GSTF Digital Library (GSTF-DL): Open Journal Systems (Global Science and Technology Forum)
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Finding Voice for Victims of Crime in the Adversarial Criminal Justice System
Get PDFAdversarial criminal justice system is designed to accommodate only two parties, the prosecution and the defendant, in the combative atmosphere of its trial process. The victim has no right of audience other than as witness for the prosecution. The involvement of victims as active participants in the exclusionary adversarial criminal justice system continue to attract debates among scholars. Whereas some favour the involvement because of its cathartic value for victims others oppose it on ground of the dislocation this might bring to the system and the threat to the defendants’ rights. Although, there have been significant victim reforms in some advanced jurisdictions creating some forms of rights for the victim, the rights remain unenforceable internally of the criminal justice process but externally of it through some administrative mechanisms. This paper reviews the position of some of the scholars on the foregoing, the various models of the system that have been constructed by scholars to accommodate victims and the emerging rights for victims. The position of this paper is that for the rights so far created for victims of crime to be truly beneficial, the so-called rights should be enforceable internally of the system with the necessary safeguards for the existing rights of offenders
Factors Predicting the Fall in Clinic Blood Pressure on Repeated Measurements
Get PDFAim: Clinic blood pressure (BP) readings tend to decrease towards the true value on repeated measurements. We aimed to identify factors associated with the fall in systolic and diastolic BP on repeated measurements. Methods: We used BP data on 4943 participants aged ≥20 (2475 men, 2468 women; mean age±SD, 50±18 years) in the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-8. Repeated measurements analysis of variance was used to identify predictors of the change in BP with time. Results: As expected, BP was significantly related to age, gender and body mass index (P<0.001). Both systolic and diastolic BP decreased significantly with time (P<0.001). These decreases were significantly related to age and the maximum cuff pressure (P<0.001). They were not related to body weight, arm dimension, triceps skinfold thickness, cuff size, and consumption of food, coffee and tobacco in the preceding 30 minutes. Conclusion: Older persons and those with high systolic BP had larger decreases in BP on repeated measurements. Hence, adequate inflation of cuff and repeated measurements in the elderly are key factors for measuring clinic BP accurately
A Survey of Subscale Aircraft Primary Flight Control Actuator Dynamic Response Characteristics
Get PDFThis paper is intended to act as a reference document for subscale aircraft and aerospace system designers who are laying out primary flight control devices. Although a great deal of information exists on actuator deflections, moments, relatively little data is publicly available on actuator dynamics. Because aircraft dimensions and weights are growing ever smaller, aeromechanical modes are growing higher and higher in frequency. As a result, it is imperative that flight control actuators with high enough bandwidths to control these aircraft be specifid, modeled, integrated and flown. The paper begins with a brief overview of seveal major flight control actuator classes which are suitable for subscale aircraft flight control and a fundamental history of each. Following the historical overview, a survey of i.) conventional electromagnetic servoactuators, ii.) pieoelectric and iii.) pneumatic subscale flight control actuators are made. The study concludes with a side-by-side comparison of the dynamics of subscale flight control actuators with corner frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 460 Hz
Many Unknowns of Lithium Ion Battery Safety in Aerospace
Get PDFAviation continues to rapidly develop through ground-breaking technological and manufacturing feats. Specifically, the aircraft being delivered and manufactured today are evolving at an exponential rate, demanding innovative technology and manufacturing. From inflight wireless internet (Wi-Fi) to a light weight fuselage made with advanced composites to cabins that mimic living rooms of the rich and famous, the aircraft of today have very little resemblance to those just a decade ago. These aircraft demand more power, and the aviation and aerospace industries demand minimal costs. Thus why the aviation and aerospace industries began using lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries are a common household item as they provide lightweight and intense power for cell phones, computers, power tools, and many other devices. However, lithium ion batteries, although light and powerful, have many draw-backs. The most notable is their fire hazards, which earned these batteries a great deal of press in early 2013 through their aerospace applications at Boeing. This paper focuses on the 2013 lithium ion battery fires aboard Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft and the UPS Dubai tragedy, offering a brief overview of the composition of lithium ion batteries to demonstrate the dangers of potential chemical interactions during battery fires. This paper concludes with possible new alternatives to these small energy powerhouses. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how the present and future of lithium ion batteries remains uncertain as potential fire hazards increase with every aircraft innovation
Cultural Historical Theory of Learning and Development: Core Concepts, Inter-Concepts Relationships, and Application
No full textThis article is mainly focused on the concepts of cultural-historical theory of learning and development. The purpose of this paper is to bring up the central concepts of this theory, how these concepts are mutually related, and the practical usage in the field of educating children with autism. The main essence of this theory underlies in the socio-cultural background of an individual which contribute to shape his or her learning process and overall development
Just-in-Time Teaching Visual Instruction for Cohort base Interactive Learning For Engineering Course
Get PDFActive learning tool – Just-in-time Teaching (JiTT) is enhanced with visual instruction and lesson plan in this action research based teaching and learning pedagogy research in engineering course that is Circuits. The JiTT was planed one year ahead to identify and gather the necessary topics for JiTT. The topics were carefully analyzed and visual instruction is found to be a better way for the content delivery during second time the Circuits course was delivered. A JiTT based lesson plan was also proposed and implemented in the Circuits course instead of the structured lesson plan. The observation shows JiTT with visual instruction and JiTT lesson plan has improved the course satisfaction, students’ learning experience, and also reduced the teaching resources
Scientific Data Visualisation Using Techniques Normally Reserved for more Frivolous Activities
No full textHere we present technologies one normally encounter being used for frivolous merchandising, to the presentation and visualisation of scientific data and mathematics. Three particular print technologies will be presented, they are glasses free lenticular prints, 3D printing (also known as rapid prototyping) and crystal engraving. The relative merits of each technology will be presented, what forms of data they are most suited to, the challenges and limitations, and some details of how required data formats are created. The discussion will be illustrated by examples from the authors application of the technologies in the context of creating engaging data presentations and visualisation for research, public outreach, education, museum and art gallery exhibition
The Incipient Mind Argument The Persistence of Absolutist Thinking in Biological Philosophy of Mind
No full textThe incipient mind argument is the central argument of Evan Thompson’s solution to the so-called mind-body problem. This paper challenges Evan Thompson’s (and Francisco Varela’s) assumption of a pristine form of subjectivity, as well as of interiority in unicellular life forms. I claim that this assumption makes sense only as a useful strategy for an absolutist account of mind. In this paper, I argue that Thompson’s thesis is erroneous at the object-level, as well as at the meta-level of his argumentation. By paying greater attention to the meta-level of his exposition, I show that Thompson’s assumption of an “incipient mind†obeys an absolutist, two-sided pattern of thinking and, therefore, that his argumentation fails to give an accurate account of the systemic generation and development of mind. After demonstrating this, I suggest an innovative action-based approach to mind in order to accurately give an account of its real-constructive development
Smith’s Incoherence Argument for Moral Rationalism
No full textDefenders of Motivational judgment internalism (MJI) argue that in one sense or another, our moral judgments necessarily motivate us to some extent. One of the most prominent defenders is Michael Smith, who in his highly influential book The Moral Problem defends a form of moral rationalism, which is the view that moral reasoning is based on practical reasoning, and thus that moral facts can and are determined a priori. This form of rationalism Smith claims to entail his account about internalism. One of the main merits of Smith’s account of moral motivation is that it allows for individual difference in levels of moral motivation, by making the claim that moral judgments necessarily motivate defeasible. Before elaborating on how Smith does so, I shall first discuss Smith's approach in The Moral Problem, which will also help to set out the basic assumptions that will be taken for granted within this essay. I will then look at the account that he provides, and assess it with respect to one of Russ Shafer-Landau's criticisms thereof. Shafer-Landau rather helpfully puts Smith’s case for his moral rationalism in the form of what he calls ‘the incoherence argument’. The strongest problem that Shafer-Landau has with this argument seems to be with the following claim: ‘it is irrational for an individual to not desire what his fully rational self would desire’. What I hope to conclude is as follows: Although Smith’s account of internalism can for the most part withstand this objection that Shafer-Landau makes to it, even though Smith himself does not demonstrate any incoherence in failing to desire what one’s fully rational self would desire, in that a different kind of incoherence can be defended through other means. This would however result in a requirement for Smith to make significant concessions to his project in The Moral Problem
The Impacts of Jean Paul Sartre on Simone De Beauvoir
No full textIt has been commonly argued that there are traces of Jean Paul Sartre on the philosophical system of his partner, Simone de Beauvoir. Some claim that Beauvoir was not original enough when constructing her system and developing her thoughts; according to some others, she even was not a philosopher. From the perspective of Beauvoir, she didn’t even consider herself as a philosopher but as an author. For her, to call somebody a philosopher, they should be like Spinoza, Hegel, or Sartre who constructs a comprehensive philosophical system, loves philosophy, teaches philosophy, understands philosophy, and uses philosophy in their works. Given these criteria, Sartre was a philosopher for her and she admits that Sartre’s philosophy influenced her a lot. Furthermore, she clearly expresses that there was a mutual influence indeed, which means she also influenced Sartre, but her impacts on him were in terms of literature, not philosophy. To give an example, after writing his biography books, Sartre wrote The Words where the traces of Beauvoir can be seen quite easily. This point can also be derived from Sartre’s admittance that he got the clarity and truth in his works--especially when describing a gesture, analyzing a situation, or observing an incident--by means of Beauvoir’s meticulous style and rich experiences. Sartre also indicates that Beauvoir was a perfect complement and privileged reader for him.In this work, our primary focus will be on the details of the influence of Sartre on Beauvoir. Here, I have to point outthat even though the title of this paper is determined as “The Impactsof Sartre on Beauvoirâ€; indeed the word “benefit,†instead of “impact,†would do better for our purpose. It is because though Beauvoir was influenced from Sartre’s philosophical identity, when building her thoughts we must say she mostly “benefited†from Sartre’s philosophy. We can easily see the examples of this point in several contexts: first, in the notion of ambiguity, and second, in her analysis of the position of woman. Also, in her notion of “the other†which is a threat for the independence of an individual, she shares the same ideas with Sartre in her early writings, but later, she changed her direction and adopted a different view.If we examine the notion of Beauvoir’s “ambiguity,†though it has various meanings, what she means is that a person is a free and unique subject on the one hand; and on the other handthat person is an object for others. Here, Beauvoir benefits from Sartre’s existential types. She agrees with Sartre on the idea that human existence contains both being-in-itself and being-for-itself; however, she thinks that having these two types of being together in their existence leads to an ambiguity for human beings. Sartre sees humans as beings that are always in a relationship with the other. And in this relationship, when being-for-itselfsubmit to the other, it becomes an object for the other’s freedom.While being-for-itself perceives the other as subject, she, herself, becomes an object. This fact expresses an ambiguity for Beauvoir.Another issue we can associate with the notion of “ambiguity†is related to the relationship between self and the other, the relationship that relies on the confrontation of the consciousness of the self with the consciousness of the other. At this point, the “I†who identifies himself as an absolute being sees the other’s consciousness as a threat and acts like an enemy towards it. It is because the subject that was exposed to the perspective of the other becomes an object now and she loses her freedom due to the intervention of the other. The other makes her an unguarded being. Now, the subject is not an active being but the object of the other. Thus, due to these restraints of the other on the subject’s freedom, the subject must deny the hegemony of the other and get over the problem by making the other an object. Similar to Sartre, Beauvoir, too, sees the existence of the other or others as a danger for her own freedom at the beginning. She considers freedom in individualistic way and sees the others as barriers for her freedom. But later, she changes her stance, and begins to consider the other as a necessary condition for her own freedom.The last point I am going to focus on is the philosophical source of The Second Sex. One of her masterpieces, The Second Sex, in which she gives the explanation of the oppressions women face and established the principles of modern feminism, is about the women who represent “the other gender†due to fact that women are always identified in terms of the differences of their oppressors, men. In The Second Sex, she examines the essential features that make a woman a woman and at the end she comes up with the notion of “the other.â€When reaching this notion, in order to show how she applied existentialist ideas of ontology and ethics, she says that men perceive themselves as “I†or “the subject†and women perceive themselves as “the other.†Beauvoir improves the claims of Sartre in The Second Sex in a unique way, and further put forwards that women are regarded as “the other†and men are called as “the subject.â€At this point, if the other becomes a threat for the subject or “I,†then, it can be said that women, too, become a similar threat for men.Surely, there are other points that can be said about the impacts of Sartre on Beauvoir. We will also be examining those points as well as the above ones in this work