published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

This paper reports a case study conducted at a local Government-aided primary school in Hong Kong to explore the teaching and learning of three students with special educational needs (SEN). The research aims to investigate the perceptions of the principal, teachers, social workers, students and parents on inclusive education, and look at the practicability and feasibility of the school inclusive policy. Results indicated that although the school embraces the inclusive ideology in principle, the interviewees expressed serious reservation on the Government promoted whole school integration approach to include all students with special educational needs. The study on one hand examined the government and school policy and practice on inclusion, and on the other hand identified the difficulties and obstacles encountered by the school, some of which were regarded as fundamental problems that require changes in the educational system. The paper ends with recommendations for further research that is worth exploring in order to achieve a true and effective inclusive educational system in the Hong Kong landscape. Research methodology is qualitative. Interviews were conducted with a number of school staff and two parents of the SEN students. The interviews focused on how school key personnel and teachers viewed their roles, contributions, and difficulties in implementing inclusive education, and how parents view the studies and growth of their children at the case school. A 10-week observations aimed at observing how the three students under the case study adapted, learnt and grew in a mainstream school environment. Through inductive reasoning, data collected was subsequently grouped into patterns and regularities. There are two recurrent themes brought up at the study. First, the success of inclusive education rests largely and predominately on the ‘heart and soul’ – the attitudes and values of the teachers in educating the SEN students; and second, the school does not have the right conditions, in particular, sufficient resources to provide a true inclusive environment for the SEN students with intensive support needs, where the system must change to adapt to the children’s needs and not the vice versa. The general conclusion developed is that the case school, in face of the increasing number of SEN students, is forced to do more with less under the current government inclusive policy; and the SEN students themselves are forced to squeeze in the shoes of the regular students in a mainstream school. Without a system change, there is only partial inclusion at the mainstream school, and the SEN students must adapt to the regular classroom mode and curriculum, or fail. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study was an investigation of the Ball State University Counseling Practicum Clinic in terms of client expectation, client satisfaction, and the relationship between client personality characteristics and client satisfaction. Specifically, this study attempted to (1) identify and compare the expectations in the cognitive and affective domains that clients have when they come for counseling within the three clinic counselor assignment groups, (2) determine the extent of satisfaction in the cognitive and affective domains within the three clinic counselor assignment groups as a result of counseling, (3) investigate whether or not there is a significant relationship between client personality characteristics and client satisfaction in the cognitive and affective domains within each of the three clinic counselor assignment groups, (4) analyze the responses of the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, and (5) describe client demographic characteristics within the three clinic counselor assignment groups in the cognitive and affective domains.Subjects in this study were volunteer clients seeking psychological counseling at the Ball State University Counseling Practicum Clinic during the Winter Quarter, 1975-1976, and the first five weeks of Spring Quarter, 1976.The data collected for each subject came from the following sources: (1) the Client Expectancy Inventory (CEI), (2) the Inventory of Fulfillment of Client's Expectancy (IFCE), (3) the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), and (4) the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ).The data were treated by one-way multivariate analysis of variance, multiple regression analysis, and descriptive techniques. No differences were detected in either client expectations or client satisfactions within the three clinic counselor assignment groups in the cognitive and affective domains. Also, no significant association between cognitive and affective domain satisfaction scores and group membership was detected nor did any of the CPI scale scores provide a significant amount of additional explained variation in the client satisfaction scores. The clients within the three clinic counselor assignment groups indicated that their counseling experience had been moderately to slightly satisfactory. And, client demographic characteristics did not offer any significant information in predicting client satisfaction.Under the constraints of the study, the following conclusions were drawn.1. There was no significant difference in expectations among the clients in the cognitive and affective domains who were assigned to counselors with various levels of supervised training. 2. No association was found between entering expectations of clients and the extent of client reported satisfaction in the three clinic counselor assignment groups in the cognitive and affective domains.3. Clients of the advanced and post-advanced counselor groups reported the same level of satisfaction in the cognitive and affective domains as did the less severe clients who werecounseled by counselors with less supervised training.4. No association was found between a subset of premeasured personality characteristics and client reported satisfaction in the cognitive and affective domains.5. No association was found between group membership and client reported satisfaction in the cognitive and affective domains.6. Clients reported that their counseling experiences had been from moderately successful to successful. Also clients reported that they were either somewhat satisfied or satisfied with their counseling experience at the Ball State University Counseling Practicum Clinic. The above conclusions hold true irregardless of the (1) sublevel of the demographic characteristic investigated, (2) clinic counselor assignment group, or (3) cognitive or affective domain to which clients were classified.5

This thesis examines why people build the way they do, questioning and negotiating values highly esteemed by architects, engineers and authorities. It is a study of the formal-informal method of building employed by individuals living in the city of Gangtok, India. Obliged to conform to formal rules and regulations that do not always serve their best interests, these people have found novel ways to manipulate the system and create a built environment that suits their needs and wants. They build informally within a formal structure prescribed by institutions such as building authorities, banks and municipalities. The thesis focuses on understanding the process of building from the people’s viewpoint, trying to comprehend the social and cultural factors that direct their building culture. It recognizes the efforts they make in creating a meaningful life for themselves, Bibliography Sweata Pradhan reasoning that within the given resources, constraints and challenges, environments built by people are the most viable. Research methodology included a review of literature available on Building Culture and Built Environments, a study of the built environment of Gangtok through books, periodicals, photographs and observation, interviews in Gangtok with four individuals involved in building as owners, and with employees at the local housing authority office. The four case studies of building owners/builders form the backbone of this thesis. The views, perceptions and building processes of these individuals is an insight into the everyday building practice that ultimately shapes the built environment. / Department of Architecture

The emergence and popularity of mobile and social media have transformed the nature of the parasocial relationship between weathercaster and audience. Two experts and nine television viewers were selected for qualitative interviewing via non-probability sampling to gain an understanding of how respondents’ growing use of social media and other emerging media has impacted the relationship with the local television weathercaster. Additionally, these interviews explored the ways in which these relationships have ultimately changed how viewers receive weather warnings. Storms producing strong straight-line winds and multiple tornadoes in the Fort Wayne, Indiana television market provided a case study that illuminated the role of trust in the complex relationships between weather forecasting and new social media. Mobile and social media have increased the weather forecasters’ influence over the audience, while quickly allowing them to provide severe weather warnings. This study demonstrates the popularity of social media among diverse age groups and that user demographics do not indicate any level of social media literacy. Second, as the literature suggests, this study confirms users’ trust in their weather forecasters as well as the informationseeking behavior displayed during severe weather. Third, this research finds that social media has transformed parasocial relationships. Finally, this study suggests that stations have not recognized nor taken advantage of these new parasocial relationships, and that they can do so by promoting TV personalities’ online social profiles. / Introduction -- Literature review -- Methods -- Trust, weather forecasting and social media -- Online presence -- Conclusion. / Department of Geography

Chronic disease and unhealthy weight is an epidemic threatening the future wellbeing of Indianapolis. This study identifies how the City, and its partners, can improve fresh produce access and availability in high-risk neighborhoods through urban farming and gardening strategies. Recommendations for the City and allied organizations include: the degree of participation, food production and distribution, land policy and farm/garden location, educational programming, and economic sustainability. Target areas for new farms and gardens are identified through GIS overlay mapping and computational of indicators for chronic illness, food environment, and food insecurity. The intended outcome is a guide for the City of Indianapolis, and others facing similar problems, to implement and sustain City programs that address health in highrisk neighborhoods. / Department of Landscape Architecture

Many developing countries have not benefited from the technological changes that have taken place over the last 30 years. Uganda has been no exception. The country continues to have over 30 percent of its people below the poverty line. This is despite the appropriateness of macro economic policy and government action in many of these countries. Even in the developed countries, slowness in growth has been attributed to lack of enterprise rather than policy and government action. For this reason, governments and multilateral institutions like the World Bank, have attributed the continued poverty or the slow growth to other factors like governance, institutions but more importantly, entrepreneurship. Classical, and indeed neo-classical economists, did not pay much attention to entrepreneurship as a determinant of growth and therefore this relationship has not been explored in most of the research that has attempted to explain determinants of economic growth. It was Schumpeter who suggested that the entrepreneur had a role in economic growth but no empirical studies have been undertaken to verify this. Thus was until recently when the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) studies were initiated in 1999 led by Paul Reynolds who had done some previous research in this area. The current GEM studies have focused on small firms and yet the model has existing large firms. This study identifies this gap and it is that gap that the study attempts to explain. Having no firm theoretical foundation, the study adopted an inductive approach using mainly qualitative techniques but also adopted quantitative techniques given the nature of the relationship among the variables. Theoretical sampling was used initially to identify the study population. The study identified large scale portfolio entrepreneurs as a unit of analysis and Uganda being a small country, it was possible to assume some kind of laboratory conditions in which the study was undertaken. The study’s overall aim was to establish whether a relationship existed between entrepreneurship and economic growth. To achieve this, the study examined the patterns of growth in the Uganda economy between 1962-2005, the opportunities, the macro economic policy in place, the opportunities that emerged and the role of the entrepreneur in those conditions. The study also examined the emergence of new industries in the economy, the start-ups and exits of firms in the respective industries and the role of the entrepreneur and how this related to economic growth. To secure the data, the study used a case study design for portfolio entrepreneurs combined with a survey for small and medium and corporate entrepreneurs. Unstructured interviews were conducted with portfolio entrepreneurs and self administered questionnaires were used for the other respondents. Secondary data were collected from numerous published sources. The study confirmed that there existed a relationship between macro economic policy and economic growth which confirmed assertions by mainstream economists. The study also established that a relationship existed between entrepreneurship and economic growth. The Uganda economy as a small economy gives that ability to see the relationship. The study reveals, using the Uganda economy, that large scale portfolio entrepreneurs have an important role to play in orchestrating economic growth through their activities of start-up, job creation and infrastructural development. The study further confirms that liberalization of an economy as in the case of Uganda creates opportunities and that these opportunities are seized by entrepreneurs. Portfolio entrepreneurs play a key role in this process. Technology too has an important role among other factors. As an industry is formed, many new firms enter it. This creates competition. Competition may lead to development of new technologies, products, services and processes. This leads to firm exiting the industry. The start-up and exit of firms in an industry leads to job creation and loss. It is this process that Schumpeter called the creative destruction where job creation and job losses that creates growth. This study brings out the importance of the large scale portfolio entrepreneurs, how they start business, perceive opportunities, and compete. The conclusions from the study are that a relationship exists between entrepreneurial activity and economic growth, and that large scale entrepreneurs have a major role to play in an economy. They are job creators, tax payers, wealth creators, and through the multiplier effect. There is need for deductive studies in an attempt to confirm this relationship.