text:
Metaphysical Interdependence
Naomi Thompson
In Mark Jago (ed.), Reality Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 38-56 (2016)
Grounding, infinite regress, and the thomistic cosmological argument.Thomas Oberle - 2022 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 92 (3):147-166.details
A prominent Thomistic cosmological argument maintains that an infinite regress of causes, which exhibits a certain pattern of ontological dependence among its members, would be vicious and so must terminate in a first member. Interestingly, Jonathan Schaffer offers a similar argument in the contemporary grounding literature for the view called metaphysical foundationalism. I consider the striking similarities between both arguments and conclude that both are unsuccessful for the same reason. I argue this negative result gives us indirect reason to consider (...) metaphysical infinitism as a genuine possibility, the view that chains of ontological dependence or ground can descend indefinitely. (shrink)
A grounding physicalist solution to the causal exclusion problem.Robin Stenwall - 2020 - Synthese 198 (12):11775-11795.details
Remember how Kim Mental causation, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1993b) used to argue against non-reductive physicalism to the effect that it cannot accommodate the causal efficacy of the mental? The argument was that if physicalists accept the causal closure of the physical, they are faced with an exclusion problem. In the original version of the argument, the dependence holding between the mental and the physical was cashed out in terms of supervenience. Due to the work or Fine and others, we have (...) since come to realize that modal notions are not well-suited to perform the work of properly characterizing dependence. As a consequence of this, an increasingly larger community of contemporary metaphysicians prefer to spell out mental-physical dependence in terms of a non-causal and non-reductive notion called grounding, which is intended to target a particular sort of metaphysical relation that takes us from ontologically less fundamental features of the world to that which is more fundamental. In this paper I join forces with those who think that this shift in focus is on the right track. More specifically, I will argue that the grounding physicalist can solve the exclusion problem in a way that is preferable to the supervenience-based nonreductive physicalist solution, as well as in a way that is compatible with the externalist picture of the mental. (shrink)
New Frontiers in Ground, Essence, and Modality: Introduction.Donnchadh Ó Conaill & Tuomas Tahko - 2021 - Synthese 198 (6):1219-1230.details
Ground, essence, and modality seem to have something to do with each other. Can we provide unified foundations for ground and essence, or should we treat each as primitives? Can modality be grounded in essence, or should essence be expressed in terms of modality? Does grounding entail necessitation? Are the notions of ground and essence univocal? This volume focuses on the links—or lack thereof—between these three notions, as well as the foundations of ground, essence, and modality more generally, bringing together (...) work on the metaphysics, epistemology, and logic of these three notions by some of the leading figures in the field as well as emerging young scholars. The invited contributors to this volume presented their work at a conference on Ground, Essence, and Modality at the University of Helsinki in June 2016, funded by the Academy of Finland Project The Epistemology of Metaphysics: From Rationalism to Nominalism. This conference is just one of many recent high-profile events and publications on these themes (e.g., the edited volumes Correia and Schnieder 2012a; Sirkel and Tahko 2014; Jago 2016). After providing a brief historical summary of the (re)emergence of modality, essence and ground as central notions in metaphysics (Sect. 1), we shall outline some of the main themes in recent work on these notions and on the links between them (Sect. 2). In Sect. 3 we briefly introduce the papers in this volume. (shrink)
New twists on the great chain of being: Ricki Bliss and Graham Priest (eds): Reality and its structure. Essays in fundamentality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, 324 pp, £50 HB. [REVIEW]Pierre Saint-Germier - 2020 - Metascience 29 (2):345-349.details
Varieties of Metaphysical Coherentism.Jan Swiderski - forthcoming - Erkenntnis:1-26.details
According to metaphysical coherentism, grounding relations form an interconnected system in which things ground each other and nothing is ungrounded. This potentially viable view's logical territory remains largely unexplored. In this paper, I describe that territory by articulating four varieties of metaphysical coherentism. I do not argue for any variety in particular. Rather, I aim to show that not all issues which might be raised against coherentism will be equally problematic for all the versions of that view, which features far (...) more nuance and diversity than is typically ascribed to it. (shrink)
The harmony of grounding.Sam Baron, Kristie Miller & Jonathan Tallant - 2022 - Philosophical Studies 179 (11):3421-3446.details
Mereological harmony is the idea that the mereological structure of objects mirrors the mereological structure of locations. Grounding harmony is the idea that there is a similar mirroring between the grounding structure of objects and locations. Our goal in this paper is exploratory: we introduce and then explore two notions of grounding harmony: locative and structural. We outline potential locative and structural harmony principles for grounding, and show which of these principles may entail, or be entailed by, principles of mereological (...) harmony. We then present a case study in grounding harmony, by applying it to Schaffer's :31, 2010a) specific version of priority monism. We show that, given a strong form of grounding harmony, Schaffer-style monism is inconsistent, but that this inconsistency can be resolved by offering bespoke notions of grounding harmony. We use Schaffer's priority monism to demonstrate a broader tension within certain packages of metaphysical views, including versions of priority pluralism. We close by briefly considering the case against structural grounding harmony. (shrink)
The puzzles of ground.Adam Lovett - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (9):2541-2564.details
I outline and provide a solution to some paradoxes of ground.
Wildman's Defense of Sparse Modalism and a Dilemma of Post-Finean Modalism.Jaeho Lee - 2020 - Axiomathes 30 (5):531-547.details
Since K. Fine's influential criticism of modalism, many philosophers have agreed that we cannot understand the concept of essence with that of modality. However, some philosophers have resisted this mainstream position. In this paper, I examine N. Wildman's claim that, unlike other versions of modalism, his version of modalism, namely Sparse Modalism can save modalism. I will argue first that if we introduce the notion of grounding into this debates, Wildman's criticisms of other versions are significantly undermined. Next, I will (...) argue that since Sparse Modalism has an implicit commitment to grounding Wildman cannot blame revising other versions modalism with the concept of grounding. From these claims, I will conclude that the prospect of the success of modalism in general is at best dubious. Without the concept of grounding no version of modalism can succeed and with the concept of grounding no version is well motivated. (shrink)
Grounding and the Epistemic Regress Problem.Robert Weston Siscoe - forthcoming - Erkenntnis:1-22.details
Modal metaphysics consumed much of the philosophical discussion at the turn of the century, yielding a number of epistemological insights. Modal analyses were applied within epistemology, yielding sensitivity and safety theories of knowledge as well as counterfactual accounts of the basing relation. The contemporary conversation has now turned to a new metaphysical notion – grounding – opening the way to a fresh wave of insights by bringing grounding into epistemology. In this paper, I attempt one such application, making sense of (...) the epistemic regress problem in terms of grounding. I argue that the relation that generates the epistemic regress is a grounding relation, showing that grounding can make sense of proposals by epistemic foundationalists and charting the course for similar applications to epistemic coherentism and epistemic infinitism. If it is right that grounding is involved in the epistemic regress, this points the way forward both for epistemologists and metaphysicians, revealing the prospects of solutions to the epistemic regress problem while providing grounding advocates with yet another example of grounding with which to theorize. (shrink)
Cosmic Interdependence: Heraclitus on Grounding.Richard Neels - 2021 - Ancient Philosophy Today 3 (1):30-53.details
Are there any metaphysically basic (i.e., absolutely fundamental) entities in the cosmos on which all the other entities in the cosmos depend? If not, how are the various entities in the cosmos related to each other in terms of relative fundamentality? These questions have been of interest since the birth of philosophy. In this paper I argue that, for the early Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, there are no metaphysically basic entities. Rather, 1) the various entities in the cosmos are metaphysically interdependent (...) and 2) the cosmos itself and its parts are metaphysically interdependent. I call this view cosmic interdependence. I demonstrate its distinctiveness and argue for its contemporary significance with respect to the grounding structure of quantum entanglement. (shrink)
More Grounds for Grounding Nominalism.Alexandre Declos - 2020 - Philosophia 49 (1):49-70.details
In this paper, I examine Peter Schulte's "Grounding Nominalism" (Schulte, 2018), understood as the claim that first-order properties and relations are grounded in the concrete particulars which instantiate them. While Schulte offered reasons to think that this view is consistent, along with answers to a number of objections, a more straightforward argument for GN is still needed. I take on this task here, by discussing and defending what I call the "argument from abstraction". The latter, I suggest, offers more grounds (...) to Grounding Nominalism. (shrink)
Collective Abstraction.Jon Erling Litland - 2022 - Philosophical Review 131 (4):453-497.details
This paper develops a novel theory of abstraction—what we call collective abstraction. The theory solves a notorious problem for noneliminative structuralism. The noneliminative structuralist holds that in addition to various isomorphic systems there is a pure structure that can be abstracted from each of these systems; but existing accounts of abstraction fail for nonrigid systems like the complex numbers. The problem with the existing accounts is that they attempt to define a unique abstraction operation. The theory of collective abstraction instead (...) simultaneously defines a collection of distinct abstraction operations, each of which maps a system to its corresponding pure structure. The theory is precisely formulated in an essentialist language. This allows us to throw new light on the question to what extent structuralists are committed to symmetric dependence. Finally, we apply the theory of collective abstraction to solve a problem about converse relations. (shrink)
The essence of grounding.Justin Zylstra - 2019 - Synthese 196 (12):5137-5152.details
I develop a reduction of grounding to essence. My approach is to think about the relation between grounding and essence on the model of a certain conceptof existential dependence. I extend this concept of existential dependence in a coupleof ways and argue that these extensions provide a reduction of grounding to essenceif we use sorted variables that range over facts and take it that for a fact to obtain is forit to exist. I then use the account to resolve various (...) issues surrounding the concept of grounding and its connection with essence; apply the account to paradigm cases andto the impure logic of grounding; and respond to objections. (shrink)
Inverse functionalism and the individuation of powers.David Yates - 2018 - Synthese 195 (10):4525-4550.details
In the pure powers ontology (PPO), basic physical properties have wholly dispositional essences. PPO has clear advantages over categoricalist ontologies, which suffer from familiar epistemological and metaphysical problems. However, opponents argue that because it contains no qualitative properties, PPO lacks the resources to individuate powers, and generates a regress. The challenge for those who take such arguments seriously is to introduce qualitative properties without reintroducing the problems that PPO was meant to solve. In this paper, I distinguish the core claim (...) of PPO: (i) basic physical properties have dispositional essences, from a hitherto unnoticed assumption: (ii) the dispositional essences of basic physical properties exclusively involve type-causal relations to other basic physical properties. I reject (ii), making room for a structuralist ontology in which all basic physical properties are pure powers, individuated by their places in a causal structure that includes not only other powers, but also physically realized qualitative properties such as shapes, patterns and structures. Such qualities individuate pure powers in the way that non-mental input and output properties individuate realized mental properties in functionalist theories of mind, except that here it is basic physical powers that are individuated by relations to realized non-powers. I distinguish one Platonic and two Aristotelian version of this theory, and argue that the Aristotelian versions require that grounding is not always a relative fundamentality relation, because the powers ground the qualities that individuate them. By considering ontic structural realism, I argue that symmetric grounding is the best way to make sense of relational individuation in structuralist ontologies, and is therefore no additional commitment of the one proposed here. (shrink)
No Work for a Theory of Grounding.Jessica M. Wilson - 2014 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 57 (5-6):535-579.details
It has recently been suggested that a distinctive metaphysical relation— 'Grounding'—is ultimately at issue in contexts in which some goings-on are said to hold 'in virtue of'', be 'metaphysically dependent on', or be 'nothing over and above' some others. Grounding is supposed to do good work in illuminating metaphysical dependence. I argue that Grounding is also unsuited to do this work. To start, Grounding alone cannot do this work, for bare claims of Grounding leave open such basic questions as whether (...) Grounded goings-on exist, whether they are reducible to or rather distinct from Grounding goings-on, whether they are efficacious, and so on; but in the absence of answers to such basic questions, we are not in position to assess the associated claim or theses concerning metaphysical dependence. There is no avoiding appeal to the specific metaphysical relations typically at issue in investigations into dependence—for example, type or token identity, functional realization, classical mereological parthood, the set membership relation, the proper subset relation, the determinable/determinate relation, and so on—which are capable of answering these questions. But, I argue, once the specific relations are on the scene, there is no need for Grounding. (shrink)
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Making Things Up, by Karen Bennett. [REVIEW]Alastair Wilson - 2019 - Mind 128 (510):588-600.details
Making Things Up, by Karen Bennett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. xi + 260.
Metaphysical Causation.Alastair Wilson - 2018 - Noûs 52 (4):723-751.details
There is a systematic and suggestive analogy between grounding and causation. In my view, this analogy is no coincidence. Grounding and causation are alike because grounding is a type of causation: metaphysical causation. In this paper I defend the identification of grounding with metaphysical causation, drawing on the causation literature to explore systematic connections between grounding and metaphysical dependence counterfactuals, and I outline a non-reductive counterfactual theory of grounding along interventionist lines.
The Essences of Fundamental Properties.Jennifer Wang - 2019 - Metaphysics 2 (1):40-54.details
There is a puzzle concerning the essences of fundamental entities that arises from considerations about essence, on one hand, and fundamentality, on the other. The Essence-Dependence Link (EDL) says that if x figures in the essence of y, then y is dependent upon x. EDL is prima facie plausible in many cases, especially those involving derivative entities. But consider the property negative charge. A negatively charged object exhibits certain behaviors that a positively charged object does not: it moves away from (...) other negatively charged objects, towards positively charged objects, etc. It is commonly thought that negative charge disposes its bearer to move away from other negatively charged objects, towards positively charged objects, etc. But if negative charge is fundamental, then no other entities—including the property positive charge—can figure in its essence. We thus have a prima facie puzzle: How can we say anything interesting about the essences of fundamental entities without running afoul of EDL? In this paper, I present and discuss the consequences of EDL for the debate between causal essentialists and quidditists about properties, and propose solutions to the puzzle. (shrink)
Nominalist dispositional essentialism.Lisa Vogt - 2022 - Synthese 200 (2).details
Dispositional Essentialism, as commonly conceived, consists in the claims that at least some of the fundamental properties essentially confer certain causal-nomological roles on their bearers, and that these properties give rise to the natural modalities. As such, the view is generally taken to be committed to a realist conception of properties as either universals or tropes, and to be thus incompatible with nominalism as understood in the strict sense. Pace this common assumption of the ontological import of Dispositional Essentialism, the (...) aim of this paper is to explore a nominalist version of the view, Austere Nominalist Dispositional Essentialism. The core features of the proposed account are that it eschews all kinds of properties, takes certain predicative truths as fundamental, and employs the so-called generic notion of essence. As I will argue, the account is significantly closer to the core idea behind Dispositional Essentialism than the only nominalist account in the vicinity of Dispositional Essentialism that has been offered so far—Ann Whittle's Causal Nominalism—and is immune to crucial problems that affect this view. (shrink)
Grounding theories of powers.Matthew Tugby - 2021 - Synthese 198 (12):11187-11216.details
Necessitarianism, as we shall use the term, is the view that natural properties and causal powers are necessarily connected in some way. In recent decades the most popular forms of necessitarianism have been the anti-Humean powers-based theories of properties, such as dispositional essentialism and the identity theory. These versions of necessitarianism have come under fire in recent years and I believe it is time for necessitarians to develop a new approach. In this paper I identify unexplored ways of positing metaphysically (...) necessary connections in nature, using the concepts of grounding and essential dependence. For example, I show that one could be a necessitarian by insisting that the properties of things necessarily ground their powers, and that one can maintain this while rejecting dispositional essentialism. Using different combinations of claims about grounding and essential dependence, I map out a spectrum of new positions and compare them to previous theories of natural modality. Some of these positions are compatible with Humean metaphysics while others are not. The overall aim of the paper is to provide a new metaphysical framework for understanding theories of powers and thereby launch a new necessitarian research programme. (shrink)
Setting the story straight: fictionalism about grounding.Naomi Thompson - 2021 - Philosophical Studies 179 (2):343-361.details
This paper explores a middle way between realism and eliminativism about grounding. Grounding-talk is intelligible and useful, but it fails to pick out grounding relations that exist or obtain in reality. Instead, grounding-talk allows us to convey facts about what metaphysically explains what, and about the worldly dependence relations that give rise to those explanations.
Holes in Spacetime: Some Neglected Essentials.Trevor Teitel - 2019 - Journal of Philosophy 116 (7):353-389.details
The hole argument purports to show that all spacetime theories of a certain form are indeterministic, including the General Theory of Relativity. The argument has given rise to an industry of searching for a metaphysics of spacetime that delivers the right modal implications to rescue determinism. In this paper, I first argue that certain prominent extant replies to the hole argument—namely, those that appeal to an essentialist doctrine about spacetime—fail to deliver the requisite modal implications. As part of my argument, (...) I show that threats to determinism of the sort brought out by the hole argument are more general than has heretofore been recognized. I then use these results to propose a novel essentialist doctrine about spacetime that successfully rescues determinism, what I call sufficiency metric essentialism. However, I go on to argue that once we realize what an essentialist doctrine about spacetime must look like in order to address the hole argument, we should reject all such doctrines, because they can't fulfill their ambition of improving on standard modal replies to the argument. I close by suggesting some lessons for future work on spacetime and the metaphysics of physics more broadly, and also drawing some general morals for contemporary metaphysics, in particular about (i) whether essence can be used to articulate a precise structuralist doctrine, and (ii) the relationship between essence and modality. (shrink)
Essence and Cause: Making Something Be What It Is.Riin Sirkel - 2018 - Discipline Filosofiche 28 (1):89-112.details
Aristotle frequently describes essence as a "cause" or "explanation", thus ascribing to essence some sort of causal or explanatory role. This explanatory role is often explicated by scholars in terms of essence "making the thing be what it is" or "making it the very thing that it is". I argue that this is problematic, at least on the assumption that "making" expresses an explanatory relation, since it violates certain formal features of explanation. I then consider whether Aristotle is vulnerable to (...) this problem by examining the explanatory role of essence in Posterior Analytics and Metaphysics Z 17. (shrink)
An account of truthmaking.Noël Blas Saenz - 2020 - Synthese 197 (8):3413-3435.details
In this paper, I both propose and discuss a novel account of truthmaking. I begin by showing what truthmaking is not: it is not grounding and it is not correspondence. I then show what truthmaking is by offering an account that appeals both to grounding and what I call 'deep correspondence'. After I present the account and show that it is an account that unifies, I put it to work by showing how it can overcome an objection to truthmaking, how (...) we can get truthmaking from correspondence, what it says about truthmaker necessitation, and how it can explain a connection between truthmaker maximalism and pluralism about truth. (shrink)
Grounds and 'Grounds'.Bradley Rettler - 2017 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 47 (5):631-655.details
In this paper, I offer a new theory of grounding. The theory has it that grounding is a job description that is realized by different properties in different contexts. Those properties play the grounding role contingently, and grounding is the property that plays the grounding role essentially. On this theory, grounding is monistic, but 'grounding' refers to different relations in different contexts. First, I argue against Kit Fine's monist univocalism. Next, I argue against Jessica Wilson's pluralist multivocalism. Finally, I introduce (...) monist multivocalism, explicate three versions of it (of which the above is one), and show its advantages. (shrink)
Grounding and Metaphysical Explanation.Naomi Thompson - 2016 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 116 (3):395-402.details
Attempts to elucidate grounding are often made by connecting grounding to metaphysical explanation, but the notion of metaphysical explanation is itself opaque, and has received little attention in the literature. We can appeal to theories of explanation in the philosophy of science to give us a characterization of metaphysical explanation, but this reveals a tension between three theses: that grounding relations are objective and mind-independent; that there are pragmatic elements to metaphysical explanation; and that grounding and metaphysical explanation share a (...) close connection. Holding fixed the mind-independence of grounding, I show that neither horn of the resultant dilemma can be blunted. Consequently, we should reject the assumption that grounding relations are mind-independent. (shrink)
In Defense of the (Moderate) Disunity of Grounding.Jon Erling Litland - 2018 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 7 (2):97-108.details
Fine (2012) is a pluralist about grounding. He holds that there are three fundamentally distinct notions of grounding: metaphysical, normative, and natural. Berker (2017) argues for monism on the grounds that the pluralist cannot account for certain principles describing how the distinct notions of grounding interact. This paper defends pluralism. By building on work by Fine (2010) and Litland (2015) I show how the pluralist can systematically account for Berker's interaction principles.
New powers for Dispositionalism.Giacomo Giannini - 2022 - Synthese 200 (384):1-30.details
Establishing Dispositionalism as a viable theory of modality requires the successful fulfilment of two tasks: showing that all modal truths can be derived from truths about actual powers, and offering a suitable metaphysics of powers. These two tasks are intertwined: difficulties in one can affect the chances of success in the other. In this paper, I generalise an objection to Dispositionalism by Jessica Leech and argue that the theory in its present form is ill-suited to account for de re truths (...) about merely possible entities. I argue that such difficulty is rooted in a problem in the metaphysics of powers. In particular, I contend that the well-known tension between two key principle of powers ontology, namely Directedness and Independence has received an unsatisfactory solution so far, and that it is this unsatisfactory solution concerning the status of "unmanifested manifestations" that makes it hard for Dispositionalism to account for mere possibilia. I develop a novel account of the status of unmanifested manifestations and an overall metaphysics of powers which allows to better respond to Leech's objection and handle mere possibilia. The central idea of the proposal is that unmanifested manifestations are akin to mere logical existents, and are best characterised as non-essentially non-located entities. (shrink)
Fundamental Yet Grounded.Joaquim Giannotti - 2021 - Theoria 87 (3):578-599.details
Grounding is claimed to offer a promising characterization of the fundamental as thatwhich is ungrounded. Detractors of this view argue that there can be fundamental and yet mutuallygrounded entities. Such a possibility undermines the denition of the fundamental as theungrounded. I aim to show, however, that the possibility of fundamental mutually grounded entitiesdoes not force us to renounce the prospects of characterizing fundamentality in terms of ground-ing. To accomplish this aim, I defend a grounding-based view that accommodates fundamentalmutually grounded entities (...) straightforwardly. My denition of fundamentality is similar to, butimportantly different from, one that Karen Bennett discusses. I conclude by resisting two objec-tions raised by Jessica Wilson against the Bennettian framework that also target theproposed view. (shrink)
Slot Theory and Slotite Theory.Nikk Effingham - 2021 - Philosophia 49 (1):17-35.details
'Instantiation-directed slot theorists' believe that properties/relations have slots which are filled by their instances/relata e.g., where Abigail is taller than Bronia, there are two slots in the relation Taller Than such that Abigail fills the first slot and Bronia fills the second. This crude statement of the theory runs into 'The Problem of Filling', whereby a natural understanding of the relation between slots, filling, and instantiation leads to absurd results. This paper examines a variety of solutions to that problem, one (...) of which is an extension of slot theory that adds an additional category of entities, 'slotites'. (shrink)
Against Mereological Nominalism: Reply to Effingham.Javier Cumpa & Alexandre Declos - 2021 - Synthese 199 (3-4):8991-9011.details
Mereological Nominalism, as traditionally understood, states that properties are mereological wholes and that instantiation is mereological. Thus defined, this view faces a number of well-known issues, which make it virtually untenable. Recently, Effingham :160–185, 2020) has offered an alternative account of Mereological Nominalism, which intends to avoid these problems by accepting while rejecting. In this paper, we argue that this theory is not viable for two main reasons. First, it faces a threat of circularity. Second, the various non-mereological accounts of (...) instantiation envisioned by Effingham in order to replace seem inconsistent with. (shrink)
Mutual Indwelling.Aaron Cotnoir - 2017 - Faith and Philosophy 34 (2):123-151.details
Perichoresis, or "mutual indwelling," is a crucial concept in Trinitarian theology. But the philosophical underpinnings of the concept are puzzling. According to ordinary conceptions of "indwelling" or "being in," it is incoherent to think that two entities could be in each other. In this paper, I propose a mereological way of understanding "being in," by analogy with standard examples in contemporary metaphysics. I argue that this proposal does not conflict with the doctrine of divine simplicity, but instead affirms it. I (...) conclude by discussing how mutual indwelling relates to the concepts of unity and identity. (shrink)
Metaphysical Foundationalism and Theoretical Unification.Andrew Brenner - forthcoming - Erkenntnis:1-21.details
Some facts ground other facts. Some fact is fundamental iff there are no other facts which partially or fully ground that fact. According to metaphysical foundationalism, every non-fundamental fact is fully grounded by some fundamental fact. In this paper I examine and defend some neglected considerations which might be made in favor of metaphysical foundationalism. Building off of work by Ross Cameron, I suggest that foundationalist theories are more unified than, and so in one important respect simpler than, non-foundationalist theories, (...) insofar as foundationalist theories allow us to derive all non-fundamental facts from some fundamental fact. Non-foundationalist theories can enjoy a similar sort of theoretical unification only by taking on objectionable metaphysical laws. (shrink)
Could a middle level be the most fundamental?Sara Bernstein - 2021 - Philosophical Studies 178 (4):1065-1078.details
Debates over what is fundamental assume that what is most fundamental must be either a "top" level (roughly, the biggest or highest-level thing), or a "bottom" level (roughly, the smallest or lowest-level things). Here I sketch an alternative to top-ism and bottom-ism, the view that a middle level could be the most fundamental, and argue for its plausibility. I then suggest that the view satisfies the desiderata of asymmetry, irreflexivity, transitivity, and well-foundedness of fundamentality, that the view has explanatory power (...) on par with that of top-ism and bottom-ism, and that it satisfies the Principle of Sufficient Reason. (shrink)
Emergencia y reducción.José Tomás Alvarado - 2019 - Filosofia Unisinos 20 (1).details
Panpsychism and Cosmopsychism.Khai Wager - 2020 - Dissertation, University of Birminghamdetails
This collection of papers centres around a novel approach to the problem of phenomenal consciousness called cosmopsychism. A simple version of cosmopsychism says that the cosmos as a whole is conscious. In this collection, I focus on a comparison between arguably the most promising versions of cosmopsychism and panpsychism, called constitutive cosmopsychism and constitutive panpsychism, respectively. -/- The first paper, 'A Blueprint for Cosmopsychism' offers a blueprint for a cosmopsychist approach, comparing it to the panpsychist approach. It highlights how following (...) the blueprint allows one to sidestep the most serious of panpsychism's problems, the combination problem, while also avoiding the problem of infinite decomposition. However, it notes that the approach must address a serious problem of its own in the derivation problem. -/- The second paper, 'Beyond Panpsychism and Cosmopsychism? Focuses' on two related views that reject subjects of experience at the fundamental level, thus avoiding the subject aspects of the combination and derivation problems. Albahari's perennialism is touted as the natural successor to cosmopsychism; avoiding its subject derivation problem while maintaining a cosmic consciousness. Meanwhile, Coleman's panqualityism is touted as a natural successor to panpsychism; avoiding its combination problem while maintaining that phenomenality is present at the level of microphysical ultimates. However, I show both views seem to face problems equal in measure to those they seek to avoid. -/- The third paper, 'The Subject Problem for Panpsychism and Cosmopsychism' targets the hardest problems for constitutive panpsychism and constitutive cosmopsychism; the subject combination problem and the subject derivation problem, respectively. I show that the two problems are almost identical, both hinging on the entailment of what I call synchronous perspectives scenarios. I formulate broad arguments from metaphysical impossibility and epistemic implausibility against both views, based on such scenarios. However, I provide a possible model of how to understand synchronous perspective scenarios unproblematically. I also provide several alternative responses. -/- The fourth, and final, paper in the collection provides an account of, and motivation for, a version of cosmopsychism I call CRP cosmopsychism. This version of cosmopsychism is created on the priority cosmopsychism blueprint and has three further key commitments: simple panpsychism, priority monism and Russellian monism. The paper motivates each of these commitments both in isolation and in partnership, before responding to each of the derivation problems; the subject derivation problem, the quality derivation problem and the structure derivation problem. Furthermore, I argue that cosmopsychism should be preferred over panpsychism owing to considerations concerning internal relations. (shrink)
Problemas de Metafísica Analítica / Problems in Analytical Metaphysics.Guido Imaguire & Rodrigo Reis Lastra Cid (eds.) - 2020 - Pelotas: Editora da UFPel / UFPel Publisher.details
O desenvolvimento da filosofia acadêmica no Brasil é direcionada, entre vários fatores, pelas investigações dos diversos Grupos de Trabalho (GTs) da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia (ANPOF). Esses GTs se dividem de acordo com a temática investigada. O GT de Metafísica Analítica é relativamente novo e ainda tem poucos membros, mas os temas nele trabalhados são variados e todos centrais no debate metafísico contemporâneo internacional. A sua investigação se caracteriza pelo rigor lógico e conceitual com o qual aborda esses (...) tradicionais tópicos da metafísica. Embora os assuntos tratados tenham sido, em sua grande maioria, tópicos abordados e discutidos em reuniões remotas do GT, nem todos os membros do nosso grupo estão aqui representados. Esperamos apresentar seus trabalhos em futuros livros. Por enquanto, queremos apenas divulgar ao público acadêmico algumas de nossas produções, trabalhadas e produzidas exclusivamente para este livro. Segundo a caracterização tradicional, com a qual plenamente concordamos, a metafísica se ocupa com a natureza mais íntima e geral da realidade. Essa metafísica é, por um lado, ambiciosa: não pretende apenas expor a realidade segundo o modo como ela se apresenta para nós, mas como ela é 'em si mesma'. Por outro lado, ela é modesta: ela sabe da sua dívida para com as outras disciplinas, especialmente lógica, linguagem e epistemologia. Além disso, ela se entende como sempre tentativa, provisória, aberta a críticas e revisões. Neste livro, tratamos temas como as categorias ontológicas fundamentais e as suas relações de dependência e de fundamentalidade, a natureza da composição mereológica, da persistência temporal e do próprio tempo, a natureza dos objetos abstratos e dos mundos possíveis, as naturezas do mundo quântico, da causalidade nômica do mundo físico, e, finalmente, de um dos objetos mais característicos da presença humana no nosso mundo físico, que é o objeto de arte. É claro que essa coletânea está longe de apresentar exaustivamente todos os tópicos da metafísica. Tentamos selecionar e organizar os textos da forma mais fluida possível, de modo que eles possam levar tanto a uma reflexão específica quanto a uma reflexão geral sobre a natureza da realidade. Ainda que tenha uma inerente incompletude, o livro serve à finalidade de levar o/a estudante de graduação e pós-graduação a refletir sobre temas contemporâneos da Metafísica Analítica. Justamente por ter esse objetivo de formentar a pesquisa em metafísica analítica nacional, optamos por traduzir muitos termos do inglês que ainda não tem uma tradução canônica, a fim de evitar anglicismos e contribuir para uma leitura mais natural. Muito mais do que leitores complacentes, esse livro pede por leitores críticos, debatedores corajosos, que estejam dispostos a contribuir e a propor novas teorias e argumentos. Agradecemos a todos os membros do GT de Metafísica Analítica da ANPOF e a todos os autores deste livro, que decidiram apresentar publicamente suas pesquisas à academia; aos membros do Grupo de Pesquisa Investigação Filosófica, que decidiram pela publicação deste livro; à Pró-Reitoria de PósGraduação e Pesquisa da Universidade Federal do Amapá, que o financiou; e ao NEPFIL Online e à Editora da UFPel, que o editaram e publicaram. [Guido Imaguire e Rodrigo Reis Lastra Cid, Organizadores] . (shrink)
Fundamentality.Tuomas E. Tahko - 2018 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.details
The notion of fundamentality, as it is used in metaphysics, aims to capture the idea that there is something basic or primitive in the world. This metaphysical notion is related to the vernacular use of "fundamental", but philosophers have also put forward various technical definitions of the notion. Among the most influential of these is the definition of absolute fundamentality in terms of ontological independence or ungroundedness. Accordingly, the notion of fundamentality is often associated with these two other technical notions.
Skeptical Doubts.Kathrin Koslicki - 2020 - In Michael J. Raven (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Metaphysical Grounding. London, UK: pp. 164-179.details
This chapter reviews several varieties of grounding skepticism as well as responses that have been proposed by grounding enthusiasts to considerations raised by grounding skeptics. Grounding skeptics, as I conceive of them here, are theorists who belong to one of the following two schools of thought. "Old-school" grounding skeptics doubt the theoretical utility of the grounding idiom by denying one of its presuppositions, viz., that this notion is at least intelligible or coherent. "Second-generation" grounding skeptics call into question the theoretical (...) utility of the grounding idiom for other reasons; their skeptical doubts tend to focus on one of the following three purported theoretical virtues grounding enthusiasts ascribe to their idiom: (i) its alleged power to unify an apparently heterogeneous collection of phenomena; (ii) its alleged power to capture and/or elucidate the distinction between the fundamental and the non-fundamental; or (iii) the alleged metaphysical (as opposed to mind-dependent, epistemic, or psychological) utility of grounding claims. Grounding enthusiasts have already formulated responses to many of the objections described in this chapter. At this point, however, it is fair to say that the state of the literature is still evolving, and no conclusive judgment can therefore be reached as of yet as to whether grounding enthusiasts or grounding skeptics have gained the upper hand in these debates. In the meantime, though, grounding skeptics continue to maintain that the classification of factual and/or nonfactual connections under the rubric of grounding does not really help us illuminate the nature of the connections at issue; instead, from the view of the grounding skeptic, we are better off studying these various connections separately and in their own right. (shrink)
Necessity First.Alastair Wilson - 2022 - Argumenta 14.details
My topic in this paper is the relationships of metaphysical priority which might hold between the different alethic modal statuses—necessity, contingency, possibility and impossibility. In particular, I am interested in exploring the view that the necessity of necessities is ungrounded while the contingency of contingencies is grounded—a scenario I call 'necessity first'. I will explicate and scrutinize the contrast between necessity first and its 'contingency first' contrary, and then compare both views with 'multimodal' and 'amodal' alternatives, drawing on David Lewis's (...) modal realism and Barbara Vetter's potentialism as example cases. I will then defend the necessity-first point of view from a reversed version of Blackburn's classic dilemma against theories of the source of necessity. (shrink)
Interpreting Interdependence in Fazang's Metaphysics.Nicholaos Jones - 2022 - Journal of East Asian Philosophy 2:35-52.details
This paper examines the metaphysics of interdependence in the work of the Chinese Buddhist Fazang. The dominant approach of this metaphysics interprets it as a species of metaphysical coherentism wherein everything depends upon everything else, no individual is more fundamental than any other, and so reality itself is non-well-founded in the sense that chains of dependence never terminate. I argue, to the contrary, that Fazang's metaphysics is better interpreted as a novel variety of foundationalism. I argue, as well, using set- (...) and graph-theoretic techniques, that there is a consistent way to model this alternative interpretation, and that this model differs in significant ways from a coherentist model. (shrink)
Grounding and Creaturely Participation in God.Ross Inman - forthcoming - In Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Theology of Nature.details
This chapter aims to explore the intersection of Christian theism, a neo-Aristotelian gloss on metaphysical grounding, and creaturely participation in God. In section one, I aim to de- velop several core tenets at the heart of a theistic participatory ontology as it is found in the Christian tradition, what I call minimal participatory ontology. In section two, I examine the contemporary notion of metaphysical grounding, namely the formal and structure features of the grounding relation, and offer a grounding-theoretic framework for (...) understanding a mini- mal participatory ontology. Finally, in section three, I put forward a neo-Aristotelian account of metaphysical grounding in particular, one that is uniquely suited to capture the central tenets of minimal participatory ontology. (shrink)
Metaphysical grounding.Ricki Bliss & Kelly Trogdon - 2021 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.details
General discussion of grounding, including its formal features, relations to other notions, and applications. (Originally published 2014; revised 2021).
Physicalism.Amanda Bryant - 2020 - In Michael J. Raven (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Metaphysical Grounding. New York: Routledge. pp. 484-500.details
This chapter considers potential applications of grounding to the formulation of physicalism. I begin with an overview of competing conceptions of the physical and of physicalism. I then consider whether grounding physicalism overcomes well-known and seemingly fatal problems with supervenience physicalism. I conclude that while grounding physicalism improves upon supervenience physicalism in certain respects, it arguably falls victim to some of the same difficulties.
Infinite Descent.T. Scott Dixon - 2020 - In Michael J. Raven (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Metaphysical Grounding. New York, USA: Routledge. pp. 244-58.details
Once one accepts that certain things metaphysically depend upon, or are metaphysically explained by, other things, it is natural to begin to wonder whether these chains of dependence or explanation must come to an end. This essay surveys the work that has been done on this issue—the issue of grounding and infinite descent. I frame the discussion around two questions: (1) What is infinite descent of ground? and (2) Is infinite descent of ground possible? In addressing the second question, I (...) will consider a number of arguments that have been made for and against the possibility of infinite descent of ground. When relevant, I connect the discussion to two important views about the way reality can be structured by grounding: metaphysical foundationalism and metaphysical infinitism. (shrink)
Metafísica para Juristas.Samuele Chilovi - 2022 - In D. Lagier & G. Lariguet (eds.), Filosofía. Una Introducción para Juristas. Madrid: Trotta.details
Metafísica y Moral.Samuele Chilovi - forthcoming - In Ética Filosófica: Concepciones, Problemas, Proyecciones.details
Dispositional Essentialism and Ontic Structural Realism - a hybrid view.Julie Godfrey - 2020 - Dissertation, Durham Universitydetails
Dispositional Essentialism and Ontic Structural Realism aim to account for modality. Dispositional Essentialism takes properties to account for laws. In particular, it takes determinate properties to account for laws of nature, which are determinable. Ontic Structural Realism does the reverse. According to Steven French, Ontic Structural Realism takes laws and symmetries to be part of the fundamental structure of the world. Determinate properties are "dependent" on laws. The core difference between Dispositional Essentialism and Ontic Structural Realism's accounts of modality is (...) the direction of the dependence between properties and laws. As a result, French describes Ontic Structural Realism as a reverse-engineering of Dispositional Essentialism, and Chakravartty differentiates them by saying that Dispositional Essentialism gives a bottom-up account of modality whereas Ontic Structural Realism's is top-down. Both views face significant problems. The main problems these views face stem from relational individuation. Properties are individuated by their relations to further properties. As such, it is hard to see how they can be metaphysically prior to those relations as per Dispositional Essentialism. Equally, laws are relations between properties. As such, it is hard to see how they could be metaphysically prior to the properties they relate as per Ontic Structural Realism. Both properties and laws seem dependent on each other. By requiring one to come first and explain the other, dispositional essentialists and ontic structural realists end up in a chicken-egg scenario. I propose a hybrid between Dispositional Essentialism and Ontic Structural Realism. My hybrid view does away with the dogma of ontological priority between properties and laws. Instead, properties and laws symmetrically depend. I argue that my hybrid view is the way out of the chicken-egg-property-law conundrum. It paves a new way for making sense of modality from a structuralist perspective. (shrink)
Fundamental Yet Ontologically Dependent.Joaquim Giannotti - manuscriptdetails
The notion of fundamentality is supposed to play an important role in philosophical inquiry and scientific theorising. Yet there is no consensus on how to formulate it in precise terms. According to a promising view, fundamentality is a form of ontological independence. This view has the merit of capturing a natural connection between fundamentality and ontological dependence. However, it has been recently argued that it is possible that there are fundamental and yet ontologically dependent entities; therefore, we should not characterise (...) the fundamental in terms of ontological independence. My aim is to show that such a possibility does not threaten a conception of fundamentality as a form of ontological independence. I illustrate this claim by providing a definition of equifundamentality and showing that fundamental and yet ontologically dependent entities can be treated as equifundamental. (shrink)
From nature to grounding.Mark Jago - 2018 - In Ricki Leigh Bliss & Graham Priest (eds.), Reality and its Structure. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 199-216.details
Grounding is a powerful metaphysical concept; yet there is widespread scepticism about the intelligibility of the notion. In this paper, I propose an account of an entity's nature or essence, which I then use to provide grounding conditions for that entity. I claim that an understanding of an entity's nature, together with an account of how logically complex entities are grounded, provides all we need to understand how that entity is grounded. This approach not only allows us to say what (...) grounds what, it also sheds light on the formal features of the grounding relation. It provides a principled argument for the orthodox view that grounding is irreflexive, asymmetrical, and transitive; but it allows that it may not be well-founded. The resulting approach gives us a powerful framework for understanding nature, grounding, and the relationship between them. (shrink)


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We listen to and act upon views and opinions discussed with members of staff.
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Q: Software sources not found 12.10 When I go to click on a program, there's no 'download' or 'install' or anything, just 'more info' and when I click on it, I get this:
NOT FOUND
"There isn't a software package called "<insert program name here>" in your current software sources."

For the longest time Flash wouldn't install into I got around it some how.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Archives for posts with tag: NBC
Harry Lennix Stands Out In 'The Blacklist' And 'Mr. Sophistication'
Harry Lennix is pulling double duty this September. The 24 and Dollhouse alum is one of the stars of NBC's highly anticipated new drama series The Blacklist, and he's also starring in a new star-studded film called Mr. Sophistication, which is out today. BFTV connected with Harry recently to chat with him about both projects, and how he became the veteran character actor we've come to know and enjoy.
On The Blacklist, Harry plays FBI Assistant Director Harold Cooper, the boss of newbie agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone, from Law & Order: Los Angeles), who has a past with the master criminal that Keen has to work with. "I was excited to be asked to be a part of it," he told us. "First of all, it's got a masterful actor in James Spader. Secondly, the dialogue and the storyline is intriguing. I was very exciting about it. It's a cut above most of the material that we get."
While he couldn't reveal too much about the show NBC is banking on as its next big drama hit, Harry did give us one hint that's already got us curious. "To a large extent, we're finding out who these characters are and what they're going to be doing," he said, before he revealed, "The longest-standing relationship on the show [is] between James's character and my character. I think that's rife with potential and possibility, and I'm excited as everybody else."
He thinks the relationships are what's going to separate The Blacklist from your garden-variety crime show. "You're interested in the characters," he continued. "There's a great combination between procedural drama and interpersonal relationships and I think it's uniquely positioned in that way."
Here's the trailer for The Blacklist.
Harry is a TV veteran, who's best known to audiences for roles like Islamic-American activist Walid Al-Rezani in the sixth season of 24 and former cop Boyd Langton in Dollhouse. He's also appeared on shows like ER, House and Emily Owens M.D. But none of these are his favorite small-screen part. "My favorite show was Commander in Chief," he said, naming the ABC political drama for which he earned an Image Award nomination in 2006. "I played the Chief of Staff. I had a blast doing it. In a lot of ways, I wish that show was still on. I think it was ahead of its time in a lot of ways, and I don't think it was given its just due."
Playing authority figures like an FBI Assistant Director or the White House Chief of Staff is something Harry is familiar with both in television and film; he also appeared as a general in Zack Snyder's blockbuster Man of Steel earlier this year. Why does he think he keeps ending up in power? "I'm a tall fellow. I have a deep voice. I appear authoritative," he theorized.
"Although in reality, in fairness to my career, I've played a number of parts. If you look at my work in feature films over the years, I've been in Spike Lee movies, [and] in my own film, I play a comedian who ruined his own career. I think that just the more popular films and TV series have me in more or less authoritative roles."
1 of 2Next pagePhoto Credits: NBC
Tags drama, Gossip, interviews, movies, NBC, previews, starpulse exclusives, television, TV News, Video
Categories Interviews
After Success of 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Networks Race to Develop Comic Book Shows of Their Own
Both Fox and NBC have announced plans for a comic book television show, after ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered to huge ratings this week. Twelve million people tuned in to see ABC's big super hero series, now other networks want in on the action.
Fox won a bidding war for Gotham, an origin story series about Batman's Police Commissioner James Gordon. The show will chronicle Gordon's days as a rookie police officer with the Gotham City Police Department. While the show reportedly will feature some famous Batman villains, it will not feature the caped crusader himself, whom Gordon did not meet until late in his career. It's created by Bruno Heller, the showrunner for The Mentalist.
NBC, too, has announced it's working on a super hero series, this one about Constantine. A part of the DC Comics universe, Constantine is a cynical supernatural detective, he was previously played by Keanu Reeves. The pilot's script is being written by David S. Goyer and Daniel Cerone, currently an executive producer at The Mentalist, and Heller's co-worker.
It's your move now, CBS.
Tags abc, constantine, Fox, Gossip, gotham, marvel's agents of s.h.i.e.l.d., NBC, News, TV
Categories Constantine
Mike O'Malley Praises Cory Monteith, Plans To Return to 'Glee' For Finn's Funeral
August 2, 2013 //
Glee fans know Mike O'Malley as Kurt's (Chris Colfer) father, a single dad who dated Finn's (Cory Monteith) mother. O'Malley has a new show on NBC, Welcome to the Family, and when NBC presented the show to the Television Critics Association, O'Malley shared his thoughts on Monteith's death and plans to appear in the Glee episode about Finn's funeral.
"I hope to," O'Malley said. "I'm here doing Welcome to the Family and we shoot one episode five days a week, but Burt is a very, very important role to me. It's been a great, great part and I've said to all those guys I'll work early in the morning, late at night, Saturdays, Sundays to participate in not only continuing to be on that show, but honoring Cory and his passing and that character. He is on the show my stepson so I certainly plan on being there, and they may possibly be shooting that episode in the time we're on hiatus."
Recalling his time with Monteith, O'Malley praised his work in a famous scene where Burt caught Finn using the F-word towards his son. "I had many of my scenes on Glee with either Chris Colfer or Cory Monteith," O'Malley said. "I think that I had what was probably the toughest scene I've ever acted in my career as an actor opposite him when I had to throw him out of the house because his character Finn out of the house because of a slur that he used. It was remarkable to me when we were shooting that scene over and over again, the depth of emotion that he was able to portray, the sorrow, the shame."
Since Monteith died, all of his Glee costars have spoke about his kindness and work ethic, O'Malley included. "Ever since I met him, he was the fictional quarterback on that show and he was the very real quarterback on that set. He was an incredibly warm guy, a guy who was welcoming to everyone who came on that show from the beginning through the new folks who came onto the show this past year. He was a very, very hard working actor. I just loved working with him. He was a great guy. I miss him very much."
Glee returns this fall on Fox and look for Welcome to the Family on NBC.
Photo Credits: PR Photos
Tags Celebrity, Celebrity News, comedy, deaths, drama, fall preview, Fox, Gossip, NBC, starpulse exclusives, television, tv networks, TV News
Categories Celebrity News
Matthew Perry And Courteney Cox Reunite For 'Go On'
The Bings are back and they're better than ever!
Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry, the beloved duo behind Mr. and Mrs. Chandler Bing on Friends, took to Twitter yesterday to upload behind the scenes photos on the set of Go On. Cox is currently filming a guest appearance on the NBC series, portraying a date for Perry's character, Ryan King.
Judging by their tweets, it seems like there's nothing but love on the set:
@MatthewPerry Courteney Cox shooting Go On today..! She is fantastic, obviously. And my desire to show off in front of her is back in full swing!
@CourteneyCox Shooting GO ON today and having a blast with Matthew!
This isn't Cox's first Friends reunion since the series ended. Both Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow have made guest appearances on Cox's show Cougar Town.
How do you feel about Cox's guest appearance on Go On? Will you tune in?
Tags Celebrity, Celebrity News, comedy, Gossip, NBC, starpulse exclusives, television, tv networks, TV News, Twitter
11 TV Marathons To Get You Through Storm Nemo
With Storm Nemo in our midst, the activities on the eastern side of the country are quite limited these days. So for those of you east-coasters with lots of extra indoors time on your hands (or west-coasters, too, for that matter), we've compiled a list of the top 11 TV shows to catch up on in lieu of the upcoming Spring season.
Whether it's a show you've been meaning to start watching, or a show you miss and want to re-watch, take a look at our list and indulge in the lack of eating, sleeping, or doing anything else kind of binge that is beginning a new TV series. If it's one of the shows in our list, you'll be glad you did!
1. Arrested Development. A tongue-in-cheek comedy that tried to gather its footing in mainstream TV. Based around the hilarity that is the dysfunctional Bluth family, the three-season long show had all the right material, but all the wrong publicity. After tepid ratings, the show got cancelled by FOX in 2006, much to the fans' despair. However, after 6 years of silence, the cast (Jason Bateman and Michael Cera in their breakout roles) and creators reunited to announce the production of a fourth season to be released exclusively on Netflix in May, 2013. After watching the first three seasons, you'll be itching for the fourth. And with all 52 episodes on Netflix, it only makes sense to start the show from the beginning in preparation for one of the most highly anticipated revivals of the season.
Commitment: 3 Seasons, 52 episodes, 22 Minutes each — Approximately 19 hours
2. Downton Abbey. This British show serves as the highest rated show to ever air on PBS, creating buzz all over the American TV world. With an explosive cast including Harry Potter's Maggie Smith, and awards being thrown at the show left and right, it's been called "one of the best shows Britain has ever created." The best and worst part about British shows is that they have short seasons. All three seasons are available to buy on itunes, which includes episodes that haven't aired yet, here in America, giving us the entire British soap opera series at our fingertips — including this season's striking finale.
Commitment: 3 Seasons, 25 episodes, 45-66 Minutes each – Approximately 20 hours.
3. Breaking Bad – It's almost impossible to have a conversation these days about TV without mentioning AMC's Breaking Bad. This show has been raved about from the day it first premiered back in 2008, catapulting its stars, Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston, into super-stardom. The show's fifth season is returning in March, so now is the perfect time to catch up with TV's hottest meth makers, fresh off of a successful Emmy season.
4. House of Cards. This is the first original series to be produced and aired exclusively on Netflix, meaning that it could be a hit or miss of a show. Critics and viewers agree that the show is a hit, and is fit to be aired on a more public platform. The all star cast, including Kevin Spacey, and the curiosity alone will make you want to watch. There is really no reason to not watch this show. The entire first season of 13 episodes is available on Netflix, and so far, the first season can't be watched fast or often enough. There's as much quality as there is quantity.
Commitment: 1 Season, 13 episodes, 45-60 minutes each – Approximately 13 Hours
5. Mad Men. When Mad Men premiered in 2007, it quickly became the frontrunner of a series of AMC hits. Set in the fascinating venue of 1960′s New York, this drama will get it's hooks in you from the very beginning. With the first 4 seasons all available on Netflix, it's easily accessible to get ready for the shows highly anticipated 5th season premiering in April. And if nothing else, the lead is played by Jon Hamm, who is either shirtless, or dressed to the nines in every episode. Enough said.
6. The Walking Dead. Everything about this show is unprecedented. AMC took a risk making a show with very short seasons revolving around a zombie apocalyptic world, but if the rave reviews and amazing ratings are any indication, it more than paid off. With all this talk of zombies these days, it's exciting to get a well-written show giving all the worrying people out there a real take on the eternal question of "What if Zombies actually did take over the world?" Practically speaking, the show has only 2 short, but action-packed seasons all available on Netflix. Also, with Season 3 returning on Sunday, AMC is marathoning Season 2 and the already aired episodes of Season 3 on Saturday and Sunday — set your DVR! So, what are you waiting for?
Commitment: 2 Seasons and 8 Season 3 episodes, 27 episodes, 45-60 minutes each – Approximately 24 hours
7. The Wire. Set in the world of the underground drug trade in Baltimore, this gritty drama is still being raved about years after it went off the air. With a successful five-season run, adorned with awards and great reviews the whole way through, The Wire marked one of the first of many hits from the house of HBO. There isn't a revival or a premiere coming up for this show. In fact, it came and went, airing the series finale in 2008. It's just a powerful, unique show that everyone should watch. And if we're still talking about it despite it being off the air for almost 6 years, that's got to mean something, right?
Commitment: 5 Seasons – 60 episodes – 50-60 minutes each – Approximately 58 hours
8. Deadwood – Westerns are never out of style. And in the world of cowboys and bar brawls, it doesn't get any better than Deadwood, South Dakota. This HBO series only got to entertain us for three seasons, but each episode packs enough punch (literally) that you won't feel the least bit disappointed. Go back to your roots with American's oldest of successful genres. Deadwood's an American gem and it's all accessible through HBOGo for subscribers and iTunes.
9. Homeland. As one of Showtime's most successful dramas, Homeland is sure to be present in conversation, awards announcements, and on TV for years to come. Having just competed Season 2 and Season 3 returning in the fall, the plot will thicken just enough for you start counting the days until September. This political thriller just got Claire Danes her second Golden Globe of the season. It's a product of our times and sometimes it hits too close to home. It's on iTunes and, of course, the Showtime Anytime app.
Commitment: 2 seasons, 24 episodes, 50-60 minutes each – Approximately 22 hours
10. Game of Thrones. – This HBO series based on George R.R. Martin's fantasy novel series, A Song of Fire and Ice, single-handely put fantasy shows back on the map. Since it's premiere in 2011, the fictional kingdoms of Westeros and Essos that the show takes place in keep getting more and more intense. Think of it as Lord of the Rings meets The Young and the Restless. Garnering more and more fans every episode, this isn't a show you want to fall behind in. Who doesn't like a good (like, really really good) escape into fantasy from time to time? With the aired episodes all available on HBOGo and iTunes, there is plenty of time to catch up before Season 3 continues in March. Now, you have no excuse to not be in the loop!
11. 30 Rock. The comedy series, created by Tina Fey, just came to a heartfelt close after a successful seven season run. The premise of a fictional TV show set inside 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City won six golden globes, and multiple primetime Emmy Awards because of its impeccable cast and writing. Comedy television at it's finest. Plus thanks to our Eat Like Liz Lemon map, you can indulge in one in all the edible delights of one of TV's most comedic characters. If you didn't just watch the series finale, this is a good way to see what all the fuss was about for the last six years. Lucky for you, Seasons 1-6 are available on Netflix. And by the time you've completed those, Season 7 might just be available. If not, there's always iTunes! Season pass, anyone?
Commitment: 7 Seasons, 138 episodes, 22 minutes each – approximately 50 hours
Which TV marathon are you starting first? What are your suggestions for other TV fans stuck inside for Storm Nemo?
Dio Anthony contributed to this article.
Tags 30 rock, aaron paul, amc, arrested development, breaking bad, bryan cranston, deadwood, downton abbey, Game of Thrones, Gossip, HBO, homeland, house of cards, Mad Men, maggie smith, NBC, pbs, the walking dead, the wire, tina fey, TV
Categories The Walking Dead
Matt Lauer Today Presence Scaled Back Because People Do Not Like Him
It looks like Today just isn't Matt Lauer's day!
According to an NBC insider, the Today show's new exec producer Alexandra Wallace is downsizing the host's role on the show. The source says:
"Matt's on air reporting and interviews for the TODAY show are going to be cut back because Alexandra recognizes that he is widely unpopular and many view him to be responsible for Ann Curry being fired from the co-host spot."
Oh, come one! This isn't a popularity contest!
It is? Oh! Well, in that case carry on. The source says:
"This isn't personal, but Alexandra will be doing whatever is necessary to get the show back in first place, even if that means ruffling Lauer's feathers.
Look for Willie Geist, one of the co-hosts of the third hour, to be featured more during the first two hours of the show because viewers absolutely love him. Willie comes across as genuine and warm, unlike Matt Lauer."
It's a good thing NBC doesn't have a track record of backing the wrong horse *cough*Chevy Chase*cough* and firing people audiences love *cough*Conan O'Brien*cough*. People might think it was a trend…
Tags: ann curry, audience, fired, interview, matt lauer, nbc, producer, the today show, viewers
Tags Ann Curry, audience, fired, Gossip, interview, matt lauer, NBC, producer, the today show, TV News, viewers
Categories The Today Show

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Miniaturization has evolved in the creation of a pocket-size imaging device which can be utilized as an ultrasound stethoscope. This study assessed the additional diagnostic power of pocket size device by both experts operators and trainees in comparison with physical examination and its appropriateness of use in comparison with standard echo machine in a non-cardiologic population.
Three hundred four consecutive non cardiologic outpatients underwent a sequential assessment including physical examination, pocket size imaging device and standard Doppler-echo exam. Pocket size device was used by both expert operators and trainees (who received specific training before the beginning of the study). All the operators were requested to give only visual, qualitative insights on specific issues. All standard Doppler-echo exams were performed by expert operators.
One hundred two pocket size device exams were performed by experts and two hundred two by trainees. The time duration of the pocket size device exam was 304 ± 117 sec. Diagnosis of cardiac abnormalities was made in 38.2% of cases by physical examination and in 69.7% of cases by physical examination + pocket size device (additional diagnostic power = 31.5%, p < 0.0001). The overall K between pocket size device and standard Doppler-echo was 0.67 in the pooled population (0.84 by experts and 0.58 by trainees). K was suboptimal for trainees in the eyeball evaluation of ejection fraction, left atrial dilation and right ventricular dilation. Overall sensitivity was 91% and specificity 76%. Sensitivity and specificity were lower in trainees than in experts.
In conclusion, pocket size device showed a relevant additional diagnostic value in comparison with physical examination. Sensitivity and specificity were good in experts and suboptimal in trainees. Specificity was particularly influenced by the level of experience. Training programs are needed for pocket size device users.
The dream of hand-held echocardiography first materialized during the 1970 s. Since then its progress has continued with the development of several kinds of portable ultrasound machines which are currently used in clinical practice. Several of these instrumentations serve as adequate application tools and in many instances innovative technology makes them very similar to standard echocardiographic machines; other portable machines have only basic diagnostic tools but excellent transportability and low cost . In order to clarify the differences and peculiarities of hand-held echocardiography, in 2002 the American Society of Echocardiography differentiated complete portable instrumentations from battery-operated machines of weight lower than 6 lb (2-5-2.7 Kg) which do not fulfil the criteria for a comprehensive ultrasound assessment of the heart .
Very recently, an extreme miniaturization of echo machines has evolved with the creation of a pocket-size imaging device (PSID), small and light enough to fit in the hand. This instrument provides black and white anatomic and colour-flow images in real time. Conceptually, the cardiologic applications of PSID include the possibility of using it in coronary and emergency care units, for a first cardiac approach in ambulances, for screening programs in communities, and during cardiology consultations inside or outside the hospital. The latter application highlights the possible use of this instrument as a completion of the traditional physical exam (PE), to add incremental information and, when needed, to appropriately refer patients to a standard Doppler echocardiographic examination.
In this view, PSID might be utilized by clinicians as a true ultrasound stethoscope. However, the diagnostic accuracy of this device has not yet been tested in comparison with full-application ultrasound machines (as a gold standard) and in relation to the level of experience of the users, another relevant factor in the evaluation of the potential spread of its use. Accordingly, the present study was designed to assess in a sample of non-cardiologic patients with intermediate to high risk cardiac involvement: 1. The incremental diagnostic value of PSID to PE by both expert operators and trainees, 2. The diagnostic accuracy of PSID in identifying a limited number of parameters determinable by this new device in comparison with standard Doppler echocardiography and also in relation to the level of ultrasound experience (comparison between experts operators and trainees).
The study population comprised all the consecutive outpatients who were referred from the Department of Endocrinology and Oncology (endocrinology disorders, evaluations for oncological and hematological pathologies before, during and/or after chemotherapy) for a cardiac consultation between November 2009 and July 2010 to the Cardioangiology Unit of Federico II University Hospital of Naples. The indications for cardiac consultation were represented by a routine pre-therapy evaluation or during/after therapy evaluation because of the onset of cardiac symptoms for oncological and hematological patients and by the assessment of cardiac risk in endocrinological patients. Cardiac ultrasound assessment was justified by an intermediate (e.g., thyroid and surrenal disorders) to a high risk (e.g., oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy). All subjects gave written informed consent and the study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee.
All the patients underwent a sequential assessment including PE, PSID and standard Doppler echocardiographic exams during the same morning. To be eligible for this study, patients were required to have an acceptable ultrasound imaging by PSID. Exclusion criteria included clinically overt heart failure, a history of coronary artery disease and/or previous myocardial infarction, recognized valvular heart disease, or primary cardiomyopathies. Among the initial referred population of 321 outpatients, 304 (94.7%) were considered eligible for the study. Seventeen patients were excluded: 4 because of inadequate imaging quality by PSID, 4 because of clinical overt heart failure, 4 because of previous myocardial infarction, 3 because of severe valvular heart disease (2 aortic valve stenosis and 1 mitral regurgitation) and 2 because of primary cardiomyopathy (1 dilated and 1 hypertrophic cardiomyopathy).
The PE included exploration of heart rhythm and cardiac murmurs, jugular vein inspection (detection of jugular venous distention) and liver palpation (size detection), thorax auscultation and detection of ankle oedema.
Cardiac ultrasound examination was performed using PSID (Vscan, Horten, Norway), a light pocket-size instrument (unit + probe = 390 g) which provides black and white two-dimensional (2-D) and colour-coded blood flow images (fixed colour-box size and fixed pulse-repetition frequency) in real time and is connected to a broad-bandwith, phased array probe (1.7 to 3.8 MHz). The flow sector represents blood flow within an angle of 30 degrees. Images and videos (automatic autocycle without the need of ECG) can be stored in examination folders, recalled via a gallery function and transferred to PC or USB through a docking station. Two different machine settings are available: the first for cardiac and thoracic application, the second for abdominal, obstetric and gynecological applications.
In the present study we used the cardiac setting including a complete 2-D scanning (parasternal, apical and subcostal views) and colour-flow images of the cardiac valves. At the end of the study, cuff blood pressure (mean of 3 measurements) was estimated by a physician, blinded to the examination. PSID was used by both expert operators (more than 3 years' experience in cardiac ultrasound) and trainees (= residents of internal medicine who received specific training before the beginning of the study). The training program included 15 hours of instruction on basic principles of cardiac ultrasounds (mainly cardiac anatomy by standard views and echocardiographic imaging optimization) and 3 months (3 times per week, 12 examinations per day, totalling 145-150 examination) of handling and visual interpretation of PSID examinations with exclusively visual judgment of limited parameters (LV dilation and ejection fraction, LA dilation, RV dilation, valve calcification, pericardial and pleural effusion, valve calcifications, valve regurgitations, inferior vena cava size and reactivity, identification of ULC). All the operators were requested to give only visual, qualitative insights on specific pathologic issues: left ventricular (LV) dilation, LV wall hypertrophy, reduction of LV function (visual ejection fraction), right ventricular (RV) dilation, valve calcification, pericardial effusion, pleural effusion, ultra-lung comet (ULC) as a sign of interstitial lung accumulation, dilation + reduced inspiratory reactivity of inferior vena cava (IVC). Operators were additionally requested to identify more than trivial mitral regurgitation, aortic regurgitation and tricuspid regurgitation. The time duration of each PSID exam was calculated (in seconds) for each individual examination. Of note, the same operator performed PE and PSID exam.
Standard transthoracic full-featured Doppler echocardiographic examinations were performed by expert operators, blinded to the PSID results, with a Vivid Seven ultrasound scanner (GE, Milwaukee, WI, USA) using a 2.5 transducer with harmonic capability, according to the standards of our laboratory . Quantification of chambers and flow hemodynamics were performed according to the standard methods [4–8]. In particular; LV wall thickness (posterior or septal wall) ≥ 1.1 cm was considered representative of LV wall hypertrophy, LV end-.diastolic volume ≥ 76 mL/m2 of LV dilation, EF ≤ 55% of reduced LV systolic function, LA volume ≥ 34 ml/m2 of LA dilation, basal RV diameter ≥ 2.9 cm + RV base-to-apex length ≥ 8.0 cm of RV dilation, IVC diameter > 1.7 cm with inspiratory collapse < 50% of increased right atrial pressure. A vena contracta ≥ 3 mm was considered significant for both mitral and aortic valve regurgitation. A retrograde tricuspid gradient ≥ 25 mmHg was considered representative of significant tricuspid regurgitation. Full-featured Doppler echo examination was taken into account as the gold standard for comparison.
Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS package, release 12 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois, USA). Data are presented as mean value ± SD. Descriptive statistics were obtained by one-factor ANOVA (post-hoc analysis by Bonferroni test) and χ2 distribution with computation of exact p value by the Monte Carlo method. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated according to standard methods in the pooled population and compared between expert operators and trainees. Differences in the prevalence of echo findings between expert operators and trainees were compared using the Fisher exact test. The null hypothesis was rejected at 2-tailed p < 0.05.
The clinical characteristics of the study population are summarized in Table 1. The list of extra-cardiac diseases for which the cardiac consultation was requested is reported in Table 2.
List of extra-cardiac diseases referred for cardiologic consultation.
One hundred two PSID exams (33.6%) were performed by expert operators and 202 (66.4%) by trainees. The time duration of PSID exams was 304 ± 117 sec in the pooled population (318 ± 139 sec in expert operators and 297 ± 104 sec in trainees, p = 0.137, NS).
Diagnosis of cardiac abnormalities was made in 38.2% (116/304) via a simple PE and in 69.7% (212/304) through a combination of PE + PSID, with an additional diagnostic power of 31.5% (p < 0.0001). This difference remained significant even when analyzing separately the prevalence of cardiac abnormalities detected by experts (PE = 38.2% [39/102) vs PE + PSID = 73.5% [75/102], +35.3%, p < 0.0001) and trainees (PE = 38.1% [77/202) vs PE + PSID = 67.8% [137/202], +29.7%, p < 0.0001). Figure 1 shows the rate of cardiac abnormalities detected by PSID but not by PE. Figure 2 displays the imaging of some abnormalities detected by PSID.
Prevalence of cardiac abnormalities not detectable by PE and diagnosed by PSID in the overall population.
Sample of abnormal findings detected by PSID in the study population. In the first line (from left to right): enlarged left ventricle with depressed EF, dilated right ventricle and dilated IVC which also presents reduced respiratory reactivity. In the second line: mitral regurgitation (double jet), pericardial effusion and pleural effusion.
Table 3 summarizes the concordance (kappa statistic for agreement) between the ultrasound examination performed by PSID and standard Doppler-echo as the gold standard. The overall K was 0.67 in the pooled population, as high as 0.84 for PSID exams performed by expert operators and 0.58 for trainees. As shown in Table 3 the concordance was maximal for valve calcification, pericardial and pleural effusion and ULC while it was relatively low for detecting LA dilation and RV dilation. The concordance of mitral regurgitation detection was lower in trainees than in expert operators.
Concordance of the main findings between PSID and standard echo machine.
Figure 3 displays sensitivity and specificity in the overall population (91% and 76% respectively) and separately in experts and trainees. Sensitivity and, more particularly, specificity were lower in trainees than in experts due to the higher proportion of false positive results (10% in trainees vs 5% in expert operators) (data not shown in the Figure).
Sensitivity and specificity (with 95% confidence intervals) of PSID in the overall population (left panel) and comparison of experts and trainees (right panel). Standard Doppler echo is the reference gold standard.
The present study demonstrates that PSID is useful in the detection of cardiac abnormalities and adds clinical information to PE in a population of patients referred for cardiac consultation, increasing the traditional consultation by only about 5 minutes. The simple visual assessment performed by PSID has a good concordance with standard Doppler echocardiographic examination and good diagnostic accuracy, which is higher in expert operators and lower in trainees.
PE has recognized limitations in subclinical cardiac diseases [9, 10]. Noisy situations and uncomfortable thoracic conformations associated with concomitant diseases (e.g., obesity or emphysema) can further reduce the accuracy of PE. Accordingly, a novel clinical approach including the support of hand-held echocardiography to PE was proposed at the beginning of 2000  and subsequently realized using a wide variety of hand-held echocardiographic machines. The combination of hand-held echocardiography + PE improves diagnostic sensitivity and reduces the rate of incorrect diagnosis (29% vs. 59% compared to the sole PE) . Hand-held echocardiography has been shown to be useful in the detection of depressed LV systolic function , mitral valve prolapse , LV hypertrophy , ULC , aortic root dilation  and abdominal aorta aneurysms . Of note, visual EF has been demonstrated to correlate closely with quantitative EF estimated by 3 D echocardiography . The diagnostic accuracy of hand-held echocardiography can be affected by the type of referral in question, it being higher in patients referred for arterial hypertension or palpitations and lower in those who presented dyspnea or chest pain . In a volunteer screening performed in the main squares of Naples and Siena in unselected people, we found subclinical cardiac abnormalities in 13.5% of the screened subjects (51/377) by using hand-held echocardiographic machines . This type of screening might help, therefore, to detect unknown, asymptomatic cardiovascular disease and favor prevention programs.
The present study extends these findings to a population of non-primary cardiac outpatients by combining PE with visual PSID assessment and documents the clinical value of this instrumentation in helping diagnosis of a variety of cardiac abnormalities, not detectable by the simple PE. This is the first study to apply an exclusive visual, clear-cut assessment of a large variety of cardiac abnormalities by using cardiac ultrasound, an approach widely used in the clinical setting. We identified cardiac abnormalities in 38.2% of the assessed patients by PE and in 69.7% by the combination of PE + PSID, with a "theoretical" additional diagnostic power of 31.5%. By analyzing the additional diagnostic power of PSID according to the level of experience, this remained evident not only in expert operators (35.3%) but also in trainees (29.7%).
The diagnostic accuracy of the combination PE + PSID assessed by standard Doppler echocardiography as the gold standard was generally good, and even excellent for some specific abnormalities. The analysis of concordance highlighted the role of experience in echocardiography. Some findings (aortic root dilation, valve calcifications, pericardial effusion, pleural effusion, ULC, significant aortic valve regurgitation) had a very high concordance for both experts and trainees. Also the concordance of increased wall thickness and significant tricuspid regurgitation remained sufficiently high, whereas it was suboptimal for trainees in the eyeball evaluation of EF, LA dilation, RV dilation, IVC dilation and mitral regurgitation. The need for a learning curve is expected when assessing eyeball LV systolic function and both chamber and vessel size while the fixed colour-box size and the fixed pulse-repetition frequency of PSID can have limited estimation of the mitral regurgitation degree, currently difficult even when using standardized quantitative assessment .
The assessment of diagnostic accuracy (versus standard Doppler echo assessment) provided further information. In the overall population, sensitivity was very high (91%) while suboptimal specificity (76%) was justified by a certain amount of false positive results. When the assessment was performed according to the level of experience, both sensitivity and specificity appeared highly satisfactory for expert operators (97% and 84% respectively). Sensitivity remained good (87%) in trainees who showed, however, a relatively low specificity (72%). These results are in contrast with the findings of De Cara et al , who used a graded visual judgment (0 = trace, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe) using a first generation hand-held device (Optigo, Philips); they found overall moderate sensitivity and high specificity whereas the comparison between expert operators and non-expert residents showed a significantly lower positive predictive value but similar negative predictive value in studies performed by the residents. Differences between the two studies account for the technical differences of the two machines used, the visual judgment of cardiac abnormalities - clear-cut in our experience and graded in the De Cara study, the population selection - primary non-cardiac patients and patients with established cardiac diseases respectively, and the level of experience of the trainees (background of 145-150 and 20 examinations performed respectively). In general, the findings of our study suggest a trend towards an overestimation of echo abnormalities in the trainees when using PSID.
Insights about the need for adequate competence level for the users of PSID rise from the present study. Expert operators do not need any training to adequately use PSID, whereas some training shall be recommended for operators without experience in cardiac ultrasound. A previous study showed an optimal concordance of results between cardiologic training of only 6 weeks and a "faculty" of expert sonographers for assessing LV systolic function by hand-held echocardiography . Such short training is not advisable for an extensive PSID assessment including the detection of multiple abnormalities as in our study. Both the American Society of Echocardiography and the European Association of Echocardiography require basic knowledge from any person involved in performing or reading echocardiograms [24, 25]. Several of these requirements should be encouraged also for PSID users and include the knowledge of ultrasound physics and biological effects, normal and pathologic cardiovascular anatomy, normal and pathologic blood flow dynamics. This part of the training should be followed by subsequent in-hospital training including direct scanning, with the performance of the standard echocardiographic views by PSID, and visual assessment of normal and abnormal findings, for a total amount of at least 150 PSID exams. We suggest that particular care should be taken in distinguishing 10 mean findings (Table 4). Figure 4 summarizes a model of a training program proposed for PSID users.
Proposal of a training program model for PSID users. A short period of 3 days basic teaching (ultrasound physics and biological effects, normal and pathologic cardiovascular anatomy, normal and pathologic blood flow dynamics) should be followed, after a free interval, by an in-hospital period (60 days, 3 days per week) for highly motivated operators (direct scan of standard echo views by PSID and visual assessment of at least 150 exams by PSID), in order to achieve the target level of competence.
In conclusion, this study demonstrates a relevant additional diagnostic value of a pocket-size imaging device used in combination with the PE in a population of non-primary cardiologic patients. Pocket-size imaging devices can be very useful for detecting subclinical cardiac abnormalities in asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic outpatients. Sensitivity and specificity are good in expert operators but suboptimal in trainees. Specificity is particularly influenced by the level of experience. Appropriate training programs are needed for all the potential users of pocket-size imaging devices.
MG conceived of the study and participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analysis and drafted the manuscript, AS participated in the study design and coordination and performed echo scans, MV, VSL and RE participated in the study coordination and performed echo scans, RR, RF, PLS, MB and MO participated in the study coordination and performed echo scans, GdS participated in the study design, performed and revised the statistical analysis and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.