Representations of stream processors using nested fixed points

We define representations of continuous functions on infinite streams of discrete values, both in the case of discrete-valued functions, and in the case of stream-valued functions. We define also an operation on the representations of two continuous functions between streams that yields a representation of their composite. In the case of discrete-valued functions, the representatives are well-founded (finite-path) trees of a certain kind. The underlying idea can be traced back to Brouwer's justification of bar-induction, or to Kreisel and Troelstra's elimination of choice-sequences. In the case of stream-valued functions, the representatives are non-wellfounded trees pieced together in a coinductive fashion from well-founded trees. The definition requires an alternating fixpoint construction of some ubiquity

Context Dependence, MOPs,WHIMs and procedures Recanati and Kaplan on Cognitive Aspects in Semantics

After presenting Kripke’s criticism to Frege’s ideas on context dependence of thoughts, I present two recent attempts of considering cognitive aspects of context dependent expressions inside a truth conditional pragmatics or semantics: Recanati’s non-descriptive modes of presentation (MOPs) and Kaplan’s ways of having in mind (WHIMs). After analysing the two attempts and verifying which answers they should give to the problem discussed by Kripke, I suggest a possible interpretation of these attempts: to insert a procedural or algorithmic level in semantic representations of indexicals. That a function may be computed by different procedures might suggest new possibilities of integrating contextual cognitive aspects in model theoretic semanti

Corporate environmental responsibility

This thesis uses document analysis and semi-structured personal interviews to look at current strategies and policies of major companies to manage the life cycle environmental risks associated with their products and processes, which I refer to as corporate environmental responsibility (CER); The thesis also explores what some national governments are and could be doing to encourage greater environmental responsibility from companies. As environmentalists and climate scientists have been warning for decades, and now world leaders are coming to realise, the world faces serious environmental challenges, none more urgent than climate change. A failure to act to mitigate the risks associated with this one challenge, as Stern (2006, pii) asserts �could create risks of major disruptions to economic and social activity�. A major proportion of the world�s environmental problems can be attributed directly to production, use and disposal of products (Tukker & Jansen, 2006), and as this thesis will argue, national government policies to encourage or force greater environmental responsibility from producers are required to reduce risks and mitigate impacts. In recent decades national governments have been reluctant to intervene in the market place, preferring to rely on voluntary mechanisms, but as will be discussed in greater detail, there is now an increasingly critical voice (Zarsky, Roht-Ariaza & Brottem, 2002; Hirschland, 2003; Archer & Piper, 2003; Vogel 2005; Hay et al, 2005) that questions the effectiveness of voluntary corporate responsibility as it is currently practiced, which subsequently raises the question: what role national governments, and international governance should take? The primary data sources for this thesis are personal interviews with senior business leaders from 25 major companies, recorded public speeches, both web and non-web based corporate public relations material, and personal interviews with key academics in the field, environmentalists and corporate analysts, conducted mainly between 2002 and 2004. The analysis of this data has sought to investigate the attitudes of major companies to: - corporate environmental responsibility, though some interrelated aspects of social responsibility are also considered; - what drives them to take greater responsibility to reduce their environmental risks; - government policies, especially possible legislation to encourage and/or force CER. In addition through case studies of: - one industry sector - two major companies, and - one industry sector pilot study; as well as secondary research on several other companies, this thesis investigates what some companies are saying and doing about corporate environmental responsibility. This will lead to a short discussion of the degree to which these companies� rhetoric of responsibility matches their actions � that is how much they are �walking the talk�. The thesis also looks at the current potential of national governments in encouraging and/or forcing greater CER, then contrasts the development and implementation of national policies for CER in Australia with those in Europe, focussing on CER as it relates to products in the electrical and electronics industry. The thesis concludes with some observations and suggestions on policies of major companies and of national governments, as well as international governance, to encourage greater CER

The Place of Philosophy in European Culture

In this paper the author investigates the place of philosophy in European culture. Philosophy has taken a considerable time to be recognised, or to recognise itself, as distinct from other disciplines. Although philosophy gave birth to physics and, more recently, to other sciences, it is not seen as a “technical” subject, like mathematics and natural sciences, or even social sciences such as economics. Philosophy is available to the general (educated) public while the technical subjects are not. All educated people know the names of the great Western philosophers. Less people know the names of the great mathematicians (other than those such as Descartes and Leibniz which were, at the same time, philosophers). Therefore, philosophy has not lost its place as part of high culture, as have the natural sciences and mathematics. Philosophy continues to exert a pervasive effect upon European culture in general. However, according to the author, two tasks lie before philosophers; two gulfs are for us to bridge. The fi rst one is the gulf between philosophers of all schools and scientists (particularly physicists); the other one is that between divergent philosophical schools – between analytical philosophy and so called “continental” philosophy. If it solves these problems, philosophy will remain what it has been in the past – a shining component of European culture

Green space and cosmic order: Le Corbusier’s understanding of nature

This thesis attempts to define Le Corbusier’s understanding of the natural world. While this theme has frequently been discussed in the secondary literature, it has not yet been comprehensively addressed. Each chapter of the thesis approaches the topic from a different thematic angle, in an attempt to bring together the different aspects of Le Corbusier’s conception of nature. The first deals with his sense of nature as both ordered and Order: a way of thinking which owes more to pre-modern than modern culture. The second, in tackling the connection which Le Corbusier made between nature and the well-being of urban dwellers, considers a more instrumental aspect of his thinking. The third shows that he saw the experience of nature primarily as belonging to the private domain, and investigates the consequences of this for his cities. The fourth links the idea of the architectural promenade with the natural world and shows that nature was figured as both static image and dynamic experience by Le Corbusier. The fifth takes as its starting point his conviction that ‘primitive’ peoples lived in closer contact with nature than those of the industrialised world, but argues that he was not therefore guilty of the reductive, idealising approach to non-western culture usually associated with primitivism. Le Corbusier’s attitude to vernacular architecture, the dwellings of “natural” men, is explored in the sixth chapter, where the connection between the vernacular and the idea of the standard is considered. Throughout the intention is to position Le Corbusier as caught between an ancient sense of nature as cosmic order, full of symbolic potential, and a modern approach which sees nature as nothing more than an expanse of greenery or a view of trees