Introducing Formalism in Economics: The Growth Model of John von Neumann

The objective is to interpret John von Neumann's growth model as a decisive step of the forthcoming formalist revolution of the 1950s in economics. This model gave rise to an impressive variety of comments about its classical or neoclassical underpinnings. We go beyond this traditional criterion and interpret rather this model as the manifestation of von Neumann's involvement in the formalist programme of mathematician David Hilbert. We discuss the impact of Kurt Gödel’s discoveries on this programme. We show that the growth model reflects the pragmatic turn of the formalist programme after Gödel and proposes the extension of modern axiomatisation to economics..Von Neumann, Growth model, Formalist revolution, Mathematical formalism, Axiomatics

Validation of ankle strength measurements by means of a hand-held dynamometer in adult healthy subjects

Uniaxial Hand-Held Dynamometer (HHD) is a low-cost device widely adopted in clinical practice to measure muscle force. HHD measurements depend on operator’s ability and joint movements. The aim of the work is to validate the use of a commercial HHD in both dorsiflexion and plantarflexion ankle strength measurements quantifying the effects of HHD misplacements and unwanted foot’s movements on the measurements. We used an optoelectronic system and a multicomponent load cell to quantify the sources of error in the manual assessment of the ankle strength due to both the operator’s ability to hold still the HHD and the transversal components of the exerted force that are usually neglected in clinical routine. Results showed that foot’s movements and angular misplacements of HHD on sagittal and horizontal planes were relevant sources of inaccuracy on the strength assessment. Moreover, ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion force measurements presented an inaccuracy less than 2% and higher than 10%, respectively. In conclusion, the manual use of a uniaxial HHD is not recommend ed for the assessment of ankle plantarflexion strength; on the contrary, it can be allowed asking the operator to pay strong attention to the HHD positioning in ankle dorsiflexion strength measurements

Technique for abrasive cutting of thick-film conductors for hybrid circuits

Abrasive jet technique, producing prototype conductor networks for thick-film hybrid microcircuits, does not require screening and fixing procedures. Pantograph engraver is used to perform abrasive cutting of the conductor network

Coexistence of Magneto-Rotational and Jeans Instabilities in an Axisymmetric Nebula

We analyze the magneto-rotational instability (MRI) effects on gravitational collapse and its influence on the instability critical scale. In particular, we study an axisymmetric nonstratified differentially rotating cloud, embedded in a small magnetic field, and we perform a local linear stability analysis, including the self gravity of the system. We demonstrate that the linear evolution of the perturbations is characterized by the emergence of an anisotropy degree of the perturbed mass densities. Starting with spherical growing overdensities, we see that they naturally acquire an anisotropy of order unity in their shape. Despite the linear character of our analysis, we infer that such a seed of anisotropy can rapidly grow in a nonlinear regime, leading to the formation of filament-like structures. However, we show how such an anisotropy is essentially an intrinsic feature of the Jean instability, and how MRI only plays a significant role in fixing the critical scale of the mode spectrum. We then provide a characterization of the present analysis in terms of the cosmological setting, in order to provide an outlook of how the present results could concern the formation of large-scale structures across the Universe.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Ethical Expectations: Reflections from Beginning Architecture Students

Each year several thousand recent high school graduates enter accredited professional degree programs to study architecture. They have made the decision to ‘become an architect’ early in life and arrive at university directly from high school rather than upon completion of a prior baccalaureate degree. Undoubtedly, during the final years of high school, autumn 2008 entering first-year students answered this question more than a few times: “Why do you want to study architecture?

Control mechanisms and perceived organizational support: exploring the relationship between new and traditional forms of control

Purpose: Taking into account the need to make a clearer distinction between traditional and new organizational controls, this paper aims to investigate similarities and differences between those two forms and explore the extent to which new forms of control can be operationalized from a quantitative point of view. Design/methodology/approach: Suggesting that new organizational controls can be understood also in light of quantitative paradigms, we develop and test a scale to measure the existence of these types of controls, examine its construct validity and evaluate its convergent validity. Findings: The theoretical dimensions of new controls have empirical correspondence. Input and behaviour controls are strongly associated with the promotion of values and beliefs in organizations. New controls become responsible for employees’ acceptance of companies’ management, an aspect measured by Perceived-Organizational-Support (POS)

Sustainable Environments, Kant and Architectural Education: Reflections on an Intersection

These quotations from Italo Calvino\u27s Invisible Cities and the Lester Brown definition of sustainable societal practices set the stage for this exploration of a Kantian categorical imperative for integrating sustainable design concepts into architectural education

CMOS transceiver with baud rate clock recovery for optical interconnects

An efficient baud rate clock and data recovery architecture is applied to a double sampling/integrating front-end receiver for optical interconnects. Receiver performance is analyzed and projected for future technologies. This front-end allows use of a 1:5 demux architecture to achieve 5Gb/s in a 0.25 μm CMOS process. A 5:1 multiplexing transmitter is used to drive VCSELs for optical transmission. The transceiver chip consumes 145mW per link at 5Gb/s with a 2.5V supply