Thick Concepts and Variability

Some philosophers hold that so-called "thick" terms and concepts in ethics (such as 'cruel,' 'selfish,' 'courageous,' and 'generous') are contextually variable with respect to the valence (positive or negative) of the evaluations that they may be used to convey. Some of these philosophers use this variability claim to argue that thick terms and concepts are not inherently evaluative in meaning; rather their use conveys evaluations as a broadly pragmatic matter. I argue that one sort of putative examples of contextual variability in evaluative valence that are found in the literature fail to support the variability claim and that another sort of putative examples are open to a wide range of explanations that have different implications for the relationship between thick terms and concepts and evaluation. I conclude that considerations of contextual variability fail to settle whether thick terms and concepts are inherently evaluative in meaning. In closing I suggest a more promising line of research

Shapelessness in context

Many philosophers believe that the extensions of evaluative terms and concepts aren't unified under non-evaluative similarity relations and that this "shapelessness thesis" (ST) has significant metaethical implications regarding non-cognitivism, ethical naturalism, moral particularism, thick concepts and more. ST is typically offered as an explanation of why evaluative classifications appear to "outrun" classifications specifiable in independently intelligible non-evaluative terms. This paper argues that both ST and the outrunning point used to motivate it can be explained on the basis of more general factors that have nothing in particular to do with being evaluative. Insofar as ST is plausible, a wide variety of non-evaluative terms will also be such that the extension of a term T isn't unified under similarity relations specifiable in purely T-free terms. If so, there is no reason to expect ST to carry the sorts of metaethical implications that get attributed to it. I also show that my main argument is robust across certain complications that are raised by the context-sensitivity of many evaluative terms but have so far been ignored in discussions of ST and related matters

Data-driven pattern identification and outlier detection in time series

We address the problem of data-driven pattern identification and outlier detection in time series. To this end, we use singular value decomposition (SVD) which is a well-known technique to compute a low-rank approximation for an arbitrary matrix. By recasting the time series as a matrix it becomes possible to use SVD to highlight the underlying patterns and periodicities. This is done without the need for specifying user-defined parameters. From a data mining perspective, this opens up new ways of analyzing time series in a data-driven, bottom-up fashion. However, in order to get correct results, it is important to understand how the SVD-spectrum of a time series is influenced by various characteristics of the underlying signal and noise. In this paper, we have extended the work in earlier papers by initiating a more systematic analysis of these effects. We then illustrate our findings on some real-life data

Modeling of novel resist technologies

In response to the difficulties posed by the resolution, line edge roughness, sensitivity (RLS) trade-off to traditional chemically amplified resist (CAR) systems used for extreme ultraviolet lithography, a number of novel resist technologies have been proposed. In this paper, the effect of quencher loading on three resist technologies is analyzed via an error propagation-based resist simulator. In order of increasing novelty as well as complexity, they are: Conventional CAR with quencher, CAR with photodecomposable base, and PSCAR 2.0, a CAR system with photodecomposable base as well as an EUV-activated UV-sensitive resist component. Simulation finds the more complicated resist systems trade in an increase in resist stochastics for improved deprotection slopes, yielding a net benefit in terms of line width roughness

Pre-term pre-labour rupture of membranes and the role of amniocentesis

Pre-labour premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) is defined as rupture of membranes more than 1 hour prior to the onset of labour at <37 weeks gestation. PPROM occurs in approximately 3% of pregnancies and is responsible for a third of all preterm births. Once membranes are ruptured prolonging the pregnancy has no maternal physical advantage but fetal morbidity and mortality are improved daily at early gestations: 19% of those infants born <25 weeks develop cerebral palsy (CP) and 28% have severe motor disability. Those infants born extremely pre term (<28 weeks) cost the public sector £75835 (95% CI £27906–145508) per live birth not to mention the emotional cost to the family. To prolong gestation is therefore the suggested goal: however how and why might we delay birth in those at risk

Evaluation of Coulomb potential in a triclinic cell with periodic boundary conditions

Lekner and Sperb's work on the evaluation of Coulomb energy and forces under periodic boundary conditions is generalized that makes it possible to use a triclinic unit cell in simulations in 3D rather than just an orthorhombic cell. The expressions obtained are in a similar form as previously obtained by Lekner and Sperb for the especial case of orthorhombic cell

Autoantibody-associated kappa light chain variable region gene expressed in chronic lymphocytic leukemia with little or no somatic mutation. Implications for etiology and immunotherapy.

Recently the minor B cell subpopulation that expresses the CD5 (Leu-1) antigen has been implicated as a source of IgM autoantibodies. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in humans, represents a malignancy of small B lymphocytes that also express the CD5 antigen. However, little is known concerning the antibody variable region genes (V genes) that are used by these malignant CD5 B cells. We have found that a relatively high frequency of CLL patients have leukemic B cells with surface immunoglobulin (sIg) recognized by 17.109, a murine mAb specific for a kappa light chain associated crossreactive idiotype (CRI) associated with rheumatoid factor and other IgM autoantibodies. Flow cytometric analyses revealed that the relative expression of the 17.109-CRI by circulating leukemic B cells was directly proportional to the levels of sIg kappa light chain, indicating that there exists stable idiotype expression in the leukemic population. To examine this at the molecular level, the nucleic acid sequences encoding the Ig kappa light chains of two unrelated patients with CLL bearing sIg with the 17.109-CRI were determined. Analyses of multiple independent kappa light chain cDNA clones did not reveal any evidence for sequence heterogeneity in the CLL cell population. Furthermore, the nucleic acid sequences expressed by the leukemic cells of these two patients were identical or very homologous to a germline V kappa gene isolated from placental DNA, designated Humkv 325, or "V kappa RF" because of its association with IgM autoantibodies. This study suggests; (a) that the malignant CD5+ B lymphocytes in CLL use the same V kappa gene that has been highly associated with IgM autoantibodies and (b) that the expression of V genes is stable in CLL, in contrast to other B cell malignancies examined to date. We propose that many CLL cases represent malignancies of autoreactive CD5 B cells that use a restricted set of conserved V genes. This property may render CLL particularly amenable to immunotherapy with antiidiotypic antibodies

Bronchoscopic evaluation and final diagnosis in patients with chronic non productive cough with normal Chest X ray

When a proper detailed history, clinical examination, chest X ray and sputum analysis does not yield a definite diagnosis for the cause of chronic cough, bronchoscopy is indicated. We did a descriptive study among 39 patients who underwent bronchoscopic evaluation for chronic cough (more than 4 weeks) with normal chest X ray and without a prior definitive diagnosis. 16 out of 39 patients were diagnosed to have tuberculosis on analysis of the bronchial washings. 6 patients (66.67%) with left upper lobe mucosal inflammation were AFB smear positive. 5 patients ( 31.25 %) with normal bronchoscopy were AFB smear positive.4 out of 5 patients (80 %) with bilateral upper lobe mucosal inflammation were AFB smear positive. Pulmonary tuberculosis can present with chronic non productive cough and normal chest X ray. Bronchoscopy is helpful in establishing the diagnosis. When bronchoscopy shows bilateral or unilateral upper lobe bronchial mucosal inflammation, possibility of tuberculosis is high. Bronchoscopy can be normal in some patients with pulmonary tuberculosis with normal chest x ray and chronic non productive cough. The key message is that early pulmonary tuberculosis can present with chronic non productive cough and normal chest X ray without any other symptoms suggestive of tuberculosis. Bronchoscopy is helpful in establishing the diagnosi

Risk factors for hospitalization among adults with asthma: the influence of sociodemographic factors and asthma severity.

BackgroundThe morbidity and mortality from asthma have markedly increased since the late 1970s. The hospitalization rate, an important marker of asthma severity, remains substantial.MethodsIn adults with health care access, we prospectively studied 242 with asthma, aged 18-50 years, recruited from a random sample of allergy and pulmonary physician practices in Northern California to identify risk factors for subsequent hospitalization.ResultsThirty-nine subjects (16%) reported hospitalization for asthma during the 18-month follow-up period. On controlling for asthma severity in multiple logistic regression analysis, non-white race (odds ratio [OR], 3.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-8.8) and lower income (OR, 1.1 per $10,000 decrement; 95$10,000 decrement; 95% CI, 1.02-1.4).ConclusionIn adult asthmatics with access to health care, non-white race, low income, and greater asthma severity were associated with a higher risk of hospitalization. Targeted interventions applied to high-risk asthma patients may reduce asthma morbidity and mortality