The rumble in the bundle

In 1952, two well-known characters called 'A' and 'B' met for the first time to argue about the Identity of Indiscernibles (Black, 1952). A argued that the principle is true, and B that it is false. By all accounts A took a bit of a beating and came out worst-off. Forty-three years later John O’Leary-Hawthorne offered a response on behalf of A that looked as if it would work so long as A was willing to accept the universal-bundle theory of substance (Hawthorne, 1995). In 1997, A and B met again (Zimmerman, 1997). A took Hawthorne's advice and revealed himself as a universal-bundle theorist. But B was well-prepared, and once more A took a beating. Since then Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra (2004) has put the boot in, offering further criticism of A's position. In recent years A has been rather quiet, leaving B to reign as the undisputed champion. However, it turns out that A is down, but not out. And now it's time for A's revenge

Morphological trends in the molars of fossil rodents from the Fayum Depression, Egypt

While many of the mammalian taxa from the Fayum of Egypt, such as the primates and hyraxes, have been well-studied, little is known about the rodents. Species described to date have all been referred to the endemic family Phiomyidae. Many rodent species from this family have been named and their importance to biogeography addressed, but what this fauna can reveal about the palaeoenvironment of the Fayum has yet to be determined. The study of palaeoenvironmental trends begins with a general examination of species diversity and morphology of the specific rodent lineages. A statistical analysis of available molar measurements of Fayum rodents estimates general size and shape trends and changes in rodent diversity through the stratigraphic sequence of the Fayum. This analysis finds stability in species diversity and an increase in the average body size of taxa using molar length as an estimate of body size. The body size pattern of the rodents is similar to the pattern found among the Fayum primates. Analysis of molar length and width has been performed to test whether these variables could discriminate accurately between taxa. If molars that are too worn to be identified by cusp pattern can be identified confidently based on length and width, more specimens could be included in future analyses and a more accurate depiction of the small mammal fauna attained. Length is significantly different between most of the species, and several species can be identified by length and width alone. Length and width relationships were consistent for species within the same genus.National Science Foundatio

Report flood protection at bridges and culverts

CER70-71DBS-GLL37.Includes bibliographical references (page 12).Prepared for Wyoming State Highway Dept., Planning and Research Division in cooperation with the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Bureau of Public Roads.This report is an introduction to two separate research reports, "Flood Protection at Culvert Outlets" and "Flood Protection at Bridge Crossings". Descriptions of the sponsors and investigators for the research program, and outlines of the research conducted for each report are included. The report is directed at advising management staffs and potential users of the nature and application of the research results presented in the two reports. Details of the experimental programs, hydraulic analyses, theoretical considerations, design procedures, and design examples can be found in each of the two reports, which are listed in the bibliography

An exploratory study to determine possible causes for apathy of citizens toward civic responsibilities

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University, 195

The role of toll-like receptor 4 in pain due to glucuronidated metabolites and neuropathic pain

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has recently been implicated in both chronic neuropathic pain and in counter-regulating morphine analgesia. The studies undertaken here further show the potential for TLR4 signaling activation to produce pain states. Specifically, a group of metabolites, glucuronide metabolites, are shown to activate TLR4 signaling in an in vitro model and cause transient acute pain when injected intrathecally in small doses. The glucuronide metabolites tested included morphine-3-glucuronide, ethyl glucuronide, corticosterone-21-glucuronide, estradiol-3-glucuronide, and estradiol-17-glucuronide, as well as glucuronic acid itself. These metabolites were previously considered largely non-reactive without known biological activity or toxicity at clinically relevant doses. The current studies present the first evidence that they may cause TLR4- dependent enhanced pain, which could have influence in diverse conditions such as morphine withdrawal hyperalgesia, hangover headache and menstrual migraine. Additionally, a TLR4 signaling inhibitor, (+)-naloxone was tested in neuropathic pain and morphine-3-glucuronide induced pain. (+)-Naloxone does not act on opioid receptors, as the (-)-naloxone isomer does, but has been shown to reduce TLR4 signaling in vitro and in vivo. (+)-Naloxone blocked the development of pain following intrathecal morphine-3- glucuronide injection, and reversed neuropathic pain in multiple models, up to 4 months following nerve injury. (+)-Naloxone is a candidate small molecule, blood-brain barrier permeable molecule for treating pain conditions where TLR4 is involved

The influence of search components and problem characteristics in early life cycle class modelling

© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This paper examines the factors affecting the quality of solution found by meta-heuristic search when optimising object-oriented software class models. From the algorithmic perspective, we examine the effect of encoding, choice of components such as the global search heuristic, and various means of incorporating problem- and instance-specific information. We also consider the effect of problem characteristics on the (estimated) cost of the global optimum, and the quality and distribution of local optima. The choice of global search component appears important, and adding problem and instance-specific information is generally beneficial to an evolutionary algorithm but detrimental to ant colony optimisation. The effect of problem characteristics is more complex. Neither scale nor complexity have a significant effect on the global optimum as estimated by the best solution ever found. However, using local search to locate 100,000 local optima for each problem confirms the results from meta-heuristic search: there are patterns in the distribution of local optima that increase with scale (problem size) and complexity (number of classes) and will cause problems for many classes of meta-heuristic search

Illusions of gunk

The possibility of gunk has been used to argue against mereological nihilism. This paper explores two responses on the part of the microphysical mereological nihilist: (1) the contingency defence, which maintains that nihilism is true of the actual world; but that at other worlds, composition occurs; (2) the impossibility defence, which maintains that nihilism is necessary true, and so gunk worlds are impossible. The former is argued to be ultimately unstable; the latter faces the explanatorily burden of explaining the illusion that gunk is possible. It is argued that we can discharge this burden by focussing on the contingency of the microphysicalist aspect of microphysical mereological nihilism. The upshot is that gunk-based arguments against microphysical mereological nihilism can be resisted

Against the Compositional View of Facts

It is commonly assumed that facts would be complex entities made out of particulars and universals. This thesis, which I call Compositionalism, holds that parthood may be construed broadly enough so that the relation that holds between a fact and the entities it ‘ties’ together counts as a kind of parthood. I argue firstly that Compositionalism is incompatible with the possibility of certain kinds of fact and universal, and, secondly, that such facts and universals are possible. I conclude that Compositionalism is false. What all these kinds of fact and universal have in common is a violation of supplementation principles governing any relation that may be intelligibly regarded as a kind of parthood. Although my arguments apply to Compositionalism generally, I focus on recent work by David Armstrong, who is a prominent and explicit Compositionalist

On the Pragmatics of Counterfactuals

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93573/1/j.1468-0068.2010.00798.x.pd

Cybersecurity Planning for Artificial Intelligent Systems in Space

CubeSats continue to proliferate and are an excellent low-cost method of remote sensing. A key piece of intelligent systems is sensory input, data storage, and data communications. With the continued miniaturization of technology, CubeSats will increase their sensory inputs with future miniaturization and enhance their robustness for autonomous operations if data and communications are secure. These futures inspire an intelligent system solution to on-orbit communications. This paper explores a dual-microprocessor approach to improve hardware cybersecurity of intelligent systems, with a view toward intensional intelligence as a means of adjudicating access to sensitive data onboard the CubeSat. With enhanced cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligent Systems (AIS) will add vital utility to otherwise vulnerable, autonomous systems. Using Systems Models-Based Thinking, we shed light on our plan to apply artificial intelligent system concepts to advance CubeSat technology. Managing technology for AIS reduces some of the uncertainties and risks associated with the space environment