In Defense of Rawlsian Constructivism

George Klosko attempts to solve a problem put forth by Rawls, namely how to create a persisting, just and stable liberal democracy in light of pluralism. He believes Rawls has failed at this task through the employment of political constructivism. Klosko claims that since Rawls does not utilize actual views within the existing public to form principles of justice, his method would fail to reach an overlapping consensus. As an alternative, Klosko proposes the method of convergence, which utilizes actual societal views to find overlapping concepts that inform the principles of justice. My argument is that Klosko misconstrues the method and aims of political constructivism. Klosko seems to incorrectly believe that stability is primary to establishing a liberal democracy, whereas it is secondary to the achievement of justice. Because of this error, Klosko’s method of convergence potentially has the consequence of creating a society which is stable but unjust

Implementation of an Autonomous Guided Vehicle (AGV)

This report thoroughly represents a proposal to AAM Metal Forming Minerva for the implementation of an AGV (Autonomous Guided Vehicle) Unit. Our recommendations are made with consideration to existing manufacturing processes and demonstrate how using an AGV would be a net positive investment for the company. By first examining the current operating costs, a three-tiered proposal is tailored based on increasing investment cost. Each tier increase encompasses the previous tiers’ proposed improvements while also growing in complexity and investment cost. The results of our research indicate that our Tier 2 proposal will provide the most benefit to our facility now and for years to come

Are forwards and backwards digit recall the same? A dual task study of digit recall

There is some debate surrounding the cognitive resources underlying backwards digit recall. Some researchers consider it to differ from forwards digit recall due to the involvement of executive control, while others suggest that backwards recall involves visuo-spatial resources. Five experiments therefore investigated the role of executive-attentional and visuo-spatial resources in both forwards and backwards digit recall. In the first, participants completed visuo-spatial 0-back and 2-back tasks during the encoding of information to be remembered. The concurrent tasks did not differentially disrupt performance on backwards digit recall relative to forwards digit recall. Experiment 2 shifted concurrent load to the recall phase instead, and in this case revealed a larger effect of both tasks on backwards recall relative to forwards recall, suggesting that backwards recall may draw on additional resources during the recall phase and that these resources are visuo-spatial in nature. Experiments 3 and 4 then further investigated the role of visual processes in forwards and backwards recall using dynamic visual noise (DVN). In Experiment 3 DVN was presented during encoding of information to be remembered, and had no effect upon performance. However, in Experiment 4 it was presented during the recall phase, and the results provided evidence of a role for visual imagery in backwards digit recall. These results were replicated in Experiment 5 in which the same list length was used for forwards and backwards recall tasks. The findings are discussed in terms of both theoretical and practical implications

Cloning of terminal transferase cDNA by antibody screening

A cDNA library was prepared from a terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-containing thymoma in the phage vector λgt11. By screening plaques with anti-terminal transferase antibody, positive clones were identified of which some had β-galactosidase-cDNA fusion proteins identifiable after electrophoretic fractionation by immunoblotting with anti-terminal transferase antibody. The predominant class of cross-hybridizing clones was determined to represent cDNA for terminal transferase by showing that one representative clone hybridized to a 2200-nucleotide mRNA in close-matched enzyme-positive but not to enzyme-negative cells and that the cDNA selected a mRNA that translated to give a protein of the size and antigenic characteristics of terminal transferase. Only a small amount of genomic DNA hybridized to the longest available clone, indicating that the sequence is virtually unique in the mouse genome

Exploring nicotinamide cofactor promiscuity in NAD(P)H-dependent flavin containing monooxygenases (FMOs) using natural variation within the phosphate binding loop. Structure and activity of FMOs from Cellvibrio sp. BR and Pseudomonas stutzeri NF13

Flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) catalyse asymmetric oxidation reactions that have potential for preparative organic synthesis, but most use the more expensive, phosphorylated nicotinamide cofactor NADPH to reduce FAD to FADH2 prior to formation of the (hydro)peroxy intermediate required for substrate oxygenation. A comparison of the structures of NADPH-dependent FMO from Methylophaga aminisulfidivorans (mFMO) and SMFMO from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, which is able to use both NADPH and NADH, suggested that the promiscuity of the latter enzyme may be due in part to the substitution of an Arg-Thr couple in the NADPH phosphate recognition site in mFMO, for a Gln-His couple in SMFMO (Jensen et al., 2012, Chembiochem, 13, 872-878). Natural variation within the phosphate binding region, and its influence on nicotinamide cofactor promiscuity, was explored through the cloning, expression, characterisation and structural studies of FMOs from Cellvibrio sp. BR (CFMO) and Pseudomonas stutzeri NF13 (PSFMO), which possess Thr-Ser and Gln-Glu in the putative phosphate recognition positions, respectively. CFMO and PSFMO displayed 5- and 1.5-fold greater activity, respectively, than SMFMO for the reduction of FAD with NADH, and were also cofactor promiscuous, displaying a ratio of activity with NADH:NADPH of 1.7:1 and 1:1.3, respectively. The structures of CFMO and PSFMO revealed the context of the phosphate binding loop in each case, and also clarified the structure of the mobile helix-loop-helix motif that appears to shield the FAD-binding pocket from bulk solvent in this class of FMOs, a feature that was absent from the structure of SMFMO

Performance analysis integration in the Uintah software development cycle

ManuscriptThe increasing complexity of high-performance computing environments and programming methodologies presents challenges for empirical performance evaluation. Evolving parallel and distributed systems require performance technology that can be flexibly configured to observe different events and associated performance data of interest. It must also be possible to integrate performance evaluation techniques with the programming paradigms and software engineering methods. This is particularly important for tracking performance on parallel software projects involving many code teams over many stages of development. This paper describes the integration of the TAU and XPARE tools in the Uintah Computational Framework (UCF). Discussed is the use of performance mapping techniques to associate low-level performance data to higher levels of abstraction in UCF and the use of performance regression testing to provides a historical portfolio of the evolution of application performance. A scalability study shows the benefits of integrating performance technology in building large-scale parallel applications

Thomas Hobbes’s Theory of Crime and Punishment

PhDfunded by a three-year Principal’s Studentship awarded by the School of Historyfunded by a three-year Principal’s Studentship awarded by the School of HistoryThis thesis argues that over the course of his political writings Thomas Hobbes developed a complex yet coherent theory of crime and punishment. His account was designed not only as an element of his theory of the state, but also in response to a set of early modern debates concerning the nature of punishment in contractarian political thought. This argument challenges the claims, frequently advanced in the critical literature, that Hobbes was uninterested in the problem of crime, that his account fails to provide his sovereign with a right to punish at all, or that he considered punishment to be a non-civil activity located in a version of the state of nature. I claim by contrast that Hobbes’s accounts of the origins and location of the right to punish, of the purpose of punishment and of the nature of crime demonstrate that Hobbesian punishment is characterised by retained citizenship, due process and legal rights. Hobbes’s theory of political obligation draws a clear distinction between the punishment of criminals within the state, and the treatment of rebels and enemies outside it. As a result Hobbes is able to reconcile his commitment to subjects’ inalienable right to self-defence with a sovereign right to punish criminals. In addition to providing an account of this foundational aspect of Hobbes’s political theory, the thesis uses Hobbes’s discussion of crime to shed light on a number of related aspects of his work. In particular it argues that, once we have properly understood his criminology, we have strong reasons to reject any suggestion that he defends a right of rebellion.Principal's Studentship, School of Histor

Systematic Renormalization in Hamiltonian Light-Front Field Theory: The Massive Generalization

Hamiltonian light-front field theory can be used to solve for hadron states in QCD. To this end, a method has been developed for systematic renormalization of Hamiltonian light-front field theories, with the hope of applying the method to QCD. It assumed massless particles, so its immediate application to QCD is limited to gluon states or states where quark masses can be neglected. This paper builds on the previous work by including particle masses non-perturbatively, which is necessary for a full treatment of QCD. We show that several subtle new issues are encountered when including masses non-perturbatively. The method with masses is algebraically and conceptually more difficult; however, we focus on how the methods differ. We demonstrate the method using massive phi^3 theory in 5+1 dimensions, which has important similarities to QCD.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Corrected error in Eq. (11), v3: Added extra disclaimer after Eq. (2), and some clarification at end of Sec. 3.3. Final published versio

Relationship between seismicity and geologic structure in the Southern California region

Data from 10,126 earthquakes that occurred in the southern California region between 1934 and 1963 have been synthesized in the attempt to understand better their relationship to regional geologic structure, which is here dominated by a system of faults related mainly to the San Andreas system. Most of these faults have been considered “active” from physiographic evidence, but both geologic and short-term seismic criteria for “active” versus “inactive” faults are generally inadequate. Of the large historic earthquakes that have been associated with surficial fault displacements, most and perhaps all were on major throughgoing faults having a previous history of extensive Quaternary displacements. The same relationship holds for most earthquakes down to magnitude 6.0, but smaller shocks are much more randomly spread throughout the region, and most are not clearly associated with any mappable surficial faults. Virtually all areas of high seismicity in this region fall within areas having numerous Quaternary fault scarps, but not all intensely faulted areas have been active during this particular 29-year period. Strain-release maps show high activity in the Salton trough, the Agua Blanca-San Miguel fault region of Baja California, most of the Transverse Ranges, the central Mojave Desert, and the Owens Valley-southern Sierra Nevada region. Areas of low activity include the San Diego region, the western and easternmost Mojave Desert, and the southern San Joaquin Valley. Because these areas also generally lack Quaternary faults, they probably represent truly stable blocks. In contrast, regions of low seismicity during this period that show widespread Quaternary faulting include the San Andreas fault within and north of the Transverse Ranges, the Garlock fault, and several quiescent zones along major faults within otherwise very active regions. We suspect that seismic quiescence in large areas may be temporary and that they represent likely candidates for future large earthquakes. Without more adequate geodetic control, however, it is not known that strain is necessarily accumulating in all of these areas. Even in areas of demonstrated regional shearing, the relative importance of elastic strain accumulation versus fault slippage is unknown, although slippage is clearly not taking place everywhere along major “active” faults of the region. Recurrence curves of earthquake magnitude versus frequency are presented for six tectonically distinct 8500-km^2 areas within the region. They suggest either that an area of this small size or that a sample period of only 29 years is insufficient for establishing valid recurrence expectancies; on this basis the San Andreas fault would be the least hazardous zone of the region, because only a few small earthquakes have occurred here during this particular period. Although recurrence expectancies apparently break down for these smaller areas, historic records suggest that the calculated recurrence rate of 52 years for M = 8.0 earthquakes for the entire region may well be valid. Neither a fault map nor the 29-year seismic record provides sufficient information for detailed seismic zoning maps; not only are many other geologic factors important in determining seismic risk, but the strain-release or epicenter map by itself may give a partially reversed picture of future seismic expectance. Seismic and structural relationships suggest that the fault theory still provides the most satisfactory explanation of earthquakes in this region