4,749 research outputs found
The Ontology of Intentional Agency in Light of Neurobiological Determinism: Philosophy Meets Folk Psychology
The moot point of the Western philosophical rhetoric about free will
consists in examining whether the claim of authorship to intentional, deliberative
actions fits into or is undermined by a one-way causal framework of determinism.
Philosophers who think that reconciliation between the two is possible are known as
metaphysical compatibilists. However, there are philosophers populating the other
end of the spectrum, known as the metaphysical libertarians, who maintain that claim
to intentional agency cannot be sustained unless it is assumed that indeterministic
causal processes pervade the action-implementation apparatus employed by the agent.
The metaphysical libertarians differ among themselves on the question of whether the
indeterministic causal relation exists between the series of intentional states and
processes, both conscious and unconscious, and the action, making claim for what has
come to be known as the event-causal view, or between the agent and the action,
arguing that a sort of agent causation is at work. In this paper, I have tried to propose
that certain features of both event-causal and agent-causal libertarian views need to be
combined in order to provide a more defendable compatibilist account accommodating
deliberative actions with deterministic causation. The ‘‘agent-executed-eventcausal
libertarianism’’, the account of agency I have tried to develop here, integrates
certain plausible features of the two competing accounts of libertarianism turning
them into a consistent whole. I hope to show in the process that the integration of these
two variants of libertarianism does not challenge what some accounts of metaphysical
compatibilism propose—that there exists a broader deterministic relation between the
web of mental and extra-mental components constituting the agent’s dispositional
system—the agent’s beliefs, desires, short-term and long-term goals based on them,
the acquired social, cultural and religious beliefs, the general and immediate and
situational environment in which the agent is placed, etc. on the one hand and the
decisions she makes over her lifetime on the basis of these factors. While in the
‘‘Introduction’’ the philosophically assumed anomaly between deterministic causation
and the intentional act of deciding has been briefly surveyed, the second section is
devoted to the task of bridging the gap between compatibilism and libertarianism. The
next section of the paper turns to an analysis of folk-psychological concepts and
intuitions about the effects of neurochemical processes and prior mental events on the
freedom of making choices. How philosophical insights can be beneficially informed
by taking into consideration folk-psychological intuitions has also been discussed,
thus setting up the background for such analysis. It has been suggested in the end that
support for the proposed theory of intentional agency can be found in the folk-psychological intuitions, when they are taken in the right perspective
An Application of Molecular Genotyping in Mice
Microsatellite markers are simple sequence repeats within the mammalian genome that can be used for identifying disease loci, mapping genes of interest as well as studying segregation patterns related to meiotic nondisjunction. Different strains of mice have variable CA repeat lengths and PCR based methods can be used to identify them, thus allowing for specific genotypes to be assigned. Molecular genotyping offers such identification at any developmental stage, which allows for a broad range of anomalies to be studied. We studied chromosomal segregation in relation to nondisjunction in early-gestation mouse embryos using molecular genotyping. Information on the parental origin as well as the number of chromosomes a given progeny carried was obtained in our analysis
Relating imperatives to action
The aim of this chapter is to provide an analysis of the use of logically complex imperatives, in particular, imperatives of the form Do A1 or A2 and Do A, if B. We argue for an analysis of imperatives in terms of classical logic which takes into account the influence of background information on imperatives. We show that by doing so one can avoid some counter-intuitive results which have been associated with analyses of imperatives in terms of classical logic. In particular, I address Hamblin's observations concerning rule-like imperatives and Ross' Paradox. The analysis is carried out within an agent-based logical framework. This analysis explicates what it means for an agent to have a successful policy for action with respect to satisfying his or her commitments, where some of these commitments have been introduced as a result of imperative language use
Simulation of High Conversion Efficiency and Open-circuit Voltages Of {\alpha}-si/poly-silicon Solar Cell
The P+ {\alpha}-Si /N+ polycrystalline solar cell is molded using the AMPS-1D
device simulator to explore the new high efficiency thin film poly-silicon
solar cell. In order to analyze the characteristics of this device and the
thickness of N+ poly-silicon, we consider the impurity concentration in the N+
poly-silicon layer and the work function of transparent conductive oxide (TCO)
in front contact in the calculation. The thickness of N+ poly-silicon has
little impact on the device when the thickness varies from 20 {\mu}m to 300
{\mu}m. The effects of impurity concentration in polycrystalline are analyzed.
The conclusion is drawn that the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of P+ {\alpha}-Si
/N+ polycrystalline solar cell is very high, reaching 752 mV, and the
conversion efficiency reaches 9.44%. Therefore, based on the above optimum
parameters the study on the device formed by P+ {\alpha}-Si/N+ poly-silicon is
significant in exploring the high efficiency poly-silicon solar cell.Comment: 8 pages 6figures, 1 table
Low Temperature Magnetic Properties of the Double Exchange Model
We study the {\it ferromagnetic} (FM) Kondo lattice model in the strong
coupling limit (double exchange (DE) model). The DE mechanism proposed by Zener
to explain ferromagnetism has unexpected properties when there is more than one
itinerant electron. We find that, in general, the many-body ground state of the
DE model is {\it not} globally FM ordered (except for special filled-shell
cases). Also, the low energy excitations of this model are distinct from spin
wave excitations in usual Heisenberg ferromagnets, which will result in unusual
dynamic magnetic properties.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, 5 Postscript figures include
Late Quaternary Sedimentation in Moreton Bay
The record of Quaternary events in Moreton Bay has been investigated through studies of both submarine and onshore sediments. Samples of the sea floor sediments have been collected and further information has been provided by geophysical and coring programmes. Three submarine sedimentary zones are recognised and five principal lithofacies types have been related to these zones. Holocene and Pleistocene sediments have been distinguished in submarine cores and criteria for their recognition are listed. The onshore Quaternary record on Mud and St Helena Islands consists of beach ridges and platforms, beachrock deposits and a relict coral reef. Evidence for a sea level slightly higher than that of the present is provided by an exposed fossil coral facies on Mud Island
Do toe blood pressures predict healing after minor lower limb amputation in people with diabetes? : a systematic review and meta-analysis
Purpose of study: To investigate toe systolic blood pressure and/or toe-brachial pressure index in predicting healing post minor diabetic foot amputations. Key methods: A systematic search of EMBASE and PubMed (including Medline and The Cochrane Library) was conducted from database inception to 9 March 2020. Two authors independently reviewed and selected relevant studies. Quality was assessed with a modified Critical Appraisal Skill Programme checklist. Main results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Nine studies investigating toe systolic blood pressure reported healing occurred at mean toe systolic blood pressure values ⩾30 mmHg, ranging between 30 and 83.6 mmHg. The meta-analysis (four studies) found toe systolic blood pressure 0.2, with one study reporting a higher value of 0.8. Main conclusions: Successful post-amputation healing outcomes were reported at mean toe systolic blood pressure ⩾30 mmHg, and the results varied considerably between the studies. Further research should identify whether variables, including amputation level, method of wound closure and length of post-operative follow-up periods, affect the values of toe systolic blood pressure and toe-brachial pressure index observed in this review
Molecular Beams
Contains research objectives and reports on four research projects.Lincoln Laboratory, Purchase Order DDL B-00306U. S. ArmyU. S. NavyU. S. Air Force under Air Force Contract AF19(604)-740
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