Previous research has shown that providing students with the opportunity to choose the type of academic assignment could reduce a variety of problem behavior. However, procedural limitations of previous research prevent definitive conclusions regarding the mechanism by which choice interventions effect behavioral change. Furthermore, because research related to choice interventions has been limited primarily to children with developmental and emotional disabilities, the generality of such interventions is unclear. Therefore, the current study set out to extend the efforts of previous researchers by attempting to further isolate the mechanism by which choice procedures produce improved behavioral performance and attempted to further assess the generality of choice procedures by examining its effects on the behavior (e.g., maladaptive behavior, on-task behavior, academic performance) of a population (i.e., typically developing adolescent youth) not frequently targeted.

The purpose of this study was to utilize a multi-component intervention to increase confident water skills for three typically developing children, and to evaluate whether fearful behaviors decreased as the intervention progressed. The intervention, comprised of goal setting, self-monitoring, behavioral skills training and positive reinforcement, was used in community pools to teach basic water skills. Results suggest the intervention was successful in increasing confident water skills, while intervals with positive affect and fearful behaviors demonstrated variability.

Electrical conductivity (or resistivity) of cementitious materials is considered to be a fundamental property and is commonly measured using nondestructive and noninvasive testing techniques. Therefore, electrical measurements are gaining popularity in both research and field applications for structural health monitoring and material characterization of civil engineering infrastructure systems. Based on the results of measurements, the engineer can schedule maintenance more accurately and give an early warning of possible structural failure. Recently, health monitoring systems are capable of significantly increasing the cost efficiency of maintenance and repair by helping engineers improve the safety and maintainability of structures through early damage detection. The research team at the University of Texas at Austin developed a low-cost, passive, wireless conductivity sensor system. Sensors are wirelessly interrogated using external reader during inspection over the service life of the structure to monitor the conductivity variations within concrete. The focus of this work is to assess the condition of cementitious materials by measuring electrical conductivity using passive wireless sensors. By analyzing the measured conductivity data, the condition of the cementitious material, such as extent of hydration, setting and hardening times, and transport phenomena, can be assessed. This document also provides comprehensive information on the design, fabrication, interrogation, and response of conductivity sensor platforms. / text

Redovisning av leasing har diskuterats under många år. Den nuvarande standarden, IAS 17, har kritiserat på grund av att många företag har möjlighet att klassificera sina leasingavtal som operationella för att slippa redovisa leasingen som en tillgång eller skuld i balansräkningen. IASB och FASB jobbar gemensamt för att ändra standarden för leasingredovisning och de engagerar olika grupper av intressenter genom att de skickar in comment letters. Det första förslaget för ändringar av standarden var Exposure Draft 2010/9. Förslaget fick så många kommentarer att det resulterade i ett reviderat förslag som kom ut i maj 2013 och heter Exposure Draft 2013/6. Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka attityder från olika grupper (akademiker, upprättare, användare, redovisningsprofession, nationella reglerare och andra internationella intresseorganisationer) i Europa till det nya förslaget i Exposure Draft 2013/6 - Leasing, angående frågorna som handlar om leasingredovisning hos leasingtagare och klassifikation av leasing. Tycker de olika grupperna att det nya förslaget besvarar problemen, angående klassifikation och redovisning av leasing, som finns i den nuvarande internationella redovisningsstandarden (IAS 17) eller skapar det bara nya problem? Vi har också undersökt i vilken utsträckning dessa grupper deltar med kommentarer i comment letters. Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning där vi analyserade och tolkade kommentarer och attityder i comment letters till det nya förslaget. I den teoretiska referensramen tas upp hur forskningen bedrivs för att ta fram nya standarder, hur och i vilken grad de olika grupperna är involverade i detta genom deltagande i comment letters och den kritik som riktats mot det nya förslaget angående klassifikation och redovisning. Resultatet av studien baserades på 151 comment letters skickade till IASB/FASB. Analysen har gjorts genom att använda analysmodellen i avsnitt 3.9 och det empiriska resultatet har kopplats till den teoretiska referensramen. Resultatet visade att det inte finns några akademiker från Europa som deltagit i comment letters. Den grupp som har kommenterat comment letters i störst utsträckning har visat sig vara upprättare och detta går i linje med vad tidigare forskning visat. Majoriteten inom samtliga grupper håller inte med om det nya förslaget. Attityden mot förslaget är negativ både när det gäller redovisning hos leasingtagare och klassifikation. / Discussion on the accounting treatment of leases has been going on for many years. The current standard, IAS 17 has criticized because many companies are able to classify their leases as operational leasing agreements in order not to reflect assets and liabilities on the balance sheets. IASB and FASB working together to amend the standard for lease accounting and they involve various groups of stakeholders and individuals by submitting comment letters. The first proposal for the amendment of the standard was Exposure Draft 2010/9. The proposal received so many comments which resulted a revised proposal that came out in May 2013 and called Exposure Draft 2013/6. The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes of different groups (academics, preparers, users, the accounting profession, national regulators and other international organizations) in Europe to the new proposal of Exposure Draft 2013/6 -Leasing, regarding questions relating to lease accounting in lessee and classification. Do they think that the new proposal solve the problems concerning classification and financial statements of leasing, which is found in the current international accounting standard (IAS 17) or just create new problems. We have also investigated in which extend these groups participated with comments in the comment letters. The study is a qualitative survey where we analyzed and interpreted the comments and attitudes in the comment letters to the new proposal. In the theoretical frame addressed how research is conducted to develop new standards, how and to what extent the different groups involved in this by participating in the comment letters and the criticism leveled against the new proposal concerning classification and accounting. The results of the study are based on 151 comment letters sent to the IASB/FASB. The analysis has been made by using the analysis model in section 3.9 and the empirical results have been applied to the theoretical frame of reference. Analysis showed that there are no academics who participated in the comment letters. The group that has commented most on the comment letters have proved to be the pre-parers and this is in line with what previous research has shown. The majority of all groups do not agree with the new proposal. The attitude to the proposal is negative in terms of accounting in lessee and classification.

This dissertation is a micro-analysis of one particular type of communicative practice, the "mise-en-scène communication," which emerges as people talk and build scenery in their everyday work experiences in a theater consulting company in Taiwan. This dissertation engages in interaction analyses of participants' naturally occurring talk and face-to-face interaction in the set design meetings. Three findings are documented. First, mise-en-scène communication is multimodal. The participants use visual representations to communicate. These visual representational tools include architectural drawings, scale models, miniature props, and 3-D models and animations. The use of visual representations and communicative resources of language, gestural and postural conduct, the material surround, and physical objects enable the participants to visually communicate, envision, and construct scenes in and through talk and interaction. Second, mise-en-scène communication concerns three key organizing, work practices of creating an entirety of the theatrical space, including the scene-setting practice, the staging practice, and the measuring practice. This study finds that in these three major mise-en-scène practices identified, the theater artists express and formulate scenes and dramatic ideas in their talk. At the same time, they also frequently turn to bodily conduct as a source of insight into configuring, expressing, and formulating dramatic scenes. Third, the architectural drawings, the scale models, the props in miniature, and the computer simulations of theater space provide a material, perceptual field, which shapes embodied interaction systematically performed within it. The architectural drawings enable the participants to project the perceivable space through language and bodily behaviors. The miniature model and objects in a set create a full stage of symbolic communication in which scenes are arranged and dramas are spoken and created. Moreover, the theater artists manage to use language, gestures, and semiotic resources of the computer program, Maya, and its design interface to communicate and build 3-D scenes together. This research concludes that the plurality of channels exists in human communication. The micro-analysis of mise-en-scène communication reveals such a communicative process in which the participants draw on multiple modalities to visually construct theatrical meaning out of the set of visualization objects. / text

Limited time is an important constraint and resource that is fundamental to governing. This dissertation studies the connection between limited time and political power in three different contexts. / Government

The Taimyr Peninsula is a key element in the circum-Arctic region and represents thenorthern margin of the Siberian Craton. The Taimyr Peninsula is a late Paleozoic fold andthrust belt and preserves late Paleozoic through Mesozoic siliciclastic sedimentarysuccessions and providing an ideal location to investigate the Paleozoic to Mesozoictectonic evolution associated with the Uralian orogeny, the Siberian Trap magmatism andopening of Amerasia Basin within a circum-Arctic framework. Multiple methods areadopted, including petrography, heavy mineral analysis and detrital zircon U-Pbgeochronology for provenance investigation, apatite fission track dating for revealingthermal history and balanced cross section for understanding the deformation style ofTaimyr.The results of this thesis indicate that the Late Carboniferous to Permian sediments ofsouthern Taimyr were deposited in a pro-foreland basin of the Uralian orogen during theUralian orogeny. In the Triassic, the siliciclastic deposits still show a strong Uraliansignature but the initiation of Siberian Trap-related input begins to be significant. Erosionof the Uralian orogen has reached a deep metamorphic level. By Late Jurassic andCretaceous time, the deposition setting of southern Taimyr is an intracratonic basin.Erosion and input from Uralian sources waned while greater input from SiberianTrap-related rocks of the Taimyr region dominated. The Taimyr Peninsula underwent atleast three cooling and uplifting episodes: 280 Ma, 250 Ma and 220 Ma, corresponding tothe Uralian orogeny, the Siberian Traps and the late Triassic transpression. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: In press. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

This comparative research looks at intermedia agenda-setting effects between Internet bulletin boards and traditional news media, such as daily newspapers and broadcasting, in both the United States and Korea. By examining this intermedia relationship and the flow of influence by Internet bulletin boards on traditional media during presidential campaigns in the two countries, this dissertation study attempts to extend our knowledge of intermedia agenda-setting research. In addition, it also investigates, in reverse, the effects of daily newspapers and broadcasting on Internet bulletin boards. Finally, attention is given to different types of discussion cultures in the two countries. Results of this dissertation research indicated that there are intermedia relationships between Internet bulletin boards and traditional news media, such as newspapers and broadcasting, at the first and second levels of agenda setting using cross-lagged correlation comparisons. More specifically, at the first level of agenda setting in the United States, the results explained only the influence of newspapers on Netizen opinions posted on Internet bulletin boards. In summary, the results concerning issue agenda in the United States indicate that the U.S. Netizen concentrates more on the issue agenda of newspapers than of broadcasting. In the second level of agenda setting in the United States, cross-lagged correlation comparisons not only indicated the influence of both newspapers and broadcasting on opinions posted on Internet bulletin boards, but they also clarified it in this research. Formerly, there was no attempt to examine attributes of the intermedia agenda-setting functions of the U.S. media. This research now provides an explanation of the apparent relationship between traditional media and the Internet. At the first level of agenda setting in Korea, the result of the cross-lagged correlation suggested that Korean newspaper and broadcasting issue agenda influenced Netizen opinions on Internet bulletin boards. As the result of second-level agenda setting in Korea showed earlier, cross-lagged correlation comparisons presented intermedia agenda-setting functions between both newspapers and broadcasting, and Internet bulletin boards with each other. These findings contrast with results in the United States. / text

Child maltreatment in the pediatric population is becoming more prevalent in today’s society and is being seen more frequently in the primary care setting. Universal prevention of child maltreatment plays a significant role in nursing practice. The American Academy of Pediatrics set forth guidance for pediatricians to practice when assessing a pediatric patient for maltreatment; however, such guidance is not available for advanced practice nurses and little to no training is provided in the clinical setting. In order to accurately identify the child who is a suspected victim of maltreatment, advanced practice nurses must possess the ability to assess, evaluate, refer, investigate, and provide appropriate outcomes for the child and his/her families. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing (DNP) project was to create an on-line learning tutorial for advanced practice nurses regarding the prevention of child maltreatment in the clinical setting. The goal of the on-line learning tutorial was to address the crucial role advanced practice nurses have in the prevention of child maltreatment and promote the well-being and safety of children. This project used a quasi-experimental, one-group, pre-test/post-test design to determine the effectiveness of an on-line learning tutorial related to child maltreatment. The pre-test and post-test would determine the inferences on the effect of the intervention by examining the differences in the pre- and post-test results. This study provided significant evidence demonstrating that an on-line learning tutorial on the implementation of child maltreatment prevention in the clinical setting was an effective means for increasing knowledge of nurse practitioner graduate students on child maltreatment. The results demonstrated a significant increase in the test scores of the participants after viewing the on-line learning tutorial, indicating the tutorial was effective.

The music and texts of the Jewish liturgy are commonly called the Sacred Service. Choral settings of this liturgy form a distinct genre of choral music. Despite the rich history and influence of the text itself, relatively few composers have set it chorally. Among the two most influential settings are Avodath Hakodesh (1933) by Ernest Bloch and Darius Milhaud’s Service sacré (Sacred Service) of 1947. Temple Emanu-El Reformed Congregation in San Francisco commissioned both under the leadership of Cantor Reuben Rinder, and the two pieces have many similarities. The focus of the present research is on expressive text-setting in the Service sacré of Darius Milhaud. My research suggests that study of Milhaud’s personal beliefs and religious background can help explain some of the composer’s compositional decisions in Service sacré. Milhaud’s background includes deep roots in the Jewish tradition, but he also shows a keen appreciation for aspects of Christian theology. Prior to this study, Milhaud’s intent to expressively set the text has not been thoroughly considered. Particularly interesting are his settings of texts that deal with themes such as salvation and redemption, including movements such as Tsur Yisrael (Mvt. V), Praised be Thou, O Lord (Mvt. VI), and Returning the Scroll to the Ark (Mvt. XII). These topics of salvation and redemption are usually deemphasized in the Reformed Jewish perspective. Yet, in Milhaud’s work, these portions are highlighted through his compositional settings.