3,291 research outputs found
Interview with Jean Francois Revel, author
No full textJean Francois Revel, the author of Without Marx or Jesus, has been quoted as saying, "The United States is now a microcosm for all of the problems man faces." In this interview with Meredith Watts, he discusses a new kind of revolution which could produce successful change without violent upheavalGrayscaleSoun
Beauregard House
No full textGeneral view; The architect Francois Correjolles, whose creole French family emigrated from St. Domingue (Haiti), added new American Federal elements while preserving some of the traditional creole plan. The Beauregard-Keyes House, built in 1826 for wealthy auctioneer Joseph Le Carpentier, is a fine example of a raised, center-hall house. It is named for two of its former tenants, Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant (P.G.T.) Beauregard and author Frances Parkinson Keyes. General Beauregard lived in the home from 1866 to 1868 while he was president of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad. The home features twin curved staircases, leading to a Tuscan portico. The garden's design duplicates the original 1865 plans. (Common Routes: St. Domingue-Louisiana exhibition, 2006) Source: Historic New Orleans Collection [website]; http://www.hnoc.org/ (accessed 1/24/2008
Alien theory : the decline of materialism in the name of matter
No full textThe thesis tries to define and explain the rudiments of a 'nonphilosophical'
or 'non-decisional' theory of materialism on the basis of a
theoretical framework provided by the 'non-philosophy' of Francois
Laruelle. Neither anti-philosophical nor anti-materialist in character, non-materialism
tries to construct a rigorously transcendental theory of matter by
using certain instances of philosophical materialism as its source material.
The materialist decision to identify the real with matter is seen to retain a
structural isomorphy with the phenomenological decision to identify the real
with the phenomenon. Both decisions are shown to operate on the basis of a
methodological idealism; materialism on account of its confusion of matter
and concept; phenomenology by virtue of its confusion of phenomenon and
logos. By dissolving the respectively 'materiological' and
'phenomenological' amlphibolies which are the result of the failure to effect a
rigorously transcendental separation between matter and concept on the one
hand; and between phenomenon and logos on the other, non-materialist
theory proposes to mobilise the non-hybrid or non-decisional concepts of a
'matter-without-concept' and of a 'phenomenon-without-logos' in order to
effect a unified but non-unitary theory of phenomenology and materialism.
The result is a materialisation of thinking that operates according to matter's
foreclosure to decision. That is to say, a transcendental theory of the
phenomenon that licenses limitless phenomenological plasticity,
unconstrained by the apparatus of eidetic intuition or any horizon of
apophantic disclosure; yet one which is simultaneously a transcendental
theory of matter, uncontaminated by the bounds of empirical perception and
free of all phenomenological circumscription
Real-time Role Coordination For Ambient Intelligence
No full textWe propose group communication for agent coordination within “active rooms ” and other pervasive computing scenarios featuring strict real-time requirements, inherently unreliable communication, and a large but continuously changing set of context-aware autonomous systems. Messages are exchanged over multicast channels, which may remind of chat rooms in which everybody hears everything being said. The issues that have to be faced (e.g., changing users ’ preferences and locations; performance constraints; redundancies of sensors and actuators; agents on mobile devices continuously joining and leaving) require the ability of dynamically selecting the “best ” agents for providing a service in a given context. Our approach is based on the idea of implicit organization, which refers to the set of all agents willing to play a given role on a given channel. An implicit organization is a special form of team with no explicit formation phase and a single role involved. No middle agent is required. A set of protocols, designed for unreliable group communication, are used to negotiate a coordination policy, and for team coordination. We sketch a general computational model for an agent participating to an implicit organization
Intra-Role Coordination Using Channeled Multicast
No full textWe propose group communication for agent coordination within "active rooms" and other pervasive computing scenarios featuring strict real-time requirements, inherently unreliable communication, and a large but continuously changing set of context-aware autonomous systems. Messages are exchanged over \emph{multicast channels}, which may remind of chat rooms where everybody hears everything being told. The issues that have to be faced (e.g., changing users' preferences and locations; performance constraints; redundancies of sensors, actuators, and services; evolving sources of information; the continuous joining and leaving of agents on mobile devices) require the ability of dynamically selecting the "best" agents for providing a service in a given context. Our approach is based on the idea of \emph{implicit organization}, which refers to the set of all agents willing to play a given role on a given channel; an implicit organization is a special form of team with no explicit formation phase and a single role involved. No middle agent is required by an implicity organization; instead, a set of protocols, designed for unreliable group communication, are used for two purposes: first, to negotiate a coordination policy; second, for actual team coordination. Preconditions and effects of these protocols are formalized by means of the joint intention theory (JIT). We sketch a general computational model for an agent participating to an implicit organizatio
Proposal of a new calibration techniques of non contact blade vibration measuring systems
No full textProposal of a new calibration technique of non contact blade vibration measuring system
Plasmonic resonances in nanostructured gold/polymer surfaces by colloidal lithography
No full textWe investigate nanostructured surfaces consisting of a
hexagonal lattice of polymeric pillars embedded in a gold
matrix. These systems are prepared by a new fabrication
technique based on plasma assisted deposition and colloidal
lithography. A complete characterization of such surfaces is
performed by angle resolved reflectance and transmittance
measurements. Both delocalized and localized plasmonic
modes can be identified: their reciprocal interplay allows to
observe spectral features and to detect refractive index changes
related to one of the sample interfaces by measurements
performed with a light beam incident from the opposite side.
This intriguing behaviour, together with ease of use and low
cost of the deposition procedure, make this kind of nanostructures
particularly interesting in biosensing applications
The ethical and moral-based dimension of leadership in CSR-oriented strategies and sustainable entrepreneurship
No full textThis chapter addresses the theme of leadership and its influence on corporate social
responsibility (CSR) and sustainability-oriented strategies. Specifically, it aims to analyse,
through a deductive and literature-based approach, the relevance of the ethical and moral
leadership models with respect to the diffusion of CSR and sustainable entrepreneurship. Linking ethical and moral-based leadership to the CSR and sustainable entrepreneurship discourse allows us to point out the relevance of an authentic orientation in supporting
change and fostering sustainable entrepreneurship The theoretical construct of responsible and sustainable leadership derives from the
intersection of the moral-based leadership concepts with those of CSR and sustainable
entrepreneurship..Drawing from these premises, this chapter seeks to identify leadership models and
attributes consistent with (and necessary to develop) an authentic CSR-oriented strategy
and able to foster sustainable entrepreneurship.
Accordingly, in this chapter, we argue that leadership represents a key aspect that
warrants more research within both CSR and sustainable entrepreneurship studies. The
research questions that orients this study can be summarised as follows: Which leadership
models favour authentic CSR practices? Are moral, ethical-based and virtues-based models
of leadership effective in developing CSR and fostering sustainable entrepreneurship?
These questions guide the critical review of the different leadership approaches, bringing
attention to the models that are most coherent in regard to the actual socio-economic
context which requires managers and entrepreneurs to govern the internal and external
complexity and actively contribute to sustainability. The methodological approach is
mainly based on a literature review that surveys critical points in current literature that is
relevant to the topic.
The work is structured as follows. First, we offer an analysis of the leadership theoretical
framework in the context of the CSR debate. We begin with a brief methodological
note, followed by an analysis of the antecedents of CSR and sustainable entrepreneurship
in terms of values and virtues.
Second, a review of relevant literature on leadership approaches and models consistent
with the CSR and sustainable entrepreneurship discourse is presented, emphasising the relationship between transformational, moral and virtues-based leadership and
CSR-oriented strategies and sustainable entrepreneurship. Drawing from the analysis,
four main propositions are introduced. The final sections illustrate the propositions and
summarise the implications and limitations of the study
The medieval forms and meanings of Francois: The political and cultural vicissitudes of an ethnonym
No full textThe article looks at the evolution of the ethnonym Francois in the Middle Ages and its significance to Germanic peoples known as Franks in the context of their cross-cultural relations with Muslim, Byzantine and British people. The author analyzes chronicles of the First Crusade and examines the use of Francois as an exonym and an autonym, and its role in the development of the French identity
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