Debating contemporary urban conflicts: A survey of selected scholars

This survey presents the results of a questionnaire sent to a list of key scholars and professionals in fields related to urban processes and planning – town planning, geography, sociology, architecture and anthropology. The survey raised four simple, straightforward questions. What are the most pressing conflicts with regard to contemporary cities? What are the main fields of action for solving them? How can your discipline contribute with respect to this task? Could you mention an intervention that could serve as an example of that line of work? The response represents a plural and multidisciplinary perspective on contemporary urban issues from which a series of research and intervention perspectives emerges.

The politics of exclusion:institutions and immigration policy in contemporary Germany

Immigration is one of the most sensitive issues of modern European politics. Nowhere is this more the case than in Germany, as a result of its history and the sheer scale of immigration it has experienced since 1945. Yet despite this background, Germany's immigration, residence and citizenship policy has been more restrictive when compared to that of many other countries; indeed, official policy long maintained that Germany was not a 'country of immigration'. But why has this been the case? The politics of exclusion provides a new analytical perspective on immigration in Germany, tracing the country's immigration and citizenship policy since the Second World War. The book argues that institutional politics are central to understanding why Germany's policy structures have experienced only incremental change over the past 20 years, and have remained comparatively restrictive. With its lively and accessible style, the book will appeal to advanced scholars and students of immigration and Germany.

Resilience in environmental educators

Contemporary environmental issues (such as global warming) can present psychological stress, the effects of which are under-examined. The ability to "bounce back" from stress associated with increasing environmental adversity can be understood as resilience, and can be found in some environmental educators. The following paper examines how veteran environmental educators respond to psychological stress to increasing environmental adversity and describes the experience of resilience. Through in-depth interviews, this hermeneutical study sheds light on the environmental factors and internal competencies that contribute to resilience in seven environmental educators. Additionally, the interaction (known as the person/environment transactional process) between these factors and competencies is explored, providing insight into how the participants construct resilience. Kumpfer's (1999) Resilience Framework provided the organizational framework for the results of this study. Findings suggest ways in which resilience in environmental educators can be supported and offers directions for future research.

Dispositifs architecturaux et expérience spatiale de la ville: le cas de l'installation architecturale

L’installation architecturale, l’objet de recherche central de cette thèse, est un type d’intervention architecturale qui échappe autant au discours professionnel qu’à celui des chercheurs en architecture lorsqu’il s’agit de définir les limites de la profession et celles de la discipline. Prenant ses distances avec le déterminisme fonctionnaliste qui domine la pensée et la pratique courantes de l’architecture, la recherche a pour but de montrer que l’installation architecturale s’inscrit dans une tradition classique bien ancrée dans la pratique et dans la théorie de l’architecture et que son rôle dans la pensée sur le projet architectural et urbain de la ville contemporaine a occupé et occupe encore une place importante. C’est pour ces raisons que la recherche se présente essentiellement comme une exploration guidée avant tout par le souci de contribuer à la reconnaissance de cette pratique particulière de l’architecture. Avant de poser l’hypothèse de recherche, nous avons présumé que l’installation architecturale agit comme une construction active dans l’espace public, qu’elle comble certains manques quant à la définition des enjeux urbains de la ville contemporaine, particulièrement dans un contexte où les libertés de choix, de mouvances et d’opportunités sont largement accompagnés par des stratégies d’organisation, de contrôle public et de constructions technologiques, d’efficacité énergétique et fonctionnelle. La recherche a également supposé que cette valeur d’agitation sociale et culturelle est liée à certaines caractéristiques inhérentes à l’architecture, à la ville et à l’individu et qu’elle représente, par le fait même, un objet de recherche important tout en offrant une porte d’entrée dans les questions plus larges qui traversent la discipline. Parmi celles-ci sont particulièrement étudiés des pratiques et des discours qui échappent aux définitions usuelles et qui offrent un regard critique quant aux limites de la discipline, des pratiques qui mettent en lumière des idées telles que l’instable et l’événement, des notions d’intervention et d’éthique, d’action et d’exploration. Cette thèse cherche ainsi à éclairer la contribution potentielle de l’installation architecturale dans les problématiques urbaines et architecturales et de montrer comment l’expérience de la ville à travers le dispositif architectural peut transformer nos manières d’aborder l’espace construit.

L’accès de la société civile à la justice internationale économique

La fin de la guerre froide amorça une nouvelle ère de privatisation, de libéralisation et de dérégulation sans précédent. L’internet et les nombreuses autres avancées technologiques ont rapproché les citoyens du monde à un degré impressionnant. Le monde au XXIème siècle semble être plus interdépendant que jamais. De nombreuses problématiques contemporaines dépassent largement les contrôles et les frontières étatiques, des problématiques reliées par exemple aux investissements étrangers directs, aux droits de l’homme, à l’environnement, à la responsabilité sociale des entreprises, etc. La globalisation des marchés marque par ailleurs le recul de l’État face aux acteurs non étatiques. La société civile et les multinationales surgissent dès lors en tant que véritables partenaires dans l’ordre juridique international. Cela est illustré notamment par l’accès accordé aux multinationales/investisseurs à la justice internationale économique. Ces derniers ont la capacité de poursuivre un État qui violerait leurs droits marchands découlant d’un TBI devant une juridiction arbitrale internationale. Qu’en est-il par contre des droits non marchands violés par les investisseurs ? Cette étude explore les motifs militant pour un accès de la société civile à la justice internationale économique. Le but d’un tel accès serait d’opposer les droits non marchands, suscités par des problématiques inhérentes à la globalisation des marchés, à la fois à l’égard des États et à l’égard des multinationales, et auxquelles aucune réponse étatique unilatérale ou interétatique ne peut remédier adéquatement.

Influence de la phase d’usage dans les enjeux de la rénovation de bâtiments résidentiels écologiques : vers une approche diachronique

En Amérique du Nord, les pratiques actuelles de conception de l’industrie de la construction suscitent de nombreux et importants problèmes, tant au niveau environnemental, que social et économique. Certaines tendances conceptuelles, telles que l’industrialisation de la construction, le bâtiment vert, l’approche diachronique et la rationalisation spatiale proposent des moyens afin de répondre à cette problématique. La conception synchronique, qui ne se base encore que sur des besoins immédiats, produit des bâtiments statiques qui ne peuvent accommoder l’évolution des besoins. En plus de la phase d’usage qui se révèle la plus coûteuse en termes de consommation d’énergie, d’eau, de matériaux et de génération de déchets, le bâtiment statique est amené à subir de nombreuses rénovations, profondément délétères pour l’environnement et la situation économique des ménages. Dans une perspective d’opérationnalisation du développement durable, la problématique de recherche concerne la considération de la phase d’usage dans le processus conceptuel de l’habitation. Dans l’optique de favoriser une conception plutôt diachronique, 55 projets de rénovation résidentiels ont été analysés et comparés afin de décrire la nature et l’intensité des interventions effectuées. L’examen des plans avant/après rénovation a permis de quantifier le niveau d’intensité des interventions et ainsi, mettre en relief certaines tendances et récurrences des pratiques actuelles. Dans le but de valider si le bâtiment vert est en mesure de répondre aux enjeux environnementaux contemporains de l’habitation, les contenus de trois programmes de certification utilisés en Amérique du Nord, à savoir BOMA-BESt®, LEED®, et Living Building ChallengeTM, sont analysés. Une classification des stratégies proposées montre la répartition des préoccupations envers le bâtiment, les systèmes et l’usager. Une analyse permet de mettre en relief que les considérations semblent, de façon générale, cohérentes avec les impacts associés à l’habitation. Un examen plus ciblé sur la teneur et les objectifs des stratégies considérant l’usager permet l’émergence de deux ensembles thématiques : les cinq sources potentielles d’impacts (énergie, eau, matériaux, déchets et environnement intérieur), ainsi que les quatre thèmes reliés aux objectifs et aux finalités des stratégies (entretien et surveillance; sensibilisation et formation; modélisation et mesurage; comportement et habitude). La discussion a permis d’émettre des pistes d’écoconception pour permettre à l’habitation d’accommoder l’évolution des besoins des occupants, à savoir la « démontabilité », l’aptitude à l’évolution et l’accessibilité. Des recommandations, telles que la nécessité de mieux prendre en compte l’usager comme facteur d’influence des impacts occasionnés par la phase d’usage, sont ensuite proposées. D’autres suggestions appellent à une concrétisation de la performance en suscitant l’implication, l’engagement, la responsabilisation et l’autonomisation des occupants. Enfin, il semble que certaines modifications des programmes de certification et de la législation en vigueur pourraient favoriser l’émergence d’une vision nouvelle concernant la nécessaire réduction de la superficie habitable. Toutes ces opportunités d’amélioration ont le potentiel de mener ce secteur vers une démarche plus globale et systémique, tout en bonifiant de façon majeure les implications environnementales, économiques et sociales de l’habitation.

Political Education in Plural Societies: Using the Anti-Bias Approach to Challenge Oppression in Bombay and Berlin

This study addresses the effectivity of the Anti-Bias approach and training methodology as a pedagogical political strategy to challenge oppression among student groups in the cities of Bombay and Berlin. The Anti-Bias trainings conducted within the framework of this study also become the medium through which the perpetuation of oppressive structures by students within and outside the school is investigated. Empirical data from predominantly qualitative investigations in four secondary schools, two each in Bombay and Berlin, is studied and analysed on the basis of theoretical understandings of prejudice, discrimination and identity. This study builds on insights offered by previous research on prejudices and evaluations of anti-bias and diversity interventions, where the lack of sufficient research and thorough evaluations testing impact has been identified (Levy Paluck, 2006). The theoretical framework suggests that prejudices and discriminatory practices are learnt and performed by individuals over the years by way of pre-existing discourses, and that behaviour and practices can be unlearnt through a multi-step process. It proposes that the discursive practices of students contribute to the constitution of their viable selves and in the constitution of ‘others’. Drawing on this framework, the study demonstrates how student-subjects in Bombay and Berlin perpetuate oppressive discourses by performing their identities and performing identities onto ‘others’. Such performative constitution opens up the agency of the individual, disclosing the shifting and dynamic nature of identities. The Anti-Bias approach is posited as an alternative to oppressive discourses and a vehicle that encourages and assists the agency of individuals. The theoretical framework, which brings together a psychological approach to prejudice, a structural approach to discrimination and a poststructural approach to identity, facilitates the analysis of the perpetuation of dominant discourses by the students, as well as how they negotiate their way through familiar norms and discourses. Group discussions and interviews a year after the respective trainings serve to evaluate the agency of the students and the extent to which the training impacted on their perceptions, attitudes and behavioural practices. The study reveals the recurrence of the themes race, religion, gender and sexuality in the representational practices of the students groups in Berlin and Bombay. It demonstrates how students in this study not only perform, but also negotiate and resist oppressive structures. Of particular importance is the role of the school: When schools offer no spaces for discussion, debate and action on contemporary social issues, learning can neither be put into practice nor take on a positive, transformative form. In such cases, agency and resistance is limited and interventionist actions yield little. This study reports the potential of the Anti-Bias approach and training as a tool of political education and action in education. It demonstrates that a single training can initiate change but sustaining change requires long-term strategies and on-going actions. Taking a poststructural perspective, it makes concrete suggestions to adapt and alter the Anti-Bias approach and the implementation of Anti-Bias trainings.

Soluciones hipertónicas en trauma craneoencefálico: revisión sistemática de la literatura

El traumatismo craneoencefálico, es la epidemia silenciosa de nuestra época, que genera gastos en salud, en países como Estados Unidos, cercanos a los 60 billones de dólares anuales, y cerca de 400 billones en rehabilitación de los discapacitados. El pilar del manejo médico del trauma craneoencefálico moderado o severo, es la osmoterapia, principalmente con sustancias como el manitol y las soluciones hipertónicas. Se realizó la revisión de 14 bases de datos, encontrando 4657754 artículos, quedando al final 40 artículos después de un análisis exhaustivo, que se relacionaban con el manejo de la hipertensión endocraneana y terapia osmótica. Resultados: Se compararon diferentes estudios, encontrando gran variabilidad estos, sin homogenización en los análisis estadísticos, y la poca rigurosidad no permitieron, la recolección de datos y la comparación entre los diferentes estudios, no permitió realizar el meta-análisis y por esto se decidió la realización de una revisión sistemática de la literatura. Se evidenció principalmente tres cosas: la primera es la poca rigurosidad con la que se realizan los estudios clínicos; la segunda, es que aún falta mucha más investigación principalmente, la presencia de estudios clínicos aleatorizados multicéntricos, que logren dar una sólida evidencia y que genere validez científica que se requiere, a pesar de la evidencia clara en la práctica clínica; la tercera es la seguridad para su uso, con poca presencia de complicaciones para las soluciones salinas hipertónicas.

A transversalidade no currículo do ensino fundamental: as questões ambientais em foco

This thesis is the result of an investigation about the transversality of the environmental issues into the daily curriculum of High Schools (from first to eighth grade). The research field was the county of Santo Antonio de Jesus in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The investigation is related with the challenge that the present model of social development and organization has put to the school institution: to bring the regular discussion about Environmental Education (EE) to the school s daily life. Facing the complexity of the socio-environmental issues and the basic functions of Education, the object of study was restricted to the identification of the challenges and paradoxes of the EE inside the curriculum organization of Politic-Pedagogic Project of the schools and the teachers daily practices. About the methodology, we adopted different references for the qualitative research: sociology, history, economy, and education. As for the investigative procedures about the teacher s practices, we related the school s daily practices to the context of the community. We also adopted several investigative procedures, such as questionnaires, interviews, observations and formative intervention. The theoretical basis was organized based on references to curriculum organization, environmental culture, teacher education and also considering the pillars of a capitalistic system that is based on consumerism and that generates social exclusion. At the initial considerations, we contextualized the contemporary environmental issues in an attempt to interpret the conditions of the EE transversality into the school s daily practices, which are still oriented to the traditional Cartesian Education. Based on the collected data, we found the reasons for the teachers dilemma and reluctances to the insertion of the environmental issues into the organization of the work plan and into the management of a school. Nevertheless, the results also signed promising possibilities to the EE tranversality, in case the curriculum of the school could be more sensible towards the cultural and social-economical issues of a community. We especially questioned The National Curriculum Parameter s (PCN), which is considered highly insufficient to inform the teachers about the environmental issues, facing the actual local conditions of social and pedagogic work. The final considerations showed the role and the importance of this research as one strategy to organize the curriculum education into the perspective of the transversality of environmental issues inside the education of both teacher and student

Representações sociais da Psicologia do Trabalho: o olhar de formandos em Psicologia da Universidade Federal do Pará

Este estudo percorreu questões sociais contemporâneas que envolveram o Sujeito, o Trabalho e a Psicologia na perspectiva das Representações Sociais: A formação do psicólogo do trabalho na Universidade Federal do Pará. A pesquisa identificou a Psicologia do Trabalho na visão dos estudantes concluintes do curso de Psicologia da UFPA. Analisou-se as questões paradigmáticas que a área está inserida, as vivências dos formandos nos estágios supervisionados, a questão do trabalho como fonte de identidade e as mudanças da pós-modernidade para os futuros profissionais da Psicologia do Trabalho, assim como suas perspectivas no mercado profissional. Embasou-se em Serge Moscovici (1978, 2001, 2005, 2007) e na grande teoria das Representações Sociais-RS, e em Denise Jodelet (2001, 2005, 2009) com a abordagem processual em Representações Sociais. As RS se inseriram como a teoria fundante da temática, que privilegiou as relações cotidianas a partir das comunicações humanas, que foram formadoras de representações, para a proposição de uma nova perspectiva da Psicologia Social. Optou-se pela pesquisa qualitativa e utilizou-se o Método da Explicitação do Discurso Subjacente – MEDS, para os instrumentos de coleta e análise de dados. As análises das representações apontaram para as diversas dificuldades encontradas pelos estudantes que buscavam os estágios: a substituição de atividades de estágio por pesquisas específicas sobre o mundo do trabalho e exercícios acadêmicos on line, por meio da internet; entendiam que a apropriação desses conhecimentos substitutos seriam inadequados e impróprios a alunos em formação; informaram desejar diferenciar-se dos padrões estabelecidos na área da Psicologia do Trabalho, ou seja, da visão deturpada de psicólogos que estavam a serviço da empresa e se esqueceram do trabalhador. Na questão da prática profissional, mostraram que a tentativa dos professores, em substituir os estágios por outras atividades, implicava uma ruptura do compromisso de ensino com o viés interdisciplinar e de caráter prático, explicitados nas diretrizes curriculares dos cursos de graduação da instituição. Sentiam-se desamparados e despreparados para atuação no mercado e bastante preocupados com as exigências dessa área. Todavia, vislumbravam possibilidades quando sugeriam que este campo apresentaria potencialidades inovadoras e de constante atualização, em que o papel da universidade seria fundamental e a preparação dos professores essencial à construção de uma Psicologia do Trabalho com compromisso ético e, que emergisse da prática concreta dos futuros psicólogos formados pela instituição.

Management of Port Solid Waste Framework

One of contemporary environmental issues refers to progressive and diverse generation of solid waste in urban areas or specific, and requires solutions because the traditional methods of treatment and disposal are becoming unviable over the years and, consequently, a significant contingent of these wastes presents final destination inappropriate. The diversity of solid waste generated as a result of human activities must have the appropriate allocation to specific legislation in force, such as landfill, incineration, among other procedures established by the competent bodies. Thus, also the waste generated in port activities or proceeding vessels require classification and segregation for proper disposal later. This article aims at presenting a methodology for the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of solid waste port and also application of automation technology that makes possible the implementation of the same.

Mary, Quite Contrary: The Novels of Mary Davys, 1700-1727

As a relatively unknown author, Mary Davys (1674-1732) has garnered scant scholarly attention and little admiration for her work. Those who have written on Davys’s prose fiction most often mention the last three texts she published, Familiar Letters betwixt a Gentleman and a Lady (1716), The Reform’d Coquet (1724), and The Accomplish’d Rake (1727), yet rare mention is made of her first three novels. Moreover, of her later novels, many scholars read them as socially conservative and as representations of Davys’s support of and belief in patriarchy. My project disproves the long-standing and generally agreed upon conceptions regarding Davys’s writings and demonstrates the significance of her life’s work to studies of the novel. By investigating contemporary cultural issues, discussing the popular genres and modes of early eighteenth-century England, and comparing and contrasting Davys’s fiction to other authors’, I explore the myriad ways in which Davys experimented with the formal properties of the novel. Also, by closely examining each novel independently, I foreground Davys’s willingness to engage with charged contemporary topics such as rape, suicide, the laws surrounding inheritance, and male privilege. Not only does she engage with these topics; there is a discernable voice of protest imbedded in the narratives. At times, the techniques Davys employed and the plots she created in her work obscured her social concerns, yet with close reading, subversion also surfaces as one of Davys’s methods. An analysis of Davys’s experimentations with prose fiction and form illuminates the ways in which those innovations allowed Davys to criticize the culture in which she lived. Furthermore, an investigation of the whole of Davys’s work and the totality of her novels—looking at both form and content—exemplifies the importance of Davys for students of feminist thought and the development of the novel.

Interrogation of Gender Identity: Aesthetic Consumption of Korean Television Dramas by Young Women in China

Given the popularity of Korean television dramas among various age groups in other countries, one would expect to see a similar pattern of consumption across different ages in China. Instead, we see high levels of consumption of Korean dramas by a very specific demographic. Why do young Chinese females consume Korean dramas at such high levels? I argue that young Chinese women’s heavy consumption of Korean dramas that portray a particular aesthetic of self and familial resolution may be explained by a need to redress contemporary psychological issues related to gendered self-identity. I posit that the identity formation processes of this particular demographic has been shaped by changes in family dynamics that stem from social and political restructuring in the 1980s, particularly the one-child policy. Thus, this thesis explores how the consumption of Korean dramas by young females in China may be understood as an implicit interrogation of gendered identity.

The Social Justice and Societal Impact of Public Programs in House Museums

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06