scholarly journals Decentralized Common Knowledge Oracles

Ledger ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin K. Williams ◽  
Jack Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Games ◽  
Economic Condition ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Incentive Compatible ◽  
Oracle Query ◽  
True Outcome ◽  
The World ◽  
Do So

We define and analyze three mechanisms for getting common knowledge, a posteriori truths about the world, onto a blockchain in a decentralized setting. We show that, when a reasonable economic condition is met, these mechanisms are individually rational, incentive compatible, and decide the true outcome of valid oracle queries in both the non-cooperative and cooperative settings. These mechanisms are based upon repeated games with two classes of players: queriers who desire to get common knowledge truths onto the blockchain and a pool of reporters who posses such common knowledge. Presented with a new oracle query, reporters have an opportunity to report the truth in return for a fee provided by the querier. During subsequent oracle queries, the querier has an opportunity to punish any reporters who did not report truthfully during previous rounds. While the set of reporters has the power to cause the oracle to lie, they are incentivized not to do so.

scholarly journals Common learning and cooperation in repeated games

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1175-1219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuo Sugaya ◽  
Yuichi Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Games ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
The State ◽  
Folk Theorem ◽  
Unknown State ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
The World ◽  
Common Learning

We study repeated games in which players learn the unknown state of the world by observing a sequence of noisy private signals. We find that for generic signal distributions, the folk theorem obtains using ex post equilibria. In our equilibria, players commonly learn the state, that is, the state becomes asymptotic common knowledge.

The Challenge of Sustaining Peace

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Necla Tschirgi ◽  
Cedric de Coning
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Original Design ◽  
Entire Spectrum ◽  
The World ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
International Peacebuilding ◽  
Do So

While demand for international peacebuilding assistance increases around the world, the UN’s Peacebuilding Architecture (PBA) remains a relatively weak player, for many reasons: its original design, uneasy relations between the Peacebuilding Commission and Security Council, turf battles within the UN system, and how UN peacebuilding is funded. This chapter examines the PBA’s operations since 2005, against the evolution of the peacebuilding field, and discusses how the PBA can be a more effective instrument in the UN’s new “sustaining peace” approach. To do so, it would have to become the intergovernmental anchor for that approach, without undermining the intent that “sustaining peace” be a system-wide responsibility, encompassing the entire spectrum of UN activities in peace, security, development, and human rights.

Kant’s ‘Transcendental Deduction’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Stroud
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Structural Description ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Transcendental Deduction ◽  
The World ◽  
Empirical Realism

This chapter presents a straightforward structural description of Immanuel Kant’s conception of what the transcendental deduction is supposed to do, and how it is supposed to do it. The ‘deduction’ Kant thinks is needed for understanding the human mind would establish and explain our ‘right’ or ‘entitlement’ to something we seem to possess and employ in ‘the highly complicated web of human knowledge’. This is: experience, concepts, and principles. The chapter explains the point and strategy of the ‘deduction’ as Kant understands it, as well as the demanding conditions of its success, without entering into complexities of interpretation or critical assessment of the degree of success actually achieved. It also analyses Kant’s arguments regarding a priori concepts as well as a posteriori knowledge of the world around us, along with his claim that our position in the world must be understood as ‘empirical realism’.

Jude the Obscure

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hardy
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Critical Edition ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Jude The Obscure ◽  
Do So

Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?' Jude Fawley, poor and working-class, longs to study at the University of Christminster, but he is rebuffed, and trapped in a loveless marriage. He falls in love with his unconventional cousin Sue Bridehead, and their refusal to marry when free to do so confirms their rejection of and by the world around them. The shocking fate that overtakes them is an indictment of a rigid and uncaring society. Hardy's last and most controversial novel, Jude the Obscure caused outrage when it was published in 1895. This is the first truly critical edition, taking account of the changes that Hardy made over twenty-five years. It includes a new chronology and bibliography and substantially revised notes.

Lawful Remedy or Illegal Response? Resolving the Issue of Foreign Subsidization Under WTO Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Victor Crochet ◽  
Marcus Gustafsson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Fair Competition ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
International Trade Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Do So

Abstract Discontentment is growing such that governments, and notably that of China, are increasingly providing subsidies to companies outside their jurisdiction, ‘buying their way’ into other countries’ markets and undermining fair competition therein as they do so. In response, the European Union recently published a proposal to tackle such foreign subsidization in its own market. This article asks whether foreign subsidies can instead be addressed under the existing rules of the World Trade Organization, and, if not, whether those rules allow States to take matters into their own hands and act unilaterally. The authors shed light on these issues and provide preliminary guidance on how to design a response to foreign subsidization which is consistent with international trade law.

scholarly journals The aerodynamic puzzle of nasalized fricatives: Aerodynamic and perceptual evidence from Scottish Gaelic

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Warner ◽  
Daniel Brenner ◽  
Jessamyn Schertz ◽  
Andrew Carnie ◽  
Muriel Fisher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scottish Gaelic ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Instrumental Data ◽  
The World ◽  
Perceptual Evidence ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Do So

AbstractScottish Gaelic is sometimes described as having nasalized fricatives (/ṽ/ distinctively, and [f̃, x̃, h̃], etc. through assimilation). However, there are claims that it is not aerodynamically possible to open the velum for nasalization while maintaining frication noise. We present aerodynamic data from 14 native Scottish Gaelic speakers to determine how the posited nasalized fricatives in this language are realized. Most tokens demonstrate loss of nasalization, but nasalization does occur in some contexts without aerodynamic conflict, e.g., nasalization with the consonant realized as an approximant, nasalization of [h̃], nasalization on the preceding vowel, or sequential frication and nasalization. Furthermore, a very few tokens do contain simultaneous nasalization and frication with a trade-off in airflow. We also present perceptual evidence showing that Gaelic listeners can hear this distinction slightly better than chance. Thus, instrumental data from one of the few languages in the world described as having nasalized fricatives confirms that the claimed sounds are not made by producing strong nasalization concurrently with clear frication noise. Furthermore, although speakers most often neutralize the nasalization, when they maintain it, they do so through a variety of phonetic mechanisms, even within a single language.

The Shari’a Approach to Contemporary Problems of Mass Surveillance

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sattam Eid Almutairi
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
The World ◽  
State Surveillance ◽  
Mass Surveillance ◽  
Do So

AbstractThe phenomenon of mass surveillance has confronted legal systems throughout the world with significant challenges to their fundamental norms and values. These dilemmas have been most extensively studied and discussed in relation to the kind of privacy cultures that exist in Europe and North America. Although mass surveillance creates the same kinds of challenges in Muslim countries, the phenomenon has rarely been discussed from the perspective of Shari’a. This article seeks to demonstrate that this neglect of mass surveillance and other similar phenomena by Shari’a scholars is unjustified. Firstly, the article will address objections that Shari’a does not contain legal norms that are relevant to the modern practice of state surveillance and that, if these exist, they are not binding on rulers and will also seek to show that, whatever terminology is employed, significant aspects of the protection of privacy and personal data that exists in other legal systems is also be found deeply-rooted in Shari’a. Secondly, it will assess the specific requirements that it makes in relation to such intrusion on private spaces and private conduct and how far it can benefit from an exception to the general prohibition on spying. Finally, it is concluded that mass surveillance is unlikely to meet these Shari’a requirements and that only targeted surveillance can generally do so.

scholarly journals Leviathan, or the Rudder of Public Health

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (Suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Denis Horgan ◽  
Walter Ricciardi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Big Data ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Personalised Medicine ◽  
Member States ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Do So

In the world of modern health, despite the fact that we've been blessed with amazing advances of late - the advent of personalised medicine is just one example - “change” for most citizens seems slow. There are clear discrepancies in availability of the best care for all, the divisions in access from country to country, wealthy to poor, are large. There are even discrepancies between regions of the larger countries, where access often varies alarmingly. Too many Member States (with their competence for healthcare) appear to be clinging stubbornly to the concept of “one-size-fits-all” in healthcare and often stifle advances possible through personalised medicine. Meanwhile, the legislative arena encompassing health has grown big and unwieldy in many respects. And bigger is not always better. The health advances spoken of above, an increased knowledge on the part of patients, the emergence of Big Data and more, are quickly changing the face of healthcare in Europe. But healthcare thinking across the EU isn't changing fast enough. The new technologies will certainly speak for themselves, but only if allowed to do so. Acknowledging that, this article highlights a positive reform agenda, while explaining that new avenues need to be explored.

scholarly journals “Yay! Yuck!” Toddlers use incongruent emotions to reason about hidden objects

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Sierra Smith-Flores ◽  
Lisa Feigenson
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
Present Experiment ◽  
Single Agent ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Single Stimulus ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Infants And Toddlers ◽  
The World ◽  
Do So

Infants show impressive sensitivity to others’ emotions from early on, attending to and discriminating different facial emotions, using emotions to decide what to approach or avoid, and recognizing that certain objects and events are likely to produce certain emotional responses. But do infants and toddlers also recognize more abstract features of emotions—features that are not tied to any one emotion in particular? Here we examined the development of the higher order expectation that emotions are more or less mutually exclusive, asking whether young children recognize that people generally do not express two conflicting emotions towards a single stimulus. We first asked whether 26-month old toddlers can use an agent’s incongruent versus congruent emotional responses (“Yay! Yuck!” versus “Yay! Wow!”) to reason about how many objects were hidden in a box. We found that toddlers inferred that incongruent emotions signaled the presence of two numerically distinct objects (Experiment 1). This inference relied on the incongruent emotions being produced by a single agent; when two different agents gave two incongruent emotional responses, toddlers did not assume that two objects must be present (Experiment 2). Finally, we examined the developmental trajectory of this ability. We found that younger, 20-month olds failed to use incongruent emotions to individuate objects (Experiment 3), although they readily used incongruent novel labels to do so (Experiment 4). Our results suggest that by 2-years of age, children use higher order knowledge of emotions to make inferences about the world around them, and that this ability undergoes early development.

scholarly journals Sustainable Electric Vehicle Transportation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12379
Author(s):  
Raymond Kene ◽  
Thomas Olwal ◽  
Barend J. van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicle ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Distribution Network ◽  
Electricity Grid ◽  
Current State ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ev Charging

The future direction of electric vehicle (EV) transportation in relation to the energy demand for charging EVs needs a more sustainable roadmap, compared to the current reliance on the centralised electricity grid system. It is common knowledge that the current state of electricity grids in the biggest economies of the world today suffer a perennial problem of power losses; and were not designed for the uptake and integration of the growing number of large-scale EV charging power demands from the grids. To promote sustainable EV transportation, this study aims to review the current state of research and development around this field. This study is significant to the effect that it accomplishes four major objectives. (1) First, the implication of large-scale EV integration to the electricity grid is assessed by looking at the impact on the distribution network. (2) Secondly, it provides energy management strategies for optimizing plug-in EVs load demand on the electricity distribution network. (3) It provides a clear direction and an overview on sustainable EV charging infrastructure, which is highlighted as one of the key factors that enables the promotion and sustainability of the EV market and transportation sector, re-engineered to support the United Nations Climate Change Agenda. Finally, a conclusion is made with some policy recommendations provided for the promotion of the electric vehicle market and widespread adoption in any economy of the world.

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