The Open-ended Normativity of the Ethical

In The Ethical Project, Kitcher has three main aim: to provide a naturalistic explanation of the rise of morality and of its subsequent development, to supply an account of moral progress that explains progressive developments that have occurred so far and shows how further progress is possible, and to propose a further progressive development—the emergence of a cosmopolitan morality—and make the case that it is a natural extension of the ethical project. I argue that Kitcher does not succeed in achieving any of these aims and that he cannot do so given the meager resources of his explanatory model. The chief difficulty is that Kitcher equivocates in his characterization of the original function of ethics. Although he begins by characterizing it as remedying altruism failures in order to avoid their social costs, he sometimes characterizes it instead as remedying altruism failures simpliciter. Kitcher does not explain how a practice whose original function was developed into one whose function is. Further, it appears that he cannot do so without significantly enriching his explanatory model to include a more robust account of how humans came to have the capacity to reflect on and revise norms

The Rural Weekly Newspaper in Indiana as an Agent of School Publicity

When any study of rural newspaper educational-publicity is contemplated, three objectives are imminent for consideration. This study, The Rural Weekly Newspaper In Indiana As An Agent Of School Publicity, is no exception

COVARIANCE ADJUSTMENT IN STUDIES INVOLVING OBSERVATIONAL FACTORS OR COVARIATES INFLUENCED BY TREATMENTS

We extend the definition of adjusted treatment means in the analysis of covariance to deal with the case where some of the covariates are influenced by treatments or where some of the factors are observational. In these cases, comparison of treatment means adjusted to a common value of the covariate may be inappropriate. Partially adjusted means are defined and it is shown that special cases include the usual adjusted means (adjusted to a common value for each of the covariates) and unadjusted means. In fact, in a multifactorial experiment, one can, by appropriate choice of adjustment, compare adjusted means for one factor but unadjusted means for the second factor. Partially adjusted means can be computed by any linear models software which will estimate linear combinations of the parameters

Discovery of strongly blue shifted mid-infrared [NeIII] and [NeV] emission in ULIRGs

We report the discovery of blue shifted (delta(V) > 200 km/s) mid-infrared [NeIII] and/or [NeV] emission in 25 out of 82 ULIRGs (30% of our sample). The incidence of blue shifted [NeV] emission is even higher (59%) among the sources with a [NeV] detection -- the tell-tale signature of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Sixteen ULIRGs in our sample, eleven of which are optically classified as AGN, have [NeIII] blue shifts above 200 km/s. A comparison of the line profiles of their 12.81um [NeII], 15.56um [NeIII] and 14.32um [NeV] lines reveals the ionization of the blue shifted gas to increase with blue shift, implying decelerating outflows in a stratified medium, photo-ionized by the AGN. The strong correlation of the line width of the [NeIII] line with the radio luminosity indicates that interaction of expanding radio jets with the dense ISM surrounding the AGN may explain the observed neon line kinematics for the strongest radio sources in this sample.Comment: Accepted for publication by ApJ Letters. 15 pages, 4 figure

Accounting for skew when post-processing MOGREPS-UK temperature forecast fields

This is the final version. Available from the American Meteorological Society via the DOI in this recordWhen statistically post-processing temperature forecasts, it is almost always assumed that the future temperature follows a Gaussian distribution conditional on the output of an ensemble prediction system. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated that it can at times be beneficial to employ alternative parametric families when post-processing temperature forecasts, that are either asymmetric or heavier-tailed than the normal distribution. In this article, we compare choices of the parametric distribution used within the Ensemble Model Output Statistics (EMOS) framework to statistically post-process 2m temperature forecast fields generated by the Met Office’s regional, convection-permitting ensemble prediction system, MOGREPS-UK. Specifically, we study the normal, logistic and skew-logistic distributions. A flexible alternative is also introduced that first applies a Yeo-Johnson transformation to the temperature forecasts prior to post-processing, so that they more readily conform to the assumptions made by established post-processing methods. It is found that accounting for the skewness of temperature when post-processing can enhance the performance of the resulting forecast field, particularly during summer and winter and in mountainous regions

Detailed studies of the subpicosecond kinetics in the primary electron transfer of reaction centers of Rhodopseudomonas viridis

The primary, light-induced charge separation in reaction centers of Rhodopseudomonas viridis is investigated with femtosecond time resolution. The absorption changes after direct excitation of the primary donor P at 955 nm are investigated in the time range from 100 fs to 600 ps. The experimental data, taken at various probing wavelengths, reveal one subpicosecond and two picosecond time constants: 0.65 ± 0.2 ps, 3.5 ± 0.4 ps, and 200 ± 20 ps. The previously undetected 0.65 ps kinetics can be observed clearly in the spectral range of the Qx and Qy transitions of the monomeric bacteriochlorophylls. The experimental data support the idea that the accessory bacteriochlorophyll B A participates in the electron-transfer process. Reference

Vegetation and environmental patterns on soils derived from Hawkesbury Sandstone and Narrabeen substrata in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, New South Wales

[Abstract]: The vegetation patterns in the Central Coast region of New South Wales have been extensively studied with respect to single environmental variables, particularly soil nutrients. However, few data are available on the effects of multiple environmental variables. This study examines the relationships between vegetation and multiple environmental variables in natural vegetation on two underlying rock types, Hawkesbury sandstone and Narrabeen group shales and sandstones, in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Sydney. Floristic composition and 17 environmental factors were characterized using duplicate 500 m2 quadrats from fifty sites representing a wide range of vegetation types. The patterns in vegetation and environmental factors were examined through multivariate analyses: indicator species analysis was used to provide an objective classification of plant community types, and the relationships between vegetation and environmental factors within the two soil types were examined through indirect and direct gradient analyses. Eleven plant communities were identified, which showed strong agreement with previous studies. The measured environmental factors showed strong correlations with vegetation patterns: within both soil types, the measured environmental variables explained approximately 32 - 35% of the variation in vegetation. No single measured environmental variable adequately described the observed gradients in vegetation; rather, vegetation gradients showed strong correlations with complex environmental gradients. These complex environmental gradients included nutrient, moisture and soil physical and site variables. These results suggest a simple 'nutrient' hypothesis regarding vegetation patterns in the Central Coast region is inadequate to explain variation in vegetation within soil types