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1
Loughland, Anthony Francis. "The relationship of pedagogy and students' understanding of environment in environmental education." University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Education, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2100/313.
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Environmental education is a relatively young area that can trace its roots back to the global environmental crises of the late 1960s and 1970s. Research in environmental education since this time has established the justification for its existence in the formal curriculum of schools. Less research has been conducted on the actual pedagogy of environmental education. This forms one part of the justification for this research study. The other justification for this research study is school students' objectification of the environment evidenced from the findings of a large survey of NSW school students. The objectification of the environment finding referred to students' responses that suggested that the environment was separate from them in contrast to a minority of students' responses that referred to a relational view (Loughland, Reid, Walker & Petocz, 2003). The two foci of pedagogy and students' understandings of the environment come together in the research question of this thesis, what is the relation between pedagogy and representations of the environment in environmental education? A Bernsteinian model of pedagogy, the pedagogical device, underpins the theoretical analysis of the pedagogy of environmental education in this study (Bernstein, 1990). A particular aspect of this device, the pedagogic recontextualising field, is used as a framework of analysis for the exposition of the major influences on the development of pedagogy of environmental education in NSW. Another theory of pedagogy, the NSW Quality Teaching Framework, is used to offer a performative angle on pedagogy to provide theoretical triangulation for the study. The pedagogy of environmental education was examined through a classroom ethnography with the researcher acting as a participant observer. The data were in the form of field notes, curriculum materials including children's literature, transcripts of classroom learning and products of students' learning. The analysis of the data was conducted using a variety of methods of analysis. The data were initially coded for themes that were the different representations of the environment in the pedagogy of this classroom. Further, the NSW Quality Teaching Framework (NSW DET 2003) was used as a theoretical framework of analysis in order to examine the data from the perspective of student performance in relation to current understandings of what constitutes good pedagogical practice. Next, Bernstein's model of the pedagogic device (1990) was used to analyse the data in the larger context of the social construction of knowledge in the school curriculum. This analysis incorporated Bernstein's original notions of pedagogical classification and framing (1971). This study has two main findings. First, the pedagogy of environmental education has strong classification and framing (after Bernstein 1971) that supports the objectification of the environment. Second, there is also some weak framing of the pedagogy of environmental education that generally does not support the objectification of the environment. The implications for these findings for practice are that environmental educators should be aware of deterministic curriculum that seeks to impose one view of the environment onto students. This curriculum positions the environment as an object that needs to be saved through human intervention. Further research into the pedagogy of environmental education that explores the relation of students' understandings of the environment and their relation to the epistemological and theoretical bases of pedagogy is warranted as a result of this study.
2
Dimirtra, A. "Understanding aesthetics in a virtual environment performance." Thesis, Middlesex University, 2001. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/6467/.
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The virtual performance is a form of art that simultaneously develops with information technology, as IT provides the flexibility to develop sophisticated design Systems for the artist. Moreover, the intrinsic relationship between art and technology is apparent from the concluding research results. This research aimed to investigate the aesthetical value of VEs performances. The purpose of the study was to confront the location of aesthe tics in VEs. The qualitative method was employed due to the attempt to control the investigated objective. Literature review was employed due to the necessity to understand the VEs aesthetic phenomena in their entirely for developing a complete picture of the research field. Case studies and observation were mainly used because of the type of research conducted. The resulting findings were taken into consideration or rejected through interviews with creators of virtual performances. The research took place in three stages. The first step was to determine the research aims and objectives. The second, was to design the research plan which was divided along three basic axes. The first refers to the historical review and development of visual arts in order to determine the characteristics of the investigated art form. The second axis was the comprehension of the aesthetics that are produced via the determined characteristics. More specifically, these are interactivity, the interrupted flow of information and the audience participation. The third stage was the attempt to identify the elements that characterise a virtual performance. How the artist can handle the interactive element and- create conditions of immersion for his audience. The manifesto of virtual performances was created through the course of research and the analysis of the findings that belong to the third stage, which also includes the data analysis. Another element that also emerged was of the audience's interaction with the performance's development. This element, is in itself a product of aesthetics that has a great influence on the progression pf the thought processes of the audiences that interact with a virtual performance. The creator requires a spectator that is an active participant in order to develop the performance's plot. This does not indicate that the creator can manipulate the audience as a tool because each spectator has his own thoughts and critical evaluations. The spectator simply handles and combines according to his choices the elements that the artist offers so that he can project and co-create the performance's plot. The more the spectator experiences virtual performances through his interaction, the more lie will gain knowledge and freedom which will result in virtual performances to offer a larger selection and more powerful experiences. Besides, this art form is still in its embryonic stage and its maturity promises even greater developments.
3
Coker, Helen. "Understanding pedagogic collaboration in the online environment." Thesis, University of the Highlands and Islands, 2017. https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/portal/en/studentthesis/understanding-pedagogic-collaboration-in-the-online-environment(7ed6412f-fddf-4b9a-b70a-568c3d62d03b).html.
Full textAbstract:
Online learning environments are being increasingly utilised in academic settings, with many universities developing online and blended programmes (Adekola, 2016). The student experience, in relation to working with others, when studying online, has been widely researched (Garrison et. al, 2000, Kehrwald, 2008). The tutor experience has not (Arbaugh, 2014). There are now a generation of experienced online tutors, particularly in institutions who were quick to take up online delivery, who have developed expertise teaching online. Their experience and knowledge of practice can add to the research, and knowledge base, on effective online learning. This research observed the role of the online tutor, when utilising collaborative activities in their teaching. An ethnographic observation of online practice was drawn, using an iterative mixed-methods approach. Data from the online space was used to observe the participation patterns of over fifty tutors, and over eight hundred students. Fifteen tutors were then interviewed, ten of whom took part in a subsequent focus group. Taking a narrative approach to analysis, the data gathered painted a rich picture of collaborative online practice. Qualitatively different approaches were observed in tutor's facilitation of collaborative online tools. Tutors were observed to be situated within layers of context, online teaching being culturally situated and mediated by the digital technology utilised. Text-based communications reified dialogue, mediating the interactions between participants. Many of the face-to-face feedback cues which tutors utilised in their teaching were lost in the online environment. The setting was opaque, but at the same time mediated higher levels of disclosure. The online environment challenged traditional physical and temporal boundaries; the responsibility for establishing boundaries becoming that of the tutor, rather than the institution. Tutors drew on previous experiences; their participation was shaped by the situated nature of their practice and their own aspirations for the future. The observation drawn, of pedagogic collaboration, highlighted the social and cultural nature of online participation.
4
Hilligoss, Peter. "Modern craft understanding material, process and environment /." Cincinnati, Ohio : University of Cincinnati, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1244642268.
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Thesis (Master of Architecture)--University of Cincinnati, 2009.Advisor: Elizabeth Riorden. Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed Aug. 3, 2009). Includes abstract. Keywords: craft; making; process; woodworking; wood; bending. Includes bibliographical references.
5
Kilian, Kay-Leigh. "Determining youths' level of understanding of environmental concepts in the sail training environment." Bachelor's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26383.
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The aim of this study is to determine youths' level of understanding of selected environmental concepts measured by their verbal responses. With the hypothesis being that youth would be able to observe their environment and note differences and similarities, with a basic understanding of concepts, especially those in the school curriculum but unable to take this further by hypothesising on why differences occur which is more typical of youth of ages 15 years and above. Youth would especially struggle to hypothesise theoretical and abstract concepts as opposed to describing what they observe. It is expected that studies by Piaget will be informative with regards to the cognitive developmental stages in the youth as being categorised into either stages three ( concrete-operational) or four (formal-operational). The study involved nine youths from Christel House, Cape Town, who were selected and assessed on their understanding of four environmental concepts. The crew of the sail ship noted their responses during various lessons offered on board before proceeding with the next. The results indicated that the participating youth were able to compare two different observed scenarios as being either similar or different, but were unable to compare theoretical scenarios. Once differences or similarities were established, youth were unable to link factors to hypothesise about why these differences or similarities were occurring, even when prompted or given clues from a crewmember on board the ship. However, the participants were able to hypothesise about the effects of one variable on another when they could actively manipulate a concept to see what might happen under given conditions.
6
Roberts, Richard Joseph William. "Optical flow templates for mobile robot environment understanding." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/53473.
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In this work we develop optical flow templates. In doing so, we introduce a practical tool for inferring robot egomotion and semantic superpixel labeling using optical flow in imaging systems with arbitrary optics. In order to do this we develop valuable understanding of geometric relationships and mathematical methods that are useful in interpreting optical flow to the robotics and computer vision communities.
This work is motivated by what we perceive as directions for advancing the current state of the art in obstacle detection and scene understanding for mobile robots. Specifically, many existing methods build 3D point clouds, which are not directly useful for autonomous navigation and require further processing. Both the step of building the point clouds and the later processing steps are challenging and computationally intensive. Additionally, many current methods require a calibrated camera, which introduces calibration challenges and places limitations on the types of camera optics that may be used. Wide-angle lenses, systems with mirrors, and multiple cameras all require different calibration models and can be difficult or impossible to calibrate at all. Finally, current pixel and superpixel obstacle labeling algorithms typically rely on image appearance. While image appearance is informative, image motion is a direct effect of the scene structure that determines whether a region of the environment is an obstacle.
The egomotion estimation and obstacle labeling methods we develop here based on optical flow templates require very little computation per frame and do not require building point clouds. Additionally, they do not require any specific type of camera optics, nor a calibrated camera. Finally, they label obstacles using optical flow alone without image appearance.
In this thesis we start with optical flow subspaces for egomotion estimation and detection of “motion anomalies”. We then extend this to multiple subspaces and develop mathematical reasoning to select between them, comprising optical flow templates. Using these we classify environment shapes and label superpixels. Finally, we show how performing all learning and inference directly from image spatio-temporal gradients greatly improves computation time and accuracy.
7
Johnston, Matt Paul. "Understanding environmental injustice : the case of Imizamo Yethu and the poverty-population-environment nexus." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/65563.
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8
Sackett, Colin Derek. "CUBE centre for the understanding of the built environment /." Diss., Pretoria : [s.n.], 2006. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10122006-121654.
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9
Fox, Dorothy. "Understanding garden visitors : the affordances of a leisure environment." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 2007. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/10307/.
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Visiting. a garden in England is a traditional leisure activity that continues to grow in popularity but curiously this sector of the visitor attraction market has received little attention from academics. The thesis seeks to understand participation in garden visiting from a number of perspectives but principally that of the visitor. It moves beyond the established approach of individual agency with its assumption of free choice to incorporate social and material agency. This movement requires a shift in theoretical perspective from the prevailing theories in the leisure literature (motivational theories) to the emerging theory of affordance. The study consisted of four phases of data collection. Two phases obtained quantitative data from surveys - first, of residents in Dorset and secondly, visitors in a garden. The aim was to identify garden visitors and to establish the importance of various factors in influencing a visit. The other two phases obtained qualitative data from a series of informal conversations with a small number of residents from the survey and a large number of visitors to several different types of horticultural attractions. These sought to establish the participants' explanations for visiting gardens. Analysing the participants' explanatory repertoires reveals the importance of the natural and the social in garden visitation. Their perception of the `natural' environment of the garden is a key element of the attraction for participants as gardens offer opportunities for both relaxation and hedonism. However, inseparable from the `natural' is the `social' environment. The proprietors and gardeners may afford some aspects whilst others are realised through the companionship of family or friends. Similarly, natural environmental features and social influences may prompt a visit or influence where it takes place. The participants also reveal the power of social norms in regard to their activities in a garden and what prompted them to visit. Furthermore they disclose the importance of temporal and spatial considerations. The connections between, on the one hand, having a domestic garden, or an interest in gardening and on the other, participation in garden visiting were perhaps predictable, but the influence of the media and particularly the television on recreational gardening and the indirect consequences this has for garden visiting was less foreseeable. The thesis concludes with a summary and discussion of the major findings and interprets them in the light of affordance theory. Building on this discussion, suggestions are made for future research to explore the issues raised in the thesis. The study therefore offers not only a significant contribution to the literature in leisure and tourism studies but also the analysis of social-material agency.
10
Rashid, Saroa Jamal. "Understanding Clostridium difficile and the bacteriophages from the environment." Thesis, University of Leicester, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/39028.
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Clostridium difficile is an important nosocomial pathogen that causes significant human morbidity and mortality. The environment is a natural reservoir for C. difficile where it is found in soils, rivers, and other natural settings. It is not clear whether these strains are active, or present as a result of human contamination. To address this, the physiological characterisation of isogenic pairs was tested to determine if strains from the environment had different properties to those derived from a clinical setting. Clinical strains were less motile but produced more toxins and spores than environmental strains. Little is known about environmental strains of C. difficile outside Europe, the USA, and Australia. To explore new areas, C. difficile and phages were isolated from environmental samples collected in Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Sixty-one strains were isolated and classified into 9 ribotypes including a new ribotype, R691. The two strains examined from dominant ribotype R604, were non-toxigenic and related to each other but distinct from most described clades of C. difficile. Evidence for phages playing important roles in environmental C. difficile dynamics can be seen from the large diverse prophage carriage within strains, and the extensive CRISPR system. Seventeen new phages were isolated and shown to infect ribotype 078 for which few phages exist. Host-range analysis showed that these phages can infect most clinically relevant ribotypes including the novel observation that two myoviruses can infect R027. Genome analysis of three phages revealed that they are distinct but related to known C. difficile phages. Interestingly CDKM15 is the first phage isolated to have an active CRISPR system. This study suggests that the natural environment is a potential reservoir for genetically diverse C. difficile strains and phages that are regionally structured. This could play a role in the emergence of new strains in hospitals.
11
Sultan, Reem Abbas Ebrahim Ali Ahmed. "Design studios : understanding relations between built environment, learning and behaviours." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2018. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/21983/.
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The design studio is an important part of design and architectural education, because of the unique approach of pedagogy used (Dutton, 1987, Salama, 1995, 2012). This research uses this space to examine the physical characteristics and properties of the design studio as a space, considering the ways it influences the behaviours and emotions of its users towards learning and collaborating with one another. Starting from the Sheffield School of Architecture, where the focus towards engaged and reflective learning. Trying to answer the research question ‘How do the physical characteristics of the Design Studio influence certain behaviours of the studio user, relevant to collaborative learning?. Ultimately, attention is directed towards looking at their experience, which is created with the influence of the space, and the curriculum of architectural education, with both referred to as the ‘design studio’ (Crowther, 2013). This research has ‘empowered’ users of the design studio (Literat, 2013), notably ‘students’ of four different universities in the context of the United Kingdom, through creating a hybrid research methodology that revolves around capturing their experience in relation to the physical space of the design studio. Under the umbrella of case study, using ethnography and focus groups, which were consisting of ‘Student Designer Engagement Map’, a method created based on a service design tool (Stickdorn and Schneider, 2011) to capture the current and aspired experience. These have then been analysed and interpreted through different lenses, i.e. the interior designer, tutor and the researcher. The findings of the research were themed around spatial features in terms of social aspects, environmental control aspects and in terms of design organisation and furniture. The findings were related to the emotions experienced in the design studio through the project phases and stages. The hybrid methodology used and the methods have helped in creating a framework of propositional guidelines of design considerations, which may be beneficial for the stakeholders of the learning design studio and beyond.
12
Marlow, Kelsey A. "Clinical Interviews of Shape Understanding in a Dynamic Geometry Environment." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492506014768381.
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Bell, Carol Jean. "Conceptual understanding of functions in a multi-representational learning environment /." Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3008274.
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Southwick, Silvia Barcellos. "Understanding intermediation in a digital environment: an exploratory case study." reponame:Repositório Institucional do IBICT, 2001. http://ridi.ibict.br/handle/123456789/346.
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[en] The internet individual with the opportunity to access unprecdented amounsts of information on any given subject.However, there remain barriers to rerieving the best and most relevant documents.The present study focuses on processes of resolving user ( versus technical) issues.Informations system users have traditionally relied on expert intermediarias for resolving problems.Face-to-face encounters have been he traditional form of human-expert intermediation.Increasinly, however, information-provision services have begun to offer human-mediated information services through computer networks-especially the internet-recognizing the poencial advantages in overcoming barriers of time and space in user-intermeiary communications.Despite the likely increase in this trend future, there remains at this point an inadequate understanding of he effectiveness of these sysems.The present study investigaes intermediation in the context of an asyncronous text-based compuer-mediated medium, such as e-mail and web-orms.The goal of the research is in describing and gaining a further understanding of processes of intemediation.The main objectives are to identify the factors that are perceived as affecting digital intermediation and to investigate how and under what circumstances these factrs miht affect digital intermediation.The research takes the form of anexploratory case study of a hospital library infomation service.The overall approach is naturalistic.Grouunded theory provides a framework for data analysis.In order to elicit a rich and fully infomed accounting of the phenomenon under investigation, the researcher interpret s and relates the diverse human perpectives of the intermediaries, the users, and the researcher herself.This provides a basis for highlighting potentially conflicting, as well as corroborating, evidence.The study contributes at both the conceptual and practical leves to an overall understanding of digital intermediation by producing a descriptive framework of analysis.Nine cateories of factores potentially affecting digital intermediation are identified.These factores form three broad aspets of digital intermediation: media use, question negotiation and personal comminication preference.The researche also proposes directions for future research in the area of reference intermediation in a digital environment.
15
Malebye, Valerie Essie. "Learners' understanding of the impact of air pollution on the environment in rural communities." Diss., Pretroia : [s.n.], 2005. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08172005-111501/.
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Ko, Cherry Chia Ling. "Understanding an inclusive classroom environment for a student with Down dyndrome /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2004. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17981.pdf.
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Ustun, Isil. "Developing The Understanding Of Geometry Through A Computer-based Learning Environment." Master's thesis, METU, 2003. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/4/1206523/index.pdf.
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The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of
a dynamic instructional environment (based on use of Geometer&rsquos Sketchpad) on 7th grade students&rsquo
understandings of lines, angles, and polygons and their retention. Besides that, the students&rsquo
attitudes towards computer instruction and its relation with students&rsquo
performance on geometry and retention were investigated. The study was carried out with 63 7th grade students from two classes taught by the same teacher in a state elementary school. One class was assigned as the experimental group (EG), the other as the control group (CG). Students in CG received the instruction on lines, angles, and polygons by the regular traditional method used at the school. In the EG, students worked on the computer activities named as &ldquo
Sketchsheets&rdquo
, prepared by the researcher, with computers provided at the computer-lab. The usage of GSP with Sketchsheets enabled students to create the shapes first and after they explored and discovered the properties of shapes and make generalisations for the development of conjectures. Geometry Performance Test (GPT) and Computer Attitude Scale (CAS) were used in this study. The GPT was administered to both groups of students as a pre-test, post-test, and a delayed post-test. CAS was administered only to the EG students as a post-test. Furthermore, interviews were carried out with three students from EG in order to get their feelings about the dynamic instructional environment. Besides that, both of these classroom and computer sessions were observed and recorded with camera. The results of t-test suggest that GPT mean scores in EG and CG did not significantly differ in pre-test, but EG achieved significantly better than the CG in post and delay-post tests. CAS mean scores and interviews showed that students had positive feelings and decisions towards computer instruction and they preferred computer instruction to traditional instruction. Furthermore, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was performed in order to investigate the relationship between GPT scores and CAS scores. From this analysis, a significant correlation was observed between the GPT scores and CAS scores. This means that the students who had positive attitudes towards computer instruction, achieved significantly better at GPT. The results of this study revealed that Geometer&rsquo
s Sketchpad for learning and teaching geometry in elementary school level is an effective tool.
18
Davis, Karen D. (Karen Dianne). "Organizational environment and turnover : understanding women's exit from the Canadian Forces." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26258.
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Women's exit from employment has been explained in relation to their individual characteristics and family status, but little attention has been given to the relationship between women's experience in employment and their decision to leave. Attrition data indicates that women become even more likely to leave the Canadian Forces, relative to their male counterparts, after 10 years of service. A qualitative approach was used to explore the relationship between organizational environment and exit among women who left the Canadian Forces after serving more than 10, but less than 20 years. The analysis, which is based on interviews with 23 women, suggests that although organizational policies and regulations are evolving in attempts to integrate women, the experiences of women as women within a male-dominated organization contribute significantly to the attrition of women from that environment.
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Kamenchuk, Olga. "Power Distance Perceptions in Post-Soviet Russia: Understanding the Workplace Environment." DigitalCommons@USU, 2004. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6202.
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The modem business economy is characterized by increased collaboration among different organizations across nation al boundaries. Post-Soviet Russia is one of the regions that is witnessing rapid economic growth and development of international business relations. Because of the challenges in intercultural communication the current study focuses on the problem of power distance, specifically in the workplace (in post-Soviet Russia).
A phenomenological perspective, based on qualitative methodology, guided this research into the meaning of power experiences for individuals. Symbolic interactionism was used as a research paradigm of the study to view humans as active participants of the workplace, who engage in the power relationships actively-reacting to controversies of interactions and constant change in the everyday situations.
The researcher developed and conducted several sets of interviews with employees, with relatives/friends of employees, and with country experts. The data were collected from employees of four companies in one of Central Russian regions (where intercultural connections develop especially rapidly)-with two private, two public, two prereform, and two postreform companies. These four companies were selected to examine influences of two dimensions, public versus private and older traditional versus newer entrepreneurial organizations. Analysis included transcribing of the interviews, identification and categorizations of the statements of meaning, description of participants' experiences, and identification of social processes. The results were grouped into gender, age, and ethical themes depending on three major dimensions (ownership, generation, gender). The major findings included: (a) contrary to previous research older managers appear not to be more aversive to risk-taking behaviors, (b) younger superiors are better accepted in the private postreform companies, but are less often appointed to such positions as compared to the other three settings, (c) public companies hold to the Soviet egalitarian gender ideas, but attitudes and hiring practices remain traditional in preferring male leaders, (d) although recognizing that female superiors can be as good as male superiors, young employees emphasize the "natural calling" of the women (that women's primary focus should be family), (e) emphasis on the importance of ethical leaders was common to all company types.
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PIETRINI, ROCCO. "Deep Understanding of Shopper Behaviours and Interactions in Intelligent Retail Environment." Doctoral thesis, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/11566/274602.
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In ambienti retail comprendere come il consumatore si muove nello spazio e interagisce con i prodotti risulta essere di notevole interesse. Nonostante l'ambiente retail possegga diverse caratteristiche favorevoli al supporto della computer vision, ad esempio un'illuminazone costante, il vasto numero e la variabilità dei prodotti venduti, così come la potenziale ambiguità dei movimenti del comsumatore, indicano che misurarne il comportamento è tuttora sfidante. Negli anni, tecniche di machine learning e feature-based per il conteggio persone, l'analisi delle interazioni e la re-identificazione sono state sviluppate allo scopo di apprendere il comportamento del consumatore, basandosi su camere RGB-D in configurazione top-view. Tuttavia dall'avvento dei big data gli approcci machine learning sono evoluti verso approcci deep learning, che risultano essere un mezzo più potente ed efficiente per trattare la complessità del comportamento umano.
Partendo da questa premessa questa tesi tratta l'evoluzione di 3 sistemi reali quali: People Counting, Shopper Analytics e Re-Identification. L'obbiettivo principale è quello di sviluppare architetture deep learning progettate specificatamente per ambito retail. A questo scopo un nuovo VRAI deep learning framework viene descritto. In particolare utilizza 3 reti neurali convoluzionali (CNN) per contare il numero di persone che passano o si fermano nell'area coperta dalla camera, effettuare una re-identificazione top-view e misurare le interazioni consumatore-scaffale da un singolo flusso RGBD con performance quasi real-time.
Il VRAI framework è stato poi valutato su 3 nuovi dataset resi pubblici: TVHeads per il conteggio persone, HaDa per l'analisi delle interazioni consumatore-scaffale e TVPR2 per la re-identificazione.In retail environments, understanding how shoppers move in the store’s spaces and interact with products is very valuable. While the retail environment has several favourable characteristics that support computer vision, such as reasonable lighting, the large number and diversity of products sold, as well as the potential ambiguity of shoppers’ movements, mean that accurately measuring shopper behaviour is still challenging. Over the past years, machine-learning and feature-based tools for people counting as well as interactions analytics and re-identification were developed with the aim of learning shopper behaviors based on occlusion-free RGB-D cameras in a top-view configuration. However,after moving into the era of multimedia big data, machine-learning approaches evolved into deep learning approaches, which are a more powerful and efficient way of dealing with the complexities of human behaviour. Starting from such a premise, this thesis addresses the evolution process of 3 real systems such as: People Counting, Shopper Analytics and Re-Identification. The main goal is to develop Deep Learning architectures especially designed for Retail Environment. For this purpose, a novel VRAI deep learning framework is described. In particular, it uses 3 Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to count the number of people passing or stopping in the camera area, perform top-view re-identification and measure shopper-shelf interactions from a single RGB-D video flow with near real-time performances. The VRAI framework is evaluated on the following 3 new datasets that are publicly available: TVHeads for people counting, HaDa for shopper-shelf interactions and TVPR2 for people re-identification.
21
Clarke, Jean Elaine. "Repeated teenage pregnancies – The meanings ascribed by teenagers – A comparison between London and two Caribbean islands." Thesis, Brunel University, 2002. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/5139.
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This qualitative research seeks to improve our understanding of the relatively under-researched phenomenon of repeat teenage pregnancies, by exploring the underlying factors and meanings that teenagers ascribe to their pregnancies. The study uses a comparative approach to provide a comprehensive psychosocial and economic understanding of the factors leading to repeat teenage pregnancies. This is achieved by exploring both the diverse and similar experiences of two groups of teenagers within different socio-economic environments - one group of 26 respondents from the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Barbados and the other group of 26 respondents from London. The research also capitalises on a unique opportunity to contextualize the welfare dependency/teenage pregnancy discourse. The behaviours, motivations, values and attitudes of young women who become repeatedly pregnant in a Welfare state such as England, are compared with those living in countries with limited state resources and few state benefits. The comparison shows that in the latter case, the lack of state intervention can have the disempowering impact of fostering dependency in many insidious forms. The findings demonstrate the very powerful influence that both intentional and hidden or masked factors can have on a young woman's decision to repeat a pregnancy. The intrinsic relationship between the personal driving forces of the young women and their repeated pregnancies is convincingly highlighted. These driving forces are accompanied by very strong and deep-rooted beliefs in the importance of motherhood and fertility, as well as anti-abortion views. When these factors are added to economic stringency, they provide the fuel for a young woman's journey into repeat pregnancies. The findings therefore caution against a reliance on a mechanistic understanding of both single and repeat teenage pregnancies and emphasise the fact that social, psychological, and emotional processes, as well as the economic influences, are also crucial to our understanding of repeat teenage pregnancies.
22
Dowsett, Rachel. "Understanding the link between active galactic nuclei and their large scale environment." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/27937.
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I have undertaken the first major statistical survey to investigate the prevalence of AGN in a large sample of moderate redshift (0.1 < z < 1) galaxy clusters. By comparing the X-ray source population in the fields of 140 galaxy clusters to that found in 44 non-cluster observations, I determine statistically the number of X-ray detected AGN associated with each galaxy cluster. I demonstrate that there is a significant population of AGN in galaxy clusters. The effect of gravitational lensing reduces the X-ray source counts in cluster fields by up to 1 source per field. I calculate the expected source deficit due to lensing for each cluster, as a function of radius, and incorporate this into the predicted source distribution. I have also investigated in detail the number and properties of AGN in the supercluster A901/2 (z=0.17). Using deep X-ray imaging, 17-band photometric data and optical spectroscopy I identify 11 AGN in the supercluster. Around 5% of bright (MR < 20) supercluster galaxies are found to contain an AGN at this flux limit – for the most part these appear optically to be passive early-type galaxies, and there are significantly more AGN than would be expected from the optical data alone. Compared to other similar galaxies, AGN host galaxies are found to lie in areas of moderate density and blue local colour, similar to that of groups of galaxies and cluster outskirts. A possible explanation is that AGN activity is triggered by tidal disruption or harassment when a galaxy first joins a dense environment.
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Brown, Jill P. "An insight into student understanding of functions in a graphing calculator environment." Connect to thesis, 2003. http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/490.
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The introduction of graphing calculators into senior secondary schools and mandating of their use in high stakes assessment makes student expertise in finding a complete graph of a function essential. This thesis investigated the cognitive, metacognitive, mathematical, and technological processes senior secondary students used in seeking a complete graph of a difficult cubic function. A pretest of function knowledge was administered to two mixed ability classes in their final two years of secondary school. Five pairs of experienced users of TI-83 or 82 graphing calculators from these classes were audio and videotaped solving a problem task. Protocols were constructed and subjected to intensive qualitative macroanalysis and microanalysis using tools developed by the researcher from Schoenfeld’s work.The findings were: (1)all students demonstrated understanding of the local and global nature of functions and the synthesis of these in determining a complete graph; (2) a range of mathematical and graphing calculator knowledge was applied in seeking a global view of the function with their combined application being more efficient and effective; (3) an understanding of automatic range scaling features facilitated efficient finding of a global view; (4) all pairs demonstrated having a clear mental image of the function sought and the possible positions of the calculator output relative to this; (5) students were able to resolve situations involving unexpected views of the graph to determine a global view; (6) students displayed understanding of local linearity of a function; (7) when working in the graphical representation, students used the algebraic but not the numerical representation to facilitate and support their solution; (8) scale marks were used to produce more elegant solutions and facilitate identification of key function features to produce a sketch but some students misunderstood the effect of altering these; (9) pairs differed in the proportion of cognitive and metacognitive behaviours demonstrated with question asking during evaluation supporting decision making; (10) correct selection of xxi an extensive range of graphing calculator features and use of dedicated features facilitated efficient and accurate identification of coordinates of key function features.
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Siddiqui, Feroz Ahmed. "Understanding and measuring systems flexibility : a case of object-oriented development environment." Thesis, Brunel University, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.268857.
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Lin, Amy C. (Amy Chaimin) 1980. "Understanding and managing profitability in a competitive environment : an application in biotechnology." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59173.
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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-57).
For many biotech drugs, minimal competition has led to significant margins. Genentech's legacy product, however, faces intense competition from six other competitors. Competition necessitates contracting to ensure patient access to the product but this results in price erosion. An increase in discounting and subsequent price erosion in recent years has prompted a need to better understand account level profitability. Given a highly dynamic and complex payer and distribution network, it is difficult to determine the contribution of each vial that is sold, such that the profitability of some vials is in question. As other biotech drugs begin to face similar competitive market dynamics, an analysis of Genentech's product brings timely insight into understanding and managing profitability in a competitive environment within the biotechnology sector. System dynamics modeling is used to analyze the key attributes of a competitive environment. It highlights two important and related observations: that increased market share does not necessarily lead to increased profitability, and that contract wins do not always result in increased sales. A framework is introduced to determine account level profitability. By using activity-based accounting to allocate costs, the true profit of each account is determined. Results show that the degree of profitability varies widely, further reinforcing the notion that account specific profits rather than average profits are a more accurate measure of performance. Finally, to assist decision makers in the ongoing process of promoting sound business decisions, tools are created that incorporate the insights gained in this analysis. Both an account specific marginal profit model and a dashboard will help to ensure that future decisions lead to long-term profitability.
by Amy C. Lin.
S.M.
M.B.A.
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Webb, Amanda Laurel. "Mapping comfort : an analysis method for understanding diversity in the thermal environment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72870.
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Thesis (S.M. in Architecture Studies)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-70).
Our thermal experience is never neutral. Whether standing near a cold window in the winter, or in the shade on a sunny day, we constantly experience a rich set of thermal stimuli. Yet, many of the tools used in professional practice to analyze and design thermal environments in buildings do not account for the richness of our thermal experience. This disconnect between our analysis tools and our experience results in buildings that use more energy than they should, and that leave occupants dissatisfied with their thermal environment. This thesis seeks to bridge the gap between our thermal experience and our building thermal analysis tools. A unique methodology has been developed that produces mapping of thermal comfort parameters in all three spatial dimensions, as well as over time. Both heat balance and adaptive comfort indices have been incorporated into the methodology. An accompanying software program, called cMap, has been developed to illustrate the ways that this methodology can be used with existing energy analysis software and to demonstrate how it can fit into existing analysis workflows in professional practice.
by Amanda Laurel Webb.
S.M.in Architecture Studies
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Leong, Marieanne Christie. "Understanding the responses of deep convective clouds to a changing thermodynamic environment." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2018. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/22188/.
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Deep convective clouds play a key role in regulating the Earth’s water and energy cycles and are therefore an important component of the Earth’s climate system. Much work has been done on investigating factors such as how aerosols affect these clouds but much less emphasis has been on how the future changes in thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere will affect these clouds. It is vitally important to know how clouds will respond to these changed thermodynamic conditions. This study explores how modelled deep convective clouds respond to the projected future warmer climate and compares it with past (current) climate. Atmospheric thermodynamic profiles are taken from NCAR CCSM3 global climate model and the modelling study was based on simulations of idealised deep convective clouds using the Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model with a double-moment cloud microphysics scheme. The modelling study showed that the future thermodynamic environment produced deep convective clouds that are on average 32% lower in cloud base height, 8.5% higher in freezing level and 9% lower in cloud-top height compared to the past climate results. This results in the future clouds having an average of 15% deeper warm-phase cloud layer and 18% shallower cold-phase cloud layer than in the past climate, signifying a strong warm rain process and reduced cold rain process, where the cold rain process is traditionally known to be the dominant precipitation-forming process in the current climate. The strong warm rain process leads to intense heavy rainfall, which reduces the availability of water in the updraught reaching the ice phase, thus reducing the clouds’ vertical and horizontal extent. An in-depth investigation was performed to assess the factors associated with the changes of the future thermodynamic environment influencing the cloud development. Such factors include assessment of the significance of temperature structure, relative humidity structure, both structural changes, and increased moisture due to the warmer mean temperature. It was found that the structural effects of temperature and relative humidity have greater impact on the cloud development compared to the increase in the mean temperature. The temperature structure factor significantly reduces the average total water content and cloud vertical extent by 75% and 8 km, respectively. On the other hand, the relative humidity structure significantly increases the average total water content and cloud vertical extent by 80% and 1.8 km, respectively. Separately assessing these two factors gives significant opposing effects on the cloud’s total water content and vertical height. When combined, these two effects cancels out to some extent, but they still produce weaker and smaller deep convective clouds than the effects that arise from the mean temperature increase. Following from the differences in the cloud development between the past and future environments, the strong warm rain process and weak cold rain process results in the cloud fraction in the future reduced by half of that in the past environment. This reduced cloud horizontal extent results in cloud radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere that is positive, indicating an increased warming in the future environment. The average local cloud radiative forcing was evaluated to be 43.7 and 54.7 W m^2 for the whole cloud and anvil cloud, respectively. If this is extended to midlatitude deep convective region over land with a coverage of 3% or global coverage of deep convective clouds of less than 1%, a simplistic approximation of the cloud radiative forcing is evaluated to be +1.31 and +0.44 W m^2, respectively. This is opposite to the radiative forcing exerted by aerosol-cloud interaction reported in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5), which was estimated at -0.55 W m^2 The results from this study highlight that the changes in the vertical thermodynamic structure affect the cloud development significantly. This study was based on the output of one global climate model, however, it does suggest that it is important that climate modelling groups pay particular attention to the way their models forecast the thermodynamic structure in both temperature and moisture of the future climate.
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Mitchell, Lorianne D. "Teaching Diversity in a Culturally Same Environment: Understanding and Meeting the Challenges." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2012. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8322.
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Pratt, Daniel James. "Sensemaking in the recording environment: Understanding the role of the record producer." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2020. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/192096/1/Daniel_Pratt_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis explores how the record producer participates in the recording studio as a member of a sensemaking team. It examines a variety of recording scenarios from traditional recording studios, to online transnational recording systems, as well as mobile location recordings in Chennai India. This variety of recording settings allowed Dr Pratt to develop a better understanding of how small creative groups negotiate complicated decisions and produce finished recorded work. This study helps new record producers understand the organisational communication skills required to work in the recording industry. It also offers a unique setting for sensemaking research in the field of organisational communication.
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Siyanga-Tembo, Fridah. "From fork to farm: understanding Kitwe's food system through the fish lens." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28177.
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Food production has been a constant feature of food security policies. This narrative has continued despite findings showing that food insecurity is structural, and more driven by issues of access than availability, particularly for low-income households in cities who live in a cash economy. While usually considered a rural issue, the urban poor with low and unreliable incomes also face food insecurity which manifests differently to that of their rural counterparts. Thus, this creates the need to understand how the urban poor get their food. Garneton, a low-income area in Kitwe, Zambia, was chosen as the case study area for understanding the food system that feeds the urban poor. Fish and the fish value chain were used as the lens with which to understand the food system. The primary aim of the study was to understand the flow of fish in the food system and how it gets to low-income households in Kitwe. A qualitative methodology using semi-structured in-depth interviews was used. A bottom up and systems approach which started by finding out what the low-income consumers ate, and following the fish value chain systematically up to the producers enabled the study to capture the actual food system that feeds the poor and uncovered the different issues affecting the food system. The study had three main findings. The first finding was that the low-income households bought their food from both formal and informal markets but were more highly dependent on the informal markets. The factors that drove their purchasing decisions included income, proximity and volumes of fish sold. Secondly, the study also found that informal traders bought their fish mainly through the informal markets although the imported fish was bought from the formal market. Thirdly, the study found that there were a number of factors that affected the food system. These included policy, economic and environmental factors. The pathways of fish were also found to change in accordance with the fish ban. The thesis argues that, there is greater need to have policy that addresses the needs of the urban poor. Food should also be looked at as a cross cutting issue with different food systems perceived as complementing each other to addressing the food needs, particularly of the urban poor. Finally, more attention must be paid to the informal market which plays a significant role in meeting the food security needs of the urban poor.
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Correia, Ana Paula. "Understanding conflict in teamwork : contributions of a technology-rich environment to conflict management /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2005. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3183915.
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Cohn, Teresa Helene. "Settlement, identity and environment: understanding processes of vegetation change along the Wind River." Diss., Montana State University, 2010. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2010/cohn/CohnT1210.pdf.
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Contemporary research concerning wildlands and wildlife of the American West increasingly calls for greater complexity in understanding human-environmental relationships. This dissertation investigates a culturally diverse portion of Greater Yellowstone in order to complicate these dialogues. It explores a riparian corridor along the Wind River, a region permanently settled by Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho and Euro-American residents in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Using the Wind River Basin as a case study, this research observes the landscape through three different lenses: settlement geography, place identity, and vegetation change. By incorporating a variety of methods to understand regional change (including historical research, interviews with residents, and comparative aerial and ground photography), it finds that riparian change relates to a complex cultural-ecological mosaic. Not only is change perceived differently by a variety of communities in the Wind River Basin; change relates to century-old settlement geographies, government policies and cultural preferences, shifting economies and power relationships, and evolving relationships formed by interrelationships of people and environment. This dissertation argues that investigations of environmental change must not oversimplify dynamic relationships between people and place. Indeed, the complexity of these places may relate to why Greater Yellowstone has remained one of the largest intact ecosystems in the lower 48 states.
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Bourdoux, Doriane, and Manon Delabelle. "Toxic Leadership: An understanding on how a business environment is ‘contaminated’ by leaders." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för organisation och entreprenörskap (OE), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-26242.
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Who has never heard anything about leadership? This concept appears almost everywhere: in the classroom, on TV program, in reviews, in books, etc. However, who really knows about the real nature of leadership? Most of you might have a good image of it in mind. However, the reality is far different. How many of you have ever listened to stories whereby people were stressed or were depressive due to their job? In this thesis, we will expose how the business environment is "contaminated" by leaders presenting toxic behaviours. Once toxic behaviours occur in the company, the entire system becomes "alienated", its welfare is undermined. Leaders, in our view, act like snakes which, with its venom contaminate, step by step, their environment. The best way to erase toxins, in such surrounding is to be first aware of its root. For knowing this issue, please, attach your belt, the travel will start …
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Tsai, Yiyin. "Understanding aesthetic appreciation as an aid to the development of sustainable urban environment." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2009. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/7709.
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Sustainable management of the existing built environment is becoming increasingly important in the construction industry. Consequently, more emphasis has emerged to consider issues of refurbishment and renovation. The aesthetic values of buildings are recognised as critical guiding attributes both in terms of the potential long-term aspects of sustainability and as basic reasoning for the continued maintenance and management of existing buildings. A process is required that will allow different aspects of a potential refurbishment project to be assessed objectively and weighted equally when deciding whether an existing building should be preserved, adapted or demolished. The thesis attempts to provide a useful understanding in terms of the aesthetic appreciation when considering future sustainable management of the existing built environment. Two parallel research activities were initiated to examine important aspects of human aesthetic perception regarding buildings in the built environment. The first addressed the potentially universal and culturally derived aspects of human responses in perceiving the aesthetic qualities of houses from 3 counties through the agency of colour photographs. A three language semantic differential scale was developed to be linguistically equivalent so that an inter-cultural research tool could be derived to ascertain an understanding of people’s aesthetic appreciation through the use of descriptive adjectives. The second activity was initiated to develop and test the concept of building endurance regarding the general public’s aesthetic appreciation of existing buildings. A methodological framework was developed to facilitate investigation of changes of human aesthetic response related to changes in the built environment. Cross-cultural variables and respondent’s age parameter were found to be influential in conditioning people’s aesthetic responses to photographs of houses and urban streetscapes. Few differences were observed between male and female aesthetic responses both in their descriptions of visual quality and their ideal house profile. A cross-cultural, universal profile of ideal house qualities was obtained by utilizing responses from the cross-language semantic differential scale. However differences in people’s aesthetic preference selections were observed. Additionally, respondents’ preference rankings demonstrated that the general public supports the desire of preserving the existing urban condition. Appropriate refurbishment strategies were suggested to guide decision making when assessing changes to be made to an existing building and its surrounding environment while at the same time maintaining people’s aesthetic appreciation. The research activities presented in this thesis provide a contribution to current knowledge of the general public’s aesthetic appreciation of the existing buildings and built environments which may be used to aid future sustainable development of the built environment.
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Basili, D. "A Systems Biology approach to understanding and monitoring chemical toxicity in the environment." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2018. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3025584/.
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Chemicals pose every day a continuous hazard to both human health and environment. Unfortunately, Information about chemicals Mode of Action (MoA) for most of these compounds is limited. Development of approaches able to elucidate chemicals mechanisms of action is needed in order to improve risk assessment. Environmental omics aims to provide tools and methodologies to address these goals. Omics technologies in combination with system biology approaches have the potential to provide a powerful toolbox for understanding chemicals mode of action and consequently the outcomes these compounds trigger. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates the effectiveness of such approach in the context of environmentally relevant species. More specifically I focused on characterization of single chemical and chemical class toxicity mechanism in zebrafish embryos (Danio rerio) and in a fish gill cell line (Rainbow trout) and I demonstrated that the transcriptional state of an in vitro system exposed to a panel of environmentally relevant chemicals can be used as a biosensor to predict toxicity in an in vivo system. I also developed a computational model of ovary development in Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and used this to successfully identify chemical compounds with the ability to affect reproduction. Lastly, I developed a method to identify novel endocrine disrupting compounds in Daphnia magna supporting the use of this species for rapid screening in risk assessment. My results demonstrated the potential of system biology and data-driven science in identifying novel mechanisms of environmental toxicity and to develop a set of biomarkers for monitoring purposes. Further development building on these findings could potentially lead to improvements in risk assessment.
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Yangopoulos, Sophie. "Developing sixth form students understanding of the relationships between environment and development issues." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1996. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10006591/.
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The focus of the research for this thesis is the development of critical pedagogy for a greater understanding of environment/development issues among sixth form A Level geography students. The thesis first considers the concept of sustainable development which can provide a framework for supporting the close integration of environment and development issues. Caution is necessary, however, given the various interests it serves and resulting contradictions inherent in proposed radical change within traditional economic, social and political structures. Within this context student perceptions of environment/development issues were investigated using phenomenography as a methodology. However, a critique of the methodology was necessary, given contradictions in accepting multiple realities of phenomena based on conceptualisation through experience while also seeking a limited number of categories of description of phenomena. Out of the action research undertaken, a curriculum module based on critical pedagogy (influenced by critical theory) was developed to encourage critical thinking by students on a case study example of an environment/development issue. The research shows that the students could perceive environment/development issues as complex inter-related phenomena, but only to a limited extent did it enable them to be confident in challenging systems which perpetuate or exacerbate some of the problems related to the issues.
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Schluter, Jessica Erin. "Delegate, Undertake or Negotiate: Understanding Nursing Scope of Practice in the Acute Environment." Thesis, Griffith University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366990.
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The past decade has seen increased patient acuity and shortened lengths of stays in acute care hospitals (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2005), resulting in an intensification of the work undertaken by nursing staff in hospitals. Changes in nursing work have also been compounded by the proliferation of health care roles, a blurring of skill boundaries (AIHW, 2001; Buchan & Dal Poz, 2002; Hayman, Cioffi & Wilkes, 2006; Jones and Cheek, 2003) and an aging nursing workforce that is predominantly working part-time (Creegan, Duffield & Forrester, 2003). Moreover, with increasing demand for acute care beds (ABS, 2005), there is simply not enough licensed nursing staff to fill current vacancies (AIHW, 2005; Duffield & O’Brien-Pallas, 2002).
Since 2003, the main response from the Australian government to the declining numbers of nursing workers has been to recruit more people to the nursing profession. However, it is becoming clear that recruitment alone is not enough, with shortages growing even as nursing school enrolments are increasing; therefore, it was timely to undertake a study to understand nurses’ perceptions of scope of practice to improve future efficiency in the nursing workforce by using the information derived to provide baseline data to guide workforce planning.
The specific aim of this study was to understand how medical and surgical nurses, from two Queensland hospitals, conceive their scope of practice in response to the available grade mix and skill mix of nurses—licensed and unlicensed—and other health care professionals in the acute care setting. By exploring these meanings, this study aimed to build an understanding of how nursing work patterns were shifting in the face of changing patient acuity, patient profiles and nursing skill mix. To address this aim, a constructivist methodology was used that allowed for exploration of nursing role and scope of practice. While the notion of constructivism best describes the main approach to this study, it was also naturalistic to the extent that participants were reflecting on day-to-day experiences.
The method used in this study is situated around the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) (Flanagan, 1954). CIT generates data representing experiences or perceptions of aspects of best and worst practice (Byrne, 2001). The researcher asked 20 registered nurse (RN) and enrolled nurse (EN) participants to discuss up to two particular significant events during which they were undertaking a patient care activity they perceived they should be undertaking, and up to two events during which they believed those activities should have either been delegated or undertaken by a higher level of care provider. Using the CIT in this way, allowed the researcher to gain an understanding of the nursing scope of practice and the interactions between nurses and other clinicians (Byrne, 2001) while also minimising pre-interpretation of the events by participants and focusing on a rich description of the chosen event (Flanagan, 1954). Purposive sampling was used to assist with the discovery of opposing points of view (Guba & Lincoln, 1989) with all RN and EN participants being employed on selected medical and surgical wards within two large hospitals based in South East Queensland.
Inductive analysis, a process for searching for themes within the data, rather than imposing theories on the data (Guba & Lincoln, 1989), was used. Analysis revealed that the nursing work environment was changing. This was causing nursing staff to question what it meant to provide patient care given the increased numbers of health care workers (HCWs) in the acute care setting, rising patient acuity, and increased patient turnover. RNs were struggling with the notions that ‘hands-on’ care was sometimes not the best use of their time, and delegation did not equate with laziness. Five themes arose from the data: (1) good nurses work in proximity to patients providing total patient care; (2) safeguarding patients; (3) privileging patients without mental illness or cognitive impairment; (4) developing teamwork strategies; and (5) picking up the slack to ensure patient safety.
Findings have shown that negotiation has become a fundamental aspect of nursing practice given the variety of nursing care providers currently employed in acute care settings. Previously, there wasn’t a need for nurses to negotiate care between licensed and unlicensed staff because HCWs were not employed in these settings. Negotiation has allowed nurses to redefine appropriate nurse–patient proximity, promote patient safety and find innovative ways of working in nursing teams. Practice negotiation will become a prominent topic over the coming years as hospital administrators struggle to employ licensed nurses.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Nursing and Midwifery
Griffith Health
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Perry, Elizabeth. "Gene, Organism and Environment: Understanding Patterns of Genome Evolution in Bacteria and Bacteriophage." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/13275.
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For my dissertation research, I used a model system of bacteria and bacteriophage to study patterns of genome evolution. I performed whole-genome sequencing of replicate populations to determine the genetic changes responsible for a repeatable pattern of coevolution between bacteria and phage. I found that genetic changes conferring resistance in bacteria negatively impacted other traits such as growth rates and sensitivity to antibiotic. Different resistance mutations varied in the magnitude of their pleiotropic costs, and this resulted in a fixation bias favoring mutations that minimized pleiotropic effects. I manipulated the environment and found that differential pleiotropy between environments drove repeatable evolution at different genetic scales. Finally, I explored theoretically how bacteria, phage, and resource interact through a dynamic system of feedbacks. I used a mathematical model to describe priority effects in evolution, where the expected fate of a beneficial mutation varies depending upon whether it appears before or after a competing mutation.10000-01-01
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Soilemezi, Dia. "Living well with dementia at home : understanding the role of the home environment." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2017. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/living-well-with-dementia-at-home(8a380095-fb5d-4e70-b439-08955908fe6a).html.
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The research presented in this thesis aims to explore the role of the home environment in dementia care and support, drawing on two complementary approaches. The thesis consists of three papers to offer evidence of the various environmental aspects and strategies that explore environmental aspects in living with dementia at home. The first approach and paper presents a systematic review of international qualitative studies exploring people’s experiences and perceptions on the role of the home environment, environmental home elements and strategies. The second approach involved conducting in-depth walking interviews with thirteen co-resident carers. The interviews were analysed thematically and are presented in two papers reporting on (a) the subjective and (b) the objective impact of their home environment. Exploring both subjective and objective aspects provided a holistic way to synthesise the literature and understand participants’ experiences of their home environment. The main findings offer evidence on potential environmental barriers and facilitators and a number of important architectural and design aspects that need to be taken into consideration to support community dementia care. There is no universal solution in addressing dementia care. Family carers implemented a plethora of strategies and often adapted their home through trial and error. Barriers to implementing adaptations were around the carers’ scepticism about the use and need of environmental interventions, mistrust towards practitioners, financial difficulties, timing and property restrictions. The present study highlighted the need for educating carers on the dementia trajectory and available environmental strategies. The findings offer guidance to professionals in many areas (health and social care, architecture, interior design, policy making) and bring more light into areas that require further research. New strategies support carers in their own homes and design future housing solutions are needed. The walking interviews were helpful as the main data collection method in order to understand the interplay between the family carers and their home situation. It was also useful to draw upon a number of theories in order to interpret and refine the findings. Future research and services should be directed to enhance dementia and caring friendly home environments.
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White, Keith Laurence. "Understanding how the Army's Informal Leader Bonds Formal Leadership and the Complex Environment." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3849.
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Bullying and toxic leadership in the U. S. Army disrupt bonding processes between leaders and subordinates, which may jeopardize military operations, threaten resiliency initiatives, inhibit leader development, and stifle innovation. Little research, however, has looked at the role of informal leaders who operate outside the formal power structure in military environments. Using social exchange theory as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to explore the activities of informal leaders who mediated the normal and disrupted leadership bonding processes in an Illinois Army National Guard Infantry Brigade. The research questions explored the informal leaders' influence and behaviors to gain a greater understanding of the bonding processes. A maximum variation purposeful sampling was used to select 25 informal leaders from 8 company size units in an Illinois Army National Guard Infantry Brigade. Publicly available archival data were also considered. All data were coded inductively and then subjected to Braun and Clark's thematic analysis procedure, revealing the perception that informal leaders improved bonding between soldiers and leaders and reduced stress associated with military service. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to the Illinois National Guard to provide support for using informal leaders as a mechanism to promote more cohesive relationships between leaders and subordinates and to explore the use of informal leadership to reduce stress.
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Egle, Caron. "Understanding complex change in a federal policing environment through a post-conventional lens." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2022. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/236609/1/Caron_Egle_Thesis.pdf.
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This qualitative study explored how six post-conventional police leaders in the Australian Federal Police (AFP) understand complex change. It identified the challenges facing policing organisations with the increasing complexity of the global environment, the increasing sophistication of criminality, as well as cultural legacy issues. The results show that these post-conventional leaders hold an acute and insightful understanding of the intricacies and interconnectedness of the complexities facing the AFP, while holding deep empathy, compassion, and commitment to growth as leaders. This study contributes to the development of police leaders to include adult vertical development.
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Raja, Sheila. "Associations between learning environment and students’ attitudes and understanding of nature of science." Thesis, Curtin University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2092.
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Associations between the classroom learning environment and the student outcomes of attitudes towards science and understanding of nature of science (NOS) were investigated for a sample of 246 secondary students in Midwestern US. Questionnaires were found to be valid and generally students’ attitudes and understanding of NOS were more favorable in classrooms with more positive learning environments in terms of greater involvement, investigation, cooperation and task orientation.
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Lynch-Wood, Gary. "Towards a better understanding of SME responses to environmental regulatory pressures." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2018. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/towards-a-better-understanding-of-sme-responses-to-environmental-regulatory-pressures(d6d0c2ad-3d82-492a-b574-fc3d1f5060b6).html.
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The University of Manchester, PhD by Published Work, 2018 For several reasons, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are an important group of firms. In most market economies SMEs contribute significantly to wealth and job creation, economic growth, and product and service innovation. At the same time, SMEs are said to produce environmental impacts that are significant and that need managing and regulating. Their importance, from an economic and environmental perspective, is reflected in the fact that SMEs have become an established subject for research, with a distinct area of analysis focusing on how they manage their environmental impacts. Despite considerable interest in this area, aspects of their behaviour are in need of further examination, for there are still misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge. An area where gaps exist is how SMEs respond to different forms of environmental regulation (e.g., command-based or market-based approaches) and different forms of regulatory pressure (e.g., such as those pressures from civil society that might induce compliance-related activities or market forces that might flow through, and affect, the value chain). Why the gaps? On the one hand, and generally speaking, a common claim among those who have considered issues affecting smaller firms is that regulation is an important driver of environmental behaviour. There is a well-documented set of linked claims and empirical findings that smaller firms tend to be motivated by compliance with regulatory standards, yet owing to their scarce resources can find themselves hovering on the edge of compliance. Typically, SMEs will attempt to do no more than the law requires of them. They tend not, as it were, to go beyond compliance. Of course, this is an important observation - one that might say much, even if indirectly, about the motivations and intentions of smaller firms. It might indicate that SMEs, rather than addressing environmental issues, are more concerned with making cost savings and efficiency gains, or with satisfying the requirements of customers over such matters as product or service quality and delivery. While significant, there are at least three reasons why this view remains incomplete as an explanation for the interaction between SMEs, regulation and the environment. Firstly, this view tends to over-homogenise smaller firms. By treating them as a standardized group, the inference is that SMEs view and respond to regulation - i.e., they are all driven by regulation - in a broadly similar way. Secondly, it says little about how and why regulation drives behaviour. Claiming that regulation drives behaviour is helpful, but the claim is unduly narrow and leaves several important questions. In what ways does regulation drive behaviour? Does regulation drive all smaller firms in the same way? Thirdly, and finally, it suggests that different forms of regulation drive SME behaviour and that different forms of regulation drive this behaviour in broadly similar ways. That is, it is incomplete as it lacks appreciation of the widening scope of regulation and governance, and the nature of smart mixes of regulation. It fails to properly consider whether and how SMEs might respond differently to command-based regulation, market- or information-based measures, or self- or so-called civil regulatory pressures. On the other hand, and again in general terms, while those who have examined regulation have looked at how it can influence firms, they have tended to pay too little regard to how firms of different size may respond to different approaches or to how the factors and characteristics relating to size may shape the effectiveness of regulation. SMEs particularly are often discussed as an unusual sideshow that might raise different issues in relation, say, to the impacts of regulation on performance or innovation. That we often pay too little regard to how firms of different size may respond raises difficulties, particularly given our increasing understanding that there is no guarantee that a particular instrument will work in all situations. In other words, we are becoming more aware of the fact that the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of regulation is likely to be context-sensitive, and that the size of the enterprise is likely to be an important determinant of context. This thesis does take, and provides evidence for, the view that the organisational context is crucial to understanding how regulation functions. The thesis does not claim to provide all answers, but it does adopt the position that, in aggregate terms, a firm's size, or the factors that can be associated with size (e.g., resources, skills, knowledge, visibility, profile, stakeholder relations), and related factors concerning a firm's mind-set, can affect two things; first, the types of regulatory influences that may affect organizational behaviour and, second, how firms will respond to those influences. By focusing on SMEs, the thesis in some ways reinforces the dominant view that regulation is a driver of behaviour. Nevertheless, it goes much farther than this by showing, both theoretically and empirically, that there are important differences across SMEs and that these differences determine how and why they respond to regulation. It extends the common view by showing how SMEs differ not only in terms of the types of regulatory influences that shape their behaviour, but also in terms of how they react to these different influences. The emerging picture thus shows that the responses of firms are determined by their particular characteristics. The term used in this thesis is 'receptive capacity', which is shown to be a composite measure that includes the capabilities (e.g., resources, skills, knowledge) and orientations (e.g., views) of firms. It is suggested here that the range of receptive capacities across firms is enormous, since no two firms will be identical. Yet, it is argued - and demonstrated - that firms can be grouped according to certain identifiable characteristics, and that these groups of firms will respond to regulatory pressures in broadly similar ways; that is, there are groups of firms that have broadly similar resources and broadly similar worldviews. Thus, as well as suggesting that differences can be found at the micro level, it is demonstrated that there are sufficient commonalities across some firms that we can understand them as groups - groups of individual firms with some common characteristics. In conclusion, it is the differences across firms that provide us with a more sophisticated view of how SMEs are influenced by, and respond to, regulation. It is the nature of differences that is the main contribution of this research to both the fields of regulation and organisational and management studies. It is suggested finally that these differences have implications for how we design regulation, for how we may expect regulation to work or indeed not work, and for issues such as regulatory complexity and smart mixes.
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Moore, Cordelia Holly. "Defining and predicting species-environment relationships : understanding the spatial ecology of demersal fish communities." University of Western Australia. Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, 2009. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2010.0002.
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[Truncated abstract] The aim of this research was to define key species-environment relationships to better understand the spatial ecology of demersal fish. To help understand these relationships a combination of multivariate analyses, landscape analysis and species distribution models were employed. Of particular interest was to establish the scale at which these species respond to their environment. With recent high resolution surveying and mapping of the benthos in five of Victoria's Marine National Parks (MNPs), full coverage bathymetry, terrain data and accurate predicted benthic habitat maps were available for each of these parks. This information proved invaluable to this research, providing detailed (1:25,000) benthic environmental data, which facilitated the development and implementation of a very targeted and robust sampling strategy for the demersal fish at Cape Howe MNP. The sampling strategy was designed to provide good spatial coverage of the park and to represent the park's dominant substrate types and benthic communities, whilst also satisfying the assumptions of the statistical and spatial analyses applied. The fish assemblage data was collected using baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo- BRUVS), with a total of 237 one-hour drops collected. Analysis of the video footage identified 77 species belonging to 40 families with a total of 14,449 individual fish recorded. ... This research revealed that the statistical modelling techniques employed provided an accurate means for predicting species distributions. These predicted distributions will allow for more effective management of these species by providing a robust and spatially explicit map of their current distribution enabling the identification and prediction of future changes in these species distributions. This research demonstrated the importance of the benthic environment on the spatial distribution of demersal fish. The results revealed that different species responded to different scales of investigation and that all scales must be ix considered to establish the factors fish are responding to and the strength and nature of this response. Having individual, continuous and spatially explicit environmental measures provided a significant advantage over traditional measures that group environmental and biological factors into 'habitat type'. It enabled better identification of individual factors, or correlates, driving the distribution of demersal fish. The environmental and biological measures were found to be of ecological relevance to the species and the scale of investigation and offered a more informative description of the distributions of the species examined. The use of species distribution modelling provided a robust means for the characterisation of the nature and strength of these relationships. In addition, it enabled species distributions to be predicted accurately across unsampled locations. Outcomes of the project include a greater understanding of how the benthic environment influences the distribution of demersal fish and demonstrates a suite of robust and useful marine species distribution tools that may be used by researcher and managers to understand, monitor, manage and predict marine species distributions.
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Pagett, Tina. "Understanding student 'disaffection' : 14-16 year olds studying within a further education (FE) environment." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.420141.
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Pascoulis, Christacis. "Understanding the successes, failures and limitations of adopting SSM in a software development environment." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.409471.
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Rivadeneira, Mercedes. "Understanding the home language and literacy environment of Chilean low SES families of preschoolers." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2018. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10047669/.
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This research explores the Home Language and Literacy Environment (HLLE) of pre-‐ schoolers from a sample of low socio-‐economic (SES) Chilean urban households, to examine how it fosters their familiarity with the school literacy register and supports their acquisition of language and literacy skills. Four specific measures of these skills were examined: vocabulary, letter and word identification, spelling and text comprehension. A comprehensive theoretical model of the HLLE and its influence on these skills was built. This included meso influences (caregivers’ values, beliefs and expectations regarding their child’s literacy development and education, and language and literacy resources) proximal influences (frequency and type of literacy practices and parent-‐child conversations), and distal influences (SES, family demographics). A mixed-‐methods’ approach was used to explore this HLLE construct, including: (i) a quantitative study (N=1,132) and (ii) a qualitative study with a subsample (N=30) informed by direct observations of the child in their HLLE and a semi-‐structured interview with their caregiver. This research provides a predictive model of the HLLE that increases our understanding of the paths of influence of different HLLE components. It found that after controlling for minor SES variations there was still variability of HLLE resources, beliefs and practices within the sample; these predicted the four measures of language literacy and skills examined. Families that provided a higher HLLE had more holistic views of literacy development and higher educational expectations for their children, as well as a higher sense of self-‐efficacy regarding their children ́s education and learning. Finally, this research found that the caregivers studied tended to: a. hold high educational expectations for their children, b. hold a skills-‐based, purely phonetical approach to literacy, viewing literacy learning as a discreet process, c. saw school as the child ́s main source of literacy instruction and home as a place of “reinforcement” of school, d. have few pre-‐established home routines, e. consider one of their main attributes to be to protect the child from external dangers or distractions, f. hold a maturational view of children ́s development; g. foster family and community interdependence. h. rely more on observation and physical closeness than oral interaction, i. frequently support their preschoolers ́ literacy development through homework and the use of ABC books, and j. almost seldom engage in shared or independent reading.
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Fonstad, Nils Olaya. "Understanding group dynamics in an electronic environment : an analysis of two electronic discussion groups." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38141.
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Hutson, Brad. "Teaching the high school educator| Understanding their learning preferences in an adult-learning environment." Thesis, Trevecca Nazarene University, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10140131.
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This mixed-model study utilized the qualitative and quantitative data from high school teachers of one middle Tennessee school district and high school teachers of the Tennessee High School Speech and Drama League to determine if differences existed amongst the learning preferences of high school teachers in adult learning environments. All participants completed the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory to provide quantitative data. Members of an executive board completed a focus group questionnaire to provide qualitative data for the study. The study led to a recommendation that developers of professional development and school officials consider learning preferences because significant differences existed amongst the participants. Accounting for these differences could lead to more effective implementation of professional development content.
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Buro, Brandy Lynn. "Understanding the Rural Built Environment from the Perspectives of Parents of Preschool-Aged Children." Thesis, North Dakota State University, 2014. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/27331.
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Obesity prevention interventions targeting the built environment are an emerging area of research, but few studies have been applied in rural communities or among preschool-aged children, despite being high-priority populations. This study aimed to identify barriers to accessing nutritious foods and physical activity opportunities from the perspectives of parents of preschoolers living in low-income, rural communities. A mixed methods study design guided by a social ecological model incorporated quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gain a comprehensive understanding of the rural built environment. Results indicate proximity to recreation spaces, traffic safety, availability of public indoor space, and the consumer food environment are influential in utilization of resources and possible areas of improvement. However, interventions should be tailored to the community?s stage of readiness, evidenced by the theme ?cognitive reactions to barriers.? Strong social networks in rural communities should be considered an asset for community change in these regions.