Conflicting intentions: rectifying the consistency requirements

Philosophical Studies - Many philosophers are convinced that rationality dictates that one’s overall set of intentions be consistent. The starting point and inspiration for our study is...     

The Big Ten Student Suicide Study: A 10-Year Study of Suicides on Midwestern University Campuses

The Big Ten Student Suicide Study was undertaken from 1980–1990 to determine the suicide rates on Big Ten University campuses. The study design attempted to address many of the statistical and epidemiological flaws identified in previous studies of campus student suicides. The 10-year study collected demographic and correlational data on 261 suicides of registered students at 12 midwestern campuses. The largest number of suicides for both males and females were in the 20–24-year-old age group (46%), and amongst graduate students (32%). The overall student suicide rate of 7.5/100,000 is one half of the computed national suicide rate (15.0/100,000) for a matched sample by age, gender, and race. Despite the overall lower suicide rate, the analyses revealed that students 25 and over have a significantly higher risk than younger students. Although women have rates roughly half those of men throughout their undergraduate years, graduate women have rates not significantly different from their male counterparts (graduate women 9.1/100,000 and graduate men 11.6/100,000).     

Ambiguous fluidity and rigidity and diamonds that ooze!

If white hemicircles rotate over the edges of a black diamond, there occurs an ambiguity of rigidity and motion. As the hemicircles obscure the vertices of the diamond, the figure transforms from a diamond to a rotating, nonrigid cross made of a tar-like fluid. When the corners reappear, the stimulus again becomes a rigid, solid diamond. Visibility of the vertices implies rigidity. If white squares are rotated, fluidity is not perceived. If the diamond has sawtooth edges and the hemicircles are rotated, no fluidity is perceived. Similarly, if illusory contours suggest the amodal completion of the vertices, rigidity is maintained.