Synthetic Theory Research Articles

Deformation of hydrogenated polycrystalline bodies in the course of phase transformations

On the basis of a synthetic theory based on the application of principal postulates of the structural-analytic theory of strength, we construct a mathematical model of hydrogenated polycrystals, which can be regarded as a phenomenological model with improved physical basis. The concentration of hydrogen is taken into account with certain restrictions. However, even with these restrictions, we manage not only to reflect the qualitative picture but also to give a quantitative description of the deformational behavior of a hydrogenated material in the process of its cooling through of zone of phase transformations.

Situational Dissatisfaction in Congress: Explaining Voluntary Departures

Previous research on the motivations for voluntary departures from Congress has often focused on individual events, such as the check-writing scandal, on individual election years, such as 1974 or 1992, or has degenerated into a debate over whether or not members quit because the job is no longer any In this paper we use a dataset on House careers in the last half of the twentieth century and a synthetic theory to demonstrate that Congress is not universally no fun, but rather that there are certain situations that lead some members to be less satisfied than others with congressional service. This notion fits well with the data and makes more sense than attempting to conclude whether. Congress either is or is not fun. In the process, we show that members who are not achieving their goals are more likely than others to depart voluntarily from the U.S. House.

Party Politics and International Economic Activism: The Reagan-Bush Years

Among scholars of foreign economic policy making, there is now widespread agreement on the importance of combining international and domestic factors of explanation through a synthesis of structural and systemic, society and state-centered, and ideational approaches. It is not my purpose in this article, however, to advance a full-blown synthetic theory of my own. Instead, my limited aim here is to point out and help fill an important gap in this work: inadequate attention to a domestic factor whose importance in other policy areas has been found to be considerable-party competition. In this article I will argue for greater emphasis on the causal role of party competition in the foreign economic policy-making process through an illustrative case study of an important episode in recent American history: the trade crisis of the spring and summer of 1985 and the subsequent September turn by the Reagan administration toward international economic activism on trade and exchange rate policy. To suggest the generalizability of the argument, I will also demonstrate more briefly the continuing role of party competition in shaping American trade policy during the Reagan and Bush presidencies following the fall 1985 policy shift.

ALL MY LOVE IS TOWARDS INDIVIDUALS

This a book with a chip on its shoulder; I suspect that its author, Michael Ghiselin, carrying a whole log. On the one hand, we are reminded constantly of Ghiselin's genius. He never has an idea which not revolutionary, which does not challenge orthodoxy, which has not thrown light on the appalling consequences of many years of obfuscation and mistake. Even on the first page of the Preface we are told of an idea which is now recognized as a major contribution to the philosophy of biology, and to evolutionary theory as well. Further down the same page we are promised an entire system of metaphysics, and the discerning reader will note the deliberate echo of Ghiselin's title with those of two of the classics of the synthetic theory. Yet, on the other hand, throughout there the subtheme of genius unrecognized, talent unappreciated. While lesser men have gone on to fame and fortune, Michael Ghiselin has labored without full appreciation. Even the blurb on the back cover, by Ghiselin's friend and long-time supporter, the philosopher David Hull, picks up on this theme. As important as Michael Ghiselin's work has been, he an excellent example of someone who really has not received the attention and acclaim that his work deserves. In fact, staying for the moment with the back cover, the evidence that Michael Ghiselin has done very nicely in the recognition stakes. Not only has he been awarded the Pfizer Prize of the History of Science Society for the best book of the year (in 1970 for his The Triumph of the Darwinian Method), but a few years after, he got a MacArthur Prize for genius. Moreover, going back now into the book, the evidence that if the world at large decided totally to ignore Michael Ghiselin, it have very good reason. A more constant stream of petty nastiness and invective be hard to imagine. Everyone, friend and foe, comes in for some mean or hurtful jibe. Philip Kitcher, a philosopher with formidable mathematical skills, told that he does not know what a set is. Ernst Mayr, to whom incidentally the book dedicated, accused of serious unclarity. I-for let me admit that I am not exempt-am apparently so awful a thinker that Ghiselin would be happy to agree that when Ruse studies the human species, his work not science (p. 129). Adrian Desmond, one of our most distinguished historians of nineteenth-century evolutionary biology, labeled an anti-evolutionist (in the broad sense, whatever that might mean). Even David Hull slighted: the important papers in which he took up cudgels for Ghiselin do not find their way into the bibliography. All in all, Michael Ghiselin comes

The Tunguska Meteorite problem today

This paper contains basic data relating to the Tunguska Meteorite (TM) as late as 1996, including flight and explosion of a giant bolide in Siberia on 30 June 1908, related geophysical effects, the results of search of the TM matter and the environimental after effects of the event. The TNT equivalent of the Tunguska explosion is estimated between 10 and 40 megatons (most probably 15 megatons), probable energy 4.2 × 10 23−1.7 × 10 24 erg, altitude of the explosion 5–10 km. The explosion devastated a 2150±25 km 2 forest area and produced a radiant burn of flora at more than 100 km 2. The problem of optical events in the summer of 1908 connected to the Tunguska explosion is discussed, as well as that of the origin of element and isotropic anomalies in the area, the most striking feature being peculiarities in the C, H and Pb isotopic composition. A critical analysis is given of hypotheses proposed to explain TM problem. The hypotheses proceeding from concepts of the TM low and hyperlow (<0.01 g/cm 3) density are shown to be inconsistent. It is stated that nowadays the basic aspect of the TM nature discussion is an alternative “stony asteroid-comet”. Though the final choice between them has not yet been made, the chances of the stony asteroid version have recently grown substantially. The first priority is to solve a set of questions in order that further development of this problem can be detined as follows: (1) the fate of the meteorite fragments in case the TM was really a stony asteroid; (2) the possibility of a carbonaceous chondrite and mellow comet nucleus penetration into the troposphere; (3) the nature of the element and isotopic cosmochemical anomaly in the area of the Tunguska explosion epicentre; (4) the mechanism of geomagnetic effect and optical anomalies developed in the summer of 1908; (5) the possibility of a quick (within hours) transfer of dusty matter from the area of the Tunguska event to Central Asia, European Russia and Western Europe by stratospheric and mesospheric winds and (6) the cause of the mutation process in the area of the Tunguska catastrophe. All these questions might be solved much faster within the frames of international scientific cooperation as recently oullined and of continued fieldwork in the area of the Tunguska explosion. In this way the necessary conditions will be created to build up a synthetic theory of the Tunguska event, in order to explain not only the explosion of a space object at the Podkamennaya Tunguska, but the entire complex of anomalous eosmophysical events in the summer of 1908.

Reflection principles for synthetic theories of smooth manifolds

Reflection principles for synthetic theories of smooth manifolds

Creep with temperature hardening

We present a generalization of the synthetic theory of palasticity and creep to the case of temperature hardening under the conditions of instantaneous changes in temperature. In the process of temperature hardening, the creep rate decreases. Within the framework of the proposed model, we deduce a generalized law of proportionality, which remains true in the case of nonisothermal creep.

Genetics and the origin of species: an introduction.

Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900–1975) was a key author of the Synthetic Theory of Evolution, also known as the Modern Synthesis of Evolutionary Theory, which embodies a complex array of biological knowledge centered around Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection couched in genetic terms. The epithet “synthetic” primarily alludes to the artful combination of Darwin’s natural selection with Mendelian genetics, but also to the incorporation of relevant knowledge from biological disciplines. In the 1920s and 1930s several theorists had developed mathematical accounts of natural selection as a genetic process. Dobzhansky’s Genetics and the Origin of Species , published in 1937 (1), refashioned their formulations in language that biologists could understand, dressed the equations with natural history and experimental population genetics, and extended the synthesis to speciation and other cardinal problems omitted by the mathematicians. The current Synthetic Theory has grown around that original synthesis. It is not just one single hypothesis (or theory) with its corroborating evidence, but a multidisciplinary body of knowledge bearing on biological evolution, an amalgam of well-established theories and working hypotheses, together with the observations and experiments that support accepted hypotheses (and falsify rejected ones), which jointly seek to explain the evolutionary process and its outcomes. These hypotheses, observations, and experiments often originate in disciplines such as genetics, embryology, zoology, botany, paleontology, and molecular biology. Currently, the “synthetic” epithet is often omitted and the compilation of relevant knowledge is simply known as the Theory of Evolution. This is still expanding, just like one of those “holding” business corporations that have grown around an original enterprise, but continue incorporating new profitable enterprises and discarding unprofitable ones. Darwin summarized the theory of evolution by natural selection in the Origin of Species (2) as follows: “As many more individuals are produced than can possibly survive, there must in every case …

Mobilization Forum: Reply To Lichbach and Selbin. Kings in Beggars' Raiment

A recurrent motif in European folk tales portrays a king who disguises himself as a shepherd or a beggar and wanders out among his subjects in order to distinguish between his prospective wife's love for his office and for himself, to escape the burdens of palace politics, to hear popular opinions of his regime or, perhaps, to stir a reluctant populace into resistance against an invading army. At tale's end, the sovereign strips off his rags to reveal the royal purple of his undergarments. Would-be beggar Mark Lichbach knows full well that the rational-choice perspective he espouses predominates in his home domain of political science, just as king-in-mufti Eric Selbin realizes how much invariant models of revolution representing it as a phenomenon quite distinct from any other hold sway in his territory of revolutionary analysis. The structuralist views against which the two of them rail have, to be sure, come to prevail in social movement studies and closely related fields, but students of war, industrial conflict, and other varieties of contentious politics have paid little attention to analogies between social movements and their favored phenomena. To tell stories of a heedless juggernaut overrunning small but worthy nations invokes the magic of folk tales. Despite defending different perimeters, furthermore, Lichbach and Selbin have wheeled out the same antiquated explanatory apparatus-subsumption under covering laws-on the supposition that the invading forces of McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly will deploy similar armaments. They have a double surprise coming. First, the contentious politics group rejects that model of explanation in favor of a search for general causal mechanisms that concatenate differently from setting to setting. Second, the contentious politics crowd arrives not as a conqueror but as an aid team planning to distribute food and medicine suitable for assuring the health of a wide variety of inquiries. If kings fear for their thrones, it will only happen because their subjects have seen vitalizing visions of a better world. Far from welcoming the members of McTeam as hygienic workers, Mark Lichbach labels them as carriers of dangerous infections. He warns against an epidemic of SPOT: Synthetic Political Opportunity Theory. But what intervention is the Terrible Trio actually advocating? Here are its main elements:

Mobilization Forum: Response to Mcadam, Tarrow, and Tilly. Contentious Maps of Contentious Politics

This essay responds to McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly's synthesis of the field of contentious politics (Mobilization I: 17-34). My intention is to stimulate a dialogue between two competing approaches—the rationalist's collective action research program (CARP), which I favor (Lichbach 1994; 1995; 1996) and the structuralist's synthetic political opportunity theory (SPOT), which McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly advocate. After outlining the basic presuppositions of SPOT and CARP, I criticize the possibility of a grand synthesis in the field of conflict studies or contentious politics by demonstrating the specific tensions of a CARP-SPOT consortium and the general problems of any synthesis. I conclude that we should take McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly's call for contention in the field of contentious politics more seriously than their call for cumulation in a single crowning achievement, SPOT: We need creative confrontations, which should include well-defined and historically specific combinations, rather than a grand theoretical synthesis of the competing and conflicting research communities in the field.

Changing conceptions of species

Species are thought by many to be important units of evolution. In this paper, I argue against that view. My argument is based on an examination of the role of species in the synthetic theory of evolution. I argue that if one adopts a gradualist view of evolution, one cannot make sense of the claim that species are “units” in the minimal sense needed to claim that they are units of evolution, namely, that they exist as discrete entities over time. My second argument is directed against an appeal to Eldredge and Gould's theory of punctuated equilibria to support the claim that species are units of evolution. If one adopts their view, it may be possible to identify discrete temporal entities that can plausibly be termed ‘species’, but there is no reason to claim that those entities are “units of evolution”. Thus, on two plausible interpretations of the role of natural selection in the process of evolution, species are of no special importance. I then consider some of the reasons why species have been thought to be important evolutionary units by many contemporary evolutionary biologists. Finally, I discuss briefly the implications of this conclusion for evolutionary biology.

Two remarks on the Lifschitz realizability topos

The purpose of this note is to clarify two points about the topos Lif, introduced in [13] as a generalization of Lifschitz' realizability ([9, 12]). Lif is a subtopos of Hyland's Effective topos ([1]). The points I want to make are:Remark 1. Lif is the largest subtopos of satisfying the axiom (O):where denotes partial recursive application, and “∈ Tot” means that e and f range over codes for total recursive functions. One may read (O) as the statement “The union of two -sets is again a -set”. That is, let be a subtopos of . Then (O) is true in for the standard interpretation (the variables range over the natural numbers object of , etc.) if and only if the inclusion ↣ factors through the inclusion Lif ↣ .Remark 2. Like , Lif contains at least two weakly complete internal full subcategories, thus providing us with more models of polymorphism and other impredicative type theories.The principle (O) has some standing in the history of constructive mathematics:- H. Friedman has proved that (O) is equivalent to a formulation of intuitionistic completeness of the intuitionistic predicate calculus for Tarskian semantics; see [8]. This is not to imply that this result is of immediate relevance to Lif: Friedman works in a system of analysis, a theory of lawless sequences with an axiom of “open data” for arithmetical formulas, which at least for the domain of all functions from N to N fails in Lif. However, there might exist a “nonstandard model” of arithmetic and a corresponding system of analysis, in which we may be able to carry out his proof.- Moreover, Remark 2 entails that Lif should provide us with models of synthetic domain theory (for an exposition, see [3]), and one with the nice property that the dual of one of the axioms (axiom 7 in [3]) comes for free, by (O).

Hans Bluntschli als Morphologe

The primatologist Hans Bluntschli, M. D. (1877-1962) published several pa-pers on variations in the circulatory system of man and other primates, a de-scription of the fossil New World monkey Homunculus patagonicus as well as works on the function of the jaw and masticatory muscles of man and apes. Caught between the conflicting views of traditional comparative and emerging experimental evolutionary biology, Bluntschli objected to new genetic theories and increasingly supported neo-Lamarckian ideas of heredity. By studying Bluntschli’s articles and unpublished manuscripts one can follow the change of evolutionary concepts from the wide-spread scepticism about Dar-win’s theory of natural selection around 1900 up to the formulation of the Synthetic Theory of Evolution in the 1940s.

Socialization, Life Situations, and Gender-Role Attitudes regarding the Family among White American Women

There are two major theoretical perspectives explaining differences in gender-role attitudes: the socialization or social-learning theory, and situational theory in the form of macrosituational and microsituational (microstructural) hypotheses. In this article, we synthesize the two theories. We use data from the 1985 General Social Survey to evaluate this synthetic theory for white women in the United States. The findings show that socialization, represented by women's educational attainment being influenced by their mothers' educational attainment, has no direct impact on gender-role attitudes. Socialization does indirectly influence attitudes via women's life situations, as represented by women's life course stages and the kin composition of their social networks. Life situations are more contemporaneous than socialization and, thus, have direct effects on family-related gender-role attitudes.

Leaf phenology as an optimal strategy for carbon gain in plants

Since leaves are essentially energy-gaining organs, the arrangement of leaves in time (leaf phenology) and in space (canopy architecture) in both seasonal and nonseasonal environments can be viewed as a central element in plant strategies for carbon gain. Interrelationships among leaf longevity, leaf habit, and leaf-emergence pattern together with shoot architecture affect plant productivity. Leaf longevity is shown to maximize carbon gain through three parameters: leaf photosynthetic rate, the decrease in photosynthetic rate with leaf age, and the initial construction costs of the leaf. This theoretical approach has been extended to seasonal environments and effectively simulated the geographical pattern of leaf habits. To avoid self-shading, plants adopt two alternative modes of leaf emergence. One is successive leaf emergence, in which plants expand one leaf at a time on a shoot; this unshaded leaf utilizes full sunlight and is only replaced by a second leaf when its photosynthetic ability declines. Plants with successive leaf emergence attain high production and have straight shoots with multilayered canopy architecture. The alternative is simultaneous leaf emergence on shoots inclined to minimize self-shading through a monolayered canopy architecture. By the inclination of the shoot, each leaf on the shoot can receive sufficient light. Plants with simultaneous leaf emergence utilize the entire growing period effectively. Taken together and in the context of shoot and canopy architecture these interrelationships among leaf longevity, habit, and emergence pattern provide the basis for a synthetic theory of leaf phenology. Key words: leaf phenology, leaf longevity, leaf emergence, evergreen, deciduous habit.

Evolution without Natural Selection: Further Implications of the Daisyworld Parable

Daisyworld is a model dynamical system in which very simple mechanisms interact to produce complex behaviour. It was devised to show how regulation can arise without natural selection. Here we investigate the model in greater detail. We analyse the possible steady states and study the response of the system under different conditions, we consider the implications of the hysteresis which is found in this and many other non-linear systems, and we compare the properties of the model with those of systems that evolved solely by natural selection. Natural selection inherently concentrates on local optimization and immediate advantage rather than on robustness and long-term benefit. This makes some features of organisms hard to explain within the synthetic theory. The model suggests that the solution may simply be that natural selection was not the crucial factor in their evolution. When a system that has previously responded to challenge counter-intuitively or apparently not at all subsequently begins to react in the way one would expect, this should be taken as a warning that it is a regulated system and that the regulation may be about to break down. If that happens, there is likely to be a catastrophic change as the system either collapses altogether or else moves rapidly to the state it would have been in without regulation. Recovery, if possible at all, is likely to be unexpectedly difficult.

A Composite Catalogue of Asteroid Proper Elements

We have assembled the asteroid proper elements computed by different authors, using different methods, and for different regions of the asteroid belt. Asteroids on planet crossing orbits are not yet included. The use of very different algorithms is dictated by the dynamics of the different regions. For the asteroids of the main belt, having semimajor axes between 2.1 and 3.8 AU, and with proper eccentricity and sine of inclination less than 0.3, proper elements are computed by a fully analytical iterative theory developed by Milani and Knežević (1990,1992,1994; hereafter M&amp;K). For high inclination and/or eccentricity main-belt asteroids, having 1.8 &lt; a &lt; 3.8 AU and either e or sin I larger than 0.24, proper elements are computed by a semianalytical theory developed by Lemaitre and Morbidelli (1994; hereafter L&amp;M). For Trojans, proper elements are computed by a synthetic theory (that is, from the output of a numerical integration for a few Myr) by Milani (1993). For the Hilda asteroids in the 3: 2 resonance, proper elements have been computed by a synthetic theory by Schubart (1982, 1991). For a discussion of the state of the art in the computation of proper elements, see Knežević and Milani, this volume; for Trojans, see Milani, this volume; for some other cases (e.g. proper elements for resonant asteroids), see Froeschlé and Morbidelli, this volume. When and if new proper elements will be available for other asteroids, they will be added to the public domain file, together with updates and upgrades of the existing catalogues.

Die Seebohm-Hartert-„Schule” der europäischen Ornithologie

During the late 19th century,Henry Seebohm andErnst Hartert emphasized the concept of a broadly delimited species category in taxonomy which contrasted with the views of most leading ornithologists in England and on the continent.Hartert successfully established this “school” through the publication of hismagnum opus “Die Vogel der palaarktischen Fauna” (1903–1922). Since the 1920s, the work ofStresemann, Rensch andMary broadened the theoretical scope of this “school” into the field of a “new systematics” which, underMayr's leadership, merged with population genetics and paleontology in the synthetic theory of evolution during the 1940s.

Weber's sociology and Weber's personality

Of all the major authors sociologists like to claim for their discipline, Max Weber has proven to be the most intractable. The difficulties are partly intrinsic to his work, yet in no small measure they are also linked to the particular circumstances of his emergence as a figure of central importance for post-classical sociology. This rise to prominence owes a great deal to Talcott Parsons's groundbreaking effort aimed at consolidating sociological thought within the unitary framework of a selfconsciously synthetic, general, and comprehensive theory. This project obviously could not be all things to all people. The convergence hypothesis underlying The Structure of Social Action essentially had the effect of downplaying the extent to which Weber sided with the German historicists' profound rejection of Anglo-French positivistprogressivist-generalizing social science. Instead, he was made to come off as an author in the process of transcending the particularism of his national tradition toward a more universal position.

The Trojan asteroid belt: Proper elements, stability, chaos and families

I have computed proper elements for 174 asteroids in the 1 : 1 resonance with Jupiter, that is for all the reliable orbits available (numbered and multi-opposition). The procedure requires numerical integration, under the perturbations by the four major planets, for 1,000,000 years; the output is digitally filtered and compressed into a “synthetic theory” (as defined within theLONGSTOP project). The proper modes of oscillation of the variables related to eccentricity, perihelion, inclination and node define proper elements. A third proper element is defined as the amplitude of the oscillation of the semimajor axis associated with the libration period; because of the strong nonlinearity of the problem, this component cannot be determined by a simple Fourier transform to the frequency domain. I therefore give another definition, which results in very good stability with time. For 87% of the computed orbits, the stability of the proper elements-at least over 1M yr-is within the following bounds: 0.001AU in semimajor axis, 0.0025 in eccentricity and sine of inclination. Half of the cases with degraded stability of the proper elements are found to be chaotic, with e-folding times between 16,000 and 660,000yr; in some other cases, chaotic behaviour does not result in a significantly decreased stability of the proper elements (stable chaos). The accuracy and stability of these proper elements is good enough to allow a search for asteroid families; however, the dynamical structure of the Trojan belt is very different from the one of the main belt, and collisional events among Trojans can result in a distribution of fragments difficult to identify. The occurrence of couples of Trojans with very close proper elements is proven not to be statistically significant in almost all cases. As the only exception, the couple 1583 Antilochus — 3801 Thrasimedes is significant; however, it is not easy to account for it by a conventional collisional theory. The Menelaus group is confirmed as a strong candidate collisional family; Teucer and Sarpedon could be considered as significant clusters. A number of other clumps are detected (by the same automated clustering method used for the main belt by Zappala et al., 1990, 1992), but the total number of Trojans with reliable orbits is not large enough to detect many significant candidate families.