Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. / Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.

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This dissertation assesses the effects of tax and expenditure limitations (TELs) on principal items of revenue, largest components of expenditure and the levels of public debt of local governments serving urban cores and suburban fringes of the largest metropolitan areas in the US. The first part of the dissertation consists of 4 chapters. Chapter 1 examines the formal aspects of TELs; Chapter 2 explores historical evolution of fiscal limits between 1800 and 2009; Chapter 3 examines substantive nature of TELs; and Chapter 4 reviews the extant research on TELs. The past research suggests that TELs are associated with increased centralization, diminished government responsiveness, and suboptimal outcomes of the entire local public sector. The second part of the dissertation, Chapters 5-6, presents the empirical study of the asymmetrical fiscal effects of TELs on different geographic segments of metropolitan areas. The study employs the quasi-experimental multiple comparison group time series research design and measures fiscal outcomes associated with the imposition of TELs. It relies on a standard fixed effects dummy variable OLS model with constant slope coefficients and variable intercept. The sample (N = 166,530) contains 7 periods of observation at 5 year intervals of 745 metropolitan counties from 270 metropolitan areas. The unit of analysis is the metropolitan county area. The study found that in the urban cores and suburban fringes of metropolitan areas: 1) overall fiscal effects of TELs follow general asymmetrical trends identified by past research; 2) specific fiscal effects varied by comparison group, type of TEL imposed, and measure of fiscal outcome; 3) local governments in the urban cores are more adversely affected by TELs; 4) general revenues and expenditures declined in all comparison groups but urban core local governments experienced larger declines; 5) in all comparison groups own source revenues declined, intergovernmental revenues increased, spending on public education and public safety declined with larger declines in the urban cores; 6) long-term debt (especially non-guaranteed) has been rising more quickly in the urban core segments of metropolitan areas; and 7) in general, the effects of TELs were more negative and more pronounced for local governments experiencing fiscal stress. / Ph. D.

yes / The delivery of higher education, as with many aspects of society in general, is becoming increasingly shaped by the availability of the Internet in our everyday lives. Associated with the growth in Internet availability, web 2.0 technologies have become increasingly popular over recent years, especially with the `Google Generation¿, a term used to describe those brought up with the Internet. The exploitation of such tools has led to the widespread take-up of social networking sites, the growth in blogging and twitter, and the adoption of wikis and social media sites for the sharing and publishing of content. The opportunities introduced by technology enhanced learning (TEL), and in particular web 2.0 tools and applications, are now starting to attract significant interest from within the academic community. The lecture begins by describing the advances in digital communication technologies that are allowing new approaches to teaching and learning to be investigated. A review of how technology is currently employed in higher education then follows, before proceeding to outline the latest developments associated with web 2.0 tools and applications and the opportunities these present. A review of significant findings from within the academic research community is then given. To conclude, an assessment of what are the likely drivers that are creating a need for change within the higher education sector is presented before outlining the implications of introducing TEL from the perspectives of both students and teaching staff.

A cana-de-açúcar constitui uma das principais fontes de alimento e de energia renovável no mundo. Entre os fatores bióticos que reduzem sua produtividade, destaca-se o carvão, doença causada pelo fungo biotrófico Sporisorium scitamineum, cujos danos à cultura podem ultrapassar 80%. No entanto, poucos estudos foram desenvolvidos sobre a genética desse patógeno. Assim, o presente trabalho estudou a dinâmica de marcas RFLP associados à região subtelomérica (tel-RFLP) e marcas GFP em três populações do patógeno (a, b e c) obtidas em ciclos sucessivos da doença. A população a inicialmente foi formada pela inoculação com teliósporos F1 oriundos do isolado 39 produzido em trabalho anterior (REIS, 2012). As populações b e c foram produzidas inicialmente por cruzamentos controlados. Estes envolveram como parentais esporídios haploides de tipos de reação sexual compatíveis e perfis tel-RFLP conhecidos. Na população b os esporídios parentais (18A e 39B) foram isolados de teliósporos distintos, apresentaram perfis tel-RFLP mais contrastantes e simularam fecundação cruzada. Na população c, os esporídios parentais 39Agfp e 39Bgfp apresentaram perfis tel- RFLP mais semelhantes. Esses mutantes foram obtidos pela inserção heteróloga do gene gfp em esporídios obtidos de um único teliósporo simulando autofecundação (reação sexual intra-tétrade). A comparação entre os perfis de tel-RFLP dos esporídios selvagens e mutantes GFP detectou a inserção do gene gfp possivelmente na região subtelomérica do individuo 39Agfp (parental). A cada ciclo da doença teliósporos selvagens e mutantes GFP foram obtidos, sendo isolados dois esporídios para os cruzamentos controlados que levaram à produção do ciclo seguinte de doença. O uso de cruzamentos controlados possibilitou a produção de teliósporos idênticos geneticamente, permitindo inferir sobre eventos meióticos ocorrentes numa mesma progênie. A fenotipagem sexual dos esporídios que tiveram os perfis de tel-RFLP analisados reduziu o viés advindo do desvio da segregação esperada de 1:1 entre os tipos sexuais de esporídios pertencentes à mesma divisão meiótica. Além disso, auxiliou na detecção de recombinantes, visto que os loci de reação sexual segregam na meiose I. A análise das marcas tel-RFLP das progênies mutantes GFP e selvagens, obtida respectivamente em 1 e 2 ciclos da doença, evidenciou eventos de recombinação na segregação de cromossomos homólogos e eventos de recombinação homóloga. Mesmo apresentando número elevado, as marcas tel-RFLP foram capazes de rastrear indivíduos pertencentes a uma mesma população, o que poderá auxiliar em futuras avaliações epidemiológicas do carvão da cana-de-açúcar. Por fim, a expressão do gene gfp em células de pró-basídios mutantes possibilitou a detecção de recombinação homóloga associada a essa marca e a observação inédita de tétrades lineares de quatro células para essa espécie. Observou-se elevado potencial de utilização do gene gfp em estudos genéticos aplicados a esse patossistema. A recombinação sugerida na região subtelomérica mostrou frequência de recombinação ainda não descrita para essa espécie a ser estudada posteriormente. / Sugarcane is a major source of food and renewable energy in the world. Among the biotic factors that reduce its productivity we highlight the sugarcane smut disease, caused by the biotrophic fungus Sporisorium scitamineum, whose damages to the crop can overpass 80%. However, few genetic studies have targeted this pathogen. Thus, the present work studied the dynamics of RFLP marks associated to the subtelomeric region (tel-RFLP) and GFP marks of three populations of the pathogen (a, b and c) obtained from consecutive disease cycles. Population a was initially formed with inoculation using teliospores F1 from the whip 39 obtained in previous work (REIS, 2012). Populations b and c were initially produced by controlled crosses of sexual compatible haploid sporidia with known tel-RFLP profiles as parents. In population b the parent sporidia (18A and 39B) were isolated from distinct teliospores, had more different tel-RFLP profiles (7 polymorphic marks) and simulated outcrossing. In population c, the parental sporidia 39Agfp and 39Bgfp had more similar tel-RFLP profiles. These mutants were obtained by heterologous insertion of gfp gene in sporidia obtained from single teliospore, simulating selfing (intra-tetrad mating type). The comparison between wild-type and GFP mutant sporidia tel-RFLP profiles had detected the gfp gene insertion in the subtelomeric region of the individual 39Agfp (parent). For each disease cycle wild-type and GFP mutant teliospores were obtained and two sporidia were isolated to perform controlled crosses that lead to the next disease cycle. The use of controlled crosses resulted in the production of genetically identical teliospores, which allowed inferring about same progeny meiotic occurring events. The sexual phenotyping of the sporidia that had their tel-RFLP analyzed reduced the bias resulted from deviation of expected 1:1 ratio segregation among the mating types of same meiotic division progeny. Besides, it helped in the recombinants detection, due to mating type loci segregation in meiosis I. The analysis of wild-type and GFP mutant progenies tel- RFLP marks, obtained for 2 and 1 disease cycles, has pointed out events of homologous chromosomes recombination and crossing-over events. Despite of the high amount of marks obtained, the tel-RFLP marks allowed the tracking of individuals from the same population, which can benefit future sugarcane smut disease epidemiologic evaluations. Moreover, the gfp gene expression of mutant probasidium cells led to the detection of crossing-over involving the GFP mark and the first observation of linear four-cells tetrads to this species. A high potential use of gfp gene in genetic studies applied to this pathosystem was observed. The recombination suggested for the subtelomeric region showed a recombination frequency haven\'t described for this species that needs to be further studied.

A cana-de-açúcar constitui uma das principais fontes de alimento e de energia renovável no mundo. Entre os fatores bióticos que reduzem sua produtividade, destaca-se o carvão, doença causada pelo fungo biotrófico Sporisorium scitamineum, cujos danos à cultura podem ultrapassar 80%. No entanto, poucos estudos foram desenvolvidos sobre a genética desse patógeno. Assim, o presente trabalho estudou a dinâmica de marcas RFLP associados à região subtelomérica (tel-RFLP) e marcas GFP em três populações do patógeno (a, b e c) obtidas em ciclos sucessivos da doença. A população a inicialmente foi formada pela inoculação com teliósporos F1 oriundos do isolado 39 produzido em trabalho anterior (REIS, 2012). As populações b e c foram produzidas inicialmente por cruzamentos controlados. Estes envolveram como parentais esporídios haploides de tipos de reação sexual compatíveis e perfis tel-RFLP conhecidos. Na população b os esporídios parentais (18A e 39B) foram isolados de teliósporos distintos, apresentaram perfis tel-RFLP mais contrastantes e simularam fecundação cruzada. Na população c, os esporídios parentais 39Agfp e 39Bgfp apresentaram perfis tel- RFLP mais semelhantes. Esses mutantes foram obtidos pela inserção heteróloga do gene gfp em esporídios obtidos de um único teliósporo simulando autofecundação (reação sexual intra-tétrade). A comparação entre os perfis de tel-RFLP dos esporídios selvagens e mutantes GFP detectou a inserção do gene gfp possivelmente na região subtelomérica do individuo 39Agfp (parental). A cada ciclo da doença teliósporos selvagens e mutantes GFP foram obtidos, sendo isolados dois esporídios para os cruzamentos controlados que levaram à produção do ciclo seguinte de doença. O uso de cruzamentos controlados possibilitou a produção de teliósporos idênticos geneticamente, permitindo inferir sobre eventos meióticos ocorrentes numa mesma progênie. A fenotipagem sexual dos esporídios que tiveram os perfis de tel-RFLP analisados reduziu o viés advindo do desvio da segregação esperada de 1:1 entre os tipos sexuais de esporídios pertencentes à mesma divisão meiótica. Além disso, auxiliou na detecção de recombinantes, visto que os loci de reação sexual segregam na meiose I. A análise das marcas tel-RFLP das progênies mutantes GFP e selvagens, obtida respectivamente em 1 e 2 ciclos da doença, evidenciou eventos de recombinação na segregação de cromossomos homólogos e eventos de recombinação homóloga. Mesmo apresentando número elevado, as marcas tel-RFLP foram capazes de rastrear indivíduos pertencentes a uma mesma população, o que poderá auxiliar em futuras avaliações epidemiológicas do carvão da cana-de-açúcar. Por fim, a expressão do gene gfp em células de pró-basídios mutantes possibilitou a detecção de recombinação homóloga associada a essa marca e a observação inédita de tétrades lineares de quatro células para essa espécie. Observou-se elevado potencial de utilização do gene gfp em estudos genéticos aplicados a esse patossistema. A recombinação sugerida na região subtelomérica mostrou frequência de recombinação ainda não descrita para essa espécie a ser estudada posteriormente. / Sugarcane is a major source of food and renewable energy in the world. Among the biotic factors that reduce its productivity we highlight the sugarcane smut disease, caused by the biotrophic fungus Sporisorium scitamineum, whose damages to the crop can overpass 80%. However, few genetic studies have targeted this pathogen. Thus, the present work studied the dynamics of RFLP marks associated to the subtelomeric region (tel-RFLP) and GFP marks of three populations of the pathogen (a, b and c) obtained from consecutive disease cycles. Population a was initially formed with inoculation using teliospores F1 from the whip 39 obtained in previous work (REIS, 2012). Populations b and c were initially produced by controlled crosses of sexual compatible haploid sporidia with known tel-RFLP profiles as parents. In population b the parent sporidia (18A and 39B) were isolated from distinct teliospores, had more different tel-RFLP profiles (7 polymorphic marks) and simulated outcrossing. In population c, the parental sporidia 39Agfp and 39Bgfp had more similar tel-RFLP profiles. These mutants were obtained by heterologous insertion of gfp gene in sporidia obtained from single teliospore, simulating selfing (intra-tetrad mating type). The comparison between wild-type and GFP mutant sporidia tel-RFLP profiles had detected the gfp gene insertion in the subtelomeric region of the individual 39Agfp (parent). For each disease cycle wild-type and GFP mutant teliospores were obtained and two sporidia were isolated to perform controlled crosses that lead to the next disease cycle. The use of controlled crosses resulted in the production of genetically identical teliospores, which allowed inferring about same progeny meiotic occurring events. The sexual phenotyping of the sporidia that had their tel-RFLP analyzed reduced the bias resulted from deviation of expected 1:1 ratio segregation among the mating types of same meiotic division progeny. Besides, it helped in the recombinants detection, due to mating type loci segregation in meiosis I. The analysis of wild-type and GFP mutant progenies tel- RFLP marks, obtained for 2 and 1 disease cycles, has pointed out events of homologous chromosomes recombination and crossing-over events. Despite of the high amount of marks obtained, the tel-RFLP marks allowed the tracking of individuals from the same population, which can benefit future sugarcane smut disease epidemiologic evaluations. Moreover, the gfp gene expression of mutant probasidium cells led to the detection of crossing-over involving the GFP mark and the first observation of linear four-cells tetrads to this species. A high potential use of gfp gene in genetic studies applied to this pathosystem was observed. The recombination suggested for the subtelomeric region showed a recombination frequency haven\'t described for this species that needs to be further studied.

La thèse est consacrée au voyage en Chine (1974) de Philippe Sollers, Julia Kristeva et Marcelin Pleynet, représentants de la revue Tel Quel, avec Roland Barthes et son éditeur François Wahl. La question principale porte sur l’hétérogénéité des textes rédigés à propos de leur séjour au pays de Mao en pleine Révolution culturelle. Les publications correspondent à différents genres textuels : essais, romans, chroniques du journal, articles de presse et carnets de voyage. Avant le départ, les écrivains fantasment sur la Chine ancienne et contemporaine. C’est ce qui fait l’objet de la première partie de la thèse. Dans la seconde partie, il s’agit d’interroger les textes du corpus qui mettent en lumière les difficultés liées à l’idéologie imposée et vécue par les auteurs pour rendre compte du réel en Chine. La troisième partie portant sur les enseignements du voyage montre que ce dernier réapparaît sous forme de souvenirs inoubliables dans plusieurs textes des écrivains. Plus on s’éloigne de 1974, et plus la mémoire individuelle réactive de façon aléatoire le temps du voyage. Pour Barthes, il s’agit de savoir comment il a vécu la Chine, pourquoi il a gardé le silence à son retour, pourquoi il n’a pas cherché à publier les carnets de notes rapportés de son séjour. La thèse s’achève sur une lecture inédite des œuvres du corpus à travers un mot clé « la fadeur de la Chine ». Cette image est la plus vraie pour décrire l’Empire du Milieu mais elle n’est pas celle que les voyageurs s’attendaient à rencontrer. / This thesis is devoted to the trip to China made by Philippe Sollers, Julia Kristeva, Marcelin Pleynet, Roland Barthes and François Wahl in 1974. This study mainly concerns the heterogeneity of all the publications about their stay in Mao’s country in full Cultural Revolution, including essays, novels, travel journal, press articles and travel notes. In the first part of the study, we seek to understand how the members of the literary magazine Tel Quel dreamed to China, which they considered to be both ancient and modern before the travel. In the second part, we examine each text of the corpus to see the difficulties faced by the authors when they tried to account for the real China, including the imposed ideology. In the third part, we aim to ask how the trip in Communist China becomes an unforgettable memory in these travelers’ text. The more time goes by, the more travel memories reappear. In addition, we study Barthes to understand how he lived during his stay in China, why he kept silent after he returned, and why he didn't publish his notebooks of the trip before his death. At the end of the thesis, the unprecedented reading of texts of the corpus presents a key-word, the “insipidity of China”, a metaphor that is most trued to describe the middle Empire.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier les appropriations politiques de l’œuvre de Stéphane Mallarmé. Nous explorerons comment on a pu faire de Mallarmé un objet de réflexion politique, tout en examinant les ressources conceptuelles dont on s’est servi pour donner aux écrits du poète une signification politique, ainsi que les différentes conjonctures, à la fois intellectuelle et politique, dans lesquelles ils ont pu jouer un rôle politique. Nous aborderons d’abord les travaux de Sartre, en étudiant le dialogue qu’il a entretenu avec Mallarmé tout au long de sa carrière. Nous expliquerons comment Mallarmé a pu être pour Sartre à la fois un membre d’un courant littéraire anti-démocratique et nihiliste et un héros existentialiste avant la lettre. Ensuite nous nous tournerons vers les premiers travaux de Julia Kristeva. En étudiant de près sa lecture de Mallarmé, nous montrerons pourquoi Mallarmé devait être pour les telqueliens à la fois un objet de réflexion privilégié et de critique. Dans notre troisième chapitre, nous examinerons la lecture de Mallarmé proposée par Alain Badiou en nous focalisant sur son premier livre, Théorie du sujet. Nous tâcherons aussi à cerner la signification de Mallarmé pour Badiou après la publication de son chef-d’œuvre, L’Etre et l’événement. Dans notre quatrième chapitre, nous nous tournerons vers les écrits de Jacques Rancière et proposerons une exégèse critique de sa lecture du poète. Nous clarifierons la signification politique que Rancière accorde à Mallarmé. Nous terminerons en examinant brièvement l’intervention récente dans cette histoire interprétative de Quentin Meillassoux. / The aim of this thesis is to study the political appropriations of the work of Stéphane Mallarmé. We will explore how Mallarmé has been made an object of political reflection, as well as examining the conceptual resources used to give his writings a political significance, and the different conjunctures, at once political and intellectual, in which his writings have played a political role. We begin with the works of Sartre and study his dialogue with the poet, which lasted the entirety of his career. We will explain how Mallarmé could be, for Sartre, at once a member of an anti-democratic and nihilistic literary tendency and a proto-existentialist hero. Then we will turn to the early work of Julia Kristeva. By closely studying this reading, we will show why Mallarmé had to be for the Telquellians at once an object of privileged reflection and an object of critique. In our third chapter, we examine the reading of Mallarmé proposed by Alain Badiou, focusing on his first book, Théorie du Sujet. We will also attempt to determine the political signfication of Mallarmé for Badiou after the publication of his masterwork, L'Etre et l'événement. In our fourth chapter, we turn to the writings of Jacques Rancière and offer a critical exegesis of his reading of the poet. We will clarify the political signification that Rancière gives to Mallarmé. We will end by briefly examining the recent intervention into this interprétative history by Quentin Meillassoux.

Submitted by PPG Psicologia (psicologia-pg@pucrs.br) on 2018-01-29T17:22:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MATEUS_LUZ_LEVANDOWSKI_DIS.pdf: 8338894 bytes, checksum: 3552e80d2ab07794efd004f518518133 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2018-02-05T12:59:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MATEUS_LUZ_LEVANDOWSKI_DIS.pdf: 8338894 bytes, checksum: 3552e80d2ab07794efd004f518518133 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-05T13:02:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MATEUS_LUZ_LEVANDOWSKI_DIS.pdf: 8338894 bytes, checksum: 3552e80d2ab07794efd004f518518133 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-01-12 / We aimed this thesis to explore biological mechanisms of childhood maltreatment exposure in two articles. The first article is an extensive meta-analysis assessing basal and dynamic levels of cortisol in children and adults who have experienced early life stress. We found that children during early childhood exhibit lower basal cortisol levels and lower activation of the HPA axis during stress exposure. Also, we found a biological ecophenotype within individuals with mental disorder and history of childhood maltreatment. In the second article we evaluated children and adolescents in a longitudinal study to assess the impact of early life stress on biomarkers of cell aging. We found that children exposed to maltreatment presented a greater number of behavioral problems, a higher rate of psychiatric diagnosis and accelerated cellular aging compared to children without traumatic exposure. Accelerated cell aging was identified through Telomere Length, Mitochondrial DNA copy number and ND4, being the first study with children to report these variables in association with traumatic experiences. / Esse trabalho buscou compreender mecanismos biol?gicos da exposi??o aos maus-tratos na inf?ncia em dois artigos. O primeiro artigo ? uma extensa meta-an?lise avaliando n?veis basais e din?micos de cortisol em crian?as e adultos que passaram por estresse precoce. Evidenciou-se que crian?as durante a primeira inf?ncia exibem n?veis basais de cortisol mais baixos e menor ativa??o do eixo HPA durante exposi??o ao estresse. Tamb?m foi verificado que indiv?duos que compartilham o mesmo diagn?stico apresentaram diferentes n?veis de cortisol se tiverem ou n?o sido expostos a maus-tratos durante a inf?ncia, revelando um ecofen?tipo biol?gico nestes indiv?duos. No segundo artigo foram avaliadas crian?as e adolescentes em um estudo longitudinal para avaliar o impacto do estresse precoce em marcadores de envelhecimento celular. Foi encontrado que crian?as expostas a maus-tratos apresentam maior n?mero de problemas comportamentais, maior taxa de diagn?stico psiqui?trico e envelhecimento celular acelerado em compara??o com crian?as sem exposi??o traum?tica. O envelhecimento celular acelerado foi identificado atrav?s de importantes biomarcadores de envelhecimento, tais como comprimento de tel?mero, n?mero de c?pias de DNA mitocondrial e ND4, sendo o primeiro estudo com crian?as a relacionar estas vari?veis com a exposi??o traum?tica.

eLearning applications have penetrated the world of education as most higher education organizations all over the world choose to deploy eLearning applications. A review of literature and surveys performed confirmed that currently there is very little engagement of students in web-based eLearning applications, especially related to web-based constructive activities. In fact, eLearning platforms are mostly used as on-line repositories for a variety of course related documents without actively contributing to the learning process utilizing available modern learning methods. eLearning aims to actively engage students by making available learning content, but also through using interactive practices in the process of learning. Therefore, students in addition to access learning content may actively participate in the discovery of knowledge rather than being passive receptors to that content. Consequently, engagement of students to eLearning activities and content is important. Two surveys were undertaken in order to identify the reasons why web-based eLearning platforms fail to achieve both constructivist learning and the required engagement by both students and instructors. In addition to that, these surveys investigated and measured the level of interactivity of both students and instructors with on-line Information Technology (IT) services offered by both web-based and mobile applications and services. The rational was to investigate opportunities in creating a technology that can disseminate eLearning content that is mainly offered by institutional eLearning platforms and popular on-line services like social networks and communications services, in order to increase awareness, availability, and simplicity of eLearning activities and thus engagement to eLearning. The findings illustrated that most instructors fail to create and promptly support constructive eLearning activities largely because of the complexity and time required for such undertakings. Consequently, the critical student participant mass is not achieved. Additionally, it seems that most learning platforms rely on email messages and native applications’ notifications to update both students and instructors on new interactions. However, these channels of communication are not within the preferred communication channels and thus updates become outdated and fail to serve their purpose. Finally, web-based learning platforms seem to be oriented around laptop/desktop computer use (i.e. a full sized computer screen) rather than adopting and adapting to current mobile use of technology. The research presents a novel conceptual model of a mobile application that integrates and combines various already existing popular, on-line, web-based and mobile application services (communication, social media, voice command systems, etc.) including relative technologies (smart devices, mobile sensors, application servers), with institutional eLearning platforms. The aim is to increase the engagement of both students and instructors to eLearning, through constructive eLearning activities using a variety of existing popular technologies. This research shows that a Mobile Technology Enhanced Learning (mTEL) technology that integrates eLearning activities to both students and instructors will assist in increasing the awareness of learners to eLearning activities. At the same time, it offers the means to access, respond and participate in learning activities virtually from everywhere, thus making interaction ubiquitous, simpler and prompt, thus addressing key eLearning weaknesses leading to low engagement. These benefits are offered to both students and instructors, for a variety of eLearning activities and tools (positivistic and constructive). The research goes one step further by evaluating mTEL’s effectiveness. A conceptual novel model of a mobile application was designed and positively evaluated to contribute in the resolution of the major problem of low engagement of both students and instructors to eLearning. This is achieved by technologically enhancing mobile learning and introducing learning activities and materials at the current, highly populated on-line ecosystems where learners are already engaged instead of expecting them to directly interact with the institutional web-based platforms.