Semantics represents a major problem area for active databases inasmuch as (i) there is no formal framework for defining the abstract semantics of active rules, and (ii) the various systems developed so far have ad-hoc operational semantics that are widely different from each other. This situation contributes to the difficulty of predicting the run-time behavior of sets of rules: thus, ensuring...

In Einführung in die Metaphysik (EM) Heidegger describes the advent of metaphysics by analyzing in detail the transition from the pre-socratic logos to what since Aristotle has come to be known as logic; in Die Frage nach dem Ding (DFD) (and in Heidegger 1950a ) the same story is told but this time by focusing on the decisive role of mathematics. EM mentions mathematics only indicidently, and n...

plan or hope; deviations from the ideal are a fact of life. As Heraclitus noted almost 2500 years ago, “only change endures.” Though Heraclitus was silent on whether the inevitable change will be good or bad, Murphy’s Law tells us to expect the worst. Given the pervasive and often perverse nature of the unexpected, it is not surprising that humans are adept at dealing with it—we would not have ...

The study was an attempt to measure critical thinking in two asynchronous discussion forums in an engineering mathematics unit. The Socratic questioning technique was the moderation strategy employed in the forums. The participants of the study were 60 undergraduates from Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus, enrolled in a mathematics course. Quantitative and qualitative data were...