Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Charter for the environment'

Summary: Implemented in 2003, the TVNZ Charter is a one-page document that outlines the broadcaster�s objectives to deliver programming that represents New Zealand�s ethnically and socially diverse population. This thesis will examine issues surrounding the representation of diversity especially in the context of the state-commercial television network. Using the notion of �cultural citizenship�, or the demand from minority groups within a society to be represented and included in the institutions of the state, I will examine how TVNZ is attempting to meaningfully represent New Zealand as a bicultural society and a multicultural society, while remaining commercially focused. This thesis argues that institutions of the state, of which the media is the most visible and, possibly, the most pervasive, always function as a tool of society�s dominant culture, therefore any bicultural or multicultural inclusion represented on TVNZ will always be controlled, and be at the discretion, of that singular dominant cultural force.

Although numerous efforts have been made to enact the concept of sustainability in schools around the world, a single, replicable model of sustainability education fails to exist. Without a replicable model to follow or adapt, educators looking to enact the concept of sustainability are left to their own devices for deciding what this orientation towards schooling might look like within the contexts of their communities and with respect tot eh normative agenda of schooling in their country. Such a process is challenging. It calls for--among other things--an examination of the core attitudes, beliefs, skills and behaviors that individuals are expected to possess as members of a sustainable society. This descriptive case study documents how the founding members of a secondary charter school worked together with students, parents and members of the local and regional community to create a school-wide model of sustainability education. It also documents the complexities involved with enacting sustainability in a charter school setting. Field observations, document analysis and participant interviews were the primary sources of data collected in this ten-month case study. Michael Fullan's (2007) Change Process Model and Elliot Eisner's (1992) conceptualization of schools as dynamic ecologies were used as theoretical frameworks for study design, data collection and analysis. Findings reveal how the founding members of this charter schools took an adaptive-emergent approach to designing sustainability education. Findings also reveal how the opening of this charter schools was met with resistance and how this resistance led the founders to make theoretical and structural compromises.

Waste as a topic for anthropological investigation has enjoyed a recent resurgence in interest, mirroring burgeoning discussion among policy-makers and the general public about questions of environmental impacts, economic costs, and social detriments of contemporary waste management paradigms. While waste management in the United States has largely focused on technical and organizational solutions typically considered the domain of environmental planning and engineering (such as source reduction, recycling, and reuse), anthropology and the social sciences have become more prominently involved in efforts to inform policy-makers and researchers about the social and behavioral factors influencing waste norms and habits, particularly in educational institutions and municipal governments.

The central questions to this research were as follows: (1) What are some of the perceptions and practices concerning food waste at an environmental charter elementary school in Florida? (2) What do self-reported data on food waste behaviors suggest about disposal habits and norms? (3) What is the extent to which food is discarded relative to other types of refuse? and (4) From the perspectives of school staff and students, what are some of the factors influencing food waste?

To answer these questions, I employed both "garbological" and ethnographic methods at an environmental charter school, Learning Gate Community School, over a period of nine months, including (1) participant observation, (2) garbological audits of the cafeteria waste stream, (3) key informant interviews with students and staff, and (4) log sheets sent home to a random sample of parents to gauge the fraction of leftovers taken home that are ultimately discarded in order to gain a more holistic understanding of the waste stream of the school cafeteria.

The results of this project support the following conclusions: (1) students at Learning Gate tend to agree that food waste is a detriment, but these concerns are subordinate to factors such as the degree of hunger at lunchtime and the perceived palatability of certain food items and (2) lunch periods are an important block of unstructured time, which Learning Gate students use for a far broader variety of activities than merely nourishment

"Although the African Commission recognised that non-state actors (in this case the transnational corporations (TNCs)) contributed to the violations that prompted the SERAC communication, it failed to hold the TNCs accountable for the violations. The Commission rather held the state party responsible [for] failing to prevent the violations in its territory. The reason for the failure of the Commission to hold the non-state actor accountable is obvious. As Anderson has noted, 'conventional jurisprudence contends that human rights are enforceable only against the acts of omissions of the state rather than the acts of private entities'. Consequently, especially in international fora, violations by non-state actors have gone largely unaccoutned for. Hence, commentators have argued in favour of seeking an appropriate regime for holding non-state actors accountable for such violations, some arguing for horizontal application at international fora. However, non-state actors lack the status to allow Charter institutions exercise jurisdiction over them. This leaves the option of domestic systems as fora for their accountability. Thus, the emerging principle of horizontal applicability of human rights in domestic jurisdictions and the assumption of independent judiciaries provide the premises for this study. ... Chapter 1 contains a general overview of the study. In Chapter 2, the essay examines the scope and content of the right to a satisfactory environment as contained in the African Charter. Chapter 3 examines the existing framework for the realisation of the right to a satisfactory environment under the African Charter. The SERAC case is considered briefly in this chapter as an example of the difficulty to arrest non-state actor violations in the existing framework. Chapter 4 presents the case for horizontal application of article 24 of the African Charter at the domestic level as a complimentary approach to realisation of the right. The debate on horizontal applicability of human rights is highlighted to show that it is not yet widely accepted but it is presented as a basis for this option. The recent Nigerian case of Gbemre v SPDC is examined as an example of the possibility of horizontal applicaton of the article 24 right in a domestic tribunal. Chapter 5 summarises the conclusions from the study and makes recommendations in support of applying the African Charter based right horizontally in domestic courts." -- Introduction.
Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2006.
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html
Centre for Human Rights
Centre for Human Rights
LLM
LLM

A teacher?s working conditions can affect his or her performance, satisfaction, how long he or she stays at a particular school site, and how long he or she stays in the profession. In order to attract and retain highly qualified teachers, working conditions need to be as optimal as possible. As demands placed upon teachers continue to increase, more needs to be studied about what constitutes optimal working conditions. The purpose of this hermeneutic, phenomenological study was to investigate the working conditions and professional beliefs of eight Southern California secondary (6th-12th grade) school teachers who had two years of teaching experience in the same content area or grade level in both a public school and a district charter school, with at least five years of consecutive full-time teaching experience, to learn more about what constituted ideal working conditions for secondary teachers. More specifically, this study, via in-depth individual interviews, invited participants to (a) describe the work conditions they experienced in a traditional setting, (b) describe the work conditions they experienced in a charter setting, (c) compare the traditional and charter school work conditions that they experienced, and (d) describe what they believe to be the ideal school work conditions for secondary teachers. This study had three conclusions related to working conditions in both traditional public and district charter secondary school settings. The first was that teaching at the secondary level is professionally challenging, in all types of environments. The second was that teachers prefer a blend of traditional public and district charter school environments. The last was that teachers like to have autonomy with opportunities to collaborate and build relationships with colleagues.

Nanoparticles are promising platforms for biomedical applications ranging from diagnostic tools to therapeutic delivery agents. During the course of these applications, nanoparticles are exposed to a complex mixture of extracellular serum proteins that nonspecifically adsorb onto the surface. The resulting protein layer, or protein "corona," creates an interface between nanoparticles and the biological environment. Protecting the nanoparticle surface can reduce protein adsorption, but complete inhibition remains a challenge. As a result, the corona, rather than the nanoparticle itself, mediates the cellular response to the nanoparticle. The following dissertation describes the fundamental characterization of the cellular binding of charged nanoparticles, interactions of protein-nanoparticle complexes with cellular receptors, and the structural and thermodynamic properties of adsorbed corona proteins.

Doctor Legum - LLD
In Africa generally, orphaned and vulnerable children are traditionally cared for by their relatives or close family friends; this is an abiding practice even in contemporary times. This was historically considered to be a moral obligation binding on different relatives in different ways or at differing levels. In the face of the increasing complexities and changing demographics in African societies, high levels of poverty and socioeconomic inequalities as well as the incidence of HIV and AIDS, among others, the traditional family continues to undergo structural changes and experience various challenges which make child rearing responsibilities difficult to cope with especially in the context of loss of parental care. Nonetheless, the extended family system still bears the greatest burden in caring for such children, despite the obligation of governments to provide alternative care for children without parental care. The care of children who have become deprived of parental care by other relatives/family members or family friends is generally described as kinship care. This study seeks to examine kinship care against the background of international children’s rights law as encapsulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, among others. Thus, this research seeks answers to a number of related research questions such as: Does the international children’s rights framework recognise or provide for kinship care as a measure of alternative care for children deprived of a family environment? What is the history and practice of kinship care in Africa and what are the challenges confronting kinship care in contemporary African societies? What is the relationship between kinship care and the child protection system? And what forms of support are available for kinship care at both the international and national levels? Four main themes are considered in separate chapters of the thesis as follows: the contextual and historical background to kinship care in Africa; the international and regional legal framework on the right to alternative care; the conceptualisation of kinship care as alternative care; and the law and practice of kinship care in selected domestic jurisdictions. South Africa and Namibia are the main focus of this study in the chapter on the status of kinship care at the domestic level. This is mainly because both countries have made some progress in the attempts at (legally) providing for kinship care and addressing some of its attendant challenges, with a particular emphasis on the provision of support for kinship care.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--East Tennessee State University, 2004.
Title from electronic submission form. ETSU ETD database URN: etd-0719104-174201 Includes bibliographical references. Also available via Internet at the UMI web site.

Comparative analyses of district-run public schools and charter schools are limited to performance outcomes. There is a dearth of research on how the school-types vary on factors consequential to performance such as school climate. Public-private distinctions, such as in organizational autonomy, value orientations, funding structures, and management practices, could result in school climate dissimilarities between district-run public schools and charter schools. The aim of this dissertation is to assess the influence organizational factors have on school climate and determine if school-type affects school climate. Student and staff school climate survey data from the Miami-Dade school district were utilized for this dissertation. Structural equation modeling was employed to test theoretical models of students’ and staffs’ perceptions of school climate using data from 2001-2002 through 2015-2016 academic years. Within-between effects panel regression was utilized to test the effect of school-type on school climate constructs over time using data from 2005-2006 through 2015-2016 academic years. The structural equation results demonstrate that milieu, ecology, culture, and organizational structure influence students’ and staffs’ perceptions of their schools’ climates. Ecology has the strongest association with students’ perceptions of school climate. Job satisfaction, a part of milieu and culture, has the strongest association with staffs’ perceptions of school climate. The results indicate that the theoretical models of school climate employed by this study are sound. The within-between effects panel regression results demonstrate that characteristics inherent to school-type have a plausible influence on students’ perceptions of school climate, but not for staff. Charter school students rated their school climates more favorably than traditional public schools, but when other factors are controlled, traditional public schools and magnet schools had more favorable ratings. Public-sector values, collective bargaining, and school district oversight may be beneficial to schools’ climates. This dissertation underscores the impact management and funding structures have on school climate. The author recommends that the school climate concept and evaluations of schools’ organizational practices be incorporated into school improvement policies. The milieu, culture, ecology, and organizational structures of schools should be reviewed when assessing school quality.

Florida is the “Fishing Capital of the World”. With 3.1 million recreational anglers and total recreational fishing-related expenditures of $5 billion in 2011, Florida ranked first in the nation. Given the large benefits of recreational fishing in Florida, assessing the preferences of anglers is critical for sustaining the substantial benefits obtained from recreational fishing in Florida. The objective of this study is to estimate the value of fishing attributes using data on recreational fishing services offered by guides and outfitters. Hedonic price models are applied to estimate the implicit prices of fishing trip attributes and features. The estimated total economic impacts suggest that recreational fishing activities have added $151.19 million value to the economy of Florida and generated $69.73 million in total output. The results can be used by state and national policymakers for future policy design and management of this unique ecosystem service to ensure a sustainable economy.

Mestrado em Ciências Actuariais
O regime Solvência II entrou em vigor a 1 de janeiro de 2016. Várias regras estão a ser implementadas no sector dos seguros, com o intuito de alcançar a harmonização dos procedimentos e técnicas utilizadas pelas empresas, desenvolvendo ao mesmo tempo uma cultura baseada no risco. Todas as empresas devem calcular requisitos de capital correspondente aos riscos a que estão expostas através da utilização da fórmula padrão que, como o nome sugere, é comum a todas as companhias de seguros no mercado. No entanto, esta fórmula nem sempre reflete o real perfil de risco das empresas. Uma empresa pode provar que a fórmula padrão não reflete adequadamente a sua exposição ao risco e, portanto, pode calcular os seus próprios parâmetros específicos, sujeitos a aprovação da entidade de supervisão. Durante a primeira fase de implementação, a principal preocupação das seguradoras é satisfazer os requisitos regulamentares, mas numa fase mais avançada, as empresas irão concentrar-se na otimização da metodologia de cálculo de risco, monitorização e análise da sua exposição ao mesmo, de forma a tomar as melhores decisões de gestão de risco. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é calcular os parâmetros de volatilidade específicos da empresa e estudar os impactos da sua utilização nas cargas de capital. Para o efeito, foi aplicado o modelo da Variância Quadrática ao sub-módulo de risco de prémios e de provisões de acidentes e doença não-semelhantes a técnicas de vida.
The Solvency II regime came into force on 1 January 2016. Several rules are being implemented in the insurance sector to achieve the harmonization of procedures and techniques among undertakings, while developing a risk-based culture into insurance business activities and strategic decisions. All undertakings must calculate the capital requirements according to the risks that they are exposed through the use of a standard formula that, as the name suggests, is the same to every insurance company in the market. However, this formula does not always reflect the true risk profile of insurance companies. An undertaking can prove that the standard formula is not adequately reflecting their risk exposure and therefore, calculate their own undertaking specific parameters, subject to supervisory approval. During the first phase of implementation, insurer's main concern is to satisfy the regulatory requirements, but in a further phase, companies will focus in the optimization of their risk calculation, monitoring and analysis of their risk exposure to take the best management decisions. The main goal of this work is to calculate the company specific volatility parameters and to study the impacts of their use in the required capital charges. To do so, it was applied the Quadratic Variance Model to Non Similar to Life Techniques Health premium and reserve risk of a health line of business.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Briteback Explore is a service provided by the company Briteback. The service provides a survey tool to its users that allows access to results through the downloading of a comma-separated values (CSV) -file. What was built was a visualization model that provides the survey tool’s users with a graphical representation of the data directly through the service. Providing an overview of the survey results that lessens the amount of information overload perceived by the user while giving the data a structure. A survey based off of the System Usability Scale (SUS) evaluation method was then performed to display to what degree users found the new feature usable. Results showed a satisfactory high score on the SUS adjective rating scale.

Cette thèse étudie théoriquement et empiriquement les interrelations entre la santé de la population, la dégradation de l'environnement et le développement économique, ses conséquences pour les pays en développement, et fournit certaines réponses en termes de politique économique. Elle est subdivisée en deux parties. La première partie s’intéresse à la relation entre l’environnement, la santé, et les inégalités. Elle analyse dans un premier temps l’hypothèse selon laquelle la dégradation de l'environnement pourrait être considérée comme un canal supplémentaire par lequel les inégalités de revenu affectent les taux de mortalité infantile et juvénile (chapitre 2). Nos travaux théoriques et empiriques montrent que les inégalités de revenu affectent négativement la qualité de l'air et de l'eau, et cela à son tour dégrade la santé de la population. Par conséquent, la dégradation de l'environnement peut être considérée comme un canal non négligeable à travers lequel les inégalités de revenu influence l’état de santé. Il est ensuite démontré que les émissions de dioxyde de soufre (SO2) et celles des micro-Particules (PM10) sont en partie responsables des grandes disparités dans la mortalité infantile et juvénile au sein des pays pauvres (chapitre 3) .En outre, nos résultats soutiennent l’idée selon laquelle les institutions démocratiques jouent un rôle de protection sociale en atténuant cet effet pour les classes de revenu les plus pauvres et ainsi réduisent les inégalités de santé provoquées par la pollution. La deuxième partie évalue le lien entre la santé, l'environnement et la croissance économique. Le Chapitre 4 évalue l'effet de la santé (charge globale de la maladie, maladies transmissibles et paludisme) sur la croissance économique. Ce chapitre montre que les indicateurs de santé, lorsqu'ils sont correctement mesurés par l'écart entre l'état de santé actuel et une situation de santé idéal où toute la population vit à un âge avancé, indemne de maladie et d'invalidité, et lorsqu’ils sont convenablement instrumentés, ont un impact négatif significatif sur la performance économique. Les conséquences de ces interactions sur la convergence économique des pays pauvres vers leur état régulier, sont théoriquement et empiriquement analysées dans le dernier chapitre. Il en ressort que la dégradation de l'environnement réduit la capacité des pays pauvres d'atteindre leur état régulier, renforçant ainsi notre argument théorique selon lequel l’amélioration de la qualité de l'environnement joue un rôle considérable dans le processus de convergence économique. En outre, la dégradation de la qualité de l'air et de l'eau affecte négativement la performance économique, et l'état de santé demeure un canal important par lequel la dégradation de l'environnement agit sur la croissance économique même si elle n'est pas le seul. L’hypothèse de la courbe environnementale de Kuznets (EKC) est également vérifiée
This dissertation investigates theoretically and empirically the interrelationships among population’s health,environmental degradation and economic development, its consequences for developing countries, and someeffective policy responses. The first part explores the association between health, environment, and inequalities. Itfirstly analyzes whether environmental degradation could be considered as an additional channel through whichincome inequality affects infant and child mortality (chapter 2). Theoretical and empirical investigations show thatincome inequality affects negatively air and water quality, and this in turn worsens population’s health. Therefore,environmental degradation is an important channel through which income inequality affects population health. Then,it is shown that sulphur dioxide emission (SO2) and particulate matter (PM10) are in part responsible for the largedisparities in infant and child mortalities between and within developing countries (chapter 3). In addition, we foundthat democratic institutions play the role of social protection by mitigating this effect for the poorest income classesand reducing the health inequality it provokes. The second part is devoted to the link among health, environment,and economic growth. The effect of health (global burden of disease, communicable disease, and malaria) oneconomic growth is assessed in Chapter 4. This chapter shows that health indicators, when correctly measured by thegap between current health status and an ideal health situation where the entire population lives to an advanced age,free of disease and disability, and when accurately instrumented have significant impact on economic performance.The consequences of these interrelationships on the convergence of poor countries towards their steady state aretheoretically and empirically investigated in the last Chapter (chapter 5). It is found that environment degradationreduces the ability of poor countries to reach their own steady state, reinforcing our argument according to whichenvironment quality improvement plays a considerable role in economic convergence process. Moreover, thedegradation of air and water quality affects negatively economic performance, and health status remains an importantchannel through which environment degradation affects economic growth even if it is not alone. The EnvironmentalKuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is also verified

Learner engagement has been considered one of the keys that can lead learners to successful learning in a multimedia learning environment such as digital game-based learning. Regarding this point, game-based learning advocates (e.g., Gee, 2003; Prensky, 2001) have asserted that digital games have great potential to engage learners. Nonetheless, there have been only a small number of empirical research studies of players' engagement, and there is little consensus on which elements of digital games critically engage people in play (Garris, Ahlers, & Driskell, 2002). Furthermore, despite the possibility that sensory stimuli can be factors influencing digital game players' engagement, there have been very few attempts to examine empirically the relationship between engagement and sensory stimuli. This study examined the effects of game characters' voice-over in digital games on players' engagement, by using a short digital role-playing game modified from Neverwinter Nights 2. A randomized control-group post-test only design was used to collect data from 74 participants (22 female, 52 male); engagement was measured by a modification of the Game Engagement Questionnaire (Brockmyer et al., 2009). Data analysis revealed that the GEQ mean scores of the participants who played the game with voice-over was much higher than that of the participants who played without voice-over. The difference of the mean scores between the two groups was statistically significant (t = 2.45, df = 72 p = .02), and the effect size, Cohen's d, was .58 (moderately significant). The results of this study will guide educational practitioners to the identification of more effective ways of adopting, developing, and modifying digital games for educational purposes, as well as furthering the research and guiding the practice in instructional multimedia design and development.

->Context. Optical Character Recognition (OCR), having a computer recognize text from an image, is not as intuitive as human recognition. Even small (to human eyes) degradations can thwart the OCR result. The problem is that random unknown degradations are unavoidable in a real-world setting. ->Objectives. The noise tolerance of Tesseract, a state-of-the-art OCR engine, is evaluated in relation to how well it handles salt and pepper noise, a type of image degradation. Noise tolerance is measured as the percentage of aberrant pixels when comparing two images (one with noise and the other without noise). ->Methods. A novel systematic approach for finding the noise tolerance of an OCR engine is presented. A simulated environment is developed, where the test parameters, called test cases (font, font size, text string), can be modified. The simulation program creates a text string image (white background, black text), degrades it iteratively using salt and pepper noise, and lets Tesseract perform OCR on it, in each iteration. The iteration process is stopped when the comparison between the image text string and the OCR result of Tesseract mismatches. ->Results. Simulation results are given as changed pixels percentage (noise tolerance) between the clean text string image and the text string image the degradation iteration before Tesseract OCR failed to recognize all characters in the text string image. The results include 14400 test cases: 4 fonts (Arial, Calibri, Courier and Georgia), 100 font sizes (1-100) and 36 different strings (4*100*36=14400), resulting in about 1.8 million OCR attempts performed by Tesseract. ->Conclusions. The noise tolerance depended on the test parameters. Font sizes smaller than 7 were not recognized at all, even without noise applied. The font size interval 13-22 was the peak performance interval, i.e. the font size interval that had the highest noise tolerance, except for the only monospaced font tested, Courier, which had lower noise tolerance in the peak performance interval. The noise tolerance trend for the font size interval 22-100 was that the noise tolerance decreased for larger font sizes. The noise tolerance of Tesseract as a whole, given the experiment results, was circa 6.21 %, i.e. if 6.21 % of the pixel in the image has changed Tesseract can still recognize all text in the image.

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Character is a term used in urban development and research to describe aspects of the built environment ranging from aesthetics and design to place identity and sense of place. This wide range of interpretations has led to a vague understanding that differs depending on the perception of users and actors in urban development. In the face of increasing housing demands and incentives to expand, Swedish urban environment has begun expansion that mirrors that of the Million Programme. To avoid a detached environment, character is investigated and proposed to be used as a tool for municipalities in the development. The focus is on answering what ‘character’ is perceived as by municipal officials involved in the urban development process, how character should be used and lastly how character should be approached when developing existing areas. Based on interviews for a practical understanding, literature for a theoretical understanding and contemporary studies for a contextual understanding, character is found to be perceived as the connection between not only existing buildings but also new ones as well as the users themselves. With emphasis on cohesion, originality, traditionality, diversity among other attributes, the character of an area should act as a binding agent for urban development moving forward. Finally, the approach to character is recommended to be cautious based on its vague nature but be treated as exploratory where a base set of two foundational attributes are to invite discussion to bridge the perceptions between actors.

A studio camera flash system being developed by Eascal AB needs a capacitor charging power supply (CCPS) that can work in a hot environment without problems and also not emit too much heat itself. The CCPS needs to be able to operate from battery power as well as net power, so called off-line, and to charge a capacitor to between 0-400 V. Most power supplies do not act upon a rise in temperature until it overheats and shuts down or goes into fail-safe mode where they stop delivering power. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how a smart power supply which features a micro-controller can change the behaviour of the unit or the user so that heat emission is reduced if needed in order to avoid overheating. The unit will be allowed to deliver less power in this mode. Starting the project was the information gathering phase where a lot of different kinds of power supply topologies were investigated and evaluated to find the most suitable. A flyback converter was chosen for the battery driven charger and a non-inverting buck-boost converter was chosen for off-line supply. Following the final choice of topology, simulations were made to ensure that the power supply of choice would live up to the expectations and to specify the ingoing components. After the simulations were to satisfaction the prototypes were built to verify the simulations, for testing and evaluating proposed techniques for regulating the heat emission of the unit. The sought after performance of the prototypes was never reached due to lack of time and a need for better components that was not available. However the simulations showed that the wanted performance was within reach and this was verified by the worse performing prototypes living up to their simulated counterparts. No actual physical work was done with the heat control, this was conducted by theoretical reasoning and calculations. Results showed that with a micro-controller the suggested chargers would be able to regulate their heat emission by making changes to the charging profile or increase dead-time between charge cycles.
En kamerablixt för studiobruk är under utveckling av Eascal AB och behöver en kondensator-laddare som kan jobba i varma miljöer utan att överhettas eller att själv avge för mycket värme. Laddaren måste kunna drivas från nätspänning såväl som från ett batteri med en spänning som specificeras under projektet och måste kunna ladda en kondensator till mellan 0 och 400V. De flesta laddare som finns idag agerar inte på en ökning av temperaturen innan enheten överhettas och stänger ner sig eller hamnar i ett felsäkert läge där den slutar leverera ström. Målet med detta projekt är att undersöka hur man med hjälp av en mikro-kontroller kan undvika detta läge genom att förändra sitt eller användarens beteende för att minska värmeutvecklingen. Enheten tillåts leverera mindre effekt i detta tillstånd. Projektet startades med att söka information om vilka olika typer av laddare som finns och på vilket sätt de används. En flyback-converter valdes för att ladda från batteri och en icke-inverterande buck-boost converter valdes för laddning från elnätet. Efter det slutgiltiga valet av topologi gjordes simuleringar för att säkerställa att den valda topologin kunde uppfylla kraven som ställdes på den eftersökta laddaren. När simuleringarna visat på ett acceptabelt resultat byggdes prototyper för att verifiera simuleringarna och att göra tester på för att kunna utvärdera strategier för värmereglering. Prototyper levde aldrig upp till kraven som hade ställts på dem på grund av tidsbrist och ett behov för bättre komponenter än som fanns tillgängliga. Däremot så visade simuleringarna på att det eftersökte resultatet är inom räckhåll med de föreslagna topologierna med rätt komponenter. Detta visades genom att prototyperna presterade jämförelsebart med simuleringar efter deras förmågor. Ingen fysiskt arbete gjordes med temperaturkontrollering men mätningar och formler visar på att med hjälp av mikro-kontroller kan de föreslagna laddarna reglera sin värmeutveckling genom att ändra på laddningsprofilen. Detta blir på bekostnad av laddningstiden eller hur ofta laddningscyklerna kan repeteras.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:00:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Karla F Dias.pdf: 1911620 bytes, checksum: a19f9298c2545d1982905f9457d1527f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-05
This research had as objectives to describe and analyze the environmental approach in chemistry textbooks approved by the National Program of Textbook for high school (PNLEM/2007). This investigation is about a content analysis performed with the aid of three categories created based on the fundamental principles of environmental education as expressed in the Belgrade Charter (1977). Before the proposed by the reference document, the research sought to identify some elements related to environmental education, such as: treatment of social, political, economic, cultural and scientific environmental issues. The results showed that all books reviewed presented the environmental theme through different approaches. The readings, together with data organization, have enabled the creation of a thematic map and a descriptive framework that listed the themes found in each Textbook, as well as its distribution in different chemical content. The analysis identified some aspects, constructed with elements of the Charter Belgrade, within the categories scientific knowledge, knowledge/awareness and participation. In the first category were identified and analyzed aspects concerning the relationship of the content with the environment, the limitation of science face to the environmental challenges, the importance given by Textbook to the scientific knowledge for environmental understanding, the importance of knowledge and technology in the service of human needs. In the second one, knowledge/awareness, the analysis identified social, behavioral, economic and political aspects of the environmental issues. In the Participation category, aspects about the development of sense of responsibility and evaluation capacity were identified, in addition to raising awareness. The survey concluded that some environmental issues are treated in a decontextualized way by shredding the dimension of environmental problems which can reduce the complexity of the relationships between humanity and nature. Although not all books embrace all the principles of Belgrade Charter and even though there is an overestimation of the value of scientific knowledge to the detriment of other determinants for current ecological condition, it is concluded in this survey that the chemistry textbooks can contribute to achieve environmental education in Brazilian schools emphasizing the need for studies about the relationship between the triad components "scientific contents, teacher training and textbook" as one of the relevant aspects to effective consolidation of environmental education in the formal education.
Esta pesquisa teve como objetivos descrever e analisar a abordagem ambiental nos livros didáticos de Química aprovados pelo Programa Nacional do Livro Didático para o Ensino Médio (PNLEM/2007). Trata-se de uma análise de conteúdo realizada com o auxílio de três categorias criadas com base nos princípios fundamentadores da Educação Ambiental expressos na Carta de Belgrado (1977). Diante do proposto pelo documento de referência, a investigação buscou identificar alguns elementos inerentes à Educação Ambiental, tais como: tratamento dos aspectos sociais, políticos, econômicos, culturais e científicos das questões ambientais. Os resultados mostraram que todos os livros analisados apresentam a temática ambiental por meio de diferentes abordagens. As leituras e releituras, juntamente com a organização dos dados, possibilitaram a criação de um mapa temático e um quadro descritivo que elencaram os temas encontrados em cada LD, bem como sua distribuição nos diferentes conteúdos químicos. A análise identificou alguns aspectos, construídos por elementos da Carta de Belgrado, que percorreram as categorias Conhecimento Científico, Conhecimento/Conscientização e Participação. Na primeira categoria foram identificados e analisados aspectos referentes à relação do conteúdo químico com o ambiente, à limitação da Ciência frentes aos desafios ambientais, à importância dada pelos LD ao conhecimento científico para a compreensão ambiental, à importância do conhecimento e da técnica no atendimento das necessidades humanas. Na segunda categoria, Conhecimento/conscientização, a análise identificou aspectos sociais, comportamentais, econômicos e políticos da problemática ambiental. Na categoria Participação, identificaram-se aspectos sobre o desenvolvimento do senso de responsabilidade e da capacidade de avaliação, além da sensibilização. A pesquisa concluiu que alguns temas ambientais são tratados de forma descontextualizada fragmentando a dimensão dos problemas ambientais que podem reduzir a complexidade das relações entre a humanidade e a natureza. Apesar de nem todos os livros contemplarem todos os princípios da Carta de Belgrado e da supervalorização do Conhecimento científico em detrimento de outros determinantes para a condição ecológica atual, conclui-se nessa pesquisa que os livros didáticos de Química podem contribuir para a realização da Educação Ambiental nas escolas brasileiras ressaltando a necessidade de estudos sobre a relação entre os componentes da tríade conteúdos científicos, formação de professores e livro didático como um dos aspectos relevantes para uma efetiva consolidação da Educação Ambiental no ensino formal

Recently, experimental observations have shown that radar echoes from the irregularity
source region associated with mesospheric dusty space plasmas may be modulated by radio wave heating with ground-based ionospheric heating facilities. These experiments show great promise as a diagnostic for the associated dusty plasma in the Near-Earth Space Environment which is believed to have links to global change. This provides an alternative to more complicated and costly space-based observational approaches to investigating these layers. This dissertation seeks to develop new analytical and computational models to investigate fundamental physics of the associated dusty plasmas as well as utilize experimental observations during High Frequency HF ground-based heating experiments to develop practical techniques for diagnosing these dusty plasma layers.
The dependency of the backscattered signal strength (i.e. Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes PMSEs) after the turn-on and turn-off of the radio wave heating on the radar frequency is an unique phenomenon that can shed light on the unresolved issues associated with the basic physics of the natural charged mesospheric dust layer. The physical process after turn-on and turn-off of radio wave heating is explained by competing ambipolar diffusion and dust charging processes. The threshold radar frequency and dust parameters for the enhancement or suppression of radar echoes after radio wave heating turn-on are investigated for measured mesospheric plasma parameters. The effect of parameters such as the electron temperature enhancement during radiowave heating, dust density, dust charge polarity, ion-neutral collision frequency, electron density and dust radius
on the temporal evolution of electron irregularities associated with PMSE is investigated.
The possibility of observing the turn-on overshoot (enhancement of radar echoes after the
radiowave turn-on) in the high frequency HF radar band is discussed based on typical mesospheric
parameters. It has been shown that predicted enhancement of electron irregularity
amplitude after heater turn-on at HF band is the direct manifestation of the dust charging
process in the space. Therefore further active experiments of PMSEs should be pursued
at HF band to illuminate the fundamental charging physics in the space environment to
provide more insight on this unique medium. Preliminary observation results of HF PMSE
heating experiment with the new 7.9 MHz radar at the European Incoherent Scatter EISCAT
facility appear promising for the existence of PMSE turn-on overshoot. Therefore, future
experimental campaigns are planned to validate these predictions.
Computational results are used to make predictions for PMSE active modification experiments at 7.9, 56, 139, 224 and 930MHz corresponding to existing ionospheric heating facilities. Data from a 2009 very high frequency VHF (224 MHz) experiment at EISCAT
is compared with the computational model to obtain dust parameters in the PMSE. The
estimated dust parameters as a result of these comparison show very reasonable agreement to dust radius and density at PMSE altitudes measured during a recent rocket experiment providing validation to the computational model.

The first comprehensive analytical model for the temporal evolution of PMSE after heater
turn-on is developed and compared to a more accurate computational model as a reference.
It is shown that active PMSE heating experiments involving multiple observing frequencies
at 7.9 (HF), 56, and 224 MHz (VHF) may contribute further diagnostic capabilities since
the temporal evolution of radar echoes is substantially different for these frequency ranges.
It is shown that conducting PMSE active experiments at HF and VHF band simultaneously
may allow estimation of the dust density altitude profile, dust charge state variation during
the heating cycle, and ratio of electron temperature enhancement in the irregularity source
region. These theoretical and computational models are extended to study basic physics of the evolution of relevant dusty plasma instabilities thought to play an important role in irregularity production in mesospheric dust layers. A key focus is the boundary layer of these charged dust clouds. Several aspects of the cloud\'s structure (thickness of boundary layer, average particle size and density, collisional processes, and cloud expansion speed) and the ambient plasma are varied to determine the effect of these quantities on the resulting irregularities.
It was shown that for high collision frequencies, the waves may be very weakly excited (or
even quenched) and confined to the boundary layer. The excited dust acoustic waves inside
the dust cloud with frequency range of 7-15Hz and in the presence of electron bite-outs is
consistent with measured low frequency waves near 10 Hz by sounding rocket experiments
over the past decade. The observed radar echoes associated with the artificially created dust
clouds at higher altitudes in the ionosphere including space shuttle exhaust and upcoming
active space experiments in which localized dust layers will be created by sounding rockets
could be related to the excited acoustic waves predicted.
Finally, variation of spatial structures of plasma and dust (ice) irregularities in the PMSE
source region in the presence of positively charged dust particles is investigated. The correlation and anti-correlation of fluctuations in the electron and ion densities in the background plasma are studied considering the presence of positive dust particle formation. Recent rocket payloads have studied the properties of aerosol particles within the ambient plasma environment in the polar mesopause region and measured the signature of the positively charged particles with number densities of (2000 cm"3) for particles of 0.5-1 nm in radius.
The measurement of significant numbers of positively charged aerosol particles is unexpected from the standard theory of aerosol charging in plasma. Nucleation on the cluster ions is one of the most probable hypotheses for the positive charge on the smallest particles. The utility being that it may provide a test for determining the presence of positive dust particles.
The results of the model described show good agreement with observed rocket data. As an
application, the model is also applied to investigate the electron irregularity behavior during
radiowave heating assuming the presence of positive dust particles. It is shown that the
positive dust produces important changes in the behavior during Polar Mesospheric Summer Echo PMSE heating experiments that can be described by the fluctuation correlation and anti-correlation properties.
The second part of this dissertation is dedicated to Stimulated Electromagnetic Emissions SEEs produced by interaction of high power electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere. Nearearth ionospheric plasma presets a neutral laboratory for investigation of nonlinear wave phenomena in plasma which can not be studied in the laboratory environment due to the effect of physical boundary conditions. This process has been of great interest due to the
important diagnostic possibilities involving ability to determine mass of constitutive ions in
the interaction region through measurements of various gyro-frequencies. Objectives include
the consideration of the variation of the spectral behavior under pump power, proximity to
the gyro-harmonic frequency, and beam angle. Also, the relationship between such spectral
features and electron acceleration and creation of plasma irregularities was an important
focus.
Secondary electromagnetic waves excited by high power electromagnetic waves transmitted
into the ionosphere, commonly know as Stimulated Electromagnetic Emissions SEEs,
produced through Magnetized Stimulated Brillouin Scatter MSBS are investigated. Data
from two recent research campaigns at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program
facility HAARP is presented in this work. These experiments have provided additional
quantitative interpretation of the SEE spectrum produced by MSBS to yield diagnostic measurements of the electron temperature in the heated ionosphere. SEE spectral emission lines corresponding to ion acoustic IA and electrostatic ion cyclotron EIC modes were observed with a shift in frequency up to a few tens of Hz from radio waves transmitted near the third harmonic of the electron gyro-frequency 3fce. The threshold of each emission line has been measured by changing the pump wave amplitude. The experimental results aimed to show the threshold for transmitter power to excite IA waves propagating along the magnetic field lines as well as for EIC waves excited at oblique angles relative to the background magnetic field. A full wave solution has been used to estimate the amplitude of the electric field at the interaction altitude. The estimated growth rate using the theoretical model is compared with the threshold of MSBS lines in the experiment and possible diagnostic information for the background ionospheric plasmas is discussed. Simultaneous formation of artificial field aligned irregularities FAIs and suppression of the MSBS process is investigated. Recently, there has been significant interest in ion gyro-harmonic structuring the Stimulated Electromagnetic Emission SEE spectrum due to the potential for new diagnostic information available about the heated volume and ancillary processes such as creation of artificial ionization layers. These relatively recently discovered emission lines have almost exclusively been studied for second electron gyro-harmonic heating. The first extensive systematic investigations of the possibility of these spectral features for third electron gyro-harmonic heating are provided here. Discrete spectral features shifted from the transmit frequency ordered by harmonics of the ion gyro-frequency were observed for third electron gyro-harmonic heating for the first time at a recent campaign at a High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program Facility HAARP. These features were also closely correlated with a broader band feature at a larger frequency shift from the transmit frequency known as the Downshifted Peak DP. The power threshold of these spectral features was measured, as well as their behavior with heater
beam angle, and proximity of the transmit frequency to the third electron gyro-harmonic frequency. Comparisons were also made with similar spectral features observed during 2nd
electron gyro-harmonic heating during the same campaign. A theoretical model is provided
that interprets these spectral features as resulting from parametric decay instabilities in
which the pump field ultimately decays into high frequency upper hybrid/electron Bernstein
and low frequency neutralized ion Bernstein IB and/or obliquely propagating ion acoustic
waves at the upper hybrid interaction altitude. Coordinated optical and SEE observations
were carried out in order to provide a better understanding of electron acceleration and precipitation
processes. Optical emissions were observed associated with SEE gyro-harmonic
features for pump heating near the second electron gyro-harmonic during the campaign. The
observations affirm strong correlation between the gyro-structures and the airglow.
Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to determine how art is taught in charter schools in Arizona as compared to how art is taught in non-charter schools in Arizona. A review of the literature, in general, over the past several years, indicates how art is being taught in non-charter schools, but does not indicate how art is being taught in charter schools. Therefore, the study I have undertaken will, hopefully, provide some initial understanding of how art is being taught in Arizona's charter schools. In this study, I began by selecting a random sample of 102 charter schools and 111 non-charter schools, and surveyed all 213 by using a 17-question survey. My analyses of the data indicate that: (1) there are very few charter schools that do not have some kind of art program, and (2) those that do have problems very similar to those in non-charter schools.

Le droit à l’information environnementale du public en matière de risques industriels, par le recours aux différentes modalités d’exercice, y compris les supports de communications électroniques, paraît, de prime abord, comme étant « fonction de plusieurs variables ». Cette équation juridique consiste en effet en la mise en question de l’exercice d’un droit au regard de son objet et de ses modalités. L’hypothèse d’une évolution du droit à l’information environnementale nécessite d’analyser, au travers d’une réflexion théorique et juridique centrée sur la création et l’application du droit, l’évolution de ses droits consubstantiels, à savoir le droit d’accès à l’information du public et le droit de la participation du public au processus décisionnel. Le caractère évolutif du droit à l’information environnementale du public est appréhendé en considérant notamment les fonctions opératoires du juge dans l’exercice des droits d’accès à l’information du public et de la participation du public au processus décisionnel, et de la pluralité des modalités d’exercice de ceux-ci. La présence de certains décalages dans l’application de ces droits démontre l’évolution de l’adaptabilité du droit à l’information environnementale à son objet et à ses modalités d’exercice plutôt qu’une évolution propre à ce droit
At first glance, the public right to environmental information on industrial hazards, by using different modes of exercise, including electronic communications, seems to be a “function of several variables”. In fact, this legal equation consists of challenging the exercise of a right with regard to its object as well as its terms. The hypothesis of evolution of the right to environmental information requires that one examines, through a theoretical and legal reflection centered on the creation and application of law, the evolution of its components, namely the right of access to information and the right to public participation in decision making. The evolving nature of the public right to environmental information is understood in particular by considering the operating functions of the judge in exercising the right of access to public information, the public participation in decision making, and the plurality of their modes of exercise. The presence of discrepancies in the application of these rights demonstrates the evolution of the adaptability of the right to environmental information with regard to its purpose and application rather than the evolution of the right itself

This paper presents the results of an e-mail study designed to determine what tax topics are important in terms of a trainee accountant entering the training environment in South Africa. These topics were then compared to the current tax syllabus being taught at universities and accredited institutions. The results indicated that the current syllabus is largely meeting the expectations of people in and out of public practice, though there are some topics that the syllabus setters and educators should consider including and excluding when next reviewing and updating the syllabus. Copyright
Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009.
Taxation
unrestricted

Despite rapid expansion of charter schools since the first enabling legislation was passed in 1991 there remains little understanding of the relationship between charter school law components and their relation to the percent charter school enrollment. This study focuses on the twenty charter school law components identified by the National Alliance of Public Carter Schools as being necessary for a strong charter school law and their correlation to charter school enrollment. Results suggest that, of the twenty components, Multiple Authorizers and Equitable Access to Capital Funding are most strongly correlated with an increase in the percentage of charter school enrollment. An additional five components, Equitable Operational Funding, Access to Retirement Systems, Adequate Authorizer Funding, Automatic Exemptions from State and District Rules and Regulations and Multi-school Charter Contracts Allowed, had a moderate correlation to the percentage of charter school enrollment. Additionally, one component, Authorizer and Program Accountability, shows a negative correlation to the percent of charter school enrollment. These findings suggest that if policymakers desire to increase the percentage of charter school enrollment they should carefully consider inclusion of these components in state law.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Oct. 10, 2007). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the School of Education (Culture Change and Curriculum)." Discipline: Education; Department/School: Education.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009.
Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-156). Issued in print and online. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations.

Charter schools have become a widely accepted and rapidly growing option for educational reform especially for low-income, inner-city students. In Los Angeles, the charter movement has promised teachers greater autonomy and collaboration than in the traditional public schools, yet the working conditions of teachers in charter schools have weakened the conditions for this movement to truly reform public education. By using a neoliberal theoretical framework and a qualitative case study design, this study captured the voices of charter school teachers and documented their beliefs and experiences in an environment shaped by a culture of choice. This study uncovered a) the culture and environment that led teachers to seek unionization, b) the relationships between teachers and management, and c) their model of unionism. The participants’ voices detailed a collaborative culture that lured teachers to escape the negative environment in the local district schools. Still, teachers faced an exhaustive workload and they chose to leave the charter school environment. Teachers valued their autonomy while not realizing that the true choice existed only for the management of the school that had the ultimate power over their working conditions. When teachers decided to unionize they faced antagonism from their school leaders, and a backlash for their involvement in the unionization. Teachers fell prey to the intimidation of the public’s perception on tenure and gave up this fundamental protection. They also moved away from the traditional model and were left without a clear understanding of what being a union meant.

Charter schools allow educators freedom to design and execute innovative curriculum and instruction. The best of educational philosophy is constructive only when it transforms into practice. Today's federal assessment program creates a pressurized educational climate that demands educators respond with systematic improvement of test scores. The purpose of this study is to investigate teacher responses to the question "Why is your charter school leading the district in high stakes testing?" The Louisiana State Evaluation Team has determined that the three charter schools featured in this study have been consistently outperforming their respective districts, and the state, while competing favorably with the nation on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Qualitative rigor was used to code and classify teacher interviews according to the Seven Correlates of Effective Schools. Themes that could not be classified were assigned a site-specific "correlate of effective charter schooling."  These new correlates are: autonomy, esprit de corps, teacher dedication, teacher professionalism, and teacher leadership. The first school produced themes representing all Seven Effective School Correlates along with two new correlates: esprit de corps and teacher professionalism. The second and third schools produced all new themes represented by the "correlates of effective charter schooling."

The primary aim of this study is to present and investigate the hypotheses that the activity of post-industrial mass consumerism is an act of human drama that takes place within the specially created and constructed environment of the contemporary out of town or regional shopping mall. This is an artificially controlled and manipulative environment that is also a setting of fantasy. It is one that owes the nature of its internal spaces to 'rampant consumerism' and the nature of its internal appearance and architectural forms to the utilization and application of a pastiche and layering of post-modern historical references. The second aim was to develop a body of visual work through a systematic enquiry of practice based research which would together with a written commentary present both the outcomes of this research and the new knowledge generated through it. Alongside these aims, this study itself has also been a vehicle for developing and examining research processes. The initial investigation is achieved through a contextual review that forms the background against which visual research is undertaken. The visual research is carried out in two ways. Initially separate fantasies, ie: visual images made in the Meadowhall Shopping Centre and visual images made from G. B. Piranesi's Carceri d' Invenzione, are brought in to association. Subsequently they are then digitally transformed to produce new hybrid visual fantasies. This whole process has also led me to consider my personal transformation from artisan to artist and commentator and to review the impact that change has had on this study. The theses is brought to a close with an analysis of what the investigations and the processes of research have revealed, achieved, and made available to other practitioners through this study. Key concluding points are: The investigations, processes of research and visual explorations have provided a potential reference for other practitioners and a model for further practice-based research. The process of Reflective Practice is mutable and can be modified to suit different creative circumstances and artistic intentions. Reflective Practice produces defensible results which can be interrogated by peers. The study has laid the ground for my further creative work and the process of reflective practice will continue to inform my activity.

Uppsatsen syfte är att söka klargöra hur stor betydelse charterbolagens varumärken har för konsumenten vid valet av charterbolag. Jag har använt mig av teorier rörande varumärkets betydelse ur ett konsumentperspektiv, konsumentbeteende samt marknadskommunikation som sedan applicerats på empirin. Empirin består av sju kvalitativa intervjuer varav tre varit personliga intervjuer och de resterande fyra har varit telefonintervjuer. Slutsatsen är att varumärket inte är av överordnad betydelse för mina respondenter vid valet av charterbolag. Respondenternas varumärkeskännedom om de största aktörerna är, med vissa undantag, god. Trots detta så bidrar inte varumärkeskännedom i detta fall till ökad benägenhet hos respondenterna att välja ett välkänt bolag framför ett annat mindre känt bolag. Respondenternas lojalitet inför de olika charterbolagen är dessutom låg och inte heller word-of-mouth har den inverkan på mina respondenter som teorin föreslår. Nyckelord: Charter, varumärke, konsument, image, konsumentbeteende, lojalitet och word-of-mouth.