Blame and the Humean Theory of Motivation

A classic, though basically neglected question about motivation arises when we attempt to account for blame’s nature—namely, does the recognition central to blame need help from an independent desire in order to motivate the blame-characteristic dispositions that arise in the blamer? Those who have attended to the question think the answer is yes. Hence, they adopt what I call a Humean Construal of blame on which blame is (a) a judgment that an individual S is blameworthy and (b) an independent desire about S not doing as they did or being as they are. This paper rejects arguments for the Humean Construal, illustrates deep failings of that view, and uses these considerations to support anti-Humean accounts of blame in particular and moral motivation more broadly

The Mechanism of Core-Collapse Supernova Explosions: A Status Report

We review the status of the current quest to understand the mechanism of core-collapse supernovae, if neutrino-driven. In the process, we discuss the spherical explosion paradigm and its problems, some results from our new suite of collapse calculations performed using a recently-developed 1D implicit, multi-group, Feautrier/tangent-ray, Boltzmann solver coupled to explicit predictor/corrector hydrodynamics, the basic energetics of supernova explosions, and the promise of multi-D radiation/hydro simulations to explain why the cores of massive stars explode.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, 4 JPEGs included. To be published in the proceedings to the ESO/MPA/MPE Workshop (an ESO Astrophysics Symposium) entitled "From Twilight to Highlight: The Physics of Supernovae," held in Garching bei M\"unchen, Germany, July 29-31, 2002, eds. Bruno Leibundgut and Wolfgang Hillebrandt (Springer-Verlag

A Guideline for Increasing Efficiency of TEM/EDS Data Collection by Dwell Time Optimization

Composition analysis using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is crucial in the semiconductor industry for development of new products and enhancement of production yields. High quality EDS data relies on acquiring sufficient X-ray counts from the TEM sample. The amount of time that the electron beam interacts with the sample generating X-rays per pixel within the mapping area is known as dwell time, which is an EDS system parameter that governs optimum data acquisition. However, a systematic study to optimize this parameter has not been previously reported. An analytical expression was derived that enabled the prediction of a dwell time range that optimizes the total X-ray signal collected during the EDS data collection. Experimental results from multiple materials across several TEM/EDS systems confirmed the validity of the expression. The results of this study provide a guideline for increasing efficiency of TEM/EDS data collection from different materials using a variety of TEM/EDS systems through the optimization of EDS dwell time

The applicability of self-regulation theories in sport : goal adjustment capacities, stress appraisals, coping and well-being among athletes

Objectives: We examined a model, informed by self-regulation theories, which included goal adjustment capacities, appraisals of challenge and threat, coping, and well-being. Design: Prospective. Methods: Two hundred and twelve athletes from the United Kingdom (n = 147) or Australia (n = 65), who played team (n = 135) or individual sports (n = 77), and competed at international (n = 7), national (n = 11), county (n = 67), club (n = 84), or beginner (n = 43) levels participated in this study. Participants completed measures of goal adjustment capacities and stress appraisals two days before competing. Athletes also completed questions on coping and well-being within three hours of their competition ending. Results: The way an athlete responds to an unattainable goal is associated with his or her well-being in the period leading up to and including the competition. Goal reengagement positively predicted well-being, whereas goal disengagement negatively predicted well-being. Further, goal reengagement was positively associated with challenge appraisals, which in turn was linked to task-oriented coping, and task-oriented coping positively associated with well-being. Conclusion: When highly-valued goals become unattainable, consultants could encourage athletes to seek out alternative approaches to achieve the same goal or help them develop a completely new goal

Survival rates of cat-attacked birds admitted to RSPCA wildlife centres in the UK: implications for cat owners and wildlife rehabilitators

Free-ranging pet cats (Felis catus) frequently kill wildlife but also return live prey to their owners. This raises welfare concerns if live animals released by cat owners subsequently die, since this is preventable e.g. through prompt euthanasia. To estimate the mortality rate of birds released alive by cat owners, we examined the fates of 3597 cat-attacked individuals submitted to four RSPCA wildlife centres in the UK. Individuals from 64 species were received but most cases (77%) involved just seven species commonly found in urban areas. The overall mortality rate (based on all individuals received at centres i.e. including those which perished in transport, those which were euthanased on arrival and those which were admitted for care after having been triaged) was 78%; the post-admittance mortality rate (n = 2070 birds admitted for care) was 62%. On average, individuals that perished (n = 2798) survived for 3.0 days before dying or being euthanased. Juveniles were more likely to survive to release than adults, possibly because their small size means they are less likely to receive injuries that are ultimately fatal. Extrapolating from the limited data currently available, and applying conservative estimates at each stage, we estimate that a minimum of 0.3 million birds are released annually by cat owners but subsequently die. Substantial welfare improvements could be achieved if owners were more prepared to adopt strategies to limit hunting behaviour (e.g. fitting cats with collars and bells) and if owners and rehabilitators were able to effectively identify individuals with fatal injuries. The latter will require studies that quantify the effects of identifiable physical injuries on the likelihood of survival to release, in order to establish effective triage criteria