Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om hur några utbildade montessorilärare ser på lek i montessoripedagogiken. Genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer har deltagarna delat med sig av sina tankar om lekens betydelse och deras roll i leken inom montessoriförskolan. Resultatet visar att det finns olika syn på vad som är lek i en montessoriförskola, och ett mer enhälligt resultat när det gäller montessorilärarens roll i leken. De roller som deltagarna lyfter är observatör och passiv roll, vägvisare, aktivt närvarande och stöttepelare samt miljön som ordinarie pedagog. För att förstå mitt resultat har jag använt mig av aktör-nätverksteorin som teoretisk utgångspunkt, då den relaterar bra till resultatet av intervjuerna. / The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge of how some educated Montessori teachers perceive play in Montessori pedagogy. Through qualitative semi structured interviews the participants have shared their thoughts about the meaning of play and their role in children´s play in Montessori preschool. The results show that the teachers have different views of the role of play in Montessori, and a more unanimous view regarding the role of the Montessori teacher. The roles that the participants raise are observer and passive role, guide, active present and supporter as well as the environment as a regular teacher. To understand my result, I have been inspired by the actor-network theory as a starting point, as it relates to the results of the interviews.

O objetivo central da tese foi compreender como se configura a aprendizagem nos processos organizativos de desastres. Realizei uma pesquisa qualitativa à luz da teoria ator-rede como inspiração teórico-metodológica, a partir do crime-desastre da Samarco/Vale/BHP Billiton ocorrido em novembro de 2015. Na primeira discussão teórica da tese, busquei aproximar processualmente os atos de organizar e aprender, por meio do conceito de aprendizagem organizativa. Na segunda discussão teórica, analisei as questões contemporâneas sobre a temática dos desastres do Brasil, propondo que os desastres são efeitos disruptivos em uma rede de relações heterogêneas, desiguais, atemporais e multiterritoriais, sendo as vulnerabilidades e os perigos constituídos relacionalmente. A pesquisa foi constituída por uma fase preliminar/exploratória e três momentos de imersão no campo: na etapa preliminar realizei um aprofundamento empírico sobre os desastres, especialmente a partir de experiências brasileiras; os três momentos de imersão foram no caso do desastre das empresas, com enfoque para os desdobramentos do desastre no Estado do Espírito Santo. Ao longo do primeiro ano do desastre-crime da Samarco/Vale/BHP, coletei e analisei 1.297 documentos, entrevistas (formais e informais) e registros em diários de campo. Todos os dados foram inseridos no software de análise qualitativa Atlas.ti. A metodologia e a análise dos dados foram realizadas a partir do mapeamento das principais controvérsias que emergiram das relações entre os atores do estudo, uma das possibilidades da teoria ator-rede enquanto método e que se constitui uma das contribuições desta pesquisa A partir das discussões teóricas e empíricas, foi possível observar que os desastres geram uma latência organizativa, que se constitui num estado abstrato e transitório de disposição para aprender a organizar. Essa latência impulsiona os processos de aprendizagem organizativa, que são os modos de cooperar e se fazer coletivamente, em movimento e instáveis, cognoscíveis pelo aprender e pelos saberes-em-ato (knowing); eles são estabelecidos numa rede de relações heterogêneas em múltiplas formas de espacialidades, podendo se inscrever e formar uma tessitura de práticas, sendo que as condições de possibilidades para a sua realização e participação não são dadas, podendo também servir como um meio para superar, combater as desigualdades, e formar outros fazeres e práticas. Pelas imersões de campo, foi possível analisar que os processos de aprendizagem organizativa se configuraram de modo excludente, nos quais alguns atores (como os sujeitos atingidos pelo desastre das empresas) foram ausências-presentes nesses processos. Dada a dinâmica formada pela exclusão e pelas tensões originadas nos conflitos, desigualdades e divergências (controvérsias), os processos organizativos se tornaram múltiplos, oportunizando que os sujeitos excluídos de algumas práticas organizativas pudessem aprender a se organizar em outras relações, para superar e combater as desigualdades geradas nos desastres. / The main objective of the thesis was to understand how learning is configured in organizational processes of disasters. I conducted a qualitative research in the light of actor-network theory as a theoretical-methodological inspiration, starting from the Samarco/Vale/BHP Billiton crime-disaster that occurred in November of 2015. In the first theoretical discussion of the thesis, I tried to procedurally approach the acts of organizing and learning, through the concept of organizational learning. In the second theoretical discussion, I analyzed contemporary issues on Brazil's disasters, proposing that disasters are disruptive effects in a network of heterogeneous, unequal, timeless and multi-territorial relations, with vulnerabilities and dangers being constituted relationally. The research consisted of a preliminary/exploratory phase and three moments of immersion in the field: in the preliminary stage I realized an empirical deepening on the disasters, especially from Brazilian experiences; the three moments of immersion were in the case of the disaster of the companies, with focus on the unfolding of the disaster in the State of Espírito Santo. Throughout the first year of the Samarco/Vale/BHP crime-disaster, I collected and analyzed 1,297 documents, interviews (formal and informal) and records in field journals. All data were entered into the qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti. The methodology and data analysis were performed from the mapping of the main controversies that emerged from the relations between the actors of the study, one of the possibilities of actor-network theory as a method and that is one of the contributions of this research From the theoretical and empirical discussions, it was possible to observe that disasters generate an organizational latency, which constitutes an abstract and transitory state of disposition to learn how to organize. This latency drives the processes of organizational learning, which are ways of cooperating and doing collectively, moving and unstable, knowable by learning and knowing-in-act; they are established in a network of heterogeneous relations in multiple forms of spatiality, and can register and form a texture of practices, and the conditions of possibilities for their realization and participation are not given, and can also serve as a means to overcome, combat inequalities, and to form other doings and practices. Due to the field immersions, it was possible to analyze that organizational learning processes were configured in an exclusive way, in which some actors (such as the subjects affected by corporate disaster) were present-absences in these processes. Given the dynamics of exclusion and tensions arisen from conflicts, inequalities, and divergences (controversies), organizational processes became multiple, allowing the excluded subjects of some organizational practices to learn to organize in other relationships, to overcome and combat inequalities generated by disasters.

The impact of social influence from others on choices made by subjects and how this influence accumulates was studied by secondary analysis of reported experimental data. To explain this impact a link is proposed between social influence network theory (SINT) and status characteristics theory (SCT). The link formula transforms stay probabilities for different status relationships of subject with one disagreeing other agent into horizontal axis coordinate values while stay probabilities of subject given two disagreeing others are transformed into vertical-axis coordinate values corresponding to the horizontal axis values for further analyses. The results support the utility of the proposed link between the two theories.

This study developed new mapping techniques and methodologies for understanding creativity in terms of connectivity and interaction between human and non-human actors in a design classroom. The researcher applied qualitative methods of data collection combining both observation of classroom activities and focus group interviews in order to map a creativity network. The findings indicate that creativity is a complex weather-like system (or what I call "creative climate") composed of many sub-networks and diffused networks. Four interactions emerged from the study: (a) the creative climate is composed of the circulation of bodies and objects forming networks and sub-networks, (b) centers and corners/edges are a measure of connectivity and interaction in classroom space design, (c) roundness is a measure of classroom style and the space of connectivity usage, and (d) plugs-in creativity is a measure of technology consolidation. This study attempted to fill the gap in the literature on creativity and classroom design by explaining the role of non-human actors in shaping the creative climate in the classroom, especially the role of the classroom space itself as an actor. The implication of this study in art education opens a new opportunity for research in designing innovative classrooms. Also, it will allow future investigation of the phenomenon of creativity as a climate system based on the interaction between human and non-human actors.

Weakness analysis based on grid strength assessment is useful for identifying potential weak grid issues. However, when taking into account the impact of the interactions among Renewable Energy Sources (RESs), the weakness analysis becomes computationally challenging. Different combinations of PointsofInterconnections (POIs) of RESs may have different impacts on grid strength at each POI. Due to the combination nature, such weakness analysis may be time-consuming when identifying the weakest combination of POIs from a large number of potential candidate locations in realistic power grids. This dissertation addresses the topic of determination of the weakest RESs combinations. Based on impedance ratios as a criterion, the dissertation shows that the impacts of impedance ratios magnitudes and angles are ‘quasi-mutually exclusive’. Such a concept is then used to reduce the computational burden with a fast screening algorithm. To further understand the impact of network components on grid strength, vector-based interaction analysis is developed based on the concepts of operational transfer impedances and operational interaction operators. In particular, this dissertation shows how mathematical models of interaction of multiple RESs can be simplified by replacing them with equivalent impedances, allowing us to simplify the mathematical expressions that quantify interactions among RESs. The conclusions and concepts established based on simplified models are statistically tested for their applicability to the generalized interaction model. The result would be a more simplified mathematical representation of interaction among RESs. Finally, a new technique is presented to efficiently update the Bus Impedance Matrix (Zbus) following changes in the series impedance of a branch. Conventionally, such update requires redundant recalculations, which involve matrix inversion operations (i.e., inverting the Bus Admittance Matrix, Ybus) and thus cause high computational burden because of potential matrix ill-conditioning, especially for largescale power grids. This dissertation overcomes these shortcomings by deriving an analytical expression for changes in Zbus in terms of its old elements and the variation of the impedance of a given branch. Hence, the computation overhead is comparatively small, and no issues arise due to the new Ybus being ill-conditioned. Such contribution helps facilitate real-time applications of methods that rely on Zbus.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The rationale for the topic flows out of education policy and societal pressures worldwide which are calling for an ever greater responsiveness from higher education to the workplace in the twenty-first century. Responsiveness to Work (i.e. the world of work) requires collaborative and integrative work between communities of academic and non-academic practitioners. Differences between knowledge and practices at Work and within the academy are broadly acknowledged in the literature, yet the ensuing nature and complexity of interactions between these two communities in curriculum design 'on the ground' is poorly understood. A key point is to recognize that integration as such cannot be the goal: the differences remain, but have to be turned into productive collaboration and joint development, for example, of a curriculum. Productivity here is not used in the sense of the ratio between output achieved and inputs needed, but rather refers to the activity theorists' concept of zones of potential development between two different, interacting activity systems (their way of conceptualizing communities of practice). Productivity is then a measure of the extent to which new hybrid knowledge emerges in the interactive zone with positive outcomes for both systems. Ideally, the integrated curriculum elements look to both Work and academic knowledge. Such productivity involves the acknowledgement of pre-existing boundaries and differences between types of knowledge and the subsequent actions of actors in crossing these boundaries. After sketching the policy backdrop to the issues of responsiveness to Work "on the ground", the first part of the thesis discusses theories of curriculum development, and of boundaries, differences, boundary crossing and maintenance. Inspired by the work of Nooteboom, a model is outlined for optimal difference allowing for innovative and productive curriculum development. The processes and patterns of responsiveness of higher education to the needs of 2 re studied empirically at two interconnected levels: The meso-level of the design of curriculum units; and the micro-level of face-to-face interactions between representatives from Work and the academy as they negotiate how to implement responsiveness. The curriculum units examined are those in which universities have attempted to design units which include aspects of Work. The face-to-face interactions are those between lecturers and Work representatives as they attempt to negotiate what sort of knowledge should be taught in the academy to meet both Work needs and those of the academics. At the meso-level, different cases (in different countries) were studied which together spanned the spectrum of differences between academic knowledge and workplace knowledge. At the micro-level, the focus was on the actual boundary work, and how it might set productive developments in motion. The processes involved are those of the mutual presentation of knowledge difference between work and the academy followed by knowledge transformations. These transformations are in tum enabled by the representatives' actions and their mobilisation of structures to enable bridging between the different types of knowledge. Difference between work and academic knowledge matters. Firstly, difference needs to be recognised and identified, not as a stumbling block to further developments, but as a resource. Secondly, an optimal degree of initial difference, rather than no difference at all, is an enabling factor, in concert with actor strategies, in the development of hybrid work/academic curriculum objects. The insights in micro-interactions can be combined with the analysis of meso-level curriculum development to create a model for productive work towards integration of Work and higher education. This model is supported by the literature discussed in the first part of the thesis, and can actually be used more broadly, for example for productive development and implementation of policy (in this case, for responsiveness to Work).

Les prestations de conseils se développent de façon ininterrompue depuis plusieurs décennies et la relation client-consultant apparait selon les travaux en sciences de gestion comme un facteur explicatif essentiel de leur performance. Cette revue de littérature montre que le thème du conseil reste peu développé, notamment en France, et qu’il nécessite un large développement dans les années à venir, notamment avec le changement des environnements et pratiques professionnels. Également, la plupart des travaux s’intéressent à la figure du consultant et assez peu à la relation de conseil. Ainsi nos travaux ont pour objet de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension de ce qu’elle est et de sa dynamique.Nous proposons dans cette contribution d’utiliser les apports du courant de la sociologie pragmatique et de la sociologie de la traduction (ANT : Actor Network Theory) afin de définir le processus de relation de conseil. À partir d’une démarche qualitative, nous avons identifié un modèle de la relation de conseil, appelé LES (Listening, Support, Ethic) décrivant ses trois principales variables (nommées « attributs essentiels ») dans le processus d’opération de traduction de la relation de conseil.L’apport managérial est conséquent car il concerne les acteurs du conseil (conseil en stratégie, management, opérationnels et également les experts-comptables et auditeurs) et quasiment l’ensemble des entreprises de toutes tailles qui font appel ou peuvent solliciter un prestataire pour les accompagner dans leurs activités. / Consultancy services have been developing continuously for several decades and the client-consultant relationship appears according to the work in management sciences as an essential explanatory factor of their performance. This literature review shows that the topic of consulting remains underdeveloped, especially in France, and that it will require significant development in the coming years, including through the change in environments and professional practices. Furthermore, most of the studies focus on the consultant and rather little on the advisory relationship. Thus our work aims to contribute to a better understanding of what it is and its dynamics.In this research, we propose to use the contributions of the current of pragmatic sociology and translation sociology (ANT: Actor Network Theory) in order to define the process of the consultancy relationship. Through a qualitative approach, we identified a model of the consulting relationship, called LES (Listening, Support, Ethic) describing its three main attributes (called "essential attributes") in the process of translating the consulting relationship.The managerial contribution is significant because it concerns the actors of consulting (strategy consulting, management, operational and also chartered accountants and auditors) and almost all companies of all sizes that call upon or can solicit a service provider to support them in their activities.

The purpose of this intervention study was to explore how the community volunteers from the Supporting Home Environments in Beating Adversity (SHEBA) research project – in two high-risk school communities in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area – valued their social networks. The broader SHEBA participatory and action research project focused on how community volunteers, using their own resources, collaborated with schools in their communities to develop support plans for their communities. I selected interpretivism as the meta-theory for the study and utilised Participatory Reflection and Action (PRA) as the methodological paradigm and research design. The empirical part of this study was conducted in 2012. The data for the study were collected from 35 purposively selected volunteers who, at the time of the study, were involved in volunteer work at schools in their communities. All 35 volunteers participated in one workshop and one brainstorming session. Data were generated through a participatory workshop and follow-up brainstorming session and captured by means of posters and field notes. Inductive thematic analysis was used as the means of interpretation and I related the results to Lin’s Network Theory of Social Capital in interpreting the results. The results of the study suggest that the social networks of the volunteers were valued highly by them in dealing with the various challenges in their communities. The findings suggest also that the community volunteers invested themselves continuously in preserving their social support networks by reaching out to one another in times of crisis and by responding to each other’s needs by supporting one another. The findings suggest further that the volunteers maintained their social support networks by reinforcing the values that held them together and directed them in their efforts to support one another and their communities. The volunteers in the study attributed significant value to each other as sources of support and knowledge. They were able to meet their challenges together by learning from and identifying each other as resources. Modern communication media such as mobile phones were very important to the volunteers in maintaining their support networks with their colleagues and communicating with their communities. I therefore concluded that interventions in high-risk communities should be aimed at assisting community volunteers to gain access to and use such technologies effectively and appropriately in their networking. The value the community volunteers in the SHEBA project attributed to their social networks was clear from the benefits they derived from these networks. The findings of the study suggest that the social networks of the volunteers enhanced their sense of personal wellbeing as well as their sense of social belongingness. I concluded that social support networks could contribute significantly towards people’s overall wellbeing and that community interventions should adopt a holistic approach in high-risk communities thereby enhancing people’s hedonic, eudemonic, and social wellbeing. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

This dissertation suggests that network governance theory may have reached an impasse, and in order to pursue its advance, new methods need to be used. It tests the viability of actor-network theory on providing new insights on network governance, which could contribute to the strengthening of network governance theory. The author suggests that actor-network theory may offer both an epistemology and ontology that intents to not impose current definitions and divisions of traditional social science. By doing so, actor-network theory focuses on the performance of associations rather than on the traditional categories of structures, institutions, individuals or groups -- characteristic of most network governance studies. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Abstract The research utilizes 'actor-network' theory to analyze debates in the media on the socio-technical controversy on the topic of the amount of coal in the Nástup Tušimice mines. Theoretical part describes its own place in the sociological tradition and theoretical presuppositions of actor-network theory. My conclusion is that, the controversy is being developed alongside several lines, which remain relatively autonomous. Empirical part of this study analyzes dynamics of the conflict and the strategies employed by both sides in the argument over seemingly unequivocal fact. The conclusion focuses on questionable areas of ANT; especially on it's application in research of conflicts in public space which is different from its use in sociology of science where ANT originated. Problematic point seems to be utilization of management of transparency, which is employed by the alliance of companies to sustain their version of reality. Emphasis of ANT on observable aspects of controversies seems to be obstacle for fruitful use of ANT, because it probably misses the crucial areas where the controversies are being developed.