Situations and Evidence for Identity Using Dempster-Shafer Theory

We present a computational framework for identity based on Barwise and Devlin’s situation theory. We present an example with constellations of situations identifying an individual to create what we call id-situations, where id-actions are performed, along with supporting situations. We use Semantic Web standards to represent and reason about the situations in our example. We show how to represent the strength of the evidence, within the situations, as a measure of the support for judgments reached in the id-situation. To measure evidence of an identity from the supporting situations, we use the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence. We enhance Dempster- Shafer theory in two ways to leverage the information available in a constellation of situations. One way exploits the structure within the situations, and the other way interprets the information-relationships in terms of argument schemes

Older adults’ experiences of ageing, sex and HIV infection in rural Malawi

This thesis contributes to understanding two demographically important phenomena: African ageing, and the ageing of the African HIV epidemic. Building on the body of interpretivist demography that privileges context and meanings, it explores older adults’ experiences of becoming old, sexuality and living with HIV in rural Malawi. The research uses a constructivist grounded theory framework. It is based primarily on data produced using repeat dependent interviews (N=135) with older men and women(N=43). These are supplemented by fieldwork observations, as well as data from a three-month multi-site pilot study, interviews with HIV support groups (N=3), and key informant interviews (N=19) and policy documents. The thesis identified sets of meanings surrounding old age and ways of discussing ageing that, taken together, formed an analytical framework. The framework is focused on the importance of maintaining an ‘adult’ identity and draws insights from sociological and psychological identity theories. The adult identity was aligned with personhood. It was situated within the body-centred livelihood system of rural Malawi, and associated with physical production. Old age was understood to limit productivity and thereby an individual’s adult identity. This thesis argues that ostensibly contradictory narratives about ageing experiences can be understood as rhetorical strategies respondents employed to maintain their adult identities. A central tenet of the thesis is that the adult identity (and its childlike counter identity) influenced older adults’ broader experiences and behaviours. This framework is used to explore ageing, as well as sex and HIV infection. The grounded understandings of older adults’ experiences developed in the thesis are presented against dominant understandings of the situation of older adults documented by the academe and in policy and programmatic arena emerging in Malawi. The findings highlight the centrality of wider experiences of ageing for older adults’ experiences of sex and HIV, as well as the broader importance of identity for understanding demographic behaviours and processes. In addition, they demonstrate how grounded theory and repeat dependent interviewing can be used within demographic studies to produce nuanced analytical accounts of the experiences that are most salient for the population of interest

Physical activity for African American females : salience of race, gender-role, and exercise identities

Social identity theory explores the process of self-identifications based upon perceived shared commonalities with others in order to positively affiliate with group membership and accounts for inter-group and intra-group behaviors (Deaux, 2001; Hogg & Abrams, 1999; Tajfel, 1982). Social identity is also dependent upon environment and situation dynamics (Turner, 1982). African American females are at risk for high levels of physical inactivity. Researchers have suggested the use of frameworks that move investigations beyond assessing social aggregates such as race and gender to understand why this is true. Racial identity, gender-role identity, and exercise identity (derived from social identity theory) provide a framework to go beyond categorical labels. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore intersections among racial identity, gender-role identity, and exercise identity on the physical activity participation of African American females, extending the current research regarding determinants of physical activity participation for African American females. The first study used quantitative methods to investigate relationships among racial identity, gender-role identity, exercise identity, physical activity participation, and perceived social support within an African American college female sample population. Results indicated females who exercised more often had a stronger sense of exercise identity, displayed masculine gender-role identity and had higher perceived levels of social support. Perceived friend social support predicted exercise identity and frequency of physical activity participation. Study two qualitatively explored the intersection of racial identity, gender-role identity, and exercise identity of African American females who were considered regular exercisers by running group affiliation. The following themes emerged: 1) group membership advantages; 2) exercise as a catalyst for change; 3) perceived obstacles to physical activity. The findings indicated that exercise identity is more salient than racial and gender-role identities. Perceived cultural barriers such as hair, food, and body image had a diminished affect when exercise was accepted as part of identity. Taken together, findings support the conclusion that a focus on developing a strong exercise identity through cultural lenses of other identities such as race and gender is an important factor in efforts to promote physical activity in diverse populations

The vocational ID : connecting life design counselling and personality systems interaction theory

We introduce the Vocational ID that integrates linguistic and visual representations of a career counselling client’s self. Based upon findings from the Life Design paradigm and the Personality Systems Interaction theory, the Vocational ID facilitates working on clients' vocational identity. In this article, we present the theoretical framework, its practical applications, and a case study

Consistent Histories and Quantum Reasoning

A system of quantum reasoning for a closed system is developed by treating non-relativistic quantum mechanics as a stochastic theory. The sample space corresponds to a decomposition, as a sum of orthogonal projectors, of the identity operator on a Hilbert space of histories. Provided a consistency condition is satisfied, the corresponding Boolean algebra of histories, called a {\it framework}, can be assigned probabilities in the usual way, and within a single framework quantum reasoning is identical to ordinary probabilistic reasoning. A refinement rule, which allows a probability distribution to be extended from one framework to a larger (refined) framework, incorporates the dynamical laws of quantum theory. Two or more frameworks which are incompatible because they possess no common refinement cannot be simultaneously employed to describe a single physical system.Comment: Latex, 31 page

I think therefore I learn? Entrepreneurial cognition, learning and knowing in practice

In observing recent theoretical developments in the field, it is apparent that two distinctive yet relatively separate areas of study have emerged—entrepreneurial cognition and entrepreneurial learning. This conceptual paper aims to create some measure of reconciliation between these two perspectives to provide a more robust and multidisciplinary conceptual platform for understanding the entrepreneur. We augment an appreciation of the social dimensions of the learning process by which entrepreneurs cognitively acquire and transform knowledge. Through the application of influential practice-based theorizing we offer an integrative organizing framework that places participation at the heart of entrepreneurial practice, knowledge and identity

Organizational Change and the Identity Cycle: Understanding the Effect of Change on Individual Attitudes and Behaviors Through a Combined Social Identity Theory/Identity Theory Perspective

The study of roles and role behavior is particularly relevant today as individuals acquire more roles in the complexity of the 1990s. One environment that has been significantly prone to change is the workplace, where multiple committees, teams, and departments have transformed the nature of work and are altering the way that jobs are defined. In addition to the fact that workers are now taking on multiple roles within organizations, the roles themselves are changing at an accelerated pace. Reengineering, downsizing, mergers, acquisitions, and total quality initiatives are just a few of the interventions that businesses are implementing in order to become leaner, flatter, and more responsive to their environments. This paper draws from social identity theory and identity theory to understand how employees respond to organizational change. Given the fairly low success rates of major change efforts (estimates are between 10% and 50%), it is suggested that a more thorough understanding of the effect of these programs on an individual\u27s role within the organization is necessary. This paper begins by first defining, comparing, and contrasting social identity theory and identity theory. This has, to date, not been done, and it is particularly important because a number of authors appear to be using the two theories interchangeably. Next, social identity theory and identity theory are used to build a broader framework for understanding human behavior, and this model, called the identity cycle, is used to develop a set of propositions regarding the effects of organizational change on employee attitudes and behavior

The New Quantum Logic

It is shown how all the major conceptual difficulties of standard (textbook) quantum mechanics, including the two measurement problems and the (supposed) nonlocality that conflicts with special relativity, are resolved in the consistent or decoherent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics by using a modified form of quantum logic to discuss quantum properties (subspaces of the quantum Hilbert space), and treating quantum time development as a stochastic process. The histories approach in turn gives rise to some conceptual difficulties, in particular the correct choice of a framework (probabilistic sample space) or family of histories, and these are discussed. The central issue is that the principle of unicity, the idea that there is a unique single true description of the world, is incompatible with our current understanding of quantum mechanics.Comment: Minor changes and corrections to bring into conformity with published versio

The Nature and Location of Quantum Information

Quantum information is defined by applying the concepts of ordinary (Shannon) information theory to a quantum sample space consisting of a single framework or consistent family. A classical analogy for a spin-half particle and other arguments show that the infinite amount of information needed to specify a precise vector in its Hilbert space is not a measure of the information carried by a quantum entity with a $d$-dimensional Hilbert space; the latter is, instead, bounded by log d bits (1 bit per qubit). The two bits of information transmitted in dense coding are located not in one but in the correlation between two qubits, consistent with this bound. A quantum channel can be thought of as a "structure" or collection of frameworks, and the physical location of the information in the individual frameworks can be used to identify the location of the channel. Analysis of a quantum circuit used as a model of teleportation shows that the location of the channel depends upon which structure is employed; for ordinary teleportation it is not (contrary to Deutsch and Hayden) present in the two bits resulting from the Bell-basis measurement, but in correlations of these with a distant qubit. In neither teleportation nor dense coding does information travel backwards in time, nor is it transmitted by nonlocal (superluminal) influences. It is (tentatively) proposed that all aspects of quantum information can in principle be understood in terms of the (basically classical) behavior of information in a particular framework, along with the framework dependence of this information.Comment: Latex 29 pages, uses PSTricks for figure

Understanding transitions using a sociocultural framework

Transitions have traditionally been characterised as forms of change. These may either be inner changes (new beliefs or developmental growth) or the physical move from one place to another (see Erikson, 1975), such as the move from primary to secondary school. This theoretical paper will argue that transition can be best understood using a sociocultural framework, which links human thought and action to social and cultural situatedness (Zittoun, 2006). Using ideas underpinned by Vygotsky (1978) we will present three frameworks for addressing sociocultural transitions: (i) the notion of consequential transitions (Beach, 1999); (ii) symbolic transitions and identity rupture (Zittoun, 2006); and (iii) Communities of Practice transitions (Wenger, 1998). We will borrow examples from research on educational transitions from primary and secondary school contexts through to Higher Education in order to demonstrate that transitions are about a change in self-identity born out of uncertainty in the social and cultural worlds of the individual. Implications for educational practitioners involved in supporting young people undergoing transitions will be discusse