Pigford, Shrader-Frechette & the NRC Report on Yucca Mountain: Comment

Dr. Okrent raises several questions related to, e.g., the uneven application of the goal of intergenerational equity

Farm Commodity Policy and Obesity

Many commentators have claimed that farm subsidies have contributed significantly to the “obesity epidemic” by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant and, symmetrically, that taxing “unhealthy” commodities or subsidizing “healthy” commodities would contribute to reducing obesity rates. This paper makes three contributions. First, we review evidence from the literature on the impacts on food consumption and obesity resulting from subsidies applied in the past to production or consumption of farm commodities. Second, we develop and present new arguments and preliminary evidence on the impacts of past government investments in agricultural R&D on food consumption and obesity—through research-induced increases in agricultural productivity and the consequences for prices, production, and consumption of farm commodities. Third, we consider and compare the economic efficiency of hypothetical agricultural research policies (changing the orientation of agricultural research investments) versus hypothetical agricultural commodity subsidies and taxes as alternative mechanisms for encouraging consumption of healthy food or discouraging consumption of unhealthy food, or both.Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

The Demand for Food in the United States: A Review of the Literature, Evaluation of Previous Estimates, and Presentation of New Estimates of Demand

Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The Identity of Indiscernibles and Spinoza\u27s Argument for Substance Monism

In A Study of Spinoza\u27s Ethics, Bennett provides an analysis of what he calls Spinoza\u27s \u27offical argument\u27 of substance monism. The official argument is Bennett\u27s interpretation of the demonstration of 1P14, and his criticisms of it are powerful ones. This paper addresses one aspect of Bennet\u27s criticisms. A premise of the official argument is the conclusion of 1P5, that there cannot be two substances with an attribute in common. Bennett argues that 1P5 is insufficient to support 1P14. This paper argues that a correct understanding of Spinoza\u27s version of the identity of indiscernibles reveals that 1P5 is sufficient to support 1P14 and Spinoza\u27s argument for substance monism

Leibniz on Substance and God in That a Most Perfect Being is Possible

Leibniz used Descartes\u27 strict notion of substance in That a Most Perfect being is Possible to characterize God but did not intend to undermine his own philosophical views by denying that there are created substances. The metaphysical view of substance in this passage is Cartesian. A discussion of radical substance without any sort of denial in the possibility of other substances does not indicate Spinozism. If this interpretation is correct, then the passage is neither anomalous nor mysterious. There is reason to believe that the passage expresses just the beliefs that we should expect Leibniz to hold in his De Summa Rerum period. Furthermore, this interpretation indicates that while Leibniz\u27s metaphysics during this stage of his career is suggestively similar to Spinoza\u27s, there is no evidence that Leibniz accepted Spinoza\u27s pantheistic conclusion

A Note on Leibniz\u27s Supposed Flirtation with Occasionalism in the 1669 Letter to Thomasius

According to the traditional account of Leibniz\u27s early philosophy, he briefly accepted a broadly Cartesian physics by which only God has the ability to move bodies by continually recreating them in different places... Some believe that this Cartesianism, which seems to be endorsed in the 1669 letter to Thomasius, indicates that Leibniz accepted a version of occasionalism in that letter. This paper argues that Leibniz does not hold an occasionalistic notion of causation in the 1669 letter to Thomasius. In pursuing a synthesis of hylomorphism and Cartesianism, Leibniz arrives at an account that avoids occasionalism and has striking similaries to scholastic theories about motion

Spinoza on the Essence, Mutability and Power of God

This paper argues that Spinoza makes a distinction between the constitutive essence of God (the totality of His attributes) and the essence of God per se (His power and causal efficacy). Using this distinction, I explain how Spinoza can conceive of God as being both an immutable simple unity and a subject for constantly changing modes. Spinoza believes that God qua Natura Naturans is immutable while God qua Natura Naturata is not. With this point established, Curley\u27s claim that Spinozistic modes are causally dependent on but not properties of God loses much of its attraction. In conclusion, I suggest how God\u27s essence is related to His attributes and His modes

Descartes\u27 Two Accounts of Mind Body Union

First paragraph: Descartes was committed both to the Christian doctrine of the unity of man and to an experimentally oriented mechanistic science. Furthermore, he was committed to a dualistic metaphysics in which humans consist of a union of mind (res cogitans) and body (res extensa), which are absolutely distinct substances. There has been little agreement on how his explanation of union reflects his commitments. Some philosophers argue that Descarte\u27s primary or only account of union was the co-extension view because it is compatible with the unity of man. As we will see, however, the co-extension account would not have satisfied Descartes\u27 scientific inclinations. Philosophers who pay serious attention to the difficulties with the co-extension account argue that Descartes accepted or should have accepted the natural institution account of union, which is compatible with his scientific commitments. However, the natural institution account is guilty of a Platonism and arbitrariness that conflicts with the unity of man. I will argue that Descartes\u27 desire to accommodate all his commitments drove him to accept and be devoted to both the co-extension and the natural institution accounts

An Integrated Method for Airfoil Optimization

Design exploration and optimization is a large part of the initial engineering and design process. To evaluate the aerodynamic performance of a design, viscous Navier-Stokes solvers can be used. However this method can prove to be overwhelmingly time consuming when performing an initial design sweep. Therefore, another evaluation method is needed to provide accurate results at a faster pace. To accomplish this goal, a coupled viscous-inviscid method is used. This thesis proposes an integrated method for analyzing, evaluating, and optimizing an airfoil using a coupled viscous-inviscid solver along with a genetic algorithm to find the optimal candidate. The method proposed is different from prior optimization efforts in that it greatly broadens the design space, while allowing the optimization to search for the best candidate that will meet multiple objectives over a characteristic mission profile rather than over a single condition and single optimization parameter. The increased design space is due to the use of multiple parametric airfoil families, namely the NACA 4 series, CST family, and the PARSEC family. Almost all possible airfoil shapes can be created with these three families allowing for all possible configurations to be included. This inclusion of multiple airfoil families addresses a possible criticism of prior optimization attempts since by only focusing on one airfoil family, they were inherently limiting the number of possible airfoil configurations. By using multiple parametric airfoils, it can be assumed that all reasonable airfoil configurations are included in the analysis and optimization and that a global and not local maximum is found. Additionally, the method used is amenable to customization to suit any specific needs as well as including the effects of other physical phenomena or design criteria and/or constraints. This thesis found that an airfoil configuration that met multiple objectives could be found for a given set of nominal operational conditions from a broad design space with the use of minimal computational resources on both an absolute and relative scale to traditional analysis techniques. Aerodynamicists, program managers, aircraft configuration specialist, and anyone else in charge of aircraft configuration, design studies, and program level decisions might find the evaluation and optimization method proposed of interest