Making the Quantum of Relevance

Summary  The two Heisenberg Uncertainties (UR) entail an incompatibility between the two pairs of conjugated variables E, t and p, q. But incompatibility comes in two kinds, exclusive of one another. There is incompatibility defineable as: (p → − q) & (q→ − p) or defineable as [(p →− q) & (q →− p)] ↔ r. The former kind is unconditional, the latter conditional. The former, in accordance, is fact independent, and thus a matter of logic, the latter fact dependent, and thus a matter of fact. The two types are therefore diametrically opposed.In spite of this, however, the existing derivations of the Uncertainties are shown here to entail both types of incompatibility simultaneously. Δ E Δ t ≥ h is known to derive from the quantum relation E = hν plus the Fourier relation Δ ν Δ t ≥ 1. And the Fourier relation assigns a logical incompatibility between Δ ν = 0, Δ t = 0. (Defining a repetitive phenomenon at an instant t → 0 is a self contradictory notion.) An incompatibility, therefore, which is fact independent and unconditional. How can one reconcile this with the fact that Δ EΔ t exists if and only if h > 0, which latter supposition is a factual truth, entailing that a Δ E = 0, Δ t = 0 incompatibility should itself be fact dependent? Are we to say that E and t are unconditionally incompatible (via Δ ν Δ t ≥ 1) on condition that E = hν is at all true? Hence, as presently standing, the UR express a self-contradicting type of incompatibility.To circumvent this undesirable result, I reinterpret E = hν as relating the energy with a period. Though only one such period. And not with frequency literally. (It is false that E = ν . It is true that E = ν times the quantum.) In this way, the literal concept of frequency does not enter as before, rendering Δ ν Δ t ≥ 1 inapplicable. So the above noted contradiction disappears. Nevertheless, the Uncertainties are derived. If energy is only to be defined over a period, momentum only over a distance (formerly a wavelength) resulting during such period, thus yielding quantized action of dimensions Et = pq, then energies will become indefinite at instants, momenta indefinite at points, leading, as demanded, to (symmetric!) Δ E Δ t = Δ p Δ q ≥ h’s.     

Immigrant skill utilization in the Canadian labour market: Implications of human capital research

The quantitative significance of the underutilization of immigrant skills may be assessed, albeit imprecisely, in human-capital earnings analysis. Earnings deficits of immigrants may arise from: (a) lower immigrant skill quality, (b) underutilization of immigrant skills, and (c) pay inequities for immigrants doing the same work as native-born Canadians. Consistent with numerous studies, data from the 1996 census micro-data show that underutilization of immigrant skills is significant, though less so than unequal pay within occupations. In 1996 dollars, the total annual immigrant earnings deficit from all three sources was 15.0 billion, of which15.0 billion, of which 2.4 billion was related to skill underutilization, and 12.6 billion was related to pay inequity. Discussion considers adjustments to these estimates, taking account of difficulties measuring the skill levels of occupations and immigrant skill quality. < /div > < div class=Äbstract» < a name=Äbs2» < /a > La signification quantitative de la sous-utilisation des qualifications immigrées peut être évaluée, quoique sans précision, dans l￠analyse humain-capitale de revenus. Les déficits de revenus des immigrés peuvent surgir de: (a) la qualité immigrée inférieure de compétence, (b) sous-utilisation des qualifications immigrées, et (c) injustices de salaire pour des immigrés faisant la même chose fonctionnent les Canadiens indigènesoutenus. Conformé aux nombreuses études, données des micro-données 1996 de recensement prouvent que la sous-utilisation des qualifications immigrées est significative, cependant moins ainsi que le salaire 


 112.6 billion was related to pay inequity. Discussion considers adjustments to these estimates, taking account of difficulties measuring the skill levels of occupations and immigrant skill quality.     

Maximum likelihood estimation of the joint covariance matrix for sections of tests given to distinct samples with application to test equating

Consider an old testX consisting ofs sections and two new testsY andZ similar toX consisting ofp andq sections respectively. All subjects are given testX plus two variable sections from either testY orZ. Different pairings of variable sections are given to each subsample of subjects. We present a method of estimating the covariance matrix of the combined test (X ₁, ...,X _s ,Y ₁, ...,Y _p ,Z ₁, ...,Z _q ) and describe an application of these estimation techniques to linear, observed-score, test equating.The author is indebted to Paul W. Holland and Donald B. Rubin for their encouragement and many helpful comments and suggestions that contributed significantly to the development of this paper.This research was supported by the Program Statistics Research Project of the ETS Research Statistics Group.     

Knowledge despite falsehood

I examine the claim, made by some authors, that we sometimes acquire knowledge from falsehood. I focus on two representative cases in which a subject S infers a proposition q from a false proposition p. If S knows that q, I argue, S's false belief that p is not essential to S's cognition. S's knowledge is instead due to S's belief that p′, a proposition in the neighbourhood of p that S (dispositionally) believes (and knows). S thus knows despite her false belief. The widely accepted and plausible principle that inferential knowledge requires known premises is unscathed.     

A simplification of a result by zellini on the maximal rank of symmetric three-way arrays

Zellini (1979, Theorem 3.1) has shown how to decompose an arbitrary symmetric matrix of ordern ×n as a linear combination of 1/2n(n+1) fixed rank one matrices, thus constructing an explicit tensor basis for the set of symmetricn ×n matrices. Zellini's decomposition is based on properties of persymmetric matrices. In the present paper, a simplified tensor basis is given, by showing that a symmetric matrix can also be decomposed in terms of 1/2n(n+1) fixed binary matrices of rank one. The decomposition implies that ann ×n ×p array consisting ofp symmetricn ×n slabs has maximal rank 1/2n(n+1). Likewise, an unconstrained INDSCAL (symmetric CANDECOMP/PARAFAC) decomposition of such an array will yield a perfect fit in 1/2n(n+1) dimensions. When the fitting only pertains to the off-diagonal elements of the symmetric matrices, as is the case in a version of PARAFAC where communalities are involved, the maximal number of dimensions can be further reduced to 1/2n(n–1). However, when the saliences in INDSCAL are constrained to be nonnegative, the tensor basis result does not apply. In fact, it is shown that in this case the number of dimensions needed can be as large asp, the number of matrices analyzed.     

An intensional epistemic logic

One of the fundamental properties inclassical equational reasoning isLeibniz's principle of substitution. Unfortunately, this propertydoes not hold instandard epistemic logic. Furthermore,Herbrand's lifting theorem which isessential to thecompleteness ofresolution andParamodulation in theclassical first order logic (FOL), turns out to be invalid in standard epistemic logic. In particular, unlike classical logic, there is no skolemization normal form for standard epistemic logic. To solve these problems, we introduce anintensional epistemic logic, based on avariation of Kripke's possible-worlds semantics that need not have a constant domain. We show how a weaker notion of substitution through indexed terms can retain the Herbrand theorem. We prove how the logic can yield a satisfibility preserving skolemization form. In particular, we present an intensional principle for unifing indexed terms. Finally, we describe asound andcomplete inference system for a Horn subset of the logic withequality, based onepistemic SLD-resolution.     

The adequacy of the theories of deductive systems with respect to sentential calculi

Summary The sentential calculiR, under discussion, are axiomatizable and implication is among their primitive terms. The modus ponens and the rule of substitution are their primitive rules. ByS _r is denoted the set of sentences obtained from the formulae of the calculusR by substituting sentences of a given language for all variables. The variablesx, y, z ... represent the elements of the setS _r , the variablesX, Y, Z ... represent the subsets ofS _R . The formulacxy designates an implication withx as its antecedent andy as its consequent,cxy is always an element ofS _R δ(X) means, thatX is closed with respect to the modus ponens rule.A _R designates the class of allS _R -substitutions of the axioms of the sentential calculusR.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Lester L. Grabbe (ed), Can a History of Israel be Written? Michael Prior (ed), Western Scholarship and the History of Palestine Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary A. Rendsburg, The Bible and the Ancient Near East Tilde Binger, Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament Ben Witherington The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus Robert Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas (New Testament Readings) Moshe Halbertal, People of the Book: Canon, Meaning and Authority William J. Abraham, Canon and Criterion in Christian Theology: From the Fathers to Feminism Roger Haight, Jesus: Symbol of God Raymund Schwager, translated by James G. Williams and Paul Haddon, Jesus in the Drama of Salvation: Towards a Biblical Doctrine of Redemption Raymund Schwager, translated by James G. Williams, Jesus of Nazareth: How He Understood His Life A. E. McGrath, Historical Theology. An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought C. Markschies, Between Two Worlds: Structures of Earliest Christianity Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius: The Coherence of his Thought Leonard P. Hindsley, The Mystics of Engelthal: Writings from a Medieval Monastery Kent Emery, Jr., and Joseph Wawrykow (eds), Christ among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in the Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ (Studies in Spirituality and Theology 5) Pat Collins, Spirituality for the 21st Century: Christian Living in a Secular Age Timothy O'Connell, Making Disciples Gordon Lathrop, Holy People: A Liturgical Ecclesiology Stratford Caldecott (ed), Beyond the Prosaic: Renewing the Liturgical Movement Michael Hurley, Christian Unity: An Ecumenical Second Spring? John M. Riddle, Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West J. Davies, Death, Burial and Rebirth in the Religions of Antiquity Simon Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks Karsten Friis Johansen, A History of Ancient Philosophy from the Beginnings to Augustine A. A. Long (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy C. C. W. Taylor, The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus: Fragments Gail Fine (ed), Oxford Readings in Philosophy: Plato. Vol. 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology, Vol. 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion and the Soul Noburu Notomi, The Unity of Plato's ‘Sophist’: Between the ‘Sophist’ and the ‘Philosopher’ Helen S. Lang, The Order of Nature in Aristotle's The Order of Nature in Aristotle's ‘Physics’ M. S. Kempshall, The Common Good in Late Medieval Political Thought Giordano Bruno. Edited and translated by Richard J. Blackwell and Robert de Lucca, Cause, Principle and Unity – And Essays on Magic     

A new puzzle about belief and credence

I present a puzzle about belief and credence, which takes the form of three independently supported views that are mutually inconsistent. The first is the view that S has a modal belief that p (e.g., S believes that probably-p) if and only if S has a corresponding credence that p. The second is the view that S believes that p only if S has some credence that p. The third is the view that, possibly, S believes that p without a modal belief that p. [Word Count: 85]     

The relationship of moral value evaluation with externalizing behaviour across value areas in adolescents

Recent studies have shown that higher levels of moral value evaluation (i.e., the attribution of importance to moral values) are consistently correlated with less externalizing behaviour in adolescents. The current study further investigates this relationship in a community sample of adolescents (N = 216, 100 males, M_AGE = 15.2, SD_AGE = 1.3), while differentiating between value areas (i.e., clusters of affiliated values: contract, truth andaffiliation; life and property, lawandlegal justice) and between delinquent and antisocial behaviour. Higher levels of moral value evaluation for the property, lawandlegal justice area were associated with less delinquent and antisocial behaviour, while controlling for gender and age. Contrastingly, the area contract, truthand affiliation was not associated with delinquent or antisocial behaviour, and life was positively associated with antisocial behaviour. Implications for the nature of moral value evaluation and previous research are discussed.     

The ontologicalization of the Confucian concept of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xin Xing</Emphasis>: Zhou Lianxi’s founding contribution to the Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism

The Confucian concept of “cheng” (integrity) emphasizes logical priority of value realization over “zhen shi” (reality or truth). Through value realization and the completion of being, zhenshi can be achieved. Cheng demonstrates the original unity of value and reality. Taking the concept of cheng as the core, Zhou Lianxi’s philosophy interpreted yi Dao (the Dao of change), and integrated Yi Jing (The Book of Changes) and Zhong Yong (The Doctrine of the Mean). On the one hand, it ontologicalized the Confucian concept of xin xing (mind nature), and proved and established the significance of Dao ti (the ontological Dao) as the principle and origin of the utmost goodness. On the other hand, it also extended the significance of value realization to the process of qi hua (transformation of qi) and transformation of myriad things. He proved li yi (the One Principle) of Dao ti from its many manifestations and established his own metaphysical system. Zhou Lianxi’s philosophy sets up a new theoretical direction for the Song-Ming Confucians to reconstruct Confucian Metaphysics. __________ Translated from Beijing Shifan Daxue Xuebao (Journal of Beijing Normal University)(Social Sciences Edition), Vol. 186, 2004 (6) by Yan Xin     

Self‐ and cross‐citations in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior: 2004‐2018

We examined self‐ and cross‐citations in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) and the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) from 2004 through 2018. Mean annual levels of self‐citations for JABA and JEAB were 40.1% and 28.7%, respectively. Overall, 5.1% of JABA citations were JEAB articles, and 2.3% of JEAB citations were JABA articles. Although overall cross‐citation levels were relatively low, 28.7% of the JABA articles reviewed had at least one JEAB citation, and 27.5% of the JEAB articles reviewed had at least one JABA citation. Authors in both journals cited articles addressing the topics of matching and motivating operations. The extent to which the basic and applied sectors of behavior analysis interact depends on how the interaction is measured. Nonetheless, the degree of interaction is growing, which is a good thing for the discipline.     

Asymmetrical Analogical Arguments

Analogies must be symmetric. If a is like b, then b is like a. So if a has property R, and if R is within the scope of the analogy, then b (probably) has R. However, analogical arguments generally single out, or depend upon, only one of a or b to serve as the basis for the inference. In this respect, analogical arguments are directed by an asymmetry. I defend the importance of this neglected – even when explicitly mentioned – feature in understanding analogical arguments.     

Development and Evaluation of a Decision Aid About Prenatal Testing for Women of Advanced Maternal Age

Objective: To develop and evaluate a decision aid designed to prepare patients of advanced maternal age for counseling about prenatal diagnostic testing. Setting: A regional genetics center. Design: A before/after study. Interventions: Participants used an audioguided workbook to learn about options and outcomes and to clarify personal risks, values, questions, and predispositions. Subjects: 21 women of advanced maternal age and 17 spouses. Main outcome measures: Knowledge of prenatal testing alternatives, decisional conflict, level of anxiety, and acceptability of the decision aid. Results: After using the decision aid, participants had significantly reduced decisional conflict (uncertainty) and a significant increase in knowledge. There was no effect on state or trait anxiety. More than three-quarters of participants were satisfied with the length, clarity, balance, and acceptability of the decision aid. Conclusions: The decision aid shows promise as a useful aid for preparing couples for counseling.     

The mental representation of causal conditional reasoning: mental models or causal models

In this paper, two experiments are reported investigating the nature of the cognitive representations underlying causal conditional reasoning performance. The predictions of causal and logical interpretations of the conditional diverge sharply when inferences involving pairs of conditionals—such as if P₁then Q and if P₂then Q—are considered. From a causal perspective, the causal direction of these conditionals is critical: are the P_icauses of Q; or symptoms caused byQ. The rich variety of inference patterns can naturally be modelled by Bayesian networks. A pair of causal conditionals where Q is an effect corresponds to a “collider” structure where the two causes (P_i) converge on a common effect. In contrast, a pair of causal conditionals where Q is a cause corresponds to a network where two effects (P_i) diverge from a common cause. Very different predictions are made by fully explicit or initial mental models interpretations. These predictions were tested in two experiments, each of which yielded data most consistent with causal model theory, rather than with mental models.     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed: Idolatry and Representation: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig Reconsidered by Leora Batnitzky (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000) x + 281 pp.
Reviewed by Charles T. Mathewes
Department of Religious Studies
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904‐4126
SA Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition by Hans Boersma (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2004) + 288 pp.
Reviewed by Gladstone H. Stevens, S.S.
St. Mary's Seminary and University
5400 Roland Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21210
USA The Creativity of God: World, Eucharist, Reason by Oliver Davies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) xi + 210 pp.
Reviewed by Matthew Levering
Ave Maria University
1025 Commons Circle
Naples, Florida 34119
USA Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity by Larry W. Hurtado (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003) xxii + 745 pp.
Reviewed by Stephen Fowl
Department of Theology
Loyola College in Maryland
4501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
USA Culture and the Thomist Tradition after Vatican II by Tracey Rowland (London and New York: Routledge, 2003) xiv + 226 pp.
Reviewed by Joseph Wawrykow
Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana
46556
USA Spinoza's Revelation: Religion, Democracy, and Reason by Nancy K. Levene (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) xxii + 256pp.
Reviewed by Martin Kavka
Department of Religion
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306‐1520
USA Religion and the Domestication of Dissent: Or How to Live in a Less than Perfect Nation by Russell T. McCutcheon (London: Equinox, 2005) xi + 123 pp.
Reviewed by Stefan Skrimshire
75 Rockdove Avenue
Hulme
Manchester
M15 5EH
UK Furthering Humanity: A Theology of Culture by Timothy Gorringe (Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2004) vi + 283 pp.
Reviewed by J. Matthew Ashley
Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
USA Flannery O’Connor and the Christ‐Haunted South by Ralph C. Wood (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004) xii + 272 pp.
Reviewed by Frederick C. Bauerschmidt
Department of Theology
Loyola College
4501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
USA     

Informative Aboutness

Pretheoretically, (B) ‘all believers are immortal’ is about all believers, but (1) B is not about any unbeliever. Similarly, (M) ‘all mortals are unbelievers’ is not about any immortal, but (2) M is about all mortals. But B and M are logically equivalent universal generalizations, so arguably they are about exactly the same objects; by (2), they are about those mortals who are unbelievers, contradicting (1). If one responds by giving up (1), is there still a sense in which B treats unbelievers differently from believers? I argue that there is. B is uninformative about unbelievers but informative about believers, in the following sense: for any object o, the information that B provides only about o—namely, ‘o is a believer only if o is immortal’—is entailed (and thus rendered redundant) by ‘o is an unbeliever’ but not by ‘o is a believer’.     

A necessity illusion for modal inferences from conditionals

Three experiments examined how people reason about what is possible or necessary when a conditional is true. Participants were asked to indicate whether it was necessary, possible or impossible for a specific instance to conform to one of the truth-table cases (pq, p¬q, ¬pq and ¬p¬q) (¬ = not), given the truth of the conditional. It was found that most participants, inconsistently, judged the pq case as necessary but the ¬pq or ¬p¬q cases as possible. Logically, these two kinds of judgments are contradictory. Moreover, a true conditional doesn’t imply that a specific instance under the conditional must be pq . Therefore, people demonstrate a necessity illusion for pq cases which contradicts their commitment to the possibility of ¬pq or ¬p¬q cases. Existing accounts of conditionals are unable to explain the contradiction and the necessity illusion. We propose an inference dissociation account and explore the theoretical implications of this necessity illusion.     

Be-ing (you 有) and non-be-ing (wu 無) in the Dao De Jing

This essay questions the meaning of be-ing (you 有) and non-be-ing (wu 無) in the DDJ with regard to the root-source (benyuan 本源) meaning of dao. I first explore the meaning of dao as the dark non-be-ing, revealing the connotations of the distinction between dao and things (daowuqufen 道物區分) by comparison with some forms of Western metaphysics. The meaning of non-be-ing is elaborated in terms of the dynamic meanings of xu 虚 and chong 沖; The play between be-ing and non-be-ing is explored through the lens of yin and yang qi thinking. Qi thinking determines the mutually manifest and mutually interpretive characteristic of be-ing and non-be-ing. Be-ing and non-be-ing thus understood is an ever-flowing and mutually transforming process that penetrates the different levels of dao, things and humans. In the last part I investigate the meaning of “Be-ing comes from non-be-ing”.     

Differential Method of Characterizing Gait Strategies From Step Lengths and Frequencies: Strategy of Velocity Modulation

The differential method consists of the analysis of the variation of gait parameters length, frequency, and velocity with respect to their mean values, respectively, ΔL = L — L_m , Δf = f — f_m , and Δv = v – v_m , where L_m , f_m , and v_m represent the mean values of those parameters. Assuming that the strategy of modulation of velocity implies that L and f are functions of v and that statistical analyses of ratios ΔL/Δv and Δf/Δv have established that there is a very significant linear correlation, close to 1, between those ratios, the mathematical procedure allows one to determine the equation of step length, L = a · f + b · v + K, where a and b are the slope and the intercept of the linear regression and K is close to L_m . The equation was experimentally tested on 140 gait sequences performed by 6 participants and for gait velocities ranging from 0.6 to 2.2 m/s and was found to be very representative of all individual values. The differential method provides another way of using the derivative of velocity, v = L·f, to characterize the strategy of velocity modulation, which then permits one to determine the linear equation of velocity, v = f · L_m + L · f_m — L_m · f_m , and to show that the respective parts played by each parameter in the progression velocity are approximately equal. The author establishes the uniqueness of the different linear adjustments and discusses the differential method's own modes of use, that is, interindividually or globally.