Avsikten med denna rapport och undersökning är att belysa vikten av att införa Lean Thinking i företagets alla delar samt hur detta utförs på ett hållbart sätt. Med hållbart menas här att företaget ska ta vara på sina medarbetare och lyfta dem samtidigt som de lyfter verksamheten och effektiviserar processerna.  Syftet med studien är att studerar hur Lean Thinking fungerar i kontorsmiljö samt hur en organisation går till väga för att påbörja en hållbar implementering av Lean. Intresset för Lean föddes under kursen Lean Production och sedan dess har vi uppmärksammat fel och problem i mötet med olika företag vilket har motiverat till denna studie.   En deduktiv metod har använts och studien grundar sig dels på litteraturstudier, kvalitativa intervjuer, samt en fallstudie som har utförts i samarbete med ett företag som precis har påbörjat sin Lean-resa. I syfte att höja validiteten har en f.d. lean-föreläsaren, Anders Nylund, från Högskolan i Borås intervjuats.  I resultatet presenteras respondenternas svar och jämförts med råden och riktlinjerna som kommit fram under intervjun Nylund för att utvärdera om företaget har bra mål och korrekta tillvägagångssätt. Vidare presenteras en guide som i korta drag presenterar hur man ska gå till väga och vad man som företag bör tänka på vid implementation av Lean i kontorsmiljö. / The intention of this report and study is to highlight the importance of implementing Lean Thinking in all parts of the company and doing so in a sustainable way. To implement something in a sustainable way is to consider your employees and helping them reach new goals and possibilities and making the business more efficient at the same time.   The purpose is to study how Lean Thinking works in an office environment and how an organization initiates a sustainable implementation of Lean. The interest of Lean first started during the course Lean Production and since then we`ve noticed a lot of different problems that companies were having, that we hadn´t see before. This is the motivation for this study.  The study is based on a deductive method and is performed through literature studies, interviews based on qualitative methods and a case study performed in association with a company who just recently started their Lean journey. In order to increase the validity of the report we conducted an interview with an former lecturer, Anders Nylund, who works at the University of Borås.  The results of the interviews are presented and compared with the advice and the guidelines we gathered from the interview with Nylund to evaluate if the company´s goals and approach are valid. Furthermore a guide is presented that briefly explaines how a company should go about to implement Lean in an office environment.

<div> <p>In order to achieve broadening participation in computer science and other careers related to computing, middle school classrooms should provide students opportunities (tasks) to think like a computer scientist. Researchers in computing education promote the idea that programming skill should not be a pre-requisite for students to display computational thinking (CT). Thus, some tasks that aim to deliberately elicit students’ CT competency should be stand-alone tasks rather than coding fluency-oriented tasks. Guided by this approach, this assessment design process began by examining national standards in CT. A Q-matrix (i.e., item–attribute alignment table) was then developed and modified using (a) literature in CT, (b) input from subject-matter experts, and (c) cognitive interviews with a small sample of students. After multiple-choice item prototypes were written, pilot-tested, and revised, 15 of them were finally selected to be administered to 564 students in two middle schools in the Mid-western US. Through cognitive diagnostic modeling, the estimation results yielded mastery classifications or subscores that can be used diagnostically by teachers. The results help teachers facilitate students’ <i>mastery orientations</i>, that is, to address the gap between what students know and what students need to know in order to meet desired learning goals. By equipping teachers with a diagnostic classification based assessment, this research has the capacity to inform instruction which, in turn, will enrich students’ learning experience in CT. </p> </div> <br>

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Education. Johannesburg, 2016 / Argumentation is viewed as an important pedagogical tool that is central to the teaching and learning of science. Research has shown argumentation as one of the pedagogical practices that promote meaningful learner talk and engagement. In South Africa, most such research has been carried out in high schools and universities on tutored ability in argumentation. There is no research on untutored learner ability in argumentation in primary school science. This study sought to address this gap by determining untutored learner argumentation in science in a Gauteng primary school. I wanted to establish whether and how untutored learners argue and the nature of their arguments. I also wanted to examine the evidence that they give to support assertions. I observed learner interactions in my two Grade 7 science classes through small group discussions and whole class discussions. All the participants were from a public primary school in Gauteng. These learners were untutored (had not been taught) in argumentation, but as their teacher, I had been exposed to argumentation through participation in a masters course. I used qualitative research methodology and drew from Toulmin’s Argument Pattern (TAP) to determine the construction of arguments during the science lessons. I used an analytic frame work by Erduran, Simon and Osborne (2004) which helps to categorize the various components of an argument into different levels. My findings indicated that learners who are untutored in argumentation are able to formulate arguments. Literature has reported that untutored learners in high schools in South Africa present only level 2 arguments. In this study, Grade 7 learners who are untutored in argumentation were able to formulate level 3 arguments in some instances. The study further revealed that some of the learners were able to support their arguments using scientific evidence although most tended to be simple constructs consisting of only data and claims. The fact that they were taught by a teacher, who is tutored in argumentation, may have literature bearing on the learners’ argument ability. Current work in South Africa has shown how untutored teachers do not argue: how untutored learners do not argue: how tutored teachers learn to argue and how tutored learners can learn to argue. What we do not know is how untutored learners argue if they have a tutored teacher. Further research might inform teacher education and classroom argumentation in constrained environments where learners are generally untutored as is the case in many South African classrooms.

A research report submitted to the faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science by combination of coursework and research report. Johannesburg, 2016. / The merits of argumentation for science teaching and learning have been established not just for South Africa, but globally. However, little is known about what both students and teachers understand by argumentation for science learning and teaching. This study aimed to investigate what seventy nine students and two teachers understood about argumentation and to examine the nature of students written scientific arguments. A sample of 79 students from two high schools in the north of Johannesburg, South Africa, was selected to complete a questionnaire that included a single Multiple Choice Question task. Students’ respective teachers were interviewed for their understanding on argumentation. The interviews were inductively analysed to extract themes related on teachers’ perspectives on argumentation. The MCQ task item was analysed using Toulmins Argumentation Pattern as adapted by Erduran et al, to show levels of argumentation. The rest of the questions on the questionnaire were analysed according to my research questions to get students’ understanding on argumentation. Three main findings were found from the study. Firstly, students understand what a good scientific argument constitutes of. They mentioned debates and discussions as an opportunity to engage in an argument. Secondly, teachers demonstrated an understanding that argumentation requires facts and evidence to support claims. Meanwhile, findings also show that teachers value science arguments as they demand students to use evidence, rather than opinions to support their claims. Thirdly, most students struggled to construct levels at a higher level. This meant that most students wrote arguments that consisted of a claim, data/ evidence or a weak warrant. Hence, arguments were at levels 1, 2 and seldom at level 3. Students written scientific arguments revealed that only 24 out of 79 students were able select the correct scientific answer. The remaining fifty students selected the wrong answer and their arguments were based on the incorrect scientific justification that, when a solid substance is in a gaseous phase in a closed system it would have lesser mass, simply because gas weighs less than a solid. This was a common misconception that most students had. These outcomes imply that there is a need to train teachers how to help students write valid scientific arguments, the inclusion of more debates and consideration to ideas as to how students can construct written argument. Lastly, those argumentation practices should assist teachers on how to minimise students’ misconception on the law of the conservation of mass. As such, argumentation can serve as an instruction for learner-centred approach to teaching and learning of science. Keywords: argumentation, written argument, nature of an argument / LG2017

"Might makes right," so the saying goes. What does this mean? What does it mean to say that humans live by this saying? How can this saying that is considered by almost all as an expression of injustice play a justificatory role practically universally and ubiquitously? How can it be repulsive and yet, nonetheless, attractive as an explanation of the ways of the world? Why its long history? I offer a non-cynical explanation, one based on a re-interpretation of the saying and of both recognized and unrecognized related phenomena. This re-interpretation relies on the notion of a tacit justification for violence. This non-cynical, re-interpretive explanation exposes the ambiguity of the saying and the consequential unwitting, self-deceptive, fallacious equivocations that the ambiguity makes possible under common conditions. While this explanation, furthermore, focuses on thinking factors--specifically on fallacious thinking, on humans' unwittingly and self-deceptively committing the fallacy of equivocation--it does not deny the possible role of non-thinking factors; it only tries to show that the thinking factors are significantly explanatory. What is the ambiguity? "Might makes right" expresses two principles. The first principle is the common meaning, namely, that the dominance of the mightier over the weaker is right. This principle is generally considered to be not a definition of justice but an expression of injustice. The second principle, which is almost universally shared in a tacit and unreflective way, is a principle of life, namely, that it is right for any living being to actualize its potential. This second principle is originary and thus primary, while the first principle is derivative and thus secondary. The use of all powers, natural or social, can be ultimately derived legitimately or illegitimately from this primary principle. A common manifestation of "might makes right" is the unwitting abuse of power, an abuse that is not recognized as such by the so-called abuser, but that is rather suffered by this latter, who misapplies the second principle in situations that fall under the first principle, thereby unwittingly living by the saying, tacitly justifying abusive ways by it. This unwittingness calls for critical control and forgiveness.

Pseudoscience is a collection of nonfiction essays analyzing the origins and methodologies or various pseudoscientific practices against the backdrop of events from the narrator's life that mirror those practices in some way. Pseudoscience is unverifiable. Pseudoscience is unverifiable. / by Mike Shier. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / Environmental understanding is highly relevant in today's global society. Social, economic, and political structures are connected to the state of environmental degradation and exploitation, and disproportionately affect those in poor or urban communities (Brulle and Pellow, 2006; Executive Order No. 12898, 1994). Environmental education must challenge the way we live, and our social and ecological quality of life, with the goal of responsible action. The development of a learning progression in environmental thinking, along with a corresponding assessment, could provide a tool that could be used across environmental education programs to help evaluate and guide programmatic decisions. This study sought to determine if a scale could be constructed that allowed individuals to be ordered along a continuum of environmental thinking. First, I developed the Environmental Thinking Learning Progression, a scale of environmental thinking from novice to advanced, based on the current available research and literature. The scale consisted of four subscales, each measuring a different aspect of environmental thinking: place consciousness, human connection, agency, and science concepts. Second, a measurement instrument was developed, so that the data appropriately fit the model using Rasch analysis. A Rasch analysis of the data placed respondents along a continuum, given the range of item difficulty for each subscale. Across three iterations of instrument revision and data collection, findings indicated that the items were ordered in a hierarchical way that corresponded to the construct of environmental thinking. Comparisons between groups showed that the average score of respondents who had participated in environmental education programs was significantly higher than those who had not. A comparison between males and females showed no significant difference in average measure, however, there were varied significant differences between how racial/ethnic groups performed. Overall, the results suggest that the Environmental Thinking Learning Progression and instrument are useful and accurate tools to measure individuals along a continuum from novice to advanced. This can be helpful for environmental education programs for use in evaluation and program development within a diverse context. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Audio has the capacity to display geospatial data. As auditory display design grapples with the challenge of aligning the spatial dimensions of the data with the dimensions of the display, this dissertation investigates the role of time in auditory geographic maps. Three auditory map types translate geospatial data into collections of musical notes, and arrangement of those notes in time vary across three map types: sequential, augmented-sequential, and concurrent. Behavioral and neuroimaging methods assess the auditory symbology. A behavioral task establishes geographic context, and neuroimaging provides a quantitative measure of brain responses to the behavioral task under recall and active listening response conditions. In both behavioral and neuroimaging data, two paired contrasts measure differences between the sequential and augmented-sequential map types, and between the augmented- sequential and concurrent map types. Behavioral data reveal differences in both response time and accuracy. Response times for the augmented-sequential map type are substantially longer in both contrasts under the active response condition. Accuracy is lower for concurrent maps than for augmented-sequential maps; response condition influences direction of differences in accuracy between the sequential and augmented-sequential map types. Neuroimaging data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) show significant differences in blood-oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response during map listening. The BOLD response is significantly stronger in the left auditory cortex and planum temporale for the concurrent map type in contrast to the augmented- sequential map type. And the response in the right auditory cortex and bilaterally in the visual cortex is significantly stronger for augmented-sequential maps in contrast to sequential maps. Results from this research provide empirical evidence to inform choices in the design of auditory cartographic displays, enriching the diversity of geographic map artifacts. Four supplemental files and two data sets are available online. Three audio files demonstrate the three map types: sequential (Supplementary Files, Audio 1), augmented- sequential (Supplementary Files, Audio 2), and concurrent (Supplementary Files, Audio 3). Associated data are available through OpenNeuro (https://openneuro.org/ datasets/ds001415).

Bering and colleagues (2004, 2005) reported that the expectation that conscious mental states cease with the onset of death (discontinuity reasoning) emerges developmentally, and discontinuity reasoning for some states (emotions, desire, epistemic) remains lower than for others (psychobiological, perceptual). Cormier (2005) reported very similar findings for the context of sleep and proposed a modular explanation of these effects (“intentional persistence”) and suggested that intentional persistence represents an evolved adaptation designed to maintain vigilance and behavioral preparedness while in the presence of animals of ambiguous agency status (e.g., death, sleep, hibernation, feigned death). The current study extended this line of research to realistic animal characters. Although results revealed patterns of discontinuity reasoning and intentional persistence that were consistent with those of previous studies, the prediction that intentional persistence would be more pronounced for predators was not fulfilled. A newly proposed evolutionary product, “Cooptation,” was introduced to further explain the results. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

As inovações e transformações sociais dominam a sociedade contemporânea o que acarreta mudanças significativas na vida das pessoas. Consumidores estão cada vez mais exigentes e cientes de seus interesses de compra. Num ambiente globalizado e competitivo as empresas que formulam suas estratégias de inovação baseadas somente em dados e informações lógicas e que não levam em conta o fator humano e social poderão estar fadadas ao fracasso. Novas formas de organização, transformações e mudanças e novos conceitos estão surgindo e sendo adaptados constantemente. Partindo-se do pressuposto que a inovação somente se constitui quando disseminada e aceita, o design thinking pode ser visto então como o motor dessa ação, sendo que, nesse contexto, este estudo analisou como o design thinking, enquanto metodologia criativa e forma de pensar estrategicamente nas organizações, auxiliou empresas de varejo de confecção feminina a construírem suas estratégias de inovação, diferenciação e vantagem competitiva. Dentro dos métodos de investigação a pesquisa utilizou o paradigma interpretativista, e foi caracterizada como exploratória e descritiva. Com método de abordagem quali-quantitativa, para atingir os objetivos da etapa prática, composta pelo estudo de caso, foram utilizadas entrevistas, questionários, observações diretas e triangulações de dados. Investigando o comportamento de compra das consumidoras identificou-se resultados semelhantes em lojas com mix de produtos semelhantes que dirigem-se ao mesmo público e no mesmo local de atuação, o que possibilitou a formulação de ações de prototipação similares, portanto verificou-se que o método do design thinking é plenamente adaptado ao varejo e a contribuição da pesquisa constituiu-se para o desenvolvimento desses pequenos empreendimentos onde a abordagem do varejo moderno é que dá suporte a ouvir os consumidores, suas necessidades, além de promover um espaço de compra de maior comodidade e facilidade para encontrar produtos e informações sobre os mesmos. Atrelado a isso, recursos tecnológicos, criatividade e ousadia – de acordo com o público alvo de cada produto – e a aparência de uma empresa, seja por sua comunicação visual por meio de sua fachada, ambiente interno, gestão da marca ou PDV podem resultar em consumidores satisfeitos com suas escolhas e em lojas de varejo que se destacam em seu meio de atuação. / 172 f.