Grounding, mental causation, and overdetermination

Recently, Kroedel and Schulz have argued that the exclusion problem—which states that certain forms of non-reductive physicalism about the mental are committed to systematic and objectionable causal overdetermination—can be solved by appealing to grounding. Specifically, they defend a principle that links the causal relations of grounded mental events to those of grounding physical events, arguing that this renders mental–physical causal overdetermination unproblematic. Here, we contest Kroedel and Schulz’s result. We argue that their causal-grounding principle is undermotivated, if not outright false. In particular, we contend that the principle has plausible counterexamples, resulting from the fact that some mental states are not fully grounded by goings on ‘in our heads’ but also require external factors to be included in their full grounds. We draw the sceptical conclusion that it remains unclear whether non-reductive physicalists can plausibly respond to the exclusion argument by appealing to considerations of grounding

Analyzing the Fractal Dimension of Various Musical Pieces

One of the most common tools for evaluating data is regression. This technique, widely used by industrial engineers, explores linear relationships between predictors and the response. Each observation of the response is a fixed linear combination of the predictors with an added error element. The method is built on the assumption that this error is normally distributed across all observations and has a mean of zero. In some cases, it has been found that the inherent variation is not the result of a random variable, but is instead the result of self-symmetric properties of the observations. For data with these characteristics, fractal analysis can be used to explain the variation. There has been evidence from previous work that musical pieces have to some degree a fractal structure, but there remains to be more work done on performing fractal analysis to musical pieces. In this research, a computationally efficient method of performing fractal analysis on time-series data is applied to a musical recording. It is then determined whether this fractal dimension is a suitable measure to distinguish between musical genres

APPROPRIATIVE FAIR USE: A SUGGESTED APPROACH

Commentators have pointed out that the notion of authorship enshrined in copyright law is at odds with the prevalence of copying in contemporary art.1 Copyright law envisions a creator who beholds an idea, purposes its expression, and fixes it in a work. While this approximation of the creative process may, on the whole, advance the Copyright Act’s purpose of incentivizing the progression of the arts, it also vastly simplifies that process. Special consideration should be given to modes of artistic production that this model fails to capture to ensure copyright law does not fail to reap its value in social benefit and artistic progress. Congress and the courts have given such consideration through the fair use affirmative defense.2 This Article addresses the application of that defense to a vein of contemporary art which makes it a point to take and re-present preexisting works—appropriation art. A number of scholars have addressed the manner in which appropriation art should be evaluated under the fair use defense and, in particular, how a court is to ascertain whether a piece of appropriation art is “transformative,” a central component of the fair use inquiry. Given the many valuable insights already presented on how fair use could be remade or conceptualized in view of artistic practice, this Article seeks merely to suggest an approach that advocates and judges could realistically put into practice.3 The components of this approach are: (1) a threshold inquiry into whether the work in question is appropriation art, in which event it is transformative as a matter of law and entitled to a categorical approach of the fair use inquiry; and (2) a determination of how much of the borrowed work the defendant is entitled to use under a three-tiered approach. Part II sets forth the fair use doctrine and its application to parody under Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. Part III argues that appropriation art as an artistic strategy (for want of a better term, “appropriative use”) should be viewed as a distinct category of art subject to a tailored application of the fair use defense, much like parody.4 Specifically, this Part argues that appropriative use is sufficiently embedded in historical practice that it should, like parody, be viewed as transformative per se and socially beneficial. In addition, like parody, it should be viewed as possessing a valid claim to the need for unauthorized copying that frees it from having to “justif[y] . . . the very act of borrowing.”5 Part IV builds on Professor Laura Heymann’s viewerbased approach to transformative use to suggest a method for determining whether a particular use is appropriative and how much of the borrowed work may presumptively be copied. Part V summarizes the suggested approach for appropriative fair use and evaluates how it may be limited by other case-specific factors. Part VI surveys recent case law to demonstrate why this approach is preferable to the current situation. Finally, Part VII applies this suggested framework for appropriative use to the work of appropriation artist Richard Prince

INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RISK AND AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

Crop insurance provides risk reduction benefits yet may increase planted acres in risky areas. This paper investigates the relationship between environmental quality and crop insurance induced changes in cropping pattern. Results suggest that yield risk and soil erosion are positively correlated for the majority of acreage in the study area.Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

Imagery and Expectations for International Disaster Response

This Article examines the development and contributions of the Charter on Cooperation to Achieve the Coordinated Use of Space Facilities in the Event of Natural or Technological Disasters (Charter). As a voluntary mechanism among spacefaring nations and transnational entities, the Charter provides remote sensing data and information for international disaster response efforts. Over the past fifteen years, the Charter members have continued to contribute and cooperate in an effective manner, in spite of increasing legislative and economic controls over the access and distribution of data at the State level. This Article finds that the behaviors of Charter members largely fall outside of traditional, geopolitical rationales over security and commercial interests, and argues that the guiding dynamics of the Charter stem from a historical construct of actions and ideals from actors within scientific and technical communities. Drawing from normative concepts within international relations theory, the Article concludes that the Charter has become a progressive case for the potential influence of non-binding legal frameworks on interstate cooperation

INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RISK AND AGRIENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

The U.S. crop insurance program provides subsidies and risk reduction benefits to producers. In response to enhanced income and decreased risk, farmers increase planted acres, often in more risky areas of production. The primary objective of this thesis is to determine the relationship between the environment and acreage brought into production as a result of crop insurance. This thesis does so indirectly, by examining the relationship between yield risk and a set of agri-environmental indicators. An ordinary least squares (OLS) model is used to examine this relationship. It is hypothesized that as acreage becomes more risky in terms of yield, environmental damages resulting from production will increase. Results suggest that while thisis not always the case, there is a strong correlation between yield risk and increased soil erosion for the majority of the acreage in the study area

Design and Application of Compact Combustors in Small-Scale JetCat Engines

Ultra-compact combustors (UCC) are an innovative approach to improving overall engine efficiency and thrust-to-weight ratio by reducing the axial length and weight of the engine. Previous efforts looked at integrating a UCC into a small-scale JetCat P90 engine utilizing gaseous propane fuel. The current investigation aimed to utilize the previous compact combustor design and switch fuels to liquid kerosene. Based on the results from testing, a new combustor was designed equipped with a different flame holding mechanism at the larger P400-scale while maintaining a length savings of 20%. Testing of the P400 compact combustors was performed within a newly designed non-rotating test rig