Restricted Coding and Betting

One of the fundamental themes in the study of computability theory are oracle computations, i.e. the coding of one infinite binary sequence into another. A coding process where the prefixes of the coded sequence are coded such that the length difference of the coded and the coding prefix is bounded by a constant is known as cl-reducibility. This reducibility has received considerable attention over the last two decades due to its interesting degree structure and because it exhibits strong connections with algorithmic randomness. In the first part of this dissertation, we study a slightly relaxed version of cl-reducibility where the length difference is required to be bounded by some specific nondecreasing computable function~$h$. We show that in this relaxed model some of the classical results about cl-reducibility still hold in case the function $h$ grows slowly, at certain particular rates. Examples are the Yu-Ding theorem, which states that there is a pair of left-c.e. sequences that cannot be coded simultaneously by any left-c.e. sequence, as well as the Barmpalias-Lewis theorem that states that there is a left-c.e. sequence which cannot be coded by any random left-c.e. sequence. In case the bounding function~$h$ grows too fast, both results don't hold anymore. Betting strategies, which can be formulated equivalently in terms of martingales, are one of the main tools in the area of algorithmic randomness. A betting strategy is usually determined by two factors, the guessed outcome at every stage and the wager on it. In the second part of this dissertation we study betting strategies where one of these factors is restricted. First we study single-sided strategies, where the guessed outcome either is always 0 or is always 1. For computable strategies we show that single-sided strategies and usual strategies have the same power for winning, whereas the latter does not hold for strongly left-c.e. strategies, which are mixtures of computable strategies, even if we extend the class of single-sided strategies to the more general class of decidably-sided strategies. Finally, we study the case where the wagers are forced to have a certain granularity, i.e. must be multiples of some not necessarily constant betting unit. For usual strategies, wins can always be assumed to have the two following properties (a) ‘win with arbitrarily small initial capital’ and (b) ‘win by saving’. In a setting of variable granularity, where the betting unit shrinks over stages, we study how the shrinking rates interact with these two properties. We show that if the granularity shrinks fast, at certain particular rates,for such granular strategies both properties are preserved. For slower rates of shrinking, we show that neither property is preserved completely, however, a weaker version of property (a) still holds. In order to investigate property (b) in this case, we consider more restricted strategies where in addition the wager is bounded from above

The Message is Murder

The Message is Murder analyses the violence bound up in the everyday functions of digital media. At its core is the concept of 'computational capital' - the idea that capitalism itself is a computer, turning qualities into quantities, and that the rise of digital culture and technologies under capitalism should be seen as an extension of capitalism's bloody logic. Engaging with Borges, Turing, Claude Shannon, Hitchcock and Marx, this book tracks computational capital to reveal the lineages of capitalised power as it has restructured representation, consciousness and survival in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Ultimately The Message is Murder makes the case for recognising media communications across all platforms - books, films, videos, photographs and even language itself - as technologies of political economy, entangled with the social contexts of a capitalism that is inherently racial, gendered and genocidal

The end of stigma? Understanding the dynamics of legitimisation in the context of TV series consumption

This research contributes to prior work on stigmatisation by looking at stigmatisation and legitimisation as social processes in the context of TV series consumption. Using in-depth interviews, we show that the dynamics of legitimisation are complex and accompanied by the reproduction of existing stigmas and creation of new stigmas

Biological Mechanisms Underlying Physical Fitness and Sports Performance

The concept of mechanism in biology has three distinct meanings. It may refer to a philosophical thesis about the nature of life and biology, to the internal workings of a machine-like structure, or to the causal explanation of a particular phenomenon. In this Special Issue, we try to discuss these possible biological mechanisms that underlie the beneficial effects of physical fitness and sports performance, as well their importance and role/influences on physical health.Despite the significant body of knowledge regarding the physiological and physical effects of different training methods (based on dimensions of load), some of the biological causes for those changes are still unknown. Additionally, few studies have focused on the natural biological variability in humans and how specific properties of humans may justify different effects for the same training intervention. Thus, more original research is needed to provide plausible biological mechanisms that may explain the physiological and physical effects of exercise and training in humans.In this Special Issue, we gather the contributions that describe and list the links between physical fitness, sports performance, and human biology

The Derivative Condition: A Present Inquiry into the History of Futures

The thesis revisits the innovations that have reshaped financial markets since the 1970s in order to access their contemporary efficacy in shaping the space-time of the market as well as those of politics and social relations. The future emerges today within a derivative paradigm – the implementation of data-intensive, algorithmic processes based on scientific modelling and mathematical equations that allow the dynamic recalibration of contingent claims at present. Financial markets are exposed to volatility, which corresponds to uncertainty. Risk, defined as “measurable uncertainty” (Knight, 10921), is the powerful tool that keeps the complex circulation of leveraged capital operating (primarily by applying probability calculus to random or historic data). The promise of history succumbs to a quantitative archive of data whose “sense” is to produce claims on probable futures at present. The thesis argues that the derivative paradigm by the power given to financial markets has effectively been re-orienting not only market relations but social relations as well. As this derivative condition includes every underlying and derivative (all expectations traded) in their complex and volatile interrelation, the market regime – both embodying and exceeding the neoliberal framework– expands the derivative paradigm into society and the contingent becoming of subjectivities. While the thesis proposes a critique of the derivative condition, the practice part explores the “aesthetics of resolution.” This postdisciplinary project works through the semantic field of the term – from visualization technologies to knowledge-production to decision-making – in order to propose an expanded and radical form of artistic engagement. The question for both the theoretical and the practice part is whether derivatives are a technology and ultimately not confined to capitalism. Can they serve the needs and desires within complex societies? Can they help us decide which risks we should avoid and which risks we can embrace for the common good