The study aimed at establishing the relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Zomba (Malawi). The main objective of the study emanated from huge concern regarding obstacles being faced by young females in education in most developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which continues to contribute to young female school drop outs. The study had set empirical and theoretical objectives as guidance. The theoretical objectives were: to review the literature on the trends of young female education in sub-Saharan Africa and in Malawi; to review theoretically the relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Malawi; to review the literature on cultural practices and gender biases that hinder young female education participation and success in sub-Saharan Africa and Malawi; to document the economic benefits of young female education; and to review gender disparities in education in Malawi. The empirical objectives were set as follows: establish if there is a gender bias in the households perceptions in terms of education support; establish if there is a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of young female education across different categories of heads of households; establish if there exists a statistically significant relationship between household Socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation in Malawi; and establish if there exists a statistically significant relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and girl success for those in school. The literature of the study was based on the theoretical objectives relating to what other studies have done on female education. A comparison across the world was conducted on factors hindering girls’ education and some of the trends on girls’ education in Malawi were reviewed from the past decade or so. It was observed that there is a gender bias in education, boys being given more precedence over girls, that from the factors that hinder children’s ability to attend, school girls seemingly had more share of the problems. The empirical portion of the study was based on data that were collected from random households in Zomba district. A total of 327 households with school aged children were interviewed. The study adopted a quantitative analysis where different quantitative methods were used such as descriptive analysis (cross tabulation, frequencies and means) and a logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship between household characteristics and girls’ education. Overall, the descriptive and cross tabulations analysis showed that there is a gender bias in education with boys receiving more benefits compared to girls, and more girls than boys either repeat classes more or even drop out of school. Most girls dropped out of school because of pregnancy-related issues. It was also discovered that parental perceptions that were based on cultural norms hindered girls’ education participation, where most parents, especially from the rural areas, do not regard female education as important, and where given a choice, they would rather have their girl child drop out of school and get married. The regression analysis was based more on the relationship between household characteristics and girls’ education. Two regressions were used, one having success and the other school participation as the dependent variables and household characteristics like income, distance to water point, distance to school, age of child, age of parents and location as the independent variables. Overall, it was observed that children that came from rural areas had a higher probability of dropping out of school, and if the household was located in areas far from the water point and school, their girl child had a higher probability of dropping or repeating a class. In addition, the age of child and parents played a role in girls’ education. The study recommends that the government, in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation that deal with girls’ education in Malawi, should continue to explore other ways of dealing with the problems faced by girls in schools. There is need to educate parents, especially those in the rural areas, about the importance of girls’ education and this could be done through village-by-village campaigns through the chiefs. Government should also look into some of the cultures practised in different communities and maybe set by-laws stopping girls from attending for The relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Zomba (Malawi) Page vi example initiation ceremonies during school days. Lastly, it should be every woman’s duty who has benefited from education to give back to the community by helping young girls who are having difficulties in accessing quality education.

The focus of the thesis is on how school leavers deal with the flood of information, advice and expectations that are directed towards them at a structurally induced turning point in their lives. With a departure point in Giddens’ claim that people select and interpret information on their own terms as a means of preserving coherent narratives of self-identity, stories of information seeking were examined as a means of gaining insight into how young people living in late modernity face its tensions and dilemmas in the ways in which they seek and use information. The theoretical framework of the study draws on Schutz’ ideas concerning the lifeworld and the social distribution of knowledge, on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus as well as on Giddens’ conceptualisation of the forming of self-identity in late modernity.The study is based on qualitative research interviews with twenty one school leavers during their last year at school and on a minor discourse oriented study of a selection of the information produced by major actors in the careers guidance system. Empirically, accounts of young people’s experiences of their information related activities in relation to study and occupational choice were examined using phenomenological narrative analysis. These accounts were set in relation to discourses in Swedish society concerning work and education.Four approaches to information seeking emerged from participants’ accounts: 1) They use information seeking as a tool in making connections between educational interests and the future labour market 2) They use information seeking both as a tool in finding pathways to occupations and as a means of orienting within an occupational domain 3) Study and career information seeking is put ‘on hold’, and information seeking is associated with planning extended transitions, and 4) Study and career information seeking is avoided as potentially threatening or as meaningless. By considering how approaches are related to the ‘new career’ discourse that comes to expression in study and career related information the study gives insights into the meaning of information for, and of its accessibility to, young people. A greater focus on the development of an information literacy is suggested as a means of better supporting young people in the process of making study and career decisions. / Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten vid Göteborgs universitet för vinnande av doktorsexamen framläggs till offentlig granskning kl. 13.00 fredagen den 5 juni 2009 i sal M404, Högskolan i Borås.

This thesis explores how notions of ability are socially constructed, defined and experienced within physical education (PE). Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts are used to examine the processes through an acknowledgement and consideration of the culture where pupils’ and teachers’ notions of ability are configured, reconfigured, and experienced. The study covered one academic school year in a North London mixed comprehensive school. Fifteen pupils participated in focus groups and individual interviews. The pupils were a mixture of boys (11) and girls (4), a range of abilities and ages (11 – 16 years old), and experienced PE predominantly in ability groups. In addition, six PE teachers were interviewed and PE lesson observations were conducted throughout the study. The findings identify various processes and interactions between individuals and also between individuals and the field that contribute towards the social construction of ability in PE. The findings highlight the complex and dynamic nature of the PE experience where notions of ability and the related practices have a bearing. Hierarchical ability-based practices were apparent that served to reinforce dominant notions of ability but there were other practices that could potentially challenge ‘legitimate’ notions of ability. The study highlights some of the constraints that teachers face in their attempts to integrate broader notions of ability, especially within a performative culture. Variations across the individual experience highlight considerations for pupils in terms of becoming physically literate and reaching their potential. The study aims to raise key questions for stakeholders in considering how ability-based practices work in facilitating a learning environment that supports all levels of ability and preparing all young people for lifelong activity. In addition it stresses the need for greater agreement amongst stakeholders on the purpose of PE in the current climate and suggests that a review of the aims of PE is warranted.

During the 1990's the number of young people being permanently excluded from school increased from 2910 (1990-91) to a peak of 12700 (1996-1997). This increase coincided with the resurgence of the debate centring on lawless and delinquent youth. With the publication of Young People and Crime (Graham and Bowling, 1995) and Misspent Youth (Audit Commission, 1996) the role of school exclusion in delinquency causation appears to have become widely accepted within youth justice thinking. Indeed, and despite the limited research evidence available, the common sense assumption that school exclusion inexorably promotes crime received wide support, something which has resulted in the excluded pupil being portrayed as a latter day folk devil. This research seeks to question this taken-for-granted assumption. By drawing upon what can be broadly described as a refutationist approach, the research questions the causal priority of school exclusion in youth crime. Research interviews were conducted with 56 young people who had experience of being excluded from school. Self-report questions revealed that 40 young people had offended of whom 28 had been cautioned or prosecuted for an offence. Despite the high levels of offending present within the sample the research findings suggest that exclusion is not itself a causal factor with 90% (36) of those young people who had offended reporting onset that commenced prior to their first exclusion. Moreover, 50 (89%) of the total number of young people stated that they were no more likely to commit crime since being excluded. Indeed - and rather significantly, for 31 (55.4%) respondents it appeared that due to the imposition of parental sanction, offending was likely to reduce during their exclusion as they were" grounded" for the whole exclusion period. Moreover, interviews with the young people also revealed that in addition to school exclusion a number of other identified "risk" factors were present in the lives of most of the young people within the sample (see for example Farrington, 1996; Youth Justice Board, 2001). The research concludes that whilst the relationship between school exclusion and crime is highly complex it is certainly neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for a young person to commit crime.

In recent years, the young adult genre has become increasingly popular and is experiencing a "second golden age.” It might be expected in such novels, when written by women and featuring gifted female heroines, to find some kind of a feminist message. Indeed, the heroines are often perceived as strong and capable. However, they fall in line with several old gender stereotypes. The three novels chosen for this study are: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. I will show that women, although perceived as strong and capable on the surface, often conform to stereotypes. In order to do this I analyse how women are portrayed from different perspectives. Women are often perceived as passive in romantic situations, and objectified through the normative male gaze. It is interesting that also in novels written by women for women, the male gaze is prominent. Through this the female reader gains the desire to be objectified, implicitly from the narrative, which is something that works against women’s empowerment in society. Furthermore, the female protagonists rarely, or never, threaten patriarchy in any way and generally work toward reinstating patriarchy which is perceived as the only sensible option. Women in power, who do threaten patriarchy, are portrayed as sadistic witches.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur 18–19-åringar värderar karriär. Detta görs utifrån de tre begreppen; autenticitet, balans och utmaning och det mångriktade karriärbegreppet. För att kartlägga och förstå värderingen av karriär används en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. Urvalsgruppen är gymnasieelever i södra Sverige. Studien bidrar till karriärforskning i svensk kontext och bland unga som är på väg in på arbetsmarknaden, vilket inte i stor utsträckning har undersökts tidigare. Begreppen autenticitet, balans och utmaning i KCM var relevanta för urvalsgruppen, där autenticitet värderas högst. Studien presenterar nya infallsvinklar som nyanserar 18-19-åringars värdering av karriär i förhållande till KCM. Studien visar att 18–19-åringars definition av karriär är i linje det mångriktade karriärbegreppet. / The purpose of this study is to examine how 18-19-year-olds assess career based on three parameters, authenticity, balance and challenge, and the protean career concept. To identify and understand the assessment of career quantitative and qualitative research methods are used. The sample are high school students in southern Sweden. The study contributes to career research in a Swedish context and among young adults who are about to enter the labor market, which has not been examined to a large extent. The concepts authenticity, balance and challenge in KCM were relevant to the sample, and authenticity was valued most highly. The study contributes with new approaches to 18-19-year-olds assessment of career in relation to KCM. The study shows that 18-19-year-olds’ definition of career is similar with the protean career concept.

This qualitative research study built on the existing research on young children’s composing. Although many researchers have examined the social nature of young children’s composing, there is little to no research that has focused on the social work of young bilingual children who are learning to write in two languages. This study explored the social activity of bilingual kindergarten writers in a two-way bilingual immersion program. Specifically, it examined (a) the face-to-face interactions of young bilingual writers, (b) the ways in which children’s interactions related to the written/drawn products that were being created at the writing center and during journal time and (c) the oral language that was being used as children engaged in writing activities. Data were collected for five months in a two-way immersion classroom in South Texas school district. Data sources, including expanded field notes, video recordings of students’ interactions, written/drawn artifacts and informal interviews with the students and the teacher were analyzed using the constant comparative method and microethnographic discourse analysis. Analysis revealed that bilingual children’s interactions were varied and complex. As they explored written language alongside their peers, the young writers in this study navigated through multiple peer worlds that were defined in part by the language and/or languages that were being spoken. In order to participate in these worlds the children had to draw on their entire linguistic repertoire, as well as differentiated social understandings that are unique to bilingual individuals. As children attempted to initiate interactions with their peers, they assumed the role of linguist; they made purposeful decisions about how and when they used both of their languages. Factors that influenced children’s oral language use included comfort level, peer culture and the out-of-classroom context. Also noteworthy is that these children drew on both languages to support their biliteracy learning. Both Spanish dominant children and those children who were balanced in their language use drew on their Spanish orally to support their writing in English while English dominant students tapped into their Spanish speaking capabilities to support their writing in English. / text

The objective of this PhD thesis was the study of friction in carbon nanotubes by analytical methods and molecular dynamics simulations. The goal of this research was to characterize the properties of friction in nanotubes and from a more general point of view the understanding of the microscopic origin of friction. Indeed, the relative simplicity of the system allows us to interpret more easily the physical phenomenon observed than in larger systems. In order to achieve this goal, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics permitted first to develop models based on Langevin equations describing the dynamics of rotation and translation in double walled nanotubes. The molecular dynamics simulations then permitted to validate these analytical models, and thus to study general properties of friction such as the dependence on area of contact, temperature and the geometry of the nanotubes. The results obtained shows that the friction increases linearly with the sliding velocity or the angular velocity until very high values beyond that non-linearities appear enhancing dissipation. In the linear regime, it is shown that the proportionality factor between the dynamic friction force and the velocity is given by the time integral of the autocorrelation function of the restoring force for the sliding friction and of the torque for the rotational friction. Furthermore, a novel resonant friction phenomenon increasing significantly dissipation was observed for the sliding motion in certain types of nanotubes. The effect arises at sliding velocities corresponding to certain vibrational modes of the nanotubes. When the dynamics is described by the linear friction in velocity, the empirical law stating that friction is proportional to the area of contact is very well verified thanks to the molecular dynamics simulations. On the other hand, friction increases with temperature. The fact that friction increases as well with the area of contact as the temperature can be easily interpreted. Indeed, if the temperature is large enough so that the electronic effects can be negligible, dissipation is only due to the phonons. Indeed, it is the phonons who give the sliding or rotation energy to the other degrees of freedom until thermodynamic equilibrium is achieved. Thus, if the temperature increases, the coupling between the phonons and the rotational or translational motions increases, as well as friction. In the same manner, when the area of contact increases, the number of available phonons to transport energy increases, explaining thus the increase of the friction force.

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