Online research in philosophy

Members of the Ba2Zn1-xCdxTa2O9 <span class='Hi'>span>(0 <span class='Hi'>span>=<<span class='Hi'>span> x <span class='Hi'>span>=<<span class='Hi'>span> 1)<span class='Hi'>span> series (...) class='Hi'> have been synthesized by solid state reactions at 1473 K.<span class='Hi'>span> Powder x-ray diffraction studies show a cubic perovskite cell with a <span class='Hi'>span>~ 4.1 a which increases with increase in x.<span class='Hi'>span> Electron diffraction studies show the presence of hexagonal ordered perovskite structure in addition to the cubic structure seen by x-rays,<span class='Hi'>span> the x <span class='Hi'>span>= 0.5 composition showing more ordered crystallites.<span class='Hi'>span> These samples show high dielectric constants with a maximum <span class='Hi'>span>(r <span class='Hi'>span>= 30 at 1 kHz)<span class='Hi'>span> for the x <span class='Hi'>span>= 0.5 member.<span class='Hi'>span> The dielectric loss increases with increase in x at all the frequencies under study. (shrink)

In 1918, Emmy Noether published a (now famous) theorem establishing a general connection between continuous 'global' symmetries and conserved quantities. In fact, Noether's paper contains two (...) class='Hi'>theorems, and the second of these deals with 'local' symmetries; prima facie, this second theorem has nothing to do with conserved quantities. In the same year, Hermann Weyl independently made the first attempt to derive conservation of electric charge from a postulated gauge symmetry. In the light of Noether's work, it is puzzling that Weyl's argument uses local gauge symmetry. This paper explores the relationships between Weyl's work, Noether's two theorems, and the modern connection between gauge symmetry and conservation of electric charge. This includes showing that Weyl's connection is essentially an application of Noether's second theorem, with a novel twist. (shrink)

Two putative functions of emotion experience — its roles in intentional action and in social understanding — were investigated using a group of individuals (repressors) known to have (...) class='Hi'>impaired anxiety experience. Repressors, low-anxious, high-anxious, and defensive high-anxious individuals were asked to give a public presentation, and then given the opportunity to avoid the presentation. Repressors were the group most likely to avoid giving the presentation, but were the least likely to give an emotional explanation for their avoidance. By contrast, they were not less likely than other groups to provide negative emotional explanations of another person’s behaviour in a film clip. We concluded that: (1) repressors are impaired in self- but not in other-explanation using emotion, implying that “simulation” is not the method used by repressors to ground their folk psychology, (2) the intentional avoidance shown by repressors is indicative of some intact first-order phenomenal anxiety experience but that they lack second-order awareness of this anxiety experience. (shrink)

Recent data indicate that under a specific posthypnotic suggestion to circumvent reading,<span class='Hi'>span> highly suggestible subjects successfully eliminated the Stroop interference effect.<span class='Hi'>span> (...) The present study examined whether an optical explanation <span class='Hi'>span>(e.g.<span class='Hi'>span>, visual blurring or looking away)<span class='Hi'>span> could account for this finding.<span class='Hi'>span> Using cyclopentolate hydrochloride eye drops to pharmacologically prevent visual accommodation in all subjects,<span class='Hi'>span> behavioral Stroop data were collected from six highly hypnotizables and six less suggestibles using an optical setup that guaranteed either sharply focused or blurred vision.<span class='Hi'>span> The highly suggestibles performed the Stroop task when naturally vigilant,<span class='Hi'>span> under posthypnotic suggestion not to read,<span class='Hi'>span> and while visually blurred;<span class='Hi'>span> the less suggestibles ran naturally vigilant,<span class='Hi'>span> while looking away,<span class='Hi'>span> and while visually blurred.<span class='Hi'>span> Although visual accommodation was precluded for all subjects,<span class='Hi'>span> posthypnotic suggestion effectively eliminated Stroop interference and was comparable to looking away in controls.<span class='Hi'>span> These data strengthen the view that Stroop interference is neither robust nor inevitable and support the hypothesis that posthypnotic suggestion may exert a top-down influence on neural processing. (shrink)

James K.A. Smith argues that the ontology of participation associated with Radical Orthodoxy is incompatible with a Christian affirmation of the intrinsic being and goodness of (...) class='Hi'>creatures. In response, he proposes a Leibnizian view in which things are endowed with the innate dynamism of ‘force’. Creatures have a certain depth of being, and are intrinsically good, just because they each have an inner virtuality that they bring into expression. Such force is said to be a metaphysical component of the agent. In this paper it is asked whether John Milbank's ontology of participation can be defended by distinguishing between two senses of being a subject. Perhaps it is possible for a creature to bring into expression what is an infused ‘alien’ gift rather than a metaphysical component – to be expressive subject, but not ontic subject, for divine power. However, while this distinction promises to make sense of the reception of an indwelling ‘other’ in grace, knowledge and love, neither proper substance nor proper existence can be received in this way. A creature must be the ontic subject for its being, after all. Still, divine being might proceed from God as radical indwelling gift, as non-ontic ground for ontic being. (shrink)

This article reports the findings of a cross-cultural study that explored the relationship between nationality, cultural orientation, and attitudes toward different ways in which an employee (...) class='Hi'>might blow the whistle. The study investigated two questions – are there any significant differences in the attitudes of university students from South Korea, Turkey and the U.K. toward various ways by which an employee blows the whistle in an organization?, and what effect, if any, does cultural orientation have on these attitudes? In order to answer these questions, the study identified six dimensions of whistleblowing and four types of cultural orientation. The survey was conducted among 759 university students, who voluntarily participated; 284 South Korean, 230 Turkish, and 245 U.K. Although all three samples showed a preference for formal, anonymous and internal modes of whistleblowing, there were significant variations related to nationality and cultural orientation. The findings have some key implications for organizational practice and offer directions for future research. (shrink)

In this paper we report a study of the approach of six U.K. water and electricity companies towards managing the relationship with their ''green'' stakeholders. Stakeholders (...) class='Hi'>are accorded increasing importance in political discourse and stakeholder theory is emerging as a promising framework for the analysis of corporate social performance.We studied the companies'' general approach towards green stakeholders, their dealings with specific stakeholder groups and whether they emphasised the consultation or the information aspect of stakeholder management. We found that none of the six companies had a systematic stakeholder approach that extended to all potential green stakeholders. Rather, the importance of specific stakeholder groups seemed to be determined by managers'' intuition and by the stance that the stakeholders themselves displayed towards the company. (shrink)

We examine the occurrence of ethicsrelated terms in 10-K annual reports over 1994-2006 and offer empirical observations on the conceptual framework of Erhard et al. (Integrity (...) class='Hi'>: A Positive Model that Incorporates the Normative Phenomena of Morality, Ethics, and Legality (Harvard Business School, Harvard) 2007). We use a pre-Sarbanes-Oxley sample subset to compare the occurrence of ethics-related terms in our 10-K data with samples from other studies that consider virtue-related phenomena. We find that firms using ethics-related terms are more likely to be "sin" stocks, are more likely to be the object of class action lawsuits, and are more likely to score poorly on measures of corporate governance. The consistency of our results across these alternative measures of ethical behavior suggests that managers who portray their firm as "ethical" in 10-K reports are more likely to be systematically misleading the public. These results are consistent with the integrity-performance paradox. (shrink)

Working in ZF+AD alone, we prove that every set of ordinals with cardinality at least Θ can be covered by a set of ordinals in HOD (...) class='Hi'>of K (ℝ) of the same cardinality, when there is no inner model with an ℝ-complete measurable cardinal. Here ℝ is the set of reals and Θ is the supremum of the ordinals which are the surjective image of ℝ. (shrink)

George A. Olah, Alain Goeppert and G. K. Surya Prakash (eds): Beyond oil and gas: the methanol economy, 2nd updated and enlarged edition Content Type Journal Article (...) Category Book Review Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s10698-011-9141-x Authors George B. Kauffman, Department of Chemistry, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-8034, USA Journal Foundations of Chemistry Online ISSN 1572-8463 Print ISSN 1386-4238. (shrink)

As Post (1996) observes, accounting firms are unique among multinationals. They are more likely than firms in almost any other category to go abroad. They also have (...) less choice in location as their expansion is determined largely by the desired locations of their clients (<span class='Hi'>Andersonspan> and Gatignon, 1986). Given the widespread global presence of such firms, it can be argued that the global audit firm is uniquely at risk from variations in ethical perceptions across nations. This study extends the U.S. accounting literature on determinants of cheating among accounting students to the U.K. Based on the work of Cohen et al. (1993) it develops a model that suggests that students in lower "uncertainty avoidance" countries will be both less likely to cheat, and when they do cheat, will be driven by internal rather than external mode. Our results supported the model as proposed as our results indicated that U.S. students were more likely to cheat and were more responsive to external stimuli than were the U.K. students. (shrink)

Last year the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) released a new set of revised guidelines upon environmental reporting practices for U.K companies. (...) class='Hi'>Two industrial sectors were selected – the Water industry and the Energy industry – and the most recent Environmental Reports produced by companies in these sectors were subjected to content analysis where the coding framework was heavily based on the DEFRA guidelines. Results are reported for the two industries separately and the two industries are also compared. Whilst sectoral differences were found it was clear that many companies addressed most of the issues raised in the guidelines. However, others did not. Whilst no conclusions can be made about the quality of reporting the main areas of emphasis in each sector can be determined. (shrink)

David K. Chan wants to save the DDE from the considerable criticism levelled against it, by making the moral distinction it refers to rest on a difference (...) in desire instead of in intention. I argue that the revised version, too, is counter-intuitive and confuses the blameworthiness of an actor with the wrongness of the act. It also invites abuse instead of preventing it. Besides, Chan's DDE omits three of the four criteria of the traditional DDE, and it is couched in terms of lesser objectionability, while the traditional DDE is couched in terms of permission. Therefore, Chan's DDE has so little in common with the traditional DDE that it should not even count as a revised version of it. (shrink)

In this paper we will provide a modal-to-modal translational embedding of E into K, simplifying a similar result which is obtainable using a novel translation due (...) class='Hi'> to S.K. Thomason. (shrink)

<span class='Hi'>Davidspan> K. Chan wants to save the DDE from the considerable criticism levelled against it, by making the moral distinction it refers to rest (...) on a difference in desire instead of in intention. I argue that the revised version, too, is counter-intuitive and confuses the blameworthiness of an actor with the wrongness of the act. It also invites abuse instead of preventing it. Besides, Chan's DDE omits three of the four criteria of the traditional DDE, and it is couched in terms of lesser objectionability, while the traditional DDE is couched in terms of permission. Therefore, Chan's DDE has so little in common with the traditional DDE that it should not even count as a revised version of it. (shrink)

Meditations.--Some views on Paul Deussen's "Elements of metaphysics."--The fundamentals of Vedanta.--Uma's mirror.--The drum-beat of angels.--Heroes of ancient Ind.--The spirit of Vedic (...) Ind.--Was Śaṅkara a crypto-Buddhist?--Vedic support for non-dualism.--The system of Ramanuja with side-lights on those of Madhava and Śaṅkara.--The system of Sankhya.--The system of thought revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā.--The philosophy of Advaita or non-dualism.--"Tiger" Varadachar. (shrink)