abstract: Inner city high schools today are struggling to create and maintain connections between students' values and schools requirements. Schools attempt to develop ways to help students become a vital part of the school community and provide them with resources to be successful both socially and academically. This study examined how an urban high school in the southwest implemented an academic advisory program to build and maintain the student/school relationship along with hoping to provide the resources to help increase student achievement in core academic programs. Research has identified the importance relationships have on academic achievement and the strong bonds that need to be developed with students and those there to support them. Previous attempts to provide students with the academic support through traditional tutoring in after-school programs have not proven to be successful in providing support students need. These after school tutoring programs have multiple challenges including being voluntary and students having other commitments they are involved with. Incorporating academic advisory programs during the school day is an attempt to overcome these challenges that are experienced with other programs. Using math and English course letter grade distribution comparisons were made to determine if changes in academic achievement occurred after implementation of academic advisory, whether participation in the program for more than one year made a difference on student academic achievement, and finally if academic advisory had any different effect on students that are high, middle, or low achieving. This study could not identify and specific correlation between the academic advisory program and academic achievement. When looking at letter grade distribution data from before implementation and after implementation similar growths and declines are seen with no identifiable trends during the program implementation. Consideration needs to be taken for the limitations identified and the school may want to conduct further review by addressing the limitations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2014

Thesis (M. P. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Physical inactivity, a phenomenon on the rise in numerous countries, has gained global attention because of its negative effects on humans' physical wellness. It represents a stumbling block in the way of living a healthy lifestyle. Recent statistics of World Health Organization (WHO) ranked physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factors for adults' mortality all over the world [1]. Also, physical inactivity is considered as one of the most prominent contributing factors in several severe diseases such as breast and colon cancer, diabetes and many heart- related diseases [1]. Therefore, improving daily physical activity levels is an urgent societal goal in order to tackle the physical inactivity problem. Achieving such challenging goal requires addressing the factors that affect adults’ physical activity. In fact, there are many factors that lead to physical inactivity such as the busy lifestyle, lack of awareness regarding required physical activity levels and other environmental factors. Physical activity advisory systems can be seen as a promising solution for the inactivity problem. In order to enhance their effectiveness, these systems must take into account most of the factors previously mentioned. In this thesis, we aim to provide a method to promote the increase of daily physical activity levels by leveraging biofeedback and context awareness features. In order to achieve this purpose, we design and develop an algorithm that provides a user with personalized physical activity advice. This advice increases the user's awareness through the use of calories expenditure. To add a context awareness component to our algorithm, we propose an extension of the Ubiquitous Biofeedback (UB) Model [2]. We believe that combining the biofeedback feature with context awareness component would make the system sensitive to the user’s status and thus increase the chances of her or him following it. This advice represents the daily-recommended amount of physical activity for maintaining healthy lifestyle according to [3, 4]and other international organizations' recommendations. In order to prove the concept of the proposed algorithm and extended UB Model, we design and develop a system called "CAB". It is a context aware biofeedback system that tracks user's physical movement and estimates the amount of calories burnt to provide the user with a personalized physical activity advice that considers user's current status, preferences and surrounding environmental context. The system utilizes a biofeedback sensor and a smart phone in order to provide the personalized advice that is delivered to the user in a form of multiple-mode feedback/notification (text, audio and haptic). In this thesis, we provide detailed information about the design requirements, the design model, the proposed system and its related hardware components and software modules. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the developed system CAB shows a positive impact on the experiment sample group by motivating the participants to reach or exceed the recommended number of calories to be burned daily for most of the evaluation days.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Köln.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1958. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 300-302).

Physical inactivity, a phenomenon on the rise in numerous countries, has gained global attention because of its negative effects on humans' physical wellness. It represents a stumbling block in the way of living a healthy lifestyle. Recent statistics of World Health Organization (WHO) ranked physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factors for adults' mortality all over the world [1]. Also, physical inactivity is considered as one of the most prominent contributing factors in several severe diseases such as breast and colon cancer, diabetes and many heart- related diseases [1]. Therefore, improving daily physical activity levels is an urgent societal goal in order to tackle the physical inactivity problem. Achieving such challenging goal requires addressing the factors that affect adults’ physical activity. In fact, there are many factors that lead to physical inactivity such as the busy lifestyle, lack of awareness regarding required physical activity levels and other environmental factors. Physical activity advisory systems can be seen as a promising solution for the inactivity problem. In order to enhance their effectiveness, these systems must take into account most of the factors previously mentioned. In this thesis, we aim to provide a method to promote the increase of daily physical activity levels by leveraging biofeedback and context awareness features. In order to achieve this purpose, we design and develop an algorithm that provides a user with personalized physical activity advice. This advice increases the user's awareness through the use of calories expenditure. To add a context awareness component to our algorithm, we propose an extension of the Ubiquitous Biofeedback (UB) Model [2]. We believe that combining the biofeedback feature with context awareness component would make the system sensitive to the user’s status and thus increase the chances of her or him following it. This advice represents the daily-recommended amount of physical activity for maintaining healthy lifestyle according to [3, 4]and other international organizations' recommendations. In order to prove the concept of the proposed algorithm and extended UB Model, we design and develop a system called "CAB". It is a context aware biofeedback system that tracks user's physical movement and estimates the amount of calories burnt to provide the user with a personalized physical activity advice that considers user's current status, preferences and surrounding environmental context. The system utilizes a biofeedback sensor and a smart phone in order to provide the personalized advice that is delivered to the user in a form of multiple-mode feedback/notification (text, audio and haptic). In this thesis, we provide detailed information about the design requirements, the design model, the proposed system and its related hardware components and software modules. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the developed system CAB shows a positive impact on the experiment sample group by motivating the participants to reach or exceed the recommended number of calories to be burned daily for most of the evaluation days.

The diploma thesis is focused on digitalization of investment advisory. Thesis deals with implementation of automated advisory in Czech conditions. The first part consists of definition of investment advisory from the point of investment theory. There are also introduced current conditions of investment activity, investment knowledge and advisory in the terms of Czech market. The second part is dedicated to analysis of robo-advisory abroad. The last part of this thesis contains identification of main risks, options and possible benefits of implementation of automated investment advisory in the Czech Republic.

No description available.

This study sought to determine and evaluate the effectiveness of the Leadership Advisory Board structure and its membership at meeting the needs of Visioning and Advocacy for Texas AgriLife Extension Service. The research was conducted with the members of the Leadership Advisory Boards in 48 counties in Texas, with a selection based upon distribution of counties across all Extension categories roughly equal to the percentage of each category currently present in the State. The primary purpose was to determine the self perception of members of their ability to serve as advocates and as a visionary organization to help Extension identify and validate the issues important to the residents of their county. A secondary purpose was to identify the benefits, concerns and solutions that can assist Texas AgriLife Extension in strengthening the organizational structure and methods associated with these Boards across the State. Five research questions were examined by the researcher. These questions were, 1. What is the competency level of the Leadership Advisory Board members on the pertinent issues in the county?, 2. Do members of the Leadership Advisory Boards understand the Land-Grant system and the Extension Service?, 3. Do members of the Leadership Advisory Board feel that their ideas lead to programs?, 4. Do members of the Leadership Advisory Board assist with interpreting program impacts to key stakeholders and decision makers?, 5. What benefits are Leadership Advisory Board members receiving from their involvement on the Board? The sample population included 490 Leadership Advisory Board members, with 236 of these participating in the survey. The instrument utilized was a seven page survey with 26 perception statements on a likert-type scale, six true or false questions to measure knowledge of the Land-Grant system, three open-ended questions for qualitative analysis, and 10 demographic questions to describe and categorize the respondents. The results included 10 significant findings, which led to 7 recommendations for Extension related to the Leadership Advisory Board, and 5 areas of further research.