The grammar course objectives at Brigham Young University's English Language Center (ELC) are a list of grammar structures for each level that students are expected to be able to master. These objectives currently are only measured by pencil-paper grammar tests, providing information regarding receptive grammar ability only. Therefore, there is a need for an oral grammar assessment to measure productive grammar ability, providing diagnostic and achievement information about the specific grammar objectives. This project is a web-based oral grammar assessment tool that enables teachers to assess students' mastery of the structures covered in the ELC grammar classes. The core of the project is an online database of speaking tasks designed to target specific grammar structures. Teachers can access the database through a website and create assessments using groups of selected speaking tasks. Then, students access the speaking tasks through a separate recording application that has been developed to display the prompts and record students' responses. Teachers can access the recorded responses on the website and rate the responses, using a rubric to measure students' mastery of each grammar structure. An evaluation of the project reveals that students and teachers feel that it is beneficial in providing practice and self-assessment opportunities. Most students like using the program and consider it helpful. However, a major challenge is the time required of teachers to listen to students' responses in order to use the program for actual assessment and give effective feedback. As the program is used more widely, future research needs to investigate the reliability and validity of the tasks and using the rubric for assessment.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka om problemlösningsuppgifter i läroböcker ger möjlighet till utveckling av problemlösningsförmågan. I studien har innehållsanalys valts som metod och med hjälp av Schoenfeld’s ramverk och Skolverkets kommentarmaterial har ett resultat skrivits fram. I resultatet framgår det att förekomsten av problemlösningsuppgifter i läromedlet Favorit matematik för årskurs 3 är låg. Vidare visar resultatet att majoriteten av problemlösningsuppgifterna ger elever möjlighet att utveckla fyra av de fem delförmågorna i problemlösningsförmågan samtidigt. Studiens slutsats är att läroböcker i matematik bör analyseras för att ge elever möjlighet att arbeta med problemlösningsuppgifter och säkerställa deras utveckling av problemlösningsförmågans olika delar. / The purpose of the study is to investigate whether problem-solving tasks in textbooks provide an opportunity for the development of problem-solving ability. In the study, content analysis has been chosen as the method and with the help of Schoenfeld's framework and the Swedish National Agency for Education's commentary material a result has been produced. In the result appears that the occurrence of problem-solving tasks in the learning material Favorit matematik for grade 3 is low. Furthermore, the results show that most of the problem-solving tasks give pupils the opportunity to develop four of the five sub-skills in the problem-solving ability at the same time. The study's conclusion is that textbooks in mathematics should be analyzed to give pupils the opportunity to work with problem-solving tasks and ensure their development of the different parts of problem-solving ability.

Over recent years, military research has focused on ways of being able to predict operational success and readiness through the development of simulated operational tasks measuring the physical limits of the soldier. Therefore, to properly prepare the tactical athlete for the demands and rigor of combat, accurate assessment of baseline physical abilities and limitations are necessary. Currently, western armies use a basic physical fitness test, which has been heavily argued to have no bearing on operational readiness, thus they are in the process of transitioning to a more specific combat readiness test. However, specific assessments to predict operational success/readiness are inefficient or lacking. A single test that requires minimal time, but provides simultaneous assessment of the necessary physical characteristics (i.e. aerobic and anaerobic capacities) may provide a unique opportunity to enhance soldier performance assessment. The 3-min all-out run, is a relatively new test that has been recently validated. It provides two performance estimates, critical velocity (CV) and anaerobic distance capacity (ADC). CV provides a measure of the individual's aerobic capacity, while the ADC is an indicator of anaerobic capacity. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine the relationship between CV and ADC from the 3-min all-out run and combat specific tasks (2.5-km run, 50-m casualty carry, and repeated sprints with rush shooting) in an elite special force unit. Eighteen male soldiers (age: 19.9 ± 0.8 years; height: 177.6 ± 6.6 cm; body mass: 74.1 ± 5.8 kg; BMI: 23.52 ± 1.63) from an elite combat special force unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) volunteered to complete a 3-min all-out run, while wearing a global positioning system (GPS) unit, and a battery of operational CST (2.5-km run, 50-m casualty carry and 30-m repeated sprints with "rush" shooting (RPTDS)). Estimates of CV and ADC from the 3-min all-out run were determined from the downloaded GPS data with CV calculated as the average velocity of the final 30 s of the run and ADC as the velocity-time integral above CV. CV exhibited significant negative correlations with the 2.5-km run time (r = - 0.62, p < 0.01), and RPTDS time (r = - 0.71p < 0.01). However, CV (r = - 0.31) or ADC (r = 0.16) did not show any correlation with the 50-m casualty carry run. In addition, CV was positively correlated with the average velocity during the 2.5- km run (r = 0.64, p < 0.01). Stepwise regression identified CV as the most significant performance measure associated with the 2.5-km run time, and BMI and CV measures as significant predictors of RPTDS time (R2= 0.67, p < 0.05). Our main findings indicate that CV was highly related to performance during CST, including the 2.5-km run and RPTDS, but not the 50-m casualty carry. Using the 3-min all-out run as a testing measurement offers a more efficient and simpler way in assessing both aerobic and anaerobic capabilities (CV and ADC) with-in a relatively large sample. In this regard, this method of testing may be conducive to a military type environment whether for selection purposes, to predict combat readiness, to prescribe a training program or just a need analysis for the company commander.

Dans de nombreux pays à travers le monde, la délégation de tâches fait partie des stratégies couramment utilisées pour optimiser la performance des organisations de santé. En Haïti, le recours aux Agents de Santé Communautaire Polyvalents (ASCP) dans l’offre des soins de santé primaire en est une application de cette stratégie. L’objectif principal visé par celle-ci est de réduire les pénuries de ressources humaines de la santé et d’améliorer la couverture sanitaire universelle. Afin de contribuer à l’atteinte de cet objectif et à l’avancement des connaissances sur la délégation des tâches aux ASCP, cette thèse aborde des questions de recherche peu étudiées, pourtant essentielles à la compréhension et à l’implantation réussie de cette intervention. Ces questions concernent le fonctionnement de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP, dont les mécanismes à travers lesquels cette intervention parvient à produire des effets positifs sur la performance des organisations de santé. Cette thèse de doctorat évalue également le bien-fondé de l’implantation de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP en Haïti, son niveau d’implantation dans le département sanitaire du nord d’Haïti et les facteurs contextuels qui facilitent ou entravent l’implantation de cette intervention dans ce département. La méthodologie utilisée à cet effet combine trois approches complémentaires. La première est la synthèse réaliste de Pawson et al. (2005). Celle-ci a été choisie pour son potentiel à offrir une compréhension approfondie du fonctionnement des interventions complexes. La seconde approche méthodologique utilisée se rapporte à l’évaluation du bien-fondé de l’implantation de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP en Haïti. Plus spécifiquement, il s’agit d’une analyse logique. Ce type d’analyse permet d’évaluer d’une part la plausibilité des hypothèses sur lesquelles reposent les interventions, et d’autre part, de déterminer l’adéquation des ressources et processus de celles-ci au regard des objectifs visés. Enfin, la troisième approche méthodologique mise en œuvre est une analyse de l’implantation. Cette dernière étudie la façon dont les interventions interagissent avec leur contexte d’implantation, y compris les facteurs contextuels qui déterminent leurs niveaux d’implantation. Pour la mener à bien, tout comme pour réaliser la synthèse réaliste et l’analyse logique de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP en Haïti, des données ont été collectées et analysées. Celles-ci proviennent essentiellement d’une recension des écrits sur la délégation des tâches aux ASCP, de l’examen des documents relatifs à la conception et l’implantation de cette intervention en Haïti et d’entrevues non dirigées réalisées auprès de 35 intervenants dans ce pays. Ce faisant, plusieurs résultats intéressants ont été obtenus. Ils apportent une contribution nouvelle à l’amélioration des connaissances sur la délégation des tâches aux ASCP. Les résultats obtenus peuvent être également utilisés pour favoriser l’implantation réussie de cette intervention en Haïti et éventuellement dans d’autres contextes. Ils incluent notamment une théorie de moyenne portée qui explique le fonctionnement de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP, ainsi que des preuves à l’appui de la plausibilité ou de la validité du modèle logique qui sous-tend l’implantation de cette intervention en Haïti. Les résultats obtenus mettent aussi en lumière plusieurs déficiences dans la conception ou planification de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP en Haïti qui peuvent être corrigées pour accroître les chances d’atteindre les objectifs visés. Parmi celles-ci, il y a l’insuffisance des ressources (financières, matérielles et humaines) planifiées ou engagées et des manquements dans la sélection des ASCP. Par ailleurs, des avancées notables ont été observées dans l’implantation de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP dans le département sanitaire du nord d’Haïti. De plus, cette thèse de doctorat révèle plusieurs facteurs contextuels entravant ou facilitant la mise en œuvre de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP dans ce département. Ceux-ci sont en lien avec la planification et le suivi de l’implantation de l’intervention, le contexte institutionnel, l’environnement politique et autres. En somme, cette thèse apporte une contribution à la compréhension du fonctionnement de la délégation des tâches aux ASCP et à la façon dont cette intervention améliore la performance des organisations de santé. Elle suggère également des pistes de recherche pour l’avancement des connaissances dans ce domaine, ainsi que des voies d’améliorations pour favoriser l’atteinte des objectifs visés par la délégation des tâches aux ASCP en Haïti ou ailleurs. / In many countries around the world, delegation of tasks is one of the commonly used strategies to optimize the performance of healthcare organizations. In Haiti, the use of Polyvalent Community Health Agents (ASCP) in the provision of primary health care is an application of this strategy. Its main objective is to reduce shortages of health human resources and improve universal health coverage. In order to contribute to the achievement of this objective and to the advancement of knowledge on the delegation of tasks to ASCPs, This thesis addresses understudied research questions, yet essential to the understanding and successful implementation of this intervention. These questions concern the functioning of the delegation of tasks to the ASCPs, including the mechanisms through which this intervention succeeds in producing positive effects on the performance of the organizations. This doctoral thesis also assesses the well-founded of the implementation of the delegation of tasks to the ASCPs in Haïti, its level of implementation in the northern health department of Haïti and the contextual factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of this intervention in this department. The methodology used for this purpose combines three complementary approaches. The first one is the realistic synthesis of Pawson et al. (2005). This was chosen for its potential to provide an in-depth understanding of how complex interventions work. The second methodological approach used relates to the assessment of the well-founded of implementing the delegation of tasks to the ASCPs in Haïti. More specifically, it is a logical analysis. This type of analysis allows to evaluate, on the one hand, the plausibility of the hypotheses on which the interventions are based, and, on the other hand, to determine the adequacy of the resources and processes of these regarding the objectives targeted. Finally, the third methodological approach implemented is an analysis of the implementation. This approach studies how interventions interact with their implementation context, including the contextual factors that determine their levels of implementation. To carry it out, as well as to carry out the realistic synthesis and the logical analysis of the delegation of tasks to the ASCPs in Haïti, data was collected and analyzed. These come mainly from a review of the literature on the delegation of tasks to the ASCPs, an examination of the documents relating to the design and implementation of this intervention in Haiti and unstructured interviews conducted with 35 stakeholders in this country. In doing so, several interesting results were obtained. They bring a new contribution to improving knowledge about delegation of tasks to ASCPs. The results obtained can also be used to support the successful implementation of this intervention in Haiti and possibly in other contexts. They include a middle range theory that explains how delegation of tasks to ASCPs works, as well as evidences supporting the plausibility or validity of the logic model underlying the implementation of this intervention in Haiti. The results obtained also highlight several shortcomings in the design or planning of the delegation of tasks to ASCPs in Haiti that can be corrected to increase the chances of achieving the intended objectives. Among these are the lack of resources (financial, material, and human) planned or committed and the shortcomings in the selection of ASCPs. In addition, notable progress has been observed in the implementation of the delegation of tasks to the ASCPs in northern health department of Haïti. This doctoral thesis reveals also several contextual factors hindering or facilitating the implementation of the delegation of tasks to the ASCPs of this department. These relate to the planning and monitoring of the implementation of the intervention, the institutional context, the political environment, and others. In sum, this thesis contributes to the understanding of how delegation of tasks to ASCPs works and how this intervention improves performance for healthcare organizations. It also suggests avenues of research for the advancement of knowledge in this field and recommends some improvement pathways to foster the achievement of the objectives targeted by the delegation of tasks to ASCPs in Haïti or elsewhere.

Computing least common subsumers (lcs) and most specific concepts (msc) are inference tasks that can be used to support the „bottom up” construction of knowledge bases for KR systems based on description logic. For the description logic ALN, the msc need not always exist if one restricts the attention to acyclic concept descriptions. In this paper, we extend the notions lcs and msc to cyclic descriptions, and show how they can be computed. Our approach is based on the automata-theoretic characterizations of fixed-point semantics for cyclic terminologies developed in previous papers. / An abridged version of this technical report has been published at KI'98.

This study explores the impact of cultural competence on success in completing key missionary tasks. Qualitative survey results are supported by data from an intercultural effectiveness assessment and a Mandarin Chinese listening proficiency test to describe themes related to missionary communicative success and to explore correlations between intercultural effectiveness and listening proficiency. Missionary communicative tasks are clarified into themes:"obtaining referrals,"obtaining teaching opportunities," and"helping people make and keep commitments." Factors perceived as associating with communicative success include"feeling and communicating love" and receiving"spiritual guidance." The effect of training on intercultural competence is also described. The intercultural effectiveness subcategory of positive regard is shown to have significant correlation with listening proficiency and with missionaries' perceptions of their own awareness of Chinese culture. Suggestions are made for further research and program development.

This dissertation provides an innovative mechanism to collaborate two geographically separated people on a physical task and a novel method to measure Complexity Index (CI) and calculate Minimal Complexity Index (MCI) of a collaboration protocol. The protocol is represented as a structure, and the information content of it is measured in bits to understand the complex nature of the protocol. Using the complexity metrics, one can analyze the performance of a collaborative system and a collaboration protocol. Security and privacy of the consumers are vital while seeking remote help; this dissertation also provides a novel authorization framework for dynamic access control of resources on an input-constrained appliance used for completing the physical task. Using the innovative Collaborative Appliance for REmote-help (CARE) and with the support of a remotely located expert, fifty-nine subjects with minimal or no prior mechanical knowledge are able to elevate a car for replacing a tire in an average time of six minutes and 53 seconds and with an average protocol complexity of 171.6 bits. Moreover, thirty subjects with minimal or no prior plumbing knowledge are able to change the cartridge of a faucet in an average time of ten minutes and with an average protocol complexity of 250.6 bits. Our experiments and results show that one can use the developed mechanism and methods for expanding the protocols for a variety of home, vehicle, and appliance repairs and installations.

The intent of this thesis is to examine the psychometric properties of a complex span task (CST) developed to measure working memory capacity (WMC) using measurements obtained from a sample of 68 undergraduate students at the University of Central Florida. The Grocery List Task (GLT) promises several design improvements over traditional CSTs in a prior study about individual differences in WMC and distraction effects on driving performance, and it offers potential benefits for studying WMC as well as the serial-position effect. Currently, the working memory system is composed of domain-general memorial storage processes and information-processing, which involves the use of executive functions. Prior research has found WMC to be associated with attentional measures (i.e., executive attention) and the updating function, and unrelated to the shifting function. The present study replicates these relationships to other latent variables in measures obtained from the GLT as convergent and discriminant evidence of validity. In addition, GLT measures correlate strongly with established measures of WMC. Task reliability is assessed by estimates of internal consistency, pairwise comparisons with a cross-validation sample, and an analysis of demographic effects on task measurements.

No description available.

No description available.