In this paper I examine the contemporary debate over Derk Pereboom’s Manipulation Argument for the incompatibility of free will and determinism. After considering the argument in its entirety, I entertain a Hard-Line compatibilist reply given by Michael McKenna, based on an improved reworking of Pereboom’s cases. In evaluating McKenna’s reply I begin with several objections raised by Ishiyaque Haji and Stephan Cuypers before arguing that the reworking of cases is unsuccessful due to a lack of freedom-undermining manipulation. I redefine the conditions for what satisfies as freedom-undermining manipulation based on a revised understanding of the process whereby agents come to evaluate their desires independently. In conclusion, I maintain that Pereboom’s argument succeeds only insofar as it satisfies an evaluative account of manipulation. However, upon doing so, Pereboom’s strategy of accounting for all desired CAS conditions fails, given that authentic evaluation cannot be manipulatively accounted for. As a result, the Manipulation Argument fails to prove the incompatibility of free will and determinism.

Master of Science / Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources / Cary L. Rivard / Tomatoes and peppers are the most popular and profitable high tunnel crops. However, year-round intensive cultivation and extensive monocropping can lead to a loss of soil quality and the buildup of soilborne pathogens. Many growers are considering grafting to help address the drawbacks of covered agriculture and improve yields. Although many trials have been conducted that examine the ability of rootstock to increase yield or reduce disease, the effect of scion cultivar has yet to be tested, and few studies have attempted to quantitatively assess scion compatibility. In 2016 and 2017, we evaluated ten hybrid, determinate, red slicing tomato scion cultivars for compatibility with ‘Maxifort’ rootstock in a three-season high tunnel in Olathe, KS. While all ten varieties were compatible with ‘Maxifort’, only ‘BHN 589’, ‘Red Deuce’, ‘Skyway’, and ‘Tasti Lee’ were “highly compatible” and showed significant improvements in marketable yield when grafted. Additionally, when ranked by yield, differences between grafted and nongrafted populations suggest that relative compatibility may be inconsistent between varieties. However, a significant inverse relationship between the yield of the nongrafted plants and the percent yield benefit from grafting indicates that the effect of a rootstock like ‘Maxifort’ may not be synergistic, with higher performing nongrafted scion varieties benefitting less from grafting than lower performing varieties. ‘Red Deuce’ and ‘BHN 589’ are productive, and highly compatible grafted varieties with potential for commercial high tunnel production. ‘Primo Red’ benefitted the least from grafting but was the highest performing nongrafted variety (outperforming four of the grafted combinations). Compared to tomatoes, published reports on grafted peppers have been limited and it is unclear whether they provide any advantage in the absence of soilborne disease or environmental stress. Additionally, the use of rootstocks from other solanaceous species outside the Capsicum genus for pepper grafting has not been well explored, though the pool of available rootstock options for peppers would be substantially increased if such graft unions proved to be compatible. The goals of a second project were to identify the utility of grafted pepper (C. annum) plants for commercial high-tunnel production and to explore the potential for graft compatibility between the Capsicum and Solanum genera. We grafted ‘Karisma’ bell peppers onto two Solanum cultivars (‘Maxifort’ and ‘Sweetie’) and three pepper rootstocks (‘Scarface’, ‘Meeting’, and ‘Yaocali’). Five trials were conducted in 2016-2017 and utilized a randomized complete block design in all locations. Plants grafted onto Solanum rootstocks displayed symptoms of delayed incompatibility, including significant (78%-89%) reductions in yield (by weight), 59%-93% less plant growth, and 58% less marketability, as well as malformations at the graft union and higher in-field mortality rates. These symptoms were likely due to differences in mature stem anatomy. Plants grafted to ‘Scarface’ produced 32% greater marketable yield, 15%-18% larger fruit, and 9-12% higher marketability than nongrafted ‘Karisma’. The results for ‘Yaocali’ were similar to ‘Scarface’, though less conclusive. While ‘Yaocali’ and ‘Scarface’ rootstocks may be useful for improving yield in low-stress environments, the use of ‘Meeting’ may be more beneficial for combatting disease.

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Thesis (MTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / This research project focuses on the implementation of a Reverberation Chamber (RC) by the transformation of an existing electromagnetically shielded room. The reverberation chamber is a kind of shielded room designed to create a statistically random internal electromagnetic environment. The reverberating environment makes it possible to obtain high field strengths from a relatively low input power. The electric fields in the chamber have to be stirred to achieve a statistically uniform field. The first part of this thesis presents an overview of reverberation chamber principles and preliminary calculations are done: the lowest usable frequency is estimated to be close to 300 MHz from empirical criteria. Modelling of the statistical environment is then presented, where electromagnetic quantities are characterised by probability density functions (Gaussian, Rayleigh and exponential); correlation issues are also presented. Measurements are performed in the frequency range of 800 MHz – 4 GHz, dictated by the antennas available for this research study. An investigation of cable losses is conducted, followed by a discussion on measurement accuracy. Mechanical stirrers are designed and manufactured. Electromechanical components are selected based on the literature study. Measurements are obtained through an automated setup using MATLAB®. To verify that the RC, with its in-house designed mechanical stirrers, is well-operated, the stirring ratio is experimentally determined. After this first test, an exhaustive investigation of probability density functions is conducted, taking into account correlation issues. Measurements show that the quality factor of the chamber is close to 2000 at 3 GHz, and that 60 independent stirrer positions at 4 GHz can be used for statistical analyses. Finally, the uniformity test is performed with an improved accuracy using frequency stirring. In conclusion, the CPUT RC passes the validation procedure according to the IEC 61000-4-21 standard by generating the required field uniformity within the accepted uncertainty level.

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M.Ing. (Electrical And Electronic Engineering) / In this dissertation, an investigation into reducing Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) through design is presented. Root generation mechanisms of Electromagnetic Interference are often neglected during the design process and later treated symptomatically. Mitigation of Electromagnetic Interference at source often reduces cost and physical size of electronics. This dissertation demonstrates the process and results by which schematic balance mitigates EMI. In addition, the introduction of Geometric Balance and physically designing circuits to be Geometrically Symmetrical are presented and tested to determine whether the design produces mitigating EMI results. Multiple Printed Circuit Boards (PCB’s) were developed and tested against each other to demonstrate schematic balance and other EMI generation mechanisms. The final PCB was designed to be Geometrically Symmetrical and the test results compared. The results illustrate the varying performance of each PCB due to their differing design. The Geometrically Symmetrical PCB presented the best results due to various improvements which include physical layout size and semiconductor placement. An additional important phenomenon discovered was the amount of EMI generated during MOSFET Driver operation. This contributed to a significant amount of EMI during the no-load phase of testing.

Modern communication protocols present the software designer with problems of asynchrony, real-time response, high throughput, robust exception handling, and multi-level interfacing. An operating system which provides lightweight processes and inexpensive inter-process communication offers solutions to all of these problems. This thesis examines the use of the multi-process structuring facilities of one such operating system, Verex, to implement the protocols defined by CCITT Recommendation X.25. The success of the multi-process design is confirmed by a working implementation that has linked a Verex system to the Datapac public network for over a year. The processes which make up the Verex X.25 software are organized into layers according to the layered definition of X.25. Within the layers, some processes take the form of finite-state machines which execute the state transitions specified in the protocol definition. Matching the structure of the software to the structure of the specification results in software which is easy to program, easy to understand, and likely to be correct. Multi-process structuring can be applied with similar benefits to protocols other than X.25 and systems other than Verex. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

D.Ing. (Electrical And Electronic Engineering) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Magister Pharmaceuticae - MPharm / Terizidone (TZD) is considered an essential anti-tuberculosis drug and in South Africa it is prescribed as part of the multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment regimen. From a literature study it became apparent that very little is known in terms of the physicochemical characteristics of TZD and only one literature source mentions one polymorphic form of this drug. Furthermore, it exhibits neurotoxicity as an adverse effect, leading to the concomitant administration of pyridoxine (PDX) to counteract the TZD-induced side effects. MDR-TB patients experience major side effects from taking the drug for a long period (18 months) and it often results in resistance and poor adherence. This study therefore focused on the possibility to combine TZD and PDX either as co-crystals or as co-amorphous solid-state forms. In order to achieve this a complete physicochemical profile of TZD was determined, since very limited information could be found in literature.

Strategic voting in valuation choice experiments violates the common modeling assumption that everyone votes for his unconditionally most preferred choice. This presents a challenge to accurate estimation of values. We provide an examination of strategic voting in a homegrown value experiment that mimics choice experiments. In this way, we can test whether “prompting” participants to think about the others’ vote affects their vote. We reject this hypothesis. We also solicit participant perceptions about the vote distribution and test whether these perceptions affect their vote. We find that they do, but that the percentage of strategic voters is small.