Fragile Identities, Capable Selves

The spotlight that Martha Nussbaum turns on the plight of women in developing nations brings the disproportion between human capabilities and the opportunities to exercise them sharply into focus. Social prejudices, economic discrimination, and deep-seated traditions and attitudes all harbor the seeds of systemic injustices within governing policies and institutions. The refusal on the part of a dominant class to recognize the rights and claims of subaltern individuals and groups has both symbolic and material consequences. The power that one group exercises over another brings the refusal to recognize the rights and claims of others to the fore. Thanks to the moral priority that Paul Ricoeur accords to the victim against such refusals, I tie the fragility of identity to the idea of justice’s federating force. This federating force, I therefore argue, accompanies the struggle for recognition among capable human beings.  La lumière que Martha Nussbaum jette sur le sort des femmes dans les pays en développement met en évidence la disproportion entre les capacités humaines et les possibilités de les exercer pleinement dans le foyer. Les préjugés sociaux, la discrimination économique, les traditions et les attitudes profondes renferment toutes les racines d'injustices systémiques que l'on trouve dans  les politiques gouvernementales et les institutions. Le refus de la part d'une classe dominante de reconnaître les droits et les revendications des individus et des groupes minoritaires a des conséquences à la fois symboliques et  matérielles. La puissance qu'un groupe exerce sur un autre charrie le refus de reconnaître les droits et les revendications des autres. Grâce à la priorité morale que Paul Ricoeur accorde à la victime contre ce refus de reconnaissance, j'attache à l'idée de la force fédératrice de la justice la fragilité de l'identité. Je soutiens donc que cette force fédératrice accompagne la lutte pour la reconnaissance parmi les êtres humains capables

Is Music Mimetic? Ricoeur and the Limits of Narrative

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Generating Procedural Controls to Facilitate Trade: The Role of Control in the Absence of Trust

Over the years, Trust has been recognized in the Bled community as a key enabling factor to stimulate Electronic Commerce. Authors have discussed formal aspects of trust, the role trust plays in the adoption of both B2B and B2C Electronic Commerce, as well as mechanisms to build trust and/or overcome the lack of it. This article first provides a brief overview of the Trust-related articles in the Bled eConference. It then focuses on one specific aspect of the facilitation of trade in absence of trust: the development of procedural controls that enable Electronic Commerce at arms’ length, summarizing the contributions of the authors on this theme at the Bled Conference since the early 1990s. The paper concludes with the authors’ current view on developing procedural controls, focusing on the design process itself, which is often a rather lengthy process consisting of trial-and -error. Here a more analytical approach is proposed to the identification of control requirements for inter-organizational procedures. The approach involves abstracting the process to identify its basic deontic elements. A model checking approach is then applied to identify needed controls

Social Media in B2B Financial Services: A Matter of Trust and Responsiveness?

This study explores satisfaction with Virtual Communities in a Financial Services setting. It presents an empirical exploration that seeks to explain how external variables, such as information quality and system quality of a VC, affect beliefs, such asusefulness, ease of use, responsiveness, and trust, which in turn shape satisfaction. As such, it contributes to the growing body of knowledge on Social Media, in particular addressing the relatively unexplored domain of Business-to-Business (B2B) when individuals act on behalf of a company instead of their own interests

Quantum measurement as driven phase transition: An exactly solvable model

A model of quantum measurement is proposed, which aims to describe statistical mechanical aspects of this phenomenon, starting from a purely Hamiltonian formulation. The macroscopic measurement apparatus is modeled as an ideal Bose gas, the order parameter of which, that is, the amplitude of the condensate, is the pointer variable. It is shown that properties of irreversibility and ergodicity breaking, which are inherent in the model apparatus, ensure the appearance of definite results of the measurement, and provide a dynamical realization of wave-function reduction or collapse. The measurement process takes place in two steps: First, the reduction of the state of the tested system occurs over a time of order $\hbar/(TN^{1/4})$, where $T$ is the temperature of the apparatus, and $N$ is the number of its degrees of freedom. This decoherence process is governed by the apparatus-system interaction. During the second step classical correlations are established between the apparatus and the tested system over the much longer time-scale of equilibration of the apparatus. The influence of the parameters of the model on non-ideality of the measurement is discussed. Schr\"{o}dinger kittens, EPR setups and information transfer are analyzed.Comment: 35 pages revte

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Therapy Affects Left Ventricular Mass in Patients With Ejection Fraction >40% After Acute Myocardial Infarction

AbstractObjectives. We tested the hypothesis that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor therapy decreases left ventricular (LV) mass in patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >40% and no evidence of heart failure after their first acute Q wave myocardial infarction (MI).Background. Recently, ACE inhibitor therapy has been shown to have an early mortality benefit in unselected patients with acute MI, including patients without heart failure and a LVEF >35%. However, the effects on LV mass and volume in this patient population have not been studied.Methods. Thirty-five patients with a LVEF >40% after their first acute Q wave MI were randomized to titrated oral ramipril (n = 20) or conventional therapy (control, n = 15). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed an average of 7 days and 3 months after MI provided LV volumes and mass from summated serial short-axis slices.Results. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume index did not change in ramipril-treated patients (62 ± 16 [SD] to 66 ± 17 ml/m2) or in control patients (62 ± 16 to 68 ± 17 ml/m2), and stroke volume index increased significantly in both groups. However, LV mass index decreased in ramipril-treated patients (82 ± 18 to 73 ± 19 g/m2, p = 0.0002) but not in the control patients (77 ± 15 to 79 ± 23 g/m2). Systolic arterial pressure did not change in either group at 3-month follow-up.Conclusions. In patients with a LVEF >40% after acute MI, ramipril decreased LV mass, and blood pressure and LV function were unchanged after 3 months of therapy. Whether the decrease in mass represents a sustained effect that is associated with a decrease in morbid events requires further investigation.(J Am Coll Cardiol 1997;29:49–54)

Historical and current patterns of gene flow in the butterfly Pararge aegeria

Aim. We have investigated the phylogeography and genetic structure of the Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) across its entire distribution range and studied its dispersal both on mainland and across sea straits. The apparent lack of gene flow between Sardinia and Corsica was further investigated by means of mating experiments. Location. Europe and North Africa. Methods. We sampled 345 individuals and sequenced one mitochondrial gene (Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I, COI) for all samples and two nuclear genes (wingless and zerknullt) for a subset of the specimens. A total of 22 females from Corsica and Sardinia were used to establish a series of crosses to investigate reproductive compatibility and were screened for the presence of Wolbachia. Bayesian inference (BI) and haplotype networks were employed to infer phylogenetic relationships and a Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) was used to represent 4 geographical patterns of genetic diversity. Mating and courtship data were analysed using linear mixed effect models. Results. We detected two main COI lineages separated by the Mediterranean Sea and maintained over relatively short sea straits. While nuclear gene variation was generally in agreement with that of COI, this was not the case in all areas (e.g. Iberian Peninsula and Corsica/Sardinia). Mating experiments revealed no evidence of reproductive isolation between the lineages, nor clear relation to Wolbachia infection status. Main conclusions. We propose that following the post-glacial recolonisation of Europe, the ancestral COI lineage of P. aegeria was maintained in North Africa and Mediterranean islands, while a new lineage colonised from Eastern Europe, replacing and apparently outcompeting the ancestral variant. Several hypotheses are discussed that may explain the local discordance between the nuclear genes and COI, including sex-specific dispersal, selection and differential rates of gene evolution

The Challenges of Creativity in Software Organizations

Part 1: Creating ValueInternational audienceManaging creativity has proven to be one of the most important drivers in software development and use. The continuous changing market environment drives companies like Google, SAS Institute and LEGO to focus on creativity as an increasing necessity when competing through sustained innovations. However, creativity in the information systems (IS) environment is a challenge for most organizations that is primarily caused by not knowing how to strategize creative processes in relation to IS strategies, thus, causing companies to act ad hoc in their creative endeavors. In this paper, we address the organizational challenges of creativity in software organizations. Grounded in a previous literature review and a rigorous selection process, we identify and present a model of seven important factors for creativity in software organizations. From these factors, we identify 21 challenges that software organizations experience when embarking on creative endeavors and transfer them into a comprehensive framework. Using an interpretive research study, we further study the framework by analyzing how the challenges are integrated in 27 software organizations. Practitioners can use this study to gain a deeper understanding of creativity in their own business while researchers can use the framework to gain insight while conducting interpretive field studies of managing creativity