Nickel-boron coatings are used to improve friction and wear properties (and, in some cases, corrosion resistance). The nickel-boron coating investigated here is 5-6 wt% boron, and is deposited by electroless plating on a 1018 steel substrate. It is amorphous as-plated, and heat treatment is used to crystallize the coating to improve its hardness. To better understand and predict the effects of heat treatment, samples that had been isothermally annealed at various temperatures from 500ºC to 800ºC for either 2h or 5h were examined by several methods to determine the diffusion effects taking place during annealing. Samples were examined by XRD, both at the coating surface and at multiple depths within the coating. Optical microscopy and SEM were used to view the structure of the coating in cross-section. Cross sections were etched and examined by optical microscopy and SEM, as well as EDS, which was used to develop a Ni-Fe composition profile at the coating-substrate interface. Microhardness measurements were taken and used to develop microhardness profiles. Additional samples were annealed to investigate boron oxidation at the coating surface. Based on the data, there is a reduced amount of Ni3B near the outer surface of the heat-treated coatings, with the thickness of the resultant γ-Ni layer increasing with annealing time and temperature, from 2.4 to just over 13 µm. This low-boron region indicates that boron is diffusing out through the surface of the coating and oxidizing, which the literature indicates should result in the formation of B2O3. Because B2O3 is water-soluble, it is likely that it dissolved during the water quench that concluded most anneals. Diffraction and EDS data also indicate interdiffusion of the nickel in the coating and the iron in the steel substrate. This leads to the formation of a soft interdiffusion layer between the Ni3B coating bulk and steel substrate that appears to be a mix of ferrite and Ni3Fe.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors have sparked great controversy in the treatment of idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease. There is little doubt that Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors work synergistically with Levodopa to reduce several major debilitating symptoms. Multiple other medications provide a similar symptomatic benefit when combined with Levodopa; thus, a symptomatic benefit alone does little to advance current Parkinson’s treatment. The great controversy in treatment then comes from the possibility that Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors modify the natural course of Parkinson’s Disease. This class of drug protected nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in many cellular and animal studies. Clinical studies involving Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors are more controversial. Several studies have shown results that suggest a neuroprotective effect while other have not. This may be because the tools used to assess PD progression are inadequate. To see a clear decrease in nigrostriatal dopaminergic death, and thus prove a neuroprotective effect, more advanced techniques to measure the progression of Parkinson’s Disease must be developed. Given the controversy it will be important to revisit the benefits of MAO-B inhibitors once more advanced progression techniques are available.

This study is an intervention in postcolonial theorising through a critique of technologies of representation. It examines the effects of technologically-mediated representation in a postcolonial condition that the Philippines has exemplified. New media technologies are mechanisms of representations that embody the logic of spectrality presented in Jacques Derrida’s later work. Spectrality, which brings doubts, ephemerality, and instability to dominant discourses and modes of representation, provides a chance for change.Spectres are effects of technologically-mediated representation that articulate the infinite demand for justice under conditions of enduring inequality. As quasi-transcendental elements of deconstruction, spectres are not reducible to either human or technical intervention; they express the relation of humans to technologies, in which representation is central to the mediation of political authority. This technological representation is the condition of what Derrida calls “iteration,” or the transformation of hegemonic authority through the very repetition of its fundamental terms of identification. The examination of emancipatory new media technologies in a postcolonial condition is inspired by the work of Jacques Derrida, in his deconstructive reading of Marx’s spectres. However, the writings of Habermas and Adorno have offered an implicit appraisal of the ontology of spectres. Habermas’s theory of the public sphere and Adorno’s negative dialectics are discourses that unwittingly solicit spectres. The account of the postcolonial condition in the Philippines works through the questions of universality, subalternity, and the right to theory that are raised by the project of Western critical theory.

As its criticisms have revealed, a closer look at the concept of the Real, the thesis of “all experiencing is experiencing-as,” and the criterion of the soteriological transformation have shown some difficulities in John Hick’s pluralistic hypothesis. Focusing on the theory of religious experience contended by Hick, this research explores the Kantian and Wittgensteinian elements of his hypothesis to ease the tension between its metaphysical and epistemological aspects. Since Hick’s hypothesis is based on the doctrines of religions within the Indo-European language group, this research introduces those traditions from outside this group to rethink its criteriology. These two attempts inevitably call for a refined model of Hick’s hypothesis. Both Hick’s hypothesis and the refined model reflect certain understandings of the notion of Religion. Meanwhile, every religious tradition also manifests its various dimensions. This research consequently suggests that the ideal of Religion can be considered in terms of the idea of functional unity and can be taken as the regulative principle to direct any model of religious pluralism, which is subject to be modified when it encounters any “anomalies” of religious phenomena -- this pattern can be further illustrated in light of the Confucian proposition of “the Li is one but its manifestations are many (理一分殊li-yi-fen-shu).”

This study was designed to explore the concept of witnessed resuscitation. This was achieved through a serial approach to conceptually based research that systematically and incrementally developed understanding of the meaning of witnessed resuscitation in the context of emergency resuscitative care for adult victims of cardiorespiratory arrest. Theoretical investigation provided a strong conceptual foundation of existing knowledge and gave direction for further inquiry. Existential investigation comprised a hermeneuticphenomenological study to explore the phenomenon of lay presence during an adult cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempt. Lived-experience material was subjected to thematic analysis and was revealing of five concepts that represented the essential nature of the lived experience. The concept of exposure emerged as the essence of this phenomenon. Research findings derived during theoretical and existential investigation were compared by adapting a method of template comparison. This process culminated in a synthesised conceptualisation of the meaning of witnessed resuscitation of a higher level of abstraction. Ongoing research is needed to determine whether this ‘state of the art’ conceptualisation of witnessed resuscitation holds its boundaries when applied to alternative phenomena, contexts and disciplines. Priority should be given to exploring the application of this concept in the context of patient and family-centred end-of-life care.

Christine Korsgaard has attempted to defend a distinct approach to metaethics – Neo-Kantian Constructivism. Not only does she present a positive case for her own view, she also attacks existing metaethical positions and even the disctinctions that metaethics has traditionally relied on. This thesis is a sustained examination of this position. I consider whether Korsgaard can legitimately claim to be offering a metaethical position at all, providing her with some defence against the scepticism of some metaethicists. I also examine her attacks on traditional metaethical positions (in particular moral realism and expressivism). I argue that her attack on moral realism can be avoided if the realism on offer takes a particular form. In the case of expressivism I claim that Korsgaard’s attack, though not fully developed in her work, motivates an examination of contemporary hybrid-expressivist theories. I argue that these are, as of yet, no advance over their non-hybrid cousins. Finally I examine Korsgaard’s own position, attempting to make it clearer by combining her claims with a framework developed by Crispin Wright for judgement-dependent qualities. This gives Korsgaard her best chance of a distinctive metaethical position. Ultimately, though, the Neo-Kantian approach to morality fails.

I argue that if one accepts the existence of a multiverse model that posits the existence of all possible realities, and also wants to maintain the existence of a God who exemplifies omnipotence, omnibenevolence and omniscience then the brand of God that he should ascribe to is one of deism rather than the God of classical theism. Given the nature and construct of such a multiverse, as well as some specific interpretations of the divine attributes, this points us to a God who is inactive in the natural world, not one who is. This deistic conception of God not only sits better with the idea of a multiverse and is also compatible with many arguments for theism, but it also responds to certain arguments for atheism better than the classical conception of God. I ultimately argue that deism ought to be given consideration as a plausible alternative conception to the classical conception of God, given the acceptance of a multiverse.

The aim of this work is to defend substance dualism by defeating two of its paramount potential defeaters. I will argue that a substance dualist position, neo-Thomistic hylomorphism, provides a solution to the causal pairing problem and a good explanation of neural correlates of consciousness. After an introductory first chapter, I'll explicate dualism's dominant potential defeaters in the next three chapters. Chapter 2 will clarify what neural correlates of consciousness are and the objection to dualism based on neural correlates. The following two chapters will distinguish and elucidate dualism's principal problem regarding mental causation, which I'll argue is the causal pairing problem. The fifth chapter will introduce and explain neo-Thomistic hylomorphism. Chapter 6 will apply neo-Thomistic hylomorphism to the causal pairing problem, providing a solution that appeals to a fundamental tenet of neo-Thomistic hylomorphism. In Chapter 7 I'll apply the view and an Aristotelian powers ontology to construct a model of neural correlates of consciousness that's intended to explain such correlations. The final chapter will offer a conclusion and briefly discuss relevant future research.

This research is a comparative study between the Orthodox Youth Movement and Al-Jamā‘a Al-Islāmiyya. This research focuses on analyzing the evolution of the religious awareness processes that were triggered between 1898 and 1975 in the Sunni and Orthodox communities in Lebanon. This research examines: why the selected communities moved from Reform (Iṣlāḥ) to Revivalism (Iḥyā’) in the 1940s and the characteristic features of the Orthodox and Sunni revivalisms as exemplified by the Orthodox Youth Movement and Al-Jamā‘a Al-Islāmiyya. The methodology of this research takes this as an axiom and analyzes it to prove its validity then distills the constituting elements of their revivalisms. When comparing the components of revivalism present in the concepts of Iṣlāḥ of both organizations, there were overlaps as well as divergences. The commonalities observed form a preliminary template of revivalist behaviors exhibited by both movements. This template, with further study, may well be used to predict current and future revivalist behaviors. The 1967 crises in Palestine provided the opportunity to test the revivalist components because they were visible and shaped the way this issue was perceived and reacted upon by both movements.

This thesis presents a simultaneous academic and creative engagement with a specific set of mythemes that relate to immortality, both within and beyond William Shakespeare's play, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. As specific archetypal elements, these mythemes — the forest, the lovers, the immortals, the knave, and the child — reflect the human preoccupation with immortality in various ways. As Shakespeare’s only play where immortal characters repeatedly differentiate themselves from mortals, 'Dream' provides an ideal touchstone for investigating how these mythemes characterize interactive presences that reflect immortality both within and beyond the boundaries of the play. Within the play, the mythemes function as characteristic but liminal presences, defining spaces within the play text in ways that aid and broaden 'Dream's dramatic function. The simultaneous creative and academic approaches deliberately echo the multiple perspectives and worlds within the play, leaving spaces between the two contrasting perspectives in the thesis to further reflect 'Dream's own generative spaces and further highlight the play's central ideas of regeneration and renewal. Creative segments also offer a look inside world of the play's immortal fairies, and how that world might suggest or deny human immortal potential.