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This paper studies the problem of designing an incentive strategy for a leader–follower dynamic game affected by some sort of uncertainties. As is traditionally understood in the standard theory of...

espanolEste articulo se interroga sobre el alcance y consistencia de la “teoria estandar de los mundos posibles” en el pensamiento de Leibniz. La tesis defendida es que el actualismo subyace en el corpus leibniziano como un fondo de tension que impide clausurar la metafisica leibniziana de los MP a partir de una sola interpretacion sobre el origen de las cosas. Para ello, se ofrece una periodizacion en tres etapas de las explicaciones de Leibniz al respecto: 1. un modelo actualista puro; 2. un modelo emanantista y otro creacionista, ambos coexistentes e interpretables tanto en terminos posibilistas como actualistas; 3. un modelo actualista de “voluntad resultante”. Nuestro objetivo no es tomar partido por uno u otro modelo, sino mostrar que todos ellos conviven en la literatura leibniziana como elementos que dislocan dentro de una unica y relativamente cerrada interpretacion. EnglishThis article examines the scope and consistency of the “standard theory of possible worlds” in Leibniz’s thought. Its thesis is that actualism underlies the Leibnizian corpus as a background of tension that prevents the closure of the Leibnizian metaphysics of possible worlds from a single interpretation of the origin of things. To this end, a three-stage periodization of Leibniz’s explanations about the origination of the world is offered: firstly, a pure actualist model; secondly, an emanantist model and a creationist model, both coexisting and being interpretable in possibilist terms as well as in actualist terms; finally, an actualist model of “resultant will”. Our goal is not to take sides with some model or another, but only to make visible that all of them coexist in Leibniz’s writings as elements which dislocate within a sole and relatively closed interpretation.

Recent developments in evolutionary biology have led to a call for an extension of standard evolutionary theory, with its emphasis on processes such as selection and drift, into a much larger theoretical framework that includes processes such as niche construction, developmental plasticity, inclusive inheritance, and developmental bias. Skeptics argue that these processes are already subsumed within the standard theory and thus an extension is not required. Here, we outline what this evolutionary "rethink" might mean for the study of human origins. Specifically, can paleoanthropologists benefit from an extended theoretical toolkit? The papers in this special issue suggest it can be useful but may not be necessary, depending on the kinds of questions that are being asked.

In this article I develop my argument for a shallow interpretivist theory of sport by showing that whereas it applies to all oppositional sports, the standard theory of sport for the past twenty ye...

Do option investors rationally exercise their options? Numerous studies report evidence of irrational behavior. In this paper, we pay careful attention to intraday option quotes and reach the opposite conclusion. An exercise boundary violation (EBV) occurs when the best bid price for an American option is below the option’s intrinsic value. Far from being unusual, we show that EBVs occur very frequently. Under these conditions, the rational response of an investor liquidating an option is to exercise the option rather than sell it. Empirically, we find that the likelihood of early exercise is strongly influenced by the existence and duration of EBVs. Not only do these results reverse standard theory on American option valuation and optimal exercise strategy, but they also suggest that the ability to avoid selling at an EBV price creates an additional source of value for American options that is unrelated, and in addition to, dividend payments. This additional value may help explain why American options appear overpriced relative to European options.

Standard theory for cross-country productivity comparisons assumes all countries use the same factor inputs in production. This assumption is violated when including natural resources, such as oil, gas and gold, because countries do not extract the full set of resources. In this paper we propose a solution by viewing it as a ‘missing goods’ problem and assigning missing inputs a reservation price equal to the world resource price. We show that this has a substantial impact on relative productivity levels for countries heavily reliant on natural resources for generating their income. Under our new productivity measure, resource-rich countries are no longer uncommonly productive.

The standard theory of mass transport in dialyzer for water solutions was extended for solutes distributed in both plasma (PW) and erythrocyte intracellular (EW) water. Blood flow was divided into two separate flows of PW and EW with the diffusive exchange of solutes across cellular membrane (CM). Diffusive permeability of CM for urea and creatinine were assumed according to literature data. Computer simulations based on partial differential equations demonstrated that urea diffuses fast across CM and can be approximately considered as distributed uniformly in both blood flow components. In contrast, creatinine can be considered as distributed only in PW flow during the passage along the dialyzer. Therefore, the traditional formula for dialyzer clearance can be applied for urea and creatinine with the adjustment of their effective “blood” flow, but not for solutes with intermediate molecular mass. In vivo clearances of urea and creatinine were, as expected, lower than the respective theoretical predictions based of the diffusive permeability, P, times membrane surface area, A, parameters, PA, for dialyzer membrane, estimated for water solutions, by 33.6 ± 10.9% for creatinine and 10.8 ± 9.4% for urea. The estimated in vivo PAs were for creatinine 65.4 ± 26.0% and for urea 32.0 ± 10.9% lower than in vitro values provided by manufacturers. The much higher drop in clinical clearance/PA for creatinine than for urea suggests that the exchange of creatinine between plasma and dialysis fluid needs to be adjusted for the reduction of the dialyzer membrane surface area, which is effectively available for creatinine, caused by the presence of erythrocytes.

In the standard theory of delay equations, the fundamental solution does not ‘live’ in the state space. To eliminate this age-old anomaly, we enlarge the state space. As a consequence, we lose the strong continuity of the solution operators and this, in turn, has as a consequence that the Riemann integral no longer suffices for giving meaning to the variation-of-constants formula. To compensate, we develop the Stieltjes-Pettis integral in the setting of a norming dual pair of spaces. Part I provides general theory, Part II deals with “retarded” equations, and in Part III we show how the Stieltjes integral enables incorporation of unbounded perturbations corresponding to neutral delay equations.

The paper aims to present the legal theories of legal argumentation constructed in the last century, organised into two groups: the precursors (Viehweg, Perelman and Toulmin) and the authors of the standard theory (MacCormick and Alexy). Then, some criticisms about all these conceptions are presented. And finally, an outline of a theory of legal argumentation is made, capable of overcoming some of the previous criticisms. The fundamental idea for this is to build a very abstract concept of argumentation that could then allow various interpretations or conceptions of legal argumentation. From here, one would be in a position to find an answer to the three main argumentative questions raised by legal practice: how to analyse an argument, how to evaluate it, how to argue.

In past experiments involving a wide range of bargaining settings, individuals exploited their bargaining position less fully than standard theory predicts. Typically, these experiments allocated bargaining position randomly, so that bargainers, viewing their position as unearned, may have been reluctant to fully exploit it. We investigate the impact of earned bargaining power using theory and experiment. In our “Earned” treatment, disagreement payoffs – and hence bargaining power – are based on performance on a real–effort task. In our “Assigned” treatment, subjects perform the task but disagreement payoffs are randomly assigned. Our “Notask” treatment is like the Assigned treatment but without the task. Comparison of our Earned and Assigned treatments provides our main result: subjects are more responsive to changes in bargaining position when it is earned. Responsiveness is also often higher in our Assigned treatment than in our Notask treatment – suggesting a possible effect of merely including a status–irrelevant task – though these differences are usually insignificant.

The efficiency of committee voting and referenda with common-interest issues critically depends on voter motivation, i.e., on voters' willingness to cast an informed vote. If voters are motivated, voting may result in smart choices because of information aggregation but if voters remain ignorant, delegating decision making to an expert may yield better outcomes. We experimentally study a common-interest situation in which we vary voters' information cost and the competence of the expert. We find that voters are more motivated to collect information than predicted by standard theory and that voter motivation is higher when subjects demand to make choices by voting than when voting is imposed on subjects.

Traditionally it is taken for granted that mental imagery (MI) is a mental representation (MR) of some kind or format. This yields that theory of MR can give an adequate and exhaustive explanation of MI. Such co-relation between the two is usually seen as unproblematic. But is it really so? This article aims at challenging the theoretical claim that the dominant ‘two-world’ account of MR can adequately explain MI. Contrary to the standard theory of MR, there are reasons to believe that: (a) MI has different cognitive architecture, (b) the relations between elements of MI are dynamic, (c) relations between elements of MI are context-dependent. Consequently, it follows that dominant account of MR neglects important characteristics of MI and, thus, fails to give a comprehensive explanation of the latter. Alternatively, I will argue that a sign-theoretic approach, proposed by C. S. Peirce, can suggest a promising explanation of MI and fully account for the divergent empirical data on the matter.

The principle of balanced justice in Islamic inheritance law dictates that men and women are equally entitled to appear as heirs, with different forms. Based on the qath'i text, the just and balanced means in the Islamic inheritance law is that the male portion is equal to the share of two women (2: 1 for male and female). The difference in costs is not due to gender issues, but rather the differences in duties and responsibilities imposed on men are greater than those imposed on women in the context of Islamic society, according to conventional standard theory which states: "The greater and heavier the burden is men, the greater the rights that will be obtained ", due to the costs that must be incurred to carry out greater responsibilities.

This article aims to introduce pragma-dialectics to those who are interested in the study of argumentation. I first explain the theoretical and analytical aspects of the standard version of pragma-dialectics. Then, I apply it to an excerpt of a TV interview in which Mahmoud Saad, an Egyptian interviewer, hosted Mohammed Morsi, who was a presidential candidate at that time. Afterwards I illustrate the rationale of extending the standard theory through suggesting the notion of ‘strategic maneuvering’. In order to show the significant differences between the two versions of the theory in terms of analytic reconstruction and evaluation, I finally re-analyze the text at issue taking into consideration the rhetorical (perlocutionary) effects Morsi attempts to achieve……

RESUMO:Uma das principais críticas que a teoria standard da argumentação jurídica recebe é falta de atenção dada às práticas legislativas. O momento da produção do direito é relevante? Como seria possível analisar uma argumentação legislativa? Como avaliá-la? Qual é o peso dos argumentos para o produto final, a lei? Na Espanha, Manuel Atienza, um dos primeiros autores a dar atenção ao tema, desenvolveu uma teoria da legislação que, com o passar o tempo, recebeu os elementos tendentes à formação do que se pode considerar a primeira teoria da argumentação legislativa. Para isso, o autor formulou cinco níveis ideais de racionalidade a serem alcançados pelas leis: (R1) racionalidade linguística ou comunicativa; (R2) racionalidade jurídico-formal ou sistemática, (R3) racionalidade pragmática, (R4) racionalidade teleológica, e (R5) racionalidade ética. Depois, acrescentou um nível transversal de meta-racionalidade: a razoabilidade. Em seguida, cruzou com as concepções formal, material e pragmática que marcam a sua teoria da argumentação jurídica. O objetivo do artigo é o de apresentar os desenvolvimentos teóricos de Manuel Atienza quanto à temática aos longo dos quase trinta anos em que vem estudando o tema, explicando os pontos fortes e as deficiências de sua teoria. Ao final, o presente trabalho propõe o aprofundamento de uma agenda de estudos mais ampla – a partir das ideias de Manuel Atienza e em resposta às críticas frequentemente lançadas à temática –, voltada para a promoção do giro argumentativo dentro do Poder Legislativo, fomentando a cultura de legisladores argumentadores, bem como apontando outros elementos na análise e avaliação das decisões legislativas e das argumentações respectivas, o que poderá resultar na construção de leis mais racionais. ABSTRACT:One of the main criticisms that the standard theory of legal argumentation receives is the lack of attention given to legislative practices. Is the law-making moment relevant? How can a legislative reasoning be analysed? How to evaluate it? What is the weight of the arguments for the final product, the parliamentary laws? In Spain, Manuel Atienza, one of the first authors to give attention to the subject, developed a theory of legislation that, over time, received elements tending to build what can be considered the first theory of legislative reasoning. For that purpose, the author formulated five ideal levels of rationality to be achieved by the laws: (1) linguistic or communicative rationality, (R2) legal-formal or systematic rationality, (R3) pragmatic rationality, (R4) teleological rationality, and (R5) ethical rationality. Then he added a transversal level of meta-rationality: the reasonableness. After that, he crossed with the formal, material and pragmatic conceptions that mark his theory of legal argumentation. The purpose of this article is to present the theoretical developments made by Manuel Atienza on this subject during the almost thirty years he has been studying it, explaining the strengths and weaknesses of his theory. In the end, this paper proposes to deepen a broader study agenda – based on Manuel Atienza’s ideas and in response to the criticisms frequently made on the subject – aimed at promoting the argumentative turn in the Legislative Power, fomenting culture of argumentative legislators, as well as pointing out other elements in the analysis and evaluation of legislative decisions and their respective arguments, which may result in the construction of more rational parliamentary laws.

The scenario optimisation approach is a methodology for finding solutions to uncertain convex problems by resorting to a sample of data, which are called “scenarios”. In a min–max set-up, the solution delivered by the scenario approach comes with tight probabilistic guarantees on its risk defined as the probability that an empirical cost threshold will be exceeded when the scenario-based solution is adopted. While the standard theory of scenario optimisation has related the risk of the data-based solution to the number of optimisation variables, a more recent approach, called the “wait-and-judge” scenario approach, enables the user to assess the risk of the solution in a data-dependent way, based on the number of decisive scenarios (“support scenarios”). The aim of this paper is to illustrate the potentials of the wait-and-judge approach for min–max sample-based design and we shall consider to this purpose an antenna array design problem.

Simple Summary The FDA recently approved a fourth approach (in addition to surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy) for treating glioblastoma; namely, tumor treating fields (TTFields), a form of alternating electric fields (AEF) therapy that is delivered to the tumor via electrodes placed on the scalp. Despite prolonging overall survival by 5 months when combined with standard chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma, the mechanisms of action of TTFields are not fully understood and primarily involve its interruption of mitotic spindle formation which impairs cancer cell division. A novel mechanism of action of TTFields at the cell membrane was recently identified, in which TTFields increases cancer cell membrane permeability. This finding could be exploited to enhance drug delivery to cancer cells. Here, we review the likely mechanisms by which TTFields permeabilize cancer cell membranes, i.e., voltage-gated ion channels, bioelectrorheological effects, and electroporation. Finally, we discuss an explanatory formulation that incorporates all three models. Abstract The biological impact of exogenous, alternating electric fields (AEFs) and direct-current electric fields has a long history of study, ranging from effects on embryonic development to influences on wound healing. In this article, we focus on the application of electric fields for the treatment of cancers. In particular, we outline the clinical impact of tumor treating fields (TTFields), a form of AEFs, on the treatment of cancers such as glioblastoma and mesothelioma. We provide an overview of the standard mechanism of action of TTFields, namely, the capability for AEFs (e.g., TTFields) to disrupt the formation and segregation of the mitotic spindle in actively dividing cells. Though this standard mechanism explains a large part of TTFields’ action, it is by no means complete. The standard theory does not account for exogenously applied AEFs’ influence directly upon DNA nor upon their capacity to alter the functionality and permeability of cancer cell membranes. This review summarizes the current literature to provide a more comprehensive understanding of AEFs’ actions on cell membranes. It gives an overview of three mechanistic models that may explain the more recent observations into AEFs’ effects: the voltage-gated ion channel, bioelectrorheological, and electroporation models. Inconsistencies were noted in both effective frequency range and field strength between TTFields versus all three proposed models. We addressed these discrepancies through theoretical investigations into the inhomogeneities of electric fields on cellular membranes as a function of disease state, external microenvironment, and tissue or cellular organization. Lastly, future experimental strategies to validate these findings are outlined. Clinical benefits are inevitably forthcoming.