Other Redefinitions

Redefinitions in terms of fundamental constants are also being considered for the ampere, kelvin, and mole [1]. 

Such a definition of the ampere could be The ampere, unit of electric current, is such that the elementary charge is 1.60217653 x 10 coulomb. This definition determines the ampere, because in principle at least, one could count the number of electrons passing through a surface, and since the amount of charge carried by each electron would be known, the current would also be known. One of the consequences of this definition is that the electric constant eo and the magnetic constant ro would no longer be exact quantities, but would be defined by experiment through the expressions 

The kelvin temperature unit could be defined in terms of an exact value of the Boltzmann constant k by the statement The kelvin, the unit of thermodynamic temperature, is scaled such that the Boltzmann constant is exactly 1.3806505 x 10 joule per kelvin. 

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Is one variable more important than others Redefinition of the primary variable after... 

We teach our students that the infinite zero-point energy that arises when a free relativistic scalar (or Dirac-) field theory is canonically quantized can be subtracted (discarded) by a suitable redefinition of the energy-origin in other words, by normal ordering. However, the energy-origin can be re-defined only once, and only in homogenous space (i.e. without boundary conditions) and... 

There is a continual tendency for the values of cr/ and aR (and other substituent chemical shifts for a series of mono-substituted benzenes in very dilute solution in cyclohexane, carbon tetrachloride or deuteriochloroform were the basis for a redefinition of the aR scale and some amendment of a R values. However, the value for the nitro group was confirmed as 0.15. 

Reynolds and coworkers156 based a similar operation on 13C substituent chemical shifts of meta- and para-substituted styrenes. Iterative multiple regression was used for the redefinition of the 07 and crjj scales. The authors also took the opportunity to replace the symbol 07 by op, having become convinced that the so-called inductive effect was entirely a field effect (see the present author s discussion of this matter76). The authors presented an extensive table in which their values of the substituent parameters are compared with those obtained by other authors. Their cr value of 0.144 for NO2 essentially confirmed the various values of about 0.15 already mentioned and their 07 value of 0.651 essentially confirmed the various values of about 0.65. 

I am not making the cynical point that a person may often be able to justify his behaviour to others by invoking norms on an ad hoc basis, exploiting the almost endless repertoire of norms to disguise the fact that he is moved by self-interest. My point is that a person must be able to live with his decisions - so he has to justify them to himself. There are constraints on the acceptable justifications. In particular, the need for consistency between the norms that are invoked in different situations may be as important as the consistency between the norm and the self-interest. Yet within these constraints a good deal of redefinition of norms is possible. My suggestion is that in addition to the head-on conflict between self-interest and social norms there is an insidious struggle that is more similar to self-deception and thus more closely related to the multiple self. 

The discovery that the flagellum is more complex than first supposed, that it also contains an unpredicted, sophisticated protein-pumping mechanism, and that structures resembling the protein pump can occur independently, briefly set Darwinian hearts aflutter. The innocent optimism was based on Ken Miller s rhetorical redefinition of irreducible complexity, which decreed that parts of IC systems could not have any other function. Since a subset of the flagellum appeared to be part of the TTSS, then that violated Miller s dictum, and cheered some of the more unreflective Darwinists. 

These studies offer a reformulation of our present knowledge of zinc deficiency in a traditional, clinical manner. This reformulation is similar to that used by most other investigators dealing with other clinical problems. This reformulation or redefinition on the basis of acute, chronic and subacute zinc deficiency, has allowed for the classification of zinc deficiency syndromes with respect to etiology, incidence, onset, symptomatology and diagnostic procedures. This reformulation has also allowed for the development of hypotheses by which to test the usefulness of the definitions and to describe the characteristics which define each of the subcategories. 

In this paper, the relevant issues and the proposed redefinitions are reviewed. One of the consequences of these possible redefinitions is that values of many of the fundamental constants, when expressed in the new units, would be exact and many others would have reduced uncertainties. Another possibly surprising result is that the new definitions could be made in such a way that the distinction between base units and derived units, presently specified in the SI, would become unnecessary and could be eliminated. This might be called unit democracy, in which all SI units have equal status. In principle, this scheme could be extended to include an analogous redefinition of the second, but this would have to await improved accuracy in the relevant experiments and theory. Constraints on timing of the proposed redefinitions, which could take effect as early as 2011, will be described. 

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