485 research outputs found
Parliamentary co-operation in the Mediterranean. Assembly of Western European Union Forty-First Ordinary Session (First Part) Document 1485, 6th November 1995
Divergence, at what cost?
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a free trade agreement like no other: the first between parties negotiating from a position of regulatory convergence; the first trade deal in which the EU has accepted the principle of no tariffs and no quotas, but also the first trade deal which not only incorporates provisions that can broaden and deepen the Agreement’s scope, but also narrow it. However, at what cost are the parties willing to increase divergence, asks Totis Kotsonis (Pinsent Masons LLP)
Unsteady disturbances in a swept wing boundary layer due to plasma forcing
This work investigates the response of a transitional boundary layer to spanwise-invariant dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (PA)
forcing on a 45 swept wing at a chord Reynolds number of 2:17 106. Two important parameters of the PA operation are scrutinized,
namely, the forcing frequency and the streamwise location of forcing. An array of passive discrete roughness elements is installed near the
leading edge to promote and condition a set of critical stationary crossflow (CF) instability modes. Numerical solutions of the boundary layer
equations and linear stability theory are used in combination with the experimental pressure distribution to provide predictions of critical
stationary and traveling CF instabilities. The laminar–turbulent transition front is visualized and quantified by means of infrared thermography. Measurements of velocity fields are performed using hotwire anemometry scans at specific chordwise locations. The results demonstrate
the inherent introduction of unsteady velocity disturbances by the plasma forcing. It is shown that, depending on actuator frequency and
location, these disturbances can evolve into typical CF instabilities. Positive traveling low-frequency type III modes are generally amplified by
PA in all tested cases, while the occurrence of negative traveling high-frequency type I secondary modes is favored when PA is operating at
high frequency and at relatively downstream locations, with respect to the leading edg
Platonic conception of intellectual virtues: its significance for contemporary epistemology and education
My main aim in my thesis is to show that, contrary to the commonly held belief
according to which Aristotle was the first to conceive and develop intellectual virtues,
there are strong indications that Plato had already conceived and had begun developing
the concept of intellectual virtues. Nevertheless, one should not underestimate the
importance of Aristotle’s work on intellectual virtues. Aristotle developed a much fuller
(in detail and argument) account of both, the concept of ‘virtue’ and the concept of
‘intellect’, metaphysically, epistemologically and psychologically. Still, the first
conception of intellectual virtues is to be found in the Platonic corpus. Such a realization
is not only of historic interest, but most importantly, as I am going to show, the Platonic
conception of intellectual virtues could prove promising in contemporary debates on
virtue epistemology theories and in virtue-based approaches to education.
Plato’s discussion of rational desires is the strongest indication of the presence of the
concept of intellectual virtues in Platonic dialogues. Rational desires are constitutive of
intellectual virtues: desires are dispositional; rational desires are dispositions to pursue
rational goods. Intellectual virtues are such dispositions. Additionally, there is further
evidence that Plato had conceived of intellectual virtues. His rigorous educational
program in the Republic aims at the development of rational desires, while in the
Symposium he discusses the intense rational desire to know the Good. Nevertheless, in
order to be intellectually virtuous, one must not only have a desire for knowledge; one
must also be systematically and reliably successful in achieving the end of their rational
desires. I will show that the success component of Plato’s intellectual virtues can be found in his dialectic method. Plato’s dialectic is both a virtue developer and a reliable
method used by philosophers in order to reach the objects of their rational desires. I will argue that episteme is one of Plato’s primary intellectual virtues. Towards this
end, I will invoke Pritchard’s recent argument according to which understanding, which
is distinct from knowledge, is a form of cognitive achievement and therefore what is
finally valuable. I will argue, based on textual evidence from the middle Platonic
dialogues and recent discussions in the exegetical literature, that Plato’s episteme,
although commonly translated as knowledge, is closer to Pritchard’s conception of
understanding. I will also show that Plato’s episteme, similarly to Pritchard’s
conception of understanding, is a cognitive achievement that cannot be attained by luck
or testimony.
The Platonic conception of intellectual virtues has something unique to offer to
contemporary virtue epistemology. Plato, unlike Aristotle, does not differentiate
between theoretical and practical wisdom. A wise agent, according to Plato, is wise in
both practical and theoretical matters. Moreover, Plato, unlike Aristotle does not make
a sharp distinction between moral and intellectual virtues. Therefore, the Platonic
conception of intellectual virtues, in comparison to the Aristotelian, offers a more
suitable starting point for scholars who want to argue that intellectual virtues are but a
subpart of moral.
Furthermore, I will argue that the Platonic conception of intellectual virtues is also of
significant merit for virtue-based approaches to education. Plato questioned whether
we can attain knowledge but nevertheless went on to develop his Socratically inspired
theory of education according to which we can teach learning without knowing. Socrates proclaimed his ignorance numerous times; nevertheless, he went on to
educate the youth of Athens. This is what I will suggest that Plato’s notion of
intellectual virtues can contribute to theories of education: we should teach children not
by transferring knowledge to them directly but by building dispositions into them to
seek and acquire the truth.
I will argue that although somewhat ignored by contemporary scholars, Plato’s theory
of education has much to teach us about epistemic character education today. The
Platonic educational program does not advocate the direct transmission of knowledge
from the teacher to the student but rather focuses on building the learners’ epistemic
dispositions. Building upon the Socratic method, Plato’s educational program does not
“spoon-feed” knowledge to the learners but rather fosters the growth of intellectual
virtues through problem-solving. The Platonic decades long educational regime aims
at training Philosopher-Kings in three types of virtue: (i) Moral Virtue; (ii) the
Cognitive Virtue of Abstraction; (iii) the Cognitive Virtue of Debate.
I will explain ways in which fostering intellectual virtues through problem-solving
could be applied in classrooms today and I will argue that Plato’s rigorous education
program is of definite merit for contemporary theories of education, especially given
the fact that scholars in the field are looking for alternatives to the traditional methods
of teaching.
I will also dedicate a section to showing that Socrates was not a moral philosopher but
rather an epistemic character builder. Socrates trained his students/interlocutors in
desiring the truth without offering them any knowledge-education. I will also briefly
highlight some of the most significant differences between the Platonic educational
program, as described in the Republic, and the Socratic educational method. I will also discuss, before concluding my thesis, two different accounts of educational
failure as presented by Plato in the Republic. The first one is the individuals employing
the eristic method (as a result of failure in dialectic education) and the second is the
individuals who correspond to the four imperfect societies (brought about again by the
lack of proper education). I will argue that these two accounts can inform our
understanding of what should be avoided when educating for epistemic (and moral)
virtue nowadays
State aid and Brexit: the temptation for political intervention
State aid is currently regulated by the EU and, after Brexit, the government intends to transpose the rules into UK legislation, with the Competitions and Markets Authority overseeing the issue. Totis Kotsonis (Eversheds Sutherland) explains why future governments could be tempted to allow political intervention that EU membership precludes
Opposition flow control for reducing skin-friction drag of a turbulent boundary layer
This work explores the dynamic response of a turbulent boundary layer to
large-scale reactive opposition control, at a friction Reynolds number of
. A hot-film is employed as the input sensor, capturing
large-scale fluctuations in the wall-shear stress, and actuation is performed
with a single on/off wall-normal blowing jet positioned downstream
of the input sensor, operating with an exit velocity of . Our control efforts follow the work by Abbassi et al. [Int. J.
Heat Fluid Fl. 67, 2017], but includes a control-calibration experiment and a
performance assessment using PIV- and PTV-based flow field analyses. The
controller targets large-scale high-speed zones when operating in ``opposing"
mode and low-speed zones in the ``reinforcing" mode. An energy-attenuation of
about 40% is observed for the opposing control mode in the frequency band
corresponding to the passage of large-scale motions. This proves the
effectiveness of the control in targeting large-scale motions, since an
energy-intensification of roughly 45% occurs for the reinforcing control mode
instead. Skin friction coefficients are inferred from PTV data to yield a
direct measurement of the wall-shear stress. Results indicate that the opposing
control logic can lower the wall-shear stress by about 3% with respect to a
desynchronised control strategy, and by roughly 10% with respect to the
uncontrolled flow. A FIK-decomposition of the skin-friction coefficient was
performed, revealing that the off-the-wall turbulence follows a consistent
trend with the PTV-based wall-shear stress measurements, although biased by an
increased shear in the wake of the boundary layer given the formation of a
plume due to the jet-in-crossflow actuation
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