Word: gradualism
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...place at all. Thus catastrophe theorists can claim to understand phenomena other mathematical approaches cannot explain: naturally-occuring discontinuities or "jumps." Since the time of Newton and Leibniz, founders of the calculus three centuries ago, mathematical models in science have been concerned with the regular rotation of planets, the gradual increase in pressure of a gas being heated and the continuously-changing velocity of a falling object. But what about the suddent collapse of a beam, abrupt transition from water to ice or bursting of a bubble? Because they are discontinuous, catastrophists say, these phenomena have remained outside the scope...
...accompanying diagram consider a point constrained to move along the surface subject to the value of both variables. A change in either control factor from (a) to (b), (a) to (c) or (b) to (e) produce only a continuous change in behavior, represented by a gradual rise or fall along the vertical axis. An increase in factor 2 from (c) to (d), however, results in a sudden drop to (a) on the surface below, once the point crossed the edge of the fold at (d). This dramatic plunge is a catastrophe and signifies a discontinuous "jump" in behavior from...
...italics] among other stockholders," and only then, when this does not bring about corporate withdrawal, to "adopt a policy of strategic divestiture." The struggle has been going on too long, and other universities have begun to divest. This is not the time to start a slow walk up a gradual slope...
PRESIDENT CARTER'S new energy proposals, calling for the gradual decontrol of domestic oil prices and a windfall profits tax on the oil companies, represent a timid, incomplete attempt to resolve the nation's energy problems. Carter has surveyed the sorry state of energy supplies in America, concluding that higher oil prices under decontrol will force conservation, increase production and make alternative energy technologies more price competitive...
There are, of course, uncertainties and risks. Though economists are willing enough to guess, none can say with confidence what the ultimate inflationary impact of decontrol will be. Nor is it entirely clear just how much decontrol will increase domestic oil production. By Administration reckoning, the gradual phase-out of controls should encourage companies to pump more and more oil from their wells until, by 1982, production reaches an additional 700,000 to 800,000 bbl. daily (the U.S. now uses about 19 million bbl. per day). That would displace an equivalent amount of imported oil, but energy demand throughout...