Is global workspace a cartesian theater? How the neuro-astroglial interaction model solves conceptual issues

The Global Workspace Theory (GWT) proposed by Bernard Baars (1988) along with Daniel Dennett’s (1991) Multiple Drafts Model (MDM) of consciousness are renowned cognitive theories of consciousness bearing similarities and differences. Although Dennett displays sympathy for GWT, his own MDM does not seem to be fully compatible with it. This work discusses this compatibility, by asking if GWT suffers from Daniel Dennett’s criticism of what he calls a “Cartesian Theater”. We identified in Dennett 10 requirements for avoiding the Cartesian Theater. We believe that some of these requirements are violated by GWT, but not all, hence there is partial incompatibility with MDM, and it is nonsense to answer if GWT is or is not a Cartesian Theater. However, by asking such question we conclude that the issues around this discussion involve fuzzy claims about degrees of consciousness and we show how the Neuro-Astroglial Interaction Model (NAIM) is fit for solving such conceptual issues.

Investigation of a Pt3Sn/C Electro-Catalyst in a Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell Operating at Low Temperatures for Portable Applications

A 20% Pt3Sn/C catalyst was prepared by reduction with formic acid and used in a direct ethanol fuel cell at low temperatures. The electro-catalytic activity of this bimetallic catalyst was compared to that of a commercial 20% Pt/C catalyst. The PtSn catalyst showed better results in the investigated temperature range (30 degrees-70 degrees C). Generally, Sn promotes ethanol oxidation by adsorption of OH species at considerably lower potentials compared to Pt, allowing the occurrence of a bifunctional mechanism. The bimetallic catalyst was physico-chemically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. The presence of SnO2 in the bulk and surface of the catalyst was observed. It appears that SnO2 can enhance the ethanol electro-oxidation activity at low potentials due to the supply of oxygen-containing species for the oxidative removal of CO and CH3CO species adsorbed on adjacent Pt active sites.

Continuous-wave watt-level Nd:YLF/KGW Raman laser operating at near-IR, yellow and lime-green wavelengths

A Nd:YLF/KGW Raman laser has been investigated in this work. We have demonstrated CW output powers at six different wavelengths, 1147 nm (0.70 W), 1163 nm (0.95 W), 549 nm (0.65 W), 552 nm (1.90 W), 573 nm (0.60 W) and 581 nm (1.10 W), with higher peak powers achieved under quasi-CW operation. Raman conversion of the 1053 nm fundamental emission is reported for the first time, enabling two new wavelengths in crystalline Raman lasers, 549 nm and 552 nm. The weak thermal lensing associated with Nd:YLF has enabled to achieve good beam quality, M-2 <= 2.0, and stable operation in relatively long cavities. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America

Accuracy of five electronic foramen locators with different operating systems: na ex vivo study

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate, ex vivo, the precision of five electronic root canal length measurement devices (ERCLMDs) with different operating systems: the Root ZX, Mini Apex Locator, Propex II, iPex, and RomiApex A-15, and the possible influence of the positioning of the instrument tips short of the apical foramen. Material and Methods: Forty-two mandibular bicuspids had their real canal lengths (RL) previously determined. Electronic measurements were performed 1.0 mm short of the apical foramen (-1.0), followed by measurements at the apical foramen (0.0). The data resulting from the comparison of the ERCLMD measurements and the RL were evaluated by the Wilcoxon and Friedman tests at a significance level of 5%. Results: Considering the measurements performed at 0.0 and -1.0, the precision rates for the ERCLMDs were: 73.5% and 47.1% (Root ZX), 73.5% and 55.9% (Mini Apex Locator), 67.6% and 41.1% (Propex II), 61.7% and 44.1% (iPex), and 79.4% and 44.1% (RomiApex A-15), respectively, considering ±0.5 mm of tolerance. Regarding the mean discrepancies, no differences were observed at 0.0; however, in the measurements at -1.0, the iPex, a multi-frequency ERCLMD, had significantly more discrepant readings short of the apical foramen than the other devices, except for the Propex II, which had intermediate results. When the ERCLMDs measurements at -1.0 were compared with those at 0.0, the Propex II, iPex and RomiApex A-15 presented significantly higher discrepancies in their readings. Conclusions: Under the conditions of the present study, all the ERCLMDs provided acceptable measurements at the 0.0 position. However, at the -1.0 position, the ERCLMDs had a lower precision, with statistically significant differences for the Propex II, iPex, and RomiApex A-15.

Knowledge management, market orientation, innovativeness and organizational outcomes: a study on companies operating in Brazil

This article analyzes the study of the relationship among knowledge management, the company's market orientation, innovativeness and organizational outcomes. The survey was conducted based on a survey held with executives from 241 companies in Brazil. The evidence found indicates that knowledge management directly contributes to market orientation, but it requires a clearly defined strategic direction to achieve results and innovativeness. It was also concluded that knowledge, as a resource, leverages other resources of the company, while it requires a direction in relation to the organizational goals in order to be effective.

Operating System Contribution to Composable Timing Behaviour in High-Integrity Real-Time Systems

The development of High-Integrity Real-Time Systems has a high footprint in terms of human, material and schedule costs. Factoring functional, reusable logic in the application favors incremental development and contains costs. Yet, achieving incrementality in the timing behavior is a much harder problem. Complex features at all levels of the execution stack, aimed to boost average-case performance, exhibit timing behavior highly dependent on execution history, which wrecks time composability and incrementaility with it. Our goal here is to restitute time composability to the execution stack, working bottom up across it. We first characterize time composability without making assumptions on the system architecture or the software deployment to it. Later, we focus on the role played by the real-time operating system in our pursuit. Initially we consider single-core processors and, becoming less permissive on the admissible hardware features, we devise solutions that restore a convincing degree of time composability. To show what can be done for real, we developed TiCOS, an ARINC-compliant kernel, and re-designed ORK+, a kernel for Ada Ravenscar runtimes. In that work, we added support for limited-preemption to ORK+, an absolute premiere in the landscape of real-word kernels. Our implementation allows resource sharing to co-exist with limited-preemptive scheduling, which extends state of the art. We then turn our attention to multicore architectures, first considering partitioned systems, for which we achieve results close to those obtained for single-core processors. Subsequently, we shy away from the over-provision of those systems and consider less restrictive uses of homogeneous multiprocessors, where the scheduling algorithm is key to high schedulable utilization. To that end we single out RUN, a promising baseline, and extend it to SPRINT, which supports sporadic task sets, hence matches real-world industrial needs better. To corroborate our results we present findings from real-world case studies from avionic industry.

Valutazione delle funzioni obiettivo nell'operating theatre scheduling

il ruolo della tesi è stato di valorizzare attraverso la valutazione di un peso l'urgenza e la necessità di cure dei pazienti processati da un modello di ottimizzazione. Essa si inserisce all'interno di un progetto di creazione di tale modello per la schedulazione di interventi in un reparto chirurgico di un generico ospedale.si è fatto uso del software ibm opl optimization suite.

Devising: Pioneering Uncharted Territory in Theater

Throughout theatre history, styles of theatre have come in and out of favor in response to the zeitgeist of the period. Neoclassical, Melodrama, Naturalism, all have their place in history offering enlightenment, passion and truth each in tune with the values of the culture in which it was created. As society transforms, so too does the stage, offering new ways to reflect, interpret and challenge our assumptions about the changing world. Our current society wrestles with a ‘shrinking world’, a world consumed with technological advances that fan the fire of the growing interconnectedness of human beings all over the earth. This ‘shrinking world’ phenomenon has the effect of an‘expanded world awareness’. That is to say, now more than ever we question all assumption regarding singular perspectives and cultural convictions. What our new society values is diversification of insight and a myriad of experiences from which to draw our conclusions about the world in which we live. The kind of theatre that fills this need is Devised Theatre. Theatre is a collaborative art form by nature. Theatre cannot be practiced alone. One must partner other artists as well as an audience in order to create a theatre performance. Theatre is a dialogue which can take many shapes. Devised Theatre is a process of making theatre that enables a group of performers to be physically and practically creative in the sharing and shaping of an original product that directly emanates from assembling, editing and reshaping individual’s contradictory experiences of the world. A devised theatre product is a work that has emerged from and been generated by a group of people working in collaboration. There is an emphasis on a way of working that values an accumulation of ideas. (Oddey)

The Power of Tragedy: An Eighteenth-Century Debate on Theater and its Relevance to Literature Pedagogy Today

This article brings to light a debate on tragic fiction in eighteenth-century France, and more specifically, on whether or not tragedy has the power to transform individuals intellectually and emotionally. Through analysis of abbé Dubos’s Reflexions critiques sur la poésie et sur la peinture and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Lettre à d’Alembert sur les spectacles, I contend that Dubos’s overwhelmingly positive conception of fiction—and especially his contention that we learn through the emotions when we engage with tragic fiction—can serve as an admirable pedagogical model for today’s fiction-focused foreign language classrooms.