The main result of the present paper — Theorem 3 — establishes the equivalence of the interpolation and amalgamation properties for a large family of logics and their associated classes of matrices.

Action theory may be regarded as a theoretical foundation of AI, because it provides in a logically coherent way the principles of performing actions by agents. But, more importantly, action theory offers a formal ontology mainly based on set-theoretic constructs. This ontology isolates various types of actions as structured entities: atomic, sequential, compound, ordered, situational actions etc., and it is a solid and non-removable foundation of any rational activity. The paper is mainly concerned with a bunch of issues centered around (...) the notion of performability of actions. It seems that the problem of performability of actions, though of basic importance for purely practical applications, has not been investigated in the literature in a systematic way thus far. This work, being a companion to the book as reported, elaborates the theory of performability of actions based on relational models and formal constructs borrowed from formal lingusistics. The discussion of performability of actions is encapsulated in the form of a strict logical system. This system is semantically defined in terms of its intended models in which the role of actions of various types is accentuated. Since due to the nature of compound actions the system is not finitary, other semantic variants of are defined. The focus in on the system of performability of finite compound actions. An adequate axiom system for is defined. The strong completeness theorem is the central result. The role of the canonical model in the proof of the completeness theorem is highlighted. The relationship between performability of actions and dynamic logic is also discussed. (shrink)

This volume explores the range of Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy and his relevance to contemporary philosophical traditions.

The aim of the paper is to present how the late medieval plague pandemic affected the societies of Western and Eastern Europe. The author used chronicles and works of literature of that time, on top of the abundant literature on the subject. Based on this bibliography, he carried out a critical analysis of the content, revealing the similarities and differences in the course of the Black Death epidemic across parts of Europe. The plague was taking its toll on all age (...) groups and at all levels of society. The main reason for this was that physicians, not knowing what was causing the disease, could not help the infected for a long time. The epidemic exposed the poor level of the contemporary medics’ knowledge and their unpreparedness for saving human lives. It also showed that university studies neither equipped them with sufficient knowledge nor gave them the practical skills needed to fight the dangerous disease. The Black Death particularly disorganized the economic and social life of Western and Southern European countries. Although the plague first struck Central Europe with less intensity than it did the West, it did take its toll on it. Its subsequent waves had an especially dramatic impact on the large trading towns such as Wroclaw and Krakow. A pervasive fear of the plague also contributed to the resentment towards those seen as aliens, especially Jews. They were the ones accused of poisoning wells and supplies, and spreading the disease. In Wroclaw, the capital city of Silesia, which was then part of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the attack on Jews was initiated by John of Capistrano – the papal inquisitor. It led to a much publicized trial that resulted in the death sentences death sentences given to several dozen people. Seeking to understand the reason behind Capistrano’s actions, the author analyzed his treatise on the duties of physicians and clergy toward plague patients. It results from that work that the course of the epidemic in Central Europe, despite its local variations, was not significantly different from that observed in Western countries. (shrink)

This book is both suitable for logically and algebraically minded graduate and advanced graduate students of mathematics, computer science and philosophy, and ...

In the paper we study the class of weakly algebraizable logics, characterized by the monotonicity and injectivity of the Leibniz operator on the theories of the logic. This class forms a new level in the non-linear hierarchy of protoalgebraic logics.

I present and argue for twotheses: the first concerns the degree to whichChaadaev''s thought represents a breakthrough inthe development of Russian social philosophyand the second concerns the Hegelian characterof this thinking. I also show that Chaadaev''stheory retained an open character closely tiedto the crisis character of the social realityof his time and that it depended for itsjustification on the further course of thehistorical process, which is impossible topredict. All this leads to an interpretation ofChaadaev''s view according to which the standardopposition (...) of Chaadaev''s two best-known texts,The Philosophical Letters, with theirpredominantly pessimistic picture of Russia,and the Apology of a Madman, whichrefutes this evaluation, is rejected. (shrink)

Paul Edwards' October 1989 essay, ‘Heidegger's Quest for Being’ illustrates the wisdom of the dictum that the only legitimate criticism of a philosopher's position is a constructive criticism. His negative critique amounts to no more than expressions of distaste, dislike, and displeasure, and nothing of philosophical interest follows from his assertions, as the discourse is primarily an argument ad hominem . He grossly misinterprets Heidegger on some elemental and fundamental matters as well. In particular, he sorely misinterprets what he refers (...) to as the ‘Quest for Being’, which only further contributes to the objectionable character of the essay. (shrink)

The European Summer Schools in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI) have been organised every year since 1989 under the auspices of the Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI) in different cities around Europe. The 24th European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI 2012) took place at the University of Opole, Poland, during August 6-17, 2012. The organisation committee was chaired by Janusz Czelakowski and Urszula Wybraniec-Skardowska (Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Opole) and the programme (...) committee was chaired by Andreas Herzig (University of Toulouse and CNRS). During two weeks, over 340 participants from 36 countries were offered a rich academic program of their choice from 9 foundational, 16 introductory and 17 advanced courses and 6 workshops. Just as in the previous years, the 17th conference on Formal Grammar collocated with ESSLLI. Besides the regular courses, a traditional highlight of the summer school were the 4 evening lectures by distinguished academics: - Johan van Benthem (Institute for Logic, Language & Computation (ILLC), Amsterdam and Department of Philosophy, Stanford University), "Computation as Agency''; - Melvin Fitting (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, City University of New York), "Reasoning About Games''; - Jonathan Ginzburg (UFR Études anglophones, Université Paris-Diderot (Paris 7)), "False starts, jokes, and music:semantics in the 21st century''; - Adam Przepiórkowski (Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw), "Secret life of corpora''. Another traditional event was the student session, organised by a student programme committee chaired by Rasmus K. Rendsvig (University of Copenhagen): master and doctoral students presented 16 papers and 5 posters, and Michał Zawidzki obtained the best paper award and Raul Fervari obtained the best poster award. Moreover, the Beth Dissertation Prizes were announced at the FoLLI General Meeting and went to Andreas Kapsner (University of Barcelona) and Daniel R. Licata (Carnegie Mellon University). Apart from the busy academic programme, participants of the summer school were offered an exciting social program as well. In addition to the traditional ESSLLI Party and the famous Students vs. Lecturers Soccer Match (also called `Johan van Benthem Cup'), kayaking, and excursions to Kraków and Wrocław were offered. -/- . (shrink)

The present paper is thought as a formal study of distributive closure systems which arise in the domain of sentential logics. Special stress is laid on the notion of a C-filter, playing the role analogous to that of a congruence in universal algebra. A sentential logic C is called filter distributive if the lattice of C-filters in every algebra similar to the language of C is distributive. Theorem IV.2 in Section IV gives a method of axiomatization of those filter distributive (...) logics for which the class Matr (C) prime of C-prime matrices (models) is axiomatizable. In Section V, the attention is focused on axiomatic strengthenings of filter distributive logics. The theorems placed there may be regarded, to some extent, as the matrix counterparts of Baker's well-known theorem from universal algebra [9, § 62, Theorem 2]. (shrink)

This study investigates performance of portfolios composed of British socially responsible investments (SRI) stocks. Using the ‘Global-100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’ list (known also as ‘Global-100’) to select the SRI companies, we found that, in the period 2000–2010, the returns of the SRI portfolios were on average higher compared with the corresponding returns of the market indexes. The annual average difference in returns of the SRI portfolios (with dividends) was 5.26 % and 5.69 % relative to the FTSE100 (...) and FTSE4GOOD indexes (the total return versions), respectively, but the differences in returns in the whole period, in individual years and in other sub-periods were in most cases not statistically significant. Positive performance of SRI stocks in the whole sample is, however, evidenced by risk-adjusted measures such as the modified Sharpe ratio (MSR) and certainty equivalent (CEQ) returns, as well as by incorporating various levels of transaction costs. Furthermore, a simple trading strategy relying on selection of SRI stocks from the Global-100 list would beat the market indexes in the whole period 2000–2010, even after inclusion of various levels of transaction costs. We also estimated the Fama–French and Carhart multi-factor models and found that the returns of the SRI portfolios cannot be consistently explained by conventional factors other than the market factor. (shrink)

The notion of local deduction theorem (which generalizes on the known instances of indeterminate deduction theorems, e.g. for the infinitely-valued ukasiewicz logic C ) is defined. It is then shown that a given finitary non-pathological logic C admits the local deduction theorem iff the class Matr(C) of all matrices validating C has the C-filter extension property (Theorem II.1).

We examine the notion of primitive satisfaction in logical matrices. Theorem II. 1, being the matrix counterpart of Baker's well-known result for congruently distributive varieties of algebras (cf [1], Thm. 1.5), links the notions of primitive and standard satisfaction. As a corollary we give the matrix version of Jónsson's Lemma, proved earlier in [4]. Then we investigate propositional logics with disjunction. The main result, Theorem III. 2, states a necessary and sufficient condition for such logics to be finitely based.

Once regarded as cellular ‘debris’ extracellular vesicles (EVs) emerge as one of the most intriguing entities in cancer pathogenesis. Intercellular trafficking of EVs challenges the notion of cancer cell autonomy, and highlights the multicellular nature of such fundamental processes as stem cell niche formation, tumour stroma generation, angiogenesis, inflammation or immunity. Recent studies reveal that intercellular exchange mediated by EVs runs deeper than expected, and includes molecules causative for cancer progression, such as oncogenes (epidermal growth factor receptor, Ras), and tumour (...) suppressors (PTEN). The uptake of oncogenic EVs (oncosomes) by various cells may profoundly change their biology, signalling patterns and gene expression, and in some cases cause their overt tumorigenic conversion. Moreover, EVs circulating in blood and present in body fluids provide an unprecedented access to the molecular circuitry driving cancer cells, and new technologies are being developed to exploit this property as a source of unique cancer biomarkers. (shrink)

We are facing a crisis of trust in expertise today. Fewer and fewer people trust experts, and more and more politicians openly ignore expert consensus. 'Democracy in the Post-Truth Era' asks what might happen to democracy if we reject the fundamental liberal assumption that people are capable of making informed choices. The book explores the potential impact on society if people, including politicians, never appreciate the relevance of expert opinions. What if people cannot choose between supporters and opponents of key (...) issues such as the causes of climate change, effectiveness of vaccines and ways of combating economic and social crises? Applying social epistemology to these questions, the book considers whether democracy can be defended in the post-truth era. (shrink)

In this paper, we present a calculus of paraconsistent logic. We propose an axiomatisation and a semantics for the calculus, and prove several important meta-theorems. The calculus, denoted as CB1, is an extension of systems PI, C min and B1, and a proper subsystem of Sette’s calculus P1. We also investigate the generalization of CB1 to the hierarchy of related calculi.

With each sentential logic C, identified with a structural consequence operation in a sentential language, the class Matr * (C) of factorial matrices which validate C is associated. The paper, which is a continuation of [2], concerns the connection between the purely syntactic property imposed on C, referred to as Maehara Interpolation Property (MIP), and three diagrammatic properties of the class Matr* (C): the Amalgamation Property (AP), the (deductive) Filter Extension Property (FEP) and Injections Transferable (IT). The main theorem of (...) the paper (Theorem 2.2) is analogous to the Wroski's result for equational classes of algebras [13]. It reads that for a large class of logics the conjunction of (AP) and (FEP) is equivalent to (IT) and that the latter property is equivalent to (MIP). (shrink)