Psychological type and attitude towards Celtic Christianity among committed Churchgoers in the United Kingdom: an empirical study

This article takes the burgeoning interest in Celtic Christianity as a key example of the way in which churches may be responding to the changing spiritual and religious landscape in the United Kingdom today and examines the power of psychological type theory to account for variation in the attitude of committed churchgoers to this innovation. Data provided by a sample of 248 Anglican clergy and lay church officers (who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales together with the Attitude toward Celtic Christianity Scale) demonstrated that intuitive types, feeling types, and perceiving types reported a more positive attitude towards Celtic Christianity than sensing types, thinking types, and judging types. These findings are interpreted to analyse the appeal of Celtic Christianity and to suggest why some committed churchgoers may find this innovation less attractive

Market Sharing Agreements and Collusive Networks

This paper analyzes the formation of market sharing agreements among firms in oligopolistic markets and procurement auctions. The set of market sharing agreements defines a collusive network, and the paper provides a complete characterization of stable and efficient collusive networks when firms and markets are symmetric. Efficient networks are regular networks, where firms have the same number of market sharing agreements. Stable networks are formed of complete alliances, of different sizes, larger than a minimal threshold. Typically, stable networks display fewer market sharing agreements than the optimal network for the industry and more market sharing agreements than the socially optimal network. When firms or markets are asymmetric, incomplete alliances can form in stable networks, and stable networks may be underconnected with respect to the social optimum.Market sharing, Collusion, Economic networks, Oligopoly, Auctions

The Intermediate Line Region and the Baldwin Effect

Statistical investigations of samples of quasars have established that clusters of properties are correlated. The strongest trends among the ultraviolet emission-line properties are characterized by the object-to-object variation of emission from low-velocity gas, the so-called ``intermediate-line region'' or ILR. The strongest trends among the optical emission-line properties are characterized by the object-to-object variation of the line intensity ratio of [O III] 5007 to optical Fe II. Additionally, the strength of ILR emission correlates with [O III]/Fe II, as well as with radio and X-ray properties. The fundamental physical parameter driving these related correlations is not yet identified. Because the variation in the ILR dominates the variation in the equivalent widths of lines showing the Baldwin effect, it is important to understand whether the physical parameter underlying this variation also drives the Baldwin effect or is a primary source of scatter in the Baldwin effect.Comment: 11 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the meeting on "Quasars as Standard Candles for Cosmology" held on May 18-22, 1998, at La Serena, Chile. To be published by ASP, editor G. Ferlan

Complexity and Philosophy

The science of complexity is based on a new way of thinking that stands in sharp contrast to the philosophy underlying Newtonian science, which is based on reductionism, determinism, and objective knowledge. This paper reviews the historical development of this new world view, focusing on its philosophical foundations. Determinism was challenged by quantum mechanics and chaos theory. Systems theory replaced reductionism by a scientifically based holism. Cybernetics and postmodern social science showed that knowledge is intrinsically subjective. These developments are being integrated under the header of “complexity science”. Its central paradigm is the multi-agent system. Agents are intrinsically subjective and uncertain about their environment and future, but out of their local interactions, a global organization emerges. Although different philosophers, and in particular the postmodernists, have voiced similar ideas, the paradigm of complexity still needs to be fully assimilated by philosophy. This will throw a new light on old philosophical issues such as relativism, ethics and the role of the subject

Introduction to Principal Components Analysis

Understanding the inverse equivalent width - luminosity relationship (Baldwin Effect), the topic of this meeting, requires extracting information on continuum and emission line parameters from samples of AGN. We wish to discover whether, and how, different subsets of measured parameters may correlate with each other. This general problem is the domain of Principal Components Analysis (PCA). We discuss the purpose, principles, and the interpretation of PCA, using some examples from QSO spectroscopy. The hope is that identification of relationships among subsets of correlated variables may lead to new physical insight.Comment: Invited review to appear in ``Quasars and Cosmology'', A.S.P. Conference Series 1999. eds. G. J. Ferland, J. A. Baldwin, (San Francisco: ASP). 10 pages, 2 figure

The Continuum Slopes of Optically Selected QSOs

Quasi-simultaneous optical/near-IR photometry is presented for a sample of 37 luminous optically selected QSOs drawn from the Large Bright QSO Survey. Most of the QSOs have decreased in brightness since discovery; this is expected in flux-limited samples. The continuum shape of most of the QSOs can be represented by a power-law of the form F(nu) = nu**-0.3, but a few have softer (redder) continuum slopes.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 2 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Publ. AS