Conceptual Analysis, Theory Construction, and Conceptual Elucidation

Almost a half century after the publication of the Philosophical Investigations, it seems important to ask why Wittgenstein"s ideas have had so little impact on contemporary discussions in the philosophy of mind. A clue can be discerned by what Georges Rey says in the introduction to his book on contemporary philosophy of mind. Rey announces at the outset to his readers that his treatment of the mind aspires to be continuous with science, not with literature. He explains that there is a recent resurgence of interest in the philosophy of mind with "explanatory questions� about what sort of thing a pain, a thought, a mental image, a desire, or an emotion is. Neither materialism nor dualism provides a "serious� theory about the mind, which will give us a "serious� explanation of mental phenomena. According to Rey, although old-style grammatical investigations may have given us a "heightened sensitivity to complexities and nuances of our ordinary mental talk,� they "tended to occur at the expense of further theorizing about the mental phenomena themselves� (Rey, 4)

The public/private law headache: relief for sufferers?

This thesis concerns the distinction between public and private law in English administrative law, concentrating upon judicial remedies and procedures. Chapter 1 of the thesis examines the circumstances that led to the decision of the House of Lords in O'Reilly v. Mackman (that in some cases public law issues may be raised only by Application for Judicial Review (AJR) under RSC Order 53) and outlines in broad terms the problems for litigants which the decision has posed. Also discussed is the "obverse" of the O'Reilly rule, laid down in R v. East Berks. Area Health Authority, ex parte Walsh (CA), that disputes raising no public law issue cannot be litigated by AJR. Chapter 2 examines post-O’Reilly cases in which public law issues have been permissibly raised other than by AJR. These are cases in which a public law matter has had to be resolved in order to settle a dispute concerning liability in either private or criminal law. It is concluded that the recent decision of the House of Lords in Roy v. Kensington Family Practitioner Committee leaves unresolved some of the uncertainties in this area. In O'Reilly, and in other cases, public law has been defined in terms of the scope of the prerogative remedies. The scope of certiorari is accordingly considered in chapter 3, where it is observed that the courts have effected a significant extension of public law - an extension which may continue into areas once axiomatically "private". Chapter 4 examines when a statutory duty is enforceable by action for damages and when, by contrast, only mandamus or injunction upon an AJR are available. Chapter 5 concludes with an overview of the problems caused by both O'Reilly and ex parte Walsh. To the extent that advocates of reform have seen obstacles in their path, those obstacles, it is concluded, are possibly illusory

Journal for the history of analytical philosophy: Gilbert Ryle: intelligence, practice, skill, v. 5, no. 5

Special issue on Gilbert Ryle edited by Juliet Floyd and Lydia Patton. Articles: "Volume Introduction: Gilbert Ryle on Propositions, Propositional Attitudes, and Theoretical Knowledge" by Julia Tanney; "Ryle’s “Intellectualist Legend” in Historical Context" by Michael Kremer; "Skill, Drill, and Intelligent Performance: Ryle and Intellectualism" by Stina Bäckström and Martin Gustafsson; "Ryle on the Explanatory Role of Knowledge How"by Will Small.https://jhaponline.org/jhap/issue/view/319Published versio

A Brief Survey of Mycophagy in Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus, from Northwestern Ontario

There are few published observations regarding the phenomenon of mycophagy in birds, the Ruffed Grouse being no exception. Twenty hunter-killed Ruffed Grouse crops were acquired in the Thunder Bay District from 22 September to 18 October, 2010, and examined for the presence of consumed fungal tissue. Four crops were found to contain intact remains of fruiting bodies. Based on cystidia and spore morphological characters, the specimens recovered were found to belong to three genera: Lactarius, Russula, and Melanoleuca. The results of this brief survey suggest the possible importance of mycophagy in the seasonal diet of the Ruffed Grouse, and indicate the need for further investigation

Zeolite-A as a Remediation Technique for Soil Contaminated with Lead

The aim of the current project is to determine if Zeolite-A is suitable for lead remediation in pyrite ash contaminated soils. Pyrite ash is the waste product formed by roasting sulphide-bearing minerals for the production of sulphuric acid. The main sulphide mineral in the original material is pyrite, FeS2. After roasting, the soils contain a large amount of iron oxide in the form of hematite (?-Fe2O3), as this is the main product in the roasting process of pyrite. It was found that concentrations of 23000 to 26000 ppm of lead were present in the pyrite ash layers. Zeolite-A was chosen as a method of remediation because it is a synthetic zeolite that is easy to synthesise, has a small pore size, and has a high affinity towards lead as shown by other studies on wastewater treatment. Zeolite-A was added to soil samples and washed with water and dilute nitric acid to simulate rain and acid rain conditions. It was found that the addition of Zeolite- A to all soil samples investigated resulted in a pH increase by over 2 pH units. In soils washed with acid, having a pH of around 0.30, the pH increased to about 3.00. In soils with a pH of around 4.50, the addition of Zeolite-A increased the pH to nearly 8.00. It was demonstrated that the addition of Zeolite-A to the samples resulted in a reduction of lead ions in all the leachates, independent of initial pH. The effect of Zeolite-A varied as a function of pH, but was found to reduce lead concentration in the leachate by approximately 82% to 99%. It was concluded to be successful for lead remediation. One explanation for the successful result of lead remediation by Zeolite-A was the formation of a natural zeolite, gismondine (CaAl2Si2O8?4H2O). It was found that gismondine was formed both when the soils were washed with water or with acid. Hence, the gismondine formation was independent of pH. It is also proposed by this study that Zeolite-A stimulated the crystalline formation of gismondine

The antifeedant action of climacodon septentrionalis and two species of sphaerobolus to hyphal grazing by the fungus-feeding nematode aphelenchoides sp.

Fungi are ubiquitous in forest ecosystems and are, collectively, a major force in driving nutrient and organic matter availability and cycling. Some saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi are characterized by a perennial vegetative body, delayed sexual reproduction, and a relatively long lifespan. Such fungi are exposed to a barrage of antagonistic forces throughout their existence, one notable stress being invertebrate grazing. It is suggested that fungi with perennial mycelia must have developed means to deter grazing of their hyphal networks by pervasive mycophagist invertebrates.Controlled inoculation studies with a mycophagous nematode, Aphelenchoides sp., and isolates representing 78 fungal species were conducted to investigate the presence of possible antifeedants. These in vitro pairings resulted in the discovery of two novel antifeedant mechanisms in three species of fungi. In the presence of the saprotrophic fungi Sphaerobolus stellatus and S. iowensis, the anterior portion of nematodes became encapsulated in a material of unknown composition. This encapsulation phenomenon effectively prevented further hyphal grazing by obstructing stylet extension, which resulted in the eventual death of the nematode. Nematodes that died as a result of the encapsulation were never colonized or consumed by the fungus. It is hypothesized that the encapsulating material originates from modified hyphal cells, referred to as gloeocystidia, and is liberated when the cells are punctured by the nematode stylet. The wood-decaying fungus Climacodon septentrionalis was found to produce tall, stalked secretory cells in abundance on the aerial mycelia of the colony. Nematodes were enveloped and immobilized by droplets produced at the apices of the secretory cells. Immobilized nematodes were rarely colonized by the fungus and dead individuals persisted for weeks. A media study was employed to investigate the effect of nutrient concentration on the in vitro production of secretory cells. The discovery of novel antifeedants which mitigate damage caused to the mycelial network by grazing invertebrates offers a stimulus for further investigation into the interactions between fungi and their co-inhabiting microfauna. Keywords: Antifeedant, defence mechanism, fungivory, grazing responses, mycology, mycophagy, perennial mycelium

Governor Patrick Signs Bill to Control Health Care Costs

Surveys of foliar endophytes from the Acadian forest region over the past three decades have identified numerous phylogenetically diverse fungi producing natural products toxic to forest pests and diseases. The life histories of some conifer endophytes can be restricted to plant foliage or may include saprotrophic phases on other plants tissues or even alternate hosts. Considering the potentially broad host preferences of conifer endophytes we explored fungi isolated from understory species and their metabolites as part of an ongoing investigation of fungal biodiversity from the Acadian forest. We report a hitherto unidentified Xylariomycetidae species isolated from symptomatic Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum) leaves and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) collected in coastal southern New Brunswick, Canada. Morphological and phylogenetic evidence demonstrated the unknown species was a novel Synnemapestaloides (Sporocadaceae) species, described here as Syn. ericacearum. A preliminary screening assay indicated that the culture filtrate extract of the new species was potently antifungal towards the biotrophic pathogen Microbotryum violaceum, warranting an investigation of its natural products. Two natural products possessing a rare 1,3-benzodioxin-4-one scaffold, synnemadoxins A-B (1-2), and their postulated precursor, synnemadiacid A (3), were characterized as new structures and assessed for antimicrobial activity. All isolated compounds elicited in vitro inhibitory antifungal activity towards M. violaceum at 2.3 μg mL-1 and moderate antibiotic activity. Further, the characterization of synnemadoxins A-B provided a perspective on the biosynthesis of some related 1,3-benzodioxin-4-ones produced by other fungi within the Xylariales

Identification of differentially expressed sense and antisense transcript pairs in breast epithelial tissues

Background: More than 20% of human transcripts have naturally occurring antisense products (or natural antisense transcripts – NATs), some of which may play a key role in a range of human diseases. To date, several databases of in silico defined human sense-antisense (SAS) pairs have appeared, however no study has focused on differential expression of SAS pairs in breast tissue. We therefore investigated the expression levels of sense and antisense transcripts in normal and malignant human breast epithelia using the Affymetrix HG-U133 Plus 2.0 and Almac Diagnostics Breast Cancer DSA microarray technologies as well as massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS) data. Results: The expression of more than 2500 antisense transcripts were detected in normal breast duct luminal cells and in primary breast tumors substantially enriched for their epithelial cell content by DSA microarray. Expression of 431 NATs were confirmed by either of the other two technologies. A corresponding sense transcript could be identified on DSA for 257 antisense transcripts. Of these SAS pairs, 163 have not been previously reported. A positive correlation of differential expression between normal and malignant breast samples was observed for most SAS pairs. Orientation specific RT-QPCR of selected SAS pairs validated their expression in several breast cancer cell lines and solid breast tumours. Conclusion: Disease-focused and antisense enriched microarray platforms (such as Breast Cancer DSA) confirm the assumption that antisense transcription in the human breast is more prevalent than previously anticipated. Expression of a proportion of these NATs has already been confirmed by other technologies while the true existence of the remaining ones has to be validated. Nevertheless, future studies will reveal whether the relative abundances of antisense and sense transcripts have regulatory influences on the translation of these mRNAs

Suicide:an existentialist reconceptualization

The phenomenon of suicide is one of the primary concerns for mental health professions. The health-care literature is dominated by discussions that focus variously on local and national suicide prevention policies, on the assessment of those individuals judged to be at risk of committing suicide as well as the appropriateness and efficacy of interventions for those who express suicidal ideation and display suicidal behaviours. What appear less frequently in the literature, however, are critical analyses of the concept of suicide and, in particular, critical reflections on the manner in which the concept of suicide has been, and continues to be, understood or ‘framed’. In an attempt to respond to this apparent omission, this paper will suggest that the work of Albert Camus, and his philosophical work The Myth of Sisyphus in particular, can be understood as providing a significant reconceptualization and reframing of suicide. In doing so, it will be suggested that Camus's work not only challenges how the concept of suicide has traditionally been situated within the context of mental illness, but can also be understood as challenging the efficacy of the interventions that have been associated with an understanding of suicide within that context