On imagining in spatial design

Using the imagination during the design process is a critical part of how designers design, using it in the synthesis phase to generate ideas and find creative solutions to a given problem. However, what designers imagine - see in the mind’s eye - during the design process is a complex and difficult to articulate phenomenon, which, until recently, has been not been greatly understood or articulated. This early study reports on an education context where exercises were integrated into undergraduate design studies aimed to enhance the imagining process. Outcomes suggest that exercising the imagination in this context assists future designers to become more skilled in design synthesis practices which explore various temporal, existential and physical qualities in future spaces, as well as be able to articulate the seemingly ‘mysterious’ aspects of the design process.

Architectural experience in the everyday context

Informed by phenomenology and grounded theory this research identifies the general community's contextual sense-making in relation to their everyday experience of buildings producing a comprehensive theoretical framework that acknowledges a person's relationship with a building as dynamic and unfolding, as opposed to static and constant; and as emotive and existential as well as conceptual and perceptual. In this regard, the research makes an original contribution to environmental psychology, architecture and design and through this discipline knowledge to the design of more habitable buildings, and interior and urban environments.

Medication adherence of individuals with a first episode of psychosis

Objective To determine rates of adherence to antipsychotic medication in first episode patients and the correlates of adherence in this group. Method Subjects were the first 200 admissions to an Early Psychosis Program. Adherence was determined on a three-point scale. Symptoms, medication side-effects, quality of life, substance use and family involvement were examined longitudinally. Results In their first year in the program 39% were non-adherent, 20% inadequately adherent, and 41% adherent. Non-adherent patients demonstrated more positive symptoms, more relapses, more alcohol and cannabis use, reduced insight, and poorer quality of life. They were younger, had an earlier age of onset and less likely to have a family member involved in treatment. Conclusion Results for this group are similar to those reported in the literature. Correlates are often the consequence of non-adherence. Non-compliance has to be anticipated and relationships maintained with patients and families to intervene as soon as possible to minimize the consequence of non-compliance.

Andegraund : Istorija i mify leningradskoj neoficial'noj literatury

The history of the Leningrad underground is one of the key themes of late socialism. Samizdat, "black humour", religious syncretism, dissidence, apolitical bohemianism, the pathos of freedom of individuality and the mechanics of literature are closely interlinked with the cultural mythology of this passed epoch. Describing conceptions that, when taken together, form the contemporary understanding of unofficial culture, the author creates a historical portrait of this environment. Amongst the central figures here, there are well-known writers (Bitov, Brodsky, Dovlatov, Khvostenko, Krivulin) and literary activists who still await recognition. The analysis of works, many of which were only distributed in typewritten publications in the 1960s-1980s, gives a preliminary definition of the key factors that united the authors of the unofficial community. The book begins with a critique of the identification of the Soviet underground with political dissidence or with a society living in autonomous independence with regard to the state. Describing the historical development of the various names for this environment (the underground, samizdat, unofficial culture, podpolie and others), the author follows the genesis of the community from its appearance, in the years of "the Thaw", through to perestroika, when it dissolved. Taking the history of the publication of Bitov's "The Pushkin House" as an example, the concept of the unofficial is interpreted as a risky interaction with the authorities. Unofficial culture is then viewed as a late Soviet reflection of the Western underground in the 1950s-1960s. Unlike the radical-utopian-anarchistic source, it proclaimed a liberalist and democratic ideology in the context of the destruction of the socialist utopia. The historical portrait of the community is built up from the perceptions of its members regarding literature practice and rhetorical approaches, with the aid of which these perceptions are expressed. Taking typewritten publications as source material, four main representations are given: privacy, deviancy, criticism and irrationality. An understanding of literature as a private affair, neo-avant-garde deviancy in social and literary behaviour and the pathos of the critical relationship with officialdom and irrational message of literary work, comprise the basis for the worldview of unofficial authors, as well as the poetic system, genre preferences and dictums. An analysis of irrationality, based on the texts of Khvostenko and Bogdanov, leads to a review of the cultural mythologies that were crucial to the unofficial conception of the absurd. Absurd is an homonym. It contains ideas that are important for the worldview of unofficial authors and the poetics of their works. The irrationality of the Soviet order is reflected in the documentary nature of the satirical prose of Dovlatov. The existential absurd of Camus is perceived here as the pointlessness of social realities and the ontological alienation of man, while existentialist practices for consciousness in the "atmosphere of absurd" remain bracketed off. The third homonym of absurd - the conception of reality as an illusion - is a clear demonstration of religious syncretism, where neo-Christian ideas are interweaved with a modernized version of Hinduism, as taken from Rolland s books on Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. The unofficial community was influenced by the ideology of westernization. Even "the East" arrived here via French retellings and accounts. As a whole, unofficial Leningrad culture can be understood as a neo-modernist phenomenon which, unlike the western neo-modernism of the 1940s and 1950s, arose in the years of the Thaw and ended its existence in the mid-1980s.

From Iron Horse to Rauta-airot - a Semiotic View on the Domestication of Metaphors in Literary Translation

The thesis concentrates on two questions: the translation of metaphors in literary texts, and the use of semiotic models and tools in translation studies. The aim of the thesis is to present a semiotic, text based model designed to ease the translation of metaphors and to analyze translated metaphors. In the translation of metaphors I will concentrate on the central problem of metaphor translations: in addition to its denotation and connotation, a single metaphor may contain numerous culture or genre specific meanings. How can a translator ensure the translation of all meanings relevant to the text as a whole? I will approach the question from two directions. Umberto Eco's holistic text analysis model provides an opportunity to concentrate on the problematic nature of metaphor translation from the level of a text as a specific entity, while George Lakoff's and Mark Johnson's metaphor research makes it possible to approach the question from the level of individual metaphors. On the semiotic side, the model utilizes Eero Tarasti's existential semiotics supported by Algirdas Greimas' actant model and Yuri Lotman's theory of cultural semiotics. In the model introduced in the thesis, individual texts are deconstructed through Eco's model into elements. The textual roles and features of these elements are distilled further through Tarasti's model into their coexistent meaning levels. The priorization and analysis of these meaning levels provide an opportunity to consider the contents and significance of specific metaphors in relation to the needs of the text as a whole. As example texts, I will use Motörhead's hard rock classic Iron Horse/Born to Lose and its translation into Rauta-airot by Viikate. I will use the introduced model to analyze the metaphors in the source and target texts, and to consider the transfer of culture specific elements between the languages and cultural borders. In addition, I will use the analysis process to examine the validity of the model introduced in the thesis.

Luce Irigaray's Philosophy of Feminine Being : Body, Desire and Wisdom

Luce Irigaray is a Belgian-born philosopher, psychoanalyst and linguist. Irigaray s concept of woman is crucial for understanding her own work but also for examining and developing the theoretical and methodological basis of feminist theory. This thesis argues that, ultimately, Irigaray s exploration of woman s being challenges our traditional notion of philosophy as a neutral discourse and the traditional notion of ourselves as philosophizing persons or human beings. However, despite its crucial role, Irigaray s idea of woman still lacks a comprehensive explication. This is because the discourse of sexual difference is blurred by the ideas of essentialism and biologism. --- Irigaray s concept of woman has been interpreted and criticized from the perspectives of metaphysical essentialism, strategic essentialism, realist essentialism and deconstructionism. This thesis argues that a reinterpretation is necessary to account for Irigaray s claims about the the traditional woman , mimesis, the specificity of the feminine body, feminine expression and sexual difference. Moreover, any reading should account for the differences between women and avoid giving a prescriptive function to the essence of woman. --- My thesis develops a new interpretation of Irigaray s concept of woman on the basis of the phenomenology of the body. It argues that Irigaray s discourse on woman can and must be understood by an idea of existential style. Existential style is embodied, affective and spiritual and it is constituted in relation to oneself, to others and to the world. It is temporal, it evolves and changes but preserves its open unity in its transformations. Stylistic unities, such as femininity or philosophy, are constituted in and by the singulars. -- This study discusses and analyses feminine existential style as a central theme and topic of Irigaray s works and shows how her work operates as a primary and paradigmatic example of the feminine style. These tasks are performed by studying the mimetic positions available for women and by explicating the phenomenological background of Irigaray s conceptions of the philosophical method, and the lived, expressive and affective body. The critical occupation and transformation of these mimetic positions, the inquiry into the first-person pre-discursive experience, and the cultivation of feminine expressivity open up the possibility of becoming a woman writer, a woman lover and a woman philosopher. The appearance of these new feminine figures is a precondition for the realization of sexual difference. So Irigaray opens up the possibility of sexual difference by instituting and constituting a feminine subject of love and wisdom, and by problematizing the idea of a neutral and absolute subject.

Poetics of Subjectivity : Existence and Expressivity in Simone de Beauvoir's Philosophy

In the last thirty years, primarily feminist scholars have drawn attention to and re-evaluated the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir (1908 1986). Her philosophical practice has been described as non-systematic, and her literary writing has been viewed as part of her non-systematic mode of philosophising. This dissertation radically deepens the question concerning Beauvoir s philosophical motivations for turning to literature as a mode to express subjectivity. It explicates the central concepts of Beauvoir s philosophy of existence, which are subjectivity, ambiguity, paradox and temporality, and their background in the modern traditions of existential philosophy and phenomenology. It also clarifies Beauvoir s main reason to turn to literature in order to express subjectivity as both singular and universal: as a specific mode of communication, literature is able to make the universality of existence manifest in the concrete, singular and temporal texture of life. In addition, the thesis gives examples of how Beauvoir s literary works contribute to an understanding of the complexity of subjectivity. I use the expression poetics of subjectivity to refer to the systematic relation between Beauvoir s existential and phenomenological notion of subjectivity and her literary works, and to her articulations of a creative mode of using language, especially in the novel. The thesis is divided into five chapters, of which the first three investigate Beauvoir s philosophy of existence at the intersection of the modern traditions of thought that began with René Descartes and Søren Kierkegaard s intuitions about subjectivity. Chapter 1 interprets Beauvoir s notion of ambiguity, as compared to paradox, and argues that both determine her notion of existence. Chapters 2 and 3 investigate the phenomenological side of Beauvoir s philosophy through a study of her response to early French interpretations of transcendental subjectivity, especially in the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. My analysis shows that Edmund Husserl s distinction between different levels of subjective experience is central to Beauvoir s understanding of subjectivity and to the different ego concepts she uses. Chapter 4 is a study of Beauvoir s reflections on the expression of subjective thought, and, more specifically, her philosophical conceptions of the metaphysical novel and the autobiography as two modes of indirect communication. Chapter 5, finally, compares two modes of investigating concrete subjectivity; Beauvoir s conceptual study of femininity in Le deuxième sexe and her literary expression of subjectivity in the novel L Invitée. My analysis reveals and explicates Beauvoir s original contribution to a comprehensive understanding of the becoming and paradox of human existence: the fundamental insight that these phenomena are sexed, historically as well as imaginatively.

Halun häilyvät rajat : Magnus Enckellin maalausten maskuliinisuuksien ja feminiinisyyksien representaatioista ja itsen luomisesta

My PhD-thesis The uneasy borders of desire Magnus Enckell's representations of masculinities and femininities and the question how to create the self concentrates on the works of Finnish fin-de-siècle artist Magnus Enckell (1870-1925). My thesis deals with representations of masculinities, femininities, sexualities and different identity-positions. My research is about questions concerning representational ways of melancholy, androgyny, narcissism, themes of Golden Age and Double in Enckell s ouvre. These themes are analyzed by contextualizing them with different, but intersecting, discourses of varied scientific, artistic and occult ideas in the fin-de-siècle. The main point is analyze how the subject is constructed in both Foucauldian and Freudian sense and what one has to know about oneself. My approaches are based on ideas expressed in different discourses as queer-theory, Michel Foucault s genealogical epistemology and knowledge-power theory, psychoanalysis, art history and visual culture studies. My starting point lays is Foucault s idea expressed in his The History of Sexuality that the constitution of homosexual or as well as heterosexual subject inaugurates possibilities for transgressive activities e.g. by giving own voice to the sexualized subject. My main thesis is to suggest that Enckell s works in their multiple and ambiguous ways construct a phantasmatic position for viewer who may identify oneself to different desires, may construct or deconstruct a sexual identity for oneself or try to define the truth about oneself. Enckell s works should be considered as a contradictory processes which both seduce person to construct an identity and as well as lure person to pursue for the deconstruction of specific and permanent identity by celebrating the ambiguousness and discontinuity in one s identity. I m suggesting that the gazing subject feels pleasure in finding one s identity but the one must face the exposure of the melancholic structure which forms the basis of sexual desire. The subject may try to resolve one s melancholy by creating a phantasy about the original and unisexual being where desires, sexualities, phantasies and identities haven t been diverged. This can be fantasized in terms of art which forms a double for the melancholic subject who is in this limited and imaginary way able to forget for a while one s existential solitude.

Musiikki ahdistuksen taitona : Filosofinen tutkimus musiikin eksistentiaalis-ontologisesta merkityksestä

Music as the Art of Anxiety: A Philosophical Approach to the Existential-Ontological Meaning of Music. The present research studies music as an art of anxiety from the points of view of both Martin Heidegger s thought and phenomenological philosophy in general. In the Heideggerian perspective, anxiety is understood as a fundamental mode of being (Grundbefindlichkeit) in human existence. Taken as an existential-ontological concept, anxiety is conceived philosophically and not psychologically. The central research questions are: what is the relationship between music and existential-ontological anxiety? In what way can music be considered as an art of anxiety? In thinking of music as a channel and manifestation of anxiety, what makes it a special case? What are the possible applications of phenomenology and Heideggerian thought in musicology? The main aim of the research is to develop a theory of music as an art of existential-ontological anxiety and to apply this theory to musicologically relevant phenomena. Furthermore, the research will contribute to contemporary musicological debates and research as it aims to outline the phenomenological study of music as a field of its own; the development of a specific methodology is implicit in these aims. The main subject of the study, a theory of music as an art of anxiety, integrates Heideggerian and phenomenological philosophies with critical and cultural theories concerning violence, social sacrifice, and mimetic desire (René Girard), music, noise and society (Jacques Attali), and the affect-based charme of music (Vladimir Jankélévitch). Thus, in addition to the subjective mood (Stimmung) of emptiness and meaninglessness, the philosophical concept of anxiety also refers to a state of disorder and chaos in general; for instance, to noise in the realm of sound and total (social) violence at the level of society. In this study, music is approached as conveying the existentially crucial human compulsion for signifying i.e., organizing chaos. In music, this happens primarily at the immediate level of experience, i.e. in affectivity, and also in relation to all of the aforementioned dimensions (sound, society, consciousness, and so on). Thus, music s existential-ontological meaning in human existence, Dasein, is in its ability to reveal different orders of existence as such. Indeed, this makes music the art of anxiety: more precisely, music can be existentially significant at the level of moods. The study proceeds from outlining the relevance of phenomenology and Heidegger s philosophy in musicology to the philosophical development of a theory of music as the art of anxiety. The theory is developed further through the study of three selected specific musical phenomena: the concept of a musical work, guitar smashing in the performance tradition of rock music, and Erik Bergman s orchestral work Colori ed improvvisazioni. The first example illustrates the level of individual human-subject in music as the art of anxiety, as a means of signifying chaos, while the second example focuses on the collective need to socio-culturally channel violence. The third example, being music-analytical, studies contemporary music s ability to mirror the structures of anxiety at the level of a specific musical text. The selected examples illustrate that, in addition to the philosophical orientation, the research also contributes to music analysis, popular music studies, and the cultural-critical study of music. Key words: music, anxiety, phenomenology, Martin Heidegger, ontology, guitar smashing, Erik Bergman, musical work, affectivity, Stimmung, René Girard

In Defence of "the Lesser Cousin of History": An Interview with Rohan Wilson

Few branches of postcolonial literature are as contested as the historical fiction of settler societies. This interview with the Australian historical novelist Rohan Wilson, author of The Roving Party (2011) and To Name Those Lost (2014), explores the intersections between truth, accuracy, and existential authenticity in his fictional accounts of nineteenth-century Tasmania. Wilson offers a nuanced yet robust defence of fiction’s role in narrating colonial history. He explains his intentions in writing two linked yet distinctive novels of the frontier—one that focuses on the “Black War” of the 1820s and 1830s, and another that explores how racial violence is refracted by capitalism in subsequent decades.

Higher intensity exercise helps cancer survivors remain motivated

Purpose The aim of the present study was to determine if exercise intensity impacts upon the psychosocial responses of breast and prostate cancer survivors to a rehabilitation program. Methods Eighty-seven prostate and 72 breast cancer survivors participated in an 8-week exercise and supportive group psychotherapy intervention (n=84) or control (n=75) group. Intervention participants were randomized to low-to-moderate intensity exercise (LIG; n=44; 60–65 % VO2peak, 50–65 % one repetition maximum (1RM)) or moderate-to-high intensity exercise (HIG; n=40; 75–80 % VO2peak, 65–80 % 1RM) while controls continued usual care. Before and after the 8 weeks, all participants completed the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast or -Prostate to assess quality of life (QOL) and Behavioural Regulations of Exercise Version 2 for exercise motivation. Intervention participants also completed a follow-up assessment 4 months post-intervention. Results All three groups improved in QOL from baseline to post-intervention, with no significant differences. From postintervention to follow-up, the LIG and HIG similarly maintained QOL scores. Between baseline and post-intervention, both intervention arms improved their motivation to exercise compared to the controls (p=0.004). At the 4-month followup, the HIG had maintained their overall exercise motivation (p<0.001) and both domains of intrinsic motivation (identified regulation, p=0.047; intrinsic regulation, p=0.007); however, the LIG had regressed. Conclusions The structured intervention was successful at improving autonomous exercise motivation, regardless of exercise intensity. However, only those participants who had exercised at a higher intensity sustained their improvement. Intervention participation did not improve QOL more than controls. Implications for Cancer Survivors Higher-intensity exercise is more likely to result in more sustainable increases in motivation to exercise among cancer survivors.

Valta kotikasvatuksessa

The aim of this research was to explore how issues of power manifest themselves in bringing up children at home. The starting point for the study was a phenomenon centered, power focused, and theoretically orientated view which also included an empirical part as well. The most common aim of the research was to find out and theoretize of power which is suitable for bringing up children at home. Power was defined and researched on the basis of existing power theories, mostly those presented in anglo-american research on power. For closer investigation I chose the most common categorizations and theories of power, namely, the nature of power, the four dimensions of power, and forms of power. The empirical part of the research consisted of 22 thematic interviews with mothers, fathers and 14 – 16-year-old teenagers from 11 different families. The interviewees were found through snowball sampling. The questions for the interviews were based on power theories. The result of the research was that the most common categorizations and theories of power were useful but not satisfactory in the study of power in bringing up children at home. The nature of authority in bringing up children at home appears to have same characteristics as the categorization of authority put forward by Weber but in addition it included extra categories called moral authority and ontological-existential authority. Theoretically the most challenging problem concerns the conflict between modern and postmodern views of power. None of them alone is able to describe power in bringing up children at home. The best solution appeared to be to add an assumption about the inner relation to the modern power view and an assumption about the Popperian three worlds to the postmodern view of power. The relationship between the parent and the child is necessary the inner power relation where the relation itself modifies the parties’ identities. In that case positive and productive elements are also included in the power relationship. Parents use many forms of power in bringing up children at home. Manipulative and violent forms of power are not justifiable but other forms of power and their open exercise is sometimes necessary. The important criteria to use in order to determine the most suitable forms of power and the most appropriate ways of exercising that power is to see how they improve the development of the identity and internalization of values of the child. An ethically justified exercise of power in bringing up children at home is based on a dialogical, pedagogical relationship between the parent and the child, focuses on the relationship between the parent and the child, orientates itself further than present, aspires to promote the good of the child, and comes true in a caring atmosphere.

"Kyllähän täällä tehdään kaikenlaista laidasta laitaan..." : Nuorten työpajatoiminta ja oppiminen työpajoilla työharjoittelijoiden kokemana

Workshops can be seen as a one kind of occupational model in the field of the social employing. The objective of social employing is to support the employment of those persons who are in a weak labour market position and to maintain their ability to function. The objectives of the workshops, which are offering work experience and learning of life management, maintain the same goal as social employment. Workshop services in Finland are relatively little scientifically studied in spite of their fairly long history. The workshop as a concept is still quite sparsely defined and also an unknown occupational model to the large part of people. The starting point for this study was to clarify what the workshops are like, what the services are like and how learning can be seen from the point of view of the workshop services. The objective of this study was to analyse how the apprentices experience the workshop services as well as learning in the workshops and thus describe how the workshops are shaped at the youth workshops. According to earlier studies the apprentices have experienced the workshops as useful periods in their lives and also they believe that other people in society appreciate the experience that apprentices have been received from the workshops. This study can be described as a qualitative study. Its methodological foundation is in phenomenology and especially in existential phenomenology. The research material consisted of seven individual interviews and two group interviews. In the group interviews five apprentices were those who had also participated in the individual interviews and one apprentice who did not participate. The interviewees' ages were between 17-22 years. The interviews were carried out as semi-structured interviews. The method which was utilised in the analysis of the research material is developed by Juha Perttula (2000). This analyse method is based on existential phenomenology. The apprentices considered that significant experiences in the workshop services were the entry to the workshop, the form of activity of the workshop, workshop community, the achieving of life management and work experience, the understanding of the significance of the education and the planning of the future. Regarding to learning the attitude, on-the-job learning, the importance of the mentors, the new information and new skills achieved were significant experiences at the workshop for the apprentices. The apprentices' experiences reflect well the achievement of the objectives which are set for the workshop services. Results of this study are also compatible to the results of earlier studies of apprentices' positive experience of the workshop services. The results can be utilised in developing the workshop services to offer more versatile experiences than before and to improve learning conditions on the workshops. The arranging of the on-the-job learning and the significance of the actions of mentors should also be noticed.

Young, gifted and spiritual -The case of Finnish sixth-grade pupils

The aim of this study was to explore the spirituality of Finnish academically gifted 12 13-year old pre-adolescents (N = 101). Their spirituality was investigated through the following three questions: (1) What is their relationship to religion? (2) How do they perceive transcendence? and (3) How does their search for meaning integrate into their lives? A total of 60 girls and 41 boys participated in the study. They attend a special school, Helsingin Suomalainen yhteiskoulu, in Helsinki, Finland. The school includes classes from grade 3 to upper secondary school and has an entrance test. This study is part of a research project called Actualizing Finnish Giftedness which is funded by the Finnish Academy between 2000 2007 and is led by Professor Tirri. The research project is based on Gardner s Multiple Intelligences theory (Gardner 1993) and on Hay s (1998) work on spirituality. The data in this study was gathered in 2003 and 2004. It includes both qualitative and quantitative material. The emphasis is on data gathered with interviews. The mixed method approach was used as the methodological framework for connecting the qualitative content analysis, phenomenological approach and the quantitative tests of this study. The results of the sub-studies are reported in full in the four original articles. First, the articles show that the pupils connect religion mainly with Christian institutions and do not consider religion and spirituality to overlap. Second, the articles show that the pupils believe in God and the interference of God in their lives and they think that reality includes a spiritual dimension. Third, the pupils had four kinds of existentially significant interests: personal, transcendental, cosmic and ethical. Cosmic interests were especially highlighted in the article concerning boys as nature and science were reported to be integral sources for their existential thinking. In addition, perceptions on God seemed to be connected to the individual s perception on the meaning of life. In RE, spiritual development has been a constant topic of interest since the late eighties. Likewise, recently in gifted education there have been discussions concerning spiritual intelligence (Gardner 1999) and spirituality of the gifted (Kerr & Cohn 2001). Based on the empirical results of the study, this study concludes that education wishing to promote spiritual development should aim at being existentially relevant to the pupils and use their existential search as an integrative framework for their individual talents and skills.

Portrait of Arthur Segal Portraits Men

LBI