The thesis "The Second Roman Ride of the Charles the Fourth" tries to cover the whole campaign of the Emperor Charles IV. between years 1368 and 1369. Also, thesis follows the basic questions related to the issues of the royal court during the journey. The first of those questions is about accompaniment of the Emperor Charles IV. on his journey across the Italian territory and how the court was transformed during the ride to Rome and back. The second question points out the effort to build the court of the Elizabeth of Pomerania, who was crucial person of the second Roman ride where she did not travel alongside the emperor. The last question attempts to describe the undergirding of the court during the campaign in italian cities - how the emperor and his court was accepted and welcomed, accommodated, supllied and gifted.

Recent scholarship has explored the “Machiavellian” actions of Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 ; yet the classical rhetorical pedagogy of Renaissance Britain suggests that the speeches in the play lead to a transformation in Hal that is antithetical to the emergent understanding of Hal as a great manipulator. Falstaff uses the ruse of rhetoric instructor in order to construct a classical rhetorical argument for his own ends, and Henry IV gives a passionate yet formally adept (and classically rhetorical) plea to his son in order to incite change. An analysis of Falstaff and Henry’s arguments as well as Hal’s responses provides the framework of understanding the play not as an example of what has been called “Machiavellianism” but rather as a testament to the power of what Cicero calls the "good man skilled in speaking.”

The relations between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church have long been studied over the years in academia. Much focus has been placed upon the Fourth Crusade as the final act that brought the schism of 1054 into full development between the two churches. However, it was during the First Crusade that the Roman Catholic Church made its first concrete efforts to repair relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Yet such efforts were eventually twisted to suit the purposes of some of the crusading lords, and thus becoming arguably the largest blow to church reunification because it lead to the permanent formation of an anti-Greek attitude in Latin Europe.

Thesis. (M.Tech. (Chemistry)) -- Vaal University of Technology, 2011. / Bis(acetylacetonato)oxovanadium(IV), Manganese(III) acetylacetonate, Co-Zn and Co-Al were prepared as catalyst precursors for the synthesis of carbon materials in a catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) reactor. The carbon materials produced were characterized with Raman spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Thermogravimetric analysis, (TGA). Carbon material prepared from bis(acetylacetonato)oxovanadium(IV) catalyst precursor showed the presence of carbon spheres with average diameter of 104μm together with small traces of carbon nanotubes or amorphous carbon. Synthesis of bis(acetylacetonato)oxovanadium(IV) catalyst precursor yielded approximately 92% of carbon material. Carbon material prepared from Manganese(III) acetylacetonate catalyst precursor showed the presence of carbon spheres with diameter of 87.5μm. Synthesis of Manganese(III) acetylacetonate catalyst precursor yielded approximately 97% of carbon material. Carbon material produced from Co-Zn and Co-Al catalyst precursors showed the presence of carbon nanotubes with small amounts of amorphous carbon. The use of Co-Zn catalyst precursor yielded approximately 80% of carbon nanotubes, whereas Co-Al catalyst precursor yielded approximately 98% of carbon nanotubes. / Vaal University of Technology; NRF; SASOL

At the MAX-IV lab in Lund, there is a current goal to build a new soft X-Ray laser. The beam will be generated from a free-electron laser (FEL), which is an instrument consisting of high-speed electrons. The electrons move through alternating magnetic fields, causing the beam to become monochromatic. After the FEL, the Xrays will enter a beamline consisting of different optical components, such as mirrors, gratings and slits. This project investigated the necessary parameter values of the components, in order for the new X-Ray laser to focus the beam enough. The project consisted of a theoretical part and a simulation part. The use of so-called Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors enables the beam to be very focused. The best focus achieved was 7.23um*10.87um for ''Pink beamline'' and the intensity at the end was 71.5%, which meant that only 30% of the rays were lost. For the monochromatic beamline, a loss of intensity is inevitable. With a pair of KBmirrors, this beam was focused to be 6.95um*9.80um. The energy spread is ranging from 6.198 eV to 0.3442 eV. The analytical calculations for the spot size matched well with the simulations. The pink beamline which was built in Ray satisfied the criterias of a spot size and intensity loss. The monochromatic beamline did fullfil the criterias of spot size and narrowing the energy spread. A loss of intensity will for this beamline be inevitable. Studying the misalignment effect showed that the components were most sensitive for vertical misalignment. The most sensitive parameters were the curvature of the mirrors.

Plusieurs études ont récemment fait l'hypothèse qu'un déficit de l'apprentissage procédural commun aux troubles neurodéveloppementaux pouvait permettre d'expliquer leur fréquente association (Nicolson et Fawcett, 2007). Tout spécialement, les circuits neuronaux impliqués dans cet apprentissage (les boucles cortico-striatale, CS et cortico-cérébelleuse, CC) pouvaient rendre compte avec pertinence de la comorbidité fréquente entre Dyslexie Développementale (DD) et Trouble de l'Acquisition de la Coordination (TAC) : 40 à 60% des enfants présentent en effet la double association. Les circuits neuronaux qui soutiennent l'apprentissage d'une séquence motrice et en particulier d'une tâche de tapping de doigts (FTT, Finger Tapping Task) sont bien connus et modélisés (Doyon, Bellec, Amsel, Penhune, Monchi, Carrier et al., 2009) et concernent tout particulièrement ces deux boucles CS et CC. Nous avons donc choisi dans cette thèse d'observer les modifications cérébrales lors de l'apprentissage d'une FTT, chez des enfants âgés de 8 à 12 ans présentant une DD, un TAC ou l'association des deux troubles. Dans un premier temps, nous avons effectué une analyse des données issues des tests neurospychologiques de l'ensemble des enfants de l'étude (20 DD, 22 TAC et 23 DysTAC). Nos résultats ne montrent pas de différences entre les trois groupes aux tests attentionnels, comportementaux et psychosociaux. Nous trouvons des différences aux subtests du WISC-IV en rapport avec les capacités visuospatiales et motrices (Cubes, Symboles, Indice de Vitesse de Traitement) où le groupe DD se montre plus performant que le groupe TAC. Aucune différence n'est retrouvée entre le groupe comorbide et les deux autres groupes, suggérant d'une part un profil cognitif partagé et commun aux troubles neurodéveloppementaux et d'autre part le caractère non cumulatif de l'association des deux troubles. Dans un second temps, nous avons analysé les données issues de l'imagerie fonctionnelle par résonnance magnétique (IRMf) des 48 enfants ayant effectués la partie IRM (16 DD, 16 TAC et 16 DysTAC) afin d'explorer les activités cérébrales lors de la réalisation d'une FTT à deux stades de l'apprentissage (début d'apprentissage et stade automatique après quinze jours d'entraînement). Nos résultats indiquent que les trois groupes d'enfants ont été capable d'accéder à l'automatisation de la FTT après un entraînement approprié, mais en utilisant des processus cérébraux compensatoires différents entre les groupes. Nos résultats ne confirment pas les hypothèses et le modèle théorique de Nicolson, postulant des déficits spécialisés des boucles CS ou CC en fonction des troubles. Par contre, nos résultats mettent très nettement en évidence des mécanismes cérébraux spécifiques aux enfants TAC. Ces derniers présentent en effet une suractivation des aires attentionnelles et un recrutement de zones cérébrales plus important lors de performances similaires à celles des autres enfants. En dernier lieu, nos données indiquent que les groupes DD et DysTAC présentent un profil commun, tant dans les résultats neuropsychologiques que dans les résultats d'imagerie, alors que le groupe TAC est clairement singulier dans son fonctionnement. / Many studies have pointed out the high frequency of co-morbid associations in neurodevelopmental disorders. However, few of them have given details of cognitive functions in developmental dyslexia (DD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD) children and still fewer on the association of DD and DCD. The main purpose of this article is to compare the intellectual characteristics of the 3 populations and, in particular, to investigate the cognitive profiles of children with co-occurrence. Recent theories consider that procedural learning may support frequent overlap between neurodevelopemental disorders. In particular, the brain networks involved in this learning (cortico-striatal (CS) and cortico-cerebellar (CC) loops) could account for frequent co-morbidity between DCD and DD (about 40 to 60% of DD and DCD subjects suffer from both disorders). The aim of our study was to investigate cerebral changes due to the motor sequence learning process, especially the finger-tapping task (FTT), from acquisition through automatization, in children with DD, DCD, or DD and DCD. The neural circuitry supporting this action is well-known and well-modelled (Doyon et al., 2009), and includes, among others, CC and CS loops. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 48 children (8-12 years old) with neurodevelopmental disorders (16 DD, 16 DCD and 16 DD+DCD) explored their brain activity during FTT, performed either after 2 weeks of training or in the early stage of learning. First, we analyzed the results in all participants (22 DCD, 20 DD and 23 DD+DCD) in tests assessing cognitive (WISC-IV), attentional (CPT-II) and behavioural (CBCL) abilities. No difference was found between the 3 groups in attention testing (CPT) and behavioural characteristics (CBCL). Significant between-groups differences were observed in Processing Speed Index (PSI) score and the block design and symbol search subtests. Post hoc group comparisons showed that DD fared better than DCD children. No significant differences were found between the co-morbid vs. pure groups: co-morbid association did not cause an accumulation of disorders. Second, our results indicated that all children with DD, DCD or both disorders performed the tasks with good automaticity, but suggested that different compensatory brain processes allowed them to access this automatization stage. Our fMRI results do not appear to confirm Nicolson's model but tend more towards shared disability in CS and CC loops for both DD and DCD, with slight between-group differences in these areas. Moreover, and in agreement with the results of previous fMRI studies in DCD children, our data disclosed increasing evidence that this group needs to invest more brain areas to achieve similar performances. Lastly, it appears that the co-morbid and DD groups are very close in cognitive profile (especially on WISC-IV) and in neural correlates associated with our paradigm, while the DCD group presents specific, distinct and particular characteristics. Our data therefore indicate a promising direction for future research on the neural mechanisms linked with learning in neurodevelopmental disorders and in understanding co-morbidity.

Submitted by PPG Direito (ppgdir@pucrs.br) on 2018-04-26T17:54:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 LETICIA_MARQUES_PADILHA_DIS.pdf: 2876132 bytes, checksum: ee5986b0e1b31cbd57f25019400b02a7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2018-05-11T18:51:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 LETICIA_MARQUES_PADILHA_DIS.pdf: 2876132 bytes, checksum: ee5986b0e1b31cbd57f25019400b02a7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-11T19:03:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LETICIA_MARQUES_PADILHA_DIS.pdf: 2876132 bytes, checksum: ee5986b0e1b31cbd57f25019400b02a7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-27 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPES / The duty to state reasons for judicial decisions is provided in art. 93, subsection IX, of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988. In infraconstitutional legislation it was already present in the procedural documents of 1939 and 1973. However, the Code of Civil Procedure of 2015 sought to improve what is already provided for in constitutional and infraconstitutional legislation. The present study draws an analysis of art. 489, paragraph 1, of the Code of Civil Procedure of 2015, explaining what cannot be considered a reasoned decision. More specifically, subsection IV of the article, which provides for the obligation of the judge to face all the arguments brought by the party who, at least in theory, can contradict the conclusion adopted in the decision and, therefore, to base a position different from that of the judgmental. As the excessive volume of litigation that has weakened respect for the duty to state reasons has become more frequent among us, through decisions based on ready-made utterances of empty character. The idea of said device is to reinforce that the magistrate cannot choose the arguments of the succumbing party that wants to face. It ceases to be relevant in the process only what the magistrate arbitrarily believes to be worthy of consideration, and everything that could lead to a result different from that obtained has become important. The purpose of art. 489, paragraph 1, subsection IV, of the Code of Civil Procedure of 2015 is that if the decision does not analyze all the fundaments of the succumbing thesis, whether invoked by the author or defendant will be considered invalid for lack of reasoning. And the lack of reasoning goes against the constitutionally foreseen, thus facing the Democratic State of Law. / O dever de fundamenta??o das decis?es judiciais tem previs?o no art. 93, inciso IX, da Constitui??o da Rep?blica Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Em legisla??o infraconstitucional j? estava presente nos diplomas processuais de 1939 e 1973. Todavia, o C?digo de Processo Civil de 2015 buscou aprimorar o j? previsto na legisla??o constitucional e infraconstitucional. O presente estudo tra?a uma an?lise do art. 489, ? 1?, do C?digo de Processo Civil de 2015, explicitando o que n?o pode ser considerada uma decis?o fundamentada. Mais especificamente o inciso IV do referido artigo que disp?e acerca da obrigatoriedade do julgador de enfrentar todos os argumentos trazidos pela parte que, ao menos em tese, s?o capazes de contradizer a conclus?o adotada na decis?o e, por consequ?ncia, fundamentar posi??o diversa da exarada pelo julgador. Visto ser cada vez mais frequente entre n?s o excessivo volume de lit?gios que t?m fragilizado o respeito ao dever de fundamenta??o, atrav?s de decis?es calcadas em frases prontas de car?ter absolutamente vazio. A ideia do referido dispositivo ? refor?ar que o magistrado n?o pode escolher os argumentos da parte sucumbente que quer enfrentar. Deixa de ser relevante no processo apenas aquilo que o magistrado arbitrariamente acredita ser digno de considera??o, e passa a ser importante tudo o que poderia levar a um resultado diferente daquele que foi obtido. O objetivo do art. 489, ? 1?, inciso IV, do C?digo de Processo Civil de 2015 ? de que se a decis?o n?o analisa todos os fundamentos da tese sucumbente, seja invocada pelo autor ou r?u, ser? considerada inv?lida por aus?ncia de fundamenta??o. E a falta de fundamenta??o vai de encontro ao previsto constitucionalmente, afrontando, dessa forma, o Estado Democr?tico de Direito.

This thesis draws on Michel Foucault's late work on the practices of the self to ask whether the ascetic practices and patterns of action suggested by contemporary computer games, which afford players the opportunities to pursue their own self-set goals, further what might be called a 'wandering' away from ourselves, a 'transformation' or 'transfiguration' of what we are. If self-formation is now a terrain on which power and resistance plays out, it is critical to be able to identify pernicious practices that may bind us to the individualising techniques of power, as opposed to transformative ones that enable us to refuse who we are in the move towards freedom. Broaching this question leads to considerations of the implicit ethical foundations presupposed by Foucault's anti-normative ethico-aesthetics, and the limitations of its appeal to a coherence or style seemingly without rules. These considerations have implications for the way in which we understand the practices of self-constitution in computer games. I question whether there is an isomorphism between the way in which power - understood through Foucault's concept of 'governmentality' - works in the present, and the way in which computer games set the conditions under which player practices take place. We are prompted by both to develop a non-coercive relation to a 'truth' through an impetus that originates from us. Computer games are about our identification with processes, which are strengthened by the feedback loops in the game and by the mode of being we elect to adopt as a hexis. Such a structure, however, is insufficiently rigid for computer games to produce discrete subjectivities, and analyses of them must be sensitive as to whether there are any systematic concatenation of player responses. To this end, I suggest a framework, based on Foucault's orthogonal understanding of power-subject, for uncovering the 'rationalities' within games, which are the conditions under which players' practices of the self take place, and which give rise to certain practices of self-constitution over others. It depends on our being able to find or infer player typologies, which are then analysed for their similar patterns of action. This framework is applied to a case study: levelling-up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On the basis of six typologies, a prominent structure of calculative anticipation and deferral emerges, as well as the existence of what is called a super-instrumental approach. In order to disambiguate these findings with respect to their transformative potential, I turn to the transcendental signifiers in Foucault's work and consider the practices of the self as seeking a balance between reason and sense - they are revisited through the lens of Schiller's play drive. This concretises the argument that if the practices of the self are thought capable of moving us towards freedom, we must assume the existence of non-cognitive faculties within us that, when engaged, enable us to be able to distinguish between positive and pernicious self-formation. Given that these judgments cannot be cognitively communicated, we ought to refrain from prescriptivism, yet do have recourse to standards. However, our efforts to cognitively understand this aesthetic interplay between reason and sense are certainly not without importance.

This bachelor thesis examines the PC-game Europa Universalis IV and its potential as a learning tool to develop players historical consciousness. The thesis also researches and compares Europa Universalis IV:s historical content and use of history to what is characteristic of popular history. The results show that the game’s potential for developing historical consciousness lies in its contrafactual use of historical content, but because of its high abstraction of history and historical aspects the potentials are limited and problematic to evaluate. The analysis of uses of history in Europa Universalis IV shows that the game’s historical presentation is mostly exemplary and commercial.

The purpose of the present study was to explore and examine the stressors and coping mechanisms used by Master of Social Work (MSW) students. A quantitative survey with some qualitative questions was conducted using a sample of MSW students from California State University, San Bernardino. Data for this study was collected through a self-administered, online questionnaire survey distributed by the MSW program administration. Quantitative data was analyzed through SPSS software by conducting descriptive statistics, frequencies, and independent sample t-test. Qualitative data was analyzed by coding and identifying major themes. Student groups were compared based on program format, which was determined on their standing status as a stipend recipient. The majority of survey participants were non-recipient students (n=45, 60%) and 24 identified as Title IV-E Child Welfare stipend recipients (32%). Results showed that there was no significant difference in the amount of stress experienced by students depending on their program format; however, some differences were identified in preferred coping mechanisms. Based on the results of this study, it is respectfully recommended that the MSW program at California State University, San Bernardino further explores and considers the responses of the students. This study also calls for future research related to MSW students’ stressors and coping mechanisms.