The main purpose of this research, which are based on Ferris, Adams, Kolodinsky, Hochwarter, & Ammeter, (2002). revised model, is to explore the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and the member of position, the member of tenure, the formalization, and the centralization. There are 2133 questionnaires provided from public and private hospitals, public and private schools, government agencies, public and private service industries, manufacturing, private financial institution, the high-tech industries and traditional industries. Questionnaires¡¦ response rate are 91.0%. Available response rate are 88.6%. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation, and hierarchical linear model. The major results of this study are as following: 1. The member of position has a significant effect on perceptions of organizational politics. 2. The member of tenure has no effect on perceptions of organizational politics. 3. Formalization has no effect on perceptions of organizational politics. 4. Centralization has a significant effect on perceptions of organizational politics. 5. Formalization has no moderate effect on the relationship between the member of position and perceptions of organizational politics. 6. Formalization has no moderate effect on the relationship between the member of tenure and perceptions of organizational politics. 7. Centralization has no moderate effect on the relationship between the member of position and perceptions of organizational politics. 8. Centralization has no moderate effect on the relationship between the member of tenure and perceptions of organizational politics.

Due to ineffectiveness of traditional advertising, the notion of "product placement" quickly reinforced to be a new forming trend in recent years. Companies incorporate their products into movie films or television media. Those placements attempt to generate positive attitudes of target audiences for the brand. Unfortunately, this strategic intent does not always work. Using the magazine as the medium, this research investigates how to optimize the effects of placement characteristics and advertising position. Product placement is presented in a fictitious article about the introduction to new Canon digital camera. An experiment of 2 (placement characteristics: prominent placement vs. subtle placement) ¡Ñ 4 (advertising position¡Gbefore the article vs. next to the article vs. after the article vs. no advertisement) factorial design is conducted. Eight different scenarios are established through fictitious a product placement, and eight experimental conditions are developed. The advertising effectiveness is measured by purchase intention and attitudes toward the brand. The results suggest that a subtle placement is more effective than a prominent placement. More importantly, an interaction of placement characteristics and advertising position is observed. The results indicate that product placement is most likely to backfire when a brand advertisement is shown next to the placement article. According to these findings, marketers should consider the ¡§placement characteristics¡¨ of their brands before choosing an appropriate advertisement position appearing in the product placement.

Driving a horizontal roadway curve requires a change in vehicle alignment and a potential reduction in speed. Curves may present a challenging situation during adverse conditions or to inattentive drivers. Chevron signs provide advanced warning and positive guidance throughout the curve. Some agencies place supplemental retroreflective material on sign posts to enhance the signs? conspicuity and visibility. The objective of this study was to determine any incremental benefits in vehicle speed and lateral lane position when retroreflective material was applied to Chevron sign posts (ChevFull). This study analyzed three separate evaluation scenarios in a before, after, and after-after experimental design. There was an existing Baseline evaluation with no vertical delineation, a standard Chevron evaluation, and an experimental ChevFull treatment evaluation. Data collection measured vehicle speed and lateral position data at the point of curvature and mid-point on two separate curves. Findings showed that both Chevrons and the ChevFull treatment moved vehicles away from oncoming traffic by about 15 inches. Overall, there was little difference between the lateral position findings of the two Chevron treatment scenarios. Chevrons achieved a 1.28 MPH reduction in mean vehicle speed from the Baseline evaluation and the ChevFull treatment obtained a 2.20 MPH reduction. The findings determined that the benefits of the ChevFull treatment were not substantial. The author recommends that the MUTCD should continue to present the ChevFull treatment as an optional delineation tool. Based on this research, the author does not recommend any changes to the MUTCD.

McCombs and Shaw¡¦s studies of agenda-setting theory showed that mass medium can not only maintain or change acceptors¡¦ perceptions of political issues but also guide electors¡¦ favoritism by setting agenda. Thus, in this thesis, we want to find the relation between framed-issues and the political positions of China Times and The Liberty Times by analyzing and comparing the agenda-setting behaviors of these two newspapers(including headline news, editorials, and their contents¡K) during the period of 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral campaign. The conclusion shows that in the same period of time there exist different framed-objects and attitudes toward those political issues operated by these two medium. It means that mass medium aim at framing issues to conduct what people would focus on. Nevertheless, this thesis find that the agenda-setting behaviors of China Times during the period of 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election was intended to use error issues so agendas could connect with the framed political issues, while the agenda-setting behaviors of The Liberty Times, especially political issue, was of uncertainty. Most of its headlines are not related to politics, but still the framing activity occurred in the political edition.

The brand-related theories had been valued in recent year. Brand position has been viewed as the core of brand identity, and at the meantime of establishing brands of Taiwan corporations who neglected the importance of brand position. This thesis focused on Taiwan¡¦s mobile service industry and tried to analyze and discuss the ways of establishing brand position of TransAsia Telecommunications Inc. This thesis made the conclusions as followed: (1) Discovering the variable could be differentiated at brand analysis. (2) Choosing and prompting the target-position, which could differentiate itself from other brands¡¦. (3) Communicating the consistent tone of the brand and drawing the attention through being the subject of a talk. (4) The strategic turn of brand position after been merged. Through the discoveries of this thesis, hope it could give some suggestions of building the brand position for practice. Keywords: Brand Position, Brand Identity, TransAsia Telecommunications Inc.

This thesis describes the open-loop behavior of an ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) strip as a novel actuator, the empirical force and position models, the control system and the improved dynamic characteristics with the feedback control implemented. Ionic polymer metal composite is a novel polymer in the class of electroactive polymers. IPMC consists of a base polymer coated with electrodes made up of highly conducting pure metals such as gold. The actuation behavior of IPMC can be attributed to the bending of an IPMC strip upon application of voltage across its thickness. The main reasons for the bending are ion migration on the application of voltage and swelling and contraction caused by water content. An experimental setup to study the open-loop force and tip displacement of an IPMC strip in a cantilever configuration was developed, and real time controllers were implemented. In open loop, the force response of the IPMC strip of dimensions 25 mm x 3.9 mm x 0.16 mm to a 1.2-V step input is studied. The open-loop rise time was 0.08 s and the percent overshoot was 131.62 %, while the settling time was about 10 s. Based on this open-loop step response using a least-square curve-fitting methodology, a fourth-order empirical transfer function from the voltage input to the force output was derived. The tip displacement response of an IPMC strip of dimensions 23 mm x 3.96 mm x 0.16 mm to a 1.2-V step input was also studied. The step response exhibited a 205.34 % overshoot with a rise time of 0.08 s, and the settling time was 27 s. A fourth-order empirical transfer function from the step input to the tip displacement as output was also derived. Based on the derived transfer functions lead-lag feedback controllers were designed for precision control of both force and displacement. The control objectives were to decrease the settling time and the percent overshoot, and achieve reference input tracking. After implementing the controllers, the percent overshoot decreased to 30% while the settling time was reduced to 1.5 s in case of force control. With position control, the settling time was reduced to 1 s while the percent overshoot decreased to 20%. Precision micro-scale force and position-control capabilities of the IPMC were also demonstrated. A 4 ?N force resolution was achieved, with a force noise of 0.904-?N rms. The position resolution was 20 ?m with a position noise of 7.6-?m rms.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-194). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

SENĆOŦEN has a set of second-position clitics (2PCs) (‘little’, unstressed elements, such as the first person subject SEN), following the initial prosodic word (full word) of the clause. This thesis, which studies the distribution of the 2PCs, is divided into two parts: a linguistic analysis and a co-authored teaching appendix. In the linguistic analysis, I propose that 2PCs occur following the initial prosodic word as a result of constraints governing the mapping between syntactic and prosodic structure. In the syntax, I propose that SENĆOŦEN 2PCs occupy positions above the prosodic word that ultimately precedes them. However, a preference for ‘strong’ left edges of prosodic constituents (intonational units) results in the violation of the constraint governing linearization of the syntactic structure, allowing the clitics to follow the initial prosodic word. The teaching appendix, developed collaboratively with STOLȻEȽ Elliott, employs concepts from the linguistic analysis in a way that is useful for language learners and teachers. / Graduate / 0290 / mhuijs@telus.net

Specific language impairment (SLI) describes a form of language acquisition difficulty that is not secondary to other developmental conditions. Researchers have identified a number of social and emotional difficulties in children and young people with SLI. However, less is known about the influences upon these difficulties, particularly at times of major change. This longitudinal study therefore examines the social well-being of children with receptive SLI during their transition from primary to secondary schooling. It focuses on peer social position and social anxiety and considers whether the severity of receptive language impairment, along with other factors, has particular importance for these markers. The markers are explored in terms of their definition, interrelationship and the degree to which they present singularly in children with SLI. The study uses a mixed method design to address six related research questions. The quantitative results showed that the participants with SLI had higher social anxiety than typical comparisons at both Time 1 and Time 2, but lower self-rated social acceptance at Time 2 only. However, teachers at Time 1 rated their social acceptance lower than they rated typical comparisons. There were no significant changes in self-rated measures from Time 1 to Time 2. A moderately strong and longitudinally robust association was found between social acceptance and social anxiety and between social acceptance and verbal/non-verbal discrepancy. Furthermore, social acceptance predicted social anxiety. The qualitative findings indicated that a number of factors singly and ecologically influenced the social well-being of children with SLI following secondary transition. Of these, receptive language level, pragmatic development and parental support were found to be particularly important. There was considerable variation in levels of social well-being, but they were generally lower than in a group of children with specific learning difficulties (SpLD). Overall, the study suggested that some children with SLI face greater social challenges than their peers at this life stage. However, secondary transition did not invariably result in greater difficulties. The study raised questions about policy, provision and practice in relation to children with SLI and identified areas for future research. Key words: specific language impairment (SLI); special educational needs (SEN); specific learning difficulties (SpLD); peer social position; social anxiety; ecological relationships

Inertial sensors such as Gyroscope and Accelerometer show systematic as well as random errors in the measurement. Furthermore, double integration method shows accumulation of error in position estimation due to inherent accelerometer bias drift. The primary objective of this research was to evaluate ADXL 335 acceleration sensor for better position estimation using acceleration bias drift error model. In addition, measurement data was recorded with four point rotation test for investigation of error characteristics. The fitted model was validated by using nonlinear regression analysis. The secondary objective was to examine the effect of bias drift and scale factor errors by introducing error model in Kalman Filter smoothing algorithm. The study showed that the accelerometer may be used for short distance mobile robot position estimation. This research would also help to establish a generalized test procedure for evaluation of accelerometer in terms of sensitivity, accuracy and data reliability.