The general aim of the research is to determine the relationship between personality traits as measured by the Customer Contact Styles Questionnaire (CCSQ 7.2) and work performance as measured by means of internal company data sources, of call centre agents. Recent literature indicates a significant relationship between personality traits and work performance. The emphasis in this research is on the factor analytical or trait approach of personality. The sample consisted of 300 call centre agents. The relationship between personality traits and work performance is discussed in terms of descriptive statistics, correlations and multiple regression analyses. The results indicate a relationship between the personality traits of analytical thinking, detail consciousness, conscientiousness, structuredness and work performance as measured by the level of financial incentives for call centre agents. This finding could be implemented in the selection and performance management of call centre agents. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial Psychology)

Le phénomène de résonance sol (PRS) est une instabilité pouvant survenir lorsque l’hélicoptère est au sol et le rotor est en marche ; elle peut vite aboutir à la destruction de l’appareil. L’origine de l’instabilité est un couplage entre les mouvements de roulis du fuselage posée sur le train d’atterrissage et le mouvement asymétrique de l’ensemble des pales dans le plan du rotor principal. Etudier théoriquement des alternatives de stabilisation par des absorbeurs de vibration linéaires (tuned mass dampers - TMD) et non linéaires (nonlinear energy sinks - NES) c’est le sujet de ce travail de thèse. Ces possibilités sont étudiées en ajoutant à un modèle minimal d’un hélicoptère à quatre pales identiques (rotor isotrope),précédemment étudié par l’équipe de l’ISAE, d’abord, un TMD au fuselage, puis des TMD identiques auniveau de l’articulation des pales du rotor. Ensuite, des dispositifs à raideur purement non linéaire (NES)sont considérées, d’abord, au fuselage, puis, aux pales du rotor (NES identiques). / Helicopter ground resonance (HGR) is an instability phenomenon that can occur when helicopters exhibit a spinning rotor when grounded; it can lead the structure to rapidly break apart. The phenomenon originates from a coupling between asymmetric modes of in plane blade oscillations (lead/ lag) and the roll of a grounded fuselage. The verification of alternative stabilization devices such as tuned mass dampers (TMD) and nonlinear absorbers (nonlinear energy sinks - NES) is the objective of this thesis. These possibilities are theoretically investigated by embedding a four-bladed helicopter minimal model - proposed and previously studied by the ISAE team - first, with a TMD in the fuselage, then with four identical TMDs in each blade lag hinge. Then, a NES attached to the fuselage is considered and eventually a set of four identical NES attached to the blade lag hinges of the model is proposed and analyzed.

Bien que la commande prédictive fasse appel à des paramètres ayant une signification concrète, la valeur de ces derniers impacte fortement les performances obtenues du système à contrôler. Leur réglage n’étant pas trivial, la littérature fait état d’un nombre conséquent de méthodes de réglage. Celles-ci ne garantissent cependant pas des valeurs optimales. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une approche analytique et originale de réglage de ces paramètres. Initialement applicable aux systèmes MIMO linéaires, l’approche proposée a été étendue aux systèmes non linéaires avec ou sans contraintes et pour lesquels il existe un modèle Takagi-Sugeno (T-S). La classe des systemès non linéaires considérés ici est écrite sous la forme quasi-linéaire paramétrique (quasi-LPV). Sous l’hypothese que le système soit commandable et observable, la méthode proposée garantit la stabilité optimale de ce système en boucle fermée. Pour ce faire, elle s’appuie, d’une part, sur une technique d’amélioration du conditionnement de la matrice hessienne et, d’autre part, sur le concept de rang effectif. Elle présente également l’avantage de requérir une charge calculatoire moindre que celle des approches identifiées dans la littérature. L’intérêt de l’approche proposée est montré à travers l’application en simulation à différents systèmes de complexité croissante. Les travaux menés ont permis d’aboutir à une stratégie de commande prédictive auto-adaptative dénommée "ATSMPC" (Adaptive Takagi-Sugeno Model-based Predictive Control). / Even though predictive control uses concrete parameters, the value of these latter has a strong impact on the obtained performances from the system to be controlled. Their tuning is not trivial. That is why the literature reports a number of adjustment methods. However, these ones do not always guarantee optimal values. The goal of this thesis is to propose an analytical and original tuning tuning approach of these parameters. Initially applicable to linear MIMO systems, the proposed approach has been extended to non-linear systems with or without constraints and for which a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) model exists. The class of nonlinear systems considered here is written in quasi-linear parametric form (quasi-LPV). Assuming that the system is controllable and observable, the proposed method guarantees the optimal stability of this closed-loop system. To do this, it relies, on the one hand, on a conditioning improving technique of the Hessian matrix and, on the other hand, on the concept of effective rank. It also has the advantage of requiring a lower computational load than the approaches identified in the literature. The interest of the proposed approach is shown through the simulation on different systems of increasingcomplexity. The work carried out has led to a self-adaptive predictive control strategy called "ATSMPC" (Adaptive Takagi-Sugeno Model-based Predictive Control).

This study explores the various processes that constructed and transformed the undergraduate curriculum in a Faculty of Education at a South African university. It attempts to delve beneath the representation of post-apartheid curriculum change as a linear process. The thesis argues that scholars should attempt to unravel how the curriculum performs the task of social transformation at the site of the university by empirically investigating how the relationship between structure and action links with the ideals of post-apartheid higher education policy. Theoretically, this study posits that the deficit in the local literature on the use of the structure/agency relationship as a heuristic device for examining institutional change should be addressed with the relational sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology)

This study explores the various processes that constructed and transformed the undergraduate curriculum in a Faculty of Education at a South African university. It attempts to delve beneath the representation of post-apartheid curriculum change as a linear process. The thesis argues that scholars should attempt to unravel how the curriculum performs the task of social transformation at the site of the university by empirically investigating how the relationship between structure and action links with the ideals of post-apartheid higher education policy. Theoretically, this study posits that the deficit in the local literature on the use of the structure/agency relationship as a heuristic device for examining institutional change should be addressed with the relational sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology)