Reclaiming Rationality Experientially: The New Metaphysics of Human Spirit in Hegel’s Phenomenology

Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit is typically read as a work that either rehabilitates the metaphysical tradition or argues for a new form of idealism centred on social normativity. In the following, I show that neither approach suffices. Not only does the metaphysical reading ignore how the Phenomenology demonstrates that human rationality can never adequately capture ultimate reality because ultimate reality itself has a moment of brute facticity that resists explanation, which prevents us from taking it as a logically self-contained, self-justifying metaphysical zone traditionally known as ‘substance,’ but it also ignores how the Phenomenology equally demonstrates that human rationality creates a historically self-unfolding universe of meaning that is, because it displays a rational systematicity and consistency unlike anything else in the world, the closest thing we have to substance, but which, given its freedom, is more correctly called ‘subject.’ Consequently, while the non-metaphysical reading rightly recognizes that the Phenomenology develops a radically innovative account of intersubjectivity, it neglects how the social theory that it develops comes fully equipped with various metaphysical commitments concerning nature, spirit, and the relationship between them without which this theory would be unintelligible

APNET - ADEA study project on intra African book trade

Following on the ADEA/APNET study on inter-African Book trade that was commissioned in 1999, ADEA tasked APNET to facilitate the production of national book industry updates in each country. The updates are aimed at encouraging commercial development of inter-African book trade and to make available to the public, total systematic and current situations on the book trade in each country

PRIVATE R&D INVESTMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN A PANEL OF FOOD MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

The paper presents production function estimates of human capital and business research and development knowledge for a panel of Canadian food manufacturing industries over the period 1993-2004. Our results show that physical and human capitals are major determinants of food manufacturing productivity. Business research and development (R&D) was found not to be a major factor shaping food manufacturing productivity. This result is consistent with previous studies showing that not only is R&D an important factor but engineering practices, information technologies, and equipment suppliers are a key ingredients shaping the technological landscape of food manufacturing. In addition, we tested the robustness of our food manufacturing sample results to a larger sample of manufacturing industries (food, wood, paper, fertilizer) over a shorter time period. Our results show from employing different panel model estimators business R&D was a significant variable impacting manufacturing productivity.Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

PRICING TO MARKET BEHAVIOR: EVIDENCE FROM SELECTED CANADIAN AND U.S. AGRI-FOOD EXPORTS

This study examines the pricing behavior of Canadian and U.S. agri-food exporters consistent with a model that permits the identification of pricing to market (PTM) behavior and imperfect market competition in agri-food markets. The estimation strategy takes advantage of recently developed panel unit root tests to determine the time-series properties of the data and avoid the problem associated with lower power conventional unit root tests. Among U.S. products, the conventional PTM model indicated evidence of a greater degree of imperfect competition in international markets for U.S. wheat. While price discrimination and market segmentation are apparent for Canadian exports in selected markets, the export adjustment pattern in most cases tended to exacerbate the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on foreign currency prices of Canadian products.Demand and Price Analysis,

Invert city: designing for homeless women in Hillbrow

The city of Johannesburg has battled with the condition of homelessness for years, identifying a problem even before our emancipation from the ruthless apartheid construct (Beavon, 2004). Political measures have subsequently been implemented in order to combat its harsh effects, introducing various short-term housing policies and theoretical solutions for the homeless in the city. The temporary housing institution as a body is therefore representative, for many people, of the first step in the process toward a legitimate and permanent housing solution. However, the institution as it exists today, does so in both a social and political vacuum. The great divide between the temporary solution and the initial rungs of the social housing ladder give the user little to no option for situational improvement (Olufemi, 1998). These collective spaces for the ostracised community, through their layered autonomous nature, divorce the user even further from the community aimed to be reunited with. The institution as a typology requires investigation, interrogation and reintegration within existing and enforced political structures. The immediate accommodation answer needs to be seen both as an independent entity as well as only part of a greater strategy for a permanent, integrated and holistic housing solution. The contestation of the institution is not the argument, but rather a proposal for its deconstruction and ultimate innovative reconnection through a strategy of layered inversion. If we choose to view the city and many of its microcosmic constructs through a post-structuralist or deconstructivist lens, we begin to understand the prevalence of the disjointed other within the urban whole: The homeless woman is the city’s marginalised user. The alleyway; the silent ‘other’ to the prominent street. The vacant space is the forgotten site. And if the physicality of structure is the prominent former, the network and connections existing between built forms must be the secondary within the realm of architecture. If we connect the city’s marginalised elements, through the vessel of temporary accommodation as the initial part of an integrated housing model, the role of the institution is inverted rather than its function or programme. Therefore, the ‘exo-stution’ is the folding out and reconnection of the existing ‘in-stitution’ is an answer to the city’s detached collection of limited - where marginalised user, space and structure collectively connect street, suburb and city

Factors Influencing Wheat Yield and Variability: Evidence from Manitoba, Canada

Production functions to explain regional wheat yields have not been studied extensively in the Canadian prairies. The objective of this study is to employ a Just-Pope production function to examine the relationship between fertilizer inputs, soil quality, biodiversity indicators, cultivars qualifying for Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR), and climatic conditions on the mean and variance of spring wheat yields. Using regional-level wheat data from Manitoba, Canada, model results show nitrogen fertilizer, temporal diversity, and PBR wheat cultivars are associated with increased yield variance. Mean wheat yield is reduced by the proportion of land in wheat, the interaction of growing temperature and precipitation, and spatial diversity. By contrast, higher soil quality and PBR wheat cultivars increase mean yield. The wheat yield increases attributed to PBR range from 37.2 (1.4%) to 54.5 kg/ha (2.0%). Plant Breeders’ Rights may have enhanced royalties from increased certified seed sales, but the benefits in terms of higher wheat yield or lower yield variability are limited. Future research is required to understand the interactive effects of fertilization practices, genetic diversity, and environmental conditions on regional wheat yield stability.climate, fertilizer, Manitoba, Plant Breeders’ Rights, production risk, wheat, yield, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, O18, Q16,

An Analysis of Price Determination in the Sweet Cherry Markets of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California

Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis,

Measuring the atomic recoil frequency using a perturbative grating-echo atom interferometer

We describe progress toward a precise measurement of the recoil energy of an atom measured using a perturbative grating-echo atom interferometer (AI) that involves three standing-wave (sw) pulses. With this technique, a perturbing sw pulse is used to shift the phase of excited momentum states---producing a modulation in the contrast of the interference pattern. The signal exhibits narrow fringes that revive periodically at twice the two-photon recoil frequency, $2\omega_q$, as a function of the onset time of the pulse. Experiments are performed using samples of laser-cooled rubidium atoms with temperatures $\lesssim 5$ $\mu$K in a non-magnetic apparatus. We demonstrate a measurement of $\omega_q$ with a statistical uncertainty of 37 parts per $10^9$ (ppb) on a time scale of $\sim 45$ ms in 14 hours. Further statistical improvements are anticipated by extending this time scale and narrowing the signal fringe width. However, the total systematic uncertainty is estimated to be $\sim 6$ parts per $10^6$ (ppm). We describe methods of reducing these systematic errors.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR

Pricing Attributes of Wines from Emerging Suppliers on the British Columbia Market

We examine British Columbia (BC) wine consumers’ valuation of wine imported from emerging suppliers (Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia and Hungary) through the estimation of a hedonic price function. Retail sales data employed in this study comes from the BC Liquor Distribution Branch and covers weekly sales of table wine that was imported from all five countries into the province of British Columbia. The results indicate that the grape variety is an important factor influencing consumers’ willingness to pay. In particular, white and red wines from Chile are associated with larger price premia while wines from Argentina command a premium only among red wines. Wines from Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary, although sold in large quantities in the BC market, are associated with significant price discounts compared to wines from New World suppliers.hedonic pricing, objective characteristics, New World countries, wine, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis,