A comparative study on the educational debate in central Europe, with specific reference to Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia 1989-1991

Bibliography: p. 191-205.This dissertation seeks to determine how the socio-economic and political changes, following the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe, have found reflection and led to the emergence of interest groups in the education debate. It looks at the reforms initiated by the new ruling .power-elite in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. This reform process, embodying the value system of the new governments, has led, the dissertation seeks to show, directly to new and vibrant interest groups on the educational landscape. This study identifies the seven prominent interest groups - seeking to satisfy their own interests - which engage the government in the education policy making arena. This policy making arena, which I refer to as the "arena of power", is analysed through focussing on the relationship of power between the seven interest groups and the state. The Halasz (1986: 123) classification of interest groups in communist Hungary in 1986, forms the point of departure for my examination of post-1989 interest groups. Each chapter highlights the circumstances that influenced the development of interest groups and the extent of their participation in reforms. The dissertation concludes with a reclassification of post-1989 interest groups in Central Europe, in order to facilitate a better understanding of the dynamics of interest groups in the "arena of power"

Direct sequential system assemblage

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-82).Decisions made during the building process have the opportunity to both inform the next set of decisions and provide unexpected and possibly positive features in the final project. Thus, working beyond the minimum definition at each size will provide a more rich environment for the next ... This thesis proposes to investigate those decisions both analytically and synthetically. In volume one, construction phases are established and a set of physical system options is assigned to each. The next task of the thesis is to assemble these systems in multiple, thus discovering both the intrinsic behaviors of the system as well as its means of exchange with other systems. These parallel systems investigations will then provide the background for the final task of this thesis: volume two, a practical application of the methodology in an architectural project.by Daniel M. Sandomire.M.Arch

The Impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Legal Education and Academic Modifications for Disabled Law Students: An Empirical Study

Law schools face the challenge of providing disabled students with reasonable accommodations in their academic setting in a fair and equitable manner. Disabled law students continue to demand academic modifications in course examinations by claiming to be persons with mental or physical disabilities. Law schools are also beginning to see requests for extension of time for degree completion, priority in course registration, and authorization to tape record classes, all by virtue of an entitlement under the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Persons with a wide range of disabilities are seeking academic modifications from their law schools. What disabilities are most often represented? Are persons with learning disabilities inclined to seek additional time in completing their final exams? Are students with a mental illness more or less inclined to self-identify and seek similar reasonable accommodations? For those disabled students who are provided with additional time to complete their course examinations, how much additional time is fair and equitable? Should law schools provide readers for blind students and sign language interpreters for deaf students, or modify classroom equipment for physically disabled students? When law schools consider providing reasonable accommodations in academic programs to their disabled students, what is the role of the law school professor in approving the requested modification? How does anonymous grading affect a disabled student\u27s request for an academic modification? Do most students who seek an accommodation have the request honored? Is there an administrative appeal process within the law school community? For those disabled law students who desire an academic modification, what, if any, medical, psychological, or educational documentation is required? Do law schools have written policies and procedures for addressing requests by disabled students? A fundamental issue underlying the provision of reasonable accommodations within a law school setting is the future impact such an accommodation may have when the disabled lawyer subsequently represents a client in a legal proceeding. Do law schools provide a disservice by offering an advantage to a disabled law student when as a lawyer, no such benefit is provided? Do law schools, under the mandate of the ADA, recognize that providing academic modifications to disabled students has a significant impact beyond legal education, affecting the bar admission process, bar examination, attorney grievance and disbarment procedures, and employment of lawyers in the work place in general? The empirical data contained in this Article is submitted to serve as a backdrop for purposes of elaboration and comparison of these and other questions. Eighty law schools from across the country were surveyed to obtain data and elicit their opinions on such questions relating to academic modifications. The significant number of disabled students seeking an academic modification in their law school education warrants such inquiry. Law schools continue to grapple with disabled students\u27 claims for fair and equitable treatment, as well as the desire to avoid a backlash from the nondisabled students who want to avoid providing disabled students with an unfair advantage in the law school setting. This Article discusses and analyzes court decisions in the area of reasonable accommodations in the academic arena in order to understand the impact of the ADA and the direction courts are heading as they tackle this difficult and important area of law. Finally, this Article offers recommendations regarding fair and equitable reasonable accommodations for disabled law students in the academic setting

A knowledge representation model to support concurrent engineering team working

This thesis demonstrates that a knowledge representation model can provide considerable support to concurrent engineering teams, by providing a sound basis for creation of necessary software applications. This is achieved by demonstrating that use of the knowledge representation model facilitates the capture, interpretation and implementation of important aspects of the multiple, diverse types of expertise which are essential to the successful working of concurrent engineering project teams. The varieties of expertise which can be modelled as instances of the knowledge representation model range from specialist applications, which support particular aspects of design, by assisting human designers with highly focused skills and knowledge sets, to applications which specialise in management or coordination of team activities. It is shown that both these types of expertise are essential for effective working of a concurrent engineering team. Examination of the requirements of concurrent engineering team working indicate that no single artificial intelligence paradigm can provide a satisfactory basis for the whole range of possible solutions which may be provided by intelligent software applications. Hence techniques, architectures and environments to support design and development of hybrid software expertise are required, and the knowledge representation model introduced in this research is such an architecture. The versatility of the knowledge representation model is demonstrated through the design and implementation of a variety of software applications

Decentralization of Education : Politics and Consensus

This book is designed to assist political and educational policymakers and practitioners in developing countries, as well as staff members of donor agencies and nongovernmental organizations and other outsiders who are seeking to help such countries move toward the goal of education for all. Its purpose is to identify the political dimensions of decentralization and to heighten sensitivity to them. Decentralization programs will vary widely from country to country, but there are common threads and, above all, fundamental questions to be asked in all situations. This book covers the following themes and topics: A case study of school decentralization. The first chapter tells the story of how one country, Colombia, went about decentralizing its schools and then adjusting this policy over a period of more than two decades. Colombia's experience demonstrates that decentralization is a complex enterprise and that the road from concept to implementation is by no means straight; Why decentralization is political. Understanding the political dynamics of decentralization is crucial to the success of any decentralization program. The second chapter defines and discusses the inherently political nature of school decentralization; Why countries decentralize. National leaders have many reasons for decentralizing, most of which have little to do with the improvement of learning. The third chapter describes nine countries that decentralized-for nine different reasons; What does decentralization accomplish? The fourth chapter is a brief survey of what we know about the effects of school decentralization on learning, administrative efficiency, school finance, and equity. One conclusion is that school decentralization, in and of itself, is no panacea. It can be a political success but still do nothing to improve teaching and learning, and it can have undesirable side effects, such as widening the gaps between rich and poor. It is a necessary but not sufficient condition for improving teaching and learning; The importance of developing consensus. If school decentralization is going to have a positive impact on learning without exacerbating problems of equity, it is important to involve as many stakeholders in the process as possible. The fifth chapter looks at the problems and possibilities inherent in building consensus; How to build consensus. Not many countries have tried to build broad public consensus around school decentralization, but the experience of those that have done so offers some practical lessons. This is the subject of the final chapter

Application of Link Integrity techniques from Hypermedia to the Semantic Web

As the Web of Linked Data expands it will become increasingly important to preserve data and links such that the data remains available and usable. In this work I present a method for locating linked data to preserve which functions even when the URI the user wishes to preserve does not resolve (i.e. is broken/not RDF) and an application for monitoring and preserving the data. This work is based upon the principle of adapting ideas from hypermedia link integrity in order to apply them to the Semantic Web

Sleep and information processing in individuals who have sustained a traumatic brain injury

Individuals who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) often complain of t roubl e sleeping and daytime fatigue but little is known about the neurophysiological underpinnings of the s e sleep difficulties. The fragile sleep of thos e with a TBI was predicted to be characterized by impairments in gating, hyperarousal and a breakdown in sleep homeostatic mechanisms. To test these hypotheses, 20 individuals with a TBI (18- 64 years old, 10 men) and 20 age-matched controls (18-61 years old, 9 men) took part in a comprehensive investigation of their sleep. While TBI participants were not recruited based on sleep complaint, the fmal sample was comprised of individuals with a variety of sleep complaints, across a range of injury severities. Rigorous screening procedures were used to reduce potential confounds (e.g., medication). Sleep and waking data were recorded with a 20-channel montage on three consecutive nights. Results showed dysregulation in sleep/wake mechanisms. The sleep of individuals with a TBI was less efficient than that of controls, as measured by sleep architecture variables. There was a clear breakdown in both spontaneous and evoked K-complexes in those with a TBI. Greater injury severities were associated with reductions in spindle density, though sleep spindles in slow wave sleep were longer for individuals with TBI than controls. Quantitative EEG revealed an impairment in sleep homeostatic mechanisms during sleep in the TBI group. As well, results showed the presence of hyper arousal based on quantitative EEG during sleep. In wakefulness, quantitative EEG showed a clear dissociation in arousal level between TBls with complaints of insomnia and TBls with daytime fatigue. In addition, ERPs indicated that the experience of hyper arousal in persons with a TBI was supported by neural evidence, particularly in wakefulness and Stage 2 sleep, and especially for those with insomnia symptoms. ERPs during sleep suggested that individuals with a TBI experienced impairments in information processing and sensory gating. Whereas neuropsychological testing and subjective data confirmed predicted deficits in the waking function of those with a TBI, particularly for those with more severe injuries, there were few group differences on laboratory computer-based tasks. Finally, the use of correlation analyses confirmed distinct sleep-wake relationships for each group. In sum, the mechanisms contributing to sleep disruption in TBI are particular to this condition, and unique neurobiological mechanisms predict the experience of insomnia versus daytime fatigue following a TBI. An understanding of how sleep becomes disrupted after a TBI is important to directing future research and neurorehabilitation

Theatre, theatricality and resistance : some contemporary possibilities

PhDTheatre, Theatricality, and Resistance is concerned with how certain elements of contemporary Western - mainly British and Hungarian - culture are manifested through theatrical activity, both on and off stage. In so doing, the thesis asks the extent to which resistance is pc'ssible in contemporary theatre and theatricality. The thesis argues that conventional Western theatre is grounded in escapism and nostalgia. Restricted by its own institutional system, ideological function, and commercial aims, conventional theatre reaffirms the spectators' psychological and emotional desires, and confirms the hegemonic views and assumptions of contemporary postindustrial societies. In so doing, it silences the various voices available in society and erases even the possibility of resistance. Then the thesis proposes that while theatre is regarded as a marginalized commodity on the cultural market, theatricality has now produced a number of new practices in postindustrial societies. As the everyday appears as representation in various, constantly evolving and continuously improvised, collective and individual cultural perfor'nances, theatricality is not only thoroughly utilised by dominant social groups, but is also open to resistant voices left out of public discourses. These voices express their resistance by rewriting the means, practices, and strategies that the dominant culture employs. Finally, the thesis investigates those theatre practices (labelled `resistant') that are alert to recent changes in theatricalised society. These practices reconsider social, political, and cultural boundaries; confront logocentricity; and place equal emphasis on 2 visual, oral, textual, and proximal elements, as well as the audience's creative-interactive participation. Theatre can thus reflect on the anomalies of the theatricalised society, social and sexual (in)difference, gender assumptions, and ethnic stereotyping, and resist the lure of power. Through these practices, theatre may attain complexity, endangering institutions, hierarchies and power, and offer alternatives to the dominant ideology by fusing popular and high culture, and giving visual, textual, intellectual and sensual pleasure to its participants

World in a text, words in context: enhancing the role of literature in language learning

This thesis aims to provide a qualitative analysis of the different ways in which students perceive, approach, and learn from literary texts in a non native language (L2). The thesis situates the research in the context of the debate concerning the possible roles of L2 literature by outlining the main arguments, approaches and descriptions of Ll and L2 literature. Barely touched by this literature, however, are L2 learners' experiences of L2 literature and L2 learning models and methods for analysing students' perceptions and approaches to the study of literature. This forms the focus of the research reported here. For the research I conducted as both researcher and educator at the Australian National University I adopted a cross-sectional design. This allowed me to undertake the research in stages, with different groups of students of Italian, to investigate: 1) what students are actually thinking about and doing with L2 literary texts; and 2) ways of improving learning for all L2 students studying L2 literature. Following a preliminary investigation into students' perceptions of literature in 1998, I conducted two main studies in 1999 and 2000. In 1998 I had found that many students perceived literature in general as entertainment and, vice versa, L2 literature mainly as difficult language learning. Study 1 (1999) therefore investigated further students' perceptions of L2 literature and also their approaches to the study of literature. The major finding of study 1 was an association between perceptions of literature and approaches to the study of L2 literary texts and learning. Complex perceptions of literature and favourable attitudes towards L2 literature were related to integrated deep study approaches which led to advanced learning achievements. Conversely, more limited learning achievements were linked to less complex perceptions of literature, less favourable views of L2 literature and surface approaches to study. Study 2 (2000) investigated a novel pedagogic approach based on key principles of phenomenography (awareness; reflective variation; change)and hermeneutics (the class as a learning community), and a repeated reading method designed to elicit complex understandings of L2 literary texts. Findings from study 2 are that students' awareness of their approach to reading literature, introduction of repeated readings of the same literature,and class reflection on variation in students' response to literature are key elements in expanding students' abilities and learning. These findings highlight that students' experiences of subject matter are a crucial factor in literature and language education. Therefore, the role of L2 literature can be enhanced only if students' learning experiences of L2 literature are enhanced, and this can only happen if we,the educators and researchers, become aware of them and include them in our research and pedagogical practice