Being Good in a World of Need: Some Empirical Worries and an Uncomfortable Philosophical Possibility

In this article, I present some worries about the possible impact of global efforts to aid the needy in some of the world’s most desperate regions. Among the worries I address are possible unintended negative consequences that may occur elsewhere in a society when aid agencies hire highly qualified local people to promote their agendas; the possibility that foreign interests and priorities may have undue influence on a country’s direction and priorities, negatively impacting local authority and autonomy; and the related problem of outside interventions undermining the responsiveness of local and national governments to their citizens. Another issue I discuss is the possibility that efforts to aid the needy may involve an Each-We Dilemma, in which case conflicts may arise between what is individually rational or moral, and what is collectively rational or moral. Unfortunately, it is possible that if each of us does what we have most reason to do, morally, in aiding the needy, we together will bring about an outcome which is worse, morally, in terms of its overall impact on the global needy. The article ends by briefly noting a number of claims and arguments that I made in my 2017 Uehiro Lectures regarding how good people should respond in a world of need. As I have long argued, I have no doubt that those who are well off are open to serious moral criticism if they ignore the plight of the needy. Unfortunately, however, for a host of both empirical and philosophical reasons, what one should do in light of that truth is much more complex, and murky, than most people have realized

Endomorphisms of power series fields and residue fields of Fargues-Fontaine curves

We show that for k a perfect field of characteristic p, there exist endomorphisms of the completed algebraic closure of k((t)) which are not bijective. As a corollary, we resolve a question of Fargues and Fontaine by showing that for p a prime and C_p a completed algebraic closure of Q_p, there exist closed points of the Fargues-Fontaine curve associated to C_p whose residue fields are not (even abstractly) isomorphic to C_p as topological fields.Comment: 6 pages; v7: refereed version; added reference to Matignon-Reversa

National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program Evaluation: Final Report, Rounds 3 Through 5

The Urban Institute completed a four-year evaluation of Rounds 3 through 5 of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program. Using a representative NFMC sample of 137,000 loans and a comparison non-NFMC sample of 103,000 loans, the Urban Institute was able to employ robust statistical techniques to isolate the impact of NFMC counseling on loan performance through June 2013.The final evaluation of Rounds 3 through 5 conducted by Urban Institute indicates that the NFMC program continues to have positive effects for homeowners participating in the program Counseled homeowners were more likely to cure a serious delinquency or foreclosure with a modification or other type cure, stay current after obtaining a cure, and for NFMC clients who cured a serious delinquency, avoid foreclosure altogether

Onsager approach to 1D solidification problem and its relation to phase field description

We give a general phenomenological description of the steady state 1D front propagation problem in two cases: the solidification of a pure material and the isothermal solidification of two component dilute alloys. The solidification of a pure material is controlled by the heat transport in the bulk and the interface kinetics. The isothermal solidification of two component alloys is controlled by the diffusion in the bulk and the interface kinetics. We find that the condition of positive-definiteness of the symmetric Onsager matrix of interface kinetic coefficients still allows an arbitrary sign of the slope of the velocity-concentration line near the solidus in the alloy problem or of the velocity-temperature line in the case of solidification of a pure material. This result offers a very simple and elegant way to describe the interesting phenomenon of a possible non-single-value behavior of velocity versus concentration which has previously been discussed by different approaches. We also discuss the relation of this Onsager approach to the thin interface limit of the phase field description.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review

On the role of confinement on solidification in pure materials and binary alloys

We use a phase-field model to study the effect of confinement on dendritic growth, in a pure material solidifying in an undercooled melt, and in the directional solidification of a dilute binary alloy. Specifically, we observe the effect of varying the vertical domain extent ($\delta$) on tip selection, by quantifying the dendrite tip velocity and curvature as a function of $\delta$, and other process parameters. As $\delta$ decreases, we find that the operating state of the dendrite tips becomes significantly affected by the presence of finite boundaries. For particular boundary conditions, we observe a switching of the growth state from 3-D to 2-D at very small $\delta$, in both the pure material and alloy. We demonstrate that results from the alloy model compare favorably with those from an experimental study investigating this effect.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 3 table

Size-Specific Emergence of the Marsh Snail, Littorina irrorata: Effect of Predation by Blue Crabs in a Virginia Salt Marsh

Marsh periwinkles of 5 to 7 mm in shell height were eaten regularly by blue crabs. Fractures marking unsuccessful crab attacks were present in about 25% of medium-sized (10-16 mm) snails and over 60% of larger snails (over 16 mm). Medium-sized snails, subject to predation, leave the water more frequently than larger snails, but only about a quarter of the snail population leaves the water during high tide. We found no evidence that the snails leave the water because they sense blue crabs in the water