Corrupting Effectiveness: Utilitarianism and Moral Impartiality toward Future Persons in Pragmatic Evaluation of Altruistic Interventions.

In recent years billions of philanthropic dollars have been deployed through a movement and philosophy known as Effective Altruism, notably through the organizations Open Philanthropy, GiveWell, Good Ventures, and the over 3,200 persons taking the ‘Giving What We Can’ pledge to limit their personal income and donate the remainder to charity. Effective Altruism, or EA, explicitly aims to ‘use evidence and reasoning to determine the most effective ways to benefit others.’ Within the EA community there are competing viewpoints on how to evaluate effectiveness, which forms of evidence and reasoning are best, and several leading philosophers with their own adherents and value systems. The discussions surrounding the employment of these viewpoints can grow heated, with one commenter complaining that ‘Effective Altruism markets itself as being centered on addressing global poverty, when in fact it is centered on manipulating people into believing in the imaginary AI doomsday.’ This complaint highlights a major schism within EA. On one side is the empirical evaluation of existing altruistic interventions according to their own internal justifications - the attempts to judge the most effective way to solve current issues like global poverty, using hard data and statistics. On the other side is the a logically based rationalist effort to determine undervalued new interventions, bring them appropriate funding, and potentially solve issues which are ignored by mainstream altruism. From within the community, these two parts of the current EA community are often considered two sides of the same coin. Extrapolations of techniques used to evaluate current interventions often provide the justification for attempting new interventions, and can highlight areas worth a closer examination or the allocation of more funding. Over time, a single paradigm has come to dominate many of these extrapolations, leading to the complaint above. Nicholas Beckstead, a program officer at Open Philanthropy, laid out the argument underpinning this paradigm in a 2013 doctoral thesis titled ‘On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future.’ The argument in this thesis, which we will call the Far Future Trillions Argument (FFTA), is central to many of the most heated discussions in how to best employ the billions of dollars of the Effective Altruism. After careful consideration it is our reasoned opinion that the Far Future Trillions Argument and its resulting recommendations, while internally coherent and defensible, are not within the remit of a movement characterized by the use of evidence in determining the effectiveness of altruistic interventions. This overall conclusion is based on seven separate arguments. The first argument is based on empirical evaluation of foreign aid interventions, and concludes that characteristics of the FFTA are inimical to effective interventions. Our second and third arguments conclude that the FFTA lacks certain characteristics of pragmatic models, and requires empirically fallacious methodological assumptions to connect far future outcomes with present interventions. Fourth and fifth, we argue that the purely rationalist, philosophical nature of the FFTA divorces it from evidence in a way that inherently foils the determination of the effectiveness of interventions based upon it. Our sixth and seventh arguments take issue with the ongoing privileged employ of the version of utilitarianism and moral impartiality toward future persons used in the FFTA and its offshoot justifications, asserting that the inclusion of a full and wider scope of normative justifications is necessary for pragmatic modeling

Aging the oldest turtles: the placodont affinities of Priscochelys hegnabrunnensis

Priscochelys hegnabrunnensis, a fragmentary piece of armour shell from the Muschelkalk of Germany (Upper Triassic) with few diagnostic morphological features, was recently proposed to represent the oldest known stem turtle. As such, the specimen is of high importance because it shifts the date of the first appearance of turtles back about 20Ma, which equals about 10% of the total stratigraphic range of the group. In this paper, I present new morphologic, histologic and neutron tomographic (NT) data that relate to the microstructure of the bone of the specimen itself. In opposition to the previous morphologic descriptions, P. hegnabrunnensis was found to share several distinctive features (i.e. bone sutures congruent with scute sulci, absence of a diploe structure with interior cancellous bone, thin vascular canals radiating outwards from distinct centres in each field and rugose ventral bone surface texture consisting of mineralised fibre bundles) with cyamodontoid placodonts (Diapsida: Sauropterygia) and fewer with stem turtles (i.e. depth of sulci). Two aspects that were previously thought to be relevant for the assignment to the turtle stem (conical scutes and presence of foramina) are argued to be of dubious value. P. hegnabrunnensis is proposed to represent a fragmentary piece of cyamodontoid armour consisting of fused conical plates herein. The specimen is not a part of the turtle stem and thus does not represent the oldest turtle. Accordingly, P. hegnabrunnensis does not shorten the ghost lineage to the potential sister group of turtle

Specialized Named Entity Recognition For Breast Cancer Subtyping

The amount of data and analysis being published and archived in the biomedical research community is more than can feasibly be sifted through manually, which limits the information an individual or small group can synthesize and integrate into their own research. This presents an opportunity for using automated methods, including Natural Language Processing (NLP), to extract important information from text on various topics. Named Entity Recognition (NER), is one way to automate knowledge extraction of raw text. NER is defined as the task of identifying named entities from text using labels such as people, dates, locations, diseases, and proteins. There are several NLP tools that are designed for entity recognition, but rely on large established corpus for training data. Biomedical research has the potential to guide diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, yet the overwhelming density of publications acts as a barrier to getting these results into a clinical setting. An exceptional example of this is the field of breast cancer biology where over 2 million people are diagnosed worldwide every year and billions of dollars are spent on research. Breast cancer biology literature and research relies on a highly specific domain with unique language and vocabulary, and therefore requires specialized NLP tools which can generate biologically meaningful results. This thesis presents a novel annotation tool, that is optimized for quickly creating training data for spaCy pipelines as well as exploring the viability of said data for analyzing papers with automated processing. Custom pipelines trained on these annotations are shown to be able to recognize custom entities at levels comparable to large corpus based recognition

Comparative bone histology of the turtle shell (carapace and plastron) : implications for turtle systematics, functional morphology and turtle origins

The bone histology of the turtle shell is valuable for addressing osteoderm and shell formation, reconstruction of fossil integumentary soft-tissue structures, phylogenetic hypotheses and functional aspects of the turtle shell, with both carapace and plastron showing similar results. Besides intrinsic physiological factors, the shell bones are proposed to be influenced by a mosaic of phylogenetic and functional factors influencing the microstructural properties. The ratio between phylogenetic and functional constraints is highly variable among the major turtle groups, and only where functional aspects are less dominant, phylogenetic signals can be deduced from the bone histology. The bone histology can thus be used to verify existing intra-specific phylogenetic (e.g., morphological, molecular and serologic) hypotheses among turtles. Groups that are well defined by bone histological characters are Bothremydidae, Pleurosternidae, Chelydridae, Plesiochelyidae and Thalassemydidae, Dermochelyidae, Dermatemydidae, Carettochelyidae and Trionychidae. Furthermore, the systematic position of uncertainly assigned taxa (e.g., aff. Platychelys sp., Platysternon megacephalum) and poorly known shell material (e.g., Kirtlington turtles) could be assessed. Aff. Platychelys sp., as well as Kirtlington histomorph I are both assigned to Pleurosternidae herein. Assignment of the latter taxon would indicate that the fossil record of Pleurosternidae has to be extended back into the Middle Jurassic. P. megacephalum was found to share some histological features with Chelydridae, thus supporting prior morphological hypothesis. In the other major turtle groups, the bone histology does not show clear phylogenetic signals or functional factors override existing phylogenetic signals respectively. One functional aspect that profoundly influences turtle shell bone microstructures is the adaptation to an aquatic habitat and life-style. In this respect, all turtles were grouped into four categories (I “terrestrial environment” to IV “extreme adaptation to aquatic/marine environments”), based on their ecology/palaeoecology. Comparison of the oldest known turtles with recent ‘aquatic’ and ‘terrestrial’ turtles independently revealed a terrestrial palaeoecology for the basal Testudinata. Shell bone microstructures can further elucidate the origin of turtles. Based on the comparison of basal turtles and several outgroup taxa including osteoderm-bearing pareiasaurs, mammals, placodonts, archosauromorphs and lepidosaurs, the origin of turtles is hypothesised to lie within Diapsida, with close relationships to archosaurs. In the case of placodont armour, a unique bone tissue (here termed ´postcranial fibrocartilaginous bone`) is described and a general model of osteogenesis is proposed.Vergleichende Knochenhistologie des Schildkrötenpanzers (Carapax und Plastron) - Auswirkungen auf Systematik, Funktionsmorphologie und Ursprung der Schildkröten Die Knochenhistologie von Schildkrötenpanzern liefert wertvolle Ergebnisse zur Osteoderm- und Panzergenese, zur Rekonstruktion von fossilen Weichgeweben, zu phylogenetischen Hypothesen und zu funktionellen Aspekten des Schildkrötenpanzers, wobei Carapax und das Plastron generell ähnliche Ergebnisse zeigen. Neben intrinsischen, physiologischen Faktoren wird die Mikrostruktur des Panzerknochens von einem Mosaik phylogenetischer and funktionaler Faktoren beeinflusst. Das Verhältnis beider Einflüsse variiert sehr stark unter den Schildkrötengroßgruppen. Nur wenn funktionelle Aspekte nur schwach ausgeprägt sind, können phylogenetische Signale abgeleitet werden. Die Knochenhistologie kann demnach zur Überprüfung bestehender (morphologischer, molekularer oder serologischer) Verwandtschaftshypothesen genutzt werden. Gruppen, die gut definierte Knochenmikrostrukturen aufweisen, sind die Bothremydidae, Pleurosternidae, Chelydridae, Plesiochelyidae und Thalassemydidae, Dermochelyidae, Dermatemydidae, Carettochelyidae, und Trionychidae. Weiterhin kann die systematische Position unsicher zugeordneter Taxa (z.B. aff. Platychelys sp., Platysternon megacephalum), sowie unzureichend bekanntes Materials bestimmt werden. Aff. Platychelys sp. sowie der Kirtlington Histomorph I werden beide den Pleurosternidae zugeordnet. Die Zuordnung des Histomorph I führt zu einer Ausdehnung des Fossilberichts der Pleurosternidae in den Mittleren Jura hinein. P. megacephalum zeigt einige histologische Gemeinsamkeiten mit den Chelydridae, was wiederum eine Unterstützung älterer morphologischer Hypothesen darstellt. In den restlichen Großgruppen ist kein klares phylogenetisches Signal vorhanden, oder es kommt zu einer Überprägung des Signals durch funktionelle Faktoren. Die Anpassung der Knochenmikrostruktur des Panzers an das aquatische Milieu gehört zu den stärksten funktionellen Faktoren. Hierdurch konnte eine Gruppierung aller untersuchten Schildkröten in vier Kategorien (I „terrestrischer Lebensraum“ bis IV „extremste Anpassung an das aquatische/marine Milieu) bezüglich ihrer Ökologie/Palökologie vorgenommen werden. Vergleiche der ältesten Vertreter der Schildkröten mit rezenten ‚aquatischen’ und ‚terrestrischen’ Vertretern belegen unabhängig die terrestrische Palökologie der basalen Testudinata. Die Knochenpanzermikrostrukturen wurden weiterhin zur Klärung des Ursprungs der Schildkröten genutzt. Basierend auf dem Vergleich von basalen Schildkröten und verschiedenen Außengruppenvertretern, welche Pareiasaurier, Placodontier, Mammalier, Archosauromorphe und Lepidosaurier beinhalteten, wird ein Ursprung innerhalb der Diapsida mit naher Verwandtschaft zu Archosauriern hypothetisiert. Für den Panzer der Placodontier wird weiterhin ein, in Osteodermen bisher unbekanntes knorpeliges Gewebe (´postkranialer faserknorpelhaltiger Knochen´), sowie ein generelles Modell der Osteogenese vorgestellt

Survival of the thinnest: rediscovery of Bauer's (1898) ichthyosaur tooth sections from Upper Jurassic lithographic limestone quarries, south Germany

The re-discovery of nine petrographic slides from the late 19th century at the palaeontological collections of the University of Zurich, showing thin-sectioned ichthyosaur teeth, revealed these slides be the only preserved remains of the historical collection of Upper Jurassic ichthyosaurs from the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology; fossil material which, up to now, was thought to have been completely destroyed during World War II. Here the history of these slides, from their origin in Munich as part of the doctoral thesis of Franz Bauer (1898) to their rediscovery in Zurich in 2010 is presented. Furthermore, a complete overview of all slides is given to elucidate their scientific value with the background of up-to-date knowledge of ichthyosaur dentition and tooth histology, including aspects of tissue and growth mark identification. As such, the sectioned teeth show an exposed layer of acellular cementum at the tooth neck, and sets of short and long period growth lines in the orthodentine. The slides of one tooth are part of the original syntype material of Aegirosaurus leptospondylus (Wagner). They reveal an oval rather than a rectangular shape of the root, as well as the presence of peculiar vascular canals, interpreted as secondary osteodentine deposition, in the peri-pulpal orthodentin

THE FUNCTION OF POETRY IN THE MODERN WORLD: A CASE STUDY OF WALT WHITMAN AND AUDRE LORDE’S POEMS

Lyric poetry has historically referred to a genre that we think of as brief, musical, and personal as well as subjective. This article addresses the role of lyric poetry in the modern world, and how critical analysis enables us to better appreciate the potential impact of poetry today. Specifically, we will offer brief contrastive assessments of two landmark exemplars of American poets, Walt Whitman and Audre Lorde. These two figures demonstrate some of the varied ways of the American poetry tradition.  We compare Walt Whitman, a canonical white male poet from the 19th century, with an equally important 20th century African American woman poet, Audre Lorde. These American poets differ in historical periods, sex, race, and other factors, yet both uphold the conventional functions of lyric poetry and prove its continuing relevance to a global readership. The results show that as the reflection of human life, poetry could represent honesty, realism, democracy and even power.

The late Miocene caimanine fauna (Crocodylia: Alligatoroidea) of the Urumaco Formation, Venezuela

The late Miocene Urumaco Formation at Urumaco, Falcón state, Venezuela, is remarkably rich in extinct crocodylians, presenting a diversity hotspot in the Neotropics for the group. Herein, we revise the Caimaninae fauna by including novel fossil material as well as the previously described specimens assignable to this clade. In many instances the taxonomic status of species could be confirmed, which is the case in Caiman brevirostris, Globidentosuchus brevirostris, and Purussaurus mirandai, and novel osteological data is presented to corroborate previous anatomical descriptions. In other cases, specimens needed to be reassigned to different taxa; with material previously identified as Caiman lutescens now considered as belonging to either Caiman latirostris or Caiman wannlangstoni, and material of Melanosuchus fisheri reassigned to Caimaninae aff. Melanosuchus fisheri. Furthermore, Mourasuchus nativus is considered to be a junior synonym of Mourasuchus arendsi herein. This suggests that there are only three species of the duck-billed caimanine Mourasuchus present in the Miocene of South America, having colonised the continent from the northwest (Colombia and Peru) during the middle Miocene and moving to the east and southeast (Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina) in the late Miocene. Other specimens, which were previously identified as belonging to the genus Caiman, lack diagnostic features of the modern genus and are instead considered as Caimaninae indet. Besides improving the knowledge of the late Miocene crocodylians of South America, our results confirm the high taxonomic diversity of the fauna and the outstanding level of sympatry previously reported for the Urumaco Formation

New specimen of Psephoderma alpinum (Sauropterygia, Placodontia) from the Late Triassic of Schesaplana Mountain, Graubünden, Switzerland

Psephoderma alpinum is an armoured, durophagous placodont known from the alpine Late Triassic. Here we present a new, well-preserved isolated skull discovered in the Alplihorn Member (Late Norian–Early Rhaetian) of the Kössen Formation, Schesaplana Mountain, which straddles the Swiss/Austrian border. Micro-computed tomographic (µCT) scanning was used to create an accurate osteological reconstruction of the specimen, the first time this has been conducted for Psephoderma. We thus clarify disputed anatomical features from previous descriptions, such as a lack of a lacrimal and a pineal foramen that is enclosed by the parietal. We also present the first description based on µCT data of the lateral braincase wall, sphenoid region and some cranial nerve canals for Psephoderma, with the location of the hypophyseal seat, cerebral carotid foramina, dorsum sellae, prootic foramen, lacrimal foramen, as well as all dental foramina being described. This specimen represents the first skull of Psephoderma recovered in Switzerland, and features such as poorly-sutured braincase elements and its relatively small size compared to other known specimens may indicate that it was a sub-adult