Institution Independent Model Theory

This book develops model theory independently of any concrete logical system or structure, within the abstract category-theoretic framework of the so called ‘institution theory’. The development includes most of the important methods and concepts of conventional concrete model theory at the abstract institution-independent level. Consequently it is easily applicable to a rather large diverse collection of logics from the mathematical and computer science practice.

A model theory that is independent of any concrete logical system allows a general handling of a large variety of logics. This generality can be achieved by applying the theory of institutions that provides a precise general mathematical formulation for the intuitive concept of a logical system. Especially in computer science, where the development of a huge number of specification logics is observable, institution-independent model theory simplifies and sometimes even enables a concise model-theoretic analysis of the system. Besides incorporating important methods and concepts from conventional model theory, the proposed axiomatic top-down methodology allows for a structurally clean understanding of model-theoretic phenomena. Consequently, results from conventional concrete model theory can be understood more easily, and sometimes even new results are obtained. Moreover, all this is also applied to non-classical model theories. This second edition introduces some novelties in the presentation style which aim to enhance the readability of the material and the proofs. Additional chapters have also been added.

This book features more than 20 papers that celebrate the work of Hajnal Andréka and István Németi. It illustrates an interaction between developing and applying mathematical logic. The papers offer new results as well as surveys in areas influenced by these two outstanding researchers. They also provide details on the after-life of some of their initiatives. Computer science connects the papers in the first part of the book. The second part concentrates on algebraic logic. It features a range of papers that hint at the intricate many-way connections between logic, algebra, and geometry. The third part explores novel applications of logic in relativity theory, philosophy of logic, philosophy of physics and spacetime, and methodology of science. They include such exciting subjects as time travelling in emergent spacetime. The short autobiographies of Hajnal Andréka and István Németi at the end of the book describe an adventurous journey from electric engineering and Maxwell’s equations to a complex system of computer programs for designing Hungary’s electric power system, to exploring and contributing deep results to Tarskian algebraic logic as the deepest core theory of such questions, then on to applications of the results in such exciting new areas as relativity theory in order to rejuvenate logic itself.

Here are the proceedings of the Third International Joint Conference on Automated Reasoning, IJCAR 2006, held in Seattle, Washington, USA, August 2006. The book presents 41 revised full research papers and 8 revised system descriptions, with 3 invited papers and a summary of a systems competition. The papers are organized in topical sections on proofs, search, higher-order logic, proof theory, proof checking, combination, decision procedures, CASC-J3, rewriting, and description logic.

Software reuse and integration has been described as the process of creating software systems from existing software rather than building software systems from scratch. Whereas reuse solely deals with the artifacts creation, integration focuses on how reusable artifacts interact with the already existing parts of the specified transformation. Currently, most reuse research focuses on creating and integrating adaptable components at development or at compile time. However, with the emergence of ubiquitous computing, reuse technologies that can support adaptation and reconfiguration of architectures and components at runtime are in demand. This edited book includes 15 high quality research papers written by experts in information reuse and integration to cover the most recent advances in the field. These papers are extended versions of the best papers which were presented at IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse and Integration and IEEE International Workshop on Formal Methods Integration, which was held in San Francisco in August 2013.

The model theory of fields is a fascinating subject stretching from Tarski's work on the decidability of the theories of the real and complex fields to Hrushovksi's recent proof of the Mordell-Lang conjecture for function fields. This volume provides an insightful introduction to this active area, concentrating on connections to stability theory.

Institutional theory plays a significant role in contemporary political science. As in the previous editions, the new fourth edition provides an overview of the major institutional approaches in the discipline, as well as considering the possibility of a more integrated institutional theory. This edition also contains two new chapters. One assesses the role of informal institutions and their linkages with formal structures of governing. The second new chapter provides a detailed discussion of the processes of institutionalization and deinstitutionalization.

This volume illustrates and synthesizes new theories of institutional design recently developed by scholars across a range of disciplines.

How do institutions influence and shape cognition and action in individuals and organizations, and how are they in turn shaped by them? Various social science disciplines have offered a range of theories and perspectives to provide answers to this question. Within organization studies in recent years, several scholars have developed the institutional logics perspective. An institutional logic is the set of material practices and symbolic systems including assumptions, values, and beliefs by which individuals and organizations provide meaning to their daily activity, organize time and space, and reproduce their lives and experiences. This approach affords significant insights, methodologies, and research tools, to analyze the multiple combinations of factors that may determine cognition, behaviour, and rationalities. In tracing the development of the institutional logics perspective from earlier institutional theory, the book analyzes seminal research, illustrating how and why influential works on institutional theory motivated a distinct new approach to scholarship on institutional logics. The book shows how the institutional logics perspective transforms institutional theory. It presents novel theory, further elaborates the institutional logics perspective, and forges new linkages to key literatures on practice, identity, and social and cognitive psychology. It develops the microfoundations of institutional logics and institutional entrepreneurship, proposing a set of mechanisms that go beyond meta-theory, integrating this work with macro theory on institutional logics into a cross-levels model of cultural heterogeneity. By incorporating current psychological understanding of human behaviour and linking it to sociological perspectives, it aims to provide an encompassing framework for institutional analysis, and to be an essential and accessible reference for scholars and advanced students of organizational behaviour, organization and management theory, business strategy, and cultural sociology.