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Complex physical systems have several degrees of freedom. They only work correctly when their control parameters obey corresponding constraints. Based on the informal specification of the European Train Control System (ETCS), we design a controller for its cooperation protocol. For its free parameters, we successively identify constraints that are required to ensure collision freedom. We formally prove the parameter constraints to be sharp by characterizing them equivalently in terms of reachability properties of the hybrid system dynamics. Using our deductive verification tool KeYmaera, we formally verify controllability, safety, liveness, and reactivity properties of the ETCS protocol that entail collision freedom. We prove that the ETCS protocol remains correct even in the presence of perturbation by disturbances in the dynamics. We verify that safety is preserved when a PI controlled speed supervision is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter examines Vygotsky's method of double stimulation as a basis for formative interventions in the workplace. I argue that double stimulation is radically different from such intervention approaches as the design experiments currently discussed in educational research. Double stimulation is, above all, aimed at eliciting new, expansive forms of agency in subjects. In other words, double stimulation is focused on making subjects masters of their own lives. First, I will present Vygotsky's double stimulation as a theoretical and methodological idea. I will then examine recent notions of “design experiments” and point out some serious limitations in these experiments. Second, I will introduce the Change Laboratory method developed in the Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research and used for ten years in formative interventions in workplaces. Third, I will discuss this method as an application and expansion of double stimulation. Fourth, I will demonstrate the practical implementation of Change Laboratory with an example from a project carried out in Finnish post offices. Fifth, I will conclude the chapter with a discussion of some methodological and theoretical implications of the Change Laboratory method for further development of Vygotskian research, especially as it is applied in the context of the workplace and organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many reasons why it is difficult for readers to analyze and to understand Vygotsky's terminology. He developed his psychology in a direct and indirect dialogue with many other authors. In doing so, he absorbed and processed all the ideas and terms that he believed could be useful. These ideas ranged from the philosophy of Spinoza and Marx to the American behaviorism of Watson and the linguistics of Sapir. However, when one meets a seemingly familiar term borrowed from some predecessor in Vygotsky's writings, one should keep in mind that he was likely to have modified the term's meaning. Another motivation for a logico-semantic analysis of Vygotsky's writings is the quantity, variety, and nature of his scientific heritage. A 1960 bibliography of Vygotsky's works includes 274 titles (Vygotsky, 1960). Excluding nonscientific articles and notes devoted for the most part to the events of literary and theatrical life (1916-1923), there remain around 190 works in psychology, written from 1924 until Vygotsky's death (June 11, 1934): a period of only ten years. Many items from this decade were written very quickly, in almost telegraphic style. Some works remain unfinished. It is certainly possible that some of the works that were published posthumously were not yet intended for publication (unfortunately, the editors of contemporary editions do not always warn the reader about the state and nature of the original texts). Therefore, when reading Vygotsky's works one needs to remember his own words (from a letter to A. N. Leontiev dated July 31, 1930), “our writings are imperfect but there is great truth in them. This is my symbol of faith. . . . ” (Vygotsky, 1960, p. 169). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a fundamental tenet of Vygotskian theory that in order to understand the inner mental processes of human beings, we must look at human beings in their sociocultural context. We should not look for the explanation of human behavior in the depths of the brain or the soul but in the external living conditions of persons and, most of all, in the external conditions of their societal life - in their social-historical forms of existence (Luria, 1979, p. 23). By accepting this tenet and generalizing it to the understanding of the creative work of investigators, we might say that in order to more fully understand the work of a specific thinker, we should step outside of that thinker's mind and take a look at the broader socioeconomic and sociocultural background in which he or she worked. The researcher's private abilities and preferences undoubtedly play a role in the creation of major theories, but the shaping of character, inclinations, and abilities of the researcher takes place in a specific sociocultural context, and every scientist is dependent on the ideas and tools available in his or her time. There is no true understanding of an investigator's theories, then, without an assessment of the broad context in which the theories were created (cf. Van der Veer, 1997). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europeans had been domesticated into the Indian scene since the early seventeenth century. Like the great Arab, Asian and Jewish trading communities, the Europeans – Portuguese, Dutch, French and English – were attracted to the Indian trade by her fine manufactures of cloth and silk and her agricultural raw materials, notably indigo, pepper, cardamum and other spices. Around their coastal settlements, particularly Portuguese Goa, Europeans already exercised considerable local influence in the wars and politics of the maritime states. However, under the great Mughals their trade had even begun to affect the inland economy in one important respect. Europeans paid for their commodity purchases in silver bullion from the New World, in Japanese copper and sometimes in gold. Precious metals were only found in India in small quantities, yet India's revenues and much of her rents were paid in cash. Europeans therefore filled an important function in providing the raw materials for the coin which made the internal economy – indeed the Mughal hegemony as a whole – function smoothly. In this sense India was already linked to and partly dependent on the European world economy from earlier than was once thought. The European rôle did not begin to grow significantly until the war of the Austrian Succession, 1744–7. In their attempt to destroy each others' trade and political influence on the southern (Coromandel) coast, the English and French East India Companies became embroiled in the factional conflicts between Muslim military leaders, and these intensified following the death of the Nizam of Hyderabad, Asaf Jah, in 1748. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]