12,211 research outputs found
Walking with the Earth: Intercultural Perspectives on Ethics of Ecological Caring
It is commonly believed that considering nature different from us, human beings (qua rational, cultural, religious and social actors), is detrimental to our engagement for the preservation of nature. An obvious example is animal rights, a deep concern for all living beings, including non-human living creatures, which is understandable only if we approach nature, without fearing it, as something which should remain outside of our true home. “Walking with the earth” aims at questioning any similar preconceptions in the wide sense, including allegoric-poetic contributions. We invited 14 authors from 4 continents to express all sorts of ways of saying why caring is so important, why togetherness, being-with each others, as a spiritual but also embodied ethics is important in a divided world
How to Be a God
When it comes to questions concerning the nature of Reality, Philosophers and Theologians have the answers.
Philosophers have the answers that can’t be proven right. Theologians have the answers that can’t be proven wrong.
Today’s designers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games create realities for a living. They can’t spend centuries mulling over the issues: they have to face them head-on. Their practical experiences can indicate which theoretical proposals actually work in practice.
That’s today’s designers. Tomorrow’s will have a whole new set of questions to answer.
The designers of virtual worlds are the literal gods of those realities. Suppose Artificial Intelligence comes through and allows us to create non-player characters as smart as us. What are our responsibilities as gods? How should we, as gods, conduct ourselves?
How should we be gods
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Quantitative Character and the Composite Account of Phenomenal Content
I advance an account of quantitative character, a species of phenomenal character that presents as an intensity (cf. a quality) and includes experience dimensions such as loudness, pain intensity, and visual pop-out. I employ psychological and neuroscientific evidence to demonstrate that quantitative characters are best explained by attentional processing, and hence that they do not represent external qualities. Nonetheless, the proposed account of quantitative character is conceived as a compliment to the reductive intentionalist strategy toward qualitative states; I argue that an account of perceptual experience that combines a tracking account of qualitative character with my functionalist proposal of quantitative character permits replies to some notoriously difficult problems for tracking representationalism without sacrificing its chief virtues
Recent Hong Kong cinema and the generic role of film noir in relation to the politics of identity and difference
This thesis identifies a connection in Hong Kong cinema with classical Hollywood film noir and examines what it will call a 'reinvestment' in film noir in recent films. It will show that this reinvestment is a discursive strategy that both engages the spectator-subject in the cinematic practice and disengages him or her from the hegemony of the discourse by decentring the narrative. The thesis argues that a cinematic practice has occurred in the recent reinvestment of film noir in Hong Kong, which restages the intertextual relay of the historical genre that gives rise to an expectation of ideas about social instability. The noir vision that is seen as related to the fixed categories of film narratives, characterizations and visual styles is reassessed in the course of the thesis using Derridian theory. The focus of analysis is the way in which the constitution of meanings is dependent on generic characteristics that are different. Key to the phenomenon is a film strategy that destabilizes, differs and defers the interpretation of crises-personal, social, political and/or cultural-by soliciting self-conscious re-reading of suffering, evil, fate, chance and fortune. It will be argued that such a strategy evokes the genre expectation as the film invokes a network of ideas regarding a world perceived by the audience in association with the noirish moods of claustrophobia, paranoia, despair and nihilism. The noir vision is thus mutated and transformed when the film device differs and defers the conception of the crises as tragic in nature by exposing the workings of the genre amalgamation and the ideological function of the cinematic discourse. Thus, noirishness becomes both an affect and an agent that contrives a self-reflexive re-reading of the tragic vision and of the conventional comprehension of reality within the discursive practice. The film strategy, as an agent that problematizes the film form and narrative, gives rise to what I call a politics of difference, which may also be understood as the Lyotardian 'language game' or a practice of 'pastiche' in Jameson's terminology. Under the influence of the film strategy, the spectator is enabled to negotiate his or her understanding of recent Hong Kong cinema diegetically and extra-diegetically by traversing different positions of cinematic identification. When the practice of genre amalgamation adopts the visual impact of the noirish film form, the film turns itself into a playing field of 'fatal' misrecognition or a site of question. Through cinematic identification and alienation from the identification, the spectator-subject is enabled to experience the misrecognition as the film slowly foregrounds the way in which the viewer's presence is implicated in the narrative. This thesis demonstrates that certain contemporary Hong Kong films introduce this selfconscious mode of explication and interpretation, which solicits the spectator to negotiate his or her subject-position in the course of viewing. The notions of identity and subjectivity under scrutiny will thus be reread. With reference to The Private Eye Blue, Swordsman II, City a/Glass and Happy Together, the thesis shall explore the ways in which the Hong Kong films enable and facilitate a negotiation of cultural identity
A Cornish palimpsest : Peter Lanyon and the construction of a new landscape, 1938-1964
The thesis examines the emergence of Peter Lanyon as one of the few truly innovative British landscape painters this century. In the Introduction I discuss the problematic nature of landscape art and consider the significance of Lanyon's discovery that direct description and linear perspective can be replaced with allusive representational elements by fusing the emotional and imaginative life of the artist with the physical activity of painting. Chapter One concentrates on the period 1936-8 when Lanyon was taught by Borlase Smart, a key figure in the St Ives art colony between the wars. Chapter Two examines the influence of Adrian Stokes and the links between Lanyon's painting and the theories developed in books such as Colour and Form and The Quattro Cento. Chapter Three analyses the period 1940-45 when Lanyon was directly influenced by the constructivism of Nicholson, Hepworth and Gabo. I look closely at their approaches to abstraction and assess Lanyon's relative position to them. The importance of Neo-Romanticism and the status of St Ives as a perceived avant-garde community is also addressed. In Chapter Four I discuss how Lanyon resolved to achieve a new orientation in his art on his return from wartime service with the RAF by synthesising constructivism, and traditional landscape. The Generation and Surfacing Series demonstrate his preoccupation with a sense of place, a fascination with the relationships between the human body and landscape and his struggle to find a technique and style that was entirely his own. His sense of existential insideness is discussed in Chapter Five through an examination of the work derived from Portreath, St. Just and Porthleven - key places in Lanyon's psychological attachment to the landscape of West Penwith. In Chapter Six I examine Lanyon's attachment to myths and archetypal forms, tracing the influence of Bergson's vitalist philosophy as well as his use of Celtic and classical motifs. Chapter Seven is a discussion of the malaise evident in Lanyon's work by 1955 and the impact of American Abstract Expressionism at the Tate Gallery a year later. In the summer of 1959 Lanyon joined the Cornish Gliding Club and Chapter Eight looks at how this necessitated a dynamic, expanded conception of the landscape and a re-thinking of relations within the picture field. The ability to dissolve boundaries encouraged him to break down distinctions between painting and construction so that abstract sculptural elements were now assembled into independent works of art. Finally, Chapter Nine assesses Lanyon's overall position in relation to his early influences and to St Ives art as a whole, his response to new directions in art coming out of London and NewYork in the early 1960s and the importance of travel as a stimulus for further realignment in his artistic and topographical horizons. His pictorial inventiveness and vitality remained unabated at the time of his death and would undoubtedly have continued to be enriched by travel abroad and contact with new movements in modem art on both sides of the Atlanti
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Privacy-aware Smart Home Interface Framework
Smart home user interfaces are pervasive and shared by multiple users who occupy the space. Therefore, they pose a risk to interpersonal privacy of occupants because an individual’s sensitive information can be leaked to other co-occupants (information privacy), or they can be disturbed by intrusions into their personal space (physical privacy) when the co-occupant interacts with the smart home user interfaces. This thesis hypothesises that interpersonal privacy violations can be mitigated by adapting the user interface layer and presents insights into how to achieve usable user interface adaptation to mitigate or minimise interpersonal privacy violations in smart homes.
The thesis reports two case studies and two user studies. The first case study identifies the key characteristics needed to model the rich context of interpersonal privacy violations scenarios. Then it presents knowledge representation models that are required to represent the identified characteristics and evaluates them for adequacy in modelling the context information of interpersonal privacy violation scenarios. The second case study presents a software architecture and a set of algorithms that can detect interpersonal privacy violations and generate usable user interface adaptations. Then it evaluates the architecture and the algorithms for adequacy in generating usable privacy-aware user interface adaptations. The first user study (N=15) evaluates the usability of the adaptive user interfaces generated from the framework where storyboards were used as the stimulant. Extending the findings from the usability study and expanding the coverage of example scenarios, the second user study (N=23) evaluates the overall user experience of the adaptive user interfaces, using video prototypes as the stimulant.
The research demonstrates that the characteristics identified, and the respective knowledge representation models adequately captured the context of interpersonal privacy violation scenarios. Furthermore, the software architecture and the algorithms could detect possible interpersonal privacy violations and generate usable user interface adaptations to mitigate them. The two user studies demonstrate that the adaptive user interfaces, when used in appropriate situations, were a suitable solution for addressing interpersonal privacy violations while providing high usability and a positive user experience. The thesis concludes by providing recommendations for developing privacy-aware user interface adaptations and suggesting future work that can extend this research
Supporting IoT applications deployment on edge-based infrastructures using multi-layer feature models
Edge Computing proposes to use the nearby devices in the frontier/Edge of the access network for deploying application tasks of IoT-based systems. However, the functionality of such cyber–physical systems, which is usually distributed in several devices and computers, imposes specific requirements on the infrastructure to run properly. The evolution of an application to meet new user requirements and the high diversity of hardware and software technologies in the IoT/Edge/Cloud can complicate the deployment of continuously evolving applications. The aim of our approach is to apply Multi Layer Feature Models, which capture the variability of applications and the software and hardware infrastructure, to support the deployment in edge-based environments of cyber–physical applications. With this multi-layered approach is possible to support the evolution of application and infrastructure independently. Considering that IoT/Edge/Cloud infrastructures are usually shared by many applications, the deployment process has to assure that there will be enough resources for all of them, informing developers about the feasible alternatives. We provide four modules so that the developer can calculate what is the configuration of minimal set of devices supporting application requirements of the evolved application. In addition, the developer can find what is the application configuration that can be hosted in the current infrastructure. The successive solutions of continuous deployment generated by our approach pursue the reduction of the system energy footprint and/or execution latency.This work is supported by the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement DAEMON 101017109 and by the projects co-financed by FEDER funds, Spain LEIA UMA18-FEDERJA-15, MEDEA RTI2018-099213-B-I00 (MCI/AEI) and RHEA P18-FR-1081. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga/CBUA
Understanding the adoption and implementation of Sector Skills Councils in Chile
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies have gained increased interest in global agendas, being a particular concern in ensuring that youths have the skills needed to enter the labour market. In this line, international organisations and cooperation agencies have widely promoted sector skills bodies. This policy seeks to involve employers in skills formation and foster collaboration among different stakeholders to ensure that the skills developed through TVET meet labour market needs. However, academic research about this specific policy is limited. Moreover, even when several countries have adopted these bodies, little is known about them from a policy transfer perspective (i.e. studying the travel of an education policy from one place to another). This thesis addresses this gap by examining the adoption and implementation of private-led Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in Chile. Thus, two main research questions guided this study: Why and how private actors in Chile have adopted SSCs? How have different employers and TVET providers implemented SSCs’ initiatives in Chile?
This qualitative research utilised a multiple-case study design for which data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documents analysis. First, based on a Cultural Political Economy approach, the adoption of SSCs was investigated by examining the main factors that could account for the mechanisms involved in the process. Second, the implementation of SSCs was studied by considering a policy enactment focus and the principles of the Realist Evaluation approach to understand how two main actors affected by the policy, employers and TVET providers, have fulfilled the policy expectations.
The findings of this thesis show the crucial role of ideational factors (i.e. the influence of policy entrepreneur) to trigger policy change and the specific economic, institutional, political and educational conditions at the national and sectoral levels that may explain the adoption of SSCs. As a result, it advances our understanding of the different roles played by ideational and material factors in adopting SSCs as a TVET policy. Likewise, given the unusual private-led adoption of these bodies, this study provides an empirical demonstration of this uncommon situation. Simultaneously, it offers potential new insights about the assessments made by employers and their business associations when deciding to involve in skill formation policies. Moreover, by investigating the implementation of SSCs from the perspective of the main actors expected to enact the policy, this thesis provides an initial understanding of the varied contextual and stakeholder conditions affecting these actors’ responses to SSCs. In doing so, this thesis also offers an empirical demonstration of the limitations of SSCs adopted and implemented with a skills supply orthodoxy rhetoric
‘We the People: Supporting Food SMEs towards a Circular Food Economy’
This single Case Study locates SME (small and medium-size enterprise) hospitality and food services (HaFS) within a complex food waste system. It examines collaborative support for business change from linear resource wastage (‘take, use, dump), towards a circular food economy (CfE)- where ‘designing out’ food waste may reap savings. The objective is to support SME uptake of waste aversion practices so that they may thrive.
The qualitative research centers on a London-based project promoting food waste valorization and healthy nutrition, in 15 boroughs. That project’s outreach for broad-based, collective impact included HaFS that are SMEs. Cross-sector liaison was the research focus for this Case Study which utilizes a hybrid philosophy and meta-framework, based on Critical Realism and Systemic Thinking. Some reference to Interpretivism highlights stewardship values for transforming individual behaviour.
The Study also uses a multi-method design, borrowing soft systems from Management Science and Operational Research. Its blended approach includes: participant observation, mapping and rich picture techniques, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The main research questions align concepts such as: circular economy, cross-sector collaboration and food waste management- with HaFS that are SMEs. A framework method and Leximancer software supported coding and qualitative thematic analysis.
Primary findings include interesting categories of analytical, NGO and policy literature. Although conversations flagged up pivotal roles for our health and education sectors, the food SME element still seems peripheral in this transition to regenerative business. A ‘people vibe’ is enabling some HaFS’ kitchen waste action and food redistribution and, academia is a potential contributor to this information resource flow among stakeholders.
The Study’s unique onto-epistemological framework enhances philosophical and theoretical knowledge about promoting SME resource stewardship. It spans Systemic Thinking (overt connections and acute complexities) and Critical Realism (deep mechanisms and institutional power differentials, impacting change). As an interpretive lens, the framework’s contribution to praxis was tested by shadowing the London TRiFOCAL project. This research could inform a business policy shift from traditional supply chain thinking, towards active UK food citizenship
Designing a small-scale design system for a multi-vendor environment
Abstract. For several years, a project-driven development environment has produced various web applications where different people have been working on them; no permanent designer, no standard conventions or shared knowledge of the specifics. The codebase for user interfaces has scattered, and technical debt has increased over the years. The problem is that the design and user interfaces between these applications are not coherent for mentioned reasons. The overall front-end architecture and scalability are inadequate, requiring a new solution to provide and help produce more future-proof user interfaces that would serve the overall system.
The purpose of the work was to do design research on how a design system could help to improve the current development process for creating more coherent and unified user interfaces and find out could it be implemented for a multi-vendor environment on a small scale. The design system is a broad concept that affects many aspects of a software project framework. This work includes an introduction to design systems, a walkthrough of the design system, a helpful review of how it could improve UI development, and implementation of the process in a project-driven development setup. The goal is to define a design system that would improve the development process by paying attention to the design with improved technological solutions, enabling more unified and consistent user interfaces.
The outcome for the work was the requirements and plans for developing a small scale design system. The work sought to explore current methods and tools adequately, to list significant factors and perspectives. It required documenting the process and rethinking it alongside technical solutions to solve the problems and overcome current obstacles.
Related work implied uses of the design system on a smaller scale but showed that the scale limits and sets certain boundaries. However, the work shows the possibility of creating a design system on a small scale, but the effort and scale required cannot be thoroughly compared to large companies. The thesis provides theory and some level of understanding of the design system. The work provided an excellent basis for building the design system, and new ideas will serve well in the future.Design systemin suunnittelu pienessä mittakaavassa monitoimittajaympäristöön. Tiivistelmä. Useita vuosia käynnissä ollut projektivetoinen kehitysympäristö on tuottanut useita erilaisia sovelluksia, joissa eri ihmiset ovat työstäneet niitä; ei ole ollut pysyvää suunnittelijaa, ei ole ollut yhteisiä konventioita tai yhteistä tietoa erityispiirteistä. Käyttöliittymien koodikanta on hajallaan ja tekninen velka on kasvanut vuosien varrella. Ongelmana on, että näiden sovellusten suunnittelu ja käyttöliittymät eivät ole johdonmukaisia mainituista syistä.Yleinen frontend-arkkitehtuuri ja skaalautuvuus ovat riittämättömiä, mikä vaatii uuden ratkaisun tarjoamaan ja auttamaan tuottamaan entistä tulevaisuuden kannalta kestävämpiä käyttöliittymiä, jotka palvelisivat koko järjestelmää.
Työn tarkoituksena oli tehdä design research, miten design system voisi auttaa parantamaan nykyistä kehitysprosessia johdonmukaisempien ja yhtenäisempien käyttöliittymien luomiseksi ja selvittää, olisiko se toteutettavissa monitoimittajaympäristöön pienessä mittakaavassa. Design system on laaja käsite, joka vaikuttaa moniin eri osa-alueisiin ohjelmistoprojektin viitekehyksessä. Tämä työ sisältää johdannon suunnittelujärjestelmiin, läpikäynnin siitä, mistä suunnittelujärjestelmä koostuu, käytännön katsauksen, kuinka se voisi parantaa käyttöliittymän kehitystä ja kuinka prosessi voitaisiin toteuttaa projektilähtöisessä kehitysasetuksissa. Tavoitteena on määritellä suunnittelujärjestelmä, joka tehostaisi kehitysprosessia suunnittelua paremmin huomioiden parannetuilla teknologisilla ratkaisuilla, jotka mahdollistaisivat yhtenäisempien käyttöliittymien luomisen.
Työn tuloksena olivat määritellyt vaatimukset ja suunnitelmat pienimuotoisen suunnittelujärjestelmän kehittämiseksi. Työ pyrkii riittävästi tutkimaan nykyisiä menetelmiä ja työkaluja, listaamaan merkittäviä tekijöitä ja näkökulmia. Se vaati prosessin dokumentoimista ja prosessin uudelleen miettimistä teknisten ratkaisujen ohella ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi ja nykyisten esteiden ylittämiseksi. Aiheeseen liittyvät työt viittasivat siihen, että design systemillä on käyttöä pienemmässä mittakaavassa, mutta osoitti, että mittakaava rajoittaa ja asettaa tiettyjä rajoja järjestelmän rakentamiselle. Työ osoittaa kuitenkin mahdollisuuden luoda design system pienessä mittakaavassa, mutta vaadittavia ponnisteluja ja mittakaavaa ei voi täysin verrata suuriin yrityksiin. Opinnäytetyö tarjoaa teoriaa ja jonkin verran ymmärrystä siitä, mistä design system koostuu. Työ antoi erinomaisen pohjan design systemin rakentamiselle ja uudet ideat palvelevat hyvin jatkossa
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