The Conclusion in Which Nothingness is Concluded

Samuel Johnson’s The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia is ironically most often classified as an “oriental philosophic tale,” but is rarely analyzed from the point of view of oriental philosophy. Although Buddhism’s ambiguities, inwardness, and nothingness, provoke anxiety in Western critique, Johnson’s The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia does something unique from eighteenth-century British thought in that it disavows this Buddaphobia by actively employing a similar line of thought. Through the lens of a Buddhist framework many of the text’s renownedly gloomy implications, in regard to its circular structure and inconclusiveness, are freed from the great sludge of nihilism that has built up on its didactic purpose; consequently, a Buddhist perspective begins to reveal how contrary to enlightenment ideals, a lack of absolute truth allows for greater meaning. Timothy Morton\u27s essay Buddaphobia explores The Middle Way Buddhist philosophy by Nāgārjuna and its concept of meontic nothingness which I will apply to Rasselas for the purposes of bridging its philosophical gaps between Western and Eastern philosophy as well as understanding the circular tendencies of the text. Both Buddhism and Rasselas share the question of desire and the suffering that results from its wheel of temporary pleasures. I will be investigating the instances in which the philosophy Johnson has imbued the text with and Buddhism can inform each other on the matter and in which areas they conflict. By applying an eastern stream of thought to Rasselas I do not mean to propose Buddhism as the solution to happiness. However, I do mean to inspect how a Western conception of happiness is constructed and consequently how an Eastern perspective of it might add to its reality

A Program Visualization System That Supports the Program Understanding Process.

The goal of this research is to provide a graphical system that supports the program understanding process by representing the program\u27s control flow, the code and the identifiers local to a specific point within the program. By having more information local to the point of interest, the programmer can maintain continuity in developing program understanding. The programmer can see loops, procedure calls, and other structures with respect to their execution order and can view them in the environment or the context in which they will execute. The Peec system supplies a graphical representation of the program\u27s control flow in which the control structures are represented as tiers. The tiers are arranged in a three-dimensional space representing the program\u27s operational flow. The body of the procedure or function is nested within the reference tier so that the programmer views the routine local to its reference point. Also, a list of live identifiers is displayable for the current tier element. The advantage is that the routine\u27s text and the identifier list are local to the area of study and the programmer does not have to look elsewhere for the program text and the identifier definition. The programmer can maintain a continuity in developing program understanding using information local to the point of interest. The Peec system consists of the Peec compiler which transforms a Pascal program into tier and identifier information, and the Peec environment for modeling the program\u27s operational flow image. The Peec environment provides the programmer many interactive capabilities. These capabilities consist of browsing the flow model, displaying text, displaying identifiers and transforming the three-dimensional flow model into appropriate views. These features are aimed at assisting the programmer in the processing of developing program understanding

The Utility of Outpatient Commitment: I. A Need for Treatment and a Least Restrictive Alternative to Psychiatric Hospitalization.

ObjectivesThis study examined whether psychiatric patients assigned to community treatment orders (CTOs), outpatient commitment in Victoria, Australia, have a greater need for treatment to protect their health and safety than patients not assigned to CTOs. It also considered whether such treatment is provided in a least restrictive manner-that is, in a way that contributes to reduced use of psychiatric hospitalization.MethodsThe sample included 11,424 patients first placed on a CTO between 2000 and 2010, and 16,161 patients not placed on a CTO. Need for treatment was independently assessed with the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) at hospital admission and at discharge. Ordinary least-squares and Poisson regressions were used to assess savings in hospital days attributable to CTO placement.ResultsHoNOS ratings indicated that at admission and discharge, the CTO cohort's need for treatment exceeded that of the non-CTO cohort, particularly in areas indicating potential dangerous behavior. When analyses adjusted for the propensity to be selected into the CTO cohort and other factors, the mean duration of an inpatient episode was 4.6 days shorter for the CTO cohort than for the non-CTO cohort, and a reduction of 10.4 days per inpatient episode was attributable to each CTO placement.ConclusionsCTO placement may have helped patients with a greater need for treatment to experience shorter hospital stays. Whether the CTO directly enabled the fulfillment of unsought but required treatment needs that protected patient health and safety is a question that needs to be addressed in future research

Teacher and Administrator Perceptions of In-School Suspension Programs on Changing Student Behavior and Academic Success in Schools

This study was performed to examine the perception of teachers, in-school suspension (ISS) staff, and administrators on the effectiveness of the in-school suspension program in changing students’ behavior and academic success at various schools with different performance levels according the current Mississippi Accountability Model. The 32 schools included in this study were located in the central region of Mississippi. The survey was administered during the spring semester of 2012. Data from the ISS survey determined that there was no relationship between the school performance level and the perceptions of ISS. Overall, the researcher found that there was no evidence supporting the idea that ISS programs are more effective in schools that have attained higher performance level ratings. Respondents in general perceived that ISS to be ineffective in their school setting. The performance level groups disagreed on a specific purpose for the ISS programs, but they agreed that the programs should be more punitive in nature. The researcher found that there was the perception that if students in ISS are to be successful, there should be more academic assistance and counseling inside ISS programs. The performance level groups differed in their opinions of their own schools’ ISS staffs’ qualifications. They did agree that qualified personnel such as a certified teacher should be in charge of ISS. Finally, there was a significant difference in the performance level group’s opinions of how well the staffs communicated with each other about ISS. All the performance level groups agreed that teachers were rarely informed about student improvement in ISS. The results obtained from this study will inform professionals of steps that can be taken to improve any ISS program. The researcher suggests actions that should be taken to define the purpose, along with the policies and procedures that go along with an effective program. The researcher suggests that there should be particular attention given to teacher behaviors toward ISS and a focus on a more collegial relationship between the classroom and ISS teachers. This would, in the researcher’s opinion, improve communication among the entire staff. There should also be support from the administration and constant monitoring of the program. With the differences discovered inside the different performance level schools, the researcher recommends that each school design its ISS program around its individual needs

Insect pests and their control - Red spider control (Preliminary report of experiments)

Experimental work was carried out in January, February and March of 1958. in order to test various insecticides and miticides for the control of red spider, Tetranychus telarius (L)

Some experiments on San Jose scale control

WITH the rejection by export fruit inspectors of 13,500 cases of apples during 1959, due to the presence of San Jose Scale, attention has suddenly been focussed on the importance of San Jose Scale to the W.A. fruit grower

Citrus red scale control

THE RED SCALE (Aonidiella aurantii Masc.) is widely distributed throughout the world and is a serious pest in countries with semi-arid climates such as California, South Africa, Palestine and Australia. The home of the pest is probably China, but it has been known in Australia for over 70 years and it was introduced into North America from the continent

Control of San Jose scale

W ITH an export rejection rate in excess of 10,000 cases per year, the apple industry in W.A. is continually confronted with the problem of San Jose Scale control