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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
131

Att förstärka sinnelag och sinnesstämning : En korpusstudie av förstärkande förled hos svenska adjektiv / Reinforcing mood adjectives : A corpus study of reinforcing prefixes in Swedish adjectives

Carlberg, Matilda January 2015 (has links)
Det saknas en beskrivning i den svenska grammatiken över hur adjektiv förstärks med hjälp av förled. Forskning visar att fenomenet med förstärkningar, även kallade intensifierare, uppmärksammats mer i andra språk. Syftet med denna undersökning var att beskriva och kartlägga användandet av förledsförstärkningar, samt se om det fanns några hittills oskrivna regler och mönster. Här gjordes en kvantitativ undersöking där frågeställningarna analyserades utifrån statistiska data insamlade ur två korpusar bestående av bloggtext. Adjektiv inom sinnelag, stabila egenskaper, och sinnesstäming, temporära egenskaper, samt parametrarna positiva och negativa adjektiv undersöktes. Adjektiven visade sig vara olika förstärkningsbenägna. Temporära adjektiv förstärktes hellre än stabila, negativa adjektiv hellre än positiva, kortare ord hellre än längre, och högfrekventa ord hellre än lågfrekventa. De mest grammatikaliserade förstärkningarna går att använda på större delen adjektiv och de mer lexikalt bundna på ett mindre antal adjektiv / There is no description in the Swedish grammar regarding how adjectives can be reinforced with prefixes, also known as intensifiers. Research shows that this phenomenon have recieved greater attention in other languages. The purpose of this study was to describe and map the use of prefix reinforcements, and see if any patterns or rules could be found. The quantitative research is based on statistical data collected from informal blog texts in two Swedish corpora. Adjectives on two types of mood, solid and temporary, as well as positive and negative, were investigated. The results showed that some types were more inclined to take reinforcements than others. Temporary adjectives took on more than solid ones, negative more than positive, as well as the short and frequent adjectives where more often reinforced than the longer and uncommon ones
132

Implementation of Superabsorbent Polymers for Internally Cured Concrete

Caitlin Jamie Adams (15300313) 17 April 2023 (has links)
<p>Hydrated portland cement provides the solid adhesive matrix necessary to bind aggregate (sand and gravel) into concrete. The hydration reaction requires water, however the products of the reaction limit further diffusion of water to unreacted cement. Superabsorbent polymer (SAP) hydrogel particles absorb mixing water, then subsequently desorb when the relative humidity drops, serving as internal water reservoirs within the cement matrix to shorten diffusion distances and promote the hydration reaction in a process called internal curing. Internally cured cementitious mixtures exhibit an increased degree of hydration and reduced shrinkage and cracking, which can increase concrete service life. Increased service life can, in turn, reduce overall demand for portland cement production, thereby lowering CO2 emissions.</p> <p>This dissertation addresses practical implementation questions key to the translation of SAP hydrogel internal curing technology to from the benchtop to the field in transportation applications, including: (1) What effects do mix design adjustments made to increase mixture flow when using SAP have on cementitious mixture properties? and (2) What effect do cementitious binder characteristics have on SAP performance?</p> <p>The addition of SAP to a cementitious mixture changes the mixture’s flow behavior. Flow behavior is an important aspect of concrete workability and sufficient flow is necessary to place well consolidated and molded samples. Often, additional water is added to mixtures using SAP to account for the absorbed water, however cementitious mixture workability is often tuned using high range water reducing admixtures (e.g., polycarboxylate ester-based dispersants). Fresh and hardened properties of mortars were characterized with respect to flow modification method (using the mortar flow table test; compressive strength at 3, 7, and 28 days; flexural strength at 7 and 28 days; and microstructural characterization of 28-day mortars). At typical doses, it was found that the addition of extra water lowers the resulting compressive and flexural strength, while high range water reducing admixtures administered at doses to achieve sufficient mortar flow did not compromise compressive or flexural strength.</p> <p>The SAPs used in cement are generally poly(acrylamide-acrylic acid) hydrogels and are not chemically inert in high ionic-load environments, such as cement mixtures. The behavior of an industrial SAP formulation with characterized across five different cement binder compositions with respect the cement hydration reaction (using isothermal calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis of hydration product fraction, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) microstructural analysis), the absorption behavior of the SAP, and the fresh and hardened properties of SAP-cement composites (mortar flow and compressive and flexural strength). The change in properties induced by the addition of SAP was similar across ASTM Type I cements from three manufacturing sources, suggesting that SAP internal curing can be implemented predictably over time and geography. Excitingly, in analysis of cement systems meeting different ASTM standards (Type III and Type I with 30% replacement by mass with ground blast furnace slag), synergistic and mitigating reaction behaviors were observed, respectively, in Type III and slag cement, suggesting that further study of SAP with these cement systems could be of particular interest.</p>
133

Faith and theology discussed within the ambit of being Zambian and Presbyterian

Daka, Reuben 30 June 2003 (has links)
The function of patterns of faith experience and theology in religion and society forms part of the whole complex system of God, life and world views which operate amongst Zambian Presbyterians Christians. The dissertation endeavors to make an assessment of the place of faith and theology within the ambit of a Black Zambian and Presbyterian God-life-world view. This home grown African God-life-world view of Zambian Reformed Presbyterian making, is similar in some respects and differs in others with European and Western God, life and world views of the Reformed and Presbyterian brand. In the first chapter the stage for this dissertation is set. I do not claim to be exhaustive or definitive in discussing the mixture of faith patterns and theories of faith (theologies) from different parts of the Reformed/Presbyterian world. What plays an important operational role in this analysis and synthesis are what can be called a God, life and world pattern or view which is more or less the same as a sense making system, an ideology or a belief system. Therefore quite a number of pages are allotted to this phenomenon in the first chapter. Furthermore a broad outline of the basic points of departure of a contextual-historical approach which operate with a radical, integral and differential view of God, human life, and the physical world is spelled out. The last part of the chapter is devoted to provisional comments on a view of the experience of everyday faith and a theory of faith. The latter is the designation for what is usually called theology. In here I have tackled the problem of theology and human experience of faith from the angle of the traditional double sided or dualistic view of faith as a extraordinary supernatural and ordinary natural support structure for a discipline like theology. Theology is not intrinsically involved in people's faith experience and thus is not a real reflection of their everyday faith experience. When one is however emphasising that a faith (belief) pattern includes belief towards God, belief of the self (self-confidence) and belief towards the many neighbours as well as belief towards the physical-organic environment then one is closer in the neighbourhood of a radical and integral black African faith pattern and what we call a theory of faith. In chapter two the Reformed/Presbyterian legacy is discussed and reflected upon in terms of nine features of a Reformed/Presbyterian sense making system, ethos or God, life and world view which emerged in Reformed history since the days of John Calvin (1509-1564). Reformed-Presbyterian theologies, theories of faith and philosophies are examined as well as the major impact of Calvin on the characteristic features of Reformed God, life and world views or sense making systems. Some of the main features of these Reformed/Presbyterian sense making systems repetitively recur in the majority of Reformed experiential settings, communities and churches. The nine features or characteristics of a Reformed-Presbyterian ethos are the following: the well known soft duality of special and general; the social attitude of accepting every phenomenon and immediately start to criticize it; the tendency of pilgrimage through life; the idea of the extra-calvinisticum; the dual idea of special and general determination, that is the doctrine of election and the doctrine of providence and its strong encapsulation by a very strong theology of covenantal duality; the idea that a Reformed community or church is always in the process of reformation (ecclesia reformanda semper reformata); the doctrine of the dispensation of the gifts of the Spirit; the idea of a presbyter system and the democratic legacy that flows from it; and the regulative principle of the Church or the Kingdom of God? In chapter three the black-African-Zambian-Reformed-Presbyterian heritage is discussed in terms of the nine features discussed in chapter two. The idea in this chapter is to acknowledge the fact that an interchange, exchange and mixed appropriation between Reformed/Presbyterian contextual settings has taken and is taking place and that a Reformed/Presbyterian ethos is already incorporated and accommodated within the African milieu and experience. Our task in this chapter is to deal with the African reflections on faith and theology looking for black African similarities with the nine main features that we have detected as determinative of a Reformed/Presbyterian ethos. The predicament of non-African (European Western, Eastern and others) and Bantu-speaking black African experience manifests their differences in the realness and concreteness of their God-life-world views. Generally speaking, one of the main differences in the experience of faith and theology in the European Western and Black African Southern hemisphere contexts amount to the difference between reflective thinking experience as typically European Western and action directed reflective experience as the main emphasis of Black African experience. This entails that we must identify the foremost traits of European Western Reformed-Presbyterian theology and compare and contrast these with Black African, specifically Zambian Reformed-Presbyterian experience. The comparison and contrasting of these two broad contexts, that is European Western Reformed and Zambian Reformed are caught up in the complexities of a to and fro networking of Reformed ideas, clues and cues all over the world. There is more than one view of faith and theology and more than one God-life-world view in both the European cum Western and African ways of life. The existence of various views of faith, theology and God, life and the world explains the co-existence of these views of faith and theology and God, life and world views amongst African Christians. Africans and African Christians are not only Bantuspeaking and black because even if we take our white African counterparts out of the equation about who and what an African is, the Moroccans, the Egyptians, Algerians, Felani Hausas, Wollofs and others would surely disclaim such a statement. In chapter four theology as a theory of faith is discussed as aware reflection of everyday experiences of faith and belief that is far more important than doctrinal ideas that hover abstractly in the minds of ministers, pastors and theologians and is thus not intrinsically part of people's day to day experiences of faith and belief. A few markers on the way to a theory of faith as a functional paradigm is discussed. In order to do this four things have been touched upon: Firstly themes are compared in the Christian theological and philosophical world from both Eurocentric as well as the Afrocentric worlds. Secondly, theology as theory of faith is discussed as a concrete enterprise of aware reflection in the midst of the experience of a faith community or a church. Thirdly, some issues are highlighted which are analysed and synthesised in an attempt to expand a Reformed ethos and agenda by using clues, cues and hues from both Eurocentric and Afrocentric experiences of faith, belief and trust as well as the written and oral theological and faith theoretical reflections of these experiences. Finally, an attempt is made to interweave theories of faith from both contextual worlds as a functional paradigm. The desire to know God, oneself and other human beings as well as the physical-organic environment in this life in tandem and coterminously has a great bearing as a black African contribution to the ongoing building of a holistic Reformed/Presbyterian ethos or sense making system. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)
134

The effect of the interventions of the South African Breweries' Kickstart Youth Entrepreneurship Programme on entrepreneurial and small business performance in South Africa

Swanepoel, Elana 31 March 2008 (has links)
The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the interventions used by the South African Breweries (SAB) KickStart Programme to establish and grow entrepreneurial small businesses among young South Africans. South Africa has an extremely high unemployment rate, low economic growth and a dismal Total (early-stage) Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA). With regard to established businesses (older than three-and-a-half years), the GEM report of 2005 ranked South Africa the lowest of all the countries surveyed. The SAB KickStart Programme comprises five phases: an awareness campaign, recruitment and training, a business plan competition for grants, success enhancement and national awards. The following interventions form part of the programme: the General Enterprising Tendency (GET) test; two-week live-in business management training; funding and mentoring; and a national competition for prize money. At every stage, adjudication is based on business plans and presentations. The evaluation of the effectiveness of an existing entrepreneurship programme, the SAB KickStart Programme, has several advantages, in so far as it determines whether the programme does indeed attain its objectives, and could help to improve the structuring of such programmes for future use by other corporations in South Africa. The population for the study comprised all the participants of the SAB KickStart Programme, from 2001 to 2006. A questionnaire was developed and a response rate of 28.5% was realised. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to the turnover and percentage profit figures of respondents to investigate the significance of the type of SAB KickStart support afforded. The results were confirmed by the Bonferroni multiple comparison of means test. The deduction is that funding and mentoring, after training, adds value to the programme. Eighty per cent of the SAB KickStarters were still operating their initial businesses, which they owned when they started on the programme, while a further six per cent had started another business, hence a "failure" rate of only 14 per cent. Many other meaningful findings emerged. In conclusion, it can be said that the SAB KickStart Programme adds value and advances entrepreneurship, and could possibly be applied by other large institutions in South Africa In conclusion, it can be said that the SAB KickStart programme adds value and advances entrepreneurship, and can be elevated to other large institutions in South Africa. / Business Management / D.Comm. (Business Management)
135

Os conceitos de medidas de tendência central e de dispersão na formação estatística no ensino médio no Brasil e na França.- Abordagem exploratória no quadro da teoria antropológica do didático e da teoria dos campos conceituais / Les concepts de mesures de tendance centrale et de dispersion dans la formation statistique en lycée au Brésil et en France.- Approche exploratoire dans le cadre de la théorie anthropologique du didactique et de la théorie de champs conceptuels / The concepts of central tendency measures and dispersion in Brazilian and French high schools' statistical training.- Exploratory approach within the frame of anthropological theory of didactics and conceptual fields theory.

Lira Veras Xavier de Andrade, Vladimir 13 November 2013 (has links)
La statistique est d’une grande importance pour l’éducation scientifique et citoyenne, et a été adoptée pour cette raison dans les programmes des collèges et lycées dans plusieurs pays, parmi lesquels le Brésil et la France. Les mesures de tendance centrale et les mesures de dispersion sont deux concepts fondamentaux de la statistique descriptive. À partir des problèmes identifiés dans différentes recherches sur l’apprentissage des mesures de tendance centrale et de dispersion dans l’enseignement secondaire et supérieur, nous formulons l’hypothèse qu’il existe une relation entre ces problèmes d’apprentissage et la façon dont ce savoir est transposé dans les manuels et les programmes. Nous considérons également que ces mesures doivent être enseignées en articulation avec la dispersion. Dans ce sens, cette étude se propose d’analyser la façon dont les mesures de tendance centrale et de dispersion sont présentées dans les programmes et dans certains manuels scolaires utilisés dans les lycées Brésiliens et Français. L’objet principal de cette recherche a donc été la réalisation d’une recherche bibliographique. Cette étude s’appuie sur un ensemble de recherches et de théories, et en particulier sur la théorie anthropologique de la didactique et la théorie des champs conceptuels. Les résultats produits incluent une proposition de systématisation de notre recherche de thèse, un chapitre sur le savoir scientifique relatif aux mesures de tendance centrale et de dispersion ainsi que l’analyse de la transposition didactique des programmes et des manuels scolaires qui comportent une discussion sur les caractéristiques de ces éléments au Brésil et en France. Les résultats indiquent des limitations parmi les programmes et les manuels scolaires sélectionnés, ce qui peut indiquer que les problèmes mis en évidence dans les recherches étudiées sont en partie liés à la façon dont cette connaissance est transposée dans les programmes et les manuels scolaires. / The statistic has a great importance in the scientific and civic education, and was adopted for this reason in the programs of middle and high schools in several countries, among which Brazil and France. Central tendency measures and dispersion measures are two fundamental concepts for descriptive statistic. From the problems identified in various researches about learning central tendencies and dispersion in secondary and higher education, we hypothesize that there is a relation between these learning problems and the way this knowledge is transposed in handbooks and school programs. We also consider that these measures must be taught articulated with dispersion. In that sense, this study offers to analyze how central tendency and dispersion measures are presented in some programs and handbooks used in Brazilian and French high schools. The main objet of this research was the realization of a bibliographical research. This study is built on various theories and researches and in particular the anthropological theory of didactics and the theory of conceptual fields. The results produced include the proper proposition of systematization of the thesis research, a chapter about the scientific knowledge related to central tendency measures and dispersion measures as well as the analysis of didactic transposition of the programs and scholar handbooks that include a discussion about the characteristics of these elements in France and Brazil. The results show limitations among the selected handbooks and programs, which points out the problems highlighted in the studies are partly linked to how this knowledge is transposed in programs and handbooks. / A Estatística é importante para a educação científica e cidadã e por esta razão ela é adotada nos programas do ensino fundamental e médio de vários países, entre eles, o Brasil e a França. Dois conceitos fundamentais da estatística descritiva são as medidas de tendência central e dispersão. Partindo de problemas identificados em diversas pesquisas sobre a aprendizagem dessas medidas na educação básica e em cursos de graduação, propomos como hipótese que existe uma relação entre esses problemas e a forma como esse saber é transposto para o livro didático e os programas. Consideramos também que essas medidas devem ser ensinadas de forma articuladas com a dispersão. Nesse sentido, este estudo tem por objetivo a análise da forma como as medidas de tendência central e dispersão são apresentadas nos programas e em alguns livros didáticos utilizados no Brasil e na França no ensino médio. Para esta investigação, realizamos uma pesquisa bibliográfica. Apoiamos este estudo em diversos teóricos e pesquisas. Destacando em especial a teoria antropológica do didático e a teoria dos campos conceituais. Entre os resultados produzidos, temos a própria proposta de sistematização da pesquisa pela tese, um capítulo sobre o saber científico relativo às medidas de tendência central e dispersão e a análise da transposição didática dos programas e dos livros que envolvem uma discussão sobre as características destes elementos no Brasil e na França. Os resultados indicam limitações entre os programas e livros selecionados, o que pode indicar que em parte os problemas indicados, nas pesquisas levantadas, estão relacionados à forma como esse conhecimento é transposto nos programas e livros didáticos.
136

Medéia - Análise de um caso a luz da teoria do amadurecimento humano de winnicott / Medea: analysis of a case in the light of Winnicott`s Theory of Human Maturation

Procópio, Denise 11 October 2006 (has links)
Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:39:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PCL - Denise Procopio.pdf: 645504 bytes, checksum: b475715ddd6d1dffee1043b018b70346 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-10-11 / Woman who took revenge of the husband by killing her own children. The feature of the character envisaged here is the overmuch dependence that this woman cherishes towards man. In the second place, the analysis of a clinical case of a 40- years old woman who called herself a Medea of life when she looked for therapy. Finally, Winnicott`s Theory of Human Maturation as a theoretic approach useful to understand the case in question. As a result, the articulation of these points points out to the importance of winnicottian clinic as an alternative care to patients with flaws in primitive development, i.e., in preedipic stage, when is at stake the continuity of the being, not sexuality / O presente trabalho parte de três pontos principais. Em primeiro lugar, o mito de Medéia a mulher que mata os filhos para se vingar do marido. O aspecto enfocado na figura da personagem é a excessiva dependência que essa mulher nutre em relação ao homem. Em segundo, a análise de uma mulher de 40 anos que se autodenominou "uma Medéia da vida" ao procurar terapia, utilizando para isso o método clínico. E, finalmente, a Teoria do Amadurecimento Humano de D. W. Winnicott como abordagem teórica para compreender o caso em questão. O resultado da articulação desses pontos aponta para a importância da clínica winnicottiana como uma alternativa para cuidados com pacientes com falhas no desenvolvimento primitivo, ou seja, na fase pré-edípica, quando o que está em jogo é a continuidade do ser e não a sexualidade
137

Užití autobiografických motivů v dílech Edgara Dutky, Elišky Vlasákové a Antonína Bajaji / Use of Autobiographical Motifs in Works of Edgar Dutka, Eliška Vlasáková and Antonín Bajaja

Pokorná, Jitka January 2012 (has links)
The work confronts prosaic pieces with noticeable autobiographical features. It deals namely with works of Edgar Dutka, Eliška Vlasáková and Antonín Bajaja. It was not a coincidence to choose right these three Czech authors. They have quite a few features in common. They all belong to the same generation. They are born in the 40's of the 20th century, so they have spent an essential part of their lives (childhood, adolescence and substantial part of their working age) in the second half of the 20th century - in the time of political convulsions and social changes. A childhood spent during this period has become their common literary theme. They all make their memories a literary piece. Each of them does it in a different way and with a different amount of accuracy. Their inspiration comes from their real life, from their memories. The next common feature of these three authors is that they all wrote some of their texts without a vision to make them public. They wrote them for themselves. Book editions were carried out after the year 2000. Last but not least mutual fact is that all of these three authors have been nominated for a prestigious literary price. Edgar Dutka's works show the interdigitation of fictional worlds and also the diffusion of these worlds in the real life of the author. Eliška...
138

以成本-利益觀點探討極大化程度對消費者產品資訊搜尋行為之影響 / The Effects of Maximization Tendency on Consumers’ Product Information Seeking Behavior: From the Prospective of Cost-Benefit

李文玄, Lee, Wen Hsuan Unknown Date (has links)
本論文之研究目的在以成本與利益觀點,驗證產品資訊搜尋過程,消費者於對搜尋時間成本與產品資訊信心程度之主觀估計,在極大化程度對消費者產品資訊搜尋行為影響所扮演的中介變數角色,藉此瞭解產品資訊搜尋階段,極大化程度對消費者資訊搜尋行為與態度之影響機制。 極大化程度為一種個人追求最佳選擇程度之人格特質傾向。過去極大化程度在消費者行為領域之相關研究,多聚焦於探討不同極大化程度消費者之選項數量偏好、時間成本投入意願與決策後情感反應之差異,甚少有消費者資訊搜尋過程相關議題之討論。本研究認為,產品資訊搜尋實為消費者整體選擇與決策歷程最重要之階段,經常影響消費決策之最終品質,因此若要真正瞭解極大化程度對消費者選擇行為與態度差異之影響,除從極大化人格特質基本定義做為影響之解釋外,亦須藉由探討極大化程度在產品資訊搜尋過程,對消費者資訊成本與利益認知之影響中,連結出整段消費者選擇行為歷程之影響機制關係。 本論文以Ratchford (1982) 所提之「資訊搜尋之成本-利益模式 (The Cost-Benefit Model for Information Seeking)」為理論基礎,並將研究分為兩部份,研究一為探討不同極大化程度消費者在產品挑選機制與產品屬性要求標準上的差異,透過受測者對四項產品之屬性重要度評估、對特定屬性規格之期望標準,得知不同極大化程度受測者在產品屬性重視的程度、視為重要的屬性數量,以及產品屬性要求標準上之差異。研究二則採取2 (資訊延遲時間高、低)×2 (產品屬性離散程度高、低) 組間設計實驗,透過本研究設計之虛擬產品購物網站平台,讓受測者執行產品資訊搜尋任務,從中衡量受測者對產品資訊搜尋時間成本與資訊信心之主觀估計,驗證單位搜尋時間估計與單位資訊效用估計在極大化程度對受測者產品資訊搜尋數量、搜尋過程滿意度與產品知覺價值中,扮演之中介變數角色,以瞭解箇中之內在心理機制。 研究結果顯示,極大化程度與產品屬性重視程度及屬性要求標準呈現顯著正向關係,極大化受測者對產品屬性的重視程度與對產品屬性的要求標準皆較滿足化者高。足見不同極大化程度消費者對選擇之追求目標差異,會具體展現於產品遴選機制與屬性要求標準上。而經過中介變數關係檢定後也發現,極大化程度越高之受測者所估計之搜尋時間與對資訊在決策幫助上的信心越低,因而正向影響了搜尋的產品數量,搜尋時間成本與資訊效用估計亦分別成為受測者對搜尋過程滿意度以及對產品知覺價值之中介變數。 本論文之研究成果除驗證極大化選擇目標與產品遴選機制及屬性要求標準之關聯性外,亦進一步得知極大化程度影響消費者產品資訊搜尋行為與態度之內在心理機制,成功將系統性之消費者資訊搜尋經濟模式與極大化概念結合,為極大化程度研究領域帶來更深入且具理論基礎之發現。研究成果亦可作為通路或產品廠商思索產品陳列與資訊呈現方式時之參考依據,以降低顧客之主觀成本花費、提升產品資訊帶給顧客決策上的利益,提高顧客對個人整體消費過程之滿意度與所選產品之知覺價值。 / The purpose of this research is to demonstrate whether consumers’ subjective estimations of search time and product information confidence are the mediators mediating the effects of maximization tendency on consumers’ product information seeking behavior and attitude. From the perspective of information cost-benefit, the psychological mechanism will be found from this effect of personality on consumer behavior in this research. Maximization tendency was conceptualized in recent ten years to describe individual’s personality that strives for pursuing the best choice. After this concept was developed, most of the researches in this domain focused on discussing in the relationships between maximization orientation and consumers’ choice preferences such as the differences in the amount of alternatives, the aspiration to invest search time, and affective response after making decision. However seldom of them paid their attentions to the stage of product information search to probe the mechanism for the effect of maximization tendency on consumers’ searching behaviors about product information. Since the information seeking is the most important process to influence consumers’ decisions, the current study aims to explore the effects of maximization tendency on the individuals’ subjective estimations of time cost and benefit of product information. Hereby, the whole picture of the causal relationship in consumers’ information searching process would be drawn in this study. Referring to the rationales of Ratchford’s cost-benefit model, this research conducts two studies: the first part is to assess the differences in the criteria and attribute standard of consumers’ product selection with differential maximization tendencies. The second part is to conduct a 2 (the delay length of information appearance: low and high)×2 (the the dispersion of information attributes: low and high) between subject design experiments to demonstrate the mediating effect of two variables: consumers’ subjective estimation of time cost and information confidence during searching for information in the relations between maximization tendency and consumers’ information seeking behavior. The result shows the relationship between participants’ maximization orientation and their selection criteria as well as attribute demand standard exists. In general, maximizers have more complex choice criteria and higher picking standards than satisficers do when they choose the same products. The psychological mechanism is confirmed to help us understand how maximization tendency affect seeking behaviors and attitudes of product information from consumer’s product information seeking behavior and attitude. Manufacturers and store owners are suggested to apply these findings in the arrangement of alternatives and the display of product attribute information in order to reduce customers’ subjective estimation of time cost and improve their perception on information utility to, eventually, increase their satisfaction with the whole consumption experiences.
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The effect of the interventions of the South African Breweries' Kickstart Youth Entrepreneurship Programme on entrepreneurial and small business performance in South Africa

Swanepoel, Elana 31 March 2008 (has links)
The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the interventions used by the South African Breweries (SAB) KickStart Programme to establish and grow entrepreneurial small businesses among young South Africans. South Africa has an extremely high unemployment rate, low economic growth and a dismal Total (early-stage) Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA). With regard to established businesses (older than three-and-a-half years), the GEM report of 2005 ranked South Africa the lowest of all the countries surveyed. The SAB KickStart Programme comprises five phases: an awareness campaign, recruitment and training, a business plan competition for grants, success enhancement and national awards. The following interventions form part of the programme: the General Enterprising Tendency (GET) test; two-week live-in business management training; funding and mentoring; and a national competition for prize money. At every stage, adjudication is based on business plans and presentations. The evaluation of the effectiveness of an existing entrepreneurship programme, the SAB KickStart Programme, has several advantages, in so far as it determines whether the programme does indeed attain its objectives, and could help to improve the structuring of such programmes for future use by other corporations in South Africa. The population for the study comprised all the participants of the SAB KickStart Programme, from 2001 to 2006. A questionnaire was developed and a response rate of 28.5% was realised. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to the turnover and percentage profit figures of respondents to investigate the significance of the type of SAB KickStart support afforded. The results were confirmed by the Bonferroni multiple comparison of means test. The deduction is that funding and mentoring, after training, adds value to the programme. Eighty per cent of the SAB KickStarters were still operating their initial businesses, which they owned when they started on the programme, while a further six per cent had started another business, hence a "failure" rate of only 14 per cent. Many other meaningful findings emerged. In conclusion, it can be said that the SAB KickStart Programme adds value and advances entrepreneurship, and could possibly be applied by other large institutions in South Africa In conclusion, it can be said that the SAB KickStart programme adds value and advances entrepreneurship, and can be elevated to other large institutions in South Africa. / Business Management / D.Comm. (Business Management)
140

Faith and theology discussed within the ambit of being Zambian and Presbyterian

Daka, Reuben 30 June 2003 (has links)
The function of patterns of faith experience and theology in religion and society forms part of the whole complex system of God, life and world views which operate amongst Zambian Presbyterians Christians. The dissertation endeavors to make an assessment of the place of faith and theology within the ambit of a Black Zambian and Presbyterian God-life-world view. This home grown African God-life-world view of Zambian Reformed Presbyterian making, is similar in some respects and differs in others with European and Western God, life and world views of the Reformed and Presbyterian brand. In the first chapter the stage for this dissertation is set. I do not claim to be exhaustive or definitive in discussing the mixture of faith patterns and theories of faith (theologies) from different parts of the Reformed/Presbyterian world. What plays an important operational role in this analysis and synthesis are what can be called a God, life and world pattern or view which is more or less the same as a sense making system, an ideology or a belief system. Therefore quite a number of pages are allotted to this phenomenon in the first chapter. Furthermore a broad outline of the basic points of departure of a contextual-historical approach which operate with a radical, integral and differential view of God, human life, and the physical world is spelled out. The last part of the chapter is devoted to provisional comments on a view of the experience of everyday faith and a theory of faith. The latter is the designation for what is usually called theology. In here I have tackled the problem of theology and human experience of faith from the angle of the traditional double sided or dualistic view of faith as a extraordinary supernatural and ordinary natural support structure for a discipline like theology. Theology is not intrinsically involved in people's faith experience and thus is not a real reflection of their everyday faith experience. When one is however emphasising that a faith (belief) pattern includes belief towards God, belief of the self (self-confidence) and belief towards the many neighbours as well as belief towards the physical-organic environment then one is closer in the neighbourhood of a radical and integral black African faith pattern and what we call a theory of faith. In chapter two the Reformed/Presbyterian legacy is discussed and reflected upon in terms of nine features of a Reformed/Presbyterian sense making system, ethos or God, life and world view which emerged in Reformed history since the days of John Calvin (1509-1564). Reformed-Presbyterian theologies, theories of faith and philosophies are examined as well as the major impact of Calvin on the characteristic features of Reformed God, life and world views or sense making systems. Some of the main features of these Reformed/Presbyterian sense making systems repetitively recur in the majority of Reformed experiential settings, communities and churches. The nine features or characteristics of a Reformed-Presbyterian ethos are the following: the well known soft duality of special and general; the social attitude of accepting every phenomenon and immediately start to criticize it; the tendency of pilgrimage through life; the idea of the extra-calvinisticum; the dual idea of special and general determination, that is the doctrine of election and the doctrine of providence and its strong encapsulation by a very strong theology of covenantal duality; the idea that a Reformed community or church is always in the process of reformation (ecclesia reformanda semper reformata); the doctrine of the dispensation of the gifts of the Spirit; the idea of a presbyter system and the democratic legacy that flows from it; and the regulative principle of the Church or the Kingdom of God? In chapter three the black-African-Zambian-Reformed-Presbyterian heritage is discussed in terms of the nine features discussed in chapter two. The idea in this chapter is to acknowledge the fact that an interchange, exchange and mixed appropriation between Reformed/Presbyterian contextual settings has taken and is taking place and that a Reformed/Presbyterian ethos is already incorporated and accommodated within the African milieu and experience. Our task in this chapter is to deal with the African reflections on faith and theology looking for black African similarities with the nine main features that we have detected as determinative of a Reformed/Presbyterian ethos. The predicament of non-African (European Western, Eastern and others) and Bantu-speaking black African experience manifests their differences in the realness and concreteness of their God-life-world views. Generally speaking, one of the main differences in the experience of faith and theology in the European Western and Black African Southern hemisphere contexts amount to the difference between reflective thinking experience as typically European Western and action directed reflective experience as the main emphasis of Black African experience. This entails that we must identify the foremost traits of European Western Reformed-Presbyterian theology and compare and contrast these with Black African, specifically Zambian Reformed-Presbyterian experience. The comparison and contrasting of these two broad contexts, that is European Western Reformed and Zambian Reformed are caught up in the complexities of a to and fro networking of Reformed ideas, clues and cues all over the world. There is more than one view of faith and theology and more than one God-life-world view in both the European cum Western and African ways of life. The existence of various views of faith, theology and God, life and the world explains the co-existence of these views of faith and theology and God, life and world views amongst African Christians. Africans and African Christians are not only Bantuspeaking and black because even if we take our white African counterparts out of the equation about who and what an African is, the Moroccans, the Egyptians, Algerians, Felani Hausas, Wollofs and others would surely disclaim such a statement. In chapter four theology as a theory of faith is discussed as aware reflection of everyday experiences of faith and belief that is far more important than doctrinal ideas that hover abstractly in the minds of ministers, pastors and theologians and is thus not intrinsically part of people's day to day experiences of faith and belief. A few markers on the way to a theory of faith as a functional paradigm is discussed. In order to do this four things have been touched upon: Firstly themes are compared in the Christian theological and philosophical world from both Eurocentric as well as the Afrocentric worlds. Secondly, theology as theory of faith is discussed as a concrete enterprise of aware reflection in the midst of the experience of a faith community or a church. Thirdly, some issues are highlighted which are analysed and synthesised in an attempt to expand a Reformed ethos and agenda by using clues, cues and hues from both Eurocentric and Afrocentric experiences of faith, belief and trust as well as the written and oral theological and faith theoretical reflections of these experiences. Finally, an attempt is made to interweave theories of faith from both contextual worlds as a functional paradigm. The desire to know God, oneself and other human beings as well as the physical-organic environment in this life in tandem and coterminously has a great bearing as a black African contribution to the ongoing building of a holistic Reformed/Presbyterian ethos or sense making system. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

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