Joanna Macy: Buddhism and Power for Social Change

This article examines Joanna Macy\u27s theory of despairwork and its roots in the Sarvodaya Buddhist movement. Macy writes with the purpose of inspiring communities and individuals to look honestly at the state of the world and to respond passionately. She argues that apathy appears so common today because feigning disinterest is far easier than facing the monumental problems that face the world. From the threat of nuclear war to environmental destruction, humanity is overwhelmed by the possibility of its own end. Instead of giving in to crippling despair, Macy believes that honestly admitting the frightening possibilities can be a powerful force to generate action. Actions gain strength through the interconnectedness of all things. Real change, therefore, is a distinct possibility. Schroering argues that this defining theory in Macy\u27s work is inspired by her study of the Sarvodaya Buddhism movement in Sri Lanka. Schroering sees echoes of Macy\u27s aim of translating powerlessness into power in Sarvodaya\u27s ultimate goal of helping everyone to achieve enlightenment. In this movement, enlightenment can be understood as listening to community, striving for social change inspired by spirituality, building collective self-esteem, working in community, and engaging youth. Macy\u27s work, inspired by the Sarvodaya movement, asks people to find hope in despair by realizing that acknowledging the issues that breed despair inspires them to acknowledge the present, and find the power in community to change the present

Inference to anti-skepticism: Can we be a priori justified in rejecting skepticism?

In the following thesis, I will discuss the topic of radical skepticism and deal with abductivism as a possible anti-skeptical strategy. I will argue that abduction—or, Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE)—can be utilized as an epistemically valuable strategy against the skeptic. I shall focus on simplicity and will offer my own account of a priori ontological simplicity, based on the view called “rationalist abductivism”. I will defend the position that the “brain in a vat” is less simple than the commonsense hypothesis. Along the way, I will argue that the abductive principle of simplicity, together with a number of other considerations, provide an epistemic justification for believing in the commonsense hypothesis; moreover, I will note that the BIV skeptical hypothesis actually assumes, even if just implicitly, the existence of an external world. First of all, I will present the skeptical argument (in chapter 1), and then discuss some of the major anti-skeptical strategies (in chapter 2). Then, in chapter 3 I will discuss abductivism and Vogel’s approach. Next, I will face several objections to abduction and abductivism (chapter 4). Finally, in chapter 5, after the discussion of some relevant suggestions and BonJour’s approach, I will present my own account, followed by my reply to some possible objections to it.Philosophy - Master's ThesisFILO350MAHF-FIL

Mechanochemistry: a new approach to depolymerize cellulose via solid-solid reaction

Cellulose is both insoluble in water and resistant against hydrolysis. These features pose major problems for its conversion into platform chemicals, first of all glucose. Herein, is demonstrated that the combination of mechanical forces and the presence of solid acid catalysts leads to the full conversion of cellulose into oligosaccharides. In this way mechanochemistry results an available route to depolymerize cellulose via solid-solid reaction. In this work is described the whole developed methodology which permits to obtain a quantifiable final products from the milling of a cellulosic substrate. Furthermore is reported the analytic method constructed thanks to which it is possible to determine the cellulose conversion and thus compare the performances of various solid acids tested. This study has moreover allowed to understand important catalyst features that enhance the depolymerization rate, such as the distribution of the acid sites on a inert support. Amberlyst 15, producing 100% of oligosaccharides in 15 hours of milling at 500rpm, is resulted the more active catalysts among those studied. Thanks to its high activity were performed performances comparison of the different ball mills employed

“I FELT SEEN”: A MIXED-METHODS INVESTIGATION OF CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING IN POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

Instructors’ beliefs and behaviors shape students’ learning environments (Bandura, 2007). Culturally responsive teaching can make instruction more relevant and supportive to historically marginalized students (Gay, 2000, 2018). Instructor support and care for students are important to undergraduate persistence (Tinto, 1986, 1993). However, White postsecondary instructors may not feel prepared to use culturally responsive teaching (Heitner & Jennings, 2016; Sue et al., 2009). This study used a sequential mixed-methods design to examine postsecondary instructors’ self-perceptions, and students’ lived experiences, related to culturally responsive teaching. In Fall 2020, instructors (N = 99) rated their self-efficacy for culturally responsive teaching on a six-point scale (M­ = 4.71, SD = 0.91). Racially and ethnically minoritized undergraduates (N = 9) were recruited using purposive sampling from the courses of instructors who reported high self-efficacy. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews indicated that students perceived their instructors as highly caring and capable. Instructors incorporated students’ racial identities into curriculum and displayed willingness to challenge discrimination. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic challenged learning and instruction, students perceived their instructors as creating supportive and motivating learning environments. This research offers a student-focused interpretation of how pedagogy can be culturally responsive to racially and ethnically minoritized undergraduates

Secure Cooperation of Autonomous Mobile Sensors Using an Underwater Acoustic Network

Methodologies and algorithms are presented for the secure cooperation of a team of autonomous mobile underwater sensors, connected through an acoustic communication network, within surveillance and patrolling applications. In particular, the work proposes a cooperative algorithm in which the mobile underwater sensors (installed on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles—AUVs) respond to simple local rules based on the available information to perform the mission and maintain the communication link with the network (behavioral approach). The algorithm is intrinsically robust: with loss of communication among the vehicles the coverage performance (i.e., the mission goal) is degraded but not lost. The ensuing form of graceful degradation provides also a reactive measure against Denial of Service. The cooperative algorithm relies on the fact that the available information from the other sensors, though not necessarily complete, is trustworthy. To ensure trustworthiness, a security suite has been designed, specifically oriented to the underwater scenario, and in particular with the goal of reducing the communication overhead introduced by security in terms of number and size of messages. The paper gives implementation details on the integration between the security suite and the cooperative algorithm and provides statistics on the performance of the system as collected during the UAN project sea trial held in Trondheim, Norway, in May 2011

Comparison between Optimal Control Allocation with Mixed Quadratic & Linear Programming Techniques

The paper provides a comparison between different control allocation techniques in over-actuated Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. The pseudoinverse, Linear Programming (LP), Quadratic Programming (QP), Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) and Mixed Integer Quadratic Programming (MIQP) are evaluated in simulation on the V-Fides vehicle model. The MILP and MIQP techniques allow to include in their implementations a more detailed characterization of the non-linear static behaviour of the actuators. This customizability can be also exploited to improve the practical stability of the system. The metrics used for comparison include the maximum attainable forces and torques, the integral of the error allocation and the required thrusters effort. Our simulation results show that, in particular with respect to thrusters effort, MILP and MIQP are the preferred allocation methods. The computational complexity associated to both methods is not such to compromise their implementation in operating vehicles; in particular, the MILP version is currently implemented in the V-Fides vehicle

Acoustic estimation of seafloor parameters: a Radial Basis Functions approach

A novel approach to the estimation of seafloor geoacoustic parameters from the measurement of the acoustic field in the water column is introduced. The approach is based on the idea of approximating the inverse function that links the geoacoustic parameters with the measured field through a series expansion of radial basis functions. In particular, Gaussian basis functions are used in order to ensure continuity and smoothness of the approximated inverse. The main advantage of the proposed approach relies on the fact that the series expansion can be computed off-line from simulated data as soon as the experimental configuration is known. Data inversion can then be performed in true real time as soon as the data are acquired. Simulation results are presented in order to show the advantages and limitations of the method. Finally, some inversion results from horizontal towed array data are reported, and are compared with independent estimates of geoacoustic bottom properties