An Observation Concerning Porte’s Rule in Modal Logic

It is well known that no consistent normal modal logic contains (as theorems) both ◊A and ◊¬A (for any formula A). Here we observe that this claim can be strengthened to the following: for any formula A, either no consistent normal modal logic contains ◊A, or else no consistent normal modal logic contains ◊¬A

Older people, sexualities and soap operas: representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual sexualities and transgender identity in television soap operas, and older audiences’ responses.

The thesis investigates the responses of older audiences to representations of lesbian, gay, and bisexual sexualities and transgender identities in British prime time television soap operas between1986 and 2002. It combines cultural research, in relation to theories of soap opera and audience engagement and social research into the responses and views of older audiences to such representations and the life experiences of the participants which inform their views. The thesis recognises that the voices of older people are underrepresented in socio-cultural research, especially when investigating sexuality. Soap opera constitutes a genre which functions as a vehicle for social issues, including sexualities. Soap operas draw large audiences across generations and gender; they have high profile publicity and intertextual material to engage viewers’ interests, and broadly accessible scheduling. They therefore provide an accessible means of engagement with these issues with older people. Chapter 1 outlines the social context of the research and reviews selected discourses and research, noting that much recent research is directed to issues of care and therefore tends to address the needs and preferences of older people rather than their active engagement with, and potential contribution, to popular culture and issues of sexualities and gender identity. Chapter 2 identifies and evaluates cultural theories and issues around textual analysis. The relevance and validity of these general themes are examined in Chapter 3 by means of ‘close readings’ of two selected episodes with relevant narratives and representations through textual analysis and in relation to everyday social interaction. Chapter 4 addresses the epistemological issues involved in combining cultural research into the meanings and significance of these representations and narratives with social research into the meanings, associations and value derived from them by older audiences. The methodological framework for social research and the qualitative research methods are discussed and evaluated. The research focuses upon five groups of older people, two from an Inner London Drop- in Centre and an Outer London Day Centre and three from Campaign groups who identify as members of a London based Older Lesbian Group, Older Gay Men’s Group and Male to Female Transgender Group. More self-conscious readings of the narratives and representations could be expected from groups with a campaigning history or trans-gender identity than the other two groups. Differences and commonalities between and within groups are noted and analysed in Chapter 5 and the analysis of the data is structured by the theories and themes identified and demonstrated in Chapters 2 and 3. The thesis supports and develops recent research which recognises that older people are diverse and demonstrate strong opinions. It also shows that as television audiences and in conversation older people actively engage with issues of non-normative sexualities which are too frequently regarded as peripheral for older people, if not taboo. This could usefully be further investigated

Buenas prácticas para el destino final de los residuos electrónicos

El acelerado aumento en el consumo de dispositivos eléctricos y electrónicos ha generado un incremento en la elaboración de dichos productos. Debido a los diseños que reducen la vida útil de estos artículos, se ha apresurado la generación de los residuos electrónicos. Uno de los principales desafíos del desarrollo Tecnológico es el adecuado manejo de los elementos tóxicos de estos desechos, para prevenir un impacto negativo en el medio ambiente y en la salud de las personas

Modal Formulas True at Some Point in Every Model

In a paper on the logical work of the Jains, Graham Priest considers a consequence relation, semantically characterized, which has a natural analogue in modal logic. Here we give a syntactic/axiomatic description of the modal formulas which are consequences of the empty set by this relation, which is to say: those formulas which are, for every model, true at some point in that model

Supervenience, Dependence, Disjunction

This paper explores variations on and connections between the topics mentioned in its title, using as something of an anchor the discussion in Valentin Goranko and Antti Kuusisto’s “Logics for propositional determinacy and independence”, a venture into what the authors call the logic of determinacy, which they contrast with (a demodalized version of) Jouko Väänänen’s modal dependence logic. As they make clear in their discussion, these logics are closely connected with the topics of noncontingency and supervenience. Two opening sections of the present paper address some of these connections, including related earlier logical work by the present author as well as very recent work by Jie Fan. The Väänänen-inspired treatment is presented in a third section, and then, in Sections 4 and 5, as a kind of centerpiece for the discussion, we follow Goranko and Kuusisto in elaborating one principal reason offered for preferring their own approach over that treatment, which concerns some anomalies over the behaviour of disjunction in the latter treatment. Sections 6 and 7 look at dependence and (several different versions of) disjunction in inquisitive logic, especially as presented by Ivano Ciardelli. Section 8 revisits the less formal property-supervenience literature with issues from the first two sections of the paper in mind, and we conclude with a Postscript addressing a further conceptual issue pertaining to the relation between modal and quantificational dependence logics

Inside/outside the Western 'Bubble': The nexus of adventure, adventure sports and perceptions of risk in UK and Mauritius

Globalization can be thought of as the widening, deepening and quickening of the worldwide interconnections in social, cultural, political and economic life (Held et al., 1999). For adventure sports enthusiasts from the West, this has opened up the world for them to pursue their activities in more ‘exotic’ natural locations. Marketing of adventure holidays has increased with the greater ease of travelling to suitable geographical locations, providing apparently ‘authentic’ adventure experiences1. Whilst adventure sports and the notion of risk in ‘exotic’ locations have been explored in some ‘visitor expectation’ literature (Swarbrooke, et al.,2003), little or no research has examined the nexus of local cultural understandings and practice of adventure, and Western perceptions of adventure risk. In this paper, I consider the ways in which adventure and risk are perceived and understood from educational and sociological Western perspectives. Critiques of adventure education and activities provision are made highlighting concerns around the ‘packaging’ of these experiences through the notion of MacDonaldisation. This is further developed through attention to the commodification of adventure sports and adventure holidays, drawing attention to the ways in which consumers are encouraged to ‘buy into’ the product without fully understanding the skills and experience needed to participate with, on occasions, dire consequences. The paper then goes on to explore different cultural understandings of risk through an auto/ethnography of the Mauritian experience as both University lecturer and a recreational windsurfer at a world renowned European managed wind surfing centre

An Adaptive Nonparametric Modeling Technique for Expanded Condition Monitoring of Processes

New reactor designs and the license extensions of the current reactors has created new condition monitoring challenges. A major challenge is the creation of a data-based model for a reactor that has never been built or operated and has no historical data. This is the motivation behind the creation of a hybrid modeling technique based on first principle models that adapts to include operating reactor data as it becomes available. An Adaptive Non-Parametric Model (ANPM) was developed for adaptive monitoring of small to medium size reactors (SMR) but would be applicable to all designs. Ideally, an adaptive model should have the ability to adapt to new operational conditions while maintaining the ability to differentiate faults from nominal conditions. This has been achieved by focusing on two main abilities. The first ability is to adjust the model to adapt from simulated conditions to actual operating conditions, and the second ability is to adapt to expanded operating conditions. In each case the system will not learn new conditions which represent faulted or degraded operations. The ANPM architecture is used to adapt the model\u27s memory matrix from data from a First Principle Model (FPM) to data from actual system operation. This produces a more accurate model with the capability to adjust to system fluctuations. This newly developed adaptive modeling technique was tested with two pilot applications. The first application was a heat exchanger model that was simulated in both a low and high fidelity method in SIMULINK. The ANPM was applied to the heat exchanger and improved the monitoring performance over a first principle model by increasing the model accuracy from an average MSE of 0.1451 to 0.0028 over the range of operation. The second pilot application was a flow loop built at the University of Tennessee and simulated in SIMULINK. An improvement in monitoring system performance was observed with the accuracy of the model improving from an average MSE of 0.302 to an MSE of 0.013 over the adaptation range of operation. This research focused on the theory, development, and testing of the ANPM and the corresponding elements in the surveillance system

Elective Music Students Experiences with Jam2Jam

This paper presents findings from a trial of the interactive music software Jam2Jam in a classroom music setting. Jam2Jam is software which allows musical novices to control generative music in real time. It has an interface which enables users to control multiple audio-visual parameters with a single gesture an approach intended to facilitate complex, conversational interaction. Examination of students experiences with Jam2Jam indicates that students find Jam2Jam attractive and that it has considerable potential. However, a number of issues for improvement, particularly a need for increased transparency of operation are identified. Extensions to Jam2Jam which would enable students to incorporate more of their own material into the music and visual they create during jam sessions are also proposed

Firma electrónica en El Salvador

El comercio electrónico está impulsando el desarrollo y revolucionando la economía mundial. Sin embargo, los medios tradicionales de identificación, firma autógrafa, pierden validez en el mundo electrónico y poco favorecen la privacidad y la seguridad que busca el comercio electrónico. Por tal motivo, desde hace varios años las legislaciones de varios países han implementado medios electrónicos de identificación, firma electrónica, que permite potenciar el desarrollo tecnológico del comercio y la administración

Partial Confirmation of a Conjecture on the Boxdot Translation in Modal Logic

The purpose of the present note is to advertise an interesting conjecture concerning a well-known translation in modal logic, by confirming a (highly restricted) special case of the conjecture