In this paper an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model, for predicting the category of a tumor was developed and tested. Taking patients’ tests, a number of information gained that influence the classification of the tumor. Such information as age, sex, histologic-type, degree-of-diffe, status of bone, bone-marrow, lung, pleura, peritoneum, liver, brain, skin, neck, supraclavicular, axillar, mediastinum, and abdominal. They were used as input variables for the ANN model. A model based on the Multilayer Perceptron Topology was established and trained using (...) data set which its title is “primary tumor” and was obtained from the University Medical Centre, Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia Test data evaluation shows that the ANN model is able to correctly predict the tumor category with 76.67 % accuracy. (shrink)

In the study of _Lawāmiʿ al-Naẓar_, Ibrahim Safri presents a history of rational sciences in the Maghribī tradition in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. He also presents a critical edition of the work, which can be considered as an introduction to post-Avicennian studies in North Africa.

This paper is an evaluation and expansion of William Hasker’s transcendental argument against determinism. Hasker’s argument attempts to show that determinism is logically incompatible with rationality and justified belief. Hasker claims this argument to be conclusive given two independent qualifications: first that the argument only applies to a specific form of determinism, and second that the argument rests on a specific conception of rationality. My aim in this paper will be to modify and expand Hasker’s argument such that it (1) (...) applies to the more general deterministic thesis (as defined below), and (2), rests on a modified epistemic conception of rationally unaffirmable beliefs. I will attempt to do (2) by modeling Hasker’s argument after one of Alvin Plantinga’s epistemological arguments against naturalism, and hope to show that such an argumentative model is superior for the conclusion Hasker wishes to bring out. I will begin by explicating Hasker’s argument, and then I will move to the modification and expansion of the argument. (shrink)

Often, semantic accounts of ethical statements wherein those statements have their truth-conditions linked in some capacity to the mental state of an agent face the difficulty of explaining how it is that moral agents and communities genuinely disagree. However, there are––I shall argue––such semantic theories of ethical statements we can construct that avoid this explanatory deficit, insofar as they are both absolute and dispositional theories. In this paper, I will (i) explore and analyze one such semantic theory, Roderick Firth (1952)’s (...) ‘ideal observer theory’, and its relation to the problem of genuine moral disagreement, and (ii) argue that the theory successfully accounts for genuine moral disagreement in virtue of its being absolute and dispositional. (shrink)

On philosophy of history and historiography.

The menace of conflicts and natural disasters in different states of the world had spiralled into a global phenomenon of Internally Displaced Persons. These are groups of humans who had helplessly drifted away from their natural and ancestral home due to conflicts and disasters but had not crossed international boundaries into another country. They merely take solace by the protection offered by the spirit and letters of relevant international laws which have domesticated by member states. This paper seeks to answer (...) the question regarding the extent to which the IDPs have become a menace in Nigeria. The paper reveals that many governments’ actions are the primary and the root cause of the IDPs while others are recipient of the domino effect. The paper relies on a panel data elicited from thirteen out of the thirty six states in Nigeria. The paper reveals the need for urgent measures by government to douse the upsurge in the number of IDPs. The political settlement analysis was used to proffer a better way of culminating the crises. Recommendations are directed to the individuals, civil societies and the government at all levels. (shrink)

Ancient Arabic literature dealt with linguistic sciences such as sarf, nahiw, belagha and Islamic sciences such as fıqh, hadith and tafsîr. This is known to the elite and the common people. But what is hidden and forgotten is that Arabic literature also includes the foundations and rules of modern sciences such as sociology and economics. Among the ancient Arabic literature is the writing of Maqamat, which holds an important position among the masterpieces of Arabic literature. For this reason, it is (...) important to study the writing of Maqamat from the perspective of the various disciplines of Islamic sciences and modern sciences. This study deals with fıqh and economic issues within the framework of Al-Hariri’s famous book, Maqamat. The aim of the study is to reveal the fıqh and economic aspects of Makamat writing through Hariri's Makamat as an exemplary study. The approach followed by the study is to select three maqama from Al-Hariri’s book, which contained fifty complete maqama, and to search for what is in them of fıqh and economics. Accordingly, the study includes three main headings, and in these three headings, fıqh, farâid (inheritance law) and economic issues are discussed, respectively. Although the science of farâid (inheritance law) is a branch of fıqh, it is singled out for mention independently because it has its own rulings. The study examined the jurisprudential aspect of the Maqamat in the thirty-second maqama called “the Tayyibi Maqamat,” the aspect related to the science of farâid in the fifteenth maqama called “the Faradiya Maqamat,” and the economic aspect in the forty-ninth maqama called “the Sassanid Maqamat.” The method followed by Hariri in her book is to present the issues in the form of stories through two fictional characters, Haris bin Hammam and Abu Zayd, whom she chose as mirrors reflecting the two opposing identities of the society. Abu Zaid appears in different forms and in various clothes. He sometimes appears as a beggar who deceives and a thief who betrays, and at other times as a preacher who advises and a scholar who guides. Rather, he is an imaginary character that Hariri put in place. Wherever he went, he met Al-Harith bin Hammam and the strange and adventurous incident begins, or he appears as a person from whom Al-Harith narrated the incident and the story. Harith is the person who always warns his against bad things, orders his to do good, and sometimes condemns his if he does evil. The results obtained in the study are, first of all, the determination that the Makâmât writing deals with the subjects of the science of fiqh as in the thirty-second makama and the subjects of the science of farâid (inheritance law) as in the fifteenth makama and the subjects of economics as in the forty-ninth makama. It is seen that some of the principles put forward by Adam Smith years later were also present in the Maqamat literature centuries ago. The fact that fiqh views are according to the Shafi'i sect shows that the Shafi'i sect was widespread in the region at that time. Additionally, as can be understood from the forty-ninth makama, there is also a profession of begging in the society where Hariri lives. The study also reveals the society's interest in, submission to, and acceptance of moral principles at that time, and shows that the Arabic language reached its peak during this period. (shrink)

In this paper, Taylor series is used to solve neutrosophic multi-objective programming problem (NMOPP). In the proposed approach, the truth membership, Indeterminacy membership, falsity membership functions associated with each objective of multi-objective programming problems are transformed into a single objective linear programming problem by using a first order Taylor polynomial series. Finally, to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method, a numerical experiment for supplier selection is given as an application of Taylor series method for solving neutrosophic multi-objective programming problem (...) at end of this paper. (shrink)

This book is the culmination of over twenty years of work toward a pedagogical theory that promotes experiential learning of model-laden theory and inquiry in science.

The thesis examines the origins and function of legal theory within the context of the development of early Islamic law. I argue against the depiction of the development of law as a series of compromises between traditionalism and rationalism. Rather, by evading the demands of traditionalism, law evolved into a complex doctrinal entity rooted in the social structures of third-century Abbasid society. This revision of the development of law provides a context to evaluate early works of legal theory. Moreover, in (...) context of my analysis of the development of law, I attempt to explain the emergence of legal theory as an independent discipline and its function within the greater structure of law. (shrink)

This article extends previous research by investigating the basis for attitudes toward codes of ethics. Specifically, its purposes are threefold. First, to examine business managers' attitudes toward codes of ethics. Second, to ascertain whether gender differences do exist with respect to these attitudes. Third, to provide a benchmark for future studies of attitudes toward codes of ethics. A survey of 286 managers revealed significant differences between the female and male managers with respect to six of the eight variables studied.

Etienne Balibar, Olivier Bloch, Jean-Claude Bourdin, Isabelle Garo, Alain Gigandet, Pascale Gillot, Annie Ibrahim, Irène Pereira et André Tosel se penchent dans cet ouvrage sur les problèmes et les perpectives induites par le matérialisme althusserien. " Jamais un coup de dés n'abolira le hasard ". Althusser fait un bref commentaire de cette célèbre sentence mallarméenne dans un texte de 1982 - Le courant souterrain du matérialisme de la rencontre. II y conclut que l'histoire n'est que la révocation permanente du (...) fait accompli par le "fait à accomplir" sans qu'on sache à l'avance ni jamais, ni où, ni comment. Affaire de jeu de dés à jeter sur la table vide... Ainsi est déterminée une position en philosophie et en politique, assiette inédite qui en appelle à l'aléatoire et se donne comme un " chantier " ouvert à nos explorations. De fait, les catégories du sujet, de l'aliénation, de la dialectique, de l'idéologie, sont bradées ou ébranlées au profit du processus hasardeux et de la vicissitude des formes. Pourtant, ni le primat de la lutte des classes ni la thèse de la matérialité objective du monde ne sont sacrifiés au nouvel horizon de la conjoncture. Il se peut qu'il y ait deux voies du matérialisme, aussi légitimes l'une que l'autre - matérialisme de la nécessité et matérialisme de la rencontre. Gageons que ce dernier puisse faire que les éléments vivants d'un ensemble politique"s'accrochent " entre eux et au tout de telle sorte que ce qui est vrai en théorie le soit aussi en pratique. (shrink)

O artigo explora as fontes históricas da lenda O riso de Demócrito e o pranto de Heráclito, com destaque para a antiguidade greco-romana e para a modernidade renascentista. É realizado um estudo genealógico da referida lenda, seguido da análise de três obras: as Cartas do Pseudo-Hipócrates (c. século I d.C.) e os discursos oratórios de Antônio Vieira (Le lacrime d'Eraclito) e de Girolamo Cattaneo (Il riso di Democrito) (1674). Diante da tirania da felicidade que se impõe nas sociedades contemporâneas, o (...) resgate desse construto cultural milenar serve como locus de reflexão sobre prudencialidade ética e condição humana. (shrink)

The principle of modal continuity has become an increasingly popular bit of modal epistemology, featuring prominently in debates about mereology, value, causation, and theism. It claims, roughly, that degreed properties are modally unified. So, if the property of being three inches tall is exemplifiable, so is the property of being four inches tall, and five inches tall, etc. Despite its plausibility, in this paper I show that there is a class of counterexamples to modal continuity: what I call ‘powered properties.’ (...) More surprisingly, I show that an instance of these powered properties is entailed by another widely popular family of modal principles: the Lewisian patchwork principles, also known as cut-and-paste, or recombination, principles. Thus, despite appearing to be similar, and motivated by plenitudinous intuitions about the nature of modality, it turns out that the continuity and recombination approaches to modality rely on crucially different pictures of plenitude. (shrink)

One of William Lane Craig's key arguments for the finitude of the past is the Successive Addition Argument (SAA). Malpass (2021) has recently developed a novel challenge to the SAA, utilising a thought experiment from the work of Fred Dretske, which is meant to show that it is possible to count to infinity, to argue that there is a counterexample to the SAA's second premise. In this paper, I contend that the Malpass‐Dretske counterexample should not worry advocates of the SAA. (...) First, I argue that one objection Malpass considers—the Potential Infinite Objection—reveals an interesting fact: the SAA's second premise is unnecessarily strong and can be weakened whilst still yielding the same conclusion. Second, I show how another one of the objections considered by Malpass—the Accumulation Objection—is successful, provided some clarification to the SAA's premises. The upshot of both analyses is that we generate two ‘new’ Successive Addition arguments that not only move the dialectic forward, but shed light on deeper assumptions and motivating intuitions concerning the Kalām. (shrink)

Governance of biomedical research in the United States has been characterized by ethical individualism, a mode of reasoning that treats the individual person as the center of moral concern and analysis. However, genomics research raises ethics issues that uniquely affect certain genetically related communities as collectives, not merely as aggregates of individuals. This is especially true of identifiable populations—including Indigenous Peoples—that are often minoritized, socially marginalized, or geographically isolated. We propose an alternative, complementary framework based on the United Nations Declaration (...) on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) (2007), which explicitly recognizes both individual and collective rights. We use the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance as a case study to show how this UNDRIP‐based framework can complement the individual‐focused national standard for research oversight represented by the Belmont principles, thereby better protecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests in genomic data. (shrink)

The study aims through a deductively descriptive method to focuson the influence of Arabic on the Malaysian culture. The most importantmilestones of Arabic in the Malaysian context and the most stand out Malaysiapublic and private institutions which made the most contributions in spreadingArabic in the Malay culture. The study begins with the arrival of Islam andArabic in the Archipelago as a precursor to uncover the depth of the influenceof Arabic in the minds and culture of the Malays. The influence of (...) Arabic onthe following aspects will also be discussed: the writing script of the Malay,the educational system in schools and universities, the mass media in additionto the public. (shrink)

‘And’ thus splits up the ambiguous starting unity, introduces into it the difference between ideology and science... since the gesture of distinguishing ‘mere ideology’ from ‘reality’ implies the epistemologically untenable ‘God's view’, that is, access to objective reality as it ‘truly is’... [And] what emerges via distortions of the accurate representation of reality is the real -- that is, the trauma around which social reality is structured. (Zizek, 2000, pp. 24-5, original emphasis).

Causal finitism, the view that the causal history of any event must be finite, has garnered much philosophical interest recently—especially because of its applicability to the Kalām cosmological argument. The most prominent argument for causal finitism is the Grim Reaper argument, which attempts to show that, if infinite causal histories are possible, then other paradoxical states of affairs must also be possible. However, this style of argument has been criticized on the grounds of (i) relying on controversial modal principles, and (...) (ii) providing a false diagnosis of the paradoxes involved. In this paper, I develop a new kind of Grim Reaper argument immune to these criticisms. I show that, by using insights from the literature on time travel, causal finitists should instead argue that infinite causal histories are problematically inexplicable, as they entail the possibility of unexplained foiling mechanisms. The fruits of this paper are that (i) a novel supporting argument for the Kalām is developed, and (ii) along the way of building this argument, it is shown that the literatures on time travel and causal finitism are deeply and intimately connected. (shrink)

Background: Patients’ rights are universal values that must be respected; however, it is not easy to put such values and principles into effect as approaches and attitudes differ from individual to individual, from society to society, and from country to country. If we want to reach a general conclusion about the status of patient rights in the world as whole, we should examine the situation in individual countries. Objective: To study the effect of training sessions for nurses about patients’ rights (...) on the perceptions of nurses and patients in two Egyptian hospitals. Methods: Quasi-experimental with pre- and posttest design was used in this study. Two groups of participants were included in the study: the first with 97 nurses and the second with 135 patients. A questionnaire sheet was used for nurses and patients to assess their perceptions about patients’ rights before starting sessions. The training sessions were developed based on the baseline information gathered in the assessment phase and related literature. After the implementation of the sessions, a posttest was immediately conducted for nurses, while for patients the posttest was conducted 1 month after implementation to evaluate the effect of the nurses’ training sessions on the patients’ perceptions. The same tools were used in pretest and posttest. Ethical considerations: Written approval was sought and obtained from the administrators of the studied hospitals prior to conducting the study. Oral consent was obtained from nurses and patients willing to participate. Confidentiality and anonymity of the participants were strictly maintained through code numbers on the questionnaires. Results: The improvement in nurses’ knowledge and perceptions about patients’ rights after implementation of the training sessions was remarkable. Moreover, an improvement in patients’ perceptions regarding their rights was reported. Conclusion: Repetition of the training sessions is suggested to achieve continuous improvement. Provision of posters and booklets about a bill of patient rights within the hospitals and conduction of further study to examine nurses’ performance and patients’ satisfaction based on code of ethics are recommended. (shrink)

The Successive Addition Argument (SAA) is one of the key arguments espoused by William Lane Craig for the thesis that the universe began to exist. Recently, Malpass, Mind, 131(523), 786–804 (2021) has developed a challenge to the SAA by way of constructing a counterexample that originates in the work of Fred Dretske. In this paper, I show that the Malpass-Dretske counterexample is in fact no counterexample to the argument. Utilizing a distinction between properties of members and properties of collections, I (...) argue that Malpass’ counterexample has no bearing on the soundness of the SAA. I also develop a novel parity argument against Malpass’ argument that I demonstrate can only be resolved by way of the aforementioned analysis. (shrink)

The semiotic model that disregards the normative context represented by the protagonist examines how we can distinguish the three conceptions of heroism, namely hero, semi-hero, and anti-hero. What are the methodological criteria whereby we can follow the protagonist in the text from beginning to end? To answer them, this article tries to present a model made up of five stages/criteria which constitute a semiotic model by means of which the connection to heroism can be determined. These are: (1) motivation, (2) (...) will, (3) ability, (4) execution, and (5) outcome. These stages can be logically classified into three categories: 1) Pre-action (the first three stages), 2) Action (the fourth stage), 3) Post-action (the fifth stage). The model proposed here suits all types of narrative and drama and all performance and film production arts. (shrink)

It is a common intuition in scientific practice that positive instances confirm. This confirmation, at least based purely on syntactic considerations, is what Nelson Goodman’s ‘Grue Problem’, and more generally the ‘New Riddle’ of Induction, attempt to defeat. One treatment of the Grue Problem has been made along Bayesian lines, wherein the riddle reduces to a question of probability assignments. In this paper, I consider this so-called Bayesian Grue Problem and evaluate how one might proffer a solution to this problem (...) utilizing what I call a phenomenological approach. I argue that this approach to the problem can be successful on the Bayesian framework. (shrink)