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In Defense of Metaphysics: A Defense of the Value and Methodological Soundness of Metaphysics Understood as Structural Modeling
No full textThe aim of this dissertation is to provide a defense of the value and methodological soundness of contemporary analytic metaphysics against a variety of recent anti-metaphysical and scientistic critiques. In Chapter 1, I attempt to answer (at least provisionally) a surprisingly difficult question: what is metaphysics, anyway? I suggest seven adequacy constraints on an answer to this question, and then test five historically and contemporarily influential candidate characterizations of metaphysics against these constraints. Finding each candidate lacking, I close by proposing an ecumenical conception of metaphysics — what I call the structural modeling conception — according to which metaphysics aims to furnish a structural model of mind-independent reality. It is this conception which is the subject of my subsequent defense. Chapter 2 engages with a range of influential critiques of metaphysics united less in content than in a shared dismissive attitude toward traditional metaphysical disputes. Borrowing a taxonomy from Bennett (2015), I group these critiques into three broad camps: antirealism, semanticism, and epistemicism. After critically evaluating representatives of each camp, I conclude that none succeeds in demonstrating first-order metaphysical inquiry, conceived according to the structural modeling conception, to be inherently defective or misguided. Key to establishing this conclusion is the notion of conditional epistemic progress, which, in the context of the structural modeling conception, consists in the identification of candidate world-structures. In Chapter 3, I turn my attention to a separate family of metaphysical critiques motivated by commitment to a thoroughgoing philosophical naturalism. Unlike the criticisms discussed in the previous chapter, the naturalist critic is motivated by a desire not to dispense with first order metaphysics, but rather to reform it. According to the naturalist critic, contemporary analytic metaphysics suffers from a disordered relationship with empirical science and a misplaced faith in a priori methods of inquiry, both of which may be corrected by assimilating the scope and methodology of metaphysics to that of science. My response is twofold: First, I argue that naturalistic metaphysics – conceived as an alternative to traditional metaphysics – is a problematically ambiguous and underspecified ideal. Second, I argue — in the spirit of Williamson (2013) — that the distinction between the a priori and a posteriori is neither deep nor explanatory, and that at least some of the alleged epistemic deficiencies imputed to metaphysics by the naturalist critic are present also in scientific methodology. Finally, in chapter 4, I provide a sketch of what I take to be the proper relationship between science and metaphysics. According to this sketch, science both expands and constrains the space of metaphysical theorizing, while metaphysics both interprets and unifies scientific theories. The picture that emerges blurs the traditional boundary between science and metaphysics, and justifies a minimal naturalism according to which science and metaphysics are engaged in a single, unified project with a well-defined methodology
Exploring the Mediating Role of Autonomous Motivation Between Basic Psychological Needs and Burnout among Counselors-in-Training
No full textBurnout is a pressing concern among counselors-in-training (CITs), threatening not only their well-being but also the quality of services they provide. Guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2017), this study investigated the relationships among basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS), autonomous motivation (AM), and burnout in a national sample of CITs enrolled in Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited counseling programs. Specifically, it examined whether AM mediates the relationship between BPNS and the three dimensions of burnout, emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and diminished personal accomplishment (DPA), as conceptualized by Maslach and colleagues (Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Maslach & Leiter, 2016). A total of 355 CITs completed validated self-report instruments assessing BPNS, AM, and burnout. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted using both covariance-based (CB-SEM) and partial least squares (PLS-SEM) approaches to evaluate the hypothesized mediation model. Results indicated that BPNS was positively associated with AM and negatively associated with all three burnout dimensions. AM partially mediated the relationship between BPNS and DPA, but not EE or DP. These findings suggest that while BPNS plays a central role in reducing burnout risk, AM may serve as a more specific protective factor for preserving a sense of personal accomplishment. Implications for counselor education and supervision include the value of fostering autonomy-supportive environments, reflective practices, and mentoring relationships that reinforce CITs’ self-determined motivation. This study contributes to a growing body of literature highlighting the psychological mechanisms underlying burnout and provides a foundation for developing motivation-based interventions to support CIT wellness and professional resilience (Howard et al., 2021; Skovholt & Trotter-Mathison, 2016)
Betti Numbers for Modules Over Artinian Local Rings
No full textWe study the behavior of Betti growth of modules over Artinian rings under some \Tor vanishing conditions. Let (R,\fm) be a local Artinian ring with a fixed ideal , and a finite module. We extend the framework developed in \cite{huneke2014vanishing} by introducing and analyzing a new invariant, (see Definition \ref{definition}), associated with the ideal of the ring and a finitely generated -module . It turns out that this invariant provides an upper bound for the ratio of certain consecutive Betti numbers of the finitely generated modules such that \Tor_i(M,N) = 0 for some . The invariant was introduced by Craig Huneke, Liana \c Sega, and Adela Vraciu in \cite{huneke2014vanishing} for the case I = \fm. It turns out that a critical assumption to extend the result of Huneke et al. is that for any module , M/\fm M is always free over R/\fm. Hence, their results can be generalized to modules such that is free over for a fixed ideal . For convenience, we call such modules \textit{-free}. The bounds involving are often sharper than the original ones given in \cite{huneke2014vanishing}. In Chapter \ref{ch:3}, we prove some generalizations of results in \cite{huneke2014vanishing}, as well as some different applications. In particular, we first explore some key properties of the invariant . Then we show that for nonzero modules and such that two consecutive syzygies of are -free (say and ) and \fm IM = 0, if \Tor_{i}(M,N) = \Tor_{i+1}(M,N) = 0, the ratio is given by . Moreover, if is also -free, the ratio is given by . In particular, the condition \fm IM = 0 inspires us to look at the rings such that \fm^2I = 0. In such rings, all syzygy modules are killed by \fm I. Using these two lemmas, we can show that if there are sufficiently many vanishing of the modules \Tor_i(M,N), then and must satisfy some special numerical properties. Then we show that in certain Artinian rings or for certain modules and , sufficiently many vanishing of \Tor_i(M,N) modules will imply that at least one of them is free. Lastly, we apply our results to the canonical module , providing conditions under which the invariant characterizes Gorenstein rings. In particular, we address a question posed in \cite{jorgensen2007growth}: given a ring with a canonical module , does imply that is Gorenstein? We obtain a partial answer to this question (Corollaries \ref{cor3.4} and \ref{cor3.5}). In Chapter \ref{ch:4}, we show more general results by relaxing the condition that \fm I M = 0 to where is another fixed ideal. In the previous section, we assume all modules are -free. However, it turns out that the modules do not have to be -free for the same ideal . One module just needs to be -free, which is a weaker assumption. The other module needs to be -free. In this case, we can extend the results in Chapter \ref{ch:4} to more general situations. In Chapter \ref{ch:5}, we include some results generalizing \cite{kimura2022maximal}. In particular, we extend the results in \cite{kimura2022maximal} from Cohen-Macaulay rings to Noetherian local rings by assuming the existence of a dualizing complex instead of a canonical module. Applying similar techniques as in \cite{kimura2022maximal}, we show that the Auslander-Reiten Conjecture is true for modules that are locally free in codimension over Noetherian rings
Security and Privacy in Deep Learning and Dynamic Decision Making
No full textRecent years have seen rapid advances in machine learning applications, such as deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for optimizing wireless resource allocation and federated learning (FL) for enabling privacy-preserving, distributed model training. In these systems, machine learning agents learn and control resources at the edge. However, these systems face significant vulnerabilities to adversarial threats. In a DRL-based mobile communication scenario, an intelligent attacker can selectively jam specific channels and cause critical failure in victim users\u27 performance. In an FL system, a privacy adversary who eavesdrops on shared gradient information can reconstruct the users\u27 private data. This dissertation focuses on both types of threats and explores corresponding defense strategies. In DRL-based systems, intelligent jammers can strategically disrupt selected communication channels to significantly degrade performance, even under limited jamming resources. To mitigate the threats on wireless services from potential intelligent jammers, we analyze the vulnerabilities of DRL-based resource allocation agents, and propose a Nash equilibrium based policy ensemble as defense against potential jamming attacks. This proposed method outperforms single-policy agents and also agents with existing policy ensembles, in both adversarial environments with jammers and non-adversarial settings. In FL, gradient information shared during training can potentially leak sensitive user data. Such vulnerabilities pose serious challenges to the security and privacy of machine learning-enabled wireless and edge systems. While optimization-based inference attacks often fail to maximally utilize the information from gradients, we develop the maximum knowledge orthogonality reconstruction as an analytical inference attack under the assumption of a malicious server to fully exploit the potential of privacy attacks. Our analysis reveals that inference attacks can reconstruct input data from a batch whose size is at most equivalent to the magnitude of the output dimension. Given this observation, we propose a defense strategy against arbitrary inference attacks by disconnecting certain links between clients in decentralized FL (DFL). Specifically, we propose a cyclic topology design as an effective trade-off between training performance and defense against an inference attacker, by having potential attackers access only highly mixed, large batches. In summary, deep learning agents are vulnerable to carefully crafted attacks, and developing robust solutions requires a deep understanding of these threats. This dissertation focus on preserving performance under such adversarial conditions
LIVING IN A MIRAGE OF THE “BIRDCAGE”: CHINESE EMIGRANTS IN GHANA
No full textThis dissertation examines how China\u27s political-economic transformations since the 1980s, particularly the restructuring intensifying in the 2010s, have generated new patterns of emigration to Sub-Saharan Africa. Based on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana and China (2016-2022), the study reveals how the simultaneous expansion of state capital and contraction of private sector opportunities in China drives diverse actors—from state-owned enterprise employees to independent entrepreneurs—to seek economic possibilities abroad. The research challenges binary explanations of Chinese migration as either state-led expansion or desperation-driven exodus. Instead, it demonstrates how structural forces of expansion and exclusion operate concurrently across different scales and sectors, creating complex mobility trajectories that defy linear models. Chinese migrants navigate between diminishing opportunities in China\u27s shrinking birdcage and the volatile yet promising markets of Ghana, constructing transnational livelihoods through informal networks and tactical adaptations. The findings illuminate how migrants experience simultaneous embeddedness in multiple economic systems, maintaining material advantages in Ghana while confronting status ambiguity and psychological displacement. Their recursive movements between China, Ghana, and other destinations reflect not temporary sojourns but emergent forms of South-South circulation shaped by shifting opportunity structures and geopolitical uncertainties. This ethnography contributes to migration studies by revealing how contemporary capitalism\u27s uneven development produces new modalities of transnational life, where mobility itself becomes a strategy for navigating the contradictions between state power and market forces across the Global South and Global North, as well as the terrains in between
A Rational Approach to Analyze and Design Gusset Plates Using Truss Analogy
No full textGusset plates are critical components in steel structures, serving as primary connection elements for structural members in buildings and truss bridges. The failure of gusset plates—particularly due to buckling—can lead to sudden and catastrophic structural consequences. Despite their significance, current design codes offer rather limited guidance on how to predict buckling capacity accurately, and often ignore key parameters that have large impact on the capacity of gusset plates. To address this gap, this dissertation proposes the use of truss analogy, viz., a Strut-and-Tie Model (STM)-based analytical framework, to predict the yielding, fracture and buckling capacities in gusset plates. The primary aim is to propose a more rational model that not only captures the mode of failure but also reliably assesses the behavior of gusset plates, in contrast to conventional empirical assumptions. To account for yielding and fracture in gusset plates, this study proposes modifications and extensions to the current design approach, which is presently limited to the Whitmore region of the plate, to include other critical regions. While built upon the current approach, the proposed methodology is applicable to other regions of the gusset plate, thereby expanding its pertinence and predictability. For gusset plate failure due to buckling, which is considered more challenging, this study validated a simplified finite element (FE) modeling approach through comparison with eleven test results from two well-known experimental programs. The results demonstrated that, despite geometric simplifications, the FE models accurately captured both the ultimate capacity and the deformation behavior of these gusset plates, confirming their reliability for subsequent parametric studies. In carrying out the buckling analysis, 96 simulation cases were used. The study began by systematically eliminating secondary variables such as bolt spacing, cut length and bracing stiffness, which were found to have negligible impact on the global capacity and shear stress distribution. This filtering process ensures that the model calibration focuses only on the most influential parameters. In addition, a convergence study was conducted using 15 representative models to determine an appropriate mesh size, which was set to 1% of the gusset plate\u27s edge length, ensuring a balance between computational efficiency and solution accuracy. Subsequently,130 finite element models for corner gusset plates and 216 models for truss gusset plates were developed to investigate the effects of key analytical parameters. Among these, factors such as gusset plate thickness, inclination angle of the bracing/diagonal member, connected length and width, applied load ratios, and the length of the Whitmore region were identified as having significant influences on structural response and were therefore incorporated into the analytical model. Based on the compressive principal stress vectors obtained from the finite element results, the gusset plate was idealized as three distinct components. Taking into account the nonlinear material behavior, a stress evaluation method was formulated to capture the non-uniform stress distribution within the gusset plate. Given that buckling failure often occurs on the edge of a gusset plate, the stress distributions along the gusset plate’s vertical and horizontal free edges were used to perform curve fitting based on plate buckling theory. The analytical predictions were shown to give good agreement with the finite element results across a broad range of geometric configurations and loading conditions, demonstrating the robustness and predictive accuracy of the proposed model. Moreover, an additional 86 finite element models were developed to investigate the relationship between the key parameters identified above and the occurrence of Partial Plane Shear Yielding (PPSY). Based on the finite element analysis (FEA) results, the potential critical surfaces where PPSY might initiate were identified. By combining these findings with the stress evaluation method proposed earlier, a predictive approach for PPSY was developed. Finally, based on the analytical models developed above, a comprehensive design guideline was proposed. For gusset plates under tension, both the effects of yielding and fracture are explicitly considered; and for gusset plates under compression, this guideline incorporates three design approaches—elastic buckling, inelastic buckling, and Partial Plane Shear Yielding (PPSY). By enveloping the critical conditions from each approach, the required gusset plate thickness can be determined directly from the geometric configuration of the connection
WIDOWHOOD, HEALTH, AND DEPRESSION: INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AMONG KOREAN OLDER ADULTS
No full textThis dissertation focuses on Korean older adults and their experiences with widowhood and health issues in later life. Specifically, it examines the associations between stressful life events, such as recent widowhood and poor health, and depressive symptoms. It then further explores if intergenerational relationships and social support mediate the distressing consequences of these stressful life events. Using longitudinal data from 2006 to 2020 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, this study estimates residualized change Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models predicting depression at Tw as a function of depression at Tw-1 and other covariates among individuals who are 60 or older with at least one child. This analysis extends literature on aging in Korea by examining the full sample then stratifying the models by gender and residential proximity before focusing on the non-coresidential subgroup sample. In addition, it distinguishes between recent (less than 2 years), medium-term (2-4 years), and long-term (more than 4 years) widows, as well as employing a more detailed child composition measure. To assess changes and evaluate the correlates of change, I estimated hierarchical models of depression using a measure based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results indicate that poor health and recent widowhood are, individually and together, positively related to depressive symptoms and interact to produce higher CES-D scores. Satisfactory intergenerational relationships and social support decrease depressive symptoms of older parents. In particular, providing more grandchild care and living close to children are associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms for women. Among those living far from children, receiving more parental caregiving is associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms. For non-coresidential parents, more frequent contact with children is associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms for men and especially women, while providing more money transfers to children is associated with significantly higher depressive symptoms for men. Among those living far from children, receiving more parental caregiving and more frequent contact with children are associated with significantly lower depressive symptoms, while providing more money transfers to children is associated with significantly higher depressive symptoms. Recent widowhood is harder for women at the beginning, but men experience constant depression whereas women’s psychological health improves after about 2 years of bereavement. This suggests women’s bereavement coping strategies are better than men’s. When intergenerational relationship and social support are added in the more fully specified model, medium-term widowed women have a lower risk of depression, while recent widowhood is associated with a higher risk of depression for both men and women. When poor health is co-occurring with recent widowhood, women and men both experience depressive symptoms. Controlling for intergenerational relationship and social support in the final models did not have much impact on the size of the health coefficients for both men and women, although the four health factors (subjective health, cognitive limitation, functional limitations, and chronic illnesses) significantly affect depression at T2 for both groups. Also, having a child living closer (less than 1 hour by public transportation) is beneficial. Moderate distance (between 1 and 2 hours) is not the best arrangement for older adults; rather they are better off if they live far (more than 2 hours) than living in a moderate distance. Having more than two children in mixed gender positively impacts the psychological well-being of older adults among those living close to children, especially for women. Although Korean older women tend to prefer a daughter, among those who have one child, depressive symptoms are lower if they have a son than if they have a daughter. I conclude that the psychological benefits of intergenerational relationships and social support are contingent upon the vulnerability of Korean older adults and discuss the implications for public policy
Oakwood Cemetery Register, Book 1, Transcription Dataset
No full textThis dataset contains a transcription of Book 1 of the Oakwood Cemetery Registers, held by Oakwood Cemeteries of Syracuse, Inc. in Syracuse, New York. The project to digitize and transcribe this handwritten register was initiated by Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications and accomplished as a joint project between Newhouse, the Syracuse University Libraries, and the Central New York Library Resources Council.
The register documents interments from 8 November 1859 through 27 March 1902 and includes pertinent information about the deceased.
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