Challenges to interorganizational coordination in integrated coastal management in the developing world : a case study from southwestern Madagascar

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-91).This dissertation discusses the challenges to interorganizational collaboration in Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) projects in the developing world. After roughly 20 years of implementation, ICM is just beginning to systematically review its initiatives especially in the developing world. The early reviews of ICM initiatives that have been published note several challenges that are hindering the effectiveness of many ICM initiatives. One of these challenges is how to implement effective interorganizational coordination in ICM initiatives

The role of the artist at the beginning of the twenty-first century: An exploration of dialectical processes in art and science with particular reference to biologically based art

This thesis examines the role of the artist at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It focuses on the interaction between art and science in an exploration of the dialectical processes that may occur in that interaction. Researchers have recently developed techniques in stem cell technology and genetic modification that offer remarkable potential and bring possible advantages and disadvantages for scientists and the wider community. In response to these new technologies, scientists and artists have developed collaborative projects and, in some instances, artists have moved from the studio to the science laboratory to create work called sci-art, bio-art, or moistmedia. This new inter-disciplinary activity affords prospects of dialectical processes: it crosses many boundaries and disturbs some existing conventions and practices, and, for the artists involved, the access to innovative materials has moved their work into areas of new skills and concepts. The extent to which traditional artists and those with collaborative sci-art practices contribute to the debate on important social and cultural issues forms part of this study. The research data was gathered during semi-structured interviews with scientists and artists, of whom three scientists and five artists are involved in sci-art collaborations. Proposed dialectical processes identified in the data are outlined throughout the document. A discussion about the ways in which contemporary art and artists are located within the current social and cultural environment; the status accorded visual art education today; and the manner in which commentators and other members of the public regard the elements and functions of art, forms the initial framework. This is followed by an overview of biologically based art practices, worldwide, that provides a background for a discussion of sci-art collaborations. These collaborations are initiated by a wide range of individuals and organisations and, according to the participants, the intentions of the originator or funding body have the potential to influence the outcome of the collaboration. The research explores possible conflicts of interest between the parties involved in these interactions, and any perceived implications for creative freedom. This study also examines current attitudes towards the notion of creativity in science and art, the avant-garde, and the relevance of philosophy and theory in art practices. It discusses the extent to which technology influences the creative process, and highlights issues that augment, interrogate or philosophise about the role of the contemporary artist. The research found that, although the notion of Snow’s ‘two cultures’ still has supporters, there are more similarities than dissimilarities between scientists and artists. Although some instances of Hegelian dialectical processes were identified, the data residing in many of the participants’ responses called for a more post-structuralist, non-linear approach to the dialectic as described by Jervis (1998), Janesick (2000) and others. In this way, the data drew attention to many complex issues and tensions that emanate from the interaction between art, science, technology, government and commerce, and the interaction between artists and the culture and society in which they live at the beginning of the twenty-first century

Designing hybridization: alternative education strategies for fostering innovation in communication design for the territory

Within the broad context of design studies, Communication Design for the Territory stands as a hybrid discipline constantly interfacing with other fields of knowledge. It assumes the territorial theme as its specific dimension, aiming to generate communication systems capable of reading the stratifications of places. From an educational perspective, teaching activities are closely linked to research and can take on different levels of complexity: from the various forms of cartographic translation to the design of sophisticated transmedia digital systems. In the wake of COVID-19, this discipline has come to terms with a profoundly changed scenario in terms of limited access to the physical space and the emergence of new technologies for remote access. In this unique context, we propose a pedagogical strategy that focuses on the hybridization of communication artifacts with the aim of fostering design experimentation. As a creative tool, hybridization leads to the design of innovative systems by strategically combining the characteristics of different artifacts to achieve specific communication goals. By experimenting with these creative strategies, students are led to critically reflect on existing communication artifacts’ features and explore original designs that deliberately combine different media, contents, and communication languages in innovative ways. Through hybridization, the methods for territorial knowledge production appear more effective, effectively combining the skills and knowledge embodied in multiple subject areas. The paper presents the experience developed in the teaching laboratories of the DCxT (Communication Design for the Territory) research group of the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano. The teaching experience highlights how hybridization strategies can increase the effectiveness in learning about territorial specificities, in acquiring critical knowledge about communication systems, and in developing innovation strategies that allow to influence the evolution of traditional communication models

Assessment of a hybrid numerical approach to estimate sound wave propagation in an enclosure and application of auralizations to evaluate acoustical conditions of a classroom to establish the impact of acoustic variables on cognitive processes

In this research, the concept of auralization is explored taking into account a hybrid numerical approach to establish good options for calculating sound wave propagation and the application of virtual sound environments to evaluate acoustical conditions of a classroom, in order to determine the impact of acoustic variables on cognitive processes. The hybrid approach considers the combination of well-established Geometrical Acoustic (GA) techniques and the Finite Element Method (FEM), contemplating for the latter the definition of a real valued impedance boundary condition related to absorption coefficients available in GA databases. The realised virtual sound environments are verified against real environment measurements by means of objective and subjective methods. The former is based on acoustic measurements according to international standards, in order to evaluate the numerical approaches used with established acoustic indicators to assess sound propagation in rooms. The latter comprises a subjective test comparing the virtual auralizations to the reference ones, which are obtained by means of binaural impulse response measurements. The first application of the auralizations contemplates an intelligibility and listening difficulty subjective test, considering different acoustic conditions of reverberation time and background noise levels. The second application studies the impact of acoustic variables on the cognitive processes of attention, memory and executive function, by means of psychological tests

Parental Awareness on Teenage Smoking Behavior in Yogyakarta and Bali

Smoking or being healthy is not a suitable offers to young teenagers (ages 13-15 years), because they have not able to take responsibility for the negative impacts of their choices on smoking behaviors. In addition, they have not been well informed about cigarettes and their dangers. The data indicate that there was a high rate of smoking behavior for adolescents aged 13-15 years (55.71%), including trial smoking behavior. However, only 39% of parents are aware of their children smoking behavior. This study aims were determining the awareness of parents and its form on the smoking behavior of their teenage children after treatment. The design of this study was a pre-posttest experiment with control group design. Around 301 parents of 8th grade boy student from 7 junior high schools were considered respondents. The latter came from 2 locations namely Yogyakarta and Tabanan Bali. For determining the respondents, cluster random sampling was used. The respondents were grouped into 3 groups (X1 treatment group, X2 treatment group and control group). The treatment is to provide information about cigarettes and its danger. It was given once by health workers. The measured variable is the respondent awareness and its form that was obtained from the students using selfreported questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Kruskal Wallis and Chi-square test with 0.05 level of significant. The results showed that there was a significant increase the parental awareness after treatment (p value 0.0001). This can happen because the intervention strengthened the predisposing factor to realize the respondents’ caring behavior as well as the concept of behavioral determinant of LW Green. In the X2 treatment group (non-smoker respondents) showed a higher increase of parental awareness than X1 treatment group (smoker respondents) and control group. This happens because they get support from health workers and get healthy conditions as resulted from their behavior. They will continue to remain as nonsmokers and encourage their teenage children to look up to them in order to get a similar reward, as the law of effect theory by E.L Thorndike made it clear. The form of awareness that many parents chose is the message upholding the primary prevention. The conclusion of the research stresses on continuously fetching more knowledge about cigarettes and its dangers, as one of the best mechanisms that can increase the parental awareness against teenage smoking behavior

Rethinking the risk matrix

So far risk has been mostly defined as the expected value of a loss, mathematically PL (being P the probability of an adverse event and L the loss incurred as a consequence of the adverse event). The so called risk matrix follows from such definition. This definition of risk is justified in a long term “managerial” perspective, in which it is conceivable to distribute the effects of an adverse event on a large number of subjects or a large number of recurrences. In other words, this definition is mostly justified on frequentist terms. Moreover, according to this definition, in two extreme situations (high-probability/low-consequence and low-probability/high-consequence), the estimated risk is low. This logic is against the principles of sustainability and continuous improvement, which should impose instead both a continuous search for lower probabilities of adverse events (higher and higher reliability) and a continuous search for lower impact of adverse events (in accordance with the fail-safe principle). In this work a different definition of risk is proposed, which stems from the idea of safeguard: (1Risk)=(1P)(1L). According to this definition, the risk levels can be considered low only when both the probability of the adverse event and the loss are small. Such perspective, in which the calculation of safeguard is privileged to the calculation of risk, would possibly avoid exposing the Society to catastrophic consequences, sometimes due to wrong or oversimplified use of probabilistic models. Therefore, it can be seen as the citizen’s perspective to the definition of risk

[DiaGram]; Rethinking Graphic Design Process

Central to any graphic design education is the teaching of a design (or creative) process as an aid to problem-solving. This study draws upon experimental workshops within design education, together with current thinking from the broader arts, emotional psychology and the brain sciences, to explore the idea of repositioning process as the ‘main event’ – rather than it being a means-to-an-end. The study sought to frame learning experiences that enabled students to consciously become the object of their own study; including themes that explored ‘personal identity’, ‘dualism’, ‘mind-wandering’ and ‘habit’ as mechanisms to enhance our creative capacity, and evidenced significant improvements in the students’ confidence, dexterity and working methodologies (including the elusive ‘risk’ and ‘play’). The emerging conclusions propose key anchors (‘dissociative creativity’, ‘process as the main event’, ‘collaboration’ and ‘immersion’) that we believe ought to be central to the development of any new teaching (esp. within graphic design). Keywords: Design, Education, Process, Creativity, Risk Full paper. Delivered 31 May 2017. Page 81–95 of attached document

IMPACT OF GRAZING ON SOIL ORGANIC MATTER AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF A FLUVISOL IN NORTWEST SERBIA

The effects of long-term (>20 yr) grazing on the selected physical properties of a non carbonated silty-clay Fluvisols were studied in the region of the Kolubara Valley, Northwest Serbia. Two adjacent land-use types (native deciduous forest and natural pasture soils converted from forests for more than 20 years) were chosen for the study. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected from three sites at each of the two different land-use types from the depths of 0–15, 15–30 and 30–45 cm. In relation to the soil under native forest, soil organic matter content, total porosity and air-filled porosity were significantly reduced after long-term of grazing. The bulk density (0.99–1.48 g cm–3) and the saturated hydraulic conductivity (6.9.10–2–3.2.10–4 cm s–1) were significantly lower in forest compared to the adjacent pasture (ex-forest) soil (1.49–1.55 g cm–3 and 3.4.10–4–5.5.10–4 cm s–1, respectively). In addition, forest had significantly lower dry mean weight diameter (7.0–9.2 mm) and greater wet mean weight diameter (2.0–2.6 mm) for 0–45 cm depth compared with the pasture (8.8–9.4 mm and 1.8–2.3 mm, respectively). The decrease of soil organic matter content and reduction in aggregate stability under long-term grazing rendered the soil more susceptible to compaction. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that removal of permanent vegetation in the conversion process from forest areas to pasture land may lead to loss of soil productivity and serious soil degradation. Obviously, there is a need for greater attention to developing sustainable land use practices in management of these ecosystems to prevent further degradation of pasture soils in the region

Variation of Soil Structure in the Foot and Toe Slopes of Mt. Vukan, East-central Serbia

This paper presents the variation of soil structure along the foot and toe slopes of Mt. Vukan, East-Central Serbia. The analysis of aggregate size distribution and structure indices were conducted by means of soil units, characteristic soil horizons and elevation differences along the study area. Soils of Great Field located at different elevations were found to have significant variation in ASD and soil structure indices. Topsoil horizon of Eutric Cambisols have higher MWD after dry sieving, but at the same time it has the highest variation in MWD after wet sieving, indicating low water stability, which is opposite to the coefficient of aggregability. We share an opinion that change in MWD better depicts soils structure stability to water. The results of correlation analysis indicated that clay content is correlated more to structure indices compared with SOM content. SOM is significantly correlated with ASD and soil structure indices only in Calcomelansols, whereas the significant correlation of clay content and soil structure is more evident in Eutric Cambisols and Non-calcaric Chernozems, compared with other soil units. Soil structure variation along the lowest chain of Catena might be strong, and that it has to be analyzed from the point of view of soil unit and their corresponding soil horizons