University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Computer and Information Science

Eine steigende Anzahl Beschäftigter ist im Berufsalltag mobil. Zur Erbringung von Dienstleistungen und zum Zwecke von Geschäftsreisen führen Mitarbeiter regelmäßig Fahrten mit dem Motorisierten Individualverkehr durch. Der so entstehende Personenwirtschaftsverkehr belastet vor allem in den hochverdichteten Innenstadtbereichen die Infrastruktur, die Umwelt und die Gesellschaft. In der deutschen wie in der internationalen Forschung ist trotz seiner Relevanz wenig darüber bekannt, wie sich der Personenwirtschaftsverkehr im Straßenraum manifestiert und welche Faktoren das Verkehrsverhalten bestimmen. Die vorliegende Dissertationsschrift nutzt zwei empirische Datensätze um die Kenntnislücken zum Personenwirtschaftsverkehr zu schließen, die Studie ‚Kraftfahrzeugverkehr in Deutschland, KiD 2002‘ und die ‚Dienstleistungsverkehrsstudie, DLVS‘. Die neuen Erkenntnisse ermöglichen eine verbesserte Modellierung des (Personen-)Wirtschaftsverkehrs und erleichtern die Planung und Lenkung kommunaler (städtischer) Verkehre. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen, dass zwischen vier charakteristischen Verkehrsverhalten unterschieden werden kann. Im Rahmen des Personenwirtschaftsverkehrs gibt es sowohl Tourenmuster, die sich durch wenige Stopps und eine geringe Verkehrsleistung auszeichnen als auch Fahrzeuge, die zahlreiche Ziele am Tag ansteuern und eine hohe Verkehrsbeteiligung aufweisen. Die statistischen Analysen belegen außerdem, dass sich die Tourenmuster von Fahrzeugen unterscheiden, die entweder ausschließlich dienstlich oder aber auch privat eingesetzt werden dürfen. Die Berechnung von multivariaten Regressionsmodellen beweist, dass sowohl interne Strukturfaktoren und interne Prozessfaktoren als auch externe Strukturfaktoren und externe Prozessfaktoren eine Rolle beim Verkehrsverhalten spielen. Das bedeutet, die unternehmensbezogenen Faktoren, vor allem aber die Unternehmensstrukturen, sind mit ausschlaggebend dafür, welches der vier Verkehrsverhalten Firmenfahrzeuge aufweisen. / More and more employees are mobile during working hours. To provide services and for business trips, employees use motor vehicles regularly. The emerging service-related traffic burdens the infrastructure, the environment and the society, particularly in high density urban areas. Despite its relevance there is little German and international research on travel behavior of service-related traffic. Even less is known about what factors might influence tour characteristics of service-related traffic. To close this gap of knowledge this dissertation utilizes two data sets for empirical research, ‘Kraftfahrzeugverkehr in Deutschland, KiD 2002’ (‘Motor Vehicle Traffic in Germany’) and ‘Service-Related Traffic’. The findings allow enhanced commercial transport- and service-related traffic modeling and facilitate urban transport planning and direction. The empirical results show that four typical travel patterns can be differentiated. Against the background of service-related traffic there are on the one hand vehicles which are characterized by only a few stops and little road performance per day. On the other hand many cars visit numerous customers and participate a lot in traffic. Statistical analyses also prove that travel patterns differ, depending on an exclusive business or a permitted private use of corporate vehicles. The calculation of multivariate regression models shows that four corporate factor groups, namely internal structures and internal processes as well as external structures and external processes, play a role in travel behavior. This means that company-related factors, especially corporate structure, are decisive for corporate vehicles’ travel patterns.

Objetivou-se, com este trabalho, estudar os métodos hierárquicos de análise de agrupamentos (ligação simples, ligação completa, ligação média, centróide e de Ward com base nas distâncias Euclidiana, Euclidiana ao quadrado, Manhattan e Mahalanobis), de modo a identificar qual é o mais adequado para uma base de dados arqueológicos. Utilizou-se uma base de dados fornecida pelo Grupo de Estudos Arqueométricos do IPEN CNEN/SP, na qual foram analisadas 146 amostras de fragmentos cerâmicos de três sítios arqueológicos por análise por ativação com nêutrons instrumental, sendo determinadas as frações de massa de 24 elementos químicos: As, Ba, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Lu, Na, Nd, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb e Zn. Para a determinação do melhor método, foram avaliados os dendrogramas conjuntamente com o valor dos coeficientes de correlação cofenética (CCC), obtidos para cada método. O método da ligação média mostrou-se mais coerente na formação dos agrupamentos, apresentando também os maiores valores do CCC. Por último, um script com funções do programa estatístico R foi desenvolvido para calcular o CCC, com o intuito de auxiliar os pesquisadores a encontrar o método de agrupamento mais apropriado para sua base de dados. / The objective of this work was to study the hierarchical methods of cluster analysis (single linkage, complete linkage, average linkage, centroid and Ward with base in the Euclidean distance, Squared Euclidean distance, Manhattan and Mahalanobis) to identify which is the most appropriate in archaeological data set. It was used a data set provided by the Archaeometry Studies Group from IPEN CNEN/SP in which 146 samples of ceramic fragments from three archaeological sites analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis, being determined the mass fractions of 24 chemical elements: As, Ba, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Lu, Na, Nd, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb and Zn. For the determination of the best method, it was evaluated the dendrograms together with value of the cophenetic correlation coefficient (CCC) obtained for each method. The average linkage method was more coherent in formation of the clusters, and with higher CCC values. Finally, a script with functions of the R statistical software was developed to calculate the CCC with aim to be a tool for researchers find the most appropriate method of cluster analysis for their data set.

Cânceres de pele não melanoma (CPNM) representam 95% das neoplasias cutâneas, dentre as quais o carcinoma espinocelular (CEC) é a forma mais agressiva devido a seu padrão de crescimento invasivo e possivelmente metastático. O padrão ouro para o diagnóstico é o exame clínico e avaliação histopatológica, que são subjetivos e dependem da experiência do médico e patologista envolvidos no procedimento. Considerando que o diagnóstico precoce é fundamental para alcançar um tratamento com resultados favoráveis, o presente trabalho utilizou a espectroscopia FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) para avaliar as alterações bioquímicas em pele normal causadas por lesões neoplásicas precursoras de carcinoma espinocelular. Para isto, as lesões foram induzidas quimicamente no dorso de camundongos Swiss via aplicação tópica de 9,10-dimetil-1,2-benzantraceno (DMBA) e 12-tetradecanoforbol-13-acetato (TPA) por um período de 28 semanas. Os espectros de absorção no infravermelho por transformada de Fourier foram coletados na região do infravermelho médio (4000-400 cm-1) no modo de reflexão total atenuada (ATR) e pré-processados para análise posterior. Considerou-se a amplitude da segunda derivada dos espectros de absorção como critério de comparação entre os grupos, nos quais foi observado redução de fibras colágenas e glicogênio no tecido neoplásico, assim como o aumento na intensidade de absorção de modos vibracionais associados a ácidos nucleicos e conteúdo proteico. A técnica de análise por agrupamento (HCA) foi utilizada para classificação dos espectros de tecidos normal e neoplásico, na qual obteve-se 92,6% de acurácia na discriminação dos dados. Diante disso, conclui-se que a espectroscopia FTIR associada a análise por agrupamento apresenta-se como uma potencial ferramenta para complementar a análise histopatológica na rotina clínica durante o diagnóstico de carcinoma espinocelular. / Nonmelanoma skin cancers represent 95% of cutaneous neoplasms, which squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the more aggressive form due to its invasive growth pattern and potentially metastatic. Histopathologycal analysis and clinical exam are the gold standard for diagnosis, which are subjective and depend on the experience of the physician and pathologist involved in the procedure. Considering that early diagnosis has fundamental importance to achieving a treatment with favorable results, this study used FTIR spectroscopy (Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy) to assess the biochemical changes in normal skin caused by neoplastic lesions precursors of squamous cell carcinoma. For this, the lesions were chemically induced in the back of Swiss mice by topical application of 9,10- dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene (DMBA) and 12 tetradecanoforbol-13-acetate (TPA) for a 28- week period. Fourier transform infrared spectra from normal and neoplastic tissue were collected in the mid-infrared region (4000-400 cm-1) using attenuated total reflection (ATR) sampling mode and pre-processed for group comparison. The amplitude of second derivative was considered as criteria for group comparison, which showed a reduction of collagen fibers and glycogen content in the neoplastic tissue, as well as increasing in the vibrational modes associated with nucleic acids and protein content. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was used for classification of spectra from neoplastic and normal tissue and obtained an accuracy of 92,6% sorting the data. In this sense, we conclude that FTIR spectroscopy associated with HCA presents as a potential tool for complementary histopathological analysis in the clinical diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma.

The concept of a hub airport has evolved widening its scope as a national civil aviation policy-making tool, due to the ability to deliver wider socio-economic benefits to a country. However, not all airports can be converted into hubs. This research proposes a methodological approach to structural analysis of the airport industry, that could be applied to determine the competitive position of an airport in a given aviation network and devise airport strategies and national policy measures to improve the current position of the airport. This study presents a twelve-group taxonomy of airports, which analyses the changing geography of the airport industry in the East (Asia and The Middle East). Multivariate data have been used in a two-step Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering exercise which represents three airport strategies: namely, degree-of-airport-activity (size and intensity of operations), network strategies (international and domestic hub), and the market segmentation strategies (service and destination orientation). Principal Component Analysis has been utilised as a data reduction tool. The study confirms the general hypothesis that a sound macro environment and liberalised approach to economic regulation in the air transport industry are important for successful hub operations. In addition, it sheds light on the fact that while the factors of geographical advantage, economic development, urbanisation, tourism and business attractiveness, physical and intellectual infrastructure, and political and administrative frameworks, are all basic prerequisites (qualifiers) for successful hubbing in the region, those factors would not necessarily guarantee a hub status unless the governments are also committed to develop the sector and take timely decisions (differentiators) to allow airports to benefit from the first mover advantage. Application of the proposed taxonomy was tested on a case study of the major international airport of Sri Lanka, to provide policy inputs to develop the airport that is currently identified as being overshadowed by the mega hubs in the region.

A semeadora manual é uma ferramenta que, ainda nos dias de hoje, exerce um papel importante em diversos países do mundo que praticam a agricultura familiar e de conservação. Sua utilização é de grande importância devido a minimização do distúrbio do solo, exigências de trabalho no campo, maior produtividade sustentável entre outros fatores. De modo a avaliar e/ou comparar as semeadoras manuais existentes no mercado, diversos trabalhos têm sido realizados, porém considerando somente medidas de posição e dispersão. Neste trabalho é utilizada, como alternativa, uma metodologia para a comparação dos desempenhos das semeadoras manuais. Neste caso, estimou-se as probabilidades associadas a cada categoria de resposta e testou-se a hipótese de que essas probabilidades não variam para as semeadoras quando comparadas duas a duas, utilizando o teste da razão das verossimilhanças e o fator de Bayes nos paradigmas clássico e bayesiano, respectivamente. Por fim, as semeadoras foram agrupadas considerando, como medida de distância, a medida de divergência J-divergência na análise de agrupamento. Como ilustração da metodologia apresentada, são considerados os dados para a comparação de quinze semeadoras manuais de diferentes fabricantes analisados por Molin, Menegatti e Gimenez (2001) em que as semeadoras foram reguladas para depositarem exatamente duas sementes por golpe. Inicialmente, na abordagem clássica, foram comparadas as semeadoras que não possuíam valores nulos nas categorias de resposta, sendo as semeadoras 3, 8 e 14 as que apresentaram melhores comportamentos. Posteriormente, todas as semeadoras foram comparadas duas a duas, agrupando-se as categorias e adicionando as contantes 0,5 ou 1 à cada categoria de resposta. Ao agrupar categorias foi difícil a tomada de conclusões pelo teste da razão de verossimilhanças, evidenciando somente o fato da semeadora 15 ser diferente das demais. Adicionando 0,5 ou 1 à cada categoria não obteve-se, aparentemente, a formação de grupos distintos, como a semeadora 1 pelo teste diferiu das demais e apresentou maior frequência no depósito de duas sementes, o exigido pelo experimento agronômico, foi a recomendada neste trabalho. Na abordagem bayesiana, utilizou-se o fator de Bayes para comparar as semeadoras duas a duas, no entanto as conclusões foram semelhantes às obtidas na abordagem clássica. Finalmente, na análise de agrupamento foi possível uma melhor visualização dos grupos de semeadoras semelhantes entre si em ambas as abordagens, reafirmando os resultados obtidos anteriormente. / The manual planter is a tool that today still has an important role in several countries around the world, which practices family and conservation agriculture. The use of it has importance due to minimizing soil disturbance, labor requirements in the field, most sustainable productivity and other factors. In order to analyze and/or compare the commercial manual planters, several studies have been conducted, but considering only position and dispersion measures. This work presents an alternatively method for comparing the performance of manual planters. In this case, the probabilities associated with each category of response has estimated and the hypothesis that these probabilities not vary for planters when compared in pairs evaluated using the likelihood ratio test and Bayes factor in the classical and bayesian paradigms, respectively. Finally, the planters were grouped considering as a measure of distance, the divergence measure J-divergence in the cluster analysis. As an illustration of this methodology, the data from fifteen manual planters adjusted to deposit exactly two seeds per hit of different manufacturers analyzed by Molin, Menegatti and Gimenez (2001) were considered. Initially, in the classical approach, the planters without zero values in response categories were compared and the planters 3, 8 and 14 presents the better behavior. After, all the planters were compared in pairs, grouping categories and adding the constants 0,5 or 1 for each response category. Grouping categories was difficult making conclusions by the likelihood ratio test, only highlighting the fact that the planter 15 is different from others. Adding 0,5 or 1 for each category, apparently not obtained the formation of different groups, such as planter 1 which by the test differed from the others and presented more frequently the deposit of two seeds, required by agronomic experiment and recommended in this work. In the Bayesian approach, the Bayes factor was used to compare the planters in pairs, but the findings were similar to those obtained in the classical approach. Finally, the cluster analysis allowed a better idea of similar planters groups with each other in the both approaches, confirming the results obtained previously.

Sur le marché mondial de la gestion collective, la France occupe la deuxième place en termes du nombre de fonds et du montant d’actifs nets gérés. Malgré le rôle important des OPCVM obligataires dans la diversification des portefeuilles, ils sont néanmoins peu étudiés par rapport aux fonds actions. Notre recherche étudie la performance des fonds obligataires français sur une période de 20 ans, entre 1988 et 2007. Elle s’articule sur quatre chapitres. Le premier présente le panorama du développement des différentes catégories de fonds obligataires et leur couple risque / rentabilité.Le chapitre 2 construit un échantillon de 81 fonds grâces aux données généreusement fournies par la société Morningstar France. Après avoir testé l’homogénéité des distributions de rentabilités des fonds obligataires, on constate que les sous-catégories d’un même horizon de placement ont une distribution statistiquement identique. Ce qui permet de regrouper les fonds en trois catégories selon leur maturité : Long Terme, Moyen Terme et Court Terme. Le chapitre suivant se penche sur la non normalité des distributions de rentabilités (avec le test Jarque-Bera) et la recherche de l’origine de ce phénomène. Il y a absence de l’effet du mois de janvier ; les rentabilités sont non stationnaires et auto-corrélées. Les deux méthodes de correction pour auto-corrélation des rentabilités entrainent une augmentation du risque sans modifier la rentabilité moyenne ; mais ne modifient pas le classement des fonds. Le dernier chapitre est consacré à l’évaluation de la performance des fonds obligataires.Les douze mesures les plus utilisées par les professionnels conduisent à des classements des fonds quasiment identiques et à se demander si le ratio de Sharpe n’est pas finalement la seule mesure à utiliser. Sans aller jusque-là, la méthode de la « classification hiérarchique ascendante » (empruntée à la technique du marketing) permet de réduire à quatre les mesures de performance sans perte d’informations sur le classement des fonds entre eux. Ce chapitre confirme également la présence de la persistance de la performance à l’instar de certaines études anglo-saxonnes sur cette question. / At the world level, the French sector of mutual funds is the second for the number of fundsand the amount of net assets managed. Curiously enough regarding its size, the French bond fundshave been « forgotten » by the researchers and the present thesis seems to be the first one on thissubject. It studies their performances over a 20-year period (from January 1988 to December 2007)with the help of four chapters. The first one is a survey of that sector development and measures thereturn/risk ratio for the different kinds of bond funds. Chapter two presents the 81-funds samplegraciously given by Morningstar France. The analysis of the returns distributions shows that thedifferent funds with and without income distribution with the same maturity have the same statisticaldistribution; it enables to group the funds according to their maturity, namely Long Term, Middle Termand Short Term. Chapter three analyses the non-normality of distributions with the Jarque-Bera testand tries to find the origin of this phenomenon. There is no January effect but returns are nonstationaryand auto-correlated. The two correcting methods for that auto-correlation lead to anincrease of the measured risk without changing the average return and the funds rankings are notmodified. The last chapter deals with the performance measurement of these bond funds. The twelvemeasures most used by professionals give almost the same funds rankings. One can wonder if theSharpe ratio is not the unique relevant measure to use. A technique borrowed from the marketingscience called «cluster analysis» enables to reduce the twelve measures to only four without losinginformation on the funds rankings. This chapter also shows that the performance is persistent, resultalso found by some American researches on this question.

Introdução: A Organização Mundial da Saúde sugere que as recomendações alimentares para populações devem basear-se em alimentos ao invés de nutrientes. No entanto, devem levar em consideração, que os indivíduos não consomem nutrientes ou alimentos isoladamente e sim refeições compostas por uma variedade de alimentos. Objetivo: Identificar os padrões alimentares do café da manhã, almoço e jantar da população adulta e idosa do município de São Paulo e caracterizá-los de acordo com variáveis socioeconômicas, demográficas e antropométricas. Métodos: Foram utilizados dados secundários do estudo transversal de base populacional ISA-Capital 2008 de adultos e idosos (n=1102). O consumo alimentar foi estimado pelo Multiple Source Method considerando dois recordatórios de 24 horas. A partir dos grupos de alimentos de cada refeição aplicou-se análise fatorial por componentes principais (rotação varimax) para derivar os padrões alimentares. Calcularam-se os escores fatoriais, que foram então utilizados para agrupar os indivíduos através da análise de agrupamento. Adicionou-se um grupo com os indivíduos que não realizaram a refeição para cada uma das análises. Os grupos foram caracterizados segundo sexo, faixa etária, renda familiar per capita e estado nutricional. Admitiu-se nível de significância de 0,05 e para caracterização dos grupos considerou-se uma diferença de escore padronizado em pelo menos |0,5| com relação à amostra geral. Resultados: Identificou-se prevalência de 5,6 por cento de omissão do café da manhã, 3,6 por cento do almoço e 12,8 por cento do jantar. Quanto aos que realizaram as refeições, identificaram-se três padrões do Café da Manhã: Saudável, Tradicional e Lanche; quatro padrões do Almoço: Tradicional, Salada, Suco Adoçado e Ocidental; e quatro padrões do Jantar: Café com Leite e Pão, Transição, Tradicional e Sopa e Frutas. Os grupos de indivíduos associados a idosos apresentaram aderência ao café da manhã Saudável, almoço Salada e jantar Sopas e Frutas. Aqueles associados a homens e adultos em geral omitiram o café da manhã e aderiram ao almoço Ocidental e jantar Transição. Os grupos associados a apenas homens aderiram a café da manhã e almoço Tradicional. Aqueles associados a somente adultos apresentaram aderência ao almoço Suco Adoçado. E associados a mulheres aderiram a um jantar Café com Leite e Pão. Grupos associados à baixa escolaridade aderiram a um jantar Sopa e Frutas, e os de escolaridade elevada aderiram a café da manhã Lanche e Omissão do mesmo; e padrão de almoço ocidental. Grupos associados com indivíduos de baixa renda aderiram ao almoço tradicional. Conclusão: Os resultados encontrados no presente estudo indicam que padrões alimentares identificados de acordo com a refeição discriminam bem o consumo alimentar, salientando peculiaridades que não são encontradas em análises globais. E a associação entre a aderência a esses padrões e fatores demográficos e socioeconômicos sugere a existência de públicos-alvo para o planejamento e execução de políticas públicas em alimentação e nutrição. / Introduction: The World Health Organization suggests that dietary recommendations for populations should be based on foods rather than nutrients. However, individuals do not consume foods or nutrients in isolation but meals with variety of foods. Objective: To identify dietary patterns from breakfast, lunch and dinner of the adult and elderly population in São Paulo and characterize them according to socioeconomic, demographic and anthropometric variables. Methods: Data from cross-sectional population-based ISA Capital 2008 of adults and elderly (n = 1102) was used. Dietary intake was estimated by Multiple Source Method considering two 24-hour recalls. Principal component factor analysis (varimax rotation) was used to derive dietary patterns for each meal. Factor scores were calculated and then used in the cluster analysis. Individuals that skipped the meal were added as an extra cluster. The groups were characterized by gender, age, family income and nutritional status. Significance level of 0.05 was assumed for the groups characterization it was considered a difference of standardized score of at least | 0.5 | with respect to the overall sample. Results: We found omission prevalence of 5.6 per cent for breakfast, 3.6 per cent for lunch and 12.8 per cent for dinner. Three patterns of breakfast were identified: Healthy, Traditional and Snack; four patterns to lunch: Traditional, Salad, Sweetened Juice and Western; and four patterns to dinner: Coffee with Milk and Bread, Transitional, Traditional and Soup and Fruits. The groups of individuals associated with the elderly showed adherence to Healthy breakfast, Salad lunch and Soups and Fruit dinner. The groups that were associated with adult and men skipped breakfast and adhered to the Western lunch and Transition dinner. The groups associated with only men showed adherence to Traditional breakfast and lunch. The groups associated with only adults showed adherence to Sweetened Juice lunch. The groups associated with women showed adherence with Coffee with Milk and Bread dinner. The groups associated with low education adhered to Soup and Fruits dinner, and the groups associated with high school skipped breakfast and they adhered to Snack breakfast and Western breakfast. Groups associated with low-income individuals adhered to Traditional lunch. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that dietary patterns identified by meal discriminated food consumption very well, highlighting peculiarities that a global analysis cannot show. And the adherence to meal patterns associated with socioeconomic and demographic factors suggest there is evidence of risk groups and possible public policies related to health diet.

<p>As pedagogical innovations continue to be developed and adopted in engineering education, it is important to understand how these innovations affect the students’ experiences and achievements. A common data analysis practice when evaluating educational innovations is to aggregate the data from all of the students together. However, this data aggregation inherently biases the results toward the characteristics of the dominant student group, leaving the experiences of minority groups largely unexplored. In this dissertation, I investigate the students’ experiences and achievements in an undergraduate dynamics course, and I intentionally use analysis methods that disaggregate the data to better understand the behaviors and performance of smaller subgroups of students, not just the majority.</p> <p> This dissertation presents three studies that examine: 1) the validity, reliability, and fairness of a standardized set of conceptual questions on the final exam, with a focus on gender fairness, 2) how and why the students use the available resources, and 3) how the students’ holistic resource usage patterns relate to their academic achievement. My motivation for choosing these studies was that conceptual assessments and customized resources are two key components of the learning environment for the dynamics course. However, the quality of the conceptual exam questions used for the course had yet to be evaluated. Similarly, the learning environment for the course incorporates many customized resources, including a custom-written “lecturebook” (a hybrid of a textbook and a workbook) and an extensive online library of videos, but little was known about how the students used these resources, or how the students’ pattern of resource usage related to their performance in the course. </p> <p> The first study in this dissertation used multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis to investigate item-level gender bias in a 12-item Abbreviated Dynamics Concept Inventory (aDCI), which was a set of standardized conceptual questions included on the final exam. The results suggested that two items were slightly biased against women, with stereotypically-masculine contexts and content as possible sources of the bias. The bias in the aDCI items likely unfairly lowered some women’s final exam scores, highlighting the need for engineering educators to consider the fairness of their assessments.</p> <p> The second study used a cluster analysis of survey responses to identify nine archetypical patterns of resource usage, all of which differed from the average resource-usage pattern of the aggregated sample. An analysis of forty-four student interviews, organized by resource-usage cluster, determined that students exhibited their resource-usage behaviors largely because of how they perceived the resource’s availability, accessibility, and quality. The results illustrate that there is no “typical” way in which the students used the resources, so it is important for instructors to consider a wide array of usage behaviors when designing a course’s learning environment and resources.</p> <p> The third study utilized a multiple regression analysis to find that <i>on average</i> a student’s resource-usage pattern is not related to their achievement when controlling for many other demographic, cognitive, and non-cognitive factors that can affect resource usage and performance. However, two individual resource-usage patterns were significantly related to achievement. Students who primarily used their lecturebook and their peers for support performed better than their similar peers in other resource-usage clusters. Conversely, students who rarely used their lecturebook had lower course grades than their peers. Drawing from the results of the second study, general study-habit suggestions for the students in the course were extracted from the qualitative themes found in the interviews of the students in these two clusters.</p> <p> Overall, the results of these three studies highlight how the experiences and achievements of smaller groups of students would go unnoticed if analytical methods that only utilized aggregated data were used. While the setting of this research is specific to the assessments and resources of a given dynamics course, the methods used to disaggregate the data to gain insights about different subgroups of students are applicable to many engineering education contexts. My hope is that this work inspires more researchers to consider the experiences of all students, not just those of the majority.</p>

Lu Yang. / Thesis submitted in: November 2004. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-103). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Our Contributions --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Thesis Outline --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- Background Study --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- MPEG-7 Introduction --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Image Analysis in CBIR Systems --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Color Information --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Color Layout --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Texture Information --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Shape Information --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- CBIR Systems --- p.26 / Chapter 2.3 --- Image Processing in JPEG Frequency Domain --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4 --- Photo Album Clustering --- p.33 / Chapter 3 --- Feature Extraction and Similarity Analysis --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1 --- Feature Set in Frequency Domain --- p.38 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- JPEG Frequency Data --- p.39 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Our Feature Set --- p.42 / Chapter 3.2 --- Digital Photo Similarity Analysis --- p.43 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Energy Histogram --- p.43 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Photo Distance --- p.45 / Chapter 4 --- 1-Dimensional Photo Album Management Techniques --- p.49 / Chapter 4.1 --- Photo Album Sorting --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2 --- Photo Album Clustering --- p.52 / Chapter 4.3 --- Photo Album Compression --- p.56 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Variable IBP frames --- p.56 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Adaptive Search Window --- p.57 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Compression Flow --- p.59 / Chapter 4.4 --- Experiments and Performance Evaluations --- p.60 / Chapter 5 --- High Dimensional Photo Clustering --- p.67 / Chapter 5.1 --- Traditional Clustering Techniques --- p.67 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Hierarchical Clustering --- p.68 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Traditional K-means --- p.71 / Chapter 5.2 --- Multidimensional Scaling --- p.74 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Introduction --- p.75 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Classical Scaling --- p.77 / Chapter 5.3 --- Our Interactive MDS-based Clustering --- p.80 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Principal Coordinates from MDS --- p.81 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Clustering Scheme --- p.82 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Layout Scheme --- p.84 / Chapter 5.4 --- Experiments and Results --- p.87 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusions --- p.94 / Bibliography --- p.96