In this article, I develop three conceptual innovations within the area of formal metatheory, and present a computer program, called Reconstructor, that implements those developments. The first development consists in a methodology for testing formal reconstructions of scientific theories, which involves checking both whether translations of paradigmatically successful applications into models satisfy the formalisation of the laws, and also whether unsuccessful applications do not. I show how Reconstructor can help carry this out, since it allows the end-user to (...) specify a formal language, input axioms and models formulated in that language, and then ask if the models satisfy the axioms. The second innovation is the introduction of incomplete models (for which the denotation of some terms is missing) into scientific metatheory, in order to represent cases of missing information. I specify the paracomplete semantics built into Reconstructor to deal with sentences where denotation failures occur. The third development consists in a new way of explicating the structuralist notion of a determination method, by equating them with algorithms. This allows determination methods to be loaded into Reconstructor and then executed within a model to find out the value of a previously non-denoting term (i.e. it allows the formal reconstruction to make predictions). This, in turn, can help test the reconstruction in a different way. Finally, I conclude with some suggestions about additional uses the program may have. (shrink)

Aberrations introduced by the atmospheric turbulence in large telescopes are compensated using adaptive optics systems, where the use of deformable mirrors and multiple sensors relies on complex control systems. Recently, the development of larger scales of telescopes as the E-ELT or TMT has created a computational challenge due to the increasing complexity of the new adaptive optics systems. The Complex Atmospheric Reconstructor based on Machine Learning is an algorithm based on artificial neural networks, designed to compensate the atmospheric turbulence. (...) During recent years, the use of GPUs has been proved to be a great solution to speed up the learning process of neural networks, and different frameworks have been created to ease their development. The implementation of CARMEN in different Multi-GPU frameworks is presented in this paper, along with its development in a language originally developed for GPU, like CUDA. This implementation offers the best response for all the presented cases, although its advantage of using more than one GPU occurs only in large networks. (shrink)

En el presente trabajo se reconstruye el modelo de transformaciones agrosocioeconómicas que subyace en The Struggle for Maize de Elizabeth Fitting, obra que interpreta un conjunto de datos etnográficos e históricos de una comunidad del sur del valle de Tehuacán, México, en relación con dinámicas mundiales o continentales de la producción y distribución alimentaria. La autora apela a la teoría de los regímenes agroalimentarios de Philip McMichael y otros autores para dar cuenta de un desarrollo agrosocioeconómico local. La labor de (...) acople que realiza The Struggle for Maize implica un modelo de la articulación entre lo mundial y lo local; un modelo que podría generalizarse para dar cuenta de dinámicas en otros escenarios. Sin embargo, hay que extraerlo pues The Struggle for Maize no lo presenta a modo de un esquema conciso y explícito. A ese fin se orienta el presente artículo: con base en la teoría de categorías, aquí se reconstruye el modelo mencionado como un diagrama de la categoría de los conjuntos. La intención principal es explorar las posibilidades expresivas del aparato en cuestión, así como desarrollar un modo de presentación didáctico que le permita al lector entender cabalmente la propuesta de Fitting y comprender el instrumento reconstructor empleado. El presente texto ilustra una manera de reconstruir arquitecturas conceptuales usando como ejemplo una monografía académica con importante impacto social, pues incide en la discusión actual sobre la soberanía alimentaria. (shrink)

In this paper, we examine the issue of the empirical or non-empirical status of philosophical metatheories. In particular, we ask whether a specific type of metatheoretical product, formal reconstructions of scientific theories, can be empirically tested. To answer this, we take Metatheoretical Structuralism as a metatheory and Classical Mechanics as our case studies. We show how classical mechanics can be reconstructed from structuralism. We then present a computer program, called Reconstructor, and show how it can be used to test (...) the adequacy of the reconstruction. Finally, we discuss some philosophical points regarding these tests, namely, the issues of holism, circularity and metatheoretical predictions. (shrink)