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This dissertation presents a new approach to image interpretation which can produce hierarchical descriptions of visually sensed scenes based on an incrementally learnt hierarchical knowledge base. Multiple segmentation and labelling hypotheses are generated with local constraint satisfaction being achieved through a hierarchical form of relaxation labelling. The traditionally unidirectional segmentation-matching process is recast into a dynamic closed-loop system where the current interpretation state is used to drive the lower level image processing functions. The theory presented in this dissertation is applied to a new object recognition and scene understanding system called Cite which is described in detail.

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Abstract The study deals with the foundations of psychological understanding grounded in methodology and the theory of interpretation. Psychology is understood as a reconstructive hermeneutic-dialectic science that explores subjective meaning giving. Reconstructive science attempts to reconstruct the deep structure that must be necessarily assumed for a certain surface structure phenomenon to be possible. In the science of psychology, the deep structure is understood in terms of events that are internal to the mind. The surface structure is understood as descriptions and expressions of experiences and as action and its social and cultural expressions. The study also examines the relation of psychological understanding to sociological understanding. The study is built on four concepts that are essential for psychological understanding. Their examination provides the four research tasks through which psychological understanding is reconstructed: 1) the concept of psychological meaning, 2) the concept of psychological understanding, 3) the method of psychological understanding and 4) the theory of interpreting psychological understanding. The background for the study is provided by the hermeneutic theory and the psychodynamic psychoanalytical theory and thinking, on the basis of which psychological understanding is reconstructed. The study defines mind, the research object of psychology, as a world of experience that is understood to be phenomenal and meaningful. Meaning is defined as a position in psychic connections, determined by psychic connections. Subjective meaning-giving is seen in relation to the individual's experience of one's own self. Psychological understanding is defined in the psychic connections of the position of the phenomenon as insight and showing. Methodologically, psychological understanding is defined as the formation of an abstract image of the internal mental event in which the phenomenon acquires a position in psychic connections. The theory of interpreting psychological understanding is understood in terms of general interpretations used to identify the phenomenon and show its psychic connections. The theory of psychological interpretation is reconstructed by means of psychoanalytical metapsychology and its scenic interpretation. Metapsychological and scenic understanding are distinguished by means of a different way of conceptualising mind and understanding. In metapsychological understanding mind is conceptualised through psychoanalytical metapsychology. Scenic understanding makes use of the analogy with a scene. Mind is understood as a scene in which experiences are presented in the form of dialogues and tales. The analogy with the scene is also used methodologically. The methodology of psychological understanding is examined through theoretical hermeneutic examinations targeted at psychoanalysis. The study also examines briefly the psychological understanding research process illuminated by a research example as well as the issues of credibility, problems and sources of error in understanding psychological research.

MA / Department of Educational Management / See the attached abstract below

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No / This paper examines what the originally psychoanalytic concept of reverie can add to non-psychoanalytic practitioners’ understandings of empathy. It uses case material from a study into UK therapists’ experiences of reverie, which centres on a single moment in a session, when an image of her own living room flashed suddenly through a therapist’s mind. Reverie – a capacity to contain the other’s unprocessed emotional experiencing - can offer a magnifying lens through which to view some forms of empathy, revealing the relational, embodied and imaginative materials from which they are constructed. The paper links shared experiencing like that found in reverie with simulative accounts of empathy, but does not claim this enables us to experience exactly what the other feels; rather, when approached sensitively, tentatively and with clients’ needs foremost, it can foster deep connection, enabling us, as it were, to enter others’ inner worlds – perhaps even their living rooms - and make ourselves at home there. Finally, practical ways to work empathically with reverie are suggested, which may interest therapists from a range of modalities, including humanistic approaches.

Selvan Naidoo, Student no: 0215998E. MSc Education, Faculty of Science, 2006. / This study used concept mapping to explore South African Grade 11 learners’ understanding of the function concept. Learners’ understanding of the function concept was investigated by examining the relationships learners made between the function concept and other mathematical concepts. The study falls within a social constructivist framework and is underpinned by the key educational notion of understanding. The research method employed was a case study. Data for the study was collected through a concept mapping task, a task on functions and individual learner interviews. In the analysis four key issues are identified and discussed. They are concerned with (a) learners who make most connections; (b) issues related to learners’ omission and addition of concepts; (c) learners’ use of examples in concept mapping and (d) the nature of connections learners made. The study concludes that concept mapping is an effective tool to explore learners’ understanding of the function concept. The report concludes with recommendations for classroom practice, teacher education and further research, particularly given the context of school mathematics practice in the South African curriculum where concept mapping (i.e. use of metacogs) has recently been incorporated as an assessment tool.