On Being a Peer

Author(s):  
Lykke Brogaard Bertel ◽  
Dorte Malig Rasmussen

This paper investigates and discusses the persuasive principles of social actors in relation to other theories of technologies as social agents, particularly within the field of Social Robotics and Persuasive Educational and Entertainment Robotics (PEERs). Based on related research and results from a case study on social robots as persuasive social actors in education an extension of the persuasive principles is proposed and related design guidelines for Persuasive Technology as social actors in teaching are presented.

2020 ◽  
pp. 095792652097721
Author(s):  
Janaina Negreiros Persson

In this article, we explore how the discourses around gender are evolving at the core of Brazilian politics. Our focus lies on the discourses at the public hearing on the bill 3.492/19, which aimed at including “gender ideology” on the list of heinous crimes. We aim to identify the deputies’ linguistic representation of social actors as pertaining to in- and outgroups. In addition, the article analyzes through Critical Discourse Analysis how the terminology gender is represented in this particular hearing. The analysis shows how some of the conservative parliamentarians give a clearly negative meaning to the term gender, by labeling it “gender ideology” and additionally connecting it with heinous crimes. We propose that the re-signification of “gender ideology,” from rhetorical invention to heinous crime, is not only an attempt to undermine scientific gender studies but also a way for conservative deputies to gain more political power.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8238
Author(s):  
Noemi Bakos ◽  
Rosa Schiano-Phan

To transform the negative impacts of buildings on the environment into a positive footprint, a radical shift from the current, linear ‘make-use-dispose’ practice to a closed-loop ‘make-use-return’ system, associated with a circular economy, is necessary. This research aims to demonstrate the possible shift to a circular construction industry by developing the first practical framework with tangible benchmarks for a ‘Circular University Campus’ based on an exemplary case study project, which is a real project development in India. As a first step, a thorough literature review was undertaken to demonstrate the social, environmental and economic benefits of a circular construction industry. As next step, the guideline for a ‘Circular University Campus’ was developed, and its applicability tested on the case study. As final step, the evolved principles were used to establish ‘Project Specific Circular Building Indicators’ for a student residential block and enhance the proposed design through bioclimatic and regenerative design strategies. The building’s performance was evaluated through computational simulations, whole-life carbon analysis and a circular building assessment tool. The results demonstrated the benefits and feasibility of bioclimatic, regenerative building and neighbourhood design and provided practical prototypical case study and guidelines which can be adapted by architects, planners and governmental institutions to other projects, thereby enabling the shift to a restorative, circular construction industry.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1292
Author(s):  
Neziha Akalin ◽  
Amy Loutfi

This article surveys reinforcement learning approaches in social robotics. Reinforcement learning is a framework for decision-making problems in which an agent interacts through trial-and-error with its environment to discover an optimal behavior. Since interaction is a key component in both reinforcement learning and social robotics, it can be a well-suited approach for real-world interactions with physically embodied social robots. The scope of the paper is focused particularly on studies that include social physical robots and real-world human-robot interactions with users. We present a thorough analysis of reinforcement learning approaches in social robotics. In addition to a survey, we categorize existent reinforcement learning approaches based on the used method and the design of the reward mechanisms. Moreover, since communication capability is a prominent feature of social robots, we discuss and group the papers based on the communication medium used for reward formulation. Considering the importance of designing the reward function, we also provide a categorization of the papers based on the nature of the reward. This categorization includes three major themes: interactive reinforcement learning, intrinsically motivated methods, and task performance-driven methods. The benefits and challenges of reinforcement learning in social robotics, evaluation methods of the papers regarding whether or not they use subjective and algorithmic measures, a discussion in the view of real-world reinforcement learning challenges and proposed solutions, the points that remain to be explored, including the approaches that have thus far received less attention is also given in the paper. Thus, this paper aims to become a starting point for researchers interested in using and applying reinforcement learning methods in this particular research field.


Buildings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Kate Sarkodee ◽  
Andrew Martel

Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme Specialist Disability Accommodation (NDIS SDA) program anticipates new, disability specific, housing stock being built by private investors incentivized by cash payments and rental income. To date, very few new SDA dwellings have been constructed and the majority of the research and analysis of the program’s potential has been in the context of apartment construction in major capital city markets in Australia. This paper uses a hypothetical case study of building SDA accommodation in a discrete regional Indigenous community, Yarrabah, in Queensland. It investigates underlying assumptions within the scheme, particularly around the relationship of land to investment outcomes, as well as cultural considerations. An important aspect is to test how effectively the design guidelines associated with the scheme translate into an appropriate built form that is culturally and environmentally appropriate in locations outside major urban centres. The results suggest that housing actors from the not-for-profit sector may benefit from the SDA at the expense of profit-driven, market-based housing developers, and that the SDA design categories offer limited flexibility for participants with changing care needs, potentially restricting resident continuity in occupancy and ongoing return on investment. The work offers an early assessment on the workability of the SDA in the context of housing investment in a new market for the private housing industry.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-169
Author(s):  
Roghayeh Farsi

AbstractThe academic field of Qurʾānic Studies employs a wide range of approaches, each one of which helps to open up a new perspective on the Qurʾānic text. The Holy Book was revealed to guide people; it is thus of relevance to all aspects of people’s lives. This article focuses on the way social actors are represented in one Meccansūra, entitled “Ya-Sin”, and employs a case-study approach to do so. The analysis carried out includes the socio-semantic processes that thesūrauses in order to represent social actors either by behavior (action) or meaning (reflection), and it also analyzes the actors as they are represented in processes such as activation and passivation. The methodology adopted is eclectic and analytic. It is a hybrid of Swales’ move analysis, El-Awa’s identification of shift-markers, and Halliday’s and Van Leeuwen’s theories of social actor representation. This study shows how such an analysis can contribute to understanding the apparently fragmented and non-linear nature of “Ya-Sin”.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heena Noh ◽  
Kijung Park ◽  
Kiwon Park ◽  
Gül E. Okudan Kremer

Abstract Traditional plaster casts often cause dermatitis due to disadvantages in usability and wearability. Additive manufacturing (AM) can fabricate customized casts to have light-weight, high strength, and better air permeability. Although existing studies have provided design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) guidelines to facilitate design applications for AM, most relevant studies focused on the mechanical properties of outputs and too general/specific design guidelines; novice designers may still have difficulty understanding trade-offs between functional and operational performance of various DfAM aspects for medical casts. As a response, this study proposes a DfAM worksheet for medical casts to effectively guide novice designers. First, important DfAM criteria and their possible solutions for medical casts are examined through a literature review to construct a basic DfAM framework for medical casts. Next, a scoring system that considers relative criteria importance and criteria evaluation from both functional and operational perspectives is developed to identify the overall suitability of a medical cast design for AM. A case study of finger cast designs was performed to identify the DfAM performance of the sample designs along with redesign requirements suggested by the worksheet. The proposed worksheet would be used to achieve rapid medical cast design by objectively assessing its suitability for AM.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
Andrej Findor

Abstract The article interconnects the research on welfare attitudes and welfare chauvinism with moral psychology in order to develop an interdisciplinary analytical approach designed for studying attitudes to welfare policies and potentially overcoming the divisions prevalent in many European democracies. It introduces Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) - an empirical approach to analysing intuitions, reasoning, and emotions constituting moral judgment - and outlines its understanding of competing versions of fairness and distributive justice. The potential contributions of MFT are exemplified on a case study situated in contemporary Slovakia which deals with two conflicting conceptions of fairness, as equity and as equality, embodied in the diverging attitudes towards an amendment to the Act on the Assistance in Material Need (2013). The article argues that MFT and related research programmes are irreplaceable components in an interdisciplinary study of the plurality of welfare policy attitudes. It also highlights the transformative potential of MFT and related research programmes in devising interventions aimed at changing (political) attitudes to welfare and reducing their polarisation.


Urbani izziv ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (30) ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Sibel Polat ◽  
H. Özge Tümer Yıldız

In recent years, central and local governments have carried out studies to establish a legal administrative infrastructure for urban design and to develop urban design guidance to preserve the identity of historic cities under the pressure of rapid urbanization in Turkey. The main aim of this article is to explain how we implemented a participatory urban design guidance (PUrDeG) model for cultural heritage sites, which was developed as part of a research project. We explain how we used various techniques to engage various actors in preparing urban design guidelines for a cultural heritage site. In addition, the article discusses the importance of community engagement techniques and processes in developing urban design guidance, and the context of guidelines for sustainable conservation of cultural heritage sites with examples from the United Kingdom and Turkey. It then presents a case study conducted in the Hanlar District, a Unesco world heritage site in Bursa, Turkey. The case study includes research on planning decisions, site analysis, a survey of urban residents, in depth interviews with local artisans, and an urban design workshop with various actors. The main outcomes of this study include a presentation of how to use various community engagement techniques to prepare urban design guidelines for cultural heritage sites in Turkey, an urban design guidance system for Bursa, and a list of recommendations related to urban design guidelines for the Hanlar District and Bursa in the light of UK experience.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-397
Author(s):  
Taufik Rahman

         This research is motivated by empirical data, the potential for problems in the field with regard to the growing problem of propaganda in the spread of Islam. Deployment is meant as the spread of Islam through the study of classical texts, recitals in taklim to male and female students who live in boarding Bustanul Wildan as well as to the communities in surrounding and also spread through the typical tradition traditional pesantren like tahlilan, berzanji, Rajaban, Muludan and other events. Pesantren Bustanul Wildan be of interest to researchers as objects related research.          Research conducted at the Islamic Schools Bustanul Wildan. The paradigm used in this study is a constructivist paradigm (qualitative). constructivist paradigm, uses the case study method. The conclusions of this research are: First, Pesantren Bustanul Wildan in the spread of Islam that is the communication patterns of action, interaction and transaction.Keywords: Communication, Pesantren, Preaching Islam


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