Philosophy of Science and Democracy. Some reflections on Philipp Frank"s "Relativity – a richer truth".

Philipp Frank"s book Relativity – a richer truth1 shows something we do not find very often after World War 2: a philosopher of science acting as a public intellectual. Taking part in the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion, Philipp Frank intervened in the public debate about the causes of Nazism and how to defend democracy and liberalism against totalitarian ideas and politics. Could philosophy of science contribute to such a struggle? Philipp Frank thought it could, he even thought that Philosophy of Science should play a crucial role in it. It"s obvious that this position should be of some interest for philosophers in Austria and Europe today. Of course, any serious analysis of Frank"s position would have to take the whole historical constellation into account. Between the beginning of the conference in 1940 and the publication of the book in 1951 the historical situation had dramatically changed. And therefore one has to distinguish several political dimensions in Frank"s arguments. Let me just make a short remark on the plurality of political perspectives Frank"s discourse opened up. Philipp Frank defined the role science should play in democracy not only in contrast to the role of science as it was conceived by totalitarian governments. Of course he criticised the Nazis" and Soviets" �philosophies of science� several times (see for instance p. 73, 98, 103p.). But he also made very clear that in the 40ies and 50ies not even the majority of scholars and university teachers in the US supported the specific view of science which Frank thought was so important to the advancement of democracy (for instance 59pp.). His rather critical comments on the teaching of science in the post war / cold war period show what he thought the really important political impact of science was. As far as I can see, these comments did not loose their significance

Implications of WMAP observations on Li abundance and stellar evolution models

The WMAP determination of the baryon-to-photon ratio implies, through Big Bang nucleosynthesis, a cosmological Li abundance larger, by a factor of 2 to 3, than the Li abundance plateau observed in the oldest Pop II stars. It is however inescapable that there be a reduction by a factor of at least 1.6 to 2.0 of the surface Li abundance during the evolution of Pop II field stars with [Fe/H] < -1.5. That the observed Li be lower than cosmologically produced Li is expected from stellar evolution models. Since at turnoff most of the Li abundance reduction is caused by gravitational settling, the presence of Lithium 6 in some turnoff stars is also understood. Given that the WMAP implications for Li cosmological abundance and the Li Spite plateau can be naturally explained by gravitational settling in the presence of weak turbulence, there appears little need for exotic physics as suggested by some authors. Instead, there is a need for a better understanding of turbulent transport in the radiative zones of stars. This requires simulations from first principles. Rather strict upper limits to turbulent transport are determined for the Sun and Pop II stars.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, in pres

Putting off and putting on: an examination of character information in Colossians 3.1-17 and the spiritualities created in the process

The majority of academic study on the epistle to the Colossians focuses primarily on issues related to Christology, the identification of the heresy that threatened the church, or the ongoing debate surrounding authorship of the epistle. Current research leaves several lacunae in the broader understanding of the writer’s intent with the Colossian epistle. There is very little attention given to the existence of a process by which the Colossian believers can mature in Christ and face any theologically aberrant teachings with a growing faith and solid doctrine. There is also a gap in the research within the field of Christian spirituality regarding the application of specific principles of spirituality to sacred canonical texts and early Christian writings. This thesis seeks to fill these research gaps through the use of socio-rhetorical strategies and principles of Christian spirituality. The primary text for this research is the pericope of Colossians 3.1-17. The research on the epistle examines the pericope for an embedded process of character transformation by which the Colossian believers grow towards Christlikeness. As the Colossians grow in maturity, their lived experience of God changes. There are spiritualities embedded within the text that begin to impact the growth of the believers through the embodiment of the text. The identification of these spiritualities as well as the process of character transformation allows for the filling of research gaps and a richer understanding of the epistle writer’s intent.Philosophy, Practical and Systematic TheologyD. Phil. (Theology

Holistic engineering design : a combined synchronous and asynchronous approach

To aid the creation and through-life support of large, complex engineering products, organizations are placing a greater emphasis on constructing complete and accurate records of design activities. Current documentary approaches are not sufficient to capture activities and decisions in their entirety and can lead to organizations revisiting and in some cases reworking design decisions in order to understand previous design episodes. Design activities are undertaken in a variety of modes; many of which are dichotomous, and thus each require separate documentary mechanisms to capture information in an efficient manner. It is possible to identify the modes of learning and transaction to describe whether an activity is aimed at increasing a level of understanding or whether it involves manipulating information to achieve a tangible task. The dichotomy of interest in this paper is that of synchronous and asynchronous working, where engineers may work alternately as part of a group or as individuals and where different forms of record are necessary to adequately capture the processes and rationale employed in each mode. This paper introduces complimentary approaches to achieving richer representations of design activities performed synchronously and asynchronously, and through the undertaking of a design based case study, highlights the benefit of each approach. The resulting records serve to provide a more complete depiction of activities undertaken, and provide positive direction for future co-development of the approaches

Knowledge Enhanced Notes (KEN)

To aid the creation and through-life support of large complex engineering products, organisations are placing a greater emphasis on constructing complete and accurate records of design activities. Current documentary approaches are not sufficient to capture activities and decisions in their entirety and can lead to organisations revisiting and in some cases reworking design decisions in order to understand previous design episodes. This paper presents an overview of the challenges in creating accurate, re-usable records of synchronous design activities, enhancing the through-life support of engineering products, followed by the development of an information capture software system to address these challenges. The main objectives for the development of the Knowledge Enhanced Notes system are described followed by the techniques chosen to address the objectives, and finally a description of a use-case for the system. Whilst the focus of the KEN System was to aid the creation and through-life support of large complex engineering products through constructing complete and accurate records of design activities, the system is entirely generic in its application to synchronous activities

Sustainability in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Initiatives

The question often asked of a quality improvement initiative is whether the improvement process has been sustained within the organization. Rarely is the question answered satisfactorily. The sustainability of an improvement process is important as it justifies the investment of human and financial capital. The term \u27evaporation of improvements\u27 addresses the dilemma that between 33% to 70% of all innovations are reportedly not sustained (Fleiszer, Semenic, Ritchie, Richer, & Denis, 2015) . This evaporation of improvement captures the frustrating inability of many institutions to maintain the achieved improvement after the newness of the initial effort wears off (Buchanan, Fitzgerald, & Ketley, 2007). This article addresses the components of what makes a quality initiative sustainable by applying a framework developed that identifies components necessary within a sustainable quality initiative evident from the development process through to the implementation phase of the initiative which becomes part of the fabric of an organization

Logical Form, the First Person, and Naturalism about Psychology: The Case Against Physicalist Imperialism

Physicalistic theories of psychology are a classic case of scientific imperialism: the explanatory capacity of physics, both with respect to its methods and to its domain, is taken to extend beyond the traditional realm of physics, and into that of psychology. I argue in this paper that this particular imperialistic venture has failed. Contemporary psychology uses methods not modelled on those of physics, embracing first-personal methodology where physics is strictly impersonal. I make the case that whether or not scientific imperialism is in general harmful, in this instance naturalists who reject first philosophy should give up physicalist imperialism. Using only general principles from the philosophy of logic plus accepted physicalist criteria of identity, I show that first-personal psychology embodies a minor but fruitful increase in expressive strength compared to impersonal psychology: the ability to distinguish descriptively indiscriminable posits

Demographic Variations in Achievement Goal Orientations among Prisoners on Formal and Vocational Training in Uganda

Educating Prisoners has become a worldwide concern as a measure that can save community costs associated with criminal behavior. In Uganda, there is low participation in formal and vocational training among prisoners which can be associated with lack of knowledge on achievement goal orientations. This is central for adequate implementation of academic and vocational education in prisons, otherwise it may lead to wasted Government initiative and commitment on education as a rehabilitation strategy for prisoners. The purpose of the study was to assess demographic variations in achievement goal orientations among prisoners on formal and vocational training in Uganda. This study adopted across sectional survey design with a mixed methods approach. The population was adult male and female prisoners enrolled on both formal and vocational training in Luzira prison using census sampling strategy. Measures used included the bio data section and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey. Permission was sought from all relevant authorities and data analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20. The study found out that there is no statistically significant relationship between mastery goals and demographic information; and between performance approach goals and demographic information reflected in the P values. However, there is a statistically significant relationship between performance avoidance goals and gender (P=.013). There is no statistically significant relationship between Approach avoidance goals and other demographic variables as reflected in their P values. The findings of this study may be used by prison education instructors, administrators and curriculum planners in bridging the gap between demographic variations and achievement goal orientations. This study posit to the importance of understanding prisoners goal orientations and how these goals influence their learning and academic outcomes. It is generally acknowledged that setting achievement goal orientations may be integrated into instructional materials to promote better academic achievement. Prisoners participating in academic and vocational education should be encouraged to adopt achievement goals according to the broader social and psychological horizon which shall help to direct their attention towards activities that will help them energies performance there by motivating prisoners expend greater effort in line with difficulties of achieving goals, spend more time and persist longer working on tasks to improve the overall performanc

Strategic adoption of logistics and supply chain management

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a thorough understanding of the adoption of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in practice, particularly at a strategic level, through an investigation of the four perspectives taxonomy of the relationship between logistics and SCM. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a comprehensive literature review, three specific research questions are proposed. The empirical work addresses these questions and comprised three phases: focussed interviews, a questionnaire survey and focus groups. Findings: The findings provide a usage profile of the four perspectives and indicate a divergence between the understanding and adoption of logistics and SCM principles and concepts at a strategic level in firms. The findings also identify the critical success factors (CSFs) and inhibitors to success in addressing this divergence. Research limitations/implications: The insights generated using the authors’ methodologically pluralist research design could be built upon to include case studies, grounded theory and action research. Replicating the research in other geographical areas could facilitate international comparisons. Practical implications: The findings allow practitioners to compare their perspectives on the relationship between logistics and SCM with those of their peers. The CSFs and inhibitors to success provide a rational basis for realising the strategic potential of logistics and SCM in practice. Originality/value: New insights are generated into practitioner perspectives vis-à-vis logistics vs SCM. A fresh understanding of those factors which drive and hinder the adoption of strategic SCM is also developed and presented