The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of current studies on the general limitations of using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), as well as to review the results of its application in adults with visual impairment. The literature search was performed in ERIC, EBSCO-Host, ScienceDirect, PROKUEST, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar. Articles were selected if they reported on any of the strengths and weaknesses of the ICF, also its application to adults with visual impairment. (...) The literature review was performed using the PRISMA criteria. The search of relevant literature revealed 8 articles that met the eligibility criteria. The overall conclusion is that while the ICF is a valuable tool for describing how a person functions, it is not an evaluation instrument in itself. (shrink)

BackgroundThe interpretation of clinical gait data in children with cerebral palsy (CP) is time-consuming, requires extensive expertise and often lacks transparency. Here we aimed to develop a set of look-up tables to support this process, linking typical gait features as present in CP to their potential underlying impairments.MethodsWe developed an initial core set of gait features and their potential underlying impairments based on biomechanical reasoning, literature and clinical experience. This core set was further specified through a Delphi process (...) in a multidisciplinary group of experts in gait analysis of children with CP and evaluated on 20 patient cases. The likelihood of the listed gait feature–impairment relationships was scored by the expert panel on a five-point scale.ResultsThe final core set included 120 relevant gait feature–impairment relations including likelihood scores. This set was presented in the form of look-up tables in both directions, i.e., sorted by gait features with potential underlying impairment, and sorted by impairments with potential related gait features. The average likelihood score for the relations was 3.5 ± 0.6 (range 2.1–4.6).ConclusionThe developed set of look-up tables linking gait features and impairments, can assist gait analysts and clinicians in standardized biomechanical reasoning, to support treatment decision-making for gait impairments in children with CP. (shrink)

BackgroundInstrumented gait analysis post-stroke is becoming increasingly more common in research and clinics. Although overall standardized procedures are proposed, an almost infinite number of potential variables for kinematic analysis is generated and there remains a lack of consensus regarding which are the most important for sufficient evaluation. The current aim was to identify a discriminative core set of kinematic variables for gait post-stroke.MethodsWe applied a three-step process of statistical analysis on commonly used kinematic gait variables comprising the whole body, (...) derived from 3D motion data on 31 persons post-stroke and 41 non-disabled controls. The process of identifying relevant core sets involved: exclusion of variables for which there were no significant group differences; systematic investigation of one, or combinations of either two, three, or four significant variables whereby each core set was evaluated using a leave-one-out cross-validation combined with logistic regression to estimate a misclassification rate.ResultsThe best MR for one single variable was shown for the Duration of single-support or Duration of 2nd double-support phase, corresponding to an 89–90% probability of correctly classifying a person as post-stroke/control. Adding Pelvis sagittal ROM to either of the variables Self-selected gait speed or Stride length, alternatively adding Ankle sagittal ROM to the Duration of single-stance phase, increased the probability of correctly classifying individuals to 93–94%. Combining three variables decreased the MR further to 0.04, suggesting a probability of 96% for correct classification. These core sets contained: a spatial or a temporal variable, Pelvis sagittal ROM or Ankle plantarflexion during push-off, and Arm Posture Score or Cadence or a knee/shoulder joint angle variable. Adding a fourth variable did not further improve the MR.ConclusionA core set combining a few crucial kinematic variables may sufficiently evaluate post-stroke gait and should receive more attention in rehabilitation. Our results may contribute toward a consensus on gait evaluation post-stroke, which could substantially facilitate future diagnosis and monitoring of rehabilitation progress. (shrink)

In a society where mobility, globalization and contact with people from other cultures have become its basic descriptors, the enhancement of plurilingualism and intercultural understanding seem to be of the utmost concern. From a Positive Psychology Perspective, agency is the human capacity to affect other people positively or negatively through their actions. This agentic vision can be related to mediation, a concept rooted in the socio-cultural learning theory where social interaction is considered a fundamental cornerstone in the development of cognition. (...) Social interactions in the language learning setting may be facilitated through musical activities due to its social bonding effect. This paper tries to offer insights on how a musical-mediated experience in language learning may develop students’ interpersonal and collaborative competences to become active members of a more inclusive society. Mediation, considered as a paradigm shift in the foreign language classroom and the different out-of-class language learning possibilities, could also provide an environment where learners maximize their emotional intelligence. Our paper focuses on this paradigm shift spearheaded by the CEFR Companion Volume and the considerable repercussions it is bound to have for foreign language didactics, as cooperative tasks become central to foreign language learning. We hypothesize that mediated language learning experiences imply a socioemotional change in learners, focusing on the others, on their needs and interests, by trying to help them understand texts, concepts or facilitating communication with their peers. An intervention with a musical-mediated language learning experience was designed and implemented in the classroom. A self assessment scale with mediation descriptors and the socioemotional expertise scale (SEE) were administered. Results show that students become more mindful of their strengths, of their capacity for collaborating and team working. This leads to more awareness of their mediation skills. Students’ mediation skills correlate significantly with their socio-emotional skills, more concretely with their expressivity. The implementation of a musical-mediated experience also promoted tolerance and enhanced learners’ intrinsic motivation for language learning at the same time as they acknowledged their diversity. (shrink)

Consent remains a crucial, yet challenging, cornerstone of clinical practice. The ethical, legal and professional understandings of this construct have evolved away from a doctor-centred act to a patient-centred process that encompasses the patient’s values, beliefs and goals. This alignment of consent with the philosophy of shared decision-making was affirmed in a recent high-profile Supreme Court ruling in England. The communication of information is central to this model of health care delivery but it can be difficult for doctors to gauge (...) the information needs of the individual patient. The aim of this paper is to describe ‘core information sets’ which are defined as a minimum set of consensus-derived information about a given procedure to be discussed with all patients. Importantly, they are intended to catalyse discussion of subjective importance to individuals. The model described in this paper applies health services research and Delphi consensus-building methods to an idea orginally proposed 30 years ago. The hypothesis is that, first, large amounts of potentially-important information are distilled down to discrete information domains. These are then, secondly, rated by key stakeholders in multiple iterations, so that core information of agreed importance can be defined. We argue that this scientific approach is key to identifying information important to all stakeholders, which may otherwise be communicated poorly or omitted from discussions entirely. Our methods apply systematic review, qualitative, survey and consensus-building techniques to define this ‘core information’. We propose that such information addresses the ‘reasonable patient’ standard for information disclosure but, more importantly, can serve as a spring board for high-value discussion of importance to the individual patient. The application of established research methods can define information of core importance to informed consent. Further work will establish how best to incorporate this model in routine practice. (shrink)

Does geometry constitues a core set of intuitions present in all humans, regarless of their language or schooling ? We used two non verbal tests to probe the conceptual primitives of geometry in the Munduruku, an isolated Amazonian indigene group. Our results provide evidence for geometrical intuitions in the absence of schooling, experience with graphic symbols or maps, or a rich language of geometrical terms.

We prove covering theorems for K, where K is the core model below the sharp for a strong cardinal, and give an application to stationary set reflection.

We follow [8] in asking when a set of ordinals $X \subseteq \alpha$ is a countable union of sets in K, the core model. We show that, analogously to L, and X closed under the canonical Σ 1 Skolem function for K α can be so decomposed provided K is such that no ω-closed filters are put on its measure sequence, but not otherwise. This proviso holds if there is no inner model of a weak Erdős-type property.

Background 300 million operations and procedures are performed annually across the world, all of which require a patient’s informed consent. No standardised measure of the consent process exists in current clinical practice. We aimed to define a core outcome set for informed consent for therapy. Methods The core outcome set was developed in accordance with a predefined research protocol and the Core OutcoMes in Effectiveness Trials methodology comprising systematic review, qualitative semi structured interviews, a modified Delphi process (...) and consensus webinars to ratify outcomes for inclusion in the final core outcome set.. Participants from all key stakeholder groups took part in the process, including patients and the public, healthcare practitioners and consent researchers. Results 36 outcome domains were synthesised through systematic review and organised into a consent taxonomy. 41 semi-structured interviews were performed with all consent stakeholders groups. 164 participants from all stakeholder groups across 8 countries completed Delphi Round 1 and 125 completed Round 2. 11 outcomes met the ‘consensus in’ criteria. 6 met ‘consensus in’ all stakeholder groups and were included directly in the final core outcome set. 5 remaining outcomes meeting ‘consensus in’ were ratified over two consensus webinars. 9 core outcomes were included in the final core outcome set: Satisfaction with the quality and amount of information, Patient feeling that there was a choice, Patient feeling that the decision to consent was their own, Confidence in the decision made, Satisfaction with communication, Trust in the clinician, Patient satisfaction with the consent process, Patient rated adequacy of time and opportunity to ask questions. Conclusion This international mixed-methods qualitative study is the first of its kind to define a core outcome set for informed consent for intervention. It defines what outcomes are of importance to key stakeholders in the consent process and is a forward step towards standardising future consent research. (shrink)

Complex cognitive skills such as reading and calculation and complex cognitive achievements such as formal science and mathematics may depend on a set of building block systems that emerge early in human ontogeny and phylogeny. These core knowledge systems show characteristic limits of domain and task specificity: Each serves to represent a particular class of entities for a particular set of purposes. By combining representations from these systems, however human cognition may achieve extraordinary flexibility. Studies of cognition in human (...) infants and in nonhuman primates therefore may contribute to understanding unique features of human knowledge. 2020 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

This book is an essential guide for veterinarians, veterinary faculty and policymakers for understanding the core competencies of a fresh veterinarian. The book briefly covers competencies in preclinical, paraclinical, and clinical subjects including anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, veterinary jurisprudence, animal management & welfare including nutrition and breeding, infectious and non-infectious diseases, disease epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment, prevention, control and zoonoses, surgical and other clinical interventions. The book further includes other competencies, including biologicals, anti-mortem, and post-mortem inspection, certifications, applied one health (...) aspects, review and analysis of scientific evidence, international trade and regulations, and organization of veterinary services. It also highlights the importance of effective communication, interpersonal skills, record keeping and management of a small veterinary hospital, health informatics, etc. The book breakdowns the must-have competencies of a global veterinarian into different topics and subtopics for easy comprehension and further learning. It enables the professional standard-setting & regulatory bodies and academicians in improved curricula designing and implementation and more importantly tries to bring uniformity in day one veterinary graduates’ competencies globally, enhancing the movement and employability of veterinarians across the world. (shrink)

BackgroundThe idea that individuals are responsible for their health has been the focus of debate in the theoretical literature and in its concrete application to healthcare policy in many countries. Controversies persist regarding the form, substance and fairness of allocating health responsibility to the individual, particularly in universal, need-based healthcare systems.ObjectiveTo examine how personal health responsibility has been framed and rationalised in Norwegian key policy documents on priority setting.MethodsDocuments issued or published by the Ministry of Health and Care Services between (...) 1987 and 2018 were thematically analysed. We developed a predefined conceptual framework that guided the analysis. The framework included: the subject and object of responsibility, the level of conceptual abstraction, temporality, normative justificatory arguments and objections to the application of personal health responsibility.ResultsAs an additional criterion, personal health responsibility has been interpreted as relevant if: the patient’s harmful behaviour is repeated after receiving treatment, and if the success of the treatment is conditional on the patient’s behavioural change. When discussed as a retrospective criterion, considerations of reciprocal fairness have been dominant. When discussed as a prospective criterion, the expected benefit of treatment justified its relevance.ConclusionPersonal health responsibility appears to challenge core values of equality, inclusion and solidarity in the Norwegian context and has been repeatedly rejected as a necessary criterion for priority setting. However, the responsibility criterion seems to have some relevance in particular priority setting decisions. (shrink)

In cooperative Cournot oligopoly games, it is known that the β-core is equal to the α-core, and both are non-empty if every individual profit function is continuous and concave (Zhao, Games Econ Behav 27:153–168, 1999b). Following Chander and Tulkens (Int J Game Theory 26:379–401, 1997), we assume that firms react to a deviating coalition by choosing individual best reply strategies. We deal with the problem of the non-emptiness of the induced core, the γ-core, by two different (...) approaches. The first establishes that the associated Cournot oligopoly Transferable Utility (TU)-games are balanced if the inverse demand function is differentiable and every individual profit function is continuous and concave on the set of strategy profiles, which is a step forward beyond Zhao’s core existence result for this class of games. The second approach, restricted to the class of Cournot oligopoly TU-games with linear cost functions, provides a single-valued allocation rule in the γ-core called Nash Pro rata (NP)-value. This result generalizes Funaki and Yamato’s (Int J Game Theory 28:157–171, 1999) core existence result from no capacity constraint to asymmetric capacity constraints. Moreover, we provide an axiomatic characterization of this solution by means of four properties: efficiency, null firm, monotonicity, and non-cooperative fairness. (shrink)

According to a traditional picture, perception and belief have starkly different epistemic roles. Beliefs have epistemic statuses as justified or unjustified, depending on how they are formed and maintained. In contrast, perceptions are “unjustified justifiers.” Core cognition is a set of mental systems that stand at the border of perception and belief, and has been extensively studied in developmental psychology. Core cognition's borderline states do not fit neatly into the traditional epistemic picture. What is the epistemic role of (...) these states? Focusing on the core object system, the author argues that core object representations have epistemic statuses like beliefs do, despite their many prototypically perceptual features. First, the author argues that it is a sufficient condition on a mental state's having an epistemic status as justified or unjustified that the state is based on reasons. Then the author argues that core object representations are based on reasons, through an examination of both experimental results and key markers of the basing relation. The scope of mental states that are subject to epistemic evaluation as justified or unjustified is not restricted to beliefs. (shrink)

We extend work of H. Friedman, L. Harrington and P. Welch to the third level of the projective hierarchy. Our main theorems say that (under appropriate background assumptions) the possibility to select definable elements of non-empty sets of reals at the third level of the projective hierarchy is equivalent to the disjunction of determinacy of games at the second level of the projective hierarchy and the existence of a core model (corresponding to this fragment of determinacy) which must (...) then contain all real numbers. The proofs use Sacks forcing with perfect trees and core model techniques. (shrink)

Intelligent design theorists assert that ID is a scientific theory that is merely consistent with some religious beliefs. Many critics point to the circumstantial evidence of the apparent development of ID from creation science and the affiliation of ID with mainstream evangelical organizations to assert its religious orientation. This article suggests that the position of ID proponents is a substantial understatement, and that beyond the circumstantial evidence of critics, fundamental Christian doctrine constitutes the essence of ID theory. The bulk of (...) scholarship on ID is polarized into those for and against, as most focus on adjudicating ID truth claims, but this adversarial structure elides some important complexities. This article sets aside the truth claims of ID and focuses more broadly on the discourse in which it is situated to show the Christian core of ID and to examine several hallmarks of religion apparent from this perspective. (shrink)

“[T]he Precautionary Principle still has neither a commonly accepted definition nor a set of criteria to guide its implementation. “There is”, Freestone … cogently observes, “a certain paradox in the widespread and rapid adoption of the Precautionary Principle”: While it is applauded as a “good thing”, no one is quite sure about what it really means or how it might be..

The Common Core State Standards are an initiative to adopt a uniform set of kindergarten through 12th-grade mathematics and English educational standards throughout the United States. Many Christian schools are also voluntarily adopting Common Core standards. This article examines whether such a practice is truly in the best interest of students and parents by considering the compatibility of Common Core with a classical Christian philosophy of education. This article begins with an analysis of Common Core standards (...) to identify the foundational philosophy of education inherent in Common Core. This philosophy of education is then contrasted with the classical Christian philosophy of education to discern whether Common Core is compatible with the Christian core that should be at the heart of every Christian school. (shrink)

Conditional probability and selection-function approaches to chancy subjunctive conditionals are compared in a simple and transparent setting. They are seen to be alternative ways of calculating the same quantity. This unification extends from core cases to more peripheral cases.

The motivation for Core Logic is explained. Its system of proof is set out. It is then shown that, although the system has no Cut rule, its relation of deducibility obeys Cut with epistemic gain.

Much of the focus on business ethics literature is on complex questions of corporate social responsibility. Yet, the heart of business ethics consists in a set of fundamental moral principles that are inherent in the activity of doing business in a market. These principles transcend differences in nationality, culture, and religion and supply the building blocks on which the more complex analyses can be based. This set of principles, which constitute the core of business ethics, provides business people with (...) a code of conduct that is the analog of attorneys’ Canon of Ethics and physicians’ Code of Medical Ethics. (shrink)

The New Zealand health service has been extensively changed over the past four years, with the introduction of Jour new Regional Health Authorities, required to purchase services on behalf of the Government from a range of providers. In order to ensure fairness across the four regions a Core Services Committee has been set up to define which services must be purchased. However, no clear agreement has emerged about a “core” and no list, either positive or negative has been (...) defined. Instead general criteria have been suggested and steps have been taken to consult the community on their priorities. This paper describes seven workshops run by the author in an effort to discover how the community would reach decisions on the rationing of scare resources. The outcome of these workshops is that there is virtually no community support for an approach based on the social utility of individuals in need. (shrink)

Dense pairs of geometric topological fields have tame open core, that is, every definable open subset in the pair is already definable in the reduct. We fix a minor gap in the published version of van den Dries's seminal work on dense pairs of o-minimal groups, and show that every definable unary function in a dense pair of geometric topological fields agrees with a definable function in the reduct, off a small definable subset, that is, a definable set internal (...) to the predicate. For certain dense pairs of geometric topological fields without the independence property, whenever the underlying set of a definable group is contained in the dense-codense predicate, the group law is locally definable in the reduct as a geometric topological field. If the reduct has elimination of imaginaries, we extend this result, up to interdefinability, to all groups internal to the predicate. (shrink)

This Open Access Book is the first to examine disasters from a multidisciplinary perspective. Justification of actions in the face of disasters requires recourse both to conceptual analysis and ethical traditions. Part 1 of the book contains chapters on how disasters are conceptualized in different academic disciplines relevant to disasters. Part 2 has chapters on how ethical issues that arise in relation to disasters can be addressed from a number of fundamental normative approaches in moral and political philosophy. This book (...) sets the stage for more focused normative debates given that no one book can be completely comprehensive. Providing analysis of core concepts, and with real-world relevance, this book should be of interest to disaster scholars and researchers, those working in ethics and political philosophy, as well as policy makers, humanitarian actors and intergovernmental organizations.. (shrink)

In this paper I try to explain why Lakatos’s (and Popper’s) conventionalist view must be replaced by a phenomenological conception of the empirical basis; for only in this way can one make sense of the theses that the hard core of an RP (Research Programme) can be shielded against refutations; that this metaphysical hard core can be turned into a set of guidelines or, alternatively, into a set of heuristic metaprinciples governing the development of an RP; and that (...) a distinction can legitimately be made between novel predictions and facts to which a theory might have been adjusted post hoc. Two basic metaprinciples are finally examined: the (conservative) Correspondence Principle and various (revolutionary) symmetry requirements; both of these heuristic devices illustrate the fundamental role which, according to Lakatos, mathematics plays in the progress of empirical science. (shrink)

We set $\mathscr{D} = \langle\mathscr{D}, \leq_L, \tt\#\rangle$ , where D is the set of degrees of nonconstructibility for countable sets of countable ordinals. We show how to define inductively over this structure the degrees of such sets of ordinals in K, the core model, and the next few core models thereafter, i.e. without reference to mice, premice or measurable cardinals.

The New Zealand health service has been extensively changed over the past four years, with the introduction of Jour new Regional Health Authorities, required to purchase services on behalf of the Government from a range of providers. In order to ensure fairness across the four regions a Core Services Committee has been set up to define which services must be purchased. However, no clear agreement has emerged about a “core” and no list, either positive (inclusions) or negative (exclusions) (...) has been defined. Instead general criteria have been suggested and steps have been taken to consult the community on their priorities. This paper describes seven workshops run by the author in an effort to discover how the community would reach decisions on the rationing of scare resources. The outcome of these workshops is that there is virtually no community support for an approach based on the social utility of individuals in need. (shrink)

Effective altruism’s identity as both a philosophy and a social movement requires effective altruists to consider which philosophical commitments are essential, such that one must embrace them in order to count as an effective altruist, at least in part in the light of the goal of building a robust social movement capable of advancing its aims. The goal of building a social movement provides a strong reason for effective altruists to embrace an ecumenical set of core commitments. At the (...) same time, there are risks involved in adopting an ecumenical approach to social movement building. In this paper, I develop a view about how effective altruists should characterize the movement’s core philosophical commitments, in light of the challenges of social movement building. I suggest that John Rawls’s idea of an “overlapping consensus” provides a useful model for thinking about the philosophical core and broader structure of the movement. (shrink)

This paper presents an integralist approach to Jaina logic. This is built around an analysis of the pivotal notion of antarvyāpti in Jaina logic. It is shown in this connection why antarvyāpti needs to be considered the ‘Core Perspective/problem’ of Jaina logic. Next, it is shown how all the salient features of Jaina logic (as viewed from its language-oriented perspective and the epistemic perspective respectively) stand intimately related to the so-called core perspective. In the remaining sections of the (...) paper topics like relationship of the core perspective i) to various non-standard systems of logic [DL, FL, NMR etc.,], ii) to the four pillars and to the eight MPC’s of Jaina philosophy, iii) to some bluntly unimaginative ways of looking at Jaina logic [e.g., Ducko-Rabbitism], iv) to the scheme of classification of propositions in Jaina logic, v) to the resulting conceptual economies related to methodology, and especially to a unified theory of Hetvābhāsa and, finally, vi) to a re-assessment of Frege-Husserl discord in the light of the significance of Jñānātmakatā vs Vākyātmakatā in Jaina logic, etc., have been discussed. (shrink)

Set theory is an autonomous and sophisticated field of mathematics, enormously successful not only at its continuing development of its historical heritage but also at analyzing mathematical propositions cast in set-theoretic terms and gauging their consistency strength. But set theory is also distinguished by having begun intertwined with pronounced metaphysical attitudes, and these have even been regarded as crucial by some of its great developers. This has encouraged the exaggeration of crises in foundations and of metaphysical doctrines in general. However, (...) set theory has proceeded in the opposite direction, from a web of intensions to a theory of extensionpar excellence, and like other fields of mathematics its vitality and progress have depended on a steadily growing core of mathematical structures and methods, problems and results. There is also the stronger contention that from the beginning set theory actually developed through a progression ofmathematicalmoves, whatever and sometimes in spite of what has been claimed on its behalf.What follows is an account of the development of set theory from its beginnings through the creation of forcing based on these contentions, with an avowedly Whiggish emphasis on the heritage that has been retained and developed by current set theory. The whole transfinite landscape can be viewed as the result of Cantor's attempt to articulate and solve the Continuum Problem. (shrink)

Rips et al. consider whether representations of individual objects or analog magnitudes are building blocks for the concept natural number. We argue for a third core capacity – the ability to bind representations of individuals into sets. However, even with this addition to the list of starting materials, we agree that a significant acquisition story is needed to capture natural number.

I should like to thank Professor Rorty for the care that he took in replying to my question and for kindly remembering that we had a similar discussion before. Although I do not recall all the details of that exchange1, I remember leaving him as puzzled as I am now by his renewed impression that my resistance to part of his work has a Levinasian provenance. Hence I could only welcome the invitation by the editors of Ethical Perspectives to include (...) in this issue an English translation of a recent piece in which I tried to clarify my resistance to Levinas.Oddly enough, as will become clear in the course of the following pages, at least part of my opposition to Levinas seems to be motivated by an attempt to do justice to what I consider to be Rorty’s major point in his Contingency, Irony and Solidarity: the idea that people are dependent on what he there aptly calls ‘final vocabularies’ — the set of words to which they have recourse when trying to justify their actions or their beliefs or even the meaning of their lives. Such vocabularies, I take it, were not meant to be ‘final’ in the sense that they could never change, but “in the sense that if doubt is cast on the worth of these words, their user has no non-circular argumentative recourse”.Hence Rorty’s idea that, as he puts it in the present paper, the West in approaching the non-West should “get rid of rationalistic rhetoric” and rather think of itself as “someone with an instructive story to tell.” The West, that is, should not give up what Rorty believes to be of prime importance in its own story , but merely detach from it that part which Rorty thinks it doesn’t need in order to remain in touch with that story and which can only cause embarrassment to those who find themselves in other stories.The story of the West is for Rorty but another final vocabulary — and thus, as they all are, a “product of time and chance” — but the realization of this contingency should not lead to the ironist’s conclusion that what is contingent is not worth living for. Since Rorty thinks that contingency does not exclude commitment, he finds himself at odds both with the ironist’s despair that there is nothing which is not contingent, and with the ‘metaphysician’s’ hope that we could still get in touch with something ‘bigger than us’. (shrink)

We compare Fregean theorizing about sets with the theorizing of an ontologically non-committal, natural-deduction based, inferentialist. The latter uses free Core logic, and confers meanings on logico-mathematical expressions by means of rules for introducing them in conclusions and eliminating them from major premises. Those expressions (such as the set-abstraction operator) that form singular terms have their rules framed so as to deal with canonical identity statements as their conclusions or major premises. We extend this treatment to pasigraphs as (...) well, in the case of set theory. These are defined expressions (such as ‘subset of’, or ‘power set of’) that are treated as basic in the lingua franca of informal set theory. Employing pasigraphs in accordance with their own natural-deduction rules enables one to ‘atomicize’ rigorous mathematical reasoning. (shrink)

“Look Great Naked!” “Sexy Legs Now!” “Score a Perfect 10 Body!” These invitations appear regularly on the covers of glossy fitness magazines, always beside a photograph of a too-perfect-not-to-be-airbrushed, generally scantily clad, young woman. Are they really invitations or are they imperatives? What should we make of the apparently presumed connection between fitness and sex? These are the questions that drive this article, in which we distinguish between fitness and sport and provide a feminist account of fitness to set the (...) stage for analysis of the conflict between norms of femininity and heteronormativity in sport and in the fitness industry. We examine the medicalization of fitness to show that women’s... (shrink)

OBJECTIVES: To study the resources available and resources needed for ethics teaching to medical students in UK medical schools as required by the new GMC core curriculum. DESIGN: A structured questionnaire was piloted and then circulated to deans of medical schools. SETTING: All UK medical schools. RESULTS: Eighteen out of 28 schools completed the questionnaire, the remainder either indicating that their arrangements were "under review" (4) or not responding (6). Among those responding: 1) library resources, including video and information (...) technology were found to be fairly well developed; 2) many schools had a good supply of handouts and sample cases for teaching; 3) most had a written syllabus, and 4) two-thirds examined in the subject. However, many schools indicated that there was an urgent need for: 1) full-time teachers (most ethics teaching is still by part-time and voluntary staff); funding for books and journals, and 3) additional teaching materials (including further case vignettes, handouts and sample exam questions). CONCLUSIONS: There has been a considerable overall improvement in resources for medical ethics teaching since the time of the last national survey (The Pond Report). However, provision varies widely from medical school to medical school. The particular needs identified were for full-time teachers, library resources and teaching materials. Wider use of existing organisations concerned with medical ethics could help to meet these needs. (shrink)

What makes feminist theory feminist? How did so many different feminisms come to exist? In Fundamental Feminism, Judith Grant addresses these questions by offering a critical exploration of the evolution of feminist theory and the state of feminist thinking today. Grant provides a lively assessment of the major problems of contemporary feminist thought and identifies a set of common assumptions that link the wide variety of feminist theories in existence. Fundamental Feminism calls for nothing less than a substantial revision of (...) the core concepts responsible for shaping feminist theory as we now know it. Grant identifies and critiques three core concepts of feminist theory--"woman," "experience," and "personal politics"--from their origins in pamphlets and writings from the early women's liberation movement to their current construction in feminist thought. She then connects a number of major debates in feminism today to the longstanding influence of these core assumptions. These debates include the hegemony of the white female perspective, the tension between anti-pornography and pro-sex feminists, and the discussions surrounding the challenges presented by postmodernism. Grant gives readers valuable insight into the dilemma facing feminist theory today. Fundamental Feminism is a thorough and provocative analysis that will be essential reading for anyone interested in the future of feminist theory and the power of feminist politics. (shrink)

We address Steel’s Programme to identify a ‘preferred’ universe of set theory and the best axioms extending ZFC by using his multiverse axioms MV and the ‘core hypothesis’. In the first part, we examine the evidential framework for MV, in particular the use of large cardinals and of ‘worlds’ obtained through forcing to ‘represent’ alternative extensions of ZFC. In the second part, we address the existence and the possible features of the core of MV_T (where T is ZFC+Large (...) Cardinals). In the last part, we discuss the hypothesis that the core is Ultimate-L, and examine whether and how, based on this fact, the Core Universist can justify V=Ultimate-L as the best (and ultimate) extension of ZFC. To this end, we take into account several strategies, and assess their prospects in the light of MV’s evidential framework. (shrink)

Vopenka [2] proved long ago that every set of ordinals is set-generic over HOD, Gödel's inner model of hereditarily ordinal-definable sets. Here we show that the entire universe V is class-generic over, and indeed over the even smaller inner model $\mathbb{S}=$, where S is the Stability predicate. We refer to the inner model $\mathbb{S}$ as the Stable Core of V. The predicate S has a simple definition which is more absolute than any definition of HOD; in particular, it (...) is possible to add reals which are not set-generic but preserve the Stable Core. (shrink)

In this paper I try to explain why Lakatos’s conventionalist view must be replaced by a phenomenological conception of the empirical basis; for only in this way can one make sense of the theses that the hard core of an RP can be shielded against refutations; that this metaphysical hard core can be turned into a set of guidelines or, alternatively, into a set of heuristic metaprinciples governing the development of an RP; and that a distinction can legitimately (...) be made between novel predictions and facts to which a theory might have been adjusted post hoc. Two basic metaprinciples are finally examined: the Correspondence Principle and various symmetry requirements; both of these heuristic devices illustrate the fundamental role which, according to Lakatos, mathematics plays in the progress of empirical science. (shrink)

If there is no inner model with a cardinal κ such that o(κ) = κ ++ then the set K ∩ H ω 1 is definable over H ω 1 by a Δ 4 formula, and the set $\{J_\alpha[\mathscr{U}]: \alpha of countable initial segments of the core model K = L[U] is definable over H ω 1 by a Π 3 formula. We show that if there is an inner model with infinitely many measurable cardinals then there is a (...) model in which $\{J_\alpha [\mathscr{U}]: \alpha is not definable by any Σ 3 formula, and K ∩ H ω 1 is not definable by any boolean combination of Σ 3 formulas. (shrink)