Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-101). Also available on the Internet.

Almost twenty years ago Texas implemented a functions-based approach (FBA) to teaching algebra. This approach emphasized the use of nearly all multiple representations, use of a graphing calculator to explore graphs, and modeling of linear and quadratic functions. This interpretation of FBA in conjunction with curriculum placing the teaching of simplifying expressions and solving equations close in sequence may contribute to student confounding of the rules for simplifying and solving. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to explore student rating of the usefulness of teacher-provided and function-based approach (FBA) strategies for simplifying expressions and solving equations in Algebra. The subjects of this study were two algebra teachers and their respective algebra students. The teachers, who taught both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, were at a high school campus located in an urban district. A researcher created survey based on teacher-provided strategies used by participating teachers was administered to 100 students and 22 teachers. The teacher survey results were used as a professional basis for comparing students' results. Descriptive statistics were used to create graphical representations of students by course groups and identify students who confounded rules. Student FBA preferences and course groups were used to identify 18 student interviewees. Student and teacher interviews were used to corroborate survey results. Participating teachers identified and commented on areas of concern from the survey results. Both teachers approved of the low percentages of students rating FBA strategies as useful but were concerned about higher percentages of students (30% or greater) confounding rules or not realizing the usefulness of relevant sub-strategies. Neither teachers nor students were aware of benefits of graphing calculator use in simplifying. Students, regardless of course group or FBA preference, justified the use of teacher-provided strategies with symbolic manipulation and changed FBA ratings to less likely. There were few student references to equivalence and equality that were supported by FBA. These results are important for algebraic instruction in Texas. Texas has mandated use of graphing calculator on 8th grade Mathematics STAAR exam. Recognizing the benefits of a complete FBA along with effective use of graphing technology may prevent this type of confounding. / text

Στην παρούσα μεταπτυχιακή εργασία καταβάλλεται μια προσπάθεια αξιολόγησης δύο σύγχρονων ηλεκτρονικών λεξικών της αγγλικής γλώσσας. Πρόκειται για τα λεξικά διπλής κατεύθυνσης "Χρυσή Έκδοση 2002" Αγγλικό-Ελληνικό Ελληνικό-Αγγλικό Λεξικό της Ματζέντα Ε.Π.Ε. και "G-Word for Windows 1993, Version 1.04" της Singular A.E. Ειδικότερα, έχοντας τρία διαφορετικά σημεία αναφοράς, τη δομική σύγκριση ανάμεσα στα προαναφερόμενα λεξικά, την εξέταση του βαθμού ισοδυναμίας που επιτυγχάνεται σε καθένα από αυτά μεταξύ της γλώσσας-προέλευσης και της γλώσσας-στόχου, καθώς και τη γενικότερη εκτίμηση της χρηστικότητάς τους, η παρούσα μεταπτυχιακή εργασία κινείται πάνω σε τρεις διαφορετικούς άξονες. Ωστόσο, δομικά αποτελείται από πέντε κύρια κεφάλαια. Το πρώτο είναι καθαρά θεωρητικό, με τις πρώτες υποενότητες να αναφέρονται στις γενικές αρχές που διέπουν τις λέξεις. Όμως, γρήγορα το βάρος στρέφεται στο ζήτημα της ορθής δόμησης των δίγλωσσων λεξικών. Στο σημείο αυτό τίθενται αναλυτικά όλα τα είδη, καθώς και οι προϋποθέσεις που πρέπει να τηρούνται κατά τη δημιουργία και το σχεδιασμό τους. Επίσης, θίγονται σοβαρά ζητήματα, όπως σε ποιους απευθύνονται τελικά τα δίγλωσσα λεξικά, ποιες οι προσδοκίες των χρηστών τους, κτλ. Τα θέματα που μας απασχολούν στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο είναι κατά πόσο τελικά μπορεί να ισχύει η έννοια της ισοδυναμίας, κατά πόσο επηρεάζει η δήλωση και η συνδήλωση τα δίγλωσσα λεξικά και, τέλος, κατά πόσο περιπλέκουν την ήδη δυσχερή κατάσταση οι συμφράσεις και οι ιδιωτισμοί. Το τρίτο κεφάλαιο επικεντρώνεται στην αντιπαραβολή των τεχνικών χαρακτηριστικών που έχουν να επιδείξουν τα προαναφερόμενα λεξικά διπλής κατεύθυνσης, ενώ στο τέταρτο κεφάλαιο αναλύονται όλα τα επιμέρους θέματα της αξιολόγησης λεξικών. Ζητήματα όπως οι μέθοδοι που χρησιμοποιούνται, τα κριτήρια που τίθενται, σε συνδυασμό με τις πραγματικές ανάγκες των χρηστών, εξετάζονται αρχικά μόνο θεωρητικά, ενώ στη συνέχεια καθορίζονται με απόλυτη ακρίβεια και σαφήνεια τα ειδικά μεθοδολογικά εργαλεία που θα τεθούν σε εφαρμογή για την αξιολόγηση της Χρυσής Έκδοσης 2002 και του G-Word 1993. Η εμπεριστατωμένη αξιολόγηση που ακολουθεί στο πέμπτο κεφάλαιο και η οποία βασίζεται στα δείγματα του προσαρτήματος, αποκαλύπτει άμεσα τις αδυναμίες των δύο υπό αξιολόγηση λεξικών. Σημειώνεται ότι η αξία της εν λόγω κριτικής αποτίμησης δεν αποβλέπει στο να προσφέρει γρήγορες και αβασάνιστες συνταγές για την ορθή δόμηση δίγλωσσων λεξικών, αλλά κυρίως να πραγματευθεί τα διάφορα προβλήματα που ανακύπτουν από τη χρήση τους και να εξηγήσει, μέσα στο πλαίσιο του δυνατού, τους λόγους για τους οποίους τα συγκεκριμένα λεξικά οργανώθηκαν όπως οργανώθηκαν, δηλαδή τις βάσεις πάνω στις οποίες στηρίχθηκαν. / -

Although different occupations/organisations have unique work characteristics, it seems possible to divide them into two categories, namely job demands and job resources. A valid, equivalent and reliable instrument is needed to measure job demands and resources and to compare them among different occupations/organisations. The aim of this study was to investigate the construct equivalence, validity and reliability of a measuring instrument of job demands and resources and to assess the differences between the job demands and job resources in various occupations/organisations in South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A stratified random sample (N = 2717) was taken from a population consisting of employees in various occupations and organisations. The occupations/organisations included academics (higher education institutions), staff at a university of technology, correctional officers. insurance staff and engineers. The Job Demands-Resources Scale (JDRS) was used to assess job demands and job resources in the different occupations/organisations. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. Five reliable factors were extracted using principal component analysis, namely: overload, growth opportunities, organisational support, advancement and job insecurity. The results showed that the structure of job demands and job resources in the different occupations/organisations were equivalent. with the exception of one factor, namely organisational support. Engineers showed higher scores on overload and growth opportunities than Occupations/organisations. Academics in higher education institutions also experienced more growth opportunities than other groups. Engineers, academics in higher education institutions and employees in the insurance industry reported higher levels of organisational support than correctional officers and employees at a university of technology. Engineers obtained the highest score on advancement, while academics in higher education institutions obtained the lowest scores. Job insecurity was the highest for correctional officers and employees of a university of technology, and the lowest for engineers. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Coping strategies represent the efforts, both behavioural and cognitive, that people invest in order to deal with stressful encounters. Coping is a basic component for developing adaptation and plays a major role in the relationship between the individual and the environment, especially as a moderating element between stress and sickness. Against this backdrop of the impact that the well-being of employees has on organisations, it is of the essence that organisations need to understand how their members cope with the demands which the organisation places on them. This understanding can assist organisations to evaluate the resources they make available to help employees to cope more positively with the demands placed upon them. The general objective of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced Questionnaire (COPE) within different occupational groups in South Africa, to examine the construct equivalence and to assess reliability. A swey design was used. Random samples (N = 3178) were taken from electricity supply personnel, nurses and police officials, and the COPE was administered. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used to analyse the data. Exploratory factor analysis, using principal axis factoring with varimax rotation, was conducted on 53 items of the COPE and revealed four interpretable factors (Factor 1 = Approach Coping; Factor 2 = Avoidance; Factor 3 = Seeking Support; and Factor 4 = Turn to Religion). Highly acceptable Tucker's phi coefficients were found for all the comparisons, and therefore, sufficient evidence for the construct equivalence of the COPE was demonstrated. Alpha coefficients, ranging from 0,85 to 0,92, were obtained. Statistically significant differences were found between the coping strategies employed within the different organisational, gender and language groups. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

An examination of some properties that interrelate the computational complexities of evaluating multivariate polynomial functions is presented. The kind of relationship between polynomial functions that is studied takes the form of linear transformations of the arguments and results of a polynomial function that transform it into another such function. Such transformations are a generalisation of projection (a form of reduction in algebraic complexity first introduced by Valiant, whereby variables and constants are substituted for the arguments of a polynomial function in order to transform it into another polynomial function). In particular, two restricted forms of this generalised projection are considered: firstly, those that relate a polynomial function to itself, and secondly, those that are invertable. Call these symmetries and similarities, respectively. The structure of the set of symmetries of a polynomial function is explored, and the computationally useful members of the set identified; a technique for finding all such symmetries is presented. It is shown that polynomials related by similarity have "isomorphic" sets of symmetries, and this condition may be used as a criterion for similarity. Similarity of polynomial functions is shown to be an equivalence relation, and "similar polynomials" can be seen to possess closely comparable complexities. A fast probabilistic algorithm for finding the symmetries of a polynomial function is given. The symmetries of the determinant and of the permanent (which differs from the determinant only in that all of its monomials have coefficients of +1), and those of some other polynomials, are explicitly found using the above theory. Fast algorithms using linear algebra for evaluating the determinant are known, whereas evaluating the permanent is known to be a #p-complete problem, and is apparently intractable; the reasons for this are exposed. As an easy corollary it is shown that the permanent is not preserved by any bilinear product of matrices, in con'trast to the determinant which is preserved by matrix multiplication. The result of Marcus and Minc, that the determinant cannot be transformed into the permanent by substitution of linear combinations of variables for its arguments (i.e. the permanent and determinant are not similar), also follows as an easy corollary. The relationship between symmetries and ease of evaluation is discussed.

This paper is mainly based on Brown and Levinson’s negative politeness strategies and Mona Baker’s translation strategies to analyze how the translators of the Chinese novel, Honglou meng, employ these strategies to render honorifics and self-deprecatory expressions in Honglou meng from Chinese into English. It compares the two English translations and observes the translators’ tendencies in both translations. The findings suggest that David Hawkes’ translation is esthetically crafted language and more target-oriented, whereas Yang Hsien-yi and Glays Yang’s translation is not such natural-sounding English and more source-oriented. This paper also states that a comprehensive theoretical frame in this area is yet to be established.

Inaug.-Diss.- Bonn. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 58).

Inaug.-Diss.- Bonn. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 58).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 63).