Newtonian Principles Research Articles

Pattern‐moving‐based dynamic description and optimal control for non‐Newtonian mechanical systems with generalized cell mapping

AbstractThis article focuses on the problem of modelling and control for a non‐Newtonian mechanical system that may be subject to the statistical law instead of the traditional Newtonian principles mechanics. A discrete method, synthesizing the generalized cell mapping (GCM) together with dynamic programming (DP), with inverse search strategy, using pattern moving theory (PMT) framework, was proposed. The basic idea is to describe and control the system's dynamic peculiarity utilizing pattern class variable in ‘pattern moving space’. First, a few prior concepts were reviewed, including PMT, cell mapping, and optimal control for this kind system. Then, we articulated a cross‐mapping method to analyze the system dynamic behaviour, which takes into account the computational and statistical properties of pattern class variable simultaneously. For system optimal control, the improved GCM and cost function were performed to determine the discrete optimal control table (DOCT) in accordance with dynamic programming and inverse search. Finally, simulation results of two cases demonstrate the efficiency and practicality of the proposed approach. The study has resulted in a solution of describing and controlling based on pattern class variable for non‐Newtonian mechanical systems, and its main objective was to give a different perspective in term of research into non mechanistic principles modelling and application of nonlinear systems.

Gravity’s eastern voyage: the introduction, transmission, and impact of Newtonian mechanics in late imperial China (1727–1912)

This study traces the intricate journey of Newtonian mechanics in Qing China from 1727 to 1912, elucidating the complex interplay of science, religion and politics in cross-cultural knowledge exchange. Initially introduced by Jesuit missionaries through lunar theory in calendrical reform, followed by cometary and heliocentric concepts, the dissemination of Newtonian mechanics gained momentum after the Opium Wars (1839–1842). Subsequently, Protestant missionaries and Chinese scholars collaborated to translate and propagate Newton’s laws of gravitation and motion, often contextualized within natural theology, through Western texts, popular science literature, and periodicals. This process culminated in the integration of Newtonian principles into national educational curricula in the early twentieth century. Significantly, Newtonian mechanics transcended its scientific realm, infiltrating political discourse as reformist thinkers leveraged mechanical terminology to advocate for sociopolitical change. This historical episode illustrates how the assimilation of Newtonian mechanics was influenced by missionary approaches, indigenous intellectual traditions, pragmatic national interests, and the tumultuous political landscape of Late Qing. By challenging Eurocentric narratives and highlighting Chinese agency in adapting Western knowledge, this study contributes to a more inclusive history of Newtonian science, offering a nuanced perspective on global scientific circulation.

Self-balancing robot: modeling and comparative analysis between PID and linear quadratic regulator

<p>A two-wheeled self-balancing robot (TWSBR) is an underactuated system that is inherently nonlinear and unstable. While many control methods have been introduced to enhance the performance, there is no unique solution when it comes to hardware implementation as the robot’s stability is highly dependent on accuracy of sensors and robustness of the electronic control systems. In this study, a TWSBR that is controlled by an embedded NI myRIO-1900 board with LabVIEW-based control scheme is developed. We compare the performance between proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and linear quadratic regulator (LQR) schemes which are designed based on the TWSBR’s model that is constructed from Newtonian principles. A hybrid PID-LQR scheme is then proposed to compensate for the individual components’ limitations. Experimental results demonstrate the PID is more effective at regulating the tilt angle of the robot in the presence of external disturbances, but it necessitates a higher velocity to sustain its equilibrium. The LQR on the other hand outperforms PID in terms of maximum initial tilt angle. By combining both schemes, significant improvements can be observed, such as an increase in maximum initial tilt angle and a reduction in settling time.</p>

Do striking biases in mass inference reflect a flawed mental model of physics?

To engage with the physical world, we rely on our intuitive sense of how objects will behave when we act on them or they interact with each other. Objects' latent properties such as mass and hardness determine how their physical interactions will unfold, and people have a keen ability to infer these latent properties by observing physical events. For example, we can precisely discriminate the relative masses of two objects when we see them collide. However, such inferences are sometimes subject to marked biases. When inferring mass from an observed collision, people consistently overestimate the mass of an incoming object that strikes a stationary one. Why? A number of plausible accounts have been put forward, variously arguing that the bias arises from rule-based reasoning, oversimplified stimuli, or noisy perceptual estimates of the scene dynamics. The implications of these views stand in stark contrast to one another: systematic biases may reveal a fundamental deficiency in the mental model of physical behavior, or they may be an expected consequence of reasoning over imperfect information. Here, we investigated all three accounts within a unified paradigm, presenting videos of real-world bowling ball collisions. We found that using richly detailed stimuli did not eliminate biases in mass inference. However, individual differences in the biases were task-specific and well-explained by noisy perceptual estimates rather than oversimplified physical inference mechanisms. Our findings collectively point toward an intuitive physics system that implements Newtonian principles but is subject to the quality of the information it operates on. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Elementary biomechanics for the orthopaedic trainee

An understanding of biomechanics underpins our appreciation of the structure and function of the musculoskeletal system and informs clinical decisions and treatment choices. Since it is so fundamental it frequently features in end-of-training examinations in trauma and orthopaedic surgery, often in questions testing higher order thinking in which knowledge of the basics is assumed and it is the application of these principles that is the focus. This article arms the trainee with these basics, starting with the application of Newtonian principles to statics and dynamics, applying these and then introducing material properties including the viscoelastic tissues that build the musculoskeletal system.

Dalton’s Long Journey from Meteorology to the Chemical Atomic Theory

The purpose of this paper is to review Dalton’s contributions to science in various fields of research in relation to the first intimation of the chemical atomic theory. Early “germs” of his physical ideas may be found in the initial meteorological studies where water vapour is viewed as an “elastic fluid sui generis” diffused in the atmosphere and not as a species chemically combined with the other atmospheric gases. The next object of Dalton’s attention was atmosphere itself. He discarded affinity between atmospheric gases as a possible cause of homogeneity and, making recourse to Newtonian Principles, considered the repulsive forces among particles. Experiments on the “nitrous air test” and on the diffusion and solubility of gases were instrumental to arrive at the chemical atomic theory. The slow, laborious, and persevering work of Dalton to get the first table of atomic weights is a fascinating piece of science which may be fully appreciated by referring to his laboratory notebooks.

Community Resilience in Belarus and the EU response

Community Resilience in Belarus and the EU response

Cognitiva Speciebus: Towards a Linnaean Approach to Cognition.

Research points to the limitations of approaches to decision-making, that rest on general 'Newtonian principles' derived from unitary a priori conceptions of rationality. To understand how the mind exploits environments, we instead propose a process of more open-ended discovery and systematization in the mold of Linnaeus's famous taxonomy of plants.

Grammar as Science: Beauzée’s Theory of Tense and the Metaphysics of Time

This article aims to deepen our understanding of Nicolas Beauzée’s (1717–89) attempt to establish a science of grammar modeled upon natural philosophy. At the heart of this endeavor stood Beauzee’s analysis of grammatical time. Beauzée’s tense theory, first published in 1765, had a profound impact on our understanding of tense as a complex system of reference, establishing order relations between events described within discourse and the moment of speech. While historians of linguistics have recognized Beauzée’s contribution to the theory of tense, its greater significance has not been hitherto appreciated: Beauzée reinvented general grammar as a modern science combining Cartesian and Newtonian principles. Building on Port-Royal’s notion of general grammar, Beauzée sought to establish “grammatical metaphysics”—a sure foundation for a science of grammar. This aspiration, especially evident in his theory of grammatical time, together with Beauzée’s numerous references to physics, astronomy, geography, geometry, and metaphysics, amounted to an elaborate strategy of scientification, taking the natural sciences not merely as inspiration but as a coveted epistemological ideal for general grammar’s scientific remodeling.

Categories and Constraints in Causal Perception

When object A moves adjacent to a stationary object, B, and in that instant A stops moving and B starts moving, people irresistibly see this as an event in which A causes B to move. Real-world causal collisions are subject to Newtonian constraints on the relative speed of B following the collision, but here we show that perceptual constraints on the relative speed of B (which align imprecisely with Newtonian principles) define two categories of causal events in perception. Using performance-based tasks, we show that triggering events, in which B moves noticeably faster than A, are treated as being categorically different from launching events, in which B does not move noticeably faster than A, and that these categories are unique to causal events (Experiments 1 and 2). Furthermore, we show that 7- to 9-month-old infants are sensitive to this distinction, which suggests that this boundary may be an early-developing component of causal perception (Experiment 3).

The significance of consciousness studies and quantum physics for researching spirituality

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to argue that researchers interested in studying spirituality may benefit from paying attention to the phenomenon of consciousness. Despite consciousness being integral to human experience, it is largely ignored in research into spirituality. Yet there is evidence to suggest that the study of spirituality, and explorations of consciousness, have much to offer each other. My contention is that the subject of consciousness has not received much attention within mainstream social and educational research, due to the prevailing, often unconscious, influence of Newtonian science, which assumes consciousness to be an epiphenomenon of the brain. However, developments in science, particularly in quantum physics, have shown that the world cannot be explained by Newtonian principles of separation and atomism. At the same time, a growing disillusionment with science has resulted in the emergence of a grassroots spirituality which challenges a materialist scientific paradigm. In science and spirituality, there is a growing realization of the interconnectedness of everything, with the quantum principle of ‘entanglement’ suggesting that differentiation between ‘objectivity’ and ‘subjectivity’ is an artificial one. Instead, there is a meaningful relationship between experiences of consciousness in inner and outer worlds, with neither existing independently of the other. I conclude by presenting a case for developing research methods which reflect a secular spiritual world view that creates harmony between science, spirituality and our experience of consciousness.

Evaluating the Cognitive Consequences of Playing Portal for a Short Duration

Learning physics often requires overcoming common misconceptions based on naïve interpretations of observations in the everyday world. One proposed way to help learners build appropriate physics intuitions is to expose them to computer simulations in which motion is based on Newtonian principles. In addition, playing video games that require spatial processing may also facilitate the development of spatial skills that have been associated with learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics areas. Two studies were conducted to examine whether playing the first-person perspective puzzle game Portal causes improvements in physics intuitions and spatial cognition skills. In Experiment 1, college students played Portal, the two-dimensional puzzle game Tetris, or the anagram game TextTwist for 75 minutes. There were no significant differences on measures of naïve physics reasoning (selected from the Force Concept Inventory) or measures of spatial cognition (mental rotation and perspective taking). To determine whether Portal could influence formal physics learning, in Experiment 2 participants viewed a brief lesson on Newton’s laws of motion after playing one of the three games for 1 hour. The groups did not differ on subsequent tests of physics learning. This study shows that Portal was not successful in priming intuitions about motion or spatial abilities related to physics learning.

Archibald Campbell's Necessity of Revelation (1739)—the Science of Human Nature's First Study of Religion

SummaryThis article argues that Archibald Campbell's Necessity of Revelation (1739) can be viewed as the first application of the ‘science of human nature’, a characteristic branch of the Scottish Enlightenment, to the study of religious belief. Adopting Baconian and Newtonian methodological principles, Campbell set hypotheses, collected historical data, and inferred conclusions about the capabilities of human nature to come to fundamental religious ideas without the aid of revelation. He did so not only to reject the ‘deist’ position on the powers of unassisted human reason, associated with Matthew Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation (1730), but also to refute Campbell's conservative critics within the Church of Scotland who had earlier tried him for heresy. Campbell's example is that of a university professor using the experimental study of religion to defeat both radical freethinking and Calvinist orthodoxy. His work is another instance of the complicated relationship between science and religion within eighteenth-century Scotland.

Kinetic Model for a Spherical Rolling Robot with Soft Shell in a Beeline Motion

A simplified kinetic model called Spring Pendulum is developed for a spherical rolling robot with soft shell in order to meet the needs of attitude stabilization and controlling for the robot. The elasticity and plasticity of soft shell is represented by some uniform springs connected to the bracket in this model. The expression of the kinetic model is deduced from Newtonian mechanics principles. Testing data of the driving angle acquired from a prototype built by authors indicate that testing data curve accords to the theoretic kinetic characteristic curve, so the kinetic model is validated

The early Kant’s (anti-) Newtonianism

It is well known that during his pre-Critical period, Kant was a major proponent of Newtonian physics, for the project of the Universal Natural History explicitly uses “Newtonian principles” to explain the formation of the various bodies that constitute our solar system as well as those that lie beyond. What has not been widely noted, however, is that the early Kant also developed a major criticism of Newton, one that is based on subtle metaphysical issues pertaining to God, which are most at home in philosophical theology. Interestingly, this criticism is neither an inchoate precursor of his later criticisms of Newton’s account of absolute space, nor isolated to the abstract realm of metaphysics, but has a wide range of implications for the way in which a scientific account of the formation and constitution of the heavenly bodies ought to be developed, that is, for the kind of argument Newton offered in the Principia. That Kant remained interested in this set of issues later in his Critical period suggests that, alongside the revolutionary changes that comprise transcendental idealism, there are deep continuities not only in his Newtonian commitments, but in his anti-Newtonian tendencies as well.

How Hume Became ‘The New Hume’: A Developmental Approach

It is argued that we should distinguish between an ‘early Hume’ and a ‘mature Hume’ on causality. In his early period, represented by the Treatise, Hume had not yet adopted Newtonian active principles. In the mature period, however, represented in particular by the First Enquiry, his theory of causation has been transformed by a reception of Newton. This leads Hume to drop the condition of contiguity, which had excluded action-at-a-distance in the Treatise. It also leads him to allow real necessary connexions in nature which are inaccessible to us just as the real cause of gravitation was thought by Newtonians to be unknown.

Video‐game training and naïve reasoning about object motion

AbstractNaïve conceptions and associated misconceptions about object motion arise in part from limitations on perceptual experience. Certain commercial video games, such as Enigmo, provide interactive experience with realistic trajectories and practice at purposefully manipulating those trajectories. We tested the possibility that this experience could modify naïve intuitions about object motion, bringing them into closer alignment with Newtonian principles of mechanics. Fifty‐one middle‐school children were randomly assigned to play either Enigmo or a strategy game for six sessions. Only the Enigmo group improved their ability to generate realistic trajectories, but this improvement was limited to learning about the general parabolic shape of trajectories. After training, both groups received a 30‐minute tutorial on Newtonian principles which generated a much larger improvement in producing realistic trajectories than did game play. This improvement was of similar magnitude in both training groups, indicating that gaming experience provided no advantage in deriving benefits from direct instruction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Riddle of Hume’s Treatise: Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion (review)

Reviewed by: The Riddle of Hume’s Treatise: Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion J.W. McNabb (bio) Paul Russell. The Riddle of Hume’s Treatise: Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 448pp. US$74. ISBN 9780195110333. Paul Russell challenges the contemporary critical orthodoxy of the Treatise’s apparent indifference towards religion. Despite the Treatise’s eighteenth-century reception to vocal and frequent declamations of the contrary, current scholarship downplays any religious engagement. Russell believes that the religious context so crucial to the early modern [End Page 151] perspective could, if reinvigorated, mediate a common ground for contemporary philosophical factions. The present-day philosophical schism presents two antithetical positions: either Hume is fundamentally sceptical and directs a rational enquiry (that he, in turn, subverts); or he follows the principles of naturalism that rely upon sentimental constructions. Russell’s interpretation “differs, not only from those who would emphasize one side of the skepticism/naturalism dichotomy at the expense of the other, but also from those who attempt to reconcile Hume’s skepticism and naturalism in the Treatise without any reference to his (fundamentally) irreligious aims and ambitions” (222). Russell explores a third moderating methodology that finds its foundation in the historical milieu of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century irreligion. This is a bold and novel approach. Russell greatly illuminates the early modern debate, and the controversy over of the spectre/reality of atheism left in the wake of the Terror of Malmsbury is broadly contextualized in this highly nuanced work. One of the more intriguing examples of the latter is Russell’s chapter “Atheism under Cover,” which develops a conjectural hypothesis using Hume’s epigrams to signal an alliance with other “free thinkers.” This argument maintains a subtle sophistication, but remains probable rather than proven. Russell’s great success is in providing a historical, intellectual foundation for Hume’s Treatise. The intellectual relation between Hobbes and Hume is a standout contribution to the Treatise’s antecedent influences. The structural affinities from “The Form and Face of Hume’s System” complement a more rigorous investigation a few chapters later in “The Nature of Hume’s Universe.” Hobbes’s basic influence on Hume’s faculty of “decaying sense” (86) is convincing, but it could use further analysis of their respective faculty models (instead of just a tacit recognition of their structural affinities). Despite, or perhaps because of, the impressive range of material, Russell often achieves his parallels and intellectual relationships too readily, and the correlations between thinkers can occasionally appear too exact through an affirmation of familiar generalities. As a variable intellectual trajectory, Russell’s position needs to resituate even those premises that are most familiar, which would make the intellectual relationships considerably more transparent. In virtually all respects, Russell’s intellectual history provides an entirely credible and admirable series of philosophical juxtapositions. His exploration of the blind man’s potential to know colour and the correlative application to the abstract idea of God is an exceptional investigation that balances historical context with philosophical exegesis. His sagacious examples chart the relationships and debates on the validity of experience weighted against the tenets of abstraction. Russell tempers Hobbes’s rejection of the infinite with Descartes’s meditation on infinite substance, which, in the latter, then finds an English complement in Cudworth and in Clarke’s justification of [End Page 152] reason. The arguments of Locke’s moderate concession to abstract universals within his experiential methodology quickly shift to the more radical Toland. A quick succession of concise argumentative interrelations between Collins, Law, and Berkeley follows, which allows an overarching significance to the weighted positions for both sides of the religious factions. With a rare degree of critical acumen, Russell takes this broad survey and applies the argument to Hume’s critique of religion, which, if not directly critical of God, then it is at least unfavourable to “our ideas as they relate to God’s most essential attributes” (94). With the application of this historical background and the realization of Hume’s covert censure of divine attributes, Russell introduces Hume’s subversive considerations on infinite and eternal attributes in the context of Clarke’s theological model that bases itself upon Newtonian principles. Russell...

The Principle of Greatest Happiness in Western Economic Thought and its Relation to Buddhist Economics

Western economic thinkers in the 19th century rediscovered the principle of greatest happiness (PGH). However, as Eastern philosophical and religious thinking shows it was part of common knowledge in Buddhism and Hinduism over the past millennia. PGH did not have the same agenda as later on utilitarism of John Stanley Jevons, with the utility maximization principle (UMP) of individuals disconnected from the rest of the society. The UMP was more an outcome of a fusion between moral ethical thinking as a social phenomenon with the Newtonian principles of mechanics based on differential calculus. The huge success of natural sciences in the 19th century during the industrial revolution was too tempting not to imitate its methodologies and concepts in the social sciences as social physics (SP). This kind of approach still has many followers unsurprisingly in the natural science community nowadays. The paper studies these interconnections between these different strands of Western thinking which lead after a century to the neoclassical paradigm in economics which took the UMP as its foundation for economic analysis. Richard Layard, an English labour economist, pointed out among others by empirical research that wellbeing or happiness is not significantly correlated with an ever increasing material wealth. Here might emerge a bridge between Buddhist economics and the recent rediscovery of the PGH in modern Western economics. The paper will close with the suggestion of some first possible corrections necessary for UMP to obtain a PGH consistent with the current challenges to the global society.

Impetus beliefs as default heuristics: dissociation between explicit and implicit knowledge about motion.

We examined the extent to which findings from the literature on naive physics and representational momentum studies are consistent with impetus beliefs postulating imparted internal energy as a source of motion. In a literature review, we showed that, for situations in which impetus theory and physical principles make different predictions, representational momentum effects are consistent with impetus beliefs. In three new experiments, we examined people's implicit and explicit knowledge of the effect of mass on the rate of ascending motion. The results suggest that implicit knowledge is consistent with impetus theory and is unaffected by explicit knowledge. Expert physicists, whose explicit knowledge is in accord with Newtonian principles, exhibited the same implicit impetus beliefs as novices when asked to respond in a representational momentum paradigm. We propose that, in situations in which an immediate response is required and one does not have specific contextual knowledge about an object's motion, both physics experts and novices apply impetus principles as a default heuristic.