A STOL airworthiness investigation using a simulation of a deflected slipstream transport. Volume 1: Summary of results and airworthiness implications

A simulator study of short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft was conducted using a model of a deflected slipstream transport aircraft. The subjects considered are: (1) the approach, (2) flare and landing, (3) go-around, and (4) takeoff phases of flight. The results are summarized and possible implications with regard to airworthiness criteria are discussed. A data base is provided for future STOL airworthiness requirements and a preliminary indication of potential problem areas is developed. Comparison of the simulation results with various proposed STOL criteria indicates significant deficiencies in many of these criteria

A STOL airworthiness investigation using a simulation of an augmentor wing transport. Volume 2: Simulation data and analysis

A simulator study of STOL airworthiness was conducted using a model of an augmentor wing transport. The approach, flare and landing, go-around, and takeoff phases of flight were investigated. The simulation and the data obtained are described. These data include performance measures, pilot commentary, and pilot ratings. A pilot/vehicle analysis of glide slope tracking and of the flare maneuver is included

AMP-Activated Kinase Restricts Rift Valley Fever Virus Infection by Inhibiting Fatty Acid Synthesis

The cell intrinsic innate immune responses provide a first line of defense against viral infection, and often function by targeting cellular pathways usurped by the virus during infection. In particular, many viruses manipulate cellular lipids to form complex structures required for viral replication, many of which are dependent on de novo fatty acid synthesis. We found that the energy regulator AMPK, which potently inhibits fatty acid synthesis, restricts infection of the Bunyavirus, Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV), an important re-emerging arthropod-borne human pathogen for which there are no effective vaccines or therapeutics. We show restriction of RVFV both by AMPK and its upstream activator LKB1, indicating an antiviral role for this signaling pathway. Furthermore, we found that AMPK is activated during RVFV infection, leading to the phosphorylation and inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, the first rate-limiting enzyme in fatty acid synthesis. Activating AMPK pharmacologically both restricted infection and reduced lipid levels. This restriction could be bypassed by treatment with the fatty acid palmitate, demonstrating that AMPK restricts RVFV infection through its inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis. Lastly, we found that this pathway plays a broad role in antiviral defense since additional viruses from disparate families were also restricted by AMPK and LKB1. Therefore, AMPK is an important component of the cell intrinsic immune response that restricts infection through a novel mechanism involving the inhibition of fatty acid metabolism

Epistemic duties and failure to understand one’s evidence

The paper defends the thesis that our epistemic duty is the duty to proportion our beliefs to the evidence we possess. An inclusive view of evidence possessed is put forward on the grounds that it makes sense of our intuitions about when it is right to say that a person ought to believe some proposition P. A second thesis is that we have no epistemic duty to adopt any particular doxastic attitudes. The apparent tension between the two theses is resolved by applying the concept of duty to belief indirectly

Kant's Transcendental Arguments as Conceptual Proofs

The paper is an attempt to explain what a transcendental argument is for Kant. The interpretation is based on a reading of the “Discipline of Pure Reason,” sections 1 and 4, of the first Critique. The author first identifies several statements that Kant makes about the method of proof he followed in the “Analytic of Principles,” which seem to be inconsistent. He then tries to remove the apparent inconsistencies by focusing on the idea of instantiation and drawing a distinction between the intension and the extension of a concept. Finally, the results are applied to the second “Analogy of Experience” for the purposes of illustration. The paper should be seen as an attempt to provide an historical answer to a question that has been treated thematically in much of the recent literature

Responsibility for Fundamentalist Belief

The aim of this chapter is to answer the question of how people can be responsible for holding fundamentalist beliefs, say, about the social position of minorities such as women, homosexuals, and people of other faiths or ideologies. It sets out by exploring what fundamentalist beliefs are. After providing a family resemblance account of fundamentalist beliefs, the chapter moves on to scrutinize how people can be responsible for such beliefs. Of course, there will be scenarios in which people are not to be blamed for fundamentalist beliefs, especially cases of trauma and indoctrination. However, in many cases, such as those of many leading figures in fundamentalist movements, we do want to hold people responsible for their fundamentalist convictions. How we can do so is especially challenging, because, as several philosophers, such as Michael Baurman and Cassim Qassam, have rightly argued, fundamentalist belief can be perfectly subjectively rational. Getting a firmer grip on the nature of and responsibility for fundamentalist beliefs will help us to understand an important disturbing phenomenon in contemporary society, but possibly also to take relevant steps to prevent people from forming or maintaining such fundamentalist beliefs