Search results for " Complexity"
showing 10 items of 623 documents
Logic and the Myth of the Perfect Language
2010
We argue that the dream of a ‘perfect language’ – namely, a universal, unambiguous and semantically transparent medium of expression –, whose intriguing story has been told by Umberto Eco (1993), is deeply intertwined with the myth of instant rationality: the idea that a perfect language is one in which all logical relations becomeimmediatly visible, so that the language itself “does the thinkingfor us” (Frege 1884). In the first part of this paper we trace this versionof the dream in the works of Leibniz, Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein. In the second part we re-examine it in the light of more recent negative results in logic and theoretical computer science.
IMPAIRED DECISION-MAKING AND DIFFUSION ORIENTATIONAL COMPLEXITY IN PEOPLE WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
2013
Objective Difficulties with decision-making have been reported in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). It is however unclear what aspect of decision making is impaired, for example whether they are more impulsive, and how any impairments relate to grey matter pathology. In this study we assess grey matter microstructure using a novel measure of the number of diffusion orientations on diffusion MRI “diffusion orientation complexity (DOC)”. We studied DOC in cortical areas known to be associated with decision making and looked at its associations with performance on the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). Method One hundred and five patients with MS (61 RR, 26 SP, 18 PP; mean age: 45.9 years) and …
Appropriateness of admission and hospital stay in obstetric wards: an Italian cross-sectional study comparing Sicilian settings
2015
Appropriateness is one of the main topics of health policy and should be estimable in order to analyze the efficacy of hospital services. The Review and Use of the Hospital Protocol (in Italian: Protocollo di Revisione dell’Uso dell’ Ospedale-PRUO) allowed us to evaluate the appropriateness of hospitalizations, starting from daily available clinical records in a selected hospital. Methods The cross-sectional study applied the PRUOmethod on a sample of medical records (N=575; years: 2008–2010) related to ordinary admissions to obstetric wards of Lipari and Pantelleria Hospital (both Minor Islands of Sicily: MI) and to the Teaching Hospital of the University of Palermo (P) in order to evaluat…
Coronary Stent Strut Fractures: Classification, Prevalence and Clinical Associations
2021
Introduction. The frequency, characteristics and clinical implications of Strut fractures (SFs) remain incompletely understood. Methods and results. A total of 185 (160 patients) newer-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) were imaged. SFs were found in 21 DES (11.4%) and were classified in four patterns: one single stacked strut (41%)
Very narrow quantum OBDDs and width hierarchies for classical OBDDs
2014
In the paper we investigate a model for computing of Boolean functions - Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (OBDDs), which is a restricted version of Branching Programs. We present several results on the comparative complexity for several variants of OBDD models. - We present some results on the comparative complexity of classical and quantum OBDDs. We consider a partial function depending on a parameter k such that for any k > 0 this function is computed by an exact quantum OBDD of width 2, but any classical OBDD (deterministic or stable bounded-error probabilistic) needs width 2 k+1. - We consider quantum and classical nondeterminism. We show that quantum nondeterminism can be more efficien…
Semantic Complexity in Natural Language
2015
This chapter presents the technical framework that the authors used to define fragments of natural languages and formulate questions as to their semantic complexity. It examines the study of the classical syllogistic and its extensions. It analyzes the semantic complexity of various salient fragments of English. It highlights that the language of argument, featuring transitive verbs, is in an objective sense inferentially no more complex than the language of classical syllogisms exemplified by argument, indeed, the analogous extension featuring ditransitive verbs involves only a modest increase in complexity. On the other hand, the language of argument, which adds relative clauses to the cl…
Software Complexity and Organization of Firms’ Offshoring Activities
2017
How does software complexity shape software providers’ offshoring tasks, and how do such firms organize their offshoring activity? These questions are important, since the global software development market is growing rapidly, offering new opportunities for software managers and entrepreneurs to distribute their activities geographically. Based on a multi-site case study of 12 software firms, we study connections between software complexity and the offshoring strategies selected. Our findings suggest that software firms select a variety of organizational structures for their offshoring activity, and that the selection is shaped by the complexity of the software in question. peerReviewed
New Metropolitan Perspectives Transition with Resilience for Evolutionary Development
2023
This open access book conveys attention to the theme of transition towards resilience and sustainability and its evolutionary perspective that emphasizes the complexity and uncertainty that governments and society are called to address in response to the ongoing challenges. "New Metropolitan Perspective Post COVID Dynamics: Green and Digital Transition, between Metropolitan and Return to Villages’ Perspectives”, 25–27 May 2022, Reggio Calabria, Italy. The papers included in the book are grouped around the following main topics: the envisaged transition towards resilience and sustainability; the relevance of the planning dimension for defining sustainable development pathways and managing co…
Water distribution network robust design based on energy surplus index maximization
2015
The aim of this paper is to show that energy surplus indices, such as resilience index, besides providing a very good indirect measure of water distribution network reliability to be adopted during the design phase, represent also a valuable and effective indicator of the robustness of the network in alternative network scenarios, and can thus be profitably used in condition of future demands uncertainty. The methodology adopted consisted of (I) multi-objective design optimization performed in order to minimize construction costs while maximizing the resilience index; (II) retrospective performance assessment of the alternative solutions of the Pareto front obtained, under demand conditions…