The dissertation proposed an approach, named "Signal Optimization Under Rail Crossing sAfety cOnstraints"(SOURCAO), to the traffic signal control near a highway rail grade crossing (HRGC). SOURCAO targets two objectives: HRGC safety improvement (a high priority national transportation goal) and highway traffic delay reduction (a common desire for virtually all of us). Communication and data availability from ITS and the next generation train control are assumed available in SOURCAO. The first step in SOURCAO is to intelligently choose a proper preemption phase sequence to promote HRGC safety. An inference engine is designed in place of traditional traffic signal preemption calls to prevent the queue from backing onto HRGC. The potential hazard is dynamically examined as to whether any queuing vehicle stalls on railroad tracks. The inference engine chooses the appropriate phase sequence to eliminate the hazardous situation. The second step in SOURCAO is to find the optimized phase length. The optimization process uses the network traffic delay (close to the control delay) at the intersections within HRGC vicinities as an objective function. The delay function is approximated and represented by multilayer perceptron neural network (off-line). After the function was trained and obtained, an optimization algorithm named Successive Quadratic Programming (SQP) searches the length of phases (on-line) by minimizing the delay function. The inference engine and proposed delay model in optimization take the on-line surveillance detector data and HRGC closure information as input. By integrating artificial intelligence and optimization technologies, the independent simulation evaluation of SOURCAO by TSIS/CORSIM demonstrated that the objectives are reached. The average network delay for 20 runs of simulation evaluation is reduced over eight percent by a t-test while the safety of HRGC is promoted. The sensitivity tests demonstrate that SOURCAO works efficiently under light and heavy traffic conditions, as well as a wide range of HRGC closure times. / Ph. D.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This study deals with the evaluation research conducted to evaluate the Accounting curriculum of Asmara Commercial College (ACC), Eritrea. The purpose of the Accounting programme in this college is to train middle level skilled manpower to satisfy the dire shortages of Accounting personnel in the country. Accounting education in Eritrea seems to lag behind the rest of the world, particularly in curriculum administration and development aspects of the discipline.

Bakgrund Av många anses frukosten vara den viktigaste måltiden under dagen. Med en energi- och näringsrik frukost får eleverna bättre förutsättningar till att öka koncentrationen och prestationen i skolan. Syfte Syftet med studien var att undersöka barn i årskurs 5 och deras frukostvanor, om det var skillnad mellan de som hade undervisning i hem- och konsumentkunskap (HKK) och de som inte haft HKK, om det var någon skillnad mellan flickor och pojkar, vilka livsmedel eleverna valde att äta till frukost och hur de kände när de åt respektive inte åt frukost. Metod Studien genomfördes i form av en pappersenkät med fem frågor på två olika skolor i Sverige under våren 2020. Urvalet var ett bekvämlighetsval. Enkätsvaren lades in i Google Sheets och Excel och analyserades med hjälp av Chi-två-test och analystabeller. Resultat I studien deltog 183 respondenter. Studien visade att 73% av eleverna åt frukost varje dag och att det var 1 % som aldrig åt frukost. Det var ingen skillnad i frukostfrekvens mellan flickor och pojkar. Det var fler som åt frukost varje dag av de som hade haft HKK jämfört med de som inte hade haft HKK. Vanligaste livsmedlet till frukost var mjukt bröd. Vanligaste känsloordet när respondenterna åt frukost var att de kände sig glad medan det vanligaste ordet när de inte åt frukost var att de kände sig hungrig. Slutsats Det var fler som åt frukost dagligen av elever som hade fått undervisning i HKK. HKK är ett viktigt ämne som behöver få mer undervisningstid och då framförallt med de yngre eleverna för att tidigt ge dem kunskap om en bra kosthållning, så att de utifrån det kan göra val som är välgrundade. / Background Breakfast is often considered to be the most important meal of the day. A nutritious energy boosting breakfast provides a better basis for students’ academic performance and concentration. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the breakfast habits of 5th grade students: if there was any difference between students who had been taught home economics and those that had not, if there was any difference between boys and girls, what they ate, and how students felt if they ate breakfast or not. Method This study was based on a paper survey consisting of five questions which was distributed during spring of 2020 to two schools in different regions of Sweden. The survey was administered as a convenience sample. Survey results were entered in Google Sheets and Excel and analyzed with Chi-squared tests and coded to analysis tables. Results The total number of participants was 183 students. Results from the study showed that 73 % of students ate breakfast daily and that 1 % never ate breakfast. There was no difference between the proportion of boys and girls that ate breakfast. Students who had studied home economics ate breakfast more frequently than those that had not. The most common breakfast food was bread. The most common word used by respondents to describe how they felt when they ate breakfast was the word “happy”. The word most frequently used to describe how they felt when they did not eat breakfast was “hungry”. Conclusion Students who had studied home economics ate breakfast daily more frequently than students that had not. Home economics is a crucial subject in which more teaching is needed primarily for younger students, so that they can learn the importance of healthy eating habits early on and make well-grounded choices.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2016 / The main purpose of the study was to investigate the Foundation Phase teachers’ understanding of play in the teaching of Grade R in the Umkhanyakude District. The study targeted Grade R educators, because they are responsible for laying a sound and solid foundation for learners, which can be effectively done through proper use of play in the teaching of young learners. The study used a qualitative approach in order to get an in-depth knowledge in terms of understanding the importance of play when teaching young learners. The research sample comprised of seven teachers from four different schools in the district. Purposive sampling of participants was used. Data were collected through inside and outside observations and interviews. The research findings were first analysed according to eight main themes according to the data elicited through interrogations during interviews. Key findings revealed that some Grade R educators did not have a clear understanding of play in Grade R teaching. The study also showed the impact of current constraints of the Department of Education, like restricted kilometres and shortage of ECD officials in terms of providing monitoring and support.

In response to fourth grade students' performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress reading test, states across the nation have enacted laws which stipulate third-grade students achieve reading proficiency in order to be promoted. With the passage of the South Carolina Read to Succeed Act 2014, school leaders in an urban school district implemented a balanced literacy framework to address 3rd grade students' low reading achievement. Approached from a constructivist framework, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to present 3rd grade teachers' perceptions of the balanced literacy framework with regard to students' reading achievement. Vygotsky's theories of zone of proximal development and scaffolding served as the framework guiding the study. For this study, 5 3rd-grade teachers from elementary schools within the same urban district in South Carolina participated in one-on-one interviews, observations, and a focus group. The data analysis consisted of coding to categorize participants' responses for emerging themes and summarize teacher perceptions. Three major themes emerged: (a) Implementing Balanced Literacy to Promote Reading Achievement, (b) Teachers' Perceptions Affected Reading Outcomes, and (c) Challenges to Balanced Literacy and Professional Development Needs. Subsequently, a 3-day professional development was developed for 3rd-grade teachers that focused on effectively implementing the balanced literacy framework to increase reading achievement. This study can promote social change by increasing teacher expertise in implementing the balanced literacy framework, increasing reading achievement, and positively impacting students' school success and college and career readiness.

Reading comprehension is one of the most critical academic skills to be acquired in school; therefore, the comprehension instruction provided by teachers is of utmost importance. This study examined 3 years of classroom observation data to describe the comprehension instruction provided by kindergarten through third-grade teachers who were participating in the federal Reading First reading reform initiative within 22 high-poverty Title I schools located in rural, suburban, and urban school districts in one western state. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used to analyze data collected during 325 three-hour observations of classroom literacy instruction to identify both the quantity and the types of comprehension instruction provided. Comprehension instruction was divided into four categories in this study: vocabulary instruction; instruction provided before reading or listening to activate, assess, or build prior knowledge; comprehension instruction during or after reading or listening; and comprehension strategy instruction. Fifty-seven thousand six hundred sixty-three minutes of literacy instruction were observed; 13,237 minutes of this instruction were coded as comprehension instruction. Results of the study indicated that, on average, teachers allocated 23%, approximately 41 minutes, of their 3-hour literacy block to comprehension instruction. Overall, 96% of teachers provided at least one instructional event that was coded as comprehension instruction; however, there was tremendous variability in the amount of instruction provided and the implementation of instructional practices supported by research. Elements of the gradual-release-of-responsibility model were rarely observed including a relative lack of guided and iv independent practice to assist students in applying comprehension skills and strategies. Teachers relied heavily on asking students questions before, during, and after reading. Very little instruction was focused on cognitive strategies or instruction to support students’ acquisition of knowledge related to narrative or expository text structures. Positive outcomes included the implementation of small group instruction and the use of a variety of text types. Teachers in this study were required to implement a published core reading program, which may have exerted influence on the results that were obtained.

The primary grade teachers of the Cache, Logan, and Box Elder School Districts were used in this study. A questionnaire was developed that would be an effective measurement of the information needed to evaluate or substantiate the hypothesis which was: It is believed that less than 50 percent of the primary grade children have poetry read to them daily as part of the curriculum. Furthermore, it is believed that much of the poetry read does not meet the standards of "good poetry for children" as measured by experts in this field of learning. The study revealed that only 11 percent of the children were read to daily. However, the majority of teachers were reading from approved literature for children.

A study was conducted in which both notetaking and review were systematically varied in order to examine viii eighth-grade student's notetaking and performance behaviors. Three formats of notes (Matrix, skeletal, conventional) were examined in combination with three notetaking strategies (take notes/review own notes, take notes/review expert notes, listen/review expert notes) to form nine conditions. Subjects viewed a videotaped lecture, reviewed their respective set of notes, and were administered the following performance tests: structured recall, factual recognition, application, and synthesis. The number of ideas, number of words, and an efficiency calculation was obtained for each notetaking protocol. Results indicated that subjects reviewing a matrix format outperformed those reviewing a skeletal outline format on the application test, a higher-order measure. Subjects recorded an average of less than 30% of the total lecture ideas, and females recorded significantly more words and ideas than did males. Females also outperformed males on tests of structured recall and factual recognition. Speculation was that females' more complete product of notes contributed to their higher performance on the factual-ordered tests. Their performance was not significantly different from males' on the higher-ordered tests.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(医学) / 乙第12958号 / 論医博第2100号 / 新制||医||1011(附属図書館) / 32357 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 三嶋 理晃, 教授 三森 経世, 教授 浅野 雅秀 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第20984号 / 医博第4330号 / 新制||医||1027(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 武藤 学, 教授 森田 智視, 教授 富樫 かおり / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM