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1
Alhelbawy, Ayman. "Collective approaches to named entity disambiguation." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2014. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6891/.
Full textAbstract:
Internet content has become one of the most important resources of information. Much of this information is in the form of natural language text and one of the important components of natural language text is named entities. So automatic recognition and classification of named entities has attracted researchers for many years. Named entities are mentioned in different textual forms in different documents. Also, the same textual mention may refer to different named entities. This problem is well known in NLP as a disambiguation problem. Named Entity Disambiguation (NED) refers to the task of mapping different named entity mentions in running text to their correct interpretations in a specific knowledge base (KB). NED is important for many applications like search engines and software agents that aim to aggregate information on real world entities from sources such as the Web. The main goal of this research is to develop new methods for named entity disambiguation, emphasising the importance of interdependency of named entity candidates of different textual mentions in the document. The thesis focuses on two connected problems related to disambiguation. The first is Candidates Generation, the process of finding a small set of named entity candidate entries in the knowledge base for a specific textual mention, where this set contains the correct entry in the knowledge base. The second problem is Collective Disambiguation, where all named entity textual mentions in the document are disambiguated jointly, using interdependence and semantic relations between the different NE candidates of different textual mentions. Wikipedia is used as a reference knowledge base in this research. An information retrieval framework is used to generate the named entity candidates for a textual mention. A novel document similarity function (NEBSim) based on NE co-occurrence is introduced to calculate the similarity between two documents given a specific named entity textual mention. NEB-sim is also used in conjunction with the traditional cosine similarity measure to learn a model for ranking the named entity candidates. Na\"{i}ve Bayes and SVM classifiers are used to re-rank the retrieved documents. Our experiments, carried out on TAC-KBP 2011 data, show NEBsim achieves significant improvement in accuracy as compared with a cosine similarity approach. Two novel approaches to collectively disambiguate textual mentions of named entities against Wikipedia are developed and tested using the AIDA dataset. The first represents the conditional dependencies between different named entities across Wikipedia as a Markov network, where named entities are treated as hidden variables and textual mentions as observations. The number of states and observations is huge, and na\"{i}vely using the Viterbi algorithm to find the hidden state sequence which emits the query observation sequence is computationally infeasible given a state space of this size. Based on an observation that is specific to the disambiguation problem, we develop an approach that uses a tailored approximation to reduce the size of the state space, making the Viterbi algorithm feasible. Results show good improvement in disambiguation accuracy relative to the baseline approach, and to some state-of-the-art approaches. Our approach also shows how, with suitable approximations, HMMs can be used in such large-scale state space problems. The second collective disambiguation approach uses a graph model, where all possible NE candidates are represented as nodes in the graph, and associations between different candidates are represented by edges between the nodes. Each node has an initial confidence score, e.g. entity popularity. Page-Rank is used to rank nodes, and the final rank is combined with the initial confidence for candidate selection. Experiments show the effectiveness of using Page-Rank in conjunction with initial confidence, achieving 87\% accuracy, outperforming both baseline and state-of-the-art approaches.
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Gulcehre, Caglar. "Two Approaches For Collective Learning With Language Games." Master's thesis, METU, 2011. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12613109/index.pdf.
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Recent studies in cognitive science indicate that language has an important social function. The structure and knowledge of language emerges from the processes of human communication together with the domain-general cognitive processes. Each individual of a community interacts socially with a limited number of peers. Nevertheless societies are characterized by their stunning global regularities. By dealing with the language as a complex adaptive system, we are able to analyze how languages change and evolve over time. Multi-agent computational simulations assist scientists from different disciplines to build several language emergence scenarios. In this thesis several simulations are implemented and tested in order to categorize examples in a test data set efficiently and accurately by using a population of agents interacting by playing categorization games inspired by L. Steels'<br>s naming game. The emergence of categories throughout interactions between a population of agents in the categorization games are analyzed. The test results of categorization games as a model combination algorithm with various machine learning algorithms on different data sets have shown that categorization games can have a comparable performance with fast convergence.
3
Quatraro, Diego <1982>. "Collective effects for the LHC injectors: non-ultrarelativistic approaches." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2011. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/3403/1/quatraro_diego_tesi.pdf.
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The upgrade of the CERN accelerator complex
has been planned in order to further increase the
LHC performances in exploring new physics frontiers.
One of the main limitations to the upgrade is represented by the collective
instabilities.
These are intensity dependent phenomena triggered by electromagnetic
fields excited by the interaction of the beam with its surrounding.
These fields are represented via wake fields in time domain
or impedances in frequency domain.
Impedances are usually studied assuming ultrarelativistic bunches while we
mainly explored low and
medium energy regimes in the LHC injector chain.
In a non-ultrarelativistic framework we carried out a complete study of the impedance
structure of the PSB which accelerates proton bunches up to 1.4 GeV.
We measured the imaginary part of the impedance which creates betatron tune shift.
We introduced a parabolic bunch model which together with dedicated measurements
allowed us to point to the resistive wall impedance as the source of one of the main PSB instability.
These results are particularly useful
for the design of efficient transverse instability dampers.
We developed a macroparticle code to study the effect of the space
charge on intensity dependent instabilities. Carrying out the analysis of the bunch
modes we proved that the damping effects caused by the space charge, which has been
modelled with semi-analytical method and using symplectic high order schemes,
can increase the bunch intensity threshold.
Numerical libraries have been also developed in order to study, via numerical simulations
of the bunches, the impedance of the whole
CERN accelerator complex.
On a different note, the experiment
CNGS at CERN, requires high-intensity beams.
We calculated the interpolating Hamiltonian of the beam
for highly non-linear lattices. These calculations provide the ground
for theoretical and numerical studies aiming to improve the CNGS beam
extraction from the PS to the SPS.
4
Quatraro, Diego <1982>. "Collective effects for the LHC injectors: non-ultrarelativistic approaches." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2011. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/3403/.
Full textAbstract:
The upgrade of the CERN accelerator complex
has been planned in order to further increase the
LHC performances in exploring new physics frontiers.
One of the main limitations to the upgrade is represented by the collective
instabilities.
These are intensity dependent phenomena triggered by electromagnetic
fields excited by the interaction of the beam with its surrounding.
These fields are represented via wake fields in time domain
or impedances in frequency domain.
Impedances are usually studied assuming ultrarelativistic bunches while we
mainly explored low and
medium energy regimes in the LHC injector chain.
In a non-ultrarelativistic framework we carried out a complete study of the impedance
structure of the PSB which accelerates proton bunches up to 1.4 GeV.
We measured the imaginary part of the impedance which creates betatron tune shift.
We introduced a parabolic bunch model which together with dedicated measurements
allowed us to point to the resistive wall impedance as the source of one of the main PSB instability.
These results are particularly useful
for the design of efficient transverse instability dampers.
We developed a macroparticle code to study the effect of the space
charge on intensity dependent instabilities. Carrying out the analysis of the bunch
modes we proved that the damping effects caused by the space charge, which has been
modelled with semi-analytical method and using symplectic high order schemes,
can increase the bunch intensity threshold.
Numerical libraries have been also developed in order to study, via numerical simulations
of the bunches, the impedance of the whole
CERN accelerator complex.
On a different note, the experiment
CNGS at CERN, requires high-intensity beams.
We calculated the interpolating Hamiltonian of the beam
for highly non-linear lattices. These calculations provide the ground
for theoretical and numerical studies aiming to improve the CNGS beam
extraction from the PS to the SPS.
5
Archibald, Thomas L. "Dispute resolution in hospital collective bargaining, the Ontario and Quebec approaches." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0003/MQ28172.pdf.
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Minto, Amy M. "Nonmarket Autonomy| Combining Private and Collective Approaches to Corporate Political Activity." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10142268.
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<p> By pursuing private and collective political action in the nonmarket environment, businesses attempt to influence public policy that shapes their operating environment. This dissertation considers how a firm’s market-based experience and its accumulation of political resources affect how the firm combines private and collective political tactics. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) I investigate how a firm’s alliance experience, political resources and prior collective political experience influence the autonomy of its Corporate Political Activity (CPA). I use fixed effects GLS regression with clustered standard errors to test my model on a panel of 21,329 firm/year observations of 2,779 U.S. property casualty insurance companies over the ten-year period between 2005 and 2014. I find support for the influence of state-level political resources, equity alliances, and the interaction of prior collective CPA experience with regulatory complexity and learning capacity on autonomy. My findings contribute to the growing literature connecting market and non-market strategies by linking collaboration in the political arena to the related market activity of alliance experience. Findings also contribute to our understanding of how participation in a collective provides opportunities for learning, and reveals that taking advantage of this opportunity depends on a firm’s learning capacity and the complexity of its regulatory environment. These findings add insight to the literatures on CPA, inter-organizational learning, collective action and trade associations. </p>
7
Minto, Amy. "Nonmarket Autonomy: Combining Private and Collective Approaches to Corporate Political Activity." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/20502.
Full textAbstract:
By pursuing private and collective political action in the nonmarket environment, businesses attempt to influence public policy that shapes their operating environment. This dissertation considers how a firm’s market-based experience and its accumulation of political resources affect how the firm combines private and collective political tactics. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) I investigate how a firm’s alliance experience, political resources and prior collective political experience influence the autonomy of its Corporate Political Activity (CPA). I use fixed effects GLS regression with clustered standard errors to test my model on a panel of 21,329 firm/year observations of 2,779 U.S. property casualty insurance companies over the ten-year period between 2005 and 2014. I find support for the influence of state-level political resources, equity alliances, and the interaction of prior collective CPA experience with regulatory complexity and learning capacity on autonomy. My findings contribute to the growing literature connecting market and non-market strategies by linking collaboration in the political arena to the related market activity of alliance experience. Findings also contribute to our understanding of how participation in a collective provides opportunities for learning, and reveals that taking advantage of this opportunity depends on a firm’s learning capacity and the complexity of its regulatory environment. These findings add insight to the literatures on CPA, inter-organizational learning, collective action and trade associations.
8
Merrifield, Alistair James. "An Investigation Of Mathematical Models For Animal Group Movement, Using Classical And Statistical Approaches." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1132.
Full textAbstract:
Collective actions of large animal groups result in elaborate behaviour, whose nature can be breathtaking in their complexity. Social organisation is the key to the origin of this behaviour and the mechanisms by which this organisation occurs are of particular interest. In this thesis, these mechanisms of social interactions and their consequences for group-level behaviour are explored. Social interactions amongst individuals are based on simple rules of attraction, alignment and orientation amongst neighbouring individuals. As part of this study, we will be interested in data that takes the form of a set of directions in space. In Chapter 2, we discuss relevant statistical measure and theory which will allow us to analyse directional data. These statistical tools will be employed on the results of the simulations of the mathematical models formulated in the course of the thesis. The first mathematical model for collective group behaviour is a Lagrangian self-organising model, which is formulated in Chapter 3. This model is based on basic social interactions between group members. Resulting collective behaviours and other related issues are examined during this chapter. Once we have an understanding of the model in Chapter 3, we use this model in Chapter 4 to investigate the idea of guidance of large groups by a select number of individuals. These individuals are privy to information regarding the location of a specific goal. This is used to explore a mechanism proposed for honeybee (Apis mellifera) swarm migrations. The spherical theory introduced in Chapter 2 will prove to be particularly useful in analysing the results of the modelling. In Chapter 5, we introduce a second mathematical model for aggregative behaviour. The model uses ideas from electromagnetic forces and particle physics, reinterpreting them in the context of social forces. While attraction and repulsion terms have been included in similar models in past literature, we introduce an orientation force to our model and show the requirement of a dissipative force to prevent individuals from escaping from the confines of the group.
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Merrifield, Alistair James. "An Investigation Of Mathematical Models For Animal Group Movement, Using Classical And Statistical Approaches." University of Sydney, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1132.
Full textAbstract:
Doctor of Philosophy<br>Collective actions of large animal groups result in elaborate behaviour, whose nature can be breathtaking in their complexity. Social organisation is the key to the origin of this behaviour and the mechanisms by which this organisation occurs are of particular interest. In this thesis, these mechanisms of social interactions and their consequences for group-level behaviour are explored. Social interactions amongst individuals are based on simple rules of attraction, alignment and orientation amongst neighbouring individuals. As part of this study, we will be interested in data that takes the form of a set of directions in space. In Chapter 2, we discuss relevant statistical measure and theory which will allow us to analyse directional data. These statistical tools will be employed on the results of the simulations of the mathematical models formulated in the course of the thesis. The first mathematical model for collective group behaviour is a Lagrangian self-organising model, which is formulated in Chapter 3. This model is based on basic social interactions between group members. Resulting collective behaviours and other related issues are examined during this chapter. Once we have an understanding of the model in Chapter 3, we use this model in Chapter 4 to investigate the idea of guidance of large groups by a select number of individuals. These individuals are privy to information regarding the location of a specific goal. This is used to explore a mechanism proposed for honeybee (Apis mellifera) swarm migrations. The spherical theory introduced in Chapter 2 will prove to be particularly useful in analysing the results of the modelling. In Chapter 5, we introduce a second mathematical model for aggregative behaviour. The model uses ideas from electromagnetic forces and particle physics, reinterpreting them in the context of social forces. While attraction and repulsion terms have been included in similar models in past literature, we introduce an orientation force to our model and show the requirement of a dissipative force to prevent individuals from escaping from the confines of the group.
10
Taylor, Michael A. "Tradable permit markets for the control of point and nonpoint sources of water pollution technology-based collective performance-based approaches /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1059077005.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003.<br>Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 465 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Allan Randall, Interdisciplinary Program. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-165).
11
Morravej, Tors Natalie. "What motivates reading? : A Qualitative Study of Motivations for Reading in the English Subject Syllabi of the English and Swedish Curricula." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-58747.
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The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the motivations for reading in the subject syllabi for English in England and Sweden in the hopes of discovering how the English steering documents can inspire Swedish teachers to adopt new perspectives and approaches to reading. The aspects explored are epistemological approaches, reading content, general aims and aims within the subject, skills, requirements, discourses, and language usage. The study analyzes each of the subject syllabi from both countries and the final phase involves a comparison, which demonstrates the profitable and non-profitable similarities and dissimilarities. The study provides valuable perspectives on how teachers can broaden their interpretation of Swedish steering documents for the subject of English by departing from critical reading concepts and using a more encouraging discourse than that found in steering documents.
12
Medetov, Seytkamal. "Bio-inspired Approaches for Informatio Dissemination in Ad hon Networks." Thesis, Belfort-Montbéliard, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014BELF0253/document.
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La dissémination d’information dans les réseaux VANET est une opération fondamentale pour la sécurité routière. Il est dès lors nécessaire de concevoir et mettre en oeuvre des algorithmes efficaces et adaptatifs pour la dissémination d’informations sélectives et pertinentes.Dans ce travail, des approches Bio-inspirées sont proposées, à partir des comportements auto-organisés des essaims comme les colonies de fourmis et d’abeilles. Ces approches visent à fournir à chaque véhicule des informations en provenance de son environnement et alerter les conducteurs. Dans la première approche, le système de communication direct et indirect des fourmis est utilisé. Les fourmis partagent les informations sur les sources de nourriture avec des membres de la colonie en sécrétant la phéromone sur leurs chemins. La deuxième approche est inspirée par le système de communication des abeilles. Les abeilles partagent les informations à propos des sources de nourriture avec les autres membres de la ruche par des messages spécifiques, selon l’importance de ces sources.Une nouvelle mesure de "pertinence" associée aux messages est définie, par analogie à la sécrétion des phéromones des fourmis et au niveau de l’intensité des messages pour les abeilles, pour disséminer des informations de sécurité dans une zone géographique. Les simulations sont effectuées en utilisant le simulateur NS2 pour mesurer l’efficacité des approches proposées sous différentes conditions, en particulier en termes de densités et vitesses des véhicules<br>Information dissemination in Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) is a fundamental operation to increase the safety awareness among vehicles on roads. Thus, the design and implementation of efficient and scalable algorithms for relevant information dissemination constitutes a major issue that should be tackled.In this work, bio-inspired information dissemination approaches are proposed, that use self-organization principles of swarms such as Ant and Honey Bee colonies. These approaches are targeted to provide each vehicle with the required information about its surrounding and assist drivers to be aware of undesirable road conditions. In the first approach, Ant’s direct and indirect communication systems are used. Ants share information about food findings with colony members by throwing pheromone on the returning to the nest. The second, an RSU-based approach is inspired by the Bee communication system. Bees share profitable food sources with hive-mates in their hive by specific messages.A “relevance” value associated to the emergency messages is defined as an analogue to pheromone throwing in Ant colony, and as an analogue to profitability level in Bee colony, to disseminate safety information within a geographical area. Simulations are conducted using NS2 network simulator and relevant metrics are evaluated under different node speeds and network densities to show the effectiveness of the proposed approaches
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Cabugueira, Manuel Francisco Magalhães. "Análise microeconómca da acção voluntária na regulação do ambiente." Doctoral thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/4229.
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Doutoramento em Economia<br>Por "acção voluntária na regulação ambiental" entende-se a acção de preservação ambiental que, em resultado de iniciativa própria, ou de uma coordenação com o agente público, é voluntariamente adoptada por uma empresa. Com esta tese pretende-se contribuir para a modelação microeconómica da acção voluntária na regulação ambiental. Os modelos apresentados ao longo do texto são motivados pela experiência portuguesa com esta forma de intervenção, e ocupam-se de três tipos de preocupações: (a) que contributo podem dar os instrumentos voluntários para a eficiência da regulação quando existe informação imperfeita, analisado no capítulo II por recurso a um "modelo de risco moral com informação escondida"; (b) que factores influenciam a negociação entre agentes públicos e privados, objecto do capítulo Dl, em que se aplica um "modelo de negociação à Nash"; (c) e que tipo de relações existe entre os agentes privados quando consideram a participação numa acção voluntária, observadas enquanto jogos de acção colectiva no Capítulo IV. No Capítulo I apresenta-se um resumo dos aspectos relacionados com a caracterização da acção voluntária, bem como uma discussão sobre as motivações que justificam a participação dos agentes públicos e privados.<br>"Voluntary approach to environmental regulation" is defined as an environmental action voluntarily adopted by the companies, as a result either of their own initiative or of coordination with the public agent. This thesis aims to contribute to the microeconomic modelization of the voluntary approach to environmental regulation. The Portuguese experience with voluntary approaches motivates the models developed in the text. The models tackle three main concerns: (a) what is the voluntary approach's contribution to the efficiency of environmental regulation under imperfect information, which is dealt with in Chapter II resorting to a "moral hazard model with hidden information"; (b) which are the factors that influence the negotiation between regulator and companies, which is dealt with in Chapter III using a "Nash bargaining model"; (c) which types of relations exist among the private agents when they consider to participate in a voluntary action, which is dealt in Chapter IV under a "collective action game" analysis framework A summary of the main concepts related with voluntary approaches, namely their characterization and motivations for public and private participation, are presented in Chapter I.
14
Gegg, Michael [Verfasser], Andreas [Akademischer Betreuer] Knorr, Marten [Akademischer Betreuer] Richter, Jan [Gutachter] Wiersig, Andreas [Gutachter] Knorr, and Marten [Gutachter] Richter. "Identical emitters, collective effects and dissipation in quantum optics : novel numerical approaches for quantum master equations / Michael Gegg ; Gutachter: Jan Wiersig, Andreas Knorr, Marten Richter ; Andreas Knorr, Marten Richter." Berlin : Technische Universität Berlin, 2017. http://d-nb.info/1156012961/34.
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Penn, Jenell Igeleke. "In This Space, We Rock Hard: Garret(ed) Spaces for the Literacies of Black Preservice." The Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1595516910517127.
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Zabzina, Natalia. "Mathematical modelling approach to collective decision-making." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Tillämpad matematik och statistik, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-314903.
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In everyday situations individuals make decisions. For example, a tourist usually chooses a crowded or recommended restaurant to have dinner. Perhaps it is an individual decision, but the observed pattern of decision-making is a collective phenomenon. Collective behaviour emerges from the local interactions that give rise to a complex pattern at the group level. In our example, the recommendations or simple copying the choices of others make a crowded restaurant even more crowded. The rules of interaction between individuals are important to study. Such studies should be complemented by biological experiments. Recent studies of collective phenomena in animal groups help us to understand these rules and develop mathematical models of collective behaviour. The most important communication mechanism is positive feedback between group members, which we observe in our example. In this thesis, we use a generic experimentally validated model of positive feedback to study collective decision-making. The first part of the thesis is based on the modelling of decision-making associated to the selection of feeding sites. This has been extensively studied for ants and slime moulds. The main contribution of our research is to demonstrate how such aspects as "irrationality", speed and quality of decisions can be modelled using differential equations. We study bifurcation phenomena and describe collective patterns above critical values of a bifurcation points in mathematical and biological terms. In the second part, we demonstrate how the primitive unicellular slime mould Physarum Polycephalum provides an easy test-bed for theoretical assumptions and model predictions about decision-making. We study its searching strategies and model decision-making associated to the selection of food options. We also consider the aggregation model to investigate the fractal structure of Physarum Polycephalum plasmodia.<br><p>Fel serie i tryckt bok /Wrong series in the printed book</p>
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Kachanoff, Frank. "A collective approach to studying human motivation." Thesis, McGill University, 2013. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=119582.
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ABSTRACTFor the most part, human motivation has been studied through a lens that has been focused primarily on the individual, and the immediate environmental context that might affect the individual. Applying an individually focused approach to studying human motivation is logical and appropriate: to explain and account for an individual's behaviour, the unit of analysis should include the individual. However, recent research and theorizing by Taylor (2002) and Oyserman (2007, 2009) proposes that social groups, and their associated collective (social) identities, influence individual group members' personal motivation and individual capacity to self-regulate their behaviour. Expanding on this research, we propose that in order to fully understand an individual's personal motivational state, we must also consider the collective factors that are characteristic of an individual's social group and that affect an individual's social group. In the present thesis we propose and formalize a collective approach to studying individual motivation. The research we present demonstrates how a collective approach to studying individual motivation may be applied in order to expand on current, influential, yet individually focused theories of motivation. In Manuscript 1, we present an hourly diary study that investigates the role that social groups have for providing individual group members with a template of clearly prescribed personal goals, and a clear understanding of the processes necessary for achieving these goals. With a group of first year university students living in residence, it was found that perceiving a shared sense of collective clarity concerning academic goals in the students' residence hall was related to the students' personal commitment to their academic goals. Importantly, this relationship was mediated by students' personal goal clarity and process clarity. This research demonstrates how a collective approach to studying individual motivation can expand on Goal Setting Theory (Locke & Lathame, 1990) and research stemming from the domain of industrial and organizational psychology. In Manuscript 2, we apply our collective approach to studying individual motivation in order to expand upon the influential framework of Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). With a large and culturally diverse sample, we demonstrate that individual group members' perception of their social group's collective autonomy in an intergroup context relates directly to their own personal autonomous need satisfaction. Furthermore, group members' perception of collective autonomy was indirectly related to their personal wellbeing, to having an internalized (autonomous) motivational style to follow their group's customs, and to their self reported engagement and participation in their group's culture. To conclude this thesis, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the present findings, and propose a general theoretical model that can be applied when adopting a collective approach to studying individual motivation.<br>RÉSUMÉLa plupart du temps, le domaine de motivation humaine est étudié du point de vu de l'individu, en prenant en compte seulement le contexte immédiat qui l'influence. Certes, cette approche est approprié : pour expliquer le comportement d'un individu, l'individu devrait être l'unité d'analyse. Par contre, de la recherche récente faite part Taylor (2002) et Oyserman (2007, 2009) suggère que les groupes sociaux, et les identités collectives auxquelles ils sont associés, influence la motivation personnelle et la capacité de s'autoréguler des membres individuels. Pour continuer cette recherche, nous proposons que pour comprendre l'état d'une personne individuelle, nous devons aussi prendre compte des facteurs collectifs qui caractérisent le groupe social de l'individu et qui influence son groupe. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons et formulons une approche collective pour comprendre la motivation de l'individu. La recherche que nous présentons démontre comment une approche collective pour comprendre la motivation individuelle peut être appliquée pour élargir les théories de motivation qui sont courantes et influentes, mais qui sont concentré sur l'individu. Dans notre premier manuscrit, nous présentons une étude de journaux de bord horaires qui investigue le rôle que les groupes sociaux jouent pour fournir aux membres individuels un guide de buts individuels qui sont prescrits d'une façon claire, et une compréhension des processus nécessaires pour accomplir ces buts. Avec un groupe d'étudiants de première année habitant dans des résidences universitaires, nous avons trouvé que la perception d'un sens de clarté collective aux niveaux des buts académiques dans leur résidence était reliée à l'engagement de chaque individu dans leurs buts académiques. D'importance, cette relation était médiée par la clarté individuelle de buts académiques et du processus pour les atteindre. Cette recherche montre comment une approche collective pour étudier la motivation individuelle peut élargir la théorie de la façon optimale de fixer des buts (Locke & Lathame, 1990) et la recherche qui sort du domaine de psychologie industrielle et organisationnelle. Dans notre deuxième manuscrit, nous appliquons notre approche collective pour étudier la motivation individuelle, pour élargir le cadre de la théorie de détermination de sois (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). Avec un échantillon large et culturellement divers, nous montrons que la perception qu'ont les membres individuels d'un groupe de l'autonomie collective de leur group sociale dans un contexte intergroupe est relie directement à leur propre satisfaction de leur besoin d'autonomie individuelle. De plus, la perception d'autonomie collective des membres du groupe était indirectement reliée à leur bien-être personnel, à leur style de motivation internalisé (et autonome) pour suivre les coutumes de leur groupe, et à leur niveau reporté d'engagement et de participation dans la culture de leur groupe. Pour conclure cette thèse, nous expliquons les implications théoriques et pratiques de nos résultats présents et nous proposons un model théorique général qui peut être appliqué pour adopter une approche collective à l'étude de la motivation individuelle.
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Weber, Simon. "Family, marriage markets and inequality : a matching approach." Thesis, Paris, Institut d'études politiques, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017IEPP0039/document.
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Cette thèse traite de la formation des couples sur le marché du mariage, et propose comme fil directeur de s’intéresser à la question des inégalités, à la fois inter- et intra-ménages. Le premier chapitre interroge le rôle des préférences maritales dans la hausse des inégalités de revenu entre ménages. Edoardo Ciscato et moi-même utilisons des données américaines pour mesurer l’impact du changement des préférences maritales sur les inégalités de revenu entre ménages. Grâce à des méthodes structurelles, nous montrons que si les préférences maritales n’avaient pas changé depuis 1971, le coefficient de Gini aujourd’hui serait inférieur de 6%. Dans le chapitre 2, j’introduis l’idée de rapprocher la littérature sur les modèles d’appariement et celle sur les modèles collectifs. Pour cela, Alfred Galichon, Scott Kominers et moi-même avons travaillé sur un modèle d’appariement à utilité imparfaitement transférable. Nous prouvons l’existence et l’unicité de l’équilibre dans ce cadre. En outre, nous construisons deux algorithmes permettant de déterminer l’équilibre. Nous montrons comment le modèle peut être estimé par maximum de vraisemblance et proposons une illustration. Dans le dernier chapitre, je me concentre sur le partage des ressources au sein des couples. L’idée est que les modèles collectifs sont inséparables du marché du mariage, au sens où le partage du pouvoir de négociation est endogène à la détermination d’un équilibre sur le marché du mariage. Je discute de manière approfondie la connexion entre modèles collectifs et modèles d’appariement. En particulier, je caractérise les classes de modèles collectifs qui peuvent être intégrer au modèle d’appariement à utilité imparfaitement transférable (ITU) développé précédemment. Je propose une méthode générale pour estimer ces modèles. Enfin, je propose d’illustrer mes résultats sur des données extraites du PSID américain, et d’estimer un modèle avec consommation privée, loisir et travail domestique<br>This dissertation deals with couple formation on the marriage market, and adopts a perspective that focuses on inequality both at the between- and within-household levels. Chapter 1 deals with the role of marital preferences on growing income inequalities between households. Edoardo Ciscato and I use mating patterns in the United States from 1962 to 2015 to measure the impact of changes in marital preferences on between-household inequality. Using structural methods, we show that if mating patterns had not changed since 1971, the 2015 Gini coefficient between households would be lower by 6%. In chapter 2, I propose to bring together the literature on matching models and collective models. To do so, Alfred Galichon, Scott Kominers and myself construct a matching framework with imperfectly transferable utility. We show existence and uniqueness of equilibrium and provide two algorithms to compute the equilibrium. We also provide guiding steps for estimation by maximum likelihood as well as an empirical illustration. Chapter 3 explores further the integration of collective models into the ITU matching framework. I develop the idea that the distribution of bargaining power is endogenous to the determination of an equilibrium on the marriage market. I characterize classes of collective models that can be embedded in the ITU setting. I provide computational techniques to estimate these models. I provide a full application of my results using collective model that features private consumption, leisure and a public good produced from time inputs
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Lancialonga, Federico. "Contre produire : films, formes et modes de production dans le cinéma collectif italien des années 1950-1970." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Paris 1, 2023. http://www.theses.fr/2023PA01H305.
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À partir de l’après-guerre, de nouvelles méthodes « collectives » de production cinématographique voient le jour en Italie : d’abord, dans les années 1940 et 1950, sous la forme de coopératives, et à partir de la décennie suivante, sous celle de collectifs cinématographiques ou d’unités de production indépendantes. Ces initiatives collectives ont produit une grande variété de films, tant sur le plan thématique que formel : des films partisans aux contre-actualités cinématographiques, des fictions aux documentaires, pour en arriver aux bandes vidéo militantes des années 1970. Ces films s’appuient sur un même choix politique : le travail collectif en alternative à l’industrie. Un choix car, pour chacun d’entre eux, il ne s’agit ni d’un repli, ni d’une solution dictée par l’impossibilité ou l’incapacité d’accéder au circuit commercial, mais d’une décision consciente et assumée, en opposition à ce même circuit. Le titre « Contre-produire » souligne cette corrélation entre le refus des méthodes de production du cinéma « dominant » et l’adoption d’une approche collective pour en inventer de nouvelles. Les procédés hégémoniques dont il est question ne se limitent pas seulement aux normes imposées par les circuits du cinéma commercial, mais également aux formes du cinéma « dissident » qui réduisent les films à leur fonction de communication politique. L’objectif est de mettre en lumière une sélection de films, de projets, de théories et d’utopies collectives qui ont émergé à « la marge » du cinéma italien dans l’une de ses périodes les plus fécondes. Loin d’être « marginales » au sens de secondaires, elles ont constitué un laboratoire majeur de nouvelles formes cinématographiques dans l’Italie des années 1950-1970<br>From the post-war period onwards, Italy witnessed the emergence of new “collective” approaches to film production: in the 1940s and 1950s, it took the form of cooperatives; and in the subsequent decade, it evolved into film collectives or independent film production units. These collaborative endeavors yielded a wide array of films, encompassing a rich diversity of themes and styles : from partisan films to “counter-newsreels,” from fictions to documentaries, culminating in the 1970s militant videotapes. All these films embraced a common political commitment: adopting a collaborative and independent approach for filmmaking as an alternative to the labor-divided and market-oriented film industry. In fact, these films neither embody a desire of withdraw nor a circumstantial response to an inability to break into the well-established commercial networks; on the contrary, they serve as the tangible expression of a deliberate and resolute choice, one made in direct defiance of the prevailing film production system. The neologism “counter-production” aims to underscore the interplay between two fundamental dimensions of the Italian collective cinema: on one hand, the critique of the production modes of “dominant” cinema and, on the other, the embrace of a collaborative approach for filmmaking. In other words, “to counter-produce” extends beyond the mere act of challenging the industry norms, it is also characterized by a critical perspective on certain militant cinematic forms that reduce films to useful tools for political messaging. This dissertation follows a twofold program: it seeks to underscore both the commonalities among these collective practices and the inherent uniqueness found within each cinematic form they explore. By examining a carefully selected body of materials – projects, theories, and collective utopias that surfaced on the “fringes” of Italian cinema during one of the most fertile periods of its history – the overreaching objective is to reevaluate the marginal status of this corpus: rather than occupying a secondary role, it appears to have served as a central and significant experimental ground for pioneering cinematic innovations in Italy from the 1950s to the 1970s
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Cakal, Huseyin. "Intergroup contact and collective action : an integrative approach." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e0b0e014-32f1-491c-b582-98ac12b1a9e6.
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This thesis investigated the effects of intergroup contact on different types of collective action tendencies among advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Studies 1 and 2 tested the simultaneous effects of intergroup contact and established predictors of collective action on collective action tendencies and ingroup and outgroup oriented policies among Blacks and Whites in South Africa, and compared the effects of intergroup contact and social identity on collective action tendencies via relative deprivation and group efficacy. The findings revealed that while social identity was positively associated with collective action tendencies, both directly and indirectly, effects of contact were negative and indirect via relative deprivation and group efficacy. Studies 3 and 4 investigated the effects of contact and social identity on collective action tendencies via perceived threats. Using data from Turkish and Kurdish groups in Turkey, I found that social identity predicted collective action tendencies positively, both directly and indirectly, while it predicted outgroup attitudes negatively and indirectly via perceived threats. Intergroup contact, on the other hand, predicted outgroup attitudes positively, both directly and indirectly, and collective action tendencies negatively via perceived threats. In Study 5, intergroup contact was positively associated, both directly and indirectly, via perspective taking and collective guilt, associated with outgroup oriented collective action tendencies. In Study 6, the effect of social identity on ingroup oriented collective action was positive and direct. Intergroup contact with the weaker minority group, on the other hand, was positively associated with outgroup oriented collective action tendencies via perspective taking. Additionally, intergroup contact with the majority outgroup moderated this relationship. When participants reported more contact with the majority group, intergroup contact with the weaker minority was not associated with outgroup oriented collective action tendencies. However, when the participants reported less contact with the majority group, intergroup contact positively predicted outgroup oriented collective action tendencies. Finally, Study 7 investigated the effects of two different dimensions of contact, contact with the majority and minority on collective action, via outgroup attitudes, dual-identification, and common ingroup identity in a three wave longitudinal design (N=610) among Turkish Cypriots in northern Cyprus. While the results did not support findings from the previous studies on the so-called paradoxical effects of contact on collective action tendencies, they revealed a robust negative reciprocal relationship between outgroup attitudes toward Greek Cypriots and collective action tendencies.
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Nickpasand, Mehrnoosh. "A collective how-to-become-agile approach : Agile manufacturing." Thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Innovation och produktrealisering, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-39122.
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Giri, VamshiKrishna Reddy. "Mac layer misbehavior effectiveness and collective aggressive reaction approach." Thesis, Wichita State University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10057/3718.
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Current wireless MAC protocols are designed to provide an equal share of throughput to all
nodes in the network. However, the presence of misbehaving nodes (selfish nodes that deviate
from standard protocol behavior in order to obtain higher bandwidth) poses severe threats to the
fairness aspects of MAC protocols. In this thesis, investigation of various types of MAC layer
misbehaviors is done, and their effectiveness is evaluated in terms of their impact on important
performance aspects including throughput, and fairness to other users. Observations obtained from
the simulation of misbehaviors show that the effects of misbehavior are prominent only when
the network traffic is sufficiently large and the extent of misbehavior is reasonably aggressive.
In addition, it is also observed that the performance gains achieved using misbehavior exhibit
diminishing returns with respect to its aggressiveness, for all types of misbehaviors considered.
Crucial common characteristics among such misbehaviors are identified, and these learnings are
used to design an effective measure to react towards such misbehaviors.
Employing two of the most effective misbehaviors, it is shown that collective aggressiveness
of non-selfish nodes is a possible strategy to react towards selfish misbehavior. Particularly, a
dynamic collective aggressive reaction approach is demonstrated to ensure fairness in the network,
however at the expense of overall network throughput degradation. In addition, the proposed
adaptive reaction strategy provides the necessary disincentive to prevent selfish misbehavior in the
network.<br>Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
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Swart, Juani. "Self-awareness and collective tacit knowledge : an exploratory approach." Thesis, University of Bath, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.341144.
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Honary, Ehsan. "Flock distortion : a collective approach to 3D trajectory mapping." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.410102.
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Lima, Lucas Alves Estevam de. "Taxation of couples: a mirrleesian approach to collective households." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/13842.
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Previous issue date: 2015-04-29<br>This dissertation presents a alternative approach to deai with family taxation probiem. More specifically we modei lhe family decision as a Nash Bargaining where the pianner can choose optimally lhe disagreement utilities. We prove a Reveiation Principie for this modei so we can consider a smaller set of mechanisms, besides that we compute optimai mechanism gains compareci to other reasonabie mechanism through exampies. We discuss some implications o f lhe optimai mechanism.<br>Esta dissertação apresenta uma abordagem alternativa para o problema de taxação de famílias. Mais especificamente modelamos a decisão familiar com um modelo de barganha de Nash em que os o governo determina de forma ótima as utilidades de discórdia. Demonstramos um Princípio da Revelação para esse modelo de forma a reduzir a classe de mecanismos possíveis, além disso calculamos os ganhos do mecanismo ótimo em relação a outros mecanismos razoáveis por meio de exemplos. Discutimos algumas implicações associadas ao mecanismo ótimo.
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Royce, Katherine Jesse. "Navigating Collective Activity Systems: An Approach Towards Rhetorical Inquiry." Scholar Commons, 2015. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5572.
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The purpose of this formative intervention was to design a professional and technical communications course around rhetorical inquiry. The participants, undergraduate health sciences majors (N=22 for section A, N=20 section B), were observed throughout the fall semester of the 2014-2015 academic year. A rhetorical inquiry framework was applied via activity systems, and data were collected using several methodologies including participant observations, research questionnaires, as well as participant deliverables, and were transcribed using Daisy Mwanza's Eight-Step Model. Results demonstrated students successfully used activity systems as a means of approaching rhetorical inquiry. Furthermore, students indicated a high level of engagement in the course. This study demonstrates how rhetorical inquiry can be utilized in Professional and Technical Communication for Health Sciences as a means of advancing student agency and participatory learning environments. The study also suggests rhetorical inquiry should be part of the professional and technical communication curriculum and other academic disciplines as well as utilized in the workplace.
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Theroude, Vincent. "Rules and Efficiency in collective choices : an experimental approach." Thesis, Lyon, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019LYSE2043/document.
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Cette thèse contient trois essais sur la coopération, mesurée à travers les contributions dans le jeu du bien public.Dans le premier chapitre, je propose une revue de la littérature sur l’hétérogénéité dans les jeux de bienpublic linéaires. Je distingue deux types d’hétérogénéité : l’hétérogénéité en dotation et l’hétérogénéité en rendement du bien public (c’est-à-dire en MPCR). Malgré un conflit normatif exacerbé, les agents hétérogènes contribuent autant au bien public que des agents homogènes. Sont-ils en mesure d’utiliser des mécanismes pour atteindre l’efficience (une provision complète du bien public) ? Mes résultats sont nuancés. Les agents hétérogènes en dotation sont capables de "s’autogouverner" et d’atteindre l’efficiencetandis que les agents hétérogènes en MPCR ne parviennent pas parfaitement à surmonter le problème de la sous-provision du bien public.Dans le deuxième chapitre, co-écrit avec Adam Zylbersztejn, nous étudions les effets d’un risque environnemental sur la coopération. Nous appelons risque environnemental une situation dans laquelle le rendement du bien public est risqué au moment de la décision. Nous considérons, dans notre expérience, deux types de risque : un risque individuel (le MPCR est déterminé indépendamment pour chaque membre du groupe) et un risque collectif (le MPCR est le même pour chaque membre du groupe). Nous constatons que le risque n’affecte pas la coopération : les sujets ne contribuent pas différemment au bien public lorsque le MPCR est certain ou lorsqu’il est risqué.Dans le troisième chapitre, j’examine les effets d’un mécanisme fondé sur la compétition intragroupe pour financer des biens publics. Dans mon expérience, les agents sont en compétition pour obtenir un MPCR plus élevé. Le rang dans la compétition - et donc le MPCR - dépend de la façon dont la contribution d’une personne se classe au sein de son groupe. Je trouve que la compétition n’améliore la provision des biens publics que lorsqu’elle ne génère pas d’inégalités trop importantes<br>This thesis contains three essays on cooperation, observed through the contributions in the Public Good Game. In the first chapter, I survey the literature on heterogeneity in linear Public Good Games. I distinguish two kinds of heterogeneity: heterogeneity in endowment and heterogeneity in return from the public good (i.e. MPCR). Despite a normative conflict exacerbated, heterogeneous agents contribute as much as homogeneous agents to the public good. Are they able to use mechanisms to reach efficiency (i.e. a full provision of the public good)? I find mixed evidence. Agents heterogeneous in endowment are able to govern themselves and to reach efficiency while agents heterogeneous in MPCR do not perfectly overcome the underprovision problem.In the second chapter, co-written with Adam Zylbersztejn, we investigate the effects of environmental risk on cooperation. We call an environmental risk a situation in which the return of the public good is risky at the time of the decision. We consider, in our experiment, two kinds of risk: an individual one (i.e. the MPCR is determined independently for each group member) and a collective one (i.e. the MPCR is the same for each group member). We find that risk does not affect cooperation: subjects do not contribute to the public good differently when the MPCR is certain or when it is risky.In the third chapter, I investigate the effects of a mechanism based on within-group competition to provide public goods. In my experimental treatments, agents compete for a higher MPCR from the public good. The rank in the competition - and therefore the MPCR - depends on how one’s contribution ranks within the group. I find that competition improves public goods provision only when it does not generate too large inequalities
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Bury, Thomas. "Collective behaviours in the stock market: a maximum entropy approach." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/209341.
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Scale invariance, collective behaviours and structural reorganization are crucial for portfolio management (portfolio composition, hedging, alternative definition of risk, etc.). This lack of any characteristic scale and such elaborated behaviours find their origin in the theory of complex systems. There are several mechanisms which generate scale invariance but maximum entropy models are able to explain both scale invariance and collective behaviours.<p>The study of the structure and collective modes of financial markets attracts more and more attention. It has been shown that some agent based models are able to reproduce some stylized facts. Despite their partial success, there is still the problem of rules design. In this work, we used a statistical inverse approach to model the structure and co-movements in financial markets. Inverse models restrict the number of assumptions. We found that a pairwise maximum entropy model is consistent with the data and is able to describe the complex structure of financial systems. We considered the existence of a critical state which is linked to how the market processes information, how it responds to exogenous inputs and how its structure changes. The considered data sets did not reveal a persistent critical state but rather oscillations between order and disorder.<p>In this framework, we also showed that the collective modes are mostly dominated by pairwise co-movements and that univariate models are not good candidates to model crashes. The analysis also suggests a genuine adaptive process since both the maximum variance of the log-likelihood and the accuracy of the predictive scheme vary through time. This approach may provide some clue to crash precursors and may provide highlights on how a shock spreads in a financial network and if it will lead to a crash. The natural continuation of the present work could be the study of such a mechanism.<br>Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Gweshe, Rufaro. "Collective bargaining in a globalised era : a change in approach." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12658.
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Includes bibliographical references.<br>The government in the new democratic South Africa prioritised resolving the problems plaguing the industrial relations system. It did this by enacting a new labour relations Act. This Act repealed the 1956 LRA and enacted the Labour Relations Act of 1995 which established a collective bargaining system combining new elements with elements from the previous legislative dispensation. The new system retained the voluntary duty to bargain. It balanced this by entrenching a protected right to resort to industrial action as well as by creating organisational rights available to unions with ‘sufficient’ and/or majority representivity. The former enabled unions to compel the employer to bargain, whilst the latter assisted unions in bargaining. The Act also promoted centralised bargaining. It did this by retaining, but renaming industrial councils, bargaining councils and by ensuring that bargaining council agreements could be extended where parties to the agreement covered the majority of workers in a sector. Therefore, the effectiveness of trade unions depended, to a substantial extent, ‘on their representativeness and their cohesiveness’. The collective bargaining mechanism established by the 1995 LRA thus became the primary ‘mechanism for setting wages and other terms of employment…a way of managing complex organisations…a form of joint industrial government, and generally…a means of regulating labour-management relations’.
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Mengler, Sarah Elizabeth. "Collecting indigenous Australian art, 1863-1922 : rethinking art historical approaches." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709014.
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Luo, Ming. "Learning from actuarial science : approaches to collectively optimising warranty policies." Thesis, University of Kent, 2018. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/67651/.
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This research starts from the comparison between warranty and insurance in their coverages, policies, data and, particularly, policy optimisation techniques. Based on abundant literature in related areas, the result of this comparison indicates that warranty policy optimisation can be improved by considering the application of the portfolio theory, dependence modelling and risk measures that are widely used in the actuarial science and the financial discipline. In the following chapters, Chapter 1 introduces the Importance of this research and lists its aim and objectives. Chapter 2 mainly conducts a critical and comprehensive literature review relating to warranty management and actuarial science and summarised the knowledge gaps identified. Chapter 3 establishes a collective warranty policy optimisation framework, with the benefits of the modern portfolio theory borrowed from the actuarial and financial disciplines and copulas from the probability and statistics. With progressing of this research, the disadvantage of the symmetric risk measure, variance, is uncovered in dealing with the extreme events. Chapter 4 proposes using two of the downside risk measures used in the financial discipline, Value-at-Risk and Conditional Value-at-Risk, into the optimisation of warranty policy and a new portfolio optimisation framework of warranty optimisation based on copulas. Chapter 5 investigates the interplay among the hardware, software and users of individual products under different scenarios relating to the warranty claims. Considering such an interplay, it then develops a more comprehensive framework for warranty policy optimisation. This fits the trend that that more and more products can be considered as a system composed of three subsystems: hardware, software and user subsystems and considers that the existing warranty policy optimisation methods in the literature merely focus on products composed of hardware systems. Even though the above chapters have developed warranty policy optimisation frameworks collectively and comprehensively, this research can also be improved in many aspects. As such, in Chapter 6, the sale volume modelling, renewing warranty policy optimisation and copula selection are discussed. Chapter 7 wraps up the research and discusses future research.
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Vernham, Zarah. "No safety in numbers : detecting deception using a collective interviewing approach." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2015. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/no-safety-in-numbers(1c276255-c8ed-4eff-b2d0-684eacb335c5).html.
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Group interviewing, the topic of investigation in this thesis, has been neglected within the deception detection literature. Chapter 1 introduces the topic, and emphasises the importance of studying collective interviewing (whereby pairs are interviewed simultaneously) in a deception context. Chapter 2 explores the nature of deceit occurring within pairs in a police-style interview setting. Truth-telling pairs had lunch together, whilst lying pairs committed a mock crime. All pairs then had to convince an interviewer they were having lunch together. The interview protocol involved repeated questioning, but no significant differences were found between truth-telling pairs and lying pairs in terms of repetitions, omission errors, commission errors, contradictions, and dominance. The lack of significant findings are discussed with regards to the interview protocol employed. Chapter 3 describes two experiments. The first used an immigration-style interview context, and imposed cognitive load by implementing a forced turn-taking technique. Truth-telling pairs were real couples, whereas lying pairs were friends. All pairs were required to convince an interviewer they were a bona fide couple. Results showed that when forced to turn-take, truth-telling pairs continued on from one another, whereas lying pairs waited and repeated previously said information before continuing. The second experiment, a lie detection study, revealed that the three turn-taking cues improved people’s ability to accurately detect deceit. Chapter 4 is based on the first experiment mentioned in Chapter 3, but applies transactive memory theory to explore whether signs of truthfulness emerge through joint recall. Results showed that truth-telling pairs posed questions and provided cues to one another, handed over remembering responsibility, and finished each other’s sentences more than lying pairs. Chapter 5 discusses a study which applied the verifiability approach to alibi witness scenarios. Truth-telling pairs completed a mission together, whereas lying pairs were separated so that one completed the mission whilst the other committed a mock crime. All pairs then had to convince an investigator, first individually then collectively, that they completed the mission together. Results revealed that truth-telling pairs provided more checkable details demonstrating they were together, whereas lying pairs provided more uncheckable details. Additionally, the collective statements prompted only the truth-telling pairs to provide more checkable details demonstrating they were together. A comparison of the individual and collective statements for memory consistency and distortion showed that liars repeated more uncheckable details whilst truth-tellers omitted and committed more checkable details. Chapter 6 summarises the main findings obtained in this thesis, discusses the theoretical and practical implications, and suggests ideas for future research.
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Merdes, Christoph [Verfasser], and Stephan [Akademischer Betreuer] Hartmann. "Collective irrationality : an agent-based approach / Christoph Merdes ; Betreuer: Stephan Hartmann." München : Universitätsbibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2018. http://d-nb.info/1191691977/34.
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Tarpanov, Dimitar. "Single-particle and collective excitations in a Skyrme mean field approach." Paris 11, 2008. http://www.theses.fr/2008PA112208.
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Le sujet de la thèse est une description théorique et self-consistante de propriétés de noyaux atomiques instables, ainsi que l’étude de l’influence de la structure en couches sur les états de symétrie mixte (ESM). Le but général est de rendre compte de façon microscopique de la structure et des excitations de noyaux atomiques que l’on peut produire à présent auprès des installations faisceaux radioactifs (GANIL, GSI). L’étude des ESM vise à préciser la relation entre la structure microscopique et la symétrie de F-spin dans les noyaux vibrationnels. La base de notre description est le modèle de Skyrme-Hartree-Fock avec un terme tenseur dans l’interaction. Les calculs sont faits pour les chaînes isotopiques Z=14 et Z=50, et les chaînes isotoniques N=28 et N=82. Nous montrons que la composante tenseur de la force est déterminante pour l’évolution de la fermeture de couche dans la chaîne Z=14, tandis qu’elle ne joue qu’un faible rôle dans la fermeture de couche à travers la chaîne N=28. Nous avons ensuite accompli une étude systématique des excitations dipolaires dites résonances Pygmées dans le cadre du modèle QRPA. Le phénomène de « peau de neutrons » a aussi été étudié dans les noyaux riches en neutrons. Dans la dernière partie de la thèse nous avons étudié pour la première fois les ESM dans les noyaux autour de N=80 en utilisant le modèle QPM. Nous avons réussi à décrire dans ce cadre les résultats expérimentaux récents obtenus sur le spectre à basse énergie du noyau 138Ce<br>Subject of the thesis is the theoretical description of effects in neutron rich nuclei, within a self-consistent approach, as well as the investigation of the influence of the shell structure on the Mixed Symmetry States. The scientific goal is, within a microscopic method, to describe the structure and the excitations of atomic nuclei, which are now available at the radioactive ion facilities at GANIL and GSI. The topic of the Mixed Symmetry States investigation is to specify the mechanism by which the microscopic structure influences the F-spin symmetry in vibrational nuclei. In the development of the thesis, a SHF model has been used. An additional tensor term has been explicitly included. Calculations for the isotopic chains Z=14 and Z=50 as well as for the isotonic chains N=28, 82 have been performed. It was shown that the tensor term is indeed crucial for the evolution of the shell gap with the mass number for Z=14. On the other hand, it was proved that the tensor term has no influence on the shell gap for N=28. By the means of QRPA, a systematical study of slightly collective excitations — the so called Pygmy resonance has been done. Theoretically was investigated the appearance of a structure in neutron rich nuclei known as “neutron skin”. In the framework of QPM it was done a complete survey of MSS for nuclei in the N=80 region. For a first time a microscopical description of such structures in this region has been done. In the framework of this model a description of the recent experimental data on low-lying excitations in 138Ce has been done
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Kabala, Emmanuel Tshilenga. "Collective sin in Africa : a missiological approach to the African crisis." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/62487.
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This thesis does not attempt to castigate Africa for its collective sin. The focus
on collective sin in Mrica does not suggest that collective sin is limited to
Africa, but simply that Africa is suffering from this sin. It is regrettable, but
indeed a reality, that collective sin has impacted negatively on Mrica. The
influence of sin on African theological thinking has had far reaching
consequences and has also affected the culture of Africa in general. Sin has
also completely permeated social and political arenas in Africa.
This thesis identifies three kinds of collective sin: cultural sin, social sin and
structural sin. It points out that, unfortunately, sin has strongly influenced the
collective existence of the Church throughout the world. The conclusion is
reached that the mission of the church always therefore remains to counter sin
and its origin, whether this is original, individual or collective sin within the
church or in the community.
The argument begins by setting out the conceptual framework to this study
and outlining the methodology. Thereafter, it provides a clarification of the
terminology used. Chapter Two presents an understanding of collective sin in
African traditional religion by situating the discussion within an
anthropological, historical and ideological frame of reference.
Chapters Three and Four, respectively, explore the three categories of
collective sin in depth and explore collective sin within a specific tribe - the
Baluba tribe. A systematic treatment of collective sin follows in Chapter Five.
This involves providing a full theological and biblical explication of sin.
Chapter Six discusses collective sin, more generally, in Africa; attempts to
identify the causes of the crisis; and begins to proffer some tentative solutions.
These latter solutions are more fully articulated in Chapter Eight, by identifying the true mtsston of church. The penultimate chapter places
collective sin within a global and a church context.
An annotated Harvard system has been used for notation and vibliographical
references.<br>Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 1999.<br>Science of Religion and Missiology<br>PhD<br>Unrestricted
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Cheng, Zhao. "COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR AND SENSOR NETWORK -- A MULTI-AGENT DYNAMIC SYSTEM APPROACH." Master's thesis, Temple University Libraries, 2010. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/105913.
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Electrical Engineering<br>M.S.E.<br>This research presents both theoretical foundation and numerical simulation work for design and analysis of a multi-agent dynamic system on the collective formation behavior patterns of grouped agents. A mass model with tunable control parameters is proposed. This model can realistically represent the aggregation pattern and the formation shape of multiple agents. Stability analysis is also provided to prove the stability of the second-order dynamic system. Several simulations will also be given according to the proposed model to show the aggregation patterns.
The research on self-organizing characteristics of collective agent behaviors has a wide range of applications in nature and engineering. The formation such as a flock of birds, a school of fish, or a swarm of locusts, is the emergence of ordered state in which the moving agents can organize as formation. Design and control of the self-organizing dynamic system has implications on wireless general design of mobile sensor networks, sensor network data fusion, attitude alignment of satellite clusters and congestion control of communication networks.<br>Temple University--Theses
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Cartwright, Madeleine Clare. "Collective coordinates approach for travelling waves in stochastic partial differential equations." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2021. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/25942.
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We propose a formal framework based on collective coordinates to reduce infinite-dimensional stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) with symmetry to a set of finite-dimensional stochastic differential equations which describe the shape of the solution and the dynamics along the symmetry group. We study dissipative and non-dissipative SPDEs that support travelling wave solutions. We find that the collective coordinate approach provides a remarkably good quantitative description of the shape and the position of the travelling wave. We corroborate our analytical results with numerical simulations of the full SPDEs.
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Starnini, Michele. "Time-varying networks approach to social dynamics : from individual to collective behavior." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/284221.
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The data revolution experienced by social science has revealed complex patterns of interactions in human dynamics, such as the heterogeneity and burstiness of social contacts. The recently uncovered temporal dimension of social interactions calls for a renewed effort in analysis and modeling of empirical time-varying networks. This thesis contributes to pursue this program, through a twofold track: The modeling of dynamical social systems and the study of the impact of temporally evolving substrates on dynamical processes running on top of them. Firstly, we introduce some basic concepts and definition of time-varying networks formalism, and we present and analyze some empirical data of face-to-face interactions, discussing their main statistical properties, such as the bursty dynamics of social interactions. The main body of the exposition is then split into two parts.
In the first part we focus on the modeling of social dynamics, with a twofold aim: reproduction of empirical data properties and analytic treatment of the models considered. We present and discuss the behavior of a simple model able to replicate the main statistical properties of empirical face-to-face interactions, at different levels of aggregation, such as individual, group and collective scales. The model considers individuals involved in a social gathering as performing a random walk in space, and it is based on the concept of social "attractiveness": socially attractive people (due to their status or role in the gathering) are more likely to make people stop around them, so they start to interact. We also devote attention to the analytic study of the activitydriven model, a model aimed to capture the relation between the dynamics of time-varying networks and the topological properties of their corresponding aggregated social networks. Through a mapping to the hidden variable model, we obtained analytic
expressions for both topological properties of the time-integrated networks and connectivity properties of the evolving network, as a function of the integration time and the form of the activity potential.
In the second part of the thesis we study the behavior of diffusive processes taking place on temporal networks, constituted by empirical face-to-face interactions data.We first consider random walks, and thanks to different randomization strategies we introduced, we are able to single out the crucial role of temporal correlations in slowing down the random walk exploration. Then we address spreading dynamics, focusing on the case of a simple SI model taking place on temporal networks, complemented by the study of the impact of different immunization strategies on the infection outbreak. We tackle in particular the effect of the length of the temporal window used to gather information in order to design the immunization strategy, finding that a limited amount of information of the contact patterns is sufficient to identify the individuals to immunize so as to maximize the effect of the vaccination protocol.
Our work opens interesting perspectives for further research, in particular regarding the possibility to extend the time-varying networks approach to multiplex systems, composed of several layers of interrelated networks, in which the same individuals interact between them on different layers. Empirical analysis of multiplex networks is still in its infancy, indeed, while the data mining of large, social, multi-layered systems is mature to be exploited, calling for an effort in analysis and modeling. Our understanding of the impact of the temporal dimension of networked structures on the behavior of dynamical processes running on top of them can be applied to more complex multi-layered systems, with particular attention to the effect of temporal correlation between the layers in the diffusion dynamics.<br>La revolució de dades en ciències socials ha revelat els complexos patrons de les interaccions en la dinàmica humana, com ara l'heterogeneïtat i la burstiness dels contactes socials. La dimensió temporal recentment descoberta en les interaccions socials demana un esforç renovat en l'anàlisi i la modelització de xarxes empíriques de variables en el temps. Aquesta tesi contribueix a aquest programa, a través d'un doble recorregut: la modelització dels sistemes socials dinàmics i l'estudi de l'impacte de substrats temporalment variables en els processos dinàmics que es desenvolupen sobre ells. En primer lloc, hem introduït els conceptes bàsics i definicions del formalisme de les xarxes de variables en el temps, i presentem i analitzem algunes dades empíriques de les interaccions humanes de proximitat, discutint les seves principals propietats estadístiques. El cos principal de l'exposició es divideix llavors en dues parts. A la primera part ens centrem en els models de dinàmica social, amb un doble objectiu: la reproducció de les propietats de dades empíriques i el tractament analític dels models considerats. Hem presentat i discutit el comportament d'un model simple capaç de replicar les principals propietats estadístiques de les interaccions empíriques cara a cara, a diferents nivells d'agregació: individuals, grupals i d'escala col·lectiva. El model considera els individus que participen en un context social com si realitzaran una caminada a l'atzar en l'espai, i es basa en el concepte de "atractivitat social": persones socialment atractives tenen més probabilitat de que la gent que els envolta interactuï amb ells. Ens hem ocupat també de l'estudi analític del model "activity driven", destinat a capturar la relació entre la dinàmica de les xarxes variables en el temps i les propietats de les seves corresponents xarxes socials agregats. A través d'un mapeig amb el formalisme de variables ocultes, hem obtingut expressions analítiques per a les propietats topològiques de les xarxes integrades en el temps i les propietats de connectivitat de la xarxa en evolució, en funció del temps d'integració i de la forma del potencial d'activitat. A la segona part de la tesi hem estudiat el comportament dels processos difusius sobre xarxes temporals constituïdes per les dades empíriques de interaccions humanes. Primer considerem el procés de "random walk", o camí aleatori, i gràcies a les diferents estratègies de randomització que hem introduït, podem destacar el paper crucial de la correlacions temporals en alentir l'exploració del camí aleatori. Després hem dirigit la nostra atenció a la difusió d'epidèmies, centrant-nos en el cas d'un simple model SI que es desenvolupa a les xarxes temporals, complementat amb l'estudi de l'impacte de diferents estratègies d'immunització sobre la difusió de la infecció. Abordem, en particular, l'efecte de la longitud de la finestra temporal utilitzada per reunir informació per tal de dissenyar l'estratègia d'immunització, sobre l'eficàcia de la mateixa vacunació, descobrint que una quantitat limitada d'informació és suficient per maximitzar l'efecte del protocol de vacunació. El nostre treball obre interessants perspectives per a futures investigacions, en particular pel que fa a la possibilitat d'ampliar el formalisme de xarxes de temps variable a sistemes múltiplex, compostos de diverses capes de xarxes interrelacionades, en la qual els mateixos individus interactuen entre ells en diferents capes. L'anàlisi empírica de les xarxes múltiplex és encara en la seva infantesa, de fet, mentre que la mineria de dades de grans sistemes socials, de diverses capes, és madur per ser explotat, demanant un esforç en l'anàlisi i modelització. La nostra comprensió de l'impacte de la dimensió temporal de les xarxes sobre els processos dinàmics que es desenvolupen sobre ells es pot aplicar a sistemes més complexos de múltiples capes, estudiant l'efecte de la correlació temporal entre les capes en la dinàmica de difusió.
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Garcia, Marquez Josefina. "Explorations on collective order for individual identity--an alternative approach for housing." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78971.
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Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1987.<br>MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 71).<br>This thesis is an exploration on generative collective order as establishing a physical built framework for individual identity. The emphasis on the collective stems from the premise that while incremental building may be integrative at the level of the dwelling, it may not be so at the urban level. This study proposes an alternative approach to the meeting of the scales in which the relative values and freedoms at th e various levels can be maintained under conditions of transformation. A series of observations and analysis of the vernacular settlement La Pastora are done to understand the principles present at several scales in a context where variety follows rules that are legible and reproducible. The site is analyzed with respect to its immediate context. The context is representative of three systems based on approaches to building at the urban and dwelling levels. The design for the site develops a built framework that maintains the transferable principles present in the context generating variations and aggregations that are associative to individual identity.<br>by Josefina Garcia Marquez.<br>M.Arch.
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Gundogmus, Omer. "A GOAL-SEEKING APPROACH TO COORDINATING THE DISCHARGE OF A COLLECTION OF BATTERIES." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1133371583.
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Portnaya, Irin. "AN APPROACH TO AUTOMATING DATA COLLECTION FOR SIMULATION." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2004. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/4377.
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In past years many industries have utilized simulation as a means for decision making. That wave has introduced simulation as a powerful optimization and development tool in the manufacturing industry. Input data collection is a significant and complex event in the process of simulation. The simulation professionals have grown to accept it is as a strenuous but necessary task. Due to the nature of this task, data collection problems are numerous and vary depending on the situation. These problems may involve time consumption, lack of data, lack of structure, etc. This study concentrates on the challenges of input data collection for Discrete Event Simulation in the manufacturing industry and focuses particularly on speed, efficiency, data completeness and data accuracy. It has been observed that many companies have recently utilized commercial databases to store production data. This study proposes that the key to faster and more efficient input data collection is to extract data directly from these sources in a flexible and efficient way. An approach is introduced here to creating a custom software tool for a manufacturing setting that allows input data to be collected and formatted quickly and accurately. The methodology for the development of such a custom tool and its implementation, Part Data Collection, are laid out in this research. The Part Data Collection application was developed to assist in the simulation endeavors of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Orlando, Florida. It was implemented and tested as an aid in a large simulation project, which included modeling a new factory. This implementation resulted in 93% reduction in labor time associated with data collection and significantly improved data accuracy.<br>M.S.<br>Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems<br>Engineering and Computer Science<br>Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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Hansen, Christoffer Berge. "A random Matrix Approach to collective Trends of falling and rising Stock Markets." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for fysikk, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-16328.
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An inverse statistics analysis of one minute stock quotes from 492 large Europeancompanies has revealed the existence of a gain-loss asymmetry in thefollowing index. The gain-loss asymmetry differs from that observed for dailyclosure prices of the Dow Jones Industrial Average [38], as the probability ofthe optimal investment horizon for a gain is higher than that of a loss. Forindividual stocks, the gain-loss asymmetry was observed to only appear forsignificantly larger return-levels. To the best of our knowledge, this is thefirst time such an analysis has been performed on high-frequency data.A principal component analysis was done by performing an eigenvalue decompositionof the correlation matrix from a sliding time-window. The firstprincipal component was observed to describe the market excellently. Its correspondingeigenvalue was observed to be significantly larger than theoreticalpredictions from random matrix theory, implying that the eigenvalue carriesinformation common to all stocks. Using this eigenvalue as an index measuringthe collectivity in the market has revealed the existence of collectivetrends that appear to be stronger during falling than rising markets. Thishas been observed for two different datasets, the above described one minutestock quotes and daily closure prices from 29 stocks composing the DJIA lateFebruary 2008. The observation is in accordance with results of Balogh etal. [40], and provides further support to the speculation of Johansen et al.[37] that a difference in collective trends is the reason behind the gain-lossasymmetry observed in indexes and not for individual stocks for the samereturn-level.The key idea behind the fear factor model of Donangelo et al. [42] has beenstrongly supported by the observation that collective trends appear to bestronger during sharp index drops. As the collectivity increment has beenobserved to be dependent on the size of the index drop, it is suggested thatthe model should incorporate also individual fear factors for economic sectors,in addition to the global fear factor governing the market as a whole. Periodsexhibiting a rising index positively correlated to the strength of collectivityhas indicated the presence of an optimism factor that also should be incorporatedin the fear factor model [42], forcing stocks to rise synchronously.
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Estevez-Lopez, Ariadna. "Articulating collective action against free trade in Mexico : A human rights discourse approach." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.536547.
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Thornborrow, Thomas. "The construction of collective identity in the British Parachute Regiment : a storytelling approach." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2005. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12314/.
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The aim of this thesis is to illustrate how stories and extracts from stories can be used to investigate issues centred on organisational identity in the British Parachute Regiment, the `tribe' at the centre of this research. This thesis employs a narratological approach (Brown, 2001) in an autoethnographic study (Ellis and Bochner, 2000) in which I myself, as a member of the `tribe' and as a scholar, am centrally implicated. By adopting this methodology the thesis includes a reflexive examination of me as a Paratrooper and as an emergent scholar. These identities can be understood as two constituents of my own `parliament of selves' (Mead, 1934). By using myself as `subject' and conducting an analysis of my own `internal soliloquy' (Athens, 1994), I was able to frame a study to explore and analyse my methodology, and to illuminate the processes of autoethnographic research on which I was embarked by reference to notions of reflexivity, paradigm incommensurability and representation. The resultant story of my research is an interpretive account, constructed between the `polyphonic' voices of my brother Paratroopers who volunteered their stories as part of my research, and myself. Data collection involved interviewing 68 other Paratroopers for between 30 and 120 minutes using a semi-structured interview schedule, either at their place of work or in their homes. These interviews were taped, fully transcribed and analysed using a form of grounded theory. The interviews were conducted with three interconnected parts of the `tribe' - full time serving soldiers of the Parachute Regiment, part-time members of the Territorial Battalion, and members of an extended `brotherhood' of retired Paratroopers who were active members of the Parachute Regiment Association (PRA). I analyse my data using two theoretical frameworks. First, I make use of Albert and Whetten's (1985) understanding of organisational identity to interpret what Paratroopers believed to be central, distinctive and enduring about their Regiment and themselves. In so doing I also consider issues of image (Dutton and Dukerich, 1991; Dutton et al., 1994) and reputation (Fombrun and Shanley, 1990). Second, I employ Elsbach's (1999) model of organisational identification (identification; disidentification; schizo-identification; and neutral-identification) to analyse individual-organisation relationships. In particular, I focus on what I refer to as `strong', `weak' and the `dark side' of organisational identification (cf. Dukerich, et al., 1999). I then conduct four readings of the data in which I have addressed: (1) issues of representation and credibility in autoethnographic research; (2) organisational narcissism (Brown, 1997) (3) the symbolism inherent in the attire worn by Paratroopers both at work and play; and (4) the `implied contract' between Paratroopers and the Regiment (Watson, 2001) with particular reference to ‘breaches' and `violations, ' which in turn affect the strength of organisational identification. Finally, I draw some conclusions regarding my research contribution.
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Lanciani, Roberta. "Stochastic Approximations in Model Checking: A New Scalable Approach to Collective Systems Verification." Thesis, IMT Alti Studi Lucca, 2017. http://e-theses.imtlucca.it/224/1/Lanciani_phdthesis.pdf.
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A collective system is a complex model comprised of a large
number of individual entities, whose interaction gives rise
to non-trivial emergent behaviours. The automatic verification
of the intrinsically noisy dynamics of this type of models,
by means of Stochastic Model Checking techniques, is severely
hampered by the large size of their state space. In this project,
we consider a new scalable and effective technique to validate
the performance of these systems, based on Stochastic Approximations
of the dynamics of the model. In this context, this
works merges and extends the few preliminary results available
in the literature at the beginning of this project and defines
some interesting contributions leading the investigation
in two major directions. First, we consider various types of
Stochastic Approximations to accurately capture the probabilistic
noise that characterises the evolution of collective systems
when the number of individuals in the population is
limited (mesoscopic collective systems). Second, we extend the
set of properties that can be validated exploiting the efficiency
of Stochastic Approximations. In particular, we consider requirements
on the behaviour of the individuals (local properties),
of the population (global properties) and of the individuals
in the global context (local-to-global properties). Moreover,
we develop procedures to verify the dynamics of time-critical
systems. Finally, we prove the theoretical results that guarantee
the quality of the developed model checking procedures,
showing the asymptotic convergence of the results and the
exactness in the limit of an infinite population size.
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Smith, Adam Barnett. "Computer-assisted approaches to the collection of quality of life data in oncology." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2004. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/732/.
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The assessment of cancer patients' quality of life (QOL) has been increasing in both importance and relevance in recent years, and is becoming more integrated into clinical practice. This has been greatly facilitated by the development of standard QOL instruments. However, the standard questionnaires may overlook certain aspects of QOL or focus on areas which do not present a problem to patients. The aims of this thesis were to increase the relevance of QOL instruments to patients by developing systems that allow patients to select relevant domains from questionnaires and secondly, to minimise patient burden by reducing the number of questions presented to patients. Initially, a computer-assisted version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 was compared with a standard electronic version of the questionnaire. Patients completed both forms on the same day. The results demonstrated that although patients completed the computer-assisted questionnaire more quickly, there was poor exact agreement, between the two forms. However, general agreement was good (i. e. > 70%) for all symptom scales, but not for the majority of the functioning scales. In addition, patients tended to report higher levels of symptoms and poorer functioning on the standard questionnaire. Studies were then developed and conducted using Factor and Rasch analyses on a series of standard questionnaires, namely the HADS, the EORTC QLQ-C30, and the FACT-G, in order to assess their structure and the performance of each item. The results from HADS scale demonstrated a two-factor structurecorresponding to anxiety and depression, and an overall psychological distress measure. In addition to confirming this structure, the Rasch analysis identified one misfitting item for each of the full HADS-scale and two subscales. For the EORTC QLQ-C30 the results demonstrated a four-factor structure corresponding to a physical functioning factor, a factor covering social and role functioning, and including pain and fatigue symptoms, a third factor covering the emotional and cognitive functioning domains, and finally a factor covering the remaining symptoms. The Rasch analysis demonstrated good fit for all items of the Emotional Functioning, and Fatigue scales, and only one misfitting item from the Physical Functioning scale. The results for the FACT-G demonstrated four factors corresponding to the four FACT-G subscales, although all subscales contained at least two misfitting items. The misfitting items from the HADS were systematically removed from the HADS and its subscales, and the screening efficacy of the scales re-evaluated against psychiatric interview data (PSE/SCAN). The results demonstrated no loss in screening efficacy when these items were removed. In the final study scores from the corresponding scales of the EORTC QLQC30 and FACT-G were converted to log-odds (logit) scores and agreement between the scales was calculated. The results demonstrated high levels of agreement between three of the scales, namely Physical and Emotional Functioning and overall quality of life, and good levels of agreement for the other two scales (Role and Social Functioning). In conclusion, the utility of Rasch models in identifying items for removal from instruments in order to reduce patient burden was demonstrated in this thesis. This work provides a foundation for the subsequent development of computer-adaptive questionnaires.
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Keshmirian, Anita [Verfasser], and Ophelia [Akademischer Betreuer] Deroy. "Moral decisions in (and for) groups : a collective approach / Anita Keshmirian ; Betreuer: Ophelia Deroy." München : Universitätsbibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2021. http://d-nb.info/1241963843/34.
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Munyai, Keneilwe. "Small-scale sustainable vegetable-tanned leather in rural South Africa: a collective-efficiency approach." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/1338.
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Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree:
Doctor of Technology: DESIGN
In the Faculty of Informatics and Design
At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology<br>Currently, the South African leather tanning industry is dominated by chromium tanning which has been identified as highly polluting. Vegetable tanning is considered less environmentally hazardous. Yet, there have been no plans to promote it in South Africa. Vegetable tanning process utilises vegetable matter for converting animal skins or hides into pliable material that is known as leather. South Africa has a variety of plants that produce tannins. However, the focus of this study is on the mimosa locally known as black wattle (Arcacia miernsii). Furthermore, the South African vegetable tanning sector has been left behind in terms of research and development despite the country being endowed with the Mimosa plant that is widely used in the vegetable tanning process. The country is also endowed with surplus labour which can be absorbed by the leather industry which is labour intensive.
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Hlam, Thandiwe Lillian. "A teacher collective as a professional development approach to promote foundation phase mathematics teaching." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/15071.
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This qualitative study is a response to a request for help from a group of Grade 3 (year 3) teachers who were disheartened with the poor performance of their learners in Mathematics. In an attempt to address their challenge, they resolved to form a Teacher Collective (TC) amongst themselves. Their main objective was to support each other in their development of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT). The participants, being frustrated by what they perceived as an inefficient and unhelpful cluster approach to professional development used by the Department of Basic Education initiated their own teacher collective strategy. I was approached by this TC to assist them in developing a strategy to make this TC suit the needs of the participants. A Lesson Study (LS) approach was used as an alternative Teacher Professional Development strategy within the TC. In studies conducted by Ono and Ferreira (2010) and Jita and Mokhele (2014), a LS approach is regarded as an essential tool desirable for enhancement of teacher collaboration and participant’s MKT. However, both studies reported on challenges related to contextual issues. Those contextual issues revealed themselves as similar to the challenges that threatened to weaken the collaborative structure initiated by the participants in this current study. To overcome these challenges, participants felt a need for some sort of adaptation for a LS approach to work in their context. In the application of the revised adapted version of a LS approach, participants experienced a Teacher Collective (TC) in action using real and useful experiences (Ono & Ferreira, 2010). The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a Teacher Collective for improving participating teachers’ pedagogical and disciplinary content knowledge in Foundation Phase (FP) Mathematics. As this study targeted a small group of teachers, it adopted a case-study methodology. The participants were five Grade 3 teachers purposefully self-selected from two Port Elizabeth township schools. Semi-structured interviews were used to determine participating teachers’ perceptions of a Teacher Collective as a Teacher Professional Development strategy necessary to promote Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Descriptive methodologies which concern inter alia practices that prevail, relationships that exists, point of views that were held, processes that are going on and effects that are felt by participants were used (Creswell, 2013). The following major findings emerged from the data analysis: For the TC to be a successful alternative TPD, it requires that: (1) Teachers must regard themselves as being responsible for the own professional growth and own the TPD programme. (2) Participants of the TC must adopt flexible strategies to allow for active participation of the participants in building meaning for themselves. (4) A TPD strategy should be sensitive to contextual issues and be addressed accordingly. (5) A TPD programme should seek to improve classroom instruction but this must be based on the needs of the participants. It is primarily the following structural features that affected teacher learning within the TC: (a) the form of the activity (joint lesson planning, observed lesson presentation, post lesson feedback, etc.), (b) collective participation of teachers within and across the schools and (c) the duration of the activity. In this study the LS approach worked well as it sought to address the needs of the participants.
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Kravchenko, Evgeniya <1987>. "Percieved Organizational Efficacy in Internationalized Companies: Application of Competing Values Approach and Collective Efficacy." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2014. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/6280/1/Kravchenko_Evgeniya_tesi.pdf.
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This dissertation focuses on “organizational efficacy”, in particular on employees’ beliefs of organizational capacity to be efficacious. Organizational efficacy is considered from two perspectives – competing values approach and collective efficacy, and evaluated in internationalized companies. The dissertation is composed of three studies. The data were collected in thirteen Italian companies on different stages of internationalization for a total number of respondents is 358. In the first study the factorial validity of the competing values instrument (Rohrbaugh, 1981) was investigated and confirmed. Two scales were used to measure collective efficacy: a general collective efficacy scale (Bohn, 2010), and a specific collective efficacy scale, developed following suggestions of Borgogni et al. (2001), it evaluates employees’ beliefs of efficacy of organizations in the international market. The findings suggest that competing values and collective organizational efficacy instruments may provide a multi-faceted measurement of employees’ beliefs of organizational efficacy. The second study examined the relationship between organizational efficacy and collective work engagement. To measure collective work engagement the UWES-9 (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003) was adapted at the group level; its factor structure and reliability were similar to the standard UWES-9. The findings suggest that organizational efficacy fully predicts collective work engagement. Also we investigated whether leadership moderates the relationship between organizational efficacy and collective work engagement. We operationalized leadership style with MLQ (Bass & Avolio, 1995); the results suggest that intellectual stimulation and idealized influence (transformational leadership) and contingent reward (transactional leadership) enhance the impact of organizational efficacy on collective work engagement. In the third study we investigated organizational efficacy and collective work engagement in internationalized companies. The findings show that beliefs of organizational efficacy vary across companies in different stages of internationalization, while no significant difference was found for collective work engagement. Limitations, practical implications and future studies are discussed in the conclusion.