Religious sects and their practices have become highly topical in the recent past in Germany. The call for criminal sanctions in order to tackle actual or presumed misconduct is becoming louder and louder. The author, a criminal law professor, analyses the present discussion and puts it into a constitutional law perspective. Any civil society that aims to optimise the scope of the personal freedoms of its members must withstand the temptation of creating a special regime of criminal law rules just (...) to combat religious sects and their practices. Criminal law has tobe applied uniformly in the whole society. Therfore, criminal sanctions can only be handed out, when practices infringe intolerably with the individual' s rights protected by the law. (shrink)

Das Werk ist die erste komplett an allen Gebieten der Physik systematisch ausgerichtete Darstellung der Geschichte der Physik. Geschrieben von einem erfahrenen Didaktiker seines Faches und als Ergebnis jahrzehntelanger Recherche soll dieses Buch ein tieferes Verständnis seines Faches vermitteln, als dies traditionelle Lehrbücher vermögen. Der rote Faden sind die Konzepte und Theoriebildungen, wie sie sich durch die Jahrhunderte nachzeichnen lassen. Das Ergebnis ist ein lebendig geschriebenes Fachbuch, das sich sowohl zum Lernen und Nachschlagen systematisch nutzen wie auch als packende Physikgeschichte (...) von der ersten bis letzten Seite spannend lesen lässt. (shrink)

The Hygiene Hypothesis has been recognized as an important cornerstone to explain the sudden increase in the prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases in modernized culture. The recent epidemic of allergic diseases is in contrast with the gradual implementation of Homo sapiens sapiens to the present-day forms of civilization. This civilization forms a gradual process with cumulative effects on the human immune system, which co-developed with parasitic and commensal Helminths. The clinical manifestation of this epidemic, however, became only visible in (...) the second half of the twentieth century. In order to explain these clinical effects in terms of the underlying IgE-mediated reactions to innocuous environmental antigens, the low biodiversity of antigens in the domestic environment plays a pivotal role. The skewing of antigen exposure as a cumulative effect of reducing biodiversity in the immediate human environment as well as in changing food habits, provides a sufficient and parsimonious explanation for the rise in allergic diseases in a highly developed and helminth-free modernized culture. Socio-economic tendencies that incline towards a further reduction of environmental biodiversity may provide serious concern for future health. This article explains that the “Hygiene Hypothesis”, the “Old Friends Hypothesis”, and the “Skewed Antigen Exposure Hypothesis” are required to more fully explain the rise of allergy in modern societies. (shrink)

In Hume’s Of Miracles the person movecl by faith is put in a dilemma between faith and reason. Can one resolve this dilemma as a compleat Humean? The answer is yes. Within the Humean context different approaches can be developed ta overcome Hume’s dilemma. One uses Hume’s theory of utility to defend the belief in the afterlife. The other requires Hume to place faith on a par with beauty and therefore among the passions to which reason must be a slave. (...) Historically there was at least one compleat Humean who was also moved by faith --- Johann Georg Hamann [1730- 1788]. (shrink)

In this article we give a unifying approach to the theory of fundamental sequences and their related Hardy hierarchies of number-theoretic functions and we show the equivalence of the new approach with the classical one.

In his classic paper On Computable Numbers Turing analyzed what can be done by a human computor in a routine, “mechanical” way. He argued that mechanical op-erations obey locality conditions and are carried out on configurations satisfying boundedness conditions. Processes meeting these restrictive conditions can be shown to be computable by a Turing machine. Turing viewed memory limitations of computors as the ultimate reason for the restrictive conditions. In contrast, Gandy analyzed in his paper Church’s Thesis and Principles for Mechanisms (...) what can be done by “discrete deterministic mechanical devices” and appealed to physical considerations to motivate restrictive principles. These devices include, crucially, ones that carry out parallel processes, e.g., cellular automata. Following Turing’s methodological ways and guided by Conway’s “Game of Life” as a paradigm, Gandy formulated four restrictive principles and proved that devices satisfying them are computationally equivalent to Turing machines. (shrink)

Since their inception, the Perspectives in Logic and Lecture Notes in Logic series have published seminal works by leading logicians. Many of the original books in the series have been unavailable for years, but they are now in print once again. This volume, the fifteenth publication in the Lecture Notes in Logic series, collects papers presented at the symposium 'Reflections on the Foundations of Mathematics' held in celebration of Solomon Feferman's 70th birthday (The 'Feferfest') at Stanford University, California in 1988. (...) Feferman has shaped the field of foundational research for nearly half a century. These papers reflect his broad interests as well as his approach to foundational research, which emphasizes the solution of mathematical and philosophical problems. There are four sections, covering proof theoretic analysis, logic and computation, applicative and self-applicative theories, and philosophy of modern mathematical and logic thought. (shrink)

People frequently gesture when problem-solving, particularly on tasks that require spatial transformation. Gesture often facilitates task performance by interacting with internal mental representations, but how this process works is not well understood. We investigated this question by exploring the case of mental abacus, a technique in which users not only imagine moving beads on an abacus to compute sums, but also produce movements in gestures that accompany the calculations. Because the content of MA is transparent and readily manipulated, the task (...) offers a unique window onto how gestures interface with mental representations. We find that the size and number of MA gestures reflect the length and difficulty of math problems. Also, by selectively interfering with aspects of gesture, we find that participants perform significantly worse on MA under motor interference, but that perceptual feedback is not critical for success on the task. We conclude that premotor processes involved in the planning of gestures are critical to mental representation in MA. (shrink)

In this rapid commentary, a mini-review is given of the present state-of-knowledge regarding the etiology and epidemiology of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV and the risks for developing Acute respiratory distress syndrome. The available knowledge on the viral genomics, molecular biology and pathogenicity of viruses of the Coronaviridae family and other Nidovirales, forms a helpful template for understanding the present pandemic outbreak. However, important questions remain unanswered about the underlying mechanism causing the very high case fatality ratios and mechanisms regarding severe (...) reactions like ARDS, fatal cardiac and renal failures, associated with a number of important comorbidity factors. Immunological reactions to lung alveoles in particular in late phase ARDS in SARS-like CoV diseases, so far may not have received enough attention. Finally a shortlist of questions for high priority further research is suggested. (shrink)

Using the concept of notations for infinitary derivations we give an explanation of Takeuti's reduction steps on finite derivations (used in his consistency proof for Π1 1-CA) in terms of the more perspicious infinitary approach from [BS88].

Plus que tout autre philosophe antique, Plotin semble mettre ses interprètes au défi de décrypter le fond de sa pensée. En effet, elle a l’air d’un système, mais le lecteur des Ennéades ne se voit pas livrer les structures conceptuelles principales qui doivent en assurer la cohérence. Emilsson s’est proposé le décryptage de certaines structures qui ont la fonction de principe conceptuel soit tout à fait général soit spécifique pour un champ thématique déterminé. Après avoir proposé une étude...

In this article we prove that a certain intuitionistic version of the well-known fixed point theory \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $\widehat{\rm ID}_1$\end{document} is conservative over \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $\mbox{\sf HA}$\end{document} for almost negative formulas.

In this paper which consists of two parts (Teil I and Teil II) we champion Diophantus of Alexandria and Isabella BaÅ¡makova against Norbert Schappacher. In two publications ([Schappacher 1998a] and [Schappacher 1998b]) he puts forward inter alia two propositions: Questioning Diophantus’ originality he considers affirmatively the possibility that the Arithmetica are the joint work of a team of authors like Bourbaki. And he calls BaÅ¡makova’s claim (in [BaÅ¡makova 1972]) that Diophantus uses negative numbers, a nonsense , reproaching her for her (...) thoughtlessness . Teil I: First, we disprove Schappacher’s Bourbaki thesis. Second, we investigate the semantic meaning and historical significance of Diophantus’ keywords $ λvarepsilon tildeιψιζ and ὕπαρξιζ. Next, we discuss Schappacher’s epistemology of the history of mathematics and defend BaÅ¡makova’s methods. Finally we analyse in detail three problems from Diophantus’ Arithmetica (and their solutions) given by Thomas Heath and Helmuth Gericke as proof of the their claim that Diophantus did not use negative numbers. Teil II: In this Part, we give 33 places where Diophantus uses negative quantities as intermediate results; they appear as differences a − b of positive rational numbers, the subtrahend b being bigger than the minuend a; they each represent the (negative) basis ( πλvarepsilonυρacuteα ) of a square number ( τvarepsilonτρacuteαγω ν o ζ ), which is afterwards computed by the formula (a - b) 2 = a 2 + b 2 - 2ab $ . Finally, we report how the topic Diophantus and the negative numbers has been dealt with by translators and commentators from Maximus Planudes onwards. Und er kommt zu dem Ergebnis: ≪Nur ein Traum war das Erlebnis. Weil≫, so schlieβt er messerscharf, ≪nicht sein k a n n, was nicht sein d a r f.≫ CHRISTIAN MORGENSTERN: Palmstrm. (shrink)

In this second part of “Negative Größen bei Diophant?” we start, as announced, by giving 33 places where Diophantus uses negative quantities as intermediate results; they appear as differences a − b of positive rational numbers, the subtrahend b being bigger than the minuend a; they each represent the (negative) basis $(\pi\lambda\varepsilon\upsilon\rho\acute{\alpha})$ of a square number $(\tau\varepsilon\tau\rho\acute{\alpha}\gamma\omega\nu o \zeta)$ , which is afterwards computed by the formula (a - b)2 = a 2 + b 2 - 2ab. Finally, we report (...) how the topic “Diophantus and the negative numbers” has been dealt with by translators and commentators from Maximus Planudes onwards. (shrink)

The Federation of Belgian companies is a confederation which groups 36 branch associations covering 30. 000 individual firms. About 85 % are small and medium-sizedfirms occupying less than 50 employees. The VBO/FEB is the most important exponent of the high degree of affiliation on the employers' side. The process of decision making reflects the structure of the federation. The mandate is defined in the board of the VBO/FEB, composed by a representative ofeach branch association. This representative holds his mandate on (...) the basis of the deliberations held in the elected board of his association. The guiding principle is consensus, which is not synonymous of unanimity. When a consistent and representative majority emerges from the debate, the members holding another opinion join that majority in a spirit ofemployers' solidarity. The decision making process aims in this way to combine efficiency and democracy. This is particularly important for the VBO/FEB, as that organisation not only acts as a lobby but also as a social partner able to conclude agreements. In the Belgian system, social partners are consulted by the authorities, because of their representativeness. It must however be clear that they may not interfere with the political decisions which in our democratic system rest with government and parliament. (shrink)

To show that discrimination against the terminally ill is a real and worrisome phenomenon Reed presents four examples 1. Here, I focus on the final two: right-to-try and right-to-die laws. I argue that they are not instances of discrimination, because they grant rights. Reed appears to have overlooked that rights differ from obligations in ways that leave his argumentation unsuccessful. According to the most prominent theory of rights, rights function to protect the personal interests of their holders. 2 For that (...) reason, strengthening rights implies weakening discrimination. Granting women the right to vote by itself meant that they were being less discriminated against. Rights also fail to meet standardly accepted definitions of discrimination. As Reed explains, for discrimination to occur, it is necessary that a significant disadvantage is imposed on a socially salient group. Policies can impose disadvantages by being obligations. While rights sometimes enable disadvantages,... (shrink)

[1] Textteil : Grundlagen, Prozeduren, Evaluation -- [2] Anhang : Interviewleitfaden, Tonbandtranskript und Auswertungsbeispiele.