Possible Worlds Research Articles

Sunni Ḥadīth and Continuous Commentaries on the Eschatological Mahdī: A Literary Analysis

Many contemporary studies approach Mahdism from a political-science orientation or historical perspective, as the evidence is marshalled from the influential Mahdist movement in Islamic history—Abbasids, Fatimids, Muwahhids, Sudanese Mahdists, and so on. As such, it can be seen that there has been a lack of discourse as regards abstraction, particularly concerning the literary structure of Mahdī ḥadīth. This paper explores a panoramic view of ḥadīth commentaries in order to understand their commentarial production on apocalyptic questions, specifically focusing on the subject of Mahdī within this trend of Sunni ḥadīth scholarship. Ḥadīth commentaries are meant to bridge the gap in space and time between Prophetic words or teachings and the actual world of the reader. Hence, this study provides a brief survey of the documentation of Mahdī ḥadīth, starting with the classical Sunnite ḥadīth compendia of the second century of Hijrah. The material has been drawn from ḥadīth compendia, topical ḥadīth works, sīrah literature, classical-to-modern ḥadīth commentaries, and other theological writings and has been balanced when feasible with details (or lack thereof) contained in the Quran. Advocators have always adopted and adjusted their hermeneutics in order to answer challenges posed by deniers of Mahdī ḥadīth. Regardless of how exactly these strategies, attitudes, and uses arose, it is safe to assume that these scholars undertook their work out of professional vocation in addition to religious devotion. Eventually, ḥadīth commentaries found their place in the theological discourse according to orientations and operations of eschatology, which to a certain extent reflect classical, medieval, or contemporary attitudes toward the meaning and relevance of Mahdī ḥadīth.

The Modal Future

<i>The Modal Future</i>

LEARNING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE WITH AUGMENTED REALITY

The use of augmented reality (AR) in teaching English as a second language is examined in this article. Traditional language teaching techniques sometimes fall short of engaging students and offering real-world applications, which results in boredom and slow development. Through the use of augmented reality (AR) technology, digital content can be superimposed on the actual world to create an immersive and engaging learning environment. Real-world context, quick feedback, and immersive language learning experiences are all provided through AR. This article examines a number of ways that AR may be used to teach vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, reading, and writing in English. English labels, grammatical rules, and text may be added to real-world items using augmented reality (AR), giving students a useful and fun method to practice what they have learned. Additionally, with the help of AR, learners can practice their language abilities in a variety of simulated real-world settings. The use of augmented reality (AR) in English language instruction has the potential to improve current teaching strategies and give non-native speakers of the language an enjoyable and productive learning experience.

A brief discussion on the inspiration and thinking of the Metaverse concept to promote the innovative development of intelligent medicine in China

Created by digital technology,the Metaverse is a digital platform where the digital virtual world and the actual real world can coexist to some extent. Based on the integration of Metaverse and medical science,this article describes the great development of intelligent medicine in the fields of medical practice,medical education and medical research,especially in the field of surgery. First,the technical source of the Metaverse concept in the field of intelligent medicine can be traced back to technology to generate actual digital data sets from human anatomy. Second,the successful industrial practice of Metaverse in the field of intelligent medicine conforms to the authentic and credible fundamental purpose of "taking people as the first priority and serving people"， that is， "virtual" must be based on "actual" for "actual".

IV—Lost in (Modal) Space: Demographic Base-Rate Neglect in the Service of Modal Knowledge

AbstractAre there ever good epistemic reasons to neglect base rates? Assuming an empiricist modal epistemology, I argue that we face an interesting tension between some very plausible epistemic norms: a norm requiring us to proportion our beliefs to the evidence may facilitate knowledge of the actual world, whilst inhibiting our acquisition of modal knowledge—knowledge of how things could be, but are not. The potential for this tension in our epistemic norms is a significant result in its own right. It can also rationalize certain forms of demographic base-rate neglect.

Struggle for Existence and the Ideal

Friedrich Albert Lange was a neo-Kantian and a socialist. Scholars have questioned whether there is a connection between these two aspects of Lange’s work. The paper argues that such a connection is apparent once Lange’s philosophy is understood in light of Schiller’s Kantianism. According to Lange, Schiller’s aesthetic redemption consists of two tasks: to create the beautiful image of an ideal reality; and to realize this ideal model in the actual world. Accordingly, I show that Lange’s political analysis points to three different types of social evolution: 1) one corresponding to the natural state of humanity, based on Darwin’s and Malthus’s concept of the struggle for survival; 2) one corresponding to ideal evolution, in which all human beings achieve full development of their talents (first task of the esthetic redemption); 3) one corresponding to the actual realization of this ideal, in which human beings advance step by step thanks to social experimentation and the resulting progress in knowledge (second task of esthetic redemption).

Epistemological foundations of economics: the philosophical problem of ranking

In our article, we examine the philosophical challenges of ranking that are economically significant from multiple angles. With our findings, we want to demonstrate that ranking in the actual world is a far more sophisticated, partially context-dependent behaviour enacted via specialised decision-making systems. In some ranking scenarios, the exact preference relation may vary depending on whatever basic set of phenomena we are discussing. On this basis, we can limit the scope of economic modelling to exclude, for instance, aesthetic value judgments. In the study, we would like to demonstrate the importance of the philosophical substantiation of economic phenomena.

Towards a hermeneutics of the postmodern transnational space: the case of contemporary Australian literature

The work analyses the “spatial turn” in recent Australian literature, which has led to a new transnational orientation in many contemporary Australian narratives. To do so, it frames literary production in terms of spatial cognition and analyses spatiality and cognition as presented by several scholars in several realms. This theoretical introduction is followed by a more practical examination of recent Australian literary works and changes. Their features show that they are moving ahead of the postcolonial label and influence into a less ideologised position. They are in tune with the new deterritorialisation of the world, and the critical cognitive approach can provide insightful realisations bridging the gap between the actual world and its fictional representation. Finally, these examples and appreciations of the transnational are returned to theoretical ground to demonstrate that space and place, with their variants, are not only useful to (cognitive) literary studies, but to any socio-cultural approach. One of the key uses in this spatial turn towards the transnational lies in the apprehension of space-place as a pathway. It also speaks to the mobility of Australian society and its cultural productions.

Dialectics of Pleasure in Thomas More’s Utopia

ABSTRACT Thomas More’s Utopia represents not a pleasurable alternative world, but rather a debate on how to make life more pleasurable in the actual world. It involves a tussling with questions of truth in an age in which unifying transcendental answers were giving way to more instrumental solutions as demanded by the growth of mercantile city-states. This article traces the function of pleasure in Utopia as a dialectically mediating agent on the recognition that pleasure is available only in compromised form. For More, solutions must be sought through the mind’s capacity to form agreeable relations out of contradictions. It implies assembling meaning from the perspectives Utopia provides, and a constant balancing and rebalancing process in search of an overall point of view that may give pleasure.

ID Tech: A Virtual Reality Simulator Training for Teenagers with Intellectual Disabilities

People with intellectual disability (ID) should routinely train themselves to carry out a variety of daily challenging tasks while being supervised by one or more supervisors. Virtual reality (VR) technology enables the simulation of certain learning scenarios that would be risky or difficult to set up or repeatedly replicate in the actual world. This paper introduces a VR simulator created for this aim with the assistance of social educators. The purpose is to use VR to conduct learning exercises with teenagers with ID and assess the extent to which the abilities learned in VR can be transferred to the real world. This project focuses mainly on urban mobility with three types of exercise. A study was conducted with 18 students in five institutions for 7 months. Post-tests were also carried out after 1 month with 11 teenagers. In the end, four teenagers are completely autonomous in their travels: two travel on foot and two travel by public transport. Regarding the impact analysis, the results are stable over time regarding self-reported ease, satisfaction, and fatigability. Finally, the system received valuable feedback from the educators.

Disability and the elderly in their freedom of interaction with the spanish administration

Disability and elderly people are considered special groups due to their high degree of vulnerability, and their welfare must be supported by public measures that reinforce the guarantees of their rights and freedoms. Although new technologies open up a world of possibilities in all areas of life, their use can hinder, in some cases, the development of the rights of these groups because their practice is a complex novelty, especially in the area of communication between citizens and the Public Administration. Therefore, this study focuses on the analysis of the impact of ICTs on the right to freedom of access of persons with disabilities and the elderly.

Stability and disruptive speech

Stability and disruptive speech

On Believing: Being Right in a World of Possibilities

David Hunter starts his book with Anscombe's remark that the difficulty of accommodating belief's psychological and logical aspects makes it the most difficult topic. Despite this, Hunter's book covers even more than these two aspects: it also delves into a third, normative one, and develops highly original views of all three. In its wide-ranging ambition alone, On Believing is a significant contribution to the literature on belief. For Hunter, the psychological aspect of belief is that ‘what one does, thinks, and feels can be rationalized or explained by [what one believes]’ (p. 1). However, as Chapter 1 argues, this role of the object of one's belief is neither due to one's belief playing a causal role nor due to its adding to one's overall dispositions or abilities. Rather, Hunter characterises belief as a ‘rational position’ (p. 2): belief makes a difference to the reasons or potential reasons for which one can exercise one's abilities and manifest one's dispositions. It is thus not because belief is a disposition or a state playing a certain causal role that a believer will typically do certain things, but because a believer is typically rational enough to exploit the (potential) reasons their beliefs provide.

Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Lost or Tshotsholoza, Dugmore Boetie, edited by Vusumuzi R. Kumalo and Benjamin N. Lawrance

Reviewed by: Familiarity Is the Kingdom of the Lost or Tshotsholoza by Dugmore Boetie Riti Sharma BOOK REVIEW of Boetie, Dugmore. 2020. Familiarity Is the Kingdom of the Lost or Tshotsholoza. Edited by Vusumuzi R. Kumalo and Benjamin N. Lawrance. With an introduction by Benjamin N. Lawrance and Vusumuzi R. Kumalo, foreword by Nadine Gordimer, and afterword by Barney Simon. Athens: Ohio University Press. 187 pp. $24.95 (paper). In this novel, the word tshotsholoza, meaning "go forward," is the title of a South African song, sung by prisoners. Familiarity Is the Kingdom of the Lost is like a requiem for this song, as the protagonist is usually found amid acts that will help him go to a place he calls home. The heart of the text lies in the concept of home—its location and its history. Dugmore Boetie is a conman who serves time in South African prisons. Half his narrative is like a prison diary; the rest is paced like a thriller, incorporating elements of the satirical and the sentimental. It is in the style of a bildungsroman, which tells the tale of a boy in a world busy segregating human beings. The trials and twists in his life hinge on the fact that he has survived many years of racial prejudice and cultural hatred, but his job description makes life worse for him. Learning to be a conman when one is a Black South African in apartheid South Africa means flirting with death. Not just the crime, but being a criminal means having to carry this identity for the rest of one's life. But for Boetie, battling the so-called pass laws is a rite of passage. His nerves, brain, and just plain bad luck get him into and out of complicated predicaments. He comes to the reader as a runaway child who has dabbled in petty crimes. As an adult, he wants to escape the state-mandated social services, but he goes back to them when he needs work, unemployable on account of being physically disabled. "If you were black, you'd see life. If you were white, life would see you" (14). It would be betraying Boetie to say his story is summed up in these words, but they are evidence of his perspective on life. Whether he joins a gang, serves a prison sentence, sells marijuana, becomes a musician, or tries to be an honest husband, his skin color both makes him face extenuating circumstances and permits him to create a new sense of identity. The law in [End Page 141] South Africa works differently for Blacks and Coloreds, and Boetie is a man who understands its nuances. All the importance of identity comes to the final point: how does a person survive? His stories may seem like an act of lying, but autobiographies are not always whole truths. Boetie's contribution to the landscape of South African literature is through his method of telling, a testament to the oral tradition. Only a phenomenal storyteller can come up with phrases like "ox-cart-wide alleys." That is how people remember Boetie—as a musician and a storyteller. Boetie's friendship with other conmen opens a world of possibilities in understanding how crime and society function as partners. Without the one, the other is impossible. Boetie's life as a musician coincides with the time he starts living away from crime, but even in today's world, being a musician is hard. He uses phrases like "three quaver knocks" (25); in the afterword, Barney Simon admits to having met people at the hospital where Boetie was, who recognized him as the one who sang and regaled them with stories. One comes back to the song Tshotsholoza, which Boetie heard being sung by other inmates in prison. Boetie likens the song to an orphaned child, as nobody knows its origins. His book tells the tale of a similar boy—who could not claim an identity and whom nobody would come to claim as their own. When Boetie talks about joining the army, one comes face-to-face with the irony of being a Black person in South Africa. When things like cracking a joke...

Heart disease prediction using hybrid optimization enabled deep learning network with spark architecture

Analyzing massive amounts of data that contain many sorts of data is known as big data analytics. Additionally, the bulk of applications in the actual world need a significant amount of information. Machine learning techniques are used to automatically identify the types and severity of cardiac disease due to the rapid increase of biomedical and healthcare information. However, the ML approach has a number of drawbacks, and because of the complexity of the material, it did not always produce the best results. As a result, an improved deep learning strategy offers a superior fix for this problem. In this study, a brand-new method for diagnosing heart disease—the Grey Wolf Horse Herd optimization-based Shepard Convolutional Neural Network is developed. Here, the master node and slave node-based Spark architecture is used to carry out the heart disease detection process. Preprocessing and feature fusion are carried out in the slave node, whilst heart disease detection is done in the master node. Z-score normalization and missing value imputation are used in this case for pre-processing. The feature fusion is then carried out utilizing Hellinger distance and Deep Q Network (DQN). Furthermore, the ShCNN, which was trained using the created GWHHO algorithm, is used to identify heart disease. The Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) and Horse Herd Optimization (HHO) algorithms are also incorporated into the newly developed GWHHO algorithm. Additionally, employing the VA Long Beach dataset, the experimental of the developed model yields improved results in terms of testing accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.9325, 0.9472, and 0.9142.

Hybrid Security Provision in African Post-colonial Settings: The Cases of Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT The Weberian paradigm’s ascription of a legitimate state’s provision of security and justice overlooks the role played by non-state actors in the post-colonial world. Adopting a hybridity framework enables scholars and practitioners to re-centre the focus from a state-centric view of states as fragile or failed to recognise the strength and resilience of alternative socio-political formations of order. Existing evidence on hybrid political orders demonstrates that community resilience and customary institutions should not be perceived as spoilers but understood as assets for constructive engagements between the customary and modern states. The cases of Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone highlight how the complex and interdependent interaction between modern and traditional systems of governance, through a combination of conflict and cooperation, can explain state resilience.

A Categorical Normalization Proof for the Modal Lambda-Calculus

We investigate a simply typed modal $\lambda$-calculus, $\lambda^{\to\square}$, due to Pfenning, Wong and Davies, where we define a well-typed term with respect to a context stack that captures the possible world semantics in a syntactic way. It provides logical foundation for multi-staged meta-programming. Our main contribution in this paper is a normalization by evaluation (NbE) algorithm for $\lambda^{\to\square}$ which we prove sound and complete. The NbE algorithm is a moderate extension to the standard presheaf model of simply typed $\lambda$-calculus. However, central to the model construction and the NbE algorithm is the observation of Kripke-style substitutions on context stacks which brings together two previously separate concepts, structural modal transformations on context stacks and substitutions for individual assumptions. Moreover, Kripke-style substitutions allow us to give a formulation for contextual types, which can represent open code in a meta-programming setting. Our work lays the foundation for extending the logical foundation by Pfenning, Wong, and Davies towards building a practical, dependently typed foundation for meta-programming.

Olive oil industry: a review of waste stream composition, environmental impacts, and energy valorization paths.

The olive oil production is a key economic sector for the producing countries, mainly in the Mediterranean region. However, the worldwide increasing oil production led to the generation of huge amounts of wastes detrimental for the environment. Therefore, efficient and sustainable management of olive industry wastes has recently acquired significant interest in the scientific research community. In the actual world energy context, various studies dealt with the valorization of the solid/liquid waste streams obtained from the discontinuous/continuous extraction of olive oil for energy purposes. The application of waste-to-energy treatments to these effluents can turn them out into an important energy resource. This review article presents the main used oil extraction techniques and their related research developments. The characterization of the generated wastes and the factors behind their bad environmental impacts are highlighted. Relevant research works related to biochemical and thermochemical conversion of olive mill wastes are extensively reviewed and discussed in terms of product yields and composition. A recent update of the studies addressing olive industry waste applications for energy production is also given. This investigation revealed a lack of studies in relation to the hydrothermal processing of olive mill wastes. Despite their suitability for this process (e.g., high moisture content), few papers have investigated the hydrothermal conversion of these waste streams. This scientific gap opens a very interesting research direction, which has to be further investigated.

Linear Diophantine Fuzzy Aggregation Operators with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making

A linear Diophantine fuzzy set (LDFS) is a new mathematical tool that can be used for optimization, artificial intelligence, and process modeling. The LDFS theory widens the area of fuzzy information via “reference parameters” due to its wonderful characteristic of abroad depiction zone for allowed doublets. Because the actual world is not exact, and there is a dearth of knowledge, determining and selecting the optimal choice is a tough and unforeseen decision-making dilemma. The primary goal is to guide decision-makers through the process of selecting the best option inside a linear Diophantine fuzzy context. We suggested two new aggregation operators: the “linear Diophantine fuzzy weighted average operator and the linear Diophantine fuzzy weighted geometric operator.” Following that, the proposed model is validated using a clear example of linear Diophantine fuzzy content. This demonstrates the utility and applicability of the suggested strategy model is validated using a clear example of linear Diophantine fuzzy content. This demonstrates the utility and applicability of the suggested strategy.

Reading O’Neill Creatively: Perspectives and Offerings

Reading O’Neill Creatively: Perspectives and Offerings