Towards a typology of experimental errors: An epistemological view

This paper is concerned with the problem of experimental error. The prevalent view that experimental errors can be dismissed as a tiresome but trivial blemish on the method of experimentation is criticized. It is stressed that the occurrence of errors in experiments constitutes a permanent feature of the attempt to test theories in the physical world, and this feature deserves proper attention. It is suggested that a classification of types of experimental error may be useful as a heuristic device in studying the nature of these errors. However, the standard classification of systematic and random errors is mathematically based does not focus on the causes of the errors, their origins, or the contexts in which they arise. A new typology of experimental errors is therefore proposed whose criterion is epistemological. This typology reflects the various stages that can be discerned in the execution of an experiment, each stage constituting a category of a certain type of experimental error. The proposed classification consists of four categories which are illustrated by historical cases.     

The origin of experimental brain tumours: A sequential study

A sequential study of rat brains treated transplacentally with the neurotropic carcinogen ethylnitrosourea reveals small foci of cell proliferations from the age of 8 weeks. These lesions consist mainly of undifferentiated cells of the subependymal plate type. They occur in those areas in which gliomas develop and represent the earliest, histologically detectable, changes in the development of brain tumours.     

Rana esculenta complex: An experimental analysis of lethality and hybridogenesis

Summary Experiments designed to analyze the lethality and hybridogenesis in the European green frog complex have yielded the following results: 1. As a rule the inter-se cross ofRana esculenta is lethal, but several crosses have produced fully viable progeny. The frequency of such break-through crosses appears to be related to parental population structure. 2. Parabiotic joining of lethal to viable embryos indicates that manifestation of the lethal effect is autonomous. There is, however, a 16–18% increase in the life span of the lethal partner. 3. Studies of LDH isozyme patterns revealed that thelessonae-specific alleles coding for the B^a and B^c subunits can be passed to the F₁ progeny from a parental female or male of theesculenta phenotype. This demonstrates that there is no total elimination of thelessonae genome in theesculenta germ cells. 4. Immunologically, offspring from the inter-se cross ofR. esculenta show a closer relationship to theridibunda than to theesculenta phenotype. Variations of antigenic protein patterns suggest the possibility of chromosomal recombination betweenlessonae andridibunda in theesculenta hybrid. These results are confirmed by two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of proteins in the oocytes of the three frog phenotypes.This work was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Georges and Antoine Claraz Schenkung.     

On the formation of the myotomes in avian embryos. An experimental and scanning electron microscope study

Summary The formation of the myotomes to chick embryos was studied by using experimental and scanning electron microscope techniques. With the aid of the quail-chick marker system, it was demonstrated that the dermatome gives rise to the myotome plate. SEM studies support the conclusion that the myotome cells originate only from the edges of the dermatome.Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ch 44/2).     

The many encounters of Thomas Kuhn and French epistemology

The work of Thomas Kuhn has been very influential in Anglo-American philosophy of science and it is claimed that it has initiated the historical turn. Although this might be the case for English speaking countries, in France an historical approach has always been the rule. This article aims to investigate the similarities and differences between Kuhn and French philosophy of science or ‘French epistemology’. The first part will argue that he is influenced by French epistemologists, but by lesser known authors than often thought. The second part focuses on the reactions of French epistemologists on Kuhn’s work, which were often very critical. It is argued that behind some superficial similarities there are deep disagreements between Kuhn and French epistemology. This is finally shown by a brief comparison with the reaction of more recent French philosophers of science, who distance themselves from French epistemology and are more positive about Kuhn. Based on these diverse appreciations of Kuhn, a typology of the different positions within the philosophy of science is suggested.     

An experimental method for compressing the sciatic nerve

Zusammenfassung Ein leichter Druck wurde auf den Nervus ischiadicus der Ratte ausgeübt. Die electromyographischen Veränderungen sind den Veränderungen in pathologisch umklammerten menschlichen Nerven ähnlich. Die pathologische Anatomie dieser Nerven wird jetzt untersucht.     

Scenario planning: An investigation of the construct and its measurement

Scenario‐planning academicians and practitioners have been observing for more than three decades the importance of this method in dealing with environmental uncertainty. However, there has been no valid scale that may help organizational leaders to act in practice. Our review of prior studies identifies some problems related to conceptualization, reliability, and validity of this construct. We address these concerns by developing and validating a measure of scenario planning based on Churchill's paradigm (Journal of Marketing Research, 1979, 16, 64–73). Our data analysis follows from a sample of 133 managers operating in the healthcare field in France. To validate our scale, we used three approaches: first, an exploratory factor analysis; second, an examination of psychometric proprieties of all dimensions; and third, a confirmatory factor analysis. The results of this study indicate that scenario planning is a multidimensional construct composed of three dimensions: information acquisition, knowledge dissemination, and scenario development and strategic choices.     

An experimental study on the relative distribution of the somitic and somatic plate mesoderm to the abdominal wall of avian embryos

Summary The origin of the structures of the abdominal wall in avian embryos was studied by using the quail-chick marker system. It was concluded that the muscles originate from somitic cells while tendons, fasciae and the intramuscular fibroblasts, as also the remaining connective tissue, derive from the somatic plate mesoderm.Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CH 44/2).     

An experimental method of tissue surface measurements of beta activityin vivo

Riassunto Gli autori descrivono una tecnica che consente di attuare determinazioni esterne di radioattività β su tessuti superficiali nel topo, mantenendo costante il rendimento di misura per una durata di alcune ore. Vengono presentati e brevemente commentati alcuni esempi di curve ottenute con questa tecnica in seguito ad iniezioni di P³² per via endovenosa, endoperitoneale e sottocutanea.      

Plasmodium juxtanucleare: An electron microscopic study of the exoerythrocytic stages

Zusammenfassung Die Feinstruktur vonPlasmodium juxlanucleare wurde im Milzgewebe experimentell infizierter junger Hühnchen untersucht und die verschiedenen Veränderungen im Verlaufe des intrazellulären Entwicklungszyklus beschrieben.

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This work has been partly supported by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas, Conselho de Ensino para Graduados da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro e Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico, contr. No. FUNTEC-143.

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The autors are indebted to Dr.H. Meyer for her helpful suggestions throughout the course of this investigation. The technical assistance of Mr.A. A. Alves is also gratefully acknowledged.     

HBsAg uptake by macrophages in vitro: An immunofluorescence study

Summary The uptake of HBsAg by in vitro cultured macrophages was studied by immunofluorescence method. Intracytoplasmic fluorescent particles appeared 3 h after the contact with HBsAg-positive serum, while after 24–48 h only a few cells contained these particles, which are probably destroyed within the cytoplasm.This work was supported by a grant of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Progetto Finalizzato Virus.     

6-Hydroxydopamine effect on the retina: An autoradiographic study

Summary Labelled uridine uptake was studied in the control and 6-hydroxydopamine-treated retina by autoradiography. Decrease labelled uridine uptake was detected in the 6-hydroxydopamine-treated retinas.     

Starfish saponins VII. Structure of luzonicoside,a further steroidal cyclic glycoside from the pacific starfishEchinaster luzonicus

Summary On the basis of comparative chemical and spectral data, the structure of the major saponin, luzonicoside, from the starfishEchinaster luzonicus has been elucidated as2. This is a further example of a novel class of steroidal cyclic glycoside from starfish of the genusEchinaster. Its structure includes a ⁷, 3,6-dioxygenated-23-oxosteroidal moiety, already found in the saponins ofEchinaster sepositus, and a trisaccharide moiety, -D-galactopyranosyl-(12) -L-arabinopyranosyl-(12)--D-glucuronopyranosyl, bridging C-3 and C-6 of the steroid.This contribution is part of the Progetto Finalizzato Oceanografia e Fondi Marini del C.N.R., Roma.Acknowledgments. We wish to thank Mrs M. Pusset, Laboratoire des Plantes Médicinales du C.N.R.S., Nouméa, for the extraction of starfish and the divers of the Centre Q.R.S.T.O.M. de Nouméa for collection.     

An ‘experimental’ instrument: testing the torsion balance in Britain,Canada and Australia

The torsion balance, an instrument that was first developed to demonstrate the high precision of physical science in the laboratory became a different sort of demonstration instrument in its brief vogue in the 1920s. This article considers intersecting stories of acquiring and testing the torsion balance as a field instrument in Canada, Britain and Australia. It examines the purchasing trip and fieldwork of A. H. Miller of the Dominion Observatory in 1928–1931, testing conducted by the British Geological Survey in 1926–1930, and finally the Imperial Geophysical Experimental Survey of 1928–1930 in Australia. These different stories produce a kind of collective biography, illustrating well the variety of material and textual records that accrete around instruments, especially expensive ones. But the trials and travels of the torsion balance also point to large themes. By comparing the different ways an instrument becomes valuable, and to whom, these micro-histories reveal significant features of the developing identity of geophysics. They also show the interaction of different forms of scientific internationalism in the inter-war period.