Conceptual development and achievement are embedded in social relationships. Research on self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom has shown teachers' inaccurate perceptions about a child's ability shape schoolchildren's intellectual development in the direction of the misperception (Jussim & Harber, 2005; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968; Sorhagen, 2013). This contrasts with prior research on the influences of parents' misperceptions, which has shown that parents with accurate perceptions of their child's abilities, compared to those with misperceptions, have children with advanced conceptual development and higher achievement (Hunt & Paraskevopoulos, 1980; S. A. Miller, Manhal, & Mee, 1991; Sorhagen, 2014a, 2014b). Taken together, the literature on adult misperceptions of child abilities paints discrepant pictures of how adults' inaccurate beliefs may influence children's achievement trajectories. There is evidence for conditional direct and indirect effects of misperceptions within both literatures. Perhaps if moderating conditions were the same at school and at home, the effects of teacher and parent misperceptions would be the same. The present dissertation used prospective data to address the conflicting evidence on the effects of teachers' and mothers' misperceptions of abilities, focusing on differences in the magnitude and direction of adult misperceptions by the levels of environmental control (i.e. rigidly structured and intrusive versus autonomy-supporting). The results confirmed and extended the prior literature by showing that children's reading and math achievement in high school were differentially affected by the accuracy of adults' perceptions of the children's abilities depending on whether the adult is a teacher or mother. Children's high school performance benefited most when their teachers overestimated their abilities and when their mothers' accurately estimated their abilities in in third-grade. Furthermore, there was evidence for mediation through adults' differential treatment in the reading models. Evidence for moderation was also seen in the reading models, but only for the influence of teachers' misperceptions on teacher attention, which indirectly led to differences in child achievement (i.e. conditional indirect effects). The effects of teachers' misperceptions were more profound at low levels of environmental control compared to highly controlled classrooms. Thus environmental control did not lead to similar influences of teacher and mother misperceptions. This supports the notion that there are different consequences of teacher and mother misperceptions on child achievement. The results of additional analyses found child characteristics (i.e. child birth order, gender, ethnicity, family SES, child social competencies, and prior abilities), as well as teacher's self-efficacy predicted the degree of accuracy of the adults' perceptions of children's reading and math abilities. Furthermore, the results showed that teachers' and mothers' perceptions were often accurate, but when one adult was inaccurate, it was likely that the other adult's perception was similar. As we become increasingly aware of the importance of social influences on cognition, the results of the present dissertation suggest that it is important to consider differences between socializing agents. / Psychology

When animals explore a new environment, they do not acquire a precise map of the places visited. In fact, research has shown that learning is a recurring process. Over time, new information helps the animal to update their perception of the locations it has visited. Yet, they are still able to use the fuzzy and often incomplete representation to find their way home. This process has been termed the cognitive mapping process. The work presented in this thesis uses a mobile robot equipped with sonar sensors to investigate the nature of such a process. Specifically, what is the information that is fundamental and prevalent in spatial navigation? Initially, the robot is instructed to compute a “cognitive map” of its environment. Since a robot is not a cognitive agent, it cannot, by definition, compute a cognitive map. Hence the robot is used as a test bed for understanding the cognitive mapping process. Yeap’s (1988) theory of cognitive mapping forms the foundation for computing the robot’s representation of the places it has visited. He argued that a network of local spaces is computed early in the cognitive mapping process. Yeap coined these local spaces as Absolute Space Representations (ASRs). However, ASR is not just a process of partitioning the environment into smaller local regions. The ASRs describe the bounded space that one is in, how one could leave that space (exits) and how the exits serves to link the ASRs to form a network that serves as the cognitive map (see Jefferies (1999)). Like the animal’s cognitive map, ASRs are not precise geometrical maps of the environment but rather, provide a rough shape or feel of the space the robot is currently in. Once the robot computes its “cognitive map”, it is then, like foraging and hoarding animals, instructed to find its way home. To do so, the robot uses two crucial pieces of information: distance between exits of ASRs and relative orientation of adjacent ASRs. A simple animal-like strategy was implemented for the robot to locate home. Results from the experiments demonstrated the robot’s ability to determine its location within the visited environment along its journey. This task was performed without the use of an accurate map. From these results and reviews of various findings related to cognitive mapping for various animals, we deduce that: Different animals have different sensing capabilities. They live in different environments and therefore face unique challenges. Consequently, they evolve to have different navigational strategies. However, we believe two crucial pieces of information are inherent in all animals and form the fundamentals of navigation: distance and orientation. Higher level animals may encode and may even prefer richer information to enhance the animal’s cognitive map. Nonetheless, distance and orientation will always be computed as a core process of cognitive mapping. We believe this insight will help future research to better understand the complex nature of cognitive mapping.

When animals explore a new environment, they do not acquire a precise map of the places visited. In fact, research has shown that learning is a recurring process. Over time, new information helps the animal to update their perception of the locations it has visited. Yet, they are still able to use the fuzzy and often incomplete representation to find their way home. This process has been termed the cognitive mapping process. The work presented in this thesis uses a mobile robot equipped with sonar sensors to investigate the nature of such a process. Specifically, what is the information that is fundamental and prevalent in spatial navigation? Initially, the robot is instructed to compute a “cognitive map” of its environment. Since a robot is not a cognitive agent, it cannot, by definition, compute a cognitive map. Hence the robot is used as a test bed for understanding the cognitive mapping process. Yeap’s (1988) theory of cognitive mapping forms the foundation for computing the robot’s representation of the places it has visited. He argued that a network of local spaces is computed early in the cognitive mapping process. Yeap coined these local spaces as Absolute Space Representations (ASRs). However, ASR is not just a process of partitioning the environment into smaller local regions. The ASRs describe the bounded space that one is in, how one could leave that space (exits) and how the exits serves to link the ASRs to form a network that serves as the cognitive map (see Jefferies (1999)). Like the animal’s cognitive map, ASRs are not precise geometrical maps of the environment but rather, provide a rough shape or feel of the space the robot is currently in. Once the robot computes its “cognitive map”, it is then, like foraging and hoarding animals, instructed to find its way home. To do so, the robot uses two crucial pieces of information: distance between exits of ASRs and relative orientation of adjacent ASRs. A simple animal-like strategy was implemented for the robot to locate home. Results from the experiments demonstrated the robot’s ability to determine its location within the visited environment along its journey. This task was performed without the use of an accurate map. From these results and reviews of various findings related to cognitive mapping for various animals, we deduce that: Different animals have different sensing capabilities. They live in different environments and therefore face unique challenges. Consequently, they evolve to have different navigational strategies. However, we believe two crucial pieces of information are inherent in all animals and form the fundamentals of navigation: distance and orientation. Higher level animals may encode and may even prefer richer information to enhance the animal’s cognitive map. Nonetheless, distance and orientation will always be computed as a core process of cognitive mapping. We believe this insight will help future research to better understand the complex nature of cognitive mapping.

Incorrect and inaccurate municipal billing system poses a challenge in the local government system in South Africa. The communities in the various municipalities were dissatisfied with the incorrect and inaccurate municipal bills that were being issued. Consequently public confidence in terms of the billing system dwindled, communities were unwilling to pay for the bills issued and as such debt accumulated and the municipalities could not recover the debt. The research question, therefore, is that the municipal bills sent to customers were incorrect or inaccurate and revenue was lost. Public confidence with regard to municipal billings system declined and communities were unwilling to pay for the incorrect or inaccurate bills issued. Debts accumulated and seemingly the municipal billing system had an impact on revenue collection in selected South African cities. There is currently no scientific research which has been conducted at academic level to determine the core problem as reported in newspapers, public domain and municipal areas to share the information nationally and internationally regarding the state of municipal billing system, debt and revenue management challenges. The research suggests that in order to improve the efficiency of the collection of service charges, the billing and collection systems must be decentralised, accessible to the consumer, matched with the income cycle and paying capacity of the consumer. The study covers an analysis of the municipal billing system and revenue collection in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and suggests measures for financial sustainability in the three cities. The study used both the qualitative case study and the quantitative approach to effectively collect and analyse the data needed. The research problem which informs this study is incorrect, inaccurate municipal bills sent to customers and lost revenue. The result of incorrect and inaccurate bills was that public confidence declined and communities protested to pay for the incorrect, inaccurate bills issued and thus debt accumulated. In examining this problem, the research begins with a description of the context of empirical analysis, of the local government system, municipal billing system and revenue collection in South Africa. The study analysed profound issues regarding local governance systems namely: legislation, policies, procedures, public administration and its environmental factors, spheres of government, financial administration and standards, intergovernmental relations functions, municipal structure and functions, elements of municipal billing systems, sources of revenue, municipal billing systems challenges in the three metropolitan municipalities, debts accumulation and deficiency in municipal billing systems and information technology. The study recommends the need for a sound municipal billing and collection system essentially regarding the taxes levied and collected by these metropolitan municipalities. A sound municipal billing system should be configured with a short turnaround strategy to serve demand notices and the collection of dues from individual customers, thereby enabling efficient cash recycling. An efficient billing system is essential for taxes levied by municipalities and their collection from consumers. The study also provides an opportunity for further academic research in the field of municipal billing systems and revenue collection. Hopefully, this study will become a catalyst for future research, policy alternatives and planning for local government and academic institutions nationally and internationally regarding the municipal billing system and revenue collection fields. / Dissertation (MAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / School of Public Management and Administration / unrestricted

In self-report data, participants who provide incorrect responses are known as intentional inaccurate responders. This dissertation provides statistical analyses for address intentional inaccurate responses in the data. Previous work with adolescent self-report, labeled survey participants who intentionally provide inaccurate answers as mischievous responders. This phenomenon also occurs in clinical research. For example, pregnant women who smoke may report that they are nonsmokers. Our advantage is that we do not solely have self-report answers and can verify responses with lab values. Currently, there is no clear method for handling these intentional inaccurate respondents when it comes to making statistical inferences. We propose a using an EM algorithm to account for the intentional behavior while maintaining all responses in the data. The performance of this model is evaluated using simulated data and real data. The strengths and weaknesses of the EM algorithm approach will be demonstrated.

A study of the causes and remedial treatment of inaccurate singing through experimentation and research was chosen by the writer as a practical problem urgently in need of solution.

Title: The role of the coach in preparation of youth players Objective: The aim of my work was to observe 3 coaches of football players in age 11-13, their usage of teaching styles used during training units and success of coaches idea's communication towards to their youth players. Hypothesis: Hypothesis 1: I suppose , that coaches will mostly use the direct teaching style Hypothesis 2: I suppose, that most of the ideas will not be told so precisely towards to the players to be able understand them immediately Methods: In my work I used direct and indirect method, structured and opened observation of every single coach and player's reaction to the coaches instruction Results: The aim of my work was reached, I successfully collected and evaluated all needed data Hypothesis 2 => confirmed Hypothesis 2 => unconfirmed Keywords: Coach, teaching style, accurate idea, inaccurate idea

A literatura de autoria feminina nos países que se comunicam através da língua portuguesa conta com excelentes representantes. Um olhar, ainda que superficial sobre essa produção revela que notadamente a partir da última metade do século passado, década de 40-50, ela veio gradativamente chamando a atenção de pesquisadores e conquistando, cada vez mais, o prestígio do público-leitor. Maria Archer, no entanto, parece encontrar-se em quase completo esquecimento De 1955 a 1977, Maria Archer (1899- 1982),escritora portuguesa, veio cumprir um largo exílio em terras brasileiras. Aqui, como nos continentes luso-africano, tornou-se um dos nomes de mulher mais importantes pela contribuição à imprensa de Língua Portuguesa. O objetivo primeiro deste trabalho é ressaltar as experiências e a contribuição desta escritora para a imprensa de Língua Portuguesa, problematizando-as à luz da hegemonia masculina que marcou a produção de conhecimentos e a reflexão pública sobre a resistência dos portugueses à ditadura do regime salazarista vigente no Portugal da época. / The literature as of authorship female at the countries that if communicated via the Portuguese language account along as good as gold delegates. Um look , Although amateurish on the subject of that creation reveals than it is to notadamente from the última half as much from the century bygone , decade as of 40-50, she came gradativamente calling the attention as of browsers AND acquiring , further and further , the prestige from the audience - lecturer. Maria Archer , all the same , it looks encounter - in case that by nearly all-inclusive forgetfulness As of 1955 the one 1977, Maria Archer (1899-1982,escritora) Portuguese , he came abide by um broad exílio well into lands Brazilians. Herein , as a at the continents luso - African , lathe - in case that one of names as of chick more important pela contribution at the inaccurate as of Portuguese language. THE ONE objetivo first one of this I work is jut the experiences AND the contribution of this female writer for the inaccurate as of Portuguese language problematizando - the at the light from the hegemonia masculine than it is to he marked the creation as of background AND the reflection public above the endurance of the Portuguese at the dictatorship from the regime salazarista vigente at the Portugal of the time.

A literatura de autoria feminina nos países que se comunicam através da língua portuguesa conta com excelentes representantes. Um olhar, ainda que superficial sobre essa produção revela que notadamente a partir da última metade do século passado, década de 40-50, ela veio gradativamente chamando a atenção de pesquisadores e conquistando, cada vez mais, o prestígio do público-leitor. Maria Archer, no entanto, parece encontrar-se em quase completo esquecimento De 1955 a 1977, Maria Archer (1899- 1982),escritora portuguesa, veio cumprir um largo exílio em terras brasileiras. Aqui, como nos continentes luso-africano, tornou-se um dos nomes de mulher mais importantes pela contribuição à imprensa de Língua Portuguesa. O objetivo primeiro deste trabalho é ressaltar as experiências e a contribuição desta escritora para a imprensa de Língua Portuguesa, problematizando-as à luz da hegemonia masculina que marcou a produção de conhecimentos e a reflexão pública sobre a resistência dos portugueses à ditadura do regime salazarista vigente no Portugal da época. / The literature as of authorship female at the countries that if communicated via the Portuguese language account along as good as gold delegates. Um look , Although amateurish on the subject of that creation reveals than it is to notadamente from the última half as much from the century bygone , decade as of 40-50, she came gradativamente calling the attention as of browsers AND acquiring , further and further , the prestige from the audience - lecturer. Maria Archer , all the same , it looks encounter - in case that by nearly all-inclusive forgetfulness As of 1955 the one 1977, Maria Archer (1899-1982,escritora) Portuguese , he came abide by um broad exílio well into lands Brazilians. Herein , as a at the continents luso - African , lathe - in case that one of names as of chick more important pela contribution at the inaccurate as of Portuguese language. THE ONE objetivo first one of this I work is jut the experiences AND the contribution of this female writer for the inaccurate as of Portuguese language problematizando - the at the light from the hegemonia masculine than it is to he marked the creation as of background AND the reflection public above the endurance of the Portuguese at the dictatorship from the regime salazarista vigente at the Portugal of the time.

Den här rapporten behandlar ett system som använder en databas som lagringsplats för loggar. En bra metod för att hämta ut dessa loggar saknades och databasdesignen behövde förbättras för sökningar i loggarna. En applikation för att hämta och söka i loggposter från databasen skapades. En undersökning om hur databasdesignen kunde förbättras genomfördes också. Båda delarna gjordes i ett projekt för att de hörde ihop. Applikationen skulle använda databasen. Då jag inte kunde göra vilka ändringar jag ville i databasen gjordes relativt begränsade ändringar i den. Större ändringar utreddes teoretiskt. Applikationen gjordes mot den existerande databasdesignen, med ett undantag: en vy lades till. Rapporten undersöker index och andra metoder att göra sökningar i en databas snabbare. En metod för att hämta data inom ett intervall i en databas utvecklades och den beskrivs i rapporten. Metoden söker efter all data som har värden på en kolumn som faller inom ett intervall och där databasen är ordnad, eller nästan ordnad, på den kolumnen. Metoden ger oexakta svar om databasen är nästan ordnad på den kolumnen. Den är snabbare än en motsvarande exakt sökning. / This report considers a system where a database is used as the back-end storage for logging. A suitable method for extracting information from the logs was missing and the database design needed an improvement for log searching. An application for extracting and filtering the logs was created. An evaluation of how the database could be improved was also performed. Both parts were done in one project since they were heavily connected. The application would use the database. Since I couldn’t make arbitrary changes to the database only relatively limited changes were made in practice. Larger changes were evaluated theoretically. The application was made against the existing database, with one exception: a view was added. The report handles indexes and other methods for speeding up database searches. A method for fetching data inside an interval in a database was developed and is described in the report. The method searches for all data where the value of a column is inside an interval and the database is ordered, or almost ordered, on that column. The method gives inexact answers if the database is almost ordered on that column. It is faster than a corresponding exact search.