Collective learning experiences in planning: the potential of experimental living labs

‘Living labs’ originate from an R&D environment, and intend to innovate commodities by experience-based knowledge, with a direct involvement of users. Meanwhile, the living labs approach has been shifting into a wider range of applications, and has also ended up in the toolbox of actor- and action-oriented planners. The approach is (implicitly) promoted as a new and better way of combining capacities of different stakeholders by exploring and experimenting in realworld situations. In this paper, we attempt to critically discuss the use of the living lab approach. The first section explores the potential thereof for planning issues: How univocal is the concept of Living Labs? How much do different interpretations and practices of Living Labs resemble in terms of actors involved, actions stimulated, processes promoted and criteria for good practices accepted? The exploration is based on the experience of two experimental living labs, which are compared with a range of international examples. The second section turns to a series of alternative approaches in spatial planning in Flanders: How do the aims and means of these collaborative learning experiences differ? What is the role of users and how important is experimentation? What is the innovative contribution to planning (if any)? How do the practices deal with path dependencies and uncertainties in complex multi-actor settings? We will answer these questions based on research seminars on ‘collective learning’, which are organized for the Policy Research Center Spatial Planning in Flanders, as a part of a work-package which focusses on methodologies for future explorations

ANN Model For SiGe HBTs Constructed From Time-Domain Large-Signal Measurements

We construct a large-signal artificial neural network (ANN) model for SiGe HBTs, directly from time-domain large-signal measurements. It is known that HBTs are very sensitive to self-heating and therefore we explicitly study the effect on the model accuracy of the incorporation of the self-heating effect in the behavioural model description. Finally, we show that this type of models can be accurate at extreme operating conditions, where classical compact models start to fail

TQM in e-Learning: a Self-assessment Model and Questionnaire

Organizations are seeking new, integrated systems that enable rapid changes through early identification of opportunities and problems, tracking of progress against plans, flexible allocation of resources to achieve goals, and consistent operations. Total Quality Management (TQM) is an overall business strategy. It means that all activities of the company will be focused on satisfying all stakeholders of the company. TQM can be realised by using the EFQM model. The EFQM model is a tool that organizations may use as a framework for self-evaluation that enables an organization to identify its strengths and areas for improvement and the extent to which its operations and results are in line with the characteristics of an excellent organization. We focus on a training organisation or to the learning department of an organization. So we are limiting the EFQM model to the training /learning activities. We can apply EFQM perfect on the level of an activity (business line) of a company. We selected the main criteria for which the learner can play the role of assessor. So only three main criteria left: the enabling resources, the enabling processes and the (learning) results for the learner. We limited the last one to “learning results” based on the Kirkpatrick model

Efficient generation of X-parameters transistor models by sequential sampling

This letter proposes a sequential sampling technique to generate efficiently multidimensional X-parameters models for microwave transistors, while guaranteeing X-parameters' validity and overcoming simulator convergence issues. The sequential sampling process selects a set of samples that are subsequently used to construct behavioral models with radial basis functions. The proposed method was compared with a tabular X-parameters model with cubic spline interpolation. The radial basis function models demonstrate very fast convergence and greater accuracy already for a few tens of samples. The proposed technique is illustrated for a GaAs HEMT using Curtice3 and Chalmers empirical model simulations as the data source

The language of hospitality:crossing the threshold between speech act and linguistic form

In order to address this dissertation’s overarching question of what hospitality is, we study hospitality from a pragmalinguistic perspective. We specifically focus on the issue of the gap between the pragmatic message of an utterance that is expressed by means of speech acts and the linguistic forms involved to construct these acts. In this regard, we are particularly interested in the contribution of certain linguistic forms in Spanish, such as modes of address and verb moods, to the pragmatic message conveyed in hospitality situations. In daily life, speakers say ‘Come in’ and ‘Have a seat’ in an attempt to be hospitable. Clearly, nobody feels surprised or offended, although the verb mood used is the imperative – a mood that is traditionally related to giving orders, a rather hostile act. If it is true that words can be both welcoming and inhospitable, words are not ‘just words’. A variety of data sources is analyzed to tap into a wide spectrum of linguistic forms that are related to hospitality. Our findings suggest that hospitality is a strategy that aims to give the interlocutor the feeling of being the beneficiary. Acting as the catalyst between speech act, linguistic form, and the intended communicative message, it explains how it is possible that, in daily life, utterances constructed in imperative mood may be interpreted as hospitable and not as offensive

She is to Remain Silent

Women are not only prevented from exercising the full range of their spiritual gifts, but grapple with the message this sends about their worth as church members and simply as humans. Posting about women in ministry from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation. https://inallthings.org/she-is-to-remain-silent