Reflective Argumentation

Theories of argumentation usually focus on arguments as means of persuasion, finding consensus, or justifying knowledge claims. However, the construction and visualization of arguments can also be used to clarify one's own thinking and to stimulate change of this thinking if gaps, unjustified assumptions, contradictions, or open questions can be identified. This is what I call "reflective argumentation." The objective of this paper is, first, to clarify the conditions of reflective argumentation and, second, to discuss the possibilities of argument visualization methods in supporting reflection and cognitive change. After a discussion of the cognitive problems we are facing in conflicts--obviously the area where cognitive change is hardest--the second part will, based on this, determine a set of requirements argument visualization tools should fulfill if their main purpose is stimulating reflection and cognitive change. In the third part, I will evaluate available argument visualization methods with regard to these requirements and talk about their limitations. The fourth part, then, introduces a new method of argument visualization which I call Logical Argument Mapping (LAM). LAM has specifically been designed to support reflective argumentation. Since it uses primarily deductively valid argument schemes, this design decision has to be justified with regard to goals of reflective argumentation. The fifth part, finally, provides an example of how Logical Argument Mapping could be used as a method of reflective argumentation in a political controversy

Geoweb 2.0 for Participatory Urban Design: Affordances and Critical Success Factors

In this paper, we discuss the affordances of open-source Geoweb 2.0 platforms to support the participatory design of urban projects in real-world practices.We first introduce the two open-source platforms used in our study for testing purposes. Then, based on evidence from five different field studies we identify five affordances of these platforms: conversations on alternative urban projects, citizen consultation, design empowerment, design studio learning and design research. We elaborate on these in detail and identify a key set of success factors for the facilitation of better practices in the future

Understanding the Relation Between Sexual Objectification and Ostracism

Ostracism – being ignored and excluded – and sexual objectification – when an individual is regarded only as an object that exists for the use and pleasure of others – are conceptually related, yet the connections between the two phenomena have yet to be examined empirically. Both involve aspects of the self being ignored by others. Sexual objectification involves attention that focuses on one’s appearance while other characteristics of the individuals are ignored. This fits within the parameters of the definition of “partial ostracism” – in which the individual is acknowledged and included in some ways (or times), but not in others. Furthermore, some of the outcomes of being ostracized, such as negative affect, depression, and substance abuse, have also been identified as outcomes of sexual objectification. This dissertation, therefore, looks at potential connections between ostracism and sexual objectification. Studies 1 (A, B, & C) and 2 demonstrated that women feel ignored and excluded to a greater extent when men focus on the appearance of their body, signaling objectification, than when men focus on their face, signaling attention to their personality. These results establish that sexual objectification is experienced as a form of ostracism, and suggest that research regarding ostracism can be applied to sexual objectification. Because ostracism elicits behaviors that are meant to re-establish belongingness and reconnection and recognition by others, it is possible that portraying a sexualized image of oneself could achieve both goals. Studies 3 and 4 examined whether ostracism causes women to self-objectify (i.e., present a sexual image of themselves). In these studies, included and ostracized women were asked how revealing they would like their clothing (Study 3) or their online artificial avatar’s clothing (Study 4) to be. The results of these studies did not support the original prediction that ostracism would lead to more self-objectification, however they provided some initial evidence that hostile and benevolent sexism may play a role in the relation between ostracism and self-objectification. Study 5 examined whether ostracized individuals are also more tolerant of sexual objectification. Because ostracism induces an increased need for attention, individuals may view any type of attention as better than no attention at all. In this study ostracized and included women were asked to imagine having a conversation with a man in a pre-recorded video who was either focusing on their face, on their body, or who was looking away from them. They were then asked to rate their interaction partner and to indicate their willingness to interact with him in the future. I hypothesized that ostracized women would rate the interaction partner who was focusing on their body more positively than included women. However, this hypothesis was not supported because in this study ostracism did not significantly affect women’s evaluation of their interaction partner. Women were most fond of their interaction partner and were most willing to interact with him when he was looking at their face and were most threatened by him when he was looking at their body. This work suggests that whereas sexual objectification makes women feel that their body is under the spotlight, they nevertheless feel ignored and unacknowledged

An immune dysfunction score for stratification of patients with acute infection based on whole-blood gene expression.

Dysregulated host responses to infection can lead to organ dysfunction and sepsis, causing millions of global deaths each year. To alleviate this burden, improved prognostication and biomarkers of response are urgently needed. We investigated the use of whole-blood transcriptomics for stratification of patients with severe infection by integrating data from 3149 samples from patients with sepsis due to community-acquired pneumonia or fecal peritonitis admitted to intensive care and healthy individuals into a gene expression reference map. We used this map to derive a quantitative sepsis response signature (SRSq) score reflective of immune dysfunction and predictive of clinical outcomes, which can be estimated using a 7- or 12-gene signature. Last, we built a machine learning framework, SepstratifieR, to deploy SRSq in adult and pediatric bacterial and viral sepsis, H1N1 influenza, and COVID-19, demonstrating clinically relevant stratification across diseases and revealing some of the physiological alterations linking immune dysregulation to mortality. Our method enables early identification of individuals with dysfunctional immune profiles, bringing us closer to precision medicine in infection

An immune dysfunction score for stratification of patients with acute infection based on whole-blood gene expression

Dysregulated host responses to infection can lead to organ dysfunction and sepsis, causing millions of global deaths each year. To alleviate this burden, improved prognostication and biomarkers of response are urgently needed. We investigated the use of whole-blood transcriptomics for stratification of patients with severe infection by integrating data from 3149 samples from patients with sepsis due to community-acquired pneumonia or fecal peritonitis admitted to intensive care and healthy individuals into a gene expression reference map. We used this map to derive a quantitative sepsis response signature (SRSq) score reflective of immune dysfunction and predictive of clinical outcomes, which can be estimated using a 7- or 12-gene signature. Last, we built a machine learning framework, SepstratifieR, to deploy SRSq in adult and pediatric bacterial and viral sepsis, H1N1 influenza, and COVID-19, demonstrating clinically relevant stratification across diseases and revealing some of the physiological alterations linking immune dysregulation to mortality. Our method enables early identification of individuals with dysfunctional immune profiles, bringing us closer to precision medicine in infection

Participation in Transition(s):Reconceiving Public Engagements in Energy Transitions as Co-Produced, Emergent and Diverse

This paper brings the transitions literature into conversation with constructivist Science and Technology Studies (STS) perspectives on participation for the first time. In doing so we put forward a conception of public and civil society engagement in sustainability transitions as co-produced, relational, and emergent. Through paying close attention to the ways in which the subjects, objects, and procedural formats of public engagement are constructed through the performance of participatory collectives, our approach offers a framework to open up to and symmetrically compare diverse and interconnected forms of participation that make up wider socio-technical systems. We apply this framework in a comparative analysis of four diverse cases of civil society involvement in UK low carbon energy transitions. This highlights similarities and differences in how these distinct participatory collectives are orchestrated, mediated, and subject to exclusions, as well as their effects in producing particular visions of the issue at stake and implicit models of participation and ‘the public’. In conclusion we reflect on the value of this approach for opening up the politics of societal engagement in transitions, building systemic perspectives of interconnected ‘ecologies of participation’, and better accounting for the emergence, inherent uncertainties, and indeterminacies of all forms of participation in transitions

The Collaboration - Authentic Learning - Tool Mediation (CAT) Framework: the design, use and evaluation of an academic professional development workshop

The research uses an educational research design to design and evaluate a professional workshop to support teaching and learning. The workshop was designed to support the institutional goals that learning be conceptualized as becoming a practitioner of a knowledge and professional domain and that Information and Communication Technology tools need to support innovative teaching. The CAT framework includes concepts of social collaboration, tool mediation and authentic learning. This framework is used as a heuristic to design and evaluate the workshop. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of artefacts showed that the framework allowed participants to evaluate the pedagogical design of game-based learning reports, design their own learning activities and evaluate the workshop. However, the concept of tool mediation was not fully understood. Future work in the design of the workshop needs to emphasize tool mediation and specific role for ICT tools as mediators

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

JuxtaLearn D3.2 Performance Framework

This deliverable, D3.2, for Work Package 3 incorporating the pedagogy from WP2 and orchestration factors mapped in D3.1 reviews aspects of performance in the context of participative video making. It reviews literature on curiosity and engagement characteristics of interaction mechanisms for public displays and anticipates requirements for social network analysis of relevant public videos from WP6 task 6.3. Thus, to support JuxtaLearn performance it proposes a reflective performance framework that encompasses the material environment and objects required, the participants, and the knowledge needed