184,541 research outputs found
Competitive Positioning in International Logistics: Identifying a System of Attributes Through Neural Networks and Decision Trees
Firms involved in international logistics must develop a system of service attributes that give them a way to be profitable and to satisfy customers’ needs at the same time. How customers trade-off these various attributes in forming satisfaction with competing international logistics providers has not been explored well in the literature. This study explores the ocean freight shipping sector to identify the system of attributes that maximizes customers’ satisfaction. Data were collected from shipping managers in Singapore using personal interviews to identify the chief concerns in choosing and evaluating ocean freight services. The data were then examined using neural networks and decision trees, among other approaches to identify the system of attributes that is connected with customer satisfaction. The results illustrate the power of these methods in understanding how industrial customers with global operations process attributes to derive satisfaction. Implications are discussed
From Biological to Synthetic Neurorobotics Approaches to Understanding the Structure Essential to Consciousness (Part 3)
This third paper locates the synthetic neurorobotics research reviewed in the second paper in terms of themes introduced in the first paper. It begins with biological non-reductionism as understood by Searle. It emphasizes the role of synthetic neurorobotics studies in accessing the dynamic structure essential to consciousness with a focus on system criticality and self, develops a distinction between simulated and formal consciousness based on this emphasis, reviews Tani and colleagues' work in light of this distinction, and ends by forecasting the increasing importance of synthetic neurorobotics studies for cognitive science and philosophy of mind going forward, finally in regards to most- and myth-consciousness
The self-organization of combinatoriality and phonotactics in vocalization systems
This paper shows how a society of agents can self-organize a shared vocalization system that is
discrete, combinatorial and has a form of primitive phonotactics, starting from holistic inarticulate
vocalizations. The originality of the system is that: (1) it does not include any explicit pressure for
communication; (2) agents do not possess capabilities of coordinated interactions, in particular they
do not play language games; (3) agents possess no specific linguistic capacities; and (4) initially
there exists no convention that agents can use. As a consequence, the system shows how a primitive
speech code may bootstrap in the absence of a communication system between agents, i.e. before the
appearance of language
Metaphor and Apophatic Discourse: Putting Sells in Dialogue with Lakoff and Johnson
In the book, Mystical Languages of Unsaying, Michael A. Sells presents a performative theory of apophatic discourse. His idea is that apophatic discourse functions as a semantic analogue to mystical experience through \"meaning events.\" Although he acknowledges that an appreciation of the subtleties of metaphor is crucial to an understanding of mystical language, Sells does not discuss the extensive literature on metaphor theory from the last few decades. In this essay, the author explores how George Lakoff and Mark Johnson\'s theory of metaphor may enrich Sells\' theory. Further, he addresses what Lakoff and Johnson may learn from Sells\' treatment. While there are no conflicts, strictly speaking, between the metaphysical pictures suggested by the two theories. Sells\' picture of the world allows for fissures of meaning at which Lakoff and Johnson\'s theory at best hints. Ultimately, Lakoff and Johnson\'s conception of metaphor requires that Sells\' theory of apophatic discourse be reexamined
Consciousness and the End of Materialism: Seeking identity and harmony in a dark era
“I am me”, but what does this mean? For centuries humans identified themselves
as conscious beings with free will, beings that are important in the cosmos they
live in. However, modern science has been trying to reduce us into unimportant
pawns in a cold universe and diminish our sense of consciousness into a mere
illusion generated by lifeless matter. Our identity in the cosmos is nothing more
than a deception and all the scientific evidence seem to support this idea. Or is it
not? The goal of this paper is to discard current underlying dogmatism (axioms
taken for granted as "self-evident") of modern mind research and to show that
consciousness seems to be the ultimate frontier that will cause a major change in
the way exact sciences think. If we want to re-discover our identity as luminous
beings in the cosmos, we must first try to pinpoint our prejudices and discard
them. Materialism is an obsolete philosophical dogma and modern scientists
should try to also use other premises as the foundation of their theories to
approach the mysteries of the self. Exact sciences need to examine the world with
a more open mind, accepting potentially different interpretations of existing
experimental data in the fields of brain research, which are currently not
considered simply on the basis of a strong anti-spiritual dogmatism. Such
interpretations can be compatible with the notion of an immaterial spirit proposed
by religion for thousands of years. Mind seems that is not the by-product of
matter, but the opposite: its master. No current materialistic theory can explain
how matter may give rise to what we call “self” and only a drastic paradigm shift
towards more idealistic theories will help us avoid rejecting our own nature
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