Browsing by Subject "resonance"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Essays on Well-Being
    (2023) Ivory, Justin
    In this dissertation, I defend Objective List Theories of well-being from a number of powerful objections, and in the process, put pressure on subjectivists to offer better support for their theories. I begin by providing an overview of the philosophical literature on well-being, before turning in Chapter I to the objection that Objective List Theories are founded on unwarranted appeals to intuitions. I respond to this objection by arguing that subjective theories of well-being appeal to intuitions in the same way, and that, ultimately, such appeals are justified when constructing a theory of well-being. In Chapter II, I examine the intuitive basis of subjective theories more closely, and argue that their foundational intuition—i.e., the claim that something can be good for us only if we hold the relevant pro-attitude(s) towards it—must be argued for; it cannot simply be accepted as an axiomatic intuition. No such argument is offered by subjectivists; therefore, subjective theories are faulty. Finally, in Chapter III, I consider the objection that Objective List Theories are not well-equipped to account for ill-being. I show, first, that Objective List Theories do have the tools to account for ill-being, and second, that simple subjective theories of well-being (despite their advocates offering several compelling responses to the same objection) do not. This means that we ought to prefer either an Objective List Theory, or a more sophisticated subjective theory (e.g., a Value-Fulfillment Theory). That said, sophisticated subjective theories must still contend with the problem raised in Chapter II, and so, ultimately, we ought to prefer Objective List Theories.
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    Measurement of DD Decays from the psi(3770) Resonance
    (2017-05) Julin, Andrew
    We measure the production cross section of e^+ e^− → ψ(3770) → DD near the peak of the ψ(3770) resonance. The (69.80 ± 0.03) pb^{−1} of e^+ e^− annihilation data used were collected in 2010 over a center-of-mass energy range of 3.735 GeV to 3.870 GeV. From previously observed e^+ e^− → DD cross section measurements, this shape cannot be explained by a single Breit-Wigner. Instead, in this analysis we fitted the cross section by including interference effects from non-resonant DD production, and measured the mass and width of the ψ(3770) more precisely than previous results.
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    Quantification of Wood Thermal Treatment by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
    (2020-12) McVay Jr., Jeffrey
    The process of thermally treating wood can impart desirable properties such as an aesthetically appealing color, dimensional stability, and increased resistance to moisture and fungal decay. However, potential undesirable outcomes, such as increased brittleness, may arise with extensive thermal treatment. Due to this risk, it is extremely important to quantify the extent of heat treatment on a specimen for quality control. Previously, free radical content in thermally treated wood was discovered. We therefore set out to quantify the radical content of thermally treated wood samples utilizing electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and attempted to find out if this could be correlated with the extent of heat treatment. We heat-treated samples using a pilot-scale, in-house oven kiln (an industrially relevant process), as well as in the highly controlled and quantifiable environment of a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analyzer. With these wood samples, we measured the free radical content using EPR to determine the correlation between radical content and other factors such as: treatment temperature, treatment atmosphere, rate of formation, treatment time, and the effects of moisture. Our main goal was to find reliable methods for quantifying the extent of heat treatment in thermally treated wood by the use of EPR spectroscopy.