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Time traveler confirms five minute hypothesis!
Get PDFConclusion: What matters for any norm is personal time rather than time. Personal time is a time-like relation (roughly, the time measured by your wristwatch) that knits together scattered temporal parts so that they conform to familiar patterns. David Lewis introduced personal time as an interpretive fiction that allows readers to consistently read fictions about time travelers. Inadvertently, Lewis thereby introduced a metric for all value (including prudence, morality, and aesthetics). Premise: The application of any norm requires personal time rather than time. This principle of reasoning is illustrated by recent debate about Bertrand Russell’s 5 minute hypothesis. This skeptical hypothesis would be undercut if one needs more than 5 minutes to reason about it. But what reasoners actually require is personal time. Once its priority over time is established for the norms governing reasoning, all remaining norms synchronize to personal time. Re-writing diachronic epistemology in Lewis’ atemporal vocabulary salvages much of what is literally true – and exposes the primacy of causation.Peer reviewe
The thermodynamic response of heating at coronal null points
Get PDFFunding: DJ, AWH, and JR gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) through Consolidated Grants ST/S000402/1 and ST/W001195/1 to the University of St Andrews. CDJ acknowledges support from the NASA GSFC Heliophysics Internal Scientist Funding Model competitive work package program (PI Jim Klimchuk).Magnetic null points are an important aspect of the magnetic field structure of the solar corona and can be sites of enhanced dissipation. This paper uses analytical and numerical models to investigate the plasma structure around a heated null. It is shown that the temperature profile not only differs significantly from that in a uniform field, but also that the profile depends significantly on the spatial structure of the heating. Field lines close to the separatrices and the null point have higher temperatures than a uniform field for the same heating input. The dependence of the results near the null on both the ratio of perpendicular to parallel conduction, and numerical resolution is also explored. The comparison between analytic and numerical solutions also provides a useful benchmark to compare MHD codes with anisotropic thermal conduction.Peer reviewe
Dismissing blame
Get PDFWhen someone blames you, you might accept the blame or you might reject it, challenging the blamer’s interpretation of the facts or providing a justification or excuse. Either way, there are opportunities for edifying moral discussion and moral repair. But another common, and less constructive, response is to simply dismiss the blame, refusing to engage with the blamer. Even if you agree that you are blameworthy, you may refuse to engage with the blame—and, specifically, with blame coming from this particular person. This is a common response if the blamer is being hypocritical or meddlesome in blaming the wrongdoer. This paper aims to make sense of this kind of response: What are we doing when we dismiss blame? A common thought is that we dismiss demands issued by blame, but we still must identify the content of the relevant demands. My proposal is that when we dismiss blame, we dismiss a demand to respond to the blame with a second-personal expression of remorse to the blamer.Peer reviewe
Global fragmentation and collective security instruments : weakening the liberal international order from within
Get PDFCollective instruments, such as UN peacekeeping or mediation, are a lens through which we can examine broader normative fault lines in the international order. They hold both practical and symbolic value. In the post-Cold War moment, these instruments started reflecting liberal values. They became concerned with balancing the rights of individuals and state sovereignty. These advances around “human protection” are now in question, with contestation perceived as emerging from non-Western powers. I contribute to the debates on the “pragmatic turn” within collective responses but contend that while the focus in current debates about the normative shift has become global fragmentation, the momentum for the de-prioritization of human protection within collective instruments comes from within the liberal order itself. Human protection is now a broadly shared and firmly entrenched norm, but to shield the norm from abuse, the collective international community progressively restricted any use of force to advance the norm within the instrument of UN peacekeeping. The co-optation of UN peacekeeping into counter-terrorism efforts and the introduction of stabilization mandates undermined the principled nature and moral authority of the instrument of peacekeeping itself. This, in turn, compromised the implementation of human protection. This development is now accelerated and exposed due to global fragmentation, influencing not just peacekeeping but also other adjacent activities, such as mediation.Peer reviewe
The PHANGS-JWST Treasury survey : star formation, feedback, and dust physics at high angular resolution in nearby galaxies
Get PDFFunding: J.M.D.K. gratefully acknowledges funding from the ERC under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program via the ERC Starting Grant MUSTANG (grant agreement No.714907). A.T.B., I.B., J.d.B., and F.B. would like to acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionʼs Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 726384/Empire). R.S.K. is thankful for support from the ERC via the ERC Synergy Grant “ECOGAL” (project ID 855130). S.D. is supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionʼs Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 101018897 CosmicExplorer).The PHANGS collaboration has been building a reference data set for the multiscale, multiphase study of star formation and the interstellar medium (ISM) in nearby galaxies. With the successful launch and commissioning of JWST, we can now obtain high-resolution infrared imaging to probe the youngest stellar populations and dust emission on the scales of star clusters and molecular clouds (∼5–50 pc). In Cycle 1, PHANGS is conducting an eight-band imaging survey from 2 to 21 μm of 19 nearby spiral galaxies. Optical integral field spectroscopy, CO(2–1) mapping, and UV-optical imaging for all 19 galaxies have been obtained through large programs with ALMA, VLT-MUSE, and Hubble. PHANGS–JWST enables a full inventory of star formation, accurate measurement of the mass and age of star clusters, identification of the youngest embedded stellar populations, and characterization of the physical state of small dust grains. When combined with Hubble catalogs of ∼10,000 star clusters, MUSE spectroscopic mapping of ∼20,000 H ii regions, and ∼12,000 ALMA-identified molecular clouds, it becomes possible to measure the timescales and efficiencies of the earliest phases of star formation and feedback, build an empirical model of the dependence of small dust grain properties on local ISM conditions, and test our understanding of how dust-reprocessed starlight traces star formation activity, all across a diversity of galactic environments. Here we describe the PHANGS–JWST Treasury survey, present the remarkable imaging obtained in the first few months of science operations, and provide context for the initial results presented in the first series of PHANGS–JWST publications.Peer reviewe
The clash of interpretations : world-systems analysis and international relations theory
Get PDFThis chapter explores, and critically defends, one of the most ambitious human scientific theories, world-systems analysis (WSA), by setting it against major paradigms within the field of international relations (IR) theory. The chapter begins with an examination of the very different worlds of thought crucial to the formulation of WSA and realist and liberal paradigms, exploring core differences around units of analysis, structures and actors, power, key social dynamics and forces, and normative commitments. Setting out Wallerstein’s three-fold conceptualization of the world-system as encompassing the international division of labour, the interstate system, and the geoculture, the chapter then considers substantive debates around hegemony and polarity, conflict and warfare, and states and markets, which separate WSA and IR theory. Finally, in a section focussed on the challenges posed by more recent transformations in world politics, it brings WSA into conversation with the globalization literature and competing Marxian approaches. It contends that WSA continues to provide cogent, compelling challenges to the field of IR theory
Design and development of a deoxyfluorination method using transition metal fluorides
Get PDFThe installation of a C–F bond in organic molecules is of significant importance to the scientific community due to its ability to modulate a compound’s physicochemical properties. For this reason, organofluorine compounds are valuable and widespread in the medicinal, agrochemical, and material industries.
Accordingly, research into developing new methods of C–F bond formation is a fast-paced field. A popular way of installing C(sp³)–F bonds is by deoxyfluorination whereby alcohols are converted to the corresponding fluorides. This particular transformation is attractive due to the fact that alcohols are readily available and inexpensive starting materials, and the reaction can proceed in a stereospecific manner. There have been a vast range of bespoke deoxyfluorination reagents which have been designed to facilitate this reaction, and whilst they are effective, they often have drawbacks associated with them such as cost and stability.
Of particular interest with regards to C–F bond formation is the use of metal fluorides. This poses a major challenge to organic chemists as the inherent properties of metal fluorides render them difficult to utilise as the fluoride is not easily accessible. Whilst this is an underdeveloped field, recently strategies are emerging which successfully aid the poor reactivity of metal fluorides such as hydrogen bonding catalysis, allowing them to successfully participate in fluorination reactions.
Enclosed is the development of a stereospecific deoxyfluorination reaction using CuF₂ enabled by a Lewis base activating group. The reaction design means that through a ligation approach, the inherent properties of metal fluorides can be circumvented which in turn allows for the chelate-directed delivery of fluoride. Ultimately, the development of this methodology and its generality towards a wide range of alcohol substrates will be discussed. In order to showcase the utility of this strategy, the translation of the system into a ¹⁸F-radiolabelling protocol is demonstrated
Studies of hydride ion conductors using combined spectroscopy techniques
No full textThis thesis presents research into two superionic conductors: BaH₂ and β-Ca₂NH. The research presented herein explores the diffusion pathway of hydride ions (H⁻) in the solid-state of these materials.
Using novel combined spectroscopic techniques, we show that BaH₂ has a diffusion pathway that involves the partial melting of its crystal lattice. This "liquid-like" sublattice is analysed in detail in order to elucidate the origins of such behaviour as well as provide a physical description of a sublattice manifesting as "liquid-like."
The second material explored in this thesis is a novel superionic conductor not previously published, β-Ca₂NH. The analysis shows that Ca₂NH (nitride- hydride) materials come in at least two distinct polymorphs, with dramatically different ionic conductivities. Using in situ neutron powder diffraction along with several other techniques, we explore the unique configurations of the different Ca₂NH polymorphs and identify what gives rise to ionic conductivity in one form and not the other. Furthermore, Ca₂NH is contrasted to the closely related imide (NH₂⁻) and amide (NH₂⁻).
Barium hydride is shown to have an ionic conductivity of 0.32 S/cm at 600 °C and its conduction due to the presence of a liquid-like sublattice. Calcium nitride-hydride, on the other hand, is shown to have an ionic conductivity of 0.08 S/cm at 600 °C and its conduction defined by an intrinsic vacancy concentration created by anti-Frenkel defects. Thus, the thesis explores two excellent solid-state ionic conductors with dramatically different ionic conduction mechanisms.
The synthesis route for the following compounds are detailed in this thesis: BaH₂, BaD₂, Ca₂NH - both polymorphs, CaNH, and Ca(NH₂)₂."I want to acknowledge ISIS Neutron and Muon Spallation Source for their funding of this project (agreement number STFC: 5005) … I want to thank the James E Crockett Scholarship for the help in funding this PhD. Without their contribution, I am sure this project would not have been available."--Acknowledgement
The "business of human rights"? Exploring the social practice of corporate accountability under the UN guiding principles on business and human rights
No full textAttempts to ensure corporate accountability for human rights are numerous and diverse. The UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) have become the reference point for businesses to demonstrate their understanding of human rights responsibilities and enhance corporate accountability through human rights due diligence (HRDD). The UNGPs, which are ostensibly a soft law initiative, have inspired numerous global and national policies, and are being increasingly ‘hardened’ through national and supranational legislation. Precisely because of their popularity and endorsement, it is imperative that a critical analysis of their application is undertaken. However, at present there is a lack of empirical research that draws attention to how the UNGPs are implemented within the corporate context, or on the role of external human rights experts in this process. In order to provide insights into this aspect of their implementation, this exploratory study draws on two multinational case studies – an oil and gas company and a bank. The research utilises a conceptual framework informed by the social practice of accountability, and is underpinned by a social constructionist qualitative methodological research design. Findings suggest that translating human rights through the UNGPs into the corporate space is both a challenging and iterative exercise, which can lead to instances were human rights are regarded as manageable objects rather than realised. External experts must respond to a range of legitimacy claims to become experts in the business and human rights ecosystem, and while doing so may confer legitimacy onto MNCs’ human rights practices. Their roles are diverse and impactful and the expert industry itself appears to be increasingly competitive, as new actors enter this space. As such, this research provides a much-needed contribution to the expansion of interdisciplinary inquiry into business and human rights issues, evaluating the use of the UNGPs as an accountability mechanism and on the realities and nuances of ‘doing’ corporate accountability for human rights."I also gratefully acknowledge the funding received towards my MRes and PhD from the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS) (grant number: ES/J500136/1), and The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)."--Acknowledgement
The struggle, in utero : choice, control and trust in infertility treatment and abortion rights campaigning in Ireland
No full textIn May 2018, the citizens of Ireland voted to repeal the 8th amendment of the Constitution, thus overturning the ban on abortion that had been in place for over a century. The vote paved the way for a more general debate on the relationship between women, reproductive healthcare and the state, and thereby exposed deeply entrenched struggles over the equation of womanhood with motherhood in the Irish Constitution. These were particularly pressing issues because the government was in the process of writing the first legislation on infertility treatment. This thesis provides insights into an extraordinary moment of transition in the Irish social and legal landscape, ripe with uncertainty, ambiguities and possibilities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with staff in infertility clinics and pro-choice campaigners in Dublin between 2017 and 2018, I follow my research participants as they navigated these highly contested ‘reproductive borderlands’, a term I coin to describe the grey areas where boundaries around reproduction were drawn and redrawn. These processes centred around the question of who was recognised as a patient, something that was articulated through discourses on ‘control’ in the clinics and ‘choice’ in the campaign. My research participants presented these terms as clear-cut and unambiguous. The everyday practices in the clinics, however, revealed a more nuanced picture in which choice and control emerged as powerful rhetorical devices that were multifaceted and continuously under strain. In the face of this disjuncture, discourses on trust were a key repository for speaking about infertility and abortion, issues that were shrouded by interrelated layers of silence and stigma. Through an examination of the interface between trust and evidence in the clinics and trust and storytelling in the campaign, I develop the concept of ‘intimate violence’ to reflect on the difficult process of long-established silence being unsettled."This research project was generously founded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council." -- Acknowledgement
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