Self-Governing Policies: A Critique of Bratman

Michael Bratman in his essay “Reflection, Planning and Temporally Extended Agency” espouses a reductive view of agency based largely upon what he calls “self-governing policies.” Combining self-governing policies with a Lockean approach to personal identity over time, Bratman’s view stays within the bounds of event causation and attempts to reduce agency to mere attitudes. First I will give the problem Bratman’s approach to agency intends to solve, then move through his view beginning with the planning theory of intention, then on to his Lockean approach to personal identity and finally self-governing policies. I will then pose some problems for his theory

Visual Archives of the AIDS Epidemic: Examining the Cultivation of Anticipatory Mourning in the Works of Nan Goldin, Cookie Mueller, and Vittorio Scarpati

In examining Putti’s Puddingand The Cookie Portfolioas independent yet intertwined projects of anticipatory mourning, this thesis identifies Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing as the artistic fulfillment of Vittorio Scarpati, Cookie Mueller, and Nan Goldin’s combined efforts to proleptically manifest collective memory within the visual archive of their shared experience with AIDS. Assisted by an exploration of both the AIDS epidemic and the three artist’s linked life histories, this study also recognizes the importance of creating an art history inclusive of social and personal history whilst considering materials so inextricably linked to their creator’s biographical contexts

SPECTROSCOPIC TREASURE IN FORGOTTEN DATA: ROTATIONAL SPECTRUM ANALYSIS THROUGH AGGREGATED DATABASES

We present the automated analysis of rotational spectra using archived experimental and ab initio data. Modern rotational spectroscopy techniques have made acquiring experimental data extremely fast, yielding many GHz of information in seconds. This is in contrast to the analysis, which still takes many hours if not weeks of an expert’s time to fit. In order to bring rotational spectroscopy to a wider audience, new applications, and enable new science, the effort and time required to analyze a spectrum needs to be reduced. To reduce the analysis time, we aggregated more than 200 experimental spectra (from local instruments and literature) and more than 16,000 ab initio calculations into a library that is leveraged by automated algorithms to screen for identifications in rotational spectra. Screening with experimental data has been shown to give both highly accurate identification and quantification of a sample within a mixture in under 10 seconds per analysis. Unmatched residual lines are presented to the user for further analysis. Work is in progress to expand the number of matchable spectra inside the database and identify unknown constants using ab initio databases

An analysis of the geographic factors affecting agriculture and industry in the south-west peninsula west of the Tamar

The south western peninsula of England has been chosen for discussion since it forms a most interesting geographic unit. This is true as regards the type of agriculture and peculiarly characteristic industries. The general condition of agriculture - a primitive cereal development, low percentage of total acreage available for arable use, extensive permanent grasslands, and considerable expanses of moorland - are similar in the three western Counties of Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. In Cornwall, however, a more marked development of intensive farming is found with local specialisation in the extreme south western districts. With regard to industry Cornwall possesses a distinctive pilchard fishery, tin and copper mines and china clay quarries. Both Somerset and Devon are arable and pastoral to a greater extent. Cornwall is in many ways different and the region chosen has, therefore, been restricted to west of the Tamar River since this is in many ways a geographic unit. Isolation has played and still plays a great part in preserving the personality of the region. The link with Brittany is closer and of longer standing than with other parts of England, to which the region west of the Tamar is in many ways foreign. It was then decided, to make a study of the Cornish agriculture and industries which are analysed on a statistical basis from the most recent figures available, many of which are unpublished. Part I is intended to show the nature of the physical basis, Part II the extent of the controls, and Part III the development which has resulted in the past and finally the trend which is probable in future years. The aim of the thesis is to show clearly the relationship between natural conditions and the economic development as it exists and to trace the probable trend of future development.<p

Effect of Prenatal Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls on Incidence of Acute Respiratory Infections in Preschool Inuit Children

OBJECTIVE: We set out to assess whether environmental prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is associated with incidence of acute respiratory infections in preschool Inuit children. STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed the medical charts of 343 children from 0 to 5 years of age and evaluated the associations between PCB-153 concentration in umbilical cord plasma and the incidence rates of acute otitis media (AOM) and of upper and lower respiratory tract infections (URTIs and LRTIs, respectively). RESULTS: The incidence rates of AOM and LRTIs were positively associated with prenatal exposure to PCBs. Compared with children in the first quartile of exposure (least exposed), children in fourth quartile (most exposed) had rate ratios of 1.25 (p < 0.001) and 1.40 (p < 0.001) for AOM and LRTIs, respectively. There was no association between prenatal PCB exposure and incidence rate of URTIs or hospitalization. CONCLUSION: Prenatal exposure to PCBs could be responsible for a significant portion of respiratory infections in children of this population

La résilience psychologique et les facteurs de protections en contexte d'agression sexuelle auprès d'adolescents autochtones et caucassiens : une étude exploratoire

Problématique dénoncée depuis plusieurs années par les Autochtones du Canada, l'agression sexuelle (AS) implique des conséquences souvent dommageables tant sur le plan psychologique que sur celui de la qualité du tissu social de maintes communautés. Toutefois, il faut se garder de tirer des conclusions déterministes quant au traumatisme infligé initialement, puisque des résultats de recherche indiquent que certains facteurs semblent exercer un effet modérateur et permettre une certaine résilience psychologique. L'objectif global de cet essai est donc de mieux comprendre ce phénomène à travers l'exploration de la problématique de l'agression sexuelle chez les Autochtones. Le premier article vise à faire état de la situation en regard de l'agression sexuelle et des facteurs de résilience chez les Autochtones par une recension des écrits sur cette thématique. Certains faits historiques et sociaux postulés tels des déterminants en regard des problèmes actuels rencontrés au sein des communautés autochtones sont aussi exposés. Enfin, la notion de résilience psychologique est explorée dans une perspective de guérison autochtone. Ainsi, les données étudiées révèlent une prévalence élevée de l'agression sexuelle au sein des Premières Nations. Ces résultats troublants sont discutés et font l'objet d'une recension des hypothèses explicatives qui convergent essentiellement vers une transmission intergénérationnelle liée aux nombreux traumatismes infligés au cours de leur histoire; en particulier la période des pensionnats indiens. Enfin, un constat se dégage à l'effet que les facteurs de résilience chez les Autochtones doivent être conceptualisés dans une perspective écologique qui prend en compte non seulement l'individu, mais les interactions sociales et les valeurs spirituelles. Le deuxième article a quant à lui pour objectif d'explorer la résilience psychologique en contexte d'agression sexuelle auprès de 227 participants autochtones et caucasiens âgés entre 14 et 19 ans qui ont répondu à des questionnaires auto-rapportés. Pour ce faire, la résilience a été conceptualisée en termes d'absence de détresse psychologique. Le niveau d'estime de soi des adolescents fut mesuré, de même que des facteurs interpersonnels tel le soutien familial et communautaire, afin d'être cohérent avec une perspective autochtone qui repose sur une vision interrelationnelle entre l'individu et sa communauté. Dans l'ensemble, les résultats de cette étude révèlent que les adolescents autochtones n'ont pas été davantage victimes d'agression sexuelle que leurs homologues caucasiens, mais ils ont vécu davantage d'événements de vie délétères. En dépit de cette situation, les adolescents autochtones se révèlent davantage résilients. Les résultats des analyses de régression suggèrent également que l'estime de soi et la capacité de l'adolescent à rechercher de l'aide dans sa communauté sont associées à moins de détresse psychologique, soit plus de résilience

Tropes of (mis)understanding: imagining shared destinies in New Caledonia, 1853-1998

Cet article amorce une réflexion critique sur le préambule de l’accord de Nouméa en lisant ce dernier texte par rapport à une histoire plus longue de tentatives officielles et non-officielles pour imaginer ou définir les rapports entre les Kanaks, les colons et l’État français. Nous examinerons comment les destins des divers groupes ethniques ont été envisagés après les périodes de conflit et nous remarquerons l’accent mis sur les tropes de la mésentente ou de l’incompréhension dans l’explication de ces mêmes conflits.The paper critically assesses the preamble to the 1998 Nouméa Accord by reading it against a longer history of official and unofficial attempts to imagine or define relationships between Kanaks, settlers and the French State. Particular attention is paid to the way in which the destinies of the different ethnic groups have been imagined following periods of conflict and the way that tropes of misunderstanding or incomprehension have been used to account for such conflicts