The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of the Adaptive Tasks Framework for assessing parental needs when providing primary care for their child with a chronic health condition. A qualitative descriptive methodology framed the study and two methods were employed to collect data: a secondary analysis of existing interview data from seven parents of children with chronic health conditions and interviews with four parents who were currently providing primary care for their child with a chronic health condition. The data was analyzed using content analysis, whereby interview data was explored to determine if it fit into one or more of the eight adaptive tasks categories. Parents reported needs in all of the eight adaptive tasks categories, with the need for information regarding their child's chronic health condition being the foremost concern among parents. The need for caring, empathetic, and patient health care professionals who are sympathetic to the informational needs of parents, while at the same time acknowledging their expertise, was the second need expressed by the parents in this study. Implications of these findings for nurses is that the Adaptive Tasks Framework provides a useful tool for assessing parental needs when managing their child's chronic health condition and for determining areas in which the parents may require support.

ABSTRACT PREPARATION OF THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL FOR THE ROLE OF THE PRINCIPAL: AN EXAMINATION OF REAL TASKS AS COMPARED TO THE PERCEIVED IDEAL TASKS by April Chastang Madden Principals most commonly ascend from the pool of those who are assistant principals, but it is unclear whether assistant principals are prepared to assume such a pivotal leadership role. This study seeks to compare the extent of on the job training provided to the assistant principals by examining ideal as compared to actual task performance in six competency areas associated with the job of principal. The research questions were as follows: 1. What are the perceived ideal professional tasks assistant principals should perform prior to becoming a principal? 2. Which tasks are performed by assistant principals? 3. Do these performed tasks prepare assistant principals for principalships? Utilizing Survey Monkey, a survey was e-mailed to principals with 1-3 years of experience in the State of Georgia. Descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlations, and t-tests were used for data analysis. As for research question 1, this study revealed that the tasks that ranked the highest among the study participants regarding perceived ideal tasks that assistant principals should perform prior to becoming principal were the competencies falling under the categories of Instructional Leader, Leadership in Staff Personnel, and Management of Schools. For question 2, Pearson Correlation showed that there were no significant correlations for ideal and actual tasks, except in the area of Instructional Leader. Regarding research question 3, The Pearson Correlation along with t-tests of subscales showed that there are significant differences between the ideal and actual tasks performed by assistant principal. The Pearson Correlation highlighted that the only significant correlation between ideal and actual competency tasks was found in the area of Instructional Leader. In conclusion, this study indicated that assistant principals are not adequately prepared to transition to the role of principal.

The proliferation of small devices and the advancements in various technologies have introduced the concept of pervasive environments. In these environments, user tasks can be executed by using the deployed components provided by devices with different capabilities. One appropriate paradigm for building user tasks for pervasive environments is Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Using SOA, user tasks are represented as an assembly of abstract components (i.e., services) without specifying their implementations, thus they should be resolved into concrete components. The task resolution involves automatic matching and selection of components across various devices. For this purpose, we present an approach that allows for each service of a user task, the selection of the best device and component by considering the user preferences, devices capabilities, services requirements and components preferences. Due to the dynamicity of pervasive environments, we are interested in the continuity of execution of user tasks. Therefore, we present an approach that allows components to monitor locally or remotely the changes of properties, which depend on. We also considered the adaptation of user tasks to cope with the dynamicity of pervasive environments. To overcome captured failures, the adaptation is carried out by a partial reselection of devices and components. However, in case of mismatching between an abstract user task and a concrete level, we propose a structural adaptation approach by injecting some defined adaptation patterns, which exhibit an extra-functional behavior. We also propose an architectural design of a middleware allowing the task's resolution, monitoring of the environment and the task adaptation. We provide implementation details of the middleware's components along with evaluation results

Iš programuotojo perspektyvos, riba tarp aparatūrinės ir programinės įrangos sparčiai mažėja. Kol programuotojai stengiasi pasiekti reikalaujamą spartą šiuolaikinėms sistemoms, jiems teks išnaudoti alternatyvius skaičiavimų elementus, tokius kaip vaizdo plokštes. Šiame darbe apžvelgiama esama lygiagrečių skaičiavimų naudojant vaizdo plokštes situacija. Apžvelgiamas fizikos simuliacijos skaičiavimo uždavinių sprendimas panaudojant vaizdo plokštes kaip skaičiavimo vienetus. Analizuojant esamus produktus ir pritaikant technologijas paskirstytiems skaičiavimams naudojant OpenCL atliekami eksperimentai. Šie eksperimentai parodys teigiamas ir neigiamas, paskirstytų skaičiavimų fizikos uždaviniams spręsti, puses. / The line between hardware and software is shrinking. While programmers and developers desperately try to reach the required performance for applications that require huge computations, they will be forced to use multiprocessing. Not only using a CPU as a main computation unit, but other resources like GPU. In these theses we will review the current situation in multiprocessing using GPU‘s. An investigation of computation of physics will be carried out. While analyzing current products and applying technologies for GPU computation using OpenCL we will execute appropriate experiments. These experiments will show the up and down sides of GPU computing for specific physics tasks.

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In the field of second language acquisition, there are few studies focusing on Chinese English-as-an-additional-language (EAL) graduate students’ communication strategy use, strategy use across different disciplines, and the relationships between communication strategy use and learners’ speaking performance. To fill the gap identified in the literature reviewed, this study examined the communication strategies used by 11 Chinese EAL graduate students from the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Education in the completion of two informal debate tasks with a questionnaire adapted from Nakatani’s (2006) Oral Communication Strategy Inventory and two post-task communication strategy recall questionnaires. Results from the study indicate that participants used eight categories of communication strategies, with fluency-oriented strategies the most frequently used strategy category and translation the least frequently used strategy category. Advanced English-language proficiency level learners used more social affective, message reduction and alteration, and negotiation of meaning strategies than learners at high-intermediate proficiency levels, to a degree that was statistically significant. No significant difference was identified in the overall communication strategy use but in one instance of individual strategy use (i.e., clarifying stance) across two disciplines. Significantly positive relationships were identified among certain categories of communication strategies (i.e., social affective, negotiation of meaning, accuracy-oriented strategies, and message reduction and alteration strategies), individual strategies (i.e., turn yielding, exemplifying, clarifying meaning, correcting others, referring to notes for accuracy/fluency, message reduction and alteration), and participants’ speaking performance. In addition, the retrospective results from the post-task strategy recall questionnaires suggest that participants in this study are not fully aware of their communication strategy use. The findings in this study can inform language practitioners’ of communication strategies used by Chinese graduate students majoring in Electrical Engineering and Education. Implications and future research directions are discussed in light of the findings derived from the present study that can further contribute to research about EAL learners’ communication strategies used at the graduate level. / Graduate / 0290 / cihangzh@uvic.ca

The research study departs from the, angle that heads of department occupy an important position at the interface of management and delivery of education. Their functions range from teaching to managing the school's departments in a diligent way. It was assumed that failure for heads of department to be part of the leadership in the school and at the same time manage their department and engage in teaching duties would result in a school becoming dysfunctional. A literature study was conducted to explore the leadership and management functions of the heads of department and to investigate the specific challenges facing heads of department in technical high schools. The empirical research consisted of a questionnaire survey to determine the views of the heads of department on their management and leadership functions and the challenges they experience in executing their tasks. It involved 75 heads of department in 13 Technical High School in the North West Province. The major findings of the research study reveal that heads of department experience challenges with a heavy workload, find it difficult to strike a balance between teaching duties and management duties and also face challenges in executing their functions even if a job description exists. It was also revealed that respondents strongly agree with the African cultural perspective concerning the ideal leadership characteristics of heads of department. Generally the study indicated that heads of department require training aimed at meeting the specific needs of middle managers. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The research study departs from the, angle that heads of department occupy an important position at the interface of management and delivery of education. Their functions range from teaching to managing the school's departments in a diligent way. It was assumed that failure for heads of department to be part of the leadership in the school and at the same time manage their department and engage in teaching duties would result in a school becoming dysfunctional. A literature study was conducted to explore the leadership and management functions of the heads of department and to investigate the specific challenges facing heads of department in technical high schools. The empirical research consisted of a questionnaire survey to determine the views of the heads of department on their management and leadership functions and the challenges they experience in executing their tasks. It involved 75 heads of department in 13 Technical High School in the North West Province. The major findings of the research study reveal that heads of department experience challenges with a heavy workload, find it difficult to strike a balance between teaching duties and management duties and also face challenges in executing their functions even if a job description exists. It was also revealed that respondents strongly agree with the African cultural perspective concerning the ideal leadership characteristics of heads of department. Generally the study indicated that heads of department require training aimed at meeting the specific needs of middle managers. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is believed to be associated with deficits in coordination between the different heads of the quadriceps muscle; however, considerable debate exists in the literature regarding the presence of such a deficit. Discrepancies between studies may be explained by differences in experimental tasks, such as whether the task is performed with open (OKC) or closed kinetic chain (CKC), or whether the activity is voluntary or triggered. Particular interest has been directed toward the function of the vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), which is a short muscle with limited ability to exert torque across the knee joint, but probably has a particular role in controlling patellofemoral joint position. Another short muscle that may influence knee joint position control is popliteus (POP), which is located in the back of the knee. This thesis investigates task specific activity of quadriceps in CKC versus OKC and studies the relative activity between the four heads of the quadriceps in PFP subjects compared to controls without knee pain in voluntary activity (CKC and OKC) and postural responses to balance perturbations. In addition, this thesis investigates the presumed function of POP for control of joint position in postural tasks in healthy individuals. All subjects were of normal weight and height and between 18 and 40 years. Quadriceps activity was tested for isometric with identical joint configuration in CKC and OKC, and it was performed as a reaction time task. Balance perturbations were elicited by unpredictable anterior and posterior translations of the support surface. Function of POP was investigated in unpredictable support surface translations and in self induced provocations to balance by moving the arms. Muscle activity was recorded with electromyography (EMG). Optic kinematic analysis was used to obtain specific movement responses to perturbations of balance. The quadriceps muscles were activated differently in CKC and OKC. VMO was activated earlier and to a greater degree in CKC. Rectus femoris was activated earlier and to a greater degree in OKC. PFP subjects reacted slower in both CKC and OKC, but there was no difference between groups in the relative activity between the different heads of the quadriceps. In the unpredictable support surface translation in the anterior direction, PFP subjects responded with earlier onset of VMO and with greater trunk and hip flexion in the anterior translation. POP activation in response to support surface translations in both directions occurred before all other muscles measured. In the self-initiated provocations of balance, POP was activated after the initiation of the balance provocation. This thesis concludes that quadriceps activity was task specific. The lack of difference between groups in OKC and CKC, and the difference between groups in postural responses suggest that variations in motor behaviour may occur only in tasks habitually performed. Differences in muscle activation patterns may be related to compensatory strategies to unload the quadriceps muscles and the patellofemoral joint. Furthermore, this thesis suggests that POP muscle may have a particular role in active control of the knee joint.

The aim of the research reported in this licentiate thesis was to create an environment that could support students’ learning about logarithms. To develop such a learning environment, Davydov’s ‘learning activity’ was used as a theoretical framework for the design. A new tool was created, that was used by the students to unfold and single out some of the unique properties of logarithms when solving different learning tasks. The construction of the model was inspired by Napiers original idea from 1614, i.e. exactly 400 years ago, by using two number lines; one arithmetic (i.e. based on addition) and one geometric (i.e. based on multiplication). The research approach used was learning study where teachers and researcher worked collaboratively in an iterative process to refine the research lesson. The study was conducted in six groups with six teachers in upper secondary school in a major city in Sweden. The sample comprised about 150 students and data were collected by filming lessons and by interviews with some of the students. The data were analysed using an analytic framework derived from ‘learning activity’ and the results show what supports, but also what does not support, the creation of an environment for supporting students’ learning of logarithms. The results from the study are related to former research regarding instrumental/procedural vis-à-vis relational/conceptual understanding and also about research about students’ ‘errors and misconceptions’. It is argued that the formal definition of logarithms, y = 10x <-> x = lgy (y > 0), should not be used to introduce the concept, instead a new way is proposed. One conclusion is that it is possible to reconstruct logarithms without using the definition as a tool. The results from the analysed lessons show how students looked for ways to solve learning tasks using the new tool. The definition and the identities regarding logarithms appear as bi-products of the students learning activity. When analysing students actions, they rarely over-generalised mathematical rules, e.g. used the distributive law, or separated log-expressions, e.g. adding log expressions part by part, that seemed to be an issue according to former research.