What is Said and Indirect Speech Reports

In their Insensitive Semantics (2005) Cappelen and Lepore argue for the Controversial Aspect (CA) which is a part of their Speech Act Pluralism and which says that speakers don’t have privileged access to what they say. Gross (2006) criticizes C&L’s argument for CA and urges them to abandon that claim. I argue that on C&L’s broad understanding of the notion of what is said, CA (and whole SAP) is trivial, whereas on a more restricted understanding CA is indeed controversial and plausibly false. Moreover, the broad reading of what is said is incompatible with one of C&L’s tests for context-sensitivity

Heaps and gluts: Paraconsistent logic applied to vagueness

This paper is an attempt to show that the subvaluation theory is not a good theory of vagueness. It begins with a short review of supervaluation and subvaluation theories and procedes to evaluate the subvaluation theory. Subvaluationism shares all the main short-comings of supervaluationism. Moreover, the solution to the sorites paradox proposed by subvaluationists is not satisfactory. There is another solution which subvaluationists could avail themselves of, but it destroys the whole motivation for using a paraconsistent logic and is not different from the one offered by supervaluationism

Gareth evans’s argument against vague identity

In the paper Evans’s argument concerning indeterminate identity statements is presented and discussed. Evans’s paper in which he formulated his argument is one of the most frequently discussed papers concerning identity. There are serious doubts concerning what Evans wanted to prove by his argument. Theorists have proposed two competing and incompatible interpretations. According to some, Evans purposefully constructed an invalid argument in order to demonstrate that the vague objects view cannot diagnose the fallacy and is therefore untenable. According to others, Evans wanted to formulate a (valid) argument to the effect that there cannot be vague identity statements whose vagueness is due solely to the existence of vague objects. As it has been argued, if it is the former interpretation which is correct, than the argument really is invalid, but it is doubtful whether it achieves its aim. It might be claimed that “the vague objects view” it refutes is not the view that most vague objects theorists hold. The main part of the paper is devoted to the second interpretation and the discussions concerning the validity of the argument on this interpretation. It appears that the vague objects theorist is in a position to object to the validity of every single step of the proof

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PEOPLE-ORIENTED MANAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION FOR MENTORING IN ORGANIZATIONS

Purpose: The objective of the study was to identify the correlations among the following variables: supporting mentoring processes in a company by the superior; fulfilling the role of a mentor by the superior; and fulfilling the role of a mentor by employees versus passive and active participation in company management, people-oriented and non-people-oriented management; the possibility of frequently turning to the superior with personal problems or for help; and ease of contact between employees and the superior.Methodology: The article presents the findings of own study carried out in 2017 on a sample of 975 respondents. The study employed the subject literature critical review method and a questionnaire survey.Findings: The results show the importance of subject management and employee participation in organizations, and its meaning for the proper implementation of mentoring.Research limitation: The work may be affected by the inherent weaknesses associated with survey research which examines rather opinions and views than “hard data”.Originality: Recent mentoring research has pointed to various aspects of its success, but the mentoring process has not been studied yet in terms of the impact of the following variables: supporting mentoring processes in a company by the superior; fulfilling the role of a mentor by the superior; and fulfilling the role of a mentor by employees versus passive and active participation in company management, people-oriented and non-people-oriented management; the possibility of frequently turning to the superior with personal problems or for help; and ease of contact between employees and the superior. In addition, previous research did not take into account the use of such statistic models that were presented in this article

Is there a link between asthma and obesity?

The association between obesity and several diseases is well known, but an association with asthma hasbeen much less described. Epidemiological studies have shown that obesity is an independent risk factorfor asthma in children and adults. Fundamental is the influence of the definition of the type of asthma onthe link between those two diseases. Several reports have shown a stronger association between obesityand clinical asthma phenotypes than with physiological and inflammatory asthma phenotypes. Amongthe mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the obesity-asthma relationship, the immunological,hormonal and environmental are the most important; however, the impact of genetic factors should alsobe considered. Environmental factors such as high-calorie and low antioxidant diet, low maternal vitaminconsumption and in particular low vitamin D have been recently discussed. Serum concentration of 25(OH)Dhas been found to be insufficient in children with asthma. Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration leadsto increasing asthma severity and requires more intensive glucocorticoids treatment. 25(OH)D may havea protective effect against asthma exacerbations as it enhances steroid responsiveness. The nature ofthe asthma-obesity relationship is very complex and involves several mechanisms. Among these, bronchialsmooth muscle cells dysfunction, inflammatory mediators and oxidative stress, dietary and geneticfactors play major roles.The association between obesity and several diseases is well known, but an association with asthma hasbeen much less described. Epidemiological studies have shown that obesity is an independent risk factorfor asthma in children and adults. Fundamental is the influence of the definition of the type of asthma onthe link between those two diseases. Several reports have shown a stronger association between obesityand clinical asthma phenotypes than with physiological and inflammatory asthma phenotypes. Amongthe mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the obesity-asthma relationship, the immunological,hormonal and environmental are the most important; however, the impact of genetic factors should alsobe considered. Environmental factors such as high-calorie and low antioxidant diet, low maternal vitaminconsumption and in particular low vitamin D have been recently discussed. Serum concentration of 25(OH)Dhas been found to be insufficient in children with asthma. Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration leadsto increasing asthma severity and requires more intensive glucocorticoids treatment. 25(OH)D may havea protective effect against asthma exacerbations as it enhances steroid responsiveness. The nature ofthe asthma-obesity relationship is very complex and involves several mechanisms. Among these, bronchialsmooth muscle cells dysfunction, inflammatory mediators and oxidative stress, dietary and geneticfactors play major roles

Metabolic syndrome, adipokines and sex hormone concentrations in middle-aged women

The incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) increases with age, something which is more noticeable in women, particularly perimenopausal women. Weight gain and the development of abdominal obesity are considered to be the main cause of increased risk of MetS and cardiometabolic factors in perimenopausal women. Increased visceral adipose tissue correlates with elevated insulin resistance, inflammation, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia in middle-aged women. In recent years, particular attention has been drawn to the endocrine role of adipose tissue, mainly visceral adipose tissue, and the concentrations of adipokines and inflammation markers such as: leptin, adiponectin, free fatty acids, adipocyte fatty acid binding protein, C-reactive protein (CRP), and inflammatory cytokines. The development of abdominal obesity is mostly associated with a loss of the protective role of oestrogens and a relative increase of circulating androgens. After menopause, the adipose tissue serves as the primary source of oestrogen production via aromatisation that converts androstenedione and testosterone to oestrone and 17b-oestradiol (E2), respectively. Studies looking at the relation between menopause and MetS conducted over the past years have mostly focused on the analysis of such hormone balance parameters as: E2, free oestradiol, oestrone and androgenic indicators: total testosterone, free testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin or dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. In most cases, the results of the research indicate a greater importance of androgenic markers in the assessment of MetS and cardiometabolic risk factors occurrence in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women

The association of vitamin D with common diseases — an appraisal of recent evidence

It has been several years since the discovery of the pleiotropic effects of vitamin D, and there is still hot debate as to the role of vitamin D and attempts to standardise methods of determining 25(OH)D concentrations as well as supplementation with vitamin D. Many studies, both observational and randomised controlled trials, have revealed a whole range of opportunities of active vitamin D metabolite contribution to the treatment of common diseases. A relationship between high concentrations of vitamin D and a low risk of incidence of colorectal cancer, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, ischaemic stroke, depression,metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes has been suggested for a long time, although recently published meta-analyses have created some doubts. There is no consensus regarding vitamin D supplementation and the optimum concentration of serum 25(OH)D. The Institute of Medicine’s 2011 report recommends achieving serum 25(OH)D concentration of 20 ng/mL as optimal, at a dosage of 600 IU of vitamin D per day. International recommendations suggest for individuals at risk a dosage of vitamin D of 2,000 IU per day. Polish experts advise that the optimal concentration of 25(OH)D should be greater than 30 ng/mL for adults