This study explored the “sustainable city” by focusing on pro-cycling policies as a way to adapt theprinciple of sustainability to urban reality, as impacting the shape of the urban context and the lives of itsinhabitants. The case of the City of Seoul provided the opportunity to discuss potential and pitfallcharacterizing the implementation of pro-cycling policies, in light of the broader international contextoffering cases and examples that are here used as background for the analysis and interpretation of the case ofSeoul. This paper has two main parts. The first questions the key determinants of pro-cycling policies oftenproclaimed as “best-practices” in the field of cycling policies. It suggests that the overall level of cycling ismore related to government policies rather than history, culture, topography and climate. The identifiedgovernment policies have something in common. Firstly, cycling policies have evolved into an essential partof urban planning (cycling-inclusive urban planning). Secondly, they are created through the partnershipbetween the state, the private sector and civil society organizations based on the collaborative planninggovernance. Thirdly, policy components of hard and soft measures tend to be designed based on the needs ofthe great majority of citizens, particularly users. The second part explores the main causes of theshortcomings charactering pro-cycling policies in the case of Seoul. It argues that the main causes aredifficulties of achieving cooperation among different levels of government, the lack of opportunities forcitizen’s participation, the problems of hard components (cycling infrastructure) which is not based onpeople’s needs, unbalanced policy mixture of hard and soft components (non-infrastructural measures).Pro-cycling policies can play a significant role in achieving the sustainable city. To implement cyclingpolicies as a way of achieving the sustainable city, cultural and social shifts should be entailed. Theimplementation of pro-cycling can contribute to this cultural shift which is fundamental to the sustainable city.This is a cycle that has to be turned into a virtuous cycle leading to the city and urban community towardssustainability. However, if the created cycling policies are not based on the partnership and collaboration withvarious stakeholders, they are not likely to get society-wide support, meet the needs of users, and thus reachthe targeted goals. This is also true of Seoul. Even though the City of Seoul set up ambitious goals andinvested a lot of city budget, it could not achieve the desired aims. As a novice in pro-cycling policies, it isinevitable for the city experience trial and error. To reduce trial and error and develop more suitable policies,the city needs to explore best practices of cycling policies around world and adapt them to the local context.

Le travail collaboratif fait participer des équipes qui doivent partager et échanger l'information sur le produit tout en travaillant avec différents outils métiers. Les processus complexes de conception du produit exigent l'utilisation d'un ensemble d'outils métiers hétérogènes tels que les outils de CAO et de FAO. Notre travail de thèse propose une approche fédérée basée sur l'Ingénierie Dirigé par les Modèles pour l'interopérabilité des outils métiers. Dans ce travail nous utilisons le modèle PPO (Produit Processus Organisation) comme modèle de fédération pour l'échange et le partage d'informations. Ce travail décrit comment nous structurons la synchronisation entre outils métiers hétérogènes. Un cas d'étude est appliqué à l'outil de FAO EspritTM lui permettant d'interopérer avec l'outil de CAO SolidWorksTM à travers l'environnement collaboratif PPO.

MultiGphysics systems design, including the design of mechatronics systems, involvings designers in different disciplines (e.g., mechanics, electronics, physics of sensors, etc.), particularly design for systems intended for operation in severe conditions (withstanding shocks, vibrations, high temperatures, and high pressures in limited dimensions), raises many of the challenging issues in the design of complex systems. Consequently, highly integrated products are characterized by multiple functional flows passing through common components. Very high performance requirements from the different designers may over-constrain architectural modules, as well as connections, and the performance of some functions. The integration of multi-physics functions within products of limited size that operate in severe conditions results in an intense" interaction between design parameters and expected functionality. As soon as a design parameter is changed, the performance of several functions may be impacted. This is due to a high degree of performance optimization and the fact that several functions are part of the functional flow stemming from a single component. In addition, some disciplines may be more constrained than others, depending upon given performance challenges and the concept architecture being considered. Hereafter, we refer to architectural modules, connections and disciplines as constrainable objects. Today, with no prediction tool for locating the aspects that are likely to be highly constrained, consequences may be dramatic. For instance, project management for systems in the oil industry is often responsible for unacceptable additions to project overhead costs and project timelines for a project that may simply fail in the end. In our study, we propose to semantically enrich conventional representation models of product complexity.We use a design structure matrix (DSM) to represent admissible architecture connections and dependency configurations, a domain mapping matrix (DMM) to link functions and architecture, and quality function deployment (QFD), in a non conventional way, in order to propagate the designers aims for performance of the components more than the traditional voice of the customer. We enrich DSM representations with a physical connection typology, allowing a range of choices at an early design stage For a given connection, information regarding the nature of likeldesign difficulties is incorporated into a data model. We enrich DMM representations with functional flow sequencing along the architectural modules. We adapt the QFD method to capture the voice of the engineering disciplines involved in the project this ontological enrichment of design data makes it easier to envision and manage design challenges for multiGphysics systems. Seven design assessment cards are proposed to the design team as meaningful tools used to converge from a set of potential architectural configurations toward single architecture. This convergence process is driven by the necessity of avoiding highly constrained constrainable objects, achieved by balancing and spreading the design constraints throughout the system. The seven assessment cards are organized into two major design quality vectors: the ambition vector and the difficulty vector. The ambition vector indicates degrees of freedom in exploration of the architecture design space. The difficulty vector offers heuristic information on the nature and levels of the difficulties in meeting performance targets. The resulting method, which we call the multi-physics design scorecard" (MPDS), was applied to the design of a power electronics controller (PEC), a regulator board involving three sectors: mechanics, electronics, and packaging. Data gathering and implementation of theMPDSmethod took the design team just one day. The method immediately generated improved architectures, guaranteeing at the same time a more robust further design process.

Under de senaste åren har det skett en integrering av informations- och kommunikationsteknik (IKT), exempelvis datorer, i såväl samhället som i skolans undervisning. Syftet med den aktuella litteraturstudien är att undersöka vilka samtalsaktiviteter som eleverna deltar i då de använder bärbara datorer eller handdatorer under matematiklektionerna, samt att belysa vilka möjligheter och hinder som framträder. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt ligger ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärandet där språket, den miljö som eleven befinner sig i och de redskap som används beskrivs som betydelsefulla aspekter för lärandet. I läroplanen förtydligas att elever ska ges möjlighet att delta i kommunikativa samspel och att modern teknologi ska användas så att eleven kan inhämta, lära och utveckla sin förmåga att kommunicera matematik. Tidigare forskning kring matematik visar att elevers kollaborativa lärande och användande av IKT främjar elevernas matematiska kunskaper och delaktighet i samtalet. Litteraturstudiens resultat visar att elever i huvudsak deltar i muntliga samtal och att deras kollaborativa lärande och matematiska förståelse ökar då de använder datorer. Handdatorer beskrivs dessutom kunna möjliggöra för en ökad mobilitet vilket medför att elevernas i större utsträckning kan välja med vem de vill samtala. / In recent years there has been an integration of information and communication technologies (ICT), such as computers, in society as well as in education. The purpose of the current literature survey is to examine the communication between students when they use a laptop or a handheld computer during math class, as well as to highlight the opportunities and obstacles that appear. As a base for this work a sociocultural perspective on learning is used where the language, the pupils studying environment and the tools that are used, are important aspects of learning. The curriculum states that the students should be given the opportunity to participate in communicative interactions and that modern technology should be used so that students can obtain, learn and develop their ability to communicate mathematics. Earlier research in mathematics shows that the student’s collaborative learning and the use of ICT promotes the pupils mathematical knowledge and involvement in the conversation. The result of the survey shows that students mainly participate in oral communication and their collaborative learning and mathematical understanding increase when they use a computer. Another conclusion from the survey is that handheld computers allow mobility, which improves the students opportunities to choose who they want to talk to.

Canadian federalism has experienced pressure for change in recent years. By the end of the twentieth century, collaboration became the catch word and federations throughout the world, including Canada, witnessed an emergent movement toward collaborative governance, collaborative public service delivery, collaborative management and collaborative approaches to addressing social and economic issues. But even if the number of collaborative arrangements has grown since the 1990s, the understanding of the design, management and performance of collaborative arrangements in the Canadian federation remains weak. Accordingly, this dissertation argues that, in order to understand and open the black box of intergovernmental collaboration, it is necessary to put collaboration in a historical context and explore the roles of elites and political institutions in shaping intergovernmental collaborative practices. The role of the former provides the necessary complement of agency, while that of the latter represents a perspective that gives theoretical importance to political institutions. The integration of the two theoretical schools, elite theory and historical institutionalism, into one approach constitutes an attractive solution and offers the tools necessary to explore the complex processes of intergovernmental collaboration. The theoretical framework constructed in this dissertation is then applied to analyze whether the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Social Union Framework Agreement and the Council of the Federation can be considered in reality as examples of collaborative federalism.

This thesis discusses how autonomous robots can be used to foster and support collaborative play among children with autism in a number of different settings. Because autism impairs one’s skills in social communication and social interaction, this makes it particularly difficult for children with this disorder to participate in many different forms of social play, particularly collaborative play due to the interpersonal skills needed to coordinate and synchronize people’s actions through constantly communicating with them. Since these children have trouble playing collaboratively, this further hinders their ability to develop the necessary skills of interacting and communicating with others. I approached this idea from an empirical, behaviourist perspective instead of a theoretical one, in the sense that I conducted three different experiments in which I observed the behaviours of children with autism participating in controlled play sessions both with and without robots. To this end, I designed simple, effective control architectures which allowed LEGO NXT robots and KASPAR the humanoid robot to autonomously interact with people while playing with them. Additionally, I designed many collaborative video games such as arena games, “Tilt & roll”, and “Copycat”, that served as environments in which children with autism could play with the autonomous robots. The experiments in this thesis attempted to show that not only would children with autism improve their social behaviours while playing collaborative video games with autonomous robots, but these improvements would also transfer into similar settings in which the children would only interact with other people. By recording videos of the children’s interactions and performing observational analyses on the children’s behaviours, the data from my first exploratory experiment indi- cated that the amount of enjoyment the children showed in an after-school robotics was more positively correlated with their social behaviour than the number of play sessions in which they interacted. Using similar means, the results from my more streamlined second experiment suggested that children with autism displayed more social behaviours while playing with a typically developed adult after playing with KASPAR than they did beforehand, and the findings from my more rigorous third experiment strongly indicated that different pairs of children with autism showed improved social behaviours in playing with each other after they all played as groups with KASPAR compared to before they did so.

Information-seekers use a variety of information stores including electronic systems and the physical world experience of their community. Within electronic systems, information-seekers often report feelings of being lost and suffering from information overload. However, in the physical world they tend not to report the same negative feelings. This work draws on existing research including Collaborative Filtering, Recommender Systems and Social Navigation and reports on a new observational study of information-seeking behaviours. From the combined findings of the research and the observational study, a set of design considerations for the creation of a new electronic interface is proposed. Two new interfaces, the second built from the recommendations of the first, and a supporting methodology are created using the proposed design considerations. The second interface, the Collaborative Index, is shown to allow physical world behaviours to be used in the electronic world and it is argued that this has resulted in an alternative and preferred access route to information. This preferred route is a product of information-seekers' interactions 'within the machine' and maintains the integrity of the source information and navigational structures. The methodology used to support the Collaborative Index provides information managers with an understanding of the information-seekers' needs and an insight into their behaviours. It is argued that the combination of the Collaborative Index and its supporting methodology has provided the capability for information-seekers and information managers to 'enter into the machine', producing benefits for both groups.

In order to develop successful collaborative music systems a variety of subtle interactions need to be identified and integrated. Gesture capture, motion tracking, real-time synthesis, environmental parameters and ubiquitous technologies can each be effectively used for developing innovative approaches to instrument design, sound installations, interactive music and generative systems. Current solutions tend to prioritise one or more of these approaches, refining a particular interface technology, software design or compositional approach developed for a specific composition, performer or installation environment. Within this diverse field a group of novel controllers, described as ‘Tangible Interfaces’ have been developed. These are intended for use by novices and in many cases follow a simple model of interaction controlling synthesis parameters through simple user actions. Other approaches offer sophisticated compositional frameworks, but many of these are idiosyncratic and highly personalised. As such they are difficult to engage with and ineffective for groups of novices. The objective of this research is to develop effective design strategies for implementing collaborative sound environments using key terms and vocabulary drawn from the available literature. This is articulated by combining an empathic design process with controlled sound perception and interaction experiments. The identified design strategies have been applied to the development of a new collaborative digital instrument. A range of technical and compositional approaches was considered to define this process, which can be described as Adaptive Social Composition. Dan Livingstone

Paper 1: Evidence suggests that Nurture Groups (NGs) are effective in helping children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. NGs recognise the importance of parental involvement and research reveals positive social and emotional outcomes for children when NGs collaborate with parents as respected partners. An implicit power imbalance between NG staff and parents can challenge parental collaboration. This aim of this paper is to explore processes when consistent nurturing principles are being developed between a NG, schools and home. This qualitative study was conducted in a NG in the south west of England and included 3 NG staff, 4 parents, 4 children and a school teacher. An action-research model enabled consultation meetings and VIG to be introduced as an intervention to develop consistent practices. Semi-structured interviews, consultation meetings and a research diary collected data and an interpretative approach was adopted to explore processes, experiences and perceptions shared by participants. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse and interpret the data and produce a set of themes. The importance of effective communication, building of relationships and sharing of practice/ collaboration were identified as significant themes when developing partnership working between settings. VIG enhanced parents’ and the teacher’s communication skills and concurred with a partnership model based on empowerment, solutions and respect. Recommendations for practice include the development of personalised, informal and formal communication systems between settings. VIG can also be used effectively within NGs to develop consistent nurturing practices between settings. In addition, consideration is given to how VIG can be applied to practice more globally and how local authorities can support this process. Abstract: Paper 2 Evidence suggests that Nurture Groups (NGs) are effective in helping children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The importance of parental involvement is recognised within NGs and research reveals positive social and emotional outcomes for children when NGs collaborate with parents as respected partners. An implicit power imbalance between NG staff and parents can challenge parental collaboration. This aim of this paper is to evaluate outcomes when nurturing principles are consistent between a NG, schools and home. A mixed methodology design with interpretative and scientific approaches was employed in an area NG in the south west of England. An action-research model enabled consultation meetings and Video Interactive Guidance (VIG) to be introduced as an intervention to develop consistent practices for the experimental group. Quantitative outcomes from Boxall Profiles and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) are compared pre- and post-intervention for an experimental group (4 children and 4 parents) and a control group (4 children). Three NG staff also volunteered as participants. Qualitative measures (observation records, semi-structured interviews (SSIs), consultation meetings and VIG clips) measured outcomes for the experimental group. Data from the Boxall Profiles, SDQs, VIG clips and observations was analysed descriptively. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse emergent themes from the SSIs and consultation meetings. The results revealed the experimental group made greater gains post-intervention as measured by the SDQ and the control group made greater gains post-intervention as measured by the Boxall Profile. The majority of results for individual experimental group children revealed positive social and emotional outcomes post-intervention. It is difficult to draw conclusions when outcomes between the experimental and control group were compared. The majority of measures identified positive social, emotional and behavioural outcomes for experimental group children when parents and schools work collaboratively with NGs. VIG and sharing of practices helped to modify how parents and teachers understood, managed, communicated and related to children. Recommendations for practice discuss the development of personalised, informal and formal communication systems between settings while ensuring minimal anxiety for children. VIG can be used effectively within NGs to develop consistent nurturing practices between settings. Consideration is given to how VIG can be applied more broadly and how local authorities can support this process.

Paper 1: This study focused on personal education plans for children in care and the related research around individual education plans. Children in care have been identified by the government and local authorities as a vulnerable group, at risk of failing to fully access education (DCSF, 2010). This paper examines the role of the educational psychologist in supporting children in care. There are three aims; 1. to explore the current role and work of educational psychologists in supporting children in care across local authorities, and within one local authority, 2. to generate, a more in-depth understanding of educational psychologists’ practice regarding children in care. 3. to use the analysis to formulate a framework that will inform an intervention to enhance the personal education plan process. Mixed methods were used to investigate the current role and view of educational psychologists and those involved in the personal education plan (PEP) process. The methods included online surveys, hardcopy questionnaires and semi structured interviews, which produced both qualitative and quantitative data. The findings of this research suggest that EPs most often work with Children in Care in school, and this seems to involve consultations, planning and reviewing meetings at a multiagency level. This study reports that EPs are not often involved in the PEP process but that most EPs have an understanding of the purpose of PEPs. A summary of the distinct contribution EPs believe they have to offer children in care has been presented, and the findings could provide EPs with improved role clarity in the future. A number of themes were also identified that would support the PEP process and a framework has been created that has the potential to enhance the process. Paper 2 - Collaborative Consultation: Background: Children in care (CiC) have consistently underperformed educationally, compared to other children. Personal Education Plans (PEP) were introduced to address this issue. This study aims to implement a PEP intervention (based on a framework from Paper 1) to enhance the educational experience of the child and explore the distinct contribution of the educational psychologist (EP). Method: Action Research was used to structure an intervention and gather the pre and post evaluation data in four case studies. The intervention consisted of an assessment of the child; there were three collaborative consultations with those involved in the PEP and attending the PEP meeting. Data collected include child assessments, notes from consultations, pre and post questionnaires and post semi-structured interviews with the professional. Results: The findings suggest the intervention had a positive impact on the PEP process and how those completing the PEP felt about the process. Changes to the child’s independent functioning could not be attributed to the intervention. The analysis developed and supports the finding in the framework from Paper 1. Conclusion: The revised framework offers a guideline to produce a consistent PEP process across all Local Authorities. Recommendations about the use of assessment and introducing psychological theories through consultation prior to the PEP are provided.