Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Mar. 10, 2009). PDF text: vi, 77 p. : ill. ; 634 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3336828. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

This thesis aims to contribute new understandings of community sustainability through a detailed case study of public sector and community relations within Cornwall. The Look Group Network is a multi-layered public sector and community adult informal learning partnership project which sought to connect Tate St Ives, a national art gallery operating in the far west of the UK, with new audiences. The case study situates together informal learning, community and sustainability and explores their interdependence. The study comprised participant observation with the Look Group members, semi-structured partner interviews, contextual research including a review of the social and political theory of community and an evaluation of relevant sustainable community and informal learning policy. The research aims to identify the underlying conditions which contributed to the sustainability of the Look Groups over a four year period and to assess to what extent these conditions could be transferred to other communities. The original contribution of this project to the existing research literature is in the application of Complexity Theory to empirical data to enable an understanding of the systemic dynamics that contribute to sustainability and in the development of method in the consideration of community and group dynamics.

The significant influence that practice learning plays within undergraduate nurse education cannot be overstated. By practice learning, I mean work-based learning immersed in the activities of nursing practice, typically involving learning undertaken in placements at hospitals and other clinical worksites. Practice learning is intended to achieve standards defined by professional regulatory bodies, and aims to enhance learners' capability and employability. Learning here refers to processes through which student nurses develop capabilities to practice effectively, critically, confidently and professionally in health care settings. Practice is a key concept in this thesis, much contested in debates about professional learning in practice which I will examine in detail in chapter 2. In terms of current policy regarding practice learning, I would, however, suggest that what we have at the moment is an inherited legacy which to date has not been robustly scrutinised. Based on my experiences as a nursing educator I came to believe that it was timely for a re-examination of policies, practices and philosophies underpinning the duration and structure of the current practice learning model. Taken together, the above experiences led me to focus this thesis on the following research question: How might practice learning experiences be better designed to promote nursing capability? This thesis brings together six published papers reporting studies that I conducted to explore this question, as well as chapters explaining the background literature, theory and methodology guiding these studies. My overarching aim is to contribute to the improved practice learning experiences of undergraduate student nurses, retaining them on programmes and easing their transition into the role of newly qualified practitioners (NQP). Chapter 1 charts the history of nursing educational developments. The aim is to demonstrate the influence of government and professional policy over nursing’s development from an apprentice-style model to the current-day academic model. In charting these developments alongside reviewing the contemporary research literature, what is obvious is that the issues of support, retention, models of practice learning and curricula to prepare nurses are perennial challenges. However, as a practice-based discipline, the focus of preparation has always remained grounded in practice. Chapter 2 sets forth the theoretical constructs of this thesis. During the course of conducting the studies reported in the publications of this thesis, I became frustrated with the relative lack of emphasis on contemporary learning theory in nursing education, and the paucity of supporting evidence for the ‘reflective’ theory that seems to be dominant in nursing. The discussion presented in this chapter aims to provide an overview of the major traditions of constructivism and reflective practice, as well as their historical theoretical foundations, which have been widely adopted in nurse education. I discuss the strengths and limitations of these theories as they apply to undergraduate nurses’ practice learning and capability development. These are then contrasted via the means of a critical discussion with more novel alternative models. These include situated learning theory and legitimate peripheral participation, and practice-based learning theory as advocated by contemporary writers such as Schatzki (2002). These theories changed my thinking about practice learning and informed my efforts to develop a more cogent understanding of learning through, for and at work for undergraduate nurse education. In setting out Chapter 3, I am presenting a brief overview of these publications for a nursing education audience. Firstly, I have included information that is generally considered important to this audience, such as details about the journal’s standing and article citations, the databases searched, and the percentage of my own contributions. Secondly, I report the studies from an evidence-based perspective of prediction and control aligned with the contexts of the commissioning process and the conduct of each project. By this I mean that I treat the findings in these papers as valid and credible within the stated limitations Chapter 4 presents the six publications in their entirety for the reader Chapter 5 explains the research methodology adopted in the papers presented for this thesis, and offers my critical reflections on these methodologies. I outline the philosophy that underpins the approach taken with the research studies, discussing the interpretive stance that was taken to research and the consequent choice of qualitative approaches. The chapter also discusses the strengths and limitations of the methods employed in each of my papers along with the means used to analyse the data, and the ethical considerations that an interpretive researcher must consider. In retrospect, given where my theoretical orientation has moved (as explained in chapter 2), I now look rather more critically on the premises of these studies, their categories of definition, multiple causes and uncertainties at play. In my reflections on the research approach, I explain some of these issues. In concluding this thesis, Chapter 6 details my recommendations and some future implications for policy and practice. It also explains my plans for carrying forward different methodological and theoretical approaches in my future research work examining nurses' practice learning.

Companies are increasingly struggling to manage their complex product portfolios. Since they do not fully understand the complexity, intelligent solutions are required. Emerging technologies and tools offer new ways to deal with existing problems. With the help of clustering, similarities between product variants can be identified automatically, and complexity can be systematically reduced. This article aims to develop a methodological approach to identify correlations between product variants in complex product portfolios automatically by using clustering algorithms. The approach includes the systematic cleaning and transformation of product portfolio data. In addition, a guide for algorithm selection and evaluation of clustering results is presented. As the last step, the results are systematically analysed and visualised. To validate the methodical approach, it is applied to a real-world data set of a commercial vehicle manufacturer and the usefulness of the results is confirmed in an expert workshop.

Tendo reformulado a mecânica surgida da termoestatística das radiações eletromagnéticas, a física quântica abriu o caminho nas baixas energias para a complexidade dos materiais e da vida, e nas altas energias para as partículas elementares e conexões cosmológicas. Entre as demais ciências, ela fundamenta a química fina, a biologia molecular e inúmeras aplicações práticas. No cotidiano tecnológico, através dos semicondutores e lasers da microeletrônica, a quântica é a alma conceitual das telecomunicações e das redes informáticas, instrumentando todas as atividades humanas, das relações pessoais às práticas médicas, e condicionando a emergência de uma sociedade em rede. Em associação com as tecnologias que promove, o domínio quântico tem sido central na investigação das redes complexas que transforma a compreensão de processos naturais, tecnológicos e sociais. Das redes neurais às sociais, qualquer campo de atividade e de conhecimento está sendo modificado ou desequilibrado pela percepção de seu caráter complexo. Impactada pelo novo ambiente, a educação já se desenvolve com recursos em rede amplamente difundidos e revê a conceituação do aprender como algo complexo e em rede em lugar da velha sequência linear de conteúdos. Sendo convergência e fonte de várias redes, a quântica pode cumprir importante papel na trama de redes de significados no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Formar os professores com e para tais práticas pode dar mais significado a esse domínio científico já presente em nossa escola básica, mas cujo sentido real frequentemente escapa para quem aprende tanto quanto para quem ensina. Esta tese busca apresentar uma visão em rede do conjunto das redes entretecidas com a física quântica, tendo como contexto prático a formação inicial de professores. / Quantum Physics, a reconceptualization of Mechanics that emerged from the thermo statistics of electromagnetic radiation, has paved the way to the complexity of materials and life, at low energies, and to elementary particles and its cosmological connections, at high energies. Among the other sciences, quantum physics is the foundation to the new fine chemistry, as well as to the molecular biology and to their numerous practical applications. In everyday technology, through semiconductors and lasers of the microelectronic, quantum physics is the conceptual soul of telecommunications and informatics networks, giving tools to all sort of activities, from social relationships to the medical practices, and conditioning the emergency of a network society. In relation with technologies, the quantum domain has been central to the research of complex networks that changes the understanding of natural, technological and social processes. From neural to social networks, every field of activity and knowledge is nowadays modified or unbalanced by the perception of its complex character. Impacted by this new environment, education already develops with highly available network resources and reevaluates the concept of learning, as something complex instead of the old linear sequence of subjects. As convergence and source of many networks, quantum physics can play important role in the network of meanings of teaching and learning process. The training of teachers with and for these practices can give broader meaning to this scientific field already present in our basic school, but whose real meaning frequently is missed both by who learns as well as by who teaches. This tesis wants to presents a network vision of the ensemble of the networks weaved togheter with quantum physics, in the practical context of training future teachers.

Tendo reformulado a mecânica surgida da termoestatística das radiações eletromagnéticas, a física quântica abriu o caminho nas baixas energias para a complexidade dos materiais e da vida, e nas altas energias para as partículas elementares e conexões cosmológicas. Entre as demais ciências, ela fundamenta a química fina, a biologia molecular e inúmeras aplicações práticas. No cotidiano tecnológico, através dos semicondutores e lasers da microeletrônica, a quântica é a alma conceitual das telecomunicações e das redes informáticas, instrumentando todas as atividades humanas, das relações pessoais às práticas médicas, e condicionando a emergência de uma sociedade em rede. Em associação com as tecnologias que promove, o domínio quântico tem sido central na investigação das redes complexas que transforma a compreensão de processos naturais, tecnológicos e sociais. Das redes neurais às sociais, qualquer campo de atividade e de conhecimento está sendo modificado ou desequilibrado pela percepção de seu caráter complexo. Impactada pelo novo ambiente, a educação já se desenvolve com recursos em rede amplamente difundidos e revê a conceituação do aprender como algo complexo e em rede em lugar da velha sequência linear de conteúdos. Sendo convergência e fonte de várias redes, a quântica pode cumprir importante papel na trama de redes de significados no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Formar os professores com e para tais práticas pode dar mais significado a esse domínio científico já presente em nossa escola básica, mas cujo sentido real frequentemente escapa para quem aprende tanto quanto para quem ensina. Esta tese busca apresentar uma visão em rede do conjunto das redes entretecidas com a física quântica, tendo como contexto prático a formação inicial de professores. / Quantum Physics, a reconceptualization of Mechanics that emerged from the thermo statistics of electromagnetic radiation, has paved the way to the complexity of materials and life, at low energies, and to elementary particles and its cosmological connections, at high energies. Among the other sciences, quantum physics is the foundation to the new fine chemistry, as well as to the molecular biology and to their numerous practical applications. In everyday technology, through semiconductors and lasers of the microelectronic, quantum physics is the conceptual soul of telecommunications and informatics networks, giving tools to all sort of activities, from social relationships to the medical practices, and conditioning the emergency of a network society. In relation with technologies, the quantum domain has been central to the research of complex networks that changes the understanding of natural, technological and social processes. From neural to social networks, every field of activity and knowledge is nowadays modified or unbalanced by the perception of its complex character. Impacted by this new environment, education already develops with highly available network resources and reevaluates the concept of learning, as something complex instead of the old linear sequence of subjects. As convergence and source of many networks, quantum physics can play important role in the network of meanings of teaching and learning process. The training of teachers with and for these practices can give broader meaning to this scientific field already present in our basic school, but whose real meaning frequently is missed both by who learns as well as by who teaches. This tesis wants to presents a network vision of the ensemble of the networks weaved togheter with quantum physics, in the practical context of training future teachers.

Data gathering is a constant in human history with ever increasing amounts in quantity and dimensionality. To get a feel for the data, make it interpretable, or find underlying laws it is necessary to fit a function to the finite and possibly noisy data. In this thesis we focus on a method achieving this, namely least squares approximation. Its discovery dates back to around 1800 and it has since then proven to be an indispensable tool which is efficient and has the capability to achieve optimal error when used right. Crucial for the least squares method are the ansatz functions and the sampling points. To discuss them, we gather tools from probability theory, frame subsampling, and $L_2$-Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund inequalities. With that we give results in the worst-case or minmax setting, when a set of points is sought for approximating a class of functions, which we model as a generic reproducing kernel Hilbert space. Further, we give error bounds in the statistical learning setting for approximating individual functions from possibly noisy samples. Here, we include the covariate-shift setting as a subfield of transfer learning. In a natural way a parameter choice question arises for balancing over- and underfitting effect. We tackle this by using the cross-validation score, for which we show a fast way of computing as well as prove the goodness thereof.:1 Introduction 2 Least squares approximation 3 Reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) 4 Concentration inequalities 5 Subsampling of finite frames 6 L2 -Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund (MZ) inequalities 7 Least squares in the worst-case setting 8 Least squares in statistical learning 9 Cross-validation 10 Outlook