88 research outputs found
The dark side of reactive attitudes: From persons to compatibilism
This thesis contains two independent papers that both address the problems associated with the reactive attitudes. The first paper, presented in Chapter 2, discusses the negativities of the reactive attitudes in debates regarding skepticism about the moral notion of persons. The second paper, presented in Chapter 3, presents the negativities associated with the reactive attitudes in debates concerning compatibilism about moral responsibility. Neither chapter deals solely with presenting the negativities associated with the reactive attitudes. More than present these, both chapters undermine the non-realist or compatibilist philosophical arguments that attempt to save either the moral notion of persons (Chapter 2) or moral responsibility (Chapter 3) from skeptical and incompatibilist arguments, respectively, by appealing to the benefits of the reactive attitudes. Each chapter undermines these arguments by reminding readers that we are using the benefits of the reactive attitudes and ignoring their detriments in order to cling to tightly held philosophical notions
Why Agricultural Tools Work in Theory But Aren’t Adopted in Practice: A Grounded Theory Approach to ICT in Ghana and Kenya
Organic fertilisers could contribute to addressing the issues of declining soil fertility, food security and waste management by recycling human waste for use in sub-Saharan Africa. The variable nutrient content of such products can make targetted application more difficult than in chemical fertilisers. One solution to this could be the use of in-field soil testing and information, particularly with the expansion of mobile technology. This research investigated the role of information and soil testing in 43 farmers using human waste derived fertilisers in Kenya and Ghana. Interviews were conducted to understand the use and sources of information in farming and the perception of soil testing technologies. It was found that mobile based testing was unlikely to be adopted for reasons of low priority, the type of knowledge being shared and trust after failures of different projects. Farmers did not see soil testing as the major issue that they needed to solve. Mobile technology was mostly used for visual and oral communication whereas soil testing often provided information in an unsuitable way. Farmers also had limited trust in new projects as they had previously had project failures that did not help them. In order to achieve sustainable adoption of technology there needs to be improved methods of disseminating and learning from project failures to prevent repeated attempts at inappropriate technology in the future
A qualitative study of NIMBYism for waste in smaller urban areas of a low-income country, Mzuzu, Malawi
When waste management infrastructure is built, there can be resistance from the local affected populations, often termed the Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) phenomenon. This study aims to understand the forms of resistance that may develop in such contexts, focusing on 2 solid waste and 1 liquid waste management site within Mzuzu City, Malawi. At the newest solid waste site, community resistance had grown to the extent that the site was reportedly destroyed by the local community. Interviews and observations of the sites are complemented by examining historic and recent satellite images. It was found that, at the new solid waste site, community engagement had not been conducted effectively prior to construction and as part of ongoing site operations. This was compounded by poor site management and the non-delivery of the promised benefits to the community. In contrast, at the liquid waste site, the community could access untreated sludge for use as fertilizer and were happier to live within its vicinity. While NIMBYism is a frustrating phenomenon for city planners, it is understandable that communities want to protect their health and well-being when there is a history of mismanagement of waste sites which is sadly common in low-income settings. It is difficult for government agencies to deliver these services and broader waste management. In this study, an unsuccessful attempt to do something better with a legitimate goal is not necessarily a failure, but part of a natural learning process for getting things right
An evaluation of different provision strategies for scaled-up container-based sanitation
Container-based sanitation (CBS) is increasingly used to provide safely managed sanitation in low-income urban settlements. However, questions remain around the viability of scaling up the technology, partly because it relies on regular emptying and servicing of containers by a CBS provider. This paper investigates mechanisms by which this process can be achieved efficiently. Three separate collection strategies are evaluated for their routing efficiencies as CBS goes to scale. An open-source route optimisation solver determines the constituent driving and walking distances necessary for each strategy and has been applied in areas of Cape Town, Cap-Haïtien, Lima and Nairobi. The results indicate that with fewer users (e.g. 50) transfer station models offer the shortest driving routes. However, these do require users to carry their containers (e.g. up to 170 m when stations are 100 m apart). As the number of users increases (e.g. to 5,000), visiting individual houses from a neighbourhood depot offers increasingly efficient driving distances. Overall, however, the results suggest that economies in collection distances for scaled CBS will be largely conditional on greater vehicle capacity (rather than any particular provision strategy). This highlights the importance of road access throughout low-income urban settlements in providing a viable CBS service at scale
G313.3+00.3: A New Planetary Nebula discovered by the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the Spitzer Space Telescope
We present a new planetary nebula, first identified in images from the
Australia Telescope Compact Array, although not recognized at that time. Recent
observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope during the GLIMPSE Legacy program
have rediscovered the object. The high-resolution radio and infrared images
enable the identification of the central star or its wind, the recognition of
the radio emission as thermal, and the probable presence of polycylic aromatic
hydrocarbons in and around the source. These lead to the conclusion that
G313.3+00.3 is a planetary nebula. This object is of particular interest
because it was discovered solely through radio and mid-infrared imaging,
without any optical (or near-infrared) confirmation, and acts as a proof of
concept for the discovery of many more highly extinguished planetary nebulae.
G313.3+00.3 is well-resolved by both the instruments with which it was
identified, and suffers extreme reddening due to its location in the
Scutum-Crux spiral arm.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX (aastex), incl. 8 PostScript (eps) figures and 1
table. Accepted by ApJ (Part 1
VERTICO VI: Cold-gas asymmetries in Virgo cluster galaxies
We analyze cold-gas distributions in Virgo cluster galaxies using resolved
CO(2-1) (tracing molecular hydrogen, H2) and HI observations from the Virgo
Environment Traced In CO (VERTICO) and the VLA Imaging of Virgo in Atomic Gas
(VIVA) surveys. From a theoretical perspective, it is expected that
environmental processes in clusters will have a stronger influence on diffuse
atomic gas compared to the relatively dense molecular gas component, and that
these environmental perturbations can compress the cold interstellar medium in
cluster galaxies leading to elevated star formation. In this work we
observationally test these predictions for star-forming satellite galaxies
within the Virgo cluster. We divide our Virgo galaxy sample into HI-normal,
HI-tailed, and HI-truncated classes and show, unsurprisingly, that the
HI-tailed galaxies have the largest quantitative HI asymmetries. We also
compare to a control sample of non-cluster galaxies and find that Virgo
galaxies, on average, have HI asymmetries that are 40 +/- 10 per cent larger
than the control. There is less separation between control, HI-normal,
HI-tailed, and HI-truncated galaxies in terms of H2 asymmetries, and on
average, Virgo galaxies have H2 asymmetries that are only marginally (20 +/- 10
per cent) larger than the control sample. We find a weak correlation between HI
and H2 asymmetries over our entire sample, but a stronger correlation for those
specific galaxies being strongly impacted by environmental perturbations.
Finally, we divide the discs of the HI-tailed Virgo galaxies into a leading
half and trailing half according to the observed tail direction. We find
evidence for excess molecular gas mass on the leading halves of the disc. This
excess molecular gas on the leading half is accompanied by an excess in star
formation rate such that the depletion time is, on average, unchanged.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&
VERTICO VII: Environmental quenching caused by suppression of molecular gas content and star formation efficiency in Virgo Cluster galaxies
We study how environment regulates the star formation cycle of 33 Virgo
Cluster satellite galaxies on 720 parsec scales. We present the first resolved
star-forming main sequence for cluster galaxies, dividing the sample based on
their global HI properties and comparing to a control sample of field galaxies.
HI-poor cluster galaxies have reduced star formation rate (SFR) surface
densities with respect to both HI-normal cluster and field galaxies (0.5 dex),
suggesting that mechanisms regulating the global HI content are responsible for
quenching local star formation. We demonstrate that the observed quenching in
HI-poor galaxies is caused by environmental processes such as ram pressure
stripping (RPS) simultaneously reducing molecular gas surface density and star
formation efficiency (SFE), compared to regions in HI-normal systems (by 0.38
and 0.22 dex, respectively). We observe systematically elevated SFRs that are
driven by increased molecular gas surface densities at fixed stellar mass
surface density in the outskirts of early-stage RPS galaxies, while SFE remains
unchanged with respect to the field sample. We quantify how RPS and starvation
affect the star formation cycle of inner and outer galaxy discs as they are
processed by the cluster. We show both are effective quenching mechanisms with
the key difference being that RPS acts upon the galaxy outskirts while
starvation regulates the star formation cycle throughout disc, including within
the truncation radius. For both processes, the quenching is caused by a
simultaneous reduction in molecular gas surface densities and SFE at fixed
stellar mass surface density.Comment: 17 pages, 1 table, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A meta-analysis of long-term effects of conservation agriculture on maize grain yield under rain-fed conditions
Conservation agriculture involves reduced tillage, permanent soil cover and crop rotations to enhance soil fertility and to supply food from a dwindling land resource. Recently, conservation agriculture has been promoted in Southern Africa, mainly for maize-based farming systems. However, maize yields under rain-fed conditions are often variable. There is therefore a need to identify factors that influence crop yield under conservation agriculture and rain-fed conditions. Here, we studied maize grain yield data from experiments lasting 5 years and more under rain-fed conditions. We assessed the effect of long-term tillage and residue retention on maize grain yield under contrasting soil textures, nitrogen input and climate. Yield variability was measured by stability analysis. Our results show an increase in maize yield over time with conservation agriculture practices that include rotation and high input use in low rainfall areas. But we observed no difference in system stability under those conditions. We observed a strong relationship between maize grain yield and annual rainfall. Our meta-analysis gave the following findings: (1) 92% of the data show that mulch cover in high rainfall areas leads to lower yields due to waterlogging; (2) 85% of data show that soil texture is important in the temporal development of conservation agriculture effects, improved yields are likely on well-drained soils; (3) 73% of the data show that conservation agriculture practices require high inputs especially N for improved yield; (4) 63% of data show that increased yields are obtained with rotation but calculations often do not include the variations in rainfall within and between seasons; (5) 56% of the data show that reduced tillage with no mulch cover leads to lower yields in semi-arid areas; and (6) when adequate fertiliser is available, rainfall is the most important determinant of yield in southern Africa. It is clear from our results that conservation agriculture needs to be targeted and adapted to specific biophysical conditions for improved impact
Characterizing Long COVID: Deep Phenotype of a Complex Condition.
BACKGROUND: Numerous publications describe the clinical manifestations of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC or long COVID ), but they are difficult to integrate because of heterogeneous methods and the lack of a standard for denoting the many phenotypic manifestations. Patient-led studies are of particular importance for understanding the natural history of COVID-19, but integration is hampered because they often use different terms to describe the same symptom or condition. This significant disparity in patient versus clinical characterization motivated the proposed ontological approach to specifying manifestations, which will improve capture and integration of future long COVID studies.
METHODS: The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) is a widely used standard for exchange and analysis of phenotypic abnormalities in human disease but has not yet been applied to the analysis of COVID-19.
FINDINGS: We identified 303 articles published before April 29, 2021, curated 59 relevant manuscripts that described clinical manifestations in 81 cohorts three weeks or more following acute COVID-19, and mapped 287 unique clinical findings to HPO terms. We present layperson synonyms and definitions that can be used to link patient self-report questionnaires to standard medical terminology. Long COVID clinical manifestations are not assessed consistently across studies, and most manifestations have been reported with a wide range of synonyms by different authors. Across at least 10 cohorts, authors reported 31 unique clinical features corresponding to HPO terms; the most commonly reported feature was Fatigue (median 45.1%) and the least commonly reported was Nausea (median 3.9%), but the reported percentages varied widely between studies.
INTERPRETATION: Translating long COVID manifestations into computable HPO terms will improve analysis, data capture, and classification of long COVID patients. If researchers, clinicians, and patients share a common language, then studies can be compared/pooled more effectively. Furthermore, mapping lay terminology to HPO will help patients assist clinicians and researchers in creating phenotypic characterizations that are computationally accessible, thereby improving the stratification, diagnosis, and treatment of long COVID.
FUNDING: U24TR002306; UL1TR001439; P30AG024832; GBMF4552; R01HG010067; UL1TR002535; K23HL128909; UL1TR002389; K99GM145411
Vertico. IV. Environmental effects on the gas distribution and star formation efficiency of virgo cluster spirals
We measure the molecular-to-atomic gas ratio, R mol, and the star formation rate (SFR) per unit molecular gas mass, SFEmol, in 38 nearby galaxies selected from the Virgo Environment Traced in CO (VERTICO) survey. We stack ALMA 12CO (J = 2−1) spectra coherently using H i velocities from the VIVA survey to detect faint CO emission out to galactocentric radii r gal ∼ 1.2 r 25. We determine the scale lengths for the molecular and stellar components, finding a ∼3:5 relation compared to ∼1:1 in field galaxies, indicating that the CO emission is more centrally concentrated than the stars. We compute R mol as a function of different physical quantities. While the spatially resolved R mol on average decreases with increasing radius, we find that the mean molecular-to-atomic gas ratio within the stellar effective radius R e , R mol(r < R e ), shows a systematic increase with the level of H i, truncation and/or asymmetry (HI perturbation). Analysis of the molecular- and the atomic-to-stellar mass ratios within R e , R⋆mol(
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