Abstract This master thesis is divided into two parts, one pedagogical and one engineering. The purpose of the pedagogical part of this master thesis was to investigate how students learn during projects. At the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, three larger student projects occurred where the students themselves developed an probe that was launched into the atmosphere. The supervisors of the projects wanted to find out how the students learn during the project. The thesis includes in-depth interviews with current and former university students. In order to compare and gain new perspectives on learning, the study also included interviews with high school students to identify their corresponding experiences of learning in their final projects in Swedish upper secondary school. The result from this study shows that the students learn through participating in activities, collaboration and communication. Giving the students responsibility, a mutual goal and an important assignment makes them collaborate and learn from experience through reflection. The purpose of the engineering part of this master thesis was to investigate samples that were collected during the Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study in the summer of 2008. The samples were studied by using a scanning electron microscope. The results of the thesis are consistent with former studies on samples collected in Arctic. The images from the microscope showed microgels and how the gels assembled into larger particles, particles which can play a crucial role in the formation of clouds.

Abstract AbstractThe aim of this essay was to investigate the level of the organizational state of readiness for receiving students with learning disabilities in classes specialized in working with students recently arrived in Sweden, called förberedelseklasser, which could be translated as preparational classes. I tried to do so by answering two questions:*What routines do principals believe that the particular School has for dealing with cases in which a student in a preparational class is suspected to have some form of learning disability?*What perception do teachers have in regards to whether or not the system at their School is well prepared for discovering and aiding students in preparational classes suspected to have learning disabilities?The first question was directed to principals currently working in schools where a large part of the students are bilingual, and many of those recently arrived in Sweden. The second question was aimed at teachers that work in preparational classes.By interviewing two principals and three teachers I came to the conclusion that the teachers believe that their students are often misplaced in preparational classes when in deed they should be placed in a special educations group. My essay also shows that both principals and teachers are dissatisfied with the amount of time the process of discovering, investigating and diagnosing a student with learning disabilities takes. They also seem to believe that it’s largely due to cultural differences resulting in the parents’ unwillingness to participate in interacting with psychologists.Key words,

Inadequate rural housing, poor sanitation, resource scarcity, lack of adequate income and a general substandard level of living, forces a mass migration from rural areas into overtaxed urban centers in Egypt. Unable to sustain their families on increasingly smaller and less productive agricultural plots of land, families migrate to the cities in search of a better quality of life, economic opportunity, and services that are not present in current rural environments. The proposed project is an architectural proposal that seeks to resolve the deficiencies in rural environments to stem the tide of migration to urban cities through the introduction of a technical training school that focuses on building the agricultural industry in rural Egypt through the introduction of sustainable practices underpinned with appropriate digital tools. / Master of Architecture / The underserved rural areas of Egypt that include inadequate housing, lack of proper sanitation, limited resources, low income, and overall substandard lifestyle, are driving a large number of people to leave their rural homes and move to overcrowded cities. As their agricultural land becomes smaller and less productive, families are forced to migrate to urban centers in search of a better life, economic opportunities, and access to services that are lacking in rural areas. The proposed project aims to address these issues by introducing a technical training school in rural Egypt. This school will focus on improving the agricultural industry through sustainable practices supported by digital tools. The goal is to tackle the deficiencies in rural environments and reduce the flow of migration to urban cities.

No description available.

This photovoice study explored the lived experiences of nine Puerto Rican mental health professionals who provided postdisaster counseling services to children. Due to the complex and multilayered experiences of Puerto Rican mental health professionals, this study used intersectionality as the theoretical lens to facilitate thematic analysis of the data. Results from coresearchers' narratives and photographs generated seven major themes: (a) la politiquería of disasters; (b) the impact of compounding disasters; (c) Puerto Rico se levanta: strategies for collective healing; (d) impact of disasters on children; (e) experiences with clients; (f) awareness, action, change; and (g) supporting, connecting, and transforming. The results and discussion provide awareness into the experiences of Puerto Rican clinicians who formed part of disaster response efforts in their own community. Clinical, educational, and research implications are drawn from coresearchers' narratives and insight.

Land use/cover has shown significant changes during the past three decades in Ethiopia especially in the highlands of the country. That resulted in changes in streamflows and other hydrological processes. The existing land and water resources system of the area is adversely affected due the rapid growth of population, deforestation, surface erosion and sediment transport. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of land use/cover changes in the hydrology of Beles Basin, Ethiopia. The physically based hydrologic model, SWAT, was developed for the Beles basin, Ethiopia by combining geospatial and climatic data. ArcGIS has been used to process geospatial data which includes the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) which has a resolution of 90 m, land use/cover and soil maps. A simple Interpolation technique has been used to fill in the missing precipitation data. The GIS interface version of SWAT (ArcSWAT) has the capability to utilize ArcGIS to facilitate input data preparation and output data generation. Idrisi Andes in cooperation with ArcGIS 9.2 used to generate landuse/cover maps from Landsat data of three different years. Three SWAT models were set up using the three generated land use/cover maps and used to evaluate the land use/cover change and its impacts on the streamflow of study basin. The primary hydrological model was evaluated through sensitivity analysis, model calibration, and model validation for realistic prediction of the different hydrological components in the basin. Out of twenty six flow parameters sixteen parameters were found to be sensitive. But the most sensitive ten parameters were selected and used for model calibration. The model calibration was carried out using observed streamflow data from 01 January 2001 to 31 December 2002 and a validation period from 01 January 2003 to 31 December 2004. The coefficient of determinations (R2) was 0.74 and the Nash-Sutcliffe simulation efficiency (NSE) was 0.62which indicated that the model was able to predict streamflow with reasonable accuracy. However, the hydrograph of the cumulative hydrographs of the calibration and validation periods showed significant discrepancies between the observed and the simulated data of each period.  The average yearly flow volume of the observed streamflow on the cumulative hydrograph of the calibration period has exceeded the simulated streamflow. On the other hand on the cumulative hydrograph of the validation period the average yearly flow volume of the simulated streamflow was higher than the observed streamflow. The simulated result of the streamflow data from different land use/cover maps revealed that the change in the land use/cover classes of the basin throughout the study periods.

No description available.

To better understand the digestive and absorptive capacities of the chick intestine so that we may feed diets that better meet the nutritional needs of the chick, it is important to understand how expression of nutrient transporter genes changes in response to various factors. A series of feeding trials were conducted to evaluate the dietary and developmental regulation of nutrient transporter mRNA abundance in the small intestine of two lines of broilers selected on corn-based (Line A) or wheat-based (Line B) diets. Abundance of mRNA was quantified in all experiments using real time PCR and the absolute quantification method. The objective of the first study was to investigate intestinal nutrient transporter and enzyme mRNA in Line A and B broilers at embryo day 18 and 20, day of hatch, and d 1, 3, 7, and 14 posthatch. Genes evaluated included the peptide transporter, PepT1, 10 AA transporters (rBAT, bo,+AT, ATBo,+, CAT1, CAT2, LAT1, y+LAT1, y+LAT2, BoAT and EAAT3), four sugar transporters (SGLT1, SGLT5, GLUT5, and GLUT2), and a digestive enzyme, APN. For PepT1, Line B had greater quantities of mRNA compared with Line A (P = 0.001), suggesting a greater capacity for absorption of AA as peptides. Levels of PepT1 mRNA were greatest in the duodenum (P < 0.05), whereas the abundances of SGLT1, GLUT5 and GLUT2 mRNA were greatest in the jejunum (P < 0.05). Abundances of EAAT3, bo,+AT, rBAT, BoAT, LAT1, CAT2, SGLT5 and APN mRNA were greatest in the ileum (P < 0.05). Quantities of PepT1, EAAT3, BoAT, SGLT1, GLUT5, and GLUT2 mRNA increased linearly (P < 0.01), while CAT1, CAT2, y+LAT1, and LAT1 mRNA decreased linearly (P < 0.05) with age. The objective of the second study was to evaluate the effect of dietary protein quality on intestinal peptide, AA, and glucose transporter, and digestive enzyme mRNA abundance in Line A and B broilers. At day of hatch (doh), chicks from both lines were randomly assigned to corn-based diets containing 24% crude protein (CP) with either soybean meal (SBM) or corn gluten meal (CGM) as the supplemental protein source, ad libitum. Groups of chicks from both lines were also assigned to the SBM diet at a quantity restricted to that consumed by the CGM group (SBM-RT). Abundance of PepT1, EAAT3, and GLUT2 mRNA was greater in Line B (P < 0.03), while APN and SGLT1 were greater in Line A (P < 0.04). When feed intake was equal (CGM vs restricted SBM), a greater abundance of PepT1 and bo,+AT mRNA was associated with the higher quality SBM (P < 0.04), while a greater abundance of EAAT3 and GLUT2 mRNA was associated with the lower quality CGM (P < 0.01). When feed intake was restricted (SBM vs SBM-RT), a greater abundance of PepT1 mRNA was associated with the restricted intake (P < 0.04). The objective of the third study was to determine the effect of dietary protein composition on mRNA abundance of peptide and AA transporters, and a digestive enzyme. From day 8 to day 15 posthatch, Line A and B broilers were fed equal amounts of 1 of 3 diets (24% CP). Dietary protein sources included whey protein concentrate (whey), a partial whey hydrolysate (hydro), or a mixture of free amino acids (AA) similar to the composition of whey. Intestine was collected at days 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15. Expression of all genes except LAT1 was greater (P < 0.05) in Line B compared with A. Abundance of PepT1, EAAT3, y+LAT2, CAT1, bo,+AT, and APN mRNA varied little across diets in Line A but for CAT1 mRNA was greatest (P = 0.005) in Line A birds that consumed the AA diet. Expression of these genes was greatest (P < 0.006) in Line B birds consuming the hydro diet. A greater (P < 0.05) age response of bo,+AT, EAAT3, CAT1, and APN mRNA was observed in birds consuming the hydro or AA diets relative to the whey diet. Results from these studies collectively demonstrate that nutrient transporter gene expression is responsive to a variety of factors, including developmental stage, dietary manipulation, and genetic selection. Information from these studies can be used to improve dietary formulation so that nutrient utilization is enhanced, resulting in improved growth of the broiler. / Ph. D.

The outcome of the project is a current trend of equal children education. The trend of inclusion leads to associate students with special needs with non-disabled students. It makes bigger demands on competence of teacher (the teacher on first level of education on elementary school in Czech Republic). The teacher who's applying this project must find the best way how to organize school lessons in heterogeneous classes. The teacher should be able to use entire potential of pupils since the school year has started. The theoretic part of book contains facts and advantages of differentiated instruction - these points were summed up from scientific literature sources. The author gives examples of teaching methods and their utilization. There are chapters dealing with school and family cooperation in the project, this part has very important impact on realizing the inclusion. The cooperation is also important to fulfil individual children needs. The author puts emphasis particularly on 'special education'(the needs of certain groups like socially weak students, Romany students or extraordinary gifted students). The theoretic issues are applied in practical part of book. There's an example of teaching plan, which she used in her class. The plan reveals the main points confronted in everyday reality. At...

<p>Syftet med detta arbete är att försöka ta reda på vilka egenskaper som framtidens ledare kommer att behöva inom den kommunala sektorn, men också om det finns eventuella förutsättningar som måste förändras för framtidens ledare. Tio intervjuer genomfördes med personer på ledande positioner inom fyra kommuner i Mellansverige. Utifrån detta sammanställdes intervjumaterialet, och ur detta framkom tre övergripande huvudområden organisation, egenskaper och framtid som sen utmynnade i ett antal ledord. Mot dessa tolkades teorier i ett försök att koppla de till det framtida ledarskapet. Slutsatsen är att det inte finns bara en teori att förhålla sig till, utan det gäller att kunna hantera kontexten och förutsättningarna, och utifrån den kunna anpassa sig. Ett transformativt synsätt kring ledarskap kan vara ett sätt att lyckas i framtiden.</p>