An Approach to Participation in Housing

In our increasingly complex society a growing centralism tends to bring more and more decisions out of the control of the user. This is too often not to the advantage of the citizens whose desires are bypassed. This results in breakdowns in the processing involved in planning and an increasing demand for participatory democracy. In this thesis a design process for housing is proposed which allows the users to participate and to deal with the existing power structure, in so far as it puts constraints on their homes. this design process is then translated into a game which could serve as a means for learning about and from such a design process. Elements of the game could serve for an actual design process, too. We may approach this end by focusing on three issues: on the sociopolitical power structure by discussing participation at a theoretical, argumentative level; by focusing on the technological and organizational means by discussing case studies; and on the problem of communication by researching the qualities of games as a means for participation. My discussion of participation indicates that the user has high abilities for contributing to a better design; moreover, that the individual household priorities are beyond the practical grasp of any central institution or organization. Even behavioral studies find their limits in evaluating the user\u27s needs. However, that does not mean that if we let the users participate, then this solves the problem: participation is not just a new kind of design within the existing social- political system, rather it is a categorical term for citizen power (S. Arnstein 1975), and requires, therefore, a change in the status quo. Although this change might not always be achieved directly, the socialization process and new kind of social structures created by participation offers a chance for real change. My comparison and evaluation of nine housing developments designed in conjunction with user participation indicated that no specific building technology for participation in housing exists. Rather, participation is dependent on the means for planning and organization. Furthermore, it is found that the level of participation depends less on a high flexibility than on the actual control and power of the users. A horizontal form of communication (between the users) is one of the most important things for participation. My investigation into games shows that they have a high quality that enables the user to learn to participate and for actual participation. As a result, the proposed participatory design process focuses on the expression of desires on a specific language, on the enlightenment of cause and effect relations in housing, and on the change in existing power structures. Such a design process should also make the dwellers acquainted with each other and make possible a design of a support structure which is biased in the specific needs of the housing community

How morphology of artificial organisms influences their evolution

International audienceThe principle of natural selection implies that variations are transmitted from parents to offsprings. The individuals with advantageous variations have better fitness. Consequently, such variations spread in the population and influence its evolution. This schematic description is conventionally accepted but it jumps over an important step: how variations are related to fitness. In the other words, how the phenotype is related to the reproduction and mortality rates. It is important to note that this relation will not be imposed by the assumptions of the model but it should follow from the morphology of the artificial organisms. In order to study this question, we will introduce in this work virtual populations of artificial organisms and will observe their behavior. The main idea of this study is that we prescribe individual characteristics of the organisms (size, form) but not their behavior in the search for resources. The model presented below will allow us to study on a simple example the interaction between morphology and natural selection, or, in a more general formulation, the evolution of the phenotype. 1.1. Artificial life models Artificial life models are largely used to study behavior of biological organisms at the individual level, their collective behavior and evolution. We will consider a complete life cycle model which includes the genotype of the organisms in its relation to the phenotype, the mechanism of motion and food search determined by the morphology of the organisms, and reproduction (Fig. 1). A B S T R A C T The purpose of this work is to study virtual populations of artificial organisms with their genotype, morphology, mechanism of motion, search and competition for food, reproduction, mutations. The genotype determines the phenotype (morphology), while morphology determines efficiency of motion and success in the search for food in the competition with other individuals; sufficient amount of food allows reproduction. Ensemble of these elements constitutes the minimal model to study natural selection of artificial organisms. Considering only some of them, as it is often the case in artificial life models, can be used for the optimization of some properties (for example, robot's gait or embryo's form) but not to study natural selection in the evolutionary context. Artificial organisms are considered in this work in the form of polygons (triangles) on the plane. Their genotype is given by three positive numbers associated to the vertices and their morphology is determined by the lengths of the sides equal the sum of the numbers in the adjacent vertices. Behavior of the individuals and their success in the search for food depend on their morphology. More efficient individuals will reproduce more than the others and will transmit their advantageous variations to their offsprings. Hence we can observe how natural selection chooses more efficient morphology and how it evolves due to random mutations. We develop an individual based model where the individuals recognize food and move to it with the speed determined by their morphology (and not prescribed in the algorithm). If they have enough food, they survive and reproduce. Therefore morphology and evolution are tightly interconnected and should be studied together. Dynamics of such populations appears to be different from the dynamics described by conventional models of competition and evolution of species. In particular, a new phenotype can emerge due to a different strategy of foraging (related to a different morphology) and not only due to a difference in consumed resources with the existing phenotype. We also observe that realization of Cope's rule (increase of body size in the process of evolution) can depend on parameters of the model.

Zur langfristigen Entwicklung des qualifikationsspezifischen Arbeitskräfteangebots und -bedarfs in Deutschland : empirische Befunde und aktuelle Projektionsergebnisse (On the long-term development of qualification-specific labour supply and labour demand in Germany : empirical findings and current projection results)

"For the competitiveness and efficiency of the high-technology and high-wage country of Germany, the size and structure of the human capital is becoming increasingly important. This development is reflected in a constant rise in the employment system's demands regarding the qualification level, a trend that will further continue according to all current demand projections. However, the future qualification-specific labour supply might not be able to keep pace with these dynamics on the demand side in the long term. Not only the demographic change but also the qualification development of the population are against it. For the middle-aged and older age groups already represent the majority of skilled labour supply nowadays. A reasonably adequate substitution of the skilled labour force can only be expected, however, if the workers of the following years with low birth rates were to be trained significantly better than the older generation soon to withdraw from the labour force. This is not in sight now, however, as the education expansion of earlier times has in the mean time stagnated in many areas. This pessimistic judgement is also further substantiated by the current projection results of the Joint Federal-Land Commission for Educational Planning and the Promotion of Research Activities. According to these results, a shortage has to be reckoned with as early as 2015, especially in the labour market for graduates, and more moderately also in the market for skilled personnel with in-firm training. This shortage situation can only be reduced by a set of countermeasures. In addition to an improvement in the employment opportunities of women and older workers, as well as a controlled immigration policy, this includes especially the activation of all reserves on all levels of education, vocational training and further training." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Arbeitskräfteangebot - Prognose, Arbeitskräftebedarf - Prognose, Qualifikationsbedarf, Erwerbspersonenpotenzial, Qualifikationsstruktur, Erwerbstätige

Qualifikationsspezifische Arbeitslosigkeit im Jahr 2005 und die Einführung der Hartz-IV-Reform : empirische Befunde und methodische Probleme

"Dass die Chancen und Risiken auf dem Arbeitsmarkt ganz zentral von den vorhandenen Qualifikationen abhängen, ist seit langem bekannt. Ein wichtiger Indikator hierfür sind die qualifikationsspezifischen Arbeitslosenquoten, deren Aktualisierung mittlerweile jedoch erhebliche Probleme aufwirft. Denn seit dem Jahr 2005 haben sich die statistischen Datenquellen in einer Art verändert, die nur noch schwer Rückschlüsse auf die zeitliche Entwicklung des qualifikationsspezifischen Arbeitsmarktgeschehens zulassen. Da gleichzeitig auch noch die Hartz-IV-Reform in Kraft trat, besteht die Gefahr, die Wirkungen ökonomischer und sozialpolitischer Entwicklungen mit statistischen Artefakten zu verwechseln. Es ist deshalb unabdingbar, die in den Statistiken abgebildete zeitliche Entwicklung auf ihren Realitätsgehalt hin zu überprüfen. Dabei zeigt sich folgendes: Wegen diesen statistisch/methodischen Veränderungen können wir guten Gewissens die qualifikationsspezifischen Arbeitslosenquoten zwar nicht mehr in der gewohnten regionalen Differenzierung ausweisen, wohl aber für Gesamtdeutschland. Vor einer unkritischen Interpretation der Arbeitslosen- und Erwerbstätigenbestände im Zeitverlauf ist jedoch zu warnen. An unseren Grundaussagen ändert sich deshalb aber nichts. Für die Position am Arbeitsmarkt ist die Qualifikation nach wie vor entscheidender als das Geschlecht, das Alter oder auch der Landesteil, in dem man lebt." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)Datengewinnung - Methode, Beschäftigtenstatistik, Arbeitslosenstatistik, Mikrozensus, Hartz-Reform, Qualifikation - Auswirkungen, Arbeitslosigkeit, Arbeitslosenquote, Arbeitsmarktchancen, Niedrigqualifizierte, mittlere Qualifikation, Hochqualifizierte, Akademiker, Ostdeutschland, Westdeutschland

Chemosensory sensitivity reflects reproductive status in the ant Harpegnathos saltator.

Insects communicate with pheromones using sensitive antennal sensilla. Although trace amounts of pheromones can be detected by many insects, context-dependent increased costs of high sensitivity might lead to plasticity in sensillum responsiveness. We have functionally characterized basiconic sensilla of the ant Harpegnathos saltator for responses to general odors in comparison to cuticular hydrocarbons which can act as fertility signals emitted by the principal reproductive(s) of a colony to inhibit reproduction by worker colony members. When released from inhibition workers may become reproductive gamergates. We observed plasticity in olfactory sensitivity after transition to reproductive status with significant reductions in electrophysiological responses to several long-chained cuticular hydrocarbons. Although gamergates lived on average five times longer than non-reproductive workers, the shift to reproductive status rather than age differences matched the pattern of changes in olfactory sensitivity. Decreasing sensillum responsiveness to cuticular hydrocarbons could potentially reduce mutually inhibitory or self-inhibitory effects on gamergate reproduction