Towards a Model of Life and Cognition

What should be the ontology of the world such that life and cognition are possible? In this essay, I undertake to outline an alternative ontological foundation which makes biological and cognitive phenomena possible. The foundation is built by defining a model, which is presented in the form of a description of a hypothetical but a logically possible world with a defined ontological base. Biology rests today on quite a few not so well connected foundations: molecular biology based on the genetic dogma; evolutionary biology based on neo-Darwinian model; ecology based on systems view; developmental biology by morphogenetic models; connectionist models for neurophysiology and cognitive biology; pervasive teleonomic explanations for the goal-directed behavior across the discipline; etc. Can there be an underlying connecting theme or a model which could make these seemingly disparate domains interconnected? I shall atempt to answer this question. By following the semantic view of scientific theories, I tend to believe that the models employed by the present physical sciences are not rich enough to capture biological (and some of the non-biological) systems. A richer theory that could capture biological reality could also capture physical and chemical phenomena as limiting cases, but not vice versa

Dilemmas involving women, children, family life as seen through the lens of social work

The scope of problems here indicated is nothing short of immense; it makes up one of the key segments of the social area and contributes to the identity of social work as a discipline. It is both "objective" as it covers some crucial manifestations of concrete, real human and social reality, and "subjective." This latter description refers primarily to the broadly defined sphere of human thought: beginning from basic axiological systems grounded in philosophy, theology, or culture, to established trends in defining social norms, to situational feeling and attitudes. Again, on both sides the essential quality is what is happening between and among people, in their social relations and ways of communicatin

A generic framework for the development of standardised learning objects within the discipline of construction management

E-learning has occurred in the academic world in different forms since the early 1990s. Its use varies from interactive multimedia tools and simulation environments to static resources within learning management systems. E-learning tools and environments are no longer criticised for their lack of use in higher education in general and within the construction domain in particular. The main criticism, however, is that of reinventing the wheel in order to create new learning environments that cater for different educational needs. Therefore, sharing educational content has become the focus of current research, taking e-learning into a whole new era of developments. This era is enabled by the emergence of new technologies (online and wireless) and the development of educational standards, such as SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) and LOM (Learning Object Metadata) for example. Accordingly, the broad definition of the construction domain and the interlocking nature of subjects taught within this domain, makes the concept of sharing content most appealing. This paper proposes a framework developed to describe the various steps required in order to enable the application of e-learning metadata standards and ontology for sharable learning objects to serve the construction discipline. The paper further describes the application of the proposed framework to a case study for developing an online environment for learning objects that are standardised, sharable, transparent and that cater for the needs of learners, educators and curricula developers in Construction Management. Based on the framework, a learning objects repository is developed incorporating educational and web standards. The repository manages objects as well as metadata using ontology and offers a set of services such as storing, retrieving and searching of learning objects using Semantic Web technologies. Thus, it increases the reusability, sharability and interoperability of learning objects

Towards a Formalization of a Framework to Express and Reason about Software Engineering Methods

Software Engineering is considered a knowledge-intensive discipline, in which knowledge creation, collection and sharing is an uninterrupted process. However, a large part of this knowledge exists in a tacit form and depends on practitioners. Therefore defining a mechanism to transform tacit knowledge into explicit one is of upmost importance. This paper presents a formalization approach to represent Software Engineering practitioners' tacit knowledge, which is related to their ways of working, as a set of explicit statements. The formalization is based on KUALI-BEH, which is a normative kernel extension of ESSENCE formal specification, and consists of three parts: an ontology to share a common representation of knowledge as a set of concepts; a Situational Method Engineering based algebra that represents well-defined method properties and operations; and a knowledge representation of the ontology and algebra using Description Logics. The main objectives of this initial formalization are to improve communication among humans and machines, computational inference and reuse of knowledge

Aproximación a la sociología cubana

Existen muy pocos estudios sobre la evolución de las ciencias sociales en Cuba. Este ensayo ofrece una descripción sintética de algunos de los procesos más importantes vinculados con la enseñanza universitaria, la formación de posgrado, las publicaciones y la investigación en el área de la sociología entre 1959 y 1995.En esta descripción se transparenta la influencia que el marco sociopolítico e ideológico ha ejercido sobre el desarrollo de esta disciplina y se fundamenta la necesidad de definir estrategias que conduzcan a la consolidación académica de la sociología y al incremento de sus interrelacions con las transformaciones que vive la sociedad cubana.There are very few studies about the development of the social sciences in Cuba. The idea that sustains this document is the need of studying the history of various scientific disciplines as a resource por defining present and future policies.This essay offers a synthetic description of some of the most important processes related with undergraduate studies, postgraduate studies, publications and research in cuban sociology between 1959 and 1995.The influence which the sociopolitical and ideological frame has exerted upon the development of this discipline is demonstrated and the need of defining strategies that leed to the academic consolidation of sociology, as well as to increase its interrelations with the transformations that cuban society currently lives

Designing a competency based program to facilitate the progression of experienced engineering technologists to professional engineer status

This paper describes the pedagogical principles that underpin the design of the Master of Engineering Practice, a distance education program offered by the University of Southern Queensland. This innovative program enables experienced engineering technologists to use their workplace learning to assemble portfolios that demonstrate their achievement of many of the competencies defined for a graduate of the program. Students are required to be self-directed learners and to use reflective practices to assess their own learning. Following a self-assessment process undertaken in the first course in the program, each student prepares a Pathway to Graduation Plan which they then follow through to graduation. Graduates of the program are able to become registered as Chartered Professional Engineers

The Collective Consciousness of Information Technology Research: Ways of seeing Information Technology Research: Its Objects and Territories

The collective consciousness of effective groups of researchers is characterised by shared understandings of their research object or territory. In the relatively new field of information technology research, rapid expansion and fragmentation of the territory has led to different perceptions about what constitutes information technology research. This project explores a facet of the collective consciousness of disparate groups of researchers and lays a foundation for constructing shared research objects. Making IT researchers’ ways of seeing explicit may help us understand some of the complexities associated with inter and intra disciplinary collaboration amongst research groups, and the complexities associated with technology transfer to industry. This report analyses IT research, its objects and territories, as they are constituted by IT researchers associated with the sub-disciplines of information systems, computer science and information security. A phenomenographic approach is used to elicit data from a diverse range of IT researchers in semistructured interviews. This data is analysed to show (1) the variation in meaning associated with the idea of IT research and (2) the awareness structures through which participants experience variation in ways of seeing the object and territories of IT research. An Outcome Space represents the interrelation between different ways of seeing the territory. Eight ways of seeing IT research, its objects and territories, were found: The Technology Conception, The Information Conception, The Information and Technology Conception, The Communication Conception, The Ubiquitous Conception, The Sanctioned Conception, The Dialectic Conception and The Constructed Conception. These are described in detail and illustrated with participants’ quotes. Finally, some recommendations for further research are made

Brother, Can You Paradigm? Toward a Theory of Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Social Studies

Although research on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has accelerated in recent years, social studies educators have not generally been part of the conversation. This article explores why a theory of PCK for social studies has been so difficult to elaborate, focusing on the field’s inability to come to consensus on its aims and purposes and on a pervasive distrust of traditional academic disciplines and scholarship they produce. These factors have helped make the effective preparation of social studies teachers, something researchers studying PCK hope to improve, exceptionally difficult. This article proposes that if the field can resolve its relationship to the disciplines, a more coherent conceptualization of teacher education in social studies could come into focus. Such a reconceptualization could help position social studies teacher educators to contribute to the knowledge base on PCK, particularly with regard to the transformation of disciplinary content into school curriculum

Master's degree characteristics

The Master's degree characteristics document is intended to be of practical help to providers and other interested parties, including those wishing to understand more about the nature of UK master's degrees more generally, which may include students, employers and overseas audiences. Institutions are encouraged to consult the guidance contained in the document when designing, delivering and reviewing new and existing programmes, and when describing programmes in information intended for prospective students and others. The new reference point offers guidance on the nature of different types of master's degree, all of which are expected to meet the outcomes identified in the qualification descriptor of The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ), 2008 or The framework for qualifications of higher education institutions in Scotland, 2001. The characteristics described here relate to the different ways in which a master's degree may be provided in delivering the outcomes identified in the national qualification descriptor. In some instances, there may be additional points of reference that providers may wish to draw upon, including a small number of subject benchmark statements for master's degrees in particular subjects2 and the guidance or requirements of relevant professional, statutory or regulatory bodies