Objective To investigate the causal relationships between plasma metabolites and osteoporosis via Mendelian randomization(MR) analysis.Methods Bidirectional MR was used to analyze pooled data from different genome-wid...Objective To investigate the causal relationships between plasma metabolites and osteoporosis via Mendelian randomization(MR) analysis.Methods Bidirectional MR was used to analyze pooled data from different genome-wide association studies(GWAS). The causal effect of plasma metabolites on osteoporosis was estimated using the inverse variance weighted method, intersections of statistically significant metabolites obtained from different sources of osteoporosis-related GWAS aggregated data was determined, and then sensitivity analysis was performed on these metabolites. Heterogeneity between single nucleotide polymorphisms was evaluated by Cochran's Q test. Horizontal pleiotropy was assessed through the application of the MR-Egger intercept method and the MRPRESSO method. The causal effect of osteoporosis on plasma metabolites was also evaluated using the inverse variance weighted method. Additionally, pathway analysis was conducted to identify potential metabolic pathways involved in the regulation of osteoporosis.Results Primary analysis and sensitivity analysis showed that 77 and 61 plasma metabolites had a causal relationship with osteoporosis from the GWAS data in the GCST90038656 and GCST90044600 datasets, respectively. Five common metabolites were identified via intersection. X-13684 levels and the glucose-to-maltose ratio were negatively associated with osteoporosis, whereas glycoursodeoxycholate levels and arachidoylcarnitine(C20) levels were positively associated with osteoporosis(all P < 0.05). The relationship between X-11299 levels and osteoporosis showed contradictory results(all P < 0.05). Pathway analysis indicated that glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, galactose metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, and starch and sucrose metabolism pathways were participated in the development of osteoporosis.Conclusion We found a causal relationship between plasma metabolites and osteoporosis. These results offer novel perspectives with important implications for targeted metabolite-focused interventions in the management of osteoporosis.展开更多
It is a brief study of Thomas Hardy＇s Tess of the d＇Urbervilles. Thomas Hardy is an English poet and regional novelist, and Tess of the d＇Urbervilles is a novel written by him. The main character Tess is an innocen...It is a brief study of Thomas Hardy＇s Tess of the d＇Urbervilles. Thomas Hardy is an English poet and regional novelist, and Tess of the d＇Urbervilles is a novel written by him. The main character Tess is an innocent and pretty country girl tossed into dangerous situations brought about by fate. Thomas Hardy uses a lot of symbolic meanings which imply the main character, Tess＇ nature, mind and situation. This article will analyze the symbolic meanings of the novel.展开更多
The paper aims to explore Pound＇s early discovery of Confucianism and his conversion to Confucianism. Pound＇s interest in Confucianism coincided with the time when Christianity, already ＂contaminated＂ by ＂histori...The paper aims to explore Pound＇s early discovery of Confucianism and his conversion to Confucianism. Pound＇s interest in Confucianism coincided with the time when Christianity, already ＂contaminated＂ by ＂historical diseases＂ in Pound＇s view, could not offer a valid vision by which to guide the spiritual life, resulting in losing self in a modem society. Pound discovers three main deficiencies of Christianity： lack of respect for individuality, the decline of ethics, and open attack upon nature, which could not provide solutions to Western problems. Pound turned to Confucianism to search the existence of modem man in the face of society, and nature, which results in Pound＇s Confucian medicine to cure Western moral obtuseness.展开更多
This study aims to examine the relations between languages of antiquity and some words in Homer＇s epics, Iliad and Odyssey, that are considered the first written texts and important in terms of the richness of Greek ...This study aims to examine the relations between languages of antiquity and some words in Homer＇s epics, Iliad and Odyssey, that are considered the first written texts and important in terms of the richness of Greek vocabulary. Although the words in Homeric epics carry a value for ancient Anatolia, there are no studies in this field in our eotmtry. For this purpose, with the help of words we have, we will focus on： （a） bond of these words with Hittite, partially （b） some archaic qualities for some Latin words, developed later and also continued of some ground and phrases in the everyday life in the same region for centuries on the language of the people depending on the oral transmission. At the end of the study, we will discuss the changes of the words in philological level as well as in terms of the letter, sounds and meaning by used words in Homer＇s epics as will be explained in this study.展开更多
The debate concerning abortion abounds in miraculous narratives. Judith Jarvis Thomson has contrived the most celebrated set among related ones, to wit the ＂violinist analogy,＂ the ＂Good Samaritan＂ narrative, and ...The debate concerning abortion abounds in miraculous narratives. Judith Jarvis Thomson has contrived the most celebrated set among related ones, to wit the ＂violinist analogy,＂ the ＂Good Samaritan＂ narrative, and the ＂Henry Fonda＂ allegory, by virtue of which, she intends, on the one hand, to argue that women＇s right to autonomy outweighs the alleged fetus＇s right to life, and on the other, to prove that no positive moral duties can be derived towards other persons alone from the fact that a moral agent is ascribed certain rights. What this short paper endeavors to prove is that Thomson＇s argumentation by analogy is a weak one, since neither the number nor the relevance of similarities invoked is adequate or satisfactory, while crucial parameters concerning the morality of abortion are being totally overlooked.展开更多
When two Kantian agents engage in inter-dependent transactions with one another, each agent has the responsibility to assure the morality of the other＇s maxim of action and means to implement the maxim. This proposit...When two Kantian agents engage in inter-dependent transactions with one another, each agent has the responsibility to assure the morality of the other＇s maxim of action and means to implement the maxim. This proposition is proven to be a logical consequence of Kant＇s moral system and stated formally as the K-Completeness theorem. Transactions that satisfy the theorem are called ＂K-Complete.＂ The theorem is generalized to cover transactions with many agents. The paper then models multi-agent K-Complete transactions using mathematical graph theory and shows that such transactions are distinguished from Kant＇s kingdom of ends. Finally, the paper shows that the extended morality provides Kant＇s moral system with the resources to define an ethical community in such as the one in Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason without the introduction of God and a church.展开更多
The most persistent criticism about the play Death of a Salesman （1949） concerns the issue of genre and its constituents： Is it a tragedy？! If yes, to what extend is it a tragedy？ Miller himself considered the pl...The most persistent criticism about the play Death of a Salesman （1949） concerns the issue of genre and its constituents： Is it a tragedy？! If yes, to what extend is it a tragedy？ Miller himself considered the play to be the tragedy of the common man, as he presents his idea on tragedy as a genre and his idea of the tragic hero in his essay ＂Tragedy and the Common Man＂ （1942）, but for a group of critics it is not a tragedy but to others and to the author, it is the tragedy of the man who tries to survive in the modern world by using archaic weapons. This paper briefly revisits the Aristotelian tragedy concept and modern theories, and stands on what are tragedy and a tragic hero. It aims at reading Death of a Salesman as a meeting point between （ancient） concept of tragedy with modern man and his way of seeing life, and briefly examines and explores the continuing disagreements among academics and by what criteria this play is a tragedy.展开更多
This article looks at how cosmopolitanism--the notion of universality within a diversity of multi-cultures---has been shaping the discipline of world literature. The article encompasses chiefly three parts. The first ...This article looks at how cosmopolitanism--the notion of universality within a diversity of multi-cultures---has been shaping the discipline of world literature. The article encompasses chiefly three parts. The first part offers an overview of the debates on the discipline widely discussed by literary scholars such as Franco Moretti, David Damrosch and Emily Apter. I take issue with the harmonic co-existence of both local and global elements---and what I define as ＂glocality＂---in literatures to exhibit the inevitable trend of the trans-cultural, supranational and cross-historical interactions among multiple centres and/or various cities especially in the twenty-first century. I thereby argue in the second part using Leung Ping Kwan （1949-2013）＇s ＂Images of Hong Kong＂ （1992） and Louise Ho＇s two poetry pieces written in 1994 to prove how Kantian Cosmopolitan elements have deeply embedded in the poem written in a city where the West frequently interacts with the East. I conclude by stepping in further to argue that only through tolerating and mediating between the region and the globe can world literature as a discipline find its way out without fear for marginalising any of the literary pieces.展开更多
There are philosophers and logicians who do think that the Trinity-triangle makes up an evident formal-logic inconsistency demonstrating convincingly that Christian faith is illogical and hence irrational one. The pre...There are philosophers and logicians who do think that the Trinity-triangle makes up an evident formal-logic inconsistency demonstrating convincingly that Christian faith is illogical and hence irrational one. The present paper submits a systematic counter-argumentation against such thinking. According to the submitted counter-arguments, there is no formal-logic inconsistency in the Holy-Trinity-triangle： There is only a logic-linguistic illusion of such inconsistency which illusion is naturally produced by the ambiguity of the word ＂is＂ in natural language. The author has invented an effective remedy for that illusion, namely, a precise formulation of the generalized and thus modernized Guillotine of Hume by means of an artificial language of two-valued algebraic system of formal ethics of moral rigor. Systematical using the mathematized formulation of the generalized Hume＇s Guillotine cuts down the mentioned linguistic illusion of logical inconsistency. Thus, the paper essentially interconnects discrete mathematical representations of formal iogic of thinking and formal ethics of acting. In relation to contemporary symbolic logic, the author submits not a technical result solving some important particular problem concerning some specific system of symbolic logic but a significantly new result of conceptual work concerning logic in general and its interconnection with mathematical ethics. The old idea of logic as a moral science is transformed into a novel idea of symbolic logic as a brunch of mathematical ethics. In particular, two-valued algebra of classical formal logic is considered as a particular case of two-valued algebra of formal ethics of moral rigor. The submitted conception of logic is instantiated by applying it to the knotty logic-problem of Holy-Trinity-triangle.展开更多
This paper argues that delegation of lethal decisions to autonomous weapon systems opens an unacceptable responsibility gap, which cannot be effectively countered unless we enforce a preemptive ban on lethal autonomou...This paper argues that delegation of lethal decisions to autonomous weapon systems opens an unacceptable responsibility gap, which cannot be effectively countered unless we enforce a preemptive ban on lethal autonomous weapon systems （LAWS）. Initially, the promises and perils of artificial intelligence are brought forward in pointing out （1） that it remains an open question whether moral decision making, understood as situated ethical judgement, is computationally tractable, and （2） that the kind of artificial intelligence, which would be required to cause ethical reasoning, would imply a system capable of operating as an independent reasoner in novel contexts （sec. 2）. In continuation thereof, issues of responsibility are discussed （sec. 3 and 3.1） and it is claimed that unacceptable responsibility gaps may occur since unpredictability would presumably follow full system autonomy. These circumstances call for a strong precautionary principle, in the form of a preemptive ban.展开更多
文摘Objective To investigate the causal relationships between plasma metabolites and osteoporosis via Mendelian randomization(MR) analysis.Methods Bidirectional MR was used to analyze pooled data from different genome-wide association studies(GWAS). The causal effect of plasma metabolites on osteoporosis was estimated using the inverse variance weighted method, intersections of statistically significant metabolites obtained from different sources of osteoporosis-related GWAS aggregated data was determined, and then sensitivity analysis was performed on these metabolites. Heterogeneity between single nucleotide polymorphisms was evaluated by Cochran's Q test. Horizontal pleiotropy was assessed through the application of the MR-Egger intercept method and the MRPRESSO method. The causal effect of osteoporosis on plasma metabolites was also evaluated using the inverse variance weighted method. Additionally, pathway analysis was conducted to identify potential metabolic pathways involved in the regulation of osteoporosis.Results Primary analysis and sensitivity analysis showed that 77 and 61 plasma metabolites had a causal relationship with osteoporosis from the GWAS data in the GCST90038656 and GCST90044600 datasets, respectively. Five common metabolites were identified via intersection. X-13684 levels and the glucose-to-maltose ratio were negatively associated with osteoporosis, whereas glycoursodeoxycholate levels and arachidoylcarnitine(C20) levels were positively associated with osteoporosis(all P < 0.05). The relationship between X-11299 levels and osteoporosis showed contradictory results(all P < 0.05). Pathway analysis indicated that glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, galactose metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, and starch and sucrose metabolism pathways were participated in the development of osteoporosis.Conclusion We found a causal relationship between plasma metabolites and osteoporosis. These results offer novel perspectives with important implications for targeted metabolite-focused interventions in the management of osteoporosis.
文摘It is a brief study of Thomas Hardy＇s Tess of the d＇Urbervilles. Thomas Hardy is an English poet and regional novelist, and Tess of the d＇Urbervilles is a novel written by him. The main character Tess is an innocent and pretty country girl tossed into dangerous situations brought about by fate. Thomas Hardy uses a lot of symbolic meanings which imply the main character, Tess＇ nature, mind and situation. This article will analyze the symbolic meanings of the novel.
文摘The paper aims to explore Pound＇s early discovery of Confucianism and his conversion to Confucianism. Pound＇s interest in Confucianism coincided with the time when Christianity, already ＂contaminated＂ by ＂historical diseases＂ in Pound＇s view, could not offer a valid vision by which to guide the spiritual life, resulting in losing self in a modem society. Pound discovers three main deficiencies of Christianity： lack of respect for individuality, the decline of ethics, and open attack upon nature, which could not provide solutions to Western problems. Pound turned to Confucianism to search the existence of modem man in the face of society, and nature, which results in Pound＇s Confucian medicine to cure Western moral obtuseness.
文摘This study aims to examine the relations between languages of antiquity and some words in Homer＇s epics, Iliad and Odyssey, that are considered the first written texts and important in terms of the richness of Greek vocabulary. Although the words in Homeric epics carry a value for ancient Anatolia, there are no studies in this field in our eotmtry. For this purpose, with the help of words we have, we will focus on： （a） bond of these words with Hittite, partially （b） some archaic qualities for some Latin words, developed later and also continued of some ground and phrases in the everyday life in the same region for centuries on the language of the people depending on the oral transmission. At the end of the study, we will discuss the changes of the words in philological level as well as in terms of the letter, sounds and meaning by used words in Homer＇s epics as will be explained in this study.
文摘The debate concerning abortion abounds in miraculous narratives. Judith Jarvis Thomson has contrived the most celebrated set among related ones, to wit the ＂violinist analogy,＂ the ＂Good Samaritan＂ narrative, and the ＂Henry Fonda＂ allegory, by virtue of which, she intends, on the one hand, to argue that women＇s right to autonomy outweighs the alleged fetus＇s right to life, and on the other, to prove that no positive moral duties can be derived towards other persons alone from the fact that a moral agent is ascribed certain rights. What this short paper endeavors to prove is that Thomson＇s argumentation by analogy is a weak one, since neither the number nor the relevance of similarities invoked is adequate or satisfactory, while crucial parameters concerning the morality of abortion are being totally overlooked.
文摘When two Kantian agents engage in inter-dependent transactions with one another, each agent has the responsibility to assure the morality of the other＇s maxim of action and means to implement the maxim. This proposition is proven to be a logical consequence of Kant＇s moral system and stated formally as the K-Completeness theorem. Transactions that satisfy the theorem are called ＂K-Complete.＂ The theorem is generalized to cover transactions with many agents. The paper then models multi-agent K-Complete transactions using mathematical graph theory and shows that such transactions are distinguished from Kant＇s kingdom of ends. Finally, the paper shows that the extended morality provides Kant＇s moral system with the resources to define an ethical community in such as the one in Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason without the introduction of God and a church.
文摘The most persistent criticism about the play Death of a Salesman （1949） concerns the issue of genre and its constituents： Is it a tragedy？! If yes, to what extend is it a tragedy？ Miller himself considered the play to be the tragedy of the common man, as he presents his idea on tragedy as a genre and his idea of the tragic hero in his essay ＂Tragedy and the Common Man＂ （1942）, but for a group of critics it is not a tragedy but to others and to the author, it is the tragedy of the man who tries to survive in the modern world by using archaic weapons. This paper briefly revisits the Aristotelian tragedy concept and modern theories, and stands on what are tragedy and a tragic hero. It aims at reading Death of a Salesman as a meeting point between （ancient） concept of tragedy with modern man and his way of seeing life, and briefly examines and explores the continuing disagreements among academics and by what criteria this play is a tragedy.
文摘This article looks at how cosmopolitanism--the notion of universality within a diversity of multi-cultures---has been shaping the discipline of world literature. The article encompasses chiefly three parts. The first part offers an overview of the debates on the discipline widely discussed by literary scholars such as Franco Moretti, David Damrosch and Emily Apter. I take issue with the harmonic co-existence of both local and global elements---and what I define as ＂glocality＂---in literatures to exhibit the inevitable trend of the trans-cultural, supranational and cross-historical interactions among multiple centres and/or various cities especially in the twenty-first century. I thereby argue in the second part using Leung Ping Kwan （1949-2013）＇s ＂Images of Hong Kong＂ （1992） and Louise Ho＇s two poetry pieces written in 1994 to prove how Kantian Cosmopolitan elements have deeply embedded in the poem written in a city where the West frequently interacts with the East. I conclude by stepping in further to argue that only through tolerating and mediating between the region and the globe can world literature as a discipline find its way out without fear for marginalising any of the literary pieces.
文摘There are philosophers and logicians who do think that the Trinity-triangle makes up an evident formal-logic inconsistency demonstrating convincingly that Christian faith is illogical and hence irrational one. The present paper submits a systematic counter-argumentation against such thinking. According to the submitted counter-arguments, there is no formal-logic inconsistency in the Holy-Trinity-triangle： There is only a logic-linguistic illusion of such inconsistency which illusion is naturally produced by the ambiguity of the word ＂is＂ in natural language. The author has invented an effective remedy for that illusion, namely, a precise formulation of the generalized and thus modernized Guillotine of Hume by means of an artificial language of two-valued algebraic system of formal ethics of moral rigor. Systematical using the mathematized formulation of the generalized Hume＇s Guillotine cuts down the mentioned linguistic illusion of logical inconsistency. Thus, the paper essentially interconnects discrete mathematical representations of formal iogic of thinking and formal ethics of acting. In relation to contemporary symbolic logic, the author submits not a technical result solving some important particular problem concerning some specific system of symbolic logic but a significantly new result of conceptual work concerning logic in general and its interconnection with mathematical ethics. The old idea of logic as a moral science is transformed into a novel idea of symbolic logic as a brunch of mathematical ethics. In particular, two-valued algebra of classical formal logic is considered as a particular case of two-valued algebra of formal ethics of moral rigor. The submitted conception of logic is instantiated by applying it to the knotty logic-problem of Holy-Trinity-triangle.
文摘This paper argues that delegation of lethal decisions to autonomous weapon systems opens an unacceptable responsibility gap, which cannot be effectively countered unless we enforce a preemptive ban on lethal autonomous weapon systems （LAWS）. Initially, the promises and perils of artificial intelligence are brought forward in pointing out （1） that it remains an open question whether moral decision making, understood as situated ethical judgement, is computationally tractable, and （2） that the kind of artificial intelligence, which would be required to cause ethical reasoning, would imply a system capable of operating as an independent reasoner in novel contexts （sec. 2）. In continuation thereof, issues of responsibility are discussed （sec. 3 and 3.1） and it is claimed that unacceptable responsibility gaps may occur since unpredictability would presumably follow full system autonomy. These circumstances call for a strong precautionary principle, in the form of a preemptive ban.
