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Encyclopædia Mundi is an interactive software experience that questions the relationships between the authority of authorship, knowledge, and artificially generated text. The software presents itself as a genuine 90s digital encyclopedia, but the absurdity of the generated text, which is syntactically correct but semantically dubious, subverts the audience's expectation and reveals its true nature as an artwork. In this context, the audience is prompted to reflect on how we socially attribute authority to existing encyclopedic models, as well as the future role of artificial intelligence in contributing to our understanding of knowledge, truth, and reality. / Master of Fine Arts / What does knowledge and the authority of authorship mean in a society where artificial intelligence is becoming more involved with our lives? Encyclopædia Mundi is an interactive software experience that takes the form of a genuine 90s digital encyclopedia, but the absurdity of the generated text, which follows correct English grammar but has little or no sensible meaning, subverts the audience's expectation and reveals its true nature as an artwork. In this context, the audience is prompted to reflect on how we socially attribute authority to existing encyclopedic models, as well as the future role of AI in contributing to our understanding of knowledge, truth, and reality.

L'infrastructure aéroportuaire est devenue en ce début de XXI siècle le pivot des croisements de flux de personnes et de marchandises dans notre monde « globalisé », son évolution constante et particulièrement rapide depuis le transport aérien de masse, nous questionne sur l'objet « aéroport », à travers ses caractéristiques urbaines, architecturales et de design, en relation à sa ville d'accueil et à son devenir dans le futur. L'un des aspects significatif de la relation ville et aéroport est la confrontation territoriale entre ces deux entités, elle peut mener dans certains contextes à l'obsolescence de la plateforme aéroportuaire face à l'expansion urbaine et au refus de l'infrastructure par les riverains. Cette thèse fait une recherche sur ce phénomène dans le cadre géographique du Cône Sud de l'Amérique Latine. Elle se développe dans un plan en trois parties : une première analyse l'infrastructure aéroportuaire d'un point de vue mondial, afin de la caractériser dans ses dimensions territoriales et ses évolutions récentes par rapport à la ville d'accueil. Elle s'attache à détecter des exemples d'obsolescences aéroportuaires dans l'hémisphère nord. Une seconde partie se focalise sur les villes capitales du Cône Sud de L'Amérique Latine et leurs aéroports, en décelant les cas d'obsolescences réels ou en devenir, ceci sur deux fronts, Atlantique et Pacifique, dont les caractéristiques géomorphologiques sont totalement différentes. Enfin une troisième partie s'interroge sur le devenir des infrastructures aéroportuaires qui tendent à devenir des méga-aéroports, conjurant ainsi leur obsolescence. Ces échelles considérables ne sont pas nécessairement adaptées aux pays en voie de développement du Cône Sud de L'Amérique Latine. Existe-t-il une taille intermédiaire transformant l'aéroport en autre chose qu'une gigantesque machine à gérer des flux ? Peut-il se faire que la plateforme aéroportuaire devienne un ensemble de bâtiments cherchant une relation harmonique avec la ville qui l'entoure ? / The airport infrastructure has become the twenty-first century the pivot of flows crossing of people and goods in our "globalized" world, its constant evolution and particularly rapid since the mass air transportation, questions us on the subject "airport ", through its urban, architectural features and design in relation to its host city and its fate in the future. One of the significant aspects of the city airport is relationship and territorial confrontation between these two entities, it can lead in some contexts to obsolescence of the airport platform faced with urban expansion and the refusal by the infrastructure residents. This thesis did research on this phenomenon in the geographical framework of the Southern Cone of Latin America. It develops in a plane in three parts : a first analysis of the airport infrastructure of a global perspective in order to characterize its territorial dimensions and recent developments in relation to the host city. It seeks to identify examples of obsolescence airport in the northern hemisphere. The second part focuses on capital cities of the Southern Cone of Latin America and their airports, by detecting cases of actual or future obsolescence, this on two fronts, Atlantic and Pacific, whose geomorphological features are totally different. Finally a third part examines the future of airport infrastructure which tend to become mega-airports and conjuring obsolescence. These considerable scales are not necessarily adapted to the developing countries of the Southern Cone of Latin America. Is there an intermediate size transforming the airport into something other than a gigantic machine to manage flows? Can it be that the airport platform becomes a complex of buildings seeking a harmonic relationship with the city that surrounds it ?

No description available.

Currently, manufacturing organisations worldwide are shifting their business models towards Product-Service Systems (PSS), which implies the development of new support agreements such as availability-based contracts. This transition is shifting the responsibilities for managing and resolving obsolescence issues from the customer to the prime contractor and industry work share partners. This new scenario has triggered a new need to estimate the Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) cost of resolving obsolescence issues at the bidding stage, so it can be included in the support contract. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop an understanding about all types of obsolescence and develop methodologies for the estimation of NRE costs of hardware (electronic, electrical and electromechanical (EEE) components and materials) obsolescence that can be used at the bidding stage for support contracts in the defence and aerospace sectors. For the accomplishment of this aim, an extensive literature review of the related themes to the research area was carried out. It was found that there is a lack of methodologies for the cost estimation of obsolescence, and also a lack of understanding on the different types of obsolescence such as materials and software obsolescence. A systematic industrial investigation corroborated these findings and revealed the current practice in the UK defence sector for cost estimation at the bidding stage, obsolescence management and obsolescence cost estimation. It facilitated the development of an understanding about obsolescence in hardware and software. Further collaboration with experts from more than 14 organisations enabled the iterative development of the EEEFORCE and M-FORCE frameworks, which can be used at the bidding stage of support contracts to estimate the NRE costs incurred during the contracted period in resolving obsolescence issues in EEE components and materials, respectively. These frameworks were implemented within a prototype software platform that was applied to 13 case studies for expert validation.

Thèses (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2000. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 20 juin 2006). Publié aussi en version papier.

Thèses (Ph.D.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2006. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 8 nov. 2007). In ProQuest dissertations and theses. Publié aussi en version papier.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology and Dept. of Linguistics, June 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This study investigates the role of the speech community in maintaining obsolescent languages in general, and Gallo in particular. A questionnaire was designed to elicit information from the Gallo speech community in three key areas: speakers’ beliefs regarding their own use of language, speakers’ attitudes towards Gallo and its status, and speaker’s own proficiency in Gallo. The sample for this study was obtained through Gallo social networks which were identified and contacted thanks to the support of Gallo organisations based in Rennes. The questionnaire was administered to a mixture of older native speakers, employed semi-speakers and student-aged learners of Gallo. The results show that level of education remains the main factor affecting speaker attitudes and language use. Speakers with higher levels of education tend to be the ones engaged in revitalisation efforts while speakers with less education maintain a distance from such activities as well as a strong allegiance to the national language. The study also highlighted the division within the speech community concerning orthographic convention. Although a highly distinct written form is viewed by some as essential to distancing Gallo from French, it would seem that the majority of the speech community prefers accessibility over distanciation. This study provides insight into the impact which a speech community can have on the vitality or obsolescence of a variety. In the case of Gallo, it shows how a group of determined individuals can be influential in maintaining an obsolescent variety despite strong and continued pressure from official institutions.

The aim of this study is to find out the reasons of progressive obsolescence and product non-use in small kitchen appliances and to examine the relation between the consumer&rsquo / s pre-purchase expectations and post-purchase experiences with these products to understand the deficiencies of kitchen appliances which cause consumer to stop using them. The reasons of progressive obsolescence and product non-use might be informative for further studies on this subject. Throughout the study, the general issues of need, want, purchase motivations, pre-purchase consumer expectations and post-purchase experience, satisfaction/dissatisfaction were discussed through the literature survey. Progressive obsolescence and product non-use were analysed both through literature survey and a field study which was conducted as in-depth-interviews among kitchen appliance users. It has been seen that progressive obsolescence and product non-use is mostly affected by usability of products, by the changing needs and changing life style and by the emerging of new technologies.