The Best Confucian Hybrid Meritocracy-Democracy for Liberal Democracies

Several contemporary Confucian philosophers have posited differing hybrid views fusing meritocracy to democracy. There is a good deal of interest in a meritocracy in contemporary Confucian thought, and such a view perhaps should receive more serious consideration in liberal democratic thought since it may make for a stronger form of government when appended to democracy. In this paper, four contemporary hybrid theorists who combine elements of a meritocracy with a democracy are critically analyzed concerning an ability for their views to be instantiated in liberal democracies for the legislative branch only. Finally, I provide a modified hybrid view for the legislature that I believe is the best fit for current liberal democracies

Folk moral relativism

It has often been suggested that people’s ordinary folk understanding of morality involves a rejection of moral relativism and a belief in objective moral truths. The results of six studies call this claim into question. Participants did offer apparently objectivist intuitions when confronted with questions about individuals from their own culture, but they offered increasingly relativist intuitions as they were confronted with questions about individuals from increasingly different cultures or ways of life. In light of these data, the authors hypothesize that people do not have a fixed commitment to moral objectivism but instead tend to adopt different views depending on the degree to which they consider radically different perspectives on moral questions. [NOTE: This is a reprint of Sarkissian et al 2011

Testing model for supernormal auditory localization

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-39).by John J. Park.M.Eng

Reversed-Spin Quasiparticles in Fractional Quantum Hall Systems and Their Effect on Photoluminescence

The energy, interaction, and optical properties of reversed-spin quasielectrons (QE_R's) in fractional quantum Hall systems are studied. Based on the short range of the QE_R-QE_R repulsion, a partially unpolarized incompressible nu=4/11 state is postulated within Haldane hierarchy scheme. To describe photoluminescence, a reversed-spin fractionally charged exciton hQE_R (QE_R bound to a valence hole h) is predicted. In contrast to its spin-polarized analog, hQE_R is strongly bound and radiative.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, paper for EP2DS1

Glacial cycles drive variations in the production of oceanic crust

Glacial cycles redistribute water between oceans and continents causing pressure changes in the upper mantle, with consequences for melting of Earth's interior. Using Plio-Pleistocene sea-level variations as a forcing function, theoretical models of mid-ocean ridge dynamics that include melt transport predict temporal variations in crustal thickness of hundreds of meters. New bathymetry from the Australian-Antarctic ridge shows significant spectral energy near the Milankovitch periods of 23, 41, and 100 ky, consistent with model predictions. These results suggest that abyssal hills, one of the most common bathymetric features on Earth, record the magmatic response to changes in sea level. The models and data support a link between glacial cycles at the surface and mantle melting at depth, recorded in the bathymetric fabric of the sea floor.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures (including supplementary information). Resubmitted to Science on 12 December 201

Evidence for the Galactic X-ray Bulge II

A mosaic of 5 \ros~PSPC pointed observations in the Galactic plane ($l\sim25^{\circ}$) reveals X-ray shadows in the $0.5-2.0$ keV band cast by distant molecular clouds. The observed on-cloud and off-cloud X-ray fluxes indicate that $\sim15$% and $\sim37$% of the diffuse X-ray background in this direction in the \tq~keV and 1.5 keV bands, respectively, originates behind the molecular gas which is located at $\sim$3 kpc from the Sun. The implication of the derived background X-ray flux beyond the absorbing molecular cloud is consistent with, and lends further support to recent observations of a Galactic X-ray bulge.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Excitation Of Atomic Hydrogen To The N=2 States By 15-200-keV Protons

Cross sections for the process H+ + H H+ + H* (n=2) are determined from the energy-loss spectra of 15-200-keV protons. After normalization at 200 keV to the Born approximation, the maximum value (1.07 x 10-16 cm2 at 60 keV) lies below close-coupling calculations and above Glauber-approximation calculations. The agreement with low-energy (5-30-keV) data of others is very good. © 1975 The American Physical Society