Promote Assistive and AAC technologies during Covid-19

The Covid-19 health emergency has produced a rethinking of education and training systems based on open and flexible physical spaces and remote communication channels; however, socialization processes and virtual relational exchanges are still possible and at the same time authentic. Moreover, the use of telecommunication technologies augment efforts to find a new way to organize educational spaces when it is not possible to share physical space and virtual spaces must be used. Starting from the role of assistive technologies in European policies, this work presents a case study about the inclusive perspective of corporeality and action in teaching-learning process and described an experience done in a third grade class of a primary school in Rome where a teacher used an eye communicator with GRID3 software and tools of Augmentative Alternative Communication with a student with complex communication needs, main goal of this activity was to create an inclusive and sharing path for each scholar done in distance education. Promuovere le tecnologie assistive e la CAA al tempo del Covid-19. L’emergenza sanitaria da Covid-19 ha sollecitato un ripensamento dei sistemi educativi e formativi quali dimensioni aperte e flessibili in cui formarsi, spazi nei quali i canali di comunicazione a distanza hanno reso possibile processi di socializzazione e scambi relazionali virtuali ma non per questo meno autentici, luoghi della didattica in cui favorire gli apprendimenti mediante l’uso di tecnologie che hanno consentito di raggiungere risultati anche in assenza di condivisione di uno spazio fisico. Il lavoro presenta una riflessione sul ruolo delle tecnologie assistive nelle politiche europee, sul potenziale inclusivo della corporeità e dell’azione nei percorsi di insegnamento-apprendimento e propone la descrizione di un’esperienza svoltasi nella classe terza di una scuola primaria romana dove, in presenza di un’alunna con gravi difficoltà comunicative, la didattica ha previsto l’uso del comunicatore oculare con software GRID3 coniugato alle pratiche e agli strumenti propri della Comunicazione Aumentativa Alternativa, con l’obiettivo di creare un percorso inclusivo e partecipativo per ciascun alunno, seppure a distanza.

Sustainable mobility and beauty of public space

The quality of built environment is linked to the space in-between buildings and considers its formal, environmental and use values, due to specific needs for care and project re-appropriation. Sustainable mobility, a strategic objective of the European Union, cannot ignore the quality of the public space. The New European Bauhaus draw a new strategical attention to the critical role the quality of spaces plays in building a better world. The definition of space for active mobility as environmental islands, sidewalks, pedestrian areas, cycle paths or green ways, must follow morphological, functional and organizational needs. The beauty of the space starts from a new language of the street, through qualifying the places and avoiding a passive crossing for the transport logic, but satisfying a need that goes beyond our material dimension and is inspired by creativity and culture. This qualification is represented here in the case study of an Italian Biciplan as a sector plan able to build inclusive and accessible physical spaces for the community. The lack of attention of technicians in the execution of public works leads to reconsider the importance of these issues also in education and training. The fragmentation of technological knowledge must be recalibrated to provide useful tools without forgetting the quality and the overall beauty of the places when street language improve, also for cultural reason.

Kohti uutta käsityön oppimis- ja työympäristöä

Perusopetuksen käsityön oppiaine on uudistunut opetussuunnitelmallisesti ja käsityön oppimis- ja työympäristöjen tilaratkaisut vaativat uudenlaista pohdintaa. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan käsityötä opettavien opettajien (N = 11) näkemyksiä heidän omiin kokemuksiinsa perustuen. Näkemyksiä taustoitetaan käsityön suunnittelu- ja valmistusprosessin luonteeseen, fyysisen oppimis- ja työympäristön erityispiirteisiin ja tilasuunnittelun periaatteisiin liittyen. Tilasuunnittelussa suunnitellaan ja toteutetaan fyysistä oppimis- ja työympäristöä lähtökohtaisesti pedagogisen suunnitelman pohjalta. Aineistolähtöiseen sisällönanalyysiin perustuen opettajat tarkastelivat käsityön fyysisen oppimis- ja työympäristön kehittämistä tilasuunnittelun osalta kolmen pääluokan avulla: käsityötilojen rakenne ja sijoittuminen, kalusteet ja välineet sekä opettajien osallisuus ja resurssit tilasuunnittelussa. Tutkimuksen tulokset korostavat opettajien osallistumisen tärkeyttä tilasuunnittelussa sen alkuvaiheista lähtien. Opetussuunnitelma vaihtuu kymmenen vuoden välein, mutta käsityön tilasuunnittelun ratkaisut tehdään vuosikymmeniksi. Towards new learning and working environments in Craft, Design and Technology education – Teachers' views on planning and construction Abstract In Finland the curriculum of subject Craft, Design and Technology (CDT) education is renewed and there is a need to reconsider how to plan and construct learning and working environments in the future. This study bases on the CDT education teachers' views (N = 11) on workspace and workshop planning and construction. The content analysis based on interview data revealed that teachers consider space planning construction as a combination of structure and placement in schools, as a combination of equipment, tools and furniture and their own possibilities to participate in the planning process. It would be very important to invite teachers to be part of a space planning and construction process as early as possible to avoid pedagogically fatal mistakes and problems in construction of physical spaces. Keywords: learning and working environment, space planning and contruction, craft design and technology education, basic education

Negotiating Identity through the Architecture and Interior Decoration of Elite Households in Ptolemaic Egypt

In Ptolemaic Egypt (ca. 332–30 BC), numerous physical spaces served as loci of identity negotiation for elite individuals inhabiting a setting where imported Greek traditions interacted with local Egyptian ones. Such negotiations, or maneuverings, often took place through visual culture. This essay explores a sample of the Greek architectural elements and surface decorations used in wealthy Ptolemaic homes and what they communicate about the residents’ sense of identity. The decorative choices made for a home conveyed information about the social status and cultural allegiances of its owner(s). Some comparisons are possible between Ptolemaic homes in Alexandria, the Delta, and the Fayyum and those from other Hellenistic sites in the eastern Mediterranean such as Priene and Delos. Elites in Alexandria and the Egyptian chora incorporated Greek traditions into their homes and adapted them in increasingly novel ways, creating architecture and surface decoration that was uniquely Ptolemaic. These households were visually in dialogue both with broader Hellenistic trends and with their Egyptian context.

Hackathons and Libraries

Libraries foster a thriving campus culture and function as “third space,” not directly tied to a discipline.[i] Libraries support both formal and informal learning, have multipurpose spaces, and serve as a connection point for their communities. For these reasons, they are an ideal location for events, such as hackathons, that align with library priorities of outreach, data and information literacy, and engagement focused on social good. Hackathon planners could find likely partners in either academic or public libraries as their physical spaces accommodate public outreach events and many are already providing similar services, such as makerspaces. Libraries can act solely as a host for events or they can embed in the planning process by building community partnerships, developing themes for the event, or harnessing the expertise already present in the library staff. This article, focusing on years from 2014 to 2020, will highlight the history and evolution of hackathons in libraries as outreach events and as a focus for using library materials, data, workflows, and content. [i] James K. Elmborg, “Libraries as the Spaces Between Us: Recognizing and Valuing the Third Space,” Reference and User Services Quarterly 50, no. 4 (2011): 338–50.

A Personalized Eccentric Cyber-Physical System Architecture for Smart Healthcare

The development and technological advancement of wireless sensor networks in different fields has been a revolution for mankind. To meet the high-end requirements, the support of the cloud that provides the resources for the application is very much essential. This paper presents an architecture called cloud sense to connect cyber and physical spaces for wireless body area networks with varying high-end workflow at different perspectives. The scalability issue in collecting patient data and processing the data is established using ganglia that is a scalable, distributed monitoring system to support high-performance computing in clusters for the set of input events such as electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure (BP), saturation of peripheral oxygen (SPO2), temperature, and skin conductance of the kind of human body parameters. Various parameter metrics have been analyzed based on the equivalent creation of instances. The connectivity mechanism behind the proposed cyber-physical system is unique of its kind; it is exhibited through wireless Internet on a small scale of three remote locations; the system works well with specific network parameter metrics; and the results proved that availability and scalability issues were addressed with numerical analysis.

Clicks-and-bricks: a case study of the Amaro brand

The rise of e-commerce has dematerialized retail shopping locations, transposing them to the digital layer in the so-called 'brick-to-click' movement. However, the opposite path, 'click-and-brick', arouses curiosity for the re-association of the physical store with e-commerce, directing attention to new meanings of materiality in fashion retail. In this context, this paper discusses the multidimensional materiality of fashion retail within the e-commerce theme from two main movements: the emergence of physical spaces that complement online stores and the orientation of e-commerce operations towards big data. To illustrate the concepts and reflection on these themes, the authors carry out a case study on the omnichannel operations of a brazilian fashion brand called AMARO.

Building back smarter—part three: placing modular facilities in a resource-limited healthcare system

Land should be one of the greatest assets of the UK healthcare system, as a result of its large estates portfolio. Howere, the current state of many of the NHS's buildings means that physical spaces are often more of a burden, with maintenance backlogs costing billions. However, as a resource-limited public institution, it is crucial that all investments into NHS infrastructure are as effective and future-proof as possible. The previous two articles in this series have focused on the potential benefits of modular facilities to healthcare staff, services and patients, drawing on case studies of NHS trusts that have implemented modular facilities on their sites. This article, the third and final instalment of this series, discusses the health economic impact of current NHS infrastructure, and explores the ways in which modular facilities could provide a flexible and cost-effective means of expanding capacity and improving services in a resource-limited environment.

Proposal for Improvement of Physical Arrangement in the Productive Sector of a Company of the Graphic Branch

Getting a competitive advantage is the challenge in the current context for companies. Thus, to achieve this result it is necessary to add value to the product or service. This ends up reflecting the way the transforming resources are disposed in the production process, influencing the increase or not in productivity. Most micro and small companies do not have a good management plan, delaying improvements in their production processes, among them the best use of their physical spaces. It may seem simple, however, getting a best use of the space available for a production line ends up becoming a task that usually takes time and costs. Consequently, the main objective of this article is to present, through an on-site case study in a graphic micro-enterprise, a proposal to improve the paper bag production process, allowing for a better reuse of manufacturing flows and reducing the movement of people, products and materials.