Social change and "neo"-corporatism: notes on the growing contradictions between logistics (Unterbau) and logics (Überbau)

Erstens, eine relative Abnahme der autoritativen Komponente und eine Zunahme der pragmatisch-improvisatorischen Komponente kann bei der Bestimmung von sozialen Werten beobachtet werden. Zweitens und in Beziehung zum ersten Punkt: Die Widersprüche zwischen der symbolischen Logistik des Überbaus auf verschiedenen Aggregationsebenen werden institutionalisiert. Drittens, - aus dem zweiten Punkt folgend - die Widersprüche zwischen der materiellen Logistik des Unterbaus und der symbolischen Logistik des Überbaus werden eine der folgenreichsten Konsequenzen für die politisch-ökonomische Ordnung als Ganzes sein. Diese Konsequenzen sind ernst genug, um sie als sozialen Wandel der bestehenden Ordnung zu bewerten. Die Überlegungen werden abgerundet durch eine - zugegebener Weise rudimentäre - normative Bemerkung über einen demokratisch inspirierten Gegenzug. (RWÜbers)"First, a relative decline of the authoritative component and the rise of a pragmatic-improvisatory component may be observed in the allocation of social values. Secondly and related to the first point: contradictions between the symbolic logics of interest representation on different levels of aggregation become institutionalized. Third, - and following from our second point - contradictions between the material logistics of resource interdependence (Unterbau) vis a vis the symbolic logics of interest representation (Überbau) will be one of the more intriguing consequences for the political-economic order as a whole. These consequences are serious enough to qualify them as social change of the existing order. One, admittedly too rudimentary normative remark on a democratically inspired countermove, rounds off the essay." (author's abstract

Absorbing boundaries in the conserved Manna model

The conserved Manna model with a planar absorbing boundary is studied in various space dimensions. We present a heuristic argument that allows one to compute the surface critical exponent in one dimension analytically. Moreover, we discuss the mean field limit that is expected to be valid in d>4 space dimensions and demonstrate how the corresponding partial differential equations can be solved.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; v1 was changed by replacing the co-authors name "L\"ubeck" with "Lubeck" (metadata only

Condensation in an Economic Model with Brand Competition

We present a linear agent based model on brand competition. Each agent belongs to one of the two brands and interacts with its nearest neighbors. In the process the agent can decide to change to the other brand if the move is beneficial. The numerical simulations show that the systems always condenses into a state when all agents belong to a single brand. We study the condensation times for different parameters of the model and the influence of different mechanisms to avoid condensation, like anti monopoly rules and brand fidelity.Comment: Accepted in: International Journal of Modern Physics

Intelligent systems in the context of surrounding environment

We investigate the behavioral patterns of a population of agents, each controlled by a simple biologically motivated neural network model, when they are set in competition against each other in the Minority Model of Challet and Zhang. We explore the effects of changing agent characteristics, demonstrating that crowding behavior takes place among agents of similar memory, and show how this allows unique `rogue' agents with higher memory values to take advantage of a majority population. We also show that agents' analytic capability is largely determined by the size of the intermediary layer of neurons. In the context of these results, we discuss the general nature of natural and artificial intelligence systems, and suggest intelligence only exists in the context of the surrounding environment (embodiment). Source code for the programs used can be found at http://neuro.webdrake.net/

Enhanced winnings in a mixed-ability population playing a minority game

We study a mixed population of adaptive agents with small and large memories, competing in a minority game. If the agents are sufficiently adaptive, we find that the average winnings per agent can exceed that obtainable in the corresponding pure populations. In contrast to the pure population, the average success rate of the large-memory agents can be greater than 50 percent. The present results are not reproduced if the agents are fed a random history, thereby demonstrating the importance of memory in this system.Comment: 9 pages Latex + 2 figure

Wind Preview-Based Model Predictive Control of Multi-Rotor UAVs Using LiDAR

Autonomous outdoor operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), such as quadrotors, expose the aircraft to wind gusts causing a significant reduction in their position-holding performance. This vulnerability becomes more critical during the automated docking of these vehicles to outdoor charging stations. Utilising real-time wind preview information for the gust rejection control of UAVs has become more feasible due to the advancement of remote wind sensing technology such as LiDAR. This work proposes the use of a wind-preview-based Model Predictive Controller (MPC) to utilise remote wind measurements from a LiDAR for disturbance rejection. Here a ground-based LiDAR unit is used to predict the incoming wind disturbance at the takeoff and landing site of an autonomous quadrotor UAV. This preview information is then utilised by an MPC to provide the optimal compensation over the defined horizon. Simulations were conducted with LiDAR data gathered from field tests to verify the efficacy of the proposed system and to test the robustness of the wind-preview-based control. The results show a favourable improvement in the aircraft response to wind gusts with the addition of wind preview to the MPC; An 80% improvement in its position-holding performance combined with reduced rotational rates and peak rotational angles signifying a less aggressive approach to increased performance when compared with only feedback based MPC disturbance rejection. System robustness tests demonstrated a 1.75 s or 120% margin in the gust preview’s timing or strength respectively before adverse performance impact. The addition of wind-preview to an MPC has been shown to increase the gust rejection of UAVs over standard feedback-based MPC thus enabling their precision landing onto docking stations in the presence of wind gusts

Caracterização de queijo tipo Colby feito com enzimas extraídos de estômagos de peixe

Queijo tipo "Colby" foi fabricado, em quatro ensaios, com extractos de pepsina extraídas de estômagos de atum e de bacalhau, usando-se como testemunho um extracto de estômago de vitelo ("rennet" comercial). Os extractos enzimáticos foram padronizados, de modo a que os volumes usados conduzissem aos mesmos tipos de coagulação do leite, usando-se para o efeito, como substrato de Ca, uma solução de "Berridge" a pH 6.3. Os tempos de coagulação foram cerca de duas vezes superiores aos de extractos de vitelo. As texturas e os rendimentos em queijo, obtidos por acção dos três extractos enzimáticos não diferiram significativamente. Os queijos foram analisados depois de estarem um mês numa câmara de cura a 10°C. As análises sensoriais de todas as amostras de queijo revelaram o desenvolvimento de um gosto amargo. Microfotografias das microestruturas das coalhadas e dos queijos com 1 mês de cura, tiradas com um microscópio electrónico, não revelaram diferenças significativas entre as amostras analisadas. Pode concluir-se que o grau de pureza das pepsinas de atum e bacalhau podem produzir queijo tipo "Colby" aceitável que não requere mais de três meses de cura, e que como fundido, as enzimas usados são inactivados pelas temperaturas elevadas a que são submetidos. Purificações posteriores dos extractos enzimáticos poderão melhorar a especificidade das enzimas e, embora a custos mais elevados, poderão reduzir a lentidão da proteólise.ABSTRACT: Colby cheese was produced using the tuna and cod pepsin preparations, and with calf rennet as a control, in four trials. The enzymes were standardized to the same milk-clotting strength on Berridge as substrate of Ca at pH 6.3; the setting times were a little more than twice as long as calf. The texture and yield of cheese from the three enzymes were not significantly different. Cheeses were stored at 10 ºC and analysed one month after production. Sensory analysis of all cheeses made revealed the development of bitterness. Scanning electron micrographs of the one month cheese revealed no major differences between tuna and cad pepsin cheese compared to the control. It would appear that this level of purity of tuna and cod pepsin might be capable of producing acceptable Colby cheese for applications that do not require aging of more than three months and that use heat to inactivate the enzyme, such as processed cheese spread. Further purification may improve the specificity of the enzyme and reduce delayed proteolysis, but would increase, concomitantly, its cost