Historically, English language arts educators have strongly disagreed about the role of grammar instruction in students’ literacy development (Weaver, 1996; Mulroy, 2003), and despite the importance of teachers’ beliefs and the continuing controversy over grammar instruction, few studies have explored teachers’ beliefs about the role of grammar instruction in English language arts education. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive research was to investigate six middle school English language arts teachers’ beliefs and practices related to grammar and the teaching of grammar. Social constructivism (Fosnot & Perry, 2005) and phenomenology (Schutz, 1967; Seidman, 1998) served as theoretical frameworks for the study. Four questions guided the research: (1) What are teachers’ definitions of “grammar” as related to the teaching of English language arts? (2) What are teachers’ beliefs about “grammar” and the teaching of grammar in English language arts? (3) What are teachers’ reported sources of knowledge for grammar and the teaching of grammar in English language arts? (4) How does a professional development course on grammar instruction influence teachers’ beliefs? Data collection and analysis for this study occurred over a ten-month period. Data sources included an open-ended questionnaire; three in-depth, phenomenological interviews with each teacher (Seidman, 1998) before, during, and after the professional learning course; teacher artifacts and emails; field notes and transcriptions from videotaped course sessions; and a researcher’s log. Constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to analyze data, and richly descriptive participant portraits (Merriam & Assoc., 2002) report the findings. Trustworthiness and rigor have been established through adherence to guidelines for establishing credibility, confirmability, dependability, and transferability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The participants defined grammar in terms of rules, correctness, communication, and in relationships with various forms of literacy. They believed that students gain power through a mastery of Standard American English, grammar instruction is necessary to bolster students’ performance on standardized tests, and both traditional and innovative methods for teaching grammar are valuable. They found the collaborative professional learning course to be worthwhile and useful for developing innovative approaches to grammar instruction. Finally, they reported a need for more easily accessible Internet resources for teaching grammar.

Pervasive Computing presents an exciting realm where intelligent devices interact within the background of our environments to create a more intuitive experience for their human users. We demonstrate enabling context-awareness through our creation of a standardized context-management framework. Our framework moves towards device intelligence by supporting context-awareness. Context-awareness is what gives devices the ability to understand and exchange information about each other. Context information is used to determine device purpose, capabilities, location, current state, and other properties. Several elements are required in order to achieve context-awareness, including a suitable ontology, a context model, and a middleware platform upon which to implement the context model. In this work, a complete context-management framework is presented and evaluated. We propose our own ontology specification and context model, and implement a middleware using the Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) interoperability standard. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-09 14:51:30.242

The notion that the value of information is significantly dependent on the context of use is widely accepted in information systems research. Context is however often conceived as given and exogenous to the use activity and hence beyond the control of the user. This study takes a dynamic and holistic view of context in which the purposes, processes and effects of information use are seen as inextricable from the structural and environmental factors that mediate such use in organisations. The concept of Information Use Situation (lUS) is employed to represent this view of context. An lUS framework is developed and used as a guide to explore, describe, and interpret a number of information use situations in four organisations in the service sector. The study draws on several context studies in information systems, work motivation and self-interest theories in social psychology, and a number of philosophical propositions on the nature of information and value, in highlighting the key features of the situations studied. The findings suggest that, in general, information use situations affect the value-in-use of information in at least three ways, by acting as filters, as mediators of use behaviour and as frames of reference for evaluating informational activities. The main contribution of this thesis to information systems research is in proposing and exploring the concept of information use situation as a more holistic view of context when studying the value of information in organisation. The thesis concludes that organisations need to recognise the diversity of information use situations they feature and to appreciate that the value of information depends significantly on the nature of the situation in which it is used. This requires managers to pay as much attention to the processes by which employees experience and appropriate information as to the quality of the formal information used if they are to realise the optimum value of their information resources.

This study deals with the role of 'self’ within the context of the family, from a pastoral point of view. A number of questions arise within the topic, including: • What is meant by 'self from psychology's point of view? . • What is meant by 'self from a Biblical point of view? • What is the role of 'self within the context of the family? Psychology has wrestled with the concept of 'self since the days of the ancient Greek philosophers where 'self was deemed to be the core of personality. Psychology's current viewpoint is that it is difficult to define 'self as various fields of study within psychology ascribe various meanings to the word, and 'self is often interpreted from a behaviouristic point of view. The result is that a universally accepted definition of 'self is lacking, and 'self is often described within the parameters of a reflexive noun, i.e. 'self-image', 'self-worth' and 'self-concept'. Theology defines 'self as the soul of man that was given to him by God as a dichotomous part of his creation. Scripture refers to the soul as the person's 'heart', 'life', his 'mind' and 'himself, indicating that the soul of man is also his 'self. Scripture also indicates that the original sinless 'self’ enjoyed perfect harmony with God and creation and his spouse, Eve. Since the fall of man destroyed this situation and brought him in to a situation where the ever-present debilitating effect of sin ruled his life and relations, it is only the redemption offered in Christ that can amend this situation. The aim of this study was to utilize the guidelines posited by Zerfas, to investigate the meta- and basis-theoretical perspectives of 'self and to develop a practice-theory for pastoral theology. Research indicated that, as 'self refers to the soul and heart of man, and this is in turn has direct implications for his relationship with God and other family members, counselling people in regard to 'self also means a journey into the spiritual life of the counselee. Healing the wounded 'self is connected to the Biblical concept of sanctification, and similar strategies and methods can be employed. The conclusion of this research is that individuals who suffer from a dysfunctional 'self, or, interchangeably, dysfunctional relationships within the family can be assisted to overcome these problems and enjoy a restored relationship with God. / Thesis (M.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

While the Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) lies in NP, prodigious work in SAT solvers has allowed for its use in modeling a multitude of practical problems. Stating a problem in SAT can be cumbersome though and so the demand for SAT encodings arises, providing a means to formulate problems or parts of problems in a more intuitive environment. Several algorithms have been proposed in the past to encode context-free grammars as SAT formulae, allowing for the comprehensive construction of many interesting constraints such as at-most k constraints or such ones pertaining to language syntax. In 2011 a new algorithm was proposed, differing from previous ones in it being based on Earley parsing instead of CYK parsing. Although it performed well for interesting groups of grammars it was later found to behave incorrectly for certain inputs. This thesis discusses the flaws in said algorithm, presents a revision of it and argues for the altered algorithm's correctness. The alterations come with a price, however, and both the running time and output size complexities suffer more-than-quadratic blowup. Since no empirical tests have been performed as of yet, it is still unclear what impact this blowup will have on practical instances.

Biracial people are often stereotyped as cold and socially awkward. Two experiments assessed whether the racial context in which they are perceived influences the application of these stereotypes. Participants read about a Black/White student who chose or was assigned a White, Black or Black/White roommate. Roommate race was manipulated via photographs (Experiment 1), or written description (Experiment 2). When photos were provided, roommate race, not the relationship, influenced target evaluations. The biracial target with a White roommate was viewed the least positively and as least similar to participants, implying his minority status was highlighted by his roommate’s race. The written description produced only relationship effects. When the target chose his roommate he was evaluated as warmer, more competent and with more positive regard than when he was assigned a roommate. The results suggest that visual vs. narrative racial contexts produce divergent evaluations of biracial people.

Biracial people are often stereotyped as cold and socially awkward. Two experiments assessed whether the racial context in which they are perceived influences the application of these stereotypes. Participants read about a Black/White student who chose or was assigned a White, Black or Black/White roommate. Roommate race was manipulated via photographs (Experiment 1), or written description (Experiment 2). When photos were provided, roommate race, not the relationship, influenced target evaluations. The biracial target with a White roommate was viewed the least positively and as least similar to participants, implying his minority status was highlighted by his roommate’s race. The written description produced only relationship effects. When the target chose his roommate he was evaluated as warmer, more competent and with more positive regard than when he was assigned a roommate. The results suggest that visual vs. narrative racial contexts produce divergent evaluations of biracial people.

Researchers have identified the complexity of ethical decision making choices and the influences that assorted professional context variables have on one’s ethical frame of reference. To encourage adherence to ethical codes of conduct, professional organizations must recognize the impact that professional context variables have on ethical decision making. The purpose of this study was to examine Human Resource Development professional’s perceptions of the Academy of Human Resource Development’s Standards on Ethics and Integrity specifically regarding applicability, clarity, and importance of statements. Additionally, this study examined whether Hofstede’s Value Survey Module grouped into a three-factor solution. A questionnaire entitled Perceptions of Professionals and Scholars Regarding AHRD’s Standards was adapted from five sources and was piloted to ensure instrument reliability and validity. The main study involved 602 respondents for a response rate of 22% (n = 133). Results of the study indicate that respondents were clear regarding their understanding of the Standards. The highest level of clarity reported was 89.4% and the lowest level of clarity reported was 71.1%. However, respondents were indifferent about their ratings of the application of AHRD’s Standards. The percentages regarding perceived level of application between AHRD’s six statements ranged from 68% (applied) and 28.8% (infrequently applied). Using independent t-test procedures and a series of one-way ANOVAs, differences in levels of agreement were seen in the following groups: educational level, income level, and religious affiliation. Finally, this study examined if participant responses to the items extracted from Hofstede’s Value Survey Module fell into three-factor constructs of individualism/ collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. A Principal Component Analysis indicated that the eight statements selected were representative of Hofstede’s three-factor solution of cultural dimensions. Practical implications are discussed regarding these findings, along with explanation for some of the newly developed exploration findings. While the findings of this study were interesting, research related to the influence of professional context variables on ethical decision making needs further examination.

How context affects memory is the central focus of the six experiments making up this PhD thesis. In these experiments, pictures of faces were presented in an incidental encoding phase, paired with a variety of indoor and outdoor context scenes (e.g., park, supermarket, swimming pool), and a recognition memory test ensued in which faces were paired with either the same context (exact same context the face was paired with at encoding), switched context (a context that was presented at study, but not presented with that particular face), or new context (a context never before seen), relative to encoding. In Experiment 1, the importance of instructions at encoding was examined by manipulating instructions to either actively link or passively view the face and context at encoding. Maintaining the same context as at encoding reliably enhanced overall detection, and recollection, of studied faces relative to a new context, replicating the known context reinstatement (CR) effect. There was also a reliable memory benefit for faces paired at test with the same relative to a switched context, indicating a context specificity (CS) effect on memory. Encoding instructions to either actively link, or passively view, face-context pairs during encoding did not influence the presence or magnitude of the CR or CS effects, suggesting that linking of target + context may occur spontaneously. In Experiment 2, dividing attention did not influence CR, but did eliminate the CS effect on overall memory. Findings suggest that the general boost to memory from reinstating an old relative to a totally new context at test is robust, though linking specific contexts to targets is hampered when attention is limited during encoding. In Experiments 3 and 4, familiarity of the face to the observer interacted with context effects. In Experiment 3, face familiarity was manipulated by presenting famous versus non-famous faces during encoding and an attenuated CR effect was observed for famous relative to non-famous (unfamiliar) faces, though CS remained. In Experiment 4, degree of familiarity was controlled by pre-exposing the study faces 0, 1, 3, or 10 times prior to the study phase. After just one pre-exposure to an unfamiliar face, the CR effect was reduced. Experiment 5 examined whether distinctive faces were less susceptible to context effects relative to similarly familiar, but less distinctive, faces. CR and CS effects were predicted for out-group faces (Caucasian faces for Asian participants and Asian faces for Caucasian participants), and a reduction in both CR and CS for in-group faces (Caucasian faces for Caucasian participants and Asian faces for Asian participants). Results indicated no difference in CR or CS across the conditions, suggesting that distinctiveness may not be an important factor in mediating context effects. The final experiment examined how the expectancy of a face + context pairing influenced CR and CS effects, even when the target face was familiar. There were robust CR and CS effects for faces when these were repeatedly paired with a specific context during study, but a loss of both effects when faces were paired with varying contexts during study. Results extend our current knowledge regarding the role of context in memory and supports memory models that suggest context information presented at test acts as a cue that uniquely specifies a particular target.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Psychology Department, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.