In Bayesian inference, the choice of prior has been of great interest. Subjective priors are ideal if sufficient information on priors is available. However, in practice, we cannot collect enough information on priors. Then objective priors are a good substitute for subjective priors. In this dissertation, an independent reference prior based on a class of objective priors is examined. It is a reference prior derived by assuming that the parameters are independent. The independent reference prior introduced by Sun and Berger (1998) is extended and generalized. We provide an iterative algorithm to derive the general independent reference prior. We also propose a sufficient condition under which a closed form of the independent reference prior is derived without going through the iterations in the iterative algorithm. The independent reference prior is then shown to be useful in respect of the invariance and the first order matching property. It is proven that the independent reference prior is invariant under a type of one-to-one transformation of the parameters. It is also seen that the independent reference prior is a first order probability matching prior under a sufficient condition. We derive the independent reference priors for various examples. It is observed that they are first order matching priors and the reference priors in most of the examples. We also study an independent reference prior in some types of non-regular cases considered by Ghosal (1997). / Ph. D.

This instructional study of fostering student independence while teaching them to read revealed how first grade students develop independent reading behaviors during their 18-22 weeks of instruction. The observations were made of three Reading Recovery teacher/student dyad behaviors during three videotaped lessons; one in the beginning of instruction, one near the middle of instruction and the last just before the students discontinued from their respective programs. Individual units of reading behaviors were identified and labeled as assisted, assisted dependent, assisted independent, or independent based on specific behaviors observed when miscues occurred. The questions guiding the study were directed at student behaviors, teacher behaviors, and student changes over time. The data collected comprised transcripts of the taped sessions, daily lesson plans, running records, and results from scheduled Observation Survey assessments. The concept of independence was discussed as (1) a disposition for independence, (2) functional independence, (3) independence as a self-regulatory behavior, and (4) examples of how children contribute to and extend their learning independently. When they began, the students, Title I students, were among the bottom 10% of readers in their classrooms. When they discontinued (graduated), they functioned as average readers in their classrooms. When the students were assessed again in June after Reading Recovery lessons had ended, they had maintained their gains. In addition each student had acquired an expanding disposition of independence that is expected to be maintained as learning continued. The findings suggest that fostering independence in tutorial settings accelerates learning and enables students to become average readers. / Ed. D.

Elementary students continue to read below proficiency levels. Principals play a key role in the reading programs at their school. The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of selected elementary principals and teachers regarding the principal's role in the development, implementation, and continuation of an effective series reading program. Through this study, factors contributing to the success or failure of the principal's role in a series reading program were suggested. A qualitative research design was used with semi-structured interviews to determine the perceptions of principals and teachers regarding the role of the principal in the development, implementation, and continuation of a series reading program. Principals and teachers were interviewed from elementary schools in Alabama and Nevada. The findings from the research provide principals and division leaders a compendium of strategies and themes to be used to implement and continue a successful series reading program. The findings suggest that principals empower and motivate teachers and staff to implement new and continue existing reading programs by modeling it themselves, that principals allocate funding for series reading books to add to the collection of books at the school, and that a principal's literacy background and personal experiences influence the effectiveness of a series reading program. Principals and teachers that indicated reading books in a series was beneficial to struggling readers and students new to learning English (L2), and that the series reading program promoted adult-student relationships supportive of increased reading volume. Implications for school leaders and principals are shared as well as suggestions for future research. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of the study was to identify perceptions of selected elementary principals and teachers regarding the role of the principal in the development, implementation, and continuation of an effective series reading program. Through this study, factors contributing to the success or failure of the principal's role in a series reading program were suggested. Principals and teachers were interviewed from elementary schools in Alabama and Nevada. The findings suggest that principals empower and motivate teachers and staff to implement new and continue existing reading programs by modeling it themselves, that principals allocate funding for series reading books to add to the collection of books at the school, and that a principal's literacy background and personal experiences influence a series reading program. Principals and teachers indicated that reading books in a series was beneficial to struggling readers and students new to learning English (L2), and that the series reading program promoted adult-student relationships supportive of increased reading volume. Implications for school leaders and principals are shared as well as suggestions for future research.

The writer of this thesis, with the aid of the listed sources, has attempted to develop plans for a recreation program for the Conroe Independent School District of Conroe, Texas.

The investigator purposes to make a study of the McCaulley Independent School to determine how effectively it is functioning as a community school.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

This research project was designed to study the relationship between the heart rate and trait anxiety of intercollegiate athletic coaches, as measured by telemetry and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The concept of determining the degree of emotional and psychological stress undergone by college coaches as reflected in the heart rate and trait anxiety level, has been an area of little consideration within the exercise physiology, psychology or medical fields... The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship between the heart rate and the trait anxiety level of college coaches of intercollegiate athletic teams, as measured by telemetry and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively. The following subpurposes were also established: (1) to determine the mean resting heart rates of each coach under morning (11:00 A.M.) and competition time (P.M.) conditions; (2) to determine the mean and maximum heart rates of each coach under training session conditions; (3) to determine the mean and maximum heart rates of each coach under pre-competition conditions; (4) to determine the mean and maximum heart rates of each coach under competition conditions; (5) to determine the mean and maximum heart rates of each coach under post-competition conditions; (6) to determine the percent rank score of the trait anxiety inventory administered to each coach.

The fact that traffic congestion upstream of a bottleneck causes a reduction in the discharge flow rate through the bottleneck has been well documented in several empirical studies. However, what has been missing is an understanding of the causes of these empirically observed flow reductions. An identification of these causes is important in order to develop various mitigation schemes through the use of emerging technology. The concept of capacity drop can be introduced at time-independent bottlenecks (e.g. freeways) as well as time-dependent bottlenecks (e.g. signalized intersections). While to the author's knowledge no one has attempted to link these phenomena, the research presented in this thesis serves as a first step in doing so. The research uses the INTEGRATION simulation software, after demonstrating its validity against empirical data, to simulate time-independent and time-dependent bottlenecks in an attempt to characterize and understand the contributing factors to these flow reductions. Initially, the INTEGRATION simulation software is validated by comparing its results to empirically observed traffic stream behavior. This thesis demonstrates that the discharge flow rate is reduced at stationary bottlenecks at the onset of congestion. These reductions at stationary bottlenecks are not recovered as the traffic stream propagates downstream. Furthermore, these reductions are not impacted by the level of vehicle acceleration. Alternatively, the drop in the discharge flow rate caused by time-dependent bottleneck is recoverable and is dependent on the level of acceleration. The difference in behavior is attributed to the fact that in the case of a stationary bottleneck the delay in vehicle headways exceeds the losses caused by vehicle accelerations and thus is not recoverable. In the case of vehicles discharging from a backward recovery wave the dominant factor is the delay caused by vehicle acceleration and this can be recuperated as the traffic stream travels downstream. / Master of Science

As finite element discretizations ever grow in size to address real-world problems, there is an increasing need for fast algorithms. Nowadays there are many GPU/CPU parallel approaches to solve such problems. Multigrid methods can be used to solve large-scale problems, or even better they can be used to precondition the conjugate gradient method, yielding better results in general. Capabilities of multigrid algorithms rely on the effectiveness of the inter-grid transfer operators. In this thesis we focus on the aggregation approach, discussing how different aggregation strategies affect the convergence rate. Based on these discussions, we propose an alternative parallel aggregation algorithm to improve convergence. We also provide numerous experimental results that compare different aggregation approaches, multigrid methods, and conjugate gradient iteration counts, showing that our proposed algorithm performs better in serial and parallel. / Modeling real-world problems incurs a high computational cost because these mathematical models involve large-scale data manipulation. Thus we need fast and efficient algorithms. Nowadays there are many high-performance approaches for these problems. One such method is called the Multigrid algorithm. This approach models a physical domain using a hierarchy of grids, and so the effectiveness of these approaches relies on how well data can be transferred from grid to grid. In this thesis, we focus on the aggregation approach, which clusters a grid’s vertices according to its connections. We also provide an alternative parallel aggregation algorithm to give a faster solution. We show numerous experimental results that compare different aggregation approaches and multigrid methods, showing that our proposed algorithm performs better in serial and parallel than other popular implementations.

Yes / Despite a substantial body of self-congruity (SC) research (cf. Aguirre-Rodriguez, Bosnjak, & Sirgy, 2012) two important questions remain open: First, does the SC effect apply beyond Western countries. Second, does individual level culture moderate the SC effect? This study contributes to SC theory by developing hypotheses on the validity of the four SC effects across East and West and by studying the moderating impact of the individual level cultural variable self-construals on those four effects. This study tests its hypotheses through a survey of over 1,600 consumers in an Eastern (India) and a Western (USA) country. Results show that the overall actual SC effect holds across East and West, while the ideal SC effect holds across contexts yet only for consumers with an independent self-construal. Meanwhile, the social SC effect holds in the Eastern but not in the Western context, while the ideal social SC effect does not hold in either context. Results further show a moderating effect of individual level culture on the SC effect, as the actual SC effect is stronger for interdependent consumers whereas the ideal SC effect is stronger for independent consumers across contexts. Finally, the findings of this study are used to advance managerial implications and to propose a refinement of SC theory.