The principal methods for the definition of thermodynamic entropy are discussed with special reference to those developed by Carathéodory, the Keenan School, Lieb and Yngvason, and the present authors. An improvement of the latter method is then presented. Seven basic axioms are employed: three Postulates, which are considered as having a quite general validity, and four Assumptions, which iden...

In this paper, I investigate whether we can use a world-involving framework to model the epistemic states of non-ideal agents. The standard possible-world framework falters in this respect because of a commitment to logical omniscience. A familiar attempt to overcome this problem centers around the use of impossible worlds where the truths of logic can be false. As we shall see, if we admit imp...

Abstract One can readily conceive of worlds horrendous, gratuitous suffering. Moreover, such seem possible. For classical theists, however, God, amongst other things, is perfectly good. So, the question arises: for theists are evil possible? Many have said no. This modal problem evil. Herein, I discuss a related problem: Lewisian theism. theism conjunction Lewis’s realism and theism, leading th...

We show the existence of relativized worlds relative to which there exist innnite polynomial-time computable sets without innnite polynomial-time computable sparse subsets or even non-deterministically polynomial-time computable sparse subsets. This result is tight since every innnite P set has an innnite sparse coNP subset.

Based on ethnographic work with several women’s textile making collectives in Colombia, this article approaches their crafting practices as everyday doings of socio-ecological reparation, the midst social and environmental devastation caused by armed conflict. Rather than focusing relevance activities for political activism historical memory, an ecological perspective allows us to emphasise a m...

Small world models are networks consisting of many local links and fewer long range ‘shortcuts’. In this paper, we consider some particular instances, and rigorously investigate the distribution of their inter–point network distances. Our results are framed in terms of approximations, whose accuracy increases with the size of the network. We also give some insight into how the reduction in typi...

In the modern world where people are usually busier than ever, family members are geographically relocated due to globalization of companies and humans are inundated with more information than they can process, ambient communications through mobile media or internet based communication can provide rich social connections to friends and family. People can stay connected to their loving ones that...

Within the past decade, virtual worlds have emerged as a prominent factor in technological culture. Virtual economies like *Everquest* have grown to rival gross domestic products of small nations (1), Chinese “gold farming” (the practice of harvesting treasure in online roleplaying games using cheap labor and reselling to the West) is big business, and record numbers of users are participating ...

Our existence depends on a variety of constants which appear to be extremely fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life as we know it. These include the number of spatial dimensions, the strengths of the forces, the masses of the particles, the composition of the Universe and others. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the death of G.W. Leibniz we discuss the question of whether we l...