Blended learning, involves the combination of two fields of concern: technology and education; or two groups of people: technologists and educationists. However, current literature shows less consideration on the potential disciplinary gap in the blended learning experience, as a result there is a paucity of evidence from cross-country/institutional/disciplinary investigations. This study aimed to explore, analyse and compare the blended learning experience in higher education. The research is reflected in 3 questions: (1) What are the current blended learning experiences in the selected higher educational institutions? (2) How such experience varies in different disciplines? (3) What are the reflections on the comparative experiences in (1) and (2)? The qualitative case study with comparative methods was used to obtain in-depth findings for these research questions. I visited 4 universities in two countries and sampled 51 research participants’ voices from contrasting disciplines. With these voices, I thoroughly discussed individual case studies, followed by a cross-case and cross-discipline comparison. These findings enabled insights to be drawn on a major argument: blended learning did enable and enhance learning experiences in all case studies but disciplinary differences remain a major challenge. The analysis shows that academics from science-based disciplines have an advantage at the instrumental level of technological usage without transforming learning experience; social science-based academics, due to their disciplinary nature, have embedded technology in wider trans-technical aspects that would enhance and transform learning and teaching. In the context of blended learning, I would argue that learning has not been enhanced (1) if the technology is the sole focus; (2) if the research effort of “technology enhanced learning” does not gain ground in educational theories and (3) does not recognise the disciplinary differences. Arising out of these findings, I proposed a blended learning model that indicates the boundary of the current literature and research findings, and a blended learning definition - an educational-focused process to enhance and transform f2f learning with the blend of technology in a symbiotic relationship. It is necessary for educationists and technologists to establish such a symbiotic relationship and the inter-disciplinary integration and discourse, that may impact on the individuals’ practice beyond their own disciplinary territory.

Thèse confidentielle / Confidential PhD thesis

Kyoto University (京都大学) / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第16820号 / 工博第3541号 / 新制||工||1535(附属図書館) / 29495 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 澤田 純男, 教授 清野 純史, 准教授 五十嵐 晃 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study examined the role the Malaysian government played in developing the Malaysian economy as a means to eliminating poverty and inequality and explored the lessons South Africa can learn from Malaysia's development experience. Under British colonial rule Malaysia developed a divided multi-ethnic society characterised by gross inequality and high levels of poverty. Jolted by the 1969 race riots and in a major departure from the laissez-faire economic policy, the government embarked on the New Economic Policy in 1970. This ambitious twenty-year social engineering plan ushered in greater state intervention in the economy. It greatly reduced poverty among indigenous Malays and made substantial progress towards achieving inter-ethnic economic parity. / South Africa

The research covers the taxation and other economic methods employed by the governments of South Africa, Malaysia, Australia and The UK to address the problem of rising pollution, with specific attention to carbon emissions. All four countries provide income tax deductions for environmental expenditure and investments; however South Africa is the only country that does not yet provide income tax allowances for renewable energy technology. In contrast, only the UK has applied a variety of indirect taxes for the purpose of reducing pollution. Even so, if a person considers the emission statistics in comparison to all the taxes, one cannot say for certain that these taxes and incentives have made any significant impact on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions thus far. Nevertheless, the tax initiatives displayed does show promise and the taxes also produce additional revenue for governments. However, a significant finding is that there is a strong correlation between the movements in fuel taxes and the movement in total CO2 emission figures over the past two decades. Moreover, vehicles are considered to be the highest source of CO2 emissions, thus it seems that fuel taxes have made a real impact on the amounts of CO2 emitted. Even so, the issue remains that governments may sway from strict pollution taxation regimes as soon as they are perceived to bear negative economic consequences regardless of the impact on the environment, unless there are clearly quantified targets for the country as well as negative consequences for the government if the country does not reach those targets. University of Pretoria 2008 Please cite as follows Taljaard, G 2008, Taxing pollution : a comparison between South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and Malaysia , MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04062009-144901/ > E1273/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Taxation / unrestricted

Many scientists have accepted that human activities are the major cause of climate change and global warming. Knowledge on the effect this will have on office buildings and energy consumption in the future is essential. Thus the assessment of future building energy consumption is becoming more important especially in countries such as Malaysia where the majority of the office buildings depend on air-conditioning to maintain the occupants level of comfort. This research explores the effect of future climate change weather on the energy consumption of office buildings in Malaysia, by using simulation software. Simulated weather data sets HadCM3 were supplied by the Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom for the recent past and for the future up to 2099. Test Reference Years (TRYs) were selected from this data using the Finkelstein-Schafer Statistic (FS) method for four time slices, namely TRYs 1990-2007, 2010-2039, 2040-2069 and 2070-2099. The HadCM3 data was validated by comparing the 1990-2007 TRY with a TRY selected by the same method and period from the measured weather. The Hadley data was supplied as daily values, but the building simulation software required hourly values. Algorithms were therefore used to generate hourly values from the daily data for the relevant variables (dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and global solar radiation) and to decompose global solar radiation into direct and diffuse radiation. Two different office building were modelled in the simulation software, one imaginary simplified typical building and one real building. The sensible and latent annual cooling loads were found for each building for each different TRY. A sensitivity analysis was also performed to investigate the effect on cooling load of changes in building design as possible ways of mitigating the effects of climate change. It was found that climate change will increases the building energy consumption by 13.6 percent in future and better understanding on building design will reduce this effect.

The ~ 73 ka ‘super-eruption’ of the Toba caldera in Sumatra is the largest known eruption of the Quaternary. The products of this eruption, the Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT), have been implicated in global and regional climate deterioration with widespread ecological effects. In this thesis I study the YTT co-ignimbrite ashfall, in particular the mechanisms of transport, sedimentation and preservation of ash deposits. I use distal marine and terrestrial ash sediments: a) to estimate the volume of YTT ash fallout; b) to quantify variability in the geochemistry of YTT ash; c) to assess the reliability of YTT ash as a chronostratigraphic marker; and d) to determine local influences on the reworking of YTT ash deposits. Following the introductory chapters, I address topics a) and b) through detailed investigations of published physical and chemical evidence. Chapter three shows that particle size and sediment thickness do not decline exponentially with distance from the eruption vent, highlighting the limitations of current methods of volume estimation for co-ignimbrite super-eruptions. Chapter four analyses geochemical variation in 72 YTT samples, and reveals the signatures of magma chamber zonation and post-depositional alteration. I address topics c) and d) through fieldwork in six locations, and detailed analysis of ash samples from a wide variety of local depositional environments. Chapter five uses high-resolution stratigraphic analysis of the YTT layer in the Son Valley, India, to show that variable deposition and sediment reworking may compromise the reliability of the ash layer as an isochronous marker for interpreting archaeological sequences. Chapter six combines a new understanding of the mechanisms of reworking, using new data on microscopic characteristics of reworked ash at four sites in Malaysia to demonstrate the necessity of accounting for reworking in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. I conclude that accurate analyses of distal ash deposits can reliably determine the chemical properties of the YTT eruption, and that a detailed understanding of deposition and reworking processes is essential to inference of the environmental impacts of super-eruptions.

This dissertation develops the conceptual framework of landscape political ecology (LPE) to consider particular forms of socio-ecological transformation resulting from the relatively re- cent but heavily contested practice of ‘swiftlet farming’ in Malaysian cities. Swiftlet farming is a colloquial term given to the semi-domestication of edible-nest swiftlets (Aerodramus fuciphagus) in converted buildings within urban areas in order to harvest their nests. These nests have long been a highly sought-after delicacy in China and overseas Chinese communities, and subsequently fetch over US$2000 on the international market. The primary research question investigated asks how the industry has been perceived and contested on an everyday basis in Malaysian cities. Engaging these controversies provides the opportunity to capture the significant negotiation that is embedded in the mechanisms of landscape production and capital accumulation as they take place through struggles over swiftlet farming in contemporary Malaysian cities. This research also seeks to understand how the swiftlet farming industry has transformed not only the cities in which it has been located, but also the ecology of swiftlets and their breeding patterns. The dissertation is centered on a six-month participatory ethnography which took place primarily in the city of George Town, Penang, but also investigated other related sites in peninsular Malaysia. I maintain that such ‘co-productive’ research has enabled a more situated view of socio-ecological transformations that have transpired through urban swiftlet farming in Malaysia, and the controversies surrounding them. The empirical chapters aim to unpack the controversies and discourses that emerged in response to swiftlet farming in the study areas, primarily its perceived impact on urban health, forms of cultural heritage, and the wider implications of ‘farming’ such animals in urban residential areas. In exploring these topics, LPE provides a cohesive and integrated approach that helps to untangle the interconnected economic, political, ecological and discursive processes that together form increasingly heterogeneous socio-natural landscapes. The implications of this thesis thus speak to the fraught cultural politics underlying processes of urban socio-ecological transformation in contemporary Southeast Asian cities.

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This paper is divided into four distinct sections. 1. An explanation of the meaning of input/output analysis, especially the derivation and significance of the table of direct and indirect requirements. 2. An outline of the decisions taken in constructing the West Malaysian 1960 transactions table from a set of National Accounts - especially the treatment and valuation of imports and exports; producer versus purchaser price valuation of transactions; and problems of inconsistent and incomplete double entry records. 3. An explanation of the method of forecasting from input/ output tables. This includes discussion of: a. A method of estimating aggregate demand for Malaya for 1970. b. A method of projection of value added for each sector, 1970. c. The likely stability of the input coefficients over time. 4. Results; a. Differences between the 1960 and 1965 table projections due to changes in Leontief inverses and value added coefficients over time, as the economy undergoes change. b. Comparison of the table projections with the First Malaysia Plan projections: i. Are the Plan projections likely to be reached in 1970? ii. Why are some of the table projections so inaccurate? The paper concludes that 1. The projections from the 1965 input/ output table are generally superior to those from the 1960 table. 2. Under conditions of structural change, even 5 years is too far ahead to expect input/output analysis to yield accurate projections for most sectors. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate