Process modeling grammars are used to create models of business processes. In this paper, we discuss how different routing symbol designs affect an individual's ability to comprehend process models. We conduct an experiment with 154 students to ascertain which visual design principles influence process model comprehension. Our findings suggest that design principles related to perceptual discriminability and pop out improve comprehension accuracy. Furthermore, semantic transparency and aesthetic design of symbols lower the perceived difficulty of comprehension. Our results inform important principles about notational design of process modeling grammars and the effective use of process modeling in practice.

MEDEIROS, Jonas Torres. Mito, símbolo e imaginação: um percurso a partir da hermenêutica de Paul Ricoeur. 2015. 134f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Gustavo Daher (gdaherufc@hotmail.com) on 2017-02-21T16:00:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_jtmedeiros.pdf: 1036844 bytes, checksum: 9adcde4fa69db0f9dc0cfa2298dfb171 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-03-03T11:03:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_jtmedeiros.pdf: 1036844 bytes, checksum: 9adcde4fa69db0f9dc0cfa2298dfb171 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-03T11:03:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_jtmedeiros.pdf: 1036844 bytes, checksum: 9adcde4fa69db0f9dc0cfa2298dfb171 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / The guiding principle of this work is the relationship between myth, symbol and imagination in the philosophical hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur. The consideration of these themes is supported by the major works of the philosopher published in the 1960's: La Symbolique du Mal (1960), De l'interprétation: essai sur Freud (1965) and Le conflit des interprétations: essais d'herméneutique (1969). The analysis of these works leads, from an interpretation of multiple symbols and myths of evil in various religions and cultural traditions, to a new understanding of imagination and subjectivity. The research aims to show how the philosophy proposed by the author refereed the different and sometimes conflicting hermeneutics approaches around the problem of the symbol. Since the beginning of his itinerary, Ricoeur makes clear its link with two cultures that are, according to him, the first layer of our philosophical memory: the Greek and Jewish culture. More precisely, the meeting of the Jewish source with the Greek origin is the the fundamental intercession and founder of our culture. The Jewish source is the first other of philosophy, his closest other. Our investigation is motivated by the expression as soon as dense and emblematic coined by Ricoeur at the conclusion of La symbolique du mal (1960): “the symbol causes us to think”. With this maxim, explains the symbol as a means of access to a renewal of the reflective philosophy. This route becomes effective by a detour: in fact, the first truth of the philosophies of consciousness — I exist, I think — can only be achieved through a long detour, as far as the Cogito was objectivated: his works, actions, representations and institutions. The decipherment of this objectification reveals the understanding of the self. The research shows that a philosophy of reflection does not identify with a philosophy of consciousness, if by consciousness we understand the immediate consciousness of self. Hence the need for mediation, scope where the symbols are located. The conscience, then, wouldn't be a datum, but a task. The research proposal also tries to assess the confrontation between the critique of Freud and symbolic analysis of evil through a critical reading of the book De l'interprétation: essai sur Freud. This step leads to the point where the archaeology of Freudian Cogito, allied to a teleology of the self, provide a dialectical mediation to the conflict of two rivals hermeneutics: the hermeneutics of suspicion (or reduction) and the hermeneutics of restoration. Finally, evaluates the conception of imagination that emerges of the war of interpretations, assessing the role that a theory of the imagination can play as an element which reveals the articulation and coherence of the author's philosophical itinerary. / O fio condutor deste trabalho é a relação entre mito, símbolo e imaginação na hermenêutica filosófica de Paul Ricoeur. A reflexão sobre esses temas ampara-se nas principais obras do filósofo publicadas na década de 1960: La Symbolique du Mal (1960), De l'interprétation: essai sur Freud (1965) e Le conflit des interprétations: essais d'herméneutique (1969). A análise dessas obras conduz, a partir de uma interpretação dos múltiplos símbolos e mitos do mal em diversas religiões e tradições culturais, a uma nova compreensão de imaginação e de subjetividade. A pesquisa visa mostrar como a filosofia proposta pelo autor arbitrou as diferentes e por vezes conflitantes abordagens hermenêuticas em torno do problema do símbolo. Desde o início de seu itinerário, Ricoeur deixa claro seu vínculo com duas culturas que constituem, segundo ele, o primeiro estrato de nossa memória filosófica: a cultura grega e a judaica. Mais precisamente, o encontro da fonte judaica com a origem grega é a intercessão fundamental e fundadora de nossa cultura. A fonte judaica é o primeiro outro da filosofia, seu outro mais próximo. Nossa investigação é animada pela expressão tão breve quanto densa e emblemática cunhada por Ricoeur na conclusão de La symbolique du mal (1960): “o símbolo dá que pensar”. Com essa máxima, explicita-se o símbolo como via de acesso a uma renovação da filosofia reflexiva. Essa via se efetiva por um desvio: de fato, a primeira verdade das filosofias da consciência — existo, penso — só pode ser atingida através de uma via longa, um desvio, até onde o Cogito se objetivou: suas obras, ações, representações e instituições. A decifração dessa objetivação é que revela a compreensão do si. A pesquisa mostra, portanto, que uma filosofia da reflexão não se identifica com uma filosofia da consciência, se por consciência entendemos a consciência imediata de si mesmo. Daí a necessidade de mediação, âmbito onde se situam os símbolos. A consciência não seria, então, um dado, mas uma tarefa. A pesquisa proposta tenta, ainda, avaliar o confronto entre a crítica de Freud e a análise da simbólica do mal, através de uma leitura crítica do livro De l'interprétation: essai sur Freud. Essa etapa nos conduz ao ponto em que a arqueologia freudiana do Cogito, aliada a uma teleologia da consciência de si, fornecem uma mediação dialética para o conflito de duas hermenêuticas rivais: a da suspeita (ou redução) e a da restauração. Por fim, avalia-se que concepção de imaginação emerge dessa guerra das interpretações, discutindo o papel que uma teoria da imaginação pode desempenhar como elemento que revela a articulação e a coerência do itinerário filosófico do autor em estudo.

Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-04-24T18:08:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO de Luís Eduardo Andrade da Silva.pdf: 7769475 bytes, checksum: de73d57f817b6a364a05eaf98826e871 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela (anapoli@ufba.br) on 2014-05-06T13:19:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO de Luís Eduardo Andrade da Silva.pdf: 7769475 bytes, checksum: de73d57f817b6a364a05eaf98826e871 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-06T13:19:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO de Luís Eduardo Andrade da Silva.pdf: 7769475 bytes, checksum: de73d57f817b6a364a05eaf98826e871 (MD5) / Este trabalho é o resultado de uma investigação realizada na Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus que teve como objetivo principal analisar as concepções e as práticas mágico-religiosas operadas entre os indivíduos que participam do culto “Nação dos 318”. Para tanto, configurou-se os seguintes objetivos específicos: caracterizar o Neo-pentecostalismo no campo religioso brasileiro nas últimas décadas focando na emergência da IURD e suas possíveis contribuições; identificar e analisar os rituais, símbolos e objetos utilizados pelos participantes do culto centrando na performance institucional. Neste sentido, o problema perquirido foi: quais as concepções e práticas operadas no culto “Nação dos 318” para fomentar a busca da prosperidade financeira dos seus participantes? Com base na abordagem qualitativa, foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo a partir de observação sistemática na IURD - Catedral da Fé - localizada no Iguatemi, bem como pesquisa bibliográfica a partir das pesquisas de Freston (1994); Mariano (1999; 2003), Bonfatt (2000), Fonseca (2003), Oro (2003), Machado (2003), Corten (2003) entre outros. Ademais, a abordagem teórica baseou-se em Weber (2000, 2002) e Bourdieu (1998, 1999, 2003) com colaborações de Durkheim (1989), Tuner (2005) e Geertz (1989). Este trabalho revela que, nas reuniões da “Nação dos 318” da IURD, as concepções doutrinárias giram em torno dos postulados da Teologia da Prosperidade, cujas práticas rituais carismáticas se utilizam de cânticos, louvores, orações, clamores, correntes, consagração e uso de objetos com o intuito de estimular seus participantes a manifestarem sua fé por meio de doações de dízimos, ofertas e desafios no sentido de promover uma barganha com o sagrado para receber ou conquistar uma dádiva, graça ou bênção que é a prosperidade financeira. This research is the result of an investigation done at the “Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus” and its main objective was to analyze the conceptions and the religious-magical practices made by the people who take part of the “Nation of the 318’s” Worship. For this, some specific objectives were configured such as: characterize the Neo-pentecostalism in the Brazilian religious field in the last decades with the focus on the “IURD’s” emergency and its possible contributions; identify and analyze the worships, symbols and objects used by the participating people focusing on the institutional performance. In this sense, the main problem was: which were the conceptions and practices operated in the worships of the “Nation of the 318’s” to estimulate the search for financial prosperity of its participating people? Based on the qualitative approach, a field research was done by the systemactical observation at the IURD- Catedral da Fé, located at the Iguatemi, as well as the bibliographic research such as Freston (1994); Mariano (1999; 2003), Bonfatt (2000), Fonseca (2003), Oro (2003), Machado (2003), Corten (2003) and others. Soever, the theroical approach was base on the Weber (2000, 2002) and Bourdieu (1998, 1999, 2003) with the collaboration of Durkheim (1989), Tuner (2005) and Geertz (1989). This research reveals that in the “Nation of the 318’s” meetings, the doctrinary conceptions are based on the Prosperity Postulates Theology, which charismatic practical rituals are made of songs, praises, clamations, chains, consagrations and the use of objects with the purpose of estimulate the participating people to show their faith by the monetary donations, offers and challenges in the sense of promote a bargain with the sacred to receive and conquer a gift, grace or bless that means the financial prosperity.

By the mid-1970s, Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) became one of the most commercially successful pop music bands in the world. Their dynamic sound thrilled listeners and their elaborate concerts captivated audiences. EWF stood out from other artists with their philosophical messages and their use of ancient Egyptian symbols and imagery in their visual art. The ancient Egyptian themes intrigued fans but drew criticism from others. This study examines the ancient Egyptian themes incorporated into the lyrics of the songs recorded by the band. This study also examines the ancient Egyptian symbols used in the EWF’s visual art, including album covers, music videos, and concerts. A content analysis was conducted to study the lyrics and identify themes related to ancient Egyptian spirituality. A content analysis was also used to study the visual art and decipher what the symbols may signify. This research was based on the premise that Earth, Wind & Fire used their artistry to be a positive influence. When the lyrics and visual art were examined, the researcher found that they both contain themes of ancient wisdom and universal truths. The conclusions drawn from the findings suggest that EWF’s mission was to raise the consciousness of the world, and the way people responded is an indication that the mission was accomplished. The findings also suggest that the negative criticism EWF has received is unjustifiable.

A Shoá (calamidade, em hebraico) é um dos temas mais pesquisados de todos os tempos, seja por seu caráter perverso, seja por ter modificado a maneira segundo a qual a sociedade lida com a violência. Diante disso, há um tópico especial que chama a atenção: as vítimas e as conseqüências sofridas por elas. É nesse universo que surge The Shawl (1989), o aclamado livro da norte-americana Cynthia Ozick. Tendo em vista a grande complexidade do livro, o presente trabalho examinará a maneira que a autora encontrou para representar tal condição de quem foi exposto à loucura e à violência, e que acabou por criar novas relações entre o seu passado e seu presente, principalmente através de símbolos já conhecidos e de imagens que vão além da cristalização. Nossa hipótese é de verificar, através do estudo dos elementos do texto que vão desde as relações entre os elementos lingüísticos, até a composição das personagens como, no caos aparente, a narrativa encontra sua especificidade estética, por meio do caminho inverso que vai do símbolo às imagens na construção do Real. / The Shoah (which means calamity in Hebrew) is one of the most researched topics of all times, either by its perverse character, either because it has modified the way in which society deals with violence. Therefore, there is a special topic that draws societys attention: the victims and the consequences suffered by them. It is in this atmosphere that The Shawl (1989), Cynthia Ozicks acclaimed book, arises. Having in mind the complexity of the book, this work will examine the way the author found to represent the condition of who was exposed to madness and violence, and eventually create new relations between their past and their present, mainly through known symbols and images that go beyond crystallization. Our hypothesis is to verify, through the study of the text elements - from the relationship between the linguistic elements to the composition of the characters - how the narrative finds its aesthetic specificity through the reverse path that goes from symbol to images in the construction of the Real, in the apparent chaos.

Orientadores: Ricardo Ribeiro Gudwin, Álvaro João Magalhães de Queiroz / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T09:25:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Loula_AngeloConrado_D.pdf: 2782656 bytes, checksum: 0b6a174e75f7657f6dd611dd9c157e25 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Linguagem ainda é algo com que a Inteligência Artificial precisa lidar de forma mais apropriada. Processos relacionados como comunicação, interpretação e representação são indissociáveis de linguagem e devem ser considerados na construção de sistemas artificiais que irão usar linguagem. Diversos trabalhos já foram realizados sobre a emergência de comunicação entre agentes artificiais, mas estudos sobre os processos representacionais subjacentes encontram pouca discussão. Neste trabalho, propomos estudar as condições para emergência de comunicação baseada em representações de diferentes modalidades em uma comunidade de criaturas artificiais, avaliando os processos semióticos envolvidos. O projeto de nossos experimentos sintéticos segue inspirações biológicas e uma teoria de processos representacionais como fonte de requisitos e restrições, procedimento metodológico que defendemos. Nossos resultados mostram que comunicação baseada em diferentes modalidades de representação pode emergir a depender da arquitetura cognitiva, do custo de aquisição de competências cognitivas e da disponibilidade de atalhos cognitivos / Abstract: Language is still something that Artificial Intelligence must deal with in a more appropriate way. Related processes such as communication, interpretation and representation are inseparable from language and should be considered in the building of artificial systems that will use language. Many works have already investigated the emergence of communication among artificial agents, but studies about the underlying representational processes find little discussion. In this work, we propose to study conditions to the emergence of communication based on representations of different modalities in a community of artificial creatures, assessing the semiotic processes involved. The design of our synthetic experiments follows biological inspirations and a theory of representations as sources of requirements and constraints, methodological approach that we advocate. Our results show that communication based on different modalities of representations can emerge depending on the cognitive architecture, on the cost of cognitive competences acquisition and on the availability of cognitive shortcuts / Doutorado / Engenharia de Computação / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

Humans readily infer the meanings of novel symbols in communicative contexts of varying complexity, and several researchers in the field of language evolution have explicitly acknowledged that inference plays a key role in accounting for the evolution of symbolic communication. However, in this field at least, there has been very little investigation into the nature of inference in this regard. That is, evolutionary linguists have yet to address the following questions if we are to have a fuller picture of how humans came to communicate symbolically: 1. What kinds of inference are there? Specifically, i Diachronically, what forms of inference are comparatively simpler in evolutionary terms, and thus shared with a wider range of species? What forms of inference are more complex, and limited to humans or to us and our closest relatives? ii Synchronically, if humans are capable of several kinds of complex inference, how do we know which particular kind of inference is being applied in solving a given problem? 2. How do symbol-learning problems vary? Specifically, i What makes a particular symbol-learning problem more or less complex in terms of the kind of inference needed to solve it? ii How would the communicative context of our pre-linguistic ancestors have been different from that of a human child learning words from its linguistic parent? This dissertation takes a step towards answering these questions by investigating a little-known form of inference called `abduction' (or insightful hypothesis generation), which has thus far been wholly overshadowed in language evolution by a much better understood form called `induction' (or probabilistic hypothesis evaluation). I will argue that abduction and induction are both comparatively complex in the diachronic terms expressed above in 1.i, and while induction is useful in accounting for how modern children learn words from linguistic adults, abduction is more important in situations like those that would have faced our pre-lingistic ancestors as they first began to use symbols. That is, I will argue on both theoretical and empirical grounds that abductive inference was an evolutionary milestone as our ancestors crossed what Deacon (1997) calls the symbolic threshold.

The Liar is one of the Danish writer Martin A. Hansen's best known and popular novels. The Liar is influenced by existentialism, one can call it a work of Christian existentialism. In my thesis I demonstrate which main features of Christian existentialism are present in the novel. In the first part I describe existentialism as philosophy. Existentialism came from France to Denmark. It is a philosophy that focuses on the concrete individual. People must create their own existentence by accepting responsibility for their action. The important concepts are freedom, choice and responsibility. They denote the authentic existence. People in the inauthentic existence are passive, they don't act and don't accept responsibility. Existentialism takes up the question of freedom, too. But one is condemned to freedom and can't escape. That's why the world is absurd and incomprehensible. One can find most of the existentialist elements in The Liar. The protagonist Johannes Vig lives an inauthentic existence. He likes to lie to the people. He is passive, he doesn't act. In the middle of the novel he understands that he didn't live right and tries to find a better way of living. It is not easy, Johannes has lost the fight about Annemari (the girl he loves) and slept with Rigmor (the woman who loves him). But now he has...

Relevance has been applied to various conditions in the marketing literature but no single definition has been developed. A single clear definition will be helpful to researchers investigating relevance in the marketing and consumer behavior fields. Confusion also exists in the literature regarding to what extent a symbolic visual in an advertisement is relevant. Many researchers are also calling for empirical evidence of a linkage between relevance and response through a theoretical measure of relevance. The central theory used in this dissertation is Sperber and Wilson's (1995) theory of relevance (TOR). TOR can help researchers and marketing managers by explaining how consumers may interpret visuals in advertising. TOR explains why some visuals thought to be unconnected with the product become relevant in advertising. This study makes the assertion that TOR has been underutilized and even ignored by some researchers in past marketing literature. Thus, TOR is used to provide greater explanatory power of consumers' interpretation and response to advertising visuals than what is currently realized by researchers and marketing managers. A reliable measure of relevance was developed using TOR as a foundation. Experiments were conducted to empirically test TOR and support was found for most aspects of the theory. This dissertation makes several contributions to the consumer behavior literature. These contributions include: 1) clarifying the definition of relevance in advertising, 2) developing a tentative measure of relevance, 3) providing an explanation of how non-relevant visuals produce effects expected for relevant visuals as occurred in experiments conducted by Mitchell and Olson (1981) and Miniard, Bhatla, Lord, Dickson and Unnava (1991), 4) showing how relevance of symbolic visuals in advertisements relates to specific consumer responses, and 5) offering suggestions for how the theory of relevance can be used by researchers and marketing managers to gain a better understanding of consumers' interpretation of advertising visuals.

South African people love sport. In a context where sport events like the Soccer World Cup or a Super 15 rugby match can draw crowds of up to 95 000 people, we cannot ignore the importance of sport. In contrast to the popularity of sport events and the huge crowds they manage to attract, most churches struggle to get 500 people to church on a Sunday morning.This situation raises two questions, namely: “What draw people to sport?” and “Can theology and Liturgical Studies in particular, learn something from sport?”<p< In order to pursue these and similar questions I used a practical theological model to guide me in my observation of the South African context. I’ve chosen the practical theologian RR Osmer’s model to work with. He works with the four tasks of Practical Theology and suggests four questions to guide a researcher or minister in their interpretation and response to situations. Answering each of these questions is the focus of the four core tasks of practical theological interpretation. The first question is: “What is going on?” Gathering information that helps us discern patterns and dynamics in particular episodes, situations, or contexts is the descriptive-empirical task of practical theological interpretation. I gathered information since the Soccer World Cup in South Africa in 2010. I identified ten moments in our sport contexts that will be looked at more closely within the framework of Osmer’s model. The ten moments are: <ul> <li>the need to predict the future</li><li> rituals</li> <li>physical contact</li> <li>tribal and together</li> <li>symbols</li> <li>tole models</li> <li>performance</li> <li>the meeting space</li> <li>Godly role</li> <li>defying death</li> </ul> The second question is: “Why is this going on?” Here we try to make sense of what we’ve found. What theories might help us to better understand and explain the patterns and dynamics we’ve begun to discover? These are the key questions of the interpretive task of practical theological interpretation. Here I’ve used theories from the arts and sciences to better understand and explain why the ten moments I identified in sport are occurring. The third question is: “What ought to be going on?” This is the normative task of practical theological interpretation. Here theological concepts are used to interpret particular episodes, situations, contexts or in this study, the ten moments. The aim of this task is to construct ethical norms to guide our responses, and to learn from “good practice”. The fourth question is: “How might we respond?” This is the pragmatic task of practical theological interpretation. The aim is to determine strategies of action that will influence situations in ways that are desirable. Here I looked into the possibility of the liturgical inculturation of the ten moments. In conclusion suggestions for the liturgical praxis were made./ Copyright / Dissertation (MDiv)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted