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Manufacturing globalization and sustainable development compel production enterprises to continuously seek improvements in their products performance, customization, environmental friendliness, cost, and delivery time. The challenges of this competition cannot be completely addressed through improving production processes because some issues can only be solved through more innovative design. This thesis investigates a new design paradigm called Design for Adaptability or Adaptable Design (AD) to address some of these challenges. The purpose of AD is to extend the utility of designs and products. An adaptable design allows manufacturers to quickly develop new and upgraded models or customized products through adapting existing designs with proven quality and costs. An adaptable product can be utilized under varying service requirements thus prevents premature product replacement. Design adaptability and product adaptability provide economical and environmental benefits of AD. <p> To make a product adaptable, its adaptability must be built-in during the design stage. Methods of design for predetermined adaptations are categorized as Specific AD; these methods design products for versatility, upgrading, variety, and customization. Several of these methods such as modular/platform design and design for upgrading have been studied for mechanical design. In the absence of predetermined adaptations, AD aims to increase the general adaptability of products. General AD involves fundamental research in design theory and methodology in order to develop practical design methods and guidelines. This thesis introduces several original concepts and proposes the subordination of a system to a rational functional structure as an approach for increasing general adaptability. Such a system would consist of a hierarchical assembly of autonomous functional modules, emulating the adaptable architecture of a rational functional structure. Methods and guidelines are proposed for making the design of mechanical systems closer to this ideal architecture. <p> Accordingly, the thesis proposes a methodology for AD in which specific AD is performed first to take advantage of available forecast information, and then general AD is performed in order to increase adaptability to unforeseen changes. Also, a measure has been defined for the assessment of adaptability. The application of this methodology has been demonstrated through several conceptual design examples.

Manufacturing globalization and sustainable development compel production enterprises to continuously seek improvements in their products performance, customization, environmental friendliness, cost, and delivery time. The challenges of this competition cannot be completely addressed through improving production processes because some issues can only be solved through more innovative design. This thesis investigates a new design paradigm called Design for Adaptability or Adaptable Design (AD) to address some of these challenges. The purpose of AD is to extend the utility of designs and products. An adaptable design allows manufacturers to quickly develop new and upgraded models or customized products through adapting existing designs with proven quality and costs. An adaptable product can be utilized under varying service requirements thus prevents premature product replacement. Design adaptability and product adaptability provide economical and environmental benefits of AD. <p> To make a product adaptable, its adaptability must be built-in during the design stage. Methods of design for predetermined adaptations are categorized as Specific AD; these methods design products for versatility, upgrading, variety, and customization. Several of these methods such as modular/platform design and design for upgrading have been studied for mechanical design. In the absence of predetermined adaptations, AD aims to increase the general adaptability of products. General AD involves fundamental research in design theory and methodology in order to develop practical design methods and guidelines. This thesis introduces several original concepts and proposes the subordination of a system to a rational functional structure as an approach for increasing general adaptability. Such a system would consist of a hierarchical assembly of autonomous functional modules, emulating the adaptable architecture of a rational functional structure. Methods and guidelines are proposed for making the design of mechanical systems closer to this ideal architecture. <p> Accordingly, the thesis proposes a methodology for AD in which specific AD is performed first to take advantage of available forecast information, and then general AD is performed in order to increase adaptability to unforeseen changes. Also, a measure has been defined for the assessment of adaptability. The application of this methodology has been demonstrated through several conceptual design examples.

Landfills in British Columbia are reaching capacity; this has sparked renewed efforts to curb the output of household waste. Extending previous quantitative studies, I use a qualitative grounded theory approach to explore what influences the perception of waste and activates the intention to recycle and compost. Participants from Ucluelet, British Columbia, accumulated their refuse, recyclables, and compost during a four week period; simultaneously, I interviewed them about the meanings and feelings they associated with the process. My results suggest that participants' attitudes about waste are strongly influenced by what they see. Because garbage is regularly hauled away and dumped out of sight, participants were relatively unaware of how much they produce and its environmental impact. Increasing awareness appears to be a key factor in changing waste diversion intentions; incorporating small pro-environmental changes may lead to further changes. This reaffirms previous findings that adopting one environmental behaviour can empower further change.

This research addresses the following questions: how do successful professionals cultivate boundary-spanning relationships to develop professional goods; and what lessons can be drawn from their successes? This study uses grounded theory to interpret qualitative interview data from four expert networkers to help demonstrate how successful people in various industries build relationships — and what characteristics these successful networkers have in common. Using grounded theory, five key themes emerged: uncertainty reduction, ingratiation, reciprocity, mentoring relationships and the importance of follow-up. The study of networks has a well-developed body of surrounding literature; however, the current research does little to address how individual actors successfully build the relationships upon which networks are based. Therefore, this qualitative research into the characteristics shared by successful networkers is a positive contribution to the body of knowledge concerning social network theory — and will serve as a guide for those wishing to expand their personal and business networks.

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Orientador: Maria Eliza Brefere Arnoni / Resumo: A intencionalidade desta pesquisa é investigar a organização didático-pedagógica de atividades que objetivam o desenvolvimento do conceito de gêneros textuais nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Selecionamos como objeto de análise o conceito educativo, ou seja, a organização metodológica do conceito científico de gênero textual no processo educativo, tendo a mediação dialética como categoria de análise, segundo a “Teoria Pedagógica da Metodologia da Mediação Dialética M.M.D.” que fundamenta a perspectiva ontológica da atividade educativa (ARNONI, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018). Elegemos como objetivos: estudar os fundamentos ontológicos da linguagem, em especial, sua natureza social que reflete as relações sociais e veiculam o efeito das lutas sociais, numa sociedade organizada em classes sociais; compreender a linguagem das crianças como diversificação de gêneros textuais que expressam a natureza social de seu cotidiano; analisar a apresentação de gênero textual no livro didático (LD). Em relação aos gêneros textuais, apontamos os limites dos exercícios do LD, os quais dificultam e cerceiam a compreensão conceitual das crianças e apresentamos a proposição teórico-metodológica da M.M.D. como possibilidade do professor estudar e desenvolver o conceito científico de gênero textual, resgatando as ideias iniciais que os alunos trazem deste conceito, via linguagem cotidiana, valorizando-a (RESGATANDO), para, então, elaborar a questão problematizadora, pautada no conceito científico ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The intent of this research is to investigate the didactic-pedagogical organization of activities that aim the development of the concept of textual genres in the early years of elementary school. We selected as an object of analysis the educational concept, ie the methodological organization of the scientific concept of textual genre in the educational process, with dialectical mediation as a category of analysis, according to the “Pedagogical Theory of the Methodology of Dialectic Mediation MMD” that underlies the perspective. ontological analysis of educational activity (ARNONI, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018). We chose as objectives: to study the ontological foundations of language, especially its social nature that reflects social relations and convey the effect of social struggles in a society organized into social classes; understand children's language as a diversification of textual genres that express the social nature of their daily lives; analyze the presentation of textual genre in the textbook (LD). Regarding the textual genres, we point out the limits of the exercises of LD, which hinder and limit the conceptual understanding of children and present the theoretical-methodological proposition of M.M.D. as a possibility for the teacher to study and develop the scientific concept of textual genre, rescuing the initial ideas that students bring from this concept, through everyday language, valuing it (RETURNING), to then elaborate the problematizing question, based on the ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Hybridity, as it is currently understood in the Peace and Conflict Studies (PCS) and International Relations (IR) literature, is defined by the complex interactions between ‘the liberal peace' and ‘the local'. However, under this theoretical liberal-local rubric, the ways in which power is practiced has already been determined; how resistance is expressed and the forms it assumes have already been established. While it has yielded numerous important insights into how power circulates and resistance manifests in peacebuilding operations, the theoretical approach conceals other significant dynamics which escape detection by ‘the liberal peace' and ‘the local'. However, these undetected dimensions of hybridity comprise the very processes that emerge in ways which destabilise the boundaries between ‘the liberal peace' and ‘the local' and reshape the contours of the emerging post-liberal peace. Instead of accepting the liberal-local distinction which defines this theoretical hybridity, this thesis advances an alternative methodological approach to exploring the tensions at play in peacebuilding projects. Rather than deploying theoretical distinctions in order to explain or understand complex hybrid processes, this thesis develops a methodological strategy for exploring the tensions between how actors design a peacebuilding project and how that project changes as actors work to translate that project into complex, everyday living sites (Callon, 1986; Law, 1997; Akrich, 1992). This tension is expressed as practical hybridity. The process of practical hybridity unfolds as the concrete material changes, modifications, and adaptations that emerge as actors appropriate and contingently translate organised practices in new ways and for different purposes. Through an ongoing process of practical hybridity, the boundaries and distinction which define the distinction between ‘the liberal peace' and ‘the local' become increasingly unstable. Amidst this instability, the practices which characterised ‘the liberal peace' are becoming stretched into a post-liberal peace. Drawing on the work of Richmond (2011a; Richmond & Mitchell, 2012), Latour (1987b; 1988; 2004), and Schatzki (2002), and based on over five months of field research, this this thesis traces the process of practical hybridity at play during the implementation and evaluation of a peacebuilding project in Liberia. I participated as a research assistant on a Randomised Control Trial (RCT), implemented by a small research team under the auspices of the Oxford University's Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE). The team was assessing the impact of a legal empowerment programme managed by The Carter Center: the Community Justice Advisor (CJA) programme. As the CSAE's evaluation of the CJA programme unfolded, many dynamics associated with theoretical liberal-local hybridity surfaced; however, it also became apparent that this theoretical formulation obscured important dimensions which were reshaping what peacebuilding practice is in the process of becoming in the emerging post-liberal world.