44 research outputs found
A critical comparison of William James and Søren Kierkegaard on religious belief
No full textThis thesis is a critical comparison of the accounts of religious belief proposed byWilliam James and Søren Kierkegaard. Both James and Kierkegaard greatly emphasizethe subjective aspects of religious belief. In view of this fact, surprisingly littlecomparative work has been done in this area. I contribute to this literature in two ways.Firstly, I make a brief assessment of what James knew of Kierkegaard’s work.Secondly, I draw four comparisons between Kierkegaard and James. In Chapter One Iexamine the claim that Kierkegaard proposes a pragmatist account of faith of the kindthat James sets out in his essay The Will To Believe. I argue that this claim rests on amisunderstanding of Kierkegaard’s argument that to have faith is to take a risk. In thefollowing chapter I discuss James’s and Kierkegaard’s views on formal proofs for theexistence of God. Both philosophers reject the notion that faith can be based on suchproofs. I distinguish between their positions, and argue in favour of Kierkegaard’s. Inthe third chapter I compare Kierkegaard’s and James’s accounts of religious experience.James views religious experiences as a special kind of evidence for the existence ofGod. For Kierkegaard it is a mistake to view religious experiences as evidence. Suchexperiences should be understood in relation to the concept of religious authority. In thefinal chapter I examine Kierkegaard’s conception of faith as a life-view. I argue that forKierkegaard a life-view is a fundamental perspective on one’s existence. I compare thisconception with James’s concept of philosophical temperament and in relation to hisdiscussion of the sick soul
A systematic approach to injury policy assessment: Introducing the assessment of child injury prevention policies (A-CHIPP)
No full text© 2019 Article author(s). All rights reserved. Introduction This study presents a systematic approach- A ssessment of child injury prevention policies (A-CHIPP)-to assess and track policies on effective child injury interventions at the national level. Results from an initial pilot test of the approach in selected countries are presented. Method A literature review was conducted to identify conceptual models for injury policy assessment, and domains and indicators were proposed for assessing national injury policies for children aged 1-9 years. The indicators focused on current evidence-supported interventions targeting the leading external causes of child injury mortality globally, and were organised into a self-administered A-CHIPP questionnaire comprising 22 questions. The questionnaire was modified based on reviews by experts in child injury prevention. For an initial test of the approach, 13 countries from all six WHO regions were selected to examine the accuracy, usefulness and ease of understanding of the A-CHIPP questionnaire. Results Data on the A-CHIPP questionnaire were received from nine countries. Drowning and road traffic injuries were reported as the leading causes of child injury deaths in seven of these countries. Most of the countries lacked national policies on interventions that address child injuries; supportive factors such as finance and leadership for injury prevention were also lacking. All countries rated the questionnaire highly on its relevance for assessment of injury prevention policies. Conclusion The A-CHIPP questionnaire is useful for national assessment of child injury policies, and such an assessment could draw attention of stakeholders to policy gaps and progress in child injury prevention in all countries
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Unconstitutional Warrant Criteria Permit Wiretapping If a Possibility of International Terrorism Is Found
No full textThis Comment examines the warrant criteria established in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as applied to persons who may be international terrorists. The Act permits electronic surveillance if a possibility of international terrorism is found. After briefly discussing the history of the Act, the author engages in a discussion of the modern threat of international terrorism and the executive department\u27s ability to uproot that threat. The author argues that the concern for United States citizen\u27s right to privacy must not belittle the right to privacy of those who are non-citizens, as the Fourth Amendment is applicable to those persons who are aliens. The author further argues that any infringement on the privacy rights of resident aliens would lead to a further infringement of those rights with respect to United States\u27 citizens. The author concludes that the Act\u27s warrant criteria are unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment
Calibrating with Multiple Criteria: A Demonstration of Dominance
No full textPattern oriented modelling (POM) is an approach to calibration or validation that assesses a model using multiple weak patterns. We extend the concept of POM, using dominance to objectively identify the best parameter candidates. The TELL ME agent-based model is used to demonstrate the approach. This model simulates personal decisions to adopt protective behaviour during an influenza epidemic. The model fit is assessed by the size and timing of maximum behaviour adoption, as well as the more usual criterion of minimising mean squared error between actual and estimated behaviour. The rigorous approach to calibration supported explicit trading off between these criteria, and ultimately demonstrated that there were significant flaws in the model structure
Predicting Artist Drawing Activity via Multi-Camera Inputs for Co-Creative Drawing
No full textThis paper presents the results of experimentation in computer vision based for the perception of the artist drawing with analog media (pen and paper), with the aim to contribute towards a human- robot co-creative drawing framework. Using data gathered from user studies with artists and illustrators, two types of CNN models were de- signed and evaluated to predict an artist’s activity (e.g. are they drawing or not?) and the position of the pen on the canvas based only on a multi- camera input of the drawing surface. Results of different combination of input sources are presented, with an overall mean accuracy of 95% (std: 7%) for predicting when the artist is present and 68% (std: 15%) for predicting when the artist is drawing; and mean squared normalised error of 0.0034 (std: 0.0099) of predicting the pen’s position on the drawing canvas. These results point toward an autonomous robotic system having an awareness of an artist at work via camera based input and contributes toward the development of a more fluid physical to digital workflow for creative content creation.</p
Exploring Co-creative Drawing Workflows
No full textThis article presents the outcomes from a mixed-methods study of drawing practitioners (e.g., professional illustrators, fine artists, and art students) that was conducted in Autumn 2018 as a preliminary investigation for the development of a physical human-AI co-creative drawing system. The aim of the study was to discover possible roles that technology could play in observing, modeling, and possibly assisting an artist with their drawing. The study had three components: a paper survey of artists' drawing practises, technology usage and attitudes, video recorded drawing exercises and a follow-up semi-structured interview which included a co-design discussion on how AI might contribute to their drawing workflow. Key themes identified from the interviews were (1) drawing with physical mediums is a traditional and primary way of creation; (2) artists' views on AI varied, where co-creative AI is preferable to didactic AI; and (3) artists have a critical and skeptical view on the automation of creative work with AI. Participants' input provided the basis for the design and technical specifications of a co-creative drawing prototype, for which details are presented in this article. In addition, lessons learned from conducting the user study are presented with a reflection on future studies with drawing practitioners.</p
Predicting Artist Drawing Activity via Multi-Camera Inputs for Co-Creative Drawing
No full textThis paper presents the results of experimentation in computer vision based for the perception of the artist drawing with analog media (pen and paper), with the aim to contribute towards a human- robot co-creative drawing framework. Using data gathered from user studies with artists and illustrators, two types of CNN models were de- signed and evaluated to predict an artist’s activity (e.g. are they drawing or not?) and the position of the pen on the canvas based only on a multi- camera input of the drawing surface. Results of different combination of input sources are presented, with an overall mean accuracy of 95% (std: 7%) for predicting when the artist is present and 68% (std: 15%) for predicting when the artist is drawing; and mean squared normalised error of 0.0034 (std: 0.0099) of predicting the pen’s position on the drawing canvas. These results point toward an autonomous robotic system having an awareness of an artist at work via camera based input and contributes toward the development of a more fluid physical to digital workflow for creative content creation.</p
