19,599 research outputs found

    Ausubel's meaningful learning re-visited

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    This review provides a critique of David Ausubel’s theory of meaningful learning and the use of advance organizers in teaching. It takes into account the developments in cognition and neuroscience which have taken place in the 50 or so years since he advanced his ideas, developments which challenge our understanding of cognitive structure and the recall of prior learning. These include (i) how effective questioning to ascertain previous knowledge necessitates in-depth Socratic dialogue; (ii) how many findings in cognition and neuroscience indicate that memory may be non-representational, thereby affecting our interpretation of student recollections; (iii) the now recognised dynamism of memory; (iv) usefully regarding concepts as abilities or simulators and skills; (v) acknowledging conscious and unconscious memory and imagery; (vi) how conceptual change involves conceptual coexistence and revision; (vii) noting linguistic and neural pathways as a result of experience and neural selection; and (viii) recommending that wider concepts of scaffolding should be adopted, particularly given the increasing focus on collaborative learning in a technological world

    Hutong Neighbourhood Grammar: a procedural modelling approach to unravel the rationale of historical Beijing urban structure

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    Hutong neighbourhoods, composed of Chinese courtyard dwellings (Siheyuan), are historically and socially significant urban spaces that embody the traditional Chinese way of life and philosophy. As part of the national heritage, there is an increasing research interest in Hutong neighbourhoods, many of which are facing oblivion. This study presents a formal grammar for Hutong neighbourhood generation. This research investigates traditional principles of urban planning of ancient Beijing, based on examples on the historical map Qianlong Jingcheng Quantu, to derive the lost design rules. These rules are used to build up a procedural modelling framework, which reveals the development of Beijing's urban structure from the Yuan (1271–1368) to the Qing (1644–1911) dynasty. Our findings present a grammar incorporated into the procedural modelling framework to parametrically generate Hutong neighbourhoods, which replicates the morphological characteristics of historic cases. It contributes to the understanding of the generation of Hutong neighbourhoods. In support of heritage sustainability, this grammar can be implemented in a computational environment by visual scripting that enables the generation of new instances of Hutong neighbourhoods, both real and virtual

    POLARIZATION OF LOCAL COMMUNITY PERCEPTION ON SOCIOCULTURAL DYNAMICS IN ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF BOPUNJUR, WEST JAVA

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    In addition to providing multiplier economic benefits, the tourism sector also has the potential to cause some latent and massive negative social impacts. For this reason, it is important to map out the orientation of the local community. This study analyzes the polarization of the local community's perceptions of sociocultural dynamics in the ecotourism development area. The local community that became the focus of the research consisted of five groups of respondents: traditional leaders, religious leaders, educational leaders, community leaders, and tourism actors. This research was conducted in the Bopunjur Ecotourism Area, Bogor Regency, West Java, precisely in seven ecotourism destinations, namely Ciawi, Caringin, Cibogo, Cipayung, Megamendung, Cisarua, and Tugu. This study used mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative approach. Data collection on social and cultural dynamics was done by distributing questionnaires to the respondents. The research instrument was a questionnaire designed closed-ended with guidance on one score-one indicator scoring system. The results showed that positive social situations, namely conducive situations, associations, cooperative situations, and productive collaborations were still more dominant than negative social situations: war, conflict, and dissociation. The polarization of the local community on sociocultural dynamics has a positive direction with a polarization scale that is aligned with each other so that there is an excellent opportunity to build productive collaboration among stakeholders in this are

    Comedians without a Cause: The Politics and Aesthetics of Humour in Dutch Cabaret (1966-2020)

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    Comedians play an important role in society and public debate. While comedians have been considered important cultural critics for quite some time, comedy has acquired a new social and political significance in recent years, with humour taking centre stage in political and social debates around issues of identity, social justice, and freedom of speech. To understand the shifting meanings and political implications of humour within a Dutch context, this PhD thesis examines the political and aesthetic workings of humour in the highly popular Dutch cabaret genre, focusing on cabaret performances from the 1960s to the present. The central questions of the thesis are: how do comedians use humour to deliver social critique, and how does their humour resonate with political ideologies? These questions are answered by adopting a cultural studies approach to humour, which is used to analyse Dutch cabaret performances, and by studying related materials such as reviews and media interviews with comedians. This thesis shows that, from the 1960s onwards, Dutch comedians have been considered ‘progressive rebels’ – politically engaged, subversive, and carrying a left-wing political agenda – but that this image is in need of correction. While we tend to look for progressive political messages in the work of comedians who present themselves as being anti-establishment rebels – such as Youp van ‘t Hek, Hans Teeuwen, and Theo Maassen – this thesis demonstrates that their transgressive and provocative humour tends to protect social hierarchies and relationships of power. Moreover, it shows that, paradoxically, both the deliberately moderate and nuanced humour of Wim Kan and Claudia de Breij, and the seemingly past-oriented nostalgia of Alex Klaasen, are more radical and progressive than the transgressive humour of van ‘t Hek, Teeuwen and Maassen. Finally, comedians who present absurdist or deconstructionist forms of humour, such as the early student cabarets, Freek de Jonge, and Micha Wertheim, tend to disassociate themselves from an explicit political engagement. By challenging the dominant image of the Dutch comedian as a ‘progressive rebel,’ this thesis contributes to a better understanding of humour in the present cultural moment, in which humour is often either not taken seriously, or one-sidedly celebrated as being merely pleasurable, innocent, or progressively liberating. In so doing, this thesis concludes, the ‘dark’ and more conservative sides of humour tend to get obscured

    The Stakeholder Consultation Workshop Report: Transforming the Rules of the Game: Gendered Livability in Peri-urban Dhaka

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    Urban space is highly unequal, gendered, and divided. Urban policy and development planning often overlook the issue of food and water security for the most marginalized populations, who are often unregistered and considered as ‘temporary’ residents. In Bangladesh, the rural-urban migration of women is increasingly common. However, research on gender, food and water security in agricultural organizations often focuses on rural contexts where food is produced. To address this cross-sectoral knowledge gap, the research project titled ‘Transforming the rules of the game: Gendered livability in peri-urban Dhaka’ was implemented in 2022, funded by the CGIAR GENDER Impact platform. This study focused on understanding peri-urban food and water systems for young women garment workers in Bangladesh. At the end of the project implementation, the stakeholder consultation workshop was held on 12nd December 2022 in Dhaka with a total of 32 participants from the governments, local and international agricultural organizations, NGOs, universities, and the private sector. They brought varied expertise in areas including nutrition, food systems, environment, and urban development. After the welcome speech by Dr. Debashish Chanda from International Potato Center, the main event started with a joint presentation by Professors Dr. Sadika Haque and Dr. Bentul Mawa from Bangladesh Agricultural University. They spoke about their research findings with an emphasis on the impact of climate change and urban migration on the food governance system. They explained that the women garment factory workers’ residential areas have very limited public services in terms of waste management, water supply and medical services. Such women also have various concerns, for example, increasing food prices and their very limited options for food markets, and time constraints for household chores. The second presenter, Dr. Samina Lutfa from Bangladesh Agricultural University, showed how garment factory workers were involved in the global value chains that exploit women in the global south as cheap labour. She suggested that factory workers are easily replaceable and young women workers are exploited in the workplace. In the residential area too, they are very insecure in terms of clean water supply, food and nutrition. She also highlighted gender issues among garment workers such as women women being pressured to repay the debt of their family or in-laws. Such evidence indicates that women’s income earnings from factory jobs is not linked to women’s empowerment. Rather, it emphasizes gender inequality as patriarchal gender norms persist in both their workplace and the household. The panel discussion section began with Dr. Rudaba Khondoker from GAIN. She highlighted the importance of gender that intersects with other social identities based on which women are differentiated. Some gender-based exclusion and marginalization in urban food systems could be improved by changing regulations, lows and policies. Raising the collective voices to policymakers is therefore very important. Sharifa Parvin from FAO introduced their project “Support for Modelling, Planning and Improving Dhaka’s Food System”. 85% of Dhaka’s residents depend on wet markets and therefore it is important to engage with city corporation to improve food systems. She also expressed her interest to work on gender in urban food systems with 12 collaborating partners who are implementing the project on gender inclusion in food systems in Dhaka city. Dr. Yunus from the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies pointed out the vicious circle of child under-nutrition starting from women working in exploitative conditions, inadequate eating, and low salary. In current peri-urban factoryworking conditions women’s involvement in economic activities does not lead to their empowerment, which needs to be addressed. The session moderator, Dr. Lutful Hasan, honorable vice chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, appreciated the valuable insights provided by the presenters on gender, urban food insecurity, malnutrition, hidden hunger, limited governance and livability for RMG workers. The workshop continued with group discussions and group presentations on specific topics including the need to establish a platform for gender and urban food system policy and inter-ministerial coordination, and gender sensitization in academia with gender as a compulsory subject for all. The session moderator, Dr. Wajiha Khatun from IFPRI, commented that gender plays a key role in food system transformation. She emphasized that if women lose power in the food system, there will be a negative impact on the food system. The honorable Director of IIFS thanked all the participants and ended the workshop session with concluding remarks. Participants agreed to continue to engage with this topic of gender and urban food systems through on-going research projects in Dhaka

    The Great Green Wall Initiative in Mali - Country Review

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    Cognitive Dysfunction in Hypothyroidism

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    Cognitive function and hypothyroidism are strongly associated, and age-related differences in performance are significant. The association between hypothyroidism and cognitive impairment in adult patients is still debatable, although it is most severe in the fetus and neonatal period, where it is easy to leave lasting sequelae. Current theories postulate that the various age-related manifestations of this cognitive impairment may be linked to the various stages of hypothyroidism during the time-dependent development of the neurological system. Although the precise mechanism is still not entirely understood, it might be connected to immunological factors

    Associated Random Neural Networks for Collective Classification of Nodes in Botnet Attacks

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    Botnet attacks are a major threat to networked systems because of their ability to turn the network nodes that they compromise into additional attackers, leading to the spread of high volume attacks over long periods. The detection of such Botnets is complicated by the fact that multiple network IP addresses will be simultaneously compromised, so that Collective Classification of compromised nodes, in addition to the already available traditional methods that focus on individual nodes, can be useful. Thus this work introduces a collective Botnet attack classification technique that operates on traffic from an n-node IP network with a novel Associated Random Neural Network (ARNN) that identifies the nodes which are compromised. The ARNN is a recurrent architecture that incorporates two mutually associated, interconnected and architecturally identical n-neuron random neural networks, that act simultneously as mutual critics to reach the decision regarding which of n nodes have been compromised. A novel gradient learning descent algorithm is presented for the ARNN, and is shown to operate effectively both with conventional off-line training from prior data, and with on-line incremental training without prior off-line learning. Real data from a 107 node packet network is used with over 700,000 packets to evaluate the ARNN, showing that it provides accurate predictions. Comparisons with other well-known state of the art methods using the same learning and testing datasets, show that the ARNN offers significantly better performance

    Towards Legislation Responsive to Integrated Watershed Management Approaches and Land Tenure

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    Land tenure affects integrated watershed management approaches in various ways, such as influencing land use and investment in sustainability practices and decisions. However, some land tenure and integrated watershed management relations need more examination, including how the prevailing relevant legislation responds and the needed course of action. In this paper, we provide relevant evidence to support a shift to responsive actions and legislation through (a) examining land tenure scenarios affecting integrated watershed management, including the public–private land tenure co-existence from a watershed perspective; (b) the responsiveness of the prevailing relevant legislation to integrated watershed management and the land tenure scenarios and (c) identifying legislative remedies recommendable for responsiveness. We use qualitative methods to review secondary data sources, including four legislations, and complement them with field survey data. Field experiences are from three sub-catchments in the Lake Victoria basin, each representing a different land tenure system, as case studies. Land tenure links with integrated watershed management in various ways, such as influencing land use decisions. However, underscoring the relationship from the private and public land tenure perspective also indicates a complex and tense spatial relationship. As such, it likely limits adopting sustainable land use and management practices in watersheds as a case. Regardless, the perceptions from the study area indicate the land tenure systems and forms enabling sustainable choices and decisions, despite limitations such as tenure insecurity. The disconnect between integrated watershed management aspirations of ensuring sustainability, the land tenure abilities and the subsequent human practices is mainly institutional, with the relevant legislation indicating a low to moderate level of responsiveness to integrated watershed management approaches and land tenure, thus, abating effectiveness. Therefore, we suggest a shift towards responsive programming and legislation and the adoption of model legislation to support responsiveness replication. We also recommend further studies to assess the legal gaps and feasibility thereof
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