The present paper addresses Molnar’s problem :72–86, 2000): that of finding positive truthmakers for negative truths. The proposed solution, called, is to hold truth and falsity to be primitive and positive features of propositions and to take every literal negative truth to be made true by the falsity of the atomic proposition that it embeds. The solution is shown to be compatible with Maximalism, Necessitarianism and with the Entailment Thesis, as well as with most if not all possible variants of (...) truthmaking theory. Other advantages of are noted: it doesn’t require the inclusion of exotic objects in one’s ontology; it doesn’t require any revision of one’s logic or of one’s theory of modality. The solution also allows one to eschew negative facts, tropes and properties while providing a definition of negativity for certain literal propositions. The paper ends by rebutting several objections that may be levelled against. (shrink)

Research into the potential associations between tinnitus and cognition has investigated specific cognitive domains in laboratory settings despite adults with tinnitus reporting broad cognitive difficulties in every-day life. To address this limitation, the present study compared performance and perceived exertion on a visual office-like task in 38 adults with tinnitus and 38 adults without tinnitus matched for age, sex and educational background. All participants were also assessed for hearing, anxiety and depression, and participants with tinnitus were also assessed for tinnitus (...) handicap. No associations were found between presence of tinnitus and cognitive performance and perceived exertion on the visual office-like task when corrected for standard and extended high frequency hearing thresholds, anxiety, and depression. The correction for extended high frequency average hearing threshold was significant for performance but not perceived exertion on the visual office-like task. Overall, the results showed extended high frequency hearing, but not tinnitus, was associated with every-day cognitive performance. This indicates clinical testing of hearing thresholds above 8 kHz could support clinicians’ identification and management of cognitive difficulties. One management method suggested by the current findings would include provision of auditory stimulation at frequencies exceeding the frequency response of many current hearing aids. (shrink)

Les auteurs de cet essai, spécialistes reconnus de l'écologie, reviennent sur le sens de l'écologie, notion cruciale et pourtant sujette à toutes les confusions. Ils retracent avec force et simplicité son origine historique et philosophique afin d'en saisir les enjeux politiques, économiques et urbains dans le monde d'aujourd'hui. Cette mise au point est l'occasion de redéfinir le sens du progrès ou de la modernité, à l'heure où la planète souffre d'une surexploitation de ses ressources par l'Homme. Cet ouvrage critique nous (...) offre l'opportunité de redéfinir la place de l'Homme dans un monde où l'hégémonie d'un anthropocentrisme inconsidéré n'est plus viable. C'est enfin un hymne à la beauté du monde et une revendication : le droit de chacun à préserver ses racines et ses repères. L'écologisme politique doit s'opposer à l'effacement des signes naturels, culturels et historiques qui donnent aux territoires leurs personnalités et les ancrent dans une histoire. L'écologisme ne peut se résumer à une simple tendance : il s'agit d'un humanisme se souciant des générations à venir, qui s'attache à préserver et à transmettre un héritage commun à tous. (shrink)

Socialization theories suggest that, due to social change and technological transformation, peers and media have become important institutions of socialization for young people. Assuming that male adolescents use digital games for processes of peer self-socialization, this article investigates the values they mediate in digital games and how these values are related to their practice (with a focus on harassment) in digital games. Applying a qualitative research design, 36 male adolescents who frequently play various (multiplayer) online games were interviewed about their (...) values and practices when gaming. The results show that the young gamers share individualistic values promoting performance, competition, and achievement, which seem to facilitate practices of online harassment. We conclude that, in their gaming practices, male adolescents mediate and reproduce neoliberal values as increasingly shared by society. Regarding their practices of harassment, however, they seem to use digital games as a moratorium that lets them break free from societal restrictions. (shrink)

Measures are designed to evaluate the processes and outcomes of care associated with the delivery of clinical (and non-clinical) services. They allow for intra- and interorganizational comparison to be used continuously to improve patient health outcomes. The use of performance measures always means to abstract the complex reality (medical scenarios and procedures) in order to provide an understandable and comparable output. Measures can focus on global performance. The more detailed data are available the more specific judgements with respect to the (...) appropriateness of clinical decision-making and implementation of evidence are feasible. Externally reported measures are intended both to inform and lead to action. By providing this information, deficiencies in patient care and unnecessary variations in the care process can be uncovered. Such variations have contributed to disparities in morbidity and mortality. The developments in information technology, especially world-wide interconnectivity, standards for electronic data exchange and facilities to store and manage large amounts of data, offer the opportunity to analyse health-relevant information in order to make the delivery of healthcare services more transparent for consumers and providers. Global performance measures, such as the overall life expectancy (mortality) in a country, can give a rough orientation of how well health systems perform but they do not offer general solutions nor spe-cific insights into care processes that have to be improved. In contrast to population-based measures, case-based performance measures use a defined group of patients depending on specific patient characteristics and features of disease. By means of these measures we are able to compare the number of patients that receive a necessary medical procedure against those patients who do not. The use of case-based measures is a bottom-up approach to improve the overall performance in the long run. They are not only a tool for global orientation but can offer a straightforward link to the areas of deficient care and the underlying procedures. Performance measures are relevant to providers as well as consumers, from their own individual perspective. Cased-based measures focus on the management of individual patient. This approach to performance measurement can inform physicians in a meaningful and constructive way by monitoring their individual performance and by pointing out possible areas of improvement. (shrink)