Książki na temat „Distributions of possibilities”

This innovative book examines the aesthetic event of education. Extending beyond the pedagogy of art or art appreciation, Tyson E. Lewis takes a much broader view of aesthetics and argues that teaching and learning are themselves aesthetic performances. As Jacques Ranciere has recently argued, there is an inherent connection between aesthetics and politics, both of which disrupt conventional distributions of who can speak and think. Here, Lewis extends Ranciere’s general thesis to examine how there is not only an aesthetics of politics but also an aesthetics of education. In particular, Lewis’ analysis focuses on several questions: What are the possibilities and limitations of building analogies between teachers and artists, education and specific aesthetic forms? What is the relationship between democracy and aesthetic sensibilities? Lewis examines these questions by juxtaposing Ranciere’s work on universal teaching, democracy, and aesthetics with Paulo Freire’s work on critical pedagogy, freedom, and literacy. The result is an extension and problematization of Ranciere’s project as well as a new appreciation for the largely ignored aesthetic dimension of Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed.

World cities are a product of the globalization of economic activity that has characterized post-World War II capitalism, and exhibit characteristics previously found in primate cities but with influence extending far beyond the range of the metropolitan state. They are the culmination of postwar urbanization mechanisms coupled with the rise of transnational corporations that have served to concentrate unprecedented population and economic power/potential. The potential for both human development advantage and disadvantage is historically unprecedented in these new and highly interconnected urban amalgams. In general, human settlement systems are usually understood to include the systemic (regularized) ways in which settlements (hamlets, villages, towns, cities) are linked with one another by trade and other kinds of human interaction. Geographers, historians, and economists have developed models of urban structure and patterning incorporating population location/movement and the location of economic activity to be able to rationally explain and predict urban growth and allocate resources so as to implement equitable distributions. The resulting models served to illustrate the importance of the interactions between specific geographic location, population concentrations, and economic activity. But given the development of world cities, there is the relationship between the size of settlements and political power in intergroup relations to consider. The spatial aspect of population density is, after all, one of the most fundamental variables for understanding the constraints and possibilities of human social organization.

A discussion of the most fundamental of network models, the configuration model, which is a random graph model of a network with a specified degree sequence. Following a definition of the model a number of basic properties are derived, including the probability of an edge, the expected number of multiedges, the excess degree distribution, the friendship paradox, and the clustering coefficient. This is followed by derivations of some more advanced properties including the condition for the existence of a giant component, the size of the giant component, the average size of a small component, and the expected diameter. Generating function methods for network models are also introduced and used to perform some more advanced calculations, such as the calculation of the distribution of the number of second neighbors of a node and the complete distribution of sizes of small components. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of extensions of the configuration model to directed networks, bipartite networks, networks with degree correlations, networks with high clustering, and networks with community structure, among other possibilities.

This chapter considers returns to the individual from investing in skill. It describes the earnings and employment outcomes of people who have completed different levels of formal education across different countries, and goes on to consider the possible causal mechanisms at work. The methodology for estimating wage returns is critically discussed. Whilst much attention has been devoted to considering ability bias, other issues have received less attention. In particular qualifications or amounts of time spent studying are imperfect proxies for skills produced. Furthermore estimates from wage regressions are almost invariably interpreted through the lens of human capital theory -- the existence of a wage premium indicates that the productivity has increased due to the educational investment. Alternative interpretations are considered. These include the possibility that the premium represents a reward for obtaining a job on a fixed distribution of jobs -- in other words winning a positional competition race. Such possibilities raise several concerns. These include under-utilisation, both of general skills and of skills acquired through work-based training programmes, low marginal returns relative to average returns, and a widening and more risky distribution of payoffs.

The global transition towards sustainable, secure, and affordable electricity supply is driving changes in the consumption, production, and transportation of electricity. This chapter provides an overview of three main causes of political–economic tensions with smart grids in the United States, Europe, and China, namely industry structure, regulatory models, and the impact of energy policy. In all cases, the developments are motivated by the possible improvements in reliability and affordability yielded by smart grids, while sustainability of the electricity sector is not a central motivation. A holistic smart grid vision would open up possibilities for better integration of distributed energy resources. The authors recommend that smart grid investments should remain outside of the regulatory framework for utilities and distribution service operators in order to allow for such developments.

This chapter explores the relationship between hours of work and unemployment. When it comes to time spent working in the United States at present, two problems immediately come to light. First, an asymmetrical distribution of working time persists, with some people overworked and others underemployed. Second, hours are increasingly unstable; precarious on-call work scheduling and gig economy–style employment relationships are the canaries in the coal mine of a labor market that produces fewer and fewer stable jobs. It is possible that some kind of shorter hours movement, especially one that places an emphasis on young workers, has the potential to address these problems. Some policies and processes are already in place to transition into a shorter hours economy right now even if those possibilities are mediated by an anti-worker political administration.

This article focuses on flexible Bayes regression of epidemiologic data involving pregnancy outcomes. It first provides an overview of finite mixture models and nonparametric Bayes methods before discussing some of the possibilities focusing on gestational age at delivery, DDE and age data from the Longnecker et al. (2001) study. More specifically, it examines how risk of premature delivery is impacted by maternal exposure to the pesticide DDT. The results showcase the use of Bayesian analysis in epidemiological studies that collect continuous health outcomes data, and in which the scientific and clinical interest typically focuses on the relationships between exposures and risks of an abnormal response, corresponding to an observation in the tails of the distribution. The article also highlights the limitations of current standard approaches that can be overcome by means of Bayesian analysis using density regression, mixtures and nonparametric models, as developed and applied in this pregnancy outcome study.

This article reviews some of the historic evidence on the evolution of British society, as changes in its structure impacted on the rise of the novel. It considers: (1) Demographic issues, including the size and age composition of the population, factors affecting the mortality rate, the growth in urbanism, and the professions; (2) The economic make-up of society and ways in which the class system operated through the ownership of land and the occupational spread of British people; (3) Issues of gender, as affected by rank, with the limitations and the changing possibilities for women in this era; (4) Writers and readers of the early novel, touching on the growth of literacy, the shifting dynamics of the reading public, the development of the book trade, and the opportunities for professional authors thrown up as patronage declined by new forms of distribution and delivery such as the circulating library.

In the 1920s, Mexico established rural normales—boarding schools that trained teachers in a new nation-building project. Drawn from campesino ranks and meant to cultivate state allegiance, their graduates would facilitate land distribution, organize civic festivals, and promote hygiene campaigns. In Unintended Lessons of Revolution, Tanalís Padilla traces the history of the rural normales, showing how they became sites of radical politics. As Padilla demonstrates, the popular longings that drove the Mexican Revolution permeated these schools. By the 1930s, ideas about land reform, education for the poor, community leadership, and socialism shaped their institutional logic. Over the coming decades, the tensions between state consolidation and revolutionary justice produced a telling contradiction: the very schools meant to constitute a loyal citizenry became hubs of radicalization against a government that increasingly abandoned its commitment to social justice. Crafting a story of struggle and state repression, Padilla illuminates education's radical possibilities and the nature of political consciousness for youths whose changing identity—from campesinos, to students, to teachers—speaks to Mexico’s twentieth-century transformations.

This bookexplores the democratization of music in our current era made possible by digital technologies. Investigating how the utopian ideals and experimental practices of 20th-century musicians helped to spawn the recent seismic disruptions to the art form, this book explores the current environment of networked connectivity; music has become ubiquitous and increasingly intertwined with everyday life, rendering previous models of creation, performance, dissemination, and consumption largely obsolete. Diffusing Musicidentifies trajectories between 20th-century innovators and the broader redefinition of the musical art in popular culture through technology today. This examination gives context for the advancement of new creative practices and approaches to the art and business of music that are appropriate for current and future technological configurations, and offers new insights on important historical figures and movements. It asserts the prescience and value of experimental music by identifying its powerful influence on the digital milieu in which we all now exist, and presents possibilities for new definitions of musical creativity and distribution as musicking becomes more and more ubiquitous.

The aim of the paper was to determine the influence of root systems of chosen tree species found in the Polish Flysch Carpathians on the increase of soil shear strength (root cohesion) in terms of slope stability. The paper's goal was achieved through comprehensive tests on root systems of eight relatively common in the Polish Flysch Carpathians tree species. The tests that were carried out included field work, laboratory work and analytical calculations. As part of the field work, the root area ratio (A IA) of the roots was determined using the method of profiling the walls of the trench at a distance of about 1.0 m from the tree trunk. The width of the. trenches was about 1.0 m, and their depth depended on the ground conditions and ranged from 0.6 to 1.0 m below the ground level. After preparing the walls of the trench, the profile was divided into vertical layers with a height of 0.1 m, within which root diameters were measured. Roots with diameters from 1 to 10 mm were taken into consideration in root area ratio calculations in accordance with the generally accepted methodology for this type of tests. These measurements were made in Biegnik (silver fir), Ropica Polska (silver birch, black locust) and Szymbark (silver birch, European beech, European hornbeam, silver fir, sycamore maple, Scots pine, European spruce) located near Gorlice (The Low Beskids) in areas with unplanned forest management. In case of each tested tree species the samples of roots were taken, transported to the laboratory and then saturated with water for at least one day. Before testing the samples were obtained from the water and stretched in a. tensile testing machine in order to determine their tensile strength and flexibility. In general, over 2200 root samples were tested. The results of tests on root area ratio of root systems and their tensile strength were used to determine the value of increase in shear strength of the soils, called root cohesion. To this purpose a classic Wu-Waldron calculation model was used as well as two types of bundle models, the so called static model (Fiber Bundle Model — FIRM, FBM2, FBM3) and the deformation model (Root Bundle Model— RBM1, RBM2, mRBM1) that differ in terms of the assumptions concerning the way the tensile force is distributed to the roots as well as the range of parameters taken into account during calculations. The stability analysis of 8 landslides in forest areas of Cicikowicleie and Wignickie Foothills was a form of verification of relevance of the obtained calculation results. The results of tests on root area ratio in the profile showed that, as expected, the number of roots in the soil profile and their ApIA values are very variable. It was shown that the values of the root area ratio of the tested tree species with a diameter 1-10 ram are a maximum of 0.8% close to the surface of the ground and they decrease along with the depth reaching the values at least one order of magnitude lower than close to the surface at the depth 0.5-1.0 m below the ground level. Average values of the root area ratio within the soil profile were from 0.05 to 0.13% adequately for Scots pine and European beech. The measured values of the root area ratio are relatively low in relation to the values of this parameter given in literature, which is probably connected with great cohesiveness of the soils and the fact that there were a lot of rock fragments in the soil, where the tests were carried out. Calculation results of the Gale-Grigal function indicate that a distribution of roots in the soil profile is similar for the tested species, apart from the silver fir from Bie§nik and European hornbeam. Considering the number of roots, their distribution in the soil profile and the root area ratio it appears that — considering slope stability — the root systems of European beech and black locust are the most optimal, which coincides with tests results given in literature. The results of tensile strength tests showed that the roots of the tested tree species have different tensile strength. The roots of European beech and European hornbeam had high tensile strength, whereas the roots of conifers and silver birch in deciduous trees — low. The analysis of test results also showed that the roots of the studied tree species are characterized by high variability of mechanical properties. The values Of shear strength increase are mainly related to the number and size (diameter) of the roots in the soil profile as well as their tensile strength and pullout resistance, although they can also result from the used calculation method (calculation model). The tests showed that the distribution of roots in the soil and their tensile strength are characterized by large variability, which allows the conclusion that using typical geotechnical calculations, which take into consideration the role of root systems is exposed to a high risk of overestimating their influence on the soil reinforcement. hence, while determining or assuming the increase in shear strength of soil reinforced with roots (root cohesion) for design calculations, a conservative (careful) approach that includes the most unfavourable values of this parameter should be used. Tests showed that the values of shear strength increase of the soil reinforced with roots calculated using Wu-Waldron model in extreme cases are three times higher than the values calculated using bundle models. In general, the most conservative calculation results of the shear strength increase were obtained using deformation bundle models: RBM2 (RBMw) or mRBM1. RBM2 model considers the variability of strength characteristics of soils described by Weibull survival function and in most cases gives the lowest values of the shear strength increase, which usually constitute 50% of the values of shear strength increase determined using classic Wu-Waldron model. Whereas the second model (mRBM1.) considers averaged values of roots strength parameters as well as the possibility that two main mechanism of destruction of a root bundle - rupture and pulling out - can occur at the same. time. The values of shear strength increase calculated using this model were the lowest in case of beech and hornbeam roots, which had high tensile strength. It indicates that in the surface part of the profile (down to 0.2 m below the ground level), primarily in case of deciduous trees, the main mechanism of failure of the root bundle will be pulling out. However, this model requires the knowledge of a much greater number of geometrical parameters of roots and geotechnical parameters of soil, and additionally it is very sensitive to input data. Therefore, it seems practical to use the RBM2 model to assess the influence of roots on the soil shear strength increase, and in order to obtain safe results of calculations in the surface part of the profile, the Weibull shape coefficient equal to 1.0 can be assumed. On the other hand, the Wu-Waldron model can be used for the initial assessment of the shear strength increase of soil reinforced with roots in the situation, where the deformation properties of the root system and its interaction with the soil are not considered, although the values of the shear strength increase calculated using this model should be corrected and reduced by half. Test results indicate that in terms of slope stability the root systems of beech and hornbeam have the most favourable properties - their maximum effect of soil reinforcement in the profile to the depth of 0.5 m does not usually exceed 30 kPa, and to the depth of 1 m - 20 kPa. The root systems of conifers have the least impact on the slope reinforcement, usually increasing the soil shear strength by less than 5 kPa. These values coincide to a large extent with the range of shear strength increase obtained from the direct shear test as well as results of stability analysis given in literature and carried out as part of this work. The analysis of the literature indicates that the methods of measuring tree's root systems as well as their interpretation are very different, which often limits the possibilities of comparing test results. This indicates the need to systematize this type of tests and for this purpose a root distribution model (RDM) can be used, which can be integrated with any deformation bundle model (RBM). A combination of these two calculation models allows the range of soil reinforcement around trees to be determined and this information might be used in practice, while planning bioengineering procedures in areas exposed to surface mass movements. The functionality of this solution can be increased by considering the dynamics of plant develop¬ment in the calculations. This, however, requires conducting this type of research in order to obtain more data.