Belief and Counterfactuals

This book is the first of two volumes on belief and counterfactuals. It consists of six of a total of eleven chapters. The first volume is concerned primarily with questions in epistemology and is expository in parts. Among other theories, it provides an accessible introduction to belief revision and ranking theory. Ranking theory specifies how conditional beliefs should behave. It does not tell us why they should do so nor what they are. This book fills these two gaps. The consistency argument tells us why conditional beliefs should obey the laws of ranking theory by showing them to be the means to attaining the end of holding true and informative beliefs. The conditional theory of conditional belief tells us what conditional beliefs are by specifying their nature in terms of non-conditional belief and counterfactuals. In addition, the book contains several novel arguments, accounts, and applications. These include an argument for the thesis that there are only hypothetical imperatives and no categorical imperatives; an account of the instrumentalist understanding of normativity, or rationality, according to which one ought to take the means to one’s ends; as well as solutions to the problems of conceptual belief change, logical learning, and learning conditionals. A distinctive feature of the book is its unifying methodological approach: means-end philosophy. Means-end philosophy takes serious that philosophy is a normative discipline, and that philosophical problems are entangled with each other. It also explains the importance of logic to philosophy, without being a technical theory itself.

Gaming and Photography: Investigating the Elision of Illusion and the Actual

<p>The application of aesthetics and techniques from photography into computer generated images leads audiences to read images of a virtual space similarly to images of a physical space. This phenomenon has allowed for a continuation in the cultural fascination with photorealism, and cases of audiences mistaking images from the virtual space as ‘real’. This thesis looks in detail at how the boundaries between the virtual and physical space shift when approaching the virtual space of a video game from the perspective of a photographer, rather than a player. It looks in detail at how audiences interpret images of the virtual space of video games when displayed in a form reminiscent of art photography. Photographs of the virtual and physical spaces were produced for online surveys and an exhibition to test audience perceptions of image origin. Participants were also asked to try and distinguish photorealism in the landscape form, urban form, and material form. Technical analysis of audience responses, combined with textual analysis of the images themselves, helped in determining the types of content, as well as styles of photography that were used by the audience as indexes to reality in the virtual space. In some cases, the technical theory could explain the thought process of the participants, however in other cases there were dominant factors that more significantly impacted participant interpretations, despite what theory suggested. This highlighted the blur that is emerging between the physical and virtual spaces. There were difficulties in designing tests that could identify and isolate the elements that influenced perceptions of photorealism, due to the complex, and sometimes unexpected, ways in which people made judgments about the images. A variety of factors and areas for future research arose from the tests, including using the medium of photography to document the ever-changing landscape of the virtual space.</p>

Gaming and Photography: Investigating the Elision of Illusion and the Actual

<p>The application of aesthetics and techniques from photography into computer generated images leads audiences to read images of a virtual space similarly to images of a physical space. This phenomenon has allowed for a continuation in the cultural fascination with photorealism, and cases of audiences mistaking images from the virtual space as ‘real’. This thesis looks in detail at how the boundaries between the virtual and physical space shift when approaching the virtual space of a video game from the perspective of a photographer, rather than a player. It looks in detail at how audiences interpret images of the virtual space of video games when displayed in a form reminiscent of art photography. Photographs of the virtual and physical spaces were produced for online surveys and an exhibition to test audience perceptions of image origin. Participants were also asked to try and distinguish photorealism in the landscape form, urban form, and material form. Technical analysis of audience responses, combined with textual analysis of the images themselves, helped in determining the types of content, as well as styles of photography that were used by the audience as indexes to reality in the virtual space. In some cases, the technical theory could explain the thought process of the participants, however in other cases there were dominant factors that more significantly impacted participant interpretations, despite what theory suggested. This highlighted the blur that is emerging between the physical and virtual spaces. There were difficulties in designing tests that could identify and isolate the elements that influenced perceptions of photorealism, due to the complex, and sometimes unexpected, ways in which people made judgments about the images. A variety of factors and areas for future research arose from the tests, including using the medium of photography to document the ever-changing landscape of the virtual space.</p>

A new elementary proof for M-stationarity under MPCC-GCQ for mathematical programs with complementarity constraints

It is known in the literature that local minimizers of mathematical programs with complementarity constraints (MPCCs) are so-called M-stationary points, if a weak MPCC-tailored Guignard constraint qualification (called MPCC-GCQ) holds. In this paper we present a new elementary proof for this result. Our proof is significantly simpler than existing proofs and does not rely on deeper technical theory such as calculus rules for limiting normal cones. A crucial ingredient is a proof of a (to the best of our knowledge previously open) conjecture, which was formulated in a Diploma thesis by Schinabeck.

Grounded Theory Analysis of Work-based TVET and Intersectional Challenges Between Construction Workers

In this study, I examine training in the work-based part of Norwegian technical vocational education and training (TVET). The TVET model includes two years in school followed by two years of apprenticeship at an authorized training enterprise. The empirical findings are based on one year of fieldwork combined with interviews, while following communities of plumbers and apprentices on construction sites and at a training agency. The article describes how work tasks and training on the construction site are continued and elaborated at the training agency, where technical theory and drawing are intertwined in practical plumbing. Over the past two decades, Norway has welcomed a significant number of eastern European migrant workers. Construction is among the industries most affected. This study explores how plumbers negotiate work and training at the intersection with dominant groups of foreign construction workers.

Mathematical and Physical Analysis of the Shooting Techniques of High-pole Throwing Hydrangea

By using the methods of literature and mathematical analysis, the present representative technical theory of high-pole throwing Hydrangea is analyzed, this paper analyzed the technical movements of the high-pole throwing Hydrangea of technology, such as the angle, speed and height of release of the athletes, as well as the running track data of the parabolic arc top height, the range of passing circle and the place of falling of the high-pole throwing Hydrangea champion in the 12th Guangxi Student Games in 2019. The results show that: the range of the angle of release is 640≤ α ≤720; when the angle of release is 640 lower limit, the velocity of release is v0≥13.04m/s lower limit, when the ball reaches the highest point, it passes through the lower edge of the circle. When the angle of release is 720 upper limit, the velocity of release isv0≥13.17m/s, the top of the arc of the ball is 1.8m away from the top of the circle, and it passes through the lower edge of the circle when it falls; when the angle of release is 660, the velocity of release is v0≤13.70m/s upper limit and the ball passes through the upper edge of the circle when it rises to the highest point; under the three circumstances, the arc top of the ball does not exceed the circle, and the height from the ground does not exceed 10m. At the same time, it proves the scientificity and reliability of the projection technique of Hydrangea.

TRANSVERSE BENDING AND FREE VIBRATIONS OF ELASTIC ISOTROPIC PLATES IN THE FORM OF ISOSCELES TRIANGLES

This paper considers elastic isotropic plates in the form of isosceles triangles with combined boundary conditions (a combination of hinged support and rigid restraint conditions along the sides of the contour). Calculations were performed using FEM to determine the integral physical characteristics in the considered problems F (the maximum deflection of uniformly loaded plates w0 and the fundamental frequency of oscillations in the unloaded state ω). On the basis of the obtained numerical results, approximating functions have been constructed: "maximum deflection - form factor of plates", "basic frequency of oscillations - form factor of plates", the structure of which corresponds to the structure of similar formulas obtained when presenting known exact solutions in the corresponding problems of technical theory of plates in isoperimetric form. Based on the properties of the form factor of plates, these approximating functions limit the whole set of considered integral physical quantities and therefore can be used as reference solutions for the calculation of triangular plates of arbitrary form applying the method of interpolation by form factor (MIFF). We consider an example of calculation of a plate in the form of a rectangular triangle with hinged support of the sides.

QUASIHARMONIC BENDING WAVE, DISTRIBUTING IN THE BALK OF TIMOSHENKO, LYING ON A NONLINEAR ELASTIC BASE

In this paper, we consider the modulation instability of a quasiharmonic flexural wave propagating in a homogeneous beam fixed on a nonlinear elastic foundation. The dynamic behavior of the beam is determined by Timoshenko's theory. Timoshenko's model, refining the technical theory of rod bending, assumes that the crosssections remain flat, but not perpendicular to the deformable midline of the rod; normal stresses on sites parallel to the axis are zero; the inertial components associated with the rotation of the cross sections are taken into account. The uniqueness of the model lies in the fact that, allowing a good description of many processes occurring in real structures, it remains quite simple, accessible for analytical research. The system of equations describing the bending vibrations of the beam is reduced to one nonlinear fourthorder equation for the transverse displacements of the beam particles. The nonlinear Schrödinger equation, one of the basic equations of nonlinear wave dynamics, is obtained by the method of many scales. Regions of modulation instability are determined according to the Lighthill criterion. It is shown hot the boundaries of these areas shift when the parameters characterizing the elastic properties of the beam material and the nonlinearity of the base change. Nonlinear stationary envelope waves are considered. An equation that generalizes the Duffing equation, which contains two additional terms in negative powers (first and third), is obtained and qualitatively analyzed. Solutions of the Schr?dinger equation in the form of envelope solitons are found and the dependences of their main parameters (amplitude, width) on the parameters of the system are analyzed. The dynamics of the points of intersection of the amplitudes and widths of "light" solitons in the case of soft nonlinearity of the base is shown within the region of modulation instability.