Semantic distance is a measure of how close or distant in meaning two units of language are. A large number of important natural language problems, including machine translation and word sense disambiguation, can be viewed as semantic distance problems. The two dominant approaches to estimating semantic distance are the WordNet-based semantic measures and the corpus-based distributional measures. In this thesis, I compare them, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and identify the limitations of each. This thesis argues that estimating semantic distance is essentially a property of concepts (rather than words) and that two concepts are semantically close if they occur in similar contexts. Instead of identifying the co-occurrence (distributional) profiles of words (distributional hypothesis), I argue that distributional profiles of concepts (DPCs) can be used to infer the semantic properties of concepts and indeed to estimate semantic distance more accurately. I propose a new hybrid approach to calculating semantic distance that combines corpus statistics and a published thesaurus (Macquarie Thesaurus). The algorithm determines estimates of the DPCs using the categories in the thesaurus as very coarse concepts and, notably, without requiring any sense-annotated data. Even though the use of only about 1000 concepts to represent the vocabulary of a language seems drastic, I show that the method achieves results better than the state-of-the-art in a number of natural language tasks. I show how cross-lingual DPCs can be created by combining text in one language with a thesaurus from another. Using these cross-lingual DPCs, we can solve problems in one, possibly resource-poor, language using a knowledge source from another, possibly resource-rich, language. I show that the approach is also useful in tasks that inherently involve two or more languages, such as machine translation and multilingual text summarization. The proposed approach is computationally inexpensive, it can estimate both semantic relatedness and semantic similarity, and it can be applied to all parts of speech. Extensive experiments on ranking word pairs as per semantic distance, real-word spelling correction, solving Reader's Digest word choice problems, determining word sense dominance, word sense disambiguation, and word translation show that the new approach is markedly superior to previous ones.

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Diversity has, over the last few decades, become a burning issue on the agenda of most companies. Current diversity-related interventions are mainly based on behaviouristic and socio-cognitive approaches. In this research diversity was approached from the systems psychodynamic paradigm. The general aim was to gain an understanding of the diversity dynamics that manifests in an South African diversity experience. The literature review focussed on diversity in the workplace, on the group relations training model, and on the application of the group relations training model to diversity. Qualitative research was done by interviewing a sample of 15 delegates who attended the November 2000 Robben Island Diversity Experience. These unstructured interviews were used to obtain in-depth information about the participant's experience and the data was analysed hermeneutically. The emerging themes were `crossing the boundary, engage the new world, the ties that bind, being imprisoned, the struggle, the road to reconciliation, integration and healing, back to the future and the crucible'. It is recommended that South African organizations make more use of the systems psychodynamic approach to study the manifestations of diversity dynamics. The aim is not to replace the other approaches to diversity, but to add a perspective that can enhance awareness and sensitivity to the covert, unconscious and irrational forces that impact on diversity. / Industrial and Organisational Psycology / M. A.(Industrial and Organisational Psycology)

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how a problem-determined system developed around a case of drug addiction within the context of a system of relatedness. The epistemological framework informing this qualitative study was constructivism. The six participants who took part in the study represent the most prominent role players in the particular context of living. The individual battling with drug addiction, his parents, older sister, maternal grandmother and maternal aunt were interviewed. The methods of data collection employed were semi-structured interviews, a family-chronological event chart, genograms, and an eco-map. The interviews were interpreted using the hermeneutic approach. The different themes that emerged from each participant’s story were integrated in relation to each other and with respect to the collaborative sources of data. The most dominant themes extracted within this study are the initial reactions to Andrew’s drug addiction, life changes experienced due to Andrew’s drug addiction, support, as well as the meanings attributed to Andrew’s drug addiction. Further research into problem-determined systems in different cultures is recommended. / Psychology / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) Psychology

Plant invasions represent a major ecological and socio-economical issue and understanding the drivers as well as consequences of plant invasions is thus one of the main goals of plant ecology. It is equally important to reveal general patterns underlying plant invasions and to understand the details of biology of individual invaders. In this thesis I explored plant-soil feedback (PSF) as a possible general mechanism underlying plant invasiveness, and also focused in detail on drivers and consequences of Impatiens parviflora invasion. The aims of this thesis were to i) assess the differences in intraspecific PSF between invasive and alien non-invasive species using a large set of species; ii) explore the relationship between PSF, residence time and phylogenetic novelty of the alien species; iii) compare the importance of PSF and other plant characteristics for plant invasiveness; iv) compare PSF between invasive and native congeners of similar level of dominance in the field; v) evaluate the effect of cultivating conditions on results of PSF experiments; vi) describe invasion dynamics and determine factors affecting spread of invasive I. parviflora using a method of monitoring its natural spread in several types of habitats, and vii) assess the impact of I. parviflora on native vegetation of oak-...

Les expériences de soin vécues par les infirmières de soins intensifs auprès des patients cérébrolésés et de leurs proches alors que l’arrêt de traitement devient une option confrontent les infirmières à des défis qui surgissent particulièrement lors de l’instauration de la relation de soin, infirmière-patient, et lors de la mise en action de leur rôle d’avocate. Parmi les théories en sciences infirmières, celle du Human Caring de Watson (1979/1985/2008/2012) positionne la relation avec le patient, une relation transpersonnelle, comme un idéal moral. Dès lors, lorsqu’elles sont confrontées à des défis pour développer cette relation, les infirmières remettent en question tant leur pratique, que la conception qu’elles ont de la nature du soin, centre d’intérêt de leur discipline. Toutefois, à ce jour, très peu d’études ont eu pour objet de recherche la compréhension de cette expérience de soin vécue par des infirmières auprès de patients cérébrolésés et de leurs proches alors que l’arrêt de traitement devient une option. Cela, même si les défis, et les questionnements qu’ils suscitent chez les infirmières peuvent avoir d’importantes répercussions pour les personnes soignées dans un environnement de soins intensifs. Instruite par le constructivisme projectif, la pensée complexe de Morin et la philosophie de la compréhension de Ricœur, notre étude a eu pour but précisément de chercher à décrire et comprendre l’expérience de soin vécue par des infirmières de soins intensifs auprès de patients cérébrolésés et leurs proches lorsque l’arrêt de traitement devient une option. Cette recherche a été réalisée à partir d’un devis descriptif interprétatif, tirant ses origines de la discipline infirmière, en s’inspirant du Narrative Inquiry, méthode qui a pour visée d’étudier l’expérience (Chase, 2005; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Onze infirmières provenant des régions de Montréal et de Québec ont participé. La chercheuse a rencontré chaque participante à trois reprises pour effectuer le recueil des données à partir desquelles les récits de recherche ont été co-construits, et le premier niveau d’analyse a été réalisé. Cette analyse qui demeurait descriptive s’est poursuivie par questionnement analytique (Paillé & Mucchielli, 2012) de conception complexe en dialogue avec les 11 récits de recherche. Les connaissances construites en deux étapes, une phase descriptive et une phase interprétative sur cette expérience de soin ont constitué les fondements de notre réflexion pour activer la conception de nouvelles connaissances disciplinaires sur l’ontologie du soin. Nous avons interprété que le soin, que nous qualifions d’humanéthique, peut être conçu dans le construit d’un système complexe ouvert, comportant : une finalité, la vie bonne avec et pour un patient heureux; une écologie dans laquelle il s’organise, où l’environnement social est prépondérant; une évolution temporelle se déployant dans un espace-temps; une reliance indicible, la dimension relationnelle essentielle au soin; mais aussi une part d’incertitude. Une modélisation du soin humanéthique, un système perçu complexe, est présentée à travers un récit s’inspirant de la pratique infirmière. Dans cette étude, le récit s’est révélé être un outil pertinent, car la narrativité a non seulement contribué à questionner et réfléchir la pratique lors du recueil des données, et de l’analyse; mais elle a aussi permis de réaliser une représentation dynamique et pragmatique des résultats empiriques et théoriques. Ainsi, notre projet à travers l’approfondissement d’expériences vécues en pratique par des infirmières a conduit à l’avancement d’un nouvel éclairage théorique sur le soin. De plus, à travers un récit, nous avons proposé des leviers qui puissent être actionnables en pratique par les infirmières, quel que soit le contexte dans lequel le soin se déroule. Des pistes de réflexion et des implications en ont résulté pour les secteurs de la pratique clinique, de la formation, de la gestion et de la recherche en sciences infirmières. Dès lors, cette étude orientée vers la pratique a non seulement la faculté de pouvoir soutenir la pratique infirmière, mais aussi d’être à l’origine de nouveaux questionnements sur la nature du soin, permettant ainsi de poursuivre son développement. / The care experiences of critical care nurses with brain-damaged patients and their loved ones as withdrawing treatment becomes an option confront nurses with challenges that arise particularly when establishing the nurse-patient care relationship and when putting their advocacy role into action. Among the nursing theories, Watson's Human Caring (1979/1985/2008/2012) positions the relationship with the patient, a transpersonal relationship, as a moral ideal. Therefore, when faced with challenges in developing this relationship, nurses question both their practice and their understanding of the nature of care, which is the focus of their discipline. However, to date, very few studies have focused on understanding nurses' experience of caring for brain-damaged patients and their loved ones as withdrawing treatment becomes a care option. This is despite the fact that the challenges, and the questions they raise for nurses, can have important implications for those being cared for in a critical care environment. Based on projective constructivism, Morin's complex thinking and Ricoeur's philosophy of understanding, the purpose of our study was precisely to seek to describe and understand the care experience of critical care nurses with brain-damaged patients and their families when withdrawing treatment becomes an option. This research was carried out from an interpretative descriptive specification, drawing its origins from the nursing discipline, inspired by the Narrative Inquiry, a method that aims to study the experience (Chase, 2005; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Eleven nurses from the regions of Montreal and Quebec City participated. The researcher met with each participant three times to carry out the data collection from which the research narratives were co-constructed, and the first level of analysis was carried out. This analysis, which remained descriptive, continued through analytical questioning (Paillé & Mucchielli, 2012) of complex design in dialogue with the 11 research narratives. The knowledge built up in two stages, a descriptive phase and an interpretative phase on this experience of care constituted the foundations of our reflection to activate the conception of new disciplinary knowledge on the ontology of care. We have interpreted that the care, which we call “humanethical”, can be designed in the construction of a complex open system, with: a purpose, a good life with and for a happy patient; an ecology in which it is organized, where the social environment is preponderant; a temporal evolution unfolding in space-time; an unspeakable relatedness , the relational dimension essential to care; but also an element of uncertainty. Modelling the “humanethical” care, a complex system, is presented through a narrative inspired by nursing practice. In this study, storytelling proved to be a relevant tool, as narrativity not only helped to question and reflect on practice during data collection and analysis, but also provided a dynamic and pragmatic representation of empirical and theoretical findings. Thus, our project through the deepening of experiences lived in practice by nurses has led to the advancement of a new theoretical perspective on care. In addition, through a narrative, we have proposed levers that can be operated in practice by nurses, regardless of the context in which the care takes place. This led to a number of reflections and implications for clinical practice, education, management and research in nursing. Therefore, this practice-oriented study not only has the potential to support nursing practice, but also to raise new questions about the nature of care, thus enabling its further development.

[pt] Recentemente, o tópico de Gestão de Conhecimento Pessoal vem ganhando muita popularidade. Ilustrado pelo rápido crescimento de aplicativos como Notion, Obsidian, e Roam Research e da aparição de livros como How to Take Smart Notes e Building a Second Brain. Contudo, ainda é uma área que não foi fortemente envolvida pelo Processamento de Linguagem Natural (NLP). Isso abre uma bela oportunidade para a aplicação de NLP em operações com conhecimento. Nosso objetivo é o desenvolvimento de um sistema de software que utiliza NLP e aplicatovps de anotação para transformar uma coleção de textos isolados em uma coleção de textos interconectada e inter-navegável. Isso é feito usando mecanismos de navegação baseados em conceitos mencionados e recomendações semânticas. Neste trabalho apresentamos a metodologia para construir o sistema, demonstrações com exemplos palpáveis, assim como uma avaliação para determinar a coerência dos resultados. / [en] Recently, the topic of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) has seen a surge in popularity. This is illustrated by the accelerated growth of apps such as Notion, Obsidian, and Roam Research, and the appearance of books like How to Take Smart Notes and Building a Second Brain. However, the area of PKM has not seen much integration with the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). This opens up an interesting opportunity to apply NLP techniques to knowledge operations tasks. Our objective is the development of a Software System that uses NLP and note-taking apps to transform a siloed text collection into an interconnected and inter-navigable text collection. The system uses navigation mechanisms based on shared concepts and semantic relatedness between texts. In this study, we present a methodology to build this system, the research context, demonstrations using examples, and an evaluation to determine if the system functions properly and if the proposed connections are coherent.

Studies of mating systems and social organisation have been central to understanding of the evolution of social behaviour. The European badger Meles meles is a good species in which to study these processes, as its complex social system provides an opportunity to investigate how both natural and kin selection shape the evolution of mating systems and social structure. In this thesis, I use behavioural and genetic data to describe the mating system and social organisation of a high-density badger population and examine the occurrence of cooperative breeding. I genotyped 915 (85%) badgers trapped in Wytham Woods (1987–2005), 630 of which were cubs, and assigned both parents to 331 cubs with 95% confidence. This revealed a polygynandrous mating system, with up to five mothers and five fathers per social group. Mounting behaviour was also polygynandrous and I show the strongest evidence to date for multiple-paternity litters. I demonstrate, for the first time, that groups consisted of close and distant kin: approximately one third of group members were first-order kin, and overall group members had slightly lower relatedness levels than half-siblings. Within groups, adult and yearling females had higher pairwise relatedness than males, and neighbouring groups contained relatives. These findings result from the high level (42%) of extra-group paternities, 86% of which were assigned to neighbouring males. For the first time I show that females avoided inbreeding by mating with extra-group males; however, incestuous matings did occur. Promiscuous and repeated mountings were observed, which may reduce male–male aggression and infanticide, but may also promote sperm competition, genetic diversity, and / or genetic compatibility. Just under a third of adult males and females were assigned parentage each year and I quantify, for the first time, reproductive skew within badger groups. Correlations between relatedness, group productivity, and reproductive skew were not consistent with the predictions of incomplete-control models; rather, resource availability may play a role. Older and younger badgers displayed reduced annual breeding success, with male success increasing initially with experience. The Restraint, Constraint, and Selection Hypotheses did not explain the age-related breeding pattern in females. Variance in lifetime breeding success (LBS) was greater for males. Males that only bred within or only outside of their groups had half the LBS of males that did both. Females that were assigned maternity probably bred cooperatively and allonursed non-offspring, which has not been demonstrated previously. No benefit was established, however, in terms of litter size, probability of offspring breeding, or offspring lifetime breeding success, with more mothers in a group. In conclusion, badger social groups are fostered through kinship ties. Polygynandry and repeated mounting may have evolved originally to reduce male–male aggression and infanticide by males, through paternity masking. Although plural breeding occurs, group living appears to be costly. Motivation to disperse may be reduced through high-levels of extra-group paternities, which may also reduce inbreeding. Cooperative breeding among mothers may represent a low-cost behaviour with indirect benefits due to high levels of relatedness between female group-members. Badger sociality therefore represents an early stage in the evolution of social behaviour.

This thesis examines the perceived importance by two-tiered management of Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) for managing a range of intellectual property issues. Fifty survey items are presented to the executive directors and commercialization managers of 62 CRCs. The survey items are categorized under four themes: relationships with collaborators, project management; design and implementation of agreements; and specific licensing issues. An analysis of the data, using a series of independent samples t-tests, repeated measures t-tests, chi-square tests for independence or relatedness and goodness of fit, shows a range of results. There are significant differences between executive directors and commercialization managers on a number of issues. There are particular emphases or trends about certain issues for the whole sample of managers. These findings are compared with text analyses of 23 CRC strategic planning documents. This is done in order to explore any similarity, difference or nuance between what the managers say in response to the survey items, compared with what is stated in the codified policies of the CRCs. While there is a high degree of consistency among certain themes between the two sets of findings, the overall analysis points to the need for the CRCs to have a better understanding and practice of commercialization opportunities, especially through the involvement of third party commercial interests. It is argued that accommodating third party commercialization interests involves the application of an important knowledge economy principle that has an important bearing on the future economic viability and competitiveness of the CRCs.

<p>Human society is presently beset by an array of anthropogenic social-ecological crises that threaten the sustainability of the social-ecological systems that sustain our livelihoods. While research alone will not rectify these issues, it can help to answer key questions that must be addressed to develop effective solutions. To address such questions in a cohesive, compelling manner, social-ecological research can be bounded, structured, and distilled through innumerable organizing principles or theoretical frameworks. For this dissertation, I focused on the geographic region of Tierra del Fuego and sought to draw from the array of disciplines and methods that use sound as a lens for biological, ecological, and/or social inquiry. I also endeavored to consider various temporal, spatial, and organizational scales while investigating a selection of topics with a) specific importance in the social-ecological systems of Tierra del Fuego and b) general relevance to global social-ecological challenges. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the dissertation, and Chapter 6 serves as a conclusion.</p><p><br></p><p> </p><p>The objective of Chapter 2, “Biogeographical and analytical implications of temporal variability in geographically diverse soundscapes”, was to provide some guidance to passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) practitioners on how to design appropriate temporal sampling schemes based on the temporal variability of the sounds one wishes to measure and the power and storage limitations of acoustic recorders. We first quantified the temporal variability of several soundscape measurements and compared that variability across sites and times of day. We also simulated a wide range of temporal sampling schemes in order to model their representativeness relative to continuous sampling.</p><p><br></p><p> </p><p>For Chapter 3, “Sentinels for sentinels: passive acoustic and camera trap monitoring of sensitive penguin populations”, we tested the utility of PAM to monitor behavior and abundance of Magellanic (<i>Spheniscus magellanicus</i>) and southern rockhopper penguins (<i>Eudyptes chrysocome</i>) at different spatial and temporal scales. We conducted <i>in situ</i> observations of the acoustic behavior of each species, and we compared acoustic metrics with penguin counts from narrowly focused camera traps and larger-extent observations of colony density. </p><p><br></p><p> </p><p>Chapter 4, “Acoustic monitoring shows invasive beavers (<i>Castor canadensis</i>) increase avian diversity in Tierra del Fuego”, is focused on impacts of the invasive North American beaver (<i>Castor canadensis</i>) on Fuegian bird communities. We sought to determine how bird communities might differ between intact riparian forests, beaver ponds, and beaver meadows created by pond drainage. We conducted PAM and classic avian point counts under each of these conditions across seasons to test for differences between impact conditions and to compare the two methodologies.</p><p><br></p><p> </p>For Chapter 5, “Human-nature connection and soundscape perception: insights from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina”, we evaluated the relationship between soundscape perception and nature relatedness by conducting surveys and soliciting responses to soundscape audio prompts. We also examined the potential for any demographic influences on nature relatedness or soundscape perception in the context of local social tensions.