Computer Simulations

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Paul Humphreys

The need to solve analytically intractable models has led to the rise of a new kind of science, computational science, of which computer simulations are a special case. It is noted that the development of novel mathematical techniques often drives scientific progress and that even relatively simple models require numerical treatments. A working definition of a computer simulation is given and the relation of simulations to numerical methods is explored. Examples where computational methods are unavoidable are provided. Some epistemological consequences for philosophy of science are suggested and the need to take into account what is possible in practice is emphasized.

Author(s):  
Inge Hinterwaldner

It can be shown that the different conceptions of ‘simulation’ (the one of culture critique on the one hand and the denomination of technical applications on the other) that seem to be incompatible with each other can be reconciled on a single spectrum. Its basis in models, its replacement of reality, its lack of reference and of precession of the referent are some pejorative characteristics often emphasized in media philosophy with regard to simulations, for which the sciences applying computer simulations have no use for. It helps crossing over the views that first seem opposite to each other, but that turn out to be compatible if its root in reality is recognized and thus the representational logic is accepted at least according to the intention. The chapter combines ideas of the 'simulacrum' retrieved in the natural sciences with traces of cybernetic thinking in media studies. The whole study builds on a definition of computer simulation in the technical sense as the involvement with and the act of execution f a dynamic mathematic or procedural model that projects, depicts, or recreates a system or process.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-117
Author(s):  
Иван Иванов ◽  
Ivan Ivanov ◽  
Алексей Кусков ◽  
Aleksey Kuskov

The aim of the article is to examine the computer simulations as one of the interactive methods of training and formulate proposals for their effective use in training bachelors of law. The authors have chosen the basis of the research methodology a systematic approach using formal-logical method as well as methods of theoretical knowledge and empirical research. As a result, the authors formulated the definition of legal computer simulation, classified these simulations. The authors proposed a scheduling algorithm and conduct classes with the use of computer simulations. There are conclusions about the problems and the subsequent directions of development of computer simulation for a more effective legal system for training of bachelors, which should be according to the authors field of application of the results.


2019 ◽  
pp. 61-80
Author(s):  
Paul Humphreys

Retrospective reflections are provided on the papers “Computer Simulations,” “Computational Science and Its Effects,” “The Philosophical Novelty of Computer Simulation Methods,” and “Numerical Experimentation” by Paul Humphreys. Some major themes are that it is the broader category of computational science, including such methods as machine learning, that is of interest, rather than just the narrower field of computer simulations; that numerical experiments and simulations are only analogous in a very weak sense to laboratory experiments; that computational science is a genuine emplacement revolution; and that syntax is of primary importance in computational modeling. Remarks are made on the logical properties of simulations, on the appropriate definition of a simulation, and on the need to take applied mathematics seriously as an autonomous field of study in the philosophy of mathematics. An argument is given for the conclusion that computational transformations preserve the causal origins of data but not their referential content.


2019 ◽  
pp. 34-47
Author(s):  
Paul Humphreys

Reasons are given to justify the claim that computer simulations and computational science constitute a distinctively new set of scientific methods as compared to traditional analytic methods and that these computational methods introduce new issues in the philosophy of science. These issues are both epistemological and methodological in kind. Definitions of epistemic opacity and essential epistemic opacity are given, the syntactic and semantic accounts of theories are shown to address different problems than those addressed by computational science, the important role of concrete dynamics in simulations is stressed, and differences between in principle approaches and in practice approaches to philosophy of science are explored.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús Ildefonso Díaz ◽  
David Gómez-Castro ◽  
Alexander V. Podolskiy ◽  
Tatiana A. Shaposhnikova

Abstract One of the main goals of this paper is to extend some of the mathematical techniques of some previous papers by the authors showing that some very useful phenomenological properties which can be observed at the nano-scale can be simulated and justified mathematically by means of some homogenization processes when a certain critical scale is used in the corresponding framework. Here the motivating problem in consideration is formulated in the context of the reverse osmosis. We consider, on a part of the boundary of a domain {\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^{n}} , a set of very small periodically distributed semipermeable membranes having an ideal infinite permeability coefficient (which leads to Signorini-type boundary conditions) on a part {\Gamma_{1}} of the boundary. We also assume that a possible chemical reaction may take place on the membranes. We obtain the rigorous convergence of the problems to a homogenized problem in which there is a change in the constitutive nonlinearities. Changes of this type are the reason for the big success of the nanocomposite materials. Our proof is carried out for membranes not necessarily of radially symmetric shape. The definition of the associated critical scale depends on the dimension of the space (and it is quite peculiar for the special case of {n=2} ). Roughly speaking, our result proves that the consideration of the critical case of the scale leads to a homogenized formulation which is equivalent to having a global semipermeable membrane, at the whole part of the boundary {\Gamma_{1}} , with a “finite permeability coefficient of this virtual membrane”, which is the best we can get, even if the original problem involves a set of membranes of any arbitrary finite permeability coefficients.


PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (25) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Farr

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda S Newton ◽  
Sonja March ◽  
Nicole D Gehring ◽  
Arlen K Rowe ◽  
Ashley D Radomski

BACKGROUND Across eHealth intervention studies involving children, adolescents, and their parents, researchers have measured users’ experiences to assist with intervention development, refinement, and evaluation. To date, there are no widely agreed-on definitions or measures of ‘user experience’ to support a standardized approach for evaluation and comparison within or across interventions. OBJECTIVE We conducted a scoping review with subsequent Delphi consultation to (1) identify how user experience is defined and measured in eHealth research studies, (2) characterize the measurement tools used, and (3) establish working definitions for domains of user experience that could be used in future eHealth evaluations. METHODS We systematically searched electronic databases for published and gray literature available from January 1, 2005 to April 11, 2019. Studies assessing an eHealth intervention that targeted any health condition and was designed for use by children, adolescents, and their parents were eligible for inclusion. eHealth interventions needed to be web-, computer-, or mobile-based, mediated by the internet with some degree of interactivity. Studies were also required to report the measurement of ‘user experience’ as first-person experiences, involving cognitive and behavioural factors, reported by intervention users. Two reviewers independently screened studies for relevance and appraised the quality of user experience measures using published criteria: ‘well-established’, ‘approaching well-established’, ‘promising’, or ‘not yet established’. We conducted a descriptive analysis of how user experience was defined and measured in each study. Review findings subsequently informed the survey questions used in the Delphi consultations with eHealth researchers and adolescent users for how user experience should be defined and measured. RESULTS Of the 8,634 articles screened for eligibility, 129 and one erratum were included in the review. Thirty eHealth researchers and 27 adolescents participated in the Delphi consultations. Based on the literature and consultations, we proposed working definitions for six main user experience domains: acceptability, satisfaction, credibility, usability, user-reported adherence, and perceived impact. While most studies incorporated a study-specific measure, we identified ten well-established measures to quantify five of the six domains of user experience (all except for self-reported adherence). Our adolescent and researcher participants ranked perceived impact as one of the most important domains of user experience and usability as one of the least important domains. Rankings between adolescents and researchers diverged for other domains. CONCLUSIONS Findings highlight the various ways user experience has been defined and measured across studies and what aspects are most valued by researchers and adolescent users. We propose incorporating the working definitions and available measures of user experience to support consistent evaluation and reporting of outcomes across studies. Future studies can refine the definitions and measurement of user experience, explore how user experience relates to other eHealth outcomes, and inform the design and use of human-centred eHealth interventions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 713-722
Author(s):  
Vincent Boswijk ◽  
Matt Coler

AbstractA commonly used concept in linguistics is salience. Oftentimes it is used without definition, and the meaning of the concept is repeatedly assumed to be self-explanatory. The definitions that are provided may vary greatly from one operationalization of salience to the next. In order to find out whether it is possible to postulate an overarching working definition of linguistic salience that subsumes usage across linguistic subdomains, we review these different operationalizations of linguistic salience. This article focuses on salience in sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, second-language acquisition (SLA), and semantics. In this article, we give an overview of how these fields operationalize salience. Finally, we discuss correlations and contradictions between the different operationalizations.


ICL Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-69
Author(s):  
Eszter Polgári

AbstractThe present article maps the explicit references to the rule of law in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR by examining the judgments of the Grand Chamber and the Plenary Court. On the basis of the structured analysis it seeks to identify the constitutive elements of the Court’s rule of law concept and contrast it with the author’s working definition and the position of other Council of Europe organs. The review of the case-law indicates that the Court primarily associates the rule of law with access to court, judicial safeguards, legality and democracy, and it follows a moderately thick definition of the concept including formal, procedural and some substantive elements. The rule of law references are predominantly ancillary arguments giving weight to other Convention-based considerations and it is not applied as a self-standing standard.


1997 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rangaswamy Rajamanickam ◽  
Steven M. Hansen ◽  
Sundaresan Jayaraman

A computer simulation approach for engineering air-jet spun yarns is proposed, and the advantages of computer simulations over experimental investigations and stand-alone mathematical models are discussed. Interactions of the following factors in air-jet spun yarns are analyzed using computer simulations: yarn count and fiber fineness, fiber tenacity and fiber friction, fiber length and fiber friction, and number of wrapper fibers and wrap angle. Based on the results of these simulations, yarn engineering approaches to optimize strength are suggested.


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