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This thesis aims to examine the extent of consistency between Cicero’s epistemological position in Academica and his method of approaching ethics in De Finibus. I consider whether in both works he expresses a radically sceptical view or a more moderate one. I suggest that Cicero’s scepticism is best understood when we understand his dialectical inquiry as being, in both works, a positive procedure designed to find the most persuasive view by arguing for and against every opinion. In Chapter 1, I examine Cicero’s mode of writing in his later philosophical dialogues, distinguishing two levels of ‘Cicero’ (that is, Cicero the author and the persona in the dialogues). In Chapter 2, I examine how Cicero himself understands the key principles of scepticism (akatalēpsia and epochē) and whether his epistemological position in Academica is a consistent one. Chapters 3 and 4 form a bridge between the epistemological debate in Academica and the ethical debate in De Finibus by examining in detail two applications by Cicero of Carneades’ ethical division. In Chapter 3, I discuss the original philosophical context of Carneades’ division, and consider how Cicero applies it to the epistemological debate at Ac. 2.129-41. In Chapter 4, I discuss Cicero’s application of this division to ethical debate at Fin. 2.34-44 with reference to Cicero’s criticism of Epicurean ethics. Chapter 5 and 6 are concerned with Cicero’s attitude towards two competing (and more plausible) ethical theories, that is, the Stoic and Antiochean theories. By playing two roles (i.e. as the persona taking one side of the debate in each dialogue and as the author distancing himself from both of them), Cicero writes in a way that is consistent with his (moderate) Academic scepticism. He aims not only to free his readers from their dogmatic obstinacy, but also to help them to find out for themselves the most persuasive view on each philosophical issue.

This study discovers deliberate managerial decisions on cost structure under uncertain political environment surrounding firms. Political uncertainty has attracted significant attention in the accounting literature because it can have considerable financial and non-financial impacts on firms’ business environment. In this study, I first examine whether firms are likely to change their cost structure (the proportion of fixed inputs to variable inputs in cost structure) when facing political uncertainty. Second, I further investigate whether the association between political uncertainty and cost structure is conditional on (1) the presence of government customers, (2) asset redeployability, and (3) political connections. Using the sample from 2003 to 2019, I find that firms are likely to have a more rigid cost structure in response to political uncertainty. The positive association between political uncertainty and cost rigidity is more pronounced for firms without government customers, firms using less redeployable assets, and firms without political connections. This study contributes to the debate on cost rigidity in uncertain business environment by focusing on political uncertainty.

Relevant acoustic and linguistic information is not accessible to young children with a damaged or absent sense of hearing. While infant hearing screening enables early instrumentation and intervention for children with hearing loss, they have shown a substantial amount of variability in speech production outcomes. Comprehensive analysis of speech outcomes using contemporary speech and language measures is pivotal to specifying the diversity of speech characteristics in addition to understanding the relationship of auditory input system and production output system capacities. Speech characteristics in spontaneous speech output of children with hearing loss were examined by analyzing associations across multiple speech and language measures, relationships of speech accuracy with input factors of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density, and speech intelligibility as perceived by adult listeners. Spontaneous connected speech samples were collected for twenty-one children with bilateral cochlear implants or hearing aids. Results revealed a largely consistent chronological age-related developmental pattern across the speech measures and mean length of utterance (MLU). Most of the children demonstrated a delay in acquiring later developing consonants and more complex word forms. Based on individual variance in performance across analysis measures, environmental factors contributing to individual differences in their speech production include chronological age at receiving instrumentation and familiarity of the speech sampling context. Phonotactic probability and neighborhood density showed positive relationships with consonant accuracy in CVC word forms produced. Vowel accuracy in CVC word forms was negatively related to neighborhood density in this cohort. Intelligibility outcomes were highly associated with speech measures, suggesting the importance of a whole-word analysis approach. These results emphasize the importance of analyzing functional daily communication interactions in children fit early with HA or CI instrumentation. Findings support use of measures that can reveal the sources of reduced intelligibility.

Despite a substantial body of research in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs, what is missing from much of the existing discussion on DTCA disclosure is a focus on the roles of consumers’ individual motivation and ability factors in processing risk disclosures. Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and the Motivation-Ability- Opportunity (MAO) framework, this research focuses on the roles played by individuals’ optimistic bias as motivation and ones’ subjective health literacy as ability to process and evaluate risk disclosures in DTCA. Specifically, this study examined whether the degree of optimistic bias affected consumers’ risk disclosure processing in terms of their attention to risk disclosures, their perceived importance of risk disclosures, and their intentions to seek more risk information through alternative sources. Further, the study examined whether the relationship between the optimistic bias and the risk disclosure-related perceptions and intentions was moderated by consumers’ subjective health literacy. By analyzing online survey data collected among the U.S. adult population (N= 404), the study revealed that: (a) consumers who showed a tendency to believe they were at lesser risk of experiencing side-effects of prescription drugs than their peers were less likely to pay attention to risk disclosures, less likely to perceive reading the risk disclosures as being important, and less likely to seek further information about a prescription drug’s side-effects; (b) the relationship between optimistic bias and intentions to seek prescription drug risk information was stronger for consumers with high subjective health literary than for those with low subjective health literacy. In addition to theoretical implications, practical implications and recommendations are provided in light of a necessity to develop DTCA disclosure messages that communicate well with consumers.

Advances in the semiconductor industry are mainly driven by improvements in optical lithography technology, which have enabled the continual shrinking of integrated circuit devices. However, optical lithography technology is approaching its limit, and within ten years, it may be substituted by new non-optical approaches. These may include Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) lithography and charged particle beam projection lithography. While these technologies may have potentially better resolution, they can be very difficult to implement into manufacturing. During the course of the research presented here, the extension of optical lithography to sub 70nm resolution has been investigated. Since optical lithography is mature and well understood, extending it to allow for higher resolution can dramatically reduce manufacturing difficulties, compared to EUV or charged particle beam projection lithography. A majority of the existing infrastructure, such as photoresist materials, sources, optics, and photo-masks, remain applicable with the optical methods explored here. The avenues investigated in this research have concentrated on spatial frequency filtering in alternative Fourier Transform planes, vacuum UV wavelength lithography, and achieving ultra high numerical aperture imaging through the use of liquid immersion imaging. More specifically, novel spatial frequency filtering using angular transmission filters was developed and demonstrated. Multiple filter designs were proposed, one of which was successfully fabricated and implemented for lithographic imaging. Spatial filtering, using angular transmission filtering, proved to enhance the resolution of contact hole images by approximately 20%. Vacuum UV imaging at the 126nm wavelength was carried out but deemed likely to be less practical for commercial viability due to source, optics, and materials issues. Immersion lithography, using the 193nm wavelength ArF excimer laser, was investigated and demonstrated for very high numerical aperture imaging. Requirements for immersion lithography were established, including the necessary design of imaging fluids, optics, sources, and photoresist materials. As a development tool, an interference lithography system was built using the 193nm ArF excimer laser and water as an immersion fluid. Patterns below 70nm were printed using the process developed, which has established the potential to extend optical lithography further than was believed at the onset of this project. This research provides proof of the concept of extending optical lithography to the 70nm generation and below.

The study inquires into the dynamic relationship between Protestantism and culture in The Faerie Oueene. The American Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr makes penetrating analyses of the relationship between man's cultural potentials and the insights of Protestant Christianity which greatly illuminate how Spenser searches for a comprehensive religious, ethical, political, and social vision for the Christian community of Protestant England. But Spenser maintains the tension between culture and Christianity to the end, refusing to offer a merely coherent system of principles based on the doctrine of Christianity.