The observation is made that the spiritual well being of the church youth - i.e., the covenantal youth -is not healthy. The aim of this thesis is to study this observation. It seems that when children come to the point that they confess their faith they do not grasp the full implications of this undertaking as they do not bear the fruits of faith in their daily lives. There exists empiric evidence that the church youth are well equipped in the knowledge of faith, but when it comes to subjective acts of faith, there is a great lack. The assumption is made that the catechist is not always sufficiently equipped to apply the balance between knowledge of faith and subjective acts of faith in catechises. The focus point of the study is: Catechises as a means through which salvation is secured and appropriated within the context of the covenant and the Kingdom of God. The fundamental question at stake is: How does the believer share in the salvation that Christ has earned on the cross, and in which way can the catechises serves as a vehicle to achieve this goal. Essentially catechises is the official service of the church through which children of the covenant are assured of their salvation. They must also come to the point where they claim this redemption. The church obtains this objective by proclaiming the truths and instructing the doctrines of the Word of God to these children in such a way that each individual should come to confess his/her faith publicly and personally. Catechists must shepherd and guide these children not only to obtain certainty of faith (certitudo fidei) and to be obedient as believers, but also to be convinced of their salvation (certitudo salutis) and to make this redemption their own. The unity between God and man is not a polar one, but an apolar covenantal relation. Within this polar relation the covenant is like a solid foundation in which this oneness is rooted. The monopleuric (one-sided, unilateral) and dipleuric (two-sided, bilateral) character of the covenant proves that God treats man as a responsible associate in this treaty. God's sovereignty or objective salvation, on the one hand, and human responsibility or subjective faith, on the other hand, coexists without any strain or uneasiness whatsoever within this apolar covenantal connection between God and man. There is no contradiction between God's redemptive word and man's responsibility. It is therefore compulsory for man to believe; that man has faith is not something that rakes place without his decision. However, it is through the power of the gospel that faith is created in man - the gospel that Christ was crucified. The grace of God does not cause the believer to be a passive being; it has the effect that he is in active service of the Lord. The requirement to believe and to repent is not set aside; in fact, it remains a condition of the covenant. This means that, in the relation between God and His people, the promises and the demands of the covenant must be operative and active in the personal lives of the people of the covenant. The purpose of this exercise is that the believers will be able to experience the grace of the promises of the covenant as a reality. There is also a call at the address of these people to appropriate the salvation promised in the covenant. The children of the covenant must share in the promises of the pact on a personal basis. The reality of these promises, as well as the urgency of the demands - according to the gospel of God - must be proclaimed to the catechumens. There is a close relationship between certainty of faith and the objective truths of religion. This certainty is built on the truths that form the content of the Word of God. Certainty of salvation links up with the subjective acts of faith. A believer takes part on a personal level in the redemptive work of Christ. The fact that he is saved, through this redemption, forms the foundation of the Christian's life. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Catechetics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

L’objet de ce travail est d’éclairer l’esthétique et l’éthique de la poétique de Francis Ponge à partir de la notion de Nature. La première partie étudie la notion de Nature chez Ponge en tant que monde extérieur et son matérialisme qui, fortement influencé par le matérialisme antique, est caractérisé par l’antimétaphysique. Cette partie met également en relief le rapport étroit entre sa pensée matérialiste et la pensée immanente spinoziste, résumée dans l’expression de « Dieu ou la Nature ». Les aspects immanents des choses dans ses œuvres peuvent être mieux saisis, en effet, à l’aide de la notion d’« immanence » spinoziste. La deuxième partie explore, quant à elle, la relation entre la Nature et la littérature et le développement d’un nouveau lyrisme matérialiste chez Ponge. Pour lui, la littérature se naturalise et la Nature se littérarise. Son approbation de la Nature se traduit par sa contresignature apposée aux choses.Son nouveau lyrisme matérialiste, qui s’oppose au lyrisme traditionnel, se caractérise autour de notions telles que la vibration, l’aspiration, ou la « réson ». La troisième partie, enfin, examine le nouvel humanisme de Ponge ainsi que son éthique.La relation entre la Nature et l’homme s’articulera autour de thèmes éthiques essentiels comme l’altérité, le nouvel humanisme et le salut de l’homme. Son éthique consiste à vivre heureux. Nous l’aborderons à travers différents thèmes tels que la sagesse antique, l’harmonie du « non-soi » et du « soi », l’éthique de la joie, le hasard et la liberté. / The purpose of this study is to examine the aesthetics and the ethics of Francis Ponge’s poetry through the notion of Nature. The first part examines the concept of Nature in Ponge as the outside world and his materialism which, heavily influenced by ancient materialism, is characterized by the anti-metaphysical. This part also explore the close relationship between his idea and Spinoza’s immanent idea, summarized in the expression of "God, or Nature". The immanent aspects of things in his work can be fully understood with the help of the concept of "immanence" of Spinoza. The second part examines the relationship between Nature and literature and the development of Ponge’s new materialist lyricism. For him, literature becomes naturalized and nature becomes literarized. The approval of nature is reflected in his countersignature for things. His new materialist lyricism, contrasted with the traditional lyricism, is characterized by notions such as vibration, aspiration, "réson". The third part will focus on the new humanism and the ethics of Ponge. The relationship between Nature and man will be treated primarily on certain essential themes of ethics such as otherness, the new humanism and the salvation of man. His ethics is to live à happy life. Various topics, such as ancient wisdom, the harmony of the "non-self" and the "self", the ethics of joy, chance and freedom, will be discussed.

L'objet de cette thèse est l'étude des aspects algorithmiques du vote par approbation. Il s'agit principalement d'une étude théorique des enjeux computationnels soulevés par le vote par approbation dans des contextes de décisions variés. Cependant, j'étudie aussi des questions plus proches de la théorie classique du choix social et je conduis de brèves études expérimentales.Dans un premier temps, l'étude se porte sur une famille générale de règles de vote pour les élections de comités et les référendums multiples à l'aide du vote par approbation. Dans un second temps, je porte mon attention sur un contexte plus général, le vote par approbation sur domaines combinatoires en se basant sur des préférences conditionnelles. Finalement, je me place dans le cadre du vote avec préférences incomplètes pour étudier les problèmes de vainqueurs possibles et nécessaires dans le vote par approbation. / The subject of this thesis is the study of computational aspects of approval voting. Most of the works are theoretical results about computational issues raised by approval voting, in many different settings. However, I also study some questions that are more related to classical choice theory, and some problems are investigated through experimental analysis.Firstly, I study a general family of rules for approval voting in the context of committee elections and multiple referenda. Secondly, I focus on a more general setting, approval voting in combinatorial domains, based on conditional preferences. Finally, I consider approval voting in the context of incomplete preferences, to study the possible and necessary winner problems.

Le système électoral fait de plus en plus objet de débats et de discussions au Canada et ailleurs dans le monde. Bien qu’il existe de nombreuses études sur les avantages et les inconvénients des différents systèmes électoraux, très peu d’entre elles examinent les préférences des citoyens concernant les modes de scrutin et plus particulièrement la façon dont les individus expriment leur choix sur le bulletin de vote. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, je m’attarde aux questions suivantes : quelle façon de voter les citoyens préfèrent-ils et pourquoi ? Afin de répondre à ces questions, j'ai mené une expérience en laboratoire avec près de 200 participants dans le cadre des élections fédérales canadiennes de 2019. Les participants furent invités à voter dans une série d'élections en utilisant chacune des trois façons de voter suivantes en ordre aléatoire : scrutin à vote unique, vote par approbation et vote par rangement. Après chaque vote, les participants furent informés du résultat électoral dans leur groupe et interrogés sur leur niveau de satisfaction à l'égard de chaque façon de voter. Les résultats démontrent que les citoyens préfèrent avoir la possibilité de classer les partis plutôt que d'utiliser un scrutin à vote unique ou un vote par approbation. Les individus sont également plus susceptibles d’aimer un mode scrutin lorsqu'ils sont satisfaits des résultats de l’élection. / Debates over which electoral system would best serve the general public are on the rise in Canada and in other democratic countries. Although there exists a rich literature on the benefits and shortcomings of different electoral systems, very few studies examine citizens’ preferences regarding voting rules and the ways in which individuals can cast their vote. In this paper, I address the following questions: What voting rules do citizens prefer and why? To address these questions, I conducted a within-subject laboratory experiment with nearly 200 participants in the run up to the 2019 Canadian federal election. Participants were asked to vote in a set of elections using each of the three following types of ballots in random order: one-mark ballot, approval voting and ranked voting. After each vote, participants were informed of the election results and asked about their level of satisfaction with each voting system. The results show that citizens prefer having the option to rank order the parties rather than using a one-mark ballot or approval voting. Individuals are also more likely to favour voting rules when they are satisfied with the results of the election.

Les relations commerciales avec la Chine s’intensifiant, la conclusion de contrats internationaux est de plus en plus fréquente pour les opérateurs économiques étrangers et chinois. En vertu du principe de la liberté contractuelle, les parties à un contrat international peuvent choisir une loi applicable à leur contrat afin de bénéficier de plus de souplesse, de sécurité juridique ou de neutralité. Cette étude basée notamment sur les actualités juridiques chinoises a pour objectif de donner une référence pratique sur la réglementation des contrats internationaux en Chine à travers la présentation des principes généraux du contrat international chinois, la conclusion, l’exécution et les difficultés d’application des contrats internationaux. Il y est aussi analysé l’application de la Convention des Nations Unies sur les contrats de vente internationale de marchandises, ainsi que certains cas de refus de reconnaissance et d’exécution de sentences étrangères en Chine. En traitant exclusivement des contrats internationaux en matière de commerce international, cette étude pourra offrir aux investisseurs étrangers désirant investir en Chine une vision relativement complète sur l’actualité de la réglementation des contrats internationaux en Chine et ainsi permettre aux parties de bien choisir la loi qui devra régir leurs rapports contractuels envisagés afin de réaliser leurs intérêts et d’éviter les mauvaises surprises liées à la méconnaissance des lois et des règlements chinois en vigueur. / China’s economy has grown significantly during the past thirty years under a policy of socialist market economy. For the purposes of international trade, Chinese international contract law makes reference to western law, while maintaining distinctive features stemming from political influence and Chinese culture. As trade relations with China intensify, foreign and Chinese economic entities are entering into an increasing number of international contracts. In accordance with the principle of contractual freedom, parties to an international contract may choose which law will govern their contract, so as to enjoy a greater degree of flexibility, legal safety or neutrality. This study, based mainly on Chinese legal developments, aims to provide a practical reference on the regulation of international contracts in China by presenting the general principles of international Chinese contracts, and the negotiation and execution of international contracts, as well as difficulties related to their application. It also analyses the manner in which the United Nations Convention applies to international sale of goods contracts, as well as certain cases of refusal to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards in China. By dealing exclusively with international contracts related to international trade, this study will provide foreign investors wishing to invest in China with a comprehensive picture of the current regulation of international contracts in China and will allow the parties to choose which law to govern their contractual relationships in order to achieve their objectives and avoid any unpleasant surprises resulting from their lack of awareness of current Chinese laws and regulations.

Les litigants sollicitent les centres d’arbitrage pour diriger l’arbitrage dans toutes ses phases afin de donner une garantie supplémentaire qui assure la validité de la sentence arbitrale. Compte tenu du rôle important que les centres d’arbitrage jouent pendant l’instance arbitrale, les litigants mécontents de la sentence arbitrale ou du jugement annulant la sentence tentent d’engager la responsabilité du centre d’arbitrage dès lors qu’il a surveillé, dirigé et participé au rendu de la sentence.De plus en plus la responsabilité des centres d’arbitrage est mise en cause devant les juridictions étatiques différentes, les fonctions et les pouvoirs exercés par les centres d’arbitrage ainsi que le régime de responsabilité leur est applicable font l’objet d’une attention critique de la part de la doctrine dans plusieurs systèmes juridiques. On s’interroge sur l’origine des rapports qui lient les centres d’arbitrage aux autres acteurs de l’arbitrage, sur les obligations et les pouvoirs conférés aux centres d’arbitrage, et sur les fonctions exercées par les centres d’arbitrage pour établir enfin un régime de responsabilité homogène et pertinent à l’égard des fonctions exercées par les centres d’arbitrage qui a une vocation à s’appliquer dans la majorité des systèmes juridiques / Parties to arbitration seek arbitral institutions to administrate their arbitration in order to have an extra guarantee that ensures the validity of the arbitral award. Given the role that arbitral institutions play during the arbitral procedure, parties unsatisfied either by the arbitral award or the annulment of the award tend to claim the liability of arbitral institution for the awards it had supervised, administered and participated in.The more the allegations of liability raise against the arbitral institutions before courts, the more the issue of arbitral institutions’ functions, powers and liability becomes controversial in different jurisdictions. Therefore, the present study tends to clarify the origin of the relationship existing between arbitral institutions and other parties involved in the arbitration at issue, the duties and powers assigned to the arbitral institutions and the functions performed by the arbitral intuitions, which helps eventually in establishing a kind of liability that complies with the functions performed by the arbitral institutions and can be applied in many jurisdictions.