Indeterminism in Kane’s Event-Causal Libertarianism

In this paper, I examine the plausibility of event-causal libertarianism, a prominent view on free will which regards indeterminism in the causal history of a decision as necessary for an agent’s moral responsibility for a subsequent action. Specifically, I investigate how Robert Kane’s event-causal libertarian account fares in light of Derk Pereboom’s powerful “disappearing agent” objection, in addition to criticisms of my own. Kane concludes that Pereboom’s objection is ineffective against his account. I argue against Kane’s conclusion by highlighting a dilemma which results from Kane\u27s response to the disappearing agent objection; either way Kane’s position is interpreted, his account is unsuccessful

Adolescence and Innovation in the European Upper Palaeolithic

Childhood and adolescence are two stages of development that are unique to the human life course. While childhood in the Pleistocene has received considerable attention in recent years, adolescence during the same period remains an understudied area of research. Yet it is during adolescence that key social, physical and cognitive milestones are reached. Thus, through studying adolescents, there is enormous potential for improving our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic lifeways more broadly. The reason for the dearth of these types of studies may be the perceived methodological difficulty of identifying adolescents in the archaeological record. In many ways, it is easier to distinguish children (sensu lato) from adults based on size, developmental age and associated artefacts. Adolescents, however, are often seen as more ambiguous, more liminal. Working within an evolutionary framework and using a definition of adolescence rooted in biology, we draw on psychology, ethnography and palaeodemography to develop a model of what it might have meant to be a ‘teenager’ in the European Upper Palaeolithic. Citing the biological, social and cognitive changes that occur during this life stage, we propose an important role of teenagers in the origins and spread of new ideas and innovations throughout the Late Pleistocene

European wildcat populations are subdivided into five main biogeographic groups: consequences of Pleistocene climate changes or recent anthropogenic fragmentation?

Extant populations of the European wildcat are fragmented across the continent, the likely consequence of recent extirpations due to habitat loss and over-hunting. However, their underlying phylogeographic history has never been reconstructed. For testing the hypothesis that the European wildcat survived the Ice Age fragmented in Mediterranean refuges, we assayed the genetic variation at 31 microsatellites in 668 presumptive European wildcats sampled in 15 European countries. Moreover, to evaluate the extent of subspecies/population divergence and identify eventual wild × domestic cat hybrids, we genotyped 26 African wildcats from Sardinia and North Africa and 294 random-bred domestic cats. Results of multivariate analyses and Bayesian clustering confirmed that the European wild and the domestic cats (plus the African wildcats) belong to two well-differentiated clusters (average Ф ST = 0.159, r st = 0.392, P > 0.001; Analysis of molecular variance [AMOVA]). We identified from c. 5% to 10% cryptic hybrids in southern and central European populations. In contrast, wild-living cats in Hungary and Scotland showed deep signatures of genetic admixture and introgression with domestic cats. The European wildcats are subdivided into five main genetic clusters (average Ф ST = 0.103, r st = 0.143, P > 0.001; AMOVA) corresponding to five biogeographic groups, respectively, distributed in the Iberian Peninsula, central Europe, central Germany, Italian Peninsula and the island of Sicily, and in north-eastern Italy and northern Balkan regions (Dinaric Alps). Approximate Bayesian Computation simulations supported late Pleistocene-early Holocene population splittings (from c. 60 k to 10 k years ago), contemporary to the last Ice Age climatic changes. These results provide evidences for wildcat Mediterranean refuges in southwestern Europe, but the evolution history of eastern wildcat populations remains to be clarified. Historical genetic subdivisions suggest conservation strategies aimed at enhancing gene flow through the restoration of ecological corridors within each biogeographic units. Concomitantly, the risk of hybridization with free-ranging domestic cats along corridor edges should be carefully monitored

Phylogenetic relationships of haplolepideous mosses (Dicranidae) inferred from rps4 gene sequences

The haplolepideous mosses (Dicranidae) constitute a large group of ecologically and morphologically diverse species recognised primarily by having peristome teeth with a single row of cells on the dorsal surface

Commensurate lattice distortion in the layered titanium oxypnictides Na2_{2}Ti2Pn2_{2}Pn_{2}O (Pn=Pn = As, Sb) determined by X-ray diffraction

We report single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements on Na$_2$Ti$_{2}Pn_{2}$O ($Pn$ = As, Sb) which reveal a charge superstructure that appears below the density wave transitions previously observed in bulk data. From symmetry-constrained structure refinements we establish that the associated distortion mode can be described by two propagation vectors, ${\bf q}_{1} = (1/2, 0, l)$ and ${\bf q}_{2} = (0, 1/2, l)$, with $l=0$ (Sb) or $l = 1/2$ (As), and primarily involves in-plane displacements of the Ti atoms perpendicular to the Ti--O bonds. The results provide direct evidence for phonon-assisted charge density wave order in Na$_2$Ti$_{2}Pn_{2}$O and identify a proximate ordered phase that could compete with superconductivity in doped BaTi$_{2}$Sb$_{2}$O

Role of the iodide–methylammonium interaction in the ferroelectricity of CH3NH3PbI3

Excellent conversion efficiencies of over 20 % and facile cell production have placed hybrid perovskites at the forefront of novel solar cell materials, with CH3NH3PbI3 being an archetypal compound. The question why CH3NH3PbI3 has such extraordinary characteristics, particularly a very efficient power conversion from absorbed light to electrical power, is hotly debated, with ferroelectricity being a promising candidate. This does, however, require the crystal structure to be non‐centrosymmetric and we herein present crystallographic evidence as to how the symmetry breaking occurs on a crystallographic and, therefore, long‐range level. Although the molecular cation CH3NH3+ is intrinsically polar, it is heavily disordered and this cannot be the sole reason for the ferroelectricity. We show that it, nonetheless, plays an important role, as it distorts the neighboring iodide positions from their centrosymmetric positions

An evaluation of Mesozoic rift-related magmatism on the margins of the Labrador Sea: Implications for rifting and passive margin asymmetry

The Labrador Sea is a small (∼900 km wide) ocean basin separating southwest Greenland from Labrador, Canada. It opened following a series of rifting events that began as early as the Late Triassic or Jurassic, culminating in a brief period of seafloor spreading commencing by polarity chron 27 (C27; Danian) and ending by C13 (Eocene-Oligocene boundary). Rift-related magmatism has been documented on both conjugate margins of the Labrador Sea. In southwest Greenland this magmatism formed a major coast-parallel dike swarm as well as other smaller dikes and intrusions. Evidence for rift-related magmatism on the conjugate Labrador margin is limited to igneous lithologies found in deep offshore exploration wells, mostly belonging to the Alexis Formation, along with a postulated Early Cretaceous nephelinite dike swarm (ca. 142 Ma) that crops out onshore, near Makkovik, Labrador. Our field observations of this Early Cretaceous nephelinite suite lead us to conclude that the early rift-related magmatism exposed around Makkovik is volumetrically and spatially limited compared to the contemporaneous magmatism on the conjugate southwest Greenland margin. This asymmetry in the spatial extent of the exposed onshore magmatism is consistent with other observations of asymmetry between the conjugate margins of the Labrador Sea, including the total sediment thickness in offshore basins, the crustal structure, and the bathymetric profile of the shelf width. We propose that the magmatic and structural asymmetry observed between these two conjugate margins is consistent with an early rifting phase dominated by simple shear rather than pure shear deformation. In such a setting Labrador would be the lower plate margin to the southwest Greenland upper plate

The evolution of interdisciplinarity in physics research

Science, being a social enterprise, is subject to fragmentation into groups that focus on specialized areas or topics. Often new advances occur through cross-fertilization of ideas between sub-fields that otherwise have little overlap as they study dissimilar phenomena using different techniques. Thus to explore the nature and dynamics of scientific progress one needs to consider the large-scale organization and interactions between different subject areas. Here, we study the relationships between the sub-fields of Physics using the Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme (PACS) codes employed for self-categorization of articles published over the past 25 years (1985-2009). We observe a clear trend towards increasing interactions between the different sub-fields. The network of sub-fields also exhibits core-periphery organization, the nucleus being dominated by Condensed Matter and General Physics. However, over time Interdisciplinary Physics is steadily increasing its share in the network core, reflecting a shift in the overall trend of Physics research.Comment: Published version, 10 pages, 8 figures + Supplementary Informatio