Deleuze and the ethics of immanence: Beyond the illusions of consciousness

This thesis examines the idea of immanent ethics as it appears in the work of Gilles Deleuze by mapping its emergence in his most relevant works (including those coauthored with Félix Guattari). My analysis adopts an innovative perspective: it suggests that Deleuze’s ethical imperative can be best understood in terms of overcoming the illusions of conscious agency. My argument is organised around two particular illusions that are normally held to relate to the supposed primacy of consciousness – that of free will and that of value. I demonstrate that, for Deleuze, overcoming these illusions can be achieved by becoming attuned to the immanent organising principle of reality, which can, in a human sense, be called the unconscious. It is the unconscious forces that constitute effective agency, while the conscious self is capable of activity only insofar as it is able to express and restructure the unconscious forces which constitute the possibility of its activity. From this perspective, I trace the trajectory of Deleuze’s thought from his work on Spinoza and Nietzsche, where he conceptualises immanent ethics through idiosyncratic readings of these philosophers, to his co-authored work with Guattari, Anti-Oedipus, where a new account of the ethics of immanence is presented. This ethical approach takes the form of a materialist psychiatric practice called schizoanalysis. By examining the development of Deleuze’s immanent ethics, I seek to isolate and clarify its main conceptual elements. I show how schizoanalysis both embraces and diverges from Deleuze’s readings of Spinoza and Nietzsche, and suggest that its aim is that of dismantling normalised subjectivity to produce new thoughts, feelings and desires. Such a dismantling is the precondition for any future articulation of a genuinely immanent ethics

Engineering-geological conditions of landslides above the settlement of Koroška Bela (NW Slovenia)

This paper focuses on the studying of landslides in the hinterland area of the Koroška Bela settlement, NW Slovenia. Research has shown that these landslides have the potential to mobilize the material into a debris flw. The area of interest is located on the Karavanke mountain ridge, above the settlement of Koroška Bela, which lies on the outskirts of the town of Jesenice. In order to recognize and understand the kinematics of landslides and their triggering mechanisms, a multidisciplinary approach using engineering-geological and geotechnical investigations was applied. Thus, landslide source areas were determined based on engineering-geological mapping. Furthermore, landslide boundaries, types of landslides and sediments that are involved in processes of sliding were mapped in detail. Geotechnical monitoring is benefiial in evaluating rates of movement and failures in the ground under real conditions in the fild. Current investigations as well as historical evidence and previous research prove that the hinterland of Koroška Bela is prone to various types of landslides that together form a source area that has the potential to mobilize into larger debris flw

A REVIEW OF BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT METHODS

Building sustainability assessment methods have been globally in use for more than two decades. Their use initially spread slowly through the larger developed countries, but in recent years we are seeing a rapid development of new, regionally adapted methods. The use of building assessment methods is limited because they developed on the basis of national legislation and local characteristics. In this article, the most important international building sustainability assessment methods BREEAM, LEED, DGNB and SBTool are investigated. With the help of content analysis we closely examine the aim, course and cost of the assessment, the number of certified projects, different assessment schemes, aspects of evaluation and the final certificate presentation. The result is a mutual comparison of individual assessment methods. In the discussion we present some predictions for the further development of building sustainability assessment methods. In the final part we review the situation and the possibilities for the implementation of these methods in Slovenia

Indoor air pollutants and their seasonal monitoring in European museums

Abstract The monitoring of indoor air pollutants is an important part of the management of heritage collections. In this work, acetic acid, formic acid, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and NO2 were measured with passive samplers along with temperature and relative humidity once per season in seven European institutions of different sizes with different types of objects. The measurements were carried out in a variety of locations, from modern and old display cases in exhibition rooms of different sizes to storage rooms and their enclosures for different types of objects. The results were evaluated based on the characteristics of the sampling locations and the extent to which the changing seasons affect pollutant concentrations were estimated. The dataset obtained from this study can be a valuable asset as a snapshot of the current state of the environment in European heritage collections

A Simplified Method for Evaluating Building Sustainability in the Early Design Phase for Architects

With society turning increasingly to sustainable development, sharper demands are being made concerning energy efficiency and other properties that mean reductions in the negative effects of the building on the environment and people. This means that architects must have a suitably adapted solution already in the early design phase, as this has the greatest influence on the final result. Current tools and methods used for this are either focused only on individual topics or are too complex and not adapted for independent use by architects. The paper presents a simplified method for evaluating building sustainability (SMEBS) which addresses these needs. It is intended as a tool to aid architects in the early project planning phases as it allows a quick evaluation of the extent to which the demands of sustainable building are fulfilled. The method was developed on the basis of a study of international building sustainability assessment methods (BSAM) and standards in this field. Experts in sustainable construction were invited to determine weights for assessment parameters using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Their judgments reflect the specific characteristics of the local environment

A simplified method for evaluating building sustainability in the early design phase for architects

With society turning increasingly to sustainable development, sharper demands are being made concerning energy efficiency and other properties that mean reductions in the negative effects of the building on the environment and people. This means that architects must have a suitably adapted solution already in the early design phase, as this has the greatest influence on the final result. Current tools and methods used for this are either focused only on individual topics or are too complex and not adapted for independent use by architects. The paper presents a simplified method for evaluating building sustainability (SMEBS) which addresses these needs. It is intended as a tool to aid architects in the early project planning phases as it allows a quick evaluation of the extent to which the demands of sustainable building are fulfilled. The method was developed on the basis of a study of international building sustainability assessment methods (BSAM) and standards in this field. Experts in sustainable construction were invited to determine weights for assessment parameters using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Their judgments reflect the specific characteristics of the local environment

Machine learning-assisted non-destructive plasticizer identification and quantification in historical PVC objects based on IR spectroscopy

Non-destructive spectroscopic analysis combined with machine learning rapidly provides information on the identity and content of plasticizers in PVC objects of heritage value. For the first time, a large and diverse collection of more than 100 PVC objects in different degradation stages and of diverse chemical compositions was analysed by chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques to create a dataset used to construct classification and regression models. Accounting for this variety makes the model more robust and reliable for the analysis of objects in museum collections. Six different machine learning classification algorithms were compared to determine the algorithm with the highest classification accuracy of the most common plasticizers, based solely on the spectroscopic data. A classification model capable of the identification of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate, diisononyl phthalate, diisodecyl phthalate, a mixture of diisononyl phthalate and diisodecyl phthalate, and unplasticized PVC was constructed. Additionally, regression models for quantification of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate in PVC were built. This study of real-life objects demonstrates that classification and quantification of plasticizers in a general collection of degraded PVC objects is possible, providing valuable data to collection managers