Deterministic Laws Research Articles

Success and Incoherence of Orthodox Quantum Mechanics

Orthodox quantum mechanics is a highly successful theory despite its serious conceptual flaws. It renounces realism, implies a kind of action-at-a-distance and is incompatible with determinism. Orthodox quantum mechanics states that Schr&oumldinger’s equation (a deterministic law) governs spontaneous processes while measurement processes are ruled by probability laws. It is well established that time dependent perturbation theory must be used for solving problems involving time. In order to account for spontaneous processes, this last theory makes use of laws valid only when measurements are performed. This incoherence seems absent from the literature.

Philosophy of Ecological Economics

The fact that we live in a world full of answers and very few questions, has allowed for certain disciplines -particularly economics- to construct their arguments and theories based on an imaginary world. From quantum physics we now know that the world is not as we thought it was. The world is not mechanic and not Cartesian, but organic and holistic. We are actually facing a perplexing reality. “This new “reality” is not based on matter anymore (matter is not made of matter) but relates to a fundamental immaterial connectedness obeying non deterministic laws. Reality is not “reality” but potentiality, which establishes and intimate, non-separable, non-reducible, holistic relationship between everything. Man is an integral and inseparable part of this more general, all-embracing immaterial reality.1 These fundamental messages have not reached the teaching of economics which is still anchored in the mechanical worldview of the 19th century. In order to open the new space into which economics should adapt itself, the essay presents four visions that attempt to answer what are probably the most important questions: Why do we exist? and What is the purpose of life? The paper ends with considerations about “Economics and Life” and “Economics for Life”. The conclusion is that drastic changes in the teaching and application of economics are fundamental for survival. 1Durr H (2001) “The Crisis and Challenge of Globalization: Insights from Physics”. Max Planck Institut fur Physik, Munchen.

Uncertain averaging operators: a new way to study the psychosocial organizational phenomena

The aim of this paper is to use uncertain averaging operators (Uncertain Average, Uncertain Weighted Average, Uncertain Probabilistic Aggregation, and Uncertain Probabilistic Weighted Average) in order to explore psychosocial processes. Traditionally, research in the field of work and organizational psychology has departed from positivism, based on simple deterministic laws that are unable to account for the complexity of organizational phenomena. Our purpose is to show how the Experton methodology contributes to the study of managers’ subjectivity on their perception of Corporate Social Responsibility policies development. This is a very innovating perspective in the research of work and organizational psychology. We developed an interview guideline to analyze the level of development of policies for the workplace integration of persons with disabilities. Thirty-five interviews were obtained. Respondents were top managers, Chief Executive Officers, human resources and Corporate Social Responsibility managers. Ten academic and professional experts, with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, were asked to establish confidence intervals based on four anchors. The results achieved by the managers and by the experts group reached a similar assessment of the degree of deployment of those policies related to collaborate with the local community and associations, and the setting-up of strategic alliances. These techniques provide an assessment that optimizes the result, as it indicates the exact level of implementation of the policies for the workplace integration of persons with disabilities.

Lorentz force correction to the Boltzmann radiation transport equation and its implications for Monte Carlo algorithms

To establish a theoretical framework for generalizing Monte Carlo transport algorithms by adding external electromagnetic fields to the Boltzmann radiation transport equation in a rigorous and consistent fashion. Using first principles, the Boltzmann radiation transport equation is modified by adding a term describing the variation of the particle distribution due to the Lorentz force. The implications of this new equation are evaluated by investigating the validity of Fano’s theorem. Additionally, Lewis’ approach to multiple scattering theory in infinite homogeneous media is redefined to account for the presence of external electromagnetic fields. The equation is modified and yields a description consistent with the deterministic laws of motion as well as probabilistic methods of solution. The time-independent Boltzmann radiation transport equation is generalized to account for the electromagnetic forces in an additional operator similar to the interaction term. Fano’s and Lewis’ approaches are stated in this new equation. Fano’s theorem is found not to apply in the presence of electromagnetic fields. Lewis’ theory for electron multiple scattering and moments, accounting for the coupling between the Lorentz force and multiple elastic scattering, is found. However, further investigation is required to develop useful algorithms for Monte Carlo and deterministic transport methods. To test the accuracy of Monte Carlo transport algorithms in the presence of electromagnetic fields, the Fano cavity test, as currently defined, cannot be applied. Therefore, new tests must be designed for this specific application. A multiple scattering theory that accurately couples the Lorentz force with elastic scattering could improve Monte Carlo efficiency. The present study proposes a new theoretical framework to develop such algorithms.

Personale Freiheit undWillensfreiheit

By personal freedom I mean the “Kantian” capacity of bringing about spontaneously a new series of events. It is characterized by three conditions: there is an alternative, the explanation of the process needs to use action-words, deterministic laws cannot contain such expressions. The will is not a particular cause, but only a dependent moment in the process. Causality of freedom should be defined by the logical structure of the involved laws. Actions can be explained, but only ex post.

Dialogical Self in a Complex World: The Need for Bridging Theories.

Dialogical Self in a Complex World: The Need for Bridging Theories.

Multilevel Monte Carlo front-tracking for random scalar conservation laws

We consider random scalar hyperbolic conservation laws in spatial dimension $$d\ge 1$$ with bounded random flux functions which are Lipschitz continuous with respect to the state variable, for which there exists a unique random entropy solution. We present a convergence analysis of a multilevel Monte Carlo front-tracking algorithm. It is based on “pathwise” application of the front-tracking method for deterministic conservation laws. Due to the first order convergence of front tracking, we obtain an improved complexity estimate in one space dimension.

Should Social Science and Jurisprudence Imitate Natural Science?

Scientism—the belief that social science and jurisprudence can discover universal and deterministic laws about the human world in the same way as natural science has about the physical world—carries enormous influence today. It is most evident in the “formalist” traditions of social science and jurisprudence, which have managed to occupy “mainstream” positions, despite an abundance of contrary evidence and “alternative” theoretical challenges. They have done so mainly by resort to deductive, even mathematicized, logic modeled after the axiomatic system of Euclidean geometry, which many consider the unique resource of Western civilization, absent in non-Western civilizations. In natural science, there has been a close and organic working together of deduction and induction, but that has not been possible in the much more complex and paradoxical social world, in which the subjective and the objective, the contingent and the necessary, the particular and the universal coexist and interact. The stubborn attempt to impose universal laws on the social world is what has driven formalist theories’ reliance one-sidedly on deduction over induction. To correct that tendency, this article argues for a social science that begins instead from induction based on empirical evidence, thence to apply deduction to draw out the logical implications and hypotheses, and then to return to the practical world to test the formulations, in an unending process, thereby to construct not universal and absolute theories, but theories and insights with delimited empirical conditions and boundaries. That, we argue, would be the genuine application of a truly “scientific method”—the essence of which is mutually propelling deduction and induction, not the insistence on defining deterministic universal laws to the disregard of contrary evidence.

On the divide between animate and inanimate.

Vitalism was abandoned already for a long time ago, yet the impression that animate beings differ in some fundamental way from inanimate objects continues to thrive. Here, we argue that scale free patterns, found throughout nature, present convincing evidence that this demarcation is only imaginary. Therefore, all systems ought to be regarded alike, i.e., all are consuming free energy in least time. This way evolutionary processes can be understood as a series of changes from one state to another, so that flows of energy themselves naturally select those ways and means, such as species and societies or gadgets and galaxies to consume free energy in the least time in quest of attaining thermodynamic balance in respective surroundings. This holistic worldview, albeit an accurate account of nature, was shelved soon after its advent at the turn of the 18th century, because the general tenet did not meet that time expectations of a deterministic law, but now it is time to reconsider the old universal imperative against observations rather than expectations.

The Zygote Argument is invalid: Now what?

Alfred Mele’s original Zygote Argument is invalid. At most, its premises entail the negative thesis that free action is incompossible with deterministic laws, but its conclusion asserts the positive thesis that deterministic laws preclude (make impossible, undermine) free action. The original, explanatory conclusion of the Zygote Argument can be defended only by supplementing it with a best-explanation argument that identifies deterministic laws as menacing. (By the same reasoning, it follows that every manipulation argument pinpointing a specific threat to free will requires a best-explanation argument). Arguably, though, the best explanation for the manipulation victim’s lack of freedom and responsibility is his constitutive luck, which is a problem irrespective of the natural laws that obtain. This proposed explanation leads to a new “diagnostic” version of the Zygote Argument which concludes that free action is impossible even though deterministic laws pose no threat whatsoever to free will.

A critique of Vihvelin’s Three-fold Classification

In this essay, I argue for the rejection of Vihvelin’s ‘Three-fold Classification’ (3-FC), a nonstandard taxonomy of free-will compatibilism, incompatibilism, and impossibilism. Vihvelin is right that the standard taxonomy of these views is inadequate, and that a new taxonomy is needed to clarify the free-will debate. Significantly, Vihvelin notes that the standard formal definition of ‘incompatibilism’ does not capture the historically popular view that deterministic laws pose a threat to free will. Vihvelin’s proposed solution is to redefine ‘incompatibilism.’ However, Vihvelin’s formal definition of ‘incompatibilism’ is flawed according to her own arguments. In addition, Vihvelin’s characterization of ‘compatibilism’ is (at best) incomplete, and at least two important free-will views are missing from her proposed taxonomy. Given the problems with Vihvelin’s arguments for 3-FC, her novel view of the dialectic between the major free-will views lacks support.

On the borderline between Science and Philosophy: A debate on determinism in France around 1880

In the second half of the nineteenth century, a new interest in explosive chemical reactions, sudden release of energy in living beings, physical instabilities, and bifurcations in the solutions of differential equations drew the attention of some scholars. New concepts like triggering actions and guiding principles also emerged. Mathematicians, physicists, physiologists, and philosophers were attracted by this kind of phenomena since they raised a question about the actual existence of a strict determinism in science. In 1878 the mathematical physicist Joseph Boussinesq pointed out a structural analogy among physical instabilities, some essential features of living beings, and singular solutions of differential equations. These developments revived long-lasting philosophical debates on the problematic link between deterministic physical laws and free will. We find in Boussinesq an original and almost isolated attempt to merge mathematical, physical, biological, and philosophical issues into a complex intellectual framework. In the last decades, some philosophers of science rediscovered the connection between physical instabilities and determinism, both in the context of chaos theory, and in the debates on the Norton dome. I put forward a consistent historical reconstruction of the main issues and characters involved.

Modelling circumplanetary ejecta clouds at low altitudes: A probabilistic approach

A model is presented of a ballistic, collisionless, steady state population of ejecta launched at randomly distributed times and velocities and moving under constant gravity above the surface of an airless planetary body. Within a probabilistic framework, closed form solutions are derived for the probability density functions of the altitude distribution of particles, the distribution of their speeds in a rest frame both at the surface and at altitude and with respect to a moving platform such as an orbiting spacecraft. These expressions are validated against numerically-generated synthetic populations of ejecta under lunar surface gravity. The model is applied to the cases where the ejection speed distribution is (a) uniform (b) a power law. For the latter law, it is found that the effective scale height of the ejecta envelope directly depends on the exponent of the power law and increases with altitude. The same holds for the speed distribution of particles near the surface. Ejection model parameters can, therefore, be constrained through orbital and surface measurements. The scope of the model is then extended to include size-dependency of the ejection speed and an example worked through for a deterministic power law relation. The result suggests that the height distribution of ejecta is a sensitive proxy for this dependency.

Resonant effects in random dielectric structures

In (G. Bouchittea nd D. Felbacq,C. R. Math. Acad. Sci. Paris 339 (2004) 377-382; D. Felbacq and G. Bouchitte, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 183902; D. Felbacq and G. Bouchitte, New J. Phys. 7 (2005) 159), a theory for artificial magnetism in two-dimensional photonic crystals has been developed for large wavelength using homogenization techniques. In this paper we pursue this approach within a rigorous stochastic framework: dielectric parallel nanorods are randomly disposed, each of them having, up to a large scaling factor, a random permittivity e(ω) whose law is represented by a density on a window Δh =( a � ,a + ) × (0 ,h ) of the complex plane. We give precise conditions on the initial probability law (permittivity, radius and position of the rods) under which the homogenization process can be performed leading to a deterministic dispersion law for the effective permeability with possibly negative real part. Subsequently a limit analysis h → 0, accounting a density law of e which concentrates on the real axis, reveals singular behavior due to the presence of resonances in the microstructure.

Bang–bang control model with optimistic value criterion for uncertain switched systems

This paper studies an optimal control problem for uncertain switched linear systems with subsystems perturbed by uncertainty. A model for this problem is investigated with optimistic value criterion. The goal is to jointly design a deterministic switching law and a continuous feedback to optimize an uncertain objective function. A two-stage algorithm is applied to handle such model. In the first stage, the maximum value of the objective function and the bang---bang control are obtained under fixed switching instants, and in the second stage, GA and PSO algorithm are used to get the optimal switching instants, respectively. An example is shown to validate the method.

A modified direct adaptive robust motion trajectory tracking controller of a pneumatic system

In this study, we developed and tested a high-precision motion trajectory tracking controller of a pneumatic cylinder driven by four costless on/off solenoid valves rather than by a proportional directional control valve. The relationship between the pulse width modulation (PWM) of a signal’s duty cycle and control law was determined experimentally, and a mathematical model of the whole system established. Owing to unknown disturbances and unmodeled dynamics, there are considerable uncertain nonlinearities and parametric uncertainties in this pneumatic system. A modified direct adaptive robust controller (DARC) was constructed to cope with these issues. The controller employs a gradient type adaptation law based on discontinuous projection mapping to guarantee that estimated unknown model parameters stay within a known bounded region, and uses a deterministic robust control strategy to weaken the effects of unmodeled dynamics, disturbances, and parameter estimation errors. By using discontinuous projection mapping, the parameter adaptation law and the robust control law can be synthesized separately. A recursive backstepping technology is applied to account for unmatched model uncertainties. Kalman filters were designed separately to estimate the motion states and the derivative of the intermediate control law in synthesizing the deterministic robust control law. Experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Scaling of Metabolic Scaling within Physical Limits

Both the slope and elevation of scaling relationships between log metabolic rate and log body size vary taxonomically and in relation to physiological or developmental state, ecological lifestyle and environmental conditions. Here I discuss how the recently proposed metabolic-level boundaries hypothesis (MLBH) provides a useful conceptual framework for explaining and predicting much, but not all of this variation. This hypothesis is based on three major assumptions: (1) various processes related to body volume and surface area exert state-dependent effects on the scaling slope for metabolic rate in relation to body mass; (2) the elevation and slope of metabolic scaling relationships are linked; and (3) both intrinsic (anatomical, biochemical and physiological) and extrinsic (ecological) factors can affect metabolic scaling. According to the MLBH, the diversity of metabolic scaling relationships occurs within physical boundary limits related to body volume and surface area. Within these limits, specific metabolic scaling slopes can be predicted from the metabolic level (or scaling elevation) of a species or group of species. In essence, metabolic scaling itself scales with metabolic level, which is in turn contingent on various intrinsic and extrinsic conditions operating in physiological or evolutionary time. The MLBH represents a “meta-mechanism” or collection of multiple, specific mechanisms that have contingent, state-dependent effects. As such, the MLBH is Darwinian in approach (the theory of natural selection is also meta-mechanistic), in contrast to currently influential metabolic scaling theory that is Newtonian in approach (i.e., based on unitary deterministic laws). Furthermore, the MLBH can be viewed as part of a more general theory that includes other mechanisms that may also affect metabolic scaling.

The geochemical multi-fractal characteristics and mineralization of the Dehelongwa copper-gold deposit

The spatial distribution of ore-forming elements is the result of interaction and influence among multiple factors in the process of mineralization, and is the specific embodiment of non-linearity and coupling of mineralization. The fractal theory has such functions as to characterize non-lineariry and coupling, and can find out the deterministic law from the complicated coupling process. The primary geochemical fractal distribution of metallogenic elements such as Cu and Au possesses the characteristics of multi-fractal distribution in the Dehelongwa copper-gold deposit. Copper follows 2-d fractal distribution, and Au follows 3- or 4-d fractal distribution. The primary geochemical fractal distribution has a certain similarity on the same prospecting line, and this similarity is not obvious among different prospecting lines. The secondary geochemical fractal distribution of Cu and Au is higher in similarity, and simpler than the primary geochemical fractal distribution. These results show that the mineralization of Cu and Au is out of sync and also is inconsistent in this deposit, and the mineralization of Cu mainly experienced two mineralization stages, while the mineralization of Au experienced three to four mineralization stages. Besides the mineralization of Cu and Au shows a certain direction and along the strike of vertical orebodies it is relatively balanced. While along the strike of the ore bodies the mineralization of Cu and Au shows a significant difference. The hypergenic geologic process has a certain effect on the balance of spatial distribution of Cu and Au. From these it can be seen that the mineralization process of this deposit is well characterized by the geochemical fractal distribution of Cu and Au.

Kants „Ich“ in „Ich soll …“ und Freuds Über-Ich

Abstract Kant’s and Freud’s respective investigations of the mind obey fundamentally different concerns. And yet their views of the structure of our mental life are strikingly similar. The article explores some of those similarities. It compares Kant’s transcendental unity of apperception and the organization of mental processes Freud calls ‘ego’ (Ich). It then proceeds to compare Kant’s categorical imperative of morality and Freud’s structure of ego/superego (Ich/ÜberIch). Freud’s structural view of the mind, it is suggested, might offer a developmental account of just those aspects of mental life Kant thought could be explained only by appealing to our belonging in a noumenal world escaping the deterministic laws of the natural world. However, Freud’s approach is exclusively developmental. He does not take any position on questions of justification, the very questions that are central to Kant’s concern. The paper offers a cautious response to the question: what remains, under the Freudian developmental account, of the justificatory ambition of Kant’s formulation of the categorical imperative as an imperative of pure practical reason?

Improving predictive power of physically based rainfall-induced shallow landslide models: a probabilistic approach

Abstract. Distributed models to forecast the spatial and temporal occurrence of rainfall-induced shallow landslides are based on deterministic laws. These models extend spatially the static stability models adopted in geotechnical engineering, and adopt an infinite-slope geometry to balance the resisting and the driving forces acting on the sliding mass. An infiltration model is used to determine how rainfall changes pore-water conditions, modulating the local stability/instability conditions. A problem with the operation of the existing models lays in the difficulty in obtaining accurate values for the several variables that describe the material properties of the slopes. The problem is particularly severe when the models are applied over large areas, for which sufficient information on the geotechnical and hydrological conditions of the slopes is not generally available. To help solve the problem, we propose a probabilistic Monte Carlo approach to the distributed modeling of rainfall-induced shallow landslides. For this purpose, we have modified the transient rainfall infiltration and grid-based regional slope-stability analysis (TRIGRS) code. The new code (TRIGRS-P) adopts a probabilistic approach to compute, on a cell-by-cell basis, transient pore-pressure changes and related changes in the factor of safety due to rainfall infiltration. Infiltration is modeled using analytical solutions of partial differential equations describing one-dimensional vertical flow in isotropic, homogeneous materials. Both saturated and unsaturated soil conditions can be considered. TRIGRS-P copes with the natural variability inherent to the mechanical and hydrological properties of the slope materials by allowing values of the TRIGRS model input parameters to be sampled randomly from a given probability distribution. The range of variation and the mean value of the parameters can be determined by the usual methods used for preparing the TRIGRS input parameters. The outputs of several model runs obtained varying the input parameters are analyzed statistically, and compared to the original (deterministic) model output. The comparison suggests an improvement of the predictive power of the model of about 10% and 16% in two small test areas, that is, the Frontignano (Italy) and the Mukilteo (USA) areas. We discuss the computational requirements of TRIGRS-P to determine the potential use of the numerical model to forecast the spatial and temporal occurrence of rainfall-induced shallow landslides in very large areas, extending for several hundreds or thousands of square kilometers. Parallel execution of the code using a simple process distribution and the message passing interface (MPI) on multi-processor machines was successful, opening the possibly of testing the use of TRIGRS-P for the operational forecasting of rainfall-induced shallow landslides over large regions.