Communities of Power: Rawls\u27s Liberal Society and the Legitimate Use of Force

In The Law of Peoples John Rawls argues for an international community led by a society of liberal democracies committed to spreading peace and just governance. In doing so, he builds on Immanuel Kant’s Perpetual Peace, which argued for a similar “League of Peace” to lead other nations. Both Kant and Rawls argue for disarmament and pacifism on the part of their leading nations. In this thesis, I take issue with Rawls’s pacifism, arguing that the liberal society faces threats from terrorism and humanitarian disasters abroad that could compromise their political aims to an extent that necessitates a forceful response. Working from this premise, I examine the history of philosophy of what constitutes a legitimate use of force. Using a theory of legitimacy couched in Jürgen Habermas’s discourse ethics I argue that the liberal states are able to legitimately use force abroad. Furthermore, since the legitimating process relies on a commitment to discourse, non-liberal states are precluded from taking similar actions. Finally, I address objections and in so doing argue that while liberal states may legitimately defend their political goals, they must combine such actions with robust aid and assistance abroad and rigorous oversight domestically to avoid reliance on force

Saints in Sin City: Religion and community building in twentieth century Las Vegas

Due to an absence of social and religious tradition, Las Vegas provided the perfect setting for Jewish and Mormon faiths to create communities closely linked to their own spiritual doctrine. This thesis traces the evolution of these groups from the turn of the twentieth-century to the present, focusing on issues such as education, geographic location, and business acumen as avenues for personal and spiritual growth. This thesis also considers the relatively small number of religious studies conducted in the American West, and serves as a possible example for future study by using an urban religious framework to synthesize the dearth of western religious information. To be sure, the mythical nature of Las Vegas as “Sin City” colors the spiritual lives of its citizens like no other city in America. Hopefully, this thesis begins to shed light on the vibrant religious culture springing from the area

Cation–π interactions: computational analyses of the aromatic box motif and the fluorination strategy for experimental evaluation

Cation–π interactions are common in biological systems, and many structural studies have revealed the aromatic box as a common motif. With the aim of understanding the nature of the aromatic box, several computational methods were evaluated for their ability to reproduce experimental cation–π binding energies. We find the DFT method M06 with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set performs best of several methods tested. The binding of benzene to a number of different cations (sodium, potassium, ammonium, tetramethylammonium, and guanidinium) was studied. In addition, the binding of the organic cations NH_4+ and NMe_4+ to ab initio generated aromatic boxes as well as examples of aromatic boxes from protein crystal structures were investigated. These data, along with a study of the distance dependence of the cation–π interaction, indicate that multiple aromatic residues can meaningfully contribute to cation binding, even with displacements of more than an angstrom from the optimal cation–π interaction. Progressive fluorination of benzene and indole was studied as well, and binding energies obtained were used to reaffirm the validity of the “fluorination strategy” to study cation–π interactions in vivo

Coordination of Care by Primary Care Practices: Strategies, Lessons and Implications

Documents successful strategies for coordinating care within primary care settings, including family and caregivers; with specialists; with hospital settings; and with community-based services. Discusses challenges, lessons learned, and implications

Classical Region of a Trapped Bose Gas

The classical region of a Bose gas consists of all single-particle modes that have a high average occupation and are well-described by a classical field. Highly-occupied modes only occur in massive Bose gases at ultra-cold temperatures, in contrast to the photon case where there are highly-occupied modes at all temperatures. For the Bose gas the number of these modes is dependent on the temperature, the total number of particles and their interaction strength. In this paper we characterize the classical region of a harmonically trapped Bose gas over a wide parameter regime. We use a Hartree-Fock approach to account for the effects of interactions, which we observe to significantly change the classical region as compared to the idealized case. We compare our results to full classical field calculations and show that the Hartree-Fock approach provides a qualitatively accurate description of classical region for the interacting gas.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; updated to include new results with interaction

Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis): Towards a Classifcation of Tree Health and Early Detection

Author Institution: U. S. Forest Service, Northern Research StationAuthor Institution: School of Environment & Natural Resources, The Ohio State UniversityForty-five green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) street trees in Toledo, Ohio were photographed, measured, and visually rated for conditions related to emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis)(EAB) attacks. These trees were later removed, and sections were examined from each tree to determine the length of time that growth rates had been impacted. A classification system was developed to discern the health of the trees along with a proposed method for early detection of a declining state of vigor. The classification is not an indicator of the degree of infestation, but rather tree health, which may be linked to the degree of EAB infestation. An evaluation of the tree sections places the EAB establishment no later than the 2004 growing season. A three-class system formulated from the evaluation of epicormic shoots, canopy light transmission, and EAB exit holes can be used to monitor the health of ash trees during EAB outbreaks. The classification system could potentially give homeowners, property managers, and agencies a way to detect and treat this problem earlier, especially in urban and park settings, and before trees are fully infested and exhibiting later-stage signs of decline. It is probably not practical for forest applications. Early detection and treatment not only can save selected trees, but it also might slow the spread of the insect, thereby giving additional trees a chance to survive the initial invasion

Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis: A Case Report and Review of the Diagnosis and Treatment of a Rare but Potentially Life-Threatening Syndrome

A 24-year-old male Marine with an uncomplicated medical history and a long history of strenuous, daily exercise presented to the emergency department after experiencing anaphylactic shock while running. Symptoms resolved following administration of intramuscular diphenhydramine, ranitidine, intravenous methylprednisolone, and intravenous fluids. On followup in the allergy clinic, a meticulous clinical history was obtained which elucidated a picture consistent with exercise-induced anaphylaxis. He had experienced diffuse pruritus and urticaria while exercising on multiple occasions over the last three years. His symptoms would usually increase as exercise continued. Prior to the first episode, he regularly exercised without symptoms. Exercise-induced anaphylaxis is a rare but potentially life-threatening syndrome that requires a careful clinical history and is a diagnosis of exclusion. Treatment is primarily exercise avoidance. Prophylactic mediations are inconsistently effective but are empirically used. Successful treatment with omalizumab was recently reported in a case of refractory exercise-induced anaphylaxis

Quantum kinetic theory model of a continuous atom laser

We investigate the feasible limits for realising a continuously evaporated atom laser with high-temperature sources. A plausible scheme for realising a truly continuous atom laser is to outcouple atoms from a partially condensed Bose gas, whilst continuously reloading the system with non-condensed thermal atoms and performing evaporative cooling. Here we use quantum kinetic theory to model this system and estimate feasible limits for the operation of such a scheme. For sufficiently high temperatures, the figure of merit for the source is shown to be the phase-space flux. The dominant process limiting the usage of sources with low phase-space flux is the three-body loss of the condensed gas. We conclude that certain double-magneto-optical trap (MOT) sources may produce substantial mean condensate numbers through continuous evaporation, and provide an atom laser source with a narrow linewidth and reasonable flux.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure