The U.S. and Irish Credit Crises: Their Distinctive Differences and Common Features

Abstract: Although the US credit crisis precipitated it, the Irish credit crisis is an identifiably separate one, which might have occurred in the absence of the U.S. crash. The distinctive differences between them are notable. Almost all the apparent causal factors of the U.S. crisis are missing in the Irish case; and the same applies vice-versa. At a deeper level, we identify four common features of the two credit crises: capital bonanzas, irrational exuberance, regulatory imprudence, and moral hazard. The particular manifestations of these four “deep” common features are quite different in the two cases.

Reappraisal of the astm/aashto standard rolling device method for plastic limit determination of fine-grained soils

Given its apparent limitations, various attempts have been made to develop alternative testing approaches to the standardized rolling-thread plastic limit (PLRT) method (for fine-grained soils), targeting higher degrees of repeatability and reproducibility. Among these, device-rolling techniques, including the method described in ASTM D4318/AASHTO T90 standards, based on original work by Bobrowski and Griekspoor (BG) and which follows the same basic principles as the standard thread-rolling (by hand) test, have been highly underrated by some researchers. To better understand the true potentials and/or limitations of the BG method for soil plasticity determination (i.e., PLBG), this paper presents a critical reappraisal of the PLRT–PLBG relationship using a comprehensive statistical analysis performed on a large and diverse database of 60 PLRT– PLBG test pairs. It is demonstrated that for a given fine-grained soil, the BG and RT methods produce essentially similar PL values. The 95% lower and upper (water content) statistical agreement limits between PLBG and PLRT were, respectively, obtained as −5.03% and +4.51%, and both deemed “statistically insignificant” when compared to the inductively-defined reference limit of ±8% (i.e., the highest possible difference in PLRT based on its repeatability, as reported in the literature). Furthermore, the likelihoods of PLBG underestimating and overestimating PLRT were 50% and 40%, respectively; debunking the notion presented by some researchers that the BG method generally tends to greatly underestimate PLRT. It is also shown that the degree of underestimation/overestimation does not systematically change with changes in basic soil properties; suggesting that the differences between PLBG and PLRT are most likely random in nature. Compared to PLRT, the likelihood of achieving consistent soil classifications employing PLBG (along with the liquid limit) was shown to be 98%, with the identified discrepancies being cases that plot relatively close to the A-Line. As such, PLBG can be used with confidence for soil classification purposes. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Analytic solutions for a three-level system in a time-dependent field

This paper generalizes some known solitary solutions of a time-dependent Hamiltonian in two ways: The time-dependent field can be an elliptic function, and the time evolution is obtained for a complete set of basis vectors. The latter makes it feasible to consider arbitrary initial conditions. The former makes it possible to observe a beating caused by the non-linearity of the driving field.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Modeling the compaction characteristics of fine-grained soils blended with tire-derived aggregates

This study aims at modeling the compaction characteristics of fine-grained soils blended with sand-sized (0.075–4.75 mm) recycled tire-derived aggregates (TDAs). Model development and calibration were performed using a large and diverse database of 100 soil–TDA compaction tests (with the TDA-to-soil dry mass ratio ≤ 30%) assembled from the literature. Following a comprehensive statistical analysis, it is demonstrated that the optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum dry unit weight (MDUW) for soil–TDA blends (across different soil types, TDA particle sizes and compaction energy levels) can be expressed as universal power functions of the OMC and MDUW of the unamended soil, along with the soil to soil–TDA specific gravity ratio. Employing the Bland– Altman analysis, the 95% upper and lower (water content) agreement limits between the predicted and measured OMC values were, respectively, obtained as +1.09% and −1.23%, both of which can be considered negligible for practical applications. For the MDUW predictions, these limits were calculated as +0.67 and −0.71 kN/m3, which (like the OMC) can be deemed acceptable for prediction purposes. Having established the OMC and MDUW of the unamended fine-grained soil, the em-pirical models proposed in this study offer a practical procedure towards predicting the compaction characteristics of the soil–TDA blends without the hurdles of performing separate laboratory compaction tests, and thus can be employed in practice for preliminary design assessments and/or soil– TDA optimization studies. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

En relisant Mill (I)

On explique selon qu’on a su comprendre. On comprend selon qu’on a su observer. Compréhension et explication sont, en toute science où elles sont recherchées, tributaires d’une observation qui devra, pour susciter pleinement l’une et l’autre, être fine et complète. J’ai toujours été convaincue du bien-fondé du conseil que donne Costals, porte-parole de Montherlant (Pitié pour les femmes, 1936), à son amie Solange, lorsqu’il lui explique l’intérêt qu’il y a à se cantonner à un nombre réduit de..

Mode et modalité : de Bréal à Bally

0. Avant-propos Dans son introduction (« Coup d’œil sur l’histoire de la linguistique »), Saussure (1916) divise l’histoire des idées linguistiques en trois grandes phases successives : (i) celle de la grammaire, créée « par les Grecs, continuée principalement par les Français […] fondée sur la logique et dépourvue de toute vue scientifique […] », (ii) celle de la critique philologique (née en Alexandrie) initiée par Friedrich August Wolf en 1777, qui cherche avant tout à « fixer, interpréter..

10. Eléments de stylistique systématique : A propos d’un texte de Harold Pinter

Sans la vue très nette de [la] relativité synchronique des moyens d’expression, il n’y a pas de stylistique possible, pas plus qu’il ne peut exister de système grammatical.Charles Bally, Traité de stylistique française, 1909. 1. Expérience, représentation, expression La première partie du présent exposé a pour objet d’apporter quelques éléments de réponse à la question implicitement posée par l’intitulé du présent colloque : Sur quels principes théoriques repose notre pratique d’analystes du ..

Du temps perdu au temps retrouvé : Proust face à Genette

1. Le cas Genette : Discours du récit. Essai de méthode (1972) 1.1. Expansion du verbe et récit, ou « Marcel devient écrivain » Discours du récit a longtemps servi de manuel de référence aux littéraires désireux de s'initier à ce qu'on appelait à l'époque la « nouvelle critique ». Pour les littéraires, en effet, l'approche de Genette était rassurante, car tout en s'inscrivant dans la tradition de la « poétique » aristotélicienne, elle faisait appel aux nouvelles disciplines para- linguistique..