5,826 research outputs found
The bearable lightness of being
How are philosophical questions about what kinds of things there are to be understood and how are they to be answered? This paper defends broadly Fregean answers to these questions. Ontological categories-such as object, property, and relation-are explained in terms of a prior logical categorization of expressions, as singular terms, predicates of varying degree and level, etc. Questions about what kinds of object, property, etc., there are are, on this approach, reduce to questions about truth and logical form: for example, the question whether there are numbers is the question whether there are true atomic statements in which expressions function as singular terms which, if they have reference at all, stand for numbers, and the question whether there are properties of a given type is a question about whether there are meaningful predicates of an appropriate degree and level. This approach is defended against the objection that it must be wrong because makes what there depend on us or our language. Some problems confronting the Fregean approach-including Frege's notorious paradox of the concept horse-are addressed. It is argued that the approach results in a modest and sober deflationary understanding of ontological commitments
Water Privatization in the Philippines: The Need to Implement the Human Right to Water
Water is widely recognized as an essential element to sustain life, yet attaining universal access to clean drinking water remains a perplexing issue throughout the lesser-developed world. In 1997, with backing from private investment and the World Bank, the Philippine government privatized the municipal water utility of Manila in an effort to improve service and promote efficiency. Nearly ten years later, privatization has failed to produce results and instead has engendered a contentious and polemical debate about the merits of privatization. Indeed, for policy makers, the case study of Manila has become a focal point in the debate about whether private companies or governments should operate municipal water utilities. This Comment argues that current models for water services, whether private or public, will continually fail to address the economic, social, and political needs of lesser-developed nations unless they recognize the human right to water. Although it has not attained the status of binding international law, the human right to water offers an alternative model for understanding the terms of the privatization debate. In the context of privatization, states must protect the human right to water through strong regulatory measures that guarantee access to water and prevent private companies from infringing on this right. Privatization in the Philippines currently does not protect the human right to water, and in future plans, the Philippine government should take steps to acknowledge and protect this right through strong regulatory controls and a universal access plan. This issue is timely for the Asian Pacific region, with its large number of failing privatized water systems. Water as a human right will be a useful model for the entire region
Interprofessional learning in practice: The student experience
Interprofessional learning and the development of teamworking skills are
recognised as essential for patient care and are also a government priority for
undergraduate education. Sixteen occupational therapy students worked on
an interprofessional training ward as part of their practice placement and three
of them participated in an evaluation using the nominal group technique.
Despite this small number, the evaluation identifies the value of this learning
experience in giving the students an opportunity to appreciate the importance of
interpersonal skills; to learn about other team members’ roles; and to experience
the challenges of working on a busy rehabilitation ward for older people
1978 Michigan Newspaper Survey
This report is based on a questionnarie survey conducted at Michigan State University in 1978
The clustering and bias of radio-selected AGN and star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field
Dark matter haloes in which galaxies reside are likely to have a significant
impact on their evolution. We investigate the link between dark matter haloes
and their constituent galaxies by measuring the angular two-point correlation
function of radio sources, using recently released 3 GHz imaging over $\sim 2 \
\mathrm{deg}^2z<1b = 1.5
^{+0.1}_{-0.2}z=0.62b = 2.1\pm 0.2b =
2.9 \pm 0.3b = 1.8^{+0.4}_{-0.5}z \sim 0.7M_{h} \sim 3-4
\times 10^{13}h^{-1}_{\odot}M_{h} \sim 1-2 \times
10^{13}h^{-1}_{\odot}z \ge 1z<1$.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted by MNRA
MAESTROS: A multi-wavelength time domain NIRS system to monitor changes in oxygenation and oxidation state of cytochrome-c-oxidase
CCBY We present a multi-wavelength, multi-channel, time domain near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system named MAESTROS. This instrument can measure absorption and scattering coefficients and can quantify the concentrations of oxy- and deoxy-haemoglobin ([HbO2] , [HHb]), and oxidation state of cytochrome-c-oxidase ([oxCCO] ). This system is composed of a supercontinuum laser source coupled with two acousto-optic tuneable filters (AOTF). The light is collected by four photomultipliers tubes (PMT), connected to a router to redirect the signal to a single TCSPC card. The interface between the system and the tissue is based on optical fibres. This arrangement allows us to resolve up to sixteen wavelengths, within the range of 650 to 900 nm, at a sampling rate compatible with the physiology (from 0.5 to 2 Hz). In this paper, we describe the system and assess its performance based on two specifically designed protocols for photon migration instruments, the BIP and nEUROPt protocols, and on a well characterized liquid phantom based on Intralipid and water. Then, the ability to resolve [HbO2], [HHb] and [oxCCO] is demonstrated on a homogeneous liquid phantom, based on blood for [HbO2] , [HHb] and yeast for [oxCCO] . In the future, the system could be used to monitor brain tissue physiology
Opportunities and Challenges for Rural Broadband Infrastructure Investment
Insufficient internet access is holding back local economies, reducing educational outcomes, and creating health disparities in rural areas of the U.S. At present, federal and state funding is available for rural broadband infrastructure deployment, but existing efforts have not invested in analytical work to maximize efficiency and minimize cost. In this study, we use a state-of-the-art matrix (SAM) to identify key challenges and opportunities facing rural broadband infrastructure from previous research and government reports. We focus on six themes: (1) technology, (2) hardware costs, (3) financing, (4) adoption, (5) regulatory/legal, and (6) management. We highlight key issues to be addressed by both private and public decision-makers to effectively manage broadband investment as well as engage stakeholders to improve access and adoption. Much of the challenge for rural broadband infrastructure is related to a low return on investment due to high capital costs and low population densities. However, there are many innovative approaches to overcoming this barrier from technical, policy, and social perspectives. Unfortunately, adoption and management are understudied and would benefit from additional research to design effective decision-making tools and programs. From a systems perspective, solutions that leverage tools from a diverse set of perspectives, rather than purely focusing on technology deployment, are more likely to be sustainable in the long-term. We outline an agenda for future work based on the needs of rural communities as well as local and state governments
Flexoelectricity and pattern formation in nematic liquid crystals
We present in this paper a detailed analysis of the flexoelectric instability
of a planar nematic layer in the presence of an alternating electric field
(frequency ), which leads to stripe patterns (flexodomains) in the
plane of the layer. This equilibrium transition is governed by the free energy
of the nematic which describes the elasticity with respects to the
orientational degrees of freedom supplemented by an electric part. Surprisingly
the limit is highly singular. In distinct contrast to the
dc-case, where the patterns are stationary and time-independent, they appear at
finite, small periodically in time as sudden bursts. Flexodomains are
in competition with the intensively studied electro-hydrodynamic instability in
nematics, which presents a non-equilibrium dissipative transition. It will be
demonstrated that is a very convenient control parameter to tune
between flexodomains and convection patterns, which are clearly distinguished
by the orientation of their stripes
THz Aperture Near-Field Spectroscopy of Dirac Plasmons in Topological Insulator Bi2Se3
We map the dispersion relation in ribbon gratings of topological insulator Bi2Se3 using both far-field and aperture-type near-field THz spectroscopy methods. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions of coupling between the optical phonon and massless Dirac plasmons
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