The present thesis investigated the process of gross motor skill acquisition in the context of how movement pattern characteristics are organized and modified as a result of learning. The process of multisegmental skill acquisition was studied using performance production measures as a window to explore stable and transient changes in the movement control process. Bernstein's principles of exploitation of motion dependent torques, and the minimization of the degree of freedom were tested. / Twenty male subjects performed a total of 240 trials, as fast and accurate as possible, over 4 sessions for two tasks with different level of complexity (10 subjects per task). Kinematic and EMG data were acquired for a two segment model of the arm using a lightweight, adjustable manipulandum, and surface EMG for the PDL, PEC, TRI, and BIC muscles. Movement organization characteristics were revealed by wave pattern analyses performed with a phase breakdown technique, CCCF on torque partitioning components, and the CFs on the muscle activation waveforms. / The experimental protocol allowed enough practice for the tasks to be learned resulting in PT decrease. Consistent adaptations in movement organization were revealed by all three levels of analysis. Improvement in the performance production measures were in the same direction for both learning conditions, and the rate of change within experimental sessions decreased over time. The significant adaptations in movement organization occurred at the critical phases of each task (i.e. the power absorption--phase simple task, and the reversal phase--complex task). The EMG and joint torque components demonstrated significant amplitude and profile changes particularly during the critical phases. The subjects learned to perform the tasks faster by compensating the motion dependent torques components with the muscle torques in time and amplitude. This finding was consistent with the principle of exploitation of motion dependent torques which was enhanced with learning. Significant task specific motor program adaptations were revealed by the SVD analysis. The minimization of the degree of freedom hypothesis is consistent with the increasing covariation observed over learning between the antagonists PEC and BIC in the simple task, and for both the agonists PDL and TRI and antagonists PEC and BIC in the complex task. In addition the results justified the use of waveform analysis on performance production measures, as a method that can reveal important adaptation details in the underlying control mechanisms for gross motor skill.

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Developing countries have low levels of capital. They are usually net borrowers, supplementing their low domestic savings with external finance. During the 1970s and 1980s many developing countries borrowed from international financial institutions on a large scale. Surprisingly, private citizens of these developing countries were investing in foreign assets at an increasing rate. This observation raised a great deal of interest among academics, policy-makers and the general public concerning capital flight from developing countries . Some of the effects of capital flight on the domestic economy of a developing country are as follows : Firstly, capital flight causes a reduction in available resources to finance domestic investment. This leads to a decline in the rate of capital formation and adversely affects the developing country's economic growth rate. Secondly, capital flight reduces the government's ability to tax all the income of its residents because the government experiences difficulty in taxing wealth held abroad as well as income that is generated from that wealth. Capital flight thus reduces government revenues and the ability to service external debt. Thirdly, as the government revenues fall with the erosion of a tax base there is an increased need to borrow from international financial institutions thereby increasing the foreign debt burden. Capital flight conforms to the portfolio allocation theory , which states that capital flows are determined by rates of return and risk. Capital flows respond positively to higher rates of return and negatively to risk. The present study investigates the effect of political risk on the magnitude of capital flight in South Africa over the period 1960-1995. South Africa is a good test case because the country experienced high political risk and capital flight for many of the years between 1960 and 1995. We replicate the Fedderke and Liu's study (1999) by recollecting the data from original sources. After conducting tests for cointegration we estimate the impact of political risk measured by a political instability index on capital flight. We find support for the hypothesis that higher instability results in greater capital flight. This is the result we are able to replicate thus supporting Fedderke and Liu. We also use our results to show how capital flight can depreciate the exchange rate. Finally we point to. some possible policy implications. / Thesis (M.Comm.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

The Himalayan region of India has a surprisingly fragile ecosystem due in part to its geomorphic characteristics. In recent years the Himalayan ecosystem has been disturbed in various ways by both human and natural processes. Large developments threaten ecosystems in the area modifying local land use and subsistence patterns. This has important implications for the sustainable livelihoods of the local communities. People in these areas are very concerned about the lack of inclusion in development decision-making processes and the negative effects of development on their livelihood. Protest actions are spreading throughout Himachal Pradesh, not only to stop developments but also to re-shape how developments are taking place. The village of Jagatsukh was selected for in-depth study. That is where people started to organize around the Allain Duhangan Hydro Project and also where the protest actions in relation to the Hydro Project actually started. The overall purpose of this research was to understand the role of protests as a vehicle for public participation in relation to decisions about resources and the environment and to consider whether such movements are learning platforms for action on sustainability.

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The primary focus of this research was to examine that portion of the model for psychotherapy developed by John Grinder and Richard Bandler in their 1976 book, The Structure of Magic II, concerned with internal representational systems. Specifically, the study was designed to investigate the relationship between reflexive eye movement patterns, verbalizations, and individual self-report as measures of representational systems. This comparison was made to determine if the three variables would demonstrate significant agreement as predictors of internal representational systems.Students in undergraduate psychology courses in two different departments of a large midwestern university were solicited as subjects for this research. One hundred and twenty-eight individuals participated in the study. Those individuals who participated represented various age groups and academic majors. In this study subjects served as their own controls.Four hypotheses were formulated to investigate the probability of various combinations of eye movements, verbalizations, and individual self-reports as predictors of respresentational systems. The author developed nine stimulus cues for subject response. Six cues required no verbal response and were used for eye movement rating only. The remaining three cues were responded to verbally and provided both eye movement and verbalization ratings. Each subject was individually rated on eye movements and verbalizations by different raters. A frequency count procedure was utilized in rating each individual's eye movements and verbalizations. The most frequently occurring system was classified as the primary representational system for each of these variables. At the completion of the study, each individual provided information on his or her primary representational system through use of a short questionnaire developed by the author. The representational system rated as number one on the self-report questionnaire was classified as the primary representational system for individual self-report. The results of all ratings were classified as either visual, kinesthetic, or auditory and then compared on the variables.Statistical analyses were carried out to determine if there was significant agreement (p<.05) between the variables. Analysis of the results indicated one significant finding. The most reliable means of determining representational systems in this study was through a combination of observing eye movements and listening to the predicate system most frequently used in the verbalizations of an individual. This method was more reliable than observing eye movements and obtaining an individual's self-report; or listening to the most frequently used predicate system and obtaining an individual's self-report; or observing eye movements, listening for the most frequently used predicate system, and obtaining an individual's self-report. The combination of observing eye movements and listening for the most frequently used predicate system was statistically significant. All other combinations mentioned failed to reach statistical significance.

This research examines the revolution of 2010 in Tunisia due to the paucity of empirical research on the subject and to resolve analytical problems that plague research on similar events. The research is based in both the cultural turn in social movement research and the state constructionist theory of revolutions. The methodology employed is a case study which combines a content analysis of an Al Jazeera news program called Al Hassad Al Maghrebi with data from two public opinion surveys conducted in Tunisia shortly after the revolution, and pre-existing academic research. The findings indicate that Al Jazeera did play a role in increasing mobilization against the Ben Ali regime by broadcasting the spread of protests and regime concessions. This was facilitated by the censorship practices of the Ben Ali regime which caused a popular news channel like Al Jazeera to rely purely on opposition sources for its broadcasts.

The Himalayan region of India has a surprisingly fragile ecosystem due in part to its geomorphic characteristics. In recent years the Himalayan ecosystem has been disturbed in various ways by both human and natural processes. Large developments threaten ecosystems in the area modifying local land use and subsistence patterns. This has important implications for the sustainable livelihoods of the local communities. People in these areas are very concerned about the lack of inclusion in development decision-making processes and the negative effects of development on their livelihood. Protest actions are spreading throughout Himachal Pradesh, not only to stop developments but also to re-shape how developments are taking place. The village of Jagatsukh was selected for in-depth study. That is where people started to organize around the Allain Duhangan Hydro Project and also where the protest actions in relation to the Hydro Project actually started. The overall purpose of this research was to understand the role of protests as a vehicle for public participation in relation to decisions about resources and the environment and to consider whether such movements are learning platforms for action on sustainability.