Discourse or dialogue? Habermas, the Bakhtin Circle, and the question of concrete utterances

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via the link below.This article argues that the Bakhtin Circle presents a more realistic theory of concrete dialogue than the theory of discourse elaborated by Habermas. The Bakhtin Circle places speech within the “concrete whole utterance” and by this phrase they mean that the study of everyday language should be analyzed through the mediations of historical social systems such as capitalism. These mediations are also characterized by a determinate set of contradictions—the capital-labor contradiction in capitalism, for example—that are reproduced in unique ways in more concrete forms of life (the state, education, religion, culture, and so on). Utterances always dialectically refract these processes and as such are internal concrete moments, or concrete social forms, of them. Moreover, new and unrepeatable dialogic events arise in these concrete social forms in order to overcome and understand the constant dialectical flux of social life. But this theory of dialogue is different from that expounded by Habermas, who tends to explore speech acts by reproducing a dualism between repeatable and universal “abstract” discursive processes (commonly known as the ideal speech situation) and empirical uses of discourse. These critical points against Habermas are developed by focusing on six main areas: sentences and utterances; the lifeworld and background language; active versus passive understandings of language; validity claims; obligation and relevance in language; and dialectical universalism

WORKSPACE-BASED ARCHITECTURE SELECTION OF A 3-DEGREE- OF-FREEDOM PLANAR PARALLEL MANIPULATOR

ABSTRACT This paper presents the workspace-based architecture selection process and singularity analysis of a high-speed, high-precision three degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) planar parallel manipulator for wirebonding and electronic-component placement applications. A novel concept of manipulator "effective base area" is utilized for selecting the optimal architecture amongst the possible six well-known configurations. Dexterity regions, based on the manipulator requirements, within the reachable workspace have been identified for the selected architecture. Singular configurations of the optimal 3-PRR architecture have also been examined within the reachable workspace. Simulation results for both workspace and singularity analyses are also presented

Struggles over access to the Muslim public sphere: Multiple publics and discourses on agency, belonging and citizenship (Introduction to the Themed Section)

Abstract This introductory essay provides the context for the articles in this Themed Section. Despite the diversity in locations, historical backgrounds and contemporary processes of change, all contributors to this Themed Section focus on the struggle of Muslim groups over access to an emergent Muslim public sphere. They highlight the contestations of and shifts in the notions of agency, belonging, and citizenship in nation-states with Muslim communities within its borders. The introduction consists of two parts. The first part reviews the notion of the public sphere as conceptualized by Habermas and critiqued by scholars of a diversity of backgrounds. In relation to the concept of the Muslim public sphere, three aspects of critique are given closer c

Finite-element analysis for photoelastic tactile sensors

Abstract -In this paper, a photoelastic tactile transducer is modelled and analyzed using Finite-Element Analysis (F'EA). The effects of both normal and tangential forces are considered. Two different boundary conditions are examined for a transducer whose compliant protective layer has different mechanical properties from the photoelastic layer

Modes of Foreign Entry under Asymmetric Information about Potential Technology Spillovers

This paper studies the effect of technology spillovers on the entry decision of a multinational enterprise into a foreign market. Two alternative entry modes for a foreign direct investment are considered: Greenfield investment versus acquisition. We find that with quantity competition a spillover makes acquisitions less attractive, while with price competition acquisitions become more attractive. Asymmetric information about potential spillovers always reduces the number of acquisitions independently of whether the host country or the entrant has private information. Interestingly, we find that asymmetric information always hurts the entrant, while it sometimes is in favor of the host country

An ActiveVision System for Recognition of Pre-Marked Objects

Abstract -In this paper, a new 3D-object-recognition method for robotic assembly workcells is presented. The proposed method is focused on two basic concepts, namely active vision and object preconditioning. The paper will briefly present the main aspects of the proposed system. The Proposed Recognition Method [l] Herein, it is proposed to model an object using only a small number of 2D topologically-distinct perspective views. These are referred to as standardviews, each with a corresponding standard-view-axis. For successful recognition purposes, the input image of' an object must be one of its standard perspective views. Thus, a mobile camera is used, such that its optical axis can be aligned with one of the standardview-axes of the object in order to acquire a standardview. Then, the matching process is performed between h e acquired 2D standard-view of the object and the library of 2D standard-views of a set of objects. To enable the vision system to acquire standardviews, standard-view-axes must be pre-defined. This can be accomplished by defining a local surface normal for each distinct view of an object. The local surface normals can be defined by pre-marking the objects using circular markers. In the context of the above scheme, active vision is used for two purposes: (1) Acquiring only specific views of an object (i.e., standard views) by controlling the external parameters of the camera; and (2) Acquiring additional images (standard views) if needed by virtuc of the possibility that the recognition process is not successful after the analysis of the first image, either due to significant distortion and noise, or, insufficient visual information in the image initially acquired. On the other hand, object pre-marking, servcs the following purposes: (1) Specifying a set of object surfaces to be viewed; (2) Defining a local surface normal --a standard axis-of-view --(which can be cstimatcd from the shape of a marker in the imagc plane); and (3) Conveying local 3D orientation and 3D position of a surface of an object, which can be subsequently used for 3D-location estimation of the objcct with respect to a refercnce frame. Based on the above scheme, the major steps for the identification and 3D-location estimation of a premarked object can be listed as follows: In the context of on-line issues and system implementation, the following aspects of the new technique have been addressed: a sequential distortioncompensation procedure, marker boundary detection to a sub-pixel accuracy, elliptical parameter estimation [71, and 3D-location estimation of circular markers [8]. For a complete presentatior? of each of the above issues and the proposed solution method and experimental results, please refer to the corresponding refcrences indicated above. An Experimental Prototype of the Active-Vision System [3] In an attempt to verify the validity and performance of the presented active object recognition technique, a prototype of the system was developed. The prototype is able to recognize the idcntity of manufactured objects which appear randomly oriented in thc field of view of a camera, provided that the standard views of all objects are available and stored in a standard-view database. In this particular implementation, the functions of the active object recognition are distributed between a loosely-coupled vision subsystem and robot-control subsystem. The system is an integration of the follow

Evidence for a Square-Square Vortex Lattice Transition in a High-Tc Cuprate Superconductor

Using sound velocity and attenuation measurements in high magnetic fields, we identify a new transition in the vortex lattice state of La2−xSrxCuO4. The transition, observed in magnetic fields exceeding 35 T and temperatures far below zero field Tc, is detected in the compression modulus of the vortex lattice, at a doping level of x=p=0.17. Our theoretical analysis based on Eilenberger’s theory of the vortex lattice shows that the transition corresponds to the long-sought 45° rotation of the square vortex lattice, predicted to occur in d-wave superconductors near a van Hove singularity