We suggest a new view of secretory and membrane protein folding that emphasizes the role of pathways of biogenesis in generating functional and conformational heterogeneity. In this view, heterogeneity results from action of accessory factors either directly binding specific sequences of the nascent chain, or indirectly, changing the environment in which a particular domain is synthesized. Entrained by signaling pathways, these variables create a combinatorial set of necessary‐but‐not‐sufficient conditions that enhance synthesis and folding of particular alternate, functional, conformational forms. We (...) therefore propose that protein conformation is productively regulated by the cell during translocation across the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a concept that may account for currently poorly understood aspects of physiological function, natural selection, and disease pathogenesis. BioEssays 24:741–748, 2002. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

According to the prevalent 'sum view' of stuffs, each portion of stuff is a mereological sum of its subportions. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the sum view in the light of a modal temporal mereology which distinguishes between different varieties of summation relations. While admitting David Barnett's recent counter-example to the sum view, we show that there is nonetheless an important sense in which all portions of stuff are sums of their subportions. We use our (...) class='Hi'>summation relations to develop, as an alternative to the sum view, an analysis of stuffs that distinguisher between the ways in which different sorts of stuffs are sums of their subportions. (shrink)

Results from three experiments using spatial forced-choice techniques show that an illusory contour improves the detectability of a spatially superimposed, 1pixel-thin subthreshold line of either contrast polarity. Furthermore, the subthreshold line is found to enhance the visibility of an illusory contour bridging the gap between the two colinear edges of physically defined boundaries. Stimuli which do not induce illusory contours, but reduce uncertainty about the spatial position of the line, give rise to a slight detection facilitation, but the threshold of (...) 75% correct responses is not attained. The data indicate that superimposing illusory contours and 1pixel thin subthreshold lines produces interactions which are similar to classic subthreshold summation. This provides psychophysical evidence for the functional equivalence of illusory and real lines, as suggested by neurophysiological data from single-cell recordings in V1 and V2 of cats and primates. (shrink)

In this paper, I consider two sorts of objections to summative theories of value. The first objection concerns “indeterminate” value. The second concerns the importance of variety. I argue that both objections pose serious problems for the summative approach. I also argue that if we accept certain plausible views about the value of variety, we should reject certain forms of argument concerning what sorts of states have intrinsic value.

The principle of Summation, which is a technically sharpened version of the familiar claim that a whole is a sum of its parts, is presented by Peter van Inwagen as a trivial truth. I argue to the contrary, that it is incompatible with the natural assumption that a whole may gain or lose parts non-instantaneously. For, as I show, the latter assumption implies that something can be determinately a whole without being determinately a sum of parts, and this, in (...) turn, indicates the falsity of Summation. I point out that the tension between Summation and the possibility of non-instantaneous gain or loss of parts compels us to rethink the relations between the concepts of whole and sum, and may have far reaching consequences for the mereology of physical objects. (shrink)

왕필은 하상공과는 다른 입장 때문에 『노자주』로 이름이 나있지만, 송명 이학(理學)자 들의 해석이 득세하기 전까지 그의 『주역주』는 『십삼경주소』의 하나로 가장 정평 있던 것 이다. 그럼에도 『노자주』의 위상 덕분에 왕필은 도가로 분류되었다. 그것은 옳은가? 왕필은 『노자지략』 을 지어 자기 주해 속의 지향과 요략을 분명히 드러낸다. 여기서 왕 필은 무보다는 무형과 무명을 내세워 꼴이 이루어지지 않고 이름이 붙여지지 않은 상태를 강조한다. 무형과 무명은 절대무가 아니라 유의 시원이자 근본이 된다. 따라서 왕필은 무 에 종주(宗主)의 지위를 부여하는 데 머뭇거리지 않는다. 그에게 무는 종이고 종은 하나 (...) (一)이기 때문에 결국 무는 하나가 된다. 노자는 상대성을 떠나 제3의 세계를 말한다. 그것이 도다. 그러나 왕필은 상대성 가운 데 하나를 선택하라고 말한다. 그것이 뿌리와 가지 가운데 뿌리를 잡으라는 이원적 차등법 이다. 왕필의 본말론은 확실한 가치 판단을 보여주고 있다. 노자는 귀천을 떠난 도를 말한 다. 자연의 세계는 귀천이 있을 수 없다. 귀천은 지배와 통제를 위한 인위의 명령일 따름 이다. 이와 같은 사실은 왕필이 존비와 귀천을 담는 『주역』 으로 단순히 선후나 상하를 말 하는 『노자』를 해석하고 있음을 보여준다. 이렇게 왕필은 본말론을 내세워 언제나 한쪽에 손을 들어준다. 그가 벌이는 가치 판단 은 이후의 이기론자와 같은 철학자에게 매력적으로 쓸모 있게 다가왔다. 왕필의 가치와 용도가 여기에 있었다. (shrink)