To join an unstructured peer-to-peer network like Gnutella, peers have to execute a bootstrapping function in which they discover other on-line peers and connect to them. Until this bootstrapping step is complete, a peer cannot participate in file sharing activities. Once bootstrapping is complete, a peer’s experience is strongly influenced by the choice of neighbor peers resulting from the boo...

There is an 80% failure rate for organisational development programmes like total quality management (TQM). Scholars and practitioners agree that success and failure of TQM and other organisational learning programmes depend on having strong management commitment. As this may not always be possible to obtain, one might ask whether good implementation methods based on systems thinking could comp...

This paper presents our approach towards realizing a robot which can bootstrap itself towards higher complexity through embodied interaction dynamics with the environment including other agents. First, the elements of interaction dynamics are extracted from conceptual analysis of embodied interaction and its emergence, especially of behavioral imitation. Then three case studies are made, presen...

In this paper I will offer a novel understanding of a priori knowledge. My claim is that the sharp distinction that is usually made between a priori and a posteriori knowledge is groundless. It will be argued that a plausible understanding of a priori and a posteriori knowledge has to acknowledge that they are in a constant bootstrapping relationship. It is also crucial that we distinguish betw...

A critical evaluation of the statistics of the fatigue strength distribution as determined by the staircase (or up-and-down) method is presented. The effects of test parameters (namely, step size and sample size) were analyzed using numerical simulation to determine the accuracy of fatigue strength standard deviation calculations using traditional staircase statistics, resulting in a quantifica...

Z. Nagy, C. Hutton, D. C. Alexander, R. Deichmann, and N. Weiskopf Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, London, United Kingdom, Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, London, United Kingdom, University Hospital Brain Imgaging Centre, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, G...