Empirical Circumstances Research Articles

Subjective or Objective Legislative Intention: An Australian/German Perspective

Abstract ‘Legislative intention’ as the aim of statutory interpretation has attracted increased attention in the Australian High Court, reinvigorating scholarly attention on the elusive concept. A subjective approach regards it as having an empirical reality. The competing objective view denies any conceptual connection to empirical circumstances and demotes it to a metaphor for the proper application of rules of statutory interpretation. This antagonism prevails in civil law jurisdictions as well. In Germany specifically, it goes back to the 1830s. The article juxtaposes the two local debates so as to mutually provide an additional perspective on the subject matter that can inspire future cross-system discourse. It highlights how similar arguments from both theoretical camps have formed in the two countries over time. And it not only documents striking similarities in how Australia’s and Germany’s highest courts declared commitment to an objective approach but it also reveals contrary curial trends that have most recently emerged.

Measuring Political Will and Political Constellation in Moving Indonesia’s Capital City Policy

This research aims to measure political will in moving the national capital and how this policy is when faced with the existing political constellation. The type of research was a qualitative approach using in-depth interviews and documentation techniques. The results showed that political will in the policy of moving the national capital cannot be separated from individual factors, namely the belief and courage of President Joko Widodo through a basis of reasoning that has strong relevance to empirical circumstances and are reflected through various regulations that have been stipulated. The organizational factor shows the government's seriousness and commitment through the transition team formed as a basis for working in a coordinated manner to achieve the targets set. The relationship factor showed the involvement of individuals/groups through community support, collaboration, and partnerships and the involvement of international figures in its implementation. Social factors show that the political system and state apparatus's condition in the decision-making process has reflected support for policies, which can be seen from the approval of the House of Representatives. The existing political constellation provides strong political legitimacy, making this policy continue without any obstacles, although there is still resistance at the local level. The sustainability and success of the policy of moving the national capital will be determined by the next President's leadership and the composition of the support of political parties that will come.

Removal of the Pigment Congo Red from Synthetic Wastewater with a Novel and Inexpensive Adsorbent Generated from Powdered Foeniculum Vulgare Seeds

In this research, powdered Foeniculum vulgare seed (FVSP) was treated separately with H2C2O4, ZnCl2, and a mixture of ZnCl2-CuS. The characteristics of the treated and untreated FVSP samples, as well as their abilities to eliminate Congo red (CR) from solutions, were investigated. The influences of the empirical circumstances on CR adsorption by the ideal adsorbent were studied. The thermodynamic, isothermal, and dynamic constants of this adsorption were also inspected. The ideal adsorbent was found to be the FVSP sample treated with a ZnCl2-CuS mixture, which eliminated 96.80% of the CR dye. The empirical outcomes proved that this adsorption was significantly affected by the empirical circumstances, and the second-order dynamic model as well as the Langmuir isotherm model fit the empirical data better than the first-order model and the Freundlich model. The values of Ea (15.3 kJ/mol) and ∆Ho (32.767 kJ/mol ≤ ∆Ho ≤ 35.495 kJ/mol) evidence that CR anions were endothermally adsorbed on Zn/Cu-FVSP via the ionic exchange mechanism. The superior Qmax values (434.78, 625.00, 833.33 mg/g), along with the cheapness and stability of the adsorbent used in this work, are evidence to confirm that this adsorbent will receive special interest in the field of contaminated water purification.

Automatic Recognition of Construction Worker Activities Using Deep Learning Approaches and Wearable Inertial Sensors

The automated evaluation and analysis of employee behavior in an Industry 4.0-compliant manufacturing firm are vital for the rapid and accurate diagnosis of work performance, particularly during the training of a new worker. Various techniques for identifying and detecting worker performance in industrial applications are based on computer vision techniques. Despite widespread computer vision-based approaches, it is challenging to develop technologies that assist the automated monitoring of worker actions at external working sites where camera deployment is problematic. Through the use of wearable inertial sensors, we propose a deep learning method for automatically recognizing the activities of construction workers. The suggested method incorporates a convolutional neural network, residual connection blocks, and multi-branch aggregate transformation modules for high-performance recognition of complicated activities such as construction worker tasks. The proposed approach has been evaluated using standard performance measures, such as precision, F1-score, and AUC, using a publicly available benchmark dataset known as VTT-ConIoT, which contains genuine construction work activities. In addition, standard deep learning models (CNNs, RNNs, and hybrid models) were developed in different empirical circumstances to compare them to the proposed model. With an average accuracy of 99.71% and an average F1-score of 99.71%, the experimental findings revealed that the suggested model could accurately recognize the actions of construction workers. Furthermore, we examined the impact of window size and sensor position on the identification efficiency of the proposed method.

Do global justice theorists need to alter their normative focus to accommodate changing empirical circumstances?

ABSTRACT This paper offers an analysis of how normative theories on global poverty make assumptions regarding the geography of global poverty and global power constellations. I follow some recent global developments relevant to these assumptions, and ask whether normative theorizing should react to these developments. I argue that while accounts of global justice are not explicitly committed to any particular empirical ideas, the global justice discourse reflects the specific socioeconomic and geopolitical context in which it emerged, and that this context is currently giving way to a somewhat different reality. I suggest some preliminary starting points for a normative theory which would reflect the contemporary conditions more accurately. These starting points include shifting the focus of theorizing from relations between rich and poor countries to inequalities on various levels, and the notion of a complex institutional site of global justice.

Hope from Despair*

Hope from Despair^*

Historyczność i normatywność sfery publicznej Habermasa

This paper explores historicity and normativity of J. Habermas’s conception of the public sphere. Historicity refers to empirical circumstances in which the public sphere came into being; normativity makes it an organizational and regulative principle of modern political order. In Habermas’s theory historicity intertwines with normativity, and in this combination are to be found references to both: (1) empirical facts and (2) emancipative aspirations and moral obligations. Due to its function to mobilize the strivings of ordinary people who seek to escape the colonizing effects authoritarian powers (absolutist state and the world of systems) produce, the public sphere (Öffentlichkeit) is regarded as a synonym for morally justified claims. Its historicity is related to the semi-institutional structures of an early European bourgeoisie; its normativity is rooted in universal morality: individual freedoms (Menschenrechte) and popular sovereignty (Volkssouveränität). Since both dispositions are represented in a model fashion in the bourgeois ethos, Habermas finds in it a repository of that universal sound reason whose new forms he strives to reinstate as a remedy for political inertia in developed capitalism. His notion of the public sphere meticulously underpinned by universal morality retains its normative sense in the modern world of systems and in the democratic state. By organizing the arena for civic communication, the public sphere serves as an indispensable instrument in a democratic legislation crafting process.

Democracy After Virtueand the Circumstances of Modern Politics

<i>Democracy After Virtue</i>and the Circumstances of Modern Politics

Abductive Inference Method in Problems of Explaining the Observed

The problems of artificial intelligence, control and decision-making with incomplete or unreliable information include a wide class of problems of abductive explanation of the observed, including cause–effect problems. The study is devoted to the substantiation of the method of logical formation of hypotheses explaining the observed. Means of knowledge representation and derivation of hypotheses are proposed. A language possessing the property of substitutability is introduced. The properties of language and the calculi introduced in it provide hypothesizing by combining deduction and abduction. In contrast to the well-known logical methods of abduction, the proposed techniques make it possible to derive hypotheses (minorants) that are necessary and sufficient for a formal explanation of the observed. Based on minorants in combination with the basic theory of the subject area, reliable causes of the observed or relevant circumstances leading to these causes are formed. In this case, in situations with the availability of empirical data, these causes and circumstances can also be formed in plausible versions. Examples from technology and medicine are considered.

Neuroenhancement, the Criminal Justice System, and the Problem of Alienation

It has been suggested that neuroenhancements could be used to improve the abilities of criminal justice authorities. Judges could be made more able to make adequately informed and unbiased decisions, for example. Yet, while such a prospect appears appealing, the views of neuroenhanced criminal justice authorities could also be alien to the unenhanced public. This could compromise the legitimacy and functioning of the criminal justice system. In this article, I assess possible solutions to this problem. I maintain that none of them qualifies as a satisfactory general solution to it, a solution that could reasonably be taken to solve the problem or to suffice for dealing with it in at least most cases. Yet I also suggest that, depending on contingent empirical circumstances, the responses – either singly or together – can sometimes amount to a sufficient answer to it.

Global Luck Egalitarianism and Border Control

AbstractThis paper discusses what implications global luck egalitarianism (GLE) has for border control. Some authors suggest that an open‐borders policy follows from GLE. The idea is that various unchosen inequalities inevitably follow from differences in birthplace, such that GLE will always have principled reason to condemn closed borders. Others are skeptical of the assumption that GLE will have liberal implications for border control, because open borders may have other, adverse effects that outweigh the reductions in unjust inequality. Against such skeptics, we argue that GLE will (typically) have quite liberal implications for border control. However, this connection is not a principled one: Whether (and to what extent) GLE favors opening or closing borders will depend upon empirical circumstances.

What Constitutes the Concept of Law? Potentialism as a Position Beyond Positivism and Natural Law Theory

The dispute about the proper concept of law has long suggested that there is one concept of law that does not change with society or time. In this regard, positivism and natural law theory agree that there is a definite concept of law, although they disagree about its precise content. The paper examines this assumption by looking at the reasons that constitute the concept of law. It argues that this assumption of an unchangeable nature of the concept of law is implausible as normative reasons turn out to be decisive for this formation. The weight of these reasons might, at least, in principle depend on changing circumstances. The same holds if empirical circumstances are constitutive for the concept of law, because they might change as well. Consequently, the concept of law does not have an a priori fixed content. Instead, it takes on a mere potential relationship to morality. This paper outlines this theory of potentialism.

Thanks Coefficient Alpha, We Still Need You!

This note discusses the merits of coefficient alpha and their conditions in light of recent critical publications that miss out on significant research findings over the past several decades. That earlier research has demonstrated the empirical relevance and utility of coefficient alpha under certain empirical circumstances. The article highlights the fact that as an index aimed at informing about multiple-component measuring instrument reliability, coefficient alpha is dependable then as a reliability estimator. Therefore, alpha should remain in service when these conditions are fulfilled and not be abandoned.

In Defense of a Democratic Productivist Welfare State

In this article, I defend a democratic form of the productivist welfare state. I argue that this form of the state can best cope, theoretically and practically, with the diversity of deeply morally pluralistic democratic societies for two reasons. First, the justification of this form of the state rests solely on general facts about human nature, basic human needs, and efficiency considerations in a world of moderately scarce resources. Second, this state does not aim to promote a specific view of justice, but human flourishing more generally, expressed in terms of individual and collective productivity. The proposed democratic productivist welfare state supports its citizens up to the level that allows them to develop and exercise their talents and abilities without providing incentives for free riding. I argue that, under the specific empirical circumstances that I describe, in particular certain informational restrictions concerning the precise productive and destructive capacities of the members of society in practice and the soundness of the Aristotelian principle, this goal may best be achieved in practice by the introduction of an unconditional basic income at subsistence level, if society is sufficiently developed economically to provide such an income. On productivist grounds, such an unconditional subsistence income also addresses, pragmatically and partially, the problem of historical injustices against the weakest members of society and provides all group members with the means for democratic participation.

Transformed Gaussian Markov random fields and spatial modeling of species abundance

Gaussian random field and Gaussian Markov random field have been widely used to accommodate spatial dependence under the generalized linear mixed models framework. To model spatial count and spatial binary data, we present a class of transformed Gaussian Markov random fields, constructed by transforming the margins of a Gaussian Markov random field to desired marginal distributions that accommodate asymmetry and heavy tail, as needed in many empirical circumstances. The Gaussian copula that characterizes the dependence structure facilitates inferences and applications in modeling spatial dependence. This construction leads to new models such as gamma or beta Markov fields with Gaussian copulas, that are used to model Poisson intensities or Bernoulli rates in hierarchical spatial analyses. The method is naturally implemented in a Bayesian framework. To illustrate our methodology, abundances of variety of gastropod species were collected as counts or presence versus absence from a network of spatial locations in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. Gastropods are of considerable ecological importance in terrestrial ecosystems because of their species richness, abundances, and critical roles in ecosystem processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling. The new models outperform the traditional models based on Bayesian model comparison with conditional predictive ordinate. The validity of Bayesian inferences and model selection were assessed through simulation studies for both spatial Poisson regression and spatial Bernoulli regression.

BUSINESS CYCLE – GROWTH NEXUS: A REVIEW

Frequent reversals in business cycles pose the question whether country can achieve macroeconomic stability and/or economic growth by coordinating its economic policies. Thus, what is the role of economic policy within the short/long run in amplifying or dampening shocks? Business cycle – economic growth relationship is rather ambiguous and has, thus, attracted controversy. In this sense the (dis)belief that there indeed exists a relationship between the economic growth and business cycle, and their long-run convergence brings us to three important hypotheses that: (1) the evaluation of cycle-growth bond is inconclusive, (2) empirical testing of cycle synchronization is exaggerated and (3) the hypothesis of coupling/decoupling is ambiguous and can be misleading. Economic growth is a complex process and cannot be attributed to a single factor of observance hence this essay is just a tool of theoretical reasoning with firm grip on empirical circumstances that lead us to consider some issues that dwell the “growth economists” these days. Our study suggests a conclusion that discussions on the cycle-growth nexus are far from over, revealing us some remarkable confrontations within empirical domain.

ТРАДИЦИОНАЛНА ПРЕДСТАВА ВАМПИРА У ПЕКИЋЕВОЈ СОТИЈИ КАКО УПОКОЈИТИ ВАМПИРА

Текст се бави анализом оног семантичког слоја Пекићеве сотије Како упокојити вампира који репрезентује митолошку раван, односно фокусира се на мотив вампира у делу. Уочена је вишеструка полемичност у сотији, а посебна пажња посвећена је драматичном конфликту који се одвија између Рутковског и повампиреног Адама Трп- ковића. Кроз назначени сукоб рефлектована је и интеракција Рутковског и Штајнбрехера. У наведеним бинарним опозицијама уочен је субјекатско-објекатски механизам који за- право и уводи мотив вампира, а резултира удвајањем јунака. Аналитички резултати, осим што детерминишу начине транспозиције традиционалне представе о вампиру, феномен персонализације митског света уједно повезују с Пекићевим поетичким концептом.

Phenomenology and economics

The question of relevance of phenomenological method for economics has been revived in recent decades especially in the context of the Austrian school and also in more general considerations of economics (see Duppe 2011). My thesis concentrates mainly on the important contributions of formerly Viennese social thinker Alfred Schutz. I attempted to find an interpretation of the original Schutzian legacy that would fit present methodological discussions and show the virtues of the Schutzian framework in comparison with Misesian aprioristic praxeology on one extreme and the empirical ventures of behavioral economists on the other.Chapter 1 (World and science by Ludwig von Mises) shows that Misesian theoretical approach can, on one hand, provide a good tool to defend a specific character of social sciences that rely on folk psychological (or 'mentalist') concepts (finality, means-ends relationship) from purely pragmatic (i.e., not metaphysical) grounds. The mentalist concepts are indispensable in providing the only presently viable way of describing human action and this allows us to use instrumental rationality as a tool to explain economic phenomena. The effort to get the scientific description of the world rid of 'ontologically unreliable' teleology using, e.g., the behaviorist notion of revealed preference cannot get too far because they implicitly rely on particular psychological assumptions that smuggle it back in. On the other hand, unsustainability and inconsistencies of Mises's uncompromising defense of rigidly aprioristic character of praxeology have to be stressed. There is no finite set of eternal and never-changing truths underlying any successful attempt to grasp human action that would be tautological and, at the same time, describe features of the world.In Chapter 2 (Alfred Schutz between phenomenology, historicism, and the Austrian school) I argue in the context of Alfred Schutz's work that it is much more suitable to understand economic principles (under the label of praxeology or otherwise) as typifications with an empirical origin, although 'empirical' in a broader sense than a positivist would acknowledge. Schutz's methodology is based on concepts of typification and anonymity that allow us to grasp the continuity between immediately perceived everyday reality and abstract theoretical concepts used in scientific description that underlie economic models.Schutz's methodological instrument, the telescopic ideal type-term coined by Prendergast (1986)-dissolves the dichotomy between theory and history that was one of Mises's central themes and allows us to better understand the specific standing of economics that tries to emulate the rigor and precision of physics but is, at the same time, fundamentally connected with interpretation of the actions of naive agents in their lifeworld. Abstract formal models can be created after 'zooming-out' and anonymizing the agents to an extent that allows us to replace the real people living in particular historical, cultural and biographical conditions by anonymous transparent puppets whose utility function has been implanted by the economist acting as a 'small god' of his model world. Such formal models can be, of course, sometimes applied to particular empirical circumstances only using additional ad hoc assumptions, constraints, and the like. This fact, nevertheless, does not undermine the scientific value and legitimacy of economic approach as many critics suggest-it is a process necessarily connected with descending on a lower level of abstraction where various circumstances become relevant which we did not need to pay attention to before.In addition to its philosophical virtues, the Schutzian approach also sheds light on methodological problems connected with Hayekian idea of spontaneous order (Foss 1996). Spontaneous coordination and rise of a social order that has not been designed by any individual mind represent a problem that needs to be solved considering institutional context of the coordination because it is not possible to decide a priori which of the multiple equilibria a rational agent going to choose. …

Raising the Bar: Core Executive Studies, Public Value and a Changing World

Core executive studies is now the dominant lens through which the distributed arrangements characteristic of the hollow state are studied; public value has emerged as a normative prescription for citizen engagement with policy making in the context of the very institutional conditions theorised by core executive studies scholars. Yet there has been surprisingly little intellectual engagement between the two. This article assesses the consequences for core executive studies – both epistemologically and analytically – of the empirical circumstances presaged by public value. It concludes that while the asymmetric power variant of core executive studies can accommodate public value, the epistemological basis of the differentiated polity model is challenged by public value's distributed decision-making arrangements. The article also finds that core executive studies needs a more nuanced empirical conception of policy making in order to account for a fully fledged public value landscape.

‘Public administration in an age of austerity’: positive lessons from policy studies

A key aim of this special issue is to demonstrate the enduring insights of public policy studies during periods of political crisis and significant policy change. This article establishes our ability to accumulate knowledge in a field often characterised by changing empirical circumstances and changing theories. Theoretical and conceptual advance may be necessary to capture new developments, but must also be balanced with the need to build on what we already know. Periods of crisis may encourage us to upset that balance. They often encourage the idea that political change and behaviour is unprecedented; that new policy making circumstances are unique, or at least so different from the past that it is difficult to learn lessons from history and current theories. In short, the usual rules do not apply and, by extension, we need new theories that account for new practices. However, new tools need to be judged against our existing collection.