We describe new results in parametrized complexity theory. In particular, we prove a number of concrete hardness results for W[P], the top level of the hardness hierarchy introduced by Downey and Fellows in a series of earlier papers. We also study the parametrized complexity of analogues of PSPACE via certain natural problems concerning k-move games. Finally, we examine several aspects of the structural complexity of W [P] and related classes. For instance, we show that W[P] can be characterized in (...) terms of the DTIME ) and NP. (shrink)

The goal of this paper is to announce there is a single orbit of the c.e. sets with inclusion, ε, such that the question of membership in this orbit is ${\Sigma _1^1 }$ -complete. This result and proof have a number of nice corollaries: the Scott rank of ε is $\omega _1^{{\rm{CK}}}$ + 1; not all orbits are elementarily definable; there is no arithmetic description of all orbits of ε; for all finite α ≥ 9, there is a properly $\Delta (...) _\alpha ^0 $ orbit (from the proof). (shrink)

This article is a critical review of Terry Eagleton’s latest publication, Why Marx Was Right . Eagleton, one of the more celebrated Marxist literary critics in academia, presents his readers with a manifesto of Marxian individualism for the budding theoreticians of market socialism. This book represents Eagleton’s latest sally from the cloisters of stuffy English departments into the realms of economic theory. I cover many of the book’s most important talking points, debate his primary theses with ample counterpoints, and probe (...) Eagleton’s vision of the socialist future from an Austrian angle to see where the author succeeds and falls short of his mark. (shrink)

We study the relationship between a computably enumerable real and its presentations. A set A presents a computably enumerable real α if A is a computably enumerable prefix-free set of strings such that equation image. Note that equation image is precisely the measure of the set of reals that have a string in A as an initial segment. So we will simply abbreviate equation image by μ. It is known that whenever A so presents α then A ≤wttα, where ≤wtt (...) denotes weak truth table reducibility, and that the wtt-degrees of presentations form an ideal ℐ in the computably enumerable wtt-degrees. We prove that any such ideal is equation image, and conversely that if ℐ is any nonempty equation image ideal in the computably enumerable wtt-degrees then there is a computable enumerable real α such that ℐ = ℐ. We also prove a kind of Rice Theorem for these ideals, namely that if the index set of such a equation image ideal is not empty or equal to ω then it is equation image-complete. (shrink)

We consider the computably enumerable sets under the relation of Q-reducibility. We first give several results comparing the upper semilattice of c.e. Q-degrees, RQ, Q, under this reducibility with the more familiar structure of the c.e. Turing degrees. In our final section, we use coding methods to show that the elementary theory of RQ, Q is undecidable.

Globally active companies are involved in the discursive construction of moral legitimacy. Establishing normative conformance is problematic given the plurality of norms and values worldwide, and is particularly difficult for companies operating in morally controversial industries. In this paper, we investigate how organizations publicly legitimize the trade of human tissue for private profit when this practice runs counter to deep-seated and widespread moral beliefs. To do so, we use inductive, qualitative methods to analyze the website discourse of three types of (...) organizations that trade in human tissue and are associated with different degrees of moral controversy with respect to tissue procurement and use. Our analysis reveals an object-oriented approach to moral legitimizing centered on the human tissue as a morally disputed good. We find that the website discourse translates human tissue into technology, constructs normative meaning around a dominant instrumental value associated with human-tissue-as-technology, and reproduces and stabilizes this meaning by six discursive mechanisms that amplify and anchor it. Moreover, the use of amplifying and anchoring discourse was greater in organizations associated with greater controversy. The results are consistent with an object-oriented sociality. (shrink)

We report on some recent work centered on attempts to understand when one set is more random than another. We look at various methods of calibration by initial segment complexity, such as those introduced by Solovay [125], Downey, Hirschfeldt, and Nies [39], Downey, Hirschfeldt, and LaForte [36], and Downey [31]; as well as other methods such as lowness notions of Kučera and Terwijn [71], Terwijn and Zambella [133], Nies [101, 100], and Downey, Griffiths, and Reid [34]; (...) higher level randomness notions going back to the work of Kurtz [73], Kautz [61], and Solovay [125]; and other calibrations of randomness based on definitions along the lines of Schnorr [117].These notions have complex interrelationships, and connections to classical notions from computability theory such as relative computability and enumerability. Computability figures in obvious ways in definitions of effective randomness, but there are also applications of notions related to randomness in computability theory. For instance, an exciting by-product of the program we describe is a more-or-less naturalrequirement-freesolution to Post's Problem, much along the lines of the Dekker deficiency set. (shrink)

Given two incomparable c.e. Turing degrees a and b, we show that there exists a c.e. degree c such that c = (a ⋃ c) ⋂ (b ⋃ c), a ⋃ c | b ⋃ c, and c < a ⋃ b.

The first of 3 objectives in this study was to address the major problem with Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) and 2 common misconceptions related to NHST that cause confusion for students and researchers. The misconcep- tions are (a) a smaller p indicates a stronger relationship and (b) statistical signifi- cance indicates practical importance. The second objective was to determine how this problem and the misconceptions were treated in 12 recent textbooks used in edu- cation research methods and statistics classes. (...) The third objective was to examine how the textbooks’ presentations relate to current best practices and how much help they provide for students. The results show that almost all of the textbooks fail to acknowledge that there is controversy surrounding NHST. Most of the textbooks dealt, at least minimally, with the alleged misconceptions of interest, but they pro- vided relatively little help for students. (shrink)

This book explores the dynamic relationship between myth and philosophy in the Presocratics, the Sophists, and in Plato - a relationship which is found to be more extensive and programmatic than has been recognized. The story of philosophy's relationship with myth is that of its relationship with literary and social convention. The intellectuals studied here wanted to reformulate popular ideas about cultural authority and they achieved this goal by manipulating myth. Their self-conscious use of myth creates a self-reflective philosophic sensibility (...) and draws attention to problems inherent in different modes of linguistic representation. Much of the reception of Greek philosophy stigmatizes myth as 'irrational'. Such an approach ignores the important role played by myth in Greek philosophy, not just as a foil but as a mode of philosophical thought. The case studies in this book reveal myth deployed as a result of methodological reflection, and as a manifestation of philosophical concerns. (shrink)

Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD), which affects 1/3500 live male births, involves a progressive degeneration of skeletal and cardiac muscle, leading to early death. The protein dystrophin is lacking in DMD and present, but defective, in the allelic, less severe, Becker muscular dystrophy and is also missing in the mdx mouse. Experiments on the mdx mouse have suggested two possible therapies for these myopathies. Implantation of normal muscle precursor cells (mpc) into mdx skeletal muscle leads to the conversion of dystrophin‐negative fibres (...) to ‐positive, with consequent improvement in muscle histology. Direct injectidn of dystrophin cDNA into skeletal or cardiac muscle also gives rise to dystrophin‐positive fibres. Although both appear promising, there are a number of questions to be answered and refinements to be made before either technique could be considered possible as treatments for myopathies in man. (shrink)

The Jewish philosopher and educator Martin Buber (1878–1965) is considered one of the twentieth century’s greatest contributors to the philosophy of religion and is also recognized as the pre-eminent scholar of Hasidism. He has also attracted considerable attention as a philosopher of education. However, most commentaries on this aspect of his work have focussed on the implications of his philosophy for formal education and for the education of the child. Given that much of Buber’s philosophy is based on dialogue, on (...) community and on mutuality, it is puzzling that relatively little has been written on the implications of Buber’s thought for the theory and practice of non-formal adult education. The article provides a discussion of the philosophy underpinning this aspect of Martin Buber’s life and work, and its implications for adult non-formal education. (shrink)

We interpret the modal µ-calculus over a new model [10], to give a temporal logic suitable for systems exhibiting both probabilistic and demonic nondeterminism. The logical formulae are real-valued, and the statements are not limited to properties that hold with probability 1. In achieving that conceptual step, our technical contribution is to determine the correct quantitative generalisation of the Boolean operators: one that allows many of the standard Boolean-based temporal laws to carry over the reals with little or no structural (...) alteration, even for properties that hold with probability strictly between 0 and 1. The generalisation is not obvious, but is dictated by our discovery elsewhere of the algebraic property that characterises the next-time operator over the new model: it is arithmetic 'sublinearity' [20, Fig. 4 p. 342], which replaces the Boolean conjunctivity that characterises next-time in a modal algebra.We confirm by example that the new modal laws can be used for quantitative reasoning about probabilistic/demonic behavior. The random walk is treated using only those laws and real-number arithmetic: arguing from precise numeric premises, more specific than simply 'with some non-zero probability', we reach numeric conclusions that are not simply 'with probability 1'. (shrink)

Martin Buber (1878-1965) is one of the most significant existentialist philosophers of the twentieth century and a leading scholar of the Hasidic tradition in Judaism; even more important for this article is that Buber is considered by many to be the philosopher of dialogue par excellence. This article expounds Buber’s conception of dialogue and its implications for our conception of the Other.

Cenzer, D., R. Downey, C. Jockusch and R.A. Shore, Countable thin Π01 classes, Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 59 79–139. A Π01 class P {0, 1}ω is thin if every Π01 subclass of P is the intersection of P with some clopen set. Countable thin Π01 classes are constructed having arbitrary recursive Cantor- Bendixson rank. A thin Π01 class P is constructed with a unique nonisolated point A and furthermore A is of degree 0’. It is shown that (...) no set of degree ≥0” can be a member of any thin Π01 class. An r.e. degree d is constructed such that no set of degree d can be a member of any thin Π01 class. It is also shown that between any two distinct comparable r.e. degrees, there is a degree that contains a set which is of rank one in some thin Π01 class. It is shown that no maximal set can have rank one in any Π01 class, while there exist maximal sets of rank 2. The connection between Π01 classes, propositional theories and recursive Boolean algebras is explored, producing several corollaries to the results on Π01 classes. For example, call a recursive Boolean algebra thin if it has no proper nonprincipal recursive ideals. Then no thin recursive Boolean algebra can have a maximal ideal of degree ≥0”. (shrink)

It is a commonplace of modern criticism that every text is to be located within a complex network of cultural practices and material. Students of the ancient world may sometimes feel at a disadvantage; we simply do not have as much information as we would like in order to contextualize thoroughly. This has been especially true in the study of Platonic dialogues. The meagre remains of the writings of the sophists against whom Plato measured himself and of the art to (...) which he refers entail that analysis of Plato is often confined to the structure of his philosophy. Of course, the requirements of Plato's arguments must always be assigned primary importance; the relative lack of information about Plato's cultural context has not prevented detailed exposition of his method and achievements. Occasionally, however, a kindly fate allows us to set a dialogue, or part of it, in its appropriate material and ideological context and to create an interface between literary, philosophical, and archaeological evidence. Such evidence may not alter our evaluation of Plato's arguments on the analytic level, but it can enrich our appreciation of his literary artistry and recapture for us some of the resonance that his work would have had for a contemporary audience. (shrink)

We solve a problem posed by Goncharov and Knight 639–681, 757]). More specifically, we produce an effective Friedberg enumeration of computable equivalence structures, up to isomorphism. We also prove that there exists an effective Friedberg enumeration of all isomorphism types of infinite computable equivalence structures.

For a set A of non-negative integers, let D be the set of non-negative differences of elements of A. Clearly, if A is computable, then D is computably enumerable. We show that every simple set which contains 0 is the difference set of some computable set and that every computably enumerable set is computably isomorphic to the difference set of some computable set. Also, we prove that there is a computable set which is the difference set of the complement of (...) some computably enumerable set but not of any computably enumerable set. Finally, we show that every arithmetic set is in the Boolean algebra generated from the computable sets by the difference operator D and the Boolean operations. (shrink)

We solve a question of McLaughlin by showing that if A is a regressive co-simple isol, there is a co-simple regressive isol B such that the intersection type of A and B is trivial. The proof is a nonuniform 0 priority argument that can be viewed as the execution of a single strategy from a 0-argument. We establish some limit on the properties of such pairs by showing that if AxB has low degree, then the intersection type of A and (...) B cannot be trivial. (shrink)

We investigate the relationship of the degrees of splittings of a computably enumerable set and the degree of the set. We prove that there is a high computably enumerable set whose only proper splittings are low 2.

Objective: To assess the opinions and practice patterns of obstetrician-gynaecologists on acceptance and use of free drug samples and other incentive items from pharmaceutical representatives.Methods: A questionnaire was mailed in March 2003 to 397 members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists who participate in the Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network.Results: The response rate was 55%. Most respondents thought it proper to accept drug samples , an informational lunch , an anatomical model or a well-paid consultantship from pharmaceutical representatives. A (...) third of the respondents thought that their own decision to prescribe a drug would probably be influenced by accepting drug samples. Respondents were more likely to think the average doctor’s prescribing would be influenced by acceptance of the items than theirs would be . Respondents who distributed drug samples to patients indicated doing so because of patients’ financial need and for their convenience and less so as a result of knowledge of the efficacy of the sample product . A third of respondents agreed that interactions with industry should be more strictly regulated.Conclusion: Obstetrician-gynaecologists largely indicated that they would act in accordance with what they think is proper regarding accepting incentive items from pharmaceutical representatives. Although accepting free drug samples was considered to be appropriate more often than any other item, samples were most commonly judged to be influential on prescribing practices. The widely accepted practice of receiving and distributing free drug samples needs to be examined more carefully. (shrink)

This edition of Studia Gilsoniana inaugurates submission of articles on economic science based upon pre-modern principles of philosophy/science. Today, many journals address the intersection of economics and philosophy. Their contributors include practicing economists, economic historians, economist-philosophers, philosopher-economists, and economic methodologists. Research in this interdisciplinary field began to appear in the 1970s and later took shape in the 1980s with the appearance of its specialized academic journals. Today, the intersection of economics and philosophy is a vibrant area of inquiry and research. (...) Books and journal pages are replete with references to classical philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle and their contributions to economic science. However, stronger connections need to be made related to the application of economic principles from the past to the present based upon enduring pre-modern principles of science. This is precisely what this inaugural issue celebrates. (shrink)