18,911 research outputs found
CFD modelling of Stirling engines with complex design topologies
No full textThis research is in the field of CFD modelling of heat engines, particularly the advanced CFD methodologies for the performance characterization of solar Stirling Engines with complex geometrical topologies. The research aims to investigate whether these methods can provide a more inclusive picture of the engine performance and how this information can be used for the design improvement of Stirling engines and the investigation of more complex engine topologies
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
No full textAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
How Might Adam Smith Pay Professors Today?
No full textAdam Smith’s proposal for paying professors was intended to induce increased faculty knowledge. If students have imperfect information about what they learn, and universities can only imperfectly measure the input of faculty time in student learning, publications may be used to measure faculty knowledge. If professors’ ability to publish is positively related to their ability to produce student learning, which universities can imperfectly measure, publications may be necessary to attract more able professors. Since research signals faculty knowledge, schools that do not value publications per se could require higher publication standards and pay higher wages than schools that value only publications.
Jacob Ruff's Adam und Heva (1550) : a critical edition with introduction and notes
No full textJacob Ruff's Adam und Heva, written in 1550 by the Zurich town surgeon with the dual
purpose of entertaining and instructing Zurich's citizens in the new Protestant faith, is important for the way in which Ruff, a follower of the Swiss reformer, Zwingli, was intent on using images from the Old Testament to dramatise the Reformation tenets of sola scriptura, sola fide and sola gratia on the open-air stage of the Miinsterhof in Zurich. The original Froschauer print of 1550, of which there are four copies still extant in libraries in Zurich, St. Gallen, Munich and Berlin, has, until more recent years, been neglected by scholarship, and the last major study of the drama, which takes place over two days and involves a cast of one hundred and six, was the 1848 edition by the German literary historian, Hermann Marcus Kottinger.
In the present study, I provide a critical edition which seeks to make the Adam und Heva
more accessible to the modern reader, and also a commentary, in which I undertake a
detailed analysis of the way in which Ruff pursues a more medieval syncretism by fusing
various dramatic elements of the Middle Ages with what is nevertheless a Reformation
theology, thereby incoporporating medieval and contemporary thought in a medieval and
modern framework, and creating some of the most innovative scenes in the long tradition
of medieval creation literature. In addition, by comparing the Adam una Heva to the works of contemporaries of Ruff, namely the Swiss Reformation dramatists Hans von Rote and Jos Murer, and the Germans, Valten Voith and Hans Sachs, I study how elements of the drama of the Middle Ages could exist alongside the external and contemporary influences of the Swiss and German literary traditions, and how Swiss drama, largely neglected by the literary historian, may be placed firmly within the German evangelical dramatic tradition
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
No full textThe conventional interpretation of Adam Smith is that he is a prophet of commercialism. The liberal capitalist reading of Smith is consistent with the view that history culminates in commercial society. The first part of the article develops this optimistic interpretation of Smith's view of history. Smith implies that commercial society is the end of history because 1) it supplies the ends of nature that he identifies; 2) it is inevitable; and 3) it is permanent. The second part of the article shows that Smith has some dark moments in his writings where he seems to reject completely such teleological notions. In this more civic humanist mood he confesses that commercial society does not supply the ends of nature, nor is it inevitable, nor is it permanent. Both views exist in Smith and the commentator is forced to choose between passages in Smith's work in order to support a particular interpretation of the former's view of history.Political Economy,
Ecological-economic modelling of interactions between wild and commercial bees and pesticide use
No full textThe decline in extent of wild pollinators in recent years has been partly associated with changing farm practices and in particular with increase of pesticide use. In this paper we combine ecological modelling with economic analysis of a single farm output under the assumption that both pollination and pest control are essential inputs. We show that the drive to increase farm output can lead to a local decline in the wild bee population. Commercial bees are often considered an alternative to wild pollinators, but we show that their introduction can lead to further decline and finally local extinction of wild bees. The transitions between different outcomes are characterised by threshold behaviour and are potentially difficult to predict and detect in advance. Small changes in economic (input prices) and ecological (wild bees carrying capacity and effect of pesticides on bees) can move the economic-ecological system beyond the extinction threshold. We also show that increasing the pesticide price or decreasing the commercial bee price might lead to reestablishment of wild bees following their local extinction. Thus, we demonstrate the importance of combining ecological modelling with economics to study the provision of ecosystem services and to inform sustainable management of ecosystem service providers
Characterising Livestock System Zoonoses Hotspots
No full textA systematic review of the published literature was undertaken, to explore the ability of different types of model to help identify the relative importance of different drivers leading to the development of zoonoses hotspots. We estimated that out of 373 papers we included in our review, 108 papers touched upon the objective of 'Assessment of interventions and intervention policies', 75 addressed the objective of 'Analysis of economic aspects of disease outbreaks and interventions', 67 the objective of 'Prediction of future outbreaks', but only 37 broadly addressed the objective of 'Sensitivity analysis to identify criteria leading to enhanced risk'. Most models of zoonotic diseases are currently capturing outbreaks over relatively short time and largely ignoring socio-economic drivers leading to pathogen emergence, spill-over and spread. In order to study long-term changes we need to understand how socio-economic and climatic changes affect structure of livestock production and how these in turn affect disease emergence and spread. Models capable of describing this processes do not appear to exist, although some progress has been made in linking social and economical aspects of livestock production and in linking economics to disease dynamics. Henceforth we conclude that a new modelling framework is required that expands and formalises the 'one world, one health' strategy, enabling its deployment in the re-thinking of prevention and control strategies. Although modelling can only provide means to identify risks associated with socio-economic changes, it can never be a substitute for data collection. Finally, we note that uncertainty analysis and uncertainty communication form a key element of modelling process and yet are rarely addressed
Lutumin's Eva und Adam A study and edition of the poem from Codex Vindobonensis 2980
No full textSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D42687/82 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Trust: Economic Notions and its role in Money and Banking
No full textThis thesis has two aims; to explore the economic notions of trust to develop a coherent understanding of trust within economics and to apply this understanding to the operation of money and banking.
There has been a recent explosion of work about trust within economics but little consensus. This thesis explores this body of work by first developing a framework based on the different perceptions of the work of Adam Smith. The framework argues that the academic discipline of economics can be understood as mirroring the discussions of the work of Adam Smith. The Academic discipline of economics can be seen as comprising of approaches that only consider behaviour as relating to self-interested and those approaches that have adopted a stance that includes both self-interest and social, organic behaviour.
The beginning of this thesis explores the notions of trust offered by Behavioural Game Theory and Institutional Economics and argues that the notions of trust developed using the institutional framework offer a richer conceptualisation and are more widely applicable to other areas addressed by economics. This concludes by developing a theory of trust in the institutional tradition based on the work of Simmel and draws a distinction between trust as applied to agency and confidence applied to structure.
After drawing a distinction between trust and confidence based on agency and structure, this thesis then uses this theory to address the understanding of the operation of money and then banking. Money, or more specifically the operation of money as influencing behaviour, can be understood as being a complex institution with both agency and structural elements allowing a coherent understanding of money and trust. The same can be said of trust and banking, but a very different model develops as banks are organisations rather than complex institutions.
This thesis concludes by considering the current financial crisis and the policy responses using the trust and confidence framework.
Trust has been an important concept for money and banking, but without a satisfactory framework for analysis. The contribution of this thesis is to have developed a coherent framework for analysing trust, and applying it to money and banking
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