This dissertation seeks to reconstruct the development of the modern Lithuanian political thought. The main object of the analysis for achieving this goal is the concept of the state (Lith. valstybė). It serves as a synthetic concept and helps to interpret the utterances of the important Lithuanian intellectuals about the person, society and polity as such from the standpoint of political theory. Analysis is done by combining three schools of intellectual history: history of ideas, conceptual history and history of the political. The dissertation shows that the genesis of the concept of the state since the beginning of the 19th century and its embedding in the modern political language and thought cannnot be separated from the development of a modern political paradigm. The national awakening at the end of the 19th century also led to the creation of new political concepts, which helped to define the polity as an abstract and sovereign entity. The ideologization of the concept (different usage of it in order to provide the basis for competing ideological projects) enables to distinguish several different attitudes towards the state specific for the Lithuanian political culture. During the Interbellum period it is possible to indicate four main modes to conceptualize the state: organic, nationalistic, democratic-legalistic and Marxist-economistic. After the Second World War Marxist and legalistic conceptualization of the state became the dominant ones in Lithuania, and the... [to full text] / Disertacijoje rekonstruojama modernios politinės minties raida Lietuvoje. Pagrindiniu analizės objektu siekiant šio tikslo tampa valstybės sąvoka, kuri sintezuoja ir iš politinės teorijos perspektyvos leidžia interpretuoti ją vartojančių intelektualų prielaidas apie asmens, visuomenės ir pačios politijos (bendriausia sąvoka nusakanti politinę tvarką) prigimtį. Analizė atliekama pasitelkiant ir derinant tris intelektualinės istorijos mokyklas: idėjų istoriją, sąvokų istoriją ir politiškumo istoriją. Disertacijoje parodoma, kad valstybės sąvokos atsiradimas XIX a. pr. ir įsitvirtinimas lietuvių kalboje bei politinėje mintyje yra neatsiejamos nuo modernių politinių paradigmų sklaidos. XIX a. pab. vykęs tautinis atgimimas taip pat skatino lietuviškų politinių sąvokų kūrimą, kurios leistų naujai apibūdinti politiją kaip abstraktų ir suverenų socialinį darinį. Per visą XX a. vykusi sąvokos ideologizacija – skirtingas vartojimas konkuruojantiems ideologiniams projektams pagrįsti – leidžia išskirti keletą Lietuvos visuomenei būdingų santykio su valstybe modelių. Tarpukariu labiausiai išryškėjo organiškas, tautininkiškas, demokratinis-legalistinis ir marksistinis-ekonomistinis valstybės konceptualizavimo būdai. Po II-ojo pasaulinio karo Lietuvoje buvo įtvirtintas marksistinis ir legalistinis valstybės apibrėžimo modelis, kai tuo tarpu išeivijoje buvo plėtojama organiškoji ir įdiegta liberalioji valstybės koncepcija.

The objective of this thesis is to constrain the fundamental hydrogeological processes of a large crystalline fractured rock watershed in the Canadian Shield. The fundamental hydrogeological processes of groundwater recharge, flow and discharge are examined individually as well as holistically using a revised conceptual model. The study area is the topographically-subdued Tay River watershed in eastern Ontario where a thin veneer of soil overlies Precambrian crystalline rocks and Paleozoic sediments. Spatial scales from local-scale (100s m2 to 1 km2) to watershed-scale (>100 km2) are examined. Recharge processes are defined using hydrogeological characterization, numerical simulation and isotopic, thermal and hydraulic responses to a snowmelt event. Soil thickness and bedrock transmissivity are highly heterogeneous at the local scale. Cold, 2H depleted snowmelt locally recharged the bedrock aquifer to depths of at least 20 m within two days. This rapid recharge process is localized to areas where the soil is very thin whereas slow recharge is likely widespread. The impact of lineaments on groundwater flow at the watershed-scale is examined using geomatic analysis, hydrogeological characterization, numerical simulation and fracture mapping. Lineaments are interpreted as structural features because the two principal lineament sets are oriented parallel to fracture and fault orientations. The fractured bedrock underlying lineaments generally consists of poorly connected zones of reduced permeability suggesting lineament can be barriers to recharge and flow in this setting. Natural conservative, radioactive, and thermal tracers are integrated with streamflow measurements and a steady-state advective model to delimit the discharge locations and quantify the discharge flux to lakes, wetlands, creeks and the Tay River. The groundwater discharge rate to most surface water bodies is low. Groundwater discharge is distributed across the watershed rather than localized around lineaments or zones of exposed brittle fractures. In the revised conceptual model, recharge is considered two separate processes, groundwater flow is compartmentalized and the discharge flux is considerably lower than porous media watersheds. This thesis provides a better understanding of fundamental hydrogeological processes in a large crystalline fractured rock watershed which impacts the sustainability of water resources and ecology. / Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2009-07-13 14:51:25.244

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<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">This study looks at the effect of a cross-cultural instructional approach on the learners&rsquo / conceptions of lightning and attitude towards science. It explored Basotho conceptions of lightning and thunder under the following themes: nature of lightning, protection against lightning, animalistic/humanistic behaviour of lighting and nature of wounds inflicted by lightning.</p> </font></p>

<p>The adoption of information technology as an aid to organisational efficiency and effectiveness has a long history in business and public administration, but its application to the processes of teaching and learning in education has been relatively limited. At the dawn of the new millennium this began to change, as educational institutions around the world began to experiment with new ideas for the use of information technology. This happened at the same time that commercial organisations began to realise that they themselves could &ndash / because of the availability of IT based systems &ndash / invest in educational services focused on their own needs. It was against this background that this research project set out to study how South African higher education has incorporated new learning technologies in the delivery of programmes. The study began by exploring the emerging patterns of the use of e-learning in South African higher education. This was to establish a broad understanding of how e-learning was incorporated into the core business of universities. As the study progressed interviews with both teaching and support staff provided course descriptions which were used to expose the kind of considerations that were made in designing, developing and delivering those courses. The main purpose of the study was to answer the question: what pedagogical considerations are necessary for successful course design when using e-learning? By placing the course descriptions on a continuum developed as a part of the conceptual framework in the study it was possible to analyse the course design features that emerged. The framework and its differentiated learning designs (LD1/2/3) can be used for both design and evaluation of courses and can facilitate the use of technology in enhancing teaching and learning.</p>

<p>Coal provides for 77% of South Africa&rsquo / s primary energy needs and is therefore a major resource that supports the socio-economic needs of South African citizens. Power stations are the major consumers of coal in South Africa and produces electricity from burned coal. The burning of coal produces a large volume of ash that is disposed in the form of ash dump systems. The ash&nbsp / dump system is treated with high salinity process water from the power station for dust suppression. The process water contains salts due to evaporation processes from the recirculation&nbsp / &nbsp / of&nbsp / water in the cooling water system. Various studies to evaluate the sustainability of the ash dump system as a sustainable salt sink were therefore conducted. This study aimed to develop a conceptual model for the ash dump system by evaluating the movement of the process water trough the ash dump and the impacts it might have on the underlying weathered dolerite aquifer. This was achieved by evaluating the hydraulic and transport properties of the ash dump system. An initial site conceptual model was first established prior to the application of the hydraulic&nbsp / and transport methods. The initial conceptual model was based on the literature, previous reports and an initial site walk over. Known and tested hydraulic and transport methods were applied&nbsp / n bo.th field and laboratory scale for the saturated part of the ash dump system. The laboratory experiments comprised of column and core experiments. These methods assisted in&nbsp / parameter estimation of hydraulic and transport properties and also assisted in the planning of the field experiments. The field experiments were conducted in the form of slug tests, tracer&nbsp / dilution and natural gradient divergent tracer test experiments. The combined laboratory and field experiments provided statistically significant values that were then used as inputs into the&nbsp / conceptual model. Field experiments were also applied to a surrogate aquifer that represented the underlying shallow weathered dolerite aquifer of the ash dump system. The components of&nbsp / the updated conceptual model identified and investigated include the physical environment, the calculated hydraulic and transport properties.The ash dump can be conceptualized as a 20 to&nbsp / &nbsp / 30 meter high heap of consolidated clay size ash&nbsp / particles built on top of an underlying shallow weathered dolerite aquifer. The ash dup is directly connected to the underlying weathered&nbsp / dolerite aquifer. The saline water within the saturated zone has the ability to move through the ash dump system with hydraulic conductivities ranging between 10-1-10- 2 m/day, with flow&nbsp / velocities of 7-8m/day and effective porosities of 1%-2%. The hydraulic properties of the ash dump are, amongst others, controlled by the ash geology, contact time of the process water with the&nbsp / sh and show a significant reduction in hydraulic conductivity over time, before reaching a steady state. The transport properties are controlled by advection and spreading in available&nbsp / pathways. Results for the surrogate underlying fractured rock aquifer show flow velocities of 31m/day and an effective porosity of 1%.This suggests that the underlying weathered dolerite&nbsp / aquifer is vulnerable to process water contamination from the ash dump system. The study illustrates the importance of a site conceptual model before the application of investigative&nbsp / methods. Hence having a site conceptual model provides an excellent platform for hydraulic and transport estimation. The development of a site conceptual model enhanced the&nbsp / understanding of flow and transport movement of the processed&nbsp / water trough the ash dump, it also assisted as a beneficial tool to enhance ash dump management.</p>

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

Aircraft subsystems are key components in modern aircraft, the impact and significance of which have been constantly increasing. Furthermore, the architecture selection of these subsystems has overall system-level effects. Despite the significant effects of architecture selections, existing methods for determining the architecture, especially early in design, are similar to the use of traditional point solutions. Currently, aircraft subsystems are rarely examined during the conceptual design phase, despite the fact that this phase has a significant influence on aircraft cost and performance. For this reason, there is a critical need to examine subsystem architecture trades and investigate the design space during the conceptual design of an aircraft. Traditionally, after the aircraft conceptual design phase, subsystems are developed in a process that begins with the point selection of the architecture, then continues with its development and analysis, and concludes in the detailed development of the subsystems. The choice of the point design of the architecture to be developed can be made using simplified models to explore the design space. This method known as conceptual architecting is explored in this dissertation. This dissertation also focuses on bringing actuation subsystem architecture trades into conceptual design because of the significant cost impact of this design phase and the interdependence of vehicle sizing with the subsystems impact on the aircraft. The extent of these interdependencies is examined and found to be significant. As a result, this coupling must be captured to enable better informed decision making. A methodology to examine the design space of aircraft subsystem architectures during the conceptual design of aircraft, while incorporating this coupling, is presented herein and applied specifically to actuation architectures.

This paper examines the popular philosophical theory of moral relativism. Traditionally, the theory argues that communities have their own conceptual frameworks of morality that are inaccessible to those outside of the community. Thus, one community cannot give another community a moral reason to change a practice. In this paper, I will examine David Velleman’s version of the theory presented in his book Foundations for Moral Relativism. This version posits that the drive towards mutual interpretability is a universal drive among human communities. From this drive stem all the practices and moral values of communities. However, Velleman does not believe that this implies that communities can understand each others’ conceptual frameworks. In this way, his account remains a normal version of moral relativism. I will argue that there are some cases in which a person can understand a different community’s conceptual framework enough to provide a reason for that community to change a practice. Importantly, my argument will not say that the reasons for change are moral reasons. They will be practical reasons based on the normative fact that human communities should strive towards mutual interpretability. Thus, my account will also maintain the crucial tenets of moral relativism. If accomplished, this argument will add a great power to the theory.

This mixed methods status study examined 32 fourth grade students’ conceptual understandings of energy flow through ecosystems prior to instruction and 40 eighth grade students’ conceptual understandings of the same topic after five years of daily standards-based instruction in science. Specific ecological concepts assessed related to: 1) roles of organisms; 2) the sun as the original energy source for most ecosystems; and 3) interdependency of organisms. Fourth and eighth grade students were assessed using the same three-tiered forced-choice instrument, with accompanying tasks for students to defend their forced-choice selections and rate their level of confidence in making the selections. The instrument was developed for the study by a team of researchers and was based on similar tasks presented in the research literature. Distractor options were embedded in each assessment task using common non-scientific ideas also reported in the research literature. Cronbach’s alpha values at or greater than .992 for each task indicated inter-rater consistency of task answers, and Rasch analysis was employed to establish the reliability of the instrument. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were employed to assess the data. Constant comparative methods were employed to analyze students’ written responses, which were coded and grouped into emerging themes. These themes were further developed to characterize students’ conceptual understandings. Student open responses also were scored and coded by a team of researchers using a rubric to identify level of scientific understanding. Quantitative analyses included Rasch analysis used to normalize survey data. Independent samples t-tests were then employed to compare students’ forced-choice responses to their written responses and to the confidence ratings, as well as to compare fourth and eighth grade students’ responses. Findings indicated that eighth grade students generally outperformed the fourth grade on both the forced-choice and written responses, but both groups demonstrated conceptual difficulties in all three topics assessed. Thus, results from the current study support the assertion that students’ understanding of concepts related to energy flow in ecosystems is not at the expected level according to national science education standards and frameworks. Conceptual difficulties identified in the study are discussed along with implications and curricular recommendations.