Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Practical challenges'

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR<br>O presente trabalho se insere na discussão sobre a identificação de fronteiras para o fazer tradutório. Levando-se em conta as teorias pós-modernas sobre a linguagem, busca-se compreender se, mesmo diante de novas concepções de língua, cultura, sujeito e tradução, é possível reivindicar características razoavelmente estáveis para a prática tradutória. Algumas práticas de reescrita que são apresentadas como tradução, mas que, supostamente, subvertem em excesso os textos que lhes precedem representam um desafio ao estabelecimento dessas fronteiras. Neste trabalho, analisam-se três diferentes projetos de tradução que abertamente declaram a defesa de uma agenda política específica, para verificar até que ponto eles se afastam da acepção de tradução como uma representação o mais próxima possível, na língua-alvo, de um texto estrangeiro. Os projetos estudados são: as traduções feministas, as traduções pós- colonialistas e o projeto de tradução minorizante de Lawrence Venuti. Esta análise se presta a verificar as motivações ético-políticas dos projetos em questão e as principais estratégias por eles utilizadas. A busca de um campo conceitual e prático próprio para a tradução está articulada a uma preocupação ética na qual o leitor é o norte das discussões.<br>This paper was developed in the context of the discussion about the identification of boundaries in translation practice. Taking into account the postmodern theories of language, I try to understand whether it is possible to define, even in face of new conceptions of language, culture, subject and translation, reasonably stable characteristics of the translation practice. Some rewriting practices presented as traslations, but which, in my opinion, subvert excessively the original text pose a challenge for the definition of such boundaries. In this thesis, I analize three different translation projects which openly uphold a particular political agenda, in order to verify to which extent they are distanced from the definition of translation as the closest possible representation of a foreign text in a target language. The projects studied here are: feminist translations, postcolonial translations and Lawrence Venuti´s minoritizing project. This analysis aims at understanding the ethical and political motivations of the projects at issue and their main strategies. The pursuit of a specific conceptual and practical field for translation is linked to an ethical concern at which the reader is the focus of the discussion.

The method of controlled Lagrangians is an energy shaping control technique for underactuated Lagrangian systems. Energy shaping control design methods are appealing as they retain the underlying nonlinear dynamics and can provide stability results that hold over larger domain than can be obtained using linear design and analysis. The objective of this dissertation is to identify the control challenges in applying the method of controlled Lagrangians to practical engineering problems and to suggest ways to enhance the closed-loop performance of the controller. This dissertation describes a procedure for incorporating artificial gyroscopic forces in the method of controlled Lagrangians. Allowing these energy-conserving forces in the closed-loop system provides greater freedom in tuning closed-loop system performance and expands the class of eligible systems. In energy shaping control methods, physical dissipation terms that are neglected in the control design may enter the system in a way that can compromise stability. This is well illustrated through the "ball on a beam" example. The effect of physical dissipation on the closed-loop dynamics is studied in detail and conditions for stability in the presence of natural damping are discussed. The control technique is applied to the classic "inverted pendulum on a cart" system. A nonlinear controller is developed which asymptotically stabilizes the inverted equilibrium at a specific cart position for the conservative dynamic model. The region of attraction contains all states for which the pendulum is elevated above the horizontal plane. Conditions for asymptotic stability in the presence of linear damping are developed. The onlinear controller is validated through experiments. Experimental cart damping is best modeled using static and Coulomb friction. Experiments show that static and Coulomb friction degrades the closed-loop performance and induces limit cycles. A Lyapunov-based switching controller is proposed and successfully implemented to suppress the limit cycle oscillations. The Lyapunov-based controller switches between the energy shaping nonlinear controller, for states away from the equilibrium, and a well-tuned linear controller, for states close to the equilibrium. The method of controlled Lagrangians is applied to vehicle systems with internal moving point mass actuators. Applications of moving mass actuators include certain spacecraft, atmospheric re-entry vehicles, and underwater vehicles. Control design using moving mass actuators is challenging; the system is often underactuated and multibody dynamic models are higher dimensional. We consider two examples to illustrate the application of controlled Lagrangian formulation. The first example is a spinning disk, a simplified, planar version of a spacecraft spin stabilization problem. The second example is a planar, streamlined underwater vehicle.<br>Ph. D.

Network monitoring has always been a topic of foremost importance for both network operators and researchers for multiple reasons ranging from anomaly detection to tra c classi cation or capacity planning. Nowadays, as networks become more and more complex, tra c increases and security threats reproduce, achieving a deeper understanding of what is happening in the network has become an essential necessity. In particular, due to the considerable growth of cybercrime, research on the eld of anomaly detection has drawn signi cant attention in recent years and tons of proposals have been made. All the same, when it comes to deploying solutions in real environments, some of them fail to meet some crucial requirements. Taking this into account, this thesis focuses on lling this gap between the research and the non-research world. Prior to the start of this work, we identify several problems. First, there is a clear lack of detailed and updated information on the most common anomalies and their characteristics. Second, unawareness of sampled data is still common although the performance of anomaly detection algorithms is severely a ected. Third, operators currently need to invest many work-hours to manually inspect and also classify detected anomalies to act accordingly and take the appropriate mitigation measures. This is further exacerbated due to the high number of false positives and false negatives and because anomaly detection systems are often perceived as extremely complex black boxes. Analysing an issue is essential to fully comprehend the problem space and to be able to tackle it properly. Accordingly, the rst block of this thesis seeks to obtain detailed and updated real-world information on the most frequent anomalies occurring in backbone networks. It rst reports on the performance of di erent commercial systems for anomaly detection and analyses the types of network nomalies detected. Afterwards, it focuses on further investigating the characteristics of the anomalies found in a backbone network using one of the tools for more than half a year. Among other results, this block con rms the need of applying sampling in an operational environment as well as the unacceptably high number of false positives and false negatives still reported by current commercial tools. On the whole, the presence of ampling in large networks for monitoring purposes has become almost mandatory and, therefore, all anomaly detection algorithms that do not take that into account might report incorrect results. In the second block of this thesis, the dramatic impact of sampling on the performance of well-known anomaly detection techniques is analysed and con rmed. However, we show that the results change signi cantly depending on the sampling technique used and also on the common metric selected to perform the comparison. In particular, we show that, Packet Sampling outperforms Flow Sampling unlike previously reported. Furthermore, we observe that Selective Sampling (SES), a sampling technique that focuses on small ows, obtains much better results than traditional sampling techniques for scan detection. Consequently, we propose Online Selective Sampling, a sampling technique that obtains the same good performance for scan detection than SES but works on a per-packet basis instead of keeping all ows in memory. We validate and evaluate our proposal and show that it can operate online and uses much less resources than SES. Although the literature is plenty of techniques for detecting anomalous events, research on anomaly classi cation and extraction (e.g., to further investigate what happened or to share evidence with third parties involved) is rather marginal. This makes it harder for network operators to analise reported anomalies because they depend solely on their experience to do the job. Furthermore, this task is an extremely time-consuming and error-prone process. The third block of this thesis targets this issue and brings it together with the knowledge acquired in the previous blocks. In particular, it presents a system for automatic anomaly detection, extraction and classi cation with high accuracy and very low false positives. We deploy the system in an operational environment and show its usefulness in practice. The fourth and last block of this thesis presents a generalisation of our system that focuses on analysing all the tra c, not only network anomalies. This new system seeks to further help network operators by summarising the most signi cant tra c patterns in their network. In particular, we generalise our system to deal with big network tra c data. In particular, it deals with src/dst IPs, src/dst ports, protocol, src/dst Autonomous Systems, layer 7 application and src/dst geolocation. We rst deploy a prototype in the European backbone network of G EANT and show that it can process large amounts of data quickly and build highly informative and compact reports that are very useful to help comprehending what is happening in the network. Second, we deploy it in a completely di erent scenario and show how it can also be successfully used in a real-world use case where we analyse the behaviour of highly distributed devices related with a critical infrastructure sector.<br>La monitoritzaci o de xarxa sempre ha estat un tema de gran import ancia per operadors de xarxa i investigadors per m ultiples raons que van des de la detecci o d'anomalies fins a la classi caci o d'aplicacions. Avui en dia, a mesura que les xarxes es tornen m es i m es complexes, augmenta el tr ansit de dades i les amenaces de seguretat segueixen creixent, aconseguir una comprensi o m es profunda del que passa a la xarxa s'ha convertit en una necessitat essencial. Concretament, degut al considerable increment del ciberactivisme, la investigaci o en el camp de la detecci o d'anomalies ha crescut i en els darrers anys s'han fet moltes i diverses propostes. Tot i aix o, quan s'intenten desplegar aquestes solucions en entorns reals, algunes d'elles no compleixen alguns requisits fonamentals. Tenint aix o en compte, aquesta tesi se centra a omplir aquest buit entre la recerca i el m on real. Abans d'iniciar aquest treball es van identi car diversos problemes. En primer lloc, hi ha una clara manca d'informaci o detallada i actualitzada sobre les anomalies m es comuns i les seves caracter stiques. En segona inst ancia, no tenir en compte la possibilitat de treballar amb nom es part de les dades (mostreig de tr ansit) continua sent bastant est es tot i el sever efecte en el rendiment dels algorismes de detecci o d'anomalies. En tercer lloc, els operadors de xarxa actualment han d'invertir moltes hores de feina per classi car i inspeccionar manualment les anomalies detectades per actuar en conseqüencia i prendre les mesures apropiades de mitigaci o. Aquesta situaci o es veu agreujada per l'alt nombre de falsos positius i falsos negatius i perqu e els sistemes de detecci o d'anomalies s on sovint percebuts com caixes negres extremadament complexes. Analitzar un tema es essencial per comprendre plenament l'espai del problema i per poder-hi fer front de forma adequada. Per tant, el primer bloc d'aquesta tesi pret en proporcionar informaci o detallada i actualitzada del m on real sobre les anomalies m es freqüents en una xarxa troncal. Primer es comparen tres eines comercials per a la detecci o d'anomalies i se n'estudien els seus punts forts i febles, aix com els tipus d'anomalies de xarxa detectats. Posteriorment, s'investiguen les caracter stiques de les anomalies que es troben en la mateixa xarxa troncal utilitzant una de les eines durant m es de mig any. Entre d'altres resultats, aquest bloc con rma la necessitat de l'aplicaci o de mostreig de tr ansit en un entorn operacional, aix com el nombre inacceptablement elevat de falsos positius i falsos negatius en eines comercials actuals. En general, el mostreig de tr ansit de dades de xarxa ( es a dir, treballar nom es amb una part de les dades) en grans xarxes troncals s'ha convertit en gaireb e obligatori i, per tant, tots els algorismes de detecci o d'anomalies que no ho tenen en compte poden veure seriosament afectats els seus resultats. El segon bloc d'aquesta tesi analitza i confi rma el dram atic impacte de mostreig en el rendiment de t ecniques de detecci o d'anomalies plenament acceptades a l'estat de l'art. No obstant, es mostra que els resultats canvien signi cativament depenent de la t ecnica de mostreig utilitzada i tamb e en funci o de la m etrica usada per a fer la comparativa. Contr ariament als resultats reportats en estudis previs, es mostra que Packet Sampling supera Flow Sampling. A m es, a m es, s'observa que Selective Sampling (SES), una t ecnica de mostreig que se centra en mostrejar fluxes petits, obt e resultats molt millors per a la detecci o d'escanejos que no pas les t ecniques tradicionals de mostreig. En conseqü encia, proposem Online Selective Sampling, una t ecnica de mostreig que obt e el mateix bon rendiment per a la detecci o d'escanejos que SES, per o treballa paquet per paquet enlloc de mantenir tots els fluxes a mem oria. Despr es de validar i evaluar la nostra proposta, demostrem que es capa c de treballar online i utilitza molts menys recursos que SES. Tot i la gran quantitat de tècniques proposades a la literatura per a la detecci o d'esdeveniments an omals, la investigaci o per a la seva posterior classi caci o i extracci o (p.ex., per investigar m es a fons el que va passar o per compartir l'evid encia amb tercers involucrats) es m es aviat marginal. Aix o fa que sigui m es dif cil per als operadors de xarxa analalitzar les anomalies reportades, ja que depenen unicament de la seva experi encia per fer la feina. A m es a m es, aquesta tasca es un proc es extremadament lent i propens a errors. El tercer bloc d'aquesta tesi se centra en aquest tema tenint tamb e en compte els coneixements adquirits en els blocs anteriors. Concretament, presentem un sistema per a la detecci o extracci o i classi caci o autom atica d'anomalies amb una alta precisi o i molt pocs falsos positius. Adicionalment, despleguem el sistema en un entorn operatiu i demostrem la seva utilitat pr actica. El quart i ultim bloc d'aquesta tesi presenta una generalitzaci o del nostre sistema que se centra en l'an alisi de tot el tr ansit, no nom es en les anomalies. Aquest nou sistema pret en ajudar m es als operadors ja que resumeix els patrons de tr ansit m es importants de la seva xarxa. En particular, es generalitza el sistema per fer front al "big data" (una gran quantitat de dades). En particular, el sistema tracta IPs origen i dest i, ports origen i destí , protocol, Sistemes Aut onoms origen i dest , aplicaci o que ha generat el tr ansit i fi nalment, dades de geolocalitzaci o (tamb e per origen i dest ). Primer, despleguem un prototip a la xarxa europea per a la recerca i la investigaci o (G EANT) i demostrem que el sistema pot processar grans quantitats de dades r apidament aix com crear informes altament informatius i compactes que s on de gran utilitat per ajudar a comprendre el que est a succeint a la xarxa. En segon lloc, despleguem la nostra eina en un escenari completament diferent i mostrem com tamb e pot ser utilitzat amb exit en un cas d' us en el m on real en el qual s'analitza el comportament de dispositius altament distribuïts.

The main aims of this critical analysis are to demonstrate that the submitted seventeen papers comprise a body of work that satisfies the requirements for the degree of PhD by Published Works. Focusing on papers that have been most significant in my learning trajectory, the submission evaluates the contribution of the published works to the advancement of social work education and the current educational reform process in the UK. Together with exploring uncertainties and challenges that present barriers to improving qualifying education, the critical analysis considers how obstacles to development might be overcome. In addressing the submission's main theme of developing social work education the critical analysis focuses on three sub-themes that have been recurring areas of interest in my work: • The value and utility of key educational paradigms including reflective practice and evidence-based practice both from a theoretical perspective and based on learners' operational experience of these concepts; • Student experience of qualifying level social work education and different stakeholder perspectives on the quality and effectiveness of provision: • The challenges and opportunities for promoting social justice, producing critically reflective practitioners and delivering a functional training agenda. The submission begins with a thematic overview of my published works. This is followed in Chapter two by an analysis of values and theoretical ideas that have informed my research and publications. Chapter three outlines the origins of particular papers and discusses the interrelationship between the collected works. Chapter four critically evaluates the methodological approaches used in research projects on which papers are based. Chapter five presents a critical appraisal of the significance and originality of the corpus and its contribution to scholarship. The submission concludes by reflecting on my learning and indicating possible directions for future research and theoretical development.

An ever-increasing amount of the humanity's information is being stored in large graphs. The world wide web, digital social networks, e-commerce platforms and chat networks now contain digital traces of the majority of living humans. Many of the most valuable companies ever created are dedicated to organising, managing and extracting useful information from large digital graphs. Machine learning has been shown to be an important tool for automating this task. Discovering scalable machine learning systems, to extract useful information from graphs, is a problem of great practical significance. Interesting graphs, such as the web graph, often contain more information than can be stored on a single computer, and so working with the raw data presents considerable challenges. Graph representations are often employed that encapsulate key properties of the underlying data and enable certain tasks to be performed efficiently, at the expense of others. Representations are chosen to balance time complexity, space complexity and predictive performance on a downstream task, such as labelling vertices with attributes. We are concerned with problems of extracting and inferring information from large graphs and applying the results in deployed commercial systems. The research revolves around two large-scale machine learning projects (1) A system for searching and organising data from social media graphs (2) A system to profile customers through their interactions with products on an e-commerce platform. We use representations of graphs to allow algorithms to be run faster, cheaper and more accurately. Doing so allows us to satisfy systems constraints that could not be achieved by operating directly on the raw data. We demonstrate how careful choices of representation can be used to improve machine learning performance on several real-world tasks. We do this under challenging industrial constraints such as real-time serving, runtime costs or maintainability.

This thesis seeks to address corporate governance from both a practical as well as an academic perspective. It searches for solutions to self-interest and agency costs, problems that it is posited are innate to the anthropomorphism of the corporation and to the separation of management and ownership of widely held, publicly traded, corporations.<br>Practically, this dissertation is anchored in experience, garnered from empirical research, based on in depth and general surveys, as well as detailed interviews. It examines the workings of corporations, including their boards of directors, of gatekeepers, of checks and balances and of shareholders and the relative importance and rationale for the roles that they play. Based on the academic and empirical efforts it is posited that self-interest and the funneling syndrome, (a process whereby information required for decision making is constrained and managed by those in control), almost always predetermines the outcome of the corporate formal decision making process involving the board of directors. This facilitates abuse. When it occurs and there appears to be no accountability, confidence essential to the capital markets, quite understandably, suffers.<br>A hypothesis is advanced to explain the complexity of a potential failure of corporate governance through a relatively simple formula. It draws conclusions as to what is required to help address the challenges raised by the breakdown in effective corporate governance and to help instill greater investor confidence. A self-assessment mechanism to help quantify how effectively a corporation is dealing with corporate governance, both on an absolute basis (comparing itself year over year) and on a relative basis (compared to one's peers) is proffered. This tool of more effective corporate governance, seeks to identify the causes for breakdowns in corporate governance and to assist a board of directors in dealing more proactively with this challenge.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The family as an indispensable social institution meant to serve as the first place of socialization, nurture and spiritual training ground for young people is disintegrating. The signs for disintegrating family life are evident and supported by statistics of high rates of divorce, domestic abuse and violence, juvenile delinquency caused by a lack of genuine nurturing of youth and unresolved family conflicts between husband and wife as well as between parents and children. This has become a global issue. This study therefore investigates the challenges of disintegrating family life to youth ministry from a global perspective by studying materials on global families and youth ministry. The aim of the study is to gain a conceptual understanding of the family, to identify the challenges contemporary families are currently facing, and to find ways in which youth ministry, with the help of young people, can respond to the challenges posed by disintegrating family life to their lives and thereby contribute to the reintegration of their present families while laying a good foundation for their future family for the glory of God and benefit of humanity. Since the family and youth are inseparable, the research studies the context of the disintegrating family, identifies causes and consequences of disintegrating family life as well as the challenges posed by disintegrating family life for youth ministry. Osmer‟s four practical theology questions are used to design this study. These are: what is going on, why is this going on, what ought to be going on, and how might we respond In light of the increase in family disintegration, the main research question is: What are the challenges of disintegrating family life to Youth Ministry? The aims of youth ministry are taken as the norm and these are: effective evangelism; comprehensive education that includes Christian education; financial education; health education; marriage and family life education, as well as pastoral care. The study argues that young people converted to Christ, taught and exposed to pastoral care can be active agents of change in their immediate and future family and thus becomes active agents of change in society. However, with millions of orphans, youth in refugee camps, children affected by divorce, and youth in child-headed families, can youth workers cope with the present and future challenges of disintegrating family life to youth ministry? The study proposed the God-bearing, relational and family-based-youth-ministry approach because the three approaches are deemed to be the most appropriate to enable youth ministry to deal with the challenges. Marriage and family life education is highly recommended as a prerequisite for contemporary evangelised and educated young people. This is to serve, firstly, as a reactive measure to help their immediate disintegrating family and secondly, to serve as a proactive measure to lay a solid foundation for the future family of contemporary youth. This, I hope, will be used by God to help curtail the vicious cycle of the disintegrating family life phenomenon and also bring relief to troubled youths, family and society.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die familie as `n noodsaaklike sosiale instelling wat bedoel is om te dien as die eerste plek van sosialisering, versorging en spirituele opleidingsgrond vir jongmense, is besig om te verbrokkel. Verbrokkelende familielewe is duidelik sigbaar en die tekens word bevestig deur statistieke van hoë syfers in egskeidings, huishoudelike mishandeling en geweld en jeugmisdadigheid wat veroorsaak word deur `n gebrek aan werklike versorging van jeugdiges en onopgeloste familie konflik tussen man en vrou, asook tussen ouers en kinders. Hierdie situasie het `n globale een geword. Die studie ondersoek om hierdie redes die uitdagings van verbrokkelende familielewe op jeugbediening vanuit `n globale perspektief deur bronne te bestudeer van globale families en jeugbediening. Die doel van die studie is dus om `n konseptuele verstaan van die familie te bekom, om die eise wat hedendaagse families ondervind te identifiseer, en om maniere te vind waardeur jeugbediening, met die hulp van jongmense, die uitdaging van verbrokkelende familielewe kan aanspreek. Sodoende kan jeugbediening bydra tot die herintegrasie van huidige families, en terselfdertyd `n goeie fondasie lê vir toekomstige families vir die glorie van God en tot voordeel van die mensdom. Aangesien die familie en jeug onskeibaar is, bestudeer hierdie navorsing die konteks van die verbrokkelende familie, identifiseer oorsake en gevolge van verbrokkelende familielewe, asook die uitdagings wat dit bied vir jeugbediening. Osmer se vier praktiese teologie vrae is gebruik in die studie-ontwerp. Dit behels: wat gaan aan, hoekom gaan dit aan, wat moet aangaan en hoe gaan ons reageer. In die lig van die styging in familieverbrokkeling, is die hoof navorsingsvraag: Wat is die uitdagings van die verbrokkelende gesinslewe op jeugbediening? Die doel van jeugbediening word geneem as die norm en dit behels: effektiewe evangelisasie, omvattende opleiding wat insluit Christelike opleiding, finansiële opleiding, gesondheidsopleiding, huweliks- en familielewe opleiding, sowel as pastorale sorg. Die studie argumenteer dat jongmense wat bekeer is tot Christus, en opgelei en blootgestel is aan pastorale sorg, aktiewe agente van verandering kan wees in hulle onmiddelike en toekomstige families en daardeur aktiewe agente van verandering in die samelewing kan word. Tog is daar miljoene weeskinders, jongmense in vlugtelingskampe, kinders wat geaffekteer is deur egskeidings, en kinders in huise wat deur kinders self beman word. Die vraag is – kan jeugwerkers die huidige en toekomstige uitdagings wat familieverbrokkeling op jeugbediening plaas hanteer? Die studie stel twee benaderings voor wat die meeste geskik is om jeugbediening in staat te stel om die probleem te hanteer, naamlik die God-draer en die familie-gebaseerde jeugbediening benaderings. Opleiding in die huwelik en familielewe word voorgestel as voorvereistes vir hedendaagse ge-evangeliseerde en opgeleide jongmense om sodoende eerstens te dien as `n reaktiewe maatreël om hulle onmiddelike verbrokkelende familie te help, en tweedens, om te dien as `n proaktiewe maatreël om `n soliede grondslag te lê vir die toekomstige families van hedendaagse jeug en die samelewing. Hierdeur kan die fenomeen van verbrokkelende familielewe beperk word.

This research explores whether, and how, theoretical concepts from agonistic democracy could be operationalised in order to mediate conflict in multicultural, pluralist society. It highlights three central themes of agonistic democracy: political contestation, contingency and necessary interdependency. It subsequently demonstrates the various ways in which these themes are employed, delineating three distinct agonistic approaches: the ‘perfectionist’ (as encapsulated by David Owen), the ‘adversarial’ (as represented by Chantal Mouffe), and the ‘inclusive’ (as symbolised by William Connolly and James Tully). The research then considers possible tensions between agonistic assumptions and further institutional consideration, and draws on new institutionalist literature to identify which kinds of institution could be compatible with agonistic democracy. It explores these through an experiment, which employs three distinct discussion frameworks, each representing a different agonistic approach. The research combines insights from the experiment and agonistic literature to gain a deeper insight into agonistic concepts and the potential for their operationalisation. It suggests that perfectionism is valuable in encouraging unity, adversarialism is effective in reviving passions, and inclusivity is useful in enhancing interactions between conflicting citizens. Finally, the research proposes an ‘agonistic day’ and demonstrates how a synthesis of all three approaches could mediate multicultural, pluralist conflict.

Notre dépendance croissante vis-à-vis des batteries lithium-ion pour le stockage d’énergie exige une amélioration de leurs électrodes positives, qui fonctionnent encore grâce au redox cationique des métaux de transition. L’émergence du redox anionique – une approche transformationnelle qui double la capacité des électrodes positives « Li-riches » – a récemment suscité de grands espoirs mondialement. Toutefois, des questions subsistent sur les origines fondamentales du redox anionique et sur son potentiel dans les applications pratiques. Cette thèse vise à répondre précisément à ces questions, en utilisant les connaissances de la chimie des solides, de l’électrochimie, de la spectroscopie des rayons X, et de la thermochimie. Pour ce faire, nous fournissons d’abord un compte rendu historique, un cadre théorique, les règles de conception de nouveaux matériaux, ainsi qu’un résumé des techniques de caractérisation propres au redox anionique. Ensuite, à travers des études expérimentales menées à la fois sur un matériau « modèle » (à base de métal 4d) et sur un matériau « pratique » (à base de métal 3d), nous montrons comment l’interaction fondamentale entre les processus de redox cationique et anionique régit les propriétés pratiques de ces matériaux (c’est-à-dire hystérésis de tension, performance de vitesse, chute de tension, et production de chaleur). Enfin, en utilisant ces résultats, nous décrivons les approches possibles pour améliorer ces matériaux et en concevoir de nouveaux. Nous résumons également leurs chances d’implantation sur le marché face aux cathodes lamellaires à base de nickel qui prévalent aujourd’hui<br>Our increasing dependence on lithium-ion batteries for energy storage applications calls for continual performance improvements of their positive electrodes, which have so far relied solely on cationic redox of transition-metal ions for driving the electrochemical reactions. Great hope has recently been placed on the emergence of anionic redox – a transformational approach for designing Li-rich positive electrodes as it leads to a near-doubling of capacity – hence generating worldwide research interest. However, questions have been raised on the fundamental origins of anionic redox and whether its full potential can be realised in applications. This is exactly what this thesis aims to answer by using the knowledge from the fields of solid-state chemistry, electrochemistry, X-ray spectroscopy, and thermochemistry. We first provide a comprehensive historical account, a theoretical framework, some materials’ design rules, and a survey of characterization techniques specific to anionic redox. Then, through comprehensive experimental studies that were performed in parallel on one ‘model’ (4d metal based) and one ‘practical’ (3d metal based) material, we highlight how the fundamental interplay between cationic and anionic redox processes governs the application-wise important properties of these promising battery materials (i.e. voltage hysteresis, rate performance, voltage decay, and heat generation,). Finally, using these results, we outline possible approaches for improving such materials and for designing novel ones. We also summarize their chances for market implementation in face of the competing nickel-based layered cathodes that are prevalent today

Genetic molecular markers (DNA markers) represent genetic differences between individual organisms or species placed directly into DNA sequence. They are widely used as powerful scientific instruments to accomplish different tasks, from genes mapping to forensic discrimination. The tremendous advance in DNA genotyping tools has lead to the development of impressive high- throughput technologies, such as Next Generation Sequencing platforms, that may revolutionize horticulture research and applications. However the cost of such technologies not always make them the most rationale approach, particularly when working on minor crop species or with large number of samples. The present work aims to the exploring a multi-purpose and cost-effective use of different kinds of molecular markers, for assisting fruit tree plants breeding and valorization. For this scope, three cases of study were presented, spanning from cultivar discrimination and phylogeny reconstruction to marker assisted selection (MAS) for Sharka resistance. D.NA markers such as SSR and AFLP, were successfully used to discriminate the ‘common’ Chinotto from ‘Chinotto di Savona’, an uninvestigated traditional Citrus species cultivated in Liguria (italy) that is gaining increasing interest for the production of high-quality niche food and beverages. New polymorphisms on candidate genes, that could explain some of observed differences between the two accessions, were suggested. SSR markers were used for the first time to the large-scale application of MAS on apricot (Prunus armeniaca) to boost the conventional breeding programmes. They were found new resistant breeding selections against the most important viral disease of stone fruits, Sharka, caused by Plum Pox Virus (PPV). Novel candidate accessions were also characterized for PPV-resistance, enriching and complementing the apricot germplasm available for breeding. Moreover the number of significant markers required for this task was reduced from seven to two, decreasing the overall cost, in terms of time and resources, usually required for the conventional breeding programmes. A further reduction of resources for the application of MAS in apricot was achieved developing new SNP markers linked to Sharka resistance, and able to be screened using fluorescence on Real Time PCR machine with or without High Resolution Melting (HRM) technology. The performed works demonstrate that the correct choice of molecular instruments together with the implementation of new techniques could easily led to cost-effective, time-saving, and reliable results even without the facility and resources reserved for main crops research and applications.

This dissertation aims to inform more equitable and effective practice in the emerging field of global health. To address this overriding question of how principles of equity and effectiveness can best be implemented, I critically analyze discursive and practical challenges facing Northern researchers as they approach health problems in the global South, and explore solutions to these challenges. This exploration employs a case study on the articulation of a specific problem in a specific, nominally ‘Southern’, setting: pesticide-related health effects in Ecuador's banana-producing El Oro province. I employ three methodological approaches, in three substantive chapters. Chapter 2 uses discourse analysis to understand how Latin American research sites are framed in peer-reviewed pesticide epidemiology articles. These articles often employ geographic representations of Latin America as inexplicably underdeveloped to demonstrate the need for pesticide research and health sector interventions, typically exhibiting ‘mainstream’ (Northern) public health institutional dynamics. I also show how some epidemiologists are pursuing more politically engaged approaches, in an uneasy negotiation with epidemiology's disciplinary norms. Chapter 3 reports on ethnographic pesticide risk perception work in El Oro, drawing on theories from anthropology and human geography. I document how pesticide risk perception narratives reflect El Oro's position in unstable global commodity chains. Scalar elements of these narratives combine individual and structural explanations for health problems in complex ways. In Chapter 4, I describe a political ecology of health explanation of pesticide exposure in El Oro. I employ a modified meta-narrative methodology, complemented by ethnographic fieldwork, to synthesize literature relevant to the pathways – biological, political economic, environmental and cultural – leading to pesticide-related impacts in El Oro. This analysis complements Chapters 2 and 3 in making the case for empowerment-based participatory approaches to pesticide exposure problems (and, by extension, to global health more generally), with special attention to international linkages, environmental complexity and political economy. The introduction, conclusion and 'linking' material between chapters serve to enhance the coherence of the dissertation by providing additional material not appropriate for inclusion in the three chapters, including elements of reflexivity.<br>Medicine, Faculty of<br>Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of<br>Graduate

The digital entertainment industry has been thriving in the last fifty years, with video games rapidly becoming its flagship and best known products. The global market expansion and video games consequent worldwide consumption has generated the need for them to be translated in multiple languages and in a timely fashion for several target markets. While the industry has come up with factually-driven ‘best practices’ and a general tendency towards standardizing procedures subsumed in the term localization (whose controversial and complex nature will be defined in Chapter 1), Translation Studies have paid little attention to this phenomenon, applying categories and theoretical approaches borrowed from other academic domains, which have proved unfitting to this new sector. Drawing on recent groundbreaking conceptualizations advocated in the Game Localization field, this work seeks to combine the view of translation scholars with localization practitioners’ vantages, thanks to the author’s experience both in academia and in the specific industry. The localization paradigm will be investigated in relation to the main translation principles, in an attempt to explore this ostensible dichotomy. Hence, the history and the evolution of the localization of video games will be analysed, followed by an overview of the structure of the game localization industry. Finally, some practical examples of linguistic and cultural challenges related to the topic will be provided, along with a number of reflections on the future of the field. As it will be shown, the main argument of the paper is that Translation Studies have to take into account the fact that video games are not solely the latest product in the digital entertainment, but also a new media, prompting different mechanisms and dynamics in the process of adapting them in the Target Text so far unseen elsewhere, e.g. in movies, in books and even in productivity softwares. In turn, the industry should acknowledge the importance of some tenets belonging to the domain of Translation Studies which have passed unnoticed or deliberately underestimated, and start to include them in their rationales.

The importance of practical activities has been outlined in many articles and research studies. This study presents the way in which two novice and two expert teachers conduct practical activities in their intermediate phase in Natural Sciences and Technology (NST) classrooms and the challenges they face. This study was conducted in primary schools because researchers such as Mihret (2014, p.2) believe that "primary level science education is a cornerstone to lay a foundation to get young citizens interested in science". This study utilised a qualitative case study approach. The data was collected through classroom observations, open ended interviews and document analysis. The population of this study consisted of primary school teachers teaching Natural Sciences and Technology. The participants included two novice teachers and two expert teachers. The conceptual framework that guided this study emerged from the literature review. The conceptual framework of this study was based on concept of practical activity and the four pillared cognitive design framework. The findings of this study indicated that the way that novice and expert teachers conduct practical activities differ and they face different challenges when conducting practical activities. Novice teachers conduct teacher centred activities, they do not allow their learners to conduct independent practical activities, they use practical activities as a way to remind learners of the work done in the classroom and they mostly use previously developed worksheets during practical lessons. Expert teachers on the other hand conduct learner centred practical activities, they allow their learners to work independently and they do not always use worksheets in their practical activities. The findings also indicated that novice teachers face more challenges in their practical lessons than expert teachers. Novice teachers find it difficult to manage their learners' behaviour during practical lessons, they did not have confidence in their learners and they did not have effective disciplinary strategies. However, both novice and expert teachers had a challenge managing their time during their practical lessons.<br>Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016.<br>Science, Mathematics and Technology Education<br>MEd<br>Unrestricted

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is about the practical theological challenges faced by the AFM of SA Fountain of life congregation in the Winterveldt community. The Fountain of life congregation has minimal involvement in the community of Winterveldt, a community plagued by numerous life threatening plights. The congregation is in a survival mode after stagnating for a number of years and with serious challenges of declining or even facing possible extinction. This study's goal is to develop a practical theological theory, strategy and process which the AFM of SA Fountain of life congregation would be inspired to implement in order to contribute towards arresting theological, social, economical and moral degradation in the community of Winterveldt. The researcher employed a practical theological methodology and explored areas that are vital for the answering of the research problem, "What can be done in the Fountain of life congregation to maximize the participation of all members to serve the community of Winterveldt as well as the larger society?" It is hypothesized that Practical Theology will give the AFM of SA Fountain of life guidance and equip this faith community and its leaders theologically to consider their vocation, to develop a practical theological ecclesiology, a way to be the true, faithful and effective local church which is the salt and light of the world, including Winterveldt. The study explored the "world" in which Fountain of life finds itself, in terms of its contextual as well as the congregation's identity analysis. The normative aspects of being a missional church which covered the missional identity, empowerment and involvement of laity, and missional leadership were elaborated, while spiritual discernment with areas particular to Fountain of life received attention in the normative aspects of spiritual discernment. It is recommended that the identity of Fountain of life be grounded in the mission of the Trinitarian God (missio Dei of the Trinitarian God). The missionary identity and character of Fountain of life should be built and developed upon the eight dominant patterns found in a missional church. The researcher strongly encourages the Fountain of life congregation to employ the missional leadership strategies while engaging in a total involvement leadership style, which integrates high concern for getting the task completed and a high concern for good people relationship. The leadership of Fountain of life is further encouraged to use the suggested laity empowerment strategies in order to empower, develop, and involve the laity. Missional transformation can only succeed if the laity is empowered and committed to deal with new realities. Leadership is key in engaging the laity. The pastor and the leadership of Fountain of life must teach, educate, lead, and engage the congregation, and also partner with other communities of faith and organizations especially the South African Partnership for Missional Churches (SAPMC) to succeed. Fountain of life should practice missional praxis theology, a holistic theological model that describes the methodology for congregations to develop their own contextual ecclesiology within the parameters of God‘s overall design for the Church.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorsing handel oor die prakties-teologiese uitdagings van die Apostoliese Geloofsending (AGS) in Suid-Afrika se Fountain of life gemeente in Winterveldt (Tswane metropolitaanse area). Fountain of life het minimale invloed in die Winterveldt gemeenskap, 'n gemeenskap wat gebuk gaan onder baie ernstige sosiale probleme. Die gemeente is net besig om te oorleef, dit is stagnant en staar agteruitgang of algehele ondergang in die gesig. Die studie poog om teorie, strategie en ʼn proses te ontwikkel wat die Fountain of life gemeente in staat sal stel om ʼn bydrae te lewer om die algehele agteruitgang op teologiese, sosiale, ekonomiese en morele gebied, aan bande te lê en selfs om te keer. Die navorser gebruik ʼn prakties-teologiese benadering ter beantwoording van die navorsingsvraag: "Hoe kan die Fountain of life gemeente deelname van lidmate maksimaal benut sodat hulle Winterveldt en die groter gemeenskap kan bedien?" As die Fountain of life AGS gemeente die prakties-teologiese uitdagings wat die gemeenskap in die gesig staar, kan ondersoek en verstaan asook maniere vind om dit aan te spreek kan hulle die lot en swaarkry van die gemeenskap se mense help verlig. Die navorsing ondersoek die gemeente se bestaanswêreld, haar meer onmiddellike konteks asook haar identiteit. Wat is die normatiewe basis van ʼn missionale gemeente? Wat is die implikasies daarvan vir missionale identiteit? Hoe word lidmate bemagtig en hoe raak hulle betrokke? Wat behels missionale leierskap? Verder word baie klem geplaas op die normatiewe beginsels van geestelike onderskeidingsvermoë en wat dit in die praktyk vir die gemeente beteken. Die studie stel voor dat Fountain of life haar identiteit in die sending van die drie-enige God (missio Dei) leer vind. Die agt kenmerke van ʼn missionale gemeente behoort die identiteit van die gemeente te bepaal. Die navorser voel sterk dat die gemeente missionale leierskap strategieë moet implementeer. Dit behels volle oorgawe aan die taak sowel as ʼn volledige betrokkenheid by mense. Die gemeente se leierskap word aangemoedig om lidmate te bemagtig, te help om geestelik te ontwikkel en om in die kerk en gemeenskap betrokke te raak. Missionale transformasie kan alleen slaag as lidmate betrokke is, bemagtig is en bereid is om nuwe werklikhede te hanteer. Leierskap moet hiertoe verbind wees. Die plaaslike pastoor en die gemeente se leierskap moet lidmate toerus, voorgaan en betrokke kry. Hulle moet ook met ander geloofsgebaseerde organisasies netwerk, in die besonder die Suid-Afrikaanse Genootskap van Gestuurde Gemeentes. Fountain of life gemeente word opgeroep om missionaal en holisties teologie op ʼn praxis styl te beoefen sodat die gemeente ʼn eie kontekstuele ekklesiologie binne die koninkryk se parameters van die missio Dei kan ontdek.

Background: Cervical cancer may be fatal to women if not identified and treated early. In Iraq, cervical cancer ranks as the 10th most frequent cancer among women between 15-44 years of age, with about 291 new cervical cancer cases diagnosed annually. Cervical cancer can be prevented in two ways: primary prevention aimed at preventing HPV infection through prophylactic HPV vaccinations; and secondary prevention aimed at preventing precancerous lesions from progressing into invasive lesions through screening. Cervical cancer screening is under researched in Iraq. It is clear that Iraq’s years of isolation and disorder has resulted in a loss of research capacity. Aim: To provide evidence–based strategies to establish population based cervical cancer screening services in Iraq. Methods: A mixed methods sequential exploratory design was used; an iterative mixed method approach which included the triangulation of qualitative, quantitative and systematic review methods. Results of all phases were used to develop an emergent theory around the barriers for establishing cervical screening programme and to provide evidence to enhance cervical cancer screening services to be established in Iraq. Findings: The findings from the systematic review indicated significant health inequalities for Arab Muslim women, in that no population-based cervical cancer screening programmes have been implemented in most of Western Asian and Middle Eastern Arab countries. Findings from the qualitative phase revealed gap in theoretical and practical knowledge among the health care professionals regarding cervical cancer screening programmes with a lack of the capacity and infrastructure to establish population based cervical screening programme in Kirkuk, Iraq. Also, results suggest that the health behaviour of women living in Kirkuk is influenced by cultural ‘stigma’ around the word ‘cancer’, in addition to women’s lack of awareness in relation to smear test and cervical screening. Conclusion: Women in Iraq are more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced, rather than early stage of cervical cancer. These women should be targeted by cervical cancer screening and health education programmes. Policy makers need to improve the cervical screening infrastructure and make the cervical screening service more accessible to women. The current opportunistic cervical screening services are insufficient; there is an urgent need to developing cervical cancer intervention programmes.

The purpose of this study is to explore school principals’ perceptions of the possible effects and benefits of formal university-based education management development programmes (EMDPs) on their practical work in schools. It also aims to inquire into the kinds of challenges that principals in South Africa, specifically in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), are faced with in the post-apartheid era and their perceptions of the extent to which these EMDPs meet or fail to meet their needs and those of their schools. In this study I move from the basic premise that professional development is critical for all principals and that given the new conditions that exist in SA post-1994, more than ever, the ideal situation would be for all principals to be trained so as to enable them to deal effectively with the changed and constantly changing conditions that prevail in schools. The study is guided by the following general research question: What are the perceptions of school principals of the benefits of formal EMDPs on their practices in school? The following related questions are also addressed, namely i) What are the links between formal EMDPs and the needs of school principals? ii) What kinds of challenges do principals in KZN face in the post-apartheid era and what are their perceptions of the extent to which EMDPs have met or failed to meet their needs and those of their schools? Working in an interpretivist research paradigm within a qualitative research design, the inquiry used document analysis, content analysis of research literature and semi-structured interview methods. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach in an effort to make sense of the meanings that the participants, mainly the school principals, in this study give to their experiences of EMDPs. One of the main findings of this study is that some principals demonstrated the ability to reflect on their professional development programmes and to make connections between theory and research and some of the challenges that they encounter. The other main insights of the study include the following: a) Regarding their content and context, and according to the participants, EMDPs in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have major shortcomings in relation to needs assessment and analysis, programmatic aims and objectives, recruitment and selection of candidates, and field-based learning experiences. However, EMDPs are perceived to have been successful in areas such as understanding the environments for which principals need to be developed, the application of leadership and management development content to organisational settings, and in their modes of delivery. b) Although a majority of principals recognised the need to change and work within the new democratic environment ushered in by the new socio-political dispensation in SA, a few principals expressed their challenges with engaging in shared leadership and shared decision making in schools. c) Pertaining to the perceptions of school principals regarding the value of EMDPs in KZN, the majority of principals felt that although they were still struggling with a number of post-1994 challenges, EMDPs had equipped them, for the most part — albeit inadequately — to deal with the challenges that they face in schools. d) School principals highlighted what they saw as two significant aspects (emerging themes) in the professional development of principals: i. Though very critical of training workshops in their current form, school principals in this study saw training workshops as important vehicles for assisting principals to keep abreast of the developments in the leadership and management of their school, as a means for providing opportunities to share and learn from the experiences of others, and as an avenue for collaborative problem solving; ii. A majority of school principals emphasised what they regarded as the important role played by experiences beyond the formal education management development programmes, in the effective running of schools. Apart from presenting “thick descriptions” of the voices of school principals regarding the effects of the post-1994 changes on their practices and the extent to which EMDPs are perceived to have met principals and school needs, the significance of this study lies in plugging the gap of previous impact analysis studies by, amongst other things, not only focusing on the perceptions of the recipients of the EMDPs, but also focusing on the views of the EMDP providers and the policy makers. This study therefore presents critical insights which may be invaluable in the future development of EMDPs and in the improvement or modification of existing ones.<br>Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011.<br>Education Management and Policy Studies<br>unrestricted

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.<br>Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Philosophy. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Focus on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has intensified technical and financial support for up-scaling of interventions to improve the quality of life of over 900 million slum dwellers who lack access to adequate clean water, improved sanitation facilities, and security of tenure. One of the means for achieving the MDG Targets is to ‘up-scale', or institutionalize effective approaches, techniques, concepts, and programmes that result in bringing more quality benefits to more urban residents more quickly and more permanently. The challenge of up-scaling is in achieving sustainable results in a large number of communities rather than in planning and implementing large projects (World Bank 2005b). It is therefore essential to determine whether there is evidence to justify support for up-scaling.

Uncertainty in software development and business environment and the need to increase thespeed of development have driven organizations to search for methods that are responsive toboth change and speed. Providing iterative development, agile development involvescustomers and users through different phases of development, and delivers frequent releasesof software to customer while receives the corresponding feedback. Using this approach, agiledevelopment thus aims at addressing mentioned issues of speed and uncertainty whiledeveloping only what customer needs from the beginning of the project. On the other hand,distributed software development is used in many organizations to reach global talent andglobal market. The problems associated with distributed software development such as lack ofenough communication and team coherency, have forced project managers to combine it withagile to mitigate these social problems. This study focuses on distributed agile development,its suitability for a typical project and its challenges and deficiencies. Text analysis andinterviews using qualitative methods are used in this scientific research work. From thetheoretical view point, different text covering agile methodology, distributed development andcombination of them were considered. This study covered two parts: first, an evaluation ofagile and distributed development opportunities and problems to help determine whether ornot distributed development is suitable for a project and second, considering the challengesonce starting to use this method and practices required to regard them. For the empirical part,the focus was put on Volvo IT employees by having seven interviews with members who arecurrently active in distributed agile development. These interviews were used to compare andverify the finding of the theoretical part. The results of the study were categorized into twosections. In the first part, important elements required to verify the suitability of using thismethod are provided. The recommended factors for this evaluation are cost, productivity,customer, team structure, etc. In the second part, the challenges of using distributed agiledevelopment were categorized into four parts: (a) challenges of selected agile method, whichthe focus in this study is Scrum, (b) challenges with time-zone differences, (c) communicationchallenges and (d) finally team building challenges. The required practices to address thesechallenges were also provided.<br>Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the challenges that modern firms have to face in recruiting talents, the practices to overcome the skill shortages and the new frontiers of recruitment. In particular, the first part is dedicated to an overview of the labour market situation, characterised from one hand by an increasing level of unemployment, and from the other, by a lack of professional skills and expertise to fill vacant positions. The discussion continues with the practices and issues that companies must consider in organizing a successful recruitment campaign: employer branding, classical and new recruitment practices and talent pooling, with a particular focus on millennials’ attraction. Subsequently, social recruitment is analysed in detail, describing its roots in the e-recruitment practice, the trends, the theories that explain its success and its advantages and disadvantages. In particular, the LinkedIn case study deepens the understanding of the phenomenon, analysing its business plan and focusing on the services provided to firms paying the premium account. The analysis of LinkedIn corporation is enriched by an interview to a representative of the Italian division of the firm and by a comparison with competitors, in order to appreciate the reasons behind its success.

All people experience pain and for some people, acute pain may over time develop into long-term disabling problems. Already at an early stage, it is possible to identify people at risk for long-term problems and psychologically oriented interventions have been shown to successfully prevent future disability. However, not all people are helped by treatment and there is room for improvement. Moreover, subgroups of people suffering from pain, with different profiles of psychological factors have been identified, indicating that people with pain problems differ. The first aim of this dissertation was to improve the understanding of how people differ. The second aim was to use these individual differences and to match people to psychological treatment based on their psychological profile. The third aim was to explore what happens during treatment that might be important for treatment outcome. The findings show that people who belonged to subgroups with elevated levels of psychological factors had less favorable outcomes over time, despite treatment, than people with no elevations. Moreover, people with elevations in several psychological factors had even less favorable outcomes. Psychological treatments aimed at preventing future disability performed well, but using profiles to match people to treatment did not improve outcomes further; people who were matched to a treatment and people who were unmatched had similar outcomes. However, the profiles used for matching were unstable over time and there is need to improve the identification of psychological variables used for treatment matching. Finally, a number of psychological factors were shown to be valuable targets for treatment; if the treatments successfully produced change in people’s thoughts and emotions related to pain the treatment outcomes were better. The findings were summarized in a flow chart showing the recommended clinical approach to people seekinghealth care for acute pain problems.

Many military children face obstacles during their lives, and these obstacles can affect their classroom environment due to their mobility, social-emotional behavior, and academics. The purpose of this study was to identify challenges, if any, that teachers indicate exist while educating military-connected students in public schools and teacher actions to address any challenges. Existing literature on military connected students and teacher perceptions of military-connected challenges was reviewed. This study examined teacher perceptions of the challenges, responses to challenges and training these teachers experienced while teaching military-connected students. A Likert-type survey of questions was administered through an online survey tool to elementary school teachers in two public school divisions in Virginia. The survey instrument was developed by Mittleberg (2014). After collecting the data, the researcher examined and analyzed data based on the survey responses. The following research questions were addressed: <ol> <li>What challenges do teachers identify related to educating military-connected students?</li> <li>What practices do teachers use to address the perceived challenges?</li> <li>What do teachers indicate as their level of training to teach military-connected students?</li></ol> The study concluded with eight findings and eight implications. The findings provided teachers with the tools necessary to address the needs of military-connected students as well as provided schools and school divisions with information that could impact their professional learning decisions. Findings included but were not limited to how teachers perceived that assessment of students' background knowledge was a challenge when teaching military-connected students, how filling in students' knowledge gaps was a challenge, and how adjustment to students leaving and arriving at various times during the school year were a challenge when teaching military-connected students. A few implications were, school leaders should investigate ways to assist teachers in assessing students' background knowledge. It should be a consideration that personnel be provided with resources to help focus on meeting the needs of the students who have knowledge gaps and the development of a handbook of team building and getting to know you resources should be given to teachers to assist in building a strong classroom environment.<br>Doctor of Education<br>There are many public school divisions in the United States that service military-connected students. Of the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is at least one military-connected student in each school division. According to Wykes (2015), Virginia is one of the top 10 states for military presence with 10% (Wykes, 2015, p. 23). Teachers in these school divisions face perceived challenges that need to be addressed. Some of those challenges include mobility, academics, and the social-emotional well-being of the military- connected student. This quantitative study focused on the perceived challenges public school teachers face when teaching military-connected students. Data were collected using a Likert-type survey with participants from two school divisions who service military-connected students. There were limitations in this study beyond the researcher's control such as the accuracy and honesty by the respondents and response rate. This study produced eight findings and eight implications. Of the eight findings, three were teachers perceived the adjustment to students leaving and arriving at various times, having a routine in place when new military-connected students arrive into the classroom after the start of the school year, and receiving the level of training needed to prepare them to support parents/guardians of military connected students in their classroom were a challenge. A few of the implications included, the need for teacher preparation programs to address the challenges military connected students face, the development of a handbook of team building activities for teachers to use in the classroom as a resource and the need for resources that could focus on meeting the needs of students' knowledge gaps to support those military connected students.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-72).<br>Real property has been called the corporation's last undermanaged resource. However, during the past decade, companies have begun to concentrate more on what constitutes 25 to 40% of a typical corporation's assets. US corporate real estate assets amount to greater than $3 trillion and real estate expenses are typically second or third highest on the corporate ledger, only behind payroll and sometimes technology. Corporate executives have begun to realize the business value real estate can have. Facilities lacking the proper location, finance, design, or the proper amount of flexibility required to manage internal and external uncertainties can negatively impact the corporation's bottom line. Meanwhile, strategic planning increases in importance in the international setting due to the risks and rewards of executing business strategies increases at the international level. The collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe has opened twenty-eight countries to free markets. Corporations are hungry to expand into these markets which offer the opportunity of serving over 400 million customers. Uncertainties are heightened in transitional economies, making international corporate real estate management that much more challenging. This thesis research was a qualitative exploration of the corporate real estate challenges and practices in one particular transitional economy, Ukraine. Corporate real estate in Ukraine was found to be transactional in nature, not strategic. Almost all decisions are made locally. The challenges found in Ukraine center around an immature administrative infrastructure along with corporate efforts to control the costs associated with real estate. Although complex, the challenges found in Ukraine do not preclude participation in the market; rather, they merely impede the process.<br>by Victor Smetana.<br>S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, February 2007.<br>"January 2007."<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-103).<br>Economic and market forces as well as technological progress emerging throughout the last decade signifies the Geographically Distributed Development (GDD) or Global Software Development (GSD) as a software industry norm or necessity that is receiving considerable interest from companies all over the world. This thesis clarifies the terms used in distributed development practice, studies the status, key business drivers and major challenges of GDD or GSD, and then proposes a revised six-force framework to leverage the capabilities of geographically distributed development model. The proposed framework covers both the strategic and tactic aspects of investing and managing a global project team, including Strategic Vision and Management Skills, Organizational Structure and Team Building, Collaborative Technologies, Development Methodology and Software Life-Cycle Management in planning and managing distributed project and leveraging global teams. This thesis uses a case study to validate the challenges and concerns identified and to conclude that many problems in geographically distributed development can be overcome to enable companies to systematically harness the potential of this development model.<br>by Yuhong Yin.<br>S.M.

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.<br>Ground handling is a key component of the air transport logistics supply chain as it facilitates the mobility of cargo and people from one destination to another. Ground handling facilitates international trade hence its existence is critical to the competitiveness of a nation. Airline businesses usually overshadow ground handling due to the historical dominance of airlines in the aviation industry. The importance and effectiveness of the ground handling function as part of the air transport business is fast becoming a global issue as the industry is slowly emerging. The following tenets of ground handling are fast becoming key issues in the air transport business: passenger handling, cargo handling, handling ramp handling, baggage handling, equipment, safety, security, and human resources. Ground handling players are mainly concerned with productivity, profitability and maximising returns on investment. Dwindling revenue, unsustainable profit margins, low productivity and low customer satisfaction and loyalty are terms no shareholder or business leader wants to hear. This research will give insight into ground handling best practices that are a panacea for the industry. The ground handling business is time sensitive and requires massive investment. Therefore, sustainable best practices are the right ingredient for customer loyalty and business success. The focus on ground handling in South Africa and Zimbabwe will help in assessing the level of development in each country. This will aid in recommending best practices for the industry taking into account different country-specific risks and operational conditions. There are few studies in the field of ground handling and it is an industry not many individuals know about. Many ground-handling executives admit that the industry absorbed them by accident and not by design. They only realise the importance of the industry when they are in it. This research is a practical study meant to bring out solutions to the industry.

Explores the relationship between nontraditional science education practices, structured by campaigns such as Public Understanding of Science (PUS) and Scientific Literacy (SL), and the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), using ethnographic work with the Choices and Challenges Project at Virginia Tech as a â point of entryâ (Smith 1987) for a broader discussion. It points to the difficulty of â doingâ theory and practice at the same time. While affirming that there is no easy solution to the hard work of situating local, nontraditional science education practices within a critical theoretical tradition such as STS, this project also provides recommendations for a new framework to conceptualize a more productive interaction between the practice of nontraditional science education and the theory of STS. <p>In a postscript, I conclude by urging all researchers within the field of STS to begin to recognize that maintaining the false split between our academic research, undergraduate teaching, university outreach, and community involvement is a failed project. As STS researchers, I believe it is, in fact, our obligation to our local and global communities to adopt an interventionist strategy and to use our work â without apology â for directly political ends. Challenging the technoscientific-political context in which we live always involves a level of real risk â but it is also our only opportunity to achieve real success. Our participation in this challenge is a responsibility to ourselves and to our communities that we must recognize and accept. This participation should not be shunned, but rather applauded.<br>Master of Science

Living in the era of globalization and the Internet, the demand for faster innovation cycles is increasing. Thus companies have the aim to explore new innovation strategies. Therefore the basis of this study is to investigate the development from the traditional way of innovation to Open Innovation practices. If companies want to get a benefit of Open Innovation, many structural and cultural changes have to be overcome. The protection of company secrecies and the retention of the core competencies are the most elementary factors, which have to be considered if external stakeholders are involved in the innovation process. In addition to that, the purpose of this is to examine and declare the limitations and challenges of Open Innovation strategies. Through a multiple case study of three companies, including semi-structured interviews with key individuals, who have extensive experiences in the research and development department, the empirical findings are deducted and connected with the framework. Furthermore the gathered data is analysed on the basis of a research model, which was developed from the existing literature. The research model contains the most common challenges when adopting Open Innovation. These challenges are intellectual property, flexibility, internal structure, trust, acceptance and integration. In the course of this study, different significant manifestations of the respective factors were determined. Moreover it can be identified that some factors are related to each other or have several similarities. This study shows that the structure and the size of a company is the most crucial challenge by adopting Open Innovation practices in the ongoing innovation process. The challenge of company size is affecting the corporate and process structures. This includes the organization of intellectual property as well as the cooperation with companies of different sizes. The second important challenge is the generic term of trust, which is related to the overall acceptance of the company towards Open Innovation. Moreover, the factor of trust is influencing the level of integration of suppliers and customers in the innovation process. To find the right balance between trusting and supporting the internal innovation department and be open for external knowledge is the key factor for success. Additionally, it can be recommended to implement a central innovation department, which is only responsible for Open Innovation.

Bhutan is an emerging country with transitioning economy with a vision to become an ICT knowledge-based information society. Many government organizations, businesses and individuals are adopting the Internet for day to day operations and activities. With increasing dependency on information systems, networks, and the Internet; securing and protecting Bhutan’s cyberspace from malicious attackers and cyber criminals is a serious concern. Few scholarly studies related to cybersecurity have been conducted in developing countries. No scholarly and empirical research has been conducted in Bhutan to understand how the government is addressing and managing cybersecurity. This has resulted in a critical knowledge gap that must be addressed urgently through empirical research to guide government policy makers, security professionals and practitioners to develop and implement cybersecurity program. This thesis investigates the development and implementation of cybersecurity policies and practices in government organizations in Bhutan. A sequential mixed methods research design was employed to collect primary data on cybersecurity risks, effectiveness of cybersecurity policies and practices, and perceptions of cybersecurity in government organizations. The research also used secondary data sources such as government reports, print and social media, to validate the results of the research study. The findings suggest that government organizations in Bhutan are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks, such as malware and hacking, and that they lack adequate knowledge and awareness of cybersecurity, cybersecurity policies and procedures, technical controls, and incident response capabilities. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that the use of pirated software and expired security products in many government organizations is rampant and offsets the effectiveness of technical measures. Based on the research findings and analysis, a government cybersecurity framework is proposed, highlighting the key areas necessary for improving cybersecurity in government organizations. It is hoped that the outcomes and findings of this research will benefit other ICT emerging countries.

Since 9/11, both in the Middle East and worldwide, the academic, political and religious focus on extreme radicalisation has intensified. The attacks carried out in Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by Al-Qaeda in 2003, motivated a succession of bombings within and outside of the Kingdom. These events have led to a plethora of general and specific studies to understand the phenomenon of extremism. This thesis investigates radicalisation in Saudi Arabia since 2001, focusing on the impact of Al-Qaeda and its impact on individuals and the state. It specifically focuses on the role of the Mohammed bin Naif Centre for Counselling, Rehabilitation and Care, in this context referred to as ‘the Centre’, analysing its function as a tool for the ‘soft power’ strategy that has been initiated by the Saudi Arabian Government, intended to de-radicalise individuals who are perceived by the state to have been misled. The study uses a detailed literature review to unpack the historical trends regarding the origins of Saudi Arabia, the political differences therein, as well as the different religious interpretations which are attributed as being a root cause of discontent which thereby leads to radicalisation and violent extremism in the region. In this thesis, I trace the various schools of thought regarding the treatment of religion and governance in relation to local and international politics, and how this impacts upon the radicalisation of individuals. A Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) approach is used to highlight the need to view studies on security from a reflexive perspective, both in the researcher and the researched subject matter, namely the terrorist organisations and the governments against which they are fighting. The concept of governance is analysed and how this either precipitates or prevents dissent that results in violence. In addition, the political and religious solutions to radicalisation are assessed, with a specific focus on the de-radicalisation process, as reflected through a qualitative research on the views and thinking of the practitioners working in the Centre. In this context, I investigate the motives, roles, responsibilities and strategies used in executing their roles, with the aim of seeking possible explanations for the causes of radicalisation and the challenges faced in de-radicalising individuals. Their views are used to form the main basis for the data for this research. This study should be of interest to politicians, security experts, academics, religious leaders, Islamic scholars and interested individuals. It will be a valuable contribution towards an understanding of the causes, consequences and possible solutions to addressing Islamic extremism and radicalisation.

L'organisation de la fonction publique française connait de profondes mutations depuis le début des années 2000. Cette thèse examine la capacité du système de recrutement et de gestion des enseignants à répondre aux enjeux d'attractivité, d'efficacité et de diversité au cœur des projets actuels de modernisation du système éducatif. Le premier chapitre examine la neutralité du processus de recrutement des enseignants du secondaire vis-à-vis du genre. Il révèle que des biais d'évaluation existent et tendent à favoriser le genre minoritaire, contribuant ainsi à renforcer la mixité au sein des disciplines universitaires. Les deuxième et troisième chapitres examinent la capacité des incitations monétaires, de la demande d'enseignants et des exigences en matière de diplômes à attirer davantage et potentiellement de meilleurs candidats aux postes d'enseignant. Une hausse du niveau de diplôme requis pour enseigner (réforme de la "masterisation") ne semble pas améliorer l'efficacité du recrutement en termes d'attractivité, de profils de compétences et de diversité. Le quatrième chapitre examine la relation entre absentéisme, mobilité et conditions de travail des enseignants. Il montre que les écoles et les directeurs d'école influencent significativement les absences, les départs et le bien-être psychologique des enseignants. Le manque de soutien hiérarchique, les comportements hostiles et l'intensité du travail semblent jouer un rôle particulièrement important<br>The organization of the French civil service has undergone profound changes since the early 2000s. This thesis examines the capacity of the teacher recruitment and management system to meet the challenges of attractiveness, efficiency and diversity at the heart of current projects to modernize the education system. The first chapter examines the gender neutrality of the recruitment process for secondary school teachers. It reveals that evaluation biases tend to favor the minority gender and contribute to strengthening the gender diversity within university disciplines. The second and third chapters examine the ability of monetary incentives, teacher demand and degree requirements to attract more and potentially better candidates for teaching positions. An increase in the level of qualification required to teach (from bachelor's to master's level) does not seem to improve the effectiveness of recruitment in terms of attractiveness, skills profiles and diversity. The fourth chapter examines the relationship between absenteeism, mobility and working conditions of teachers. It shows that schools and school principals significantly influence teacher absences, turnover and psychological well-being. Lack of hierarchical support, hostile behaviors and work intensity seem to play a critical role

Over the recent years the UK construction industry has seen an increasing level of interest in the use of design and build (D&B) as a construction procurement method. This appears to be mainly driven by an attempt by the industry to increase the level of integration in what is generally viewed as a fragmented industry. The main advantages associated with this procurement method that have been cited in reviewed literature have been numerous. Key advantages appear to be the following: single point responsibility for the whole project delivery encompassing design and construction, early contractor involvement resulting in potential cost savings and earlier completion, easy constructability and minimisation of design and construction risk to clients. Despite its perceived increase in adoption over the last decade as supported by the relatively recent Contracts in use survey in 2010 by the RICS, the construction industry is still experiencing problems associated with D&B procurement. This highlights the need to explore further how this procurement method is being used in practice. The exploration adopted in this research involves identification and evaluation of challenges encountered by key participants (clients, contractors and designers). In addition such an exploration is buttressed by the identification and evaluation of practice based enablers that key participants have used/proposed to use in order to manage better the challenges they have encountered with this procurement method. The nature of the problem investigated in this research is characteristically exploratory, fluid and flexible, data driven and context-sensitive. As a result a combination of in-depth review of related literature, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey were used as main research techniques. The questionnaire survey was targeted at a wider and a different audience to the one used in semi-structured interviews. This approach was adopted in order to gain a holistic insight into this multi-faceted problem. The research shows that adopting D&B procurement method does not necessarily result in integration of design and construction processes. Significant time and effort will need to be spent in creating and facilitating integrative processes and systems to ensure that the gap between the theory and practice of D&B procurement is covered. D&B is not a one size fit all procurement method and each project characteristics and requirements needs to be methodically reviewed and understood to ensure that this fits with the unique features of D&B procurement method. The research implications mainly relate to the D&B procurement practice. Given the practice based enablers that it generates this has direct implications on how practitioners go about applying the processes and methods that facilitate integration of design and construction in a D&B procurement method set up. This, therefore, goes a long way to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of D&B procurement method. This potentially leads to unlocking this integrative procurement method’s benefits that were not previously realised. The output of this research is a framework for facilitating better integration of design and construction processes. Additionally the framework can also be used as a tool kit for effective use and for acting as an enabler for the flow and realization of potential benefits associated with D&B procurement method. It is expected that this framework will help in providing the much needed guidance to users (in particular infrequent/inexperienced users) of the D&B procurement method.

Background: Rheumatology is a field of practice that is undergoing many changes, leading to growing demand for rheumatology practitioners to keep up-to-date about the research developments in their field and to implement new findings and recommendations into clinical practice. Research within implementation science has shown that there are numerous barriers to the clinical use of research-based knowledge in health care. Implementation of evidencebased practice (EBP) requires a great deal of learning on the part of practitioners. It is likely that practitioners in rheumatology face similar challenges to those in other clinical fields, but there is a paucity of research concerning the implementation of EBP in rheumatology and the learning required. Aims: The overall aim of the research project was to generate knowledge concerning the learning challenges associated with evidence-based practice in rheumatology. Methods: Qualitative methods were used to explore the use of knowledge sources in rheumatology nursing and the learning opportunities in clinical rheumatology for participants belonging to five professional groups. Quantitative methods sought to examine to what extent evidence-based practice was implemented in clinical rheumatology practice and which individual and organizational factors affected research use. A theory-based study analysed the learning processes associated with achieving an evidence-based practice. Results: Four sources of knowledge were identified for rheumatology nursing practice: interaction with other people in the workplace (peers in particular) and previous knowledge and experience were perceived as preferred sources of knowledge, while written materials and contacts outside the workplace were less privileged. Learning opportunities occurring during daily practice were perceived by participants of all professional groups to consist predominantly of interactions with professional peers in the workplace. Participants perceived a lack of recognized learning opportunities such as continuing professional education and regular participation in rheumatology-specific courses and conferences. Participants also expressed that time for reflection and up-dating knowledge was short in everyday clinical work. The quantitative data showed that while the general interest for EBP was high in rheumatology practice, individual interest and professional self-efficacy related to EBP varied. A longer work-experience in rheumatology, better self-efficacy concerning the use research-based knowledge and more experience from research activities were positively associated with the use of research in practice. The theoretical analysis showed that challenges of implementing evidence-based practice concern not only the acquisition of research-based knowledge and the integration of this knowledge in practice, but also the abandonment of outdated practices. Conclusions: In this thesis, implementation of EBP in rheumatology has been shown to be a complex issue. Social, contextual and individual aspects were found to be involved in the learning processes, the use of knowledge sources and learning opportunities, as well as in the EBP-relevant behaviours that are enacted in clinical rheumatology. The thesis hopes to contribute to a better understanding of the learning challenges in connection with the implementation of EBP in rheumatology practice.

This thesis explores the challenges and barriers that influence women's engagement with ICTs in Muslim countries, particularly in Pakistan. It examines the extent to which ICT policies, plans and strategies for 24 countries refer to women, and the implications that this has for their experience of ICTs. It analyses the cultural and social constraints on women's engagement with ICTs. Empirical research was conducted in five regions of Pakistan using documentary analysis, interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. The research shows that involving women in the ICT policy formulation process does not necessarily guarantee effective and inclusive ICT policies. Supporting Thas et al. (2007) and Chowdhury and Khanam (2005) it suggests that women from diverse sections of society with real knowledge of cultural and social contexts need to be involved in policy making if it is to be of benefit to women. Building on the work of Wanasundera (2006) and Hafkin (2002), the research suggests that ICT policies cannot be gender-neutral in countries such as Pakistan, where prevailing patriarchal social structures limit understandings of the constraints faced by women in effectively utilising ICTs in their individual and collective interests. The use and impact of ICTs depends greatly on class, education and geographical location (Gurumurthy, 2004; Jorge, 2002). ICT policies/programmes appear to cater mainly for the needs of wealthy, upper and middle class educated urban women. Thus ICTs have negligible benefits for the lower class poor, uneducated rural women (Arun et al., 2004). This research also highlights critical gaps in our understanding of the interface between ICTs, women and development (Momsen, 2004). Women face a wide range of social barriers in their use of ICTs, based on their environments, immersed in tradition and cultural norms. This research identifies substantial barriers that appear to be unaddressed in the design of ICT projects and guidebooks.

Public urban green spaces are crucial parts of cities due to the many connections existing between urban greenery and well-being. Additionally, public urban green space represents a wide range of spatial concepts, such as parks, urban forests, commons, in-between-spaces, and gardens. This study explores challenges for contemporary public urban green space in an increasingly urban world, with high demands on urban growth, and simultaneously the need for more sustainable societies and cities. The aim is to problematize the complex reality for contemporary public urban green space from an urban planning perspective in times of urban densification strategies, global competitiveness between cities and trends of ‘re-naturing’.   The scope of this thesis is based on four high profile case studies. The Green Walkable City in Stockholm and The Green Living Spaces in Birmingham constitute planning strategies with a holistic approach to urban green space, including a strong focus on well-being. The High Line in New York and Parklets in San Francisco represent urban green space concepts, influential both at the local level and in the larger urban planning debate. The results point to a need to acknowledge the complexity inherent to urban green space provision, design, and management. This study contributes with insights of direct connections between narratives of nature, materialized urban greenery projects and conceptualizations of functionality of nature in urban planning projects. From the post-industrial, pristine flirting, crafted wilderness of the High Line; a symbolic but cosmetic scrambling with planters and narratives of parks of parklets; dualistic argumentations of natural values connected to quality over quantity of nature in a densifying and growing Stockholm; to pragmatic yet emotional and ambitious conceptualizations of human nature in biohilic urbanism and green space planning in Birmingham. Gentrification, publicness and production of public space and densification strategies are central themes in urban studies – and public urban green space can play an active role in these processes.<br><p>QC 20160518</p>

This study examines the challenges and opportunities for the professional development of teacher educators in a leading teacher education university in Pakistan. It underpins the participatory and sociocultural perspectives of learning to gain insight into teacher educators’ learning. This research deployed a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach, using questionnaires followed by semi-structured interviews. Interviews were conducted with teacher educators, heads of the departments, campus principals and higher management personnel. The study highlights the fact that the teacher educators do not have any formal permanent system of professional development. The findings further reveal the diverse professional characteristics of teacher educators in terms of experience in teaching, research and professional qualifications, which lead to varied learning experiences and professional challenges to teacher educators in their respective roles. Beginner teacher educators with no professional qualification and inadequate teaching and research experience face more challenges in meeting the demands of the higher education settings. Teaching appears to be the major professional role of teacher educators in comparisons to curriculum design, mentoring or engagement in research. This study raises a number of issues regarding professional adequacy and entry requirements of teacher educators, as well as the status of the field of teacher education in Pakistan. A key finding of this study is the contested context of the University as a workplace, which inhibited the professional relationship of teacher educators. This resulted in a balkanized culture, which challenged the learning of teacher educators. In addition, inequitable and insufficient access to resources, lack of professional support from management and excessive workloads limited the opportunities for learning. The study also highlights the fact that teacher educators are relying more on peer and self-learning. However, peer-learning was not evenly observed across all campuses. This research improves our understanding of Community of Practice showing that the concept needs to consider power, culture and disentangle the relationship between working conditions and learning. It also gives insight to the conceptualization of workplace affordances by seeing that such affordances are both personal and institutional. In terms of looking at Eraut’s ideas of informal learning, this research adds to our understanding that it is not just learning and contextual factors (institutional factors) which affect the learning of the individuals but also their professional context. In this research, professional context includes professional experiences (teacher educators’ repertoires in teaching and research), qualifications, their differentiated roles and positions. By doing so the research has added to the discourse of informal learning and provides an empirical study in the field of teacher education. In addition, this research provides deeper insight of teacher educators’ learning, and can assist in designing and strengthening the professional development opportunities for teacher educators in Pakistan.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, 2017<br>An analysis of the social service practitioners’ practice tools in Africa towards the enhancement of professional responsibility to the client system is essential including investigating the ethical dilemmas experienced by the practitioners daily. These tools serve as sources of evaluating social work practice and administration that spur practitioners to provide a virtuous professional service and as enlightenment for the effective, efficient and reflective practice. The National Association of Social Workers (2008) and the South African Council of Social Service Professional (SACSSP, 2005) and their ethical values and principles served as this study principal document that directed this research venture. The researcher sought to understand the nature and extent of the challenges facing social work practitioners and administrators and compared their experiences within two different geo-political zones of Africa. Hence, the research philosophy engaged the “diamond metaphor,”in the sense it is multifaceted and within a blended research paradigm. It depicts the uniqueness and value of each study area. The study employed the comparison-evaluative approach depicting a Multi-Phase-Transformative mixed methods research design characterised by a six way dimensionalapproach of explorative, evaluative, descriptive, comparative, qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to reconnoiter the experiences of social work practitioners 135 and 47 administrators which in total 182 respondents from three different regions namely: KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and Lagos State and Imo State (Nigeria). Each setting for data collection differs within a multi-level mode and each data including the tested hypotheses were refined to actualise the subject situation and the analytical discussion of the methodology components. Data that was gleaned from the dispersed research tools used for the study were analysed by the utilisation of descriptive statistics, multiple comparisons and post hoc test correlations in testing the stated hypotheses with the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 21.0). However, the thematic gleaning of the responses was deciphered through discourse analysis (Soini and Birkeland, 2014:215-216; Gross, Alba, Glass, Schellenberg and Obrist, 2012:3). The findings of the study revealed that rural social work interventions are directly weakened by a poor support system that the social workers experience, thus, the lack of proper literacy and qualification levels in the rural areas largely contributes to weaker social work interventions in both Nigeria and South Africa. Furthermore, the study revealed that administrators avail themselves to more continuous professional development than the social workers do, while the overall qualification attributes for the respondents needed upgrading to cater for specialised areas. The study revealed that the lack of the analysed and aligned training needs of individual practitioners serves in fact to clog personal development plans which the subsequently affects the development of work plans and the signing of performance agreement job descriptions, thus, the policies are not then applied. The study’s results indicated that the administrators’ gendered pattern impacted significantly on the ethical code outcome in the study areas. Outcome analysis confirmed that thesocial workers’ understanding of ethical code application has significantly correlated with their integer years of practice experience, whereas, the perceived difficulties presumably had partial correlations within the study areas. Moreover, the ethics concerning the integrity of profession, the professional responsibility, the service delivery and the competence/confidentiality explained for the integer years of practice experience. Furthermore, the integer years significantly ensure that social workers are coping with ethical dilemmas on familiarity and their professed complaint anxieties on the Ethical Code in the three study areas. Conversely, the study advocated for the assimilation of interactional justice approach that would enhance advocacy on social justice, human rights and professional accountability as well as stimulate competence within the bucolic social worker’s career. Social justice cognizance should be visible within the equity on performance. The study’s recommendations included advocating for quality rural social work interventional support and improvement on qualification and literacy level in the rural areas; also that there should be the recognition of a greater prioritisation of NASW/SACSSP ethical codes. As such, experienced practitioners should mentor newer practitioners to enhance effective and efficient professional responsibility with client-systems. Additional studies should explore the professional responsibility of practitioners amid the Service Charter for Victims of Crime (victims’ charter) designed to uphold social justice and to nurture a human rights philosophy in guaranteeing the material, psychosocial and emotional needs of victims. Hence, further research on utilising the study’s finding models for urban domain and proper professional training, adherence to these models and awareness of legal ethics is recommended. Further studies should focus on examining administrators-practitioners relationship outcome to policies regulations as they are geared towards the Code; likewise to inspect social entrepreneurial activity using the Service Delivery Model to re-bolster industrial social work.

Includes bibliographical references.<br>Children often present to the Emergency Centre (EC) with painful injuries, or conditions which require painful or upsetting interventions to diagnose or treat. Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) refers to the pharmacologic technique of managing the child’s pain and anxiety. The appropriate management of pain and anxiety in the EC is a significant facet of emergency care for all patients, especially in paediatric patients.1 This is achieved partly by the administration of sedative, dissociative, or analgesic drugs which alter awareness, completely sedate the patient, reduce or eliminate pain.2,3,4 PSA is an essential component of Emergency Medicine practice and is a core skill acquired in Emergency Medicine training programs. There is good evidence that proactively addressing pain and anxiety may improve quality of care and patient satisfaction by facilitating interventional procedures and minimizing patient suffering.5

Research on organisational learning (OL) was mainly positioned within the psychological and sociological domains. Past and extant research on OL focused on the behavioural, cognitive and intuitive perspectives in addition to a growing track of research grounded on social theory. So far, a countless number of research studies attempted to address inter-organisational learning (IOL) from various perspectives. However, the lack of understanding of how IOL occurs in networks can be observed due to the social tensions that are created at the inter-organisational level such as free-riding and knowledge leakage. This thesis, therefore, aims to draw theoretical explanations of IOL and how it occurs in learning networks, taking into consideration similarities and contradictions amongst a network’s participating organisations. Towards this end, the thesis employs two theoretical lenses, namely structure-agency and social exchange theories to draw conclusions that provide fresh explanations of how networks are helpful in fostering or hindering learning activities in addition to how reciprocity as an efficacy device mediates IOL dynamics. Positioned within a qualitative vein, the thesis employs an interpretive perspective to collect and analyse empirical evidence. The qualitative data were developed through a mixture of participant observations, semi-structured interviews and casual conversations with network administrators and participants. The data were analysed using thematic analysis which generated codes, following which conclusions were drawn. The main contributions of this article are (1) unfolding the network as agency which provides a fresh understanding of how the agential role of networks mediates IOL and (2) drawing a framework of dimensions of reciprocal exchanges that explains how IOL occurs in networks. The first conclusion of this thesis explained how the agential role is socially constructed and how the interpretive device facilitated this construction. The second conclusion of this thesis explained how reciprocal exchanges mediate IOL and provide a framework that suggested IOL can be better understood through temporal, spatial, directional and symmetrical perspectives.

Over the past decade, and particularly since the publication of The National Plan for Music Education (DfE, 2011), there has been increasing opportunity for community musicians in England to work with young people with challenging behaviour in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and in Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBD) Units. This study identifies and discusses six key elements that influence community music delivery in these settings. These elements are: what the children bring, organizing structures, ideas and materials, focus and energy, reflection and reflexivity and the intentions of the leader. These elements emerged from the data collected through the study. This study combined action research and grounded theory. It employed a number of data collection methods, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus group work and a literature review. The environment of PRUs and EBD Units are based on formal schooling but are both volatile and academically ineffective (Taylor, 2012). Community musicians, who frequently work outside the curriculum, need insights and understandings beyond traditional educational practice if they are to be successful in engaging children in these environments. Community music practice addresses not only musical but also personal and social development. This, and the nature of PRUs, and of the children within them, makes the work complex. Through understanding the role all six elements can play in shaping the child’s experience, the community musician can use this knowledge to develop programmes that address these children’s complex needs, allow them to place themselves at the centre of their own learning and encourage their ownership of their own creative expression. This can give them a sense of meaning for their own often troubled histories and may offer them a pathway to reconstructing their own self concept away from conferred negative identities as excluded children towards seeing themselves as learners and musicians.

Student placements have become increasingly difficult to obtain yet private practice continues to be under-utilised for placements. Using case study methodology across five private practices, this study aimed to explore the impact of student placements in SLP private practice from multiple perspectives. Private practitioner perspective was explored to investigate the benefits and challenges in facilitating student placements, the strategies used to manage challenges, and the impact of placements on client services and practice income. Content analysis identified: the benefits to clients, practitioners, practices and students and, more broadly, to the profession; challenges as perceived by private practitioners; and strategies that were used to successfully facilitate placements. Client satisfaction in receiving student-delivered services in SLP private practice was captured. Clients completed surveys that explored their levels of satisfaction with receiving student-delivered services and the aspects of the services with which they were satisfied or dissatisfied. Thematic analysis of data from open-ended questions revealed themes and subthemes that contribute to our understanding of the aspects of student-delivered services with which clients were satisfied. Student satisfaction with having a placement in SLP private practice was also explored. Students completed surveys indicating their level of satisfaction, the aspects of the placement with which they were satisfied or dissatisfied, and their perception of the placement’s effectiveness. The findings from the three perspectives explored in this research indicate that student placements are possible in SLP private practice, and that they have a positive impact from the perspectives of clients, students and private practitioners. Further research is required to capture the specific aspects and frameworks of the successful models used in private practice.

Previous research exploring the issues and challenges facing non-native language teachers has predominantly studied teachers of English. However, due to the status of French as an official language and waves of European and Asian immigration within the Lower Mainland of British Columbia there are many other modern languages of interest and relevance being taught besides English. The question then arises: What are the issues and challenges facing non-native teachers of languages other than English, and what is their unique contribution to modern language teaching? Do the findings and theories developed from previous research conducted mainly in English language teaching contexts, particularly with respect to language use practises, choices, and challenges, apply to other language teaching contexts? In this qualitative study of 22 non-native modern language teachers, participants teaching various Asian and European languages were interviewed with the subsequent interview and questionnaire data subjected to a cross-case analysis. Four participants were selected as focal cases for greater in-depth analysis. Participants perspectives on the native speaker construct were also explored in relation to their non-native status. It was found that most participants were challenged in their attempts to maintain and improve their target language proficiency. Many teachers viewed their bilingual or multilingual identity as a strength, though this was sometimes in conflict with the views of stakeholders. Much of the previous research concerning language use, barriers faced by non-native teachers, and reflections on the term native speaker was confirmed by this study. In terms of the principal theme of L1-L2 use, this study further valorised teachers selective and strategic use of the L1, particularly in late-entry programs, while continuing to focus on maximising L2 use. Extensive individual and contextual factors also had an impact on participants language use though the use of L1-L2 boundaries or zones was a useful strategy. Findings have implications for the hiring, training, and professional development of language teachers. Although some of the experiences of non-native teachers of Asian languages were similar to those of their counterparts in other languages, these teachers faced some particularly unique challenges which present avenues for future research.<br>Graduate