COMET. A Method for Analysing Collective Design Processes

Projet EIFFELThis paper focuses on modelling collective design, especially co-operative activities in co-design situations. Cognitive psychologists have proposed various methods for the analysis of verbal individual protocols, but much less for dialogues in collective work settings. Many professional activities, however, are carried out by people working together through verbal interaction- s. A method is proposed for analysing activities of designers during the meetings in which they are working together on a design project (i.e. their dialogues, and their generation and use of external representations). This research has a triple objective: modelling collective-design activities (especially the reasoning component), proposing a data-analysis methodology for cognitive psychologists and other researchers interested by collective design, and extending verbal protocol analysis to collective work situations. The method will be illustrated through data collected in studies on the co-operation in co-design situations in two different collective-design tasks, software design and design of local area networks

A methodology for the capture and analysis of hybrid data: a case study of program debugging

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Characterisation and categorisation of the diversity in viscoelastic vibrational properties between 98 wood types

International audienceContext Increased knowledge on diversity in wood properties would have implications both for fundamental research and for promoting a diversification of uses as material. *Aims The objective is to contribute to overcoming the critical lack of data on the diversity of wood dynamic mechanical/viscoelastic vibrational properties, by testing lesser-known species and categorizing sources of variability. *Methods Air-dry axial specific dynamic modulus of elasticity (E'/γ) and damping coefficient (tanδ) were measured on a wide sampling (1792 specimens) of 98 wood types from 79 species. An experimental device and protocol was designed for conducting systematic (i.e. rapid and reproducible) characterizations. *Results Diversity at the specimens' level corroborates the "standard" relationship between tanδ and E'/γ, which is discussed in terms of orientation of wood elements and of chemical composition. Diversity at the species level is expressed on the basis of results for normal heartwood, with specific gravity (γ) ranging from 0.2 to 1.3. Axial E'/γ ranges from 9 to 32 GPa and tanδ from 4×10-3 to 19×10-3. Properties distribution follows a continuum, but with group characteristics. The lowest values of tanδ are only found in certain tropical hardwoods. Results can also suggest alternative species for musical instruments making

Manuel d'identification des bois de Polynésie

La flore polynésienne, composée de plantes autochtones et de plantes introduites par les Polynésiens, est relativement pauvre comparée à celle des continents dont elle est issue, mais elle est aussi marquée par un fort endémisme et la présence d'espèces ligneuses appartenant à des familles comprenant habituellement des taxons herbacés sur les continents. Ce manuel décrit la structure anatomique de bois endémiques de Polynésie (92 espèces, dont 80 illustrées par des photographies) et expose deux systèmes simples d'identification : la sélection par cartes perforées et les clés dichotomiques. il constitue un ouvrage de référence pour les spécialistes xylologues mais aussi pour les archéologues anthracologues, les ethnologues et les botanistes, et permet aux Polynésiens d'enrichir leur connaissance sur le bois de ces arbres qu'ils ont jadis vénérés