Developments in Space Syntax: Past, Present and Future

This paper provides insights into development directions in space syntax, from its inception in the late 1970s to potential future trajectories. Past developments are synthesized from key publications, conference proceedings, as well as seminar contributions in the field of space syntax. A review of critical trends in science production is used to conclude with a series of recommendations to progress the field in the future

La traduzione specializzata all’opera per una piccola impresa in espansione: la mia esperienza di internazionalizzazione in cinese di Bioretics© S.r.l.

Global markets are currently immersed in two all-encompassing and unstoppable processes: internationalization and globalization. While the former pushes companies to look beyond the borders of their country of origin to forge relationships with foreign trading partners, the latter fosters the standardization in all countries, by reducing spatiotemporal distances and breaking down geographical, political, economic and socio-cultural barriers. In recent decades, another domain has appeared to propel these unifying drives: Artificial Intelligence, together with its high technologies aiming to implement human cognitive abilities in machinery. The “Language Toolkit – Le lingue straniere al servizio dell’internazionalizzazione dell’impresa” project, promoted by the Department of Interpreting and Translation (Forlì Campus) in collaboration with the Romagna Chamber of Commerce (Forlì-Cesena and Rimini), seeks to help Italian SMEs make their way into the global market. It is precisely within this project that this dissertation has been conceived. Indeed, its purpose is to present the translation and localization project from English into Chinese of a series of texts produced by Bioretics© S.r.l.: an investor deck, the company website and part of the installation and use manual of the Aliquis© framework software, its flagship product. This dissertation is structured as follows: Chapter 1 presents the project and the company in detail; Chapter 2 outlines the internationalization and globalization processes and the Artificial Intelligence market both in Italy and in China; Chapter 3 provides the theoretical foundations for every aspect related to Specialized Translation, including website localization; Chapter 4 describes the resources and tools used to perform the translations; Chapter 5 proposes an analysis of the source texts; Chapter 6 is a commentary on translation strategies and choices

A complementary view for better understanding the term computational thinking

The term Computational Thinking is closely related to efforts connected to teach a systematic and well-structured way of problem solving that includes a set of tools and techniques used in Computer Science. While substantial research in this field has shown promising outcomes concerning distinct intervention programs and teaching initiatives, the term Computational Thinking itself requires to be revised in order to get a wider consensus about its meaning and purpose. This paper contributes to the ongoing quest concerning the definition of the term by starting with a fundamental perspective on computational theory and corresponding concepts in order to describe the theoretical building blocks of a systematic view to further elaborate on an approach for teaching and learning about Computational Thinking. Additionally, based on this foundational effort, more advanced concepts are presented and discussed in order to better understand this domain. Finally, the paper identifies and discusses a set of relevant challenges taking a cognitive psychology perspective on Computational Thinking

Exploring digital discourse with Chinese characteristics: contradictions and tensions

Capitalism in China is under transformations. This research aims to register and interpret China’s discourse on network technologies, reveal the underlying ideologies, and tie this discourse to the transformation of China’s capitalism of which it is a part. Digital discourse, as this thesis defines it, is about the contemporary discourse on network technology under Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics. China’s state-led capitalism has gone through all aspects of changes that are enabled by network technologies, ranging from production, consumption and the market, to the relations between international capital, the State, domestic capital, and individuals are experiencing changes. Along with the economic, political and technological changes are ideological transformations. Digital discourse is part of the social process that is related to other social changes. This thesis will focus on the particular forms of digital discourse as a channel to investigate both social and ideological transformations in China’s digital capitalism. In particular, this thesis looks at the digital discourse from three social and political actors. It analyses discourse from the current central government’s information society policies and President Xi Jinping’s speeches, from CEOs of the dominant Internet companies in China, and from young workers in China’s ‘Silicon Valley’ Shenzhen. Through the lens of ideology, this thesis provides a critique of how digital discourse from different actors legitimate social relations in the current capitalism in China. In particular, at the international level, the government and BAT have appropriated a nationalist discourse to legitimate the global expansion of China’s capital and enterprises. At the domestic level, these actors have produced different types of discourse to legitimate the concentration of the market and the commercialisation of Internet platforms. At the individual level, there is a tendency among all actors to construct a consumer identity to replace a more politically active citizen identity. Through analysing digital discourse from these three actors, this thesis also identifies several features of ideology and the mechanisms of how ideologies work in contemporary capitalism. While the study illustrates the discrepancy of ideological discourse between by the dominant groups and subaltern groups, it also identifies one crucial ideology that legitimates, internalises and naturalises the dominant socio-political arrangements surrounding the commercialised Internet – This is no alternative. This finding suggests a double-layer and multi-dimensional understandings of the ideologies about China’s digital capitalism

“It is difficult to balance research and teaching time, let alone family”: An analysis of women’s experiences working as academics in contemporary Chinese universities

This thesis explores the experience of women academics in China, focusing on gender inequalities in their professional and domestic lives and the conflict between these two spheres. Three analysis chapters respectively address women's reasons for choosing an academic career and the wider social perception of academic work as ‘good’ work for women