Quantum Penny Flip game with unawareness

Games with unawareness model strategic situations in which players' perceptions about the game are limited. They take into account the fact that the players may be unaware of some of the strategies available to them or their opponents as well as the players may have a restricted view about the number of players participating in the game. The aim of the research is to introduce this notion into theory of quantum games. We shall focus on PQ Penny Flip game introduced by D. Meyer. We shall formalize the previous results and consider other cases of unawareness in the game

Florida Undergraduate Research Conference

FURC serves as a multi-disciplinary conference through which undergraduate students from the state of Florida can present their research. February 16-17, 2024https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/university_events/1006/thumbnail.jp

Seeking the enlightened self: a sociological study of popular teachings about spiritual enlightenment

This is a study of self and authority in the popular spiritual field. Since Heelas's The New Age Movement (1996), the notion of a common Self-spirituality in which seekers trust the authority of the Self has been familiar within academe. Yet, contrary to the direction of Heelas's earlier work on indigenous psychologies and self-religions, the different ways participants conceive terms like seeker and self has largely escaped analysis. This omission allows scholars to homogenise diverse activities and portray broad cultural trends. But, it also black boxes the self, side-lines how authority actually works, and obscures conflicts between participants. I address such gaps by examining four international enlightenment cultures, each with a guru (Andrew Cohen; Gangaji; Tony Parsons; and Steven Saunders of Holigral ). Research materials include field experiences, recorded events, and participants printed and online publications. Combining multi-site ethnography with sociological conversation and discourse analysis, and drawing upon science and technology studies throughout, my argument addresses three themes: seekers; gurus; and truths. Developing Heelas's earlier work, I show seekers are not pre-constituted but configured in interactional practices which draw upon various cultural idealisations of the self. An enlightened self is likewise configured differently in each culture. I show such mundane local practices constitute gurus as experiential experts through associating their personas with participants configured experiences of self. Different configurations of self are consequential, implying differing modes of engagement with wider society and figuring in credibility contests between different cultures. I provide a way of understanding enlightenment cultures which avoids homogenising them, considers their respective potentials to promote social change, and accounts for antagonisms between them. As tangential themes, through a literary Seeker Self voice, I address issues of distance and engagement in studying spirituality and the often transparent penetration of academic discourse by the discourse of spirituality, or its spiritual repertoire

Ethics, narratives and legitimacy in Defence acquisition

Purpose: This research examines the proposition that ethics in business functions as part of legitimising narratives, rather than as a normative framework to guide or assess behaviour. Methodology: The applied ethics context of the acquisition of UK military capabilities is employed as a case study to test the proposition. Adopting a critical realist paradigm, Bourdieu’s theory of practice is applied in two stages. Quantitative (survey) and qualitative (narrative interview) data are collected, from which a Weberian ideal type is developed via narrative analysis. Findings: The results reveal that the public/private sector interface should be understood as a Bourdieusian practice, in which people use narratives involving normative ethical claims as a means of delegitimising options that threaten their field positions and capital accumulations. It is argued that akrasia – acting against one’s best interests – can be explained in these terms, and that even if a normative ethics of Defence acquisition is one day possible, any theory of ethics should – for completion – attempt to take account of how ethics serves to support or delegitimise specific narratives in the business of acquisition. Research limitations/implications: The research builds on the literature on akrasia, suggesting that the options available to people in business are behaviourally as well as cognitively limited. Moreover, potential codes of ethics are overruled by symbolic power within a practice and hence have no effect. The research is not longitudinal and is limited to a case study that necessarily involved unrepresentative populations, although the methodology facilitates generalisation. Further work on public/private sector interfaces is needed to explore how other populations narrate challenges to convention. Originality/value: The research represents a novel application of Bourdieu’s theory of practice to the context of public/private sector integration and uniquely to Defence acquisition, disputing the viability and utility of codes of ethics as part of professionalising the acquisition function. It also offers a sociological explanation of akrasia

On the Limits of Culture: Why Biology is Important in the Study of Victorian Sexuality

Much recent scholarship in Victorian studies has viewed sexuality as historically contingent and constructed primarily within the realm of discourse or social organization. In contrast, the following study details species-typical and universal aspects of human sexuality that must be adequately theorized if an accurate model of the ideological forces impacting Victorian sexuality is to be fashioned. After a short survey of previous scholarly projects that examine literature through the lens of biology—much of it marred by an obvious antipathy toward all attempts to discover the involvement of ideology in human behavior—this study presents a lengthy primer to the modern study of evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, and human sexuality. Because the use of science is still relatively rare in literary studies, the first chapters are designed both to convince the reader of the necessity of considering biology and evolution in examining human sexuality, as well as to provide the general educated scholar in our field with the basic framework of knowledge necessary to follow the remainder of the text. Chapter three follows with a detailed examination of the sources of the political resistance to biological and genetic models of human behavior within liberal arts and social science departments, and chapter four presents an evolutionary and biochemical model for the apprehension of art that locates the origins of culture within the evolutionarily-fashioned brains of individuals and attempts to recuperate the concept of aesthetic emotion and foreground the special nature of erotica in its ability to produce immediate neurochemical effects in the brains of its consumers. Finally, the study examines works of Victorian literature, especially My Secret Life, to demonstrate the deficiencies in constructionist and interactionist theories of human sexuality while detailing the new readings that emerge when one is aware of the biological basis of human mate selection mechanisms

Sue Bridehead: A Rorschach Test

This thesis is a metacritical survey of the criticism on Sue Bridehead’s portrayal in Thomas Hardy’s novel Jude the Obscure, from the time of its publication in 1895 to now, and is intended to be a comprehensive overview and analysis of the major critical lines of enquiry about Sue’s characterisation. Since the scope of this thesis is to engage with over one hundred years of literary criticism, I keep the focus concentrated primarily on the critical responses to the depiction of Sue. I discuss the reasons behind the sustained critical interest in her; and show how she has global appeal in unifying as well as differentiating reader-responses, and opening up new modes of theoretical analysis surrounding the complexity of her representation. The objective of this study is to demonstrate how Sue’s enigmatic characterisation effectually serves the purpose of a Rorschach test. I display how analysing her representation makes readers and critics commit to certain positions. This leads to a plurality in the critical responses - a development that is facilitated by Hardy, who leaves deliberate narrative gaps in the novel. I discuss how this creates the space for the readers to fill the textual gaps with their own presuppositions, and cultural and theoretical beliefs, while analysing Sue’s portrayal. This thesis draws on Hardy’s letters, literary notebooks, and biographies to contextualise the portrayal of Sue, as a supplement to the main body of analysis of the critical material on Sue that is available in book, essay and article forms. Finally, I suggest a way forward in critical studies of Hardy’s works using Sue’s portrayal as a case study through the application of the theoretical framework of ‘transculturalism’. This research seeks to contribute to the body of Hardy scholarship by providing an overview of the existing critical commentary on Sue, while emphasising the ongoing contemporaneity of his most controversial characterisation

Mavericks on the Border: The Early Southwest in Historical Fiction and Film

Twentieth-century authors and filmmakers have created a pantheon of mavericks—some macho, others angst-ridden—who often cross a metaphorical boundary among the literal ones of Anglo, Native American, and Hispanic cultures. Douglas Canfield examines the concept of borders, defining them as the space between states and cultures and ideologies, and focuses on these border crossings as a key feature of novels and films about the region. Canfield begins in the Old Southwest of Faulkner’s Mississippi, addressing the problem of slavery; travels west to North Texas and the infamous Gainesville Hanging of Unionists during the Civil War; and then follows scalpers into the Southwest Borderlands. He then turns to the area of the Gadsden Purchase, known for its outlaws and Indian wars, before heading south of the border for the Yaqui persecution and the Mexican Revolution. Alongside such well-known works as Go Down Moses, The Wild Bunch, Broken Arrow, Gringo Viejo, and Blood Meridian, Canfield discusses novels and films that tell equally compelling stories of the region. Protagonists face various identity crises as they attempt border crossings into other cultures or mindsets—some complete successful crossings, some go native, and some fail. He analyzes figures such as Geronimo, Doc Holliday, and Billy the Kid alongside less familiar mavericks as they struggle for identity, purpose, and justice. J. Douglas Canfield, Regents Professor of English at the University of Arizona, is the author of Tricksters and Estates and Heroes and States, a two-volume cultural history of English Restoration drama. Praiseworthy for its ambitious effort to bring together works written in Spanish and in English, as well as canonical literature, popular literature, and film. —American Literature Locates itself—brilliantly and originally—at the intersection of a geography in the making and a quest for identity, offering the classic Southwest—more an event than a place—as the moral and spiritual region wherein the protagonists attempt a crossing, the shift of identity located in the shifting borderlands. —Armando J. Prats Wise, urbane, persuasive, and comprehensive. . . . Canfield does it all and extremely well. —Choice A fascinating subject and a timely one, dealing as it does with multicultural traditions and with versions of the Western. —John G. Caweltihttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/1064/thumbnail.jp

Radioactive Governance: The Politics of Expertise after Fukushima

This dissertation focuses on Japanese public and state responses to the release of radioactive contamination after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. I argue that the Fukushima nuclear disaster has led to the emergence of new forms of expertise in governing radioactive risks. These include techniques of governance that attempt to normalize peoples relationships with nuclear matter as an everyday concern. They also include decentralized strategies that empower victims of the disaster by providing access to technoscientifc practices of radiation monitoring and delegating radiation protection from the state to the citizens. My findings uncover a major shift in how societies have formerly organized responses to radioactive risks. In the aftermath of nuclear accidents, scholars have criticized central authoritarian decisions, in which state management of radioactive hazards was associated with politics of secrecy, victimhood, or public knowledge deficit. At stake in Fukushima is an increased normalization of citizens relationship with residual radioactivity, which is transformed into an everyday concern, rather than being represented as something exceptional. This is not only done by state experts, but equally via the increased activity of citizen scientists that collectively monitor residual radioactivity. My research is a significant departure from traditional sociocultural works that predominantly focus on micro-scale studies, such as how prior sociocultural factors influence a group understanding of radioactive risks. By highlighting major shifts in the structure of expertise and the regulation of life amidst toxic exposure, my research highlights how the management of contamination risks is evolving in an era where the impacts of modernization represent permanent marks on the planet

Media, place and tourism:Worlds of Imagination

Accessible and interdisciplinary in nature, this volume highlights the connections between media, tourism and place, bringing together the diverse perspectives, approaches and actors involved in critical issues relating to media tourism worldwide.This book explores new avenues, adopting a global and transnational perspec-tive and placing emphasis on the exploration, analysis and comparison of cases from around the world. Encompassing chapters from a plethora of experts, the volume discusses processes and relationships of power involved in the develop-ment and experience of media tourism. This book seeks to broaden the horizons of both the reader and existing academic research into media tourism by including research into, among other topics, Bollywood and Nollywood films, Brazilian telenovelas and South Korean K-pop culture. Illustrated with tables and figures throughout, the volume presents insights from a variety of strands of cutting-edge and empirically rich research, which are collated, compared and contrasted to dem-onstrate the connections between media, tourism and place around the world.International in scope, this book is an ideal companion for academics and scholars within a wide array of disciplines, such as media studies, tourism studies, fan studies, cultural geography and sociology, as well as those with an interest in media tourism more specifically