1,413 research outputs found
How to Do Things Without Words: Infants, utterance-activity and distributed cognition
Clark and Chalmers (1998) defend the hypothesis of an ‘Extended Mind’, maintaining that beliefs and other paradigmatic mental states can be implemented outside the central nervous system or body. Aspects of the problem of ‘language acquisition’ are considered in the light of the extended mind hypothesis. Rather than ‘language’ as typically understood, the object of study is something called ‘utterance-activity’, a term of art intended to refer to the full range of kinetic and prosodic features of the on-line behaviour of interacting humans. It is argued that utterance activity is plausibly regarded as jointly controlled by the embodied activity of interacting people, and that it contributes to the control of their behaviour. By means of specific examples it is suggested that this complex joint control facilitates easier learning of at least some features of language. This in turn suggests a striking form of the extended mind, in which infants’ cognitive powers are augmented by those of the people with whom they interact
Elective Modernism and the Politics of (Bio) Ethical Expertise
In this essay I consider whether the political perspective of third wave science studies – ‘elective modernism’ – offers a suitable framework for understanding the policy-making contributions that (bio)ethical experts might make. The question arises as a consequence of the fact that I have taken inspiration from the third wave in order to develop an account of (bio)ethical expertise. I offer a précis of this work and a brief summary of elective modernism before considering their relation. The view I set out suggests that elective modernism is a political philosophy and that although its use in relation to the use of scientific expertise in political and policy-making process has implications for the role of (bio)ethical expertise it does not, in the final analysis, provide an account that is appropriate for this latter form of specialist expertise. Nevertheless, it is an informative perspective, and one that can help us make sense of the political uses of (bio)ethical expertise
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A Democratic Licence to Operate: Report of the Independent Surveillance Review
The British population has been greatly affected by the rapid evolution in information and communications technology. In this digital society, we all leave extensive traces of our behaviour and interactions in the course of our normal, everyday lives. We have unprecedented opportunities to express ourselves, to connect and share knowledge, to be prosperous and inventive. At the same time, the digital society also presents new challenges, making citizens potential targets for fraudsters, criminals and possibly terrorists. The task for the police and SIAs has become more demanding as they try to stay abreast of rapid technological innovation and deal with threats that emanate from across the globe. It is important to ensure that the powers granted to these agencies to protect the public are explicit, comprehensible, and are seen to be both lawful and consistent with democratic values. The citizen’s right to privacy online as offline – and what constitutes a ‘justifiable’ level of intrusion by the state – has become a central topic of debate. As traditional notions of national security and public safety compete with the realities of digital society, it is necessary to periodically renew the licence of the police, security and intelligence agencies to operate. This report aims to enable the public at large to engage in a more informed way in the debate, so that a broad consensus can be achieved and a new, democratic licence to operate can be agreed
U Sco 2010 outburst: a new understanding of the binary accretion disk and the secondary star
We present optical and NIR spectroscopic observations of U Sco 2010 outburst.
From the analysis of lines profiles we identify a broad and a narrow component
and show that the latter originates from the reforming accretion disk. We show
that the accretion resumes shortly after the outburst, on day +8, roughly when
the super-soft (SSS) X-ray phase starts. Consequently U Sco SSS phase is fueled
(in part or fully) by accretion and should not be used to estimate
, the mass of accreted material which has not been ejected
during the outburst. In addition, most of the He emission lines, and the HeII
lies in particular, form in the accretion flow/disk within the binary and are
optically thick, thus preventing an accurate abundance determination.
A late spectrum taken in quiescence and during eclipse shows CaII H&K, the
G-band and MgI b absorption from the secondary star. However, no other
significant secondary star features have been observed at longer wavelengths
and in the NIR band.Comment: Accepted for publication on A&A. 12 pages and 12 figures (a few are
multiple figures
Orbital Period Determinations for Four SMC Be/X-ray Binaries
We present an optical and X-ray study of four Be/X-ray binaries located in
the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). OGLE I-band data of up to 11 years of
semi-continuous monitoring has been analysed for SMC X-2, SXP172 and SXP202B,
providing both a measurement of the orbital period (Porb = 18.62, 68.90, and
229.9 days for the pulsars respectively) and a detailed optical orbital profile
for each pulsar. For SXP172 this has allowed a direct comparison of the optical
and X-ray emission seen through regular RXTE monitoring, revealing that the
X-ray outbursts precede the optical by around 7 days. Recent X-ray studies by
XMM-Newton have identified a new source in the vicinity of SXP15.3 raising
doubt on the identification of the optical counterpart to this X-ray pulsar.
Here we present a discussion of the observations that led to the proposal of
the original counterpart and a detailed optical analysis of the counterpart to
the new X-ray source, identifying a 21.7 d periodicity in the OGLE I-band data.
The optical characteristics of this star are consistent with that of a SMC
Be/X-ray binary. However, this star was rejected as the counterpart to SXP15.3
in previous studies due to the lack of H{\alpha} emission.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 pages, 17 figure
'This is what democracy looks like' : New Labour's blind spot and peripheral vision
New Labour in government since 1997 has been roundly criticized for not possessing a clear, coherent and consistent democratic vision. The absence of such a grand vision has resulted, from this critical perspective, in an absence of 'joined-up' thinking about democracy in an evolving multi-level state. Tensions have been all too apparent between the government's desire to exert central direction - manifested in its most pathological form as 'control freakery' - and its democratising initiatives derived from 'third-way' obsessions with 'decentralising', 'empowering' and 'enabling'. The purpose of this article is to examine why New Labour displayed such apparently impaired democratic vision and why it appeared incapable of conceiving of democratic reform 'in the round'. This article seeks to explain these apparent paradoxes, however, through utilising the notion of 'macular degeneration'. In this analysis, the perceived democratic blind spot of New Labour at Westminster is connected to a democratic peripheral vision, which has envisaged innovative participatory and decentred initiatives in governance beyond Westminster
On the Origin of Cosmic Magnetic Fields
We review the literature concerning how the cosmic magnetic fields pervading
nearly all galaxies actually got started. some observational evidence involves
the chemical abundance of the light elements Be and B, while another one is
based on strong magnetic fields seen in high red shift galaxies. Seed fields,
whose strength is of order 10^{-20} gauss, easily sprung up in the era
preceding galaxy formation. Several mechanisms are proposed to amplify these
seed fields to microgauss strengths. The standard mechanism is the Alpha-Omega
dynamo theory. It has a major difficulty that makes unlikely to provide the
sole origin. The difficulty is rooted in the fact that the total flux is
constant. This implies that flux must be removed from the galactic discs. This
requires that the field and flux be separated, for otherwise interstellar mass
must be removed from the deep galactic gravitational and then their strength
increased by the alpha omega theory.Comment: 90 pages and 6 figures; accepted for publication in Reports of
Progress in Physics as an invited revie
Structural and dynamical properties of superfluid helium: a density functional approach
We present a novel density functional for liquid 4He, properly accounting for
the static response function and the phonon-roton dispersion in the uniform
liquid. The functional is used to study both structural and dynamical
properties of superfluid helium in various geometries. The equilibrium
properties of the free surface, droplets and films at zero temperature are
calculated. Our predictions agree closely to the results of ab initio Monte
Carlo calculations, when available. The introduction of a phenomenological
velocity dependent interaction, which accounts for backflow effects, is
discussed. The spectrum of the elementary excitations of the free surface and
films is studied.Comment: 37 pages, REVTeX 3.0, figures on request at [email protected]
Nova-like Cataclysmic Variables in the Infrared
Novalike cataclysmic variables have persistently high mass transfer rates and prominent steady state accretion disks. We present an analysis of infrared observations of twelve novalikes obtained from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer All Sky Survey. The presence of an infrared excess at >3-5 microns over the expectation of a theoretical steady state accretion disk is ubiquitous in our sample. The strength of the infrared excess is not correlated with orbital period, but shows a statistically significant correlation (but shallow trend) with system inclination that might be partially (but not completely) linked to the increasing view of the cooler outer accretion disk and disk rim at higher inclinations. We discuss the possible origin of the infrared excess in terms of emission from bremsstrahlung or circumbinary dust, with either mechanism facilitated by the mass outflows (e.g., disk wind/corona, accretion stream overflow, and so on) present in novalikes. Our comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages of either mechanism for explaining the observations suggests that the situation is rather ambiguous, largely circumstantial, and in need of stricter observational constraints.Peer reviewe
MAXI J1659-152: The shortest orbital period black-hole transient in outburst
MAXI J1659-152 is a bright X-ray transient black-hole candidate binary system
discovered in September 2010. We report here on MAXI, RXTE, Swift, and
XMM-Newton observations during its 2010/2011 outburst. We find that during the
first one and a half week of the outburst the X-ray light curves display drops
in intensity at regular intervals, which we interpret as absorption dips. About
three weeks into the outbursts, again drops in intensity are seen. These dips
have, however, a spectral behaviour opposite to that of the absorption dips,
and are related to fast spectral state changes (hence referred to as transition
dips). The absorption dips recur with a period of 2.414+/-0.005 hrs, which we
interpret as the orbital period of the system. This implies that MAXI J1659-152
is the shortest period black-hole candidate binary known to date. The
inclination of the accretion disk with respect to the line of sight is
estimated to be 65-80 degrees. We propose the companion to the black-hole
candidate to be close to an M5 dwarf star, with a mass and radius of about
0.15-0.25 M_sun and 0.2-0.25 R_sun, respectively. We derive that the companion
had an initial mass of about 1.5 M_sun, which evolved to its current mass in
about 5-6 billion years. The system is rather compact (orbital separation of
larger than ~1.33 R_sun), and is located at a distance of 8.6+/-3.7 kpc, with a
height above the Galactic plane of 2.4+/-1.0 kpc. The characteristics of short
orbital period and high Galactic scale height are shared with two other
transient black-hole candidate X-ray binaries, i.e., XTE J1118+480 and Swift
J1735.5-0127. We suggest that all three are kicked out of the Galactic plane
into the halo, rather than being formed in a globular cluster.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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