Teacher Education, School Effectiveness and Improvement : A Study of Academic and Professional Qualification on Teachers' Job Effectiveness in Nigerian Secondary Schools

This academic work begins with a compact presentation of the general background to the study, which also includes an autobiography for the interest in this research. The presentation provides readers who know little of the topic of this research and of the structure of the educational system as well as of the value given to education in Nigeria. It further concentrates on the dynamic interplay of the effect of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness in secondary schools in Nigeria in particular, and in Africa in general. The aim of this study is to produce a systematic analysis and rich theoretical and empirical description of teachers' teaching competencies. The theoretical part comprises a comprehensive literature review that focuses on research conducted in the areas of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness, teaching competencies, and the role of teacher education with particular emphasis on school effectiveness and improvement. This research benefits greatly from the functionalist conception of education, which is built upon two emphases: the application of the scientific method to the objective social world, and the use of an analogy between the individual 'organism' and 'society'. To this end, it offers us an opportunity to define terms systematically and to view problems as always being interrelated with other components of society. The empirical part involves describing and interpreting what educational objectives can be achieved with the help of teachers' teaching competencies in close connection to educational planning, teacher training and development, and achieving them without waste. The data used in this study were collected between 2002 and 2003 from teachers, principals, supervisors of education from the Ministry of Education and Post Primary Schools Board in the Rivers State of Nigeria (N=300). The data were collected from interviews, documents, observation, and questionnaires and were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods to strengthen the validity of the findings. The data collected were analyzed to answer the specific research questions and hypotheses posited in this study. The data analysis involved the use of multiple statistical procedures: Percentages Mean Point Value, T-test of Significance, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Cross Tabulation. The results obtained from the data analysis show that teachers require professional knowledge and professional teaching skills, as well as a broad base of general knowledge (e.g., morality, service, cultural capital, institutional survey). Above all, in order to carry out instructional processes effectively, teachers should be both academically and professionally trained. This study revealed that teachers are not however expected to have an extraordinary memory, but rather looked upon as persons capable of thinking in the right direction. This study may provide a solution to the problem of teacher education and school effectiveness in Nigeria. For this reason, I offer this treatise to anyone seriously committed in improving schools in developing countries in general and in Nigeria in particular to improve the lives of all its citizens. In particular, I write this to encourage educational planners, education policy makers, curriculum developers, principals, teachers, and students of education interested in empirical information and methods to conceptualize the issue this study has raised and to provide them with useful suggestions to help them improve secondary schooling in Nigeria. Though, multiple audiences exist for any text. For this reason, I trust that the academic community will find this piece of work a useful addition to the existing literature on school effectiveness and school improvement. Through integrating concepts from a number of disciplines, I aim to describe as holistic a representation as space could allow of the components of school effectiveness and quality improvement. A new perspective on teachers' professional competencies, which not only take into consideration the unique characteristics of the variables used in this study, but also recommend their environmental and cultural derivation. In addition, researchers should focus their attention on the ways in which both professional and non-professional teachers construct and apply their methodological competencies, such as their grouping procedures and behaviors to the schooling of students. Keywords: Professional Training, Academic Training, Professionally Qualified, Academically Qualified, Professional Qualification, Academic Qualification, Job Effectiveness, Job Efficiency, Educational Planning, Teacher Training and Development, Nigeria.

Cervical headgear in Class II division 1 correction in children : Academic Dissertation

Class II division 1 malocclusion occurs in 3.5 to 13 percent of 7 12 year-old children. It is the most common reason for orthodontic treatment in Finland. Correction is most commonly performed using headgear treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cervical headgear treatment on dentition, facial skeletal and soft tissue growth, and upper airway structure, in children. 65 schoolchildren, 36 boys and 29 girls were studied. At the onset of treatment a mean age was 9.3 (range 6.6 12.4) years. All the children were consequently referred to an orthodontist because of Class II division 1 malocclusion. The included children had protrusive maxilla and an overjet of more than 2mm (3 to 11 mm). The children were treated with a Kloehn-type cervical headgear as the only appliance until Class I first molar relationships were achieved. The essential features of the headgear were cervical strong pulling forces, a long upward bent outer bow, and an expanded inner bow. Dental casts and lateral and posteroanterior cephalograms were taken before and after the treatment. The results were compared to a historical, cross-sectional Finnish cohort or to historical, age- and sex-matched normal Class I controls. The Class I first molar relationships were achieved in all the treated children. The mean treatment time was 1.7 (range 0.3-3.1) years. Phase 2 treatments were needed in 52% of the children, most often because of excess overjet or overbite. The treatment decreased maxillary protrusion by inhibiting alveolar forward growth, while the rest of the maxilla and mandible followed normal growth. The palate rotated anteriorly downward. The expansion of the inner bow of the headgear induced widening of the maxilla, nasal cavity, and the upper and lower dental arches. Class II malocclusion was associated with narrower oro- and hypopharyngeal space than in the Class I normal controls. The treatment increased the retropalatal airway space, while the rest of the airway remained unaffected. The facial profile improved esthetically, while the facial convexity decreased. Facial soft tissues masked the facial skeletal convexity, and the soft tissue changes were smaller than skeletal changes. In conclusion, the headgear treatment with the expanded inner bow may be used as an easy and simple method for Class II correction in growing children.

Imagining Some Space

Some texts and a performance story. All motivated by the author’s interest in space, in this that surrounds, and that interest, in turn, originating from the author’s earlier studies in cultural anthropology, in observing and experiencing the surrounding animate and inanimate world. The texts in this thesis are alternating between academic and creative writing. They are texts written on a specific site on Suomenlinna island in Helsinki, Finland, as part of the performance ”Beyond the Wind in Front of Me / A Space Ship Journey” story or prologues to that, and the more academic ones supporting them or growing out of them, being accompanied also by the thoughts and practices of others. The main research questions and themes being How to perceive this that surrounds me? What is space, what does it consist of? Is it something that simply surrounds me? Am I a part of it or is it a part of me? How can a space be researched? How to activate a space? What kind of mental images do spaces/places create/uncover/open up in us? How to animate/make alive those images? Body giving meaning to space via actions created by the body. Physical environment contra emotional, imaginary, visionary one. Presence in a space/place. Physical and mental presence. Presence in memories.

Process Analytical Technology Approach on Fluid Bed Granulation and Drying : Identifying Critical Relationships and Constructing the Design Space

Fluid bed granulation is a key pharmaceutical process which improves many of the powder properties for tablet compression. Dry mixing, wetting and drying phases are included in the fluid bed granulation process. Granules of high quality can be obtained by understanding and controlling the critical process parameters by timely measurements. Physical process measurements and particle size data of a fluid bed granulator that are analysed in an integrated manner are included in process analytical technologies (PAT). Recent regulatory guidelines strongly encourage the pharmaceutical industry to apply scientific and risk management approaches to the development of a product and its manufacturing process. The aim of this study was to utilise PAT tools to increase the process understanding of fluid bed granulation and drying. Inlet air humidity levels and granulation liquid feed affect powder moisture during fluid bed granulation. Moisture influences on many process, granule and tablet qualities. The approach in this thesis was to identify sources of variation that are mainly related to moisture. The aim was to determine correlations and relationships, and utilise the PAT and design space concepts for the fluid bed granulation and drying. Monitoring the material behaviour in a fluidised bed has traditionally relied on the observational ability and experience of an operator. There has been a lack of good criteria for characterising material behaviour during spraying and drying phases, even though the entire performance of a process and end product quality are dependent on it. The granules were produced in an instrumented bench-scale Glatt WSG5 fluid bed granulator. The effect of inlet air humidity and granulation liquid feed on the temperature measurements at different locations of a fluid bed granulator system were determined. This revealed dynamic changes in the measurements and enabled finding the most optimal sites for process control. The moisture originating from the granulation liquid and inlet air affected the temperature of the mass and pressure difference over granules. Moreover, the effects of inlet air humidity and granulation liquid feed rate on granule size were evaluated and compensatory techniques used to optimize particle size. Various end-point indication techniques of drying were compared. The ∆T method, which is based on thermodynamic principles, eliminated the effects of humidity variations and resulted in the most precise estimation of the drying end-point. The influence of fluidisation behaviour on drying end-point detection was determined. The feasibility of the ∆T method and thus the similarities of end-point moisture contents were found to be dependent on the variation in fluidisation between manufacturing batches. A novel parameter that describes behaviour of material in a fluid bed was developed. Flow rate of the process air and turbine fan speed were used to calculate this parameter and it was compared to the fluidisation behaviour and the particle size results. The design space process trajectories for smooth fluidisation based on the fluidisation parameters were determined. With this design space it is possible to avoid excessive fluidisation and improper fluidisation and bed collapse. Furthermore, various process phenomena and failure modes were observed with the in-line particle size analyser. Both rapid increase and a decrease in granule size could be monitored in a timely manner. The fluidisation parameter and the pressure difference over filters were also discovered to express particle size when the granules had been formed. The various physical parameters evaluated in this thesis give valuable information of fluid bed process performance and increase the process understanding.

Space in Musical Semiosis : An Abductive Theory of the Musical Composition Process

Space in musical semiosis is a study of musical meaning, spatiality and composition. Earlier studies on musical composition have not adequately treated the problems of musical signification. Here, composition is considered an epitomic process of musical signification. Hence the core problems of composition theory are core problems of musical semiotics. The study employs a framework of naturalist pragmatism, based on C. S. Peirce’s philosophy. It operates on concepts such as subject, experience, mind and inquiry, and incorporates relevant ideas of Aristotle, Peirce and John Dewey into a synthetic view of esthetic, practic, and semiotic for the benefit of grasping musical signification process as a case of semiosis in general. Based on expert accounts, music is depicted as real, communicative, representational, useful, embodied and non-arbitrary. These describe how music and the musical composition process are mental processes. Peirce’s theories are combined with current morphological theories of cognition into a view of mind, in which space is central. This requires an analysis of space, and the acceptance of a relativist understanding of spatiality. This approach to signification suggests that mental processes are spatially embodied, by virtue of hard facts of the world, literal representations of objects, as well as primary and complex metaphors each sharing identities of spatial structures. Consequently, music and the musical composition process are spatially embodied. Composing music appears as a process of constructing metaphors—as a praxis of shaping and reshaping features of sound, representable from simple quality dimensions to complex domains. In principle, any conceptual space, metaphorical or literal, may set off and steer elaboration, depending on the practical bearings on the habits of feeling, thinking and action, induced in musical communication. In this sense, it is evident that music helps us to reorganize our habits of feeling, thinking, and action. These habits, in turn, constitute our existence. The combination of Peirce and morphological approaches to cognition serves well for understanding musical and general signification. It appears both possible and worthwhile to address a variety of issues central to musicological inquiry in the framework of naturalist pragmatism. The study may also contribute to the development of Peircean semiotics.

Vilijonkka ikkunassa - Tove Janssonin muumiteosten kuva, sana ja liike

Tove Jansson (1914--2001) was a Finnish illustrator, author, artist, caricaturist and comic artist. She is best known for her Moomin Books, written in Swedish, which she illustrated herself, and published between 1945 and 1977. My study focuses on the interweaving of images and words in Jansson s picturebooks, novels and short stories situated in the fantasy world of Moomin Valley. In particular, it concentrates on Jansson s development of a special kind of aesthetics of movement and stasis, based upon both illustration and text. The conventions of picturebook art and illustration are significant to both Jansson s visual art and her writing, and she was acutely conscious of them. My analysis of Jansson s work begins by discussing her first published picturebooks and less familiar illustrations (before she began her Moomin books) and I then proceed to discuss her three Moomin picturebooks, The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My; Who Will Comfort Toffle?, and The Dangerous Journey. The discussion moves from images to words and from words to images: Barthes s (1982) concept of anchoring and, in particular, what he calls relaying , form a point of reading and viewing Moomin texts and illustrations in a complementary relation, in which the message s unity occurs on a higher level: that of the story, the anecdote, the diegesis . The eight illustrated Moomin novels and one collection of short stories are analysed in a similar manner, taking into account the academic discourse about picturebooks which was developed in the last decade of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century by, among others, scholars such as Nodelman, Rhedin, Doonan, Thiele, Stephens, Lewis, Nikolajeva and Scott. In her Moomin books, Jansson uses a wide variety of narrative and illustrative styles which are complementary to each other. Each book is different and unique in its own way, but a certain development or progression of mood and representation can be seen when assessing the series as a whole. Jansson s early stories are happy and adventurous but her later Moomin novels, beginning from Moominland Midwinter, focus more on the interiority of the characters, placing them in difficult situations which approximate social reality. This orientation is also reflected in the representation of movement and space. The books which were published first include more obviously descriptive passages, exemplifying the tradition of literary pictorialism. Whereas in Jansson s later work, the space develops into something that is alive which can have an enduring effect on the characters personalities and behaviour. This study shows how the idea of an image a dynamic image -- forms a holistic foundation for Jansson s imagination and work. The idea of central perspective, or frame, for instance, provided inspiration for whole stories or in the way that she developed her characters, as in the case of the Fillyjonk, who is a complex female figure, simultaneously frantic and prim. The idea of movement is central to the narrative art of picturebooks and illustrated texts, particularly in relation to the way that action is depicted. Jansson, however, also develops a specific choreography of characters in which poses and postures signify action, feelings and relationships. Here, I use two ideas from modern dance, contraction and release (Graham), to characterise the language of movement which is evident in Jansson s words and images. In Jansson s final Moomin novels and short stories, the idea of space becomes more and more dynamic and closely linked with characterisation. My study also examines a number of Jansson s early sketches for her Moomin novels, in which movement is performed much more dramatically than in those illustrations which appeared in the last novels to be published.

Paremmin tietäjän paikka ja toisin tietämisen tila : Opettajuus (ja tutkijuus) pedagogisena suhteena

The position of knowing better and the space for knowing otherwise. Pedagogical mode of address in teaching (and in research) This book is a study of teaching, research, and expertise – the position of “knowing better” – as a pedagogical relationship. The focus of the study is empirical research of the classroom practices of four primary school teachers in a Finnish comprehensive school, and the interpretative discussions on those practices between the researcher and the teachers. To know, or knowing, is considered an interactive action: it is different ways of knowing and encounters between the better and the other knowledge. In these encounters, the different pedagogical modes of address construct space for interaction and relationships between the speakers in the space. In teaching and researching one is involved in practices connected to power/knowledge systems and conceptions of the hierarchies of different knowledges. Teaching is considered as a special interactive relationship interrelating knowledge and power through the discourses of the culturally and historically constructed school institution, discourses which operate in the practices and narratives of the teaching, teacher, and the pedagogical dialogue. This study uses the feminist poststructural perspective in which the discursive construction of the subject position is considered as an ambivalent process of subjectification and in which such concepts as marginality and otherness are salient. The pedagogical dialogue of these discursive practices address the learner and learning, and space is constructed for different positions, and for thinking and knowing otherwise. The ethnographic data on everyday pedagogical practices of teachers in the school institution was constructed jointly by the researchr, teachers and pupils durint the empirical study. The analysis and interpretations concentrate on the pedagogical practices in teaching and how teachers talk about them. In other words, how do the teachers enter the culturally and historically constructed, institutional space of the teacher in the classrooms of the comprehensive school, how do they take the position of the teacher and what kind of pedagogical address do they use? And, by taking those positions and using different modes of address, how do they position their pupils in the pedagogical interaction? These pedagogical practices are considered as surrounded and modified by the discourses that can be found in the cultural images of a school teacher, the historical and theoretical narratives about teaching and teachers of the school institution, and in the educational policy texts. The same discourses are also repeated, transformed and intertwined in the practices and narratives of the academic institution. These are considered in the study through the positionings of the researcher in the process of empirical research. The researcher and research are constructed in terms of the production of the power/knowledge dynamics. These dynamics are examined in the construction of the theoretical perspective and in the considerations of the methodology, epistemology and ethics of the study.

Is a Majority Enough? Psychological Well-being and Its Relation to Academic and Prosocial Motivation, Self-regulation and Achievement at school

This cross-sectional study analyzed psychological well-being at school using the Self-Determination theory as a theoretical frame-work. The study explored basic psychological needs fulfillment (BPNS), academic (SRQ-A), prosocial self-regulation (SRQ-P) and motivation, and their relationship with achievement in general, special and selective education (N=786, 444 boys, 345 girls, mean age 12 yrs 8 mths). Motivation starts behavior which becomes guided by self-regulation. The perceived locus of control (PLOC) affects how self-determined this behavior will be; in other words, to what extent it is autonomously regulated. In order learn and thus to be able to accept external goals, a student has to feel emotionally safe and have sufficient ego-flexibility—all of which builds on satisfied psychological needs. In this study those conditions were explored. In addition to traditional methods Self-organizing maps (SOM), was used in order to cluster the students according to their well-being, self-regulation, motivation and achievement scores. The main impacts of this research were: a presentation of the theory based alternative of studying psychological well-being at school and usage of both the variable and person-oriented approach. In this Finnish sample the results showed that the majority of students felt well, but the well-being varied by group. Overall about for 11–15% the basic needs were deprived depending on the educational group. Age and educational group were the most effective factors; gender was important in relation to prosocial identified behavior. Although the person-oriented SOM-approach, was in a large extent confirming what was no-ticed by using comparison of the variables: the SEN groups had lower levels of basic needs fulfillment and less autonomous self-regulation, interesting deviations of that rule appeared. Some of the SEL- and GEN-group members ended up in the more unfavorable SOM-clusters, and not all SEN-group members belonged to the poorest clusters (although not to the best either). This evidence refines the well-being and self-regulation picture, and may re-direct intervention plans, and turn our focus also on students who might otherwise remain unnoticed. On the other hand, these results imply simultaneously that in special education groups the average is not the whole truth. On the basis of theoretical and empirical considerations an intervention model was sug-gested. The aim of the model was to shift amotivation or external motivation in a more intrinsic direction. According to the theoretical and empirical evidence this can be achieved first by studying the self-concept a student has, and then trying to affect both inner and environmental factors—including a consideration of the basic psychological needs. Keywords: academic self-regulation, prosocial self-regulation, basic psychological needs, moti-vation, achievement

Characterization of the mitochondrial active-site serine protein LACTB: filaments in the mitochondrial intermembrane space

Mitochondria have evolved from endosymbiotic alpha-proteobacteria. During the endosymbiotic process early eukaryotes dumped the major component of the bacterial cell wall, the peptidoglycan layer. Peptidoglycan is synthesized and maintained by active-site serine enzymes belonging to the penicillin-binding protein and the β-lactamase superfamily. Mammals harbor a protein named LACTB that shares sequence similarity with bacterial penicillin-binding proteins and β-lactamases. Since eukaryotes lack the synthesis machinery for peptidoglycan, the physiological role of LACTB is intriguing. Recently, LACTB has been validated in vivo to be causative for obesity, suggesting that LACTB is implicated in metabolic processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the phylogeny, structure, biochemistry and cell biology of LACTB in order to elucidate its physiological function. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that LACTB has evolved from penicillin binding-proteins present in the bacterial periplasmic space. A structural model of LACTB indicates that LACTB shares characteristic features common to all penicillin-binding proteins and β-lactamases. Recombinat LACTB protein expressed in E. coli was recovered in significant quantities. Biochemical and cell biology studies showed that LACTB is a soluble protein localized in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Further analysis showed that LACTB preprotein underwent proteolytic processing disclosing an N-terminal tetrapeptide motif also found in a set of cell death-inducing proteins. Electron microscopy structural studies revealed that LACTB can polymerize to form stable filaments with lengths ranging from twenty to several hundred nanometers. These data suggest that LACTB filaments define a distinct microdomain in the intermembrane space. A possible role of LACTB filaments is proposed in the intramitochondrial membrane organization and microcompartmentation. The implications of these findings offer novel insight into the evolution of mitochondria. Further studies of the LACTB function might provide a tool to treat mitochondria-related metabolic diseases.

A Decentralized Session Management Framework for Heterogeneous Ad-Hoc and Fixed Networks

Wireless technologies are continuously evolving. Second generation cellular networks have gained worldwide acceptance. Wireless LANs are commonly deployed in corporations or university campuses, and their diffusion in public hotspots is growing. Third generation cellular systems are yet to affirm everywhere; still, there is an impressive amount of research ongoing for deploying beyond 3G systems. These new wireless technologies combine the characteristics of WLAN based and cellular networks to provide increased bandwidth. The common direction where all the efforts in wireless technologies are headed is towards an IP-based communication. Telephony services have been the killer application for cellular systems; their evolution to packet-switched networks is a natural path. Effective IP telephony signaling protocols, such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the H 323 protocol are needed to establish IP-based telephony sessions. However, IP telephony is just one service example of IP-based communication. IP-based multimedia sessions are expected to become popular and offer a wider range of communication capabilities than pure telephony. In order to conjoin the advances of the future wireless technologies with the potential of IP-based multimedia communication, the next step would be to obtain ubiquitous communication capabilities. According to this vision, people must be able to communicate also when no support from an infrastructured network is available, needed or desired. In order to achieve ubiquitous communication, end devices must integrate all the capabilities necessary for IP-based distributed and decentralized communication. Such capabilities are currently missing. For example, it is not possible to utilize native IP telephony signaling protocols in a totally decentralized way. This dissertation presents a solution for deploying the SIP protocol in a decentralized fashion without support of infrastructure servers. The proposed solution is mainly designed to fit the needs of decentralized mobile environments, and can be applied to small scale ad-hoc networks or also bigger networks with hundreds of nodes. A framework allowing discovery of SIP users in ad-hoc networks and the establishment of SIP sessions among them, in a fully distributed and secure way, is described and evaluated. Security support allows ad-hoc users to authenticate the sender of a message, and to verify the integrity of a received message. The distributed session management framework has been extended in order to achieve interoperability with the Internet, and the native Internet applications. With limited extensions to the SIP protocol, we have designed and experimentally validated a SIP gateway allowing SIP signaling between ad-hoc networks with private addressing space and native SIP applications in the Internet. The design is completed by an application level relay that permits instant messaging sessions to be established in heterogeneous environments. The resulting framework constitutes a flexible and effective approach for the pervasive deployment of real time applications.

Quantum Space-Time and Noncommutative Gauge Field Theories

Arguments arising from quantum mechanics and gravitation theory as well as from string theory, indicate that the description of space-time as a continuous manifold is not adequate at very short distances. An important candidate for the description of space-time at such scales is provided by noncommutative space-time where the coordinates are promoted to noncommuting operators. Thus, the study of quantum field theory in noncommutative space-time provides an interesting interface where ordinary field theoretic tools can be used to study the properties of quantum spacetime. The three original publications in this thesis encompass various aspects in the still developing area of noncommutative quantum field theory, ranging from fundamental concepts to model building. One of the key features of noncommutative space-time is the apparent loss of Lorentz invariance that has been addressed in different ways in the literature. One recently developed approach is to eliminate the Lorentz violating effects by integrating over the parameter of noncommutativity. Fundamental properties of such theories are investigated in this thesis. Another issue addressed is model building, which is difficult in the noncommutative setting due to severe restrictions on the possible gauge symmetries imposed by the noncommutativity of the space-time. Possible ways to relieve these restrictions are investigated and applied and a noncommutative version of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is presented. While putting the results obtained in the three original publications into their proper context, the introductory part of this thesis aims to provide an overview of the present situation in the field.