The paradox of idealization

A well-known proof by Alonzo Church, first published in 1963 by Frederic Fitch, purports to show that all truths are knowable only if all truths are known. This is the Paradox of Knowability. If we take it, quite plausibly, that we are not omniscient, the proof appears to undermine metaphysical doctrines committed to the knowability of truth, such as semantic antirealism. Since its rediscovery by Hart and McGinn (1976), many solutions to the paradox have been offered. In this article, we present a new proof to the effect that not all truths are knowable, which rests on different assumptions from those of the original argument published by Fitch. We highlight the general form of the knowability paradoxes, and argue that anti-realists who favour either an hierarchical or an intuitionistic approach to the Paradox of Knowability are confronted with a dilemma: they must either give up anti-realism or opt for a highly controversial interpretation of the principle that every truth is knowable

Polypyrrole Coated PET Fabrics for Thermal Applications

Polypyrrole can be chemically synthesized on PET fabrics, giving rise to textiles with high electric conductivity. These textiles are suitable for several applications from antistatic films to electromagnetic interference shielding devices. Here we discuss the thermal-electric performance and the heat generation of polypyrrole coated PET fabric samples, previously studied because of their electric conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness. The measured Seebeck effect is comparable with that of metallic thermocouples. Since polypyrrole shows extremely low thermal diffusivities regardless of the electrical conductivity, the low thermal conductivity gives significant advantage to the thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT, comparable with that of some traditional inorganic thermoelectric materials. The heat generation is also investigated for possible heating textile devices. The results confirm polypyrrole as a prom- ising material for thermal electric applications due to its easy preparation in low cost processin

A Dual Read-Out Assay to Evaluate the Potency of Compounds Active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

PMCID: PMC3617142This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Multipartite entanglement characterization of a quantum phase transition

A probability density characterization of multipartite entanglement is tested on the one-dimensional quantum Ising model in a transverse field. The average and second moment of the probability distribution are numerically shown to be good indicators of the quantum phase transition. We comment on multipartite entanglement generation at a quantum phase transition.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, final versio

Statistical mechanics of the Cluster-Ising model

We study a Hamiltonian system describing a three-spin-1/2 cluster-like interaction competing with an Ising-like anti-ferromagnetic interaction. We compute free energy, spin correlation functions and entanglement both in the ground and in thermal states. The model undergoes a quantum phase transition between an Ising phase with a nonvanishing magnetization and a cluster phase characterized by a string order. Any two-spin entanglement is found to vanish in both quantum phases because of a nontrivial correlation pattern. Neverthless, the residual multipartite entanglement is maximal in the cluster phase and dependent on the magnetization in the Ising phase. We study the block entropy at the critical point and calculate the central charge of the system, showing that the criticality of the system is beyond the Ising universality class.Comment: To be published in Physical Review

Fractally-organized Connectionist Networks: Conjectures and Preliminary Results

A strict interpretation of connectionism mandates complex networks of simple components. The question here is, is this simplicity to be interpreted in absolute terms? I conjecture that absolute simplicity might not be an essential attribute of connectionism, and that it may be effectively exchanged with a requirement for relative simplicity, namely simplicity with respect to the current organizational level. In this paper I provide some elements to the analysis of the above question. In particular I conjecture that fractally organized connectionist networks may provide a convenient means to achive what Leibniz calls an "art of complication", namely an effective way to encapsulate complexity and practically extend the applicability of connectionism to domains such as sociotechnical system modeling and design. Preliminary evidence to my claim is brought by considering the design of the software architecture designed for the telemonitoring service of Flemish project "Little Sister".Comment: Draft of an invited paper for PEWET (1st Workshop on PErvasive WEb Technologies, trends and challenges), http://www.irpps.cnr.it/en/events/call-for-papers-pewet-pervasive-web-technologies-trends-and-challenge

Thermal electric effects and heat generation in polypyrrole coated PET fabrics

Polypyrrole chemically synthesized on PET gives rise to textiles with a high electric conductivity, suitable for several applications from antistatics to electromagnetic interference shielding devices. Here, we discuss investigations on thermal electric performances of the polypyrrole coated PET in a wide range of temperatures above room temperature. The Seebeck coefficient turns out to be comparable with that of metal thermocouple materials. Since polypyrrole shows extremely low thermal diffusivities regardless of the electrical conductivity, the low thermal conductivity gives significant advantage to the thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT, comparable with that of some traditional inorganic thermoelectric materials. The heat generation is also investigated for possible heating textile devices.Comment: 12 pages and 9 figure