Deontic logic and possible worlds semantics: A historical sketch

This paper describes and compares the first step in modern semantic theory for deontic logic which appeared in works of Stig Kanger, Jaakko Hintikka, Richard Montague and Saul Kripke in late 50s and early 60s. Moreover, some further developments as well as systematizations are also noted.     

John Dewey's impact on Turkish education

Conclusion The cultural characteristics of any country generally give shape to the educational system. However, no country can assert its own educational system to be wholly indigenous. All the systems come into being as a synthesis of various ingredients of the home country and other countries. And it is quite natural to make use of the experiences and stock of knowledge of the others. This fact is indispensable especially when education is concerned. The curicial problem is to what extent the borrowing process should be used. When the process of borrowing ideas become to take the form of imitation or copy, unexpected results and failure are unavoidable.     

6—12岁儿童脑波超慢涨落功率与计算速度的关系

对176名6-12岁认知功能正常小学生进行脑波超慢涨落平均功率分布与计算速度关系的研究。结果表明：(1)计算速度快组和计算速度慢组中各年龄组的脑区平均功率符合额低枕高的前后梯度。计算速度慢组的逆转百分率高于计算速度快组。(2)在各年龄组中,计算速度快组和慢组功率前后逆转百分率的差异主要反映在右脑,右脑功率前后梯度逆转在不同计算组之间差异较大。(3)在计算速度快组和慢组中,左脑平均功率都小于右脑平均功率。计算速度快组和慢组脑波功率左右逆转百分率的差异主要反映在后脑,后脑功率左右逆转在逆转总数上计算速度快组多于计算速度慢组。     

Prototetyka St. Lesniewskiego

Streszczenie Prototetyka St. Len'ewskiego jest uogólnieniem dwuwartociowego rachunku zda. Wystpuj w niej obok terminów tego rachunku funktory (zarówno stae jak i zmienne) tych wszystkich kategorii semantycznych, jakie mog by zdefiniowane, gdy punktem wyjcia jest kategor a zda.W pracy zreferowane s trzy systemy prototetyki. Terminem pierwotnym dwu z nich jest implikacja, terminem pierwotnym systemu trzeciego jest równowano. Systemy o terminie pierwotnym implikacji róni s. reguami wnioskowania. W jednym z nich obowizuje regua weryfikacji, w drugim regua ekstensjonalnoci. Pierwsza z tych regu jest uogólnieniem nastpujcej reguy rachunku zda, wzbogaconego o terminy 0 i 1:Wyraenie jest tez systemu, gdy tezami systemu s oba wyraenia powstae z przez podstawienie za pewn jego zmienn symboli 0 i 1.W myl reguy ekstensjonalnoci tezami systemu s prawa ekstensjonalnoci, sformuowane dla funktorów dowolnych kategorii semantycznych wac-wych prototetyce.W pracy podaj dowody równowanoci trzech systemów prototetyki i dowód ich zupenoci.Znaczna cz wyników Leniewskiego, zreferowanych w pracy, nie bya dotd opublikowana. Opracowujc te wyniki opieraem si na notatkach z wykadów Leniewskiego, spisanych przez jego uczniów. Oryginalne notatki Leniewskiego ulegy zniszczeniu w czasie powstania warszawskiego.     

Latencies of stimulus-driven eye movements are shorter in dyslexic subjects

Eye movements latencies toward peripherally presented stimuli were measured in 10-year-old dyslexic and control children. Dyslexic subjects, previously found to be oversensitive to stimulation of the magnocellular channel, showed reduced latencies as compared to normally reading controls. An attention shifting task was also used which showed no group differences in latencies of eye movements. The data are discussed in terms of the hypothesis of magnocellular system alteration and attention dysfunction in dyslexia. Additionally, sex differences in eye movement latencies were found and are discussed.     

The effect of caffeine on handwriting movements in skilled writers

In laboratory tasks, caffeine has been shown to improve psychomotor performance. The aim of the present experiment was to assess the effects of caffeine on a skilled everyday life task in habitual caffeine consumers. The assessment of handwriting movements of 20 adults was performed following the administration of 0mg/kg (placebo), 1.5mg/kg, 3.0mg/kg or 4.5mg/kg of caffeine. A digitising tablet was used for the assessment of fine motor movements. Participants were asked to perform a simple writing task. Kinematic analysis of handwriting movements showed that, in comparison to placebo administration, high doses of caffeine (i.e., 4.5mg/kg) can produce improvements in handwriting as indicated by more fluent handwriting movements as well as an increase in maximum velocity and maximum positive and negative accelerations. The results suggest that higher doses of caffeine can enhance psychomotor performance.     

Evaluation of drug toxicity in clinical trials

An increasing number of drugs removed from the market because of unacceptable toxicity raises concerns regarding preapproval testing of drug safety. In the present paper it is postulated that the non-inferiority type of trial should be abandoned in favor of the superiority trial with active controls and less stringent (p<0.1, both for efficacy and toxicity) statistics. This approach will increase sensitivity of detection of drug-induced adverse effects at the expense of increasing false positive results regarding the difference in efficacy between the tested and reference drug. Such a move will increase the protection of future patients. In addition, the proposed design is far more acceptable from the clinical (e.g. no need to specify the statistically expected “unimportant” number of deaths) and ethical points of view, as well as being favored by the strong incentive of involved parties. In the second part of this paper arguments are presented in favor of the hypothesis that placebo (still used in some superiority trials) does not induce adverse effects. The assertion that placebo may induce adverse effects is probably biased by the nature of the clinical experiment. Such a conclusion is supported by studies indicating that placebo-induced adverse effects are disease — and treatment — specific. The modification of clinical trials according to the proposed changes may increase the trials’ sensitivity at detecting adverse effects of drugs. A lecture on the subject of this paper was presented at the 6th International Bioethics Conference on the subject of ‘The Responsible Conduct of Basic and Clinical Research’, held in Warsaw, Poland, 3–4 June 2005.