La notion de besoin caractérise souvent une nécessité biologique, le strict minimum pour se nourrir et se loger. Les besoins ont pourtant souvent été définis comme relatifs et propres à une situation donnée. Les incitations culturelles et sociales tendent à fournir des motivations puissantes aux individus, les conduisant à prendre des décisions parfois à leur détriment au plus ou moins long-terme. Ces choix révèlent certains besoins allant au-delà de la seule survie. Ma thèse a pour objectif de mieux comprendre ces décisions en incluant des composants sociaux ou culturels à la théorie standard de la consommation. Elle contribue à faire le lien entre deux branches importantes de la littérature économique: l'analyse de la demande, et l'économie comportementale/sociale. Les différents chapitres répondent à des questions telles que : pourquoi les personnes souffrant de malnutrition dépensent une part significative de leur budget en biens ostentatoires (premier chapitre) ? Pourquoi des personnes différant seulement par le groupe social auquel elles appartiennent ne consomment pas les mêmes biens (deuxième chapitre) ? Les interactions sociales contribuent-elles à la persistance de goûts locaux (troisième chapitre) ? Et l'intégration commerciale contribue-t-elle à la convergence des goûts (quatrième chapitre) ? Ces sujets requièrent de considérer la signification sociale des choix de consommation, en plus de l'effet du revenu, des prix et de leur valeur fonctionnelle. En d'autres termes, ils requièrent de penser la consommation comme un langage. / The notion of need often characterizes the strict minimum amount of food and shelter to survive. Needs have however recurrently been described as essentially relative and context-driven. Indeed, cultural and social incentives tend to provide powerful motivations for individuals to engage in choices sometimes detrimental to their short- or long-term fitness. These choices reveal certain needs which are beyond mere sustenance. My thesis aims at better understanding these decisions by including cultural and social components to a standard theory of consumption. By doing so, it contributes to bridge the gap between two important branches of the literature: demand analysis and behavioral/social economics. The different chapters adress questions such as: Why do malnourished people spend a significant portion of their budget on conspicuous goods (first chapter)? Why do people of different social groups choose to consume different types of goods, given similar prices, income and demographics (second chapter)? Do social interactions contribute to the persistence of localized tastes (third chapter)? And does market integration contribute to taste convergence (fourth chapter)? These topics require to take into account the social meaning of consumption choices, aside from income, prices and functionality. In other words, they require to consider consumption as a language.

Multiple-choice (MCQs) and short-answer questions (SAQs) are the most common test formats for assessing English reading proficiency. While the former provides test-takers with prescribed options, the latter requires short written responses. Test developers favor MCQs over SAQs for the following reasons: less time required for rating, high rater agreement, and wide content coverage. This mixed methods dissertation investigated the impacts of test format on reading performance, metacognitive awareness, test-completion processes, and task perceptions. Participants were eighty English as a second language (ESL) learners from a Midwestern community college. They were first divided into two groups of approximately equivalent reading proficiencies and then completed MCQ and SAQ English reading tests in different orders. After completing each format, participants filled out a survey about demographic information, strategy use, and perceptions of test formats. They also completed a 5-point Likert-scale survey to assess their degree of metacognitive awareness. At the end, sixteen participants were randomly chosen to engage in retrospective interviews focusing on their strategy use and task perceptions. This study employed a mixed methods approach in which quantitative and qualitative strands converged to draw an overall meta-inference. For the quantitative strand, descriptive statistics, paired sample t-tests, item analyses, two-way ANOVAs, and correlation analyses were conducted to investigate 1) the differences between MCQ and SAQ test performance and 2) the relationship between test performance and metacognitive awareness. For the qualitative strand, test-takers’ MCQ and SAQ test completion processes and task perceptions were explored using coded interview and survey responses related to strategy use and perceptions of test formats. Results showed that participants performed differently on MCQ and SAQ reading tests, even though both tests were highly correlated. The paired sample t-tests revealed that participants’ English reading and writing proficiencies might account for the MCQ and SAQ performance disparity. Moreover, there was no positive relationship between reading test performance and the degree of metacognitive awareness generated by the frequency of strategy use. Correlation analyses suggested whether a higher or lower English reading proficiency of the participants was more important than strategy use. Although the frequency of strategy use did not benefit test performance, strategies implemented for MCQ and SAQ tests were found to generate interactive processes allowing participants to gain deeper understanding of the source texts. Furthermore, participants’ perceptions toward MCQs, SAQs, and a combination of both revealed positive and negative influences among test format, reading comprehension, and language learning. Therefore, participants’ preferences of test format should be considered when measuring their English reading proficiency. This study has pedagogical implications on the use of various test formats in L2 reading classrooms.

Discrete choice models and the assortment optimization problem are the fundamental aspects of the broader field of revenue management, which now spans a broad array of industries such as airlines, hotels and online advertising. The main focus here is to first study the consumer preferences and their substitution behavior when they are faced with multiple options, explain those observed behaviors with mathematical models and then identify an optimal set of options to offer to maximize revenues. This dissertation enriches the choice models and assortment optimization fields by studying the setting when such options are available in multitude, either to the sellers or to the consumers to choose from. The first half of this dissertation focuses on the situation when sellers have access to a vast array of features to be chosen for products they want to offer. The second half of the dissertation focuses on the situation when customers are faced with a lot of options to choose from. This dissertation formulates concrete mathematical discrete choice models to tackle those situations, then studies the assortment optimization problem of maximizing the expected revenue resulting from these newly introduced choice models, and finally also designs efficient algorithms to solve them. Chapter 1 explores discrete choice models which capture consumer behavior and choices when faced with a set of different alternatives, and the resulting assortment optimization problem along with the different existing algorithms for solving them as well as the existing challenges therein. Chapter 2 models and solves the problem when the sellers have access to a vast array of inventory of products. Chapter 3 models dynamic preferences of consumers and the choice overload phenomenon when the customers are faced with a lot of options, and solves the ensuing optimization problem. Chapter 4 showcases the applicability and effectiveness of such models and approaches on high dimensional data from a field experiment on Flipkart, the largest e-commerce firm in India.

This study proposed to develop a list of aviation books that experienced pilots consider inspirational and motivational which could be used in an aviation literature course in adult education. Survey results showed the subject pilots had a positive attitude toward reading and flying, but there was little correlation (r = .35) between the two. This suggests that something else influenced the reading of the sample books. The pilot resondents suggested 269 books for use in a course. This book list will need additional refining and syntopical sorting before use as a canon in an aviation education course.

Colleges and universities throughout the world are offering many of their courses via the Internet. Some institutions offer entire degrees online. This has ushered in a renewed interest in the debate on the effectiveness of non-traditional course delivery method. Numerous educational research studies have been conducted in an attempt to quantify that effectiveness. In any form of experimental research, control of variables is paramount. The rich multimedia capabilities of the World Wide Web give educators a wide variety of delivery media. However, with the exception of advice from artisans on design factors of the media, little research has been conducted with regard to the aesthetics of Web page design as viewed by the student. This study was conducted in an effort to establish student preferences with regard to two factors of Web page design as they might be used on those Web pages, background color and typeface used for text. In addition, it contains an analysis of whether or not there is an interaction between the two factors. Use of the results of this study should prove beneficial to both educators and educational researchers in their future endeavors.

付記する学位プログラム名: デザイン学大学院連携プログラム / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第22803号 / 情博第733号 / 新制||情||125(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 黒田 知宏, 教授 矢守 克也, 特定教授 川上 浩司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

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As an education practitioner I had taken cognisance of the existence of a gap in the professional development of academics at the exemplar higher education institution where most lecturers were novices in facilitating and assessing learning. I adopted the Whole Brain® Teaching and Learning Model by Ned Herrmann (1996) to transform our teaching practice. The model calls for innovative methods of facilitating learning. I adopted participatory action research to transform our teaching practice. In a community of practice, 10 novice lecturers between 35 and 50 years of age who had taught in higher education for 10 years and less implemented the Whole Brain® Teaching and Learning Model. The study’s aim was to promote a scholarship of teaching and learning in the higher education setting. I formulated the primary question: How can my fellow-lecturers and I as a collective use the Whole Brain® Thinking Model to transform teaching in higher education in Zimbabwe? A mixed methods approach was used to obtain various thoughts and views about Herrmann (1996) Whole Brain® Model of transforming practice. Diverse learning opportunities which included: different questioning techniques; various learning activities and different media were adopted. The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®) data was used as baseline study to determine our thinking style preferences; while student feedback questionnaire data was used to evaluate the learning opportunities. Interviews, focus group meetings that were video - and audio-recorded were used to solicit qualitative data. Quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23 and qualitative data was analysed using deductive thematic analysis. Results from the HBDI® report affirmed the diagnosis of our thinking preferences. The results showed that lecturers inspired students by their enthusiasm for work (73%); lecturers initiated learning by providing opportunities that reflected real - life situations (70%); lecturers promoted cooperative learning (71%). Students also contributed to their learning by developing a greater sense of responsibility (66%). The results of the two examinations were skewed towards the A and B quadrants. The general observation was that Whole Brain® methods of facilitating learning and the skill of setting Whole Brain® examinations were lacking. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

This research innovation reports on the application of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® theory in facilitating and assessing learning in Mathematics in the senior phase, Grades 7 - 9. It is a two-part interrelated initiative that seeks both to augment current Mathematics-specific educational theories to improve practice, as well as to reflect on ways that these theories impact on the teaching practice. The literature review synthesises existing educational theories in terms of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® model into a new proposed comprehensive Mathematics-specific Whole Brain® model. This synthesis of existing “good practices” in Mathematics education in terms of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® model, supports the need for a Whole Brain® approach to teaching Mathematics. Furthermore, it hopes to be a user-friendly model with which teachers can plan and facilitate learning and assessment opportunities in Mathematics. Data was collected on the thinking preferences of each Mathematics teacher participant, as well learners’ perception of their teachers’ thinking preferences. Both qualitative and quantitative data was used to report on the findings. Individual and collective reflective practices, situated in the framework of professional development and action research, were used to analyse and report on the findings. The reflective practice resulting from the initiative is in itself an outcome of the research, since “those teachers who are students of their own effects are the teachers who are the most influential in raising students’ achievement” (Hattie & Yates, 2014, p. 24). The degree to which the reflective process impacted on each participant’s practice appears to be dependent on each teacher’s level of professional development. Teacher participants engaging in post-graduate studies showed the ability to complement their “existing competencies with needed situational competencies” (Herrmann, 1996, p. 39), meaning that these teachers were not limited by their thinking preferences, but were able to employ lesser preferred preferences when needed. Each teacher participant’s unique set of thinking preferences was obtained using the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI®). When each of these unique profiles were combined, they produced a compound Whole Brain® profile. This supported Herrmann’s (1990, p. 10) notion that every sizeable group would consist of a “composite whole brain”, but also showed that there is no specific set of thinking preferences unique to a Mathematics teacher. The learner questionnaires also indicated a reasonably balanced Whole Brain® profile amongst learners, supporting the need for a Whole Brain® approach to facilitating learning and assessing in Mathematics. The reflective cyclic process of theory informing practice and practice in turn informing theory is at the core of this research innovation. This cyclic process has become my living theory from which I hope to inspire others to engage in similar initiatives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

Knowledge of Wels Catfish (Silurus glanis) at its northernmost distribution area is limited on even basic behavioral characteristics, such as habitat preferences and activity patterns. It has thus proven difficult to aid the species in any predictable way. In a telemetry study on Wels Catfish, I examined habitat preferences, activity patters and site fidelity of ten adult individualsat their most northern range. Fish were surgically equipped with acoustic transmitters, frequently recording the position of each individual in a small Swedish lake. Wels Catfishpreferred deeper areas than randomly expected during the entire year, except for late spring and early summer. This indicates that spawning took place at shallow, vegetated areas in May-June 2019. Fish were highly active during summer, utilizing the entire lake. Behavior shifted during winter as fish became bottom dwelling with minimal activity, small home ranges and likelyminimal feeding. Wels Catfish had a nocturnal activity pattern during the entire year, but especially during summer. Fish preferred shallower areas during night than during day, indicating that deeper areas were used for resting and shallower areas for foraging. Lastly, home ranges were much larger than expected during summer, implying that S. glanis might be less territorial in small lakes than previously believed. In summary, conservation efforts should focus on protecting and restoring shallow areas with lots of vegetation and food items, adjacent to deep areas with underwater structures. These areas are important for the survival of S. glanisas they fulfill requirements for feeding, reproduction, resting, and hibernation.