Master of Science / Department of Statistics / John E. Boyer Jr / The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods used for allocating disaster funds to assist commercial fishery participants as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005 and to examine alternative methods to aid in determining an efficient criterion for allocating public funds for fisheries assistance. The trip ticket data managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries were used and analyzed using a cluster analysis. Results from the clustering procedures show that commercial fishermen consist of seven clusters, while wholesale/retail seafood dealers consist of six clusters. The three tiers into which commercial fishermen were originally classified can be extended to at least eleven (11) clusters, made up of three (3) clusters in tier 1 and an equal number of clusters (4) clusters in tier 2 and tier 3. Similarly, the original three tiers of wholesale/retail seafood dealers can be reclassified into at least nine (9) clusters with two clusters in tier 1, four (4) clusters in tier 2 and three (3) clusters in tier 3. As a result of the clustering reclassifications, alternative compensation plans were developed for the commercial fishermen and wholesale/retail seafood dealers. These alternative compensation plans suggest a reallocation of disaster assistance funds among individual groups of fishermen and among individual groups of dealers. We finally recommend that alternative classification methods should always be considered in order to select the most efficient criterion for allocating public funds in the future.

The social work profession requires the accumulation of theory, knowledge, skills and their integration into practice. The department of social work at UNISA trains students according to the person-centred approach (PCA). The question thus arises whether the social workers trained in PCA at UNISA are able to integrate theory into practice in their different areas of employment. Exploring this would give the department of social work an opportunity to re-visit the teaching of PCA and make some improvements if necessary. The qualitative study was conducted with social workers employed in different welfare organizations in Pretoria. The following themes emerged from the analysis: the perceived significance of building relationship with clients, the organizational influence in counselling, unique experiences with regard to colleagues who graduated from other institutions, challenges in handling a conflict or crisis situation, and lastly the nature of statutory cases. The conclusions were drawn and recommendations were presented. / Social Science / M.A. (Mental Health)

Especially for last three decades many of the scholars have tried to provide general terrorist profile, which is commonly usable for all terrorists. They were seeking to identify the process of becoming terrorist (Sageman, 2004; Russel&Miller, 1977; Strentz, 1988; Hassan, 2001). The main problem on those studies is that, without looking at degree of involvement of terrorist they just focus on “who becomes a terrorist and why” and they prefer to ignore different type of characteristics about terrorist. Yilmaz (2009) tried to underline and answer this subject by studying on arrest results about DHKP/C and Hizbullah terrorist organizations in Turkey. This study aims to analyze socio-demographic and motivational differences of PKK terrorist organization members who are belong to different involvement degrees (active participant and supporter).

Cette thèse traite de la modélisation, l'illumination et le rendu temps-réel de milieux participants à l'aide du GPU. Dans une première partie, nous commençons par développer une méthode de rendu de nappes de brouillard hétérogènes pour des scènes en extérieur. Le brouillard est modélisé horizontalement dans une base 2D de fonctions de Haar ou de fonctions B-Spline linéaires ou quadratiques, dont les coefficients peuvent être chargés depuis une textit{fogmap}, soit une carte de densité en niveaux de gris. Afin de donner au brouillard son épaisseur verticale, celui-ci est doté d'un coefficient d'atténuation en fonction de l'altitude, utilisé pour paramétrer la rapidité avec laquelle la densité diminue avec la distance au milieu selon l'axe Y. Afin de préparer le rendu temps-réel, nous appliquons une transformée en ondelettes sur la carte de densité du brouillard, afin d'en extraire une approximation grossière (base de fonctions B-Spline) et une série de couches de détails (bases d'ondelettes B-Spline), classés par fréquence.%Les détails sont ainsi classés selon leur fréquence et, additionnées, permettent de retrouver la carte de densité d'origine. Chacune de ces bases de fonctions 2D s'apparente à une grille de coefficients. Lors du rendu sur GPU, chacune de ces grilles est traversée pas à pas, case par case, depuis l'observateur jusqu'à la plus proche surface solide. Grâce à notre séparation des différentes fréquences de détails lors des pré-calculs, nous pouvons optimiser le rendu en ne visualisant que les détails les plus contributifs visuellement en avortant notre parcours de grille à une distance variable selon la fréquence. Nous présentons ensuite d'autres travaux concernant ce même type de brouillard : l'utilisation de la transformée en ondelettes pour représenter sa densité via une grille non-uniforme, la génération automatique de cartes de densité et son animation à base de fractales, et enfin un début d'illumination temps-réel du brouillard en simple diffusion. Dans une seconde partie, nous nous intéressons à la modélisation, l'illumination en simple diffusion et au rendu temps-réel de fumée (sans simulation physique) sur GPU. Notre méthode s'inspire des Light Propagation Volumes (volume de propagation de lumière), une technique à l'origine uniquement destinée à la propagation de la lumière indirecte de manière complètement diffuse, après un premier rebond sur la géométrie. Nous l'adaptons pour l'éclairage direct, et l'illumination des surfaces et milieux participants en simple diffusion. Le milieu est fourni sous forme d'un ensemble de bases radiales (blobs), puis est transformé en un ensemble de voxels, ainsi que les surfaces solides, de manière à disposer d'une représentation commune. Par analogie aux LPV, nous introduisons un Occlusion Propagation Volume, dont nous nous servons, pour calculer l'intégrale de la densité optique entre chaque source et chaque autre cellule contenant soit un voxel du milieu, soit un voxel issu d'une surface. Cette étape est intégrée à la boucle de rendu, ce qui permet d'animer le milieu participant ainsi que les sources de lumière sans contrainte particulière. Nous simulons tous types d'ombres : dues au milieu ou aux surfaces, projetées sur le milieu ou les surfaces / This thesis deals with modeling, illuminating and rendering participating media in real-time using graphics hardware. In a first part, we begin by developing a method to render heterogeneous layers of fog for outdoor scenes. The medium is modeled horizontally using a 2D Haar or linear/quadratic B-Spline function basis, whose coefficients can be loaded from a fogmap, i.e. a grayscale density image. In order to give to the fog its vertical thickness, it is provided with a coefficient parameterizing the extinction of the density when the altitude to the fog increases. To prepare the rendering step, we apply a wavelet transform on the fog's density map, and extract a coarse approximation and a series of layers of details (B-Spline wavelet bases).These details are ordered according to their frequency and, when summed back together, can reconstitute the original density map. Each of these 2D function basis can be viewed as a grid of coefficients. At the rendering step on the GPU, each of these grids is traversed step by step, cell by cell, since the viewer's position to the nearest solid surface. Thanks to our separation of the different frequencies of details at the precomputations step, we can optimize the rendering by only visualizing details that contribute most to the final image and abort our grid traversal at a distance depending on the grid's frequency. We then present other works dealing with the same type of fog: the use of the wavelet transform to represent the fog's density in a non-uniform grid, the automatic generation of density maps and their animation based on Julia fractals, and finally a beginning of single-scattering illumination of the fog, where we are able to simulate shadows by the medium and the geometry. In a second time, we deal with modeling, illuminating and rendering full 3D single-scattering sampled media such as smoke (without physical simulation) on the GPU. Our method is inspired by light propagation volumes, a technique whose only purpose was, at the beginning, to propagate fully diffuse indirect lighting. We adapt it to direct lighting, and the illumination of both surfaces and participating media. The medium is provided under the form of a set of radial bases (blobs), and is then transformed into a set of voxels, together with solid surfaces, so that both entities can be manipulated more easily under a common form. By analogy to the LPV, we introduce an occlusion propagation volume, which we use to compute the integral of the optical density, between each source and each other cell containing a voxel either generated from the medium, or from a surface. This step is integrated into the rendering process, which allows to animate participating media and light sources without any further constraint

本研究以問卷調查方式，探討審計市場參與者（財務報表編製者、使用者及審計人員）對審計品質認知的差異，對於審計品質的衡量分為審計過程與審計結果，審計過程主要包括合約規劃階段、外勤工作與管理監督三階段及主要與查帳小組人員相關的因素，而審計結果的屬性則為事務所的規模、訴訟、聲譽及與事務所整體相關的因素。經由平均數分析、因素分析與變異數分析後，實證結果如下： 　　一、全部受試者認為最重要之審計品質屬性與最不重要之審計品質各有八個，並且審計人員較注重與審計過程相關之審計品質屬性，同時對於「了解客戶的行業」、「不對簽證客戶提供管理諮詢服務」及「採用統計技術」等項目的重要性，審計人員較其他參與者而言較不重視。 　　二、三組受試者對七個審計品質因素的認知上達成共識，故可以此做為提昇審計品質的明確方向。對於其他六個因素，受試者在認知上有顯著差異，其他參與者較審計人員認為「查帳人員具會計師資格」與「會計師事務所的外在形象」兩因素對審計品質更重要，表示審計人員應多注意這些因素。而審計人員則較其他參與者重視審計過程的因素，表示其他參與者在衡量審計品質時，除了注意審計品質的替代指標外，仍應考慮有關審計過程的品質屬性。

La synthèse d'images réalistes nécessite la modélisation précise des interactions de la lumière avec la matière (réflexion, réfraction, diffusion) et des échanges d'énergie lumineuse entre les objets de la scène. Cette modélisation, très complexe si l'on ne fait pas d'hypothèses restrictives, peut être efficacement réalisée par simulation de Monte Carlo. Dans le présent travail, nous définissons tout d'abord une méthode complète d'illumination de scène, fondée sur une simulation de Monte Carlo d'un modèle "particulaire" de la lumière. Dans un premier temps, nous développons cette simulation pour les milieux participants. Nous diminuons la variance de la simulation par un calcul exact de l'absorption. Nous étendons ensuite ce travail aux objets surfaciques et proposons une technique de regroupement de photons pour obtenir une efficacité constante à chaque pas de calcul. Dans la deuxième partie de ce travail, nous étudions l'application de cette méthode à la visualisation des champs scalaires tri-dimensionnels, puis l'application de certaines techniques issues de la synthèse d'images (facettisation, de données volumiques, partitionnement spatial, images de distance, ...) à la simulation de la diffusion des gaz, présentant de nombreuses similitudes avec la simulation de la diffusion de la lumière.

<p>This study aims to compare the sexual behaviour patterns of male elite student athletes, male student recreational sports (RSP) and male student non-athletes at the University of Botswana in relation to high-risk sexual behaviours. High-risk behaviors in the domain of sexual behaviour were investigated in relation to the determinants of risk behaviour such as multiple partnerships, condom use, and history of sexually transmitted infections, the partners past sex life, current sexual life, casual sexual partners and age of first exual experience. The purpose was to establish which group of the male students is more at risk of HIV infection due to its engagement in high-risk sexual behaviour. Data was collected by means of an anonymous self-report questionnaire. Participants included 235 male students (94 non-athletes, 92 athletes and 50 elite athletes) at the University of Botswana. Selfreport questionnaires were administered, which included items from the 2005 Youth Risk Surveillance System (YRBSS), Student Life Style questionnaire, as well as items from a questionnaire assessing knowledge and practice of safe sex amongst Rhodes University students (Simpson, 1996).</p>

Traditionally, research about young children has been shaped by developmental approaches which persist in framing them as incomplete adults. This dissertation proffers a relatively new image of childhood that celebrates the possibilities inherent in childrens multiple ways of knowing. It is drawn from a 2006 study of the playful social language of, and interviews with, grade one children attending an urban Canadian school.<p/> Two questions drive this inquiry: a) What is the significance of childrens social language in a primary classroom? b) What is the role of play within childrens social language and within their culture? To maintain a sense of children as collaborators in research and to bring childrens talk into mainstream education discourse, Bakhtinian concepts of dialogicity and responsivity are foregrounded.<p/> The dissertation begins with a literature review that relates extant theory, research, and praxis to the study of language, discourse, and play. Then, participants perceptions of play, as articulated in the interviews, are presented. Because the study focuses upon childrens ability to make sense of their lived experience, their perceptions of play guide subsequent interpretations. Theory is reconsidered, and interpretative analysis is presented as dialogic response to the childrens ways of knowing, as points of contact between texts, as dialogue. Vignettes, drawn from videotapes of the participants social language in class, provide concrete examples of the role of play within the childrens local culture. Three key ideas emerge: children are able, dialogic interpreters of their lived experience and research participants in their own right; play discourse is agentive behaviour; and agentive play discourse is childrens response to problematic life experiences, for example, the worlds gendered texts.<p/> This study illustrates how childrens playful social talk places an imaginative distance between them and entrenched assumptions about what counts as knowledge. And, it challenges readers to distance themselves from the way things are, to redefine what is considered to be legitimate classroom conversation, and to reconsider how, together, children discursively make meaning and imagine themselves as social actors.<p/>

Traditionally, research about young children has been shaped by developmental approaches which persist in framing them as incomplete adults. This dissertation proffers a relatively new image of childhood that celebrates the possibilities inherent in childrens multiple ways of knowing. It is drawn from a 2006 study of the playful social language of, and interviews with, grade one children attending an urban Canadian school.<p/> Two questions drive this inquiry: a) What is the significance of childrens social language in a primary classroom? b) What is the role of play within childrens social language and within their culture? To maintain a sense of children as collaborators in research and to bring childrens talk into mainstream education discourse, Bakhtinian concepts of dialogicity and responsivity are foregrounded.<p/> The dissertation begins with a literature review that relates extant theory, research, and praxis to the study of language, discourse, and play. Then, participants perceptions of play, as articulated in the interviews, are presented. Because the study focuses upon childrens ability to make sense of their lived experience, their perceptions of play guide subsequent interpretations. Theory is reconsidered, and interpretative analysis is presented as dialogic response to the childrens ways of knowing, as points of contact between texts, as dialogue. Vignettes, drawn from videotapes of the participants social language in class, provide concrete examples of the role of play within the childrens local culture. Three key ideas emerge: children are able, dialogic interpreters of their lived experience and research participants in their own right; play discourse is agentive behaviour; and agentive play discourse is childrens response to problematic life experiences, for example, the worlds gendered texts.<p/> This study illustrates how childrens playful social talk places an imaginative distance between them and entrenched assumptions about what counts as knowledge. And, it challenges readers to distance themselves from the way things are, to redefine what is considered to be legitimate classroom conversation, and to reconsider how, together, children discursively make meaning and imagine themselves as social actors.<p/>

Darbe atlikta teorinė bendradarbiavimo sampratos ir ugdymo proceso dalyvių bendradarbiavimo ikimokyklinėje įstaigoje analizė. Iškelta hipotezė: tikėtina, jog tėvai bei pedagogai teigiamai vertina vieni kitus ir siekia bendradarbiauti, tenkindami vaiko specialiuosius ugdymosi poreikius ikimokyklinėje įstaigoje, tačiau pats SPV nėra įtraukiamas į bendradarbiavimą. Anketinės apklausos, interviu metodais buvo atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas - įvertinti specialiųjų poreikių vaikų, jų tėvų, pedagogų, specialistų bendradarbiavimo ypatumus ikimokyklinės įstaigos grupės ir specialiojo ugdymo kontekste, atskleidžiant realią bendradarbiavimo situaciją, formą. Atlikta statistinė ir turinio (content) duomenų analizė. Tyrime dalyvavo 15 specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinčių ikimokyklinio amžiaus vaikų (5-7 metų), 139 tėvai, auginantys specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinčius vaikus ir 102 ikimokyklinių ugdymo įstaigų pedagogai (iš viso 256 respondentai). Empirinėje dalyje nagrinėjama tėvų ir pedagogų nuomonė apie jų specialiųjų poreikių turinčio vaiko ugdymą bendrojo lavinimo darželyje, SPV tėvų dalyvavimą savo vaiko ugdymo, bendradarbiavimo procese, požiūrį į pedagogų darbą bei pedagogų požiūrį savo ir kolegų vaidmenį, pedagogų lūkesčius. Siekiama nustatyti, kaip ikimokyklinio amžiaus vaikai supranta jiems teikiamą pagalbą ir kiek vaikas įtraukiamas į bendradarbiavimo procesą. Svarbiausios empirinio tyrimo išvados: 1. Tyrimo rezultatai tik iš dalies patvirtino hipotezę. Tėvai bei... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The theoretical analysis of the concept of communication and the collaboration of participants in the process of education in a preschool institution was carried out. The hypothesis proposed: there is likelihood that parents and educators evaluate each other positively and they aim to collaborate satisfying a child’s special educational needs in a preschool institution, however, the child with special needs is not involved in to the process of collaboration. The research was carried out by questionnaire survey, interview methods that aimed to evaluate the peculiarities of collaboration between children with special needs, their parents, educators, specialists within the context of a preschool institution group and special education, revealing the realistic situation of collaboration and form. The statistical and content data analysis was carried out. 15 preschool children with special educational needs (5 -7 years old), 139 parents, that up bring children with special needs and 102 educators from preschool institutions (in total 256 respondents) participated in the research. The empirical part of the study discusses parents’ and educators’ attitudes on a child’s with special needs education in a nursery of general education, the participation of parents of children with special needs in the process of their child’s education and collaboration, the attitude on educators’ practice and educators’ attitude on their own and their colleagues’ practice, educators’ expectations... [to full text]