Literary Fiction and the Cultivation of Virtue

Many philosophers have claimed that reading literary fiction makes people more virtuous. This essay begins by defending the view that this claim is empirical. It goes on to review the empirical literature and finds that this literature supports the claim philosophers have made. Three mechanisms are identified whereby reading literary fiction makes people more virtuous: empathy is increased when readers enter imaginatively into the lives of fictional characters; reading literary fiction promotesself-reflection; and readers mimic the prosocial behaviour of fictional characters. The paper concludes with a caution: there is a danger that readers could mimic antisocial behaviour displayed in literary fiction. If they do, reading some literary fiction could make readers less virtuous

Evidence of a Plasmoid-Looptop Interaction and Magnetic Inflows During a Solar Flare/CME Eruptive Event

Observational evidence is presented for the merging of a downward-propagating plasmoid with a looptop kernel during an occulted limb event on 2007 January 25. RHESSI lightcurves in the 9-18 keV energy range, as well as that of the 245 MHz channel of the Learmonth Solar Observatory, show enhanced nonthermal emission in the corona at the time of the merging suggesting that additional particle acceleration took place. This was attributed to a secondary episode of reconnection in the current sheet that formed between the two merging sources. RHESSI images were used to establish a mean downward velocity of the plasmoid of 12 km/s. Complementary observations from the SECCHI suite of instruments onboard STEREO-Behind showed that this process occurred during the acceleration phase of the associated CME. From wavelet-enhanced EUVI, images evidence of inflowing magnetic field lines prior to the CME eruption is also presented. The derived inflow velocity was found to be 1.5 km/s. This combination of observations supports a recent numerical simulation of plasmoid formation, propagation and subsequent particle acceleration due to the tearing mode instability during current sheet formation.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, ApJ (Accepted

Senator James O. Eastland, Bob Dole, Milton R. Young, Carl T. Curtis, George McGovern, James B. Allen, and Hubert H. Humphrey to President Jimmy Carter, 30 September 1977

Copy typed letter signed dated 30 September 1977 from Eastland, Bob Dole, Milton R. Young, Carl T. Curtis, George McGovern, James B. Allen, and Hubert H. Humphrey to Carter, re: sugar tariffs, S. 275 (Food and Agriculture Act of 1977); 2 pages.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/joecorr_h/1064/thumbnail.jp

The Impact of Exercising During Haemodialysis on Blood Pressure, Markers of Cardiac Injury and Systemic Inflammation - Preliminary Results of a Pilot Study

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (http://www.karger.com/Services/OpenAccessLicense). Usage and distribution for commercial purposes as well as any distribution of modified material requires written permission.Background/Aims: Patients requiring haemodialysis have cardiovascular and immune dysfunction. Little is known about the acute effects of exercise during haemodialysis. Exercise has numerous health benefits but in other populations has a profound impact upon blood pressure, inflammation and immune function; therefore having the potential to exacerbate cardiovascular and immune dysfunction in this vulnerable population. Methods: Fifteen patients took part in a randomised-crossover study investigating the effect of a 30-min bout of exercise during haemodialysis compared to resting haemodialysis. We assessed blood pressure, plasma markers of cardiac injury and systemic inflammation and neutrophil degranulation. Results: Exercise increased blood pressure immediately post-exercise; however, 1 hour after exercise blood pressure was lower than resting levels (106±22 vs. 117±25 mm Hg). No differences in h-FABP, cTnI, myoglobin or CKMB were observed between trial arms. Exercise did not alter circulating concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α or IL-1ra nor clearly suppress neutrophil function. Conclusions: This study demonstrates fluctuations in blood pressure during haemodialysis in response to exercise. However, since the fall in blood pressure occurred without evidence of cardiac injury, we regard it as a normal response to exercise superimposed onto the haemodynamic response to haemodialysis. Importantly, exercise did not exacerbate systemic inflammation or immune dysfunction; intradialytic exercise was well tolerated

X- and gamma-ray observations of the 15 November 1991 Solar Flare

This work expands the current understanding of the 15 November 1991 Solar Flare. The flare was a well observed event in radio to gamma-rays and is the first flare to be extensively studied with the benefit of detailed soft and hard X-ray images. In this work, we add data from all four instruments on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Using these data we determined that the accelerated electron spectrum above 170 keV is best fit with a power law with a spectral index of −4.6, while the accelerated proton spectrum above 0.6 MeV is fit with a power law of spectral index −4.5. From this we computed lower limits for the energy content of these particles of∼1023 ergs (electrons) and ∼1027 ergs (ions above 0.6 MeV). These particles do not have enough energy to produce the white-light emission observed from this event. We computed a time constant of 26+20−15 s for the 2.223 MeV neutron capture line, which is consistent at the 2σ level with the lowest values of ∼70 s found for other flares. The mechanism for this short capture time may be better understood after analyses of high energy EGRET data that show potential evidence for pion emission near ∼100 MeV