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Quotative be like
Get PDFThis paper examines a form of talking about speech acts, mental states, and other features so far unexplored in philosophy: quotative be like. Quotative be like is the use of like and to be that occurs in constructions such as “Ellen was like“I’m leaving!”” We argue that neglect of quotative be like represents a gap in our understanding of our ways of characterizing the minds and speech of ourselves and others. Further, we show that quotative be like is not reducible to more familiar forms of direct discourse or indirect discourse. Mapping out a number of different options for theorizing about quotative be like, we argue for an account on which the quoted material in quotative be like picks out properties.Peer reviewe
Entrepreneurial heuristics : making strategic decisions in highly uncertain environments
Get PDFEntrepreneurs use heuristics more than other groups of decision-makers do, particularly when developing strategies in highly uncertain environments. We conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with founders of recently created ventures to identify the heuristics they use for strategic decisions and then analyzed these from the perspective of their roles (what these are used for) and functions (how these fulfill their role). Our results show that heuristics are the primary decision-making strategy for inexperienced entrepreneurs and suggest that they are useful in the entrepreneurial process for (1) organizing the venture, (2) projecting the founder's identity onto their ventures, and (3) exchanging information between the venture and the market. We also expand on the conceptualization of heuristics as simple rules used in decision-making by uncovering a new functional type: metacognitive heuristics.Peer reviewe
Cognitive constraints of chimpanzees' theory of mind
Get PDFLike much other cognition, social cognition of great apes, or more specifically, chimpanzees (*Pan troglodytes*) embodies markers of both rich cognitive character and (somewhat) systematic limitations. This is opportune for a psychological theory that aims to outline the character of the chimpanzee's mind both in its opportunities and characteristic limitations. The theoretical space of theory of mind -- the ability to represent other animals' minds -- has been populated with accounts that delimit nonhuman and precocious human abilities from older humans. I deploy this heuristic in empirical (Chapters 2-4) and theoretical (Chapter 5) investigations of systematic representational limitations in chimpanzees' representational abilities. More specifically, in Chapter 2, I investigated their abilities to represent misleading appearances of objects and failed to fully replicate their reported success in tracking apparent size transformations of food items. In Chapter 3, I developed a communicative interaction task that leveraged chimpanzees' reactions to different violations of their food requests. Across two experiments, the chimpanzees failed to show a sensitivity to violations of communicative intentions that cannot be explained in instrumental reference. In Chapter 4, I adapted a different communicative task that leveraged pragmatic factors to tease out chimpanzees' tendencies to disambiguate their manual pointing gestural acts. I failed to find evidence of active disambiguation for the recipient's benefit. Finally, in Chapter 5, I developed a comprehensive and tractable system of cognitive constraints that might explain performance limitations of nonhuman primates found in the literature, as well as in the present project."This project was funded by the ESRC, project reference 2267016 and the St Leonard’s postgraduate grant,
University of St Andrews."--Fundin
Single-cycle parainfluenza virus type 5 vectors for producing recombinant proteins, including a humanized anti-V5 tag antibody
Get PDFFunding: L.W. was supported by MRC IAA 2022-2026 University of St Andrews funds (MR/X502716/1).Parainfluenza virus type 5 (PIV5) can cause either persistent or acute/lytic infections in a wide range of mammalian tissue culture cells. Here, we have generated PIV5 fusion (F)-expressing helper cell lines that support the replication of F-deleted viruses. As proof of the principle that F-deleted single-cycle infectious viruses can be used as safe and efficient expression vectors, we have cloned and expressed a humanized (Hu) version of the mouse anti-V5 tag antibody (clone SV5-Pk1). We show that multiple different cell lines can be infected and express high levels of the Hu anti-V5 antibody, with Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing 20–50 mg l−1 after 5 days when cells were grown to a density of ~1×106 cells per millilitre at the time of infection. We suggest that PIV5-based vectors may be further developed to produce recombinant proteins both in vitro and in vivo.Peer reviewe
Determining the relative role of the glucocorticoid receptor in mediating steroid-induced Na⁺ transport and maintaining the integrity of epithelial monolayers in murine collecting duct cells
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Glyceryl trinitrate : history, mystery, and alcohol intolerance
Get PDFGlyceryl trinitrate (GTN) is one of the earliest known treatments for angina with a fascinating history that bridges three centuries. However, despite its central role in the nitric oxide (NO) story as a NO-donating compound, establishing the precise mechanism of how GTN exerts its medicinal benefit has proven to be far more difficult. This review brings together the explosive and vasodilatory nature of this three-carbon molecule while providing an update on the likely in vivo pathways through which GTN, and the rest of the organic nitrate family, release NO, nitrite, or a combination of both, while also trying to explain nitrate tolerance. Over the last 20 years the alcohol detoxification enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), has undoubtedly emerged as the front runner to explaining GTN’s bioactivation. This is best illustrated by reduced GTN efficacy in subjects carrying the single point mutation (Glu504Lys) in ALDH, which is also responsible for alcohol intolerance, as characterized by flushing. While these findings are significant for anyone following the GTN story, they appear particularly relevant for healthcare professionals, and especially so, if administering GTN to patients as an emergency treatment. In short, although the GTN puzzle has not been fully solved, clinical study data continue to cement the importance of ALDH, as uncovered in 2002, as a key GTN activator.Peer reviewe
Dynamics of stratospheric wave reflection over the North Pacific
Get PDFFunding: Michael K. Schutte and Gabriele Messori received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 948309, CENÆ project) and the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet (grant agreement no. 2022-06599). Alice Portal is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF; grant no. IZCOZ0_205461). The data handling was enabled by resources provided by the National Academic Infrastructure for Supercomputing in Sweden (NAISS), partially funded by the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet (grant agreement no. 2022-06725).Stratospheric wave reflection events involve the upward propagation of planetary waves, which are subsequently reflected downward by the stratospheric polar vortex. This phenomenon establishes a connection between the large-scale circulations in the troposphere and in the stratosphere. Here, we investigate a set of wave reflection events characterized by an enhanced difference between poleward eddy heat flux over the northwestern Pacific and equatorward eddy heat flux over Canada. Previous research has pointed to a link between these events and anomalies in the tropospheric circulation over North America, with an associated abrupt continental-scale surface temperature decrease over the same region. In this study, we elucidate the dynamical mechanisms governing this chain of events. We find that the evolution of meridional heat flux anomalies over the northwestern Pacific and Canada around reflection events is explained by a westward-propagating geopotential height ridge and by the downstream development of a trough. The trough advects colder-than-average air southward in the lower troposphere over North America, leading to an abrupt temperature decrease close to the surface. The evolution of this large-scale pattern resembles the shift from a Pacific Trough to an Alaskan Ridge weather regime, with approximately one-third to one-half of such transitions associated with reflection events. Furthermore, stratospheric wave reflection events exert a far-reaching influence on the tropospheric circulation across the northern middle and high latitudes. For example, a few days after the reflection-driven temperature decrease across North America, the North Atlantic jet stream becomes unusually intense and zonal, favoring the occurrence of extreme winds over Europe.Peer reviewe
Models of collisionless quasineutral solar wind current sheets
Get PDFFunding: S.B. acknowledges support from the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Doctoral Training Partnership Grant ST/X508779/1. T.N. acknowledges support by STFC Consolidated Grants ST/S000402/1 and ST/W001195/1. A.A. acknowledges support from NASA 80NSSC23K0658, 80NSSC22K0752. I.V. thanks RSF project No. 24-12-00457. O.A. would like to acknowledge support from the University of Birmingham, and also from the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Independent Research Fellowship NE/V013963/1 and NE/V013963/2.In situ measurements of kinetic scale current sheets in the solar wind show that they are often approximately force-free although the plasma β is of order one. They frequently display systematic asymmetric and anti-correlated spatial variations of their particle density and temperature across the current sheet, leaving the plasma pressure essentially uniform. These observations of asymmetries have previously been modelled theoretically by adding additional terms to both the ion and electron distribution functions of self-consistent force-free collisionless current sheet models with constant density and temperature profiles. In this article we present the results of a modification of these models in which only the electron distribution function has an additional term, whereas the ion distribution function is kept as a thermal (Maxwellian) distribution function. In this case the nonlinear quasineutrality condition no longer has a simple analytical solution and therefore has to be solved alongside Ampère’s law. We find that while the magnetic field remains approximately force-free, the non-zero quasineutral electric field gives rise to an additional spatial substructure of the plasma density inside the current sheet. We briefly discuss the potential relation between our theoretical findings and current sheet observations.Peer reviewe
Across a vast emptiness : trekking and personal growth in the Nepali Himalayas
Get PDFEvery year, more than twenty-thousand trekkers walk the Annapurna Circuit trek, a long distance trekking route which, climbing up to the 5416 meters Thorong La pass, traverses the regions of Manang and Mustang in the Nepali Himalaya. On the basis of fieldwork carried out in Nepal between September 2019 and April 2020, followed by several months of digital ethnography, this thesis presents an ethnographic analysis of the experience of the trekkers who visit the region, with a particular focus on their engagement with the Himalayan landscape. Two tightly bound aspects of the trekkers’ experience are at the centre of the research: the fact that most trekkers venture along the path motivated by a desire for personal growth, and the trekkers’ tendency to present encountering an empty landscape and overcoming the challenges offered by the path as fundamental for this growth to take place. In engaging with these experiences, in this thesis I explore how emptiness comes by for the trekkers, a task which is achieved by comparing their experience of the landscape with that of the locals, and by exploring the colonial roots of the trekkers’ presence in the Himalayan landscape. Moreover, I examine how such an emptiness opens up a space for growth for the trekkers, and its relationship to the challenges encountered by the trekkers. In doing so, I argue that the connection between emptiness and growth presented by the trekkers can be best understood by looking at their experience taking a phenomenological approach."This work was supported by financial contributions/awards by the Russell Trust (University of St Andrews); the St Leonard’s College (University of St Andrews), the Royal Society for Asian Affairs; the Department of Social Antropology of the University of St Andrews; and by the Royal Anthropological Institute/Sutasoma Trust."--Fundin
Learning stage-wise GANs for whistle extraction in time-frequency spectrograms
Get PDFFunding: This work was supported by Michael Weise of the US Office of Naval Research for the support (N000141712867 and N000142112567).Whistle contour extraction aims to derive animal whistles from time-frequency spectrograms as polylines. For toothed whales, whistle extraction results can serve as the basis for analyzing animal abundance, species identity, and social activities. During the last few decades, as long-term recording systems have become affordable, automated whistle extraction algorithms were proposed to process large volumes of recording data. Recently, a deep learning-based method demonstrated superior performance in extracting whistles under varying noise conditions. However, training such networks requires a large amount of labor-intensive annotation, which is not available for many species. To overcome this limitation, we present a framework of stage-wise generative adversarial networks (GANs), which compile new whistle data suitable for deep model training via three stages: generation of background noise in the spectrogram, generation of whistle contours, and generation of whistle signals. By separating the generation of different components in the samples, our framework composes visually promising whistle data and labels even when few expert annotated data are available. Regardless of the amount of human-annotated data, the proposed data augmentation framework leads to a consistent improvement in performance of the whistle extraction model, with a maximum increase of 1.69 in the whistle extraction mean F1-score. Our stage-wise GAN also surpasses one single GAN in improving whistle extraction models with augmented data. The data and code will be available at https://github.com/Paul-LiPu/CompositeGAN_WhistleAugment.Peer reviewe
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