On the commitments and precommitments of limited agents

Rationality is an important concept in Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy. When artificial systems are considered to be intelligent or autonomous, it is almost obligatory to attribute intentions and beliefs to them. The currently dominant view of intentions sees them as involving commitments on the part of the agents who have them. But the notion of commitment seems to clash with the notion of rationality. It is argued that this need not be so. Commitments are only appropriate for agents with a limited capacity to reason. A treatment of commitment has been previously proposed that reconciles them with rationality. Here further motivations for the commitments of limited agents are discussed. This analysis is extended to account for the so-called precommitments, which have been excluded by others as introducing too much complexity

A Clash between the Business and Political Climates in Sweden - Gender in the European Structural Fund Partnerships

In this paper we highlight and discuss a Swedish equality paradox in two different spheres: entrepreneurship and politics. We focus on the EU Structural Funds and women entrepreneurs' access to resources through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Combining human geography and political science, we draw upon network and partnership theory posing questions concerning the room for manoeuvre for women entrepreneurs to gain access to relevant networks, to create new networks in order to establish relations with EU related partnerships, and to gain access to the process of allocating EU structural fund financial resources

Molecular basis for resistance of acanthamoeba tubulins to all major classes of antitubulin compounds

Tubulin is essential to eukaryotic cells and is targeted by several antineoplastics, herbicides, and antimicrobials. We demonstrate that Acanthamoeba spp. are resistant to five antimicrotubule compounds, unlike any other eukaryote studied so far. Resistance correlates with critical amino acid differences within the inhibitor binding sites of the tubulin heterodimers

Conceptualizing ethnicity and nation building in Malaysia: A lesson from Nigeria

Conflict of ethnic origin keep presenting its ugly consequences to most of the developing and developed societies, with no much lessons learned. This ethnic conflicts usually starts with a mere complain or grievance that is most of the time ignored, this minor issues if not well tackled could metamorphosed into a widespread genocides, killings, maiming, destruction of valuable properties or in a form of social vices, like addiction, armed robbery, prostitution and host of other vices. Hence this paper presents a catalogue of the various ethnic confl icts that occurred in Nigeria from 1999-2002, immediately after the coming up of a democratically elected government in the country. The paper concluded that, the unassuming right provided by the Nigeria democracy might have contributed to the escalation of the conflicts, that has direct relationship with ethnicity. It also presumed that, the conflicts may also be associated with long military dictatorship in the country, which likely socialised the citizens to learn the act of intolerance, hostility and the act of violence. The lessons drawn from Nigeria experience were married with the recent happening in Malaysia, so that it will serve as a lesson to Malaysia to act fast not to allow its issue degenerates to an uncontrollable stage. This paper, therefore, make use of documented records from both official documents and eyewitnesses records to generates all its data and argument for this presentation. “Tribalism is the bane of independent Africa...There are 2,000 language Groups of which 50 are prominent, and countless more subdivisions of tribe and clan.This complex heritage has been only slightly eroded by inter-marriage and the drift to the cities. Nor have the eff orts of African leaders to impose a national identity on their diverse peoples, assembled within borders inherited from colonial days, worked well. African state builders tread a narrow path between the fact of tribal loyalties and the need to minimize inter-tribal hostility.” “Tribalism in Africa,” The Economist (September 10, 1994), pp. 46, 48

Enhancing the Senses: How Technological Advances Shape Our View of the Law

This memorial lecture was given at West Virginia University, which houses, among other relevant programs, the Biometric Knowledge Center. The lecture surveys the application of a variety of legal topics to biometrics. Covered areas include basic research funding choices, freedom of speech, association and religion, search and seizure, and informational privacy