Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-105). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon Graduate Center, 1987.

The emergence of tools that support fast and easy creation of visualizations has made the benefits of Information Visualization (InfoVis) more accessible. The predominant design for visualization authoring tools often includes features such as automated mappings and visualization templates, which make tools effective and easy-to-use. These features, however, still impose barriers to non-experts (i.e., people with no formal training on visualization concepts). The paradigm of Constructive Visualization (ConstructiveVis) has shown potential to overcome some of these barriers, but it has only been investigated through the use of physical tokens that people manipulate to create representations of data. This dissertation investigates how the principles of ConstructiveVis can be applied in the design and implementation of digital constructive visualization tools. This thesis presents the results of several observational studies that uncover how tools that promote a constructive approach to visualization compare to more conventional ones. It also sheds light on what kind of benefits and limitations digital ConstructiveVis brings into non-experts' visualization design process. The investigations here presented lay the foundations for the design of better visualization tools that not only allow people to create effective visualizations but also promote critical reflection on design principles.

Preservice teachers engaging in practicum experiences often express anxiety and uncertainty related to providing discipline and classroom management. This uncertainty seems to increase when the classroom environment, in which they are student teaching, functions in ways that are unfamiliar to them. For most student teachers, the Virginia Tech Child Development Lab School is an unfamiliar environment. The Lab School provides developmentally appropriate opportunities for young children based on a social constructivist, Reggio-inspired, inquiry-based philosophy. The Lab School values constructive guidance as a means of helping young children learn how to regulate their emotions, act in socially-acceptable ways, and become a caring classroom community. This study explores how preservice teachers make sense of and implement constructive guidance strategies within the Maroon Room at the Lab School. Specifically, this study explores the experiences and perceptions of eight undergraduate students who were junior child development majors focusing on early childhood education. Results indicate that although these student teachers had prior coursework in constructive guidance, many felt ill-prepared and uncertain as they entered the Maroon Room. They had difficulty seeing order within the Maroon Room, a classroom of fourteen four- and five-year old children. Through careful observation of the children, their fellow student teachers, and the Head and Supervising Teacher, the student teachers adjusted to the classroom. Regular, on-going conversations about the classroom, the children, and their own dilemmas and uncertainties also assisted in the student teachers negotiation of constructive guidance. Through developing an understanding of and relationships with the children, the student teachers were able to constructively guide the children s development, individually and as a group. Some of the student teachers remained uncertain about their ability to implement some of these strategies in an elementary school classroom. However, most of the student teachers expressed an increased value for and confidence in using the constructive guidance methods used at the Lab School. I offer suggestions for easing future student teachers transition from learning about constructive guidance theoretically to becoming skilled at using constructive guidance. I, further, offer additional ideas of how teacher educators could support student teachers negotiation of constructive guidance. / Ph. D.

This thesis starts by observing a change problem in a medical computer application. The change problem occurs when data and rules that make up the core of a computer application, degenerate. Sometimes the process is slow, but it is not unusual for the application to be out of date even before it has been put into use. The aim of this work is to develop a theoretical framework in which it is possible to formulate the change problem such that it becomes more accessible for conscious consideration and a base for design principles. Accordingly, the thesis follows a theoretical approach. In order to place the work in a historical perspective, some major lines of research in administrative data processing are outlined. The change problem has led the author to investigate the birth and change of facts. The result of this investigation is that two fundamental points of view can be identified. One is closely related to a view of knowledge that is characteristic of the age of enlightenment. The basic idea in this "depictive" view is that facts are more or less depictions of reality. The other point of view can be associated with philosophers such as Kant and Hegel. The fundamental idea in this "constructive" view is that facts are related to measuring systems that are created by man. The constructive view is developed to include computer applications, encompassing a concept with seven key elements. To demonstrate the usefulness of the concept, two case studies are discussed: a computer aided travel agency and the argumentation around a computer aided social research project. An attempt is then made to use the constructive view as an approach to the change problem. One important result of this work is that the change problem shifts into a problem of justice. The conclusion is that a depictive view of facts gives theoretical support for transforming every human activity into deterministic machinery. When this fails, we experience a change problem. A constructive view of facts gives theoretical support for participation in a redesigning process. When this fails we experience a problem of injustice among clients. Following that conclusion, one way to approach the injustice problem is to encourage clients to take part in a continuous reconstruction of the activity. This is the same thing as looking for solutions to the change problem. The focus of the thesis then turns to different strategies to encourage clients to participate in the reconstructive work, which is also knovyn as the question of implementation. The following complementary strategies for implementation are considered: The Metaphorical Strategy, the Heuristic Strategy, the Documentation Strategy, the Computer Application Strategy, the Education Strategy. These strategies are then applied to the first mentioned medical computer application. The thesis concludes with some outlines for further research and some fundamental questions conceiving constructive computer applications. These questions focused on the necessity for further work on ethical aspects of a constructive view. / digitalisering@umu

Deviations from arm’s length prices (prices charged between independent persons) charged between connected cross-border companies are corrected by primary transfer pricing adjustments, effected by the tax authorities of a country, resulting in secondary transactions classified as constructive loans, constructive dividends or constructive equity contributions. Tax could be imposed on the secondary transaction, giving rise to a secondary adjustment. For years of assessment commencing on 1 April 2012 secondary transactions, previously regarded as constructive dividends with Secondary Tax on Companies, were amended to be treated as constructive loans with interest adjustments. The primary research problem addressed by this literature study was to establish whether the constructive loan is the appropriate treatment of secondary transfer pricing transactions in the South African context and if not, whether the other alternatives suggested by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) guidelines should be considered. The OECD suggests that a transaction should be characterised in accordance with its substance. Determination of the subjective economic substance may be established by the motives of multinational groups for setting transfer prices. Multinational groups could have various motives for setting transfer prices that deviate from the arm’s length principle, influencing the economic substance of secondary transactions. In order to determine if the treatment of a secondary transaction, as a constructive loan, would be appropriate and reflect the economic substance of adjustments arising as a result of these motives, the characteristics of each alternative were analysed. The characteristics determined for each of the alternatives were then applied to the economic substance arising from a motive, to determine the appropriateness of each of the alternatives as a secondary transaction. Based on the motives for entering into these transactions, an analysis was performed. The findings led to the conclusion that in the case of the economic substance of transactions, which give rise to transfer pricing adjustments, a constructive dividend appears to be the appropriate treatment for a secondary transaction in most circumstances, as opposed to the constructive loan currently applied by South Africa. Constructive loans or constructive equity contributions may be reflective of the economic substance in exceptional circumstances. The study makes recommendations that South Africa should consider amending the current treatment of a secondary transaction as a constructive loan, to a constructive dividend. It was also recommended that overlapping criteria in the dividend definition be eliminated and that further research should be undertaken in order to determine how the exceptional circumstances for characterisation as a constructive loan or constructive equity contribution, should be provided for in the Income Tax Act (58 of 1962). / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Deviations from arm’s length prices (prices charged between independent persons) charged between connected cross-border companies are corrected by primary transfer pricing adjustments, effected by the tax authorities of a country, resulting in secondary transactions classified as constructive loans, constructive dividends or constructive equity contributions. Tax could be imposed on the secondary transaction, giving rise to a secondary adjustment. For years of assessment commencing on 1 April 2012 secondary transactions, previously regarded as constructive dividends with Secondary Tax on Companies, were amended to be treated as constructive loans with interest adjustments. The primary research problem addressed by this literature study was to establish whether the constructive loan is the appropriate treatment of secondary transfer pricing transactions in the South African context and if not, whether the other alternatives suggested by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) guidelines should be considered. The OECD suggests that a transaction should be characterised in accordance with its substance. Determination of the subjective economic substance may be established by the motives of multinational groups for setting transfer prices. Multinational groups could have various motives for setting transfer prices that deviate from the arm’s length principle, influencing the economic substance of secondary transactions. In order to determine if the treatment of a secondary transaction, as a constructive loan, would be appropriate and reflect the economic substance of adjustments arising as a result of these motives, the characteristics of each alternative were analysed. The characteristics determined for each of the alternatives were then applied to the economic substance arising from a motive, to determine the appropriateness of each of the alternatives as a secondary transaction. Based on the motives for entering into these transactions, an analysis was performed. The findings led to the conclusion that in the case of the economic substance of transactions, which give rise to transfer pricing adjustments, a constructive dividend appears to be the appropriate treatment for a secondary transaction in most circumstances, as opposed to the constructive loan currently applied by South Africa. Constructive loans or constructive equity contributions may be reflective of the economic substance in exceptional circumstances. The study makes recommendations that South Africa should consider amending the current treatment of a secondary transaction as a constructive loan, to a constructive dividend. It was also recommended that overlapping criteria in the dividend definition be eliminated and that further research should be undertaken in order to determine how the exceptional circumstances for characterisation as a constructive loan or constructive equity contribution, should be provided for in the Income Tax Act (58 of 1962). / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

A review of current integrated marketing communication (IMC) literature indicates that IMC has swept the globe. IMC has become the normative marketing practice for organizations to promote their goods and services, as well as an increasingly popular area of academic study. At the same time, literature shows inconsistency in IMC's professional practice and academic instruction. An increasing number of IMC theorists suggest that “true” IMC involves reorienting an organization to become consumer-focused and responsive at every level. This broader vision for IMC points to the discipline's communicative underpinnings. It is dialogic, other-oriented and interpretive in nature, yet most organizations and academics that claim to practice and teach IMC treat it as a “simple managerial task”—mere tactical coordination of marketing elements (Schultz and Patti 75). This dissertation supplements current literature to establish IMC's rhetorical and philosophical roots and provides a perspective about how organizations can achieve greater communicative understanding with their stakeholders by considering IMC from a humanities and constructive hermeneutic standpoint. By understanding the discipline as humanistic and situated in lived practices, rhetorical and philosophical acumen becomes the missing link between tactical implementation and IMC's full potential. This praxis-oriented approach moves IMC beyond the limitations of the social sciences and into the philosophy of communication to offer better insight into how IMC is an interpretive encounter that demands attentiveness to and communicative engagement with the other. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD; / Dissertation;

O foco desta pesquisa é o estudo da cadeia produtiva do bambu como material construtivo, investigando atores, atividades e processos. A arquitetura do futuro necessita de novos modelos e materiais construtivos para possibilitar o desenvolvimento sustentável do planeta. A atual demanda habitacional, no Brasil e no mundo, exige do setor da construção civil maior consumo de matériasprimas e, por conseguinte, implicando na elevação da emissão de CO2 e do consumo de energia. Novos materiais que demandam uma quantidade menor de energia em sua produção e uma menor geração de resíduos estão começando a ocupar posição de destaque na cadeia produtiva da construção civil. Neste contexto, o bambu no formato roliço, entre os materiais construtivos do futuro, por suas qualidades físico-mecânicas, além das ambientais, econômicas e sociais, poderia contribuir de maneira positiva. Arquitetos e construtores, no Brasil e em outras partes do mundo, tem de forma significativa ampliado os usos do bambu, aplicando-o em residências, pavilhões, e até em grandes estruturas. Porém, ainda existe um desconhecimento bastante generalizado sobre seu uso na construção civil. Esta lacuna é ainda maior quando se procura entender a sua cadeia produtiva. A compreensão dos atores, processos e da utilização dos materiais não convencionais, como o bambu, para a concepção projetual, é fundamental para o desenvolvimento do estudante e do profissional, seja ele engenheiro ou arquiteto. O trabalho de campo, juntamente ao referencial teórico estudado, permitiu a compreensão de que a cadeia produtiva do bambu como material construtivo além de não seguir o padrão estabelecido na literatura, principalmente com relação aos atores e processos envolvidos diretamente na transformação da matéria-prima, se apresenta de forma desorganizada e frágil, com a concentração de processos em poucos atores, resultando pouca eficiência e dificultando o seu desenvolvimento. / The focus of this research is the study of the bamboo productive chain as constructive material, investigating agents, activities and its processes. The architecture of the future needs new models and constructive materials to enable the sustainable development of the planet. The actual housing demand in Brazil and in the world, require from the civil construction sector a larger consumption of raw material and therefore producing a larger emission of CO2 and energy consumption. New materials that demand a smaller amount of energy and its production and a smaller residual generator are beginning to occupy a prominent position in the productive chain of the civil construction. In this context, the bamboo in natura shape is included in the construction materials of the future, because its physical-mechanical component, also environmental, economic and social component that could contribute in a positive manner. Architects and constructors, in Brazil and in other parts of the world, have considerably increased the use of bamboo; using it in residences, warehouses and even in large structures, although there is a widespread ignorance about its use in the civil construction. This gap is even larger when one seeks to understand its productive chain. The comprehension of its agents, processes and the use of non-conventional materials, such as bamboo, for a project conception is fundamental for the student and the professional development, whether an engineer or architect. The fieldwork, along with the theoretical referential studied, allowed the comprehension of the bamboo productive chain as a constructive material, besides to not follow the established standard in the literature, mainly with the relationship between agents and its processes involved directly in the transformation of the raw material, it presents in a unorganized and frail form, with a concentration of processes within few agents, resulting in little efficiency and hindering its development.

This study focuses on the potential contribution of new information communication technologies in higher education, in particular the use of microblogging, in transforming teaching practices to enhance critical thinking skills. Recognising the dearth of critical thinking skills in higher education and its importance in the cultivation of an engaged citizenry which is necessary for the creation of a vibrant and thriving democracy, the study seeks to investigate teaching practices in the higher education sector, utilizing the Community of Inquiry model to examine the possible iterative dialogues between lecturer and students in a first year class , in the form of microblogging posts , for evidence of potential critical engagement. In its finding , the study, whilst not being able to demonstrate significant evidence of higher order thinking, ascribed to the use of the of the microblogging activity , does however support the notion that the microblogging platform offers the potential for critical engagement but emphasizes that this potential , is to a very large degree, dependent on the adoption of appropriate and sound pedagogical strategies .