This dissertation explores the knowledge systems that doulas use to legitimate their work to the medical community, and to clients. "Doula" comes from a Greek word that means "a woman who serves." In contemporary English, doulas are women who provide other women with support during labor and childbirth. Although research shows that doula support can have positive physiological and psychological effects, doulas' lower social status in the birth fields constricts their reach to those who know about and can hire them privately. In the United States, obstetricians have authoritative knowledge over birth, and all others fall beneath them in the hierarchy of medicine. Doulas serve as a case for exploring the importance of certification and science, versus alternative forms of knowledge for legitimating their expertise within the field of childbirth. This research uses a mixed methods approach to explore the roles that authoritative versus alternative sources of knowledge play in doulas' attitudes and approaches to childbirth. Data come from the Maternity Support Survey, an original, cross-national survey of nurses, doulas, and childbirth educators in the United States and Canada. I also rely on content analysis of five large doula organizations' websites, and interviews with twenty-five doulas, and twenty-five mothers who hired or considered hiring a doula to support them during labor and delivery. This mixed methods research looks at how doulas can legitimate their role in order to better serve women.Results suggest that both authoritative knowledge systems (such as certification) and alternative knowledge systems (such as feminism) influence doulas' approach to legitimating their work. Scientific evidence serves as both an authoritative and alternative source of knowledge, depending on the context. This research has important implications for the future of doula support; while alternative knowledge systems allow doulas to empower women and challenge the dominance of medicalized birth, authoritative knowledge systems allow doulas greater access to the women who need them most. In order to reach a greater population of women, doulas need to find a balance between challenging authoritative medicine and working within it to best serve women.

Diskussionspapiere der Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Technischen Universität Chemnitz, die seit Band 1/1996 gedruckt erscheinen. Hier Nachweis der zusätzlich online gestellten Bände seit Band 110/2013.

Thesis advisor: Daniel J. McKaughan / When you learn that you disagree with an epistemic peer, what should you believe about the proposition you disagree about? The epistemology of peer disagreement has made considerable progress in answering this question. But to this point, we have largely neglected a significant resource which can help us to determine how peers who disagree can rationally respond to their disagreement. Closely examining actual disagreements in scientific and nonscientific contexts can help us to understand why peers find themselves in disagreement. And knowing why you disagree with your peer can help you to understand how you can rationally respond to your disagreement. Examining specific scientific and nonscientific disagreements shows us that some peers disagree because they disagree about what evidence is relevant to the proposition they disagree about. Dual disagreements about propositions and evidence can be found in numerous areas of disagreement, including ethical, political, philosophical, and scientific arenas. When you find yourself in these dual disagreements, you can rationally believe that your belief is rational and that your peer’s belief, though it diverges from yours, is also rational. But some philosophers have suggested that this situation in which you and your peer have rational beliefs and recognize each other as holding rational beliefs is impossible. A primary motivation for thinking that at least one of you must be believing irrationally is the thesis of Uniqueness about rationality, which states that at most one doxastic attitude can be rationally held given a body of evidence. However, when you consider the epistemic context of your actual disagreements with your peer carefully, you need not think that at least one of you is believing irrationally, even if Uniqueness is true. In response to your disagreement with a peer who disagrees with you both about what evidence is relevant to the proposition you disagree about and the proposition itself, you can even rationally hold a belief which splits the connection between your evidence and your evidence about your evidence. When we consider their epistemic contexts in full relief, peers in disagreement can simultaneously be believing rationally, even if only one of them is right. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

This mixed methods study was designed to compare the effect of using an inquiry teaching methodology and a more traditional teaching methodology on the learning gains of students who were taught a five-week conceptual change unit on density.

Analisa a produção científica do curso de pós-graduação do Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo (IPUSP), no período de 1980 a 1989, para identificar aspectos relevantes à sua caracterização e traçar um perfil do trabalho de pesquisa realizado naquele decênio. Utiliza formulário para registro dos dados e aplica a técnica da análise de conteúdo aos resumos dos trabalhos, para obtenção dos dados quanto a: tipologia da pesquisa; características dos sujeitos focalizados nos estudos; delineamento de pesquisa empregado; local de realização da coleta de dados; constructo psicológico focalizado; instrumento de pesquisa utilizado. Apresenta análise descritiva dos dados baseada nas distribuições de freqüência e tabulações cruzadas das variáveis de interesse. Constata que o IPUSP realiza primordialmente pesquisa de campo; utiliza preferencialmente grupos humanos de ambos os sexos, nas faixas etárias de crianças e adultos, das classes econômicas menos favorecidas; a metodologia predominante é o Levantamento, realizado no contexto escolar e utilizando entrevista; o constructo mais freqüente pertence ao grupo de assuntos ligados ao ensino e aprendizagem; os pós-graduandos levam em média 5,5 anos para concluir o mestrado, e outro tanto para chegar ao subseqüente doutorado; quando passam ao doutorado, tendem a manter a mesma área de concentração do mestrado, mas mudam a metodologia. / Analyzes theses and dissertations from the Institute of Psychology at the University of São Paulo (IPUSP) from 1980 to 1989 to identify relevant aspects to define its characterization, and to establish a research work profile accomplished in that decade. Uses forms for data registration and applies the content analysis research technique to the abstracts of those studies to obtain data referring to: type of research; characteristics of subject focused in those dissertations; research strategy employed; site of data collection; psychological subject focused; research instruments most used. Presents a descriptive analysis of data based on frequency distributions and crossed tabulations of the variables of interest. Realizes that IPUSP is involved primarily with field research; uses preferably human groups of both sexes, children and adults from less privileged economical classes; the predominant methodology is descriptive research (concentrating on interviews) applied to school environments; most frequently subject is related to teaching and learning; graduate people take about 5,5 years to conclude their masters degree and just as long to accomplish their subsequent doctorate; they usually keep the same subtect area of their masters, but change the methodology.

Pretende-se com este trabalho analisar as consequências da política de ciência e tecnologia (PCT) implementada no Brasil sobre a pesquisa na Escola Politécnica (EP) da Universidade de São Paulo (USP) no período compreendido entre 1999 e 2013. Assumimos a Escola Politécnica da USP como recorte analítico em virtude da proeminência da instituição e desta unidade acadêmica no cenário nacional no que se refere à pesquisa científica, bem como por entender que as engenharias é uma área com forte ligação com o setor empresarial. A partir da investigação das transformações da PCT, evidenciamos que as orientações políticas, a partir do final dos anos 90, direcionaram-se com maior ênfase para promoção da inovação tecnológica, tendo em vista a sua relevância para o desenvolvimento econômico e social. Esta mudança foi promovida em virtude das transformações no capitalismo global combinada com a ascensão do neoliberalismo após a crise econômica da década de 70. Tendo como pressuposto a necessidade de interação entre universidades ou institutos públicos de pesquisa e o setor produtivo, as diretrizes da política de C&T passam a estimular, através de uma série de mecanismos, o estabelecimento de parcerias entre esses dois atores, em virtude da importância atribuída à pesquisa científica no processo inovativo. Em consonância, a reforma educacional de cunho neoliberal executada a partir da década de 90 influenciada pelas recomendações dos organismos financeiros internacionais impulsionava a aproximação das universidades públicas com o segmento empresarial. Entretanto, a partir da análise das entrevistas realizadas com professores-pesquisadores da Escola Politécnica da USP e dos dados estatísticos referentes à pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação, percebemos como os resultados alcançados até o momento não correspondem às expectativas almejadas pelos defensores da perspectiva inovacionista. Além disso, sustentamos a hipótese de alguns autores de que o fracasso desta política está relacionado à estrutura produtiva e à condição periférica da economia brasileira no capitalismo mundial. Finalmente, concluímos que essa orientação tem acarretado uma série de prejuízos para a dinâmica e para a função da universidade, bem como na identidade e nas condições de trabalho do professor-pesquisador que, por sua vez, repercutem no modelo de desenvolvimento socioeconômico do País. / The aim of this work is to analyze the implications of science and technology policy (PCT) implemented in Brazil about the research at the Polytechnic School (EP) of the University of São Paulo in the period between 1999 and 2013. We assume the EP as analytical approach, because of the prominence of the institution and this academic unit on the national scene about the scientific research, as well as understand that engineering is an area with strong links with the business sector. From the investigation of the transformation of PCT, we noted that political orientations, from the late 90s, were directed with greater emphasis on promotion of technological innovation, with a view to its relevance to the economic and social development. This change was promoted because of changes in global capitalism combined with the rise of neoliberalism after the economic crisis of the decade of 70. Presupposing the need for interaction between universities or public research institutes and the productive sector, the guidelines of the PCT begin to stimulate, through a number of mechanisms, the establishment of partnerships between these two actors, because of the importance given to scientific research in the innovative process. Correspondingly, the educational reform neoliberal run from the 90s - influenced by the recommendations of international financial organizations - drove the approach of public universities with the business segment. However, from the analysis of interviews with teachers-researchers from the EP of USP and statistical data related to the research, development and innovation, we see how the results achieved to date do not correspond about the desired expectations by advocates of inovacionista perspective. In addition, we support the hypothesis of some authors that the failure of this policy is related to the productive structure and the peripheral condition of the Brazilian economy in world capitalism. Finally, we conclude that this policy has caused a lot of damage to the dynamics and the role of the university, as well as the identity and working conditions of the teacher-researcher who, in turn, have repercussions on the socioeconomic development model of the country.

Dentre os diversos elementos que compõem a alfabetização científica, este trabalho se fixa sobre a argumentação em uma aula de genética. Analisamos uma sequência de três aulas de Biologia para o 3º ano do Ensino Médio para identificar e classificar argumentos científicos fornecidos em aula pela professora e pelo material didático bem como argumentos escritos produzidos pelos alunos sobre a função do DNA nos seres vivos. Analisamos os dados tomando como base o trabalho de Simon, Erduran e Osborne (2006) e Toulmin (2006). As análises apontaram para a existência de ações pró-argumentação da professora durante as aulas teórico-explicativas. Os argumentos fornecidos pela professora e pelo texto base foram considerados simples e embasados apenas em dados, ao invés de usarem também garantias e apoios. A questão proposta pela professora foi compreendida por 30 dos 35 alunos da amostra. Aproximadamente metade da amostra apresentou alguma justificativa para suas conclusões e a maioria dos argumentos foi considerada válida. Porém, apenas sete alunos conseguiram responder a questão utilizando todos os conceitos que deveriam, enquanto a maioria dos alunos usou apenas parte dos conceitos exigidos ou apresentou conceitos errados na tentativa de responder a questão. Fica o indício de que práticas comuns de sala de aula podem ser modificadas de forma a estimularem a argumentação dos alunos em aulas de ciências. / Among the several elements of scientific literacy this study attempted to analyze argumentation in a Genetic class. Three Biology classes (15-17 years) were audio and video recorded and analyzed to identify the arguments present in the teacher\'s speech and also in the text given by the teacher. Students\' argumentation about DNA\'s function in live organisms was also analyzed. To assess teacher\'s oral contribution to argumentation we used Simon, Erduran and Osborne (2006) research method, and to analyze the students\' and teacher\'s argumentation we used Toulmin\'s argument pattern (TAP). We have identified that the teacher\'s speech represents oral contribution to the students\' argumentation. The text given by the teacher and the teacher\'s arguments are poor, using mostly data to justify their claims, instead of using also warrants and backings. The task suggested by the teacher was well understood by 30 out of 35 students, almost all of them used scientifically valid arguments and more than half of the sample justified their conclusions. However, only seven of them were able to answer the question using all the content required. Most of the students failed to mention all the required information or presented misconceptions in their answers. Our work demonstrates that different pedagogical strategies may be useful to develop scientific argumentation among students.

Realizou-se estudo cientométrico da produtividade científica no campo da saúde pública, gerada na universidade brasileira, relacionando o ambiente e condições para pesquisa com os resultados publicados. O estudo objetivou verificar a hipótese de que a pesquisa em saúde pública, no Brasil, gerada na universidade, tende a ser mais de natureza aplicada do que básica ou operacional. Para tanto, foi identificado o perfil do docente de pós-graduação em saúde pública, foram caracterizados os aspectos ergonômicos que influenciam as atividades de pesquisa, analisada a produtividade científica do grupo estudado e as tendências de pesquisa do campo da saúde pública. O universo estudado constitui-se de 134 docentes, permanentes e participantes de cursos de pós-graduação em saúde pública, de seis instituições universitárias brasileiras, credenciadas pela CAPES. Os dados coletados foram os de \"input\" e \"output\". Foi adotado como instrumento de medida do \"input\" questionário contendo questões relativas à caracterização do grupo estudado, fatores de influência na escolha do tema de pesquisa, no desenvolvimento de pesquisas, na escolha dos veículos para divulgação dos trabalhos produzidos e nos meios utilizados para atualização bibliográfica. Para medida do \"output\", os dados foram coletados em várias fontes, desde bases de dados bibliográficos, nacionais e estrangeiras, como também na base da CAPES, além de informações fornecidas diretamente pelos docentes estudados. O total de 1.272 publicações foram analisadas sob os seguintes aspectos: tipo de publicação; nível de crescimento; padrões de autoria e produtividade por autor; indexação da produção. Desse conjunto, foram destacados 381 artigos de pesquisa para uma análise qualitativa, além da quantitativa, que abrangeu os seguintes aspectos: categorização do tipo de pesquisa; temática dos artigos; nível de interesse dos artigos; veículos de divulgação dos artigos; idioma dos artigos, padrões de autoria; financiamento das pesquisas. O conjunto de dados de \"input\" e \"output\" foram analisados de forma comparativa sob duas subáreas, de sustentação à saúde pública: Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saúde, formando dois subgrupos temáticos. Os resultados da análise levaram a várias conclusões, confirmando a hipótese levantada, as quais se resumem no seguinte: a produtividade científica do grupo estudado caracterizou-se como de natureza aplicada, na busca de soluções para os problemas de interesse para a população local, divulgada no idioma português, em periódicos nacionais, para a comunidade científica local do campo de saúde pública. Estas conclusões aplicam-se aos dois subgrupos, Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saúde, com exceção da natureza da pesquisa que, para o subgrupo de Serviços de Saúde, é a operacional. / A scientometric study of the scientific productivity of the Brazilian university, in the Public Health field, relating the environment and research conditions to the published results, was undertaken. The study had the object of verifying the hypothesis that university-generated research into public health in Brazil tends to be of an applied character rather than basic or operational. For this purpose, the profile of the post-graduate teacher in public health and the ergonomic aspects which influence the research activities were characterized and the scientific production of the group studied and the tendencies of field research in public health were analysed. The universe studied consisted of 134 university teachers, permanent and participants in post-graduate courses in public health of six Brazilian university institutions accredited by CAPES. The data collected were related to \"input\" and \"output\". The tool adopted for the assessment of \"input\" was a questionnaire containing questions related to the characteristics of the group under study, the factors which influenced the choice of theme of the research projects, the development of the project, the choice of means for the dissemination of the studies produced and of the means used for bibliographical updating. The data for the measurement of \"output\" were collected from various sources, ranging from both national and foreign data-bases, inc1uding CAPES, as well as information provided by the teachers studied themselves. The following aspects of a total of 1,272 publications were analysed: type of publications; level of growth; standards of authorship and productivity oer author; the indexation of production. From this group, 381 research articles were selected for qualitative (as well as quantitative) analysis covering the following aspects: the categorization of the kind of research; the themes of the articles; the level of interest of the articles; the means used for the dissemination of the articles; the language of the articles; standards of authorship; the financing of the research projects. The groups of \"input\" and \"output\" data were analysed in a comparative manner in two supporting subareas of public health: Epidemiology and Health Services, thus forming two subgroups by theme. The results of the analysis resulted in several conclusions which confirmed the initial hypothesis and wich may be summarized as follows: the scientific productivity of the group studied may be described as of an applied nature, in the search for solutions to problems of concern to the national population, published in Portuguese, in national periodicals, for the local scientific community in the public health field. These conclusions apply to both subgroups, Epidemiology and Health Services, with the exception of the character of the research projects which, for the Health Services subgroup, was operational.

Thesis advisor: James M. O'Toole / This dissertation argues that the movement to restrict European immigration to the United States in the early 1900s was critically supported by a set of ideas that the dissertation refers to as "classic racialism." Derived from several intellectual traditions - such as anthropology, biology, criminology, eugenics and zoology - classic racialism posited that differences in human population groups were biologically determined and hereditary, and because of this fact, American nativists held that the "new" immigration to the United States had to be curtailed in order to save the American Anglo-Saxon racial stock. The dissertation uses Italian immigration to the United States as a case study for understanding the fluidity of racial and biological thought. While classic racialism played a key role in supporting nativists' calls for immigration restriction, advances in methods of scientific research were revolutionizing the fields of biology, genetics and anthropology. Research in these fields cast doubts on the veracity of intellectual claims made by classic racialists, which were increasingly untenable in the light of advancing scientific knowledge. The tensions between these competing intellectual paradigms of classic racialism and modern experimentalism in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries reveal the esoteric nature of scientific revolutions, in that the uncertainty and complexity of the developing biological and genetic sciences kept knowledge of scientific advances in these fields restricted to a narrow audience of professional scientists and academics. While modern experimental biology raised significant scientific doubts about the principles of classic racialism, it was the latter that influenced American immigration policy in the 1920s because of classic racialism's simplicity and the broad public recognition that "like produces like." / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

Thesis advisor: Richard Cobb-Stevens / Thesis advisor: Jean-Luc Solere / This dissertation attempts to locate the origins of Descartes' concept of mind in his early, unfinished treatise on scientific method, the <italic>Regulae ad directionem ingenii</italic>. It claims that one can see, in this early work, Descartes' commitment to substance dualism for methodological reasons. In order to begin an analysis of the <italic>Regulae</italic>, one must first attempt to resolve textual disputes concerning its integrity and one must understand the text as a historical work, dialectically situated in the tradition of late sixteenth and early seventeenth century thought. The dissertation provides this historical backdrop and textual sensitivity throughout, but it focuses on three main themes. First, the concept of <italic>mathesis universalis</italic> is taken to be the organizing principle of the work. This methodological principle defines a workable technique for solving mathematical problems, a means for applying mathematics to natural philosophical explanations, and a claim concerning the nature of mathematical truth. In each case, the <italic>mathesis universalis</italic> is designed to fit the innate capacities of the mind and the objects studied by <italic>mathesis</italic> are set apart from the mind as purely mechanical and geometrically representable objects. Second, Descartes' account of perceptual cognition, the principles of which are found in the <italic>Regulae</italic>, is examined. In this account, Descartes describes perception as a mechanical process up to the moment of conscious awareness. This point of awareness and the corresponding actions of the mind are, he claims, independent from mechanical principles; they are incorporeal and cannot be explained reductively. Finally, when Descartes outlines the explanatory bases of his natural science, he identifies certain "simple natures." These are the undetermined categories according to which actual things can be known. Descartes makes an explicit distinction between material simples and intellectual simples. It is argued that this distinction suggests a difference in kind between the sciences of the material world and the science or pure knowledge of the intellectual world. Though the <italic>Regulae</italic> is focused on physical or material explanations, there is a clear commitment to distinguishing this type of explanation from the explanation of mental content and mental acts. Hence, the <italic>Regulae</italic> demonstrates Descartes' early, methodological commitment to substance dualism. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.