Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2006 / "Publication number AAT 3251814."

<p> Some linguists in the nineteenth century argued for the existence of a &ldquo;Turanian&rdquo; family of languages in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, claiming the common descent of a vast range of languages like Hungarian, Finnish, Turkish, Mongol, Manchu, and their relatives and dialects. Of such linguists, Friedrich Max M&uuml;ller (1823&ndash;1900) was an important developer and popularizer of a version of the Turanian theory across Europe, given his influence as a German-born Oxford professor in Victorian England from the 1850s onwards. Although this theory lost ground in academic linguistics from the mid twentieth century, a pan-nationalist movement pushing for the political unity of all Turanians emerged in Hungary and the Ottoman Empire from the <i> Fin-de-si&egrave;cle</i> era. This thesis focuses on the history of this linguistic theory in the nineteenth century, examining M&uuml;ller&rsquo;s methodology and assumptions behind his Turanian concept. It argues that, in the comparative-historical trend in linguistics in an age of European imperialism, M&uuml;ller followed evolutionary narratives of languages based on word morphologies in which his contemporaries rationalized the superiority of &ldquo;inflectional&rdquo; Indo-European languages over &ldquo;agglutinating&rdquo; Turanian languages. Building on the &ldquo;Altaic&rdquo; theory of the earlier Finnish linguist and explorer Matthias Castr&eacute;n, M&uuml;ller factored in the more primitive nomadic lifestyle of many peoples speaking agglutinating languages to genealogically group them into the Turanian family. M&uuml;ller&rsquo;s universalist Christian values gave him a touch of sympathy for all human languages and religions, but he reinforced the hierarchical view of cultures in his other comparative sciences of mythology and religion as well. This picture was challenged in the cultural pessimism of the <i>Fin de si&egrave;cle </i> with the Pan-Turanists turning East to their nomadic heritage for inspiration.</p><p>

<p>This thesis argues that it is productive to consider playthings, playmates, playgrounds, and play practices as constituting a set with shared design characteristics. </p><p> Before turning to the case studies that lead to the principles of play design, we must first address two foundational methodological points: </p><p> First, in order to analyze something as play, we must be able to speak constructively about play itself, which is a bewildering subject. In chapter 1, <i>Play</i>, we review the literature on play, reconciling multiple perspectives and definitions, and distill seven play characteristics that underpin the thesis. </p><p> Second, in order to analyze software, we must have methods for doing so. Chapter 2, <i>Software</i>, advances an analytical framework for this purpose. This is a methodological contribution to the nascent field of software studies, which seeks to interpret the semi-visible infrastructure of computing that mediates modern life, from our bodies and our most intimate relationships to our public and political lives. To link software to play, I introduce an additional analytical framework for considering software as a resource for play. </p><p> Will Wright created <i>SimCity</i> to amuse himself and learn about cities. To build it, he appropriated from multiple traditions in which computers are used as tools for modeling and thinking about the world as a complex system, most notably system dynamics and cellular automata. Wright&rsquo;s make believe play was scaffolded by these software practices, which offered inspiration and guidance, as well as abstract computational primitives for world building. Chapters 3&ndash;5 trace the historical contexts and origins of <i>SimCity</i>&rsquo;s many design influences, from system dynamics (chapter 3) and cellular automata (chapter 4)&mdash;two very different ways of seeing, thinking about, and computationally representing the world&mdash;to <i> Pinball Construction Set</i> and <i>Raid on Bungling Bay</i> (chapter 5). </p><p> Taking up the evolution of software in this way allows us to see how it is formed, what it is made of, and how ideas are embedded within and perpetuated by it. Deconstruction also helps us to understand software as a medium of dynamic representation, a scaffold for thought, an aesthetic experience, and its appeal as a resource for play. </p><p> In Chapter 5, <i>SimBusiness</i>, I give a historical account of <i>SimCity</i>&rsquo;s creation and the social circumstances that shaped its design, and sketch the history of Maxis, the company that marshaled and published <i>SimCity</i>. The trajectory of Maxis offers a parable about play and creativity. We see in Maxis&rsquo;s formation and unraveling the inescapable tension between play and capitalism, and between intrinsic and extrinsic play&mdash;the private autotelic play that innovates and creates, and the public play of player-consumers that pays the bills. </p><p> Chapter 6, <i>SimCity</i>, completes the <i>SimCity</i> case study by considering it as play artifact and experience. Using extensive diagrams that translate and map its code, I perform a close reading of <i> SimCity</i>, explaining how it conjures the illusion of a miniature living city, and how this living world scaffolds play. </p><p> Two non-digital examples round out the play design case studies. In chapter 7, <i>City Building Education</i>, we look at Doreen Nelson&rsquo;s practice of building and role playing model cities with children in classrooms. Nelson&rsquo;s simulation is an excellent counterpoint to Wright&rsquo;s, and their comparison elucidates many play design principles. Chapter 8, <i> Adventure Playground</i>, looks at an unusual playground in which children build with junk, and play with risks and materials, like wood, paint, and nails, that are typically withheld from them. In addition to illuminating principles of play design, the adventure playground tradition reveals play&rsquo;s &ldquo;refructifying&rdquo; (Sutton-Smith 1999) capacity to sweep up everything, even the detritus of civilization, and creatively reimagine it. Conceived amidst the darkness of World War II, adventure playgrounds illustrate how life transcends ruin through play&mdash;an important lesson for the 21st century&rsquo;s unfolding challenges. </p><p> In chapter 9, <i>Play Design</i>, I articulate play design principles drawn from the case studies. The principles are analytical, enabling us to see how play is scaffolded, as well as generative, prescribing design strategies for scaffolding play. This analytical-generative pairing enables us to deconstruct the design of a plaything, and transfer these design techniques to a new project&mdash;a technique that should be of interest to the educators, marketers, and designers of all stripes who have often envied the deep focus, enthusiasm, and pleasure afforded by make believe caves, dungeons, cities, and computationally animated living worlds. Play design is also deeply relevant to new embodiments of computation on the horizon, such as augmented reality and tangible dynamic media. Play is profoundly appropriative, and good play designs teach us how to robustly accommodate unpredictable environments and activities. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)</p>

<p> By the end of the nineteenth century, the momentum for the idea of a more practical education better suited to life in a modern, technological world brought the first educational reform movements in the nation. Concurrent reform efforts at the state and national levels influenced both the historical development of Earth science education and the status of the Earth sciences in New York State&rsquo;s secondary schools. Three themes received increasing attention: 1) the nature and college acceptance of the subjects in the secondary courses of study, 2) the time allocation for the subjects, and 3) the emergence and expectation of the incorporation of laboratory and fieldwork. These themes were also prevalent in discussions within the national committees that were meeting at the time. </p><p> The historical richness of educational reform efforts during the late 1800s and the early 1900s establishes an important foundation upon which the Earth sciences are grounded. To understand the influences that shaped the Earth science syllabus into its present form, and to establish a framework upon which recommendations for future curricular development can be made, an analysis of the origin and evolution of secondary Earth science is warranted. The research presented in this thesis explores the historical framework of the individual core Earth science topics (physical geography, geology, astronomy, and meteorology), beginning in 1865 with the introduction of the intermediate level physical geography Regents examination and ending in 1910 with the loss of astronomy and geology as accepted high school graduation courses. The chronological structure of this study is intended to establish a set of specific historical events that contributed to the present curricular structure of New York State&rsquo;s Earth science course.</p><p>

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2005. / Restricted until October 2006. Bibliography: leaves 69-70.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Art History." Includes bibliographical references (p. 304-331).

In the late twentieth century, science and technology facilitated exploration beyond the Solar System and extended human knowledge through messages comprised of pictures and mathematical symbols, transmitted from radio telescopes and inscribed on material artifacts attached to spacecraft. ‘Interstellar communication’ refers to collective efforts by scientists and co-workers to detect and transmit intelligible messages between humans and supposed extraterrestrial intelligence in remote star systems. Interstellar messages are designed to communicate universal knowledge without recourse to text, human linguistic systems or anthropomorphic content because it is assumed that recipients have no prior knowledge of humankind or the planet we inhabit. In addition to tracing and examining the history of interstellar communication during the period 1957-1977, I present an overview of scientific research on ‘interplanetary communication’ with the supposed inhabitants of Mars and other planets in the Solar System during the first half of the twentieth century. I show that it was not until the late 1950s that space exploration research provided the resources for humans to engage in systematic attempts to contact extraterrestrial civilizations in other star systems. My thesis focuses on two interstellar messages incorporated on specially designed material artifacts –NASA’s Pioneer plaque and Voyager Record—dispatched from Earth on board space probes during the 1970s. I critically examine how scientists designed and mobilized interstellar messages both to convey meaning and simultaneously support rhetorical claims about the universality of science and mathematics. I analyze how situated practices, craft skills and graphical technologies associated with scientific research on interstellar messages were deployed by scientists to produce and disseminate knowledge and support the claim that science and mathematics are universal. I examine the histories of technologies linked to space exploration including radio astronomy, television, communication satellites and space probes, tracing how knowledge practices and discourse associated with these technologies are enmeshed with the history of interstellar communication. In particular, I explain how and why television and other display technologies were appropriated by researchers working on interstellar communication to create visual representations of knowledge. I argue that televisual displays and radio telescopes constitute graphical technologies or ‘inscription devices’ deployed by scientists, media producers and others to translate natural objects, agency and culture into legible forms constituted in and through inscriptions, predominantly pictures and mathematical symbols, that convey knowledge within communication networks.

Submitted by Jean Medeiros (jeanletras@uepb.edu.br) on 2016-04-15T12:30:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 PDF - Alessandra Uchôa.pdf: 1564895 bytes, checksum: 61bc9f483c207af02ed046e81c22e85d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Secta BC (secta.csu.bc@uepb.edu.br) on 2016-07-22T20:20:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 PDF - Alessandra Uchôa.pdf: 1564895 bytes, checksum: 61bc9f483c207af02ed046e81c22e85d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Secta BC (secta.csu.bc@uepb.edu.br) on 2016-07-22T20:20:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 PDF - Alessandra Uchôa.pdf: 1564895 bytes, checksum: 61bc9f483c207af02ed046e81c22e85d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-22T20:20:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PDF - Alessandra Uchôa.pdf: 1564895 bytes, checksum: 61bc9f483c207af02ed046e81c22e85d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-05 / The relevance of teaching about science has been an important issue for educational researches over the last decades. In this new approach, the use of history and philosophy of science is a promising pedagogical strategy to introduce them to treat about development of scientific knowledge in the context of education. To support our research, we in Martins (1990, 2006), Matthews (1995), El-Hani (2006), elements to understand the purpose of the study of the History of Science and justify its use in teaching science. In view of the insertion of the history of modern physics course in teacher training, was drafted six texts to be applied for future physics teachers. The student’s texts include major historical events from Aristotle to Einstein. With this material we intend to demystify the current view that the claims of the theory of special relativity is attributed only to Albert Einstein, without considering, or even decrease, the contribution of Poincaré, Lorentz and others that were of fundamental importance. / A relevância de ensinar conteúdos sobre as ciências tem se intensificado nas pesquisas educacionais das últimas décadas. Nesse sentido, a história e filosofia da ciência podem ser configuradas como sendo um interessante recurso pedagógico para tratar sobre a construção do conhecimento científico no ensino. Para subsidiar a nossa pesquisa, buscamos em Martins (1990; 2006), Matthews (1995), El-Hani (2006), elementos para entender o propósito dos estudos da História da Ciência, bem como justificar o seu uso no ensino da mesma. Na perspectiva da inserção da história da física moderna e contemporânea no curso de formação de professores, foi elaborado seis textos para ser aplicados para futuros professores de física. Os textos dos alunos contemplam os principais fatos históricos desde Aristóteles até Albert Einstein. Com este material pretendemos desmistificar a visão atual em que os créditos da teoria da relatividade especial são atribuídos somente a Albert Einstein, sem considerar, ou até mesmo diminuir, a contribuição de Poincaré, Lorentz e outros que foram de fundamental importância.

During the Second World War science came to play a large role in the British government's plans for postwar reconstruction of industry. The planners sought to improve industry's labour productivity and capacity for RandD. They drew on the consensus which had developed among scientists, industrialists and politicians favouring a great increase in state aid to universities and industrial RandD and increased government direction of research. The postwar Labour government, impressed with scientists' contributions to the war effort and faced with grave economic difficulties, was eager to enlist science in raising industrial output. By 1951, however, it had implemented few new programmes in this area. More money was being spent on the pre-existing Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and industry's co-operative Research Associations; the universities had doubled their output; the National Research and Development Corporation had begun in 1949; some publicity campaigns had raised public awareness of productivity's significance; and the economy, in the postwar boom, was performing much better than prewar. But overall the Attlee government did much less to raise industry's scientific level than it had planned. Almost every new programme was inadequately funded and staffed, and the few which survived had no realistic chance of reaching into individual factories to achieve the scientific renaissance which was necessary to return Britain to the front rank, by international standards, of innovation and industrial performance. The thesis examines that portion of civil science policy which aimed to improve industrial RandD and productivity, from the planning stage during the Coalition through implementation by the Attlee government. After an introductory chapter, Chapter 2 covers the work of wartime ministerial and official reconstruction committees; party differences and business opposition meant that reforms favouring a greater government role in RandD and industry generally were shelved until postwar. Chapter 3 examines the Attlee government's efforts to improve industrial RandD, particularly the formation of the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, a failed attempt to create a British MIT, and several schemes, mostly unavailing, to vitalise DSIR, the RAs and private RandD. Chapter 4 examines postwar productivity policy, particularly the work of the Board of Trade, the scientifically-orientated Committee on Industrial Productivity, various government publicity campaigns, and the Anglo-American Council on Productivity. Chapter 5 briefly sketches post-1951 developments and finds that there has been little basic change in the policies suggested for arresting British industry's technical decline relative to its competitors, despite recurrent disappointment with the results of those policies.

1. The biography of Crawford Munro (1904-76) describes his early life in Toowoomba and Sydney, and his maturation as an engineer, working for Sydney Water, Sydney Technical College and in the production of Cruiser tanks in World War II. He was a large confident man with a big voice and an optimistic, humorous personality. As the Foundation Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of New South Wales Munro was liberal, fostered humanist studies and developed the School of Engineering with a unique emphasis on water engineering. He recruited excellent staff for research and postgraduate education who led the nation across all phases of hydrology and hydraulics. Munro developed a remarkable, rational solution for flood mitigation at Launceston, and actively promoted research, partly through the Australian Water Research Foundation and the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He was much involved with predicting flood runoff, developing benefit/cost relations for irrigation schemes, which led him into public controversy, and other hydrological projects. Munro’s attempts to raise social consciousness about water problems, his multi-disciplinary approach to the evaluation of water resources and his campaigns for the collection of stream and rainfall data helped provide a better basis for proper planning. In his later years he undertook the first Australian environmental impact study. The concluding chapter outlines a vision for the current management of Australia’s water. Munro posed necessary questions about measuring the supply of water and bringing the demand of water into synchrony with its supply, while providing water security in terms of its availability and quality. He raised the debate about the balance between sustaining environmental flows, utilizing water for agriculture and secondary industry, and maintaining the health of communities. Munro hoped equitable decision making would emerge from public engagement on these issues. 2. Twentieth century science biography in Australia is the province of a group of elite male scientists, whose interests cover wide disciplinary fields; it is focused on popular imagination: health, food and adventure (Antarctica) accounting for fifteen of the seventeen scientists. Empathy for the subject is a significant feature of the nineteen biographers, of whom five are scientists. This small genre is often supported by institutions in small print runs. A key role of biography is to place through science history a more epistemologically plausible version of events. Public discourses of science treated in the essay include conflict about the attribution of scientific discovery, the vocation of the scientist as a contributor to a wider social polity, the light biography sheds on sources of creativity and the evolution of the research and culture of institutions. The biographer attempts to generate a personal portrait of the scientist which conveys authority about the significance and origins of his or her scientific discoveries and their impact in the wider social context. Thomas Söderqvist’s affirmation of the existential approach which ‘emphasizes the freedom and responsibility of the human individual’ resonates with the candidate as expressing characteristics of the lives of many Australian scientists in their passion for intellectual discovery, their motivation to self-empowerment, and their readiness to step outside their social conditioning. This essay extends Söderqvist’s paradigm to the context of Australian science biography and indicates some constraints on its depiction which arise in the practice of writing science biography. Some epistemological issues are raised in the texts, especially when dealing with oral history and family mythology, and thematic, thematic within a chronological framework or chronological structures of the text are compared. The level of detail and context influence the sustainability of the reader’s interest. Case studies of the biographies written by the candidate (Ian Clunies Ross, Samuel Wadham, Allan Callaghan, Victor Trikojus, Raymond Hoffenberg and Crawford Munro) illustrate issues which arise in the writing of science biography. The dominant question is the relationship of the biographer to the subject, and this determines the voice the reader hears. The motivation of the biographer may arise in varying degrees of empathy felt for the subject. The high affinity the candidate had for Clunies Ross and Hoffenberg causes him to offer a defence against the charge of hagiography, and the selectivity and subjectivity of the biographer is evident in the arrangement and presentation of factual material. The motivation of the biographer is additionally directed to the communication of the subject’s research outputs to the wider Australian community, and in the case of Callaghan, Wadham and Clunies Ross there was a specific programmatic function of advancing the status of agricultural science. It is argued that the description of the public life of the subject needs to be complemented from the private life if the biographer is ‘to view the world through the eyes of the subject’.