Deleuze and Kant's Critical Philosophy

This thesis considers the status of Deleuze as a Kantian, and as such committed both to the critical destiny of philosophy, and the contestation of the sense of this destiny. The focus of Deleuze's reading of Kant is an active conception of thought: the fundamental elements of thought are will and value rather than being or the concept. In the development of this idea we can note a progressive 'tapering' of the foundational instance of thought, in three stages: from the speculative field of being to the practical field of reason; from the intellectual category of the concept to the problematic category of the Idea; from the teleological notion of the organism to the aesthetic notion of the singular. Within each stage we can perceive a polemic between the two terms: it is in each case a question of the 'sufficient reason' of thought, its conditions of the actuality beyond its possibility. The highest expression of our reason, for Kant, is neither theoretical nor utilitarian, but moral: the realisation of our lawful freedom. For Deleuze, on the other hand, the ultimate secret of our freedom and thus all of our thought is to be found rather in the realm of the aesthetic

Deleuze and Kant's Critical Philosophy

This thesis considers the status of Deleuze as a Kantian, and as such committed both to the critical destiny of philosophy, and the contestation of the sense of this destiny. The focus of Deleuze's reading of Kant is an active conception of thought: the fundamental elements of thought are will and value rather than being or the concept. In the development of this idea we can note a progressive 'tapering' of the foundational instance of thought, in three stages: from the speculative field of being to the practical field of reason; from the intellectual category of the concept to the problematic category of the Idea; from the teleological notion of the organism to the aesthetic notion of the singular. Within each stage we can perceive a polemic between the two terms: it is in each case a question of the 'sufficient reason' of thought, its conditions of the actuality beyond its possibility. The highest expression of our reason, for Kant, is neither theoretical nor utilitarian, but moral: the realisation of our lawful freedom. For Deleuze, on the other hand, the ultimate secret of our freedom and thus all of our thought is to be found rather in the realm of the aesthetic

A History Of Wave Energy

The following text is based almost entirely on government select committee reports, and other associated publications, on wave energy. It attelllpts to provide a complete picture, historically, of the wave energy programme. Although work has been done before 1973 and μi other countries, the text is Ila.inly concerned. with the expansion and development of the programme in the U.K., since this date. It introduces the people ani ievices involvei, and attempts to show the influence of the Government and the Civil Service upon them. It highlights the problems of funding research and develo:iment of alternative energy schemes, and looks at the possible contribution that this particular method of producing energy could make. In conclusion it looks at the possible future developaent, or otherwise, of the programme. As it is not a very technical report, I hope that it may be readily understood. by those not familiar with the subject, and yet provide inforaative and interesting reading for those aore expert

Evidence of Virtual Learning Commons in Independent School Library Webpages

This study describes a content analysis of library webpages in twenty-five North Carolina independent schools. The analysis was performed to identify evidence of instructional content that reflects the 21st century concept of libraries as learning commons. The rubric used was developed from AASL standards, NAIS guidelines, and other professional literature. The researcher found evidence of many information sources available (OPACS, databases, style manuals) but less evidence that shows how these resources are being used (student work, assessments, annual reports). Consequently, it is unclear whether each webpage is part of a 21st century learning commons or a more traditional media program

Survival of microencapsulated probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei LBC-1e during manufacture of Mozzarellacheese and simulated gastric digestion

An erythromycin-resistant strain of probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei LBC-1 (LBC-1e) was added to part-skim Mozzarella cheese in alginate-microencapsulated or free form at a level of 108 and 107 cfu/g, respectively. Survival of LBC-1e and total lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was investigated through the pasta filata process of cheese making (in which the cheese curd was heated to 55°C and stretched in 70°C-hot brine), followed by storage at 4°C for 6 wk and simulated gastric and intestinal digestion. This included incubation in 0.1 M and 0.01 M HCl, 0.9 M H3PO4, and a simulated intestinal juice consisting of pancreatin and bile salts in a pH 7.4 phosphate buffer. Some reductions were observed in both free and encapsulated LBC-1e during heating and stretching, with encapsulated LBC-1e surviving slightly better. Changes in total LAB losses during heating and stretching did not reach statistical significance. During storage, a decrease was observed in total LAB, but no statistically significant decrease was observed in LBC-1e. Survival during gastric digestion in HCl was dependent on the extent of neutralization of HCl by the cheese, with more survival in the weaker acid, in which pH increased to 4.4 after cheese addition. The alginate microcapsules did not provide any protection against the HCl. It is interesting that survival of the encapsulated LBC-1e was greater during incubation in H3PO4 than in the HCl gastric juices. Proper selection of simulated gastric digestion media is important for predicting the delivery of probiotic bacteria into the human intestinal tract. Neither free nor encapsulated LBC-1e was affected by incubation in the pancreatin-bile solution. Based on the level of probiotic bacteria in cheese needed to provide a health benefit and its survival during simulated gastric digestion, as determined in this study, it should theoretically be possible to lower the amount that needs to be ingested in cheese by up to a factor of 103 compared with other fermented dairy foods or when consumed as supplements

Gas-Forming Nonstarter Lactorbacilli

An obligatory heterofermentative lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus wasatchii sp. nov. isolated from gassy Cheddar cheese was studied for growth, gas formation, salt tolerance and survival against pasteurization treatments at 63°C and 72°C. Initially, Lb. wasatchii was thought to only use ribose as a sugar source and we were interested in whether it could utilize galactose. Experiments to determine rate and extent of growth and gas production in carbohydrate restricted (CR) de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) medium under anaerobic conditions with various combinations of ribose and galactose at 12, 23, and 37°C were conducted with 23°C being the more optimum growth temperature of Lb. wasatchii. When grown on ribose (0.1%, 0.5%, and 1%), maximum specific growth rates (μmax) within each temperature were similar. When galactose was the only sugar, μmax was 2 to 4 times lower than with ribose. At all temperatures, highest final cell densities (OD640) of Lb. wasatchii were achieved in CR-MRS plus 1% ribose, 0.5% ribose and 0.5% galactose, or 1% ribose combined with 1% galactose. Similar μmaxvalues and final cell densities were achieved when 50% of ribose in CR-MRS was substituted with galactose. Such enhanced utilization of galactose in the presence of ribose to support bacterial growth has not previously been reported. It appears that Lb. wasatchii co-metabolizes ribose and galactose, utilizing ribose for energy and galactose for other functions such as cell wall biosynthesis. Co-utilization of both sugars could be an adaptation mechanism of Lb. wasatchii to the cheese environment to efficiently ferment available sugars for maximizing metabolism and growth. As expected, gas formation by the heterofermenter was observed only when galactose was present in the media. Growth experiments with MRS plus 1.5% ribose at pH 5.2 or 6.5, with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5% NaCl revealed that Lb. wasatchii is able to grow under salt and pH conditions typical of Cheddar cheese (4 to 5% salt-in-moisture, ~pH 5.2). Finally, we found Lb. wasatchii cannot survive LTLT pasteurization but survives HTST lab pasteurization with 4.5 log reduction occurred. The ability of Lb. wasatchii to survive HTST pasteurization and grow under cheese ripening conditions implies that the presence of this nonstarter lactic acid bacteria can be a serious contributor to gas formation and textural defects in Cheddar cheese

Capturing the Real Impact of Clinical Academics in Practice

The Clinical Academic Careers Framework proposes an over-arching structure to develop the clinical academic workforce whose activities have patient benefit within a clear UK programme. Traditionally this has centred on professionals from medicine and dentistry, but in the last ten years has developed into a more inclusive career framework for non-medical health professions which includes Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals (NMAHPs) and Healthcare Scientists (HCSs) that provide NHS services. As such, it is reported that clinical academic NMAHPs and HCSs can contribute to the generation and translation of new knowledge to help improve outcomes and experiences for patients. In this article, we explore key issues relating to the impact of clinical academic NMAHPs and HCSs on clinical practice in a UK context, as well as some measurements of impact, including the value and limitations of currently used metrics (such as Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs). We report that measuring the learning in practice of this novel role will need to include smart metrics alongside a person-centred approach. We share four national case studies, all of which are drawn from clinical academic researchers from different UK settings to show the real variety and differences in roles. We argue that this is the key both to learning in practice about this role, and to witnessing the real differences clinical academics make

A search for distant radio-loud quasars in the CLASS survey: three new radio-selected quasars at z>4

We report on the search for distant radio-loud quasars in the Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey (CLASS) of flat spectrum radio sources with S_5GHz>30 mJy. Unresolved optical counterparts were selected from APM scans of POSS-I plates, with e2.0 colours, in an effective area of ~6400 deg^2. Four sources were found to be quasars with z>4, of which one was previously known. This sample bridges the gap between the strong radio surveys with S_5GHz>200 mJy and the samples of radio-weak quasars that can be generated via radio observations of optically selected quasars. In addition, 4 new quasars at z>3 have been found. The selection criteria result in a success-rate of ~1:7 for radio-loud quasars at z>4, which is a significant improvement over previous studies. This search yields a surface density of 1 per 1600 deg^2, which is about a factor of ~15 lower than that found in a similar search for radio-quiet quasars at z>4. The study presented here is strongly biased against quasars beyond z>4.5, since the e-passband of the POSS-I only samples the spectra shortward of 1200 Angstrom at these redshifts.Comment: LaTeX, 7 pages, 5 Figs: to be published in MNRA

Matching anonymous participants in longitudinal research on sensitive topics: Challenges and recommendations

The purpose of this study was to examine the final analytic sample of a longitudinal randomized control trial (RCT) evaluation of a sexual violence prevention program at a university after facing challenges with the implementation of a self-generated identification code. The matched and unmatched samples (e.g., all unique surveys across all time periods) included 10,135 surveys. Eighty-eight percent of these surveys were matched into the final longitudinal dataset. Findings suggest that students with certain characteristics were more likely to be matched over time (i.e., students who participated in student government, Latino/a students, and Asian students). In addition, students who did not comply with RCT protocol were less likely to be matched. Student history of victimization or perpetration of sexual violence was not associated with being matched over time. This study provides recommendations for preventing matching problems in longitudinal studies, a process for rectifying matching issues and a critique of studies that do not address issues of matching-related sample bias in their final analytic sample