David Hume's theory of justice: a defence of the establishment without recourse to the argument for the divine right of kings, or a workable guiding principle of legitimate and lasting government?

David Hume' political philosophy has a strongly paternalistic feel, leading to a misconception of Hume as a conservative thinker with little to contribute in the field of political philosophy beyond a defence of the status quo. This Thesis assesses the extent to which Hume's work can help us understand his world and our own. Chapter One dwells on the personality of David Hume, as a prerequisite to a fuller understanding of the intentions and significance of his work. Includes: Hume’s ambition; his concern for accuracy (and restraint from empty rhetoric); his caution; his objectivity (demonstrated by his greed for independence; his emotional side (including an introduction to the idea of Hume as agnostic rather than strictly an atheist as he is - still - often characterised); his attitude towards the truth. Chapter Two moves onto an examination of relevant parts of Hume's general philosophy, forming the beginning of Hume's theory of justice. Chapter Three concerns the impact of Hume's general philosophy on his politics. Hume’s theory of just government is rooted in his general thoughts on morality, which are characterised by a scepticism sometimes mistaken for cynicism. Hume dismisses the idea of an original and binding Contract of Government. In Hume's political philosophy man has the capacity for improvement and progress without being restrained by the past. Justice underscores civil society, which is about mutual protection - peace is justice. Justice is not necessarily about democracy, although Hume is not challenging the possibility of legitimate government authority. Key questions: What does Hume mean by stability in government? Is Hume right about Justice? What precisely does Hume mean by self-interest? Was Hume a democrat? Chapter Four Conclusion: concluding comments on Hume's philosophy of the state. Hume shares Hobbes' objective of non-ideological government. Hume was wary of change, especially if it was in accordance with some grand plan for society and / or mankind (which tended to mean revolution). Includes: the crucial role of property in Hume’s jurisprudence, empirical evidence from history to support this and other claims; more on the political culture in Hume's functional civil society, including a look at how Hume uses the Aristotelean distinction between man and citizen; the practical aspects of his theory of justice in government; conclusion that Hume’s theory of justice is a theory of property, and that this is because self-interest drives all men. Key questions: What is Hume's "common sense"? Has Hume identified the elusive, verifiable moral absolute? Can we derive a workable principle of civil society from Hume’s analysis? Did David Hume fulfil his lofty intellectual ambitions

Lonnie Castle Interview

Transcript of oral history interview with Lonnie Castle by John Hanrahan on his experiences during the Vietnam War on February 15, 1984

Understanding and assessing intercultural competence: A summary of theory, research, and practice (Technical report for the Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project)

In this report we summarize theory and research on intercultural competence, paying particular attention to existing approaches and tools for its assessment. We also review examples of the assessment of intercultural competence in the specific contexts of general education and college foreign language and study abroad programs. It is our hope that these resources will provide a useful basis to foreign language (and other) educators as they seek to understand and improve the intercultural competencies of their students

Ichthyological Bulletin; No. 33

The eel family Congridae is now known to be represented in the western Indian Ocean (here regarded to be west of 60 E. from and including the Red Sea, to Cape Point) by 11 genera and 19 species as well as at least five distinct larval forms which have not yet been identified. More than half of these species inhabit the shallow and offshore waters of the tropical western Indian Ocean. The remainder are known only from cool-temperate waters off the Cape, with one deep-water Atlantic species and one Mediterranean species also present in this area. Considerable additions to this fauna can be expected as the deep waters off the east coast are more fully sampled. Congrina wallacei sp. nov., de- scribed here from 260-270 fathoms off southern Mozambique and Durban, has rather large teeth on the jaws, a long snout and about 168 vertebrae. At least one species spawns off the Cape, but the majority probably do so over the western edge of the oceanic basins north and south of Madagascar. The shallow-water species show strong affinities with the tropical and cool-temperate Indo-Pacific.Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation

Women (and men) in the U.S. Army: a study in optimal utilization

Optimal utilization of all available resources is the ultimate goal of any nation's armed forces. This study examines the impact that the All Volunteer Force, the declining supply of 18 year-old males and legal and political pressures have had on the need for women in the U. S. Army. One major restriction to optimum utilization is the definition of combat. Numerical models employed to determine force structure consistent with the present restrictions and a current study to determine optimum unit female/male mix are discussed. The attitudes at all levels of command are the overwhelming influences on optimal utilization and these are examined along with the physiological and psychological nature of women and the effects of stereotyping. Discussions of current policies on career development, training, assignment and re-enlistment of personnel and conditions of employment are included. To provide a contrasting approach the study contains a brief discussion on the utilization of women in the armed forces of other nations. In conclusion four major areas (the need, the question of combat, specific management problems and the problem of attitudes) requiring command consideration and decision are identified.http://archive.org/details/womenandmeninusa00castCaptain, Australian ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

How do scientists define openness? Exploring the relationship between open science policies and research practice

This article documents how biomedical researchers in the United Kingdom understand and enact the idea of “openness.” This is of particular interest to researchers and science policy worldwide in view of the recent adoption of pioneering policies on Open Science and Open Access by the U.K. government—policies whose impact on and implications for research practice are in need of urgent evaluation, so as to decide on their eventual implementation elsewhere. This study is based on 22 in-depth interviews with U.K. researchers in systems biology, synthetic biology, and bioinformatics, which were conducted between September 2013 and February 2014. Through an analysis of the interview transcripts, we identify seven core themes that characterize researchers’ understanding of openness in science and nine factors that shape the practice of openness in research. Our findings highlight the implications that Open Science policies can have for research processes and outcomes and provide recommendations for enhancing their content, effectiveness, and implementation

Managing the transition to Open Access publishing: a psychological perspective

Scholarly publishing plays a key role in disseminating scientific and technical knowledge and driving innovation. This paper argues that to manage the transition to the Open Access (OA) model of scholarly publishing we need to understand better what enables, encourages and inhibits the adoption of OA publishing among scientists, and to appreciate individual differences within disciplines. The study adopts a psychological perspective to elucidate motivations, capabilities and opportunities for OA publishing among bio-scientists in the UK. To identify individual differences within the discipline we interview bio-scientists with starkly different past practices for disclosing research data and technologies. Content analysis of the interview data reveals that the sampled bio-scientists face similar obstacles and enablers in their physical environment, but that their motivations and experience of their social environments differ. One group is strongly motivated to adopt OA publishing - mainly by their moral convictions and beliefs that OA benefits themselves, other scientists and society - and feels peer pressure related to OA. The other group expresses fewer pro-OA beliefs, holds beliefs that are demotivating towards adoption of OA publishing, but feels pressure from research funders to adopt this form of publishing. Our quantitative analysis reveals that the former group makes more frequent use of OA publishing compared to the latter group, which suggests that only those with strong motivations will work to overcome the obstacles in their social and physical environments. The individual differences within the discipline suggest that bio-scientists are unlikely to respond to OA policies in the same way and, thus, we question the appropriateness of one-size-fits-all OA policies. We show that psychological analyses of scientists’ behaviour can inform the design of more targeted policies and organisational interventions aimed at steering a transition to the OA model of academic publishing

Effect of cough technique and cryogen gas on temperatures achieved during simulated cryotherapy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cryotherapy is often used to treat cervical precancer in developing countries. There are different methods and cryogen gases used for cryotherapy, including the freeze-flush-freeze (cough) technique employed to minimize gas blockage. However, there is limited information to compare their effectiveness.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using a tissue model, we compared temperature-time curves for four cryotherapy methods: uninterrupted freezing with nitrous oxide (N₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), and two methods using a standard and extended version of the cough technique with CO₂.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Uninterrupted freezing with both N₂O and CO₂produced tissue temperatures less than -20°C (-40°C and -30°C respectively). CO₂cryotherapy procedures using the two cough techniques produced temperatures greater than -20°C in the model tissue.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CO₂cryotherapy using the cough technique may not achieve sufficiently low temperatures to produce the desired therapeutic effect. Other alternatives to the prevention of gas blockage should be developed.</p

Development of an Advanced Net‐Centric Communication Management Suite: Multi‐Modal Communication

Even with advanced collaborative technology, communication remains a critical component to the success of a mission. Command and Control (C2) operators rely heavily on radio and chat communication to efficiently plan, direct, coordinate, and control assets. With the shift towards network‐centric warfare, standard radio communication needs to meet the needs of today’s warfighter. A net‐centric communication management suite called Multi‐Modal Communication (MMC) has been developed to increase the performance and situational awareness of the operator while also alleviating the workload and errors associated with this communication intensive environment. This integrated system captures, displays, records, and archives radio and chat‐based communication to better equip the warfighters by providing instant access to past transmission as well as increasing the intelligibility of current messages. This poster and demonstration explores the development and testing of these advanced tools as compared to standard radio and chat interfaces. This study examined the performance associated with monitoring multiple communication channels with access to different tools. Performance was analyzed in regards to message detection, response accuracy and time. Data showed that MMC provides a balance between the speed of radio listening and the accuracy and datacapturing capabilities of chat displays. MMC can be a beneficial tool to C2 operators in its ability to increase intelligibly while providing a persistent, searchable visual display of voice and chat communication

Evolutionarily conserved and diverged alternative splicing events show different expression and functional profiles

To better decipher the functional impact of alternative splicing, we classified alternative splicing events in 10 818 pairs of human and mouse genes based on conservation at genome and transcript levels. Expression levels of conserved alternative splices in human and mouse expressed sequence tag databases show strong correlation, indicating that alternative splicing is similarly regulated in both species. A total of 43% (8921) of mouse alternative splices could be found in the human genome but not in human transcripts. Five of eleven tested mouse predictions were observed in human tissues, demonstrating that mouse transcripts provide a valuable resource for identifying alternative splicing events in human genes. Combining gene-specific measures of conserved and diverged alternative splicing with both gene classification based on Gene Ontology (GO) and microarray-determined gene expression in 52 diverse human tissues and cell lines, we found conserved alternative splicing most enriched in brain-expressed signaling pathways. Diverged alternative splicing is more prevalent in testis and cancerous cell line up-regulated processes, including protein biosynthesis, responses to stress and responses to endogenous stimuli. Using conservation as a surrogate for functional significance, these results suggest that alternative splicing plays an important role in enhancing the functional capacity of central nervous systems, while non-functional splicing more frequently occurs in testis and cell lines, possibly as a result of cellular stress and rapid proliferation