The Geometry of Standard Deontic Logic

Whereas geometrical oppositions (logical squares and hexagons) have been so far investigated in many fields of modal logic (both abstract and applied), the oppositional geometrical side of “deontic logic” (the logic of “obligatory”, “forbidden”, “permitted”, . . .) has rather been neglected. Besides the classical “deontic square” (the deontic counterpart of Aristotle’s “logical square”), some interesting attempts have nevertheless been made to deepen the geometrical investigation of the deontic oppositions: Kalinowski (La logique des normes, PUF, Paris, 1972) has proposed a “deontic hexagon” as being the geometrical representation of standard deontic logic, whereas Joerden (jointly with Hruschka, in Archiv für Rechtsund Sozialphilosophie 73:1, 1987), McNamara (Mind 105:419, 1996) and Wessels (Die gute Samariterin. Zur Struktur der Supererogation, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2002) have proposed some new “deontic polygons” for dealing with conservative extensions of standard deontic logic internalising the concept of “supererogation”. Since 2004 a new formal science of the geometrical oppositions inside logic has appeared, that is “n-opposition theory”, or “NOT”, which relies on the notion of “logical bi-simplex of dimension m” (m = n − 1). This theory has received a complete mathematical foundation in 2008, and since then several extensions. In this paper, by using it, we show that in standard deontic logic there are in fact many more oppositional deontic figures than Kalinowski’s unique “hexagon of norms” (more ones, and more complex ones, geometrically speaking: “deontic squares”, “deontic hexagons”, “deontic cubes”, . . ., “deontic tetraicosahedra”, . . .): the real geometry of the oppositions between deontic modalities is composed by the aforementioned structures (squares, hexagons, cubes, . . ., tetraicosahedra and hyper-tetraicosahedra), whose complete mathematical closure happens in fact to be a “deontic 5-dimensional hyper-tetraicosahedron” (an oppositional very regular solid).      

A complexity measure for families of binary sequences

In earlier papers finite pseudorandom binary sequences were studied, quantitative measures of pseudorandomness of them were introduced and studied, and large families of “good” pseudorandom sequences were constructed. In certain applications (cryptography) it is not enough to know that a family of “good” pseudorandom binary sequences is large, it is a more important property if it has a “rich”, “complex” structure. Correspondingly, the notion of “f-complexity” of a family of binary sequences is introduced. It is shown that the family of “good” pseudorandom binary sequences constructed earlier is also of high f-complexity. Finally, the cardinality of the smallest family achieving a prescibed f-complexity and multiplicity is estimated. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Lebesgue numbers and Atsuji spaces in subsystems of second-order arithmetic

We study Lebesgue and Atsuji spaces within subsystems of second order arithmetic. The former spaces are those such that every open covering has a Lebesgue number, while the latter are those such that every continuous function defined on them is uniformly continuous. The main results we obtain are the following: the statement “every compact space is Lebesgue” is equivalent to ; the statements “every perfect Lebesgue space is compact” and “every perfect Atsuji space is compact” are equivalent to ; the statement “every Lebesgue space is Atsuji” is provable in ; the statement “every Atsuji space is Lebesgue” is provable in . We also prove that the statement “the distance from a closed set is a continuous function” is equivalent to . Received: February 2, 1996     

Homotopy classification of equivariant regular sections

In his paper [2], Bierstone proves the equivariant Gromov theorem which is an integrability theorem for “open regularity condition” of equivariant sections of a smooth G-fibre bundle under the assumption that all orbit bundles of base manifold are non-closed. Here, we prove the result without his assumption under a nice “open regularity condition” which we call “G-extensible”. One of the examples of “G-extensible condition” is given by notions of Thom-Boardman singularities.     

The semantics of knowledge attributions

The basic idea of conversational contextualism is that knowledge attributions are context sensitive in that a given knowledge attribution may be true if made in one context but false if made in another, owing to differences in the attributors’ conversational contexts. Moreover, the context sensitivity involved is traced back to the context sensitivity of the word “know,” which, in turn, is commonly modelled on the case either of genuine indexicals such as “I” or “here” or of comparative adjectives such as “tall” or “rich.” But contextualism faces various problems. I argue that in order to solve these problems we need to look for another account of the context sensitivity involved in knowledge attributions and I sketch an alternative proposal.     

Remarks on a principle of localization

We prove that the Brauer class of a crossed product is a sum of symbols iff its “local” components are. Analogously we show that a solution of the “Goldie rank conjecture” would follow from the “local” statements; an extension of a result of Cliff-Sehgal is an easy corollary.     

On the reduction to a complete class in multiple decision problems (2)

Summary As a criterion for the reduction to a complete class of decision rule in case where actions, samples and states are finite in number, “regret-relief ratio” criterion and “incremental loss-gain ratio” criterion were introduced in 2-state of nature case [2]. In this paper, “generalized regret-relief ratio” criterion ink-state of nature case is introduced as an extension of “regret-relief ratio” criterion and its usefulness is shown with an example. The Institute of Statistical Mathematics     

On the Borel-Cantelli lemma

A new variant of the “divergent” part of the Borel-Cantelli lemma for events derived from a Markov chain is given. Further two applications are considered. One of the applications refers to the denumerable Markov chain and the second is a new proof of the “strong” theorem corresponding to the “arc sine law”.     

A Probabilistic Approach to Carne’s Bound

Carne’s bound is a sharp inequality controlling the transition probabilities for a discrete reversible Markov chain (Section 1). Its ordinary proof uses spectral techniques which look as efficient as miraculous. Here we present a new proof, comparing a “drift” for ways “out” and “back”, to get the gaussian part of the bound (Section 2), and using a conditioning technique to get the flight factor (Section 4). Moreover we show how our proof is more “supple” than Carne’s one and may generalize (Section 3.2).      

Orthogonal and bounded orthogonal spectral representations

The concept of an orthogonal spectral representation (OTSR) of a Hilbert spaceH relative to a spectral measureE(.) is introduced and it is shown that every Hilbert space admits an OTSR relative to a given spectral measure. Apart from the various results obtained about OTSRs, the principal result of Allan Brown (1974) is deduced as an easy consequence of this study. A new complete system of unitary invariants called the “equivalence of OTSRs”, is given for spectral measures. Two special types of OTSRs called “BOTSR” and “COBOTSR” are introduced and characterized respectively in terms of the “GCGS-property” and “CGS-property” of the associated spectral measure. Various complete systems of unitary invariants are given for spectral measures with the GCGS-property. Finally, the Wecken-Plesner-Rohlin theorem on hermitian operators with simple spectra is generalized to arbitrary spectral measures.     

Concavity of the Lagrangian for quasi-periodic orbits

Percival introduced a “Lagrangian” for finding quasi-periodic orbits. For suitable area preserving mappings, we show that Percival's “Lagrangian” is strictly concave with respect to an appropriate affine structure on its domain. Consequently, the “Lagrangian” admits a unique maximum in the case of irrational frequencies. Supported by NSF grant MCS 79-02017     

No random reals in countable support iterations

We prove a preservation theorem for limit steps of countable support iterations of proper forcing notions whose particular cases are preservations of the following properties on limit steps: “no random reals are added”, “μ(Random(V))≠1”, “no dominating reals are added”, “Cohen(V) is not comeager”. Consequently, countable support iterations of σ-centered forcing notions do not add random reals. The work was supported by BRF of Israel Academy of Sciences and by grant GA SAV 365 of Slovak Academy of Sciences.     

“Almost quasistationary” approximation for the problem of solidification front stability

“Almost quasistationary” approximation is suggested for the investigation of the problem of solidification front stability. It is appropriate for the initial stage of the process when sizes of particles are sufficiently small. The cases of “sphere like” and “cylinder-like” nuclei are considered. Capillary forces are taken into account.     

Combinatorial Groupoids,Cubical Complexes,and the Lovász Conjecture

This paper lays the foundation for a theory of combinatorial groupoids that allows us to use concepts like “holonomy”, “parallel transport”, “bundles”, “combinatorial curvature”, etc. in the context of simplicial (polyhedral) complexes, posets, graphs, polytopes and other combinatorial objects. We introduce a new, holonomy-type invariant for cubical complexes, leading to a combinatorial “Theorema Egregium” for cubical complexes that are non-embeddable into cubical lattices. Parallel transport of Hom-complexes and maps is used as a tool to extend Babson–Kozlov–Lovász graph coloring results to more general statements about nondegenerate maps (colorings) of simplicial complexes and graphs. The author was supported by grants 144014 and 144026 of the Serbian Ministry of Science and Technology.     

Game theoretical optimization inspired by information theory

Inspired by previous work on information theoretical optimization problems, the basics of an axiomatic theory of certain special two-person zero-sum games is developed. One of the players, “Observer”, is imagined to have a “mind”, the other, “Nature”, not. These ideas lead to un-symmetric modeling as the two players are treated quite differently. Basic concavity- and convexity results as well as a general minimax theorem are derived from the axioms.     

KAM Stability for a three-body problem of the Solar system

A new (iso-energetic) KAM method is tested on a specific three-body problem “extracted” from the Solar system (Sun-Jupiter + asteroid 12 Victoria). Analytical results in agreement with the observed data are established. This paper is a concise presentation of [2]. Supported by the MIUR projects: “Dynamical Systems: Classical, Quantum, Stochastic” and “Variational Methods and Nonlinear Differential Equations” Received: February 3, 2004     

“Miniaturized” Linearizations for Quadratic 0/1 Problems

In order to solve a quadratic 0/1 problem, some techniques, consisting in deriving a linear integer formulation, are used. Those techniques, called “linearization”, usually involve a huge number of additional variables. As a consequence, the exact resolution of the linear model is, in general, very difficult. Our aim, in this paper, is to propose “economical” linear models. Starting from an existing linearization (typically the so-called “classical linearization”), we find a new linearization with fewer variables. The resulting model is called “Miniaturized” linearization. Based on this approach, we propose a new linearization scheme for which numerical tests have been performed.     

“Almost quasistationary” approximation for the problem of solidification front stability

“Almost quasistationary” approximation is suggested for the investigation of the problem of solidification front stability. It is appropriate for the initial stage of the process when sizes of particles are sufficiently small. The cases of “sphere like” and “cylinder-like” nuclei are considered. Capillary forces are taken into account.      

Ols parameter estimation for a linear paired confluent model

We investigate OLS parameter estimation for a linear paired model in the case of a passive experiment with errors in both variables. The explicit form of the OLS estimates is obtained, their equivalence to maximum likelihood estimates is demonstrated in the presence of normal errors, and estimate consistency is proved. The OLS estimates are compared analytically and numerically with known parameter estimates of “direct,” “orthogonal,” and “diagonal” regression models.     

On the interaction of δ-shocks and contact vacuum states

We study the pressureless gas equations, with piecewise constant initial data. In the immediate solution, δ-shocks and contact vacuum states arise and even meet (interact) eventually. A solution beyond the “interaction” is constructed. It shows that the δ-shock will continue with the velocity it attained instantaneously before the time of interaction, and similarly, the contact vacuum state will move past the δ-shock with a velocity value prior to the interaction. We call this the “no-effect-from-interaction” solution. We prove that this solution satisfies a family of convex entropies (in the Lax’s sense). Next, we construct an infinitely large family of weak solutions to the “interaction”. Suppose further that any of these solutions satisfy a convex entropy, it is necessary and suffcient that these solutions reduce to only the “no-effect-from-interaction” solution. In [1], Bouchut constructed another entropy satisfying solution. As with other previous papers, it is obvious that it will not be sufficient that a “correct” solution satisfies a convex entropy, in a non-strictly hyperbolic conservation laws system.