Bunge’s Mathematical Structuralism Is Not a Fiction

In this paper, I explore Bunge’s fictionism in philosophy of mathematics. After an overview of Bunge’s views, in particular his mathematical structuralism, I argue that the comparison between mathematical objects and fictions ultimately fails. I then sketch a different ontology for mathematics, based on Thomasson’s metaphysical work. I conclude that mathematics deserves its own ontology, and that, in the end, much work remains to be done to clarify the various forms of dependence that are involved in mathematical knowledge, in particular its dependence on mental/brain states and material objects

Facilitating Higher Levels of Thinking and Deeper Cognitive Processing of Course Texts Using Reciprocal Teaching Strategies in Asynchronous Discussion Forums

Reciprocal teaching is an interactive instructional procedure that improves students’ text comprehension skills through instruction that utilizes scaffolds of four comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing (Palincsar & Brown, 1984, 1986; Palincsar, Brown, & Martin, 1987). Reciprocal teaching involves student-led instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback in metacognitive self-monitoring and evaluating strategies (Brown, Campione, & Day, 1981). The purpose of this study was to determine the potential of reciprocal teaching to facilitate deeper cognitive processing and higher levels of thinking related to course texts in an online, asynchronous community college course. The strategies and peer teaching were incorporated into discussion forums for dialogue, strategy use, and peer teaching. Studies have shown that purposefully designed interactions can lead to improved learning in distance courses. According to Borokhovski, Tamim, Bernard, Abrami, and Sokolovskaya (2012), designed interaction treatments include intentionally implemented collaborative instructional conditions for increasing student learning. In this study, reciprocal teaching provided student-student, student-teacher, and student-content interaction and supported the negotiation of meaning in a social learning atmosphere. Peer teaching resulted in generative processing through the reworking of a topic from the textbook into a lesson and questions for peers (Collins et al., 1989; King, 1991; Pressley et al., 1992; Rosenshine et al., 1996; Wood et al., 1990). Quasi-experimental, multiple methods were employed to compare the effects of traditional discussions and reciprocal teaching discussions. A convenience sample of two sections of the same community college course was studied over 16 weeks. Outcome variables were level of thinking, understanding of course texts, online reciprocal teaching implementation, and students’ reflections on the relationship between discussions, strategies, and learning. Results indicated that reciprocal strategies promoted significantly higher levels of thinking and deeper processing of course texts compared to traditional methods. The study found that reciprocal teaching could successfully be incorporated into the online format providing a space for students to use generative learning strategies and social negotiation to actively engage in discussions about their reading (Palincsar, 1998; Wittrock, 1990)

New Zealand farm structure change and intensification

This report presents information about the numbers of farms in New Zealand. The different sources providing such data report very different figures and trends over time, but they all seem to indicate an overall trend of decrease in total farm numbers over the last decades, which appears to be due mainly to a decrease in the numbers of grazing and fattening farms and in the number of arable farms. The distribution of farms by size range over time shows an increase in the proportion of both the smallest and the largest ones, at the expense of the midsized categories. However, different trends can be observed depending on the farm type. The report then explores the change in livestock numbers over time. Thus, during the last 20 years, the main trends consist in an overall decrease in sheep and beef numbers, while dairy and deer numbers increased. To conclude, the report deals with the question of intensification in New Zealand farming systems. It underlines the increase in numbers of cows per hectare and production per cow in the dairy sector, and the increase in lambing rates and carcase weights in the sheep and beef sector. These changes can be linked to the increasing expenditure in agricultural research and development as well as the increasing use of services such as herd testing. Also reported is the growing use of fertilisers in New Zealand agriculture

Molecular Analysis of a Case of Thanatophoric Dysplasia Reveals Two de novo FGFR3 Missense Mutations located in cis

Objectives: Thanatophoric dysplasia (TD) is the most common form of lethal skeletal dysplasia. It is primarily an autosomal dominant disorder and is characterised by macrocephaly, a narrow thorax, short ribs, brachydactyly, and hypotonia. In addition to these core phenotypic features, TD type I involves micromelia with bowed femurs, while TD type II is characterised by micromelia with straight femurs and a moderate to severe clover-leaf deformity of the skull. Mutations in the FGFR3 gene are responsible for all cases of TD reported to date. The objective of the study here was to delineate further the mutational spectrum responsible for TD. Methods: Conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), allele-specific PCR, and sequence analysis were used to identify FGFR3 gene mutations in a fetus with a lethal skeletal dysplasia consistent with TD, which was detected during a routine antenatal ultrasound examination. Results: In this report we describe the identification of two de novo missense mutations in cis in the FGFR3 gene (p.Asn540Lys and p.Val555Met) in a fetus displaying phenotypic features consistent with TD. Conclusion: This is the second description of a case of TD occurring as a result of double missense FGFR3 gene mutations, suggesting that the spectrum of mutations involved in the pathogenesis of TD may be broader than previously recognised

Nietzsche\u27s Theory of Cognition: An Interpretation and Defense of Perspectivism

Friedrich Nietzsche has long been recognized as a pivotal thinker in the history of moral philosophy, but until the last quarter century his importance for our understanding of the concepts of truth and knowledge had been largely ignored in English-language scholarship. In my dissertation, I add to the growing discussion on Nietzsche\u27s theory of human cognition. While more attention has recently been given to this dimension of Nietzsche\u27s thought, several key aspects have been largely ignored or insufficiently treated including the effects that the ethical or evaluative domain have on the way we cognize the world, the role that radical skepticism plays in motivating Nietzsche\u27s theory, and the connections between Nietzsche\u27s views on cognition and his larger philosophical project. What is distinctive about my project is the connection I draw between Nietzsche\u27s critique of the unconditional will to truth in On the Genealogy of Morals and Beyond Good and Evil and his treatments of epistemological issues. Without understanding this connection, one cannot understand how Nietzsche\u27s distinctive positions on truth, knowledge, and cognition relate his overall project. My dissertation sets out to answer four main questions regarding Nietzsche\u27s theory of cognition, each question corresponding to a chapter of the completed work. In Chapter One I ask what the relationship is between Nietzsche\u27s views on truth, knowledge, and cognition and his larger philosophical project of overcoming nihilism. Here I argue that Nietzsche\u27s views on cognition follow directly from his analysis of the nihilism of post-Christian Europe and that his project of overcoming that nihilism requires a complete revaluation of human knowing. Chapter Two asks what Nietzsche\u27s relationship is with skepticism and to what extent can Nietzsche be labeled a skeptic. I show that Nietzsche can be squarely placed in the skeptical tradition in philosophy that includes the Ancient Greek skeptics and the modern heuristic skeptic, Descartes. Nietzsche, however, rejects Descartes attempts to escape radical skepticism, and so can be properly labeled a radical skeptic himself. The next chapter asks what Nietzsche\u27s model is for how human cognition functions given that it is not designed to aim for truth (as it is traditionally understood, i.e. correspondence). I explore the ways that his favored metaphors of textual interpretation and optical perspective function in elucidating what goes on when we think, highlighting these metaphors strengths and weaknesses. I ultimately conclude that cognition is a practical endeavor with theoretical objects, leading Nietzsche to reject the Kantian distinction between the practical and theoretical employments of reason. Finally I ask, given Nietzsche\u27s model of how human cognition functions, how should we evaluate competing knowledge claims between individuals? It has been argued that Nietzsche\u27s pespectivism leads to an unacceptable global relativism regarding, if not truth, then at least epistemic justification. I argue that Nietzsche does not need to abandon the most radical of his conclusions, and he can still account for how and why some positions on theoretical and philosophical matters are better than others, and so an unacceptable anything goes kind of relativism does not follow from his views. After answering these four main questions regarding Nietzsche\u27s views on truth, knowledge, and cognition, I look at how a metaphysics is possible for Nietzsche given his skepticism. I argue that one of the ways a philosopher can create the conditions for overcoming nihilism and affirming life is to create a metaphysics that is both ruthlessly honest to one\u27s cognitive commitments and an artistically creative outpouring of one\u27s abundant, healthy drives. I show in this final chapter how a metaphysics that is self-aware of its epistemic limitations fits into some of the contemporary interpretations of Nietzsche\u27s positive project

Incorporating Ambipolar and Ohmic Diffusion in the AMR MHD code RAMSES

We have implemented non-ideal Magneto-Hydrodynamics (MHD) effects in the Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) code RAMSES, namely ambipolar diffusion and Ohmic dissipation, as additional source terms in the ideal MHD equations. We describe in details how we have discretized these terms using the adaptive Cartesian mesh, and how the time step is diminished with respect to the ideal case, in order to perform a stable time integration. We have performed a large suite of test runs, featuring the Barenblatt diffusion test, the Ohmic diffusion test, the C-shock test and the Alfven wave test. For the latter, we have performed a careful truncation error analysis to estimate the magnitude of the numerical diffusion induced by our Godunov scheme, allowing us to estimate the spatial resolution that is required to address non-ideal MHD effects reliably. We show that our scheme is second-order accurate, and is therefore ideally suited to study non-ideal MHD effects in the context of star formation and molecular cloud dynamics

Combine harvesters in Missouri

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references

Availability analysis of post-combustion carbon capture systems: minimum work input

Published versio

Corn tillage studies on rolling Putnam silt loam

Cover title

How to Resolve an Ethical Dilemma Concerning Randomized Clinical Trials

An apparent ethical dilemma arises when physicians consider enrolling their patients in randomized clinical trials. Suppose that a randomized clinical trial comparing two treatments is in progress, and a physician has an opinion about which treatment is better. The physician has a duty to promote the patient's best medical interests and therefore seems to be obliged to advise the patient to receive the treatment that the physician prefers. This duty creates a barrier to the enrollment of patients in randomized clinical trials.1-10 Two strategies are often used to resolve the dilemma in favor of enrolling patients in clinical trials