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This thesis is in two parts. The first is a study of soluble profinite groups with the maximal condition (max) and mirrors the development of the fundamental properties of polycyclic groups. Two of the main results are a profinite version of Hall's criterion for nilpotence and the existence of nilpotent almost-supplements for the Fitting subgroup. It is shown that the automorphism group of a soluble profinite group with max itself has max and that a soluble profinite group has max if and only if each of its subnormal subgroups of defect at most 2 has max. Quantitative versions of these results are also obtained. The second part derives a new characterization of abstract and profinite branch groups. This is achieved by examining the subnormal subgroup structure of just non-(virtually abelian) groups and a partial classification of this larger class is obtained. Weak branch groups are shown to satisfy no abstract group laws and to contain many abstract free subgroups in the profinite case. The notion of a branch group is weakened to that of a generalized branch group. Associated with each generalized branch group is its structure graph, and the circumstances under which this graph is a tree are characterized.

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This research concentrates on the experiences of a cohort of undergraduate students as they took part in two assessed group projects. The research concentrates on the following key question: In what ways were students becoming more or less able to participate effectively in group projects because of their experience of similar projects? The literature review features an extensive overview of transfer research and experiential learning, in addition to charting the rise of skills-based initiatives in Higher Education. It also reviews the available literature on experiential learning in group situations revealing a dearth of research into the specific dynamics of students groups in Higher Education. After an initial design based on quasi-experimentation, the researcher adopted a more interpretive position. A significant feature of the methodology is a reflective account of the process of social science research as experienced by the researcher. The results section describes the key dynamics around which the students made sense of group work and in turn how they framed it in terms of a learning experience. In brief, the students' accounts of group work were characterised by several main themes: the issue of control and influence over others (which the role of 'student' was perceived to limit); the reciprocal nature of group work with its potential to influence grades; the public nature of group work through which the students presented themselves to others and the discrepancies which were revealed in group work between different ways of working. The discussion places the student firmly within the learning milieu that they create as students on a particular degree course. In doing so it provides a socia-interpretive explanation of development and transfer.

In Chapter 2 we develop the concept of total orthogonality. A number of necessary conditions are derived. Necessary and sufficient conditions for total orthogonality are obtained for 2-groups and for split extensions of elementary abelian 2-groups. A complete description is given for totally orthogonal groups whose character degrees are bounded by 2. Brauer's problem is reduced for Frobenius groups to the corresponding problems for Frobenius kernels and complements. In Chapter 3 classes of examples are presented illustrating the concepts and results of Chapter 2. It is shown, in particular, that 2-Sylow subgroups of finite reflection groups, and of alternating groups, are totally orthogonal.

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