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Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The question of what it means to say one knows something, or has knowledge of something, triggered an epistemological study after the nature of knowledge and its acquisition. There are many different ways in which one can go about acquiring knowledge, manydifferent frameworks that one can use to search after truth. Because most real systems about which one could desire knowledge (organic, social, economic etc.) are non-linear, an understanding of non-linear systems is important for the process of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge exhibits the characteristics of a dynamic, adaptive system, and as such could be approached via a dynamic theory of adaptive systems. Therefore, chaos theory and complexity theory are two theoretical (non-linear) frameworks that can facilitate the knowledge acquisition process. As a modernist instrument for acquiring knowledge, chaos theory provides one with deterministic rules that make mathematical understanding of non-linear phenomenaa bit easier, but it is limited in that it can only provide one with certain knowledge up until the (system's) next bifurcation (i.e. when chaos sets in). After this, it is near impossible to predict what a chaotic system will do. Complexity theory, as a postmodern tool for knowledge acquisition, gives one insight into the dynamic, self-organising nature of the non-linear systems around one. By analysing the global stability complex systems produce during punctuated equilibrium, one can learn much about how these systems adapt, evolve and survive. Complexity and chaos, therefore, together can provide one with a useful framework for understanding the nature and workings of non-linear systems. However, it should be remembered that every observer of knowledge does so out of his/her own personal framework of beliefs, circumstances and history, and that knowledge therefore can never be 100 percent objective. Knowledge and truth can never be entirely relative either, however, for this would mean that all knowledge (and thereby all opposing claims and statements) is equally correct or true. This is clearly not possible. What is possible, though, is the fulfilling and successful pursuit of knowledge for the sake of the journey of learning and understandi ng. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vraag na wat dit eintlik beteken om te sê mens weet iets, of dra kennis van iets, het na 'n epistemologiese soeke na die wese van kennis en die verwerwing daarvan toe gelei. Daar is baie maniere waarop mens kennis kan verwerf, baie verskillende raamwerke wat mens kan gebruik om te soek na waarheid. Omdat die meeste wesenlike stelsels waarvan mens kennis sou wou verkry (organies, sosiaal, ekonomies ens.) nie-lineêr is, is 'n verstaan van nie-lineêre stelsels belangrik vir die kennisverwerwingsproses. Kennis vertoon die eienskappe van I n dinamiese, aanpassende stelsel, en kan dus via 'n dinamiese teorie van aanpassendestelsels benader word. Daarom is chaosteorie en kompleksiteitsteorie twee teoretiese (nie-lineêre) raamwerke wat die proses van kennisverwerwing kan vergemaklik. As I n modernistiese instrument vir kennisverwerwing, verskaf chaosteorie deterministiese reëls wat die wiskundige verstaan van nie-lineêre verskynsels bietjie vergemaklik, maar dit is beperk deurdat dit net sekere kennis tot op die (stelsel se) volgende splitsing (d.w.s. waar chaos begin) verskaf. Hierna, word dit naasonmoontlik om te voorspel wat I n chaotiese stelsel gaandoen. Kompleksiteitsteorie, as I n postmodernistiese gereedskap vir kennisverwerwing, gee mens insig in die dinamiese, selforganiserende aard van die nie-lineêre stelsels om mens. Deur die globale stabiliteit wat komplekse stelsels gedurende onderbreekte ewewig ("punctuated equi/ibrium"}toon te analiseer, kan mens baie leer van hoe hierdie stelsels aanpas, ontwikkel en oorleef. Kompleksiteit en chaos, saam, kan mens dus van a nuttige raamwerk vir die verstaan van die wese en werkinge van nie-lineêre stelsels, voorsien. Daar moet egter onthou word dat elke waarnemer van kennis dit doen uit sy/haar persoonlike raamwerk van oortuiginge, omstandighede en geskiedenis, en dat kennis dus nooit 100 persent objektief kan wees nie. Kennis en waarheid kan egter ook nooit heeltemaal relatief wees nie, want dit sou beteken dat alle kennis (en hiermee ook alle teenstrydige aansprake en stellings) gelyk korrek of waar is. Hierdie is duidelik onmoontlik. Wat wel moontlik is, is die vervullende en suksesvolle strewe na kennis ter wille van die reis van leer en verstaan.

This case study explored how ten English as a First Language (Li) and ten English as a Second Language (L2) average Grade Three readers used Prior Knowledge and Non Prior Knowledge strategies to understand two Science texts and to answer three types of questions on the texts. The questions were classified according to the Pearson and Johnson taxonomy (1978). Answers to Textually Explicit questions could be found in the text; answers to Textually Implicit questions invited inferences from the text and answers to Scriptally Implicit questions required readers to use their own resources. Readers thought out loud or verbalized their thoughts after reading each sentence of the text, rated reading strategy statements, orally answered the three types of questions and then rated question-answering strategy statements. Patterns of strategies emerged from the Text and Questions protocols. Frequency counts of strategies were tallied and percentages were calculated. Analyses of the bar graphs showed that there were apparent differences between Li and L2 students in their use of Prior Knowledge and Non Prior Knowledge strategies when they read texts and answered questions on texts. It was felt that these differences indicated that Li readers seemed to be less “text-bound” or focussed on the text than L2 readers were. There were also apparent differences between the three types of questions and Li and L2 readers’ use of Prior Knowledge and Non Prior Knowledge strategies, providing evidence that the three types of questions elicited use of different types of strategies, and lending support to Wixson’s comment (1983) that the types of questions asked influenced the kinds of strategies used.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Historical Studies, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 279-352)

Government policy for economic development across Scotland and the UK is driving an increasing number of strategic alliances in higher education to achieve economies of scale and economies of experience. Higher education institutions have been encouraged through strategic funding to further develop externally facing university-business engagement. Effective collaboration could theoretically produce the advantage of a better student experience and, at the same time, make the market for higher education more competitive. Collaborative structures are complex including the interaction between the people or agents who work within and between them. The challenge is how such collaboration can best be organised to deliver across organisation boundaries. The purpose of the study was to explore and report on a causal story of collaborative practice by examining the insider perspectives of the people engaged in collaborative strategic projects in higher education. Collaboration is defined as a relationship which is mutually beneficial to organisations to achieve common aims, including the structure, roles and relationships within collaborations. The study considered one such strategic project, the Scottish HE Employability Forum,in particular, the lived experience of the members of its project management group and was informed by the evidence based literature. The interpretivist qualitative approach to the study, with semi-structured interviews, represented one specific time interval of the participant voice considering the set-up, implementation and evaluation of the strategic project. The data analysis and findings confirmed a priori themes, for example, the need for trust building, effective leadership and strategic planning. A principle emergent theme was that the notions of agency and reciprocity were not mutually exclusive and impacted on the causal mechanisms and explanation of observed behaviours and relationships of the participant members. A conceptual framework from the current study is presented suggesting themes of collaborative activity being comprised of a broader pattern requiring relational behaviour, expert and champion roles for successful collaboration. A series of recommendations is given for collaborative practice; for project management, effectiveness and sustainability along with key messages of knowledge transfer and learning.

O presente estudo tem por objetivo mapear o processo de criação de conhecimento organizacional durante a elaboração dos relatórios de sustentabilidade de uma empresa de grande porte no ramo de produtos de beleza, tendo como referência a teoria de criação do conhecimento organizacional de Nonaka e Takeuchi (1997, 2008). Para tal, buscou-se, inicialmente, conhecer as fontes de informação internas e externas (formais e informais) utilizadas para aquisição de conhecimento pela equipe que atua na elaboração dos relatórios de sustentabilidade da organização estudada. Procurou-se ainda compreender como ocorre o processo a conversão do conhecimento tácito e explícito para o alcance de metas globais e sustentáveis da referida organização. Além disso, foram estudadas as condições e fatores que interferem no processo de criação de conhecimento organizacional, tendo como base a teoria de Von Krogh, Ichijo e Nonaka (2001) para complementar a teoria proposta por Nonaka e Takeuchi (1997, 2008). Essa pesquisa é classificada como aplicada, exploratória e descritiva, com abordagem de análise quantitativa e qualitativa, na qual se fez uso de procedimentos bibliográficos, documentais e estudo de caso. Os instrumentos de coleta de dados empregados foram: questionário, entrevista semiestruturada, relatórios de sustentabilidade da organização dos anos anteriores (2009 e 2010) e outros documentos institucionais disponibilizados na internet. Os resultados desse estudo revelaram que o processo de criação de conhecimento organizacional depende de dados, informações e conhecimentos oriundos do meio interno e externo da organização. O conhecimento, resultante de um processo constante de interação, para ser ampliado organizacionalmente, necessita ser compartilhado e difundido entre os membros da equipe que atuam na elaboração dos relatórios de sustentabilidade da empresa estudada. As fontes de informação, quando bem selecionadas e exploradas, são ótimos meios de aquisição de conhecimentos, tornando-se um diferencial de qualidade para compor os relatórios de sustentabilidade de uma organização. A conversão do conhecimento tácito e explícito auxilia a empresa estudada no alcance de metas globais e sustentáveis, por meio de composição heterogênea da equipe que atua na elaboração dos relatórios de sustentabilidade, organizacional voltada para a sustentabilidade e utilização da TI como um importante meio de armazenagem e disponibilização de conhecimento. Contextos adequados compostos por diversas condições e fatores podem facilitar esse processo, fomentando o fluxo de informação e conhecimento ao longo da elaboração dos relatórios de sustentabilidade. As ferramentas da tecnologia da informação e comunicação, quando utilizadas eficientemente, contribuem na comunicação, colaboração e interação entre os funcionários na medida em que possibilitam a troca de informações, ideias e experiências, alavancando assim, o processo de criação de conhecimento organizacional. / This study aims to identify the phases of organizational knowledge creation during the preparation of sustainability reports of a large company in the business of beauty products having as background the theory of organizational knowledge creation Nonaka and Takeuchi (1997, 2008). To this end, we sought initially to know the sources of information internal and external (formal and informal) used for the acquisition of knowledge by staff that operates the reporting organization's sustainability study. We also sought to understand how is the process of creating organizational knowledge during the preparation of sustainability reports, as well as the conversion of tacit and explicit knowledge for achieving global goals of the organization and sustainable. furthermore, we studied the conditions and factors that affect the process of knowledge creation based on the theory of Von Krogh, Ichijo and Nonaka (2001) to complement the theory proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1997, 2008). This research is classified as applied, exploratory and descriptive approach with quantitative and qualitative analysis, in which we made use of the following: bibliographic, documentary and case study. The data collection instruments used were: questionnaire, semi-structured interview, the organization's sustainability reports from previous years (2009 and 2010) and other institutional documents available on the internet. The results of this study showed that the process of knowledge creation depends on data, information and knowledge from internal and external environment of the organization, where knowledge, resulting in a constant process of interaction, to be expanded organizationally, needs to be shared and distributed among team members who work in the preparation of sustainability reports of the studied company. Sources of information, when properly selected and operated, are great means of acquiring knowledge, making a quality differential to make sustainability reporting of an organization. the conversion of tacit and explicit knowledge helps the company studied in achieving global goals and sustainable through: heterogeneous composition of the team working on the preparation of sustainability reports, professional performance of this team runs through the three organizational levels: strategic, intermediate and operational, organizational culture focused on sustainability and use of it as an important means of storing and providing knowledge. Contexts compounds suitable for various conditions and factors can facilitate this process by promoting the flow of information and knowledge throughout the preparation of sustainability reports. The tools of information technology and communication, when used effectively, contributing in communication, collaboration and interaction among employees in that enable the exchange of information, ideas and experiences, thus leveraging the process of knowledge creation.

This case study explored how ten English as a First Language (Li) and ten English as a Second Language (L2) average Grade Three readers used Prior Knowledge and Non Prior Knowledge strategies to understand two Science texts and to answer three types of questions on the texts. The questions were classified according to the Pearson and Johnson taxonomy (1978). Answers to Textually Explicit questions could be found in the text; answers to Textually Implicit questions invited inferences from the text and answers to Scriptally Implicit questions required readers to use their own resources. Readers thought out loud or verbalized their thoughts after reading each sentence of the text, rated reading strategy statements, orally answered the three types of questions and then rated question-answering strategy statements. Patterns of strategies emerged from the Text and Questions protocols. Frequency counts of strategies were tallied and percentages were calculated. Analyses of the bar graphs showed that there were apparent differences between Li and L2 students in their use of Prior Knowledge and Non Prior Knowledge strategies when they read texts and answered questions on texts. It was felt that these differences indicated that Li readers seemed to be less “text-bound” or focussed on the text than L2 readers were. There were also apparent differences between the three types of questions and Li and L2 readers’ use of Prior Knowledge and Non Prior Knowledge strategies, providing evidence that the three types of questions elicited use of different types of strategies, and lending support to Wixson’s comment (1983) that the types of questions asked influenced the kinds of strategies used. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Orientador: Washington Luiz Pacheco de Carvalho / Banca: Maria Celina Piazza Recena / Banca: Carmen Roselaine de Oliveira Farias / Banca: Maria de Lourdes Spazziani / Banca: Luciana Massi / Resumo: A universidade deve reivindicar o compromisso de formação ambiental, inclusive dos docentes formadores de Licenciandos em Química. Assim, este trabalho pesquisou a partir do referencial do conhecimento didático do conteúdo, da ambientalização curricular, das relações entre educação ambiental, educação para o desenvolvimento sustentável (DS) e a educação química, das chamadas epistemologias outras (do Sul, da ecologia integral e da liberação, do pensamento andino, da ciência pós-normal), sobre a efetivação da ambientalização dos conteúdos (AC) na formação dos LQ a partir das dimensões do conhecimento didático do conteúdo ambientalizado (CDC-A) do professor universitário. A pesquisa seguiu uma abordagem qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, visando compreender a AC na formação dos LQ em três universidades colombianas que, no momento da pesquisa, tinham os cursos considerados. As técnicas de coleta de dados foram documentais, conversacionais e observacionais e a análise foi do tipo etnográfica do conteúdo, desenvolvendo no processo vários critérios de qualidade da pesquisa. O estudo configurou-se em três fases: na primeira, de cunho descritivo com método interpretativo e três etapas, foi de diagnóstico-caracterização do nível da AC em confronto com o referencial para responder pelos fundamentos, princípios, ações e formas de organização do conteúdo que orientam as propostas de LQ em que tivesse incluído a formação ambiental. As técnicas e instrumentos documentais permitiram criar... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The university, and its professors in particular, must vindicate the commitment to train environmentally. Thus, we investigated the improvement of the environmentalization of content (EC) in the training of teachers based on the dimensions of the environmentalized pedagogical content knowledge (E-PCK) of the university teacher. For this they were considered referents of this E-PCK, of curricular environmentalization; the relationships between environmental education, education for sustainable development (SD) and chemical education; and the so-called other epistemologies: southern epistemology, integral ecology, liberation ecology, Andean or Latin American thinking and post normal science. Methodologically, a qualitative, case study approach was followed, to understand the environmentalization of the content of the university teacher by training chemistry professors in three Colombian universities with active programs. The data were analyzed with ethnographic analysis of the content was made, employing specific quality criteria throughout the process. The study was configured in three phases: the first was descriptive with an interpretive method and three stages; EC levels were diagnosed, characterized and contrasted with the theoretical reference, in an effort to uncover the fundamentals, principles, actions and ways of organizing the content that guides the training of chemistry teachers (that included environmental training). The documentary techniques allowed the creation... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Knowledge representation learning (KRL) has been a long-standing and challenging topic in artificial intelligence. Recent years have witnessed the rapidly growing research interest and industrial applications of KRL. However, two important aspects of KRL remains unsatisfactory in the academia and industries, i.e., the quality and the generalization capabilities of the learned representations. This thesis presents a set of methods target at learning high quality distributed knowledge representations and further empowering the learned representations for more general reasoning tasks over knowledge bases. On the one hand, we identify the false negative issue and the data sparsity issue in the knowledge graph completion (KGC) task that can limit the quality of the learned representations. Correspondingly, we design a ranking-based positive-unlabeled learning method along with an adversarial data augmentation strategy for KGC. Then we unify them seamlessly to improve the quality of the learned representations. On the other hand, although recent works expand the supported neural reasoning tasks remarkably by answering multi-hop logical queries, the generalization capabilities are still limited to inductive reasoning tasks that can only provide entity-level answers. In fact, abductive reasoning that provides concept-level answers to queries is also in great need by online users and a wide range of downstream tasks. Therefore, we design a joint abductive and inductive knowledge representation learning and reasoning system by incorporating, representing, and operating on concepts. Extensive experimental results along with case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods in improving the quality and generalization capabilities of the learned distributed knowledge representations.