This study delves into the syntactic notion of subject relation in Shona with the aim of characterizing and defining it. This is done through analysing data collected from two of the Shona speaking provinces in Zimbabwe, namely, Harare and Masvingo. The data collection procedures involved the tape recording of oral interviews as well as doing selective listening to different speeches. The data were then analysed using the projection principle, noun phrase movement transformational rule as well as the selectional principles established for the subject relation in the other well researched natural languages. The research found out that there is no one single rule that can be used to determine the subject of every possible Shona sentence. One has to make use of all the seven selectional principles established in the well-researched natural languages. The research managed to assess the applicability of the selectional rules in different sentences. The rules were then ranked according to their reliability in determining the subjects of each of the various Shona sentences. It also came to light that the Shona subject relation has a number of sub-categories as a result of the various selectional rules involved in determining them. These were also ranked in a hierarchy of importance as they apply in the language. For instance, whilst some are assigned to their host words at the deep structure or underlying level of syntax, some are assigned at the surface structure level and can be shifted easily. It also emerged that the freedom of the subject relation in the language varies with the sub-category of the relation. It came to light as well that in Shona both noun phrases (NPs) and non-NPs are assigned the subject role. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

The study focused on pertinent challenges and key guidelines in introducing and assessing students’ higher order thinking skills (HOTS) in a literature based English foreign language (EFL) curriculum. A curricular initiative in Israel, namely to integrate HOTS in the teaching and learning of literature in the high school EFL classes, prompted this study to measure its effectiveness on students’ abilities to understand and apply the HOTS in their reading and writing. This mixed-methods study dealt with the following research questions: Are HOTS innate skills or must they be purposefully taught in order for students to learn and to apply them? To what extent has 10th and 11th grade EFL Israeli students’ ability to apply HOTS to their bridging essays, after completing two years in the English literature programme, been improved? How accurately could students demonstrate an understanding of HOTS by naming them and by providing an example of how they could apply them in the areas of reading and writing? The overall key findings showed that; HOTS must be taught and practiced in order for students to learn and to apply them and that teaching students to use HOTS will improve their reading and writing capabilities in regard to higher order thinking as well as their understanding of specific HOTS. It was also found that students enjoy the challenge of infusing HOTS into a literature curriculum and expressing what they learn in their writing. They are consequently motivated to learn when they are challenged with a programme that infuses HOTS into an EFL literature curriculum. Implications of the findings are that the subject specific approach and infusion method for teaching HOTS are successful in the EFL classroom. The findings provide a novel contribution to the study of HOTS pedagogy within a literature based EFL curriculum programme. Recommendations for further studies are made, particularly on HOTS vis-à-vis weaker EFL students as well as on examining different writing formats, such as opinion essays, to determine if HOTS are transferring to other types of writing after students’ participation in this curricular initiative. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

La spectroscopie EPES (Elastic Peak Electron Spectroscopy) permet de mesurer le pourcentage he d’électrons rétrodiffusés élastiquement par la surface d’un échantillon soumis à un bombardement électronique. C’est une méthode non destructive et extrêmement sensible à la surface. L'objectif de ce travail est de modéliser le cheminement des électrons élastiques dans la matière grâce à une simulation informatique basée sur la méthode Monte Carlo. Cette simulation contribue de manière essentielle à la connaissance et à l'interprétation des résultats expérimentaux obtenus par spectroscopie EPES. Nous avons, de plus, adapté cette simulation à différentes surfaces transformées à l’échelle micrométrique et nanométrique. A l’aide d’une méthode originale, basée sur une description couche par couche du matériau, j’ai réalisé un programme informatique (MC1) rendant compte du cheminement des électrons élastiques dans les différentes couches du matériau. Le nombre d’électrons ressortant de la surface dépend de nombreux paramètres comme : la nature du matériau à étudier, l’énergie des électrons incidents, l’angle d’incidence, les angles de collection des analyseurs. De plus, je me suis intéressé à l’effet de la rugosité de la surface et j’ai démontré qu’elle joue un rôle déterminant sur l’intensité du pic élastique. Ensuite, grâce à l’association de la spectroscopie EPES et de la simulation Monte Carlo, j’ai déduit les modes de croissance de l’or sur substrat d’argent et de cuivre. Les effets de l’arrangement atomique et des pertes énergétiques de surfaces ont ensuite été étudiés. Pour cela, une deuxième simulation MC2 tenant compte de ces deux paramètres a été réalisée permettant d’étudier les surfaces à l’échelle nanométriques. Ces paramètres jusqu’alors non pris en compte dans notre simulation MC1, joue un rôle essentiel sur l’intensité élastique. Ensuite, j’ai obtenu une formulation simple et exploitable pour l’interprétation des résultats obtenus par la simulation MC2 pour un analyseur RFA. Afin de valider, les différents résultats de la simulationMC2, j’ai réalisé des surfaces de silicium nanostructurées, à l’aide de masques d’oxyde d’alumine réalisés par voie électrochimique. J’ai pu créer des nano-pores par bombardement ionique sous ultravide sur des surfaces de silicium. Afin de contrôler la morphologie de la surface, j’ai effectué de l’imagerie MEB ex-situ. La simulation Monte Carlo développée associée aux résultats EPES expérimentaux permet d’estimer la profondeur, le diamètre et la morphologie des pores sans avoir recours à d’autres techniques ex-situ.Cette simulation MC2 permet de connaître la surface étudiée à l’échelle nanométrique. / EPES (Elastic Peak Electron Spectroscopy) allows measuring the percentage he of elastically backscattered electrons from the surface excited by an electron beam. This is a non destructive method which is very sensitive to the surface region. The aim of this work is to model the trajectory of elastic electrons in the matter with a computer simulation based on Monte Carlo method. This simulation allows interpreting experimental results of the EPES spectroscopy. We have moreover adapted this simulation for different surfaces transformed to micrometer and nanometer scales. Using an original method, based on a description of material layer by layer, I realized a computer program (MC1) that takes into account the path of elastic electrons in different layers of material. The number of electrons emerging from the surface depends on many parameters such as: the electron primary energy, the nature of the material, the incidence angle and the collection angles of the analyzer. In addition, I was interested in the effect of surface roughness and I showed that it plays an important role in the intensity of the elastic peak. Then, through an association of the EPES and the Monte Carlo simulation results, I deduced the growth patterns of gold on silver and copper substrates. The effects of the atomic arrangement and the surface excitations were then studied. For this, a new simulation MC2 that takes into account these two parameters has been developed to study nanoscale surfaces. These parameters not previously included in our MC1simulation play a important role in the elastic intensity. Then I have got a simple formula for interpreting the results obtained by the simulation for a RFA analyzer. To validate the different results of the simulation MC2, I realized nano-structured silicon surfaces, using aluminium oxide masks. Nano-pores have been created by Ar+ ions bombardment in UHV chamber on silicon surfaces.To control the morphology of the surfaces, I realized SEM images (Techinauv Casimir) ex-situ. The Monte Carlo simulations, developed here, associated with the EPES experimental results can estimate the depth, the diameter, the morphology of pores without the help of other ex-situ techniques.

In this work, the structural, electronic, and optical properties of CdS nanoparticles with sizes up to 4nm have been calculated using density-functional theory (DFT). Inaccuracies in the description of the unoccupied states of the applied density-functional based tight-binding method (DFTB) are overcome by a new SCF-DFTB method. Density-functional-based calculations employing linear-response theory have been performed on cadmium sulfide nanoparticles considering different stoichiometries, underlying crystal structures (zincblende, wurtzite, rocksalt), particle shapes (spherical, cuboctahedral, tetrahedral), and saturations (unsaturated, partly saturated, completely saturated). For saturated particles, the calculated onset excitations are strong excitonic. The quantum-confinement effect in the lowest excitation is visible as the excitation energy decreases towards the bulk band gap with increasing particle size. Dangling bonds at unsaturated surface atoms introduce trapped surface states which lie below the lowest excitations of the completely saturated particles. The molecular orbitals (MOs), that are participating in the excitonic excitations, show the shape of the angular momenta of a hydrogen atom (s, p). Zincblende- and wurtzite-derived particles show very similar spectra, whereas the spectra of rocksalt-derived particles are rather featureless. Particle shapes that confine the orbital wavefunctions strongly (tetrahedron) give rise to less pronounced spectra with lower oscillator strengths. Finally, a very good agreement of the calculated data to experimentally available spectra and excitation energies is found.