‘Partnership’ has become a buzzword in development circles. The term is used to describe almost any relationship that pools the resources of different actors to address societal challenges and concerns. Because it encompasses such a broad range of perspectives, the contention of this thesis is that partnership can only be fully understood in relation to practice. A critical assessment of a selection of my research publications is used to explore how partnership is interpreted in different contexts, why and by whom, and to what extent it might offer possibilities for achieving social progress. This review finds that partnership can be construed as both a structure and a process, and as a means to an end and an end in itself. Attention thus needs to be given to its instrumental value as a development tool and to its intrinsic worth in cementing social capital. Consideration is given to connections between these different forms of partnership and other development ‘solutions’; the complex interplay between external, organisational and individual drivers for multi-stakeholder collaboration, and evidence for the benefits of working in this way. This analysis reveals that it is hard to judge the effectiveness of partnership due to the complexity of different levels of interaction; lack of clarity on goals and motivations for partnering; and, because process-related results generally emerge in the long term, attribution is a challenge. It is thus suggested that assessments of partnership might more usefully focus on methodologies that enhance its potential to generate individual and societal value. The attributes of such ‘transformational’ arrangements, and how these compare with other collaborative connections, are examined using a typology that builds upon a transactional-transformational partnership continuum. Further investigation into the nature of stakeholder participation, and related power dynamics, indicates that partnership can both promote and embody social progress when participation is carefully facilitated by ‘partnership brokers’; embedded in sociohistoric contexts, and based upon open-ended dialogue processes that seek to comprehend different points of view rather than change them. In order to explore this potential more fully, as well as continued research into particular partnership experiences and possible alternatives, more imaginative exchanges of knowledge about working in this way are recommended.

This research addresses pedagogy in relation to Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in secondary education. Computers have been used in classrooms for approximately thirty years, but it remains unclear whether teachers’ pedagogies have changed much in consequence. Thus this research explores the transformation of pedagogy through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In 1998 a 2-year, multi-site case study linking teams of students and teachers within four broad UK regions was begun. A further six-year period allowed analysis of research data, to support theory building in relation to transformation of teachers’ pedagogy and the conditions necessary to make pedagogical transformation possible. The research made use of Grounded Theory within a case study methodology. Varied data were collected through my records of planning meetings with teachers and engineers during the project; of pedagogical transformation while visiting schools involved in the project; of teachers’, engineers’ and pupils’ case study interview data where more insightful and directly focused questions on pedagogical issues from their different perspectives were involved, and of teachers’ subject knowledge arising from the combined school and industrial manufacturing situated context of the project. The case study interviews involved a representative sample of those taking part in the two-year school and industry project. Theory on pedagogical transformation has resulted from the analysis of these data. Developing this involved modelling alternative meanings of phenomena observed during the case study and developing new concepts as building blocks of the theory. I also used NVivo as a tool to help with handling the mass of raw data collected during the project and with aspects of the qualitative data management. The research concludes that teachers may personally reconstruct their pedagogies when faced in certain ways with certain new pedagogy precedents, and develops precedence as a pre-condition of pedagogical transformation.

"Multiple U.S. healthcare organizations have been recognized as successful in enterprise-level transformation to create healthcare delivery systems that are safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable. Many of these organizations have specifically cited the development, deployment and integration of enterprise-level deployment of Lean Management Systems as key to their transformational efforts. Given the intense national interest in improving quality, efficiency and efficacy of healthcare delivery systems, a greater understanding of the strategies utilized by these organizations was required in order to provide an understanding of the mechanisms that drive successful, sustained, enterprise-level transformation. We conducted a realist review of large system transformation utilizing enterprise-level Lean Deployment methods within healthcare organizations. Synthesis and analysis of the results from this review indicate that there are five primary strategies associated with successful healthcare-based Lean deployments: Respect for People; Strategic Alignment; Strategic Deployment; Large Scale System Improvement Efforts; and Small-Scale, Local Improvement Efforts. Additional findings from this review indicate that the applications of the specific mechanisms with these strategies are emergent within multiple transitional phases spanning 6-8 years. To supplement the findings from the realist review, a series of dynamic hypotheses and system dynamics model was created in order to explore how the mechanisms and context interact to drive phase transitions within healthcare-based enterprise-level Lean deployments. The results from this model indicate that no steady state initial conditions exist that support sustained enterprise-level transformation and that the emergent nature of these deployments is necessary to overcome constraints related to the organizational capacity and capability. Additionally, we investigate the design and deployment of enterprise-level Lean programs in order to increase rate of success and decrease deployment cycles. "

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Wang, Xiaohui. / "November 1999." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

In this thesis we investigate acoustic metamaterials and how they can influence incident sound waves. Specifically we are interested in the mathematical technique of transformation acoustics and how several simple examples of metamaterials, devised via transformation acoustics, can be realised physically. We present a simple methodology for optimising microstructure consisting of rods with elliptical cross sections arranged on a rectangular array in order to best fit the material properties required by a desired transformation. We present in detail three such examples: a one dimensional scaling, the beam shifter, and a right angle bend. We apply the one dimensional scaling to a quarter wavelength resonator, theoretically predicting that we are able to lower the active frequency of the resonator without increasing its physical length. This result is then confirmed experimentally. We provide further experimental evidence of the broad band nature of the microstructure and suggest how it could be applied as a one dimensional acoustic cloak. Finally we present numerical simulations of acoustic propagation through microstructure chosen to realise a beam shifter and right angle bend. These are devices associated with more complicated two dimensional transformations that may prove useful in the field of noise control and redirection.

Final thesis is concerned with privatization of state property in Czech Republic and its effect on corporate performance. It describes theoretical basis of privatization and its methods used in Czech Republic, with special accent on voucher privatization. It also briefly mentions a macroeconomic development of Czech Republic during the transformation compared to other Central European countries.

Dans le domaine du développement logiciel, le changement est la seule constante. Les logiciels évoluent parfois de façon substantielle et, pendant ce processus, des séquences de transformation de code (par exemple, créer une classe, puis surcharger une méthode) sont systématiquement appliquées dans le système (e.g. à certaines classes dans une même hiérarchie). De par la nature répétitive de ces transformations, il est nécessaire d’automatiser leur support afin d’assurer que ces séquences de transformations sont appliquées de façon consistante sur la globalité du système.Dans cette thèse, nous proposons d’améliorer les transformations de code pour mieux aider les développeurs dans l’application de transformation de code systématiques et complexes. Nous couvrons deux aspects:• Le support automatisé pour composer et appliquer des séquences de transformations de code. Nous réalisons une recherche de l’existence de telles séquences dans de vrais logiciels. Nous proposons un outil pour appliquer automatiquement ces séquences dans les systèmes que nous avons analysés. • La détection de violations de bons principes dans la conception lors d’efforts de transformation. Nous proposons un outil qui recommande des transformations additionnelles pour résoudre les violations de conception qui ont pu être détectées après avoir effectué les transformations de refactoring.Nous évaluons les approches proposées quantitativement et qualitativement sur des cas d’étude issus du monde réel, parfois avec l’aide des experts du système analysé. Les résultats obtenus montrent la pertinence de nos approches. / In software development, change is the only constant. Software systems sometimes evolve in a substantial way and, during this process, sequences of code transformations (e.g., create a class, then override a method) are systematically performed in the system (e.g., to some classes in the same hierarchy). Due to the repetitive nature of these transformations, some automated support is needed to ensure that these sequences of transformations are consistently applied to the entire system.In this thesis we propose to improve source code transformations to better sup- port developers performing more complex and systematic code transformations. We cover two aspects: • The automated support to compose and apply sequences of code transformations. We undergo an investigation on the existence of these sequences in real-world software systems. We propose a tool to automatically apply these sequences in the systems we analyzed. • The detection of design violations during a transformation effort. We undergo an investigation on cases of systematic application of refactoring transformations. We proposed a tool that recommends additional transformations to fix design violations that are detected after performing refactoring transformations.We evaluated the proposed approaches quantitatively and qualitatively in real-world case studies and, in some cases, with the help of experts on the systems under analysis. The results we obtained demonstrate the usefulness of our approaches.

Organizations wants to be at the top when it comes to using new technologies in order to retain a strong position on the market and also create innovative and unique service offerings. New technologies put pressure on organizations, that have to answer to its challenges. Blockchain is a new technology that is very well heard of, it is a complicated technology and is in constant development. The purpose of this study is to identify challenges that the blockchain technology brings to organizations as well what opportunities organizations are looking with the technology. There will also be discussions about potential opportunities that arise when organizations overcome the challenges and what the blockchain can contribute to digital services. / Organisationer vill vara ledande inom nya teknologier för att skapa unika tjänsteerbjudande och behålla drivkraft. Nya teknologier sätter press på organisationer som måste besvara dess utmaningar. Blockkedjetekniken är en omtalad teknologi som har fått stor uppmärksamhet de senaste åren, tekniken är komplicerad och i ständig utveckling. Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera utmaningar som blockkedjetekniken medför till organisationer samt vad organisationer ser för möjligheter med tekniken. Det kommer att diskuteras potentiella möjligheter som uppstår när organisationer överkommer utmaningarna och vad tekniken kan bidra med till digitala tjänster. I kombination med tidigare forskning och en kvalitativ studie som utförts hos en organisation som tillhandahåller digitala tjänster och som är intresserade att investera i blockkedjan har utmaningar och möjligheter identifierats.

abstract: In 2006, composer James DeMars conceived of an opera when he began setting the Aztec legend known as Nican Mopohua, the “legend of Guadalupe.” Many inherent challenges arose as DeMars began to compose his first opera. His unfamiliarity with operatic writing and production, a preference for the aural elements of opera over visual ones, inexperience with dramatic textual writing, and insecurity in his ability to have it produced, encouraged him to detour from his operatic vision altogether and instead write an oratorio. Yet, his original operatic concept revealed itself through the music and text enough to encourage him and others to believe that his oratorio, Guadalupe: Our Lady of the Roses, could be produced on the operatic stage. Despite the oratorio’s success, DeMars persisted in realizing his original operatic vision and began the arduous task of rewriting his opera in 2012. To overcome the challenges, he relied heavily on the input of an “Operatic Advisory Council.” This group of dedicated colleagues and experts in the field of opera revealed to DeMars certain essential elements of opera that were absent from the oratorio, and through the course of three years advised and instructed the composer as he transformed his oratorio into an opera – something rarely attempted in the operatic repertoire. In this document, Chapter 1 discusses the formation of the Council, its members, and the expertise they offered. Chapter 2 presents the areas of concern the Council had during the process. Chapter 3 discusses the methods by which DeMars rectified the flaws in the oratorio’s visual aspects, the vocal writing, and the dramatic elements that needed attention. It also presents musical and textual examples of the adjustments and additions DeMars made during the transition, and discusses their effect on the opera’s staging, vocal writing and drama. The changes DeMars made under the guidance of the Operatic Advisory Council ultimately resulted in an operatic version of Guadalupe, which premiered at Arizona State University in November 2015. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2018