A research report submitted to Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, 2012. / The study aims to identify the variables which best predict completion of four year undergraduate degree programmes, in the Schools of Construction Economics and Management and Architecture and Planning, at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa. The research is important to the University and in particular the schools under investigation, because there are only a few studies done in South African universities on this topic and it will contribute to the knowledge on variables that positively influence Time-to-Degree. Selected demographic variables such as Gender, Race, and Home Language were analysed. Other variables considered include: University Courses, First Year Scores, Matric Aggregate, Financial Aid and Residence Status. The Binary Logistic Models, a Multinomial Logistic Model and Classification Tree Model were developed to test for the significance of the predictor variables at 5% level of significance. The Statistical packages that were used in the analysis of data are Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Statistical Analysis System (SAS). The logistic regression models indicated that Home Language is English and the first year university course Building Quantities 1 are the most important predictors of Time-to-Degree. The other variables that were significant are Gender is Female, Not Repeat, Theory & Practice of QS 1, Architectural Representation I, Building Quantities 1, Construction Planning and Design, Physics Building and Planning for Property Developers. Architectural Representation I, Building Quantities 1, Construction Planning and Design, Physics Building and Planning for Property Developers. Matric Aggregate is an important predictor of university first year success though it has no impact on TTD. The Classification Tree indicated that passing first year at university was significant as it increases the chances of completing the degree programme within the minimum time.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Technology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska, 1932. / Bibliography: p. 58-59.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1964. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Includes tables. Sponsor: Mildred L. Montag. Dissertation Committee: Margaret Lindsey. Includes bibliographical references.

The rapid growth of data hungry wireless applications has boosted the demand for wireless communication systems with improved reliability, wider coverage, and higher throughput. The main challenges facing the design of such systems are the limited resources, such as bandwidth, restricted transmission power, etc., and the impairments of the wireless channels, including fading effects, interference, and noise. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication has been shown to be one of the most promising emerging wireless technologies that can efficiently enhance link reliability, improve system coverage, and boost the data transmission rate. Consequently, MIMO is now extensively adopted by many mainstream wireless industry standards, including 3GPP WCDMA/HSDPA, LTE, EVDO, WiFi, and WiMAX. By deploying multiple antennas at both transmitter and receiver sides, MIMO techniques license a new dimension (spatial dimension) that can be applied in various ways for combating the impairments of wireless networks. Furthermore, this new dimension has introduced a new concept known as Interference Alignment that can efficiently deal with the interference presentin the wireless communication networks. In particular, IA is highly attractive in terms of providing more degrees of freedom compared to techniques such as TDMA/FDMA. With this in mind, this thesis will focus on studying and developing advanced techniques and algorithms for reducing interference in cellular communication networks. The contributions of the thesis are as follows. Initially, a review is provided to reiterate some basic concepts of wireless communications and discuss the challenges faced by the techniques that deal with interference mitigation. Next, Chapter 3 presents a novel IA based cancellation scheme that is proposed for combating the interfering signals present in the compounded MIMO broadcast channels, where the users experience a multi-source transmission from several base stations. After defining the interference channel (IC) interference and X-channel interference, the partial transmit beamforming matrices of the closed-form downlink scheme alleviate the corresponding types of interference. Applying the proposed scheme allows one to treat the multi-cell network as a set of single-cell MIMO network, which leads to the simultaneous BER performance enhancement and data rate increase. Moreover, a generalization scheme is given to assign the appropriate antenna configuration for achieving maximum DoF. Furthermore, Chapter 4 demonstrates a comprehensive analysis on the number of DoF achievable by exploiting the transmit beamforming technique. Additionally, the proposed scheme is able to provide the maximum data rate under a certain antenna setting or compute a transmitter-receiver configuration in order to meet the required number of DoF. Chapter 5 considers a modified IA scheme for the compounded MIMO network when different classes of users communicate in the overlapped area. Due to various antenna settings of each receiver, the effect of spatial correlation on the achievable data rate is investigated. Moreover, an algorithm is derived for calculating the antenna configuration for different users classes. Then, the proposed scheme is extended for the case of Large-scale MIMO, which in turn provides sufficient insights into the impact of the deployment of a large number of antennas. Finally, Chapter 6 presents an alternative design of the IA scheme with no symbol extension for the cellular MIMO network. Subsequently, a modified eigenvalue-based scheme is proposed to enhance the overall system performance. Finally, the achievable data rate is calculated under different CSI acquisition scenarios. Chapter 7 concludes the thesis and provides a list of potential future work directions for further investigation.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006. / Prepared for: School of Education. Bibliography: leaves 154-166. Also available online.

Just over 10 years ago, the Ontario government passed legislation that resulted in baccalaureate degree-granting status for provincial community colleges. Since this fundamental shift in college credential delivery, the numbers of programs, students and graduates have continued to grow, and are expected to continue to do so. While employers were not an obvious driver behind this shift, understanding their expectations and perceptions as they pertain to these degree programs and graduates is critical for Ontario colleges and students. This research involved interviews with Greater Toronto Area employers who have hired college degree graduates. The interviews demonstrated that, while there is still a general lack of knowledge about college degrees, employers find value in the programs and essentially envision themselves as partners who can play a greater role in future program development and ongoing review. This includes having an impact on curriculum, graduate expectations, work experience opportunities and identifying skill gaps.