Globally convergent homotopy methods are used to solve difficult nonlinear systems of equations by tracking the zero curve of a homotopy map. Homotopy curve tracking involves solving a sequence of linear systems, which often vary greatly in difficulty. In this research, a popular iterative solution tool, GMRES(k), is adapted to deal with the sequence of such systems. The proposed adaptive strategy of GMRES(k) allows tuning of the restart parameter k based on the GMRES convergence rate for the given problem. Adaptive GMRES(k) is shown to be superior to several other iterative techniques on analog circuit simulation problems and on postbuckling structural analysis problems. Developing parallel techniques for robust but expensive sequential computations, such as globally convergent homotopy methods, is important. The design of these techniques encompasses the functionality of the iterative method (adaptive GMRES(k)) implemented sequentially and is based on the results of a parallel performance analysis of several implementations. An implementation of adaptive GMRES(k) with Householder reflections in its orthogonalization phase is developed. It is shown that the efficiency of linear system solution by the adaptive GMRES(k) algorithm depends on the change in problem difficulty when the problem is scaled. In contrast, a standard GMRES(k) implementation using Householder reflections maintains a constant efficiency with increase in problem size and number of processors, as concluded analytically and experimentally. The supporting numerical results are obtained on three distributed memory homogeneous parallel architectures: CRAY T3E, Intel Paragon, and IBM SP2. / Ph. D.

Karl Popper's philosophy of science includes both falsificationism and realism. I explore the relationship between these two positions in his philosophy and find a strong tension between them. Drawing upon this tension in Popper's philosophy, I explore the general relationship between falsificationism and realism in an effort to determine whether or not the two positions can be successfully combined. Rather than criticizing falsificationism, I focus instead on the realist side of the tension and seek to resolve the tension through the introduction of an alternative form of scientific realism. I examine three alternatives in detail: Hilary Putnam's internal realism, Richard Boyd's realism, and Ian Hacking's entity realism. Internal realism is shown to be an unsatisfactory solution because of its failure to incorporate a notion of approximate truth. Boyd's version of realism is also shown to be unsatisfactory due to its ascription of absolute approximate truth to scientific theories. Hacking's entity realism, while consistent with falsificationism in many respects, is also shown to be problematic due to its apparent reliance upon induction. Finally, I propose a solution to the problem, which consists in the elaboration of an alternative version of scientific realism based primarily on a reinterpretation of Hacking's entity realism that stresses non-inferential knowledge of causes. I also argue that the reinterpreted form of Hacking's realism can be used to support Boyd's notion of a theoretical tradition, although one of entities and their causal properties rather than one of approximately true theories. / Master of Arts

Yes / Objectives: In this brief communication we discuss issues concerning scientific rigour in palaeopathological publications, particularly studies published in clinical or general science journals, that employ skeletal analysis to elucidate the lives and deaths of historical figures or interpret “mysterious” assemblages or burials. We highlight the relationship between poor methodological rigour and lack of interdisciplinary communication, and discuss how this can result in scientifically weak, sensational narratives being presented to the public. Conclusions: Although most high profile publications involving analysis of archaeological human remains are methodologically sound and well interpreted, others have suffered from poor scientific rigour stemming from an apparent lack of awareness of anthropological methods and ethics. When these publications are highlighted by the press, sensationalistic narratives are perpetuated which may reflect poorly on our discipline and give the public unrealistic expectations about our work. Suggestions for future research: We suggest that best practice in high-profile paleopathological research include recruitment of a range of authors and reviewers from clinical sciences, anthropology, and the humanities, consideration of the ethical issues surrounding retrospective diagnosis, and transparency with the press in regards to the limitations inherent in this kind of work.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This exploratory, descriptive and interpretive study investigated the interactions among learners’ conceptions of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI), teachers’ conceptions of NOSI and teacher instructional practices when teaching investigations in Physical Science. The participants were South Africa, Grade 11 learners (n= 167) and teachers (n=5), from five schools in the Johannesburg region of South Africa. The schools were conveniently and purposefully sampled. Learners’ and teachers’ conceptions on six NOSI tenets were investigated. These tenets are: difference between laws and theories; difference between observation and interpretation; there is no one method in science; accurate record keeping, peer review and replicability in science; socially and culturally embeddedness nature of scientific knowledge; and the role of human creativity and imagination in the development of scientific knowledge. Data on learners’ and teachers’ conceptions of the NOSI was obtained through; questionnaires, probes and interviews. Teacher instructional practices were determined using laboratory class observations, questionnaires, teacher and learner interviews, and analysis of instructional materials. The data was quantitatively analyzed using mainly, descriptive statistics, correlations, Regression Analysis and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Qualitative data was analyzed using a combination of analytic induction and interpretive analysis. The results show that learners’ NOSI conceptions were inconsistent, fragmented and fluid, with the majority of the learners displaying naïve conceptions. Teachers were found to hold mixed NOSI conceptions ranging from static, empiricist-aligned to dynamic, constructivist-oriented. Teacher instructional practices were found to be a repertoire of contrasting methodological approaches lying along a continuum ranging from close-ended inquiry to open-ended inquiry. The study found the interactions between and among the investigated variables to be weak and not direct and simple, but complex and under the governance of a variety of factors in the instructional milieu. Curriculum and assessment demands were found to be major factors possibly responsible for weakening the interactions. For the investigated variables, it is posited that the interaction between variables is under the governance of both the context in which the instruction takes place and some factors already embedded in the teacher’s or learner’s conceptual ecology. Recommendations and implications for the practice of science education and future research are raised and discussed.

Na nossa pesquisa, procuramos analisar uma atividade didática experimental, na qual os alunos receberam alguns materiais e com eles, deveriam elaborar uma situação experimental e nela, verificar se existia ou não a conservação da quantidade de movimento do sistema. Para fazer esta verificação, os alunos tiveram que elaborar um procedimento para testar a hipótese da conservação da quantidade de movimento, fazer as medidas necessárias e chegar a uma conclusão. A nossa pesquisa procurou determinar se esta atividade proporciona aos alunos a oportunidade de penetrar no universo das ciências, ou seja, se ele leva à enculturação científica. Para tanto, buscamos indicadores, nas falas dos alunos, através das gravações das aulas, desta enculturação. Buscamos, também, indicadores de envolvimento com a atividade. Analisamos, além disso, a postura do professor, durante o experimento e na discussão em grupo. Esta pesquisa se insere no contexto da enculturação científica, baseada nos trabalhos de Gil Pérez, Carvalho, Jimenez, Driver e Lawson, adaptados a uma realidade vivida em muitas de nossas escolas, ou seja, uma quantidade muito grande de conteúdos a serem trabalhados, poucos recursos e principalmente pouco tempo. / In our research we have analyzed an experimental didactic activity in which the students received some materials for the elaboration of an experimental situation so that they should verify whether there was the conservation of linear momentum of a system. In order to have this verification, the students were supposed to elaborate the procedure to test the hypothesis of conservation of momentum, get the necessary measures and come to a conclusion. Our research has tried to determine if this activity offered the students an opportunity to enter the Science world, that is, if it took them into scientific enculturation. With this objective in mind, through the recording of our classes, we searched for indicators in the students\' speeches that showed this enculturation. We also searched for indicators that showed commitment to the activity. Besides, we analyzed the teacher\'s posture not only during the experiment, but also during the group discussion. This research is set in a scientific enculturation context, based on Gil Pérez\'s, Carvalho\'s, Jimenez\'s, Driver\'s and Lawson\'s papers, and adapted to the reality of many of our schools which have a lot of content to deal with, few resources and mainly little time.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo auxiliar a produção de conhecimento sobre as práticas docentes que contribuem para a aproximação dos alunos com a cultura científica em sala de aula. Entendemos a ciência como cultura e a educação científica como um processo de aproximação dos estudantes às práticas características da cultura científica. Chamamos esse processo de enculturação científica e seu objetivo maior seria o de construir junto aos alunos conhecimentos válidos para sua vida em comunidade, dandolhes suporte para atuar frente a decisões técnico-científicas na sociedade. Nesse processo o aluno entra em contato com atividades de experimentação, formulação de hipóteses e produção e leitura dos diversos gêneros da linguagem científica como equações matemáticas, produção de argumentos cientificamente sustentáveis e modelos e imagens ilustrativo-representativas. Frente a esse quadro da educação científica questionamos que tipo de prática docente deve ser estimulada para que possamos alcançar os objetivos da enculturação científica. Consideramos que a Biologia possui características diferenciadas das outras disciplinas de referência pra a disciplina escolar ciências, principalmente relacionadas com o objeto de estudo. Analisamos uma seqüência didática de experimentação aberta em aulas de Biologia do primeiro ano do ensino médio da Escola de Aplicação da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Os alunos montaram experimentos para responder à questão: qual a influência da luz no desenvolvimento dos vegetais?. Questionamos, a partir do trabalho de Tonidandel (2008) que tipo de prática docente pode ser capaz de estimular a produção de argumentos complexo por parte dos alunos. Esta autora analisou a produção argumentativa escrita dos alunos em seus relatórios individuais a partir dos dados empíricos produzidos na atividade experimental em questão. Concluiu-se que os argumentos produzidos pelos alunos possuíam grande complexidade quando analisados a partir do padrão de argumento de Toulmin. Após revisão bibliográfica encontramos algumas sugestões de características mais importantes da cultura cientifica que devemos levar para a sala de aula. Nossa observação foi feita no sentido de compreender se as características da prática docente analisada eram coerentes com o que foi encontrado nas fontes bibliográficas e se havia outras características que poderiam ser incluídas nesta lista de sugestões. Queremos analisar que tipo de atitude docente pode ser 7 considerada importante para a produção de argumentos complexos e coerentes com o conhecimento científico como os apresentados pelos alunos. Analisamos o registro em áudio e vídeo de duas aulas de relato e discussão de dados e analisamos as interações entre professora e alunos buscando indícios que fossem possíveis de estarem relacionados com a produção argumentativa dos alunos. Para isso utilizamos como referência o padrão de discurso IRF apresentado por Mortimer (2007), e o artigo de Carvalho (2008) sobre habilidades de professores para promover a enculturação científica. A partir de nossas observações sugerimos novas habilidades que podem ser consideradas como estimulantes da argumentação como a utilização de linguagem pictórica e a utilização do material biológico em sala de aula. Esboçamos comparações entre aulas de biologia e de conhecimento físico, ensaiando relações com a natureza das duas ciências. / This paper aims to assist the production of knowledge about the teaching practices that contribute to the students approach to scientific culture in the classroom. We understand the science as culture and science education as a process of approximating the students to practical characteristics of scientific culture. We call this process Science Enculturation and its main objective would be to, along with the students, construct valid knowledge for their lives as a community, giving them support to act when facing technological-scientific decisions in society. In this process the student comes into contact with experimental activities, formulation of hypotheses, production and reading various genres of scientific language and mathematical equations, produce sustainable scientific arguments and models and illustrating representative images. Against this framework of science education, we question what kind of teaching practice should be encouraged so that we can achieve the goals of scientific enculturation. We consider that biology has different characteristics from other disciplines of reference for school discipline science, mainly related to the object of study. We analyzed a sequence of open trial teaching in a health class during the first year of high school at the School of Application at the Faculty of Education, University of São Paulo (USP). Students set up experiments to answer the question: \"What is the influence of light on the development of plants?\". We question, from the work of Tonidandel (2008), what kind of teaching practice may be able to stimulate the production of complex arguments by the students. This author analyzed the written argumentative production by the students in their individual reports from the empirical data produced in experimental activity in question. It has been concluded that the arguments produced by students had great complexity when analyzed from the Toulmin standard argument. After a review we found some suggestions for the most important features of scientific culture that we bring to the classroom. Our observation was made in order to understand if the characteristics of teaching examined, were consistent with what was found in the bibliographic resources and if there were other features that could 9 be included in the \"list of suggestions.\" We want to analyze what kind of teaching attitude can be considered important for the production of complex arguments and if consistent with scientific knowledge as presented by the students. We analyzed the existing audio and video registry of two classes of presentation and discussion of data and the interactions between teacher and students searching for vestiges that were possibly related to the argumentative production of the students. For this we used as the reference, discourse IRF standard presented by Mortimer (2007), and the article by Carvalho (2008) on teachers\' abilities to promote scientific enculturation. From our observations, we suggest that new abilities can be seen as stimulants of the argumentation such as use of pictorial language and the use of biological material in the classroom.

A fusão de conhecimentos tecnológicos e científicos na produção dos objetos industrializados compõe o cenário da cultura material contemporânea. Este trabalho propõe abordar os objetos industrializados como instrumentos pedagógicos da educação científica, colocando em evidência as relações entre conhecimento, inventividade, concepções estéticas e o imaginário científico e tecnológico da sociedade contemporânea. A estratégia de exploração dos objetos industrializados como artefatos lúdicos ocorre mediante a manipulação dos mesmos, de modo a evidenciar suas propriedades formais, promovendo uma modificação didática da sua funcionalidade original, concebida no design, ou construindo novos artefatos com os materiais disponíveis no cotidiano circundante. Essa estratégia pressupõe a educação científica como prática pedagógica voltada à formação do cidadão com participação ativa na sociedade, superando a condição de consumidores passivos de mercadorias. Como subsídio à pratica que propomos, fazemos uma análise da concepção mecanicista da natureza, apontada como um dos principais elementos constitutivos da atual sociedade tecnocientífica. / The fusion of technological and scientific knowledge in the production of industrialized objects compose the setting of the contemporary material culture. The proposal of this work is to tackle the industrialized objects as pedagogical instruments of scientific education, emphasizing the relations amongst knowledge, inventiveness, aesthetics conceptions and the scientific and technological imaginary of contemporary society. The strategy of exploration of the industrialized objects as playful artifacts happens in view of the manipulation of these objetcs, emphasizing their formal characteristics, promoting a didactic modification of their original function, conceived in design, or building new artifacts with the available material in daily life. This strategy assumes the scientific education as a pedagogical practice directed to the formation of a citizen with active participation in society, overcoming the condition of passive consumers of goods. As a subsidy to the proposed practice, we do an analysis of the mechanical philosophy of nature, considered as one the main elements of the technological and scientific society.

A partir da análise do modelo de desenvolvimento da ciência proposto por Kuhn em The structure of scientific revolutions (1962) é possível considerar a ciência enquanto prática realizada no interior comunidades científicas. Ainda que tratando de dois tipos de progresso científico: aquele que ocorre por meio da atividade paradigmática e o que acontece por meio das revoluções científicas, Kuhn permanece como modelo de progresso científico centrado especialmente no aspecto cognitivo interno da atividade científica. Porém, ao listar os valores como um dos elementos do paradigma, Kuhn trouxe para a filosofia da ciência a possibilidade do tratamento também dos fatores externos, que estão relacionados ao contexto social no qual a ciência está inserida. Levando adiante essa proposta de interação entre a ciência e os valores, Lacey vincula o conceito de paradigma a sua concepção de estratégia de pesquisa. Orientando-nos pela guinada valorativa empreendida por Lacey, formulamos três características que compõem o progresso valorativo da ciência, que são a consideração da prática científica, a identificação da interação da ciência com os valores e o reconhecimento da estrutura entre meios e fins que subjaz à relação da escolha das estratégias de pesquisa (M1) com os demais momentos logicamente distintos da prática da ciência, incluindo a relação entre a ciência e a tecnologia que é realizada no momento da aplicação científica (M5). Nossa consideração está baseada em grande medida no modelo da interação entre a ciência e os valores, que permite elucidar além da distinção entre os valores pessoais e os sociais, e da distinção entre valores cognitivos e não cognitivos, a articulação dos valores através do discurso, como forma de explicitá-los, permitindo a sua crítica por perspectivas de valor divergentes. Além disso, para exemplificar o enraizamento dos valores nos contextos sociais e institucionais da ciência, analisamos três estudos de casos, da inovação no Brasil, da proibição de uso de animais para o teste de cosméticos no Estado de São Paulo e da aplicação do aconselhamento genético no Centro de Estudos do Genoma Humano e Células-Tronco, dos quais extraímos que a interação entre a ciência, a tecnologia e a sociedade requer o reconhecimento de que os valores orientam as práticas científicas e tecnológicas, bem como a possibilidade de que demandas sociais de legitimidade alterem a relação entre meio (ciência e tecnologia) e finalidades (controle da natureza e inovação) a serem atingidas. / Beginning from the analysis of Thomas Kuhns model of development of science, proposed in The structure of scientific revolutions (1962), it is possible to consider science as a practice held within scientific communities. Although dealing with two different types of scientific progress, i.e., progress by means of paradigmatic activity, and progress by means of scientific revolutions, Kuhn remains within a model of scientific progress centered mainly in the internal cognitive aspect of scientific practice. But, enrolling values among the elements of paradigm, Kuhn brings to the philosophy of science the possibility of treating also the external factors which are related to the social context in which science is inserted. Bringing ahead this proposal of interaction between science and values, Lacey links the concept of paradigms to his conception of research strategy. Guided by Laceys evaluative turn, we formulate three features that compose the evaluative progress of science. There features are to take into account the scientific practice, to identify the interaction between science and values, and to recognize the structure of means and ends that underlies the relation between the choice of the research strategy (M1) and the other logically distinct moments of scientific practice, specially the relation between science and technology which occurs in the stage of scientific application. Our consideration is based mainly on the model of the interaction between science and values. This allows the clarification not only of the distinctions between personal values and social values, and the distinction between cognitive values and non-cognitive values, but also the articulation of values through discourse as a mean of making them explicit, admitting their criticism from divergent evaluative perspectives. Furthermore to exemplify the rooting of values in the social and institutional contexts of science, we analyze three study-cases: that of innovation in Brazil, that of prohibiting the use of animals for the test of cosmetics in the State of São Paulo, and that of genetic advice in the Human Genome and Stem Cells Research Center. From these study-cases we extract that the interaction between science, technology and society requires the recognition that values guide scientific and technological practices, as well as the possibility that social demands of legitimacy change the relation between the means (science and technology) and the ends (control of nature and innovation) to be achieved.

This study aims to analyze the building process of scientific production in accounting in light of the quality attributes of good research. In so doing, it attempts to identify the stages of the research process in which these characteristics are revealed, to compare the literature on research attributes with the attributes identified in respondents\' practices, and to present an approach based on the attributes of good research to judge the quality of scientific production in the accounting field. This research uses the Modified Delphi Technique, which indicates that the first inputs came from the literature. The expert panel consisted of 37 faculty members from 19 Brazilian graduate programs in accounting who were recommended/recognized by the CAPES Foundation. Based on the literature, especially Brinberg and McGrath (1985), Spencer et. al. (2003), and Mays and Pope (2006), an orientation matrix was developed with 53 attributes/relationships related to general quality criteria and nine key features. Experts gave each proposition a grade from 1 to 10 based on their level of agreement regarding adherence to their research practices. The Delphi was applied in two rounds using online questionnaires with customized access. The findings reveal that most of the respondents obtained their doctoral degree in accounting at a national institution other than the one at which they currently work and that more than 70% of the respondents have been working as teachers or coordinators in graduate programs for fewer than seven years. With respect to the respondents\' research experience, most serve on journals\' editorial boards, act as journal referees, and at some point have obtained research funding from development institutions. Approximately one-third have received research productivity grants and almost one-half either currently serve or has served as a journal editor. Approximately 3/4 of the propositions achieved a strong level of agreement, and the following 10 propositions achieved a Delphi relative score of more than 90%: voluntary participation of subjects, goal/problem shown precisely, confidentiality of participants\' data, conclusions versus aim, results comparison with other studies, checklist of findings versus purpose, literature review versus main concepts, theory to support propositions, useful strategy for purpose, and previous findings versus hypotheses. Those attributes that demonstrated low or moderate levels of agreement involved items that may compromise the quality and integrity of research, including those related to ethical principles, demonstrations of how researchers addressed errors and biases, and disclosure of the impact of the research team\'s participation on the results. The approach chosen meant discussing the relationships between criteria and fundamental features versus levels of agreement, followed by presentation of a logic model to evaluate the research process. The research concludes that certain current practices employed by Brazilian researchers in accounting - combined with the local institutional environment - contribute to reduce the quality of accounting research. This position is supported by the high dispersion of answers on various items and the low acceptance of attributes related to ethics, both of which are mandatory requirements under Brazilian law. Additionally, the low level of agreement on issues regarding the criteria of rigor and internal validity/credibility or defensibility - in addition to items related to rigor, integrity, and feasibility - reached only the moderate level. / O propósito deste estudo é analisar o processo de construção da produção científica em Contabilidade à luz dos atributos de qualidade de uma boa pesquisa. Buscou-se observar em quais estágios do processo de pesquisa estes atributos são revelados, comparar os atributos da literatura com aqueles identificados nas práticas dos respondentes, e apresentar uma abordagem baseada em atributos de uma boa pesquisa para o julgamento da qualidade da produção científica na área. A metodologia utilizada foi a Técnica Delphi Modificada, em que as primeiras entradas têm origem na literatura. O painel de especialistas foi composto por 37 docentes de 19 Programas Brasileiros de Pós-Graduação (PPG) Stricto Sensu em Contabilidade recomendados/reconhecidos pela CAPES. Com base na literatura, especialmente Brinberg e McGrath (1985), Spencer et. al. (2003) e Mays e Pope (2006), foi elaborada uma matriz de orientação com 53 atributos/relações vinculados a critérios gerais de qualidade e a nove características-chave. Os especialistas atribuíram uma nota de 1 a 10 para cada atributo de acordo com o nível de concordância quanto à aderência às suas práticas de pesquisa. A Delphi foi aplicada em duas rodadas com o uso de questionários online e com acesso personalizado. Os achados revelaram que a maioria dos (das) respondentes tem Doutorado em Contabilidade obtido em uma Instituição nacional diferente da que atua, e mais de 70% têm até 7 anos de docência ou coordenação de PPG. Sobre a experiência de pesquisa, a maioria faz parte de conselhos editoriais de periódicos da sua área, atua como avaliador de periódicos e tem, ou já obteve, financiamento de instituições de fomento para pesquisa. Cerca de um terço tem bolsa de produtividade em pesquisa e quase metade atua ou já atuou como editor de periódico. Aproximadamente 3/4 das proposições receberam nível forte de concordância, e 10 delas alcançaram percentual superior a 90% no escore relativo da Delphi: participação voluntária dos sujeitos, objetivo/problema mostrado precisamente, confidencialidade dos dados dos participantes, conclusões versus objetivos, comparação de resultados com outros estudos, checar links entre achados versus propósito, revisão de literatura versus principais conceitos, teoria para suportar as proposições, estratégia útil ao propósito, e achados anteriores versus hipótese. Por outro lado, atributos que atingiram níveis baixo ou moderado de aceitação mostraram itens que podem comprometer a qualidade e integridade da investigação, como aqueles relacionados aos princípios éticos, à demonstração de como os pesquisadores lidaram com erros e vieses, e à divulgação dos impactos da participação da equipe de pesquisa sobre os resultados. A abordagem proposta consistiu na discussão das relações entre critérios e características-chave versus níveis de concordância, seguida da apresentação de um modelo lógico para avaliar o processo de pesquisa. Concluiu-se que algumas práticas correntes utilizadas por pesquisadores da área contábil no Brasil, combinadas com o ambiente institucional local, contribuem para a diminuição da qualidade da pesquisa no campo. Esta posição é apoiada pela elevada dispersão das respostas em vários itens e pela baixa aceitação de atributos relacionados à ética e que são requisito obrigatório pela legislação brasileira. Adicionalmente, pelo baixo nível de concordância sobre questões relacionadas com o rigor e a validade interna/credibilidade ou defensibilidade, bem como para itens relativos ao rigor, integridade e viabilidade, que atingiram o nível moderado.