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Author(s):  
Jason T Eberl

Abstract Transhumanism is an ideology that embraces the use of various forms of biotechnology to enhance human beings toward the emergence of a “posthuman” kind. In this article, I contrast some of the foundational tenets of Transhumanism with those of Christianity, primarily focusing on their respective anthropologies—that is, their diverse understandings of whether there is an essential nature shared by all human persons and, if so, whether certain features of human nature may be intentionally altered in ways that contribute toward how each views human flourishing. A central point of difference concerns Transhumanists’ aim of attaining “substrate independence” for the human mind, such that one’s consciousness could be uploaded into a cybernetic environment. Christian anthropology, on the other hand, considers embodiment, with its characteristics of vulnerability and finitude, to be an essential feature of human nature—hence, Christians’ belief in bodily resurrection. Despite Christianity and Transhumanism having fundamental differences, I contend that Christians may support moderate forms of enhancement oriented toward supporting our flourishing as living, sentient, social, and rational animals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by R. Frost and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by W. B. Yeats are two of the most representative poems of these poets. Part of their universal appeal lies in their messages and their craftsmanship, and both the qualities relate to the New Critical conception of poetry. Since New Criticism as a literary theory, originating in the early twentieth century, seeks to explore poems through some central points of references in a close reading, this present study takes paradoxes as a central point of reference for a close reading of the two poems and attempts to unveil their poetic enigma by examining what tensions the paradoxes create through the speakers’ grappling with the dilemmas they are facing, how the paradoxes are being resolved or left unresolved, what similarities the two poems share in this regard, and what poetic unity the poems ultimately attain through the development of these paradoxes.


Author(s):  
RIZWANUR KHAN ◽  
MATTHEW P. YOUNG

Abstract We establish sharp bounds for the second moment of symmetric-square L-functions attached to Hecke Maass cusp forms $u_j$ with spectral parameter $t_j$ , where the second moment is a sum over $t_j$ in a short interval. At the central point $s=1/2$ of the L-function, our interval is smaller than previous known results. More specifically, for $\left \lvert t_j\right \rvert $ of size T, our interval is of size $T^{1/5}$ , whereas the previous best was $T^{1/3}$ , from work of Lam. A little higher up on the critical line, our second moment yields a subconvexity bound for the symmetric-square L-function. More specifically, we get subconvexity at $s=1/2+it$ provided $\left \lvert t_j\right \rvert ^{6/7+\delta }\le \lvert t\rvert \le (2-\delta )\left \lvert t_j\right \rvert $ for any fixed $\delta>0$ . Since $\lvert t\rvert $ can be taken significantly smaller than $\left \lvert t_j\right \rvert $ , this may be viewed as an approximation to the notorious subconvexity problem for the symmetric-square L-function in the spectral aspect at $s=1/2$ .


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-94
Author(s):  
Suraj Mandal ◽  
Km. Shiva ◽  
K Pavan Kumar ◽  
Sweta Goel ◽  
Ramesh Kumar Patel ◽  
...  

The remarkable life structures and physiology of the eye presents huge difficulties to researchers in the field of visual medication conveyance frameworks. Nearby infusion is the most fitting and proper medication organization technique for the treatment of foremost front sickness. There are two kinds of hindrances in ophthalmic medication conveyance frameworks: static boundaries and dynamic obstructions. Static lamellae contain corneal, dermal, retinal, and retinal vessels while dynamic lamellae contain placental blood stream, conjunctiva, tear evacuation, and lymphatic seepage. These limitations influence the bioavailability of the medication. This article examines the limits of customary ophthalmic practice and the central point affecting the pharmacokinetics of the eye. Likewise, eye salves, gels, prodrugs, intranasal infusions, thickeners, entrance energizers, liposomes, microparticles, nanoparticles, visual infusions, inserts, nanoparticles, nanostructures, microemulsions, gels and periocular infusions. It guarantees the bioavailability of the medication and the controlled and constant control of the medication in the foremost and back alveoli.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Michelle Engel Limenta

<p>The issue of non-compliance with the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) recommendations and rulings emerges when the violator state fails to bring its inconsistent measures into conformity with its WTO obligations within a reasonable period of time. Compensation and suspension of concessions or other obligations (retaliation) are the only remedies provided under WTO law for cases of non-compliance. Many academic writings, as well as statements from WTO Members, have demonstrated pessimism concerning the effectiveness of these remedies, particularly retaliation. The central point of this thesis concerns three main issues: the problems of WTO retaliation, the question of the effectiveness of retaliation, and the purposes of retaliation. This thesis aims to provide another perspective, besides the common “harm-resulted” perspective, for assessing the effectiveness of WTO retaliation. Accordingly, it provides several approaches: (1) identification of the purpose of retaliation in order to assess its effectiveness; (2) analysis of the enquiry whether there are in fact several purposes of WTO retaliation; (3) examination of the question whether the presence of retaliation purposes other than that inducing compliance is within the ambit of WTO law; (4) consideration of retaliation as a way of inducing a mutually agreeable solution; and (5) consideration of the question whether any deviation from strict compliance would undermine the WTO dispute settlement system. On the basis of extensive research on the purposes of WTO retaliation, namely through interpreting Article 22 of the DSU, examining the design of WTO treaty, assessing the academic writings/debates as well as the statements of arbitrators; several conclusions are made, of which the main one is that inducing compliance is not the sole purpose that WTO retaliation can pursue. Therefore compliance is not the only benchmark by which the effectiveness of WTO retaliation should be measured.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Michelle Engel Limenta

<p>The issue of non-compliance with the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) recommendations and rulings emerges when the violator state fails to bring its inconsistent measures into conformity with its WTO obligations within a reasonable period of time. Compensation and suspension of concessions or other obligations (retaliation) are the only remedies provided under WTO law for cases of non-compliance. Many academic writings, as well as statements from WTO Members, have demonstrated pessimism concerning the effectiveness of these remedies, particularly retaliation. The central point of this thesis concerns three main issues: the problems of WTO retaliation, the question of the effectiveness of retaliation, and the purposes of retaliation. This thesis aims to provide another perspective, besides the common “harm-resulted” perspective, for assessing the effectiveness of WTO retaliation. Accordingly, it provides several approaches: (1) identification of the purpose of retaliation in order to assess its effectiveness; (2) analysis of the enquiry whether there are in fact several purposes of WTO retaliation; (3) examination of the question whether the presence of retaliation purposes other than that inducing compliance is within the ambit of WTO law; (4) consideration of retaliation as a way of inducing a mutually agreeable solution; and (5) consideration of the question whether any deviation from strict compliance would undermine the WTO dispute settlement system. On the basis of extensive research on the purposes of WTO retaliation, namely through interpreting Article 22 of the DSU, examining the design of WTO treaty, assessing the academic writings/debates as well as the statements of arbitrators; several conclusions are made, of which the main one is that inducing compliance is not the sole purpose that WTO retaliation can pursue. Therefore compliance is not the only benchmark by which the effectiveness of WTO retaliation should be measured.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Robin Aldridge-Sutton

<p>In the debate over whether free will is compatible with determinism most philosophers on both sides think that folk intuitions are a constraint on philosophical theorising. Most also think that the same criteria are required for free will in all cases. But recent attempts to empirically study folk intuitions about free will appear to show that these two positions cannot be jointly maintained. That is because folk intuitions about free will appear to represent compatibilist and incompatibilist criteria for free will in different cases. In response to this some philosophers have run new studies to demonstrate problems with older ones and undermine their results. One such study has been claimed to show that some participants mistakenly inferred that an agent‘s mental states have no effect on their actions given determinism. In this thesis I argue that the questions about causation that were used in this study were too ambiguous to show this. My central point is that when considering the causal history of an action we tend to privilege the earlier causes over later ones. When participants responded that an agent‘s mental states have no effect on their actions they may have meant that there were earlier conditions that caused the agent‘s mental states which then caused their actions. This would show that the participants had made the correct inference that given determinism the causal histories of an agent‘s actions extend back in time to events outside of the agent‘s mind. Thus the problem of the apparent mismatch between folk intuitions and philosophical theories of free will remains. I also suggest that the results of these studies also appear to demonstrate a greater level of disagreement among folk intuitions about the same cases than philosophers seem to expect. This raises questions about whether the same theory of free will has to apply to everyone, and if so, whether folk intuitions support any such theory. In chapter one I begin by briefly describing the free will debate and the role that folk intuitions usually play within it. I describe some debate over the usefulness of folk intuitions in philosophy, and make some small contributions on behalf of their usefulness. I describe and defend the recent movement towards attempting to empirically study folk intuitions on philosophical issues. In chapter two I describe the empirical studies that seem to show that folk intuitions about free will represent compatibilist criteria in some cases and incompatibilist criteria in others. I suggest that they also seem to show that when considering the same case some folk have compatibilist intuitions and some have incompatibilist intuitions. I raise some questions about the implications of rejecting the assumption, which most philosophers seem to make, that people generally have the same intuitions about the same cases. In chapter three I present the study that is claimed to show that participants in the earlier studies were confused, and thus that they did not really have incompatibilist intuitions. I present my arguments against it and conclude that for now the original interpretation of those studies stands, along with the problems it raises.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Robin Aldridge-Sutton

<p>In the debate over whether free will is compatible with determinism most philosophers on both sides think that folk intuitions are a constraint on philosophical theorising. Most also think that the same criteria are required for free will in all cases. But recent attempts to empirically study folk intuitions about free will appear to show that these two positions cannot be jointly maintained. That is because folk intuitions about free will appear to represent compatibilist and incompatibilist criteria for free will in different cases. In response to this some philosophers have run new studies to demonstrate problems with older ones and undermine their results. One such study has been claimed to show that some participants mistakenly inferred that an agent‘s mental states have no effect on their actions given determinism. In this thesis I argue that the questions about causation that were used in this study were too ambiguous to show this. My central point is that when considering the causal history of an action we tend to privilege the earlier causes over later ones. When participants responded that an agent‘s mental states have no effect on their actions they may have meant that there were earlier conditions that caused the agent‘s mental states which then caused their actions. This would show that the participants had made the correct inference that given determinism the causal histories of an agent‘s actions extend back in time to events outside of the agent‘s mind. Thus the problem of the apparent mismatch between folk intuitions and philosophical theories of free will remains. I also suggest that the results of these studies also appear to demonstrate a greater level of disagreement among folk intuitions about the same cases than philosophers seem to expect. This raises questions about whether the same theory of free will has to apply to everyone, and if so, whether folk intuitions support any such theory. In chapter one I begin by briefly describing the free will debate and the role that folk intuitions usually play within it. I describe some debate over the usefulness of folk intuitions in philosophy, and make some small contributions on behalf of their usefulness. I describe and defend the recent movement towards attempting to empirically study folk intuitions on philosophical issues. In chapter two I describe the empirical studies that seem to show that folk intuitions about free will represent compatibilist criteria in some cases and incompatibilist criteria in others. I suggest that they also seem to show that when considering the same case some folk have compatibilist intuitions and some have incompatibilist intuitions. I raise some questions about the implications of rejecting the assumption, which most philosophers seem to make, that people generally have the same intuitions about the same cases. In chapter three I present the study that is claimed to show that participants in the earlier studies were confused, and thus that they did not really have incompatibilist intuitions. I present my arguments against it and conclude that for now the original interpretation of those studies stands, along with the problems it raises.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Peterson

Nineteenth-century London experienced four extraordinarily severe summertime cholera epidemics. Three were preceded by less severe non-summer outbreaks. Twenty-first-century research hypothesizes them as herald waves of potentially new cholera strains. This study examined the geographical characteristics of these herald waves and compared them to their subsequent main waves to determine if there was a geographical component to the significant difference in wave severity. Cholera mortality data for London’s parishes and registration districts were extracted from contemporaneous records. The data were normalized and scaled. Each epidemic wave was divided into two segments for analysis. A Spearman’s rank correlation was used to assess the relationship between a herald and its subsequent main wave. Geospatial analytical tools were used to determine and display each segment’s geographic distribution pattern using autocorrelation techniques to determine its central point. Results show that the herald wave of each epidemic shared characteristics similar to its following main wave. Central-point locations were similar and Spearman’s rank coefficients showed high degrees of correlation. Autocorrelation results were similar, with one exception reflecting an appalling anomalous cholera outbreak at an institution for children. Because of the demonstrated similarity of each epidemic’s herald and main waves, this study did not detect a spatial characteristic that could explain the observed difference in severity between the studied heralds and mains.


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