Submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s in Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2018. / This study sets out to investigate the teaching of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) as a subject in the context of curriculum change. The main aim of this study is to identify the challenges teachers face in teaching EMS, determine the suitable teaching strategies to be used to teach EMS and explore the effect of curriculum change in teaching EMS in schools at Umhlathuze Circuit. This study is located within the interpretivist-positivist paradigm and falls within mixed method research approaches. The research instruments used were questionnaires administered to EMS teachers, interviews, learner activities and teacher portfolios. The results show that EMS teachers are facing challenges with regards to the integrated teaching of Accounting, Business Studies and Economics. The results of the study reveal that EMS teachers are still teaching more of Business Studies and Economics while sacrificing the Accounting content. The time allocated to teach EMS is not enough which causes teachers to focus on curriculum coverage rather than ensuring that learners master the content taught. The shortage of textbooks and calculators was also identified as a major challenge in many schools. Many EMS teachers are either trained for at least a combination of two disciplines in EMS. Even the Heads of department are not fully equipped in all three disciplines within the EMS. It is recommended that time allocation for EMS be reviewed. There is a need for sufficient resources in schools to ensure effective teaching and learning. EMS teachers should be able to teach all three disciplines within the EMS effectively. There is also a need for teacher training and development. Teachers should use a variety of teaching strategies and should adapt their teaching practice as a result of curriculum change. Accounting within the EMS should be a stand-alone subject.

This thesis has been partially OCRed. Please contact for further accessibility requests. / Several methods have been proposed and tested for calculating lower bounds on the objective function of facilities problems. These methods contribute to the efficiency of iterative solution methods by allowing the user to terminate the computation process when the objective function comes within a predetermined fraction of the optimal solution. Two of the existing bounding methods have been presented only for single facility location models with Euclidean (straight-line) distances. One of these methods uses the dual of the single facility location model to compute a lower bound. This thesis introduces a method for generating a feasible dual solution from any primal solution by means of a projection matrix. The projection matrix method is applied to single and multi-facility models. The second bounding method, which involves the solution of a rectilinear distance model to obtain a lower bound, is extended in this thesis to include a generalized, distance function and the multi-facility situation. Computation results for the two new bounding methods are compared with several existing bounding methods. These results should aid practitioners in selecting an appropriate bounding method for an iterative solution method to a facilities location problem. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The analysis of big data points and the use of data analytics have proven successful in improving corporate business efficiencies, growing profits, and increasing competitive advantages. The theory of academic capitalism, which holds that institutions of higher education are becoming more like corporations due to declining operating funds and the need to become more efficient, transparent, and competitive, guided this study. Despite the positive outcomes that analytic tools may produce in advanced efficiencies and competitive growth, college academic administrators have not yet adopted these tools, due in part to barriers facing the administrators. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the nature of those barriers in a community college. Ten academic managers in 6 community college divisions who reported accountability for criterion-based key performance indicators were interviewed on their perceived use of academic analytic tools and barriers in adopting these tools. The interviews were collected and analyzed through preliminary grouping, reducing and eliminating outliers, clustering descriptions into categories, and constructing themes. The managers' narratives suggested that there were 4 perceived barriers that prevented the adoption of tools such as organizational bureaucracy (climate), restricted organizational data (policy), training, and infrastructure. An important area for further research involves identifying the strategies managers could use to overcome these barriers. The findings of this study will assist college administrators in implementing analytic tools. Such tools will improve key performance indicators, resulting in a more cohesive and cost-effective academic experience for students, faculty, administrators, and the community.

Business survival requires that decision makers understand the critical knowledge resources that support the business' core competencies, while also facing the challenges of current labor trends. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of the management staff at a west Tennessee manufacturing facility about industrial technician skill losses. This phenomenological design included semistructured interviews of 20 managers, supervisors, and engineers and was an exploration of the potential losses from skilled worker attrition. The foundations of labor theory; knowledge management; and accounting measurements of intangible assets in advanced technology, communications, and economic systems provided the key elements of the conceptual framework. Interview data were sorted and grouped into 6 principle themes: attrition/succession planning, skills technology support, training requirements, economic benefits, support to lean operations, and skills alternative sources. These findings may enhance positive social change by informing manufacturing business leaders on the benefits of active learning organizations, collaboration with administrators of technical educational programs for improved training, replacement technologies, and utilization of the global economy for replacement workers. For skilled technical employees, the social impact of this study might ensure another generation of craft workers to help promote the prosperity of American industries and provide competitive paying worker jobs to the supportive employers, communities, and institutions.

Researchers have found that 90% of financial advisors leave the life insurance industry in first year, 68% in the second year, and 50% in the third year. Researchers have noted the importance of mentorship aimed at work attitudes, yet there is a lack of research concerning attrition and its effects on the industry. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine managers' and financial advisors' perception of a mentoring program on advisors productivity and retention. Social learning theory was applied as the theoretical framework for this study. Data were collected from financial advisors and their managers across 13 branch offices from a major life insurance company. Data analysis included Pearson product moment, the independent t test, and analysis of variance. Specific quantitative findings indicated (a) a low but statistically significant positive correlation (r = .13) between advisors' number of years of working and mentoring scores, (b) low but statistically significant negative correlation coefficient ( r = -.19) between financial advisors' years of employment and productivity. The findings invite future research on the development of a mentoring program for advisors productivity and retention. The conclusion is that mentoring could be used to improve self-esteem and self-efficacy among advisors and a good applied recommendation would be that company leaders formulate policy to implement mentoring programs at all branches to improve job productivity and retention. Social change implications include opportunities for advisors to improve their job performance, thereby contributing revenue to the organization and the national economy.

Individuals who screen research grant applications often select candidates on the basis of a few key parameters; success or failure can be reduced to a series of peer-reviewed Likert scores on as little as four criteria: risk, relevance, return, and reasonableness. Despite the vital impact these assessments have upon the sponsors, researchers, and society in general as a benefactor of the research, there is little empirical research into the peer-review process. The purpose of this study was to investigate how reviewers evaluate reasonableness and how the process can be modeled in a decision support system. The research questions both address the relationship between an individual's estimates of reasonableness and the indicators of scope, resources, cost, and schedule as well as evaluate the performance of several cognitive models as predictors of reasonableness. Building upon Brunswik's theory of probabilistic functionalism, a survey methodology was used to implement a policy-capturing exercise that yielded a quantitative baseline of reasonableness estimates. The subsequent data analysis addressed the predictive performance of six cognitive models as measured by the mean-square-deviation between the models and the data. A novel mapping approach developed by von Helversen and Rieskamp, a fuzzy logic model, and an exemplar model were found to outperform classic linear regression. A neural network model and the QuickEst heuristic model did not perform as well as linear regression. This information can be used in a decision support system to improve the reliability and validity of future research assessments. The positive social impact of this work would be more efficient allocation and prioritization of increasingly scarce research funds in areas of science such as social, psychological, medical, pharmaceutical, and engineering.

The not-for-profit community serves a vital societal role. Guided by the systems-theory, the purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify ways not-for-profit agencies could be more fiscally sound during difficult economic times and plan for uncertain futures. Face-to-face recorded interviews with 20 chief executives from different not-for-profit corporations in western Pennsylvania, were conducted to examine their professional lived experiences in order to collect best practices by which each executive dealt with difficult economic times. Structured interviews consisted of 8 questions that probed different aspects of the phenomena of dealing with fiscal challenges. Transcribed data were coded for both a priori and emergent themes and were categorized according to a cross-case similarities and differences of the specific responses of the CEOs. The convergent across-case findings of the current study indicated that leaders should (a) have a strategic plan, (b) utilize metrics to evaluate outcomes against goals, and (c) be willing to adjust plans accordingly. Almost all of executives indicated that remaining fiscally healthy was critical so that his organization could achieve its primary mission of serving their community. Not-for-profit organizations provide medical care to the homeless, care for the needs of the elderly, and provide specific services to children with metal disabilities helping them to become more productive. The current study contributes to positive social change by informing best practices regarding how not-for-profit corporations can continue to provide these critical social services through sustainable business practices, especially during those difficult economic times when their services are most needed.

The lean inventory concept has been shown to streamline operations and improve efficiency in a retail environment. The negative side of the practice is that limited inventories increase the risk of stockouts, where a routinely available product is missing and the retailer is not able to meet customer demands. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to examine stockouts as an event and document their effects on changes in customer attitudes and behaviors. Guided by a constructivist conceptual framework, the research question explored how stockout experiences affected customers' purchasing behaviors and loyalty to brand and retailer. A survey containing both open-ended and categorical response elements was validated through a pilot study and used to collect data from 40 randomly selected participants shopping at a retail mall in eastern Pennsylvania. Data coding for qualitative data consisted of 3 sequential stages of open, axial, and selective coding into a priori themes. Categorical responses were employed in downward analyses that revealed patterns in the qualitative data. The results indicated that repeated stockout experiences decreased customers' loyalty to brand and retailer and caused customers to abandon both retailers and brand. Respondents indicated that stockout impacts can be buffered through improved inventory management and better customer service. Specific recommendations included monetary incentives, personal contacts, coupons, and item discounts. Results of this study will enable retailers to gain deeper understanding of how stockout affects customers shopping experiences and loyalty, and offer mitigation measures to improve both. Results will provide a positive change to both consumers and retailers, where shoppers will enjoy pleasant shopping experiences and retailers will maintain their competitive advantage through loyalty of their customer base.

<p>A brief introduction to superplasticity is presented.</p> <p>The forming of superplastic sheet into a rectangular trough is examined and the thickness distribution theoretically determined. Figures, dependent on the height to width ratio of the trough, are presented of the thickness variation against a suitable geometric parameter.</p> <p>Experiments have been performed on the forming of superplastic Zn-Al into a flat bottomed cylindrical cavity. A semi-empirical analysis based on the theoretical work of Cornfield and Johnson is presented and the theoretical and experimental thickness distributions compared.</p> <p>The closed die forging of superplastic and conventional Zn-Al eutectoid alloys is examined. The results of experiments are presented and a two phase forging cycle, suitable for rate dependent materials, is presented.</p> / Master of Engineering (ME)

<p>This study introduces a new model for the planar maximal covering location problem (PMCLP) under different block norms. The problem involves locating p facilities anywhere on the plane in order to cover the maximum number of n given demand points. The generalization we introduce is that distance measures assigned to facilities are block norms of different types and different proximity measures. This problem is handled in three phases. First, a simple model based on the geometrical properties of the block norms' unit ball contours is formulated as a mixed integer program (MIP). The MIP formulation is more general than previous PMCLP's and can handle facilities with different coverage measures under block norm distance and different setup cost, and capacity. Second, an exact solution approach is presented based on: (1) An exact algorithm that is capable of handling a single facility efficiently. (2) An algorithm for an equivalent graph problem--the maximum clique problem (MCP). Finally, the PMCLP under different block norms is formulated as an equivalent graph problem. This graph problem is then modeled as an unconstrained binary quadratic problem (UQP) and solved by a genetic algorithm. Computational examples are provided for the MIP, the exact algorithm, and the genetic algorithm approaches.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)