1,192 research outputs found
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
No full textAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
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Half-Lives of Hackers and the Shelf Life of Hacks
No full textWhat is the speed of hacking? Luca Follis and Adam Fish explore the temporality of hacking and leaking in the cases of Snowden, the DNC leaks and the Lauri Love case
THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF ADAM SMITH'S WORK
No full textThe paper will discuss the theological foundation to Smith's writings. Teleology, final causes and divine design were initially seen as central to understanding Smith's writings. Over time, this view fell out of fashion. In the period after World War II, with the rise of positivism, commentators tended to overlook or downplay this interpretation. In the last decade, or so, teleology has started to be restored to its former position as an essential element in understanding Smith. After spelling out Smith's teleology and his view of final causes, divine design and the ends of nature, we try to explain the Panglossian nature of the 'new theistic view' of Smith. While our view differs somewhat, we agree with the essence of the 'new view' claim: a theological view exists in Smith which underpins his moral and economic theories.Political Economy,
Hacker States
No full textSummary How hackers and hacking moved from being a target of the state to a key resource for the expression and deployment of state power. In this book, Luca Follis and Adam Fish examine the entanglements between hackers and the state, showing how hackers and hacking moved from being a target of state law enforcement to a key resource for the expression and deployment of state power. Follis and Fish trace government efforts to control the power of the internet; the prosecution of hackers and leakers (including such well-known cases as Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Anonymous); and the eventual rehabilitation of hackers who undertake “ethical hacking” for the state. Analyzing the evolution of the state's relationship to hacking, they argue that state-sponsored hacking ultimately corrodes the rule of law and offers unchecked advantage to those in power, clearing the way for more authoritarian rule. Follis and Fish draw on a range of methodologies and disciplines, including ethnographic and digital archive methods from fields as diverse as anthropology, STS, and criminology. They propose a novel “boundary work” theoretical framework to articulate the relational approach to understanding state and hacker interactions advanced by the book. In the context of Russian bot armies, the rise of fake news, and algorithmic opacity, they describe the political impact of leaks and hacks, hacker partnerships with journalists in pursuit of transparency and accountability, the increasingly prominent use of extradition in hacking-related cases, and the privatization of hackers for hire
The Fire of Life. Adam Zagajewski’s poem “About My Mother”
No full textAny interpretation of one of the most personal poems written by Adam Zagajewski provides a good opportunity to reassess in the new light the elegiac, deeply personal body of his poetry, as well as the role of recollections and memory in the poet’s poetical and essayist writing. The work is interpreted not only within the parental context of the literary output of the author of the essay Lekka przesada [A slight exaggeration] (2011), but also against the background of the important theme in Polish
poetry, including modern poetry, i.e. the motif of the mother. The title for the present sketch has been drawn from the essay The Fire of Life, the apology of poetry authored by Richard Rorty, and stresses its
unique role in expressing human experience, indicated by the American philosopher.Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne. Seria Literack
The “Adam Smith problem” and the retreat of sentimental virtue from the world
No full textIt is now a “truth universally acknowledged” that the “Adam Smith problem” that exercised cultural theorists and historians from the nineteenth century onwards was the product of misreading. Richard Adelman and Catherine Packham define the “Adam Smith problem” in the introduction to this volume as “the apparent conundrum surrounding how…the moral philosopher who wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759, could also write The Wealth of Nations (WN) in 1776". 1 How could the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments(hereafter TMS), who “considers human nature as universally sympathetic, other-orientated, social and thus moral” have written the latter, which “treats human behavior as almost always self-interested and calculating”? 2 This essay will not seek to rekindle an “Adam Smith problem” but will argue that we can reach a better understanding of the origins of this misreading if we map Smith’s works against the history of the evolution of sentimental ideas across literature and political economic discourse in the third quarter of the eighteenth century
The development of FISH tools for genetic, phylogenetic and breeding studies in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
No full textIn this thesis various fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technologies are described to support genome projects, plant breeding and phylogenetic analysis on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, 2n=24). Its genome is 980 Mb and only 30 % are single copy sequences, which are mostly found in the euchromatin regions. These regions in all 12 chromosomes were therefore focus of the International Solanaceae Genome Sequencing Project. Based on the F2.2000 linkage map bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) were selected from three libraries for validating their physical locations by Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH). In Chapter 2 I describe a five-color high-resolution BAC FISH approach and results of the mapping of 75 seed BACs on pachytene complements of chromosome 6. We found differences between the cytogenetic map and the linkage map. Most of the discrepancies occurred in the pericentromeric heterochromatin where recombination is highly suppressed. For establishing the BAC coverage of chromosome 6 a pooled BAC FISH method was used to hybridize all seed BACs simultaneously. A few larger gaps were discovered mostly on the long arm, where our ‘BAC-by-BAC’ sequencing approach could not manage to close the gaps by extending contigs. Afterwards new candidate BACs were tested by pooled-BAC FISH. Finally we demonstrated the heterochromatin / euchromatin distribution focusing on its borders by mapping pooled repetitive sequences (Cot 100) together with border BACs. In Chapter 3 the repeat content of chromosome 7 was analyzed by combining BAC and extended fiber FISH mapping with bioinformatics of 169 BACs. Repeats are important due to their challenging interpretations in genome sequencing. Tandem arrays of Tomato Genome Repeat I (TGRI) were found in BACs close to the distal end of chromosome 7 as well as on the long arm interstitial knobs. Phylogenetic analysis by neighbor-joining approach showed clustering of the TGRI blocks that suggested their independent origin. TGRI is likely to be transposed by extrachromosomal circular DNA molecules during anaphase. The dispersed TGR repeats (TGRII, TGRIII, TGRIV) all belong to the Ty3-Gypsy LTR class of retrotransposons. All of them cover the pericentromeric heterochromatin but overlap only partly as shown by FISH and BAC sequencing. TGRII hybridized through the whole pericentromere, TGRIII overlapped with TGRII except for the distal regions of the heterochromatin on the long arm, whereas TGRIV showed coverage in the most proximal parts of the short arm heterochromatin. BAC sequences corresponded well to the FISH data except that there were solo LTRs of TGRII found in the euchromatin. In the pericentromere heterochromatin truncated and solo LTRs were present of both TGRII and TGRIII. The TGRIV repeat could not be further investigated due to too high repeat content. Further this chapter offers some clues why TGR repeats are distributed in a certain way in the pericentromere. In Chapter 4 a comparative mapping study was carried out between tomato and potato (Solanum tuberosum) chromosome 6 using BACs from both species. The BACs were hybridized on both species by FISH. Due to some repeat-rich BACs Cot 100 blocking was necessary as well as lowered stringent washing to achieve unique and clear signals. We detected a novel paracentric inversion on the short arm of chromosome 6. The two break points are close to the distal heterochromatin end and to the eu- heterochromatin border. The BAC order revealed colinearity on the long arm. The two investigated tomato cultivars- Heinz 1706 and Cherry VFNT- were colinear for all of the used BACs. One (RH98-856-18) out of six potato clones differed by a small rearrangement in the middle of the inversion. This study gave a first idea for evolutionary investigative studies in the Solanum genus using chromosomal rearrangements as detected by FISH and which are elaborated in Chapter 5. It is known that chromosomal rearrangements happen frequently, but rarely get fixed during evolution. The reason is that chromosomal rearrangements have often a negative influence on fertility and on the progeny. In Solanum mostly inversions were previously reported. We selected repeat poor and evenly distributed tomato and potato BACs and after labeling those by fluorescence dyes we hybridized them across related wild species, tomato breeding lines, potato, eggplant and pepper (which is a close relative outside of the genus). We could reveal synteny between these species. In this way we discovered five undescribed inversions and found discrepancies with previous literature claiming chromosomal rearrangements. Our results correspond well to published phylogeny on Solanum, suggesting that our approach would be suitable for studying unknown genomes and resolving relationships on a higher level, such as sections. Finally this thesis discusses the crucial points of FISH technology; such as spatial resolution, detection sensitivity and applicability. It highlights the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threads of FISH. In conclusion FISH is an indispensible technique for sequencing large genomes and defining repeat content with support of bioinformatics. Moreover, hidden chromosomal rearrangements can be visualized in regions where recombination is suppressed, which is important for plant breeding and definitely for phylogenetic studies. <br/
Climate change and its implications for Australia's freshwater fish
No full textFreshwater environments and their fishes are particularly vulnerable to climate change because the persistence and quality of aquatic habitat depend heavily on climatic and hydrologic regimes. In Australia, projections indicate that the rate and magnitude of climate change will vary across the continent. We review the likely effects of these changes on Australian freshwater fishes across geographic regions encompassing a diversity of habitats and climatic variability. Commonalities in the predicted implications of climate change on fish included habitat loss and fragmentation, surpassing of physiological tolerances and spread of alien species. Existing anthropogenic stressors in more developed regions are likely to compound these impacts because of the already reduced resilience of fish assemblages. Many Australian freshwater fish species are adapted to variable or unpredictable flow conditions and, in some cases, this evolutionary history may confer resistance or resilience to the impacts of climate change. However, the rate and magnitude of projected change will outpace the adaptive capacities of many species. Climate change therefore seriously threatens the persistence of many of Australia's freshwater fish species, especially of those with limited ranges or specific habitat requirements, or of those that are already occurring close to physiological tolerance limits. Human responses to climate change should be proactive and focus on maintaining population resilience through the protection of habitat, mitigation of current anthropogenic stressors, adequate planning and provisioning of environmental flows and the consideration of more interventionist options such as managed translocations
Points of Presence
No full textAdam Fish’s film Points of Presence exposes the materialities of digital technologies and their vast networked infrastructures operating above and below the earth. The film employs aerial and terrestrial videographic approaches to map the physical reality of the internet and bring into view the sources of material power. By revealing data centers, undersea cables and other unseen or overlooked technical architectures that afford contemporary communication, Points of Presence shows the rich complexity and precarity of the North Atlantic region’s intranet infrastructure. In so doing, this contribution grapples with the wider problem of visualising information flows and, through intentionally leaving out the human voice, attempts to present an alternative non-anthropomorphic perspective to its subject
Strategies for adapting to climate change in rural Sub-Saharan Africa
No full textThe ten ASARECA member countries (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) have adopted, or are planning to adopt, a range of climate change adaptation strategies in agriculture (see Table 1 for a summary). Of the 26 strategies mentioned, only two are common to all 10 countries, while five more are common to five or more. The strategies common to all member countries include the development and promotion of drought-tolerant and early-maturing crop species and exploitation of new and renewable energy sources. Most countries have areas that are classifiable as arid or semiarid, hence the need to develop drought-tolerant and early-maturing crops. Strangely, only one country recognizes the conservation of genetic resources as an important strategy although this is also potentially important for dealing with drought. Biomass energy resources account for more than 70 percent of total energy consumption in ASARECA member countries. To mitigate the potential adverse effects of biomass energy depletion, ASARECA countries plan to harness new and renewable energy sources, including solar power, wind power, hydro and geothermal sources, and biofuels. Eight of the 10 countries cite the promotion of rainwater harvesting as an important adaptation strategy, either small scale with small check dams or large scale with large dam projects. The five measures that are common to more than five countries are (a) the conservation and restoration of vegetative cover in degraded and mountain areas; (b) reduction of overall livestock numbers through sale or slaughter; (c) cross-breeding, zero-grazing, and acquisition of smaller livestock (for example, sheep or goats); (d) adoption of traditional methods of natural forest conservation and food use; and (e) community-based management programs for forests, rangelands, and national parks. The promotion of environmentally friendly investments and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects that can be funded through carbon trading is a feature of only one country. Three examples of strategies that warrant greater region wide collaboration are the conservation of genetic materials, development and promotion of drought-tolerant species, and soil conservation. To date, the national adaptation policies of only three countries have indicated that they carry out these strategies.Adaptation, ASARECA, Climate change, NAPA, Natural resource management, PRSP,
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