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With increased diversity and globalization, there is increased emphasis on awareness of cultural influences on functioning and in fostering cultural competence. This is particularly important in the context of intervention planning and acceptability. The standard approach is through didactic coursework; however the extent to which the content of the courses is ‘universal’ and includes relevance for intervention is unknown. The purpose of this content analysis was to determine whether or not cultural competence is addressed in psychotherapeutic intervention coursework. Direct intervention syllabi from APA accredited school psychology doctoral programs were analyzed. Findings suggest that cultural competence is minimally addressed in intervention courses. Similarly, the mechanisms for culturally adapting interventions are rarely addressed. Findings further suggest that when addressing cultural competence intervention courses focus on applying knowledge to the delivery of services. Understanding the content of current curricula may provide trainers with information to aid in designing their curriculum so that pre service school psychologists may matriculate with a broader basic therapy skill set.

The purpose of this study is to devise a method of developing competency in the cutting and adaptation of prose and poetry for oral interpretation. This method is a pervasive element of the thesis and consists of (1) general principles derived from theories expressed by both interpretation and literary authorities and from observations made in the classroom, (2) suggested guidelines for cutting specific forms of literature, and (3) illustration of these directives by application to selected prose and poetry.

Due to variations in process, voltage, and temperature (PVT), amplifiers are almost solely designed for use in a negative feedback loop. The feedback loop mitigates the effect of PVT, however maintaining stability becomes the main design challenge. Further, multi-stage amplifiers with high open-loop gain are used for powering headphone speakers in modern portable electronics. As there are many different headphone manufacturers and compatibility specifications, headphone amplifiers are subjected to a wide variation in capacitive and resistive loads, which further complicates the stability upkeep. This thesis explores a two-stage (Common-Gate Feedback) and three-stage (Impedance Adapting Compensation) amplifier topology with respect to performance under wide load variations. For both compensation topologies, an analytical analysis is presented, followed by a design proposal for a headphone amplifier application. Finally, the trade-offs for maintaining stability under varying loads are discussed. / text

<p> The very sophisticated control systems of today are built around computers. It is felt that an improved form of cost function in vector or matrix form is needed to fully and most easily utilize the computer's advantages. After defining a vector cost function G , the problem of adapting and learning simplifies to the solution of a partial difference equation. Total system properties are easily defined as matrix arrays which are "learned" in an adapting and "learning" control loop.</p> <p> The relative merits of open and closed loop adaptive systems were investigated. The Nth order adaptive control system was finally chosen to be closed loop after developing two criterion equations in two unknowns which, if satisfied guaranteed improved system sensitivity with the closed loop configuration.</p> <p> Finally, several simple examples are given in experiment form to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed control system techniques.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

Value Stream Mapping is a common tool used in a lot of instances in today’s industrieswho have adopted any kind of Lean initiatives. However, Value Stream Mapping (VSM) may not always fit to the best extent and intention of the industry applying it; therefore a need for tailoring certain aspects of it have been seen in some cases where the original tool has not been enough. However there is little research on how to adopt VSM towards the tire industry, it is the case that some adaptation is needed in order to fully map the value the chain is trying to capture as seen by some authors who use VSM on other industries. This leads to conclude that further research is needed in order to see the benefits and chal-lenges in the creating of a tailored value stream tool in order to understand how it would affect the company its applied on as well as increasing the knowledge of its capabilities and drivers for it application. The impact this research would have is to begin bridging a gap of the usage of how a Tai-lored Value Stream Mapping (TVSM) tool would affect when applied to a specific industry. For this paper, a case study within a Tire Company located in Europe, who stated that they had issues regarding their current usage and utilization of VSM, was conducted. The com-pany has projects going all over the globe but sees a lack of initiative and success without the direct involvement of its central plant. The purpose of this research is to investigate the perceived impact as well as the benefits and challenges of utilizing a company TVSM, in-stead of a standardized one, taking into consideration both particularities of the industry, as well as the culture of the firm. Also an understanding is sought to recognize the motiva-tions that drove the Tire Company to choose a tailored approach. The research was conducted as a qualitative single case study involving three different sitesbelonging to the tire industry located in Europe. It is built upon both a theoretical part, comprised by a literature review of the concepts of VSM, Lean and TVSM; and an empiri-cal part derived from the case. The Empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews as well as participant observations, supported by secondary data collected from the company in form of written documents concerning the internal training of VSM. The findings concluded that, the reasons for sustaining a TVSM are its ease of use, and ability to reach out and be understood by people with little to no training in VSM’s. The company fitted training documents would decrease the training needed and the time spent doing so. Some other benefits were the empowerment of employees and the sharing of knowledge across multiple sites in a standardized company language. Albeit with the chal-lenge of creating and upholding such documents and training, compelling the company to have experts with knowledge of VSM and the company processes and culture with the added challenge of also maintaining regularly updates as the company moves forward. Implementation of a tailored approach is practical where there has been identified that it exists a gap between different plants or departments, local or globally, regarding knowledge or experience when there is a requirement for standardisation, communication and need for change.

A indústria carece de sistemas produtivos que atendam a diversidade de demanda do mercado, com eficiência e capacidade de adaptação rápida. As novas soluções para estas necessidades remetem ao uso de novas tecnologias de automação. Porém, a maioria dos sistemas integrados de manufatura implantados em indústria possui seu gerenciamento por controladores lógicos programáveis, assim como suas interligações elétricas e lógicas de controle. A tese proposta faz uso de Sistemas Multiagentes em controladores lógicos programáveis, para que estes possam controlar seus sistemas de manufatura, propiciando-lhes os requisitos de diversidade, agilidade e auto-organização no meio produtivo. A comprovação desta tese se dá pelo método desenvolvido para que tal implementação aconteça, bem como pela análise de abrangência deste método, a fim de verificar em quais cenários ele é eficaz. O método proposto analisa o controlador lógico programável e descreve uma rotina de ações a serem seguidas para que ele se insira em Sistemas Multiagentes, valendo-se das funcionalidades que um agente pode oferecer. Sua análise de aplicação ocorreu em três cenários distintos, onde a abordagem por sistemas auto-organizáveis apresentou melhores resultados para atingir os requisitos de diversidade, agilidade e auto-organização, a partir de sistemas multiagentes interagindo com os controladores lógicos programáveis e suas lógicas locais. / The industry needs production systems that attend the diversity of market demand, with efficiency and fast adaptability. The new solutions to these needs refer to the use of new automation technologies. However, most integrated manufacturing systems deployed in industry have its management by programmable logic controllers as well as their electrical interconnections and logics of control. The thesis proposal indicates the use of multi-agent systems on programmable logic controllers, so that they are able to control their manufacturing systems, addressing the requirements of diversity, self-organizing and agility to the productive environment. The proof of this thesis is given by the method developed for such implementation to happen, as well as analysis of the scope of this method in order to verify in what scenarios it is effective. The proposed method analyzes the programmable logic controller and describes a routine of actions to follow so that it may enter into a multi-agent system, using the features that an agent can offer. Its application analysis took place in three different scenarios where the approach by self-organizing systems showed better results for achieving the requirements of diversity, agility and self-organization from multi-agent systems interacting with programmable logic controllers and their local logic.

In the past two decades the growth of the offshore oil and gas industry of Western Australia has resulted in an increased number of families experiencing the intermittent absence of a partner/parent. The gendered nature of the offshore oil and gas industry means workers tend to be male and the partner left at home tends to be female. This was the case for the participants in this study. For two/three weeks the family experience the absence of the male 'breadwinner', creating a gap within the family as the women and children experiences the loss of the partner/parent. Two/three weeks later the male worker returns home for his rest period and he reengages in his roles and the family is reunited. When the worker is absent the partner at home takes on the worker's gendered roles, tasks and responsibilities; upon his return she surrenders (sometimes willingly) his gendered roles, tasks and responsibilities. Solheim (1988) state families of offshore oil and gas workers experience three social realities; his life at work, her 'single' life when he is at work, and their couple life when the worker arrives home. The families can develop a range of methods to adjust to the flux that occurs within families due to the work schedule (Forsyth and Gramling 1989). The repeated cyclical patterns of parting and reunion, weaving and balancing their three lives, and renegotiation of family work contribute to the stressors and strains the partners of offshore workers experience. This study investigated how the offshore lifestyle impacts the at home partner of offshore workers and in addition, how at home partners use their social networks as means to help adapt to the offshore work schedule, and makes two major findings. Firstly, the at home partners of offshore workers participate in exchanging, at various levels, social support with family, friends and neighbours, although the most important form of support which helps the at home partner adapt to the offshore lifestyle is the support they receive from the offshore worker. Secondly, adapting to the offshore lifestyle is highly influenced by a process consisting of four reactions. The reactions are: the beginning; normalising his presence; normalising his absence; and balancing two lives. The identification of the four reactions can provide a greater understanding of how the offshore oil and gas industry impacts on the daily lives of partners of offshore workers as it helps make visible the day-to-day lives of partners of offshore oil and gas workers.

A indústria carece de sistemas produtivos que atendam a diversidade de demanda do mercado, com eficiência e capacidade de adaptação rápida. As novas soluções para estas necessidades remetem ao uso de novas tecnologias de automação. Porém, a maioria dos sistemas integrados de manufatura implantados em indústria possui seu gerenciamento por controladores lógicos programáveis, assim como suas interligações elétricas e lógicas de controle. A tese proposta faz uso de Sistemas Multiagentes em controladores lógicos programáveis, para que estes possam controlar seus sistemas de manufatura, propiciando-lhes os requisitos de diversidade, agilidade e auto-organização no meio produtivo. A comprovação desta tese se dá pelo método desenvolvido para que tal implementação aconteça, bem como pela análise de abrangência deste método, a fim de verificar em quais cenários ele é eficaz. O método proposto analisa o controlador lógico programável e descreve uma rotina de ações a serem seguidas para que ele se insira em Sistemas Multiagentes, valendo-se das funcionalidades que um agente pode oferecer. Sua análise de aplicação ocorreu em três cenários distintos, onde a abordagem por sistemas auto-organizáveis apresentou melhores resultados para atingir os requisitos de diversidade, agilidade e auto-organização, a partir de sistemas multiagentes interagindo com os controladores lógicos programáveis e suas lógicas locais. / The industry needs production systems that attend the diversity of market demand, with efficiency and fast adaptability. The new solutions to these needs refer to the use of new automation technologies. However, most integrated manufacturing systems deployed in industry have its management by programmable logic controllers as well as their electrical interconnections and logics of control. The thesis proposal indicates the use of multi-agent systems on programmable logic controllers, so that they are able to control their manufacturing systems, addressing the requirements of diversity, self-organizing and agility to the productive environment. The proof of this thesis is given by the method developed for such implementation to happen, as well as analysis of the scope of this method in order to verify in what scenarios it is effective. The proposed method analyzes the programmable logic controller and describes a routine of actions to follow so that it may enter into a multi-agent system, using the features that an agent can offer. Its application analysis took place in three different scenarios where the approach by self-organizing systems showed better results for achieving the requirements of diversity, agility and self-organization from multi-agent systems interacting with programmable logic controllers and their local logic.

Submitted by Maria Medeiros (maria.dilva1@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-07-26T12:14:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 JARDELLE RIDELLY DE OLIVEIRA SANTOS - DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGCS 2016.pdf: 2586057 bytes, checksum: f28aea92bf592c768601829d23101c98 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-26T12:14:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JARDELLE RIDELLY DE OLIVEIRA SANTOS - DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGCS 2016.pdf: 2586057 bytes, checksum: f28aea92bf592c768601829d23101c98 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-20 / Capes / Embora a categoria de agricultores familiares pressuponha um conjunto de indivíduos e grupos de famílias cuja organização social e estratégias produtivas pareçam comuns e indistintas, há na verdade formas multifacetadas com as quais a agricultura familiar se apresenta nas diferentes regiões do Brasil. Dentro do tema da diversidade da agricultura familiar no Brasil, trabalhamos com o exemplo das áreas rurais do município de Montadas-PB, lócus da pesquisa no Agreste paraibano, na Microrregião de Esperança. Identificamos através da base de dados do IBGE três estratégias produtivas cujos objetivos são a manutenção da sobrevivência das famílias através da adaptação ao mercado. Temos a produção de batata inglesa com destino aos mercados locais, à produção de fumo em folhas integrada, e a presença da avicultura integrada. Buscamos compreender e apresentar as trajetórias de três famílias que experienciaram essas três estratégias; apresentamos seus perfis, trajetórias de vida, composição das famílias, expectativas referentes a estas estratégias, insatisfações e os seus projetos diante destas estratégias. A nossa hipótese era de que estas famílias de diferentes trajetórias tinham como objetivo experienciar esses processos produtivos para manutenção e reprodução das unidades familiares, assim como para a permanência no campo. Após a pesquisa, percebemos que a adesão a esses processos produtivos não confirmaram as nossas hipóteses. Podemos identificar a presença de agricultores empreendedores. O cultivo de fumo em folhas substituiu a migração temporária, estratégia anterior para manutenção familiar. Já no caso das experiências com o cultivo da batata inglesa, enquanto estratégia também de adaptação ao mercado promove a reprodução da família, porém de forma parcial, já que apesar da produção os filhos tiveram que migrar para manter a sobrevivência e manutenção do restante da família no campo. Os três casos estudados exemplificam como o município de Montadas há uma diversidade de formas familiares de reprodução. / Although the category of family farmers presupposes a set of individuals and groups of families whose social organization and productive strategies appear to be common and indistinct, there are indeed multifaceted forms with which family agriculture presents itself in different regions in Brazil.Within the theme of the diversity of family agriculture in Brazil, we worked with the example of the rural areas of the municipality of Montadas-PB, the locus of the research was Agreste Paraibano, in the Microregion of Esperança. We identify through the IBGE database three productive strategies whose objectives are to maintain the reproduction of families through adaptation to the market. We have the production of potatoes for local markets, the integrated production of integrated leaf tobacco, and the presence of integrated poultry. We seek to understand and present the trajectories of three families that have experienced these three strategies. We present their profiles, life trajectories, family composition, expectations regarding these strategies, dissatisfaction and their projects. Our hypothesis was that these families of different trajectories had as objective to experience these productive processes for maintenance and reproduction of the family units, as well as for the permanence in the field. After the research, we noticed that adherence to these productive processes no confirmed our objectives and also showed us that leaf tobacco cultivation replaced the temporary migration, previous strategy family reproduction, already in the case of experiments with the cultivation of potato, As a strategy to adapt to the market, promotes the reproduction of the family, but in a partial way, since despite the production the children had to migrate to maintain the survival and maintenance of the rest of the family in the field. The three cases studied exemplify how the municipality of Montadas there is a diversity of familiar forms of reproduction.