Adopting the generative framework (Chomsky, 1988) and the theory of argument structure (e.g. Grimshaw, 1990), the present study reexamines the Mandarin Chinese middle V-qilai constructions and argues against the previous analyses (e.g. Sung, 1994; Wang, 2005a) that V-qilai is a main predicate. First, it is proposed in the present study that the Evaluative as well as the Eventive V-qilai sentences can both be regarded as the middle constructions; that is, both [-Agent] and [+Agent] V-qilai constructions can be middle sentences. Second, comparing with Huang¡¦s (1988) analysis of the resultative constructions, it is argued in the present study that the second predicate, i.e. the modification predicate, serves as the main predicate. The present study also proposes the two different syntactic representations of the Evaluative and Eventive middle V-qilai constructions,¡@and adopts Wang (2005b) and Lin & Tang (1995) to propose that the V-qilai serves as a modal: Not only can the V-qilai predicates be classified into the raising type and the control type (cf. Wang, 2005b), but can also be classified into the Evaluative/epstemic type and the Eventive/deontic type, just as Mandarin Chinese modals (cf. Lin and Tang, 1995). Moreover, the argument structures of the modification predicates determine the syntactic representations of the V-qilai sentences: Theme-modifying predicates construe Evaluative V-qilai sentences, and Agent-modifying predicates construe Eventive V-qilai sentences. The Evaluative/epistemic middle sentences like zhe ke pingguo chi qilai hen hao chi ¡¥this apple tastes good¡¦ disallow the Agent, and the Theme NP moves from the modification clause to the matrix subject position to meet the EPP feature. Eventive/deontic middle sentences like zhe jian gongguo Zhangsan zuo qilai hen renzhen ¡¥the job, Zhangsan does it seriously¡¦, on the other hand, allow an Agent, and the Theme NP is assumed to be base-generated in situ. That is, the V-qilai in the Evaluative sentences is a raising modal, while the V-qilai in the Eventive sentences is assumed to be a control modal. The third issue concerns which types of verbs can enter into the V-qilai constructions. Similar to English middle constructions (Fagan, 1992), Chinese activity verbs and accomplishment verbs can enter into the V-qilai constructions. Lexically, qilai is unlikely to incorporate with the achievement verb complex like zhao-dao ¡¥find¡¦ or xue-hui ¡¥acquire¡¦ (cf. Sung, 1994). The semantic factor is related to the continuous or the inchoative sense of qilai; verbs with the continuous sense (activity verbs) or inchoative sense (accomplishment verbs) are more likely to enter into the V-qilai constructions.

In this paper, I wish to demonstrate how enthymemic argument pervades modern discourse. First, I will define the enthymeme in Aristotelian terms and compare its qualities to its sibling, the syllogism. Next, I will attempt to demonstrate how the enthymeme functions, paying close attention to its psychological effects as well as analyzing how the media helps promote enthymemic discourse. Finally, I will propose a way that composition instructors can harness the idea of the enthymeme to facilitate critical thinking in the classroom. The purpose of the paper is to provide evidence that a rebirth of this classical term is in order. Enthymemes are tricky, and they are often there without us ever knowing or suspecting them. By analyzing what an enthymeme does, what it looks like and how to respond to it, we can be better prepared to make the important ethical decisions we are faced with every day.

In the Bantu language Kinyarwanda, the morpheme –ish can be used to mark both causation and the instrumental applicative. This report pro- poses an explanation for this causative-instrumental syncretism, arguing that both causation and the introduction of an instrument are—at their core—two outgrowths of the same semantic notion. Fitting with other morphological causatives in Bantu, the causative use of –ish patterns as a lexical causative marker. The analysis presented here captures the lex- ical nature of the causative use of the morpheme by arguing that the new causal link is added sub-lexically, situating Kinyarwanda into a cross- linguistic typology of morphological causatives. / text

How can a client extract useful work from a server without trusting it to compute correctly? A modern motivation for this classic question is third party computing models in which customers outsource their computations to service providers (as in cloud computing). In principle, deep results in complexity theory and cryptography imply that it is possible to verify that an untrusted entity executed a computation correctly. For instance, the server can employ probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs) in conjunction with cryptographic commitments to generate a succinct proof of correct execution, which the client can efficiently check. However, these theoretical solutions are impractical: they require thousands of CPU years to verifiably execute even simple computations. This dissertation describes the design, implementation, and experimental evaluation viiiof a system, called Pepper, that brings this theory into the realm of plausibility. Pepper incorporates a series of algorithmic improvements and systems engineering techniques to improve performance by over 20 orders of magnitude, relative to an implementation of the theory without our refinements. These include a new probabilistically checkable proof encoding with nearly optimal asymptotics, a concise representation for computations, a more efficient cryptographic commitment primitive, and a distributed implementation of the server with GPU acceleration to reduce latency. Additionally, Pepper extends the verification machinery to handle realistic applications of third party computing: those that interact with remote storage or state (e.g., MapReduce jobs, database queries). To do so, Pepper composes techniques from untrusted storage with the aforementioned technical machinery to verifiably offload both computations and state. Furthermore, to make it easy to use this technology, Pepper includes a compiler to automatically transform programs in a subset of C into executables that run verifiably. One of the chief limitations of Pepper is that verifiable execution is still orders of magnitude slower than an unverifiable native execution. Nonetheless, Pepper takes powerful results from complexity theory and verifiable computation a few steps closer to practicality / text

Practicing argumentation in secondary school classrooms benefits students both in terms of learning how to argue and learning the course material at hand. Amidst the onset and growth of engineering design courses in secondary schools, this dissertation is an exploratory case study to characterize the use of argumentation among novice student engineering designers. The setting is a high school robotics class. Specifically, a group of students from one class section teamed up with a group of students from a separate class section to design and build a single robot. The team members communicated online via a shared, editable document. That text is the primary data set for my analysis. I looked for indications of argumentation structure that emerged from the online discussion, given that, to my knowledge, the students had not been taught argumentation strategies, per se. Engineering design is relatively new to secondary school, so I thought it appropriate to develop a baseline—a case study that reveals how students communicate about their designs when left largely to their own devices. This study may inform the development argumentation scaffolds that support the students’ existing strengths while ameliorating their weaknesses. My analytical supposition was that argumentation in design will take the form of resolving differences of opinion toward the creation of a single design. Hence, I used Pragma-dialectic theory as my analytical framework. It is a broad theory, based upon resolving differences of opinion in everyday conversation. As such, Pragma-dialectic theory may also be able to encompass the idiosyncrasies of team design, such as reliance on intuition and experience, as well as the important roles that designed objects play throughout the process. Taken together, the importance of intuition, experience, and objects suggests multiple modes of communication that ought to be considered arguments within design deliberations. Results suggest that the students worked to resolve differences of design opinions. In doing so, the students relied heavily on their designed objects to make their arguments meaningful. I classified five object-based claims which emerged from the students’ discussions: keystone, tinkering, visual, tactile, and counterfactual. These form the beginnings of a theory of object-based argumentation. / text

Syftet med denna uppsats är att identifiera, kartlägga och jämföra de argument som fördesfram för och emot enhetsskolans (och så småningom grundskolans) införande under perioden1940-1962. De aktörer vars argument är av intresse är folkskollärare och läroverkslärare.Dessa båda lärargrupper antas ha haft olika attityder till den enhetsskola som föreslogs somett alternativ till det då rådande skolsystemet, där en allmän, kommunal folkskola avsedd förden breda allmänheten och en rad statliga läroverk och realskolor, främst avsedda förstudiebegåvade elever med höga ambitioner, existerade parallellt. Detta jämförelsevisförlegade system ledde enligt många till orättvisor som inte hade någon plats i ett samhälledär välfärden stadigt ökade.Studien är en kvalitativ testanalys och analysen har gjorts med hjälp av Ludvig Beckmansmodell för argumentationsanalys. Dessutom har materialet granskats utifrån GunnarRichardsons analysmodell ”Idéernas kraft eller realiteternas tryck?” Argumenten har jag främst sökt bland ett antal tidningar skrivna av och för lärare från de ovannämna lärargrupperna. Främst har jag använt mig av Tidning för Sveriges läroverk och Svenskskoltidning. Utöver detta har Statens offentliga utredningar (SOU) använts i stor utsträckning.Av undersökningen framgår att lärargruppernas argument skiljde sig åt främst gällande hurden nya skolan borde differentieras och vad målen med skolan borde vara.

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My overall claim in this paper is twofold: Firstly, the activity of developing arguments in favour of the existence of the Christian God is tenable and worthwhile and, secondly, the “infinite God objection” fails to undermine the kalam cosmological argument. Concerning the former, it is often claimed that the very activity of developing arguments in favour of God’s existence is futile. I argue, however, that such theistic arguments play an important role in the philosophy of religion, natural theology, and apologetics. Concerning the latter claim, I will attempt to show how the infinite God objection fails to undermine a notable theistic argument, namely, the kalam cosmological argument. As regards this objection, the proponents of the kalam cosmological argument face a dilemma – either an actual infinity cannot exist or God’s knowledge cannot be infinite. More specifically, this objection claims that God’s omniscience entails the existence of an actual infinity with God knowing an actual infinite number of future events and mathematical truths. My solution to this problem is that (1) God’s omniscience should be understood as maximal knowledge; (2) the existence of abstract objects (such as numbers and propositions) should be denied; and (3) God’s knowledge is non-propositional in nature. / MPhil, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The purpose of this thesis is to present a number of examples of how the debate concerning same-sex marriages in Sweden was conducted in religious media between the year of 2005 and May 1st 2009. I intend to examine if and how these debate articles can be descibes as examples of religion taking part in the public sphere according to José Casanovas theory of deprivitization and public religion (1994) and Jürgen Habermas theory of religion in the public sphere (1964, 1989, 2006, 2008). I will apply the theories to the material by using four criteria for public religion, based on Casanovas and Habermas two theories, designed by Marta Axner. I also intend to compare the arguments used in the material to the arguments found in Marta Axners dissertation Public Religions in Swedish Media (2013). To identify these arguments a textanalysis containing seven argumentschemes, designed by Gunnar Björnsson (1994), is applied. The analysis presents that arguments of authority often recurs, mainly in reference to the Bible, God or Jesus Christ. Arguments of rule and consequence are also frequently used. In relation to the criteria for public religion it is not possible to present a definitive answer, instead it is of greater value to discuss whether there is a possibility that Casanova and Habermas would differ in determining whether the material can be described as public religion or not. The conclusion is therefore that more discussion and research are needed to deplete this field of study.

In this study I investigated the interactions of 25 Grade 8 science students as they learned how to construct oral arguments using the Toulmin Argumentation Pattern framework. I collected the data during three recorded small group discussion sessions during a five week Earth Science unit between February and March of 2011. The first session recorded the students’ discussions prior to receiving either argumentation instruction or the science concept instruction. The second session recorded their discussions after receiving an introduction to argumentation and a scaffold, but not concept instruction. During the three weeks preceding the third session, the students received additional argumentation instruction and completed one-third of the Earth Science unit. The results showed the students collectively made more arguments during each subsequent session. The students’ individual arguments showed a correspondence between their purportedly most familiar topics and the most discussed topics. I also found that when students made counter arguments and/or invited or challenged group members to participate, their discussions contained comparatively more argument elements (claims, data and warrants) than discussions containing predominantly collaborative assertions. The key outcome of this study for developing students’ use of the elements of argumentation during classroom discussions was to recognize and incorporate opportunities for the students to tap into their prior-knowledge. To engage students in this process, the results indicate the importance of creating time for discussions relevant to the curriculum and to the students. / Graduate / 0727 / 0279 / 0714 / brianu@uvic.ca