Is Gettier"s First Example Flawed?

The 'Gettier counterexamples' (Gettier 19631) to the\ud tripartite account of propositional knowledge are generally\ud taken to show that not every instance of justified true belief\ud constitutes knowledge. I argue that Gettier's famous first\ud example fails to establish this conclusion. I claim to show\ud that the example violates the belief condition of the\ud tripartite account. Of course, if Smith does not believe that\ud (1) the man who will get the job has ten coins in his\ud pocket\ud it should not be surprising that he does not know it either,\ud as Gettier correctly claims. But as the three conditions are\ud not satisfied, the tripartite account is not refuted

Poisson approximation of the length spectrum of random surfaces

Multivariate Poisson approximation of the length spectrum of random surfaces is studied by means of the Chen-Stein method. This approach delivers simple and explicit error bounds in Poisson limit theorems. They are used to prove that Poisson approximation applies to curves of length up to order $o(\log\log g)$ with $g$ being the genus of the surface.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Indiana Univ. Math.

Patterned Deposition of Particles in Spatio-temporally Driven Lattices

We present and analyze mechanisms for the patterned deposition of particles in a spatio-temporally driven lattice. The working principle is based on the breaking of the spatio-temporal translation symmetry, which is responsible for the equivalence of all lattice sites, by applying modulated phase shifts to the lattice sites. The patterned trapping of the particles occurs in confined chaotic seas, created via the ramping of the height of the lattice potential. Complex density profiles on the length scale of the complete lattice can be obtained by a quasi-continuous, spatial deformation of the chaotic sea in a frequency modulated lattice.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Symmetries and transport in site-dependently driven quantum lattices

We explore the quantum dynamics of particles in a spatiotemporally driven lattice. A powerful numerical scheme is developed, which provides us with the Floquet modes and thus enables a stroboscopic propagation of arbitrary initial states. A detailed symmetry analysis represents the cornerstone for an intricate manipulation of the Floquet spectrum. Specifically, we show how exact crossings can be converted into avoided ones, while the width of these resulting avoided crossings can be engineered by adjusting parameters of the local driving. Asymptotic currents are shown to be controllable over a certain parameter range

Definite Descriptions and the Gettier Example

This paper challenges the first Gettier counterexample to the tripartite account of knowledge. Noting that 'the man who will get the job' is a description and invoking Donnellan's distinction between their 'referential' and 'attributive' uses, I argue that Smith does not actually believe that the man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket. Smith's ignorance about who will get the job shows that the belief cannot be understood referentially, his ignorance of the coins in his pocket shows that it cannot be understood attributively. An explanation for why Smith appeared to have justified true belief is given by distinguishing between 'belief' and 'belief in truth'. Smith believes the sentence 'the man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket' to be true (he mistakenly believes that Jones will get the job, of whom he knows that he has ten coins in his pocket) (hence his 'belief'), the sentence is true (hence 'truth'), and he has sufficient reason to assent to it (hence his 'justification'). But he does not believe the proposition expressed. Hence he does not know it eithe

Timeseries on IIoT Platforms: Requirements and Survey for Digital Twins in Process Industry

In the pursue for sustainability in process industry, digital twins necessitate the communication and storage of timeseries data about Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Regarding timeseries, this paper first presents a set of requirements specific to process industries. Then, it surveys how existing IIoT technologies meet the requirements. The technologies include the API specifications Asset Administration Shell (AAS), Digital Twin Definition Language (DTDL), NGSI-LD and Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) as well as six commercial platforms. All the technologies leave significant gaps regarding the requirements, which means that tailor-made extensions are necessary.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Utility, Progress, and Technology: Proceedings of the 15th Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies

This volume collects selected papers delivered at the 15th Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies, which was held at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in July 2018. It includes papers dealing with the past, present, and future of utilitarianism – the theory that human happiness is the fundamental moral value – as well as on its applications to animal ethics, population ethics, and the future of humanity, among other topics