Defending Particularism from Supervenience/Resultance Attack

I take the debate between the particularists and the principlists to be centered on the issue of whether there are true moral principles. One argument the principlists often appeal to in support of their claim that there are true moral principles is the argument from supervenience. Roughly, the argument is made up of the following three statements: (P1) If the thesis of moral supervenience holds, then there are true moral principles. (P2) The thesis of moral supervenience holds. (C) There are true moral principles, and hence particularism is false. In this paper, I argue that the above argument is not sound by attacking (P1). I hold that no general supervenient/resultance base has a robust enough configuration of contextual features as to ground the existence of true moral principles. If I am right about this, I think it would be indicative of a reason to be less confident about the truth of principlism and more confident about the truth of particularism.     

Entropy and set cardinality inequalities for partition‐determined functions

A new notion of partition‐determined functions is introduced, and several basic inequalities are developed for the entropies of such functions of independent random variables, as well as for cardinalities of compound sets obtained using these functions. Here a compound set means a set obtained by varying each argument of a function of several variables over a set associated with that argument, where all the sets are subsets of an appropriate algebraic structure so that the function is well defined. On the one hand, the entropy inequalities developed for partition‐determined functions imply entropic analogues of general inequalities of Plünnecke‐Ruzsa type. On the other hand, the cardinality inequalities developed for compound sets imply several inequalities for sumsets, including for instance a generalization of inequalities proved by Gyarmati, Matolcsi and Ruzsa (2010). We also provide partial progress towards a conjecture of Ruzsa (2007) for sumsets in nonabelian groups. All proofs are elementary and rely on properly developing certain information‐theoretic inequalities. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 40, 399–424, 2012     

Dynamical behaviour of SIR model with coinfection: The case of finite carrying capacity

Multiple viruses are widely studied because of their negative effect on the health of host as well as on whole population. The dynamics of coinfection are important in this case. We formulated an susceptible infected recovered (SIR) model that describes the coinfection of the two viral strains in a single host population with an addition of limited growth of susceptible in terms of carrying capacity. The model describes five classes of a population: susceptible, infected by first virus, infected by second virus, infected by both viruses, and completely immune class. We proved that for any set of parameter values, there exists a globally stable equilibrium point. This guarantees that the disease always persists in the population with a deeper connection between the intensity of infection and carrying capacity of population. Increase in resources in terms of carrying capacity promotes the risk of infection, which may lead to destabilization of the population.     

A COMPREHENSIVE PROOF OF THE GREENBERGER-HORNE-ZEILINGER THEOREM FOR THE FOUR-QUBIT SYSTEM

Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger(GHZ)theorem asserts that there is a set of mutually commuting nonlocal observables with a common eigenstate on which those ob- servables assume values that refute the attempt to assign values only required to have them by the local realism of Einstein,Podolsky,and Rosen(EPR).It is known that for a three-qubit system.there is only one form of the GHZ-Mermin-like argument with equiva- lence up to a local unitary transformation,which is exactly Mermin's version of the GHZ theorem.This article for a four-qubit system,which was originally studied by GHZ,the authors show that there are nine distinct forms of the GHZ-Mermin-like argument.The proof is obtained using certain geometric invariants to characterize the sets of mutually commuting nonlocal spin observables on the four-qubit system.It is proved that there are at most nine elements(except for a different sign)in a set of mutually commuting nonlocal spin observables in the four-qubit system,and each GHZ-Mermin-like argument involves a set of at least five mutually commuting four-qubit nonlocal spin observables with a GHZ state as a common eigenstate in GHZ's theorem.Therefore,we present a complete construction of the GHZ theorem for the four-qubit system.     

Bayesian stratified random sampling using auxiliary information

Summary Smith (1976,J. R. Statist. Soc., A,139, 183–204) has argued that survey statisticians should attempt to model finite population structures in the same way that statisticians in other disciplines have to provide models of finite or infinite populations. Following this argument, we suggest in this paper that an obvious model for a stratified population when auxiliary information regarding variate values is available, is the one way analysis of covariance model with unequal variances and we consider the problem of estimating the finite population mean. Finally a possible extension of this result is discussed.     

Appraisals of harms and injustice trigger an eerie feeling that decreases trust in artificial intelligence systems

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more pervasive, the concern over how users can trust artificial agents is more important than ever before. In this research, we seek to understand the trust formation between humans and artificial agents from the morality and uncanny theory perspective. We conducted three studies to carefully examine the effect of two moral foundations: perceptions of harm and perceptions of injustice, as well as reported wrongdoing on uncanniness and examine the effect of uncanniness on trust in artificial agents. In Study 1, we found perceived injustice was the primary determinant of uncanniness and uncanniness had a negative effect on trust. Studies 2 and 3 extended these findings using two different scenarios of wrongful acts involving an artificial agent. In addition to explaining the contribution of moral appraisals to the feeling of uncanny, the latter studies also uncover substantial contributions of both perceived harm and perceived injustice. The results provide a foundation for establishing trust in artificial agents and designing an AI system by instilling moral values in it.

     

The effects of migratory bird population in a nonautonomous eco-epidemiological model

In ecology the disease in the rare migratory bird population plays an important role in controlling the dynamical behavior of system. In this paper, we investigate a nonautonomous two species (migratory bird population and economical bird population) competitive model with saturation incidence and artificially harvesting and study the dynamical changes that take place due to the introduction of a disease by migratory birds. Under the reasonable assumptions, sufficient conditions for the permanence and extinction of the disease are obtained. Moreover, the global attractivity of the model is discussed by constructing a Liapunov function. To substantiate our theoretical results, extensive numerical simulations are performed for a hypothetical set of parameter values.     

Differential properties of solutions of variational problems for functionals of linear growth

The differential properties of the vector extremals of convex functionals of linear growth, depending only on the modulus of the gradient of the desired function, are investigated. It is proved that if the integrand is strictly convex and its derivative is concave for large values of the argument, then, under some additional conditions, the generalized solution is regular in an open set of full measure. Another result consists in the fact that if the integrand is linear for all large values of the argument, then, under some additional conditions, there exists an open set in which the gradient of the solution is continuous and its modulus is strictly smaller than the value of the parameter, starting from which the integrand becomes a linear function.Translated from Problemy Matematicheskogo Analiza, No. 11, pp. 51–79, 1990.     

Non-Inferential Moral Knowledge

In a series of recent papers, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong has developed a novel argument against moral intuitionism. I suggest a defense on behalf of the intuitionist against Sinnott-Armstrong’s objections. Rather than focus on the main premises of his argument, I instead examine the way in which Sinnott-Armstrong construes the intuitionistic position. I claim that Sinnott-Armstrong’s understanding of intuitionism is mistaken. In particular, I argue that Sinnott-Armstrong mischaracterizes non-inferentiality as it figures in intuitionism. To the extent that Sinnott-Armstrong’s account of intuitionism has been adopted by others uncritically, intuitionists have cause for concern. I develop an alternative, and more accurate, reading of what is non-inferential about intuitionistic moral knowledge. In light of this alternative reading, certain elements of Sinnott-Armstrong’s case against intuitionism are significantly weakened. But perhaps more importantly, this paper helps clarify what circumspect intuitionists mean when they claim that some moral knowledge is non-inferential.     

Stationary perfect equilibria of an n-person noncooperative bargaining game and cooperative solution concepts

This paper characterizes the stationary (subgame) perfect equilibria of an n-person noncooperative bargaining model with characteristic functions, and provides strategic foundations of some cooperative solution concepts such as the core, the bargaining set and the kernel. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we show that a linear programming formulation successfully characterizes the stationary (subgame) perfect equilibria of our bargaining game. We suggest a linear programming formulation as an algorithm for the stationary (subgame) perfect equilibria of a class of n-person noncooperative games. Second, utilizing the linear programming formulation, we show that stationary (subgame) perfect equilibria of n-person noncooperative games provide strategic foundations for the bargaining set and the kernel.     

Analysis of lumped models with contact and friction

We consider two mathematical models that describe the vibrations of spring-mass-damper systems with contact and friction. In the first model, both the contact and frictional boundary conditions are described with subdifferentials of nonconvex functions. In the second model, the contact is modeled with a Lipschitz continuous function, and the restitution force is described by a differential equation involving a Volterra integral term. The two models lead to second-order differential inclusions with and without an integral term, in which the unknowns are the positions of the masses. For each model, we prove the existence of a solution by using an abstract result for first-order differential inclusions in finite dimensional spaces. For the second model, in addition, we prove the uniqueness of the solution by using a fixed point argument. Finally, we provide examples of systems with contact and friction conditions for which our results are valid.     

Analysis of lumped models with contact and friction

We consider two mathematical models that describe the vibrations of spring-mass-damper systems with contact and friction. In the first model, both the contact and frictional boundary conditions are described with subdifferentials of nonconvex functions. In the second model, the contact is modeled with a Lipschitz continuous function, and the restitution force is described by a differential equation involving a Volterra integral term. The two models lead to second-order differential inclusions with and without an integral term, in which the unknowns are the positions of the masses. For each model, we prove the existence of a solution by using an abstract result for first-order differential inclusions in finite dimensional spaces. For the second model, in addition, we prove the uniqueness of the solution by using a fixed point argument. Finally, we provide examples of systems with contact and friction conditions for which our results are valid.     

An extended slacks-based measure model for data envelopment analysis with negative data

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a non-parametric approach based on linear programming that has been widely applied for evaluating the relative efficiency of a set of homogeneous decision-making units (DMUs) with multiple inputs and outputs. The original DEA models use positive input and output variables that are measured on a ratio scale, but these models do not apply to the variables in which negative data can appear. However, with the widespread use of interval scale data and undesirable data, the emphasis has been directed towards the simultaneous consideration of the positive and negative data in DEA models. In this paper, using the slacks-based measure, we propose an extended model to evaluate the efficiency of DMUs, even if some variables are measured on an interval scale and some on a ratio scale. Moreover, the extended model allows for the presence of all interval-scale variables, which are capable of taking both negative and positive values.     

Optimization of dialectical outcomes in dialogical argumentation

When informal arguments are presented, there may be imprecision in the language used, and so the audience may be uncertain as to the structure of the argument graph as intended by the presenter of the arguments. For a presenter of arguments, it is useful to know the audience's argument graph, but the presenter may be uncertain as to the structure of it. To model the uncertainty as to the structure of the argument graph in situations such as these, we can use probabilistic argument graphs. The set of subgraphs of an argument graph is a sample space. A probability value is assigned to each subgraph such that the sum is 1, thereby reflecting the uncertainty over which is the actual subgraph. We can then determine the probability that a particular set of arguments is included or excluded from an extension according to a particular Dung semantics. We represent and reason with extensions from a graph and from its subgraphs, using a logic of dialectical outcomes that we present. We harness this to define the notion of an argumentation lottery, which can be used by the audience to determine the expected utility of a debate, and can be used by the presenter to decide which arguments to present by choosing those that maximize expected utility. We investigate some of the options for using argumentation lotteries, and provide a computational evaluation.     

Poisson Distribution for a Sum of Additive Functions

We consider the limit distribution of values of a sum of additive arithmetic functions with shifted argument. The case of the Poisson limit distribution is studied. The functions considered take at most two values on the set of primes, 0 and 1, and satisfy some additional conditions. Some examples are given.      

Subjective mean–variance preferences without expected utility

Classical derivations of mean–variance preferences have all relied on the expected utility hypothesis. Numerous experimental studies have revealed that the expected utility model is systematically violated in practice. Such findings and the simplicity of the mean–variance framework have led researchers and practitioners to employ the mean–variance model without expected utility. However, the theoretical foundations of these models are scant.I provide behavioral foundations for a class of mean–variance preferences. My set of axioms characterizes an individual who assigns subjective probability to events and judges each portfolio solely on the basis of the mean and variance of its implied distribution over returns but does not necessarily rank the portfolios according to expected utility. I clarify the differences across specifications of my model. In addition, this model is robust to the consideration of a wide body of observed behaviors under uncertainty, which are inconsistent with the classical mean–variance model.     

无拉力Winkler地基上自由边矩形Reissner板的弯曲

本文提出了一种求解无拉力Winkler地基上自由边矩形Reissner板受任意载荷的弯曲问题的解析方法.通过适当设定满足可导条件的Fourier级数加补充项形式的挠度函数和剪力函数,把给定边界条件下的微分方程化成最简形式的无穷代数方程组.对于常规的Winkler地基,可直接求解;而对于无拉力Winkler地基,方程组为一组弱非线性代数方程组.使用迭代法容易得到解.     

A model of far-sighted electoral competition

A model is described in which candidates adopt positions in sequences of election contests against opponents randomly drawn from a large population. Symmetric steady-state equilibria of the model require rational selection of positions by all candidates against the aggregated behavior of the population, taking into account constraints which an individual's current selections impose on his future selections.     

Shapley值与Winter值的解析关系

鉴于 Shapley 值和 Winter 值都是局中人边际贡献的平均值,探究了它们之 间的解析关系.证明了 Shapley 值是 Winter 值在层次结构集上对称概率分布下的期望均值. 作为这一结论的一个推论, 证明了 Shapley 值是 Winter 值在层次结构集的任意相似类中的平均值. 最后,还指出了这一结 论与推论的等价性.研究结果不仅扩展了 Shapley 值和 Owen 值与此对应的解析关系, 还大大简化了这些关系的已有证明.     

Pelican at Risk in Salton Sea – a Delay-Induced Eco-Epidemiological Model

Elevated salinity, accelerated eutrophication, blooms of Avian botulism and dramatic water quality fluctuation are supposed to be the key factors for massive die-off of Tilapia (prey) and Pelican (predator) in the Salton sea. We modify the model of Chattopadhyay and Bairagi [Ecological Modelling 136 (2001), pp. 103-112] with an assumption that the growth rate of susceptible fish population is very high and study the dynamics of the system by introducing a delay factor in the predator response function. It is observed that the otherwise stable system exhibit a stable limit cycle solution when the lag factor attains its critical value. It is also observed that there is a high possibility of an epidemic out break in the fish as well as in the Pelican population if the predation process is delayed by a considerable amount of time. Numerical simulations for a hypothetical set of parameter values are presented to illustrate the analytical findings.