This report includes a road map for developing land use regression models to describe spatial variability of air pollution concentrations within urban areas. Land use regression attempts to better estimate exposure levels for a given population by measuring pollutants at multiple sites specifically selected to capture the complete intra-urban range of its concentrations. Geographic attributes that might be associated with those concentrations are measured around each site in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Typical geographic predictor variables describe site location, surrounding land use, population density, and traffic patterns. Linear regression is used to correlate measured concentrations with the most predictive variables, and the resulting equation can be used to estimate pollutant concentrations anywhere that all of the predictors can be measured. Concentration maps with high spatial resolution can be generated by rendering the regression model in GIS.

No description available.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise propose d’étudier l’implantation systémique et durable de nouvelles politiques et pratiques d’évaluation, de notation et de communication du rendement des élèves de la maternelle à la douzième année dans la division scolaire Louis-Riel (DSL-R). Par le biais de la recherche-action, l’étude examine l’effet catalyseur de ces nouvelles politiques et d’un nouveau bulletin scolaire sur la réforme scolaire en matière de l’évaluation de l’apprentissage des élèves. Une recension des écrits permet de préciser un cadre d’analyse théorique pour la recherche-action. Cette étude cherche à comprendre comment les intervenants (les dirigeants divisionnaires, les directions des écoles et les enseignants) abordent un processus de réforme scolaire pluriannuelle qui a pour but de renouveler les processus d’évaluation, de notation et de communication du rendement des élèves. Au moyen de sondages, le chercheur analyse et interprète comment les intervenants examinent leurs croyances et améliorent leurs pratiques communes à l’égard des buts se rapportant à l’évaluation, la notation et le bulletin scolaire. L’objectif principal de cette étude est de vérifier l’hypothèse qu’une démarche pluriannuelle de réforme scolaire s’appuyant sur une période de rodage facilitera une implantation systémique de nouvelles politiques et pratiques d’évaluation, de notation et de communication du rendement des élèves. Ainsi, le changement escompté par cette recherche-action est que les intervenants, éclairés par une méthodologie, collaboreront, planifieront et agiront de façon efficace et réfléchie.

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) directly measures the ability of a person with developmental disabilities to learn basic discrimination tasks. Its ease of use, potential practical applications, and strong psychometric properties make the ABLA a valuable tool for research and training. However, despite the demonstrated usefulness of the ABLA, there still remains a portion of individuals with developmental disabilities whose discrimination skills cannot be measured. This is unfortunate, as it is important to have reliable and objective measures of basic discrimination skills for these individuals to help set appropriate objectives and design effective interventions. I evaluated whether a modified procedure, using an alternative operant (switch pressing), would improve the testability of individuals previously found to be untestable on the ABLA due to physical limitations in their motor responses. Three females with developmental and physical disabilities (aged 17, 25, and 34 years) participated in this study. All three participants were nonverbal, nonambulatory, and showed minimal physical movement. The study included two phases. In Phase 1, an alternate operant response (i.e., microswitch press) to the standard ABLA response was reliably established in an ABAB reversal-replication design for all participants. In Phase 2, the effectiveness of the alternate operant response for assessing ABLA discriminations was evaluated in a combined multiple-baseline across tasks and an ABAB reversal design. The results provided convincing evidence that the alternative operant response improved testability for all three participants. Responding on test trials improved from 0% on assessment trials when the ABLA response was used to near 100% when the switch-pressing response was used. All three participants also met the ABLA pass criterion of 8 consecutive correct responses for the visual-position discrimination task. Overall, the results of this study clearly showed that for individuals with minimal movement who are untestable on the ABLA due to limitations in motor responses an alternative operant can be used to overcome this difficulty, thereby effectively extending the utility of the ABLA.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the viability of Structural Assessment of Knowledge (SAK) as a tool for identifying alternative conceptions and for predicting domain performance in Physics. The process begins by eliciting and then representing students‘ knowledge. One of these types of knowledge is conceptual knowledge, which is important for performing procedural tasks. This thesis employs a cognitively based theoretical framework to uncover students‘ knowledge, and then represents that knowledge for analytical purposes using SAK. SAK uses the Pathfinder algorithm to empirically derive the semantic networks of the students‘ and experts‘ cognitive structures, by asking them both to rate the relatedness of pairs of physics terms. Comparing students‘ and experts‘ knowledge structures provided some support for the structural assessment theory. In particular, supporting evidence that Pathfinder networks help in predicting student‘s problem solving capabilities was attained.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise propose d’étudier l’implantation systémique et durable de nouvelles politiques et pratiques d’évaluation, de notation et de communication du rendement des élèves de la maternelle à la douzième année dans la division scolaire Louis-Riel (DSL-R). Par le biais de la recherche-action, l’étude examine l’effet catalyseur de ces nouvelles politiques et d’un nouveau bulletin scolaire sur la réforme scolaire en matière de l’évaluation de l’apprentissage des élèves. Une recension des écrits permet de préciser un cadre d’analyse théorique pour la recherche-action. Cette étude cherche à comprendre comment les intervenants (les dirigeants divisionnaires, les directions des écoles et les enseignants) abordent un processus de réforme scolaire pluriannuelle qui a pour but de renouveler les processus d’évaluation, de notation et de communication du rendement des élèves. Au moyen de sondages, le chercheur analyse et interprète comment les intervenants examinent leurs croyances et améliorent leurs pratiques communes à l’égard des buts se rapportant à l’évaluation, la notation et le bulletin scolaire. L’objectif principal de cette étude est de vérifier l’hypothèse qu’une démarche pluriannuelle de réforme scolaire s’appuyant sur une période de rodage facilitera une implantation systémique de nouvelles politiques et pratiques d’évaluation, de notation et de communication du rendement des élèves. Ainsi, le changement escompté par cette recherche-action est que les intervenants, éclairés par une méthodologie, collaboreront, planifieront et agiront de façon efficace et réfléchie.

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) directly measures the ability of a person with developmental disabilities to learn basic discrimination tasks. Its ease of use, potential practical applications, and strong psychometric properties make the ABLA a valuable tool for research and training. However, despite the demonstrated usefulness of the ABLA, there still remains a portion of individuals with developmental disabilities whose discrimination skills cannot be measured. This is unfortunate, as it is important to have reliable and objective measures of basic discrimination skills for these individuals to help set appropriate objectives and design effective interventions. I evaluated whether a modified procedure, using an alternative operant (switch pressing), would improve the testability of individuals previously found to be untestable on the ABLA due to physical limitations in their motor responses. Three females with developmental and physical disabilities (aged 17, 25, and 34 years) participated in this study. All three participants were nonverbal, nonambulatory, and showed minimal physical movement. The study included two phases. In Phase 1, an alternate operant response (i.e., microswitch press) to the standard ABLA response was reliably established in an ABAB reversal-replication design for all participants. In Phase 2, the effectiveness of the alternate operant response for assessing ABLA discriminations was evaluated in a combined multiple-baseline across tasks and an ABAB reversal design. The results provided convincing evidence that the alternative operant response improved testability for all three participants. Responding on test trials improved from 0% on assessment trials when the ABLA response was used to near 100% when the switch-pressing response was used. All three participants also met the ABLA pass criterion of 8 consecutive correct responses for the visual-position discrimination task. Overall, the results of this study clearly showed that for individuals with minimal movement who are untestable on the ABLA due to limitations in motor responses an alternative operant can be used to overcome this difficulty, thereby effectively extending the utility of the ABLA.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1985. / Bibliography: leaves 160-164. / Photocopy. / xii, 164 leaves, bound 29 cm

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Carlyle, W. Matthew. "September 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on November 04, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Network analysis for critical infrastructure. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-32). Also available in print.