Imitation is a fundamental way of acquiring knowledge in human development. In their theory of goal-directed imitation (GOADI), Wohlschl&auml / ger et al. (2003) divide the representation of observed movements into hierarchically organized aspects the highest of which is usually the goal. In a face-to-face imitation task young children usually copy the (spatial) goal of the body movement in terms of perceptual mirror symmetry rather than match them conceptually onto their own body, as adults do. We refer to these imitation schemes as &ldquo / mirroring&rdquo / and &ldquo / matching&rdquo / respectively. In the present study, we investigate the effects of age and perspective of the child with respect to the experimenter (0&deg / , 90&deg / , 180&deg / ) in two imitation tasks, a hand-to-ear and a cup-grasping task. Moreover, we evaluate the developmental changes in the imitative behavior of children from a dynamical systems perspective. Children were supposed to imitate the movements of the experimenter. Tasks were conducted on 4.5- to 11-year-old Iranian pre-school and elementary school children (81 female, 84 male). Imitation scores for the spatial goal were analyzed in terms of mirroring or matching. Imitation schemes varied according to age and perspective in both tasks. Overall, older children&rsquo / s imitations of movements were more adult-like as established by an adult Iranian control group than those of the younger ones. They rather matched than mirrored observed movements. In the 180&deg / and 90&deg / conditions the mirroring scheme was predominant, but in 0&deg / matching was predominant. GOADI was confirmed / however it was qualified by the child&#039 / s perspective on the experimenter. Children&rsquo / s imitations showed a non-linear shift from perceptually-based mirroring to conceptually-based matching of observed movements onto their own body. This shift happens between 6 and 8-9 years of age. The amount of matching depends not only on age but also on control parameters such as spatial perspective, task demands, and exposure.

This study aims to improve understanding of the developmental process of children's programming skills and their co-construction through interactions with the educational environment, particularly teachers. Extensive research has shown that programming can facilitate the development of various skills (Bati, 2021) and that programming learning is multimodal and contextually influenced (Kjällander et al., 2021). However, there is limited research on children's programming skill development (Jung & Won, 2018). Using the Dynamic Systems approach (Koopmans, 2020), this study describes the proximal process of children's programming skills development, with a focus on teacher scaffolding. Dynamic skills theory (Mascolo, 2020) is used to analyze children's programming skills development and code teacher scaffolding. The video-based participant observation uses as the primary data collection method due to the intricate nature of child-teacher interactions (Lebedeva, 2020). Supplementary paper and pencil records are used to capture contextual information not captured on video. State Space Grids (SSGs; Hollenstein, 2013) are used to analyze the collected data. Throughout the study, ethical considerations, including voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality, and compliance with the EU Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, ”GDPR”), are strictly upheld. The results indicate that children increasingly use more complex programming skills over time and demonstrate improved mastery of the same skills. Simultaneously, teacher scaffolding support diminishes. The development of programming skills exhibits a web-like pattern. Moreover, the study reveals differences in children's programming skill development and teachers' scaffolding when using the programming tools with different affordances. This study provides a dynamic perspective to enhance understanding of children's programming skill development and offers valuable insights for guiding programming practices among children, assisting teachers in selecting appropriate programming tools and planning activities, and supporting intervention studies on children's digital skills and teacher training. Additionally, this study demonstrates the prospective use of SSGs in early childhood education research. / Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för utvecklingsprocessen för barns programmeringsförmågor och för deras co-konstruktion genom interaktion med utbildningsmiljön, särskilt med lärare. Tidigare forskning har visat att programmering kan förbättra utvecklingen av olika kompetenser (Bati, 2021) och att programmeringsinlärning är multimodal och kontextuellt påverkad (Kjällander et al., 2021). Det finns dock begränsad forskning om barns utveckling av programmeringsförmågor (Jung & Won, 2018). Genom att använda Dynamic Systems approach (Koopmans, 2020) beskrivs i den här studien den proximala processen för barns utveckling av programmeringsförmågor, med fokus på lärarens scaffolding. Dynamic skills theory (Mascolo, 2020) används för att analysera utvecklingen av barns programmeringsförmågor och kodar lärarens scaffolding. Den videobaserade deltagarobservationen fungerar som den primära datainsamlingsmetoden på grund av interaktionernas komplicerade natur mellan barn och lärare (Lebedeva, 2020). Kompletterande anteckningar med papper och penna användsför att fånga kontextuell information som inte samlas in på video. De insamlade data analyseras med hjälp av State Space Grids (SSGs, Hollenstein, 2013). Under hela studien följs strikt etiska överväganden, inklusive frivilligt deltagande, informerat samtycke, konfidentialitet och efterlevnad av EU:s dataskyddsförordning (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, "GDPR"). Resultaten visar att barnen med tiden använder sig av mer komplexa programmeringsförmågor och visar en förbättrad behärskning av samma förmågor. Samtidigt minskar lärarens scaffolding. Utvecklingen av programmeringsförmågor uppvisar ett webbliknande mönster. Dessutom visar studien på skillnader i barnens utveckling av programmeringsförmågor och lärarens scaffolding när de använder programmeringsverktyg med olika affordances. Denna studie bidrar med ett dynamiskt perspektiv för att öka förståelsen för barns utveckling av programmeringsförmågor och erbjuder värdefulla insikter för att vägleda barnens programmeringspraktiker, hjälpa lärare att välja lämpliga programmeringsverktyg och planera programmeringsaktiviteter samt stödja interventionsstudier om barns digitala kompetens och lärarutbildning. Dessutom visar den här studien att SSGs kan användas i framtiden inom forskning om förskoledidaktik.

Water shortage issues have been growing concerns in many cities around the world in recent years, especially in Eastern cities of Australia, which is the driest continent on the earth. The aim of this PhD thesis is a development of a model to study the use of waste incineration energy supplemented by alternative energy to power seawater desalination. It is to aid the freshwater supply of a drought stricken city in Eastern Australia. My work contributes to a development of efficient model in a simpler understandable way to reduce efforts required for modelling complex multi domain problems. This research is motivated by the successive severe drought conditions that affected many Australian cities in the past few years, compounded with an additional strain from a fast growing population. While we dump our waste into the Australian landscape, in more densely populated cities in Europe and Asia, the waste is incinerated to obtain thermal energy for various purposes. The waste is used as an energy source while at the same time reducing the amount of space needed for landfill. Seawater desalination has been uccessfully practiced for quite some time particularly in the Middle Eastern countries. To deal with increasing water shortage crisis, many cities around the world have opted or are considering seawater desalination to supplement their freshwater supply. The combination of both - waste incineration and seawater desalination - has rarely been studied. This is a twofold problem that requires modelling the problem of water demand and supply together with waste incineration to find a sustainable solution. This is a complex task. The effort needed for this can be reduced by using a modelling approach that is more efficient than the traditionally used statistical approaches. In this thesis, I present a comprehensive model developed using a dynamic system approach combined with artificial neural networks. It simulates water demand and supply as well as the possible amount of the desalinated water that can be produced using the energy from clean city waste incineration. This is done while taking in various influential factors including population growth and irregular weather patterns. This research comprises a literature review on seawater desalination and waste incineration, the establishment of water demand and supply dynamics of Gold Coast City as my case study and identifying any modelling difficulties that need to be overcome. This is followed by the development of a comprehensive model and its components, model calibration and simulation experiments. It was found that with the energy of waste incineration, up to 60% of the freshwater demand could be fulfilled by seawater desalination in a sustainable way.