Abortion is incommensurable with fetal alcohol syndrome

A recent article argued for the immorality of abortion regardless of personhood status by comparing the impairment caused by fetal alcohol syndrome to the impairment caused by abortion. I argue that two of the premises in this argument fail and that, as such, one cannot reasonably attribute moral harms to abortion on the basis of the moral harms caused by fetal alcohol syndrome. The impairment argument relies on an inconsistent instantiation, which undermines the claim that personhood is irrelevant, and it does not fulfill its own ceteris paribus clause, which demands that no additional benefit be gained from abortion that would not be gained from causing fetal alcohol syndrome.     

Hume and the argument for biological design

There seems to be a widespread conviction — evidenced, for example, in the work of Mackie, Dawkins and Sober — that it is Darwinian rather than Humean considerations which deal the fatal logical blow to arguments for intelligent design. I argue that this conviction cannot be well-founded. If there are current logically decisive objections to design arguments, they must be Humean — for Darwinian considerations count not at all against design arguments based upon apparent cosmological fine-tuning. I argue, further, that there are good Humean reasons for atheists and agnostics to resist the suggestion that apparent design — apparent biological design and/or apparent cosmological fine-tuning — establishes (or even strongly supports) the hypothesis of intelligent design.     

The computationalist reformulation of the mind-body problem

Computationalism, or digital mechanism, or simply mechanism, is a hypothesis in the cognitive science according to which we can be emulated by a computer without changing our private subjective feeling. We provide a weaker form of that hypothesis, weaker than the one commonly referred to in the (vast) literature and show how to recast the mind-body problem in that setting.     

Effects of vegetation and fertilizer on metal and Sb plant uptake in a calcareous shooting range soil

Shooting range soils frequently contain anomalous concentrations of metals (e.g. Pb, Zn, Mn) and Sb coming from bullets which may be released into the environment. In a pot experiment, we investigated metal and Sb uptake by three plant species (Plantago lanceolata, Lolium perenne and Triticum aestivum) growing on a calcareous shooting range soil (pH 7.8; 500 mg kg⁻¹ Pb, 21 mg kg⁻¹ Sb) and the uptake changes when an acidic fertilizer solution was applied to the soil. Metal and Sb solubility in the soil was determined by extraction with 0.1 M NaNO₃. In addition, we measured pH, electrical conductivity and dissolved organic carbon in drainage samples. The results showed significant increase over time of pH (from 7.8 to 8.3) and decrease of electrical conductivity and dissolved organic carbon (from 230 to ∼130 mg L⁻¹). Fertilizer application increased NaNO₃-extractable Pb and Sb and root:shoot biomass ratio but not plant metal uptake. In T. aestivum spikes accumulated more Zn, Ni and Cu than shoots and grains. Mn and Zb uptake was correlated in L. perenne shoots. P. lanceolata, a Sb-bioindicator, did not accumulate high amounts of Sb (<1 mg kg⁻¹).     

Must There Be a Balance of Nature?

The balance of nature concept is an old idea that manifests itself in anumber of forms in population and community ecology. This paper focuseson population ecology, where controversy surrounding the balance ofnature takes the form of perennial debates over the significance ofdensity dependence, population regulation, and species interactions suchas competition. One of the most striking features of these debates, overthe course of the previous century in ecology, is the tendency to arguethe case on largely conceptual grounds. This paper explores twoquestions. Why this tendency to settle on conceptual grounds what is soobviously an empirical issue? Are there any good conceptual arguments tobe had in this area?     

‘You are inferior!’ Revisiting the expressivist argument

According to the expressivist argument the choice to use biotechnologies to prevent the birth of individuals with specific disabilities is an expression of disvalue for existing people with this disability. The argument has stirred a lively debate and has recently received renewed attention. This article starts with presenting the expressivist argument and its core elements. It then goes on to present and examine the counter‐arguments before it addresses some aspects that have gained surprisingly little attention. The analysis demonstrates that the expressivist argument has a wide range of underpinnings and that counter‐arguments tend to focus on only a few of these. It also reveals an important aspect that appears to have been ignored, i.e., that people do not select foetuses based on chromosomes or other biological traits, but based on characteristics of living persons with specific disabilities. This makes it more difficult to undermine the claim that negative selection of foetuses expresses a disvaluing of persons with such disabilities. It leaves the expressivist argument with a strong bite still.     

植物生长抽梢期和气候因子对株高生长影响

利用西双版纳热带植物园的热带植物物候观测资料和气候资料,通过对热带植物株高生长偏差、生长抽梢期和气候因子的分析,探讨了三者的关系。结果表明,热带植物生长抽梢期变长不一定影响株高生长,而且与株高生长偏差的关系也小于气候因子与株高生长偏差的关系。同时,热带植物生长抽梢期对气候因子和株高生长偏差之间关系的贡献很小。因此,可以认为热带植物的生长期对植被生产力的促进作用较弱。     

Production of Pharmaceuticals from Papaver Cultivars in Vitro

Iranian (Papaver bracteatum Lindl.) and opium poppy (P. somniferum L.) plantlets obtained from germinated seeds grown on a Murashige and Skoog basal medium (BM) readily manifest alkaloids. Temperature had a profound effect on growth and alkaloid production after 8 weeks in culture. Plantlets of poppy cultivars (cvs.) grew best at 18.5 and 20°C compared to 15 or 25°C. An alkaloid survey study with 24 Iranian and 21 opium poppy cvs. revealed that total morphinan alkaloids ranged from 0 to 6.55 mg/g dw. Prolific axillary branching was achieved from poppy cvs. by maintaining shoots on BM containing 1.0 mg/L N⁶‐benzyladenine and 0.01 mg/L α‐naphthalene acetic acid for an additional 16 weeks. The influence of vessel size on the growth response of established shoot clumps was determined by subculture in a variety of culture vessels for 8 weeks. The tested culture vessels included culture tubes (55 mm³ capacity (cap.)), babyfood jars (143 mm³ cap.), Magenta GA‐7 containers (365 mm³ cap.), and polycarbonate jars (1890 mm³ cap.) employing an in vitro hydroponics system (i.e. an automated plant culture system (APCS)). Highest growth rates occurred employing the APCS. The culture vessel capacity had a significant positive correlation on shoot length, fresh weight, number of leaves, and number of shoots. Shoot length, fresh weight, leaves, and shoots grown in the APCS exhibited increases of 1‐, 21.5‐, 7.8‐, and 8.3‐fold, respectively, compared to shoots grown in culture tubes. Higher culture growth rates that occurred in the larger‐size vessels were correlated with lower alkaloid production (mg alkaloids/g dw). However, the overall total alkaloids/vessel [(mg alkaloid/g dw)×g culture dw] increased because of greater biomass production per vessel. The alkaloid content was found to remain stable for shoots grown over a 6–month evaluation period.     

吊丝单竹笋期叶片特性研究

对3种不同年龄的吊丝单竹株在不同发笋时期、不同竹冠部位的叶片比叶重、光合、呼吸性状及N、P、K含量等进行测定,结果表明:吊丝单竹在不同发笋时期、不同竹冠部位各项指标均有较大差异。比叶重发笋盛期高于初期和末期,随着竹株年龄增大而减小,随着竹冠的升高而增大;净光合速率盛期高于初期,光呼吸速率和暗呼吸速率则初期高于盛期,并且不同竹龄、不同竹冠部位之间均表现出较大的差异;N、P、K含量由发笋初期至盛期逐渐减小,N含量以1a>2a>3a,以竹冠中部最高,P、K含量则随着竹冠的升高而减小,随着竹株年龄的增大而增大。这为经营管理吊丝单竹林提供科学依据。     

卡西亚松家系幼林的生长节律

为了解卡西亚松(Pinus kesiya)生长与气象因子间的关系,对17个卡西亚松家系幼林的周年生长性状进行研究。结果表明,17个卡西亚松家系的胸径、树高和抽梢次数存在显著差异(P0.05),可分为速生型(Ⅰ)和慢生型(Ⅱ),其中7、25、61、104、41家系属于速生型,其胸径和树高年均生长量分别为2.03 cm和1.46 m。两类型家系的生长趋势一致,胸径一年内出现2次生长高峰(2和8月),树高出现3次生长高峰(2-3、6和8-10月)。有3次抽梢高峰,分别在5月(春梢)、8-9月(夏梢)和11月(秋梢),一年抽1～4次新梢,以抽2次新梢的植株最多(47%),且在春(71.78%)夏(77.33%)两季抽梢的比例较高。月平均气温对卡西亚松树高的生长影响最大,在1月出现短暂的生长停滞。因此,卡西亚松幼林抚育管理宜在胸径和树高生长高峰之前进行,即5-6和12-翌年1月,1月进行幼林修枝抚育。