Global ETD Search

91	<b>Scanlonian Contractualism and Animals</b> Benjamin Allan Elmore (18414948) 20 April 2024 (has links) <p dir="ltr">In my dissertation, “Scanlonian Contractualism and Animals,” I take T.M. Scanlon’s ethical contractualism, convert it into a political theory, and apply it to deriving the duties of justice we owe to nonhuman animals. Here is the narrative structure of my dissertation. First, I argue in chapter 1 that nonhuman animals should be included within the scope of morality, or justice, as contractualism construes this notion. Animals are some of the “others” to whom we owe duties, particularly duties of justice. To this effect, I defend a revised version of the argument from marginal cases. </p><p dir="ltr">Second, I tell the reader how contractualism works in detail in chapters 2 and 3, making modifications and conversions into political philosophy along the way. Crucial for my discussion will be the debate between Derek Parfit and Scanlon over issues such as how to take numbers into account within contractualism. Scanlon’s considered view is that personal reasons should be added up to determine what we ought to do, but this is not the aggregation of impersonal value, for example, as in utilitarianism.</p><p dir="ltr">In chapter 4, a major step taken is the conversion of political contractualism into a form of Rawlsian political liberalism. Political liberalism takes the fact of reasonable pluralism of comprehensive doctrines on life’s important questions as a permanent feature of liberal democracy. In order to address this pluralism, political liberalism seeks to provide a political conception of justice that can be endorsed by people who differ on fundamental ethical, philosophical, and religious matters. My version of animal rights contractualism adopts this framework, but it takes work to show how animal rights and political liberalism are compatible.</p><p dir="ltr">Third, in chapter 5, a neutral metric for the harm of death will be suggested, following the requirements of political liberalism to offer a political conception of various aspects of our theories. This needs to be done because the harm of death is a complex, contested philosophical issue. The contractors need this metric to figure out what burdens are imposed by death. A neutral metric is meant to be one that can be endorsed by adherents of different comprehensive philosophical viewpoints in an overlapping consensus.</p><p dir="ltr">Fourth, and finally, some of the specific political duties we have to nonhuman animals will be stated. I survey some of the most common topics that are usually explored here, such as factory-farming, medical research, and hunting. The hope is that at the end of the work, the reader will be convinced that contractualism provides a plausible account of what we owe to each animal.</p> Ethical use of new technology Medical ethics Applied ethics not elsewhere classified Social and political philosophy Contractualism Animal Rights Animal Ethics Political Liberalism John Rawls T.M. Scanlon
92	Investigating the Single Category Belief Problem in a Hybrid Product Aziz, Salma 18 August 2011 (has links) Existing research suggests that when consumers encounter hybrid products or boundary-spanning products with attributes belonging to multiple categories, consumers tend to generate inferences based on only a single product category. Reliance on a single category for inferencing is termed as the “single category belief problem” which has been regarded as a vital marketing challenge because it leads consumers to underestimate the true utility of a hybrid product as certain product attributes are ignored. Our objective was to explore whether single category beliefs manifest in consumer choice for a hybrid product when strategically placed within varying contexts. The research used discrete choice experiment (DCE) to test hypotheses. Our research confirms that the single category belief is evident in consumer choice. We also found that the context the hybrid product is placed within has a major influence on what consumers preferred the most. Depending on the context a hybrid product was seen in had significant influence on how consumers evaluated product attributes and made purchase decisions. The findings for this research may be very beneficial for marketers. Hybrid Product Single Category Belief Problem Categorization Multiple Category Belief Explicit Cues Labeling Product Positioning Context Effect Context Categories Product Category Product Placement New Products New Technology Smartphone Cellphone GPS Global Positioning System Camera Discrete Choice Experiment DCE G-MNL Model Generalized Multinomial Logit Model MNL Quantitative Research Marketing Consumer Studies Consumer Inferences Consumer Choice Choice High-tech Products Blackberry
93	Apprentissage à distance d'un langue étrangère, mythe ou réalité ? : autonomie et prise de repsonsabilité dans un environnement d'autoapprentissage, enjeux et défis pour les acteurs du processus de l'autoformation / Distance learning of a foreign language, myth or reality ? : autonomy and responsibility in an environment of self-learning, major issues and challenges for the actors involved in self-learning Sheikh, Farah Naz 15 December 2015 (has links) Les nouvelles technologies ont beaucoup modifié l’apprentissage en général et l’apprentissage des langues en particulier. Cela, à son tour, a changé les représentations et les rôles traditionnels des acteurs impliqués dans l’acte d’apprentissage : apprenants et enseignants. Cette recherche décrit l’apprentissage à distance du français mettant au point l’apprentissage du FLE au Pakistan via Internet et les problèmes liés à cette nouvelle approche d’apprentissage en autonomie qui requiert la modification des rôles des apprenants ainsi que des enseignants en suggérant des stratégies à utiliser afin d’autonomiser et responsabiliser les apprenants habitués à une méthode d’apprentissage traditionnel qui est différente de celle utilisée dans l’apprentissage de la langue française en ligne / The technology of information and communication has revolutionized the teaching in general and teaching of language in particular. This in its turn has altered the traditional concepts of roles attributed to the actors involved in the act of learning and teaching. This research work describes the distance learning especially online learning of French language in Pakistan using Internet and the problems related to this new approach of autonomous learning that requires the modification of roles and duties of both the learner and the teacher focusing on strategies to be used in order to make the learners get used to a method of learning that is totally different from traditional learning and to make them take responsibility of their learning. Andragogie Autodétermination Autonomie Autoapprentissage EAD E-learning FOAD Journal de progression Médiation Motivation Multimédia Nouvelles technologies Stratégies d'apprentissage Stratégies d'enseignement Tice Tuteur Andragogy Auto determination Autonomy Self-learning Distance learning E-learning Open distance learning Progress diary New technology Learning strategy Teachning strategy Tutor 407
94	Marketingový plán personálního informačního systému Kompas2 / Marketing Plan of the HR Information System Kompas2 Gultová, Pavla January 2014 (has links) The diploma thesis focuses on creation of the marketing plan for the HR information system Kompas2 that is produced and distributed by PC HELP, a.s. The theoretical part also deals with mapping of modern marketing trends. When designing marketing activities, great attention is paid to Internet marketing, with an emphasis on content marketing.
95	La structure de la révolution numérique : philosophie de la technologie / The Structure of the Digital Revolution Vial, Stéphane 21 November 2012 (has links) De quoi la révolution numérique est-elle la révolution ? Le premier niveau d’analyse s’inscrit sur le plan de l’histoire. Il vise à dégager la structure historique de la révolution numérique, en délimitant d’abord son périmètre diachronique et en dégageant sa place particulière au sein de l’histoire générale des techniques. L’hypothèse, c’est que la révolution numérique n’est pas un changement d’outillage mais un événement d’histoire, qui s’inscrit dans le long processus de la machinisation de l’Occident et de la succession des systèmes techniques pour aboutir à l’émergence d’un nouveau « système technique » : la révolution numérique, c’est la révolution de notre infrastructure technique systémique, c’est-à-dire l’avènement du « système technique numérique ». Dans cette partie, nous privilégions le terrain historique et les données empiriques qu’il fournit, au nom d’une philosophie de la technologie fermement opposée à toute métaphysique misotechnique. Le second niveau d’analyse s’inscrit sur le plan de la perception. Au-delà de la seule révolution numérique, il vise à dégager la structure phénoménologique de toute révolution technique, en remontant aux conditions techniques de toute perception en général. L’hypothèse, c’est qu’une révolution technique est toujours une révolution ontophanique, c’est-à-dire un ébranlement du processus par lequel l’être (ontos) nous apparaît (phaïnô) et, par suite, un bouleversement de l’idée même que nous nous faisons de la réalité. Nous nous appuyons ici sur la notion de « phénoménotechnique » empruntée à Gaston Bachelard, qui nous conduit à défendre un constructivisme phénoménologique selon lequel toute technique est une matrice ontophanique, dans laquelle se coule notre expérience-du-monde possible. Comme les précédentes, la révolution numérique apparaît alors comme une révolution de nos structures perceptives, dont la violence phénoménologique permet au passage d’expliquer le succès et le déclin de la notion de virtuel. De cette dernière, nous proposons une généalogie critique et nous montrons qu’elle n’a été jusqu’ici qu’une tentative ratée d’élucider la phénoménalité numérique, en raison de la rêverie de l’irréel qu’elle induit. Le troisième niveau d’analyse s’inscrit sur le plan de la phénoménalité numérique enfin abordée dans sa positivité. Il vise à saisir la structure ontophanique de la révolution numérique, c’est-à-dire la nature de l’être des êtres numériques. L’hypothèse, c’est que l’ontophanie numérique résulte de onze caractéristiques phénoménologiques propres à la matière calculée, qui sont présentées dans un ordre didactique favorisant la compréhension globale du phénomène numérique. Il s’agit de la nouménalité, l’idéalité, l’interactivité, la virtualité, la versatilité, la réticularité, la reproductibilité instantanée, la réversibilité, la destructibilité, la fluidité et la ludogénéité. Nous terminons alors en analysant la responsabilité des activités de conception-création dans la genèse phénoménotechnique du réel et en particulier le rôle du design dans la constitution créative de l’ontophanie numérique. En tant qu’activité phénoménotechnique, le design est non seulement une activité créatrice d’ontophanie, mais encore une activité intentionnellement factitive, c’est-à-dire qui vise à faire-être autant qu’à faire-faire, en vue de projeter l’enchantement du monde. C’est pourquoi le design numérique, parce qu’il a la capacité d’engendrer de nouveaux régimes d’expériences interactives, joue un rôle essentiel dans le modelage de la révolution numérique. La révolution numérique, c’est aussi quelque chose qui se sculpte et se façonne, se coule et se moule dans les projets des designers. C’est une révolution de notre capacité à faire le monde, c’est-à-dire à créer de l’être. / What is the digital revolution the revolution of ? What is turned upside down and disturbed, reformed and transformed, in the so-called ‘digital revolution’ ? To answer this, digital revolution is approached here from the point of view of a philosophy of technology which assumes that our being-in-the-world is fundamentally conditioned by technique and always has been. The first level of this approach focuses on the historical structure of the digital revolution. The hypothesis is that the digital revolution is an event in history that is part of the long process of mechanization in the West and consists in the advent of a ‘digital technical system’. The second level concerns the phenomenological structure of the digital revolution. The hypothesis is that a technical revolution is always ontophanic, that is to say a shaking of the structures of perception and of the process through which the being appears to us. This results in phenomenological constructivism, based on the notion of phenomenotechnique, which ultimately condemns the notion of ‘virtual’. The third and final level of analysis focuses on the ontophanic structure of the digital revolution. The hypothesis is that digital ontophany consists of eleven fundamental characteristics : noumenality, ideality, interactivity, virtuality, versatility, reticularity, instant reproducibility, reversibility, destructibility, fluidity and ludogeneity. The role of design as a phenomenotechnical activity that shapes the world is therefore essential in the creative development of the digital ontophany. Technique Système technique Machine Machinisme Numérisation Informatique Information Ordinateur Réseau Internet Nouvelles technologies NTIC TIC Etre Perception Constructivisme Ontologie Phénoménotechnique Ontophanie Appareil Réel Virtuel Réalité virtuelle Simulation Interface Interaction Interactivité Design Technology Technical System Machine Mechanization Digitalization Computer science Information Technology Information Computer Network Internet New Technology IT ICT Being Perception Constructivism Ontology Phenomenotechnique Ontophany Device Real Virtual Virtual Reality Simulation Interface Interaction Interactivity Design
96	A Multidisciplinary Approach to Restoration of Butternut (Juglans cinerea) Andrea N Brennan (9390080) 16 December 2020 (has links) <div>Anthropogenically driven global change is disrupting ecosystems and habitats of many plant species, straining the ability of native species to survive and reproduce. The overarching goal of this research was to holistically work towards restoration of a threatened tree species by connecting research from different disciplines. In order to do so, the threatened butternut tree (<i>Juglans cinerea</i>) and its hybrids were used as a case study. Hybridization can incorporate stress tolerance in plants and could be a potential restoration tool. Evidence in some wild butternut populations indicates that naturalized hybrids of butternut with Japanese walnut (<i>Juglans ailantifolia</i>) may be more tolerant to butternut canker disease (BCD) than butternut, but this has not been formally tested. Thus, chapter 2 examined potential BCD tolerance within and between unadmixed and hybrid butternut inoculated with two BCD fungal isolates. Differences in canker growth were observed by fungal isolate, which could help to explain some differences in BCD severity found among butternut populations. Smaller and fewer cankers and greater genetic gains were detected in hybrid families, demonstrating that hybrids warrant further evaluation as a possible breeding tool for developing BCD-resistant butternut trees.</div><div>However, even with increased disease tolerance, hybrids must possess similar ecophysiological tolerances to their native progenitor to be an effective replacement. Butternut is extremely cold hardy, but Japanese walnuts are native to a warmer ecosystem, indicating potential disparities in extreme temperature tolerances between the two species and their hybrids. Thus, samples from mature trees were subjected to cold and heat treatments to compare relative extreme temperature tolerances within butternut and between butternut, Japanese walnut, and their hybrids. Within butternut, trees from colder areas exhibited less cold damage than those from warmer areas. Differences in heat damage among provenances occurred but did not follow a clear trend. Butternut exhibited greatest cold tolerance, Japanese walnut exhibited greatest heat tolerance, and hybrids were intermediate. Thus, the utility of hybrids for restoration could be limited at the extremes of the species’ distributions.</div><div>A second, but different type of freeze test was conducted for chapter 4 using seedlings to gain a more nuanced understanding of cold tolerance within butternut and between butternut and its hybrids. No survival or damage differences were detected in butternut provenances, although seedlings from the coldest provenances experienced more delayed budbreak at the two warmest treatments than those from warmer provenances. Interspecific differences were not observed in dieback but were detected in survival and budbreak. The hybrids had greater survival than butternut from warmer provenances at the lowest temperature treatment (-38 °C), but given that temperatures that low are extremely unlikely to occur in those provenances, it is not anticipated to give the hybrids an advantage if planted in those areas. However, the hybrids’ earlier budbreak could limit the success of restoration with these hybrids in the coldest extents of butternut’s range. </div><div>If hybrids, as well as genetically modified (GM) trees, are successfully developed for effective disease tolerance and to serve as an ecologically suitable replacement, success of restoration using hybrids will ultimately depend on those directly responsible for replanting efforts. A survey was administered to land managers in 46 organizations in Indiana to gauge perceptions of hybrid and GM trees, as well as current use of hybrid trees. Land managers had stronger concern for ecological, rather than economic, issues. Agreement was highest for using hybrid and GM trees for “conservation and restoration of at-risk species”, “timber production”, and “non-timber products (fruit, syrup, etc.)”. However, perceptions varied by characteristics, such as concern type, age, and the type of land they managed. Ecological concern and the type of land being managed most strongly predicted current hybrid use. Overall, results indicate the majority of land managers in Indiana would likely be agreeable to recommendations towards using hybrids. However, most nonetheless had strong ecological concerns about their suitability as a native replacement. It is important to note, though, that consistent with the results of previous studies, great variation was seen within the performance and characteristics of the butternut hybrids in chapters 2-4. Thus, it may be possible with careful selection and breeding to harness this variation to develop disease tolerant and ecologically similar hybrids acceptable to land managers.</div> Genetics Plant Biology Environmental Humanities Ecological Physiology Plant Pathology Plant Physiology Genetically Modified Trees Forestry Management and Environment Forestry Pests, Health and Diseases Tree Nutrition and Physiology Environmental Sociology butternut canker disease butternut (Juglans cinerea) extreme temperature tolerance genetically modified trees hybridization hybrid butternut (Juglans x bixbyi) hybrid trees Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia) land manager perceptions plant ecophysiology threatened plant conservation threatened plant restoration Tree breeding and improvement
97	Disruptive Transformations in Health Care: Technological Innovation and the Acute Care General Hospital Lucas, D. Pulane 24 April 2013 (has links) Advances in medical technology have altered the need for certain types of surgery to be performed in traditional inpatient hospital settings. Less invasive surgical procedures allow a growing number of medical treatments to take place on an outpatient basis. Hospitals face growing competition from ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The competitive threats posed by ASCs are important, given that inpatient surgery has been the cornerstone of hospital services for over a century. Additional research is needed to understand how surgical volume shifts between and within acute care general hospitals (ACGHs) and ASCs. This study investigates how medical technology within the hospital industry is changing medical services delivery. The main purposes of this study are to (1) test Clayton M. Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation in health care, and (2) examine the effects of disruptive innovation on appendectomy, cholecystectomy, and bariatric surgery (ACBS) utilization. Disruptive innovation theory contends that advanced technology combined with innovative business models—located outside of traditional product markets or delivery systems—will produce simplified, quality products and services at lower costs with broader accessibility. Consequently, new markets will emerge, and conventional industry leaders will experience a loss of market share to “non-traditional” new entrants into the marketplace. The underlying assumption of this work is that ASCs (innovative business models) have adopted laparoscopy (innovative technology) and their unification has initiated disruptive innovation within the hospital industry. The disruptive effects have spawned shifts in surgical volumes from open to laparoscopic procedures, from inpatient to ambulatory settings, and from hospitals to ASCs. The research hypothesizes that: (1) there will be larger increases in the percentage of laparoscopic ACBS performed than open ACBS procedures; (2) ambulatory ACBS will experience larger percent increases than inpatient ACBS procedures; and (3) ASCs will experience larger percent increases than ACGHs. The study tracks the utilization of open, laparoscopic, inpatient and ambulatory ACBS. The research questions that guide the inquiry are: 1. How has ACBS utilization changed over this time? 2. Do ACGHs and ASCs differ in the utilization of ACBS? 3. How do states differ in the utilization of ACBS? 4. Do study findings support disruptive innovation theory in the hospital industry? The quantitative study employs a panel design using hospital discharge data from 2004 and 2009. The unit of analysis is the facility. The sampling frame is comprised of ACGHs and ASCs in Florida and Wisconsin. The study employs exploratory and confirmatory data analysis. This work finds that disruptive innovation theory is an effective model for assessing the hospital industry. The model provides a useful framework for analyzing the interplay between ACGHs and ASCs. While study findings did not support the stated hypotheses, the impact of government interventions into the competitive marketplace supports the claims of disruptive innovation theory. Regulations that intervened in the hospital industry facilitated interactions between ASCs and ACGHs, reducing the number of ASCs performing ACBS and altering the trajectory of ACBS volume by shifting surgeries from ASCs to ACGHs. Disruptive Disruptive Innovation Theory Disruptive Transformations Disruptive Innovation Innovation Technology Technological Innovation Medical Innovation Medical Technology Medical Advancement Laparoscopy Laparoscopic Surgery open surgery appendectomy cholecystectomy bariatric surgery weight loss surgery appendectomies cholecystectomies inpatient outpatient ambulatory ambulatory surgery ambulatory surgery center acute care general hospital hospital acute care hospital general hospital health care healthcare hospital industry health care industry Clayton Christensen Clayton M Christensen Michael Porter Harvard Business School Virginia Commonwealth University CMS Health policy public policy public administration organizational theory organization theory Population Ecology Theory Competitive Strategy policy analysis John Kimberly Organization Size Structural Inertia liability of smallness health spending health care cost specialty medical facility open system niche width dynamic outpatient department technology shift surgical setting surgical setting shift medical facility shift substitution threat health system system level analysis Ecological Approach hospital trends ambulatory surgery trends reimbursement rate Medicare CMS coverage decision P J DiMaggio DiMaggio and Powell w w Powell Hannan and Freeman M T Hannan Organizational change minimally invasive surgery less invasive surgery Prospective Payment System Outpatient Prospective Payment System entreprenuerial physician health care organization health care management Roice Luke Carl Ameringer new technology surgical utilization elective surgery Medicare Payment Advisory Commission MedPAC coverage decision trends in surgery abdominal surgery surgical variation physician-owned physician ownership physician autonomy outpatient clinic utilization trends unnecessary surgery Pfeffer Salancik technology diffusion redefining health care interdisciplinary research health care delivery panel design diffusion of hospital technology state variation regional variation local health care market government intervention medical facility health care capacity focused factory advances in health care physician organization relationship hospital competition medical specialization hospital expansion medical arms race integrated care integrated health system J E Wennberg health care transformation reimbursement scheme surgical volume Florida Wisconsin policy making health policy analysis competitive dynamics center of excellence intervening factor service line competition service-line competition surgical reimbursement innovative business model innovative technology environmental influence established firm new market entrant patient safety sophisticated technology Harvard Divinity School Social and Behavioral Sciences

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