The art of being human : a project for general philosophy of science

Throughout the medieval and modern periods, in various sacred and secular guises, the unification of all forms of knowledge under the rubric of ‘science’ has been taken as the prerogative of humanity as a species. However, as our sense of species privilege has been called increasingly into question, so too has the very salience of ‘humanity’ and ‘science’ as general categories, let alone ones that might bear some essential relationship to each other. After showing how the ascendant Stanford School in the philosophy of science has contributed to this joint demystification of ‘humanity’ and ‘science’, I proceed on a more positive note to a conceptual framework for making sense of science as the art of being human. My understanding of ‘science’ is indebted to the red thread that runs from Christian theology through the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment to the Humboldtian revival of the university as the site for the synthesis of knowledge as the culmination of self-development. Especially salient to this idea is science‘s epistemic capacity to manage modality (i.e. to determine the conditions under which possibilities can be actualised) and its political capacity to organize humanity into projects of universal concern. However, the challenge facing such an ideal in the twentyfirst century is that the predicate ‘human’ may be projected in three quite distinct ways, governed by what I call ‘ecological’, ‘biomedical’ and ‘cybernetic’ interests. Which one of these future humanities would claim today’s humans as proper ancestors and could these futures co-habit the same world thus become two important questions that general philosophy of science will need to address in the coming years

Energy Projects in Milton Keynes: Energy Consultative Unit Progress Report 1976-1981

The Energy Consultative Unit was a joint Open University/MKDC body set up by Professor Jake Chapman, founder of the OU Energy Research Group. This report describes the work carried out on energy-related projects in Milton Keynes over the period 1976-1981, many of them involving the Open University. After a short explanation of how energy is used in the UK, the report introduces the Energy Consultative Unit projects and summarises the main conclusions drawn from the Unit's work. It then describes the projects on which the Unit has worked and summarises other energy projects under way in the new city. It does not go into the projects in detail, but there are a number of technical reports available for people who want to study them in more depth, and these are listed in the back of the report. The projects represent the work of a considerable number of people and a list of acknowledgements, indicating who should be contacted for further information, is also set out at the back of the report

The genealogy of judgement: towards a deep history of academic freedom

The classical conception of academic freedom associated with Wilhelm von Humboldt and the rise of the modern university has a quite specific cultural foundation that centres on the controversial mental faculty of 'judgement'. This article traces the roots of 'judgement' back to the Protestant Reformation, through its heyday as the signature feature of German idealism, and to its gradual loss of salience as both a philosophical and a psychological concept. This trajectory has been accompanied by a general shrinking in the scope of academic freedom from the promulgation of world-views to the offering of expert opinion

SNAP 8 refractory boiler development program - Shell side hydraulic characteristics of a full scale SNAP 8 multiple tube model boiler Topical report no. 5

Shell side hydraulic characteristics of full-scale SNAP 8 multiple-tube model boiler over turbulent Reynolds number from 18,000 to 38,00

Physical and chemical differentiation of the luminous star-forming region W49A - Results from the JCMT Spectral Legacy Survey

The massive and luminous star-forming region W49A is a well known Galactic candidate to probe the physical conditions and chemistry similar to those expected in external starburst galaxies. We aim to probe the physical and chemical structure of W49A on a spatial scale of ~0.8 pc based on the JCMT Spectral Legacy Survey, which covers the frequency range between 330 and 373 GHz. The wide 2x2 arcminutes field and the high spectral resolution of the HARP instrument on JCMT provides information on the spatial structure and kinematics of the cloud. For species where multiple transitions are available, we estimate excitation temperatures and column densities. We detected 255 transitions corresponding to 60 species in the 330-373 GHz range at the center position of W49A. Excitation conditions can be probed for 16 molecules. The chemical composition suggests the importance of shock-, PDR-, and hot core chemistry. Many molecular lines show a significant spatial extent across the maps including high density tracers (e.g. HCN, HNC, CS, HCO+) and tracers of UV-irradiation (e.g. CN and C2H). Large variations are seen between the sub-regions with mostly blue-shifted emission toward the Eastern tail, mostly red-shifted emission toward the Northern clump, and emission peaking around the expected source velocity toward the South-west clump. A comparison of column density ratios of characteristic species observed toward W49A to Galactic PDRs suggests that while the chemistry toward the W49A center is driven by a combination of UV-irradiation and shocks, UV-irradiation dominates for the Northern Clump, Eastern tail, and South-west clump regions. A comparison to a starburst galaxy and an AGN suggests similar C2H, CN, and H2CO abundances (with respect to the dense gas tracer 34CS) between the ~0.8 pc scale probed for W49A and the >1 kpc regions in external galaxies with global star-formation.Comment: Proposed for acceptance in A&A, abstract abridge

The effects of day and night temperature on Chrysanthemum morifolium: investigating the safe limits for temperature integration

The impact of day and night temperatures on pot chrysanthemum (cultivars ‘Covington’ and ‘Irvine’) was assessed by exposing cuttings, stuck in weeks 39, 44, and 49, to different temperature regimes in short-days. Glasshouse heating setpoints of 12°, 15°, 18°, and 21°C, were used during the day, with venting at 2°C above these set-points. Night temperatures were then automatically manipulated to ensure that all of the treatments achieved similar mean diurnal temperatures. Plants were grown according to commercial practice and the experiment was repeated over 2 years. Increasing the day temperature from approx. 19°C to 21°C, and compensating by reducing the night temperature, did not have a significant impact on flowering time, although plant height was increased.This suggests that a temperature integration strategy which involves higher vent temperatures, and exploiting solar gain to give higher than normal day temperatures, should have minimal impact on crop scheduling. However, lowering the day-time temperature to approx. 16°C, and compensating with a warmer night, delayed flowering by up to 2 weeks. Therefore, a strategy whereby, in Winter, more heat is added at night under a thermally-efficient blackout screen may result in flowering delays.Transfers between the temperature regimes showed that the flowering delays were proportional to the amount of time spent in a low day-time temperature regime. Plants flowered at the same time, irrespective of whether they were transferred on a 1-, 2-, or 4-week cycle

The Masers Towards IRAS 20126+4104

We present MERLIN observations of OH, water and methanol masers towards the young high mass stellar object IRAS 20126+4104. Emission from the 1665-MHz OH, 22-GHz H_2O and 6.7-GHz CH_3OH masers is detected and all originates very close to the central source. The OH and methanol masers appear to trace part of the circumstellar disk around the central source. The positions and velocities of the OH and methanol masers are consistent with Keplerian rotation around a central mass of ~ 5 Msun. The water masers are offset from the OH and methanol masers and have significantly changed since they were last observed, but still appear to be associated to the outflow from the source. All the OH masers components are circularly polarised, in some cases reaching 100 percent while some OH components also have linear polarisation. We identify one Zeeman pair of OH masers and the splitting of this pair indicates a magnetic field of strength ~ 11 mG within ~ 0.5" (850 AU) of the central source. The OH and methanol maser emission suggest that the disk material is dense, n > 10^6 cm^-3, and warm, T > 125 K and the high abundance of methanol required by the maser emission is consistent with the evaporation of the mantles on dust grains in the disk as a result of heating or shocking of the disk materialComment: 9 pages, 7 figures and 6 table

Self-consistent modelling of the polar thermosphere and ionosphere to magnetospheric convection and precipitation (invited review)

It has recently been demonstrated that the dramatic effects of plasma precipitation and convection on the composition and dynamics of the polar thermosphere and ionosphere include a number of strong interactive, or feedback, processes. To aid the evaluation of these feedback processes, a joint three dimensional time dependent global model of the Earth's thermosphere and ionosphere was developed in a collaboration between University College London and Sheffield University. This model includes self consistent coupling between the thermosphere and the ionosphere in the polar regions. Some of the major features in the polar ionosphere, which the initial simulations indicate are due to the strong coupling of ions and neutrals in the presence of strong electric fields and energetic electron precipitation are reviewed. The model is also able to simulate seasonal and Universal time variations in the polar thermosphere and ionospheric regions which are due to the variations of solar photoionization in specific geomagnetic regions such as the cusp and polar cap

A holistic approach to the evaluation of sustainable housing

Residential housing is often evaluated against single or at best a limited number of similar criteria. These include quantifiable indicators such as energy use and its associated greenhouse gas emissions. It might also include material consumption from an embodied energy or resource use perspective. Social factors or qualitative indicators may be evaluated but are rarely placed or juxtaposed alongside these quantifiable indicators. A one-dimensional approach will be limiting because sustainable development includes both environmental and social factors. This paper describes the methodologies that have been developed to assess housing developments against five quite different criteria. These are: energy use, resource use, neighbourhood character, neighbourhood connectedness and diversity. In each case, high and low sustainability practice has been identified so that ranking is possible. These methodologies have then been tested by evaluating a typical precinct (approximately 400 m by 400 m) of a 1970-80s housing development in a suburb of Geelong. The rankings of the particular precinct have then been combined in a visual way to assist in the evaluation of the housing in a more holistic way. The results of this evaluation method are presented, along with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodologies. The research is the outcome of collaboration by a cross-disciplinary group of academics within Deakin’s School of Architecture and Building

Direct Detection of a (Proto)Binary-Disk System in IRAS 20126+4104

We report the direct detection of a binary/disk system towards the high-mass (proto)stellar object IRAS20126+4104 at infrared wavengths. The presence of a multiple system had been indicated by the precession of the outflow and the double jet system detected earlier at cm-wavelengths. Our new K, L' & M' band infrared images obtained with the UKIRT under exceptional seeing conditions on Mauna Kea are able to resolve the central source for the first time, and we identify two objects separated by ~ 0.5'' (850 AU). The K and L' images also uncover features characteristic of a nearly edge-on disk, similar to many low mass protostars with disks: two emission regions oriented along an outflow axis and separated by a dark lane. The peaks of the L' & M' band and mm-wavelength emission are on the dark lane, presumably locating the primary young star. The thickness of the disk is measured to be ~ 850 AU for radii < 1000 AU. Approximate limits on the NIR magnitudes of the two young stars indicate a high-mass system, although with much uncertainty. These results are a demonstration of the high-mass nature of the system, and the similarities of the star-formation process in the low-mass and high-mass regimes viz. the presence of a disk-accretion stage. The companion is located along the dark lane, consistent with it being in the equatorial/disk plane, indicating a disk-accretion setting for massive, multiple, star-formation.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures (1 pseudo colour), 1 table; colour figure replaced with jpg file; to be published in ApJL; (back after temoprary withdrawal due to non-scientific reasons.