LAJOS JÁNOSSY’S REFORMULATION OF RELATIVITY THEORY IN THE CONTEXTS OF „DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM” AND TRADITIONAL SCIENTIFIC RATIONALISM

The late Hungarian physicist Lajos Jánossy is respected in international physics first of all for his results achieved in the field of cosmic radiations, but his work in the alternative, Lorentzian tradition of relativity theory is also of historical importance. As an adopted son of the Hungarian Marxist philosopher, Georg Lukács, he was socialised in a left-wing spirit. He formulated a philosophical criticism of Einstein’s theory in terms of dialectical materialism in the 1950s and 1960s. In contrast to the new Soviet thesis valid in Soviet ideology from 1955, he insisted that the positivist, Machian epistemological foundation determinatively influenced the physical level of Einstein’s relativity theory and distorted its real physical meaning. He also rejected the anti-commonsense character of Einstein’s new concepts of space and time and argued for the necessity of a commonsense-conform physics. However, in contrast to the Soviet critics of relativity theory of the Stalinist period, Jánossy never used ideology to destroy the scientific authenticity of Einstein’s theory, but, accepting the Einsteinian-Lorentzian mathematics as one of the great achievements of the history of physics, he announced and successfully implemented a positive program of a commonsense-conform, non-positivist, Lorentz-based reformulation of the theory. The socialcultural background of Jánossy’s reformulation of relativity theory is characterised by the strain of two contradictory elements: on the one hand, his left wing, Marxist commitment,on the other, his socialization in Western, “bourgeois” science and culture. Through a Marxist, “dialectical materialist” criticism of the positivist, Machian aspects of Einstein’s theory as well as through his work for a commonsense–conform physics, Jánossy defended not only Marxism but also the classical tradition of scientific rationalism as an essential element of European culture

First occurrence of the eel parasite Paraquimperia tenerrima in lake Balaton, Hungary

The parasite fauna of the eel has been studied regularly since the first imported eels were introduced to Lake Balaton in 1963. Over a long period of time no important parasitic infections were recorded. However, the importance of nematode infections has increased since 1991, when the pathogenic nematode Anguillicola crassus was first detected and intensive eel mortalities started to occur. This paper reports on the first occurrence of Paraquimperia tenerrima, a small nematode infecting the gut of the eel. Paraquimperia tenerrima is a common parasite in rivers of several European countries. Due to the small size and the low prevalence of the worm its pathogenic effect upon eels seems to be negligible in Lake Balaton

Paratenic hosts for the parasitic nematode Anguillicola crassus in Lake Balaton, Hungary

A 1 yr study was conducted to determine which fish species may play a role in the life cycle of Anguillicola crassus in various habitats of Lake Balaton, Hungary. The prevalence and intensity of the larval infection of fish species acting as paratenic hosts was studied, and observations were made on the types of paratenic host reactions against larvae. With the exception of 1 species, all 20 fish species were infected by A. crassus larvae; however, the prevalence and intensity of infection varied widely. Six species (asp, white bream, Chinese rasbora, pike, river goby, European catfish), hitherto unreported as paratenic hosts, also proved to be infected by larvae in Lake Balaton. Of the 13 fish species examined in large numbers, ruffe and European catfish showed the highest prevalence of infection (100 %), followed by river goby (83 %), white bream (79 %) and bleak (68 %). Of these 13 fish species, ruffe showed the highest intensity of infection by live larvae (mean intensity: 39.3 3rd stage larvae, L3), followed by European catfish (mean number of live larvae: 26.9) and river goby (mean number of live larvae: 9.1). The mean number of live L3 in bleak, a species regarded as the principal food source for eels, was 4.1. Specimens containing only dead or both dead and live larvae were much more common in cyprinid fishes than in species belonging to other taxonomical entities. In these fish, the process of encapsulation and subsequent necrosis of live larvae could also be observed. With knowledge of the feeding habits of eels, it appears that bleak play the most important role in the transmission of anguillicolosis. Other intensively infected fish species (e.g. ruffe) may also contribute to massive infection of individual eels, even if they have a lower share in the eels' food structure

On some Symmetry Axioms in Relativity Theories

In this paper we review two symmetry axioms of special relativity and their connections to each other together with their role in some famous predictions of relativity theory, such as time dilation, length contraction, and the twin paradox. We also discuss briefly counterparts of these symmetry axioms in general relativity and formulate a conjecture, namely that without them the axioms of general relativity would capture general relativistic spacetimes only up to conformal equivalence.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Student's tt-test for scale mixture errors

Generalized t-tests are constructed under weaker than normal conditions. In the first part of this paper we assume only the symmetry (around zero) of the error distribution (i). In the second part we assume that the error distribution is a Gaussian scale mixture (ii). The optimal (smallest) critical values can be computed from generalizations of Student's cumulative distribution function (cdf), $t_n(x)$. The cdf's of the generalized $t$-test statistics are denoted by (i) $t_n^S(x)$ and (ii) $t_n^G(x)$, resp. As the sample size $n\to \infty$ we get the counterparts of the standard normal cdf $\Phi(x)$: (i) $\Phi^S(x):=\operatorname {lim}_{n\to \infty}t_n^S(x)$, and (ii) $\Phi^G(x):=\operatorname {lim}_{n\to \infty}t_n^G(x)$. Explicit formulae are given for the underlying new cdf's. For example $\Phi^G(x)=\Phi(x)$ iff $|x|\ge \sqrt{3}$. Thus the classical 95% confidence interval for the unknown expected value of Gaussian distributions covers the center of symmetry with at least 95% probability for Gaussian scale mixture distributions. On the other hand, the 90% quantile of $\Phi^G$ is $4\sqrt{3}/5=1.385... >\Phi^{-1}(0.9)=1.282...$.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/074921706000000365 in the IMS Lecture Notes--Monograph Series (http://www.imstat.org/publications/lecnotes.htm) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Opciones de políticas para la paliación de la pobreza

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) Este trabajo se fundamenta en investigaciones anteriores para desarrollar una metodología que simplifique la identificación de las mejores opciones de políticas para paliar la pobreza en un país dado. Cuando se puede dividir una población en subgrupos según alguna característica fácilmente identificable, se puede entender el problema del alivio de la pobreza mediante un mecanismo dirigido a sectores específicos como una elección entre tres opciones: i) provocar un cambio marginal en el ingreso promedio de ciertos subgrupos; ii) modificar la distribución de ingresos dentro de subgrupos marginales y iii) generar un cambio marginal en las diferencias entre los subgrupos. Se aplican datos recientes de México.

The 1990s in Latin America: Another Decade of Persistent Inequality, but with Somewhat Lower Poverty

This paper processes 76 household surveys from 17 Latin American countries to document changes in poverty and inequality during the 1990s, and performs an analysis of the effect of economic reforms on inequality and poverty by using an expanded data base of 94 surveys spanning the 1977-2000 period. We show that there is no country in Latin America where inequality declined during the 1990s. Poverty declined in 10 or 11 out of the 17 countries for which household surveys are available to us, depending on the poverty measured used. Persistently high inequality inhibited further poverty reduction. One important factor contributing to the persistently high inequality level is financial liberalization. Trade liberalization and slight inequality-reducing effect.inequality, poverty, Latin America

Los años 90 en América Latina: otra década de desigualdad persistente, pero con un poco menos de pobreza

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) En este trabajo se procesan 76 encuestas de hogares de 17 países latinoamericanos, para documentar las variaciones de la pobreza y la desigualdad durante los años 90. Mostramos que no hay ningún país en América Latina donde la desigualdad haya disminuido durante los años 90. La pobreza disminuyó en 10 u 11 de los 17 países de los que tenemos disponibles datos de encuestas, dependiendo de la medida de la pobreza empleada. Lo persistentemente elevado de la desigualdad impidió una mayor disminución de la pobreza.