[pt] No final dos anos 1960, os projetos arquitetônicos em grandes escalas foram desacreditados no Ocidente por estarem associados à presença dos Poderes vigentes. Influenciados pelos ideais de Maio de 1968, os arquitetos ocidentais passaram a procurar modelos alternativos, baseados na linguagem histórica. Eles buscavam com isso alcançar a autonomia da forma arquitetônica, esvaziando-a do suposto conteúdo ideológico, que estaria aderido às formas abstratas modernas. No entanto, o enfoque pós-moderno nos elementos formais do objeto arquitetônico e do espaço urbano implicava no abandono da questão urbanística na escala metropolitana. Esta escala espacial seria marcada pela perda das referências às estruturas formais orgânicas. No Japão, a pesquisa moderna em grandes escalas não foi interrompida, oferecendo um amplo instrumental para a questão urbanística contemporânea. Esta dissertação verifica como os arquitetos Fumihiko Maki e Rem Koolhaas propõem a retomada e a revisão do urbanismo moderno metropolitano. Eles partem do pressuposto de que a Forma arquitetônica seria vazia de significados intrínsecos. A apropriação por parte dos Poderes e, também, por parte das pessoas imprimiria à arquitetura significados, retirando dos arquitetos a responsabilidade sobre a totalidade do projeto e devolvendo-lhes a legitimidade da disciplina. Esta pesquisa percorre os caminhos seguidos por esses arquitetos a partir de suas referências orientais e ocidentais, mostrando como, em diversos momentos, os conceitos arquitetônicos dos dois mundos convergem, apontando a persistência do pensamento moderno. / [en] By the end of the 1960s, large-scale architectural projects were discredited in West because they were associated with the established Power. Influenced by the ideals of May 1968, architects began searching alternative models based on the Historical language. They wanted to reach the autonomy of the architectural form by releasing it from their supposed ideological content, which was adhered to the abstract modern forms. Nevertheless, the post-modern approach, which was based on formal elements of the architectonical object and of the urban space, implied in the relinquishment of the metropolitan-scale. This urban-scale would be characterized by the references loss of organic formal structures. In Japan, modern research on large-scales was not interrupted, offering an important arsenal to the questions of contemporary urbanism. This dissertation verifies how the architects Fumihiko Maki and Rem Koolhaas propose the retaking and revision of modern metropolitan urbanism. They presuppose that architectonical Form is devoid of intrinsic meaning. Its appropriation by Power and also by people gives it meaning, removing architects responsibility on the totality of the project and giving them back the legitimacy of the discipline. This research follows the paths opened by these two architects through their Eastern and Western references, revealing the many instances in which architectonical concepts of both worlds converge, aiming to the persistence of modern thought.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Jeroen Johannes Klink / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Planejamento e Gestão do Território, São Bernardo do Campo, 2018. / A Região Metropolitana de São Paulo é o principal polo de riqueza nacional. Por ela passam os grandes fluxos de capital, de pessoas e de informações do Brasil, em uma rede complexa de bens e serviços. Face às peculiaridades e à escala dos problemas enfrentados pela RMSP, coloca-se a questão da governança em uma região metropolitana tão grande e tão complexa. Em efeito, uma vez que a RMSP não é um ente da federação e, portanto, não possui um governo único e dedicado exclusivamente para sua gestão, surge a necessidade de articulação entre os atores governamentais que têm atribuições e competências sobre seu território. As questões relacionadas aos modelos e formatos institucionais das regiões metropolitanas vêm sendo objeto de debate há décadas, tanto no mundo acadêmico quanto entre os profissionais e gestores que lidam diariamente com os desafios impostos pela gestão destes territórios. Por isso alguns conceitos e ferramentas de análise são fundamentais para a compreensão do fenômeno metropolitano. Ao mesmo tempo, a evolução histórico-legal da governança metropolitana no Brasil e em São Paulo nas últimas décadas mostra uma alternância entre períodos de maior e menor centralização e contribui para o entendimento do cenário atual. Com a aprovação do Estatuto da Metrópole (EM), no início de 2015, a imposição legal ao governo do estado e aos municípios da elaboração conjunta de um Plano de Desenvolvimento Urbano Integrado (PDUI), com a participação da sociedade civil, abrese uma nova fase para a governança metropolitana brasileira e da RMSP. Este processo ainda em curso explicita alguns conflitos e abre novas possibilidades de articulação entre os entes federativos envolvidos. / The Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MRSP) is the main centre of national wealth in Brazil. Great flows of capital, people and information, pass through it in a complex network of goods and services. In view of the singularities and scale of the problems faced by the MRSP, the question of governance in such a large and complex metropolitan region is raised. In fact, as the MRSP is not an entity of the federation and therefore does not have a government structure exclusively dedicated to its management, there is a need of articulation among the governmental actors that have attributions and responsibilities over the same territory. Issues related to the institutional models and formats of the metropolitan regions have been the subject of debate for decades, both in the academic world and among professionals and managers who deal daily with the challenges imposed by the management of these territories. For this reason, some concepts and tools of analysis are fundamental for the understanding of the metropolitan phenomenon. At the same time, the historical-legal evolution of metropolitan governance in Brazil and São Paulo in the last decades shows an alternation between periods of greater and lesser centralization and contributes to better understand the current scenario. A new phase of metropolitan governance has been opened up for Brazil and the MRSP with the approval of the Metropolis Statute, in early 2015, and the legal obligation of the joint elaboration of an Integrated Urban Development Plan, with the participation of civil society. This process, which is still underway, has made explicit some conflicts and has created new possibilities for articulation for the federative entities involved.

Esta dissertação busca as diretrizes de reinserção urbana da área do Parque Dom Pedro II em São Paulo, partindo da constatação de seu papel atual de polo de mobilidade metropolitano e apoiando-se em exemplos internacionais de projetos de renovação urbana de áreas associadas à reforma ou construção de grandes estações intermodais. Este percurso se organiza em três eixos investigativos, correspondentes aos três capítulos da dissertação. Inicialmente a área do Parque Dom Pedro II é abordada empregando-se um método de análise urbanística que busca, em sua trajetória histórica e em suas características físicas e funcionais atuais, as pautas para planejamento e projeto para sua reinserção na cidade. Em seguida, no segundo capítulo, são abordadas as teorias urbanísticas mais recentes que tratam das metrópoles contemporâneas, com ênfase para o papel que as redes de mobilidade e os pontos de interface com a cidade, os polos de mobilidade metropolitanos, cumprem na organização e na estruturação destes vastos territórios urbanizados. Este capítulo pretende facilitar a compreensão do papel que a área de estudo pode vir a cumprir dentro da atual lógica de funcionamento da metrópole paulistana, atualizando o significado dos elementos analisados no primeiro capítulo. Finalmente, no terceiro capítulo, as características tipológicas e morfológicas dos polos de mobilidade metropolitanos, enquanto trechos específicos da cidade - como peças urbanas - e de seus principais elementos constituintes, as grandes estações intermodais, são analisadas através de um breve histórico da relação entre mobilidade, urbanismo e arquitetura, desde as propostas das megaestruturas imaginadas por arquitetos nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 até os exemplos contemporâneos de projetos urbanos associados a cinco estações europeias, reformadas ou construídas recentemente: Euralille em Lille, King\'s Cross e Saint Pancras em Londres, HauptBahnhof em Berlim, La Sagrera em Barcelona e Porta Susa em Turim. Fechando o terceiro capítulo um pequeno histórico das experiências de desenho urbano associadas à construção do metrô paulistano pretende aproximar as questões levantadas à realidade de São Paulo. Em vez de uma conclusão definitiva sobre uma solução projetual acabada para o Parque Dom Pedro II, um epílogo relaciona as questões abordadas nos três capítulos precedentes com o intuito de oferecer parâmetros para um plano e para a ação projetual para a área / This study seeks the guidelines for the urban reintegration of the Parque Dom Pedro II area in Sao Paulo, based on the finding of its current role as a metropolitan mobility hub and relying on international examples of urban renewal projects in areas associated with the renovation or construction of major intermodal stations. This path is organized into three investigative axes corresponding to the three chapters of the study. Initially the area of Parque Dom Pedro II is addressed by employing a method of urban analysis which seeks, through its historical trajectory and its current physical and functional characteristics, the guidelines for planning and design for its reintegration in the city. Then, in the second chapter, the most recent urban theories that address the contemporary metropolis are discussed, with emphasis on the role that mobility networks and its interface points with the city, the metropolitan mobility hubs, perform in the organization and structuring of these vast urbanized territories. This chapter is intended to facilitate the understanding of the role that the study area is likely to meet within the logics of operation in place in the Sao Paulo metropolis, updating the meaning of the urban elements analyzed in the first chapter. Finally, in the third chapter, the typological and morphological characteristics of the metropolitan mobility hubs, considered as specific areas of the city - as urban parts - and its main constituents, the major intermodal stations, are analyzed through a brief history of the relationship between mobility, urbanism and architecture, from the proposals of megastructures imagined by architects in the 1950s and 1960s to the contemporary examples of urban projects associated with five renovated or newly designed European stations: Euralille in Lille, King\'s Cross and Sait Pancras in London, HauptBahnhof in Berlin, La Sagrera in Barcelona and Porta Susa in Turin. Closing the third chapter a brief history of the experiences of urban design associated with the construction of the Sao Paulo subway system and stations aims to bring the issues raised closer to the reality of Sao Paulo. Instead of a definitive conclusion about a finished design solution to the area of Parque Dom Pedro II, an epilogue relates the issues addressed in the three previous chapters in order to provide parameters for planning and design in the area.

Le thème de la présente recherche est l'étude des conditions dans lesquelles se développent les compétences interculturelles des jeunes immigrants en milieu scolaire à Sherbrooke. La problématique met en évidence divers questionnements en lien non seulement avec l’évolution de la société québécoise, mais aussi avec les besoins propres aux systèmes éducatifs et aux contextes dans lesquels évoluent les personnes concernées. Au niveau national et particulièrement au plan institutionnel, ces contextes sont de plus en plus marqués par l’émergence d’expériences interculturelles complexes. Celles-ci constituent des phénomènes dynamiques et en transformation; elles provoquent des sentiments multiples, des comportements spécifiques, des troubles émotionnels, des chocs culturels, etc. Ces phénomènes s’accentuent proportionnellement à l’augmentation du nombre de nouveaux arrivants dans certaines régions. Ainsi, le nombre des jeunes immigrants à Sherbrooke s’accroît sans cesse. Les professionnels du milieu scolaire ne savent plus comment agir de façon adéquate dans une telle situation ; ils déplorent leur propre manque de connaissances et de ressources dans ce domaine, étant donné que l'augmentation de l'immigration vers les petites villes constitue un phénomène relativement nouveau au Canada. Ce phénomène demeure largement sous-représenté dans la documentation scientifique. Il est traité de manière parcellaire et peu adaptée aux réalités spécifiques des adolescents évoluant dans une telle région. Il s’agit donc d’un champ conceptuel à redéfinir; son cadre de référence est à rebâtir. Dès lors, il s’avère impératif de mener une analyse fine pour mieux comprendre le processus de développement des compétences interculturelles chez les immigrants, afin de mettre en place des outils efficaces pour une meilleure appropriation des connaissances et des actions pertinentes dans plusieurs sphères culturelles et institutionnelles. Pour cela, nous avons adopté un modèle de référence structurant permettant d’analyser les conditions du développement des compétences vues sous l’angle des facteurs favorables et défavorables, en allant du microsystème au macrosystème. Quatre types de répondants ont été interrogés : les jeunes québécois, les adolescents immigrants et leurs parents, ainsi que les enseignants œuvrant au sein des classes multiethniques, pour obtenir un regard global sur les témoignages des différents acteurs concernés par les expériences d'intégration. A l’issue des analyses, les résultats montrent que les conditions étudiées relèvent de plusieurs facteurs essentiels, qui sont classés selon l’écosystème. On y retrouve principalement les degrés de motivation et d’estime de soi, l’image perçue de l’école (microsystème), les stratégies parentales (mesosystème), la formation et les approches des enseignants (exosystème) ainsi que les lois touchant à l’accueil scolaire (macrosystème). De plus, il faut noter que les jeunes immigrants tendent à s’acculturer plus rapidement et au mieux dans la nouvelle société aussi bien que dans le nouveau collectif scolaire.Dans le présent travail, les concepts traités en rapport avec la notion des compétences interculturelles se trouvent enrichis par des apports multidisciplinaires (psychologie, sciences de l’éducation, sociologie, ainsi qu’anthropologie). / The subject matter of the present research is the analysis of conditions in which immigrant youth develop their cross cultural competences in school milieu in Sherbrooke.Several questions pertaining to changes taking place in Quebec society and the particular needs of Quebec’s educational system, in which the target population evolves, are outlined. Nationally, and particularly on the institutional level, the emergence of complex intercultural trajectories is increasingly taking center-stage. Such experiences represent dynamic evolving phenomena that provoke various feelings, specific behavior patterns, emotional disorders and cultural shocks. They are more clearly identifiable in certain regions where the number of newly arrived immigrants continuously grows. And the immigration in Sherbrooke is in constant evolution. Academic professionals are not sufficiently skilled to adequately perform in this kind of situations. They deplore their lack of knowledge and resources in this area, given that immigration to small towns on this scale is a relatively new phenomenon in Canada.Furthermore, this new phenomenon remains largely unexplored in the scientific domain. This subject is only partially paid attention to and is poorly adapted to the specific realities of immigrant youth being brought up in such regions.The conceptual field and frame of reference appear to have to be entirely reconstructed. To do so, it is necessary to analyze the conditions in which immigrant youth develop their cross-cultural competencies as it would allow us to understand the process of how they are acquired.Such subtle analysis will provide for carrying out tools and techniques to better equip academic professionals with knowledge and skills to help them face their new school realities and act in an appropriate and efficient manner.To address this need, we deployed an analysis pattern, which allowed us to study the evolution of cross-cultural competences by considering positive and negative factors for their development. These factors have been classified in an ecosystem, going from micro-system to macro-system.In the present study four types of respondents were interrogated: Quebecois youth, immigrant youth and their parents and teachers working in multicultural classes. These four respondents’ types were necessary to obtain a comprehensive view of the immigrant situation and their integration. We used focus groups, projective imagination test and face to face interviews.The results of the global analysis have shown that there are several crucial factors which were classified into the ecosystem. The main identified factors are: the degree of self-motivation, self esteem and how the school image is perceived (microsystem), parental strategies (mesosystem), teachers’ academic background and their tutorial approach, as well as policies around “welcome classes” structure (macrosystem). Moreover, we noticed that immigrant youth tend to faster adopt and integrate the culture of the Quebec society as well as merge with the new school community.The present research aimed to study the concepts of cross-cultural competencies has been enriched by the multidisciplinary approach we have applied throughout our analysis (psychology, pedagogy, sociology and anthropology).

L’écomobilité en milieu scolaire, étudiée à travers le Pédibus ou walking school bus, système de ramassage pédestre organisant bénévolement le trajet domicile-école à l’initiative des parents, peut questionner l’éducation relative à l’environnement (ERE) et l’éducation au développement durable (EDD). S’inscrivant à la suite des travaux de Lucie Sauvé, Sandrine Depeau, Alain Legardez, Angela Barthes, Marie-Louise Martinez et Jean-Marc Lange, les analyses ont cherché à montrer comment la pratique du Pédibus peut devenir un enjeu éducatif qui touche aux finalités de l’éducation : « construire des savoirs », « construire une identité de sujet et de citoyen », « devenir une personne responsable évoluant au sein d’une communauté ». Le point de départ a été d’interroger la façon dont le discours véhiculé par les textes officiels, dont les grandes déclarations onusiennes fondatrices du développement durable (DD), voient en l’école le lieu fondamental de la formation des esprits conscients et responsables. A ces discours prônant une réforme par le haut, la thèse a mis en regard les discours des acteurs du Pédibus en Métropole Rouen Normandie, recueillis entre 2016 et 2018, afin de montrer comment s’articule un discours écocitoyen, inscrit dans un processus de réforme par la base et par l’action quotidienne. S’inspirant des études sur l’écocitoyenneté, en particulier des travaux de Marie-Louise Martinez, l’analyse interlocutive des discours a mis en évidence la constitution d’une conscience écocitoyenne et l’émergence d’une personne écoresponsable, inscrite dans son milieu urbain et naturel, ainsi que dans son milieu social (rue, quartier, ville). Par ailleurs, cette thèse constitue la première monographie universitaire consacrée au Pédibus, incluant un état de la recherche inspiré de divers pays et de domaines différents (sciences de l’éducation, médecine, sociologie, géographie) concernés par le « car-à-pattes », à l’origine des principaux types de discours portant sur un objet complexe (discours sécuritaire, hygiéniste, sociétal, environnemental). Conformément à la nature même d’un processus d’apprentissage dénué de curriculum et dont la compréhension peut s’inspirer des travaux de l’éco-ontogénèse dans l’esprit de Tom Berryman, les relations entre apprentissage non formel et apprentissage formel ont été interrogées, d’autant que les élèves concernés relèvent du « cycle des observations » et du « cycle de consolidation » de l’école primaire. Sur ces bases, la thèse a formulé des pistes de remédiation, susceptibles de renforcer la synergie entre éducation non formelle et éducation formelle d’une part, et de contribuer à la multiplication et à la pérennisation des lignes de Pédibus d’autre part, très engagée depuis des décennies dans les « déplacements doux », pourrait servir de modèle dans le domaine de l’écomobilité. / Eco-mobility in connection with schools, studied through the Walking School Bus, a pedestrian collecting system that voluntarily organizes the home-school journey for young pupils at the initiative of some parents, can raise questions about environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD). Following the work of Lucie Sauvé, Sandrine Depeau, Alain Legardez, Angela Barthes, Marie-Louise Martinez and Jean-Marc Lange, the analyses sought to show how the practice of the Walking School Bus can become an educational issue that touches on the aims of education: "building knowledge", "building an identity as a subject and a citizen", "becoming a responsible person evolving within a community". The starting point was to question how the discourse conveyed by official texts, including the major UN declarations founding sustainable development (SD), see schools as the fundamental place for the training of conscious and responsible minds. To these discourses advocating a reform from above, the thesis compared the discourses of the actors of the Walking School Bus in Rouen Normandy Metropolis, collected between 2016 and 2018, in order to show how an eco-citizen discourse is articulated, as part of a reform process from the bottom up, and through daily action. Inspired by studies on eco-citizenship, in particular the work of Marie-Louise Martinez, the interlocutory analysis of the discourses highlighted the creation of an eco-citizen awareness and the emergence of an eco-responsible person, inscribed in its urban and natural environment, as well as in its social environment (street, neighborhood, city). Moreover, this thesis is the first university monograph devoted to the Walking School Bus, including a state of research inspired by various countries and different fields of science (educational sciences, medicine, sociology, geography) concerned by the WSB, at the origin of the main types of discourse on a complex subject (safety, hygienist, societal, environmental discourse). In accordance with the very nature of a curriculum-free learning process whose understanding can be inspired by the work of eco-ontogenesis in Tom Berryman's mind, the relationship between non-formal and formal learning was questioned, especially because the pupils concerned fall within the "observation cycle" and the "consolidation cycle" of primary school. On this basis, the thesis formulated remedial approaches that could strengthen the synergy between non-formal and formal education on the one hand, and contribute to the multiplication and sustainability of the Walking School Bus lines on the other hand. Rouen Normandy Metropolis, which has been very much involved for decades in "soft mobility", could serve as a model in the field of eco-mobility.

Uppsatsen undersöker konstbetraktandets natur i tunnelbanan genom en närstudie av fotomontaget ”Den dagen, den sorgen på Karlaplans tunnelbanestation i Stockholm.  Uppsatsens huvudsakliga frågeställning är: Hur spelar ”Den dagen den sorgen” upp sin mening och hur tas denna emot av betraktaren i tunnelbanekontexten vid Karlaplan?   Två underfrågor kompletterar frågeställningen: 1.Vilken är fotomontagets konstnärliga särart och hur är det organiserat narrativt? 2.Hur är tunnelbanans ”genius loci” och hur samverkar konstverket med platsen och rummet?    Impetus för uppsatsen är konstverkets säregna och unika karaktär som konstverk. Det finns inget liknande verk i Stockholms tunnelbana. Det lockar, väcker frågor och involverar betraktaren på ett direkt sätt. Syftet med uppsatsen är därför att undersöka mekanismerna för denna betraktaraktiverande rörelse. En fråga som ofta saknas i den omfattande litteraturen om konsten i Stockholms tunnelbana är hur tunnelbanekonsten kommunicerar och tas emot av sina betraktarresenärer. Denna brist motiverar en undersökning av relationen mellan konstverk, betraktare och miljö.      Uppsatsen är utförd med hjälp av en deduktiv och systematiskt tolkande arbetsmetod utifrån en receptionsteoretisk och semiotisk teoribildning. De valda frågeställningarna har riktat analysen och fotomontaget har studerats som konstnärligt och språkligt fenomen. Receptionsteorin utgår från Wolfgang Kemps begreppsanalys, vilken är strukturerad i interna och externa faktorer. Peter Gillgren kompletterar Kemp och visar hur betydelsefulla verkets interartiella referenser och den litterära meningen är för den receptionsteoretiska tolkningen. Roland Barthes semiotiska teckenanalys, där denoterande tecken omvandlas till konoterande i betraktarens medvetande, ligger också till grund för tolkningen      Texten är uppbyggd av fem delar. De består av inledning, bakgrund, interna faktorer, externa faktorer samt avslutande diskussion med slutsatser och sammanfattning. Genom verkets många interartiella referenser framträder en samhällskritisk litterär mening. För att förmedla denna litterära mening har upphovsmannen medvetet sökt motverka en riskerad polysemi. Kompletterande performativa textremsor, det hyperrealistiska fotografiska bildmediet samt en återhållsamhet med fragment stramar åt och riktar bildens ”betydelse”. Bildens komposition och perspektiv samt en frekvent användning av vakanser och fokaliserande gestalter bjuder in betraktaren i bildens ”spel” och sätter dennes öga i rörelse.  Verk, betraktare och miljö möts och förstår varandra i hastiga filmiska ögonblick. Sådan är konstbetraktandets natur på Karlaplans tunnelbanestation.

A device that is accompanied by an irreversible chemical reaction or physical destruction and could no longer function properly after performing its intended function is referred to as a one-shot device. One-shot device test data differ from typical data obtained by measuring lifetimes in standard life-tests. Due to the very nature of one-shot devices, actual lifetimes of one-shot devices under test cannot be observed, and they are either left- or right-censored. In addition, a one-shot device often has multiple components that could cause the failure of the device. The components are coupled together in the manufacturing process or assembly, resulting in the failure modes possessing latent heterogeneity and dependence. Frailty models enable us to describe the influence of common, but unobservable covariates, on the hazard function as a random effect in a model and also provide an easily understandable interpretation. In this thesis, we develop some inferential results for one-shot device testing data with gamma frailty model. We first develop an efficient expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for determining the maximum likelihood estimates of model parameters of a gamma frailty model with exponential lifetime distributions for components based on one-shot device test data with multiple failure modes, wherein the data are obtained from a constant-stress accelerated life-test. The maximum likelihood estimate of the mean lifetime of $k$-out-of-$M$ structured one-shot devices under normal operating conditions is also presented. In addition, the asymptotic variance–covariance matrix of the maximum likelihood estimates is derived, which is then used to construct asymptotic confidence intervals for the model parameters. The performance of the proposed inferential methods is finally evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations and then illustrated with a numerical example. A gamma frailty model with Weibull baseline hazards is considered next for fitting one-shot device testing data. The Weibull baseline hazards enable us to analyze time-varying failure rates more accurately, allowing for a deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of system's reliability. We develop an EM algorithm for estimating the model parameters utilizing the complete likelihood function. A detailed simulation study evaluates the performance of the Weibull baseline hazard model with that of the exponential baseline hazard model. The introduction of shape parameters in the component's lifetime distribution within the Weibull baseline hazard model offers enhanced flexibility in model fitting. Finally, Bayesian inference is then developed for the gamma frailty model with exponential baseline hazard for one-shot device testing data. We introduce the Bayesian estimation procedure using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique for estimating the model parameters as well as for developing credible intervals for those parameters. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated in a simulation study. Model comparison between independence model and the frailty model is made using Bayesian model selection criterion. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

The Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act 119 of 1990) of South Africa provides for the standardisation of quality norms for agricultural produce (DAFF, 2018). The purpose of this research was to investigate the quality and compliance of fresh produce sold in the Tshwane metropolis with the Agricultural Product Standards Act of South Africa. A cross-sectional study survey was conducted in six regions of Tshwane metropolis, in which 200 fresh produce vendors were randomly selected from various vending sites to analyse their level of knowledge regarding the Act. Furthermore, different fruits and vegetables were sampled from different vending sites and inspected for compliance with the Act.The vast majority (89%) of respondents did not know of the existence of the Act. Quite a small proportion of fruit (51.5 %) and vegetable (56 %) retailers indicated that their agricultural fruit products have been monitored. A large proportion of fruits (from 86% to 99.8%) and vegetables (from 85.4% to 97.5%) met all the various quality requirements. In general a fair proportion of fruits (58%) and vegetables (65%) complied highly with the Act in terms of quality. There was a significant positive correlation between monitoring by officials and the level of compliance. The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries should make sure that farmers and street vendors of agricultural produce register their businesses and are trained on the interpretation of the provisions of the Agricultural Product Standards Act. This will allow them to be tracked and traced for proper development concerning matters related to the Act. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M.A. (Consumer Science)

<div>The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) hinges on the efficient training of modern deep neural networks (DNNs) for non-convex optimization and uncertainty quantification, which boils down to a non-convex Bayesian learning problem. A standard tool to handle the problem is Langevin Monte Carlo, which proposes to approximate the posterior distribution with theoretical guarantees. However, non-convex Bayesian learning in real big data applications can be arbitrarily slow and often fails to capture the uncertainty or informative modes given a limited time. As a result, advanced techniques are still required.</div><div><br></div><div>In this thesis, we start with the replica exchange Langevin Monte Carlo (also known as parallel tempering), which is a Markov jump process that proposes appropriate swaps between exploration and exploitation to achieve accelerations. However, the na\"ive extension of swaps to big data problems leads to a large bias, and the bias-corrected swaps are required. Such a mechanism leads to few effective swaps and insignificant accelerations. To alleviate this issue, we first propose a control variates method to reduce the variance of noisy energy estimators and show a potential to accelerate the exponential convergence. We also present the population-chain replica exchange and propose a generalized deterministic even-odd scheme to track the non-reversibility and obtain an optimal round trip rate. Further approximations are conducted based on stochastic gradient descents, which yield a user-friendly nature for large-scale uncertainty approximation tasks without much tuning costs. </div><div><br></div><div>In the second part of the thesis, we study scalable dynamic importance sampling algorithms based on stochastic approximation. Traditional dynamic importance sampling algorithms have achieved successes in bioinformatics and statistical physics, however, the lack of scalability has greatly limited their extensions to big data applications. To handle this scalability issue, we resolve the vanishing gradient problem and propose two dynamic importance sampling algorithms based on stochastic gradient Langevin dynamics. Theoretically, we establish the stability condition for the underlying ordinary differential equation (ODE) system and guarantee the asymptotic convergence of the latent variable to the desired fixed point. Interestingly, such a result still holds given non-convex energy landscapes. In addition, we also propose a pleasingly parallel version of such algorithms with interacting latent variables. We show that the interacting algorithm can be theoretically more efficient than the single-chain alternative with an equivalent computational budget.</div>

This is a master thesis dealing with reception-theoretical aspects of the 96 meter long photomontage called That day and that grief, created by the Swedish photographer and artist Larseric Vänerlöf. The artwork is situated in the Karlaplan metro-station in Stockholm. The text is an extension of the master thesis that I wrote in 2017-2018, entitled The Cinematic eye. This new essay aims to deepen the understanding of how the photomontage reveals it´s meaning and how it is received by the viewer in the metro context at Karlaplan. Main questions: 1/ What is it in this big photomontage, that makes the viewing travellers, wanting to stay and watch it, even though they are in a hurry towards another place, in another matter? 2/ How does this artwork speak to me and how does it want me to watch it? 3/ What does the photomontage want to tell me? 4/ What does the work represents? Since my study focuses on the imagery and communication-act of the artwork, I find semiotics and reception-theory as the obvious theoretical tools. Part of the interpretation of the image relates to the semiotics of Roland Barthes and his statement that all images are polysemic and ambiguous and that they are culturally and historically conditioned. In my conclusion I discuss and to some extent challenge the mechanism and interaction between literal, denoting information and symbolic connotation in the viewer’s reception. The reception analysis is based on Wofgang Kemps conceptual apparatus formulated in The work of Art and its Beholder (1998), and Peter Gillgrens concept of interartial references. Hans Georg Gadamers view of art as a performative game complements the essays theoretical construction. I use a deductive and systematic interpretive working method. Based on the chosen semiotic and reception theoretical formation and through my questions, I have studied the phenomenology of the photomontage, i.e. as an artistic and linguistic phenomenon. Empathy in site/location, beholder and zeitgeist form the basis of the methodological work.The conclusions of the thesis are radically different from that of my former text from 2017-18. Imagery and symbolic ambiguities and focalics that refuse to reveal the "meaning" and content of the photomontage, activate the viewer in a performative way and creates a highly communicative work, which involves the viewer in the theatrical course. Through a deeper study of the “zeitgeist”, I have also concluded that the collective and political symbols from the 1970s in the work, have lost power and content at the time of the dismantling in 1982. The character that I previously perceived as "Art as weapon" has in this essay been transformed to "Art as visuality". The art of photography appears as the real subject matter for the photomontage at Karlaplan subwaystation.