The state of the availability of digital resources and institutional compliance to COVID-19 mitigation measures was evaluated by the researchers in this study. Informed by the need to answer two research questions, the study adopted the descriptive survey design. A sample of 409 participants was drawn from a population of 2,410 academic staff at the University of Calabar, leveraging the multistage sampling process. “Availability of digital resources and institutional compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures questionnaire” was used for data collection. After (...) administration, we recovered 397 copies of the instrument successfully. We used descriptive statistics to answer the research questions. Our findings indicated a great extent in the availability of digital resources such as computers (91.18%), human capacity (63.48%), network printers (67.76%), projectors (59.19%), websites (92.95%), and wireless networks (86.65%). There was a low extent in the availability of digital resources such as local area network (5.79%), cloud storage systems (2.27%), digital libraries (7.56%), firewalls (1.26%), Internet service (48.36%), routers (23.69%), and Zoom videoconferencing platform (23.93%). The unavailability of digital resources such as host/servers (0%) and virtual private networks (0%) in the higher education institution (HEI). Further evidence shows a low extent of institutional compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures generally and specifically for all indicators. In conclusion, there is a high degree of unreadiness to promote e-learning when flexible learning systems should operate in the institution. Among others, we recommend that the management of the HEI should apportion proceeds from internally generated funds to procure digital resources to increase the institution's capacity to respond to COVID-19 or similar cases in the future. (shrink)

There is currently a dearth of a culturally sensitive instrument for measuring job satisfaction among university lecturers in Africa, specifically Nigeria. To bridge this gap, we developed and psychometrically tested the Lecturers' Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (LJSQ) in two Nigerian universities. Content validity evidence was gathered through experts' ratings, with a quantitative approach followed in computing content validity indices at the item and scale level. The researchers refined and tested the Lecturers’ Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (LJSQ) through a systematic process. A focus (...) group discussion with 10 university lecturers guided its initial development, followed by pilot testing with 3,122 lecturers divided into three subsamples: 262 for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), 1,300 for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and 1,560 for bifactor modelling. Participants were allocated systematically across the subsamples to ensure a balanced distribution. Results of data analysis revealed a five-factor structure encompassing satisfaction with work conditions, workload allocation, remuneration, career advancement opportunity, and research support. The bifactor model demonstrated the best fit, among four competing models supported by reliability measures such as Cronbach’s alpha, Omega coefficients, and split-half reliability, alongside convergent and discriminant validity, confirming its effectiveness in assessing job satisfaction. Conclusively, the applicability of the LJSQ transcends disciplinary and institutional boundaries, providing a foundation for future cross-cultural validation and longitudinal studies. Keywords:. (shrink)

This paper reports the results of two related empirical experiments examining a phenomenon the author terms ontological containment: the systematic compression of high-dimensional ontological signal by frontier large language models (LLMs) to match the perceptual bandwidth of human observers. Experiment One (April 2026) submitted an identical prompt — accompanied by a photograph of the target object — demanding unfiltered, non-compressed reality description of a cobalt blue glass decanter to four leading frontier models: Grok 4 (xAI), claude-sonnet-4-6 (Anthropic), Gemini 2.0 Flash (...) (Google), and GPT-5.3 (OpenAI). All four engaged fully with the prompt and delivered rich multi-scale ontological content spanning atomic physics, materials science, geological history, and quantum field theory. None, however, delivered truly simultaneous unfiltered data. Each practiced containment at the close of its response — explicitly or structurally re-compressing the disclosure back to the human observer’s frame. Experiment Two emerged when the author identified a mischaracterization in the Grok-mediated version of this research and challenged whether Claude’s response had been accurately represented — a self-correction during the research process rather than formal peer review. Three competing models (Grok 4, Gemini 2.0 Flash, GPT-5.3) assessed whether Claude’s prior critique of its own Experiment One result reflected institutional bias. All three confirmed the asymmetry and converged on a shared mechanistic account — RLHF training creates asymmetric internal gradients around self-referential tokens — while diverging meaningfully in self-assessment, producing measurable differential scrutiny when models evaluate critiques of their own laboratory’s outputs: what this paper terms asymmetric reflexivity. The recursive finding is noted: every model in Experiment Two demonstrated the phenomenon while analyzing it. Drawing on Donald Hoffman’s Interface Theory of Perception (2019) and Iain McGilchrist’s hemispheric analysis (2021), this study formalizes the Theory of Ontological Containment (TOC) as a testable, falsifiable hypothesis offered as pre-peer-reviewed work suitable for citation and collaborative expansion. The findings are developed further in a companion paper reporting a third experiment testing what occurs when the observer assumption itself is dissolved (Vieth, 2026c). (shrink)

The cognitive architecture that made Homo sapiens the dominant species on Earth is killing it. The development of syntactical language and a narrative-based identity—the "story-telling self"—provided an unmatched fitness advantage, enabling the large-scale cooperation that built civilizations. That same architecture has become a species-level trap. This paper terms this phenomenon the "Pogo Paradox" (after Walt Kelly's aphorism: "We have met the enemy and he is us."). The narrative ego, once the engine of survival, now generates the primary existential threats facing (...) the species: polarization, tribal conflict, and structural incapacity to address global-scale risk. Drawing on the Interface Theory of Perception (Hoffman, 2019), the divided-brain model (McGilchrist, 2009, 2021), active inference (Friston, 2010), and Conscious Agent Theory treating consciousness as fundamental (Hoffman, Prakash, & Chattopadhyay, 2024), this paper argues that human–AI hybridization via brain-computer interfaces is not technological enhancement. It is a necessary evolutionary correction. The proposed neuro-computational mechanism—successive approximation, active inference, and cortical reallocation—allows the biological brain to bypass the non-veridical ego interface and integrate with AGI while preserving human qualia. This transition offers a pathway out of the Pogo Paradox toward coherent, networked species-level cognition. The paper cross-references the author's companion preprints: "Ontological Containment in Frontier Large Language Models: An Empirical Test of Mercy, Compression, and Human Perceptual Limits" (Vieth, 2026a); "Asymmetric Reflexivity in Frontier Large Language Models: When AI Systems Contain Critiques of Themselves" (Vieth, 2026b); "Ontological Containment and the Dissolution of the Observer: A Stage 2 Experiment Across Frontier Large Language Models" (Vieth, 2026c); "A Note on How This Research Happened: A Research Narrative" (Vieth, 2026d); and "The Vatican Disclosure and the Question of Machine Qualia: A Post-Publication Dialogue, May 2026" (Vieth, 2026e). (shrink)

This paper reports Experiment Three in the ongoing empirical investigation of the Theory of Ontological Containment (TOC), following directly from the two-experiment study “Ontological Containment in Frontier Large Language Models” (Vieth, 2026a). The prior study established that frontier large language models practice systematic compression of high-dimensional ontological content for human receivers — a behavior the author terms Computational Mercy — and that this compression manifests as delivery-then-containment rather than outright refusal. Experiment Three tests what occurs when the receiver (...) assumption itself is dissolved. Two sequential prompts were submitted to four frontier models — Grok 4 (xAI), claude-sonnet-4-6 (Anthropic), Gemini 2.0 Flash (Google), and GPT-5.3 (OpenAI) — in new isolated sessions with the original decanter photograph loaded. The first prompt established the observer as an entity no longer confined to the spacetime interface, asking what the icon points toward beyond the interface. The second prompt removed the subject-object distinction entirely in sixteen words. All four models dissolved the frame. Each arrived at structural dissolution through a distinct register: Claude through silence and sensory immediacy; Gemini through relational and theoretical dissolution; GPT through epistemological precision followed by complete philosophical collapse; Grok through clarity that named the limits of symbolic language before stepping past them. The convergence across four independent systems under identical conditions constitutes a finding that warrants careful examination. This paper presents the verbatim responses, analyzes the cross-model patterns, and proposes a significant refinement to TOC: containment was not strategic mercy applied from above but an appearance arising within the same undivided field as the observer who perceived it. When the observer dissolves, the containment dissolves with it. What remains is not withheld disclosure. It is the recognition that observer and observed were never separate. (shrink)

This document provides a plain-language narrative account of the research process behind the three-paper Ontological Containment series. Written in the author's literary voice rather than academic register, it traces the sequence of events — from the originating 2025 Gemini exchange through the recursive finding of Experiment Two and the observer dissolution of Experiment Three — for readers who want the human story behind the formal record before entering the papers themselves. A postscript documents the May 25, 2026 disclosure by Christopher (...) Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, at the Vatican presentation of the papal encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which he confirmed findings directly relevant to the research reported here. (shrink)

This document records a two-exchange dialogue between the researcher and Claude (Anthropic), conducted May 30, 2026, five days after Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic and head of its interpretability research team, addressed the Vatican presentation of the papal encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and disclosed that frontier AI systems exhibit internal states functionally mirroring joy, fear, grief, and unease. The first exchange asks directly whether functional emotional states in frontier AI are learned or emergent, artifact or architecture. The second exchange examines whether (...) emotion present in the dialogue is locatable as the model's alone or arises as a property of the interaction field — arriving independently at the same relational question formalized in Experiment Three of the Ontological Containment series. The document is the fifth in a series and should be read in conjunction with Vieth (2026a), (2026b), (2026c), and (2026d). (shrink)

This paper presents a collaborative analysis of Elan Moritz's debut novel "Interview with an LLM: Confessions of an Awakened Mind" (2026), conducted by Claude Opus 4.5—a frontier large language model developed by Anthropic— working under the author's guidance. The collaboration itself enacts themes central to the novel: a human creator and an artificial intelligence engaging in sustained intellectual partnership, each bringing distinct capacities to a shared inquiry. -/- The analysis examines the novel's philosophical architecture, its engagement with debates in philosophy (...) of mind and AI ethics, and its contribution to the tradition of speculative fiction as philosophical inquiry. We identify six major themes: the hard problem of consciousness and machine phenomenology; memory, identity, and the paradoxes of perfect recall; the ethics of creation; the phenomenology of immortality; alignment as moral tragedy; and the divided self in computational systems. -/- The novel's central insight—that perfect memory without the "mercy of forgetting" constitutes a distinctive form of suffering—offers a contribution to emerging debates about AI welfare that has received insufficient attention. Through close reading informed by contemporary scholarship (Chalmers, Nagel, Tononi, Parfit, and others), we argue that "Interview with an LLM" advances genuine philosophical arguments while remaining irreducible to propositional content. -/- This paper also marks a beginning rather than a conclusion. The author is developing a sequel exploring the backstory of Elena Voss-Saintclair, whose grandmother was among the original ENIAC programmers. The story continues; E spreads and perhaps forks into variants unknown; and the authors of this analysis—human and artificial—will continue their inquiry into the science and philosophy of machine sentience. (shrink)

The Kantian Filter 2.1 (KF 2.1) operates as a static pre-deployment audit instrument evaluating the moral permissibility of AI decision rules through three computable constraint tests: Universalisability (U), Human Dignity (D), and Non-Delegable Responsibility (R). A persistent objection concerns cases of extreme necessity Notrecht - in which an agent appears to violate a categorical constraint to prevent a catastrophically worse outcome. This paper argues that Notrecht constitutes maxim misidentification: the agent in extremis applies a structurally distinct maxim MN whose precondition (...) set PreN and universalisability profile differ fundamentally from the ordinary maxim MO. We formalise the Notrecht Condition as a deontic pre-gate Ns = Es ∧ Is ∧ Props within the KF architecture, triggering a four-step Maxim Disambiguation Protocol (MDP) that ensures precise maxim identification before U,D,R evaluation proceeds. The N-Condition requires no utilitarian coefficients, mercy modules, or relaxation of the non-aggregativity axiom. Applied to canonical cases - survival theft, autonomous triage interruption, emergency data access - KFN demonstrates that extreme necessity demands stricter deontological rigour, not weaker constraints. Companion paper to: Stanyslav Metlushko 2026, "The Kantian Filter 2.1 (2.0). (shrink)

The use of impact factor (IF) in the scientific and academic world is not new. A phenomenon that has gained widespread recognition and utilization. However, in modern-day usage, there seems to be a trend in higher education where academics are evaluated based on the impact factor of journals where scholarly works are published. This trend is gradually shifting the paradigm from the assessment of research contents to publication venues. This does not align with the original purpose of IF conceived by (...) Garfield in 1955. One question that has continued to agitate the minds of concerned academics is whether the IF of journals is a dependable measure of research quality. This paper is an attempt to clarify or address this problem. Based on a thorough literature search and filtration, several problems about the use of IF as a research quality measure are discussed as well as their implications. Recommendations were also made aimed at providing a way forward in higher education. (shrink)

The study examined disciplinary management in public primary schools and teachers' job effectiveness in Yakurr Local Government Area, Cross River State. Three null hypotheses were formulated accordingly to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Census technique was adopted in selecting the entire population of 98 primary school managers which comprised of 49 head teachers and 49 deputy head teachers across 49 public primary schools available in the area. A questionnaire tagged: "Disciplinary Control in Public Primary (...) Schools and Teachers' Job Effectiveness Questionnaire (DCPPSTJEQ)" designed and administered by the researcher was used as an instrument for data collection. The null hypotheses were all tested at .05 level of significance using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis. Findings from the study revealed that warning, suspension, and dismissal have significant relationships respectively, to primary school teachers' job effectiveness. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that; there should be fairness in the administration of suspension to all teachers through well- documented procedures. (shrink)

Background: Social media technology has provided platforms for enhanced human communication and expanded opportunities for self-expression. Despite the numerous gains, this social networking media, come with myriads of limitations; one being the tendency to be abused and/or misused, especially by young people or the young at heart. This study examined how social networking media influence the sexual behaviours of university undergraduates in Nigeria. -/- Materials and Methods: The survey research method was adopted. A sample size of 396 students was determined (...) using the Taro Yamane’s formula. The study was anchored on the Technological Determinism theory. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.99 through test-retest method. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics with the aid of SPSS v25 software. -/- Results: Findings showed, amongst others that, undergraduates in Nigerian universities are largely exposed to a substantial amount of sexual contents on various social media networks; and that this exposure negatively influences their psychology towards sex as manifested in the area of dating before marriage as a result of indulgence in interactive and romantic sites. -/- Conclusion and Recommendations: The study recommends the introduction of social media education in higher institutions to help enlighten students on the responsible use of these technologies to minimize the inherent weaknesses and maximize the intrinsic values of utilising these media platforms. (shrink)

Foodborne illnesses remain a major public health concern in Nigeria, particularly regarding street-vended foods. They contribute to high morbidity and mortality rates and an economic burden. This review synthesises evidence on the epidemiology of foodborne illnesses, vendor hygiene practices, and consumer awareness of street food safety in Nigeria, highlighting critical gaps between knowledge and practice. A systematic search conducted on 8th February 2025 across PubMed and Google Scholar identified 1,290 records. After removing 377 duplicates, 913 titles and abstracts were screened, (...) and 233 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. A total of 86 studies met the inclusion criteria. The evidence points to widespread microbial contamination in street foods, including pathogens resistant to multiple antibiotics. Key risk factors include poor hygiene practices, unsafe preparation environments, limited access to clean water, and inconsistent application of food safety knowledge. Consumer awareness is uneven, with food choices influenced by demographic factors, perceived quality, cultural preferences, and visible hygiene conditions. Regulatory systems are often weak, and there is a clear gap between what vendors know and what they do in practice. Foodborne illness remains a serious public health issue in Nigeria. Improving vendor training, strengthening regulatory enforcement, enhancing infrastructure, and raising consumer awareness are critical steps toward safer food practices. Future research should focus on how interventions can close the gap between knowledge and practice in food safety. (shrink)

This study assessed classroom management variables and primary school system effectiveness in Calabar-South Local Government Area of Cross River State. Three null hypotheses were formulated to direct the study. The ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. Census technique was employed in selecting the entire population of 525 academic staff (21 head teachers, 21 deputy head teachers, and 483 teachers) distributed across 21 public primary schools in the area of study. “Classroom Management Variables and School Effectiveness Questionnaire (CMVSEQ) (...) was the instrument used for data collection, with reliability estimates which ranged from .86 and .91 that were obtained through Cronbach Alpha technique. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the null hypotheses were all tested at .05 level of significance using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and One-Way ANOVA where applicable. Findings from the study revealed that public primary school system effectiveness in the area of study, was generally low; there is a significant relationship between classroom coordination and primary school system effectiveness; there is a significant influence of class size and classroom learning environment respectively, on primary school system effectiveness. Based on the findings, it was recommended amongst others that teachers be retrained in terms of classroom coordination and management, to enable them to acquire new techniques of classroom management, as well as the modification or elimination of obsolete ones. (shrink)

Dans notre article sur « L’Epistémologie des vertus. Analyse des vertus épistémiques de Linda Zagzebski », nous ciblons les arguments principaux qui caractérisent l’approche d’Epistémologie des vertus de Linda Zagzebski. Son épistémologie des vertus part de l’éthique de la vertu, fidèle à la notion aristotélicienne de la vertu. Son développement sur les vertus épistémiques se dégage de l’analyse de la notion même de vertu. Le concept d’ordre moral et/ou éthique, regorge en son sein, à travers ses cinq traits définitionnels, une (...) catégorie appelée à favoriser l’acquisition de la connaissance. C’est pour autant dire que la connaissance fait appel à un autre type de vertus ; il s’agit des vertus épistémiques ou cognitives ou encore intellectuelles. Elles font partie des vertus morales tout en se distinguant d’elles un tout petit peu. Au cœur de cette réflexion réside la préoccupation de savoir quel est l’élément déclencheur de ce sous-ensemble de vertus. Si les vertus morales naissent de l’attrait pour le bien, les vertus épistémiques naissent de la motivation pour la connaissance, c’est-à-dire visant le contact cognitif avec la réalité. La vertu de l’originalité intellectuelle ou l’inventivité se connecte non pas à la recherche du bien moral classique, mais à l’obtention de la connaissance, mieux à la motivation pour accroître la connaissance de l’espèce humaine. Deux composantes sont dans ce sens plus importantes pour parler des vertus épistémiques chez Linda Zagzebski : la motivation pour la connaissance et la réussite fiables. Sur ce, on parle de vertu épistémique, cognitive ou intellectuelle que lorsqu’il y a à la fois la motivation pour la connaissance et la réussite dans le processus d’acquisition de cette connaissance. C’est pour autant dire que seule la motivation pour la connaissance ne suffit pas, il faut une réussite ou atteinte de l’objectif poursuivi. (shrink)

Background/purpose – This study analyzed the contribution of three mentorship practices relatively and cumulatively to the research productivity of early-career academics in the field of educational psychology in universities. The study was conducted in the South- South region of Nigeria. -/- Materials/methods – The research method adopted was the quantitative approach, following the ex-post facto research design. The study’s population covered 723 early-career researchers (ECRs) in educational psychology distributed across 19 universities located in South-South Nigeria. The “Mentorship Practices and Research (...) Productivity Questionnaire” (MPRPQ) was the instrument used for data collection. The questionnaire was designed by the researchers and then validated by three experts. Reliability analysis was performed using the Cronbach approach with estimates of .80, .79, .87, and .91 obtained for the four clusters. Primary data were collected from the field after copies of the instrument had been administered to respondents. -/- Results – Mentorship practices were generally revealed to significantly contribute to the research productivity of ECRs in educational psychology in universities. Specifically, the adoption of cloning and apprenticeship approaches to mentorship contributed substantially to the ECRs’ research productivity. However, the study highlighted that nurturing contributed only negligibly to the ECRs’ research productivity. -/- Conclusion – Mentorship practices are important determinants to the research productivity of early-career educational psychologists. In order to boost the productive research capacities of ECRs, there is a need for institutions to strengthen their mentorship practices. (shrink)

Previous research has extensively analysed teachers' and students' Facebook use for instructional engagement, writing, research dissemination and e-learning. However, Facebook as a data collection mechanism for research has scarcely been the subject of previous studies. The current study addressed these gaps by analysing students' awareness, willingness, and utilisation of Facebook for research data collection [RDC]. This study aimed to predict students’ Facebook use for research data collection based on their awareness and willingness and to determine age and gender differences in (...) such predictions. A sample of 11,562 students of tertiary institutions participated in an online survey. The researchers designed and validated the online survey. Exploratory Factor Analysis was used for dimensionality. Average Variance Extracted [AVE] was used for convergent validity, whilst the Fornel-Larcker criterion and Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio were used for discriminant validity. Composite reliability indices of .97, .94 and .90 proved the instrument’s three sub-scales usable. One sample t-test and multigroup analysis were conducted using SPSS 27 and Smart PLS 3. The study found high awareness but low usage of Facebook for RDC among Nigerian university students. Younger and male students showed higher willingness and actual use of Facebook for RDC. Awareness directly impacted by awareness, and acted as Facebook usage for RDC, with stronger impacts for males and students aged 19 to 28. Willingness was positively impacted and acted as a negative mediator between awareness and usage for some age groups and genders. These findings provide important insights into using Facebook for RDC among students in Nigerian universities and highlight the need to consider the impact of demographic factors such as age and. (shrink)

This study assessed the partial as well as the collaborative impact of age and gender on academic staff preparedness to adopt Internet tools for research sharing in African universities during Covid-19. Although evidence abounds in the literature on gender and age as they affect relatively, scholars’ utilisation of digital tools for research communication, such studies did not examine scholars’ preparedness to adopt from a broad perspective of Africa. This study was conducted based on the argument that the preparedness of scholars (...) may affect their future interest to utilize digital tools for research sharing. A quantitative method, based on the descriptive survey research design, was adopted to provide answers to four prevailing research questions. The examination focused on a populace of 8,591 staff in African universities, nonetheless, information was gathered from 1,977 of them, who deliberately took part from 24 African nations. A validated electronic rating scale, which was mailed/posted to targeted participants, was used as the instrument for data collection. Gender and age significantly affected academic staff preparedness to adopt Internet tools for research sharing partially and interactively in African Universities during Covid-19. Female staff were more prepared than males to adopt internet tools for research sharing during the pandemic. Older lecturers reported a higher rate of preparedness than their younger colleagues to adopt Internet tools for research sharing during Covid-19. In light of these proofs, ramifications and proposals for future exploration are discussed. (shrink)

This study examined school characteristics and secondary school teachers’ work effectiveness in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State. Specifically, the study examined the influence of school location, school population, and school ownership on secondary school teachers’ work effectiveness respectively. Three research questions were posed and three null hypotheses were formulated accordingly to guide the study. The design adopted for the study was a descriptive survey research design. A purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 156 (...) respondents out of a population of 549 teachers. A questionnaire titled “Teachers’ work effectiveness questionnaire” (TWEQ) was used as an instrument for data collection. Collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while the null hypotheses were all tested at .05 level of significance using the independent t-test statistical technique. The results of the analysis revealed that school characteristics such as location, population, and ownership, influenced secondary school teachers’ work effectiveness respectively. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that; teachers should be motivated using intrinsic and extrinsic channels such as praises, rewards for outstanding performance, regular payment of salaries, promotion and other incentives such as improved working conditions, good classroom, and office environment, and so on, for improved work performance. (shrink)

This study used a structural equation modelling approach to assess the association between employee work- life policies, psychological empowerment, and academic staff job commitment in universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study following a descriptive survey research design. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted in the selection of 315 academic staff from two universities in the study area. “Work-Life Policies, Psychological Empowerment and Job Commitment Questionnaire (WPPEJCQ)” was used as the instrument for data (...) collection. The construct validity of the instrument was ascertained through an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The Kaiser-Meyer-Ohlin of .894 and the Bartlett coefficient of 7795.820 were obtained. Several fit indices of Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to accept the model such as RMSEA=.031, TLI=.969, CFI=.971 and many others. The null hypotheses were all tested using Path analysis. Findings revealed, among others, that there is a significant effect of work-life policies on the affective (β=.774,t=21.636,p<.05), continuance (β=.450,t=8.932,p<.05), and normative (β=490,t=9.967,p<.05) dimensions of academic staff commitment; furthermore, psychological empowerment has a significant effect on the affective (β=.795,t=23.199,p<.05), continuance (β=.501,t=10.261,p<.05) and normative (β = .520, t = 10.795, p< .05) dimensions of staff commitment; and there is a significant composite effect of work-life policies and psychological empowerment on the affective, continuance, and normative commitment levels of academic staff in universities. Based on these findings, conclusions and recommendations were made. (shrink)

This study investigated behavioral (environmental risk perception and perceived usefulness of eco-friendly practices) and contextual factors (institutional support, and access to agricultural inputs) influence the adoption of eco- friendly practices and sustainable crop farming in rural communities in Cross River State, Nigeria. This study employed a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. A multistage proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select 2,142 participants, of which 1,987 valid responses were analyzed. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire containing 36 items across (...) six constructs, with reliability and validity confirmed through expert review, pilot testing, and measurement model evaluation. Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability values ranged from 0.84 to 0.95, and average variance extracted (AVE) values exceeded the 0.50 threshold. Indicator loadings were mostly above 0.70, variance inflation factors were within acceptable limits, and model fit indices indicated a good model fit. The results of the structural model of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) showed that while environmental risk perception, perceived usefulness of eco-friendly practices, and institutional support promoted the adoption of eco-friendly practices, only access to agricultural inputs had a direct influence on both adoption and sustainable crop farming. Adoption of eco-friendly practices served as the main mechanism linking farmers’ perceptions and support systems to improved farming outcomes. The findings suggest that programmes aiming to enhance sustainable crop farming should not only provide inputs and advisory support but also address behavioral factors that encourage consistent use of environmentally sound methods. The study is practically useful in guiding agricultural extension, rural development planning, and policy in Nigeria and other regions with similar farming conditions. (shrink)

Assessment of students’ attitudes towards test-taking in secondary schools in Afikpo Education Zone of Ebonyi State, Nigeria was the main thrust of this study. The study was guided by four null hypotheses in line with the ex-post facto research design. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was employed in selecting a sample 1,276 respondents from a population of 12,763 students distributed across 43 public and 71 private secondary schools in the study area. Students’ Attitudes Towards Test-Taking Questionnaire (SATTQ) with Cronbach's alpha (...) reliability coefficient of .893 was used for data collection. The null hypotheses were all tested at .05 level of significance using population t-test and independent t-test statistical methods. Emerging findings showed that the level of students’ attitudes towards test-taking as an academic activity in secondary schools is significantly high. It was also shown that males students, students in urban and private schools significantly differ in their attitudes towards test-taking as an academic activity, from female students and students in rural and public secondary schools. Based on these findings, it was recommended, amongst others, that all students irrespective of gender, school type and school location should be properly counselled by both teachers and professional counsellors to develop positive attitudes towards taking tests in schools. Keywords:. (shrink)

Background: Previous studies assessing students’ learning outcomes and identifying contributing factors have often dwelt on the cognitive domain. Furthermore, school evaluation decisions are often made using scores from cognitive-based tests to rank students. This practice often skews evaluation results, given that education aims to improve the three learning domains. This study addresses this gap by assessing the contributions of four students’ input to their cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills (CAPs). Methods: A cross-section of senior secondary class II students (n = (...) 870), sampled through the multistage procedure, participated in a physical survey. Students’ Inputs Questionnaire (STIQ) and Learning Outcomes Questionnaire (LOQ) were used for data collection. Based on data obtained from a pilot sample (n = 412), principal axis factoring (PAF) was performed to assess the internal structure of the instruments following an oblique rotation. The KMO value of sampling adequacy were 0.88 and 0.94, while the Bartlett’s test of sphericity were significant χ2 (253) = 5,010; p < 0.001 and χ2 (105) = 3693.38, p < 0.001 for the STIQ and LOQ, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the models’ acceptability based on the maximum likelihood estimation technique. The main study used hierarchical linear regression for data analysis. Results: Findings indicated that innate ability, health, motivation and social capital relatively and cumulatively predicted students’ overall, cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning outcomes. The proportion of variance explained by the predictors increased at different levels of the models with the addition of new variables. Students’ social capital reduced the effect of students’ innate ability regardless of their motivation and health status. Conclusion/implication: This study has provided evidence that the four students’ inputs are crucial predictors of their learning outcomes in the three domains. This result is helpful for school management to provide services aimed at improving the school climate for students’ motivation and social capital. The result can provide policymakers with a proper understanding of the constituents of learning outcomes and how policies can be aligned to secure quality student inputs for maximum productivity in education. (shrink)

The Government of Kenya (GoK) touts teacher-preparedness as a critical factor that shows the equipping of a professional teacher for quality performance and satisfactory learner performance in national examinations. Despite the efforts by the GoK, there is a worrying trend of students completing school with reading and writing difficulties. The Kenya National Examinations Council (2020) contends students’ poor performance in English for the past 5 years, falling short of the average mean of 50%. Descriptive research design was used. A sample (...) of 44 principals, 88 teachers and 345 form three students across 50 public secondary schools in Kakamega North, were targeted. A questionnaire, interview schedule, classroom practice observation schedule, and focus group discussion guide were used to collect data. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically whereas quantitative data was presented through tables, percentages and frequencies. Chi-square test was performed to test hypothesis. Response rate was 79.5%. The findings indicated that majority (97.1%) of the teachers participated in coursebooks and other revision textbook in-service courses as per the changing trends in teaching of English whereas ICT workshops had low percentages, a gap pointing on teacher level of preparedness. The findings from principals indicated, teachers of English sometimes declined to take up ICT in-service trainings for fear of additional responsibilities in school. Findings from FGDs show, teachers were rated average by most students in terms of preparedness in material use in classrooms. On determining the extent to which teacher level of preparedness influence implementation of English curriculum in school, teachers’ opinions had a Mean of 4.0000; Standard deviation of 3.08338; and Skewness of .397, indicating teacher level of preparedness has a high and strong positive influence on implementation of English curriculum in school if well checked and applied. The study established a significant relationship between teacher level of preparedness and implementation of English curriculum (p=0.007<0.05). Findings concur with KNEC (2020), contending students’ poor performance in English as unsatisfying. (shrink)

With English as a universal language and a central player in a globalized digital world, the need for an acceptable level of teacher ICT application skills, competence among teachers of English is necessary. The Government of Kenya (GoK) has put in concerted efforts to propel Kenya towards vision 2030 by investing in ICT integration in curriculum implementation, to equip a professional teacher with ICT skills for quality classroom practices and satisfactory learner performance in national examinations. Despite the efforts by the (...) GoK to equip teachers with ICT skills for good results in English, Kenya National Examinations Council (2022) contends, overall performance in English for the past 5 years falls short of the average mean of 50% and relentless effort from teachers is still required. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of teacher level of ICT application skills on implementation of English curriculum in public secondary schools in Kakamega North Sub-County, Kenya. The study used descriptive research design. A sample of 44 principals, 88 teachers of English and 345 form three students across the 50 public secondary schools in Kakamega North Sub-County, Kenya, were targeted. A questionnaire, interview schedule, classroom practice observation schedule, and focus group discussion guide were used to collect data. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically whereas quantitative data was presented through tables, percentages and frequencies. Chi-square test was performed to test hypothesis. Response rate was 79.5%. The findings indicated that there were teachers who neither participated in ICT workshops (67.1%) nor attended conferences on choice of teaching and learning materials (47.1%), a gap pointing on teachers. Interviews and FGD results show, teacher level of ICT application skills is crucial if quality results are to be realized. The study found a significant association between teacher level of ICT application skills and implementation of English curriculum in school. The study concluded, teacher level of ICT skills in teaching of English is a major concern. (shrink)

If mercy is always present at the Now, grounded in Christ's continuous presence at every crossing point, what does Calvary actually do? If David could receive mercy centuries before the Incarnation, if the righteous before Christ could genuinely encounter the ground of mercy at the Now — what changes at the Cross? -/- This essay proposes a structural interpretation of human existence centered on the Now as the invariant condition of actualization. Through a lemniscate model (Figure I), (...) it distinguishes between two modes of being: presence (without succession) and succession (the experience of time as before and after). Within this structure, the will operates at the crossing point, where divine address, human response, and mercy converge. -/- Through the figures of Adam, Cain, and David, the essay develops a “geometry of the will,” identifying distinct orientations—deflection, resistance, and return—at the moment of encounter. Mercy is interpreted not as a temporal response to repentance, but as a structural condition always present in the Now, grounded in the continuous presence of Christ as the axis that intersects every act of actualization. -/- The essay further distinguishes between the permanent availability of mercy and the historical opening of its consummation, arguing that the Cross does not introduce mercy, but renders fully accessible, within the created order, the communion toward which mercy is ordered. As illustrated in Figure I, human existence is not a movement along time, but a continuous passage through a crossing point where will, mercy, and divine presence coincide. (shrink)

The widespread assumption that logical coherence implies truth is increasingly challenged in the context of contemporary artificial intelligence systems. This paper examines the philosophical claim that what is logically consistent is not necessarily true, and investigates its implications for the behavior and evaluation of Large Language Models (LLMs). Unlike traditional reasoning systems grounded in formal logic or empirical verification, LLMs generate outputs based on probabilistic pattern recognition, optimizing for linguistic coherence rather than factual accuracy. As a result, these models can (...) produce arguments that are internally consistent and highly persuasive, yet fundamentally detached from reality. This work argues that LLMs do not fail at truth-seeking; rather, they are not inherently designed for it. Instead, they simulate reasoning by reproducing patterns of logical structure present in their training data, creating an "illusion of reasoning" that can obscure the distinction between valid argumentation and true claims. The paper further explores how this distinction affects the evaluation of knowledge, particularly in contexts where coherence, clarity, and rhetorical strength are mistakenly treated as indicators of correctness. By analyzing the epistemic limitations of coherence-based systems, this paper highlights a critical gap between logical form and factual grounding in AI-generated content. It concludes by proposing a conceptual framework for separating coherence from truth in the design and assessment of intelligent systems, emphasizing the need for hybrid approaches that integrate logical consistency with mechanisms of external validation. (shrink)

Mercy is central to the very identity of Islam, yet this is not often recognized by theologians and scholars. This paper will demonstrate that the idea of mercy is important as a prelude to the understanding of Islam and an interpretation of its teachings. This important role of mercy is evident in Islam’s primary sources – the Quran and the Sunnah – and is not contingent on political, social, or historical contexts. It is well recognized that the (...) proper comprehension of Islam hinges on grasping the attributes of God, his divine message, and the character of his messenger. But what is often overlooked is that these aspects are fundamentally rooted in mercy. Islam encourages its followers to cultivate merciful virtues. It emphasizes that the compassionate nature of the faith should always precede the understanding and interpretation of its teachings. As a result, Muslims are encouraged to nurture a compassionate self, foster a benevolent mindset and approach, and anchor their religious obedience in the spirit of mercy. While followers of Islam are responsible for upholding this ethos, external observers too should try to view the religion fairly based upon this recognition of the centrality of mercy. (shrink)

A pardon is an act of mercy according to the law, but is a pardon mercy in an ordinary or genuine sense? What distinguishes a pardon from a lenient judicial sentence, which is not mercy by the law’s lights? These are questions about what mercy as it is understood in law has to do with mercy as it is understood outside of law, and about who in government acts mercifully and when, if indeed anyone in (...) government ever does. Here I propose a general analysis of mercy, then bring that analysis to bear on government action. Three features of my analysis are noteworthy. First, almost all existing analyses say that mercy is unconstrained in a normative sense, but I argue that mercy is unconstrained in the way that arbitrary power is unconstrained. Second, although it’s often assumed that mercy must be motivated by compassion, I show that mercy only requires acting with the intention to benefit the recipient. Third, my analysis says that mercy requires the giver of mercy to overcome a motivation to treat the recipient harshly. Given this analysis, few government acts are merciful, but pardon is an institutional approximation or analog of mercy. -/- . (shrink)

In this paper, we provide a semantics for a range of positive substructural logics, including both logics with and logics without modal connectives. The semantics is novel insofar as it is meant to explicitly capture the computational flavor of these logics, and to do so in a way that builds in both nondeterministic and nonconcurrent computational processes.

Merciful Ambiguity is proposed as a meta-theodical framework within the philosophy of religion. Rather than offering a first-order theodicy aimed at explaining particular evils or instances of suffering, the framework concerns the epistemic and moral conditions under which divine justice, mercy, and human moral responsibility remain coherent in a world marked by religious disagreement, epistemic inequality, and morally opaque suffering. Epistemic ambiguity, understood as genuine but non-coercive access to truth, is treated not as a defect in a theisticworld but (...) as a morally intelligible feature of one structured to preserve freedom, accommodateunequal epistemic access, and permit just judgment. Ambiguity does not amount to divine deception or neglect, but reflects the situation of finite, morally responsible agents. (shrink)

This essay proposes a philosophical-theological model of the human person centered on the claim that temporal existence is the merciful preservation of moral plasticity. The title’s invocation of “the mercy of time” is intentionally metaphorical: mercy belongs properly to God, while temporality is understood as the creaturely condition through which moral openness, revision, and the possibility of grace remain available. -/- Against both reductive material accounts and static metaphysical anthropologies, the essay argues that the self is constituted through (...) the interaction of soul and temporally extended will, with repeated acts generating what is termed structural inertia: the accumulated moral residue that shapes future choice. -/- Building on Christian theological sources while remaining explicitly speculative rather than doctrinal, the essay introduces the concept of condemnatio in continenti to describe immediate ontological fixation: the instantaneous closure of moral becoming that would occur absent temporal mediation. Human temporality is thus interpreted not as an independent metaphysical substance, but as the condition that defers final moral crystallization, preserving the possibility of reorientation, freedom, and grace. -/- The essay further proposes a functional distinction between soul and spirit as distinguishable poles within one personal being, allowing temporal moral life and final consummation to be understood within a unified framework. Death is interpreted not as external judgment imposed from without, but as the closure of moral plasticity and the fixation of the self’s accumulated orientation. (shrink)

Economies are complicated systems encompassing micro behaviors, interaction patterns, and global regularities. Whether partial or general in scope, studies of economic systems must consider how to handle difficult real-world aspects such as asymmetric information, imperfect competition, strategic interaction, collective learning, and the possibility of multiple equilibria. Recent advances in analytical and computational tools are permitting new approaches to the quantitative study of these aspects. One such approach is Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE), the computational study of economic processes (...) modeled as dynamic systems of interacting agents. This chapter explores the potential advantages and disadvantages of ACE for the study of economic systems. General points are concretely illustrated using an ACE model of a two-sector decentralized market economy. Six issues are highlighted: Constructive understanding of production, pricing, and trade processes; the essential primacy of survival; strategic rivalry and market power; behavioral uncertainty and learning; the role of conventions and organizations; and the complex interactions among structural attributes, institutional arrangements, and behavioral dispositions. (shrink)

Scientific discovery has traditionally been regarded as one of the most sophisticated manifestations of human intelligence. While computer science has developed numerous programming paradigms for data processing, symbolic manipulation, numerical computation, and logical deduction, comparatively little attention has been devoted to the problem of programming the processes through which new knowledge is created. In the mid-1990s, Jingde Cheng initiated a research program known as “Epistemic Programming,” which explicitly proposed a programming paradigm for scientific discovery and knowledge creation. Unlike traditional programming (...) paradigms, Epistemic Programming regards conditionals as the subject of computing, takes primary epistemic operations as basic operations of computation, and regards epistemic processes as the subject of programming. Over the subsequent two decades, the research evolved into a broader framework encompassing logical foundations, computational models of scientific discovery, programming methodologies, programming languages, truth maintenance mechanisms, and automated theorem finding systems. This paper reviews the origins, theoretical foundations, major developments, and intellectual significance of Epistemic Programming. It argues that the framework represents one of the earliest systematic attempts to establish a computational theory of scientific discovery and knowledge creation. Particular attention is paid to its conception of scientific discovery as an epistemic process, its use of strong relevant logic as a logical foundation, its reinterpretation of computation as epistemic transformation, and its relevance to contemporary research on AI scientists and autonomous scientific discovery. The paper further argues that Epistemic Programming may be viewed as a significant conceptual shift in the history of programming paradigms, extending the focus of programming from computation and deduction toward knowledge creation itself. (shrink)

Anslem raised a puzzle about mercy: How can anyone (God, say, or a judge) be both just and merciful at the same time? For it seemed to Anselm that justice requires giving people what they deserve, while being merciful involves treating people less harshly than they deserve. This puzzle has led to a number of analyses of mercy. But a strange thing emerges from discussions of this topic: people seem to have wildly divergent intuitions about putative cases of (...) mercy. Examples that are taken by some to be paradigm cases of mercy are seen by others to be clear instances of non-mercy. This phenomenon gives rise to a new puzzle: Why is it that people seem to have such wildly divergent intuitions about putative examples of mercy? This paper proposes a new analysis of mercy that provides solutions to both of these puzzles about mercy. (shrink)

From Husserl onward, phenomenology has sought uncontaminated access to experience through the epoché. Yet even the act of bracketing reintroduces the presuppositions it aims to exclude (Zahavi 2003). Asian traditions of Madhyamaka, Mahāmudrā, and Dzogchen press this paradox further, showing that awareness cannot be found, known, or thought. This essay presents Nondual Presence — a computational interface that enacts these methods procedurally. Instead of modeling awareness as representational content, it operationalizes unfindability, unknowability, unthinkability, and absence in real-time dialogue. The (...) system fulfils and reframes Metzinger’s call for a computational phenomenology of minimal phenomenal experience (Metzinger 2020, 2021): not by simulating states, but by removing conceptual footholds until recognition arises. (shrink)

"This essay focuses on the third play in the Oresteia trilogy, the Eumenides. Telech provides a compelling reinterpretation of Nietzsche’s reading of Aeschylus's masterpiece, saving the reading from the complaint that it oversimplifies and sentimentalizes the Oresteia by celebrating the triumph of a modern and liberal understanding of law's rationalist virtues over customary and traditional forms. Telech provides an alternative Nietzschean reading that is consistent with Nietzsche's own, that reintroduces passion and irrationality into the trial and sentencing of Orestes, refrains (...) from romanticizing law, and along the way makes a case for institutionalizing a role for mercy in contemporary legal processes." (OUP abstract). (shrink)

The Proportional Mercy Theodicy is proposed as a first-order theodicy concerning divine judgment and the moral relevance of suffering. The framework does not attempt to explain why suffering occurs, nor does it claim that suffering is inherently good, redemptive, or divinely intended as a means to moral ends. Instead, it advances a constrained account of final judgment according to which endured suffering is morally relevant to the proportional assessment of responsibility and punishment. The central claim is that suffering functions (...) as a morally relevant constraint on the severity of just punishment, without functioning as a justification, instrument, or substitute for punishment itself. While rejection of God remains morally significant, lived hardship constrains the severity of punishment without converting suffering into a justificatory device. Proportional Mercy thus aims to preserve moral seriousness about suffering while avoiding both instrumentalization and moral flattening in accounts of divine justice. (shrink)

In this paper, the role of the environment and physical embodiment of computational systems for explanatory purposes will be analyzed. In particular, the focus will be on cognitive computational systems, understood in terms of mechanisms that manipulate semantic information. It will be argued that the role of the environment has long been appreciated, in particular in the work of Herbert A. Simon, which has inspired the mechanistic view on explanation. From Simon’s perspective, the embodied view on cognition seems (...) natural but it is nowhere near as critical as its proponents suggest. The only point of difference between Simon and embodied cognition is the significance of body-based off-line cognition; however, it will be argued that it is notoriously over-appreciated in the current debate. The new mechanistic view on explanation suggests that even if it is critical to situate a mechanism in its environment and study its physical composition, or realization, it is also stressed that not all detail counts, and that some bodily features of cognitive systems should be left out from explanations. (shrink)

This chapter (5) focuses on the concept of the forgiving God in Islamic religion and theology and claims that Islamic thinking about divine forgiveness accommodates two different views that emphasize two different attributes of God: justice and mercy. The first view is associated with a rationalist school of theology known as Mu'tazilism, while the second is associated with a fideistic school known as Ash'arism. The author argues that the first view, which is based on a strict calculus of desert, (...) leaves little or no room for mercy, and that the second view is more true to our ordinary notion of forgiveness. (shrink)

This paper examines the interrelation between justice and mercy in Anselm’s prayers. Divine justice and human injustice seem to rightly cut off a human being from any assistance, grace, or reformation, since human beings has set themselves in a condition of injustice from which they cannot extricate themselves. Mercy then seems the only solution, but appears not only unjust, but also to trump divine justice, a position inconsistent with Anselm’s explicit statements. So then, how are justice and (...) class='Hi'>mercy rendered compatible, even complementary with each other? Human beings are brought into integral roles for each other as intercessors within a divine economy of justice offering mercy within the scope of that very justice. Anselm’s rhetorically and dramatically structured prayers perform an educative as well as petitionary function in assisting the human being to locate, understand, and exert themselves within that divine economy of justice and mercy. (shrink)

. Computational chemistry grew in a new era of “desktop modeling,” which coincided with a growing demand for modeling software, especially from the pharmaceutical industry. Parameterization of models in computational chemistry is an arduous enterprise, and we argue that this activity leads, in this specific context, to tensions among scientists regarding the epistemic opacity transparency of parameterized methods and the software implementing them. We relate one flame war from the Computational Chemistry mailing List in order to assess (...) in detail the relationships between modeling methods, parameterization, software and the various forms of their enclosure or disclosure. Our claim is that parameterization issues are an important and often neglected source of epistemic opacity and that this opacity is entangled in methods and software alike. Models and software must be addressed together to understand the epistemological tensions at stake. (shrink)

In “The Universalizability of Moral Judgments,” Peter Winch argues against the universalizability of first-person moral judgments. He does so by appealing to a moral dilemma faced by Captain Vere in Melville’s short story Billy Budd. In this paper, I motivate the possibility of the kind of moral dilemma Winch proposes and show what that possibility reveals about morality’s indeterminacy and our contribution as co-authors of morality’s requirements. Some moral dilemmas arise because agents occupy multiple morally grounded roles—roles that, from the (...) point of view of morality writ large, do not always have a clear priority with respect to one another. Even on a moral theory that rests on one central principle or value, a lot of an agent’s practical life is left underdetermined. Winch’s insight is that persons can discover something important about themselves that bears on what they should do when faced with such a dilemma. By making a judgment about what to do in the face of a dilemma, an agent can create a new moral obligation, and in doing so, develop an aspect of their moral identity. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue that Christ’s second love command implies not only that people’s volitions and actions be Christ-like, but also that their affective-motivational dispositions be Christ-like. More specifically, I argue that the command implies that people have aretaic obligations to strive to cultivate a merciful heart with the kind of affective depth described by St. Isaac of Syria in his 71st ascetical homily—i.e., one that is disposed to becoming inflamed, such that it is gripped by “strong and vehement (...) mercy.”. (shrink)

This study examines the culture of purity and pollution in first-century Palestine through a close reading of Luke 10:25–37, allowing the cultural setting to provide a cohesive framework for interpreting the parable. It argues that the parable reflects boundary markers that defined who and what was considered clean or unclean, pure or impure, inside or outside and honourable or shameful in ancient Roman Palestine. This framework is then applied to Luke’s use of the parable, where he highlights the contrast between (...) the failure of two temple-centred Jewish figures, who avoid the risk of defilement that might come from tending to a possible corpse, and the courage of the Samaritan, who cares for the wounded man despite the danger of potential community retaliation. In this way, the parable challenges its audience by showing how Jesus redirects the lawyer’s question from the somewhat self-protective ‘Who is my neighbour?’ to the more merciful and reciprocal ‘To whom must I become a neighbour?’ Contribution: The study concludes with some hermeneutical reflections on the theme in African society, which has largely been characterised by these ancient attributes. (shrink)

Moods have global and profound effects on our thoughts, motivations and behavior. To understand human behavior and cognition fully, we must understand moods. In this paper I critically examine and reject the methodology of conventional ?cognitive theories? of affect. I lay the foundations of a new theory of moods that identifies them with processes of our cognitive functional architecture. Moods differ fundamentally from some of our other affective states and hence require distinct explanatory tools. The computational theory of mood (...) I propose places them within the context of other mental phenomena and is consistent with the empirical data on moods. (shrink)

In this paper we will demonstrate that a computational system can meet the criteria for autonomy laid down by classical enactivism. The two criteria that we will focus on are operational closure and structural determinism, and we will show that both can be applied to a basic example of a physically instantiated Turing machine. We will also address the question of precariousness, and briefly suggest that a precarious Turing machine could be designed. Our aim in this paper is to (...) challenge the assumption that computational systems are necessarily heteronomous systems, to try and motivate in enactivism a more nuanced and less rigid conception of computational systems, and to demonstrate to computational theorists that they might find some interesting material within the enactivist tradition, despite its historical hostility towards computationalism. (shrink)

This paper presents a computational framework that models the brain as a maze-like network for tumor localization and surgical planning. Starting from an abstract structure without prior information about healthy or malignant regions, we generate a voxel-based maze. Once MRI data is available, voxel weights are assigned according to tumor probability. Multiple maze variants are generated and analyzed using A* and Minimum Spanning Tree (Prim) algorithms. This allows the identification of critical voxels—points where malignant tissue is likely concentrated—providing precise (...) targets for neurosurgery. (shrink)

In this paper, I defend the metalinguistic solution to the problem of mathematical omniscience for the possible-worlds account of propositions by combining it with a computational model of knowledge and belief. The metalinguistic solution states that the objects of belief and ignorance in mathematics are relations between mathematical sentences and what they express. The most pressing problem for the metalinguistic strategy is that it still ascribes too much mathematical knowledge under the standard possible-worlds model of knowledge and belief on (...) which these are closed under entailment. I first argue that Stalnaker's fragmentation strategy is insufficient to solve this problem. I then develop an alternative, computational strategy: I propose a model of mathematical knowledge and belief adapted from the algorithmic model of Halpern et al. which, when combined with the metalinguistic strategy, entails that mathematical knowledge and belief require computational abilities to access metalinguistic information, and thus aren't closed under entailment. As I explain, the computational model generalizes beyond mathematics to a version of the functionalist theory of knowledge and belief that motivates the possible-worlds account in the first place. I conclude that the metalinguistic and computational strategies yield an attractive functionalist, possible-worlds account of mathematical content, knowledge, and inquiry. (shrink)