6,251 research outputs found
Process, System, Causality, and Quantum Mechanics, A Psychoanalysis of Animal Faith
We shall argue in this paper that a central piece of modern physics does not
really belong to physics at all but to elementary probability theory. Given a
joint probability distribution J on a set of random variables containing x and
y, define a link between x and y to be the condition x=y on J. Define the {\it
state} D of a link x=y as the joint probability distribution matrix on x and y
without the link. The two core laws of quantum mechanics are the Born
probability rule, and the unitary dynamical law whose best known form is the
Schrodinger's equation. Von Neumann formulated these two laws in the language
of Hilbert space as prob(P) = trace(PD) and D'T = TD respectively, where P is a
projection, D and D' are (von Neumann) density matrices, and T is a unitary
transformation. We'll see that if we regard link states as density matrices,
the algebraic forms of these two core laws occur as completely general theorems
about links. When we extend probability theory by allowing cases to count
negatively, we find that the Hilbert space framework of quantum mechanics
proper emerges from the assumption that all D's are symmetrical in rows and
columns. On the other hand, Markovian systems emerge when we assume that one of
every linked variable pair has a uniform probability distribution. By
representing quantum and Markovian structure in this way, we see clearly both
how they differ, and also how they can coexist in natural harmony with each
other, as they must in quantum measurement, which we'll examine in some detail.
Looking beyond quantum mechanics, we see how both structures have their special
places in a much larger continuum of formal systems that we have yet to look
for in nature.Comment: LaTex, 86 page
‘Framing the project’ of international human rights law: Reflections on the dysfunctional ‘family’ of the Universal Declaration
Full text embargoed until November 2013.The task of ‘framing the project’ of international human rights law is daunting to say the least. First, there is the sheer enormity and complexity of the international human rights law ‘project’: adequately mapping the subject and its key related issues is impossible in a whole book, let alone a short chapter. Secondly, it is daunting because of the sense of epistemic responsibility involved. Every framing inevitably involves selection – if not pre-selection – through the conscious (and/or unconscious) placing of focus upon features or factors considered to be significant and/or valuable. As Gitlin puts it, framing is a way of choosing, underlining and presenting ‘what exists, what happens and what matters’. In this sense, the founding document (or as Entman might put it, the inaugural ‘communicating text’) of international human rights law (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR) functions as a particularly potent form of framing, for it selects aspects of perceived reality, making them not just salient but symbolically central to the entire philosophical, moral, juridical order designated by the term ‘international human rights law’
Delegated causality of complex systems
A notion of delegated causality is introduced here. This subtle kind of causality is dual to interventional causality. Delegated causality elucidates the causal role of dynamical systems at the “edge of chaos”, explicates evident cases of downward causation, and relates emergent phenomena to Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. Apparently rich implications are noticed in biology and Chinese philosophy. The perspective of delegated causality supports cognitive interpretations of self-organization and evolution
Self-organization of polymers in bulk and at interfaces
Fully atomistic analysis of polymeric systems is computationally very demanding because the time and length scales involved span over several orders of magnitude. At the same time many properties of polymers are universal in the sense that they do not depend on the chemical nature of the comprising monomers. This makes coarse-grained methods, such as self-consistent field (SCF) modeling, an ideal tool for studying them. In this thesis we employ SCF modeling to study intra- and intermolecular self-organization organization of polymers and ordering of polymers near interfaces. Where possible, the results are compared to experiments and predictions of analytical theories
Engineering Automation for Reliable Software Interim Progress Report (10/01/2000 - 09/30/2001)
Prepared for: U.S. Army Research Office
P.O. Box 12211
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2211The objective of our effort is to develop a scientific basis for producing reliable
software that is also flexible and cost effective for the DoD distributed software domain.
This objective addresses the long term goals of increasing the quality of service provided
by complex systems while reducing development risks, costs, and time. Our work focuses on
"wrap and glue" technology based on a domain specific distributed prototype model. The key
to making the proposed approach reliable, flexible, and cost-effective is the automatic
generation of glue and wrappers based on a designer's specification. The "wrap and glue"
approach allows system designers to concentrate on the difficult interoperability problems
and defines solutions in terms of deeper and more difficult interoperability issues, while
freeing designers from implementation details. Specific research areas for the proposed
effort include technology enabling rapid prototyping, inference for design checking,
automatic program generation, distributed real-time scheduling, wrapper and glue
technology, and reliability assessment and improvement. The proposed technology will be
integrated with past research results to enable a quantum leap forward in the state of the
art for rapid prototyping.U. S. Army Research Office P.O. Box 12211 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-22110473-MA-SPApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited
A Virtual Reality Laboratory for Blended Learning Education: Design, Implementation and Evaluation
Launched during the pandemic, the EU-funded JANUS project aimed to ensure the continuity of student workshops at universities using a virtual reality (VR) robotics laboratory. With the return to normality, the project has been redesigned to capitalise on the positive outcomes of the experience. The VR lab provides safe and unrestricted access to the labs and experiments with the machines, reducing the consequences of student mistakes and improving the user experience by allowing the experiment to be repeated from different angles, some of which are impossible to access in the real lab. In addition, integration with an interactive learning platform called “ViLLE” allows for continuous assessment of the learning experience. Self-evaluation of the material taught and learned can be integrated with the execution of the exercises that pave the way for Kaizen. Two VR workshops for the blended learning of robotics were developed during the JANUS project. Their evaluation reported favourable responses from the students whose learning performance was indirectly measured
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