Implementing the Duty Trip Support Application

We are in the process of developing an agent and ontology-based Duty Trip Support application. The goal of this paper is to consider issues arising when implementing such a system. In addition to the description of our current implementation, which is also critically analyzed, other possible approaches are considered as well.software agents, agent systems, ontologies, transport objects, agent-non-agent integration.

VIRTUAL\u27 BRIDES IN THE POST-SOVIET CONTEXT

This project offers a multifaceted, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the contemporary post-Soviet Internet bride phenomenon and the rationales, motives, and aspirations of the industry\u27s participants. As international marriage services have incorporated information and communications technologies (ICTs) to assist in the marketing of women of post-communist nations for correspondence courtship with Western men, the industry has furthered the globalization of marriage markets and the opportunities for communicative exchange among disparate nations and cultures. By way of case study, the project takes a special focus on the Belarusian/American segment of the industry, turning to personal interviews with participants and employing qualitative techniques to dissect marketing methods. The study gives primary consideration to processes and elements of globalization, postmodern consumer culture, and aspects of human sexuality (particularly sexual exchange theory), recognizing their interactive and mutually-constitutive nature that calls for their analysis through a Baudrillardian lens

Automatic negotiation of multi-party contracts in agricultural supply chain

Orientador: Edmundo Roberto Mauro MadeiraTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Uma cadeia produtiva agropecuária 'e constituída por diversos tipos de atores que estabelecem uma rede de relacionamentos bastante complexa. Estes relacionamentos variam de ad hoc e de curta duração até altamente estruturado e de longa duração. As cadeias produtivas agropecuárias possuem algumas particularidades, tais como, regulamentação estrita e dependência cultural, e possuem relevância social e econômica. A utilização de contratos 'e a forma natural para expressar os relacionamentos entre os membros de uma cadeia. Desta forma, contratos e a atividade de negociá-los são de grande importância numa cadeia produtiva. Esta tese propõe um modelo para cadeias produtivas agropecuárias que integra suas principais características, incluindo seus aspectos estruturais e sua dinâmica. Em particular, a tese propõe um formato para contratos multi-laterais e um protocolo de negociação que os constrói. Contratos multi-laterais são importantes neste contexto, pois vários atores de uma cadeia produtiva podem construir alianças que compreendem direitos e obrigações mútuos. Um conjunto de contratos bi-laterais não 'e adequado para tal propósito. A tese também apresenta uma implementação do protocolo de negócio baseado em serviços Web e numa máquina de workflow (YAWL)Abstract: An agricultural supply chain comprises several kinds of actors that establish a complex net of relationships. These relationships may range from ad hoc and short lasting ones to highly structured and long lasting. This kind of chain has a few particularities like strict regulations and cultural influences, and presents a quite relevant economical and social importance. Contracts are the natural way of expressing relationships among members of a chain. Thus, the contracts and the activity of negotiating them are of major importance within a supply chain. This thesis proposes a model for agricultural supply chains that integrates seamlessly their main features, including their structure and their dynamics. Specifically, the thesis proposes a multi-party contract format and a negotiation protocol that builds such kind of contracts. Multi-party contracts are important in this context because several actors of a supply chain may build alliances comprising mutual rights and obligations. A set of bilateral contracts is not well-fitted for such a purpose. The thesis also presents an implementation of the negotiation protocol that builds on Web services and a workflow engine (YAWL)DoutoradoSistemas de ComputaçãoDoutor em Ciência da Computaçã

The Administrative Turn in Contemporary Art: The Figure of the Arts Administrator — a case study of the Taipei Biennial (1996-2020)

This PhD uses “the Administrative Turn” to describe the specific, but also the more general, changing nature of the local and global administrative networks which support contemporary art. Through a case study of the figure of the arts administrator at the Taipei Biennial (TB), this research examines these changes in three ways – on (1) changes in institutional principles of arts administration, (2) changes in administrative methodology, and (3) changes in function for arts administrators. Taking a transdisciplinary approach drawing on Arts Management, Curatorial Studies, Museum Studies and Art History, this thesis engages critically with the value of “the administrative” as a necessary approach to catalyse a shift in focus away from the highly visible and spectacularised norm of the global contemporary art world, towards the infrastructural significance of the backstage. This change in perspective through the study of the TB arts administrators sets out to present a missing puzzle of what makes that art world functions as it does and how in fact the support network of the contemporary art practices have transformed because of changes in the administrative capacity in terms of its institution, methodology and function. Chapter 1 details the developmental history of the system of arts administration at TB, as an institution situated within a government-backed, museum-based, contemporary art exhibitionary ecosystem, and finds that the institution history and design principles of arts administration are not only a reflection but also an active author of Taiwanese national identity. Chapter 2 demonstrates how arts management and its methodology as a practice-centric tradecraft based on the narrative of professionalism and a stewardship process, is iterative and relies on a balance of control and care. With a close analysis of the administrative capacity, Chapter 3 establishes the figure of the arts administrators as reflexive and its function pedagogical and consultative. This research concludes that acting as critical infrastructure, arts administrators as ascending co-development stewards, possess the transformative agency to radically re-imagine their sphere of practice and re-conceptualise how the support network could better function for a fast-evolving and increasingly multi-stakeholder production reality, which underpins the culture of contemporary art biennials globally

Being Single in India

Today, the majority of the world’s population lives in a country with falling marriage rates, a phenomenon with profound impacts on women, gender, and sexuality. In this exceptionally crafted ethnography, Sarah Lamb probes the gendered trend of single women in India, examining what makes living outside of marriage for women increasingly possible and yet incredibly challenging. Featuring the stories of never-married women as young as 35 and as old as 92, this book offers a remarkable portrait of a way of life experienced by women across class and caste divides. For women in India, complex social-cultural and political-economic contexts are foundational to their lives and decisions, and remaining unmarried is often an unintended consequence of other pressing life priorities. Arguing that never-married women are able to illuminate their society’s broader social-cultural values, Lamb offers a new and startling look at prevailing systems in India today. “This pathbreaking book offers a vital analysis of the rising but unrecognized category of single women in a marriage-minded society such as India. Through beautifully rendered and diverse stories, Sarah Lamb challenges conventional wisdom.” —MARCIA C. INHORN, William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, Yale University “For fans of Lamb’s evocative narratives on Bengali widows, her new book provides another rich look at the negative space of marriage: the rare demographic of single women in Bengal across class and caste.” —SRIMATI BASU, author of The Trouble with Marriage: Feminists Confront Law and Violence in India “This lively ethnographic account makes several key contributions to feminist anthropological appraisals of marriage as an institution. Lamb renders a compelling, detailed, and sensitive portrait of compulsory heterosexuality and patriliny as seen from the margins.” —LUCINDA RAMBERG, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Cornell Universit