This study on parent involvement in Early Childhood Development in KwaZulu Natal investigates the experiences of educators and parents of the different types of parent and community involvement as set out in the Epstein typology. In order to investigate this phenomenon a thorough background of the theory and practice of the Epstein model has been provided. In addition the work of other researchers that support the Epstein typology of parent involvement forms an integral part of the discussions. As parent involvement is the key focus of the study, parent involvement in education before and after 1994 are discussed. In this regard relevant educational policy and legislation that are designed to increase the role of parents and the community in Early Childhood Development are highlighted. Parents' role in the provision of Early Childhood Development is explored. The provision of Early Childhood Development in KwaZulu Natal, which provides a backdrop for the investigation, is explained. In addition contextual factors that influence parent involvement in KwaZulu Natal are provided. The research methodology and the research design used in this study are described in detail. By means of a qualitative approach the experiences of a small sample of educators and parents in Early Childhood Development are explored using the six types of parent involvement that include parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home and collaborating with the community as set out in Epstein's comprehensive model. The experiences of educators and parents of Grade R learners of the six types of involvement have been included. Although all schools engage in some form of parent involvement, it is evident that not all schools involve parents in all types of parent involvement to the same extent. The study concludes with recommendations for developing strategies to involve parents more effectively in Early Childhood Development in KwaZulu Natal. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Comparative Education)

This thesis describes extensions to state machines in the Umple model-oriented programming language to offer queued state machines (QSM), pooled state machines (PSM) and handing of the arrival of unexpected events. These features allow for modeling the behavior of a system or protocol in a more accurate way in Umple because they enable detecting and fixing common design errors such as unspecified receptions. In addition, they simplify the communication between communicating state machines by allowing for asynchronous calls of events and passing of messages between state machines. Also, a pooled state machine (PSM) has been developed to provide a different policy of handling events that avoid unspecified receptions. This mechanism has similar semantics as a queued state machine, but it differs in the way of detecting unspecified receptions because it helps handling these errors. Another mechanism has been designed to use the keyword ‘unspecified’ in whatever state of a state machine the user wants to detect these errors. In this thesis, the test-driven development (TDD) process has been followed to first modify the Umple syntax to add ‘queued,’ ‘pooled,’ and ‘unspecified’ keywords to Umple state machine’s grammar; and second, to make a change to the Umple semantics in order to implement these extensions in Umple. Then, additional modifications have been made to allow for Java code generation from those types of state machines. Finally, more test cases have been written to ensure that these models are syntactically and semantically correct. In order to show the usefulness and usability of these new features, an example is shown as a case study that is modeled using the queued state machine (QSM) besides other small tests cases.

Introdução - O aconselhamento é a estratégia escolhida pela Organização Mundial da Saúde para o combate à epidemia de aids por ser um método de ajuda, apoio e prevenção. Objetivo - Analisar as características das interações aconselhador-cliente no processo da revelação do diagnóstico positivo para HIV em dois Centros de Testagem e Aconselhamento em DST e Aids do Município de São Paulo, com base na versão dos clientes e tomando por referência suas repercussões sobre os procedimentos e resultados da atividade. Métodos - Como técnica de coleta para o levantamento de dados, foi utilizada a entrevista em momento posterior ao aconselhamento pós-teste. No total, foram realizadas 20 entrevistas, sendo 14 os sujeitos de pesquisa. Todos os entrevistados eram do sexo masculino. Os critérios escolhidos para inclusão no estudo foram: ter 18 anos ou mais; ter resultado positivo no teste anti-HIV; e ter participado do processo de revelação do diagnóstico de infecção pelo HIV nos serviços pesquisados. Para organizar os dados, a autora utilizou a técnica de análise de conteúdo por entrevista e por tema, construindo categorias analíticas segundo os objetivos do estudo. Os dados foram analisados e interpretados por meio da utilização de conceitos da teoria psicanalítica de D.W.Winnicott. Resultados - Com base nos relatos, considera-se que os profissionais seguem bem o protocolo do aconselhamento, atingindo seus objetivos de: a) lidar com os sentimentos provocados pelo diagnóstico positivo para o HIV; b) dar ao cliente a oportunidade de expressar seu sofrimento e angústia; c) sustentar as dificuldades de compartilhar a notícia com familiares e parceiros; e d) tirar dúvidas sobre prevenção de DST/HIV e sobre a terapia antiretroviral. Os contextos de aconselhamento investigados caracterizaram-se pelas interações de ajuda e suporte para a maioria dos entrevistados, funcionando como realidade compartilhada e dando sustentação para seus sentimentos e preocupações. Entretanto, alguns clientes sentiram falta de espaço para discussão e de mais tempo para abordarem questões pessoais, além daquelas relacionadas à sua nova condição de portadores do HIV. Conclusões - Na versão dos clientes, os aconselhadores os acolhem, informam e apóiam em suas necessidades. A análise revelou os processos psicológicos que operaram no momento do aconselhamento pós-teste entre o sujeito de pesquisa e o aconselhador. A escuta do cliente é a condição primordial para que o ambiente de compartilhamento se instale. O estudo fornece subsídios para melhorar a qualidade deste serviço prestado à população. / Introduction - Counseling is the strategy chosen by the World Health Organization against the aids epidemic since it is a method for help, support and prevention. Objective - To analyze the characteristics of counselor-subject interactions within the process of disclosing the positive diagnosis for HIV in two STD and Aids Counseling and Testing Centers in the city of São Paulo, according to the subjects’ version and based on their repercussions of the activity's procedures and results. Methods - The technique used to gather data was the interview, performed after the counseling moment when test result was communicated. In total, 20 interviews were carried with 14 research subjects. All interviewed were men. The criteria chosen to include a subject in the research were: greater than 18 years of age; positive for HIV; and having received the positive diagnosis for HIV at the researched CTC. In order to organize the data, the author used the technique of analysis of content by interview and by theme, elaborating analytical categories based on the study objectives. The data was interpreted using the concepts of the psychoanalytical theory of D. W. Winnicott. Results - Based on the subjects’ reports, it is considered that professionals follow the protocol for counseling, reaching its objectives, which are: a) dealing with feelings caused by the diagnosis; b) providing the opportunity to the subjects to express their suffering and anxiety; c) surpassing difficulties sharing the diagnosis with their family and partners; and d) clarifying questions about STD/HIV prevention and therapy. In the investigated counseling the interactions were characterized by the support and assistance for most of the subjects, acting as a shared reality and providing support to their feelings and concerns. However, some subjects felt the need for more time to discuss their feelings and personal issues, besides the ones related to their new HIV carrier condition. Conclusions - In the subjects’ version, the counselors welcome them, provide information and support for their needs. The study revealed the psychological processes occurred during the post-test counseling between the subject and the counselor. Listening to the subject is the primary condition to establish a sharing environment. The study provides data to improve the service currently available to the population.

This study seeks to explore, using an interpretivist phenomenological approach, how humor may impact rapport, engagement, and motivation in graduate online learning environments. Through detailed qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, direct observation, and demographic survey data, emergent themes were identified that support the use of appropriate humor to create a positive online environment in which learning can take place. Evidence indicates that humor, when used purposefully and appropriately, is a valuable tool for promoting rapport and engagement amongst course members through community-building and enhanced interpersonal connections. The results of this study reveal the importance of finding common ground and shared experiences to improve the overall social and communicative culture of an online course. The results also support the idea that online instructors should make a great effort in connecting with students in online courses and must make a greater effort to appropriately engage in their online courses. Appropriate recommendations are made for practical application of humor to support pedagogy, as well as recommendations for future research on humor in educational environments.

Nous nous intéressons à l'analyse des exigences de performabilité des systèmes communicants mobiles par model checking. Nous modélisons ces systèmes à l'aide d'un formalisme de haut niveau issu du π-calcul, permettant de considérer des comportements stochastiques, temporels, déterministes, ou indéterministes. Cependant, dans le π-calcul, la primitive de communication de base des systèmes est la communication en point-à-point synchrone. Or, les systèmes mobiles, qui utilisent des réseaux sans fil, communiquent essentiellement par diffusion locale. C'est pourquoi, dans un premier temps, nous définissons la communication par diffusion dans le π-calcul, afin de mieux modéliser les systèmes que nous étudions. Nous proposons d'utiliser des versions probabilistes et stochastiques de l'algèbre que nous avons défini, pour permettre des études de performance. Nous en définissons une version temporelle permettant de considérer le temps dans les modèles. Mais l'absence d'outils d'analyse des propriétés sur des modèles spécifiés en une algèbre issue du π-calcul est un obstacle majeur à notre travail. La définition de règles de traduction en langage PRISM, nous permet de traduire nos modèles, en modèles de bas niveau supports du model checking, à savoir des chaînes de Markov à temps discret, à temps continu, des automates temporisés, ou des automates temporisés probabilistes. Nous avons choisi l'outil PRISM car, à notre connaissance, dans sa dernière version, il est le seul outil à supporter les formalismes de bas niveau que nous venons de citer, et ainsi il permet de réaliser des études de performabilité complètes. Cette façon de procéder nous permet de pallier à l'absence d'outils d'analyse pour nos modèles. Par la suite, nous appliquons ces concepts théoriques aux réseaux de capteurs sans fil mobiles. / We are interested in analyzing the performability requirements of mobile communication systems by using model checking techniques. We model these systems using a high-level formalism derived from the π-calculus, for considering stochastic, timed, deterministic or indeterministic behaviors. However, in the π-calculus, the basic communication primitive of systems is the synchronous point-to-point communication. However, mobile systems that use wireless networks, mostly communicate by local broadcast. Therefore, we first define the broadcast communication into the π-calculus, to better model the systems we study. We propose to use probabilistic and stochastic versions of the algebra we have defined to allow performance studies. We define a temporal version to consider time in the models. But the lack of tools for analyzing properties of models specified with π-calculus is a major obstacle to our work and its objectives. The definition of translation rules into the PRISM language allows us to translate our models in low-level models which can support model checking, namely discrete time, or continuous time Markov chains, timed automata, or probabilistic timed automata. We chose the PRISM model checker because, in our best knowledge, in its latest version, it is the only tool that supports the low-level formalisms that we have previously cited, and thus, makes it possible to realize complete performability studies. This approach allows us to overcome the lack of model checkers for our models. Subsequently, we apply these theoretical concepts to analyse performability of mobile wireless sensor networks.

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With the quality of our South African public education system internationally in question we need to look into supplemental ways to improve the education of our country’s children. Numerous studies have shown that parental involvement has a positive effect on student academic achievement. This study aimed to quantitatively determine the current extent and types of parental involvement in the education of their school-going children, in single-parent/guardian and two-parent/guardian households in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. This included General Education and Training (GET) and Further Education and Training (FET) levels. The method of time-space sampling was used to administer a researcher-created questionnaire ‒ based on Epstein’s (2009) framework of six types of involvement ‒ pertaining to parents/guardians in the Durban CBD. The findings of the study resulted in recommendations pertaining to: the aspects of parental involvement that elicited low levels of involvement such as significant numbers of parents from single-parent households indicating that they would attend parent days at school if they were given a choice of possible attendance days; the need to identify and support parents that are unable to participate as much as they would like to by offering transportation for school meetings or activities, including school governing body and budget meetings; and the requests from parents/guardians regarding the use of technology in the form of sms communication in helping them to stay more informed regarding the progress etc. of their child at school. / ABET and Youth Development / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

Univerzita Karlova v Praze 1. lékařská fakulta Autoreferát disertační práce Optimalizace indikací chirurgického a endovaskulárního ošetření intrakraniálních aneurysmat Anna Štekláčová 2018 2 Doktorské studijní programy v biomedicíně Univerzita Karlova v Praze a Akademie věd České republiky Obor: Neurovědy Předseda oborové rady: Prof. MUDr. Karel Šonka, DrSc. Školicí pracoviště: Neurochirurgická a neuroonkologická klinika 1. LF UK a ÚVN, Praha Školitel: Prof. MUDr. Vladimír Beneš, DrSc. Disertační práce bude nejméně pět pracovních dnů před konáním obhajoby zveřejněna k nahlížení veřejnosti v tištěné podobě na Oddělení pro vědeckou činnost a zahraniční styky Děkanátu 1. lékařské fakulty. 3 Obsah Abstrakt - Česky ..................................................................................... 4 Abstract - English ................................................................................... 5 Úvod........................................................................................................ 6 Hypotézy a cíle studie............................................................................. 6 Materiál a metody ................................................................................... 7 Výsledky...

Submitted by Natalia de Souza Gonçalves (natalia.goncalves@ufpe.br) on 2016-09-28T12:33:15Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) GustavoHPCarvalho_Doutorado_CInUFPE_2016.pdf: 1763137 bytes, checksum: aed7b3ab2f6235757818003678633c9b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-28T12:33:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) GustavoHPCarvalho_Doutorado_CInUFPE_2016.pdf: 1763137 bytes, checksum: aed7b3ab2f6235757818003678633c9b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / High trustworthiness levels are usually required when developing critical systems, and model based testing (MBT) techniques play an important role generating test cases from specification models. Concerning critical systems, these models are usually created using formal or semi-formal notations. Moreover, it is also desired to clearly and formally state the conditions necessary to guarantee that an implementation is correct with respect to its specification by means of a conformance relation, which can be used to prove that the test generation strategy is sound. Despite the benefits of MBT, those who are not familiar with the models syntax and semantics may be reluctant to adopt these formalisms. Furthermore, most of these models are not available in the very beginning of the project, when usually natural-language requirements are available. Therefore, the use of MBT is postponed. Here, we propose an MBT strategy for generating test cases from controlled naturallanguage (CNL) requirements: NAT2TEST, which refrains the user from knowing the syntax and semantics of the underlying notations, besides allowing early use of MBT via naturallanguage processing techniques; the formal and semi-formal models internally used by our strategy are automatically generated from the natural-language requirements. Our approach is tailored to data-flow reactive systems: a class of embedded systems whose inputs and outputs are always available as signals. These systems can also have timed-based behaviour, which may be discrete or continuous. The NAT2TEST strategy comprises a number of phases. Initially, the requirements are syntactically analysed according to a CNL we proposed to describe data-flow reactive systems. Then, the requirements informal semantics are characterised based on the case grammar theory. Afterwards, we derive a formal representation of the requirements considering a model of dataflow reactive systems we defined. Finally, this formal model is translated into communicating sequential processes (CSP) to provide means for generating test cases. We prove that our test generation strategy is sound with respect to our timed input-output conformance relation based on CSP: csptio. Besides CSP, we explore the generation of other target notations (SCR and IMR) from which we can generate test cases using commercial tools (T-VEC and RT-Tester, respectively). The whole process is fully automated by the NAT2TEST tool. Our strategy was evaluated considering examples from the literature, the aerospace (Embraer) and the automotive (Mercedes) industry. We analysed performance and the ability to detect defects generated via mutation. In general, our strategy outperformed the considered baseline: random testing. We also compared our strategy with relevant commercial tools. / Testes baseados em modelos (MBT) consiste em criar modelos para especificar o comportamento esperado de sistemas e, a partir destes, gerar testes que verificam se implementações possuem o nível de confiabilidade esperado. No contexto de sistemas críticos, estes modelos são normalmente (semi)formais e deseja-se uma definição precisa das condições necessárias para garantir que uma implementação é correta em relação ao modelo da especificação. Esta definição caracteriza uma relação de conformidade, que pode ser usada para provar que uma estratégia de MBT é consistente (sound). Apesar dos benefícios, aqueles sem familiaridade com a sintaxe e a semântica dos modelos empregados podem relutar em adotar estes formalismos. Aqui, propõe-se uma estratégia de MBT para gerar casos de teste a partir de linguagem natural controlada (CNL). Esta estratégia (NAT2TEST) dispensa a necessidade de conhecer a sintaxe e a semântica das notações formais utilizadas internamente, uma vez que os modelos intermediários são gerados automaticamente a partir de requisitos em linguagem natural. Esta estratégia é apropriada para sistemas reativos baseados em fluxos de dados: uma classe de sistemas embarcados cujas entradas e saídas estão sempre disponíveis como sinais. Estes sistemas também podem ter comportamento dependente do tempo (discreto ou contínuo). Na estratégia NAT2TEST, inicialmente, os requisitos são analisados sintaticamente de acordo com a CNL proposta neste trabalho para descrever sistemas reativos. Em seguida, a semântica informal dos requisitos é caracterizada utilizando a teoria de gramática de casos. Posteriormente, deriva-se uma representação formal dos requisitos considerando um modelo definido neste trabalho para sistemas reativos. Finalmente, este modelo é traduzido em uma especificação em communicating sequential processes (CSP) para permitir a geração de testes. Este trabalho prova que a estratégia de testes proposta é consistente considerando a relação de conformidade temporal baseada em entradas e saídas também definida aqui: csptio. Além de CSP, foi explorada a geração de outras notações formais (SCR e IMR), a partir das quais é possível gerar casos de teste usando ferramentas comerciais (T-VEC e RT-Tester, respectivamente). Todo o processo é automatizado pela ferramenta NAT2TEST. A estratégia NAT2TEST foi avaliada considerando exemplos da literatura, da indústria aeroespacial (Embraer) e da automotiva (Mercedes). Foram analisados o desempenho e a capacidade de detectar defeitos gerados através de operadores de mutação. Em geral, a estratégia NAT2TEST apresentou melhores resultados do que a referência adotada: testes aleatórios. A estratégia NAT2TEST também foi comparada com ferramentas comerciais relevantes.

The media dialogical networks in the communist Czechoslovakia Abstract The concept of the media dialogical networks (DN) is one of the ways to analyse mass media communication; its theoretical background is M. M. Bakhtin's theory of dialogism and H. Sacks' ethnometodological conversation analysis. The concept of DN had been developed using data collected in the 1990s in the UK and the Czech Republic while in this thesis it is applied to data originating in a different context, namely in former Czechoslovakia in 1952, 1967 and 1972. The main data source was the national daily Rudé právo [Red Justice]. The difference of the context lies both in the time distance of the target period, as well as in the then dominant tone of massmedia content. As for the aspect of time, there is a longer gap between the examined period and the present, which is also connected to a different state of development of technologies used in journalistic practice. And then, there is the fact that in the examined period the contents of mass media production were adapted to the ideological requirements of the ruling political party. The analysis deals mainly with the construction of the DN, the categorization work of actors of the DN and with the way new actors of the DN are selected. For this reason, the methods of sequential and...