Anthropocentric Realism about Values

31 The choice of human goals cannot be completely subjective, because 32 there are some (even ones that motivate many humans) that are simply 33 unintelligible as ultimate goals. For example, wealth is rational as an 34 intermediate goal, a means to achieving some further end, but it is simply 35 unintelligible to suggest that wealth is an ultimate goal in itself. Second, 36 we have seen that some things are reasonable to pursue as aspects of 37 our ultimate goals (like prestige and pleasure), but they are conceptu- 38 ally dependent on some other goal to give them concrete form. In this 39 essay, I argue in favor of six candidates for ultimate goal

Not so straight: a national study examining how Catholic Schools can best respond to the needs of same sex attracted students

The Christian Church believes that every person is made in the image and likeness of God. The human person is defined in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis on the basis of a relationship with God. This report, prepared as a resource and training document for school administrators in Catholic schools, focuses on the needs of “same sex attracted students” among the 660,000 students who attend Catholic schools in Australia today. Not So Straight is a national study examining how Catholic schools can best respond to the needs of same sex attracted students. Such young people are well represented in our social service programs and are significantly over-represented in that group of young Australians who resort to self-harm or suicide. Yet in many schools same-sex attracted students remain completely invisible and there is a virtual absence of discussion on, and engagement with, the issue of homosexuality. This is despite two recent Australian studies that have identified 11 per cent (Hillier, Warr & Haste, 1996) and 8-9 per cent (Lindsay, Smith & Resenthall, 1997) of secondary school students as not exclusively attracted to people of the opposite sex. Not So Straight highlights “good practice” among those Catholic secondary schools that have responded to the needs of such students. These are schools that have taken steps to make their campuses both safe and inclusive learning environments

Design Deficiencies and Lost Votes

In 2010, tens of thousands of votes in New York did not count due to overvotes -- the invalid selection of more than one candidate. This report demonstrates how the lack of adequate overvote protections disproportionately affected the state's poorest communities, suggests commonsense reforms, and examines national implications

The dynamical U(n) quantum group

We study the dynamical analogue of the matrix algebra M(n), constructed from a dynamical R-matrix given by Etingof and Varchenko. A left and a right corepresentation of this algebra, which can be seen as analogues of the exterior algebra representation, are defined and this defines dynamical quantum minor determinants as the matrix elements of these corepresentations. These elements are studied in more detail, especially the action of the comultiplication and Laplace expansions. Using the Laplace expansions we can prove that the dynamical quantum determinant is almost central, and adjoining an inverse the antipode can be defined. This results in the dynamical GL(n) quantum group associated to the dynamical R-matrix. We study a *-structure leading to the dynamical U(n) quantum group, and we obtain results for the canonical pairing arising from the R-matrix.Comment: 24 page

Holographic analysis of thin films

Technique for monitoring deposition of films on surfaces, in place on a real-time basis, reads both the thickness and the uniformity of the deposited film. Holograms are produced from both reflected and transmitted light on one plate

Meaningful Ethics Reforms for the New Albany

The corruption scandals of the last few years have profoundly shaken the faith of New Yorkers in their state government. This report examines the system erected by New York's current ethics laws and makes clear recommendations for a way forward

Credit Derivatives and Loan Pricing

This paper examines the relationship between the new markets for credit default swaps (CDS) and the pricing of syndicated loans to U.S. corporates. We find that changes in CDS spreads have a significantly positive coefficient and explain about 25% of subsequent monthly changes in aggregate loan spreads during 2000-2005. Moreover, when compared to traditional loan pricing factors, they turn out to be the dominant determinant of loan spreads. In particular, they explain loan rates much better than same rated bonds. This suggests that, even though CDS and bond markets may equally price market credit risk, a substantial part of CDS prices additionally contains loan-specific information. We also find that, over time, new information from CDS markets is incorporated into loans faster, but information from other markets is not. We argue that this indicates that the markets for CDS influence banks’ loan pricing behavior and thus have an impact on actual financing decisions in the economy.Syndicated Lending;Loan Rates;Credit Derivatives;Credit Markets;Credit Spreads