Researching the construction of a formbild

This paper is a presentation and a discussion of the research methods used in the author’s research project at Oslo School of Architecture and Design (Gulliksen, 2006). The aim of the research was to describe how a group of people, in this case: students and teaches, come to agree upon what a good quality form is. The chosen way of explaining the notion of form quality in design engaged a socio-constructivistic approach, based in the theories of Bourdieu and Foucault and others. It rendered form quality as something constructed by the individual in interaction with artefacts and other individuals. The object of the study was to explore the mechanisms of this construction, separated into dynamical aspects (the actual construction) and the hierarchical aspects (the restrictions) of the constructive mechanisms. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis of communication (verbal, visual and more) about form was the methodology chosen. This paper discusses certain fundamental methodological questions concerning the use of this perspective and this methodology in a design process. It asks in what way it is convenient to study something as material as an artefact’s form as something as immaterial as construction, communication and text. The paper is based on specific examples from the thesis presenting the research, ending with a short conclusive discussion concerning the opportunity this perspective gave to avoid a dichotomist basis (in the artefact it self or in the eyes of the beholder) for theories concerning form quality, and to sustain a focus on the communicational and relational aspects of the designing process. Keywords: Form Quality, Formbild, Socio-Constructivism, Discourse Analysis, Methodological Considerations</p

Complete intersections and mod p cochains

We give homotopy invariant definitions corresponding to three well known properties of complete intersections, for the ring, the module theory and the endomorphisms of the residue field, and we investigate them for the mod p cochains on a space, showing that suitable versions of the second and third are equivalent and that the first is stronger. We are particularly interested in classifying spaces of groups, and we give a number of examples. This paper follows on from arXiv:0906.4025 which considered the classical case of a commutative ring and arXiv:0906.3247 which considered the case of rational homotopy theory.Comment: To appear in AG

The Saltwater Theory: A Directed Study of Failed Revolutions

From the Second World War to date, social scientists who study revolutions have engaged in a pivot from initially focusing on the conditions of the state to a more actor-centric model. In their eyes, the actors (revolutionaries, political parties, foreign nations) within a sphere decide a path for political change, rather than the existing conditions (political rights, economic conditions, repression, etc.) in the same environment. This essay counters this thinking by introducing a Saltwater Theory to explain how different forms of uprisings (the same as different species of animals) can survive in some environments but not others. Additionally, the paper supplements the study of political change by examining four failed revolutions: the Simba Rebellion beginning in 1964, the First Palestinian Intifada beginning in 1987, the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989, and the Syrian uprising beginning in 2011

Radiological dating of a floating dendrochronology from Bryggen in Bergen

Recently a floating dendrochronology of c. 300 years from the Medieval wooden warehouses at »Bryggen» in Bergen, Norway, has been established by crossdating building materials. Absolute dating must be extremely precise in order to add significant chronological information to that available from historical sources. Radiocarbon dating is attempted by wiggle matching of precise dates on the Bryggen chronology to a high precision calibration curve. Results indicate frequent re-use of building materials

A study of children’s participation in peacebuilding in a post- conflict society: a case study of peace clubs in Gulu, Uganda

The general aim of the study was to get an understanding how children participate in peacebuilding and how it is supported in a post-conflict society like Gulu. Gathering information in Gulu, Northern Uganda approached this aim. The four components that together created the “understanding” were; the actions the children took towards creating peace in their own surroundings and the sort of effects these actions had, children and adults interacting in peacebuilding, challenges that children participating in peacebuilding faced; Partners working with children participating in peacebuilding and the kind of support they provided. The data collection was done through eight focus groups; in addition four key informant interviews were conducted with open-end questions. The focus group contained a mix of three different tools; body-map, timeline and Venn diagram. The tools have been adapted to peacebuilding by Save the Children for children to evaluate their own level of participation in peacebuilding. The results from the tools together with transcriptions from the focus groups and the key informant interview were analysed through a thematic analysis. The themes presented and interpreted were; peacebuilding activities, changes towards peaceful behaviour (past and present), adult perceptions of children’s participation, support from the church and the local community to the peace clubs, challenges and significance of participation. These themes all presented different captions of how peace clubs in Gulu interacted. The activities, actions and cognitive state of the children linked to peacebuilding formed various pictures of what peacebuilding is. Participation was a constant negotiation between adults and children. The children’s perception was influenced by war and cultural circumstance. Support to children’s work with peacebuilding is coherent with their activity agenda; which caused speculation about the level of children’s participation in peacebuilding in Gulu. Recommendations for further studies; to investigate more about the local networks around peacebuilding in areas similar to Gulu; measure and evaluate, to what extent, the effect of child participation has on the personal growth of a child and how that growth reaches and effects the community; to assess the similarities between child and adult, a study of the adults’ vision of participation should be introduced over a continuous period of time; investigate how the UNCRC article 12.1 limits but also enhances children’s participation. Finally, where recommendation to increase children’s participation in peacebuilding has been taken, a study of the Gulu community’s peacebulding work is required. This studies aim is to assist, guide and hopefully to ensure a continuing path to a peaceful society

The trend of being vegetarian: A comparative case study of how social norms affect meat-consuming behavior

This thesis examines the way social norms affect meat-consuming behavior, through using dietary habits as a way of expressing a political identity. A theoretical framework of social psychological theories will explain the connection between social norms and meat-consumption, by conceptualizing identity as a fundamentally social construction, created within the social context. Theories will furthermore explain the process of social learning and conformity, and how meat-reducing dietary choices can be a part of a person’s identity. The theoretical connection will be empirically tested through qualitative interviews with nine informants, consisting of individuals actively reducing their meat-consumption, and those who do not. Findings suggest that social norms do play a crucial part in individuals meat-consuming behavior, where those actively reducing their meat-consumption perceives vegetarianism, or other meat-reducing dietary habits, to be more common among their friends, than those who do not. Results furthermore showed that identity is an important factor, where informants confirm that dietary habits with reduced meat-consumption has been an important part of their identity, especially in their adolescence, an identity that has been important to claim in social situations.This thesis examines the way social norms affect meat-consuming behavior, through using dietary habits as a way of expressing a political identity. A theoretical framework of social psychological theories will explain the connection between social norms and meat-consumption, by conceptualizing identity as a fundamentally social construction, created within the social context. Theories will furthermore explain the process of social learning and conformity, and how meat-reducing dietary choices can be a part of a person’s identity. The theoretical connection will be empirically tested through qualitative interviews with nine informants, consisting of individuals actively reducing their meat-consumption, and those who do not. Findings suggest that social norms do play a crucial part in individuals meat-consuming behavior, where those actively reducing their meat-consumption perceives vegetarianism, or other meat-reducing dietary habits, to be more common among their friends, than those who do not. Results furthermore showed that identity is an important factor, where informants confirm that dietary habits with reduced meat-consumption has been an important part of their identity, especially in their adolescence, an identity that has been important to claim in social situations

A New Threat to Democracy? Examining the Democratic Implications of the Social Bot Phenomenon

Social media provides tools that enable people to share their political views and coordinate collective action and has often been praised for entailing numerous democratic opportunities. But what happens when someone finds a way to exploit these tools? Social bots, algorithmically driven software programs designed to mimic and possibly alter human behavior on social media forums, have been used to manipulate public opinion during several major political events during the last few years. The purpose of this study is to analyze the social bot phenomenon from a democratic perspective. Our research question is: what are the democratic implications of the use of social bots in political discussions online? To answer this, we have applied a theoretical framework consisting of suitable deliberative democracy theories on relevant empirical material. Our findings suggest that the use of social bots indeed has democratic implications, mostly because the bots spread inaccurate information on political topics and distort political discussions online

A high local species richness and biodiversity within high-latitude calcareous aggregates of tube-building polychaetes

In general, biodiversity and species richness follow the latitudinal diversity gradient and decrease from the tropics towards the poles. Exceptions have however been recorded, as for deep coldwater coral reefs at high latitudes, which comprise biodiversity hotspots. Here we assess and characterise the high-latitude (69 degrees N) species richness and diversity of a local shallow-water fauna associated with small calcareous aggregations of a serpulid polychaete. A dense and very species rich fauna was recorded within aggregations of Filograna implexa Berkeley, 1828. Totally 4663 individuals belonging to 99 species (61 solitary, 38 colonial) were recorded in a total aggregation volume of only 4.4 l covering an area less than 0.05 m2 of a wreck situated in a tidal stream in North Norway. The number of species within each aggregation was positively related to its size, indicating that the high species diversity may be due to structural heterogeneity, which increase with aggregation size and probably creates new microhabitats and protect against predation. We present a species list including abundance and biomass, pin-point common species and describe a method for sampling such faunas associated with calcareous structures

Variations in liver and body condition during gonad development of Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus (L.)

Data were collected from Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) caught in gill nets and on long lines in northern Norway between September and March during the years 1981-1986. The liver is significantly depleted during the spawning season, thus indicating that it is an important energy source for the halibut in this period. The carcass seems less affected by the energy expenditures involved in the seasonal accumulation of reproductive tissues and in spawning, particulary in females where no significant sacrifice of body weight was observed