Intelligent Association Exploration and Exploitation of Fuzzy Agents in Ambient Intelligent Environments

This paper presents a novel fuzzy-based intelligent architecture that aims to find relevant and important associations between embedded-agent based services that form Ambient Intelligent Environments (AIEs). The embedded agents are used in two ways; first they monitor the inhabitants of the AIE, learning their behaviours in an online, non-intrusive and life-long fashion with the aim of pre-emptively setting the environment to the users preferred state. Secondly, they evaluate the relevance and significance of the associations to various services with the aim of eliminating redundant associations in order to minimize the agent computational latency within the AIE. The embedded agents employ fuzzy-logic due to its robustness to the uncertainties, noise and imprecision encountered in AIEs. We describe unique real world experiments that were conducted in the Essex intelligent Dormitory (iDorm) to evaluate and validate the significance of the proposed architecture and methods

Constrain-thy-neighbor Effects as a Determinant of Transnational Interest Group Cohesion

Why does the willingness of interest groups to join forces with their peers abroad vary across issues? The present article points to cross-issue variation in the “constrain-thy-neighbor” effects of transnational law. Interest groups consider not only whether they are worse off if they themselves are subjected to a transnational law. They also consider how it affects them if the same law applies abroad. Depending on the issue, they derive advantages or disadvantages from seeing their neighbors constrained, and this affects their willingness to fight transnational legislation on that issue. To illustrate the argument, the article compares cohesion within the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the European peak employer federation, on two aspects of EU company law. UNICE members were divided over EU takeover directives while uniting against EU worker participation directives. Statements released by German and British UNICE members show that the divergent constrain-thy-neighbor effect associated with these issues contributed to variation in cohesion

How Multilevel Governance Affects the Clash of Capitalisms

This article challenges the methodological nationalism of the convergence debate by arguing that multilevel governance destabilizes the coalitions thought to underpin liberal and coordinated varieties of capitalism. Existing efforts to explain how coherent production regimes emerge and persist assume that some dominant social bloc ensures coherence by imposing its interests across all relevant regulatory subspheres. This assumption is not tenable in systems of multilevel governance. Three features of multilevel governance diminish the scope for a uniform social bloc to ensure a tight coupling of complementary regulations. First, the strategic opportunities for playing multilevel games vary across regulatory subspheres. Second, willingness to exploit these opportunities varies, because the transnational scope of legislation adds a "constrain-competitor" dimension to actors' decision-making that may either strengthen or weaken interest group cohesion. Third, the institutional set-up at the supranational level of Europe's multilevel polity multiplies alignment options. To illustrate these claims, the article draws on case studies of EU company law initiatives concerning takeovers and worker participation.Der vorliegende Aufsatz wendet sich gegen den in der Konvergenzdebatte vorherrschenden methodologischen Nationalismus, indem er aufzeigt, dass Koalitionsbildung in Mehrebenensystemen jene Koalitionen unterminiert, die gemeinhin als Stützen der liberalen und koordinierten Spielarten des Kapitalismus gelten. Versuche zu erklären, wie kohärente Produktionsregime entstehen und fortbestehen, gehen bisher davon aus, dass ein dominanter sozialer Block seine Interessen in allen relevanten regulativen Teilbereichen durchsetzt. Diese Annahme ist für politische Mehrebenensysteme nicht haltbar. Drei Aspekte von Mehrebenenpolitik verringern die Möglichkeiten eines dominanten sozialen Blocks, komplementäre Regulierungen eng zu verknüpfen. Erstens unterscheidet sich der Spielraum für strategische Mehrebenenspiele in den einzelnen Teilbereichen kohärenter Produktionsregime. Zweitens unterscheidet sich die Bereitschaft zur Ausnutzung dieses Spielraums, weil die transnationale Reichweite von Gesetzen dem Entscheidungskalkül von Akteuren eine "Constrain-Competitor"-Dimension hinzufügt, die den grenzüberschreitenden Zusammenhalt von Interessengruppen entweder stärkt oder schwächt. Drittens erweitert das Institutionsgefüge auf der europäischen Ebene die Vielfalt der Koalitionsmöglichkeiten. Fallstudien zu EU-Richtlinien zur Regelung von Unternehmensübernahmen und betrieblicher Mitbestimmung veranschaulichen diese Thesen.1 Introduction 2 Background: Institutional complementarity and dominant social blocks 3 How multilevel governance affects the clash of capitalisms 4 Case study: EU company law harmonization 5 Conclusion Reference

NACA Investigations of Icing-Protection Systems for Turbojet-Engine Installations

Investigations have been made in flight and in wind tunnels to determine which components of turbojet installations are most critical in icing conditions, and to evaluate several methods of icing protection. From these studies, the requirements necessary for adequate icing protection and the consequent penalties on engine performance can be estimated. Because investigations have indicated that the compressor-inlet screen constitutes the greatest icing hazard and is difficult to protect, complete removal or retraction of the screen upon encountering an icing condition is recommended. In the absence of the screen, the inlet guide vanes of an axial-flow-type turbojet engine constitute the greatest danger to engine operation in an icing condition; a centrifugal-type engine, on the other hand, is relatively unsusceptible to icing once the screen has been removed. Of the three icing-protection systems investigated, surface heating, hot-gas bleedback, and inertia-separation inlets, only the first two offer an acceptable solution to the problem of engine icing protection. Surface heating, either by gas heating or electrical means, appears to be the most acceptable icing-protection method with regard to performance losses. Hot-gas bleedback, although causing undesirable thrust losses, offers an easy means of obtaining icing protection for some installations. The final choice of an icing-protection system depends, however, on the supply of heated gas and electrical power available and on the allowable performance and. weight penalties associated with each system

Children’s experiences of domestic violence and abuse: siblings’ accounts of relational coping

This article explores how young people see their relationships, particularly their sibling relationships, in families affected by domestic violence, and how relationality emerges in their accounts as a resource to build an agentic sense of self. The ‘voice’ of children is largely absent from domestic violence literature, which typically portrays them as passive, damaged and relationally incompetent. Children’s own understandings of their relational worlds are often overlooked, and consequently existing models of children’s social interactions give inadequate accounts of their meaning-making-in-context. Drawn from a larger study of children’s experiences of domestic violence and abuse, this paper uses two case studies of sibling relationships to explore young people’s use of relational resources, for coping with violence in the home. The paper explores how relationality and coping intertwine in young people’s accounts, and disrupts the taken for granted assumption that children’s ‘premature caring’ or ‘parentification’ is (only) pathological in children’s responses to domestic violence. This has implications for understanding young people’s experiences in the present, and supporting their capacity for relationship building in the future

The Phantom of Palais Brongniart: “Economic Patriotism” and the Paris Stock Exchange

French governments are famous for promoting national champions, notably by preventing foreign takeovers, but in 2005–2006, the Villepin administration allowed the New York Stock Exchange to take control of Euronext, a French-led pan-European company that includes the Paris Bourse. By mapping the public discourse surrounding this striking case of non-intervention, we explain why opponents of the transatlantic merger failed in their appeals to “economic patriotism.” Discursive strategies designed to justify discrimination against territorially defined outsiders ran into several hurdles, including weak patriotic sentiments for the company concerned; a lack of patriotic alternatives to the proposed merger; and the questionable patriotic credentials of those demanding intervention. Our findings advance research on the demand side of “economic patriotism,” including its discursive dimension. Beyond that, they inform research on business–government relations, and on the political implications of corporate ownership structures.Französische Regierungen sind eigentlich dafür bekannt, dass sie einheimische Unternehmen vor Auslandsübernahmen schützen. Im Jahr 2005–2006 gestattete Villepins Regierung jedoch der New York Stock Exchange die Übernahme von Euronext, einer paneuropäischen Gesellschaft unter französischer Leitung, zu der auch die Pariser Börse gehört. Der öffentliche Diskurs zu diesem bedeutenden Fall von Nichtintervention gibt Aufschluss darüber, warum die Gegner der transatlantischen Fusion mit ihren Forderungen nach Wirtschaftspatriotismus scheiterten. Diskursiven Strategien zur Rechtfertigung von Diskriminierung gegen territorial definierte Außenseiter standen mehrere Hindernisse im Weg, etwa unzureichend ausgeprägte patriotische Gefühle für den Übernahmekandidaten, der Mangel patriotischer Alternativen zu einer transatlantischen Fusion und die mangelnde patriotische Glaubwürdigkeit derer, die eine staatliche Einmischung forderten. Der vorliegende Aufsatz ergänzt mit seinem diskursiven Schwerpunkt die aktuelle Forschung zu Wirtschaftspatriotismus. Außerdem trägt er zur Forschung über die Beziehungen zwischen Staat und Unternehmen und über die politischen Auswirkungen von Veränderungen in der Struktur von Unternehmenseigentum bei.1 Introduction 2 The surprising absence of territorially based discrimination 3 Demand for and opposition to government intervention 4 The discursive limitations of “economic patriotism” 5 Conclusion Sources (Interviews, References

Embedded Interval Type-2 Neuro-Fuzzy Speed Controller for Marine Diesel Engines

Marine diesel engines operate in highly dynamic and uncertain environments, hence they require robust and accurate speed controllers that can handle the uncertainties encountered in these environments. The current speed controllers for marine diesel engines are based on PID and type-1 Fuzzy Logic Controllers (FLCs) which cannot fully handle the uncertainties encountered in such environments. Type-2 FLCs can handle such uncertainties to produce a better control performance. However, manually designing a type-2 FLC is a difficult task. In this paper, we will introduce an embedded type-2 Neuro-Fuzzy Controller (T2NFC) which learns the parameters of interval type-2 FLC to control marine diesel engines. We have performed numerous experiments on a real diesel engine testing platform in which the T2NFC operated on an industrial embedded controller and handled the uncertainties to produce an accurate and robust speed controller that outperformed the currently used commercial engine controller, even though we have trained the T2NFC with data collected from the commercial controlle

Children’s embodied experience of living with domestic violence: ‘I’d go into my panic, and shake, really bad’

Children who experience domestic violence are often described in academic and professional literature as passive victims, whose ‘exposure’ to violence and abuse at home leaves them psychologically damaged, socially impaired, inarticulate, cognitively ‘concrete’ and emotionally ‘incompetent’. Whilst we recognise the importance of understanding the hurt, disruption and damage that domestic violence can cause, we also explore alternative possible ways of talking about and thinking about the lives of children who have experienced domestic violence. We report on interviews and drawings with 27 UK children, using interpretive analysis to explore their capacity for agency and resistance. We explore the paradoxical interplay of children’s acceptance and resistance to coercive control, paying specific attention to embodied experience and use of space. We consider how children articulate their experiences of pain and coercion, how they position themselves as embodied and affective subjects, and challenge Scarry’s (1985) suggestion that embodied pain and violence are inexpressible