Synthetic biology is described as a new field of biotechnology that models itself on engineering sciences. However, this view of synthetic biology as an engineering field has received criticism, and both biologists and philosophers have argued for a more nuanced and heterogeneous understanding of the field. This paper elaborates the heterogeneity of synthetic biology by clarifying the role of design and the variability of design methodologies in synthetic biology. I focus on two prominent design methodologies: rational (...) class='Hi'>design and directed evolution. Rational design resembles the design methodology of traditional engineering sciences. However, it is often replaced and complemented by the more biologically-inspired method of directed evolution, which models itself on natural evolution. These two approaches take philosophically different stances to the design of biological systems. Rational design aims to make biological systems more machine-like, whereas directed evolution utilizes variation and emergent features of living systems. I provide an analysis of the methodological basis of these design approaches, and highlight important methodological differences between them. By analyzing the respective benefits and limitations of these approaches, I argue against the engineering-dominated conception of synthetic biology and its “methodological monism”, where the rational design approach is taken as the default design methodology. Alternative design methodologies, like directed evolution, should be considered as complementary, not competitive, to rational design. (shrink)

Résumé: O design cultural integra o conteúdo cultural no processo de design. É um meio importante para perceber a inovação da cultura tradicional na herança. O comportamento do design cultural é sutilmente influenciado pela filosofia cultural. Especificamente, a análise do ambiente cultural, a associação semântica cultural e a extração de imagens culturais, na perspectiva da filosofia cultural, ajudam a perceber a explicitação do conhecimento implícito no processo de codificação e decodificação de genes culturais. Selecionamos Ningbo como uma (...) amostra, aprofundamos os genes culturais regionais, exploramos o modelo de geração de design cultural e ainda propusemos a estrutura para a construção de um sistema de serviços de conhecimento de design cultural para fornecer orientação metodológica, para a prática de design cultural regional, a fim de construir capacidades de design cultural sustentável. (shrink)

Due to the complexity of the cavity/vehicle and oscillation characteristics, streamlined shape integrated design of conventional fully wetted vehicles is not suitable for supercavitating vehicles. In this paper, a set of design criteria is highlighted to optimize the length and streamlined shape of a conical section subjected to realistic design constraints, which integrate the complex characteristics of the cavity/vehicle system under the condition of auto-oscillation of supercavitating vehicles. The auto-oscillation and its time-domain characteristics are determined. By deriving (...) the equation describing the cavity/vehicle relationship and identifying the maximum amplitude of the Euler angle, the cavity/vehicle tangent point criterion is proposed to determine the theoretical optimum value of the length of the conical section. A method of equal cross-sectional area for gas flow is proposed to design the streamlined shape of the conical section. Water tunnel and autonomous flight experiments were carried out to validate the feasibility of the design methodology developed in this work. (shrink)

The two principal models of design in methodological circles in architecture—analysis/synthesis and conjecture/analysis—have their roots in philosophy of science, in different conceptions of scientific method. This paper explores the philosophical origins of these models and the reasons for rejecting analysis/synthesis in favour of conjecture/analysis, the latter being derived from Karl Popper’s view of scientific method. I discuss a fundamental problem with Popper’s view, however, and indicate a framework for conjecture/analysis to avoid this problem.

The article analyzes the initial stages of the shaping of design. Like the situation when the shaping of science was preceded by the emergence of methodology, a similar process had been taking plac...

Socio-technical systems (STS) have become prominent platforms for online social interactions. Yet, they are still struggling to incorporate basic social ideas for many different and new online activities. This has resulted in unintended exposure of users’ personal data and a rise in online threats as users have now become a desirable target for malicious activities. To address such challenges, various researchers have argued that STS should support user-oriented configurations to protect their users from online social abuse. Some methodologies have also (...) been proposed to appreciate the integration of social values in the design of information systems, but they often lack an application mechanism. This paper presents a framework for the application of the socio-technical design methodology to incorporate social standards in the design of STS. The proposed framework exemplifies the socio-technical design approach by considering a list of social standards, followed by their mapping onto corresponding technical specifications. Based on these two sets, the framework highlights various individual, inter-group, and intra-group interactions and their supporting tools for STS governance. A conversation about the integration of social standards in STS is already materializing, therefore, a comprehensive framework to apply these standards in STS is entailed. (shrink)

This paper presents a methodology to design and implement programs intended to decide cases, described as sets of factors, according to a theory of a particular domain based on a set of precedent cases relating to that domain. We useDialectical Frameworks, a recent development in AI knowledge representation, as the central feature of our design method. ADFs will play a role akin to that played by Entity–Relationship models in the design of database systems. First, we explain (...) how the factor hierarchy of the well-known legal reasoning system CATO can be used to instantiate an ADF for the domain of US Trade Secrets. This is intended to demonstrate the suitability of ADFs for expressing the design of legal cased based systems. The method is then applied to two other legal domains often used in the literature of AI and Law. In each domain, the design is provided by the domain analyst expressing the cases in terms of factors organised into an ADF from which an executable program can be implemented in a straightforward way by taking advantage of the closeness of the acceptance conditions of the ADF to components of an executable program. We evaluate the ease of implementation, the performance and efficacy of the resulting program, ease of refinement of the program and the transparency of the reasoning. This evaluation suggests ways in which factor based systems, which are limited by taking as their starting point the representation of cases as sets of factors and so abstracting away the particular facts, can be extended to address open issues in AI and Law by incorporating the case facts to improve the decision, and by considering justification and reasoning using portion of precedents. (shrink)

This paper reports on an experiment concerning the social construction of statistical definitions, where the first census of Higher Education Institutions in Europe has been developed. It conceptualizes the construction of indicators as a social process of definitions and boundaries’ negotiation, involving value judgments, social and political opinions, as well as practical interests and power strategies of actors. The paper exemplifies this process on three issues, namely the social demand for establishing a census, the controversy concerning the definition of a (...) perimeter as well as the selection of indicators, and the nature of comparability judgments. We first conclude that the socio-political dimension has to be explicitly taken into account when designing statistical systems; second, that social scientists involved in this process need to openly recognize the conflicts around the definition of indicators; third, that the objectified and taken for granted status of indicators makes them a powerful instrument to influence policy decisions and, that indicator designers need to make their own value judgments and interests fully transparent. (shrink)

This book distinguishes itself in its integrated approach towards scientific research, and studies the basics of the methodology of scientific research and the organization of scientific activity from the viewpoint of systems science and system analysis. The book discusses the basics of the methodology including philosophical, psychological, epistemological and ethical/aesthetical foundations, the characteristics of scientific activity, including principles of scientific cognition, the means and methods of scientific research, the organization of a research implementation process and its chronological structure (...) and finally, the organization of a collective scientific research design. (shrink)

A best-seller in its French edition, the construction of this book is original and its success in the French market demonstrates its appeal. It is based on three principles: 1. An organization of the chapters by families of algorithms : exhaustive search, divide and conquer, etc. At the contrary, there is no chapter only devoted to a systematic exposure of, say, algorithms on strings. Some of these will be found in different chapters. 2. For each family of algorithms, an introduction (...) is given to the mathematical principles and the issues of a rigorous design, with one or two pedagogical examples. 3. For its most part, the book details 150 problems, spanning on seven families of algorithms. For each problem, a precise and progressive statement is given. More important, a complete solution is detailed, with respect to the design principles that have been presented ; often, some classical errors are pointed at. Roughly speaking, two thirds of the book are devoted to the detailed rational construction of the solutions. (shrink)

This book critically examines the philosophy of the term 'transgression' and how it shapes the utopian vision of contemporary urban design scenarios. The aim of this book is to provide scholarly yet accessible graphic novel illustrations to inform narratives of urban manifestos. Through four select case studies from the UK, Cyprus and Germany, the book highlights the paradoxes and contradictions in architecture and provides detailed evaluation of the limits and contemporary forms of sustainable urban regeneration. The book proposes an (...) 'utopian urban vision' approach to social, political and cultural relations, trends and tensions both locally and globally, and seeks to inspire an awakening in architectural discourse. The book argues that the philosophical undermining of transgression is the result of a phenomenon from a different perspective -- its philosophical background, its social construction, its experimental research process and its design implications on the city. As such, the book provides a critical examination of how architectural design interventions contribute to sustainable urban regeneration, gentrification and can impact local communities. This book provides a significant contribution to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as early career researchers working in architecture, planning and sustainable urban design. It offers effective guidance on adopting the state-of-the-art graphical illustrations into their own design projects, while considering contradictions between architectural discourse and the philosophy of transgression. (shrink)

This article presents a selective review of recent design PhDs that identify and analyse the methodological innovation that is occurring in the field, in order to inform future provision of research training. Six recently completed design PhDs are used to highlight possible philosophical and practical models that can be adopted by future PhD students in design. Four characteristics were found in design PhD methodology: innovations in the format and structure of the thesis, a pick-and-mix approach (...) to research design, situating practice in the inquiry, and the validation of visual analysis. The article concludes by offering suggestions on how research training can be improved. By being aware of recent methodological innovations in the field, design educators will be better informed when developing resources for future design doctoral candidates and assisting supervision teams in developing a more informed and flexible approach to practice-based research. (shrink)

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in unethical work behavior. Several types of survey instruments to collect information about unethical work behavior are available. Nevertheless, to date little attention has been paid to design issues of those surveys. There are, however, several important problems that may influence reliability and validity of questionnaire data on the topic, such as social desirability bias. This paper addresses two important issues in the design of online surveys on unethical work (...) behavior: the response scale for questions regarding the frequency of certain types of unethical work behavior and the location of the background questions in an online survey. We present the results of an analysis of a double split-ballot experiment in a large sample (n = 3,386) on governmental integrity. We found that, when comparing response scales that have labels for all categories with response scales that only have anchors at the end, the latter provided answers with higher validity. The study did not provide support for the conventional practice of asking background questions at the end. (shrink)

This paper concerns design thinking (Lawson, 1980), system thinking (systems theory) (von Bertalanffy, 1968), and system dynamics modeling as methodological platforms for analyzing large amounts of qualitative data and transforming it into quantitative mode. The aims of this article are to present an integral (mixed) research process including the design thinking process—a solution oriented approach applicable in the social sciences and humanities which enables to reveal causality in research on societal and behavioral issues. This integral approach is illustrated (...) by an empirical pilot study from art/design-educational environment. (shrink)

Intelligent Design proponents consistently deny that science is rightfully governed by the norm of methodological naturalism—that independent of one’s actual metaphysical commitments regarding the natural/supernatural, a scientist, qua scientist, must behave as if the world is constituted by the natural, material world. This essay works to develop more fully a pragmatic justification for methodological naturalism, one that focuses on a number of key elements found in 17th and 18th century embryology.

This paper argues that although moral intuitions are insufficient for making judgments on new technological innovations, they maintain great utility for informing responsible innovation. To do this, this paper employs the Value Sensitive Design (VSD) methodology as an illustrative example of how stakeholder values can be better distilled to inform responsible innovation. Further, it is argued that moral intuitions are necessary for determining stakeholder values required for the design of responsible technologies. This argument is supported by the (...) claim that the moral intuitions of stakeholders allow designers to conceptualize stakeholder values and incorporate them into the early phases of design. It is concluded that design-for-values (DFV) frameworks like the VSD methodology can remain potent if developers adopt heuristic tools to diminish the influence of cognitive biases thus strengthening the reliability of moral intuitions. (shrink)

With the rapid development of society and the dramatic change of environment, previous career counseling focusing on personal choice has been difficult to meet individuals’ needs. It is very meaningful and valuable to introduce the ideology of Life Design Counseling. In this mini review, we introduce and analyze the theory and methodology of LDC. This review puts forward challenges in the field of LDC, including the lack of attention to clients from multiple backgrounds and professional counselors, the lack (...) of diversified methods in the intervention process, and the lack of diversified research. The theoretical research, practical research, and the integration of theory and practice of LDC still need to be further concerned by researchers. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the implications flowing from adopting methodological naturalism in science, with special emphasis on the relation between science and religion. Methodological naturalism, denying supernatural and teleological explanations, influences the content of scientific theories, and in practice leads to vision of science as compatible with ontological naturalism and in opposition to theism. Ontological naturalism in turn justifies the acceptance of methodological naturalism as the best method to know the reality. If we accept realistic interpretation (...) of scientific theories, then methodological naturalism conflicts science with religion. Theistic evolution does not seem to be a proper way to reconcile Darwinism and methodological naturalism with theism. Many of such propositions are boiled down to deism. Although evolution can be interpreted theistically, it is not the way in which majority of modern scientists and respectable scientific institutions understand it. (shrink)

Purpose: Several accounts like Ernst von Glasersfeld's Who Conceives of Society? (2008) locate empirical research in the social sciences and radical constructivism in almost parallel universes. The main purpose of this paper is to argue for more inter-active relations and to stress the importance of establishing weak, medium and strong ties between radical constructivism and empirical social research in general. Findings: The article shows that that weak, medium and strong ties between radical constructivism and empirical research in the social sciences (...) can be established. Moreover, these weak, medium and strong ties play a crucial role for increasing and maintaining the relevance of radical constructivism within the social sciences and for contributing to the viability of radical constructivism in the long run. Implications: The most important consequence for radical constructivism lies in a new research agenda. In the course of this article weak, medium and strong ties to empirical research have been specified specifically and exclusively for the social sciences. But these specific links cannot be simply generalized or transferred to other disciplinary fields outside the social sciences. Since interactive links between radical constructivism and empirical research are currently missing in practically all disciplines, these weak, medium and strong links, as a new RC-agenda, have to be developed separately for each major scientific research arena. (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Developing a Dialogical Platform for Disseminating Research through Design” by Abigail C. Durrant, John Vines, Jayne Wallace & Joyce Yee. Upshot: This OPC considers the tension inherent in the twin aims of the Research Through Design conferences: providing a high quality academic dialogical conference experience, whilst promoting and recording knowledge generated via a range of actants. It proposes the use of a more transparent underpinning methodology that aligns the disparate elements of (...) the event with the RTD conference aims and content. (shrink)

This is the second of four papers to be published in Research Ethics Review in 2009 that address methodological issues of relevance to research ethics committees. It focuses on three issues: the appropriateness of the research question, the different types of study design available, including both qualitative and quantitative, and the need for, and choice of, a control group. The paper argues that these issues are key to ethical consideration since inappropriate design may not be salvageable and can (...) lead to unusable data, in which case the risks and burdens to participants would be unjustified. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to determine the methodological features of the organization of design engineering activities when teaching physics at school. The article focuses on the formation of design and research skills of students, which is a mandatory requirement of the Federal State Educational Standard of the General Education. From our point of view, one of the stages of the implementation of project activities should be design, so the formation of design skills is also (...) reflected in the FSES BGE. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the definition of the concept of "project design activity", the definition of the methodology of the organization of project design activity in teaching physics at school. As a result, the requirements for the content and organization of design engineering activities in teaching physics at school are identified, a model of the methodology of its organization is proposed; the program of the circle is developed and an example of one of the implemented projects is given. (shrink)

The paper addresses the integration of ethics into professional education related to the disciplines responsible for the conception and creation of the artificial (artefactual or technology). The ontological-epistemological paradigm of those disciplines is understood within the frame of the sciences of the artificial as established by Herbert Simon (1969). According to that paradigm, those sciences include disciplines not only related to the production of artefacts (technology), such as engineering, architecture, industrial design, etc, but also disciplines related to devised courses (...) of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones, like medicine, law, education, etc. They are centered on intentional action and at their core is the activity of design, which is their common foundation and attitude, or their common culture. The science of design becomes the broader foundational discipline for any professions engaged in the intentional transformation of the world. The main distinction between design disciplines and scientific ones rests on the object-project dichotomy. Indeed, contrary to Science that sees the world as an object to be observed, Design sees the world as a project and acts upon the world through projects, which are grounded in intentions, ends, and values. Design disciplines are meant to transform the world, or part of it, and are teleological. Being so, they are embodied in an act that is ethical and their ontology-epistemology must be addressed also through practical reason to resituate all professional disciplines according to their involved nature. (shrink)

The target article is important not only for black-box studies, but also for those interested in tracing cognitive processing and/or subjective experience. I provide two examples taken from my own research. I then proceed to discuss how best to analyze data from the n = 1 study, which has a factorial design.

All methodologies used to characterize mother-infant interaction includes mother, infant, and other social factors. The chief difference is how each methodology selects certain elements of this interaction as relevant. I will argue that in the context of the mother-infant interaction a methodology’s results depend on the model’s presuppositions on the nature of communication. These presupposition affects the kinds of questions asked, the kind of data obtained, and how these data are analyzed. I will show this by contrasting two (...) different analysis of separation studies in infant primates: what I call the Ecological-Linear approach vs. Dynamic System Theory (DST) approach. (shrink)

Emerging technologies such as cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence and robotics, among others, are transforming the field of manufacturing and industry as a whole in unprecedent ways. This fourth industrial revolution is consequentially changing how operators that have been crucial to industry success go about their practices in industrial environments. This short paper briefly introduces the notion of the Operator 4.0 as well as how this novel way of conceptualizing the human operator necessarily implicates human values in (...) the technologies that constitute it. Similarly, the design methodology known as value sensitive design (VSD) is drawn upon to discuss how these Operator 4.0 technologies can be design for human values and, conversely, how a potential value-sensitive Operator 4.0 can be used to strengthen the VSD methodology in developing novel technologies. (shrink)

In this paper, we propose a methodology to maximize the benefits of interdisciplinary cooperation in AI research groups. Firstly, we build the case for the importance of interdisciplinarity in research groups as the best means to tackle the social implications brought about by AI systems, against the backdrop of the EU Commission proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act. As we are an interdisciplinary group, we address the multi-faceted implications of the mass-scale diffusion of AI-driven technologies. The result of our (...) exercise lead us to postulate the necessity of a behavioural theory that standardizes the interaction process of interdisciplinary groups. In light of this, we conduct a review of the existing approaches to interdisciplinary research on AI appliances, leading to the development of methodologies like ethics-by-design and value-sensitive design, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. We then put forth an iterative process theory hinging on a narrative approach consisting of four phases: definition of the hypothesis space, building-up of a common lexicon, scenario-building, interdisciplinary self-assessment. Finally, we identify the most relevant fields of application for such a methodology and discuss possible case studies. (shrink)

In recent controversies about Intelligent Design Creationism (IDC), the principle of methodological naturalism (MN) has played an important role. In this paper, an often neglected distinction is made between two different conceptions of MN, each with its respective rationale and with a different view on the proper role of MN in science. According to one popular conception, MN is a self-imposed or intrinsic limitation of science, which means that science is simply not equipped to deal with claims of the (...) supernatural (Intrinsic MN or IMN). Alternatively, we will defend MN as a provisory and empirically grounded attitude of scientists, which is justified in virtue of the consistent success of naturalistic explanations and the lack of success of supernatural explanations in the history of science (Provisory MN or PMN). Science does have a bearing on supernatural hypotheses, and its verdict is uniformly negative. We will discuss five arguments that have been proposed in support of IMN: the argument from the definition of science, the argument from lawful regularity, the science stopper argument, the argument from procedural necessity, and the testability argument. We conclude that IMN, because of its philosophical flaws, proves to be an ill-advised strategy to counter the claims of IDC. Evolutionary scientists are on firmer ground if they discard supernatural explanations on purely evidential grounds, instead of ruling them out by philosophical fiat. (shrink)

The subject of the research is a modern graphic and communicative design, in the context of changing existing and forming new roles of communicators, transforming the communication model, forming a semiotic communication format. The object of the research is modern graphic and communicative design, as well as their traditional, digital and generative subdirections. Design beginning to have digital, semiotic-interactive and artificially intelligent characteristics. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as: dialogical, semiotic-interactive qualities of (...) design solutions; digital, semiotic-interactive design-software expressive means; features of semiotic-deconstructivity (analyticity) and semiotic-synthetics (constructiveness) of design solutions in the context of design activity; the influence of technical and technological features of tools and design-environments (design systems) for the formation of automated and artificially intelligent qualities of design solutions. The study of the conceptual model of a semiotic-interactive design is carried out in the context of a semiotic-interactive methodology (a set of principles and strategies of design activity). The main conclusions of the study are the description of the conceptual model of a semiotic-interactive design solution, in the context of a semiotic-interactive methodology implemented in the conceptual-generative subdirection of modern graphic and communicative design. The author's main contribution to the research of the topic is to identify the main components of the conceptual model of a semiotic-interactive design solution and demonstrate their relationship with each other in the form of a holistic model. The novelty of the research lies in the description of the characteristics of the components, the conceptual model of a semiotic-interactive design solution: a dialogical semiotic-interactive format for creating invariant concepts and design solutions; versioning of design solutions based on the semiotic synthesis of design programs; semiotic deconstruction of design solutions at the macro and micro levels; semiotic synthesis of design and artistic design programs; application of design programs as decision tools; use of hyperconnected capabilities of the design environment: the history of actions, integrity and continuous change and development. (shrink)

Modern technologies have enabled the development of dynamic game- and simulation-based assessments to measure psychological constructs. This has highlighted their potential for supplementing other assessment modalities, such as self-report. This study describes the development, design, and preliminary validation of a simulation-based assessment methodology to measure psychological resilience—an important construct for multiple life domains. The design was guided by theories of resilience, and principles of evidence-centered design and stealth assessment. The system analyzed log files from a simulated (...) task to derive individual trajectories in response to stressors. Using slope analyses, these trajectories were indicative of four types of responses to stressors: thriving, recovery, surviving, and succumbing. Using Machine Learning, the trajectories were predictive of self-reported resilience with high accuracy, supporting construct validity of the simulation-based assessment. These findings add to the growing evidence supporting the utility of gamified assessment of psychological constructs. Importantly, these findings address theoretical debates about the construct of resilience, adding to its theory, supporting the combination of the “trait” and “process” approaches to its operationalization. (shrink)

The paper is an introduction to the anthropology of infrastructures. We define how infrastructure is understood on the grounds of anthropology and science and technology studies. We show what is the significance of various infrastructures for the functioning of modern and late societies. The text discusses extensively the methodological challenges of studying infrastructures. We not only explain why analyzing infrastructures is difficult but also discuss several methodological tricks we can resort to when trying to uncover infrastructures. We elaborate the methodological (...) guidelines on the margins of two research projects. The first dealt with social aspects of epidemics, and the second with urban clusters of innovative companies. (shrink)

Publication date: 30 August 2017 Source: Author: Oleg Tarnopolsky This paper analyzes a project devoted to elaborating a new textbook of English for students majoring in “Tourism.” The textbook is designed on the basis of the constructivist approach, i.e. such an organization of the teaching/learning process that ensures students’ involuntary language acquisition through participation in target language communication which is implemented when performing learning tasks modeling the professional activities of the future university graduates. Those tasks are completed in the form (...) of experiential learning activities that provide for modeling the students’ future professional activities and professional target language communication, giving them opportunities of acquiring the language involuntarily through practical experience of participating in such communication. Examples of experiential learning activities are given – those that are used in every unit of the textbook as organized in the separate parts of every such unit. (shrink)