Malthus v. Bailey on the Measure of Value: A Lesson in "Methodological Humility"

That Malthus was guilty of egregious error in his claim to have established the labor-commanded magnitude as an "invariable" unit of value is well-known. Even his modern biographer could appeal only to a "kink or a crotchet, some kind of cerebral block" to excuse Malthus's persistent failure to recognize the manifestly tautological character of his position. Yet the familiar form of Malthus's argument, as it appeared in his later work, differed in several respects from its earliest statement in the first edition of his Principles. In this essay we trace out the several changes made to Malthus's argument, often in response to his many critics; and we find in the midst of those alterations a common characteristic that serves to reveal the character of that "kink or crotchet": an obsession with mathematical operations producing a unit outcome. We draw two lessons from this sorry episode in our history. First, the sterility of the debate between Malthus and his critics serves to highlight the central importance of a precise and commonly understood vocabulary of scientific expression. This was, it is true, no more than a dispute over words; but as they are the vessels of our thoughts, words-of precise and commonly understood meaning-are critical to the progress of a science. Second, the heat of that debate highlights the insidious capacity of practitioners to mistake for scientific principles what are no more than "intricate series of definitions," a lesson which, when taken seriously, cannot fail but to impart a salutary "methodological humility."Labor-command; Malthus; Ricardo; Samuel Bailey

Thermodynamic relations among isotropic material properties in conditions of plane shear stress

We present new general relationships among the material properties of an isotropic material kept in homogeneous stress conditions with hydrostatic pressure and plane shear. The derivation is not limited to the proximity of the zero shear-stress and -strain condition, which allows us to identify the relationship between adiabatic and isothermal shear compliances (inverse of the moduli of rigidity) along with new links, among others, between isobaric and isochoric shear thermal expansion coefficients, heat capacities at constant stress and constant shear strain. Such relationships are important for a variety of applications, including characterization of nanomaterials as well as identification of properties related to earthquakes precursors and complex media (e.g., soil) behaviors. The results may be useful to investigate the behavior of materials during phase transitions involving shear or in non-homogeneous conditions within a local thermodynamic equilibrium framework

Sinn Fein Without the IRA: Legitimacy or Loss of Popular Support

Sinn Fein originally came into political prominence in Northern Ireland as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), yet in the last decade Sinn Fein has become recognized as a legitimate political party. As Sinn Fein joined the mainstream political process, however, the Unionists, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and even Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern questioned its continued affiliation with the IRA and demanded the IRA and Republicans resort to entirely peaceful, democratic means to their political ends. In July 2005, the IRA acceded to this demand, “formally order[ing] an end to the armed campaign” and instructing all Volunteers to use “exclusively peaceful means” (“IRA Statement,” 2005). In August, the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning verified that the IRA had put all weapons beyond use. Given its origins, can Sinn Fein remain a viable political party without an active IRA supporting it? Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has insisted that “There would be no peace process if it were not for the IRA” (Adams as cited in Maillot, 2005, p.85). Yet, it is also Adams who pressured the IRA to pursue peaceful, political means. We argue that, in fact, Sinn Fein has grown beyond it origins and can function as a viable political party without the support of an active IRA. This case study uses a three-part analysis to make this argument. First, following an exploration of the reasons Northern Ireland Republicans resorted to violence, we assert that many of these reasons no longer hold true and, thus, there is no reason for terrorism or an active IRA. Second, we examine the shifts in Sinn Fein’s core beliefs and political priorities. Finally, we consider the attitudes of Catholics in Northern Ireland toward IRA decommissioning and disbandment. All three point to changed circumstances in the Catholic community in Northern Ireland that imbue Sinn Fein with political legitimacy among Republicans and Nationalists despite – or perhaps because of – the recently inactive IRA

Smith's "Mutiny on the Bounty": The Perils of Polemic

One does not read very far into Smith's work without encountering apparent inconsistencies. Perhaps the most troubling arise in the discussion of the corn trade, where, contrary to his well-known principle that trade protection and subsidies draw to the favored industry "a greater share of the capital of the society than what would naturally go to it," Smith insisted that the bounty on grain export produced no stimulus to domestic output, a conclusion that reflected his principle that the corn price "regulates that of all other home-made commodities." Smith's attack on the corn bounty prompted vigorous rebuttals from two influential countrymen, and his principle that the bounty produces no more than a proportionate rise in all prices would later bedevil Ricardo and his contemporaries. Yet these interpretive difficulties fall away when we place Smith's argument within the context of his larger theory of economic growth. Viewed in that context, the peculiar inability of the corn bounty to stimulate production can at least be excused as consistent with the demands of that larger theory, though the principle is so narrowly constrained by ceteris paribus conditions as to be analytically uninteresting. Here as at other points in his attack on the bounty, Smith pressed his argument beyond its limits and thereby diminished its polemical force. Yet his contemporary critics were unable to capitalize on his errors. For all its flaws, Smith's argument exhibits an analytical subtlety far beyond the clumsy justifications advanced by the bounty's apologists.Adam Smith; Thomas Pownall; James Anderson; corn trade; corn bounty

Anomalous Coronary Artery Disease

Imagine living life as a healthy active individual with no known health conditions or previous illnesses, then one day experiencing life-threatening symptoms or even sudden death due to an unknown heart condition. Anomalies of the coronary arteries are not well understood and are extremely rare in the general population (Suryanarayana, 2015). This topic was chosen to explore the research and the pathophysiology behind this rare disease and to be able to understand the process at a cellular level. This project will explore the pathophysiologic process of anomalous coronary artery disease including signs and symptoms, underlying pathophysiology, significance of pathophysiology, and the implications for nursing care. Coronary artery anomalies (CAA) are rare conditions that may be associated with myocardial ischemia, lethal ventricular rhythms, and sudden death. The current population affected is estimated to be from 0.1 to 0.7 percent (Brothers et al, 2015) and affect approximately 1 in every 300,000 live births (Fahy et al, 2012). Many are considered benign, but identifying those that can be fatal is an on-going challenge in the medical field. Although research is on-going with this rare condition, there remains several unknown aspects of this disease (Brothers et al, 2015). With the current research, it is known that this condition can cause sudden death so it is therefore vital that we continue to gain knowledge of this topic, and increase our awareness of this condition as healthcare providers

An elastoplastic framework for granular materials becoming cohesive through mechanical densification. Part I - small strain formulation

Mechanical densification of granular bodies is a process in which a loose material becomes increasingly cohesive as the applied pressure increases. A constitutive description of this process faces the formidable problem that granular and dense materials have completely different mechanical behaviours (nonlinear elastic properties, yield limit, plastic flow and hardening laws), which must both be, in a sense, included in the formulation. A treatment of this problem is provided here, so that a new phenomenological, elastoplastic constitutive model is formulated, calibrated by experimental data, implemented and tested, that is capable of describing the transition between granular and fully dense states of a given material. The formulation involves a novel use of elastoplastic coupling to describe the dependence of cohesion and elastic properties on the plastic strain. The treatment falls within small strain theory, which is thought to be appropriate in several situations; however, a generalization of the model to large strain is provided in Part II of this paper.Comment: 42 pages, 27 figure

Formation of drying crack patterns in soils: a deterministic approach

Soils, as well as most of deformable multiphase porous materials, are likely to suffer from desiccation cracking, leading to the formation of regular crack patterns affecting their permeability. The ensuing crack spacing has often been related to a concept sometimes called "sequential infilling”: it is assumed that desiccation cracks are formed by successive generations. However, such a concept does not consider the pattern of a simultaneous crack formation at a given moment. Using our desiccation cracking test results and their numerical simulation, we propose a consistent explanation for the formation of desiccation crack patterns in soils. We show that the "sequential infilling” concept is suitable only when the position of the crack(s) clearly stems from the stress field. To derive an estimate of the desiccation crack spacing, the overall energy of the system needs to be considered. Statistical variability should be superimposed on the mean deterministic conditions discussed her