In The Empirical Stance Bas van Fraassen sets out to uncover the spirit of empiricism: “what is empiricism, and what it could be, if it is to be a viable philosophy today?” (2002, p. 31). In answer to this question van Fraassen rejects the canonical characterization of empiricism as a philosophical position established on a thesis (such as all knowledge comes from sense experience), and argues that we must endorse empiricism as a philosophical position established in a stance. But what the empirical stance is or entails exactly, van Fraassen has failed to make clear. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and philosophically evaluate empiricism as a stance. In light of my analysis, however, I will argue that van Fraassen has not provided a concrete characterization of stance empiricism (or indeed stances in general), and that the concept remains problematically vague. In Chapter, 1 I begin with a review and analysis of The Empirical Stance. I discuss van Fraassen’s arguments against the canonical characterization of empiricism, as well as the initial sketch of what stance empiricism is or entails provided by van Fraassen. Furthermore, I offer what I see as the clearest characterization of stance empiricism that can be seen form the initial sketch van Fraassen has provided: that the empirical stance is an epistemic strategy, with a commitment to empirical inquiry. In Chapter 2, I refute a prominent critique which has been made against van Fraassen’s ‘stance-ism’ – that stances are problematically relative. This critique is particularly problematic for stance empiricism as it compromises two of van Fraassen’s proposed characteristics of empiricism. In the remaining chapters I argue that stance empiricism is a problematically vague concept. In Chapter 3, I argue that it is not entirely clear what role experience, and the empirical, is to play in the empirical stance. In Chapter 4, I discuss two characterizations of stances which are similar to that which I draw at the end of Chapter 1. I go on to argue that in light of van Fraassen’s response to such characterizations we can see that they are inadequate in being able to fully encapsulate the concept of a stance. In Chapter 5, I conclude by arguing that for stance empiricism (and indeed any stance) to be a coherent position it must be limited to something in terms of being definable by some necessary beliefs. Furthermore, I offer a potential objection to my thesis – that for van Fraassen vagueness is a nonissue; I rebut this objection by arguing that even by van Fraassen’s own lights stances are problematically vague. / Graduate / 0422 / navarre.dicarlo@gmail.com

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In legged terrestrial locomotion, the duration of stance phase, i.e., when limbs are in contact with the substrate, is positively correlated with limb length, and negatively correlated with the metabolic cost of transport. These relationships are well documented at the interspecific level, across a broad range of body sizes and travel speeds. However, such relationships are harder to evaluate within species (i.e., where natural selection operates), largely for practical reasons, including low population variance in limb length, and the presence of confounding factors such as body mass, or training. Here, we compared spatiotemporal kinematics of gait in Longshanks, a long-legged mouse line created through artificial selection, and in random-bred, mass-matched Control mice raised under identical conditions. We used a gait treadmill to test the hypothesis that Longshanks have longer stance phases and stride lengths, and decreased stride frequencies in both fore- and hind limbs, compared with Controls. Our results indicate that gait differs significantly between the two groups. Specifically, and as hypothesized, stance duration and stride length are 8–10% greater in Longshanks, while stride frequency is 8% lower than in Controls. However, there was no difference in the touch-down timing and sequence of the paws between the two lines. Taken together, these data suggest that, for a given speed, Longshanks mice take significantly fewer, longer steps to cover the same distance or running time compared to Controls, with important implications for other measures of variation among individuals in whole-organism performance, such as the metabolic cost of transport.

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Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences / Department of Clinical Sciences / James K. Roush / Interday and intraday stance analysis variability in dogs with hindlimb lameness Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the same day and next-day repeatability of data collected with a Pet Safe Stance Analyzer on animals with naturally-occurring lameness presented for veterinary orthopedic examination. Our hypothesis was that dogs would show consistent repeatability with regards to body weight distribution on the Pet Safe Stance analyzer. Materials and Methods: Interday Variability Trial: Thirty-one consecutive dogs presenting for hindlimb lameness were included. The PetSafe Stance Analyzer was used with the dog standing in their natural standing position with each foot placed in its respective quadrant on the Stance Analyzer. A minimum of 5 valid measurements were collected and averaged to find the mean distribution of weight on each limb. This process was repeated the following day with the same handler and recorder. Intraday Variability Trial: Fifteen consecutive dogs were placed on the Pet Safe Stance analyzer and measurements were collected for each of 5 trials identical to the interday group. Four additional assessment trials followed with reintroduction of the animal to the room at each assessment. Results: Interday Variability Trial: There were no significant differences between Day 1 and Day 2 measured variables except for a significant increase in the Forelimb Symmetry index on Day 2 compared to Day 1. Lin’s Correlation Coefficients % body weight measured on Day 1 compared to Day 2 were significantly correlated on the lame hindlimb (0.524) and contralateral hindlimb (0.733). Intraday Variability Trial: There were no significant differences across trials for measured variables of % weight on the lame hindlimb, contralateral hindlimb, ipsilateral forelimb, or contralateral forelimb. Lin’s Correlation coefficients showed strong correlation between trials for the lame hindlimb (0.682), contralateral hindlimb (0.817), body weight (0.863), and hindlimb symmetry index (0.726). Clinical Significance: A commercial stance analyzer is a repeatable method of measurement of weight-bearing on lame hindlimbs of dogs between days and in repeated trials over one day. Day-to-day forelimb weight-bearing in dogs who are lame on a hindlimb is more variable, likely because of trial to trial changes in weight redistribution from lameness. Comparison of the effect of dog, surgeon, and TPLO surgical procedure variables on improvement of eight-week post-operative static weight-bearing Objective: To compare the effect of surgeon and tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) procedure variations on the outcome of TPLO in naturally-occurring cranial cruciate-deficient stifles. Materials and methods: Records from 142 dogs receiving a TPLO were reviewed for information regarding surgical procedure, status of meniscus at the time of surgery, surgeon identity, ACVS diplomate or resident, meniscal release, progression of healing at the progress evaluation based on radiographic interpretation, and complications encountered. The primary outcome measure was static force on the operated limb at recheck on a PetSafe Stance Analyzer ͣ. Results: Recheck tibial plateau angle (TPA) was negatively and significantly correlated with improvement (r=-0.2132, p=0.013). Post-operative, and Recheck TPA’s were all significantly correlated with one another. The amount of TPA change from initial to immediate post-operative values was significantly correlated with the Initial TPA (r=0.628, p<0.001). Surgeon, surgical experience, arthrotomy, meniscal damage, meniscal intervention, complications, post-operative TPA, and initial TPA had no significant effect on weight-bearing at recheck. Clinical Significance: TPLO’s show improvement of 4.58% BW on the operated limb at 6-12 week rechecks on a stance analyzer. Surgeon, surgical experience, arthrotomy, meniscal damage, meniscal intervention, complications, post-operative TPA, and initial TPA have no effect on surgical outcome.

Discussion as exploration has been proposed as an instructional paradigm for use in high-school literature instruction. Its proponents have explained that using it fosters an aesthetic literary environment. For the purpose of study, the paradigm was modified for use in an elementary fifth-grade reading class. A month-long investigation was conducted to explore the effects of using the paradigm, concerns an elementary teacher had as she implemented it, and its effects on participating students' literary stances. Research methodology included participant-observation, surveys, and a single-subject phase withdrawal component. Results of the study confirmed that (a) students were capable of using discussion as exploration, (b) using the paradigm led to movement among students' literary stances, and (c) discussion as exploration engaged groups of students in literature reflection.

Body armor designs that limit the range-of-motion required for vital law enforcement tasks, such as shooting may be dangerous. Therefore, a posture based biomechanical analysis was performed to determine if upper body joint angles can be used to assess the effects of armor designs on assumed shooting. Participants (n=8) completed a battery of simulated duty tasks for three armor configurations (no armor, concealable, and tactical armor) while motion capture was used to compute included joint angles of the upper extremity and neck. In general, joint angles were impacted by armor configuration, and law enforcement experience (measured in years) significantly impacted their shooting posture. It was also found that the types of tasks performed interacted with shooting stance. This research is a first step at developing a method to analyze body armor designs and their impact on wearers, so that mobility may not need to be sacrificed for additional protective coverage.

Cette recherche propose une analyse multimodale du positionnement interactionnel ou stance-taking. Le corpus de travail, filmé, transcrit et annoté par nos soins dans trois logiciels compatibles (CLAN, PRAAT, ELAN), est une collection de discussions semi-guidées sur le thème de l’environnement (2h 20 min). Les 16 locuteurs sont des étudiants locuteurs natifs d’anglais britannique qui discutent par deux et entre amis. Dans cette recherche, nous adoptons une définition large du « langage », en y incluant l’ensemble des ressources sémiotiques verbales et non-verbales mobilisées pour la co-construction dynamique et intersubjective du sens au cours de l’interaction orale. Nous montrons que les locuteurs intègrent une grande variété de ressources verbales (segments, énoncés), mais aussi vocales (intonation) et mimo-posturo-gestuelles (gestes, expressions du visage), en les synchronisant de manière tant simultanée que séquentielle, pour prendre position vis-à-vis de leur interlocuteur. Au plan théorique, notre approche multi-niveaux et multimodale tisse des liens entre théories françaises de l’énonciation (Benveniste, 1966, Morel et Danon-Boileau, 1998), théorie discursive-fonctionnelle du stance-taking (Kärkkäinen, 2006, Du Bois, 2007), analyse conversationnelle multimodale (C. Goodwin et M.H. Goodwin, 1992, Mondada, 2007), anthropologie linguistique (Ochs, 1996), et étude de la gestualité (Kendon, 2004, Müller, 2004, Streeck, 2009) ; au plan méthodologique, nous combinons analyse qualitative et codage systématique. Notre thèse pose d’abord les bases théoriques et méthodologiques d’une étude multimodale des stances (Partie 1), puis propose la possibilité d’un marquage visuel du positionnement intersubjectif (Partie 2), avant de montrer comment les locuteurs intègrent mots et syntaxe, voix, visage et corps pour prendre position en interaction (Partie 3). / In this research, we propose a multimodal analysis of stance-taking based a collection of semi-guided discussions between pairs of friends who discuss environmental issues (2h 20 min). All 16 speakers are university students who are native speakers of British English. We filmed, transcribed and annotated this video corpus in three compatible software tools, CLAN, PRAAT and ELAN. In this research, we defend a broad understanding of “language”, defined as encompassing all verbal and non-verbal semiotic resources involved in the dynamic and intersubjective co-construction of meaning during spoken interaction. We show that speakers integrate a wide range of verbal resources (segments, utterances) as well as vocal (intonation) and visual ones (gestures, postures and facial expressions), and synchronize these resources simultaneously and sequentially so as to take stances with respect to their interlocutors. On a theoretical level, our multi-level, multimodal approach brings together French utterer-centred approaches to language (Benveniste, 1966, Morel and Danon-Boileau, 1998), discursive-functional theories of stance-taking (Kärkkäinen, 2006, Du Bois, 2007), multimodal conversation analysis (C. Goodwin and M.H. Goodwin, 1992, Mondada, 2007), linguistic anthropology (Ochs, 1996) and gesture studies (Kendon, 2004, Müller, 2004, Streeck, 2009); our methodology combines qualitative analysis with systematic coding. This thesis starts with laying the theoretical and methodological bases for a multimodal study of stance-taking (Part 1); it then proposes that some gestures and facial expressions can be used as intersubjective visual stance markers (Part 2), before showing how speakers integrate words and syntax, voice, facial expressions, gestures and physical posture to take stance in interaction (Part 3).

Functional ankle instability (FAI) is characterized by the recurrent giving way of the ankle and the constant feeling of instability that affects the quality of life of its patients adversely. Kinesiology Tape (KT), differed from the traditional rigid athletic tape, becomes more popular as a new therapeutic tool for injuries management. It is reported to decrease pain, promote blood circulation and natural healing of muscular functioning. However, scientific evidence of KT’s effects on FAI remains very limited. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate if applying KT on the unstable ankle may improve static postural control in individuals with FAI. Twenty young adults with FAI performed a series of static quiet bipedal and unipedal stances on a force platform. Postural control was assessed by four measures derived from the centre of pressure (COP) data: 95% Confidence ellipse of total displacements (area), standard deviation of displacements (SD), mean velocity and mean power frequency (MPF). Measurements were taken at three different times: baseline or no tape, immediately after the application of KT on the unstable ankle, and 24 hours after the taping application with the tape remaining on the ankle. Results revealed only minor changes in mean velocity and MPF in unipedal stances immediately after KT application. However, the overall results indicated statistically insignificant improvements in postural control performance neither immediately after KT application nor after 24 hours. In conclusion, our results suggest that the use of KT did not affect bipedal and unipedal stances of individuals with functional ankle instability.

Eighteen subjects each performed fifty-five trials which consisted of assuming an initial stance and then in response to a visual stimulus running to either the left or right. For each trial both the foot width spacing and orientation of the feet were varied. Direct and indirect measurements were taken of selected temporal and kinematic parameters. The conclusions were that no interactions or differences exist among foot width spacing, foot orientation, and direction of movement; the jab step start is the preferred initial movement; the preferred foot width spacing is 46.6 centimeters; the preferred angular orientation of both feet is approximately 1.36 radians.