Research Report on a Study of Non-Modular Masonry Construction

In 1947, the Small Homes Council made a detailed study and comparison of construction methods used in residential building. Included in this study was an analysis of three houses in wich modular brick were used in the exterior cavity-type masonry wall. No comparison has been available between the data so obtained and the time required to construct the same wall using non-modular materials. To obtain such data, the Small Homes Council, under the sponsorship of the Structural Clay Products Institute, this summer built an exact duplicate of one of the houses constructed in the 1947 study, but used a non-modular brick instead of modular. An analysis of the time-study data taken during the construction period indicat es that the masons' time can be reduced approximately 10 per cent through the use of modular materials. Furthermore, an examination of the brick-work indicates that an improvement in workmanship is possible through the use of modular materials. This improvement in workship is obtained through the regularity achieved by the use of modular materials.Structural Clay Products Institut

Algorithmic narrativity: Literary experiments that drive technology

This paper extends Raymond Williams’ insights on technology and society by asserting that not only scientific, social, and economic conditions but also aesthetic factors are crucial for technological adoption. The concept of ‘algorithmic narrativity’ is introduced to describe the combination of the human ability to understand experience through narrative with the power of the computer to process and generate data. Using examples ranging from the exhibition of John Clark's Latin Verse Machine in 1845 through generative poetry in the early 1950s to today's generative AI, the authors argue that aesthetic innovation precedes and is necessary to technological advances.publishedVersio

Entrepreneurial Activity and Civil War in Colombia: Exploring the Mutual Determinants between Armed Conflict and the Private Sector

TAs elsewhere, the Colombian private sector has been accused of promoting or profiting from violence in the country. However, the private sector’s role in the armed conflict and the impact of conflict on entrepreneurial activity vary, as reflected by differences in political activism, in peacebuilding strategies and in costs endured according to company size, sector, and region of operations. At the same time, accounts of regional variation in conflict intensity suggest that an understanding of the Colombian confrontation requires a subnational approach. This paper explores whether and how differences in regional armed armed conflict can be attributed to differences in entrepreneurial make-up and activity associated with five natural resources, produced in different regions (oil, coffee, bananas, emeralds, and flowers). This paper suggests that company-specific traits, institutions of production, and the nature of international markets have a significant impact on the link between entrepreneurial activity and armed conflict in Colombian regions.Colombia, armed conflict, entrepreneurship, private sector, natural resources, multinational companies

Astrobiologische Experimente im Erdorbit und darüber hinaus

Astrobiologie ist eine interdisziplinäre Naturwissenschaft, die sich mit Fragen zum Ursprung und zur Entwicklung des Lebens auf der Erde befasst und herausfinden möchte, ob und wo Leben außerhalb der Erde existiert oder existieren könnte. Mikroorganismen waren die ersten Lebewesen auf der Erde. Auch heute besiedeln sie in einer sehr großen Anzahl und Diversität alle Lebensräume auf der Erde und stellen somit die erfolgreichste Gruppe von Organismen dar. In der Arbeitsgruppe Astrobiologie im Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin wollen wir herausfinden, wie das Leben von Mikroorganismen durch äußere biotische und abiotische Faktoren beeinflusst bzw. limitiert ist und welche molekularen und zellulären Mechanismen für die Adaption an extreme Bedingungen wichtig bzw. notwendig sind. Daraus wollen wir ableiten, wo sich die möglichen habitablen Zonen innerhalb und außerhalb unseres Sonnensystems befinden. Neben mikrobiologischen Experimenten unter standardisierten Bedingungen im Labor und Felduntersuchungen an extremen Standorten auf der Erde sind Weltraumexperimente notwendig, um die Widerstandsfähigkeit und Anpassungsfähigkeit von Mikroorganismen gegenüber den Bedingungen des freien Weltraums oder denen auf der Oberfläche von anderen Planeten zu testen. Freifliegende Satelliten und Raumstationen bieten die Möglichkeit im Erdorbit astrobiologische Experimente durchzuführen. In den außen an der ISS angebrachten ESA Facilities EXPOSE werden Langzeitexperimente durchgeführt, in denen auch Mars-Bedingungen simuliert werden können. In den Experimenten ADAPT, PROTECT und SPORES konnte gezeigt werden, dass verschiedene Mikroorganismen mit Hilfe unterschiedlicher Strategien die lebensfeindlichen Bedingungen auf dem Mars, wie extreme Trockenheit, ein energiereiche UV-Strahlung, Temperaturschwankungen, teil-weise überleben können. Von dem aktuellen ISS-Experiment BOSS werden die Proben im Juni zur Auswertung auf die Erde zurückgebracht werden. Neben dem Planeten Mars sind auch die Eismonde, wie Europa, von großem astrobiologischen Inter-esse. In dem zur Zeit in Vorbereitung befindlichen Experiment IceCube soll unter-sucht werden, ob auch dort aktives Leben möglich ist. Darauf aufbauend kann später auf einem Satelliten in einem anderen höheren Orbit die Wirkung des Weltraumstrahlenklimas auf entsprechend angepasste Organismen untersucht werden. Der Weltraum stellt also ein wichtiges Tool für die astrobiologische Forschung dar

Peace is Better Business, and Business Makes Better Peace: The Role of the Private Sector in Colombian Peace Processes

The involvement of business in peace negotiations and peacebuilding has become a standard concern for countries involved in transitions from armed conflict. This article sheds light on the recent history of the private sector's role in peace processes in Colombia - a country that has been engulfed by conflict for almost five decades. The present paper illustrates how business perceptions and behavior have evolved throughout various attempts at negotiating peace, revealing that both the perceived costs of conflict and the expected benefits of peace play a part in promoting business pro-peace activism. A focus on business preferences is important for scholarly and public policy purposes. In light of dwindling international cooperation resources, it is likely that the Colombian state and society (mainly wealthy taxpayers and the business community) will bear the brunt of Colombia's peacebuilding costs. Understanding when, how, and why crucial allies (and potential foes) of peace processes become mobilized is therefore crucial for analyzing the prospects of durable peace in the country

Digital Literary Studies in the High School Environment

In my time today, I’ll discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of adapting a college-level digital-centric course for the high-school classroom. The two courses in question are a class called Literature in the Digital Era, which I taught as a postdoc at the University of Virginia in 2014, and a class called Digital Literary Studies, which I’ll teach at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, a state-run boarding school for high schoolers talented in math and science, in Spring 2019. While there’s been a lot of continuity in the design of the two classes, teaching high school does present new challenges for digital work, and at the end of the paper I’ll offer up some problems for us to consider in the Q and A. As a way of thinking about a couple larger questions, though, I’ll start by addressing two potential problems that don’t much worry me—that is, “will my students be able to do interesting digital work,” and “will it be good for their humanities educations?” My answer to both is already a confident yes. The reasons why get to the larger questions in the conversation of this panel—why is it desirable to teach classes with a heavy digital humanities component to high school students, and more broadly, what should a high school English curriculum look like in the first place

Teaching the Internet as Text

In contrast to models that treat the internet as repository of texts, this talk argues that English Language Arts classrooms benefit from treating the internet itself as a complex cultural text worth analyzing in student writing and discussion. I describe a recurring blog assignment that lets students write about contemporary topics they genuinely care about with authentic purpose: to teach classmates, to respond to classmates, to solve genuine cultural mysteries. While the blog assignment was developed first for a class focused on digital culture and electronic literature, I finally argue that the approach to students work it takes can inform and invigorate the work of a wide variety of Languages Arts classrooms, especially those in NCSSS consortium schools

En busca de socios: Canadá, iniciativas empresariales y la construcción de paz en Colombia

Este artículo pregunta de qué manera el creciente interés canadiense en promover la construcción de paz en Colombia puede ser vinculado a una forma particular en la que una fracción de la sociedad civil colombiana—el sector privado—se ha comprometido con la construcción de paz. En efecto, muchas empresas y grupos de empresas han comenzado a invertir en proyectos productivos en zonas de conflicto con el fin expreso de superar el conflicto, con base en esfuerzos desde lo local. El diagnóstico en el que se basan estas iniciativas plantea que los costos económicos que impone el conflicto son demasiado altos, que la paz duradera va de la mano del desarrollo y que los intereses empresariales de largo plazo dependen de la solución del conflicto. Un factor impor­tante que promueve el surgimiento de estas iniciativas empresariales es la disponibili­dad de recursos externos, que permiten traspasar el umbral entre la voluntad y la acción efectiva. Ello apunta al importante papel que la ayuda externa canadiense puede cumplir en la promoción de estas formas innovadoras de construcción de paz en Colombia