An Attempt to Reshape Capitalism’s Image

John Stuart Mill claimed to be a disciple of both Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo. This was a strange proclamation because each man advocated a competing theory of value; Bentham’s utilitarianism laid the foundation for the utility theory of value and Ricardo developed the labor theory of value. Mill’s goal in attempting to unify these theories of value was to provide a solution for the growing class conflict that plagued capitalism. Class conflict arose as feudalism was phased out and industrial capitalism replaced merchant capitalism as the dominant economic system. The Corn Laws symbolized this competition between classes. Capitalists were against the Corn Laws because the subsequent tariffs would lower their rate of profit. Landowners supported the Corn Laws because they increased the rent on land. Even Karl Marx held spoke out against the Corn Laws on behalf of the working class. Capitalism fostered persistent antagonism between classes as each struggled to gain or maintain power; no class was immune from this contest. Class conflict was therefore ubiquitous in capitalist society and generated widespread scrutiny and debate over capitalism. Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo took opposing sides in this debate. Bentham was initially supported it but died a reformist. Class conflict was resolvable but not under the current form of capitalism. Ricardo’s labor theory of value promoted the view that class division occurred naturally in a capitalist society. And since capitalism was the best possible economic system, class division was a necessary evil and could not be remedied. Both Ricardo and Bentham acknowledged that class conflict was inherent in capitalism but each treated it differently. In claiming to be a disciple of both men, Mill hoped to show that capitalism could exist alongside social harmony. His goal was to change the nature of capitalism. [excerpt

On the Orthodox Nature of Heterodox Income Distribution Theory

The goal of this paper is to show that orthodox and heterodox theories of personal income distribution developed in the mid-twentieth century are effectively identical, despite their claims to the contrary. While segmented labor market theory contends that neoclassical theories of personal income distribution, such as human capital theory, ignore the impact of social institutions on the labor market, human capital theory actually implicitly incorporates them. Social institutions are, therefore, just as important in the orthodox approach to personal income distribution. Yet, while this is the case, the heterodox perspective is valuable because of the stress it places on social institutions, the importance of which is not always explicitly recognized in human capital theory

The genetics-BIDS extension: Easing the search for genetic data associated with human brain imaging

Metadata are what makes databases searchable. Without them, researchers would have difficulty finding data with features they are interested in. Brain imaging genetics is at the intersection of two disciplines, each with dedicated dictionaries and ontologies facilitating data search and analysis. Here, we present the genetics Brain Imaging Data Structure extension, consisting of metadata files for human brain imaging data to which they are linked, and describe succinctly the genomic and transcriptomic data associated with them, which may be in different databases. This extension will facilitate identifying micro-scale molecular features that are linked to macro-scale imaging repositories, facilitating data aggregation across studies

Messina (\u3cem\u3eMelilotus siculus\u3c/em\u3e)–A New Pasture Legume for Saltland

Messina (Melilotus siculus ((Turra) Vitman ex B.D. Jacks)) is a new annual pasture legume for saltland in temperate Australia and regions of the world that experience Mediterranean climates. Messina has greater tolerance to the combined stresses of salinity and water-logging than existing commercial pasture legumes. Coupled with desirable agronomic traits these characteristics give messina the capacity to rehabilitate saltland and increase productivity on land where existing legumes fail. This paper reviews the agronomic perform-ance of messina in relation to top soil salinity levels

An evaluation of systematic versus strategically-placed camera traps for monitoring feral cats in New Zealand

We deploy camera traps to monitor feral cat (Felis catus) populations at two pastoral sites in Hawke’s Bay, North Island, New Zealand. At Site 1, cameras are deployed at pre-determined GPS points on a 500-m grid, and at Site 2, cameras are strategically deployed with a bias towards forest and forest margin habitat where possible. A portion of cameras are also deployed in open farmland habitat and mixed scrub. We then use the abundance-induced heterogeneity Royle–Nichols model to estimate mean animal abundance and detection probabilities for cameras in each habitat type. Model selection suggests that only cat abundance varies by habitat type. Mean cat abundance is highest at forest margin cameras for both deployment methods (3 cats [95% CI 1.9–4.5] Site 1, and 1.7 cats [95% CI 1.2–2.4] Site 2) but not substantially higher than in forest habitats (1.7 cats [95% CI 0.8–3.6] Site 1, and 1.5 cats [95% CI 1.1–2.0] Site 2). Model selection shows detection probabilities do not vary substantially by habitat (although they are also higher for cameras in forest margins and forest habitats) and are similar between sites (8.6% [95% CI 5.4–13.4] Site 1, and 8.3% [5.8–11.9] Site 2). Cat detections by camera traps are higher when placed in forests and forest margins; thus, strategic placement may be preferable when monitoring feral cats in a pastoral landscape

Public Scholarship at Indiana University-Purdue University

Community engagement is a defining attribute of the campus, and the current Strategic Plan identifies a number of strategic actions to “Deepen our Commitment to Community Engagement.” In May 2015, A Faculty Learning Community (FLC) on Public Scholarship was established in May, 2015 to address the campus strategic goals to “recognize and reward contributions to community engagement” and “define community engagement work…in Faculty Annual Reports and promotion and tenure guidelines.” At IUPUI, scholarly work occurs in research and creative activity, teaching, and/or service. In terms of promotion and tenure, faculty members must declare an area of excellence in one of these three domains. The FLC on Public Scholarship is a 3-year initiative co-sponsored by Academic Affairs and the Center for Service and Learning (CSL). Seven faculty members from across campus were selected to be part of the 2015-2016 FLC, and two co-chairs worked closely with CSL staff to plan and facilitate the ongoing work. The FLC is charged with defining public scholarship, identifying criteria to evaluate this type of scholarship, assist faculty in documenting their community-engaged work, and working with department Chairs and Deans in adapting criteria into promotion and tenure materials. The intended audiences for this work includes faculty, community-engaged scholars, public scholars, promotion and tenure committees, external reviewers, and department Chairs and Deans. The following provides background to the campus context and a brief summary of work to date, including definition and proposed criteria to evaluate public scholarship.IUPUI Center for Service and Learning; IUPUI Office of Academic Affair

Quantitative microbiology: a basis for food safety.

Because microorganisms are easily dispersed, display physiologic diversity, and tolerate extreme conditions, they are ubiquitous and may contaminate and grow in many food products. The behavior of microbial populations in foods (growth, survival, or death) is determined by the properties of the food (e.g., water activity and pH) and the storage conditions (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, and atmosphere). The effect of these properties can be predicted by mathematical models derived from quantitative studies on microbial populations. Temperature abuse is a major factor contributing to foodborne disease; monitoring temperature history during food processing, distribution, and storage is a simple, effective means to reduce the incidence of food poisoning. Interpretation of temperature profiles by computer programs based on predictive models allows informed decisions on the shelf life and safety of foods. In- or on-package temperature indicators require further development to accurately predict microbial behavior. We suggest a basis for a "universal" temperature indicator. This article emphasizes the need to combine kinetic and probability approaches to modeling and suggests a method to define the bacterial growth/no growth interface. Advances in controlling foodborne pathogens depend on understanding the pathogens' physiologic responses to growth constraints, including constraints conferring increased survival capacity

Talking Points on Publicly Engaged Scholarship at IUPUI

Talking Points on Publicly Engaged Scholarship at IUPUI Informed by Public Scholarship at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, a concept paper written by the Faculty Learning Community (FLC) on Public Scholarship and refined through ongoing FLC work between 2015-18 in collaboration with faculty across the campus and with nationally-recognized scholars

Cardiology providers’ recommendations for treatments and use of patient decision aids for multivessel coronary artery disease

Background: Rates of recommending percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) vary across clinicians. Whether clinicians agree on preferred treatment options for multivessel coronary artery disease patients has not been well studied. Methods and results: We distributed a survey to 104 clinicians from the Northern New England Cardiovascular Study Group through email and at a regional meeting with 88 (84.6%) responses. The survey described three clinical vignettes of multivessel coronary artery disease patients. For each patient vignette participants selected appropriate treatment options and whether they would use a patient decision aid. The likelihood of choosing PCI only or PCI/CABG over CABG only was modeled using a multinomial regression. Across all vignettes, participants selected CABG only as an appropriate treatment option 24.2% of the time, PCI only 25.4% of the time, and both CABG or PCI as appropriate treatment options 50.4% of the time. Surgeons were less likely to choose PCI over CABG (RR 0.14, 95% CI 0.03, 0.59) or both treatments over CABG only (RR 0.10, 95% CI 0.03, 0.34) relative to cardiologists. Overall, 65% of participants responded they would use a patient decision aid with each vignette. Conclusions: There is a lack of consensus on the appropriate treatment options across cardiologists and surgeons for patients with multivessel coronary artery disease. Treatment choice is influenced by both patient characteristics and clinician specialty