Literary texts offer rich opportunities for language learning. However, can second language (L2) learners fully understand L2 literary texts? According to Bernhardt (2001):"the act of reading in a second language is extremely tricky -- is even trickier with literary texts that are inherently ambiguous, full of metaphor and intertextual relations to texts to which the readers have no access" (p.198). In other words, L2 readers are often poorly equipped grammatically, linguistically and culturally to cope with literary texts in which it might be difficult to recognize figurative language, to comprehend metaphors, to identify underlying cultural assumptions and above all to think critically while navigating those complexities. Therefore, during the reading process, L2 readers encounter gaps in the text which necessarily compel them to use whatever background knowledge they possess in order to create meaning. The purpose of this research is to see exactly how post-secondary L2 readers use their existing background knowledge to understand literary texts and what they do when confronted with text passages for which they lack such knowledge.

This thesis researches the problems concerning the specification and implementation of the temporal requirements in data warehouses. The thesis focuses on two areas, firstly, the methods for identifying and capturing the business information needs and associated temporal requirements at the conceptual level and; secondly, methods for classifying and implementing the requirements at the logical level using the relational model. At the conceptual level, eight candidate methodologies were investigated to examine their suitability for the creation of data models that are appropriate for a data warehouse. The methods were evaluated to assess their representation of time, their ability to reflect the dimensional nature of data warehouse models and their simplicity of use. The research found that none of the methods under review fully satisfied the criteria. At the logical level, the research concluded that the methods widely used in current practice result in data structures that are either incapable of answering some very basic questions involving history or that return inaccurate results. Specific proposals are made in three areas. Firstly, a new conceptual model is described that is designed to capture the information requirements for dimensional models and has full support for time. Secondly, a new approach at the logical level is proposed. It provides the data structures that enable the requirements captured in the conceptual model to be implemented, thus enabling the historical questions to be answered simply and accurately. Thirdly, a set of rules is developed to help minimise the inaccuracy caused by time. A guide has been produced that provides practitioners with the tools and instructions on how to implement data warehouses using the methods developed in the thesis.

Data warehouses were envisioned to facilitate analytical reporting and data visualization by providing a model for the flow of data from operational databases to decision support environments. Decision support environments provide a multidimensional conceptual view of the underlying data warehouse, which is usually stored in relational DBMSs. Typically, there is an impedance mismatch between this conceptual view — shared also by all decision support applications accessing the data warehouse — and the physical model of the data stored in relational DBMSs. This thesis presents a mapping compilation algorithm in the context of the Conceptual Integration Model (CIM) [67] framework. In the CIM framework, the relationships between the conceptual model and the physical model are specified by a set of attribute-to-attribute correspondences. The algorithm compiles these correspondences into a set of mappings that associate each construct in the conceptual model with a query on the physical model. Moreover, the homogeneity and summarizability of data in conceptual models is the key to accurate query answering, a necessity in decision making environments. A data-driven approach to refactor relational models into summarizable schemas and instances is proposed as the solution of this issue. We outline the algorithms and challenges in bridging multidimensional conceptual models and the physical model of data warehouses and discuss experimental results.

Managers and organizational stakeholders are confronted by a range of stimuli, emotions, events, data, paradoxes and ambiguities in endeavouring to understand and make sense of change and the performance of their organizations. However, there is virtually no literature available on sensemaking within organizational performance. Historically sensemaking literature has focused on unusual events, disasters and high reliability settings but there is now a sizeable body addressing sensemaking in strategic organizational change. This literature has been systematically reviewed because of its proximity to organizational performance and in order to assess how sensemaking in organizational performance could be in investigated. Sensemaking in individuals is triggered by the unusual and confounding and is concerned with how people construct meaning from this. While sensegiving is about the role played by leaders, or stakeholders, in generating, articulating and “selling” a construction or interpretation of events emerging from their own sensemaking process. “Mindfulness” can be thought of as how sensemaking is realised and is about responding rather than reacting while using information, attentiveness and clues to make sense of what is happening. The sensemaking studies reviewed are dominated by work with middle managers who are seen by the authors as key organizational change agents. Organizational actors come to sensemaking through mental maps, or schemata that can be re-configured through the sensemaking process often as a way of addressing paradox or equivocation. The view of sensemaking as inter-subjective, discursive and narrative dominates giving scope to managers to facilitate the process. Sensegiving and sensemaking intertwine dialectically in a process which sees sensemaking informing sensegiving and vice versa. There is insufficient information on mindfulness and change to be able to assess it. In conclusion there are sufficient similarities between the processes of organizational change and organizational performance management to warrant its investigation from an inter-subjective, discursive and narrative sensemaking perspective.

Data warehouses were envisioned to facilitate analytical reporting and data visualization by providing a model for the flow of data from operational databases to decision support environments. Decision support environments provide a multidimensional conceptual view of the underlying data warehouse, which is usually stored in relational DBMSs. Typically, there is an impedance mismatch between this conceptual view — shared also by all decision support applications accessing the data warehouse — and the physical model of the data stored in relational DBMSs. This thesis presents a mapping compilation algorithm in the context of the Conceptual Integration Model (CIM) [67] framework. In the CIM framework, the relationships between the conceptual model and the physical model are specified by a set of attribute-to-attribute correspondences. The algorithm compiles these correspondences into a set of mappings that associate each construct in the conceptual model with a query on the physical model. Moreover, the homogeneity and summarizability of data in conceptual models is the key to accurate query answering, a necessity in decision making environments. A data-driven approach to refactor relational models into summarizable schemas and instances is proposed as the solution of this issue. We outline the algorithms and challenges in bridging multidimensional conceptual models and the physical model of data warehouses and discuss experimental results.

The aim of the present research was to investigate the association between how individuals in romantic relationships conceptualize themselves sexually, and levels of reported sexual satisfaction for both themselves and their partner. Of additional interest was how an individual’s sexual self-schemas are associated with their perception of their partner’s sexual satisfaction. Reasoning that sexual self-schemas will have an influence on how individuals interpret and act in sexual situations, we propose that individuals’ sexual self-schemas will play a role in sexual satisfaction within relationships. We additionally examined whether sexual self-schemas influenced an individual’s perceptions of their partner after controlling for that partner’s reported levels of satisfaction. For both men and women, individual’s own sexual self-schemas were associated with own sexual satisfaction, but not partner’s sexual satisfaction. Additionally, individual’s own sexual self-schemas were associated with perceptions of partner’s sexual satisfaction, even after controlling for that partner’s self-reported sexual satisfaction.

Dortmund, Universität, Thesis (doctoral), 2001.

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: XML; XQuery; schema and data evolution. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72).

According to cognitive theories of anxiety, anxiogenic schemata are a set of beliefs, rules, and assumptions that influence how those with anxiety make inferences and interpret threat. It is hypothesized that each anxiety disorder has a unique anxiogenic schema. This report describes the development of the Cognitive Vulnerability Schemas Questionnaire for Anxious Youth, an instrument used to measure anxiogenic schemata in youth aged 7-17 years old. Factor analyses of the scale demonstrated two empirically distinct and relatively stable dimensions of anxiogenic schema. The two identified factors of anxiogenic schema were: (1) Generalized Anxiety and Social Phobia Schema, and (2) Separation Anxiety Schema. The measure demonstrated good psychometric properties on a range of indices of reliability and validity. Results indicated that scores on the questionnaire subscales predicted anxiety symptomology. Regression analyses showed that both factors were predictors of anxiety symptomology, however did not predict anxiety diagnosis. Significant differences in the Cognitive Vulnerability Schemas Questionnaire for Anxious Youth subscales were demonstrated between patients with clinically significant Generalized Anxiety Symptoms, Social Phobia Symptoms, and Separation Anxiety Symptoms. The implications of these findings for theories of cognitive vulnerability and schema development in youth are discussed. / text

Nowadays there are many CAD system used in garment industry, but only few systems are used to compose measurement schemas. Only the biggest companies like well known “Gerber technology”, “Lectra system”, “Richpeace” could offer such kind of systems. Unfortunately, these systems are quite complicated, expensive and could only be used with the CAD system from the same creators. This is the reason why many companies are not capable of buying a full CAD system besides there are no possibilities to buy a system to compose garment products measurement schemas separately. So, naturally, there comes a demand for a less complicated and cheaper system. The main objective of this project was to create less complicated garment products measurement schemas composing system, which includes features of a large system and also avoids its defects. An analysis of existing garment products’ measurement schemas software and customers’ needs was made in this work. “Clothing models measuring scheme composition system” software was created as an outcome of this work. The project was programmed with JAVA programming language. Therefore it can be used on the different operating systems. The system was successfully installed and tested in the UAB “Vivat Modus” company. In short period of time this company has seen the great propose of system. People who were using the new system to create garment products’ measurement schemas have saved their time and made less mistakes. The system helped to save... [to full text]