Virtue through Harmony: An Exploration of the Ethical Role of Music in Society

Music can profoundly affect individuals and societies. Individuals use music to express themselves, their opinions, their worldview, their emotions, all channeled through the medium of sound. Societies use music to help give identity to their culture. Music has inspired people to take up arms for their country, or to revolt. It has gathered people of different backgrounds together under the banner of peace and of war. It has inspired people to march, it has driven them to yell, to scream, to dance, to pray, to kiss and hold, to break down and cry. Music can help people sleep, can affect their dreams, or it can keep them awake, help them be alert. With the right intention and inflection music can influence people in any number of ways. Given this influence and power, it then follows that there should be an ethical responsibility to people when making or listening to music. What is the normative ethical role of music in society? How does one ethically participate in musical traditions? What does the opposite look like? In this paper, I will attempt to define the relation of music to society. With that relation in mind, I will then explain the responsibility that follows from participating in a musical tradition: music should be a morally enriching cultural experience

The Effects of Patient Education and Knowledge of CHF Patients As Evaluated by the PakSAC Survey

After diagnosis, management of congestive heart failure (CHF) can pose quite a struggle to many patients, since it requires that lifestyle changes be implemented into their daily life. Patients require the sufficient knowledge and education in order to best manage symptoms and improve their quality of life after being diagnosed. Use of Patient Knowledge of Self-care activities in Congestive Heart Failure© (PaKSAC) survey in transitional care programs could identify patient gaps in knowledge, as well as decreasing acute care service use. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the knowledge level of CHF patients at the time of discharge from their initial hospitalization using the PaKSAC questionnaire. The following research question was addressed: Describe the patients’ responses to the PaKSAC questionnaire and identify gaps of knowledge. This study was initiated following approval of the University of Arkansas and the study hospital Institutional Review Boards. This simple descriptive study will use secondary data analysis performed on 21 subjects, which completed a transitional care project. The study population consisted of New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II and III patients, 18 years of age and older, with the primary diagnosis of CHF, discharged from the hospital to home. This descriptive study examined the various domains of knowledge related to lifestyle habits that can exacerbate symptoms, dietary considerations, activity level, and identification of warning signs and symptoms in the CHF patient. The PaKSAC survey was administered following discharge from the hospital. All patient information was de-identified following the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) guidelines and reported in the aggregate. Univariate statistics was used to characterize the data obtained using the PaKSAC survey. The PaKSAC survey results were analyzed according to the domains related to knowledge about CHF, signs and symptoms, self-care, and self-care confidence (Appendix A). This study provides findings on the knowledge deficit that is a pressing issue found in CHF patients. Study results lead to the conclusion that discharge planning and continued post-discharge education is extremely important for this population

Financial Crises and Climate Change

We empirically assess by means of the local projection method, the impact of financial crises on climate change vulnerability and resilience. Using a new dataset covering 178 countries over the period 1995–2017, we observe that resilience to climate change shocks has been increasing and that advanced economies are the least vulnerable. Our econometric results suggest that financial crises (particularly systematic banking ones) tend to lead to a short-run deterioration in a country´s resilience to climate change. This effect is more pronounced in developing economies. In downturns, if an economy is hit by a financial crisis, climate change vulnerability increases. Results are robust to several sensitivity checks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Wagner and the fading voracity effect : short vs. long-run effects in developing countries

This paper empirically revisits the validity of Wagner’s proposition in a panel of 149 developing countries between 1980-2015 by focusing on different components of government expenditure. We rely on an ARDL approach which allow us to uncover short and long-run cyclicality coefficients. Our results do not overwhelmingly support the existence of higher than unity long-run elasticities of government spending components vis-a-vis economic growth, suggesting that the Wagner’s regularity is more the exception than the norm. Moreover, the case for voracity is fading away as developing countries catch-up the development ladder and graduate from procyclicality. In fact, most short-run elasticities are countercyclical. Finally, some macroeconomic and institutional and political characteristics affect the degree of government spending cyclicality.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monetary aggregates and macroeconomic performance : the Portuguese Escudo, 1911-1999

This paper takes a long time span approach to provide a full characterization of several monetary aggregates over Portuguese’s historical economic business cycles. By focusing on the 1911-1999 period (the life span of the currency Escudo), the paper also revisits the issue of the role of money on real macroeconomic outcomes. We get inspiration from the monetarists versus Keynesians debate about direction of causality in the output-money relation and the quest for validity of money (non-)neutrality. By means of descriptive statistics we first uncover that money changes were associated with changes in real economic activity. Most monetary aggregates are more volatile than GDP, display high serial autocorrelation, are generally countercyclical and lead the economic cycle (except checking accounts). Then, through formal time series techniques, our results show that our monetary series were characterized by unit roots and were cointegrated with real GDP (after accounting for endogenously estimated breaks). Evidence suggested that money supply Granger-caused real GDP supporting the money non-neutrality hypothesis in the case of Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Polluting emissions and GDP : decoupling evidence from brazilian states

We provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and GDP in Brazil using both aggregate and state-level data. The trend or Kuznets elasticity is about 0.8 for Brazil, higher than that in advanced countries but below that of major emerging markets. The elasticity is somewhat higher for consumption-based emissions than for production-based emissions, providing evidence against the “pollution haven” hypothesis. Additional evidence comes from state-level data analysis where one can observe a great deal of heterogeneity but also some hope as far as decoupling is concerned. In addition to the trend relationship between emissions and output, we find that there does not seem to exist a cyclical relationship holding in Brazil at the aggregate level (despite having become more procyclical over time), but it does exist in a few states.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Effects of Loss Aversion on Trade Policy and the Anti-Trade Bias Puzzle

We study the implications of loss aversion for trade policy determination and show how it allows us to explain a number of important and puzzling features of trade policy. In particular, we show that if individual preferences exhibit loss aversion and the coefficient of loss aversion is large enough, there will be an anti-trade bias in trade policy. We also show that, for a sufficiently high coefficient of loss aversion, more import-competing lobbies will form than under the current leading political economy model of trade protection due to Grossman and Helpman (1994), and import-competing sectors will be more likely to form a lobby than export sectors, reinforcing the anti-trade bias result. The predictions for protection that we obtain also imply that, everything else equal, higher protection will be given to those sectors in which profitability is declining. We use a nonlinear regression procedure to directly estimate the parameters of the model and test the empirical validity of its predictions. We find empirical support for the model and, very importantly, we obtain estimates of the parameters that are very close to those estimated by Kahneman and Tversky (1992) using experimental data. In order to test some predictions on the lobbying side, we estimate a Probit equation on political organization using the two-stage conditional maximum likelihood estimator proposed by Rivers and Vuong (1988), and find evidence of loss aversion in lobby formation. Finally but importantly, we find that the data favors our model over the Grossman and Helpman modelTrade policy, anti-trade bias, loss aversion

Multiscale, thermomechanical topology optimization of self-supporting cellular structures for porous injection molds

Purpose This paper aims to establish a multiscale topology optimization method for the optimal design of non-periodic, self-supporting cellular structures subjected to thermo-mechanical loads. The result is a hierarchically complex design that is thermally efficient, mechanically stable and suitable for additive manufacturing (AM). Design/methodology/approach The proposed method seeks to maximize thermo-mechanical performance at the macroscale in a conceptual design while obtaining maximum shear modulus for each unit cell at the mesoscale. Then, the macroscale performance is re-estimated, and the mesoscale design is updated until the macroscale performance is satisfied. Findings A two-dimensional Messerschmitt Bolkow Bolhm (MBB) beam withstanding thermo-mechanical load is presented to illustrate the proposed design method. Furthermore, the method is implemented to optimize a three-dimensional injection mold, which is successfully prototyped using 420 stainless steel infiltrated with bronze. Originality/value By developing a computationally efficient and manufacturing friendly inverse homogenization approach, the novel multiscale design could generate porous molds which can save up to 30 per cent material compared to their solid counterpart without decreasing thermo-mechanical performance. Practical implications This study is a useful tool for the designer in molding industries to reduce the cost of the injection mold and take full advantage of AM

Design for Additive Manufacturing of Conformal Cooling Channels Using Thermal-Fluid Topology Optimization and Application in Injection Molds

Additive manufacturing allows the fabrication parts and tools of high complexity. This capability challenges traditional guidelines in the design of conformal cooling systems in heat exchangers, injection molds, and other parts and tools. Innovative design methods, such as network-based approaches, lattice structures, and structural topology optimization have been used to generate complex and highly efficient cooling systems; however, methods that incorporate coupled thermal and fluid analysis remain scarce. This paper introduces a coupled thermal-fluid topology optimization algorithm for the design of conformal cooling channels. With this method, the channel position problem is replaced to a material distribution problem. The material distribution directly depends on the effect of flow resistance, heat conduction, as well as forced and natural convection. The problem is formulated based on a coupling of Navier-Stokes equations and convection-diffusion equation. The problem is solved by gradient-based optimization after analytical sensitivity derived using the adjoint method. The algorithm leads a two -dimensional conceptual design having optimal heat transfer and balanced flow. The conceptual design is converted to three-dimensional channels and mapped to a morphological surface conformal to the injected part. The method is applied to design an optimal conformal cooling for a real three dimensional injection mold. The feasibility of the final designs is verified through simulations. The final designs can be exported as both three-dimensional graphic and surface mesh CAD format, bringing the manufacture department the convenience to run the tool path for final fitting

EU Competition Policy: Some Real Case Applications

European Union Antitrust Laws have been successfully applied to anti-competitive behaviour, which can take place abroad, but have an effect within the EU. Under Antitrust Laws, not only abuse of dominant position practices but also mergers that restrain competition are regarded as illegal and subject to severe remedies. This paper accesses both Microsoft-WMP and Volvo-Scania cases in the light of the EU Competition Policy and identifies the circumstances involved, final decisions made as well as the suggested remedies and the consequences from the consumers’ perspective. The issues considered are per se controversial and these are clear examples of the long path to go through, in order to make the competition law regime uniformly applicable in all member states. The lack of international consensus on competition law and enforcement requires huge efforts in co-operation between countries and organisations, because in combination with economic liberalisation, nations have come to recognise competition as a powerful instrument for stimulating innovation and economic growth. This paper focus on the past, i.e., already assessed anticompetitive cases; the present - the current EU Competition Policy rules - and finally on the future of Antitrust jurisdiction, in which part I will briefly describe the major actual concerns in the long course towards a common and homogeneously valid system of International Competition Policy.