Road to Damascus

Cheating Death in Damascus

Evidential and Causal Decision Theory are the leading contenders as theories of rational action, but both face fatal counterexamples. We present some new counterexamples, including one in which the optimal action is causally dominated. We also present a novel decision theory, Functional Decision Theory (fdt), which simultaneously solves both sets of counterexamples. Instead of considering which...

Using neural networks to predict road roughness

When a vehicle travels on a road, different parts of vehicle vibrate because of road roughness. This paper proposes a method to predict road roughness based on vertical acceleration using neural networks. To this end, first, the suspension system and road roughness are expressed mathematically. Then, the suspension system model will identified using neural networks. The results of this step sho...

The Damascus (Shami) goat of Cyprus

The Damascus goat, also known as the Shami, is a native breed of Syria and other Near East countries. It was imported into Cyprus some 70 years ago to upgrade the local Cypriot goat population. For over 40 years it has been improved through genetic selection for milk and meat. The Damascus goat was one of the breeds that the Technical Consultation of FAO/UNEB on Animal Genetic Resources, Conser...

The Long Road to Eradicate Rinderpest

Testing Random Walk Behavior in the Damascus Securities Exchange

The majority of empirical literature on random walk behavior has interested on developed and emerging markets. However, few studies have been carried out to test the randomness of returns series on less developed markets. Damascus securities exchange is a young and nascent market in the Middle Eastern, started its operations in 2009; therefore, there is no empirical evidence testing the validit...