Catalogue Search | MBRL
Search Results Heading
Explore the vast range of titles available.
MBRLSearchResults
-
DisciplineDiscipline
-
Is Peer ReviewedIs Peer Reviewed
-
Item TypeItem Type
-
SubjectSubject
-
YearFrom:-To:
-
More FiltersMore FiltersSourceLanguage
Done
Filters
Reset
5
result(s) for
"Williams, Vira"
Sort by:
Computational Design and Service Learning in Informal Settlement Planning: A Pedagogical Model for Architectural Education
by
Lima, Fernando
,
Williams, Vira
,
Schiedemeyer, Emily
in
Algorithms
,
Analysis
,
Architectural design
2026
Rapid urbanization in the Global South continues to intensify the growth of informal settlements, challenging architectural education to equip students with methods capable of addressing complex socio-spatial, environmental, and ethical conditions. While computational design and service-learning have each been explored within architectural pedagogy, their systematic integration, particularly in the context of informal settlement planning, remains underdeveloped. This article presents a pedagogical framework that combines pattern language theory, shape grammars, and parametric modeling with service-learning principles within an undergraduate architectural design studio. Implemented in ARC 4025 (Architecture Studio 5) at the O’More College of Architecture and Design, Belmont University, the framework guides students in translating empirical observations of an informal settlement in Ahmedabad, India, into rule-based and generative design systems. The methodology emphasizes process–product reciprocity, enabling students to encode settlement patterns as transformation rules that generate, test, and evaluate coherent urban forms across multiple scales. A detailed case study, Community at Scale, is presented as a proof of method, illustrating how analysis is converted into computational logic across dwelling, block, and neighborhood scales. Rather than proposing a finalized solution, the study demonstrates how computational design can operationalize morphogenetic reasoning within architectural education while remaining grounded in social responsibility. The article concludes by discussing pedagogical implications, situating the approach within urban morphology discourse, and outlining limitations and directions for future research.
Journal Article
Prevalence of Hantaviruses Harbored by Murid Rodents in Northwestern Ukraine and Discovery of a Novel Puumala Virus Strain
2021
In Europe, two species of hantaviruses, Puumala orthohantavirus (PUUV) and Dobrava orthohantavirus (DOBV), cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in humans. The rodent reservoirs for these viruses are common throughout Ukraine, and hence, the goal of this study was to identify the species and strains of hantaviruses circulating in this region. We conducted surveillance of small rodent populations in a rural region in northwestern Ukraine approximately 30 km from Poland. From the 424 small mammals captured, we identified nine species, of which the most abundant were Myodes glareolus, the bank vole (45%); Apodemus flavicollis, the yellow-necked mouse (29%); and Apodemus agrarius, the striped field mouse (14.6%) Using an indirect immunofluorescence assay, 15.7%, 20.5%, and 33.9% of the sera from M. glareolus, A. glareolus, and A. flavicollis were positive for hantaviral antibodies, respectively. Additionally, we detected antibodies to the hantaviral antigen in one Microtus arvalis, one Mus musculus, and one Sorex minutus. We screened the lung tissue for hantaviral RNA using next-generation sequencing and identified PUUV sequences in 25 small mammals, including 23 M. glareolus, 1 M. musculus, and 1 A. flavicollis, but we were unable to detect DOBV sequences in any of our A. agrarius specimens. The percent identity matrix and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of the S-segment of PUUV from 14 M. glareolus lungs suggest the highest similarity (92–95% nucleotide or 99–100% amino acid) with the Latvian lineage. This new genetic information will contribute to future molecular surveillance of human cases in Ukraine.
Journal Article
Marginality, Agency and Power: Experiencing the State in Contemporary India
2011
The idea of the state has shown remarkable resilience over the last couple of decades, despite assaults on it from neoliberal doctrines and the forces of globalization. During this period, the abiding presence and role of the state has been particularly evident in the contemporary political
life of the Asia Pacific region. This article pays special attention to the contemporary Indian state in the context of development. It reflects upon the ways in which the state is experienced, by focusing on questions of marginality, agency and power as they intersect the politics of development.
By reading the empirical insights documented within this special issue against a rich trajectory of scholarship on the Indian state, the article argues that there has been a recent qualitative change in the way in which the contemporary Congress-led UPA government has presented itself to the
common person. The implementation of pro-poor and more inclusive policies has altered the discursive landscape within which state-society interactions have taken place over the last five years. Importantly, these policies have functioned to reconfigure not only the material interactions
between the state and India's marginalized, but also the imagined spaces within which marginal groups renegotiate their relationships with the state.
Journal Article
North Pontic crossroads: Mobility in Ukraine from the Bronze Age to the early modern period
2024
The North Pontic region, which encompasses present-day Ukraine, was a crossroads of migration as it connected the vast Eurasian Steppe with Central Europe. We generated shotgun-sequenced genomic data for 91 individuals dating from around 7,000 BCE to 1,800 CE to study migration and mobility history in the region, with a particular focus on historically attested migrating groups during the Iron Age and the medieval period, such as Scythian, Chernyakhiv, Saltiv and Nogai associated peoples. We infer a high degree of temporal heterogeneity in ancestry, with fluctuating genetic affinities to present-day Western European, Eastern European, Western Steppe and East Asian groups. We also infer high heterogeneity in ancestry within geographically, culturally and socially defined groups. Despite this, we find that ancestry components which are widespread in Eastern and Central Europe have been present in the Ukraine region since the Bronze Age.