objective: vancomycin-resistant enterococci (vre) have emerged worldwide and have become an increasing problem in clinical settings. acquired glycopeptide resistance in enterococcus species is due to the acquisition of van a, van b, van d, van c and van e genes, resulting in the production of peptidoglycan precursors with reduced affinity for glycopeptide antibiotics. the origin of these van ge...

in this study a simple and general chemical association theory is introduced. the concept of infinite equilibrium model is re-examined and true mole fractions of associated species are calculated. the theory is applied to derive the distribution function of associated species. as a severe test the application of presented theory to the van der waals mixture model is introduced in order to perfo...

The basic question of ontology is “What exists?”. The basic question of metaontology is: are there objective answers to the basic question of ontology? Here ontological realists say yes, and ontological anti-realists say no. (Compare: The basic question of ethics is “What is right?”. The basic question of metaethics is: are there objective answers to the basic question of ethics? Here moral rea...

David Lewis (1986) criticizes moderate views of composition on the grounds that a restriction on composition must be vague, and vague composition leads, via a precisificational theory of vagueness, to an absurd vagueness of existence. I show how to resist this argument. Unlike the usual resistance, however, I do not jettison precisificational views of vagueness. Instead, I blur the connection b...

Michael Lockwood has recently concluded that it can be morally permissible to perform potentially damaging non-therapeutic experiments on live human (pre) embryos. The reasons he provides in support of this conclusion commit him inter alia to the following controversial theses: (I) an organism's potentialfor twinning bears critically on the identity conditions for that organism; and (ii) functi...

An ontology is defined by its fundamental categories. Following Peter van Inwagen (2011), take divisions between fundamental categories to mark “real divisions between things” that determine the basic categorical structure of the world. Speaking metaphorically, the fundamental categorical structure of the world carves the world at its fundamental joints. The project of determining the fundament...