Waves In Space Plasmas (WISP)

Waves in space plasmas (WISP) utilizes powerful radio transmitters and sensitive receivers to probe the secrets of the magnetosphere, ionosphere and atmosphere. The scientific objective is to achieve a better understanding of the physical processes occurring in these regions. For example, audio frequency radio waves will be radiated from the long WISP antenna, will travel to the outer reaches of the magnetosphere, and will interact with Van Allen belt particles, releasing some of their energy which amplifies the waves. Study of this interaction will give us a better understanding of a major magnetospheric process, wave particle interactions. Radio waves from WISP at higher frequencies (AM radio and beyond) will be reflected by the ionosphere and will, for example, advance our understanding of bubbles in the equatorial ionosphere which affect satellite communications

Implications of possible shuttle charging

Shuttle charging is discussed and two analyses of shuttle charging are performed. The first predicts the effective collecting area of a wire grid, biased with the respect to the potential of the magnetoplasma surrounding it. The second predicts the intensity of broadband electromagnetic noise that is emitted when surface electrostatic discharges occur between the beta cloth and the wire grid sewn on it

Computer aids and human second reading as interventions in screening mammography: two systematic reviews to compare effects on cancer detection and recall rate

Background: There are two competing methods for improving the accuracy of a radiologist interpreting screening mammograms: computer aids (CAD) or independent second reading. Methods: Bibliographic databases were searched for clinical trials. Meta-analyses estimated impacts of CAD and double reading on odds ratios for cancer detection and recall rates. Sub-group analyses considered double reading with arbitration. Results: Ten studies compared single reading with CAD to single reading. Seventeen compared double to single reading. Double reading increases cancer detection and recall rates. Double reading with arbitration increases detection rate (CI: 1.02-1.15) and decreases recall rate (CI: 0.92-0.96). CAD does not have a significant effect on cancer detection rate (CI: 0.96-1.13) and increases recall rate (95% CI: 1.09-1.12). However, there is considerable heterogeneity in the impact on recall rate in both sets of studies. Conclusion: The evidence that double reading with arbitration enhances screening is stronger than that for single reading with CAD

New data on biogeography, classification and phylogeny of Рhysidae (Gastropoda: Hygrophila) = Новые данные биогеографии, классификации и филогении Рhysidae (Gastropoda: Hygrophila)

Physidae are a family of freshwater pulmonate gastropods with about 90-100 named species, newly divided among 23 genera in seven tribes and four clades. Morphological studies resulted in discovery of many new characters, some of them progressive, yielding criteria for primitive versus advanced states. Thus it is possible to assert that primitive groups are concentrated on the Pacific coast from Mexico to Costa Rica, and to trace the spread of lineages from this region to other parts of the world

Semicompatibilism and Moral Responsibility for Actions and Omissions: In Defence of Symmetrical Requirements

Although convinced by Frankfurt-style cases that moral responsibility does not require the ability to do otherwise, semicompatibilists have not wanted to accept a parallel claim about moral responsibility for omissions, and so they have accepted asymmetrical requirements on moral responsibility for actions and omissions. In previous work, I have presented a challenge to various attempts at defending this asymmetry. My view is that semicompatibilists should give up these defenses and instead adopt symmetrical requirements on moral responsibility for actions and omissions, and in this paper I highlight three advantages of doing so: first, it avoids a strange implication of the truth of determinism; second, it allows for a principled reply to Philip Swenson’s recent ‘No Principled Difference Argument’; third, it provides a reason to reject a crucial inference rule invoked by Peter van Inwagen’s ‘Direct Argument’ for the incompatibility of moral responsibility and determinism

Manipulation Arguments and Libertarian Accounts of Free Will

In response to the increasingly popular manipulation argument against compatibilism, some have argued that libertarian accounts of free will are vulnerable to parallel manipulation arguments, and thus manipulation is not uniquely problematic for compatibilists. The main aim of this article is to give this point a more detailed development than it has previously received. Prior attempts to make this point have targeted particular libertarian accounts but cannot be generalized. By contrast, I provide an appropriately modified manipulation that targets all libertarian accounts of freedom and responsibility—an especially tricky task given that libertarian accounts are a motley set. I conclude that if manipulation arguments reveal any theoretical cost then it is one borne by all accounts according to which we are free and responsible, not by compatibilism in particular

How Does Death Harm the Deceased?

The most popular philosophical account of how death can harm (or be bad for) the deceased is the deprivation account, according to which death is bad insofar as it deprives the deceased of goods that would have been enjoyed by that person had the person not died. In this paper, the author surveys four main challenges to the deprivation account: the No-Harm-Done Argument, the No-Subject Argument, the Timing Argument, and the Symmetry Argument. These challenges are often raised by Epicureans, who (following Epicurus) claim that death cannot harm the deceased, and each challenge is addressed in Thomas Nagel’s classic essay, “Death,” which has been very influential on recent developments in the literature on the philosophy of death. The author of this paper summarizes some of these recent developments as the challenges are considered

The Parallel Manipulation Argument

Matt King has recently argued that the manipulation argument against compatibilism does not succeed by employing a dilemma: either the argument infelicitously relies on incompatibilist sourcehood conditions, or the proponent of the argument leaves a premise of the argument undefended. This article develops a reply to King’s dilemma by showing that incompatibilists can accept its second horn. Key to King’s argument for the second horn’s being problematic is “the parallel manipulation argument.” I argue that King’s use of this argument is problematic, but I suggest that a (modified) parallel manipulation argument is effective for a different, though more restricted, purpose

Program to determine radiating, nonadiabatic, inviscid flow over a blunt body by the method of integral relations

Computer program performs the many calculations necessary for solving radiating, nonadiabatic flow of air in chemical equilibrium. Solution method provides accurate description of blunt body flow field in subsonic region