Coming dissertations at Uppsala university
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Revisiting a Brunswikian View on Intuitive and Analytic Thought : The Cognitive Processes in Multiple-Cue Judgment
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-537796
Intuitive and analytic thought has been discussed since the time of the ancient Greek philosophers. The current thesis reintroduces an operational definition from Egon Brunswik (1956), conceptualizing intuitive processes as approximate, ubiquitously affected by error, and analytic processes as predominantly deterministic with occasional error. The thesis is focused on multiple-cue judgments, a type of judgment where multiple pieces of information (cues) are integrated to make a judgment regarding some distal factor (criterion). These types of judgments occur constantly in everyday life. You judge the potential helpfulness of a new colleague, the ripeness of an avocado you intend to buy, or the reasonable price of an apartment based on multiple information-baring cues. Research on multiple-cue judgment has often investigated whether people approach such tasks with a rule-based or memory-based cognitive process. The current thesis investigates the intuitive or analytic instantiation of rule-based and memory-based processes in multiple-cue judgment tasks to nuance and deepen the understanding of processing in such tasks. In Study I, a computational model is developed to formalize and test the Brunswikian conceptualization of intuitive and analytic thought. The model correctly identifies the parameters of a generating model and differentiates between more or less analytic processes across both perceptual and conceptual tasks. Study II investigates the effects of verbal and numeric information on learning and cognitive processing in a multiple-cue learning task. Across formats, participants primarily approached the task with an analytic process, and verbal information was beneficial for learning in non-additive tasks by inviting memory-based processing. Study III presents a conceptual framework for understanding more intuitive or analytic instantiations of rule-based and memory-based cognitive algorithms. Rule-based algorithms were implemented by either a fully analytic or intuitive process, and the mode of implementation was strongly driven by the nature of the feedback (deterministic vs. probabilistic). In contrast, memory-based algorithms were implemented more along a continuum. Study IV compares the mainstream fast-and-slow dual-process perspective, which associates intuitive processes with high speed and analytic ones with low speed, with the presented Brunswikian approach. Across four multiple-cue learning experiments, the Brunswikian perspective was supported, whereas evidence pointed against the predictions from fast-and-slow dual-process theory. In conclusion, the thesis presents a novel operationalization of intuitive and analytic thought and shows how investigating the noise in cognitive processes can provide information regarding the cognitive processing of an individual. By analyzing the noise in rule-based and memory-based processes, a more nuanced description of these cognitive processes is presented.
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High-performance SiO2 matrix glass ceramics
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-537936
Silica-based glass ceramics are widely used in biomedical applications due to their exceptional biocompatibility and tailorable properties. However, their application is often limited by low mechanical strength, which can be improved by optimizing the crystalline phase that determines their final properties. Silicon nitride (Si3N4) and Zirconia (ZrO2) are particularly appealing ceramics due to their favorable combination of mechanical strength and biological compatibility. In this thesis, the development of two types of glass ceramics, Si3N4-SiO2 and ZrO2-SiO2 glass ceramics is explored to address these challenges by controlling their microstructure and engineering the nanointerfaces between ceramic/ceramic grains and ceramic grain/glass matrix.
In Si3N4-SiO2 glass ceramics, raw powders containing three different Si3N4 contents were prepared. The results showed that the β-Si3N4 crystalline phase is well distributed within the SiO2 matrix. The mechanical properties of the glass ceramics improved with increasing Si3N4 content and increasing sintering temperature, reaching a maximum flexural strength of 452±33 MPa and fracture toughness of 6.4±0.5 MPa∙m1/2 at 70 wt% Si3N4 composition. The highest antibacterial rate against S. epidermidis was observed in the 50SiN samples, at 79%.
In the ZrO2-SiO2 glass ceramics, the raw powders with varying types (K+, Mg2+, Al3+, Ce4+, and Ta5+) and amounts of dopants were prepared by a modified sol-gel method. TEM results showed the ZrO2 crystals were embedded within the amorphous SiO2 matrix, with Mg2+, Al3+, and Ce4+ ions primarily segregating at the grain boundaries of ZrO2 crystals while K+ and Ta5+ ions mainly dissolved within the grains. The Mg-doped samples showed the highest toughness at 12.39±1.34 MPa∙m1/2, attributed to the enhanced interfacial strength between the dopants and ZrO2 crystals. FEM simulation shows that enhanced interfacial bonding lead to more diffused cracking and dissipating energy compared to the conventional interfacial weakening theory. The antibacterial performance of the ZrO2-SiO2 was improved by nitrogen ion implantation of the surface. The antibacterial rate against S.aureus reached 49 ± 24% for samples implanted at fluences of 1×1017 ions/cm².
In conclusion, different SiO2 matrix glass ceramics were developed with enhancing mechanical strength and antibacterial properties. The results indicate that these materials hold significant potential for biomedical applications.
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Meningserbjudanden om metaforiskt språk i ämnet svenska som andraspråk i gymnasieskolan
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-537732
The aim of the current thesis is to provide knowledge about what discursive offers of meaning the teaching of Swedish as a second language gives students to develop knowledge of metaphorical language. The study has three research questions, which are answered in separate sub-studies. Sub-study I examines regulatory documents, sub-study II examines teachers' statements about teaching, and sub-study III examines textbooks. The thesis adopts a curriculum theoretical perspective and applies a qualitative methodology.
The study is based on two assumptions: (1) that discursive offers of meaning of metaphorical language as a content can be found in regulatory documents, in teachers' statements about teaching and in textbooks, (2) that the three sub-studies can be understood as belonging to three curriculum theoretical arenas: the formulation arena (sub-study I), the transformation arena and the realization arena (sub-study II and III). The thesis also provides an interpretive discussion of the results from the individual sub-studies and the results from the study in relation to different educational traditions within the subject of Swedish.
The material used in the study consists of the subject plan and two contextualizing commentary materials for Swedish as a second language in curriculum Gy11, interviews with nine licensed and active teachers of Swedish as a second language and seven textbooks intended for the subject's three courses. The study is qualitative, and the materials are analysed using thematic analysis, didactic analysis and content analysis as methods.
The results reveal that Swedish as a second language can provide discursive offers of meaning of metaphorical language as a content. The teaching of the subject is largely guided by the content of the subject's objective description, the central content of the courses and the content of the national tests in grades 1 and 3. Teachers do not address metaphorical language explicitly in the teaching of Swedish as a second language, except in two contexts: in connection with argumentation and in teaching about literary analysis.
The conclusion of the study is that Swedish as a second language has the potential to provide discursive offers of meaning of metaphorical language as a content in teaching, but this potential is mostly not taken advantage of in the teaching of Swedish L2.