What Is Spontaneous Order?

Due especially to the work of Friedrich Hayek, “spontaneous order” has become an influential concept in social theory. It seeks to explain how human practices and institutions emerge as unintended consequences of myriad individual actions, and points to the limits of rationalism and conscious design in social life. The political implications of spontaneous order theory explain both the enthusiasm and the skepticism it has elicited, but its basic mechanisms remain elusive and underexamined. This article teases out the internal logic of the concept, arguing that it can be taken to mean several different things. Some are forward-looking (defining it in terms of present-day functioning), whereas others are backward-looking (defining it in terms of historical origins). Yet none of these possibilities prove fully coherent or satisfactory, suggesting that spontaneous order cannot bear the analytical weight that has been placed on it.

Analytical weight estimation of landing gear designs

Landing gear weight calculations can be carried out using statistical or analytical methods. Statistical methods were used in the past and offered quick group weights. However, they are not capable of computing accurately the weight of landing gears, which have special geometries and performance. In this work, landing gear weight is computed using analytical methods based on parametric 3D models. The procedure established by Kraus and Wille is applied as a baseline so as to create a procedure capable of dealing with landing gear weight calculations. This method is designed to be as flexible as possible, giving the user the freedom to modify many options and parameters and integrate landing gear design into Robust Aircraft Parametric Interactive Design.

FORWARD PRICES AS FUNCTIONALS OF THE SPOT PATH IN COMMODITY MARKETS MODELED BY LEVY SEMISTATIONARY PROCESSES

We show that the forward price can be represented as a functional of the spot price path in the case of Lévy semistationary (LSS) models for the spot dynamics. The functional is a weighted average of the historical spot price in general, and is derived by means of the Laplace transform. For the special cases of continuous-time autoregressive (CAR) moving average and Gamma-LSS processes for the spot dynamics, we are able to produce an analytical weight function. Both classes of processes are of interest in markets for power, weather and shipping, and we provide a discussion of the results based on numerical examples.