Narrative possibility and narrative explanation

Narratives are about not only what actually happened, but also what might have. And narrative explanations make productive use of these unrealized possibilities. I discuss narrative explanation as a form of counterfactual, difference-making explanation, with a demanding qualification: the counterfactual conditions are historically or narratively (not merely logically or physically) possible. I consider these issues in connection with literary, historical and scientific narratives.     

Inevitability,contingency, and epistemic humility

This paper offers an epistemological framework for the debate about whether the results of scientific enquiry are inevitable or contingent. I argue in Sections 2 and 3 that inevitabilist stances are doubly guilty of epistemic hubris—a lack of epistemic humility—and that the real question concerns the scope and strength of our contingentism. The latter stages of the paper—Sections 4 and 5—address some epistemological and historiographical worries and sketch some examples of deep contingencies to guide further debate. I conclude by affirming that the concept of epistemic humility can usefully inform critical reflection on the contingency of the sciences and the practice of history of science.     

State of the field: Are the results of science contingent or inevitable?

This paper presents a survey of the literature on the problem of contingency in science. The survey is structured around three challenges faced by current attempts at understanding the conflict between “contingentist” and “inevitabilist” interpretations of scientific knowledge and practice. First, the challenge of definition: it proves hard to define the positions that are at stake in a way that is both conceptually rigorous and does justice to the plethora of views on the issue. Second, the challenge of distinction: some features of the debate suggest that the contingency issue may not be sufficiently distinct from other philosophical debates to constitute a genuine, independent philosophical problem. And third, the challenge of decidability: it remains unclear whether and how the conflict could be settled on the basis of empirical evidence from the actual history of science. The paper argues that in order to make progress in the present debate, we need to distinguish more systematically between different expressions that claims about contingency and inevitability in science can take. To this end, it introduces a taxonomy of different contingency and inevitability claims. The taxonomy has the structure of an ordered quadruple. Each contingency and each inevitability claim contains an answer to the following four questions: (how) are alternatives to current science possible, what types of alternatives are we talking about, how should the alternatives be assessed, and how different are they from actual science?     

On an unusual form of periodic precipitation

Zusammenfassung Kalciumchlorid und Natriumkarbonat bilden in einem Agar-Gel rhythmische Niederschläge. Aber das entstandene Kalciumkarbonat fällt unter bestimmten Bedingungen hier nicht in den bekannten Liesegangschen Ringen aus, sondern in völlig isolierten kelinen und kleinsten Inselchen. Eine Theorie des Phänomens wird diskutiert.     

Computer simulations and experiments: The case of the Higgs boson

Simulations have been at the center of an important literature that has debated the extent to which they count as epistemologically on a par with traditional experiments. Critics have raised doubts about simulations being genuine experiments, on the ground that simulations seem to lack a distinctive feature of traditional experiments: i.e., the ability to causally interact with a target system. In this paper, we defend the view that simulations are indeed epistemologically on a par with traditional experiments. We first identify three possible ways of understanding the causal interaction claim. We then focus on the use of simulation in the discovery of the Higgs boson to show that in this paradigmatic case, simulations satisfy all three possible readings of the causal interaction claim.     

Science denial as a form of pseudoscience

Science denialism poses a serious threat to human health and the long-term sustainability of human civilization. Although it has recently been rather extensively discussed, this discussion has rarely been connected to the extensive literature on pseudoscience and the science-pseudoscience demarcation. This contribution argues that science denialism should be seen as one of the two major forms of pseudoscience, alongside of pseudotheory promotion. A detailed comparison is made between three prominent forms of science denialism, namely relativity theory denialism, evolution denialism, and climate science denialism. Several characteristics are identified that distinguish science denialism from other forms of pseudoscience, in particular its persistent fabrication of fake controversies, the extraordinary male dominance among its activists, and its strong connection with various forms of right-wing politics. It is argued that the scientific response to science denialism has to be conceived with these characteristics in mind. In particular, it is important to expose the fabricated fake controversies for what they are and to reveal how science denialists consistently use deviant criteria of assent to distort the scientific process.     

Molecular mechanism for the production of multiple form of MM creatine kinase

Summary Incubation of human, canine or rabbit MM creatine kinase with carboxypeptidase-N or B resulted in the production of 2 additional enzyme forms with increased anodal migration on polyacrylamide gels. The C-terminal amino acid of tissue MM creatine kinase from all 3 species was shown to be lysine, a specific substrate for carboxypeptidase-N and B.     

The growth and transplantability of the carcinosarcoma of walker 256 in the ascitic form

Riassunto Una serie di ricerche per ottenere tumori in forma ascitica usando materiale cellulare di tumori solidi sono state esequite. Un omogenato del carcinosarcoma di Walker 256 è stato iniettato in cavità peritoneale e si è avuto lo sviluppo di forme tumorali ascitiche che è stato possibile trapiantare nelle successive generazioni di ratti.

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Supported in part by grant No. Ca-08748 from the National Cancer Institute and Institutional Funds.     

大面纳米积压印揭开式脱模建模与模拟

大面积纳米压印是一种高效、低成本和批量化制造大面积微纳米结构的方法,已经被看作最具有工业化应用前景的微纳米制造方法之一.脱模是当前大面积纳米压印所面临的最大挑战性问题,是制约大尺寸晶圆级纳米压印进入工业化应用最大的瓶颈.＂揭开＂式脱模已经被认为是实现大面积纳米压印最为有效的一种脱模方法,本文开展了大面积纳米压印揭开式脱模理论建模和数值模拟的研究.基于应变能法,并结合脱模过程中能量的守恒,建立了＂揭开＂式脱模预估脱模力理论模型.以光栅图形垂直式脱模为例,建立了目前工业界广泛采用的气体辅助揭开式脱模在脱模过程中所需气压脱模力理论模型.利用ABAQUS工程模拟软件,揭示了模具材料特性、特征图形几何参数对于＂揭开＂式脱模影响规律.该研究为大面积纳米压印工艺奠定重要理论基础,并为晶圆级纳米压印工艺优化和压印装备开发与性能的改进提供理论基础和方向性指导.     

Numerical simulations of self-propelled swimming of 3D bionic fish school

Numerical simulations of self-propelled swimming of a three dimensional bionic fish and fish school in a viscous fluid are carried out.This is done with the assistance of a parallel software package produced for 3D moving boundary problems.This computational fluid dynamics package combines the adaptive multi-grid finite volume method,the immersed boundary method and VOF (volume of fluid) method.By using the package results of the self-propelled swimming of a 3D bionic fish and fish school in a viscous fluid...     

Modeling of multi-inclusion composites with interfacial imperfections: Micromechanical and numerical simulations

A micromechanical approach based on a two-layer built-in model and a numerical simulation based on boundary element method are proposed to predict the effective properties of the multi-inclusion composite with imperfect interfaces. The spring model is introduced to simulate the interface imperfection. These two methods are compared with each other, and good agreement is achieved. The effects of interface spring stiffness, volume ratio and stiffness of inclusions on the micro- and macro-mechanical behaviors ...