The importance of applying game theory to the evolution of information in the presence of noise has recently become widely recognized. This Special Issue addresses the theme of spontaneously emergent order in both classical and quantum systems subject to external noise, and includes papers directly related to game theory or the development of supporting techniques. In the following editorial overview we examine the broader context of the subject, including the tension between the destructive and creative aspects of noise, and foreshadow (...) the significance of some of the subsequent papers in the volume. (shrink)

Risk management of nanotechnology is challenged by the enormous uncertainties about the risks, benefits, properties, and future direction of nanotechnology applications. Because of these uncertainties, traditional risk management principles such as acceptable risk, cost–benefit analysis, and feasibility are unworkable, as is the newest risk management principle, the precautionary principle. Yet, simply waiting for these uncertainties to be resolved before undertaking risk management efforts would not be prudent, in part because of the growing public concerns about nanotechnology driven by risk perception (...) heuristics such as affect and availability. A more reflexive, incremental, and cooperative risk management approach is required, which not only will help manage emerging risks from nanotechnology applications, but will also create a new risk management model for managing future emerging technologies. (shrink)

As policy makers struggle to develop regulatory oversight models for nanotechnologies, there are important lessons that can be drawn from previous attempts to govern other emerging technologies. Five such lessons are the following: public confidence and trust in a technology and its regulatory oversight is probably the most important factor for the commercial success of a technology; regulation should avoid discriminating against particular technologies unless there is a scientifically based rationale for the disparate treatment; regulatory systems need to be flexible (...) and adaptive to rapidly changing technologies; ethical and social concerns of the public about emerging technologies need to be expressly acknowledged and addressed in regulatory oversight; and international harmonization of regulation may be beneficial in a rapidly globalizing world. (shrink)

Nanotechnology is the latest in a growing list of emerging technologies that includes nuclear technologies, genetics, reproductive biology, biotechnology, information technology, robotics, communication technologies, surveillance technologies, synthetic biology, and neuroscience. As was the case for many of the technologies that came before, a key question facing nanotechnology is what type of regulatory oversight is appropriate for this emerging technology. As two of us wrote several years ago, the question facing nanotechnology is not whether it will be regulated, but when and (...) how.Yet, appropriate regulation of nanotechnology will be challenging. The term “nanotechnology” incorporates a broad, diverse range of materials, technologies, and products, with an even greater spectrum of potential risks and benefits. This technology slashes across the jurisdiction of many existing regulatory statutes and regulatory agencies, and does so across the globe. Nanotechnology is developing at an enormously rapid rate, perhaps surpassing the capability of any potential regulatory framework to keep pace. Finally, the risks of nanotechnology remain largely unknown, both because of the multitude of variations in the technology and because of the limited applicability of traditional toxicological approaches such as structure-activity relationship to nanotechnology products. (shrink)

Sophocles for the use of Schools. Edited with Introductions and English Notes, by Lewis Campbell, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Greek in the University of St. Andrew's, and Evelyn Abbott, M.A., LL.D., Balliol College, Oxford. New and Revised Edition. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. Text. Vol. II. Explanatory Notes. 10s. 6d.

Near the end of W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz, the book’s eponymous protagonist recalls visiting the zoo of the Jardin des Plantes with his friend Marie.1 The zoo is in bad shape; the pair overhear children questioning their parents: “Mais il est où? Pourquoi il se cache? Pourquoi il ne bouge pas? Est-ce qu’il est mort?” Sebald writes:I recollect that I myself saw a family of fallow deer gathered together by a manger of hay near the perimeter fence of a dusty (...) enclosure where no grass grew, a living picture of mutual trust and harmony which also had about it an air of constant vigilance and alarm. Marie particularly asked me to take a photograph of this beautiful group, and as she did so, said Austerlitz, she said... (shrink)

The music in here--. Music as body ; Music as mind ; Music as heart ; Feeling mind, thinking heart -- --out there--. Music as life ; Music as story ; Music as mirror -- --and everywhere--. Music on the Zen elevator ; The enlightened listener ; Living the waves.

Father Abbott has interviewed twelve council Fathers: Cardinals Léger, Suenens, Liénart, Siri, Koenig, Rugambwa, Alfrink, Doepfner and Cushing; Archbishops Cordeiro and Florit ; and Bishop Carter. The book is curiously uneven in both style and depth. At times the question and answer format is used, at times not. When used, it causes the usual interview weakness--superficiality. When a free format is used and a Father's remarks are allowed to stand uninterrupted and unguided, greater depth results. One feels that Father (...) Abbott has allowed his own interests altogether too much influence. On the whole, the book is somewhat unsatisfying to anyone genuinely interested in following the trends and thoughts among the leading figures of Vatican Council II.--W. G. E. (shrink)

The ``Many Sides of Logic'' is a volume containing a selection of the papers delivered at three simultaneous events held between 11-17 May 2008 in Paraty, RJ, Brazil, continuing a tradition of three decades of Brazilian and Latin-American meetings and celebrating the 30th anniversary of an institution congenital with the mature interest for logic, epistemology and history of sciences in Brazil: CLE 30 - 30th Anniversary of the Centre for Logic, Epistemology and the History of Science at the State University (...) of Campinas (UNICAMP) XV EBL -15th Brazilian Logic Conference XIV SLALM - 14th Latin-American Symposium on Mathematical Logic Several renowned logicians, philosophers and mathematicians gathered in colonial Paraty, a historic village on the Brazilian coast founded in the 17th Century and surrounded by the luscious Atlantic rain forest to deliver lectures and talks celebrating the many sides of logic: the philosophical, the mathematical, the computational, the historical, and the multiple facets therein. The topics of the joint conferences, well represented here, included philosophical and mathematical Logic and applications with emphasis on model theory and proof theory, set theory, non-classical logics and applications, history and philosophy of logic, philosophy of the formal sciences and issues on the foundations of mathematics. The events have been preceded by a Logic School planned for students and young researchers held at the UNICAMP campus in Campinas, SP. (shrink)

Proceedings of the II World Congress on Paraconsistency held in Juquey, SP, Brazil, from May 12-19, 2000.

In this paper, I discuss the pros and cons of the movement and philosophy of Transhumanism, with a focus on the concept of nothingness. I argue that all hitherto concepts of nothingness, both Western and Eastern, are inadequate for an understanding of the present technological position humans now find themselves in.

This article explores the effectiveness of legal interventions to promote healthier eating/drinking and exercise in responding to obesity. Undue emphasis on weight loss and prevention of excess gain have largely been failures and have fueled prejudice against fat people. A major challenge lies in shifting norms: away from stigmatization of the obese and towards more nutritious eating/drinking and increased activity with acceptance of bodies in all shapes and sizes. Part of the enormity of this challenge lies in the complex effects (...) of law and its relationship with norms, including unintended consequences of regulation. To illustrate such complications, the paper examines two interventions and the actual effects that they have produced (or could under differing conditions): junk food taxes, particularly on SSBs (sugar sweetened beverages), and restriction of advertising to children, especially the ban in Quebec. (shrink)