Bridging the gap between work and education in vocational education and training. A study of Norwegian apprenticeship training offices and e-portfolio systems

This article explores the effect that the use of e-portfolios initiated and organized by apprenticeship training offices has had on the learning processes and assessment practices of apprentices in Norwegian vocational education and training. Although these intermediate structures have the potential to bridge the gap between work and education, they seem to maintain a system of two parallel learning arenas. However, the article summarizes the innovative effects of these transformations as supportive structures for expansive apprenticeship. The study is based on data from a national project on quality assessment, which is supported by documentary evidence from e-portfolios in three different trades: plumbing, industrial mechanics and sales. (DIPF/orig.

The Norwegian state's relationship to the international oil companies over North Sea oil, 1965-75

The thesis examines the relationship between the Norwegian state and the international oil companies from 1965 when the first oil concessions were granted on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to the beginning of 1975. It singles out three variables which were the objects of bargaining between the state and the companies during this period; oil-rent, volume control and Norwegian share of spinoffs from oil. To study in more detail the division of oil-rent over time we have constructed a cash-flow model which incorporates different participation schemes which were negotiated between the state and the companies and which also takes account of different exploration success rates. This framework of analysis makes use of a historical methodology. It attempts to recreate what the likely division of rent would have been at the time when new concessions were granted to the companies in 1965, 1969, 1973, 1974. It is only based on what the state and the companies expected the costs, revenues and tax conditions to be that it is possible to understand the historical development of Norway's oil policies. We have also carried out a number of sensitivity tests to see how changes in the variables which influence costs and revenues would have affected the division of rent and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the companies. The most important of these factors was the shape of the production profile. To understand the development of the three chosen bargaining variables over time, and in particular the constantly increasing role of the Norwegian state with respect to all three variables, we have relied on three explanatory factors. First exogenous changes in the expected Present Value from the oilfields in the North Sea; secondly the situation in the international oil industry; and thirdly the special characteristics of the Norwegian state. While development of the first two factors opened up the way for a strengthening of the role of the Norwegian state in the industry and made them easier to achieve, the particular form and manner in which these changes were grasped by Norwegian policy-makers can only be understood with reference to the historical and political peculiarities of the Norwegian state, in particular the weakness of the national Norwegian capitalist class. Norwegian oil policies also operated within a set of ultimate policy constraints. This meant that the Norwegian policies tried to increase the state's share of the total rent by a process of participation and by the creation of a state oil corporation, Statoil, which did not imply any fundamental confrontation with the private companies and which left the IRR of these virtually intact. There are thus no 'unicausal' explanations of the increase in the role of the Norwegian state in the oil industry. Any satisfactory explanation must rely on an interdisciplinary perspective. No purely economic, sociological or political approach to state intervention in a modern society is possible

Regulation Of Vectorial Active Transport In Human Proximal Tubule Cells By MT-3: The Role Of The C-Terminal Domain On E-And N-Cadherin Expression And The Confirmation Of Protein-Protein Interactions

The proximal tubule of the kidney is particularly susceptible to toxicant-induced damage and cell cultures of human proximal tubule cells are widely utilized to study the role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in renal disease. Cadmium is a toxic metal ion that is known to produce renal tubular necrosis and accumulate in the proximal tubule. This metal binds to a family of cysteine rich metal binding proteins known as metallothioneins (MT) that are found in abundance in the kidney. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that the third isoform of metallothionein (MT-3) is expressed in the epithelial cells of the human kidney, including those of the proximal tubule. An immortalized proximal tubule cell line does not express MT-3 and does not demonstrate vectorial active transport. Transfection of the MT-3 gene into the HK-2 cells restores vectorial active transport as evidenced by dome formation. This suggests that MT-3 is involved in mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET), the reverse of EMT, and promotes and epithelial phenotype. The goals of the present study were to examine the role of growth media composition on classic EMT responses, quantitatively evaluate the expression levels of E- and N-cadherin, define the functional epitope of MT-3 that mediates MET in HK-2 cells, and identify proteins that interact with MT-3 to promote epithelial features in the proximal tubule. It was shown that both E- and N-cadherin mRNA and protein are expressed in the human renal proximal tubule. Based on the pattern of cadherin expression, vectorial active transport, and transepithelial resistance, it seems that the HK-2 cell line has already undergone many of the early features associated with EMT. Our data indicates the unique, six amino acid C-terminal sequence of MT-3 is required to induce MET in HK-2 cells. A combination of co-immunoprecipitation and western blotting indicate that MT-3 interacts with myosin-IIa, β-actin, enolase-1, tropomyosin-3, and aldolase-a in vitro. Together, the data suggests the HK-2 cell line can be an effective model to study later stages in the conversion of the renal epithelial cell to a mesenchymal cell and when transfected with MT-3 it may be an effective model to study the process of MET. MT-3 protein-protein interactions provide insight into the potential mechanism by which MT-3 promotes cytoskeletal organization in non-diseased epithelial proximal tubule cells and offers the opportunity to investigate these interactions under pathological conditions

Nonlinear dynamo in a short Taylor-Couette setup

It is numerically demonstrated by means of a magnetohydrodynamics code that a short Taylor-Couette setup with a body force can sustain dynamo action. The magnetic threshold is comparable to what is usually obtained in spherical geometries. The linear dynamo is characterized by a rotating equatorial dipole. The nonlinear regime is characterized by fluctuating kinetic and magnetic energies and a tilted dipole whose axial component exhibits aperiodic reversals during the time evolution. These numerical evidences of dynamo action in a short Taylor-Couette setup may be useful for developing an experimental device

Agile framework design for managing product development projects in a tbie integrating pmbok and scrum best practices

El presente trabajo de investigación, es el resultado de la integración de los distintos conceptos metodológicos y buenas practicas propuestas por el Project Managemet Institute (PMI) a través de su guia PMBOK 5ta Edición y el marco de trabajo SCRUM para la Gestión de Proyectos dentro de una Empresa de Base Innovadora y Tecnológica (EBIT). El documento inicia con la revisión y diagnóstico del estado del arte en la organización, seguido de una revisión literaria preliminar para unificar conceptos, herramientas y técnicas para así pasar a la fase de diseño del procedimiento metodológico y de los procesos que conformaran el qué hacer de los proyectos desde el mismo momento en que se valida una idea hasta que se entrega en operación y se empieza el monitoreo de los beneficios logrados por la iniciativa en operación. La ejecución de proyectos exitosos, permitirá gestionar el valor ganado y el desarrollo de estrategia para la EBIT a través de un marco ágil, practico y ajustado a las necesidades para la correcta asignación y control de los recursos en un proyecto, incluso para aquellas organizaciones en donde cuyo objetivo principal del negocio no es el desarrollo de software o aquellas que no pertenecen al sector científico y tecnológico.This research work is the result that comes from the integration of diferent methodological concepts and best practices formulated by the Project Managemet Institute (PMI) through to the PMBOK 5th edition guide and the SCRUM framework for managing product development projects in Technology-Based Innovative Enterprises (TBIE). This document starting with the development of a review and diagnosis of the state of art in the organization followed by a preliminary literature review training to unify concepts, tools and techniques in order to move to the design phase of the methodology and processes that make the projects from the moment an idea is feasible to delivery begins operating and monitoring the benefits achieved by the initiative in operation. The successful implementation of projects, will allow the management of the earned value and the development of the strategy for the TBIE through agile framework and adjusted to the needs for the proper allocation and control of resources of the projects, even for those organizations where whose main objective of business isn’t the software development or those that don’t belong to the scientific and technological sector

Phylogeny of Tec Family Kinases: Identification of a Pre-Metazoan Origin of Btk, Bmx, Itk, Tec, Txk and the Btk Regulator SH3BP5

It is generally considered mammals and birds have five Tec family kinases (TFKs): Btk, Bmx (also known as Etk), Itk, Tec, and Txk (also known as Rlk). Here, we discuss the domains and their functions and regulation in TFKs. Over the last few years, a large number of genomes from various phyla have been sequenced making it possible to study evolutionary relationships at the molecular and sequence level. Using bioinformatics tools, we for the first time demonstrate that a TFK ancestor exists in the unicellular choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis, which is the closest known relative to metazoans with a sequenced genome. The analysis of the genomes for sponges, insects, hagfish, and frogs suggests that these species encode a single TFK. The insect form has a divergent and unique N-terminal region. Duplications generating the five members took place prior to the emergence of vertebrates. Fishes have two or three forms and the platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, has four (lacks Txk). Thus, not all mammals have all five TFKs. The single identified TFK in frogs is an ortholog of Tec. Bmx seems to be unique to mammals and birds. SH3BP5 is a negative regulator of Btk. It is conserved in choanoflagellates and interestingly exists also in nematodes, which do not express TFKs, suggesting a broader function in addition to Btk regulation. The related SH3BP5-like protein is not found in Nematodes

Boundary layers and emitted excitations in nonlinear Schrodinger superflow past a disk

The stability and dynamics of nonlinear Schrodinger superflows past a two-dimensional disk are investigated using a specially adapted pseudo-spectral method based on mapped Chebychev polynomials. This efficient numerical method allows the imposition of both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions at the disk border. Small coherence length boundary-layer approximations to stationary solutions are obtained analytically. Newton branch-following is used to compute the complete bifurcation diagram of stationary solutions. The dependence of the critical Mach number on the coherence length is characterized. Above the critical Mach number, at coherence length larger than fifteen times the diameter of the disk, rarefaction pulses are dynamically nucleated, replacing the vortices that are nucleated at small coherence length