First Order Estimation of Calving Losses from Gulf of Alaska Glaciers

Despite its importance in projections of sea level rise, dynamic mass loss from tidewater glaciers remains poorly constrained and understood. Owing to this difficulty, very few long-term or estimates of dynamic losses exist, and regional estimates of dynamic loss are nonexistent. Many studies have highlighted the importance of Alaska glaciers to sea level rise (e.g., Berthier and others, 2010). In this study, we present a detailed record of length fluctuations of Gulf of Alaska (GOA) tidewater glaciers, and propose a method to estimate calving fluxes on a regional level

Defeating Naturalism: Defending and Reformulating Plantinga\u27s EAAN

Abstract: During the past two decades, Alvin Plantinga has formulated an argument against naturalism that focuses on naturalism’s acceptance of contemporary evolutionary theory. Plantinga argues that given naturalism and evolution, our cognitive faculties have been developed to produce beliefs that meet the Darwinian requirement of survival and reproduction. Plantinga argues that accepting this will lead a naturalist to have a defeater for all of their beliefs, including their belief in naturalism. In this paper, I survey and respond to two types of objections that have been given as a response to Plantinga’s argument. The first objection that I interact with is an objection given by Michael Bergmann. Bergmann argues that a naturalist can continue to hold on to both their naturalism and their belief that their faculties are reliable, even if the probability of their faculties being reliable is low. The second objection that I interact with is an objection that can be seen in the work of Jerry Fodor and Stephen Law. This objection argues that beliefs that enable survival and reproduction will likely be truth conducive and thus, the chance of having reliable faculties is high. I respond to this argument by first reiterating Plantinga’s traditional response to this objection. After I clarify and defend this traditional response, I then reformulate Plantinga’s argument to specifically address metaphysical beliefs. Not only does this give the non-naturalist two different responses to this objection, but I take it that the reformulation could be seen as even more persuasive than the traditional formulation

Business Cycles and the Role of Confidence: Evidence from Europe

Using an under-utilised dataset on consumer and business confidence indicators across the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands, this paper considers the extent to which such indicators are linked to GDP and the business cycle. We adopt, cross correlation descriptive statistics, Granger causality tests, variance decomposition, and forecast probit tests to investigate the properties of the data. In general consumer and business confidence indicators are leading indicators and pro-cyclical. There is some evidence of causality between the indicators and GDP and confidence indicators would appear to have good predictive power of cycle turning points in relation to other leading indicators.

Return to education in Malaysia

The aim of this paper is to present a picture of return to education in Malaysia over the period from 1984 to 1997 based on earning equations model. The paper employed a set of data comprising micro-level data from the Household Income Survey (HIS) for several years during the period 1984 to 1997. The main finding of this paper is the changes in the wage differentials favouring the middle level of education (secondary level of education) workers. In general, the results show that the return for each level of qualification declined between 1984 and 1997,especially at the higher levels (diploma and degree). Interestingly, the return to education for females at low levels of education is higher than the return by males. However, at higher levels of qualification, especially for those with secondary and high school qualifications, males traditionally have a higher return compared to females workers. The results also indicated a significant gender differential, however the differences has fallen over time

Firm Performance, Worker Commitment and Loyalty

Using matched employer-employee level data drawn from the UK Workplace and Employee Relations Survey, we explore the influence of worker commitment and loyalty on firm level labour productivity and financial performance. Our empirical findings suggest that worker commitment and loyalty enhance both labour productivity and financial performance at the firm level thereby highlighting a hitherto neglected conduit for improved firm performance. Using employee level data, we also explore the determinants of worker commitment and loyalty in order to ascertain how such attachments to the firm may be engendered. In general, our employee level analysis suggests that it is firm level characteristics (such as appraisal schemes, supervision, suspensions and redundancies) that influence attachments to the firm. Such findings suggest that firms may be able to exert some influence over the loyalty and commitment of its workforce, which, in turn, may affect firm performance

Higher education academic salaries in the UK

It is widely believed that higher education academic salaries are too low, and that this may lead to a ‘brain drain’ and also lower quality in higher education, as universities fail to attract the ‘brightest and the best’. We compare the salaries of Higher Education teaching professionals in the UK with those of other comparable professionals. We compare academic salaries to a range of occupational groupings that one might view as similar, in terms of unobserved characteristics, to academics. We conclude that HE teaching professionals earn lower earnings than most public sector graduates and do particularly poorly compared to most other comparable professionals. In particular, academic earnings compare poorly to those in the legal professions, consultant physicians and dental practitioners (across both the public and private sectors). On the other hand, some public sector workers do worse than HE academics, e.g. FE teachers

The Beast Within: H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and human evolution in the mid-1890s

H.G. Wells’ novels The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau were both concerned with the evolutionary destiny of mankind and what it meant to be human, both important areas of discussion for Victorian natural science in the 1890s. In this essay I set these two works in their broader scientific context and explore some of the then contemporary influences on them drawn from the emerging disciplines of archaeology and anthropology. Wells was a student of T.H. Huxley whose influence on his own emerging views on human evolution are clear. While most scientists and the lay-public accepted the reality of evolution by the 1890s, and the natural origins of the human species, fear of the implications of our ‘primitive’ heritage pervaded popular and scientific works. Wells bridged that gap with an uncompromising outlook delivered to the public as scientific truth delivered through short stories, novels and scientific journalism