Operative-images and phantom-images: the synthetic perception media in late Harun Farocki

ABSTRACT - The images produced by cameras mounted on the front of projectiles, Farocki designates them as operative-images. The operational function of these images is to serve an automated vision machine, programmed for the detection of targets and re-orientation of the route of the missiles. The most important feature of technical images, according to Vilém Flusser, is that they materialize certain concepts about the world, precisely the concepts that guided the construction of devices that shape them. Thus, photography, very unlike automatically record impressions of the physical world, transcodes certain scientific theories into images, or to use Flusser´s own words, turns concepts into scenes. We suggest that the final stage, the perfect crime, of visionic technologies would be the production of synthetic images not intended for the biological human eye, as hitherto, but for the artificial vision - vision synthetically prepared by the cybernetic ideology of control. Today is impossible to describe the development of the audiovisual without also talking about the development of virtual imagery and its influence on human behavior or without point to the new industrialization of vision and the growth of a big market for synthetic perception, with all the ethical issues that this entails. Finally, we propose that to understand a significant part of Harun Farocki’s late work would also be useful the concept of neural-image as a component of a networked media practice, related to the ubiquity of digital technologies but also with the presence of surveillance devices in our contemporary visual culture.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sanitation under Stress: How Can Urban Services Respond to Acute Migration?

This working paper aims to identify key research questions around the successes and failures of urban governance structures in delivering essential services to populations following large migration movements.It does so through a review of the existing literature on the subject. It then unpacks how conflict-induced migration has affected Jordan's urban infrastructure and systems for the provision of basic services.In conclusion, we call for a research agenda that can help utilities, governments, non-governmental organisations and other service providers to better understand and overcome the challenges of sanitation provision in urban contexts 'under stress', without reinforcing existing inequalities or creating new ones, and to progress towards realising the Sustainable Development Goals' aspirations for 'universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation' by 2030

Activismo cultural e transformação social: casos e estratégias de práticas e políticas urbanas

Versão expandida da comunicação publicada no livro de actas do Congresso Intervenção Teatral em Portugal no Séc XXI, 2017, Edição: Intervenção – Associação para a Promoção e Divulgação Cultural (http://www.geralintervencao.com.pt/-atividades/intervencaoteatralportugal)O campo cultural é tido usualmente como potencial crítico do status quo vigente. A revolução cultural de Maio de 1968 é um marco no combate às políticas culturais conservadoras na Europa. No entanto, como bem sabemos, é à escala dos territórios locais que a produção social de espaços de acção diferenciados e significativos, maior potencial permite gerar face às forças alienantes da desterritorialização global. Por outro lado, sabemos também que as práticas de cidadania e a diversidade cultural foram sendo negligenciadas em favor de lógicas mercantilistas e da competitividade entre “cidades marca”, na formatação de identidades e imaginários no seio de uma cultura financeira neoliberal. A economia criativa surgiu como novo paradigma da economia mundial, gerando conceitos que hoje ocupam o discurso político oficial sem se perceber concretamente os seus modelos de aplicação aos territórios. Há diversas razões para que este desvio se concretizasse nas sociedades contemporâneas. Uma delas prende-se certamente com a globalização enquanto sintoma de homogeneização e mercantilização da cultura. Mas também na ausente, ou débil, construção de políticas culturais locais, sem formulação de estratégias publicadas e debatidas. Todavia, esta deriva confronta-se hoje com reivindicações opostas: a Democracia Cultural, o Direito à Cidade, a Política dos Comuns, os Direitos Culturais, entre outras. Mas, como conceber estratégias artísticas, culturais e políticas que visem o desenvolvimento da Democracia e da Cidadania Cultural? Como revitalizar o quotidiano cultural das nossas cidades? De que modo afinal se cumpre a Constituição da República Portuguesa na efectivação da Democracia Participativa e dos Direitos Culturais?N/

A imagem especulativa

Versão expandida do artigo publicado pela revista online Interact.A mais importante característica das imagens técnicas, segundo Flusser (1998), é o facto de materializarem determinados conceitos a respeito do mundo, justamente os conceitos que nortearam a construção dos aparelhos que lhes dão forma. Assim, a fotografia, muito ao contrário de registar automaticamente impressões do mundo físico, transcodifica determinadas teorias científicas em imagens. No decorrer deste ensaio, e enquanto sintoma do desaparecimento de uma ontologia estável da imagem, pretende-se examinar a hipótese de uma transdução da percepção visual num novo regime da imagem e da visão sintética. Procuraremos igualmente estabelecer a rede conceptual que nos permita desenvolver uma síntese da noção de imagem especulativa num enquadramento teórico que se vem designando como post-media, designadamente no contexto neocibernético.N/

The Anonymous’ Commentary on Plato’s Theatetus and a Middle-Platonic Theory of Knowledge

In this paper, I defend that the historiographical category of eclecticism is a correct way to describe the epistemology and the exegetical activity of the Anonymous commentator on Plato’s Theaetetus. In addition, I show that the interpretation of the platonic philosophy presented in this text not only presupposes an eclectic philosophical attitude, but also offers a conscious defense of a positive and philosophically relevant form of eclecticism. By eclecticism, I understand a method of inquiry based on the deliberate use of hypotheses and arguments from different philosophical traditions. My claim is that Anon. intends to lay ground of his way of doing philosophy by attributing it to Plato and the platonic tradition. In doing so, Anon. provides us with a positive understanding of eclecticism as a legitimate methodology of philosophical investigation

9th docomomo Brazil Conference: Interdisciplinarity and experiences in documentation and preservation of recent heritage. June 2nd to 11th, 2011 — Brasilia, Brazil

The 9th docomomo Brazil Conference had as chief subject Interdisciplinarity and experi- ences in documentation and preservation of recent heritage and was opened with a tribute to Brazilian architect José Galbinski, author of several Brasilia’s modern masterpieces. As key lecturers, it was honored with the presence of docomomo International Chair Ana Tostões (IST, Universidade Técnica, Lisboa), docomomo US President Theodore Prudon (Columbia University, New York), Mário Mendonça (Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador), Luis Mauro Freire (Escola Da Cidade, São Paulo), Cyro Correa Lyra (National Monuments, Rio de Janeiro), Alfredo Gastal (National Monuments, Brasília), Alfonso Corona Martínez (Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires), Jorge Silvetti (Har- vard University, Cambridge, Mass.). The two latter also integrated, along with docomomo Chile President Horacio Torrent, the special round table Brasília and the modern monumentality, chaired by docomomo Brazil President Carlos Eduardo Dias Comas

Comparing the performance of oversampling techniques in combination with a clustering algorithm for imbalanced learning

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceImbalanced datasets in supervised learning are considered an ongoing challenging task for standard algorithms, seeing as they are designed to handle balanced class distributions and perform poorly when applied to problems of the imbalanced nature. Many methods have been developed to address this specific problem but the more general approach to achieve a balanced class distribution is data level modification, instead of algorithm modifications. Although class imbalances are responsible for significant losses of performance in standard classifiers in many different types of problems, another aspect that is important to consider is the small disjuncts problem. Therefore, it is important to consider and understand solutions that not only take into the account the between-class imbalance (the imbalance occurring between the two classes) but also the within-class imbalance (the imbalance occurring between the sub-clusters of each class) and to oversample the dataset by rectifying these two types of imbalances simultaneously. It has been shown that cluster-based oversampling is a robust solution that takes into consideration these two problems. This work sets out to study the effect and impact combining different existing oversampling methods with a clustering-based approach. Empirical results of extensive experiments show that the combinations of different oversampling techniques with the clustering algorithm k-means – K-Means Oversampling - improves upon classification results resulting solely from the oversampling techniques with no prior clustering step

Interparental conflict and emerging adults’ romantic relationships: The role of emotional dysregulation and relationship commitment

The interparental relationship provides a model for offspring’s relationships, and research has shown that destructive interparental conflict has negative implications for emerging adults’ romantic relationships. Specifically, studies in this area have shown harmful effects of interparental conflict on emerging adults’ emotional regulation skills and relationship commitment, as well as on their satisfaction with, and the quality of, their romantic relationships. However, little is known about the role of relational commitment and emotional regulation skills in the relationship between exposure to interparental conflict and the satisfaction and quality of these relationships. To address this gap in the literature, the present study investigated the mediating role of emotional dysregulation and relationship commitment in the association between exposure to destructive interparental conflict and emerging adults’ romantic relationship quality and satisfaction. Participants were 425 emerging adults, aged 18 and 25 years old, who were, or had been in the past 6 months, in a romantic relationship. Supporting our hypothesis, results revealed that exposure to destructive interparental conflict was associated with less satisfaction and worse relationship quality through greater emotional dysregulation and less commitment to the relationship. This study supports previous research by reinforcing the role of interparental conflict as a predictor of emerging adults’ difficulties in their romantic relationships and highlights the importance of emotional regulation skills and commitment to the relationship as explaining mechanisms of that association, thus providing important implications for practice.A relação interparental fornece um modelo para os relacionamentos amoroso dos filhos e a investigação tem mostrado que o conflito interparental destrutivo tem implicações negativas para os relacionamentos amorosos dos adultos emergentes. Especificamente, os estudos nesta área têm mostrado efeitos nocivos do conflito interparental nas competências de regulação emocional e no compromisso relacional dos adultos emergentes, assim como na sua satisfação com, e na qualidade das relações de namoro. Contudo, pouco se sabe acerca do papel do compromisso relacional e das competências de regulação emocional, na relação entre a exposição ao conflito interparental e a satisfação e qualidade dessas relações. Com o objetivo de aumentar o conhecimento científico sobre este tema, o presente estudo analisou o papel mediador da desregulação emocional e do compromisso com a relação, na associação entre a exposição ao conflito interparental destrutivo e a qualidade e satisfação da relação de namoro de adultos emergentes. Participaram neste estudo 425 adultos emergentes entre os 18 e os 25 anos, que estão, ou estiveram nos últimos 6 meses, numa relação de namoro. Os resultados revelaram que o conflito interparental está associado a menor satisfação e a pior qualidade da relação de namoro através de maior desregulação emocional e menor compromisso com a relação. Este estudo reforça o papel do conflito interparental enquanto preditor de dificuldades nas relações de namoro de adultos emergentes, e salienta a importância das competências de regulação emocional e do compromisso com a relação enquanto mecanismos explicativos dessa associação, tendo assim importantes implicações para a prática

Pathways to professionalised community water services in a protracted crisis: a case from Juba

The paper depicts Oxfam South Sudan experience in professionalising a community-based operating entity responsible for managing a water treatment plant in Juba, through WASH Market-based Programming. It describes how this was achieved by supporting the development of a business implementation plan and provision of tailored institutional support. Findings were based on market research conducted in 2017, with over 300 individuals being interviewed as part of the process, through quantitative (household willingness-to-pay survey) and qualitative methods. The paper concludes that community-based management arrangements remain relevant, especially in the context of protracted crisis. It recognises however that implementing agencies need to provide medium-term institutional support (well beyond the handover of infrastructure and especially throughout the first year of operations), if sustainability and pro-poor accessibility are to be ensured. The paper calls for a change in paradigm allowing the WASH sector to move from traditionally voluntary community management arrangements, towards professionalisation of community-based organisations

Oscar Niemeyer, 1907-2012

Modern master Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) was the most important Brazilian architect. Graduated in the Escola Nacional de Belas–Artes in 1934, he soon became world–known for his role, together with Lúcio Costa (1902–1998), with the design of the Brazilian Ministry of Education (1937) in Rio de Janeiro; or for their Brazilian Pavillion in New York World Fair in 1939. His solo work in the Pampulha buildings was immediately published in the catalogue of the “Brazil Builds” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943