Based on a study of knowledge transfer from a multinational corporation head office to subsidiary, this study examines the ease of cross border knowledge transfer to developed, developing and least developed countries impacted by varying institutional contexts. Institutions are clustered based on Scott’s institutional theory (1995), into normative, cognitive and regulative pillars that frame the mental models and approaches of actors in these institutional contexts. The study proposes that the institutional sectors of education systems, embeddedness of foreign firms, and authority systems impact ease of knowledge transfer from a MNC head office to its subsidiaries in developed, developing and LDCs. Therefore this study makes an important contribution to the literature on cross border knowledge transfer in that it suggests that the external institutional contexts contribute to effective knowledge transfer. The research provides management with an indication of the institutional elements that impact ease of transfer of knowledge, and the extent of interventions that can be optimised, to reduce the time; cost and effort associated with knowledge transfer initiatives that will ultimately increase their efficiency. The research aims to provide useful insights for practitioners wanting to minimise the barriers to knowledge transfer and optimise employee knowledge transfer initiatives. The overall outcome of the study is that as the socio-economic development increases, the ease of knowledge transfer increases. The study, hence contributes to the international business literature by identifying how inter-organisational knowledge transfer can be improved across borders. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Postgraduate tutors have an important role to play in teaching and learning in higher education. There has been substantial research conducted in this area - much of it is orientated towards improving the quality of the methods of instruction and classroom practice. Far less research has been focused on the postgraduate tutors as producers of content. This research is based on an intervention that tasked five postgraduate tutors with planning two tutorials and designing an assessment task: activities that fell outside the scope of their usual work and roles. The aim of the research is to discover more about how postgraduate tutors, who typically have extensive and expert content knowledge, but very little pedagogical knowledge, develop pedagogical content knowledge. The study tracks the decision making process and the knowledge reservoirs that the participants emphasise in their planning and design in order learn about the teaching beliefs and priorities of these novice teachers. The analysis goes on to explore the criteria for legitimation that the postgraduate tutors establish and/ or entrench. The study finds that the participants are highly sensitive to the many kinds of constraints that circulate and that they in turn re-circulated. It goes on to suggest that postgraduate tutors are likely to reproduce the regulative rules that they find in operation and the cumulative messages of what is valued in terms of student and teacher performance in a given context.

[pt] Um grande desafio na pesquisa de sistemas multiagentes (SMA) é a concepção e implementação de SMA abertos em que normas podem ser eficazmente aplicadas aos seus agentes e facilmente gerenciadas. Estas tarefas são árduas porque normas são usualmente escritas para propósitos gerais, dificultando uma regulação mais precisa. A motivação para esta pesquisa surgiu diante da necessidade de resolver este desafio, proporcionando uma abordagem aplicável em sistemas abertos. Nesses sistemas, heterogeneidade e autonomia excluem qualquer hipótese relativa à forma com que entidades de terceiros são implementadas e como se comportam. Assim, uma solução viável para regulação em SMA abertos não deve ser rigidamente codificada dentro das implementações originais de agentes e deve permitir, a um certo grau de precisão e flexibilidade, atualizar dados (e.g., normas) durante a execução do sistema. Nesta tese, nossa abordagem DynaCROM para lidar com normas em SMA abertos é apresentada. Da perspectiva individual de agentes, DynaCROM é um mecanismo informativo que torna agentes da aplicação cientes das normas as quais eles estão vinculados em um determinado momento. Da perspectiva de desenvolvedores do sistema, DynaCROM é uma metodologia para aplicação e gerenciamento de normas em SMA abertos de tal modo que desenvolvedores sejam capazes de incorporar em normas abstratas valores de domínio. Portanto, normas são contextualizadas no domínio de aplicação onde elas são válidas, facilitando regulação. Considerando que um SMA regulado deve ter suas normas respeitadas, apresentamos também a integração de DynaCROM com dois mecanismos distintos de cumprimento de normas. Em resumo, o resultado dessa tese é nossa abordagem DynaCROM que operacionaliza normas regulativas em SMA. / [en] A major challenge in the research of multiagent systems (MAS) is the design and implementation of open MAS in which norms can be effectively applied to their agents and easily managed. These tasks are arduous because norms are usually written for general purposes, hindering a more precise regulation. The motivation for this research came forth from the need to resolve this challenge, providing an approach applicable in open systems. In such systems, heterogeneity and autonomy rule out any assumption concerning the way third-party entities are implemented and behaved. A viable solution for regulation in open MAS should not be hard coded inside agents` original implementations and must allow, for some degree of precision and flexibility, to update data (e.g., norms) during the system execution. In this thesis, our DynaCROM approach for dealing with norms in open MAS is presented. From the individual agents perspective, Dyna- CROM is an information mechanism that makes application agents aware of the norms they are bound to at a given moment. From the system developers perspective, DynaCROM is a methodology for the application and management of norms in open MAS so developers are able to embody abstract norms with domain values. Therefore, norms are contextualized in the application domain wherein they hold, facilitating regulation. Considering that a regulated MAS should have its norms enforced, the integration of DynaCROM with two distinct enforcement mechanisms is also presented. In summary, the result of this thesis is our DynaCROM approach, which operationalizes regulative norms in MAS.

China’s status as the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment and the largest trading nation is likely to attract more international firms seeking market entrance, and increase the speed of expansion by those already present in the market. Its progress in reaching this point has been accompanied by significant changes in laws and regulations. This study sets out to understand the events of foreign market entry to emerging markets experiencing recurring changes in laws and regulations, and asks the research question: How may institutional change in the host market influence the market entry behaviour of the firm over time? Based on retrospective longitudinal case studies of DeLaval, Elekta and Höganäs from 1980 to 2010, the findings show that institutional change taking place in the host market plays a signal role that enables firms to recognise the availability and accessibility of market opportunity. Firms also make market commitment accordingly to capture the market opportunity recognised. Additionally, institutional change comes in different forms (transitional change and turbulent change), and plays out differently in various industries and at various points in time. They also have varying influences on market opportunity in terms of the source through which it is recognised (structural opportunity and relational opportunity), and the direction in which market commitment is made (commitment toward the host market, relationships, and organisational integration). Furthermore, depending on the point in time, the relations among institutional change, market opportunity, and market commitment may change. While a consistent level of institutional change encourages firms to recognise structural opportunity, the escalation of institutional change over time seems to influence firms to form stronger relationship commitment with local actors and leads to stronger recognition of relational opportunity. This study’s findings imply that recurring institutional changes in emerging markets have an overarching impact on foreign market entry of the firm, and needs to be understood from a long-term perspective. Foreign firms that have acquired experience in emerging markets over time face less of a threat from ongoing institutional changes. Actively engaging in the host market and remaining alert to information from various sources will enable firms to recognise market opportunity in emerging markets.

The goal of this work is to show particular conditions and problems according to Equality and Effecciency of Government Progammes and offer possibilities how to solve them, improve them or alternatives to those problems on particular examples. Theoretical part of this work is at first about the role of Public Sector in the National Economy, reasons why is this sector involved in some parts of economy, especially in Healthcare Services. This part is followed by concepts of Efficiency evaluation of particular Government Programmes and theoretical concepts about Equality. Practical part is then aimed on Regulative charges introduced in the Healthcare Services in the Czech Republic.

Magistriniame darbe nagrinėjamas žemės naudojimo reglamentavimas rengiant valstybinių parkų tvarkymo planus. Tvarkymo planų rengimo metodika valstybiniams parkams, biosferos rezervatams ir draustiniams yra patvirtinta Aplinkos ministro įsakymu, todėl žemės naudojimo reglamentavimas buvo nagrinėjamas Anykščių regioninio parko pavyzdžiu. Tvarkymo planai – specialiojo teritorijų planavimo dokumentai rengiami saugomų teritorijų apsaugą ir naudojimą reguliuojančioms kraštovaizdžio tvarkymo zonoms bei jų reglamentams nustatyti, apsaugos ir tvarkymo kryptims bei priemonėms, o taip pat ir kraštovaizdžio formavimo, rekreacinės infrastruktūros kūrimo, numatyti. Parko teritorijoje kraštovaizdžio tvarkymo zonos sudaro kraštotvarkinių kategorijų sistemą, skirstomą į konservacinės paskirties žemę (152,9 ha), miškų ūkio paskirties žemę ( 6020,2 ha), žemės ūkio paskirties žemę ( 6726,8 ha), gyvenamosios paskirties žemę ( 1056 ha), rekreacinės paskirties žemę ( 327,9 ha), vandens ūkio paskirties žemę ( 1144,4 ha). Tvarkymo plane išnagrinėta galima veikla kiekvienoje iš šių zonų, nubrėžtos jų apsaugos ir tvarkymo kryptys, numatytas tolesnis parko teritorijos vystymas. Pagrindinis tvarkymo plane keliamas uždavinys išsaugoti ir pritaikyti lankymui saugomą teritoriją, nes visa saugomų teritorijų sistema sukurta tam, kad ateities kartoms būtų išsaugotas dabar mūsų turimos gamtos ir kultūros paveldo vertybės. / There is analysed the regulation of land using by preparing the regulative drafts of National parks in the master work. The methodology of regulative drafts for national parks, biosphere reserves and conservation areas is sealed by the order of Environmental minister. Consequently, the regulation of land using was analysed by Anyksciai regional park example. The regulative drafts – there are the papers of special planning areas. They are prepared in case to evaluate landscape regulative areas and their regulations, trends and mediums of protection and regulation, and also to provide landscape formation and development of recreation facility. The landscape regulative areas compose region regulation category system in park territory. This system is devided into conservation land (152,9 ha), forestry land (6020,2 ha), agriculture land (6726,8 ha), locality land (1056 ha), recreation land (327,9 ha) and water economy land (1144,4 ha). There are analysed possible activity in each area, defined their protection and regulation trends, supposed further park area development in the regulation draft. The main task of regulation draft is to conserve and apply protected area for visiting. Because all protected areas system is created to save our nature and cultural heritage for muture generations.

This research is a historical-exegetical analysis of Hegel’s reformulation of Kant’s regulative principle of teleology into a constitutive principle. Kant ascribes teleology to the faculty of reflective judgment where it is employed as a guide to regulate inquiry, but does not constitute actual knowledge. Hegel argues that if Kant made teleology into a constitutive principle then it would be a much more comprehensive theory capable of overcoming contingency in natural science, and hence, bridging the gap between natural science and theology. In this paper I argue that Hegel’s defense of the transition from natural science to theology is ultimately unsuccessful because it is built upon on an instinct of reason, which is the instinctive feature of human rationality to transition beyond the contingency remaining in our empirical understanding of nature, to a theological understanding of nature, in which all aspects of nature are necessarily related.

A presente tese foi desenvolvida na Linha de Pesquisa “O sujeito da Educação: conhecimento, linguagem e contextos”, na temática Sociologia e Educação, vinculada ao Projeto de Pesquisa “Perspectivas de Ensino na Educação Básica: prática pedagógica e formação de professores”, coordenado pela professora doutora Maria Helena Degani Veit. Na tese é examinada a prática pedagógica de 30 estagiários matriculados na disciplina de Prática de Ensino em Biologia do curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul no ano de 2005. O estudo desenvolveu os seguintes tópicos: 1) interpretação dos significados de conflitos de papéis que perpassam o ingresso dos licenciandos na carreira docente; 2) caracterização das práticas pedagógicas dos estagiários planejadas com o objetivo de favorecer a aprendizagem de conhecimentos biológicos pelos alunos do Ensino Médio;2.1) análise de discursos e de modalidades de conhecimentos que constituem a Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas e que são mobilizados quando da recontextualização dos conteúdos biológicos para o Nível Médio e2.2) caracterização do discurso regulador empregado pelos estagiários no contexto de escolas da rede pública de Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. A pesquisa participante, em uma abordagem quali-quantitativa, foi realizada pela professora da disciplina de Prática de Ensino em Biologia, utilizando, como referencial teórico-metodológico, a perspectiva sociológica de Basil Bernstein, complementada por conceituação da Fenomenologia Social e do Interacionismo Simbólico. Os resultados do estudo confirmaram os achados de Morais (2002a, 2002b) e de pesquisadoras associadas que, apoiadas em Bernstein, caracterizaram as modalidades de práticas pedagógicas mais produtivas em contextos de formação de professores e de ensino de alunos da Educação Básica pertencentes a famílias de baixa renda. As autoras designaram tais práticas como pedagogias mistas, as quais apresentam enquadramentos fortes nas dimensões seleção e seqüência de conteúdos, em nível macro, e avaliação, e apresentam enquadramentos fracos nas dimensões seleção e seqüência de conteúdos, em nível micro, ritmagem e regras hierárquicas. A tese complementa a caracterização das pedagogias mistas e descreve as formas da prática pedagógica que tornam disponíveis aos adquirentes regras de reconhecimento e de realização de textos, isto é, práticas legítimas no contexto educacional.A investigação também possibilitou a interpretação dos significados das interações entre transmissores e adquirentes, enfocando estratégias e discursos que buscam resgatar valores nucleares da sociedade ocidental. / This doctoral dissertation was developed within the Research Line “The Subject of Education: Knowledge, Language and Contexts” and the theme of Sociology and Education, which is connected to the Research Project, “Teaching Perspectives in Basic Education: Pedagogical Practice and Teacher Training”, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Maria Helena Degani Veit. The dissertation discusses the pedagogical practice of 30 student teachers enrolled in 2005 in a course on Teaching Practice in Biology, which is part of the Teacher Training Program in Biological Science at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The study developed the following topics: 1) interpretation of the meanings of the role-related conflicts involved in the students’ entry into the teaching career; 2) characterization of the student teachers’ pedagogical practices designed to foster the learning of biology by high school students; 2.1) analysis of discourses and modes of knowledge that constitute the Teacher Training Program in Biological Science and are mobilized duringthe “recontextualization” of the contents of Biology for the level of secondary education, as well as 2.2) characterization of the “regulative discourse” employed by the student teachers in the context of public schools in Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The participatory research, which adopted a qualitative-quantitative approach, was conducted by the professor of the course on Teaching Practice in Biology. It used Basil Bernstein’s sociological perspective as its theoretical-methodological frame of reference, supplementing it with concepts taken from Social Phenomenology and Symbolic Interactionism. The results of the study confirmed the findings by Morais et al. (2002, 2003), who, based on Bernstein, characterized the most productive modes of pedagogical practice in the contexts of teacher training and of teaching to basic education students who come from low income families. Morais et al. called such practices “mixed pedagogies,” as they exhibit “strong framings” in the dimensions of “selection” and “sequence” of contents at the macro level, as well as “evaluation,” and “weak framings” in the dimensions of “selection” and “sequence” of contents at the micro level, besides “pacing” and “hierarchical rules.”The dissertation supplements the characterization of the “mixed pedagogies” and describes the forms of “pedagogical practice” that makeavailable to the acquirers “rules of recognition” and “rules of realization” of texts, that is, legitimate practices in the context of education. The investigation also made it possible to interpret the meanings of the interactions between transmitters and acquirers, focusing on strategies and discourses that try to retrieve core values of Western society.

The notion of the organism has a somewhat ambiguous status in Kant’s philosophy. On the one hand it belongs to natural science, on the other hand it is based on an analogy with the structure of reason. Biology therefore has a peculiar place among the sciences according to Kant: it is a natural science constituted by the use of a regulative maxim. The present study places Kant’s views on biological teleology in the larger context of transcendental idealism. It consists of five essays. The first one treats the notions of things in themselves and appearances, arguing for an interpretation in terms of two aspects or perspectives rather than two worlds. The importance of the discursivity of our cognitive capacity is stressed, as well as the need to separate Kant’s various reflective perspectives. In the second essay this interpretation is applied to the third section of the Groundwork, arguing that this text does not belong to theoretical metaphysics, but rather to the articulation of a specifically practical perspective. The third essay discusses similarities and differences between Kant’s a priori conditions for cognition and conceptions of innate ideas in the rationalist tradition. Kant’s comparison of the system of categories with the biological theory of epigenesis is considered in connection to eighteenth century theories of generation. The comparison is viewed as an analogy rather than as a naturalistic theory of the a priori. In the fourth essay Kant’s account of functional attribution in biology is explicated in the context of the present day debate of the issue. It is claimed that Kant’s neo-Aristotelian approach avoids some of the difficulties in the dominant naturalistic accounts of today. Kant’s view differs from the Aristotelian in that it involves a distinction of levels, making it possible to take functional attributions on the one hand as objective from the standpoint of biology but on the other hand as having a merely regulative status from a philosophical point of view. In the fifth essay an interpretation of the antinomy of teleological judgment in the Critique of Judgment is offered. The antinomy is taken to consist in the dialectical tendency to treat the regulative maxims of teleology and mechanism as constitutive principles. The difference between the discursivity of the human understanding and the idea of a non-discursive understanding, an important theme in Kant’s solution of the antinomy, puts the question of biological teleology in relation to central tenets of transcendental idealism.

A presente tese foi desenvolvida na Linha de Pesquisa “O sujeito da Educação: conhecimento, linguagem e contextos”, na temática Sociologia e Educação, vinculada ao Projeto de Pesquisa “Perspectivas de Ensino na Educação Básica: prática pedagógica e formação de professores”, coordenado pela professora doutora Maria Helena Degani Veit. Na tese é examinada a prática pedagógica de 30 estagiários matriculados na disciplina de Prática de Ensino em Biologia do curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul no ano de 2005. O estudo desenvolveu os seguintes tópicos: 1) interpretação dos significados de conflitos de papéis que perpassam o ingresso dos licenciandos na carreira docente; 2) caracterização das práticas pedagógicas dos estagiários planejadas com o objetivo de favorecer a aprendizagem de conhecimentos biológicos pelos alunos do Ensino Médio;2.1) análise de discursos e de modalidades de conhecimentos que constituem a Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas e que são mobilizados quando da recontextualização dos conteúdos biológicos para o Nível Médio e2.2) caracterização do discurso regulador empregado pelos estagiários no contexto de escolas da rede pública de Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. A pesquisa participante, em uma abordagem quali-quantitativa, foi realizada pela professora da disciplina de Prática de Ensino em Biologia, utilizando, como referencial teórico-metodológico, a perspectiva sociológica de Basil Bernstein, complementada por conceituação da Fenomenologia Social e do Interacionismo Simbólico. Os resultados do estudo confirmaram os achados de Morais (2002a, 2002b) e de pesquisadoras associadas que, apoiadas em Bernstein, caracterizaram as modalidades de práticas pedagógicas mais produtivas em contextos de formação de professores e de ensino de alunos da Educação Básica pertencentes a famílias de baixa renda. As autoras designaram tais práticas como pedagogias mistas, as quais apresentam enquadramentos fortes nas dimensões seleção e seqüência de conteúdos, em nível macro, e avaliação, e apresentam enquadramentos fracos nas dimensões seleção e seqüência de conteúdos, em nível micro, ritmagem e regras hierárquicas. A tese complementa a caracterização das pedagogias mistas e descreve as formas da prática pedagógica que tornam disponíveis aos adquirentes regras de reconhecimento e de realização de textos, isto é, práticas legítimas no contexto educacional.A investigação também possibilitou a interpretação dos significados das interações entre transmissores e adquirentes, enfocando estratégias e discursos que buscam resgatar valores nucleares da sociedade ocidental. / This doctoral dissertation was developed within the Research Line “The Subject of Education: Knowledge, Language and Contexts” and the theme of Sociology and Education, which is connected to the Research Project, “Teaching Perspectives in Basic Education: Pedagogical Practice and Teacher Training”, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Maria Helena Degani Veit. The dissertation discusses the pedagogical practice of 30 student teachers enrolled in 2005 in a course on Teaching Practice in Biology, which is part of the Teacher Training Program in Biological Science at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The study developed the following topics: 1) interpretation of the meanings of the role-related conflicts involved in the students’ entry into the teaching career; 2) characterization of the student teachers’ pedagogical practices designed to foster the learning of biology by high school students; 2.1) analysis of discourses and modes of knowledge that constitute the Teacher Training Program in Biological Science and are mobilized duringthe “recontextualization” of the contents of Biology for the level of secondary education, as well as 2.2) characterization of the “regulative discourse” employed by the student teachers in the context of public schools in Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The participatory research, which adopted a qualitative-quantitative approach, was conducted by the professor of the course on Teaching Practice in Biology. It used Basil Bernstein’s sociological perspective as its theoretical-methodological frame of reference, supplementing it with concepts taken from Social Phenomenology and Symbolic Interactionism. The results of the study confirmed the findings by Morais et al. (2002, 2003), who, based on Bernstein, characterized the most productive modes of pedagogical practice in the contexts of teacher training and of teaching to basic education students who come from low income families. Morais et al. called such practices “mixed pedagogies,” as they exhibit “strong framings” in the dimensions of “selection” and “sequence” of contents at the macro level, as well as “evaluation,” and “weak framings” in the dimensions of “selection” and “sequence” of contents at the micro level, besides “pacing” and “hierarchical rules.”The dissertation supplements the characterization of the “mixed pedagogies” and describes the forms of “pedagogical practice” that makeavailable to the acquirers “rules of recognition” and “rules of realization” of texts, that is, legitimate practices in the context of education. The investigation also made it possible to interpret the meanings of the interactions between transmitters and acquirers, focusing on strategies and discourses that try to retrieve core values of Western society.