448 research outputs found
StreamB: A Declarative Language for Automatically Processing Data Streams in Abstract Environments for Agent Platforms
No full textTo apply BDI agents to real-world scenarios, the reality-gap, between the low-level data (perceptions) and their high-level representation (beliefs), must be bridged. This is usually achieved by a manual mapping. There are two problems with this solution: (i) if the environment changes, the mapping has to be changed as well (by the developer); (ii) part of the mapping might end up being implemented at the agent level increasing the code complexity and reducing its generality. In this paper, we present a general approach to automate the mapping between low-level data and high-level beliefs through the use of transducers. These transducers gather information from the environment and map them to high-level beliefs according to formal temporal specifications. We present our technique and we show its applicability through a case study involving the remote inspection of a nuclear plant
The International Equity Holdings of Euro Area Investors
No full textWe provide a systematic analysis of bilateral, source and host factors driving portfolio equity investment by euro-area countries, using newly-released data on international equity holdings at the end of 2001. We find that bilateral equity holdings are strongly linked to bilateral trade in goods and services and are also associated with proxies for informational proximity. We further document that there exists a significant “euro-area bias”, with euro-area countries investing in other euro-area countries over and above the amount predicted by underlying fundamentals.International portfolio equity investment, international trade; gravity.
Global bond portfolios and EMU
No full textWe examine the bilateral composition of international bond portfolios for the euro area and the individual EMU member countries. We find considerable support for “euro area bias”: EMU member countries disproportionately invest in one another relative to other country pairs. Another striking pattern is the positive connection between trade linkages and financial linkages in explaining asymmetries across EMU member countries in terms of their outward and inward bond investments vis-à-vis external counterparties. At the aggregate level, it is those countries physically closest to the euro area that are both the most important destinations and sources for external bond investment vis-à-vis the euro area. Our empirical results support the notion that financial regionalization is the leading force underlying financial globalization. JEL Classification: E4, F2, F3, F4bond portfolios, EMU, financial integration
Export dynamics in Small Open Economies: Indigenous Irish Manufacturing Exports, 1985-2003
No full textThe aim of this paper is to explore how a recent methodology developed to look at export dynamics in a region in a large economy can be extended to look at export dynamics in a small open economy, where local market size means that enterprises tend to engage in exporting at an early stage in their development. Building on work by Wagner (2004) and in the context of the recent trade modelling of export heterogeneity (e.g., Melitz (2003)), this paper explores export dynamics in the Irish indigenous manufacturing sector using Davis, Haltiwanger and Schuh (1996) type decomposition techniques from the labour turnover literature. Overall export growth rates in the manufacturing sector vary widely, and we focus particularly on two years when exceptional rates of growth and decline were experienced. We conduct our analysis using a plant level panel data set constructed from the annual Irish Census of Industrial Production for the period 1985 to 2003. We find that there is considerable entry/re-entry and exit/re-exit in the export market but most of the export dynamics are dominated by the activities of continuing exporters.Exports; decomposition, manufacturing, plant-level panel data
La censura imperfetta. La satira di Richard Aldington nell’Italia fascista
No full textThrough the epistolary dialogue between the British author Richard Aldington and his
translator Alessandra Scalero, this article sheds some light on the editorial events that led
to the publication of Women must work and All men are enemies, and to the rejection of
Death of a Hero and The colonel’s daughter. Considered by Luigi Rusca – Mondadori’s codirector – “particularly important”, these books, as well as their author, are now largely
forgotten, even if during the Thirties Italian readers were fascinated by Aldington’s biting
satire. Exponent of British Imagism, Richard Aldington was closed to the Fabian Society’s
vision of the world which pervaded all his works, built around the themes of women’s
emancipation and social consequences of the First World War. The “heterodoxy” of such
contents made the translation activity particularly complex; the author himself was not
always available to soften the tone, accepting cuts and changes
The ‘Rest Cure’ Revisited: Resisting the Neoliberal Myths of Individualism and Self-Betterment in Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018)
No full textThe aim of this presentation is to explore how My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018)––American author Ottessa Moshfegh’s most acclaimed novel––exposes and opposes, by thematically engaging with the outdated medical practice of the ‘rest cure’, the hyper-individualistic myths of self-betterment and wellness inherent to the US neoliberal context. A customary medical treatment during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the rest cure was primarily prescribed to women who were diagnosed with typically ‘female’ mental disorders, such as hysteria or neurasthenia; however, as American author Perkins Gilman already revealed in her semi-autobiographical short story The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), this cure was frequently detrimental to the patients who, instead of healing, generally manifested ulterior negative physical and psychological side-effects. Nowadays, the rest cure is considered an outdated medical treatment that (fortunately) no longer holds any value nor is prescribed. Yet, it is my intention to argue that, by revisiting the theme of the rest cure, Moshfegh’s novel not only questions quintessentially American myths of individualism, personal empowerment, and wellness, but it also engages with a specific American literary tradition of representation of female madness (thus, entering into dialogue with Perkins Gilman’s short story). Set in New York City in 2000 and 2001, My Year of Rest and Relaxation depicts the emotional spiral of an unnamed female narrator in her twenties who, hoping for recovery and physical/psychological rebirth, attempts to sleep for an entire year. Past feminist readings of fictional female madness (or, mental illness), typically rooted in psychoanalytical discourses, were usually oriented towards the criticism of patriarchalism (Gilbert & Gubar 1979). This presentation, however, whilst drawing from Foucault’s (1961) correlation between madness and power, intends to adopt a posthuman feminist perspective––a philosophical approach that, being materially grounded, insists on the embodied and embedded nature of subjectivities, as theorized by Braidotti (2022)––to shed light on the criticism to and the practices of resistance to these dominant American neoliberal myths as represented by the novel
Ewolucja człowieczeństwa. Francesca Ferrando, Philosophical Posthumanism. (Theory in the New Humanities)
No full textPhilosophical Posthumanism is a unique intellectual proposition – one in which Francesca Ferrando not only presents and expands but also celebrates posthumanist thought. The monograph is an open invitation to explore new horizons by de-familiarizing classical humanist thought embedded within the Western civilization. Explicitly deconstructing classical humanism, Ferrando offers her readership a versatile insight into the complexity of the polyphony of new voices including, but not limited to, Posthumanism, Transhumanism, and Antihumanism – contributing to the discourse, which, as the author affirms, is tantamount to the “philosophy of our time.”Filozoficzny posthumanizm to wyjątkowa propozycja intelektualna – taka, w której Francesca Ferrando nie tylko prezentuje i rozwija, ale też celebruje myśl posthumanistyczną. Monografia jest otwartym zaproszeniem do odkrywania nowych horyzontów poprzez od-swajanie klasycznej myśli humanistycznej, osadzonej w cywilizacji zachodniej. Wyraźnie dekonstruując klasyczny humanizm, Ferrando oferuje swoim czytelnikom wszechstronny wgląd w złożoność polifonii nowych głosów, w tym m.in. posthumanizmu, transhumanizmu i antyhumanizmu – współtworząc dyskurs, który - jak twierdzi autorka - jest tożsamy z “filozofią naszych czasów”
Automated Planning and BDI Agents : A Case Study
No full textThere have been many attempts to integrate automated planning and rational agents. Most of the research focuses on adding support directly within agent programming languages, such as those based on the Belief-Desire-Intention model, rather than using off-the-shelf planners. This approach is often believed to improve the computation time, which is a common requirement in real world applications. This paper shows that even in complex scenarios, such as in the Multi-Agent Programming Contest with 50 agents and a 4 s deadline for the agents to send actions to the server, it is possible to efficiently integrate agent languages with off-the-shelf automated planners. Based on the experience with this case study, the paper discusses advantages and disadvantages of decoupling the agents from the planners
Global Bond Portfolios and EMU
No full textWe examine the bilateral composition of international bond portfolios for the euro area and the individual EMU member countries. We find considerable support for "euro area" bias: EMU member countries disproportionately invest in one another relative to other country pairs. Another striking pattern is the positive connection between trade linkages and financial linkages in explaining asymmetries across EMU member countries in terms of their outward bond investments vis-a-vis external counterparties. Our empirical results underline the impact of currency union on financial integration and support the notion that financial regionalization is the leading force underlying financial globalization.
Effector-target co-aggregation as a crucial step in the neutrophil-mediated tumour cell lysis.
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