The increasing importance of informal relationships derives from the steadily evolving and proceeding conditions in which we are involved in on a daily basis. These conditions range from the overall environment we are living in, over to our organizational working context and end up in our very own personal setting, namely our minds: in the end, we as human beings are the primary cause for the forming of such relationships, as they are established through our needs, concerns, wishes and fears. Furthermore, we are also highly influenced by our surrounding conditions, and so are the causes, types and effects of the so formed relationships. Our research offers an analytical as well as personal approach to bring the increasing importance of informal relationships to the minds of our readers. Especially leading figures in various organizational contexts are our target audience, as they have to cope with the also growing responsibilities and requirements that are accompanied by this process. Among scholars of this research field, there are many terms and expressions existing of such informal elements and happenings. Some speak of them as the ‘hidden assets’ of organizations, others entitle them as their ‘underlying powers’ and there also exist highly analytical notations, like for example ‘secondary adjustments’. However, all of them cannot entirely reproduce the thoughts and feelings we connect with our work. As we are now acting within the circle of these scholars, we take the liberty to add our own expression, which is best able to demonstrate our perception of such informal forces. We have given them the term ‘Lurking Lions’. They are powerful but also hard to encounter, as they are very well hidden behind the bushes of the formal organization and present without any noise. However, if our entitled lions realize some changes, threats or incentives in their environment, they are likely to reveal themselves and exert a drastic influence on the ones who caused them. By getting in contact with them, most people are likely to be overwhelmed as no one really knows about their thoughts, intentions and upcoming actions. Therefore, we tempt you to listen carefully, observe deeply and find out the nature of these ‘Lurking Lions’. By doing so, you can get a new powerful informal ally on your side.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate how teachers in school and in leisure time center look at informal and formal learning. Informal learning is often associated with leisure-time while formal learning is generally linked to school. My questions also deal with the teachers’ view of each other’s activities from a learning perspective and visibility of informal learning. I have made an empirical study with qualitative, semi-structured interviews with three class teachers and three leisure teachers. The results of the study show that the informal learning in leisure time center is generally not perceived as learning. Concepts such as knowledge, learning, and teachers are associated with the school and formal learning. The study also shows that it is necessary for teachers to visualize informal learning.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the educational opportunities that exist within hip hop music, i.e. to highlight the possible strengths and opportunities in informal learning. The aim was to answer the following questions: In what way do young people acquire knowledge through music? How can hip hop music affect language learning / vocabulary? How can hip hop motivate and support young people in school? The study was based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with six youths, three hip hop directors and a well-known researcher who has investigated that Hip Hop pedagogy. The results show that there are many benefits of learning that takes place in the context of hip hop music; from my informants’ statements one can accordingly see the role of hip hop music plays in the absorption of knowledge. The conclusion is that hip hop music can lead to alternative learning about politics and society, as the music often deals with various social conditions and policy issues. This I have been able to deduce from my informants' statements where they through hip hop creation gain knowledge, partly by listening to hip hop music and partly by writing hip hop lyrics which in its turn developed their political thinking. I have also come to the conclusion that young people through hip hop creation expand their vocabulary, developing their ability to express themselves in different ways during the composition of hip hop lyrics. It also shows that young people become motivated for school work. This is because hip hop stimulate young people in becoming more interested in the Swedish language, given that many write their hip hop lyrics in Swedish.

Aim of this work was to determine teachers' ideas about how to encourage lifelong learning in primary school in year 3, so that students can continue learning throughout life. To get answers to my purpose, I used the following questions: What are the teachers' perceptions of the concept of lifelong learning? What are the main aspects teachers emerged as important in education, to encourage students to lifelong learning? Is there potential barriers to teachers for the promotion by the term of lifelong learning? The method used, is qualitative interviews and as a starting point I used the hermeneutic approach. Theoretical part included Ziehes modernity theory of learning and Vygotsky socio-cultural perspective. The results revealed that lifelong learning is interpreted on the basis of active teachers in many varied ways. Teachers' perceptions of the concept of lifelong learning have been very varied. The most of the teachers pointed out is that the term is about as a student has an understanding of what you do, that learning should be seen as something that goes on all the time throughout life and that desire and curiosity is close to the concept. The similarity between the teachers’ responses suggests that it is important that the student has confidence in his own abilities, and develop strategies for their future learning will live on. The key skills teachers highlights, concerns that the student be able to discuss, analyze, search various sources and be critical. Teachers have also shown that there are some obstacles in the promotion of lifelong learning. The biggest challenge is the lack of time, extensive knowledge requirement, and large groups of students. According to the teachers, the weak students who are the biggest losers, because there is not enough time to support the students.

In the 21st century, the delivery of cancer care is facing unprecedented challenges, including an increasing number of cancer patients, a shortage of nursing personnel, a shift in care from in-patient to outpatient facilities, and new technologies requiring additional resources and education. The purpose of this critical qualitative study was to explore how nurses learn to transition into cancer nursing practice (CNP) in the workplace. The inquiry examined the contextual and learning factors that enhanced or impeded the nurses’ transition into diverse cancer settings. A comprehensive literature review was conducted in three areas: workplace identity and transitions; social learning theories and informal learning in nursing practice; and the context of cancerland, namely, cancer system, cancer patients’ experience, and cancer nursing as a specialty. Participants completed a preinterview questionnaire that determined whether they met the criteria and were representative of the phenomenon being studied. Telephone interviews were conducted with 15 nurses with more than 3 months and less than 2 years working in 1 of 4 cancer facilities in Ontario. An interpretive, phenomenological approach was used to formulate a description of the newly hired nurses’ lived experience. Three overarching themes emerged unique to CNP: (a) Getting In - nurses perceptions of their recruitment and selection into CNP; (b) Surviving In - nurses’ struggles learning CNP and the emotional strain of “being with” critically ill and dying patients; and (c) Staying In - factors that impacted the nurses’ decision to stay or leave, such as effective nursing leadership, quality of work life, and accessibility of supports (preceptors and mentors) and professional education. The findings will assist nursing leaders, educators, and preceptors when developing strategies to enhance the recruitment, orientation, and education of nurses into CNP. The review included a description of the ways in which the nurses perceived their new role, as well as the rewards and difficulties they encountered as they coped during their first few months of practice. Also included were descriptions of the ways in which the nurses learned to transition into the different cancer nursing subspecialties of in-patient; outpatient; chemotherapy; radiation therapy; and urban, rural, and remote settings.

The microfinance revolution of the 1980s acclaimed micro-credit as a tool that would improve the lives of economically active people trapped in poverty. The 2006 Nobel prize awarded to Mohammed Yunus and Grameen Bank confirmed for the industry’s advocates that microfinance was a panacea, and billions of dollars have been channeled to financial services for the poor. However, a series of high-profile scandals in 2010 shook development agencies’ faith in micro lending, and support has waned in light of evidence that microfinance alone cannot change structural inequalities and end poverty. I show that politics operate throughout the industry, reproducing inequalities within the process of micro lending. In my political ethnographic study of 460 people in three countries, I find that race and class politics is entrenched in all three countries, yet there are different outcomes related to attitudes of microfinance managers. In Jamaica and Guyana, micro lenders demonstrate that historically rooted racial and class biases go beyond gender to determine the allocation of micro loan resources. Ingrained biases interfere with the allocation of loans to the urban poor because discriminatory practices reinforce pre-existing social divisions. The Haiti case is hopeful: lenders, particularly the caisses populaires (credit unions), are made up of socially conscious people who recognize the country’s exclusionary politics. Managers and staff have class origins similar to the clients they serve and view micro loans as a tool to contest class and race-based oppressions. Haiti’s case suggests that collective systems such as those found in the caisses populaires and informal banks are effective because they relate to people’s history; and managers influenced by the masses, organize financial programs that are responsive to their clients and remain free from elite capture. This bottom-up approach in microfinance determines a greater level of social transformation for the urban poor.

This thesis explores the application of vision-based augmented reality in formal and informal educational environments. It focuses on the common practices, concerns, and priorities that developers and content creators in each environment frequently encounter, offering insights into how these experiences are changing with the incorporation of new digital media technologies and the hardware platforms that support them. The research outlined in this thesis uses qualitative methods, assembled around a series of twelve hour-long interviews with highly-experienced educators, developers, researchers, and designers, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. This thesis introduces original research about the role of computer vision-based augmented reality as an educational medium, a topical discussion in information studies, museum studies, learning sciences, and a number of other fields, and makes a theoretical commitment to addressing the ways that material and virtual objects come to interact meaningfully in a variety of learning environments.

Inquiry-based science instruction is a major goal of science education reform. However, there is little research examining how preservice elementary teachers might be motivated to teach through inquiry. This quantitative study was designed to examine the role of background experiences and an inquiry science methods course on interest in science and interest in teaching science. The course included many activities and assignments at varying levels of inquiry, designed to teach content and inquiry methods and to model effective teaching. The study involved analyses of surveys completed by students in the course on their experiences with science before, during, and at the end of the course. The following questions guided the design of this study and analysis of the data: 1.What science background experiences (school, home, and informal education) do participants have and how do those experiences affect initial interest in science? 2.Among the hands-on activities in the methods course, is there a relationship between level of inquiry of the activity and the motivational quality (interesting, fun, and learning) of the activity? 3.Does the course affect participants’ interest and attitude toward science? 4.What aspects of the course contribute to participants’ interest in teaching science and choice to teach science? Descriptive and inferential analysis of a background survey revealed that participants with high and low initial interest in science differed significantly on remembering about elementary school science and involvement in science related activities in childhood/youth. Analysis of daily ratings of each hands-on activity on motivational qualities (fun, interest, and learning) indicated that there were significant differences in motivational quality of the activities by level of inquiry with higher levels of inquiry rated more positively. Pre/post surveys indicated that participants increased in interest in science and a number of variables reflecting more positive feelings about science and science teaching. Regression analysis found that the best predictors for interest in teaching science were experiencing fun activities in the science methods course followed by the interest participants brought to the course. This study highlights the motivational aspects of the methods course in developing interest in science and interest in teaching science.

The goal of this study is to apply the extraordinarily rich set of historical cartographic and remote sensing data of Cairo, Egypt to the analysis of the problem of informal development in the twentieth century. Remote sensing of urban areas has been dominated in recent years by multispectral analysis of Landsat imagery. This restricts studies both temporally and in spatial resolution. In this study an aerial photo interpretation methodology is applied to images and maps spanning two centuries of Cairo’s history at a spatial resolution on the scale of individual buildings. From these techniques insights can be obtained of the political and social forces shaping the development of Cairo.

Despite abundant studies of the application of pension systems in developed countries, little work has been done on how to apply a sustainable pension system in developing countries. The set-up of pension systems in developed countries and developing countries are expected to be different because in developing countries, labor is concentrated in the informal production sectors, while labor in developed countries is concentrated in the formal production sectors. Informal production sectors are sectors where the government, either central or local government, has little access to implement fiscal policies (taxes and subsidies) on firms and labor. This research develops a comprehensive system on how to set-up pension policies generally in developing countries and specifically in Indonesia. The basic set-up of the pension system suggested in this dissertation is as follows: a short run consumption tax policy to finance a defined benefit plan to support minimum physical needs of the older population, a medium run labor income tax policy to finance individuals' defined contribution fully funded savings plan, and a long run skilled labor creation through university education so that individuals are able to self-finance their own pension savings through the fully funded savings plan. The defined benefit plan is important because it can serve as a societal redistribution tool, while the defined contribution plan serves as a household savings tool. In addition, the skilled labor creation serves as a supporting tool so that the pension program is sustained in the long run. A theoretical model is developed from Auerbach and Kotlikoff overlapping generation (OLG) computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and specified for the Indonesian economy by introducing heterogeneity in households, where skilled and unskilled labor exist. In writing the model in terms of computer language, we apply an approach named mathematical programming system for general equilibrium analysis (MPSGE), developed by Thomas Rutherford. Some parameters used in the model are estimated by using econometric methods. The OLG-CGE model is applied in order to analyze the impact of consumption taxes and pension taxes on labor supply and also to calculate the equivalent variation of the distribution of consumption taxes burden across generations. Meanwhile, the impact of skilled labor creation on economic growth is calculated by applying linear algebra. The main macroeconomy data is taken from the Indonesian social accounting matrix (SAM) year 2000. Meanwhile, labor data are taken from the Indonesian labor conditions 1998-2003. The findings in this dissertation are as follows: for the equivalent variations, the consumption taxes for USD 1, USD 2, and USD 3 cash transfers per day person gave more benefit to the skilled labor than to the unskilled ones. In the meantime, the consumption taxes for USD 1 cash transfer gave incentives to the highest amount of labor, both skilled and unskilled labor, to work in the formal sector. The amount of labor after the consumption taxes for USD 1 cash transfer is higher than the initial condition. Increasing the consumption taxes for the USD 2 cash transfer only decreased the amount of labor work in the formal sector, with the amount of skilled labor decreased more than the unskilled labor. In addition, increasing the consumption taxes for the USD 3 cash transfer would also decrease the amount of labor work in the formal sector, with the amount of unskilled labor decreased more than skilled labor. We also find that the elasticity of government education expenditures on skilled labor creation is roughly 0.3. This means that if the Indonesian central government would like to eliminate the informal sector by 25 percent within 20 years, or an average 1.25 percent annually, they should increase the government education expenditures to 8 percent of total annual government budget. Other findings are that the increase of skilled labor would contribute positively to Indonesian economic growth, while the consumption taxes and the fully funded pension taxes would be likely to reduce current economic growth but increase the future one. Finally, these are the theoretical contributions to public finance literature: first, given dual formal and informal labor sectors present in an economy, where the latter is dominant, taxation of expenditures is preferred to taxation of income because the first may induce labor to work in the formal sector; second, given dual formal and informal labor sectors present in an economy, where the latter is dominant, there exists an optimal rate of consumption taxes that provides incentives for the highest amount of labor, skilled and unskilled labor, to work in the formal sector.