Heuristic Instrument Research Articles

The Intersections between Food and Cultural Landscape: Insights from Three Mountain Case Studies

In the last decades, scholars from different disciplines have used the foodscape as a concept and an analytical framework to explore the intersection between landscape, people and food culture. Adopting a comparative case-study analysis, this article aims to show how a foodscape can be used as a lens to investigate cultural landscapes, specifically in mountain areas affected by fast structural socio-economic and ecological changes, identifying key tangible and intangible elements, the underpinning relationship and values, as well as the factors underlying their evolution and transformation. In this way, the article indicates this concept as a key tool for landscape management and conservation. We discuss three different and complementary approaches to the analysis of cultural landscapes, namely, from food products to landscape analysis (Albania), from food production practices to landscape analysis (Kenya) and from food-related rural architecture to landscape analysis (Italy). Overall, the research highlights how implementing a foodscape lens among the different levels of landscape analysis could contribute to the assessment, protection and promotion of local food-related resources. In so doing, it opens new research aimed at defining the limits of this heuristic instrument, where its most promising aspects of the foodscape have been explored in the article.

Quality Characteristics for Clinical Ethics Support in the Netherlands

Background: This article presents a set of quality characteristics of clinical ethics support (CES) in the Netherlands. Methods: The quality characteristics were developed with a large group of stakeholders working with CES, participating in the Dutch Network for Clinical Ethics Support (NEON). Results: The quality characteristics concern the following domains: (1) goals of CES, (2) methods of CES, (3) competences of CES practitioners, and (4) implementation of CES. Conclusions: We discuss suggestions for how to use the quality characteristics, discuss some aspects that stand out about these quality characteristics, and reflect on the method and the status of the quality characteristics. The quality characteristics are meant as a heuristic instrument, helping CES practitioners to explore and improve the quality of CES in a health care organization, but at the same time they can be improved based on experiences during their application to CES practices.

Introduction to the Special Issue on 3D Methodologies in Mediterranean Archaeology

This issue brings together several papers originally presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in a panel entitled, “Three-Dimensional Archaeology Comes of Age.” This collection takes stock of a decade’s worth of groundbreaking transformation in archaeological practices with a focus on the ancient Mediterranean. Over this time, a subtle transition has occurred in which contentious debates over the value and practicality of 3D tools, such as photogrammetry, 3D scanning, 3D reconstruction, and virtual reality (VR), have given way to an emergent consensus that these constitute a new and important class of recording and heuristic instruments. Rather than seek to cover this fundamental shift in a comprehensive matter, this issue presents a characteristic cross-section of current archaeological research-based on three-dimensional computational methodologies. The content cuts across some 3,000 years of Mediterranean archaeology, from the Aegean Bronze Age to the later Roman Empire, underlining the discipline-wide impact of this methodological revolution. It seeks to shed light on how digital tools are transforming not just the ways we record data, but the very questions archaeologists ask of this information and how this will shape methodological and analytical trends in the next decade and beyond.

Microdecisions and autonomy in self-driving cars: virtual probabilities

To operate in an unpredictable environment, a vehicle with advanced driving assistance systems, such as a robot or a drone, not only needs to register its surroundings but also to combine data from different sensors into a world model, for which it employs filter algorithms. Such world models, as this article argues with reference to the SLAM problem (simultaneous location and mapping) in robotics, consist of nothing other than probabilities about states and events arising in the environment. The model, thus, contains a virtuality of possible worlds that are the basis for adaptive behavior. The article shows that the current development of these technologies requires new concepts because their complex adaptive behaviors cannot be explained by referring them to mere algorithmic processes. Instead, it proposes the heuristic instrument of microdecisions to designate the temporality of decisions between alternatives that are created by probabilistic procedures of world modeling. Microdecisions are more than the implementation of deterministic processes—they decide between possibilities and, thus, always open up the potential of their otherness. By describing autonomous adaptive technologies with this heuristic, the question of sovereignty inevitably arises. It forces us to re-think what autonomy means when decisions can be automated.

Vormoderne Organisationen

Premodern Organizations. Membership and “Formal Organization” in the Saxon Mining Administration of the 16th Century This article examines the emergence of early modern “formal organisations”. It uses the term “formal organisation” as a heuristic instrument – or with Peter von Moos: as a “controlled anachronism”. That is, formal organizations did not exist in historical reality in the contemporary sense. But as an ideal type, the concept allows us to get a better impression of the specific conditions, ambiguities, and longer-term dynamics of the formation of administrative structures.

Aproximación teórica al significado del liderazgo resiliente en la Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador

El presente artículo tuvo como intencionalidad generar una aproximación teórica al significado del liderazgo resiliente en la Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL-IPB). Éste se fundamentó con teorías sobre liderazgo, resiliencia y gerencia educativa. Para ello fue asumido el paradigma interpretativo desde la postura de Heidegger (1997) y el método fenomenológico-hermenéutico. La evidencia se recopiló, aplicando la técnica de entrevista a tres (3) miembros del personal docente, gerentes medios en el escenario de estudio y como instrumento se utilizó un guion de entrevista. Asimismo, el autor fungió como instrumento heurístico utilizando los sentidos, memoria, capital cultural y percepciones para, categorizar y dar sentido a las interpretaciones de primer orden de los informantes claves. La triangulación permitió dar credibilidad a los hallazgos, los cuales fueron legitimados con la voz de los informantes. Finalmente se elaboró la teoría sustantiva reveladora del sentido social e igualmente, exponer las reflexiones desde una perspectiva onto-epistémica.

Long-term urgent interests and human rights practice: a challenge to the political conception

ABSTRACT To the political conception, human rights constitute a normative global practice for the protection of individual emergent interests without depending necessarily on moral grounds. The practice expresses a form of ‘presentism’ – it protects urgent interests by applying standards whose normative force derives from the fact that they are currently recognized as such. There is little room here for the distant future. To counter long-term problems, either (i) the idea of human rights needs to be grounded in something more than just practice, or (ii) distant future problems should not be regarded in terms of human rights, or (iii) there must be a way to understand the global human rights enterprise as encompassing the distant future. This paper makes a case for (iii). The argument begins by claiming that the distinction between the moral and the political conception still matters insofar as the latter provides specific heuristic instruments for understanding the practice. The following sections develop this analysis by confronting the political conception with its inadequacy to solve long-term problems. The final section proposes a solution to this puzzle by reinterpreting the notion of ‘urgency’, particularly by examining the potential of the right to political participation applied to children. This right embedded in the practice ultimately proves to be a particular form of right related to the distant future. In the end, it should be clear that the practice can be considered non-presentist even if the idea of the human rights of future persons in untenable.

Zum Einsatz von Definitionen in Pädagogik und Erziehungswissenschaft

Abstract On the Use of Definitions in Pedagogy and Educational Science. A Historical Journey with Systematic Intent In the academic genre of pedagogy and educational science, definitions were used from the very beginning. The question is if it is possible to differentiate between types of definitions within the history of these sciences. To answer this question the paper revives two different types of traditional definitions in order to generate a typology of definition usage. The typology can be used as a heuristic instrument for further systematic and historical research.

JOGOS NO ENSINO DE QUÍMICA: UM ESTUDO SOBRE A PRESENÇA/AUSÊNCIA DE TEORIAS DE ENSINO E APRENDIZAGEM NA PERSPECTIVA DO V EPISTEMOLÓGICO DE GOWIN

A partir da primeira década do século XXI, percebeu-se um aumento significativo na quantidade de jogos aplicados ao ensino de Química, contudo, tem-se utilizado jogos sem objetivos pedagógicos. Neste sentido, realizou-se uma análise documental nos principais periódicos de Educação/Ensino de Química na perspectiva do V Epistemológico de Gowin, que consiste em um instrumento heurístico para análise da estrutura e do processo de construção do conhecimento, com o intuito de identificar possíveis teorias de ensino e aprendizagem no construto dos jogos. Os resultados indicaram a presença da Epistemologia Genética (54,17%) e da Psicologia Histórico Cultural (29,17%), bem como, a ausência referencial teórico-epistemológico (16,66%). Contudo, identificamos a necessidade de um maior aprofundamento acerca dos referenciais utilizados, pois a maioria dos artigos exploram apenas alguns elementos das teorias. Desta forma, os resultados indicam a iminência da utilização de teorias de aprendizagem, não sendo possível ainda falar em uma epistemologia do jogo.

¿Qué significa actuar por un fin? La respuesta de Francisco Suárez en el ms De beatitudine (1579) y en el tratado De ultimo fine hominis (1628)

La influencia de la obra y doctrina de Francisco Suárez (Granada, 1548-Lisboa, 1617) en la conformación del pensamiento moderno ha sido ampliamente estudiada en áreas como la filosofía política y del derecho, la metafísica o la epistemología. Sin embargo, la filosofía moral de Suárez, en concreto aquella que, como él mismo explica, habrá de servir de base a sus tratados de teología moral, está todavía por analizar. El objetivo de este trabajo es traer a luz algunos aspectos de la teoría suareciana sobre la causalidad final en los agentes libres, confrontando su doctrina sobre la causalidad del fin en dos comentarios, escritos en distintos períodos, a las cuestiones I-IIae de la Suma de Teología de Tomás de Aquino: el manuscrito inédito De beatitudine (1579) y el tratado De ultimo fine hominis, publicado por Baltasar Álvares (1628). La cuestión aquí analizada —qué significa actuar por un fin— se asume como un instrumento heurístico para dar a conocer sea estas dos fuentes estudiadas, sea el interés filosófico de las doctrinas de Suárez a respecto de la causalidad final. Las conclusiones apuntan a los siguientes aspectos: i) la proximidad, aun con dudas, de Suárez a la doctrina tomista de la causalidad del fin, en el comentario de 1579; ii) la asunción parcial de la doctrina tomista en cuanto a la función del intelecto en el actuar libre, y la afirmación de que el locus finis es la voluntad, en el comentario de 1628. Trabajando con estos matices hemos querido establecer algunos puntales de encuentro que permitan hacer visibles los puentes que emergen entre una tradición escolástica que enfrenta una nueva imagen del hombre, y la filosofía moral inmediatamente posterior que despojando aquella de su fundamento teológico, avanza con paso firme hacia la modernidad.

A geometria como instrumento heurístico da reformulação da termodinâmica na representação de ciclos para a de potenciais

History shows that up to 1870’s, the thermodynamic cycles, particularly Carnot’s cycle, were the most important heuristic instruments as much to formulate the general laws of physics as well to deduce the experimental laws. From this moment on, this instrument falls into disuse with surprising rapidity. At the end of this decade emerges a new thermodynamic formulation, proposed by Gibbs, the thermodynamics of the potentials. This sudden transition from thermodynamic of cycles to potentials was triggered by the difficult to approach the emergence of the phase transition phenomena with the diagrammatic method. The main objective of the article is, then, to analyze the consequences of the substitution, by Gibbs, of the diagrammatic by the geometric method, particularly, its heuristic potential related to the proposal of the formulation of the thermodynamic of potentials.

As reinvenções da Semiótica: entrevista com Ione Bentz

Com mestrado em Linguística em 1974, na Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, e doutorado em 1980, na Universidade de São Paulo, a formação da professora e pesquisadora Ione Maria Ghislene Bentz está ligada à chegada dos estudos linguísticos e semióticos ao Brasil, e ao seu posterior desenvolvimento como um campo de pesquisa fértil aos problemas da comunicação e da cultura. Professora aposentada pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, com passagem pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Comunicação da Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, hoje, ela atua como professora e pesquisadora junto à Pós-Graduação em Design da mesma universidade. Nesta entrevista, a pesquisadora discute as particularidades da trajetória da Semiótica como campo de investigação no país, destacando não só suas potências enquanto instrumento epistemológico e heurístico, mas também suas dificuldades e conflitos disciplinares e institucionais ao longo dos últimos 40 anos.

Helmholtz’s Vortex Motion: An Embodied View of Mathematics in the Heuristics of Fluid Mechanics

Some viewpoints on the foundations of mathematics and its philosophy are more connected to scientific practice and its heuristics, mainly with the construction of physical theories and the search for the best explanations of physical phenomena by means of abduction or the solution of problems by the analytical method. Some researchers have introduced the importance of human cultural activities into the cognitive aspects of the mental processes of scientists, proposing an embodied approach in the bridge between mathematics and reality. Fluid mechanics is an interesting area in this sense due to its position if the network of mathematics. By means of an historical example on vortex motion by Helmholtz, we show that the intuitive idea of eddy (or vortex) contains cognitive properties of a mental schema and that it gives many heuristic options (via cooperation with other heuristic instruments like extreme thinking, thought experiment and analogy) for an embodied mathematical explanation about vortex dynamics.

Social Conflict in Early Roman Palestine: A Heuristic Model

Social conflict was a social phenomenon in early Roman Palestine and may be explored with social-scientific models. A model is proposed that contains the contrasting elite and non-elite ideologies across various applicable social domains. Furthermore, the influence of Roman imperialism is indicated on each social domain. Taken as a whole, the model describes the competitive and alternate visions of society among the elite and non-elite. The model may assist in highlighting social conflict in textual data with early Roman Palestine as a narrative location. It is suggested that the model is applied as a heuristic instrument. Luke 19:1–27, which includes the conversion of Zacchaeus and the parable of the Minas, is discussed as an example of the heuristic value of the model.

The "Problem of Extension" revisited: new modes of digital participation in science

Citizen Science is part of a broader reconfiguration of the relationship between science and the public in the digital age: Knowledge production and the reception of scientific knowledge are becoming increasingly socially inclusive. We argue that the digital revolution brings the "problem of extension" — identified by Collins and Evans in the context of science and technology governance — now closer to the core of scientific practice. In order to grasp the implications of the inclusion of non-experts in science, the aim of this contribution is to define a role-set of non-certified knowledge production and reception, serving as a heuristic instrument for empirical clarifications.

USABILITY EVALUATION OF DIGITAL MALAYSIAN TRADITIONAL GAMES

Focusing on measuring the engagement towards digital Malaysian traditional games, this paper presents usability evaluation on three digital versions of Malaysian traditional games; Dam Haji, Congkak and Gasing-X. Usability is a significant contributing factor towards engagement of digital games. Usability helps in verifying the requirements, successes and functionality of the games which are missing. The usability evaluation adopted the heuristic instruments developed by Jakob Nielson in 1990. The instrument consists of 17 heuristic component protocols based on interface design. Evaluation involved 50 respondents who are IT and domain experts. Result analysis is discussed and presented for each game. Results suggested features and aspects to be improved in the development of Digital Malaysian Traditional Games towards better engagement of the games.

Understanding Sexual Revictimization of Women Through Metaphors: A Qualitative Research

The aim of this study was to contribute to the phenomenological understanding of revictimization through metaphors used by women when describing their revictimization experiences. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with 9 women regarding their repeated sexual victimization. Content analysis focused on metaphors used by the women when describing revictimization. Analysis of the metaphors revealed vulnerability in relation to the self and to interpersonal relationships. The metaphors relating to the self are portrayed through images of imprisonment, homelessness, contamination, and disability. Interpersonal relationships are described through the image of boundaries. These metaphors reflect duality: the profound need for security and the perception of boundaries as limiting and confining. Metaphors can be useful as a heuristic instrument for understanding women’s experience of the duality and the contradictions in coping with revictimization, and for intervention.

Medical sociology as a heuristic instrument for medical tourism and cross-border healthcare: Comment on "International patients on operation vacation - perspectives of patients travelling to Hungary for orthopedic treatments".

In this commentary, we establish a relationship between medical sociology and the study of medical tourism and cross-border healthcare by introducing Ronald Andersen's behavioral model of healthcare use, and linking this model to the recent empirical study of Kovacs et al. on patients travelling to Hungary for orthopedic treatment. Finally, we plead for more measurement in the field of patient mobility.

Picking up the pieces—Applying the DISEASE FILTER to health data

This contribution presents systematic biases in the process of generating health data by using a step-by-step explanation of the DISEASE FILTER, a heuristic instrument that we designed in order to better understand and evaluate health data. The systematic bias in health data generally varies by data type (register versus survey data) and the operationalization of health outcomes. Self-reported subjective health and disease assessments, for instance, underlie a different selectivity than do data based on medical examinations or health care statistics. Although this is obvious, systematic approaches used to better understand the process of generating health data have been missing until now. We begin with the definitions and classifications of diseases that change (e.g. over time), describe the selective nature of access to and use of medical health care (e.g. depending on health insurance and gender), present biases in diagnoses (e.g. by gender and professional status), report these biases in relation to the decision for or against various treatment (e.g. by age and income), and finally outline the determinants of the treatments (ambulant versus stationary, e.g. via mobility and age). We then show how to apply the DISEASE FILTER to health data and discuss the benefits and shortcomings of our heuristic model. Finally, we give some suggestions on how to deal with biases in health data and how to avoid them.

Describing plants in a new mode: the introduction of dichotomies into sixteenth-century botanical literature

The use of dichotomous tables to identify a plant and to visualize inter-relationships and differences between plants was commonly credited to the first edition of Flore françoise by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published in 1778. However, evidence for an origin of this technique in the seventeenth and sixteenth century also exists. The present paper scrutinizes the extra-botanical origin of dichotomous tables and suggests the first half of the sixteenth century as the time when they were introduced into botanical writings. Bracketed outlines, the common format of such dichotomous tables, evolved from a typographical artifice into a heuristic instrument for reasoning methodologically about plant characteristics (“differentiae”) and finally into a means of describing and ordering the plants themselves in a new manner.