Biocultural Engineering Design: An Anishinaabe Analysis for Building Sustainable Nations

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 105-126
Author(s):  
PennElys Droz

The fields of ecological engineering, resilience research, and Anishinaabe culture share strong epistemological relationships and common principles. These alignments can be found in worldview, ways of learning, traditional indigenous ecosystem engineering methods, and governance. This article explores how recognizing these alignments enables Anishinaabe cultural knowledge and ways of being to inform and provide the foundation for contemporary engineered design. It also proposes the use of a biocultural engineering design method that integrates the design principles of ecological engineering with indigenous knowledge, cultural relationships, values, and decision-making processes to support contemporary sustainable nation-building.

Curationis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mosehle S. Matlala ◽  
Thanyani G. Lumadi

Background: Midwifery is the backbone of women and child healthcare. The shortage of staff in maternity units is a crisis faced by many countries worldwide, including South Africa.Objectives: This study aims to explore the perceptions of midwives on the shortage and retention of staff at a public institution.Method: The study was conducted at one of the tertiary hospitals in Tshwane District, Gauteng Province. A total of 11 midwives were interviewed through face-to-face and focus group interviews. An explorative, descriptive generic qualitative design method was followed, and a non-probability, purposive sampling technique was used. Thematic coding analysis was followed for analysing data.Results: The impact of shortage of midwives was reported to be directly related to poor provision of quality care as a result of increased workload, leading to low morale and burnout. The compromised autonomy of midwives in the high obstetrics dependency units devalues the status of midwives.Conclusion: Midwives are passionate about their job, despite the hurdles related to their day-to-day work environment. They are demoralised by chronic shortage of staff and feel overworked. Staff involvement in decision-making processes is a motivational factor for midwives to stay in the profession. The midwives need to be in the centre of the decision-making processes related to their profession. The revision of the scope of practice and classification of midwifery profession away from general nursing complex by the South African Nursing Council (SANC) could place midwifery in its rightful status.


2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makere Stewart-Harawira

Notions of crisis and chaos have become the rationale for a new discourse in which empire is the logical outcome of a world no longer secure. One level at which this is manifested is in the rejection by the USA of international agreements to which it is signatory, in the demonstrated failure of the Bretton Woods system to meet its declared objectives, and in the increasingly broad and globalized resistance to globalization. Another is in the attacks on particular forms of knowledge and academic freedom by strong neoconservative elements which seek the reconstruction of societies within a particular cultural and ideological framework. In this context, the construction of pedagogies which articulate a different vision for global order has become a contested and critical task. This article argues two things: first, that the study of culture and ethnicity is vitally important in developing pedagogies for better ways of being in the world, and second, that indigenous cultural knowledge is profoundly relevant to this endeavour.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahaudin Mujtaba ◽  
Gimol Thomas

The enclosed literature focuses on learning about the various generations of the workforce and techniques that employers can utilize to organize collaborative teams in todays multigenerational and multicultural workplaces. Trainers and teachers can use this material to provide effective skills for managers that deal with a multi-generation of employees. Furthermore, educators can use appropriate teaching techniques with different generations of students since teachers of working adults are likely to have diverse generations of learners in their classes. There are at least four different generations in todays workforce that are categorized as traditionalists (Veterans), baby boomers, generation X, and generation Y individuals. Managers should be aware of the personality characteristics of individuals in all generations as well as their cultural backgrounds, and act accordingly. The document further discusses how decision-making, for managers of any generation, is a very critical and time-consuming procedure, and how managerial decisions do affect the companys processes dramatically. Managers should always make certain, regardless of their personal interests, likes and dislikes, that their decisions are appropriate for each generation of employees and their organizations. Organizational learning, from a systems perspective, is discussed as an effective method of understanding the processes and strategies suitable for an organization. In order to create a learning organization, managers need to emphasize teamwork and practice group activities that effectively involve people of all generations in the decision making processes. Following the eight facets of Values Driven Management can guide and focus everyones energies toward the common vision set forth by the company. Besides dealing with a multi-generation of employees, international managers face an even more complex task since they also deal with various cultures. Hence, a multi-cultural manager should acquire appropriate cultural knowledge regarding the local norms, mores and customs to effectively work with individuals of different generations throughout the world.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Sinta Siti Sundari ◽  
Hendri Julian Pramana

Purwa Caraka Musik Studio Cabang Tasikmalaya merupakan sebuah lembaga pendidikan nonformal yang bergerak di bidang musik. Penilaian kinerja instruktur di Purwa Caraka Music Studio Cabang Tasikmalaya saat ini dirasakan belum optimal dan belum didokumentasikan dengan baik. Sehingga diperlukan sebuah sistem untuk melakukan penilaian kinerja instruktur musik. Penilaian kinerja instruktur menggunakan metode AHP didasarkan pada 5 kriteria yaitu kehadiran (absensi) dan kompetensi untuk penilaian kinerja seorang guru meliputi kompetensi pedagogik, kepribadian, professional dan sosial. Metode perancangan program aplikasi yang digunakan adalah waterfall. Sedangkan teknik pengumpulan data yang penulis gunakan yaitu observasi, wawancara dan studi pustaka perancangan program atau aplikasi dengan menggunakan bahasa pemrograman PHP dan Mysql sebagai databasenya. Hasil dari proses ini berupa nilai dari kinerja instruktur pada periode penilaian tertentu, laporan penilaian kinerja instruktur yang terdokumentasi dengan baik dapat untuk dijadikan bahan pendukung bagi kepala cabang untuk berbagai keperluan, seperti rapat evaluasi kinerja dan proses pengambilan kebijakan.Purwa Caraka Music Studio Tasikmalaya Branch is a non-formal educational institutions engaged in musik. Performance assessment of instructor in Purwa Caraka Music Studio Branch Tasikmalaya this time had not been optimal and have not been documented with baik. So needed a system to assess the performance of instructors musik. Performance assessment of instructor using AHP is based on five criteria: presence (absence) and the competence to assess a teacher's performance include pedagogical, personality, professional and social. Application program design method used is the waterfall. While data collection techniques that writers use that observation, interview and literature study design or an application program using the programming language PHP and MySQL as the database. The result of this process is the value of the performance of instructors at a certain assessment period, the performance assessment reports are well documented instructors can to be used as a support for the head of the branch for a variety of purposes, such as meeting performance evaluation and decision-making processes.


Author(s):  
M Girod ◽  
A C Elliott ◽  
N D Burns ◽  
I C Wright

This paper describes the aims, methodology and results of an empirical research project. The aim was to gather new insight about how collaborative decision-making processes in the conceptual engineering design phase of the product development process takes place. The insight contributes to bridging the gap between the theoretical development of new decision-making methods in academia and the needs of practitioners. The researchers observed, recorded and transcribed three workshops involving groups that were engaged in the collaborative decision-making processes. Through analysing the transcripts, a set of decision-making related activities was identified. Each activity's time consumption was quantified, and a number of decision-making process models at different levels of detail were developed. During this analysis, various observations on particular process characteristics were made. It was observed that generating formal structures and documentation was beneficial to the decision-making process. This was particularly true with respect to developing problem understanding and consistency. The outcomes should be valuable for the design and development of improved decision-support systems.


Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Roche ◽  
Arkady Zgonnikov ◽  
Laura M. Morett

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the social and cognitive underpinnings of miscommunication during an interactive listening task. Method An eye and computer mouse–tracking visual-world paradigm was used to investigate how a listener's cognitive effort (local and global) and decision-making processes were affected by a speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication. Results Experiments 1 and 2 found that an environmental cue that made a miscommunication more or less salient impacted listener language processing effort (eye-tracking). Experiment 2 also indicated that listeners may develop different processing heuristics dependent upon the speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication, exerting a significant impact on cognition and decision making. We also found that perspective-taking effort and decision-making complexity metrics (computer mouse tracking) predict language processing effort, indicating that instances of miscommunication produced cognitive consequences of indecision, thinking, and cognitive pull. Conclusion Together, these results indicate that listeners behave both reciprocally and adaptively when miscommunications occur, but the way they respond is largely dependent upon the type of ambiguity and how often it is produced by the speaker.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erinn Finke ◽  
Kathryn Drager ◽  
Elizabeth C. Serpentine

Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to understand the decision-making processes used by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) related to communication-based interventions. Method Qualitative interview methodology was used. Data were gathered through interviews. Each parent had a child with ASD who was at least four-years-old; lived with their child with ASD; had a child with ASD without functional speech for communication; and used at least two different communication interventions. Results Parents considered several sources of information for learning about interventions and provided various reasons to initiate and discontinue a communication intervention. Parents also discussed challenges introduced once opinions of the school individualized education program (IEP) team had to be considered. Conclusions Parents of children with ASD primarily use individual decision-making processes to select interventions. This discrepancy speaks to the need for parents and professionals to share a common “language” about interventions and the decision-making process.


2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Christ ◽  
Alvah C. Bittner ◽  
Jared T. Freeman ◽  
Rick Archer ◽  
Gary Klein ◽  
...  

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