In this paper, we obtain a weak version of Lusin’s theorem in the Sobolev-$(1,p)$ uniform closure of volume-preserving Lipschitz homeomorphisms on closed and connected d-dimensional manifolds, $d \geq 2$ and $0<p<1$. With this result at hand, we will be able to prove that the ergodic elements are generic. This establishes a version of the Oxtoby–Ulam theorem for this Sobolev class. We also prove that, for $1\leq p<d-1$, the topological transitive maps are generic.

Network meta-analysis is the established method to pool evidence from multiple clinical trials and make direct and indirect comparisons between different treatments. To ensure its validity, one of the major assumptions requiring examination is that the different sources of information are consistent, which is to say that the direct and indirect effect estimates agree. There are at least three different aspects to consider: (1) the original effect sizes of the direct and indirect treatment effects and their relative contribution to the total evidence; (2) the difference between them and its associated uncertainty/significance; and (3) the type of difference between them, that is, whether the direct and indirect estimates agree that a treatment is beneficial or harmful. Current visualization approaches typically use forest plots or heat maps, but these are limited as at least one of the above aspects is usually absent. Furthermore, as the number of treatments in the network increases, these visualizations can become difficult to understand. We present a visualization that combines the three aspects without being too difficult to interpret, outline the mathematical background and provide the code to produce it in R.

This article argues for a three-way structural characterization of Fijian objects: common nouns can be incorporated or dislocated, but pronouns and proper nouns occur inside the VP as complements. These facts support an analysis of Fijian as a polysynthetic language, since it is a pronominal argument language with incorporated objects. Having complement nominals inside the VP, however, puts Fijian outside the scope of Baker's (1996) polysynthesis parameter. The distribution of complements in Fijian follows from Hopper and Thompson's (1980) transitivity hypothesis, since only those nominals with the highest degree of individuation can occur inside the VP.

Anaphoric pronouns such as ‘it’ are referentially underspecified and therefore depend on prior context for interpretation. The factors influencing their interpretation are a long-standing topic of research in syntactic and pragmatic literature. We present a novel study of pronoun resolution in the ergative-absolutive Polynesian language Niuean, investigating whether Niuean exhibits the same subject preference found for nominative-accusative languages (e.g. Chafe 1976) or whether, alternatively, the absolutive argument is preferred as a referent. Niuean also exhibits split ergativity, allowing for isolation of further effects of case (wherein listeners show a preference for antecedents that bear the same case as the pronoun) and transitivity (wherein direct objects are preferred as antecedents as compared with adjuncts). Most importantly, we observe that ergative arguments are consistently preferred as referents over clause-mate absolutive arguments, providing evidence that ergative arguments exhibit behavior parallel to that of ‘subjects’ in nominative-accusative languages.

This article proposes that at least two agent-backgrounding operations with different syntactic and semantic properties have to be distinguished in Catalan Sign Language (LSC): the HIGH-LOCUS CONSTRUCTION and the NONAGREEING CENTRAL CONSTRUCTION. We show that the high-locus construction is a transitive structure with a nonspecific subject. We propose to analyze this construction as involving a null pro-subject, licensed by agreement and interpreted as an impersonal third plural, as in other agent-backgrounding constructions with an impersonal third plural subject, which are crosslinguistically restricted to human interpretation. We propose that the nonagreeing construction is an intransitivized verb form that allows passive interpretations with agents and causes and anticausative interpretations comparable to middle voice.

This paper develops a parallel between prudence and population ethics. I argue that developing a standard guiding the evaluation of the comparative prudential value of different lives is challenging because it shares a similarity with population ethics: In both contexts, we assess the comparative value of populations of person-stages/people, which may vary in number and level of well-being. Based on this analogy, I show that Arrhenius’ fifth impossibility theorem can be applied to prudence. I develop and compare five possible escape routes: Critical-Level Views, Totalism, Limited Aggregation, Nebel’s Lexical Threshold View and what I call the Negative Lexicality View.

This paper studies reversibility and transitivity of semigroups acting on homogeneous spaces. Properties of the reversor set of a subsemigroup acting on homogeneous spaces are presented. Let G be a topological group and L a subgroup of G. Assume that S is a subsemigroup of G with nonempty interior. It is presented a study of the reversibility of the S-action on $G/L$ in terms of the actions of S and L on homogeneous spaces of G. The results relate the reversibility and the transitivity of S in $G/L$ with the minimality of the action of L on homogeneous spaces of G. In addition, sufficient conditions for S to be right reversible in G if S is reversible in $G/L$ are presented.

May's model of pairwise preference determination is used to assess the expected likelihood that a subject's pairwise preference comparisons on three alternatives will be transitive. A closed form representation for this expected likelihood is obtained for each situation considered. When the subject is assumed to act precisely according to rankings on attributes with May's model, the computed expected likelihoods the relatively large. When the subject becomes a probabilistic chooser, as defined in a specific manner, expected likelihoods of transitivity decrease significantly from corresponding values with May's model. For a probabilistic Chooser, there is a significant likelihood that the subject might yield transitive pairwise preferences substantially different than the results suggested by May's model.

Transitivity has come to be recognized as a promising heuristic tool for uncovering implicit ideologies in a wide range of areas. Though it has been used to explore worldviews in several kinds of discourse, nearly all have relied solely on qualitative analyses. Statistical analysis can offer a fuller understanding of past societies. This study applies a gradient, discourse-based understanding of transitivity, which lends itself nicely to corpus-based analysis, to data from 16th-century New Spain. In colonial Mexico, female behaviors were often strictly circumscribed. This paper uses a quantitative, corpus-based framework to examine how gender inequality is reflected in patterns of transitivity. It is found that female subjects are significantly associated with imperfective contexts, nonfinite constructions, akinesis, and low affectedness of the object—all markers of lower transitivity. Thus, for the most part, in these data, women are represented as inactive, inert, and powerless.

Limited Aggregation is the view that when there are competing moral claims that demand our attention, we should sometimes satisfy the largest aggregate of claims, depending on the strength of the claims in question. In recent years, philosophers such as Patrick Tomlin and Alastair Norcross have argued that Limited Aggregation violates a number of rational choice principles such as Transitivity, Separability, and Contraction Consistency. Current versions of Limited Aggregation are what may be called Comparative Approaches because they involve assessing the relative strengths of various claims. In this paper, we offer a non-comparative version of Limited Aggregation, what we call the Threshold Approach. It states that there is a non-relative threshold that separates various claims. We demonstrate that the Threshold Approach does not violate rational choice principles such as Transitivity, Separability, and Contraction Consistency, and we show that potential concerns regarding such a view are surmountable.