Beyond the beanbag? Towards new ways of thinking about learning spaces

This article looks critically at some of the assumptions in our current ideas about learning spaces, especially the arguments in favour of a shift from formal to informal learning spaces. It suggests that the formal/informal divide hides more than it reveals about the complex relationships between learning and the spaces in which it takes place; and that learning spaces in post-compulsory education remains an under-theorised and under-researched area. Instead we need to develop better conceptual frameworks and richer research methodologies so as to enable a more informed, constructive and creative debate. The article ends by exploring the implications of unpicking the ‘granularity’ of different scales and types of learning space, so as to outline some alternative concepts for analysing what already happens and for enabling creative improvements to the socio-spatial encounters, relationships and processes of teaching and learning in post-compulsory education

The Java system dependence graph

The Program Dependence Graph was introduced by Ottenstein and Ottenstein in 1984 [14]. It was suggested to be a suitable internal program representation for monolithic programs, for the purpose of carrying out certain software engineering operations such as slicing and the computation of program metrics. Since then, Horwitz et al. have introduced the multi-procedural equivalent System Dependence Graph [9]. Many authors have proposed object-oriented dependence graph construction approaches [11, 10, 20, 12]. Every approach provides its own benefits, some of which are language specific. This paper is based on Java and combines the most important benefits from a range of approaches. The result is a Java System Dependence Graph, which summarises the key benefits offered by different approaches and adapts them (if necessary) to the Java language

Rational ignorance and the public choice of redistribution

This paper studies the role of citizensÂ’ demand for political information in elections and provides a possible explanation for the poor empirical support encountered by political economy models of income redistribution. It shows that incentives to gather political information may derive from its relevance to private choices. Under quite mild assumptions, the demand for political information is increasing in income. Information affects citizensÂ’ responsiveness to electoral platforms, and vote-seeking political parties should take this into account: as a consequence, redistribution will generally be less than predicted by the median voter theorem. Moreover, in contrast with what most literature seems to take for granted, an increase in inequality will not unambigously increase redistribution. Finally, introducing endogenous information may lead some policy restrictions to have effects quite different from those intended.redistribution, median voter, information, inequality

Characterization of different fruit wines made from cacao, cupuassu, gabiroba, jaboticaba and umbu

The main aim of this work was to produce fruit wines from pulp of gabiroba, cacao, umbu, cupuassu and jaboticaba and characterize them using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for determination of minor compounds and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection for major compounds. Ninety-nine compounds (C6 compounds, alcohols, monoterpenic alcohols, monoterpenic oxides, ethyl esters, acetates, volatile phenols, acids, carbonyl compounds, sulfur compounds and sugars) were identified in fruit wines. The typical composition for each fruit wine was evidenced by principal component analysis and Tukey test. The yeast UFLA CA 1162 was efficient in the fermentation of the fruit pulp used in this work. The identification and quantification of the compounds allowed a good characterization of the fruit wines. With our results, we conclude that the use of tropical fruits in the production of fruit wines is a viable alternative that allows the use of harvest surpluses and other underused fruits, resulting in the introduction of new products into the market.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Brasil (CNPq) and CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

The iron crafts of the Swahili from the perspective of historical semantics

To this day research in pre-colonial Swahili history has only taken casual notice of the role of Swahili crafts. This applies in particular to blacksmithing and iron smelting. Probably iron smelting were among the driving factors of cultural contact and of the development of economical structures on the Swahili Coast. Kusimba postulates that metallurgy played an important role for cultural change within Swahili polities. Foreign trade in iron products to other parts of the Indian Ocean fostered local exchange systems that linked the East African settlements on the Coast to each other and the interior (1996:387). In this article the potential of linguistic research on iron crafts for Swahili historiography will be demonstrated, though it has to be emphasised that linguistic evidence is as of yet too scarce to allow more than preliminary results. Two steps are deemed necessary to achieve this aim. In a first step the scientific contributions by historical linguistics, history, and archaeology in regard to Swahili iron working will be reviewed. In a second step it will be demonstrated that historical semantics, together with language geography can make a significant contribution to this discussion. More than anything else, it is the semantic aspect of language that is capable of revealing pre-colonial cultural change in Africa. With comparative phonological and morphological methods historical genetic relationships within a given language family can be discovered

GIGA-mapping svalgangs and skuts: Relating environmental and social conditions of Norwegian traditional architectures’ non-discrete spaces, so called “svalgangs” and “Skuts”

The unclimatised spaces between interior and exterior, generating the onion principal of the building, securing to different extends visual, sound, light and climatic penetration, have its place in almost all traditional architectures, performing as its energy exchange with the surrounding environment. “Svalgangs and Skuts”, the semi-interior spaces in Norwegian traditional architecture, are giving various opportunities of use and performance. They are serving as public-private and indoor-outdoor interface, developed in high potentials of articulation with different or even gradual degrees of permeability in relation to socio-environmental conditions. The GIGA-map is relating such spaces in context of their original climatic location, opportunities of use or inhabitation, options of penetration of overall environment and spatial dimensions, its distribution enveloping the interior spaces, world axis orientation in today location and climatic Exchange of the onion principle. The GIGA-map is zooming into various scales and layers, relating data and their development through colour coding gradients, their intensity through dashed lines and weights, themes through curvature degrees and arrows suggesting the process of the performance

Atratividade da carreira dos militares da categoria de praças em RV/RC do Exército: contributos para o incremento da retenção

As dificuldades de retenção dos militares que integram categoria de Praças em Regime de Voluntariado e Regime de Contrato no Exército, está intrinsecamente associada à atratividade da sua carreira, para a qual é determinante a perceção gerada em torno do sistema de recompensas que a própria envolve. Importa assim, estudar eventuais alterações ao sistema de recompensas, a fim de promover a sua atratividade e aumentar a retenção dos efetivos. A investigação adotou um percurso metodológico assente num raciocínio indutivo, apoiado numa estratégia de investigação qualitativa, e como desenho de pesquisa o estudo de caso do atual sistema de recompensas, associadas às práticas de gestão e ao Regime de Incentivos vigente. A análise aos dados referentes às saídas voluntárias e involuntárias, entre 2018 e 2022, permitiu, junto dos militares na efetividade de serviço, identificar contributos para incrementar a atratividade da sua carreira. Como principais contributos foi identificada a necessidade de uma abordagem integrada ao sistema de recompensas que preveja a implementação de um plano de formação e desenvolvimento individual e de um modelo de carreira, bem como a promoção de alterações legislativas que reforcem a atratividade ao nível da formação no ensino superior e criação do Quadro Permanente de Praças.The problems of retention of military personnel integrating the category of Volunteer and Contracted personnel in the Army, is intrinsically associated to career’s attractiveness, thus being determinant the perception generated around the corresponding rewarding system . Therefore, it is important to study possible changes to the rewards system to promote career attractiveness and increase the retention of personnel. This study adopted a methodological path based on inductive reasoning, supported by a qualitative research strategy, and a research design based on the case study of the current rewards system, associated with management practices and the Incentive’s Scheme in force. Data analysis related to voluntary and involuntary dropouts between 2018 and 2022 allowed the identification of inputs to increase the attractiveness of careers among active military personnel. The main contributions identified were the need for an integrated approach to the rewards system that foresees the implementation of a training and individual development plan and of a flexible career model, as well as the promotion of legislative changes that reinforce the attractiveness of higher education training and the creation of the Soldiers Permanent Career Framework.N/

Trans-co-design in systemic approach to architectural performance: The multi-layered media and agency in creative design and its processes

Based on several research by design cases, the paper aims to conclude the mix of diverse media in reference to diverse generative agency in Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance design field. In this field, the design processes and design’s performances are seen as the ‘resulting design objects’. Therefore, the agency involved in both is merged and proceeds parallel within one co-performative eco-system in its fight for Post-Anthropocene. SAAP is a fusion of several process based fields and their media, involving namely: • ‘Systems Oriented Design’ • ‘Performance Oriented Architecture’ • ‘Prototypical Urban Interventions’ • ‘Time-Based Design’ • ‘Service Design’ • ‘Co-Design, Co-Creation and DIY’ The direction of media mix and time-based design in creative digital design techniques was suggested by Sevaldson already in 2005 (Sevaldson, 2005). However, this new approach contributes to the field by assigning the diverse media to particular biotic and abiotic agency, including trans-disciplinary human co-design participation. This involves: a) the complexity diagramming – a manual analogue and digital tool from Systems Oriented Design (SOD) called GIGA-Mapping, the most designerly way to deal with systems (Sevaldson, 2013), b) digital modelling and c) its full scale prototyping and namely, d) all the performances of all the above mentioned, generated in time. The last ones appear through i.e. airflow, relative humidity, temperature; species such as algae, lichen, butterflies or bumblebees; material properties; or through human trans-disciplinary co-designers, such as general public, landscape ecologists, coders, architects and so on. Therefore, there is a shift from what architectural profession used to be perceived. As a designer, you can only interact with the system, not designing it. Through this interaction, you can co-design and therefore re-design the (eco)system. Through the properties of the active agency within the co-design are also defined their creative design tools. Therefore, the performances take multiple layers, such as synergy of natural, social and cultural defined in Performance Oriented Architecture by Hensel (Hensel, 2010). Here it involves namely creative trans-disciplinary and trans-social, biological, material, climatic, mechanical or digital performances. For example, within human speculative co-design some disciplines or public relate better to drawing or image relations’ connections, the others to physical modelling or prototyping or combinations of all. This needs to be at first point grounded by physical GIGA-Mapping to find the relations of the natural, social and cultural data, thoughts, understandings and speculations. The physical maps can be further on translated to digital maps and digital modelling simulations and afterwards printed and fabricated to meet physical interaction again. This feedback looping interaction is however simultaneously co-designed with the other kinds of agency. The prototype’s performance is co-generated by i.e. relative humidity, temperature, their material properties and organisms that appear in its adjacent environment or directly settles on prototypes. Therefore, the design processes appear to be multi-layered in relation with multiple agency and mixing digital with analogue, biotic with abiotic. The paper exemplifies these processes on several different cases of ‘responsive wood’ (Hensel & Menges, 2006) projects. The projects focus on trans-disciplinary multi-layered, analogue and digital, collaborative design processes grounded in GIGA-Mapping for prototypes generation. The two are placed to public and natural environment complexity for its interaction. This interaction is engaging co-living and co-creation across the particular urban landscape eco-system and interpretation through multi-genre performers and visitors of its festival EnviroCity. While doing so, the real time performance and its reflection for future project’s stages is co-designed. Though the GIGA-Map serves as a complexity and present prototype’s observation discussion board for reflection, the prototypes serve for environmental material embodied tacit interaction, experience and observation. Being inside these design processes, this project represents Sweeting’s discussion on what can design research practice give to second order cybernetics (Sweeting, 2016). Some of the prototyping and mapping projects focus more on detailed, other than human, environmental interaction development and its prototypical observation. This is followed by architectural application speculations and its referential studies on traditional architectures (see Figure 1). While the development of the first and very early research stage prototype is followed by GIGA-Mapping of its environmental interactions speculations supported by sampling, the prototyping research takes four feedback-looping paths that are however interconnected with the other two projects: a) long term first prototype observations when exposed to environmental settings; b) observations of related traditional architectures; c) the new prototype development based on condemned weaknesses of the first prototype d) observations of related traditional architectures and both of the prototypes for planned practice application. Through the long-term prototypical observation, the development of climate-material interaction and related biotic agency is taking place in time when it is co-designed by the mentioned. In the same time, the new prototype that is trying to answer firstly observed weaknesses is built and observed again. This is within the same time confronted with related historical references of possible applications (see Figure 1) to lead to the planned use in practice. This ‘bottom up approach’ of prototyping is followed by ‘top down’ practice applications speculations and traditional architecture references from extreme climates observations in reference to ‘adaptation to climate change in our location’ (Czech Republic Ministry of the Environment & Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, 2015). The studies led to focus on eco-systemic service design through performative eco-systemic ‘prototypical urban interventions’ (Doherty, 2005). Such approach is gaining from collective trans-disciplinary knowledge gathered through multiple stakeholders with co-design GIGA-Mapping. One of the key intervention is responsive wood insect hotel TreeHugger, parasitting on a tree trunk in the middle of a central urban eco-top. TreeHugger is a small object. However, it is applying detailed climate moderation solution through responsive wood concept for variety of insect species’ needs to create their liveable and/or preferred environment. These, in reference to the larger eco-systemic chain are to generate ‘edible landscape’ (Creasy, 2004) for i.e. bats and birds, while another fast food of blossoming plants seed bombs is generated for these insects to become a food. All this is integrated through the multi-genre festival EnviroCity, representing the synergy of natural, social and cultural environment with its generative agendas of recipes for DIY. Therefore, the project on architectural sustainable solution has transformed to the sustainable solution for eco-systems. It is not only bringing solutions through habitation but also through sustainable eco-system of co-living with nutrients resources, the environment of ‘flourishing for all’ (Ehrenfeld & Hoffman, 2013). The full scale prototyping in reference to co-design process was largely discussed by Capjon (Capjon, 2005). However here, these processes are perceived as a ‘results’ that are co-designed with overall eco-system in time. The field calls for the shift from ‘Cities for People’ (Gehl, 2010) towards the participation of both, biotic and abiotic agency into one co-performative eco-system, the ‘Real Life Laboratory’ (Davidová, Pánek, & Pánková, 2018). This is supported through using the key concept SOD tools such as ‘Rich Design Research Space’, discussing the social and spatial parameters (Sevaldson, 2008) and GIGA-Mapping, that in this case, serves as a co-design communication and complexity relations mapping tool that is indivisible from prototypical performance and ‘resulting’ observations, reflections and co-design. The paper concludes with that there is a necessity of mixing analogue and digital processes based on the involved agency and its position in time and these need to be multi-layered. This is mainly achieved through hands on reflective Research by Design, investigating the ‘eco-systemic prototypical urban interventions’(Davidová & Prokop, 2018), their related historical prototypes studies and their DIY iterations. Therefore, within the field of ‘Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance’ (Davidová, 2017), the design management, the methodology, the collaborative design processes, the design’s physical results and their collaborative performances are fused in one Time Based Eco-systemic Trans-Co-Design. These processes therefore generate the concept of ‘ecological urbanism’ defined by Mostafavi and Doherty (Mostafavi & Doherty, 2016)