Propositions

appended to the thesis

'Quantum Superpositions of Persistent Josephson Currents'

by Caspar van der Wal

(translated version)

1.
The origin of the loss of quantum interference phenomena upon interaction with an environment, must be attributed to entanglement with environmental degrees of freedom. This effect is not equal to the influence of back acting forces from the environmental degrees of freedom, as is wrongfully mentioned in several text books.
Ref. S. Dürr, T. Nonn, and G. Rempe, Nature 395, 33 (1998).

2.
The scientific field of quantum computing has until now not seen an even development of several subfields. Instead, only a few research lines have been work out in detail, which can be traced back to a small number of original articles.

3.
Recent publications on the conductivity of DNA claim insulating, semi-conducting, metallic, superconducting and Luttinger-liquid behavior. If one does not define better which type of DNA is used in these studies, and under what circumstances it is studied, such research is just as useful as determining the conductivity of ditch water.
Refs. E. Braun et al., Nature 391, 775 (1998);
H. W. Fink et al., Nature 398, 407 (1999);
D. Porath et al., Nature 403, 635 (2000);
A. Yu. Kasumov et al., Science 291, 280 (2001).

4.
Even though it is frequently suggested in the literature and discussions, there is no scientific foundation for the assumption that quantum coherent superpositions of electrical currents play a part in the functioning of the human brain or the human consciousness.

5.
The progress in research on the role of vacuum fluctuations in the dephasing of mesoscopic systems was in the second half of the 1990's strongly hindered by social and emotional factors.

6.
The fuss about disasters, as occurred around the recent events in Enschede and Volendam, is not in proportion to the attention for the yearly number of traffic accidents.
[Note added in translation: During the last year two big disasters occurred in the Netherlands and received a lot of attention for months in politics and the media. A fireworks plant (located in a domestic area) exploded in Enschede, and many people got caught in a fire in a bar-dancing in Volendam. The number of casualties from these disasters was comparable to the weekly number of casualties from traffic accidents in the Netherlands.]

7.
The degree to which the law allows a civilian to hit back in case of public violence, will be liberalized by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands if the governmental authorities do not better maintain their monopoly on the use of violence.
Ref. After prof. Peter Hoefnagels, NRC Handelsblad 3 januari 2001.

8.
A parliament that undermines the simplicity of the new tax system of Vermeend [former State Secretary of Finance, the Netherlands ] by implementing a series of small tax deductibles for environmental friendly investments, should show more courage when dealing with large structural investments for issues like transportation and energy supply.

9.
The proposition by prof. Jan Tinbergen (which he defended until his death): "It is in the interest of the large industrial countries themselves to offer at least the United-Nations-accepted norm of 0.7 percent GNP of development aid to the poor countries", is still valid.
Ref. Prof. Jan Tinbergen (1903 - 1994);
Internationale Samenwerking 9, p. 21-28 (september 1994).

10.
The ethos in the architecture community and architecture education, that a design must always be new and original, exists at the cost of research on existing designs, and hinders actual innovation.

11.
The practice (taken over from the United States) to assess top managers of large companies every few years harshly on their results, has already been applied for years to young academics.

12.
The fact that child scooters with wheels with the dimension of a cobblestone can become more popular than scooters with larger wheels, demonstrates that functionality plays a minor part in product development.

Delft, 1 juni 2001