α2 subunit-containing GABAA receptors (α2-GABAARs) are abundantly expressed in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a region thought to be important in mediating cocaine's reinforcing properties. This thesis develops viral-based RNAi tools in efforts to investigate the functional role of mesoaccumbal α2-GABAARs in mediating cocaine's ability to facilitate conditioned behaviours (i.e. behavioural sensitisation and conditioned reinforcement). RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated knockdown of the α2 subunit expression in the NAc core neither affected appetitive Pavlovian learning nor instrumental learning maintained by the conditioned reinforcer, but blocked cocaine facilitation of conditioned reinforcement. This behavioural phenotype was also observed upon α2 knockdown specifically in NAc core dopamine D2 receptor (D2R)-containing neurons, whereas α2 knockdown in mesoaccumbal D1R-containing neurons reduced the level of discriminated approach during Pavlovian learning. Further, α2 knockdown in the NAc core or shell did not block cocaine-induced sensitisation as previously observed in the constitutive knockouts (Dixon et al., 2010), but the latter increased acute locomotor responses to cocaine. Data presented within this thesis indicate that GABAergic signalling via α2-GABAARs within the NAc is involved in some of the motivation-enhancing properties of cocaine, most likely via interactions with the dopaminergic system.

This study investigates the use of English during English lessons in Years 5 and 6. In order to do that, three research questions were formulated. In order to collect material to answer these research questions, two methods of data collection were combined, namely observations and interviews. Two English teachers at a school in the Stockholm area were observed and interviewed. These observations and interviews helped to collect the material. The result showed that the Swedish language dominates during English lessons. The teachers reported to be determined to use a large amount of English during their lessons; however, it was clear from the observations that this was not the case in practice. The teachers justified their choice of language by stating that the latest research proves that the students should not devote most of their energy to understanding the language as they should instead focus on the tasks. In order to answer the third research question both the teachers were interviewed. They stated that they use different exercises to address the goals of the curriculum.

Gamification is a new but upcoming feature in classrooms that has grown with the digitalisation in Swedish homes and schools. The aim of this literature review is to research how gamification can influence upper secondary students’ language proficiency in English as a foreign language. Five sources were analysed, four journals and one conference paper, and the results show that gamification could increase language proficiency if it is used in a moderate amount and that the summative assessment with instant feedback could be beneficial for students when moderating their own language development. Motivation seems to be the key word in the results and the main subject that all the authors agree can be created and beneficial to the students' language proficiency. The results also showed that gamification is a new feature that has to be researched more in order to give a valid answer to the question of whether or not gamification is appropriate to use in school.

Gamification is a topic that most people assume has something to do with playing video games in the classroom. The aim of this thesis is to discuss how Swedish EFL teachers work with feedback in upper secondary school, what they know about gamification and how gamification and feedback might be related. Four teachers participated in the semi-structured interviews. The results showed that teachers work with formative assessment to a great extent during the year and more with summative feedback at the end. Firstly, the feedback that the teachers gave pupils was both in written and oral production and the feedback itself could also be written and spoken. Secondly, the study showed that gamification and feedback might be related because they can both increase motivation and language development. Finally, the teachers did not know much about gamification, but the study showed that the idea of gamification was being used by teachers. The most commonly used gamified tools used by these teachers were online programs, feedback and rewards.

The primary aim of this study was to explore primary school teachers’ experiences that influence their morale in Bohlabela District, Mpumalanga Province in order to improve practice and create a suitable environment for effective teaching and learning. The aim was achieved by exploring teachers’ experiences, identifying factors which influence the morale of teachers and developing strategies which could be applied to motivate teachers in their profession. The empirical inquiry was informed by behaviourism as a theoretical framework as well as the extant literature on teachers’ morale. The study applied an interpretive paradigm which is qualitative in nature to collect and analyse teachers’ subjective but accurate accounts of their opinions, experiences and perceptions regarding their morale. A case study was opted as the research design method and purposive sampling was used to identify 12 poorly performing rural primary schools and to select information- rich 36 teacher participants, all of who were teaching Grade 6 Mathematics and English. The primary data gathering technique was focus group interviews with teachers. Data extracted from the participants were augmented, supported, confirmed and corroborated by observations. Data were analysed using a thematic data analysis approach. Data were segmented and inductively coded into three main themes which served as the main empirical research findings. The first theme of this study dealt with experiences that influence teachers’ morale which included boredom, frustrations, lack of professional development and feelings of neglect and violence.InIn this theme it was found that experiences such as boredom, lack of professional development, feelings of neglect and school violence negatively affected the morale of teachers. The second theme comprised factors that affect teachers’ morale which included personal factors; work related factors and socio-economic factors. Personal factors and work related factors were also found to play a negative role in the morale of teachers. The third theme comprised intervention strategies to enhance teachers’ morale which included improved communication, family support, safety in schools and parental involvement. Based on the findings of the literature review and the empirical investigation, recommendations were made for the improvement of practice. It was concluded in this study that low teacher morale is a challenge in the schooling systems globally including South Africa. The study further concluded that low teacher morale negatively affects both teachers’ and learners’ productivity. As a way of mitigating problems associated with low teacher morale, it was recommended that the Department of Education should prioritise the issue of consulting teachers as an important component when developing professional development programmes aimed at assisting teachers, this is thought will assist in identifying problem areas which affect the work of teachers which ultimately affects their morale. / Educational Studies

Samhällskunskap är ett betydelsefullt ämne för vårt samhälle idag och för vår fortsatta samhällsutveckling. Ifall de elever som undervisas i ämnet inte blir motiverade kan det leda till negativa konsekvenser för samhällsutvecklingen. Syftet med litteraturstudien är att undersöka vad forskning belyser som betydelsefullt för elevers motivation i samhällskunskap. Studien har sin utgångspunkt i ett svenskt skolperspektiv i skolåren 4–6. Resultatet av litteraturstudien visar, efter att noga analyserat de texter som ligger till grund för textanalysen, att det finns flertalet element med positiv effekt på elevers motivation i samhällskunskap för elever i årskurserna 4–6 i den svenska grundskolan. Det har även framkommit vilka negativa faktorer det finns och vad som kan göra att eleverna blir omotiverade i samhällskunskap. Litteraturstudien har sin grund i två motivationsteorier, den sociokulturella samt den behavioristiska, där den sociokulturella har sin kärna i att motivation framkommer genom lärande med andra medan den behavioristiska teoribildningen, till stor del handlar om att elever blir motiverade av belöningar och bestraffningar. Studien bygger på en teoretisk kvalitativ textanalys, med ett metaetnografiskt perspektiv och ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv som utgångspunkt tillsammans med redskapet färgkodning.

The aim of this research is to show theoretical similarities between emotional intelligence and self-actualisation. The empirical results give evidence of the relationship between these two concepts. An assessment battery consisting of the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (BarOn EQ-i), an emotional intelligence instrument and the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a self-actualisation instrument was used to measure the concepts of emotional intelligence and self-actualisation. A sample of 71 employees was assessed using psychometric tests and a biographical questionnaire. The data was collected over a period of four months. The statistical methods used in this research focus on quantitative measurement. Calculations are mainly done with t-tests and Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient. The empirical results of this research give partial evidence of the correlation between emotional intelligence and self-actualisation. Positive relationships between various factors of emotional intelligence and self-actualisation were found. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.A.(Industrial Psychology)

Traditionally, geometry at school starts on a formal level, largely ignoring prerequisite skills needed for formal spatial reasoning. Ignoring that geometry conceptualisation has a sequential and hierarchical nature, causes ineffective teaching and learning with a long lasting inhibiting influence on spatial development and learning. One of the current reform movements in mathematics education is the appropriate use of dynamic computer technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Concerning mathematics education, the lecturers may involve the introduction of both dynamic computer technology and mathematics in meaningful contexts that will enable interplay between the two. Pre-service mathematics teachers (PMTs) can be encouraged to become actively involved in their learning and, therefore, less frustrated in their study orientation in mathematics. Therefore, such learning environments may be essential to enhance the conceptual understanding of PMTs. To be able to reach their eventual learners, PMTs' own conceptual understanding of geometry should be well developed. When PMTs have conceptual understanding of a mathematical procedure, they will perceive this procedure as a mathematical model of a problem situation, rather than just an algorithm. This study aimed at investigating the effect of a technologically enhanced learning environment on PMTs' understanding of geometry concepts and their study orientation in mathematics, as prerequisite for deep conceptualisation. A combined quantitative and qualitative research approach was used. The quantitative investigation employed a pre-experimental one-group pre-test post-test design. A Mayberry-type test was used to collect data with regard to PMTs' conceptualisation of geometry concepts, while the Study Orientation in Mathematics (SOM) questionnaire was used to collect data with regard their study orientation in mathematics. The qualitative investigation employed phenomenological interviews to collect supplementary information about the participating PMTs' experiences and assessment of the influence of the use of the dynamic software Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP) on their learning and conceptualisation of geometry concepts. During post-testing the participating group of PMTs achieved practically significantly higher scores in the Mayberry-type test, as well as in all fields of the SOM questionnaire. Results seem to indicate that PMTs gained significantly in the expected high levels of conceptualisation, as well as high degrees of acquisition of those levels during the intervention programme. The main conclusion of the study is that a technologically enhanced learning environment (such as GSP) can be successfully utilised to significantly enhance PMTs' conceptualisation and study orientation, as prerequisite for deep conceptualisation, in geometry. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

Multi-agent systems (MASs) can be used to model phenomena that can be decomposed into several interacting agents which exist within an environment. In particular, they can be used to model human and animal societies, for the purpose of analysing their properties by computational means. This thesis is concerned with the automated analysis of a particular kind of such social models, namely, those based on behaviourist principles, which contrasts with the more dominant cognitive approaches found in the MAS literature. The hallmark of behaviourist theories is the emphasis on the definition of behaviour in terms of the interaction between agents and their environment. In this manner, not merely re exive actions, but also learning, drives, and emotions can be defined. More specifically, in this thesis we introduce a formal agent architecture (specified with the Z Notation) based on the Behaviour Analysis theory of B. F. Skinner, and provide a suitable formal notion of environment (based on the pi-calculus process algebra) to bring such agents together as an MAS. Simulation is often used to analyse MASs. The techniques involved typically consist in implementing and then simulating a MAS several times to either collect statistics or see what happens through animation. However, simulations can be used in a more verification-oriented manner if one considers that they are actually explorations of large state-spaces. In this thesis we propose a novel verification technique based on this insight, which consists in simulating a MAS in a guided way in order to check whether some hypothesis about it holds or not. To this end, we leverage the prominent position that environments have in the MASs of this thesis: the formal specification of the environment of a MAS serves to compute the possible evolutions of the MAS as a transition system, thereby establishing the state-space to be investigated. In this computation, agents are taken into account by being simulated in order to determine, at each environmental state, what their actions are. Each simulation execution is a sequence of states in this state-space, which is computed on-the-fly, as the simulation progresses. The hypothesis to be investigated, in turn, is given as another transition system, called a simulation purpose, which defines the desirable and undesirable simulations (e.g., \"every time the agent does X, it will do Y later\"). It is then possible to check whether the MAS satisfies the simulation purpose according to a number of precisely defined notions of satisfiability. Algorithmically, this corresponds to building a synchronous product of these two transitions systems (i.e., the MAS\'s and the simulation purpose) on-the-fly and using it to operate a simulator. That is to say, the simulation purpose is used to guide the simulator, so that only the relevant states are actually simulated. By the end of such an algorithm, it delivers either a conclusive or an inconclusive verdict. If conclusive, it becomes known whether the MAS satisfies the simulation purpose with respect to the observations made during simulations. If inconclusive, it is possible to perform some adjustments and try again. In summary, then, in this thesis we provide four novel elements: (i) an agent architecture; (ii) a formal specification of the environment of these agents, so that they can be composed into an MAS; (iii) a structure to describe the property of interest, which we named simulation purpose; and (iv) a technique to formally analyse the resulting MAS with respect to a simulation purpose. These elements are implemented in a tool, called Formally Guided Simulator (FGS). Case studies executable in FGS are provided to illustrate the approach. / Sistemas multi-agentes (SMAs) podem ser usados para modelar fenômenos que podem ser decompostos em diversos agentes que interagem entre si dentro de um ambiente. Em particular, eles podem ser usados para modelar sociedades humanas e animais, com a finalidade de se analisar as suas propriedades computacionalmente. Esta tese trata da análise automatizada de um tipo particular de tais modelos sociais, a saber, aqueles baseados em princípios behavioristas, o que contrasta com as abordagens cognitivas mais dominante na literatura de SMAs. A principal característica das teorias behaviorista é a ênfase na descrição do comportamento em termos da interação entre agentes e seu ambiente. Desta forma, não apenas ações refl exivas, mas também de aprendizado, motivações, e as emoções podem ser definidas. Mais especificamente, nesta tese apresentamos uma arquitetura de agentes formal (especificada através da Notação Z) baseada na teoria da Análise do Comportamento de B. F. Skinner, e fornecemos uma noção adequada e formal de ambiente (com base na álgebra de processos pi-calculus) para colocar tais agentes juntos em um SMA. Simulações são freqüentemente utilizadas para se analisar SMAs. As técnicas envolvidas tipicamente consistem em simular um SMA diversas vezes, seja para coletar estatísticas, seja para observar o que acontece através de animações. Contudo, simulações podem ser usadas de forma a pertmitir a realização de verificações automatizadas do SMA caso sejam entendidas como explorações de grandes espaços-de-estados. Nesta tese propomos uma técnica de verificação baseada nessa observação, que consiste em simular um SMA de uma forma guiada, a fim de se determinar se uma dada hipótese sobre ele é verdadeira ou não. Para tal fim, tiramos proveito da importância que os ambientes têm nesta tese: a especificação formal do ambiente de um SMA serve para calcular as evoluções possíveis do SMA como um sistema de transição, estabelecendo assim o espaço-de-estados a ser investigado. Neste cálculo, os agentes são levados em conta simulando-os, a fim de determinar, em cada estado do ambiente, quais são suas ações. Cada execução da simulação é uma seqüência de estados nesse espaço-de-estados, que é calculado em tempo de execução, conforme a simulação progride. A hipótese a ser investigada, por sua vez, é dada como um outro sistema de transição, chamado propósito de simulação, o qual define as simulações desejáveis e indesejáveis (e.g., \"sempre que o agente fizer X, ele fará Y depois\"). Em seguida, é possível verificar se o SMA satisfaz o propósito de simulação de acordo com uma série de relações de satisfatibilidade precisamente definidas. Algoritmicamente, isso corresponde a construir um produto síncrono desses dois sistemas de transições (i.e., o do SMA e o do propósito de simulação) em tempo de execução e usá-lo para operar um simulador. Ou seja, o propósito de simulação é usado para guiar o simulador, de modo que somente os estados relevantes sejam efetivamente simulados. Ao terminar, um tal algoritmo pode fornecer um veredito conclusivo ou inconclusivo. Se conclusivo, descobre-se se o SMA satisfaz ou não o propósito de simulação com relação às observações feitas durante as simulações. Se inconclusivo, é possível realizar alguns ajustes e tentar novamente. em resumo, portanto, nesta tese propomos quatro novos elementos: (i) uma arquitetura de agente, (ii) uma especificação formal do ambiente desses agentes, de modo que possam ser compostos em um SMA, (iii) uma estrutura para descrever a propriedade de interesse, a qual chamamos de propósito de simulação, e (iv) uma técnica para se analisar formalmente o SMA resultante com relação a um propósito de simulação. Esses elementos estão implementados em uma ferramenta, denominada Simulador Formalmente Guiado (FGS, do inglês Formally Guided Simulator). Estudos de caso executáveis no FGS são fornecidos para ilustrar a abordagem.

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