53,704 research outputs found
Quantum Mechanics on Spacetime I: Spacetime State Realism
What ontology does realism about the quantum state suggest? The main extant
view in contemporary philosophy of physics is wave-function realism. We
elaborate the sense in which wave-function realism does provide an ontological
picture; and defend it from certain objections that have been raised against
it. However, there are good reasons to be dissatisfied with wave-function
realism, as we go on to elaborate. This motivates the development of an
opposing picture: what we call spacetime state realism; a view which takes the
states associated to spacetime regions as fundamental. This approach enjoys a
number of beneficial features, although, unlike wave-function realism, it
involves non-separability at the level of fundamental ontology. We investigate
the pros and cons of this non-separability, arguing that it is a quite
acceptable feature; even one which proves fruitful in the context of
relativistic covariance. A companion paper discusses the prospects for
combining a spacetime-based ontology with separability, along lines suggested
by Deutsch and HaydenComment: LaTeX; 29 pages, 1 Fig. Forthcoming in the British Journal for the
Philosophy of Scienc
Context modeling and constraints binding in web service business processes
Context awareness is a principle used in pervasive services
applications to enhance their exibility and adaptability to
changing conditions and dynamic environments. Ontologies
provide a suitable framework for context modeling and reasoning. We develop a context model for executable business processes { captured as an ontology for the web services domain. A web service description is attached to a service context profile, which is bound to the context ontology. Context instances can be generated dynamically at services runtime and are bound to context constraint services. Constraint services facilitate both setting up constraint properties and constraint checkers, which determine the dynamic validity of context instances. Data collectors focus on capturing context instances. Runtime integration of both constraint services and data collectors permit the business process to achieve dynamic business goals
Revising the UMLS Semantic Network
The integration of standardized biomedical terminologies into a single, unified knowledge representation system has formed a key area of applied informatics research in recent years. The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) is the most advanced and most prominent effort in this direction, bringing together within its Metathesaurus a large number of distinct source-terminologies. The UMLS Semantic Network, which is designed to support the integration of these source-terminologies, has proved to be a highly successful combination of formal coherence and broad scope. We argue here, however, that its organization manifests certain structural problems, and we describe revisions which we believe are needed if the network is to be maximally successful in realizing its goals of
supporting terminology integration
The GRA Beam-Splitter Experiments and Particle-Wave Duality of Light
Grangier, Roger and Aspect (GRA) performed a beam-splitter experiment to
demonstrate the particle behaviour of light and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer
experiment to demonstrate the wave behaviour of light. The distinguishing
feature of these experiments is the use of a gating system to produce near
ideal single photon states. With the demonstration of both wave and particle
behaviour (in two mutually exclusive experiments) they claim to have
demonstrated the dual particle-wave behaviour of light and hence to have
confirmed Bohr's principle of complementarity. The demonstration of the wave
behaviour of light is not in dispute. But we want to demonstrate, contrary to
the claims of GRA, that their beam-splitter experiment does not conclusively
confirm the particle behaviour of light, and hence does not confirm
particle-wave duality, nor, more generally, does it confirm complementarity.
Our demonstration consists of providing a detailed model based on the Causal
Interpretation of Quantum Fields (CIEM), which does not involve the particle
concept, of GRA's which-path experiment. We will also give a brief outline of a
CIEM model for the second, interference, GRA experiment.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure
On perception and ontology in the context of subjectivity and modern physics
I argue that our direct experience and some physical facts do not go well with an understanding of perception as a mechanism producing a representation of a ''truly'' outer world. Instead, it is much more coherent to treat what is traditionally considered an image in this context as a closed structure equipped in its own ontology, replacing the ''truly'' outer one from the point of view of an agent possessing it. In such a framework, the notion of existence is taken to be defined by consciousness in a way similar to qualia, making it subjective on the one hand, and reducing it to a tool on the other. This implies, in turn, that we need a form of mind-brain dualism; the best we can do in such circumstances about explaining consciousness as an epistemic device - a role intuitively imposing itself in a variety of situations - is to embed it in an abstract ontology merely serving the purpose of a ''true'' reality with the help of the mind-brain link. Obviously, the approach favors subjectivity as a foundation in the ontological sense. Objectivity is considered here only as a suitably understood product from an ''observer's'' point of view, although a functional and useful one.
The paper is addressed to readers with interest in both the mind-body problem and ontological foundations of present-day physics, specifically quantum theory. The main conclusion can be absorbed without the quantum part, although it is a bit less convincing then
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