Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Causal loops are a recurring feature in the philosophy of time travel, where it is generally agreed that they are logically possible but may come with a theoretical cost. This paper introduces an unfamiliar set of causal loop cases involving knowledge or beliefs about the future: self-fulfilling prophecy loops (SFP loops). I show how and when such loops arise and consider their relationship to more familiar causal loops.

Outpatient therapy with piperacillin/tazobactam using elastomeric pumps in patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of outpatient antimicrobial therapy with piperacillin-tazobactam in continuous infusion using elastomeric pumps and to evaluate the economic impact compared with conventional hospital treatment in patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infections. This is an observational study. Patients with PA infection treated with continuous piperacillin-tazobactam infusion using elastomeric pumps in our hospital between January 2015 and December 2017 were included. Primary outcomes were mortality during antibiotic treatment and mortality at 30 days. Secondary outcomes were reinfection or relapse at 30 days and clinical cure rate. The cost of each episode was compared with theoretical cost of the same treatment using conventional hospitalization. 35 patients were included. One patient (2.9%) died during the treatment. Overall 30-day mortality was 5.7%. No death was related to infection by PA. One patient (2.9%) had a reinfection at 30 days. Cure was achieved in 93% of patients at the end of treatment. There were no severe complications related to elastomeric pumps. Treatment cost with outpatient antimicrobial therapy was 67% lower than theoretical cost with conventional hospital treatment. Oupatient antimicrobial therapy with piperacillin-tazobactam in continuous infusion using elastomeric pumps in patients with PA infections is safe and effective with lower costs.

Akrasia and Epistemic Impurism

This essay provides a novel argument for impurism, the view that certain non-truth-relevant factors can make a difference to a belief's epistemic standing. I argue that purists, unlike impurists, are forced to claim that certain ‘high-stakes’ cases rationally require agents to be akratic. Akrasia is one of the paradigmatic forms of irrationality. So purists, in virtue of calling akrasia rationally mandatory in a range of cases with no obvious precedent, take on a serious theoretical cost. By focusing on akrasia, and on the nature of the normative judgments involved therein, impurists gain a powerful new way to frame a core challenge for purism. They also gain insight about the way in which impurism is true: my argument motivates the claim that there is moral encroachment in epistemology.

What are we doing when we perceive numbers?

Clarke and Beck rightly contend that the number sense allows us to directly perceive number. However, they unnecessarily assume a representationalist approach and incur a heavy theoretical cost by invoking “modes of presentation.” We suggest that the relevant evidence is better explained by adopting a radical enactivist approach that avoids characterizing the approximate number system (ANS) as a system for representing number.

Optimal Ate Pairing on Elliptic Curves with Embedding Degree $9,15$ and $27$

Much attention has been given to the efficient computation of pairings on elliptic curves with even embedding degree since the advent of pairing-based cryptography. The few existing works in the case of odd embedding degrees require some improvements. This paper considers the computation of optimal ate pairings on elliptic curves of embedding degrees $k=9$, $15$, $27$ which have twists of order three. Our main goal is to provide a detailed arithmetic and cost estimation of operations in the tower extensions field of the corresponding extension fields. A good selection of parameters enables us to improve the theoretical cost for the Miller step and the final exponentiation using the lattice-based method as compared to the previous few works that exist in these cases. In particular, for $k=15$, $k=27$, we obtain an improvement, in terms of operations in the base field, of up to 25% and 29% respectively in the computation of the final exponentiation. We also find that elliptic curves with embedding degree $k=15$ present faster results than BN12 curves at the 128-bit security level. We provide a MAGMA implementation in each case to ensure the correctness of the formulas used in this work. Comment: 25 pages

Assessment Cost Estimation for Component Based Software: A Tool Based Technique

Assessment cost of the software component contributes a major part in software cost estimation and it is one of the major cost of the software out of- integration cost i.e. the cost of glue codes, assessment costs and tailoring cost. Many researchers have proposed formulas for evaluating assessment and tailoring costs theoretically. Assessment cost is very often considered to be theoretical cost which involves cost of component selection and composition. According to Moguel Goulao et. al assessment cost for overall component can be measured qualitatively and quantitatively both. He has suggested that qualitative measurement is mostly based on views provided by the experts whereas the quantitative measurement is more subjective and repetitive in nature. Various metrics has been suggested by different authors to quantitatively measure the assessment cost for software components. In this work we applying the metrics on case study of UCRS and developed a tool for evaluating the assessment cost which can be used in calculating the overall cost of the software.

Manipulation Arguments and Libertarian Accounts of Free Will

In response to the increasingly popular manipulation argument against compatibilism, some have argued that libertarian accounts of free will are vulnerable to parallel manipulation arguments, and thus manipulation is not uniquely problematic for compatibilists. The main aim of this article is to give this point a more detailed development than it has previously received. Prior attempts to make this point have targeted particular libertarian accounts but cannot be generalized. By contrast, I provide an appropriately modified manipulation that targets all libertarian accounts of freedom and responsibility—an especially tricky task given that libertarian accounts are a motley set. I conclude that if manipulation arguments reveal any theoretical cost then it is one borne by all accounts according to which we are free and responsible, not by compatibilism in particular.

The cost of corruption

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways for the formulation of a model for calculating the cost of corruption per country, taking into account the social cost. Design/methodology/approach The methodology is practical exploration; the model is formulated along with the social cost of specific calculation. Based on two specific acts of corruption, bribery and overpricing of public works, these acts are private and public corruption. From there, the model is formulated along with the social cost of specific calculation, based on two specific acts of corruption, bribery and overpricing of public works. Findings This paper concludes that the model is applicable to all the countries of the world, based on their tax structure. Research limitations/implications Limitations do not exist in the model; the additional implications are the extension of the model. The model can be used for local governments or countries. Practical implications Countries can calculate the theoretical cost of corruption in their local, regional or national economies, based on two specific acts of corruption, in political, private and public corruption; bribery and overpricing of public works. Social implications The social implications include knowing the theoretical cost of corruption and their effects. Originality/value The model calculates the cost of corruption and its economic and social impact.

Voluntarismo heurístico e historicidad en los estudios de género: un debate epistémico = Heuristic Voluntarism and Historicity in Gender Studies: An Epistemic Debate

Resumen: El presente trabajo provee a indagar respecto a las condiciones metodológicas y epistémicas que limitan la praxis heurística de todo aquel que se vea llamado a indagar sobre los estudios de género. Se sugiere aquí que en tanto el investigador social pretenda cuestionar los límites valorativos, axiológicos y gnoseológicos sobre los cuales se instituye la tradición de los estudios de género, tal investigador deberá poder renunciar, al menos iniciáticamente, a toda pretensión de cientificismo para su obra (a tal fin se apelará, cual ejemplo paradigmático, a la noción de la “performatividad de los cuerpos” de Butler). En tal sentido, se sugerirá que, a fin de cuentas, el costo de oportunidad teórico relativo a tal cuestionamiento puede ser exorbitantemente alto en tanto el mismo suponga coartar la libertad heurística del investigador de referencia. A lo largo de este ensayo, el autor no apelará a bibliografía filiada en el corpus teórico de los estudios de género, sino a contribuciones de la epistemología y la sociología del conocimiento. Por otro lado, tampoco se proveerá aquí a debatir sobre los derechos de aquellos grupos a cuyo análisis se abocan los estudios de género sino, por el contrario, a consideraciones epistemológicas relativas en tal disciplina.Palabras clave: Epistemología de los estudios de género, sociología del conocimiento, performatividad de los cuerpos, voluntarismo de los estudios de género, historicidad de los estudios de género.Abstract: The present work is intended to investigate the methodological and epistemic conditions that may constrain the heuristic realms of anyone who is devoted to the gender studies. It is suggested here that as long as the social researcher intends to question the values, mindset and gnoseological constructs on which the tradition of gender studies is instituted, such a researcher should be able to renounce, at least initially, to any claim of scientism to his work (to such an end, the author will appeal, as a paradigmatic example, to the notion of the "performativity of the bodies" of Butler). In such a sense, it will be suggested that, in the end, the theoretical cost of opportunity related to the abovementioned inquiry can be exorbitantly considerable as long as it supposes restricting the heuristic freedom of the researcher. Throughout this essay, the author will not appeal to bibliography related to the theoretical corpus of gender studies, but to contributions from epistemology and sociology of knowledge. On the other hand, the current essay is not grounded to discuss the rights of those groups which the gender studies attention is focused on, but, on the contrary, it will provide to exert some relative epistemological considerations within such a discipline.Keywords: Epistemology of gender studies, sociology of knowledge, performativity of bodies, voluntarism of gender studies, historicity of gender studies.