Realism and Antirealism

Our best social scientific theories try to tell us something about the social world. But is talk of a “social world” a metaphor that we ought not take too seriously? In particular, do the denizens of the social world—cultural values like the Protestant work ethic, firms like ExxonMobil, norms like standards of dress and behavior, institutions like the legal system, teams like FC Barcelona, conventions like marriages—exist? The question is not merely academic. Social scientists use these different social entities to explain social phenomena such as the rise of capitalism, the decline in oil prices, or the effect of unions on the sports labor market. But how could these explanations possibly work if social entities don’t exist

Photogrammetric calibration of the NASA-Wallops Island image intensifier system

An image intensifier was designed for use as one of the primary tracking systems for the barium cloud experiment at Wallops Island. Two computer programs, a definitive stellar camara calibration program and a geodetic stellar camara orientation program, were originally developed at Wallops on a GE 625 computer. A mathematical procedure for determining the image intensifier distortions is outlined, and the implementation of the model in the Wallops computer programs is described. The analytical calibration of metric cameras is also discussed

Effects of Channelization on Fish Populations of the Cache River and Bayou DeView

This study was designed to better understand the possible effects of channelization by comparing natural and previously channelized sections of the Cache River and Bayou DeView. Forty-five fish species were collected in natural reaches, but only 24 species were collected in channelized reaches. Cyprinus carpio and Dorosoma cepedianum constituted 40 and 20 percent of the total fish biomass in channelized reaches, respectively, but only 22 and 2 percent of the total biomass in natural reaches. The mean weight of total fishes and game fishes only per surface ha in natural sections were 276 and 46 kg, respectively, but these values in channelized sections were only 88 and 2 kg, respectively. Mean species diversity indices for natural and channelized sections of the Cache River were 3.1 and 1.8, respectively, and mean redundancy values for these sections were .30 and .55, respectively. Species diversity indices and redundancy values for Bayou DeView followed this trend

Preimpoundment Ichthyofaunal Survey of the Piney Creek Watershed, Izard County, Arkansas

Piney Creek is a clear medium-size tributary of White River in a region of the Ozarks that is undergoing rapid environmental change. Piney Creek is characterized by a very diverse ichthyofauna, although increased sedimentation due to poor agricultural practices and gravel mining threatens to destroy much natural habitat and eventually may cause extirpation of some species. The wide diversity of 44 species is related to variety of habitat and the proximity of a large reservoir, and not to differences in the physicochemical environments. Fish density ranged from 15,100 to 21 fish/ha, greatest concentrations being in headwater pools. For the three most numerous cyprinids, mean weight per individual was greater in pools than in riffles. Okkelbergia aepyptera was collected for the second time in Arkansas (Harp and Matthews, in press), and a range extension for Notropis sabinae is reported