This ethnography is based on 48 months of detailed participation, interviews, and observation with active gymgoers at three middle-class gyms in Chicago. It is a study of a particular social institution that, despite its explosion onto the mainstream cultural scene, has surprisingly eluded social-scientific inquiry. Demographically, the group that has been most caught up in the fitness movement are young, single, college-educated Americans living in large city centers. As a study of a particular social world, this research will examine the localized social world of the gym and its young male members, focusing on how their interactions get patterned into negotiated order. I focus on problems of motives, the role of language in an embodied world, the role of belief systems and forms of knowledge, and the function of rules and rituals in the making and maintenance of social order. I find that gymgoers, driven by a shared goal to become physically stronger and leaner, co-construct new selves and new forms of reality. Just as gymgoers attempt to transform their bodies so too do they craft new new ways of feeling, new presentations of self, new ideas, and new interaction rituals that are sui generis and irreducible to social background variables. / Sociology

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

<p> This study examined the organizational commitment and professional development of adjunct nursing faculty as it related to socialization processes provided by their organization. This study also investigated the independent variables that contributed to affective, continuance, and normative commitment. The study was conducted using an online Survey looking at the commitment levels of adjunct nursing faculty from nursing programs in New York State. Participants self-reported demographics which assisted in providing commonality among the participants, and completed two valid, published surveys; Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, and Sowa's (1986) <i>Survey of Perceived Organizational Commitment (SPOC)</i> and Allen and Meyer's (1990) <i>Three Component Model (TCM) of Organizational Commitment</i>. Results indicated that age, one independent variable, was found to be significant for continuance commitment between two age groups; 25&ndash;40 and 55 and greater. This finding leads academic administrators to focus on their multigenerational workforce needs, which now occupies many of their teaching positions. Further research is warranted to investigate the multigenerational nursing adjunct faculty member and the relationship socialization processes has on their organizational commitment and professional development.</p>

The purpose of this study was to lay the foundation for a string research agenda, that is, to develop a model for string research. This study represents a qualitative investigation of the question, what are the component variables of a string education that produce outstanding string orchestral performers? A detailed pilot investigation of an outstanding orchestral performer provided an initial model followed by a comprehensive investigation of selected members from The Philadelphia Orchestra string section. A taxonomy for undertaking a qualitative study in music education was formulated followed by an identification of the researcher's personal biases resulting in a learning theory called The Developmental Learning Theory For String Education. Intrinsic and extrinsic variables responsible for developing the capabilities of a string orchestral performer were identified as well as the antecedent educational and environmental processes that, in whole or in part, seemed responsible for producing such a high level of competence. The study specified models for string learning and for string education and concluded by establishing a model for a string research agenda. / The models regarding a string education, string learning, string research, and the data information regarding the component variables of a string education are geared towards developing and identifying the professional string performer and represent the conditions necessary for developing such a player. Information presented in this study does not necessarily relate to the non-professional player even though many of the component variables may be in common. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-03, Section: A, page: 0501. / Major Professor: Clifford K. Madsen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This study examined the developmental process of female faculty within the framework of the Levinson theory of adult development. Four stages of Levinson's model were selected for investigation because they included the ages most often found in the academic profession: The Age-Thirty Transition (ages 29-33), the Settling-Down Period (34-40), the Mid-Life Transition (41-45) and Entering Middle Adulthood (46-50). This study included 100 full-time female faculty employed at Stetson University, Rollins College and the University of Central Florida. / Since there was a paucity of literature on the developmental process for female faculty, literature on theories of adult development, female faculty, and theories of career development were examined. Themes of women's developmental process emerged form the literature review and included the importance of relationships, meaning of work, achievement, mentor relationships, and multiple role involvement. / The 100 participants were sent a questionnaire in order to obtain demographic data and information on their developmental process, both personal and professional. Additionally, interviews were conducted with five women in each age group. Demographic characteristics of the faculty participants were presented. Common developmental tasks that characterize each age stage were identified. Also, significant events in the lives of female faculty were identified that affected the developmental process. It was found that women experience most of the developmental tasks described by Levinson in his theory of adult development and that the developmental process continues through the life course for the ages of female faculty included in this study. Most female faculty had traditionally ordered career progressions and were pleased with their career choice. Significant personal and professional life events were found to affect the developmental process for female faculty and although more professional events were identified, personal events were found to have greater influence on the developmental process. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-06, Section: A, page: 1643. / Major Professor: David Leslie. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

After the stability and sensitivity of FLOR were investigated, the application of it in the CAT environment had become the main concern. The present studies found that both the test length and the number of exposed items affect the final value of FLOR. In the fixed length CAT, the FLOR has a much stronger sensitivity than lz and CUSUM in detecting item pre-knowledge. The sensitivity of FLOR in the fixed length CAT was the same as that in the fixed length fixed items test. If the test length could vary, the sensitivity of FLOR in CAT would be slightly weakened. The Adjusted FLOR index could increase the sensitivity. Concerning about the effect of ability on the sensitivity of FLOR in CAT, it was found that the abilities of the test takers in CAT did not affect the sensitivity of FLOR and Adjusted FLOR. / Item response theory is a modern test theory. It focuses on the performance of each item. Under this framework, the performance of test takers on a test item can be predicted by a set of abilities. The relationship between the test takers' item performances and the set of abilities underlying item performances can be described by a monotonically increasing function called an item characteristic curve. Due to various personal reasons, the performances of the test takers may depart from the response patterns predicted by the underlying test model. In order to calculate the extent of departure of these aberrant response patterns, a number of methods have been developed under the theme "person-fit statistics". The degree of aberration is calculated as an index called person-fit index. Inside the computerized adaptive testing (CAT), test takers with different abilities will answer different numbers of questions and the difficulties of the items administered to them are usually clustered at the abilities of the test takers. Due to this reason, the application of person-fit indices in the computerized adaptive testing environment to measure misfit is difficult. / The present study also found that FLOR has a much superior sensitivity over other indices in detecting item pre-knowledge. Concerning about the sensitivity over different abilities of test takers, it was found that the sensitivity of FLOR was the highest among low ability test takers and the weakest among strong ability test takers in the fixed length and fixed items tests. However, the sensitivities of FLOR became the same among different abilities of test takers if items with difficulties matching their abilities were used in the tests. The number of beneficiaries among the test takers did not affect the sensitivity of FLOR. Moreover, in a simulation to test the differentiating power of FLOR, it was found that FLOR could differentiate item pre-knowledge from other reasons of personal misfits (test anxiety, player, random response and challenger) effectively. / The present study assessed the stability of FLOR over other variables, which were unrelated to item pre-knowledge. It found that FLOR was stable over the discrimination and difficulty parameters of test items. It was also stable over positions of the exposed items in the test and the initial assignment of prior probability of item pre-knowledge. However, the asymptotes (guessing factor) and the probabilities of item exposure did affect the final values of FLOR seriously. / The present study used the hf plot to access the sensitivity of the person-fit indices. hf plot is a plot of hit rate against false alarm rate. For a higher hit rate, usually a higher false alarm rate is followed. hf plot provides a good tools for comparison between indices by inspection of the speed of rise of the curves. A sensitive index should give a faster rise of the curve. In this study, sensitivity of an index was defined as the speed of rise of the hf plot, which is represented by a parameter hftau estimated from the data obtained from hf plot. / When the frequent accesses to the item bank has become feasible, test takers may memorize blocks of test items and share these items with future test takers. Individuals with prior knowledge of some items may use that information to get high scores, in the sense that their test scores have been artificially inflated. FLOR is an index of posterior log-odds ratio used for detecting the use of item pre-knowledge. It can be applied both in the fixed item, fixed length test and the CAT environment. It is a model-based index in which aberrant models are defined in the situation of item pre-knowledge. FLOR describes the likelihood that a response pattern arises from the aberrant models. / Hui Hing-fai. / Adviser: Kit-tai Hau. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-09, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-111). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Information technology almost became the savior for Hong Kong in the process of recovering from the Asian financial crisis immediately after the Handover. The claims to establish and further the development of information technology were made against a certain perception of Hong Kong, in which the place in past decades had indulged in the wrong direction of labour-intensive, cut-throat production in the manufacturing industries and bubble-like speculation in the real-estate sector, and against a certain vision of the future, with more and more competition in the age of globalization, neo-liberal economies, and so on. This thesis demonstrates, firstly, how the governance of Hong Kong can be seen from the perspective of contingent articulations of dissimilar elements rather than any step-by-step progression along any necessary, objective historical path. Secondly through analyses of the governmental discourses and the business trajectory of Pacific-Century CyberWorks, the flagship group for Hong Kong’s “new-economy”, the thesis depicts the complexity and nexus of knowledge, governance, bureaucratic and financial considerations of and within the project of information technology in Hong Kong, and the mechanism by which this particular discourse is produced and circulated. Finally, comparing the discourse of Hong Kong’s early industralisation in the early 1950s, the thesis identifies the desire-creating workings of ideology in this particular discourse of information technology in Hong Kong. Also, through theoretical prisms, the thesis provides examples of how the government’s trumpeted notions of (and, probably, people’s faith in) laissez-faire, positive non-intervention are able to coexist in apparent harmony with the highly active participation of the Hong Kong SAR government in society and industry.