Safety and Knowledge in God

In recent ”secular’ Epistemology, much attention has been paid to formulating an ”anti-luck’ or ”safety’ condition; it is now widely held that such a condition is an essential part of any satisfactory post-Gettier reflection on the nature of knowledge. In this paper, I explain the safety condition as it has emerged and then explore some implications of and for it arising from considering the God issue. It looks at the outset as if safety might be ”good news’ for a view characteristic of Reformed Epistemology, viz. the view that if Theism is true, many philosophically unsophisticated believers probably know that it’s true. A sub-conclusion of my paper though suggests that as safety does not by itself turn true belief into knowledge, the recent focus on it is not quite such good news for Reformed Epistemologists as they may have hoped: it’s not that safety provides a new route by which they can reach this sort of conclusion. But safety is still good news for their view at least in the sense that there is no reason arising from considering it to count these philosophically unsophisticated believers as not knowing that there’s a God. I conclude by reflecting that good news for Reformed Epistemology is perhaps bad news for the discipline of Philosophy of Religion more generally, as there’s a possible ”reflection destroys knowledge’-implication to be drawn. Those who have been led to their religious beliefs in at least some philosophically unsophisticated ways seem to enjoy much safer religious beliefs than those who have been led to their religious beliefs by philosophical reflection, so the discipline as a whole will be adversely affected if safety is eventually accorded the role of a necessary condition for knowledge

Effects of an on line bypass oil recycler on emissions with oil age for a bus using in service testing

A method of cleaning lubricating oil on line was investigated using a fine bypass particulate filter followed by an infra red heater. Two bypass filter sizes of 6 and 1 micron were investigated, both filter sizes were effective but the one micron filter had the greatest benefit. This was tested on two nominally identical EURO 2 emissions compliance single decker buses, fitted with Cummins 6 cylinder 8.3 litre turbocharged intercooled engines and coded as Bus 4063 and 4070. These vehicles had emissions characteristics that were significantly different, in spite of their similar age and total mileage. Bus 4063 showed an apparent deterioration on emissions with time while Bus 4070 showed a stabilised trend on emissions with time for their baseline tests without the recycler fitted. Comparison was made with the emissions on the same vehicles and engines with and without the on-line bypass oil recycler. Engine exhaust emissions were measured about every 2000 miles. All tests started with an oil drain and fresh lubricating oil. The two buses were tested in a different sequence, Bus 4063 with the recycler fitted and then removed later in the test after an oil change and Bus 4070 with no recycler fitted at first and then fitted after 29,000 miles with no oil change. The Bus 4070 was also the one with the finer bypass filter. The test mileage was 45,000 miles for Bus 4063 and 48,000 miles for Bus 4070. The air/fuel ratio was worked out by the exhaust gas analysis. The correlation between air/fuel ratio and emission parameters was determined. The results showed that the on line oil recycler cleaning system reduced the rate of increase of the NOx from 5% to 1.6% for Bus 4063 and from 4.1% to 0% for Bus 4070 per 10,000 miles. Hydrocarbon emissions increased 30 ppm per 10,000 miles with the recycler removed compared to a stabilised level with the recycler fitted for Bus 4063. There was a small decrease in hydrocarbon emissions after fitting the recycler for Bus 4070. The particulate emissions were reduced by 35% for Bus 4063 and 24% for Bus 4070 on average. The reductions on total particulate mass were due to reductions on particulate carbon and lube oil VOF emissions. The black smoke was reduced by 56% for Bus 4063 in terms of rate of increase and 40% for Bus 4070 in terms of average value

The influence of an oil recycler on emissions with oil age for a refuse truck using in service testing

A method of cleaning lubricating oil on line was investigated using a fine bypass particulate filter followed by an infra red heater. Two bypass filter sizes of 6 and 1 micron were investigated, both filter sizes were effective but the one micron filter had the greatest benefit. This was tested on two nominally identical EURO 1 emissions compliance refuse trucks, fitted with Perkins Phazer 210Ti 6 litre turbocharged intercooled engines and coded as RT320 and RT321. These vehicles had emissions characteristics that were significantly different, in spite of their similar age and total mileage. RT321 showed an apparent heavier black smoke than RT320. Comparison was made with the emissions on the same vehicles and engines with and without the on-line bypass oil recycler. Engine exhaust emissions were measured about every 400 miles. Both vehicles started the test with an oil drain and fresh lubricating oil. The two refuse trucks were tested in a different sequence, the RT320 without the recycler fitted and then fitted later and the RT321 with the recycler fitted and then removed later in the test and both without any oil change. The RT320 was also the one with the finer bypass filter. The test mileage was nearly 8,000 miles both trucks. The air/fuel ratio was worked out by the exhaust gas analysis. The correlation between air/fuel ratio and emission parameters was determined and appropriate corrections were made in the case of that the air/fuel ratio had an effect on emissions. The results showed that the on line oil recycler cleaning system can reduce the rate of increase of the NOx with oil age. There appeared little influence of the oil recycler on carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions. The rate of increase in particulate emissions was reduced by 50% for RT320 and an immediate decrease in particulate emissions was seen on RT320 test after fitting the recycler. The black smoke was reduced by 30% for RT320 in terms average value and an immediate decrease in smoke after fitting the recycler on RT320 test and an immediate increase in smoke after the removal of the recycler on RT321 test were shown

The rescaling of sub-national planning: Can localism resolve England’s spatial planning conundrum?

This paper analyses the recent reorganisation of sub-national planning in England. The abrupt termination in 2010 of regional spatial strategies (RSSs) left England as the only major country in north-western Europe without effective sub-national governance structures (outside London) for spatial planning. Drawing on in-depth interviews with public-sector planners and other research material, this paper analyses the impacts of the demise of regional planning for ‘larger-than-local’ policy coordination in England. The paper seeks to question whether localism can succeed where regionalism is perceived to have failed in dealing effectively with the strategic spatial dilemmas integral to planning. It concludes by assessing whether the evolving decentralised forms of sub-national governance (combined authorities and local enterprise partnerships (LEPs)) emerging through the government’s ‘devolution revolution’ can develop to fill the current strategic planning void and resurrect some form of spatial planning throughout England

Convicts or Conquistadores ? Spanish Soldiers in the Seventeenth-Century Pacific

The Spanish colonisation of the Philippines relied on yearly dispatches of soldiers across the Pacific from New Spain. While professional Spanish soldiers formed the backbone of missions of conquest and exploration, they were in reality numerically weak. Royal officials in Manila struggled throughout the century to cover the bare necessities of defence let alone extend Spanish domination across the region. Faced with a chronic shortage of voluntary recruits, officials in New Spain and the Philippines increasingly relied upon a multiethnic mix of criminals and vagabonds found in the urban centres and rural highways of New Spain, who were impressed and coerced into military service. At the same time, however, conditions experienced in the Philippines equally undermined the effectiveness of the military. Widespread shortages in silver and supplies meant that soldiers existed in a state of chronic poverty and many chose to desert or turn to criminality. Thus, by examining the Spanish side of conquest we find that loyalty to the project of empire amongst those who were supposedly its chief protagonists was often contingent. By closely examining the social composition of Spanish soldiers serving in the Philippines in the seventeenth century, this article directly challenges the assumption that all Spanish agents of the colonial project in the Pacific were motivated by goals of self-aggrandisement and personal enrichment

Academic Libraries and Learning Support in Collaboration. Library Based Guidance for Peer Assisted Learning Leaders at Bournemouth University: Theory and Practice.

This article begins with an overview of the University’s pioneering Peer Assisted Learning Scheme (PAL) and describes how in 2005/6, the Library became involved, collaborating with the PAL Coordinator to develop materials for use by PAL Leaders. PAL is intended to foster cross-year support between students on the same course. It encourages students to support each other and learn co-operatively under the guidance of trained students from the year above - called PAL Leaders. Two documents were produced to support and empower these leaders. The first, Using the Library for Your Research, provides leaders with key guidance information on the University Library, its resources and the services it provides. The second, Citing References Using the Harvard System, aims to explain and demystify the Harvard Referencing system and to encourage good referencing habits from an early stage of their course through a practical hands-on exercise. Feedback from PAL Leaders continues to inform the development of these guidance materials, in particular the referencing exercise which was reworked to better suit the needs of the leaders delivering it

Corporate control and multiple large shareholders

Many firms have more than one blockholder, but finance theory suggests that one blockholder should be sufficient to bestow all benefits on a firm that arise from concentrated ownership. This paper identifies a reason why more blockholders may arise endogenously. We consider a setting where multiple shareholders have endogenous conflicts of interest depending on the size of their stake. Such conflicts arise because larger shareholders tend to be less well diversified and would therefore prefer the firm to pursue more conservative investment policies. When the investment policy is determined by a shareholder vote, a single blockholder may be able to choose an investment policy that is far away from the dispersed shareholders' preferred policy. Anticipating this outcome reduces the price at which shares trade. A second blockholder (or more) can mitigate the conflict by shifting the voting outcome more towards the dispersed shareholders' preferred investment policy and this raises the share price. The paper derives conditions under which there are blockholder equilibria.The model shows how different ownership structures affect firm value and the degree of underpricing in an IPO

Sensor optimization in smart insoles for post-stroke gait asymmetries using total variation and L1 distances

By deploying pressure sensors on insoles, the forces exerted by the different parts of the foot when performing tasks standing up can be captured. The number and location of sensors to use are important factors in order to enhance the accuracy of parameters used in assessment while minimizing the cost of the device by reducing the number of deployed sensors. Selecting the best locations and the required number of sensors depends on the application and the features that we want to assess. In this paper, we present a computational process to select the optimal set of sensors to characterize gait asymmetries and plantar pressure patterns for stroke survivors based upon the total variation and L1 distances. The proposed mechanism is ecologically validated in a real environment with 14 stroke survivors and 14 control users. The number of sensors is reduced to 4, minimizing the cost of the device both for commercial users and companies and enhancing the cost to benefit ratio for its uptake from a national healthcare system. The results show that the sensors that better represent the gait asymmetries for healthy controls are the sensors under the big toe and midfoot and the sensors in the forefoot and midfoot for stroke survivors. The results also show that all four regions of the foot (toes, forefoot, midfoot, and heel) play an important role for plantar pressure pattern reconstruction for stroke survivors, while the heel and forefoot region are more prominent for healthy controls

The recovery of function during physiotherapy: A theoretical basis for stroke rehabilitation.

This research was undertaken to address a number of problems identified in the literature, the most fundamental issue being, the lack of evidence of effective physiotherapy intervention for stroke patients. It appeared that a contributing factor was a lack of appropriate measuring tools that fulfilled both the theories of measurements and the theoretical basis of current physiotherapy practice.The purpose of the study was therefore, to choose a measure, define and validate the measure and to use the measure to develop knowledge and understanding of not only the outcome of physiotherapy, but also the physiotherapy process itself. The Bobath Approach was chosen for evaluation as this appeared, from the literature, to be the least evaluated and the most frequently used approach in the UK.A triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methodology was used in a research programme that was divided into four phases: 1. Identifying the measurement needs in stroke rehabilitation and choosing a measure that fulfilled the required specification. 2. Having chosen the TELER method, developing TELER Indicators definitions in a patient driven study, involving the clinical knowledge of practising physiotherapists and 'expert' physiotherapists in the area of neurological rehabilitation. 3. Validating the definitions of the TELER Indicators using the Motor Assessment Scale. 4. Using the developed measure in 4 single case studies.The research involved 71 stroke patients on 12 stroke units, scored on a total of 322 functional goals, 247 demonstrating a consolidation and acquisition pattern. The study established the characteristics of functional recovery during physiotherapy, providing information and knowledge regarding the model of intervention used, and the pattern of selective trunk muscle recovery occurring. It was concluded that, motor relearning does occur during the implementation of the Bobath Approach for the treatment of stroke patients and furthermore, it was established that, there is a misunderstanding of the concept of spontaneous recovery within the literature. The similarities and differences between the Bobath Approach and the Motor Relearning Programme were identified, establishing a theoretical basis for stroke rehabilitation