74 research outputs found
Redefining the hero archetype: The hero as pragmatist and idealist
No full textThis is a study on the hero using the philosophies of pragmatism and idealism. The author makes use of the hero\u27s journey and some aspects of pragmatism and idealism in redefining the hero archetype. The hero\u27s journey is taken from Joseph Campbell. It is important to note that the words pragmatism and idealism are referred to in their common sense usage for the purpose of the study
Spady\u27s outcome-based education framework: Philosophical foundations and teaching applications
No full textThis research aims to trace the philosophical foundations of Spady’s outcome-based education framework. It first presents several issues arising from the implementation of the OBE model in the Philippine setting, elaborating on the fundamental principles of the said system afterwards. The study, then, proceeds to situate the OBE model within the philosophy of education. Through the use of a philosophical lens, it is argued that the said framework somehow contains traces of Aristotle’s and Dewey’s education-related ideas. Furthermore, as for the practical aspect of this study, the OBE framework was adopted in designing a tertiary-level course in ethics, specifically by employing the Socratic Method augmented with scaffolding (SaS) in discussing films in class. In relation to this, it is conjectured that the SaS method may possibly be considered one of the heuristic devices for realizing Spady’s outcome-based education
Application of a decision-making model to the selection of a ship propulsion plant
No full textA literature search was conducted to determine to the type and scope of decision methodologies employed in selection of a ship propulsion plant by the commercial and naval shipbuilding communities as well as methodologies used in other industries. The methodologies were categorized and evaluated by the author with regard to ability to accommodate multi-attribute decision-making involving attributes of a qualitative and quantitative nature inherent in propulsion plant selection.
An alternative decision methodology employing the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) combined with selection criteria and sub-criteria unique to the shipbuilding industry was proposed which offers improvements in consistency and quality of judgements and accountability over current methodologies. A case study involving a 700 foot RoRo vessel design was developed to demonstrate how the alternative methodology could be applied. A three level decision hierarchy was developed to evaluate four propulsion plant alternatives involving gas turbine, low speed diesel and medium speed diesel prime movers.
The results obtained using the proposed methodology were analyzed and sensitivity analyses were prepared assessing the range of sub-criteria weights assigned by the author over which the plant selection would be valid.
A description of the investigation, selection criteria and sub-criteria, benefits, and recommendations for future efforts is included.Master of Scienc
Ruskin traduzido: Sesame and Lilies por Proust e Catalán
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, Florianópolis, 2009.Este trabalho parte da análise das traduções da obra Sesame and Lilies, de John Ruskin, para o francês e para o castelhano para fazer um exame de questões ligadas ao gênero ensaístico, à tradução de ensaios e à autoria. Para isso, analisarei a tradução de Marcel Proust para o francês e seu paratexto e a tradução para o castelhano feita por Miguel Catalán e o respectivo paratexto.This study analises the translations of Sesame and Lilies, by John Ruskin, into French and Spanish in order to examine issues related to the essay as a literary genre, to the translation of essays and to authorship. This exam will be carried out by analising the translation into French by Marcel Proust and its paratext and the translation into Spanish by Miguel Catalán, accompanied by its paratext
Informal gold mining and mercury pollution in Brazil
No full textThe Amazon region has been responsible for a major share of Brazilian gold production in recent years. The region has witnessed a sizable gold rush comparable only to the California gold rush last century. The gold rush has spawned a powerful informal mining sector and has attracted many people - some who have come to the region in search of wealth and some who were already there but were displaced from other, unsuccessful economicactivities. What these people encounter at the mining sites are dreadful living and working conditions. Gold mining also causes substantial environmental problems, which may persist whether gold deposits do or not. The author discusses the environmental effects of gold mining in the region, focusing on mercury pollution. Mercury, an important input in gold extraction, is being discharged into the atmosphere and the rivers at alarming rates. The environmental costs of the present extraction, is being discharged into the atmosphere and the rivers at alarming rates. The environmental costs of the present extraction technology will be faced primarily by future generations, because of natural chemical processes. Although removing the mercury already discharged from the Amazonian environment may be an enormous task, at least future discharges should be curtailed through the use of appropriate technology, environmental education, and a combination of command and control measures and market-based incentives. The author describes the gold extraction process and the extent of mercury use and contamination. He analyzes key elements of the environmental problem, especially the informal miner and the fish economy. Finally, he suggests a combination of command and control regulations and market-based incentives adapted to the informal gold mining economic environment. He emphasizes the need for an education campaign about the perils of using mercury and the availability of more appropriate, and inexpensive, alternative extraction technologies.Mining&Extractive Industry (Non-Energy),Montreal Protocol,Water and Industry,Coastal and Marine Resources,Primary Metals
Retraining displaced workers : what can developing countries learn from OECD nations?
No full textThe governments of most industrial countries provide financial support for adult training programs intended to retrain displaced workers. The author draws lessons from the experience of six industrial countries (Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, Sweden, and the United States) on how to design and implement such retraining programs in low-income developing nations and middle-income countries. By retraining, the author means both improving job skills and remediating deficiencies in basic education. These are the lessons he emphasizes: Training programs should be independent of the educational system, with its rigid ties to degree requirements and academic schedules; links to employers must be developed and maintained so that trainees have marketable skills on completing the program. Training programs should be designed to minimize trainees'foregone earnings; basic education should be relevant to the jobs the trainees might seek. External providers of education must be made accountable - but with care; the system of accountability should also ensure that the needs of displaced workers most likely to suffer long-term unemployment are met. Not all displaced workers require relatively expansive retraining; some may need only inexpensive job-search assistance services. A permanent, institutionalized training system is preferable to short-term intervention.Labor Standards,Tertiary Education,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Teaching and Learning
Managing pollution control in Brazil : the potential use of taxes and fines by federal and state governments
No full textThe authors make a case for federal monitoring of state environmental agencies'(SEPAs') performance because of the tradeoff for the states between the need to raise revenue from taxes on local output and the need to limit pollution. They also show that fines and taxes assigned respectively to the federal and state governments can improve firms'compliance and SEPA's performance, and hence environmental quality, without damaging state revenue, and perhaps even improving it. For their analysis, the authors rely on numerical policy simulations based on an analytical framework designed as a multilevel Stackelberg game. This framework reproduces the hierarchical structure of pollution control policies in Brazil, where the federal environmental protection agency relies on SEPAs to ensure that federally defined minimum ambient standards are met locally. The numerical simulations are based on a case study of the food, and the printing and publishing industries.Urban Services to the Poor,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Pollution Management&Control,Health Monitoring&Evaluation
Enhancing the integration of agri-food supply chains: theoretical issues and practical challenges in the UK malting barley supply chain
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to explore the issues that may affect the integration (i.e., the relationships) between the different actors that comprise a supply chain. Whist the theoretical part of the paper can be referred to any supply chain, the empirical part is focused on the UK barley to beer supply chain. The main motivation behind the topic is that improvements in the relationships amongst the different segments of a chain can enhance its efficiency and effectiveness, (e.g., through improvements in coordination and cooperation), and therefore, its competitiveness and long term sustainability. The paper is based on two complementary analyses: the first one consisted of a structural equation model (SEM) to determine those factors that affect the sustainability of relationships in the chain. The model is estimated based on a survey of 69 chain stakeholders. The second analysis comprised an in-depth case study based on an important malting-barley- to-beer supply chain in Eastern England, and had the purpose of providing further understanding of those aspects that were highlighted by the SEM. The overall results pointed out to five factors affecting the relationships in the malting barley to beer agri-food supply chain: communication, compatibility of aims in the supply chain, contractual relationships backed by professional regard and personal bonds; high levels of trust exist between the chain participants and a willingness to resolve any problems; and commercial benefit.supply chain management, malting barley supply chain, supply chain coordination, competitiveness, Agribusiness,
Sendo Escritor
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunição e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, Florianópolis, 2011A tese levanta questões sobre a experiência da escrita para além do caráter institucionalizado da autoria conforme definida pela função autor. Através da análise de "falas de si" de escritores e de aspirantes a escritor, busca debater a constituição do sujeito escritor: aquele sujeito que se constitui a partir de sua própria escrita, assumindo (ou não) diferentes posições em relação às instituições de escrita. Esta possível constituição do sujeito escritor é analisada através de passagens efetuadas por escritores no decorrer de suas experiências com a escrita: o escritor iniciante (passando de não-escritor a escritor), o escritor em consagração (passando de escritor a autor) e o escritor ao final de sua escrita, que desiste de escrever (passando de escritor/autor a não-escritor). Através de depoimentos autobiográficos, o escritor vai além de suas ficções narradas, e testemunha seu aparecimento enquanto sujeito escritor, sempre em constante mudança, transformação e criação de si mesmo. Num movimento de subjetivação de si, como formula Marguerite Duras, escreve para saber o que escreveria se escrevesse. Com isso, torna-se outro a partir daquilo que escreve, pela crença num sujeito escritor que transforma sua própria vida em existência estética, em um modo de vida.This dissertation brings up questions about the experience of writing, beyond the institutional character of authorship provided by the Author Function. By analyzing #speeches of the self# by writers and aspiring writers, it proposes a debate on the constitution of the writing subject: a subject that constitutes itself from its own writing, taking on (or not) different positions regarding writing institutions. The study of this possible constitution of the writing subject focuses on three changes made by writers during their writing experiences, corresponding to: (1) the beginner (changing from non-writer to writer), (2) the writer to be acclaimed (changing from writer to author), and (3) the writer at the end of his/her writing activity, the one who gives up writing (changing from writer/author to non-writer). Through autobiographical texts, a writer goes beyond his/her narrated fictions, and testifies his/her appearance as a writing subject, in permanent change, always transforming and creating him/herself. In a movement of subjectivation of the self, he/she writes in order to know what he/she would write if he/she wrote (as Marguerite Duras would say). Thus, the writer becomes another one by writing what he/she writes, by the faith in a writing subject the transforms his/her own life in an aesthetic existence, in a way of life
Contractual savings for housing : How suitable are they for transitional economies?
No full textProblems of developing financial services for housing are acute in transitional socialist economies. The authors examine contractual savings for housing (CSH), which are often advocated as a primary solution, especially in Central and Eastern European countries. A CSH instrument links a phase of contractual savings remunerated at below-market rate to the promise of a housing loan at a rate also fixed below market at the time the contract is signed. This contract can contain a variety of options. CSH were used very successfully in Europe after World War II. The issue today is not whether such specialized instruments can work. They clearly can under low inflation. The issue is whether CSH systems are advisable today in latecomer countries with vastly different financial technology and financial policy environments. The authors focus on two influential CSH systems: the"closed"German Bausparsystem and the"open"French epargne-logement. In a"closed"CSH system, access to a housing loan is based on queuing: a loan can be made only if funds are available in the specialist institution. In an"open"system, the saver can legally call his or her loan at contract maturity, regardless of the liquidity conditions in the CSH system. From the perspective of households, CSH contracts facilitate the accumulation of equity and offer the prospect of a low-interest loan. They promote savings discipline and provide a concrete goal that many households find important. But CSH instruments leave the objective of providing a primary loan unmet. In additon, even moderate inflation quickly leads to very low loan-to-value ratios for CSH loans and a large financing gap for housing purchases. From the perspective of financial institutions, CSH can help overcome the severe information asymmetries they face in transitional socialist economies, where there are no retail financial markets, no credit bureaus, problematic income reporting. CSH are very effective in screening, monitoring, and establishing the reputation of steady savers as future borrowers, and they are good at lowering credit risks. With their saving periods of four to five years, CSH also help bridge the gap between long-term loans and short-term deposits. Finally, CSH can be an important commercial tool for developing cross-lending activities. But CSH can be risky. When the interest rate on outstanding contracts is low compared with current market rates, holders of mature contracts will want to call their loans. And new savers will be reluctant to sign on at very low contract rates. Eliminating this liquidity risk with a"closed"CSH system erodes the attractiveness of CSH. From the perspective of government, a CSH instrument can work in a noninflationary environment, yet a CSH system would have no justification in fully developed and competitive financial markets today. CSH instruments can play a useful but not a dominant role in housingfinance. After stabilization, they can overcome information constraints on financial contracts, and contribute to higher financial savings rates. CSH instruments are best used to finance home improvements. They can also be used as part of a social policy to reach targeted social groups.Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Housing Finance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Housing Finance,Financial Intermediation,Non Bank Financial Institutions
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