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The thesis describes an investigation into Chinese adult learners’ learning experiences through case studies of two e-learning programmes conducted in China that were significantly different from each other in their original design. Margaret Archer’s critical realist account of structure and agency informs the theoretical framework of this study. The interactions between individual learners and their e-learning environments combined with their wider social cultural contexts, as manifested in their e-learning experiences are examined mainly through the lens of learners’ reflexivity. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and detailed accounts on learners’ experiences are given from qualitative data, obtained from interviews, digital diaries, informal discussions and reports. Learners were found to be exercising high level of reflexivity as the basis of their decision making in every aspects of their learning, including their commitment to learn, the formation of a learning community, the use made of learning technologies, adaptation to a new learning environment. The findings suggest that e-learning experiences are not technology-driven nor context determined. These findings have significant implications for e-learning design by reassuring the importance in understanding learners’ personal power and social context. They also caution against uncritical direct transfer of educational practice from one context to another.

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Communication skills have been recognised as critical to school leadership. The evolution of social culture, the complexity of human relations and the change in today‟s schooling systems require school leaders to be highly competent in their communication skills. The aim of the study was to explore the links between principals‟ communication styles and parents‟ involvement in Malaysian secondary schools. A comparative qualitative case study was employed. The conversations of three principals and six parents from three different schools were observed and video-recorded. The participants were also interviewed and field notes were taken throughout the fieldwork. Data were analysed using multimodal discourse analysis based on the conceptual definitions and empirical indicators of communicative style adapted from Brandt (1979) and Norton (1978; 1983). Analysis of verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal observations and interview data indicates that all three principals present very similar styles, namely friendly, open, relaxed, attentive and animated. The principals‟ communication styles are task-oriented and generally shaped by their roles and responsibilities as school leaders. However, the styles present by parents are more varied. They presented at least seven styles, namely friendly, open, relaxed, attentive, animated, dominant and contentious in 35−45 minute conversations with the principal. The parents adopted daily communication styles that are generally shaped by the complex processes of socialisation and tend to show more complex styles of speaking in order to achieve their personal communication goals. The findings show that informal communication is the most effective way to encourage parents to become involved in school. Examination of interview data with the principals and parents also concludes that being friendly, committed, respectful, transparent, appreciative and honest is the most influential way of building a meaningful school−home partnership

Since ‘Modern Apprenticeships’ were first introduced in England in 1994, government supported apprenticeships have gone undergone a series of transformations leading to them being underpinned since 2009 by statute and taking a central role in the current UK Government’s state-led vocational skills and education programmes for England. Accordingly, the numbers of people starting and completing apprenticeship programmes each year has increased rapidly, but these increases have also seen expansion in the support structures provided by central government, organisations and businesses. It is these ‘support structures’ that are the focus of this thesis; uncovering who the actors are and what roles they perform in the provision of England’s government-supported apprenticeship programme. Conducting interviews with a variety of people and organisations from government through to employers, this thesis considers apprenticeship in England by way of the public and private organisations that perform these varying roles. Beginning with two quotations which between them offer ideas of structure (‘script’) and agency (‘improvisation’), the research introduces an innovative use of an ancient symbol called a ‘triquetra’ (‘three cornered’) to create an ‘Apprenticeship Triquetra’. In the ‘Apprenticeship Triquetra’, three initial groups of actors – government, employers and training providers – and the many other organisations and businesses that operate in the spaces between them, are juxtaposed with their functional counterparts of governance, employment and education. The Apprenticeship Triquetra then explores the relationships between these ‘actors’ and ‘factors’ through sociological theories of Foucault’s (1978) governmentality thesis and Actor Network Theory (Latour, 1987; Law, 1987). By adding a historical lens to the concepts and theories and drawing a Ii distinction between the apprenticeship ‘programme’ and the apprenticeship ‘system’, apprenticeship is shown to be a site of complex social interactions and vested interests. This multifaceted research presents a unique critique of apprenticeships in England and concludes with three findings. The first is that there appears to be a concerning level of commodification that has developed in the apprenticeship system. The second finding relates to the way in which the power of the government has been used to direct the apprenticeship programme and system. The third finding constitutes that of an observation born out of this thesis’ historical and contemporary narratives: apprenticeship acts as a social barometer reflecting broader social contexts

Self-reliance as a component of development agendas is often relegated to the background if mentioned at all. This thesis explores the value of self-reliance in meaningful progress, as well as the conditions which enable self-reliance, paying particular attention to the role of critical thinking in that process. It investigates individual and collective use of local knowledge in formulating strategies for progressive community development in collaboration with international agencies. By drawing attention to the practical aspects of development interventions, the challenges can be observed from an equality, justice and inclusion perspective. The thesis works with the frameworks of Amartya Sen’s and Martha Nussbaum’s human development and capabilities approach calling attention to the value of freedom in development and the capabilities to do and to be. It adopts a critical theoretical approach from an emancipatory perspective and argues that a useful way to consider self-reliance may be Immanuel Kant’s perspective on Enlightenment as emergence from self-imposed inability to use one’s own knowledge. This approach emphasises the value in acknowledging the views of those the process is meant to support. By approaching the issues through Freirean dialogue and participatory methods, that address concerns of power relationships, the thesis provides a ‘space to speak’ for the community groups. This is facilitated by the use of the creative engagement tool ‘Ketso’. This thesis argues that meaningful progress is inclusive and that it should pay attention to mutual processes of knowledge production. The findings highlight the role of lifelong learning as a mediating process where knowledge is exchanged and where reciprocation takes place in a way that respects other people’s values and interests.

Currently includes the gene pool Achillea L. and 16 kinds of natural hybrids. In 2013 were monitored 4 characters of the modified proposed descriptor for the genus Achillea. These features are stem length, leaf length, leaf width and the width of inflorescence. In addition to these morphological features were also observed signs of qualitative and essential oil content.

Sixth form colleges have a long established and valued position within the post-16 education sector in the UK. Despite maintaining a reputation for high quality provision and student success rates, there is very little literature which focuses on this as an institution compared to schools and general further education colleges. Furthermore, there is little research which focuses on students undertaking vocational programmes of study at sixth form, as opposed to the academic A-level qualification which is viewed as its’ ‘staple provision’. This research attempts to address this through an exploration of sixth form college practices and how these serve to shape the learning experiences of the students. Immersed within the SFC context, the researcher adopted the dual role of researcher and student support assistant. Informed by the interpretivist epistemology of symbolic interactionism the researcher employed an ethnographic methodology over one academic term, utilising the methods of participant observation and interviews. The participants comprise a cohort of BTEC First Diploma Health and Social Care (level 2) students and teachers. The data are presented in a story followed by a thematic analysis. The subsequent discussion of findings is structured according to a theoretical framework which rejects deterministic assumptions of intelligence located within the minds of individuals and instead posits learning as an inherently social, reciprocal process with others. It draws upon Communities of Practice theory (Wenger, 1998) as a way of understanding how participation in learning is enabled or disabled and Vygotskian theory (1978) as a way of understanding the mechanisms of learning. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model (1979, 2005) provides an overarching and unifying aspect of the theoretical framework, enabling consideration of the complex proximal and distal factors which shape the learning experiences of students. This research reveals some important considerations for policy makers and providers of SFC. It discusses ways in which college practices and the learning relationships established between students and teachers serve to enable or disable participation in the learning process. Furthermore, it illustrates the complex and intricate web of factors present in the lives of students and how these are shaped not only by the proximal features of their learning community, but by the more distal, wider features of government educational policy.

O gênero Passiflora L. (Passifloraceae) é composto por mais de 520 espécies, classificadas em quatro subgêneros: Astrophea, Decaloba, Deidamioides e Passiflora. Embora algumas análises filogenéticas tenham sido realizadas nos últimos anos, sua classificação infra-subgenérica permanece em aberto. Com o objetivo de auxiliar na elucidação destas questões e caracterizar novos marcadores filogenéticos para o gênero Passiflora, análises com seqüências do gene plastidial que codifica a maior subunidade da enzima RNA-polimerase de cloroplasto (rpoC1), dos espaçadores internos transcritos do DNA ribossomal nuclear (ITS1 e ITS2) e do íntron b-c do gene nad1 do genoma mitocondrial, foram desenvolvidas para 121 espécies de Passiflora. As análises foram realizadas usando métodos de distância, máxima parcimônia, máxima verossimilhança e inferência bayesiana para cada subgênero em separado e para o conjunto total de dados. A monofilia dos subgêneros Astrophea, Decaloba e Passiflora foi confirmada, embora a monofilia do subgênero Deidamioides permaneça em aberto. Os resultados suportam, ainda, a existência de um quinto subgênero, Tryphostemmatoides. Análises realizadas para cada subgênero em separado demonstraram que esta estratégia é um método eficiente para a análise de marcadores com alta variabilidade entre os grupos, como é o caso dos subgêneros de Passiflora. ITS1 e ITS2 foram os marcadores moleculares mais informativos. Em geral, as superseções, seções e séries dos quatro subgêneros foram não-monofiléticas, sugerindo a necessidade de uma revisão cuidadosa dos caracteres morfológicos tipicamente usados em sua delimitação. / The Passiflora L. (Passifloraceae) genus is composed of more than 520 species, classified in four subgenera: Astrophea, Decaloba, Deidamioides and Passiflora. Although some molecular phylogenetic analyses have been carried out in the last years, its infrasubgeneric classification remains open. With the intent to help to elucidate these issues and to characterize new phylogenetic markers for the Passiflora genus, analyses with sequences of the plastidial gene that codifies the biggest subunit of the RNA-polymerase enzyme of chloroplast (rpoC1), the internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS1 and ITS2), and nad1 b-c intron of the mitochondrial genome have been carried out in 121 Passiflora’s species. The analyses have been conduced using distance, parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods for each subgenus separately and for the whole data. The Astrophea, Decaloba and Passiflora subgenera monophyly were confirmed, although the Deidamioides monophyly remains open. The results also support the existence of a fifth subgenus, Tryphostemmatoides. Separated analyses for each subgenus demonstrated to be an efficient method for analysis of markers with high variability between groups, as it is the case of the Passiflora’s subgenera. The ITS1 and ITS2 have been the more informative molecular markers. In general, the supersections, sections and series of the four subgenera were found non-monophyletic, suggesting the need of a careful revision of the morphologic characters typically used for their delimitation.

SILVA, José de Arimatéa Freitas e. Propriedades vibracionais da L-Asparagina monohidratada sob pressões de até 30GPA. 2012. 109 f. Tese (Doutorado em Física) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Física, Departamento de Física, Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2012. / Submitted by Edvander Pires (edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-10-20T18:30:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_tese_jafsilva.pdf: 2794062 bytes, checksum: 6556935863d008ea5014196696fe3bcd (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edvander Pires(edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-10-21T20:27:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_tese_jafsilva.pdf: 2794062 bytes, checksum: 6556935863d008ea5014196696fe3bcd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-21T20:27:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_tese_jafsilva.pdf: 2794062 bytes, checksum: 6556935863d008ea5014196696fe3bcd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Os materiais cristalinos unidos por ligações de hidrogênio têm recebido a atenção de pesquisas científicas durante vários anos. Entre estes sistemas se destacam os cristais de aminoácidos, que são moléculas fundamentais para a vida. Nessa Tese estudam-se as propriedades vibracionais do cristal de L-asparagina monohidratada (LAM) submetido a condições de altas pressões através da técnica de espectroscopia Raman no intervalo de frequência entre 30 e 3600 cm-1. As pressões nas quais o material foi submetido chegaram até a 30 GPa, se constituindo no maior valor de pressão no qual um cristal dessa família foi comprimido até hoje. Tal fato aponta para um novo paradigma, haja vista que sob pressões dessa ordem de grandeza muitos materiais sofrem amorfização, ou seja, perdem a ordem de longo alcance (como acontece com a L-alanina, que se amorfiza a 15 GPa). Surpreendentemente, a LAM permanece com uma estrutura cristalina bem definida até o valor de pressão acima especificado, proporcionando uma extraordinária série de transições de fase. Um estudo anterior apontava para a ocorrência de três transições de fase sofridas pela LAM no intervalo entre 0 e 2 GPa. Nesta Tese, investigando-se o cristal entre 2 e 30 GPa, inferiu-se que a LAM sofre mais cinco transições de fase: (i) entre 2,1 – 3,1 GPa; (ii) entre 4,7 – 6,6 GPa; (iii) entre 9,3 – 9,9 GPa; (iv) entre 15,0 – 17,0 GPa; (v) entre 22,4 – 25,1 GPa. As transições de fase nestes sistemas podem ser entendidas como conformação molecular na célula unitária; modificação nas ligações de hidrogênio intermoleculares; ou mudança estrutural com modificação no grupo espacial do cristal. A partir da avaliação conjunta das bandas ativas no Raman associadas a modos da rede e a modos internos do material, foi possível fornecer-se um quadro sobre as cinco diferentes transições de fase. Uma dessas transições, entre 9,3 e 9,9 GPa, que envolve modificações em todas as regiões espectrais, aponta claramente para uma transição de fase sólido-sólido com mudança de grupo espacial do cristal. Todas as transições de fase são reversíveis, uma vez que o espectro Raman original é recuperado quando a pressão é relaxada de 30 GPa à pressão atmosférica. Uma análise do comportamento da freqüência do modo associado à torção do NH3+ em função da pressão e a conexão com as dimensões das ligações de hidrogênio é apresentada, bem como é fornecida uma comparação do presente resultado com outros resultados já publicados na literatura. Finalmente, são fornecidos os dados relativos aos ajustes experimentais d/dP das freqüências de todos os modos vibracionais em função da pressão no intervalo completo de pressão investigado.