The ubiquitous nature of digital and social media has had a tremendous impact on higher education. In essence, these new pedagogical media has required faculty members to learn new methodologies to deliver their course content—often through distance education approaches. Transactional Distance Theory, designed by distance research scholar Michael Moore, is the preferred framework for instructional design for distance education. Even though there are examples of student affairs educators teaching students online, there are limited references to distance learning theory as a foundation for the work they are doing. This study was designed to explore the ways in which two online orientation co-curricular educational opportunities (CCeOs) created for student affairs departments adhere to the tenets of Moore's Transactional Distance Theory. In addition, a secondary purpose was to identify tangible examples that could inform an operationalize definition of Moore's Transactional Distance Theory for application in student affairs online CCeO development and, ultimately, enhance learning efficacy for these online educational programs, which is the purpose of an instructional design theory. The theoretical framework for this study was Moore's Transactional Distance theory. Document analysis was used to assess and interpret materials from two online orientation programs. The findings of this investigation reveal the existence of two online CCeOs created by, or for, student affairs educators that adhere in significant, although limited, ways to a pedagogical theory traditionally used in online course design. / Ph. D.

The recent development of multi-core computer architectures has largely affected the creation of everyday applications, requiring the adoption of concurrent programming to significantly utilize the divided processing power of computers. Applications must be split into sections able to execute in parallel, without any of these sections conflicting with one another, thereby necessitating some form of synchronization to be declared. The most commonly used methodology is lock-based synchronization; although, to improve performance the most, developers must typically form complex, low-level implementations for large applications, which can easily create potential errors or hindrances. An abstraction from database systems, known as transactions, is a rising concurrency control design aimed to circumvent the challenges with programmability, composability, and scalability in lock-based synchronization. Transactions execute their operations speculatively and are capable of being restarted (or rolled back) when there exist conflicts between concurrent actions. As such issues can occur later in the lifespans of transactions, entire rollbacks are not that effective for performance. One particular method, known as nesting, was created to counter that drawback. Nesting is the act of enclosing transactions within other transactions, essentially dividing the work into pieces called sub-transactions. These sub-transactions can roll back without affecting the entire main transaction, although general nesting models only allow one sub-transaction to perform work at a time. The first main contribution in this thesis is SPCN, an algorithm that parallelizes nested transactions while automatically processing any potential conflicts that may arise, eliminating the burden of additional processing from the application developers. Two versions of SPCN exist: Strict, which enforces the sub-transactions' work to be made visible in a serialized order; and Relaxed, which allows sub-transactions to distribute their information immediately as they finish (therefore invalidation may occur after-the-fact and must be handled). Despite the additional logic required by SPCN, it outperforms traditional closed nesting by 1.78x at the lowest and 3.78x at the highest in the experiments run. Another method to alter transactional execution and boost performance is to relax the rules of visibility for parallel operations (known as their isolation). Depending on the application, correctness is not broken even if some transactions see external work that may later be undone due to a rollback, or if an object is written while another transaction is using an older instance of its data. With lock-based synchronization, developers would have to explicitly design their application with varying amounts of locks, and different lock organizations or hierarchies, to change the strictness of the execution. With transactional systems, the processing performed by the system itself can be set to utilize different rulings, which can change the performance of an application without requiring it to be largely redesigned. This notion leads to the second contribution in this thesis: AsR, or As-Serializable transactions. Serializability is the general form of isolation or strictness for transactions in many applications. In terms of execution, its definition is equivalent to only one transaction running at a time in a given system. Many transactional systems use their own internal form of locking to create Serializable executions, but it is typically too strict for many applications. AsR transactions allow the internal processing to be relaxed while additional meta-data is used external to the system, without requiring any interaction from the developer or any changes to the given application. AsR transactions offer multiple orders of magnitude more in throughput in highly-contentious scenarios, due to their capability to outlast traditional levels of isolation. / Master of Science

We present HyFlow - a distributed software transactional memory (D-STM) framework for distributed concurrency control. Lock-based concurrency control suffers from drawbacks including deadlocks, livelocks, and scalability and composability challenges. These problems are exacerbated in distributed systems due to their distributed versions which are more complex to cope with (e.g., distributed deadlocks). STM and D-STM are promising alternatives to lock-based and distributed lock-based concurrency control for centralized and distributed systems, respectively, that overcome these difficulties. HyFlow is a Java framework for DSTM, with pluggable support for directory lookup protocols, transactional synchronization and recovery mechanisms, contention management policies, cache coherence protocols, and network communication protocols. HyFlow exports a simple distributed programming model that excludes locks: using (Java 5) annotations, atomic sections are defiend as transactions, in which reads and writes to shared, local and remote objects appear to take effect instantaneously. No changes are needed to the underlying virtual machine or compiler. We describe HyFlow's architecture and implementation, and report on experimental studies comparing HyFlow against competing models including Java remote method invocation (RMI) with mutual exclusion and read/write locks, distributed shared memory (DSM), and directory-based D-STM. / Master of Science

As technology continuously evolves, it becomes increasingly important for various industries to adapt to the technological landscape. This necessity is evident in the banking sector, as banks must constantly evolve in parallel with those who may seek to harm the organization. The success of the industry is linked to its relationships with customers and other stakeholders, which means it is crucial to continually enhance and implement new measures to ensure risks are minimized. Previous research has highlighted the importance of leadership and the necessity of having a well-functioning risk management strategy to minimize risks and create a strong, stable foundation for operational efficiency. However, less attention has been directed toward the interdependence of these two components and how leadership affects risk management within organizations, such as banks. The purpose of this report is to increase the understanding of how various aspects of transformational and transactional leadership can be used to promote a proactive risk management, as well as how these leadership styles can be integrated with each other to create a proactive risk management within the banking sector.. The study draws on theories and previous research on leadership, risk management strategies, and Enterprise Risk Management, as well as respondents' knowledge and experiences, to address the study's purpose.This study examines the significance of leadership in cultivating a proactive risk management within the banking sector. By analyzing the role of leadership in promoting risk awareness and proactive behavior among employees, this research provides insights into how effective leaders can influence attitudes and behaviors crucial for managing risks. The findings emphasize the need for leaders within the banking sector to take initiatives to enhance the organization's capability to manage risks and promote a proactive culture essential for meeting the ever-changing challenges of today's financial landscape.In conclusion, the study's findings underscore the importance of a leader's ability to harmoniously integrate aspects of both transformational and transactional leadership to strengthen the organization's ability to manage risks and foster a proactive risk management necessary for addressing the continually evolving challenges in today's financial landscape.

Studiens syfte är att granska de forskningsbaserade modeller som läromedlet En läsande klass bygger på i förhållande till tidigare forskning inom området läsförståelse, samt genom observationer få en bild av det praktiska arbetet med läromedlet i klassrummet. Klassrumsobservationerna genomfördes i årskurs tre. Resultatet från läromedelsgranskningen visar att En läsande klass bygger på tre forskningsbaserade modeller för undervisning om läsförståelse – Reciprokal teaching (RT), Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI) och Questioning the Author (QtA).  Resultatet visar vidare på goda kopplingar mellan modellerna och forskning inom området. De forskningsbaserade modellerna personifieras av fem figurer, och överensstämmelsen mellan modellerna och figurerna är tydlig för fyra av figurerna men mindre tydlig för den femte. Observationerna visar lektioner där lärarna arbetar med undervisning utifrån de fem figurerna i En läsande klass. Resultatet visar att det arbetssätt som föreslås i läromedlet följs till övervägande del. Texterna som används i undervisningen kommer från såväl En läsande klass, som andra läromedel och skönlitteratur. / The aim of the study is to examine the research-based models on which the teaching material En läsande klass (A Reading Class) is based in relation to earlier research in the field of reading comprehension, and through observations to obtain a picture of the practical work with the teaching material in the classroom. Classroom observations were performed in grade three. The result of the examination shows that En läsande klass builds on three research-based models for teaching reading comprehension – Reciprocal Teaching (RT), Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI) and Questioning the Author (QtA). The result further demonstrates good links between the models and research in the field. The research-based models are personified in five figures, and the agreement between the models and the figures is clear for four of the figures, less clear for the fifth. The observations revealed lessons where the teachers base their teaching on the five figures in En läsande klass. The result shows that the method suggested in the teaching material is for the most part followed. The texts used in tuition come not only from En läsande klass but also from other teaching materials and literature.

本研究的目的主要在探討（一）國民中學校長轉型領導、交易領導之現況。（二）國民中學兼行政教師職業倦怠之現況。（三）國民中學校長轉型領導、交易領導對兼行政教師職業倦怠是否有影響力。（四）不同背景變項的國中兼行政教師所知覺校長轉型領導、交易領導之差異。（五）不同背景變項的國中兼行政教師職業倦怠之差異。（六）國民中學校長轉型領導、交易領導與兼行政教師背景變項對兼行政教師職業倦怠是否具有預測功能。 研究採用問卷調查法，以桃園縣52所國民中學全體兼行政教師為母群體，選取39校542位兼行政教師為受試者，並以改編之「國民中學校長轉型領導與交易領導問卷」與「國民中學兼行政教師工作感受問卷」施測，計回收有效問卷460份。所得資料以SPSS/PC10.0統計套裝軟體進行統計分析，並透過描述統計、單因子變異數分析、Pearson積差相關分析、多元逐步迴歸等統計方法加以分析與解釋，所獲得主要結論如下： 一、國民中學校長整體轉型領導、交易領導及各分層面（「被動的例外管理」除外）領導行為屬中上程度，且校長轉型領導行為略高於交易領導行為。 二、國民中學兼行政教師因婚姻、職位、學校規模等背景變項之不同在知覺校長轉型領導上有顯著差異；因職位之不同在知覺校長交易領導上有顯著差異。 三、國民中學兼行政教師職業倦怠感屬中下程度，其中在「工作投入」上最高，其次依序為「工作情緒」、「工作價值」、「工作表現」。 四、國民中學兼行政教師因婚姻、行政年資、職位等背景變項不同在職業倦怠上有顯著差異。 五、國民中學校長整體轉型領導、交易領導及各分層面（「被動的例外管理」除外）領導行為，與兼行政教師職業倦怠有負相關存在。 六、在國民中學兼行政教師職業倦怠的預測上，以「建立願景」最具預測力，其次依序為「婚姻」、「被動的例外管理」、「職位」、「魅力影響」。 　　根據研究結果對教育行政機關及校長提出建議如下： 一、教育行政機關應建立健全之校長培訓暨進修制度。 二、教育行政機關應硏擬增加兼行政教師之待遇與福利制度。 三、校長應吸取領導新知、提昇自我專業領導知能。 四、校長應多運用轉型領導、妥慎運用交易領導行為。 五、校長應多鼓勵女性教師及資深教師兼任學校行政職務。 六、校長應鼓勵並協助未婚教師拓展社交層面，尋求社會支持系統，以降低職業倦怠。 七、校長應帶領學校成員建立各項完善之校務制度，並對兼行政教師充分的授權及適時關懷協助，以降低職業倦怠。 關鍵字：轉型領導、交易領導、職業倦怠 / The research on the relation between the leaderships of junior high school principals in transactional leadership and transformational leadership and the burnout of concurrently administrative teachers －a sample study of Taoyuan County Abstract This research mainly focuses on the discussing of (1) the current status of junior high school principals’ leaderships in transaction and transformation; (2) the currentstatus of burnout of junior high school concurrently administrative teachers ; (3) whether it or not the transactional leadership and transformational leadership of the principals have the influence on the burnout of junior high school concurrently administrative teachers; (4) the teachers with different background variables perceive the differences on the principals’ transactional leadership and transformational leadership; (5) the differences on the different background variables to the burnout of junior high school concurrently administrative teachers ; (6) whether it or not there is prediction of the leaderships of principals to the background variables of the concurrently administrative teachers’ burnout. The research conducts the survey study with concurrently administrative teachers from 52 junior high schools in Taoyuan County as the main study group -- randomly selecting 39 schools 542 concurrently administrative teachers to receive the surveys. They were given the revised versions of “the questionnaire of juniorhigh school principals’ transactional leadership and transformational leadership” and“the feedback questionnaire of junior high school concurrently administrativeteachers’ work”. 460 valuable questionnaires were received back and detaileddiscussed. The obtained data carries on the statistical analysis by the SPSS/PC10.0 statistics software package, descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA analysis of variance , and Pearson product-moment correlation analysis and multiple stepwise regression and explains in advanced. The obtained conclusion as follows:The whole leadership with transactional leadership, transformational leadership and to each level of leadership behavior (excluding the passive management by exception) conducting by junior high school principals meets the middle upper level. Also it is to say that the principals with transactional leadership are slightly higher than those with transformational leadership. 1. Because of the background variables in the marriage status, position, and the size of school, junior high school concurrently administrative teachers have different perceptions in the transformational leadership of the principals. Because of the different positions, the teachers have different perceptions in the transactional leadership of the principals. 2. The burnout of the teachers meets the middle lower level. Among all, work investment is the highest and following by work emotion, work value, and work performance. 3. The different background variables in the marriage status, the number of year experience, and the position have obvious differences in the degree of burnout. 4. There is negative correlation between the whole leadership with transactional leadership, transformational leadership and to each level of leadership behavior (excluding the passive management by exception ) and the burnout of concurrently administrative teachers . 5. For predicting the burnout of concurrently administrative teachers, establishing the vision of schools is the most predictable, following by marriage, passive management by exception, position, and charm influence. According to the research result, it suggests to the government institution of education and school principals as follows: 1. The government institution of education should establish a complete system for school principals to train up and take advanced courses. 2. The government institution of education should plan on the policies of compensation and welfare of concurrently administrative teachers. 3. School principals should absorb new knowledge of leadership and promote self-knowledge in professional leadership. 4. School principals should utilize the transformational leadership and properly utilize the transactional leadership. 5. School principals should encourage female and senior teachers to take a part of administration. 6. School principals should encourage and assist unmarried teachers to develop social relations and seek a social support group to reduce the burnout. 7. School principals should lead all school members to establish complete policies, empower concurrently administrative teachers and show care to them to reduce the burnout. Key words：transformational leadership、transactional leadership、burnout

本研究主要是探討國民中學校長轉型領導、交易領導與教師工作投入之間的關係。採問卷調查方式，以台北市、台北縣及桃園縣三縣市之公立國民中學之教師為調查對象，隨機各抽取若干所學校為樣本；再以簡單隨機抽樣的方式每校抽取10位教師，共抽取1070位教師為樣本。本研究問卷回收640份，剔除收回樣本資料填答不全者，合計有效樣本為593份，回收率為59.81﹪，可用率為55.42﹪。 一、 本研究結果有以下之結論： （一）國民中學校長經常交互運用轉型和交易領導行為，且運用轉型領導行為多於交易領導行為。 （二）在不同年齡、男性教師、兼任行政職務的背景變項方面，國民中學教師所知覺校長轉型領導、交易領導行為有顯著差異。 （三）國民中學教師工作投入情況良好。以「工作專注」向度得分最高，「工作準備」向度次之，最後為「工作樂趣」向度。 （四）在不同年齡、已婚國中教師、兼任行政職務教師、學歷、年資等背景變項方面，國民中學教師工作投入有顯著差異。 （五）國民中學校長轉型領導行為級交易領導行為與教師工作投 入均呈現正相關。 （六）在國中教師整體工作投入之預測上，轉型領導之「啟發智 能」及個人背景變項之「年齡」、「性別」、「專任教師職務」等四個變項達到顯著水準。其聯合預測力或解釋國中教師整體工作投入的總變異量為24.0﹪，其中以「啟發智能」之預測力最佳。 二、 本研究建議如下： （一）對教育行政機關的建議： 1.定期舉辦校長領導專業知能研習課程，增進國民中學校長對領導理論的瞭解及領導技巧的運用。 2.建立健全之國民中小學校長培訓制度，以培植優秀領導人才 3.制定完善的國民中學行政人員任用制度，以激勵教師工作投入 （二）對國民中學校長的建議 1.國中校長應綜合運用轉型領導與交易領導，以提高教師之工作投入。 2.鼓勵教師擔任行政職務、教學領導者，以促進教師工作參與感。 3.宜協助與關照資淺、年輕及未婚教師，以促進其工作投入 （三）對未來研究的建議 1.在研究對象方面，本研究有關校長轉型領導、交易領導係由教師的觀點來知覺校長領導行為，因此研究對象僅限於教師，未來的研究若能加入校長自評，使兩者可以相互參照驗證，將使研究內容更為豐富。 2.研究變項方面，建議後續研究者，就就工作投入而言，可就工作價值觀、工作意義、工作滿足、組織承諾等方面來探討。進一步求得較完整地全面性的瞭解。 3.研究工具方面，未來研究者可參考國內外量表自行修訂完善之研究工具，可考慮設計開放性題目，以更深入了解研究對象，讓研究結果更有價值。 4.增加研究方法，本研究因限於人力、時間的限制，故僅採問卷調查法，僅就數據分析結果，初步證實校長領導和教師工作投入之間相關具預測力，但未包含與人接觸的質化研究方法，建議後續研究者，利用深度訪談、參與觀察、個案研究、行動研究等方式，深入瞭解影響教師工作投入關鍵所在，找出更多、更有利的影響因素。 / This research mainly discusses the relation between the transformational leadership and transactional leadership of junior high school principals and the job involvement of junior high school teachers. Survey study is adapted and randomly selects numbers of samples in a pool of public junior high schools in Taipei city, Taipei county, and Tao Yuan county. Randomly simple selected selection in advance, 10 teachers in each sample school; totally 1070 teachers received questionnaires. 640 survey questionnaires were returned back and to be evaluated – rejecting those incomplete filling up and ending up with 593 valuable ones. Returning ratio was 59.81%; valuable ratio was 55.42%. First, the result of the research comes to the following onclusions: 1.Junior high school principals often mutually utilize transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and utilize transformational leadership more often than transactional leadership. 2.From the background variable aspect, including the disparity in age, male teachers and concurrently taking a part in administration, there is an obvious difference in the perception of the teachers to the transformational and transactional leadership of their principals. 3.The job involvements of junior high school teachers are good. The phase of job dedication values the highest; the phase of job preparation values the next; the phase of job pleasure values the last. 4.From the background variable aspect, including the disparity in age, married teachers, concurrently taking a part in administration, educational background, and the years of teaching service, there is an obvious difference in the job involvement of junior high school teachers. 5.The transformational leadership behaviors of junior high school principals have positive correlation with the job involvement of the teachers and so do the transactional leadership behaviors. 6.In the prediction of the junior high school teachers’ whole job involvement, four variables, which are the inspiring intelligence of transformational leadership and age, sex, and exclusive teachers of personal background variables, reach the certain standard. To synthesize prediction or explain the whole job involvement of junior high school teachers, its total variation is 24.0% and especially, the prediction of inspiring intelligence is the best. Second, this research suggests the followings: (A) The suggestions to the educational governmental institutions: 1. To enhance the understanding of leadership theory and the utilization of leadership skills, the seminars specializing in the knowledge of leaderships to principals are held constantly. 2. To train excellent leaders, it is suggested to establish a complete training system to junior high school principals and elementary school principals. 3. To motivate the job involvement of teachers, it is suggested to set an engaging system for junior high school administrative personnel. (B) The suggestions to junior high school principals: 1. To raise the job involvement of teachers, junior high school principals should mutually utilize transformational leadership and transactional leadership. 2. To press forward the job participation of teachers, the principals should encourage teachers to take a part in administration or to be teaching leaders. 3. Principals can help and look after those teachers who have fewer years in teaching service and are young, unmarried to promote their job involvement. (C) The suggestions to further researches: 1. In the objects of the study, this research is limited to the teachers only. For the further study, it is good if the principals’ self-evaluations are considered to get reference in mutual verification. This will enrich the research content. 2. In the phase of the research variables, it is suggested to the following-up researchers; in speaking to the job involvement, they can take job values, job significance, and job satisfaction into discussions to get more entire, complete understanding. 3. In the phase of the research tool, it can be considered to design opening questions so that deeply understanding to the research objects is revealed which the result of the research more valuable. 4. It is suggested to the following-up researchers to enhance the research methods, such as, depth interview, participation and observation, case study, action study. For which, the pivotal point of effecting teachers’ job involvement can be deeply understood to discover more and advantageous influencing factors.

Introduction : Le traitement de la dialyse entraîne de nombreux bouleversements dans la vie du patient et nécessite d’adhérer à nombreuses recommandations. L’éducation thérapeutique, prise en charge en plein essor dans la maladie chronique, consiste à accompagner les patients dans leur parcours de soin et à les aider à acquérir des connaissances et des compétences pour vivre au mieux leur vie avec leur maladie. Ainsi, l’objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer l’impact d’un programme d’éducation thérapeutique mis en place auprès de patients en auto-dialyse. Méthode : Le programme était composé de cinq interventions collectives (représentations et vécu de la dialyse, alimentation, protection de l’abord vasculaire, prise des médicaments et satisfaction). 125 patients ont participé à l’étude (64 dans le groupe expérimental et 61 dans le groupe contrôle). Plusieurs issues (adhésion thérapeutique, qualité de vie, état anxio-dépressif) et variables médiatrices ont été mesurées (connaissances, sentiment d’auto-efficacité, stratégies de coping, etc.) avant le programme, à la fin du programme éducatif et trois mois après. Résultats : Les résultats n’ont pas montré d’effet direct du programme sur l’adhésion thérapeutique, la qualité de vie et l’anxiété. Par contre, une augmentation des symptômes dépressifs a été observée dans le groupe expérimental, sans induire d’état dépressif. Des analyses de médiations ont précisé que l’augmentation des connaissances sur l’abord vasculaire expliquait l’effet de l’éducation thérapeutique sur les symptômes dépressifs. Les résultats ont également montré que le sentiment d’auto-efficacité vis-à-vis du suivi des recommandations alimentaires diminuait chez les patients du groupe expérimental à la fin du programme. Des analyses supplémentaires ont indiqué que ce changement prédisait d’autres évolutions comme la diminution de l’adhésion thérapeutique et une augmentation de l’anxiété. Conclusion : Ces principaux résultats montrent la nécessité d’améliorer les interventions d’éducation thérapeutique auprès des patients en dialyse en adaptant la transmission des connaissances au quotidien et en travaillant davantage sur l’amélioration du sentiment d’efficacité personnelle et aussi les stratégies de coping, c’est-à-dire d’avoir une action plus ciblée sur les variables médiatrices. / Introduction: Dialysis entails numerous alterations in the life of the patient and requires adhering to many recommendations. Therapeutic Patient Education helps patients acquire knowledge and skills to manage their life with a chronic disease in the best possible way. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a therapeutic educational program for dialysis patients in an out-center. Methods: The program consisted of five group sessions concerning the representations and personal experience of the dialysis, dietary regimen, protection of vascular access, taking of medicines and satisfaction about the program. The study included 125 subjects (64 in the experimental group and 61 in the control group). Several criteria (adherence, quality of life, anxiety, depression) and mediating variables were measured (knowledge, self-efficacy, social support, coping strategies, etc.) before the program, at the end and three months after the end of the program. Results: The program had no effect on adherence, quality of life and anxiety. On the other hand, an increase in depressive symptoms was observed in the experimental group, without inferring a depressive state. Analyses of mediations showed that the increase in knowledge regarding vascular access explained the effect of therapeutic education on depressive symptoms. The results also showed that self-efficacy decreased in the experimental group after the five sessions. Additional analyses indicated that this change predicted other changes such as a decrease in dietary adherence and increased anxiety.Conclusion: These main results show the need for improving educational interventions with patients in dialysis by adapting the transmission of knowledge about everyday life, and especially by working more on improving the feeling of self-efficacy and the use of coping strategies.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-01-12T17:50:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Enilson Elias de Castro Monteiro.pdf: 2242730 bytes, checksum: 604477581dfb2b3ea8ed0e47112a9370 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-12T17:50:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Enilson Elias de Castro Monteiro.pdf: 2242730 bytes, checksum: 604477581dfb2b3ea8ed0e47112a9370 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-12 / Fundação São Paulo - FUNDASP / This research dissertation is titled Case Study About Evasion in a Distance Learning Theology Course. The work is within the concentration area of Cognitive Processes and Digital Environments aligned with the research field of Learning and Cognitive Semiotics from the Stricto Sensu Graduate Program of Intelligence and Digital Design Technologies. The study aims to answer a guiding question about what are the reasons that led students to evade from the Distance Learning Free Theology Course of Latin American Faculty (FLAM). The objective of the research is to investigate the dropout phenomenon in the Distance Learning Free Theology Course offered by FLAM, analyzing it by the theory of transactional distance. For this, it commits to investigate the perceptions of evaded students and their course tutors about the teaching and learning process of this specific course as long as the possible causes of evasion; examine these reasons, categorizing them according to the variables dialogue, structure and autonomy, as presented in Theory of Transactional Distance and propose possible interventions that may reduce the evasion rates of the course. The research methodology is based on a qualitative approach, searching not only to pull up data but also to interpret and give them meaning in their own context. About the dissertation work type, it is a case study. As an instrument for data collection it was used the application of an online questionnaire to alumni and semi-structured interviews with two tutors of the course. For data analysis, this work employees the methodology of thematic analysis of content. The research result ends up denying the initial hypotheses to conclude that dropout reasons external to the course were a major factor than internal reasons and thus the phenomena is not related to the variables of transactional distance / A pesquisa tem como título Estudo de Caso sobre a Evasão em um Curso de Teologia a Distância e se insere na área de concentração Processos Cognitivos e Ambientes Digitais e na linha de pesquisa Aprendizagem e Semiótica Cognitiva do Programa de Pós-graduação Stricto Sensu em Tecnologias da Inteligência e Design Digital. Como questão norteadora, busca responder quais são os motivos que conduziram os alunos a evadirem do curso livre de Teologia a distância da Faculdade Latino-americana (FLAM). O objetivo da pesquisa é investigar o fenômeno da evasão no curso livre de Teologia a distância oferecido pela FLAM, analisando-o a partir da Teoria da Distância Transacional. Para isso, se dedica a descobrir a percepção dos alunos evadidos e a de suas tutoras acerca do processo de ensino e aprendizagem do curso em análise e as possíveis causas da evasão; a examinar esses motivos, categorizando-os conforme as variáveis diálogo, estrutura e autonomia, apresentadas na Teoria da Distância Transacional e a propor possíveis intervenções que possam minimizar o índice de evasão do curso. A metodologia da pesquisa baseia-se em uma abordagem qualitativa, buscando não apenas levantar os dados, mas também interpretá-los e dar-lhes significado em seu próprio contexto. Quanto à tipologia, é um estudo de caso. Utiliza, como coleta de dados, a aplicação de questionário on-line a ex-alunos e de entrevista semiestruturada a duas tutoras do curso. Para análise dos dados, utiliza a metodologia da análise temática de conteúdo. O resultado da pesquisa acaba por negar as hipóteses iniciais ao concluir que os motivos de evasão externos ao curso foram majoritários sobre os motivos internos e, assim, não estavam relacionados às variáveis da distância transacional

A maioria das organizações depende atualmente de algum tipo de infraestrutura computacional para suportar as atividades críticas para o negócio. Esta dependência cresce com o aumento da capacidade dos sistemas informáticos e da confiança que se pode depositar nesses sistemas, ao mesmo tempo que aumenta também o seu tamanho e complexidade. Os sistemas transacionais, tipicamente centrados em bases de dados utilizadas para armazenar e gerir a informação de suporte às tarefas diárias, sofrem naturalmente deste mesmo problema. Assim, uma solução frequentemente utilizada para amenizar a dificuldade em lidar com a complexidade dos sistemas passa por delegar sob outras organizações o trabalho de desenvolvimento, ou mesmo por utilizar soluções já disponíveis no mercado (sejam elas proprietárias ou abertas). A diversidade de software e componentes alternativos disponíveis atualmente torna necessária a existência de testes padronizados que ajudem na seleção da opção mais adequada entre as alternativas existentes, considerando uma conjunto de diferentes características. No entanto, o sucesso da investigação em testes padronizados de desempenho e confiabilidade contrasta radicalmente com os avanços em testes padronizados de segurança, os quais têm sido pouco investigados, apesar da sua extrema relevância. Esta tese discute o problema da definição de testes padronizados de segurança, comparando-o com outras iniciativas de sucesso, como a definição de testes padronizados de desempenho e de confiabilidade. Com base nesta análise é proposta um modelo de base para a definição de testes padronizados de segurança. Este modelo, aplicável de forma genérica a diversos tipos de sistemas e domínios, define duas etapas principais: qualificação de segurança e teste padronizado de confiança. A qualificação de segurança é um processo que permite avaliar um sistema tendo em conta os aspectos e requisitos de segurança mais evidentes num determinado domínio de aplicação, dividindo os sistemas avaliados entre aceitáveis e não aceitáveis. O teste padronizado de confiança, por outro lado, consiste em avaliar os sistemas considerados aceitáveis de modo a estimar a probabilidade de existirem problemas de segurança ocultados ou difíceis de detectar (o objetivo do processo é lidar com as incertezas inerentes aos aspectos de segurança). O modelo proposto é demonstrado e avaliado no contexto de sistemas transacionais, os quais podem ser divididos em duas partes: a infraestrutura e as aplicações de negócio. Uma vez que cada uma destas partes possui objetivos de segurança distintos, o modelo é utilizado no desenvolvimento de metodologias adequadas para cada uma delas. Primeiro, a tese apresenta um teste padronizado de segurança para infraestruturas de sistemas transacionais, descrevendo e justificando todos os passos e decisões tomadas ao longo do seu desenvolvimento. Este teste foi aplicado a quatro infraestruturas reais, sendo os resultados obtidos cuidadosamente apresentados e analisados. Ainda no contexto das infraestruturas de sistemas transacionais, a tese discute o problema da seleção de componentes de software. Este é um problema complexo uma vez que a avaliação de segurança destas infraestruturas não é exequível antes da sua entrada em funcionamento. A ferramenta proposta, que tem por objetivo ajudar na seleção do software básico para suportar este tipo de infraestrutura, é aplicada na avaliação e análise de sete pacotes de software distintos, todos alternativas tipicamente utilizadas em infraestruturas reais. Finalmente, a tese aborda o problema do desenvolvimento de testes padronizados de confiança para aplicações de negócio, focando especificamente em aplicações Web. Primeiro, é proposta uma abordagem baseada no uso de ferramentas de análise de código, sendo apresentadas as diversas experiências realizadas para avaliar a validade da proposta, incluindo um cenário representativo de situações reais, em que o objetivo passa por selecionar o mais seguro de entre sete alternativas de software para suportar fóruns Web. Com base nas análises realizadas e nas limitações desta proposta, é de seguida definida uma abordagem genérica para a definição de testes padronizados de confiança para aplicações Web. / Most organizations nowadays depend on some kind of computer infrastructure to manage business critical activities. This dependence grows as computer systems become more reliable and useful, but so does the complexity and size of systems. Transactional systems, which are database-centered applications used by most organizations to support daily tasks, are no exception. A typical solution to cope with systems complexity is to delegate the software development task, and to use existing solutions independently developed and maintained (either proprietary or open source). The multiplicity of software and component alternatives available has boosted the interest in suitable benchmarks, able to assist in the selection of the best candidate solutions, concerning several attributes. However, the huge success of performance and dependability benchmarking markedly contrasts with the small advances on security benchmarking, which has only sparsely been studied in the past. his thesis discusses the security benchmarking problem and main characteristics, particularly comparing these with other successful benchmarking initiatives, like performance and dependability benchmarking. Based on this analysis, a general framework for security benchmarking is proposed. This framework, suitable for most types of software systems and application domains, includes two main phases: security qualification and trustworthiness benchmarking. Security qualification is a process designed to evaluate the most obvious and identifiable security aspects of the system, dividing the evaluated targets in acceptable or unacceptable, given the specific security requirements of the application domain. Trustworthiness benchmarking, on the other hand, consists of an evaluation process that is applied over the qualified targets to estimate the probability of the existence of hidden or hard to detect security issues in a system (the main goal is to cope with the uncertainties related to security aspects). The framework is thoroughly demonstrated and evaluated in the context of transactional systems, which can be divided in two parts: the infrastructure and the business applications. As these parts have significantly different security goals, the framework is used to develop methodologies and approaches that fit their specific characteristics. First, the thesis proposes a security benchmark for transactional systems infrastructures and describes, discusses and justifies all the steps of the process. The benchmark is applied to four distinct real infrastructures, and the results of the assessment are thoroughly analyzed. Still in the context of transactional systems infrastructures, the thesis also addresses the problem of the selecting software components. This is complex as evaluating the security of an infrastructure cannot be done before deployment. The proposed tool, aimed at helping in the selection of basic software packages to support the infrastructure, is used to evaluate seven different software packages, representative alternatives for the deployment of real infrastructures. Finally, the thesis discusses the problem of designing trustworthiness benchmarks for business applications, focusing specifically on the case of web applications. First, a benchmarking approach based on static code analysis tools is proposed. Several experiments are presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed metrics, including a representative experiment where the challenge was the selection of the most secure application among a set of seven web forums. Based on the analysis of the limitations of such approach, a generic approach for the definition of trustworthiness benchmarks for web applications is defined.