Local Knowledge

This paper introduces a novel knowledge based neural network models that incorporate and adapt both existing logistic regression formulas and kernel functions in there structures to improve the learning and adaptation ability of a connectionist model when there is an existing knowledge on the problem in the form of a logistic regression. Different from standard feed-forward neural networks, the proposed

Greater bamboo lemurs (Prolemur simus) are endemic to Madagascar and are the only recognized species within their genus. The IUCN lists the species as critically endangered, with very few confirmed distribution records and <200 individuals known in the wild. With the aim of contributing to its conservation, we attempted to find previously unknown sites containing the species. Working closely with local communities, and basing our methodology on the gathering of local knowledge, we surveyed 44 sites in and around the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor. We found evidence of the presence of Prolemur simus at 18 sites. We made direct sightings at 6 sites, of a total of 65 confirmed individuals, and identified their characteristic feeding remains at the other sites. Twelve of the sites are located in midaltitude rain forest within the corridor, and 6 lie in isolated and degraded lowland areas outside the corridor. These discoveries more than double the number of sites where the species is known to occur, and extend its known range 85 km further north. We identified numerous threats to the newly discovered sites, including hunting pressure, habitat destruction, habitat disturbance, and habitat fragmentation. Demographic factors related to small population sizes and population isolation may also impact the viability of the populations. Our results illustrate the benefits of systematic gathering of local knowledge when searching for rare or secretive primates.

We propose a solution to achieve a global self-healing process based on local knowledge of each network element using a model-based diagnosis approach. Then we illustrate this solution in an IMS platform and detail the corresponding causal graph and diagnosis process.

The two objectives of this study are to compare the performances of different data fusion techniques for the enhancement of urban features and subsequently to improve urban land cover types classification using a refined Bayesian classification. For the data fusion, wavelet-based fusion, Brovey transform, Elhers fusion and principal component analysis are used and the results are compared. The refined Bayesian

This chapter is about the construction of birth in rural Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, maternal deaths are very prevalent, 320 per 100,000 live births annually, and the construct of birth that is produced in everyday life results in many unwarranted and unnecessary deaths. Various social ...

Can there be a global epistemology— that is, a way of assessing different approaches to the study of global processes? How to analyze any social process depends on how we decide to see it in the first place. This does not mean that we will always see what we wish to see; only that the decision to see in a particular way— that is, to emphasize one dimension of a phenomenon over another— will produce in us the impression that what we are observing is either " true " or at least the most relevant angle for our interests, even though it may be a very small part of the larger, more meaningful, more complex whole. Those who focus on the political economy of globalization, for example, may believe that globalization consists only of political economy. Those who focus on power dynamics will likely be predisposed to assess it as just the latest iteration of imperial or high politics. Those who are highly sensitized to questions of " hegemony " will tend to believe that globalization as they see it presents a clear tale of their cherished concept. The perspectives listed previously are not necessarily " wrong " inasmuch as they are deeply myopic. Myopia means that the analysis is not necessarily an error but that it is relevant only to one dimension of a problem that is more complex than the analysis has made it to appear. This perspectivist problem is especially weighty in the study of global phenomena because these are by definition extremely complex and wide-ranging in their implications, given their worldwide scope and that they affect all spheres of life, including economy, culture , and politics. It is curious, therefore, that no epistemology has developed specifically in relation to the study of global processes. This is likely because most globalization experts saw no practical or empirical ways to draw on a rich philosophical tradition, or perhaps because they assumed that they could, without any epistemology, identify what was most compelling about something as huge as global processes. In this chapter, I first outline the scope of global epistemology and then devote the rest of the chapter to highlighting some perspectivist issues that illustrate what it may consist of. The scope of global epistemology is vast, but it can be captured in two general approaches. The first approach identifies local phenomena that could be explained in terms of global processes. Here, the global is made to explain the local. The second approach targets global phenomena directly so as to identify their general patterns. Usually, this is the opposite of the former approach: Local or situational phenomena are brought together to explain the global. Both approaches have underlying epistemological assumptions. The most radical

Currently, dietary patterns change rapidly all over the world. Most notably, there is a fast increase in the convenience food market. Here we discuss the overall theoretical framework and strategy of an EU-funded project on local food, a common resource in many parts of the Mediterranean. Such food is often only available seasonally and is consumed either fresh (e.g. spring salads and vegetables, fruits in autumn) or in a conserved form (dried, fermented, pickled). There is an urgent need to document and analyse such local resources, which are today at the brink of disappearance. In this project, selected species were studied using a multidisciplinary approach, including strategies and methods from pharmacology, nutritional sciences and anthropology (i.e. ethnopharmacological or ethnonutritional ones). For example, all extracts were profiled using HPLC-MS, by determining their polyphenol content and using a variety of in vitro anti-oxidant assays (incl. guaiacol oxidation, xanthine oxidase inhibition, HOCl scavenging, eNOS activity). Such research also points to ways for ascertaining the intergenerational transmission of the knowledge and for sustainable development and management. Examples from field studies in southern Italy and from pharmacological studies using a variety of targets are used to illustrate the potential of such neglected resources. The wider implications of such an approach, for example, for the study of similar traditions in Central and Eastern Europe are also discussed.

The use of local knowledge in and for development is a relatively recent phenomenon, entering the realm of development theory and practice from the mid 1970s, yet it has become a key part of the rhetoric and practice of development agencies and academic research. The conceptual and historical background to local knowledge in development, including its roots of ‘Western’ engagement with ‘other’ or ‘indigenous’ knowledges, is key to understanding their more contemporary application in development practice. As local knowledge has entered the development orthodoxy, so a more critical approach has emerged, with particularly important contributions from Geographers, as to the use, application, and conceptual understanding of how knowledges are interpreted and adopted within development. This critique has highlighted the dynamic, political, and spatial nature of such knowledge, and problematises the notion that they are fundamentally ‘good’ for local development. For Geographers, and those working in development studies, there remain important questions about local knowledge, including how such knowledges are constituted by relationships and networks that go beyond the local, how such knowledges are ‘learnt’ and (re)produced in time and space, and how the knowledges of still marginalised actors in local communities can be taken account of.

This paper combines participatory activities (PA) with remote sensing analysis into an integrated methodology to describe and explain land-cover changes. A remote watershed on Mindanao (Philippines) is used to showcase the approach, which hypothesizes that the accuracy of expert knowledge gained from remote sensing techniques can be further enhanced by inputs from vernacular knowledge when attempting to understand complex land mosaics and past land-use changes. Six participatory sessions based on focus-group discussions were conducted. These were enhanced by community-based land-use mapping, resulting in a final total of 21 participatory land-use maps (PLUMs) co-produced by a sample of stakeholders with different sociocultural and ecological perspectives. In parallel, seven satellite images (Landsat MSS, Landsat TM, Landsat ETM+, and SPOT4) were classified following standard techniques and provided snapshots for the years 1976, 1996, and 2010. Local knowledge and collective memory contributed to define and qualify relevant land-use classes. This also provided information about what had caused the land-use changes in the past. Results show that combining PA with remote-sensing analy-sis provides a unique understanding of land-cover change because the two methods complement and validate one another. Substantive qualitative information regarding the chronology of land-cover change was obtained in a short amount of time across an area poorly covered by scientific literature. The remote sensing techniques contributed to test and to quantify verbal reports of land-use and land-cover change by stakeholders. We conclude that the method is particularly relevant to data-poor areas or conflict zones where rapid reconnaissance work is the only available option. It provides a preliminary but accurate baseline for capturing land changes and for reporting their causes and consequences. A discussion of the main challenges encountered (i.e. how to combine different systems of knowledge), and options for further methodological improvements, are also provided.

Ce rapport contient le Plan de réduction du risques d'inondation de Tallé, un village administratif de la commune rurale de Gothèye, région de Tillabéri, Niger. Tallé (2 603 habitants en 2012, 0,5 km2 de surface bâtie en 2019) est situé le long de la rivière Sirba, près de la confluence avec le fleuve Niger. Le village est menacé par les inondations fluviales. Le plan est structuré selon l’ISO 31010. L’analyse intègre les connaissances locales et scientifiques. Le processus de planification est entièrement participatif. Les risque d’inondation est identifié et analysé. Les zones inondables suite au débordement de la Sirba et de reflux du fleuve Niger sont identifiées en fonction de trois scénarios de probabilité d’occurrence grâce à une modélisation hydraulique 1D. Les enjeux sont identifiés après une reconnaissance systématique de terrain. Huit mesures de réduction du risque sont sélectionnées et classées par ordre de priorité. L’analyse bénéfice/coût est utilisée pour évaluer l’intérêt de traiter ou d’accepter le risque. Le dispositif de suivi-évaluation est décrit. Le plan comprend règlement des zones inondables, le zonage règlementaire, les cartes des aléas et des enjeux, ainsi que des fiches décrivant chaque action prioritaire. --- (ENGLISH) This report contains the Flood Risk Reduction Plan for Tallé, an administrative village of the rural municipality of Gothèye, Tillabéri region, Niger. Garbey Kourou (2603 inhabitants in 2012, 0.5 km2 of built up area in 2019) is located along the Sirba River, close to the confluence with the Niger River. The village is threatened by fluvial floods. The plan is structured according to the ISO 31010. The analysis integrates local and scientific knowledge. The planning process is fully participatory. Flood risk is identified and analyzed. Areas inundated by the flood of the Sirba river and the backwaters of the Niger river are identified according to three river flood probability of occurrence scenarios through a 1D hydraulic modeling. Floodable assets are identified through a systematic field survey. Eight risk reduction actions are selected and prioritized. Benefit/cost analysis is used to assess the convenience of treating or accepting the risk. The monitoring and evaluation system is described. The plan consists of the flood zone regulation, hazard, assets, and zoning maps, and sheets describing each priority action.

This article presents the result of research on the perceptions about the
meanings, causes, symptoms and treatments of mental disorders in contemporary Timorese society. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 48 matan-dook – healers, doctors and mediators between the world of the living and the world of the dead by ancestral customs and practices – in the municipalities of Aileu, Ainaro, Dili, Liquiçá, Los Palos, Maliana, Manatuto, Manufahi and Viqueque. In general terms, mental disorders would have a somatic-psychic-spiritual character and would be the consequence of actions perceived as deviant from the socially established norm, constituting a rupture in the conception of harmony and social order.

Este artigo apresenta o resultado da pesquisa acerca das percepções sobre os significados, causas, sintomas e tratamentos dos transtornos mentais na sociedade timorense contemporânea. Para tal, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com 48 matan-dook – curandeiros, médicos e mediadores entre o mundo dos vivos e o dos mortos, de acordo com os costumes e práticas ancestrais – nos municípios de Aileu, Ainaro, Dili, Liquiçá, Los Palos, Maliana, Manatuto, Manufahi e Viqueque. Em termos gerais, os transtornos mentais teriam um carácter somático-psíquico-espiritual, e seriam a consequência de ações percebidas como desviantes da norma socialmente estabelecida, constituindo-se em uma ruptura na concepção de harmonia e ordem social.

Artykuł prezentuje wyniki badań przeprowadzonych w połowie 2014 r., mających na celu identyfikację oczekiwań władz małych miast wobec polskiej państwowej polityki rozwoju lokalnego. Jako źródło informacji o tych oczekiwaniach wybrano grupę 46 burmistrzów małych miast, natomiast jako metodę badawczą zastosowano sondaż diagnostyczny oparty na długim wywiadzie osobistym. Zidentyfikowane oczekiwania dotyczyły reformy systemu stałego finansowania gmin, zmian systemów dystrybucji środków unijnych, wyposażenia samorządów lokalnych w nowe instrumenty oddziaływania na ponadlokalne relacje ich gmin, redukcji antywzorców prowadzenia polityki, usuwania sprzeczności i niejasności prawa, a także zmian zasad funkcjonowania organu stanowiącego i wykonawczego władz lokalnych. Oczekiwania te można i należy traktować jako współczesne wyzwania państwowej polityki rozwoju lokalnego, ponieważ dotyczą one jej gruntownych, wielowymiarowych zmian. Ponadto rozpatrywane łącznie tworzą dla tej polityki wyzwanie, które można określić jako jej współczesne wyzwanie generalne. Jest nim oczekiwanie władz lokalnych, że władze państwowe zwiększą ich podmiotowość w definiowaniu i kreowaniu rozwoju kraju, pogłębiając swoją aprobatę dla paradygmatu rozwoju lokalnego.

[The article presents the results of research carried out in mid-2014 to identify the expectations presented by the authorities of small cities in the light of Polish state local development policy. 46 mayors were selected as the source of information about these expectations and a diagnostic survey based on long personal interviews was chosen as the research method. The expectations concerned the reform of the municipalities’ permanent funding system, changes in the systems governing EU funds distribution, providing local authorities with new instruments for shaping their municipalities’ supra-local relationships, reducing anti-patterns in policy and politics, eliminating contradictions and ambiguities in law, and changes in the rules governing both decisive and executive bodies of local authorities. The expectations discussed should be approached as contemporary challenges for state policy on local development, since the mayors refer to thorough and multidimensional alterations to that policy. Furthermore, if analysed jointly, the expectations constitute a challenge for this policy, which can be referred to as its general contemporary challenge. Local authorities expect that the state government will increase its subjectivity in defining and creating local development by extending its approval for the local development paradigm.]

Language and culture share a nebulous relationship with multiple considerations like which culture and how it should be represented, taking into account the diverse contexts in which English is taught. This paper investigates the integration of local knowledge into English language learning by examining the cultural content of the Your Language My Culture supplementary reading module and teachers and students' acceptance of the module. Using a conceptual framework that incorporated types of culture, cultural senses and representation of cultural information, data were collected using a questionnaire, reflective blogs and evaluation checklists from 57 teachers from various schools in the state of Terengganu in Malaysia. Content and thematic analysis were carried out and the findings show that while local, target and international culture were represented, the emphasis was towards local culture. Most of the cultural information was represented in the form of visual illustrations and less in dialogue and video recordings with the aesthetic sense dominating in terms of cultural sense. It is recommended that types of representations like dialogues, recordings, written tasks, visuals, texts and realia be included to help students attain pragmatic skills to use the language. A richer inclusion of the cultural senses in a balanced way can help students reach a holistic understanding of culture and recognize different perspectives embedded in the language.

With the publication of its first book, the Museum of Mormon History in Mexico is helping to initiate an era in which international Mormon history is produced and published in local languages by local people. Fernanco R. Gómez Páez, president of the museum, and Raymundo Gómez González, director of the museum, coauthor of this book, and an engineer, founded this independent museum to house the historical materials gathered by their aunt, Conseulo Gómez González, an influential early convert to Mormonism in Mexico. The publication of an intellectual biography of Plotino Constantino Rhodakanaty, the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Central Mexico, marks the expansion of their efforts from historical preservation to the production of local Mormon history. The title translated as "Mormon Eagle or Christian Anarchist" juxtaposes Rhodakanaty's prominent place in Mormon history with his significant role in Mexican intellectual history.

This book provides readers with a wide overview of place-based planning and design experiments addressing such powerful transformations in the African built environment. This continent is currently undergoing fast paced urban, institutional and environmental changes, which have stimulated an increasing interest for alternative architectural solutions, urban designs and comprehensive planning experiments.
The international and balanced array of the collected contributions explore emerging research concepts for understanding urban and peri-urban processes in Africa, discuss bottom-up planning and design practices, and present inspirational and innovative co-design methods and participatory tools for steering such change through public spaces, sustainable services and infrastructures.
The book is intended for students, researchers, decision-makers and practitioners engaged in planning and design for the built environment in Africa and the Global South at large.

Problematyka rozwoju lokalnego była wielokrotnie podejmowana w literaturze przedmiotu. Liczne prace poświęcone mu koncentrują się na jego celach, czynnikach, stymulowaniu go i na jego pomiarze. Mimo to, jak dotąd niewiele uwagi poświęcono pojęciu polityki rozwoju lokalnego prowadzonej przez władze lokalne. Kategorii polityk rozwoju lokalnego prowadzonych przez władze ponadlokalne w ogóle nie formułowano i nie omawiano. Polityki takie są jednak prowadzone w Polsce i za granicą, a ich znaczenie rośnie. Istnieje zatem potrzeba ich definiowania i charakteryzowania dla budowy aparatu pojęciowego wykorzystywanego w dyskursie naukowym, w praktyce projektowania i aplikacji tych polityk oraz w dydaktyce.
Artykuł to próba odpowiedzi na to wyzwanie. Otwiera go prezentacja genezy i istoty lokalizmu oraz koncepcji rozwoju lokalnego. Następnie sformułowano pojęcia rozwoju lokalnego postrzeganego z perspektyw lokalnej i ponadlokalnej oraz omówiono paradygmat rozwoju lokalnego, jego znaczenie i pozycje˛ wobec innych paradygmatów rozwoju. Bazując na lokalnej i ponadlokalnej perspektywach rozwoju lokalnego, sformułowano kategorie lokalnej (gminnej) praz ponadlokalnych (regionalnej, państwowej i ponadpaństwowej) polityk rozwoju lokalnego i wskazano podmioty, które je prowadzą. Omówiono także cele i cechy tych polityk, sposoby ich prowadzenia oraz ich pozycje wobec innych polityk funkcjonalnych i horyzontalnych. W dalszej kolejności przedstawiono spójności wertykalną i horyzontalną ponadlokalnych polityk rozwoju lokalnego. W artykule wykorzystano metody badawcze krytycznej analizy literatury przedmiotu, indukcji, dedukcji i analogii.

[The local development issues were repeatedly discussed in the subject literature. Numerous works devoted to it focus on its objectives, factors and its measurement. Despite this, until now, a little attention has been paid to the category of local development policy pursued by local authorities. The categories of local development policies pursued by the supra-local authorities have not been formulated or discussed at all. Nevertheless, such policies are held in Poland and abroad, and their importance is growing. Thus, there is a need for their definement and characterizing for the construction of nomenclature used in academic discourse and in the practice of design and the application of these policies and in didactics as well. The purpose of this article is to answer this challenge. It opens with the presentation of the origin and the nature of localism and the idea of local development. Then the categories of the local development perceived from the local and supra-local perspectives have been formulated, as well as local development paradigm, its meaning and position in relation to other paradigms of development have been described. Based on local and supra-local perspectives of local development, the categories of local (municipal) and supra-local (regional, national and international) policies of local development have been formulated and the entities who pursue them have been pointed. Also the purpose and features of these policies, ways of their pursuing and their positions in relation to other functional and horizontal policies have been described. Next, the vertical and horizontal cohesion of supra-local policies of local development have been presented. The article uses the research methods of critical analysis of the subject literature, induction, deduction and analogy.]

PARACITY Magazine presenting the modular organic parasitic urban structure developed for flooding, tsunami-risk, post-industrial and slum areas. Presented in the China Central Academy of Fine Arts CAFAM Biennale 2014. Casagrande Laboratory Center of Urban Research CURE.

The book “Seeing Like a State” by James Scott (1998) provides a piercingly apposite critique of ‘State, Society and Development’. Already in the beginning of the book Scott offers an important caveat necessary to comprehend the genesis of the book and hence its content, when he notes that while he “set out to understand why the state has always seemed to be the enemy of people who move around” (1), the book took a different route. Instead, Scott is inspired by the paradoxical way in which “so many well-intended schemes to improve the human condition have gone so tragically awry” (4).

在日本人類學家尚未進入臺灣調查原住民族之前，對民族誌學有興趣的西方學者已經開始向世界報導臺灣原住民的文化，並嘗試說明臺灣各族群的來源與先祖來臺的時間。其中兩個特異的觀點，分別是蘇格蘭商人John Dodd說臺灣的客家人是十三世紀中國水師殘兵的後代，以及東京帝國大學歷史教授Ludwig Riess認為客家人在十四世紀時開始移民臺灣。雖然他們的說法在實證上已被否定，但本研究從知識史的角度切入，將他們的奇特說法視為西方人類學知識與十九世紀末葉臺灣福建裔漢人的地方知識相遇的結果。十九世紀在臺灣的西方研究者需要依賴在地人的地方知識，例如用來指涉臺灣各族群的詞彙，Ke-lang、Pe-po、Sek-hoan、Chhi-hoan等等，顯然受到占主導地位的福建裔漢人的影響。但福建裔漢人並沒有給自己名字，西方人也就籠統地稱他們為Chinese。這個便宜之計卻也把Ke-lang/Hakka排除在Chinese之外，模糊了Hakka與其他hoan的邊界。再者，福建裔漢人有心中「先來者野蠻」和「後來者文明受教化」的偏見，使他們錯認客家與熟番，使那些在文化表現上「看起來比較番」的客家人，被誤認為比福建裔漢人還要早來臺灣了。筆者認為，福建裔漢人的族群觀與文明觀，或說對他者的偏見，就藉由詞語的借用流入西方業餘人類學家的知識中，並且在Dodd和Riess的著作中留下痕跡。