The Timaeus on Types of Duration

published or submitted for publicatio

Plato's Phaedo: Selected Papers From the Eleventh Symposium Platonicum

The paper deals with the "deuteros plous", literally ‘the second voyage’, proverbially ‘the next best way’, discussed in Plato’s "Phaedo", the key passage being Phd. 99e4–100a3. The second voyage refers to what Plato’s Socrates calls his “flight into the logoi”. Elaborating on the subject, the author first (I) provides a non-standard interpretation of the passage in question, and then (II) outlines the philosophical problem that it seems to imply, and, finally, (III) tries to apply this philosophical problem to the "ultimate final proof" of immortality and to draw an analogy with the ontological argument for the existence of God, as proposed by Descartes in his 5th "Meditation". The main points are as follows: (a) the “flight into the logoi” can have two different interpretations, a common one and an astonishing one, and (b) there is a structural analogy between Descartes’s ontological argument for the existence of God in his 5th "Meditation" and the "ultimate final proof" for the immortality of the soul in the "Phaedo"

The Argument for Immortality in Plato\u27s Phaedrus

The Phaedrus seems to be saying that soul is the cause of all movement in an organized world, a world measurable by Time. In a non-organized world not measurable by Time one can wonder whether the movement in question has anything to do with this. At this stage words start to break down under the strain. Plato is compelled to give some description of the pre-cosmic chaos, and talk of movement in such a world is no more and no less intelligible than phrases like \u27before this\u27 (53a8) in the same passage, when Time has been admitted to be absent. Plato, as far as I can see, is dealing in two instances with two completely different types of motion, the one accepted and universally admitted, and operating in an organized world of temporal succession, the other a pis aller trying to describe a reality in every sense different. If this analysis is correct, there seems no reason to reproach Plato here with lack of logic, though on points of clarity he may leave a lot to be desired

Scalable Multi-objective Task Allocation, Planning, and Learning in Multiagent Systems

Robotic decision making in multiagent systems is becoming more popular with rapidly advancing technology, where these systems are broadly applicable in many relevant domains including manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, transportation, and space exploration. For instance, multi-robot systems are used in smart manufacturing to automate complex precision tasks. These robots use decision-making algorithms to optimise the assembly process, reduce errors, and improve quality control This thesis focuses on a problem domain where a team of loosely coupled agents cooperate to complete a set of tasks in a stochastic environment. Each task is allocated to an agent who will compute, or learn a scheduler (i.e. policy) that controls its actions in a temporal order, often required to execute the task legally. Agents will also endeavour to meet a set of constraints for possible conflicting multiple-objectives. The well recognised problem of global task allocation and independent task completion manifests the intersection between multiagent planning, learning, task allocation and multi-objective optimisation. This thesis aims at developing novel formal, probabilistic verification and learning approaches. Additionally, this thesis contributes novel implementations, which can efficiently solve the common problem domain of this PhD study. The three key challenges addressed in this thesis are: (1) scaling to accommodate a significant number of agents and tasks, incorporating sufficiently rich models; (2) accuracy and effectiveness of task allocation solutions; and (3) the intuitive (human level) interpretation of solutions

The Dissoi Logoi 4, 5 and 6

Translation, with comments, of Dissoi Logoi 4, 5, and 6, based on a new edition of the text

The Theodicy of the Timaeus

I suggest that any explanation of the Demiurge that has a chance of being correct must take into account the fact that he is invariably described in non-contingent terms, and the entities to which many have wished to reduce him (the world’s soul, or the rationality within it) in invariably and unambiguously contingent terms. This holds true despite Timaeus’s readiness to speak without apparent qualm of the Demiurge as either a father or a craftsman or both, or even - after the manner of Anaxagoras - to talk of him on occasion simply as Reason; whatever the variants in the overall description of him, nothing is ever said to detract from the basic assertion that he is the world’s non-contingent rational orderer, and qua rational also of course himself ensouled. To that degree he is the first instance of that psychic self-movement which in the Phaedrus Plato will later argue to be a feature of all rational soul

Altered sleep and EEG power in the P301S Tau transgenic mouse model

OBJECTIVE: Sleep disturbances are prevalent in human tauopathies yet despite the importance of sleep, little is known about its relationship with tau pathology. Here, we investigate this interaction by analyzing sleep and tau pathology throughout tauopathy disease progression in P301S human tau transgenic mice. METHODS: P301S and wild‐type mice were analyzed by electroencephalography (EEG)/electromyography at 3, 6, 9, and 11 months of age for sleep/wake time, EEG power, and homeostatic response. Cortical volume and tau pathology was also assessed by anti‐phospho‐tau AT8 staining. RESULTS: P301S tau mice had significantly decreased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep at 9 months of age and decreased REM and non‐REM (NREM) sleep as well as increased wakefulness at 11 months. Sleep loss was characterized by fewer wake, REM, and NREM bouts, increased wake bout duration, and decreased sleep bout duration. Decreased REM and NREM sleep was associated with increased brainstem tau pathology in the sublaterodorsal area and parafacial zone, respectively. P301S mice also showed increased EEG power at 6 and 9 months of age and decreased power at 11 months. Decreased EEG power was associated with decreased cortical volume. Despite sleep disturbances, P301S mice maintained homeostatic response to sleep deprivation. INTERPRETATION: Our results indicate that tau pathology is associated with sleep disturbances that worsen with age and these changes may be related to tau pathology in brainstem sleep regulating regions as well as neurodegeneration. Tau‐induced sleep changes could affect disease progression and be a marker for therapeutic efficacy in this and other tauopathy models

Testing self-report time-use diaries against objective instruments in real time

This study provides a new test of time-use diary methodology, comparing diaries with a pair of objective criterion measures: wearable cameras and accelerometers. A volunteer sample of respondents (n = 148) completed conventional self-report paper time-use diaries using the standard UK Harmonised European Time Use Study (HETUS) instrument. On the diary day, respondents wore a camera that continuously recorded images of their activities during waking hours (approximately 1,500–2,000 images/day) and also an accelerometer that tracked their physical activity continuously throughout the 24-hour period covered by the diary. Of the initial 148 participants recruited, 131 returned usable diary and camera records, of whom 124 also provided a usable whole-day accelerometer record. The comparison of the diary data with the camera and accelerometer records strongly supports the use of diary methodology at both the aggregate (sample) and individual levels. It provides evidence that time-use data could be used to complement physical activity questionnaires for providing population-level estimates of physical activity. It also implies new opportunities for investigating techniques for calibrating metabolic equivalent of task (MET) attributions to daily activities using large-scale, population-representative time-use diary studies