Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Charles Q. Pavitt, Dept. of Communication. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of teacher efficacy reported by student teachers upon completion of the student teaching experience and to better understand the perceptions held by the student teachers regarding the roles the university supervisor played. The roles played by the supervisor focused on the levels of support and challenge. These two concepts (levels of support and challenge) refer to the types of actions of the university supervisor which either affirms the actions of the preservice teacher or identifies an area in which the preservice teacher needs to improve. The perceptions held by the student teachers were examined along with the reported beliefs about teacher efficacy to determine if any correlations existed. The information from the students teachers was obtained at the completion of the student teaching experience using online surveys. The surveys were completed by 121 student teachers. This resulted in a 27% response rate. The relationship between the preservice teachers' beliefs of efficacy and their perception of their university supervisors was studied. Data analysis established that there was no statistical significance or relationship with beliefs of efficacy and either levels of support or challenge. Since there was no statistically significant relationship between support and efficacy or challenge and efficacy, an ideal combination of levels of support and challenge to result in a maximum level of efficacy beliefs cannot be established from the regression model. / Dissertation Chair: Dr. George Bieger Dissertation Committee Members: Dr. Monte Tidwell and Dr. James Hooks

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2005. / Restricted until May 2006. Bibliography: leaves 233-247.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Diane Gill; submitted to the School of Health and Human Performance. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-57).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-168).

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-40).

<p>The call centre industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in South Africa. Call centres have for most companies become a basic business requirement for servicing customers. Zapf, Isic, Bechtoldt and Blau (2003: 311) argue that there are high levels of stress amongst employees in call centres, which they believe to be the result of both the work tasks and the interactions with customers. The aim of this study was to establish whether call centre work design and structure contributed to role stress amongst client service representatives (CSRs). It was also the aim of this study to establish whether role stress affected the CSRs‟ levels of job satisfaction and their intentions to quit from their jobs.</p>

Background The Chinese market has been undergoing changes due to Chinas entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the government’s Open-Door Policy. As a result the Chinese markets attractiveness has escalated and consequently an increasing number of foreign companies have entered including Swedish ones. Since the Chinese culture differs to a large extent from the Swedish, the difference can affect business behavior and especially adver-tising decisions. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role which culture plays in advertising with a sample of Swedish companies in different industries which have established themselves in China. Method A qualitative method was utilized when gathering the empirical findings. The researchers contacted a wide selection of companies which, then was narrowed down to four that fit the purpose. Primarily face to face and telephone interviews were conducted. All the recipients were in managerial positions. Samples of the advertisements were gathered in order to illustrate the result. Results This thesis aims to demonstrate that culture plays a role in advertising for the selected Swedish companies in China. This difference can lead to adjustments in advertising and brand image strategy. The degree of adjustment may vary across companies.

Governments have a choice whether to intervene in the transport infrastructure sector to manage, finance and organize and sometimes own the assets of the sector or to rely on markets and private sector actors for the provision of these systems. In Sweden, like in most other countries, the government has, since the 19th century, gradually taken a more active role both for railroads and roads, including most of the roles outlined above. From the 1840s, railroads and a more modern road system developed based on a mix of government and private/local government initiatives. A step towards centralization was taken in the 1930-40s, as the private- and local government-owned railroads and rural public roads, a majority of the total system, were taken over (nationalized) by the State. The government still owns these assets. In this paper, the development of railroad and road infrastructure is analyzed based on a co-evolutionary perspective, including the influence of technology, economics and politics. The perspective is used in order to facilitate an understanding and explanation of the successive steps that led to the decision to nationalize railroads and roads. The following time periods up to 2010 are also analyzed with the perspective as a relief. Based on a study primarily of the public documents of the time it is argued that the nationalization can be seen as a more or less logical step in a process of centralization that had been going on since the mid-1800s. Business economics rationality and cost reduction were important arguments for nationalization. Arguments in favor of the nationalization were that it was seen as a modernization of the sector, which also allowed for the introduction of new technology and a reduction of differences in road taxes. Welfare economics reasoning and discussions on natural monopolies were, however, not the focus. It is further argued that the government waited for some time to take the final steps to nationalize the railroads and roads. The government entered the scene as a rather reluctant infrastructure manager. The Parliament’s 1963 decision on transport policy, which is generally seen as among the most important policy decisions in the sector since the 1940s, might, it is argued, have been given a too important role. However, it is argued that the proposals put forward by the 1944 Transport Committee, which were never formally decided upon, were perhaps more influential. These proposals were largely market-friendly within the framework of the government ownership and financing model. The railroad and road systems should be run more or less as private businesses within this framework, with a focus on business economics efficiency, a full cost responsibility, and a competition view on the transport market. The transport policy decision was formally approved in 1963, and it was largely based on the principles of the 1944 Transport Committee. These policies opened for a further restructuring of the transport sector, including transport infrastructure. The road system was expanded, while the railroads contracted, suffering from high costs and a decreasing market. There was, however, a gradually growing criticism towards both the planning practices and new construction programs for the road system, and against the effects the policies seemed to have for the railroad system. The transport polices were changed during the 1970s. The 1979 Parliamentary decision on a revised transport policy brought a formal end to the policies based on market forces, competition and business economics, all of which were features of the 1963 decision. The new management philosophy was based on welfare economics, which should be the new basis for transport infrastructure and transport policies when it came to planning, management and pricing/taxation. An interesting phase in the historical development of transport policy was a return in the 1988 Parliamentary decision to a goal structure closer to the earlier (1963) formulation of transport policies. In a following decision in 1998, another turn was made, which has since established welfare economics as the basis for transport infrastructure policies. The principles set in the 1940s, with a firm base in a “cost responsibility principle” and a business economics perspective on transport infrastructure combined with government ownership and financing, was finally shifted to more of a welfare economics basis during the 1980-90s. This was, it is argued, a way of reflecting a more active political agenda with new goals for transport policy. The policy shift was combined with deregulation and some privatization steps from the 1980s onwards. If the former policies might be seen as expressing a contradiction between government ownership and business economics, the new policies made a contradiction between deregulation and more developed and wider political goals in combination with welfare economics obvious. The government might be seen having gone from reluctance to contradiction as the basic stance of its policies as owner of railroads and roads. / <p> 20130614</p>

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the ways in which the primary Discourse and school experiences inform the literate identity of a male teacher, as well as his professional practice. The research looks at the various influences and relationships that come to bear on male literate identity from childhood to professional practice. As well, it responds to the contention of the popular media that boys lagging literacies might be remediated through the presence of more male literacy role models in the classroom. This study suggests that although role models may be influential under particular circumstances, the development of literate identity is far more complex and nuanced.<p> This study focuses on six male teachers and describes their experiences of literacy, particularly reading, from childhood into professional practice. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and informal observations. The interviews revealed that male literate identity is a product not only of parental attitudes toward literacy, but it is also determined by the individuals sense of competence and purpose, as well as sometimes serendipitous encounters with other readers.