Analyticity and the Deviant Logician: Williamson’s Argument from Disagreement

One way to discredit the suggestion that a statement is true just in virtue of its meaning is to observe that its truth is the subject of genuine disagreement. By appealing to the case of the unorthodox philosopher, Timothy Williamson has recast this response as an argument foreclosing any appeal to analyticity. Reconciling Quine’s epistemological holism with his treatment of the ‘deviant logician’, I show that we may discharge the demands of charitable interpretation even while attributing trivial semantic error to Williamson’s philosophers. Williamson’s effort to generalize the argument from disagreement therefore fails.     

Dielectrophoresis switching with vertical sidewall electrodes for microfluidic flow cytometry

A novel dielectrophoresis switching with vertical electrodes in the sidewall of microchannels for multiplexed switching of objects has been designed, fabricated and tested. With appropriate electrode design, lateral DEP force can be generated so that one can dynamically position particulates along the width of the channel. A set of interdigitated electrodes in the sidewall of the microchannels is used for the generation of non-uniform electrical fields to generate negative DEP forces that repel beads/cells from the sidewalls. A countering DEP force is generated from another set of electrodes patterned on the opposing sidewall. These lateral negative DEP forces can be adjusted by the voltage and frequency applied. By manipulating the coupled DEP forces, the particles flowing through the microchannel can be positioned at different equilibrium points along the width direction and continue to flow into different outlet channels. Experimental results for switching biological cells and polystyrene microbeads to multiple outlets (up to 5) have been achieved. This novel particle switching technique can be integrated with other particle detection components to enable microfluidic flow cytometry systems.     

Microwave digestion-ICP-MS for elemental analysis in ambient airborne fine particulate matter: rare earth elements and validation using a filter borne fine particle certified reference material

NIST standard reference material SRM 2783 was employed to validate a high temperature, high pressure, two-stage microwave assisted acid digestion procedure using HNO₃, HF and H₃BO₃ developed for the analysis of trace elements (including rare earths) in atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) prior to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This method quantitatively solubilized Na, Mg, Al, K, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sb, Cd, Cs, Ba, Pb, Th, U and several rare earth elements (REEs) (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Gd, Dy, Er, Sm and Eu) from SRM 1648 and SRM 2783. A small amount of HF in the first stage was required to dissolve silicates necessitating the corresponding addition of H₃BO₃ in second stage to dissolve fluoride precipitates of Mg, La, Ce and Th. The optimized microwave dissolution—ICP-MS method detected Na, Mg, Al, K, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Cd, Mo, Sb, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Pb, Th and U at trace to ultra-trace levels in ambient airborne fine particles from three sites in North Carolina. La to light lanthanide signature ratios suggested that soil and motor vehicles are the dominant REE sources in SRM 2783 and PM_2.5 samples collected during this study.     

Synthesis and Evaluation of Imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridine Analogues of the ZSTK474 Class of Phosphatidylinositol 3‐Kinase Inhibitors

Using a scaffold‐hopping approach, imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridine analogues of the ZSTK474 (benzimidazole) class of phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) inhibitors have been synthesized for biological evaluation. Compounds were prepared using a heteroaryl Heck reaction procedure, involving the palladium‐catalysed coupling of 2‐(difluoromethyl)imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines with chloro, iodo or trifluoromethanesulfonyloxy (trifloxy) substituted 1,3,5‐triazines or pyrimidines, with the iodo intermediates being preferred in terms of higher yields and milder reaction conditions. The new compounds maintain the PI3K isoform selectivity of their benzimidazole analogues, but in general show less potency.     

First results from the CRIS experiment

The ability to study rare isotopes with techniques such as mass spectrometry and laser spectroscopy is often prevented by low production rates and large isobaric contamination. This has necessitated the development of novel beam cleaning techniques that can efficiently isolate the isotope of interest. The Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) experiment at ISOLDE, achieves this by resonantly ionizing a bunched atom beam in a region of ultra high vacuum. This method is motivated by the need to measure the hyperfine structure and isotope shift at the extremes of isospin where typical production rates drop to 1 atom/s. The technique also offers the ability to purify an ion beam and even select long-lived isomeric states (> 1 ms) from the ground state, which can be subsequently studied by decay spectroscopy or mass spectrometry experiments. This paper will report on the successful commissioning of the CRIS beam line and the recent laser spectroscopy results and laser assisted nuclear decay spectroscopy on the neutron deficient francium isotopes.     

Temperature dependence of H permeation through Pd and Pd alloy membranes

H permeabilities (normalized fluxes), have been measured through Pd and some Pd alloy membranes at a series of constant upstream H(2) pressures with the downstream pressure being ~0 in the temperature range from 393 to 573 K. From these data, activation energies for H permeation, E(P), have been determined. Conditions of constant upstream p(H(2)) are of most interest since most determinations of E(P) in the literature have employed this boundary condition. Permeabilities have also been measured at a series of constant upstream H concentrations with the downstream concentration being ~0 and, under these conditions, the slopes of the Arrhenius plots give activation energies equivalent to those for H diffusion. It is shown here that under constant upstream p(H(2)) conditions, nonideality of the H leads to nonlinear Arrhenius plots of P for Pd and especially for some Pd alloy membranes where the H(2) solubilities are significant even at moderate p(H(2)). For example, the permeabilities of a Pd(0.77)Ag(0.23) alloy membrane and a Pd(0.94)Y(0.06) alloy membrane are found to be nearly independent of temperature (423 to 523 K) in the range of constant upstream pressures from 16.1 to 81 kPa.     

Daughter ion mass spectra of 11-pentafluorobenzyl ester derivatives of 11-dehydiothromboxane B2 and B3

Collisionally activated decomposition (CAD) mass spectra of the [M – C₆F₅CH₂?]^? ions of 1-methyl cster-11-pentafluorobenzyl ester-9,12,15-tris(trimethylsilyl) and 9,12,15-tris(ethyldimethylsilyl) ether derivatives of 11-dehydrothromboxane B₂ are presented and discussed. The spectra are interpreted with the aid of those of a corresponding 3,3,4,4-tetradeutero compound and of an analogous derivative of 11-dehydrothromboxane B₃. Proposed fragmentation pathways are based on internal consistency of data from all four compounds. The migration of a trimethylsilyl or an ethyldimethylsilyl group is the salient feature of all the CAD spectra.