206,232 research outputs found

    Ontology in Emmanuel Levinas\u27s Philosophy

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    Taking the notion of the il y a, its prehistory and eventual fate, as an index of the development of the problem of being in Levinas\u27s work, this thesis argues that Levinas\u27s philosophy does not respond to a consistently articulated problem. He eventually transforms ontological evil into social evil, a shift that is visible in his handling of il y a

    Modelling the species jump: towards assessing the risk of human infection from novel avian influenzas

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    The scientific understanding of the driving factors behind zoonotic and pandemic influenzas is hampered by complex interactions between viruses, animal hosts and humans. This complexity makes identifying influenza viruses of high zoonotic or pandemic risk, before they emerge from animal populations, extremely difficult and uncertain. As a first step towards assessing zoonotic risk of Influenza, we demonstrate a risk assessment framework to assess the relative likelihood of influenza A viruses, circulating in animal populations, making the species jump into humans. The intention is that such a risk assessment framework could assist decisionmakers to compare multiple influenza viruses for zoonotic potential and hence to develop appropriate strain-specific control measures. It also provides a first step towards showing proof of principle for an eventual pandemic risk model. We show that the spatial and temporal epidemiology is as important in assessing the risk of an influenza A species jump as understanding the innate molecular capability of the virus.We also demonstrate data deficiencies that need to be addressed in order to consistently combine both epidemiological and molecular virology data into a risk assessment framework

    Fractal Cosmology in an Open Universe

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    The clustering of galaxies is well characterized by fractal properties, with the presence of an eventual cross-over to homogeneity still a matter of considerable debate. In this letter we discuss the cosmological implications of a fractal distribution of matter, with a possible cross-over to homogeneity at an undetermined scale R_{homo}. Contrary to what is generally assumed, we show that, even when R_{homo} -> \infty, this possibility can be treated consistently within the framework of the expanding universe solutions of Friedmann. The fractal is a perturbation to an open cosmology in which the leading homogeneous component is the cosmic background radiation (CBR). This cosmology, inspired by the observed galaxy distributions, provides a simple explanation for the recent data which indicate the absence of deceleration in the expansion (q_o \approx 0). Correspondingly the `age problem' is also resolved. Further we show that the model can be extended back from the curvature dominated arbitrarily deep into the radiation dominated era, and we discuss qualitatively the modifications to the physics of the anisotropy of the CBR, nucleosynthesis and structure formation.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, to appear in Europhysics Letter

    The position of the United States on the Northwest Passage : is the fear of creating a precedent warranted?

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    For decades, Ottawa and Washington have been agreeing to disagree on the question of the legal status of the Northwest Passage. One argument which has been consistently raised on the U.S. side and which has precluded attempts to end the deadlock has been the fear of creating a negative precedent. This article assesses whether U.S. concerns are warranted: could coastal States elsewhere in the world rely on an eventual recognition of Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage to bolster their claims over a local strait

    Late L2 Acquisition and Phonological Memory Development

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    The development of phonological memory, a subdivision of short term memory, is crucial to learning and analyzing sequences of sounds to form words and phrases. This process utilizes short term representation and rehearsal to allow for the eventual long term representation of language. Individuals learning more than one language must acquire even more of these language sequences than monolinguals. Previous research agrees that early Spanish-English bilinguals have superior phonological memory to monolinguals, however the impact of second language acquisition on phonological memory remains unknown. This study examined three groups of undergraduate participants studying Spanish as a second language including study abroad students (SA), students currently enrolled in a Spanish course at or above the 300-level (CE), and students not currently enrolled in a Spanish course (NE). Participants completed tests of phonological memory including digit span and sentence repetition at the beginning and culmination of an academic semester. Participants also provided demographic data, L2 acquisition information, and their frequency of language use so that changes could be calculated. Results revealed that CE students were superior during pretest, but during posttest SA and CE demonstrated comparable results. The NE students demonstrated consistently lower scores. These findings suggest that foreign language instruction may benefit phonological memory development, even in late acquisition of the second language. The possible role of years of formal language instruction will be discussed

    Cardinal Characteristics on Bounded Generalised Baire Spaces

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    We will give an overview of four families of cardinal characteristics defined on subspaces ∏α∈Îșb(α)\prod_{\alpha\in\kappa}b(\alpha) of the generalised Baire space ÎșÎș{}^\kappa\kappa, where Îș\kappa is strongly inaccessible and b∈ÎșÎșb\in{}^\kappa\kappa. The considered families are bounded versions of the dominating, eventual difference, localisation and anti-localisation numbers, and their dual cardinals. We investigate parameters for which these cardinals are non-trivial and how the cardinals relate to each other and to other cardinals of the generalised Cicho\'n diagram. Finally we prove that different choices of parameters may lead to consistently distinct cardinals.Comment: 52 page

    UNH Survey Center: Romney an Early Favorite in 2012 NH Presidential Primary

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    Reentrant nu = 1 quantum Hall state in a two-dimensional hole system

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    We report the observation of a reentrant quantum Hall state at the Landau level filling factor nu = 1 in a two-dimensional hole system confined to a 35-nm-wide (001) GaAs quantum well. The reentrant behavior is characterized by a weakening and eventual collapse of the nu = 1 quantum Hall state in the presence of a parallel magnetic field component B||, followed by a strengthening and reemergence as B|| is further increased. The robustness of the nu = 1 quantum Hall state during the transition depends strongly on the charge distribution symmetry of the quantum well, while the magnitude of B|| needed to invoke the transition increases with the total density of the system
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