Browsing by Subject "Value"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Clinically relevant adipose tissue engineering strategies and market potential
(2010-12) Finkbiner, Jenny Jean; Ambler, Tony; Vail, Neal K.
This thesis presents a foundation for developing a business case for companies interested in the reconstructive and cosmetic procedure markets. The focus is on reviewing adipose tissue engineering research and proposing technology opportunities that could be applied to challenging soft tissue reconstruction cases and adjacently applied to cosmetic applications. To establish the foundation for this type of program, this thesis includes an evaluation of the reconstructive and cosmetic procedure markets, current practices in these markets and their constraints, as well as a literature review of research in adipose tissue engineering and its potential clinical applications. Additionally it captures the competitive landscape of major players in the reconstructive market as well as up-and-coming players in the adipose tissue engineering field. Technology development opportunities with associated customer and business value are discussed with a recommendation for the development of a detailed business case to evaluate specific product development opportunities in these markets.
Exploring value as a source of motivation : the utility of attainment value in explaining undergraduates’ choice of major
(2012-08) Elias, Elric Matthew; Schallert, Diane L.; Bentley-Edwards, Keisha
Value, a component of expectancy-value theory, has been shown to be predictive of task interest and choice. Attainment value, a component of value, has been defined as the degree to which a task affords the opportunity to confirm or disconfirm salient aspects of one’s self-conception. This paper presents a review of expectancy-value theory generally, and attainment value specifically. Additionally, given that attainment value has received relatively little research attention, the rationale, method, and results of a quantitative study of attainment value is presented.
Freedom, mattering, and the intrinsic badness of suffering
(2021-07-10) Andrew, James Preston; Strawson, Galen; Montague, Michelle; Juhl, Cory F; Martinich, Aloysius P; Galvin, Richard F; Dancy, Jonathan P
This dissertation is, fundamentally, concerned with two questions: (1) ought we to believe that anything matters in itself?, and (2) if so, what ought we to believe matters in this way?; with respect to (1), I argue in the affirmative (specifically, I argue that there are both strong epistemic and pragmatic reasons to believe that somethings matters), and with respect to (2), I argue that, at minimum - and most fundamentally - we ought to believe that the badness of suffering matters and that, moreover, all suffering is bad, by virtue of being undeserved (on the grounds that the variety of freedom necessary for grounding anyone’s deserving to suffer is impossible). The dissertation, therefore, is centered upon core issues relating to the topics of value, normativity, freedom, and moral responsibility. It is divided into two primary parts. Consisting of five chapters, Part I is aimed at establishing that, for various reasons, we ought to believe that suffering is intrinsically bad. In Chapter 1, I motivate my conception of mattering, arguing that the view of commonsense is that (i) mattering is mind-independent and that (ii) there is mattering (i.e., something in fact matters). In Chapter 2, I propose and attempt to motivate my definition of suffering as unsanctioned harm (this is intended as an ecumenical definition that will accommodate a multiplicity of views about the nature of suffering). In Chapter 3, I offer two varieties of arguments - one variety grounded in phenomenological considerations and another grounded in considerations having to do with consistency - to the conclusion that (S) suffering is intrinsically bad and that (I) it is prima facie impermissible to intentionally cause suffering. In Chapter 4, I argue that (S) and (I) are not subject to evolutionary debunking, and are actually rendered more plausible by the fact that they do not admit of any straightforward evolutionary account. I conclude, in Chapter 5, by arguing that even in the absence of strong epistemic reasons for accepting (S) and (I), there is strong pragmatic reason to do so - at least for many of us. According to The Pragmatic Argument, many of us ought, pragmatically, to believe that something matters, and thus ought to believe (S) and (I), given that these claims will be true if anything truly matters (i.e., matters mind-independently). Consisting of four chapters, Part II makes the case that suffering could not possibly be deserved (in the basic desert sense), given the limitations, not only on our own agency, but on any logically possible variety of agency. In Chapter 6, I unpack the notion that “the guilty deserve to suffer”, presenting the most defensible version of this claim of which I am aware, due to Randolph Clarke. In Chapter 7, I argue that (i) in order for one to deserve to suffer, it would be necessary for one to be the ultimate source of one’s acts and that (ii) it is doubtful that this is possible, given the extant models of free will. In Chapter 8, I argue that being the ultimate source of one’s acts is necessary, but insufficient, for deserving to suffer: one would also need to be the ultimate cause of the way that one was - and that, as Galen Strawson has (I believe) shown decisively, is not even logically possible. Finally, in Chapter 9, I defend the Basic Argument - and, more narrowly, the claim that this argument proves that no one could ever deserve to suffer - against some common lines of attack.
Geographies of confinement : America's carceral bulwark, 1973-2022
(2022-11-28) Barber, Judson Grant; Thompson, Shirley Elizabeth; Hoelscher, Steven D; Meikle, Jeffrey L; Smith, Mark C
This study examines two distinct planes along which prisons have become naturalized in the United States during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, paying special attention to the ways in which the carceral institution has been used to generate capital value. Focusing on museums and tourist attractions, narrative fiction, visual media, and real estate development in rural California, this study considers the prison’s novel importance to the cultural and economic function and survival of the state and nation at-large. The proliferation of the prison, in both real space and the cultural imaginary, has produced barriers to abolition that now appear indestructible and insurmountable. The primary attempt in this study is to demonstrate why and where these barriers now exist, and to consider what cultural and economic revolutions must occur for the prison to be supplanted by more productive, equitable, and just alternatives as activists and academics have championed for decades. The prison, like taxes or insurance, is one of many things we have come to assume the existence and necessity of in American culture. This assumption is so deeply rooted that we’ve lost the ability to analyze its integrity objectively and critically. This interdisciplinary project contributes to discourses in cultural geography, museum studies, and carceral studies by examining the prison as a broad cultural event rather than as a narrow social or political issue, locating the crux of abolition most prominently in economic dependence and cultural assumption.
¡Hasta la utopía siempre! : conflicting utopian ideologies in Havana’s late socialist housing market
(2012-12) Genova, Jared Michael; Sletto, Bjørn; Kahn, Terry
Through the broader contextualization of ethnographic fieldwork in Havana’s newly reformed housing market, this study theorizes the Cuban late socialist condition through a lens of utopian ideological conflict. A popular narrative of free market utopia has emerged in the face of the state’s recalcitrant ideology of state socialism. The popular narrative is reproduced through growth in the informal economy, while the socialist utopian narrative is maintained by the ubiquity of its bureaucratic apparatus. Inspired by postmodern theorist Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation (1994), this thesis theorizes the Cuban state narrative as an ideological simulation, supported only through its strongest simulacrum – the government bureaucracy. Previous work on Cuba has cited the importance of access to government-purchased goods to fuel the informal economy and individual wealth accumulation. This study highlights the reproduction of a narrative of free market utopia in the desire for access to transactions as intermediaries, particularly as the deals increase in hard currency value. The passage of Decreto-Ley Number 288, which authorized the buying and selling of homes has served to rapidly capitalize the market and encourage further development of an informal network of brokers. Greater economic hybridization in the housing sector, among others, is gradually eroding the totalizing nature of the state’s socialist utopia.
Humble alchemy
(2014-05) White, Shalena Bethany; Williams, Jeff, M.F.A.
This master's report addresses the conceptual and material investigations that were explored within my artistic research made at the University of Texas at Austin between 2011 and 2014. These works are a confluence of adornment, sculpture and installation art. These pieces incorporate ancient and contemporary metalworking techniques with raw, organic material. The notion of elegant ornamentation is expanded beyond the body into the adornment of architecture. The potential for transformation and reinvention within found elements is explored within this work. The natural resources I work with have gone through a cycle, which is interrupted when the objects are removed from the earth. I see my process in relationship to alchemical concepts of transmutation. Through manipulation, common matter evolves into precious material. The refined, meticulous craftsmanship conveys a sense of reverence and honor towards the common material. This intervention with the material is an act of preservation and veneration. This work explores my sense of intrigue about the extraordinary potential of mundane materials, and investigates conventional notions of material value.
Interpreting how we value parks through photographs from social media : a case study of Zilker Park in Austin, Texas
(2016-05) Osborne, Lauren Rose; Sletto, Bjørn; Paterson, Robert
As social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have grown and evolved, users of these internet technologies have deposited a wealth of diverse data with the potential to inform research on a wide range of topics. In particular, the sharing of photographs of outdoor spaces through social media platforms provides important opportunities for analysis of meaning and significance, especially in terms of how planned landscapes such as public parks are perceived and socially produced. In this study, I chose to analyze photographs of Zilker Park posted on Instagram and Twitter in order to better understand how users value this important park in Austin, Texas. This report presents the content, quantitative, and qualitative analyses I conducted in order to develop a concise understanding of elements that people value most in Zilker Park. Through my research and methodological exploration, I seek to offer a new tool for public participation in park planning that can augment existing engagement methods.