Debating the centre : the theory of principal qualificand (mukhyavisesya) in classical Indian philosophy

The theory of language has occupied a special place in the history of Indian thought. Indian philosophers give particular attention to the analysis of the cognition obtained from language, known under the generic name of śābdabodha. This term is used to denote, among other things, the cognition episode of the hearer, the content of which is described in the form of a paraphrase of a sentence represented as a hierarchical structure. Philosophers submit the meaning of the component items of a sentence and their relationship to a thorough examination, and represent the content of the resulting cognition as a paraphrase centred on a meaning element, that is taken as principal qualificand (mukhyaviśesya) which is qualified by the other meaning elements. This analysis is the object of continuous debate over a period of more than a thousand years between the philosophers of the schools of Mimāmsā, Nyāya (mainly in its Navya form) and Vyākarana. While these philosophers are in complete agreement on the idea that the cognition of sentence meaning has a hierarchical structure and share the concept of a single principal qualificand (qualified by other meaning elements), they strongly disagree on the question which meaning element has this role and by which morphological item it is expressed. This disagreement is the central point of their debate and gives rise to competing versions of this theory. The Mïmāmsakas argue that the principal qualificand is what they call bhāvanā ̒bringing into being̒, ̒efficient force̒ or ̒productive operation̒, expressed by the verbal affix, and distinct from the specific procedures signified by the verbal root; the Naiyāyikas generally take it to be the meaning of the word with the first case ending, while the Vaiyākaranas take it to be the operation expressed by the verbal root. All the participants rely on the Pāninian grammar, insofar as the Mimāmsakas and Naiyāyikas do not compose a new grammar of Sanskrit, but use different interpretive strategies in order to justify their views, that are often in overt contradiction with the interpretation of the Pāninian rules accepted by the Vaiyākaranas. In each of the three positions, weakness in one area is compensated by strength in another, and the cumulative force of the total argumentation shows that no position can be declared as correct or overall superior to the others. This book is an attempt to understand this debate, and to show that, to make full sense of the irreconcilable positions of the three schools, one must go beyond linguistic factors and consider the very beginnings of each school's concern with the issue under scrutiny. The texts, and particularly the late texts of each school present very complex versions of the theory, yet the key to understanding why these positions remain irreconcilable seems to lie elsewhere, this in spite of extensive argumentation involving a great deal of linguistic and logical technicalities. Historically, this theory arises in Mimāmsā (with Sabara and Kumārila), then in Nyāya (with Udayana), in a doctrinal and theological context, as a byproduct of the debate over Vedic authority. The Navya-Vaiyākaranas enter this debate last (with Bhattoji Dïksita and Kaunda Bhatta), with the declared aim of refuting the arguments of the Mïmāmsakas and Naiyāyikas by bringing to light the shortcomings in their understanding of Pāninian grammar. The central argument has focused on the capacity of the initial contexts, with the network of issues to which the principal qualificand theory is connected, to render intelligible the presuppositions and aims behind the complex linguistic justification of the classical and late stages of this debate. Reading the debate in this light not only reveals the rationality and internal coherence of each position beyond the linguistic arguments, but makes it possible to understand why the thinkers of the three schools have continued to hold on to three mutually exclusive positions. They are defending not only their version of the principal qualificand theory, but (though not openly acknowledged) the entire network of arguments, linguistic and/or extra-linguistic, to which this theory is connected, as well as the presuppositions and aims underlying these arguments.

Implicit methods for qualitative modeling of gene regulatory networks.

Advancements in high-throughput technologies to measure increasingly complex biological phenomena at the genomic level are rapidly changing the face of biological research from the single-gene single-protein experimental approach to studying the behavior of a gene in the context of the entire genome (and proteome). This shift in research methodologies has resulted in a new field of network biology that deals with modeling cellular behavior in terms of network structures such as signaling pathways and gene regulatory networks. In these networks, different biological entities such as genes, proteins, and metabolites interact with each other, giving rise to a dynamical system. Even though there exists a mature field of dynamical systems theory to model such network structures, some technical challenges are unique to biology such as the inability to measure precise kinetic information on gene-gene or gene-protein interactions and the need to model increasingly large networks comprising thousands of nodes. These challenges have renewed interest in developing new computational techniques for modeling complex biological systems. This chapter presents a modeling framework based on Boolean algebra and finite-state machines that are reminiscent of the approach used for digital circuit synthesis and simulation in the field of very-large-scale integration (VLSI). The proposed formalism enables a common mathematical framework to develop computational techniques for modeling different aspects of the regulatory networks such as steady-state behavior, stochasticity, and gene perturbation experiments.

Cooperation and game theory, free software or the #15m movement: Two examples for universities

Closing talk of the Open Access Week 2011 at the UOC, by Josep Jover. Why do altruistic strategies beat selfish ones in the spheres of both free software and the #15m movement? The #15m movement, like software but unlike tangible goods, cannot be owned. It can be used (by joining it) by an indeterminate number of people without depriving anyone else of the chance to do the same. And that turns everything on its head: how universities manage information and what their mission is in this new society. In the immediate future, universities will be valued not for the information they harbour, which will always be richer and more extensive beyond their walls, but rather for their capacity to create critical masses, whether of knowledge research, skill-building, or networks of peers... universities must implement the new model or risk becoming obsolete.

Notas del primer seminario de integrabilidad de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Estas notas corresponden a las exposiciones presentadas en el \emph{Primer Seminario de Integrabilidad}, dentro de lo que se denomina \emph{Aula de Sistemas Din\'amicos}. Durante este evento se realizaron seis conferencias, todas presentadas por miembros del grupo de Sistemas Din\'amicos de la UPC. El programa desarrollado fue el siguiente:\\\begin{center}AULA DE SISTEMAS DIN\'AMICOS\end{center}\begin{center}\texttt{http://www.ma1.upc.es/recerca/seminaris/aulasd-cat.html}\end{center}\begin{center}SEMINARIO DE INTEGRABILIDAD\end{center}\begin{center}Martes 29 y Mi\'ercoles 30 de marzo de 2005\\Facultad de Matem\'aticas y Estad\'{\i}stica, UPC\\Aula: Seminario 1\end{center}\bigskip\begin{center}PROGRAMA Y RES\'UMENES\end{center}{\bf Martes 29 de marzo}\begin{itemize}\item15:30. Juan J. Morales-Ruiz. \emph{El problema de laintegrabilidad en Sistemas Din\'amicos}\medskip {\bf Resumen.} En esta presentaci\'on se pretende dar unaidea de conjunto, pero sin entrar en detalles, sobre las diversasnociones de integrabilidad, asociadas a nombres de matem\'aticostan ilustres como Liouville, Galois-Picard-Vessiot, Lie, Darboux,Kowalevskaya, Painlev\'e, Poincar\'e, Kolchin, Lax, etc. Adem\'astambi\'en mencionaremos la revoluci\'on que supuso en los a\~nossesenta del siglo pasado el descubrimiento de Gardner, Green,Kruskal y Miura sobre un nuevo m\'etodo para resolver en algunoscasos determinadas ecuaciones en derivadas parciales. \medskip\item16:00. David G\'omez-Ullate. \emph{Superintegrabilidad, pares deLax y modelos de $N-$cuerpos en el plano}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Introduciremos algunas t\'ecnicas cl\'asicas paraconstruir modelos de N-cuerpos integrables, como los pares de Laxo la din\'amica de los ceros de un polinomio. Revisaremos lanoci\'on de integrabilidad Liouville y superintegrabilidad, ydiscutiremos un nuevo m\'etodo debido a F. Calogero para contruirmodelos de N-cuerpos en el plano con muchas \'orbitasperi\'odicas. La exposici\'on se acompa\~nar\'a de animaciones delmovimiento de los cuerpos, y se plantear\'an algunos problemasabiertos.\medskip\item17:00. Pausa\medskip\item17:30. Yuri Fedorov. \emph{An\'alisis de Kovalevskaya--Painlev\'ey Sistemas Algebraicamente Integrables}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Muchos sistemas integrables poseen una propiedadremarcable: todas sus soluciones son funciones meromorfas deltiempo como una variable compleja. Tal comportamiento, que serefiere como propiedad de Kovalevskaya-Painleve (KP) y que se usafrecuentemente como una ensayo de integrabilidad, no es accidentaly tiene unas ra\'{\i}ces geom\'etricas profundas. En esta charladescribiremos una clase de tales sistemas (conocidos como lossistemas algebraicamente integrables) y subrayaremos suspropiedades geom\'etricas principales que permiten predecir laestructura de las soluciones complejas y adem\'as encontrarlasexpl\'{\i}citamente. Eso lo ilustraremos con algunos sistemas dela mec\'anica cl\'asica. Tambi\'en mencionaremos unasgeneralizaciones \'utiles de la noci\'on de integrabilidadalgebraica y de la propiedad KP.\end{itemize}\medskip{\bf Mi\'ercoles 30 de marzo}\begin{itemize}\item 15:30. Rafael Ram\'{\i}rez-Ros. \emph{El m\'etodo de Poincar\'e}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Dado un sistema Hamiltoniano aut\'onomo cercano acompletamente integrable Poincar\'e prob\'o que, en general, noexiste ninguna integral primera adicional uniforme en elpar\'ametro de perturbaci\'on salvo el propio Hamiltoniano.Esbozaremos las ideas principales del m\'etodo de prueba ycomentaremos algunas extensiones y generalizaciones.\newpage\item16:30. Chara Pantazi. \emph{El M\'etodo de Darboux}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Darboux, en 1878, present\'o su m\'etodo paraconstruir integrales primeras de campos vectoriales polinomialesutilizando sus curvas invariantes algebraicas. En estaexposici\'on presentaremos algunas extensiones del m\'etodocl\'asico de Darboux y tambi\'en algunas aplicaciones.\medskip\item17:30. Pausa\medskip\item18:00. Juan J. Morales-Ruiz. \emph{M\'etodos recientes paradetectar la no integrabilidad}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} En 1982 Ziglin utiliza la estructura de laecuaci\'on en variaciones de Poincar\'e (sobre una curva integralparticular) como una herramienta fundamental para detectar la nointegrabilidad de un sistema Hamiltoniano. En esta charla sepretende dar una idea de esta aproximaci\'on a la nointegrabilidad, junto con t\'ecnicas m\'as recientes queinvolucran la teor\'{\i}a de Galois de ecuaciones diferencialeslineales, haciendo \'enfasis en los ejemplos m\'as que en lateor\'{\i}a general. Ilustraremos estos m\'etodos con resultadossobre la no integrabilidad de algunos problemas de $N$ cuerpos enMec\'anica Celeste.\end{itemize}

Reconstruction of the join time-delay Doppler-scale reflectivity density in the wide-band regime. A frame theory based approach

The inverse scattering problem concerning the determination of the joint time-delayDoppler-scale reflectivity density characterizing continuous target environments is addressed by recourse to the generalized frame theory. A reconstruction formula,involving the echoes of a frame of outgoing signals and its corresponding reciprocalframe, is developed. A ‘‘realistic’’ situation with respect to the transmission ofa finite number of signals is further considered. In such a case, our reconstruction formula is shown to yield the orthogonal projection of the reflectivity density onto a subspace generated by the transmitted signals.

Blind channel estimation and data detection using hidden Markov models theory

In this correspondence, we propose applying the hiddenMarkov models (HMM) theory to the problem of blind channel estimationand data detection. The Baum–Welch (BW) algorithm, which is able toestimate all the parameters of the model, is enriched by introducingsome linear constraints emerging from a linear FIR hypothesis on thechannel. Additionally, a version of the algorithm that is suitable for timevaryingchannels is also presented. Performance is analyzed in a GSMenvironment using standard test channels and is found to be close to thatobtained with a nonblind receiver.

Laivan voimalaitoksen ja jännitevälipiirillisen ruoripotkurikäytön vuorovaikutusten mallintaminen

Diplomityössä on tutkittu sähköisellä potkurijärjestelmällä varustetun laivan voimalaitoksen ja jännitevälipiirillisen propulsiokäytön vuorovaikutusta laivan hätäpysäytyksen aikana. Työssä on kehitetty simulointimalleja jännitevälipiirillisten sähkökäyttöjen simuloimiseksi Saber -simulontiohjelmistolla.Työn alkuosassa esitetään lyhyt yhteenveto laivan sähköisestä potkurijärjestelmästä komponentteineen, käsitellään laivan hätäpysäytyksen teoriaa sekä simuloinneissa huomioonotettavia laivan ja potkurin hydrodynaamisia ominaisuuksia. Työssä käytettävän simulointiohjelmiston toimintaa selvitetään lyhyesti. Jännitevälipiirillisellä propulsiokäytöllä varustetun laivan hätäpysäytyksen simulointimalli esitellään kokonaisuudessaan ja käsitellään simulointimallin sisältämien osakokonaisuuksien teoriaa ja toimintaa. Kehitetyn simulointimallin toimintaa on tarkasteltu vertaamalla tuloksia vastaavansyklokonvertterikäytöllä varustetun laivan simulointituloksiin sekä vertaamallasimulointituloksia laivan merikoeajon yhteydessä tehtyihin mittauksiin. Simulointitulokset vastasivat teoriaa sekä mittaustuloksia varsin hyvin. Voimalaitoksenosalta ei mittaustuloksia ollut käytettävissä, mutta simulointitulokset ovat teorian mukaisia.

Dynamical sectors of a relativistic two particle model

We reconsider a model of two relativistic particles interacting via a multiplicative potential, as an example of a simple dynamical system with sectors, or branches, with different dynamics and degrees of freedom. The presence or absence of sectors depends on the values of rest masses. Some aspects of the canonical quantization are described. The model could be interpreted as a bigravity model in one dimension.

Consumers' use of nutrition-related endorsement symbol to help their purchase decisions: An extension of the theory of planned behaviour

Tutkimuksessa haluttiin selvittää, mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat ravintoon liittyvän suositusmerkin käyttöön kuluttajan ostopäätöksen apuna. Tutkimuksen viitekehyksen pohjaksi valittiin suunnitellun toiminnan teoria, joka on osoittautunut selittämään hyvin useaa ravintoon- ja terveyteen liittyvää käyttäytymistä. Tutkimustoteutettiin kyselytutkimuksella, jonka aineisto kerättiin Internetissä julkaistulla kyselylomakkeella. Tulokset osoittivat, että kuluttajan aikomus käyttää suositusmerkkiä oli mallin vahvin selittäjä. Lisäksi merkin käyttöä selitti kuluttajan kokema sisäinen kontrolli, johon ulkoinen kontrolli vahvasti vaikuttaa. Ostopäätössitoutumisen havaittiin vaikuttavan aikomuksen ja todellisen merkin käytön väliseen yhteyteen. Yleisesti tulokset osoittivat, että kuluttajilla on aikomusta käyttää merkkiä, mutta todellinen käyttö on huomattavasti vähäisempää.

Analyzing dynamic intellectual capital: System-based theory and application

This research report presents an application of systems theory to evaluating intellectual capital (IC) as organization's ability for self-renewal. As renewal ability is a dynamic capability of an organization as a whole, rather than a static asset or an atomistic competence of separate individuals within the organization, it needs to be understood systemically. Consequently, renewal ability has to be measured with systemic methods that are based on a thorough conceptual analysis of systemic characteristics of organizations. The aim of this report is to demonstrate the theory and analysis methodology for grasping companies' systemic efficiency and renewal ability. The volume is divided into three parts. The first deals with the theory of organizations as self-renewing systems. In the second part, the principles of quantitative analysis of organizations are laid down. Finally, the detailed mathematics of the renewal indices are presented. We also assert that the indices produced by the analysis are an effective tool for the management and valuation of knowledge-intensive companies.