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Evaluative expression in architectural practice:An analysis of UK Design and Access Statements
Get PDFWriting is the main medium of communication between practising architects, their clients and other professionals involved in the construction and regulation of the built environment (Forty 2004; Decq 2013; Binotto 2013; Gerber & Patterson 2013). Although visual material such as photos, maps, diagrams and plans are essential for the practice of Architecture, these only establish the basic semantic (ideational) content of an architect’s plans, and language is needed to express attitudes towards this content (Medway 1996). However, most prior studies of the language used by architects have examined texts from Architecture magazines and journals as opposed to practitioners’ choices relating to Field, Tenor and Mode in response to the social context of the workplace. Our paper investigates the register of Design and Access Statements (DASs), documents which all architects practising in the UK are required by law to submit to their local authorities when making planning applications. We chose the sub-system of ATTITUDE within the theoretical framework of Appraisal (Martin & White 2005) to examine one aspect of the register of DASs: the linguistic resources used to evaluate architectural phenomena in order to justify architectural decisions to local clients and regulatory authorities. We found that inanimate entities in the DASs tended to be judged from an ethical and legal perspective, and were assigned feelings of desire, well-being or satisfaction. As one of the first investigations to relate the linguistic choices of practising architects to a specific situational context, our study should be relevant to all students of register and professional discourse, and particularly those involved in the professional development of practitioners, for example in Schools of Architecture
Cognitive Processes of Signal Set from Entrepreneurs and the Importance of Herds in Equity Crowdfunding
Get PDFDrawing on a theoretical framework associated with the cognitive perspective, we propose that investors will rely on heuristic cognitive processes when signals from entrepreneurs are congruent or imbalanced incongruent. However, when signals are balanced incongruent, investors will engage in systematic cognitive processes that incorporate additional information from the herding behaviour of other investors. We find evidence supporting our hypotheses in a sample of campaigns listed on a UK equity crowdfunding platform. Further analysis employing advanced machine learning techniques reveals that investors engage more in systematic processes when signals from entrepreneurs are in a weak form of balanced incongruence rather than a strong form
Do Not Adjust Your Set! How a Visual Alert Reduced Unnecessary Human Intervention in an Automated Vehicle
Get PDFHuman remote operators, teaming with Automated Vehicles (AV), will need to be provided information from the AV to make decisions on how, or when, to intervene in the AV operations. As an extension to research into how many AVs an individual can successfully monitor, the authors designed and implemented a human machine interface (HMI) that provided key information on the probability that an AV might need an intervention from a remote operator. A key element of that interface was the provision of feedback indicating if a vehicle was stationary, provided in the form of a timer, and a visual alert given 10s after the vehicle came to a halt. An experiment was conducted into the efficacy of this visual alert, by on occasion removing it from use. It was expected that the absence of the visual alert would lead to more incidents where a remote operator missed a requirement to intervene. However, the results indicated that in the absence of the alert the remote operator was more likely to intervene.This paper examines how elements of the HMI design affected the participants decision to intervene in AV operations, and concludes that by offering transparent system-state feedback, the HMI effectively counters the innate psychological pressure to act, reassuring the operator that inaction can be an appropriate and system-approved response.</p
Mapping the margins:A decolonial exploration of Kenyan women’s encounters with violent extremism
Get PDFThis article explores violent extremism (VE) through an embodied, bottom-up lens, using body-mapping with Muslim women in Kenya. Drawing on two selected body maps, we critically interrogate the use of VE is as a framework for analysing the harm experienced by women. Our participants used the terminology of VE to refer to not only Al-Shabaab–related violence but also gender-based violence, gang violence, and state violence. These insights highlight a key tension in critical scholarship on VE: while often critiqued from a distance, VE is actively reappropriated by those most affected. We argue that, as a community disproportionately targeted by countering violent extremism (CVE) initiatives, our participants employed the language of VE as a form of adaptive resistance – challenging both the violent policing of CVE and the patriarchal violence embedded in their daily lives. This article contributes to feminist decolonial critiques of VE by centring the voices of those most impacted, and by questioning critiques that overlook lived experiences. Additionally, by sharing our arts-based methodology, we contribute to emerging literature on decolonial research practices. Finally, we raise critical questions about the intersections of gender-based violence, gang violence, state violence, and VE in Kenya and beyond
Public perceptions of violent extremism and the prevention of violent extremism in Mauritania and Burkina Faso:What they tell us about the nature of the problem and opportunities for intervention
Get PDFDuring the last decade the Sahel has been the region most affected by violent extremism. While research has examined the dynamics and drivers of that violence, little attention has been given to public perceptions either of the violence itself or of responses to the violence and how this can advance understanding of ‘the problem’ and possible response strategies. This article responds to this gap, focusing on the cases of Mauritania and Burkina Faso. It makes two key arguments. 1) Violent extremism is not only perceived as a threat to personal safety, but also as a cultural threat. This has potentially important implications for response strategies. 2) Public perceptions of programmes to prevent and counter violent extremism (P/CVE) are broadly positive. This likely reflects a) the way P/CVE work has been integrated with other social programmes, and b) how such an approach aligns with public perceptions that violent extremism is primarily a product of structural drivers. Again, this has important implications for response strategies. The article draws on 31 qualitative scoping interviews, a learning history workshop with regional policy and practitioner experts, and a survey of 2477 respondents in Mauritania and 3977 respondents in Burkina Faso, administered in July – August 2022
Animism and the transmission of ecological knowledge in African children’s books:a close look at Ken Wilson-Max’s Eco Girl and Helvi Itenge’s Nekwa and the Baobab Tree
Get PDFThis article considers how African children’s picture books depict animist cosmologies and transmit ecological knowledge across generations. With a close reading of Ken Wilson-Max’s Eco Girl (2022) and Helvi Itenge’s Nekwa and the Baobab Tree (2023), it argues that these texts construct relational ontologies in which trees, animals, ancestors, and children participate in a shared moral ecology. Drawing on African philosophies of ubuntu, ukama, and eniyan, and Harry Garuba’s “animist unconscious” and Fikret Berkes’ theory of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), the article provides an analysis on oral esthetics, taboo logic, and intergenerational practices. Nekwa and the Baobab Tree foregrounds the baobab as elder and moral agent, using taboo, song, and multispecies cooperation to stage ecological correction as cosmological rebalancing. Eco Girl presents a quieter ecological becoming grounded in diasporic memory, familial tree-planting rituals, and imaginative kinship with the baobab. These books frame the baobab as an ecological “Tree of Life” and ancestral archive, mediating ethical relations between humans and the more-than-human world. The focus on early-childhood picture books rather than adult fiction extends African ecocriticism into the domain of children’s literature, showing how animist ethics and intergenerational storytelling shape ecological subjectivities and model environmentally embedded forms of African childhood
Game-based strategies for data literacy:exploring agency in adult learning
Get PDFIn an increasingly data-driven world, supporting adults in developing data literacy is essential for informed participation in society. For learning to be relevant and impactful, adults need to experience a sense of agency in the process. Game-based learning provides a safe, engaging, and experiential space that enables adults to explore and develop data-related knowledge and skills in meaningful, situated ways. Building on this premise, the Erasmus + project Data Literacy for Citizenship (DALI) explored how game-based learning experiences, originally designed to foster Data Literacy, promote agency among adult learners in both formal and informal continuing education contexts. A cross-national sample of 338 participants from Spain, the UK, Germany, and Norway played purpose-designed DALI games and completed an online survey. Using a quantitative, descriptive–correlational design, we analyse how individual factors (age, prior gaming experience) and perceived game quality shaped opportunities for enacting agency within these learning environments. Results show that the game-based strategies of the non-digital DALI games allowed agency activation, regardless of adult age and game experience. The perceived fun, along with game quality, and the clarity of visual texts emerged as drivers of agency in game-based learning. Implications for instructional design, game development and policy are discussed
AMCFF-RL:An Adaptive Multi-Modal CAN Bus Fuzzing Framework Leveraging Deep Reinforcement Learning
Get PDFThe increasing complexity and connectivity of modern vehicles have made automotive networks, particularly the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, vulnerable to cyberattacks. Fuzzing is a critical technique for proactively finding security weaknesses, but traditional methods are inefficient and struggle to scale with the complexity of modern vehicles. This paper introduces AMCFF-RL, anadaptive framework that uses Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) with multi-modal feature extraction to systematically analyse for vulnerabilities. Rather than relying on unguided or purely random fuzzing, AMCFF-RL integrates multi-modal feature extraction with DRL and advanced visualization, allowingit to learn and adapt its strategy based on real-time feedback from the network and thereby improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the fuzzing process. Comprehensive visualization tools serve a dual purpose: they offer human-interpretable insights while also generating rich feature representations that support the anomaly detection pipeline and the DRL agent
Building Energy Consumption Prediction Using CatBoost With Hybrid Random Search and Bayesian Optimization
Get PDFResidential buildings are major contributors to global energy consumption, with cooling and heating loads representing a substantial portion of this demand. Accurate estimation of these energy loads is critical for the design of energy-efficient buildings. This study proposes an innovative approach to predict the energy consumption of residential buildings, focusing on cooling load and heating load.The CatBoost model, optimized through a hybrid technique that combines Random Search and Bayesian Optimization, is employed to enhance prediction accuracy and computational efficiency. The performance of the proposed model is compared with several machine learning algorithms, including SVR, GBM,Random Forest, AdaBoost, and XGBoost, to assess its effectiveness in estimating energy consumption.In addition, an analysis of feature importance identifies key input parameters, such as overall height, relative compactness, and roof area that influence the forecasting of cooling and heating loads. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid-optimized CatBoost model outperforms all other methods that have targeted the same dataset in the literature, achieving an RMSE of 0.045654, MAE of 0.031149, MSE of 0.002084, and R2 of 0.998102 for cooling load prediction, and an RMSE of 0.024707, MAE of 0.018723, MSEof0.000610, and R2 of 0.999451 for heating load prediction. These findings provide practical insightsfor engineers and architects to enhance building design and energy efficienc
S-acylation and neuroinflammation:the therapeutic potential of zDHHC and deacylase modulation
Get PDFNeuroinflammation is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, and infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis. Dynamic protein S-acylation, a reversible lipid post-translational modification, is an important regulator in these processes. S-acylation is catalysed by the zDHHC palmitoyl acyltransferases, and removal of the acyl groups is mediated by acyl-protein thioesterases. S-acylation controls the localisation, stability, and function of around 48 % of all proteins in the nervous system, including synaptic scaffolds, ion channels, immune receptors, and trafficking proteins. Moreover, dysregulated S-acylation contributes to synaptic loss, aberrant immune signalling, and neurodegeneration. This review examines proteins implicated in neuroinflammation with reported S-acylase or deacylase activity, outlines current knowledge on disease-related alterations in S-acylation, and assesses the therapeutic promise of available small-molecule modulators. Linking the activity of these enzymes with human disease highlights the potential of reversible S-acylation as a source of innovative targets for drug discovery in neuroinflammation.</p