Substance use disorders among the baby boomer generation are steadily increasing, but knowledge and training satisfaction regarding older adult substance use disorders among behavioral health providers (BHPs) has not been explored. Using the Kirkpatrick evaluation model, this quantitative study involved an examination of the knowledge and training satisfaction of four behavioral provider groups: addiction counselors, licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists/social workers, and psychologists. Each participant (N = 154) completed a demographic questionnaire, satisfaction questionnaire, and the Alcohol and Older Adult Questionnaire to measure knowledge level on older adult substance use disorders. The results showed that licensed professional counselors held significantly higher levels of knowledge than any other BHP group. There were no significant differences between BHPs regarding satisfaction with training on older adult substance use disorders. No relationship was found between BHP satisfaction and BHP knowledge scores, even when considering the number of years, a BHP was licensed. Therefore, the findings of this study may encourage more training for BHPs aside from licenses professional counselors as well as future research on BHPs treating older adult substance use disorders.

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E-learning became the trend in view of the fact that computer technology and the rapidity of globalization had revolutionized the atmosphere of learning as well as education more than ever during the 21st century. The core intention of this study is to present the correlation between e-learning environment and learning outcome based on knowledge creation model from the view point of knowledge management. The SECI model suggested by Nonaka & Takuichi (1995) and Ba model suggested by Nonaka & Konno (1998) were used to divide e-learning environment into four divisions including original ba, dialoguing ba, systemizing ba, and exercising ba. Each diverse division supported a certain knowledge creation behavior counting socialization, externalization, combination, as well as internalization. Designed questionnaires were given to gather study information and further statistic data in order to observe whether knowledge creation behaviors related to learning outcomes. The results demonstrated that four e-learning environments facilitated the four knowledge creation behaviors; along with these knowledge creation behaviors kept up a correspondence with learning outcome. To conclude, the findings of this study supported both SECI model and Ba model. In addition, the final results also proved both theories worked in virtual along with the realistic world.

An increase in the rate of training in the Cold Mill South area due to outside pressure has led to the question whether training is still effective in this environment. The literature study has shown that the most commonly used method to measure the effectiveness of training is to use the Kirkpatrick model. In this study, the aim was thus to follow the four steps of the Kirkpatrick model and use it to measure the effectiveness of training in the Cold Mills South area of the ArcelorMittal Vanderbijlpark works. The following studies were done to determine the four steps: the way that training is done in the Cold Mill area was investigated, the works' perception with regard to training was measured by employing a questionnaire. The questionnaire also investigated any barriers that prevented the workers from performing, information with regard to the different shifts' production performance and training levels was also gathered. The results of the study could not determine that there is a definitive relationship between the training level and shift performance. The workers were very positive towards training, but a few workers felt that there are barriers that prevent them from performing at their workplace. The results of the study showed a few areas where training can be improved, like the retention of skilled workers to help with the training. It is also very important that on-the-job training should be improved. A model similar to that of Brethower and Smalley could be used to improve on-the-job training. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

An increase in the rate of training in the Cold Mill South area due to outside pressure has led to the question whether training is still effective in this environment. The literature study has shown that the most commonly used method to measure the effectiveness of training is to use the Kirkpatrick model. In this study, the aim was thus to follow the four steps of the Kirkpatrick model and use it to measure the effectiveness of training in the Cold Mills South area of the ArcelorMittal Vanderbijlpark works. The following studies were done to determine the four steps: the way that training is done in the Cold Mill area was investigated, the works' perception with regard to training was measured by employing a questionnaire. The questionnaire also investigated any barriers that prevented the workers from performing, information with regard to the different shifts' production performance and training levels was also gathered. The results of the study could not determine that there is a definitive relationship between the training level and shift performance. The workers were very positive towards training, but a few workers felt that there are barriers that prevent them from performing at their workplace. The results of the study showed a few areas where training can be improved, like the retention of skilled workers to help with the training. It is also very important that on-the-job training should be improved. A model similar to that of Brethower and Smalley could be used to improve on-the-job training. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

We analyze the replica-symmetry-breaking (RSB) construction in the Sherrington - Kirkpatrick (SK) model and in the p-state Potts glass for p ≤ 4. We present a general scheme for deriving an asymptotic solution with an arbitrary number of discrete hierarchies of broken replica symmetry near the critical temperature for both models, and close to the de Almeida- Thouless instability line in the SK model. We show that in the SK model all solutions with finite many hierarchies are unstable and only the scheme with infinite many hierarchies becomes marginally stable in the spin-glass phase. For the Potts glass, we find, moreover, an one-step RSB solution which co- exists with the infinite RSB solution for p > p∗ ≈ 2.82. The former solution is locally stable but has lower free energy than the latter which is marginally stable and has the highest free energy. 1

This thesis deals with the practical aspects of corporate training with the main focus on assessment and measurement of its outputs and effectiveness. The theoretical part introduces to the reader the concepts of corporate education and professional development as well as with their current trends. Next chapters describe the methods of analyzing educational needs and defining development goals. Moreover, various models of assessing the training effectiveness are presented. The application part of this thesis consists of empirical research conducted in the FOXCONN corporation. The purpose of this research was to evaluate training effectiveness of two types of trainings, using Kirkpatrick and Brinkerhoff models, and to address current issues of corporate education and propose solutions to them.

The results reported in this thesis contribute to the understanding of disordered systems, to mesoscopic physics on the one hand, and to the physics of spin glasses on the other hand. The first part of this thesis studies numerically coherent electronic transport in a non magnetic metal accurately doped with frozen magnetic impurities (a low temperature spin glass). Thanks to a recursive code that calculates the two terminal conductance of the system, we study in detail the metallic regime of conduction (large conductance) as well as the insulating regime (small conductance). In both regimes, we highlight a universal behavior of the system. Moreover, a study of correlations between the conductance of different spin configurations of impurities allows us to link these correlations with correlations between spin configurations. This study opens the route for the first experimental determination of the overlap via transport measurements. A second part of this thesis deals with the study of the mean field Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, which describes the low temperature phase of an Ising spin glass. We are interested here in the generalization of this model to quantum spins (i.e including the possibility to flip by quantum tunneling) of this classical model that was well studied during the past thirty years. We deduce analytically motion equations at the semi-classical level, for which the influence of quantum tunneling is weak, and we compare them with the classical case. We finally solve numerically these equations using a pseudo-spectral method.

This research report presents the findings of an evaluation of a school-based substance abuse prevention programme presented as part of Project Awareness. The programme was presented as a one-day intervention for grade ten learners in eleven schools in Tshwane. The prevention program taught substance abuse refusal skills, anti-substance norms, personal self-management skills, and general social skills in an effort to provide students with skills and information for resisting substance offers, to decrease motivations to use substances, and decrease vulnerability to substance use social influences. The study evaluated this school-based substance abuse prevention intervention in a sample of learners (N=300) in six of the eleven schools. Measures were obtained on a behavioural survey to ascertain whether any knowledge, behaviour or attitude change occurred between the pre-intervention and post-intervention phases. In addition, focus group data and observational measures were implemented to determine how the learners experienced the programme and whether the programme was effective in capturing the attention of the learners. Results indicated that, from learners perceptions of the programme, the intervention seems to have had a positive impact on substance abuse prevention, but not on changing the behaviour of learners already engaging in substance abuse. The results from the behavioural survey indicated some change in learner attitudes to some degree, but not behavioural change. Suggestions for the improvement of the programme were made throughout the report, and the observational measures specifically indicated that the more practical oriented tasks were more efficient in capturing the attention of learners. It is concluded that although the programme certainly had room for improvement, that the programme did indeed address relevant issues. The program also had a direct positive effect on several cognitive, attitudinal, and personality variables believed to play a role in adolescent substance use. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

La formation de la main-d’œuvre est l’objet d’une littérature scientifique abondante depuis plusieurs années. D’une manière générale, les principaux sujets étudiés dans la littérature scientifique, les travaux empiriques et dans les politiques publiques traitent du rendement de la formation de la main-d’œuvre ou plus récemment de la dimension stratégique de la formation de la main-d’œuvre sur la performance organisationnelle. Or, les résultats produits sont mitigés, peu convaincants, voire contradictoires (Cedefop, 2013, 2005). En conséquence, les chefs d’entreprises et les décideurs en matière de politiques publiques manquent de démonstrations claires pour évaluer les impacts de la formation sur la performance des organisations. Dans cette recherche, nous proposons justement d’apporter un nouvel éclairage théorique et empirique pour mieux comprendre les caractéristiques des entreprises qui évaluent le rendement de la formation, comment le font-elles et quelles sont les retombées perçues en la matière. Sur le plan théorique, cette recherche mobilise trois approches différentes dans un modèle analytique qui se veut intégratif. Dans la partie plutôt hypothético-déductive, la théorie du capital humain ainsi que le modèle de Kirkpatrick et de la gestion stratégique de ressources humaines permettent de vérifier la rationalité des employeurs en matière d’évaluation de la formation et de la perception de son rendement. Dans la partie la plus exploratoire de la thèse, nous avons mobilisé les pouvoirs conceptuels et explicatifs de l’approche institutionnaliste pour comprendre le comportement des organisations qui ne font pas d’évaluation formelle mais qui perçoivent quand même des retombées positives de leurs activités de formation. Sur le plan méthodologique, il s’agit d’une recherche explicative et d’une démarche en partie exploratoire quantitative faite à partir des données de l’enquête menée en 2003 par Emploi-Québec et l’Institut de la statistique du Québec auprès de 4600 entreprises assujetties à la Loi favorisant le développement et la reconnaissance des compétences de la main-d’œuvre. Nos principaux résultats de recherche soutiennent l’existence de trois types de facteurs explicatifs de la perception des retombées de la formation : des facteurs liés à l’organisation (profil et expérience en formation), des facteurs liés à la nature de la formation et des facteurs liés à l’intervention institutionnelle en matière de formation. / Labour force training has been the object of an extensive body of scientific literature for many years. In general, the main subjects examined in the scientific literature, in professional studies and in public policy discussions concern the effectiveness of labour force training and, more recently, the strategic dimension of labour force training with regard to possible effects on organisational performance. The results produced, however, have been qualified, unconvincing and at times contradictory (Cedefop, 2013, 2005). As a consequence, business leaders and public policy decision-makers lack the clear evidence needed to evaluate the impact of training on the performance of organisations. In the present study, a new theoretical and empirical perspective is offered with which to better understand the characteristics of businesses which evaluate the effectiveness of training, how the evaluations are conducted and the perceived effects thereof. In terms of its theoretical basis, this study utilises three different approaches in an integrative analytical model. In the hypothetical-deductive section of the study, the theory of human capital as well as the Kirkpatrick model and the strategic management of human resources allows for the verification of the motivation of employers with regard to training evaluation and the perception of its utility. In the more exploratory section of the thesis, the conceptual and explanatory powers of an institutionalist approach have been mobilised to understand the behaviour of organisations that do not conduct formal evaluations but which nonetheless perceive the positive effects of their training activities. In terms of methodology, this is an explicative analysis and an in-part exploratory quantitative approach based on the results of a study conducted in 2005 by Emploi-Québec and l’Institut de la statistique du Québec of businesses subject to the Loi favorisant le développement et la reconnaissance des compétences de la main-d’œuvre. Our main research findings suggest the existence of three types of factors which explain the perception of the effects of training: factors related to the organisation in question (the nature and extent of experience in training), factors related to the type of training and factors related to institutional action concerning training.