7,282 research outputs found
Tolerating Hate in the Name of Democracy
This article offers a comprehensive and critical analysis of Eric Heinze’s book Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2016). Heinze’s project is to formulate and defend a more theoretically complex version of the idea (also defended by people like Ronald Dworkin and James Weinstein) that general legal prohibitions on hate speech in public discourse compromises the state’s democratic legitimacy. We offer a detailed synopsis of Heinze’s view, highlighting some of its distinctive qualities and strengths. We then develop a critical response to this view with three main focal points: (1) the characterisation of democratic legitimacy as something distinct from (and whose demands aren’t identical with those of) legitimacy per se; (2) the claim that the requirements of democracy are hypothetical, rather than categorical, imperatives; and relatedly (3) the question of how we should reconcile the requirements of democratic legitimacy with the costs that may follow from prioritising democratic legitimacy. We argue that there are significant difficulties for Heinze’s account on all three fronts
Partial theta functions and mock modular forms as q-hypergeometric series
Ramanujan studied the analytic properties of many -hypergeometric series.
Of those, mock theta functions have been particularly intriguing, and by work
of Zwegers, we now know how these curious -series fit into the theory of
automorphic forms. The analytic theory of partial theta functions however,
which have -expansions resembling modular theta functions, is not well
understood. Here we consider families of -hypergeometric series which
converge in two disjoint domains. In one domain, we show that these series are
often equal to one another, and define mock theta functions, including the
classical mock theta functions of Ramanujan, as well as certain combinatorial
generating functions, as special cases. In the other domain, we prove that
these series are typically not equal to one another, but instead are related by
partial theta functions.Comment: 13 page
‘Ecstasy’ and the use of sleep medications in a general community sample: a four-year follow-up
Aims: Animal models show that a single dose of MDMA (‘ecstasy’) can result in long-term
disruption of sleep. We evaluated the relationship between ecstasy consumption and the use of sleep medications in humans after controlling for key factors.
Design: The Personality and Total Health Through Life project uses a longitudinal cohort with follow-up every four years. This study reports data from waves two and three.
Setting: Participants were recruited from the electoral roll in the Australian Capital Territory and Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia.
Participants: Participants were aged 20-24 years at wave one (1999-2000).
Measures: The study collected self-reported data on ecstasy, meth/amphetamine, cannabis,
alcohol, tobacco and use of sleeping medications (pharmaceutical or other substances). Depression was categorised with the Brief Patient Health Questionnaire (BPHQ). Other psychosocial measures included lifetime traumas. We used generalised estimating equations to model outcomes.
Results: Ecstasy data were available from 2128 people at wave two and 1977 at wave three: sleeping medication use was reported by 227 (10.7%) respondents at wave two and 239 (12.1%) at wave three. Increased odds ratios (OR) for sleeping medication use was found for those with depression (OR=1.88, (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.39, 2.53), women (OR=1.44, 95% CI 1.13, 1.84), and increased by 19% for each lifetime trauma. Ecstasy use was not a significant predictor, but >monthly versus never meth/amphetamine use increased the odds (OR=3.03, 95% CI 1.30, 7.03).
Conclusion: The use of ecstasy was not associated with the use of sleeping medications controlling for other risk factors.The PATH study was supported by an NHMRC Program Grant 179805 and NHMRC Project Grant 157125. The sponsors had no role in the design, conduct or reporting of the research. None of the authors have connections (direct or indirect) with the
tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical or gaming industries or any body substantially funded by one of these organisations
Evaluating Flood Forecasting System Performance in Cambodia
Every year, Cambodia experiences flooding as a result of monsoon rains and typhoons. Flood forecasting systems are designed to enable people to mitigate economic and social impacts from these events. However, in order for forecasts to be used effectively, an assessment of their accuracy is needed. This study demonstrates the performance of regional and global flood forecasting systems over the 2019 flood season. To do this, we assess the flood forecast accuracy at different forecast lead times and gauge locations in Cambodia. We then compare the flood forecast performance to satellite-based flood maps produced by the Hydrological Remote Sensing Analysis of Floods (HYDRAFloods) tool currently being co-developed by SERVIR-Mekong in collaboration with the Myanmar Department of Disaster Management. This assessment of the flood forecasting systems performance and comparison to flood extents helps (1) provide valuable information to forecasters and disaster managers as they make improvements to their models, and (2) provides support to forecast users as they evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different systems for taking action
Reaction Rate Uncertainties: NeNa and MgAl in AGB Stars
We study the effect of uncertainties in the proton-capture reaction rates of
the NeNa and MgAl chains on nucleosynthesis due to the operation of hot bottom
burning (HBB) in intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. HBB
nucleosynthesis is associated with the production of sodium, radioactive Al26
and the heavy magnesium isotopes, and it is possibly responsible for the O, Na,
Mg and Al abundance anomalies observed in globular cluster stars.
We model HBB with an analytic code based on full stellar evolution models so
we can quickly cover a large parameter space. The reaction rates are varied
first individually, then all together. This creates a knock-on effect, where an
increase of one reaction rate affects production of an isotope further down the
reaction chain. We find the yields of Ne22, Na23 and Al26 to be the most
susceptible to current nuclear reaction rate uncertainties.Comment: Presented at NIC-IX, International Symposium on Nuclear Astrophysics
- Nuclei in the Cosmos - IX, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, 25-30 June, 200
Exploring the Revenue Mix of Nonprofit Organizations -- Does it Relate to Publicness
Nonprofit organizations offer a wide range of goods and services and seek funding from a variety of revenue sources. Our working theory n this paper is that the sources of funding are related to the services a nonprofit provides - specifically whether services are public, private, or mixed in the nature of their benefits. Using multiple subfields from three major fields in the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE), this study divides nonprofits according to service type, and estimates the impact of service character on particular revenue streams and overall level of revenue diversification. Generally, the proportion of revenues generated by program fees is lowest for the category deemed public, highest for those with mostly private benefits, and midway for "mixed" services which are private in character but entail substantial public benefits. Similarly, the more public a nonprofit's services, the greater the proportion of revenues it generates through donations. However, we also identify some puzzling results that suggest the need for continued investigation of the determinants of the sources and mixes of nonprofit income. Working Paper 07-3
The rent's too high: Self-archive for fair online publication costs
The main contributors of scientific knowledge, researchers, generally aim to
disseminate their findings far and wide. And yet, publishing companies have
largely kept these findings behind a paywall. With digital publication
technology markedly reducing cost, this enduring wall seems disproportionate
and unjustified; moreover, it has sparked a topical exchange concerning how to
modernize academic publishing. This discussion, however, seems to focus on how
to compensate major publishers for providing open access through a "pay to
publish" model, in turn transferring financial burdens from libraries to
authors and their funders. Large publishing companies, including Elsevier,
Springer Nature, Wiley, PLoS, and Frontiers, continue to earn exorbitant
revenues each year, hundreds of millions of dollars of which now come from
processing charges for open-access articles. A less expensive and equally
accessible alternative exists: widespread self-archiving of peer-reviewed
articles. All we need is awareness of this alternative and the will to employ
itComment: 8 pages, 1 figure, 19 reference
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