bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hegel, Humility, and the Possibility of Intrinsic Properties
Authors: Shaheen Jonathan L.
Published: April 2013

Rae Langton (1998) offers a non-idealist interpretation of Kantian things in themselves according to which we have no knowledge of things in themselves – the intrinsic nature of things – just because our epistemic access to things is via their relational, non-intrinsic properties. Whatever the merits of her account as an interpretation of Kant's metaphysics, its plausibility presupposes the coherence of her notion of intrinsic properties. According to the account of intrinsic properties Langton uses, as we will see, there are only intrinsic properties if certain worlds are possible. Allais (2006) attacks one half of the modal intuitions on which Langton relies, but is adequately rebutted by Langton (2006). This paper discusses another, far more radical critique of the other half of the modal intuitions underlying Langton's account of intrinsic properties, intuitions which are also the basis of Langton and Lewis' (1998) account of the same. The account of intrinsicness under fire here depends on the possibility of objects existing alone in worlds in which no other objects (not counting their parts) exist. But according to Hegel's Logik, such worlds are simply not possible. To develop this critique, we cast a broad net by linking Langton (1998) with Lewis (2009) and Langton and Lewis (1998), and then consider (in a necessarily limited fashion) claims from the 1832, Lehre vom Sein in Hegel's Wissenschaft der Logik, which we consult in the edition of Hegel (2008). The primary aim of this paper is to offer a clear model of the modal error which Hegel purports to identify, and to show its application to Langton's work.
Liberal Revolution: the Cases of Jakob and Erhard
Authors: Maliks Reidar
Published: April 2013

This article explores the writings of Ludwig Heinrich Jakob and Johann Benjamin Erhard, two young Kantians who produced original defences of resistance and revolution during the 1790's. Comparing these two neglected philosophers reveals a crucial divergence in the liberal theory of revolution between a perspective that emphasises resistance by the individual and another that emphasises revolution by the nation. The article seeks to contribute to a more nuanced view of the political theory of the German Enlightenment, which has often been presented as excessively obedient to authority.

The historian Charles Ingrao repeated a common perception when, in an article on enlightened absolutism, he speculated that, ‘the German's greater acceptance of authority both then and now may be rooted in their own distinctive national culture’ (Ingrao 1986: 165). This idea of the obedient German has been promoted especially by those who seek cultural explanations for the authoritarian bent of German society in the 20th century (such as Mandt 1974 and Lepenies 2006). But the idea has a longer history. Herder described Germany as the land of obedience, and Kant wrote that, ‘in keeping with their penchant for law and order, they [the Germans] will rather submit to despotic treatment than venture on innovations (especially wilful reforms of government)’ (Kant 1974: AA 7: 318). By ‘wilful reforms of government’ Kant meant revolution. Madame de Staël later observed that Germans ‘join the greatest boldness of thought to the most obedient character’ (Staël Holstein 1813: 35). As Frederick Beiser has shown, this view, which was repeated by Heine and Marx, came to dominate the historiography (Beiser 1992: 7).
Reason in Politics
Authors: Levine David P.
Published: April 2013

In this essay, I explore the role of philosophy in politics and public policy along one dimension that is suggested by the question ‘Does reason have a place in the shaping of public policy and institutions?’ In considering this question, I focus on the factors that prevent reasoned argument from influencing political process and outcome. Among the factors standing in the way of reason, two, I think, are of special importance. The first is the dominance of interests, and the second is the dominance of fixed ideas rooted not in interests but in myth and fantasy. I begin with the role of interests in politics arguing that interest provides a limited role for reason, but that this role erodes the more interest is an expression of greed. I then turn to belief and the way belief systems operate as the more powerful of the two factors excluding reason from politics.

While interest-based politics can create space for reason, what now tends to dominate in politics is not interests so much as other factors operating on an altogether different plane. These are the factors associated with fixed ideas, convictions made impervious to any doubt by forces over which reason has no power. It is possible, of course, to attempt to treat conviction as a kind of interest. We can, after all, be said to take an interest in our belief systems. Yet, an important distinction can still be drawn, within the set of objects in which we might take an interest, between those associated with belief and those associated with the narrower matter of economic well being.
The Great Financial Crisis: an Ethical Rejoinder
Authors: Merrill David Charles
Published: April 2013

The Great Financial Crisis that broke in 2008 and the Great Recession that followed has led many to question the very structure of contemporary economies. Some argue that the economic model of the past forty years is now broken. Criticism has also been directed at the orthodoxies of economics. For example, neoclassical equilibrium economics, the mainstream economics of the day, is accused of failing to understand some of the most basic aspects of the modern economy (debt and money), of supporting policies that have led to the economic breakdown (deregulation), and of failing to see the crisis coming (Bezemer 2012, Keen 2011). Consequently, heterodox thinking in economics is getting a hearing as never before. Heterodox economics offers itself as the requisite radical reconstruction of the science of economics and also proposes policies for the radical reconstruction of the major economics.

Yet to talk of the reconstruction of the modern market economy is at the same time to raise the ethical question: what shape ought the market economy to take? Heterodox economics may acutely analyse the inadequacies of real economies and propose plausible reforms, but as an essentially descriptive science there will be limits on its ability to state what ought to be. Rather, what is required seems to be a systematic prescriptive ethics. In other words, recent events in the world of economics have provided an opening for what ethical philosophy should be best at providing. Determining whether a specific ethical philosophy, to be identified shortly, has the capacity to address the questions raised by heterodox economics is the task of this paper.
The Challenge of Political Right
Authors: Winfield R. D.
Published: April 2013

For politics to measure up to reason, two requirements have long been acknowledged: first, that the ends of political action be universal, and second, that the pursuit of such universal ends consist in political self-determination, that is, in self-government.

Aristotle set the stage for all further political inquiry by distinguishing political association through the universality of its end or good, while identifying the end of politics with political activity itself, an activity in which citizens rule over one another while presiding over all other associations, which fall under political dominion owing to the particularity of their pursuits. Aristotle joined the universality of politics with the activity of self-rule by recognising political activity to be an end in itself that is also a master end for the sake of which all other conduct is to be pursued. As such, politics was itself the highest good, making ethics possible by overcoming the hegemony of instrumental action, whose every end is devoid of intrinsic value, leaving conduct ultimately pointless (see Aristotle 1984b: Nicomachean Ethics, 1094a18-1094b12).

Two corollary difficulties, however, undermine Aristotle's enterprise. On the one hand, he is unable to give the universal end of political association a non-arbitrary content. Politics may claim universality by being both an end in itself and a master end, but this is just a recipe for ‘might makes right’, where any prevailing rule would be identical with the highest good. Appeal to a distinctly human function or to forms of rule that pursue the common good rather than the particular interests of some ruler can provide no remedy.
Hegel and Religion: Avoiding Double Truth, Twice
Authors: Kolb David
Published: April 2013

When I was first studying Hegel, I encountered quite divergent readings of his views on religion. The teacher who first presented Hegel to me was a Jesuit, Quentin Lauer at Fordham University, who read Hegel as a Christian theologian providing a better metaphysical system for understanding the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation. When I studied at Yale University, Kenley Dove read Hegel as the first thoroughly atheistic philosopher who presented the conditions of thought without reference to any foundational absolute being. Meanwhile, also at Yale, John Findlay read us a deeply Neo-Platonic Hegel who taught about absolute forms held in a cosmic mind. In giving my own reading, I want to talkabout the ways Hegel redefines both metaphysics and religion. I would like to approach these issues by way of the medieval controversy over double truth, which was a previous conflict between religion and science.

In the thirteenth century, Aristotle's scientific and philosophical texts were becoming available in European universities from the Muslims in Spain. These texts offered a well-argued, systematic, and more comprehensive scientific view of the universe and its god. Reading Aristotle, people quickly realised that his ideas contradicted some Christian (and Muslim) doctrines. For example, Aristotle argued that the world could not have had a beginning in time, while the religious revelations told of a first moment of divine creation. Aristotle's obscure treatment of the active intellect seemed to argue that there was no individual immortal soul, while the revelations spoke of individual survival after death. And Aristotle's god, the totally self-absorbed first mover, the pure actuality, seemed useless for religious purposes.
Thom Brooks's Project of a Systematic Reading of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
Authors: Redding Paul
Published: April 2013

Thom Brooks's Hegel's Political Philosophy: A Systematic Reading of the Philosophy of Right presents a very clear and methodologically self-conscious series of discussions of key topics within Hegel's classic text. As one might expect for a ‘systematic’ reading, the main body of Brooks's text commences with an opening chapter on Hegel's system. Then follow seven chapters, the topics of which (property, punishment, morality, family, law, monarchy, war) are encountered sequentially as one reads through the Philosophy of Right. Brooks's central claim is that too often Hegel's theories or views on any of these topics are misunderstood because of a tendency to isolate the relevant passages from the encompassing structure of the Philosophy of Right itself, and, in turn, from Hegel's system of philosophy as a whole, with its logical underpinnings. Brooks is clearly right in holding that Hegel had intended the Philosophy of Right to be read against the background of ‘the system’ and the ‘logic’ articulating it —nobody doubts that— but there is a further substantive issue here. Should contemporary readers heed Hegel's advice? Brooks's answer is emphatically in the affirmative, and what results is a series of illuminating discussions in which he makes a case for his own interpretations on the basis of systematic considerations, presented against a range of alternatives taken from the contemporary secondary literature, which is amply covered, often in the extensive endnotes to the book.
The Ruined Castle
Authors: Rosen Michael
Published: April 2013

On the cover of Thom Brooks's admirable Hegel's Political Philosophy is a picture, taken by the author, of Tynemouth Castle, near where he lives on the northeast coast of England. It is an attractive image, yet it also has significance in relation to the argument of his book —one that only emerges at the end of his narrative.

A basic question that faces all interpreters of The Philosophy of Right is: how far must we understand Hegel's views on politics in the light of his wider philosophical commitments? Behind that question lies a very simple argument:

(1) If we take Hegel at his word, and his political philosophy is indeed integrated within his broader philosophical system; and,

(2) if that philosophical system is a consistent realization of speculative idealism; then

(3) everything will depend on how we evaluate speculative idealism.

Hegel's ambitious metaphysics now finds few defenders, however. So, does his political philosophy fall with it?

To this there are two kinds of reply. The first would make a separation between the political doctrines advanced in Hegel's work and the philosophical framework within which they are embedded. The second, while accepting that Hegel's philosophy is meant to form an integrated whole, disputes the idea that, for that reason, the “dialectical” treatment of particular areas of life and experience depends on our final verdict on the system as a whole. It is possible to enter his system at any point and to continue piecemeal, treating its arguments on their own terms without concern for its final resting point. Against this, Brooks argues that the piecemeal approach fails to do justice to Hegel's text.
Democracy Out of Joint? The Financial Crisis in Light of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
Authors: de Boer Karin
Published: April 2013

The financial crisis that currently besets Europe not only disturbs the life of many citizens, but also affects our economic, political and philosophical theories. Clearly, many of the contributing causes, such as the wide availability of cheap credit after the introduction of the euro, are contingent. Analyses that aim to move beyond such contingent factors tend to highlight the disruptive effects of the neoliberal conception of the market that has become increasingly dominant over the last few decades. Yet while the financial sector has received most of the blame, and rightly so, few commentators seem willing to take into account the role played by representative democracy in its current form. Even if it is granted that actual democratic policies fall short of what they ought to achieve, contemporary representative democracy itself is seldom regarded as part of the tangle it was supposed to resolve. David Merill touches upon this issue when he notes, in the preceding issue of this Bulletin, that ‘the economic dilemmas faced today may be ultimately the consequences of state failure’. The state that has failed to regulate the markets is described as ‘weak’ and ‘subject to external blows, blind to its ends, merely one actor among many in the events of the day’ (Merill 2012: 28). Yet Merill does not seem to consider this weakness to be an inherent feature of the constellation of which contemporary democracy is a part.

There are, of course, excellent reasons not to take this path. First, representative democracy has in many cases proved to be the best way of preventing small elites from acquiring political power, and many of the impressive social and political achievements of the twentieth century are the result of democratic processes.
Subjective Thinking: Kierkegaard on Hegel's Socrates
Authors: Watts Daniel
Published: April 2013

One of the more surreal moments in Kierkegaard's journals involves a scene from the Underworld. Hegel has been reading Trendelenburg's Logical Investigations, and goes over to Socrates to complain. Alas, the conversation has trouble getting off the ground:

Socr.: Should we begin by being altogether in disagreement, or should we agree on something we could call a presupposition?…. What do you presuppose as your starting-point?

H.: Nothing at all.

Socr: That's quite something! So perhaps you don't start at all?

H.: I not start, I who have written 21 volumes?

Socr: Ye gods, what a hecatomb you have offered!

H.: But I start from nothing.

Socr.: Is that not something?

H.: No – on the contrary. That first makes its appearance in the conclusion of the whole, in the course of which I discuss science, world history etc.

Socr.: How might I be able to master this difficult task for many remarkable things may well be included which would show up my stupidity… You know that I did not even allow Polos to talk more than 5 minutes at a time, and you want to talk XXI volumes.
Signs of the Times: Kierkegaard's Diagnosis and Treatment of Hegelian Thought
Authors: Carlisle Clare
Published: April 2013

In his 2003 book Kierkegaard's Relations to Hegel Reconsidered, Jon Stewart challenges the classical interpretation of Kierkegaard's response to Hegelian philosophy. Stewart convincingly argues that Kierkegaard's work addresses Danish Hegelians rather than Hegel himself. However, in my view the conclusion Stewart draws from this — that Kierkegaard's thought on the whole has much less to do with Hegel than earlier commentators have presumed — goes too far in undermining the philosophical and historical significance of Kierkegaard's work, and, perhaps more importantly, closes down too quickly the question of his relation to Hegelian philosophy. The following passage exemplifies Stewart's position:

Given that the two are doing quite different things, it is not clear why a comparison of their views is supposed to be fruitful in the first place … The presumption for Kierkegaard having made a philosophical criticism of Hegel is that [Kierkegaard] himself is a philosopher and shares with Hegel a certain common understanding of the nature and office of the discipline. A genuinely philosophical criticism would only make sense if there were a common basis of this kind. If, by contrast, Kierkegaard is not a philosopher in the same sense of the word, then it is not clear why he should be conceived as giving a philosophical criticism of Hegel. It seems rather that given the disparate nature of their respective projects, such a criticism would be at cross-purposes. (Stewart 2003: 636–37, emphasis in original)
Hegel, Kierkegaard and the Danish Debate about Mediation
Authors: Stewart Jon
Published: April 2013

Hegel's works on logic played an important role in the reception of his philosophy in Denmark, where theScience of Logicfound a handful of Danish imitators in the 1830s and 1840s. Beginning in 1831, Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1791-1860) gave lectures on Hegel's speculative logic and published, as a help to his students, hisOutline of the Philosophy of Philosophy or Speculative Logic, as a kind of handbook. Despite some significant deviations from the original, this work can be fairly characterised as a copy of Hegel'sScience of Logic, at times bordering on paraphrase. In response to criticisms of Hegel's account of the beginning of philosophy, Heiberg also presented some of this material again in the form of an article entitled ‘The System of Logic’. This piece, which he published in his Hegelian journalPerseus(Heiberg 1838: 1-45), treats the initial categories of Hegel's logic and tries to defend the notion of philosophy beginning with the categories of being and nothing. There are also extensive critical treatments of different aspects of Hegel's logic in Frederik Christian Sibbern's (1785-1872)Remarks and Investigations Primarily Concerning Hegel's Philosophy, with Regard to our Age, published in the same year. Another overt attempt to imitate Hegel's logic can be found in Adolph Peter Adler's (1812-69)Popular Lectures on Hegel's Objective Logic, which was published in 1842. This work, which also started as university lectures, treats in highly didactical fashion about the first two-thirds of Hegel'sScience of Logic.
Techno-Economic Assessment of Hull-mounted Sonar for Oil-spill Risk Control
Authors: Tzannatos Ernestos , Xirouchakis Alexandros
Published: April 2013

Despite continuous efforts to improve shipping safety, groundings are still the prime cause of large scale oil pollution of the marine environment. As the bridge operator remains the most important part of navigation, the provision of tools which promote his understanding of the threats which lie ahead of the ship has become a permanent challenge. In this work, the use of a hull-mounted forward-looking sonar as a navigational aid for grounding avoidance and ultimately as an associated oil-spill risk control option for oil tankers is examined according to the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) approach. In this context, the sonar's oil-spill risk reduction potential and its overall cost were estimated and assessed against the Cost of Averting a Ton of oil Spilled (CATS) criterion. It was found that the currently available sonar technology has a maximum detection range which is adequate for the avoidance of powered groundings in the case of small-sized oil tankers only. However, for this ship size category, the attained oil-spill risk reduction was found to be low and sonar use was proved to be cost ineffective. However, it was found that sonar technology will offer sizable oil-spill risk reduction in large-sized oil tankers and their requirement for longer sonar detection range can be easily met cost-effectively as an oil-spill risk control option for ships of this size.
The Use of White Marble in the Central and Upper Adriatic Between Greece and Rome: Hellenistic Stelae from the Necropolis of Ancona (Italy)
Authors: Antonelli Fabrizio , Lazzarini Lorenzo
Published: April 2013

Sixteen Hellenistic stelae from the central and upper Adriatic region have been examined minero-petrographically and isotopically in order to determine the provenance of their constituent materials. On stylistic and epigraphic grounds all the stelae date from the third to first century bc and have been related by archaeologists to Greek Delian workshops and/or to local Adriatic ateliers. Laboratory analyses showed a local provenance for the limestone stele (Mount Conero, Ancona), the prevailing use of Parian marble from Lakkoi (10 out of 15 stelae) and the minor exploitation of three other marbles (Lunense from Carrara, Proconnesian from the island of Marmara, and Lesbian from Moria). The results confirm contacts between the Adriatic and central Aegean areas in the Hellenistic period, indicating more than one possible origin for the marble stelae: they may have been imported as finished pieces from the Aegean-Attic region, and/or worked locally — imitating the ‘Greek style’ – from small blocks of marble imported from Greece. In addition, the results provide new evidence for the use of Italic marble from Carrara.
Effectiveness of Hospital Staff Mass-Casualty Incident Training Methods: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Hsu Edbert B. , Jenckes Mollie W. , Catlett Christina L. , Robinson Karen A. , Feuerstein Carolyn , Cosgrove Sara E. , Green Gary B. , Bass Eric B.
Published: April 2013

Introduction:

Recently, mass-casualty incident (MCI) preparedness and training has received increasing attention at the hospital level.

Objectives:

To review the existing evidence on the effectiveness of disaster drills, technology-based interventions and tabletop exercises in training hospital staff to respond to an MCI.

Methods:

A systematic, evidence-based process was conducted incorporating expert panel input and a literature review with the key terms: “mass casualty”, “disaster”, “disaster planning”, and “drill”. Paired investigators reviewed citation abstracts to identify articles that included evaluation of disaster training for hospital staff. Data were abstracted from the studies (e.g., MCI type, training intervention, staff targeted, objectives, evaluation methods, and results). Study quality was reviewed using standardized criteria.

Results:

Of 243 potentially relevant citations, twenty-one met the defined criteria. Studies varied in terms of targeted staff, learning objectives, outcomes, and evaluation methods. Most were characterized by significant limitations in design and evaluation methods. Seventeen addressed the effectiveness of disaster drills in training hospital staff in responding to an MCI, four addressed technology-based interventions, and none addressed tabletop exercises. The existing evidence suggests that hospital disaster drills are effective in allowing hospital employees to become familiar with disaster procedures, identify problems in different components of response (e.g., incident command, communications, triage, patient flow, materials and resources, and security) and provide the opportunity to apply lessons learned to disaster response. The strength of evidence on other training methods is insufficient to draw valid recommendations.

Conclusions:

Current evidence on the effectiveness of MCI training for hospital staff is limited. A number of studies suggest that disaster drills can be effective in training hospital staff. However, more attention should be directed to evaluating the effectiveness of disaster training activities in a scientifically rigorous manner.
CRITICAL TIMESCALES AND TIME INTERVALS FOR COUPLED LINEAR PROCESSES
Authors: SIMPSON MATTHEW J. , ELLERY ADAM J. , MCCUE SCOTT W. , BAKER RUTH E.
Published: April 2013

In 1991, McNabb introduced the concept of mean action time (MAT) as a finite measure of the time required for a diffusive process to effectively reach steady state. Although this concept was initially adopted by others within the Australian and New Zealand applied mathematics community, it appears to have had little use outside this region until very recently, when in 2010 Berezhkovskii and co-workers [A. M. Berezhkovskii, C. Sample and S. Y. Shvartsman, “How long does it take to establish a morphogen gradient?”Biophys. J. 99(2010) L59–L61] rediscovered the concept of MAT in their study of morphogen gradient formation. All previous work in this area has been limited to studying single-species differential equations, such as the linear advection–diffusion–reaction equation. Here we generalize the concept of MAT by showing how the theory can be applied to coupled linear processes. We begin by studying coupled ordinary differential equations and extend our approach to coupled partial differential equations. Our new results have broad applications, for example the analysis of models describing coupled chemical decay and cell differentiation processes.
Radiographers relationship with head and neck cancer patients
Authors: Egestad Helen
Published: April 2013

Introduction

Head and neck cancer patients face many demanding events, such as radiation therapy, which can cause anxiety and uncertainty. Studies report that relevant information decreases emotional distress and inadequate communication can lead to increased fear and anxiety. There is a lack of research that describes what radiographers do when they meet the patients. The aim is to explain what radiographers’ do that may lead to less anxiety and uncertainty for head and neck cancer patients.

Method

This study was conducted via qualitative interviews and took on a phenomenological, hermeneutic approach. Eleven head and neck cancer patients were interviewed 1-month post radiation therapy.

Results

Successful meetings are characterised by the radiographer smiling, being pleasant, referring to the patient by their name, informing the patient thoroughly, asking open questions and answering questions.

Conclusion

Head and neck cancer patients feel vulnerable and need the radiographer to create a safe atmosphere when they undergo treatment. Then radiographers reduce uncertainty, provide emotional support, reduce loneliness, provide information and create alliances.
Development and evaluation of a Perspex anthropomorphic head and neck phantom for three dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT)
Authors: Radaideh Khaldoon M. , Matalqah Laila M. , Tajuddin A. A. , Lee W. I. Fabian , Bauk S. , Eid Abdel Munem E. M.
Published: April 2013

Purposes

To design, construct and evaluate an anthropomorphic head and neck phantom for the dosimetric evaluation of 3D-conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) dose planning and delivery, for protocols developed by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG).

Materials and methods

An anthropomorphic head and neck phantom was designed and fabricated using Perspex material with delineated planning target volumes (PTVs) and organs at risk (OARs) regions. The phantom was imaged, planned and irradiated conformally by a 3D-CRT plan. Dosimetry within the phantom was assessed using thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs). The reproducibility of phantoms and TLD readings were checked by three repeated identical irradiations. Subsequent three clinical 3D-CRT plans for nasopharyngeal patients have been verified using the phantom. Measured doses from each dosimeter were compared with those acquired from the treatment planning system (TPS).

Results

Phantom's measured doses were reproducible with <3·5% standard deviation between the three TLDs’ repeated measurements. Verification of three head and neck 3D-CRT patients’ plans was implemented, and good agreement between measured values and those predicted by TPS was found. The percentage dose difference for TLD readings matched those corresponding to the calculated dose to within 4%.

Conclusion

The good agreement between predicted and measured dose shows that the phantom is a useful and efficient tool for 3D-CRT technique dosimetric verification.
A study of dosimetric characteristics for in vivo dosimetry with cylindrical n-type Isorad diode
Authors: Islam Kashif , Haque Asdar , Muhammad Khan , Murad Sohail , Hussain Muzaffar , Ashfaq Asma , Islam Atif
Published: April 2013

Background and purpose

The objective was to determine diode characteristics before actual dose verification on human phantom and patients.

Materials and methods

The reliability and stability of equipment, signal stability, precision, dose response linearity, field flatness, perturbation of radiation dose, plastic to water conversion factor (Kpl), ionisation chambers (ICs) and diode calibration were determined. Correction factors for tray (CFtray), wedge (CFwedge), field size (CFFS), SSD (CFSSD), angle (CFangle) and block (CFblock) were found. Patient dose monitor, Isorad diode (n-type) and IC (PTW Frieburg), Co-60 unit (Theratron), ATOM Adult male human phantom (Model 701-D, CIRS) were used.

Results and conclusion

Good signal stability, precise data, and linear dose response, variation of 0·500% and 5·000% in field flatness and perturbation tests, respectively, were noted. Kpl was 1·006 for IC PTW Frieburg TW30013, 0114. The diode calibration factor was 0·989. CFtray, CFFS, CFSSD, CFangle, CFblock were 1·001, 1·001, 0·997, 1·006 and 0·990, respectively. CFwedge were 1·024, 1·030 and 1·038 for 30°, 45° and 60° wedges, respectively. The verification of above correction factors (CFs) on Nasopharynx and lung of human phantom was also done.
VMAT monthly QA using two techniques: 2D ion chamber array with an isocentric gantry mount and an in vivo dosimetric device attached to gantry
Authors: Myers P. , Stathakis S. , Buckey C. , Papanikolaou N.
Published: April 2013

Purpose

Varian RapidArc is a volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) that obtains a conformal dose around the desired structure by employing variable gantry speed, dose rate and dynamic multileaf collimator (DMLC) speed as the gantry rotates about machine isocenter. This study is meant to build upon previous research by Ling et al. by completing the tests with an in vivo dosimetric device attached to the linac gantry and a 2D ionisation chamber array with an isocentric gantry mount.

Materials and methods

Two PTW detectors, seven29 array with gantry mount and DAVID, were attached to the linear accelerator gantry, allowing each device to remain perpendicular to the beam at all gantry angles. Three tests for RapidArc evaluation were performed on these devices including: dose rate and gantry speed variation, DMLC speed and dose rate variation and DMLC position accuracy. The reproducibility of the arc data was also reported.

Results

A picket fence plan varying dose rates (111 to 600 MU/minute) and gantry speeds (5·5 to 4·3°/second) was delivered consisting of seven sections of different combinations. These measurements were compared with static gantry, open field measurements and found to be within 2·39% for the DAVID device and 0·84% for the seven29. A four-section picket fence of varying DMLC speeds (0·46, 0·92, 1·84 and 2·76 cm/second) was similarly evaluated and found to be within 1·99% and 3·66% for the DAVID and seven29, respectively. For DMLC position accuracy, a picket fence arc plan was compared with a static picket fence and found to agree within 0.38% and 2.91%. Reproducibility for these three RapidArc plans was found to be within 0·30% and 2·70% for the DAVID and seven29.

Conclusion

The DAVID and seven29 detectors were able to perform the RapidArc quality assurance tests efficiently and accurately and the results were reproducible. Periodic verification of DMLC movement, dose rate variation and gantry speed variation relating to RapidArc delivery can be completed in a timelier manner using this equipment.
Central orexin (hypocretin) 2 receptor antagonism reduces ethanol self-administration, but not cue-conditioned ethanol-seeking, in ethanol-preferring rats
Authors: Brown Robyn Mary , Khoo Shaun Yon-Seng , Lawrence Andrew John
Published: April 2013

Orexins are hypothalamic neuropeptides which bind to two G-protein-coupled receptors, orexin-1 (OX1R) and orexin-2 (OX2R) receptor. While a role for OX1R has been established in both ethanol reinforcement and ethanol-seeking behaviour, the role of OX2R in these behaviours is relatively less-studied. The aim of this study was to determine the role of central OX2R in ethanol-taking and ethanol-seeking behaviour. Indiana ethanol-preferring rats were trained to self-administer ethanol (10% w/v) or sucrose (0.7–1% w/v) in the presence of reward-associated cues before being implanted with indwelling guide cannulae. The selective OX2R antagonist TCS-OX2-29 was administered i.c.v. to assess its effect on operant self-administration and cue-induced reinstatement following extinction. Following i.c.v. injection TCS-OX2-29 reduced self-administration of ethanol, but not sucrose. Despite reducing ethanol self-administration, TCS-OX2-29 had no impact on cue-induced reinstatement of ethanol seeking. To determine where in the brain OX2R were acting to modulate ethanol self-administration, TCS-OX2-29 was microinjected into either the shell or core of the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Intra-NAc core, but not shell, infusions of TCS-OX2-29 decreased responding for ethanol. Importantly, the doses of TCS-OX2-029 used were non-sedating. Collectively, these findings implicate OX2R in the NAc in mediating the reinforcing effects of ethanol. This effect appears to be drug-specific as antagonism of central OX2R had no impact on sucrose self-administration. Thus, OX2R in addition to OX1R may represent a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of ethanol-use disorders. However, unlike OX1R, no impact of OX2R antagonism was observed on cue-induced reinstatement, suggesting a more prominent role for OX2R in ethanol self-administration compared to cue-conditioned ethanol-seeking.
Climate change and Scotland: recent trends and impacts
Authors: Werritty Alan , Sugden David
Published: April 2013

This paper reviews the key evidence for global climate change and outlines the trends of climate change in Scotland, the potential impacts and the implications for policy makers. Human activity is causing a rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations and there is little doubt that this is contributing to global warming. There is greater uncertainty about how this global trend will play out at a regional scale and also how close we are to climatic tipping points. Instrumental records document the overall trends and variability in Scotland's climate since 1914. These show that since the 1960s, Scotland's average climate has proved to be wetter (especially in the west) and warmer. This trend is expected to continue throughout the 21st Century with, on average, hotter and drier summers and milder and wetter winters. However, extreme events will continue to affect Scotland, as they have always done, and the severity and frequency of these events may increase. Sea levels will continue to rise modestly, especially in the Outer Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Some of the uncertainty in climatic predictions is captured in the probabilistic outputs of Defra's UK Climate Projections 2009 programme. An initial attempt to assess the likely impacts of climate change is provided in Defra's 2012 Climate Change Risk Assessment, which includes a report specific to Scotland. Whilst most of the risks involve negative impacts, with increased flooding and loss of biodiversity being especially adverse, there are also positive impacts with associated opportunities, especially in terms of increased agricultural production and larger numbers of tourists. The report on Scotland will allow different groups of policy makers to refine the risks associated with specific activities. But given the fragile nature of many of the metrics underpinning the report, caution should be exercised in using it to frame climate adaptation strategies.
Multi-level governance: opportunities and barriers in moving to a low-carbon Scotland
Authors: Sugden David , Werritty Alan , Webb Janette , Caldwell Erica , Campbell Colin , Dlugolecki Andrew , Hanley Nick , Kerr Andrew
Published: April 2013

In view of the challenge posed by climate change and the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, The Royal Society of Edinburgh Inquiry (2011) examined the barriers making it difficult for Scotland to change to a low-carbon society. The single most important finding is that, whilst widely desired, change is held back by the lack of coherence and integration of policy at different levels of governance. There is activity at the level of the EU, UK Government, Scottish Government, local authorities, local communities, households and civil society, but there is often a disconnection between policies at different levels. This impedes progress and also leads to mistrust among the general public. This paper brings together the background to ten primary recommendations featured in the Inquiry addressing the principal barriers. Above all, it is important to integrate the activities within city regions and to exploit opportunities in local communities. Reflecting on the Inquiry findings, we stress the economic, social and environmental opportunities to be gained from a low-carbon society and outline the step changes that need to take place within governance, city regions and local authorities and civil society.
Remarks on the Exercise of Independent Thought by the Head of an Office and his Subordinates
Authors: Sprague T. B.
Published: April 2013

Gentlemen,—I beg leave to thank you for the honour you have done me in again requesting me to act as your Honorary President. This was an honour which I accepted with much pleasure; for I am always glad to meet the younger men of my profession, to discuss with them points of principle or practice, and, as far as practicable, to assist them in their endeavours to obtain a better knowledge of the theory of our subject, or (it may be) to extend its boundaries by original investigations.

After much consideration as to the subject on which I should address you to-night, I decided not to take up some intricate or new point of theory, but rather to put together a few practical remarks suggested by my business experience. I do not take this course because I consider the theory of our subject is thoroughly workt out. On the contrary, I am of opinion that there are many important questions which still remain to be elucidated,—subjects which will well repay careful study, and which will reflect credit upon those who investigate them exhaustively.

One such subject is the very practical one of the proper allowance to be made for the surrender of a policy upon an under-average life. According to general practice, every such policy that has been in force for not less than (say) three years, is considered as entitled to a surrender value.
On the several Mortality Tables employed by Life Assurance Companies in the Valuation of their Annuity Contracts
Authors: Ryan Gerald H.
Published: April 2013

In presenting to the Members of the Actuarial Society of Edinburgh the results of my investigation into so practical a matter as that described in the title of this paper, I feel that whatever may be their opinion with regard to the manner in which I have proceeded, and the methods which I have employed in my researches, I am at least absolved from the necessity of apologising for the nature of my subject. A glance at the syllabus of the Society for the current Session is sufficient to establish the fact that scientific inquiries upon theoretical points, and the discussion of matters of practical importance, are alike welcomed as acceptable contributions to its Transactions. But, if I may be permitted to anticipate in a slight measure the course of this investigation, as set forth in the following pages, I would take the opportunity of expressing the hope that my paper may be regarded as possessing some slight interest from the theoretical as well as the practical point of view. It will be my aim to afford such statistics of the Annuity business transacted in this country as the valuable returns to the Board of Trade—an endless source of statistical information upon every point connected with the operations of our Life Assurance Companies—will supply, more particularly with respect to the valuation of such contracts; to construct from data thus obtained a common base, which will enable the relative reserves according to certain mortality tables to be measured—or, as it is technically termed, a “Model Office;” and, finally, to employ this instrument in endeavouring to show the financial results yielded by the application of each of the tables in question.
Remarks on the Position and Prospects of the Actuarial Profession, and of the Business of Life Assurance
Authors: Thomson Spencer C.
Published: April 2013

In welcoming you once again as your Honorary President, at the beginning of another Session, I would fain that it were allowed me merely to refer you back to one or other of the Opening Addresses of past years—the classics of your Society—which tell, many of them in terms much more eloquent than I could hope to do, what lines the Actuary had better follow in setting out on his professional career, and what goal he should steer for once he is fairly started on it.

But, as the old order changes yielding place to new, each year brings round with it some altered phase of thought, turns up to the surface some fresh and suggestive idea, and in so doing compels one forcibly to remember—notwithstanding there may be nothing altogether new under the sun—that the world still moves on ever more rapidly with kaleidoscopic effect, bringing old developments within the field of view in some fresh and altered light. Wherefore I am in duty bound in my turn, if I can, within our own sphere of observation, to draw notice to the new forces that are there at work, and to indicate the direction to which our attention should be turned.
Some Remarks on the Report by the Commissioners appointed to investigate into the Recent Changes in the Relative Values of the Precious Metals
Authors: Smith A. Gillies
Published: April 2013

Some years have now elapsed since I had the honour of addressing you from this chair. In the paper which I then read to you I urged on our younger members the necessity of studying finance, and especially of endeavouring to form a just estimate of the value of money, and of the rate of interest which will obtain in the future, so far as that future forms an element in our calculations. Without this knowledge we shall build with insufficient materials, and in the absence of its thoughtful application to our daily work, and to our periodical investigations and valuations, we shall rear a fabric which, although it may last during our lives, and look to all appearance as if it were carefully and substantially built, will certainly, before its time, show symptoms of decay, and finally fall about the ears of too confiding policy-holders.
Statistics as to the Mortality Experience among Assured Lives engaged in the Liquor Trade
Authors: Douglas Gordon
Published: April 2013

That the subject of the extra risk incurred by dealers in intoxicating liquors is still open for discussion is evidenced by the fact that, on inquiry at over thirty of the principal Scotch and English Life Offices as to the rates of extra premium charged for assurances on innkeepers and publicans, it has been found that the practices of the various Offices in treating such cases differ so much and so widely, that to give a table showing the results of the inquiries would almost necessitate the practice of each individual Office being detailed. Some offices, it appears, charge no extra premium on either innkeepers or publicans, while one or two other Offices will not, as a rule, entertain proposals on either class of lives. Some Offices, again, charge no extra for innkeepers, but a very considerable extra for publicans, while others require the same extra from both classes—such extra varying from 10s. to 20s. per £100. A few Offices charge 10s. for innkeepers and 20s. for publicans, while one or two others make the extra take the form of an addition to the age, varying from five to seven years for both classes.
Outside Business Training
Authors: Smith John Turnbull
Published: April 2013

Having been a member of the Actuarial Society of Edinburgh for something like a quarter of a century, and having been during that period anything but a working bee, in so far as the interests of the Society are concerned, I felt, when I was asked to be its Honorary President for this session, that I had no claim whatever to the honour proposed to be conferred upon me.

Further reflection, however, led me to see that wrong-doing in the past formed no valid reason for a continuance of the same line of conduct in the future, but rather that the reverse should be the case. It seemed to me that, having hitherto failed to take my fair share of the work of the Society, I should best expiate my guilt by trying to do better in the future.

In coming to this conclusion, I was quite aware that the first mark of penitence I would be called upon to show would be the delivery of an Inaugural Address at the opening of this session, and that meant time for preparation, which, in a busy life otherwise, was not so easily secured. However, the time between the election of the Honorary President and the opening of the session was considerable, and I trusted to opportunity presenting itself.
Tenure of Land in the United Kingdom and its Principal Colonies
Authors: Turnbull Aw. H.
Published: April 2013

Gentlemen,—At the time you did me the honour to elect me President of your Society, I was collecting information regard-the land laws and conveyancing systems of our Australasian Colonies, and also endeavouring to master the details of the legislation for Ireland which gradually led up to the passing of the Ashbourne Act, and left us with the prospect of still more sweeping measures.

It appeared to me that information on these matters could not fail to be of interest, and might be of use to you, so I determined to make them the subject of my Address, and that my paper might be more worthy of the occasion, and might better show my appreciation of the honour you have for the third time conferred on me, I decided to widen the subject and give you a sketch of the “Tenure of Land in the United Kingdom and its principal Colonies,” and in doing so to touch on cognate subjects of interest to all concerned in land as a security.