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Working Logic Parameter Types And Philosophical Assumptions Of Selected Evaluation Approaches—A Descriptive Qualitative Analysis, Thomas J. Lyzenga

Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to enhance the selection and use of selected contemporary evaluation approaches through the development of a descriptive profile that combines the parameters of their working logics and their philosophical assumptions. The profile provides a unique structure to understand, identify, select, and apply evaluation approaches. I catalogued 86 evaluation approaches described in 13 sources that discuss multiple evaluation approaches and applied citation analysis to identify the most used or most quickly growing approaches. For 11 of the commonly used evaluation approaches, I identified the seven features of the feature profiles through a qualitative content analysis …

Making Sense Of Messy Data: Classifying Metadata Variables In Public Transcriptomic (Rna) Data, Grace S. Brown, Tolulope Akinbo, Stephen Piccolo

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

US researchers are required to deposit data in public repositories so other researchers can validate their findings and reuse their data for new studies. There are > 100,000 transcriptomic (RNA) datasets in the public domain. However, it is of little use without metadata (details about individual samples e.g. sex, race). Having quality metadata provides many benefits including

• controlling for confounding factors.
• improving precision medicine.

Research has suggested

• males are studied more than females.
• people of European descent are studied most.

We need to make representation more equitable so genetic research will be relevant to all people. The first step is characterizing …

Articulating The Teacher: Gottlieb, Dreyfus, And Heidegger On Language, Kenneth Driggers

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

Standardization has become a ubiquitous feature in the field of education both through federal initiatives, such as the establishment of “best practices” distilled from randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and through private businesses and non-profits, such as Facebook and the Gates Foundation, which create and disseminate prefabricated curricula and standardized software programs. Standardization requires, as a precondition, the generalization of research findings from a smaller subset of teachers, students, or schools, to the field of education in its entirety. This dissertation investigates whether generalization of this sort is possible or desirable. After explaining why current critiques of educational generalization are insufficient, …

Automatic Construction Of Ontology With Public-Domain Datasets For Personalized Tutoring With Eca, Asim Jamal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

E-tutoring systems have transformed remote learning and personalized education, offering potent tools for tailored instruction. The core of a personalized tutor lies in its robust ontology and knowledge base, working seamlessly to deliver captivating educational experiences. These two integral components collaborate to empower the tutor to discern learners’ needs, adapt content accordingly, and provide tailored guidance. This study introduces an automated approach for constructing an ontology utilizing publicly accessible datasets, aiming to enhance personalized tutoring through Embodied Conversational Agents (ECA). The objective is to improve the tutoring encounter by delivering bespoke, domain-specific knowledge to learners. The approach harnesses natural language …

Ontological Complexity Of Interpolity Orders: The Encounter Between Chosŏn And Tibet In Qing, Inho Choi, Minju Kwon

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This article examines the ontological complexity of interpolity orders with a focus on peripheral polities in the Qing order. Existing multiculturalist studies of the Qing order emphasized diverse cultural representations of a single imperial reality, lacking an understanding of multiple realities experienced by peripheral participants. Our analysis reveals the ontological complexity—rather than cultural diversity—of the Qing order, in which multiple ontological agents experienced different lived worlds, from the encounter between Chosŏn Korean envoys and the Tibetan Panchen Lama at Emperor Qianlong’s birthday ceremony. By analyzing the Chosŏn envoy member Pak Chiwŏn’s travelog and Tibetan records, we argue that the Chosŏn …

How Illustrations Of Dramatic Texts Come To Be Possible?, Xiaoming Liu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Illustrations within classical Chinese dramatic texts are visual representations constructed through the interaction of textuality and imagery. “Textuality” refers to the potential of the text form to convey its subject. Under the influence of textuality, the poetic tradition of Chinese drama leads textual illustrations towards a poetic ambiance. On the other hand, “imagery” represents the potential for visual portrayal, including the historical grammar of painting traditions. The most prominent manifestation of visual traditions within textual illustrations is found in the illustrations of Selected Yuan Plays. These illustrations specify that a total of ninety-nine artists, ranging from the Wei, Jin, …

Metaphysical Foundationalist Versus Existentialist Ontologies: Applications For Research On Psychological Energy, Michael Da, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Theories of psychological energy have a rich history going back to the beginning of the field of psychology, employing concepts such as "libido," "psychic energy," "orgone energy," "bioenergetics," "psycho-energetics," "life energy," "organizing field," and "living-matrix." There has been a recent effort to find neural correlates with these concepts, but these data may not capture the fullness of the phenomenon. Because psychological energy is an elusive concept with many interpretations, research into this phenomenon faces the most basic questions regarding where and how to start. To address these questions, this paper explores several theories of ontology that could apply to psychological …

Interactive Fictional Characters As Causally Active Abstract Artifacts, Abigail Eden Kopelowitz

UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses

Abstract artifacts are entities without spatial locations brought into existence from intentional creative acts. Examples include fictional characters, musical works, stories, or languages. I argue that abstract artifacts can be causally active. I will demonstrate the validity of this claim with a case study: interactive fictional characters, or IFCs, which include non-playable characters and playable characters from tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). Any theories about the nature of abstract artifacts must include this type of interactive entity. This paper will present the various arguments regarding whether abstract artifacts have causal capabilities and determine if these arguments apply …

Anxieties About The Future: Ecocriticism And Dystopian Landscapes In The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch And Selected Fiction By Philip K. Dick, Nickolas Michael Sykora

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In a literary analysis of selected fiction by Philip K Dick through an ecocritical framework, the focus of this study reveals the consequences of ecological destruction on futuristic societies reflecting the Anthropocene. Drawing correlations between various texts by the author, the separation of nature from humanity demonstrates how dystopian landscapes influence the identity of the characters in these settings and how dystopia serves as a prism which distorts or reflects what it means to be human. With this, ontology and artificial intelligence are analyzed as a notable facet of his literature which addresses the progress of innovation in society and …

Metaontological Dismissive Strategies: Implications And Applications In Metaphysics Of Race And Gender, Ethan F. Stumpp

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Metaontological discourse, inquiring into the nature, methodology, and aims of ontology, has functioned as the war ground for those skeptical of ontological projects against those who believe that ontological inquiry is substantive (i.e., meaningful, important, worth pursuing). I call the inquiry which engages in determining criteria to distinguish substantive from nonsubstantive inquiry/discourse: “the metaphysics of discourse”. In this project, I identify three frameworks in the metaphysics of discourse: Easy Ontology, The “Merely Verbal” Framework, and Metaphysical Structuralism. My primary concern is to show that these discourse frameworks or dismissive strategies all fail to provide sufficient criteria to properly delineate substantive …

Ontological Inquiry In An Undergraduate Communication Course, William B. Strean

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

This essay explores how ontological and somatic approaches were applied in an undergraduate communication course. Beginning by contrasting the assumptions of traditional knowledge and skills-based approaches with the shift to a focus on being within ontological methods, the author expands to show specifically how somatics informed the learning activities and students’ development in communication. After providing examples of the core content of public speaking and interpersonal communication and shares students’ learning and feedback, the author concludes by considering broader possibilities for ontological inquiry and transformative education.

Listening – A Possibility For Improved Healthcare, Sam Katzif

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

The conversation between a healthcare provider and a patient is one component of obtaining information for diagnosis and treatment. Responsibility rests with healthcare providers to actively lead this conversation so this exchange of information is accurate and complete with nothing added to and nothing left out. The question then becomes, “Do the words of the patient land word for word with their practitioner?”. In the world of “being” or ontology the answer is no. This article will focus on an ontological perceptual constraint known as Already-Always-Listening and introduce the practice of Authentic Listening as access to a transformation in healthcare …

Vaupés Multilingualism And The Substance Of Language, Stephen Hugh-Jones

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

By focusing on ordinary conversational language, relying on a notion of “group” derived from unilineal descent theory, and neglecting mythology and ritual, studies of Vaupés Tukanoan multilingualism have inadvertently tended to reproduce a Western ideology of language as marking national identity and concerned with conveying meaning. This paper suggests that attention to musical, ritual, and shamanic contexts reveals multilingualism in a different light, with ritual speech acts as constitutive of social groups, names as vehicles of reproduction, and breath as a substance-like bodily element and source of vitality. The more esoteric, rhetorical, musical, or visual ornamentation is given to breath, …

Aplicación Del Enfoque Ontológico De Las Tres Heurísticas A La Simulación-Simulacro Como Elemento Esencial De Los Juegos De Rol De Mesa [Presentación En Conferencia], Cristo Leon, Miguel A. Bastarrachea-Magnani, Edgar Meritano Corrales

STEM for Success Resources

Este trabajo se sumerge en la ontología de los Juegos de Rol de Mesa (TTRPGs), una disciplina filosófica que interroga sobre la esencia y la existencia dentro de sistemas categoriales, como se discute en Honderich (2005). Al considerar a los TTRPGs como un objeto de estudio de naturaleza compleja y posmoderna, los autores se alinean con las perspectivas teóricas y prácticas interdisciplinarias sugeridas por Deterding & Zagal (2018). A través de la lente de la fenomenología, se plantea una pregunta central para todos los implicados en el fenómeno RPG: '¿Qué es un RPG?'. Para responder a esta inquietud, Bastarrachea-Magnani et …

Conversations: Teaching Sustainability In Engineering, Alicia Gonzalez Buelga, Dorottya Cserzo, Irina Lazar

Research Papers

Our research focuses on embedding sustainability in the engineering curriculum in ways that are efficient, coherent and inclusive. An important strand of work within this wider remit is finding suitable approaches for promoting collaboration between institutions and academics and advance the understanding of what ‘sustainability’ means in engineering education in the first place, by producing reliable data that can inform our future practice, leading to institutional change. In this paper, we report and discuss the organisation and the findings of a series of inter-institutional conversations that took place during two in person workshops, with the central theme of embedding sustainability …

Ontological Knowledge Based Models Representing Medicine Terminology, Altinbek Sharipbay, Raima Shirinova, Nilufar Abdurakhmonova, Zebo Qodirova

Advances in Social Sciences and Economics

Terms are the main basic concepts in mastering the basics of the field and are the determining factor of its development. It is no secret that the medical field, as an integral part of our society, covers the main aspects of human activity. From this point of view, the study of medical terms, the relationship between units in the semantic field of medical terms, the analysis of paradigmatic, syntagmatic, hierarchical relations, and the systematic mastering of the concepts of the field are of urgent importance. Linguistic resources are expressed in the form of dictionaries, thesauruses, ontologies. Ontologies are distinguished by …

An Ontology-Based Approach For Harmonization And Cross-Cohort Query Of Alzheimer’S Disease Data Resources, Xubing Hao, Xiaojin Li, Guo-Qiang Zhang, Cui Tao, Paul E Schulz, Licong Cui

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: In the United States, the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) are two major data sharing resources for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) research. NACC and ADNI strive to make their data more FAIR (findable, interoperable, accessible and reusable) for the broader research community. However, there is limited work harmonizing and supporting cross-cohort interoperability of the two resources.

METHOD: In this paper, we leverage an ontology-based approach to harmonize data elements in the two resources and develop a web-based query system to search patient cohorts across the two resources. We first mapped data elements across …

Modified Geometries, Clifford Algebras And Graphs: Their Impact On Discreteness, Locality And Symmetr, Roma Sverdlov

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

In this dissertation I will explore the question whether various entities commonly used in quantum field theory can be “constructed". In particular, can spacetime be “constructed" out of building blocks, and can Berezin integral be “constructed" in terms of Riemann integrals.

As far as “constructing" spacetime out of building blocks, it has been attempted by multiple scientific communities and various models were proposed. But the common downfall is they break the principles of relativity. I will explore the ways of doing so in such a way that principles of relativity are respected. One of my approaches is to replace points …

New Commandments, Jacob Sussman

Masters Theses

I reach into the earth, pull out mud-encrusted objects, and recombine them to define new meanings. With every object transposed, the past breaks down; new potentials form. “New Commandments” recombines historical symbolism through an intuitive building, destroying, and merging to reimagine or re-establish meaning.

The work critiques rites of passage, masculinity, and stereotypes by deconstructing how histories, ideologies, and preconceptions form.

As a queer person raised in-between Judaism and Christianity, social preconceptions and religious expectations festered my formation. Our choice is taken away at this moment of conception. To take back autonomy, I reimagine historical, and religious symbolism and transmute …

Earthbound In The Anthropocene: Spirituality, Collective Identity, And Participation In The Direct Action Climate Movement, David Alan Osborn

Dissertations and Theses

Climate change, as part of a broader ecological crisis, is becoming an ever more potent event structuring human societies and planetary ecosystems. As the climate crisis deepens, climate change is unsettling core human identities, as well as the ontologies that define and situate concepts of "human" and "nature." And as social movements act to challenge and mitigate the catastrophes arising in the Anthropocene era, the question of how to sustain participation is critical. This dissertation explores these dynamics through a study of spirituality, collective identity, participation, and ontology in a subset of the climate movement. The research questions were: (1a) …

Communicating Indirect Feelings: American Stories Of Indirect Experiences, Susan Hess Lawson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The words people use to describe indirect human experiences and how narratives play a role are examined within qualitative research. The problem is that some people have difficulty communicating indirect experiences, and few studies have examined the issue. The purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to examine how people who encountered indirect communication in their lived experiences can communicate the indirect experiences and messages they received. The theory guiding this study is the indirect communication theory as it relates to Communicating Indirect Feelings (CIF). The definition of CIF is how people attempt to communicate indirect feelings for shared …

Reframing The Ontology Of Peace Studies, Anders Reagan

Peace and Conflict Studies

The academic field of peace studies suffers from a lack of ontological clarity, with peace researchers widely disagreeing on how to define “peace.” This internal incoherence has far-reaching implications for peace study’s scope, theories, and methodologies, and by extension, for peace practice in general. This article explores the possibility that at least part of this incoherence may be due to a fundamental misreading of peace study’s central object of study. Despite significant disagreement between peace researchers on a standardized definition of peace, there seems to be overwhelming consensus that "peace" – in all its varied academic conceptualizations – always relates …

The Lithium Economy: Bolivia's "New" Resource And Its Role In Revolutionary Politics, Zsofia J. Szoke

Anthropology ETDs

ABSTRACT

Through an ethnographic analysis of the lithium industry this dissertation recounts the complex way lithium industrialization has interacted with Bolivia’s democratic and cultural revolution, officially known as the proceso de cambio, and with localized social forms and structures, which the national-level revolution seeks to reconstitute. I will argue that it is important to examine the implications of lithium industrialization’s intersection with local experiences of revolutionary politics. The dissertation’s main contention is that the industrialization of lithium in Bolivia has been conceptualized as an insurgent tool of political change and social transformation by the Morales-Linera regime and as such it …

Narratives Of Existence And The Narrative Existence: Ontological Unity In The Border Trilogy And Quantum Theory, Rebecca Leigh Mcintosh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because the humanities and the sciences approach philosophical questions in contrasting ways, the study of literature and the study of physical science are often viewed as unrelated realms of scholarly inquiry. Science aims to provide a methodological approach for gathering knowledge about the world, while the humanities focus on criticism or analysis of cultural artifacts. However, even though the conceptual frameworks applied in scientific study and literary study are often incompatible or remarkably divergent, their methods for conceptualizing and transmitting ideas are the same, for humanity understands the world and experience of this world through narratives composed of referential metaphors. …

Enhancing Basic Geology Skills With Artificial Intelligence: An Exploration Of Automated Reasoning In Field Geology, Perry Ivan Quinto Houser

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of Artificial Intelligence, specifically semantics, ontologies, and reasoner techniques, to improve field geology mapping. The thesis focuses on two use cases: 1) identifying a geologic formation based on observed characteristics; and 2) predicting the geologic formation that might be expected next based upon known stratigraphic sequence. The results show that the ontology was able to correctly identify the geologic formation for the majority of rock descriptions, with higher search results for descriptions that provided more detail. Similarly, the units expected next were correctly given and if incorrect, would provide a flag to the field geologist …

Extracting A Body Of Knowledge As A First Step Towards Defining A United Software Engineering Curriculum Guideline, Anton Kiselev

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In general, the computing field is a rapidly changing environment, and as such, software engineering education must be able to adjust quickly to new needs. Industry adapts to technologies as fast as it can, but the critical issue is a need for recent graduates with the necessary expertise and knowledge of new trends, technologies, and practical experience. The industries that employ graduates of computing degree programs aim to hire those who are familiar with the latest technical traits, tools, and methodologies to meet these needs, and the software engineering curriculum needs to respond quickly to these needs. Still, unfortunately, software …

Conventionality And Causality In Lewis-Type Evolutionary Prediction Games, Gordon Purves

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Barrett and others have used Lewis-style evolutionary games to argue that we ought not to trust our scientific languages to inform us about ontology. More specifically, Barrett has shown that in some simple evolutionary contexts the best descriptive languages need not cut nature at its joints, that they may guide action as successfully as possible while simultaneously being deeply conventional. The present article expands upon Barrett’s argument, exploring the space for conventionalism in more metaphysically robust causal evolutionary models. By using evolutionary prediction games, the present article examines the range of metaphysical facts in these models and shows how Barrett’s …

A Universe Of Mirrors: The Mirror Metaphor In Ibn ʿArabī’S Thought In Relation To Ontology, Knowledge, And Perfection, Basma Eletreby

Theses and Dissertations

The mirror metaphor is ubiquitous in sufi texts. It operates uniquely in Ibn ʿArabī’s thought and writings as a representation of his conception of the cosmos. Being, knowledge, and perfection are among the seminal themes of al-Shaykh al-Akbar’s thought, and the mirror metaphor is employed in revealing their reality in his writings. As opposed to Unity of Being, a term that Ibn ʿArabī does not employ, the mirror embodies the pillars of Ibn ʿArabī’s conception of Being through representing the quintessential huwa lā huwa, the configuration of oneness and manyness, and most importantly, the definition of the relation between God …

The Visualization Of Orphadata Neurology Phenotypes, Daniel B. Hier, Raghu Yelugam, Michael D. Carrithers, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Disease Phenotypes Are Characterized by Signs (What a Physician Observes during the Examination of a Patient) and Symptoms (The Complaints of a Patient to a Physician). Large Repositories of Disease Phenotypes Are Accessible through the Online Mendelian Inheritance of Man, Human Phenotype Ontology, and Orpha data Initiatives. Many of the Diseases in These Datasets Are Neurologic. for Each Repository, the Phenotype of Neurologic Disease is Represented as a List of Concepts of Variable Length Where the Concepts Are Selected from a Restricted Ontology. Visualizations of These Concept Lists Are Not Provided. We Address This Limitation by using Subsumption to Reduce …

Caducitas And Śūnyatā: A Neoplatonist Reading Of Nāgārjuna, Fabien Muller

Comparative Philosophy

In this paper I am addressing the question whether Nāgārjuna’s doctrine should be understood as a theory that describes reality itself (ontology) or as a theory of our relation to reality (epistemological, logical, psychological, etc.). To answer this question, I propose to compare Nāgārjuna’s concept of emptiness to that of ‘caducity’, a key element in the ontology of Renaissance Neoplatonist philosopher Francisco Patrizi. By showing that these concepts are similar, I argue that Nāgārjuna’s standpoint can be considered as that of ontology.