This thesis presents an investigation into secondary school English teachers’ and students’ conceptualisations of good writing, and how they might use their understandings of quality in writing for the purpose of improving writing. By focusing on the views and classroom practices of twelve-year-old students and their teachers, the research aims to advance understanding of teachers’ and students’ conceptual thinking about writing quality, and the underlying constructs. The research utilises data from an ESRC-funded project titled Grammar for Writing?: The Impact of Contextualised Grammar Teaching on Pupils’ Writing and Pupils’ Metalinguistic Understanding (grant number RES-062-23-0775). This data was gathered from thirty-one teachers and their Year 8 students over three terms. Lesson observations took place once each term, and were followed by interviews with each project teacher and one teacher-chosen student from each class. Interview questions relating to beliefs about good writing were included in the project schedules and were inductively analysed to discern themes in participants’ responses. Interviews with students took the form of ‘writing conversations’ during which students commented on samples of their own and their peers’ writing. A small-scale follow-up study with three Year 8 classes in one secondary school was used to confirm initial findings and to provide additional data on students’ beliefs about good writing. The research found that teachers’ conceptualisations of writing quality were internally consistent but that variation between teachers was marked. Teachers not only valued different qualities in writing but experienced different degrees of conflict and ambiguity when relating their personal construct of quality to the official, public construct, as embodied in national assessment criteria. The findings support earlier views of teacher judgement as richly textured and complex, drawing on different available indexes, including idiosyncratic conceptualisations of writing quality. Whilst students’ criteria for good writing echoed their teachers’ criteria to some extent, there was also evidence of students drawing on their own conceptualisations of quality, especially in relation to the intended impact of writing on the reader. Many students expressed a strong awareness of writing for an audience and clearly valued writing as a social practice. They especially valued peer judgement of their writing. However, students’ strategies for improving writing were often difficult to articulate, formulaic and generalised, or circumscribed by limited linguistic subject knowledge. The study is significant in offering an insight into teachers’ and students’ conceptualisations of writing quality and how these might be brought into play in the writing classroom. The findings may have particular resonance since they are reported at a time of radical change to assessment policy and practice in secondary schools in England.

Muitas organizações utilizam o processo de aprendizado e de melhoria baseado na comparação e na observação, denominado de benchmarking, mas poucas sabem de fato como fazê-lo corretamente. A referida técnica fornece um estímulo externo que encoraja um ambiente de aprendizado contínuo, tornando as empresas adaptáveis a novos conhecimentos. O benchmarking tornou-se um enfoque interessante quando se percebe que a melhoria dos processos de uma organização é fundamental para que ela alcance vantagem competitiva, e também quando se torna claro que essa melhoria pode vir da troca de aprendizado com outras corporações. Este trabalho apresenta um protótipo de um repositório de informações de benchmarking com acesso via internet, que fornece uma base de dados às organizações participantes, e tem como intuito facilitar a troca de experiências entre as mesmas. Para a efetivação do presente trabalho foram realizados estudos da literatura sobre benchmarking, levantamentos das bases de dados de benchmarking existentes no Brasil e no exterior, que servissem de guia para o desenvolvimento do modelo conceitual do repositório, além da construção de uma base de dados composta por indicadores de desempenho e melhores práticas sobre benchmarking. Ao longo desse trabalho, procurou-se estudar os modelos de negócios eletrônicos, a importância e as formas de estruturação de um banco de dados e as questões relativas à segurança em sistemas de informação. Finalizando, demonstrou-se em detalhes como foi construída a base de dados de benchmarking e o website do projeto, denominado de RVB - Rede Virtual de Benchmarking, com o objetivo de enriquecer o modelo do repositório e o trabalho teórico/conceitual. / Many organizations use a learning and improvement process based in the comparation and observation, named benchmarking, but few organizations really know how to make it correctly. The technical provides an external stimulus which encourages a continuum learning environment, making the companies adaptable to the new knowledge. Benchmarking became an interesting focus when we notice that the improvement of the processes of an organization is fundamental for it to reach a competitive advantage, and also when it\'s clear that this improvement can come from the exchange of learning with other corporations. This study presents a prototype of a repository of benchmarking information with access through internet, which provides a data base to the participant organizations, and with the aim to make easy the exchange of experiences among the organizations. To the effectiveness of this work, literature study about benchmarking were carried out, as well as data bases benchmarking existing in Brazil and abroad, which could serve as a guide to the development of a conceptual model of repository, besides the construction of a data base composed of indicators of performance and better practices about benchmarking. Along this study it was studied the models of electronic businesses, their importance and the forms to structure a data bank and the questions related to the security in systems of information. To finalize it was demonstrated in details how was the benchmarkingdata base constructed and the website of the project, named RVB - Benchmarking Virtual Net with the objective of enrich the repository model and the conceptual/theoretical work.

A preliminary measure of affect regulation strategies was developed from Parkinson and Totterdell’s (1999) provisional classification of deliberate strategies for improving negative affect. Four broad categories of strategies including Cognitive Engagement, Cognitive Diversion, Behavioural Engagement, and Behavioural Diversion were represented by the measure. Using this measure, relationships between self-reported use of affect regulation strategies and difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing variables were investigated. Participants included 186 adults. Participants completed a 20 minute online survey consisting of the measure of affect regulation strategies, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Subjective Experience of Emotions Scale (SEE), and a demographic information questionnaire. Weak correlations were found for the majority of the difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing subscales and individuals’ self-reported use of affect regulation categories. Results also provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the DERS and SEE.

A preliminary measure of affect regulation strategies was developed from Parkinson and Totterdell’s (1999) provisional classification of deliberate strategies for improving negative affect. Four broad categories of strategies including Cognitive Engagement, Cognitive Diversion, Behavioural Engagement, and Behavioural Diversion were represented by the measure. Using this measure, relationships between self-reported use of affect regulation strategies and difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing variables were investigated. Participants included 186 adults. Participants completed a 20 minute online survey consisting of the measure of affect regulation strategies, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Subjective Experience of Emotions Scale (SEE), and a demographic information questionnaire. Weak correlations were found for the majority of the difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing subscales and individuals’ self-reported use of affect regulation categories. Results also provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the DERS and SEE.

The core of biotechnological industry is biomedical products which are related to health and life and need clinical trial. Laboratory data are collected during different stages of clinical trial. Laboratory data are provided by laboratories which are accreditated internationally. Most of medical laboratories in Taiwan are not accreditated. This exploratory research is to understand the change of healthcare envirovement and the stratege of accreditation to be taken when we develop the biotechnological industry which needs to be accreditated. We used questionare as a tool and mailed 616 and received 152. The statistical methods are descriptive and nonparametrical statistics. The results show as following: 94.7% of the responders agreed to have Taiwanese own medical laboratory accreditation system which should be approved by the Department of Health. The surveyors of hospital accreditation are appraised. Most of the responders (89.5%) did not agree the replacement of professional peer review by physicians without clinical laboratory training. The quality and quantity of CNLA surveyors need to be improved. Continous quality improvement gets concensus of the responders. The certification of accreditation shall connect to the payment system of national health insurance but does not equal to good clinical laboratory. Most of the responders (88.8%) recognized that implementing medical laboratory accreditation system is a part of organization learning. ISO 15189 medical laboratory accreditation is the first choice of the responders (50.7%) and CAP-LAP is the second (28.3%). The reasons for implementing and not implementing medical laboratory accreditation system are improving quality and the change of hospital accreditation, and just applying hospital accreditation and not required by law. Key words¡Ghospital accreditation, ISO 15189:2003, CAP-LAP, program for improving biotechnology industries, contract research organization, business strategy, organization learning.

This thesis focuses on optimizing the performance of an in-house, structured, 2D CFD code – GHOST, on commodity cluster architectures. The basic philosophy of the work is to optimize the cache usage of the code by implementing efficient coding techniques without changing the underlying numerical algorithm. Various optimization techniques that were implemented and the resulting changes in performance have been presented. Two techniques, external and internal blocking that were implemented earlier to tune the performance of this code have been reviewed. What follows is further tuning effort in order to circumvent the problems associated with using the blocking techniques. Later, to establish the universality of the optimization techniques, testing has been done on more complicated test case. All the techniques presented in this thesis have been tested on steady, laminar test cases. It has been proved that optimized versions of the code achieve better performances on variety of commodity cluster architectures chosen in this study.

Mokyklos aplinka yra pirmoji institucija, kurioje vaikas išmoksta atlikti pilietines pareigas, perima visuomenines vertybes, įpranta bendrauti ir bendradarbiauti su kitais žmonėmis. Siekiant, kad vyktų sėkmingas vaiko ugdimasis, ypatingai svarbu puoselėti darnius pedagogų ir ugdytinių tarpusavio santykius. Šiandien tarpusavio santykių problema mokymo įstaigose itin aktuali: atkreipiamas dėmesys į prastėjančius pedagogų ir ugdytinių tarpusavio santykius, dažnai peraugančius į konfliktus. Tyrimo objektas: Pedagogų ir ugdytinių tarpusavio santykiai. Tyrimo tikslas. Išsiaiškinti paauglių požiūrį į veiksnius, gerinančius pedagogų ir ugdytinių tarpusavio santykius. Pagrindiniu tyrimo metodu buvo pasirinkta atviro tipo anketinė apklausa, skirta paaugliams. Paauglių apklausos tyrimo tikslui realizuoti pasirinkta kokybinė tyrimo prieiga. Anketos klausimai buvo sudaryti, siekiant išsiaiškinti paauglių požiūrį į veiksnius, gerinančius pedagogų ir ugdytinių tarpusavio santykius. Anoniminės anketos buvo išdalintos 26 paaugliams: 13 anketų – dienos centrą lankantiems vaikams, kitos 13 – gimnazijos moksleiviams. Tyrime dalyvavę respondentai buvo pasirinkti atsitiktine tvarka. Duomenų rezultatai pateikiami paveiksluose ir lentelėse. Tyrimui atlikti buvo naudojamas content analizės anketinės apklausos metodas. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad paauglių ir pedagogų tarpusavio santykius gerintų šie veiksniai: objektyvus pedagogų vertinimas (grįstas sąžiningumu, o ne asmeniniais sumetimais)... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The school environment is the first institution in which the child learns to perform civic duties, takes over social values, gets accustomed to communicate and collaborate with other people. In order to run a successful child development, it is essential to foster harmonious teacher-pupil relationships. Today, the problem of the relationships in the educational institutions is particularly urgent: attention is drawn to further deterioration of teachers’ and pupils’ relationships, often growing into conflicts. Object of the study: relationships of teachers and pupils. Aim of the study. To figure out teens’ attitudes on the factors enhancing teachers’ and pupils’ relationships. As the main research method, open-ended questionnaire was chosen, designed for teenagers. To realize teen survey, qualitative research access was selected. Interview questions were made in order to determine adolescent attitudes on factors enhancing teachers’ and pupils’ relationships. An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to 26 adolescents: 13 questionnaires to the children attending day care centre and other 13 to gymnasium students. Respondents in the study were chosen at random. The results are presented in figures and tables. Content analysis questionnaire survey was used as the research method. The results showed that the relationship between adolescents and teachers would improve thanks to these factors: objective evaluation by the teachers (based on fairness rather than personal reasons)... [to full text]

For every positive, decreasing, summable sequence $a=(a_i)$, we can construct a Cantor set $C_a$ associated with $a$. These Cantor sets are not necessarily self-similar. Their dimensional properties and measures have been studied in terms of the sequence $a$. In this thesis, we extend these results to a more general collection of Cantor sets. We study their Hausdorff and packing measures, and compare the size of Cantor sets with the more refined notion of dimension partitions. The properties of these Cantor sets in relation to the collection of cut-out sets are then considered. The multifractal spectrum of $\mathbf{p}$-Cantor measures on these Cantor sets are also computed. We then focus on the special case of homogeneous Cantor sets and obtain a more accurate estimate of their exact measures. Finally, we prove the $L^p$-improving property of the $\mathbf{p}$-Cantor measure on a homogeneous Cantor set as a convolution operator.

Objectives: This study identifies modern information technologies that can improve the clinical practice of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and determines the approaches that are needed to improve the functionality of current PACS to provide better next generation PACS and to improve the future of radiology practices and workflow with future PACS generations. Method: A parallel mixed method approach was adopted including qualitative method (semi-structured interviews), quantitative method (questionnaire survey) and observation of online discussion groups on PACS. Five databases were searched to find salient literature, including Science Direct, Springer Link, Scopus, CINAHL Plus and Google Scholar. Six radiologists were interviewed and questionnaires were collected from 120 radiologists. Four online discussion groups related to PACS were monitored via LinkedIn. The data were analysed thematically using the thematic analysis method. Finally, a focus group was held with a separate group of radiologists to validate the findings. Results: Eight themes emerged from the thematic analysis of the data: (1) limitations of traditional PACS; (2) user needs and requirements that can increase PACS functionality; (3) Web based solutions of PACS; (4) PACS on mobile phones; (5) Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA); (6) full integration of voice recognition in PACS; (7) backup solutions for the system and (8) continuous training for PACS users. Discussion: With the development of healthcare information and communication technology (ICT) and with the increased demands of the radiologists to expand PACS usability, traditional PACS must be updated to follow the changes. Modern technologies can provide better solutions to enhance the functionality of current PACS. The next generation of PACS can fulfil the future requirements of users. This study considers the issues between the needs and requirements of the users of a PACS system in the future and the developing solutions in ICT and the PACS industry. Moreover, highly developed PACS systems with advanced features will have a direct impact in changing and improving radiology workflow. Accordingly, a model has been developed that proposes new features for the next generation PACS system, which may be applied to the next generation radiology practice. The model was validated with the focus group and, by using a separate group of radiologists in another country, was determined to be generalisable. Conclusion: It is widely recognised that traditional PACS must be updated to adopt recent advances in ICT. This research has identified themes that, when incorporated, will enhance the functionality of PACS and radiology workflow and provide better quality clinical practice. The findings from this empirical research can be used: as recommendations to vendors; for technology development; and by medical institutes to consider aspects when undertaking implementation of PACS and training future radiologists. Keywords: 'Picture archiving and communication system’, PACS, Future trends, next generation, Organisational efficiency, Productivity, Clinical practice, Ubiquitous.

The problem of this study was to identify a means for improving the administration of curriculum and instruction by exploring the utilization of leadership personnel in addition to the principal. This study focused on the determination of the responsibilities that should be delegated chairpersons and the degree of autonomy that should be associated with each responsibility. Major implications were as follows. 1) Job descriptions should be developed for department chairpersons listing responsibilities and specifying guidelines within which department chairpersons should function. 2) Effective communication channels must exist between principals and department chairpersons and between department chairpersons and teachers to insure that department chairpersons perform their duties in accordance with the will of the principal. Teachers must understand the position of department chairperson for optimum use of the departmental organization. 3) Another implication is that department chairpersons should be provided in-service training to assist them with understanding and fulfilling their responsibilities . Additionally, evaluation procedures should be developed based on assigned responsibilities to provide a means of improving effectiveness. 4) A major implication is that by effectively utilizing department chairpersons, principals will experience some relief and assistance . This would allow principals to function more effectively in supervising the instructional program and accomplishing other administrative duties.