1,048 research outputs found
On the Resilience of DAG-Based Distributed Ledgers in IoT Applications
No full textDistributed ledgers have been proposed for a number of applications in the Internet-of-Things domain where it is essential to have an immutable and irreversible record of transactions. Directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based architectures, in particular, seem to provide a vast array of advantages over the more traditional Blockchain; however, it can be challenging to conduct a thorough analysis of DAG-based ledgers and derive reliable performance guarantees. In this article, we analyze one commonly discussed attack scenario known as the parasite chain attack, which aims at disrupting the immutability and irreversibility of the ledger, in the context of the IOTA Foundation's DAG-based system. Using a Markov chain model, we study the vulnerabilities of IOTA's core tip selection method against this attack and we present an extension of the algorithm to improve the resilience of the ledger in this scenario
May churches discriminate?
No full textCécile Laborde\u27s Liberalism\u27s Religion contains an original theory of collective religious exemptions, which emphasises two morally significant interests that religious and other groups have in free association. Here I argue that Laborde\u27s theory of collective exemptions is less frugal in its allocation of rights than its author claims. In particular, I suggest that the theory lacks the grounds to restrict special treatment to voluntary and identificatory associations, and that by its lights loose, diffuse communities and even ascriptive groups are also entitled to special treatment.ACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe
Chris Shorten firing gas into the REMAX balloon's envelope prior to a flight across Melbourne, Royal Park, Parkville, 2005 [picture] /
No full textTitle devised by cataloguer based on information supplied by photographer.; Part of the collection: Hot air ballooning in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne region, 2000-2006.; "Hot air balloonist Chris Shorten's REMAX balloon fires up for a flight across Melbourne. Chris is a commercial pilot with his own small business, "Balloon Flights Over Melbourne". He is seen here at Royal Park, Parkville, firing gas into his balloon's envelope, just prior to liftoff at dawn"--Supplied by photographer.; Acquired in digital format; access copy available online.; Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web
Stretch-shorten cycle compared with isometric preload: contributions to enhanced muscular performance
No full textWalshe, Andrew D., Greg J. Wilson, and Gertjan J. C. Ettema.Stretch-shorten cycle compared with isometric preload: contributions to enhanced muscular performance. J. Appl. Physiol. 84(1): 97–106, 1998.—To isolate any difference muscular contraction history may have on concentric work output, 40 trained male subjects performed three separate isokinetic concentric squats that involved differing contraction histories: 1) a concentric-only (CO) squat, 2) a concentric squat preceded by an isometric preload (IS), and 3) a stretch-shorten cycle (SSC) squat. Over the first 300 ms of the concentric movement, work output for both the SSC and IS conditions was significantly greater (154.8 ± 39.8 and 147.9 ± 34.7 J, respectively; P < 0.001) compared with the CO squat (129.7 ± 34.4 J). In addition, work output after the SSC test over the first 300 ms was also significantly larger than that for the corresponding period after the IS protocol ( P < 0.05). There was no difference in normalized, integrated electromyogram among any of the conditions. It was concluded that concentric performance enhancement derived from a preceding stretch of the muscle-tendon complex was largely due to the attainment of a higher active muscle state before the start of the concentric movement. However, it was also hypothesized that contractile element potentiation was a significant contributor to stretch-induced muscular performance under these conditions.</jats:p
An opportunity lost: the entrenchment of Sinhalese nationalism in post-war Sri Lanka
No full textThis research studies the trajectory of Sinhalese nationalism during the presidency
of Mahinda Rajapaksa from 2005 to 2015. The role of nationalism in the
protracted conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils is well understood, but the
defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009 has changed the
framework within which both Sinhalese and Tamil nationalism operated. With
speculations about the future of nationalism abound, this research set out to
address the question of how the end of the war has affected Sinhalese nationalism,
which remains closely linked to politics in the country. It employs a discourse
analytical framework to compare the construction of Sinhalese nationalism in
official documents produced by Rajapaksa and his government before and after
2009. A special focus of this research is how through their particular constructions
and representations of Sinhalese nationalism these discourses help to reproduce
power relations before and after the end of the war. It argues that, despite
Rajapaksa’s vociferous proclamations of a ‘new patriotism’ promising a united
nation without minorities, he and his government have used the momentum of the
defeat of the Tamil Tigers to entrench their position by continuing to mobilise an
exclusive nationalism and promoting the revival of a Sinhalese-dominated nation.
The analysis of history textbooks, presidential rhetoric and documentary films
provides a contemporary empirical account of the discursive construction of the
core dimensions of Sinhalese nationalist ideology. It explores how the end of the
war has affected the myth-symbol complex underlying national identity as well as
the motives and rationales of nationalist politics. The research identifies
continuities and changes in the content and use of these dimensions as a response
to the transition from war to peace. These shifts, however, do not signify a
challenge to the traditional hierarchical framework of Sinhalese nationalism.
Instead, post-war triumphalism has reinvigorated its ethnic core that places the
Sinhalese, their culture and religion, above other communities in Sri Lanka. The
military victory has reaffirmed the link between the Sinhalese nation, Buddhism
and the state that has traditionally been used to legitimise Sinhalese claims to a Sri
Lankan nationalism. Furthermore, developments, such as the victory itself and
growing international criticism, are incorporated within traditional nationalist
frames and, in turn, help to reinvigorate them.
Overall, this research demonstrates implicit and explicit discursive modes of
how the Rajapaksa regime continued to perpetuate an exclusive Sinhalese
nationalism, marginalising minority communities, their long-standing grievances
and the crucial issue of reconciliation after the end of the war in 2009
Indignação, decadência e conspiração: a retórica reacionária segundo Richard Shorten
No full textThis review seeks to analyze some of the central arguments of Richard Shorten's recently published The ideology of political reactionaries (2022). Continuing his work of mapping and redimensioning the modern ideological panorama, which began with Modernism and Totalitarianism (2012) and Reactionary rhetoric reconsidered (2015), Shorten establishes an anatomy of the argumentative structures mobilized by reactionary agents over the last two centuries. Based on the classic Aristotelian lessons on rhetoric, the author proposes that the pillars of indignation, decadence and conspiracy are mobilized by reactionaries in order to trigger, respectively, the dimensions of pathos, logos and ethos in an audience. The result of a careful analysis of reactionary texts, ranging from the writings of Joseph De Maistre and Edmund Burke, through Adolf Hitler and Joe McCarthy, to Éric Zemmour and Donald Trump, Shorten identifies some discursive models that recur in this ideological tradition. Recovering both the concept of reaction and the methodology of rhetorical analysis, the author establishes renewed bases for reflection and analysis on the modern political right and its contemporary manifestations.A presente resenha busca analisar alguns dos argumentos centrais da obra recém publicada de Richard Shorten: The ideology of political reactionaries (2022). Dando prosseguimento em seu trabalho de mapeamento e redimensionamento do panorama ideológico moderno, iniciado com Modernism and Totalitarianism (2012) e Reactionary rhetoric reconsidered (2015), Shorten estabelece uma anatomia das estruturas argumentativas mobilizadas por agentes reacionários nos últimos dois séculos. A partir das clássicas lições aristotélicas sobre retórica, o autor propõe que os pilares da indignação, decadência e conspiração são mobilizados pelo reacionarismo com o intuito de acionar, respectivamente, as dimensões do pathos, logos e ethos de uma audiência. Fruto de uma análise cuidadosa de textos reacionários, que abrangem desde os escritos de Joseph De Maistre e Edmund Burke, passando por Adolf Hitler e Joe McCarthy, até Éric Zemmour e Donald Trump, Shorten identifica alguns modelos discursivos reincidentes nesta tradição ideológica. Recuperando tanto o conceito de reação quanto a metodologia da análise retórica, o autor estabelece bases renovadas para a reflexão e análise sobre as direitas políticas modernas e suas manifestações contemporâneas.
A vulnerability theory of exploitation
No full textThis thesis introduces and defends a vulnerability theory of exploitation and uses that theory to explain what is exploitative about international transactions such as commercial gestational surrogacy and clinical trials. The vulnerability theory is preferable to a number of alternative theories of exploitation that have been defended in the philosophical literature. The dominant theories of exploitation tend to be inadequate or incomplete to account for different forms of exploitation. These shortcomings stem from the theories’ tendency to mistake something that is characteristic of specific forms of exploitation for what constitutes exploitation itself. Meanwhile, according to the vulnerability theory, exploitation occurs when A derives benefit by taking advantage of the vulnerability and dependence of B. This conceptualisation of exploitation as a function of the levels of vulnerability and dependence between transactors is analytically advantageous because it identifies conditions for exploitation that characterise most forms of exploitation. This conception also renders exploitation in the international domain visible by highlighting the prevalence of vulnerability and dependence therefore demanding theorisation, which until recently has been absent. Lastly, the project argues that exploitation at the international domain is distinctively wrong for reasons that do not arise in transactions between compatriots and challenges the idea of global justice
Inclusion or Exclusion of Religion:What Does Secularism Require?
No full textSecularism is a complex notion involving, on the one hand, different normative concerns about the relationship between politics and religion and, on the other, different policies for regulating this relationship. One liberal rationale for separating politics and religion is that this can be required for civic inclusion. According to such views, to the extent that a political affirmation of or support for religion fails to include all citizens as equals, politics and religion should be separated. The chapter considers what such a civic inclusion requirement might mean in practice, taking Cécile Laborde’s recent formulation of such a view as a point of departure. What civic inclusion means in practice depends on a specification of the principle of civic inclusion. The chapter discusses such a specification on the basis of Laborde’s application of her version of such a view to two prominent cases: The Lautsi case about mandatory crucifixes in Italian public schools and the Swiss ban on construction of minarets. These two cases highlight how a principle of civic inclusiveness can have both inclusive and exclusive valence in terms of what it requires. Furthermore, a principle of civic inclusiveness can apply at both the level of religious institutions or communities and at the level of individual citizens. The well-known cases about Muslim headscarves are a case in point at the individual level. A principle of civic inclusion can apparently have radically different implications in different cases. The question therefore is whether it indeed is the same principle across different cases and, if so, what then accounts for the differences in implications. The chapter argues that such a principle of civic inclusion should be based on more fundamental political principles, such as equality of opportunity or non-domination, that will then determine which inclusion or exclusion claims follow from it
Review of \u3ci\u3eWithout Reserve: Stories from Urban Natives\u3c/i\u3e by Lynda Shorten
No full textCanada\u27s urban Natives, like their American cousins to the south, are resilient, proud people who have weathered broken families, unemployment, pervasive alcohol and drug abuse, and rampant racism to retain a strong cultural identity and a hope for better times. Lynda Shorten\u27s moving account of nine urban Native people from Edmonton, Alberta, reveals the complexity and diversity present in contemporary Canadian Native society. Her stories also demonstrate the havoc one culture has wreaked on another. Shorten, a lawyer, journalist, writer, and activist, became a walking tape recorder to produce this book. She notes that she believes in stories; this book is a collection of autobiographical vignettes collected through extensive interviews. Although she evidently immersed herself in her subjects\u27 lives, sometimes to the point of assisting some to cope with Canada\u27s failed legal system, she realized the importance of presenting, not representing, those she interviewed. Although it is impossible for any reporter to remain completely divorced from their story, Shorten tried to edit only for clarity, not for ideology. Questions are left unanswered, however, and the author made no attempt to seek outside verification for the autobiographical stories she recorded. In her introduction Shorten also explains her rationale as a non-Native for recording these stories. For her the book was an educational experience, and the process of writing allowed her to learn while she helped her readers learn
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