A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education / The recognition of prior learning (RPL) is framed in the discourse of equity and redress. It is tasked with transforming education and training and bringing about opportunities of access to those whose educational paths were disrupted by apartheid. While policy in higher education has a vision, conditions on the ground remain unexamined, bringing to the fore complex challenges which relate to prior knowledge on the one hand and its capacity to compete with academic ways of knowing on the other, begging the question: Can RPL deliver on espoused goals of equity, access and redress? This research utilises critical education theory and qualitative research to enquire into participants', recipients' and implementers' perceptions of RPL programmes. In particular the research probed the epistemological and philosophical framings of such programmes, participants' perceptions of the capacity of RPL to deliver equity and redress in education and their ideas for changes and improvements to future RPL programmes and practices. The predominant research method consisted of in-depth interviews with 37 respondents in five RPL projects within four institutions of higher education in South Africa, 14 of whom were academics who implemented RPL, and 23 of whom were RPL students who were the recipients of RPL. In addition, scholarly articles and reports written by the academics as well as RL portfolios, compiled by the students were used as source material. The research results are reported as institutional case studies reflecting the initial responses to RPL in higher education and the ideas, beliefs and perceptions that animate them. The case studies provide a picture of the institutional environment in which RPL operates, and highlight the different levers that are shaping and influencing the practice of RPL in South Africa. The research results show that RPL in practice raises personal questions for those who implement it and for those who receive it - questions about themselves as raced, gendered and classed actors. Different academics have responded to these personal questions in varied ways resulting in contending versions of RPL propelled by different epistemological orientations. On another level the research results show that RPL in practice requires institutional support from senior managers in particular, that such support needs to be driven by an institutional vision and an institutional champion. In the institutions in this study these variables were largely absent. Equity and redress on their own have not been the levers for the implementation of RPL in higher education in South Africa. Keywords: Access; Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning; Equity; Higher Education; Recognition of Prior Learning; South Africa / AC 2018

Denna studie syftade till att ta fram ett ramverk för utveckling av API:er för tjänsteorienteradearkitekturer. Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i forskningsprojektet e-Me (utvecklingenav en integrationsplattform för att underlätta studenters vardag) samt en benchmarking avde i nuläget mest använda API:erna på webben. Studien har fem faser: En litteraturstudie,en benchmarking, en kvalitativ genererande intervjustudie, en teoribildande fas (framtagningav ramverket), samt en kvalitativ validerande studie. Litteraturstudien tar upp sådanafenomen som utvecklingsmetoder, systemarkitekturer (bland annat SOA) samt metautveckling.Denna studie låg till grund för den första intervjustudien, som i sin tur låg tillgrund för benchmarkingen. Resultatet av dessa två studier bildade tillsammans en grundför ramverket SOAPIF (Service-Oriented Application Programming Interface Framework),som till en början innehöll fyra olika faser: Conceptualization, där man försökerbilda sig en uppfattning om vad API:et skall exponera; Definition, där man försöker definieraett kontrakt för API:et; Testing & Implementation som tar sin utgångspunkt i testerför att implementera API:et; samt Delivery, som är den fas där API:et skall levereras. Ialla dessa faser ingick kontinuerligt dokumentation samt co-design. Efter en validering avramverket byttes de fyra faserna ut mot fem arbetsmoment, med samma namn som fasernaovan, med ett tillägg: Ett arbetsmoment som heter API Evaluation, och som syftar tillatt efter leveransen tillsammans med konsumenterna av API:et utvärdera det. Utifrån deresultat som denna studie genererat, har följande slutsatser kunnat dras: Det är oerhörtviktigt med flexibla API:er som utvecklas i samarbete med den tänkta slutkonsumenten,och att dessa API:er testas mot de förväntningar som konsumenterna har på dem. Det ärockså oerhört viktigt att API:er är väldokumenterade, för att underlätta för konsumenter.När det gäller integrationsplattformar är anledningen till att man utvecklar dessa främstett behov av flexibilitet.

As China has become one of the largest economic entities in the world, many studies focus on corporate governance in China. In 2001, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) transplanted the outside director mechanism from the United States and the United Kingdom. CSRC hoped that outside directors could play a control role to monitor the behaviours of controlling shareholders, protecting the interests of minority shareholders. However, since it was established, the Chinese outside director mechanism has played an unsatisfactory control role because they are not truly independent of the controlling shareholders. In contrast, many Chinese outside directors use their Guanxi connections (a particular kind of social connections in China) to play a resource acquisition role very well. Based on the theories of the firm, the resource dependence theory, studies of Guanxi and the path dependence theory, this thesis finds that when Chinese outside directors use their Guanxi connections to play their resource acquisition role, their independence and fiduciary duties required by CSRC is compromised.

This thesis consists of a poetry manuscript and a critical component that considers the poetics and history that inform the writing of that manuscript. Critical Component: Charting the Sea in Caribbean Poetry This thesis focuses on the influence of the sea in constructing identity in the writing of Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott, and Dionne Brand. It is particularly interested in examining how these poets trace identity primarily in The Arrivants, Omeros, and No Language is Neutral through their various employments of the sea and liquidity in those works. I then read selections from two of my poetic forbearers from the British Virgin Islands - Alphaeus Norman and Verna Penn Moll - in order to examine the construction of the sea in their poetry against the canonised work of Brathwaite, Walcott, and Brand. I argue through close contextual readings of the selected works that through engagement of various approaches each poet arrives at a portrait of Caribbean identity that is constructed integrally through the fluid, mutable natures of the sea. The five poets are scrutinised in four chapters, in relation to their personal philosophies regarding national or regional identity through essay writings and interviews but more prominently in close readings of their poetry and in particular their representations of the sea. I begin by arguing that in Brathwaite's The Arrivants (1980), the importance of the sea in the various formations of West Indian identity is represented through the exercising of his tidalectic process in his reconstructions of the archetypes of Legba and Ananse, and his ritualising of cricket and calypso. In Walcott's Omeros (1990), the sea is presented as the embodiment of history itself through which all of Saint Lucia's contemporary inhabitants must access their ancestral memories. Walcott utilises the Atlantic as a creolising force in his reimagining of the Homeric archetypes of Philoctetes, Achilles, Hector, and Helen. Brand however, departs from this metaphorical interpretation of the sea and turns inward, redefining the boundaries of land, sea, and sexual desire in Trinidad through a remapping of that island that is focused on the ocean, waterways, and the bodies of women. Lastly, British Virgin Islander poets Alphaeus Osario Norman and Verna Penn Moll embrace different mythic versions of the sea. Norman's work creates a distinct sailor aesthetic that resonates with classic European naval and militaristic poetry as a way to invoke a national pride, while Penn Moll focuses on performances of cultural and communal waterside rituals to frame narratives of local history and village culture. Ultimately, I argue that the sea is presented variously as a portal through which history and tribal memory can be accessed, and as a supernaturally transformative force for the poet. Creative Component: Make Us All Islands Make Us All Islands is a poetry manuscript based in the British Virgin Islands that explores historical and personal relationships with the sea. The first section revolves around the various arrivals of liberated Africans rescued from slave ships wrecked or captured by the British Navy in the early 1800s. The liberated Africans were not enslaved, but rather forced into indentureship before ultimately being segregated from society and then disappearing from history. The second section is built around the departure of a generation of Tortolan men to work in the sugar plantations of the Dominican Republic at the turn of the following century, alongside other Anglophone Afro-Caribbean migrants. A large portion of these poems are built around accounts of the greatest boating disaster in the islands' history, the loss of a schooner christened Fancy Me which wrecked in a hurricane in 1926 off the coast of the Dominican island Saona. The final movement personalises this exercise and focuses on the poet's interactions with the sea and memory.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out whether the residents of family houses districts are satisfied with the current stage of built environment and usage of public spaces. Three focus districts were areas with family houses situated in the Prague metropolitan region (Hanspaulka, Starý Spořilov, Satalice) and eleven territorial public spaces were under examination. The research had three stages. Field mapping focused on the current stage of built environment of public spaces in focus districts. Structured observation, as the following stage, revealed the usage of those public spaces. Through the stage of semi-structured interviews, was answered the question about, how satisfied are the residents with the public spaces and if they have any changes or suggestions in order to improve those.

Thesis (MPA) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / South African Universities are faced with the pandemic issues of student‟s through-put. The postgraduate intake at higher education doesn‟t correspond with the completion rate. South Africa is relatively the lowest in higher education success rate compared to other countries. This study aimed at investigating factors contributing to postgraduate students through-put at Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership (TGSL), in the University of Limpopo. This study adopted a quantitative descriptive research design. Questionnaire were utilised to collect data from master‟s students and academic staff at TGSL. Data was gathered through structured questionnaire from 42 master‟s students. Semi-structured questionnaire were used to gather data from five experienced academic staff members. The study utilised simple random sampling and judgemental or purposive sampling. Descriptive analysis was used and data was analysed using Statistical package for social science (SPSS). The findings reveal that the number of students graduating from the three programmes within TGSL is increasing from time to time suggesting a decline in supervision backlog. The study indicated that most master‟s students take more than maximum duration of three years to complete their study as these students have completed their modules (course work) and remain with research project. Despite these and other academic support provided by the university, masters students encounter certain challenges that influence their academic performance. The major factors influencing through-put include: Lack of commitment; personal issues such as workload; lack of support from spouse and family members and poor time management; lack of personal interest and hard work on the part of students; lack of focus; poor time management; inadequate writing skills; lack of time. Most students are working and may not have adequate time to consult their supervisors. This study has made recommendations to further improve master‟s students‟ through-put. Based on the findings and conclusions of the study it is recommended that students should be self-disciplined; committed to their studies. Students should put more effort on their mini-dissertation and attend the writing retreats organised by the university to improve their writing skills.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, states created statewide systems of support, in collaboration with existing agencies, to deliver targeted assistance to districts and schools identified as in need of support. With limited personnel and resources, state education agencies partnered with outside agents to address the needs of a growing number of low-performing schools. Support and services for low-performing schools were designed to increase opportunities for schools to meet academic content and achievement standards for all students. Strong outside agents (skilled in systems change, knowledge of interventions and capacity for relationship-building) have been shown to produce changes in low-performing schools, but the long-term effect of those changes is unclear. One barrier to the implementation of the statewide system of support, and to any useful evaluation of its impact, is the presence of vulnerable populations, such as students with disabilities. Because low-performing schools tend to have larger student populations identified with academic risk factors like disability status, understanding how the partnership between state education agencies and outside agents improves outcomes for students with disabilities, specifically, is essential in evaluating the overall impact of the statewide system of support. The purpose of this research is to examine how a mid-sized state’s implementation of the statewide system of support provision, as outlined in The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, by incorporating an existing regional training and technical assistance system, one focused specifically on improving special education, impacted instructional delivery for students with disabilities.

Open country farming in Utah came late in the pioneer period having been preceded by compact settlement in villages. These villages were located on mountain streams near mouths of canyons on higher ground. Reasons for compact settlement were: (1) Early environment probably influenced many of the Utah settlers who came from New England were villages were patterned after the compact European agricultural village. (2) Compact settlement was basic to the plan for the "City of Zion" envisaged by Latter Day Saint leaders in 1833. In Utah, settlement in such villages resulted from adherence of members to precepts of L.D.S. Church authorities. (3) Local conditions in Utah were peculiarly adapted to this type of village. Problems evolving from scarcity of water, community irrigation projects, hostile Indians, and social intercourse were all most adequately provided for in compact settlements. Oopen country farming came after Indian dangers had passed. As population grew, canals wore lengthened and families settled on outlying farms. In Cache Valley, open country communities are now found on the valley floor all the way between Preston, Idaho on the north and Hyrum on the south. Usually such communities are near a trade center. They represent groups which are slowly making adjustments to change. In spite of isolation, urbanization influences are at work in these communities. The purpose of this study was to find out how much the people living in the open country community of Benson were dependent on the near by city of Logan (population 12,000) for supplementing their own community offerings. More specifically the objectives were: 1. To ascertain the nature and extent of the uses made by the people of Benson of (1) their local community agencies and (2) the agencies of other communities. 2. To secure information on the origional cost of the plant and equipment of each of the local community agencies.

<p>Background: The software industry is being described as an industry of fierce competition and rapid technology change. The innovation pace is said to be so high that today's new technology might be history tomorrow. Where do the companies of the software industry focus when making strategic decisions? According to the strategic literature, a firm can focus on either the external environment or the internal environment as strategic starting points. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to find out what determines the strategy of firms in the software industry. </p><p>Procedure: Interviews with six software companies in Sweden. </p><p>Result: Four strategic determinants were identified: Flexible software solution, Markets that fit the software solution, Market Segmentation, Customers within the market segment. In this way, both the internal and external environment determines the strategies of the software companies.</p>

<p>Det sägs i olika medier t ex i TV och tidningar att barn blir allt mer stillasittande. Eftersom lek och rörelse är mycket betydelsefulla för barns utveckling och välbefinnande så är det ju viktigt att förskolans utemiljö kan locka, inspirera och utmana barnen till lek och rörelse. Vad i utemiljön kan göra det? Vad kan man göra för att förbättra en förskolegårds utemiljö? Det är frågor som jag sökt svar på genom att intervjua barn och pedagoger på två olika förskolor. Resultatet visar att det bör finnas naturinslag och en variation av platser med olika karaktär på en gård. Då skapas det lätt dynamik mellan platserna och en dynamisk miljö inbjuder till nya upptäckter och utmaningar.</p> / <p>Different media for example TV and newspapers report that children become more and more immobile. Since children's play and movement are very important for their development and wellbeing, it is important that the preschool outside environment can tempt, inspire and challenge the children to play and movement. In what ways can the outside environment do this? What can be done to improve the outdoor environment of a preschool? I have searched the answers to these questions by interviewing children and teachers at two different preschools. The results show that there should be elements of nature and a variety of places with different characteristics in a yard. Then dynamic between places can easily be created and a dynamic environment invites to new discoveries and challenges.</p>