Similarity Argument Research Articles

Homophily versus monitoring: Do all female board directors drive the gender assignment of audit partners?

By examining the extent to which the proportion of female board directors affects the gender assignment of engagement partners, this paper contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, we investigate the French mandatory joint audit setting, giving rise to a set of concerns with regard to the auditor pair composition. Second, we consider female directors according to their positions on the board in order to determine which of the homophily and monitoring arguments plays the greater part in the auditor selection process. Third, we address the moderating effect of the gender quota law on the link between female directorship and the choice of audit engagement partners. Using appropriate estimation methods, we find that female board members appointed to key monitoring positions (female independent directors and female audit committee members) choose gender-diverse engagement partners. However, counter to the gender similarity (homophily) argument, we find that female inside directors are negatively associated with the selection of gender-diverse engagement partners. The association between gender-diverse boards and gender-diverse audit partners is found to be more pronounced in the period following the enactment of the gender quota law, thereby providing some practical and policy implications with regard to capitalising on the benefits of gender diversity. Supplementary analyses support the preponderance of the monitoring argument over the homophily argument in the auditor selection process.

Overlap Between Industrial Niching and Workplace Segregation: Role of Immigration Policy, Culture and Country of Origin

This article focuses on two dimensions of labour market integration, sorting into different industries (niching) and sorting into workplace establishments (segregation) by share of migrant workers. We seek to understand to what degree these two dimensions of immigrants’ lack of labour market integration—niching and segregation—overlap with each other. The study is based on Finnish individual, panel and relational registry data, and we focus on the three largest immigrant groups—Estonians, Russians and Swedes—who have arrived from countries with different wealth levels to the Helsinki metropolitan area. By applying generalised structural equation modelling, we estimate industrial niching and workplace segregation—measured as a degree of overconcentration of immigrants in particular industries and workplace establishments, respectively—jointly. Our main findings show a strong overlap between niching and segregation for all ethnic groups. Segregation and niching levels are the highest among Estonians, but very similar for Russians and Swedes. These findings do not support the cultural similarity argument in immigrant labour market integration. Rather, immigration policy and origin country wealth level may be determinant. Additionally, we found that females are more likely than males to be employed simultaneously in niched industries and segregated workplace establishments, supporting the thesis of gender-based networks.

Application of incomplete similarity theory to the estimation of the mean velocity of debris flows

The mean velocity of debris flow is one of the most important parameters in the design of mitigation structures and in quantitative risk analysis. This study develops a model to predict the mean debris flow velocity observed in the field by applying the incomplete similarity argument. An equation for estimating the Darcy-Weisbach resistance coefficient for debris flows with a volumetric sediment concentration larger than 0.19 is accordingly derived using 128 sets of observation data from nine Chinese gullies, in which both the effect of the volumetric sediment concentration and channel slope on resistance are considered. The derived equation is then verified and compared against five previously published equations by using 61 sets of published observation data from six gullies located in four countries. The applications of the proposed equation are discussed, and the improvements made using the proposed equation are clearly very significant when compared with the previously published equations.

Similarity Arguments in the Genetic Modification Debate

In the ethical debate on genetic modification (GM), it is common to encounter the claim that some anti-GM argument would also apply an established, ethically accepted technology, and that the anti-GM argument is therefore unsuccessful. The paper discusses whether this argumentative strategy, the Similarity Argument, is sound. It presents a logically valid, generic form of the Similarity Argument and then shows that it is subject to three types of objection: (i) It does not respect the difference between pro tanto reasons and all-things-considered judgments; (ii) it relies on the unproblematic transferability of reasons from one case to another; and (iii) it runs the risk of equivocations, especially in cases where the anti-genetic-modification argument relies on gradable features. The paper then shows how these issues play out in three specific Similarity Arguments that can be found in the literature. Finally, the paper discusses what conclusions we can draw from the fact that genetic modification and established technologies are similar for the ethical status of genetic modification.

The inscrutability of colour similarity

This paper presents a new response to the colour similarity argument, an argument that many people take to pose the greatest threat to colour physicalism. The colour similarity argument assumes that if colour physicalism is true, then colour similarities should be scrutable under standard physical descriptions of surface reflectance properties such as their spectral reflectance curves. Given this assumption, our evident failure to find such similarities at the reducing level seemingly proves fatal to colour physicalism. I argue that we should dispense with this assumption, and thus endorse the inscrutability of colour similarity. This strategy is inspired by parallels between the colour similarity argument and the explanatory gap between mind and body made vivid by Jackson’s (1986) knowledge argument, and in particular by type-B physicalist responses to that argument. This inscrutability response is further motivated by cases in chemistry and biochemistry in which analogous scrutability theses fail to hold. Along the way, I present a challenge to standard formulations of the colour similarity argument based on the extreme context sensitivity of the similarity relation. Most presentations of the argument fail to control for such contextual variation, which raises the distinct possibility that the argument equivocates on the similarity relation across its premises. Although ultimately inconclusive, this context challenge forces a significant reformulation of the colour similarity argument, and highlights the need for much greater care in handling claims about colour similarity.

On the fractal characteristics of low Damköhler number flames

Knowledge of the fractal properties of premixed flame surfaces can potentially be used to help develop turbulent combustion models. Here, direct numerical simulations of low Damköhler number flames are used to analyse the fractal nature of the flames. Two sets of data are considered: (i) thermochemical hydrogen–air turbulent premixed plane-jet flames with detailed chemistry and (ii) thermonuclear flames in type Ia supernovae. A three-dimensional box counting method is used to investigate fractal dimension of the flame surface, characterising the self similarity of flame fronts. In the premixed flames, the fractal dimension is found to vary in time between 2.1 and 2.7. The supernovae flames in distributed combustion regimes yield fractal dimension about 2.7. The results for the maximum fractal dimensions are higher than previously reported. They are explained theoretically by a Reynolds number similarity argument which posits that the high Reynolds number, low Damköhler number limiting value of the fractal dimension is 8/3. Also tested is Mandelbrot’s fractal additive law which relates the fractal dimension determined in two dimensions, which is typical of experimental measurements, to that in three dimensions. The comparison of the fractal dimension in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces supports the additive law, even though the flames considered do not formally satisfy isotropy. Finally, the inner-cut off is extracted from the hydrogen flames and found to be consistent in order of magnitude with Kolmogorov scaling.

On Diffusion in Heterogeneous Media

Diffusion in heterogeneous solid media has been investigated for over forty years. However, the derived equations for bulk (or effective) diffusivity used similarity argument between diffusion and other physical properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity, and hence either implicitly or explicitly assumed that the concentrations are continuous across phase boundaries. That is, these derived relations, which have permeated through the literature and textbooks, can only be applied when the partition coefficients of the component between every pair of phases in the medium is 1, which is rarely the case. In this work, we include the effect of partitioning between different phases and present the method to derive the equations to relate bulk diffusivity to individual-phase diffusivities in heterogeneous media.

The Role of Wake Production on the Scaling Laws of Scalar Concentration Fluctuation Spectra Inside Dense Canopies

The scalar concentration fluctuations within a plane parallel-to-the-ground surface were measured inside a model canopy composed of densely arrayed rods using the laser-induced fluorescence technique. Two-dimensional scalar concentration spectra were computed and were shown to exhibit an approximate −3 power-law scaling at wavenumbers larger than those associated with wake production during quiescent instances when von Karman vortex streets dominated the flow. However, during instances when sweeps disrupted the flow, the spectral exponents increased above −3. The −3 power-law for these concentration fluctuation spectra measurements was shown to be consistent with a simplified spectral budget for locally homogeneous and isotropic turbulence augmented with a relaxation time scale similarity argument that assumed a constant enstrophy injection rate and wake generation mechanism. Hence, the origin of this −3 power-law scaling here differs from the well-known −3 power-law result for the so-called inertial diffusive range derived for the scalar concentration spectrum at small Prandtl numbers.

Modeling of radiation and nitric oxide formation in turbulent nonpremixed flames using a flamelet/progress variable formulation

A model for the prediction of the nitric oxide (NO) formation in turbulent nonpremixed flames is proposed. Since the NO formation has a strong temperature sensitivity, the accurate prediction of the flame temperature under the consideration of radiative heat losses is required. The first part of the paper addresses the extension of a flamelet-based combustion model to account for radiative heat loss effects by introducing enthalpy as an additional parameter. A transport equation for enthalpy is solved, and the radiative sink term in this equation is obtained from unsteady flamelet solutions. The model is applied to a large-eddy simulation (LES) of Sandia flame D, and the importance of the interaction between turbulence and radiation on temperature and mixture fraction is investigated. Based on the radiative flamelet formulation, a consistent model for the prediction of NO formation is developed in the second part of the paper. In this model, an additional transport equation for the NO mass fraction is solved, and the chemical source term is obtained from a flamelet library. Since the consumption rate is dependent on the NO mass fraction, this term requires modeling, which is discussed in this paper. By employing a scale similarity argument, a closure model for application in LES is presented. After the analysis of the proposed model for the thermal, nitrous oxide, and prompt pathways for NO formation, the NO model is integrated into the extended flamelet/progress variable model and applied in LES of Sandia flame D and a Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine combustor configuration.

Turbulent flow and bed pressure within headcut scour holes due to plane reattached jets

Soil erosion remains the principle cause of soil degradation worldwide, and the development and migration of headcuts in rills, crop furrows, and gullies can significantly increase soil losses on hillslopes, upland areas, and agricultural fields. Experiments were conducted to define the time-mean turbulent flow characteristics within fixed headcut scour holes typical of upland concentrated flows and to assess the distribution of these flow and pressure parameters for discrete areas of the scour hole domain. These data show that: (1) flow within headcut scour holes is analogous to plane turbulent reattached wall jets; (2) turbulence maxima are associated with the jet entry, recirculation eddies, and flow reattachment; (3) turbulent velocities are distributed asymmetrically about the free jet axis within the scour hole; (4) turbulent velocities associated with the reattached wall jet display good similarity collapse when scaled with the jet entry velocity; and (5) distributions of wall pressure near reattachment agree well with a similarity argument derived for impinging jets. This study supports the use and application of a jet impingement approach for modeling flow and soil erosion in upland concentrated flows due to headcut development and migration. Moreover, it is suggested that velocity-gradient shear, turbulent shear, and near-bed pressure gradients all are involved in soil erosion within headcut scour holes.

Similarity or Difference as a Basis for Justice: Must Animals Be Like Humans To Be Legally Protected From Humans?

The argument that justice requires better treatment of animals frequently rests on the idea that like entities should be treated alike. The claim is, since animals are like humans as to capacities of cognition and suffering, animals should be legally protected from the types of exploitation and harms from which humans are already legally protected. This article argues that this type of similarity argument is flawed on theoretical and pragmatic grounds. By contrast, developments in securing legal justice in other social justice contexts, such as feminist and disability rights advocacy, suggest that equal treatment based on similarity as the predominant value is yielding to equality based on other values, such as diversity and inclusivity. Activists for animals can contribute to these alternative pathways to justice by choosing projects that stem from an anti-discrimination stance as opposed to those that originate in an ideological argument of similarity to humans.

Revisit of viscous sublayer scaling law

Recent study has shown that the valid region of linear velocity profile in the viscous sublayer of turbulent channel flow is only the asymptotic limit y+→0 even at a very high Reynolds number. In the view of similarity, this result implies that the conventional complete similarity assumption, which is the basis of linear velocity profile, is not valid. In terms of extended similarity argument of G. I. Barenblatt [J. Eng. Math. 36, 361 (1999)], it is shown that the plausible similarity assumption for the viscous sublayer is the incomplete similarity in y+ and the complete similarity in h+(=huτ/ν), where h is channel half width. The resulting velocity profile based on these assumptions has a quartic term of y+ from Reynolds stress in addition to a linear term of y+ from viscous stress, which greatly enlarges the extent of valid region of similarity.

Diffusion of Matter in the Wall Turbulent Flow. 5th Report. Local Similarity of the Fluctuating Concentration Field of the Plume from a Wall Point Source in a Turbulent Pipe Flow.

In this report, we extend the similarity argument used in the previous report (1) to the mean square concentration fluctuation equation on the symmetrical plane of the wall point source plume in a turbulent pipe flow to find the similar solution for the mean square concentration fluctuation distribution. The main assumptions are the Lagrangean similar hypothesis and an appropriate eddy diffusivity distribution to the triple correlation term and the mixing length theory. It is found that the distribution of the similar solution shows good agreement with experimental data in a pipe flow. In the case of a wall point source in a turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate, the same argument is appliciable, and the similar solution obtained shows good agreement with the experimental data. And the budget of the fluctuating concentration intensity is investigated on the basis of the similar solution and the mean square concentration fluctuation equation.

Vorticity balance of boundary currents

Friction at the seafloor acts as a source of potential vorticity or in (PV) for individual isopycnic layers of a boundary current. The rate of PV transport (flux times layer thickness) equals, to a good approximation, the divergence of alongstream shear stress in the bottom boundary layer at the seafloor, which in turn equals the alongstream gradient of Montgomery potential. Mean PV transport is continuous along isopycnals between the bottom boundary layer and a boundary current in statistically steady state. Within the boundary current, Reynolds flux of vorticity transports PV. The divergence of this transport balances planetary vorticity advection and other terms in the vorticity equation. PV transport is equivalent to horizontal shear force, and its continuity from the seafloor to the interior of the boundary current implies that the total shear force exerted by the seafloor over the broad footprint of an isopycnic layer acts as much increased shear over the shallow depth of the same layer offshore. A drag law of the bottom boundary layer connects shear stress at the seafloor to velocity outside the boundary layer, a similarity argument yields the functional form of the shear stress gradient-friction velocity relationship, and hence the boundary condition on PV transport from the seafloor. This is neither free-slip nor no-slip, but closer to the latter

Analogy of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer in Pipe Flows with Secondary Stream. Curved Pipe and Orthogonally Rotating Pipe.

Analogy of forced convective heat transfer between fully developed laminar flows in curved pipes and orthogonally rotating pipes is studied using similarity argument and computations. Sets of non-dimensional parameters are obtained for each flow. When the curvature parameter and the Rossby number are large enouugh, it is shown that the Nusselt numbers for these two flows coincide and heat transfer characteristics have strong similarities for equal values of governing parameters (KLC and KLR) as well as Prandtl numbers of two flows.

Global postseismic deformation in a stratified viscoelastic Earth: Effects on Chandler Wobble Excitation

The principal purpose of this paper is to examine whether movement of matter in a stratified viscoelastic earth can enhance the excitation of the Chandler wobble. We have constructed analytically a two‐layer model consisting of an elastic lithosphere overlying a Maxwell viscoelastic mantle in order to calculate explicitly the temporal evolution of the inertia tensor from earthquake faulting. It is found that the ability of the viscoelastic flows to produce an additional increment of the inertia tensor depends critically on R, the ratio of the inner radius to the outer radius. Only for R ≳ 0.7 is there a substantial increase. For the earth (R ≃ 0.98) an amplification of between four and six is obtained from the models considered. However, the time scales over which this enhancement of the moment of inertia takes place is about 10 Maxwell times, thus making this model unlikely to excite the Chandler wobble for values of the mantle viscosity derived from postglacial uplifts. This phenomenon of strain amplification occurs by virtue of ‘transient membrane mechanics,’ as the ratio between the horizontal wavelength of the deformation field is large compared with the elastic shell. By means of a similarity argument we have found that for angular orders less than 40 to 45 ‘transient membrane mechanics’ can be important in global postseismic deformation in the earth. This mode of transient deformation arises from the three‐dimensional nature of the problem and hence cannot be modeled with conventional flat earth models.

On higher-order spectra of turbulence

Measurements of higher-order spectra of turbulent velocity fluctuations in the atmospheric boundary layer over the open ocean and land produce the interesting result that, in the wavenumber range designated originally by Kolmogorov as an inertial subrange, the functional dependence of the spectra on wavenumber is practically independent of the order of the spectrum. These results confirm the observation of Dutton & Deaven that their extension by a dimensional similarity argument of the original Kolmogorov theory to higher-order spectra was not valid. In the present work, we derive an alternative generalization of the Kolmogorov ideas for spectra of arbitrary order. The results of this generalization describe the dependence upon wavenumber of the available data quite well. We also present theoretical calculations based on a Gaussian model for the fluctuating velocity field which furnish quantitative predictions for spectra of arbitrary order that are also in good agreement with the measurements, both in functional form and in absolute value.Comparison of results based on the Gaussian model with laboratory measurements obtained in a free shear layer shows that the Gaussian theory predicts accurately all the available normalized higher-order spectra for all frequencies. When the corresponding measured higher-order moments are close to those expected for a Gaussian process, the Gaussian theory also correctly predicts the absolute magnitudes of the higher-order spectra.

Investigation into the anomalous behavior of Pitot tubes in dilute polymer solutions

The anomalous behavior of Pitot tubes in the turbluent pipe flow of a dilute polymer solution is investigated and discussed. Pitot tube error is measured using an alternative optical means of local velocity measurement. Unlike previous research in this field a strict control is kept on the state of degradation of the solutions and Pitot tube error is measured directly whilst the tube is under test. Errors which occurred in total head pressure measurement were found to be negative and in some cases were as high as 40%. Factors which influence the Pitot tube accuracy are identified and a dynamical similarity argument is used to express the error as a function of these. Pitot tube error is attributed to the polymer solutions storing energy viscoelastically at the tube tip. A critical review of explanations previously put forward for Pitot error with reference to the results is included in the discussion. The polymer used was polyox WSR‐301.

On the strength of transverse waves in gaseous detonations

The ‘strength’ of a transverse wave in a propagating detonation is defined as the dimensionless pressure increase across the reflected shock at the triple point. It is shown that ‘strength’ may be measured from smoked foil records by measuring the entrance angle of a symmetrical intersection of Mach stems of opposite families. Measurements of strength are reported for argon diluted and undiluted stoichiometric hydrogen-oxygen mixtures and for argon diluted stoichiometric acetylene-oxygen and ethylene-oxygen mixtures in the initial pressure range of 50 to 350 torr. The limitations of the technique are discussed as are the implications of the observations that strength is highly variable and at the same time relatively independent of initial pressure. The variability must affect quantitative measurements while on the other hand, a similarity argument is presented which indicates that strength should be independent of pressure in certain detonation systems.

The effect of pressure gradient on the law of the wall in turbulent flow

The effect of a streamwise pressure gradient on the velocity profile in the viscous sublayer of a turbulent flow along a smooth wall in two-dimensional flow is estimated. In the analysis, a similarity argument is used and the necessary empirical information obtained from a constant pressure flow. An allowance is made for the departure from the wall value of the gradient of total shear stress normal to the wall. The results of analysis were used to generate new additive constants for use with Townsend's modified law of the wall velocity profile and subsequently Townsend's profile is found to be in good agreement with the measured velocity profiles in an adverse pressure gradient.