Creative rationality and design education: Towards a pedagogy of adventure

Design education is usually based on the paradigm of innovation defined as a mere application of science. This paper aims at showing that such a point of view is the result of an intellectual perspective which has thrown techniques out of science and, thus, has neglected a specific kind of rationality (the “creative rationality”). Integrating this kind of rationality in the design education drives us to invent“pedagogy of the adventure”.design; innovation; creativity; rationality; education

Image industrielle et dispositif symbolique

L’homme de l’âge industriel est inclus dans une prolifération de dispositifs qui construisent un nouveau rapport de celui-ci au monde. La photographie et le cinéma, qui relèvent eux-mêmes d’un dispositif industriel de communication, donnent à voir les effets de ce dispositif : d’une part, la désubjectivation de l’homme, d’autre part, la mise en place d’un ordre de l’artificiel qui se fonde sur le simulacre. Photographie et cinématographe agissent comme un dispositif symbolique qui a pour fonction de former les esprits à cette révolution mentale dont on pourra se demander enfin comment elle s’articule avec les technologies numériques.People of the industrial period are included in numerous devices which build a new relationship to the world. Photography and cinematography which belong themselves to the industrial device of communication, show the effects of this device: on the one hand, the process of man’s loss of subjectivity, on the other hand, the implementation of an order of the artificial which is based on the simulacrum. Photography and cinematography act as symbolic devices: their function is to form the human mind in a mental revolution whose links with digital technologies remain a matter of speculation

Language classification and manipulation in Romania and Moldova

Linguistic classification is a scientific methodology for categorizing the languages of the world. However, the tools and methods of linguistic classification have been used to various degrees by political entities to further nationalistic agendas. This thesis assesses the role of linguistic classification in nationality and politics, and addresses the disjunct between true linguistic classification, based on genealogical, areal, and typological features, and language designation, based on political and nationalistic motives. This thesis uses the Romanian language as a vehicle for illustrating both linguistic classification methods as well as how these methods have been manipulated for non-linguistic reasons both internally by Romanian nationalists and externally by the Soviet Union in Moldova. The Romanian language is analyzed in terms of three major classification methods: genealogical, areal, and typological. The thesis supports the idea that linguistic classification, a scientific practice, cannot be fully reconciled with language designation, a practice which essentially serves non-scientific purposes, namely to confirm or deny political and cultural relationships between different demographic groups. While some of the methods of linguistic classification are used in language designation, it must remain independent of real-world affairs in order to maintain its own principles

Assessing the legacy of erosion and flood control management efforts on the fish assemblages and physical conditions of Yazoo Basin bluff hill streams

The hills of Yazoo Basin have a long history of land use modification and subsequent erosion and flood control issues. In response, federal actions were taken to address these issues beginning after the Mississippi River flood of 1927. Four major flood control reservoirs were built in 1932-1957, and instream low-drop grade control structures (GCS) were installed beginning in the 1980s. The objective of my dissertation was to ascertain the long-term effects of these efforts on stream fish assemblages and channel morphology. To assess whether the reservoirs affected upstream fish assemblages as barriers to recolonization by fluvial fishes or as source population for invasion by lentic generalist fishes (Chapter 1), I used stream data collected 43-61 years after the rivers were impounded to test for differences in fish assemblages between sites upstream and downstream of the reservoirs. Analysis of catch per effort and diversity metrics displayed little influence of the reservoirs, but trait-based analysis revealed marginal increases in planktivores, herbivores, detritivores, and generalists in upstream assemblages. After determining that potential effects of reservoirs would not confound further analysis, I assessed the effects of GCS on channel morphology (Chapter 2) and fish assemblages (Chapter 3) 30 years post-installation. To assess GCS effects on channel morphology, stream cross-sections were used to calculate Bank Height Ratio, Width/Depth Ratio, and Entrenchment Ratio, while point estimates made along the transects were used to calculate the average sediment size distribution. Analyses revealed that the GCS were successful in checking channel incision moving headward in the streams: sites upstream of the GCS were less incised and had greater accumulations of fine substrates compared to downstream sites and sites on streams lacking erosion control structures. The GCS could potentially affect fish assemblages through habitat modification or by selectively filtering the assemblages as a barrier to upstream migration. Analysis of beta diversity revealed that diversity was driven by species replacement rather than nestedness, which indicates GCS were not acting as filters on the assemblages. Analysis of catch per effort data confirmed differences in assemblage structure that echoed the instream habitat differences revealed in Chapter 2

Thinking Technology in order to think engineering education

The aim of this paper is to define the various meanings of the word “technology” and the history of this concept. It will point out our definition of the word “technology” which implies others relationships between science and technology. Finally, it will show the implications of such a definition upon engineering education

: Vers la mise en oeuvre d'une pédagogie de l'aventure

Préparer les ingénieurs à leur futur métier, c'est les former à la pratique d'une rationalité que nous nommons " créative ", source de toutes les innovations. C'est mettre en oeuvre une " pédagogie de l'aventure " qui place la créativité au coeur de la formation des ingénieurs. Nous illustrerons cette pédagogie par la relation d'expérimentations pédagogiques que nous avons réalisées à l'INSA de Lyon

Creative rationality and design education: Towards a pedagogy of adventure

Design education is usually based on the paradigm of innovation defined as a mere application of science. This paper aims at showing that such a point of view is the result of an intellectual perspective which has thrown techniques out of science and, thus, has neglected a specific kind of rationality (the “creative rationality”). Integrating this kind of rationality in the design education drives us to invent“pedagogy of the adventure”

Expliquer l'inexplicable: Sciences de la conception et créativité

La création a toujours été, dans notre tradition culturelle, associée au mystère et à l'inexplicable. On peut même avancer que, par delà un réductionnisme scientiste naïf, le schème de l'inexplicable, via les thématiques de l'incomplétude, de l'indétermination, voire la notion même de modèle, lorsqu'elle se substitue à l'idée de théorie, affecte désormais les sciences elles-mêmes, à commencer par la physique. S'il a été salutaire d'abandonner un modèle étroit d'une raison qui aurait réponse à tout et servirait à empiler les connaissances jusqu'à l'extinction finale de tout inconnu, ne peut-on néanmoins affiner notre description de la rationalité et tenter de cerner plus avant le processus de création, trop souvent rangé du côté de la non-raison, de l'intuition, de l'inexplicable, pour tout dire et sa relation à la science ? Ne peut-on définir et modéliser ce qui apparaît comme l'essence de la création, c'est-à-dire la créativité, et se demander si celle-ci n'est pas à l'œuvre dans la science elle-même ? Plus précisément, comment les sciences de l'artificiel peuvent-elles intégrer la question de l'inexplicable et renouveler la question plus générale de la créativité ? Ou si l'on préfère, comment dépasser la métaphysique pour repenser la science, en l'articulant à un paradigme différent de la rationalité

Diphenylamine-Zinc Chloride as a Chromogenic Agent for the Detection of a Mixture of DDT, Chlordane, and Toxaphene on Thin Layer Chromatograms

Diphenylamine-ZnCI, has been evaluated as a chromogenic agent for detection of toxaphene, DDT, and chlordane on Al2O3 a thin layer plates. Characteristic colors were obtained for these pesticides; a lower level of about 5 μg was detectable. Color reactions of 34 pesticides at the 20 μg level are presented

Q-AIMD: A Congestion Aware Video Quality Control Mechanism

Following the constant increase of the multimedia traffic, it seems necessary to allow transport protocols to be aware of the video quality of the transmitted flows rather than the throughput. This paper proposes a novel transport mechanism adapted to video flows. Our proposal, called Q-AIMD for video quality AIMD (Additive Increase Multiplicative Decrease), enables fairness in video quality while transmitting multiple video flows. Targeting video quality fairness allows improving the overall video quality for all transmitted flows, especially when the transmitted videos provide various types of content with different spatial resolutions. In addition, Q-AIMD mitigates the occurrence of network congestion events, and dissolves the congestion whenever it occurs by decreasing the video quality and hence the bitrate. Using different video quality metrics, Q-AIMD is evaluated with different video contents and spatial resolutions. Simulation results show that Q-AIMD allows an improved overall video quality among the multiple transmitted video flows compared to a throughput-based congestion control by decreasing significantly the quality discrepancy between them