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Terms modified by Paper I Selected AbstractsIngredients in dentifrices and their effect on plaque, gingivitis and mutans streptococciINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DENTAL HYGIENE, Issue 1 2004L Jannesson The main objectives of this thesis were to study: (i) the effect of an enzyme-containing dentifrice (Zendium Dentine®), with addition of xylitol on mutans streptococci (MS) in saliva and dental plaque (Paper I) (ii) the effect of a combination of triclosan and xylitol in a dentifrice (Colgate Total®) on MS in saliva and dental plaque (Paper II), and (iii) the effect of oxybenzone on prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-production in cell culture and the effect of an oxybenzone-containing dentifrice on plaque, gingivitis and MS (Paper III). In Paper I, the subjects were divided into two test groups: one using a 10% xylitol and the other using a 5% xylitol dentifrice for 3 months. The addition of 10% xylitol to Zendium Dentine® had an inhibitory effect on MS in both saliva and dental plaque, and the effect of xylitol seemed to be dose dependent. In Paper II, three groups were using one of the following dentifrices: (i) Colgate Total® with addition of 10% xylitol; (ii) Colgate Total®; and (iii) Colgate Total® without triclosan and without xylitol. The results showed that the addition of 10% xylitol to Colgate Total® reduced the number of MS in saliva and plaque. This effect was more pronounced at 6 months than at 2 months. In Paper III, the effect of oxybenzone was studied in vitro and in vivo. Human Embryo Palatal Mesenchyme (HEPM) cells were used to test the inhibition of IL-1,-stimulated PGE2 production by different concentrations of oxybenzone. The results revealed that there was no decrease of cell viability up to 50 µm. A dose-dependent inhibition of stimulated PGE2 production was found: 50% inhibition (IC50) was found at 0.6 µm. Paper III also included a double-blind clinical trial testing two fluoride dentifrices: one with the addition of 0.5% oxybenzone and one without. Plaque index was reduced in both groups. There was no difference between the groups. A 25% reduction in gingival index was observed in the oxybenzone group after 6 weeks, compared to 2% in the placebo group, indicating an anti-inflammatory effect of oxybenzone. [source] A survey for redshifted molecular and atomic absorption lines , II.MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 20083 Parkes quarter-Jansky flat-spectrum sample, Associated H i, millimetre lines in the z ABSTRACT We present the results of a z, 2.9 survey for H i 21-cm and molecular absorption in the hosts of radio quasars using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and the Tidbinbilla 70-m telescope. Although the atomic gas has been searched to limits capable of detecting most known absorption systems, no H i was detected in any of the 10 sources. Previously published searches, which are overwhelmingly at redshifts of z, 1, exhibit a 42 per cent detection rate (31 out of 73 sources), whereas the inclusion of our survey yields a 17 per cent detection rate (two out of 12 sources) at z > 2.5. We therefore believe that our high-redshift selection is responsible for our exclusive non-detections, and find that at ultraviolet (UV) luminosities of LUV, 1023 W Hz,1, 21-cm absorption has never been detected. We also find this to not only apply to our targets, but also those at low redshift exhibiting similar luminosities, giving zero detections out of a total of 16 sources over z= 0.24 to 3.8. This is in contrast to the LUV, 1023 W Hz,1 sources where there is a near 50 per cent detection rate of 21-cm absorption. The mix of 21-cm detections and non-detections is currently attributed to orientation effects, where according to unified schemes of active galactic nuclei, 21-cm absorption is more likely to occur in sources designated as radio galaxies (type 2 objects, where the nucleus is viewed through dense obscuring circumnuclear gas) than in quasars (type 1 objects, where we have a direct view to the nucleus). However, due to the exclusively high UV luminosities of our targets it is not clear whether orientation effects alone can wholly account for the distribution, although there exists the possibility that the large luminosities are indicative of a changing demographic of galaxy types. We also find that below luminosities of LUV, 1023 W Hz,1, both type 1 and type 2 objects have a 50 per cent likelihood of exhibiting 21-cm absorption. Finally, we do not detect molecular gas in any of the sources. The lack of H i absorption, combined with the results from Paper I, suggests these sources are not conducive to high molecular abundances. [source] Searching for stars in compact high-velocity clouds , IIMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 3 2007U. Hopp ABSTRACT We address the hypothesis that high-velocity clouds correspond to the ,missing' dwarf galaxies of the Local Group predicted by cosmological simulations. To this end, we present optical and near-infrared photometry of five additional high-velocity clouds, one of which produces Lyman series absorption on the sight line towards the quasar Ton S210, with sufficient resolution and sensitivity to enable the detection of an associated stellar content. We do not detect significant stellar populations intrinsic to any of the five clouds. In combination with the results from our Paper I, which had yielded non-detections of stellar content in another five cases, we find that there is a 50 per cent chance of getting a null result in 10 trials if fewer than 7 per cent of all high-velocity clouds contain stars. We conclude that the population of high-velocity clouds is an unlikely repository for the ,missing' dwarfs of the Local Group. [source] The ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample , IV.MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2000The extended sample We present a low-flux extension of the X-ray-selected ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample (BCS) published in Paper I of this series. Like the original BCS and employing an identical selection procedure, the BCS extension is compiled from ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) data in the northern hemisphere (,,0°) and at high Galactic latitudes (|b|,20°). It comprises 99 X-ray-selected clusters of galaxies with measured redshifts z,0.3 (as well as eight more at z>0.3) and total fluxes between 2.8×10,12 and 4.4×10,12 erg cm,2 s,1 in the 0.1,2.4 keV band (the latter value being the flux limit of the original BCS). The extension can be combined with the main sample published in 1998 to form the homogeneously selected extended BCS (eBCS), the largest and statistically best understood cluster sample to emerge from the RASS to date. The nominal completeness of the combined sample (defined with respect to a power-law fit to the bright end of the BCS log N,log S distribution) is relatively low at 75 per cent (compared with 90 per cent for the high-flux sample of Paper I). However, just as for the original BCS, this incompleteness can be accurately quantified, and thus statistically corrected for, as a function of X-ray luminosity and redshift. In addition to its importance for improved statistical studies of the properties of clusters in the local Universe, the low-flux extension of the BCS is also intended to serve as a finding list for X-ray-bright clusters in the northern hemisphere which we hope will prove useful in the preparation of cluster observations with the next generation of X-ray telescopes such as Chandra and XMM-Newton. An electronic version of the eBCS can be obtained from the following URL: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~ebeling/clusters/BCS.html. [source] Long-term mortality and retinopathy in type 1 diabetesACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue thesis1 2010Jakob Grauslund The incidence of type 1 diabetes is increasing in Denmark as well as the rest of the world. Due to diabetes-related micro- and macrovascular complications, the morbidity and the mortality is higher among type 1 diabetic patients. The aim of this thesis was to examine a population-based cohort of 727 type 1 diabetic patients from Fyn County, Denmark, with an onset of diabetes before 1 July 1973 in order to: 1,Evaluate the all-cause mortality rates and the influence of sex, duration of diabetes and calendar year of diagnosis in a 33-year follow-up (Paper I). 2,Examine glycaemic regulation, lipids and renal dysfunction as risk factors for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and IHD (Paper II). 3,Estimate the prevalence of DR as well as the 25-year incidence of PDR and associated risk factors in long-time surviving patients (Paper III). 4,To compare the grading of DR between ETDRS seven standard field 30° stereoscopic colour films and nine field 45° monoscopic digital colour images in long-term surviving patients (Paper IV). In the years 1973,2006 an overall MR of 22.3 per 1000 person-years was found. Furthermore a relative mortality of 3.4 was found as compared to the general population in Denmark. The relative mortality was especially high for patients aged 30,39 (SMR 9.8). There was a tendency towards a better survival for patients diagnosed after 1964. This was especially seen for men. Diabetes was the most common cause of death for those who died in the group. In 1993,1996 blood samples were drawn and glycaemic regulation, lipids and renal markers were subsequently used as predictors of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and ischaemic heart disease. Glycaemic regulation, dyslipidaemia and creatinine were all significantly associated with all three endpoints. Furthermore, variations in glycaemic control were also identified as a risk factor for overall mortality. Two hundred and one patients were examined for diabetic retinopathy in 1981,1982 and 2007,2008. At follow-up, 97.0% had DR and 42.9% of all patients without PDR at baseline developed this during the follow-up period. Patients who had had a poor glycaemic regulation as well as those who had NPDR at baseline were more likely to develop PDR than the remaining patients. On the other hand, other risk factors such as high blood pressure and proteinuria did not predict PDR. In the comparative study between ETDRS seven standard field 30° stereoscopic colour films and nine field 45° monoscopic digital colour images, 43 eyes of 43 patients were examined in 2008. A poor correlation was found between the two methods: only 29.3% were graded alike. In the remaining, the level of DR was graded higher in the digital photos. Among these, PDR was detected in three eyes using digital photos but remained undetected on all films. This suggests that digital photos with wide fields are the best way to detect DR in long-term type 1 diabetic patients. Overall, it is concluded that mortality is still higher among type 1 diabetic patients. This depends, among other things, on glycaemic regulation, lipid status and, partly, renal dysfunction. Diabetic retinopathy is almost universal in long-term type 1 diabetic patients, and almost half of all patients will develop PDR in 25 years. Nine field digital photos provide the best grading of retinopathy in long-term type 1 diabetic patients. [source] Smoothed Particle Magnetohydrodynamics , III.MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2005Multidimensional tests, ·B= 0 constraint ABSTRACT In two previous papers (Papers I and II), we have described an algorithm for solving the equations of Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The algorithm uses dissipative terms in order to capture shocks and has been tested on a wide range of one-dimensional problems in both adiabatic and isothermal MHD. In this paper, we investigate multidimensional aspects of the algorithm, refining many of the aspects considered in Papers I and II and paying particular attention to the code's ability to maintain the ,·B= 0 constraint associated with the magnetic field. In particular, we implement a hyperbolic divergence cleaning method recently proposed by Dedner et al. in combination with the consistent formulation of the MHD equations in the presence of non-zero magnetic divergence derived in Papers I and II. Various projection methods for maintaining the divergence-free condition are also examined. Finally, the algorithm is tested against a wide range of multidimensional problems used to test recent grid-based MHD codes. A particular finding of these tests is that in Smoothed Particle Magnetohydrodynamics (SPMHD), the magnitude of the divergence error is dependent on the number of neighbours used to calculate a particle's properties and only weakly dependent on the total number of particles. Whilst many improvements could still be made to the algorithm, our results suggest that the method is ripe for application to problems of current theoretical interest, such as that of star formation. [source] THE EFFECTS OF THE 1.03 MILLION YEN CEILING IN A DYNAMIC LABOR SUPPLY MODELCONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 2 2009YUKIKO ABE In this paper I examine the effects of a means-tested transfer system in Japan ("1.03 million yen ceiling") in a dynamic labor supply model with endogenous retirement. In Japan, married women have reason to limit their annual earnings to no more than 1.03 million yen in order to receive a number of benefits available to low-income wives, and in fact often choose to do so. In a dynamic model, the optimal labor supply schedule follows a pattern that is not seen in a static framework, which I call the "spillover effect." The paper also examines the properties of dynamic welfare cost of this ceiling. (JEL J22, H24, H55) [source] ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL MEDICINES: A HOBBESIAN SOCIAL CONTRACT APPROACHDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 2 2005RICHARD E. ASHCROFT ABSTRACT Medicines that are vital for the saving and preserving of life in conditions of public health emergency or endemic serious disease are known as essential medicines. In many developing world settings such medicines may be unavailable, or unaffordably expensive for the majority of those in need of them. Furthermore, for many serious diseases (such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis) these essential medicines are protected by patents that permit the patent-holder to operate a monopoly on their manufacture and supply, and to price these medicines well above marginal cost. Recent international legal doctrine has placed great stress on the need to globalise intellectual property rights protections, and on the rights of intellectual property rights holders to have their property rights enforced. Although international intellectual property rights law does permit compulsory licensing of protected inventions in the interests of public health, the use of this right by sovereign states has proved highly controversial. In this paper I give an argument in support of states' sovereign right to expropriate private intellectual property in conditions of public health emergency. This argument turns on a social contract argument for the legitimacy of states. The argument shows, further, that under some circumstances states are not merely permitted compulsory to license inventions, but are actually obliged to do so, on pain of failure of their legitimacy as sovereign states. The argument draws freely on a loose interpretation of Thomas Hobbes's arguments in his Leviathan, and on an analogy between his state of War and the situation of public health disasters. [source] Can We Derive the Principle of Compositionality (if We Deflate Understanding)?DIALECTICA, Issue 2 2009Antonio Rauti Paul Horwich has claimed that we can derive a certain form of the principle of compositionality from a deflationary account of what it is to understand a complex expression. If this were the case, we would realize a surprising theoretical economy, and if the derivation involved basic ideas from a use theory of meaning, we would have a novel argument for use theories of meaning. Horwich does not offer a detailed derivation. In this paper I reconstruct a possible derivation and show that it begs the question. I then extend my discussion to explain why it is unlikely that alternative arguments can fare better. [source] Diagrammatic Representation in GeometryDIALECTICA, Issue 4 2006Dennis Potter In this paper I offer a theory about the nature of diagrammatic representation in geometry. On my view, diagrammatic representaiton differs from pictorial representation in that neither the resemblance between the diagram and its object nor the experience of such a resemblance plays an essential role. Instead, the diagrammatic representation is arises from the role the components of the diagram play in a diagramatic practice that allows us to draws inferences based on them about the ojbects they represent. [source] The Argument from the finer-grained content of colour experiences A redefinition of its role within the debate between McDowell and non-conceptual theoristsDIALECTICA, Issue 1 2003Annalisa COLIVA In this paper I address the question of whether the fact that our colour experiences have a finer-grained content than our ordinary colour concepts allow us to represent should be taken as a threat to theories of the conceptual content of experience. In particular, I consider and criticise McDowell's response to that argument and propose a possible development of it. As a consequence, I claim that the role of the argument from the finer-grained content of experience has to be redefined. In particular, I acknowledge that this problem is helpful in order to bring to the fore the issue of the proper characterisation of the constraints upon the possession conditions of perceptual demonstrative concepts. Yet, I contend that, in light of the foregoing discussion, it is neutral with respect to the dispute between conceptual and non-conceptual theorists. For that dispute hinges on whether it is possible to have experiences with a certain content independently of having the concepts, which are needed for its canonical specification and not on whether those experiences are conceptualisable in all their finesse of grain. [source] Wittgenstein's Builders and Perry's Objection to Sentence PriorityDIALECTICA, Issue 1 2002Eli Dresner In the first section of this paper I present a view of linguistic meaning that I label 'Sentence Priority'(SP): the position that semantically primitive language-world contact is made at the level of complete sentences (rather than the level of sentence parts). Then, in the main part of the paper, I consider and reject an objection against Sentence Priority raised by John Perry, an objection that appeals to Wittgenstein's builders parable. Perry argues that the builder's utterances (,Slab',,Pillar', etc.) are utterances of self-standing nouns, and that therefore they constitute a counter-example to SP. A sound assessment of Perry's argument, however, depends on a clear distinction between two cases: one in which the four expressions mentioned in Wittgenstein's example exhaust the builders'expressive powers, and one in which they do not. Once these cases are distinguished it can be seen that in neither does Perry's argument go through. [source] Prey size of single-prey loaders as an indicator of prey abundanceECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 1 2000A.I. Houston In this paper I am concerned with the behaviour of seabirds that bring back just one prey item at a time to their young. I use a simple model from central place foraging theory to show that the size of fish that a parent bird brings back may increase or decrease with an increase in the abundance of fish. This means that it may not be possible to use the size of fish that is fed to the young as an indicator of prey abundance. [source] The "End of Geography" in Financial Services?ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2000Local Embeddedness, Territorialization in the Interest Rate Swaps Industry Abstract: This paper provides evidence that the globalization of financial services has not undermined the importance of local embeddedness in world financial centers, among global banks. Using qualitative data from interviews with senior bankers in the interest rate swaps (derivatives) industry in Australia, in this paper I demonstrate the importance of spatial relationships and processes of local embeddedness in the production of swaps. Local embeddedness is attributable to the rapid exchange of financial information in formal dealing networks that serve as central information sources, enabling dealers to formulate a "market feel" that influences their dealing strategies. Information interpretation and decision making in dealing processes and specialist financial labor provide the foundations for the product-based learning orientation of swaps dealing. Dealing networks are underpinned by social relationships, requiring face-to-face interaction that is facilitated by spatial proximity. Although the global swaps industry is dominated by multinational banks, the centrality of these embedded networks impedes globalization in interest rate swaps dealing. The global swaps industry comprises an international network of highly localized but interconnected operations based in world financial centers. [source] How Does Structural Reform Affect Regional Development?ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2000Resolving Contradictory Theory with Evidence from India Abstract: Regional theory offers little coherent guidance on the prospects for interregional development after structural reform in developing nations. In this paper I suggest a basic set of hypotheses in which the neoliberal nation-state is simultaneously a reduced state (less concerned about promoting regional balance) and an enlarged state (directing development toward selected regions). Under the new regulatory structure the location of post-reform investments may be expected to favor the coast, advanced regions, and existing metropolises (especially the edge areas); these expectations may be more true for foreign direct investments than domestic investments (especially the direct investments of the state). I use disaggregated pre- and post-reform industrial data from India to test the hypotheses. The results offer partial to full support for all hypotheses, providing evidence of the return of cumulative causation, and raising concerns about the political economy of future development in the lagging regions. [source] Geographic Scale and Grass-Roots Internationalism: The Liverpool Dock Dispute, 1995,1998,ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2000Noel Castree Abstract: In the context of ongoing debates over the effects of "globalization" on organized labor and, specifically, recent experiments in labor internationalism, this paper examines the geography of the Liverpool dock dispute, 1995,98. The dispute has rarely been subject to a serious analysis of its causes and trajectory. This is surprising since it was not only the most protracted industrial dispute in recent British history but also the hub of a relatively novel form of transnational labor organizing: namely, a form of grass-roots internationalism organized largely outside the formal apparatuses of national and international unionism. In the paper I focus on the nature and dynamics of this "grass-roots internationalism" with a view to making two claims that have a wider thematic and theoretical relevance to the study of labor geographies. First, contrary to an emerging new orthodoxy in labor geography (and labor studies more generally), the Liverpool case in fact suggests that the necessity for labor to "up-scale" solidarity and struggle in the 1990s is much overstated. Second, the Liverpool case suggests that international labor organizing is only efficacious when considered in relation to two scales of struggle often thought increasingly irrelevant or ineffectual in a globalizing world: the local and the national. Thus, while those few analysts who have cited the Liverpool dispute, basing their assessments on secondhand knowledge, have held the dockers up as exemplars of a new form of labor internationalism, in this paper I suggest the need for a more complex and contingent appreciation of the multiscalar dynamics of labor struggles. In short, we have not yet reached the stage, even in a globalizing world, where labor's "spatial fixes" must be preeminently supranational. [source] Private Investment and Political InstitutionsECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 1 2002David Stasavage Recent research has demonstrated a negative link between macroeconomic and political uncertainty and levels of private investment across countries. This raises the question whether certain types of government institutions might help reduce this uncertainty. North and Weingast (1989) propose that political institutions characterized by checks and balances can have beneficial effects on investment by allowing governments to credibly commit not to engage in ex post opportunism with respect to investors. In this paper I develop and test a modified version of their hypothesis, suggesting that checks and balances, on average, improve possibilities for commitment, but that they are not a necessary condition for doing so. Results of heteroskedastic regression and quantile regression estimates strongly support this proposition. [source] Using Dimensionality-Based DIF Analyses to Identify and Interpret Constructs That Elicit Group DifferencesEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2005Mark J. Gierl In this paper I describe and illustrate the Roussos-Stout (1996) multidimensionality-based DIF analysis paradigm, with emphasis on its implication for the selection of a matching and studied subtest for DIF analyses. Standard DIF practice encourages an exploratory search for matching subtest items based on purely statistical criteria, such as a failure to display DIF. By contrast, the multidimensional DIF paradigm emphasizes a substantively-informed selection of items for both the matching and studied subtest based on the dimensions suspected of underlying the test data. Using two examples, I demonstrate that these two approaches lead to different interpretations about the occurrence of DIF in a test. It is argued that selecting a matching and studied subtest, as identified using the DIF analysis paradigm, can lead to a more informed understanding of why DIF occurs. [source] Learner, Student, Speaker: Why it matters how we call those we teachEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 5-6 2010Gert Biesta Abstract In this paper I discuss three different ways in which we can refer to those we teach: as learner, as student or as speaker. My interest is not in any aspect of teaching but in the question whether there can be such a thing as emancipatory education. Working with ideas from Jacques Rancičre I offer the suggestion that emancipatory education can be characterised as education which starts from the assumption that all students can speak. It starts from the assumption, in other words, that students neither lack a capacity for speech, nor that they are producing noise. The idea of the student as a speaker is not offered as an empirical fact but as a different starting point for emancipatory education, one that positions equality at the beginning of education, not at its end. [source] Biopolitical Utopianism in Educational TheoryEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 7 2007Tyson Lewis Abstract In this paper I shift the center of utopian debates away from questions of ideology towards the question of power. As a new point of departure, I analyze Foucault's notion of biopower as well as Hardt and Negri's theory of biopolitics. Arguing for a new hermeneutic of biopolitics in education, I then apply this lens to evaluate the educational philosophy of John Dewey. In conclusion, the paper suggests that while Hardt and Negri are missing an educational theory, John Dewey is missing a concept of democracy adequate to the biopolitical struggles of the multitude. Thus, I call for a synthesis of Dewey and Hardt and Negri in order to generate a biopedagogical practice beyond both traditional models of education as well as current standardization. [source] The Nature of the Gift: Accountability and the Professor-Student RelationshipEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 6 2007Ana M. Martínez-Alemán Abstract In this paper I introduce the theory of gift giving as a possible means to reconcile the contradictions inherent in accountability measures of ,faculty productivity' in the American university. In this paper I sketch the theory of gift economies to show how, given the historical ideals that characterize the faculty-student relationship, a theory of gift giving could help us better judge the labor of the faculty. I suggest that it is the relational character of teaching that frustrates accountability measures and that perhaps if viewed as a gift economy,and in particular an economy with ,reproductive' ends,we could better grasp the effectiveness of these relationships. [source] What is Art in Education?EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 2 2007New Narratives of Learning Abstract In this paper I address some questions pertinent to the development of school art education. I begin by considering how we relate to art and how we might understand the notion of this relation in terms of human subjectivity and the art object. To do this I describe particular art practices that have broadened social conceptions of art, which in turn, become part of art itself and shape performances of understanding, learning and practice. Implicit to this discussion is a change in how artists, art practice and engagement with art are conceived. I then consider some art events in school art education and analyse how human subjects, art practices and objects are understood in this context. This leads to further remarks about how learners and practice in school art education might be discerned in the light of the preceding discussion. [source] Knowing Truth: Peirce's epistemology in an educational contextEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 2 2005Christine L. McCarthy Abstract In this paper I examine Peirce's epistemological and ontological theories and indicate their relevance to educational practice. I argue that Peirces conception of Firsts, Seconds and Thirds entails a fundamental ontological realism. I further argue that Peirce does have a theory of truth, that it is a particular non-traditional ,correspondence' theory, consistent with, and implicit in, an over-arching position of pragmatic realism. Peirce's epistemological position is subject to misinterpretation when the ontological realism on which it rests is overlooked. Finally I suggest that such a re-consideration of Peirce's pragmatic ontology and epistemology in an educational context is needed. [source] Areca nut-abuse liability, dependence and public healthADDICTION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2002A. Winstock It may, however, stigmatize substance use, especially when western diagnostic criteria are applied to essentially culture-bound substances. However, when the pattern of use of a substance results in significant personal harm, then whether dependence exists or not is less important than developing an appropriate response, if its use is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Such is the case with areca nut, the fourth most commonly used drug in the world after tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. In this paper I will explore its use and properties with respect to its abuse and dependence liability and consider the associated implications for public health. [source] What is reinforcement sensitivity?EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 5 2008Neuroscience paradigms for approach-avoidance process theories of personality Abstract Reinforcement sensitivity is a concept proposed by Gray (1973) to describe the biological antecedents of personality, and has become the common mechanism among a family of personality theories concerning approach and avoidance processes. These theories suggest that 2,3 biobehavioural systems mediate the effects of reward and punishment on emotion and motivation, and that individual differences in the functioning of these systems manifest as personality. Identifying paradigms for operationalising reinforcement sensitivity is therefore critical for testing and developing these theories, and evaluating their footprint in personality space. In this paper I suggest that, while traditional self-report paradigms in personality psychology may be less-than-ideal for this purpose, neuroscience paradigms may offer operations of reinforcement sensitivity at multiple levels of approach and avoidance processes. After brief reflection on the use of such methods in animal models,which first spawned the concept of reinforcement sensitivity,recent developments in four domains of neuroscience are reviewed. These are psychogenomics, psychopharmacology, neuroimaging and category-learning. By exploring these paradigms as potential operations of reinforcement sensitivity we may enrich our understanding of the putative biobehavioural bases of personality. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Bodily Awareness, Imagination and the SelfEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2006Joel Smith Common wisdom tells us that we have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. These senses provide us with a means of gaining information concerning objects in the world around us, including our own bodies. But in addition to these five senses, each of us is aware of our own body in ways in which we are aware of no other thing. These ways include our awareness of the position, orientation, movement, and size of our limbs (proprioception and kinaesthesia), our sense of balance, and our awareness of bodily sensations such as pains, tickles, and sensations of pressure or temperature. We can group these together under the title ,bodily awareness'. The legitimacy of grouping together these ways of gaining information is shown by the fact that they are unified phenomenologically; they provide the subject with an awareness of his or her body ,from the inside'. Bodily awareness is an awareness of our own bodies from within. This perspective on our own bodies does not, cannot, vary. As Merleau-Ponty writes, ,my own body,is always presented to me from the same angle' (1962: 90). It has recently been claimed by a number of philosophers that, in bodily awareness, one is not simply aware of one's body as one's body, but one is aware of one's body as oneself. That is, when I attend to the object of bodily awareness I am presented not just with my body, but with my ,bodily self'. The contention of the present paper is that such a view is misguided. In the first section I clarify just what is at issue here. In the remainder of the paper I present an argument, based on two claims about the nature of the imagination, against the view that the bodily self is presented in bodily awareness. Section two defends the dependency thesis; a claim about the relation between perception and sensory imagination. Section three defends a certain view about our capacity to imagine being other people. Section four presents the main argument against the bodily self awareness view and section five addresses some objections. [source] Macroscopic quantum behavior of superconducting quantum interference devicesFORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 4-5 2003M.G. CastellanoArticle first published online: 24 APR 200 Superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) are made by a superconducting loop interrupted by one or more Josephson junctions. They are described in terms of a macroscopic variable, the magnetic flux, which shows quantum effects such as tunnelling through a potential barrier. Besides making up the source of a quantum state, SQUIDs also provide the instruments necessary for its probing: as a fact, SQUID based magnetometers have a sensitivity approaching the quantum limit. In this paper I will review the working principle of these devices and illustrate the system of SQUIDs realized in my group to test the quantum behavior at a macroscopic level. [source] The Swedish Welfare State and the Emergence of Female Welfare State OccupationsGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 4 2000Lars Evertsson The Swedish welfare state has, during the twentieth century, developed into the primary guarantor of health and social services as well as economic security. As the welfare state has developed, a new group of professions has emerged which can be described as welfare state professions. In this paper I will point out a few central aspects of how female-dominated welfare state professions have emerged and developed within the framework of the Swedish welfare state's expansion. These ideas will then be demonstrated on two female-dominated occupations, nurses and occupational therapists, which have developed in close association with the expansion of the welfare state. The results indicate that the emergence of a centrally planned welfare state and the occupational groups' organizational resources have been of crucial importance for the professional development of female-dominated health and care occupations in Sweden. The welfare state has opened up new professional fields and created a stable labour market, which has provided good conditions for professional organizing. The state has also been quick to establish relationships with occupational groups whose professional competence has been deemed to be suited to the welfare political context. However, the state's interests in professional matters have often been in conflict with those of the professions themselves, regarding, for example, education, sub-specialization and certification. One conclusion that can be drawn is that the Swedish welfare state has acted both as an engine and a brake regarding professional development and status. [source] Giorgio Agamben and the new biopolitical nomosGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2006Claudio Minca Abstract In this paper I reflect on the progressive normalization of a series of geographies of exception within Western democracies and, in particular, the relation of these to the new biopolitical power that is progressively affirming itself in our everyday lives , and that appears to be imposing itself as the new, secret, ontology of the political. I do so by engaging with the work of Giorgio Agamben and, specifically, interrogating the spatial architecture that underpins his theory of sovereign power. Starting from Agamben's spatial conceptualizations, I explore his attempt to trace the contours and the secret coordinates of the contemporary biopolitical nomos, a nomos rooted firmly in the crisis and progressive demolition of that which Carl Schmitt described as the ius publicum Europaeum. I note, moreover, how the definitive dissolution of the geographical nomos that had dominated the two centuries preceding the First World War, and the lack of a new, alternative, geographical nomos in the century which followed, can also be grasped by critically rereading some key episodes in the history of European geography; in particular, the contested legacy of the work of Friedrich Ratzel's grand geographical project and the Geopolitik experiment. What I suggest is that to understand the deep nature of the geographies of exception that arm the global war on terror, it is vital that we think in terms of a theory of space in order to try to unveil the Arcanum, the secret enigma of the empty centre around which turn the wheels of a new, macabre, geo-biopolitical machine. [source] ,The Sun Always Shines in Perth': a Post-Colonial Geography of Identity, Memory and PlaceGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2000A. Taylor In this paper I explore some of the textual possibilities of post-colonial geography. Using the conceptual tool of place as a palimpsest, I trace some geographies of memory across selected colonial and post-colonial texts. By focusing on the relationship between representations of ,sunny Perth' and ,Nyungah Perth', I tease out some of the more general theoretical issues which pertain to a politics of place and space within this (post)colonial Australian context. The nexus of memory, place and cultural identity is central to my analysis. I give particular attention to the ways in which cultural memories are inscribed in some very specific and very ordinary places, and how these places become site-markers of the remembering process and of identity itself. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||