scholarly journals Relevance in Belief Update

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 251-283
Author(s):  
Theofanis Aravanis
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Belief Change ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Partial Solution ◽  
Possible World ◽  
New Class ◽  
New Information

It has been pointed out by Katsuno and Mendelzon that the so-called AGM revision operators, defined by Alchourrón, Gärdenfors and Makinson, do not behave well in dynamically-changing applications. On that premise, Katsuno and Mendelzon formally characterized a different type of belief-change operators, typically referred to as KM update operators, which, to this date, constitute a benchmark in belief update. In this article, we show that there exist KM update operators that yield the same counter-intuitive results as any AGM revision operator. Against this non-satisfactory background, we prove that a translation of Parikh’s relevance-sensitive axiom (P), in the realm of belief update, suffices to block this liberal behaviour of KM update operators. It is shown, both axiomatically and semantically, that axiom (P) for belief update, essentially, encodes a type of relevance that acts at the possible-worlds level, in the context of which each possible world is locally modified, in the light of new information. Interestingly, relevance at the possible-worlds level is shown to be equivalent to a form of relevance that acts at the sentential level, by considering the building blocks of relevance to be the sentences of the language. Furthermore, we concretely demonstrate that Parikh’s notion of relevance in belief update can be regarded as (at least a partial) solution to the frame, ramification and qualification problems, encountered in dynamically-changing worlds. Last but not least, a whole new class of well-behaved, relevance-sensitive KM update operators is introduced, which generalize Forbus’ update operator and are perfectly-suited for real-world implementations.

The dynamics of sheep welfare in Norway – between idealised images and practical realities

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 952-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginie Amilien ◽  
Unni Kjærnes
Keyword(s):  
Product Quality ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Real World ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Meat Industry ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Real ◽  
Convention Theory

Purpose This paper is based on three social scientific studies of animal welfare and local food products in Norway, of which two focussed on sheep in particular. It addresses the widespread belief that Norwegian sheep farming is “the best” but is confronted with a meat industry that emphasises economic efficiency. A few years after a new Norwegian law on animal welfare acknowledged animals as sentient beings came into force in 2010 (LOVdata, 2009), the purpose of this paper is to better understand ongoing debates on the welfare of sheep by exploring how sheep welfare is understood and regulated in Norway. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework draws on convention theory, especially referring to the four “possible worlds of production” (Salais and Storper, 1993). The authors argue that animal welfare may be analysed in parallel to product quality, focussing on three major perspectives of sheep welfare: animal treatment, product quality, and an abstract conceptualisation in public discourse. The empirical analysis is based on interviews with key players in the sector and central documents. Findings Convention theory points to several general difficulties in reaching an agreement on what is “good quality” and welfare. First, the authors find difficulty in how to implement new regulatory conceptualisations with dominant ways of understanding welfare within the industry. Second, the idealised images of sheep welfare of an immaterial possible world dominating public discourse have very little interaction with the real world of farms and abattoirs. Originality/value This paper suggests that rather than addressing and handling the potential tension between the legal recognition of animal as sentient being and the economic demands of the industry, key actors keep the potentially conflicting understandings apart in different “worlds of production” (Salais and Storper, 1993). Nevertheless, the authors observe that interactions between possible worlds, as well as translation from one possible world to another, not only could be promising but would be fundamental to concretise improvements in the real world.

A Bottom-Up Approach to Solution-Processed, Atomically Precise Graphitic Cylinders on Surfaces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Leonhardt ◽  
Jeff M. Van Raden ◽  
David Miller ◽  
Lev N. Zakharov ◽  
Benjamin Aleman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Carbon Nanostructures ◽  
Carbon Nanomaterials ◽  
Circle Packing ◽  
Pyrolytic Graphite ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Casting Technique ◽  
New Class ◽  
Solution Casting Technique

Extended carbon nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), exhibit remarkable properties but are difficult to synthesize uniformly. Herein, we present a new class of carbon nanomaterials constructed via the bottom-up self-assembly of cylindrical, atomically-precise small molecules. Guided by supramolecular design principles and circle packing theory, we have designed and synthesized a fluorinated nanohoop that, in the solid-state, self-assembles into nanotube-like arrays with channel diameters of precisely 1.63 nm. A mild solution-casting technique is then used to construct vertical “forests” of these arrays on a highly-ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface through epitaxial growth. Furthermore, we show that a basic property of nanohoops, fluorescence, is readily transferred to the bulk phase, implying that the properties of these materials can be directly altered via precise functionalization of their nanohoop building blocks. The strategy presented is expected to have broader applications in the development of new graphitic nanomaterials with π-rich cavities reminiscent of CNTs.

scholarly journals Synthesis of new Cα-tetrasubstituted α-amino acids

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas A Grauer ◽  
Burkhard König
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Secondary Structure ◽  
Aromatic Aldehydes ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Reaction Conditions ◽  
Peptide Backbone ◽  
Aliphatic Aldehydes ◽  
New Class ◽  
Cyclic Amino Acids

Cα-Tetrasubstituted α-amino acids are important building blocks for the synthesis of peptidemimetics with stabilized secondary structure, because of their ability to rigidify the peptide backbone. Recently our group reported a new class of cyclic Cα-tetrasubstituted tetrahydrofuran α-amino acids prepared from methionine and aromatic aldehydes. We now report the extension of this methodology to aliphatic aldehydes. Although such aldehydes are prone to give aldol products under the reaction conditions used, we were able to obtain the target cyclic amino acids in low to moderate yields and in some cases with good diastereoselectivity.

scholarly journals Cu/Pd-catalyzed borocarbonylative trifunctionalization of alkynes and allenes: synthesis of β-geminal-diboryl ketones

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yuan ◽  
Fu-Peng Wu ◽  
Anke Spannenberg ◽  
Xiao-Feng Wu
Keyword(s):  
Organic Synthesis ◽  
Functional Group ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Mechanistic Studies ◽  
Efficient Strategy ◽  
New Class ◽  
Reaction Proceeds

AbstractFunctionalized bisboryl compounds have recently emerged as a new class of synthetically useful building blocks in organic synthesis. Herein, we report an efficient strategy to synthesize β-geminal-diboryl ketones enabled by a Cu/Pd-catalyzed borocarbonylative trifunctionalization of readily available alkynes and allenes. This reaction promises to be a useful method for the synthesis of functionalized β-geminal-diboryl ketones with broad functional group tolerance. Mechanistic studies suggest that the reaction proceeds through borocarbonylation/hydroboration cascade of both alkynes and allenes.

scholarly journals Mínimo e máximo em estruturas nominais – uma análise semântica

2019 ◽  
pp. 250-264
Author(s):  
Rui Marques
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Modal Operator ◽  
Possible World

This paper is concerned with the semantics of the portuguese phrases with the form o mínimo/máximo N (‘the minimum N’) and o mínimo/máximo de N (‘the minimum/maximum of N’). Some nouns may occur in both of these constructions, while others might occur in only one of them, and still other nouns might occur only if accompanied by a modal operator. The proposal is made that these facts can be straightforwardly explained by the hypothesis that the first and the second of these syntactic constructions have, respectively, an extensional and an intensional meaning, together with the fact that some nouns have the same denotation in any possible world, while others denote different sets of entities in different possible worlds.

scholarly journals Nonexistence, Vague Existence, Merely Possible Existence

Disputatio ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (33) ◽  
pp. 427-443
Author(s):  
Iris Einheuser
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Plausible Assumption ◽  
De Re ◽  
Modal Semantics ◽  
Vague Existence

Abstract This paper explores a new non-deflationary approach to the puzzle of nonexistence and its cousins. On this approach, we can, under a plausible assumption, express true de re propositions about certain objects that don’t exist, exist indeterminately or exist merely possibly. The defense involves two steps: First, to argue that if we can actually designate what individuates a nonexistent target object with respect to possible worlds in which that object does exist, then we can express a de re proposition about “it”. Second, to adapt the concept of outer truth with respect to a possible world – a concept familiar from actualist modal semantics – for use in representing the actual world.

VoDKA: Developing a Video-on-Demand Server using Distributed Functional Programming

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
VICTOR M. GULIAS ◽  
MIGUEL BARREIRO ◽  
JOSE L. FREIRE
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Functional Programming ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Video On Demand ◽  
Functional Language ◽  
Control Software ◽  
On Demand ◽  
System Requirements ◽  
Cable Company ◽  
Process Composition

In this paper, we present some experience of using the concurrent functional language Erlang to implement a distributed video-on-demand server. For performance reasons, the server is deployed in a cheap cluster made from off-the-shelf components. The demanding system requirements, in addition to the complex and ever-changing domain, suggested a highly flexible and scalable architecture as well as a quite sophisticated control software. Functional programming played a key role in the development, allowing us to identify functional abstractions throughout the system. Using these building blocks, large configurations can be defined using functional and process composition, reducing the effort spent on adapting the system to the frequent changes in requirements. The server evolved from a prototype that was the result of a project supported by a regional cable company, and it is currently being used to provide services for real-world users. Despite our initial concerns, efficiency has not been a major issue.

Supporting Community Engagement Through Real-World Instructional Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 415-431
Author(s):  
Caroline M. Crawford ◽  
Janice Moore Newsum ◽  
Sharon Andrews White ◽  
Jennifer Young Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Instructional Process ◽  
Community Environment ◽  
New Information ◽  
Instructional Environments ◽  
Competency Based

The ability to attain knowledge for implementation within real-world environments is a shift in understanding within many instructional environments. Shifting from competency-based understandings wherein a knowledge base is attained as well as implemented towards a capability-based understanding that emphasizes the conceptual framework of information shift towards higher order knowledge creation within novel situations and environments is essential. Lifelong learning within nuanced understandings of new situations and new experiences is essential. Normally, these novel situations and experiences occur within a real-world community environment wherein the learner is critically analyzing new information and opinions from innumerable engaged people within the community. This style of learning is vital to understand within a competency-based learning environment, as well. Therefore, real-world instructional learning embeds the supporting community engagement at distinctly appropriate and impactful points throughout the instructional process, resulting in outstanding conceptual frameworks with the continuous understanding around cognitive engagement.

Task Ontology-Based Human-Computer Interaction

2009 ◽  
pp. 950-960
Author(s):  
Kazuhisa Seta
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Real World ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Knowledge Based Systems ◽  
Engineering Research ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Task Ontology ◽  
Problem Solving Task

In ontological engineering research field, the concept of “task ontology” is well-known as a useful technology to systemize and accumulate the knowledge to perform problem-solving tasks (e.g., diagnosis, design, scheduling, and so on). A task ontology refers to a system of a vocabulary/ concepts used as building blocks to perform a problem-solving task in a machine readable manner, so that the system and humans can collaboratively solve a problem based on it. The concept of task ontology was proposed by Mizoguchi (Mizoguchi, Tijerino, & Ikeda, 1992, 1995) and its validity is substantiated by development of many practical knowledge-based systems (Hori & Yoshida, 1998; Ikeda, Seta, & Mizoguchi, 1997; Izumi &Yamaguchi, 2002; Schreiber et al., 2000; Seta, Ikeda, Kakusho, & Mizoguchi, 1997). He stated: …task ontology characterizes the computational architecture of a knowledge-based system which performs a task. The idea of task ontology which serves as a system of the vocabulary/concepts used as building blocks for knowledge-based systems might provide an effective methodology and vocabulary for both analyzing and synthesizing knowledge-based systems. It is useful for describing inherent problem-solving structure of the existing tasks domain-independently. It is obtained by analyzing task structures of real world problem. ... The ultimate goal of task ontology research is to provide a theory of all the vocabulary/concepts necessary for building a model of human problem solving processes. (Mizoguchi, 2003) We can also recognize task ontology as a static user model (Seta et al., 1997), which captures the meaning of problem-solving processes, that is, the input/output relation of each activity in a problem-solving task and its effects on the real world as well as on the humans’ mind.

Analysing Modality

2020 ◽  
pp. 22-73
Author(s):  
Alastair Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Actual World ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Modal Realism ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Metaphysical Modality ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
Reductive Theory

This chapter presents and defends the basic tenets of quantum modal realism. The first of these principles, Individualism, states that Everett worlds are metaphysically possible worlds. The converse of this principle, Generality, states that metaphysically possible worlds are Everett worlds. Combining Individualism and Generality yields Alignment, a conjecture about the nature of possible worlds that is closely analogous to Lewisian modal realism. Like Lewisian modal realism, Alignment entails that each possible world is a real concrete individual of the same basic kind as the actual world. These similarities render EQM suitable for grounding a novel theory of the nature of metaphysical modality with some unique properties. Also like Lewisian modal realism, quantum modal realism is a reductive theory: it accounts for modality in fundamentally non-modal terms. But quantum modal realism also has unique epistemological advantages over Lewisian modal realism and other extant realist approaches to modality.

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