Gründe, Normativität und Determinismus

Zwei Argumente für die Auffassung, Handeln aus Gründen sei ebenso wie begründetes Für-wahr-Halten mit einem Determinismus nicht zu vereinbaren, werden kurz vorgestellt und kritisiert. Das erste Argument beruft sich auf die Normativität von Gründen und darauf, dass aus "sollen" ebenso "können" wie "anders können" folge. Das zweite meint, dass ein Subjekt die These der eigenen Determiniertheit nicht ohne performativen Widerspruch vertreten könne

Detecting Influencers in Written Online Conversations

It has long been established that there is a correlation between the dialog behavior of a participant and how influential he or she is perceived to be by other discourse participants. In this paper we explore the characteristics of communication that make someone an opinion leader and develop a machine learning based approach for the automatic identification of discourse participants that are likely to be influencers in online communication. Our approach relies on identification of three types of conversational behavior: persuasion, agreement/disagreement, and dialog patterns

Search literacy: learning to search to learn

People can often find themselves out of their depth when they face knowledge-based problems, such as faulty technology, or medical concerns. This can also happen in everyday domains that users are simply inexperienced with, like cooking. These are common exploratory search conditions, where users don’t quite know enough about the domain to know if they are submitting a good query, nor if the results directly resolve their need or can be translated to do so. In such situations, people turn to their friends for help, or to forums like StackOverflow, so that someone can explain things to them and translate information to their specific need. This short paper describes work-in-progress within a Google-funded project focusing on Search Literacy in these situations, where improved search skills will help users to learn as they search, to search better, and to better comprehend the results. Focusing on the technology-problem domain, we present initial results from a qualitative study of questions asked and answers given in StackOverflow, and present plans for designing search engine support to help searchers learn as they search

Fractured reservoir potential and tectonic development of the Iniskin -- Tuxedni region, Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016Fracture patterns can provide insight into the strain history and stress evolution of deformed strata. In southern Alaska's Cook Inlet forearc basin, hydrocarbon traps are typically fault-cored anticlines, where fractures likely aid in the migration of hydrocarbons from lower Jurassic marine strata into Cenozoic non-marine deposits. Consequently, understanding the distribution and orientation of fracture sets with respect to these structures is necessary to improving the understanding of one of Alaska's largest petroleum provinces. Furthermore, recent refinements in understanding southern Alaska's Dynamic Cenozoic tectonic evolution allow us to interpret fractures in a regional tectonic context. Despite the important role fractures likely play in the Cook Inlet petroleum system, limited work exists linking fractures to regional tectonic events and structures. The objective of chapter one is to characterize from field and remote sensing observations the orientations, distributions, and relative ages of several regionally prominent fracture sets. Field observations focus on the area of the western Cook Inlet near Augustine Volcano, north to Tuxedni Bay. Remote sensing observations expand the study area from the Alaska Peninsula in the south to Mount Spurr in the north. I identified four fracture sets—with common orientations, opening modes, and relative ages—within the sedimentary sequence that spans early Jurassic to Miocene time in the Cook Inlet forearc basin. Within the field area, these sets fall into two structural domains: 1) the Iniskin Peninsula, site of an anticline--syncline pair and reverse slip on the SW-striking Bruin Bay fault; and 2) north of Chinitna Bay, where the Bruin Bay fault strikes ~N--S and preserves primarily sinistral displacement. Chapter two is aimed at quantifying the fracture intensity of the four regional fracture sets defined in Chapter 1, which are pervasive in deformed forearc basin strata of Jurassic age in the Iniskin--Tuxedni region of the lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. I document how fracture intensity changes between the four regionally identified fracture sets of chapter one. Analysis of fracture intensity indicates that changes in fracture intensity are guided by the opening of other fractures and grain size. I also measured fractures at the thin-section scale, via back-scattered electron microscopy, to test the feasibility of using micro fracture analysis to estimate macro fracture abundance. I conclude by discussing how natural fractures could enhance sub-surface permeability for the lower Cook Inlet hydrocarbon province; and serve as migration pathways in the lower and upper Cook Inlet petroleum systems

Coulomb-assisted Σ−\bm\Sigma^--nucleus bound states in the (K−K^-, π+\pi^+) reaction

We study a production of Coulomb-assisted $\Sigma^-$-nucleus bound states by nuclear ($K^-$, $\pi^+$) reactions within a distorted-wave impulse approximation, so as to examine several types of the $\Sigma$-nucleus potentials that are consistent with the available $\Sigma^-$ atomic X-ray data and nuclear ($\pi^-$, $K^+$) data. We theoretically demonstrate the inclusive ($K^-$, $\pi^+$) spectra of the $\Sigma^-$ unstable bound states on $^{28}$Si, $^{58}$Ni, and $^{208}$Pb targets at incident $K^-$ lab momenta $p_{K}= 400\text{--}800$ MeV/c. The results show that the near-recoilless ($K^-$, $\pi^+$) reaction on the $^{58}$Ni target gives a clear candidate to confirm properties of the $\Sigma$-nucleus potentials having a repulsion inside the nuclear surface and an attraction outside the nucleus with a sizable absorption, whereas details of the repulsion of the potential at the nuclear center cannot be determined by the inclusive spectra. This is a promising attempt to extract properties of the $\Sigma$-nucleus potential in the nucleus at forthcoming J-PARC experiments, as a full complement to the analyses of the $\Sigma^-$ atomic and ($\pi^-$, $K^+$) data

Thermal history of rocks along the Totschunda and Denali faults with implications for exhumation, fault reactivation, and fault system evolution.

The main body of this research has focused on the tectonic evolution of the Totschunda fault and its relationship with the Denali fault in central Alaska. This dissertation is divided into three chapters that investigate questions surrounding the evolution of intersecting faults, reactivation of lithospheric structures, and the exhumation of crust surrounding these structures with an initial overview chapter that sets the context for the studied problems followed by a conclusions chapter that provides a summary of conclusions from this work. In the second chapter I document fault rejuvenation through thermal history modelling of multiple bedrock and detrital cobble samples along the margins of the southern Totschunda fault. This chapter incorporates a broad geologic history of the Totschunda fault, summarizes current research on this structure, and provides increased evidence of its reactivation and activity throughout the Miocene. I conclude that the Totschunda fault was most likely active in the early Miocene, with a rapid increase in activity following a ~6 Ma Pacific Plate vector change. In the third chapter my research applies low-temperature thermochronology with inverse thermal modeling to constrain the spatial-temporal cooling history of the Totschunda-Denali intersection region. I show that the apex of the block bounded by the Totschunda and Denali faults started to rapidly cool (\u3e10°C/Ma) at roughly 25 Ma. Rapid cooling within the fault bounded block is symmetric and exceeds magnitudes of cooling in the surrounding country rock. I therefore link this 25 Ma rapid cooling with the formation of the fault intersection because both strands of the fault intersection would have had to be active and connected to accommodate vertical block motion between the two faults. I suggest the sub-vertical lithospheric scale strands of the Totschunda-Denali intersection facilitate vertical movement of the bound block under normal stress and that thermochronometric ages within the bound block may help constrain the age of other low angle fault intersection. The vertical extrusion of the bound block enables relative geometric stability of the junction during convergence changes by limiting fault system reorganization after the fault intersection forms. Therefore, I suggest that low angle (\u3c25°) fault intersections may persist for tens of millions of years. In the fourth chapter, I focus on variations in exhumation along strike-slip faults. The patterns of exhumation along strike-slip or transpressional faults are often associated with restraining bends or an increase in obliquity to the direction of the converging plate. In this contribution, I document how two different fault pairs that delineate orogenesis along the Denali fault system are affected by convergence and propose additional models for exhumation along strike-slip faults by applying detrital apatite fission track (DAFT) thermochronology. I document that exhumation is structurally controlled and demonstrate how the distinct styles and lithospheric scales of the bounding faults led to different overall patterns of exhumation. In the first region, between the sub-vertical lithospheric scale Denali and Hines Creek faults, unimodal Late Miocene DAFT age populations document rapid exhumation in the narrow (~20 km width) block of crust between the two faults. In the second region, between the lithospheric Denali fault and low angle shallow crustal Granite Mountain fault, dominantly bi- and tri- modal DAFT age populations document Late Miocene and older Paleogene rock cooling. Here, exhumation is greatest along the Denali fault and decreases towards the Granite Mountain fault to the north in a broad distributed zone of deformation (~45 km width). Curvature of the Denali fault and obliquity of southern Alaska plate convergence is consistent along strike of the Denali fault segment in both regions; therefore, I suggest that the scale (lithospheric or continental) of the two fault pairs, rather than strike of the fault with respect to the convergence direction of the hanging wall, plays a greater role in controlling the patterns of exhumation and topographic development in the Eastern Alaska Range and also across other fault systems

Is alcohol dependence best viewed as a chronic relapsing disorder?

This 'For Debate' paper starts by recognizing the growing trend towards considering alcohol dependence as a chronic relapsing disorder. We argue that the adoption of this model results from focusing on those in treatment for alcohol dependence rather than considering the larger number of people in the general population who meet criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lives. The majority of the general population who ever experience alcohol dependence do not behave as though they have a chronic relapsing disorder: they do not seek treatment, resolve their dependence themselves and do not relapse repeatedly. We suggest that caution is therefore needed in using the chronic relapsing disorder label. Our primary concerns are that this formulation privileges biological aspects of dependence to the detriment of psychological and social contributions, it inhibits much-needed developments in understanding alcohol dependence and leads to inefficient distributions of public health and clinical care resources for alcohol dependence. We invite debate on this issue

Polymorphisms in Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter and multidrug resistance 1 genes: parasite risk factors that affect treatment outcomes for P. falciparum malaria after artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine.

Adequate clinical and parasitologic cure by artemisinin combination therapies relies on the artemisinin component and the partner drug. Polymorphisms in the Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (pfcrt) and P. falciparum multidrug resistance 1 (pfmdr1) genes are associated with decreased sensitivity to amodiaquine and lumefantrine, but effects of these polymorphisms on therapeutic responses to artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) and artemether-lumefantrine (AL) have not been clearly defined. Individual patient data from 31 clinical trials were harmonized and pooled by using standardized methods from the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network. Data for more than 7,000 patients were analyzed to assess relationships between parasite polymorphisms in pfcrt and pfmdr1 and clinically relevant outcomes after treatment with AL or ASAQ. Presence of the pfmdr1 gene N86 (adjusted hazards ratio = 4.74, 95% confidence interval = 2.29 - 9.78, P < 0.001) and increased pfmdr1 copy number (adjusted hazards ratio = 6.52, 95% confidence interval = 2.36-17.97, P < 0.001 : were significant independent risk factors for recrudescence in patients treated with AL. AL and ASAQ exerted opposing selective effects on single-nucleotide polymorphisms in pfcrt and pfmdr1. Monitoring selection and responding to emerging signs of drug resistance are critical tools for preserving efficacy of artemisinin combination therapies; determination of the prevalence of at least pfcrt K76T and pfmdr1 N86Y should now be routine