Synchroniser son comportement sur celui d’autrui est adaptatif et essentiel au maintien des interactions et de la cohésion sociale : plus deux individus sont affiliés, plus leurs comportements sont synchronisés, et inversement. Cela est observé au sein de nombreuses espèces, dont l’humain, mais l’existence de ce phénomène au niveau interspécifique n’est que peu documentée.Les travaux de thèse révèlent que les chiens de compagnie, du point de vue productif, synchronisent leurs comportements sur ceux de leur propriétaire lors de déplacements en intérieur ou en extérieur, et également lors d’une rencontre avec une personne inconnue. De plus, les comparaisons du comportement de ces dyades avec ceux des chiens de refuge accompagnés de leur soigneur montrent que la nature du lien affiliatif joue un rôle essentiel dans le degré de synchronisation comportementale. Par contre, ce phénomène n’est que peu modulé par le sexe, l’âge et la race. Enfin, inversement, du point de vue perceptif, le présent travail montre pour la première fois que les chiens de compagnie préfèrent les humains qui synchronisent leur comportement avec le leur.En conclusion, comme entre humains, la synchronisation comportementale joue le rôle de glue sociale entre les chiens et les humains. C’est la première fois qu’une telle capacité est mise en évidence entre une espèce de primate et une espèce de canidé ; cela suggère une convergence évolutive de ce comportement, et l’existence de processus cognitifs s’apparentant à ceux des humains chez le chien. Les implications pratiques et théoriques de ces résultats sont finalement discutées à la lueur des quatre questions de Tinbergen (1963). / Non-conscious behavioral synchronization is adaptive, depending on affiliation and participating in fostering social cohesion. It is found within various species, including humans, but little is known about such a phenomenon between species. Due to their close association, dog and human dyads is a good biological model to study interspecific behavioral synchronization.For the first time, behavioral synchronization of dogs with humans was evidenced between highly affiliated partners (i.e. pet dogs and their owners) when freely walking inside or in open outside area, and when facing an unfamiliar person. The effect of affiliation was also investigated: lower affiliated partners (i.e. shelter dogs and their caregiver) exhibited lower degree of synchronization with human compare to highly affiliated partners, similarly than between humans. This is the first time that the effect of affiliation on behavioral synchronization has been evidenced at interspecific level. Almost no effect of age, sex or breed was evidenced. Finally, it was evidenced that pet dogs exhibit increased affiliation towards humans who synchronized their behavior with them. It is the third species in which such an ability is evidenced, and the first time it is found in canids.To conclude, as in humans, behavioral synchronization acts as a social-glue between dogs and humans. It is the first time that such a skill is evidenced between a primate species and a canid species; it suggests a convergent evolution of this behavior, and human-like processes in dogs. Applied implications of such findings, as well as Tinbergen (1963) four’s inquiries for behavioral synchronization are discussed.

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Published Article / Teachers in Lesotho are confronted by a myriad of challenges, such as ensuring the meaningful inclusion of learners with impairments as well as adequately meeting their educational needs. This paper therefore, explores this challenge and how it impacts on teachers' abilities to deal it, and further recommend some teaching strategies to overcome it. An Attitudes Toward Inclusive Educational Scale (ATIES) questionnaire was adapted in this paper for the collection of data from 211 randomly-selected teachers from the Maseru and Berea districts of Lesotho. Findings as reported by teachers indicate, amongst many factors contributing to the challenges brought about by inclusive education, inadequate teacher training, inadequate resources, and a lack of support from authorities and parents. The revamp of classroom infrastructure and the review of teacher training approaches in Lesotho are vital policy imperatives to eradicate these educational challenges.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de décrire de manière analytique le spectre du bruit de friction en mettant en évidence l’affiliation des pics spectraux aux cavités du conduit vocal, par le biais de la modélisation acoustique et avec l’aide des données IRM de 7 langues [30 locuteurs]. Les résultats sont les suivants : 1. La dispersion des sibilantes dans l’espace articulatoire dépend du système phonologique [contrastes [+/- antérieur], [+/- distribué], ou les deux]. En français [+/- antérieur], 7 locuteurs], la variation inter-individuelle est importante. 2. Cette variation est due à deux variantes articulatoires du /ʃ/ : (a) plutôt apical, comportant une cavité sublinguale, accompagné de protrusion labiale, et semblable au /ʂ/ polonais ; et [b] palatalisé, mettant en œuvre le bombement du dos de la langue, comparable au /ɕ/ polonais. L’équivalence acoustique des deux variantes est démontrée par une simulation acoustique systématique. 3. En polonais, où la différence articulatoire est phonémique, /ʂ/ est caractérisé par un pic ultra-bas [1,5-1,8 kHz], affilié à la cavité antérieure, d’après la simulation acoustique à l’aide de fonction d’aire réelles de deux locuteurs. 4. Les données articulatoires présentent systématiquement une constriction dentale étroite. D’après la modélisation acoustique, la protrusion labiale aurait comme effet d’abaisser la fréquence d’un formant affilié spécifiquement à la cavité labiale. En somme, la présence de deux constrictions étroites linguale et dentale rend possible le contrôle quasi indépendant d’au moins deux résonances. Cette spécificité garantit aux sibilantes un bruit distinctif qui permet d’expliquer la richesse de leurs inventaires / The aim of this study is to analytically describe the frication noise spectrum in terms of formant affiliation to vocal tract cavities. The high-resolution, teeth-inserted MRI data of sibilants in 7 languages [30 subjects in total] as well as 1D and 3D acoustic modeling are involved. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Sibilants’ dispersion within the articulatory space depends on the language’s phonemic inventory [with contrasts involving [+/- anterior], [+/- distributed], or both features]. A large amount of inter-speaker variation [7 subjects] is observed in French /s/ and /ʃ/ contrasted by [+/- anterior]]. 2. This variation is due to two articulatory variants of the French /ʃ/ : [a] apical, with a sublingual cavity, and protruded lips, like Polish /ʂ/ ; [b] palatalized, with a domed tongue dorsum, like Polish /ɕ/. Systematic acoustic modeling provides evidences about their acoustic equivalence. 3. In Polish, where /ʂ/ and /ɕ/ are contrastive, a super-low peak [1.5 – 1.8 kHz] characterizes the former. The acoustic modeling results using realistic area functions of two subjects show that this peak is affiliated to the front oral cavity. 4. The articulatory data show a systematic narrow constriction at the teeth in all of the examined sibilants. Acoustic modeling shows that lip protrusion results in lowering the formant affiliated specifically to the lip cavity. To conclude, the narrow tongue and teeth constrictions in sibilants allow the speaker to control quasi independently

À La Réunion, les activités de pleine nature sont au cœur d'enjeux environnementaux importants. De plus en plus, ces activités sont présentées comme des pratiques passionnées. Selon le type de passion, l'engagement dans l'activité est différent et le degré d'ouverture à la nature et à l'environnement pourrait être impacté. En ce sens, la passion pourrait être un facteur clé dans le développement d'un pro-environnementalisme à la suite de la pratique de ces activités. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier le rôle de la passion pour une activité de pleine nature sur l'affiliation à la nature et le conflit vis-à-vis de la protection de l'environnement et leur influence sur la motivation environnementale, tout en soulignant le rôle des émotions et de l'attachement au lieu comme médiateurs. / In La Réunion, outdoor activities are at the core of environmental issues. Increasingly, these activities are presented as passionate practice. According to the kind of passion, engagement in the activity is different and the degree of opening to nature and environment would be impacted. Therefore, passion could be a key factor in pro-environmentalism development following outdoor activities practice. The objective of this thesis is to study the role of passion for outdoor activity on nature affiliation and conflict toward environmental protection and their influence on environmental motivation, while emphasizing the role of emotions and place attachment as mediators.

Le réseau des Ateliers de Pédagogie Personnalisée (APP), qui fête ses 30 ans en 2015, est porteur d'une dynamique d'apprentissage collectif « informel ». Créé par des acteurs de l'orientation, de l'insertion et de la formation pour répondre au mal-être de jeunes en colère, ce dispositif de formation s'est progressivement disséminé sur le territoire national. Ancrée sur l'expression des acteurs APP de Haute-Normandie, cette recherche inductive apporte un nouveau regard sur ce réseau professionnel. Nous avons mis en lumière un lien entre la forme du collectif APP et le rôle de l'imaginaire partagé, dit « esprit APP ». Ce lien tiendrait à l'existence d'un processus d'apprentissage informel constitué d'une part d'un compagnonnage entre pairs et d'autre part d'une « autoformation sociale existentielle » du collectif. Nous avons vu s'organiser l'idée de « communauté professionnelle » informelle APP dans laquelle se développerait un « rhizome », configuration souterraine d'« espaces d'intimité sociale» comme lieux d'apprentissage. Elle serait dotée d'une histoire, de valeurs, d'une identité collective, d'une professionnalité spécifique liée à des « pratiques » professionnelles. La pérennité du réseau pourrait ainsi s'expliquer par cette forme spécifique d'apprentissage. / The « Ateliers de Pédagogie Personnalisée » or APP network, celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2015, provides an « informal » dynamic of collective training. That training framework, founded by stakeholders in lifelong guidance, professional insertion and training, to answer to the malaise of the angry youth, has been gradually extended to the national territory. Fed from self-expression among stakeholders in the APP network of Upper Normandy, this inductive research brings a new perception of this professional group.We have highlighted a connection between the form of the APP collective and the role of the shared vision, called « APP spirit ». The reason of this connection would be an informal learning process, with on one side a buddy system ; on the other side « autoformation sociale existentielle » of the collective. We have seen how the idea emerges of an informal « professional community » APP in which a rhizome would develop, i.e. an underground configuration of « social privacy spaces » seen as local learning places. This community » would be a group with a cultural history, core values, a collective identity and a specific professional nature due to its professional « practices ». The sustainability of the APP network could be mainly linked to this specific form of learning.

This study was commissioned to examine the applied leadership styles that foster organisational commitment and product quality commitment levels of two groups of employees working at two different business units of same private sector steel manufacturing company in Gauteng. The samples included 226 production employees from business unit ‘A’ and 190 production employees from population ‘B’. The combined sample of 416 included 83 managers and 333 low level employees. Leadership style data was collected through the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) from the managers and Organisational and Product Quality data was gathered through the Employee Questionnaire (EQ). The MLQ measured nine constructs of the Full Range Leadership Theory while the EQ measured four constructs of identification, affiliation, exchange and product quality commitment levels among lower level employees. A total of 416 questionnaires were distributed and 274 were received. The data was analysed statistically to define the leadership styles, the levels of organisational and product quality commitment and come up with correlations. It was found that transformational and transactional leadership styles were predominant at both business units. Laissez-faire style was also being used at business unit ‘A’. The leadership styles were found to be below the ideal levels for effective leadership. Leaders were perceived to be active managers and not leaders. The organisational and product quality commitment levels among employees were found to be marginal at both units. The top leadership styles and commitment levels trended the same and scored closely for both business units with small variations. The results were comparable. Positive correlations were found between identification commitment (0.305 for ‘A’ and 0.481 for ‘B’) and product quality commitment among employees. It was concluded from the correlations that the higher the levels of organisational commitment, the higher the levels of product quality commitment among employees. By statistical averages, it was concluded that higher levels of transformational leadership fosters higher levels of identification commitment and product quality commitment among employees. Demographics affected the way the respondents answered the questions. A leadership model complete with recommendations was proposed with the intention of increasing leadership effectiveness in order to positively impact and foster product quality commitment among employees. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Published Article / This paper promotes the argument that although conventional postgraduate supervision is useful to address the research skills and competences of postgraduate students, a wider perspective is nonetheless required to educate and train any researcher (including postgraduate students upon their entrée into the world of research) to comprehend the demands made by research and how best these demands can be addressed. It is in this context that a more comprehensive concept of research education is promoted. The argument is based on the perspective that methodological understanding alone is not sufficient to assist a researcher in meeting the expectations of a research project. Research education refers to the training of researchers to be responsive to the research value chain. This includes aspects such as the formal research process, the importance of research ethics and integrity regarding the research project, the imperative to promote scholarship in research and the application of research results through technology transfer, innovation and incubation. Research education sensitizes the researcher to look beyond the scope of the academic research project and to extend the research to activities such as technology transfer, innovation, commercialization and partnerships. The aim of research education is to promote the wide range of aspects contributing to the understanding of what counts as research and its application.

Published Article / The objective of the study was to assess the medical waste management practices used by clinics located in the Polokwane Municipality, South Africa. The clinic personnel were not informed prior to the visit. A walkthrough survey was conducted on-site where potential health and safety risks were identified and noted. The health care personnel in charge of specific clinics completed the questionnaires providing general and detailed information about the treatment and disposal of medical waste. Frequencies and percentages were calculated from the data obtained. Data obtained indicate that (i) medical waste was not segregated from general waste in most of the clinics, (ii) rural clinics were burning medical waste with general waste inside the clinic yard (iii) there was no sufficient collection and transport of medical waste in clinics, (iv) sharps were disposed at various hospital incinerators and (v) most of the clinics did not have storage facilities for medical waste.