A pedagogical proposal in an area of epistemological uncertainty

IV Projetar 2009: PROJETO COMO INVESTIGAÇÃO: ENSINO, PESQUISA E PRÁTICA FAU-UPM SÃO PAULO BRASIL, Outubro 2009In professional areas in which there is an element of design practice, such as architecture and urbanism, the academic model of knowledge has not been clearly articulated. This means that often the values held in professional practice run counter to the traditional models of knowledge and research that are adopted. As a result there is a problem in accounting for research in these areas in ways that will be recognised and valued by both communities. There is an ongoing debate about the best way of dealing with and reflecting these values that are, from the academic viewpoint, non-traditional. The debate has substantiated an emergent type of research that is specific to areas of design practice that is called ‘Practice-based Research’ (PbR). PbR claims that design practice has an instrumental role in research in areas such as design and urban planning. This role is different from the role of experimentation in traditional empirical research, and different from the role of practice in professional design practice. This paper describes the development and delivery of a research methods training course in the department of spatial planning and design (Stedenbouw) at the Technical University Delft (TU Delft, Netherlands) that builds on research by the ‘Non-traditional Knowledge and Communication’ project (NtKC) at the University of Hertfordshire (UK). The paper will analyse the way in which research and practice are problematized in the TU Delft course. We claim that the problem of PbR manifests the differences between the worldviews of academic research and professional practice, with their differing aims and values. As a result, training and expertise in the professional values of design practice is insufficient for academic research, leading to a need for specific training as a researcher that recognises these differences. This need has been accepted at an institutional level in many universities in Europe, and the TU Delft course represents one such training programme

Inherent structures and non-equilibrium dynamics of 1D constrained kinetic models: a comparison study

e discuss the relevance of the Stillinger and Weber approach to the glass transition investigating the non-equilibrium behavior of models with non-trivial dynamics, but with simple equilibrium properties. We consider a family of 1D constrained kinetic models, which interpolates between the asymmetric chain introduced by Eisinger and J\"ackle [Z. Phys. {\bf B84}, 115 (1991)] and the symmetric chain introduced by Fredrickson and Andersen [Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 53}, 1244 (1984)], and the 1D version of the Backgammon model [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 75}, 1190 (1995)]. We show that the configurational entropy obtained from the inherent structures is the same for all models irrespective of their different microscopic dynamics. We present a detailed study of the coarsening behavior of these models, including the relation between fluctuations and response. Our results suggest that any approach to the glass transition inspired by mean-field ideas and resting on the definition of a configurational entropy must rely on the absence of any growing characteristic coarsening pattern.Comment: 32 pages, 28 figures, RevTe

Selected papers from the 16th Annual Bio-Ontologies Special Interest Group Meeting

Copyright @ 2014 Soldatova et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Over the 16 years, the Bio-Ontologies SIG at ISMB has provided a forum for vibrant discussions of the latest and most innovative advances in the research area of bio-ontologies, its applications to biomedicine and more generally in the organisation, sharing and re-use of knowledge in biomedicine and the life sciences. The six papers selected for this supplement span a wide range of topics including: ontology-based data integration, ontology-based annotation of scientific literature, ontology and data model development, representation of scientific results and gene candidate prediction

Dose of colistin. a work in progress?

We thank Rashid and colleagues [1] and Honoré and colleagues [2] for their comments regarding our article on risk factors for acute kidney injury in pa- tients receiving colistin or other nephrotoxic antimi- crobials [3]. It is correct that we did not specifically report urine output in the text, but it was obviously included in the RIFLE (Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss of kidney function, and End-stage kidney disease) criteria reported in Table two [3]

Whose Job Is It Anyway? Preparing Arbitrators for Consumer Dispute Resolution Programs

[Excerpt] In many respects, we have entered into a golden era in the evolution and study of conflict resolution. One of the most obvious examples of this new era is the significant growth of conflict resolution programs in institutions of higher education. The purpose of this article is to examine the current state of university and law school conflict resolution programs. We then offer some conclusions and recommendations for addressing what we believe to be the critically important role academia can and should play in training arbitrators. Our review of academic programs suggests that the array of offerings has grown substantially and includes credit courses, clinics, degree programs, and certificates in conflict resolution. At our own institution, Cornell University, the response by our student body to opportunities for studying conflict resolution has overwhelmed our current capacity to meet their needs and interests

THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL LIFE EXPERIENCES ON THE EXPECTATIONS, ASPIRATIONS, AND DEFINITION OF SUCCESS OF HISPANIC IMMIGRANT PARENTS FOR THEIR CHILDREN

The Hispanic population has become the fastest growing minority population in the United States. Hispanics have the highest high school dropout rate of all demographic groups accounted for in the United States in the most recent census. Reflecting on the import of those two factors and the changing demographics of our school populations across the United States it is imperative to consider the expectations and aspirations held by Hispanic immigrant parents for their children. This qualitative study explored through case studies the development of parent expectations and aspirations, and the influence of the parents’ own personal life experiences, particularly in their own education, on those expectations and aspirations. This study further explored the meaning of “success” through the lens of Hispanic immigrants and how that definition transferred to the children of the parents within this study. The purpose of this study was to give opportunity for the personal experiences of Hispanic immigrant parents to be heard as they shared their personal perspectives of the wishes and dreams that they hold for their US born or next generation children and the influence that their own personal experiences have had on their perspectives. Data indicated that personal life experiences of participants had a significant effect on the way in which expectations and aspirations are developed and communicated to their children in schools in the United States as well as the ways in which success was identified. Cultural environment and conditions of chronic poverty played an important role in the development of participants’ identities. The development of personal identity and self-concept in turn influenced the ways in which participants identified expectations and aspirations for their children. Personal identity and self-concept additionally influenced the manner in which participants defined success. The findings of this research show that participants identified academic attainment as an expectation and aspiration for their children. Participants viewed academic attainment as a path to a better quality of life but defined academic attainment in multiple ways such as, attend college, earn degrees, and have careers. In contrast, some participants described academic attainment as “study.” This may be explained by the significant differences in educational systems in Latin American and Caribbean countries and the United States. This may also be reflective of the conditions of chronic poverty participants reported living in. Participants also expressed having limited opportunities in their countries of origin. Theories of identity discuss the importance of the availability of opportunities throughout the stage of adolescence and the ability to successfully negotiate crisis during this time as critical in the development of identity and ego development. Participants who have not had these experiences in their home countries may face challenges when supporting their children through exploration of opportunities particularly in adolescence. These challenges may be present because parents have not had the personal experience of navigating through adolescent exploration or because this may be in contrast to cultural beliefs. This research indicates that it is imperative for community agencies, particularly schools, to understand the influence of personal life experiences of Hispanic immigrant parents. Environments of respect for and understanding of culture must be in place to encourage the involvement of Hispanic immigrant parents. Through this research it becomes evident that parents who have had lower levels of academic attainment and/or academic success and may or may not have successfully negotiated resolutions to crisis in developmental stages may need opportunities to gain success through school or community-based activities of their choosing. It is crucial that immigrant parents are given a voice in the type of opportunities offered to them to provide support in the highest degrees. Opportunities cannot be offered based on what the dominant culture or structures deem to be the need. Bringing immigrant adults together to learn, particularly skills related to the success of their children, supports the building of community, personal pride, and leadership, further fostering the development of self-esteem and self-efficacy

Robust Gravitational Wave Burst Detection and Source Localization in a Network of Interferometers Using Cross Wigner Spectra

We discuss a fast cross-Wigner transform based technique for detecting gravitational wave bursts, and estimating the direction of arrival, using a network of (three) non co-located interferometric detectors. The performances of the detector as a function of signal strength and source location, and the accuracy of the direction of arrival estimation are investigated by numerical simulations.Comment: accepted in Class. Quantum Gravit

Linear Toric Fibrations

These notes are based on three lectures given at the 2013 CIME/CIRM summer school. The purpose of this series of lectures is to introduce the notion of a toric fibration and to give its geometrical and combinatorial characterizations. Polarized toric varieties which are birationally equivalent to projective toric bundles are associated to a class of polytopes called Cayley polytopes. Their geometry and combinatorics have a fruitful interplay leading to fundamental insight in both directions. These notes will illustrate geometrical phenomena, in algebraic geometry and neighboring fields, which are characterized by a Cayley structure. Examples are projective duality of toric varieties and polyhedral adjunction theory