Orientador: Marize Mattos Dall'Aglio Hattnher / Banca: Mariangela Rios de Oliveira / Banca: Erotilde Goreti Pezatti / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem por objetivo descrever, de acordo com a perspectiva funcionalista, o comportamento dos advérbios focalizadores (principalmente, exatamente, justamente, também, só, etc.) e a sua co-ocorrência com outras estratégias de marcação de foco, tais como a ordem especial de constituintes, a construção clivada e a proeminência prosódica, no português falado do Brasil. Centrando o interesse nos efeitos comunicativos produzidos pelos advérbios focalizadores, são analisadas as propriedades sintático-semânticas, pragmáticas e prosódicas atreladas ao uso desses mecanismos no português. A análise dos dados demonstrou que os advérbios focalizadores (AdvFs) constituem a principal estratégia utilizada pelo falante para focalizar um constituinte da oração, sem que para isso seja necessário alterar sua ordem para acomodar a Função Pragmática Foco. Demonstrou-se, também, que o Foco no PB, em geral, recai sobre um único constituinte da oração (complemento verbal, predicador, adjunto adverbial, etc.). Quanto à co-ocorrência dos AdvFs com outras estratégias de focalização, verificou-se que o falante, na busca por clareza ao elaborar a expressão lingüística, utiliza-se de duas ou mais estratégias para focalizar um mesmo constituinte da oração. O universo de investigação é constituído por inquéritos do corpus mínimo do Projeto de Gramática do Português Falado (PGPF). / Abstract: The aim of this research is to describe the behavior of focus adverbs (principalmente, exatamente, justamente, também, só etc.) and their co-occurrence with other focus strategies such as special word order, cleft construction or prosodic prominence in Brazilian spoken Portuguese. Taking into account the communicative effects produced by the focus adverbs, we analyzed the syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and prosodic properties related to the use of those mechanisms in Portuguese. Data analysis showed that focus adverbs constitute the main strategy used by the speaker to focalize a clause constituent, without being necessary to change its order to accommodate the Focus pragmatic function. It was also showed that the focus generally falls upon only one clause constituent (verbal complement, predicate, satellite). As to the co-occurrence of adverbs with others focus strategies, it was verified that the speaker, in an attempt to express him/herself clearly, uses two or more strategies to focus the same constituent of the clause. The data for this research comes from the corpus of the Grammar of Spoken Portuguese Project (Projeto de Gramática do Português Falado). / Mestre

Matching and integrating ontologies has been a desirable technique in areas such as data fusion, knowledge integration, the Semantic Web and the development of advanced services in distributed system. Unfortunately, the heterogeneities of ontologies cause big obstacles in the development of this technique. This licentiate thesis describes an approach to tackle the problem of ontology integration using description logics and production rules, both on a syntactic level and on a semantic level. Concepts in ontologies are matched and integrated to generate ontology intersections. Context is extracted and rules for handling heterogeneous ontology reasoning with contexts are developed. Ontologies are integrated by two processes. The first integration is to generate an ontology intersection from two OWL ontologies. The result is an ontology intersection, which is an independent ontology containing non-contradictory assertions based on the original ontologies. The second integration is carried out by rules that extract context, such as ontology content and ontology description data, e.g. time and ontology creator. The integration is designed for conceptual ontology integration. The information of instances isn't considered, neither in the integrating process nor in the integrating results. An ontology reasoner is used in the integration process for non-violation check of two OWL ontologies and a rule engine for handling conflicts according to production rules. The ontology reasoner checks the satisfiability of concepts with the help of anchors, i.e. synonyms and string-identical entities; production rules are applied to integrate ontologies, with the constraint that the original ontologies should not be violated. The second integration process is carried out with production rules with context data of the ontologies. Ontology reasoning, in a repository, is conducted within the boundary of each ontology. Nonetheless, with context rules, reasoning is carried out across ontologies. The contents of an ontology provide context for its defined entities and are extracted to provide context with the help of an ontology reasoner. Metadata of ontologies are criteria that are useful for describing ontologies. Rules using context, also called context rules, are developed and in-built in the repository. New rules can also be added. The scientific contribution of the thesis is the suggested approach applying semantic based techniques to provide a complementary method for ontology matching and integrating semantically. With the illustration of the ontology integration process and the context rules and a few manually integrated ontology results, the approach shows the potential to help to develop advanced knowledge-based services. / <p>QC 20130201</p>

This thesis intended to examine how the actions of Sweden, following the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, fit within the international relations theoretical perspective of pragmatic idealism, focusing on the actions of Sweden's foreign policy that impacted its neutrality policy. This thesis is built upon the pragmatic idealism theoretical perspective of international relations, and attempted to address how this perspective accounted for, or failed to account for the actions of Sweden in the face of the escalating Russian threat. The analysis herein is grounded in case study methodology. First, the thesis examined how Sweden-Russia relations evolved in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Second, the thesis examined how Sweden-NATO relations changed after the 2014-15 annexation of Crimea by Russia. In both cases, the paper analysed how the evolution of these relationships affected Sweden's neutrality, and how the evolution was consistent or not consistent with the “pragmatic” and “idealist” dimensions of the theoretical perspective of pragmatic idealism. The culmination of this paper drew an inference of the applicability of the perspective of pragmatic idealism to Sweden's application of neutrality to international relations. It concluded that Sweden's neutrality both prior to and following the invasion, as well as its subsequent actions, were in line with the theoretical perspective of pragmatic idealism.

In the more speculative parts of his book, The Conscious Mind (1996), David Chalmers proposes his Double-Aspect theory of information as a fundamental psychophysical law according to which phenomenally realized information is also realized physically. Such a principle connects physical properties to phenomenal properties. The concept of information he adopts has much in common with what is discussed by Shannon (1948). However, there is another concept of information which fits the double-aspect principle explanatorily better while escaping from the counterintuitive notions associated with the interpretation that Chalmers gives, such as panpsychism. In this thesis, I discuss a new concept of information, called pragmatic information, put forward, among others, by Roederer (2003) according to which information and information processing are exclusive attributes of living systems, related to the very definition of life. Roederer considers the concept of interaction as a basic, primordial concept for his task. He identifies two fundamentally different classes of interactions between the bodies that make up the universe as we know it, with the concepts of information and information processing appearing as the key discriminators between the two: Purely physical interactions which occur between inanimate objects and information-driven interactions between certain kinds of complex systems that form the biological domain. I argue that the double-aspect principle best fits the very concept of information related to information-driven interactions. I will further explore two aspects of information-driven interactions in living systems: mechanical and non-mechanical. It seems that the realization of phenomenal consciousness, in accordance with double-aspect principle, can be explained according to the latter aspect. Then, the idea of the existence of non-mechanical information-driven interactions will be fortified by some evidence in quantum mechanics.

South African indigenous language teaching and learning materials do not provide sufficient information to help additional language learners learn the target languages effectively. While there are institutions that are tasked with developing and sharpening the skills of students in speaking South African indigenous languages, such students hardly, if at all master the art of speaking them eloquently. Students who study these languages in order to converse proficiently with their mother-tongue speakers experience insurmountable difficulties, in spite of various efforts made by the teachers who train them to read books on their own. Passing their examinations does not mean that the students’ ability to communicate with mother-tongue speakers will improve to the extent of eliminating the prevailing misunderstanding between the two groups. The persistence of this problem reveals a discrepancy between the studies of indigenous languages in South Africa and the way of speaking them, whereby important linguistic elements that make communication more authentic are excluded in language materials. This study analyses the use and significance of CIFWs in daily interactions by investigating the two Xhosa CIFWs words wethu and bethu. The overall aim of this study is to explore the use of a corpus in the examination of CIFWs in general, and wethu and bethu in particular. Both a quantitative approach based on the Gothenburg-Unisa spoken corpus and a qualitative approach based on Allwoods’ ACA theoretical framework were used in the analysis and description of the functions and significances of wethu and bethu as communicative and interactive function words. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

A gap in physical literacy-oriented (PL) professional development (PD) for generalist teachers exists and thus their capacity to develop PL and maximize student health is potentially limited. Specifically, a job-embedded professional development (JEPD) approach has been found to be an effective strategy for improving teacher knowledge and confidence. We explored the feasibility of a novel JEPD program (10 weeks) and its impact on teachers’ capacity to deliver PL enriched physical education (PE) and student PL. A pragmatic feasibility trial with mixed methods included quantitative measurement of teacher PL knowledge and confidence (pre) and knowledge, confidence, satisfaction and intention (post), as well as self-reported change, to evaluate impact on teacher capacity and practices. A pre-post comparison of student PL outcomes (motor skills using PLAY Basic) during the JEPD and teacher implementation phase explored the impact on student PL. 15/44 teachers participated in surveys and 11/44 completed interviews (87% female, mean age bracket = 25-44 years). Confidence to deliver PL enhancing PE increased significantly after JEPD (p<.0001). Teachers were highly satisfied with the JEPD (X =4.67/5) and intended to change their practice (X =4.09/5). At 3 months, teachers reported changes including enhanced lesson planning, increased activity variety (often from the JEPD), intentional skill development, student focused discussions, introductory, transition and closing activities and more equipment adaptations. During JEPD, with the exception of throwing (p <.0001), children’s (47% female, mean age = 7.9 (1.7)) change in running, jumping, kicking and balance walk backwards did not differ from usual practice (UP). During teacher implementation motor skill competence regressed; confounding factors such as seasonality could not be ruled out. JEPD appears feasible and effective for changing teacher capacity to deliver PL enhancing PE however, post JEPD teacher implementation and outcomes need further exploration. / Graduate

Chez des enfants ayant une épilepsie sévère et une lésion cérébrale étendue, l'ablation fonctionnelle d'un hémisphère représente le traitement le plus efficace. Cette thèse a pour objet les aspects pragmatiques et émotionnels du langage chez 40 enfants ayant bénéficié d'une hémisphérotomie afin d'étudier le développement du langage sur le versant pragmatique et de la compréhension émotionnelle et de mieux comprendre le profil socio-cognitif en fonction du côté opéré et de l'âge de la chirurgie eu égard au concept de spécialisation hémisphérique et de la plasticité cognitive développementale. Nos résultats montrent des troubles de la pragmatique du langage dans 40% des cas. Ces troubles sont notamment observés chez les sujets opérés d'hémisphérotomie droite après l'âge de 18 mois et indépendamment de la compréhension lexicale ou grammaticale du langage. Une corrélation a été mise en évidence entre les troubles de la pragmatique et les fonctions exécutives. Des déficits de reconnaissance des émotions faciales sont également observés dans cette population. Enfin, une longue durée de l'épilepsie et un âge tardif à la chirurgie altèrent la qualité de la compréhension émotionnelle à partir de récits et renforce l'idée qu'une chirurgie précoce améliore le pronostic langagier et socio-cognitif. / Children with medically refractory epilepsy caused by extensive hemispheric lesions are the best candidate for hemispherotomy in order to cure epilepsy. It leads the patient to the amazing situation of living with the one controlateral isolated and safe hemisphere. The topic of this research concerns pragmatic and emotional aspects of language in a large population of 40 hemispherotomized children. Our aim was to study development of language, peculiarly pragmatic skills and emotion comprehension, and analyse their socio-cognitive profile according to side and age at surgery, considering hemispheric specialization and developmental cognitive plasticity. Pragmatic disorders were found in 40% of patients. More frequent pragmatic disorders were observed after right hemispherotomy among children operated after the age of 18 months, independently of lexical or syntactic comprehension. We demonstrated a correlation between pragmatic language impairment and deficits in executive functions. We showed a long term deficit in facial emotion recognition abilities in this population. Finally, the longer was the duration of epilepsy and the later was the surgery, the worst was their emotion comprehension of stories, promoting early surgery to improve their linguistic and socio-cognitive development.

This study examined the neurological activation of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) while performing a pragmatic judgment task. In this study, children between the ages of 9 and 15 years responded to questions regarding a social situation, taken from the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, while concurrently having their brain activity measured. We targeted four brain regions for analysis: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), superior temporal gyrus (STG), and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Ten children with ASD and 20 typically developing (TD) children participated. Matching occurred in a bracketing manner with each child in the ASD group being matched to two control children to account for natural variability. Neuroimgaging was conducted utilizing functional Near‐Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Oxygenated and deoxygenated blood concentration levels were measured through Near‐Infrared light cap with 44 channels. The cap was placed over frontal lobe and the left lateral cortex. The placement was spatially registered using the Polhemus. Analysis indicated that children in the ASD group performed significantly poorer than their controls on the pragmatic judgment task. Mixed repeated measures analysis of variance of neurological data indicated that the children with ASD had lower concentration levels of oxygenated and total hemoglobin across the four regions. There were significantly higher concentration levels for oxygenated and total hemoglobin in the STG. Analysis of correct and incorrect responses revealed significantly more activation in the OFC when responses were correct. Additionally, there was a significant interaction of Accuracy and Group in left DLPFC. Children with ASD presented higher oxygenated hemoglobin concentration values when responding correctly, while children in the control group presented higher oxygenated hemoglobin concentration values for the incorrect items. Statistical Parametric Mapping was performed for each triad to assess the diffusion of neural activation across the frontal cortex and the left lateral cortex. Individual comparisons revealed that 7 out of 10 children with ASD demonstrated patterns consistent with more diffuse brain activation than their TD controls. Findings from this study suggest that an fNIRS study can provide important information about the level and diffusion of neural processing of verbal children and adolescents with ASD.

Service-learning, an experiential learning and teaching pedagogy, provides students and teachers the opportunity to take classroom knowledge and put it to work in real world applications in the greater community. This qualitative case study dissertation explored the expected and unexpected outcomes of a service-learning program at an urban charter high school. Through a review of current literature, the history of service-learning is traced from its modern roots to present day incarnations. Grounded in the overlapping frameworks of pragmatic constructivist theory and practice, and service-learning with a social justice model, best practices were examined through interviews and focus groups of current students and students who have completed the SL program. The findings to the three research questions suggested: The expected outcomes addressed activism, awareness, and social development; the unexpected outcomes spoke to the development of interpersonal transformations surpassing expectations and agency, unexpected contentbased outcomes, and unexpected abstract outcomes; the implementation data focused on the need for institutional support and adaptability. Recommendations for future implementation were also discussed.

The criminal law has been critiqued as an unsuitable system to regulate adverse medical events (AME) because the unintentional nature of AME renders it incompatible with the penal objectives of the criminal law. This project uses an interpretivist approach to examine how blameworthiness is constructed in criminal cases involving AME. Situated within a contextual constructionist paradigm, and utilizing a theoretical framework that draws on legal pragmatism, symbolic interactionism, Habermasian thought, and Goffmanian frame analysis, this project employs a case study approach to explore how appellate courts construct AME as a product of fate or agency. The British case of Bawa-Garba v. R. (2016) and the Canadian case of R. v. Javanmardi (2019) are analysed using thematic analysis. It is concluded that the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada in Javanmardi constructed the AME within the realm of fate, contrasting the minority in Javanmardi and full panel of the England and Wales Court of Appeal in Bawa-Garba which constructed the AME within the realm of agency. It is also concluded that the majority in Javanmardi utilised pragmatic adjudication to determine blameworthiness. It is suggested that these findings could reduce fear of criminal liability among Canadian health care professionals. Future research is suggested to examine the legal cultures underlying this variation, critically explore the intersection of race and criminal prosecution of AME, and apply structural violence as a theoretical frame to further interrogate AME as a systemic failure.