No abstract / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Private Law / LLM / Unrestricted

This research innovation reports on the application of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® theory in facilitating and assessing learning in Mathematics in the senior phase, Grades 7 - 9. It is a two-part interrelated initiative that seeks both to augment current Mathematics-specific educational theories to improve practice, as well as to reflect on ways that these theories impact on the teaching practice. The literature review synthesises existing educational theories in terms of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® model into a new proposed comprehensive Mathematics-specific Whole Brain® model. This synthesis of existing “good practices” in Mathematics education in terms of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® model, supports the need for a Whole Brain® approach to teaching Mathematics. Furthermore, it hopes to be a user-friendly model with which teachers can plan and facilitate learning and assessment opportunities in Mathematics. Data was collected on the thinking preferences of each Mathematics teacher participant, as well learners’ perception of their teachers’ thinking preferences. Both qualitative and quantitative data was used to report on the findings. Individual and collective reflective practices, situated in the framework of professional development and action research, were used to analyse and report on the findings. The reflective practice resulting from the initiative is in itself an outcome of the research, since “those teachers who are students of their own effects are the teachers who are the most influential in raising students’ achievement” (Hattie & Yates, 2014, p. 24). The degree to which the reflective process impacted on each participant’s practice appears to be dependent on each teacher’s level of professional development. Teacher participants engaging in post-graduate studies showed the ability to complement their “existing competencies with needed situational competencies” (Herrmann, 1996, p. 39), meaning that these teachers were not limited by their thinking preferences, but were able to employ lesser preferred preferences when needed. Each teacher participant’s unique set of thinking preferences was obtained using the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI®). When each of these unique profiles were combined, they produced a compound Whole Brain® profile. This supported Herrmann’s (1990, p. 10) notion that every sizeable group would consist of a “composite whole brain”, but also showed that there is no specific set of thinking preferences unique to a Mathematics teacher. The learner questionnaires also indicated a reasonably balanced Whole Brain® profile amongst learners, supporting the need for a Whole Brain® approach to facilitating learning and assessing in Mathematics. The reflective cyclic process of theory informing practice and practice in turn informing theory is at the core of this research innovation. This cyclic process has become my living theory from which I hope to inspire others to engage in similar initiatives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

L’objectif de ce travail était d’identifier certains des déterminants perceptivo-cognitfs et/ou perceptivo-moteurs de l’expertise dans les sports de balle dans des environnements virtuels. Des joueurs de tennis et de basket avec différents niveaux d’expertise ont été testés au cours d’une première partie expérimentale comportant deux études de jugements perceptivo-cognitifs et une étude de poursuite visuo-manuelle. Les résultats n’ont pas montré de différence liée à l’expertise dans les tâches de jugements perceptivo-cognitifs, mais seulement dans la tâche de poursuite visuo-manuelle. Ce résultat questionne sur le rôle des représentations (ou des modèles internes) dans le développement de l’expertise et met en avant l’importance des régulations perceptivo-motrices pour discriminer l’expertise. Sur la base de ces résultats et afin d’explorer davantage l’expertise dans le registre perceptivo-moteur, une seconde partie expérimentale comportant trois expérimentations a été réalisée en utilisant des tâches de poursuite visuo-manuelle. Les résultats révèlent des capacités d’adaptation et de régulation du mouvement supérieures des experts particulièrement dans les situations où les trajectoires sont peu prévisibles. Les résultats obtenus au cours de cette thèse permettent en définitive de mettre en évidence que les tâches de poursuite visuo-manuelle aussi schématiques soient-elles, sont discriminantes de l’expertise en sport de balle. Ils soulignent des perspectives de développement des environnements virtuels pour tester et entraîner les experts dans le registre perceptivo-moteur. / The aim of this thesis is to identify the perceptual-cognitive and perceptual-motor determinants of expertise in ball sports in virtual environments. Tennis and basketball players with different levels of expertise were tested. To this purpose, the first experimental part contained two perceptual judgment studies and a visuomotor tracking study. Results did not show any difference between experts and non-experts in perceptual judgment tasks, but only in the visuomotor tracking task. Results raise some questions about the role of representations (or internal models) in the development of expertise. Results highlight the importance of perceptual-motor regulations to discriminate expertise. In order to explore more deeply the perceptual-motor process of expertise, a second experimental part involving three experiments was performed using visuomotor tracking tasks. Results reveal higher adaptation and regulation abilities of experts, particularly in the most constraint periods of tracking. This finding highlights that the visuomotor tracking tasks can discriminate expertise in ball sports. The present thesis reveals the potential of virtual environments to test and train perceptual-motor processes of experts.

Invalidity and Ineffectiveness of Legal Action in Insolvency Proceedings Abstract The subject of this thesis is a comprehensive analysis of the institute of invalidity of legal actions and ineffectiveness of legal actions and the incorporation of these concepts in contemporary legal theory and practice. The legislation protects the rights of recipients of the law and the public interest by identifying the legal actions which contradict the principles of morality or (and?) the law, as absolutely or relatively invalid, if the meaning and the purpose of the Act so require. Legal actions are also considered invalid if those actions undertake to the fulfilment of something impossible and in certain cases also if those actions are not made in the required form or if they are an error. The current legislation also protects creditors from the behaviour of debtors, if they intentionally shorten their creditors, through an institution called the relative ineffectiveness of legal action. The purpose is to protect creditors, guarantors and other persons against this shortening legal actions made by debtors. Such conduct of the debtor is formally not problematic, but it damages creditors, who therefore have the right to demand that the court determines such action is ineffective (only) against them. The author's...

Researchers in environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD) have discussed in what way young people’s experience impact their action competence (e.g. Almers 2009; Schnack 1996; Breiting &Mogensen 1999; Lundegård 2007). In my research I wanted to study if and how action research (AR) including the students’ reflections may contribute to a pluralistic education in ESD. The AR was made together with a teacher at a secondary school in year 9. We worked on equal level in planning and often during the lessons, but I, as the researcher, was making the Analysis and the Questions of the interviews. I made three group interviews with five students. The other students were answering questions in logbooks. I also interviewed the teacher. Early on the class visited an exhibition at the National Museum of Science in Stockholm. During the next lesson the students wrote in their logbooks about their thoughts after visiting the museum, and I interviewed five students. The teacher and I read their reflections and observed what we had to pay attention to during the next lesson. Many students had been afraid of the future and started thinking that their children might not have a future; everything on the globe is spoilt, ice flows everywhere. The teacher and I decided to talk more about whose responsibility it is (Öhman 2006; Lundegård 2007). We found support in Ojala’s (2007) thesis.This was the first question we had to deal with in our Action Research. The teacher and I planned a new cycle of action, where we talked about the environment and whose responsibility is it.We talked about society, economy and politics, because we had noticed that the students were thinking that they were guilty for the global situation. Further on the students got more action competence and were more motivated and interested in environmental problems, and also critical in many ways about how societies and politicians were dealing with the environment issues. The next time the students were reflecting, they were not talking about worries for the future. Instead they had started to think about constructive actions favoring the globe’s future. Other things we took care of were when the students needed help with their studies about life-styles. They were working in groups, 3-5 members in each group, and they were taking initiatives, planning and acting and after the study they made presentations of their work in front of the whole class. I found that the Pluralistic way of education worked fine together with my action research and the students were able to take their own decisions in the environmental questions. They had gained action competence now and for the future. / Lärarforskarskolan Klimatutveckling och Vattenresurser

Thesis advisor: M. Brinton Lykes / Every day Muslim women in the United States wake up to a harsh political world that attacks their identities, communities, and freedom. In this context, Muslim women endure immense psychological tolls on their sense of identity, safety, and relationships. For many of them, walking out the door and claiming their Muslim identity is an act of political resistance. Despite the disempowerment they may experience, many engage in social actions to resist these oppressive forces. Yet, Muslim women activists have received strikingly little attention in the psychological literature. To date, no research has explored the psychosocial experiences of Muslim women who engage in activism, nor the meanings they make of these engagements or their trajectories of resistance. Using a participatory research approach informed by art-based inquiry techniques, this inductive qualitative study explored 10 Muslim women activists’ trajectories into and experiences of engaging in social action. A constructivist theoretical model of Muslim women activists' processes of resistance and community liberation was developed through qualitative inductive analyses of in-depth interviews and participants’ illustrations. Eight “clusters” have been configured to map a model that represents both processes and outcomes of how these 10 women engaged, experienced, and made meaning of their activism. They include: (1) living in a post 9/11 sociopolitical context; (2) navigating the Muslim community context; (3) internal experiences of being a Muslim woman; (4) guiding ideals toward activism journey; (5) development of political analyses; (6) resistance actions toward social change; (7) burdens and benefits of engagement in resistance; and (8) supportive forces in the process of resistance.  Although only representative of 10 participants, the model is sufficiently theorized to suggest that life in a multiply traumatizing context shapes Muslim women activists’ experiences, precluding and contributing to their persistence and resistance throughout and during their engagement in social change work. Political analyses and ideals are vital in their descriptions of their trajectories of becoming activists. Benefits and burdens that are inevitable in social change work include both the thrill and fun of engaging in activism as well as the costs to relationships and conflicts inherent in such work. Finally, encouragement by other Muslims and allies is discussed as a valuable source of support to Muslim women activists. Limitations are discussed and implications are proposed to inform possibilities for future healing centered research and action. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Dans cette étude nous proposons un parallèle entre le Brésil et la France, avec un focus sur les différences et ressemblances des enjeux au sein des deux sociétés, en ce qui concerne l’action sociale et ses formes d’expression dans le champ religieux. Cette question sera illustrée par l’étude des activités développées au sein de l’organisation missionnaire de tendance évangélique charismatique Youth With a Mission (YWAM), crée en 1960 par Loren Cunningham aux États-Unis et implantée dans les deux pays. Au travers d’un ensemble d’entretiens et d’une enquête comparative observant les dynamiques personnelles des missionnaires et les actions prosélytes parachurch, l’objectif est de comprendre la situation dans laquelle ces pays se trouvent aujourd’hui en fonction des stratégies prosélytistes intégrées au travail social. Nous nous sommes concentré sur l’analyse du rôle des acteurs évangéliques de YWAM, en tant qu’acteurs associatifs et partenaires dans le domaine de l’action sociale au sein d’États dans lesquels l’État Providence et la conception de la laïcité différent. Nous démontrerons que le choix de la politique sociale appliquée et les éléments qui ressortent de ce système sur les résultats pratiques du cadre de vie des populations des deux pays jouent un rôle sur la manière dont s’exprime la religion et se comportent ses membres, comme dans les moyens d’évangélisation et d’entraide. Dans cette dynamique, nous verrons les implications des actions menées par l’organisation, les effets produits par une « collaboration » entre le religieux et la sphère sociale, et sa rencontre avec la logique des dispositifs juridico-administratifs français et brésilien. Nous explorerons quelques pistes sur les nouvelles formes de sociabilité qui se sont présentées en termes religieux, de manières d’agir et de communiquer. Au-delà du domaine socio-politique, la thèse s’intéresse aussi à la compréhension de l’insertion des jeunes dans les institutions religieuses en tant que professionnels de la foi, quittant un style de vie ordinaire pour un engagement religieux. Notre objectif est de comprendre qui sont ces jeunes, leurs historiques familiaux, leur trajectoires personnelles et comment cette nouvelle vie est perçue et vécue à travers leurs motivations. / This research presents a comparative study of aspects of social action and forms of expression within the religious field within Brazil and France. The study focuses on the activities of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), an evangelical charismatic missionary organisation founded in the United States by Loren Cunningham in 1960 and now present in both France and Brazil. Through interviews and comparative observations of the interpersonal dynamics and parachurch proselytizing actions of the missionaries, the aim of the study is to understand the relative impact of the country contexts on the proselytizing strategies of the organisation within its social work. We also analyse the role of the YWAM as social actors and state partners in the social sector, comparing the differing country context of secularism and the welfare state. In this analysis, we consider the issue of public-private collaboration produced by the convergence between YWAM's actions and the distinct legal-administrative contexts in Brazil and France. How do these convergences create innovative forms of social interactions, in terms of religion, social action, and communication? Beyond the socio-political domain, this thesis aims to study the immersion of youths within religious institutions as faith professionals by leaving an ordinary life for a religious commitment. The research analyses who these youths are, and how their family backgrounds and personal trajectories have motivated them to adopt this mode of life.

Les robots sont les futurs compagnons et équipiers de demain. Que ce soit pour aider les personnes âgées ou handicapées dans leurs vies de tous les jours ou pour réaliser des tâches répétitives ou dangereuses, les robots apparaîtront petit à petit dans notre environnement. Cependant, nous sommes encore loin d'un vrai robot autonome, qui agirait de manière naturelle, efficace et sécurisée avec l'homme. Afin de doter le robot de la capacité d'agir naturellement avec l'homme, il est important d'étudier dans un premier temps comment les hommes agissent entre eux. Cette thèse commence donc par un état de l'art sur l'action conjointe en psychologie et philosophie avant d'aborder la mise en application des principes tirés de cette étude à l'action conjointe homme-robot. Nous décrirons ensuite le module de supervision pour l'interaction homme-robot développé durant la thèse. Une partie des travaux présentés dans cette thèse porte sur la gestion de ce que l'on appelle un plan partagé. Ici un plan partagé est une séquence d'actions partiellement ordonnées à effectuer par l'homme et/ou le robot afin d'atteindre un but donné. Dans un premier temps, nous présenterons comment le robot estime l'état des connaissances des hommes avec qui il collabore concernant le plan partagé (appelées états mentaux) et les prend en compte pendant l'exécution du plan. Cela permet au robot de communiquer de manière pertinente sur les potentielles divergences entre ses croyances et celles des hommes. Puis, dans un second temps, nous présenterons l'abstraction de ces plan partagés et le report de certaines décisions. En effet, dans les précédents travaux, le robot prenait en avance toutes les décisions concernant le plan partagé (qui va effectuer quelle action, quels objets utiliser...) ce qui pouvait être contraignant et perçu comme non naturel par l'homme lors de l'exécution car cela pouvait lui imposer une solution par rapport à une autre. Ces travaux vise à permettre au robot d'identifier quelles décisions peuvent être reportées à l'exécution et de gérer leur résolutions suivant le comportement de l'homme afin d'obtenir un comportement du robot plus fluide et naturel. Le système complet de gestions des plan partagés à été évalué en simulation et en situation réelle lors d'une étude utilisateur. Par la suite, nous présenterons nos travaux portant sur la communication non-verbale nécessaire lors de de l'action conjointe homme-robot. Ces travaux sont ici focalisés sur l'usage de la tête du robot, cette dernière permettant de transmettre des informations concernant ce que fait le robot et ce qu'il comprend de ce que fait l'homme, ainsi que des signaux de coordination. Finalement, il sera présenté comment coupler planification et apprentissage afin de permettre au robot d'être plus efficace lors de sa prise de décision. L'idée, inspirée par des études de neurosciences, est de limiter l'utilisation de la planification (adaptée au contexte de l'interaction homme-robot mais coûteuse) en laissant la main au module d'apprentissage lorsque le robot se trouve en situation "connue". Les premiers résultats obtenus démontrent sur le principe l'efficacité de la solution proposée. / In the future, robots will become our companions and co-workers. They will gradually appear in our environment, to help elderly or disabled people or to perform repetitive or unsafe tasks. However, we are still far from a real autonomous robot, which would be able to act in a natural, efficient and secure manner with humans. To endow robots with the capacity to act naturally with human, it is important to study, first, how humans act together. Consequently, this manuscript starts with a state of the art on joint action in psychology and philosophy before presenting the implementation of the principles gained from this study to human-robot joint action. We will then describe the supervision module for human-robot interaction developed during the thesis. Part of the work presented in this manuscript concerns the management of what we call a shared plan. Here, a shared plan is a a partially ordered set of actions to be performed by humans and/or the robot for the purpose of achieving a given goal. First, we present how the robot estimates the beliefs of its humans partners concerning the shared plan (called mental states) and how it takes these mental states into account during shared plan execution. It allows it to be able to communicate in a clever way about the potential divergent beliefs between the robot and the humans knowledge. Second, we present the abstraction of the shared plans and the postponing of some decisions. Indeed, in previous works, the robot took all decisions at planning time (who should perform which action, which object to use…) which could be perceived as unnatural by the human during execution as it imposes a solution preferentially to any other. This work allows us to endow the robot with the capacity to identify which decisions can be postponed to execution time and to take the right decision according to the human behavior in order to get a fluent and natural robot behavior. The complete system of shared plans management has been evaluated in simulation and with real robots in the context of a user study. Thereafter, we present our work concerning the non-verbal communication needed for human-robot joint action. This work is here focused on how to manage the robot head, which allows to transmit information concerning what the robot's activity and what it understands of the human actions, as well as coordination signals. Finally, we present how to mix planning and learning in order to allow the robot to be more efficient during its decision process. The idea, inspired from neuroscience studies, is to limit the use of planning (which is adapted to the human-aware context but costly) by letting the learning module made the choices when the robot is in a "known" situation. The first obtained results demonstrate the potential interest of the proposed solution.

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Extraordinary remedies in the civil procedure Abstract This thesis deals with extraordinary remedies in the civil law system. First, the thesis provides a definition of each remedy system and a brief description of the main principles on which the remedy systems are built. Then, in chapters three to five, the thesis discusses the individual extraordinary remedies, with particular attention paid to the extraordinary appeal due to its privileged position among the remedies. The extraordinary appeal is followed by a discussion of the action for nullity and then the action for retrial. The positive legislation in Act No 99/1963 Coll., the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended, regulates the action for a declaration of annulment and the action for a retrial together in chapter four. Therefore, chapter five of this thesis deals in particular with the exceptions to the action for a retrial. Chapter six of this thesis aims to present the analogical institutes of extraordinary appeal in the German and Austrian legal systems, which is in particular the revision. In particular, the chapter discusses the conditions under which a given remedy is admissible and presents some specific institutes of the analogical legal systems. Chapter six concludes with a comparison of the frequency of pending appeal/review cases with the...