Kant's Argument Against Self-Murder and its Relation to the Principle of Self-Preservation of Reason

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University.The goal of this dissertation is two-fold. It is, first, to reconstruct Kant's argument against self-murder, and, second, to analyze the function of the principle of self preservation of reason with regard to the prohibition of self-murder. I argue that self-murder is contrary to the principle of self-preservation of reason and violates the trustee-relationship between the homo phaenomenon and the homo noumenon. The analysis shows that moral self-preservation in Kant is a rational principle which serves to secure the possibility of moral faith and self-perfection. In the first part of the dissertation, I provide a comprehensive analysis of Kant's argument against self-murder by examining all of the relevant statements in his works, the Nachlab , as well as the lectures recorded by Herder, Powalski, Collins, and Vigilantius. Since self-murder violates a perfect duty to oneself, key topics of the analysis are: the dual status of the duty of self-preservation as both inner duty of right and duty of virtue, the right and end of humanity, as well as Kant's model of self-possession in terms of proprietas. The analysis makes clear that self-murder destroys the moral self and must be distinguished from sacrificing one's life in order to preserve one's moral integrity. [truncated

Big Reed Forest Study Sheds Light on Natural Patterns of Growth and Mortality in Maine Woods

A new view of the constant struggle going on in the Maine woods between trees, diseases and weather has emerged from several years of painstaking research by a team of University of Maine students and faculty. Working in the Big Reed forest preserve in northern Piscataquis County, one of the largest remaining stands of old growth forest in New England, researchers have described patterns of life and death over the past 200 years with an unprecedented level of sophistication and detail. The project was led by Unna Chokkalingam, a Ph.D. student and a native of India. Chokkalingam received her undergraduate education at the University of Madras in India and her Masters degree at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. At UMaine, Chokkalingam received guidance from Alan White, advisor on the project and an associate professor in the Dept. of Forest Ecosystem Science, as well as faculty in biological sciences and spatial information science and engineering. The research was funded by the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station

Large-Scale Modelling of the Environmentally-Driven Population Dynamics of Temperate Aedes albopictus (Skuse)

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is a highly invasive vector species. It is a proven vector of dengue and chikungunya viruses, with the potential to host a further 24 arboviruses. It has recently expanded its geographical range, threatening many countries in the Middle East, Mediterranean, Europe and North America. Here, we investigate the theoretical limitations of its range expansion by developing an environmentally-driven mathematical model of its population dynamics. We focus on the temperate strain of Ae. albopictus and compile a comprehensive literature-based database of physiological parameters. As a novel approach, we link its population dynamics to globally-available environmental datasets by performing inference on all parameters. We adopt a Bayesian approach using experimental data as prior knowledge and the surveillance dataset of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, as evidence. The model accounts for temperature, precipitation, human population density and photoperiod as the main environmental drivers, and, in addition, incorporates the mechanism of diapause and a simple breeding site model. The model demonstrates high predictive skill over the reference region and beyond, confirming most of the current reports of vector presence in Europe. One of the main hypotheses derived from the model is the survival of Ae. albopictus populations through harsh winter conditions. The model, constrained by the environmental datasets, requires that either diapausing eggs or adult vectors have increased cold resistance. The model also suggests that temperature and photoperiod control diapause initiation and termination differentially. We demonstrate that it is possible to account for unobserved properties and constraints, such as differences between laboratory and field conditions, to derive reliable inferences on the environmental dependence of Ae. albopictus populations

Полиэтничность крымской тематики в художественной литературе

Статья обращена к актуальной проблеме для крымского Причерноморья – сохранению литературного наследия, оставленного писателями разных национальных культур, отразившего обычаи, верования крымского этноса, способствующего сегодня духовному объединению всех народностей Крыма на основе гуманистических ценностей.Стаття звернена до актуальної проблеми для кримського Причорномор'я – збереженню літературної спадщини, залишеної письменниками різних національних культур, що відбила звичаї, вірування кримського етносу, що сприяє сьогодні духовному об'єднанню всіх народностей Криму на основі гуманістичних цінностей.The article is pointed to actual problem of Crimean coast – a conservation of the literary heritage, left writers of the different national cultures, reflected custom, beliefs of crimean ethnos, promoting today spiritual integration of all nationalities of Crimea on base of humanistic valuables

GAMMA-NORMAL VERSION OF THE LEE-CARTER MODEL FOR FORECASTING MORTALITY

The Lee-Carter model was primarily designed for the mortality pattern of the United States and has been used by many developed Countries as a gold standard to model their mortality pattern. Despite its merits, it is observed from  literature that the Lee and Carter (1992) and some of its variants have problems capturing a good fit when mortality rate has an increasing trend for some ages while decreasing for others or a fluctuating increase and decrease especially with respect to mortality data from developing Countries. In this study, based on the contributions of Zografos and Balakrishnan (2009) and Lima et al. (2015), we propose a Gamma-normal version of the Lee-Carter model which addresses the distribution of the error term inherent in the Lee-Carter approach. It is hoped that this new model will give a better fit and account for peculiarities at different ages without any loss of generality. Keywords:  Lee-Carter model, mortality, Gamma-normal, Age, developing Countries

Kuntien valtionosuusjärjestelmät Pohjoismaissa

Valtiovarainministeriö julkaisi maaliskuussa 2019 esiselvityksen kuntien valtionosuusjärjestelmän kehittämistarpeista (Valtiovarainministeriön julkaisuja 2019:18). Esiselvityksessä nostettiin esiin Suomen valtionosuusjärjestelmän lisäksi huomioita myös Ruotsin järjestelmästä. Työn aikana kuitenkin todettiin, että valtionosuusjärjestelmää uudistettaessa olisi tarpeellista perehtyä vielä tarkemmin muiden maiden valtionosuusjärjestelmiin. Raportin tarkoituksena on ollut selvittää Ruotsin, Tanskan ja Norjan valtionosuusjärjestelmien rakenteita sekä näissä maissa valtionosuusjärjestelmiin jo tehtyjä tai mahdollisesti suunnitteilla olevia uudistuksia. Tämän lisäksi jokaisesta tarkasteltavasta maasta on selvitetty julkishallinnon yleiskuva sekä kuntien ja alueiden tulorakenteet. Raportissa esitellään, ja yleispiirteisesti vertaillaan, Pohjoismaiden valtionosuusjärjestelmien osia ja erityispiirteitä sekä julkishallinnon rakenteita

KETERSEDIAAN KOLEKSI PERPUSTAKAAN KELILING DALAM MEMENUHI KEBUTUHAN INFORMASI ANAK SEKOLAH DASAR: Studi Deskriptif pada Layanan Perpustakaan Keliling Kota Cimahi

Perpustakaan keliling merupakan salah satu bentuk layanan dari perpustakaan umum kota Cimahi. Penelitian ini dilatar belakangi oleh proporsi koleksi perpustakaan keliling kota Cimahi yang belum memadai bagi kebutuhan informasi anak Sekolah Dasar. Permasalahan yang akan dibahas pada penelitian ini yaitu apakah ketersediaan koleksi perpustakaan keliling kota Cimahi sudah memenuhi kebutuhan informasi anak Sekolah Dasar dari segi jumlah koleksi, kualitas koleksi, kemutakhiran koleksi, dan kelengkapan koleksi. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif dengan pedekatan kuantitatif. Populasi dari penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas V dan VI dari 99 Sekolah Dasar di kota Cimahi. Adapun sampel pada penelitian ini ditentukan melalui teknik purposive sampling dengan menggunakan rumus Taro Yamane. Instrumen yang digunakan pada penelitian ini yaitu angket dengan menggunakan skala Gutmann yang dianalisis menggunakan studi deskriptif dan uji korelasional. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ketersediaan koleksi perpustakaan keliling kota Cimahi sudah memenuhi kebutuhan informasi anak Sekolah Dasar dari aspek kualitas koleksi dan kemutakhiran koleksi. Sementara, jumlah koleksi dan kelengkapan koleksi tidak memenuhi kebutuhan informasi anak Sekolah Dasar.;--- Mobile library is one shape of services Cimahi Public Library.This research is based on the proportion collection of mobile library Cimahi public library still insufficient. The main issues that need to be discussed in this research is availability of mobile library collection, Cimahi Public Library from the quantities, qualities, updated, and completeness of the collections. This research uses descriptive method with quantitative approach. The population in this research is V and VI class of 99 elementary schools in Cimahi and the sample is 114 students which are formulated based on purposive sampling of Taro Yamane formula. The instrument used of this research is questionnaire using Gutmann scale in correlation analysis. The results showed that the availability of Cimahi mobile library collections fulfilling the information needs of elementary school students from quality collection and updated collection. Meanwhile, quantities and completeness of the collections aren’t fulfilling the information needs of elementary school students