Mellin–Barnes integrals and the method of brackets

The method of brackets is a method for the evaluation of definite integrals based on a small number of rules. This is employed here for the evaluation of Mellin–Barnes integral. The fundamental idea is to transform these integral representations into a bracket series to obtain their values. The expansion of the gamma function in such a series constitute the main part of this new application. The power and flexibility of this procedure is illustrated with a variety of examples.

The Index of Evidence: speculative methodologies in response to the post-truth era

The past year has shown that even the fundamental idea of ‘evidence’ – in health contexts, but also more broadly - is coming under increasing strain. This open letter argues that the current crises of evidence and knowledge in which we find ourselves demands new speculative methodologies. It introduces the Index of Evidence – a Beacon Project funded by Exeter University’s Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health - as one example of such a methodology, outlining its theoretical foundations and process. The key innovation of this project is to rethink the form and presentation that research can take. Using the conceptual and material affordances of the index, it merges the creative and critical in ways that aim to make an important contribution to more inter-connected, theoretically sophisticated thinking around evidence.

Colloquium 3 Aristotle on the Voluntariness of Vice

In Nicomachean Ethics III.5, Aristotle argues that virtue and vice are “up to us and voluntary.” Readers have long struggled to make sense of Aristotle’s arguments in this chapter and to explain how they cohere with the rest of his ethical project. Among the most influential lines of complaint is that the argument of III.5 appears to contradict his emphasis elsewhere on the power of upbringing to shape character, beginning in childhood. Scholars have developed two main interpretive approaches to III.5, which I label “libertarian” and “compatibilist.” I argue that neither approach succeeds in removing the appearance of contradiction. I develop an alternative interpretation that reveals the coherence of Aristotle’s commitments, showing that for him the voluntariness of character and the power of upbringing are in reality two sides of the same philosophical coin. Both are grounded in his fundamental idea that virtue and vice are acquired by practice.

Spatial Causalities in Geographies of Scientific Knowledge

This paper tries to discuss the efforts of geographers of science to put science in its geographical contexts. Geographers of science have studied the socio-spatial settings in which scientific knowledge has been generated, displayed, and legitimated. For them, science is socially constructed in “spatialities” and “temporalities”. The major question of this study is how “spatialities” construct scientific knowledge via its “causalities”. The fundamental idea is that geography of science does not only deal with places, locations, and regions where scientific knowledge is produced or distributed; it also deals with a variety set of spatial causalities through which scientific knowledge can be formed and transformed. This means that the development of innovative knowledge and ideas take place not only within a spatial context but also occur due to the spatial causalities associated with the myriad interlinkages and interdependencies among places. These imperatives of spatial significance operate across many spatial scales from body/local to the planet/global. Hence, in our increasingly globalized world, we must seek knowledge in spatial encounters and in-between places, not merely within spaces and places. In addition, when we are living in an unprecedented transformation period which transfers the terrestrial spatial causalities to the virtual spatial causalities via intelligent and digital technologies, we should be more aware of the difference that new algorithms make in our daily life through hacking virtual spatial causalities.

Dependence

A number of probabilistic approaches to the concept of dependence in stochastic sequences are contrasted. The fundamental idea is a shift transformation. Invariant and remote events and the idea of ergodicity are introduced and the ergodic theorem is proved. The final sections introduce the contrasting idea of dependence on sub-σ‎-fields with the notions of regularity and strong and uniform mixing defined among other variants.

Creativity and common sense in writing and speaking

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay. A previous essay ("What Advertising Can Teach Us About Effective Writing and Speaking") posited what at first glance may have seemed to be a radical idea. And that is: However superficially it may appear, print advertising copy (text), which is designed to sell things, represents some of the best, most carefully constructed writing you will ever see. It must be, because to achieve its objective, advertising copy must say a world of things to the potential consumer in just a thimbleful of words. With this fundamental idea as a foundation, we can now explore this fruitful subject more deeply.

From absolute nonsense to the world’s operating system

Informatics, its artefacts and methods, have fundamentally changed our society and world, from the individual personal level up to the current geo-political powerplay between the US, China and Europe. Information Technology serves as the operating system of our society. This change has happened over the last 30 – 40 years, and the result should be compared with our historic views and expectations. At the same time, despite the enormous success of our discipline, it has serious shortcomings. I discuss some of them, especially the issue of online platforms, and describe a positive “answer”: Digital Humanism. This approach does not only describe and analyze the man – machine relationship, but also underlines the importance of humans in this development: we have to interfere – technology is not god given. This fundamental idea is already supported by a growing number of academics and practitioners from different disciplines and fields.

The Relevance of Academic Performance in Career Development According to the Big Five Model

A purely theoretical analysis reveals the existence of a direct relationship between academic performance and work performance. It is also expected that individuals who have registered during academic performance will develop a career in their field of academic preparation. A research of the students' academic performance contributes to the identification of the relevant factors of the academic performance with an impact on the work performance. The fundamental idea is that the performance of individuals is determined by their personality, characterized by the big five model. Known to be a positive personality ensures both academic performance and work performance and career success.

“Imam, don’t go to Groznaya”: on the fundamental idea of the historical novel “The Wild Terek“ by Hadji-Murat Muguev

Hadji-Murat Muguev (1893-1968) was a prominent representative of Soviet literature, an Ossetian by origin who wrote in Russian. As a veteran of three wars (WWI, the Civil War, and WWII), Hadji-Murat Muguev devoted most of his works to military topics. The Wild Terek (1937-1968), a historical novel about the Caucasian War of the 19th century, is considered his magnum opus. The topic proposed herein is of interest due to, first, the desirability of a new reading of the text of Soviet literature, especially as regards its historical concept; secondly, a vivid ethno-cultural character of the material; thirdly, a peculiar poetic manner of translingual (written in Russian) literature of peoples of the Russian Caucasus. It is noteworthy that the novel has not received due consideration by contemporary literary criticism; as for the Soviet period, the then critics were carried away with the major ideological issues provoked by its contents and thus disregarded its imaginary characters, internal framework and particular motifs that worked for the fundamental idea. In this article, by relying on a number of key factors, we intend to highlight some ideologic discourses of Muguevs text referring to the authors humanistic system and signs of forthcoming peace between the peoples of the Caucasus and Russia.

World Soul – Anima Mundi: The Origins and Fortunes of a Fundamental Idea edited by Christoph Helmig

The idea of a world soul, first meaningfully explored in Western philosophy in Plato’s dialogue Timaeus, has been drawn on throughout its doctrinal history to explain the relationship between god and the cosmos with its ensouled life forms. It has played a fundamental role in accounts concerning the organization and nature of the physical universe and our human understanding thereof, and has thus featured in a range of cosmological, biological, and epistemological contexts. This collection of essays illustrates many such contexts, demonstrating that the world soul was a more or less continuous staple of ancient philosophical thought, at least until the time of the Neoplatonists. The volume follows its history chronologically, beginning with the world soul’s early stirrings in Heraclitus’ concept of universal λόγος, and ending with a glance at its Nachleben in Renaissance and early modern philosophy. Reviewed by: Christina Hoenig, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Christina HoenigThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37728/28730 Corresponding Author: Christina Hoenig,University of PittsburghE-Mail: [email protected]