NGC 2419 does not challenge MOND, Part 2

I argue that, despite repeated claims of Ibata et al., the globular cluster NGC 2419 does not pose a problem for modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). I present a new polytropic model with a running polytropic index. This model provides an improved representation of the radial distribution of surface brightness while maintaining a reasonable fit to the velocity dispersion profile. Although it may be argued that the differences with these observations remain large compared to the reported random errors, there are several undetectable systematic effects which render a formal likelihood analysis irrelevant. I comment generally upon these effects and upon the intrinsic limitations of pressure supported objects as tests of gravity.Comment: 3 page, 2 figure

Dignity and Social Meaning: \u3ci\u3eObergefell\u3c/i\u3e, \u3ci\u3eWindsor\u3c/i\u3e, and \u3ci\u3eLawrence\u3c/i\u3e as Constitutional Dialogue

The U.S. Supreme Court’s three most important gay and lesbian rights decisions—Obergefell v. Hodges, United States v. Windsor, and Lawrence v. Texas—are united by the principle that gays and lesbians are entitled to dignity. Beyond their tangible consequences, the common constitutional evil of state bans on same-sex marriage, the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and sodomy laws was that they imposed dignitary harm. This Article explores how the gay and lesbian dignity cases exemplify the process by which constitutional law emerges from a social and cultural dialogue in which the Supreme Court actively participates. In doing so, it draws on the scholarly literatures on dialogic judicial review and the role of social meaning in constitutional law. It illuminates how the Supreme Court interprets democratic preferences and constructs social meaning in order to apply fundamental constitutional norms to emerging legal claims. Contrary to the speculations of some commentators, “dignity” in these cases did not operate as some new form of constitutional right. Rather, the identification and protection of dignitary interests served as the unifying principle for a process, unfolding in three cases over thirteen years, through which constitutional law was brought into alignment with evolving public attitudes and policy preferences. The dignity decisions should be understood as majoritarian, not as acts of judicial will. They were broadly accepted because the Court’s insights about the status of gays and lesbians in American society were consistent with dramatic and long-term changes in cultural and public attitudes. As culture and attitudes evolved, so did the social meaning of anti-gay laws. Sodomy laws and marriage restrictions, once accepted as presumptively constitutional protections of tradition and public morality, increasingly came to be understood as impositions of stigma and humiliation—the kind of expressive harms that the U.S. Constitution forbids

CH-FARMIS - An agricultural sector model for Swiss agriculture

This working paper gives an overview of the farm group model CH-FARMIS - a comparative static, process analytical, non-linear programming model that allows a separate assessment of the impacts of policies on organic and non-organic farming in Switzerland. In CH-FARMIS, the agricultural sector is represented by thirty farm groups, which can be char-acterised by their farming system, farm type and geographic location. Book keeping data from the Swiss FADN was used as a primary source for the model. By applying farm-specific weight-ing factors, farm data were aggregated to sector accounts. The technical coefficients of the farm model were either taken directly from farm accounts or calculated on the basis of normative data. Agricultural production is represented by 29 crop activities and 15 livestock activities. The factor allocation and production of each farm group is optimised by maximising farm income under policy and management restrictions. The restrictions cover the area of land and labour use, livestock feeding, fertiliser balance, rearing of young stock, allocation of direct payments and requirements with respect to the organic production system. A positive mathematical pro-gramming approach (PMP) was used to calibrate the production activities in the base year to observed activity levels