Ultrastable reference pulser for high-resolution spectrometers

Solid-state double-pulse generator for a high resolution semiconductor detector meets specific requirements for resolution /0.05 percent/, amplitude range /0.1-13 MeV/, and repetition rate /0.1-1000 pulses per second/. A tag pulse is generated in coincidence with each reference pulse

Die vakwetenskaplike en wysgerige betekenis van Stoker se konfrontasie met die ‘moderne desendensieleer’

In 1926 Stoker wrote an article dealing with the modern biological theory of descent. This contribution endeavours to investigate those arguments and insights which are still valid today. With reference to Von Uexkiill Stoker first of all correctly emphasizes that the Darwinistic theory of descent does not belong within the domain of biology as a special science - it is nothing but a part of philosophy that should be treated within a philosophy of nature. In various contexts Stoker also points out that similarities also presuppose differences something consistently overlooked by Darwinism. The shortcomings in the ‘biogenetic basic law' of Haeckel - which claims that ontogenesis is a recapitulation of phylogenesis as well as of the neglected issue of constancy are lifted out. Stoker in fa d advances a remarkably balanced perspective on the relationship between constancy and dynamics

124-Color Super-resolution Imaging by Engineering DNA-PAINT Blinking Kinetics

Optical super-resolution techniques reach unprecedented spatial resolution down to a few nanometers. However, efficient multiplexing strategies for the simultaneous detection of hundreds of molecular species are still elusive. Here, we introduce an entirely new approach to multiplexed super-resolution microscopy by designing the blinking behavior of targets with engineered binding frequency and duration in DNA-PAINT. We assay this kinetic barcoding approach in silico and in vitro using DNA origami structures, show the applicability for multiplexed RNA and protein detection in cells, and finally experimentally demonstrate 124-plex super-resolution imaging within minutes.We thank Martin Spitaler and the imaging facility of the MPI of Biochemistry for confocal imaging support

Dooyeweerd’s legal and political philosophy: A response to the challenge of historicism

A look at the penetrating and encompassing nature of Dooyeweerd’s political and legal philosophy makes it understandable why Georgio Del Vecchio, a reputable Italian philosopher of law, appreciated Dooyeweerd as “the most profound, innovative, and penetrating philosopher since Kant”. Dooyeweerd’s Inaugural address laid the foundation for uncovering the deepest dialectical motivation of modern philosophy, namely the (dialectical) basic motive of nature and freedom (science ideal and personality ideal). Dooyeweerd rejected the idea of a “pure theory of law” because in spite of its uniqueness, the meaning of the jural aspect of reality comes to expression only in its coherence with other irreducible aspects. In opposition to the relativistic claims of historicism, Dooyeweerd emphasises the irreducibility of each aspect of reality. Dooyeweerd exercised immanent criticism on the impasse of a theory of the state without the state and a theory of law without law. Despite his continuing an element of natural law, Dooyeweerd’s approach avoids the antinomous stance of historicism by realising that change can only be established on the basis of constancy. The article concludes with a brief sketch of his systematic programme, as it unfolds in his multi-volume Encyclopaedia of the science of law

A history of attempts to delimit (state) law

Reflections on the nature of law and on the limits of the state’s law-making competence did not escape the distorting effect of individualistic and universalistic views of human society. While the Greek-Medieval era was largely in the grip of the latter, the former dominated early modernity up to the Enlightenment. From the urge to be free and autonomous since the Renaissance, the natural science ideal aimed at a rational reconstruction of the universe which, according to social contract theories, proceeded from its simplest elements, the individuals. The subsequent reflection on the nature of law appeared to be in the grip of the inherent tension between the science ideal (nature) and the personality ideal (freedom). This applies to theories of natural law, to Kant and Hegel, as well as to the historical school, legal positivism and the subsequent developments in the 19th century. However, since the romanticism of the late 18th and early 19th century, both universalistic and individualistic theories continued to exert their influence until the 20th century. Cutting through all these developments, other conceptions also played a role, such as the idea of an eternal and immutable lex naturalis and the reaction of historicism and legal positivism which relativized these natural law claims – accompanied by the question of how one should understand constancy and change. A brief systematic alternative is outlined in the concluding remarks of the article

The mixed legacy underlying Rawls’s Theory of justice

The Theory of justice advanced by Rawls must be understood within the context of factual legal approaches (such as positivism and pragmatism) that eliminated normative considerations. By contrast, Rawls argues for an account of the role of normative legal principles by proceeding from an idea introduced during the Enlightenment, namely that of a social contract. However, the way in which he speaks about law, morality and virtues clearly demonstrates his indebtedness to Ancient Greek and Medieval conceptions as well. His assumption is that it is possible for normal human beings to arrive at a rational consensus by assuming that these individuals not only do have a normative (moral) awareness but that they are also capable to take distance from their factual societal position and relations (the veil of ignorance) in order to be open to moral principles acceptable to every normally developed human being. This article sets out to investigate the historical roots of the idea of a just society by contrasting the classical Greek and Medieval ideals with that of modern approaches since the Renaissance, particularly the account found in natural law theories about the supposed social contract lying at the foundation of an ordered and just society. The open-ended problems present within this legacy — particularly regarding the inherent shortcomings of both atomistic and holistic orientations implicit in the mainstream views on being human and on the place of the latter within human society and the state — are then related to the mixed assumptionsunderlying Rawls’s theory at a basic level. It will be argued that although his intention is to advocate the basic elements of a constitutional democracy, this aim is threatened by the latent holistic undertones accompanying his entire theory

The Geoff Egan Memorial Lecture 2011. Artefacts, art and artifice: reconsidering iconographic sources for archaeological objects in early modern Europe

A first systematic analysis of historic domestic material culture depicted in contemporaneous Western painting and prints, c.1400-1800. Drawing on an extensive data set, the paper proposes to methodologies and hermeneutics for historical analysis and archaeological correspondence