Two Geometrical Models for Pixelism

Metaphysica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-113
Author(s):  
Fabio Patrone
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Counterpart Theory ◽  
Mereological Nihilism ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Consistent Manner ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Radical Form

AbstractPixelism is the combination of three metaphysical thesis, namely a radical form of exdurantism, mereological nihilism and counterpart theory. Pixelism is a theory that evaluates all the metaphysical phenomena of persistence, composition and modality in a homogeneous and consistent manner. In a pixel world, there is no identity over time and over possible worlds and nothing persists over more than an instant or a world. Entities can be univocally identified by a five-coordinates system (the three spatial dimensions, the temporal one and the possible worlds), and their relation is a counterpart relation both in different worlds and at different times or different regions of space. In this paper I will provide two models for pixelism: the first one takes pixels to be hypercubes, i. e. four-dimensional cubes, the acceptance of which is conditional on the acceptance of extended simples. The second one considers pixels as points in a four-dimensional space.

scholarly journals Celestial Spheres

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-186
Author(s):  
Austin M. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Higher Dimensional ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Three Dimensional Space

Angels probably have bodies. There is no good evidence (biblical, philosophical, or historical) to argue against their bodiliness; there is an abundance of evidence (biblical, philosophical, historical) that makes the case for angelic bodies. After surveying biblical texts alleged to demonstrate angelic incorporeality, the discussion moves to examine patristic, medieval, and some modern figures on the subject. In short, before the High Medieval period belief in angelic bodies was the norm, and afterwards it is the exception. A brief foray into modern physics and higher spatial dimensions (termed “hyperspace”), coupled with an analogical use of Edwin Abbott’s Flatland, serves to explain the way in which appealing to higher-dimensional angelic bodies matches the record of angelic activity in the Bible remarkably well. This position also cuts through a historical equivocation on the question of angelic embodiment. Angels do have bodies, but they are bodies very unlike our own. They do not have bodies in any three-dimensional space we can observe, but are nevertheless embodied beings.

Assessing tourism patterns in the South Shetland Islands for the conservation of 19th-century archaeological sites in Antarctica

Polar Record ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ximena Senatore
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
International Association ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
South Shetland Islands ◽  
The South ◽  
Shetland Islands ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Trends Over Time ◽  
Relative Potential ◽  
Over Time

AbstractAlthough archaeological studies focusing on 19th-century sealing have been performed over the past 30 years, its history and sites have traditionally had low visibility in Antarctic narratives and the Antarctic Treaty System policymaking on heritage. Researchers face the challenge of increasing the visibility of sealers’ history and public awareness of the importance of conserving the oldest sites of Antarctica. In this paper, we propose that identifying patterns of tourism activity in the South Shetland Islands, specifically in their temporal and spatial dimensions, could help protect these sites and engage visitors with the early history of Antarctica. Data collected by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators were used to calculate landing point usage trends over time and the frequency of passenger landings from 2003–2004 to 2015–2016. We defined six different visitation patterns with temporal tendencies of passenger landings that varied from increasing, constant, or decreasing trends over time, differing in the magnitude and intensity of visitation. This information was used to assess the situation of particular sites located in the vicinity of tourism landing points. We set priorities for their conservation and management decisions and highlighted their relative potential to engage visitors with the stories of 19th-century sealing in Antarctica.

The paradox of water accessibility: understanding the temporal and spatial dimensions of access to improved water sources in Rwanda

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Osei ◽  
Jonathan Amoyaw ◽  
Godfred Odei Boateng ◽  
Sheila Boamah ◽  
Isaac Luginaah
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Regional Disparities ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
The People ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Over Time

According to the United Nations, the world has met the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. However, global figures mask massive disparities between regions and countries, and within countries. For instance, only 64% of the people in sub-Saharan Africa have access to improved water sources. Over 40% of all people globally who lack access to drinking water live in sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda is used as a case in point in this study. Despite the abundance of water resources in the country, access to improved water sources is limited. Using the Rwandan Demographic and Health Surveys (2000–2010), we examined regional disparities in access to improved water sources. Results from logistic regression models show that overall, access to improved water has declined between 2000 and 2010; except in the western region, where access to water marginally improved. Educated individuals, wealthier and urban dwellers were more likely to have access to improved water sources over time compared to their uneducated, poor and rural counterparts. The persistence of regional disparities in access to improved water over time suggests the need for policy to address insufficient investments in water infrastructure in Rwanda.

scholarly journals Modal logic and logic of fiction

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-62
Author(s):  
Vladimir Nocic ◽  
Jasmina Nocic
Keyword(s):  
Literary Theory ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
David Lewis ◽  
Saul Kripke ◽  
Possible Worlds Semantics ◽  
Nicholas Rescher ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Possible Worlds Theory ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Transworld Identity

This paper analyzes the views of representative theoreticians of possible worlds semantics and possible worlds theory in an attempt to ascertain the degree and manner of interdisciplinary borrowing through focusing on possible worlds and individuals in those worlds. The paper first clarifies the general perceptions of possible worlds, perceptions in the field of modal restrictions, transworld identity, and identity over time, as presented in the works of Saul Kripke, David Lewis, and Nicholas Rescher, the representative semanticists of possible worlds, and then ascertains the degree and manner of their adaptations in the theory proposed by Ljubomir Dolezel within literary theory. The conclusion is that the cooperation between the two disciplines stands on fertile ground but that it is necessary to perform more systematic adaptations due to different subjects of research and different objectives.

Modeling a Perspective on the World

2019 ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Robert C. Stalnaker
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
David Lewis ◽  
Cognitive State ◽  
The World ◽  
Over Time

It is argued, following David Lewis, that we should model a cognitive state by a set of centered possible worlds, since this is required to represent the believer’s self-locating or indexical knowledge and belief. But it is also argued, contra Lewis, that we should take the contents of belief to be propositions, represented by sets of uncentered possible worlds, since this is required to give a perspicuous account of agreement and disagreement of different agents, and of change of belief over time. Reconciling these two thoughts requires a defense of Propositionality: roughly, the thesis that any ignorance of where one is in the world is also ignorance about what the world in itself is like. This thesis is defended against some criticisms, and motivated by an externalist picture of knowledge and intentionality.

Haecceities

2021 ◽  
pp. 100-137
Author(s):  
Joseph Mendola
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Time Slice ◽  
Modal Structure ◽  
Substantial Form ◽  
Ordinary Concrete ◽  
Concrete Objects ◽  
Over Time

This chapter is an account of the particularity of ordinary concrete objects like balls and bikes that appear within our experience. It argues that certain sorts of haecceities, which is to say irreducible individualities or bare particularities, are required to account for the particularity of such things. These haecceities involve modal structure of a distinctive sort. Various accounts are explored. But the central model developed involves haecceities of minimal spatial and temporal material bits, which help in turn to constitute the present time slice of a perceived object. This time slice could occur at different times or in different possible worlds, and instantiates a substantial form that constrains, in a perdurantist manner, available forms of identity over time rooted in concrete relations.

Classical theism and modal realism are incompatible

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHAD VANCE
Keyword(s):  
Actual World ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
David Lewis ◽  
Counterpart Theory ◽  
Possible Worlds Semantics ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
Modal Realism ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Necessary Being ◽  
Special Case

AbstractThe classical conception of God is that of a necessary being. On a possible worlds semantics, this entails that God exists at every possible world. According to the modal realist account of David Lewis, possible worlds are understood to be real, concrete worlds – no different in kind from the actual world. But, modal realism is equipped to accommodate the existence of a necessary being in only one of three ways: (1) By way of counterpart theory, or (2) by way of a special case of trans-world identity for causally inert necessary beings (e.g. pure sets), or else (3) causally potent ones which lack accidental intrinsic properties. I argue that each of these three options entails unacceptable consequences – (1) and (2) are incompatible with theism, and (3) is incompatible with modal realism. I conclude that (at least) one of these views is false.

scholarly journals THE PROBABILITY OF THE CREATION OF EXTRA DIMENSIONS IN NUCLEAR COLLISIONS

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (08) ◽  
pp. 1605-1618
Author(s):  
A. V. NAZARENKO
Keyword(s):  
Extra Dimensions ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Bag Model ◽  
Nuclear Collisions ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Bag Constant

The minisuperspace model in 3+d spatial dimensions with matter described by the bag model is considered with the aim of estimating the probability of creation of compactified extra dimensions in nuclear collisions. The amplitude of transition from three- to (3+d)-dimensional space has been calculated both in the case of completely confined matter, when the contribution of radiation is ignored, and in the case of radiation domination, when the bag constant is negligible. It turns out that the number of additional dimensions is limited in the first regime, while it is infinite in the second one. It is shown that the probability of creation of extra dimensions is finite in the both regimes.

scholarly journals Mapping the physics research space: a machine learning approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Chinazzi ◽  
Bruno Gonçalves ◽  
Qian Zhang ◽  
Alessandro Vespignani
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Scientific Production ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Machine Learning Approach ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Scientific discoveries do not occur in vacuum but rather by connecting existing pieces of knowledge in new and creative ways. Mapping the relation and structure of scientific knowledge is therefore central to our understanding of the dynamics of scientific production. Here we introduce a new approach to generate scientific knowledge maps based on a machine learning approach that, starting from the observed publication patterns of authors, generates an N-dimensional space where it is possible to measure the similarity or distance between different research topics and knowledge domains. We provide an implementation of the proposed approach that considers the American Physical Society publications database and generates a map of the research space in Physics that characterizes the relation among research topics over time. We use this map to measure two indicators, the research capacity fingerprint and the knowledge density, to profile the research activity in physical sciences of more than 400 urban areas across the world. We show that these indicators can be used to analyze and predict the evolution over time of the research capacity and specialization of specific geographical areas. Furthermore we provide an extensive analysis of the relation between socio-economic development indicators and the ability to produce new knowledge for 67 countries, as measured by our approach, highlighting some key correlates of scientific production capacity. The proposed approach is scalable to very large datasets and can be extended to study other disciplines and research areas without having to rely on ad-hoc science classification schemes.

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