The problem of this research was to determine (a) perceptions of business teacher educators regarding the nature of integrated reading skill instruction in high school business courses, (b) the professional development background of business teacher educators for integrated reading skill instruction, and (c) the influence of selected variables on business teacher educators' perceptions of reading skill integration in high school business courses. The study population included 188 business teacher educators in 36 states. Data were gathered through the use of a survey instrument that was validated by a panel of experts and pilot tested. Conclusions state that business teacher educators perceive it is important to explicitly integrate reading skills in business courses. They reported the frequent integration of reading skills could improve the business and reading knowledge of learners. Study participants felt they were adequately prepared to instruct business education teacher candidates in methods of integrating reading skills in business courses. The study participants indicated they could use additional training to prepare business education teacher candidates to integrate reading skills in business courses. The same group indicated the most influential training to integrate reading skills occur during classroom practice, university coursework, and/or professional development conferences/workshops. Extensive participant characteristics were collected. The focus (research,teaching, or a combination of the two) of the participants' university and the duration of their teaching experience had a significant impact on their perception of the importance and outcome of integrating reading skills in business courses. It is recommended that business teacher educators be exposed to professional development opportunities focused on preparing business teacher educators in methods of integrating reading skills in business courses. Further research is recommended that determines if business teacher educators are actually preparing business teacher educators to integrate reading skills in business courses, the methods of preparation, and the impact on student reading and business skill achievement as a result of the integration of reading skills in business courses.

Le tournage de superfinition est très spécifique avec une profondeur de passe de l’ordre de 0.05mm et une avance de 0.05mm/tour et permet d’obtenir des surfaces dont la précision et la rugosité sont équivalents à ce que l’on pourrait obtenir par rectification. Cependant, ce procédé est fortement influencé par les caractéristiques dynamiques du système usinant. Le but de nos travaux est de comprendre comment les caractéristiques dynamiques du système Pièce / Outil / Machine (P.O.M.) influencent la qualité de surface obtenue en superfinition à l’outil coupant. Dans un premier temps, nous avons défini, en nous appuyant sur la méthode normalisée du Couple Outil Matière (C.O.M.), des conditions de coupe acceptables et stables. Ensuite, une analyse fréquentielle nous a permis d’identifier trois éléments du système P.O.M. comme sources de vibrations remarquables, à savoir la machine elle-même, la fréquence de rotation de la broche et l’outil utilisé. Puis, nous avons mis en place une démarche expérimentale lourde afin d’évaluer l’influence des sources identifiées sur des critères d’état de surface et sur les vibrations mesurées au niveau de l’outil coupant. Enfin nous avons abordé l’étude des corrélations existantes entre les vibrations et l’état de surface généré en tournage de superfinition / The superfinishing in turning is very specific, depth of cut about 0.05mm and feed in the order of 0.05mm/rev and allows to produce surfaces with precision and roughness equivalent to grinding process. However, this process is strongly influenced by the dynamic characteristics of the machining system. The aim of our work is to understand how dynamic characteristics of the Part/Tool/Machine (P.T.M.) system influence the surface quality obtained in superfinishing with cutting tool. Initially, we defined acceptable and stable cutting conditions by using the standardized method of the Couple tool-matterial. Then, a frequential analysis enabled us to identify three remarkable sources of vibrations in the P.T.M. system that are the machine tool, the spindle frequency and the tool. Then, we set up an experimental study in order to evaluate the influence of the identified sources of vibrations on surface quality and on the vibrations measured on the cutting tool. Finally we studied the correlations between the vibrations and the surface quality obtained by superfinishing turning

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a robust test against the normality assumption, but it may be inappropriate when the assumption of homogeneity of variance has been violated. Welch ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test (a non-parametric method) can be applicable for this case. In this study we compare the three methods in empirical type I error rate and power, when heterogeneity of variance occurs and find out which method is the most suitable with which cases including balanced/unbalanced, small/large sample size, and/or with normal/non-normal distributions.

More retail and service firms are using mystery shoppers in Taiwan to monitor their frontline operations and to assess their customer service, since the concern over whether their customers are truly satisfied is increasing. However, virtually nothing is known about whether the quality of the data collected by professional mystery shoppers is different or more reliable than that of shoppers disguised by general customers. Here we use a traditional statistics approach to assess the quality of data collected from both professional mystery shoppers and general customers. Feedback questionnaires from general customers and the potential use of mystery shoppers are made as a means of evaluating the service quality of cram schools in Taiwan. The purpose of this thesis is to show that the reliability of mystery shopping data made from professional mystery shoppers is higher than that of data made from general customers. With this question in mind, we conducted a two-step empirical research, as the amount of samples needed was insufficient. First, a primary study to examine the equality of population among branches was carried out in order to pool data from different branches. Then, the relative reliability of the surveys of mystery shoppers to general customers was examined by pooling data of the branches together. The findings provide evidence to suggest that reliable information could be obtained by pooling both shopper reports together. This empirical result also implied that well-trained mystery shoppers can make more objective observations and more effective assessments than general customers.

The Texas Department of Transportation has been experiencing maintenance budget fluctuations recently. The shortage of budget has a negative impact on the agency’s maintenance strategies and results in the undesirable deterioration of highway conditions increasing the risk towards both road users and the agency. This paper aims at developing a methodology to minimize the impact of budget fluctuation by quantifying the risk of not performing a maintenance activity and identifying the priority of maintenance activities based on the quantified risk. With the help of maintenance experts from TxDOT, four maintenance objectives and 16 maintenance function groups were identified and a hierarchy structure was developed based on the objectives and function groups. Four pilot districts were selected to represent the different demographic and climatic regions in Texas and maintenance experts were selected from the four districts to participate in the workshop. The Overall Relative Weights of 16 maintenance function groups were determined based on the individual evaluator’s judgments using the Analytical Hierarchy Process. To determine if the four pilot districts give different relative importance to the four defined objectives and different priority to the 16 maintenance groups, statistical analyses were conducted with the four sets of values, one for each of the four pilot districts, using Kruskal-Wallis test. At last, a web-based prototype system was developed to assist users in generating the list of maintenance projects under budget constraints. Exposure factors, ADT and truck volume, were applied in the system to factor in the impact of traffic to the maintenance strategy. Users of this system can choose to use the weights and parameter values from one of the pilot districts which they think is most comparable to their own district or the state average values that has been proved to be applicable to all the districts in Texas. / text

The aim of this study was to evaluate a battery of tests to be used as part of the process of selecting bursary students for engineering at tertiary institutions. Due to the problems in the schooling system it is not conclusive that all students who have obtained their senior certificates are prepared and able to meet the demands and challenges of tertiary education. The purpose of this study was to determine the criterion related validity of a mathematic proficiency test, Learning Potential Computerised Adaptive Test (LPCAT) and English Literacy Skills Assessment (ELSA) as predictors of academic performance. A quantitative approach was used for the purpose of this study. More specifically the Ex post facto analyses/design is used in this study. The relationships between the dependent and independent variables were determined. Correlation analyses, Kruskal-Wallis test and regression analysis were used for the purpose of this study. The results indicated that the Mathematical proficiency test was the best predictor of academic success, followed by LPCAT and ELSA. The results of this study indicates that the use of academic literacy and learning potential contribute in selecting the best students. Companies and Universities have long been looking for a predictor or predictors of success for students as they enter tertiary studies. This information has the potential to save companies and universities millions of Rands annually by helping them make better investment decisions. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Human Resource Management / Unrestricted

The study employed multi-variate methods to generate vulnerability maps for acid sulfate soils (AS) in the Norrbotten county of Sweden. In this study, the relationships between the reclassified datasets and each biogeochemical element was carefully evaluated with ANOVA Kruskal Wallis and PLS analysis. The sta-tistical results of ANOVA Kruskall-Wallis provided us a useful knowledge of the relationships of the preliminary vulnerability ranks in the classified datasets ver-sus the amount of each biogeochemical element. Then, the statistical knowledge and expert knowledge were used to generate the final vulnerability ranks of AS soils in the classified datasets which were the input independent variables in PLS analyses. The results of Kruskal-Wallis one way ANOVA and PLS analyses showed a strong correlation of the higher levels total Cu2+, Ni2+ and S to the higher vulnerability ranks in the classified datasets. Hence, total Cu2+, Ni2+ and S were chosen as the dependent variables for further PLS analyses. In particular, the Variable Importance in the Projection (VIP) value of each classified dataset was standardized to generate its weight. Vulnerability map of AS soil was a result of a lineal combination of the standardized values in the classified dataset and its weight. Seven weight sets were formed from either uni-variate or multi-variate PLS analyses. Accuracy tests were done by testing the classification of measured pH values of 74 soil profiles with different vulnerability maps and evaluating the areas that were not the AS soil within the groups of medium to high AS soil probability in the land-cover and soil-type datasets. In comparison to the other weight sets, the weight set of multi-variate PLS analysis of the matrix of total Ni2+& S or total Cu2+& S had the robust predictive performance. Sensitivity anal-ysis was done in the weight set of total Ni2+& S, and the results of sensitivity analyses showed that the availability of ditches, and the change in the terrain sur-faces, the altitude level, and the slope had a high influence to the vulnerability map of AS soils. The study showed that using multivariate analysis was a very good approach methodology for predicting the probability of acid sulfate soil.

Södra Cell sells 1 900 000 ton pulp every year. Of this 490 000 tonne is sold with a contract system based on a pricing index called PIX NBSK. This index was started in 1996 and reflects the price of pulp from conferious forest. We study the NBSK PIX value of softwood from October 1996 to December 2006. People working in this branch known that there is strong periodicity in the prices. We use predictive analysis to see if clients can benefit from the periodicity and use the options in the contract system Södra offers today. We conclude that a drawback for the current contract system is that there are too many contracts in proportion to the duration time that is one year for all contracts. Using a time series model called ARMA we make successfull predictions the price difference between two contracts. Based on this prediction we change between these contracts, reducing the price with 0.81% in mean during 1997-2006. Due to the total turnover, if all clients would used such predictions during 1997-2006 Södra's income would have been reduced with 2.77 million USD a year in mean. The prices used before PIX are called list prices. The list prices seem to behave like the PIX index. Supposing that the same contract system we see in PIX today was used 1975-2006 with the list price as the base index I made a prediction of the list prices from 1986-2006. Thanks to my predictions, if I had been a client during this period and under mentioned considerations I would have been buying pulp to a price reduced with 0.57%. If clients had known the PIX between 1996-2006 in say 1995 Södra's contract system based on PIX would give them a price reduction that were 1.5% in mean during 1996-2006. Price reduction is not possible all years, but when it occurs it can be as big as 3% of the price. Suppose the clients always choose the contract with the lowest price and thereby get a reduced price over time. Then with 95% probability over a long period the price reduction is somewhere in between 0.4-2.7%. To strangle this price reduction possibility for the clients there are two ways to go: either reduce the number of contracts or extend the duration time of the contracts. To find a suitable duration time, we do spectral density estimation to get indications of which periods that are most important. From this we see that PIX index has a period of five years, wavelet approximated PIX index has 3.4 years and the list prices has a period of 5.6 years. This indicates that current duration time one year is too short. Therefore if it wouldn't effect Södra's clients, an extension of the duration time from one to five years would be good. If Södra don't extend the duration time of the contracts my recommendation is to have fewer contracts. The possibility to change between the contracts ''average last three months'' and ''average current month'' every other year is the weakest point of today's system. Therefore I recommend stop selling pulp to the contract ''average PIX last three months''. We can't prove any longterm difference between the contracts. If Södra chooses to have just one contract from this point of view it does not matter which one they choose. However, it seems like a good idea to follow the global market and therefore I recommend to choose ''average PIX current month'' rather than ''average PIX last three months'' which lags behind the market front. Since the price ''average current month'' is available at FOEX web page I think Södra should choose this contract if they decide to have only one contract. / Södra Cell säljer årligen 1 900 000 ton pappersmassa. Av denna mängd säljs 490 000 ton enligt ett kontraktsystem baserat på ett prisindex som heter PIX NBSK. Detta index introducerades 1996 och reflekterar priset på pappersmassa gjord av barrträd. Jag studerar priset på indexet från Oktober 1996 till December 2006. Dagens kontraktsystem är baserat på kontrakt med löptiden ett år. Jag undersöker om man kan prediktera prisskilllnaden mellan kontrakten, dra nytta att dagens löptid som bara är ett år och välja det kontrakt som ger det billigaste priset så ofta att priset över lång tid reduceras. När man predikterar gör man en uppskattningen av framtiden utifrån en modell av hur framtid beror på dåtid och nutid. Den modell jag har använt kallas ARMA. Denna tillsammans med priserna på pappersmassa från 1975 och framåt gav mig ett fruktbart sätt att förutsäga priserna. Resultatet blev ett pris reducerat med 0.81% i medel under perioden 1996-2006. Eftersom Södra ha så stor försäljningsvolym skulle de ha förlorat 2.27 miljoner dollar per ton i medel om alla kunder ha spekulerat utifrån den modellen jag använde. Om dagens kontraktsystem hade börjat användas 1975 med listpriserna som bas hade en kund som använt min prediktionsmetod fått ett pris reducerat med 0.57% under perioden 1986-2006. Om kunderna i förväg hade vetat priset under 1996-2001 gav det nuvarande systemet en reducerad medelintäkt med 1.5% av priset. Enskilda år reducerades intäkten med så mycket som 3%. Beräknar man konfidensintervall för prisreduktionerna så inser man att på lång sikt kommer dessa vara av storleksordningen 0.4-2.7% med sannolikheten 95%. Detta förutsatt att klienterna kan se in i framtiden. Siffran 2.7% alltså ett mått på hur stor risk man tar med dagens system. Jag tror inte att klienterna kommer reducera priset med 2.7% med nuvarande system, men det är en övre gräns. De gynsamma prediktionerna har sitt ursprung i att det finns periodicitet i priserna. Jag undersöker denna periodicitet med spektralanalys. Periodiciteten för PIX indexet är starkast kring 5 år. En wavelet-approximation av PIX-indexet hade störst periodicitet kring 3.4 år. Listpriserna hade starkast periodicitet kring 5.6 år. Detta indikerar att den nuvarande löptiden, ett år, är för kort. En lämpligare löptid för kontrakten är 5 år. Förmodligen är fem års löptid alltför lång tid att binda sig för många kunder. Därför föreslår jag att man reducerar antalet kontrakt istället. Den största svagheten i dagens system är den korta löptiden tillsammans med kontrakten ''average current month'' och ''average last three months''. Jag rekommenderar att man slutar erbjuda kontraktet ''average last three months''. Det allra säkraste är att endast erbjuda ett kontrakt. Vi har inte kunnat påvisa några skillnader över lång sikt mellan kontrakten såtillvida att något kontrakt skulle ge ett lägre medelpris än ett annat. Ur den aspekten är det godtyckligt vilket kontrakt man väljer, men det verkar vettigt att följa den globala marknaden. Därför är det eftersläpande kontraktet ''average PIX last three months'' inte att rekommendera, välj heller ''average PIX current month''. Ett annat argument för att välja ''average PIX current month'' är att dessa priser finns på FOEX hemsida och inga extra beräkningar behöver göras.

<p>Södra Cell sells 1 900 000 ton pulp every year. Of this 490 000 tonne is sold with a contract system based on a pricing index called PIX NBSK. This index was started in 1996 and reflects the price of pulp from conferious forest. We study the NBSK PIX value of softwood from October 1996 to December 2006.</p><p>People working in this branch known that there is strong periodicity in the prices. We use predictive analysis to see if clients can benefit from the periodicity and use the options in the contract system Södra offers today. We conclude that a drawback for the current contract system is that there are too many contracts in proportion to the duration time that is one year for all contracts. Using a time series model called ARMA we make successfull predictions the price difference between two contracts. Based on this prediction we change between these contracts, reducing the price with 0.81% in mean during 1997-2006. Due to the total turnover, if all clients would used such predictions during 1997-2006 Södra's income would have been reduced with 2.77 million USD a year in mean.</p><p>The prices used before PIX are called list prices. The list prices seem to behave like the PIX index. Supposing that the same contract system we see in PIX today was used 1975-2006 with the list price as the base index I made a prediction of the list prices from 1986-2006. Thanks to my predictions, if I had been a client during this period and under mentioned considerations I would have been buying pulp to a price reduced with 0.57%.</p><p>If clients had known the PIX between 1996-2006 in say 1995 Södra's contract system based on PIX would give them a price reduction that were 1.5% in mean during 1996-2006. Price reduction is not possible all years, but when it occurs it can be as big as 3% of the price. Suppose the clients always choose the contract with the lowest price and thereby get a reduced price over time. Then with 95% probability over a long period the price reduction is somewhere in between 0.4-2.7%.</p><p>To strangle this price reduction possibility for the clients there are two ways to go: either reduce the number of contracts or extend the duration time of the contracts.</p><p>To find a suitable duration time, we do spectral density estimation to get indications of which periods that are most important. From this we see that PIX index has a period of five years, wavelet approximated PIX index has 3.4 years and the list prices has a period of 5.6 years. This indicates that current duration time one year is too short. Therefore if it wouldn't effect Södra's clients, an extension of the duration time from one to five years would be good.</p><p>If Södra don't extend the duration time of the contracts my recommendation is to have fewer contracts. The possibility to change between the contracts ''average last three months'' and ''average current month'' every other year is the weakest point of today's system. Therefore I recommend stop selling pulp to the contract ''average PIX last three months''.</p><p>We can't prove any longterm difference between the contracts. If Södra chooses to have just one contract from this point of view it does not matter which one they choose. However, it seems like a good idea to follow the global market and therefore I recommend to choose ''average PIX current month'' rather than ''average PIX last three months'' which lags behind the market front. Since the price ''average current month'' is available at FOEX web page I think Södra should choose this contract if they decide to have only one contract.</p> / <p>Södra Cell säljer årligen 1 900 000 ton pappersmassa. Av denna mängd säljs 490 000 ton enligt ett kontraktsystem baserat på ett prisindex som heter PIX NBSK. Detta index introducerades 1996 och reflekterar priset på pappersmassa gjord av barrträd. Jag studerar priset på indexet från Oktober 1996 till December 2006.</p><p>Dagens kontraktsystem är baserat på kontrakt med löptiden ett år. Jag undersöker om man kan prediktera prisskilllnaden mellan kontrakten, dra nytta att dagens löptid som bara är ett år och välja det kontrakt som ger det billigaste priset så ofta att priset över lång tid reduceras. När man predikterar gör man en uppskattningen av framtiden utifrån en modell av hur framtid beror på dåtid och nutid. Den modell jag har använt kallas ARMA. Denna tillsammans med priserna på pappersmassa från 1975 och framåt gav mig ett fruktbart sätt att förutsäga priserna. Resultatet blev ett pris reducerat med 0.81% i medel under perioden 1996-2006. Eftersom Södra ha så stor försäljningsvolym skulle de ha förlorat 2.27 miljoner dollar per ton i medel om alla kunder ha spekulerat utifrån den modellen jag använde.</p><p>Om dagens kontraktsystem hade börjat användas 1975 med listpriserna som bas hade en kund som använt min prediktionsmetod fått ett pris reducerat med 0.57% under perioden 1986-2006.</p><p>Om kunderna i förväg hade vetat priset under 1996-2001 gav det nuvarande systemet en reducerad medelintäkt med 1.5% av priset. Enskilda år reducerades intäkten med så mycket som 3%. Beräknar man konfidensintervall för prisreduktionerna så inser man att på lång sikt kommer dessa vara av storleksordningen 0.4-2.7% med sannolikheten 95%. Detta förutsatt att klienterna kan se in i framtiden. Siffran 2.7% alltså ett mått på hur stor risk man tar med dagens system. Jag tror inte att klienterna kommer reducera priset med 2.7% med nuvarande system, men det är en övre gräns.</p><p>De gynsamma prediktionerna har sitt ursprung i att det finns periodicitet i priserna. Jag undersöker denna periodicitet med spektralanalys. Periodiciteten för PIX indexet är starkast kring 5 år. En wavelet-approximation av PIX-indexet hade störst periodicitet kring 3.4 år. Listpriserna hade starkast periodicitet kring 5.6 år. Detta indikerar att den nuvarande löptiden, ett år, är för kort. En lämpligare löptid för kontrakten är 5 år.</p><p>Förmodligen är fem års löptid alltför lång tid att binda sig för många kunder. Därför föreslår jag att man reducerar antalet kontrakt istället. Den största svagheten i dagens system är den korta löptiden tillsammans med kontrakten ''average current month'' och ''average last three months''. Jag rekommenderar att man slutar erbjuda kontraktet ''average last three months''. Det allra säkraste är att endast erbjuda ett kontrakt. Vi har inte kunnat påvisa några skillnader över lång sikt mellan kontrakten såtillvida att något kontrakt skulle ge ett lägre medelpris än ett annat. Ur den aspekten är det godtyckligt vilket kontrakt man väljer, men det verkar vettigt att följa den globala marknaden. Därför är det eftersläpande kontraktet ''average PIX last three months'' inte att rekommendera, välj heller ''average PIX current month''. Ett annat argument för att välja ''average PIX current month'' är att dessa priser finns på FOEX hemsida och inga extra beräkningar behöver göras.</p>

Participant loyalty and satisfaction with services offered on Street Dance Kemp Goal: Main goal of this thesis is to find a relationship between participant loyalty and satisfaction with services offered on Street Dance Kemp. Methods: In this thesis is used questionnaire and structured interview for obtaining data about participant satisfaction with services offered and about their loyalty to the event. Will be also examined the available competition in dance camps in Europe. To find a relationship between participant loyalty and satisfaction is used statistical method Kruskal-Wallis non-parametrical ANOVA. Results: Main result of this thesis is evaluation of the relationship between participant loyalty and satisfaction and future possible improvement of the services in order to get more loyal participants. Key words: sport event, street dance, hip-hop, questionnaire and interview, competition analysis, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA