whether Contextual Constraint Treatment (CCT) -- a novel, implicit, stimulation-facilitation treatment for language comprehension processes1,2 -- can yield generalized gains to measures of discourse comprehension in adults with RHD. The focus of CCT is motivated by two major accounts of typical RHD language comprehension problems: that they are due to coarse coding or suppression deficits. Coarse coding (CC) activates wide-ranging aspects of word meaning independent of surrounding context. In RHD, CC deficits impair processing of distant meanings/features of words (e.g., “rotten” as a feature of “apple”)3. A normal suppression (SUPP) process reduces mental activation of concepts that become less relevant to a current context. RHD SUPP impairment is indexed by prolonged processing interference from contextually-inappropriate interpretations (e.g., the “ink” meaning of the word “pen,” in the sentence “He built a pen”)4,5. CC and SUPP are partially domain-general language comprehension processes. For example, both predict aspects of discourse comprehension and are hypothesized to underpin figurative language comprehension; SUPP is important for resolving lexical and inferential ambiguities; and CC is involved in processing both literal lexical items and phrasal metaphors1,2,6. Thus, treatment that improves CC and SUPP processes may hold promise for improving a broad range of communicative outcomes. CCT is novel in aiming to facilitate comprehension processes implicitly, through contextual prestimulation. Adults with RHD who perform well on implicit assessments of language processing often have difficulty on metalinguistic assessments of the same operations2. Thus we implemented this approach to avoid confounding treatment of impaired processes with irrelevant, and potentially difficult, task demands

Culturing Pancreatic Islets in Microfluidic Flow Enhances Morphology of the Associated Endothelial Cells

Pancreatic islets are heavily vascularized in vivo with each insulin secreting beta-cell associated with at least one endothelial cell (EC). This structure is maintained immediately post-isolation; however, in culture the ECs slowly deteriorate, losing density and branched morphology. We postulate that this deterioration occurs in the absence of blood flow due to limited diffusion of media inside the tissue. To improve exchange of media inside the tissue, we created a microfluidic device to culture islets in a range of flow-rates. Culturing the islets from C57BL6 mice in this device with media flowing between 1 and 7 ml/24 hr resulted in twice the EC-density and -connected length compared to classically cultured islets. Media containing fluorescent dextran reached the center of islets in the device in a flow-rate-dependant manner consistent with improved penetration. We also observed deterioration of EC morphology using serum free media that was rescued by addition of bovine serum albumin, a known anti-apoptotic signal with limited diffusion in tissue. We further examined the effect of flow on beta-cells showing dampened glucose-stimulated Ca2+-response from cells at the periphery of the islet where fluid shear-stress is greatest. However, we observed normal two-photon NAD(P)H response and insulin secretion from the remainder of the islet. These data reveal the deterioration of islet EC-morphology is in part due to restricted diffusion of serum albumin within the tissue. These data further reveal microfluidic devices as unique platforms to optimize islet culture by introducing intercellular flow to overcome the restricted diffusion of media components

Enumeration of islets by nuclei counting and light microscopic analysis

Author Manuscript 2011 May 1.Islet enumeration in impure preparations by conventional dithizone staining and visual counting is inaccurate and operator dependent. We examined nuclei counting for measuring the total number of cells in islet preparations, and we combined it with morphological analysis by light microscopy (LM) for estimating the volume fraction of islets in impure preparations. Cells and islets were disrupted with lysis solution and shear, and accuracy of counting successively diluted nuclei suspensions was verified with (1) visual counting in a hemocytometer after staining with crystal violet, and automatic counting by (2) aperture electrical resistance measurement and (3) flow cytometer measurement after staining with 7-aminoactinomycin-D. DNA content averaged 6.5 and 6.9 pg of DNA per cell for rat and human islets, respectively, in agreement with literature estimates. With pure rat islet preparations, precision improved with increasing counts, and samples with about greater than or equal to 160 islets provided a coefficient of variation of about 6%. Aliquots of human islet preparations were processed for LM analysis by stereological point counting. Total nuclei counts and islet volume fraction from LM analysis were combined to obtain the number of islet equivalents (IEs). Total number of IE by the standard method of dithizone staining/manual counting was overestimated by about 90% compared with LM/nuclei counting for 12 freshly isolated human islet research preparations. Nuclei counting combined with islet volume fraction measurements from LM is a novel method for achieving accurate islet enumeration.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant NCRR ICR U4Z 16606)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01-DK063108-01A1)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant NCRR ICR U42 RR0023244-01)Joslin Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center (Grant DK36836)Diabetes Research & Wellness FoundationJuvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (Islet Transplantation, Harvard Medical School