Ordinary Sense Research Articles

On Covering Properties in Intuitionistic Fuzzy Topological Spaces: A survey

We show here some results on covering properties in intuitionistic fuzzy topological spaces. In 1983, K.T. Atanassov proposed a generalization of the notion of fuzzy set: the concept of intuitionistic fuzzy set. D. Çoker constructed the fundamental theory on intuitionistic fuzzy topological spaces, and D. Çoker and other mathematicians studied compactness, connectedness, continuity, separation, convergence and paracompactness in intuitionistic fuzzy topological spaces. Finally, G.-J Wang and Y.Y. He showed that every intuitionistic fuzzy set may be regarded as an L-fuzzy set for some appropriate lattice L. Nevertheless, the results obtained by above authors are not redundant with other for ordinary fuzzy sense.

Minimizing the number of late jobs and total late work with step-learning

We study single-machine scheduling problems with step-learning, where an improvement in processing time is experienced if a job is started at, or after, a job-dependent learning-date. We consider minimizing two functions: the number of late jobs and the total late work, and we show that when at least a common due-date or common learning-date is assumed, the problem is NP-hard in the ordinary sense; however, when both are arbitrary, the problem becomes strongly NP-hard. For each of the problems where at least one of the dates is assumed to be common, we analyze the structure of an optimal job schedule with and without idle time and propose pseudo-polynomial time dynamic programming algorithms. We also show that the problem of minimizing the weighted number of late jobs with step-learning can be solved with a minor change to the algorithms for the unweighted case. In addition to this, we show that when a common due-date is assumed and no idle time is allowed, the problem of minimizing the total late work is equivalent to that of minimizing the makespan. Furthermore, we provide a more efficient algorithm to solve the problem of minimizing makespan under the assumption of a common learning-date than the one in the existing literature. Lastly, we show that our analysis can also be applied to the case of step-deterioration, where instead, the processing times of jobs increase at a given date.

What is spirituality? The challenges of a philosophical definition

AbstractIn recent years, there have been a number of philosophical publications focusing on spirituality. But even in pertinent philosophical texts it is rare to find attempts at shaping a workable definition of spirituality, despite the obvious need for a clear definition for the philosophical debate on spirituality. This paper addresses the major issues in shaping a satisfactory definition of spirituality: an understanding of spirituality as transcendence of critical reasoning, the broadness of the concept, the implications of various scholarly backgrounds and the challenge of avoiding a circular definition. It suggests a rough clustering of common approaches into ontological, ethical, and functional definitions and discusses their weaknesses. It is argued that an inclusive, metaphysically parsimonious, and stipulative definition is the best way to address typical difficulties and avoid weaknesses of common definitions. Finally, it proposes a definition based on meaning, a term that often appears in the discussion of spirituality. It is suggested that understanding meaning in the ordinary sense of the word might be a good starting point to arrive at a satisfactory definition of spirituality.

Bringing Back the Old Religiosity: Interfaith Cosmopolitan Civil Religion (ICCR)

Abstract Highlighting the transformed landscape of political communities in the twenty-first century, I reexamine the discourse of civil religion (DCR). Widely recognized in religious studies and notably in American history, this concept reveals a subtle yet intricately functional framework of community consciousness within political entities. This article posits that the prevalent interpretation of civil religion, and its application across diverse contexts, falls short of effectively reflecting and utilizing the essence identified by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Robert Bellah—classical and modern architects of civil religion, respectively. Many discussions of DCR often disregard the role of the traditional sense of religion and religiousness. Instead, they fixate on superficial symbols and rituals associated with secular institutional bodies and communities. In this article, I contend that reintegrating the ordinary sense of religion into the discourse is crucial for envisioning and constructing a new community consciousness capable of adeptly responding to the burgeoning demands of our highly multicultural world. Following the conceptual roadmap of civil religion, which seeks transcendent, sacred, and unifying narratives, symbols, and rituals, I introduce a new model termed Interfaith, Cosmopolitan Civil Religion (ICCR). Within this model, ordinary religious agents, through interfaith engagement, assume positive roles in nurturing a broader sense of community and unity.

Planar Pseudo-geodesics and Totally Umbilic Submanifolds

We study totally umbilic isometric immersions between Riemannian manifolds. First, we provide a novel characterization of the totally umbilic isometric immersions with parallel normalized mean curvature vector, i.e., those having nonzero mean curvature vector and such that the unit vector in the direction of the mean curvature vector is parallel in the normal bundle. Such characterization is based on a family of curves, called planar pseudo-geodesics, representing a natural extrinsic generalization of both geodesics and Riemannian circles: being planar, their Cartan development in the tangent space is planar in the ordinary sense; being pseudo-geodesics, their geodesic and normal curvatures satisfy a linear relation. We study these curves in detail and, in particular, establish their local existence and uniqueness. Moreover, in the case of codimension-one immersions, we prove the following statement: an isometric immersion ι:M↪Q\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\iota :M \\hookrightarrow Q$$\\end{document} is totally umbilic if and only if the extrinsic shape of every geodesic of M is planar. This extends a well-known result about surfaces in R3\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mathbb {R}^{3}$$\\end{document}.

The Concept of a Substance and Its Linguistic Embodiment

My objective is a better comprehension of two theoretically fundamental concepts. One, the concept of a substance in an ordinary (non-Aristotelian) sense, ranging over such things as salt, carbon, copper, iron, water, and methane—kinds of stuff that now count as (chemical) elements and compounds. The other I will call the object-concept in the abstract sense of Russell, Wittgenstein, and Frege in their logico-semantical enquiries. The material object-concept constitutes the heart of our received logico/ontic system, still massively influenced by Aristotle after almost 2.5 millennia. On such an account, the fundamentality of material objects and their attributes are the metaphysical basis of the cosmos, as reflected in our received logic, Quine’s ‘canonical notation’—derived via the empiricism of Russell from Frege’s function-based Begriffschrifft, and consisting of concrete singular terms and variables, quantifiers and predicate-expressions. The inadequacy of Frege’s approach to understanding concepts is reflected in his initial question. Frege enquires of ‘what it is that we are calling an object’, remarking that he regards a regular definition as impossible: “we have here something too simple to admit of logical analysis”. The imagined ultimacy or simplicity of the idea of a single object (arithmetically, just a unit—one as opposed to two, three, four, etc.) as foundational to the calculus is just that—imagined. It is also guaranteed to block the comprehension of the substance-concept.

A branch‐and‐price algorithm for identical parallel machine scheduling with multiple milestones

AbstractThis article considers an identical parallel‐machine task scheduling problem motivated by operations management of online services. A task with an integer processing time can be split into sub‐tasks with integer processing times. Each task has multiple integer milestones and at each milestone a nonnegative penalty will occur. The penalty value of a task at a milestone is a convex nonincreasing function of the completed amount by this milestone. Our objective is to determine a feasible schedule for all the tasks on given identical parallel machines, such that the sum of all tasks' total penalty at all milestones is minimized. We prove the NP‐hardness of this problem in the ordinary sense and develop a branch‐and‐price algorithm. Computational experiments utilizing data from an online service operations survey show that this algorithm is singularly efficient and promising.

The Orthodox Woman: Jerome on the Relation Between Asceticism, Orthodoxy, and Gender

Abstract While previous scholarship has shown that the rhetorical figure of the “heretical woman” was important in Jerome’s slandering of male rivals, this article argues that the “orthodox woman” played a just as important role in his self-presentation as an orthodox teacher. The “orthodox woman” is characterized by true asceticism which, according to Jerome’s ascetic theology, implies that she transcends her sex. Rather than being a “woman”, in the ordinary sense of the word, she is an angelic being with a supernatural understanding, which allows her to discern the spiritual meaning of the Scriptures and to distinguish between orthodoxy and heresy. It is argued that the presentation of the “orthodox woman” as very learned, independent and strong-willed makes her the direct opposite of Jerome’s “heretical woman”, and that such a portrayal suited Jerome’s purposes, as his great reliance on women readers called for a defence of female spiritual authority.

Fractal Continuum Mapping Applied to Timoshenko Beams

In this work, a generalization of the Timoshenko beam theory is introduced, which is based on fractal continuum calculus. The mapping of the bending problem onto a non-differentiable self-similar beam into a corresponding problem for a fractal continuum is derived using local fractional differential operators. Consequently, the functions defined in the fractal continua beam are differentiable in the ordinary calculus sense. Therefore, the non-conventional local derivatives defined in the fractal continua beam can be expressed in terms of the ordinary derivatives, which are solved theoretically and numerically. Lastly, examples of classical beams with different boundary conditions are shown in order to check some details of the physical phenomenon under study.

What could Jesus do?

AbstractAccording to many orthodox Christian theologies Jesus is not merely sinless but impeccable: he not only did not sin but could not. This is puzzling because one can only sin by doing something else and, prima face, Jesus can do actions that you or I could do by which we would sin. I suggest that appearances to the contrary, Jesus cannot do a variety of actions that a merely human duplicate could do. His doing sinful actions is compossible with a range of empirical facts about his physical abilities and circumstances of the sort we ordinarily take into account in assessing what a person can do, but not with a wider range of theological facts concerning his divinity. Like Tim, Lewis’s time-traveler, who can kill Grandfather relative to facts about his immediate circumstances and abilities but not relative to a wider range of facts, Jesus ‘can’ in the ordinary sense sin, though he will not, but relative to a wider range of facts which obtain in virtue of his divinity, cannot.

«Big Data» technology in the digital transformation of the economy

The authors aimed to investigate the essence and fundamentals of the functioning of "Big Data" in the digital economy and the features of successful use of "Big Data" technology by enterprises as a new economic resource. "Big Data" is presented by the authors as a new economic resource and digital technology, which allow by solving a priority task, i. e. the allocation at the conceptual level of research of the most significant factors (resources) that determine the organizational potential for the use of big data. The article emphasizes that in the ordinary sense, the term "big data" is simply associated with a large amount of information. However, the study of the reasons why companies decide to invest in big data projects shows that the main motivating factor for them is not a large amount of data as such, but their diversity, which allows obtaining quantitative and qualitative information about a complex (complex) system of material and non-material factors of a modern company. The authors state that the expected information revolution consists in the way we analyze business and justify management decisions, and it is due not just to an exponential, avalanche-like growth in the volume of big data, but to the emergence of a new quality of information as a result of such growth - information that analysts could not even dream of ten years ago. The problematic materials of the article are presented as follows: first, the analysis of publications necessary to determine the content of the concept of "big data" is given, and positive and normative models of big data are highlighted. Further, on the basis of a resource-oriented approach and based on the results of an empirical study of foreign leading companies in the implementation of big data projects, a conceptual model of intra-company factors determining the organizational potential of using big data is being developed. As a result, recommendations are formulated for domestic companies implementing or making decisions about projects using big data.

Структурно-семантические способы гендерного маркирования юридических терминов Великобритании и США

The aim of the study is to determine the structural-semantic ways of gender explication using the legal terminology of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The paper sheds light on the concept of “gender” in the ordinary and legal sense, substantiates the legitimacy of the influence of the gender factor on the structure and content of legal terms and concepts, provides a detailed description of the linguistic means used for gender labelling of terms. The paper demonstrates the inextricable connection of law, language and gender through the texts of laws, legal definitions, legal discourse. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that using an integrated approach, the main mechanisms of gender labelling of a legal term have been identified for the first time: at the level of structure, namely through a word-formation model, through the formation of compound terms; at the level of meaning, namely through definition. As a result of the study, it has been found that gender is represented in the semantics and structure of legal terms in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The role of gender as a system-forming factor in the development of the Anglo-American legal terminology has been proved.

Inferential practical knowledge of meaning

ABSTRACT Speakers of a natural language regularly form justified beliefs about what others are saying when they utter sentences of the language. What accounts for these justified beliefs? At one level, we already have a plausible answer: there is a perfectly good ordinary sense in which users of a language know what its sentences mean, and it is very plausible that the hearer’s knowledge of the meaning of S helps explain her justification for her belief about what is said by an utterance of S. But what exactly does our knowledge of sentence meanings consist in? In this essay I advance and defend the view that we know the meanings of sentences in virtue of having a certain distinctive kind of know-how that I call inferential practical knowledge. I argue that this view provides the best explanation for the justification of our beliefs about what is said. In particular, it provides a better explanation than the more conventional and widely accepted view that we know the meaning of S in virtue of possessing the theoretical knowledge that S has such-and-such meaning.

The Kobayashi–Hitchin Correspondence of Generalized Holomorphic Vector Bundles Over Generalized Kähler Manifolds of Symplectic Type

Abstract In this paper, we establish the Kobayashi–Hitchin correspondence, that is, the equivalence of the existence of an Einstein–Hermitian metric and $\psi $-polystability of a generalized holomorphic vector bundle over a compact generalized Kähler manifold of symplectic type. Poisson modules provide intriguing generalized holomorphic vector bundles, and we obtain $\psi $-stable Poisson modules over complex surfaces that are not stable in the ordinary sense.

Tauberian theorems for smooth functions that never vanish

It is well known that if a function has slow growth in the ordinary sense, then it has slow growth in the Cesàro sense. The converse holds if special extra conditions are assumed; results of this form are called Tauberian Theorems. In this paper, we use techniques from generalized functions to investigate this phenomenon, with particular emphasis on the space of multipliers of Schwartz functions. We then apply our results to study series of delta functions and the division problem for tempered distributions.

On predictive inference for intractable models via approximate Bayesian computation

Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) is commonly used for parameter estimation and model comparison for intractable simulator-based statistical models whose likelihood function cannot be evaluated. In this paper we instead investigate the feasibility of ABC as a generic approximate method for predictive inference, in particular, for computing the posterior predictive distribution of future observations or missing data of interest. We consider three complementary ABC approaches for this goal, each based on different assumptions regarding which predictive density of the intractable model can be sampled from. The case where only simulation from the joint density of the observed and future data given the model parameters can be used for inference is given particular attention and it is shown that the ideal summary statistic in this setting is minimal predictive sufficient instead of merely minimal sufficient (in the ordinary sense). An ABC prediction approach that takes advantage of a certain latent variable representation is also investigated. We additionally show how common ABC sampling algorithms can be used in the predictive settings considered. Our main results are first illustrated by using simple time-series models that facilitate analytical treatment, and later by using two common intractable dynamic models.

A Plea for Prudence

Non-philosophers could be forgiven for thinking that philosophers are a cautious bunch. For philosophers are becoming increasingly preoccupied with prudence. Naturally, however, philosophers have something different in mind than the ordinary sense of ‘prudence’. Rather than denoting the quality of cautiousness, philosophers typically take ‘prudence’ to denote an evaluative or normative standpoint, one whose evaluations are in some sense determined by facts about what is good and bad for us; or, to use some more terminology that is apt to mislead the lay reader, facts about well-being, welfare or self-interest. Two recent examples of this trend are Guy Fletcher’s Dear Prudence: The Nature and Normativity of Prudential Discourse and Dale Dorsey’s A Theory of Prudence. Each book covers a lot of ground, incorporating previously published work together with new material. Fletcher’s primary focus is the meta-prudential, the philosophy of well-being’s answer to meta-ethics. His book covers such topics as the nature of prudential judgment, the semantics of prudential language, the normativity of prudence, its implications for traditional meta-ethical views such as realism, anti-realism and error theory, and much else besides. While Fletcher defends various views in relation to these issues, the primary aim of the book is to argue that these debates, which he thinks have been largely neglected, deserve much more attention. To adapt a well-worn platitude from recent political discourse, the idea is that whatever you think about the issues, it would be good if we were having a robust debate about them.

Hiding behind the veil: On whom does liability for discriminatory practices by recruitment agencies fall

The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA) provides that applicants for employment are employees for purposes of its unfair discrimination provisions. The EEA is, however, silent in respect of applicants who seek employment through recruitment agencies. In this article, we argue that this silence has the potential to handicap these applicants and deprive them of the statutory procedure they would have enjoyed had they otherwise applied directly to employers. We further contend that the relationship between recruitment agencies and applicants for employment is not capable of being construed to fall within the provisions of s 4 of the EEA. We also posit that it would be unreasonable to expect these applicants to follow an onerous process under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000; this, despite there being a clear employment nexus informing the foundation and execution of the juristic act between the respective parties. Instead, we propose that recruitment agencies are agents in the ordinary sense, that their engagements with applicants enjoy prior authorisation from the potential employer, and that any consequences of such engagements are attributable to the potential employer.

Mattering the Invisible: Technologies, Bodies, and the Realm of the Spectral ed. by Diana Espírito Santo and Jack Hunter

Reviewed by: Mattering the Invisible: Technologies, Bodies, and the Realm of the Spectral ed. by Diana Espírito Santo and Jack Hunter Claire Fanger diana espírito santo and jack hunter, eds. Mattering the Invisible: Technologies, Bodies, and the Realm of the Spectral. New York: Berghahn Books, 2021. Pp. 329. This book focuses on the way matter and material technologies are involved in making paranormal experiences possible. The word "paranormal" is not used in the title but appears in the first sentence and recurs frequently thereafter. The book shares a basic theoretical framework with other work that has been done on material religion, the introduction citing sources starting with Alfred Gell leading to Karen Barad with nods at Bruno Latour in the middle—a familiar theoretical pantheon. The editors argue that in these accounts, we need to think not about "the meanings of messages" (11)—that is, not about what the dead or other discarnate entities may communicate within such experiences, but rather about how these experiences convey presence—they are all at least in part about a sense of contact with a numinous reality. For this reader it was something of a problem that the word "paranormal" was not defined anywhere, not in the introduction, the conclusion, nor in the essays. A large array of very different sorts of materials seems to be subsumed under the heading in this book, which nevertheless offers some very interesting reading. Many if not most of the chapters concern things that might elsewhere be categorized as "anthropology of religion." But how does "religion" intersect with the "paranormal?" What is the advantage of using the word "paranormal" here? I will return to these questions later. One reason I wanted to review this book is that I know Diana Espírito Santo is good at writing about the paranormal. In her work, the idea of what constitutes the "paranormal" is somehow transparent in a way that seems connected with the kinds of stories she tells: she can stun readers with marvels and lure them into the human dimension of stories that challenge credibility and yet escape disproof. Her chapter in this book is no exception. The rest of the book is a bit of a mixed bag inasmuch as not all the chapters constitute stories of clearly paranormal experiences as far as I can see—neither in its ordinary colloquial sense of something that is "above or beyond normal," nor in the storyteller's way that Espírito Santo does (if those are in fact distinct). The book comprises ten chapters, with an introduction and conclusion. I will summarize the chapters before returning to the issues of definition. In Chapter 1, "Organicism and Psychical Research: Where Mediums and Mushrooms Meet," Jack Hunter begins by describing how, in his work with mediums of the Bristol Spirit Lodge, instruments are used to coax the [End Page 459] reluctant spirits into speech—a slow halting process which "does not seem to be so much a case of turning the medium on like a radio receiver and then tuning in with a dial but rather is more like a process of nurturing—a participatory process of encouragement and growth, gradually enabling the spirit to manifest" and "is perhaps better understood using an organic rather than technological metaphor" (38). This is interesting and feels useful, though most of chapter is theoretical, in fact concerned with the superiority of organic to machine metaphors for a general idea of what the world is about, which I found dry and in spots implausible. Chapter 2, by Miguel M. Algranti, "Semantics of the Suffering: Torture Technologies and Mediumship in Buenos Aires," gives a brief history of Esoteric and Spiritist groups in Argentina ending with a group among whom the author conducted fieldwork: the Basilio Scientific School Association (BSSA). He discusses how Martha, his informant in this context, channels a young man who says that his spirit was broken when he was tortured with a cattle prod; he gave away information that he should have kept to himself. The point of Martha's channeling is to offer healing to the spirit of this dead youth through Martha's replication of the physical condition of his...

On Testimony and Bare Life

Commenting upon van der Heiden’s The Voice of Misery, this paper addresses the peculiar task of witnessing and testimony that reaches beyond the ordinary sense of being a witness that is defined by the sphere of juridical concerns. Here the concern is with testimony that reaches to the point of “bare life”, the point at which a life is stripped down to a point at which the very idea of speech and bonds with others is shed. Understood in this sense, the task of testimony begins a the limits of what we call “the human”. Following from Heidegger, Plato, and Celan the effort is made both to speak about the character of such testimony as well as about the “ethos” of such a relation to life itself.