Perfecting Kant's highest good

The highest good is to Kant’s moral philosophy what things-in-themselves are to his metaphysics. Kant's system is incomplete without it, but the system itself seems to reject any notion of content at the level needed. In this thesis, I take a look at the debate between Eoin O'Connell and Andrews Reath as to whether the relation between the constituents of the highest good, virtue and happiness, should be regarded as one of proportionality or one that tells us only that should both be maximized. With an eye on content and the threat of heteronomy, I track the highest good as the necessary idea of the unconditioned totality of the object of pure practical reason. I demonstrate that O'Connell's and Reath's positions stem from a misreading of the typic of pure practical judgment and argue that, counter to O'Connell's claims, the proportionality relation Kant has in mind when introducing the impartial spectator does not entail a notion of just desserts. In the end, I conclude that although neither a maximization nor a proportionality thesis are acceptable, Kant's introduction of the impartial spectator gives us an idea of the highest good that both preserves the formal aspect of Kant's system and, although cutting short the project to establish the unconditioned totality of the object of pure practical reason, makes the highest good an objective and possible end for moral agents

Measuring the notched compressive strength of composite laminates: Specimen size effects

Large fibre reinforced composite structures can give much lower strengths than small test specimens, so a proper understanding of scaling is vital for their safe and efficient use. Small size (scale) specimens are commonly tested to justify allowable stresses, but could be dangerous if results are extrapolated without accounting for scaling effects. On the other hand large factors are sometimes applied to compensate for uncertainties, resulting in overweight designs. The most important variables of scaling effects on the strength of composites with open holes have been identified from experimental tests as notch size, ply and laminate thickness. In this study, these have been scaled both independently and simultaneously over a large range of combinations. The specimens are fabricated from commercially available (Hexcel Composites Ltd.) carbon/epoxy pre-impregnated tapes 0.125 mm thick (IM7/8552). The material is laid up by hand in unidirectional [04]ns with n = 2, 3, 4, and 8 (i.e., 2, 3, 4 and 8 mm thick) and multidirectional laminates; two generic quasi-isotropic lay-ups, one fabricated with blocked plies [45n/90n/−45n/0n]s and the other with distributed layers [45/90/−45/0]ns with n = 2, 4 and 8 are examined. It is shown that the critical failure mechanism in these laminates is in the form of fibre microbuckling or kinking. The unnotched compressive strength in unidirectional specimens thicker than 2 mm is found to be limited by the stress concentration developed at the end tabs and manufacturing induced defects in the form of ply waviness, fibre misalignment and voids rather than specimen size (scaling). In the open hole specimens, for both lay-ups, the strength reduction observed is due to hole size effect rather than specimen thickness or volume increase. The open hole (notched) compressive strength results obtained compare favourably to predictions by a linear softening cohesive zone fracture model developed in earlier work by the second author

Strategies for Insurance Agency Managers to Retain Customers and Improve Revenue

The cost of creating new property and casualty insurance accounts is much greater than the costs associated with sustaining current accounts. Property and casualty insurance agency managers lack strategies to retain customers, the retention of whom has been found to improve revenue. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies for insurance agency managers to retain customers and improve revenue. The population used for the study was 4 insurance agency managers in the Northeastern United States. The conceptual framework was customer relationship management, which is a technological and organizational mechanism for buffering market instability by understanding customer concerns. Three data collection methods were used: semistructured interviews, documentation review, and review of physical artifacts. The approach to data analysis was general inductive to allow codes to emerge from the raw data, one with qualitative software used to condense raw data into key themes. Five themes emerged in the study: customer relationship management, employee communication, customer satisfaction, influence of strategic planning, and competition. The study may contribute to social change by offering guidance to property and casualty insurance agency managers on business sustainability, which may result in improvements to the local economy through the provision of sustainable jobs to community members, increases in employee retention, and the offering of reliable services to customers

Ecological Impacts of the TVA Coal Ash Spill in Kingston, TN: A Two Year Assessment

A two year investigation into the environmental impacts of a coal combustion waste spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston coal-fired power plant revealed several impacts. First, selenium concentrations were identified above criterion continuous concentration (CCC) set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in total available water samples, and sediment samples were elevated up to 21 times background concentrations for arsenic following the spill. Second, fish body burdens for arsenic and selenium were statistically elevated in the months following the spill, particularly in redear sunfish. Third, body burdens were found to be statistically different between fish species for many elements, which can be attributed to diet and trophic level. Forth, concentrations of selenium in fish tissues were above proposed biological effects concentrations. Furthermore, fish were identified with pathological abnormalities such as exopthalmus, histopathological changes in the gills, reduced condition index, bacterial infections, and fin erosion. However, following an analysis of young bluegill sunfish demonstrating exopthalmus, no direct correlation could be made between these individuals and highly elevated contaminant concentrations. Fish populations are showing sustained elevation of toxic elements two years following the spill but are also likely benefitting from immigration/ emigration of individuals from healthy source populations

A task and performance analysis of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) surgery

BACKGROUND: ESD is an endoscopic technique for en bloc resection of gastrointestinal lesions. ESD is a widely-used in Japan and throughout Asia, but not as prevalent in Europe or the US. The procedure is technically challenging and has higher adverse events (bleeding, perforation) compared to endoscopic mucosal resection. Inadequate training platforms and lack of established training curricula have restricted its wide acceptance in the US. Thus, we aim to develop a Virtual Endoluminal Surgery Simulator (VESS) for objective ESD training and assessment. In this work, we performed task and performance analysis of ESD surgeries. METHODS: We performed a detailed colorectal ESD task analysis and identified the critical ESD steps for lesion identification, marking, injection, circumferential cutting, dissection, intraprocedural complication management, and post-procedure examination. We constructed a hierarchical task tree that elaborates the order of tasks in these steps. Furthermore, we developed quantitative ESD performance metrics. We measured task times and scores of 16 ESD surgeries performed by four different endoscopic surgeons. RESULTS: The average time of the marking, injection, and circumferential cutting phases are 203.4 (σ: 205.46), 83.5 (σ: 49.92), 908.4 s. (σ: 584.53), respectively. Cutting the submucosal layer takes most of the time of overall ESD procedure time with an average of 1394.7 s (σ: 908.43). We also performed correlation analysis (Pearson's test) among the performance scores of the tasks. There is a moderate positive correlation (R = 0.528, p = 0.0355) between marking scores and total scores, a strong positive correlation (R = 0.7879, p = 0.0003) between circumferential cutting and submucosal dissection and total scores. Similarly, we noted a strong positive correlation (R = 0.7095, p = 0.0021) between circumferential cutting and submucosal dissection and marking scores. CONCLUSIONS: We elaborated ESD tasks and developed quantitative performance metrics used in analysis of actual surgery performance. These ESD metrics will be used in future validation studies of our VESS simulator

Chemistry in Infrared Dark Cloud Clumps: a Molecular Line Survey at 3 mm

We have observed 37 Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs), containing a total of 159 clumps, in high-density molecular tracers at 3 mm using the 22-meter ATNF Mopra Telescope located in Australia. After determining kinematic distances, we eliminated clumps that are not located in IRDCs and clumps with a separation between them of less than one Mopra beam. Our final sample consists of 92 IRDC clumps. The most commonly detected molecular lines are (detection rates higher than 8%): N2H+, HNC, HN13C, HCO+, H13CO+, HCN, C2H, HC3N, HNCO, and SiO. We investigate the behavior of the different molecular tracers and look for chemical variations as a function of an evolutionary sequence based on Spitzer IRAC and MIPS emission. We find that the molecular tracers behave differently through the evolutionary sequence and some of them can be used to yield useful relative age information. The presence of HNC and N2H+ lines do not depend on the star formation activity. On the other hand, HC3N, HNCO, and SiO are predominantly detected in later stages of evolution. Optical depth calculations show that in IRDC clumps the N2H+ line is optically thin, the C2H line is moderately optically thick, and HNC and HCO+ are optically thick. The HCN hyperfine transitions are blended, and, in addition, show self-absorbed line profiles and extended wing emission. These factors combined prevent the use of HCN hyperfine transitions for the calculation of physical parameters. Total column densities of the different molecules, except C2H, increase with the evolutionary stage of the clumps. Molecular abundances increase with the evolutionary stage for N2H+ and HCO+. The N2H+/HCO+ and N2H+/HNC abudance ratios act as chemical clocks, increasing with the evolution of the clumps.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 29 page

Longitudinal algorithms to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness: associations with nonfatal cardiovascular disease and disease-specific mortality

Objectives This study sought to determine the capacity of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) algorithms without exercise testing to predict the risk for nonfatal cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and disease-specific mortality. Background Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is not routinely measured, as it requires trained personnel and specialized equipment. Methods Participants were 43,356 adults (21% women) from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, followed up between 1974 and 2003. Estimated CRF was determined on the basis of sex, age, body mass index, waist circumference, resting heart rate, physical activity level, and smoking status. Actual CRF was measured by a maximal treadmill test. Risk reduction per 1-metabolic equivalent increase, discriminative ability (c statistic), and net reclassification improvement were determined. Results During a median follow-up of 14.5 years, 1,934 deaths occurred, 627 due to CVD. In a subsample of 18,095 participants, 1,049 cases of nonfatal CVD events were ascertained. After adjustment for potential confounders, both measured and estimated CRF were inversely associated with risks for all-cause mortality, CVD-related mortality and nonfatal CVD events in men, and all-cause mortality and nonfatal CVD events in women. The risk reduction per 1-metabolic equivalent increase ranged from approximately 10% to 20%. Measured CRF had a slightly better discriminative ability (c statistic) than did estimated CRF, and the net reclassification improvement values in measured CRF versus estimated CRF were 12.3% in men (p < 0.05) and 19.8% in women (p < 0.001). Conclusions These CRF algorithms utilized information routinely collected to obtain an estimate of CRF, which provides a valid indication of health status. In addition to identifying people at risk, this method can provide more appropriate exercise recommendations that reflect initial CRF levels

Recent developments in the characterization of superconducting films by microwaves

We describe and analyze selected surface impedance data recently obtained by different groups on cuprate, ruthenate and diboride superconducting films on metallic and dielectric substrates for fundamental studies and microwave applications. The discussion includes a first review of microwave data on MgB2, the weak-link behaviour of RABiTS-type YBa2Cu3O7-d tapes, and the observation of a strong anomalous power-dependence of the microwave losses in MgO at low temperatures. We demonstrate how microwave measurements can be used to investigate electronic, magnetic, and dielectric dissipation and relaxation in the films and substrates. The impact of such studies reaches from the extraction of microscopic information to the engineering of materials and further on to applications in power systems and communication technology.Comment: Invited contribution to EUCAS2001, accepted for publication in Physica C in its present for

Predictors of multidomain decline in health‐related quality of life after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for prostate cancer

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136687/1/cncr30519_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136687/2/cncr30519.pd

Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria During Rhinovirus Infection is Associated with Increased Respiratory Symptoms and Exacerbations of Asthma

Background Detection of either viral or bacterial pathogens is associated with wheezing in children, however the influence of both bacteria and virus on illness symptoms has not been described. Objective We evaluated bacterial detection during peak RV season in children with and without asthma to determine if an association exists between bacterial infection and the severity of RV illnesses. Methods 308 children (166 with asthma, 142 without asthma) ages 4–12 years provided five consecutive weekly nasal samples during September, and scored cold and asthma symptoms daily. Viral diagnostics and quantitative PCR for Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis were performed on all nasal samples. Results Detection rates were 53%, 17% and 11% for H. influenzae, S. pneumoniae and M. catarrhalis, respectively, with detection of RV increasing the risk of detecting bacteria within the same sample (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.4–2.7, p<0.0001) or the following week (OR 1.6 (1.1–2.4), p=0.02). In the absence of RV, S. pneumoniae was associated with increased cold symptoms (mean 2.7 (95% CI 2.0–3.5) vs. 1.8 (1.5–2.2), p=0.006) and moderate asthma exacerbations (18% (12%–27%) vs. 9.2% (6.7%–12%), p=0.006). In the presence of RV, S. pneumoniae was associated with increased moderate asthma exacerbations (22% (16%–29%) vs. 15% (11%–20%), p=0.01). Furthermore, M. catarrhalis detected alongside RV increased the likelihood of experiencing cold and/or asthma symptoms compared to isolated detection of RV (OR 2.0 (1.0–4.1), p=0.04). Regardless of RV status, H. influenzae was not associated with respiratory symptoms. Conclusion RV infection enhances detection of specific bacterial pathogens in children with and without asthma. Furthermore, these findings suggest that M. catarrhalis and S. pneumoniae contribute to the severity of respiratory illnesses, including exacerbations of asthma