An instructor's personality may influence his or her teaching strategies and instructional style. Correspondingly, a student with a particular learning style may respond more readily to one teacher personality type as opposed to another. This quantitative research, guided by theories of personality and learning, examined the relationship between instructor level of extraversion and student visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learning modalities in a community college setting. A cross-sectional correlation design was implemented. Three hundred and two students from a community college in the southwestern United States were asked to select an instructor (past or present) they thought taught effectively and complete an observer-rated extraversion scale from the Big Five Inventory on the selected instructor. The students also self-reported their learning style using the Barsch Learning Style Inventory along with a demographic questionnaire. Upon establishing the dominant learning style of each student, a one-way ANOVA was conducted to analyze instructor's extraversion level with student's dominant style of learning. Pearson correlations were examined to determine relationships between instructor extraversion and auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning style scores. While findings did not indicate a positive correlation between instructors' degree of extraversion and students' visual learning style scores, it did show that visual learners rated effective instructors higher on the trait of extraversion than did auditory or kinesthetic learners. In addition, further analyses indicated that auditory and kinesthetic learning style scores negatively correlated to an instructor's level of extraversion. This study's results emphasize the importance of considering both instructors' personality traits and students' learning styles in fostering an advantageous learning environment.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of communication variables and parent marital variables with the fulfillment of marital expectations among newlyweds. Little research has been done on newlywed expectations and communication. This is an exploratory study conducted to determine how newlyweds' exposure to parents' marital interactions and communication styles correlated with newlyweds' fulfillment of marital expectations. Fifty newlywed couples (married 3-6 months) filled out the Marital Comparison Level Index (MCLI) questionnaire about their level of fulfillment of expectations. Couples were then videotaped talking to one another about the strengths of their marriage followed by a discussion of the potential weaknesses of their relationship. Those videotapes were then coded using the Marital Interaction Coding System--Global. The results indicate that parental marital variables had no significant association with newlywed children's level of fulfillment of expectations. The that was correlated with fulfillment of expectations was the wife's "withdrawal" behavior during the conversation about dissimilarities and weaknesses. The lack of relation with the other variables may have been masked by high levels of satisfaction in the first year of marriage and the homogeneous sample (age and religion).

The main purpose of this research is to identify the value systems and decision-making styles of Iranian managers. The relationships between their value systems and decision styles, and between their value systems and certain demographic variables (such as level of education, social group, etc.) and organizational variables (such as company size, kind of ownership, etc.) are also investigated. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied in this study and the following analyses are undertaken:a one-way univariate and multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA and MANOVA) are used to test the hypotheses developed in Chapter 1.Mean differences are examined, using multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), when significant results are obtained.Pearson Partial Correlation analysis is performed to elucidate the relationships between the managerial value systems and their status of individualism/collectivism.Case study analysis is conducted for an in-depth investigation into the data.In the quantitative portion of the study, a sample of 768 managers in various organizations was surveyed. Statistical analysis of the survey data classified managerial value systems into tribalistic, egocentric, conformist, manipulative, sociocentric, and existential. This classification was conducted in accordance with the framework developed by Flowers et al. (1975). Furthermore, following Ali's questionnaire (1993), managerial decision-making styles were classified into autocratic, pseudo-consultative, consultative, participative, pseudo-participative, and delegative.The findings indicate that an average Iranian manager represents a mix of all six value systems in roughly equal proportions. The data suggests that a conformist orientation is the dominant value system of Iranian managers followed by sociocentric values, with egocentric values the least dominant. As for the decision styles, ++ / more than one half of Iranian managers (55%) practice consultative means of decision-making, followed by 21 % who are proponents of participative style, and 15% who are pseudo-participative. Delegative, autocratic and pseudo-consultative decision styles are the least preferred in Iran. The relationship between value systems and decision-making styles revealed that highly collectivist managers are more participative while highly individualistic managers are more autocratic in their decision-making style. The results also suggest that the higher their level within the hierarchy, the more likely managers are to be delegative and autocratic, and the less likely they are to be participative and consultative than their colleagues in the lower levels of managerial hierarchy.A comparative cross-cultural analysis of the managerial value systems and decision-making styles of Iranian managers with their counterparts in other Middle Eastern countries was also undertaken. The results indicate that overall the dominant value systems of managers from the Middle East are conformist, sociocentric and existential, with egocentric and manipulative being the least prevalent. Furthermore, their dominant decision-making style is consultative, with autocratic and delegative styles being the least prevalent. Compared with the other Middle Eastern managers, Iranian managers are more conformist and tribalistic and less sociocentric and existential. Furthermore, Iranian managers are more consultative, more delegative, more participative, and significantly less pseudo-consultative, compared with managers from other Middle Eastern countries.The qualitative portion of this study comprises two extensive case studies of exemplary Iranian organizations, i.e., Tehran Municipality and Watt Meter Company of Iran. The main objective of these case studies is to provide in-depth data as a supplement to ++ / the broad based analysis of the questionnaire survey. They also give a different perspective, resulting from a multidisciplinary integrative inquiry. The required data for writing the cases was collected through the companies' records, field observations, and one-to-one and focus group interviews with various levels of their management team, as well as their employees and customers. Both primary and secondary data were then used in writing the case studies. Qualitative analysis of the case studies suggests that advanced management practices like decentralization, delegation of authority, out-sourcing, detailed planning, total quality management, effective human resource management and strategic management, which are more widely used in the industrialized countries, could be used with effectiveness in Iran despite its cultural differences. This finding supports Ralston et al. (1993) and both "convergence" and "divergence" views toward management practices and suggests that advanced management practices and continuous attention to human resource management may, as the case of the Watt Meter Company implies, create an effective corporate culture that fosters change.The leader's role is a very important variable in the issue of the cross-cultural transmission of management practices - especially in collectivistic societies like Iran and the rest of the Middle Eastern countries. In these societies, individuals and organizations identify strongly with their leaders. This is mainly due to their historical, socio-cultural and Islamic traditions and values. The case studies suggest that in traditional, hierarchical, and collectivistic societies like Iran, to be effective, organizational change should start from the very top. The vital common variables for success are visionary leadership with clear direction, effective human resource management, and empowerment of the ++ / workforce. All these seem to be essential for building the required corporate culture that fosters change.As the first study to measure the value systems and decision-making styles of Iranian managers, it contributes to the management literature in Iran and the Middle East. It builds upon:Flowers' et al (1975) contentions regarding the construct of managerial value systems;Hofstede's (1980) theory of national culture, which attempts to identify the cultural characteristics of members of various countries;Ronen and Shankar's (1985) principles for grouping countries based on their religion, language, and geography; andThe convergence versus divergence controversy regarding the cross-cultural transmission of management practices.This research is among the very few studies which investigates the characteristics of Iranian managers, i.e., their value systems and decision styles. It is widely believed that the business philosophy of any country depends, to a large degree, upon the values held by those in management. The present study is, thus, a detailed introduction to contemporary Iran and the way it is managed.

In this thesis I argue that negative attributions mediate between attachment insecurity and relationship outcomes. Using a sample of 59 couples the well-documented association between attachment insecurity and relationship satisfaction was replicated. I then tested whether this association was mediated by attributions for hypothetical behaviour for a real partner and a hypothetical potential partner. Attributions for real partner behaviour did mediate between insecure attachment and relationship satisfaction, but not attributions for a potential partner. It was further hypothesised that an association would exist between couple communication and attachment insecurity, which would be mediated by negative attributions. Couples completed two ten-minute problem-solving discussions and participated in a video-mediated recall process, providing a measure of attributions for real events with their current partner. Results supported the hypotheses for self-reported, but not observed, communication. It was concluded that the association between attachment and attributions does not represent a consistent cognitive processing bias, but rather a relationship-specific phenomena. Future research directions were proposed to investigate mediation from a long-term perspective and the therapeutic implications of these findings were discussed.

This thesis investigates the impact of transportation — the phenomenon of “being miles away” while receiving a narrative — on audience response. The poetics of narrative reception within the Homeric epics are described and the correspondences with the psychological concept of transportation are used to suggest the appropriateness and utility of this theory to understanding audience responses in and to the Iliad and Odyssey. The ways in which transportation complements and extends some concepts of narrative reception familiar to Homeric studies (the Epic Illusion, Vividness, and Enchantment) are considered, as are the ways in which the psychological theories might be adjusted to accommodate Homeric epic. A major claim is drawn from these theories that transportation fundamentally affects the audience’s interpretation of and responses to the narrative; this claim is tested both theoretically and empirically in terms of ambiguous characterization of Odysseus and the Kyklōps Polyphēmos in the ninth book of the Odyssey. Last, some consideration is given to the ways in which the theory (and its underlying empirical research) might be extended.

This thesis represents the first full-scale, English commentary on the opening book of Lucan�s epic poem, De Bello Ciuili, in sixty-five years. Its fundamental purpose is to explain the language and content of the Latin text of the book. The subject matter of the thesis beyond the introduction is naturally dependent upon the content of each individual line under consideration, but the following questions may help establish some of the larger issues I have prioritised throughout my response to the Latin text of book one. These questions may be variously relevant to an episode within book one of De Bello Ciuili, or else a sentence, a line, a word, a metrical issue, or a combination of these. How does it help locate the text within the genre of epic? What does it contribute to the overall meaning of the poem? What does it contribute to our understanding of epic narrative technique? What does it contribute to our understanding of Lucan�s poetic usage and technique? How does it interact with the rest of the poem (i.e. what are the structural or intratextual markers advertised and what do they contribute to the meaning of the passage under consideration or the structure of the book or poem as a whole)? How does it interact with its (especially epic) models (i.e. what intertextual markers are at work and how does the invocation of earlier models affect the meaning of the passage under consideration)? How does it behave in relation to what we know of the norms espoused by Classical literary criticism? What are the programmatic issues, themes, and images explored or established by book one?

This thesis examines the play of children in three Melbourne primary school playgrounds, in diverse socio-economic areas. Play categories were developed and data was collected using qualitative methods. The influence of school policy, teacher supervision styles, playspace design and provision of play equipment was explored and compared for each school. The voices of principals, teachers and children, in conjunction with playground observations and questionnaire response were compiled in order to develop a clear picture of each school playground. Findings showed that children in each school participated in a full range of play categories and were prepared to break school rules in order to do so.

<p>In order to facilitate comprehensibility and translation, the language used in software user documentation must be standardized. If the terminology and language rules are standardized and consistent, the time and cost of translation will be reduced. For this reason, controlled languages have been developed. Controlled languages are subsets of other languages, purposely limited by restricting the terminology and grammar that is allowed.</p><p>The purpose and goal of this thesis is to investigate how using a controlled language can improve comprehensibility and translatability of software user documentation written in English. In order to reach our goal, we have performed a case study at IFS AB. We specify a number of research questions that help satisfy some of the goals of IFS and, when generalized, fulfill the goal of this thesis.</p><p>A major result of our case study is a list of sixteen controlled language rules. Some examples of these rules are control of the maximum allowed number of words in a sentence, and control of when the author is allowed to use past participles. We have based our controlled language rules on existing controlled languages, style guides, research reports, and the opinions of technical writers at IFS.</p><p>When we applied these rules to different user documentation texts at IFS, we managed to increase the readability score for each of the texts. Also, during an assessment test of readability and translatability, the rewritten versions were chosen in 85 % of the cases by experienced technical writers at IFS.</p><p>Another result of our case study is a prototype application that shows that it is possible to develop and use a software checker for helping the authors when writing documentation according to our suggested controlled language rules.</p>

<p>It is important to detect faults in bus details at an early stage. Because the driving style affects the breakdown of different details in the bus, identification of the driving style is important to minimize the number of failures in buses.</p><p>The identification of the driving style of the driver was based on the input data which contained examples of the driving runs of each class. K-nearest neighbor and neural networks algorithms were used. Different models were tested.</p><p>It was shown that the results depend on the selected driving runs. A hypothesis was suggested that the examples from different driving runs have different parameters which affect the results of the classification.</p><p>The best results were achieved by using a subset of variables chosen with help of the forward feature selection procedure. The percent of correct classifications is about 89-90 % for the k-nearest neighbor algorithm and 88-93 % for the neural networks.</p><p>Feature selection allowed a significant improvement in the results of the k-nearest neighbor algorithm and in the results of the neural networks algorithm received for the case when the training and testing data sets were selected from the different driving runs. On the other hand, feature selection did not affect the results received with the neural networks for the case when the training and testing data sets were selected from the same driving runs.</p><p>Another way to improve the results is to use smoothing. Computing the average class among a number of consequent examples allowed achieving a decrease in the error.</p>

<p>In times of rapid growth, both in terms of economic development and globalization, an increasing number of firms extend their businesses abroad. A subsequent challenge of this development is the managerial implications of cross-cultural management. This study employs a qualitative approach in a single case study of Swedish company and its subsidiary in China. After reviewing the previous studies, the authors summarize the differences of management style, staff behaviors and communication system in different culture context and find the barriers of cross cultural communication in multinational firms. The findings of this study indicate that the barriers of communication come from the national culture’s influence on the work place and behaviors of people with different identity. Moreover, culture also influences people’s way of thinking and behaving and result in different understandings toward vision and purposes of firms.</p>