This study uses a predominantly quantitative approach to explore the effect of different error correction feedback mechanisms on students’ English as a Second Language writing (narrative and descriptive) amongst high school students in Botswana. A longitudinal, quasi-experimental design is used, with a control group that received no correction feedback while the experimental groups received direct, coded and uncoded feedback. Three hypotheses define the study in terms of fluency, correction success and accuracy development over time. No significant increases in fluency were found between the pretests and posttests. Correction success achieved by the three treatment groups when rewriting texts reflected the explicitness of the feedback, with the direct group highest, followed by the coded and uncoded groups. Findings were mixed on the important issue of accuracy development, although they strongly suggest that for spelling, any type of feedback is significantly better than none and that coded feedback is better than direct feedback despite the latter being more explicit. Students from all the treatment groups expressed similarly positive opinions on correction feedback. / Applied Language / M.A. (Spec. in Applied Linguistics)

Text in Afrikaans, abstract in Afrikaans and English / As deel van die weermodifikasie-eksperiment in Bethlehem, Suid-Afiika, is 'n reenmeternetwerk geinstalleer, en word die neerslagwaardes R; wat by 43 reenmeterstasies waargeneem is, vergelyk met die waargenome radar reflektiwiteit Z;. Alhoewel radar ruimtelike en tydskontinue metings van reflektiwiteit bied wat onmiddellik by een sentrale punt beskikbaar is, is die akkuraatheid van radar om reenval te meet onseker as gevolg van verskeie potensiele foute in die omskakeling van reflektiwiteit na reenval. Dit word aanvaar dat reenmeters akkurate puntwaarnemings van reenval gee en daar bestaan eenstemmigheid dat die kombinasie van die twee metodes beter is as enigeen van die metodes afsonderlik. In hierdie studie ondersoek ek die toepassing van die veralgemeende lineere model as 'n beramingstegniek. Vorige studies gebruik die log-log transformasie, d. w.s. logZ = logA + b(logR) van die Z = ARb verwantskap om die koeffisiente A en b met behulp van kleinste-kwadrate-regressie te bepaal. Die implisiete aanname hiermee is dat die foute ongekorreleerd is. Met die inverse verwantskap R = czd d.w.s. logR = logC + d(logZ) neem ek aan dat die waarnemings nie onafhanklik is nie sodat die regressiekoeffisiente bereken word met behulp van die metode van die veralgemeende lineere model. Om die ruimtelike afhanklikheid van die reenmeterwaarnemings te modelleer, word eksperimentele variogramme uit die data bereken en gepas met teoretiese variogramme wat gebruik word om die variansie-kovariansiematriks te vu!. "Gemiddeld" vaar hierdie metode beter as gewone regressie vir analises wat reenmeters wat verder as 45km vanaf die radarstel is, insluit. Residu-stipping wys dat die afstand van die meter vanaf die radarstel as 'n afsonderlike onafhanklike veranderlike in die regressievergelyking ingesluit behoort te word, d.w.s. die beraming verbeter met logR = 3-0 + a,(logZ) + a2(afstand). Hierdie meervoudige regressiemodel stem ooreen met die teoretiese model van Smith en Krajewski omdat e -- afstand as 'n praktiese manifestasie van die foutproses [e.,, (ij)] beskou kan word. Omdat E(ez) = eE<ZJ e'"a' as Z 'n lognormaalverdeling het, kan die sydigheid wat ontstaan wanneer antilogaritmes geneem word, reggestel word deur die beraamde reenval met e112 "' te vermenigvuldig. Die studie !ewer 'n bydrae met die afleiding van 'n beramingstegniek wat die beraming van neerslag uit radar betekenisvol verbeter. / In a study of a rain-gauge network that was installed for a weather modification experiment in Bethlehem, South Africa, precipitation values R; observed at 43 gauging stations are compared to the observed radar reflectivity Z;. Although radar provides spatial and temporal measurements of reflectivity that are immediately available at one location, the accuracy of radar estimation of rainfall is uncertain due to various potential errors in the conversion from reflectivity to rainfall. Rain-gauges are assumed to give accurate point measurements of rainfall and there is general agreement that the combination of systems is better than either system alone. In this study I explore the application of the general linear model as an estimation technique. Previous studies have used the log-log transform, i.e. logZ = logA + b(logR) of the Z = ARb relation, and applied least-squares regression analysis to determine the coefficients A and b. This implicitly assumes that the disturbances are uncorrelated. Working with the inverse relation R = czd i.e. logR = logC + d(logZ) and assuming that the observations are not independent we compute the regression coefficients using generalised least squares. To model the spatial dependence of the rain-gauge observations we compute experimental variograms from the data and fit them with theoretical variograms which are then used to fill the variance-covariance matrix. "On average" this method performs better than ordinary regression for the analyses that included rain-gauges further than 45km from the radar set. Residual plotting revealed that distance of the rain-gauge from the radar set should be included as a separate independent variable in the regression equation, i.e. logR = ao + a1(logZ) + a1(distance) improved the estimation of rainfall as it performs better than ordinary regression. This multiple regression model agrees with the theoretical model of Smith and Krajewski in the sense that e "'distance is a practical manifestation of the error process [ e,, (ij)]. Showing that E( ez) = el!.(!.) e 112 "' if Z has a lognormal distribution, the bias when taking antilogs can be removed by multiplying estimated rainfall by e1 ' 2a'. The contribution of this study is the derivation of an estimation technique which significantly improves the estimation of rainfall from radar / Mathematical Sciences / D. Phil. (Statistics)

Submitted by Andrea Hayashi (deachan@gmail.com) on 2016-06-22T14:03:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao-mohamad-nagashima-de-oliveira.pdf: 2215743 bytes, checksum: 112ebd6cf914950bfdf80ed3727aa750 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Andrea Hayashi (deachan@gmail.com) on 2016-06-22T14:03:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao-mohamad-nagashima-de-oliveira.pdf: 2215743 bytes, checksum: 112ebd6cf914950bfdf80ed3727aa750 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-22T14:03:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao-mohamad-nagashima-de-oliveira.pdf: 2215743 bytes, checksum: 112ebd6cf914950bfdf80ed3727aa750 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-15 / A presente dissertação versa sobre como podemos identificar os Principia, escrito por Newton na sua versão final em 1726, como uma obra estritamente matemática e como podemos identificar a Óptica, 1703, como um livro que parte de experimentos para que fosse formulado. Para tanto apresento primeiramente uma contextualização de época de Newton, para que se apresente as preocupações de Newton na divulgação de suas teorias e então uma leitura estruturada dos Principia que visa explicar como ele é um livro matematicamente estruturado. Após isso apresento a leitura de algumas questões da Óptica visando apresentar como que os experimentos ajudam a compor o livro. Ao final, apresento uma conclusão dividida em três partes, a primeira uma conclusão sobre o método científico de Newton, a segunda uma conclusão que visa dar os últimos argumentos para uma leitura puramente matemática dos Principia e uma terceira que trata por fim sobre os experimentos com a Óptica. / This text is about how We can identify the Principia, writed by Newton in your final version in 1726, as a book strictly math and how We can identify the Optics, 1703, as a book which start from experiments to build on. To do it I show firstly a contextualization of Newton’s time, to show the concerns of Newton about the disclosure of his theories and then a structural read of the Principia to explain how it is mathematically structured. After it, I show a read of few questions from Optics to show how the experiments help to compose the book. In the end, I show a conclusion divided in three parts, the first is a conclusion about scientific method, and the second is to give final arguments to a read of pure math of Principia and, at least, the third that show last arguments to experiments in Optics.

Background. Regularly exercising is difficult, some people stop exercising either due to it not being fun or they might not see any results of the effort they put in. Exercise and gaming or also know as exergaming, is a way to combine the fun entertainment of games with the health benefits of exercise. Objectives. The objective of this study is to conduct an experiment to find out if people are more interested in an exercising app which has been gamified compared to a normal exercising app. Gamifyingsomethingsuggeststhatsomethingwhichisnotconsideredagamemedium is taken, and then influence with game related aspects. Methods. A prototype was created to show the participants both sides of the exercise apps, one normal app which resembles an everyday exercising app, and one gamified app which shows the user their progress in a fashion similar to role-playing games with levels and quests. The participants of the test will try both apps and later vote in a survey whichever they liked the most. Results. While only about 60% of the participants had prior experience with exercise apps, 90% would rather choose the gamified app over the normal app. 95% of the participants were regular gamers. Conclusions. The vast majority of the participants preferred the gamified version of the app over the normal one. Specifically mentioning that they find it more interesting and that they enjoy the upfront progression system a lot more since they are used to it from the games they play on their free time

O método de identificação por minimização do erro de predição está relacionado com um problema de otimização não convexo. É comum utilizar algoritmos iterativos para resolver o problema de otimização. Contudo, os algoritmos iterativos podem ficar presos em mínimos locais da função custo ou convergir para a borda do domínio de busca. Uma análise da função custo e condições suficientes para garantir a convergência dos algoritmos iterativos para o mínimo global são apresentadas neste trabalho. Observa-se que estas condições dependem do espectro do sinal de entrada utilizado no experimento. Este trabalho apresenta ferramentas para melhorar a convergência dos algoritmos para o mínimo global, as quais são baseadas na manipulação do espectro do sinal de entrada. / The Prediction Error Method is related to a non-convex optimization problem. It is usual to apply iterative algorithms to solve this optimization problem. However, iterative algorithms can get stuck at a local minimum of the cost function or converge to the border of the searching space. An analysis of the cost function and sufficient conditions to ensure the convergence of the iterative algorithms to the global minimum are presented in this work. It is observed that this conditions depend on the spectrum of the input signal used in the experiment. This work presents tools to improve the convergence of the algorithms to the global minimum, which are based on the manipulation of the input spectrum.

A relação entre preço e posicionamento de produto nas prateleiras de varejo ainda tem espaço para descobertas na literatura de marketing. O objetivo central dessa dissertação foi identificar o efeito do posicionamento de produtos levando em consideração o seu preço e a escolha do consumidor; mais especificamente o efeito positivo do posicionamento lógico de preços (i.e produtos posicionados do menor ao maior preço nas prateleiras) na escolha final, facilidade de escolha e número de unidades vendidas. Dois estudos foram feitos em busca de resultados, o primeiro sendo um experimento online, no qual escolha e facilidade de escolha foram estudadas a partir do posicionamento de preço. O segundo estudo foi um experimento de campo, no qual unidades vendidas foram verificadas através do posicionamento de preço. Os resultados encontrados em ambos os estudos indicam que o posicionamento de produtos a partir de uma ordem lógica de preço afeta a escolha do consumidor, embora não através da facilidade de escolha, e, mais ainda, afeta positivamente a quantidade de produtos vendidos. Contudo, verificou-se que o posicionamento a partir de preço não tem como consequência a facilidade de escolha. / The relationship between price and product positioning on retail shelves still has room for breakthroughs in marketing literature. The main goal of this dissertation was to identify the effect of product placement, taking into account its price, and consumer choice; more specifically, the positive effect of product placement by a logical positioning of prices (i.e. products positioned from the lowest to the highest price on the shelves) on the final choice, choice easiness and overall number of units sold. Two studies were conducted to search for these results, the first one as an online experiment, which studied choice and choice easiness from price positioning. In this first study was found that there is a positive relation between logical price arrangement (i.e. positioning products from the cheapest to the most expensive one) and consumer choice. However, price positioning does not significantly affect the ease of choice. The second study was a field experiment, in which the overall number of units sold was verified through price positioning. The results found in both studies indicate that the positioning of products from a logical price order affects consumer choice, though not through easiness of choice and, moreover, positively affects the quantity of products sold. Yet, it has been found that considering primily price to choose a shelf position does not have as consequence easiness of choice.

Process modeling is an indispensable task in the discipline of Business Process Management. The process models created in this task help its readers in to acquiring a higher comprehension of a process, allowing for the discovery of opportunities for its improvement. However, the comprehension of a process model is not guaranteed, as process modeling is a complex task that depends on the proficiency of the process modeler to avoid the creation of badly designed constructs. Process modeling guidelines are an essential tool in this regard, though they are dispersed across the many studies of the literature and not all of them have empirical evidence validating their effects. In addition to this problem, it is still an open questions if a set of process modeling guidelines makes the process modeling task more challenging and how effective modelers are in using them. It is also unclear how receptive process analysts are to the modeling guidelines. This dissertation presents a systematic literature review we conducted to collect and analyze the modeling guidelines found in the literature. It investigated a total of 520 articles, extracting a total of 45 modeling guidelines spread across 4 different categories. These 45 guidelines were simplified into a set of 20 guidelines, based on their significance to create more comprehensible process models and their practicality. This dissertation also presents the findings of an empirical experiment performed by 13 subjects that compared the results of two process modeling tasks with and without the support of the 20 modeling guidelines presented by the review, in which it was possible to observe that the subjects recognize the usefulness of the guidelines, but find them difficult to understand and use.

The aim of the work titled ?Irrationality in shopping behavior" was to realize several experiments aimed to confirm the irrationality in the shopping behavior and then make cross-cultural comparisons. To allow the comparison of results, were selected experiments already performed by Dan Ariely with American students. During the works were progressively evaluated predetermined hypotheses.

The goal of the diploma thesis is the design of a training program for sprinters and verification of the training by physical metrics. Experiment is method, which was used in this work. The experimental and testing period lasted from February to June 2013. In the theoretical part, we present the history of sprinting, the various sprinting disciplines, the means of energy supply for sprinting performance and training for the various disciplines. In the practical part, we deal with development of the training plan and evaluation of this plan. Analysis of the results then confirms the hypothesis. There have been improvements in tests of speed, power, reflexes and endurance following the training program. Training plan was successfully authenticated.

Les conditions de solidification de la matière au cours d’une opération de soudage sont très particulières. Le phénomène se produit en effet à des vitesses de croissance de grains élevées, en présence de forts gradients de températures, et surtout de forts écoulements dans le bain liquide, qui peuvent modifier les mécanismes de solidification.Le travail présenté dans ce mémoire est une contribution à la compréhension des couplages pouvant exister entre écoulements et mécanismes de solidification, en relation avec les paramètres de soudages, à l’échelle macroscopique du bain, mais aussi à l’échelle microscopique des grains en cours de solidification.Une étude expérimentale est menée, basée sur l’observation in-situ d’un bain liquide traversant généré sur une tôle mince d’alliage Cu30Ni à l’aide d’une torche de soudage TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas), dans deux configurations :une configuration statique générant un bain de fusion axisymétrique, et une configuration en translation générant une ligne de fusion.Pour chaque configuration, la morphologie du front de solidification et les écoulements autour du front sont observés à l’échelle microscopique à l’aide d’une caméra rapide équipée d’un objectif à fort grossissement.A l’échelle macroscopique, le bain dans son ensemble est observé à l’aide d’une caméra infra-rouge et de deux caméras filmant dans le visible.La première permet d’obtenir le champ de température dans le solide sur la face envers, tandis que les deux autres permettent de déterminer la frontière du bain sur les faces supérieure et inférieure.Les observations synchronisées ont permis d’extraire une grande quantité de données permettant de discuter les interactions entre mécanismes de solidification et écoulements pour plusieurs conditions de soudage.Pour finir, les résultats expérimentaux sont confrontés aux résultats issus de modélisations analytiques et numériques, afin de discuter la validité de ces modèles et de tenter de mieux comprendre les analyses. / In welding processes, solidification is very specific. This phenomenon leads to high grain growth rates, in presence of high temperature gradients and strong fluid flows in the liquid, that can change the solidification mechanisms.This work investigates the coupling between fluid flows and solidification mechanisms, related to welding parameters, at weld pool scale (macroscale) and at grains scale (microscale).An experimental study is carried out, based on in-situ observations of a fully penetrated weld pool, generated on a thin Cu30Ni plate with a GTAW torch in two configurations :a static configuration generating an antisymmetric weld pool and a translating configuration generating a weld bead.For each configuration, the solidification morphology and the fluid flows in the solidification front area are observed at microscopic scale, with a high speed camera coupled with a high magnification lens.At macroscopic scale, the whole weld poll is observed with an infra-red camera and two cameras in visible range.We can then obtain on one hand the temperature field on the bottom of the plate and on the other hand the weld pool boundaries on the top and the bottom of the plate.The synchronised observations give access to an important quantity of data allowing the discussion of the interactions between solidification mechanisms and fluid flows for several welding conditions.Finally, the experimental results are compared to theoretical results obtained from analytical and numerical simulations, in order to discuss the possible limitations of models and try to better understand the analysis.