One aspect of the internet that has been discussed in relation to identity creation is whether we can transcend our physical selves when we enter an online environment, thus potentially creating the internet as a space where we could leave our bodies when performing our identity. The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the accomplishment of membership categorization within the domain of online gaming and through it identity in an online gaming environment. This thesis argues that the discourse within Dota2 constructs the identity of the unsuccessful gamer as an outsider or deviant in terms of nationality, sexuality, and mental capability. Games of Dota2 have been observed and the interaction via the in game chat system has been transcribed and analyzed using Membership Categorization Analysis. The study found that membership was not commonly assigned but when it was, it was associated with the incumbent being on one’s own team and performing lower than expected. Also, in the cases where categories were assigned to players, these were assigned to unsuccessful players (This interactive feature is supported previous research by Eklund (2011) and Linderoth & Olsson (2010) in that they created the game as male centric western European space. The expectations of a successful player were not accomplished in order to inform the identity creation process of successful gamers. The results suggest that identity in Dota2 is structured around a players displayed skill and that the identity created is often based on stereotypes associated with certain nationalities, genders and mental capabilities. The use of MCA offered a holistic approach to how identities were created in online gaming that allowed the researcher to approach the subject without any preconceptions as to what would be found. The study also showed that the use of MCA may be useful when it comes to identity creation within virtual worlds.

People with dementia face considerable challenges to preserving identity. It has frequently been observed that group reminiscence work helps sufferers re-establish their past identities as well as position themselves as members of a group in the present. To date, little research has attempted to put these claims directly to empirical test. Drawing on social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) this study explores the impact of a group reminiscence intervention in a sample of 58 cognitively impaired older adults living in residential care. Measures of identity, well-being and cognition were taken before and after participants took part in six weekly sessions of either group reminiscence or a group control activity. A Pretest-Posttest Control design was employed to explore the difference in average change between treatment conditions. The main findings showed no difference in average change between the two groups on measures of identity and well-being. However, the reminiscence group showed a greater overall improvement in memory than the control group. The theoretical implications and future directions for working clinically with cognitively impaired populations are considered.

This study was designed to investigate the impact of multiple-membership data structures in multilevel modeling. Multiple-membership arises when lower level units (e.g., students) are nested within more than one higher level unit (e.g., schools). In this case, more than one school will contribute to students' academic achievement and progress. In reality, it is inappropriate to assume a pure nesting of a student within a single school. While use of HLM requires either deletion of the cases involving multiple-membership or exclusion of prior schools attended, MMREM includes students who attend multiple schools and controls for the effect of all schools on student outcomes. The simulation study found level two variability underestimation and corresponding level one variability overestimation when multiple membership data structures were ignored. The study also revealed that when HLM failed to include multiple membership data structures, it underestimated school level predictor. With an increased numbers of mobile students under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, researchers need to understand MMREM and correctly apply it to multiple membership data structures. This MMREM approach will help improve the generalizability of findings and will improve the validity of the statistical results. / text

Šio baigiamojo magistro darbo objektas yra Turkijos narystės ES perspektyvos, t.y. problemos, su kuriomis Turkija susiduria politikos, ekonomikos, kultūrinių vertybių ir žmogaus teisių apsaugos srityje, ES spaudimas valstybei spręsti šias problemas bei Turkijos veiksmai atsakant į šį spaudimą. Analizuojant iškylančias problemas, jų sprendimo efektyvumą bei kompromisų ES – Turkijos santykiuose taikymą, darbe vertinamos realios valstybės kelio ES link perspektyvos. Darbo tikslas yra išsiaiškinti kaip Turkijos politiniai, ekonominiai, kultūriniai bei žmogaus teisių ypatumai ir juos lemiantys veiksniai atsiliepia pagrindinio Turkijos siekio – pilnateisės narystės Europos Sąjungoje – įgyvendinimui. Tikslo siekiama ir tyrimo uždaviniai įgyvendinami pasitelkiant aprašomąjį analitinį tyrimo metodą, t.y. apžvelgiant Turkijos ir ES santykių raidą, išsiaiškinant kokie sunkumai kliudė ar vis dar kliudo Turkijai siekiant prisijungti prie ES; įvertinant galimas Turkijos prisijungimo prie ES perspektyvas, atliekant valstybių narių, viešosios bei oficialiosios ES nuomonės analizę; lyginant kokie yra svarbiausi politiniai ir ekonominiai abiejų pusių interesai, didžiausi skirtumai, bei aiškinantis galimą valstybių užsienio ir vidaus politikos procesų poveikį Turkijos narystei ES; analizuojant kultūrinius ir religinius ES ir Turkijos skirtumus, bei kaip šie skirtumai išryškėja valstybei ketinant įsijungti į Europos tautų šeimą ir galiausiai išskiriant svarbiausias Turkijoje kylančias žmogaus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object of this master thesis is the perspectives of Turkey entering the European Union, i.e. problems Turkey has to face in the fields of politics, economics, cultural values and human rights protection, EU pressure for the state to solve these problems and actions in response to this pressure. While analyzing evolving problems, the effectiveness of their salvations and compromise finding in the EU – Turkey relations, this paper estimates realistic perspective of Turkeys’ path towards the Union. The goal of the research is to ascertain how Turkeys’ political, economical, cultural and human rights peculiarities and their influences affect the reach of the main target – membership in the EU. To meet the goal and fulfill the tasks of this paper the descriptive analytical method is being used. The development of EU – Turkey relations are being reviewed, meanwhile sorting out what kind of difficulties stops the state from entering; EU member states, public and official opinions are being analyzed to evaluate possible perspectives for Turkey; main political and economical interests of both sides are being compared, the main gaps are being discovered, the possible effect of internal and external policies are being discussed; cultural and religious differences and how they come to surface in the framework of Turkey entering EU is being analyzed; finally the main problems the state has to face in the field of human rights protection are being named, the ways Turkey is solving... [to full text]

Thesis (M.Tech.: Library & Information Studies)- Dept. of Information and Corporate Management, Durban University of Technology, 2007. x, 109 leaves. / The objectives of the study were: 1) to investigate the extent to which workers in library and information services in KwaZulu-Natal are members of LIASA; and 2) if there are substantial numbers of LIS workers who are not currently members, then what are the possible reasons for this? The study surveyed three types of library services in KwaZulu-Natal, namely, academic, public and special libraries with 330 LIS workers participating in the study. A census was done of LIS workers in special libraries and in academic libraries of public higher education institutions in KZN. Simple random sampling was used in selecting public libraries in KZN for participation in the study. All staff in the selected sample of public libraries were surveyed. The research instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire. It was established that a significant number of LIS workers in all three types of libraries surveyed in KZN are currently not members of LIASA for various reasons. LIASA has been unable to draw significant membership from the support staff category in LIS services despite its constitution claiming to embrace all LIS workers. The study recommends that LIASA market itself more aggressively to increase membership levels particularly in the public library sector and among support staff in all LIS services. It also recommends that LIASA should consider involving itself in the industrial concerns of the LIS sector.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

The purpose of this research was to operationalize the construct, church organizational culture (COC), and to develop an instrument to measure the construct. In order to accomplish this goal, the researcher undertook a six-phase, mixed-methods study following accepted protocols for construct validation. The six phases of this research study included precedent literature review; expert panel; modified Delphi study; instrument design; statistical analysis; and revisions to the survey. Pilot studies of the instrument were conducted at churches throughout the United States. The new instrument underwent statistical analysis for item correlation using exploratory factor analysis, for internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's Alpha, and for content validity using an online survey of the expert panel. While the original instrument did not pass statistical tests for validity and reliability, the study yielded a definition for the new construct of church organizational culture and laid the foundation for additional research and development of a model and instrument to measure the construct. The research process also revealed a related construct of church leadership culture (CLC) and produced a reliable basic survey to measure six dimensions of CLC. KEYWORDS: Church, Organizational Culture, Instrument, Values, Leadership, Survey

The purpose of this study was to assess the social climate of different size churches and the relationship between social climate, member satisfaction, and church size. This study has investigated the extent to which (1) church member satisfaction is affected by social climate and church size and (2) the extent to which social climate is affected by church size. The social climate is the unique "personality" of a setting that gives it clarity and coherence (Moos, 1974b). The data were collected at different size churches. The sample consisted of a random sample for each church of those who completed a "church satisfaction questionnaire," which included demographic information, and the Group Environment Scale (Moos, 1986). There were 50 respondents for each church included in the sample. The sample included 114 men and 136 women. One hundred seventy eight were married and 170 reported having children. Two hundred fourteen considered themselves a member of their church.Previous research indicates satisfaction is influenced by both a setting's social climate and its size. Social climate dimensions that seem to influence member satisfaction are "cohesion," "leader support," "task orientation," "autonomy," and "innovation." Staffing theory suggests that size is also related to satisfaction. Small settings are presumed to be "understaffed" and those in understaffed settings are likely to report more feelings of satisfaction.The results of this study indicated that churches characterized by greater perceived "cohesion," "leader support," "task orientation," and "innovation" tended to have members who were more satisfied. The linear composite of these variables was statistically significant (p < .05) and identified 43.89% of the variance of the satisfaction measure. Results suggest that understanding the church social climate is helpful in understanding its members. Implications of these results relevant for church leaders are discussed.Contrary to what was anticipated, size was not a predictor of church satisfaction. The failure of size to predict church satisfaction is discussed in terms of staffing theory (Wicker, 1979a).The fact that certain social climate dimensions are. related to church member satisfaction is encouraging and justifies further research in this area. Ideas warranted for further research are developed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Wireless Sensor Network routing protocols rely on the estimation of the quality of the links between nodes to determine a suitable path from the data source nodes to a data-collecting node. Several link estimators have been proposed, but most of these use only one link property. Fuzzy logic based link quality estimators have been recently proposed which consider a number of link quality metrics. The fuzzification of crisp values to fuzzy values is done through membership functions. The shape of the fuzzy link quality estimator membership functions is primarily performed leveraging qualitative knowledge and an improper assignment of fuzzy membership functions can lead to poor route selection and hence to unacceptable packet losses. This thesis evaluated the Channel Quality membership function of, an existing fuzzy link quality estimator and it was seen that this membership function didn???t perform as well as expected. This thesis presents an experimental approach to determine a suitable Channel Quality fuzzy membership function based on varying the shape of the fuzzy set for a multipath wireless sensor network scenario and choosing an optimum shape that maximizes the Packet Delivery Ratio of the network. The computed fuzzy set membership functions were evaluated against an existing fuzzy link quality estimator under more complex scenarios and it is shown the performance of the experimental refined membership function was better in terms of packet reception ratio and end to end delay.The fuzzy link quality estimator was applied in WiseRoute (a simple converge cast based routing protocol) and shown that this SNR based fuzzy link estimator performed better than the original implemented RSSI based link quality used in WiseRoute.

To date, procedural justice research has paid little attention to how people react to procedural discrimination (favoring self vs. favoring other), that is, how people react when they and the others are treated with different procedures. To fill this gap in the procedural justice literature and advance our understanding in this area, the current thesis presents an analysis of how reactions to procedural discrimination are qualified by the group membership and intragroup position (ingroup prototypicality and intragroup status) of the parties involved in intragroup and intergroup contexts. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that in an intergroup context, as group members perceive ingroup bias as legitimate, they react more positively when they are favored over an outgroup member than when an outgroup member is favored over them. In particular, because group members perceive the ingroup authority to be more related to them, their reactions to favoring self as opposed to favoring other procedures are stronger when the authority is an ingroup member than when the authority is an outgroup member. Studies 3 to 5 showed that in an intragroup context, peripheral members, who are highly concerned about group acceptance, perceive a high level of illegitimacy and react particularly negatively when a prototypical member is favored over them. On the other hand, prototypical members paired with a prototypical or peripheral member, and peripheral members paired with another peripheral member react similarly to procedural discrimination whether it favors them or the other group member. Studies 6 and 7 also focused on the intragroup context. These studies revealed that when high status group members are favored over a low status member, if they perceive the status difference as legitimate, they perceive relatively high levels of procedural legitimacy and procedural fairness, and report a relatively low level of negative affect. On the other hand, when low status group members are discriminated against in favor of a high status counterpart, they report a relatively high level of negative affect even if they perceive the status difference as legitimate and think that the favoring other procedure is relatively legitimate and fair. Taken together, the current program of studies reveals that depending on group membership or intragroup position, group members may react differently to favoring self as opposed to favoring other procedures. Furthermore, affective reactions to the procedures may not be consistent with cognitive judgments of the procedures. The research also reveals that the influence of group membership and intragroup position on reactions to procedural discrimination can be conceptualized in terms of sensitivity to procedural information (Proposition 1) and perceived procedural legitimacy (Proposition 2), suggesting that the group-value model (Lind & Tyler, 1988) and the social identity perspective (Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, 1985; Turner et al., 1987; for a review, see Hogg, 2005, 2006) can help explain reactions to procedural discrimination. In conclusion, the current thesis makes significant contribution to the procedural justice literature.