Sometimes, the place where a play is performed is as important as or more important than the play itself. The first known theatrical rituals were performed in spaces which came to hold deep religious significance. Many religious traditions regard certain places as sacred because of spiritually significant events which took place there, sometimes involving the presence of Deity. In an effort to build on that sacrality, sometimes religious cultures bring theatre to these spaces, which, in turn, tend to alter the nature of the theatrical event. This seems especially true in regards to theatre which presents a re-enactment of the events which originally sacralized the performance space. Creating a theatrical performance at the same space, and recreating the same event which made the space sacred in the first place, gives the theatrical event a reflexive quality which performances in a space designated for theatre do not have. The Passion of Osiris in Ancient Egypt and the celebrations and commemorations of the early Christian Church are two examples of theatrical reenactments of sacred events in sacred spaces. Although such performances have been uncommon since those of the early Christians, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers two comparable performances today (the Hill Cumorah Pageant and the Nauvoo Pageant); they are also reenactments of sacred events framed by the sacred spaces where they originally occurred. The main commonality of my focus is the sacred physical space which frames each of the performances as a sort of ethereal proscenium arch or a silent witness of sacred events.

Yes / The Atkinson-Shiffrin modal model forms the foundation of our understanding of human memory. It consists of three stores (Sensory Memory (SM), also called iconic memory, Short-Term Memory (STM), and Long-Term Memory (LTM)), each tuned to a different time-scale. Since its inception, the STM and LTM components of the modal model have undergone significant modifications, while SM has remained largely unchanged, representing a large capacity system funneling information into STM. In the laboratory, visual memory is usually tested by presenting a brief static stimulus and, after a delay, asking observers to report some aspect of the stimulus. However, under ecological viewing conditions, our visual system receives a continuous stream of inputs, which is segmented into distinct spatio-temporal segments, called events. Events are further segmented into event-segments. Here we show that SM is not an unspecific general funnel to STM but is allocated exclusively to the current event-segment. We used a Multiple-Object Tracking (MOT) paradigm in which observers were presented with disks moving in different directions, along bi-linear trajectories, i.e., linear trajectories, with a single deviation in direction at the mid-point of each trajectory. The synchronized deviation of all of the trajectories produced an event stimulus consisting of two event-segments. Observers reported the pre-deviation or the post-deviation directions of the trajectories. By analyzing observers' responses in partial- and full-report conditions, we investigated the involvement of SM for the two event-segments. The hallmarks of SM hold only for the current event segment. As the large capacity SM stores only items involved in the current event-segment, the need for event-tagging in SM is eliminated, speeding up processing in active vision. By characterizing how memory systems are interfaced with ecological events, this new model extends the Atkinson-Shiffrin model by specifying how events are stored in the first stage of multi-store memory systems.

This thesis contains an analysis of Czech and German history textbooks that are meant for higher primary education and lower secondary education. Emphasis is being put on the interpretation of chosen key events during the Second World War within the given Czech and German textbooks. The author focuses on the theoretical, practical, and image side of this didactic medium. The thesis summarises theoretical knowledge about history textbooks as a basic educational medium. It characterises the ways of teaching about the Second World War in the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, specifically in Brandenburg, including History curriculum within the Framework Educational Programme for higher primary education and lower secondary education, and the German Framework Educational Programme. It also mentions the didactic conception and content of history education in both countries. The main objective of the thesis is the research of Czech and German textbooks for primary education and lower secondary education dedicated to the topic of Second World War. The author describes differences and conformities in the conception and general equipment of Czech and German textbooks on both, the content and iconic texts´ side.

The importance of mother tongue-based bilingual medium of instruction in bilingual and multilingual classrooms has been evidenced in ample studies in different parts of the world including Ghana. However, studies on how bilingualism is carried out with respect to classroom displays in bilingual education is very scant and even none, as far as I know, in Ghana. Also, there is emerging research on teachers’ translanguaging practices in other parts of the world including South Africa but research on instructional use of translanguaging is yet to be conducted in Ghana. Therefore, this study examined kindergarten teachers’ bilingual practices with regard to classroom displays as well as their translanguaging practices at morning assembly in some selected schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis in the Central Region of Ghana. The study used the Ghanaian part of a secondary data that was sponsored by the New Civics Grants from the Spencer Foundation in the USA. Joint research team from the USA and Ghana collected these data in six kindergarten classrooms in each of the two countries. Even though the initial purpose of the study was to examine how classroom wall displays connected with young children's roles as apprentice citizens, repurposing it for this study was suitable because all the classrooms photographed are public schools that use the NALAP in their ECE classrooms. However, four schools participated because they used the local languages that I can read and write. Guided by the purpose, two research questions and two different data (photographs of classroom wall displays and video of morning assembly) were used. I used qualitative design through visual research method and Barbara Rogoff’s (1990, 2003) socio-cultural theory as my theoretical lens. The photo data was analyzed semiotically (Chandler, 2007, Semetsky, 2010, 2017) and used discourse analysis with the big “D” for the analysis of the video data (Gee, 2014, Gee & Handford, 2012). The findings indicated that all the schools except one had bilingually labeled displays among their classroom displays (though bilingual labeling was given less attention) with the major language pair for the bilingual labeling being English and Mfantse languages. It also came out that most of the bilingually labeled displays were posted within the eye level of the students. More so, with regard to the sign type, most of the bilingually labeled displays were iconic. Regarding the teachers’ translanguaging practices at morning assembly, the findings indicated that all the participating schools and teachers translanguaged during the conduct of their respective morning assembly. It was revealed that aside from using translanguaging as comprehension enhancer, it was also used as a downtoner as well as alienation tool linguistically. However, the findings showed that English only displays far dominated both the bilingual labeling and translanguaging practices of the teachers. Based on the findings, the study recommended that ECE colleges of education in Ghana should include knowledge and skills for bilingual labeling in their pre-service preparation since the nation is a multilingual state. Also, pedagogical use of translanguaging should be included in teacher education curriculum so that teachers would be intentional about its usage in instruction delivery. In addition, higher education like University of Cape Coast (UCC) and University of Education, Winneba (UEW) which are the main trainers of teacher educators in the country need to develop curriculum for bilingual teaching with attention to effective design and use of bilingual labeling and training manuals for ECE teachers on the effective use of bilingual labeling and pedagogical use of translanguaging in Ghanaian ECE education. More so, there should professional development on the effective use of bilingual classroom display as well as translanguaging for in-service teachers in Ghana so to promote the academic achievement of the bi/multilingual students Ghanaian schools serve.

In den größten Städten Russlands werden aktuell Entwicklungstendenzen sichtbar, welche die Frage nach einem Ende der postsozialistischen Transformation aufwerfen. Ein Beispiel für derartige – posttransformative – Entwicklungstendenzen bildet die Planung und Verwirklichung ikonischer Architekturprojekte. Diese sollen vor allem Innovations- und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit symbolisieren. Vor Ort sind sie aber insbesondere dann umstritten, wenn sie die überkommenen städtebaulichen Traditionen in Frage stellen. Besonders gut zeigt sich das beim Ochta-Zentrum, einem Geschäfts- und Kulturzentrum mit 400 m hoher Dominante, das nach dem Willen des Gazprom-Konzerns am Rande der historischen Innenstadt Sankt Petersburgs errichtet werden sollte. In der Hochphase der Diskussion beschäftigte das Projekt nicht nur die Stadtbevölkerung, sondern auch die Führungsriege der Russischen Föderation und die UNESCO. Die Analyse des Diskurses über das Ochta-Zentrum ermöglicht daher ebenso Erkenntnisse über Tendenzen der Stadtentwicklung Sankt Petersburgs wie über Strategien der russischen Innen- und Außenpolitik. / Recent trends in the development of major Russian cities are raising questions about the end of post-socialist transformation. Post-transformative urban trends have become visible in the context of the planning and realization of iconic architectural projects. Their purpose is to symbolize a capacity for innovation and competitiveness. At the local level, however, they are subject to controversial debates, especially when challenging regional traditions of urban planning. The Okhta-Center, a business and cultural center with a skyscraper reaching a height of 400 m, serves as a good example. The Gazprom Group intended to build the complex at the edge of the historical city center of Saint Petersburg. During the height of the debate the project involved not only the citizens of Saint Petersburg, but also the leadership of the Russian Federation and UNESCO. Analyzing the discourse regarding the Okhta-Center therefore allows insights into current trends of urban development in Saint Petersburg as well as strategies of Russian domestic and foreign policies.

166f. / Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-04-09T19:24:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Carla.pdf: 17346330 bytes, checksum: 30322ce1540276be3d2331f322f0b597 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Meirelles(rodrigomei@ufba.br) on 2013-05-09T18:16:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Carla.pdf: 17346330 bytes, checksum: 30322ce1540276be3d2331f322f0b597 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-09T18:16:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Carla.pdf: 17346330 bytes, checksum: 30322ce1540276be3d2331f322f0b597 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / A pesquisa investiga a aplicação de estratégias de conforto ambiental como parâmetros construtivos em um modelo icônico de casa estável para novas habitações no meio rural do Distrito dos Brejos, município de Barra, região do médio São Francisco, semiárido baiano. A partir da análise das variáveis climáticas e das tipologias construtivas da região, foi possível identificar parâmetros e diretrizes para concepção de um modelo de casa estável para novas habitações. O presente trabalho descreve com um olhar tecnológico, uma nova concepção de projeto pelo qual se considera os fluxos de materiais e energia, compatibilizando com outros enfoques sociais, econômicos, culturais e ambientais. Esse trabalho envolve inclusive a reeducação ambiental e a qualificação da mão de obra, formal e informal de seus usuários e construtores em mutirão. Foram empregadas análises de soluções tecnológicas aplicáveis as habitações da região do estudo de caso, associada a um diagnóstico climático considerado fundamental para determinar estratégias bioclimáticas. O resultado obtido na pesquisa é um modelo virtual de casa estável, adaptada ao meio ambiente externo, para estudos tridimensionais das especificidades dos locais onde novos projetos de habitação e assentamentos serão implantados. Através de modelo 3D e animações simuladas em ambientes computacionais, essa pesquisa revelou ainda a viabilidade de estudos tridimensionais em modelos virtuais como ferramenta capaz de testar a aplicação de soluções tecnológicas que contemplam diretrizes climáticas e os parâmetros construtivos propostos como forma de contribuir para as estratégias de desenvolvimento da sociedade local. / Salvador

Photography is a language. Insofar as language, it produces meanings and senses, as discourse about a social phenomenon. The communicational process, in which we are inserted, incorporates the images in your own existence. So that, the photography will compose strategies of organization and production of meanings and senses. The images are not loose , nor are disproved of intentionality and regulations, but are composites of others linguistics forms to construction of meaning to way of live cultural and social. The photograph, enunciation iconovisual integrates communications strategies that are established in the media. The reading's imagery can be through the theories that deal of the iconicity is understand here as plastic signification from the aspect of morphological elements, that is, points, lines, planes, shapes, textures and colors . Besides the theoretical approach, this dissertation is a methodological approach to morphological analysis of a photographic corpus produced by me as a freelance reporter (to understand the strategies of production), and offered to editors of newspapers Folha de São Paulo, Zero Hora and Diário de Santa Maria pointed to the selected images and the selection criteria for publication (to found and know the criteria and values of the editorial selection of photo). / A fotografia é uma linguagem. Enquanto linguagem, produz significados e sentidos, isto é, é um discurso sobre um fenômeno sociocultural. O processo comunicacional humano incorpora as imagens ao seu modo de ser, de tal modo que as fotografias passam a compor as estratégias de organização e produção de sentidos e significados midiáticos. As imagens não estão soltas , tampouco vêm desprovidas de intencionalidades e ordenamentos, mas compõem-se com outras formas de linguagem na construção dos sentidos do viver sociocultural. A fotografia, como enunciação iconovisual integra as estratégias comunicacionais que se estabelecem nas mídias. A leitura imagética possível através das teorias que versam sobre a iconicidade é observada aqui como significação plástica sob o prisma dos elementos morfológicos, ou seja, pontos, linhas, planos, formas, texturas e cores observados em análise fotográfica. Além da abordagem teórica, esta dissertação tem como proposta metodológica a análise morfológica de um corpus fotográfico produzido por mim enquanto repórter freelancer (para compreender as estratégias de produção), e ofertado aos editores dos jornais Folha de São Paulo, Zero Hora e Diário de Santa Maria para que apontassem as imagens selecionadas e os critérios de escolha para publicação (para conhecer os critérios e valores de seleção nas editorias de fotografia).

Pour Merleau-Ponty, l’exigence de repenser la rationalité contemporaine au-delà du dualisme de sujet et objet implique et s’entrelace avec la question du regard, conçu non pas en tant que point d’où se produit une vision du monde, mais comme événement dans lequel le sujet et le monde naissent l’un à l’autre dans un seul mouvement de co-naissance. Le visible alors, et notamment ce type particulier de visible qu’est l’image, est compris comme le point où il en va de la rationalité et de l’Être, en même temps qu’il est pensé dans sa dimension historique, en vertu de son apparition phénoménale et située, mais aussi en tant qu’il implique un revers d’invisibilité ou horizon de latence. Ainsi, le voir est réintégré dans ce corps, dont les yeux voient, et le rapport entre corps et image est compris dans sa trame historique et processuelle, incluant les mutations anthropologiques et épistémiques qui sont à l’œuvre dans notre rapport au monde visible, Merleau-Ponty lui-même n’hésitant pas à faire appel aux médias et aux arts visuels pour poursuivre la formulation d’un tel rapport sur le plan philosophique. En comprenant le sujet comme un voyant qui n’est pas simplement dans le visible, mais en est, le philosophe en vient à formuler une réversibilité de la vision et une co-implication de sens et sensible, riches de conséquences pour une compréhension du régime scopique contemporain, et convergeant avec les instances propres du tournant iconique ou pictural ayant investi la pensée de l’image, tant dans le domaine anglo-saxon que dans le contexte européen.C’est donc à partir de ces éléments qu’il est possible de formuler une pensée du visuel de Merleau-Ponty, qu’on cherchera à caractériser par le biais de certains noyaux décisifs – image, œuvre, médium, technique, haptique – et notamment à travers la référence au cinéma et à la notion d’écran, tantôt dans la tentative d’en reconstruire le développement, par rapport aux sources et aux différentes phases de la réflexion merleau-pontienne, tantôt dans la tentative d’en cerner l’impact généré au sein d’autres champs scientifiques, ainsi que d’en mettre en lumière l’intérêt pour toute pensée qui se propose d’interroger l’image et le visuel aujourd’hui. / Merleau-Ponty’s later thought is primarily concerned with a new conception of visibility, of what the philosopher calls a “generality of the Sensible”, originating both the “reversibility” of the body, its capacity to be both sentient and sensible, and an intentionality of the visible itself. What is at stake in thinking of the seer as being enveloped in the visible, as being of it, within the visible, is an “ontological rehabilitation of the sensible”, which is particularly rich and brings along consequences for an understanding of our contemporary scopic regime, and especially of the ontological status of images and screens in our visual experience. Merleau-Ponty thinks of the visible world not simply as an object, but as the pivot for a new conception of rationality and Being, one that seeks to rearticulate the ontological relationship between the self and the world beyond all forms of dualism. Accordingly, the visible is taken into account in its historicity, as long as it is phenomenal and situated in its appearance, but also as it always implies a constitutive invisibility or a certain latency and virtuality. Vision is conceived as a historical and processual phenomenon, including anthropological and epistemic mutations being afoot in our contact with the visible world, inscribed in human forms of expression and particularly artistic creation, which is one of the cores of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophical work. It is then with regard to such aspects that it is possible to refer to a philosophy of the “visual” in Merleau-Ponty, which I will try to characterize, by focusing on some fundamental pivotal points, such as image, medium, technique, work of art, haptic. I will make special reference to the reflection on cinema and the notion of “screen”, in the attempt of both retracing the elaboration of such issues, in relation to sources and different phases of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy, and appreciating the interest that his thought has generated in other scientific fields related to visual.

My thesis aims to anatomize the cognitive theory of metaphor and suggests a Peircean semiotic perspective on metaphor study. As metaphorical essentialists, Lakoff/Johnson tend to universalize a limited number of conceptual metaphors and, by doing this, they overlook the dynamic relation between metaphorical tenor and vehicle. Such notion of metaphor is not compatible with the polysemous nature of the sign. The diversity and multivalency of metaphorical vehicle, in particular, cast serious doubts on the hypothesis of “conceptual metaphors” which, being meta-metaphorical constructs, can tell us nothing but a dry and empty formula “A is B”. Consequently, Lakoff/Johnson’s notion of conceptual metaphor is very much a Chomskyan postulation. Also problematic is the expedient experientialism or embodied philosophy they have put forward as a middle course between objectivism and subjectivism. What is missing from their framework is a structural space for dynamic interpretation on the part of metaphor users. In contrast, cognitive linguists may find in Peirce’s theory of the sign a sound solution to their theoretical impasse. As a logician, Peirce sees metaphor as the realization of iconic reasoning at the language level. His exposition on iconicity and iconic reasoning has laid a solid foundation upon which may be erected a fresh epistemology of metaphor fit for the contemporary study of language and mind. Broadly speaking, metaphor in Peirce can be examined from roughly two perspectives. Macroscopically, metaphor is an icon in general as opposed to index and symbol, whereas, microscopically, it is a subdivided hypoicon on the third level as opposed to image and diagram. Besides, Peirce also emphasized the subjective nature of metaphor. Semioticians after Peirce have further developed his theory on metaphor. For example, through his concept of “arbitrary iconicity”, Ersu Ding stresses the arbitrary nature of metaphorization and tries to shift our attention away from Lakoff/Johnson’s abstract epistemological Gestalt to the specific cultural contexts in which metaphors occur. Umberto Eco, on the other hand, sees interpretation of signs as an open-ended process that involves knowledge of all kinds. Encyclopedic knowledge thus serves as unlimited source for metaphorical association. For Eco, the meaning of a metaphor should be interpreted in the cultural framework based on a specific cultural community. Both Ding’s and Eco’s ideas are in line with Peirce’s theoretical framework where the meaning of a metaphor depends on an interpreter in a particular socio-historical context. They all realize that we should go beyond the ontology of metaphorical expressions to acquire a dynamic perspective on metaphor interpretation. To overcome the need for presupposing an omnipotent subject capable of knowing the metaphor-in-itself, we turn to Habermas’s theory of communicative action in which the meaning of metaphor is intersubjectively established through negotiation and communication. Moreover, we should not overlook the dynamic tension between metaphor and ideology. Aphoristically, we can say that nothing is a metaphor unless it is interpreted as a metaphor, and we need to reconnect metaphors with the specific cultural and ideological contexts in which they appear.

This paper analyzes how the Lego Group discourse portrays children, education, play, themselves and attempts to reveal corresponding ideologies surrounding the brick. The LEGO Group claim equality, honesty and transparency in their communications, and within their business ecosystem, at their core are their traditional family values, creating an intriguing and multi-layered discourse. This thesis explores the construction of representations, from a constructionist approach using discourse analysis and language coding, aiming to uncover what is revealed and ignored. The Lego Group positions themselves as one of the future solutions to the widening gap between current educational systems and the needs of future young adults in the workforce of our rapidly changing society. They continuously portray the ‘other’ actors as bad - whether in education, technology or activities. They define every subject they cover in their own terms, creating a LEGO language and microworld philosophy. There is an imbalance between their time promoting children’s agency and time spent discussing 21st century education; the latter concerns appear to far outweigh their portrayal of children, leading to conclusions that marketing logic and aspired educational market share has a stronger influence on LEGO discourse. Children are constructed as agentic, competent and commodified when selling them new products and services, as adults-in-training when discussing education and as vulnerable or innocent when highlighting child safety concerns online. Education is viewed in terms of failure, power and change, and their versions of play and creativity as the solution to all of society's ills. Their discourse reflects The LEGO Group’s position and hegemony as one of the most powerful and influential toy companies in the world. This study contributes towards the current gap in research surrounding The LEGO Group discourse, and attempts to reveal the competing ideologies of neoliberal business values versus social good and incorporates concerns of childhood studies exploring whether this company rather represents or uses children within the context of its educational - business ecosystem.