This article investigates the concept of the ground truth as both an epistemic and technical figure of knowledge that is central to discussions of machine vision and media techniques of visuality. While ground truth refers to a set of remote sensing practices, it has a longer history in operational photography, such as aerial reconnaissance. Building on a discussion of this history, this article argues that ground truth has shifted from a reference to the physical, geographical ground to the surface of (...) the images echoing earlier points raised by philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy that there is a ground of the image that is central to the task of analysis beyond representational practices. Furthermore, building on the practices of pattern recognition, composite imaging, and different interpretational techniques, we discuss contemporary practices of machine learning that mobilizes geographical earth observation datasets for experimental purposes, including tests such as “fake geography” as well as artistic practices, to show how ground truth is operationalized in such contexts of AI and visual arts. (shrink)

Conçues pour des biens ayant une consistance matérielle, nombre d'infractions pénales ont été sollicitées ces dernières années pour s'appliquer à des biens immatériels tels qu'un numéro de carte bancaire, un projet de borne informatique, du temps de travail ou encore des données informatiques. Au-delà de la matière répressive, l'ambition de cet ouvrage est de se livrer à une étude plus générale de l'adaptation du droit au développement de l'immatériel pour déterminer jusqu'où l'on peut juridiquement aller dans sa prise en compte. (...) C'est un fait indéniable que l'immatériel prend une place de tout premier plan dans la société contemporaine. Le droit des siècles passés connaissait, certes, déjà l'incorporalité, mais nul doute que les potentialités actuelles ouvrent des perspectives nouvelles. L'ouvrage propose tout d'abord de préciser la notion d'immatériel en recourant à des approches non juridiques. Le point de vue du philosophe et celui du physicien peuvent fournir des clés pour percer un concept que le juriste pourra ensuite aborder de manière pragmatique. S'agissant de l'appréhension juridique de l'immatériel, deux mouvements peuvent être observés. D'une part, l'immatériel est un objet que le droit s'efforce d'intégrer ; d'autre part, il est un outil que le droit peut exploiter. Sur le premier point, il s'agit d'examiner comment le droit parvient à s'adapter à l'émergence de nouvelles formes d'objet et surtout d'identifier les limites qui ne pourront ou ne devront pas être dépassées. Même lorsque l'on s'intéresse à des matières qui ont été conçues pour régir l'immatériel, telle que la propriété intellectuelle, on observe en effet que tout objet ne peut être saisi et on devine alors que de telles limites doivent a fortiori exister lorsque l'on est en présence de branches du droit qui n'étaient originairement pas destinées à s'appliquer à de tels biens et qui ne peuvent y parvenir qu'au terme d'une adaptation. Sur le second aspect, il s'agit d'observer les perspectives qu'ouvre l'immatériel comme moyen d'accéder au droit et de mettre en relation les acteurs de la scène juridique. Là aussi, certains aspects ne sont pas totalement nouveaux et si la prolifération des contrats conclus par voie électronique ne constitue que le développement récent du phénomène ancien des contrats à distance, la dématérialisation des procédures et des échanges entre professionnels du droit va être relayée par un accès direct du justiciable aux services judiciaires qui est de nature à changer de manière significative le mode de relation au juge et à l'institution judiciaire. (shrink)

" Pourquoi demandons-nous avec tant d'empressement au cerveau d'expliquer ce qui nous arrive et ce que nous devons faire? On se dit, n'est-ce pas dans ses replis que nous devons désormais chercher notre sort? La philosophie peut-elle rester indifférente à un tel sujet? [...] Mais avons-nous éclairci notre monde et résolu nos questions de vie en les enracinant dans nos cerveaux? A-t-on rendu la conscience moins mystérieuse? Et penser? L'organe de la pensée va-t-il enfin nous en dispenser? " L'auteur s'interroge (...) avec une douce ironie sur les espoirs et les fragilités qui s'expriment dans cette nouvelle quête de fondement que nous avons entreprise. Qu'on ne s'attende pas à trouver ici une théorie du fonctionnement cérébral, mais mille interrogations, mille formulations des questions qui surgissent dès lors qu'on interpose l'idée de cerveau entre nous et le monde. L'ensemble compose une suite de méditations, ramassées en brefs chapitres, pour trouver une place au cerveau et varier notre distance à son égard. (shrink)

Examines the theme of haunting in recent U.S. and postcolonial literature as a response to the dynamics of transnational literary circulation.

In the original publication of the article, the following paragraphs have been indented wrongly in the published article.

The thought of Thomas More -- Early life, education, and poetry -- Utopia and common things -- Richard III and the stage play of politics -- The common corps of Christendom -- Influence.

Part 1. Energetic disturbances -- Energetic clutter gutter -- Energetic residue -- Energetic interference -- Personal atmosphere -- House anatomy -- Part 2. Plugging in -- creative clearing power -- Spiritual assistance -- Energy measurement (energy testing/dowsing) -- Part 3. Energy-clearing solutions (steps and protocols) -- House energy-clearing treatment (steps and protocol) -- Distance house energy-clearing treatment -- Business energy-clearing treatment -- Personal energy-clearing treatment (steps and protocol) -- Energy-clearing protocols for children, pets, and more!

An in-depth examination of the work of this important medieval woman mystic.

The Clinical ethics centre in Paris offers its services equally to doctors and patients/proxies. Its primary goal is to re-equilibrate doctor–patient roles through giving greater voice to patients individually in medical decisions. Patients are present at virtually all levels, initiating consults, providing their point of view and receiving feedback. The implications of patients' involvement are threefold. At an operational level, decision-making is facilitated by repositioning the debate on ethical grounds and introducing a dynamic of decisional partnership, although contact with patients (...) can make it difficult to deny their demands and set the limits of our role. Ethically, it reinforces patients' autonomy and grants them a place of veritable ethics ‘actors’, with the danger that this may become excessively autonomy oriented. Finally, at a collective level, the programme fulfils its political purpose in promoting patients' rights and the ideal of démocratie sanitaire, but complicates balancing individual demands with collective values. (shrink)

Understanding the nature of science has long been a desired outcome of science education, despite ongoing disagreements about the content, structure, and focus of NOS expectations. Addressing the concern that teachers likely focus only on student learning expectations appearing in standards documents, this study examines the current state of NOS in science education standards documents from nine diverse countries to determine the overt NOS learning expectations that appeared, NOS statements provided near those learning expectations, but not identified as learning outcomes, (...) and NOS statements found in ancillary text. Findings indicate that NOS ideas rarely occur as expectations for student learning and are far more commonly found in ancillary material. Moreover, consensus was not apparent in the overt learning outcomes for students. Given the well-documented poor state of NOS instruction and the consistent lack of NOS appearing in published curriculum materials, the NOS standards appearing in nearly all documents analyzed are unlikely to provide sufficient conceptual or pedagogical support for NOS to be accurately interpreted or translated into meaningful experiences for students. (shrink)

A pilot center for clinical ethics in France opened with the establishment of the “Centre d'éthique clinique” at Cochin Hospital in Paris, September 2002. Unlike the longer history in the United States of providing ethics consultation for ethical issues deriving from physician–patient interactions, this center marks a new development in bringing clinical ethics to Europe.

En 1988, la fouille sous‑marine du port de Thasos permettait l’extraction d’un imposant carreau de marbre, en même temps que d’autres blocs entassés en avant de la jetée antique. En 2017, un nouvel examen de la pierre, qui appartenait originellement à l’élévation d’un édifice de l’agora toute proche, a révélé une inscription rendue très difficilement lisible par un séjour prolongé dans l’eau de mer. Le Peuple des Thasiens y honorait son patron, Caius Octavius, proconsul de Macédoine en 60‑59 av. J.‑C.

Advance directives have been hailed for two decades as the best way to safeguard patients’ autonomy when they are totally or partially incompetent. In many national contexts they are written into law and they are mostly associated with end-of-life decisions. Although advocates and critics of ADs exchange relevant empirical and theoretical arguments, the debate is inconclusive. We argue that this is so for good reasons: the ADs’ project is fraught with tensions, and this is the reason why they are both (...) important and deeply problematic. We outline six such tensions, and conclude with some positive suggestions about how to better promote patients’ autonomy in end-of-life decision. We argue that ADs should continue to be an option but they cannot be the panacea that they are expected to be. (shrink)

There is little empirical evidence showing a direct link between a capacity for statistical learning (SL) and proficiency with natural language. Moreover, discussion of the role of SL in language acquisition has seldom focused on literacy development. Our study addressed these issues by investigating the relationship between SL and reading ability in typically developing children and healthy adults. We tested SL using visually presented stimuli within a triplet learning paradigm and examined reading ability by administering the Wide Range Achievement Test (...) (WRAT-4; Wilkinson & Robertson, 2006). A total of 38 typically developing children (mean age of 9;5 years, range 6;4–12;5) and 37 healthy adults (mean age of 21 years, range 18–34) were assessed. In children, SL was significantly related to reading ability. Importantly, this relationship was independent of grade and also age. The adult data, too, revealed that SL was significantly related to reading ability. A regression analysis of the combined child and adult data revealed that SL accounted for a unique amount of variance in reading ability, after age and attention had been taken into consideration. For the first time, this study provides empirical evidence that a capacity for more effective SL is related to higher reading ability in the general population. (shrink)

Designed for Pilates and yoga teachers, health and rehabilitation professionals, The Power and the Grace demystifies functional movement and integrates the science of movement with the art of teaching it. It aims to help the holistically minded movement professional achieve rewarding results in neuromuscular function. From brain science to physics, fascia to emotion, this book distils a seemingly complex field into a practical and instantly usable approach that will resonate with movement teachers at all levels of experience. Find the color (...) in your language; learn the difference between talking to the brain or to the mind; and discover how to communicate the intention and sense of a movement with ease! (shrink)

Volume 1: The Dance of Civa Collum Originally published in 1927. "It has substance and thought to it." Spectator "A very interesting account of the work of Sir Jagadis Bose." Oxford Magazine This essay suggests that recognition of the ceaseless flow of the Dance of Civa is the most promising cure for the misunderstandings that have arisen from a Western habit of assuming that conventional categories have tangible existence. Quo Vadimus? Glimpses of the Future E E Fournier d’Albe Originally (...) published in 1925. "A wonderful vision of the future. A book that will be talked about." Daily Graphic "Interesting and singularly plausible" Daily Telegraph This volume discusses the possible advances of life on earth and asks whether a new race will arise or whether the earth will remain the dominant planet in the solar system for human life. 92pp. Ethnos or the Problem of Race Arthur Keith Originally published in 1931 The author argues that the global unrest of the 1930s arises from qualities inherent in human races and he maintains that if the world is to have peace the problems engendered by diversity of race must first be understood. 86pp Tantalus Or the Future of Man F C S Schiller Originally published in 1924. "…brilliantly clever…" Morning Post "Immensely valuable and infinitely readable" Daily News This volume discusses the threats which face mankind and ways in which destruction may be avoided. 66pp. (shrink)

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada made it clear that understanding the historical, social, cultural, and political landscape that shapes the relationships between Indigenous peoples and social institutions, including the health care system, is crucial to achieving social justice. How to translate this recognition into more equitable health policy and practice remains a challenge. In particular, there is limited understanding of ways to respond to situations in which conventional practices mandated by the state and regulated by its legal apparatus (...) come into direct conflict with the values and autonomy of Indigenous individuals, communities, and nations. In this paper, we consider two cases of conflict between Indigenous and biomedical perspectives to clarify some of the competing values. We argue for the importance of person‐ and people‐centered approaches to health care. These value conflicts must be understood at multiple levels to clarify their personal, social, cultural, and political dimensions. Taking into account the divergence between epistemic cultures and communities allows us to understand the multiple narratives deployed in decision‐making processes in clinical, community, and juridical contexts. Recognizing the knowledge claims of Indigenous peoples in health care can help clinicians avoid reinforcing the divides created by the structural and institutional legacy of colonialism. This analysis also provides ways to adjudicate conflicts in health care decision‐making by disentangling cultural, political, medical, and pragmatic issues to allow for respectful dialogue. Insofar as the engagement with cultural pluralism in health care rights is conducted with reciprocal recognition, the medical community and Indigenous peoples can address together the difficult question of how to integrate different epistemic cultures in the health care system. (shrink)

In today's business world, ethics is not simply a peripheral concern of executive boards or a set of supposed constraints on free enterprise. Ethics stands at the very core of our working lives and of society as a whole, defining the public image of the business community and the ways in which individual companies and people behave. What people do at work--and how they think about work--determines their attitudes and aspirations, affecting and even structuring their personal lives and habits. Working (...) from this premise, Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader provides a practical overview of business ethics that concentrates on the ethical problems and dilemmas students are most likely to face in their prospective work environments. Classic and recent articles and cases cover a broad spectrum of issues and concerns--from private ethical dilemmas to larger considerations of corporate values--and propose guidelines for thinking about the business world in a moral context. Each reading and case is followed by lively questions for discussion. Offering a welcome alternative to the impersonal tone of most business ethics texts, the editors address students in an appealing and conversational manner. They provide engaging chapter introductions that include personal narratives and also present the ideas of great philosophers in a unique way--as emails. Ideal for introductory undergraduate and MBA courses in business ethics, Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader can be read as a coherent narrative but also offers instructors great flexibility, as its various chapters, readings, and cases can be pursued in almost any order. A Companion Website featuring chapter objectives and summaries, study questions, self-tests, and off-site links of interest will soon be available. An Instructor's Manual with Test Bank is available to adopters. (shrink)

This study examines how authentic leadership influences team performance via the mediating mechanism of team reflexivity. Adopting a self-regulatory perspective, we propose that authentic leadership will predict the specific team regulatory process of reflexivity, which in turn will be associated with two outcomes of team performance, effectiveness and productivity. Using survey data from 53 teams in three organizations in the United Kingdom and Greece and controlling for collective trust, we found support for our stated hypotheses with the results indicating a (...) significant fully mediated relationship. As predicted the self-regulatory behaviors inherent in the process of authentic leadership served to collectively shape team behavior, manifesting in the process of team reflexivity, which, in turn, positively predicted team performance. We conclude with a discussion of how this study extends theoretical understanding of authentic leadership in relation to teamwork and delineate several practical implications for leaders and organizations. (shrink)

Cet essai développe une analyse critique de la mondialisation basée sur des recherches de terrains entreprises dans la décennie 2010 à Cuba, plus particulièrement à La Havane. L’enseignement de la mondialisation dans les universités anglo-saxonnes au Canada et en Grande-Bretagne dans les années 2000 se caractérisait par une peur de l’homogénéisation de la culture, puis de l’application d’une approche ethnographique pour l’exploration du processus d’appropriation culturelle engendrée par les interactions entre le local et le transnational. Des recherches de terrain ont (...) cependant montré, parfois de manière concrète, comment la vision de la mondialisation composée de systèmes de circulations fluides et sans tension était utopique et non pertinente dans le contexte cubain (et probablement dans tous les pays de l’hémisphère Sud). L’histoire du « dossier dubstep » racontée ici permet d’illustrer le sentiment de décalage tel qu’exprimé par des DJs et producteurs de musique électronique à La Havane et leur désir d’entrer dans la danse. Enfin, cet essai jette un regard critique sur une vision fluide des échanges, souvent associée au concept de circulation et, par extension, au phénomène de la mondialisation. (shrink)

Many commentators have contrasted the way that sociability is theorized in the writings of Mary Astell and Damaris Masham, emphasizing the extent to which Masham is more interested in embodied, worldly existence. I argue, by contrast, that Astell's own interest in imagining a constitutively relational individual emerges once we pay attention to her use of religious texts and tropes. To explore the relevance of Astell's Christianity, I emphasize both how Astell's Christianity shapes her view of the individual's relation to society (...) and how Masham's contrasting views can be analyzed through the lens of her charge that Astell is an “enthusiast.” In late seventeenth-century England, “enthusiasm” was a term of abuse that, commentators have recently argued, could function polemically to dismiss those deemed either excessively social or antisocial. By accusing Astell of enthusiasm, I claim, Masham seeks to marginalize the relational self that Astell imagines and to promote a more instrumental view of social ties. I suggest some aspects of Astell's thought that may have struck contemporaries as “enthusiastic” and contrast her vision of the self with Masham's more hedonistic subject. I conclude that, although each woman differently configures the relation between self and society, they share a desire to imagine autonomy within a relational framework. (shrink)

The scope of the issues -- The moral relationship between leaders and followers -- The morality of leaders : motives and deeds -- Puzzles and perils of transformational leadership.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) "Policy for the Management of Terminally Ill Patients Who May Become Organ Donors after Death" proposes to take organs from certain patients as soon as possible after expected cardiopulmonary death. This policy requires clear understanding of the descriptive state of the donor's critical cardiopulmonary and neurologic functional capacity at the time interventions to sustain or harvest organs are undertaken. It also requires strong consensus about the moral and legal status of the donor during (...) dying and confirmation of death. There has been no need for the clarity and precision that this policy relies upon, and thus the needed research and conceptual work has not previously been generated. The empiric base and societal consensus are both too frail to provide justification for this policy at this time. (shrink)

Advances in science have led to a new vision for toxicity testing based on human cell systems that will be more predictive, have higher throughput, cost less money, and be more comparable to real‐life exposures in humans, while using many fewer animals. This vision, embraced by leading scientific and regulatory groups, is a paradigm shift from animal‐based to human‐based testing that signals a major change in focus and promotes the development of new approaches to understanding the toxicity of chemicals in (...) humans. Information gained from these new approaches will likely affect other areas of research as well, leading to less reliance on animals in the future. (shrink)

As the first monograph on waiting in Christian traditions, this study breaks new ground by revealing how waiting becomes a stabilizing force that helps to solidify Christian identity and community. It analyzes various forms of Christian waiting through the lens of Paul Ricoeur’s ideas about ideology and utopia.

Feeling anxious and presenting self-determined motivations about returning to sport after a break may impair sport performance and increase the risk of sustaining an injury. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore differences in anxiety and motivation to return to sport according to gender, expertise, training status before and during the lockdown, and athletes’ availability at the time of the lockdown. A total of 759 competitive athletes completed the cross-sectional study. Participants were invited to state their expertise, training (...) status before and during the lockdown, and whether they were injured at the start of the lockdown. Additionally, participants filled out psychometric self-report measures of anxiety and motivation to return to sport. Due to non-normal distributions in the TFAI and SMS scores, non-parametric group comparisons were performed to compare participants for each categorical variable: non-parametric correlation tests were also performed to test the associations between continuous variables. Group comparisons showed higher scores of anxiety for females, younger athletes, athletes practicing and competing at the highest level, and athletes without a training program during the lockdown. Moreover, results suggested lower motivation scores for older athletes, experts, athletes practicing and competing at a lower level, and athletes without a training program during the lockdown. Additionally, participants who were injured at the start of the lockdown reported higher scores of cognitive anxiety to return to sport than non-injured participants. The results of this study suggest that elite athletes may have suffered from external pressures to return to sport during the lockdown. Additionally, participants with a training program during the lockdown seemed to be less anxious and more self-determined to return to sport after the lockdown. Future studies may focus on the impact of cognitive behavioral interventions on anxiety and motivation to return to sport. (shrink)

We contribute to the literature on ethics in the professions by theorizing how global mobility precipitates professional insecurity and constrained moral agency. We present our findings of a study of accountants migrating to Canada. Using postcolonial theory and relational/poststructuralist theories of identity and ethics, we contrast the experiences of marginalized and privileged migrant accountants to show how those with “diverse” social identities are not recognized by professionals in Canada and must seek recognition from Canadian colleagues, employers, and clients to reconstitute (...) their professional identities and moral agency. We discuss the implications of the exclusion and marginalization of professionals for migrants, the profession, and society more generally. (shrink)

This paper discusses a deterministic model of the spread of an infectious disease in a closed population that was proposed byKermack &McKendrick . The mathematical assumptions on which the model is based are listed and criticized. The ‘threshold theorem’ according to which an epidemic develops if, and only if, the initial population density exceeds a certain value determined by the parameters of the model, is discussed. It is shown that the theorem is not true. A weaker result is stated and (...) proved.A new simplified version of the model is discussed. In this model it is assumed that an infected individual becomes infectious after a constant time and that it will removed after a constant time. Numerical simulations of this model show that the form of the fluctuations in the number of diseased individuals depends on the values of the parameters. The number of infectious individuals may oscillate up and down under certain circumstances. Necessary conditions for the number of infectious individuals to rise above previous levels are stated and proved. (shrink)