As discussões sobre a formação profissional em Educação Física foram assíduas em dois momentos, a saber: a década de 80 e após o ano 2000, com a consolidação do Conselho de Educação Física e ampliação de oferta de cursos de graduação e pós-graduação na área, além de significativo aumento na produção do conhecimento. Dentre os tópicos questionados, a atuação do docente universitário passou a ser questionada, especialmente no fato do ensino transmissivo pairar sobre o trabalho daquele no ensino superior. Neste cenário, críticas e apontamentos passaram a ser apresentados no intuito de melhor balizar a atuação do docente universitário em prol de uma formação mais abrangente e contextualizada às necessidades da sociedade. Apoiados na base epistemológica da Teoria da Complexidade, na inter e na transdisciplinaridade como fundamentais para balizar a operacionalização de modalidades didáticas (estratégias metodológicas, avaliação, processo ensino-aprendizagem, dentre outros) do docente do ensino superior, o presente estudo investigou no discurso de 14 docentes que ministram disciplinas de ginástica em cursos de licenciatura em Educação Física do estado de São Paulo, se aqueles princípios estavam presentes e, caso positivo, como se apresentavam na prática educativa. Os dados revelaram indícios da preocupação dos docentes com a formação de seus alunos, entretanto, a atuação ainda está enraizada em modelos tradicionalistas, com interesse na apresentação de dados e de conceitos e, não necessariamente, na reflexão e apreensão dos conhecimentos da área. A estratégia que melhor se enquadrou aos princípios educativos da base epistêmica por nós defendida referiu-se aos seminários (sem clara alusão à discussão durante o mesmo) e as apresentações, em formatos de festivais e de coreografias, pautadas nos preceitos da ginástica geral. Observamos também superficialidade nas discussões da atuação sobre a perspectiva da inter e da transdisciplinaridade, importantes para diminuir a verticalidade e fragmentação do conhecimento, que dificulta o entendimento do fenômeno que se estuda, no caso, da ginástica. Afinal, acreditamos que as aulas de ginástica nas Universidades devem permear a valorização da iniciativa e da autonomia, da imaginação e da invenção, a ação em relação ao discurso e a apropriação do saber em relação à sua transmissão / Discussions on training in physical education were assiduous in two stages, namely: the 80\'s and after 2000 with the consolidation of the Council of Physical Education and extension of offer undergraduate and postgraduate area as well as significant increase in knowledge production. Among the topics questioned the performance of the professor at the university had to be questioned, especially focusing in the transmissive teaching over that work in higher education. In this scenario, critical notes began to be presented in order to better delimit in favor of a more comprehensive training and contextualized to the needs of society. Backed by Complexity Theory, inter and transdisciplinarity as fundamental to mark the operationalization of teaching methods (methodological strategies, assessment, teaching-learning process, and others) in higher education, this study investigated the discourse of 14 professor who teach disciplines of gymnastics in undergraduate courses in Physical Education of São Paulo state, if those principles were present and, if so, how it presented in their practice. The results revealed evidence of concern of them with the education of students, however, the performance is still rooted in traditionalist models, with interest in the presentation of concepts and not necessarily reflect the knowledge and understanding of the area. The strategy that best fit the educational principles of epistemic ideas defended by us referred to the seminars (without clear reference to the discussion during the same) and the presentations in formats of festivals and performances, rooted in the precepts of general gymnastics. We also observed superficial discussions about the prospect of action of inter and transdisciplinarity, important to reduce the verticality and fragmentation of knowledge, which complicates the understanding of the phenomenon being studied, in the case of gymnastics. After all, we believe that gymnastics classes in universities should permeate the valuation of autonomy and initiative, imagination and invention, the action with discouse and the appropriation of knowledge in relation to its transmission

Apresentamos neste trabalho uma definição de complexidade na categoria derivada de complexos (limitados superiormente) de módulos sobre uma k-álgebra de dimensão finita. Um dos resultados que conseguimos foi uma relação entre a complexidade de objetos indecomponíveis e a noção de dimensão global forte. Mais especificamente, mostramos que a existência de um objeto indecomponível na categoria derivada limitada superiormente com complexidade não nula é condição suficiente para que a respectiva álgebra tenha dimensão global forte infinita. Também investigamos se existe uma relação entre as dimensões global e global forte da classe das álgebras shod (Coelho e Lanzilotta, 2009). Fomos motivados pela caracterização da classe das álgebras quase inclinadas (Happel, Reiten e Smalo, 1996) em termos da sua dimensão global forte, dada por D. Happel e D. Zacharia (2008), e pelo fato das álgebras shod serem uma generalização das álgebras quase inclinadas. Nossa conclusão foi que não existe, em geral, uma caracterização das álgebras shod em termos de sua dimensão global forte. Isto é, mostramos que para cada inteiro d > 2 existe uma álgebra shod estrita cuja dimensão global forte é igual a d. / We introduce in this thesis a definition of complexity in the derived category of bounded above complexes of modules over a finite dimensional k-algebra. One of our result shows a relationship between the complexity of indecomposable objects and the notion of strong global dimension. More specifically, we prove that the existence of an indecomposable object in the category derived bounded above whose complexity is not zero is a sufficient condition for corresponding algebra being of infinite strong global dimension. We also investigate the existence of a relationship between the global dimension and the strong global dimension of shod algebras (Coelho and Lanzilotta, 1999). Our motivation came from characterization of quasitilted algebras (Happel, Reiten and Smalo, 1996) by its strong global dimension, given by D. Happel and D. Zacharia (2008), and from the fact that shod algebras are a generalization of quasitilted algebras. Our conclusion was that there is not in general a characterization of shod algebras in terms of its strong global dimension. This conclusion comes from the fact that we showed that for each integer d > 2 there exists a strictly shod algebra whose strong global dimension is d.

Introdução: Os modelos de gerência centralizados e descentralizados utilizados pela administração pública no Brasil é tema bastante discutido em razão da busca por um atendimento de qualidade prestado à sociedade, não sendo diferente na área da saúde. Nesse sentido o Estado do Acre fez a opção de implementar um modelo de gerência de unidades de saúde que pudesse efetivar a descentralização das unidades de saúde estaduais e estabelecer a participação da comunidade. Objetivos: Analisar o modelo de gerência de unidades de saúde de média e alta complexidade, implementada pelo Estado do Acre, por meio da Lei de Gestão Democrática do Sistema Público de Saúde do Estado do Acre (Lei n.1912/07) e da Lei de Autonomia Financeira das Unidades de Saúde Estaduais (Lei n.1.910/07), no período de 2007 a 2011. Métodos: A pesquisa de natureza qualitativa e descritiva foi realizada no período de 2013 a 2016, utilizando como técnica de coleta de dados secundários a análise de documentos, e de dados primários as entrevistas individuais com informantes-chave. Trata-se de um estudo de caso cuja análise buscou compreender o modelo adotado pelo Estado do Acre. Resultados: A partir do modelo de gerência implementado pelo Estado do Acre, as unidades de saúde sob a gestão estadual passaram a ser geridas por um Conselho Gestor, constituído por gestores, profissionais de saúde e usuários de saúde. O modelo proporciona a descentralização da gerência das unidades de saúde com autonomia para o conselho gestor planejar e executar os recursos financeiros cujo repasse se efetiva com o termo de compromisso. O modelo implementado com a participação da comunidade no conselho gestor executivo apresenta aspectos inovadores e controversos, e sua legalidade fora questionada pelo Tribunal de Contas do Estado do Acre. No entanto, analisando as normas que permitiram a implementação do modelo, verifica-se o cumprimento das normas do Sistema Único de Saúde. Considerações finais: O modelo implementado pelo Estado mostrou ser uma alternativa de gerência de unidades de saúde descentralizado e participativo de modo a incentivar a organização e realização dos conselhos gestores / Introduction: The centralized and decentralized management models used by public administration in Brazil is a topic that is much discussed because of the quest for quality care provided to society, and is not different in the health area. In this sense, the State of Acre made the option of implementing a model of health unit management that could effect the decentralization of state health units and establish community participation. Objectives: To analyze the model of management of health units implemented by the State of Acre through the Law of Democratic Management of the Public Health System of the State of Acre (Law n.1912 / 07) and the Financial Autonomy Law of the Units of State Health (Law n.1.910 / 07) in the period from 2007 to 2011. Methods: The qualitative and descriptive research was carried out in the period from 2013 to 2016, using as secondary data collection technique the analysis of documents and data Primary interviews with key informants. It is a case study whose analysis sought to understand the model adopted by the State of Acre. Results: Based on the management model implemented by the State of Acre, health units under state management were managed by a Management Council, made up of managers, health professionals and health users. The model provides the decentralization of health unit management with autonomy for the managing board to plan and execute the financial resources whose transfer is effective with the term of commitment. The model implemented with the participation of the community in the executive management council presents innovative and controversial aspects and its legality was questioned by the Court of Accounts of the State of Acre. Final considerations: The model implemented by the State has shown to be an alternative for the management of decentralized and participatory health units in order to encourage the implementation of the model. Organization and implementation of management councils

A desigualdade material hereditária teria surgido no registro arqueológico pela primeira vez por volta de 6.500 A.C. na região da Mesopotâmia, tendo posteriormente emergido de maneira independente em diferentes localidades e contextos, dentro de um intervalo de tempo relativamente curto. Muitas teorias foram propostas para explicar os fenômenos, porém sua compreensão permanece em aberto. Buscou-se, aqui, abordar a questão sob a perspectiva dos Sistemas Adaptativos Complexos, construindo um Modelo Baseado em Agentes que teve como base teórica a literatura que trata da questão, focada nos últimos vinte anos do debate, aprofundada em dois estudos de caso: a Mesopotâmia e a Costa Noroeste da América do Norte. Dos nove parâmetros testados oito apresentaram relação direta com a assimetria material dos indivíduos podendo colaborar com a emergência da desigualdade material hereditária, de forma que fomos levados a considerar a igualdade material e a cooperação presente entre os caçadores e coletores como propriedades decorrentes de uma estrutura social de criticalidade auto-organizada / The hereditary material inequality would have emerged for the first time in the archaeological record around 6.500 BC in Mesopotamia, emerging after it repeatedly and independently in different localities and contexts, in a small time period. Many theories have been proposed but the complete understanding of the issue remains open to debate. Thus, we have proposed here an approach of the phenomenon under the Complex Adaptive Systems perspective, through which an agent-based model have been built. Constitutes the background of the model the working papers and text books written in the last two decades, which were later checked agains two case studies: Mesopotamia and Northwest Coast, in North America. Among the nine parameters tested in the model eight presented direct relation to the material asymmetry of individuals, potentially participating of the precesses involved in the emergence of material inequality. This results leads us to consider the possibility of the egalitarian and cooperative social structures of huntergatherers to be one of self-organized criticality

A crescente complexidade dos sistemas embarcados de uso aeronáutico tem sido objeto de preocupação por parte de especialistas no que se refere à segurança. A complexidade implica não somente em novos tipos de perigos como também os tornam mais difíceis de serem identificados. O cenário exige maior atenção quando um sistema complexo apresenta também alto acoplamento entre seus elementos. A maioria dos métodos utilizados na análise de segurança foi concebida para sistemas mecânicos e adaptados para sistemas eletrônicos. De maneira geral, a evolução no campo das tecnologias não tem sido refletida nas abordagens adotadas para a segurança de sistemas. A Teoria de Acidentes Normais proposta por Charles Perrow estabelece uma importante ligação entre complexidade, acoplamento e acidentes. Entretanto, entende-se que somente estes dois parâmetros não são suficientes para se ter um indicador capaz de capturar potenciais riscos relativos à segurança de sistemas. É necessário identificar também o quão critica é contribuição de cada elemento do sistema para a segurança. Complexidade, acoplamento e criticalidade formam a base do índice C²A desenvolvido nesta Tese como um indicador de risco para a segurança de sistemas. A aplicação do índice C²A é exercitada em um estudo de caso que utiliza um sistema de controle ambiental de uma aeronave de transporte regional. Adicionalmente são realizadas considerações sobre como implantar a utilização do índice C²A no processo de desenvolvimento de sistemas proposto pela norma ARP4754A. / The increasing complexity of on board systems for aeronautical applications has been a concern for experts in regard to safety. The complexity involves not only new kinds of hazards as well as makes them more difficult to identify. The scenario requires more attention when a complex system also presents high coupled elements. Most methods used in the safety analysis were designed for mechanical systems and adapted for electronic systems. In general, the advances in the technology field have not been reflected in the system safety methods. The Normal Accident Theory created by Charles Perrow proposed an important link between complexity, coupling and accidents. However, only these two parameters are not sufficient to have a metric of the potential risks relating to safety. It is also necessary to identify how critical is the contribution of each element of the system to the safety. Complexity, coupling and criticality are the basis of the C²A index developed in this thesis as a risk indicator related to safety aspects. The application of the C²A index is exercised in a case study using an environmental control system of a regional transport aircraft. Additionally considerations are made about how to deploy the use of the index C²A in the systems development process as proposed by the standard ARP4754A.

Introdução: Ainda não é conhecido na literatura se os sujeitos pós-AVC têm a capacidade de aprender ações complexas. Os estudos existentes apresentam falhas metodológicas, assim como na implementação da complexidade da tarefa. Este trabalho investigou os efeitos da manipulação da complexidade da tarefa na aprendizagem motora desta população. Método: Vinte e quatro sujeitos pós-AVC (Grupo experimental - GE) e vinte e quatro sujeitos saudáveis (Grupo controle - GC) foram selecionados e divididos em dois experimentos: baixa complexidade e alta complexidade. Foram desenvolvidas duas tarefas denominadas de baixa e de alta complexidade, com variação não só no número de elementos, mas também na carga de processamento exigida para a execução da mesma, as quais deram origem ao experimento 1 e 2, respectivamente. Esta tarefa era executada em ambiente de realidade virtual, a partir do deslocamento do centro de pressão para controle dos objetos móveis na tela. O delineamento foi constituído de 150 tentativas para a fase de aquisição, dividida em 3 dias de prática. Após 4 dias sem prática foi realizado o teste de retenção (RET) e transferência (TR). A alteração realizada no teste de TR foi na direção do deslocamento dos objetos. As variáveis dependentes de ambos experimentos foram: pontuação e tempo de execução. Para cada variável dependente foi conduzido uma Anova two-way com medidas repetidas (2 grupos x 4 momentos) seguido de post hoc de Tukey para identificar os momentos das mudanças. Resultados: No experimento 1, para a variável pontuação ambos os grupos melhoraram o desempenho ao longo da aquisição e o mantiveram no teste de retenção. Não houve diferença entre o GC e GE. Para a variável tempo de execução, o GC diferenciou-se do GE em todos os momentos (Início e final da aquisição, teste de retenção e transferência), apresentando pior desempenho. No experimento 2, tanto para a variável pontuação, quanto para tempo de execução o GE diferenciou-se do GC no final da aquisição e no teste de RET. Conclusão: Os sujeitos pós-AVC foram capazes de aprender a tarefa de baixa complexidade, mas esta aprendizagem não foi passível de generalização. Quanto a tarefa de alta complexidade, os sujeitos do GE não aprenderam a tarefa, sendo muito impactados pelo aumento de complexidade. Possivelmente, os déficits cognitivos relacionados ao planejamento e sequenciamento de ações impactaram na aquisição da habilidade de alta complexidade e não prejudicaram a aprendizagem da tarefa de baixa complexidade / Introduction: It is not yet known in the literature wether post stroke subjects have the ability to learn complex actions. The studies have methodological flaws as well as the implementation of the complexity of the task. This study aimed to investigate the effects of manipulation of task complexity in motor learning in this subjects. Method: Twenty-four post stroke subjects (experimental group - EG) and twenty-four healthy subjects (control group - CG) were selected and divided into two experiments: low complexity and high complexity. Two tasks were developed, low and high complexity, with changing not only on the number of elements, but also on the processing load required, which led to the experiment 1 and 2, respectively. This task was performed in a virtual reality environment, considering the displacement of the center of pressure for controlling the objects move on the screen. The design consisted of 150 trials for the acquisition phase, divided into three days of practice. After 4 days was performed retention test (RET) and transfer (TR). The TR test included the change in the direction of the objects movement. The dependent variables of both experiments were: score and runtime. For each dependent variable was conducting a two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (2 groups x 4 times) followed by Tukey post hoc. Results: In experiment 1, in regards to the variable score, both groups improved performance and kept in the retention test. There was no difference between the CG and EG. For the variable runtime, the CG differed from EG at all times (Beginning and end of the acquisition, RET and TR), with worse performance. In Experiment 2, both the variable score runtime, the EG differed from the CG at the end of acquisition and RET test. Conclusion: The post-stroke subjects were able to learn a low complexity task, but this learning was not generalized. As the higher complex task, post stroke subjects have not learned the task, being very impacted by the increase of complexity. Possibly the cognitive deficits related to planning and sequencing actions impacted the acquisition of the higher complex skill and not affected the low complexity task learning

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-12-20T08:46:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Augusto Montassier.pdf: 5978312 bytes, checksum: 4b364534648767b26d80f96f7df3e1c2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-20T08:46:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Augusto Montassier.pdf: 5978312 bytes, checksum: 4b364534648767b26d80f96f7df3e1c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-15 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The sword is usually associated with heroic narratives and, according to the anthropology of Gilbert Durand's imaginary, is linked to the diurnal regime of the images. In the context of contemporary media productions, however, it is possible to verify the presence of narratives that have expanded meanings and the sword is transfigured as a sign of complexity. In this approach, the sword is not only a tool for cutting, splitting, excluding and distinction, but it incorporates in a harmonious way opposite ideas, linked to the nocturnal regimes, composed by the mystical and synthetic systems of the images. In the nocturnal regime of images, the sword transmutes itself and connects with the idea of a blacksmith, in the art of working with fire. Thus, the research seeks to relate the importance of the craft processes that accompany the work of creating the sword and for this discussion dialogues with the idea of craftsmanship, according to Sennett's proposition. For him, the sword is a tool and the swordsman is a master craftsman in the art of handling that weapon. We understand the sword as an image of complexity from the knowledge of Japanese fencing present in works such as The Book of Five Rings and The Sword That Gives Life. The image of the sword has transcended the ages and occupies prominence in the contemporary media. The main objective of the research is to seek its presence as a complex image in the media narratives. For this, the empirical object of the research is composed by the series of Japanese animation Rurouni Kenshin, chosen for presenting the sword like something more than a instrument of combat. Imaginary is understood as the universe of symbolic configurations and socio-symbolic practices whose function is to establish the biopsychosocial balance of the human being, mainly to deal with the existential anguish linked to the fear of death. The methodological procedures adopt the perspective of the line of research in processes of creation and communication in the culture and are based on the researches of Lucia Leão, especially in the method of cartography of the imaginary. The research is inserted in the field of communication and understands the communicational processes as interactive, complex and systemic actions, experienced as a mediated experience / A espada é normalmente associada às narrativas heroicas e, segundo a antropologia do imaginário de Gilbert Durand, está vinculada ao regime diurno da imagem. No contexto das contemporâneas produções midiáticas, entretanto, é possível verificar a presença de narrativas que apresentam sentidos expandidos e a espada se transfigura em signo de complexidade. Nessa abordagem, a espada não é apenas um instrumento de corte, divisão, exclusão e distinção, mas incorpora de forma harmônica sentidos opostos, vinculados aos regimes noturno e crepuscular, compostos pelos sistemas místico e sintético das imagens. No regime noturno, a espada se transmuta e se conecta com a ideia de ferreiro, na arte do trabalho com o fogo. Assim, a pesquisa busca relacionar a importância dos processos artesanais que acompanham o trabalho de criação da espada e para essa discussão dialoga com a ideia artífice, segundo a proposição de Sennett. Para ele, a espada é uma ferramenta e o espadachim é um mestre artesão na arte de manejar essa arma. Entendemos a espada enquanto imagem de complexidade a partir do conhecimento da esgrima japonesa presente em obras como O Livro dos Cinco Anéis e A Espada que dá Vida. A imagem da espada transcendeu as eras e ocupa espaço de destaque nos meios de comunicação contemporâneos. O objetivo principal da pesquisa é buscar sua presença enquanto imagem complexa nas narrativas midiáticas. Para isso, o objeto empírico da pesquisa é composto pelas séries de animação japonesa Rurouni Kenshin, escolhida por apresentar a espada como algo mais do que um instrumento de combate. Entende-se imaginário como o universo das configurações simbólicas e das práticas sócio-simbólicas que têm por função estabelecer o equilíbrio biopsicossocial do ser humano, principalmente para lidar com a angústia existencial vinculada ao medo da morte. Os procedimentos metodológicos adotam a perspectiva da linha de pesquisa em processos de criação e comunicação na cultura e estão fundamentados nas pesquisas de Leão, em especial no método de cartografias do imaginário. A pesquisa está inserida no campo da comunicação e entende os processos comunicacionais enquanto ações interativas, complexas e sistêmicas, vivenciados como experiência mediada pelas linguagens

Tidal current and wave power, as emerging forms of renewable generation, represent innovations that are confronted by significant technological and financial challenges. Currently, the marine energy sector finds itself in a decisive transition phase having developed full-scale technology demonstrators but still lacking proof of the concept in a commercial project environment. After the decades-long development process with larger than expected setbacks and delays, investors are discouraged because of high capital requirements and the uncertainty of future revenues. Although ideas for improving the investment climate can be found, there is a lack of well-founded arguments and coordinated strategies to work towards a breakthrough in the marine energy market. The objective of this research is to provide stakeholder-specific prioritised strategy options for de-risking the commercialisation of tidal current and wave power technologies. A key principle applied is to integrate a wide knowledge spectrum comprising the technology, policy and financing sectors and to compile the information in a holistic and transparent manner. To gain a broad understanding of the characteristics of presently ongoing marine energy activities and the correlated strategic planning, a comprehensive survey was conducted. Based on this multidisciplinary attempt, an all-encompassing appraisal was possible by avoiding over-concentration on stakeholder-specific views or interests. System dynamics modelling was employed to develop a series of cause-effect relationship diagrams of the key interactions and correlations in the field. It was revealed that the circular relationship between two major risks for array-scale projects - reliability and funding - requires coordinated action to overcome. As funding is necessary for improving system reliability (and vice-versa), showcasing 'array-scale success' was identified as the game-changing milestone towards commercial generation. Furthermore, it was found that a number of comparably competent manufacturing firms is required to implement major marine energy projects. This would result from fostering a multi-company market breakthrough concept, based on intensified knowledge sharing and trustful collaborative interaction between competitors. Additionally, effective separation of complexity into 'detail' and 'dynamically complex' constituents was found to be fundamental for identifying long-term, effective solutions. It is decisive to accept this primary classification, as measures appropriately applied on one type of complexity can be counterproductive if applied on the other. Most of the available planning tools and analytical methods do not address the management of dynamic complexity, necessary in innovative environments where flexibility and tolerance of vagueness are indispensable. Successful application of several strategies to deal with both types of complexity in comparable innovation-driven environments was considered suitable for de-risking the commercialisation of marine energy. The challenges for strategy-finding in a demandingly complex and increasingly dynamic environment are addressed in this research by exploiting a case-specific expert knowledge database. The structured information compression and subsequent strategy-finding process is realised based on calculated rankings of impact factors by systems dynamics software and substantiated by representative interview statements. The analysis makes use of multi-level expert knowledge and the application of a control-loop-based methods. The systems approach as applied in this research comprises the combination of interview-based (bottom-up learning) processes and the application of prioritised strategy options in the form of concerted management action (top-down planning). The approach of processing multi-level interview data by system dynamics modelling represents a powerful method to detect and assess ongoing developments and thus to advance strategy-finding. The systematic and unbiased approach to identify the top-level drivers for commercialising marine energy supports the long-term creation of investor confidence, based on a concept of transparency and credibility.

Languages are culturally transmitted through a repeated cycle of learning and communicative interaction. These two aspects of cultural transmission impose (at least) three interacting pressures that can shape the evolution of linguistic structure: a pressure for learnability, a pressure for expressivity, and a pressure for coordination amongst users in a linguistic community. This thesis considers how these sometimes competing pressures impact linguistic complexity across cultural time. Using artificial language and iterated learning experimental paradigms, I investigate the conditions under which complexity in morphological and syntactic systems emerges, spreads, and reduces. These experiments illustrate the interaction of transmission, learning and use in hitherto understudied domains - morphosyntax and word order. In a first study (Chapter 2), I report the first iterated learning experiments to investigate the evolution of complexity in compositional structure at the word and sentence level. I demonstrate that a complex meaning space paired with pressures for learnability and communication can result in compositional hierarchical constituent structure, including fixed combinatorial rules of word formation and word order. This structure grants a productive and productively interpretable language and only requires learners to acquire a finite lexicon and a finite set of combinatorial rules (i.e., a grammar). In Chapter 3, I address the unique effect of communicative interaction on linguistic complexity, by removing language learning completely. Speakers use their native language to express novel meanings either in isolation or during communicative interaction. I demonstrate that even in this case, communicative interaction leads to more efficient and overall simpler linguistic systems. These first two studies provide support for the claim that morphological and syntactic complexity are shaped by an overarching drive towards simplicity (or learnability) in language learning and communication. Chapter 4 reports a series of experiments assessing the possibility that the simplicity bias found in the first two studies operates at a different strength depending on the linguistic level. Studies in natural language learning and in pidgin/creole genesis suggest that while morphological variation seems to be highly susceptible to regularisation, variation in other syntactic features, like word order, appears more likely to be reproduced. I test this experimentally by comparing regularisation of unconditioned variation across morphology and word order in the context of artificial language learning. I show that language users in fact regularise unconditioned variation in a similar way across linguistic levels, suggesting that the simplicity bias may be driven by a single, non-level-specific mechanism. Taken together, the experimental evidence presented in this thesis supports the hypothesis that the cultural and cognitive pressures acting on language users during learning and communicative interaction - for learnability, expressivity and coordination - are at least partially responsible for the evolution of linguistic complexity. Specifically, they are responsible for the emergence of linguistic complexity which maximises learnability and communicative efficiency, and for the reduction of complexity which does not. More generally, the approach taken in this thesis promotes a view of complexity in linguistic systems as an evolving variable determined by the biases of language learners and users as languages are culturally transmitted.

Quantum computers promise to offer a considerable speed-up in solving certain problems, compared to the best classical algorithms. In many instances, the gap between quantum and classical running times is conjectured to be exponential. While this is great news for those applications where quantum computers would provide such an advantage, it also raises a significant challenge: how can classical computers verify the correctness of quantum computations? In attempting to answer this question, a number of protocols have been developed in which a classical client (referred to as verifier) can interact with one or more quantum servers (referred to as provers) in order to certify the correctness of a quantum computation performed by the server(s). These protocols are of one of two types: either there are multiple non-communicating provers, sharing entanglement, and the verifier is completely classical; or, there is a single prover and the classical verifier has a device for preparing or measuring quantum states. The latter type of protocols are, arguably, more relevant to near term quantum computers, since having multiple quantum computers that share a large amount of entanglement is, from a technological standpoint, extremely challenging. Before the realisation of practical single-prover protocols, a number of challenges need to be addressed: how robust are these protocols to noise on the verifier's device? Can the protocols be made fault-tolerant without significantly increasing the requirements of the verifier? How do we know that the verifier's device is operating correctly? Could this device be eliminated completely, thus having a protocol with a fully classical verifier and a single quantum prover? Our work attempts to provide answers to these questions. First, we consider a single-prover verification protocol developed by Fitzsimons and Kashefi and show that this protocol is indeed robust with respect to deviations on the quantum state prepared by the verifier. We show that this is true even if those deviations are the result of a correlation with the prover's system. We then use this result to give a verification protocol which is device- independent. The protocol consists of a verifier with a measurement device and a single prover. Device-independence means that the verifier need not trust the measurement device (nor the prover) which can be assumed to be fully malicious (though not communicating with the prover). A key element in realising this protocol is a robust technique of Reichardt, Unger and Vazirani for testing, using non-local correlations, that two untrusted devices share a large number of entangled states. This technique is referred to as rigidity of non-local correlations. Our second result is to prove a rigidity result for a type of quantum correlations known as steering correlations. To do this, we first show that steering correlations can be used in order to certify maximally entangled states, in a setting in which each test is independent of the previous one. We also show that the fidelity with which we characterise the state, in this specific test, is optimal. We then improve the previous result by removing the independence assumption. This then leads to our desired rigidity result. We make use of it, in a similar fashion to the device-independent case, in order to give a verification protocol that is one-sided device-independent. The importance of this application is to show how different trust assumptions affect the efficiency of the protocol. Next, we describe a protocol for fault-tolerantly verifying quantum computations, with minimal "quantum requirements" for the verifier. Specifically, the verifier only requires a device for measuring single-qubit states. Both this device, and the prover's operations are assumed to be prone to errors. We show that under standard assumptions about the error model, it is possible to achieve verification of quantum computation using fault-tolerant principles. As a proof of principle, and to better illustrate the inner workings of the protocol, we describe a toy implementation of the protocol in a quantum simulator, and present the results we obtained, when running it for a small computation. Finally, we explore the possibility of having a verification protocol, with a classical verifier and a single prover, such that the prover is blind with respect to the verifier's computation. We give evidence that this is not possible. In fact, our result is only concerned with blind quantum computation with a classical client, and uses complexity theoretic results to argue why it is improbable for such a protocol to exist. We then use these complexity theoretic techniques to show that a client, with the ability to prepare and send quantum states to a quantum server, would not be able to delegate arbitrary NP problems to that server. In other words, even a client with quantum capabilities cannot exploit those capabilities to delegate the computation of NP problems, while keeping the input, to that computation, private. This is again true, provided certain complexity theoretic conjectures are true.