Architectural Competitions as Institution and Process

The present book revolves around four key concepts. These concepts are architectural competition, institution, process and adjustments of contemporary competition structures. They may seem randomly assembled in order to form a pertinent book title, but considered as individual entities, they may also characterise the contemporaneous status of architectural competitions in the second decade of the new millennium. For clarity’s sake, what then is an architectural competition? Besides being an intentional combination of words, which etymologically suggests that architecture is not only the art of building, but in conjunction with competition also implies a mutual struggle between architects and other stakeholders to land the ideal design and constructive solution for a particular design problem, competitions in architecture are a phenomenon that is closely related to the practice of architecture, i.e. in a noble and fair spirit think outside established values and norms in order to renew spatial thinking (Cuff, 1992).

Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference

Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, and infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges related to replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult to conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, and different labs have access to different infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) assessing the overall replicability of a single theoretically important phenomenon and (b) examining methodological, cultural, and developmental moderators. We focus on infants’ preference for infant-directed speech (IDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS). Stimuli of mothers speaking to their infants and to an adult in North American English were created using seminaturalistic laboratory-based audio recordings. Infants’ relative preference for IDS and ADS was assessed across 67 laboratories in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia using the three common methods for measuring infants’ discrimination (head-turn preference, central fixation, and eye tracking). The overall meta-analytic effect size (Cohen’s d) was 0.35, 95% confidence interval = [0.29, 0.42], which was reliably above zero but smaller than the meta-analytic mean computed from previous literature (0.67). The IDS preference was significantly stronger in older children, in those children for whom the stimuli matched their native language and dialect, and in data from labs using the head-turn preference procedure. Together, these findings replicate the IDS preference but suggest that its magnitude is modulated by development, native-language experience, and testing procedure

Social skill development trough activities and games for 3-4 years old children

Kvalifikācijas darbs izstrādāts par tēmu 3-4 gadus vecu bērnu sociālo prasmju sekmēšana rotaļās. Kvalifikācijas darbs izstrādāts ar mērķi teorētiski pētīt un empīriski pārbaudīt 3-4 gadus vecu bērnu sociālo prasmju sekmēšanas iespējas rotaļās. Pētījums sastāv no divām daļām – teorētiskās un empīriskās. Teorētiskajā literatūrā analizējot tādu autoru darbus kā D. Dzintare, I. Stangaine, D.Lieģeniece, G. Svence, Ļ. Vigotskis, D. Elkoņins, N. Mihaiļenko u.c. pētīts sociālo prasmju jēdziens, analizēts 3-4 gadu vecumposms, noteikta rotaļu loma pirmsskolas vecuma bērnu sociālajā attīstībā. Īpaša uzmanība pievērsta daudzveidīgu radošo rotaļu organizēšanas un vadības iespējām sociālo prasmju attīstīšanai 3-4 gadus veciem bērniem. Empīriskajā daļā atlasītas radošās rotaļas, kas atbilst konkrētās bērnu grupas interesēm un aktuālajām vajadzībām sociālo prasmju attīstības jomā. Tiek izmantotas tādas radošu rotaļu grupas kā lomu un teatrālās (dramatizācijas) rotaļas, celtniecības rotaļas, kā arī kustību rotaļas ar radošiem elementiem. Empīriskā pētījuma ietvaros sasniegti pozitīvi rezultāti – jau divu mēnešu laikā būtiski uzlabojušies bērnu sabiedriskuma rādītāji, mazinājušies savstarpējie konflikti, kas pārsvarā rodas neprasmes dalīties ar rotaļlietām un spēlēties, izmantojot vienas un tās pašas rotaļlietas, parādījušās kopīgas rotaļas, kuru iniciatori ir paši bērni. Šādi novērojumi ļauj apstiprināt pētījuma sākumā izvirzīto hipotēzi: sociālās prasmes tiks veiksmīgi veicinātas 3-4 gadus veciem bērniem, ja ikdienas pedagoģiskajā procesā tiks mērķtiecīgi vadītas radošās rotaļas, kas atbilst konkrētās grupas bērnu aktuālajām interesēm un vajadzībām. Doto pētījumu var izmantot vecāki un pirmsskolas skolotāji, kuriem aktuāli ir jautājumi par sociālo prasmju veicināšanu pirmsskolas vecuma bērniem. Atslēgas vārdi: sociālās prasmes, rotaļas, radošās rotaļas, 3-4 gadus veci bērni Darba saturs: 43lpp., ietver 5 tabulas, 9 attēlus, izmantoti 49 literatūras avoti.Qualification paper is developed on topic about social skill development trough activities and games for 3-4 years old children. Qualification paper is made for the purpose of theoretical study and empirically verifying the social skill improvement possibilities on 3-4 years old children. This study consists of two parts – theoretical and empirical. The term of social skills, the age from 3 to 4 years, the role of playing in the development of pre – school age has been researched by analyzing works of D.Dzintare, I.Stagaine, D.Liegeniece, G.Svence, L.Vigotskis, N.Mihailenko. A special attention was focused on various role play organizing and management capabilities for social skill improvement for 3 to 4 years old children. In the empirical part of the study a program has been created, which provides everyday role play for children, where modern and very well-known characters from television are included, that way it stimulates the interest of children in these activities. Within the empirical study positive results has been achieved – significant improvements of sociability has been noticed, mutual conflicts were reduced, new mutual games has been created, whose indicators were children themselves. These observations confirm the raised hypothesis: social skills will successfully improve if in everyday pedagogical process role play activities that accords to specific current needs and interests were purposely managed. Given research can be used by parents and pre-school teachers, who find questions about social skill improvement for pre-school aged children important. Keywords: social skills, activities, role play, 3 to 4 year old children. Work content: 43 Pages, contains 5 tables, 9 pictures, used 49 Literature sources

Introduction

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Introduction

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Architectural competitions - histories and practice : Editors’ comments

Architectural competitions are no longer simply professional praxis for architects and a recurrent exercise for students at schools of architecture. The competition has also turned into a field of research, and this book is part of an effort constituting the architectural competition as a field for studies with scholarly claims. The first doctoral dissertations on competitions were presented in the 1990s in Europe. Another clear manifestation of research interest is the growth and spread of scholarly conferences on architectural competitions.   The contributions to the book show in a convincing way that the architectural competition is an interesting and rewarding object for research. The competition processes bear rich empirical findings to which one may refer for knowledge about architecture as professional practice, as educational subject and research platform. The architectural competition illustrates processes of change in society that are technical and organizational as well as social; it shows up constructive dilemmas, the borderline of rationality and the relative, creative insecurity of knowledge production in architectural projects.   QC 20130610</p

Introduction

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