Animal Spirits Revisited

The term ‘animal spirits’ has returned to academic and public discourse in a way which departs significantly from the original use of the term by Keynes. The new behavioural economics literature uses the term to refer to a range of behaviour which falls outside what is normally understood as rational. This treatment follows from the mainstream dichotomisation between rationality and irrationality. However Keynes explained that, given fundamental uncertainty, rationality alone was insufficient to justify action. Animal spirits was the name he gave to the (psychological) urge to action which explained decisions being taken in spite of uncertainty; animal spirits for him were neither rational nor irrational. Nor are they beyond analysis. We explore how the nature and role of animal spirits can vary according to context (as between different sectors, types of firm and within firms). This analysis indicates ways in which policy can promote structural change to strengthen animal spirits in the long term as well as offset short-term weakening in animal spirits

Economic Development in the Scottish Enlightenment: Ideas as Cause and Effect

The purpose of this paper is to consider why Scottish Enlightenment thought should have generated a particular theory of economic development. We explore the particular context of the Scottish Enlightenment, focusing both on understandings of cultural difference within Scotland, and the particular content of Gaelic culture, as influencing the character of Scottish Enlightenment thought. The specific ideas about economic development in the Scottish Enlightenment period involve further circularity. One of the key arguments was that economic development encourages creativity and ideas, which promote productivity growth. The Enlightenment itself, as a set of ideas, can be seen in part as the outcome of earlier economic development in Scotland, particularly in the form of agricultural improvement. This process of innovation or ‘art', encouraged by the division of labour, applies particularly to the fourth of the stages of economic development: commercialisation (the stages approach being a characteristic feature of Enlightenment thought)

Viability of whole-culm bamboo construction in South Africa – a preliminary assessment

We describe literature-based research on the viability of whole-culm bamboo as a construction technology for South Africa. South Africa has one bamboo species considered suitable for construction, namely Bambusa balcooa, found in various parts of the country. Quantitative production figures are not currently available; however, local reports indicate that South Africa can expand its bamboo growth industry to meet any possible expected demand. Although the South African bamboo plant has not yet been evaluated in terms of its material properties, engineering design approaches and material properties from the literature indicate that this species is a viable construction material. The limitations for bamboo design and construction are not unique to South Africa but are common to countries involved in bamboo construction. Their experience in overcoming these limitations can be transferred to the use of bamboo in South Africa, making bamboo construction a potentially viable construction technology in South Africa. Significance:• Whole-culm bamboo can be used as a structural material in buildings and other specialised structures such as bridges, assembly halls, and the like.• South Africa has a bamboo species that should potentially be suitable for the construction of structures that lend themselves to this type of construction.• The information given here should allow designers, engineers and technologists to assess the viability of bamboo construction in South African situations

The Scottish Political Economy Tradition and Modern Economics

The purpose of this article is to re-examine the notion of a Scottish tradition in political economy in the light of recent developments in the methodology of economics. Consideration is given to the concept of tradition itself, which puts the focus on approach to theorising and the relationship between theory and reality rather than theoretical content. It is argued that the Scottish approach provided the foundations for much of modern political economy. Further, modern discussion of constructivism and critical realism can both be seen to have precedents in the Scottish tradition. Indeed the Scottish political economy tradition provides an exemplar of a constructive blending of the two strands

Nonaqueous Fluoride/Chloride Anion-Promoted Delamination of Layered Zeolite Precursors: Synthesis and Characterization of UCB-2

The delamination of layered zeolite precursor PREFER is demonstrated under mild nonaqueous conditions using a mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, tetrabutylammonium fluoride, and tetrabutylammonium chloride in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent. The delamination proceeds through a swollen material intermediate which is characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Subsequent addition of concentrated HCl at room temperature leads to synthesis of UCB-2 via delamination of the swollen PREFER material and is characterized using PXRD, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and argon gas physisorption, which shows lack of microporosity in UCB-2. ^(29)Si magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy indicates lack of amorphization during delamination, as indicated by the entire absence of Q^2 resonances, and ^(27)Al MAS NMR spectroscopy shows exclusively tetrahedral aluminum in the framework following delamination. The delamination process requires both chloride and fluoride anions and is sensitive to solvent, working well in DMF. Experiments aimed at synthesizing UCB-2 using aqueous conditions previously used for UCB-1 synthesis leads to partial swelling and lack of delamination upon acidification. A similar lack of delamination is observed upon attempting synthesis of UCB-1 under conditions used for UCB-2 synthesis. The delamination of PREFER is reversible between delaminated and swollen states in the following manner. Treatment of as-made UCB-2 with the same reagents as used here for the swelling of PREFER causes the delaminated UCB-2 material to revert back to swollen PREFER. This causes the delaminated UCB-2 material to revert back to swollen PREFER. Altogether, these results highlight delamination as the reverse of zeolite synthesis and demonstrate the crucial role of noncovalent self-assembly involving the zeolitic framework and cations/anions/structure-directing agent and solvent during the delamination process

Traditions in thought: The case of Scottish political economy

A number of commentators have recently identified a 'uniquely Scottish mode of thought in economics', or a particular 'Scottish political economy tradition'. In this paper the concept of tradition, defined as those features common to practitioners over a relatively long period, is investigated in relation to 'school', 'paradigm' and 'research programme'. An application of the concept to the Scottish Enlightenment period suggests that its use is in line with the philosophical approach of Adam Smith, and shows that the concept allows account to be taken of external institutional/historical influences in interpreting the history of economics

Rae and the Tradition of Scottish Political Economy

The purpose of the chapter is to investigate how far Rae is representative of the Scottish Political Economy Tradition, where tradition is understood in terms of continuity in a shared approach, allowing for theoretical differences. While Rae conforms to most features identified with the Scottish tradition, his opposition to Smith’s methodology suggests a divergence of approach which would put him outside the tradition. It is argued here that this divergence applies only to Rae’s professed methodology, not to his practice

Anomalous optical surface absorption in nominally pure silicon samples at 1550 nm

The announcement of the direct detection of Gravitational Waves (GW) by the LIGO and Virgo collaboration in February 2016 has removed any uncertainty around the possibility of GW astronomy. It has demonstrated that future detectors with sensitivities ten times greater than the Advanced LIGO detectors would see thousands of events per year. Many proposals for such future interferometric GW detectors assume the use of silicon test masses. Silicon has low mechanical loss at low temperatures, which leads to low displacement noise for a suspended interferometer mirror. In addition to the low mechanical loss, it is a requirement that the test masses have a low optical loss. Measurements at 1550 nm have indicated that material with a low enough bulk absorption is available; however there have been suggestions that this low absorption material has a surface absorption of > 100 ppm which could preclude its use in future cryogenic detectors. We show in this paper that this surface loss is not intrinsic but is likely to be a result of particular polishing techniques and can be removed or avoided by the correct polishing procedure. This is an important step towards high gravitational wave detection rates in silicon based instruments

CEREBROSPINAL FLUID CALCIUM, APOE PROTEIN AND GENOTYPE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH AND WITHOUT CEREBRAL VASOSPASM AFTER SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a hemorrhagic stroke subtype affecting 30,000 Americans per year. The most common cause of secondary injury after SAH is cerebral vasospasm (CV). Currently, there are no biomarkers to identify risk for CV. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is a protein with potential to alter tone of cerebral vessels by influencing intracellular calcium homeostasis. ApoE has isoform specific effects on intracellular calcium (Ca++) level, cerebral vessel tone, and potentially CV. The overall objective of this project was to describe the relationship between apoE genotype (APOE), apoE protein level, calcium level and presence of CV after SAH. This study included individuals age 18-75 with a diagnosis of severe SAH from an aneurysmal source. Daily cerebrospinal fluid samples were drawn from a drainage catheter. APOE genotyping was performed using standard restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques. The sample was dichotomized based on APOE ?4 allele presence. Daily apoE protein levels were analyzed using an enzyme linked immunoassay. Ca++ level was analyzed using potentiometry. CV was verified using cerebral angiogram, computed tomographic angiogram, or elevated transcranial dopplers the entire group were lower than normal and associated with one another. Overall and daily apoE protein levels were higher in individuals with an APOE ?4 allele but there was no association with CV. Overall Ca++ level was higher in the individuals without CV, however daily mean was not significantly different between the two CV groups. Overall and daily mean Ca++ levels were higher in individuals with an APOE ?4 allele. This project further describes the relationship between apoE, Ca++ and neurologic disease, however more work is required before either CSF apoE or Ca++ can be used as a predictor of CV