Nesta tese concentro-me em duas propostas de educação pública que Denis Diderot projeta para a Rússia - assim como no pensamento político que lhes dá origem. Para tanto, analiso textos pouco estudados de Diderot e de seus interlocutores (sobretudo da década de 1770), como: Mémoires pour Catherine II; Observations sur le Nakaz; e o próprio Nakaz, de Catarina II; além de grande parte da correspondência do filósofo francês. Em tais textos, Diderot revela um pensamento político mais completo e até mesmo mais autoral do que em obras de outros períodos. Os projetos de educação pública que aqui examino, assim como o pensamento político que os concerne, são, indubitavelmente, os mais representativos daquilo que significou o período das luzes, seja pelo que neles há de tradição política e educacional, seja pelo que há de inovador e arrojado nas aspirações iluministas de reforma geral da sociedade. Aspirações que fazem com que as próprias propostas de educação pública de Diderot insiram-se em um intento maior, que marca toda a trajetória filosófica do pensador: a construção de uma nova ordem política e social, por meio do maior fomento possível e da difusão máxima das luzes. A proposta educacional de Diderot, como um todo, situa-se no cerne deste intento; constitui-se como parte dele, mas não como uma parte qualquer. Demonstro que, sem a educação pública, a reforma institucional que Diderot formula para a Rússia, assim como o conjunto de seu pensamento sobre o homem em seu estado civil, perde a sua própria razão de ser: a superação da ignorância e tudo o que a fomenta - como a tirania, o fanatismo e a desigualdade de direitos. Demonstro ainda como Diderot encontra no interior das escolas setecentistas (sobre as quais desfere as mais duras críticas) um critério de justiça com o qual visa corrigir toda a sociedade: o mérito individual. Então, sem me descuidar do contexto histórico, traço as raízes filosóficas destas propostas de Diderot, a fim de melhor compreender as relações que ele estabelece entre educação e política; conhecimento e justiça; instrução e progresso. / In this dissertation, I focus on two proposals for public education that Diderot designs for Russia - as well as on the political thought that gives rise to them. To this end, I analyze some texts of Diderot and his partners (mainly from the 1770s) that do not use to be carefully studied by scholars, such as: Memoires pour Catherine II; Observations sur le Nakaz; and Nakaz itself, written by Catherine II; besides that, I also analyze most of the letters written by the French philosopher. In these texts, Diderot reveals a more complex and original political thought in comparison with works of others periods. The public educational projects that I examine here, as well as the political thought regarding them, are undoubtedly the most representative of what Enlightenment meant, considering both what is in its political and educational tradition and what is innovative and audacious in the Enlightenment\'s aspirations for the general reform of society. These aspirations make Diderots public education proposal takes part of a greater ambition, which marks all the philosophical journey of the thinker: the building of a new social and political order, through the largest possible promotion and dissemination of knowledge. The public education plan proposed by Diderot as a whole is the core of this intent; it is constituted as part of it, but it is not any part. I demonstrate that, without public education, the institutional reform that Diderot proposes for Russia, as well as the whole of his thinking about the man in his civil status, loses its own reason of being: the overcoming of ignorance and everything that encourages it - such as tyranny, bigotry and inequality of rights. I also show how Diderot finds in the schools of the 18th century (that are strongly criticized by him) a criterion of justice through which he will aim at correcting the entire society: the individual merit. Thus, without neglecting the historical context, I trace the philosophical roots of Diderot\'s proposals in order to better understand the relations that he establishes between education and politics; knowledge and justice; education and progress.

Abstract is available to download.

Perception of fairness is a key construct affecting job performance, and perceptions of promotional processes are related to employees' sense of justice in private organizations. In police departments, negative perceptions of procedures can be detrimental to departmental effectiveness. The purpose of this quantitative quasiexperimental study was to compare Louisiana officers' perceptions of fairness of a seniority-based promotion system in relation to Louisiana deputies' perceptions of fairness of a merit-based promotion system. Organizational justice theory, including procedural justice, was the theoretical foundation. The research questions were designed to examine whether seniority, transparency, knowledge of the promotion systems, gender, and race predicted levels of perceived fairness. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t test, a MANOVA, and a multiple linear regression. Participants in the seniority-based system perceived it as being fairer than participants in the merit-based system viewed their merit-based system. There were significant differences in knowledge of promotion systems and perceived fairness for rank and system type, but not race and gender. Collectively, predictor variables correlated with perceived fairness. Type of promotion system was not significant when examined with other variables suggesting confounding of predictor variables. Human resources should make employees aware of promotion procedures. Hybrid systems might help address both employee fairness and the promotion of qualified individuals. Officers viewing promotion as fair could lead to positive social change by motivating officers and positively influencing how they serve the public.

The HOPE Scholarship began in the State of Georgia in 1993 and is a statewide, merit-based scholarship program for postsecondary students. The program is fully funded by the revenues received from the state’s lottery program, the Georgia lottery, which disproportionately receives contributions from minority and low-income populations. Using logistic and OLS regression analysis this research investigates the distributional equity of the HOPE Scholarship by comparing the award receipts of postsecondary students in Georgia. The study found that the race, ethnicity, immigrant generational status, first generation college student, and financial independence have a negative impact on the likelihood of a student receiving the HOPE Scholarship. The findings also suggest that HOPE Scholarship recipients who are black or African American, first generation college students, and those with financial independence receive less overall funding than those without these qualities. These results provide sound evidence that the HOPE Scholarship, a merit-based program targeted at helping to reduce educational disparities, may be failing to reduce higher education inequities in the state. Given the established relationship between education and future economic success, these types of merit-based, state-wide programs may inadvertently exacerbate existing disparities. Recommendations include a mandated program analysis to promote accountability among program administrators, policymakers, and the greater public.

Sustainable and renewable energy is an incredibly important area in today’s society and investigation into avenues to improve this wide ranging technology are underway in many different fields. Thermoelectric devices possess the ability for the direct solid-state interconversion of heat and electrical power, which not only allows for sustainable refrigeration but also waste heat recovery. One current restriction on the efficiency of thermoelectric devices is the disparity in thermoelectric performance of p-type and n-type materials. Furthermore, a key physical attribute shared by the majority of high performing thermoelectric materials is low thermal conductivity. Thus in this thesis three separate p-type material systems exhibiting low thermal conductivity will be discussed. The Cu-excessed quaternary chalcogenides, CuM2InTe4 (M = Zn, Cd), and ternary chalcogenide, CuSbS2, were investigated due to their intrinsically low thermal conductivity. Whereas, skutterudites typically have good electrical properties but do not exhibit an intrinsically low thermal conductivity. Nevertheless low thermal conductivity can be achieved by taking advantage of their unique crystal structure by filling large voids with loosely bound atoms that act as phonon scattering centers. Therefore double-filled Fe substituted skutterudites with nominal compositions Yb0.4In0.02Co3FeSb12 and Yb0.8In0.02Co2.5Fe1.5Sb12 were also investigated. The CuM2InTe4 (M = Zn, Cd) and skutterudite specimens were synthesized by direct reactions, whereas the CuSbS2 specimens were synthesized by mechanical alloying. Structural and stoichiometric compositions were analyzed by a combination of X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement and energy dispersive spectroscopy. High-temperature transport properties were measured for all specimens and will be discussed in detail. The Cu-excessed quaternary chalcogenides display intrinsically low thermal conductivity that appears to be unaffected by the change in electrical properties that is a result of differing stoichiometries. This may provide a possible route to furthering the enhancement of the thermoelectric properties of these materials. Similarly the CuSbS2 ternary chalcogenides display a very low thermal conductivity due to stereochemically active lone-pair electrons and would potentially allow an optimization of the power factor without a significant increase of the very low thermal conductivity, thus improving the figure of merit. For the case of p-type skutterudites, (Yb, In) double-filled skutterudites have a maximum ZT of 0.6, which is promising in the hunt for improved p-type materials. This fundamental investigation provides insight that can lead to a deeper understanding of all three material systems outlined in this thesis and provides a platform for new research in the quest for materials suitable for thermoelectric applications.

This is the report of a study into educational change. The purpose of the investigation was to observe and analyse an example of a system-wide policy change through an intensive and disciplined case study, in order to develop a theory about the implementation of a particular change process and use that theory to account for the way the observed change process proceeded. Although change and how it was achieved in a large, complex bureaucratic organisation was the primary focus for theory development and understanding, the role of the management personnel in the change process was also of interest. The introduction of performance management (in particular, promotion-by-merit within the Western Australian Ministry of Education) was the change example under consideration. In contrast to the traditional way-of-studying-educational change, the present study adopted a participant observation case study using a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), because of its use in a previous study (Heaven, 1987) and in addition, the literature review indicated a lack of grounded theory studies in this area. Grounded theory is not the only methodology which can generate theory grounded in the data. However,it does ensure that a well-connected and comprehensive theory will emerge and that the theory which does emerge will be clearly and demonstrably grounded in the data from which it derives. Seven major factors or categories were identified from this grounded theory study. These factors included values, antagonists, ethos, infrastructure, equivocation, communication and culture. Five models of change were developed. / The first model was developed by analysing the literature using grounded theory methodology as a metaphor and the literature was mapped in a way which had not been done before. The result was the identification of eight 'categories' of findings in the literature,which, taken together, constitute an emergent sense of a 'theory' of educational change. The second and third models focused on the implementation of the specific policy change examined. The fourth and fifth models were developed as generic models of change implementation which, it is suggested, may be applicable in varying degrees to other comparable change implementation situations. The five models developed in this study provide managers with relatively simple ways of conceptualising a complex process- and provide a set of reference points or stages for action. Recommendations for further research include the application of grounded theory methodology to the totality of the literature on educational change, further investigation of the role and importance of an organisation's culture and its values in the implementation of change, and further study of the role played by illusions in the change implementation process.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate if the reading habits of teacher students are influenced by merit and descent. The empiric material consists of six questionnaires answered by students at the teacher training with Swedish at the upper secondary school as their first topic. The questionnaire comprised questions about reading habits in the childhood and today and information concerning merits and descent. Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological ideas about cultural capital transmitted from parent to child and the concept of habitus are used as a theoretical framework regarding descent. The important role teachers have according to children’s bringing up, also a theory by Bourdieu, are together with school law, curriculum and syllabus the framework regarding merit. The results of the study agreed with Bourdieu’s thoughts of reading habits as a heritage of the cultural capital of the parents. Reading habits are on the other hand not a special relation with descent, i.e. the social background of the parents. Good merits from school could however possibly affect bad reading habits from the childhood, if you see the connection with good reading habits and good studying capacity.

¡§Rewards¡¨ and ¡§Punishments¡¨ of public organizations are two crucial tools of personnel management and pivotal impetus factor in organizations.Rewarding is a positive and active way of impetus; punishing is a negative and passive way of impetus. The purpose of rewarding is to meet employees¡¦ requirements, lift morale, and enhance efficiency; the purpose of punishing is to alert stubbornness, eliminate illegitimacy, and maintain discipline. Making use of rewards and punishments well can make its positive function take effect immediately; on the contrary, it will cause damage to organizations. The leading class of public organizations should apply measures of rewards and punishments well. Police organizations, which are always performance-oriented, often highlight the importance of performance by means of project duties and regulate provisions of rewards and punishments in the practical plans of projects. This kind of project execution means that the police organization requests policemen achieve specific performance in some period for certain interim works of the policy and usually accompany with double rewards and punishments, which make common people misunderstand that police officers¡¦ works are ¡§optional¡¨ and ¡§emphatic¡¨ while handling cases. Besides, the business of police officers must focus on service and exhortation and reduce unnecessary interference and compulsion. However, serving for people and preventing crimes cannot underline the performance. Focusing on pursuing criminal cases, which bring immediate performance, and ignoring minor cases around common people for a long time cannot enhance the service quality. Police officers are partial to the performance, away from the public farther and farther. But, the business of police officers cannot be connected efficiently without people¡¦s supports and assistances. The performance cannot earn any credit of the public even though individual police officer is rewarded, but the whole image is getting worse. Thus, how to design a proper rewards and punishments system is worth studying. The objective of the legal system of rewards and punishments of public servants is, in the positive aspect, to lead public servants¡¦ behaviors towards organizational goals and respond to the expectation of the common people; in the negative aspect is to prevent public servants from conducting behaviors unfavorable of organizations goals or the common people¡¦s interests. The fairness of rewards and punishments system, the principle of rewarding from the basic level, and the principle of instant rewards and punishments have not only a great influence on morale encouragement to police officers but also on the position promotion of police officers. How to make the rewards and punishments system of police organizations fair and carry out principles of rewarding from the basic level, and instant rewards and punishments are worth further discussion. The thesis takes the legal system of rewards and punishments of police officers as research target and is supported by other relevant administrative laws and regulations. The research method adopts the primary theories of the administrative law, including administrative principles, administrative organizations, administrative authority, administrative remedy, and administrative supervision to view the rewards and punishments system of our police officers.

<p>The aim of this Master’s thesis is to investigate if the reading habits of teacher students are influenced by merit and descent. The empiric material consists of six questionnaires answered by students at the teacher training with Swedish at the upper secondary school as their first topic. The questionnaire comprised questions about reading habits in the childhood and today and information concerning merits and descent.</p><p>Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological ideas about cultural capital transmitted from parent to child and the concept of habitus are used as a theoretical framework regarding descent. The important role teachers have according to children’s bringing up, also a theory by Bourdieu, are together with school law, curriculum and syllabus the framework regarding merit.</p><p>The results of the study agreed with Bourdieu’s thoughts of reading habits as a heritage of the cultural capital of the parents. Reading habits are on the other hand not a special relation with descent, i.e. the social background of the parents. Good merits from school could however possibly affect bad reading habits from the childhood, if you see the connection with good reading habits and good studying capacity.</p>