abstract: This study explores the impact of a professional development (PD) activity conducted for teachers of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) at 15 American-curriculum international schools. The intervention involved teachers utilizing the 3D-PAST screening tool to systematically evaluate the alignment of teacher-designed assessments with the constructs of the NGSS and best practices in science instruction. Data about the way the intervention enhanced or challenged teachers’ understanding of the NGSS were collected via a multiple methods approach. The New Framework of Science Education Survey of Teacher Understanding (NFSE-STU) was used in a retrospective pretest-posttest fashion to assess changes in teachers’ understanding of NGSS constructs. Subsequently, interviews were conducted with participants which provided data that expanded upon the NFSE-STU findings. The Refined Consensus Model of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (RCM-PCK) was used to interpret the findings and situate the study within the extant literature on teacher PCK. The intervention was found to have a statistically significant effect on teachers’ understanding of the NGSS in all areas measured by the NFSE-STU. Additionally, data suggest that the intervention elicited changes in teachers’ classroom practices and improved collaborative professional practices. Also highlighted in the analysis was the significance of the relationship between the intervention moderator and the participants as a strong predictor of the way the intervention was perceived by teachers. The findings strongly support the suggestion that international school administrators seeking to maximize the impact of science teacher professional development should consider PD activities that train teachers in the use of aids to align NGSS assessments, because doing so simultaneously enhances teacher understanding of the NGSS while encouraging meaningful changes to professional practice. The study contributes to the nascent body of literature utilizing the RCM-PCK to situate understanding of science-teacher PCK, and fills a void in literature examining PD in American curriculum international schools, and highlights issues with potential to serve as foci for additional cycles of action research in the areas of international schools, science teacher and NGSS-related professional development, and the use of tools similar to 3D-PAST within other teaching disciplines. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2020

This study investigated the effect of training in equipment use on science teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) about the wave concept. The levels of teachers' reported PCK was explored before and after in-service training through interviews and Content Representations (CoRe). Furthermore, the study extended to investigating how the teachers enacted PCK when teaching the wave concept in their classrooms after the training. This qualitative research followed a case study method with three Grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers who were selected purposefully and pragmatically. Their pedagogical reasoning was elicited through a Video Stimulated Recall (VSR) interview and their general views about the training were obtained through a post-training interview. The framework was adapted from the Refined Consensus Model (RCM) and considered PCK at a topic and concept level, with each realm of PCK being underpinned by the Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK) components, namely, the learners’ prior knowledge, the curricular saliency, representations, what is difficult and/or easy to teach and understand, and the conceptual teaching strategies. However, all five TSPCK components were considered. The study was centred on three key ideas in the topic of waves, namely: wavelength; frequency; and superposition. The participants' reported PCK improved and the footprint of the training was visible in the enacted PCK of all of the participants. This study suggests that training on the use of equipment improves teachers’ enacted PCK and this may ultimately lead to improved learner performance. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

O presente trabalho teve, por objetivo, caracterizar a indústria de refino de açúcar no Brasil e identificar o modelo de comportamento da concentração de mercado da referida indústria para a região Centro-Sul do Brasil. Procurou-se analisar a influência dos distintos níveis de competição via preço e barreiras à entrada sobre a sua estrutura de mercado. Também foram analisadas a influência de fatores exógenos, como intervenção do governo, organização setorial e estratégias empresariais, na determinação da concentração de mercado do setor; o valor das barreiras à entrada para uma indústria média, baseada na análise da escala mínima eficiente de produção. Para tanto, utilizou-se o modelo teórico desenvolvido por Sutton (1991), que é o modelo do jogo de dois estágios para indústrias intensivas em sunk cost exógenos. Compararamse os resultados com os encontrados pelo autor para a Europa, o Japão, os Estados Unidos e Taiwan. Para tanto, definiu-se o mercado relevante como a região Centro-Sul do Brasil e calcularam-se a razão de concentração da referida indústria e a razão entre tamanho de mercado e nível de sunk cost exógeno. O valor encontrado para 2001 (σ/S igual a 0,8407%) é condizente com os dos países analisados por Sutton, que evidenciam o alto índice de custos irrecuperáveis e a existência de barreiras à entrada e explicam a estrutura de mercado encontrada. Verificou-se que a indústria de refino de açúcar no Brasil, inicialmente, foi construída por pequenos e médios grupos comerciais, com intensa atividade regional, sendo o setor regionalmente concentrado. Durante a fase de intervenção, destaca-se o forte caráter concentrado da indústria, apresentando na década de 1980, o CR4 da indústria de cerca de 80%. Nas décadas de 1990 e 2000, houve o crescimento e o surgimento de marcas menores, ao mesmo tempo em que a marca líder (União) teve reduzida sua importância no total das vendas do setor. Um dos elementos que explicam o forte caráter concentrado da indústria são as barreiras à entrada no setor: assim como as indústrias de açúcar refinado dos países analisados, a indústria de açúcar refinado do Brasil apresenta, de acordo com dados calculados para o ano 2003, alta barreira à entrada, em relação ao tamanho do mercado. No entanto, se, por um lado, a indústria apresenta elevados índices de concentração, por outro, acredita-se que os produtores de açúcar refinado não possam se utilizar desse poder de mercado junto aos consumidores. Os preços internos sofrem grande influência do mercado internacional, além da forte pressão do varejo supermercadista, também concentrado. Verificou-se que os preços descendentes ao longo do tempo são positivamente relacionados com a evolução da estrutura de mercado do período analisado. / The aim of the present work was to evaluate the refined sugar industryin Brazil and to identify its market behavior in the central region in Southern Brazil Accordingly, this study analyzed the influence of distinct levels of competition concerning price and entrance barriers on the market structure. Some exogenous factors, such as public regulation, sectorial organization, and strategies to set up costs, were also verified to determine the market sector’s concentration. the theoretical model of two-stage game for industries intensive in exogenous sunk cost described by Sutton (1991) was used to determine the value of the set up costs for a single plant of minimum efficient scale (m.e.s). Data of the present study were compared to those reported by Sutton (1991), whose study focused on Europe, Japan, United States and Taiwan. The present work, however, focused on the central region in Southern Brazil. The ratio of the market concentration of the sugar-refining industry, as well as the ratio of its market size and exogenous sunk cost was calculated. The value of σ/S found for 2001 was 0.8407%, consistent with the values found for the countries analyzed by Sutton; furthermore, this result evidences the high index of set up costs and existence of barriers of entrance, suggesting that that the industry of refining sugar in Brazil was initiated with small and average commercial groups, with a regionally-concentrated sector. During the regulated period the industry was highly concentrated (by the 1980s the CR4 was about 80%). In the 1990s, there was a great entrance of new brands and consequently a decline in the leader brand (União). One of the reasons that such industry is highly concentrated is the huge sunk cost. Like the refined sugar industry analyzed in other countries, the Brazilian refined sugar industry presented, in 2003, high exogenous sunk cost in relation to the size market.

Submitted by Maria Aparecida (cidazen@gmail.com) on 2017-04-17T12:44:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Hugo Alves Velozo.pdf: 5196080 bytes, checksum: 14e9edcc07c0256cf726b1d0f7eb9a02 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-17T12:44:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hugo Alves Velozo.pdf: 5196080 bytes, checksum: 14e9edcc07c0256cf726b1d0f7eb9a02 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-20 / CAPES / Most methods of identifcation of closed-loop dynamic systems are developed for linear and deterministic systems. However, most closed loop systems are nonlinear dynamic systems. In addition, such systems are subject to stochastic perturbations. Considering this problem, this work presents a methodology for the identifcation of closed loop stochastic nonlinear systems. For this purpose, the proposed methodology uses a local approach to identify nonlinear dynamic systems, that is, a set of Box-Jenkins local models are used to identify the dynamics of the nonlinear system. In this work, the nonlinear system is modeled through a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy inference system, where the parameters of the antecedent of the fuzzy rules are estimated with the fuzzy clustering algorithm GustafsonKessel and the consequent Box-Jenkins model parameters are estimated with the fuzzy fuzzy RIV (Refned Instrumental Variable) and fuzzy IVARMA (Instrumental Variable ARMA) algorithms. The proposed method is applied in the identifcation of a closed-loop nonlinear thermal plant. / A maioria dos métodos de identifcação de sistemas dinâmicos em malha fechada são desenvolvidos para sistemas lineares e determinísticos. Entretanto, a maioria dos sistemas operando em malha fechada são sistemas dinâmicos não lineares. Além disso, esses sistemas estão sujeitos a perturbações de natureza estocástica. Considerando essa problemática, este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para identifcação de sistemas não lineares estocásticos em malha fechada. Para isso, a metodologia proposta utiliza uma abordagem local de identifcação de sistemas dinâmicos não lineares, ou seja, um conjunto de modelos locais Box-Jenkins são utilizados para identifcar a dinâmica do sistema não linear. Neste trabalho, o sistema não linear é modelado por meio de um sistema de inferência fuzzy Takagi-Sugeno, onde os parâmetros do antecedente das regras fuzzy são estimados com o algoritmo de agrupamento fuzzy Gustafson-Kessel e o parâmetros do modelo Box-Jenkins do consequente são estimados com os algoritmos RIV (Refned Instrumental Variable) fuzzy e IVARMA (Instrumental Variable ARMA) fuzzy. O método proposto é aplicado na identifcação de uma planta térmica não linear em malha fechada.

Dada a complexidade hidrodinâmica de escoamentos gás-sólidos em leitos fluidizados muitas pesquisas têm sido realizadas abordando questões relativas a natureza altamente instável desse processo de fluidização. O conhecimento dessa hidrodinâmica permite estabelecer os parâmetros corretos para reação e transporte de massa em um reator de leito fluidizado, permitindo tomada de decisões à respeito do desempenho do reator. Modelos Eulerianos do contínuo, onde as fases coexistentes são tratadas como meios contínuos interpenetrantes, representam a aproximação mais prática para simular a hidrodinâmica de escoamentos gás-sólido em reatores de leito fluidizado. Aplicando-se procedimentos de médias de Euler obtêm-se os modelos hidrodinâmicos A e B desenvolvidos por GIDASPOW [27] do IIT/ANL, representando as equações conservativas e constitutivas de modelos de duas fases separadas para escoamentos gás-sólido. Neste trabalho, aplica-se um modelo Euleriano de duas fases separadas, desenvolvendo simulações numéricas para diferentes dimensões de colunas ascendentes de leito fluidizado circulante. Para resolução das equações discretas no domínio bidimensional, aplicam-se malhas refinadas. Analisam-se os efeitos nos resultados de simulação causados por essas malhas. Apresenta-se uma discussão geral sobre o modelo aplicado em torno dos resultados obtidos. / Due to the hydrodynamic complexity of gas-solid flows in fluidized beds, several researches have been conducted addressing issues concerning the highly unstable nature of this fluidization process. The knownledge of its hydrodynamics allows establishing the correct parameters for the reaction and mass transport in a fluidized bed reactor, improving its performance. Continuous Eulerian models, where the phases are treated as a continuum, represent the most practical approach to simulate the hydrodynamics of gas-solid flows in fluidized bed reactors. By applying Euler average procedures, it is possible to obtain the hydrodynamic models A and B, developed by GIDASPOW [27] at IIT/ANL. These models represent the conservative and constitutive equations for the models of two separate phases for gas-solid flows. In this work, an Eulerian two-fluids model is applied, developing numerical simulations for different risers of circulating fluidized bed. For the resolution of the discrete equations in the two-dimensional domain, refined meshes are used. An analysis of their effects on the results of the simulation is performed. A general discussion about the results obtained by the model applied is also presented.

O ano era 1912, e um imigrante italiano e um grupo de irmãos provindos da aristocracia fazendeira encontraram-se nos escritórios sobre o famoso Café Guarany, no pulsante coração comercial da cidade, o Triângulo, para combinarem os trâmites à fundação da primeira fábrica de louças em faiança fina do país, em moldes industriais, produção em série e larga escala, no, então, rural bairro da Lapa. Assim teve início a história da Fábrica de Louças Santa Catharina, posteriormente Indústrias Reunidas Fábricas Matarazzo (IRFM) - São Paulo, que abarrotou a cidade de São Paulo com toneladas de louças brancas ou decoradas feitas em seus inúmeros fornos. Fundada no fulcro dos projetos de modernização para a Paulicéia tão desvairada, fábrica e louças dialogaram com as conjunturas das quais eram agência e estrutura. Formas e motivos espalharam-se pelos diversos consumidores da cidade, desbancando, muitas vezes, o monopólio da louça branca estrangeira, da qual se diferenciou produzindo-se segundo lógicas e tecnologias locais. Esta pesquisa baseia-se na análise do sítio arqueológico Petybon, no bairro da Lapa, cidade de São Paulo, região da Água Branca/Vila Romana, escavado no ano de 2003, que revelou ter sido o local de uma antiga fábrica de louças em faiança fina, inaugurada em 1913, fundada meio à maciça imigração italiana e o financiamento das indústrias pelo capital do café. Funcionou até 1937, já pertencente aos Matarazzo que a adquiriram em 1927. O local tem extrema relevância não apenas no contexto da Arqueologia Urbana no Brasil, como também enquanto exemplar dos primórdios da industrialização do país e da história da produção da louça nacional, parcamente tratada pela literatura, pouco valorizada e identificada, apesar de sua freqüência nos sítios arqueológicos do século XX. / The year was 1912, and an Italian immigrant and a group of brothers, drawn from an Aristocratic family farmer, met at an office above the famous Guarany Coffee House, in the beating heart of the city, the Triangle, to establish a fellowship and combine the procedures to the foundation of the first refined earthenware factory in the country, based on an industrial manufacturing, by a mass and large scale production, at the rural district of Lapa. That was the beginning of the history of Santa Catharina Pottery Factory, later Matarazzo United Manufacturing - São Paulo, who crammed São Paulo city with tons of white or decorated pottery, made in its many kilns. Forged at the center of modernizations project for the city, the pottery and factory dialogue with the contexts whose were agency and structure. Forms and motifs spread out by various consumers, beating, often, the foreign pearlware and whiteware monopoly, from whom it was distinguished by organizing itself according with its own logic and technology development. This research is based on the analysis of Petybon archaeological site, in the neighborhood of Lapa, São Paulo, at the region known as Água Branca / Vila Romana, excavated in 2003, which appeared to have been the site of one of the firsts refined earthenware factories, opened at 1913, founded through the massive Italian immigration and the financing of industries by coffee profits. Worked until 1937, then belonging to the Matarazzo Family, who acquired it in 1927. The site is extremely important not only in the context of Brazilian Urban Archeology, but also as an example of the early industrialization in Brazil and the history of national pottery industry, barely treated by literature, almost unknown and unappreciated, despite its frequency at Brazilian archaeological site from the 20th century.

In Nigeria, almost every business enterprise relies on petroleum products for power or transportation. Shortages of petroleum products cripple business activities and undermine development of the Nigerian economy. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore supply chain management strategies needed by petroleum business leaders to mitigate shortages and sustain business development in Nigeria. The sample for the study included 10 senior leaders from 2 private-sector Nigerian downstream petroleum supply companies located in the Niger Delta region, who had successfully implemented strategies for petroleum supply. The resource based view theory served as the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews and review of operational and policy documents from the supply companies. Data were transcribed, analyzed, and validated through member checking and triangulation, resulting in the identification of 6 themes: appropriate allocation of resources to all segments of the supply value chain for efficiency, efficient banking and foreign exchange operations, engaging appropriate human capital for operational efficiency, technology application in both operational and nonoperational segments, maintaining good organization reputation in the industry, and investment in Nigerian crude oil refining and infrastructures. Findings may be used by petroleum business leaders and investors to create effective and efficient supply chain management, leading to product availability, employment opportunities, poverty reduction, and economic development.

Nous proposons une approche de gestion des processus métier configurables (cBP) offrant une vue consolidée des variantes de ces processus. Une variante est le résultat de l'ajustement d'un cBP en réponse à des besoins fonctionnels et / ou structurels. Cette approche utilise une base de connaissances pour suivre les spécificités de chaque variante représentée sous la forme d'arborescence de structure de processus configurable (cPST). Une implémentation de l'approche consistant à générer un cPST à partir d'un cBP est proposée. Nous appliquons cette approche pour calculer la complexité des processus métier configurables et prouver son avantage pour améliorer la qualité du cBP / We propose an approach for managing configurable Business Processes (cBP) that offer a consolidated view over these processes’ variants. A variant is the result of adjusting a BP in response to functional and/or structural needs. The approach uses a knowledge base to track the specificities of each variant that is represented as configurable Process Structure Tree (cPST). An implementation of the approach that consists of generating a cPST from a cBP is proposed. We apply this approach to compute configurable business process complexity and to prove its advantage for improving cBP quality

La thèse est décomposée en trois parties. Dans la première partie, les modèles de la CUF sont présentés. La CUF permet d’obtenir, dans un formalisme générale, de nombreux modèles qui diffèrent 1) selon l’ordre d’expansion dans l'épaisseur choisie pour les variables primaires; 2) selon le type de modèle: modèles couche équivalente (ESL) ou couche discrète (LW); 3) selon le principe variationnel : “Principle of Virtual Displacements” (raffinée) ou “Reissner’s Mixed Variational Theorem” (avancée). Des géométries cylindrique et à double courbure sont traités. La deuxième partie de la thèse est consacrée à l'obtention des équations fondamentales en utilisant différentes méthodes: la méthode analytique de Navier et deux méthodes numériques approchées; la “Finite Element Method” (FEM) et la “Radial Basis Functions” (RBF). La méthode RBF est une méthode sans maillage “meshless” et peut être considérée comme une méthode alternative à la FEM. La FEM est la plus utilisée dans la littérature et le sujet principal de cette thèse.Dans la dernière partie, différents problèmes sont proposés. Navier est utilisé pour l’analyse thermomécanique de coques FGM, l’analyse de coques piézo-électrique et l’analyse dynamique de nanotubes de carbone. Un élément fini coque, présenté dans cette thèse, est utilisé pour l’analyse de coques composites et FGM. Les résultats obtenus démontrent la supériorité de cet élément par rapport aux éléments finis basés sur les théories classiques pour l’analyse des matériaux avancés. Enfin, la méthode RBF est utilisée pour l’analyse de coques composites, permettant d'illustrer l'avantage des méthodes sans maillage. / The dissertation is organized in three main parts. In the first part, the shell models contained in the CUF are presented. The CUF permits to obtain, in a general and unified manner, several models that can differ by 1) the chosen order of expansion in the thickness direction, 2) the equivalent single layer or layer wise approach and 3) the variational statement used: “Principle of Virtual Displacements” (refined models) or “Reissner’s Mixed Variational Theorem” (advanced models). Both the cylindrical and the double-curvature geometries are considered. The second part is devoted to the derivation of the governing equations by means of different methods: an analytical method, that is the Navier method, and two approximated numerical methods, that are the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the Radial Basis Functions (RBF) method. The RBF method is based on a meshless approach and it can be considered a good alternative to the FEM. The finite element method is the most common method used in literature and it is the main topic of this thesis. In the last part, different problems are analyzed. The thermo-mechanical analysis of FGM shells, the electromechanical analysis of piezoelectric shells and the dynamic analysis of carbon nanotubes are performed by means of the Navier method. Then, the CUF shell finite element, presented in this thesis, is tested and used for the analysis of composite and FGM shells. The superiority of this element in respect to finite elements based on classical theories is shown. Finally, the RBF method is combined with the CUF for the analysis of composite and FGM shells in order to overcome the numerical problems relative to the mesh that usually affect the finite elements.

[pt] O objetivo desta dissertação é quantificar e analisar as possíveis diferenças oriundas de métodos de correção de volume de diferentes normas na medição de derivados líquidos de petróleo. Essas correções são necessárias pois variações na temperatura e pressão a que esses fluidos estão submetidos geram variações de volume que podem levar a grandes diferenças entre os volumes medidos por clientes e fornecedores, em virtude de variações nas condições operacionais. De forma a minimizar a influência dessas variações nos volumes a serem considerados, estabeleceu-se uma condição padrão (20 graus Celsius e 101,325 kPa) para a qual todos os volumes medidos nas transações realizadas no Brasil devem ser corrigidos. A motivação deste trabalho advém do fato da regulamentação brasileira que rege essas correções ser muito antiga (anos 1970). Esse trabalho é uma oportunidade para analisar métodos de correção de volume mais recentes. Esses métodos podem gerar erros menores nas suas correções a depender das hipóteses adotadas em seus desenvolvimentos. Além disso, uma análise do impacto econômico da adoção desses métodos é realizada. Para estudar estas possíveis diferenças, a metodologia aplicada utiliza distribuições que modelam a variação da massa específica dos produtos ao longo do processo produtivo e, para outros, dados coletados ao longo de certos períodos especificados. São, então, obtidas massas específicas resultantes da aplicação de cada método. De posse das massas específicas calculadas nos resultados, são verificadas diferenças estatisticamente relevantes entre as correções efetuadas por cada método. As conclusões demonstram que essas diferenças justificam a atualização da regulamentação com os métodos contidos nos padrões mais atuais. / [en] The aim of this dissertation is to quantify and analyze the possible differences caused by the application of the correction methods defined on different standards for the measurement of the volume of liquid petroleum derivatives. This correction is necessary because pressure and temperature variations can cause considerable differences between measurements made by customer and supplier, due to operational conditions variations. To standardize this measurement, it was established that all volumes used on transactions in Brazil should be corrected to a base condition (in Brazil, 20 degrees Celsius and 101.325 kPa). This work s motivation comes from the fact that the Brazilian regulation is quite old (from the 1970s). This work is an opportunity to analyze more recent correction methods. These methods can give smaller errors depending on the hypothesis adopted in its developments. Besides that, an economic impact analysis of these methods adoption in realized. To study these possible differences, the applied methodology uses statistical distributions that model the specific gravity of the products during the productive process and, in other cases, uses data collected during certain periods. Corrected specific gravity values are, then, obtained for each method. With these values at hand, some statistically relevant differences are verified. Conclusions demonstrate that these differences justify the update of Brazilian regulation with the methods contained in standards that are more recent.