Seit Mitte 1950er Jahre hatten Bundesregierungen immer wieder betont, dass die Bundesrepublik „kein „Einwanderungsland“ sei. Das Bekenntnis der Rot-Grünen Koalition zum „Einwanderungsland“ und die Reformen im Bereich des Staatsbürgerschaftsrechts (1999), des Arbeitsrechts (2000) und der Zuwanderung (2004) markierte daher für viele Experten einen Paradigmawandel in der deutschen Immigrations- und Integrationspolitik. Dieser Wandel ist nie systematisch untersucht worden. Für den Zeitraum von 1981 bis 2005 geht die Arbeit auf der Basis einer stichwortbasierten Inhaltsanalyse und eines Gesetzgebungsindexes deshalb den Fragen nach, (1) inwieweit sich Veränderungen in der politischen Zuwanderungsdiskussion in Deutschland am Beispiel des Deutschen Bundestags nachweisen lassen (Diskursebene), (2) inwiefern die gesetzliche Steuerung und Regulierung von Immigration und Integration in dieser Periode von Liberalisierungstendenzen gekennzeichnet war (Policyebene), und (3) in welchem Verhältnis Diskurs und Policy zueinander stehen. Politische, ökonomische und gesellschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen werden dabei berücksichtigt. Theoretisch basiert die Arbeit auf den Annahmen der Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, die etwas ausführlicher dargestellt und mit den Konzepten Paradigma, Frame und Policywandel verbunden wird. / The paper deals with parliamentary discourse and public policy in the realm of immigration and integration in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1981 and 2005. All federal governments until the late 1990s had publically denied that Germany was a “country of immigration”. After the coalition under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder took office in 1998 this traditional “anti-immigrant” rhetoric seemed to change and reforms of long held policy strongholds in the areas of citizenship, work, immigration and integration were initiated. Some experts interpreted these changes as a fundamental policy “paradigm shift”. The paper sets out to examine this diagnosis as it has never been systematically tested. At the theoretical level, the author links the Punctuated Equilibrium Approach with related concepts of paradigms, frames and policy change. Methodologically, he combines a keyword-based content analysis for analyzing parliamentary debates on “foreigners” with an index approach that helps tracing liberalization tendencies in federal policies on immigration and integration over time.

This dissertation aims to contrast the differences between Montesquieu¡¦s and Quesnay¡¦s thoughts of China Despotism theory, to analyze the methodology and epistemology used by the two scholars to demonstrate and observe traditional China despotism, and, to expound and examine the description of traditional China despotism in Montesquieu¡¦s and Quesnay¡¦s thoughts. Montesquieu was a rare one among Enlightenment philosophers who profoundly discussed China Despotism in the eighteenth century. In the elaboration of Montesquieu¡¦s China Despotism, there were lots of contradictions in De L'espirt Des Lois. Traditional China government was depreciated by him. From the empirical induce methodology, positivism epistemology and ontology¡¦s point of view, this dissertation tries to deeply analyze and research Montesquieu¡¥s China Despotism. At the time, there were also some Enlightenment Philosophers who have a different view of China Despotism. The representative was a Physiocrat ¡V Francois Quesnay. In his Le Despotisme De La Chine, he marked traditional China government positively. Quesnay, who developed his view based on the same empirical facts about traditional China according to the eighteenth century¡¦s Jesuits, travelers and businessmen and with the same natural science methodology, had totally different views and thoughts about China Despotism from Montesquieu. This dissertation has a detailed study and review on these differences. Questions will be explored in this dissertation are as below. Did the natural science methodology and epistemology of Montesquieu¡¦s and Quesnay¡¦s China Despotism strengthen the judgment of how they valued traditional China government? Were there pre-judgments in their so-called neutral and objective denouncement about the way they researched China Despotism in the empirical induce methodology and epistemology? Were Montesquieu¡¦s and Quesnay¡¦s judgments about China Depotism enhanced by the natural science methodology and epistemology a kind of western centralism? Did they, in the name of neutral and objective empirical induce methodology and epistemology that could not reason non-western value, refuse and devaluate other non-western value? This dissertation has a deeply reflection on these from the ¡§paradigm¡¨ and ¡§incommensurable¡¨ methodological concepts of Thomas S. Kuhn¡¦s. If Montesquieu¡¦s China Despotism was the main point of western culture, was the way Quesnay observed traditional China government presenting a different value in the west culture and there were still some admiring this kind of value? Was this kind of evaluation neglected by recent Chinese intellects? This is a serious problem worthy of reconsideration and reflection. Keywords: Montesquieu, François Quesnay, Physiocracy, Despotism, enlightened despotism, China Despotism, natural science methodology, theory laden, Thomas S. Kuhn, paradigm, incommensurable

Many mathematical models have been designed to remove noise from images. Most of them focus on grey value images with additive artificial noise. Only very few specifically target natural color photos taken by a digital camera with real noise. Noise in natural color photos have special characteristics that are substantially different from those that have been added artificially. In this thesis previous denoising models are reviewed. We analyze the strengths and weakness of existing denoising models by showing where they perform well and where they don't. We put special focus on two models: The steering kernel regression model and the non-local model. For Kernel Regression model, an adaptive bilateral filter is introduced as complementary to enhance it. Also a non-local bilateral filter is proposed as an application of the idea of non-local means filter. Then the idea of cross-channel denoising is proposed in this thesis. It is effective in denoising monochromatic images by understanding the characteristics of digital noise in natural color images. A non-traditional color space is also introduced specifically for this purpose. The cross-channel paradigm can be applied to most of the exisiting models to greatly improve their performance for denoising natural color images.

本研究以個案公司切入中國市場，採取個案研究法討論個案公司如何配合產業的特性進行策略轉換，進一步達到擴張階段布局的效果；並討論B2B軟體產業如何應付價格與價值的兩難，切入新興市場，並且享受高門檻軟體產品所帶來的套牢(Lock-in)效果。以期待能夠複製此種模式至其他開發中國家，或提供不同產業策略啟發之用。 研究了解除巨觀的進入策略外，必須同時透過細部交易分析考量微觀的交易成本。在面對國際市場的進入策略選擇時，通常會藉由進入策略的分析，期待能在各種不同的進入模式中，挑到合適的選項。但必須更深入考慮，不論是採行獨資、合資、授權等方式，對客戶而言產業所獨有的交易模式與在地企業沒有兩樣。因此必須要針對交易本身進行深入的分析，即使是採取獨資設立子公司的方式，也必須考慮與客戶進行交易的模式，才是完整的進入策略。 而針對交易模式的特性，必須分階段破解交易成本的限制，當中又以專屬資產最是重要。既有大型系統軟體可利用模組分割，採取近似免費增殖（Freemium）的作法分階段獲利。在銷售前期以基礎功能模組的方式，降低使用者的採購成本以換取快速的市場佔有率，並且可以藉此建立使用者的專屬資產，有利後續再銷售的獲利模式。而在進行模組分割的同時，除藉此降低前期銷售的單價外，必須考慮如何降低再銷售時所衍生的系統擴充成本。因此遠端試用及軟體授權開通的設計，就對中國市場幅員遼闊差旅費用高的困難，有很大的幫助。 且除了銷售與再銷售的系統設計外，藉由系統整合建立與經銷商和使用者間的專屬資產，則是確保經銷商在較長時間的採購頻率中，仍會選擇同一企業作為優先合作的對象，以達到策略目標中的獲得再銷售收益的效果。

In the United States, a growing number of young people are failing to launch into self-sufficiency, a characteristic of adulthood recognized by most cultural groups. These â??boomerang childrenâ?? return home and interrupt the life course development of their â??empty nestâ?? mothers who must suspend plans for self-development. How mothers from different socioeconomic backgrounds cope with this countertransitional phenomenon while preparing their children for successful relaunch is not well known. Elder's life course paradigm provided the theoretical framework for this phenomenological study. Perceptions were collected from an ethnically diverse group of 23 empty nest mothers with 30 boomerang children and seven boomerang grandchildren from five U.S. states, recruited using criterion-based convenience sample. Data were collected through recorded telephone interviews that were transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using Saldana's codes-categories-emergent themes model. The findings revealed that boomerang children caused emotional and financial distress, a reassessment of parenting skills, and that boomerang grandchildren reinvigorated the mother's prime identity as a caregiver. These findings were consistent regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic status. This study contributes to the empirical literature by depicting the boomerang phenomenon as a shift in cultural expectations which represents a new phase in the life course development paradigm. Findings from this study can also guide the work of future researchers, assist mental health counselors who deal with these issues, and inform school guidance counselors who design career trajectories for students.

Adopting a socio-cultural approach to the study of cold war historiography, this master’s degree essay is a comparative study of the two main disciplinary fields of cold war scholarship, diplomatic history and international relations theory (IR). The study applies the theory of scientific development formulated by Thomas Kuhn and the concept of paradigm on the field of cold war research. Diplomatic history and IR shows many similarities in their development, and in the importance different schools has had in scholarly debate. These different schools are analysed as paradigms, a concept that has been more willingly adopted within IR than in diplomatic history. The transition from what historian John Lewis Gaddis has termed Old Cold War History to New Cold War History is discussed in terms of paradigms and paradigm shift. What this shift has meant for historical cold war research is also addressed. With the starting point in conclusions by historian Anders Stephanson, the study also suggests that the predominating view of the cold war during the cold war can be analysed as a paradigm, effecting interpretations and theories about the conflict. As IR scholar Ted Hopf has suggested, the normal science during the cold war prevented IR research from correctly predicting the end of the cold war. From a Kuhnian perspective, an interpretation of the difficulties in communication and scholarly interchange between diplomatic history and IR is offered. The study emphasizes the importance of political and social factors in the development of the different paradigms within the field, and concludes that the goal to become a paradigmatic science might not be attainable, or even desirable, for disciplines such as diplomatic history and IR.

Disertacijoje nagrinėjamas vizualinės kultūros diskursas kaip konceptualus meninio ugdymo pamatas, aktualus šiuolaikinės kultūros ir ugdymo paradigmų kaitos kontekste. Tyrimo tikslas – atskleisti vizualinės kultūros edukacinį reikšmingumą ir ypatumus meniniame (dailiniame) ugdyme, ištirti vizualinės kultūros studijų poreikį, problemas ir perspektyvas rengiant dailės pedagogus. Tyrimo problema siejama su meninio ugdymo situacija Lietuvoje, kur vizualinės kultūros diskursas yra nauja tyrimų sritis. Disertacijoje teoriškai pagrindžiamos vizualinės kultūros ugdymo prielaidos visuose meninio ugdymo lygiuose ir per jų sąveiką. Realizuojant postmodernų meninio ugdymo turinį ypač aktuali yra dailės pedagogų kompetencijos ir pasirengimo problema. Tyrimu siekta atsakyti į klausimus, kaip vizualinės kultūros fenomenas keičia šiuolaikinio meninio ugdymo pobūdį ir lemia jo turinį, kokios dailės pedagogo kompetencijos turėtų būti plėtojamos vizualinės kultūros ir postmodernios edukacinės paradigmos kontekste, kaip dailės pedagogai yra pasirengę priimti pokyčius ir plėtoti savo kompetencijas, kokios numatomos vizualinės kultūros studijų įprasminimo perspektyvos rengiant dailės pedagogus. Dailės pedagogų ir ekspertų apklausos rezultatai patvirtino, kad meniniame ugdyme vyrauja klasikinės ir modernistinės tendencijos, nepajėgiančios aprėpti vizualinės kultūros gausos, technologijų įvairovės, atskleisti daugiakultūrinės meninės patirties, reaguoti į aktualius socialinius reiškinius... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The present dissertation deals with the discourse of visual culture as a conceptual background of art education, vital in the context of changing paradigms of culture and education. The aim of the research is to reveal the importance of visual culture in art education, to investigate the need for studies of visual culture as well as problems and perspectives of training teachers of art. The research problem is linked with the situation of art education in Lithuania, where the discourse of visual culture is a new research field. The dissertation provides a theoretical grounding of assumptions for developing visual culture on all levels of art education. In implementing visual culture in the postmodern curriculum, the problem of art teachers’ competence and preparation is of utmost importance. The research questions were as follows: what curriculum changes does visual culture bring in art education? What art teachers’ competences should be developed in the postmodern educational paradigm? How are art teachers prepared to accept visual culture in art education and what competences do they need to develop? What are the prospects of art teacher training with the developing of the concept of visual culture education? The survey of art teachers and experts in art education revealed that classical and modernist tendencies predominate in art education, unable to cover a wide field of visual culture, the variety of new technologies, the multicultural diversity of art experience, and... [to full text]

The present dissertation deals with the discourse of visual culture as a conceptual background of art education, vital in the context of changing paradigms of culture and education. The aim of the research is to reveal the importance of visual culture in art education, to investigate the need for studies of visual culture as well as problems and perspectives of training teachers of art. The research problem is linked with the situation of art education in Lithuania, where the discourse of visual culture is a new research field. The dissertation provides a theoretical grounding of assumptions for developing visual culture on all levels of art education. In implementing visual culture in the postmodern curriculum, the problem of art teachers’ competence and preparation is of utmost importance. The research questions were as follows: what curriculum changes does visual culture bring in art education? What art teachers’ competences should be developed in the postmodern educational paradigm? How are art teachers prepared to accept visual culture in art education and what competences do they need to develop? What are the prospects of art teacher training with the developing of the concept of visual culture education? The survey of art teachers and experts in art education revealed that classical and modernist tendencies predominate in art education, unable to cover a wide field of visual culture, the variety of new technologies, the multicultural diversity of art experience, and... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjamas vizualinės kultūros diskursas kaip konceptualus meninio ugdymo pamatas, aktualus šiuolaikinės kultūros ir ugdymo paradigmų kaitos kontekste. Tyrimo tikslas – atskleisti vizualinės kultūros edukacinį reikšmingumą ir ypatumus meniniame (dailiniame) ugdyme, ištirti vizualinės kultūros studijų poreikį, problemas ir perspektyvas rengiant dailės pedagogus. Tyrimo problema siejama su meninio ugdymo situacija Lietuvoje, kur vizualinės kultūros diskursas yra nauja tyrimų sritis. Disertacijoje teoriškai pagrindžiamos vizualinės kultūros ugdymo prielaidos visuose meninio ugdymo lygiuose ir per jų sąveiką. Realizuojant postmodernų meninio ugdymo turinį ypač aktuali yra dailės pedagogų kompetencijos ir pasirengimo problema. Tyrimu siekta atsakyti į klausimus, kaip vizualinės kultūros fenomenas keičia šiuolaikinio meninio ugdymo pobūdį ir lemia jo turinį, kokios dailės pedagogo kompetencijos turėtų būti plėtojamos vizualinės kultūros ir postmodernios edukacinės paradigmos kontekste, kaip dailės pedagogai yra pasirengę priimti pokyčius ir plėtoti savo kompetencijas, kokios numatomos vizualinės kultūros studijų įprasminimo perspektyvos rengiant dailės pedagogus. Dailės pedagogų ir ekspertų apklausos rezultatai patvirtino, kad meniniame ugdyme vyrauja klasikinės ir modernistinės tendencijos, nepajėgiančios aprėpti vizualinės kultūros gausos, technologijų įvairovės, atskleisti daugiakultūrinės meninės patirties, reaguoti į aktualius socialinius reiškinius... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Les différents commentateurs de Lovecraft se sont au fil du XXe siècle jusqu’à nos jours entendus sur un point : l’originalité de son oeuvre. Impossible à cataloguer dans un genre littéraire précis, offrant de multiples couches d’interprétation, celle-ci fut analysée à la fois sous l’angle psychanalytique et sous l’angle philosophique et scientifique. Cependant, la dimension purement esthétique semble, peut-être par négligence, avoir été oubliée. Notre mémoire propose une investigation de l’esthétique dans l’oeuvre de Lovecraft. Notre hypothèse de recherche repose sur les analogies évidentes et pourtant peu approfondies par la critique entre l’esthétique de celle-ci et l’esthétique cosmogonique de l’Antiquité. Dans un premier temps, nous situerons l’œuvre dans son contexte littéraire, c’est-à-dire que nous nous pencherons sur les rapports évidents qu’elle entretient avec des auteurs tels que J.R.R. Tolkien et Arthur Conan Doyle et sur les différences moins évidentes qui la distinguent d’autres d’auteurs tels que H.G. Wells et William Hope Hodgson. Ensuite, nous mettrons en perspective les différences qui la séparent logiquement de la cosmogonie hébraïque et de la tradition théologique et philosophique qu’elle inaugure, entre autres, tel qu’elle se cristallise dans La Divine Comédie de Dante. Finalement, nous démontrerons à partir d’une comparaison serrée de motifs analogues, présents dans la longue nouvelle de Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness et dans le poème d’Hésiode, La Théogonie, le parallèle révélateur entre leurs esthétiques respectives; leurs esthétiques qui découlent de paradigmes du réel historiquement et essentiellement distincts, mais non pas opposés ou contradictoires. / Throughout the 20th century and until now, the different Lovecraft commentators have agreed on one point: the originality of his oeuvre. Impossible to pigeonhole in a specific literary genre, and open to many layers of interpretation, it has been analysed both from a psychoanalytic angle and from a philosophical and scientific angle. However, the purely aesthetic dimension seems to have been forgotten, possibly through negligence. This dissertation proposes an investigation of the aesthetic aspect of Lovecraft’s oeuvre. Our research hypothesis rests on the obvious, yet rarely elaborated upon by critics, analogies between it and the cosmogonical aesthetics in Antiquity. First, we shall position Lovecraft’s work within its literary context, e.g. by establishing its evident connection to such authors as J.R.R. Tolkien and Arthur Conan Doyle, but also by underlining the subtler differences that distinguish it from other writers such as H.G. Wells and William Hope Hodgson. Then, we will put into perspective the elements that logically separate it from Hebrew cosmogony and from the theological and philosophical tradition it inaugurates, as crystallized in Dante’s Divine Comedy, notably. Finally, we intend to demonstrate, based on a close comparison of similar motifs present in Lovecraft’s novella, At the Mountains of Madness and in Hesiod’s poem, Theogony, a revelatory parallel between their respective aesthetics; aesthetics that spring from historically and essentially distinct paradigms of reality, but which are not opposed or contradictory.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal