The study employed Ernest (2006) Theory of Semiotic Systems to investigate the use of and exposure to multiple representations in a 10th grade algebra II suburban high school class located in the southeastern region of the United States. The purpose of this exploratory case study (Yin, 2014) was to investigate the role of multiple representations in influencing and facilitating algebra II students’ conceptual understanding of piece-wise function, absolute-value functions, and quadratic functions. This study attempted to answer the following question: How does the use of and exposure to multiple representations influence algebra II students’ understanding and transfer of algebraic concepts? Furthermore, the following sub-questions assisted in developing a deeper understanding of the question: a) how does exposure to and use of multiple representations influence students’ identification of their pseudo-conceptual understanding of algebraic concepts?; b) how does exposure to and use of multiple representations influence students’ transition from pseudo-conceptual to conceptual understanding?; c) how does exposure to and use of multiple representations influence students’ transfer of their conceptual understanding to other related concepts? Understanding the notion of pseudo-conceptual understanding in algebra is significant in providing a tool for examining the veracity of algebra students’ conceptual understanding, where teachers have to consistently examine if students accurately understand the meanings of the mathematical signs that they are constantly using. The following data collection techniques were utilized: a) classroom observation, b) task based interviews, and c) study of documents. The unit of analysis was students’ verbal and written responses to task questions. Three themes emerged from the analysis of in this study: (a) re-imaging of conceptual understanding; (b) reflective approach to understanding and using mathematical signs; and (c) representational versatility in the use of mathematical signs. Findings from this study will contribute to the body of knowledge needed in research on understanding and assessing algebra students’ conceptual understanding of mathematics. In particular the findings from the study will contribute to the literature on understanding; the process of algebraic concepts knowledge acquisition, and the challenges that algebra students have with comprehension of algebraic concepts (Knuth, 2000: Zaslavsky et al., 2002).

Thesis advisor: Solomon Friedberg / We study a new lifting of automorphic representations using the theta representation ϴ on the 4-fold cover of the symplectic group, $\overline{\Sp}_{2r}(\A)$. This lifting produces the first examples of CAP representations on higher degree metaplectic covering groups. Central to our analysis is the identification of the maximal nilpotent orbit associated to ϴ. We conjecture a natural extension of Arthur's parameterization of the discrete spectrum to $\overline{\Sp}_{2r}(\A)$. Assuming this, we compute the effect of our lift on Arthur parameters and show that the parameter of a representation in the image of the lift is non-tempered. We conclude by relating the lifting to the dimension equation of Ginzburg to predict the first non-trivial lift of a generic cuspidal representation of $\overline{\Sp}_{2r}(\A)$. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Mathematics.

A presente dissertação é resultado da pesquisa que teve como objetivo principal investigar as representações de professores do Ensino Fundamental I, tanto da rede privada quanto da pública, sobre Dislexia e como estas representações norteiam suas práticas. Buscamos saber, além do que significa a Dislexia para os cinquenta professores que fizeram parte da pesquisa, como percebem a importância do diagnóstico e o que realizam em sua prática para satisfazer as necessidades dos alunos disléxicos; além disso, identificou-se qual o número de alunos com diagnóstico de Dislexia e com dificuldades, mas sem o diagnóstico. Foram consultados documentos legais que se referem de alguma forma ao processo de aprendizagem da criança ou do adolescente e aos direitos e inclusão daqueles que apresentam quaisquer distúrbios ou dificuldades. Além disso, a pesquisa contou com o preenchimento de questionários por parte de cinquenta professores atuantes em salas de aula do Ensino Fundamental I de escolas públicas e privadas, sendo uma pública e três privadas localizadas na capital do Estado de São Paulo e na Grande São Paulo. Não consistiu objetivo do trabalho a comparação das instituições ou redes, mas sim reunir um número significativo de professores que atuam nos primeiros anos do Ensino Fundamental I. A pesquisa se restringiu a professores atuantes em tal momento da Educação Básica, pois estes são os que lecionam para alunos durante o processo de alfabetização, momento esse em que as dificuldades na aquisição da leitura são notadas de modo mais acentuado. Participaram da pesquisa professores com diferentes tempos de formação e atuação em sala de aula e com formação também diversa, alguns com pós-graduação e outros com graduação. A pesquisa teve cunho qualitativo, sendo os dados sistematizados e analisados com base no seguinte referencial teórico: Perrenoud (2001), com a discussão do conceito indiferença; os estudos de Tardif (2012) sobre os saberes docentes, tema essencial para uma análise das representações dos professores, assim como Chartier (1999, 2002) com o conceito de representação. Para conceituar Dislexia nos valemos das contribuições de autores como Simone Capellini (2009; 2011; 2013) e Jaime Zorzi (1998; 2009) que tratam do conceito no âmbito da fonoaudiologia; Saul Cypel (1993) e Sylvia Ciasca (2006), assim como Sally Shaywitz (2006) e Françiose Estienne (2001) foram referências para conceituar o termo além de Susan e William Stainback (1999). O estudo revelou que os professores investigados possuem representações variadas sobre a Dislexia, estando algumas mais próximas e outras menos das referências teóricas e documentos legais tomados como base. A pesquisa mostrou os percalços ou a preocupação em agir de forma que seja justa e adequada perante a dificuldade apresentada por alunos disléxicos. Muitos professores sinalizaram adaptações a serem realizadas ao possuírem alunos com Dislexia, mas estas foram bastante diversas e demonstraram certa insegurança ou incerteza em ser assertivo na adaptação utilizada. / This dissertation is the result of the research that aimed to investigate the teachers representations of the elementary school in both scenarios the private and the public, about dyslexia and how these representations guide their practices. We seek to understand not only what dyslexia means to fifty teachers who were part of the research but also how they perceive the importance of diagnosing and performing in their practice to meet the needs of dyslexic students. Furthermore, it was identified the number of students diagnosed with dyslexia and how many have difficulties, but without the diagnosis. Legal documents that are, somehow, related to child\'s or adolescents learning process and the rights and inclusion of those who have any disturbances or difficulties were consulted. In addition, the research included the completion of questionnaires by fifty teachers working in classrooms of elementary school of public and private schools (one public and three private schools, located in the capital of São Paulo and São Paulos metropolis).The objective of this dissertation is not to make the comparison of institutions or networks, but to gather a significant number of teachers who work in the early years of elementary school I. The research was restricted to teachers who work with basic education since they are the ones who teach for students in the literacy process, in which the difficulties in reading acquisition can be more sharply noted. The participants were teachers at different times of training and performance in the classroom and different backgrounds, some of them were postgraduates, some graduated. The research has a qualitative nature and was systematized and analyzed based on the following theoretical: Perrenoud (2001), which discuss the indifferences concept; the studies of Tardif (2012) on the teaching knowledge, essential theme for an analysis of the representations of teachers, as well as Chartier (1999, 2002) with the representations concept. To conceptualize Dyslexia we make use of the contributions of authors such as Simone Capellini (2009; 2011; 2013) and Jaime Zorzi (1998, 2009) who deal with this concept in the context of speech therapy. Saul Cypel (1993) and Sylvia Ciasca (2006), as well as Sally Shaywitz (2006) and Franciose Estienne (2001) were references to conceptualize the term, in addition of Susan and William Stainback (1999). The study revealed that teachers present various representations of Dyslexia, some of which more and some less related to the theoretical references and legal documents used as a basis. Research has shown the difficulty or concern of the teachers to act in a manner that is fair and adequate, given the current difficulties presented by dyslexic students. Many teachers signaled adaptations to be made when having students with dyslexia, but they were quite different and demonstrated uncertainty or insecurity about being assertive in adapting used.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 315-329).

A presente dissertação é resultado da pesquisa que teve como objetivo principal investigar as representações de professores do Ensino Fundamental I, tanto da rede privada quanto da pública, sobre Dislexia e como estas representações norteiam suas práticas. Buscamos saber, além do que significa a Dislexia para os cinquenta professores que fizeram parte da pesquisa, como percebem a importância do diagnóstico e o que realizam em sua prática para satisfazer as necessidades dos alunos disléxicos; além disso, identificou-se qual o número de alunos com diagnóstico de Dislexia e com dificuldades, mas sem o diagnóstico. Foram consultados documentos legais que se referem de alguma forma ao processo de aprendizagem da criança ou do adolescente e aos direitos e inclusão daqueles que apresentam quaisquer distúrbios ou dificuldades. Além disso, a pesquisa contou com o preenchimento de questionários por parte de cinquenta professores atuantes em salas de aula do Ensino Fundamental I de escolas públicas e privadas, sendo uma pública e três privadas localizadas na capital do Estado de São Paulo e na Grande São Paulo. Não consistiu objetivo do trabalho a comparação das instituições ou redes, mas sim reunir um número significativo de professores que atuam nos primeiros anos do Ensino Fundamental I. A pesquisa se restringiu a professores atuantes em tal momento da Educação Básica, pois estes são os que lecionam para alunos durante o processo de alfabetização, momento esse em que as dificuldades na aquisição da leitura são notadas de modo mais acentuado. Participaram da pesquisa professores com diferentes tempos de formação e atuação em sala de aula e com formação também diversa, alguns com pós-graduação e outros com graduação. A pesquisa teve cunho qualitativo, sendo os dados sistematizados e analisados com base no seguinte referencial teórico: Perrenoud (2001), com a discussão do conceito indiferença; os estudos de Tardif (2012) sobre os saberes docentes, tema essencial para uma análise das representações dos professores, assim como Chartier (1999, 2002) com o conceito de representação. Para conceituar Dislexia nos valemos das contribuições de autores como Simone Capellini (2009; 2011; 2013) e Jaime Zorzi (1998; 2009) que tratam do conceito no âmbito da fonoaudiologia; Saul Cypel (1993) e Sylvia Ciasca (2006), assim como Sally Shaywitz (2006) e Françiose Estienne (2001) foram referências para conceituar o termo além de Susan e William Stainback (1999). O estudo revelou que os professores investigados possuem representações variadas sobre a Dislexia, estando algumas mais próximas e outras menos das referências teóricas e documentos legais tomados como base. A pesquisa mostrou os percalços ou a preocupação em agir de forma que seja justa e adequada perante a dificuldade apresentada por alunos disléxicos. Muitos professores sinalizaram adaptações a serem realizadas ao possuírem alunos com Dislexia, mas estas foram bastante diversas e demonstraram certa insegurança ou incerteza em ser assertivo na adaptação utilizada. / This dissertation is the result of the research that aimed to investigate the teachers representations of the elementary school in both scenarios the private and the public, about dyslexia and how these representations guide their practices. We seek to understand not only what dyslexia means to fifty teachers who were part of the research but also how they perceive the importance of diagnosing and performing in their practice to meet the needs of dyslexic students. Furthermore, it was identified the number of students diagnosed with dyslexia and how many have difficulties, but without the diagnosis. Legal documents that are, somehow, related to child\'s or adolescents learning process and the rights and inclusion of those who have any disturbances or difficulties were consulted. In addition, the research included the completion of questionnaires by fifty teachers working in classrooms of elementary school of public and private schools (one public and three private schools, located in the capital of São Paulo and São Paulos metropolis).The objective of this dissertation is not to make the comparison of institutions or networks, but to gather a significant number of teachers who work in the early years of elementary school I. The research was restricted to teachers who work with basic education since they are the ones who teach for students in the literacy process, in which the difficulties in reading acquisition can be more sharply noted. The participants were teachers at different times of training and performance in the classroom and different backgrounds, some of them were postgraduates, some graduated. The research has a qualitative nature and was systematized and analyzed based on the following theoretical: Perrenoud (2001), which discuss the indifferences concept; the studies of Tardif (2012) on the teaching knowledge, essential theme for an analysis of the representations of teachers, as well as Chartier (1999, 2002) with the representations concept. To conceptualize Dyslexia we make use of the contributions of authors such as Simone Capellini (2009; 2011; 2013) and Jaime Zorzi (1998, 2009) who deal with this concept in the context of speech therapy. Saul Cypel (1993) and Sylvia Ciasca (2006), as well as Sally Shaywitz (2006) and Franciose Estienne (2001) were references to conceptualize the term, in addition of Susan and William Stainback (1999). The study revealed that teachers present various representations of Dyslexia, some of which more and some less related to the theoretical references and legal documents used as a basis. Research has shown the difficulty or concern of the teachers to act in a manner that is fair and adequate, given the current difficulties presented by dyslexic students. Many teachers signaled adaptations to be made when having students with dyslexia, but they were quite different and demonstrated uncertainty or insecurity about being assertive in adapting used.

This thesis is concerned with the Langlands program; namely the global Langlands correspondence, Langlands functoriality, and a conjecture of Gross. In chapter 1, we cover the most important background material needed for this thesis. This includes material on reductive groups and their root data, the definition of automorphic representations and a general overview of the Langlands program, and Gross' conjecture concerning attaching l-adic Galois representations to automorphic representations on certain reductive groups G over ℚ. In chapter 2, we show that odd-dimensional definite unitary groups satisfy the hypotheses of Gross' conjecture and verify the conjecture in this case using known constructions of automorphic l-adic Galois representations. We do this by verifying a specific case of a generalisation of Gross' conjecture; one should still get l-adic Galois representations if one removes one of his hypotheses but with the cost that their image lies in ^CG(ℚ_l) as opposed to ^LG(ℚ_l). Such Galois representations have been constructed for certain automorphic representations on G, a definite unitary group of arbitrary dimension, and there is a map ^CG(ℚ_l) → ^LG(ℚ_l) precisely when G is odd-dimensional. In chapter 3, which forms the main part of this thesis, we show that G = U_n(B) where B is a rational definite quaternion algebra satisfies the hypotheses of Gross' conjecture. We prove that one can transfer a cuspidal automorphic representation π of G to a π' on Sp_2n (a Jacquet-Langlands type transfer) provided it is Steinberg at some finite place. We also prove this when B is indefinite. One can then transfer π′ to an automorphic representaion of GL_2n+1 using the work of Arthur. Finally, one can attach l-adic Galois representations to these automorphic representations on GL_2n+1, provided we assume π is regular algebraic if B is indefinite, and show that they have orthogonal image.

Dans cette thèse nous étudions des représentations du groupe de Lorentz dans les sections du fibré cotangent sur le cône isotrope. Grâce aux transformations de Fourier et de Poisson nous construisons explicitement tous les opérateurs de brisure de symétrie qui apparaissent dans les lois de branchement des produits tensoriels de telles représentations. / In this thesis we study representations of the Lorentz group acting on sectionsof the cotangent bundle over the isotropic cone. Using Fourier and Poisson transforms we construct explicitly all the symmetry breaking operators that appear in branching laws of tensor products of such representations.

We confirm that under certain conditions, constituents of motor actions afforded by handled objects play a role in their identification. Subjects held in working memory action plans specifying both the laterality of the hand to be used (left or right) and a wrist orientation (vertical or horizontal). Speeded object identification was impaired when a pictured object matched the action on only one of these two categorical dimensions (e.g., a frying pan with its handle facing left, an action plan involving the right hand and horizontal wrist orientation), relative to when the object matched the action on both dimensions or neither dimension. This phenomenon only occurred for a semantic task (i.e., naming) and significantly weakened when the handled object was named following the naming of a non-handled object. These results imply that, when maintaining the features of planned actions in working memory, identification of the object leads to conflict between components of the action plan and features of the grasp action afforded by the depicted object. When bound to a matching feature, the discrepant features cannot be easily disregarded, and conflict with the features of the target object resulted in delayed identification. Naming a non-handled object first weakens the pragmatic processing generated by attending to the features of the action plans, resulting in less conflict when only one feature matched between the action plan and action afforded by the handled object. / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis advisor: William Stanwood / This research examines the history of gender representations in television programs designed for adolescents to discover how these portrayals have developed and changed over time in order to determine the perceived messages about stereotypical gender norms and roles for adolescents. These messages are important to decode as adolescent males and females can learn gender roles and behaviors from the teen programming that they watch on television. The study investigated the most popular teen television programs from each of the last three decades including Beverly Hills 90210, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars and Teen Wolf. The first part of the study completed was a textual analysis of the episodes. Secondly, a content analysis was performed on all of the examples from the episodes. The codes used for this study include Language, Sex Roles, Emotionality, and Traditional Roles. Although the majority of gender messages present were normative in that they reinforced gender roles and stereotypes, the findings also suggest that gender representations are becoming less normative as the genre continues to grow and develop. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Communication Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.