Justifying an Adequate Response to the Vulnerable Other

Is it possible to justify requiring that I respond adequately to the other’s vulnerability? I contend that insofar as I value my own personal identity it is consistent to respond adequately to the vulnerability of the other. Part one provides a break down of vulnerability in terms of its fundamental indeterminacy. Part two illustrates how the ability to respond either adequately or inadequately to the other’s vulnerability is implied by the fundamental co-constitution of personal identity. I understand myself as a self only insofar as I stand in relation to other selves that see me as a self. If the relationship between recognition and identity also holds for the other, my response to her vulnerability founds her identity as well. In part three the relationship developed in part two is employed to justify the obligation to respond adequately to the vulnerable other. If I value my own personal identity, then I require an adequate response from others, because that response plays an integral role in the foundation of my personal identity. The other cannot respond adequately to my vulnerability unless her own identity is assured. Only if I respond adequately to the vulnerability of the other will she be in a position to assure my identity. Therefore, I ought to respond adequately to the vulnerability of others if for no other reason than it puts the other in a position where she can assure the personal identity that I value

Juliette: A model of sexual consent

The ‘yes means yes’ model of sexual consent and the political and ethical commitments that underpin this model have three fundamental disadvantages. This position unfairly polices the sexual expression of participants; it demands an unreasonably high standard for defining sexual interaction as consensual; and by denying the body’s capacity for expressing sexual consent this model allows perpetrators of sexual violence to define consent. I argue that a critical examination of Marquis de Sade’s novel Juliette can provide the basis for a model of sexual consent that avoids these problems by refraining from pre-judging the means by which consent is communicated

Re-examining the significance of the 750 GeV diphoton excess at ATLAS

The excess seen in the diphoton channel at around 750 GeV by both ATLAS and CMS has caused a great deal of excitement in the particle physics community. However, there has recently been much discussion about uncertainties in the significance of the peak seen by the ATLAS experiment. In this note, we aim to estimate this significance using a range of possible parametrisations for the smooth diphoton background. We obtain a local significance close to that reported by ATLAS and further demonstrate that the significance of the excess is not substantially reduced when more complicated background functions are considered. In particular, the background contribution is strongly constrained by the small numbers of events at large diphoton invariant mass. Future data releases will improve constraints on the diphoton background, as well as clarifying the true nature of the 750 GeV excess.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Code available at https://github.com/bradkav/ATLASfits/releases/latest . Additional references and discussion on impact of using binned data added in v3. Comments very welcom

A Denotational Semantics for SPARC TSO

The SPARC TSO weak memory model is defined axiomatically, with a non-compositional formulation that makes modular reasoning about programs difficult. Our denotational approach uses pomsets to provide a compositional semantics capturing exactly the behaviours permitted by SPARC TSO. It uses buffered states and an inductive definition of execution to assign an input-output meaning to pomsets. We show that our denotational account is sound and complete relative to the axiomatic account, that is, that it captures exactly the behaviours permitted by the axiomatic account. Our compositional approach facilitates the study of SPARC TSO and supports modular analysis of program behaviour

Regulatory systems, institutions and practices

Regulation is a fact of life. It affects the food we eat, the safety of our workplace, the goods and services we buy and sell and the quality of our natural environment. It plays an important role in guarding New Zealanders from harm, protecting our rights, and ensuring that markets work fairly and efficiently. However, when regulation is badly designed or implemented it can fail to provide these protections, or place unnecessary burdens on personal freedoms and business efficiency. So is the New Zealand regulatory system as good as it should be, and how could it be improved? • Steven Bailey is a director at the Productivity Commission and led the commission’s inquiry into regulatory institutions and practices. Judy Kavanagh is a principal advisor at the New Zealand Productivity Commission

The Effect of Motivational Highlight DVDs on State Self‐Confidence in Elite Female Hockey Players

Recent technological developments in applied sport psychology utilising video-taping and playback techniques to enhance athletic performance have become increasingly attractive to coaches, athletes, and sport psychologists (Ives et al., 2002: Journal of Applied S84 Abstracts Downloaded By: [Bournemouth University] At: 12:29 15 October 2009 Sport Psychology, 14, 237 – 245). This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of two types of highlight peak performance digital versatile discs (DVDs); peer-modelling and self-modelling, on state selfconfidence of elite female hockey players. It further addressed the issue of whether the experience of watching yourself versus observing peers differentially affects state self-confidence. The volunteer participants comprised 15 members of a female National League hockey squad located in the South of England (mean age 24.53, s¼4.94). DVDs incorporating highlight play were supplemented with inspirational music and viewed by the athletes at two stages in the competitive season (midseason and end of season). At both stages, the athletes were exposed to a peer modelling, selfmodelling, and control video during separate testing sessions. Athletes completed the State Sport- Confidence Inventory (Vealey, 1986: Journal of Sport Psychology, 8, 221 – 246) prior to and after viewing the highlight DVDs. The data were subjected to two 362 RM ANOVAs to determine if the self-modelling, peer-modelling, and control DVDs affected state self-confidence. An RM ANOVA was performed on data collected at the two stages of the competitive season. To determine the nature of change in state self-confidence in relation to type of DVD watched follow-up univariate ANOVAs were carried out on the dataset. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to explore participants’ perceptions of how the intervention affected their cognition, affect, and behaviour. Interviews were transcribed ad verbatim and analysed using inductive content analysis. Findings support and further encourage the use of motivational highlight DVDs in sport. Both the self-modelling and peer-modelling DVDs had a significant (P50.01) effect on state self-confidence at both stages in the competitive season. No differences were found between the effects of the self-modelling and peer-modelling DVDs during the mid season testing phase. At the end of season testing phase, the self modelling DVD proved to be superior in enhancing state self-confidence. This finding was supported through the results of the qualitative analysis. The results of this study provide empirical support for the use of motivational highlight DVDs as a pre-performance strategy in athletic situations

Nomogram for the Evaluation of Blackbody Radiancy and of Peak and Total Intensities for Spectral Lines with Lorentz Contour

A nomogram has been constructed for the determination of blackbody radiancy and of peak and total intensities for spectral lines with Lorentz contour. The basic equations used for the construction of the nomogram and the use of the nomogram are described briefly