Absolute Meaning Research Articles

Combining discrete choice models and neural networks through embeddings: Formulation, interpretability and performance

This paper proposes a novel approach that combines theory- and data-driven choice models using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). In particular, we use continuous vector representations, called embeddings, for encoding categorical or discrete explanatory variables with a special focus on interpretability and model transparency. Although embedding representations within the logit framework have been conceptualized by Pereira (2019), their dimensions do not have an absolute definitive meaning, hence offering limited behavioral insights in this earlier work. The novelty of our work lies in enforcing interpretability to the embedding vectors by formally associating each of their dimensions to a choice alternative. Thus, our approach brings benefits much beyond a simple parsimonious representation improvement over dummy encoding, as it provides behaviorally meaningful outputs that can be used in travel demand analysis and policy decisions. Additionally, in contrast to previously suggested ANN-based Discrete Choice Models (DCMs) that either sacrifice interpretability for performance or are only partially interpretable, our main model (E-MNL) preserves interpretability of the utility coefficients for all the input variables despite being based on ANN principles. The proposed models are tested on two real world datasets and evaluated against benchmark and baseline models that use dummy-encoding. The results of the experiments indicate that our models deliver state-of-the-art predictive performance, outperforming existing ANN-based models while drastically reducing the number of required network parameters.

What Does Not Tremble Is Not Stable: Three Philosophical Streams from the Spring of (Un)Certainty

Abstract The article proposes a phenomenological journey through three concepts of uncertainty – those of Blaise Pascal, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Jan Patočka. The discussion focuses on the meaning of certainty and uncertainty and on the mutual relations between the two according to each philosopher. Adopting an embodied philosophical-poetic perspective enables the dialectical relations prevailing between these three conceptions to emerge, clarifying that, despite their differences, they share a deep attachment to the transcendent dimension of human existence. This dimension is described as “uncertain certainty,” implying attention to the quiver of absolute meaning dwelling within and beyond the movement of humans and the lifeworld.

Post-Structuralism of Hadith

The dynamics of the struggle of contemporary hadith understanding methodology is one of the interesting phenomena to be studied as the conditions of culture and human civilization accelerate. The search for absolute meaning is impossible. By Deconstruction the rules that envelop Logocentrism can be revealed. Using a deconstruction approach, we can uncover how logocentrism affects the way we understand and interpret hadith, and criticize how such logocentrism might limit our understanding of hadith. The research method is qualitative with a descriptive approach to deco-construction analysis. The results of this study show that it is this kind of Model of Reason that makes hadith reasoning dogmatic, Qathi’, closing itself off from interdisciplinary science and repeatedly failing to hack into the problems of the times. It is also on this basis that the development of the hadith understanding model has stagnated and the methodology is poor. That way, hadith reasoning is easily monopolized by certain madhabs that are full of interests. The crystallization of reason is incapable of dialoguing hadith with reality. It therefore took the deconstruction of Jacques Derrida to dismantle the discourse of logocentrism of hadith reasoning. This deconstruction of hadith reasoning is carried out to see and distinguish universal aspects of Islam and aspects of Islam that are local and temporal, so as not to narrow reason to project hadith as instructions that apply throughout the ages.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, A FAMILY, SCHOOL AND CHURCH DESIDERATUM IN POSTMODERNITY

Religious education plays an important role in the moral and psycho-emotional development of children and young people. In order to achieve a sound education of this kind, there must be close cooperation between the family, the school and the Church. If the family is the environment in which the human person is born and grows up on the foundation of the biological and cultural heritage of the parents, the school strives to place what has been nurtured in the family in the wider social context; in other words, it presents the child with the common and perennial values of society as a whole. At the same time, the Church comes to develop and direct human development in accordance with the absolute meaning of these values, which find their meaning only in a living relationship with God. Religious education and the values inculcated in the minds of children through these three institutions are opposed by the postmodern paradigm which seeks to relativise all these values, not accepting that there is a transcendent truth which generates them.

Беккет, постгуманизм и искусство уменьшения

Post-humanism, a comprehensive critique of the demands of humanism, especially the centrality of cognitive and biological structures, offers a new understanding of the realm of language, the role of subject, and the environment. The post-cataclysmic subject in Beckett’s writing uses words that arrive from nowhere, to no purpose, without direc­tion, and without telos. It is therefore in the failure of language that we realize our predicament as prisoners of this symbolic void. Approaching, or interpreting, the work of Beckett may remain at the level of an “attempt”; fulfillment or capturing an absolute meaning will be a mirage, an illusion. Drawing on Jonathan Boulter’s ideas, this article aims at showing what the meaning and relationship of the posthuman and existence in the world is, because the posthuman subject seems to be always within a space; it is situated. This space could be post-apocalyptic; however, the trace of being and existence is there. In other words, it is space and spatiality that define and determine the borderlines of the idea of the posthuman in Beckett’s works. Boulter further argues that the posthu­man a la Beckett challenges the borderlines and the binaries.

«МОНАСТЫРЬ В МИРУ» КАК ОБРАЗ ВСЕОБЩЕГО ОБЪЕДИНЕНИЯ В РОМАНЕ БРАТЬЯ КАРАМАЗОВЫ THE LAY MONASTERY AS AN IMAGE OF UNIVERSAL UNIFICATION IN THE NOVEL THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV

The article deals with the theme of a "lay monastery" (“монастырь в миру“), which became one of the important milestones of spiritual life and the life of the Сhurch in the late 19th and 20th centuries and which was reflected in the later works of Dostoevsky. According to Russian thinkers, there was an obvious need to overcome the spiritual isolation of the Church, which should show a desire to merge with the world and manifest heartfelt and vital work on this path. However, the new form and way of salvation are seen as an impulse of humanity to overcome the gap and strengthen connections with the Church. Dostoevsky thought that in the fluid and already different spiritual and historical reality, it was of the utmost importance to find or create new ways of salvation and unification. The Brothers Karamazov tells of the increasing social influence of hermits’ (подвижник). Dostoevsky suggested that their influence was utilitarian in nature and could be associated with the upper limit of Russian medieval culture in the 17th century, when the cult of saints was significantly strengthened as they were revered primarily as real helpers in secular affairs. Sanctity in Russia was often achieved by following the paths of martyrdom, passion-bearing, asceticism in its extreme forms, hermitry, mysticism and foolishness (юродство) rather than through constant, consistent, and purposeful self-discipline and abstention. However, the unifying factor is "Labor with Christ", where both joy about the world and spiritual ennobling are revealed, as Dostoevsky illustrates a path on which there is the possibility of expedient union between the laity and the Church. In the last chapter, in which Alyosha gathers the children and makes a speech, the mission of the "lay monastery" is carried out, because he manages to unite people in the name of Ilyushechka and his expected resurrection, thus, in the name of Christ. Each thing, having an absolute meaning, exists not only in a passive correlation to the other, but also takes action, fills it up and is being filled up. Only in a universal synthesis of this type, does the true miracle of universal interconnection live. Here, we are witnessing the mysterious communion of the boys and their entry into the mystical Church. One can use Lurie's successful comparison of two ways of life, secular and monastic, with Law and Grace (159). The lay monastery corresponds to the meeting of the Old Testament law and evangelical freedom, as two Christian paths that should exist in constant conjunction. Dostoevsky's thesis once again confirms the idea of Solovyov: "The Church is there where the people are, united by mutual brotherly love and free unanimity, who become a receptacle of God's grace, which is the true essence and vital principle of the Church, that forms one spiritual organism" (1914, 4: 658).

Loyalty in the Holy Quran

تناولت هذه الدراسة موضوع الولاء في القرآن الكريم، لما له من أهمية بالغة في عقيدة المسلم، وما يترتب عليها من أثر، ولمَّا كان هذا الولاء يتناول أصنافًا عديدة، تفاوت كثير من الناس في مشروعيتها، أو في التوسع فيها دون ضوابط، هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى بيان معنى الولاء وأنواعه في القرآن الكريم، ومعرفة أهم مظاهره، والضوابط التي رسمها القرآن الكريم لكل نوع من هذه الأنواع. واتبع الباحث لتحقيق هذه الأهداف: (المنهج الاستقرائي) لجمع واستقراء لفظة الولاء في القرآن الكريم، والمنهج (التحليلي) لبيان معنى هذه اللفظة من خلال سياقها في القرآن، والمنهج (الاستنباطي) لاستنباط دلالات هذه اللفظة من خلال السياق القرآني. وتوصلت هذه الدراسة إلى بعض النتائج كان من أهمها: قد يكون الولاء لغير الله بمفهومه الدنيوي، ولا يكون بمعناه المطلق إلا لله تعالى.

АБСОЛЮТИВНІ ДІЄСЛОВА ЯК ПІДҐРУНТЯ ФОРМАЛЬНО-ГРАМАТИЧНОЇ І СЕМАНТИКО-СИНТАКСИЧНОЇ СТРУКТУРИ НЕПОШИРЕНИХ РЕЧЕНЬ

The main thesis of the article is that the semantics of a sentence is determined by the lexical content of its structure. The main goal of the study is to analyze the predicative center of unextended verb sentences without obligatory predicate components, which is modeled by verbs of absolute semantics. We will try to solve the following problems: 1) to find out the role of absolute verbs in the mechanisms of formation and implementation of unextended verb sentences; 2) to identify the main parameters of the formal-grammatical structure of unextended constructions; 3) to analyze the features of semanticsyntactic organization of unextended sentences. In research we use the methods of linguistic analysis, they are descriptive (in considering the phenomena of one level), comparative (analyzing the components of different levels to identify interlevel relationships), statistical calculations and quantitative characteristics, interpretive analysis (interpretation of semantics of certain syntactic units), transformation (transformation of a certain syntactic structure in order to characterize it). It was found that the main criteria for distinguishing absolute verbs from others are: semantic (denotative), grammatical (syntactic connections) and the nature of connections with dependent words or components in the sentence structure. The basis for the formation of formal-grammatical and semantic-syntactic structure of unextended sentences are absolute verbs, which by their internal potential do not predict, do not open the obligatory right-hand positions to fill them with words with objective or circumstantial meaning. The correlation of absolute verbs with the realities of extralinguistic reality provides their own phonemic composition because such verbs have a sufficient semantic content. If necessary, absolute verbs can be extended by dependent words, but this is not necessary, because the verb feature conveyed by the absolute token is semantically complete. It is observed that the subject of an unextended two-member sentence verb is not explained by secondary members, is not complicated and is expressed by the words with absolute meaning, with complete semantics, which are the names of persons, beings, objects, phenomena, abstract concepts. The predicate of an unextended two-member sentence is represented by words that do not allow communicative development of the statement, are characterized by complete semantics and mean the state of the person; procedural state of the subject; transition from one state to another; specific action of a person as his permanent occupation, specialty. It is stated that the main member of an unextended one-member verb sentence coincides in form with the predicate of a two-member sentence but combines the meaning of a logical subject and a predicate and is expressed by word forms that are able to reflect the corresponding fragment of reality. Analysis of unextended verb sentences without the obligatory predicate components showed that their semantics is a complex of semantic components of different nature. In the semantic-syntactic aspect, the considered units have certain differential features, which are caused primarily by the peculiarities of absolute predicate verbs, which are characterized by self-sufficient semantic content. The results of our scientific research are designed to help solve certain issues of syntax of modern Ukrainian literary language. Research materials can be used in teaching university courses “Modern Ukrainian literary language”, “Stylistics of the Ukrainian language”, “History of Ukrainian literary language”, “History of Ukrainian literature of the 20th century”, as well as in the process of creating works on the life and works of Oles Honchar.

Структурно-семантические типы условных конструкций в алтайском языке

We analyze the structural-semantic types of conditional polypredicative constructions in the Altai language. Conditional relations are expressed by monofinite constructions with an all-Turkic conditional-temporal form with =sa, analytical conditional forms with bolzo ‘if’ and a rare conditional-temporal form with =qažïn. The all-Turkic =sa form does not have an absolute temporal meaning: this meaning is communicated by the main clause, with its predicate commonly used in the future tense or imperative mood. The analytical conditional forms consist of the participial form and the verb bol= ‘to be, to become’ in the conditional mood, with personal formants in the first and second person and zero formants in the third person. The participial forms within an analytical form express the temporal meanings. We distinguish proper conditional and improper conditional constructions with different modal planes of the dependent clauses: irreal modality in proper conditional constructions and real modality in improper conditional ones. Improper conditional constructions include some temporal, causal, subordinate, and comparative clauses following the conditional construction model. Proper conditional constructions fall into potential-conditional and irreal-conditional subtypes according to their semantic and formal traits. Potential-conditional constructions denote possible events. However, irreal-conditional constructions denote events that could not, cannot, and will not take place. In potential-conditional constructions, the main predicates are represented by indicative, imperative, and optative forms, with the subjunctive mood used in irreal-conditional constructions. In Altai conditional constructions, the taxis dependence between conditions and consequences is defined by the possibility of two types of correlation (from three possible correlations), namely ‘condition before consequence’ and ‘simultaneous condition and consequence.

Темпоральная семантика предложений с девербативным оборотом (на материале произведений Е. Д. Айпина)

hich is one of the important structural and semantic indicators of any syntactic construction. Objective: to describe the grammatical meaning of the temporality of simple polypropositive sentences that include verbal nominal grammems, as well as a turn with these grammems and dependent word forms (deverbative turns); to identify the features of the time of these sentences. Research materials: simple sentences with deverbative turns, extracted from two essays by E. D. Aypin, in which time plays the most important meaning, organizing and functional-stylistic roles within the entire text. Results and novelty of the research: the result of the study is the representation of a complex, multidimensional picture of time in the designated structures. Against the background of the absolute meaning of the past tense, various forms of the relative tense of the verbal noun and constructions, in which these names are the main components, are identified. The article describes the taxis and deixis of simple polypropositive sentences, the synchronous and asynchronous time perspective expressed in sentences by formal, lexical means, as well as by the logic of represented events. The novelty of the research is both the material itself (sentences with deverbative turns used in certain literary texts), and the identification of a complex composition of a time perspective, a specific time relationship of two events, two situations within a simple sentence.

WORLDMAKING VIA CONSTRUCTION OF LANGUAGE ACTS

In 1978, Nelson Goodman coined the term “worldmaking” to show that several other “worlds” may exist along with the single “world” that most think they know. To be after a single absolute meaning of the “world” in the post-Derridean and post-Saussurean world may already sound anachronistic. With the help of new ways of reading in the post-modern world, we can get help from creative works of popular culture in reinscribing, revisiting and having a critical eye over their working mechanisms. In the face of globalizing trends, meaning can be traced within the cross-cultural relationships between natural, political, cultural and linguistic worlds. At the same time, the constantly deferred meaning can be analysed by laying the working principles of logocentric thought bare, which is a long running organizing principle of Western thought. Paul de Man defines it as a mode of thought as follows: logos “divides the world into a binary system of oppositions organised along an inside/outside axis and then proceeds to exchange the properties on both sides of this axis on the basis of analogies and potential identities” (qtd. in McQuillan 10). This paper aims to decipher “the uncanny ability” of logocentric thought in McQuillan’s wording and to lay the working mechanisms of this thought bare in undoing its logic and its system of thought by putting popular texts under close scrutiny (McQuillan 11). This analysis, first of all, tries to pinpoint the binary oppositions, then to deconstruct the hierarchy between these binaries; and finally, it will display how the work undermines its own working mechanisms by focusing on the impasses of meaning. In the end, it is discovered that the popular text in question seems to build itself on the hierarchical play between primary vs secondary legs of the binary oppositions; however, the constructed world falls into the trap of logical fallacies such as sweeping generalization and appealing to the popular assumptions.

Effective Number Theory: Counting the Identities of a Quantum State.

Quantum physics frequently involves a need to count the states, subspaces, measurement outcomes, and other elements of quantum dynamics. However, with quantum mechanics assigning probabilities to such objects, it is often desirable to work with the notion of a “total” that takes into account their varied relevance. For example, such an effective count of position states available to a lattice electron could characterize its localization properties. Similarly, the effective total of outcomes in the measurement step of a quantum computation relates to the efficiency of the quantum algorithm. Despite a broad need for effective counting, a well-founded prescription has not been formulated. Instead, the assignments that do not respect the measure-like nature of the concept, such as versions of the participation number or exponentiated entropies, are used in some areas. Here, we develop the additive theory of effective number functions (ENFs), namely functions assigning consistent totals to collections of objects endowed with probability weights. Our analysis reveals the existence of a minimal total, realized by the unique ENF, which leads to effective counting with absolute meaning. Touching upon the nature of the measure, our results may find applications not only in quantum physics, but also in other quantitative sciences.

Learning Maximum Absolute Meaning Through Reasoning About Speaker Intentions

AbstractThree experiments investigated adult learners’ acquisition of a novel adjective. In English and other languages, meanings of some gradable adjectives are said to include an absolute standard of comparison (e.g., full means completely filled with content). However, actual usage is often imprecise, where a maximum absolute standard of comparison, strictly speaking, does not apply (e.g., a 90% full cup can be full depending on how it will be used). This creates problems for learners who acquire the absolute meaning from variable mappings between word forms and observations. We demonstrated that adult learners infer a maximum standard of comparison when they receive information about agents’ intended goals that lie behind imprecise word usage. Results suggested these inferences are conditioned on the amount of visually ambiguous observations made during learning. We conclude that access to agents’ intended goals allows learners to explain contextual sources of imprecision and helps the learning of a maximum absolute meaning from primarily nonabsolute observations.

Mapping legal authority for terrestrial conservation corridors along streams.

Wildlife corridors aim to promote species’ persistence by connecting habitat patches across fragmented landscapes. Their implementation is limited by patterns of land ownership and complicated by differences in the jurisdictional and regulatory authorities under which lands are managed. Terrestrial corridor conservation requires coordination across jurisdictions and sectors subject to site‐specific overlapping sources of legal authority. Mapping spatial patterns of legal authority concurrent with habitat condition can illustrate opportunities to build or leverage capacity for connectivity conservation. Streamside areas provide pragmatic opportunities to leverage existing policy mechanisms for riverine and terrestrial habitat connectivity across boundaries. Conservation planners and practitioners can make use of these opportunities by harmonizing actions for multiple conservation outcomes. We formulated an integrative, data‐driven method for mapping multiple sources of legal authority weighted by capacity for coordinating terrestrial habitat conservation along streams. We generated a map of capacity to coordinate streamside corridor protections across a wildlife habitat gap to demonstrate this approach. We combined values representing coordination capacity and naturalness to generate an integrated legal‐ecological resistance map for connectivity modeling. We then computed least‐cost corridors across the integrated map, masking the terrestrial landscape to focus on streamside areas. Streamside least‐cost corridors in the integrated, local‐scale model diverged (∼25 km) from national‐scale least‐cost corridors based on naturalness. Spatial categories comparing legal‐ and naturalness‐based resistance values by stream reach highlighted potential locations for building or leveraging existing capacity through spatial coordination of policy mechanisms or restoration actions. Agencies or nongovernmental organizations intending to restore or maintain habitat connectivity across fragmented landscapes can use this approach to inform spatial prioritization and build coordination capacity. Article impact statement: Combined mapping of legal authority and habitat condition reveals capacity to coordinate actions along streams for clean water and wildlife.

The German Shakespeare

Over The past four hundred years, Shakespeare has played a significant role within a European framework, particularly, where a series of political events and ideologies were being shaped. The birth of the nation during the late 18th and 19th centuries, the first and second world wars, the process of European unification during the 1990s, are a case in point. This part challenges the idea of an all-encompassing universal Shakespeare by demonstrating that Shakespeare and his plays transmitted across different histories, languages, and traditions meant something significantly different in these geographical contexts. Rejecting the existence of a universally absolute and singular Shakespearean meaning, I attempt to demonstrate that Shakespeare is always what he is imagined to be in a cultural and historical context. The various local and national appropriations and the universality of the cultural icon, “Shakespeare”, clash in the daily practice of interpreting, performing, and teaching his plays. This paper discusses Shakespeare’s appropriation and performance in East Germany. It focuses on the theatrical production and its cultural context in this country.

The German Shakespeare

Over The past four hundred years, Shakespeare has played a significant role within a European framework, particularly, where a series of political events and ideologies were being shaped. The birth of the nation during the late 18th and 19th centuries, the first and second world wars, the process of European unification during the 1990s, are a case in point. This part challenges the idea of an all-encompassing universal Shakespeare by demonstrating that Shakespeare and his plays transmitted across different histories, languages, and traditions meant something significantly different in these geographical contexts. Rejecting the existence of a universally absolute and singular Shakespearean meaning, I attempt to demonstrate that Shakespeare is always what he is imagined to be in a cultural and historical context. The various local and national appropriations and the universality of the cultural icon, “Shakespeare”, clash in the daily practice of interpreting, performing, and teaching his plays. This paper discusses Shakespeare’s appropriation and performance in East Germany. It focuses on the theatrical production and its cultural context in this country.

The Boundary between Normal and Pathological Conditions.

There is clinical and experimental evidence that in biomedicine, the limit between what we consider normal and what we consider pathological is not always so clear and absolute. Conditions may arise in which, apparently without any explanation, one passes from one condition to another. A key role is played by changes that occur in the microenvironment surrounding a cell population. The terms normal and pathological have no absolute meaning on their own. They have their own meaning only if they are considered in the light of the relationships between the living being and its surrounding environment. Man is able to create new environments instead of passively enduring its changes. Any individual who deviates from a statistically defined normal individual will be considered pathological.

Toward a Naturalized Aesthetics of Film Music

In this article, I first address the question of how musical forms come to represent meaning—that is, the semantics of music—and illustrate an important conceptual distinction articulated by Leonard Meyer in Emotion and Meaning in Music between absolute or intramusical meaning and referential or extramusical meaning through a critical analysis of two recent films. Second, building examples of scholarship around a single piece of music frequently used in film—Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings—I follow the example set by Murray Smith in Film, Art, and the Third Culture and discuss the complementary approaches of the humanities, the behavioral sciences, and the natural sciences to understanding music and its use in film.

Interogating the parameters of existential ethics: A selected review of sartre, beauvoir and camus

This paper interrogates the parameters of atheistic existential ethics. Specifically, it evaluates the ethical implications of the concepts of freedom and subjectivity in the select works of French existential philosophers, namely; Jean Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir and Albert Camus. The paper primarily choose the trio based on their atheistic inclinations with the key objective of examining the justifiability of the foundation of their existential morality. With subjectivity at its core and possibility always on the horizon, these existentialists have sought to explain how we create values. Such values have no absolute meaning but rather emerge from our own subjective projects and concerns and not from God or any ultimate Being. The paper argues that atheistic existentialism has not been able to account for the moral dimension of human life, and thus, have no basis for an ethical theory if they deny that humans are bound God’s commands. It suggests that the idea of God's non-existence casts a serious doubt on the possibility of any notion of moral foundationalism. The basic features of existentialism found in their works seem, at least superficially, to undermine the possibility of ethics which they profess. The paper maintains that if God does not exist, we will not be provided with any absolute values or commands that could either approve or disapprove our actions. It concludes that a self created being has no moral foundation and no compelling moral force since his existence cannot be founded on no higher or ultimate Being.

Corrigendum to On the absolute meaning of motion [ Results in Physics 7 (2017) 4195-4212

Corrigendum to On the absolute meaning of motion [ Results in Physics 7 (2017) 4195-4212