The Explanatory Potential of Artificial Societies

It is often claimed that artificial society simulations contribute to the explanation of social phenomena. At the hand of a particular example, this paper argues that artificial societies often cannot provide full explanations, because their models are not or cannot be validated. Instead, artificial societies may sometimes provide potential explanations. It is shown that these potential explanations, if they contribute to our understanding, considerably differ from the standard kind of potential causal explanations. Instead of possible causal histories, simulations offer possible functional analyses of the explanandum. The paper discusses how these two kinds of potential explanations differ, and how possible functional analyses can be appraised

Introduction : methodologies of bounded rationality

Non peer reviewe

Toward a framework for selecting behavioural policies: How to choose between boosts and nudges

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.In this paper, we analyse the difference between two types of behavioural policies – nudges and boosts. We distinguish them on the basis of the mechanisms through which they are expected to operate and identify the contextual conditions that are necessary for each policy to be successful. Our framework helps judging which type of policy is more likely to bring about the intended behavioural outcome in a given situation

Transcendence

Uses bird symbolism to investigate the subject of transcendence

Robot life: simulation and participation in the study of evolution and social behavior.

This paper explores the case of using robots to simulate evolution, in particular the case of Hamilton's Law. The uses of robots raises several questions that this paper seeks to address. The first concerns the role of the robots in biological research: do they simulate something (life, evolution, sociality) or do they participate in something? The second question concerns the physicality of the robots: what difference does embodiment make to the role of the robot in these experiments. Thirdly, how do life, embodiment and social behavior relate in contemporary biology and why is it possible for robots to illuminate this relation? These questions are provoked by a strange similarity that has not been noted before: between the problem of simulation in philosophy of science, and Deleuze's reading of Plato on the relationship of ideas, copies and simulacra

Non-Locality and Strong Coupling in the Heavy Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn5_{5}: A Penetration Depth Study

We report measurements of the magnetic penetration depth $\lambda$ in single crystals of CeCoIn$_{5}$ down to $\sim$0.14 K using a tunnel-diode based, self-inductive technique at 28 MHz. While the in-plane penetration depth tends to follow a power law, $\lambda_{//} \sim {\it T}^{3/2}$, the data are better described as a crossover between linear ({\it T} $\gg$ ${\it T}^\ast$) and quadratic ({\it T} $\ll {\it T}^\ast$) behavior, with ${\it T}^\ast$ the crossover temperature in the strong-coupling limit. The {\it c}-axis penetration depth $\lambda_{\perp}$ is linear in {\it T}, providing evidence that CeCoIn$_{5}$ is a {\it d}-wave superconductor with line nodes along the {\it c}-axis. The different temperature dependences of $\lambda_{//}$ and $\lambda_{\perp}$ rule out impurity effects as the source of ${\it T}^{\ast}$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Penetration enhancers in ocular drug delivery

There are more than 100 recognized disorders of the eye. This makes the development of advanced ocular formulations an important topic in pharmaceutical science. One of the ways to improve drug delivery to the eye is the use of penetration enhancers. These are defined as compounds capable of enhancing drug permeability across ocular membranes. This review paper provides an overview of anatomical and physiological features of the eye and discusses some common ophthalmological conditions and permeability of ocular membranes. The review also presents the analysis of literature on the use of penetration-enhancing compounds (cyclodextrins, chelating agents, crown ethers, bile acids and bile salts, cell-penetrating peptides, and other amphiphilic compounds) in ocular drug delivery, describing their properties and modes of action

Prevalence of ocular and oculodermal melanocytosis in Spanish population with uveal melanoma

Producción CientíficaThe aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ocular and oculodermal melanocytosis (ODM) among patients with uveal melanoma (UM) in a Spanish population. METHODS: Retrospective review of the medical records of patients with ODM among patients with UM. RESULTS: Ten (11 eyes) of 400 patients (2.7%) with UM associated had ODM. The mean age at diagnosis of UM among patients with ODM was 62 years. One patient had bilateral tumours. UM was diagnosed during a routine-examination in two cases. All tumours were medium (7/11) or large (4/11) in size, with a mean maximum base of 13 mm and height of 7 mm. No patient had extraocular extension or metastatic disease at diagnosis. Enucleation was done in five cases and I-125-brachytherapy in six. The mean follow-up was 43 months. One patient died because of metastasis 2 years after enucleation; one patient is currently on treatment of systemic metastasis 11 years after. CONCLUSIONS: ODM is more frequent in spanish population with UM than in American population. Despite the risk of UM in ODM, it is often diagnosed late when a conservative treatment is not indicated