The main purpose of this study is not only to prove the impact of loan interest rates on the poor in the case of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia but also to recommend improvements to address the negative effects of interest rates that could benefit both the borrowers and the lenders. Combinations of quantitative and qualitative analytical tools were used; the data were collected through administration of a questionnaire to a sample of 471 respondents from three regulated MCIs, one cooperative enterprise, and one unregulated NGO. Results were analysed by using SPSS software. A multi-dimensional approach with respect to demand for credit, return on loan, loan repayment, savings, indebtedness, multiple loans, graduation process, and wellbeing was used and results were triangulated to obtain a full picture. The study has concluded that the interest rate in general, primarily charged by DECSI, eroded the envisaged profits that poor borrowers expected to gain. This caused diversified negative impacts on the poor, those who were entrusted to MCIs. It thus brings into question the efficacy of the social responsibility of MCIs. From a simple analysis, it is found that there is a trade-off between servicing the poor with a low loan cost and securing MCIs operational self-sufficiency. Furthermore, the poor are not only sensitive to the loan interest rate but also to the saving interest rate. Therefore, not only access but also the cost of credit and savings matters to the poor. Moreover, the study identified a positive relationship between the financial capacity of MCIs and lending interest rates. Institutions with higher profitability tend to offer lower interest rates on micro loans but not when commercialization is an issue. The study grasped that socially oriented and responsible MCIs can reach the poorest without compromising financial performances, a “win-win proposition”. Finally, the study offers comprehensive recommendations on policy and practice that address potential changes to how MCIs redesign their loan and savings interest rate. The recommendations also address how MCIs develop graduation processes and self-revolving credit scheme frameworks that strengthen pro-poor microcredit modality. Additionally, the study provides a way forward in the design of future microcredit that could help MCIs deliver on their core social mandate. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil (Development Studies)

La mise en place de barrières de sécurité notamment par la standardisation de l’activité des opérateurs a permis au fil des ans d’améliorer significativement la sécurité des systèmes, tels que les installations nucléaires, qui peuvent aujourd’hui être qualifiés de systèmes « ultrasûrs ». La thèse défendue est que la sécurité de ces systèmes s’appuie à la fois sur ces barrières de sécurité mais aussi sur la compétence des opérateurs. Ainsi la sécurité aujourd’hui doit se penser comme l’articulation cohérente d’un ensemble de ressources normatives pour « maîtriser » les risques (la sécurité réglée) et d’un ensemble de ressources adaptatives pour permettre aux opérateurs de faire face à de potentielles situations imprévues (la sécurité gérée). Une étude empirique a été construite pour éclairer cette problématique. Elle met en œuvre des équipes supervisant des systèmes nucléaires similaires mais dans lesquels la place prescrite à l’opérateur dans la gestion de la sécurité n’est pas la même : sur l’un la sécurité normative prévaut ce qui implique la vision d’un opérateur conforme (sans quoi il est « défaillant »), sur l’autre la sécurité adaptative est développée considérant ainsi l’opérateur comme un acteur de la sécurité à part entière. Les résultats obtenus permettent d’identifier une gestion sûre des situations sur les deux systèmes, mais sur la base de comportements d’équipe très différents. Les comportements adaptatifs apparaissent dans les équipes « adaptatives » en cohérence avec l’organisation émergente du travail et avec les modalités formatives. Ces comportements adaptatifs se manifestent aussi dans les équipes « normatives » mais ne sont en revanche soutenus ni par l’organisation du travail ni par les modalités formatives, non constructives. Ces résultats sont discutés en termes de sécurité globale, de « l’agir en sécurité ». / The implementation of safety barriers – particularly through approaches based on the standardization of operator activity – has led, over the years, to significant improvements in the safety of systems such as nuclear power plants. Such systems can be considered today as ultra-safe systems. The thesis defended here posits that system safety lies both in these safety barriers and in the skills of the human operators involved. Safety should, therefore, be viewed as a combination of a consistent set of normative resources in order to control risks (regulated safety), and a set of adaptive resources enabling operators to cope with unexpected situations (adaptive safety). An empirical study was conducted to investigate this question. It focuses on teams supervising two nuclear systems that are similar, but where the role ascribed to the human operator regarding safety management varied. In the first system, normative safety predominates, leading to a vision of operators who must be compliant in order not to be viewed as “defective”. In the second system, adaptive safety is emphasized, and operators are viewed as full-fledged actors of system safety. The results show safe management of situations on both systems. However, this management is based on very different team behaviors. Adaptive behaviors appear in adaptive teams, supported both by the emergent team organization and by a specific training approach. Adaptive behaviors are also visible in normative teams. However, such behavior is at odds with team organization and with the training approach, which can be said to be non-constructive. The results are discussed in terms of global safety and of “safe action”.

abstract: School and educational psychologists have a shared imperative to understand the complex inter-play of a student’s home life and perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the central facet of Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT, 1986, 1997). The current study improved upon the extant literature by exploring how home life in Arizona, Arkansas, California, and Oklahoma impacts the self-efficacy for self-regulated learning of mid-to-late adolescents. Although it is difficult to identify how specific aspects of life (including home life) matter for particular areas of functioning, the present study explored self-efficacy for self-regulated learning through the lens of three scales of the Late Adolescence version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (LA-HOME) (Caldwell & Bradley, 2016). The LA-HOME documents actions, objects, events and conditions connected with the home environment of children ages 16 to 20, who are still residing at home with parents or guardians (Caldwell & Bradley, 2016). This paper addresses the following research question: How are various aspects of the home life of mid-to-late adolescents, namely (1) modeling and encouragement of maturity, (2) family companionship and investment in adolescent, and (3) warmth, acceptance, and responsiveness, associated with self-efficacy for self-regulated learning? The sample of 333 adolescents is quite diverse demographically; it includes variations in family composition, race/ethnicity, household SES, language spoken in the home, and geography (rural, urban, suburban). The study utilizes a sub-sample of adolescents from the larger study who were 15 to 19 years of age (N = 333). Descriptive statistics, means, and standard deviations are reported for continuous variables, frequencies are reported for categorical variables, and correlations are presented. A hierarchical regression model was estimated in two steps. The first step included the complete set of control variables (household income, ethnicity, gender, and adolescent general health and depressive symptoms), and the second step included the set of three home life indicators. The hierarchical regression model had good fit. Study assets and limitations, as well as alternate theories for consideration and directions for future research, are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Psychology 2018

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:44:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5698.pdf: 5781455 bytes, checksum: 19f195acf8cf085169d91d44b6964e9f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-06 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The students with learning difficulties have failures in integrating perceptual, memory, thought, language, in one or more aspects of self-regulation of learning and does not have and/or making use of appropriate and active repertoire of skills for learning. These students have as a consequence a limitation or impediment for learning reading, writing, arithmetic and social skills. The causes for these difficulties are related to the subject learning and physical and/or social environment of school and/or family. The objectives of this study were develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention for students with learning difficulties enrolled in primary municipal school. This study adopted the quasi-experimental design of the type pre-and post-test. Instruments were applied Motor Development Scale (EDM), Competency Test Reading Words and Pseudowords (TCLPP) and two checklists elaborated for assess aspects of learning, self-regulation, behavioral and emotional in students aged 7-8 years. The students were nominated by teachers and had scores below average in the indicated tests. From the results was prepared an intervention plan consisting of the reading of the book Trick of the Yellow and activities that stimulate the skills required for the acquisition and development of self-regulated learning. The materialisation of the intervention lasted 4 months, students are assessed before, during and at the end of the intervention. The JT Method was adopted for data analysis and verification of occurrence of positive changes reliable and clinically relevant. The results indicate the occurrence of clinically significant changes in reading, the body schema and spatial orientation in 27 students. There were also positive changes in aspects behavioral, emotional and self-regulatory of these students. Were found and discussed some limitations in Brazilian educational policies directed to students with special educational needs. The results show the effectiveness of the intervention in promoting self-regulatory skills in the psychomotor acquisitions necessary for the development of self-regulated learning and minimizing learning difficulties presented by the students. Finally, the study provides elements that support targeted interventions for students with learning disabilities as well as educational practices. It becomes clear that for effective school inclusion of students with learning difficulties is necessary that the proper educational inclusion policy breaks with the tendency to devote to pupils with disabilities and pass to consider other changes in development also integrate the daily life of children who attend school and are not considered in the universe of "special educational needs". / Os alunos com dificuldades de aprendizagem apresentam falhas na integração perceptiva, na memória, no pensamento, na linguagem, em um ou mais aspectos da autorregulação da aprendizagem, não possuindo e/ou fazendo uso adequado e ativo do repertório de competências para o aprendizado. Estes alunos como consequência apresentam uma limitação ou impedimento para a aprendizagem da leitura, escrita, cálculo e aptidões sociais. As causas para essas dificuldades estão relacionadas ao sujeito que aprende e ao ambiente físico e/ou social da escola e/ou da família. Os objetivos do presente trabalho foram elaborar e avaliar uma intervenção para alunos com dificuldades de aprendizagem matriculados no ensino fundamental de uma escola da rede municipal. Este estudo adotou o design quaseexperimental do tipo pré e pós-teste. Foram aplicados os instrumentos Escala de Desenvolvimento Motor (EDM), Teste de Competência de Leitura de Palavras e Pseudopalavras (TCLPP) e dois checklists elaborados para avaliar aspectos da aprendizagem, da autorregulação, comportamentais e emocionais em alunos com idade de 7 a 8 anos. A amostra foi composta por 31 alunos que foram indicados pelas professoras e apresentaram escores abaixo da média nos testes indicados. A partir dos resultados foi elaborado um plano de intervenção composto pela leitura do livro Travessuras do Amarelo e por atividades que estimulassem as competências e aquisições necessárias para o desenvolvimento de uma aprendizagem autorregulada. A concretização do plano de intervenção teve duração de 4 meses, sendo os alunos avaliados antes, durante e no término da intervenção. O Método JT foi adotado para análise dos dados e verificação de ocorrência de mudanças positivas confiáveis e clinicamente relevantes. Os resultados indicam a ocorrência de mudanças confiáveis e clinicamente significativas na aprendizagem da leitura em 27 alunos. Nos aspectos psicomotores os alunos obtiveram uma mudança confiável e ocorreram também alterações estatisticamente significativas nos aspectos autorregulatórios e comportamentais. Foram encontradas e discutidas algumas limitações nas políticas educacionais brasileiras voltadas aos alunos com necessidades educativas especiais. Os resultados apontam para a eficácia da intervenção no estímulo às competências autorregulatórias e nas aquisições psicomotoras necessárias para o desenvolvimento de uma aprendizagem autorregulada e na minimização das dificuldades de aprendizagem apresentadas pelos alunos. Por fim, o estudo oferece elementos que subsidiam as intervenções dirigidas aos alunos com dificuldades de aprendizagem como também as práticas educacionais. Torna-se claro que para uma efetiva inclusão escolar de alunos com dificuldades de aprendizagem se faz necessário que a própria politica de inclusão educacional rompa com a tendência de se destinar ao alunado com deficiências e passe a considerar que outras alterações no desenvolvimento também integram o cotidiano de crianças que frequentam a escola e não são consideradas no universo das necessidades educativas especiais .

Uma questão que se apresenta relevante, nesta tese, é que na maioria das vezes, o estudante, principalmente, o novato, demonstra grande dificuldade na aprendizagem baseada na resolução de problemas. Portanto, este precisa de monitoração, isto exige um apoio de entidades ou pessoas mais experientes. Percebe-se que, muitas vezes, por falta de domínio na área do conhecimento tratada, o estudante não analisa minuciosamente os dados do problema para poder conduzir objetivamente cada etapa de solução. Várias habilidades cognitivas são exigidas durante o processo de resolução de problemas, como por exemplo, codificação, comparação e combinação, componentes cognitivos significativos detectados em estudantes talentosos. A aprendizagem por meio do processo de resolução de problemas num ambiente online pode ampliar o pensamento crítico e aprimorar a tomada de decisão. Nesta pesquisa, foi criado um agente conversacional chamado Blaze, com o intuito de apoiar o estudante durante a aprendizagem autorregulada baseada na resolução de problemas. O agente foi desenvolvido com a linguagem de marcação AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), tendo sua base de conhecimento construída por meio da elicitação e representação dos processos cognitivos dos estudantes talentosos, alunos medalhistas da Olimpíada Brasileira de Matemática das Escolas Públicas. Utilizou-se a técnica de Raciocínio Baseado em Casos para permitir a recuperação e reutilização de experiências passadas dos estudantes talentosos. Foram realizados tantos experimentos com outros estudantes de graus de escolaridades distintos (2ª série do ensino médio, Licenciatura em Ciências e Licenciatura em Matemática) com o objetivo de investigar o engajamento e o aprimoramento das habilidades cognitivas destes durante a resolução dos problemas com a assistência do agente conversacional Blaze. Nestes experimentos, alguns estudantes interagiram com o agente Blaze durante o processo de resolução de problemas matemáticos, enquanto outros trabalharam sozinhos na resolução dos mesmos problemas. Os resultados obtidos nos experimentos permitiram verificar que o apoio do agente conversacional Blaze, no contexto de uma aprendizagem autorregulada durante a resolução de problemas, contribuiu qualitativamente para o aprimoramento de diversas habilidades cognitivas, como por exemplo, pensamento crítico, pensamento criativo, raciocínio lógico, bem como, permitiu o uso da metacognição. / A relevant issue raised in this paper is that most times students, especially inexperienced ones, show great difficulty for learning based on problem solving. Therefore, such students need to be monitored, which requires support from entities or more experienced people. Many times we see that due to students’ lack of mastery of the field of knowledge addressed, they fail to thoroughly analyze the problem data so as to objectively handle each stage of the solution. Several cognitive skills are required during the problem-solving process, such as coding, and comparison and combination, significant cognitive components detected in talented students. Learning by means of a problem-solving process in an online environment is capable of expanding critical thinking and improving students’ decision-making skills. In this research, a conversational agent we call Blaze was created in an effort to help students during their self-regulated, problem solving-based learning. The agent was developed via the AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), and its knowledge base was put together by means of eliciting and representing the cognitive processes of talented students, students who had won medals at the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympic Games. We used the Case-Based Reasoning technique to enable us to recover and reuse the talented students’ past experiences. Some other experiments were carried out with other students from various schooling levels (high school sophomores, and Science and Math undergrads) in order to look into those students’ engagement and improvement of their cognitive skills as they solved problems assisted by the Blaze conversational agent. In those experiments, some students interacted with the Blaze agent during the math problem-solving process, while other students worked alone on solving the same problems. The results obtained from the experiments allowed us to find that the support from the Blaze conversational agent, in the context of self-regulated learning during problem-solving, qualitatively helped the students improve their several cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, creative thinking, and logic reasoning, besides enabling the use of meta-cognition.

abstract: With Common Core State Standards (CCSS), all students are held to the same high expectations, including students learning English and other learners who may have academic difficulties. Many students learning English have trouble writing and need effective writing strategies to meet the demands the standards present. Ten fourth and fifth grade students learning English (6 girls and 4 boys), whose home language was Spanish, participated in a multiple baseline design across three small groups of participants with multiple probes during baseline. In this study, self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) for opinion writing using students’ own ideas was evaluated. Students who participated in this study demonstrated an increase in: the number of persuasive elements (e.g. premise, reasons, elaborations, and conclusion) included in their essays, overall essay quality, and the number of linking words used when writing opinion essays using their own ideas. Additionally, students’ knowledge of the writing process and opinion-writing genre improved. Students found the instruction to be socially acceptable. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018

The power sector of a country is highly relevant for its competitiveness and social development. In Peru, this sector has passed through many changes before having its current configuration, which has negative and positive aspects.In the present versus, two different perspectives come face to face as the debate about key and current topics starts. The discussion is about questions such as the “oversupply” of power generation, the creation of additional charges to the power transmission  service, or the frontiers of the regulated market. / El sector eléctrico de un país es de suma importancia para su competitividad y desarrollo social. En el Perú, este sector ha pasado por varios cambios hasta tener su configuración actual, que tiene aspectos tanto positivos como negativos.En el presente versus, dos diferentes perspectivas se encuentran y se abre paso al debate acerca de temas clave y de actualidad, tales como: la “sobreoferta” de generación eléctrica, la creación de cargos adicionales a la transmisión, o los límites del mercado regulado.

The Mexican energy reform in December 2013 has represented a radical change in the structure of the sector, which has grown from a public monopoly to a competitive market. This article aims to analyze the attributions and the legal and administrative nature which has be granted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) after the normative change that will play a key role in the correct implementation thereof. The nodal problem is to confirm if the CRE has being given the correct legal instruments to develop its function autonomously and transparently. / La reforma energética mexicana de diciembre de 2013 ha representado un cambio radical en la estructuración del sector, el cual ha pasado de ser un monopolio público a un mercado de libre competencia. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar las atribuciones y la naturaleza jurídico administrativa que se ha concedido a la Comisión Reguladora de Energía (CRE) tras el cambio normativo, dado que este, en calidad de organismo regulador del sector, tendrá un rol fundamental en la correcta implementación de la misma. El problema nodal de la cuestión reside en corroborar si se ha dotado a la CRE de los correctos instrumentos jurídicospara desenvolver su función de forma autónoma y transparente.

O estudo teve como objetivo investigar, a partir de uma perspectiva de processo adaptativo em aprendizagem motora, o efeito da liberdade na escolha da resposta em diferentes momentos do processo de estabilização. A possibilidade de escolher a ordem dos componentes que compõem uma seqüência de movimentos (liberdade na escolha da resposta) tem se mostrado benéfica à aquisição de habilidades motoras. Contudo, o efeito da liberdade na escolha da resposta pode ser mediado pelo processo de estabilização funcional. Para investigar esta hipótese, 135 voluntários com média de idade de 22 (± 4,1) anos, de ambos os sexos, foram alocados a nove grupos experimentais, derivados da combinação de três condições experimentais (SEM, MED e ALT) e dois momentos da estabilização (antes e após a estabilização inicial do desempenho). A liberdade na escolha da resposta foi operacionalizada neste estudo como a possibilidade de escolher a ordem de uma seqüência de toques em sensores, em uma tarefa complexa de timing coincidente. Os resultados mostraram que não houve efeito da condição experimental do início da prática no desempenho na fase de adaptação, porém condições intermediárias de liberdade de escolha no final da prática não apresentaram queda na consistência frente à modificação da tarefa. Nesse sentido, a liberdade na escolha da resposta não trouxe prejuízos à adaptação / The objective of the study was to investigate, from an adaptive process perspective on motor learning, the effect of freedom in response choice in different moments of the stabilization process. The possibility of choosing the order of the components which generate a movement sequence (freedom in response choice) has been shown as beneficial to motor skills acquisition. However, the effect of freedom in response choice could be mediated by the process of functional stabilization. To investigate the hypothesis, a hundred thirty-five volunteers with mean age of 22 (± 4,1) years were assigned to nine experimental groups, derived from the combination of three experimental conditions (SEM, MED and ALT) and two moments of stabilization (before and after initial performance stabilization). Freedom in response choice was manipulated in this study as the possibility of choosing the order of tapping a sequence of sensors, in a complex anticipation timing task. Results showed there was no effect of experimental condition in the beginning of practice in performance in adaptation phase, although intermediate conditions of freddom of choice didnt show decrease in consistency following task modification. In this sense, freedom in response choice wasnt detrimental to adaptation

Uma questão que se apresenta relevante, nesta tese, é que na maioria das vezes, o estudante, principalmente, o novato, demonstra grande dificuldade na aprendizagem baseada na resolução de problemas. Portanto, este precisa de monitoração, isto exige um apoio de entidades ou pessoas mais experientes. Percebe-se que, muitas vezes, por falta de domínio na área do conhecimento tratada, o estudante não analisa minuciosamente os dados do problema para poder conduzir objetivamente cada etapa de solução. Várias habilidades cognitivas são exigidas durante o processo de resolução de problemas, como por exemplo, codificação, comparação e combinação, componentes cognitivos significativos detectados em estudantes talentosos. A aprendizagem por meio do processo de resolução de problemas num ambiente online pode ampliar o pensamento crítico e aprimorar a tomada de decisão. Nesta pesquisa, foi criado um agente conversacional chamado Blaze, com o intuito de apoiar o estudante durante a aprendizagem autorregulada baseada na resolução de problemas. O agente foi desenvolvido com a linguagem de marcação AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), tendo sua base de conhecimento construída por meio da elicitação e representação dos processos cognitivos dos estudantes talentosos, alunos medalhistas da Olimpíada Brasileira de Matemática das Escolas Públicas. Utilizou-se a técnica de Raciocínio Baseado em Casos para permitir a recuperação e reutilização de experiências passadas dos estudantes talentosos. Foram realizados tantos experimentos com outros estudantes de graus de escolaridades distintos (2ª série do ensino médio, Licenciatura em Ciências e Licenciatura em Matemática) com o objetivo de investigar o engajamento e o aprimoramento das habilidades cognitivas destes durante a resolução dos problemas com a assistência do agente conversacional Blaze. Nestes experimentos, alguns estudantes interagiram com o agente Blaze durante o processo de resolução de problemas matemáticos, enquanto outros trabalharam sozinhos na resolução dos mesmos problemas. Os resultados obtidos nos experimentos permitiram verificar que o apoio do agente conversacional Blaze, no contexto de uma aprendizagem autorregulada durante a resolução de problemas, contribuiu qualitativamente para o aprimoramento de diversas habilidades cognitivas, como por exemplo, pensamento crítico, pensamento criativo, raciocínio lógico, bem como, permitiu o uso da metacognição. / A relevant issue raised in this paper is that most times students, especially inexperienced ones, show great difficulty for learning based on problem solving. Therefore, such students need to be monitored, which requires support from entities or more experienced people. Many times we see that due to students’ lack of mastery of the field of knowledge addressed, they fail to thoroughly analyze the problem data so as to objectively handle each stage of the solution. Several cognitive skills are required during the problem-solving process, such as coding, and comparison and combination, significant cognitive components detected in talented students. Learning by means of a problem-solving process in an online environment is capable of expanding critical thinking and improving students’ decision-making skills. In this research, a conversational agent we call Blaze was created in an effort to help students during their self-regulated, problem solving-based learning. The agent was developed via the AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), and its knowledge base was put together by means of eliciting and representing the cognitive processes of talented students, students who had won medals at the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympic Games. We used the Case-Based Reasoning technique to enable us to recover and reuse the talented students’ past experiences. Some other experiments were carried out with other students from various schooling levels (high school sophomores, and Science and Math undergrads) in order to look into those students’ engagement and improvement of their cognitive skills as they solved problems assisted by the Blaze conversational agent. In those experiments, some students interacted with the Blaze agent during the math problem-solving process, while other students worked alone on solving the same problems. The results obtained from the experiments allowed us to find that the support from the Blaze conversational agent, in the context of self-regulated learning during problem-solving, qualitatively helped the students improve their several cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, creative thinking, and logic reasoning, besides enabling the use of meta-cognition.