Flies vs. the Fetishisation of Consciousness

The conceptualization of human consciousness in Sartre’s early work continues the anthropocentric subjectivism of the Cartesian tradition. In Sartre, in order to become truly human, the human must break from his origin in the natural-material world. The fetishization of consciousness in Sartre’s existentialism is an attempt at redemption, an attempt in other words to imagine the human as the master of his metaphysical destiny and of the material conditions and agents that surround, drive and form him. Sartre’s dualistic world view blocks the impersonal, more-than-human energy that traverses the human self, the “contagion” brought on, for instance, by the title characters of Sartre’s most famous play, The Flies. This phobic blockage --- together with a restrictive definition or biopolitical caesura of what or who qualifies as truly human – is reminiscent of fascism, pointing to the dialectical implication of even antifascist critiques in fascist psychic structures.

Notational equivalence in tonal geometry

This paper employs a computational framework to demonstrate that two competing feature-geometric models of tonal representation are notationally equivalent. A model-theoretic analysis of these structures using a low-complexity logic yields two main results. First, the current study demonstrates that the models do not differ in their empirical coverage of assimilatory tone-sandhi processes in Chinese dialects, contrary to previous claims. Second, the models are shown to be bi-interpretable (using a more restrictive definition of bi-interpretability than earlier studies), thus providing a formally rigorous demonstration that the differences between the structures of the models are superficial, rather than substantive. The computational characterisation pursued here is well suited to questions of notational equivalence, because it allows for a principled comparison of the empirical coverage and structural content of two models using a single formalism.

US Optum Database Study in Polycythemia Vera Patients: Thromboembolic Events (TEs) with Hydroxyurea (HU) Vs Ruxolitinib Switch Therapy and Machine-Learning Model to Predict Incidence of Tes and HU Failure

Introduction: Thromboembolic events (TEs) are one of the most prevalent complications in patients (pts) with polycythemia vera (PV). This real-world evidence study of the US OPTUM database evaluated the incidence of TEs in hydroxyurea (HU)-treated PV pts who either switched to ruxolitinib (RUX) after initial treatment (Tx) with HU (HU-RUX group) or continued HU Tx without switching (HU-alone group). Machine learning was then used to build a precise and scientifically robust model to predict the occurrence of TEs in PV pts with/without a history of TEs and HU failure (defined by either European LeukemiaNet [ELN] hematologic criteria or TEs). Methods: The OPTUM database comprises claims data and electronic medical records from 90 million pts (2007-2017, median stay in the database=7 years), including 69,464 PV pts. To avoid any selection bias during comparison, only pts treated prior to the RUX market launch were included in the HU-alone group (HU-RUX, n=81; HU-alone, n=195). Due to unavailability of Tx duration, time difference between the first and the last prescription was used as a proxy, and overall Tx duration was matched in both groups. TEs were assessed before Tx initiation in both groups. For HU-RUX pts, it was also assessed while on HU (median duration 27 months) and on RUX (median duration 14 months). For HU-alone pts, it was assessed during the first 27 months of Tx (any pt included in the analysis was treated for longer than this due to duration matching) and during remaining period of Tx (median duration 14 months). TEs were identified by either a restrictive definition (a list of ICD codes containing keywords from the RESPONSE study was automatically generated and manually curated) or a less restrictive one (list of ICD codes was manually expanded to include any TEs matching those from the GEMFIN study). PV pts who were exclusively treated with HU for ≥6 months were selected (n=2057) for modeling. Outcomes to be predicted were TEs in the 12 months following the end of the 6-month HU Tx period, and HU failure within 3 months of Tx. A logistic regression model was used for prediction. The baseline features extracted from the database included median lab parameters (3-6 months after HU initiation), history of thrombosis prior to primary diagnosis of PV, sociological features (age, gender), comorbidities, and concomitant medications (from inpatient/outpatient tables). Performance assessment methods included Receiver Operating Characteristic-Area Under the Curve (ROC-AUC) in early stages and confusion matrix in later stages; the findings were converted to clinically interpretable decision-tree classification algorithms. Results: Based on the extensive definition, the annual incidence of TEs in the HU-RUX and HU-alone groups, respectively, was 9% and 7% before HU initiation, which increased to 17% and 13% on HU Tx. The small difference in baseline incidence may reflect residual differences between the two groups. After a median duration of 14 months, the incidence of TEs decreased to 15% in pts who switched to RUX vs an increase to 20% in pts who continued HU Tx. A similar trend was observed using less restrictive definition (Figure 1). This definition resulted in a substantially increased incidence of TEs and a decreased predictive power of the machine-learning model. Using modeling, decision trees were developed to predict the occurrence of TEs in PV pts with/without a history of TEs. Lymphocyte percentage (<17%) and red cell distribution width (RDW; <15%) were predictors in pts without a history of TEs, whereas lymphocyte percentage (>13%) and platelet count (>393x103/µL) were predictors in pts with a history of TEs (Figure 2). Based on the decision tree developed to predict HU failure, phlebotomy-dependent pts with >15% RDW had a higher risk of HU failure within 3 months of Tx (Figure 3). Conclusions: A reduction in the incidence of TEs was observed in pts switching to RUX vs those who continued HU Tx. Based on the findings from this machine-learning model in PV pts, phlebotomy dependency and RDW were indicated as predictors of HU Tx failure within 3 months, whereas lymphocyte percentage+platelet count and lymphocyte percentage+RDW were predictors of incidence of TEs in pts with and without a history of TEs, respectively. Non-adjustment of the results for antiplatelet/anticoagulant Tx was a study limitation. Further validation of this machine-learning model is planned in other European databases. Disclosures Verstovsek: Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Gilead: Research Funding; Promedior: Research Funding; CTI BioPharma Corp: Research Funding; Genetech: Research Funding; Protaganist Therapeutics: Research Funding; Constellation: Consultancy; Pragmatist: Consultancy; Incyte: Research Funding; Roche: Research Funding; NS Pharma: Research Funding; Blueprint Medicines Corp: Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; Sierra Oncology: Research Funding; Pharma Essentia: Research Funding; Astrazeneca: Research Funding; Ital Pharma: Research Funding. De Stefano:Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Heidel:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy; CTI: Consultancy. Zuurman:Novartis Pharma B.V.: Employment. Zaiac:Novartis: Employment, Equity Ownership. Bigan:Novartis: Consultancy. Ruhl:Novartis: Consultancy. Meier:Novartis: Consultancy. Kiladjian:Celgene: Consultancy; Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding; AOP Orphan: Honoraria, Research Funding.

Quasiresiduals in Semigroups with Natural Partial Order

A semigroup (S, ·) is called right (left) quasiresiduated if for any a, b in S there exists x in S such that ax ≤S b (xa ≤S b) with respect to the natural partial order ≤S of S. This concept has its origin in the theory of residuated semigroups, but can also be seen as a generalization of the right (left) simplicity of semigroups. It is first studied for totally-, resp., trivially-ordered semigroups, and then for semigroups with idempotents. In particular, the cases when (S, ≤S) is directed downwards and when S contains a zero (with respect to a more restrictive definition) are dealt with. Throughout, examples are given; in total, 30 classes of (often well-known) semigroups of this kind are specified.

Modeling, Measuring, and Distinguishing Path Dependence, Outcome Dependence, and Outcome Independence

Path dependence is commonly used to describe processes where “history matters,” which encompasses many different kinds of temporal dynamics. This essay distinguishes path-, or equilibrium-, dependent processes where early conditions continue to matter, from outcome-dependent processes where recent history matters and from outcome-independent processes where history does not matter. Others have argued for a precise and restrictive definition of path dependence. We build on this and distinguish among different types of outcome-dependent processes when these conditions for path dependence are not fully satisfied.

On the computational complexity of dynamic slicing problems for program schemas

Given a program, a quotient can be obtained from it by deleting zero or more statements. The field of program slicing is concerned with computing a quotient of a program that preserves part of the behaviour of the original program. All program slicing algorithms take account of the structural properties of a program, such as control dependence and data dependence, rather than the semantics of its functions and predicates, and thus work, in effect, with program schemas. The dynamic slicing criterion of Korel and Laski requires only that program behaviour is preserved in cases where the original program follows a particular path, and that the slice/quotient follows this path. In this paper we formalise Korel and Laski's definition of a dynamic slice as applied to linear schemas, and also formulate a less restrictive definition in which the path through the original program need not be preserved by the slice. The less restrictive definition has the benefit of leading to smaller slices. For both definitions, we compute complexity bounds for the problems of establishing whether a given slice of a linear schema is a dynamic slice and whether a linear schema has a non-trivial dynamic slice, and prove that the latter problem is NP-hard in both cases. We also give an example to prove that minimal dynamic slices (whether or not they preserve the original path) need not be unique.

Can a restrictive definition lead to biases and tautologies?

We argue that the operational definition proposed by Ramsey et al. does not represent a significant improvement for students of innovation, because it is so restrictive that it might actually prevent the testing of hypotheses on the relationships between innovation, ecology, evolution, culture, and intelligence. To avoid tautological thinking, we need to use an operational definition that is taxonomically unbiased and neutral with respect to the hypotheses to be tested.