The Rejection of Consequentialism

The Rejection of Consequentialism
Author: Samuel Scheffler
Publsiher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 133
Release: 1994-08-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780191040160

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In contemporary philosophy, substantive moral theories are typically classified as either consequentialist or deontological. Standard consequentialist theories insist, roughly, that agents must always act so as to produce the best available outcomes overall. Standard deontological theories, by contrast, maintain that there are some circumstances where one is permitted but not required to produce the best overall results, and still other circumstances in which one is positively forbidden to do so. Classical utilitarianism is the most familiar consequentialist view, but it is widely regarded as an inadequate account of morality. Although Professor Scheffler agrees with this assessment, he also believes that consequentialism seems initially plausible, and that there is a persistent air of paradox surrounding typical deontological views. In this book, therefore, he undertakes to reconsider the rejection of consequentialism. He argues that it is possible to provide a rationale for the view that agents need not always produce the best possible overall outcomes, and this motivates one departure from consequentialism; but he shows that it is surprisingly difficult to provide a satisfactory rationale for the view that there are times when agents must not produce the best possible overall outcomes. He goes on to argue for a hitherto neglected type of moral conception, according to which agents are always permitted, but not always required, to produce the best outcomes.

Network Coding

Network Coding
Author: Khaldoun Al Agha
Publsiher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2012-12-27
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9781118563106

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Network coding, a relatively new area of research, has evolved from the theoretical level to become a tool used to optimize the performance of communication networks – wired, cellular, ad hoc, etc. The idea consists of mixing “packets” of data together when routing them from source to destination. Since network coding increases the network performance, it becomes a tool to enhance the existing protocols and algorithms in a network or for applications such as peer-to-peer and TCP. This book delivers an understanding of network coding and provides a set of studies showing the improvements in security, capacity and performance of fixed and mobile networks. This is increasingly topical as industry is increasingly becoming more reliant upon and applying network coding in multiple applications. Many cases where network coding is used in routing, physical layer, security, flooding, error correction, optimization and relaying are given – all of which are key areas of interest. Network Coding is the ideal resource for university students studying coding, and researchers and practitioners in sectors of all industries where digital communication and its application needs to be correctly understood and implemented. Contents 1. Network Coding: From Theory to Practice, Youghourta Benfattoum, Steven Martin and Khaldoun Al Agha. 2. Fountain Codes and Network Coding for WSNs, Anya Apavatjrut, Claire Goursaud, Katia Jaffrès-Runser and Jean-Marie Gorce. 3. Switched Code for Ad Hoc Networks: Optimizing the Diffusion by Using Network Coding, Nour Kadi and Khaldoun Al Agha. 4. Security by Network Coding, Katia Jaffrès-Runser and Cédric Lauradoux. 5. Security for Network Coding, Marine Minier, Yuanyuan Zhang and Wassim Znaïdi. 6. Random Network Coding and Matroids, Maximilien Gadouleau. 7. Joint Network-Channel Coding for the Semi-Orthogonal MARC: Theoretical Bounds and Practical Design, Atoosa Hatefi, Antoine O. Berthet and Raphael Visoz. 8. Robust Network Coding, Lana Iwaza, Marco Di Renzo and Michel Kieffer. 9. Flow Models and Optimization for Network Coding, Eric Gourdin and Jeremiah Edwards.