263 research outputs found
Analysis and improvement of a bottling line using a simulation modelling approach
This project thesis is focused on the study of a bottling production line using a modelling simulation method, through which we analyse the inefficiencies and then improve their performance. Moreover, the line is also analysed thorugh an analytic approach applying a formula to optimize the buffer sizing. The two approachs are compared to highlight the differences
Biohacking and code convergence : a transductive ethnography
Cette thĂšse se dĂ©ploie dans un espace de discours et de pratiques revendicatrices, Ă lâinter- section des cultures amateures informatiques et biotechniques, euro-amĂ©ricaines contempo- raines. La problĂ©matique se dessinant dans ce croisement culturel examine des mĂ©taphores et analogies au coeur dâun traffic intense, au milieu de voies de commmunications imposantes, reliant les technologies informatiques et biotechniques comme lieux dâexpression mĂ©diatique. Lâexamen retrace les lignes de force, les mĂ©diations expressives en ces lieux Ă travers leurs manifestations en tant que codes âĂ la fois informatiques et gĂ©nĂ©tiquesâ et reconnaĂźt les caractĂšres analogiques dâexpressivitĂ© des codes en tant que processus de convergence.
Ămergeant lentement, Ă partir des annĂ©es 40 et 50, les visions convergentes des codes ont facilitĂ© lâentrĂ©e des ordinateurs personnels dans les marchĂ©s, ainsi que dans les garages de hackers, alors que des bricoleurs de lâinformatique sâen rĂ©clamaient comme espace de libertĂ© dâinformation âet surtout dâinnovation. Plus de cinquante ans plus tard, lâanalogie entre codes informatiques et gĂ©nĂ©tiques sert de moteur aux revendications de libertĂ©, informant cette fois les nouvelles applications de la biotechnologie de marchĂ©, ainsi que lâactivitĂ© des biohackers, ces bricoleurs de garage en biologie synthĂ©tique. Les pratiques du biohacking sont ainsi comprises comme des individuations : des tentatives continues de rĂ©soudre des frictions, des tensions travaillant les revendications des cultures amateures informatiques et biotechniques.
Une des maniĂšres de moduler ces tensions sâincarne dans un processus connu sous le nom de forking, entrevu ici comme lâexpĂ©rience dâune bifurcation. Autrement dit, le forking est ici dĂ©finit comme passage vers un seuil critique, dĂ©clinant la technologie et la biologie sur plusieurs modes. Le forking informe âcâest-Ă -dire permet et contraintâ diffĂ©rentes vi- sions collectives de lâouverture informationnelle. Le forking intervient aussi sur les plans des iii semio-matĂ©rialitĂ©s et pouvoirs dâaction investis dans les pratiques biotechniques et informa- tiques. Pris comme processus de co-constitution et de diffĂ©rentiation de lâaction collective, les mouvements de bifurcation invitent les trois questions suivantes : 1) Comment le forking catalyse-t-il la solution des tensions participant aux revendications des pratiques du bioha- cking ? 2) Dans ce processus de solution, de quelles maniĂšres les revendications changent de phase, bifurquent et se transforment, parfois au point dâaltĂ©rer radicalement ces pratiques ? 3) Quels nouveaux problĂšmes Ă©mergent de ces solutions ?
Lâeffort de recherche a trouvĂ© ces questions, ainsi que les plans correspondants dâaction sĂ©mio-matĂ©rielle et collective, incarnĂ©es dans trois expĂ©riences ethnographiques rĂ©parties sur trois ans (2012-2015) : la premiĂšre dans un laboratoire de biotechnologie communautaire new- yorkais, la seconde dans lâĂ©mergence dâun groupe de biotechnologie amateure Ă MontrĂ©al, et la troisiĂšme Ă Cork, en Irlande, au sein du premier accĂ©lĂ©rateur dâentreprises en biologie synthĂ©tique au monde. La logique de lâenquĂȘte nâest ni strictement inductive ou dĂ©ductive, mais transductive. Elle emprunte Ă la philosophie de la communication et de lâinformation de Gilbert Simondon et dĂ©couvre lâĂ©pistĂ©mologie en tant quâacte de crĂ©ation opĂ©rant en milieux relationnels. Lâheuristique transductive offre des rencontres inusitĂ©es entre les mĂ©taphores et les analogies des codes. Ces rencontres Ă©tonnantes ont amĂ©nagĂ© lâexpĂ©rience de la conver- gence des codes sous forme de jeux dâĂ©critures. Elles se sont retrouvĂ©es dans la recherche ethnographique en tant que processus transductifs.This dissertation examines creative practices and discourses intersecting computer and biotech cultures. It queries influential metaphors and analogies on both sides of the inter- section, and their positioning of biotech and information technologies as expression media. It follows mediations across their incarnations as codes, both computational and biological, and situates their analogical expressivity and programmability as a process of code conver- gence. Converging visions of technological freedom facilitated the entrance of computers in 1960âs Western hobbyist hacker circles, as well as in consumer markets. Almost fifty years later, the analogy drives claims to freedom of information âand freedom of innovationâ from biohacker hobbyist groups to new biotech consumer markets. Such biohacking practices are understood as individuations: as ongoing attempts to resolve frictions, tensions working through claims to freedom and openness animating software and biotech cultures.
Tensions get modulated in many ways. One of them, otherwise known as âforking,â refers here to a critical bifurcation allowing for differing iterations of biotechnical and computa- tional configurations. Forking informs âthat is, simultaneously affords and constrainsâ differing collective visions of openness. Forking also operates on the materiality and agency invested in biotechnical and computational practices. Taken as a significant process of co- constitution and differentiation in collective action, bifurcation invites the following three questions: 1) How does forking solve tensions working through claims to biotech freedom? 2) In this solving process, how can claims bifurcate and transform to the point of radically altering biotech practices? 3) what new problems do these solutions call into existence?
This research found these questions, and both scales of material action and agency, in- carnated in three extensive ethnographical journeys spanning three years (2012-2015): the first in a Brooklyn-based biotech community laboratory, the second in the early days of a biotech community group in Montreal, and the third in the worldâs first synthetic biology startup accelerator in Cork, Ireland. The inquiryâs guiding empirical logic is neither solely deductive or inductive, but transductive. It borrows from Gilbert Simondonâs philosophy of communication and information to experience epistemology as an act of analogical creation involving the radical, irreversible transformation of knower and known. Transductive heuris- tics offer unconvential encounters with practices, metaphors and analogies of code. In the end, transductive methods acknowledge code convergence as a metastable writing games, and ethnographical research itself as a transductive process
Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4
Artificial intelligence (AI) researchers have been developing and refining
large language models (LLMs) that exhibit remarkable capabilities across a
variety of domains and tasks, challenging our understanding of learning and
cognition. The latest model developed by OpenAI, GPT-4, was trained using an
unprecedented scale of compute and data. In this paper, we report on our
investigation of an early version of GPT-4, when it was still in active
development by OpenAI. We contend that (this early version of) GPT-4 is part of
a new cohort of LLMs (along with ChatGPT and Google's PaLM for example) that
exhibit more general intelligence than previous AI models. We discuss the
rising capabilities and implications of these models. We demonstrate that,
beyond its mastery of language, GPT-4 can solve novel and difficult tasks that
span mathematics, coding, vision, medicine, law, psychology and more, without
needing any special prompting. Moreover, in all of these tasks, GPT-4's
performance is strikingly close to human-level performance, and often vastly
surpasses prior models such as ChatGPT. Given the breadth and depth of GPT-4's
capabilities, we believe that it could reasonably be viewed as an early (yet
still incomplete) version of an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system.
In our exploration of GPT-4, we put special emphasis on discovering its
limitations, and we discuss the challenges ahead for advancing towards deeper
and more comprehensive versions of AGI, including the possible need for
pursuing a new paradigm that moves beyond next-word prediction. We conclude
with reflections on societal influences of the recent technological leap and
future research directions
Engineering a Better Future
This open access book examines how the social sciences can be integrated into the praxis of engineering and science, presenting unique perspectives on the interplay between engineering and social science. Motivated by the report by the Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences of the American Association of Arts and Sciences, which emphasizes the importance of social sciences and Humanities in technical fields, the essays and papers collected in this book were presented at the NSF-funded workshop âEngineering a Better Future: Interplay between Engineering, Social Sciences and Innovationâ, which brought together a singular collection of people, topics and disciplines. The book is split into three parts: A. Meeting at the Middle: Challenges to educating at the boundaries covers experiments in combining engineering education and the social sciences; B. Engineers Shaping Human Affairs: Investigating the interaction between social sciences and engineering, including the cult of innovation, politics of engineering, engineering design and future of societies; and C. Engineering the Engineers: Investigates thinking about design with papers on the art and science of science and engineering practice
Ada County Bd. of Equal. v. J.R. Simplot Clerk\u27s Record Dckt. 44898
https://digitalcommons.law.uidaho.edu/idaho_supreme_court_record_briefs/7831/thumbnail.jp
- âŠ