The topic of the thesis are domain-specific languages (DSL) and their use in software development. The target audience are developers interested in learning more about this progressive area of software development. It starts with a necessary theoretical introduction to programming languages. Then, a classification of DSLs is given and software development methodologies based on DSLs are described, notably Language Oriented Programming and Intentional Programming. Another important piece in construction of domain-specific langauges -- the language workbench is also described. In the next chapter, several important tools for DSL creation are presented, described and compared. Each of the tools represents a different possible approach to designing DSLs -- textual, projectional or graphical. The last chapter of the thesis contains a practical example of a DSL implementation in the Meta Programming System by Jet- Brains and Xtext from Eclipse. A domain-specific language for the description of questionnaires is designed from scratch and a code generator for that language is created. A comparison of the DSL based technique to traditional software development techniques is given and the tools used are compared.

Important theories about the attribution of mental contents and/or linguisticmeanings propose a theoretical characterization about mental and linguisticunderstanding. As one of the consequences of this, they cannot account forinstances of genuine conceptual diversity: the exotic expressions and their conceptual repertoires must be re-describe by means of a theory, articulated in our conceptual repertoire, that eliminates that diversity. Wittgenstein, on the other side, has argued that understanding of the linguistic and non linguistic behavior of other creatures is based on primitive ways of reciprocal understanding, settled on practical agreements. Consequently, he has characterized our relationship towards radically estrange behaviors as a form of instinctive uncertainty”. On these bases, I will attempt to show how it is possible to dissolve skeptical problems and elude contrived solutions about other forms of life”, recognizing that genuine conceptual diversity is possible. / Importantes teorías acerca de la atribución de contenidos mentales y/o de significados lingüísticos proponen una caracterización teoricista acerca de la comprensión mental y lingüística. Entre sus efectos, no pueden dar cuenta decasos de genuina diversidad conceptual: las expresiones exóticas y sus repertorios conceptuales tienen que ser re-descritas por medio de una teoría, expuesta en nuestro propio repertorio conceptual, que elimine esa diversidad. Wittgenstein, por su parte, ha argumentado que la comprensión de la conducta lingüística y no lingüística de otras criaturas se asienta en modalidades primitivas de comprensión recíproca, basadas a su vez en concordancias de orden práctico.Consecuentemente, ha caracterizado nuestra relación con comportamientos radicalmente extraños como una forma de incertidumbre instintiva”. En este trabajo intentaré mostrar cómo es posible sobre estas bases disolver problemas escépticos y evitar soluciones artificiosas acerca de otras formas de vida”, reconociendo que la genuina diversidad conceptual es posible.

abstract: Temporal-order judgments can require integration of self-generated action-events and external sensory information. In a previous study, it was found that participants are biased to perceive one’s own action-events to occur prior to simultaneous external events. This phenomenon, named the “Egocentric Temporal Order Bias”, or ETO bias, was demonstrated as a 67% probability for participants to report self-generated events as occurring prior to simultaneous externally-determined events. These results were interpreted as supporting a feed-forward, constructive model of perception. However, the empirical data could support many potential mechanisms. The present study tests whether the ETO bias is driven by attentional differences, feed-forward predictability, or action. These findings support that participants exhibit a bias due to both feed-forward predictability and action, and a Bayesian analysis supports that these effects are quantitatively unique. Therefore, the results indicate that the ETO bias is largely driven by one’s own action, over and above feed-forward predictability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2020

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Training interprofessional healthcare teams continues to advance practice for patient-centered care. Empathy research is also advancing and has been explored in social work, psychology, and other healthcare areas. In the absence of understanding empathy in an interprofessional setting, educators are limited in preparing teams to develop empathy as part of core competencies This grounded theory study explored for a theory of how interprofessional healthcare teams conceptualize and operationalize empathy in their practice. Azjen's theory of planned behavior and Barrett-Lennard's cyclical model of empathy framed the study. Data were collected using 6 focus groups and 24 semistructured interviews of varied healthcare professionals working in an interprofessional setting in Ontario, Canada. Systematic data analysis utilizing Auerbach and Silverstein's (2003) approach revealed participants engaged in and valued empathy as a team. Empathy was identified as purposeful and intentional behaviors believed to be meaningful for positive patient outcomes. In addition, professionals identified the role of genuine intent in the practice of empathy. As a result of this study, a grounded theory of interprofessional intentional empathy centered care explains the conceptualization and operationalization of empathy in practice. Collective empathy in an interprofessional team model contributes to improved patient outcomes. The work of this study ascertains that empathy is not accidental; it should be cultivated in the form of intentional and genuine team experiences. This study advances social change by further identifying how the practice of empathy can be integrated into interprofessional healthcare education and praxis.

Research shows that conversations and daily interaction among teachers and children is crucial for their development. Observing children and interpreting their thinking processes is a significant factor in intentionally planning curriculum that emerges from children’s thinking, assists them in making connections, and extends their learning. This article presents findings of a single case design study investigating the effects of the observation and interpretation processes in a Cycle of Inquiry System (COI) (Broderick and Hong in Early Childh Res Pract 13:1–14, 2011) intervention on preschool teachers’ productive conversations with children. The intervention for each teacher consisted of pre and post interviews, a 1-day COI training, use of COI observation and interpretation forms, and coaching meetings with the researcher. The participants were 4 preschool teachers in Northeast Tennessee. Teachers were videotaped in their classrooms working with children during the free play time and coded for productive and non-productive conversation strategies for determining the baseline and changes during the intervention. All the teachers show an increase in productive conversation strategies to differing degrees. The non-overlapping pairs analysis for all participants is represented by a large value. The findings indicate the benefit of training teachers to observe and interpret the meaning of children’s conversations to intentionally plan for productive conversations that impact learning.

As social creatures, our social encounters matter. They matter for how we experience the world, as well as ourselves. The role of psycho-social experiences has recently been recognized in the neurocognitive literature on the sense of agency. Defined as the experience of control over one’s actions and outcomes, researchers have begun exploring how social interactions and contextual cues modulate this experience, using an implicit task known as intentional binding. This task claims to capture the sense of agency by assessing differences in perception of time across conditions that are theoretically considered to be higher in sense of agency as compared to those that are lower. Drawing inspiration from this new literature, this thesis explores, across five studies, the impact of different psycho-social experiences, particularly those related to stigmatized racial minority groups, on the sense of agency. Our first two studies (n= 36, n=123) indicate that reflection on both negative and positive psycho-social experiences, including racial stigma, bias, and acceptance, reduces the sense of agency, as indexed by lower action-effect interval estimates. Further, our latter three studies (n=45, n=44, n=44), which focus on North American and international samples, suggest that expectations of racial bias reduce the sense of agency and that this reduction is greatest amongst people who experience a threat to their identity because of the event, as well as people who are low-self monitors. Insights from these studies are used to advance neurocognitive and social cognitive work, including psycho-social modulates of intentional binding and psychological mechanisms that affect racial minorities. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / One of the most fascinating aspects of human consciousness is our ability to feel in control of our actions and their outcomes. This experience, better known as a sense of agency, allows us to distinguish our own actions from others and feel responsible for the events we cause in the world. As an important psychological phenomenon, many researchers have taken an interest in understanding how this experience is shaped within our subjective minds. This work has revealed that individual characteristics, as well as social/environmental processes, can affect the sense of agency, at times, even disrupting/impairing the experience. Extending these early findings, this thesis aims to explore the role of psycho-social factors, namely, racial stigma, on the sense of agency. Across five experiments, we reveal that race-based experiences, including perceived and expected racial bias as well as racial acceptance, decrease the sense of agency. With replication and further inquiry, these studies have important implications for the neurocognitive and social-cognitive literature, as well as society at large.

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Within the past decade, talk has arisen of shifting the utility grid from centralized, radial sources to a distributed network of sources, also known as distributed generation (DG); in the wake of deregulation, the California energy crisis, and northeastern blackouts. Existing control techniques for DG systems are designed to operate a system either in the connected or disconnected (islanding) mode to the utility; thus not allowing for both modes to be implemented and transitioned between. Existing detection and re-closure algorithms can also be improved upon. Dependent upon the method implemented, detection algorithms can either cause distortions in the output or completely miss a disturbance. The present re-closure process to reconnect to the utility is to completely shutdown and wait five minutes. The proposed methods of this study improve upon existing methods, via simulation and hardware experimentation, for DG systems that can intentionally islanding themselves. The proposed, "switched-mode", control allows for continuous operation of the system during disturbances by transitioning the mode of control to reflect the change in the system mode (grid-connected or islanding). This allows for zero downtimes without detrimental transients. The proposed detection method can sense disturbances that other methods cannot; and within 25 ms (approximately 1.5 line-cycles at 60 Hz). This method is an improvement over other methods because it eliminates the need to purposely distort the outputs to sense a disturbance. The proposed re-closure method is an improvement over the existing method due to the fact that it does not require the system to de-energize before re-synchronizing and reconnecting to the utility. This allows for DGs to continuously supply power to the system without having to shut down. Results show that the system is generally ready to reconnect after 2 to 5 line cycles. / Master of Science

Neste trabalho, um novo método grafo-algébrico para o projeto de ilhamento intencional é proposto. O ilhamento intencional é um dos últimos recursos utilizados pelos operadores para evitar um colapso total do sistema elétrico. Ele objetiva dividir um sistema elétrico em dois ou mais subsistemas estáveis quando não é possível garantir a estabilidade do sistema interligado. O método desenvolvido é uma extensão de um método grafo-algébrico, baseado na fatoração da matriz incidência ramo-nó e que foi desenvolvido para a identificação de ilhamento não intencional, para o problema de projeto de ilhamento intencional. A aplicação da fatoração da matriz incidência ramo-nó no problema de projeto de ilhamento é contribuição inédita deste trabalho. O método proposto identifica os conjuntos de corte, compostos por linhas de transmissão/transformadores (ramos), aptos a dividir um sistema elétrico de potência conexo em dois ou mais subsistemas (ilhas), sob a condição de um número mínimo, previamente estabelecido, de ramos interrompidos ou uma interrupção mínima de fluxo de potência ativa. A identificação dos conjuntos de cortes é realizada por meio de uma fatoração ordenada da matriz incidência nó-ramo e por um processo de regularização de cortes. O método foi testado com resultados promissores em alguns sistemas elétricos de pequeno e médio porte. Apresentou boas características que sugerem que o mesmo seja adequado para aplicações em tempo real. O método fornece a informação das barras que formam cada ilha, adapta-se facilmente a mudanças na topologia e pode ser facilmente implementado com rotinas já existentes nos programas de computador comumente utilizados para análise de sistemas elétricos de potência. Trabalhos futuros são necessários para testar a metodologia em sistemas de maior porte, para avaliar a eficiência computacional do método e comparar com a eficiência de outros métodos relatados na literatura. / In this work , a new graph-algebraic method for the design of intentional islanding is proposed. Intentional islanding is one of the last resources used by the Power Electrical System Operators to avoid a total collapse of the electrical system. It aims to divide a power system into two or more stable subsystems when it is not possible to guarantee the stability of the interconnected system. The developed method is an extension of a graph-algebraic method, which is based on a factorization of the branch-node incidence matrix and which was developed to identify unintended islanding, to the problem of intended. The unprecedented contribution of this work is the application of the factorization of the incidence branch-node matrix in the design of islanding control. The proposed method identifies the cutsets, composed of transmission lines / transformers (branches) , able to divide a connected Electrical Power System in two or more subsystems (islands), under the constraint of a minimum number of interrupted branches or minimal interruption of power flow. The identification of cutsets are made through an ordered factorization of the incidence branch node matrix and a regularization process of cutsets. The method has been tested with promising results in some electrical systems of small and medium size. It has shown good characteristics which suggests that it is suitable for real-time applications. The method automatically provides the set of buses that form each island, it easily adapts to changes in topology and can be easily implemented with routines that are already developed in existing computer programs commonly used for analysis of electric power systems. Further work is needed to test the methodology in larger systems to evaluate the computational efficiency of the method and compare with the efficiency of other methods reported in the literature.