Philosophical perspectives on time in biology

Although time is a central topic in philosophy, within the philosophy of science discussions of time in biology have largely been neglected. This dissertation argues for the philosophical importance of paying closer attention to the vastly different timescales at which biological phenomenon can be investigated and explained. The importance of timescales for four themes in philosophy of biology is examined: abstractions and manipulations of time in biological practice, metaphysical debates between the mechanistic and process ontology frameworks, the problem of synchronizing molecular clocks and fossil clocks, and reductionism in biology. This dissertation provides the first sustained philosophical examination of the role of time in biology. The first chapter explores how researchers manage the complexities of multiple timescales by abstracting from time physically, procedurally, mathematically, and conceptually. Understanding how researchers abstract from time in their investigations is important for determining what phenomena might be obscured by such practices. Chapter two turns to the debate in philosophy of biology between traditional mechanistic accounts and the new process ontology. While process ontology is an advance, insofar as it has the potential to bring temporal issues to the fore, it is better understood as an epistemological—not metaphysical—framework. A careful consideration of timescales highlights how different metaphysical frameworks can be more epistemologically appropriate in different contexts. The third chapter examines how molecular and fossil clocks are used to measure time in biology. In both cases, researchers use phenomena occurring at one timescale (e.g. DNA mutations) to measure durations across another scale (e.g., the evolutionary occurrence of a last common ancestor). Attempts to synchronize these clocks for key biological events in the deep past pose interesting methodological problems—and suggest new solutions—for how to deal with discordant and interdependent lines of evidence. The final chapter considers the consequences of this analysis of time in biology for debates about reductionism. Reductionism has focused almost exclusively on spatial scales. This chapter shows how a consideration of temporal scales transforms philosophical debates about reductionism in biology and poses new challenges. This dissertation demonstrates the fertility of extending the philosophy of time into the philosophy of biology

Secret Spending in the States

Six years after Citizens United enabled unfettered spending in our elections, the use of so-called dark money has become disturbingly common. Contrary to the Supreme Court's assumption that this unlimited spending would be transparent to voters, at the federal level powerful groups have since 2010 poured hundreds of millions of dollars into influencing elections while obscuring the sources of their funding. But it is at the state and local levels that secret spending is arguably at its most damaging. For a clear understanding of the degree to which dark money is warping American democracy, state ballot referenda and local school board contests may be a better starting point than the presidential campaign or even congressional races. As Chris Herstam, a former Republican majority whip in the Arizona House of Representatives and now lobbyist, put it, "In my 33 years in Arizona politics and government, dark money is the most corrupting influence I have seen."This report documents how far outside spending -- election spending that is not coordinated with candidates -- at the state and local levels has veered from the vision of democratic transparency the Citizens United Court imagined, drawing on an extensive database of news accounts, interviews with a range of stakeholders, campaign finance and tax records, court cases, and social science research. For the first time, it also measures changes in dark money – and a thus far unrecognized rise in what we term "gray money" – at the state level, by analyzing spender and contributor reports in six of nine states where sufficient usable data were available. This set of six geographically and demographically diverse states, comprising Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, and Massachusetts, represents approximately 20 percent of the nation's population.

The Neolithic sequence of the Middle Dunajec River Basin (Polish Western Carpathians) and its peculiarities

For some time, there has been more information about the Neolithic settlement on the left bank of the middle Dunajec in the Wiśnicz Foothills. In addition to the intense traces of Linear Pottery Culture, there are clear traces of the continuation of the settlement here at the fifth millennium BC and the beginning of the fourth, which represent groups of the Lengyel-Polgar cycle. These discoveries confirm the high qualities of this part of the Polish Carpathians for early agricultural colonization. Also, the selection for the settlement of the highest landscape zone and hilltops is very characteristic and tells a lot about the specificity of this mountain group for prehistoric settlement, also in the context of the old approaches to the existence of trans-Carpathian passages in the Neolithic

Stigma and utilization of mental health services

This study examines what kinds of background variables predict stigma and what impact stigma has on the utilization of formal mental health services. Prior research indicates that gender, age cohort, rural versus urban residency, and socioeconomic status have differing effects on utilization. A model of health behavior was tested using data from a panel study of 1,487 adults in the state of Iowa. The results indicate that stigma reflects the use of formal mental health services and that the impact is different for men and women. For women, stigma has a direct effect on utilization of formal mental health services and for men stigma has an indirect or moderating effect on symptoms of mental illness and utilization of formal mental health services. Rural residency also was predictive of stigma for men but not for women

Nowa Biała and Sromowce Niżne : Late Palaeolithic Central Carpathian sites with arched-backed points

This article may be viewed as an attempt of summarizing research results of two Late Palaeolithic sites from the Central Western Carpathians located in the following places: Sromowce Niżne on the Dunajec river in the Pieniny Mts. and Nowa Biała on the Białka in the Podhale region. The discovery of these sites in the late 70s and 80s of the last century changed the common view that mountains areas located north of the Tatras were settled relatively late and that the settlement began in the Late Medieval. Both sites were excavated shortly after having been discovered. Although rich inventories of stone remains obtained during excavations are typical for technocomplex with arched-backed points but they differ with respect to stone processing technology, typology and raw materials structure. A thesis about the existence of very classical relations between them and the so-called Witów-complexes as well as typical connections with the Federmesser enviroment is proposed in this article

The academic profile and the bibliography of the works of Professor Zdzisław Pietrzyk

This article presents the academic, didactic and organisational achievements of Professor Zdzisław Pietrzyk, including the functions he has so far performed, his participation in conferences and projects, his membership in organisations and scholarly societies, and the awards with which he has been honoured. It also contains a list of his academic and popular science publications

Archaeological reconnaissance pre-survey of the Lejowa and Kościeliska Valleys, Tatra National Park, Poland

The authors draw on their experience and past mountain landscape studies to describe an emerging collaborative research project designed to conduct advanced field studies and generate (and test) archaeological landscape models of past hunter-gatherer populations as well as pastoralist and early farming community seasonal transhumance migrations between lowland river valleys of Poland’s Podhale Basin and high altitude forests and meadows its adjacent High Tatra Mountain

Neolithic deposit of flint cores in Zagórzyce, Kazimierza Wielka district

The purpose of this paper is presentation of flint materials from the pit number 92 discovered at multicultural site 1 in Zagórzyce. During the exploration a group of five flint cores were revealed, whose layout indicates an intentional deposit. They were accompanied by few ceramic fragments and several animal bones. In spite of the fact the flint artifacts represented different stages of exploitation, they have a relatively high potential and, after the necessary remedial treatments, could still have been exploited. It seems that the group of cores can be interpreted as a deposit of a utilitarian character. Three of these were formed on the nodule of chocolate flint, the rest were made of Jurassic flint. The size of the obtained blades and the technique of core processing speak for the feature's affiliation to the Lublin- Volhynian culture. Currently, considering only the partial examination of the site 1 in Zagórzyce, making a statement as to whether the presence of the L-VC in the discussed site was only a single episode or had more stable character is sadly not feasible. The reason of separated publication of this deposit is justified since discovery of this assemblage of cores contributes greatly to the picture of flint knapping in the the L – VC

Magdalenian figurine from Obłazowa Cave

Obłazowa Cave was first excavated in 1985, and is best known for the discoveries of remains of settlement from the time of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. The traces of most recent settlement in the cave, found in the uppermost part of the stratigraphy can be attributed to Magdalenian settlement. Results of latest excavation brought more precise date this occupation face. In years 2016 and 2017 in layer III of the cave a series of artifacts, and a small sandstone female figurine were found