199,586 research outputs found
Experiential learning: An exploration of the effect of Zen experience on personal transformation
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This inquiry started by examining my own and others experience of Zen, and comparing it with Self Organised Learning. The aim was to see what effect each system had on the lives of the participants. The thesis plots how I had a tacit reliance on myself as a measuring instrument, and how this became an integrating theme running through my 'finally chosen' methods. The methodological difficulties caused by the paradox of trying to understand Zen and also be scientific converged when I realised that I had treated myself as the central measuring instrument throughout the inquiry. It was this discovery which allowed the thesis to be treated as a koan from a Zen perspective and yet to be a contribution to academic knowledge. The thesis traces how personal authenticity became the defining characteristic informing all my methodology.
This inquiry asks and answers the question can research be transpersonal? Initially the research started out looking at a transpersonal issue in the form of asking those who had regular interactions with a Zen master about their experience. This learning curve was contrasted with Learning Conversations with postgraduates at the centre for the Study of Human Learning, using inner directed learning in their research projects. During the research process, several major re-orientations took place which, necessitated changing my method and my interpretation of the data. These shifts of direction were largely driven by a need to find a method of inquiry which was appropriate to uncovering the transpersonal qualities I was investigating. As the inquiry developed I widened my sources of data to include art, fiction, accounts of death and grieving, and satsang (questions and answers with a master) in order to give an in depth picture of the impact of the transpersonal on participants' lives.
In treating the thesis as a koan there can be no emphasis placed on which purposes related to which outcomes. It was in the gradual abandonment of such a stance that the deeper insights and resolutions occurred. During the inquiry I eventually identified the qualities of wholeness, authenticity and openness as the defining characteristics which appeared to trigger changes in direction. Such an approach made it necessary to examine the implications for validity that approaching transpersonal issues in this way had uncovered
SubCon warrior 1
No full textSubcon Warrior 1.0 was a large-scale location based promenade performance work produced by the renowned physical theatre company Zen Zen Zo. Themed around the experiences and ethical dilemmas inherent within contemporary computer gaming scenarios it utilized a dramatic combination of multimedia scenography and audience-performer choreography to profoundly challenge numerous conventions of contemporary performance. Technologies deployed included augmented reality mediatised sets and locations as well as the extensive use of wearable, portable and wireless systems. Audiences became central participants within the work’s creative processes and were taken on an immersive journey via numerous sets distributed throughout buildings, their environs and a private house. As multimedia director my role was to work in close collaboration with the directors and players to create visual materials, wearable computing and imaging devices, computer surveillance systems, wide area audio broadcasting and bugging and surveillance solutions. The production was hugely successful selling out every performance of its run and producing strong and vibrant reactions from its diverse audiences.-----\ud
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The immersive multimedia script developed a complex computer gaming scenario that required audiences to engage in physical action, active problem solving and role play, thereby developing a deep physical and emotional connection to the ‘game’ and its characters. Audience groups and performers shared common spaces and scenarios and each were handed a range of problems and ethical dilemmas which they were asked to resolve in limited time periods, ensuring that the work’s outcomes could be dramatically different depending upon any one audience’s will, ability and collective skills.-----\ud
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This project was an outstanding success elicited major financial backing from Qld Performing Arts Trust and Arts Queensland to produce a full-scale subsequent work called Subcon Warrior 2.0, produced for the 2008 Brisbane Festival. Subcon Warrior 1.0 built strongly upon new forms of mediatised and interactive performance being developed throughout the world at that time to profoundly challenge existing ‘passive’ performance paradigms, particularly through the innovative and wide scale integration of new technologies
ZEN Case Study. End User Flexibility Potential in the Service Sector
No full textThe electricity grid is designed to handle peaks in electricity consumption and is usually dimensioned to handle peak loads at the coldest hours of the year. Over the years to come, investment plans in the Norwegian electricity grids amount to up to 135 billion NOK [1]. A substantial share of the grid investments will be made to avoid bottlenecks that are expected to occur only a few hours each year. Local demand side flexibility, where the user adapts to reduce the electricity consumption in the peak load times, is an economically attractive alternative to grid investments. In the ZEN definition guidelines, it is stated that a ZEN should be able to manage energy flows (within and between buildings) and exchanges with the surrounding energy system in a flexible way.[2]
This report is the result of a ZEN case study by the ZEN-partners SINTEF, NTNU, GK and NVE. The aim of this study was initially to 1) analyse if – and quantify how much service buildings can reduce their peak loads during the Norwegian peak load hour based on actual measured electricity consumption data, and 2) examine what is needed to unlock this, based on case studies on different service buildings with electricity and district heating measurements for different energy purposes. Due to a limited number of detailed measurements of energy use in buildings, the scope of the first part was reduced to a qualitative evaluation of the flexibility potential (rather than quantitative) in the grid's peak load hour, and the number of buildings focused on eight case studies. The flexibility potential of the eight cases was evaluated through analysing the capability of each building to reduce or shift energy consumption during 1) the building's peak load hour and 2) grid's peak load hours in 2019 that occurred on the 31st of January during the hours 07:00-09:00 and 16:00-18:00.
" There is a potential in reducing the building loads during the peak load hours, but there are several barriers linked to unlocking this potential. "
The analysis of the eight buildings studied suggests that there is a potential in reducing the building loads during the peak load hours. In the four buildings with electric heating, the share is at least 28 % at 8 hrs, 16- 20 % at 9 to 10 hrs and at least 17-24 % at 16-20 hrs. The share is somewhat lower at the remaining buildings due to few possible flexibility resources being known in these buildings. The results show a large flexibility potential in the buildings with detailed energy measurements. The findings in the study suggest that there is a potential in reducing the building loads of service buildings during the peak load hours, but there are several barriers linked to unlocking this potential. Currently, the largest barriers are the large investment need to achieve the necessary level of smartness for the building and the lack of off-the-shelf technologies for demand response control. This study has shown that even fever buildings than expected have the necessary smartness level, and large investments is required to release the full flexibility potential. The control system and sales of flexibility must be profitable for the user, where the investments, loss of thermal comfort and inconvenience is sufficiently compensated.
The development of technologies and solutions for the design and operation of energy flexible neighbourhoods and buildings will be further investigated in FME ZEN WP4.publishedVersio
Musica dissonante per lo ZEN
No full textIl testo è giocato sulla differenza tra "ritornelli" (i "luoghi comuni" ripetuti all'infinito e stereotipati, nel caso del quartiere ZEN) e le "dissonanze" (i punti di vista eterodossi e alternativi, che aprono scenari su mondi diversi). Attraverso il racconto dell'esperienza personale dell'autore, il testo mira a ricostruire il contesto socio-culturale dello ZEN nei primi anni 2000, descrivendo tra l'altro l'esperienza di Rete Interistituzionale di Quartiere S. Filippo Neri, cui hanno preso parte diversi docenti e ricercatori della allora Facoltà di Architettura di Palermo
ZEN Case Study. End User Flexibility Potential in the Service Sector
No full textThe electricity grid is designed to handle peaks in electricity consumption and is usually dimensioned to handle peak loads at the coldest hours of the year. Over the years to come, investment plans in the Norwegian electricity grids amount to up to 135 billion NOK [1]. A substantial share of the grid investments will be made to avoid bottlenecks that are expected to occur only a few hours each year. Local demand side flexibility, where the user adapts to reduce the electricity consumption in the peak load times, is an economically attractive alternative to grid investments. In the ZEN definition guidelines, it is stated that a ZEN should be able to manage energy flows (within and between buildings) and exchanges with the surrounding energy system in a flexible way.[2]
This report is the result of a ZEN case study by the ZEN-partners SINTEF, NTNU, GK and NVE. The aim of this study was initially to 1) analyse if – and quantify how much service buildings can reduce their peak loads during the Norwegian peak load hour based on actual measured electricity consumption data, and 2) examine what is needed to unlock this, based on case studies on different service buildings with electricity and district heating measurements for different energy purposes. Due to a limited number of detailed measurements of energy use in buildings, the scope of the first part was reduced to a qualitative evaluation of the flexibility potential (rather than quantitative) in the grid's peak load hour, and the number of buildings focused on eight case studies. The flexibility potential of the eight cases was evaluated through analysing the capability of each building to reduce or shift energy consumption during 1) the building's peak load hour and 2) grid's peak load hours in 2019 that occurred on the 31st of January during the hours 07:00-09:00 and 16:00-18:00.|
The analysis of the eight buildings studied suggests that there is a potential in reducing the building loads during the peak load hours. In the four buildings with electric heating, the share is at least 28 % at 8 hrs, 16- 20 % at 9 to 10 hrs and at least 17-24 % at 16-20 hrs. The share is somewhat lower at the remaining buildings due to few possible flexibility resources being known in these buildings. The results show a large flexibility potential in the buildings with detailed energy measurements. The findings in the study suggest that there is a potential in reducing the building loads of service buildings during the peak load hours, but there are several barriers linked to unlocking this potential. Currently, the largest barriers are the large investment need to achieve the necessary level of smartness for the building and the lack of off-the-shelf technologies for demand response control. This study has shown that even fever buildings than expected have the necessary smartness level, and large investments is required to release the full flexibility potential. The control system and sales of flexibility must be profitable for the user, where the investments, loss of thermal comfort and inconvenience is sufficiently compensated.
The development of technologies and solutions for the design and operation of energy flexible neighbourhoods and buildings will be further investigated in FME ZEN WP4.publishedVersio
Quando i recinti tracimeranno. Lo sprawl e le insulae dello ZEN 2
No full textDal 1989 mi interesso al quartiere ZEN di Palermo, al quale ho dedicato la tesi di dottorato, alcuni articoli, una monografia, molte lezioni, diversi progetti e, ovviamente, moltissimi sopralluoghi. Sono trascorsi, quindi, circa venti anni dalla fase iniziale di studio e ho avuto modo, in questo periodo, di seguire quelle trasformazioni che, insieme al quartiere, hanno riguardato l’area più a nord della Piana dei Colli. Punti di vista privilegiati per seguire e comprendere tali mutamenti sono il Monte Pellegrino e la strada panoramica che, almeno per una parte, si srotola, come un nastro, lungo il fianco che limita ad est il parco de La Favorita. Da molti degli sguardi offerti dal monte, cerniera tra il golfo di Palermo e quello di Mondello, lo ZEN emerge come un fulcro a sé stante, reso tale dalla sua conformazione e dalla strada che lo circonda, a tutti gli effetti una circonvallazione, che, come un vallo medievale o una più banale e deforme ciambella, sottolinea l’insediamento. Il quartiere che avrebbe dovuto essere la testata conclusiva della espansione nord della città, come previsto dal PRG del 1962, è divenuto, più che punto conclusivo dello sviluppo urbano, so- glia di inizio di una nuova parte di Palermo che, con difficoltà, si può de- finire periferia. Chiarire il perché oggi il quartiere ZEN non è più soltanto periferia, implica la ripetizione, almeno su un piano metaforico, di quella procedura che porta i miopi, naturalmente, a contrarre l’iride, lasciando passare solo quei fasci luminosi privi di rifrazioni; grazie a tale selezione riescono, anche se per pochi istanti e con qualche sforzo, a mettere a fuoco.In questo panorama anche i più convinti detrattori del quartiere ZEN e del- lo ZEN 2, in particolar modo, dovranno riconoscere che il quartiere resta l’unica possibilità su cui investire, affinché un cuore urbano rimanga a pulsare in un’area che resta paradigmatica per definire lo sprawl e che pur tuttavia non è più periferia
Metaphysics of 空 (śūnyatā: emptiness).Western analytical approach to Zen philosophy
No full textZen is a coherent system of philosophically plausible ideas. But Zen is often misunderstood to be anti-analytical or illogical. This is due to its core concept 空 (śūnyatā; emptiness). It is an idea that our experience and knowledge do not correctly represent the way the world is. 空 (emptiness) is not, however, a nihilistic concept. Zen believes that recognising our limitation and identifying our miscomprehension enable us to grasp the way the world really is (如; tathāta). The denial of our ordinary knowledge is, therefore, key to attain 悟 (bodhi; the enlightenment) and ultimately leads us to be liberated from 苦 (dukha; suffering). This thesis therefore concentrates on negating our metaphysical beliefs that shape our fundamental world view. In order to make this thesis accessible to western readers who has little or no knowledge of eastern philosophy, I will pick up only conclusion from Zen and try to reach the same conclusion using arguments which western philosophers are familiar with. I hope this will demystify Zen and, in future it will be studies in other branches of philosophy and as a sub-category of eastern or world philosophy
Effects of dietary exposure to zearalenone (ZEN) on carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)
No full textThe mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) is frequently contaminating animal feedsincluding feed used in aquaculture. In the present study, the effects of dietary exposure toZEN on carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) were investigated. ZEN at three different concentrations(low dose: 332 μg kg−1, medium dose: 621 μg kg−1 and high dose: 797 μg kg−1 final feed,respectively) was administered to juvenile carp for four weeks. Additional groups receivedthe mycotoxin for the same time period but were fed with the uncontaminated diet for twomore weeks to examine the reversibility of the ZEN effects. No effects on growth wereobserved during the feeding trial, but effects on haematological parameters occurred.In addition, an influence on white blood cell counts was noted whereby granulocytes andmonocytes were affected in fish treated with the medium and high dose ZEN diet. In muscle samples, marginal ZEN and α-zearalenol (α-ZEL) concentrations were detected. Furthermore, the genotoxic potential of ZEN was confirmed by analysing formation of micronuclei in erythrocytes. In contrast to previous reports on other fish species, estrogenic effects measured as vitellogenin concentrations in serum samples were not increased by dietary exposure to ZEN. This is probably due to the fact that ZEN is rapidly metabolized in carp
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