Journal Staff

Essay I explores brain machine interface (BMI) technologies. These make direct communication between the brain and a machine possible by means of electrical stimuli. This essay reviews the existing and emerging technologies in this field and offers an inquiry into the ethical problems that are likely to emerge. Essay II, co-written with professor Sven-Ove Hansson, presents a novel procedure to engage the public in deliberations on the potential impacts of technology.  This procedure, convergence seminar, is a form of scenario-based discussion that is founded on the idea of hypothetical retrospection. The theoretical background and the results of the five seminars are presented. Essay III discusses moral bioenhancement, an instance of human enhancement that alters a person’s dispositions, emotions or behavior. Moral bioenhancement could be carried out in three different ways. The first strategy is behavioral enhancement. The second strategy, favored by prominent defenders of moral enhancement, is emotional enhancement. The third strategy is the enhancement of moral dispositions, such as empathy and inequity aversion. I argue that we ought to implement a combination of the second and third strategies. Essay IV considers the possibility and potential desirability of sensory enhancement. It is proposed that existing sensory modalities in vertebrate animals are proof of concept of what is biologically possible to create in humans. Three considerations on the normative aspects of sensory enhancement are also presented in this essay. Essay V rejects disease prioritarianism, the idea that the healthcare system ought to prioritize the treatment of diseases. Instead, an approach that focuses on what medicine can accomplish is proposed. Essay VI argues that from the idea that species have an intrinsic value and that humanity has a collective responsibility to protect animal species from extinction, the conclusion that we ought to recreate species follows. Essay VII argues that unknown existential risks have not been properly addressed. It proposes a heuristic for doing so, and a concrete strategy. This strategy consists in building refuges that could withstand a large number of catastrophic events.  QC 20141204</p

Una combinación basada en operadores OWA para la Clasificación de Género Multi-etiqueta de páginas web

This paper presents a new method for genre identification that combines homogeneous classifiers using OWA (Ordered Weighted Averaging) operators. Our method uses character n-grams extracted from different information sources such as URL, title, headings and anchors. To deal with the complexity of web pages, we applied MLKNN as a multi-label classifier, in which a web page can be affected by more than one genre. Experiments conducted using a known multi-label corpus show that our method achieves good results.En este trabajo se presenta un nuevo método para la identificación de género que combina clasificadores homogéneos utilizando OWA (promedio ponderado) Pedimos operadores. Nuestro método utiliza caracteres n-gramas extraídos de diferentes fuentes de información, tales como URL, título, encabezados y anclajes. Para hacer frente a la complejidad de las páginas web, se aplicó MLKNN como un clasificador multi-etiqueta, en el que una página web puede verse afectada por más de un género. Los experimentos llevados a cabo usando un conocido corpus multi-etiqueta muestran que nuestro método logra buenos resultados

Therapeutic History and the Enduring Memories of Violence in Algeria and Morocco

This article examines the experience of transitional justice and its relation to collective memory of authoritarian repression in Morocco (1965-1992) and the Civil War in Algeria (1991-2002). It confronts and compares to the two states’ therapeutic historical discourse produced to heal the national community after these periods of violence and its impact on the countries’ historians, journalists, filmmakers, and novelists from 2004 to 2017. The article argues that Algeria and Morocco’s rigorous definition of the “victim” during these two episodes (the imprisoned and disappeared) excluded the way communities suffered during this period and, as a result, has delayed healing, forgiveness, and national reconciliation. This article highlights the limits of two overpoliticized processes of transitional justice in the Maghreb and their limited conception of what it meant to “come to terms with the past.” However, it finds optimism in the ongoing efforts by new historiography and cultural actors to confront the lasting traumatic aftermaths outside of official definitions and on their own terms

La Communication Numérique Sur La RSO Dans Le Milieu Hospitalier

Mainly associated with the private sector, Corporate Social Responsibility -CSR- can also play a big and important role for public organizations; regardless of their size, type, orientation(s) or mission(s), these organizations tend to pursue more and more effective initiatives in order to be socially responsible. In health sector, hospital centers are organizations where “social” is part of their basic missions, two more aspects “environmental” and “economic” can be added in order to establish CSR basis, combining these aspects through an effective communication should be at the heart of any CSR strategy. In order to study CSR content communicated online through official moroccan hospital centers’ websites and social media, we conducted this study by using different indicators from various analysis grids related to the key areas of our research (CSR, health and communication). Opting for digital communication via websites and social media can be a useful and practical way to help hospital centers be socially responsible

La nécrose apicale en relation avec certains paramètres morphologiques et la teneur en calcium dans les fruits chez quatre variétés de piment (Capsicum annuum L.)

Blossom-end rot in relation to morphological parameters and calcium content in fruits of four pepper varieties (Capsicum annuum L.). The objective of this study is to identify, in the case of four pepper cultivars: ' J27 ', ' Marconi ', ' Beldi ' and ' Jerid ', a relation between vegetative growth rate, fruit weight and its calcium content with blossom-end rot induction. The results show that the more sensitive cultivars to blossom-end rot are ' Marconi ' and ' J27 ' cultivars, those having a larger final size and faster growth speed of the fruits and a higher rate of transpiration in comparison with ' Jerid ' cultivar, which is characterized by its small fruits. On the other hand, the calcium contents of their fruit, especially in the apical part, is weaker than the ' Jerid ' cultivar’s one

Etude expérimentale du ruissellement et de l'érosion sur les terres agricoles de Siliana (Tunisie)

Cette étude propose une méthode de mesure des érosions aérolaires sur les sols calcimagnésiques plus ou moins encroûtés et emblavés du terroir de Siliana, en Tunisie centrale semi aride recevant moins de 400 mm de pluies. Elle entre dans les thèmes de recherches des programmes HYDROMED et AMBRE sur les potentialités et risques de petits bassins versants alimentant des retenues ou des barrages collinaires. Les informations de base proviennent de parcelles expérimentales soumises à une simulation de pluies selon des protocoles respectant les situations culturales et les énergies des précipitations naturelles de cette région. Cette analyse utilise les relations (R(I)) s'établissant entre les intensités de ruissellements et les intensités des pluies puis celles s'établissant entre les charges solides et les intensités de ruissellements (Cs(R)). Cette analyse est confrontée avec celle des intensités des pluies naturelles (I max 5') susceptibles de provoquer les premiers ruissellements pour différentes situations culturales saisonnières. Cette analyse est à l'origine du modèle MOBIL. Les résultats montrent que lorsque les premières pluies tombent sur des sols fraîchement labourés l'érosion aréolaire annuelle moblise 5,5 t/ha/an en année normale (P 369 mm et Rsi 57 t.m/ha.h) et 8,0 t/ha/an en année agressive (P 588 mm, Rsi 130). La majorité de l'érosion annuelle (50 à 80%) provient des périodes orageuses post-récolte. Si les premières pluies arrivent avant les labours, les érosions deviennent très importantes avec, respectivement, quelque 20 et 40 t/ha/an. Les risques érosifs sont liés au décalage entre les périodes de préparation des terres et d'apparition des pluies : un labour à grosses mottes est susceptible d'infiltrer les premières averses violentes de la saison pluvieuse... (D'après résumé d'auteur

HYBRID FEATURE SELECTION AND SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE FRAMEWORK FOR PREDICTING MAINTENANCE FAILURES

The main aim of predictive maintenance is to minimize downtime, failure risks and maintenance costs in manufacturing systems. Over the past few years, machine learning methods gained ground with diverse and successful applications in the area of predictive maintenance. This study shows that performing preprocessing techniques such as oversampling and features selection for failure prediction, is promising. For instance, to handle imbalanced data, the SMOTE-Tomek method is used. For features selection, three different methods can be applied: Recursive Feature Elimination, Random Forest and Variance Threshold. The data considered in this paper for simulation is used in literature; it is applied to aircraft engine sensors measurements to predict engines failure, while the predicting algorithm used is a Support Vector Machine. The results show that classification accuracy can be significantly boosted by using the preprocessing techniques