L'apport de la théorie des systèmes dynamiques complexes à l'ontologie du droit international dans la crise- Analyse de l'action normative du Conseil de sécurité

Cette thèse est une réflexion originale sur le droit international dans la crise, car elle aborde le droit international grâce à une théorie peu connue en droit, celle des systèmes dynamiques complexes. L’étude du cas particulier de la gestion normative de la crise par le Conseil de sécurité illustre les intérêts de l’utilisation d’une théorie novatrice en droit. La théorie des systèmes dynamiques complexes offre les outils d’une réflexion sur le droit, fondée sur les interactions du droit avec le contexte particulier dans lequel il intervient, la crise, et ses acteurs. La mise en lumière de ces interactions favorise une lecture critique du droit international dans la crise et permet de renouveler l’ontologie de ce droit. Les dynamiques complexes appréhendées et définies par cette théorie sont utiles lorsqu’il s’agit d’expliquer les atouts et les limites de l’action normative du Conseil. Par ailleurs en renouvellant l’ontologie du droit, la théorie des systèmes dynamiques complexes facilite une lecture prospective de l’action normative du Conseil et insiste sur le rôle institutionnel du droit.

Il fascicolo tecnico di una macchina astucciatrice: analisi dei rischi e calcoli strutturali di verifica richiesti dalle normative

La tesi, sviluppata presso l'azienda Universal-Pack, tratta del fascicolo tecnico di una macchina astucciatrice nelle sue varie parti: breve descrizione della macchina, analisi dei rischi secondo le normative collegate alla direttiva macchine, e calcoli strutturali di verifica di alcuni componenti, che sopportano sforzi alterni e conseguentemente vanno incontro a limiti di fatica.

L’échec du multiculturalisme en Grande-Bretagne? Une analyse conceptuelle, théorique et empirique des débats du multiculturalisme

Dans le présent mémoire, on se questionne sur la portée et la signification que l’on peut légitimement attribuer à la déclaration de 2011 du premier ministre britannique David Cameron concernant « l’échec du multiculturalisme d’État ». Plus précisément, est-ce que cet échec déclaré du multiculturalisme s’en prend à la construction théorique et normative du multiculturalisme ? Rejette-t-il plutôt l’aménagement politico-institutionnel du multiculturalisme en Grande-Bretagne ? À cet égard, est-ce qu’on observe un retrait effectif des politiques du multiculturalisme en Grande-Bretagne, entre 2000 et 2015 ? D’une approche analytique de la philosophie politique, cette recherche propose d’interpréter et de comprendre les débats qui ont cours en ce qui concerne le multiculturalisme de manière générale, puis en Grande-Bretagne plus particulièrement. Ce faisant, le présent mémoire est animé par deux objectifs : d’abord, il s’agit d’opérer une clarification conceptuelle du multiculturalisme, selon qu’on l’appréhende au titre d’appréciation factuelle socioculturelle (diversité), en tant qu’ensemble théorique et normatif (pluralisme), ou encore comme aménagement institutionnel et politique (politique publique). Ensuite, il s’agit d’observer, empiriquement et de manière systématique, l’état et l’évolution du multiculturalisme comme politique publique en Grande-Bretagne, entre 2000 et 2015. Pour ce faire, on reprend la structure méthodologique du Multicultural Policy Index, élaboré par Keith Banting et Will Kymlicka. Notre contribution originale à la littérature consiste ainsi à mettre à jour les données de cet Index pour le cas de la Grande-Bretagne, en date de 2015. En un mot, on observe une relative stabilité des politiques du multiculturalisme entre 2000 et 2015, alors que pour la même période les gouvernements britanniques critiquent de plus en plus négativement le multiculturalisme, allant jusqu’à en déclarer l’échec. Enfin, on cherche à interpréter ce phénomène, tout comme on force un dialogue entre les principales critiques émises à l’égard du multiculturalisme et les principaux théoriciens de celui-ci.

Quality of life predictors and normative data

Purpose: Identify predictors and normative data for quality of life (QOL) in a sample of Portuguese adults from general population Methods: A cross-sectional correlational study was undertaken with two hundred and fifty-five (N=255) individuals from Portuguese general population (mean age 43yrs, range 25-84yrs; 148 females, 107 males). Participants completed the European Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life short-form instrument (WHOQOL-Bref) and the European Portuguese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Demographic information was also collected. Results: Portuguese adults reported their QOL as good. The physical, psychological and environmental domains predicted 44% of the variance of QOL. The strongest predictor was the physical domain and the weakest was social relationships. Age, educational level, socioeconomic status and emotional status were significantly correlated with QOL and explained 25% of the variance of QOL. The strongest predictor of QOL was emotional status followed by education and age. QOL was significantly different according to: marital status; living place (mainland or islands); type of cohabitants; occupation; health. Conclusions: The sample of adults from general Portuguese population reported high levels of QOL. The life domain that better explained QOL was the physical domain. Among other variables, emotional status best predicted QOL. Further variables influenced overall QOL. These findings inform our understanding on adults from Portuguese general population QOL

The aporetics of religious diversity

My thesis situates itself within the field of the Philosophy of Worldviews. Specifically, it aims to address the normative question of what the task should be of such a philosophy when faced with the problem of conflicting beliefs between religious worldviews. To answer this question, I turn to the procedure of aporetical analysis, in short, aporetics. Firstly, aporetics offers a distinct method of consistency restoration within inconsistent sets on the basis of thesis rejection and thesis modification. Secondly, aporetics leads to an understanding of the availability of aporetic exits on the basis of epistemic criteria. On the one hand, this leads us to opt for an orientational monism/pluralism, which steers the middle course between the epistemic stances of exclusivism and pluralism. On the other hand, it allows us to identify epistemic criteria for worldview acquisition on the basis of three distinct superclasses. These superclasses can be derived from Jürgen Habermas' validity claims, and applied to the self-understanding of contemporary theories of religion.

Normative conflicts in international investment law: the case of environmental law

This dissertation investigates the relationship between investment and environmental obligations from the perspective of international investment law. In order to do so, the dissertation will consider how these obligations might enter into conflicts and what tools are available to investment tribunals to solve these normative conflicts. The dissertation analyses in order interpretative techniques, conflict resolution tools available in general international law, as expressed in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and finally express clauses in international investment agreements. The dissertation includes the review of some relevant case law arising from investment agreements in investment treaty tribunals, to discover how in practice these conflict resolution tools are applied and to assess their effectiveness. This dissertation places itself squarely within the debate between the unity and the fragmentation of international law; therefore it tackles the issue of normative conflicts resolution in a dispute settlement environment with the view of gauging their value in maintaining the unity of international law and defuse the risk of fragmentation. The dissertation can only conclude that much work remains to be done, including by providing a more comprehensive taxonomy of possible interventions, both on the legal and political sphere.

A critical study of John Hick's religious pluralism

This study examines the pluralistic hypothesis advanced by the late Professor John Hick viz. that all religious faiths provide equally salvific pathways to God, irrespective of their theological and doctrinal differences. The central focus of the study is a critical examination of (a) the epistemology of religious experience as advanced by Professor Hick, (b) the ontological status of the being he understands to be God, and further asks (c) to what extent can the pluralistic view of religious experience be harmonised with the experience with which the Christian life is understood to begin viz. regeneration. Tracing the theological journey of Professor Hick from fundamentalist Christian to religious pluralist, the study notes the reasons given for Hick’s gradual disengagement from the Christian faith. In addition to his belief that the pre-scientific worldview of the Bible was obsolete and passé, Hick took the view that modern biblical scholarship could not accommodate traditionally held Christian beliefs. He conceded that the Incarnation, if true, would be decisive evidence for the uniqueness of Christianity, but rejected the same on the grounds of logical incoherence. This study affirms the view that the doctrine of the Incarnation occupies a place of crucial importance within world religion, but rejects the claim of incoherence. Professor Hick believed that God’s Spirit was at work in all religions, producing a common religious experience, or spiritual awakening to God. The soteriological dimension of this spiritual awakening, he suggests, finds expression as the worshipper turns away from self-centredness to the giving of themselves to God and others. At the level of epistemology he further argued that religious experience itself provided the rational basis for belief in God. The study supports the assertion by Professor Hick that religious experience itself ought to be trusted as a source of knowledge and this on the principle of credulity, which states that a person’s claim to perceive or experience something is prima facie justified, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. Hick’s argument has been extensively developed and defended by philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga and William Alston. This confirms the importance of Hick’s contribution to the philosophy of religion, and further establishes his reputation within the field as an original thinker. It is recognised in this thesis, however, that in affirming only the rationality of belief, but not the obligation to believe, Professor Hick’s epistemology is not fully consistent with a Christian theology of revelation. Christian theology views the created order as pre-interpreted and unambiguous in its testimony to God’s existence. To disbelieve in God’s existence is to violate one’s epistemic duty by suppressing the truth. Professor Hick’s critical realist principle, which he regards as the key to understanding what is happening in the different forms of religious experience, is examined within this thesis. According to the critical realist principle, there are realities external to us, yet we are never aware of them as they are in themselves, but only as they appear to us within our particular cognitive machinery and conceptual resources. All awareness of God is interpreted through the lens of pre-existing, culturally relative religious forms, which in turn explains the differing theologies within the world of religion. The critical realist principle views God as unknowable, in the sense that his inner nature is beyond the reach of human conceptual categories and linguistic systems. Professor Hick thus endorses and develops the view of God as ineffable, but employs the term transcategorial when speaking of God’s ineffability. The study takes the view that the notion of transcategoriality as developed by Professor Hick appears to deny any ontological status to God, effectively arguing him out of existence. Furthermore, in attributing the notion of transcategoriality to God, Professor Hick would appear to render incoherent his own fundamental assertion that we can know nothing of God that is either true or false. The claim that the experience of regeneration with which the Christian life begins can be classed as a mere species of the genus common throughout all faiths, is rejected within this thesis. Instead it is argued that Christian regeneration is a distinctive experience that cannot be reduced to a salvific experience, defined merely as an awareness of, or awakening to, God, followed by a turning away from self to others. Professor Hick argued against any notion that the Christian community was the social grouping through which God’s Spirit was working in an exclusively redemptive manner. He supported his view by drawing attention to (a) the presence, at times, of comparable or higher levels of morality in world religion, when contrasted with that evidenced by the followers of Christ, and (b) the presence, at times, of demonstrably lower levels of morality in the followers of Christ, when contrasted with the lives of other religious devotees. These observations are fully supported, but the conclusion reached is rejected, on the grounds that according to Christian theology the saving work of God’s Spirit is evidenced in a life that is changing from what it was before. Christian theology does not suggest or demand that such lives at every stage be demonstrably superior, when contrasted with other virtuous or morally upright members of society. The study concludes by paying tribute to the contribution Professor Hick has made to the field of the epistemology of religious experience.

Descriptive analysis of the test of everyday attention for children in a Spanish normative sample

Introduction. Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) has been validated in different countries demonstrating that it is an instrument with a correct balance between reliability and duration. Given the shortage of trustworthy instruments of evaluation in our language for infantile population we decide to explore the Spanish version of the TEA-Ch. Methods. We administered TEA-Ch (version A) to a sample control of 133 Spanish children from 6 to 11 years enrolled in school in the Community of Madrid. Four children were selected at random by course of Primary Education, distributing the sex of equivalent form. Descriptive analysis and comparison by ages and sex in each of the TEA-Ch's subtests were conducted to establish a profile of the sample. In order to analyze the effect of the age, subjects were grouped in six sub-samples: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 years-old. Results. This first descriptive analysis demonstrates age exerted a significant effect on each measure, due to an important "jump" in children's performance between 6 and 7 years-old. The effect of sex was significant only in two visual attention measures (Sky Search & Map) and interaction age and sex exerted a significant effect only in the dual task (Score DT). Conclusions. The results suggest that the Spanish version of the TEA-Ch (A) might be a useful instrument to evaluate attentional processes in Spanish child population.

Do children copy an expert or a majority? Examining selective learning in instrumental and normative contexts

This study examined whether instrumental and normative learning contexts differentially influence 4- to 7-year-old children’s social learning strategies; specifically, their dispositions to copy an expert versus a majority consensus. Experiment 1 (N = 44) established that children copied a relatively competent “expert” individual over an incompetent individual in both kinds of learning context. In experiment 2 (N = 80) we then tested whether children would copy a competent individual versus a majority, in each of the two different learning contexts. Results showed that individual children differed in strategy, preferring with significant consistency across two different test trials to copy either the competent individual or the majority. This study is the first to show that children prefer to copy more competent individuals when shown competing methods of achieving an instrumental goal (Experiment 1) and provides new evidence that children, at least in our “individualist” culture, may consistently express either a competency or majority bias in learning both instrumental and normative information (Experiment 2). This effect was similar in the instrumental and normative learning contexts we applied.

Normative reference values for the 20-meter shuttlerun test in a population-based sample of schoolchildren in Bogota, Colombia: The FUPRECOL Study

Our aim was to determine the normative reference values of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and to establish the proportion of subjects with low CRF suggestive of future cardio-metabolic risk.

Normative reference of standing long jump for Colombian schoolchildren aged 9-17.9 years: The FUPRECOL study

El propósito del presente estudio era generar los valores normativos de salto largo para niños de 9-17.9 años, e investigar las diferencias de sexo y grupo de edad

Rebooting the constitutional debate: deliberative constitutionalism in the European Union

The aim of my thesis is to investigate the possibility and necessity to rethink a constitutional framework and debate in a transnational polity such as the European Union. My effort focuses on a promising theory called deliberative constitutionalism, which carries on new insights on how democracy and constitutions relate each other. The EU is a unique political entity which poses unanswered questions about its political legitimacy and constitutional foundation, if a Constitution will ever be possible. Going beyond the classical conception of the national and sovereign ‘people’, we keep wondering how citizens may deliberate and discuss about their rights and political communities across borders, in what could be defined as a transnational civic society. The development of the latter brings with it necessary constitutional changes, if not an evolution of constitutionalism itself. Chapter 1 deals with defining the theoretical framework, which develops the distinctiveness of the deliberative constitutional paradigm not only with respect to other more 'classical' models of democracy, but also with respect to other deliberative models that have marked the constructivist debate. Chapter 2 presents a conceptual history of constituent power, mainly studying the evolution of the constitution-sovereignty-constituent power dialectic, up to contemporary theories that explain the negation, separation, union or plurality of a transnational constituent with respect to its national counterparts. Chapter 3 develops the discourse of constitutional pluralism, through its main claims and strands that especially pertain to Neil Walker's (2002, 2016) institutional and epistemic claims. Chapter 4 applies a deliberative constitutionalist framework to the case of the European Union. Through the exposition of DC normative tenets, a form of self-learning process is proposed that can reconcile the heterarchical arrangement of constitutional claims and the new demand for legitimacy, as well as the relationship between European peoples and European citizens.

Televisite in sanità: un caso studio di configurazione del servizio in conformità alle normative vigenti

L’elaborato ha l’obiettivo di fornire una panoramica piuttosto dettagliata sulla Telemedicina, le prestazioni erogabili in tale modalità ed il quadro normativo vigente, focalizzandosi sulla configurazione e presentazione di un software adibito all’erogazione di Televisite. Il primo capitolo assume un ruolo introduttivo nei confronti della Telemedicina, delle sue applicazioni, dei principali drivers, dei benefici e delle opportunità e dei rischi e delle criticità, correlati all’introduzione di prestazioni erogate in tale modalità. Il secondo capitolo si orienta inizialmente su un’analisi del quadro normativo vigente le prestazioni di Telemedicina, declinato su tre differenti livelli: Unione Europea, Italia ed Emilia-Romagna; proseguendo poi lo studio riguardo l’assetto normativo ed i requisiti necessari per la progettazione e la messa in commercio di un software sanitario. Il terzo capitolo si propone di presentare ed analizzare la configurazione di un software sanitario, attualmente attivo ed in commercio, adibito all’erogazione di Televisite, ossia un atto sanitario in cui il medico interagisce a distanza con il paziente. Si illustrano analiticamente le diverse prospettive degli attori coinvolti: la struttura sanitaria, il medico erogante ed il paziente ricevente la prestazione in modalità telematica. Ci si sofferma su tutti i processi volti alla corretta erogazione della Televisita: la struttura sanitaria è responsabile delle attività di configurazione di back office e delle procedure lato front office, il paziente della creazione dell’utenza web, della prenotazione e dell’accesso alla stanza virtuale ed il medico dell’accesso alla stanza virtuale, dell’erogazione della prestazione e della redazione del referto. Durante l’illustrazione delle procedure dalle diverse prospettive viene fornita anche un’analisi dell'applicativo, soffermandosi su alcune sue caratteristiche fondamentali, tipiche di un software sanitario.

Beliefs Related To Adherence To Oral Antidiabetic Treatment According To The Theory Of Planned Behavior.

to identify salient behavioral, normative, control and self-efficacy beliefs related to the behavior of adherence to oral antidiabetic agents, using the Theory of Planned Behavior. cross-sectional, exploratory study with 17 diabetic patients in chronic use of oral antidiabetic medication and in outpatient follow-up. Individual interviews were recorded, transcribed and content-analyzed using pre-established categories. behavioral beliefs concerning advantages and disadvantages of adhering to medication emerged, such as the possibility of avoiding complications from diabetes, preventing or delaying the use of insulin, and a perception of side effects. The children of patients and physicians are seen as important social references who influence medication adherence. The factors that facilitate adherence include access to free-of-cost medication and taking medications associated with temporal markers. On the other hand, a complex therapeutic regimen was considered a factor that hinders adherence. Understanding how to use medication and forgetfulness impact the perception of patients regarding their ability to adhere to oral antidiabetic agents. medication adherence is a complex behavior permeated by behavioral, normative, control and self-efficacy beliefs that should be taken into account when assessing determinants of behavior.

A língua inglesa no ensino fundamentl I público: diálogos com Bakhtin por uma formação plurilíngue

This article aims at discussing the contributions of the Bakhtinian Circle theories to foreign language teaching and learning (HALL et al., 2005), as far as the first years of formal education in Brazil are concerned. Up to the present moment, foreign languages, including English, are not officially part of the National Curriculum of the first five schooling years. Due to the importance of English in a globalized world and despite all the controversial socio-educational impacts of such an influence, there has been an increase in the interest in this discipline at the beginning years of Brazilian public education (ROCHA, 2006), which has been happening at an irregular pace and without official parameters. Therefore, the relevance of this work lies on the possible guidelines it may offer to support a more effective, situated and meaningful teaching-learning process in that context. Standing for a pluralistic approach to language education, we take the bakhtinian speech genres as organizers of the educational process. We strongly believe that through a dialogic, pluralistic and trans/intercultural teaching (MAHER, 2007), whose main objective is the development of multi (COPE e KALANTZIS, 2000) and critical (COMBER, 2006) literacies, the hybridization of genres and cultures, as well as the creation of third spaces (KOSTOGRIZ, 2005; KUMARAVADIVELU, 2008) can happen. From this perspective, foreign language teaching and learning play a transformative role in society and English is seen as a boundary object (STAR e GRIESEMER, 1989), in and by which diversity, pluralism and polyphony can naturally find their way.