Why preferences can be optional

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jon Marc Asper
Keyword(s):  
Career Paths ◽  
Practical Deliberation ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The University ◽  
Value Relations ◽  
Instrumental Reasons

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In practical deliberation, your aim should not always only be to promote objective goodness. Rather, I argue, you should use your own practical evaluations, as long as they are reasonable. Reasonable evaluations are sensitive to agent-centered reasons (e.g., you should not have a favorite child), instrumental reasons (e.g., to have more common interests with others), and rational reasons. This dissertation primarily develops an account of rational reasons for evaluations. Particularly, I investigate which evaluations rationally fit objective values. For many items (e.g., career paths or hobbies), it is plausible that no particular sharp evaluation is rationally required, even though some evaluations are clearly too high or low. For other items (e.g., someone else's pain), their weight in practical deliberation do not depend on the evaluator's perspective. To explain this difference, I defend an interval account of rationally fitting evaluaations, noting that the intervals can collapse to points. Each chapter rebuts an objection to the interval account. Chapter 1 rebuts the objection that value relations cannot be modeled using relations between intervals. I offer different definitions. Chapter 2 rebuts the objection that arbitrarily sharpened evaluations (within the intervals) cannot be practically authoritative. I respond that they must be practically authoritative or else perfect rationality would be possible in principle. Chapter 3 responds to the objection that evaluations cannot be practically authoritative because it is practically impossible to change them. I grant that it is often permissible to change our evaluations, but I rhetorically challenge the objector to deny that such things can (though need not) contribute meaning to a life.

Toward a virtue account of science

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacob Warren Wright
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Knowledge Model ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Scientific Goal ◽  
Zero Force Evolutionary Law ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This dissertation argues for a virtue account of science in which foundational scientific goals are achieved by scientists' employment of virtuous tools and practices. Chapter 1 discusses contemporary literature on the nature and success of biology, especially the realism/antirealism debate within biology. This chapter also provides background into the debate surrounding explanation and understanding. Chapter 2 challenges the idea that successful biology requires appeals to laws of nature by arguing that some foundational scientific goals best realized by unlawful tools and practices. This result provides a criterion for determining whether a discipline is more scientific than another another; disciplines are more or less scientific to the extent that they are able to achieve foundational scientific goals. Chapter 3 examines a test case for the result in Chapter 2 by analyzing McShea and Brandon's [2010] Zero Force Evolutionary Law (ZFEL). I show that the ZFEL's failure as a law does not impact its usefulness to scientists, who are able to use the ZFEL to achieve a number of important, foundational goals. Chapter 4 provides a strategy for determining foundational scientific goals by examining the debate surrounding the relationship between understanding and explanation. By analyzing Khalifa's [2013a] Explanatory Knowledge Model of Understanding, I demonstrate that understanding is not a species of explanation and is thus a foundational scientific goal. It is a goal that scientists aim at, has intrinsic benefit, and is not reducible to other scientific goals. Finally, Chapter 5 presents an outline of the virtue account. On this account, science is successful to the extent it regularly achieves foundational scientific goals. Science does so by employing virtuous tools and practices--those tools and practices that regularly allow for the achievement of foundational goals. The chapter concludes by examining several benefits of this view and considering future avenues for research.

The consciousness of visual experience

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Seokman Kang
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Phenomenal Character ◽  
Mental States ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
In Virtue Of ◽  
Alex Byrne

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] "This monograph mainly concerns two distinctive features of visual experience. First, visual experience has its own phenomenal dimension. Following the familiar terminology in the literature, I refer to this unique experiential feature as phenomenal character. The phenomenal character of a visual experience is typically taken to be the sui generis property that it has in virtue of being a particular kind of conscious mental state. As Thomas Nagel once put it, 'ocean organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism--something it is like for the organism' (1974, p. 436). Since then, the phenomenal character of an experience has often been construed as a subjective feel of some sort that manifests itself to the subject when he undergoes the experience that carries it. Alex Byrne thus proposes that 'the phenomenal character of an experience e is a property, specifically a property of e: that property that types e according to what it's like to undergo e' (2002)."--Chapter 1.

TEM study of boron additions to cobalt aluminide

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 546-547
Author(s):  
Gerald B. Feldewerth
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Turbine Engines ◽  
Major Drawback ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Specific Strength ◽  
Aerospace Applications ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ordered Alloys ◽  
The University ◽  
Very High

In recent years an increasing emphasis has been placed on the study of high temperature intermetallic compounds for possible aerospace applications. One group of interest is the B2 aiuminides. This group of intermetaliics has a very high melting temperature, good high temperature, and excellent specific strength. These qualities make it a candidate for applications such as turbine engines. The B2 aiuminides exist over a wide range of compositions and also have a large solubility for third element substitutional additions, which may allow alloying additions to overcome their major drawback, their brittle nature.One B2 aluminide currently being studied is cobalt aluminide. Optical microscopy of CoAl alloys produced at the University of Missouri-Rolla showed a dramatic decrease in the grain size which affects the yield strength and flow stress of long range ordered alloys, and a change in the grain shape with the addition of 0.5 % boron.

MARS — Its Tenth Anniversary of Operation and its Future

1980 ◽  
Vol 19 (03) ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
G. S. Lodwick ◽  
C. R. Wickizer ◽  
E. Dickhaus
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Administrative Support ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Hospital Environment ◽  
Computer Scientist ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Complete Bibliography ◽  
The University ◽  
Economic Considerations

The Missouri Automated Radiology System recently passed its tenth year of clinical operation at the University of Missouri. This article presents the views of a radiologist who has been instrumental in the conceptual development and administrative support of MARS for most of this period, an economist who evaluated MARS from 1972 to 1974 as part of her doctoral dissertation, and a computer scientist who has worked for two years in the development of a Standard MUMPS version of MARS. The first section provides a historical perspective. The second deals with economic considerations of the present MARS system, and suggests those improvements which offer the greatest economic benefits. The final section discusses the new approaches employed in the latest version of MARS, as well as areas for further application in the overall radiology and hospital environment. A complete bibliography on MARS is provided for further reading.

An Interactive Morphological Matrix Computational Design Tool: A Hybrid of Two Methods

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cari R. Bryant ◽  
Matt Bohm ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Computational Design ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Generation Algorithm ◽  
Design Theories ◽  
The University ◽  
Matrix Generator

This paper builds on previous concept generation techniques explored at the University of Missouri - Rolla and presents an interactive concept generation tool aimed specifically at the early concept generation phase of the design process. Research into automated concept generation design theories led to the creation of two distinct design tools: an automated morphological search that presents a designer with a static matrix of solutions that solve the desired input functionality and a computational concept generation algorithm that presents a designer with a static list of compatible component chains that solve the desired input functionality. The merger of both the automated morphological matrix and concept generation algorithm yields an interactive concept generator that allows the user to select specific solution components while receiving instantaneous feedback on component compatibility. The research presented evaluates the conceptual results from the hybrid morphological matrix approach and compares interactively constructed solutions to those returned by the non-interactive automated morphological matrix generator using a dog food sample packet counter as a case study.

Beyond the border war : student civil rights activism at the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri, 1946-1954

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mary Beth Brown
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
University Of Kansas ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
The University ◽  
The 19Th Century

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation examines post-World War II student civil rights activism at two Midwestern college campuses, the University of Missouri (MU) and the University of Kansas (KU). Missouri and Kansas have conflicting histories concerning race dating back to Bleeding Kansas and the history of race relations on the campuses of KU and MU. This history is especially complicated during the period between 1946 and 1954 because of heightened student activism that challenged racial injustices. Race relations on campus largely mirrored that of the state's political environment, with KU having integrated in the 19th century, whereas MU did not desegregate until 1950. However, the same did not apply to the success of student activists at each school where MU students found success fighting against discriminatory practices in Columbia, whereas local business leaders and the university administration stymied KU students. The dissertation examines the exchange of ideas and strategy among students, which occurred through athletics, debates, guest speakers, and various regional and national groups. In particular, the study argues that campus spaces, such as residential co-ops and student organizations, were deeply significant because they served as incubators of activism by offering students a place to talk about racial and social injustice and plan ways to challenge these inequalities and effect change on campus and in the broader community.

Sharp things, or the silver lines are not scars

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Teresa Milbrodt
Keyword(s):  
Financial Stability ◽  
Romantic Relationship ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
Stained Glass ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Adjunct Instructor ◽  
Constant Change ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The University

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This novel is the story of Tianne, a twenty-eight-year-old stained glass artist. She works two part-time jobs as a clerk at a stained glass supply store, and as an adjunct instructor at a community college. Her boyfriend Jeremiah is an academic adviser at the same college, but wants a career performing in comedy clubs. He uses a wheelchair due to spina bifida, and is cheerfully blunt that he could die from an undetected kidney infection. Tianne wrangles her own invisible disability, since endometriosis causes her to have awful cramps during her period that can keep her home from work. Tianne loves her jobs but worries about bills after her car breaks down. She envies Jeremiah's financial stability until he's fired for speaking his mind too many times to administration. Tianne fears for his health insurance coverage, while Jeremiah debates careers as a high school guidance counselor or touring comedy clubs. Throughout the book Tianne tries to chart a path though the instabilities of her body, Jeremiah's body, their career paths, and their romantic relationship, knowing that nothing is permanent. Hers is a story not of looking for stability, but coming to terms with instability, and finding spaces of adaptation to constant change.

Frobenius closure and prime characteristic singularities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kyle Logan Maddox
Keyword(s):  
Local Ring ◽  
Local Cohomology ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
Zariski Topology ◽  
Prime Characteristic ◽  
Joint Work ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Mild Conditions ◽  
Flat Maps ◽  
The University

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation outlines several results about prime characteristic singularities for which the nilpotent part under the induced Frobenius action on local cohomology is either finite colength or the entire module, collectively referred to here as nilpotent singularities. First, we establish a sufficient condition for the finiteness of the Frobenius test exponent for a local ring and apply it to conclude that nilpotent singularities have finite Frobenius test exponent. In joint work with Jennifer Kenkel, Thomas Polstra, and Austyn Simpson, we show that under mild conditions nilpotent singularities descend and ascend along faithfully flat maps. Consequently, we then prove that the loci of primes which are weakly F-nilpotent and F-nilpotent are open in the Zariski topology for rings which are either F-finite or essentially of fiiite type over an excellent local ring.

Friends in high places : two essays on the importance of corporate political connections

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Reza Houston
Keyword(s):  
Initial Public Offering ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Target Firm ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Accounting Performance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Offering ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This study is an examination of the relationship between political connections and the undertaking of major firm events. In our first essay, presented in Chapter 3, we examine the impact politically connected appointments have on firm acquisition behavior. Using proxy statements, we create a unique database of politically connected bidders and merger targets. We find that bidders who hire connected individuals to the board or management team are more likely to avoid merger litigation. Connected bidders make more bids after the appointment. These firms also bid on larger targets. We determine there is a positive relation between the control premium and the relative of the target's connections. Connected acquirers have superior post-merger accounting performance, particularly when they acquire a connected target firm. In the second essay, presented in Chapter 4, we examine the relationship between political connections of private firms and the initial public offering process. Using registration statement information, we create a unique database of politically connected IPO firms. We find that political connections are substitutes to high-quality underwriters and big four auditors. Politically connected firms manage earnings more highly upward than non-connected firms prior to the public offering. Politically connected firms also exhibit less underpricing than non-connected firms. Politically connected IPO firms also have superior post-IPO returns relative to non-connected IPO firms.

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