Two Sides of the Same Coin: Panpsychism as a Solution to the Mind-Body Problem

The Mind-Body problem in philosophy has haunted philosophers for years. It asks, “what is the relationship between the mind and the body in a human being?” Is the mind something distinct from the body? Or is it nothing more than matter within the brain? Various theories have been proposed over the years as attempts to answer these pivotal questions. This paper provides a history of the mind-body problem, along with an analysis of many of the theories that have been proposed to answer the problem. After reviewing dualism, materialism, and panpsychism as theories of mind, I defend panpsychism as the best solution to the mind-body problem. I find that panpsychism avoids many of the issues that dualism and materialism must explain. Further, it provides a more coherent account of the universe. I provide some potential criticisms of panpsychism. However, I find that these criticisms can be answered more easily than the criticisms of dualism and materialism. For these reasons, I conclude that panpsychism is the best solution to the mind-body problem

The organisational development of the Scottish Prison Service with particular reference to the role and influence of the prison officer

This thesis argues that the Prison Service, while it has several unique features, is a bureaucratic structure with a typical mix of organisational strengths and weaknesses. The study of the development of the organisation of the Scottish Prison Service is, therefore, as possible and as proper as is the study of any large organisation. The first substantive chapter of the thesis analyses the historical development of the Scottish Prison Service within an organisational context. This has taken place in 3 main phases, the first two of which were sequential, the third less obviously so and more the result of the increasing involvement of central bureaucratic processes. Historically the Scottish prison system has been properly located within the criminal justice process and throughout the first 100 years of its modem existence the judiciary and the legal establishment played a central role in its development. The first phase or its history covers the years between 1835 and 1877 when it was taken progressively under central control. Particular attention is paid to William Brebner, the founding father of the Scottish prison system, and to the place of the General Prison at Perth. The second historical phase covers the tenure of office of the Scottish Prison Commission between 1877 and 1929. The significance of the Elgin Report of 1900, which has not previously been the subject of research, is described. The third phase of development which began in 1929 and continues today-has attempted to take the prison system out of the criminal justice process and to place it inappropriately within the mainstream of the administrative Civil Service. The thesis analyses the reasons for this and suggests that this structural change, rather than any lack of resources, is responsible for many of the present difficulties facing the Prison Service. The second substantive chapter of the thesis examines the place of the prison system within the sociology of organisations. By definition, an organisation can have only one primary goal. A feature of bureaucratic organisations is that those who work within them will not be satisfied with a single objective and are likely to develop secondary goals. One consequence of the location of the prison system within the mainstream of the civil service has been an emphasis on the secondary goals of imprisonment, principally that of rehabilitation, to the neglect of the primary goal which is the punishment involved in the deprivation of liberty for the length of time laid down by the court. A second consequence is the influence which staff are able to exert on the development of the service. The manner in which the trade unionism of prison staff has evolved in Scotland makes this area particularly worthy of study; an important and topical example is the control of difficult prisoners. The Thesis suggests that the management of the Scottish Prison Service is more participative in style than either the Official or the Staff Side recognise. Throughout the thesis many of the arguments presented are given support by responses to a questionnaire which was issued to serving members of staff and which is fully documented into appendices

Current trends and practices in the use of imprisonment

This article charts the rapid rise in the use of imprisonment in recent decades before considering some of the most pressing issues of concern in the use of imprisonment today. First among these is prison overcrowding, which continues to blight the record of many countries in their treatment of prisoners. To illustrate the potentially dire consequences of overcrowding – a problem common to many other countries and regions – an account is given of a recent visit to a prison in El Salvador. The article then provides an overview of the relevant regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners, referring also to the role of judicial bodies in ensuring implementation

The Porters Pass fault

A zone of active tectonism occurs in mid and north Canterbury, from the Rakaia to the Waipara Rivers, which coincides with seismicity concentrations and several Quaternary surface anomalies and is here defined as the Porters Pass Tectonic Zone. Although parallel to the Marlborough faults to the north, the lack of regional definition suggests this zone is much younger in its inception reflecting a southward movement of the plate rotation vector. The objectives of this study were to map the structures associated with this zone in the segment between the Rakaia and Waimakariri Rivers with detailed analysis concentrated in the upper Kawai Valley. Quaternary offsets on the main lineament of the Porters Pass Fault were traced through the area and evidence for the rate of movement, probable magnitudes and return periods of related seismic events was sought. The basement was found to be complicated by pre-existing deformation structures in Torlesse Group rocks which have been subsequently been re-activated or rotated by recent fault movement probably beginning in the Pleistocene. This phase is dominantly thrusting and uplift has lead to the erosion of most of the overlying sedimentary cover. Remnants of the Cret-Tertiary sediments still remain as fault-bounded packets. Evidence suggests that a change to development of a regional lateral shear associated with the Porters Pass Tectonic Zone transects the thrust system with complex interaction between the older reverse and new strike-slip faults. Offset rates along the segments of the Porters Pass Fault are not well constrained but are believed to be approximately in the range of 11-13 mm/year for at least the last 130,000 years. This rate is similar to other large faults in the Marlborough region. Two earthquake events have been identified and dated at 600 and 2000 years ago, with a magnitude of greater than 6.5. Evidence suggests characteristic earthquakes along the Porters Pass Fault are greater than Magnitude 7. This result has some major ramifications for the expected seismic hazards for nearby Christchurch

The effects of weight, gender and social situation on eating behaviour

The effects of weight, gender and social situation on eating style were examined in a naturalistic setting. Amount consumed, meal duration, number of bites and number of chews per bite were covertly recorded with bites per minute and amount per minute being calculated from these data. Observations were made of 120 subjects who patronized a university cafeteria, with equal numbers of males and females and overweight and normal weight subjects. They were categorized as being either overweight or of normal weight, as being male or female, and being in one of three social situations: unaccompanied; with a same sex eating companion; or with an opposite sex eating companion. While the overweight were found to eat significantly more than those of normal weight, none of the other measures reached statistical significance. The strongest effects obtained were for gender, with men consuming significantly more than women, at a faster rate, in less time, taking larger sized bites and more chews per bite. The data for social situation of eating revealed differences for both weight and gender groups. For women, there was some evidence of attempts to enhance their femininity through their eating behaviour, though not to the expected degree, while for men some unexpected differences were found. The implications of these weight and gender differences in eating style are discussed in relation to eating behaviour

Effects of Hydrophobic Surface Patterning on Boiling Heat Transfer and Critical Heat Flux of Water at Atmospheric Pressure

The effects of hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface patterning on critical heat flux (CHF) and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) were studied using custom-engineered testing surfaces. Patterning was created over a sapphire substrate and tested in a pool boiling facility in MITs Reactor Hydraulics Laboratory. The hydrophilic and hydrophobic matrices were created using layer by layer deposition of 50 nm thick SiO2 nanoparticles and monolayer thickness fluorosilane, respectively. Ultraviolet ozone patterning was then used with chrome-printed masks to create the desired geometric features. Hexagon, ring, star, and mixed patterns were tested to determine their abilities to affect CHF and HTC through prevention of bubble pinning at high heat fluxes. During testing, an infrared camera was used to measure the surface temperature distribution as well as locate nucleation sites for data analysis. It was found that CHF values were enhanced over the bare sapphire values by approximately 90% for hexagons, 60% for stars, 65% for rings, and 50% for mixed patterns. Contrary to expectations, patterning did not seem to affect the HTC values significantly. Although patterning did improve CHF performance over bare heaters, both CHF and HTC were found to be statistically similar to those for unpatterned, uniformly hydrophilic surfaces. Copyright © 2013 by ASME