Dans les feux de compartiment, les fumées représentent un danger majeur lors de l’intervention des sapeurs-pompiers. Elles sont souvent à très hautes températures et sont surtout très mobiles. De ce fait, elles provoquent la propagation du feu et peuvent engendrer des phénomènes thermiques, imprévisibles et incontrôlables, tels que les explosions de fumées ou l’embrasement généralisé éclair. L’étude présentée se propose de contribuer à construire des méthodes et des moyens pour pallier aux manques d’informations lors de l’intervention des sapeurs-pompiers sur feux de compartiments. Il s’agit de proposer une méthode de diagnostic en temps réel afin, en particulier de détecter l’occurrence de dangers potentiels spécifiques à ces situations.Pour une approche plus rationnelle, l’incendie a été étudié comme un phénomène physique, ce qu’il est, et analysé à partir des relevés de température au cours de l’évolution du feu. La particularité de l’étude a été d’examiner ces relevés de températures comme des séries temporelles et d’étudier leurs caractéristiques à partir de deux moyennes mobiles dans le passé, soit sur un même point de mesure soit sur deux points de mesures positionnés en des endroits clés. Cette méthode a permis de montrer que l’entrecroisement des moyennes mobiles donne des informations pertinentes sur l’évolution à venir du feu et sur la possibilité de détecter l’apparition possible de phénomènes thermiques catastrophiques. / In compartment fires smokes are a major danger during firemen intervention. Most of the time, they are at high temperature and they flow everywhere through many kinds of ducts, which leads to the propagation of the combustion by the creation other fires in places which may be far from the initial fire. Besides, since the appearance of the new building materials and with the heat insulations which lead to the concentration of heat during a fire, the compartments fire became even more dangerous for firefighters during their phases of attack.In the presente study we will introduce a new approach of the problem, which allows to better follow the fire behavior and especially to detect the dangers that may appear and endanger firefighters. This approach consists in a mathematical analysis based on the comparison of moving averages, calculated on the temperature recordings of the smokes. As a consequence, this method may allow improving decision support in real time and therefore to improve the security and the efficiency of firefighters in their operations against that kind of fires.

This thesis investigates how selected Zimbabwean female writers narrate HIV and AIDS. It argues that, generally, the prevailing images of women in Zimbabwean society and literature are incapacitating. Male authors have been portraying women in disempowering ways as loose, dangerous, weak and dependent on men. This unjust portrayal of women has been worsened by the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. Women have been depicted as vectors in the spread of HIV, thus perpetuating sexist ideologies. Presuming that women authors can do better in their depiction of female characters, this research investigates whether female authors differ in their representation of female characters in contexts of HIV and AIDS. The works critiqued are Virginia Phiri’s Desperate (2002), Sharai Mukonoweshuro’s Days of Silence (2000), Valerie Tagwira’s The Uncertainty of Hope (2006), Tendayi Westerhof’s Unlucky in Love (2005) and Lutanga Shaba’s Secrets of a Woman’s Soul (2006). The study further explores the extent to which Zimbabwe female authors sanction, conform, undermine, assess critically or do away with unconstructive images of women in contexts of HIV and AIDS. This study emphasized the possibility of literature to offer a platform for the liberation of women, or a counter- platform for reactionary politics. Predicated on the notion of gender and danger, the study questions whether female authors perpetuate the stereotypes of women’s roles as destructive, or whether some view ‘dangerous’ images of women in literature as liberating. Overall, this thesis argued that contrary to the postulation of female authors being similar in their understanding and depiction of the concept of gender and danger, they are not. It is at this juncture that this study breaks new ground by utilizing the concept of agency to show how different female writers interpret and narrate gender and danger in contexts of HIV and AIDS. This study applies the notion of agency as a means of evaluating the extent to which women employ nonconformist acts in order to undercut patriarchy and other oppressive socially constructed ideologies. / English Studies / (D. Litt et Phil. ( English Studies))

La France et la Turquie organisent différemment leurs administrations de protection de l'enfance. Les modèles appliqués à l'administration de la protection de l'enfance diffèrent quant à leur partage des compétences entre, d'une part, l'administration et la justice et, d'autre part, l’État central et l’État décentralisé. La France préfère un système décentralisé alors que la Turquie opte pour un système centralisé et déconcentré. En principe, la protection judiciaire en France n'est que subsidiaire par rapport à la protection administrative, tandis qu'en Turquie, en règle générale, la décision judiciaire est obligatoire pour toute mesure de protection. Bien que les différents modèles lui soient appliqués, les administrations respectives de la protection de l'enfance des deux pays portent les mêmes défauts essentiels. Il s'agit de la protection d'un nombre insuffisant d'enfants en danger et de la satisfaction insuffisante des besoins des enfants pris en charge par l'administration. Alors que le modèle administratif de la protection de l'enfance conserve son importance, il faut se concentrer d'abord sur les éléments constitutifs de l'administration qui sont la philosophie, l'infrastructure juridique, les institutions et les politiques de l'administration de la protection de l'enfance. Cette étude analyse les administrations respectives de la protection de l'enfance de la France et de la Turquie en se penchant sur leur conformité à l'intérêt de l'enfant à partir de ces éléments constitutifs. / France and Turkey organize differently their child protection administrations. The models applied to the child protection administration differ in their division of powers between administration and justice on the one hand and the central and decentralized State on the other. France prefers a decentralized system while Turkey opts for a centralization and deconcentration. In principle, judicial protection in France is subsidiary to administrative protection, whereas in Turkey, as a general rule, judicial decision is compulsory for ail protection measures. Although the different models are applied to it, the respective child protection administrations of the two countries share the same basic shortcomings. These are the protection of an insufficient number of children in danger and insufficient satisfaction of the needs of the children in the care of the administration. While the administrative model of child protection retains its importance, it is necessary to focus first on the constituent elements of administration that are the philosophy, legal infrastructure, institutions and policies of the administration of chi Id protection. This study analyzes the respective child protection administrations of France and Turkey by examining their conformity with the interests of the child on the basis of these constituent elements.

De la promulgation du Code civil en 1804 à l’Ordonnance civile du 23 décembre 1958, la protection de l’enfant « en danger » a connu ses plus grandes transformations. Le Code civil sacralise la puissance paternelle comme un droit-pouvoir exercé sur l’enfant. De cette conception restrictive découle une absence de protection légale de l’enfant « en danger » au sein de son foyer, qu’il soit légitime ou naturel. Dès le XIXe siècle pourtant, les juges ont dégagé la notion d’intérêt de l’enfant pour pallier les insuffisances législatives, mais confrontés à une conception forte du droit du père sur l’enfant, ils ne peuvent en limiter durablement les effets en l’absence d’abus de droit. À la fin du siècle, le passage de la magistrature paternelle à la magistrature judiciaire s’accompagne de l’immixtion graduelle des autorités publiques dans la sphère privée, marquée par la promulgation de la loi du 24 juillet 1889 instituant la déchéance de la puissance paternelle. Il apparaît cependant que les rares interventions législatives des XIXe et XXe siècles portant atteinte au droit sacré du père répondent à une logique première de sauvegarde des intérêts de l’État face à la menace sociale, représentée par des familles considérées comme défaillantes, plutôt qu’à une volonté d’élaborer un droit protecteur pour l’enfant. Dès lors, en œuvrant pour une politique hygiéniste systématique, le législateur a provoqué une politique judiciaire du « tout ou rien » fondée sur la faute des parents au détriment de l’intérêt de l’enfant. Toutefois, les juges ont continué à élaborer des théories juridiques pour combler les lacunes, à tel point que l’intérêt de l’enfant tend à devenir le critère judiciaire de sa protection dès l’entre-deux-guerres. Il faut cependant attendre l’Ordonnance du 23 décembre 1958 pour que l’intervention de l’État ne soit plus fondée sur la faute des parents mais sur le seul intérêt de l’enfant. / From the Civil Code in 1804 to the Ordonnance of Decembre 23rd, 1958, the legal protection of the child « in danger » has been revolutionized. As the Civil Code consideres the « paternal authority » (puissance paternelle) as an inviolable and sacred power of the father on his child, there is a complete absence of legal protection of the child, whether the child is a natural one or a legitimate one. The right of custody may not been taken away from the father who neglects his own child. Nonetheless, since the early 19th century, the judges had drawn the concept of « interest of the child » in order to protect him against his father's abuse of auhtority. However, because the « paternal authority » is strong, they cannot limit durably the effects of the father’s power. Then, at the end of the century, the State involves itself in the legal protection by entering at the father’s home. Indeed, the law of July 24th, 1889 instaures for the first time forfeiture parental rights when parents has commited a fault. According to this new principle, an harmful judicial policy of « all or nothing » paralyzes the child protection. Thus the infrequent legislative interventions in the 19th and 20th centuries, harming the paternal authority, are taken in the aim of protecting the interest of the State in stead of developping a real Right to the child. Consequently, the judges still work for the protection of the child by formulating pretorian theoricies. As a result of the judges’work, the interest of the child tends to be the criterion of judicial protection since the interwar years. It is not until the Ordonnance of December 1958 that intervention of the State is not based anymore on a parental fault but on the only interest of the child.

This study investigated the effects of individual differences in trait anxiety on cognitive appraisals and emotional reactions to stressful situations. Specifically, the effects of trait anxiety on the evaluation of psychological and physical threats to well-being were examined in relation to state-anxiety. To accomplish this goal, a proposed model consisting of elements from the Lazarus and Folkman Stress and Coping Model (1984) and Spielberger's State Trait distinctions is presented. To our knowledge, this is the first proposed model to attempt to combine trait anxiety, primary and secondary appraisals, and state anxiety and to utilize path analytic models in assessing empirical and theoretical fit. Results from mean comparisons indicate that participants reacted with higher elevations of S-anxiety in the psychological threat condition as compared to the physical threat condition. This finding is significant and unique since this is the first study that examines the differential effect of the type of stressor on the mediated path between T-anxiety and S-anxiety. Additional analyses indicated that T-Anxiety also influenced primary and secondary cognitive appraisals and participants with higher T-Anxiety demonstrated higher levels of primary appraisals and lower levels of secondary appraisals.

Use of skilled care during antenatal visits and delivery is recommended to address the burden of maternal mortality. However there are few facility deliveries and insufficient knowledge of danger signs, especially in rural Tanzania.  The aim of this thesis was to explore the perceptions and challenges that the community faces while preparing for childbirth and to evaluate an intervention of the Home Based Life Saving Skills education programme on knowledge of danger signs, facility delivery and male involvement when delivered by rural community health workers in Tanzania. In Paper I, Focus Group Discussions explored the perceptions and challenges that the community encounters while preparing for childbirth. Structured questionnaires assessed men’s knowledge of danger signs and birth preparedness and complication readiness in Paper II. The effect of the Home Based Life Saving Skills education programme in the community was assessed with a before-and-after evaluation in two districts; one intervention and one comparison. Paper III assessed the effect of the programme on knowledge of danger signs and birth preparedness and facility delivery among women, while Paper IV evaluated its effect on male involvement. The community perceived that all births must be prepared for and that obstetric complication demands hospital care; hence skilled care was favoured. Men’s knowledge of danger signs was limited; only 12% were prepared for childbirth and complications. Preparedness was associated with knowledge of obstetric complications (AOR=1.4 95% CI 1.8 – 2.6). The intervention showed women utilizing antenatal care (four visits) significantly more (43.4 vs 67.8%) with a net effect of 25.3% (95% CI: 16.9 – 33.2; p < .0001). The use of facility delivery improved in the intervention area (75.6 vs 90.2%; p = 0.0002), but with no significant net effect 11.5% (95% CI: -5.1 – 39.6; p = 0.123) when comparing the two districts. Male involvement improved (39.2% vs 80.9%) with a net intervention effect of 41.1% (CI: 28.5 – 53.8; p < .0001). Improvements were demonstrated in men’s knowledge level, in escorting partners for antenatal care and delivery, making birth preparations, and shared decision-making. The intervention, in educating this rural community, is effective in improving knowledge, birth preparedness, male involvement and use of skilled care.

Conservatism reflects a general attitude structure characterized by a preference for traditional social practices and an aversion to uncertainty and threat. Though the social environment undoubtedly plays a role in shaping conservative attitudes, recent studies suggest that trait-level characteristics may contribute to their development as well. The present research investigated trait-level cognitive threat detection ability as a factor which may influence the development and maintenance of conservative social attitudes. A computer simulation indicated that socially conservative attitudes may function as a strategy for increasing the survival rate of an individual with poor threat detection ability living in a relatively dangerous environment. Three studies were conducted to further investigate the hypothesis that individuals who are less accurate in detecting threats would report more conservative social attitudes, particularly when the surrounding environment is perceived to be highly dangerous. In Study 1, participants who were less able to distinguish between images of safe and dangerous stimuli presented outside of conscious awareness tended to endorse higher levels of social dominance orientation, and participants who reported higher belief that the world is dangerous tended to endorse higher levels of social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism, as well as a more conservative political ideology. In Study 2, less accurate detection of threats was associated with a more conservative political ideology. In Studies 2 and 3, experimental manipulations of participants’ dangerous world beliefs failed to produce differences in the endorsement of socially conservative attitudes. An additional experimental manipulation of participants’ perceptions of their own ability to detect threats in Study 3 did not affect the endorsement of socially conservative attitudes either. Across the three studies, the results suggest that individual differences in cognitive mechanisms associated with the ability to differentiate between safe and dangerous stimuli presented outside of conscious awareness may hold a weak but significant relation to socially conservative attitudes. Additionally, the results indicate that individuals who hold a stronger belief that the world is a dangerous place tend to endorse more conservative social attitudes; however, these views appear to be pervasive and persist in the face of short term fluctuations in perceptions of danger.

No description available.

The aim of this study is to measure the effectiveness of Altman’s Z-Score model using Non-performing assets (NPA) as a benchmark stability indicator. To do that, this paper examines if Altman’s Z Score Models capture the decline in financial health of the banks caused by the NPAs, using a two-fold analysis i.e., in advance through prediction and when the distress period is ongoing. The findings of this paper would suggest that: 1. During the distress period: The Z-Scores only marginally capture the distress caused by the NPAs, which is in line the findings of Almamy et al that the predictive ability of the model goes down during the crisis period. 2. For the future: The results of the statistical t-tests indicate that, the Z-Scores do not have the predictive ability to capture the future NPAs. Two different models that are developed by Altman - one for non-manufacturing firms and the other for the emerging markets, are used to test, if one model is more suitable than the other to the Indian banking sector. The findings of this paper suggest that, due to the uniqueness of the Indian banking sector during the NPA crisis, the ‘Emerging market model’, does not produce any significantly better results. Therefore, there is further scope to develop a tailor-made model suitable to the Indian banking sector.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-08-09T13:05:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Eduardo Romualdo do Nascimento.pdf: 1152848 bytes, checksum: 5ada753a1d03c6672b33e11f6e011963 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-09T13:05:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eduardo Romualdo do Nascimento.pdf: 1152848 bytes, checksum: 5ada753a1d03c6672b33e11f6e011963 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-30 / At the same time technological progress brought uncountable benefits for human race, it also increased potential risk for the postmodern society and that is the reason why it is called risk society. Injuries to subject of the legal relation are exacerbated and tend to achieve a large number of people, sometimes unlimited. Law must not wait for injuries embodiment because it can be so severe that may result in subject-matter uselessness. In such context, apparent danger works as a way of inhibit dangerous conducts, reaping it before the production of clear danger. Amongst secured subject-matter are financial system, environment, public health and others, all of them of a collective character. Public health has been directly affected by use of intoxicants, which has been a common practice of human being for ages. Intoxicants have gained amplitude as an “escape” from stressful reality, a characteristic of contemporary life in risk society. The purpose of this thesis is establishing legal and illegal drugs apparent danger, in the context of carriage for personal use and trafficking. The work is indicating if there is, in fact, an assumption of danger on carriage which expresses a potential injury to public health, justifying criminalization. For this purpose, a bibliography research was carried out with national and foreign scholars, concentrating in four topics: a) constitutional principles, with emphasis on dignity of human person, b) subject-matter, c) drugs and d) danger, with emphasis on apparent danger. Following, there was a documental analysis, in particular, of three Ministers from Supreme Court´s votes until 2015, on trial of Extraordinary Appeal 635.659/SP, still ongoing, about unconstitutionality of Article 28 of Drug Prohibition Law. Those votes were analysed in the light of theoretical framework embraced at bibliography research. It brought to a conclusion that in Brazil, drugs legal practice is a matter of criminal policy and it is not in accordance with dogmatic aspects which should guide the subject. Main conclusion is that, concerning legal drugs, there is no apparent danger simply because it was only a criminal policy option, in other words, it means law opted not consider alcohol and tobacco dangerous for society. Illegal drugs are at the other edge and in addition to bring, itself, effective and clear danger, just like legal drugs, illegal drugs also carries apparent danger, because legislator made an option to confer a regulatory conception of danger. This drugs policy layout in Brazil generates inconsistency and distortions, especially concerning drug user and wholesale drug dealer. Furthermore, criminalization prevents to reach social objectives, since resources are allocated to combat traffic, detrimentally public health which is the subject protected by law / Ao mesmo tempo em que a evolução tecnológica trouxe inúmeros benefícios para a espécie humana, ampliou as possibilidades de risco na sociedade pós-moderna, por isso mesmo denominada sociedade de risco. Os danos aos objetos jurídicos são potencializados e tendem a atingir um número maior, por vezes ilimitado, de pessoas. Ao Direito, não cabe esperar pela materialização dos danos, pois, de tão graves, podem causar a imprestabilidade dos bens. Nesse contexto, os crimes de perigo abstrato funcionam como meio de inibir condutas perigosas, ceifando-as antes mesmo que se produza o perigo concreto. Entre os bens jurídicos protegidos, conta-se o sistema econômico financeiro, o meio ambiente, a saúde pública e outros, todos de caráter coletivo. Esse último tem sido diretamente atingido pelo consumo de substâncias entorpecentes, prática comum ao homem há milênios e que, na sociedade de risco, ganhou amplitude como elemento de “fuga” da realidade, muitas vezes estressante, que caracteriza a vida contemporânea. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste trabalho é determinar o perigo abstrato das drogas, lícitas e ilícitas, no contexto do porte destinado ao consumo pessoal e à traficância, demonstrando se de fato há no porte uma presunção de perigo que represente um potencial de dano à saúde pública e justifique, assim, a criminalização. Para tanto, procedeu-se à pesquisa bibliográfica, que abarcou doutrinadores nacionais e estrangeiros, concentrando-se em quatro áreas: a) princípios constitucionais, com ênfase na dignidade da pessoa humana e nos princípios constitucionais penais; b) bem jurídico; c) drogas e d) crimes de perigo, com ênfase nos de perigo abstrato. Em seguida, procedeu-se à análise documental, em específico, dos votos proferidos até o ano de 2015 por três ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal em julgamento do Recurso Extraordinário 635.659/SP, ainda em trâmite, sobre a inconstitucionalidade do art. 28 da Lei de Drogas. Esses votos foram analisados à luz do arbouço teórico abarcado na pesquisa bibliográfica. De tal análise, depreendeu-se que o trato jurídico das drogas no Brasil é uma questão eminentemente de política criminal, passando ao largo dos aspectos dogmáticos que deveriam nortear a matéria. A principal conclusão é que, no que diz respeito às drogas lícitas, não existe o perigo abstrato, única e exclusivamente por opção de política criminal, ou seja, a lei optou por não considerar álcool e tabaco como elementos perigosos à sociedade. No outro extremo, estão as drogas ilícitas, que, além de trazerem em si o perigo concreto e efetivo tal qual as drogas lícitas, ainda carregam o perigo abstrato, porque o legislador optou por conferir-lhes uma concepção normativa de perigo. Essa configuração da política de drogas no Brasil gera incoerências e distorções, sobretudo com relação aos usuários e traficantes de varejo. Além disso, a criminalização impede que os objetivos sociais da referida lei sejam alcançados, pois destinam-se recursos para o combate ao tráfico, em prejuízo da saúde pública, que é o bem por ela tutelado