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

Combine harvesters in Missouri

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references

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

Array-based Identification of Copy Number Changes in a Diagnostic Setting : Simultaneous gene-focused and low resolution whole human genome analysis

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) array that would allow simultaneous targeted analysis of a panel of disease genes and low resolution whole genome analysis. Methods: A bespoke Roche NimbleGen 12x135K CGH array (Roche NimbleGen Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA) was designed to interrogate the coding regions of 66 genes of interest, with additional widelyspaced backbone probes providing coverage across the whole genome. We analysed genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from 20 patients with a range of previously characterised copy number changes and from 8 patients who had not previously undergone any form of dosage analysis. Results: The custom-designed Roche NimbleGen CGH array was able to detect known copy number changes in all 20 patients. A molecular diagnosis was also made for one of the additional 4 patients with a clinical diagnosis that had not been confirmed by sequence analysis, and carrier testing for familial copy number variants was successfully completed for the remaining four patients. Conclusion: The custom-designed CGH array described here is ideally suited for use in a small diagnostic laboratory. The method is robust, accurate, and cost-effective, and offers an ideal alternative to more conventional targeted assays such as multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification

Can majority support save an endangered language? A case study of language attitudes in Guernsey

Many studies of minority language revitalisation focus on the attitudes and perceptions of minorities, but not on those of majority group members. This paper discusses the implications of these issues, and presents research into majority andf minority attitudes towards the endangered indigenous vernacular of Guernsey, Channel Islands. The research used a multi-method approach (questionnaire and interview) to obtain attitudinal data from a representative sample of the population that included politicians and civil servants (209 participants). The findings suggested a shift in language ideology away from the post-second world war ‘culture of modernisation’ and monolingual ideal, towards recognition of the value of a bi/trilingual linguistic heritage. Public opinion in Guernsey now seems to support the maintenance of the indigenous language variety, which has led to a degree of official support. The paper then discusses to what extent this ‘attitude shift’ is reflected in linguistic behaviour and in concrete language planning measures

Reasons, Coherence, and Group Rationality

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, EarlyView

Report of the GDR working group on the R-parity violation

This report summarizes the work of the "R-parity violation group" of the French Research Network (GDR) in Supersymmetry, concerning the physics of supersymmetric models without conservation of R-parity at HERA, LEP, Tevatron and LHC and limits on R-parity violating couplings from various processes. The report includes a discussion of the recent searches at the HERA experiment, prospects for new experiments, a review of the existing limits, and also theoretically motivated alternatives to R-parity and a brief discussion on the implications of R-parity violation on the neutrino masses.Comment: 60 pages, LaTeX, 22 figures, 2 table