Spatial Representation, Reasoning and Control for a Surveillance System

A Dissertation submitted to the University of London in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosoph

Against High Interest Rates

In the economics of climate change, the future benefits of greenhouse gas emissions abatement are commonly discounted at a rate equal to the long-run return on corporate stocks, which averaged 6% per year during the 20th century. Since a 6% discount rate implies that one dollar of benefits obtained one century from the present attains a present value of less than one cent, this method implies that only modest steps towards greenhouse gas emissions are economically warranted. This chapter critiques this approach to discounting the future based on three distinct lines of reasoning. First, the use of high discount rates is inconsistent with classical utilitarianism, which holds that equal weight should be attached to the welfare of present and future generations. Second, the approach violates the principle of stewardship, which holds that it is morally unjust for present generations to engage in actions that impose uncompensated environmental costs on posterity. Third, the use of a 6% discount rate is appropriate in the analysis of public policies that have risk characteristics that are similar to those associated with corporate stocks. Economic theory, however, suggests that discount rates of 1% or less should be used to evaluate policies that reduce future risks. Since a main objective of climate change policies is to reduce the risks faced by future society, the use of high discount rates in the analysis of climate change policies is arguably inappropriate.

Some observations on whooping cough with special reference to treatment by ether

(1) We have in ether a harmless remedy for whooping cough ; a remedy which is almost always palliative and often curative. (2) Control of vomiting and of the whoop are early attained in favourable cases. Complications are readily prevented ; if already present, they respond most satisfactorily to treatment.Morbid sequelae are avoided. (3) Treatment given during tne prodromal stage may abort the disease. (4) The rectal method of administration should be used in all patients other than infants, in whom retention may be difficult. For rectal injection the ether should be mixed with an equal quantity of olive oil. Emulsification of this is to be preferred. (5) The dose for infants should be one cubic centimetre intramuscularly. For rectal injection of patients over the age of twelve months one drachm of the ether oil mixture should be given for each year of the child's age. For this purpose the nearest year of the child's age should be taken. It is easier to remember one drachm for each year of age than it is the remember the same dosage in centimetres. (6) Injections should be given daily. (7) Adenoids, if present, do not seem to prevent cure by ether. (8) The beneficial action of ether in whooping cough is partly cue to direct bactericidal action on the bacilli of the disease, and partly by blockage of tne sensory receptive paths