The main thesis deals with the educational theories of Rudolf Steiner. These theories are dealt with in Parts III to VIII of the thesis. Before this, in Part 1, there occurs a brief description of the background and life of Steiner; and, in Part II, a,, philosophical discussion of the basic tenets and assumptions upon which Steiner's educational theories rest. The areas dealt with in Parts III to VIII are divided into three. The first is an exposition of Steiner's ideas; the second is a comparison and appraisal of Steiner's theories with other educationalists; the third is an examination and evaluation of some of the concepts which are fundamental to Steiner's theories. The first of these areas i. e. the exposition of Steiner's ideas, is subdivided into three: his views on the nature of the child and the'way in which the child grows and develops; methodologies of teaching; and content and curriculum. An exposition of Steiner's theories on the nature of the child and its development occurs in Part III. - This is followed, in Part IV, by an evaluation of his theories by comparing them with other educationaliits. In Part V an examination of Steiner's theories on methodologies of teaching, by considering his views of "The Temperaments", occurs; - reference and comparisons to other educationalists are made in the same section. In. Part VI descriptions of the Waldorf curriculum are given and this is followed by an evaluation at the end of the section. The evaluation examines 'a number of concepts upon which the Waldorf curriculum has bpen formulated in the context of modern day curriculum objectives, design and learning experiences. In Part VII a brief historical perspective : is obtained of Steiner's theories by comparing his views with those of Plato, Rousseau and Montessori. This perspective is placed in a modern day context in Part VIII, and is obtained by an examination of many of the concepts fundamental to Steiner's theories. This includes a detailed critique of two of the main assumptions upon which Steiner's theories of education rest; an examination of the relationship of the individual to society in an educational context; and a discussion of the nature and aims of the educational process.

<p> This thesis is a contribution to the theory of Steiner quadruple systems. The first chapter provides a construction of resolvable Steiner quadruple systems that is different from the known constructions. In the second chapter, we construct Steiner quadruple systems with an automorphism that consists of a cycle of length 2 plus a cycle of full length minus 2, and investigate the number of pairwise distinct systems of this kind. In the third chapter, we also construct non-S-cyclic Steiner quadruple systems, one of which is an answer to a question raised in [11], and also investigate the number of pairwise distinct systems.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p> Let t, k, v be three positive integers such that 2 ≤ t < k ≤ v. A Steiner system S(t, k, v) is a pair (V, B) where |V| = v and B is a collection of k-subsets of V, called blocks, such that every t-subset of V occurs in exactly one block in B. When t = 2, the Steiner system S(2, k, v) is sometimes called a Steiner 2-design.</p> <p> Given a Steiner 2-design, S = (V, B), with general block size k, a block-colouring of S is a mapping ¢ : B ---> C, where C is a set of colours. If |C| = n, then ¢ is an n-block-colouring. In this thesis we focus on block-colourings for Steiner 2-designs with k = 4 with some results for general block size k.</p> <p> In particular, we present known results for S(2, 4, v)s and the classical chromatic index. A classical block-colouring is a block-colouring in which any two blocks containing a common element have different colours. The smallest number of colours needed in a classical block-colouring of a design S = (V, B), denoted by x'(S), is the classical chromatic index.</p> <p> We also discuss n-block-colourings of type π, where π = ( π1, π2, ... , πs ) is a partition of the replication number r = v-1/k-1 for a Steiner system S(2,k,v). In particular, we focus on 8(2,4,v)s and the partitions (2, 1, 1, ... , 1), (3, 1, 1 ... , 1), and partitions of the form π = (π1, π2, ... , πs), where |πj -πil ≤ 1 for all 1 ≤ i < j ≤ s. These latter partitions are called equitable partitions and the corresponding block-colourings are called equitable block-colourings.</p> <p> Finally, we present results on the T-chromatic index for S(2, 4, v )s for various configurations T. The T-chromatic index for a Steiner system S(2, k, v), S, is the minimum number of colours needed to colour the blocks of S such that there are no monochromatic copies of T. In particular, we focus on configurations containing 2 lines and configurations containing 3 lines for both S(2, 4, v)s and general S(2, k, v)s. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Neste projeto estudamos algoritmos de aproximação para o problema da árvore de Steiner com coleta de prêmios. Trata-se de uma generalização do problema da árvore de Steiner, onde é dado um grafo com custos positivos nas arestas e penalidades positivas nos vértices. O objetivo é encontrar uma subárvore do grafo que minimize a soma dos custos das arestas mais a soma das penalidades dos vértices que não pertencem à subárvore. Em 2009, os autores Archer, Bateni, Hajiaghayi e Karloff obtiveram pela primeira vez um algoritmo com fator de aproximação estritamente menor do que 2. Além de analisarmos este algoritmo, estudamos também a implementação de algoritmos 2-aproximação para o problema da árvore de Steiner e da árvore de Steiner com coleta de prêmios. / In this project we analyze approximation algorithms for the prize-collecting Steiner tree problem. This is a generalization of the Steiner tree problem, in which it is given a graph with positive costs in edges and positive penalties in vertices. The goal is to find a subtree of the graph that minimizes the sum of costs of edges plus the sum of the penalties of the vertices that don\'t belong to the subtree. In 2009, the authors Archer, Bateni, Hajiaghayi e Karloff described, for the first time an algorithm with approximation factor strictly less than 2. Besides analyzing this algorithm, we also study the implementation of 2-approximation algorithms to the Steiner tree problem and prize-collecting Steiner tree problem.

Essa dissertação consiste em um aprofundamento do conhecimento sobre a agricultura biodinâmica, com especial consideração ao caminho do conhecimento que a deu origem, às suas principais características e ao seu desenvolvimento prático dentro do contexto brasileiro. Além da pesquisa bibliográfica acerca dos principais temas deste trabalho, que são o paradigma agrícola convencional, a questão socioambiental na agricultura, a antroposofia, a agricultura biodinâmica e o movimento biodinâmico brasileiro, também foi realizado levantamento de dados primários através de pesquisa de campo, com imersão no universo antroposófico e biodinâmico por meio de cursos, vivências, conversas e entrevistas semiestruturadas que contribuíram para uma maior compreensão sobre o desenvolvimento da agricultura biodinâmica em território brasileiro. As entrevistas foram realizadas entre o fim de 2017 e começo de 2018 com dez consultores(as) e treze agricultores(as) biodinâmicos(as) em três estados brasileiros Minas Gerais, São Paulo e Rio Grande do Sul. Diante desses objetivos e procedimentos metodológicos, a agricultura biodinâmica foi abordada desde a sua origem filosófica na antroposofia, passando por aspectos conceituais, contextualização histórica e institucional do movimento biodinâmico no Brasil, até chegar nas principais questões acerca do seu desenvolvimento nesse contexto. Tendo como base o aprofundamento teórico e a pesquisa de campo realizada, em especial as perspectivas que os próprios agricultores(as) e consultores(as) biodinâmicos(as) apresentaram nas entrevistas concedidas, essa dissertação pôde identificar alguns dos principais desafios e potenciais da agricultura biodinâmica em terras brasileiras / This dissertation consists of a deepening of knowledge about biodynamic agriculture, with special regard to the path of knowledge that gave rise to it, its main characteristics and its practical development within the Brazilian context. In addition to the bibliographic research about the main themes of this work, which are the conventional agricultural paradigm, the socio-environmental issue in agriculture, anthroposophy, biodynamic agriculture and the Brazilian biodynamic movement, a survey of primary data was also carried out through field research, with immersion in the anthroposophic and biodynamic universe through courses, experiences, conversations and semi-structured interviews that contributed to a better understanding of the development of biodynamic in Brazilian territory. The interviews were conducted between the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 with ten consultants and thirteen biodynamic farmers in three Brazilian states - Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Rio Grande do Sul. In view of these objectives and methodological procedures, biodynamic agriculture was approached from its philosophical origin in anthroposophy, going through conceptual aspects, historical and institutional contextualization of the biodynamic movement in Brazil, until arriving at the main questions about its development in this context. Based on the theoretical background and the field research carried out, especially the perspectives that the biodynamic farmers and consultants presented in the interviews, this dissertation was able to identify some of the main challenges and potentials of biodynamic agriculture in Brazilian lands

L’originalité de la pensée de Rudolf Steiner, née dans la mouvance de la société théosophique est d’aller vers l'universalité, en dépit de critiques pas toujours fondées. En effet, la pensée de Steiner est au confluent de l’Europe, de l’Egypte, de la Perse et de l’Inde. A la fois pensée ésotérique, occulte et mystique, elle est intrinsèquement gnostique. Enseignement de sagesse, la gnose désigne un concept tout à la fois philosophique et religieux qui permet le salut de l’âme par une connaissance directe de la divinité. Dans son effort de connaissance à vocation universelle, le gnostique inclut les particularités historiques inclues tant dans le brahmanisme, que dans la chrétienté, l’islam et le judaïsme. A l’instar des Hindous, Steiner concevait l'Histoire comme le résultat des expériences de l’évolution individuelle, qui se déroulent au travers de nombreuses existences ou incarnations successives. Le monde spirituel lui apparaissait relié au monde physique par l'intermédiaire de la pensée humaine et il a décrit le système anthroposophique, la « sagesse de l’homme », tel un chemin de connaissance, allant de l'être humain, vers l’aspect spirituel de l'univers. Le cheminement de la gnose hindoue jusqu’aux idées de Steiner est développé dans cette thèse. Les rapports entre gnose, ésotérisme, mystique, religion, et occultisme, L’expérience mystique relatant un rapport avec le divin, de par sa nature difficilement communicable, par lequel l'âme humaine accèderait à une rencontre directe avec la source primordiale fut également un des thèmes étudiés par l’anthroposophe / The originality of Rudolf Steiner's thought, influenced by Theosophical Society, is to go to the universality of mankind, in spite of open criticisms that do not always correspond to reality. In fact, Steiner's Gnostic thought has been deeply influenced by European and Eastern Philosophical currents of Esotericism, Occultism and Mysticism. Gnosis is a reference to Philosophical and Religious concepts that allow soul salvation through a direct link to God. Ithas a universal vocation, and Gnosticism includes historical aspects included in Brahmanism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. As Hindus believed so, Steiner conceived Human History as the result of the experiences of individual evolution, which took place after many human incarnations. The spiritual world was according to Rudolf Steiner connected to the physical world with human thought and the history of the anthroposophic systems, that he called "Human Wisdom", as a path of knowledge, going from human beings, towards universal spiritual aspects. The path of Hindu gnosis to the ideas of Steiner and the relationship between Gnosis, Esotericism, Mysticism, Religion and Occultism are developed in this study. The theme of the encounter with a primordial source was dear to the philosopher

Essa dissertação consiste em um aprofundamento do conhecimento sobre a agricultura biodinâmica, com especial consideração ao caminho do conhecimento que a deu origem, às suas principais características e ao seu desenvolvimento prático dentro do contexto brasileiro. Além da pesquisa bibliográfica acerca dos principais temas deste trabalho, que são o paradigma agrícola convencional, a questão socioambiental na agricultura, a antroposofia, a agricultura biodinâmica e o movimento biodinâmico brasileiro, também foi realizado levantamento de dados primários através de pesquisa de campo, com imersão no universo antroposófico e biodinâmico por meio de cursos, vivências, conversas e entrevistas semiestruturadas que contribuíram para uma maior compreensão sobre o desenvolvimento da agricultura biodinâmica em território brasileiro. As entrevistas foram realizadas entre o fim de 2017 e começo de 2018 com dez consultores(as) e treze agricultores(as) biodinâmicos(as) em três estados brasileiros Minas Gerais, São Paulo e Rio Grande do Sul. Diante desses objetivos e procedimentos metodológicos, a agricultura biodinâmica foi abordada desde a sua origem filosófica na antroposofia, passando por aspectos conceituais, contextualização histórica e institucional do movimento biodinâmico no Brasil, até chegar nas principais questões acerca do seu desenvolvimento nesse contexto. Tendo como base o aprofundamento teórico e a pesquisa de campo realizada, em especial as perspectivas que os próprios agricultores(as) e consultores(as) biodinâmicos(as) apresentaram nas entrevistas concedidas, essa dissertação pôde identificar alguns dos principais desafios e potenciais da agricultura biodinâmica em terras brasileiras / This dissertation consists of a deepening of knowledge about biodynamic agriculture, with special regard to the path of knowledge that gave rise to it, its main characteristics and its practical development within the Brazilian context. In addition to the bibliographic research about the main themes of this work, which are the conventional agricultural paradigm, the socio-environmental issue in agriculture, anthroposophy, biodynamic agriculture and the Brazilian biodynamic movement, a survey of primary data was also carried out through field research, with immersion in the anthroposophic and biodynamic universe through courses, experiences, conversations and semi-structured interviews that contributed to a better understanding of the development of biodynamic in Brazilian territory. The interviews were conducted between the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 with ten consultants and thirteen biodynamic farmers in three Brazilian states - Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Rio Grande do Sul. In view of these objectives and methodological procedures, biodynamic agriculture was approached from its philosophical origin in anthroposophy, going through conceptual aspects, historical and institutional contextualization of the biodynamic movement in Brazil, until arriving at the main questions about its development in this context. Based on the theoretical background and the field research carried out, especially the perspectives that the biodynamic farmers and consultants presented in the interviews, this dissertation was able to identify some of the main challenges and potentials of biodynamic agriculture in Brazilian lands

Neste projeto analisamos jogos de formação de redes que são variantes do problema da floresta de Steiner, nos quais indivíduos desejam conectar conjuntos de vértices terminais em um grafo de forma a minimizar seus custos, podendo dividir o custo das arestas com os demais participantes. Estudamos como o método de divisão de custos influencia na existência e na qualidade dos equilíbrios desses jogos em comparação com o valor da solução ótima centralizada. / In this project we analyze network formation games that are variants of the Steiner forest problem, in which individuals wish to connect sets of terminal vertices of a graph in a way that minimizes their costs, being able to divide the cost of an edge with the other participants. We study how the method used to divide the costs influences the existence and quality of the equilibria of these games in relation to the centralized optimal solution.

Cette recherche s’inscrit dans le vaste champ de l’Anthropologie des vins "nature", la réhabilitation du sensiblepar Christelle Pineaue. Elle vise spécifiquement les domaines des techniques et des savoirs, ainsi que celui du sensoriel, (l’analyse croisée de ces deux univers permettant de saisir les systèmes de représentation sous les angles à la fois pragmatique et perceptif.). Un courant émergeant prend place dans le paysage vitivinicole - en France notamment : celui de professionnels s’engageant dans la production et la diffusion de vins biologiques, biodynamiques, naturels (certains ayant réalisé leur révolution « culturale », d’autres ayant bifurqué professionnellement). Dans ces trois démarches, différents degrés d’investissement existent, et les pratiques peuvent s’interpénétrer, conduisant à un corpus d’actions et de références syncrétiques, d’où la difficulté, pour les non-initiés, à définir ces vins dits « libres » et hors norme. Néanmoins tous ces vignerons conservent une base de rhétorique commune, fondée sur le mythe du retour à la « nature » (plus exactement à un milieu au sein duquel tous les êtres vivants sont en interrelation), au nom d’une certaine moralité à son égard. Les questions de santé publique et de préservation de la pluralité des saveurs et des cépages les animent tout autant. Ils entendent mettre au jour des produits « nus » et limitent leurs actions directes sur la nature (action indirecte négative, Haudricourt - 1962), à l’heure de l’Anthropocène (Bonneuil-Fressoz - 2013). Les intrants chimiques de synthèse, alliés objectifs de la majorité des producteurs de vin aujourd’hui dans le monde, ont chez les "natures", le statut d’ennemi. Aux vins "conventionnels" corsetés par la technique et une certaine idée du progrès, s’opposent des vins qualifiés de vivants, difficiles à apprivoiser. La description de la praxis basée sur des savoir-faire anciens met en lumière un réseau à la fois homogène et hétéroclite, dans lequel chacun travaille sa propre voie. Dans le même temps, ces vignerons adoptent une posture de chercheur, au travers d’expérimentations qui peuvent emprunter à des modèles de pensée en apparence opposés, auprès de Rudolf Steiner (fondateur de l’anthroposophie et de la biodynamie) aussi bien que de Jules Chauvet (auteur de travaux scientifiques en chimie et microbiologie), deux figures tutélaires. Ce désir de dialogue avec le milieu se comprend comme une demande de sens dans un univers de vivants privés de sensibilité après que l’ère cartésienne a pris l’avantage dans les différentes façons de se représenter le monde. La vision naturaliste qui marque nos sociétés (Descola - 2005) induit une scission entre le moi et la « nature », elle a de fait contribué à repousser les rôles et les frontières du sensible. Le sujet moderne a ainsi été coupé de son milieu (Berque - 2000, 2010). Ces vignerons tentent de remédier à cette situation par le biais d’un dialogue ininterrompu entre les deux pôles, intelligible et sensible. / This research belongs to the vast field of the anthropology of nature. It specifically targets techniques and knowledge, as well as sensory perception. The joint analysis of these spheres enables an understanding of the ways they are represented both from a practical and perceptional angle. A new movement is establishing itself in the field of wine production, in particular in France, as producers move towards the production and distribution of organic, biodynamic and natural wines, either as a result of a ‘cultural’ revolution or professional reconversion. These three approaches are applied to varying degrees and may be used in conjunction with one another, resulting in a syncretic body of reference and actions, which makes it difficult for non-specialists to define these wines, described as ‘free’ and unconventional. Nevertheless, these wine producers all refer to their approach in the same way, based on the idea of a return to ‘nature’, (that is to say, an environment in which all living beings are interconnected) and a particular form of moral respect for that nature. They are equally inspired by public health issues and a concern for the preservation of a diversity of flavours and grape varieties. They aim to highlight the use of ‘raw’ produce and restrict direct action on the natural environment (action indirecte negative, Haudricourt – 1962) in the Anthropocene era (Bonneuil-Fressoz – 2013). Synthetic chemical inputs, the logical allies of the majority of wine producers, are perceived as enemies by the ‘naturals’. ‘Conventional’ wines, restricted by technique and a certain idea of progress, contrast with wines described as alive and difficult to control. The description of usage based on traditional skills reveals both a collective and composite network within which all tread their own path. Simultaneously, these wine producers assume the role of researchers, through experimentation with ways of thinking which may seem contradictory, inspired by figureheads Rudolf Steiner (the founder of anthroposophy and biodynamic agriculture) and Jules Chauvet (the author of scientific works on chemistry and microbiology). This desire to communicate with the “natural” world may be interpreted as a search for meaning in a world of sentient beings deprived of their sensitivity since the Cartesian age came to dominate the ways in which the world is represented. The naturalist vision which characterizes our societies (Descola – 2005) creates a divide between the self and ‘nature’ and, in doing so, pushes back the boundaries of sensitivity. The modern subject has thus been disconnected from the milieu (Berque – 1987, 2010). These wine producers seek to resolve this situation through a constant dialogue between the two opposites, the intellectual and the sensible .

The subject of this thesis is to study approximation algorithms for some network design problems in face of uncertainty. We consider two widely studied models of handling uncertainties - Robust Optimization and Stochastic Optimization. We study a robust version of the well studied Uncapacitated Facility Location Problem (UFLP). In this version, once the set of facilities to be opened is decided, an adversary may close at most β facilities. The clients must then be assigned to the remaining open facilities. The performance of a solution is measured by the worst possible set of facilities that the adversary may close. We introduce a novel LP for the problem, and provide an LP rounding algorithm when all facilities have same opening costs. We also study the 2-stage Stochastic version of the Steiner Tree Problem. In this version, the set of terminals to be covered is not known in advance. Instead, a probability distribution over the possible sets of terminals is known. One is allowed to build a partial solution in the first stage a low cost, and when the exact scenario to be covered becomes known in the second stage, one is allowed to extend the solution by building a recourse network, albeit at higher cost. The aim is to construct a solution of low cost in expectation. We provide an LP rounding algorithm for this problem that beats the current best known LP rounding based approximation algorithm.