Human Ecology and Public Policy: Overcoming the Hegemony of Economics

The thinking of those with the power to formulate and implement public policy is now almost totally dominated by the so-called science of economics. While efforts have been made to supplement or modify economics to make it less brutal or less environmentally blind, here it is suggested that economics is so fundamentally flawed and that it so completely dominates the culture of late modern capitalism (or postmodernity) that a new master human science is required to displace it and provide an alternative coordinating framework for research and for defining reality. This could then provide an alternative basis for formulating public policy. It is argued that if human ecology is to fill this role, it will must be developed on consistently anti-reductionist foundations, and that such a social science would totally reorient public policy from a domain for power elites to a domain for genuinely democratic societies to define and control their destinies

Controllability of 2D Euler and Navier-Stokes equations by degenerate forcing

We study controllability issues for the 2D Euler and Navier- Stokes (NS) systems under periodic boundary conditions. These systems describe motion of homogeneous ideal or viscous incompressible fluid on a two-dimensional torus T^2. We assume the system to be controlled by a degenerate forcing applied to fixed number of modes. In our previous work [3, 5, 4] we studied global controllability by means of degenerate forcing for Navier-Stokes (NS) systems with nonvanishing viscosity (\nu > 0). Methods of dfferential geometric/Lie algebraic control theory have been used for that study. In [3] criteria for global controllability of nite-dimensional Galerkin approximations of 2D and 3D NS systems have been established. It is almost immediate to see that these criteria are also valid for the Galerkin approximations of the Euler systems. In [5, 4] we established a much more intricate suf- cient criteria for global controllability in finite-dimensional observed component and for L2-approximate controllability for 2D NS system. The justication of these criteria was based on a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction to a finite-dimensional system. Possibility of such a reduction rested upon the dissipativity of NS system, and hence the previous approach can not be adapted for Euler system. In the present contribution we improve and extend the controllability results in several aspects: 1) we obtain a stronger sufficient condition for controllability of 2D NS system in an observed component and for L2- approximate controllability; 2) we prove that these criteria are valid for the case of ideal incompressible uid (\nu = 0); 3) we study solid controllability in projection on any finite-dimensional subspace and establish a sufficient criterion for such controllability

Defining biodiverse reforestation: Why it matters for climate change mitigation and biodiversity

Reforestation to capture and store atmospheric carbon is increasingly championed as a climate change mitigation policy response. Reforestation plantings have the potential to provide conservation co-benefits when diverse mixtures of native species are planted, and there are growing attempts to monetise biodiversity benefits from carbon reforestation projects, particularly within emerging carbon markets. But what is meant by ‘biodiverse’ across different stakeholders and groups implementing and overseeing these projects and how do these perceptions compare with long-standing scientific definitions? Here, we discuss approaches to, and definitions of, biodiversity in the context of reforestation for carbon sequestration. Our aim is to review how the concept of biodiversity is defined and applied among stakeholders (e.g., governments, carbon certifiers and farmers) and rights holders (i.e., First Nations people) engaging in reforestation, and to identify best-practice methods for restoring biodiversity in these projects. We find that some stakeholders have a vague understanding of diversity across varying levels of biological organisation (genes to ecosystems). While most understand that biodiversity underpins ecosystem functions and services, many stakeholders may not appreciate the difficulties of restoring biodiversity akin to reference ecosystems. Consequently, biodiversity goals are rarely explicit, and project goals may never be achieved because the levels of restored biodiversity are inadequate to support functional ecosystems and desired ecosystem services. We suggest there is significant value in integrating biodiversity objectives into reforestation projects and setting specific restoration goals with transparent reporting outcomes will pave the way for ensuring reforestation projects have meaningful outcomes for biodiversity, and legitimate incentive payments for biodiversity and natural capital accounting

The Seven-sphere and its Kac-Moody Algebra

We investigate the seven-sphere as a group-like manifold and its extension to a Kac-Moody-like algebra. Covariance properties and tensorial composition of spinors under $S^7$ are defined. The relation to Malcev algebras is established. The consequences for octonionic projective spaces are examined. Current algebras are formulated and their anomalies are derived, and shown to be unique (even regarding numerical coefficients) up to redefinitions of the currents. Nilpotency of the BRST operator is consistent with one particular expression in the class of (field-dependent) anomalies. A Sugawara construction is given.Comment: 22 pages. Macropackages used: phyzzx, epsf. Three epsf figure files appende

Minimum Wages and Poverty with Income-Sharing

Textbook analysis tells us that in a competitive labor market, the introduction of a minimum wage in terms of poverty rather than in terms of unemployment. This paper makes three contributions to the basic theory of the minimum wage. First, we analyze the effects of a higher minimum wage in terms of poverty rather than in terms of unemployment. Second, we extend the standard textbook model to allow for income-sharing between employed and unemployed persons in society. Third, we extend the basic model to deal with income sharing within families. We find that there are situations in which a higher minimum wage raises poverty, others where it reduces poverty, and yet others in which poverty is unchanged. We characterize precisely how the poverty effect depends on four parameters: the degree of poverty aversion, the elasticity of labor demand, the ratio of the minimum wage to the poverty line, and the extent of income-sharing. Thus, shifting the perspective from unemployment to poverty leads to a considerable enrichment of the theory of the minimum wage

Quasi-particle model for lattice QCD: quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions

We propose a quasi-particle model to describe the lattice QCD equation of state for pure SU(3) gauge theory in its deconfined state, for $T \ge 1.5T_c$. The method involves mapping the interaction part of the equation of state to an effective fugacity of otherwise non-interacting quasi-gluons. We find that this mapping is exact. Using the quasi-gluon distribution function, we determine the energy density and the modified dispersion relation for the single particle energy, in which the trace anomaly is manifest. As an application, we first determine the Debye mass, and then the important transport parameters, {\it viz}, the shear viscosity, $\eta$ and the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio, $\eta/{\mathcal S}$. We find that both $\eta$ and $\eta/{\mathcal S}$ are sensitive to the interactions, and that the interactions significantly lower both $\eta$ and $\eta/\mathcal S$.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, epj class file, version accepted for publication in Euro. Phys.J

Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions

We review the most important experimental results from the first three years of nucleus-nucleus collision studies at RHIC, with emphasis on results from the STAR experiment, and we assess their interpretation and comparison to theory. The theory-experiment comparison suggests that central Au+Au collisions at RHIC produce dense, rapidly thermalizing matter characterized by: (1) initial energy densities above the critical values predicted by lattice QCD for establishment of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP); (2) nearly ideal fluid flow, marked by constituent interactions of very short mean free path, established most probably at a stage preceding hadron formation; and (3) opacity to jets. Many of the observations are consistent with models incorporating QGP formation in the early collision stages, and have not found ready explanation in a hadronic framework. However, the measurements themselves do not yet establish unequivocal evidence for a transition to this new form of matter. The theoretical treatment of the collision evolution, despite impressive successes, invokes a suite of distinct models, degrees of freedom and assumptions of as yet unknown quantitative consequence. We pose a set of important open questions, and suggest additional measurements, at least some of which should be addressed in order to establish a compelling basis to conclude definitively that thermalized, deconfined quark-gluon matter has been produced at RHIC.Comment: 101 pages, 37 figures; revised version to Nucl. Phys.

Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV

We report the STAR measurement of Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV. Using the event mixing technique, the Phi spectra and yields are obtained at mid-rapidity for five centrality bins in Au+Au collisions and for non-singly-diffractive p+p collisions. It is found that the Phi transverse momentum distributions from Au+Au collisions are better fitted with a single-exponential while the p+p spectrum is better described by a double-exponential distribution. The measured nuclear modification factors indicate that Phi production in central Au+Au collisions is suppressed relative to peripheral collisions when scaled by the number of binary collisions. The systematics of versus centrality and the constant Phi/K- ratio versus beam species, centrality, and collision energy rule out kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for Phi production.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Relevance of nucleon spin in amplitude analysis of reactions pi(-)p->pi(0)pi(0)n and pi(-)p->eta eta n

The measurements of reactions $\pi^- p \to \pi^- \pi^+ n$ and $\pi^+ n \to \pi^+ \pi^- p$ on polarized targets at CERN found a strong dependence of pion production amplitudes on nucleon spin. Analyses of recent measurements of $\pi^- p \to \pi^0\pi^0 n$ reaction on unpolarized targets by GAMS Collaboration at 38 GeV/c and BNL E852 Collaboration at 18 GeV/c use the assumption that pion production amplitudes do not depend on nucleon spin, in conflict with the CERN results on polarized targets. We show that measurements of $\pi^- p \to \pi^0\pi^0 n$ and $\pi^- p \to \eta\eta n$ on unpolarized targets can be analysed in a model independent way in terms of 4 partial-wave intensities and 3 independent interference phases in the mass region where $S$- and $D$-wave dominate. We also describe model-independent amplitude analysis of $\pi^- p \to \pi^0\pi^0 n$ reaction measured on polarized target, both in the absence and in the presence of $G$-wave amplitudes. We suggest that high statistics measurements of reactions $\pi^- p \to \pi^0 \pi^0 n$ and $\pi^- p \to \eta\eta n$ be made on polarized targets at Protvino IHEP and at BNL, and that model-independent amplitude analyses of this polarized data be performed to advance hadron spectroscopy on the level of spin dependent production amplitudes.Comment: 54 page