1,222 research outputs found
WESSELS, Johannes Inventory of documents
No full textCOVERAGE 1961-1980; 6 Files; 0,20 MetrePrivate papers of J. Wessels, Managing Director Blomanda Housing Scheme; Author of several publication
Possible preferences and the harm of existence
No full textHow good or bad is a person’s life? How good or bad is a world? In this dissertation, I will attempt to answer these questions. Common-sense would dictate that if a person’s life would be extremely bad, then bringing her into existence is a bad thing. Not only is it bad for the person who lives it, but also, it is bad because it makes the world a worse place. A world populated only by individuals who have lives full of unrelenting misery and suffering is certainly worse than a world only populated by individuals who are extremely well off. If we can measure the value of a person’s life and the value of a world, then we can determine how good or bad our lives are and how good or bad the actual world is. Investigating these issues and providing satisfactory answers to these questions is immensely important.
In this dissertation I argue that all actual human lives are so bad that it would have been better had all of us never come into existence. I also argue that our world is worse than an empty world. The nucleus of my view consists of the following two claims:
i. Each person has an interest in acquiring a new satisfied preference.
ii. Whenever a person is deprived of a new satisfied preference this violates an interest and is thus a harm with a finite disvalue.
If one holds both (i) and (ii), then one is a deprivationalist. Any deprivationalist will have to claim that existence is worse for all actual persons than non-existence. I also show that deprivationalism presents a clear strategy for escaping The Repugnant Conclusion and The Mere Addition Paradox. For a deprivationalist, the Non-Identity Problem is neutralized as well. Parfit’s challenge in Reasons and Persons was to devise a theory of beneficence that could escape these cases without leading to other unacceptable conclusions. Parfit failed to find a theory—“Theory X”—that would meet these requirements. If the conclusions in this dissertation are correct, then deprivationalism is a good candidate for Theory X
An Interview with Tom Wessels
No full textAssociate Editor of Taproot, Patrick Pryor, interviewed Tom Wessels, author of two books, Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England and The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America\u27s Mountain Domes, from Acadia to Yosemite. Tom is also Director of the Masters Degree Program in Environmental Biology, at Antioch New England Graduate School. At Antioch he helped develop the Environmental Biology program that trains field ecologists to conduct research for non-profit, environmental organizations. He is also an Ecological Consultant for The Rain Forest Alliance\u27s Smart Wood Program where he has developed green certification assessment· guidelines for timber operations in the Northeast and educates foresters about management activities that enhance diversity at the landscape level
Hypercalcemia as an Immune-Related Adverse Event in a Patient Receiving Nivolumab and Ipilimumab for Metastatic Melanoma: A Case Report
No full textHypercalcemia of malignancy is a well-known phenomenon in cancer patients, often associated with poor prognosis. The discovery of immune checkpoint inhibitors has revolutionised cancer therapy by improving prognosis in numerous different cancer types. Unfortunately, immune-related adverse events frequently arise, particularly with dual checkpoint inhibition. We present a case of severe hypercalcemia in a 65-year-old woman undergoing treatment for metastasised malignant melanoma. Eleven weeks after initiating ipilimumab-nivolumab, the patient developed severe hypercalcemia, along with inflammation and hepatitis. This was initially presumed to be due to hypercalcemia of malignancy, given the clinical examination, imaging findings and laboratory values potentially consistent with progressive disease. The hypercalcemia responded well to bisphosphonates, intravenous saline and methylprednisolone. Interestingly, fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) performed shortly after hospital discharge showed a complete metabolic remission, thereby making hypercalcemia of malignancy unlikely. Review of her medical history, imaging and laboratory revealed several features consistent with a sarcoid-like reaction. We hypothesise that this reaction led to elevated 1-alpha hydroxylase, thereby facilitating calcitriol-mediated hypercalcemia. In this report, we summarise previously published case reports on immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced hypercalcemia and discuss the various mechanisms that cause hypercalcemia in this rare immune-related adverse event. Immune checkpoint inhibitors can induce production of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), calcitriol, and may cause hypocortisolaemia, all of which can disrupt calcium homeostasis. Through this case, we contribute to the growing body of evidence regarding hypercalcemia as an immune-related adverse event and aim to raise awareness among clinicians of this potential complication. Early recognition is critical for this life-threatening condition, as it can be refractory to conventional therapies and may necessitate corticosteroid therapy.The authors acknowledge the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI) for the sole purpose of improving readability in all sections of this manuscript. The authors critically assessed all suggestions and implemented them only when
deemed an improvement
Timing Optimization through Pipelining and Limited Gate Resizing
No full textIn this paper, we consider the use of a limited pipelining scheme in conjunction with a gate resizing technique to improve the optimal clock speed of a combinational logic block. Gate resizing is restricted to a small subset of the circuit, and target gates are identified using a delay sensitivity metric introduced here. Contact author: David Wessels email: [email protected] Phone: (077) 815-170 Address: Department of Computer Science James Cook University of Northern Queensland Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia TIMING OPTIMIZATION THROUGH PIPELINING AND LIMITED GATE RESIZING 1 Abstract In this paper, we consider the use of a limited pipelining scheme in conjunction with a gate resizing technique to improve the optimal clock speed of a combinational logic block. Gate resizing is restricted to a small subset of the circuit, and target gates are identified using a delay sensitivity metric introduced here. 1 Introduction It has been shown [2] that the difference between the lengt..
OFFERING THE GOSPEL ADAPANON : An interpretation and application of 1 Corinthians 9:18
No full textZugl.: Potchefstroom, Südafrika, North-West University, Diss., 2010This volume deals with the financing of missions and missionaries which has been a headache for the church for ages. Many approaches to funding the proclamation of the gospel have often been very pragmatic, without a solid biblical foundation. In this book Paul’s claim to offer the gospel adapanon, or free of charge, is thoroughly discussed, and posed as a biblical approach to presenting the good news to the nations. This work does not only provide an in-depth look into the Scriptural basis for tentmaking, but also studies the social and historical background to the practise in the First Century Mediterranean, and in Twenty-First Century Botswana.
Information on the author:
Dr Johannes Wessels is a Post-Doctoral fellow at the North-West University, Mahikeng Campus (South Africa), and has been involved in missions since his years as a student at the same institution. Johannes has been a pastor in various contexts in South-Africa and Botswana for more than two decades, and is also involved in the management of Natanjá Christian School in Ottosdal, South Africa
The impact of variation in the Toll-like receptor 3 gene on epizootic hemorrhagic disease in Illinois white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
No full textEpizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is of concern to hunters, wildlife managers, and state agencies as it leads to death in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). The EHD virus (EHDV) is a double-stranded (ds) RNA virus and is transmitted by midges of the genus Culicoides. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are part of the innate immune system and detect various types of pathogens upon infection. One of the Toll-like receptors, TLR3, recognizes pathogen-associated molecular patterns in dsRNA viruses, thus playing a key role in immune detection and response to EHDV. In this thesis, I study genetic variation within TLR3 and its association with EHD in white-tailed deer from Illinois. The entire coding region of the TLR3 gene (2715 base pairs encoding 905 amino acids) was sequenced in 84 white-tailed deer. Twenty-six deer with an EHD positive result and 58 negative control deer were analyzed. I detected 77 SNPs and identified 85 haplotypes. Of these 77 SNPs, 45 were synonymous mutations and 32 were nonsynonymous mutations. Two non-synonymous SNPs within TLR3 were significantly associated with EHD in Illinois white-tailed deer. Phenylalanine (F) at codon position 59 was detected more frequently than leucine (L) (OR = 8.69, p = 0.0340, Fisher’s exact test) in EHD negative deer as opposed to EHD positive deer. Phenylalanine (F) at codon 116 was also detected more frequently than serine (S) (OR = 9.29, p = 0.0403, Fisher’s exact test) in EHD negative deer as opposed to EHD positive deer. Codons 59 and 116 were found to be in linkage disequilibrium; however, protein effect analysis tests predicted an impact on protein structure when analyzing SNPs found at both codons 59 and 116. Deer that tested positive for EHD have a significant reduction in a substitution that encodes phenylalanine (F) at codons 59 and/or 116 within the TLR3 gene. Understanding associations between TLR3 polymorphisms and EHD may provide additional insights into the role of host genetics on outbreaks of EHD in deer, which may allow wildlife agencies to better predict the severity of outbreaks.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2023-08-01The student, Jacob Wessels, accepted the attached license on 2021-07-19 at 13:56.The student, Jacob Wessels, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2021-07-19 at 15:50.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2021-07-21 at 16:04.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #17009 on 2022-01-12 at 13:05:18Made available in DSpace on 2022-01-12T22:56:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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The Puzzles and Paradoxes of Europeanisation - Lessons from the Scottish Experience
No full text[Introduction]. In recent studies of Europeanisation the word ‘puzzle’ has proved to be a frequent visitor. In essence, this puzzle is seen to revolve around the belief that while membership of the European Union (EU) has wrought tremendous impact upon the shape and direction of national policies and policy processes, the impact upon the bureaucratic infrastructure of domestic government systems has by comparison been somewhat limited. Of late, however, a means of resolving this puzzle has been put forward. In short, the preoccupation of historical-institutionalist analysis with largely structural, institutional and procedural-based aspects of change may, it is argued, have led to the apparently divergent or contradictory paths taken by the respective policy-related and bureaucratic-administrative forms of Europeanisation. A less puzzling interpretation of developments might flow if, in addition to the purely institutionalist perspective, more attention were to be focused upon broader cultural factors and the role played by individuals within the context of bureaucratic adaptation processes. This paper attempts to follow the latter course by drawing on a historical-based study of the long-term impact of bureaucratic Europeanisation on a government department across a period of some twenty-five years. The focus is upon the relative depth of Europeanisation experienced in that particular case and the extent to which that Europeanisation was in fact influenced not only by structural and procedural aspects of the UK administrative system but also by cultural, actor-based and departmental-specific factors
Martin Luther – held of skurk?
No full textCITATION: Wessels, F. 2019. Martin Luther – held of skurk?. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 5(1):427-460, doi:10.17570/stj.2019.v5n1.a20.The original publication is available at https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/stjThe article investigates whether Martin Luther was anti-Semitic, and if so, what effect it had on his theology and ministry. First the article investigates the written comments of Luther in his works, from his article in 1523 That Jesus was born a Jew, in which Luther still cherished the hope that Jewish people would soon turn to accept the good news of the Gospel – as re-discovered by Protestantism, once it had been properly explained to them. The article then briefly describes how – with reference to Luther’s less friendly later articles – Luther’s anger against Jews grew as the years passed by without any significant change in the European Jewish community towards Jesus Christ. The article argues that Luther’s writings were certainly anti-Jewish (being against the Jews because they refused to accept the blessing of the Christian faith), but not necessarily anti-Semitic (being against Jews simply because they were Jews). In the second part of the article the author investigates how Luther’s interpretation of Paul was influenced by his own dramatic discovery and interpretation of the concept of the “righteousness of God”, which blessed Luther in his Christian faith, but unfortunately also cloudedhis vision, with the result that Luther tended to understand the “righteousness of God” only in forensic terms. That theological blind spot unfortunately kept Luther from fully understanding Paul’s emphasis that the “righteousness of God” also have a powerful social impact.https://uc.reformedjournals.co.za/stj/article/view/2041Publisher's versio
Strategische ruimtelijke sturing: Een Frans-Nederlandse systeemvergelijking
No full textTechnology, Policy and Managemen
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