Institutional theory and legislatures

Institutionalism has become one of the dominant strands of theory within contemporary political science. Beginning with the challenge to behavioral and rational choice theory issued by March and Olsen, institutional analysis has developed into an important alternative to more individualistic approaches to theory and analysis. This body of theory has developed in a number of ways, and perhaps the most commonly applied version in political science is historical institutionalism that stresses the importance of path dependency in shaping institutional behaviour. The fundamental question addressed in this book is whether institutionalism is useful for the various sub-disciplines within political science to which it has been applied, and to what extent the assumptions inherent to institutional analysis can be useful for understanding the range of behavior of individuals and structures in the public sector. The volume will also examine the relative utility of different forms of institutionalism within the various sub-disciplines. The book consists of a set of strong essays by noted international scholars from a range of sub-disciplines within the field of political science, each analyzing their area of research from an institutionalist perspective and assessing what contributions this form of theorizing has made, and can make, to that research. The result is a balanced and nuanced account of the role of institutions in contemporary political science, and a set of suggestions for the further development of institutional theory

Atomic physics and modern solar spectro-polarimetry

Observational solar physics is entering a new era with the advent of new 1.5 m class telescopes with adaptive optics, as well as the Daniel K. Inouye 4 m telescope which will become operational in 2019. Major outstanding problems in solar physics all relate to the solar magnetic field. Spectropolarimetry offers the best, and sometimes only, method for accurate measurements of the magnetic field. In this paper we highlight how certain atomic transitions can help us provide both calibration data, as well as diagnostic information on solar magnetic fields, in the presence of residual image distortions through the atmosphere close to, but not at the diffraction limits of large and polarizing telescopes. Particularly useful are spectral lines of neutrals and singly charged ions of iron and other complex atoms. As a proof-of-concept, we explore atomic transitions that might be used to study magnetic fields without the need for an explicit calibration sequence, offering practical solutions to the difficult challenges of calibrating the next generation of solar spectropolarimetric telescopes. Suggestions for additional work on atomic theory and measurements, particularly at infrared wavelengths, are given. There is some promise for continued symbiotic advances between solar physics and atomic physics.Comment: Can. J. Phys., in pres

Tracking eigenvalues to the frontier of moduli space I: Convergence and spectral accumulation

We study the limiting behavior of eigenfunctions/eigenvalues of the Laplacian of a family of Riemannian metrics that degenerates on a hypersurface. Our results generalize earlier work concerning the degeneration of hyperbolic surfaces