Police Adjective and Attunement to the Significance of Things

In this paper I consider Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘Police, Adjective’ (Romania, 2009) as an instance of a puzzling work of art. Part of what is puzzling about it is the range of extreme responses to it, both positive and negative. I make sense of this puzzlement and try to alleviate it, while considering the film alongside Ludwig Wittgenstein’s arguably puzzling “Lectures on Aesthetics” (from 1938). I use each work to illuminate possible understandings of the other. The upshot is that it is is plausible to regard both as engaged, in part, in preparing us to make sense both of themselves, and then also of other work

Cosmology in Mirror Twin Higgs and Neutrino Masses

We explore a simple solution to the cosmological challenges of the original Mirror Twin Higgs (MTH) model that leads to interesting implications for experiment. We consider theories in which both the standard model and mirror neutrinos acquire masses through the familiar seesaw mechanism, but with a low right-handed neutrino mass scale of order a few GeV. In these $\nu$MTH models, the right-handed neutrinos leave the thermal bath while still relativistic. As the universe expands, these particles eventually become nonrelativistic, and come to dominate the energy density of the universe before decaying. Decays to standard model states are preferred, with the result that the visible sector is left at a higher temperature than the twin sector. Consequently the contribution of the twin sector to the radiation density in the early universe is suppressed, allowing the current bounds on this scenario to be satisfied. However, the energy density in twin radiation remains large enough to be discovered in future cosmic microwave background experiments. In addition, the twin neutrinos are significantly heavier than their standard model counterparts, resulting in a sizable contribution to the overall mass density in neutrinos that can be detected in upcoming experiments designed to probe the large scale structure of the universe.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

Partition-dependent framing effects in lab and field prediction markets

Many psychology experiments show that individually judged probabilities of the same event can vary depending on the partition of the state space (a framing effect called "partition-dependence"). We show that these biases transfer to competitive prediction markets in which multiple informed traders are provided economic incentives to bet on their beliefs about events. We report results of a short controlled lab study, a longer field experiment (betting on the NBA playoffs and the FIFA World Cup), and naturally-occurring trading in macro-economic derivatives. The combined evidence suggests that partition-dependence can exist and persist in lab and field prediction markets

Inaugurating Philosophy of Film Without Theory

Philosophy of film without theory is a methodology that aims to motivate and legitimise the current and future development of a range of a-, non-, and anti-theoretical ways of working at the intersection of film and philosophy. We contrast philosophy of film without theory with the main traditions of theoretically orientated philosophy of film, as well as philosophically inflected film Theory and film-philosophy. We also draw attention to the range of philosophical practices and pursuits that distinguish philosophy (in general) without theory and contemporary philosophy (in general) with its near ubiquitous theoretical presumption.  The paper finishes with a brief introduction to the various contributions to this Special Issue of Aesthetic Investigations on Philosophy of Film Without Theory

Choice Experiments to Assess Farmers' Willingness to Participate in a Water Quality Trading Market

Interest has grown in Water Quality Trading (WQT) as a means to achieve water quality goals, with more than 70 such programs now in operation in the United States. Substantial evidence exists that nonpoint sources can reduce nutrient loading at a much lower cost than point sources, implying the existence of gains from trade. Despite the potential gains, however, the most commonly noted feature of existing WQT markets is low trading volume, with many markets resulting in zero trades. This paper evaluates one explanation for the lack of participation from agricultural nonpoint sources. We test for and quantify the intangible costs that may deter farmers from trading even if the monetary benefits from doing so outweigh the observable out-of-pocket costs. We do so by designing and implementing a series of choice experiments to elicit WQT trading behavior of Great Plains crop producers in different situations. Attributes of the choice experiment included market rules and features (e.g., application time and effort, penalties for violations, means of monitoring compliance) that may affect farmers willingness to trade. The choice experiments were conducted with a total of 135 producers at four locations in the state of Kansas between August 2006 and January 2007. A Random Parameters Logit model is appropriate to analyze the resulting data, revealing diversity in the way that the attributes affect farmers choices.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,