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Showing papers by "Paris West University Nanterre La Défense published in 2006"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is confirmed that in all mammal species examined thus far, including humans, formant components can provide a relatively accurate indication of a vocalizing individual's characteristics.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was: (i) to provide additional evidence regarding the existence of human voice parameters, which could be reliable indicators of a speaker's physical characteristics and (ii) to examine the ability of listeners to judge voice pleasantness and a speaker's characteristics from speech samples. We recorded 26 men enunciating five vowels. Voices were played to 102 female judges who were asked to assess vocal attractiveness and speakers' age, height and weight. Statistical analyses were used to determine: (i) which physical component predicted which vocal component and (ii) which vocal component predicted which judgment. We found that men with low-frequency formants and small formant dispersion tended to be older, taller and tended to have a high level of testosterone. Female listeners were consistent in their pleasantness judgment and in their height, weight and age estimates. Pleasantness judgments were based mainly on intonation. Female listeners were able to correctly estimate age by using formant components. They were able to estimate weight but we could not explain which acoustic parameters they used. However, female listeners were not able to estimate height, possibly because they used intonation incorrectly. Our study confirms that in all mammal species examined thus far, including humans, formant components can provide a relatively accurate indication of a vocalizing individual's characteristics. Human listeners have the necessary information at their disposal; however, they do not necessarily use it.

175 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The first study of patterns of genetic diversity of sorghum landraces at the local scale in Northern Cameroon is presented, showing how historical factors, variation in breeding systems, and farmers’ practices all affected patterns of Genetic variation.
Abstract: We present the first study of patterns of genetic diversity of sorghum landraces at the local scale. Understanding landrace diversity aids in deciphering evolutionary forces under domestication, and has applications in the conservation of genetic resources and their use in breeding programs. Duupa farmers in a village in Northern Cameroon distinguished 59 named sorghum taxa, representing 46 landraces. In each field, seeds are sown as a mixture of landraces (mean of 12 landraces per field), giving the potential for extensive gene flow. What level of genetic diversity underlies the great morphological diversity observed among landraces? Given the potential for gene flow, how well defined genetically is each landrace? To answer these questions, we recorded spatial patterns of planting and farmers' perceptions of landraces, and characterized 21 landraces using SSR markers. Analysis using distance and clustering methods grouped the 21 landraces studied into four clusters. These clusters correspond to functionally and ecologically distinct groups of landraces. Within-landrace genetic variation accounted for 30% of total variation. The average F(is) over landraces was 0.68, suggesting high inbreeding within landraces. Differentiation among landraces was substantial and significant (F(st) = 0.36). Historical factors, variation in breeding systems, and farmers' practices all affected patterns of genetic variation. Farmers' practices are key to the maintenance, despite gene flow, of landraces with different combinations of agronomically and ecologically pertinent traits. They must be taken into account in strategies of conservation and use of genetic resources.

120 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors describe an exchange rate peg on a dollar/euro/yen basket as an orthogonality condition for bilateral exchange rates vis-a-vis these currencies and find that the number of pegs has not diminished after the crises.
Abstract: We describe an exchange rate peg on a dollar/euro/yen basket as an orthogonality condition for bilateral exchange rates vis-a-vis these currencies. This approach avoids the choice of a numeraire and allows simple testing on the composition of the peg. GMM estimation is performed before and after the 1997–1998 crises for up to 139 currencies. We find that the number of pegs has not diminished after the crises. Intermediate regimes, defined as de facto pegs which are not reported as hard pegs to the IMF, have been replaced by hard pegs (primarily as a consequence of the launch of the euro) while the proportion of free floats has not increased. The dollar remains the main anchor currency. J. Japanese Int. Economies 20 (1) (2006) 112–127.

108 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 2006
TL;DR: The authors decrit une strategie particuliere de recherche sur des processus organisationnels : l'etude longitudinale de cas enchâsses.
Abstract: Cet article decrit une strategie particuliere de recherche sur des processus organisationnels : lʼetude longitudinale de cas enchâsses. Elle peut etre definie comme une etude de cas longitudinale comportant plusieurs sous-unites dʼanalyse et dans laquelle des investigations sont menees a la fois au niveau du cas dʼensemble et des sous-unites. Lʼarticle apporte un eclairage sur lʼinteret de ce design specifique pour des recherches visant a developper des theories processuelles de phenomenes complexes comme lʼinnovation, lʼapprentissage, la dynamique des competences dans lʼorganisation. Ce design permet en particulier de mener une etude empirique longitudinale en comparant differentes sous-unites au sein dʼun cas unique, dans une perspective de generation de theorie. Lʼarticle insiste egalement sur les aspects pratiques de la mise en oeuvre de ce design, au niveau de la selection des unites, de la collecte des donnees et de leur analyse. Le propos est illustre par des exemples concrets. Nous pensons que cet article peut eclairer lʼapport potentiel et les difficultes de ce design pour dʼautres recherches processuelles, et contribuer ainsi aux reflexions actuelles sur les aspects methodologiques des etudes empiriques longitudinales.

91 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Several socio-economic and socio-cultural factors such as religious affiliation, material living conditions and participation in a social network were significantly associated with the use of oral health care services by adults who had experienced oral health problems during the previous year.
Abstract: Background In sub-Saharan Africa, the availability and accessibility of oral health services are seriously constrained and the provision of essential oral care is limited. Reports from the region show a very low utilization of oral health care services, and visits to dental-care facilities are mostly undertaken for symptomatic reasons. The objectives of the present study were to describe the prevalence of oral symptoms among adults in Ouagadougou, capital city of Burkina Faso and the use of oral health services and self-medication in response to these symptoms and to measure the associations between predisposing, enabling and needs factors and decisions to seek oral health care.

91 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The main focus is to understand what is the rate of approximation, measured either in expectation or probability, that can be obtained under a given prior fρ ∈ Θ, and what are possible algorithms for obtaining optimal or semioptimal results.
Abstract: Let ź be an unknown Borel measure defined on the space Z := X × Y with X ź źd and Y = [-M,M]. Given a set z of m samples zi =(xi,yi) drawn according to ź, the problem of estimating a regression function fź using these samples is considered. The main focus is to understand what is the rate of approximation, measured either in expectation or probability, that can be obtained under a given prior fź ź ź, i.e., under the assumption that fź is in the set ź, and what are possible algorithms for obtaining optimal or semioptimal (up to logarithms) results. The optimal rate of decay in terms of m is established for many priors given either in terms of smoothness of fź or its rate of approximation measured in one of several ways. This optimal rate is determined by two types of results. Upper bounds are established using various tools in approximation such as entropy, widths, and linear and nonlinear approximation. Lower bounds are proved using Kullback-Leibler information together with Fano inequalities and a certain type of entropy. A distinction is drawn between algorithms which employ knowledge of the prior in the construction of the estimator and those that do not. Algorithms of the second type which are universally optimal for a certain range of priors are given.

85 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the Poincare inequality was shown to be equivalent to the quadratic transportation cost inequalities, and new families of inequalities were introduced for relative entropy, which are equivalent to poincare inequalities for T 2 but not the logarithmic Sobolev inequality.

76 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study provides the first evidence that a bird can acoustically discriminate between two categories of its own offspring: those that it preferentially feeds and those fed by the other parent.

51 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A differential brain connectivity between incidental and intentional processing of fearful faces is confirmed, confirmed by fMRI study examining effective connectivity within an emotional network composed of three brain areas: Amygdala, Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Orbito-Frontal.

45 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated to what extent business cycles co-move in Germany, France and Italy and used a large-scale database of non-stationary series for the euro area in order to assess the effect of common versus idiosyncratic shocks, as well as transitory versus permanent shocks, across countries over the 1980:Q1 to 2003:Q4 period.
Abstract: The objective of the paper is to investigate to what extent business cycles co-move in Germany, France and Italy. We use a large-scale database of non-stationary series for the euro area in order to assess the effect of common versus idiosyncratic shocks, as well as transitory versus permanent shocks, across countries over the 1980:Q1 to 2003:Q4 period. We apply the method-ology proposed by Bai (2004) and Bai and Ng (2004) to construct a coincident indicator of the euro area business cycle to which national developments appear to be increasingly correlated at business cycle frequencies (8 to 32 quarters), while more significant differences appear at lower frequencies which measures potential growth. The indicator is also shown to be related to extra euro area economic developments.

40 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reveal the rationale behind the creation of private institutions and how agents prefer to rely on a combination of various coordination devices, that compensating for each other's weaknesses, to settle their coordination problems by minimizing transaction costs.
Abstract: Summary: Private institutions are complementary, both to contracts and the public and general institutions of a society, in that they allow agents to collectively coordinate (and so benefit from economies of scale , from learning effects, and from management of externalities), while avoiding over high maladaptation costs (since they can be adapted to the specificities of a category of transactions or of a community). They depend on a principle of voluntary adhesion. Their members agree to comply ex-post with a private order. Exit can therefore hinder enforcement, potentially calling for reinforcement by public institutions. From a dynamic perspective, private institutions are the driving force of changes to institutional frameworks. They are set up to complete (or bypass) existing institutional frameworks. With the passing of time, an increasing number of economic agents can “adopt” a given private institution, making its order less negotiated and increasingly mandatory. In line with the BarzelNorth study of property rights, we believe private institutions have an impact both on the costs of creating coordination rules and on the enforcement costs of these rules. Therefore, we reveal, both in static and dynamic, firstly, the rationale behind the creation of private institutions (or a private collective order), secondly, how agents prefer to rely on a combination of various coordination devices, that compensating for each other’s weaknesses, to settle their coordination problems by minimizing transaction costs.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the convergence of long run credit demand determinants (interest rates, investment and house prices) among the largest euro area countries, while short run dynamics remain heterogeneous across countries, is investigated.
Abstract: The paper contributes to the literature on the convergence of financial systems in the euro area by estimating household credit demand in individual countries. Using the ARDL framework advocated notably by Pesaran et al. (1999), the paper provides evidence on the convergence of long run credit demand determinants (interest rates, investment and house prices) among the largest euro area countries, while short run dynamics remain heterogenous across countries. The paper also demonstrates that the equation uncovers demand rather than supply behaviour.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of both horizontal and vertical tax competition on central government transfers towards regions, as well as on the softness of the regional budget constraint, is analyzed.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 2006-EPL
TL;DR: This work presents a general prediction scheme of failure times based on updating continuously with time the probability for failure of the global system, conditioned on the information revealed on the pre-existing idiosyncratic realization of the system by the damage that has occurred until the present time.
Abstract: We present a general prediction scheme of failure times based on updating continuously with time the probability for failure of the global system, conditioned on the information revealed on the pre-existing idiosyncratic realization of the system by the damage that has occurred until the present time. Its implementation on a simple prototype system of interacting elements with unknown random lifetimes undergoing irreversible damage until a global rupture occurs shows that the most probable predicted failure time (mode) may evolve non-monotonically with time as information is incorporated in the prediction scheme. In addition, both the mode, its standard deviation and, in fact, the full distribution of predicted failure times exhibit sensitive dependence on the realization of the system, similarly to "chaos" in spinglasses, providing a multi-dimensional dynamical explanation for the broad distribution of failure times observed in many empirical situations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors retrace le mouvement de constitution d la medecine du sport, appuye sur l'animation d'un espace deliberatif autour du dopage and sur la mise en forme de cette categorie.
Abstract: Resume Cet article retrace le mouvement de constitution d'une specialite professionnelle (la medecine du sport), appuye sur l'animation d'un espace deliberatif autour du dopage et sur la mise en forme de cette categorie. L'itineraire de cette notion est retrace sur une periode s'etendant entre 1955 et 1999, ce qui permet de mettre en evidence des problematisations successives de la question du dopage, portees par des medecins ayant des profils et des activites differencies. Progressivement les objectifs de la medecine appliquee au sport evoluent. Initialement l'optique curative domine, opposant fermement celebration des vertus de la pratique sportive et condamnation du dopage. Puis un nouveau domaine de competences medicales s'ouvre avec la preparation biologique de la performance, qui est presentee comme une alternative au dopage tout en rendant les frontieres avec celui-ci plus incertaines. Ensuite les positions medicales se polarisent : d'un cote emerge une science de l'entrainement appuyee sur la physiologie de l'effort, qui permet d'intensifier la pratique sportive tout en l'optimisant par des periodes de repos ; de l'autre des cliniciens plus proches de la vie quotidienne des sportifs comprennent les contraintes d'un renouvellement incessant des performances et manifestent de l'empathie vis-a-vis de la prise de « produits » dans une optique curative. Finalement la legitimation de la medecine du sport comme specialite professionnelle s'appuie sur une double relation : l'une, evidente, opposant dopage et sante, l'autre, aberrante d'un point de vue sanitaire mais tout autant admise, associant sport intensif et sante.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The ability of isolation-reared canaries to change their repertoires failed to rectify, at least in large part, the syllable abnormalities caused by the lack of a song model during their first year of life.

Journal ArticleDOI
19 Dec 2006
TL;DR: In this article, a fonction de mesurer la qualite de ces “produits” repose actuellement sur les marches, en pleine expansion, des agences d'accreditation et de notation de la qualité des fournisseurs de services d'enseignement.
Abstract: Si les instruments d’evaluation de la qualite ont d’abord une fonction gestionnaire des etablissements d’enseignement superieur, ils participent egalement de la construction simultanee des marches internationaux des services d’enseignement et du travail qualifie. L’enseignement superieur est en effet lui-meme une vaste machine a evaluer et certifier la qualite de la force de travail. Faute d’instances politiques habilitees a assurer l’equivalence des diplomes, la fonction de mesurer la qualite de ces “produits” repose actuellement sur les marches, en pleine expansion, des agences d’accreditation et de notation de la qualite des fournisseurs de services d’enseignement. Ce qui impose d’evaluer et certifier la qualite de ces agences elles-memes, d’ou procede l’emergence d’un meta-marche de certificateurs de certificateurs de certificateurs. Si l’on sait encore bien peu de chose sur ce secteur recent, il est neanmoins possible d’emettre des hypotheses sur le role des marches de la mesure de la qualite dans la deconstruction/reconstruction de l’enseignement superieur a l’echelle globale.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence is given of an adaptation of the gait initiation process for the new constraints, despite the contradiction between APA and gait velocity.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the adaptability of the gait initiation process when confronted with stepping on (SO) to a new level. Eight young adults performed gait initiation at two different speed conditions in a level walking (LW) situation and in a SO situation aimed at walking on an elevated (16 cm) level surface. As in a previous study using a single step, we found in SO a contradiction between the characteristics of anticipatory postural adjustments (APA) and gait velocity, i.e. the peak of anteroposterior velocity of the body’s centre of gravity (CG) reached at the end of the first step. In normal and fast gaits, gait velocity was similar in both situations, whereas the duration and amplitude of the APA were smaller in SO than in LW. The reduction of APA in SO allowed the forward velocity of CG at the time of foot contact of the stepping limb to be lower than in LW. This is explained by the fact that the majority of body lift, beginning at this time, required a greater increase in forward velocity than in LW. Thus, with lower APA in SO, the gait velocity could be similar in both situations. From LW to SO, the spatio-temporal patterns in the forward velocity of CG varied within characteristic phases of the movement, but in a predictable way as gait velocity changed. These results gave evidence of an adaptation of the gait initiation process for the new constraints, despite the contradiction between APA and gait velocity. The spatio-temporal parameters of the anticipation phase in SO were pre-set according to the new requirements of the task: reaching gait velocity with a body lift. Furthermore, the time for reaching gait velocity was independent of both the amplitude of this velocity and the situation. This expressed the capacity of the subjects to use in SO the same optimal conditions to reach gait velocity as in LW, i.e. essentially in a ballistic manner.

Journal ArticleDOI
08 Aug 2006-Synthese
TL;DR: Rueger's application of Kim’s model of functional reduction to the relation between the thermal conductivities of metal bars at macroscopic and atomic scales is analyzed, showing that it is a misunderstanding to accuse the functional reduction model of not accounting for the fact that there are causal powers at the micro-level which have no equivalent at the macro-level.
Abstract: I analyse Rueger’s application of Kim’s model of functional reduction to the relation between the thermal conductivities of metal bars at macroscopic and atomic scales. 1) I show that it is a misunderstanding to accuse the functional reduction model of not accounting for the fact that there are causal powers at the micro-level which have no equivalent at the macro-level. The model not only allows but requires that the causal powers by virtue of which a functional predicate is defined, are only a subset of the causal powers of the properties filling the functional specification. 2) The fact that the micro-equation does not converge to the macro-equation in general but only under the constraint of a “solvability condition” does not show that reduction is impossible, as Rueger claims, but only that reduction requires inter-level constraints. 3) Rueger tries to analyse inter-level reduction with the conceptual means of intra-level reduction. This threatens the coherence of his analysis, given that it makes no sense to ascribe macroproperties such as thermal conductivity to entities at the atomic level. Ignoring the distinction between theses two senses of “reduction” is especially confusing because they have opposite directions: in intra-level reduction, the more detailed account reduces to the less detailed one, whereas in inter-level reduction, the less detailed theory is reduced to the more detailed one. 4) Finally I criticize Rueger’s way of using Wimsatt’s criteria for emergence in terms of non-aggregativity, to construct a concept of synchronic emergence. It is wrong to require, over and above non-aggregativity, irreducibility as a criterion for emergence.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use agent-based models to study the competition among investors who use trading strategies with different amount of information and with different time scales and find that mixing agents that trade on the same time scale but with different amounts of information has a stabilizing impact on the large and extreme fluctuations of the market.
Abstract: We use agent-based models to study the competition among investors who use trading strategies with different amount of information and with different time scales. We find that mixing agents that trade on the same time scale but with different amount of information has a stabilizing impact on the large and extreme fluctuations of the market. Traders with the most information are found to be more likely to arbitrage traders who use less information in the decision making. On the other hand, introducing investors who act on two different time scales has a destabilizing effect on the large and extreme price movements, increasing the volatility of the market. Closeness in time scale used in the decision making is found to facilitate the creation of local trends. The larger the overlap in commonly shared information the more the traders in a mixed system with different time scales are found to profit from the presence of traders acting at another time scale than themselves.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the co-movements of unemployment and labor productivity growth for the U.S. economy were studied and a New Keynesian model that combines nominal rigidity on the goods market (sticky prices) and real rigidity in the labor market (fair wages) was shown to be quantitatively consistent with the observed comovements both in the long term and over the business cycle.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that a simple adaptation of kinematic synergy by changing the weight coefficients of each pair of joints participating in the movement is no longer sufficient when the equilibrium constraints increase and, rather, disturbs equilibrium.
Abstract: The aim of this investigation was to study the adaptation to an unstable support surface of kinematic synergy responsible for equilibrium control during upper trunk movements. Eight adult subjects were asked to bend their upper trunk forward to an angle of 35� and then to hold the final position for 3 s, first in a standard condition, with two feet on the ground and the second, on a rocking platform swinging in the sagittal plane. The movement characteristics (duration, amplitude, and mean angular velocity of the trunk), the time course of the antero-posterior center of mass (CM) shift during the movement, and the EMG pattern of the main muscles involved in the movement were studied under the two experimental conditions. Kinematic synergy was quan- tified by performing a principal component analysis on the hip, knee, and ankle angle changes occurring during the movement. The results indicate that (1) the CM shift from the very onset of the movement remains controlled during performance of the forward trunk movement when the equilibrium constraints were increased; (2) the principal component analysis of the hip, knee, and ankle angle changes occurring during the movement showed a transition from one principal component (PC1) in the standard condition to two components in the rocking platform condition; (3) the greatest contribution of PC1 (weight coefficients) was located at the hip level in both the standard and rocking platform conditions, while the greatest contribution of PC2 in the rocking platform condition was located at the ankle level; and (4) the EMG pattern underlying kinematic synergy is modified. It is concluded that a simple adaptation of kinematic synergy by changing the weight coefficients of each pair of joints participating in the movement is no longer sufficient when the equilibrium constraints increase and, rather, disturbs equilibrium. The CNS has to provide two par- allel controls, one to perform the trunk movement and the other to preserve equilibrium.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that representing the spaces of m-terms approximation as Lorentz spaces is equivalent to the verification of two inequalities (Jackson and Bernstein), and that the validity of these two properties is equivalent with the Temlyakov property.
Abstract: In the general atomic setting of an unconditional basis in a (quasi-) Banach space, we show that representing the spaces of m-terms approximation as Lorentz spaces is equivalent to the verification of two inequalities (Jackson and Bernstein), and that the validity of these two properties is equivalent to the Temlyakov property. The proof is very direct and, especially, does not use interpolation theory. We apply this result to establish a representation theorem when the norm of the (quasi-) Banach space is given by a quadratic variation formula (thanks to a condition called the p-reverse inequality). This quadratic variation framework is in fact very rich and contains, as examples, the cases of Hardy spaces. We also consider the cases of "weighted" Hardy and Lebesgue spaces when the weight belongs to a Muckenhoupt class and the basis is a wavelet basis. This provides a new example of bases well adapted to approximation.

Posted Content
TL;DR: Micro simulations show that the rise in expenditures due to ageing is relatively small and that the impact of changes in practices is 3.8 times larger than the increase in spending due to population ageing.
Abstract: Cet article compare, sur donnees individuelles francaises, les effets sur la croissance des depenses de sante, observee entre 1992 et 2000, des changements demographiques, des changements de pratiques medicales et des changements de morbidite. Des micro-simulations montrent que la croissance des depenses attribuable au vieillissement est relativement faible. L'impact des changements de pratique est 3.8 fois plus eleve. En outre, les changements de morbidite induisent des economies qui compensent largement l'effet du vieillissement.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Malgre et al. examinons les principaux elements sur lesquels s'appuient ces critiques and nous leur apportons des reponses en envisageant de two perspectives.
Abstract: Resume Malgre le tres intense renouveau que l'on a pu observer durant les dix dernieres annees dans le domaine de la psychologie de la personnalite et le tres large interet des chercheurs et des praticiens en psychologie du travail et des organisations pour les methodes d'evaluation de la personnalite, il semble que le champ de la psychologie de la personnalite fasse, a nouveau, l'objet d'intenses critiques. Les critiques classiques reviennent en effet sur le devant de la scene et notamment : 1) la critique relative a la validite externe criterielle qui serait insuffisante, et 2) le caractere falsifiable des reponses aux inventaires de personnalite. Dans ce texte, nous examinons les principaux elements sur lesquels s'appuient ces critiques et nous leur apportons des reponses en envisageant deux perspectives : celle de la recherche et des resultats qu'elle a mis a jour et celle de la psychologie appliquee au monde du travail et des reponses qu'elle peut fournir dans ce domaine. Nous presentons ensuite les elements permettant d'affirmer que les methodes d'evaluation de la personnalite permettent la prediction d'un ensemble de criteres externes tres largement utilises en psychologie du travail et des organisations. Enfin, nous examinons et discutons differentes definitions de la falsification et presentons diverses methodes permettant de faire face a ce phenomene et aux biais qui en resultent. Notre conclusion est la suivante : en psychologie du travail et des organisations, dans les processus d'evaluation des personnes, la personnalite offre une contribution unique et indispensable, et il n'existe pas de construit ou de methode d'evaluation alternative qui fournissent — en complement des tests d'intelligence — de meilleurs resultats dans la prediction de l'efficience au travail.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the results of an analysis of archeozoologiques centré sur le traitement des equides, dans les unites d'occupation 4 and 46.

Journal ArticleDOI
07 Jul 2006-Synthese
TL;DR: This volume has grown out of a conference on Reduction and Emergence held in Paris, at the Ecole Normale Superieure, 12–15 November, 2003, and is closely linked to the search for an account of scientific reduction that avoids conceiving it in terms of syntactic derivability, as did Nagel’s classical account.
Abstract: This volume has grown out of a conference on Reduction and Emergence held in Paris, at the Ecole Normale Superieure, 12–15 November, 2003. Traditionally, and until quite recently, emergence and reduction were taken to be contrary notions: a theory T1—or more often, the phenomena described by that theory—was taken to be emergent with respect to another theory T2 if and only if it is impossible to reduce T1 to T2, although T1 and T2 appear to describe and explain the same natural systems or phenomena. This doctrine has recently been challenged by new conceptions of emergent phenomena which allow them to be scientifically explained and even reduced. If the distinction between emergent and resultant phenomena is to be upheld, the task is then to ground emergence on a new criterion independent of reducibility. This is closely linked to the search for an account of scientific reduction that avoids conceiving it in terms of syntactic derivability, as did Nagel’s classical account. It is well known since Feyerabend’s, Popper’s and Kuhn’s work that Nagel’s standards for reduction were too strong to be met by most real pairs of theories. Indeed, many if not all scientific reductions are accompanied by corrections to the reduced theory. There are now several models of such “approximate” reductions, situated somewhere between full conservation and radical elimination. To mention only a few, one important idea was to abandon the requirement of derivation of the reduced T1 from the reducing theory T2, to replace it by the weaker requirement of derivation from T2 of a theory T1* analogous to T1. Structuralism, which represents relations between theories by way of the relations between their

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, an institution of last resort is proposed to supervise the behavior of individuals and communities to prevent capture of public wealth by individual interests, to solve conflicts among claims and local regulations, to guarantee enforcement when exclusive rights of use are legitimate.
Abstract: Digital Technologies make it possible to decentrally settle institutional frameworks based on self-implementation of exclusive rights of use over information and on the self-regulation of on-line communities. Through a decentralized system of IPRs and collective rules setting of this kind agents would benefit from coordination frames well adapted to their specific needs and preferences. However, such a process can also result in inefficiencies. While becoming subject to exclusion, information and coordination spaces remain non-divisible goods. Moreover, individual and group interests could succeed in taking non-contestable control over "privatized" information spaces. To overcome these weaknesses and threats, an institution of last resort - placed above the agents and the self-regulated communities - should be created and make enforceable constitutional principles with the purpose of guaranteeing some fundamental rights of contents to producers and users. Based on the principle of subsidiarity, it should supervise the behavior of individuals and communities to prevent capture of public wealth by individual interests, to solve conflicts among claims and local regulations, to guarantee enforcement when exclusive rights of use are legitimate. The way to implement it is uncertain, however, since neither a central authority of last resort nor a global community exists to implement it. A combination of open, centralized negotiations among public and private norm setters with a conflict settlement mechanism aimed at harmonizing the proliferating orders could nevertheless lead to the progressive definition of such constitutional basic rights and principles.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The area Central Andina constituye la primera de Sudamerica donde se ha observado una sedentarizacion de los grupos humanos previamente a la adopcion (o invencion) de la agricultura as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Se describen los principales procesos constitutivos de la "neolitizacion" andina. El Area Central Andina constituye la primera de Sudamerica donde se ha observado una sedentarizacion de los grupos humanos previamente a la adopcion (o invencion) de la agricultura. Desde el 6000 AP existen instalaciones permanentes en el litoral de Peru, orientadas a una explotacion optima de los recursos marinos. En cambio, los mas antiguos indicios de especies vegetales manipuladas provienen de cuencas interandinas, en un contexto de caza-recoleccion y seminomadismo, aunque los centros primarios de domesticacion aun no han sido identificados. En cuanto a la domesticacion animal, varios focos parecen haber existido en Peru y Chile. Al final aparece la ceramica, ultimo elemento constitutivo del Neolitico andino, probablemente importada desde el norte (Colombia y Ecuador) o desde la foresta tropical oriental.