Regulous Functions over Real Closed Fields

Let $X$ be a quasi-projective algebraic variety over a real closed field $R$, and let $f \colon U \to R$ be a function defined on an open subset $U$ of the set $X(R)$ of $R$-rational points of $X$. Assume that either the function $f$ is locally semialgebraic or the field $R$ is uncountable. If for every irreducible algebraic curve $C \subset X$ the restriction $f|_{U \cap C}$ is continuous and admits a rational representation, then $f$ is continuous and admits a rational representation. There are also suitable versions of this theorem with algebraic curves replaced by algebraic arcs. Heretofore, results of such a type have been known only for $R={\mathbb{R}}$. The transition from ${\mathbb{R}}$ to $R$ is not automatic at all and requires new methods.

Constructing rationals through conjoint measurement of numerator and denominator as approximate integer magnitudes in tradeoff relations

To investigate mechanisms of rational representation, I consider (1) construction of an ordered continuum of psychophysical scale of magnitude of sensation; (2) counting mechanism leading to an approximate numerosity scale for integers; and (3) conjoint measurement structure pitting the denominator against the numerator in tradeoff positions. Number sense of resulting rationals is neither intuitive nor expedient in their manipulation.

The Merit System’s Adaptation to the Implementation of Bureaucratic Official Recruitment and Promotion Policy in South Central Timor Regency

The inequality of human resource (HR) capacity among bureaucrats is an immense challenge confronted by the South Central Timor (SCT) regional government concerning the policy for recruiting and promoting bureaucratic positions. The strong ecological characteristics of the local community with its diverse and varying social, cultural, geographical, economic, and educational environments, coupled with salience of kinship and affiliation have set the backdrop for differences in the bureaucratic personnel’s capacity and performance. Such conditions make it difficult for regional bureaucracies to avoid the emergence of HR capacity disparity issues among bureaucrats. The current study aims to identify and analyze the implementation of bureaucratic position promotion and recruitment policy in SCT Regency. The post-positivist approach was employed in the research by using the descriptive qualitative method. Data were collected through observations, literature study, document study, and in-depth interviews to obtain information, perspectives, and opinions from relevant sources. By comparing theoretical and empirical models, and using the construction of cultural and structural approach models, study results indicate that the merit system’s adaptation developed in recruiting and promoting SCT Regency’s bureaucratic officials tends to use rational representation. This means ethnic representation and native son priority are accommodated in the policy for recruiting and promoting SCT government officials as a manifestation of an achieved mutual consensus, although the process must be conducted through a professional system based on qualifications, competence, and institutional needs.

Frank Ankersmit as a Rationalist

This paper examines Frank Ankersmit as a rationalist. I argue that there is a theory of rationality in Ankersmit, and that rationalism is an essential feature of his philosophy of history. It is salient that, according to Ankersmit, this theory of rationality can be discovered by a priori reasoning through analysing what the concept of representation entails. Ankersmit’s view is that Leibniz has best succeeded in defining what representation is. Further, Leibniz’s theory of representation, and the idea of rationality it entails, are understood to be applicable to history writing, too. The most important standard of rationality is scope. The historian is expected to maximize the scope of her representation, or to create a maximum distance between narrative statements and a narration. The attempts to maximize scope are hampered by other values which stand in opposition to it. For this reason, the historian has to, in effect, find the best possible compromises between two opposing forces – including as much diversity while maintaining as much order as possible, for example. However, no a priori reasoning, or philosophers at large, can in practice determine the most rational representation. This is achieved through historiographical debate and discourse by comparing one representation to its rivals. In the end, I pose some questions and challenges to Ankersmit’s theory of rationality.

A Tale of Two Crematoria:

In 1926, the remains of Siam's last absolute monarch were cremated on Bangkok's royal parade grounds, Sanam Luang, in a highly decorated ceremonial pyre known as the phra merumat or phra men. Modeled on Mount Meru, the center of the Vedic and Buddhist cosmos, ephemeral structures like this drew on the Traiphum phra ruang, a fourteenth-century text that elaborated the hierarchical structure of the universe and the exalted place of royalty within it. After the overthrow of the absolute monarchy in 1932, the sanctity of Sanam Luang was challenged when a controversial crematorium for commoners who died defending Siam's nascent constitution was built in the area once reserved for royalty. Together, the two crematoria played an important role in representing new forms of national belonging in the twentieth century that were consistent with older conceptions of social hierarchy. In A Tale of Two Crematoria: Funeral Architecture and the Politics of Representation in Mid-Twentieth-Century Bangkok, Lawrence Chua examines literary, pictorial, and architectural representations of the monumental crematoria from which powerful, meritorious people were historically dispatched to the upper echelons of the cosmos. As seen in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century temple murals and literature, the phra men was historically depicted as a space in which diverse social groups were brought together but hierarchically segregated. By the twentieth century, the above-noted crematoria for king and commoners—although radically different in appearance and ideology—could be understood as complementary structures that allowed older spatial and political approaches not only to survive but also to flourish in an era of turbulent social upheaval. Key to this continuity was the deployment of new modes of architectural representation such as the plan and section. Associated with Siam's nascent architectural profession and the rational representation of space, these tools depicted a modern form of political community and premodern social hierarchy while underscoring the shared fate of citizens and the state.