2,252 research outputs found
The ontology of causal process theories
There is a widespread belief that the so-called process theories of causation developed by Wesley Salmon and Phil Dowe have given us an original account of what causation really is. In this paper, I show that this is a misconception. The notion of "causal process" does not offer us a new ontological account of causation. I make this argument by explicating the implicit ontological commitments in Salmon and Dowe's theories. From this, it is clear that Salmon's Mark Transmission Theory collapses to a counterfactual theory of causation, while the Conserved Quantity Theory collapses to David Fair's phsyicalist reduction of causation
Degree of explanation
Partial explanations are everywhere. That is, explanations citing causes that explain some but not all of an effect are ubiquitous across science, and these in turn rely on the notion of degree of explanation. I argue that current accounts are seriously deficient. In particular, they do not incorporate adequately the way in which a causeâs explanatory importance varies with choice of explanandum. Using influential recent contrastive theories, I develop quantitative definitions that remedy this lacuna, and relate it to existing measures of degree of causation. Among other things, this reveals the precise role here of chance, as well as bearing on the relation between causal explanation and causation itself
Universal fluctuations in subdiffusive transport
Subdiffusive transport in tilted washboard potentials is studied within the
fractional Fokker-Planck equation approach, using the associated continuous
time random walk (CTRW) framework. The scaled subvelocity is shown to obey a
universal law, assuming the form of a stationary Levy-stable distribution. The
latter is defined by the index of subdiffusion alpha and the mean subvelocity
only, but interestingly depends neither on the bias strength nor on the
specific form of the potential. These scaled, universal subvelocity
fluctuations emerge due to the weak ergodicity breaking and are vanishing in
the limit of normal diffusion. The results of the analytical heuristic theory
are corroborated by Monte Carlo simulations of the underlying CTRW
Hypermatrix factors for string and membrane junctions
The adjoint representations of the Lie algebras of the classical groups
SU(n), SO(n), and Sp(n) are, respectively, tensor, antisymmetric, and symmetric
products of two vector spaces, and hence are matrix representations. We
consider the analogous products of three vector spaces and study when they
appear as summands in Lie algebra decompositions. The Z3-grading of the
exceptional Lie algebras provide such summands and provides representations of
classical groups on hypermatrices. The main natural application is a formal
study of three-junctions of strings and membranes. Generalizations are also
considered.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, presentation improved, minor correction
Contemplative Science: An Insider's Prospectus
This chapter describes the potential farâreaching consequences of contemplative higher education for the fields of science and medicine
Strain Relaxation Mechanisms and Local Structural Changes in Si_{1-x}$Ge_{x} Alloys
In this work, we address issues pertinent to the understanding of the
structural and electronic properties of Si_{1-x} Ge_{x}alloys, namely, (i) how
does the lattice constant mismatch between bulk Si and bulk Ge manifests itself
in the alloy system? and (ii) what are the relevant strain release mechanisms?
To provide answers to these questions, we have carried out an in-depth study of
the changes in the local geometric and electronic structures arising from the
strain relaxation in Si_{1-x} Ge_{x} alloys using an ab initio molecular
dynamics scheme. The optimized lattice constant, while exhibiting a general
trend of linear dependence on the composition (Vegard's law), shows a negative
deviation from Vegard's law in the vicinity of x=0.5. We delineate the
mechanisms responsible for each one of the above features. We show that the
radial-strain relaxation through bond stretching is responsible for the overall
trend of linear dependence of the lattice constant on the composition. On the
other hand, the negative deviation from Vegard's law is shown to arise from the
angular-strain relaxation.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure
Deep Learning Architect: Classification for Architectural Design through the Eye of Artificial Intelligence
This paper applies state-of-the-art techniques in deep learning and computer
vision to measure visual similarities between architectural designs by
different architects. Using a dataset consisting of web scraped images and an
original collection of images of architectural works, we first train a deep
convolutional neural network (DCNN) model capable of achieving 73% accuracy in
classifying works belonging to 34 different architects. Through examining the
weights in the trained DCNN model, we are able to quantitatively measure the
visual similarities between architects that are implicitly learned by our
model. Using this measure, we cluster architects that are identified to be
similar and compare our findings to conventional classification made by
architectural historians and theorists. Our clustering of architectural designs
remarkably corroborates conventional views in architectural history, and the
learned architectural features also coheres with the traditional understanding
of architectural designs.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, 4 table
Vasopressinergic modulation of stress responses in the central amygdala of the Roman high-avoidance and low-avoidance rat
The central nucleus of the amygdala (CEA) is selectively involved in the passive component of the behavioral (immobility) and the accompanying parasympathetic response during conditioned, stressful environmental challenges. Vasopressinergic mechanisms in the brain seem to play a role in these stress responses. The effects of the neuropeptides arginine-8-vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OXT) on modulating CEA activity during conditioned stress of inescapable footshock were studied in male Roman high-avoidance (RHA/Verh) and low-avoidance (RLA/Verh) rats, psychogenetically selected on the basis of shuttle-box acquisition behavior. In RLA/Verh rats, the cardiac and behavioral responses to the conditioned emotional stressor were bradycardia and immobility, suggesting an important role for the CEA in these rats. The RHA/Verh rats, however, failed to show any change in heart rate or immobility in response to a conditioned stress situation. The low dose of AVP (20 pg) in the CEA of conscious RLA/Verh rats caused an enhancement of the stress-induced bradycardiac and immobility response. However, the high dose of AVP (2 ng) and OXT (200 pg) attenuated the bradycardiac and immobility responses in the RLA/Verh rats. Infusion of AVP and OXT in the RHA/Verh rats failed to induce any change in heart rate nr immobility. Binding studies revealed that the AVP receptor selectively binds AVP with high affinity. In contrast, the OXT receptor recognizes both AVP and OXT with a similar (but lower) affinity. This suggests that the behavioral and autonomic responses of the high dose of AVP may be caused by OXT receptor stimulation. In conclusion, on the basis of the present results one may hypothesize that CEA differences in AVP and OXT innervation and/or receptor densities may contribute to the differences in coping strategy found in these animals.
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation of rapid directional solidification
We present the results of non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations for
the growth of a solid binary alloy from its liquid phase. The regime of high
pulling velocities, , for which there is a progressive transition from
solute segregation to solute trapping, is considered. In the segregation
regime, we recover the exponential form of the concentration profile within the
liquid phase. Solute trapping is shown to settle in progressively as is
increased and our results are in good agreement with the theoretical
predictions of Aziz [J. Appl. Phys. {\bf 53}, 1158 (1981)]. In addition, the
fluid advection velocity is shown to remain directly proportional to , even
at the highest velocities considered here (ms).Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Disorder-induced trapping versus Anderson localization in Bose-Einstein condensates expanding in disordered potentials
We theoretically investigate the localization of an expanding Bose-Einstein
condensate with repulsive atom-atom interactions in a disordered potential. We
focus on the regime where the initial inter-atomic interactions dominate over
the kinetic energy and the disorder. At equilibrium in a trapping potential and
for small disorder, the condensate shows a Thomas-Fermi shape modified by the
disorder. When the condensate is released from the trap, a strong suppression
of the expansion is obtained in contrast to the situation in a periodic
potential with similar characteristics. This effect crucially depends on both
the momentum distribution of the expanding BEC and the strength of the
disorder. For strong disorder, the suppression of the expansion results from
the fragmentation of the core of the condensate and from classical reflections
from large modulations of the disordered potential in the tails of the
condensate. We identify the corresponding disorder-induced trapping scenario
for which large atom-atom interactions and strong reflections from single
modulations of the disordered potential play central roles. For weak disorder,
the suppression of the expansion signals the onset of Anderson localization,
which is due to multiple scattering from the modulations of the disordered
potential. We compute analytically the localized density profile of the
condensate and show that the localization crucially depends on the correlation
function of the disorder. In particular, for speckle potentials the long-range
correlations induce an effective mobility edge in 1D finite systems. Numerical
calculations performed in the mean-field approximation support our analysis for
both strong and weak disorder.Comment: New Journal of Physics; focus issue "Quantum Correlations in Tailored
Matter - Common perspectives of mesoscopic systems and quantum gases"; 30
pages, 10 figure
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