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Science and technology are constantly transforming our day-to-day living. Science education has become of vital importance to prepare learners for this everchanging world. Unfortunately, science education in South Africa is hampered by under-qualified and inexperienced teachers. Textbooks of good quality can assist teachers and learners and facilitate the development of science teachers. For this reason thorough assessment of textbooks is needed to inform the selection of good textbooks. An investigation revealed that the available textbook evaluation instruments are not suitable for the evaluation of the physical science textbooks in the South African context. An instrument is needed that focusses on science education textbooks and which prescribes the criteria, weights, evaluation procedure and rating scheme that can ensure justifiable, transparent, reliable and valid evaluation results. This study utilised elements from the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to develop such an instrument and verified the reliability and validity of the instrument’s evaluation results. Development of the Instrument for the Evaluation of Science Education Textbooks started with the formulation of criteria. Characteristics that influence the quality of textbooks were identified from literature, existing evaluation instruments and stakeholders’ concerns. In accordance with the AHP, these characteristics or criteria were divided into categories or branches to give a hierarchical structure. Subject experts verified the content validity of the hierarchy. Expert science teachers compared the importance of different criteria. The data were used to derive weights for the different criteria with the Expert Choice computer application. A rubric was formulated to act as rating-scheme and score sheet. During the textbook evaluation process the ratings were transferred to a spreadsheet that computed the scores for the quality of a textbook as a whole as well as for the different categories. The instrument was tested on small scale, adjusted and then applied on a larger scale. The results of different analysts were compared to verify the reliability of the instrument. Triangulation with the opinions of teachers who have used the textbooks confirmed the validity of the evaluation results obtained with the instrument. Future investigations on the evaluation instrument can include the use of different rating scales and limiting of criteria. / Thesis (M. Ed. (Didactics))

Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe the values of the staff of one psychiatric hospital, the aspects of care appreciated by the patients and the current status of psychiatric care. The staff (n = 125) data were collected with the Schwartz value survey and an instrument measuring the status of organisational activity. The patient (n = 47) data were collected with the instrument measuring the status of organizational activity. The results were presented as frequencies, percentages and means. Multivariate correlations were examined based on cross-tabulation, Chi square test, Student's t-test and one-way analysis of variance. The responses to open-ended questions were analysed with data-based content analysis. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to evaluate the reliability of the measuring instruments. The values most highly appreciated by the staff were honesty, respect for one's parents' work, family safety, health, sense of responsibility, subjective pleasure and life experience. The following values were appreciated least: self-sacrificial work for the employer, religion, exciting life and material wealth. The most important motivation type values were hedonism, security and universalism, while desire for variation, traditions and power were considered the least important. The staff values were distinctively collective and communal. The following values were related to patient care: respect for the human value of individuals, humane treatment, reliability and safety of the therapeutic environment. The status assessments concerning care, leadership and atmosphere fell between satisfactory and good. The specific strengths of the working units were professional expertise, competence, experience, co-operation and commitment to work. Privacy on the ward and spiritual care were accomplished least well. Despite their illness, patients highly appreciated the human value of individuals. The expectations applied by patients to this value were related to truth, humanity, respect for human beings, privacy and freedom. The patients appreciated a safe therapeutic environment and humanely respectful treatment. Of the different therapeutic modalities, the patients appreciated medication, crisis interventions, primary nurses and basic care. Two third of the patients felt that their rights had been respected. Involuntary care, experiences of submission, environmentally evoked fears and lack of private space were felt to be difficult matters. The values of the staff and the patients were roughly parallel, with the exception of the value of health, which was not underlined by the patients. It thus seems that psychic illness does not fundamentally alter the person's values. The qualitative part of the study highlighted the contradictions between the ideals and practical realities of patient care. Conflicts in the working community were due to inappropriate use of power, differences in work motivation, aspects of patient care and treatment as well as structural problems in the working and therapeutic environment. Despite occasional value conflicts, the care of patients was considered to be mostly good, safe, humane and just. Due to its stable and uniform value basis, therefore, the working and therapeutic community seems to tolerate occasional ethical and value conflicts. / Tiivistelmä Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata erään psykiatrisen sairaalan henkilökunnan arvoja, potilaiden hoidossaan arvostamia asioita ja psykiatrisen hoidon nykytilaa. Henkilökunnan (n = 125) aineisto kerättiin Schwartzin arvomittarilla ja organisaation toiminnan tilan mittarilla. Potilaiden (n = 47) aineisto kerättiin organisaation toiminnan tilan mittarilla. Tulokset esitettiin frekvenssi-, prosentti- ja keskiarvolukuina. Muuttujien välisiä yhteyksiä tarkasteltiin ristiintaulukoinnin, Khiin neliötestin, Studentin t-testin ja yksisuuntaisen varianssianalyysin avulla. Avokysymykset analysoitiin aineistolähtöisellä sisällön analyysillä. Mittareiden luotettavuutta arvioitiin Cronbachin alfa-kertoimella. Henkilökunnalle tärkeimmät yksittäiset arvot olivat rehellisyys, omien vanhempien työn kunnioittaminen, perheen turvallisuus, terveys, vastuuntunto, mielihyvä ja elämänkokemus. Vähiten tärkeitä arvoja olivat uhrautuva työ työnantajan hyödyksi, uskonnollisuus, jännittävä elämä ja varakkuus. Tärkeimmiksi motivaatiotyyppiarvoiksi erottuivat hedonismi, turvallisuus ja universalismi ja vähiten tärkeinä pidettiin vaihtelunhalua, perinteitä ja valtaa. Henkilökunnan arvoina korostuivat kollektiiviset, yhteisölliset arvot. Potilaan hoitoon liittyviä tärkeitä arvoja olivat ihmisarvon kunnioittaminen, inhimillinen kohtelu, luotettavuus ja hoitoympäristön turvallisuus. Hoitamisen, johtamisen ja ilmapiirin toiminnan tila sijoittui tyydyttävän ja hyvän välille. Työyksiköiden vahvuuksina korostuivat ammattitaito, osaaminen, kokemus, yhteistyö ja sitoutuminen työhön. Yksityisyys osastolla ja hengellinen hoito toteutuivat kaikkein huonoimmin. Ihmisarvo sairaudesta huolimatta oli potilaille tärkeä arvo. Ihmisarvoon potilailla liittyi odotusarvoja, jotka olivat totuus, inhimillisyys, ihmisenä kunnioittaminen, yksityisyys ja vapaus. Potilaat arvostivat turvallista hoitoympäristöä sekä ihmisarvoa kunnioittavaa kohtelua. Hoitomuodoista arvostettiin lääkehoitoa, kriisiapua, omahoitajuutta ja perushoitoa. Potilaista kaksi kolmasosaa koki omien oikeuksiensa toteutuvan hyvin. Pakottaminen hoitoon, alistetuksi tulemisen kokemus, ympäristöstä johtuvat pelot ja yksityisen tilan puute koettiin vaikeina asioina. Henkilökunnan ja potilaiden arvoissa ja arvostuksissa oli havaittavissa samankaltaisuutta lukuun ottamatta terveyden arvoa, jota potilaat eivät tuoneet esille. Psyykkinen sairaus ei siten näyttäisi muuttavan oleellisesti ihmisen arvomaailmaa. Tutkimuksen laadullinen osa toi esille ristiriitaisuutta hoitamisen ihanteiden ja käytännön todellisuuden välillä. Työyhteisössä ristiriitoja aiheuttivat väärä vallankäyttö, työmotivaation epätasaisuus, potilaan hoitoon ja kohteluun liittyvät seikat sekä työ- ja hoitoympäristön rakenteiden ongelmat. Ajoittaisista arvoristiriidoista huolimatta hoidon todettiin olevan pääosin hyvää, turvallista, inhimillistä ja oikeudenmukaista. Vakaan ja yhtenäisen arvoperustan johdosta työ- ja hoitoyhteisö näyttäisi siten kestävän toiminnassa ilmenevät ajoittaiset eettiset ristiriidat ja arvokonfliktit.

Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs)’ gestures can enhance human perception in many dimensions during interactions. In recent years, data-driven gesture generation approaches for ECAs have attracted considerable research attention and effort, and methods have been continuously optimized. Researchers have typically used human-agent interaction for user studies when evaluating systems of ECAs that generate rule-based gestures. However, when evaluating the performance of ECAs that generate gestures based on data-driven methods, participants are often required to watch prerecorded videos, which cannot provide an adequate assessment of human perception during the interaction. To address this limitation, we proposed two main research objectives: First, to explore the workflow of assessing data-driven gesturing ECAs through real-time interaction. Second, to investigate whether gestures could affect ECAs’ human-likeness, animacy, perceived intelligence, and humans’ focused attention in ECAs. Our user study required participants to interact with two ECAs by setting two experimental conditions with and without hand gestures. Both subjective data from the participants’ self-report questionnaire and objective data from the gaze tracker were collected. To our knowledge, the current study represents the first attempt to evaluate data-driven gesturing ECAs through real-time interaction and the first experiment using gaze-tracking to examine the effect of ECA gestures. The eye-gazing data indicated that when an ECA can generate gestures, it would attract more attention to its body. / Förkroppsligade konversationsagenter (Embodied Conversational Agents, ECAs) gester kan förbättra människans uppfattning i många dimensioner under interaktioner. Under de senaste åren har datadrivna metoder för att generera gester för ECA:er fått stor uppmärksamhet och stora ansträngningar inom forskningen, och metoderna har kontinuerligt optimerats. Forskare har vanligtvis använt sig av interaktion mellan människa och agent för användarstudier när de utvärderat system för ECA:er som genererar regelbaserade gester. När man utvärderar prestandan hos ECA:er som genererar gester baserat på datadrivna metoder måste deltagarna ofta titta på förinspelade videor, vilket inte ger en adekvat bedömning av människans uppfattning under interaktionen. För att åtgärda denna begränsning föreslog vi två huvudsakliga forskningsmål: För det första att utforska arbetsflödet för att bedöma datadrivna ECA:er för gester genom interaktion i realtid. För det andra att undersöka om gester kan påverka ECA:s människoliknande, animerade karaktär, upplevd intelligens och människors fokuserade uppmärksamhet i ECA:s. I vår användarstudie fick deltagarna interagera med två ECA:er genom att ställa in två experimentella villkor med och utan handgester. Både subjektiva data från deltagarnas självrapporterande frågeformulär och objektiva data från gaze tracker samlades in. Såvitt vi vet är den aktuella studien det första försöket att utvärdera datadrivna ECA:er med gester genom interaktion i realtid och det första experimentet där man använder blickspårning för att undersöka effekten av ECA:s gester. Uppgifterna om blickspårning visade att när en ECA kan generera gester skulle den locka mer uppmärksamhet till sin kropp.

This study gives guidelines to enhance online service delivery by the South African Police Service (SAPS by means of its website. It makes various recommendations to achieve this, following various investigations. The SAPS describes its primary goal as “service to the public”. This is in line with the South African government’s Batho Pele (“People first”) initiative to improve the delivery of public services. However, as society is changing in response to the demands of the Internet Age, service providers (for the purpose of this study, police agencies) must, too, adjust. The application of e-Governance will enable these agencies to serve the public with a wide variety of information and services. This study makes recommendations in this regard as well. In the initial study for this work user needs regarding the establishment of the SAPS website were assessed. Subsequently a study was conducted to determine best practices in various English-speaking countries, using an evaluation framework compiled for this purpose. Based on the results gained a measuring instrument was designed to evaluate the SAPS website. Four expert evaluators were then requested to do so. This resulted in an assessment of possible shortcomings of the SAPS website and recommendations for enhancing online service delivery and e-Governance. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Information Science / unrestricted