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The scores provided by the International Test of Developed Ability (ITDA) have been used as an alternative baseline for comparing the progress of students in the A-level Information System (ALIS) project of U.K. The responses of 26,964 examinees to the mathematics items of ITDA in year 2000 were fitted by using the Rasch model. Five subject groups (the population, 2 gender groups and 2 ability groups) and 25 random samples (5 from each group) were generated from the responses of the examinees. The unconditional maximum likelihood estimates of the item difficulty and examinee ability parameters for various groups/samples were produced by the RASCAL program. The scatterplots among different sets of sample item difficulty parameters reflected that the feature of item and ability invariance was not preserved in the groups of extreme abilities. The assumptions of unidimensionality, equal item discrimination, zero guessing factor and non-speededness were generally not supported in the two ability groups. In particular, the result indicated that the ITDA Mathematical Test might be a speeded test. It was quite interesting in this study to see that the item difficulty parameters and examinee abilities estimated from the Classical Test Theory (CTT) and those from the Rasch model were very comparable and both frameworks exhibit more or less the same feature in terms of invariance. On the other hand, more items were "found" unfit by the CTT method than the Rasch approach indicating that the former looks more sensitive to the lack of fit than the latter. To study the effect of speededness, the analysis was repeated with the last 11 items (which has the highest omits) deleted. Disappointingly, the results showed no significant improvement. Further research on the fitness of data with speed incorporated into the estimation of ability level is recommended.

Since continuously the companies in developed country always acquire the companies in emerging country in order to cost down or diversification. Under global competition, the emerging country becomes better and better. According to KPMG¡¦s data, the companies in emerging country acquire the developed country accelerated, especially product and natural resource are the largest goal; in the other hands, the multinational acquisitions are going down for two years. The amount of the company in emerging market acquires the company in developed country is 47 percentage of the amount the company in developed market acquires the company in emerging country. It¡¦s the highest statistic in KPMG since 2003. The study try to understand the strategy which the company in emerging market acquires the company in developed country as follows, what drove the decision to ¡§ go global¡¨, how did the company strike the balance between using foreign country management teams, and what is the challenge? How did the company accomplish integration and leverage synergies with overseas business? What advice would you give other emerging market companies on how to be successful in developed markets? The result show: the emerging market is seek to develop brand to international brand, avoid trade tax and get the core skill from oversea enterprise. Non-traditional buyer should accept the acquired company totally. In the beginning, the leader of oversea management team should be the executive officer from the acquired company to keep the loyal customers and reduce the rate of key men. To use the double brand strategy, the loyal customer could feel the innovation of R&D and set up the headquarter in oversea to let the customer feel the brand is new

The primary purpose of the dissertation is to establish a conceptual study that will assist in financial policy formulation, and further applied research on banking institutions in LDCs and in Nigeria in particular. In order to achieve this, we examined existing models of banks' portfolio behaviour with a view to isolating major issues that should be the concern of policy; the pecularities of banking operations in LDCs were also examined and analysed. Having done these we then settled for two adaptable models capable of providing insights into the problem of commercial banks' portfolio behaviour in Nigeria. The choice of models was made in the light of the data constraint faced in the study. The two complementary models, the first a static model and the other a dynamic model have their basis in utility maximization. They both gave rise to multivariate analysis in empirical implementation. The summary of results with policy implications concern: (i) the relative insignificance of the interest rate variables and their relative inelasticities, particularly with respect to bank loans and other medium term bank portfolios; (ii) availability of funds were more significant on banks portfolio allocation of funds than other variables, particularly those measuring the cost of funds; (iii) on other policy variables, reserve policies of the financial authority were important in bank portfolio, whereas public sector borrowing from the banks were less important; (iv) the term transformation implied by the portfolio of the banks was shown to be less positive than the underlying structure of funds would imply; (v) the introduction of money market instruments were shown to have affected the adjustment behaviour of the banks; and (vi) the results also held implication for the control of money supply. However, we believe the major contribution of this study to knowledge lies in indicating the responses and lags of banks' behaviour to changes in policy instruments in a developing country like Nigeria. This information would no doubt form the basis for further research.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2010. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-83).

The thesis presented here analyzes the role of the less developed countries in the environmental issues in the United Nations, evaluates their influence, and analyzes the determinants of this influence. Our study assumes certain goal orientations of spokesmen for the less developed countries. These goal orientations are derived from the underdeveloped condition of most of these countries and their continuing political and economic dependence. They attempt to reduce this dependence through demands for radical transformations in the international political economy. This is done through negotiations with spokesmen for the developed countries. The attainment of their objectives constitutes an exercise of influence over their counterparts from the developed countries. The outcomes themselves, for our study, are less important than the interactions, styles,and conversion of political resources into influence. Therefore, it is on the dynamics of the North-South set of international relations that this study focuses. \~ile the environmental negotiations confirm the persistence of a certain stable pattern of demands on the part of the less developed countries, behavioral discontinuities,in terms of methods or style of negotiation, are evident in a review of the negotiations. Spokesmen for the less developed countries seemed to prefer negotiated settlements to majority voting, which is a significant departure from their past negotiating style. Bloc politics, therefore, need not always be incompatible with negotiations. Spokesmen for most of the developed countries were also unusually more accommodating in their responses to the demands of the less developed countries. The dispositions and interests of the former, the latter's preference for bargaining over majority voting, as well as the transnational character of most of the environmental issues, partly made possible the unusual negotiating behavior of both groups of countries. Another significant finding is that the less developed countries (the weak} have some influance on the developed countries (the strong} in negotiations. The determinants of this influence must be sought in factors other than economic, military, scientific-technological, and communication capabilities on the one hand, or majority voting on the other. This corroborates Professor Zartman's suggestion that the role of power must be analyzed in the context of negotiations. Finally, the study presented here indicates that the concept of environmental quality is broader and more complex than the desire to prevent planetary collapse. There is more to be learn~d about environmental politics in the UN than can be gathered from popular literature. Scientists and advocates of environmental control tend to treat the world globally and ignore essential political differences. As much as the durability of planet Earth is being challenged by the ecological issues, a scientific solution which is divorced from the political context of the issues is not likely to be a realistic response to the pressures in the contemporary international political system. The success of the UN environmental program substantially depends on the attitudes and policies of the developed countries. Unless they are prepared to assume additional moral, economic, and financial responsibilities for making the simultaneous pursuit of development and environmental protection goals possible in the less developed parts of the world, a lingering disagreement is more likely to characterize North-South dialogue on the environment. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)