<p> Aviation accidents are pervasive and ubiquitous enough that they transcend the boundaries of all aviation organizations&mdash;general, corporate, commercial, and military organizations. All aviation bodies have experienced loss of life and total destruction of aircraft during their respective operations. Historical research indicates that some pilots make egregious errors (Bisignani, 2010; NTSB, 2010; Boeing, 2009) when they do not complete checklists and ultimately deviate from normal procedural practices during high-stress events. <i> Why</i> otherwise competent and qualified pilots make these kinds of egregious errors is elusive and has escaped the grasp of quantitative researcher understanding. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews so pilots could tell their stories and share their perspectives on why they had to repeat a simulator evaluation checkride. Through the lenses of the pilots' perspectives, the pilots' voices established a database from which data were coded, compared, categorized, further coded, and analyzed using grounded theory methodologies as espoused by Corbin and Strauss (2008). Qualitative analysis generated substantive theory grounded in the data. Two conceptual models are presented to support the substantive theory. The substantive theory indicates that pilots can become so <i>distracted</i> by abnormal and nonstandard events that their awareness of what needs to be done next is overshadowed by those distractions. In other words, pilots lose their situational awareness and engage in non-standard activities that result in process errors. Pilots must learn distraction mitigation strategies to maintain their focus and avoid becoming overtasked. This theory is presumed to be transferable to other high-stress professions.</p>

The purpose of this study was to make a detailed study and analysis of a selected number of alternative schools or programs. The institutions were studied in terms of their development, their offerings, and their successes or failures.The population of the study consisted of 156 program directors who returned usable questionnaires and five program directors whose programs were visited and studied by the investigator. Two instruments were used to secure the data for the study. Each of the two instruments contained thirty-two items with basically the same information. The first instrument was a questionnaire which was mailed to 200 program directors. One hundred fifty-six of the 200 program directors surveyed returned usable responses. The second instrument used to secure data from the directors of five programs identified for on-site visits was an interview guide. Selected findings derived from the questionnaire data included the following: 1. The majority of the 156 alternative programs whose directors responded reported that their 2 programs were for problem students mainly dropouts, potential dropouts, truants or pregnant girls. 2. Most programs whose directors responded were initially and currently funded by school districts in which they are located. 3. Forty-five and five-tenths percent had less than 99 students while 7.1 percent had more than 500 students in each. 4. Among some of the problems cited by directors were: absenteeism, students' lack of sense of direction, students' lack of future plans, lack of program funds, and lack of adequate facilities. Some of the findings derived from on-site data were summarized as follows: The five programs were controlled by the public school systems in which they were situated. In each of the five programs teachers and directors were in charge of the programs' daily governance. The five programs studied had a mixture of conventional and alternative education course offerings. 4. Directors reported an improved rate of school attendance among students. Some of the conclusions developed from the study included the following: Alternative schools or programs are a result of a need to provide options for students and parents. 2. Alternative education provides opportunities to students who cannot be accommodated by conventional public schools.3. Lack of adequate funds seems to be a common problem among alternative school programs. 4. Most chief administrators of alternative programs are responsible for hiring teaching staff members. Following are some of the recommendations made for further research in the area of alternative education: 1. There is need for further research in the area of program longevity to determine specifically why many programs are defunct after being in existence for less than five years. 2. Further research is needed to determine the unique qualities that an alternative program teacher should possess. 3. There is a need for further research in the area of alternative program success. 4. There is a need for further research regarding the desirable qualities of an effective alternative program director.

In this project, an enhanced version of Jedit is presented. Jedit is a Graph Editor developed at Ball State University by a group of students under the direction of Dr. Jay Bagga. The following paper describes the new version, named Jedit 4.0.In this version two new algorithms are implemented. These are: Planarity Testing and Planarity Drawing. The first algorithm tests a graph for planarity and the second one makes a planar embedding of the graph in a grid of size (n-2) x (n-2), where n is the order of the graph. Planar graphs have important applications in the fields of computer engineering, architecture, and many others.Jedit 4.0 also includes new features that were not available in earlier versions. The new features include: graph rotation operation, graph complement, drawing of well-known graphs, and credits window. Several modifications and additions to existing features and algorithms have also been carried out.Jedit 4.0 uses swing java technology what provides a more elegant look. Drop down menus have also been added to provide the user an easier way to use Jedit. / Department of Computer Science

The major purpose of the study was to develop simulation materials uniquely designed for use in preparation programs for secondary school administrators in Indiana. The procedures used in the study included the following: (1) development of a conceptual framework for guiding the construction of simulation materials, (2) development of background materials describing the simulated school system, (3) development of selected administrative problems for use with the simulated school system, (4) development of a format and a procedural guide for use of the simulation materials in a class in secondary school administration, (5) use of the simulated materials and selected administrative problems in a pre-service secondary school administration class, (6) preparation of an evaluation instrument to secure student evaluations of simulation materials and techniques, (7) administration of the evaluation instrument, (8) analysis, tabulation, and presentation of the data obtained through administration of the evaluation instrument, (9) presentation of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations for further study, and (10) presentation of the simulation materials, decision analysis form, and questionnaire used in the study. Student evaluations pertained to the following aspects of student perceptions of the simulation materials and utilization procedures developed as a part of the study: (1) the "reality" of the simulation experiences, (2) the orientation value of the in-basket problems, (3) the value of the simulation materials for creating an understanding of the need for additional professional preparation, (4) the orientation value of the background materials, (5) the value of the simulation activities, (6) the relative value of simulation as a teaching technique, (7) the most-valued and the least-valued in-basket problems, (8) the adequacy of time allocations, (9) suggestions for improvement of the simulation materials and activities, (10) suggestions for additional uses of simulation materials, and (11) the most-liked and the most-disliked aspects of the simulation experiences. Conclusions were based upon the findings of the study, on the literature and research reviewed as a part of the study, and on the experiences of the writer in designing and testing the simulation materials developed as a part of the study. 1. The simulated in-basket problems have potential value for orienting pre-service secondary school administrators to current problems of practicing secondary school administrators in the State of Indiana. 2. The simulation materials have limited potential value for creating an understanding of the need for additional professional preparation prior to assuming the secondary school principalship. 3. Utilization of the background materials as reference sources for the in-basket problems has potential value for orienting students to the contents of legal, procedural, and regulatory reference materials commonly used by practicing secondary school administrators in Indiana. 4. Both pre-service and in-service educational administrators enthusiastically support the use of stimulation materials as an instructional device. Students using simulation materials readily become involved in simulation activities and do perceive such activities as being of considerable instructional value. 5. Educational administration students do perceive simulated administrative problems as representing authentic problems of practicing school administrators. 6. Individual and group problem-solving simulation activities do induce educational administration students to develop alternative strategies for problem solutions. 7. Simulation materials and utilization procedures representing authentic educational administration problems, which will be perceived as moderately realistic administrative experiences by students using such materials, can be inexpensively developed and tested. Recommendations for further study were based upon the findings of the study, upon the literature and research reviewed as a part of the study, and upon the experiences of the writer in designing and testing the simulation materials. 1. The simulation materials developed as a part of the study should be used with other pre-service secondary school administration students in other institutions of higher learning in Indiana for the purpose of validating or rejecting the findings of the study. 2. Studies should be initiated for the purpose of comparing performance of simulated administrative tasks with on-the-job administrative performance. 3. The feasibility of presenting the simulated administrative problems developed as a part of the study through media other than the in-basket medium should be investigated.

Perceived increased prevalence and levels of awareness of food allergy has become a global phenomenon, making it a major public health concern. Although little is known about its etiology or prevalence, substantial variation in prevalence on a global scale is evident. Studies on food allergy in Asia are reporting an increase in prevalence, particularly in economically developed regions like Hong Kong. Interestingly, risk perception studies have found that Canadians’ perceived prevalence of food allergy surpasses systematic estimates. Moreover, Canadian immigrants are more likely to rate the risk of food allergy as “high” compared to non-immigrants. To explore these issues further, qualitative interviews were conducted with key informants (n=3) and allergic individuals of Asian descent (n=18) in order to capture their lived experience with food allergies. Interviews lasted 30 minutes on average and they were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim for subsequent thematic analysis using QSR International’s NVivo 9. Results are organized around four major themes: perceived prevalence, risk perception, management and coping, and quality of life. With respect to perceived prevalence and risk, participants found food allergies to be more common in Canada than in Asia. Participants also agreed that having a food allergy is more manageable in Canada as a result of the policy environment (e.g., food labelling and school board policies). In addition, participants had dealt with skepticism and disbelief about their food allergy in Asia, impacting their quality of life. These findings demonstrate the need to recognize the varied impacts and experiences of food allergy among new Canadians, given that immigrants represent a large and growing proportion of the Canadian population.

One of the most important questions in the planning of medical experiments to assess the performance of new drugs or treatments, is how big to make the trial. The problem, in its statistical formulation, is to determine the optimal size of a trial. The most frequently used methods of determining sample size in clinical trials is based on the required p-value, and the required power of the trial for a specified treatment effect. In contrast to the Bayesian decision theoretic approach there is no explicit balancing of the cost of a possible increase in the size of the trial against the benefit of the more accurate information which it would give. In this work we consider a fully Bayesian (or decision theoretic) approach to sample size determination in which the number of subsequent users of the therapy under investigation, and hence also the total benefit resulting from the trial, depend on the strength of the evidence provided by the trial. Our procedure differs from the usual Bayesian decision theory methodology, which assumes a single decision maker, by recognizing the existence of three decision makers, namely: the pharmaceutical company conducting the trial, which decides on its size; the regulator, whose approval is necessary for the drug to be licenced for sale; and the public at large, who determine the ultimate usage. Moreover, we model the subsequent usage by plausible assumptions for actual behaviour, rather than assuming that this represents decisions which are in some sense optimal. For this reason the procedure may be called "Behavioural Bayes" (or BeBay for short), the word Bayes referring to the optimization of the sample size. In the BeBay methodology the total expected benefit from carrying out the trial minus the cost of the trial is maximized. For any additional sales to occur as a result of the trial it must provide sufficient evidence both to convince the regulator to issue the necessary licence and to convince potential users that they should use the new treatment. The necessary evidence is in the form of a high probability after the trial that the new treatment achieves a clinically relevant improvement compared to the alternative treatment. The regulator is assumed to start from a more sceptical and less well-informed view of the likely performance of the treatment than the company carrying out the trial. The total benefit from a conclusively favourable trial is assessed on the basis of the size of the potential market and aggregated over the anticipated life-time of the product, using appropriate discounting for future years.

The dissertation presents innovative Evolutionary Search (ES) methods for the reduction in computational expense associated with the optimisation of highly dimensional design spaces. The objective is to develop a semi-automated system which successfully negotiates complex search spaces. Such a system would be highly desirable to a human designer by providing optimised design solutions in realistic time. The design domain represents a real-world industrial problem concerning the optimal material distribution on the underside of a flat roof tile with varying load and support conditions. The designs utilise a large number of design variables (circa 400). Due to the high computational expense associated with analysis such as finite element for detailed evaluation, in order to produce &quot;good&quot; design solutions within an acceptable period of time, the number of calls to the evaluation model must be kept to a minimum. The objective therefore is to minimise the number of calls required to the analysis tool whilst also achieving an optimal design solution. To minimise the number of model evaluations for detailed shape optimisation several evolutionary algorithms are investigated. The better performing algorithms are combined with multi-level search techniques which have been developed to further reduce the number of evaluations and improve quality of design solutions. Multi-level techniques utilise a number of levels of design representation. The solutions of the coarse representations are injected into the more detailed designs for fine grained refinement. The techniques developed include Dynamic Shape Refinement (DSR), Modified Injection Island Genetic Algorithm (MiiGA) and Dynamic Injection Island Genetic Algorithm (DiiGA). The multi-level techniques are able to handle large numbers of design variables (i.e. &gt; 100). Based on the performance characteristics of the individual algorithms and multi-level search techniques, distributed search techniques are proposed. These techniques utilise different evolutionary strategies in a multi-level environment and were developed as a way of further reducing computational expense and improve design solutions. The results indicate a considerable potential for a significant reduction in the number of evaluation calls during evolutionary search. In general this allows a more efficient integration with computationally intensive analytical techniques during detailed design and contribute significantly to those preliminary stages of the design process where a greater degree of analysis is required to validate results from more simplistic preliminary design models.

No description available.

<p> The phenomenon of user-generated content and modification for video games, known as modding, is increasingly common, but why individuals are motivated to engage in significant work for no pay is still poorly understood. Drawing upon the Communities of Practice theories proposed by Jean Lave and Ettienne Wenger, this paper explored the similarities and differences between a community of addon software developers for Blizzard Entertainment's popular Massively Multiplayer Online Game, <i>World of Warcraft,</i> and other Free/Open Source Software communities. Through a series of ethnographic interviews, and an online survey of addon developers, research found the addon development community describes itself primarily as devoted game players rather than software developers, motivated primarily by a desire to fill personal in-game needs, and only later, by the more unclear rewards of contributing to the Community of Practice surrounding addon development. </p><p> Similarly, though addon developers have a strong affinity with many practices and attitudes toward intellectual property espoused by F/OSS communities, they have ultimately coalesced around shared practices which encourage and honor individual ownership of intellectual property, rather than more "free" distribution models. Considering these findings, a new understanding emerges for a specific type of Community of Practice, termed a <i>Community of Passion,</i> that allows future research to more clearly identify and describe a playful and passionate approach to productive activity increasingly seen not only in online gaming communities, but also in other settings such as the emergent <i>Maker</i> communities where creativity and democratized production are valued.</p>

No description available.