Philosophy with children : helping designers cooperate with children

Engaging children in design through in-depth interviews is coming to prominence in the IDC community, which increasingly engages with issues about understanding the children's world. To date, research in this area has primarily focused on engaging children using techniques somehow similar to adult-techniques (moodboards, brainstorming, laddering,...). However, questioning or interviewing children is fraught with difficulties. The proposed workshop seeks to explore where and how a philosophy with children methodology can be adapted for design, exploring themes such as Socratic Attitudes, wondering, and question types. This workshop aims to build an interdisciplinary community of researchers, designers, and practitioners to share and discuss their work and experiences

Spectators’ aesthetic experiences of sound and movement in dance performance

In this paper we present a study of spectators’ aesthetic experiences of sound and movement in live dance performance. A multidisciplinary team comprising a choreographer, neuroscientists and qualitative researchers investigated the effects of different sound scores on dance spectators. What would be the impact of auditory stimulation on kinesthetic experience and/or aesthetic appreciation of the dance? What would be the effect of removing music altogether, so that spectators watched dance while hearing only the performers’ breathing and footfalls? We investigated audience experience through qualitative research, using post-performance focus groups, while a separately conducted functional brain imaging (fMRI) study measured the synchrony in brain activity across spectators when they watched dance with sound or breathing only. When audiences watched dance accompanied by music the fMRI data revealed evidence of greater intersubject synchronisation in a brain region consistent with complex auditory processing. The audience research found that some spectators derived pleasure from finding convergences between two complex stimuli (dance and music). The removal of music and the resulting audibility of the performers’ breathing had a significant impact on spectators’ aesthetic experience. The fMRI analysis showed increased synchronisation among observers, suggesting greater influence of the body when interpreting the dance stimuli. The audience research found evidence of similar corporeally focused experience. The paper discusses possible connections between the findings of our different approaches, and considers the implications of this study for interdisciplinary research collaborations between arts and sciences

Signalizers in groups of Lie type

We classify all CG(t)-signalizers, where G is a finite group of Lie type and t is an automorphism of G of prime order s > 3. Our results extend existing work by Korchagina ([Ko], [Ko2])

Sidewaze: Crowdsourced sidewalk condition data for your neighbourhood

Sidewaze is an app designed to explore the feasibility of crowdsourced sidewalk condition data within the Region of Waterloo, Canada. Its design was informed by user research with primary sidewalk users, including parents with small children, wheelchair users, and those with mobility concerns. Competitive research showed several solutions in the space, but few which aimed to leverage crowdsourcing and none which attempted to capture the impact of poor sidewalk conditions at a personal level. Design and subsequent usability testing of a smartphone prototype application was conducted and it was shown to be quite effective on an individual level. Several key shortcomings were identified, however, with the most obvious being its inability to enter high volumes of condition data quickly. As more municipalities revisit active transportation, especially the role of sidewalks as the backbone of such a policy, recognizing and measuring the impact of poor sidewalk conditions is critical

Convolution inequalities and applications to partial differential equations.

In this dissertation we develop methods for obtaining the existence of mild solutions to certain partial differential equations with initial data in weighted L p spaces and apply them to some examples as well as improve the solutions to some known PDEs studied extensively in the literature. We begin by obtaining a version of a Stein-Weiss integral inequality which we will use to obtain general convolution inequalities in weighted L p spaces using the techniques of interpolation. We will then use these convolution inequalities to make estimates on PDEs that will help us obtain mild solutions as fixed points of certain contraction mappings. Then Lorentz spaces will be introduced and interpolation will be used again to obtain convolution inequalities in weighted Lorentz spaces. Finally, the possibility of investigating PDEs with initial data in weighted Lorentz spaces will be discussed

A spectroscopic study of phase transitions in polymers/

In this study three examples of solid-solid phase transitions in polymers have been investigated with vibrational spectroscopy. The effects of a high strength electric field on the microstructure of piezoelectric copolymers of vinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene has been studied. The application of an electric field is found to produce changes in dipolar orientation and also changes in chain conformation, and these are measured by infrared spectroscopy below and above the Curie transition temperature. Electrical poling behavior is examined for two copolymer compositions which show substantial differences in structure and Curie temperature, and infrared analysis provides a means to determine the differences in dipole orientation and chain conformation distribution for these two copolymers. Infrared spectroscopy is employed to determine the content of $\alpha$ and $\beta$ phases of PVDF for two highly drawn blends and also for PVDF homopolymer. The effects of annealing on the phase content and segmental orientation are measured. Highly drawn PVDF samples are used for determination of the transition dipole moment directions of selected vibrational bands. The microstructure of different phases of syndiotactic polystyrene has also been studied. A normal coordinate analysis is performed for the all trans conformation of syndiotactic polystyrene using nonredundant coordinates and force constants for the phenyl ring. Force constants for the chain have been obtained from studies of saturated hydrocarbons. Assignment of the infrared and Raman bands and their polarization characteristics is made upon comparison of the calculated results with the observed spectra obtained from coextruded films. Annealing the coextruded films increases the overall segmental orientation as the crystallinity increases. The theoretical modulus of a single chain has been calculated from the dispersion curive of the longitudinal acoustic branch near the Brillouin zone center. The kinetics of the irreversible phase transition in syndiotactic polystyrene has been measured as a function of temperature and annealing history, in order to determine the effect of thermal history on the transition behavior. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.

Theoretical investigations into competition, regulation, and integration in transport networks

This thesis consists of three parts. In the first part, we review the literature and some of the key issues in UK transport. We identify a need to discourage car use and the role that public transport plays in this. We discuss the various options available to policymakers to reduce problems of congestion and pollution. We note how the emphasis on deregulation and competition to promote public transport, and discourage car use, have had perverse side effects. In some cases, public transport services have become disintegrated; resulting in reductions in flexibility and increasing the generalised cost of travelling – making public transport less attractive. This raises an important question: how do we encourage a greater degree of service integration without undoing the gains from competition? The second part of the thesis, explores this issue using a theoretical transport network model. We find that various regimes involving private firms are likely to lead to the provision of an integrated ticketing system, but that not all such regimes are socially desirable. We consider how the configuration of regulatory policy may steer the private firms to produce more socially desirable outcomes.The deregulation of elements of the UK public transport network has often led to situations approaching local monopoly. The third part of this thesis investigates the private (monopoly) incentive to offer joined-up services relative to the social incentive. The more complete the service provision, the closer the match with consumer’s preferences, and the lower the generalised cost of travel. We find the monopolist does not always choose the socially desirable level of service, even when economically viable, but it may be possible to induce this provision through entry or threats of entry on a sub-set of the network.The thesis ends with a summary of the main results and suggestions for further work