Grands espaces et territorialité

In the geographical texts issuing from the Greek tradition, Europe was only a abstract space, controversial, without relationship with the inhabitants. During the Middle Ages, Europe was gradually perceived as the territory of the western Christendom. The study of Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini’s texts (Pius II), pope keen on antique geography, makes it possible to clarify a territorial swing of the Christendom, from the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe, at the time of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 and of the advance of their troops into the Southeast of Europe. This process of territorialization of Europe, which is not specific to this author, is new by the use, unique in his century, of the name of Europeans, revealing the idea of a social group identified by its localization in Europe, and not by its language, Latin, or by its religion, Christian. Thus this naturalization of the European identity will grow in the following centuries. In counterpoint, an opposite phenomenon can be noted with the invention of Turkey as the country of the Turks.Dans les textes géographiques issus de la tradition grecque, l’Europe n’était qu’un découpage spatial abstrait, discuté, sans rapport avec les peuples. Au Moyen Âge, elle a été progressivement perçue comme le territoire de la Chrétienté occidentale. L’étude des textes d’Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pie II), pape féru de géographie antique, permet de mettre en lumière un basculement territorial de la Chrétienté, de la Méditerranée vers l’Europe, à l’occasion de la prise de Constantinople par les Turcs en 1453 et l’avancée de leurs troupes dans le Sud-Est de l’Europe. Ce processus de territorialisation de l’Europe, qui n’est pas propre à cet auteur, s’affirme cependant chez lui par l’utilisation, au demeurant unique en son siècle, du terme d’Européens, révélant l’idée d’un groupe social identifié par sa localisation en Europe, et non par sa langue, latine, ou par sa religion, chrétienne. Or cette naturalisation de l’identité européenne est un fait notoire qui va prendre de l’ampleur dans les siècles suivants. En contrepoint, on note un phénomène inverse avec l’invention d’une Turquie comme pays des Turcs

Grands espaces et territorialité

In the geographical texts issuing from the Greek tradition, Europe was only a abstract space, controversial, without relationship with the inhabitants. During the Middle Ages, Europe was gradually perceived as the territory of the western Christendom. The study of Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini’s texts (Pius II), pope keen on antique geography, makes it possible to clarify a territorial swing of the Christendom, from the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe, at the time of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 and of the advance of their troops into the Southeast of Europe. This process of territorialization of Europe, which is not specific to this author, is new by the use, unique in his century, of the name of Europeans, revealing the idea of a social group identified by its localization in Europe, and not by its language, Latin, or by its religion, Christian. Thus this naturalization of the European identity will grow in the following centuries. In counterpoint, an opposite phenomenon can be noted with the invention of Turkey as the country of the Turks.Dans les textes géographiques issus de la tradition grecque, l’Europe n’était qu’un découpage spatial abstrait, discuté, sans rapport avec les peuples. Au Moyen Âge, elle a été progressivement perçue comme le territoire de la Chrétienté occidentale. L’étude des textes d’Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pie II), pape féru de géographie antique, permet de mettre en lumière un basculement territorial de la Chrétienté, de la Méditerranée vers l’Europe, à l’occasion de la prise de Constantinople par les Turcs en 1453 et l’avancée de leurs troupes dans le Sud-Est de l’Europe. Ce processus de territorialisation de l’Europe, qui n’est pas propre à cet auteur, s’affirme cependant chez lui par l’utilisation, au demeurant unique en son siècle, du terme d’Européens, révélant l’idée d’un groupe social identifié par sa localisation en Europe, et non par sa langue, latine, ou par sa religion, chrétienne. Or cette naturalisation de l’identité européenne est un fait notoire qui va prendre de l’ampleur dans les siècles suivants. En contrepoint, on note un phénomène inverse avec l’invention d’une Turquie comme pays des Turcs

Félix Eboué, 1884-1944 : mythe et réalités coloniales

Descendant of slaves, Felix Eboue was born in the middle of the lower middle class of Cayenne (Guiana) in 1884. He finished high school in Bordeaux and his graduate studies in Paris: he graduated from the “Ecole coloniale” in 1908. At his request, he was assigned in Oubangui-Chari (AEF colony). It remains in the bush twenty two years before becoming Chief (1931). He was appointed to various positions: Secretary General of Martinique (1932-1934), Secretary General of the French Sudan (1934-1936), governor of Guadeloupe (1936-1938), governor of Chad (1938-1940). In the summer of 1940, he chose the side of the Resistance with de Gaulle. The rallying Chad gives the leader of Free France, a French territory in Africa, a strategic importance. In November 1940, de Gaulle appointed Governor General of the AEF in Brazzaville and Companion of the Liberation. Until February 1944, thanks to his mastery of the colonial administration, he manages people and resources of the AEF for the benefit of Free France and the Allies. Exhausted and ill, he died in Cairo in May 1944. The memory State seizes his memory to make an icon rapidly enters the Pantheon in May 1949. But Felix Eboue is not limited to the myth: it is an iconic character of the Third Republic, he is a man rooted in his time by his membership in networks of power and ideas. Its specificity is to be hoped reform the colonial system and have believed it was possible to fight against the prejudice of color against racism on behalf of the values of the Republic. If he was a pioneer, this is the sport that was for him an ideal tool for the integration and development of the individual.Descendant d’esclaves, Félix Éboué est né dans le milieu de la petite bourgeoisie de Cayenne (Guyane) en 1884. Il termine ses études secondaires à Bordeaux puis ses études supérieures à Paris : il sort diplômé de l’École coloniale en 1908. A sa demande, il est affecté en Oubangui-Chari (colonie de l’AEF). Il reste en brousse vingt deux ans avant de devenir administrateur en chef (1931). Il est ensuite nommé à différents postes : secrétaire général de la Martinique (1932-1934), secrétaire général du Soudan français (1934-1936), gouverneur de la Guadeloupe (1936-1938), gouverneur du Tchad (1938-1940). A l’été 1940, il choisit le camp de la Résistance avec de Gaulle. Le ralliement du Tchad donne au chef de la France libre un territoire français en Afrique, d’une importance stratégique capitale. En novembre 1940, de Gaulle le nomme gouverneur général de l’AEF à Brazzaville et Compagnon de la Libération. Jusqu’à février 1944, grâce à sa maîtrise de l’administration coloniale, il gère les hommes et les ressources de l’AEF pour le plus grand profit de la France libre et des Alliés. Épuisé et malade, il décède au Caire en mai 1944.La mémoire d’État s’empare de sa mémoire pour en faire rapidement une icône : il entre au Panthéon en mai 1949. Mais, Félix Éboué ne se réduit pas à son mythe : s’il est un personnage emblématique de la IIIe République, il est un homme ancré dans son époque par son appartenance à des réseaux de pouvoirs et par ses idées. Sa spécificité est d’avoir espéré réformer le système colonial et d’avoir cru qu’il était possible de lutter contre le préjugé de couleur, contre le racisme au nom des valeurs de la République. S’il fut un pionnier, c’est par le domaine du sport qui était pour lui un outil par excellence de l’intégration et d’épanouissement de l’individu

La Réunion, Madagascar, îles d'Afrique ?

L'article pose la question de l'africanité de Madagascar et de La Réunion à travers trois approches différentes. 1) Comment a été délimité le continent africain ? Comment les îles d'Afrique ont-elles été définies ? 2) Quels sens peut-on donner au continentalisme africain ? Quelle est l'africanité de Madagascar et de La Réunion ? 3) Quels sont les liens historiques de ces îles avec le reste de l'Eufrasie en général, voire avec l'Amérique

Robot humanoïde d'inspection et d'assainissement en boite gants nucléaire

Ce travail présente une évaluation de l'opportu-nité d'utiliser des robots humanoïdes en milieu nucléaire. Ce projet a utilisé la plateforme du DaRwIn-OP pour lui apporter les modifications nécessaires afin d'en faire un opérateur d'intervention en milieu nucléaire. Les deux axes de travail ont consisté à équiper l'humanoïde d'un capteur de mesure radiologique et d'une commande des bras par une caméra en champ profond. Les tests réalisés montrent la capacité de réaliser des mesures radiologiques au moyen du capteur intégré et la réalisation de frottis pour évaluer la contamination d'un objet

An humanoid robot for inspections and cleaning tasks in nuclear glove box

This article presents an opportunity evaluation of the use of humanoid robots in a nuclear environment. The project worked on the DaRwIn-OP platform to assess and carry out the modifications the robot needed to enable it to perform as an intervention operator in a nuclear location. The study had two main lines, based on equipping the humanoid with a radiological measurement capture system and with an arm command system using a depth camera. The tests performed showed the robot's ability to make radiological measurements with the built in detector and to collect swipe samples to assess the contamination of an object

Changing the Environment Based on Empowerment as Intrinsic Motivation

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 3.0 which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.One aspect of intelligence is the ability to restructure your own environment so that the world you live in becomes more beneficial to you. In this paper we investigate how the information-theoretic measure of agent empowerment can provide a task-independent, intrinsic motivation to restructure the world. We show how changes in embodiment and in the environment change the resulting behaviour of the agent and the artefacts left in the world. For this purpose, we introduce an approximation of the established empowerment formalism based on sparse sampling, which is simpler and significantly faster to compute for deterministic dynamics. Sparse sampling also introduces a degree of randomness into the decision making process, which turns out to beneficial for some cases. We then utilize the measure to generate agent behaviour for different agent embodiments in a Minecraft-inspired three dimensional block world. The paradigmatic results demonstrate that empowerment can be used as a suitable generic intrinsic motivation to not only generate actions in given static environments, as shown in the past, but also to modify existing environmental conditions. In doing so, the emerging strategies to modify an agent’s environment turn out to be meaningful to the specific agent capabilities, i.e., de facto to its embodiment.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Adaptation of the Perception-Action Loop Using Active Channel Sampling

“This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.” DOI: 10.1109/AHS.2008.6

Maximization of Potential Information Flow as a Universal Utility for Collective Behaviour

We explore how information theoretic quantities such as potential information flow (empowerment) can be used as a drive toward complex collective behaviour in the context of multi-agent systems. In a first experiment, we investigate the empowerment of two agents interacting in a grid world. We show that some conditions lead to higher empowerment than others, depending on the amount of interaction and the amount of information shared by the agents. We then investigate more deeply the tradeoff between freedom of the agents and the constraints they impose on each other. We show that there exist a trade-off between these where empowerment is maximized. In a third experiment, we show that agents behaving so as to maximize potential information transfer over time generate a wide range of complex collective behaviours. We then discuss how these notions can be compared to what happens in natural systems

Informational Principles of Perception-Action Loops and Collective Behaviours

Living beings, robotic and software artefacts can all be seen as agents acting and perceiving within an environment. When observed under that perspective, a new concept is accessible: information in the sense of Shannon. It has long been known that information and control are interrelated concepts. However it is only recently that this perspective has been better understood and used in order to study cognition. In this thesis, we build upon such an information-theoretic perspective and add some biologically motivated assumptions. They introduce various constraints on the capture, the processing, or the storage of information by an agent. Using such constraints it is possible to understand some limits on the control abilities of agents, and to derive algorithms that optimize these abilities. More specifically this thesis uses the recently introduced concept of empowerment, i.e. the ability to act upon the environment and perceive back the changes through the sensors. Maximizing this quantity leads to a wide range of cognitively interesting properties. This work studies some of these properties. One of them, the ability to capture information that is relevant for the perception-action loop of the agent, is deeply investigated and algorithms for exploiting this ability are presented. The second part of the thesis deals with the use of the information-theoretic framework when multiple agents are interacting with each other. Empowerment maximization in this context leads to two phenomena: the generation of complex structures, and the emergence of synchronised and potentially cooperative interactions. In this thesis, the first phenomenon is empirically investigated through various spatial scenarios in order to understand the kind of structures that are generated and under which conditions they appear. Connections are made between the second phenomenon and the concept of the multiple-access channel. Using recent developments of this information-theoretic model, it is possible to precisely study the kind of interactions that can occur, and the situations that lead to synchronised or cooperative behaviour. The general aim of this work is to give a comprehensive picture of the information-theoretic framework for studying the perception-action loop, bringing both single and multi-agents aspects together. The concepts presented in this thesis allows one to study some fundamental aspects of cognition, to engineer self-motivated robotic systems, or to drive self-organization in multi-agents systems