Single Proposition Research Articles

Interthematic Polarization

Abstract In recent epistemology, belief polarization is generally defined as a process by which a disagreement on a single proposition becomes more extreme over time. Outside of the philosophical literature, however, “polarization” is often used for a different epistemic phenomenon, namely the process by which people's beliefs on unrelated topics become increasingly correlated over time. This paper argues that the latter type of polarization, here labeled interthematic polarization, is often rational from each individual's point of view. This suggests that belief polarization is not necessarily a failure of individual rationality, but instead a failure of the social structures within which we live our epistemic lives.

Simulating the Action Principle in Optics

Light has a fascinating property: it always travels the path that takes the least time between any two points. This is the motivating property behind optical phenomena such as reflection and refraction. The unreasonable economic efficiency of light is captured by a single proposition: the principle of least action (PLA) in optics. Unlike reflection and refraction, which emerge from optimizing a one-dimensional function, the PLA emerges from optimizing an infinite-dimensional functional. The PLA can be difficult for students to comprehend, as the formulation of the Lagrangian is often left unexplained. To this end, this paper presents various simulations to demonstrate the action principle, including a numerical solution to a generalization of the brachistochrone problem to an arbitrary refractive profile. The interactive simulations discussed in the paper are available at Ref. 1.

Predicate counterparts of modal logics of provability: High undecidability and Kripke incompleteness

Abstract In this paper, the predicate counterparts, defined both axiomatically and semantically by means of Kripke frames, of the modal propositional logics $\textbf {GL}$, $\textbf {Grz}$, $\textbf {wGrz}$ and their extensions are considered. It is proved that the set of semantical consequences on Kripke frames of every logic between $\textbf {QwGrz}$ and $\textbf {QGL.3}$ or between $\textbf {QwGrz}$ and $\textbf {QGrz.3}$ is $\Pi ^1_1$-hard even in languages with three (sometimes, two) individual variables, two (sometimes, one) unary predicate letters, and a single proposition letter. As a corollary, it is proved that infinite families of modal predicate axiomatic systems, based on the classical first-order logic and the modal propositional logics $\textbf {GL}$, $\textbf {Grz}$, $\textbf {wGrz}$ are not Kripke complete. Both $\Pi ^1_1$-hardness and Kripke incompleteness results of the paper do not depend on whether the logics contain the Barcan formula.

Public Policy Implementation and Availability of Facilities/Infrastructures in Primary and Junior Secondary Schools in Rivers State, 2008 – 2018

Educational policy implementation in Nigeria have been hit in the main by incidences of poor availability of physical facilities/infrastructures. This paper examines public policy implementation and availability of facilities/infrastructures in primary and junior secondary schools in Rivers State between 2008 – 2018. The paper is guided by the single proposition that, there is no significant difference in universal basic education policy implementation and the availability of facilities/infrastructures in schools in Rivers State. The paper is anchored on the Programme Evaluation Theory as its analytical framework. A sample of 600 schools was purposively derived from a population of 1,332 of both primary and secondary schools in the state. This was evenly distributed to the 3 senatorial districts in the state. Data for the paper was generated via questionnaire distributed to the 600 principals and head teachers of the selected schools, and via secondary sources such as books, UBE policy documents, etc. Generated data was analyzed using Gross Enrolment Ratio Growth Rate, Teacher/Pupil Ratio, T-test and Diagrammatic Representation. As part of its findings, the paper revealed that, the situation of education in the state is not in consonant with the objectives of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) policy. Also, that the state government’s stance for free compulsory basic education is only but an elusive agenda. As such the paper recommends that; the state government should devise more inclusive strategies that will ultimately seek to enforce the free education for every child within the UBE age. This can be done by adopting the “parent-teacher team” of monitors and enforcers of this policy

Concerning pion parton distributions

Analyses of the pion valence-quark distribution function (DF), , which explicitly incorporate the behaviour of the pion wave function prescribed by quantum chromodynamics (QCD), predict , beta (zeta gtrsim m_p)>2, where m_p is the proton mass. Nevertheless, more than forty years after the first experiment to collect data suitable for extracting the xsimeq 1 behaviour of , the empirical status remains uncertain because some methods used to fit existing data return a result for that violates this constraint. Such disagreement entails one of the following conclusions: the analysis concerned is incomplete; not all data being considered are a true expression of qualities intrinsic to the pion; or QCD, as it is currently understood, is not the theory of strong interactions. New, precise data are necessary before a final conclusion is possible. In developing these positions, we exploit a single proposition, viz. there is an effective charge which defines an evolution scheme for parton DFs that is all-orders exact. This proposition has numerous corollaries, which can be used to test the character of any DF, whether fitted or calculated.

The Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Scale for the Assessment of Fatigue in Pediatric Oncology Patients Aged 7-18 in Russia.

Fatigue is the most common complaint by children both during and after cancer treatment, but in Russia, there is no reliable method for assessing fatigue. To develop a Russian version of the Turkish Scale for the Assessment of Fatigue in Pediatric Oncology Patients Ages 7-18. Our first step was to translate all the items of the Turkish questionnaire into Russian. Then, through discussion, we created a single proposition for each item. The next step was obtaining expert opinions to assess the validity. Once the expert estimates agreed, a pilot version of the questionnaire was formed. The next step was to collect a large sample of patients to study the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. As a result of factor analysis, three factors were identified. The first factor was "fatigue associated with actions;" the second was "fatigue as feeling;" and the third was "fatigue associated with sleep difficulties." The children's and parents' versions had the same factor structure. This study showed the possibility of using the questionnaire in a Russian sample. That's why it is necessary to continue collecting and analyzing data in this direction. The reliability of the test was also assessed. The reliability of the parent version scored a Cronbach's alpha of 0.91. The reliability of the children's version showed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.93.

Spinoza’s EIp10 As a Solution to a Paradox about Rules: A New Argument from the Short Treatise

The tenth proposition of Spinoza’s Ethics reads: “Each attribute of substance must be conceived through itself.” Developing and defending the argument for this single proposition, it turns out, is vital to Spinoza’s philosophical project. Indeed, it’s virtually impossible to overstate its importance. Spinoza and his interpreters have used EIp10 to prove central claims in his metaphysics and philosophy of mind (i.e. substance monism, mind-body parallelism, mind-body identity, and finite subject individuation). It’s crucial for making sense of his epistemology (i.e. Spinoza’s account of knowledge and response to skepticism) and in resolving puzzles within the Ethics (i.e. explaining human ignorance of all but two attributes). Even those who do not attribute some of the above claims to Spinoza need EIp10 to defend much of what they believe about Spinoza’s system. This paper locates a previously unnoticed argument for this proposition in Spinoza’s Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well Being. There, Spinoza shows himself concerned with a powerful and underappreciated form of philosophical skepticism, one with echoes in the work of his contemporary Leibniz as well as in the later Wittgenstein. Spinoza’s introduction of EIp10 in the Ethics circumvents this form of skepticism, solving the problem the Short Treatise envisions while also explaining that text’s argument’s absence from the explicit justificatory structure of the Ethics.

CONSTRUCCIONES ESCINDIDAS EN MAZAHUA (OTOMANGUE)

RESUMEN El objetivo de este trabajo es describir la estructura de las construcciones escindidas en la lengua mazahua de San Pedro Potla (Temascalcingo, Estado de México). Este estudio se ha realizado bajo el planteamiento de Lambrecht (2001), quien considera que la construcción escindida es una estructura oracional compleja que está formada por una cláusula matriz y una cláusula relativa; esta cláusula binaria expresa una sola proposición semántica. Teniendo en cuenta esta consideración, se ha identificado una serie extensa de construcciones escindidas, éstas están formadas por la marca ŋɡè, la frase focalizada y la cláusula relativa. Para dar cuenta del objetivo ha sido necesario atender ciertos aspectos de la gramática de la lengua como orden de constituyentes, tipos de cláusulas de relativo, subordinantes y funciones gramaticales de ŋɡè. A través de las clases de construcciones escindidas se puede mostrar que, en ciertos contextos, igualmente, aparece escindida la información topicalizada. Los datos corresponden a historias de vida, narraciones y relatos.

Validity Semantics in Educational and Psychological Assessment

The semantics, or meaning, of validity is a fluid concept in educational and psychological testing. Contemporary controversies surrounding this concept appear to stem from the proper location of validity. Under one view, validity is a property of score-based inferences and entailed uses of test scores. This view is challenged by the instrument-based approach, which contends that tests themselves are either valid or invalid. These perspectives are contrasted by their ontological and epistemological emphases, as well as their breadth of validation focus. Ontologically, these positions diverge in their alliance with psychometric realism, or the position that attributes characterizing the aim of psychological and educational measurement exist in the actual world and that claims about their existence can be justified. Epistemologically, these positions deviate in the function of truth when accepting validity claims and inform distinct lines of inquiry in the validation process. Finally, validity under the instrument-based approach is restricted to a single proposition –namely, that observed score variation is caused by an underlying attribute. Though seemingly arbitrary, these distinct validity semantics may have a range of implications on assessment practices.

Science Dialogue Mapping of Knowledge and Knowledge Gaps Related to the Effects of Dairy Intake on Human Cardiovascular Disease (P13-002-19)

ObjectivesDairy has been described ranging from superfood to poison, but arguments, assumptions, and data used to justify these labels are not always clear. This project used “dialogue mapping” (DMing) to extract and summarize scientific points of (dis)agreement from an expert panel. MethodsA day-long panel convened 8 experts with complimentary expertise in nutrition, obesity, and CVD. Discussions were documented through DMing, in which a meeting is summarized in real time to capture relationships among the panelists’ thoughts. DMing explicitly, logically, and visually connects propositions, points, and counterpoints, even if discussed at different times, and helps identify whether experts agree and why. The map was distilled into key points and propositions (ongoing). Experts discussed two propositions: Consumption of full-fat dairy products, 1) in part because of their saturated fat levels, should be kept to a minimum for the purposes of reducing the risks of heart disease, or 2) despite their saturated fat levels, need not be kept to a minimum for the purposes of reducing the risks of heart disease. ResultsA preliminary map summary shows the panel discussed several expected topics, like LDL, HDL, and contributions of dairy fat to energy intake. Other points were discussed briefly or robustly, such as specific dairy bioactives (e.g., butyrate, calcium, CLA, MCT, proteins); biobehavioral components (e.g., whether dietary fat is self-regulating); and other topics (e.g., inflammation, microbiome, microRNAs).Two evidentiary issues emerged: 1) individual variability: whether recommendations should be targeted only to those at high CVD risk; and 2) quality of evidence: whether data on CVD endpoints and dairy intake are sufficient to make reliable conclusions – positive or negative – about full-fat dairy and CVD.Several procedural improvements were identified, including using a single proposition to be supported or refuted rather than two competing propositions. ConclusionsDMing elicited a robust conversation, documenting views on topics about the relation between dairy intake and CVD. Two outstanding evidentiary concerns are: dairy-fat recommendations may need more individualization, and much long-term dairy-CVD data may not be robust enough for conclusions. Funding SourcesDairy Management, Inc.

Tentative Sprechakte

Abstract This paper introduces speech acts that I denote as tentative, which means they do not make sense as single propositions. The meaning they make depends on the attempt to formulate something which seems difficult to put in words. There is no finished intention, feeling or idea to be represented; neither can one construct whatever one wants to say. Tentative speech acts make sense by literally speaking into a felt complexity, as Eugene Gendlin demonstrates. What needs to be understood in regards to these speech acts is a development of meaning occurring during the formulation and not the ontological status of inner entities. A happy outcome of tentative speech acts is a clarification of some aspect of a situation, problem, puzzlement or vague idea, at times involving complex implicit contexts, backgrounds and what Dilthey termed “Lebenszusammenhänge”. In order to speak of these kinds of complex points of reference, John Dewey introduced the term of the „quality of a situation“ and Eugene Gendlin the term „felt sense“. The paper explores ways to approach these speech acts and to consider their philosophical relevance.

Circular Speeds: A Review of Fast & Slow Sustainable Design Approaches for Fashion & Textile Applications

In this paper, developed by a group of design researchers at UAL, we define circular design in the context of a sustainable fashion system and consider how a polarisation of thinking in relation to “speeds” has occurred. By reflecting on the practice outcomes produced as part of the Textile Toolbox in Mistra Future Fashion (MFF) Phase 1, we question the idea of “circular speeds” for textile design and analyse concepts which relate to “super-slow” and “fast-forward” approaches. The MFF programme’s cross-disciplinary approach brings together design and scientific researchers with industry experts in a bid to understand and recognise the potential for design in creating a circular fashion future at multiple lifecycle speeds.We review the historical context of “slow” before presenting contemporary case studies from industry which relate to one of three key approaches defined as a framework for “super-slow” design. We also review the current context of “fast” before presenting contemporary case studies from industry which point towards the potential for redefining the “fast” context in fashion by relating it to circular strategies and material recovery possibilities. Again these themes are presented in a framework of three key approaches for “fast-forward” design.Finally, we bring together the analysis of both fast and slow and a single proposition for designing for the circular economy and as a starting point for the work to be developed by the design researchers. We discuss synergies and trade offs between the approaches and suggest a middle ground for future investigation. Through this process we aim to generate insights about design that can be applied and tested by others. By reviewing current industry approaches and activity alongside academic design research, we propose a useful framework to demonstrate that the lens of speed can offer new opportunities towards a more sustainable industry.

Lululemon Athletica

The case traces the development of Lululemon Athletica (Lulu) from founder Chip Wilson's first post-yoga euphoria in 1997 through the sale of all his shares in 2015. Officially founded in 1998, Lulu was built on the foundation of its “miracle” figure-enhancing yoga pants made from a proprietary stretch fiber. The case outlines Wilson's early experience in technical performance wear, which gave him the expertise needed to launch the Lululemon brand with its premium-priced, fashion-designed product line targeted at upscale women. The case also highlights the retailing and promotion approach that drove Lulu's first decade of success. The snapshot of how the Lulu brand cult was born and diffused provides the backdrop for assessing whether the brand has already hit its peak or whether it can sustain the explosive growth that effectively created the athleisure category. To aid in this determination, the case presents two competitors as comparative foils (Under Armour and Athleta) to contextualize Lulu's growth prospects. The Lululemon case highlights the importance of the competitive frame of reference when positioning a brand and describes how this may differ for the three competitors. The case also allows for a discussion of the challenges of maintaining the congruence of a retail brand with a diverse product line. This struggle is unique to retailers who must fit ever-varied product assortments (not just a single product line) under the umbrella of a single brand proposition, and is particularly relevant to vertically integrated brands such as Lululemon.

Building a single proposition from imagistic and categorical components.

Bimodal bilingual language provides further evidence for the viewpoint advocated by Goldin-Meadow & Brentari (G-M&B) that sign, speech, and gesture work together to create a single proposition, illustrating the potential in each set of articulators for both imagistic and categorical components. Recent advances in formal semantics provide a framework for incorporating both imagistic and categorical components into a single compositional system.

Composing alternatives

There is a prominent line of work in natural language semantics, rooted in the work of Hamblin, in which the meaning of a sentence is not taken to be a single proposition, but rather a set of propositions—a set of alternatives. This allows for a more fine-grained view on meaning, which has led to improved analyses of a wide range of linguistic phenomena. However, this approach also faces a number of problems. We focus here on two of these, in our view the most fundamental ones. The first has to do with how meanings are composed, i.e., with the type-theoretic operations of function application and abstraction; the second has to do with how meanings are compared, i.e., the notion of entailment. Our aim is to reconcile what we take to be the essence of Hamblin’s proposal with the more orthodox type-theoretic framework rooted in the work of Montague in such a way that both the explanatory utility of the former and the solid formal foundations of the latter are preserved. Our proposal builds on insights from recent work on inquisitive semantics, and it also contributes to the further development of this framework by specifying how the inquisitive meaning of a sentence may be built up compositionally.

Cleft Sentences in Spoken Arabic of Iraq

This study is mainly concerned with cleft constructions as one of the grammatical devices used to highlight certain elements of the sentence or to emphasize a particular idea. The language user should be aware of the elements that can be highlighted and how he can highlight the proper element that serves to give the new information or the particular idea. It-cleft construction has been studied both as a focusing device and thematizing device. The construction is of interest in studies of information structure because it allows a speaker / writer to spread the information of a single proposition over two clauses and, consequently, two information units. It is normally assumed that the cleft construction is a means of steering the focus towards the clefted constituents. The it-cleft can have various types of phrases and clauses as its focus. This study adopts two models of analysis given by Halliday (1994) and Prince (1978) to explore the intricacies of spoken Arabic of Iraq. To the best of my knowledge this study has not been tackled yet; therefore; the present study is an attempt to fill such a gap.

Promoting Exports, Preventing Poverty: Toward a Causal Evidence Base

Near the climax of the Scientific Revolution, two influential theories in chemistry were put forward within five years of each other. In 1662, Robert Boyle proposed that the volume and pressure of gases are inversely proportional: decreasing the volume of an amount of gas pressurizes it predictably. Next, in 1667, Johann Joaquim Becher posited that all flammable substances contain the element terra pinguis , which he claimed is released during combustion. Georg Stahl later renamed the combustible element phlogiston . Both Boyle's and Becher's theories went on to profoundly affect the science and practice of chemistry for the next century. But only one of the ideas has survived: Boyle's Law remains a foundational principle of modern chemistry. On the other hand, Becher's terra pinguis/ phlogiston was definitively disproved by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier's closed experiments, reported in 1783, in which he demonstrated that burning requires oxygen and that solids sometimes gained mass when combusting. Yet for more than a century, chemists believed in phlogiston and used the idea to guide their work. As social scientists searching for remedies to global poverty, in some ways we find ourselves in a similar position as chemists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. David Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage, one of the most pivotal ideas in social science—the single economic proposition that Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson (⇓) asserted was both nontrivial and nonobvious—suggests that specialization and exchange might provide a powerful antidote to poverty. The mathematical proof is compelling. Most social scientists, indeed most educated people, believe it. But in combating global poverty, is Ricardo's Law like Boyle's Law? Or is it like phlogiston? The only way to know is through compelling empirical support. However, the causal evidence base for trade as an antipoverty strategy is scanty, at least so far. Observational evidence, capable of suggesting …

Nandao-Questions as a Special Kind of Rhetorical Questions

This paper addresses the syntax and semantics of a special kind of Rhetorical Questions (RQs) in Mandarin, i.e. questions with nandao (nandao-Q). Nandao-Qs necessarily have rhetorical question readings. To derive this, I propose that nandao is a WH-word which takes a question denoting a single proposition and turns it into a set with the complement proposition. This analysis differs significantly from earlier proposals for deriving RQ meanings as asserting the negation of the proposition denoted by its IP (cf. Sadock 1979, Han 2002, a.o.). The degenerate question nature of nandao-Q can explain why nandao-Q unlike Ordinary Questions (OQs) cannot be embedded under [+wh] selecting words like wen and zhidao.

Long-term semantic priming of propositions representing general knowledge

Abstract Six experiments investigated semantic priming of individual propositions that reflect common knowledge. Participants performed a sentence-completion task in which each sentence expressed a single proposition, and the same or similar proposition was expressed in prime-target sentence pairs that shared no words. The primary goal was to evaluate the degree to which long-lasting facilitation in primed target sentences reflected memory for abstract proposition meaning versus memory for the operations used to construct proposition meaning and select a response. Priming effects persisted over delays exceeding 15 min, were not attributable to explicit memory processes, did not depend on either repeated syntactic structure or response decision, and were greater than facilitation attributable to priming individual word meanings. In total, the evidence provides initial support for operation-independent, long-term semantic priming of propositions outside the context of connected discourse. This extends the empirical evidence for long-lasting facilitation that theories of semantic priming must explain.

Constitutional, Criminal, Civil

AbstractWith a view to elaborating a developmental theory of constitutionalism in the United States, this essay explores the relationship among constitutional, criminal, and civil law. It supports, with relevant case materials, a single proposition: civil litigants are afforded contested constitutional protections in federal court to the extent that the judges attribute an aspect of criminality to the underlying facts or issues in question. The essay tests this proposition in the areas of punitive damages, double jeopardy, and constitutional torts; discusses the mirroring of the stipulated pattern in legal maneuvering on constitutional issues; and briefly spells out its implications for the larger theory.