Dasein, The Early Years: Heideggerian Reflections on Childhood

Like most philosophers, Heidegger gave little attention to childhood, but his philosophical emphasis on pre-reflective practice and understanding seems uniquely qualified to help make sense of a child’s experience and development. Moreover, it seems to me that many central Heideggerian concepts are best defended, exemplified, and articulated by bringing child development into the discussion. A Heideggerain emphasis on pre-theoretical world-involvement opens up a rich array of phenomena for studying child development, which can improve upon standard theories that have over-emphasized exclusive conditions or criteria. I begin by laying out some basic features of Heidegger’s conception of being-in-the-world as a preparation for understanding the world of the child. Then I will briefly discuss some of Heidegger’s remarks on childhood, followed by some reflections on language acquisition and the correlation of anxiety and meaning

Writing Knowledge in the Soul: Orality, Literacy, and Plato’s Critique of Poetry

In this essay I take up Plato’s critique of poetry, which has little to do with epistemology and representational imitation, but rather the powerful effects that poeticperformances can have on audiences, enthralling them with vivid image-worlds and blocking the powers of critical reflection. By focusing on the perceived psychological dangers of poetry in performance and reception, I want to suggest that Plato’s critique was caught up in the larger story of momentous shifts in the Greek world, turning on the rise of literacy and its far-reaching effects in modifying the original and persisting oral character of Greek culture. The story of Plato’s Republic in certain ways suggests something essential for comprehending the development of philosophy in Greece : that philosophy, as we understand it, would not have been possible apart from the skills and mental transformations stemming from education in reading and writing; and that primary features of oral language and practice were a significant barrier to the development of philosophical rationality. Accordingly, I go on to argue that the critique of writing in the Phaedrus is neither a defense or orality per se, nor a dismissal of writing, but rather a defense of a literate soul over against orality and the indiscriminate exposure of written texts to unworthy readers

Novel Approaches to Prepare and Utilize SERS Substrates: Multiplex Microfluidics and Nanotransfer Printing

Over the past few decades, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has garnered respect as an analytical technique with significant chemical and biological applications. SERS is important for the life sciences because it can provide trace level detection and a high level of molecular structure information. The development of quantitative, highly sensitive substrates requires control over size, shape, and position of metal nanoparticles which function as the SERS active medium. Thus, creating and successfully implementing a sensitive, reproducible, and robust SERS active substrate continues to be a challenging ask. Its future development depends critically on techniques for lithography and nanofabrication. Herein, we report a novel method for SERS that is based upon using colloidal silver nanoparticles in a multiplexed microfluidics (MMFs) platform. The MMF is created in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer material and used to perform parallel, high throughput, and sensitive detection/identification of single or various analytes under easily manipulated conditions. A facile passive pumping method is used to deliver samples into the channels under flowing conditions that are highly conducive for SERS measurments. Also an unconventional nanofabrication approach is modified to produce efficient SERS substrates. Metallic nanopatterns of silver discs are transferred from a stamp onto PDMS to create nanocomposite substrates with regular periodic morphologies. The stamp with periodic arrays of square, triangular, and elliptical pillars is created via Electron Beam Lithography of ma-N 2403 resist. A modified cyclodextrin is thermally evaporated on the stamp to overcome the adhesive nature of the ebeam resist and to function as a releasing layer. Subsequently, the stamp is over coated with Ag by physical vapor deposition at a controlled rate and thickness and used directly for nanotransfer printing (nTP). Stamps, substrates, and the efficiency of the nTP process were explored by SEM. Ag nano-disc-PDMS substrates are studied by SERS using Rhodamine 6G as the probe analyte. The SERS response of metallic nano-discs of various shapes/sizes on the original stamp is compared to the corresponding nTP substrates. We demonstrate that physical manipulation of the PDMS post nTP can be used to alter morphology. Additionally, stamps are shown to be reusable after the nTP process

The Efficacy of Native and Non-Native English Teachers on Teaching and Learning: Perceptions of Students and Advisors

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of students and teacher advisers on the efficacy of native and non-native English teachers on the language teaching and learning in Abu Dhabi schools. The data was collected by surveying 400 students and 59 teacher advisers and interviewing 40 students and 10 advisers. The findings of this study indicate significant differences between the efficacy of both native and non-native English teachers in four aspects; (a) teaching competencies, (b) pedagogy, (c) students\u27 learning and (d) awareness of students\u27 cultural and social background. The students and teacher advisers perceive English native teachers as possessing the strengths of having a good command of the language, a superior ability to teach conversation and speaking, being a good model for teaching pronunciation and communication skills, having a good knowledge of vocabulary, as well as superior skill at teaching language, literature and culture. On the other hand, non-native English teachers possess strengths in teaching grammar, anticipating learners\u27 difficulties, class management, understanding students\u27 needs, engaging students in all activities, using varied teaching methods, and being an effective model of language learning. It is recommended that more consideration should be paid to qualifications, expertise and experience while recruiting any English teacher. Native and non-native English teachers need varied professional development programs due to their diverse needs and capabilities. The two types of teachers need to develop their performance through reciprocal communication and co-operation. Creating an ideal environment in which native and non-native English teachers meet their full potential will be beneficial to improve teaching and learning