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Knowledge, inquiry and dogmatism
Get PDFThe popular idea that knowledge is the aim of inquiry appears to licence a specific form of dogmatism: once one knows the answer to a question, one ought to decline further evidence bearing on it. For, in knowing the answer to the question, one has already met the aim of inquiry. And by gathering further evidence one risks losing that knowledge by acquiring misleading evidence. After distinguishing the relevant form of dogmatism from standard dogmatism, I reject a range of different responses to this challenge including that gathering further evidence may answer alternative inquiries, the idea that the aim of inquiry is not knowledge but something stronger, or appeal to the personal aims of inquirers. Here I argue that none of these replies are adequate and instead suggest a solution that appeals to situation-sensitive epistemic norms on inquiry.Peer reviewe
Periglacial vegetation-banked terraces : a global survey
Get PDFPeriglacial vegetation-banked terraces (VBTs) are roughly parallel, step-like landforms with bare treads and vegetated risers, where tread length (across-slope) markedly exceeds tread width (downslope). Many follow the contour, but others dip off-contour at angles of up to 40°. Most VBTs with a low off-contour dip occupy lee slopes with gradients of 4°–25°, with dip increasing to windward. They are widespread in marginal periglacial environments characterised by strong winds, abundant precipitation, winter snow cover, shallow ground freezing and frequent freeze–thaw cycles, but also occur in alpine environments and on low-latitude and tropical mountains. They appear to be rare or absent in polar or subpolar permafrost environments. Riser vegetation is often dominated by cushion plants, dwarf shrubs or bunchgrasses. This review (1) outlines the history of research on VBTs; (2) identifies their global distribution and the environmental conditions under which they have developed; (3) summarises data concerning their dimensions and structure, and measurements of current activity; and (4) proposes models of VBT formation. Many VBTs have apparently evolved from prior establishment of alternating bands of bare and vegetated ground across slopes. This may have occurred either through the lateral extension of vegetation bands or through the formation of wind stripes, where alternating bands of vegetated and bare ground have developed normal to the direction of dominant winds through turf exfoliation by needle ice, frost heave and wind scour. Such vegetated bands trap mobile debris to build risers, with consequent lowering of tread gradients. Some terraces are subsequently immobilized by stacking of clasts under risers, but those on frost-susceptible soils may move en masse downslope through solifluction. Other VBTs represent stripping of vegetation cover from the windswept treads of vegetation-covered solifluction terraces, and possibly also selective vegetation colonisation of the sheltered risers of stone-banked solifluction terraces.Peer reviewe
High diversity of Escherichia coli causing invasive disease in neonates in Malawi poses challenges for O-antigen based vaccine approach
Get PDFThis study was conducted with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (project grant number INV-005692 to NAF) and Wellcome core institutional grants for MLW (206545/Z/17/Z) and the Wellcome Sanger Institute (220540/Z/20/A). EH acknowledges funding from the BBSRC (BB/V011278/1, BB/V011278/2).Background Escherichia coli is an important cause of neonatal sepsis and the third most prevalent cause of neonatal infection in sub-Saharan Africa, often with negative outcomes. Development of maternally administered vaccines is under consideration, but to provide adequate protection, an understanding of serotypes causing invasive disease in this population is essential. We describe the genomic characteristics of a collection of neonatal E. coli isolates from a tertiary hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, with specific reference to potential protection by vaccines under development. Methods Neonatal blood or cerebrospinal fluid cultures from 2012 to 2021 identified 208 E. coli isolates, and 169 could be recovered for sequencing. Results Our data shows very high diversity in sequence types, LPS O-antigen-type and flagellar H-type, which all show temporal fluctuations and, as far as we are aware previously undescribed diversity, including ten putative novel O-types. Vaccines in clinical trials target the O-antigen but would only protect against less than half (37.9%) of neonatal sepsis cases in this population (EXPEC9V). An O-antigen-based vaccine would require 30 different O-types to protect against 80% of infections. Conclusions Vaccines against neonatal sepsis in Africa are of considerable potential value, but their development requires larger studies to establish the diversity and stability over time of relevant O-types for this population.Peer reviewe
The role of interior dynamics and differentiation on the surface and atmosphere of lava planets
Get PDFFunding: This work has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 101019965— SEPtiM). Parts of this work were supported by the UnivEarthS Labex program at Université de Paris and IPGP (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02) and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2024-06174). Two-dimensional numerical computations were performed on the IPGP S-CAPAD/DANTE platform. D. Lemasquerier acknowledges the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin for providing HPC and visualization resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper (URL: http://www.tacc.utexas.edu). L.D. acknowledges support from the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program, administered by the Government of Canada and the Trottier Family Foundation.Lava planets are rocky exoplanets that orbit so close to their host star that their dayside is hot enough to melt silicate rock. Their short orbital periods ensure that lava planets are tidally locked into synchronous rotation, with permanent day and night hemispheres. Such asymmetric magma oceans have no analogues in the Solar System and their internal dynamics and evolution are still poorly understood. Here we report the results of numerical simulations showing that solid–liquid fractionation has a major impact on the composition and evolution of lava planets. We explored two different interior thermal states. If the interior is fully molten, the atmosphere will reflect the planet’s bulk silicate composition, and the nightside solid surface is gravitationally unstable and constantly replenished. If the interior is mostly solid with only a shallow magma ocean on the dayside, the outgassed atmosphere will lack in Na, K and FeO, and the nightside will have an entirely solid mantle with a cold surface. We show that these two end-member cases can be distinguished with observations from JWST, offering an avenue to probe the thermal and chemical evolution of exoplanet interiors.Peer reviewe
Kant's conception of conscience
No full textThis thesis provides a detailed exposition of Kant’s conception of conscience and the systematic role it plays in his mature moral philosophy. It argues that, even though Kant does not unfold a full theory of conscience, his different presentations centre around a common theme. Conscience is part of Kant’s answer to the question of how finite moral agents are able to live up to the commands of the moral law. Exploring the different functions Kant ascribes to conscience, therefore, provides a nuanced account of how the authority of the moral law manifests itself in the moral life of human agents.
In part I (chapters 1–4), I argue that conscience is needed in the case of finite beings who experience the moral law as an imperative. As beings who do not always act as duty bids, they require conscience to remind them of the law’s unconditional ought and to view themselves as bearers of duties. In part II (chapters 5–8), I explore the extent to which conscience can guide the moral deliberations of agents whose epistemic access to the world is limited. In these chapters, I argue that conscience warns agents if they are about to violate the moral law because they act on judgements that are not sufficiently certain or lack the required justification. In part III (chapters 9–10), I explore Kant’s idea of conscience as an inner court. Finite moral agents are summoned before the inner court of conscience to judge, as impartially as they can, whether they have formed their resolutions to act in the light of the moral law. To be fully impartial with themselves, conscience requires finite moral agents to think of judging themselves as if they stood before a divine tribunal and had to answer to God for their deeds
Delirium and cognitive screening in national hip fracture registries : scoping review protocol
Get PDFFunding: Health Research Board [ARPP-2023-002].Delirium and cognitive impairment are common in hip fracture populations and are associated with significant adverse patient outcomes. National hip fracture registries facilitate improvements in patient outcomes and care quality, such as reduced mortality and the development of specialist multidisciplinary services. However, there is substantial variation in the data collected and reported in relation to delirium and cognition, which impedes international comparison and may reduce quality of care. This scoping review aims to identify delirium and cognition data items currently collected by hip fracture registries internationally, to identify associated registry guidance that exists for the administration of delirium and cognitive screening tools, and report outcomes of these data items across the most recently published annual reports of identified hip fracture registries. This scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). We will search the following databases: Medline Ovid; Embase; CINAHL EBSCOHost. Relevant websites such as the Fragility Fracture Network (FFN) will also be searched. Study selection and review will be carried out independently by two research team members, with discrepancies resolved by a third member of the research team. Data extraction and synthesis will be conducted by one reviewer and checked for accuracy and omissions by another. The scoping review findings will be informed and validated through engagement with the FFN Hip Fracture Audit Special Interest Group, who will share their knowledge, expertise, and research to achieve consensus over core aspects of the scoping review findings. By identifying existing heterogeneity in delirium and cognitive screening tool use and administration, it is hoped that administration and specific screening tool use will become standardised to optimise comparability across countries and ensure that high quality and reliable data are included across international registry reports.Peer reviewe
The impacts of fishing on the foraging behaviour of African penguins
Get PDFA unique field experiment in South Africa has provided the opportunity to study the Critically Endangered African penguin Spheniscus demersus and their prey with and without localised fishing activity. The aim of this experiment was to understand the impact of the local purse-seine fishery on the penguin population declines.
This PhD uses a long-term biologging dataset to determine whether fishing results in changes in prey acquisition in the African penguin. I quantify the level of overlap between the purse-seine fishery and the foraging grounds of the penguins and found that overlap was lowest when prey biomass was low, suggesting that competition with the fishery is exacerbated when conditions are poor. I then investigated how the presence of the fishery may result in changes in penguin foraging and prey schooling behaviour using simultaneous prey acoustic surveys with penguin biologging data. Schools were smaller in height and length, and penguins carried out 10% fewer foraging dives when the fishery was present. Consequently, fishing intensity, particularly when the fishery was harvesting sardine, was found to impact penguin foraging effort. Acceleration data also suggested more foraging behaviour occurs when prey biomass is high. Finally, a bioenergetics model was developed to determine the proportion of breeding penguins that are returning from a foraging trip with sufficient energy to successfully rear chicks. Breeding penguins were found to be at their energetic limit with only 50% of individuals expecting to return from foraging trips in an energy surplus. Through simulating a reduction in fishing, the median net energy increased by over 1000 kJ and a further 12% of individuals were in an energy surplus after the 2-day period.
This thesis highlights the effects of fishing on the foraging behaviour of the Critically Endangered African penguin. Fishing and changes in prey availability significantly impacted the amount of foraging behaviour carried out by penguins."I would like to thank the University of St Andrews School of Biology for funding my PhD. Thanks also to the British Ecological Society, Pacific Seabird Group, and the University
of St Andrews for funding to attend various conferences (International Penguin Congress in Chile, Pacific Seabird Group Annual Meeting in Costa Rica, The Seabird
Group Conference in Portugal, and International Marine Conservation Conference in South Africa) as well as three field seasons on Robben Island, South Africa. Thank you also to the Pacific Seabird Group for awarding me a grant to buy new biologging devices for my final field season."--Fundin
Stable isotope evidence for the participation of commoners in Inka Khipu production
Get PDFFunding: This work was funded by the British Academy Senior Research Grant, SRF23230249 (S.H.), and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, “Hidden Texts of the Andes” (S.H.).This study presents previously unknown evidence about the social status of Inka-era khipu experts. A lack of physical evidence hinders our understanding of the specialists who made Inka khipus (knotted cords that served as writing). On the basis of primarily Spanish-language colonial chronicles, it is thought that khipus were created exclusively by male bureaucratic elites. We analyzed Inka khipu, KH0631, whose primary cord is composed of human hair. Historically, human hair on a khipu served as a “signature” to indicate the khipu’s creator. Recent advances in elemental analysis–isotope ratio mass spectrometry allowed us to undertake simultaneous carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur measurements from a single KH0631 hair sample, revealing that this individual consumed a diet characteristic of low-ranking commoners. This finding suggests that commoners participated in Inka khipu production.Peer reviewe
Sensory reading practices : touching the pages of Manchester John Rylands Library MS French 1
Get PDFThe touches and abrasions to miniatures in Manchester, John Rylands Library MS French 1 can be read as emotional glosses to the manuscript that physically communicate an early audience’s responses to significant characters and/or events. Each abraded image thus tells two narratives: the story as illustrated in the miniature, and the narrative of a previous reader’s reaction to it.Peer reviewe
Dichotomy of electron-phonon interactions in the delafossite PdCoO2 : from weak bulk to polaronic surface coupling
Get PDFFunding: We gratefully acknowledge support from the European Research Council (through QUESTDO Project No. 714193), the Leverhulme Trust (Grant No. RPG-2023-256), and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant No. EP/T02108X/1).The metallic delafossites host ultrahigh-mobility carriers in the bulk, while at their polar surfaces, intrinsic electronic reconstructions stabilize markedly distinct electronic phases, from charge-disproportionated insulators to Rashba-split heavy-hole gases and ferromagnetic metals. The understanding of these phases has been strongly informed by surface spectroscopic measurements, but previous studies have been complicated by the presence of spatially varying terminations of the material surface. Here, we demonstrate the potential of microscopic-area angle-resolved photoemission to overcome these challenges. Our measurements of the model compound PdCoO2 yield extremely high quality spectra of the electronic structure, which allows us to place stringent experimental constraints on the weak electron-phonon coupling in the bulk of PdCoO2, while revealing much stronger interactions at its surfaces. While the CoO2-terminated surface exhibits a conventional weak-coupling behavior, our measurements reveal surprising spectroscopic signatures of polaron formation at the Pd-terminated surface, despite its pronounced metallicity. Together, our findings reveal how mode- and symmetry-selective couplings can markedly tune the electron-phonon interactions in a single host material, here opening routes to stabilize surprisingly persistent polaronic quasiparticles.Peer reviewe
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