Aberrations introduced by the atmospheric turbulence in large telescopes are compensated using adaptive optics systems, where the use of deformable mirrors and multiple sensors relies on complex control systems. Recently, the development of larger scales of telescopes as the E-ELT or TMT has created a computational challenge due to the increasing complexity of the new adaptive optics systems. The Complex Atmospheric Reconstructor based on Machine Learning is an algorithm based on artificial neural networks, designed to compensate the atmospheric turbulence. During (...) recent years, the use of GPUs has been proved to be a great solution to speed up the learning process of neural networks, and different frameworks have been created to ease their development. The implementation of CARMEN in different Multi-GPU frameworks is presented in this paper, along with its development in a language originally developed for GPU, like CUDA. This implementation offers the best response for all the presented cases, although its advantage of using more than one GPU occurs only in large networks. (shrink)

Present research proposes the application of unsupervised and supervised machine-learning techniques to characterize Android malware families. More precisely, a novel unsupervised neural-projection method for dimensionality-reduction, namely, Beta Hebbian Learning, is applied to visually analyze such malware. Additionally, well-known supervised Decision Trees are also applied for the first time in order to improve characterization of such families and compare the original features that are identified as the most important ones. The proposed techniques are validated when facing real-life Android malware data by (...) means of the well-known and publicly available Malgenome dataset. Obtained results support the proposed approach, confirming the validity of BHL and DTs to gain deep knowledge on Android malware. (shrink)

US law continues its historical trend of growing more permissive towards actors who engage in violent action in purported self-defense. We draw on some informal game theory to show why this is strategically irrational and suggest rolling back self-defense doctrines like stand your ground to earlier historical precedents like duty to retreat.

In the industrial context, steel is a broadly-used raw material with applications in many different fields. Due to its high impact in the activity of many industries all over the world, forecasting its price is of utmost importance for a huge amount of companies. In this work, non-linear neural models are applied for the first time to different datasets in order to validate their suitability when predicting the price of this commodity. In particular, the NAR, NIO and NARX neural network (...) models are innovatively applied for the first time to forecast the price of hot rolled steel in Spain. Besides these variety of models, different datasets consisting of a set of heterogenous variables from the last seven years and related to the price of this commodity are benchmarked and analyzed. The results showed that NARX is the best performing model when the price of raw materials used to produce steel and the stock market prices of three major global steel producing companies are employed as input to this predictive model. Consequently, this result may boost the application of Machine Learning in companies, in order to schedule the supplying operations according to the price forecasting. (shrink)

The progress of Mathematics during the nineteenth century was characterised both by an enormous acquisition of new knowledge and by the attempts to introduce rigour in reasoning patterns and mathematical writing. Cauchy’s presentation of Mathematical Analysis was not immediately accepted, and many writers, though aware of that new style, did not use it in their own mathematical production. This paper is devoted to an episode of this sort that took place in Spain during the first half of the century: It (...) deals with the presentation of a method for numerically solving algebraic equations by José Mariano Vallejo, a late Spanish follower of the Enlightenment ideas, politician, writer, and mathematician who published it in the fourth (1840) edition of his book Compendio de Matemáticas Puras y Mistas, claiming to have discovered it on his own. Vallejo’s main achievement was to write down the whole procedure in a very careful way taking into account the different types of roots, although he paid little attention to questions such as convergence checks and the fulfilment of the hypotheses of Rolle’s Theorem. For sure this lack of mathematical care prevented Vallejo to occupy a place among the forerunners of Computational Algebra. (shrink)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a fast-growing technology that connects everyday devices to the Internet, enabling wireless, low-consumption and low-cost communication and data exchange. IoT has revolutionized the way devices interact with each other and the internet. The more devices become connected, the greater the risk of security breaches. There is currently a need for new approaches to algorithms that can detect malware regardless of the size of the network and that can adapt to dynamic changes in the network. (...) Through the use of a multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm, this paper proposes a novel algorithm for malware detection in IoT devices. The proposed algorithm is not strongly dependent on the size of the IoT network due to the that its training is adapted using time differences if the IoT network size is small or Monte Carlo otherwise. To validate the proposed algorithm in an environment as close to reality as possible, we proposed a scenario based on a real IoT network, where we tested different malware propagation models. Different simulations varying the number of agents and nodes in the IoT network have been developed. The result of these simulations proves the efficiency and adaptability of the proposed algorithm in detecting malware, regardless of the malware propagation model. (shrink)

The adoption of the codex for literature in the Roman world was one of the most significant developments in the history of the book, yet remains poorly understood. Physical evidence seems to contradict literary evidence from Martial's epigrams. Near-total adoption of the codex for early Christian works, even as the book roll dominated non-Christian book forms in the first centuries of our era, has led to endless speculation about possible ideological motives for adoption. What has been unquestioned is the importance (...) of Christian scribes in the surge of adoption from 300 C.E. onward. This article reexamines the foundation of many theories, the timeline for non-Christian adoption sketched by Roberts and Skeat in their study, The Birth of the Codex, and reevaluates it through the lens of “diffusion of innovations theory” in order to reconcile the evidence and elevate practical considerations once and for all over ideological motives. (shrink)

A study in the logic of theory change, examining the properties of maxichoice contraction and revision operations.

This book introduces readers to central concepts and ideas in Mexican philosophy. Couched in stories and anecdotes from the author's life, the book offers these concepts and ideas as orientations, recommendations, or exhortation for navigating today's world. The structure and the style of the book aims at making these accessible to both specialists and non-specialist or anyone who may have had some experience with contemporary forms of marginalization, alienation, objectification, or any of the various forms of dread and accidentality familiar (...) to modern life. This, the author thinks, is most of us. Narrowing down the scope of the tradition, the author draws from the history of Mexican philosophy in the 20th century, as it is at this time that Mexican philosophy comes into its own. The book begins with two short introductions, one is an introduction philosophy in Mexico, the other to Mexican philosophy. Here, readers are introduced to Alfonso de la Veracruz, who offered the first philosophy course in the Americas in 1540 in the monastery of a small town in Michoacán, Mexico. From there, it presents four main themes from Mexican philosophy that recur in the philosophical literature. The remainder of the book serves as a "guide" for living a better, more fulfilling life. The main characters in what the author considers an uncontroversial retelling of Mexican philosophy are Antonio Caso, Samuel Ramos, Emilio Uranga, Leopoldo Zea, Jorge Portilla, Rosario Castellanos, Elsa Cecilia Frost, and, of course, persons in the author's own life. (shrink)

O nosso artigo está dividido em duas partes. A primeira parte visa mostrar como o sentido da transcendência está profundamente enraizado em todo o pensamento heideggeriano. A segunda parte procura ilustrar essa hipótese de leitura recorrendo a alguns textos de juventude do filósofo e os interpretando a partir de diversos estudos sobre a gênese de sua obra. No entanto, pressupomos que a sua relação com o cristianismo não foi ultrapassada nem com a sua ruptura com o “sistema do catolicismo” e (...) nem com o seu afastamento filosófico da teologia. Ao contrário, a experiência cristã, de certa forma, persiste em todo seu itinerário e está presente, mesmo após a “viravolta” (Kehre) dos anos trinta. Essa experiência, para além de qualquer adesão doutrinária, alimenta a questão acerca de Deus como a sempre impensada transcendência encarnada no pensamento da e na existência. Palavras-chave: Heidegger, Transcendência, Experiência Cristã, Teologia, Crítica da Razão Moderna. (shrink)

This paper considers the way mathematical and computational models are used in network neuroscience to deliver mechanistic explanations. Two case studies are considered: Recent work on klinotaxis by Caenorhabditis elegans, and a longstanding research effort on the network basis of schizophrenia in humans. These case studies illustrate the various ways in which network, simulation and dynamical models contribute to the aim of representing and understanding network mechanisms in the brain, and thus, of delivering mechanistic explanations. After outlining this mechanistic construal (...) of network neuroscience, two concerns are addressed. In response to the concern that functional network models are non-explanatory, it is argued that functional network models are in fact explanatory mechanism sketches. In response to the concern that models which emphasize a network’s organization over its composition do not explain mechanistically, it is argued that this emphasis is both appropriate and consistent with the principles of mechanistic explanation. What emerges is an improved understanding of the ways in which mathematical and computational models are deployed in network neuroscience, as well as an improved conception of mechanistic explanation in general. (shrink)

This paper explores and expands upon Jorge Gracia's reasons for the apparent lack of Hispanics in US philosophy. The point is to explain the underrepresentation of Hispanics in philosophy, with a focus on a specific subgroup of Hispanics, namely, "homegrown" US Hispanics. This group wasentirely missing from the "established" ranks in Gracia's census. I propose a phenomenological explanation for this lack, rooted in my experience as ahomegrown US Hispanic. This experience gives rise to a sense of identity described as "post-immigrant." (...) Those of us in the American philosophical establishment who share this identity, or who feel its pull, desire but hesitate to fully and authentically engage philosophy and the philosophical life, where thisrequires an uncompromising insertion of our cultural and historical identity into what we write and teach. The reason for the absence of homegrown Hispanicphilosophers who are willing to engage issues related to their circumstance as Hispanics is what I call, "the post-immigrant fear.". (shrink)

The existence of sovereign rights over genetic resources is today well recognized in international law. However, the legal status of such resources in terms of property rights is still unclear. The consideration of this issue requires a clear distinction between physical and intangible property. Legislation in developed countries has extended patent protection to genetic resources, in addition to the protection of plant varieties via breeders' rights. The extension of protection and the implementation of the TRIPs Agreement may have important implications (...) for breeding programs and trade in seeds. While intellectual property protection of genetic resources is rapidly advancing, considerable work is still to be done to ensure the compensation for the informal innovations made by local and indigenous communities. (shrink)

La logique spécifique des jugements de valeur est à chercher dans le discours rhétorique. Cette thèse développée par Ch. Perelman dans L'Empire rhétorique (1977) nous rappelle l'introduction à l'éthique de Jean Buridan (XIVe s.). Selon Buridan la philosophie morale ne peut se contenter d'appliquer la logique générale: elle a besoin d'une logique spéciale, une „logique morale” qui n'est rien autre que la technique persuasive qu'on étudie dans la Rhétorique. Roger Bacon (XlIIe s.) a même essayé d'intégrer cette rhétorique dans l'éthique (...) : elle est la partie pratique de la science morale. Bien que leur textes rappellent parfois les considérations de la ‘nouvelle rhétorique’, la relation entre l'éthique et la rhétorique y est envisagée d'une manière toute différente. Pour les auteurs médiévaux la rhétorique est une science auxiliaire de l'éthique : elle sert de liaison entre la théorie et la pratique. Dans la partie théorétique de l'éthique la logique ‘générale’ reste en vigeur. Ce n'est que pour mettre en pratique les règles et valeurs qui ont été ‘démontrées’ par la théorie qu'on a recours à la technique persuasive et sa logique ‘spéciale’. La rhétorique n'a donc qu'une fonction subsidaire. On retrouve la même conception au début des temps modernes chez Francis Bacon qui attribue à la rhétorique la fonction d'appliquer le dictamen rationis à l'imagination pour exciter ainsi la volonté. Une tout autre conception est défendue par l'humaniste Lorenzo Valla qui essaie de réintégrer l'argumentation morale dans le discours rhétorique où elle trouve sa place originaire. Notre propre point de vue est développé en confrontation avec Aristote, de qui nous avons hérité le projet d'une ‘science pratique’ et l'ambiguité qui en est inhérente 1° La rhétorique présuppose l'éthique. 2° L'éthique qui se veut epistème, ne relève pas de la rhétorique qui n'est qu'une technè. Elle se présente comme une science à caractère dialectique. 3° Les difficultés arrivent dès qu'on exalte la fonction pratique de cette science (cf. récemment R. Hare). Dès que l'éthique veut être efficace dans la vie concrète, elle devient une argumentation qui relève plutôt du discours épidectique (Weltanschauung). Notre société, en pleine crise morale, a certainement besoin d'un tel discours qui essaie d'intensifier l'adhésion à des valeurs morales. Mais il nous semble qu'il reste à côté d'un tel discours - en pleine expansion des nos jours - une place bien discrète pour une reflection critique qui en analyse les raisons : qui n'est pas inutile, bien que peu efficace. (shrink)

Según cierto sector de la posteoría, Ilya Prigogine habría creado una nueva alianza con la naturaleza bajo el signo de una conjunción de ciencia y filosofía, donde los estudios sobre la irreversibilidad, las estructuras disipativas y las estructuras auto-organizativas juegan un rol preponderante ..

Much work in the philosophy of action in the last few decades has focused on the elucidation and justification of a series of purported norms of practical rationality that concern the presence or absence of intention in light of belief, and that demand a kind of structural coherence in the psychology of an agent. Examples of such norms include: Intention Detachment, which proscribes intending to do something in case some condition obtains, believing that such condition obtains, and not intending to (...) do that thing; Intention-Belief Consistency, which proscribes intending to do what you believe you will not do; Intention Consistency, which proscribes intending each of two ends you believe to be inconsistent; and Means-End Coherence, which proscribes intending an end and not intending the means you believe to be implied by your end. In this paper, I present a series of examples that show that these requirements are not genuine requirements of rationality. The reason for this is simple: these requirements concern the presence or absence of intention in light of all-out belief. Rational agents like us, however, do not, and in fact should not, always form or revise their intentions in light of what they all-out believe. When such agents do not form or revise their intentions in light of what they all-out believe, they need not be irrational if they do not conform to these requirements. (shrink)

Abstract Nowadays, there is a deep and widespread feeling of discomfort among academics due to the psychological and labor pressures that universities exert upon their researchers by demanding endless publications. In this paper, I offer numerous pieces of evidence of this crisis, which affects primarily those who inhabit academic ecologies. First, I argue that it is convenient to understand the current situation as an expression of technologies and individual apparatuses shaped by subjectivizing ideologies, and mechanisms of exclusion, stigmatization, and replacement. (...) Second, I examine two proposals against the crisis produced by the pace of academic production framed by the Slow movement. Lastly, after making explicit some of the assumptions that undergird the university’s epistemological machine, I propose to complement Ulmer and Mountz’s project with two suggestions. On the one hand, I extend an invitation to reflect on and with students as a means to redirect the university’s teleology. On the other hand, I suggest incorporating an ontogogic approach as a resistance apparatus against the pressure from the university’s production machine. The article’s point of departure is anti-dicotonegative because it is based on a summative approach rather than in an agonistic procedure. In other words, I propose two additional tools that can be put to the test to contribute to solving the university publication crisis. (shrink)

The purpose of the paper is to present a logical framework that allow to formalize a kind of prima facie duties, defeasible conditional duties, indefeasible conditional duties and actual (indefeasible) duties, as well as to show their logical interconnections.

Davidson’s treatment of akrasia resorts to the introduction of a type of operator, the prima facie connector. This operator should yield conditional judgments in which the affirmation of the antecedent does not admit to obtain the consequent as a separate conclusion; and it must allow to separate ..

Lukács and Twentieth Century Literature Tough he elaborated a robust system of Marxist aesthetics whose categories enabled him to formulate a brilliant analysis of the 19th century realist novel, Lukács proved unable to understand the literature of the 20th century. In fact he either ignored or regarded as “decadent” almost all the major representatives of the avant-garde, such as Proust and Kafka. is was not due to the intrinsic limitations of the aesthetic categories themselves. It was rather an effect of (...) his “optimistic” vision of the historical period following after the 1917 Revolution and the hypothesis of the development of socialism. is led him to regard as anti-realist the alleged “pessimism” of the avant-garde. Towards the end of his life, Lukács did however adopt a more critical position towards “real socialism”. He thus moved towards a more positive understanding of the literature of his time. (shrink)

In 1836, at 19 years of age, Colombian philosopher José Eusebio Caro wrote a sociological and anthropological treatise titled Mecánica social that illustrates in context the reception of French philosophy in 19th-century Colombian philosophical thought. The purpose of this paper is to present critically Caro’s theory of the will and to bring to light the philosophical sources from which he draw, especially physiology and its role as theoretical basis for both ideology and a new “scientific” anthropology that could, in turn, (...) provide support for a science of morals and legislation, a major goal of French radical liberal thought. (shrink)

RésuméOn prend comme point de départ la crise actuelle de l'idée de raison, en envisageant la possibilité de son dépassement au moyen d'une reposition de cette idée, pour arriver ainsi à un rationalisme nouveau que l'on peut appeler » humaniste «. Ce rationalisme doit prendre conscience, tout d'abord, de la condition strictement humaine de notre savoir en tant que différente d'une connaissance intellectuelle absolue, dans un sens tout à fait opposé à la vision rationaliste de l'époque moderne. Dans cette ligne, (...) l'on fait remarquer l'aspect » compositif « et » divisif « de notre démarche rationnelle et son caractère dynamique, en exposant les possibilités explicatives de cette compréhension dynamique en face des mathématiques et des sciences de la nature. Il faut aussi donner raison du fait métaphysique dans lequel naturellement débouche le rationnel. Le kantisme est considéré dans sa position programmatique et historique, en soulignant chez lui la forte empreinte rationaliste, qui amène à une fermeture à l'égard du dynamisme propre de la science. L'on constate, enfin, les limitations épistémologiques du réalisme aristotélicien, entraǐnant une certaine absolutisation de l'immédiat sensible, qu'un réalisme actuel pourrait bien dépasser par la noétique dynamique et humaniste.ZusammenfassungDer Verfasser geht von der heutigen Krisis der Vernunftidee aus, um durch eine Wiederherstellung derselben Idee, die zu einem neuen Rationalismus, als humanistischer Humanismus gedacht, leiten muss, eine mögliche Überwindung dieser Krisis anzuzeigen. Dieser Rationalismus soll, im Gegensatz zur modernen intellektualistischen Anschauung, das spezifisch Menschliche unserer Erkenntnis als etwas Verschiedenes von einem rein intellektuellen Wissen darlegen. In diesem Sinne merkt man das » compositive « und » divise « Verfahren unserer Vernunft und ihren eigenartigen Dynamismus vor, um die erklärenden Möglichkeiten dieser dynamischen Auffassung in Verbindung mit der mathematischen und naturwissenschaftlichen Tatsache vorzustellen. Auch die Metaphysik soll als natürliche Vollendung des rationalen Strebens erkannt werden. Der Kantismus wird in seiner programmatischen und geschichtlichen Lage betrachtet, um seine mächtige rationalistische Prägung, in eine gründliche Blindheit vor der dynamischen Gestait der Wissenschaft leitend, zu bemerken. Endlich werden die episte‐mologischen Mängel des aristotelischen Realismus festgestellt, die ein heutiger Realismus durch eine dynamische und humanistische Erkenntnislehre überwinden kann.The critical attitude actually taken towards the idea of reason supplies the starting point; it is considered possible to overcome the resulting crisis by positing this idea anew, in order to establish a new rationalism which might be termed » humanist «. That rationalism should first of all duly record the fact that our knowledge is strictly human and differs as such from an absolutely intellectual knowledge, in a sense which contrasts with the present rationalist outlook. Following that line, the writer stresses the » compositive « and » divisive « aspects as well as the dynamic character of our rational activity, in the process of presenting the explicative possibilities of this dynamic understanding with reference to mathematics and natural science. The metaphysical fact into which the rational is bound to flow must be accounted for. Kantism is examined in its historical and programmatical position, stressing how deep the rationalist imprint is there, making it a blind alley as far as scientific dynamics are concerned; it is held that they could be overcome by present day realism, thanks to a dynamic and humanist noetic doctrine. (shrink)

Through the analysis of the thought of Mach and Duhem, who have felt the need to re-evaluate the relationship between metaphysics and physics, we study in what measure the authors had a position relating to an eventual weakening of the traditional epistemic criteria, which were until their time used for the evaluation of scientific theories, and those criteria should respect the distinction between fact and value. We investigate the way each argues for a division between science and metaphysics, as well (...) as the reasons for this. For both authors, adopting mechanicism as the basis for modern science is in the origin of the emergence of the materialist metaphysics, which should now be abandoned. Every metaphysics built from physical results would be a disrespect to the distinction between fact and value. Duhem and Mach argue for a new role for the common sense, which should not be taken as the source of error anymore. (shrink)

This chapter draws parallels between Leopoldo Zea and Stanley Cavell's thought. It forms the basis of this argument in their thought on circumstantialism. Cavell and Zea both reflect on the American circumstance, a circumstance conditioned by the discovery, colonizations, and nationalization of Americas, together with the American people's heroic desire to connect, continuously and urgently, with themselves and their destiny as Americans.