The purposes of this study were to describe how high school department chairpersons spend their time and to examine preferences as to the role they should have in a large urban school system as perceived by principals, department chairpersons, and teachers. The research questions were as follows: (1) How do department chairpersons spend their time in the areas of supervision, curriculum, personnel, management, staff development, communication, and other areas? (2) To what degree do principals, department chairpersons, and teachers believe department chairpersons should be responsible for tasks in the areas of supervision, curriculum, personnel, management, staff development, communication, and other areas? (3) What are the discrepancies between department chairpersons, principals, and teachers in terms of reported time spent by department chairpersons and the degree of responsibility they believed department chairpersons should have in supervision, curriculum, personnel, management, staff development, communication, and other areas? This study was conducted in the District of Columbia Public School System during the 1989-90 School Year. It included ten of the eleven public full-time academic high schools. The population of this study consisted of principals, department chairpersons, and teachers. The data for this study were collected through the use of a descriptive survey. The results from the data analysis suggested the following major findings: (1) high school department chairpersons spend a greater amount of their time in managerial roles, performing such tasks as planning and conducting departmental meetings, preparing and monitoring departmental budgets, arranging for repairs and replacement of equipment, ordering supplies and equipment, maintaining inventory, completing forms, and gathering information; (2) principals, department chairpersons, and teachers believed that a high degree of responsibility of the department chairperson should be in encouraging, stimulating, and motivating teachers; (3) There were statistically significant differences between department chairpersons, principals, and teachers in relation to the reported time spent by department chairpersons and the degree of responsibility they believed department chairpersons should spend on various tasks. / Ed. D.

More and more novel functions are being integrated into the vehicle infotainment system to allow individuals to perform secondary tasks with high accuracy and low accident risks. Mid-air gesture interactions are one of them. This thesis designed and tested a novel interface to solve a specific issue caused by this method of interaction: visual distraction within the car. In this study, a Heads-Up Display (HUD) was integrated with a gesture-based menu navigation system to allow drivers to see menu selections without looking away from the road. An experiment was conducted to investigate the potential of this system in improving drivers’ driving performance, situation awareness, and gesture interactions. The thesis recruited 24 participants to test the system. Participants provided subjective feedback about using the system and objective performance data. This thesis found that HUD significantly outperformed the Heads-Down Display (HDD) in participants’ preference, perceived workload, level 1 situation awareness, and secondary-task performance. However, to achieve this, the participants compensated by having poor driving performance and relatively longer visual distraction. This thesis will provide directions for future research and improve the overall user experience while the driver interacts with the in-vehicle gesture interaction system. / M.S. / Driving is becoming one of the essential daily activities. Unless a fully autonomous vehicle is made, driving will remain as the primary task when operating the vehicle. However, to improve the overall experience during traveling, drivers are also required to perform secondary tasks such as changing the AC, switching the music, navigating the map, and other functions. Nevertheless, car accidents may happen when drivers are performing secondary tasks because those tasks are considered a distraction from the primary task, which is driving safely. Many novel interaction methods have been implemented in a modern car, such as touch screen interaction, voice interaction, etc. This thesis introduces a new gesture interaction system that allows the user to use mid-air gestures to navigate through the secondary task menus. To further avoid visual distraction caused by the system, the gesture interaction system integrated a head-up display (HUD) to allow the user to see visual feedback on their front windshield. The HUD will let the driver use the system without looking in the other directions and keep peripheral vision on the road. The experiment recruited 24 participants to test the system. Each participant provided subjective feedback about their workload, experience, and preference. In the experiment, driving simulator was used to collect their driving performance. The eye tracker glasses were used to collect eye gaze data, and the gesture menu system was used to collect gesture system performance. This thesis expects four key factors to affect the user experience: HUD vs. Heads-Down Display (visual feedback types), with sound feedback vs. without sound feedback. Results showed that HUD helped the driver perform the secondary task faster, understand the current situation better, and reduce workload. Most of the participants preferred using the HUD over using HDD. However, there are some compensations that drivers needed to make if they use HUD: focusing on the HUD for more time while performing secondary tasks and having poor driving performance. By analyzing result data, this thesis provides a direction for conducting HUD or in-vehicle gesture interaction research and improving the users’ performance and overall experience.

While the literature indicates that virtually all high schools have department chairs, little research has been done that examines the role of the department chair or how they spend their time. The publication of A Nation At Risk and the reports that followed have placed greater emphasis on instructional leadership leading many to suggest that department chairs are being under utilized within their school. The purpose of this study was to describe how high school department chairs spend their time; what principals, teachers, and department chairs believe should be the role of the department chair; and to examine the discrepancies between reported time spent and reported role the department chair should have in the areas of supervision, curriculum, personnel, management, communications, and staff development. A descriptive survey method was used in the study. The sample consisted of 22 high school principals, 88 department chairs, and 264 teachers in a large suburban school system. From a list of items identified through a search of the literature as tasks performed by department chairs, the respondents were asked to indicate the amount of time spent on each task and the importance of each task to the role the department chair should have. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages and means were used to report results. It was found that all groups were in general agreement as to how department chairs spend their time, but disagreed on the amount of time spent. Principals and department chairs perceived department chairs spent more time on most tasks than did teachers. The greatest amount of time spent by department chairs was on tasks related to management and communication. All groups agreed that the role of the department chair should be expanded to increase responsibilities in management, communications, personnel, and curriculum. However, an expansion of the role in staff development was seen as more important by principals and department chairs than by teachers. Principals indicated greater support for a role expansion in supervision than did department chairs or teachers. / Ed. D.

This study identified and compared the perceptions of department chairpersons and their principals about what responsibilities should be assigned to chairpersons, what responsibilities are currently assigned to chairpersons, and the chairperson' perceived need for any additional training, administrative support, departmental support, or released time in order to fulfill responsibilities currently assigned. Principals and chairpersons from 132 of the 264 5-A public high schools in Texas were surveyed by means of a 61- item questionnaire. The questionnaire included responsibilities in ten areas: planning, evaluation, budgeting, personnel, curriculum and instruction, communications, scheduling, clerical activities, supervision, and advising. Chairpersons from English, Foreign Languages, Mathematics, Physical Education, Science, and Social Studies were included in the study. Data collected in the study were keypunched and computer-processed, generating frequencies, percentages, means, and appropriate chi-square tests of independence, and probability factors for determining significance. The following conclusions were drawn from the study. 1. There is substantial agreement between Texas principals and chairpersons about responsibilities that should and should not be assigned to chairpersons in the areas of planning, budgeting, communications, and advising. 2. There is moderate to substantial disagreement . between Texas principals and chairpersons about responsibilities that should and should not be assigned in the areas of evaluation, personnel, curriculum and instruction, and scheduling. 3. There is a general difference perceived by chairpersons in the study between what they think they should be doing as chairpersons and what they are currently assigned to do. 4. There is general agreement among chairpersons from different disciplines about responsibilities that should and should not be assigned to chairpersons in the areas of planning, budgeting, personnel, and advising. 5. Texas chairpersons perceive a greater need for administrative and departmental support than for additional training. 6. Texas department chairpersons perceive responsibilities in the area of evaluation as those for which they need the highest levels of support.

In this study, we investigate the effect of Heads-Up Display on player experience and performance when playing the first person shooter games Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 4. Participants played a mission twice, once with Heads-Up Display and once without. After each session, the participant answered a PENS questionnaire. The amount of enemies killed and the amount of times the player character died during the session was recorded. No significant differences were found other than that the participants who answered that they only played first person shooter games a few times every month killed more enemies with the Heads-Up Display active, and that the overall amount of kills was generally lower when the Heads-Up Display was active. / Denna studie undersökte effekten av Heads-Up Display på spelupplevelsen samt spelarens prestationer i förstapersonsskjutspelen Battlefield 1 och Battlefield 4. Deltagarna spelade ett uppdrag två gånger, en gång med Heads-Up Display och en gång utan. Efter varje spelomgång svarade deltagarna på ett PENS-frågeformulär. Antalet eliminerade fiender samt antalet gånger spelkaraktären dog noterades.  Inga tydliga skillnader framkom mer än att deltagarna som svarat att de spelade förstapersonskjutspel några gånger i månaden lyckades eliminera fler fiender när Heads-Up Display var aktiverat, samt att antalet eliminerade fiender var allmänt lägre när Heads-Up Display var aktiverat.

Redes de Sensores Sem Fio são um tipo especial de rede ad-hoc que são posicionadas em uma região para monitorar fenômenos físicos. Considerando que os sensores dessas redes são independentes e possuem um raio de cobertura pequeno, é comum a utilização de um grande número de sensores para monitorar uma área grande. Um problema nesses tipos de redes é garantir que o máximo de dados capturados por esses sensores sejam coletados e transmitidos até uma estação base para que possam ser analisados por usuários. Uma abordagem para resolver esse problema é por meio da utilização de sensores especiais chamados cluster heads. Esses sensores são posicionados estrategicamente para coletar a informação de um grupo de sensores e transmiti-la para a estação base. Assim surge a necessidade de agrupar esses sensores. Nesse trabalho é proposta uma técnica híbrida baseada no algoritmo de agrupamento de dados K-Médias e em detecção comunidades em redes complexas. Esse algoritmo, chamado de QK-Médias, tenta aproveitar as vantagens das duas abordagens em duas etapas. Primeiro a rede é quebrada em comunidades usando uma técnica de detecção de comunidades. Em seguida essas comunidades são quebradas em subcomunidades de tal forma que os cluster heads consigam gerenciar. Os resultados obtidos a partir do agrupamento de sensores utilizando o QK-Médias mostram que é possível diminuir o número de mensagens perdidas na rede utilizando menos cluster heads que algoritmos tradicionais de agrupamento em redes de sensores sem fio / Wireless Sensor Networks are a special kind of ad-hoc network that are deployed in a monitoring field in order to detect some physical phenomenon. Due to the low dependability of individual nodes and small radio coverage, it is common to use a large number of sensors. A common problem in this sort of network is to guarantee that the highst number of captured data was sucessfull broadcast to the base station. One approach to solve this problem use special sensors called cluster heads. These sensors are responsible for collecting data from a group of common sensors and broadcast it to a base station. Thus, it is necessary to cluster these sensors. Here we propose a hybrid clustering algorithm based on community detection in complex networks and traditional K-means clustering technique: the QK-Means algorithm. This new algorithm is composed by two steps. First, the network is broken into communities and then broken into subcommuinties that the cluster heads can deal with. Simulation results show that QK-Means can decrease the rate of lost messages in the network using less cluster heads than tradicional clustering algorithms

Redes de Sensores Sem Fio são um tipo especial de rede ad-hoc que são posicionadas em uma região para monitorar fenômenos físicos. Considerando que os sensores dessas redes são independentes e possuem um raio de cobertura pequeno, é comum a utilização de um grande número de sensores para monitorar uma área grande. Um problema nesses tipos de redes é garantir que o máximo de dados capturados por esses sensores sejam coletados e transmitidos até uma estação base para que possam ser analisados por usuários. Uma abordagem para resolver esse problema é por meio da utilização de sensores especiais chamados cluster heads. Esses sensores são posicionados estrategicamente para coletar a informação de um grupo de sensores e transmiti-la para a estação base. Assim surge a necessidade de agrupar esses sensores. Nesse trabalho é proposta uma técnica híbrida baseada no algoritmo de agrupamento de dados K-Médias e em detecção comunidades em redes complexas. Esse algoritmo, chamado de QK-Médias, tenta aproveitar as vantagens das duas abordagens em duas etapas. Primeiro a rede é quebrada em comunidades usando uma técnica de detecção de comunidades. Em seguida essas comunidades são quebradas em subcomunidades de tal forma que os cluster heads consigam gerenciar. Os resultados obtidos a partir do agrupamento de sensores utilizando o QK-Médias mostram que é possível diminuir o número de mensagens perdidas na rede utilizando menos cluster heads que algoritmos tradicionais de agrupamento em redes de sensores sem fio / Wireless Sensor Networks are a special kind of ad-hoc network that are deployed in a monitoring field in order to detect some physical phenomenon. Due to the low dependability of individual nodes and small radio coverage, it is common to use a large number of sensors. A common problem in this sort of network is to guarantee that the highst number of captured data was sucessfull broadcast to the base station. One approach to solve this problem use special sensors called cluster heads. These sensors are responsible for collecting data from a group of common sensors and broadcast it to a base station. Thus, it is necessary to cluster these sensors. Here we propose a hybrid clustering algorithm based on community detection in complex networks and traditional K-means clustering technique: the QK-Means algorithm. This new algorithm is composed by two steps. First, the network is broken into communities and then broken into subcommuinties that the cluster heads can deal with. Simulation results show that QK-Means can decrease the rate of lost messages in the network using less cluster heads than tradicional clustering algorithms

M.Comm. (Business Management) / Schools are regarded as underperforming or performing schools and in that regard there is a need to identify how engaged the HODs are with their jobs in achieving the goals and objectives of the school to become high performing schools. The study identifies the factors that influence work engagement and determine the level of work engagement of Heads of Departments at secondary schools in Eldorado Park. The population used in this study consists of all the schools in Eldorado Park, one of the suburbs located in the south of Johannesburg. The suburb has eight secondary schools and all the schools and HODs of these schools were included in the study. The study adopts a mixed method design which makes use of qualitative and quantitative methodology as it needs to capture the lived experience, beliefs and feelings of the participants. The quantitative design was by way of close-ended questions while the qualitative design used open-ended questions to generate the data. A questionnaire was developed that was used as a measuring instrument for the closed-ended questions with regard to work engagement of HODs. The questionnaire was designed within the framework regarding the work engagement of the HODs using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) as an alternative assessment for measuring the work engagement of the HODs. Open-ended questions were included in the questionnaire and provided information for the qualitative analysis to pursue the secondary objectives of the study. The findings of the study indicated that several factors positively influence the work engagement of HODs among which include, employees’ commitment, job satisfaction, work and wellbeing. Burnout also shows that employees tend to disengage themselves from their work tasks, making the tasks uninteresting and no longer challenging. This in essence indicated a negative relationship. In addition, the results indicated that training, workshops, seminars and orientation sessions should be arranged for HODs. They should also work according to a schedule; they have to be focused; good communication with them is important and they have to attend meetings. They should also plan, organise and execute their tasks and resources should be made available to employees. The main conclusion drawn from the research is that secondary school Heads of Departments are usually engaged with their jobs. They devote much time and energy to their work and find new and interesting dimensions in their jobs. They also work hard to achieve the school goals and objectives. Finally, there is a need for a follow-up study to be conducted in Gauteng South District 14 (D14) secondary schools to determine the level of work engagement of all the Heads of Departments both in underperforming or performing schools.

The focus of this study is a comparison of the perceptions and expectations of the leadership role and function of the department chairpersons in the faculty of education by the respective department chairpersons, deans, and all faculty members from each of the six public teacher colleges in Bangkok, Thailand. In conclusion, role conflict between the department chairpersons can be reduced if the department chairpersons concentrate on the expectations of faculty members. The department chairpersons need to reevaluate their leader behavior in relation to both deans and faculty members in order to fulfill the organizational goals and personal needs.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relevance of School Management Training (SMT) to school practice; present an overview of SMT in Zimbabwe; and identify and analyse relevant SMT models to school headship. The research methods involved a literature study of primary and secondary sources, as well as an empirical situation analysis of SMT in Zimbabwe. The secondary sources comprised books, journals, research dissertations and thesis. The primary sources comprised official circulars, courses outlines the B.Ed (EAPPS) degree programme and the Heads Training Support Programme (HTSP) modules. The knowledge drawn from these sources was the basis for developing appropriate models for SMT. The empirical situation analysis comprised the use of questionnaires and interviews to examine the content, typology, the modes of SMT in Zimbabwe, as provided by a sample of 218 randomly selected school heads in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South regions. Personal and group interviews were conducted with selected school heads. The findings revealed the following strengths of SMT in Zimbabwe:  Induction SMT is offered to newly-appointed school heads in order to inspire their confidence in leadership.  Various forms of continuing on-site SMT on-the-job training opportunities to school heads.  Whilst off-site SMT workshops inculcate skills from school headship experience, SMT conferences and seminars run by heads' professional associations cater for SMT needs of school heads. Weaknesses of SMT in Zimbabwe exposed by the study involve:  Lack of SMT newsletters to encourage self-induction  Lack of institutional provision for the smooth co-ordination of SMT  Little involvement of university experts in non-formal SMT A tripartite collaborative SMT model which integrates self-development, university tuition and HTSP tuition is recommended. For the smooth operation of the model a dedicated institute for SMT is recommended. Any further research study, local or in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, should investigate the feasibility of a tripartite collaborative model and the dedicated institute in SMT. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Education Management)