Recent papers of Sharp [4] and Stephen [5] have shown that any finite topology with n points which is not discrete contains <(3/4)2” open sets, and that this inequality is best possible. We use the correspondence between finite TO-topologies and partial orders to find all non-homeomorphic topologies with n points and >(7/16)2” open sets. We determine which of these topologies are TO, and in the...

Although the Hardy inequality corresponding to one quadratic singularity, with optimal constant, does not admit any extremal function, it is well known that such a potential can be improved, in the sense that a positive term can be added to the quadratic singularity without violating the inequality, and even a whole asymptotic expansion can be build, with optimal constants for each term. This p...

We give a denotational framework for composing interactive components into closed or open systems and show how to adapt classical domain-theoretic approaches to open systems and to timed systems. For timed systems, instead of the usual metric-space-based approaches, we show that existence and uniqueness of behaviors are ensured by continuity with respect to a simply defined prefix order. Existe...

In the spirit of second-order cybernetics, human communication is reconceptualized by including in the process not only its theorists but also their observed Others without whom social reality is inconceivable. This essay examines several versions of otherness, how the voices of Others survive social scientific inquiries, the dialogical spaces made available for people to build their home, and ...

Individuals are always limited by some inelastic resources, such as time and energy, which restrict them to dedicate to social interaction and limit their contact capacities. Contact capacity plays an important role in dynamics of social contagions, which so far has eluded theoretical analysis. In this paper, we first propose a non-Markovian model to understand the effects of contact capacity o...

We consider algebraic speciications with observational features. Axioms as well as observations are formulae of full (Many-Sorted) First Order Logic with Equality. The associated semantics is based on a non standard interpretation of equality called observational equality. We study the adequacy of this semantics for software specii-cation and the relationship with behavioural equivalence of alg...

The axioms used to characterize the generalized Gini social evaluation orderings for one-dimensional distributions are extended to the multidimensional attributes case. A social evaluation ordering is shown to have a two-stage aggregation representation if these axioms and a separability assumption are satisfied. In the first stage, the distributions of each attribute are aggregated using gener...

Normative environments have been proposed to regulate agent interaction in open multi-agent systems. However, most approaches rely on pre-imposed regulations that agents are subject to. Taking a different stance, we focus on a normative framework that assists agents in establishing by themselves their own commitment norms. With that aim in mind, a model of norm defeasibility is presented that e...

“Social disciplining” is the name that has been given to attempts by the authorities throughout early modern Europe to regulate people’s private lives. In explicit contrast to “social control,” the informal mechanisms by which people have always sought to put pressure on one another in traditional societies, “social disciplining” was a set of formal, legislative strategies through which the eme...

This study explores the economic mechanisms behind the decline of a surface transportation network, based on the assumption that the decline phase is a spontaneous process driven by decentralized decisions of individual travelers and privatized links. A simulation model is developed with a degeneration process by which the weakest link is removed iteratively from the network. Experiments reveal...