Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T17:27:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ricardo Radin Bueno.pdf: 716039 bytes, checksum: 9675bcf3fdcaa6c91f45c4a036fc2caa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-11 / This paper intends to discuss about the existential understanding in the work Being and Time by Martin Heidegger. This should be donne having in sight Dasein as it was conceptualized by the author as having a fundamental relationship with his own existence in the world, this determining its essence. Thus, the existential understanding participates of the triumvirate: state-of-mind, understanding and language, that define the being-there in its opening. Focusing on understanding the meaning of being, determining the daily life od Dasein, the work evolves as described below. In the first chapter, something is said about the time of study of Heidegger that preceded the writing of Being and Time. In the second chapter, something is said about Husserl and the particular impact that his ideas had in heideggerian thought, often build as a possible response to them. In the third chapter, the work Being and Time is clearly thematized, and something is said about its structure, especially in the characteristics of Dasein which refers to being-in-the-world, everyday being, understanding and interpretation. In the fourth chapter something is said about the consequences of Heidegger s hermeneutics as presented, with regard to what Heidegger presents as unique in the understanding of being of Dasein / O presente trabalho pretende discorrer a respeito do existencial compreensão dentro da obra Ser e Tempo de Martin Heidegger. Para isso, deve-se ter em vista o Dasein tal como foi conceituado pelo autor, como tendo relação fundamental com sua própria existência no mundo, esta determinando a sua essência. Desse modo, o existencial compreensão participa do triunvato: disposição, compreensão e linguagem, que definem o ser-aí em sua abertura. Focando-se na compreensão do sentido do ser, determinante da vivência cotidiana do Dasein, o trabalho se desenvolve do modo descrito a seguir. No primeiro capítulo, algo é falado a respeito dos tempos de estudo de Heidegger que precederam a escrita de Ser e Tempo. No segundo capítulo, algo é falado a respeito de Husserl e o impacto especial que suas idéias tiveram no pensamento Heideggeriano, muitas vezes construído como uma resposta possível a elas. No terceiro capítulo, a obra Ser e Tempo é claramente tematizada, e algo é falado a respeito de sua estrutura, especialmente as características do Dasein no que se referem a ao ser-no-mundo, cotidianidade, compreensão e temporalidade da compreensão, e interpretação. No quarto capítulo algo é falado a respeito das consequências da hermenêutica heideggeriana tal como foi apresentada, no que diz respeito ao que Heidegger apresenta de singular na compreensão do ser pelo Dasein

Topography influences climate dynamics by redirecting how the atmosphere transports moisture, and energy. By doing so, topography alters precipitation patterns, circulation of wind, riverine fluxes, and ocean upwelling distributions. This dissertation investigates the linkages between major topographic features and atmospheric dynamics within an Earth System perspective. The studies presented build upon the foundations of theoretical atmospheric thermodynamics and dynamical principles and primarily delves into the interactions between the Indo-Asian Monsoon and the surrounding topographies. First, I explore gaps in the current body of literature, mainly using observational datasets and reanalysis products. I then add in more sophisticated tools, such as general circulation models (GCMs) to investigate how terrain orogen impact the regional climatic regime with an emphasis on the monsoonal environment. To do so I explore drawbacks in using currently available GCMs and demonstrate the necessity of utilizing appropriate model horizontal-grid resolution when studying atmosphere-terrain interactions. I then delve into reexamining previously explored monsoon theories, and develop new concepts and theories for the Indo-Asian Monsoon. Lastly, I apply such model tools to further understand the orogen of the Tibetan Plateau. To do so, I examine the paleoenthalpy methods and determine its viability in measuring the paleoelevation of the Tibetan Plateau. Ultimately, we apply this method to aid the paleoclimate community in deciphering the evolution of Tibet during the Cenozoic era. Constraining the evolution of the regional topography is crucial for understanding the hydrological cycle and the climatic evolution of Eurasia.

Education reform has created an environment in the Early Years sector in which Early Years Practitioners (EYPs) are increasingly directed to look for outcomes, rather than developing an understanding about the process of learning. The issue of EYP competence and knowledge is often overestimated by an education system which assumes that confidence and high levels of understanding are standard. Therefore, reconciling the difference between what policies expect, and what EYPs can do, is of great interest. Working from a Vygotskyian perspective on group collaboration and peer learning, this study examines the effect of an intervention with a team of EYPs, who took part in group supervision sessions to explore their Observation, Assessment and Planning practice. The aim is to help to develop a model which can support and enhance professional practice. The study began with four participants who attended ten facilitated group discussions over ten months, in which they addressed specific observational issues to gain insight into how their key child was learning. These sessions provided an opportunity for the participants to engage in professional dialogue and robustly analyse their observations. Data was interpreted using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), to explore how a group approach might support the participants’ professional development and their understanding of children’s learning. The EYPs reported links between their own learning within the group and changes in their practice and understanding about children's learning. Evidence from the study suggests that the Group Intervention had a positive impact on the participants’ practice and that they developed skills in making professional judgements about how best to support and extend the child’s learning. The findings also suggest that collaborative endeavours are a key factor in helping EYPs to succeed at their OAP tasks and enable the development of professional learning.

Rationale: Research has repeatedly demonstrated that people have difficulty understanding their interrogation rights, as presented in an orally presented police caution. There has been a limited amount of research into possible means of improving understanding, with the application of linguistic, listenability, techniques to caution wording proving most effective amongst students. Methods: This thesis systematically reviewed research exploring verbal caution comprehension amongst adults involved in the criminal justice system, to isolate possible predictors of performance. It then assessed understanding of the Scottish police caution amongst people with an intellectual disability and if this can be improved using a modified (listenability) version. Results: IQ and verbal comprehension appear to have a positive association with understanding. However, the reviewed literature tends to use broad inclusion criteria that may increase confounding variables and reduce opportunity to isolate further possible predictors. People with intellectual disabilities performed poorly in assessment of their understanding of the Scottish police caution, even when the modified version was used. This was despite every participant claiming they had understood. Conclusions: The thesis questions whether the use of a verbal police caution fulfils the intention of communicating interrogation rights as required by law. It suggests more research into caution comprehension is required, with more specific inclusion criteria, to help better understand variables that predict understanding. The relationship between verbal ability and IQ suggest efforts to improve comprehension should be directed to people who have challenges in these abilities, such as people with intellectual disabilities. This should ensure any improvements can benefit a greater number of people. The thesis' empirical study suggests the method found effective amongst students does not extend to people with intellectual disabilities.

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention to increase the production of emotion words in five children with language impairment. Participants were between the ages of 5;11 (years; months) and 11;3 (at the onset of enrollment in treatment) and had been identified with language impairment. Each participant completed between three and six baseline sessions, 20 twenty-minute intervention sessions, and three follow-up sessions. Tasks included story reading, story enactment, and journaling. Each session was recorded and then coded for emotion category (sadness, anger, fear, and surprise), errors made, type of production, and valence agreement. Total emotion word production per category is reported along with percentage of non-overlapping data calculations to determine the effectiveness of treatment for each participant for each emotion word category. Based on percentage of non-overlapping data calculations, treatment was moderately effective for four of the five participants in at least one or more emotion word category. Treatment was mildly effective for all five participants in at least one emotion category. Each participant was observed to make between one and five valence errors throughout the intervention. The errors made by participants often involved the substitution of a simple emotion word category for a more complex emotion word category. Participants were more successful with intervention tasks when provided increased support from the clinician, as seen by most productions being made in response to a question or in response to a cue. While results from this intervention were variable, participants generally made improvements from their participation in this intervention. Utilization of a similar intervention framework with a few alterations based on the limitations observed would be beneficial in future research.

Improvements in robot autonomy are changing human-robot interaction from low-level manipulation to high-level task-based collaboration. When a robot can independently and autonomously executes tasks, a human in a human-robot team acts as a collaborator or task supervisor instead of a tele-operator. When applying this to planning paths for a robot's motion, it is very important that the supervisor's qualitative intent is translated into aquantitative model so that the robot can produce a desirable consequence. In robotic path planning, algorithms can transform a human's qualitative requirement into a robot's quantitative model so that the robot behavior satisfies the human's intent. In particular, algorithms can be created that allow a human to express multi-objective and topological preferences, and can be built to use verbal communication. This dissertation presents a series of robot motion-planning algorithms, each of which is designed to support some aspect of a human's intent. Specifically, we present algorithms for the following problems: planning with a human-motion constraint, planning with a topological requirement, planning with multiple objectives, and creating models of constraints, requirements, and objectives from verbal instructions. These algorithms create a set of robot behaviors that support flexible decision-making over a range of complex path-planning tasks.

Philosophical and psychological theories of social understanding have largely focused on the construct of “theory of mind” (ToM) and the inferential processes that may be necessary for understanding the meaning of others’ behaviour. On these traditional accounts, social understanding has often been described as a process of “mind reading” or “mentalizing”, where one imputes mental states to others to make sense of their behaviour. However, recent work from social neuroscience and enactivist and phenomenological perspectives have pointed to the importance of considering non-inferential forms of social understanding that may be a more basic or foundational way in which we understand others. This dissertation investigates the relationship between these different forms of social understanding by examining the role of perceptual, motor, and conceptual processes in how we understand others. One hundred and two older adolescents and adults completed a battery of psychophysical and paper & pencil tasks. Correlations showed coherence amongst measures that assessed participants’ perceptual sensitivity to social information, with minimal coherence across “theory of mind” tasks. Exploratory factor analysis conducted on 13 measures yielded a meaningful 4 factor solution that supported the distinction between conceptual or inferential measures and more direct, perceptual forms of social understanding. Overall, the findings from this study highlight the importance of considering the variety of ways in which we can understand others and provides empirical support for a more pluralistic and comprehensive account of social understanding. / Graduate / 2020-10-23

This qualitative quasi-experimental study analyzed middle-level students’ understanding of engineering before and after instruction. Students from four teachers were examined. Before and after instruction, all students completed the Draw an Engineer Test (DAET) and the Views of Nature of Engineering (VNOE) survey. Additionally, sixteen students (eight girls and eight boys) from each group (Treatment and Comparison) were interviewed before and after instruction. Findings revealed that after instruction (1) many students viewed engineers as makers/builders/workers (just as they did pre-instruction), however, the percentage of students who listed engineers as inventors, designers, and creators increased; (2) fewer students from both groups noted they had heard about the engineering design process or had considered being; (3) the interviewed Treatment students were more knowledgeable about engineers than were the interviewed Comparison students. This study is important as it is one of the first studies to examine student understanding of engineering after receiving a science-based engineering design unit, and it found the total understanding to require improvement.

Research has shown that young children have some understandings of death. However, adults are hesitant (or even avoidant) to discuss death with young children for fear that they will scare them, or they are not sure what to tell them. Sessions were part of this project, educating adults in a child’s development and how that development affects what young children understand about death. The three sessions, completed over two weeks, included three topics including anxieties the adult may have about death, cognitive and emotional development of the young child, and the adult’s role in discussing death with young children. Participants completed a pre- and post-test. Results indicated that adults felt more comfortable discussing the death of a person with a young child, as well as feeling less avoidant of having those discussions.

Recent world events have caused Americans to reassess national political, economic, and educational priorities, resulting in a shift towards Asia. The schools in response have begun to introduce less commonly taught languages, such as Japanese and Chinese. Many Utah public schools have tried to implement less commonly taught language programs. Some have succeeded, and other others have not. The purpose of this study was to understand how and why some schools were able to successfully integrate less commonly taught language programs, and why others were not.The results of this study suggest that the factors relating to students’ interests and the teacher/administrator relationship were the most important positive factors affecting the success of the Japanese programs with staying power. It was also found that the factors relating to funding issues and student enrollment were the most important negative factors affecting the failure of the long-term Japanese programs that were eliminated.