Assessing risks and benefits of floral supplements in conservation biological control

The use of flowering field margins is often proposed as a method to support biological control in agro-ecosystems. In addition to beneficial insects, many herbivores depend on floral food as well. The indiscriminate use of flowering species in field margins can therefore lead to higher pest numbers. Based on results from field observations and laboratory experiments we assessed risks as well as benefits associated with the provision of nectar plants in field margins, using Brussels sprouts as a model system. Results show that Brussels sprouts bordered by nectar plants suitable for the cabbage white Pieris rapae L., suffered higher infestation levels by this herbivore. In contrast, nectar plants providing accessible nectar for the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella L., did not raise densities of P. xylostella larvae in the Brassica crop. Margins with Anethum graveolens L., selected on the basis of its suitability as nectar plant for parasitoids, significantly increased the number of adult Diadegma semiclausum Hellen in the crop. This didn't translate into enhanced parasitism rates, as parasitism of P. xylostella by D. semiclausum exceeded 65 % in all treatments, irrespective of the plants in the field margin. Our findings emphasize the importance of taking a multitrophic approach when choosing flowering field margin plants for biocontrol or other ecosystem service

Argumentative resistance to violence metaphors for cancer:An analytical study of argumentation against metaphor

Violence metaphors for cancer – such as ‘she is fighting cancer’ or ‘she lost her battle against cancer’ – are highly common in discourse about cancer. At the same time, these metaphors are controversial and contested. The present dissertation sheds novel light on the metaphors’ contentious status by conducting a close analysis of standpoints and arguments that are put forward against these metaphors in public discourse. The analysis is guided by the pragma-dialectical approach to argument analysis and approaches to metaphor analysis that are grounded in cognitive linguistics. In this dissertation, the author first examines how different types of argumentation in resistance to violence metaphors for cancer can relate to specific features of the contested metaphors. Subsequently, she examines the nature of different resistance standpoints and the dimensions of metaphor use these standpoints may be targeted at. The second part of the dissertation is focused on the analysis of arguments that are put forward against implications of violence metaphors for cancer, as well as the ways in which these implications can be countered by means of metaphor extension. Together, the dissertation’s findings demonstrate the multifacetedness of argumentative resistance against violence metaphors, and how such resistance can take different forms depending on a protagonist’s precise point of view and their arguments for objecting to a particular (property of) metaphor. Lastly, the dissertation demonstrates the value of combining theoretical and empirical knowledge on argumentation and metaphor in order to gain a better understanding of the ways in which metaphors are received and critically reflected upon

Truncated Autonomy: Neocortical Selves, Reverse Reductionism and End-of-Life Care

In professional guidelines for palliative sedation in end-of life care, a particular notion of conscious life experience is associated with specific cognitivist notion of frontal lobe autonomy. Drawing on Turner and Fauconnier’s work in cognitive linguistics I argue in this chapter that even our most central notions like human subjectivity and autonomy are conceptual blends. This chapter explores the origins and emergence of these concepts and their entailments. It digs deep into the conceptual blending of the ontogenetic development of the individual with the phylogenetic history of life. This hyper-blend of the flesh is contrasted with the hyper-blend of an irreal, non-material deep, inner space that is co-extensive with consciousness and with the rational, operative agent constituting the human subject. The last part of the chapter explores the frictions and problematic entailments of these different hyper-blends for end-of-life care practices concerning brain death, persistent vegetative state and palliative sedation. Despite respect for a patient’s autonomy being first among the principles of medical ethics, cognitivist criteria used in the assessment of a patient’s decision-making competence reduce and constrain (truncate) the patient’s autonomy in a variety of ways in one of the situations in life where it should matter most, in dying

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Contains fulltext : 231180.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)T. Mertens Boeken voor de eeuwigheid. Middelnederlands geestelijk proza Amsterdam:onbekend ,199

Argumentative resistance to violence metaphors for cancer:An analytical study of argumentation against metaphor

Violence metaphors for cancer – such as ‘she is fighting cancer’ or ‘she lost her battle against cancer’ – are highly common in discourse about cancer. At the same time, these metaphors are controversial and contested. The present dissertation sheds novel light on the metaphors’ contentious status by conducting a close analysis of standpoints and arguments that are put forward against these metaphors in public discourse. The analysis is guided by the pragma-dialectical approach to argument analysis and approaches to metaphor analysis that are grounded in cognitive linguistics. In this dissertation, the author first examines how different types of argumentation in resistance to violence metaphors for cancer can relate to specific features of the contested metaphors. Subsequently, she examines the nature of different resistance standpoints and the dimensions of metaphor use these standpoints may be targeted at. The second part of the dissertation is focused on the analysis of arguments that are put forward against implications of violence metaphors for cancer, as well as the ways in which these implications can be countered by means of metaphor extension. Together, the dissertation’s findings demonstrate the multifacetedness of argumentative resistance against violence metaphors, and how such resistance can take different forms depending on a protagonist’s precise point of view and their arguments for objecting to a particular (property of) metaphor. Lastly, the dissertation demonstrates the value of combining theoretical and empirical knowledge on argumentation and metaphor in order to gain a better understanding of the ways in which metaphors are received and critically reflected upon

Chest Pain of Uncertain Aetiology: Role of Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography in the Emergency Department

There is increasing role of computed tomographic (CT) in the assessment of acute chest pain in the emergency department especially when the diagnosis is not clear. We report a case where non ECG gated contrast enhanced CT in the emergency department for rule-out of pulmonary embolus guided to the actual diagnosis, which was, acute coronary event, as evidenced by the presence of perfusion defect

Balance Sheets of Suffering in End-of-Life Care

Drawing on recent work in cognitive linguistics and social studies of knowledge practices, this chapter explores the various ways in which the figure of a balance sheet frames arguments and positions in end-of-life care. Across arguments and positions, there are substantial differences in the kinds of matter that are balanced against each other and the values attributed to them, and which items are allowed as entries on the balance sheet and which are not. A common currency on the balance sheets is human suffering. Comparing Norwegian and Dutch end-of-life care practices, the argument is elaborated by looking at (a) the personal balance sheets of cancer patients, (b) the balance sheets of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and palliative sedation, and (c) the balance sheets that set patient’s right to self-determination up against health professional’s right to conscience. Finally, the different ways in which the balance sheets are operated are considered with regard to their impact on the level of constraints that the different end-of-life care policies put on patients and health professionals, and how these shape the material conditions of our dying

An adaptive grid refinement strategy for the simulation of negative streamers

The evolution of negative streamers during electric breakdown of a non-attaching gas can be described by a two-fluid model for electrons and positive ions. It consists of continuity equations for the charged particles including drift, diffusion and reaction in the local electric field, coupled to the Poisson equation for the electric potential. The model generates field enhancement and steep propagating ionization fronts at the tip of growing ionized filaments. An adaptive grid refinement method for the simulation of these structures is presented. It uses finite volume spatial discretizations and explicit time stepping, which allows the decoupling of the grids for the continuity equations from those for the Poisson equation. Standard refinement methods in which the refinement criterion is based on local error monitors fail due to the pulled character of the streamer front that propagates into a linearly unstable state. We present a refinement method which deals with all these features. Tests on one-dimensional streamer fronts as well as on three-dimensional streamers with cylindrical symmetry (hence effectively 2D for numerical purposes) are carried out successfully. Results on fine grids are presented, they show that such an adaptive grid method is needed to capture the streamer characteristics well. This refinement strategy enables us to adequately compute negative streamers in pure gases in the parameter regime where a physical instability appears: branching streamers.Comment: 46 pages, 19 figures, to appear in J. Comp. Phy