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Teacher evaluation is an activity of assessing teachers' performance. It is equivalent to teacher appraisal/teacher performance management in England. This study explores the complexities of implementing Teacher Evaluation in primary schools in Taiwan. It concentrates principally on the development of Teacher Evaluation in Taiwan in the light of international research, especially that relating to the English context. The philosophical perspective with which this study is most closely aligned is constructivism. In particular, using qualitative methods of documentary analysis and interviews, it...

The environmental reports of 12 Scottish Strategic Environmental Assessments have been subject to critical analysis in order to assess the extent to which they include Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) as a required component under the SEA directive. The anticipated benefits of assessing Cumulative Effects in a strategic setting are wide-ranging and well researched, yet there appears little documented evidence of this in the Scottish context. The level of Cumulative Effects inclusion in the reports studied was investigated, along with the parameters that appear to limit the success of the la...

The presence and influence of the media in modern times has increased to a point where they have seamlessly permeated every aspect of contemporary life, a situation that has led some to attribute them ideal qualities to promote and strengthen human rights values, while others perceive their commercial interests as an obstacle to perform such a task. This dissertation analyses the role of the media in promoting human rights, based primarily on a theoretical discussion which examines the problem from four different angles: the idealistic perception mainly promoted by the United Nations; the real...

Multi-Agent Geo-Simulation (MAGS) is a modelling paradigm which has attracted a growing interest from researchers and practitioners for the study of various phenomena in a variety of domains such as traffic simulation, urban dynamics, environment monitoring, as well as changes of land use and cover, to name a few. These phenomena usually involve a large number of simulated actors (implemented as software agents) evolving in, and interacting with, an explicit spatial environment representation commonly called Virtual Geographic Environment (VGE). Since a geographic environment may be complex an...

The thesis explores the syntactic and semantic dimensions of four linguistic elements that appear in Modern Greek arguably as quantifiers and modifiers, i.e., in the form of Quantificational Modifiers (QMods) olos 'all, whole, overall' and its extension olikos 'total', merikos 'some, a few, partial', ligos 'some, few, little, insignificant' and polis 'many, great, considerable'. Such QMods are analyzed as 'measure' quantifiers of scalar semantics that appear in a syntactic position common to adjectival modifiers. The thesis explores specific sets of reading and their interpretations. Such a ph...

The establishment of alternative education, private foundations, and networks linked to socio-political and spiritual advocacies distinguishes the Thai social movement in this research. This research is a qualitative study that has made use of historical accounts to associate with data gathered from extensive interviews and case studies in order to inquire as to whether alternative education represents an historical spiritual tradition of opposition to reform hegemony, and whether it has had an impact on state reform efforts. Also investigated was whether there are some historical patterns ass...

Wireless Metering Networks (WMN), a special class of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), consisting of a large number of tiny inexpensive sensor nodes are a viable solution for many problems in the field of building automation, especially if the expected lifetime of the network permits to synchronize the network maintenance with the schedule for routine maintenance of the building. In order to meet the resulting energy constraints, the nodes have to operate according to an extremely low duty cycle schedule. The existence of an energy efficient MAC Layer protocol, the adoption of a robust time sync...

The Niger Delta is a prolific oil province within the West African subcontinent. Exploration activities have been concentrated in the onshore part of this basin, but as the delta becomes better understood, exploration influences are gradually being shifted to the offshore. Although the geology, tectonics and evolution of the Eocene-Pliocene sequence of the Niger Delta are fairly well known, these are expected to increase as new analytical tools and concepts evolve. This work was an integrated structural, seismic facies and stratigraphic study conducted in the Fabi Field, onshore western Niger ...

Surface tension is one of the major issues encountered in the oil industry. This study investigated the laboratory effect of temperature and impurities on surface tension of crude oil samples and water. The aforementioned tests were carried out (in line with industrial standard) on the samples in order to determine the relationship between surface tension, temperature and impurities and also to compare the variation in the measured property due to temperature and impurities. Prediction equations were also built. The results show that surface tension decreases with an increase in temperat...

The purpose of the qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the influence of leadership development or succession-planning programs upon women's progression to high-level positions and their continued success in the executive ranks. A qualitative methodology provided a detailed and rich understanding of the experiences of women in high-level leadership from the perspectives of women who have experienced leadership development or succession-planning programs. Twenty women in high-level leadership positions employed in for-profit organizations in the eastern United States we...