In the era of advanced communication and transportation technology, immigrants and their descendents can be reunited with their ancestral land from where they or their forebears once were displaced. Visiting the ancestral land as tourists, or "roots tourism," is a major and easily accessible means through which people can recreate and retain the social ties with their ancestral communities. Roots tourism is loosely defined as a type of tourism in which ethnic minorities visit their ancestral lands to discover ethnic roots and culture. Despite the recent popularity of this type of tourism, many gaps remain in the research of roots tourism especially about its influence on ones' identity and sense of home among second generation of immigrants. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore the experiences of visiting ancestral land among second generation immigrants. For the purpose of this study, I focus on experiences of roots tourism among Chinese Americans. By investigating their motivation to visit their ancestral land, experiences and encounters in their ancestral land, and feelings toward the ancestral land and toward the United States after the visit, I attempt to explore how roots tourism influences ways in which second generation define and redefine who they are and where they belong under the transnationalism. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews with forty Chinese Americans revealed that, contrary to the idea that roots tourism generates strong feelings of belonging to one's ancestral land, a majority of the interviewees in this study felt foreign in their ancestral land. Although they felt a certain sense of connection to China or Taiwan, the feeling was overwhelmed by the differences in language, norms, class, culture, upbringing, citizenship, and family and gender composition. Analysis indicated that among forty interviewees, only three interviewees felt a sense of belonging to their ancestral society after their visit, and the rest of the interviewees realized their home is the United States. This study revealed the limitation of roots tourism as a tool to foster an identity and sense of home attached to the tourists' ancestral land. At the same time, the findings also suggest that roots tourism played a significant role to assist the interviewees to develop a positive sense of being Chinese Americans.

My current area of exploration questions how objects and materials can come together to create fences or barriers. I am attempting to address ideas of boundaries, divisions, and borders, and how areas and spaces are defined. I am interested in how we build them around ourselves, physically and emotionally, as a method of delineation and defence. Through considerations of boundaries the work expands to explore notions of the everyday, materiality and process.

St. Augustine believed that we are created to aspire to a perfection that aligns our relationships in such a way that we function out of a sense of respect for ourselves and the universe in which we live. In so doing we explore the possibilities of creativity and happiness. His thinking moved from the context of classical Greek thought into a Christian one. By living and recording the dilemma of being unable to act as his intellect mandated, he developed an innovative concept of will. He believed that we are motivated to act through our loves but we have a divided will that can only move towards integration if we love correctly. This necessitates an inward journey. / The thesis of this paper is that if one subscribes to Augustine's beliefs there are serious implications for education. The following authors are cited to develop these implications in a modern philosophical and educational setting: Charles Taylor, Iris Murdoch, Israel Scheffler and Bob Samples. Finally, a brief resume of relevant teaching approaches and materials is offered.

Esta pesquisa investiga como ocorre o processo de noção de número em dez sujeitos, com idades que variam de 9 a 18 anos, com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais, especificamente com déficit intelectual, que frequentam a Sala de Integração e Recursos na rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa com estudos de casos múltiplos (Yin, 2010). Os procedimentos incluem o uso do Método Clínico para a aplicação das técnicas de conservação de quantidades contínuas, quantidades descontínuas, seriação e o uso do jogo da trilha. O estudo de campo teve a duração de quatro meses, no primeiro e segundo semestre de 2012. A fundamentação teórica desta pesquisa baseou-se na Epistemologia Genética de Jean Piaget e em outros autores que contribuíram para a análise dos dados, tais como: Kamii (1987), Nunes e Bryant (1995, 1997, 2005), Nogueira (2002, 2007, 2011), Rangel (1987), Lino de Macedo (1997), Golbert (2002, 2011), Gelman e Gallistel (1978) e ainda as pesquisas de Inhelder (1973), Mantoan (1997) e Coll e org. (2004). Os resultados desta investigação apontam que oito dos dez sujeitos apresentaram ausência de conservação, pelo fato de terem ignorado a noção de quantidade total ou multidimensional, situando-se na primeira fase em todas as técnicas. Dois dos sujeitos atingiram, em algumas das técnicas, a segunda fase, chamada de início de conjuntos permanentes, e um deles chegou à terceira fase, chamada de conservação necessária. Na técnica da seriação, observou-se que apenas um sujeito dentre os dez casos investigados não apresentou nenhuma série. Os demais sujeitos demonstraram algumas dessas relações de ordem, e um dentre os sujeitos apresentou a seriação completa com dez bastões. Os dados fornecidos pelo jogo da trilha completaram significativamente o entendimento das condutas dos sujeitos com déficit intelectual. Todos realizaram a contagem do dado. Foram percebidas diferenças interessantes na linguagem dos sujeitos, que possibilitam pensar em novas investigações referentes ao tema. Como conclusão, constatou-se que os sujeitos usaram esquemas práticos e estruturas prévias para assimilar novos objetos; fizeram relações a partir de conhecimentos anteriores para enfrentar as tarefas e interpretá-las e alguns relacionam os numerais com experiências do seu cotidiano. / This research investigates the notion of numbers in ten subjects with ages range from 9 to 18 who have Special Educational Needs – especially the ones who have intellectual disabilities – and attend the Sala de Integração e Recursos (SIR – Room of Integration and Resources) of a municipal school from Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is a qualitative research, based on multiple case studies (Yin, 2010). The procedures include the Clinic Method for the application of the conservation techniques (conservation of continuous and discontinuous quantities), seriation and the use of a track board game. The field study lasted four months, during the first and the second semesters of 2012. The theoretical foundation of this research is based on Jean Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology and on other authors who contributed to the data analysis, such as Kamii (1987), Nunes and Bryant (1995, 1997, 2005), Nogueira (2002, 2007, 2011), Rangel (1987), Lino de Macedo (1997), Golbert (2002, 2011), Gelman and Gallistel (1978) and also the researches made by Inhelder (1973), Mantoan (1997) and Coll et al. (2004) The results of this investigation indicate that there is absence of conservation in eight of the ten subjects, for they ignored the notion of total or multidimensional quantity, appearing to be in the first stage in all the techniques applied. Two of the subjects achieved, in some of the techniques, the second stage, known as the attainment of object permanence, and one of them achieved the third stage, also called necessary conservation. During the seriation technique, we observed that only one of the ten cases did not present any series. All the other subjects presented some of this order relations, and one of them presented the complete seriation, with ten sticks. The data provided by the track board game completed significantly the understanding of the the intellectually disabled subjects’ conduct. All of them calculated the dice’s outcome. We also noticed some interesting differences between the subjects’ languages, which led us to think about possible new investigations related to this theme. In conclusion, it was found that the subjects used practical schemes and structures prior to assimilate new objects; made relations from previous knowledge to meet the tasks and interpret them and some numerals relate to experiences of their daily lives.

Esta pesquisa investiga como ocorre o processo de noção de número em dez sujeitos, com idades que variam de 9 a 18 anos, com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais, especificamente com déficit intelectual, que frequentam a Sala de Integração e Recursos na rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa com estudos de casos múltiplos (Yin, 2010). Os procedimentos incluem o uso do Método Clínico para a aplicação das técnicas de conservação de quantidades contínuas, quantidades descontínuas, seriação e o uso do jogo da trilha. O estudo de campo teve a duração de quatro meses, no primeiro e segundo semestre de 2012. A fundamentação teórica desta pesquisa baseou-se na Epistemologia Genética de Jean Piaget e em outros autores que contribuíram para a análise dos dados, tais como: Kamii (1987), Nunes e Bryant (1995, 1997, 2005), Nogueira (2002, 2007, 2011), Rangel (1987), Lino de Macedo (1997), Golbert (2002, 2011), Gelman e Gallistel (1978) e ainda as pesquisas de Inhelder (1973), Mantoan (1997) e Coll e org. (2004). Os resultados desta investigação apontam que oito dos dez sujeitos apresentaram ausência de conservação, pelo fato de terem ignorado a noção de quantidade total ou multidimensional, situando-se na primeira fase em todas as técnicas. Dois dos sujeitos atingiram, em algumas das técnicas, a segunda fase, chamada de início de conjuntos permanentes, e um deles chegou à terceira fase, chamada de conservação necessária. Na técnica da seriação, observou-se que apenas um sujeito dentre os dez casos investigados não apresentou nenhuma série. Os demais sujeitos demonstraram algumas dessas relações de ordem, e um dentre os sujeitos apresentou a seriação completa com dez bastões. Os dados fornecidos pelo jogo da trilha completaram significativamente o entendimento das condutas dos sujeitos com déficit intelectual. Todos realizaram a contagem do dado. Foram percebidas diferenças interessantes na linguagem dos sujeitos, que possibilitam pensar em novas investigações referentes ao tema. Como conclusão, constatou-se que os sujeitos usaram esquemas práticos e estruturas prévias para assimilar novos objetos; fizeram relações a partir de conhecimentos anteriores para enfrentar as tarefas e interpretá-las e alguns relacionam os numerais com experiências do seu cotidiano. / This research investigates the notion of numbers in ten subjects with ages range from 9 to 18 who have Special Educational Needs – especially the ones who have intellectual disabilities – and attend the Sala de Integração e Recursos (SIR – Room of Integration and Resources) of a municipal school from Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is a qualitative research, based on multiple case studies (Yin, 2010). The procedures include the Clinic Method for the application of the conservation techniques (conservation of continuous and discontinuous quantities), seriation and the use of a track board game. The field study lasted four months, during the first and the second semesters of 2012. The theoretical foundation of this research is based on Jean Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology and on other authors who contributed to the data analysis, such as Kamii (1987), Nunes and Bryant (1995, 1997, 2005), Nogueira (2002, 2007, 2011), Rangel (1987), Lino de Macedo (1997), Golbert (2002, 2011), Gelman and Gallistel (1978) and also the researches made by Inhelder (1973), Mantoan (1997) and Coll et al. (2004) The results of this investigation indicate that there is absence of conservation in eight of the ten subjects, for they ignored the notion of total or multidimensional quantity, appearing to be in the first stage in all the techniques applied. Two of the subjects achieved, in some of the techniques, the second stage, known as the attainment of object permanence, and one of them achieved the third stage, also called necessary conservation. During the seriation technique, we observed that only one of the ten cases did not present any series. All the other subjects presented some of this order relations, and one of them presented the complete seriation, with ten sticks. The data provided by the track board game completed significantly the understanding of the the intellectually disabled subjects’ conduct. All of them calculated the dice’s outcome. We also noticed some interesting differences between the subjects’ languages, which led us to think about possible new investigations related to this theme. In conclusion, it was found that the subjects used practical schemes and structures prior to assimilate new objects; made relations from previous knowledge to meet the tasks and interpret them and some numerals relate to experiences of their daily lives.

Title: Notion of Consumer in European and Czech Law The main aim of the thesis is to analyze the notion of consumer, to describe its historical evolution and provide solutions de lege ferenda. The notion of consumer, which is crucial for the extent of consumer protection, results from the concept of weaker contracting party. Therefore this thesis firstly deals with its definition, main principles, general enactment in the Civil Code and particular examples of protection of weaker parties. The thesis mainly focuses on legal regulation of the notion of consumer in European law which is exclusively regulated by secondary legislation of the EU. The majority of private law directives is based on the principle of minimum harmonisation and, in accordance with the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, it characterises the consumer as a natural person acting with the entrepreneur out of their professional activity. It is assumed that consumer protection might become more integrated within the internal market of the EU, as well as based on full harmonisation principle or adoption of a general "European Consumer Protection Act". In the Czech Republic, the notion of consumer has been enacted since 1993 and the definition was restricted through a few amendments solely to natural persons. The...

La notion de contrat préparatoire est étudiée en tant que telle dans cette étude, plus que les contrats préparatoires individuellement. L’objectif était de découvrir la légitimité de la notion de contrat préparatoire. La notion de contrat préparatoire est une notion née de la doctrine, enrichie par la pratique, délaissée par la jurisprudence et inexistante dans le cadre de la loi. Ceci étant, la notion existe. Son identification n’est pas aisée. Elle est parfois assimilée à d’autres notions existantes telles que celle d’avant-contrat, parfois opposée à ces mêmes notions. Les contours de la notion de contrat préparatoire sont flous pour la doctrine, très partagée. Définir des critères d’identification négatifs et positifs est une tâche complexe tant les contrats préparatoires diffèrent selon la conception que l’on en a. Des critères ont été dégagés. La notion de contrat préparatoire recouvre l’ensemble des contrats ayant pour objet la préparation de la conclusion du contrat définitif. Prise ainsi, la définition semble large et permet d’inclure un grand nombre de contrats. L’étude de la pertinence de la notion de contrat préparatoire aboutit toutefois à une réduction drastique de ce qu’est la notion. L’absence de régime commun propre à la catégorie que pourrait être la notion de contrat préparatoire nous conduit à réduire sa pertinence à un usage pratique et pédagogique, la notion n’étant point pertinente en tant que telle. Tel est le cas tout au moins jusqu’à la prochaine réforme du droit des contrats qui pourrait créer un régime commun de sanction des contrats préparatoires propre à dégager des critères effectifs de la notion. / The concept of preparatory contract is considered as itself in this work, more than preparatory contracts separately. The objective was to discover the legitimacy of the concept of preparatory contract. The concept of preparatory contract is a concept born to the doctrine, enriched by practice, neglected by the courts and non-existent under the law. Whereas, the concept exists. His identification is not easy. It is sometimes equated with other existing concepts such as pre-contract, sometimes opposed to those concepts. The determination of the concept of preparatory contract is unclear for very divided doctrine. Define negative and positive identification criteria is a complex task when the preparatory contracts differ so much depending on the conception that we have. Criteria have been cleared, the notion of preparatory contract covers all contracts relating to the preparation of the conclusion of the final contract. Taken like that, the definition seems wide and is used to include a large number of contracts. Only the study of the relevance of the concept of preparatory contract eventually leads to a drastic reduction of what the concept is. The lack of clean common system to the category could be the notion of preparatory contract leads us reduce its relevance to practical and educational purposes, the notion being legally relevant points ; until the next implementation of the reform of contract law which could create a common system of punishment of preparatory own contracts to generate effective criteria of the concept .

Esta pesquisa investiga como ocorre o processo de noção de número em dez sujeitos, com idades que variam de 9 a 18 anos, com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais, especificamente com déficit intelectual, que frequentam a Sala de Integração e Recursos na rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa com estudos de casos múltiplos (Yin, 2010). Os procedimentos incluem o uso do Método Clínico para a aplicação das técnicas de conservação de quantidades contínuas, quantidades descontínuas, seriação e o uso do jogo da trilha. O estudo de campo teve a duração de quatro meses, no primeiro e segundo semestre de 2012. A fundamentação teórica desta pesquisa baseou-se na Epistemologia Genética de Jean Piaget e em outros autores que contribuíram para a análise dos dados, tais como: Kamii (1987), Nunes e Bryant (1995, 1997, 2005), Nogueira (2002, 2007, 2011), Rangel (1987), Lino de Macedo (1997), Golbert (2002, 2011), Gelman e Gallistel (1978) e ainda as pesquisas de Inhelder (1973), Mantoan (1997) e Coll e org. (2004). Os resultados desta investigação apontam que oito dos dez sujeitos apresentaram ausência de conservação, pelo fato de terem ignorado a noção de quantidade total ou multidimensional, situando-se na primeira fase em todas as técnicas. Dois dos sujeitos atingiram, em algumas das técnicas, a segunda fase, chamada de início de conjuntos permanentes, e um deles chegou à terceira fase, chamada de conservação necessária. Na técnica da seriação, observou-se que apenas um sujeito dentre os dez casos investigados não apresentou nenhuma série. Os demais sujeitos demonstraram algumas dessas relações de ordem, e um dentre os sujeitos apresentou a seriação completa com dez bastões. Os dados fornecidos pelo jogo da trilha completaram significativamente o entendimento das condutas dos sujeitos com déficit intelectual. Todos realizaram a contagem do dado. Foram percebidas diferenças interessantes na linguagem dos sujeitos, que possibilitam pensar em novas investigações referentes ao tema. Como conclusão, constatou-se que os sujeitos usaram esquemas práticos e estruturas prévias para assimilar novos objetos; fizeram relações a partir de conhecimentos anteriores para enfrentar as tarefas e interpretá-las e alguns relacionam os numerais com experiências do seu cotidiano. / This research investigates the notion of numbers in ten subjects with ages range from 9 to 18 who have Special Educational Needs – especially the ones who have intellectual disabilities – and attend the Sala de Integração e Recursos (SIR – Room of Integration and Resources) of a municipal school from Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is a qualitative research, based on multiple case studies (Yin, 2010). The procedures include the Clinic Method for the application of the conservation techniques (conservation of continuous and discontinuous quantities), seriation and the use of a track board game. The field study lasted four months, during the first and the second semesters of 2012. The theoretical foundation of this research is based on Jean Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology and on other authors who contributed to the data analysis, such as Kamii (1987), Nunes and Bryant (1995, 1997, 2005), Nogueira (2002, 2007, 2011), Rangel (1987), Lino de Macedo (1997), Golbert (2002, 2011), Gelman and Gallistel (1978) and also the researches made by Inhelder (1973), Mantoan (1997) and Coll et al. (2004) The results of this investigation indicate that there is absence of conservation in eight of the ten subjects, for they ignored the notion of total or multidimensional quantity, appearing to be in the first stage in all the techniques applied. Two of the subjects achieved, in some of the techniques, the second stage, known as the attainment of object permanence, and one of them achieved the third stage, also called necessary conservation. During the seriation technique, we observed that only one of the ten cases did not present any series. All the other subjects presented some of this order relations, and one of them presented the complete seriation, with ten sticks. The data provided by the track board game completed significantly the understanding of the the intellectually disabled subjects’ conduct. All of them calculated the dice’s outcome. We also noticed some interesting differences between the subjects’ languages, which led us to think about possible new investigations related to this theme. In conclusion, it was found that the subjects used practical schemes and structures prior to assimilate new objects; made relations from previous knowledge to meet the tasks and interpret them and some numerals relate to experiences of their daily lives.

I begin by examining Moore's notion of common sense because it is my contention that his work is not neatly separated; rather, his ethical and non-ethical philosophy have common sense as an underlying theme. For Moore, common sense was not reducible to indubitable, cracker-barrel wisdom; it is popularized science, what would be a matter of common sense if we were to take the trouble to learn. Moore's allegiance to science is the cord that connects his ethical and non-ethical work. In Principia Ethica, he attempts to introduce the spirit of scientific investigation into ethics. The 'naturalistic fallacy', to which special attention is given, is shown to be a guide to avoiding the error of essentialism, that is, of presuming that there is a unique good-making property or quality, common to all good things. Essentialism is rejected because it leads away from the open investigation characteristic of science, toward dogmatism. From this perspective, several popular criticisms of Moore's ethics are shown to be misguided. In the last chapter, an interpretation of Moore's non-naturalism based on my understanding of the naturalistic fallacy is given, that is quite different from the one most commonly accepted. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Before June 1905, Russell does not treat the problem of truth at length; but in the five subsquent years he devotes a number of important papers to the question: What is Truth? In his attempt to find the answer to this question in the following few years, he criticises and rejects all other prevalant theories of the time. In consequence Russell is able to establish his own view on the nature of truth in 1910. The aim of this thesis is to present a unified view of the whole period, with its different aspects and their evaluation. This unified view will represent a transition from the initial indecision of 1905 to a definite formulation of the notion of 'truth' in 1910. In the controversies of this transitional period, certain defects of the then prevalant views have been pointed out, apart from those of Russell. Certain defects in Russell's criticisms have also been pointed out. Finally it has been shown that Russell's own positive notion of 'truth' is also not an adequate one. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)