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Corona Arias, Julio César. Formalization and Respectivity: Reflection on the Concept of Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of Xavier Zubiri’s Concept of Sentient Intelligence. The earliest moment of artificial intelligence and sentient intelligence contains the notion of formalization. With this affirmation I set out to answer the following question: what is there in sentient intelligence that is impossible to find in artificial intelligence? The answer is respectivity. In this reflection I lay out the hypothesis that, in the most fundamental moments of sentient intelligence, formalization is respective, while in artificial intelligence it is recursive. This respective formalization is precisely what is lacking in artificial intelligence. Indeed, the respectivity of human intelligence is what makes other secondary qualities, categories, or levels possible. This article is merely a conceptual development that points the way to achieving the justification of this last affirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this special issue is to explore the intersections of logic, intended as the formal science of valid consequence, and politics, the practical science of associated life. The analyses here provided deal with the theme in two ways: by considering what logic can do for politics, so proposing possible formalizations of political arguments, or using logical notions and tools to interpret political facts and problems; by considering what politics can do for logic, so examining how logical choices are and have been affected or determined by extra-logical facts of political relevance. The two perspectives outline a territory of inquiry that is not so much frequented, in political and logical literature, but is becoming more and more interesting nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limited prosodic literacy of revamped formalisms perpetuates the whiteness of lyric reading. By prizing ironic distance and elevating the critic as form's discoverer, the concept of poetic form reinscribes racialized value judgments even where critics hope to valorize nonwhite poetic strategies. Formalism should instead attend to the history that gave poets their sense of form. Nonwhite poets mark how this process of formalization, through which forms become abstracted and bear value, consistently entails racialization. They prompt us, I argue, not to form but to prosodic details whose contingency and phenomenological complexity suspend codes of formalist reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

kk states that knowing entails knowing that one knows, and K ¬ K states that not knowing entails knowing that one does not know. In light of the arguments against kk and K ¬ K ⁠ , one might consider modally qualified variants of those principles. According to weak kk , knowing entails the possibility of knowing that one knows. And according to weak K ¬ K ⁠ , not knowing entails the possibility of knowing that one does not know. This paper shows that weak kk and weak K ¬ K are much stronger than they initially appear. Jointly, they entail kk and K ¬ K ⁠. And they are susceptible to variants of the standard arguments against kk and K ¬ K ⁠. This has interesting implications for the debate on positive introspection and for deeper issues concerning the structure and limits of knowability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Stephen Phillips' significant work on epistemology, "Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology". It discusses a comprehensive translation and analysis of the Sanskrit work "Tattva-cintā-maṇi" within Navya-Nyāya philosophy; author addresses some issues related to Phillips' methods of formalization, specifically concerning the use of first-order language and symbols; and the understanding of pervasion as 'entailment' in the context of epistemic logic.

This article discusses strategies to bridge research and practice in knowledge co‐production in order to influence public policy implementation. It analyses a long‐lasting alliance between the Afro‐Colombian movement, academia and international organisations, triggering the Government's commitment to nationwide formalisation of collective territories. By combining collaborative and cartographic research, with historical and legal analysis through purposeful political advocacy, the Allies demonstrated the vulnerability of 271 untitled community lands within a socio‐territorial conflict context, emerging from competition and control over land and natural resources. This strategic alliance brought Law 70/1993 from stagnation to implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses collective housing, a voluntary form of shared living positioned in between the conventional intimacy sphere and public life, to explore the relation between the organized and the intimate. Combining multisited observations and interviews, the study reveals collective housing to represent fairly depersonalized homes characterized by residential transition and formalization. Rather than addressing the dwellings in terms of detachment, however, the article demonstrates that they are exchange(st)able structures with existential bearing. It is through, not despite, the partially organized framework of daily chores and routines that closeness emerges. Grounded in these findings, the article calls for a reframing of intimacy outside of its traditional contexts and proposes the term "communal intimacy" to conceptualize a sociality of closeness that is bound not to exclusive dyads but to an inclusive relational infrastructure characterized by the strength of many weak ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to orthodoxy, there are two basic moods of supposition: indicative and subjunctive. The most popular formalizations of the corresponding norms of suppositional judgement are given by Bayesian conditionalization and Lewisian imaging, respectively. It is well known that Bayesian conditionalization can be generalized (via Jeffrey conditionalization) to provide a model for the norms of partial indicative supposition. This raises the question of whether imaging can likewise be generalized to model the norms of 'partial subjunctive supposition'. The present article casts doubt on whether the most natural generalizations of imaging are able to provide a plausible account of the norms of partial subjunctive supposition . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I provide five separate responses, one for each of the contributed papers, in order to clarify some crucial aspects of the view defended in my book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his new book, Logical Form, Andrea Iacona distinguishes between two different roles that have been ascribed to the notion of logical form: the logical role and the semantic role. These two roles entail a bifurcation of the notion of logical form. Both notions of logical form, according to Iacona, are descriptive, having to do with different features of natural language sentences. I agree that the notion of logical form bifurcates, but not that the logical role is merely descriptive. In this paper, I focus on formalization, a process by which logical form, on its logical role, is attributed to natural language sentences. According to some, formalization is a form of explication, and it involves normative, pragmatic, as well as creative aspects. I present a view by which formalization involves explicit commitments on behalf of a reasoner or an interpreter, which serve the normative grounds for the evaluation of a given text. In previous work, I proposed the framework of semantic constraints for the explication of logical consequence. Here, I extend the framework to include formalization constraints. The various constraints then serve the role of commitments. I discuss specific issues raised by Iacona concerning univocality, co-reference and equivocation, and I show how our views on these matters diverge as a result of our different starting assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the core chapters 4-6, Iacona (2018) argues against the "Uniqueness Thesis" (UT), stating that "there is a unique notion of logical form that fulfils both the logical role and the semantic role" (39), where the former "concerns the formal explanation of logical properties and logical relations, such as validity or contradiction" (37), and the latter "concerns the formulation of a compositional theory of meaning" (ibid.). He argues for this on the basis of relations of coreference among referential expressions, names and indexicals. From what I take to be a fundamental agreement on most relevant issues, here I will nonetheless press him to clarify the notions of intrinsicness and the logical and semantic role of logical form on which he relies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent book, Logical Form: between Logic and Natural Language, Andrea Iacona argues that semantic form and logical form are distinct. The semantic form of a sentence is something that (together with the meanings of its parts) determines what it means; the logical from of a sentence is something that (all by itself) determines whether it is a logical truth. Semantic form does not depend on context but logical form does: for example, whether 'This is this' is a logical truth depends on whether the two occurrences of 'this' are used to demonstrate the same individual. I respond by claiming that logical form is indifferent to reference and is sensitive only to obligatory co-reference. When the speaker intends both occurrences of 'this' to be interpreted the same way the logical from of 'This is this' is a=a, while in a context where the speaker has no such intention it is a=b. This proposal allows a much more conservative revision of the traditional picture than the one suggested by Iacona. Instead of identifying the logical form of a natural language sentence by seeking a formalization in an artificial language, we obtain it through abstraction from its syntactic analysis: replacing the non-logical expressions by schematic letters, making sure that we use identical ones if and only if the speaker intended co-reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews some conceptions of logical form in the light of Andrea Iacona's book Logical Form. I distinguish the following: logical form as schematization of natural language, provided by, for example, Aristotle's syllogistic; the relevance to logical form of formal languages like those used by Frege and Russell to express and prove mathematical theorems; Russell's mid-period conception of logical form as the structural cement binding propositions; the conceptions of logical form discussed by Iacona; and logical form regarded as an empirical hypothesis about the psychology of language processing, as in the Discourse Representation Theory tradition. Whereas neither schematization, nor the use of special languages for mathematics, raise general methodological or empirical difficulties, other conceptions of logical form raise at least apparent problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I discuss Andrea Iacona's idea that logical form mirrors truth conditions, and that logical form, and thus truth conditions, are in turn represented by means of adequate formalization. I criticize this idea, noting that the notion of adequate formalization is highly indefinite, while the pretheoretic idea of logical form is often much more definite. I also criticize Iacona's claim that certain distinct sentences, with the same truth conditions and differing only by co-referential names, must be formalized by the same formula (in the same context). I criticize this claim, noting that it imposes implausible demands on adequate formalization. Finally, I offer some brief remarks on the connection between Iacona's ideas and the distinction between logical and non-logical constants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dasgupta (Philos Stud Int J Philos Anal Tradit 145(1):35–67, 2009) has argued that material individuals, such as particles and laptops, are metaphysically objectionable and must be eliminated from our fundamental theories of the world. He proposes to eliminate them by redescribing all the fundamental facts of the world in a variant of predicate functor logic. We study the status, on this theory, of a putative fact particularly recalcitrant to a formulation within predicate functor logic: his own claim that there are no fundamental or primitive material individuals. We consider three regimentations of the denial of primitive individuals and show that—under some plausible hypotheses about fundamental truths and the fundamentality operator—they cannot be consistently translated in predicate functor logic by Dasgupta's usual strategy. We conclude by discussing two approaches to salvage Generalism, in the absence of such a translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate Bocheński's first-order logic formalization of the argument for the incorruptibility of the human soul given by Aquinas in Summa Theologiae (Ia,75,6). I suggest a slightly different axiomatization that reflect better Aquinas' informal argument. Along the way, I also fix a mistake in Bocheński's derivation that the human soul is not corruptible per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a critical account of the debate between Derrida and Searle in which I defend Austin's and Searle's pragmatic analysis of speech against Derrida's complex deconstructionist approach. I first formalize Derrida's argument, reducing it to its main tenets that can be positively identified and critically reviewed. On the basis of this formalization I argue that the apparent incompatibility between Derrida's and Searle's approach to language becomes clear once we formalize, according to their type and content, the three concepts of "intention" that are confusedly referred to under one and the same label in the debate. This formalization reduces and clarifies the obscurity associated with the Derrida–Searle debate, and helps demonstrating the shortcomings of Derrida's position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Congregation of Santa Muerte (cnsm) came into being early in the year 2000, in Ecatepec de Morelos (State of Mexico), as part of the expansion of the cult that arose in Tepito (Mexico City), and which later became a reference for ritual practice. Although the cnsm was based on the aforementioned model, it later published its own 'ritual practices,' due to the academic training of its leaders (a historian and a communicator, who have integrated the cultural loans from different religious systems into the rituals), added to the experience of the head of the family as the heir of family wisdom in the dark arts, such as sorcery, witchcraft, and the cult of Santa Muerte. To erect his altar, the father and his two sons (as ministers), appropriated space below the vehicular bridge close to the Ecatepec Metro (subway) station. In this article, we approach the cult of Santa Muerte through a qualitative approach, performing participant observation during its monthly rites and the festival of the 'Day of the Dead,' along with conversing with leaders and believers, bearers and practitioners of a cult that has gained sufficient symbolic effectiveness to not only maintain itself, but to increase its follower numbers -for seventeen years- through a process of formalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorites is an ancient piece of paradoxical reasoning pertaining to sets with the following properties: (Supervenience) elements of the set are mapped into some set of "attributes"; (Tolerance) if an element has a given attribute then so are the elements in some vicinity of this element; and (Connectedness) such vicinities can be arranged into pairwise overlapping finite chains connecting two elements with different attributes. Obviously, if Superveneince is assumed, then (1) Tolerance implies lack of Connectedness, and (2) Connectedness implies lack of Tolerance. Using a very general but precise definition of "vicinity", Dzhafarov & Dzhafarov (2010) offered two formalizations of these mutual contrapositions. Mathematically, the formalizations are equally valid, but in this paper, we offer a different basis by which to compare them. Namely, we show that the formalizations have different proof-theoretic strengths when measured in the framework of reverse mathematics: the formalization of (1) is provable in RCA0, while the formalization of (2) is equivalent to ACA0 over RCA0. Thus, in a certain precise sense, the approach of (1) is more constructive than that of (2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the formalization of the arithmetization of Euclidean plane geometry in the Coq proof assistant. As a basis for this work, Tarski's system of geometry was chosen for its well-known metamathematical properties. This work completes our formalization of the two-dimensional results contained in part one of the book by Schwabhäuser, Szmielew and Tarski Metamathematische Methoden in der Geometrie . We defined the arithmetic operations geometrically and proved that they verify the properties of an ordered field. Then, we introduced Cartesian coordinates, and provided characterizations of the main geometric predicates. In order to prove the characterization of the segment congruence relation, we provided a synthetic formal proof of two crucial theorems in geometry, namely the intercept and Pythagoras' theorems. To obtain the characterizations of the geometric predicates, we adopted an original approach based on bootstrapping: we used an algebraic prover to obtain new characterizations of the predicates based on already proven ones. The arithmetization of geometry paves the way for the use of algebraic automated deduction methods in synthetic geometry. Indeed, without a “back-translation” from algebra to geometry, algebraic methods only prove theorems about polynomials and not geometric statements. However, thanks to the arithmetization of geometry, the proven statements correspond to theorems of any model of Tarski's Euclidean geometry axioms. To illustrate the concrete use of this formalization, we derived from Tarski's system of geometry a formal proof of the nine-point circle theorem using the Gröbner basis method. Moreover, we solve a challenge proposed by Beeson: we prove that, given two points, an equilateral triangle based on these two points can be constructed in Euclidean Hilbert planes. Finally, we derive the axioms for another automated deduction method: the area method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the work of Ralph Miller and coworkers ( Miller and Matzel, 1988; Denniston et al., 2001; Stout and Miller, 2007 ), I propose a new formalization of the comparator hypothesis that seeks to overcome some shortcomings of existing formalizations. The new model, dubbed ecco for “Error-Correcting COmparisons,” retains the comparator process and the learning of CS–CS associations based on contingency. ecco assumes, however, that learning of CS–US associations is driven by total error correction, as first introduced by Rescorla and Wagner (1972) . I explore ecco 's behavior in acquisition, compound conditioning, blocking, backward blocking, and unovershadowing. In these paradigms, ecco appears capable of avoiding the problems of current comparator models, such as the inability to solve some discriminations and some paradoxical effects of stimulus salience. At the same time, ecco exhibits the retrospective revaluation phenomena that are characteristic of comparator theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formalising deontic concepts, such as obligation, prohibition and permission, is normally carried out in a modal logic with a possible world semantics, in which some worlds are better than others. The main focus in these logics is on inferring logical consequences, for example inferring that the obligation Oq is a logical consequence of the obligations Op and O (p → q). In this paper we propose a non-modal approach in which obligations are preferred ways of satisfying goals expressed in first-order logic. To say that p is obligatory, but may be violated, resulting in a less than ideal situation s, means that the task is to satisfy the goal p ∨ s, and that models in which p is true are preferred to models in which s is true. Whereas, in modal logic, the preference relation between possible worlds is part of the semantics of the logic, in this non-modal approach, the preference relation between first-order models is external to the logic. Although our main focus is on satisfying goals, we also formulate a notion of logical consequence, which is comparable to the notion of logical consequence in modal deontic logic. In this formalisation, an obligation Op is a logical consequence of goals G, when p is true in all best models of G. We show how this non-modal approach to the treatment of deontic concepts deals with problems of contrary-to-duty obligations and normative conflicts, and argue that the approach is useful for many other applications, including abductive explanations, defeasible reasoning, combinatorial optimisation, and reactive systems of the production system variety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his philosophy, William of Ockham (1285-1347) offered an important and detailed response to the classical argument from the truth of a statement regarding the future to the necessity (unpreventability) of the statement. In this paper, Ockham's solution and the possible formalisation of it are discussed in terms of modern tense and modal logic. In particular, the famous branching time formalisation suggested by A. N. Prior (1914-19) is discussed. Weaknesses and problems with this suggestion are pointed out, and an alternative formalisation of Ockham's solution without the use of branching time is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on findings of a research on the use of Adaptive Toolbox theory to answer questions about how people make rational or otherwise "good" decisions in an uncertain and complex world. It states that Adaptive Toolbox theory provides an influential account with many empirical successes, and mentions that intractability is not a property that can be derived from simulations, but given a proper formalization, it can be mathematically proven. It describes phenomena like intuition.

The paper deals with a relevant pedagogical problem - formalization of students' individual educational objectives. A student describes a reference of professional competence which is a "qualitative" description of the student's individual educational objective, and experts decompose it into basic qualities (abilities) that are represented on an accurate quantitative scale. The correspondence between the descriptive nature of expert estimates and the accurate quantitative scale is set through the value of membership function. The resulting square matrix of membership function values is considered to be a formalized description of students' individual educational objectives which is suitable for using in mathematical model of E-learning and for computer processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While humanity is altering planet Earth at unprecedented magnitude and speed, representation of the cultural driving factors and their dynamics in models of the Earth system is limited. In this review and perspectives paper, we argue that more or less distinct environmental value sets can be assigned to religion - a deeply embedded feature of human cultures, here defined as collectively shared belief in something sacred. This assertion renders religious theories, practices and actors suitable for studying cultural facets of anthropogenic Earth system change, especially regarding deeper, non-materialistic motivations that ask about humans' self-understanding in the Anthropocene epoch. We sketch a modelling landscape and outline some research primers, encompassing the following elements: (i) extensions of existing Earth system models by quantitative relationships between religious practices and biophysical processes, building on databases that allow for (mathematical) formalisation of such knowledge, (ii) design of new model types that specifically represent religious morals, actors and activities as part of coevolutionary human-environment dynamics, and (iii) identification of research questions of humanitarian relevance that are underrepresented in purely economic-technocratic modelling and scenario paradigms. While this analysis is by necessity heuristic and semi-cohesive, we hope that it will act as a stimulus for further, interdisciplinary and systematic research on the immaterial dimension of humanity's imprint on the Earth system, both qualitatively and quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a number of academic analyses have emerged which draw attention to how most artisanal and small-scale mining ( ASM) activities - low-tech, labour-intensive, mineral extraction and processing - occur in informal 'spaces'. This body of scholarship, however, is heavily disconnected from work being carried out by policy-makers and donors who, recognising the growing economic importance of ASM in numerous rural sections of the developing world, are now working to identify ways in which to facilitate the formalisation of its activities. It has rather drawn mostly on theories of informality that have been developed around radically different, and in many cases, incomparable, experiences, as well as largely redundant ideas, to contextualise phenomena in the sector. This paper reflects critically on the implications of this widening gulf, with the aim of facilitating a better alignment of scholarly debates on ASM's informality with overarching policy/donor objectives. The divide must be bridged if the case for formalising ASM is to be strengthened, and policy is to be reformulated to reflect more accurately the many dimensions of the sector's operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translating an informal mathematical argument into a proof which conforms to the norms of the mathematical community in which it is situated is a non-trivial task. Here we discuss several types of products, other than the initial informal argument and its direct formalisation, which we observed students generating in a master’s level analysis course in the United States during their attempts to formalise a researcher-generated informal argument. We refer to these as formalisation artefacts and discuss the various roles they play relative to students’ attempts to formalise informal arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of structured doctoral programs (SDPs) is changing the conditions of doctoral training in Europe and worldwide. SDPs were introduced to reorganize doctoral training to make it more transparent and to improve the quality of doctoral training and supervision. This article suggests a conceptual framework to assess the outcome of these goals against the backdrop of existing pathways toward the doctorate, namely, the doctoral status group research assistants, scholarship holders, and external candidates. Based on empirical data from the large longitudinal study on doctoral candidates in Germany, ProFile, we describe the amount of structuration and formalization within those status groups and compare it to the structure of SDPs. Results reveal that traditional status groups already structure the context of doctoral training remarkably. In front of this backdrop, SDPs change the landscape in the expected way by improved transparency, course offers, and increased exchange with the supervisor. However, the effects of SDP membership vary between traditional status groups; thus, not all status groups profit to the same degree. We conclude that the structure of doctoral training has diversified through the introduction of SDPs and provides an outlook on the changes that can be expected if the number of SDPs increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article we present in the Mizar system the catalogue of nine basic fuzzy implications, used especially in the theory of fuzzy sets. This work is a continuation of the development of fuzzy sets in Mizar; it could be used to give a variety of more general operations, and also it could be a good starting point towards the formalization of fuzzy logic (together with t-norms and t-conorms, formalized previously). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of informal economies is structured by conflict between governmental strategies of confinement, to places, times and how things are done, and the transgression of these confines by informal actors in pursuit of survival or advantage. This article examines the influential development program of formalization in the context of these conflicts. Informality can be formalized in two ways, by eradication and by regularization. Building on their past ethnographic research on informality, the authors use released confidential Hong Kong colonial government documents to explore the informal discussions among policy makers about how to respond to informal practices, and how their understanding of street vendors influences their chose of confinement strategies. While insisting on eradication for squatters, various forms of regularization were attempted for street vendors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about several diagnosis about reading and explains the difficulties about target reading. Topics include identifying the several forms of words, the arguments and views covered by nominalism doctrine, the parallels between target reading, and the basic explanation of wordings using symmetry and identifications. Other topics include the approaches to understanding the concept through formalisation.

Single-premise epistemic closure is the principle that: if one is in an evidential position to know that $$\varphi$$ where $$\varphi$$ entails $$\psi$$ , then one is in an evidential position to know that $$\psi$$ . In this paper, I defend the viability of opposition to closure. A key task for such an opponent is to precisely formulate a restricted closure principle that remains true to the motivations for abandoning unrestricted closure but does not endorse particularly egregious instances of closure violation. I focus on two brands of epistemic theory (each the object of sustained recent interest in the literature) that naturally incorporate closure restrictions. The first type holds that the truth value of a knowledge ascription is relative to a relevant question. The second holds that the truth value of a knowledge ascription is relative to a relevant topic. For each approach, I offer a formalization of a leading theory from the literature (respectively, that of Jonathan Schaffer and that of Stephen Yablo) and use this formalization to evaluate the theory's adequacy in terms of a precise set of desiderata. I conclude that neither theory succeeds in meeting these desiderata, casting doubt on the viability of the underlying approaches. Finally, I offer a novel variant of the topic-sensitive approach that fares better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses Glas in the light of Derrida's notion of the countersignature as both affirmation and betrayal of the countersigned. It explores how the two columns of Glas confirm as well as oppose each other, notably in relation to sexual difference, and examines how Derrida in turn is both faithful and unfaithful towards Hegel and Genet. Tracing the complexity of Derrida's signature, it reflects on its broader implications for his deconstructive project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the chosen ongoing perspectives related to science understanding based problems. Science is viewed, following Robert Merton, as a functioning institution. Social context plays a significant role in defining the possibilities of developing science. The question arises how a functioning institution can be effectively analyzed and which perspectives can be implemented. Hence this paper's goal is to reveal some ways of exploring science understanding. Consequently the paper touches the scientific discourses upon science discussing its academic functional ethos and on the other hand tension between bureaucratization and openness in science. More broadly how far science is democratized in an academic interaction. The proposition of examining the problem of the quality of science as an institution is to grasp two perspectives: first, the formal perspective, related to the legal field and its rationality and second, followed by Adele Clarke known as "situatedness". The idea of joining formalization with situatedness can be regarded as an embodiment within John Meyer and Brian Rowan's concept of an institutionalized organization. Hence science understanding is defined as a complex functioning institution escaping from a modern version of science into many postmodern ad-hoc made sciences. The paper's intention is to provide problems and proposition of solving them through applying an integrating perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the third in a three-part series of papers shortly denoted by Part I [1], and Part II [2], and Part III. The papers mentioned are devoted to some Whiteheadean theories of space and time. Part I contains a historical introduction and some facts from static mereotopology. Part II introduces a point-based definition of a dynamic model of space and a definition of a standard dynamic contact algebra based on the so-called snapshot construction. The given model has an explicit time structure with an explicit set of time points equipped with a before-after relation and a set of regions changing in time, called dynamic regions. The dynamic model of space contains several definable spatiotemporal relations between dynamic regions: space contact, time contact, precedence, and some others. In Part II, a number of statements for these relations are proven, which in the present Part III are taken as axioms for the abstract definition of some natural classes of dynamic contact algebras, considered as an algebraic formalization of dynamic mereotopology. Part III deals with a representation theory for dynamic contact algebras, and the main theorem says that each dynamic contact algebra in some natural class is representable as a standard dynamic contact algebra in the same class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about political parties and quota implementation based on gender focusing on the role of bureaucratized candidate selection in political parties. Topics include political dominance of males and gender quota laws, selection of women in political parties, and bureaucratization level for political party organizational structure. Also discussed are topics such as institutionalization and formalization as concepts to to understood to measure bureaucratization.

Each terrorist organization faces a critical tradeoff between effectively managing the organization's violent behavior while remaining secure from counterterrorism efforts. Drawing on organization theory and terrorism literature, this article develops theoretical linkages between the organizational design of a terrorist group and this critical tradeoff. It considers the impact of four key design parameters: membership, operational space and time, formalization, and centralization. The first two structural parameters construct the physical anatomy of a terrorist organization. The latter two structuring parameters prescribe or restrict the behavior within this organizational context. Net advantages by means of rising structural design parameter values are increasingly offset by the organizational strength and security vulnerabilities that inherently follow from the rising structuring parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher animals act in the world using their external reality models to cope with the uncertain environment. Organisms that have not developed such information-processing organs may also have external reality models built in the form of their biochemical, physiological, and behavioral structures, acquired by natural selection through successful models constructed internally. Organisms subject to illusions would fail to survive in the material universe. How can organisms, or living systems in general, determine the external reality from within? This paper starts with a phenomenological model, in which the self constitutes a reality model developed through the mental processing of phenomena. Then, the it - from - bit concept is formalized using a simple mathematical model. For this formalization, my previous work on an algorithmic process is employed to constitute symbols referring to the external reality, called the inverse causality, with additional improvements to the previous work. Finally, as an extension of this model, the cognizers system model is employed to describe the self as one of many material entities in a world, each of which acts as a subject by responding to the surrounding entities. This model is used to propose a conceptual framework of information theory that can deal with both the qualitative (semantic) and quantitative aspects of the information involved in biological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching to meet the diverse learning needs of twenty-first century, global learners can be challenging, yet a growing body of research points to the proved successes of arts-infused and integrated curricula, especially for building capacity for learning and motivation. This article presents the ArtsIN: Arts Integration and Infusion framework, a both/and approach to arts-based learning. This means that it incorporates both arts infused learning essential for process and skill development in an art form, such as art disciplines of visual arts, dance, drama, music and media arts and integrated learning experiences embedded in children's daily experience to generate rich meaningful cognitive connections to other disciplines into the classroom. Section 'WHY ARTS? Key Concepts to Support an ArtsIN Framework' details four key concepts of the framework: global universality, embodiment, arts as multi-literacies and language, and the value of arts for advancing development. The mind-body connection of the arts to understand human interactions is explained through the capacities of five aesthetic operations-repetition, formalization, dynamic variation, and surprise. Section ' HOW ARTS? Implementing an ArtsIN Framework' provides examples and explains how arts infusion and integration can be implemented in early childhood settings through dynamic teacher roles as artist, researcher, designer, co-constructor, and advocate to meet students' learning needs while connecting and collaborating with diverse cultural contexts that include families, artists, and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In studies of environmental issues, the question of how to establish a productive interplay between science and policy is widely debated, especially in relation to climate change. The aim of this article is to advance this discussion and contribute to a better understanding of how science is summarized for policy purposes by bringing together two academic discussions that usually take place in parallel: the question of how to deal with formalization (structuring the procedures for assessing and summarizing research, e.g. by protocols) and separation (maintaining a boundary between science and policy in processes of synthesizing science for policy). Combining the two dimensions, we draw a diagram onto which different initiatives can be mapped. A high degree of formalization and separation are key components of the canonical image of scientific practice. Influential Science and Technology Studies analysts, however, are well known for their critiques of attempts at separation and formalization. Three examples that summarize research for policy purposes are presented and mapped onto the diagram: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the European Union’s Science for Environment Policy initiative, and the UK Committee on Climate Change. These examples bring out salient differences concerning how formalization and separation are dealt with. Discussing the space opened up by the diagram, as well as the limitations of the attraction to its endpoints, we argue that policy analyses, including much Science and Technology Studies work, are in need of a more nuanced understanding of the two crucial dimensions of formalization and separation. Accordingly, two analytical claims are presented, concerning trajectories, how organizations represented in the diagram move over time, and mismatches, how organizations fail to handle the two dimensions well in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal property rights are integral to contemporary global- and national-scale land transactions, and prerequisite to international institutions’ recognition of any state, private, or nonprofit land holdings. We argue that state lands constitute today's frontiers for capitalist expansion. Using cases from Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Indonesia, we show how practices, institutions, and laws that expunge local rights and claims to land and replace them with state rights have been fundamental to the creation of “new” frontiers. We argue that historical formalizations of state land created the enabling conditions for today's large-scale, international, and national acquisitions of land, in ways that were unanticipated at the time of state acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a conceptually novel contribution to the understanding of the distinctive governance challenges arising from the increasing reliance on formalized knowledge in the governance of research activities. It uses the current Australian research governance system as an example - a system which exhibits a comparatively strong degree of formalization as to its knowledge mechanisms. Combining theoretical reflections on the political-administrative and epistemic dimensions of processes of formalization with analyses of interview data gathered at Australian universities, it is suggested that such a strong reliance on formalized knowledge has rather ambivalent governance ramifications. On the one hand, it allows for a seemingly rational and efficient form of the control and coordination of research activities. Yet on the other hand, it also increases the risk that knowledge is used in governance contexts in superficial, unconsidered and ultimately unreasonable ways. It is further suggested that there are a range of indications that precisely such use elicits and reinforces a range of dysfunctional behaviors on part of relevant individual and organizational actors in the public science system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers network synthesis problems arising in the design and exploitation of telecommunication and transportation systems. A formalization of network synthesis problems on graphs is proposed in which constraints on cut capacities are given and possibilities of failing some network components are taken into account. Approaches to the solution and analysis of the complexity of the considered problems are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human beings use spatial relations to describe many daily tasks in their language. For a mobile robot to be useful in daily life, it is necessary to have navigation algorithms capable of identifying and establishing spatial relations. To date in robotics, the navigation problem has been thoroughly researched as a task of guiding a robot from one spatial coordinate to another. Therefore, there is a difference in degree of abstraction between the language of human beings and the algorithms used in robot navigation. This article introduces a piece of research performed on the use of topological relations for the formalisation of spatial relations and navigation. So far, topological relations have been applied widely in geographical information systems and also in spatial logics. There are some proposals in robot navigation which use them for planning but there is no research about making decision in robot navigation. Our research focuses on decision-making methods to establish spatial relations. The main result is a new heuristic, called the Heuristic of Topological Qualitative Semantics (HTQS), which allows the identification and establishment of spatial relations decision-making from a set of actions. To demonstrate its effectiveness, HTQS has been implemented in the form of agents that can move in a two-dimensional virtual environment. HTQS opens a new door to designing algorithms for navigation based on the identification and establishment of spatial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We consider a two-player nonzero-sum differential game in the case where players use nonanticipative strategies. We define the Nash equilibrium in this case and obtain a characterization of Nash equilibrium strategies. We show that a Nash equilibrium solution can be approximately realized by control-with-guide strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An important contribution in sociophysics is the Galam’s model of rumors spreading. This model provides an explanation of rumors spreading in a population and explains some interesting social phenomena such as the diffusion of hoaxes. In this paper the model has been reformulated as a Markov process highlighting the stochastic nature of the phenomena. This formalization allows us to derive conditions for consensus to be reached and for the existence of some interesting phenomena such as the emergence of impasses. The proposed formulation allows a deeper and more comprehensive analysis of the diffusion of rumors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recent research and theory at the intersection of cultural sociology and network analysis have converged around the notion of cultural holes: patterns of cultural choice that position the person as a bridge not between other persons but between cultural worlds. This is an approach that promises to open up new vistas in our conceptualization of the relationship between social position and cultural taste, but that so far lacks operational grounding. In this article, I draw on Breiger's () formalization of the idea of the duality of persons and groups along with classical formalizations of brokerage for sociometric networks (Burt ) to suggest that the 'cultural ego network' of a typical survey respondent can be reconstructed from patterns of audience overlap among the cultural items that are chosen by each respondent. This leads to a formalization of the notion of omnivorousness as relatively low levels of clustering in the cultural network: namely, omnivorousness as cultural network efficiency. I show how this metric overcomes the difficulties that have plagued previous attempts to produce ordinal indicators of omnivorousness from simple counts of the number of cultural choices, while providing novel substantive (and sometime counter-intuitive) insights into the relationship between socio-demographic status markers and patterns of cultural choice in the contemporary United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]