Against Inefficacy Objections: The Real Economic Impact of Individual Consumer Choices on Animal Agriculture

When consumers choose to abstain from purchasing meat, they face some uncertainty about whether their decisions will have an impact on the number of animals raised and killed. Consequentialists have argued that this uncertainty should not dissuade consumers from a vegetarian diet because the “expected” impact, or average impact, will be predictable. Recently, however, critics have argued that the expected marginal impact of a consumer change is likely to be much smaller or more radically unpredictable than previously thought. This objection to the consequentialist case for vegetarianism is known as the “causal inefficacy” (or “causal impotence”) objection. In this paper, we argue that the inefficacy objection fails. First, we summarize the contours of the objection and the standard “expected impact” response to it. Second, we examine and rebut two contemporary attempts (by Mark Budolfson and Ted Warfield) to defeat the expected impact reply through alleged demonstrations of the inefficacy of abstaining from meat consumption. Third, we argue that there are good reasons to believe that single individual consumers—not just individual consumers taken as an aggregate—really do make a positive difference when they choose to abstain from meat consumption. Our case rests on three economic observations: (i) animal producers operate in a highly competitive environment, (ii) complex supply chains efficiently communicate some information about product demand, and (iii) consumers of plant-based meat alternatives have positive consumption spillover effects on other consumers

Contributions of Apolipoprotein E and Environmental Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder, which currently affects nearly 5.5 million people in the United States alone. Clinical features often exhibited in AD include memory loss, unusual behavior, personality changes, and impaired cognitive function. The primary molecular hallmarks of AD include deposits of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in brain tissue. A myriad of risk factors are associated with the disease, but this review will focus on Apolipoprotein E polymorphisms and certain environmental factors. Understanding the role of Apolipoprotein E in AD pathology may aid in the development of certain drug therapies and possible cures for AD. Moreover, epigenetic mechanisms such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation are equally important in understanding AD pathology. Environmental factors may have the potential to induce the epigenetic mechanisms associated with AD. As a result of these new findings, the focus of some AD research has recently shifted to a preventive approach in understanding AD pathology. The relationship between Apolipoprotein E polymorphisms and environmental factors in AD pathology will address the importance of preventive measures that can be taken in regard to AD

Pseudo-Automorphisms of positive entropy on the blowups of products of projective spaces

We use a concise method to construct pseudo-automorphisms f_n of the first dynamical degree d_1(f_n) > 1 on the blowups of the projective n-space for all n > 1 and more generally on the blowups of products of projective spaces. These f_n, for n = 3 have positive entropy, and for n > 3 seem to be the first examples of pseudo-automorphisms with d_1(f_n) > 1 (and of non-product type) on rational varieties of higher dimensions.Comment: Mathematische Annalen (to appear

Processes underlying the nutritional programming of embryonic development by iron deficiency in the rat

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Geometry and observables in (2+1)-gravity

We review the geometrical properties of vacuum spacetimes in (2+1)-gravity with vanishing cosmological constant. We explain how these spacetimes are characterised as quotients of their universal cover by holonomies. We explain how this description can be used to clarify the geometrical interpretation of the fundamental physical variables of the theory, holonomies and Wilson loops. In particular, we discuss the role of Wilson loop observables as the generators of the two fundamental transformations that change the geometry of (2+1)-spacetimes, grafting and earthquake. We explain how these variables can be determined from realistic measurements by an observer in the spacetime.Comment: Talk given at 2nd School and Workshop on Quantum Gravity and Quantum Geometry (Corfu, September 13-20 2009); 10 pages, 13 eps figure