Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University. / Then immediate problem in this study is to ascertain the vocabulary needed by fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children in order to get meaning from printed material and spoken ideas basic to understanding in the social studies. A further purpose is to construct and evaluate a test which will measure the understandings of this social studies vocabulary of intermediate grade children. A companion study by Earley has the same purposes but employs a different technique. A diagnostic test of social studies vocabulary should enable teachers to discover the knowledge children have, thus providing a basis for teaching the specific vocabulary necessary for the understanding of social studies textbooks. The investigation merits attention in that much of the information that children acquire in social studies, at the intermediate grade level, comes from printed material. [TRUNCATED]

The purpose of this study was to empirically examine two empirically examine two main areas of concern in selecting criteria for validation studies: the development of the criterion and the multiple criteria versus composite criterion debate. Evidence was found for the ability of the various weighting schemes used to generate composites that were statistically and conceptually different from one another. Knowledge of the nature of each composite, along with the multiple criteria approach, proved essential to understanding the composite criterion to the validation process. Selection and treatment of the criterion apparently consist of judgment and individual estimations.

The diploma thesis focuses on survey of knowledges pupils second degres of the elementary school from growing in Tabor´s region. I applied 110 tests who checking knowledges of pupils. On the basis of results in tests I evaluated situation.

This thesis was to determine the prevalence and distribution of paratuberculosis in the Ontario dairy sheep and dairy goat industries, identify potential risk factors for herds which tested positive, evaluate the accuracy of seven commercially available individual and two bulk tank diagnostic tests in these two populations, and determine the circulating strains of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis in faecal isolates obtained. A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2010 and August 2011 in 29 goat herds and 21 sheep flocks located in Ontario. On each farm, 20 lactating animals over the age of two years were randomly selected and faeces, blood, and milk were sampled from each animal, and a bulk milk sample from each herd. A questionnaire inquiring about herd management and biosecurity behaviours was also completed. The seven individual animal tests evaluated were: faecal culture using the BACTEC® MGIT™ 960 liquid culture system, direct faecal PCR (Tetracore®, Rockville, MD) based on the hspX gene, the Prionics® ELISA on serum and milk, the IDEXX® ELISA on serum and milk, and the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test on serum. The test evaluations used both frequentist (faecal culture - reference test) and Latent Class Analysis/Bayesian (LCA/BM) methods (no reference test). In goat herds, faecal culture demonstrated the highest sensitivity (Se), 81.1% (LCA/BM). In sheep, while faecal culture demonstrated the highest Se, 49.5%, there was a small probability it was higher than faecal PCR Se at 42.4%. The bulk tank tests evaluated were the 'Hyper-ELISA' test and real-time PCR test based on IS900 (AntelBio®). While PCR did not demonstrate sufficiently high Se to be used as a herd-level test, the Hyper-ELISA performed well as a herd-level test identifying farms with high prevalence when the cut-off was reduced to 0.05. Overall herd-level apparent prevalence was 79.3% in goat herds and 57.1% in sheep flocks when faecal culture was the reference standard and true herd-level prevalence (LCA/BM) was 83.0% and 66.8% in each population respectively. This high prevalence reveals a need for the implementation of a small ruminant paratuberculosis control program in Ontario, Canada based on testing, improving youngstock management, and strengthening biosecurity practices. / AHSI, OMAF

Individual differences in human intellectual abilities and the measurement of those differences have been of great interest to the field of school psychology. As such, different theoretical perspectives and corresponding test batteries have evolved over the years as a way to explain and measure these abilities. A growing interest in the field of school psychology has been to use more than one intelligence test in a "cross-battery" assessment in hopes of measuring a wider range (or a more in-depth but selective range) of cognitive abilities. Additionally, interest in assessing intelligence began to focus on preschool-aged children because of initiatives to intervene early with at-risk children. The purpose of this study was to examine the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB-V) and Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (KABC-II) in relation to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of intelligence using a population of 200 preschool children. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted with these two tests individually as well as in conjunction with one another. Different variations of the CHC model were examined to determine which provided the best representation of the underlying CHC constructs measured by these tests. Results of the CFAs with the SBV revealed that it was best interpreted from a two-stratum model, although results with the KABC-II indicated that the three-stratum CHC model was the best overall design. Finally, results from the joint CFA did not provide support for a cross-battery assessment with these two particular tests.3 / Department of Educational Psychology

A considerable about of research has concentrated on studying the performance of high achieving children on measures of intellectual functioning. Findings have indicated high achieving children display differences in performance patterns as well as in the cognitive constructs measured when compared to their average peers. The conceptualization of intelligence has evolved over time and contemporary theories of intelligence have described cognitive ability as consisting of multiple constructs which are often interrelated. Currently. one of the most comprehensive and empirically supported theories of intelligence is the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory (Cattell, 1941; Horn, 1968: Carroll, 1993). The multidimensional and hierarchical CHC theory has served as the foundation for the development and recent revisions of cognitive ability measures such as the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability– Third Edition (WJ-III COG; McGrew & Woodcock 2001) and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales – Fifth Edition (SBS: Raid, 2003b). The purpose of this study was to explore the construct validity of the WJ-III COG and SB5 with a sample of high achieving children. Individual confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using the WJ-III COG and SB5. Additionally. a joint confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using both the WJ-III COG and SB5. The results indicated an alternative six-factor WJ-IlI COG and four-factor SB5 models provided the best fit to the data of a high achieving sample, supporting previous research suggesting high achieving children display differences in cognitive constructs when compared with their average counterparts. The joint-confirmatory factor analysis indicated the best measures for the CHC factors measured by both the WJ-III COG and SB5 to help guide cross-battery assessments with high functioning children. Clinical applications of the findings are discussed. / Department of Educational Psychology

The Bender-Gestalt test is one of the most widely used psychological tests in clinical practice. However, very few empirical studies have investigated its projective use with adults. The purpose of the present study was to replicate a study conducted by Sellbom et al. (2001), which examined distortions of the Bender-Gestalt hypothesized to measure antisocial, impulsive, and depressive characteristics. It was found that the findings in Sellbom et al. (2001) were partially replicated, indicating that certain distortions, especially in conjunction, were significantly related to antisocial characteristics. The author suggests that the Bender-Gestalt could potentially be used as a screening measure for antisocial characteristics, but not to measure impulsive and depressive characteristics. / Department of Psychological Science

Significant evidence from the legislation, medical/clinical, or professional practice perspective all points to the advantages and necessity of conducting comprehensive assessment of cognitive abilities, especially in young children, to identify cognitive deficits, arrive at an accurate diagnosis, and establish bases for developing interventions and recommending services. Cross-battery assessment approach provides school psychologists a useful tool to strengthen their preferred cognitive battery by adopting and comparing subtests from other batteries to build up a comprehensive and theoretically sound evaluation of an individual’s cognitive profile to increase the validity of test interpretation. Using joint confirmatory factor analysis, this study explored the combined underlying construct validity of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, Third Edition (WJ-III COG) and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5) with an independent sample of preschool children. Seven models were examined and the results showed that relatively, the underlying construct of the two tests was best represented by a threestratum alternative CHC model in which the Gf factor and subtests had been removed. This indicates that not all the CHC constructs shared by both tests can be reliably identified among young children. Constructs of the CHC theory may be represented differently on preschool cognitive batteries due to developmental influences. Although WJ-III COG and SB5 tests as a whole did not demonstrate good results for purposes of cross-battery assessment, certain subtests (e.g., subtests representing crystallized intelligence) from each battery offer interpretative value for individual broad ability factors, providing school psychologists an in-depth understanding of a preschooler’s crystallized knowledge. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted with subtests from WJ-III COG and SB5 representing the four shared broad factors (Gc, Gf, Gv, and Gsm). Results revealed that a 4-factor solution is a better model fit to the data. Future research includes recruiting young children with disabilities or special needs to explore best representative underlying construct of combined WJ-III COG and SB5, allowing for cross-battery assessment. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Educational Psychology

In this paper we evaluate how software testing is affected by the usage of a mock-object, a dummy implementation of a real object, in place of having data in a cloud that is accessed through an API. We define the problems for testing that having data in the cloud brings, which of these problems a mock-object can remedy and what problems there are with testing using the mock-object. We also evaluate if testing using the mock-object can find the same faults as testing against the cloud and if the same code can be covered by the tests. This is done at Blekinge Institute of Technology(BTH) by creating an integration system for the company Cybercom Sweden and Karlskrona Municipality. This integration system is made in C# and works by syncing schedules from Novaschem to a cloud service, Google Calendar. With this paper we show that a mock-object in place of a cloud is very useful for testing when it comes to clean-up, triggering certain states and to avoid query limitations. / I detta arbete utvärderar vi hur programvarutestning påverkas av användandet av ett mock-objekt, en dummy-implementation av ett riktigt objekt, istället för att ha data i ett moln som man kommer åt via ett API. Vi definierar de problem som uppkommer av att ha data i molnet, vilka problem som kan avhjälpas av mock-objektet och vilka problem mock-objektet medför. Vi utvärderar även om testning med ett mock-objekt kan finna samma fel som testning mot molnet och om samma kod kan täckas av testerna. Detta görs på Blekinge Tekniska Högskola(BTH) genom att skapa ett integrationssystem för företaget Cybercom Sweden och Karlskrona Kommun. Integrationssystemet görs i C# och fungerar som så att det synkar scheman från Novaschem till en molntjänst, Google Calendar. Med detta arbete visar vi att ett mock-objekt istället för molnet är väldigt användbart när det kommer till städning efter tester, att utlösa vissa tillstånd och för att undvika begränsningar.

Effizienz, Prozesssicherheit und Teilequalität in der Blechtafelbearbeitung erfordern die exakte Positionierung der Rohblechtafel zur Bearbeitungsmaschine. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die experimentelle Erprobung vibrationsbasierter Ausrichtkonzepte an einer eigens entwickelten Versuchsanlage. Die Versuchsergebnisse führen zur Identifikation einer Vorzugslösung sowie möglicher Stellgrößen des Ausrichtprozesses. / Efficiency, process reliability and part quality in sheet metal processing require the precise positioning of the raw sheet metal to the processing machine. This paper presents the experimental investigation of vibration-based alignment concepts in a dedicated test facility. The test results enable identification of a preferential solution as well as possible control parameters of the alignment process.