Pragmatic Formulation Research Articles

A derived heuristics based multi-objective optimization procedure for micro-grid scheduling

ABSTRACTWith the availability of different types of power generators to be used in an electric micro-grid system, their operation scheduling as the load demand changes with time becomes an important task. Besides satisfying load balance constraints and the generator's rated power, several other practicalities, such as limited availability of grid power and restricted ramping of power output from generators, must all be considered during the operation scheduling process, which makes it difficult to decide whether the optimization results are accurate and satisfactory. In solving such complex practical problems, heuristics-based customized optimization algorithms are suggested. However, due to nonlinear and complex interactions of variables, it is difficult to come up with heuristics in such problems off-hand. In this article, a two-step strategy is proposed in which the first task deciphers important heuristics about the problem and the second task utilizes the derived heuristics to solve the original problem in a computationally fast manner. Specifically, the specific operation scheduling is considered from a two-objective (cost and emission) point of view. The first task develops basic and advanced level knowledge bases offline from a series of prior demand-wise optimization runs and then the second task utilizes them to modify optimized solutions in an application scenario. Results on island and grid connected modes and several pragmatic formulations of the micro-grid operation scheduling problem clearly indicate the merit of the proposed two-step procedure.

Integrating multicultural education in pre-service teacher training courses

1 IntroductionMulticultural education promotes values such as respect for diversity, understanding of other cultures, tolerance and equal opportunities for every member of society. This approach is a student-cantered one since it assumes that people with different cultural will learn differently, the way they learn being deeply influenced by their cultural heritage, linguistic particularities, cultural identity, values and patterns of thinking, personal history. The term is defined in a broader sense, encompassing not only ethnicity or language, but also gender, social-economic status, religion, special needs or ethical orientation. In school practice, a critical point is abandoning one general/national curriculum and offering to students' particularised curricula that recognize and reflect their cultural identities. Classroom activities and teaching processes should be contextualized, encouraging diversity of opinions and critical thinking. The students coming from traditionally disadvantaged groups benefit from a particular focus. Teaching implies understanding the students' own and personal experiences and using them as a foundation for learning. The approach aims to contribute to equity in education, and ultimately to learning improvement and school success.Another main goal of the approach in education is to enhance cultural awareness and respect for the others, for different people and cultures, to consolidate peoples' social identity and to build a harmonious environment. It attempts to transform individuals and society as well. In a world with a rapidly changing demographic structure, multicultural education seeks to ensure educational equity for members of diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic groups, and to facilitate their participation as critical and reflective citizens in an inclusive national civic culture (Banks, & Ambrosio 2011).Historically, education has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s in the U.S.A., with the emergence of the civil rights movement when ethnic groups demanded that their cultural contribution be presented in the curricula in schools, colleges, universities. In the 1970s, James A. Banks was one of the first scholars to argue for the benefit of a multi-ethnic approach to the curriculum and the author of a comprehensive theoretical model of multicultural/ethnic education. If in the 1960s-1970s the main focus was on the inclusion of the African-American cultural heritage in the curriculum, form the 1980s the ethnical perspective has been extended to other groups or social categories, such as language, gender or social class.In a comprehensive definition multicultural education refers to any form of education or teaching that incorporates the histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds (c.f. Abbott 2014). In a more pragmatic formulation multicultural education is intended to decrease race, ethnicity, class, and gender divisions by helping all students attain the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need in order to become active citizens in a democratic society and participate in social change (Valdez 1999).In a society growing in mobility and diversity, education plays an increasingly important role. In order to ensure equal opportunities of learning for all children in a democratic society, education should gain its place in the teacher training programs. Starting from a pilot investigation, opportunities to include education in the primary school curricula are explored in this paper.2 Dimensions of educationBanks (1995/2004a) describes five critical dimensions of education: content integration, the knowledge construction process, an equity pedagogy, prejudice reduction and an empowering school culture. Although for explanatory reasons each of these dimensions is conceptually distinct, in practice they overlap and are highly interrelated (Banks, & Ambrosio 2011). …

Experiments in Adapting to Need: Pragmatism as Orienting Perspective in Clinical Social Work

In this article I show how conceptions of pragmatism set forth in American philosophy serve as orienting perspectives for critical thinking and decision making in social work practice, providing frames of reference in efforts to engage divergent theories and methods in light of the concrete particulars of the clinical situation. I outline fundamental features of pragmatism, drawing on the seminal contributions of William James and John Dewey, and explore the ways in which organizing principles facilitate efforts to make use of ideas across multiple explanatory systems, bridging scientific and humanistic domains of understanding. I present a case report and consider the ways pragmatic approaches focus our attention on essential concerns in the clinical situation. Pragmatic formulations reaffirm framing perspectives and core values in the American social work tradition, emphasizing the importance of multiple explanatory tools; the practical outcomes of ideas in a given situation; the crucial role of collaborative interaction and experiential learning in understanding, and the focus on the individual and the human particularity of the helping process that ultimately defies categorization.

Fully non-linear and exact perturbations of the Friedmann world model

In 1988 Bardeen has suggested a pragmatic formulation of cosmological perturbation theory which is powerful in practice to employ various fundamental gauge conditions easily depending on the character of the problem. The perturbation equations are presented without fixing the temporal gauge condition and are arranged so that one can easily impose fundamental gauge conditions by simply setting one of the perturbation variables in the equations equal to zero. In this way one can use the gauge degrees of freedom as an advantage in handling problems. Except for the synchronous gauge condition, all the other fundamental gauge conditions completely fix the gauge mode, and consequently, each variable in such a gauge has a unique gauge invariant counterpart, so that we can identify the variable as the gauge-invariant one. Here, we extend Bardeen's linear formulation to fully nonlinear order in perturbations, with the gauge advantage kept intact. Derived equations are exact, and from these we can easily expand to higher order perturbations in a gauge-ready form. We consider scalar- and vector-type perturbations of an ideal fluid in a flat background; we also present the multiple components of ideal fluid case. As applications we present fully nonlinear density and velocity perturbation equations in Einstein's gravity in the zero-pressure medium, vorticity generation from pure scalar-type perturbation, and fluid formulation of a minimally coupled scalar field, all in the comoving gauge. We also present the equation of gravitational waves generated from pure scalar- and vector-type perturbations.

Drug Delivery Research for Pragmatic Formulation Development

Drug Delivery Research for Pragmatic Formulation Development

A Modular Model of Mind/Matter Manifestations (M 5)

While ongoing empirical research into anomalous mind/matter interactions continues to reaffirm the reality of such phenomena, it has heretofore failed to stimulate viable theoretical models, or even to suggest effective strategies for more productive experimentation. In contrast to prevalent presumption, re-examination of several large databases from this laboratory raises doubt that such effects are produced by direct attention of the conscious mind to the observable physical processes addressed. Rather, an alternative route is indicated wherein unconscious mind and intangible physical mechanisms are invoked to achieve anomalous acquisition of mental information about, or anomalous mental influence upon, otherwise inaccessible material processes. Implications for more effective experiments include subtler feedback schemes that facilitate submission of conscious intention to unconscious mental processing; physical target systems that provide a richness of intangible potentialities; operators who are amenable to such interactions; and an environmental ambience that supports the composite strategy. Theoretical requisites include better understanding of the information dialogue between conscious and unconscious aspects of mind; more pragmatic formulations of the relations between tangible and intangible physical processes; and most importantly, cogent representation of the merging of mental and material dimensions into indistinguishability at their deepest levels.

Incomplete Routes to Moral Objectivity: Four Variants of Naturalism

The search for moral objectivity has been constant throughout the history of philosophy, although interpretations of the nature and scope of objectivity have varied. One aim of the pursuit of moral objectivity has been the demonstration of what may be termed its epistemological thesis, that is, the claim that the truth of assertions of the goodness or rightness of moral acts is as legitimate, reliable, or valid as the truth of assertions involving other forms of human knowledge, such as common sense, practical expertise, science, or mathematics. Another aim of the quest for moral objectivity may be termed its pragmatic formulation; this refers to the development of a method or procedure that will mediate among conflicting moral views in order to realize a convergence or justified agreement about warranted or true moral conclusions. In the ethical theories of Aristotle, David Hume, and John Dewey, theories that represent three of the four variants of ethical naturalism (defined below) that are surveyed in this essay, the epistemological thesis and the pragmatic formulation are integrated or combined. The distinction between these two elements is significant for the present essay, however, since I want to show that linguistic naturalism, the fourth variant I shall examine, has provided a demonstration of the epistemological thesis about moral knowledge, even if the pragmatic formulation has not been successfully realized.

Even: How to make theories with a word

Even is a keyword in the semantic and pragmatic formulation of theories. This paper is primarily conceived as a criticial approach to Gricean theories as applied to the treatment of even, and aims at uncovering some of their problematic aspects. The constructive part of the paper, which comes last, defends an argumentative view of the inferential phenomena that appear in discourse when the word even is used.

Ileocolonic anastomosis after right hemicolectomy for carcinoma: stapled or hand-sewn?

440 patients were prospectively enrolled in a randomized, multicenter trial to compare 4 types of manual (84 interrupted end-to-end, 77 continuous end-to-end, 82 interrupted end-to-side, and 91 continuous end-to-side) (polyglycolic derived suture) and 1 type of stapled (106 side-to-side with GIA+TA devices) ileocolonic anastomosis after right hemicolectomy for carcinoma. The trial was designed according to Schwartz' pragmatic formulation. All 5 groups were well-matched, except for a lower rate of intraoperative sepsis in the stapled group (P < 0.02). The main end point was anastomotic leakage detected clinically or by routine sodium diatrizoate enema on the 8-10th postoperative day. Results showed that stapled ileocolonic anastomosis was associated with less anastomotic leakages (2.8%) than all the other techniques combined (8.3%). In spite of the fact that staples are approximately ten times more expensive, our results suggest performing side-to-side (GIA+TA) mechanical anastomosis after right resection for carcinoma.

Sexual misunderstanding: A descriptive and pragmatic formulation.

Sexual misunderstanding: A descriptive and pragmatic formulation.