Search results for: creativity skill
15 An AI-Generated Semantic Communication Platform in Human-Computer Interaction Course
Authors: Yi Yang, Jiasong Sun
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Almost every aspect of our daily lives is now intertwined with some degree of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). HCI courses draw on knowledge from disciplines as diverse as computer science, psychology, design principles, anthropology and more. The HCI courses in the Department of Electronics at Tsinghua University, known as the Media and Cognition course, is constantly updated to reflect the most advanced technological advances, such as virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence-based interaction. For more than a decade, this course has used an interest-based approach to teaching, in which students proactively propose some research-based questions and collaborate with teachers, using course knowledge to explore potential solutions. Semantic communication plays a key role in facilitating understanding and interaction between users and computer systems, ultimately enhancing system usability and user experience. The advancements in AI-generated technology, which has gained significant attention from both academia and industry in recent years, are exemplified by language models like GPT-3 that generate human-like dialogues from given prompts. The latest version of the HCI course practices a semantic communication platform based on AI-generated techniques. We explored a student-centered model and proposed an interest-based teaching method. Students are no longer just recipients of knowledge, but become active participants in the learning process driven by personal interests, thereby encouraging students to take responsibility for their own education. One of the latest results of this teaching approach in the course "Media and Cognition" is a student proposal to develop a semantic communication platform rooted in artificial intelligence generative technologies. The platform solves a key challenge in communications technology: the ability to preserve visual signals. The interest-based approach emphasizes personal curiosity and active participation, and the proposal of an artificial intelligence-generated semantic communication platform is an example and successful result of how students can exert greater creativity when they have the power to control their own learning.
Keywords: Human-computer interaction, media and cognition course, semantic communication, retain ability, prompts.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18314 Driving What’s Next: The De La Salle Lipa Social Innovation in Quality Education Initiatives
Authors: Dante Jose R. Amisola, Glenford M. Prospero
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'Driving What’s Next' is a strong campaign of the new administration of De La Salle Lipa in promoting social innovation in quality education. The new leadership directs social innovation in quality education in the institutional directions and initiatives to address real-world challenges with real-world solutions. This research under study aims to qualify the commitment of the institution to extend the Lasallian quality human and Christian education to all, as expressed in the Institution’s new mission-vision statement. The Classic Grounded Theory methodology is employed in the process of generating concepts in reference to the documents, a series of meetings, focus group discussions and other related activities that account for the conceptualization and formulation of the new mission-vision along with the new education innovation framework. Notably, Driving What’s Next is the emergent theory that encapsulates the commitment of giving quality human and Christian education to all. It directs the new leadership in driving social innovation in quality education initiatives. Correspondingly, Driving What’s Next is continually resolved through four interrelated strategies also termed as the institution's four strategic directions, namely: (1) driving social innovation in quality education, (2) embracing our shared humanity and championing social inclusion and justice initiatives, (3) creating sustainable futures and (4) engaging diverse stakeholders in our shared mission. Significantly, the four strategic directions capture and integrate the 17 UN sustainable development goals, making the innovative curriculum locally and globally relevant. To conclude, the main concern of the new administration and how it is continually resolved, provide meaningful and fun learning experiences and promote a new way of learning in the light of the 21st century skills among the members of the academic community including stakeholders and extended communities at large, which are defined as: learning together and by association (collaboration), learning through engagement (communication), learning by design (creativity) and learning with social impact (critical thinking).
Keywords: De La Salle Lipa, Driving What’s Next, social innovation in quality education, DLSL mission - vision, strategic directions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 91413 Optimizing Organizational Performance: The Critical Role of Headcount Budgeting in Strategic Alignment and Financial Stability
Authors: Shobhit Mittal
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Headcount budgeting stands as a pivotal element in organizational financial management, extending beyond traditional budgeting to encompass strategic resource allocation for workforce-related expenses. This process is integral to maintaining financial stability and fostering a productive workforce, requiring a comprehensive analysis of factors such as market trends, business growth projections, and evolving workforce skill requirements. It demands a collaborative approach, primarily involving Human Resources (HR) and finance departments, to align workforce planning with an organization's financial capabilities and strategic objectives. The dynamic nature of headcount budgeting necessitates continuous monitoring and adjustment in response to economic fluctuations, business strategy shifts, technological advancements, and market dynamics. Its significance in talent management is also highlighted, aligning financial planning with talent acquisition and retention strategies to ensure a competitive edge in the market. The consequences of incorrect headcount budgeting are explored, showing how it can lead to financial strain, operational inefficiencies, and hindered strategic objectives. Examining case studies like IBM's strategic workforce rebalancing and Microsoft's shift for long-term success, the importance of aligning headcount budgeting with organizational goals is underscored. These examples illustrate that effective headcount budgeting transcends its role as a financial tool, emerging as a strategic element crucial for an organization's success. This necessitates continuous refinement and adaptation to align with evolving business goals and market conditions, highlighting its role as a key driver in organizational success and sustainability.
Keywords: Strategic planning, fiscal budget, headcount planning, resource allocation, financial management, decision-making, operational efficiency, risk management, headcount budget.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17112 Socio-Spatial Resilience Strategic Planning Through Understanding Strategic Perspectives on Tehran and Bath
Authors: Aynaz Lotfata
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Planning community has been long discussing emerging paradigms within the planning theory in the face of the changing conditions of the world order. The paradigm shift concept was introduced by Thomas Kuhn, in 1960, who claimed the necessity of shifting within scientific knowledge boundaries; and following him in 1970 Imre Loktas also gave priority to the emergence of multi-paradigm societies [24]. Multi-paradigm is changing our predetermined lifeworld through uncertainties. Those uncertainties are reflected in two sides, the first one is uncertainty as a concept of possibility and creativity in public sphere and the second one is uncertainty as a risk. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a resilience planning approach to be more dynamic in controlling uncertainties which have the potential to transfigure present time and space definitions. In this way, stability of system can be achieved. Uncertainty is not only an outcome of worldwide changes but also a place-specific issue, i.e. it changes from continent to continent, a country to country; a region to region. Therefore, applying strategic spatial planning with respect to resilience principle contributes to: control, grasp and internalize uncertainties through place-specific strategies. In today-s fast changing world, planning system should follow strategic spatial projects to control multi-paradigm societies with adaptability capacities. Here, we have selected two alternatives to demonstrate; these are; 1.Tehran (Iran) from the Middle East 2.Bath (United Kingdom) from Europe. The study elaborates uncertainties and particularities in their strategic spatial planning processes in a comparative manner. Through the comparison, the study aims at assessing place-specific priorities in strategic planning. The approach is to a two-way stream, where the case cities from the extreme end of the spectrum can learn from each other. The structure of this paper is to firstly compare semi-periphery (Tehran) and coreperiphery (Bath) cities, with the focus to reveal how they equip to face with uncertainties according to their geographical locations and local particularities. Secondly, the key message to address is “Each locality requires its own strategic planning approach to be resilient.--
Keywords: Adaptation, Relational Network, Socio-Spatial Strategic Resiliency, Uncertainty.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 182011 The Opinions of Nursing Students Regarding Humanized Care through Volunteer Activities at Boromrajonani College of Nursing, Chonburi
Authors: P. Phenpun, S. Wareewan
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This qualitative study aimed to describe the opinions in relation to humanized care emerging from the volunteer activities of nursing students at Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chonburi, Thailand. One hundred and twenty-seven second-year nursing students participated in this study. The volunteer activity model was composed of preparation, implementation, and evaluation through a learning log, in which students were encouraged to write their daily activities after completing practical training at the healthcare center. The preparation content included three main categories: service minded, analytical thinking, and client participation. The preparation process took over three days that accumulates up to 20 hours only. The implementation process was held over 10 days, but with a total of 70 hours only, with participants taking part in volunteer work activities at a healthcare center. A learning log was used for evaluation and data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings were as follows. With service minded, there were two subcategories that emerged from volunteer activities, which were service minded towards patients and within themselves. There were three categories under service minded towards patients, which were rapport, compassion, and empathy service behaviors, and there were four categories under service minded within themselves, which were self-esteem, self-value, management potential, and preparedness in providing good healthcare services. In line with analytical thinking, there were two components of analytical thinking, which were analytical skill for their works and analytical thinking for themselves. There were four subcategories under analytical thinking for their works, which were evidence based thinking, real situational thinking, cause analysis thinking, and systematic thinking, respectively. There were four subcategories under analytical thinking for themselves, which were comparative between themselves, towards their clients that leads to the changing of their service behaviors, open-minded thinking, modernized thinking, and verifying both verbal and non-verbal cues. Lastly, there were three categories under participation, which were mutual rapport relationship; reconsidering client’s needs services and providing useful health care information.
Keywords: Humanized care service, volunteer activity, nursing student, and learning log.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 157110 Designing an Adventure: University of Southern California’s Experiment in Using Alternate Reality Games to Educate Students and Inspire Change
Authors: Anahita Dalmia
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There has been a recent rise in ‘audience-centric’ and immersive storytelling. This indicates audiences are gaining interest in experiencing real adventure with everything that encompasses the struggle, the new friendships, skill development, and growth. This paper examines two themed alternate reality games created by a group of students at the University of Southern California as an experiment in how to design an adventure and to evaluate its impact on participants. The experiences combined immersive improvisational theatre and live-action roleplaying to create socially aware experiences within the timespan of four hours, using Harry Potter and mythology as themes. In each experiment, over 500 players simultaneously embarked on quests -a series of challenges including puzzle-solving, scavenger-hunting, and character interactions- to join a narrative faction. While playing, the participants were asked to choose faction alignments based on the characters they interacted with, as well as their own backgrounds and moral values. During the narrative finale, the impact of their individual choices on the larger story and game were revealed. After the conclusion of each experience, participants filled out questionnaires and were interviewed. Through this, it was discovered that participants developed transferable problem-solving, team-work, and persuasion skills. They also learned about the theme of the experience and reflected on their own moral values and judgment-making abilities after they realized the consequences of their actions in the game-world, inspiring some participants to make changes outside of it. This reveals that alternative reality games can lead to socialization, educational development, and real-world change in a variety of contexts when implemented correctly. This experiment has begun to discover the value of alternate reality games in a real-world context and to develop a reproducible format to continue to create such an impact.
Keywords: Adventure, alternate reality games, education, immersive entertainment, interactive entertainment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6739 New Insights for Soft Skills Development in Vietnamese Business Schools: Defining Essential Soft Skills for Maximizing Graduates’ Career Success
Authors: Hang T. T. Truong, Ronald S. Laura, Kylie Shaw
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Within Vietnam's system of higher education, its schools of business play a vital role in supporting the country’s economic objectives. However, the crucial contribution of soft skills for maximal success within the business sector has to date not been adequately recognized by its business schools. This being so, the development of the business school curriculum in Vietnam has not been able to 'catch up', so to say, with the burgeoning need of students for a comprehensive soft skills program designed to meet the national and global business objectives of their potential employers. The burden of the present paper is first to reveal the results of our survey in Vietnam which make explicit the extent to which major Vietnamese industrial employers’ value the potential role that soft skill competencies can play in maximizing business success. Our final task will be to determine which soft skills employers discern as best serving to maximize the economic interests of Vietnam within the global marketplace. Semi-structured telephone interviews have been conducted with the 15 representative Head Employers of Vietnam's reputedly largest and most successful of the diverse business enterprises across Vietnam. The findings of the study indicate that all respondents highly value the increasing importance of soft skills in business success. Our critical analysis of respondent data reveals that 19 essential soft skills are deemed by employers as integral to business workplace efficacy and should thus be integrated into the formal business curriculum. We are confident that our study represents the first comprehensive and specific survey yet undertaken within the business sector in Vietnam which accesses and analyses the opinions of representative employers from major companies across the country in regard to the growing importance of 19 specific soft skills essential for maximizing overall business success. Our research findings also reveal that the integration into business school curriculums nationwide of the soft skills we have identified is of paramount importance to advance the national and global economic interests of Vietnam.Keywords: Business curriculum, business graduates, employers’ perception, soft skills.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24918 Nutrition Program Planning Based on Local Resources in Urban Fringe Areas of a Developing Country
Authors: Oktia Woro Kasmini Handayani, Bambang Budi Raharjo, Efa Nugroho, Bertakalswa Hermawati
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Obesity prevalence and severe malnutrition in Indonesia has increased from 2007 to 2013. The utilization of local resources in nutritional program planning can be used to program efficiency and to reach the goal. The aim of this research is to plan a nutrition program based on local resources for urban fringe areas in a developing country. This research used a qualitative approach, with a focus on local resources including social capital, social system, cultural system. The study was conducted in Mijen, Central Java, as one of the urban fringe areas in Indonesia. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques are used to determine participants. A total of 16 participants took part in the study. Observation, interviews, focus group discussion, SWOT analysis, brainstorming and Miles and Huberman models were used to analyze the data. We have identified several local resources, such as the contributions from nutrition cadres, social organizations, social financial resources, as well as the cultural system and social system. The outstanding contribution of nutrition cadres is the participation and creativity to improve nutritional status. In addition, social organizations, like the role of the integrated health center for children (Pos Pelayanan Terpadu), can be engaged in the nutrition program planning. This center is supported by House of Nutrition to assist in nutrition program planning, and provide social support to families, neighbors and communities as social capitals. The study also reported that cultural systems that show appreciation for well-nourished children are a better way to improve the problem of balanced nutrition. Social systems such as teamwork and mutual cooperation can also be a potential resource to support nutritional programs and overcome associated problems. The impact of development in urban areas such as the introduction of more green areas which improve the perceived status of local people, as well as new health services facilitated by people and companies, can also be resources to support nutrition programs. Local resources in urban fringe areas can be used in the planning of nutrition programs. The expansion of partnership with all stakeholders, empowering the community through optimizing the roles of nutrition care centers for children as our recommendation with regard to nutrition program planning.Keywords: Developing country, local resources, nutrition program, urban fringe.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10377 Development of Requirements Analysis Tool for Medical Autonomy in Long-Duration Space Exploration Missions
Authors: Lara Dutil-Fafard, Caroline Rhéaume, Patrick Archambault, Daniel Lafond, Neal W. Pollock
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Improving resources for medical autonomy of astronauts in prolonged space missions, such as a Mars mission, requires not only technology development, but also decision-making support systems. The Advanced Crew Medical System - Medical Condition Requirements study, funded by the Canadian Space Agency, aimed to create knowledge content and a scenario-based query capability to support medical autonomy of astronauts. The key objective of this study was to create a prototype tool for identifying medical infrastructure requirements in terms of medical knowledge, skills and materials. A multicriteria decision-making method was used to prioritize the highest risk medical events anticipated in a long-term space mission. Starting with those medical conditions, event sequence diagrams (ESDs) were created in the form of decision trees where the entry point is the diagnosis and the end points are the predicted outcomes (full recovery, partial recovery, or death/severe incapacitation). The ESD formalism was adapted to characterize and compare possible outcomes of medical conditions as a function of available medical knowledge, skills, and supplies in a given mission scenario. An extensive literature review was performed and summarized in a medical condition database. A PostgreSQL relational database was created to allow query-based evaluation of health outcome metrics with different medical infrastructure scenarios. Critical decision points, skill and medical supply requirements, and probable health outcomes were compared across chosen scenarios. The three medical conditions with the highest risk rank were acute coronary syndrome, sepsis, and stroke. Our efforts demonstrate the utility of this approach and provide insight into the effort required to develop appropriate content for the range of medical conditions that may arise.Keywords: Decision support system, event sequence diagram, exploration mission, medical autonomy, scenario-based queries, space medicine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10516 A Survey Proposal towards Holistic Management of Schizophrenia
Authors: Pronab Ganguly, Ahmed A. Moustafa
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Holistic management of schizophrenia involves mainstream pharmacological intervention, complimentary medicine intervention, therapeutic intervention and other psychosocial factors such as accommodation, education, job training, employment, relationship, friendship, exercise, overall well-being, smoking, substance abuse, suicide prevention, stigmatisation, recreation, entertainment, violent behaviour, arrangement of public trusteeship and guardianship, day-day-living skill, integration with community, and management of overweight due to medications and other health complications related to medications amongst others. Our review shows that there is no integrated survey by combining all these factors. An international web-based survey was conducted to evaluate the significance of all these factors and present them in a unified manner. It is believed this investigation will contribute positively towards holistic management of schizophrenia. There will be two surveys. In the pharmacological intervention survey, five popular drugs for schizophrenia will be chosen and their efficacy as well as harmful side effects will be evaluated on a scale of 0 -10. This survey will be done by psychiatrists. In the second survey, each element of therapeutic intervention and psychosocial factors will be evaluated according to their significance on a scale of 0 - 10. This survey will be done by care givers, psychologists, case managers and case workers. For the first survey, professional bodies of psychiatrists in English speaking countries will be contacted to request them to ask their members to participate in the survey. For the second survey, professional bodies of clinical psychologist and care givers in English speaking countries will be contacted to request them to ask their members to participate in the survey. Additionally, for both the surveys, relevant professionals will be contacted through personal contact networks. For both the surveys, mean, mode, median, standard deviation and net promoter score will be calculated for each factor and then presented in a statistically significant manner. Subsequently each factor will be ranked according to their statistical significance. Additionally, country specific variation will be highlighted to identify the variation pattern. The results of these surveys will identify the relative significance of each type of pharmacological intervention, each type of therapeutic intervention and each type of psychosocial factor. The determination of this relative importance will definitely contribute to the improvement in quality of life for individuals with schizophrenia.
Keywords: Schizophrenia, holistic management, antipsychotics, quality of life.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8395 Exploring the Concept of Fashion Waste: Hanging by a Thread
Authors: Timothy Adam Boleratzky
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The goal of this transformative endeavour lies in the repurposing of textile scraps, heralding a renaissance in the creation of wearable art. Through a judicious fusion of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies and cutting-edge techniques, this research embarks upon a voyage of exploration, unravelling the intricate tapestry of environmental implications woven into the fabric of textile waste. Delving deep into the annals of empirical evidence and scholarly discourse, the study not only elucidates the urgent imperative for waste reduction strategies but also unveils the transformative potential inherent in embracing circular economy principles within the hallowed halls of fashion. As the research unfurls its sails, guided by the compass of sustainability, it traverses uncharted territories, charting a course toward a more enlightened and responsible fashion ecosystem. The canvas upon which this journey unfolds is richly adorned with insights gleaned from the crucible of experimentation, laying bare the myriad pathways toward waste minimisation and resource optimisation. From the adoption of recycling strategies to the cultivation of eco-friendly production techniques, the research endeavours to sculpt a blueprint for a more sustainable future, one stitch at a time. In this unfolding narrative, the role of wearable art emerges as a potent catalyst for change, transcending the boundaries of conventional fashion to embrace a more holistic ethos of sustainability. Through the alchemy of creativity and craftsmanship, discarded textile scraps are imbued with new life, morphing into exquisite creations that serve as both a testament to human ingenuity and a rallying cry for environmental preservation. Each thread, each stitch, becomes a silent harbinger of change, weaving together a tapestry of hope in a world besieged by ecological uncertainty. As the research journey culminates, its echoes resonate far beyond the confines of academia, reverberating through the corridors of industry and beyond. In its wake, it leaves a legacy of empowerment and enlightenment, inspiring a generation of designers, entrepreneurs, and consumers to embrace a more sustainable vision of fashion. For in the intricate interplay of threads and textiles lies the promise of a brighter, more resilient future, where beauty coexists harmoniously with responsibility and where fashion becomes not merely an expression of style but a celebration of sustainability.
Keywords: Fabric-manipulation, sustainability, textiles, waste, wearable-art.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1264 Collaborative and Experimental Cultures in Virtual Reality Journalism: From the Perspective of Content Creators
Authors: Radwa Mabrook
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Virtual Reality (VR) content creation is a complex and an expensive process, which requires multi-disciplinary teams of content creators. Grant schemes from technology companies help media organisations to explore the VR potential in journalism and factual storytelling. Media organisations try to do as much as they can in-house, but they may outsource due to time constraints and skill availability. Journalists, game developers, sound designers and creative artists work together and bring in new cultures of work. This study explores the collaborative experimental nature of VR content creation, through tracing every actor involved in the process and examining their perceptions of the VR work. The study builds on Actor Network Theory (ANT), which decomposes phenomena into their basic elements and traces the interrelations among them. Therefore, the researcher conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with VR content creators between November 2017 and April 2018. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques allowed the researcher to recruit fact-based VR content creators from production studios and media organisations, as well as freelancers. Interviews lasted up to three hours, and they were a mix of Skype calls and in-person interviews. Participants consented for their interviews to be recorded, and for their names to be revealed in the study. The researcher coded interviews’ transcripts in Nvivo software, looking for key themes that correspond with the research questions. The study revealed that VR content creators must be adaptive to change, open to learn and comfortable with mistakes. The VR content creation process is very iterative because VR has no established work flow or visual grammar. Multi-disciplinary VR team members often speak different languages making it hard to communicate. However, adaptive content creators perceive VR work as a fun experience and an opportunity to learn. The traditional sense of competition and the strive for information exclusivity are now replaced by a strong drive for knowledge sharing. VR content creators are open to share their methods of work and their experiences. They target to build a collaborative network that aims to harness VR technology for journalism and factual storytelling. Indeed, VR is instilling collaborative and experimental cultures in journalism.
Keywords: Collaborative culture, content creation, experimental culture, virtual reality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7923 Achieving Implementable Nature-Based Solutions While Reshaping Architectural Education: A Case Study of URBiNAT and BUILD Solutions
Authors: C. Farinea, A. Conserva, F. Demeur
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Nature has often been something humans have fought against. However, with the changing climate and urban challenges such as air pollution and food shortages, to name but a few, it has never been more crucial to work with nature to find solutions that can help us to adapt to the current planetary situation and mitigate the challenges that we will continue to face in the future. Nature-based solutions (NBS) have been gaining ground as one strategy that can help to create more sustainable solutions for our planet and simultaneously, provide several ecosystem services. As designers, there are a lot of insights that can be extracted and gained from nature. However, nature is a complex and sometimes difficult to predict system and its implementation in cities requires a multidisciplinary knowledge. To keep up with the solutions and prepare the future generations of architects and designers with the skills to be able to implement NBS, educational systems also have to adapt with the times. Architecture is no longer solely about drawing buildings with beautiful forms. It is no longer discipline bound. With the input from different disciplines, the implementation of NBS can be significantly more successful. Transdisciplinary strategies can encourage architects and designers to think beyond their discipline, and ensure the success and realization of the NBS. The paper will demonstrate how transdisciplinary teaching methodologies, including also taking part in participatory processes with experts intended as gathering local knowledge, can be implemented with architectural master students to achieve implementable NBS. Through two projects co-funded by the European Union, strategies such as participatory co-design and transdisciplinary start-ups were implemented into seminars that focused on the development of NBS with a transdisciplinary approach. Within the “Design with Living Systems” seminar, students took part in participatory co-design strategies with experts to design solutions that will be implemented in Porto as part of a healthy corridor, and that respond to the needs of the users and site. On the other hand, within the “Design for Living Systems” seminar, the transdisciplinary start-up approach created start-ups with students of architecture, business and biology focusing on identifying a problem and designing a NBS as a product. Both seminars proved to be successful in achieving implementable NBS through strategies of transdisciplinary education and gave the students the skill sets to be able to work with nature in their future careers.
Keywords: Architectural higher education, digital fabrication, nature-based solutions, transdisciplinary approaches.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1482 In Search of Innovation: Exploring the Dynamics of Innovation
Authors: Michal Lysek, Mike Danilovic, Jasmine Lihua Liu
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HMS Industrial Networks AB has been recognized as one of the most innovative companies in the industrial communication industry worldwide. The creation of their Anybus innovation during the 1990s contributed considerably to the company’s success. From inception, HMS’ employees were innovating for the purpose of creating new business (the creation phase). After the Anybus innovation, they began the process of internationalization (the commercialization phase), which in turn led them to concentrate on cost reduction, product quality, delivery precision, operational efficiency, and increasing growth (the growth phase). As a result of this transformation, performing new radical innovations have become more complicated. The purpose of our research was to explore the dynamics of innovation at HMS from the aspect of key actors, activities, and events, over the three phases, in order to understand what led to the creation of their Anybus innovation, and why it has become increasingly challenging for HMS to create new radical innovations for the future. Our research methodology was based on a longitudinal, retrospective study from the inception of HMS in 1988 to 2014, a single case study inspired by the grounded theory approach. We conducted 47 interviews and collected 1 024 historical documents for our research. Our analysis has revealed that HMS’ success in creating the Anybus, and developing a successful business around the innovation, was based on three main capabilities – cultivating customer relations on different managerial and organizational levels, inspiring business relations, and balancing complementary human assets for the purpose of business creation. The success of HMS has turned the management’s attention away from past activities of key actors, of their behavior, and how they influenced and stimulated the creation of radical innovations. Nowadays, they are rhetorically focusing on creativity and innovation. All the while, their real actions put emphasis on growth, cost reduction, product quality, delivery precision, operational efficiency, and moneymaking. In the process of becoming an international company, HMS gradually refocused. In so doing they became profitable and successful, but they also forgot what made them innovative in the first place. Fortunately, HMS’ management has come to realize that this is the case and they are now in search of recapturing innovation once again. Our analysis indicates that HMS’ management is facing several barriers to innovation related path dependency and other lock-in phenomena. HMS’ management has been captured, trapped in their mindset and actions, by the success of the past. But now their future has to be secured, and they have come to realize that moneymaking is not everything. In recent years, HMS’ management have begun to search for innovation once more, in order to recapture their past capabilities for creating radical innovations. In order to unlock their managerial perceptions of customer needs and their counter-innovation driven activities and events, to utilize the full potential of their employees and capture the innovation opportunity for the future.Keywords: Barriers to innovation, dynamics of innovation, in search of excellence and innovation, radical innovation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30621 The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment for Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria: An Assessment of the Fourth Republic Strategies (1999 - 2014)
Authors: Muritala Babatunde Hassan
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In the contemporary global political economy, foreign direct investment (FDI) is gaining currency on daily basis. Notably, the end of the Cold War has brought about the dominance of neoliberal ideology with its mantra of private-sector-led economy. As such, nation-states now see FDI attraction as an important element in their approach to national development. Governments and policy makers are preoccupying themselves with unraveling the best strategies to not only attract more FDI but also to attain the desired socio-economic development status. In Nigeria, the perceived development potentials of FDI have brought about aggressive hunt for foreign investors, most especially since transition to civilian rule in May 1999. Series of liberal and market oriented strategies are being adopted not only to attract foreign investors but largely to stimulate private sector participation in the economy. It is on this premise that this study interrogates the politics of FDI attraction for domestic development in Nigeria between 1999 and 2014, with the ultimate aim of examining the nexus between regime type and the ability of a state to attract and benefit from FDI. Building its analysis within the framework of institutional utilitarianism, the study posits that the essential FDI strategies for achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of Nigerians are political not economic. Both content analysis and descriptive survey methodology were employed in carrying out the study. Content analysis involves desk review of literatures that culminated in the development of the study’s conceptual and theoretical framework of analysis. The study finds no significant relationship between transition to democracy and FDI inflows in Nigeria, as most of the attracted investments during the period of the study were market and resource seeking as was the case during the military regime, thereby contributing minimally to the socio-economic development of the country. It is also found that the country placed much emphasis on liberalization and incentives for FDI attraction at the neglect of improving the domestic investment environment. Consequently, poor state of infrastructure, weak institutional capability and insecurity were identified as the major factors seriously hindering the success of Nigeria in exploiting FDI for domestic development. Given the reality of the currency of FDI as a vector of economic globalization and that Nigeria is trailing the line of private-sector-led approach to development, it is recommended that emphasis should be placed on those measures aimed at improving the infrastructural facilities, building solid institutional framework, enhancing skill and technological transfer and coordinating FDI promotion activities by different agencies and at different levels of government.
Keywords: Foreign capital, politics, socio-economic development, FDI attraction strategies, Redemocratization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 907