A consensus model is a statistical approach that uses a family of signals or in our case, a family of images to generate a predictive model. In this thesis, we consider a family of images that are represented as tensors. In particular, our images are (2,0)-tensors. The consensus model is produced by utilizing the quantum Fourier transform of a family of images as tensors to transform images to images. We write a quantum Fourier transform in the numerical computation library for Python, known as Theano to produce the consensus spectrum. From the consensus spectrum, we produce the consensus model via the inverse quantum Fourier transform. Our method seeks to improve upon the phase reconstruction problem when transforming images to images under a 2-dimensional consensus model by considering images as (2,0)-tensors.

Purpose: to describe the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of physicians and hospital administrators regarding the role and scope of practice of acute care nurse practitioners in rural Montana. Background: Nurse practitioners have been increasingly called upon to provide high quality and cost-effective healthcare in variety of settings and have consistently shown to provide a high-level of patient care in both the primary and acute care settings. The acute care nurse practitioner specialty is relatively new, and with very few licensed acute care nurse practitioners in the state of Montana, the role and scope of practice is not well understood by physicians and hospital administrators who are often tasked with hiring and recruiting providers in the hospital setting. The Consensus Model, which served as the conceptual framework for this project, advocates that nurses provide care for the population that is specific to their licensure, accreditation, certification, and education. Method: Some 28 physicians and hospital administrators completed a survey that included 21 Likert scale statements that were divided into the subscales of Knowledge, Belief, and Attitude. Results included: 1) An existing gap in knowledge regarding the role and scope of practice of acute care nurse practitioners, 2) acute care nurse practitioners should always have some form of physician oversite, and 3) there is disparity in patient outcomes when patient care is provided by nurse practitioners. Conclusion: Attitudes of survey respondents were overwhelmingly positive for the future of acute care nurse practitioners filling various provider roles in the hospital setting. These results can provide a foundation for future inquiry and can assist in the development of education and collaborative efforts to further advance the utilization of acute care nurse practitioners in Montana.

The context of this research project is Eersterust, a suburb situated east of Pretoria. Eersterust is hallmarked by socio-economic contrast: While some people in the community live comfortable lives, other community-members endure poverty and hardship. Eersterust is plagued by socio-economical problems including unemployment, crime, substance abuse and gang-activity. Music Therapy was established in Eersterust in 2003 at a community-based centre called YDO (The National Youth Development Outreach). YDO facilitates the social rehabilitation of adolescents who are at risk of coming in conflict with the law or have already committed some sort of petty crime. When Music Therapy was introduced at YDO it was isolated from the rest of the organisation as well as from the broader community of Eersterust. The Music Therapist at YDO realised that she had to adapt her work in order for it to justly address the needs of the context. In the process of adaptation, Music Therapy became integrated within the organisation and currently works both with and within the broader community of Eersterust. The adaptation of the Music Therapy practice has lead to some unconventional practices of Music Therapy according to traditional Music Therapy discourse. These Music Therapy practices may be described from a Community Music Therapy angle. The aim of this research project is to analyse the narrative of the Music Therapist working within YDO/Eersterust in order to describe the practice of Music Therapy within this context from the angle of Community Music Therapy. The following research questions were addressed in this research study: <ol><li> How is Community Music Therapy at Eersterust constructed in the context of a Music Therapy narrative? </li> <li>How does the narrative draw from and contribute to the emerging field of Community Music Therapy?</li></ol> The study is conducted within a qualitative paradigm and methods of narrative analysis were used to describe the practice of Music Therapy in the context of YDO/Eersterust. The research study is data-driven and raw data consisted of a single semi-structured interview conducted with the Music Therapist working at YDO. The narrative text was transcribed, coded and categorized. From the analysis process themes emerged that indicated the primacy of the context in influencing the construction of the narrative of the Music Therapist. These themes were used to answer the two pertaining research questions. The discussion focuses on the importance of the context as it seems to impinge directly on the Music Therapy practice within the context of YDO/Eersterust. The discussion draws from Social Construction Theory to explain how Community Music Therapy is constructed within the narrative of the Music Therapist. At the same time Community Music Therapy draws from and contributes to the narrative of the Music Therapist. Certain areas of discussion were highlighted in the emerging themes and these areas are used to describe Community Music Therapy within the context of YDO/Eersterust. In this research project the Consensus Model is presented as a contrasting thinking tool to Community Music Therapy discourse. The Consensus Model describes the standardised practice of Music Therapy as a neutral and transferable therapeutic model that can be applied in a similar way in all contexts while Community Music Therapy advocates context-bound and context-specific Music Therapy work with and within communities. Community Music Therapy implies that Music Therapy is not necessarily a neutral model that can be transferred from one context to the next. Areas may exist where Community Music Therapy and the Consensus Model may present different opinions regarding Music Therapy practice. The narrative data concludes that both Community Music Therapy and the Consensus Model are constructed within the narrative of the Music Therapist. Both these models exist simultaneously in the context of YDO/Eersterust. Music Therapy in South Africa is still an emerging field of practice. Community Music Therapy may be especially relevant to South Africa as Music Therapists are increasingly called upon to work in the contexts of socio-economically disadvantaged communities, similar to Eersterust. Whilst this study may have focused only on a single community in South Africa, my hope is that it will encourage Music Therapists in South Africa to review and research Music Therapy with and within communities in South Africa. This study will also contribute to the emerging discourse of Community Music Therapy. / Dissertation (MMus (Music Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Music / Unrestricted

abstract: This study explores the impact of a professional development (PD) activity conducted for teachers of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) at 15 American-curriculum international schools. The intervention involved teachers utilizing the 3D-PAST screening tool to systematically evaluate the alignment of teacher-designed assessments with the constructs of the NGSS and best practices in science instruction. Data about the way the intervention enhanced or challenged teachers’ understanding of the NGSS were collected via a multiple methods approach. The New Framework of Science Education Survey of Teacher Understanding (NFSE-STU) was used in a retrospective pretest-posttest fashion to assess changes in teachers’ understanding of NGSS constructs. Subsequently, interviews were conducted with participants which provided data that expanded upon the NFSE-STU findings. The Refined Consensus Model of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (RCM-PCK) was used to interpret the findings and situate the study within the extant literature on teacher PCK. The intervention was found to have a statistically significant effect on teachers’ understanding of the NGSS in all areas measured by the NFSE-STU. Additionally, data suggest that the intervention elicited changes in teachers’ classroom practices and improved collaborative professional practices. Also highlighted in the analysis was the significance of the relationship between the intervention moderator and the participants as a strong predictor of the way the intervention was perceived by teachers. The findings strongly support the suggestion that international school administrators seeking to maximize the impact of science teacher professional development should consider PD activities that train teachers in the use of aids to align NGSS assessments, because doing so simultaneously enhances teacher understanding of the NGSS while encouraging meaningful changes to professional practice. The study contributes to the nascent body of literature utilizing the RCM-PCK to situate understanding of science-teacher PCK, and fills a void in literature examining PD in American curriculum international schools, and highlights issues with potential to serve as foci for additional cycles of action research in the areas of international schools, science teacher and NGSS-related professional development, and the use of tools similar to 3D-PAST within other teaching disciplines. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2020

This study investigated the effect of training in equipment use on science teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) about the wave concept. The levels of teachers' reported PCK was explored before and after in-service training through interviews and Content Representations (CoRe). Furthermore, the study extended to investigating how the teachers enacted PCK when teaching the wave concept in their classrooms after the training. This qualitative research followed a case study method with three Grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers who were selected purposefully and pragmatically. Their pedagogical reasoning was elicited through a Video Stimulated Recall (VSR) interview and their general views about the training were obtained through a post-training interview. The framework was adapted from the Refined Consensus Model (RCM) and considered PCK at a topic and concept level, with each realm of PCK being underpinned by the Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK) components, namely, the learners’ prior knowledge, the curricular saliency, representations, what is difficult and/or easy to teach and understand, and the conceptual teaching strategies. However, all five TSPCK components were considered. The study was centred on three key ideas in the topic of waves, namely: wavelength; frequency; and superposition. The participants' reported PCK improved and the footprint of the training was visible in the enacted PCK of all of the participants. This study suggests that training on the use of equipment improves teachers’ enacted PCK and this may ultimately lead to improved learner performance. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

A consensus model combines statistical methods with signal processing to create a better picture of the family of related signals. In this thesis, we will consider 32 signals produced by a single electroencephalogram (EEG) recording session. The consensus model will be produced by using the S-Transform of the individual signals and then normalized to unit energy. A bootstrapping process is used to produce a consensus spectrum. This leads to the consensus model via the inverse S-Transform of the consensus spectrum. The method will be applied to both a control and experimental EEG to show how the results can be used in clinical settings to analyze experimental outcomes.