3,203 research outputs found
Was Clarke a Voluntarist?
The distinction between voluntarism and intellectualism has recently been criticized for inaccurately characterizing early modern theories of divine freedom. In response, defenders of the distinction have argued that these labels are needed in order to account for the famous correspondence between Leibniz (intellectualist) and Clarke (voluntarist). In this paper, I argue that the voluntarism/intellectualism distinction is unable to account for the opposition between Leibniz and Clarke. In the first part, I provide an analysis of Clarke’s theory of divine freedom, and show how he employs the distinction between activity and passivity in order to account for the separation between God’s will and intellect, which ultimately safeguards God’s freedom. I also analyse Clarke’s correspondence with Leibniz, and show how Clarke deals with choice among equals, the principle of sufficient reason,and the principle of the best. In the second part, I argue on the basis of this analysis that Clarke is not a voluntarist, but should instead be interpreted as an intellectualist (if one wants to keep the labels). Therefore, the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence cannot be explained as a clash between voluntarism and intellectualism
Clarke's Rejection of Superadded Gravity in the Clarke-Collins Correspondence
In the past, experts have disagreed about whether Samuel Clarke accepted the idea that gravity is a power superadded to matter by God. Most scholars now agree that Clarke did not support superaddition. But the argumentation employed by Clarke to reject superaddition has not been studied before in detail. In this paper, I explicate Clarke's argumentation by relating it to an important discussion about the possibility of superadded gravity in the Clarke-Collins correspondence. I examine Clarke's responses to Collins and draw on his other works to reconstruct Clarke's reasons for rejecting superadded gravity
Of Clocks and Kings:Physics, Metaphysics, and the Role of God in Clarke’s Worldview
In this dissertation I examine how the English philosopher-theologian Samuel Clarke (1675--1729) attempted to reasonableness of Christianity and its compatibility with the new natural philosophy. In reaction to what he perceived as the problematic excesses of mechanical philosophy, with its looming threat of atheism, Clarke developed a series of arguments against atheism which aimed to show the shortcomings of a purely material or mechanical explanation of the universe, and demonstrate the overall `reasonability' of the Christian religion. Clarke aimed to demonstrate the `reasonableness' of Christianity by turning the `mathematical' style of reasoning of the mechanical philosophy against his atheist adversaries. Clarke's writings offer us a valuable case-study for the complex interplay of philosophy, science and religion in England at the start of the eighteenth century, and the impact of mechanical philosophy on natural theology. This dissertation aims to improve our understanding of Clarke's philosophy through careful examination of its principal components: The active role of God in the world, the perfection of God's plan, the existence of immaterial substances and powers, and the subsequent reasonability of the Christian religion. Taken together, the four chapters show Clarke's solutions to the atheist threats, and provide a coherent picture of Clarke's ideas about the nature of God and God's role in the world
Influence of X-ray Irradiation on the Properties of the Hamamatsu Silicon Photomultiplier S10362-11-050C
We have investigated the effects of X-ray irradiation to doses of 0, 200 Gy,
20 kGy, 2 MGy, and 20 MGy on the Hamamatsu silicon-photomultiplier (SiPM)
S10362-11-050C. The SiPMs were irradiated without applied bias voltage. From
current-voltage, capacitance/conductance-voltage, -frequency, pulse-shape, and
pulse-area measurements, the SiPM characteristics below and above breakdown
voltage were determined. Significant changes of some SiPM parameters are
observed. Up to a dose of 20 kGy the performance of the SiPMs is hardly
affected by X-ray radiation damage. For doses of 2 and 20 MGy the SiPMs operate
with hardly any change in gain, but with a significant increase in dark-count
rate and cross-talk probability.Comment: 21 pages,30 figure
Is variety the spice of life? An experimental investigation into the effects of species richness on self-reported mental well-being
Losses in biodiversity and trends toward urbanisation have reduced people's contact with biodiverse
nature, yet the consequences for mental well-being are not well understood. Here, we
demonstrate that greater plant and animal species richness in isolation causes an improvement
in mental well-being. To do so, the present research experimentally manipulated species
richness and assessed widely-used indicators of mental well-being. Participants viewed
short videos of either high or low tree (Study 1) or bird (Study 2) species richness and reported
on positive (i.e., vitality, positive affect) and negative (i.e., anxiety) indicators of mental wellbeing.
Building on Study 1, Study 2 included an urban environment as a reference treatment
and explored the role of giving participants information on the presented environment. We find
that, in line with expectations, watching videos containing greater species richness consistently
leads to higher mental well-being. We discuss findings in light of the importance of connecting
people to biodiverse environments
Leavers and Remainers after the Brexit referendum:More united than divided after all?
Since the British “Brexit referendum” in 2016, tensions between ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ voters have been growing. Using a novel analytical approach based on the full distribution of responses rather than their arithmetic means, Study 1 (N=1,506) showed on average 90% of overlap among Leavers and Remainers across a range of important variables. Even on the variables that are commonly used to illustrate how Leavers and Remainers differ (e.g., prejudice against immigrants), the amount of overlap was larger than 50%. In Study 2 (N=206), we demonstrate the importance of focusing on similarities between groups: Presenting the full distribution of responses from Leavers and Remainers rather than their mean differences caused more accurate perceptions of the actual differences and similarities between both groups and higher perceived intergroup harmony. We conclude that similarities between Leavers and Remainers are substantial and that our proposed approach may help to de-escalate tensions between these and other groups
Pattern formation during current sintering (Simulation)
Current sintering is becoming increasingly important for creating nanostructured materials from powders. Joule heating inside the sample enables the rapid densification necessary to preserve the nanostructure. However, the presence of electric fields and currents activates additional effects, such as inhomogeneous grain-growth and coarsening, thermoelectric effects, as well as dopant migration. In return, these effects influence the transport properties of the material during sintering which constitute feedback mechanisms that, ultimately, can lead to the formation of patterns.
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Local DRLs and automated risk estimation in paediatric interventional cardiology
Introduction : Cardiac catheterization procedures result in high radiation doses and often multiple procedures are necessary for congenital heart disease patients. However, diagnostic reference levels (DRL) remain scarce. Our first goal was finding the optimal DRL parameter and determining appropriate DRLs. The second goal was to calculate organ doses (OD), effective doses (ED) and lifetime attributable risks (LAR) per procedure and to provide conversion factors based on dose area product (DAP).
Materials and methods : DRLs are calculated for each procedure type, as the 75th percentile of the cumulative value per procedure from the corresponding parameter. All irradiation events in the DICOM Structured Reports were automatically processed and simulated using PCXMC, resulting in OD, ED and LAR. Using a Kruskal Wallis H test and subsequent pairwise comparisons, differences in median values of the DRL parameter between procedure types were assessed.
Results : Linear regression showed a strong correlation and narrow confidence interval between DAP and product of body weight and fluoroscopy time (BWxFT), even when all procedures (diagnostic and interventional) are combined. Only 15% of the pairwise comparisons were statistically significant for DAP normalized to BWxFT (DAP(BWxFT)). The latter pairs contained less frequent procedure types with significant outliers. For DAP normalized to BW (DAP(BW)), 38% of the pairwise comparisons showed statistically significant differences. Conversion factors from DAP(BW) to OD and ED were reported for various weight groups, due to the higher correlation between DAP(BW) and both OD and ED than between DAP and both OD and ED.
Conclusions : The P75 of DAP(BWxFT) for all procedures combined serves as an appropriate DRL value. This facilitates local DRL determination in smaller paediatric centres, which often have insufficient data to produce appropriate DRLs for different procedure types. Conversion factors are more reliable starting from DAP(BW) instead of DAP and should be used according to the appropriate BW group
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