9,157 research outputs found
Simulating Quantum Mechanics by Non-Contextual Hidden Variables
No physical measurement can be performed with infinite precision. This leaves
a loophole in the standard no-go arguments against non-contextual hidden
variables. All such arguments rely on choosing special sets of
quantum-mechanical observables with measurement outcomes that cannot be
simulated non-contextually. As a consequence, these arguments do not exclude
the hypothesis that the class of physical measurements in fact corresponds to a
dense subset of all theoretically possible measurements with outcomes and
quantum probabilities that \emph{can} be recovered from a non-contextual hidden
variable model. We show here by explicit construction that there are indeed
such non-contextual hidden variable models, both for projection valued and
positive operator valued measurements.Comment: 15 pages. Journal version. Only minor typo corrections from last
versio
Taurek, numbers and probabilities
In his paper, “Should the Numbers Count?" John Taurek imagines that we are in a position such that we can either save a group of five people, or we can save one individual, David. We cannot save David and the five. This is because they each require a life-saving drug. However, David needs all of the drug if he is to survive, while the other five need only a fifth each.Typically, people have argued as if there was a choice to be made: either numbers matter, in which case we should save the greater number, or numbers don't matter, but rather there is moral value in giving each person an equal chance of survival, and therefore we should toss a coin. My claim is that we do not have to make a choice in this way. Rather, numbers do matter, but it doesn't follow that we should always save the greater number. And likewise, there is moral value in giving each person an equal chance of survival, but it doesn't follow that we should always toss a coin.In addition, I argue that a similar approach can be applied to situations in which we can save one person or another, but the chances of success are different
A trial studying approach to predict college achievement
We argue that using trial studying is a reliable and valid way to select students for higher education. This method is based on a work sample approach often used in personnel selection contexts. We discuss that this method has predictive validity for study success, has high acceptance by stakeholders, and measures self-regulation in a high-stakes testing context that cannot be measured through self-report questionnaires. We suggest further research to implement this method to select students
A General Framework for Sound and Complete Floyd-Hoare Logics
This paper presents an abstraction of Hoare logic to traced symmetric
monoidal categories, a very general framework for the theory of systems. Our
abstraction is based on a traced monoidal functor from an arbitrary traced
monoidal category into the category of pre-orders and monotone relations. We
give several examples of how our theory generalises usual Hoare logics (partial
correctness of while programs, partial correctness of pointer programs), and
provide some case studies on how it can be used to develop new Hoare logics
(run-time analysis of while programs and stream circuits).Comment: 27 page
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