The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a feedback cycle on problemsolving groups. A formal method, Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups (SYMLOG), was employed for the analysis of behavior in such groups. The system, which codes on multiple levels of communication, served both as a theoretical and an explanatory approach. Problemsolving groups which included a feedback session on group process were compared with problemsolving groups which were not given feedback. The study used primary data from SYMLOG field diagrams to determine whether group movement, leader movement, self-perceptions, and group satisfaction would be affected by feedback intervention. Quantitative techniques were employed to answer the research questions. Case study techniques involving SYMLOG field diagrams were used to discuss the results in a descriptive manner. The groups were analyzed on multiple levels of space using the bipolar three-dimensional model of SYMLOG: task-orientation vs. emotionally expressive, dominant vs. passive, and positive vs. negative. Findings indicated that the feedback cycle played a central role in both group satisfaction and leadership behavior but had little effect upon group movement over time and did not appear to change self-perceptions in any substantial manner.

No description available.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-119).

Thesis. 1975. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics. / Vita. / Includes bibliographies. / by James D. Hess. / Ph.D.

Software reviews (inspections) have received widespread attention for ensuring the quality of software, by finding and repairing defects in software products. A typical review process consists of two stages critical for defect detection: individual review followed by group review. This thesis addresses two attributes to improve our understanding of the task model: (1) the need for review meetings, and (2) the use of roles in meetings. The controversy of review meeting effectiveness has been consistently raised in the literature. Proponents maintain that the review meeting is the crux of the review process, resulting in group synergism and qualitative benefits (e.g. user satisfaction). Opponents argue that against meetings because the costs of organising and conducting them are high, and there is no net meeting gain. The persistence of these diverse views is the main motivation behind this thesis. Although commonly prescribed in meetings, roles have not yet been empirically validated. Three procedural roles (moderator, reader, recorder) were considered. A conceptual framework on software reviews was developed, from which main research questions were identified. Two experiments were conducted. Review performance was operationalised in terms of true defects and false positives. The review product was COBOL code. The results indicated that in terms of true defects, group reviews outperformed the average individual but not nominal group reviews (aggregate of individual reviews). However, groups have the ability to filter false positives from the individuals' findings. Roles provided limited benefits in improving group reviews. Their main function is to reduce process loss, by encouraging systematic consideration of the individuals' findings. When two or more reviewers find a defect during individual reviews, it is likely to be carried through to the meeting (plurality effect). Groups employing roles reported more 'new' false positives (not identified from preparation) than groups without roles. Overall, subjects' ability at the defect detection was low. This thesis suggests that reading technologies may be helpful for improving reviewer performance. The inclusion of an author role may also reduce the level of false positive detection. The results have implications on the design and support of the software review process.

In this thesis we consider four topics all related to using problem reformulations in order to solve integer programs, i.e. optimization problems in which the decision variables must be integer. We first consider the polyhedral approach. We start by addressing the question of lifting valid inequalities, i.e. finding a valid inequality for a set Y from the knowledge of a valid inequality for a lower-dimensional restriction X of Y. We simplify and clarify the presentation of the procedure. This allows us to derive conditions under which the computation of the lifting is tractable. The second topic is the study of valid inequalities for the single node flow set. The single node flow set is the problem obtained by considering one node of a fixed charge network flow problem. We derive valid inequalities for this set and various generalizations. Our approach is a systematic procedure using only basic tools of integer programming: fixing and complementing variables, mixed-integer rounding and lifting. The method allows us to explain and generate a large range of inequalities describing the convex hull of such sets. The last two topics are based on non-standard approaches for integer programming. We first show how the group relaxation approach can be used to provide reformulations for the integral basis method. This is based on a study of extended formulations for the group problem. We present four extended formulations and show that the projections of three of these formulations provide the convex hull of the original group problem. Initial computational tests of the approach are also reported. Finally we consider a problem that is difficult for the standard branch-and-bound approach even for small instances. A reformulation based on lattice basis reduction is known to be more effective. However the step to compute the reduced basis is O(n^4) and becomes a bottleneck for small to medium instances. By using the structure of the problem, we show that we can decompose the problem and obtain the basis by taking the kronecker product of two smaller bases easier to compute. Furthermore, if the two small bases are reduced, the kronecker product is also reduced up to a reordering of the vectors. Computational results show the gain from such an approach.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-90).

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

The relevance of work was dictated by the period and new unusual problems of children’s life and behaviour. One of them is constantly growing delinquency of children, which was often explained only by the problems of adolescence. Children’s delinquency is not only children’s or group problem. It is a problem of adults’ attitudes and relationships, based on these attitudes with a child, who enters all institutions, operating in the society, i.e. different training institutions (for example: school), family, as an institution, forming child’s life style and other educational institutions (law and order institutions and other). As the problem of children delinquency is complex social, pedagogical, cultural, then two cooperation groups can successfully perform prevention: school teachers and inspector groups specialists of juveniles affairs. Problem. The question is raised whether the traditional attitudes of teachers and policeman, when the children inclined to delinquency, are called criminals and whether it is a setback, preparing prevention programmes. The aim is to ground and empirically research teachers’ and policemen’ attitudes to children delinquency as the assumption of cooperation optimizing prevention of children delinquency. The research hypothesis was confirmed that the children inclined to delinquency are often devaluated as people, inappropriate to the family, society and other institutions. In society stereotypical attitudes to a child as a functional individual... [to full text]

This study examined Filipino mothers' problem solving on issues related to child feeding, using a dyadic, peer-help approach. The participants were mothers of children under 6 years of age from the town of Camaligan, in the southern Philippines, where malnutrition among children is prevalent. Two studies were conducted: one using a controlled experimental session and the second using a multi-session nutrition education format. In the first study, mothers were paired with a mutual or unilateral friend to discuss a feeding problem to which they initially gave similar solutions and one to which they gave different solutions. Their post-discussion solutions were better in quality and number than the pre-discussion solutions; also mothers paired with a mutual friend gave more and better finaL solutions to the initially-agreed problem than other mothers. Mothers' final solutions were more likely to come from their own than their partner's discussed solutions, suggesting that the partner's role was to facilitate the mother's own problem-solving process. In the second study, mothers paired with a mutual or unilateral friend were compared with an unpaired control group, after pacing themselves through four problem-based nutrition education sessions. For all three groups, mothers' nutrition knowledge and target child's weight-for-age and height-for-age improved from before to after the sessions. In conclusion, mothers show improvements in the number and quality of solutions they generate and the nutrition knowledge they acquire as a result of a problem-solving approach to nutrition education.