Providing Self-Aware Systems with Reflexivity

We propose a new type of self-aware systems inspired by ideas from higher-order theories of consciousness. First, we discussed the crucial distinction between introspection and reflexion. Then, we focus on computational reflexion as a mechanism by which a computer program can inspect its own code at every stage of the computation. Finally, we provide a formal definition and a proof-of-concept implementation of computational reflexion, viewed as an enriched form of program interpretation and a way to dynamically "augment" a computational process.Comment: 12 pages plus bibliography, appendices with code description, code of the proof-of-concept implementation, and examples of executio

Reflexivity and the institutional entrepreneur: a historical exploration

This article sets the idea of the `institutional entrepreneur' in the context of the `autonomous reflexive' as developed in the work of Margaret Archer. It argues that the latter notion provides a helpful approach to the issue of agency that has bedevilled the new institutionalist project. A detailed account, using the lens supplied by the notion of the autonomous reflexive, is given of the formation of Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, a pioneer of directly managed public houses. The article suggests that Walker used taken-for-granted practice, transferred from elsewhere, to develop his managerial systems. The importance of aspects of Walker's Scottish background, such as education and church governance, is stressed. The account of agency supplied by Archer is seen to be a conception of agency that can inform the debate over the nature of institutional entrepreneurship

Revisiting Lancaster : more things that every social work student should know

It has been argued previously that social work students need to understand what is known about those people who sexually offend and abuse in order to provide adequate services to both victims/survivors and offenders/abusers. This article explores how engaging with a highly emotional topic can be undertaken in ways that make links with other forms of knowledge within social work education programmes. It also presents techniques based on the experience of teaching and learning about sexual offending that have been useful, allowing students to think and talk about issues that are often obscured by emotion, rhetoric and claims for trut

Kinky clients, kinky counselling? The challenges and potentials of BDSM

About the book: Feeling Queer or Queer Feelings? presents highly innovative and contemporary ideas for counsellors, counselling and clinical psychologists and psychotherapists to consider in their work with non-heterosexual clients. Ground-breaking ideas are presented by new thinkers in the area for issues such as: coming out transgender desire theoretical modalities in working with HIV the role of therapy in bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadomasochism the use of queer theory in therapeutic research

Context Aware Adaptable Applications - A global approach

Actual applications (mostly component based) requirements cannot be expressed without a ubiquitous and mobile part for end-users as well as for M2M applications (Machine to Machine). Such an evolution implies context management in order to evaluate the consequences of the mobility and corresponding mechanisms to adapt or to be adapted to the new environment. Applications are then qualified as context aware applications. This first part of this paper presents an overview of context and its management by application adaptation. This part starts by a definition and proposes a model for the context. It also presents various techniques to adapt applications to the context: from self-adaptation to supervised approached. The second part is an overview of architectures for adaptable applications. It focuses on platforms based solutions and shows information flows between application, platform and context. Finally it makes a synthesis proposition with a platform for adaptable context-aware applications called Kalimucho. Then we present implementations tools for software components and a dataflow models in order to implement the Kalimucho platform

A critical perspective on stigma in physiotherapy: the example of weight stigma

"Manipulating practices is the first ever collection of critical physiotherapy studies and comes at a time of unprecedented change in the profession. Written as a collaboration between 20 authors, many members of the Critical Physiotherapy Network (CPN), the book uncovers the growing body of critical thinking now emerging in physiotherapy. From topics as diverse as 21st century education, ethics, evidence-based practice, touch, and equine therapy; and approaches as varied as disability and performance studies, feminism, logic, narrative theory, new materialism, and phenomenology, the book explores ways of thinking ‘otherwise’ about physiotherapy. Over 16 chapters written by authors from six different countries, Manipulating practices offers insights from some of physiotherapy’s most radical thinkers. The book is also an innovative venture into open source publishing, making it entirely free to download and read. In keeping with the objectives of the CPN, the chapters expose a range of concepts, ideas and practices to critical scrutiny, and reflect the profession’s growing interest in critiquing taken-for-granted ways of practicing and thinking. Manipulating practices will be of interest to clinicians, lecturers, policy-makers, researchers and students, and will provide new impetus to help physiotherapists imagine how the profession might grow and develop into the future.""«Manipulating practices» er den første vitenskapelige antologien som samler kritiske studier innen fysioterapi, og lanseres i en tid der profesjonen er preget av store forandringer. Antologien representerer et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom 20 forskere, hvor majoriteten er medlemmer av Critical Physiotherapy Network (CNP) – et internasjonalt nettverk av forskere og klinikere fra hele verden. Antologien synliggjør den økende tendensen til kritisk tenkning som er i ferd med å vokse frem innenfor fysioterapi. Gjennom å fokusere på varierte tema som utdanning, etikk, evidensbasert praksis, berøring og terapiridning, samt en bred tilnærming som inkluderer funksjonshemming, performance-studier, feminisme, logikk, narrativ teori, ny materialisme og fenomenologi, utforsker antologien nye og annerledes tanker om fysioterapi som fag og profesjon. Antologiens 16 kapitler er skrevet av forskere fra seks ulike land og gir innsikt i forskningen til noen av de mest radikale forskerne i det internasjonale fysioterapimiljøet. Boken er også innovativ gjennom at den publiseres som open access, hvilket betyr at den kan lastes ned og leses gratis og dermed gjøres allment tilgjengelig. I tråd med ambisjonen for CPN, utforskes en rekke ulike begreper, ideer og praktiske tilnærminger relatert til kritisk tenkning innenfor fysioterapi. Slik gjenspeiles også profesjonens økende interesse for å kritisere etablerte måter å praktisere og tenke på, som tidligere har vært tatt for gitt. «Manipulating practices» vil være av interesse for forskere, klinikere, forelesere, politikere og studenter. Antologien vil forhåpentligvis bidra med nye impulser med henblikk på hvordan fysioterapiprofesjonen vil vokse og utvikle seg fremover.

Tracking the reflexivity of the (dis)engaged citizen: some methodological reflections

The relationship between governments and citizens in many contemporary democracies is haunted by uncertainty and sociologists face the task of listening effectively to citizens’ own reflections on this uncertain relationship. This article reflects on the qualitative methodology of a recently completed UK project which used a combination of diary and multiple interviews/ focus groups to track over a fieldwork period of up to a year citizens’ reflections on their relationship to a public world and the contribution to this of their media consumption. In particular, the article considers how the project’s multiple methods enabled multiple angles on the inevitable artificiality and performative dimension of the diary process, resulting in rich data on people’s complex reflections on the uncertain position of the contemporary citizen

Theory and practice in the induction of five graduate nurses : a reflexive critique : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education at Massey University

This thesis investigates the induction of comprehensive nurses into a professional culture during their polytechnic nursing education and first year of hospital practice. It combines a critical theory approach with case study method. The ways in which social forces constrain individual and professional action are demonstrated through a critical reflexive analysis of the perceptions of five recently graduated comprehensive nurses. Each graduate was interviewed at regular intervals over a three month period. It is argued that previous studies of professional socialisation of nurses conducted within both empirico-analytic and interpretive epistemologies, have tended to objectify the day-to-day actions that students and new graduates take. While providing descriptions of the socialisation process, previous studies have not explored the reflexivity of understanding and action as well as the structural constraints of nursing education and practice. In this thesis critical social theory provides a framework in which to reveal, through empirical research, the constraining conditions of actions, and, through interpretive forms of enquiry, human perception and understanding. The reflections of the five participants in this study reveal that there are similar structural constraints in education as in hospital based nursing practice. There is, in effect, a continuity of structural constraints and this is contrasted with a disjunction between knowledge and beliefs gained through education and those apparently required in nursing practice. The graduates' perceptions are discussed and interpreted in terms of both the intended and the unintended learning states engendered by their actual experiences in the polytechnic and hospital settings. It is suggested that, at present, nursing education and practice are shaped by forms of technical control which arise from the dominant ideologies already embedded in the education and health care structures. In particular, nursing curricula are dominated by the technical linear paradigm of curri­culum design which contributes to a distorted separation of theory and practice and which obscures the process of reproduction of professional culture. It is argued that a more socially critical approach to the design of nursing curricula might begin to transform some of the structures which presently inhibit and constrain the professional choices and actions of student and graduate nurses

Moving the gender agenda or stirring chicken’s entrails?: where next for feminist methodologies in accounting?

Purpose – The paper critiques recent research on gender and accounting to explore how feminist methodology can move on and radicalise the gender agenda in the accounting context. Design/methodology/approach – After examining current research on gender and accounting, the paper explores the nature of feminist methodology and its relation to epistemology. It explores three inter-related tenets of feminist methodology in detail: Power and Politics, Subjectivity and Reflexivity. Findings – The paper suggests that much research in the accounting is concerned with gender-as-a-variable, rather than being distinctly feminist, thus missing the opportunity to radicalise the agenda. It makes suggestions for how a feminist approach to methodology could be applied to the accounting context. Originality/value – The paper calls for a wider application of a feminist approach to accounting research and where this might be applied. Keywords – feminism, methodology, epistemology, gender, accounting, power, reflexivity, subjectivity Paper type – conceptual paper

Do training and CPD foster truly reflective GPs?

No abstract available