Popamokinė veikla – labai svarbi moksleivių užimtumo sritis, suteikianti galimybes atsiskleisti jų gabumams, leidžianti pagilinti ir praktiškai panaudoti žinias, įgytas pamokų metu. Viena iš popamokinės veiklos rūšių yra muzikinė veikla (būreliai). Mokinių įtraukimas į jiems reikšmingą, įdomią veiklą — svarbi sąlyga asmenybės tapsmui formuotis. Pastaraisiais metais formalusis popamokinis ugdymas suprantamas kaip papildoma popamokinė veikla, atliekanti mokinių užimtumo funkciją. Tačiau pagrindinis popamokinės muzikinės veiklos tikslas — puoselėti prigimtinį vaiko muzikalumą, ugdyti kūrybišką ir emocingą, norinčią ir gebančią prasmingai dalyvauti muzikinėje veikloje asmenybę. Mokinių ugdymas remiantis popamokine muzikine veikla, traktuojant šią veiklą ne kaip užimtumo priemonę, o kaip į raišką orientuotą veiklą, yra svarbi pedagoginė problema. Todėl tyrimo objektu pasirinktas vidurinių klasių mokinių ugdymas remiantis popamokine muzikine veikla. Tyrimo tikslas — atskleisti mokinių ugdymo remiantis popamokine muzikine veikla galimybes. Formuluojama tyrimo hipotezė, kad popamokinė muzikinė veikla yra neatsiejama mokinio asmenybės ugdymo dalis, stiprinanti savarankiškumą, kūrybiškumą, iniciatyvumą bei saviraišką. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad popamokinės veiklos ugdymo institucijose veiksmingumas priklauso nuo subjektyvių ir objektyvių sąlygų — prieinamumo, materialinių išteklių, organizacijos, informacijos sklaidos bei kitų veiksnių. Pagrindinis popamokinės muzikinės veiklos tikslas —... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / After-school activity is a very important field of pupils’ occupation, giving opportunities to reveal their talents, deepen and practically use their knowledge, gained during the lessons. Musical activity (circles) is one type of after-school activity. Pupils’ attachment to the activity they are keen on is an important condition of developing their personalities. In the last years formal after-school education is considered as an extra after-school activity carrying out the function of pupils’ occupation. However, the main objective of after-school musical activity is to cherish natural musical abilities of a child developing a creative and emotional personality who is eager and capable taking a meaningful part in a musical activity. Pupils’ education referring to after school musical activity, considering it not merely as means of occupation but as an activity seeking personal self expression - this is an important pedagogical problem. Thus an object of investigation is education of pupils on the basis of after-school musical activity in a secondary school. The purpose of this analysis is to reveal possibilities of pupils’ education based on after school musical activity. The hypothesis of the analysis is formulated that after- school musical activity is an inseparable part of developing pupils’ personality enforcing individual independence, creativity, initiative and self-expression. The analysis reflected that the effectiveness of after-school musical activity in an... [to full text]

Given two sets of points $A$ and $B$ ($|A| = m$, $|B| = n$), we seek to find a minimum-weight many-to-many matching which seeks to match each point in $A$ to at least one point in $B$ and vice versa. Each matched pair (an edge) has a weight. The goal is to find the matching that minimizes the total weight. We study two kinds of problems depending on the edge weight used. The first edge weight is the Euclidean distance, $d_1$. The second is edge weight is the square of the Euclidean distance, $d_2$. There already exists an $O(k\log k)$ algorithm for $d_1$, where $k=m+n$. We provide an $O(mn)$ algorithm for the $d_2$ problem. We also solve the problem of finding the minimum-weight matching when the sets $A$ and $B$ are allowed to be translated on the real line. We present an $O(mnk \log k)$ algorithm for the $d_1$ problem and an $O(3^{mn})$ algorithm for the $d_2$. Furthermore, we also deal with the special case where $A$ and $B$ lie on a circle of a specific circumference. We present an $O(k^2 \log k)$ algorithm and $O(kmn)$ algorithm for solving the minimum-weight matching for the $d_1$, and $d_2$ weights respectively. Much like the problem on the real line, we extend this problem to allow the sets $A$ and $B$ to be rotated on the circle. We try to find the minimum-weight many-to-many matching when rotations are allowed. For $d_1$ we present an $O(k^2mn \log k)$ algorithm and a $O(3^{mn})$ algorithm for $d_2$. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2010-11-08 20:48:18.968

La conception heideggérienne du « cercle de la compréhension » exposée aux §§ 31 et 32 de Sein und Zeit est bien connue et a souvent été analysée, notamment par Hans-Georg Gadamer dans Vérité et méthode (1960) et Jean Greisch dans son commentaire de Sein und Zeit (1994). Mais on a trop peu vu que la théorie du cercle herméneutique déterminait aussi la conception heideggérienne de la philosophie. Notre recherche s’efforcera de le montrer et d’expliquer pourquoi il en est ainsi. Au plan de la méthodologie, nous proposerons, en nous inspirant des commentateurs les plus autorisés (Greisch, Gadamer, Courtine, et al.), un commentaire serré des §§ 31 et 32 de Sein und Zeit, sans oublier le § 63 où Heidegger souligne lui-même la « situation herméneutique » de sa propre enquête, ni le § 68 où se trouve mise en évidence la dimension temporelle du cercle de la compréhension. Nous tâcherons ensuite de montrer en quoi ce cercle affecte la conception heideggérienne de la philosophie telle que présentée au § 7 de Sein und Zeit et dans d’autres textes de Heidegger tels que Les problèmes fondamentaux de la phénoménologie (GA 24). / Heidegger’s understanding of the « hermeneutic circle » presented in §§ 31 et 32 of Sein und Zeit is well known and was analysed, among others, by Hans-Georg Gadamer in Truth and Method (1960) and Jean Greisch in his commentary of Sein und Zeit (1994). However, what has received too little attention is the extent to which the hermeneutic circle theory has a determining influence on Heidegger’s idea and practice of philosophy. Our research will attempt to explain why this is so. In our methodology, guided by the most relevant commentators (Greisch, Gadamer, Courtine, et al.), we elaborate a close analysis of §§ 31 and 32 in Sein und Zeit. This commentary also takes into account § 63, where Heidegger himself underlines the « hermeneutic situation » of his own investigation and § 68 where the temporal dimension of the hermeneutic circle is pointed out. We conclude by trying to demonstrate in what respect the circle influences Heidegger’s interpretation of philosophy, as shown in § 7 of Sein und Zeit and in other texts of Heidegger, such as The Fundamental Problems of Phenomenology (GA 24).

There is a wealth of literature on the induction and support of provisionally registered teachers (Boreen, 2009; Bubb, 2007; Cameron, Lovett, & Garvey Berger, 2007) and the key skills of mentoring (Achinstein & Athanases, 2006; Glickman, 2002). However literature on how to meet the professional learning needs of curriculum leaders developing their mentoring skill set has largely been ignored in leadership literature. This study, informed by MacBeath and Dempster’s (2009)concept of ‘leadership for learning’, upholds the need for leadership work to focus on the improvement of student outcomes (Barber & Fullan, 2005) rather than traditional approaches to education which focussed on making resources available to students. In an outcomes-focussed model of education, the needs of the students are at the forefront of all learning. By focussing on teachers’ professional learning through mentoring and the use of a teacher inquiry model, the students’ learning needs are prioritised. The focus for my study is the skillset of curriculum leaders for their work with teachers within their learning areas. The participants for this study were five curriculum leaders, all from the same secondary school. This intervention study investigated the factors which contributed to the professional learning of the mentors, their views of their leadership role and the kinds of learning about mentoring which were beneficial to understandings about mentoring. By focussing on key adult learning principles, structures that support learning, and attention to a mentoring skill set, the participants were supported to develop their mentoring skills. The mentors participated in a professional learning experience, referred to as a Quality Learning Circle (QLC), over one and a half school terms, to co-construct their understanding of mentoring practice. In a QLC the focus is on the learners seeking and making changes to their practice in a collaborative, supportive environment (Lovett & Verstappen, 2003). The mentors collaboratively developed new understandings through deliberate talk in the QLC about their shared interest in mentoring. They also had opportunities for immediate and practical application of their new knowledge. While they participated in the QLC they co-currently developed their mentoring skills by working with a mentee who taught in the same subject area as themselves. This study features a qualitative methodology with an interpretive case study of experienced curriculum leaders. Data collection tools included a gap analysis survey which explored their understandings of their school’s current professional learning opportunities. A second data source was a career questionnaire which explored their teaching history and experiences of professional learning. This was followed by initial interviews which focussed on how they interpreted their role of a curriculum leader and the extent they could connect leadership with students’ learning. I also analysed transcripts of QLC meetings, and the teachers’ reflective journals. Four of the mentors worked with a provisionally registered teacher (PRT), while one mentor chose to work with a more experienced colleague. This study offered a new type of collegial interaction for the teachers. The mentors chose their own goals, a mentee to work alongside and the direction of their learning about mentoring. The QLC met five times during the study and the mentors and participant researcher (PR) also kept a reflective journal. In between the QLC sessions the mentors met with their mentees to practise their mentoring skills, such as questioning skills, and the use of observational tools for classroom observations. A typical QLC session focussed on each of the mentors talking about the mentoring practice they had undertaken. The group provided support and guidance on possible next steps of practice. Readings and practical resources were also discussed and there was an expectation that the mentors would practice an aspect of mentoring and report back to the group at the next meeting. At the close of the study the mentors were re-interviewed to compare their views of their leadership role and learning from their initial interviews. An iterative process was used so that emerging understandings of the data could arise. The data is presented according to the three broad themes of ‘effective professional learning’, ‘leadership role’ and ‘professional learning about mentoring’. The findings of this study highlight the importance of collaborative learning opportunities for teachers where they can state and resolve practical issues in a supportive group (Cochran-Smith, Feiman-Nemser, McIntyre, & Association of Teacher Educators., 2008). Among all of the findings there were four major findings about the development of curriculum leaders’ mentoring skills: the value of opportunities for deliberate talk, the importance of teacher agency, the need for specific tools in developing mentoring practice, and the necessity of understanding the curriculum leaders’ leadership role. My detailed account of the experiences of the five curriculum leaders offers a practical example of what the development of curriculum leaders’ understandings of mentoring might look like. This study serves to highlight the challenges for schools to provide support for teachers wanting to take responsibility for their own professional learning. In the absence of any formalised leadership professional learning about mentoring for curriculum leaders, this study proved to be a useful study to demonstrate the potential of the QLC approach to support curriculum leaders in their understandings and practice of mentoring. The key findings of this study validate the need for further research on what is needed for effective mentoring to be an integral part of every school.

Molecular diagnostics is a fast growing field with new technologies being developed constantly. There is a demand for more sophisticated molecular tools able to detect a multitude of molecules on a single molecule level with high specificity, able to distinguish them from other similar molecules. This becomes very important for infectious diagnostics with the increasing antibiotic resistant viruses and bacteria, in gene based diagnostics and for early detection and more targeted treatments of cancer. For increased sensitivity, simplicity, speed and user friendliness, novel readouts are emerging, taking advantage of new technologies being discovered in the field of nanotechnology.  This thesis, based upon four papers, examines two novel electrical readouts for amplified single molecule detection. Target probing is based upon the highly specific amplification technique rolling circle amplification (RCA). RCA enables localized amplification resulting in a long single stranded DNA molecule containing tandem repeats of the probing sequence as product. Paper I demonstrates sensitive detection of bacterial genomic DNA using a magnetic nanoparticles-based substrate-free method where as few as 50 bacteria can be detected. Paper II illustrates a new sensor concept based on the formation of conducting molecular nanowires forming a low resistance circuit. The rolling circle products are stretched to bridge an electrode gap and upon metallization the resistance drops by several orders of magnitude, resulting in an extremely high signal to noise ratio. Paper III explores a novel metallization technique, demonstrating the efficient incorporation of boranephosphonate modified nucleotides during RCA.  In the presence of a silver ion solution, defined metal nanoparticles are formed along the DNA molecule with high spatial specificity. Paper IV demonstrates the ability to manipulate rolling circle products by dielectrophoresis. In the presence of a high AC electric field the rolling circle products stretch to bridge a 10 µm electrode gap.

Photography and tourism have been developing in parallel with each other and leaving memories of the trip in photographs still remains as a significant part of traveling today. Tourist photograph is an effective tool to display the way tourists see the destination they visited. However, while there are studies regarding general relationships between photography and tourism, what tourists see and photograph in each destination has not yet profoundly been investigated.This study first investigates images of Kiruna, Sweden, utilized in its promotion as atourist destination to understand how it is expected to be perceived by tourists. Then these images are compared with tourist photographs to understand how they actually respond to this expectation.Also, this thesis aims to add a new perspective to the concept of ‘hermeneutic circle’ proposed by John Urry (1990). Specifically, it takes particular note of ‘nationality’ and ‘culture’, and focuses on two specific tourist groups in Kiruna, Japanese and German tourists, to investigate differences between these nationality groups in the way they perceive Kiruna as a tourist destination. In order to fulfill this aim, Volunteer Employed Photography (VEP) was applied and photographs they took in Kiruna were collected. In order to enrich the photographic data, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with each study participant.The results revealed that the study participants photographed subjects that were both appeared and not appeared in the promotional images of Kiruna. The study also revealed that there were certain differences between Japanese and German tourists in the way they perceived Kiruna and each nationality group has its own hermeneutic circle.

The phenomenon of suburbanization has contributed significantly to the decline of many larger urban centers in many countries. As a result, many cities have experienced deterioration of infrastructure, a climate of disinvestment, and other consequences such as population losses, high rates of unemployment, increased poverty rates, fiscal distress, housing and neighborhood deterioration, and a negative image. In response to the impact of suburban expansion, public and private sector entities have implemented downtown revitalization programs intended to attract more people and restore diverse socio-economic, historic, and cultural functions to the core. The city of Indianapolis, like many others, has been involved in revitalizing its downtown city core to reverse the decline that took place following the World War II. Using a partnership of a proactive city government, strong neighborhoods, good public services and concerned private corporations they came together with one goal in mind: to restore a critical element of the city that being a regional shopping center in downtown core.This creative project researches the history of the mall and evaluates its present attributes and liabilities. It also offers possible strategies of using the Circle Centre Mall as a part of a balanced downtown urban system specific to its core. Lastly, this study will present some of the possible strategies and solutions, which can be used to stimulate downtown, street-level businesses integrating Circle Centre Mall's positive impacts in the process. It also contains an analysis and discussion of other components of the downtown revitalization programs, including: economic benefits; downtown urban spaces; skyways systems; facilities connectors; and the decision-making process.From this analysis, conclusions will be drawn that present facts and solutions about keeping the positive impacts of the Circle Centre Mall co-existing with growth of other downtown businesses, specially at sidewalk level, thus supporting the overall activities of the downtown core. / Department of Urban Planning

This dissertation documents a doctoral endeavor to explore both the potential of theatre as a means to enable students to practice vulnerability and the potential curricular impact of such a practice, using an in-depth narrative study of six theatre and drama for the young specialists. The researcher attempts to gain understanding and create a discourse on the vulnerability of the every-student as a curricular concern as well as make a connection to the potential of theatre as a means to practice navigating vulnerability. This not only involves a reconsideration of the term vulnerability to be seen as a path to strength, but also a reconsideration of educator responsibilities. The researcher sought stories of the everyday vulnerabilities that a student might encounter during school and specifically did not seek stories of vulnerabilities from extreme or exceptional traumatic events. While this study does not produce specific curriculum planning, it yields a better understanding of the concept of vulnerability, including the acknowledgment that practicing navigating vulnerability and practicing vulnerability can be accepted as useful terminology in educational pursuits. A key component of the research is the development of a Métissage Circle Theatre Script entitled “To Practice Vulnerability?” as a method of data analysis and research dissemination. It is the researcher’s intent that this script be available for readings by non-actors at school board meetings, parent-teacher meetings, teacher organizations, departments of education, theatre and drama organizations, theatre artist groups, and educational policy decision-makers. The script gently invites readers to begin to explore, ask questions, and discuss the educational possibilities, and provides a low-risk opportunity to navigate the vulnerability experienced when simply encountering the very subject of our own vulnerability. / Graduate / 0727 / 0465 / cclement@uvic.ca

This dissertation documents a doctoral endeavor to explore both the potential of theatre as a means to enable students to practice vulnerability and the potential curricular impact of such a practice, using an in-depth narrative study of six theatre and drama for the young specialists. The researcher attempts to gain understanding and create a discourse on the vulnerability of the every-student as a curricular concern as well as make a connection to the potential of theatre as a means to practice navigating vulnerability. This not only involves a reconsideration of the term vulnerability to be seen as a path to strength, but also a reconsideration of educator responsibilities. The researcher sought stories of the everyday vulnerabilities that a student might encounter during school and specifically did not seek stories of vulnerabilities from extreme or exceptional traumatic events. While this study does not produce specific curriculum planning, it yields a better understanding of the concept of vulnerability, including the acknowledgment that practicing navigating vulnerability and practicing vulnerability can be accepted as useful terminology in educational pursuits. A key component of the research is the development of a Métissage Circle Theatre Script entitled “To Practice Vulnerability?” as a method of data analysis and research dissemination. It is the researcher’s intent that this script be available for readings by non-actors at school board meetings, parent-teacher meetings, teacher organizations, departments of education, theatre and drama organizations, theatre artist groups, and educational policy decision-makers. The script gently invites readers to begin to explore, ask questions, and discuss the educational possibilities, and provides a low-risk opportunity to navigate the vulnerability experienced when simply encountering the very subject of our own vulnerability. / Graduate / 0727 / 0465 / cclement@uvic.ca

It is well known that cells in tissues display a large heterogeneity in gene expression due to differences in cell lineage origin and variation in the local environment at different sites in the tissue, a heterogeneity that is difficult to study by analyzing bulk RNA extracts from tissue. Recently, genome-wide transcriptome analysis technologies have enabled the analysis of this variation with single-cell resolution. In order to link the heterogeneity observed at molecular level with the morphological context of tissues, new methods are needed which achieve an additional level of information, such as spatial resolution. In this thesis I describe the development and application of padlock probes and rolling circle amplification (RCA) as molecular tools for spatially-resolved transcriptome analysis. Padlock probes allow in situ detection of individual mRNA molecules with single nucleotide resolution, visualizing the molecular information directly in the cell and tissue context. Detection of clinically relevant point mutations in tumor samples is achieved by using padlock probes in situ, allowing visualization of intra-tumor heterogeneity. To resolve more complex gene expression patterns, we developed in situ sequencing of RCA products combining padlock probes and next-generation sequencing methods. We demonstrated the use of this new method by, for the first time, sequencing short stretches of transcript molecules directly in cells and tissue. By using in situ sequencing as read-out for multiplexed padlock probe assays, we measured the expression of tens of genes in hundreds of thousands of cells, including point mutations, fusions transcripts and gene expression level. These molecular tools can complement genome-wide transcriptome analyses adding spatial resolution to the molecular information. This level of resolution is important for the understanding of many biological processes and potentially relevant for the clinical management of cancer patients. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>