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Many of Plautus' extant plays contain identity problems, the results of comic confusions in identity. The confusion may arise from deliberate deceit through impersonation, or from mistaken identity through ignorance. While mistaken identity features in many Plautine plays, these identity problems are usually brief comical complications arising from the machinations of a crafty slave or from a twist of fate. However, the Captiui, Menaechmi and Amphitruo all contain pervasive identity problems which are complicated and extend throughout the play. Further, all three plays present an unusual identity problem which provides strong contrast to the conventional Plautine problems including the ineligible girl later being found to be of free birth and now available for marriage, or the son and his slave successfully obtaining money from the son's father by trickery and impersonation. On closer examination, it is apparent that in each of these three plays Plautus has explored these identity issues and used them as a vehicle to highlight other significant social and moral issues. In Captiui, the young man who should be eligible for marriage is instead found to be the slave of his own father who has unwittingly mistreated him. In Menaechmi, two identical twin brothers, separated as young boys, who are coincidentally in the same foreign town at the same time and are repeatedly mistaken for one another, with far-reaching consequences. In Amphitruo, two mortals are impersonated by two gods, with identity theft and depersonalisation occurring. In all three plays, the identity problems form an integral part of the play and are explored extensively by Plautus. This dissertation examines the concepts of personal identity as exploited by Plautus in these three plays in the light of concepts of personal identity and the self as found in the works of ancient and modern philosophers, and of contemporary psychologists and sociologists. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

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This study examines how prior knowledge influences future learning. Although it has been established that prior knowledge does have a strong impact on later learning, it is not clear how this effect manifests itself. Previous research suggests that one way to examine the effects of knowledge on learning is to compare subtasking, that is, dividing a task into subsets, to unstructured learning, or learning "all-at-once". Neural network simulations using the cascade-correlation learning algorithm predict that subtasking facilitates learning when it involves learning a function that is compatible (i.e., logically consistent) with the rest of the task, and hinders learning when it involves learning a function that is incompatible with the rest of the task (Tetewsky, Shultz, & Takane, 1995). Two experiments were conducted to test these predictions using a concept learning task, measuring the number of trials required for participants to correctly classify 16 stimuli, consisting of key images defined by four binary dimensions, into two groups based on a relationship between the stimulus dimensions that was either simple or complex. The results indicated that the simple subtasking condition provides a good example of the effects of function compatibility, in that depending on what regularity participants extract in the first subset, learning of the rest of the task is facilitated or hindered as compared to all-at-once learning. The complex condition shows that some participants extracted a function in the first subset that was compatible with the rest of the task, thus facilitating learning as compared to all-at-once learning. However, for other participants, the knowledge acquired in subtasking is inaccessible in later learning. These findings provide evidence for the psychological validity of the simulations. Implications to part-whole transfer and applications in concept learning research are discussed.

Buddleia davidii is a weed naturalized in New Zealand. It invades radiata pine plantations and causes major growth reduction and economic losses. Modelling its germination for predicting its occurrence will help foresters minimise its influence in forest plantations. Germination experiments have been carried out in laboratory to assess the influence of seed origin, defoliation, temperature and water stress on germination. Defoliation treatments did not significantly affect germination. The pattern of germination for seeds from four different places within New Zealand revealed so little difference that there is no need to define different models according to the site considered. However this similarity in germination pattern is limited to New Zealand and cannot be generalised to other countries where germination appears to be significantly different. The germination of Buddleia davidii seed appeared to be a function of hydrothermal time. The base, optimum and ceiling temperatures for Buddleia are respectively 9, 25 and from 30 to 35?, and Buddleia seed germinate between 0 and approximately -6 bars. In constant conditions, the predicted germination for Buddleia davidii with the thermal time model was limited to sub-optimal temperatures and the hydrotime and hydrothermal time models described well the germination pattern at any temperature and water potential. The modified hydrothermal time model proposed by Alvarado and Bradford (2002) most accurately predicted germination although it tended to overestimate the asymptotes. Overall the hydrothermal time model allowed prediction of actual timing of germination with much accuracy. This threshold model can therefore be used for modelling the germination of Buddleia davidii subjected to constant temperature and water potential conditions.

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