This study explores self-efficacy as an explanation for individual differences in participation in a manufacturing organization with a structured participation program. Participation covers three distinct dimensions of behavior: (1) decision-making pertaining to tasks, (2) good citizenship in the form of extra effort and helping others, and (3) contributing to improvement in work processes. Self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief that he/she can successfully perform an activity in a specific situation. The project was based on an action research design in which the first phase examined the dimensionality of participation self-efficacy, the relationship between participation self-efficacy and actual ratings of participation, and the relationship between perceptions of situational factors and self-efficacy. Exploratory factor analysis found preliminary support for the three proposed dimensions of participation self-efficacy and also for a fourth communication dimension. Weak (e.g., r=.27) and non-significant correlations were found between self-efficacy and actual participation ratings. Situational factors were examined as perceptions of barriers which were proposed to be inversely related to self-efficacy. As expected, negative correlations (ranging from -.28 to -.45) were found between perceptions of situational factors and participation self-efficacy. Phase two of the project evaluated a critical thinking training program designed to increase employee participation. A Pre-test Post-test! Nonequivalent control group design was used to study the influence of training on learning self-efficacy and participation self-efficacy. ANOYA and ANCOVA found no significant differences in post-training self-efficacy between the trained group and the control group. / Ph. D.

Peter Carruther's Interpretive Sensory-Access (ISA) theory of self-knowledge is an interesting account of the opaqueness of our own minds that draws upon a wide range of theories from cognitive science and philosophy. In the present paper, I argue that the theory's assumptions support the conclusion that the available perceptual evidence massively underdetermines all of an agent's second-order beliefs about her own beliefs. Such a result is far more negative than the ISA's well-known pessimism regarding self-knowledge. Furthermore, I also argue that, from the same assumptions, it is possible to build an argument to the effect that cognitive scientists trying to determine an agents' true behavior-causing attitude face similar underdetermination problems. Toward the end of the paper, I suggest that the theory's problems arise from a conflation of two different ways in which terms denoting propositional attitudes, such as 'belief', are used in its formulation. Distinguishing between the two usages of these terms, in turn, leads to a further distinction between two different senses in which we can talk about the 'opaqueness' of our own minds. / Master of Arts

In my thesis I ask the epistemological question: If a speaker testifies to some proposition p to some hearer, and the hearer learns that p, must that speaker believe that p? Those who maintain the traditional view in the epistemology of testimony claim that testimony is primarily a way in which speakers transmit beliefs to hearers. If this is the case, then in order to transmit the belief that p, the speaker must be in possession of a belief that p. Other epistemologists reject this view altogether and argue that when speakers stand in the right sort of epistemic relation to the statements they issue they properly testify. My project carves out a position between these two views. I argue that speakers need not believe p, but speakers must be in some appropriate epistemic state with respect to p in order to properly testify to p. On my view, understanding is among the epistemic states that can place a speaker in the right sort of epistemic relation to p. Thus, if p is a consequence of a speaker's understanding of a subject, the speaker is licensed to testify that p. / Master of Arts

La présomption de bonne foi a une valeur légale, puisqu’elle est consacrée par le législateur dans l’article 2274 du code civil. Cette thèse est consacrée à l’étude de la bonne foi-croyance erronée pour cerner son contenu et préciser son régime juridique, étant donné que cette notion est toujours accusée d’être floue et vague. La croyance erronée résulte des éléments objectifs matériels significatifs de vérité et invasifs de l’état d’esprit de sa victime. Le critère de la prise en considération et de la protection de cette dernière est la légitimité de la croyance erronée qui qualifie la bonne foi. Lorsque la croyance erronée est légitime, la présomption de bonne foi est consolidée et peut, par conséquent, déployer tous ses effets juridiques. La bonne foi qualifiée jouit, ainsi, d’un pouvoir protecteur et créateur de droits subjectifs qui porte atteinte à la puissance et à l’effectivité de la loi et de certains principes juridiques. La bonne foi a également une fonction fondatrice de certaines règles légales. Cependant, la puissance normative de la présomption de bonne foi consolidée n’est pas absolue ; elle est limitée par la préséance de certaines règles légales qui ne peuvent céder à la fonction créatrice et protectrice de la bonne foi qui est, ainsi, sacrifiée au profit de certains intérêts supérieurs. / The presumption of good faith has a legal value, because it is consecrated by the legislature in the section 2274 of the civil code. This thesis concerns only good faith-erroneous belief and tries to precise its content and juridical rule, as this notion is always accused to be blurred and vague. Erroneous belief is the result of objective material elements which are significant of trust and invasive of the state of mind of the victim. The erroneous belief needs a degree of legitimity in order to qualify the good faith and give rise to juridical protection. Where the erroneous belief is lawful, the presumption of good faith is consolidated and can spread all its juridical effects. The good faith has, therefore, a power of creation of rights. This power involves a breach of the law and of certain principles of the civil law. The good faith is also the basis of somme legal rules. However, the normative power of the good faith is not absolute ; it’s limited by the hold of some legal rules which sacrify the good faith in order to protect superior interests.

The thesis Influence of religion on the family background primarily with the practical implications of three basic beliefs of world religions - Jewish, Christian and Muslim - to a normal family life. Studying the various traditions and customs, practicing belief in everyday life and influence of a particular religion for the whole family. The theoretical part is focused on the requirements of that particular religion has on believers. The practical part describes the general way of life of Jews, Christians and Muslims, describes the specific application of faith in daily life. The research part of the thesis evaluates the questionnaires focused on the differences of attitudes, values and family life of Jews, Christians, Muslims and people with no religion.

A área de revisão de crenças estuda a forma como agentes racionais operam sobre seus conhecimentos, permitindo que estes evoluam à vista de novas informações. Muitas das formas de manipulação do conhecimento hoje utilizadas foram desenvolvidas tendo como base o paradigma estabelecido por Alchourrón, Gärdenfors e Makinson em 1985, que evoluiu nas últimas décadas sob influência de diversas correntes de pensamento, dando origem a múltiplas abordagens para a estruturação de operadores sobre crenças. Esta dissertação limita-se à análise das duas principais construções de operadores sobre bases de crenças, bem como suas propriedades e relações. A partir desta análise, foi construído um framework computacional que permitiu a análise empírica do comportamento destas construções em diversos casos gerados, de modo a averiguar a eficiência real dos algoritmos envolvidos. Também são expostos detalhes do framework, construído de forma flexível para permitir sua reutilização em trabalhos futuros. / Belief revision studies the ways rational agents change their beliefs, allowing them to evolve when exposed to new information. Many of the belief change forms currently used were developed based on the paradigm established by Alchourrón, Gärdenfors and Makinson in 1985, which evolved over the last decades under the influence of several distinct fields, originating multiple approaches to implement operators on beliefs. This dissertation is limited to the analysis of the two main constructions of operators on belief bases, including their properties and relations. Based on this analysis, a computational framework was created to allow the empirical analysis of the behavior of these constructions on generated scenarios, in order to measure the real eficiency of the algorithms concerned. It also describes the framework, built aiming for exibility in order to allow it\'s usage in future works.

This thesis consists in six articles and a comprehensive summary. • The pourpose of the summary is to introduce the AGM theory of belief change and to exemplify the diversity and significance of the research that has been inspired by the AGM article in the last 25 years. The research areas associated with AGM was divided in three parts: criticisms, where we discussed some of the more common criticisms of AGM. Extensions where the most common extensions and variations of AGM are presented and applications where we provided an overview of applications and connections with other areas of research. • Article I elaborates on the connection between partial meet contractions [AGM85] and kernel contractions [Han94a] in belief change theory. Also both functions are equivalent in belief sets, there are notequivalent in belief bases. A way to define incision functions (used in kernel contractions) from selection functions (used in partial meet contractions) and vice versa is presented. It is explained under which conditions there are exact correspondences between selection and incision functions so that the same contraction operations can be obtained by using either of them. • Article II proposes an axiomatic characterization for ensconcement-based contraction functions, belief base functions proposed byWilliams and relates this function with other kinds of base contraction functions. • Article III adapts the Fermé and Hansson model of Shielded Contraction [FH01] as well as Hansson et all Credibility-Limited Revision [HFCF01] for belief bases, to join two of the many variations of the AGM model [AGM85], i.e. those in which knowledge is represented through belief bases instead of logic theories, and those in which the object of the epistemic change does not get the priority over the existing information as it is the case in the AGM model. • Article IV introduces revision by comparison a refined method for changing beliefs by specifying constraints on the relative plausibility of propositions. Like the earlier belief revision models, the method proposed is a qualitative one, in the sense that no numbers are needed in order to specify the posterior plausibility of the new information. The method uses reference beliefs in order to determine the degree of entrenchment of the newly accepted piece of information. Two kinds of semantics for this idea are proposed and a logical characterization of the new model is given. • Article V focuses on the extension of AGM that allows change for a belief base by a set of sentences instead of a single sentence. In [FH94], Fuhrmann and Hansson presented an axiomatic for Multiple Contraction and a construction based on the AGM Partial Meet Contraction. This essay proposes for their model another way to construct functions: Multiple Kernel Contraction, that is a modification of Kernel Contraction,proposed by Hansson [Han94a] to construct classical AGM contractions and belief base contractions. • Article VI relates AGM model with the DFT model proposed by Carlos Alchourrón [Alc93]. Alchourrón devoted his last years to the analysis of the notion of defeasible conditionalization. His definition of the defeasible conditional is given in terms of strict implication operator and a modal operator f which is interpreted as a revision function at the language level. This essay points out that this underlying revision function is more general than AGM revision. In addition, a complete characterization of that more general kind of revision that permits to unify models of revision given by other authors is given. / QC 20110211

Att leva strikt hälsosamt och att unna sig frestelser är två faktorer som det ofta talas om i dagens samhälle och fysisk aktivitet på fritiden har blivit viktigare då våra arbeten blir alltmer stillasittande. Frågan är dock vilken inverkan fysisk aktivitet har på hälsan när träningen genomförs som ett kompenserande beteende. Syfte: Huvudsyftet med studien är att baserat på en tolkning av coachers upplevelser av Compensatory health beliefs (CHB) skapa en vidare förståelse för fenomenet och vilken påverkan coacher kan ha på fysiskt aktiva individers CHB. Delsyftet är att lyfta fram lämpliga pedagogiska insatser som coacher utifrån sin förståelse för CHB föreslår kan bidra till en hälsosam syn på kost och träning. Metod: Föreliggande studie har en kvalitativ metodansats där intervjuer användes som datainsamling. Insamlingsmaterialet bestod av sju transkriberade intervjuer med coacher inom fysisk aktivitet. Det empiriska materialet sammanställdes till olika teman och analyserades genom en meningsanalys.  Resultat: CHB var synligt hos de fysiskt aktiva främst genom uttalad synd. En påverkan skedde från coacher till klient där outtalade krav uppfattades som negativa medan genomtänkt feedback från coacherna i huvudsak upplevdes som positivt. Lärande synliggjordes även från klient till coach genom en ökad förståelse för vikten av individanpassad coaching. För att arbeta aktivt med CHB upplevdes utbildning och kunskap hos såväl coacher som klienter som särskilt viktiga faktorer. Slutsats: En uppfattning har skapats att CHB kan ha negativ inverkan på hälsan, och det behövs mer forskning för att förstå vilken påverkan CHB har på beteendeförändringar. Coacher med hög kunskapsnivå upplevs ha positiv påverkan på klienten. / To live strictly healthy and to indulge in temptations are two factors that are often spoken about in today's society and physical activity in leisure time has become more important since our work is becoming increasingly sedentary. The question is, however, what impact physical activity have on health when it is implemented as a compensatory behavior.Aim: The main aim of the study is to, based on an interpretation of coaches experiences of Compensatory health beliefs (CHB), create a further understanding of the phenomenon and what influence coaches may have on the CHB of physical active individuals. The subsidiary aim is to highlight the appropriate educational interventions that coaches, based on their understanding of CHB, proposes can contribute to a healthy approach to diet and exercise. Method: The present study has a qualitative method where interviews were used as data collection. The gathered material consisted of seven transcribed interviews with coaches in physical activity. The empirical material was interpreted and compiled into themes through a meaning categorization. Results: CHB was visible in the physically active primarily by expressed sin. An impact occurred from the coaches to the client where non expressed demands were perceived as negative, while thoughtful feedback from the coaches were generally perceived as positive. Learning was also made visible from the client to the coach through an increased understanding of the importance of individualized coaching. To work actively with CHB, training and knowledge amongst both coaches and clients were percieved as key factors. Conclusion: A perception has been created that CHB may have negative impact on health, and more research is needed to understand the impact that CHB has on behavioral changes. Coaches with a high level of knowledge is perceived to have a positive impact on the client.

1. Remiantis interpretacinės antropologijos paradigma ir vadovaujantis trimis – paties tyrinėtojo, tyrimo dalyvių ir sociokultūrinio konteksto vaidmens blogos akies konstrukto kuriamajame darbe – perspektyvomis, daktaro disertacijoje nustatyta šiuolaikinio lietuviškojo blogos akies komplekso raiška. Siekiant atskleisti didelę individualių požiūrių ir sampratų įvairovę, darbe pabrėžiamos skirtingų nuomonių sankirtos ir sąveikos, akcentuojamas nepaliaujamas kūrybos vyksmas, dėl kurio randasi lankstus, griežtai neapibrėžtas darinys, leidžiantis bloga akimi tikintiems žmonėms aktyviai veikti, kurti, išreikšti daugybę įvairiausių prasmių ir asmeninių patirčių, interpretuojant asmenines bei socialines nesekmes, nepalankias gyvenimo aplinkybes ir laimės stoką. 2. Šių dienų Lietuvoje blogos akies kompleksas pasireiškia kaip homogeniškas, tačiau drauge ir įvairiaprasmis kultūrinis konstruktas. Jo kūrime dalyvauja abiejų lyčių, įvairaus amžiaus, profesijos ir išsilavinimo žmonės. Lyties požiūriu, blogos akies komplekso raiška nėra vienoda. Moterys, lyginant su vyrais, intensyviau išreiškia ir akcentuoja blogos akies idėją. Pasitvirtino iškelta hipotezė, kad šiuolaikinėje Lietuvoje moterys anksčiau negu vyrai sužino apie kenkiamąją akių galią ir daugiau apie blogą akį išmano. Remiantis turimais duomenimis, galima teigti, kad blogos akies idėja moterims svarbesnė negu vyrams, kad moterys blogos akies idėją pabrėžia intensyviau ir net pačios blogaakystę noriai priskiria moterims. 3... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / 1. Taking guidance from the paradigm of interpretative anthropology and basing on three perspectives – the role played by the researcher, research participants, and sociocultural context in the creation of evil eye construct – the doctoral dissertation has determined the representation of contemporary Lithuanian evil eye complex. In order to demonstrate a wide variety of individual attitudes and notions the present work highlights the intersections and interactions of differing opinions, stressing the continuous creative process due to which a flexible and vague construct emerges. It enables evil eye believers to express a multitude of various meanings and personal experiences for the purpose of interpreting their personal and social failures, unfavourable circumstances of life, and general lack of fortune. 2. In contemporary Lithuania, the evil eye complex manifests itself as a homogeneous multifaceted cultural construct, the creation of which involves people differing in terms of gender, age, profession, and education. However, from the point of view of gender, the evil eye representation is not balanced. Females express and stress the idea of evil eye more intensively than males. The hypothesis that females in contemporary Lithuania, compared to males, learn about the destructive power of eyes sooner and are better informed about the evil eye was corroborated. Basing on the existing data it is possible to contend that the idea of evil eye is more important to females than... [to full text]

1. Evil eye participates in the daily life of people of contemporary Lithuania in spite of urbanisation or achievements in the area of medicine and science. A homogeneous yet at the same time very elastic construct of the evil eye helps evil eye believers to interpret their personal and social failures, unfavourable circumstances of life, and lack of luck or fortune. 2. As a cultural construct, the contemporary Lithuanian evil eye complex may be characterised by flexibility, vagueness, dynamism, and a wide variety of forms of its representation. Developed perpetually in the processes of social and reflexive interactions, the evil eye representation in contemporary Lithuania undergoes endless modification, remaining, however, stable and resistant to changes. 3. In contemporary Lithuania, the fear of evil eye features not only among elderly people with relatively lower levels of schooling and livelihoods mostly connected with agriculture. The younger generation adopts the traditional notion of evil eye, enriching it with the elements of popular culture. 4. In contemporary Lithuania, the evil eye representation is not balanced from the point of view of gender. The idea of evil eye is expressed and stressed more intensively by females. Even in contemporary Lithuania, a typical possessor of the evil eye is an elderly dark-eyed female – an inquisitive, intrusive, talkative and envious neighbour, co-worker or relative. 5. It is commonly believed that the most vulnerable evil eye... [to full text] / Remiantis interpretacinės antropologijos paradigma ir vadovaujantis trimis – paties tyrinėtojo, tyrimo dalyvių ir sociokultūrinio konteksto vaidmens blogos akies konstrukto kuriamajame darbe – perspektyvomis, daktaro disertacijoje nustatyta šiuolaikinio lietuviškojo blogos akies komplekso raiška. Siekiant atskleisti didelę individualių požiūrių ir sampratų įvairovę, darbe pabrėžiamos skirtingų nuomonių sankirtos ir sąveikos, akcentuojamas nepaliaujamas kūrybos vyksmas, dėl kurio randasi lankstus, griežtai neapibrėžtas darinys, leidžiantis bloga akimi tikintiems žmonėms aktyviai veikti, kurti, išreikšti daugybę įvairiausių prasmių ir asmeninių patirčių, interpretuojant asmenines bei socialines nesekmes, nepalankias gyvenimo aplinkybes ir laimės stoką. Šių dienų Lietuvoje blogos akies kompleksas pasireiškia kaip homogeniškas, tačiau drauge ir įvairiaprasmis kultūrinis konstruktas. Jo kūrime dalyvauja abiejų lyčių, įvairaus amžiaus, profesijos ir išsilavinimo žmonės. Lyties požiūriu, blogos akies komplekso raiška nėra vienoda. Moterys, lyginant su vyrais, intensyviau išreiškia ir akcentuoja blogos akies idėją. Pasitvirtino iškelta hipotezė, kad šiuolaikinėje Lietuvoje moterys anksčiau negu vyrai sužino apie kenkiamąją akių galią ir daugiau apie blogą akį išmano. Remiantis turimais duomenimis, galima teigti, kad blogos akies idėja moterims svarbesnė negu vyrams, kad moterys blogos akies idėją pabrėžia intensyviau ir net pačios blogaakystę noriai priskiria moterims. Blogaakiu... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]