Non-cognitivism and liberal-individualism: (philosophy and ideology in the history of contemporary moral and political life.)

This thesis is about the character of the non-cognitivist theory of ethics and its practical impact on contemporary moral and political life, It is suggested that non-cognitivism, understood as a distinct style of ethical theorising advanced most notably by Ayer, Stevenson, Hare and Mackie, has both a philosophical character, and an ideological character of a liberal-individualist kind. In the first four chapters the philosophical nature of the non-cognitivist account of ethics is critically examined. In chapters five and six it is argued, following Maclntyre, that there is a need to sketch out the historical context of the emergence of the theory in order to gain a complete understanding of its character. This is undertaken by drawing upon previously unpublished or unavailable material by such thinkers as Duncan-Jones, Barnes and Stevenson. In chapters seven and eight the ideological character of the theory is examined by indicating that philosophy and ideology constitute two logically different forms of understanding. It is suggested that the philosophical arguments advanced within non-cognitivism serve the purpose of giving coherent expression to a presumed ideological liberal-individualist conception of man and his relation to others in the world. Chapters nine and ten considers the implications for contemporary liberal theory of the non-cognitivist dominance of the moral philosophy and political practices of the Western democracies. It is claimed that the attempts of Dunn, Forty and Rawls to justify liberal theory and practice are unsuccessful because non-cognim has effectively undermined the distinction between morality and prudence upon which such a justification is grounded. The conclusion reached is that liberalism is in a state of crisis

Admission Control Policies for Internet File Transfer Protocols

Server congestion is a major cause of frustration with the Internet. It is not uncommon for a server with a new release of popular software to be swamped by many times more clients than it can possibly handle. Current Internet file transfer protocols, namely FTP and HTTP, do not have any policy to regulate client admission. In this thesis we are concerned with server admission policies that will improve clients\u27 experience with servers under heavy load. Using a purpose-built network simulator, we compare the prevalent protocols with two new protocols that include policies taken from processor scheduling. By applying more intelligent client admission policies it is hoped that the quality of service on the Internet can be improved

Beam energy metrics for the acceptance and quality assurance of Halcyon linear accelerator

PURPOSE: Establish and compare two metrics for monitoring beam energy changes in the Halcyon platform and evaluate the accuracy of these metrics across multiple Halcyon linacs. METHOD: The first energy metric is derived from the diagonal normalized flatness (F RESULTS: Five Halcyon linacs from five institutions were used to evaluate the accuracy of the D CONCLUSION: The

Process Evaluation of MAPS: A Highly Tailored Digital Intervention to Support Medication Adherence in Primary Care Setting.

Background: Medication adherence can prevent health risks, but many patients do not adhere to their prescribed treatment. Our recent trial found that a digital intervention was effective at improving medication adherence in non-adherent patients with Hypertension or Type 2 Diabetes; but we do not know how it brought about behavioural changes. This research is a post-trial process evaluation of the mechanism by which the intervention achieved its intended effects. Methods: A mixed methods design with quantitative and qualitative evidence synthesis was employed. Data was generated by two studies. Study 1 used questionnaires to measure the underlying mechanisms of and the medication adherence behaviour, and digital logfiles to objectively capture intervention effects on the process of behaviour change. Multilevel regression analysis on 57 complete intervention group cases tested the effects of the intervention at modifying the mechanism of behaviour change and in turn at improving medication adherence. Study 2 used in depth interviews with a subsample of 20 intervention patients, and eight practise nurses. Thematic analysis provided evidence about the overarching intervention functions and recommendations to improve intervention reach and impact in primary care. Results: Study 1 found that intervention effectiveness was significantly associated with positive changes in the underlying mechanisms of behaviour change (R2 = 0.26, SE = 0.98, P = 0.00); and this effect was heightened twofold when the tailored intervention content and reporting on medication taking (R2 = 0.59, SE = 0.74, P = 0.00) was interested into the regression model. Study 2 suggested that the intervention supported motivation and ability to adherence, although clinically meaningful effects would require very brief medication adherence risk appraisal and signposting to ongoing digitally delivered behavioural support during clinical consultations. Conclusion: This post trial process evaluation used objective methods to capture the intervention effect on the mechanisms of behaviour change to explain intervention effectiveness, and subjective accounts to explore the circumstances under which these effects were achieved. The results of this process evaluation will inform a large scale randomised controlled trial in primary care

Analytical design planning technique: a model of the detailed building design process

This journal article was published in the journal, Design Studies [© Elsevier] and the definitive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0142694XCurrent planning practice takes little account of the interdisciplinary, iterative nature of the building design process. This leads to a compromised design process containing inevitable cycles of rework together with associated time and cost penalties in both design and construction. The Analytical Design Planning Technique (ADePT) is a planning methodology which helps to overcome these difficulties. This paper describes the development of a modelling notation and model of the detailed building design process, which forms the first stage of ADePT

Measuring the capability to raise revenue process and output dimensions and their application to the Zambia revenue authority

The worldwide diffusion of the good governance agenda and new public management has triggered a renewed focus on state capability and, more specifically, on the capability to raise revenue in developing countries. However, the analytical tools for a comprehensive understanding of the capability to raise revenue remain underdeveloped. This article aims at filling this gap and presents a model consisting of the three process dimensions ‘information collection and processing’, ‘merit orientation’ and ‘administrative accountability’. ‘Revenue performance’ constitutes the fourth capability dimension which assesses tax administration’s output. This model is applied to the case of the Zambia Revenue Authority. The dimensions prove to be valuable not only for assessing the how much but also the how of collecting taxes. They can be a useful tool for future comparative analyses of tax administrations’ capabilities in developing countries.Die weltweite Verbreitung der Good-Governance- und New-Public-Management-Konzepte hat zu einer zunehmenden Konzentration auf staatliche Leistungsfähigkeit und, im Besonderen, auf die Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuererhebung in Entwicklungsländern geführt. Allerdings bleiben die analytischen Werkzeuge für ein umfassendes Verständnis von Leistungsfähigkeit unterentwickelt. Dieser Artikel stellt hierfür ein Modell vor, das die drei Prozess-Dimensionen „Sammeln und Verarbeiten von Informationen“, „Leistungsorientierung der Mitarbeiter“ und „Verantwortlichkeit der Verwaltung“ beinhaltet. „Einnahmeperformanz“ ist die vierte Dimension und erfasst den Output der Steuerverwaltung. Das mehrdimensionale Modell wird für die Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit der Steuerbehörde Zambias (Zambia Revenue Authority) genutzt. Es erweist sich nicht nur für die Untersuchung des Wieviel, sondern auch des Wie des Erhebens von Steuern als wertvoll. Die vier Dimensionen können in Zukunft zur umfassenden und vergleichenden Analyse der Leistungsfähigkeit verschiedener Steuerverwaltungen in Entwicklungsländern genutzt werden

Genome-wide parent-of-origin DNA methylation analysis reveals the intricacies of human imprinting and suggests a germline methylation-independent mechanism of establishment

Differential methylation between the two alleles of a gene has been observed in imprinted regions, where the methylation of one allele occurs on a parent-of-origin basis, the inactive X-chromosome in females, and at those loci whose methylation is driven by genetic variants. We have extensively characterized imprinted methylation in a substantial range of normal human tissues, reciprocal genome-wide uniparental disomies, and hydatidiform moles, using a combination of whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and high-density methylation microarrays. This approach allowed us to define methylation profiles at known imprinted domains at base-pair resolution, as well as to identify 21 novel loci harboring parent-of-origin methylation, 15 of which are restricted to the placenta. We observe that the extent of imprinted differentially methylated regions (DMRs) is extremely similar between tissues, with the exception of the placenta. This extra-embryonic tissue often adopts a different methylation profile compared to somatic tissues. Further, we profiled all imprinted DMRs in sperm and embryonic stem cells derived from parthenogenetically activated oocytes, individual blastomeres, and blastocysts, in order to identify primary DMRs and reveal the extent of reprogramming during preimplantation development. Intriguingly, we find that in contrast to ubiquitous imprints, the majority of placenta-specific imprinted DMRs are unmethylated in sperm and all human embryonic stem cells. Therefore, placental-specific imprinting provides evidence for an inheritable epigenetic state that is independent of DNA methylation and the existence of a novel imprinting mechanism at these loci