This thesis aims to explore the role of executive functions in multitasking. Research has shown that severe performance decrements often arise in dual-task performance, also called multitasking, as compared to single task performance. This reflects a limitation in processing temporally overlapping information. Interference between tasks arises due to a bottleneck process limited to processing only one task at a time. It has been proposed that this interference is resolved by executive functions. However, the dual-task paradigm employed in this thesis, Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm, (Pashler, 1994) is typically investigated in the field of human action performance, and the exact concept of executive functions remains underspecified. However, while underspecified in the area of action performance, executive functions have been investigated in detail in the field of memory research, more specifically in the context of working memory (WM). Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to investigate whether the executive functions in PRP are related to the executive functions as discussed in the context of WM. To test this question, we combined the PRP paradigm with a WM task, creating a complex WM span task. If the executive functions of WM and PRP are indeed related, then an interaction between the two tasks should be evident. Participants were presented with a sequence of letters to remember, followed by a processing block in which they had to perform either a single task or a dual-task, and finally were asked to recall the letters. Results (Chapter 2) showed that recall performance decreased when performing a dual-task as compared to performing a single task. This supports the assumption that PRP dual-tasks demand executive functions of WM. Following this, two other experiments were performed each with a different parametric modulation of the processing demands of the PRP dual task; response order (fixed vs random; Chapter 3) and stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA, short vs long; Chapter 4) of the component tasks. Recall performance was lower after a more difficult dual-task compared to an easier dual-task, which again indicates that demands on executive functions are increased in the dual-task. While previous neuroscientific research indeed showed that dual-tasks as well as WM tasks rely on lateral-prefrontal cortices (LPFC), it remains unknown whether both tasks activate the same areas or different sub-areas of the LPFC. Therefore, this study (Chapter 6) investigated how the neuroanatomical correlates of both dual-task and WM compare to each other. The brain activation for the PRP and WM tasks showed considerable overlap as well as some differentiation. Both tasks activated, among other areas, the inferior frontal junction. With respect to differences, the PRP task activated more the inferior middle frontal gyrus (MFG) whilst the WM component activated more the superior MFG. Thus, results support the assumption that PRP dual-tasks demand the executive functions of WM. This will allow us to inform theoretical models of cognition and to get a better understanding of human cognition. Future studies can build on this in order to create a more consolidated conceptualisation of the relationship between WM and multitasking.

No description available.

The impetus for this research was the increasing threat of catastrophic wildfires resulting from the accumulation of fuels across the West. Guided by the priorities, goals, and guiding principles outlined by the national fire plan (NFP), the objective was to identify those areas within a pinyon-juniper woodland-dominated landscape with the highest hazard of catastrophic wildfire. The intent was to help managers prioritize proactive fuels management efforts outside of the wildland urban interface (WUI). Based on a management paradigm, constraints were placed on the data collection, analysis, and model development. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to create a hazard assessment at a landscape scale in Tintic Valley, Utah. Hazard categories were a classification of fuels based on crown cover of pinyon-juniper trees, utilizing remotely sensed data. The data set consisted of digital orthophoto quadrangle (DOQ) images from 1993. The methods were developed in three phases. Phase One resulted in a hazard assessment protocol. In Phase Two, data layers were created to further divide the hazard categories into more tractable management units. Phase Three, through the retrospective examination of recent wildfires, indicated the limitations and utility of the assessment technique. The protocol presented provides a relatively fast, inexpensive, and timely hazard classification technique for pinyon-juniper woodlands at a watershed level. It is intended to be used for coarse-scale assessments of fuel hazards for strategic planning purposes. While not appropriate for fire behavior predictions, this assessment can focus managerial efforts for additional tactical planning.

This thesis mainly examines inflectional morphology of verbal paradigms in Laki, which is considered as one of the Southern varieties of Kurdish language. The association of form and content of morphological markings are viewed from a realizational angle, in which exponents (morphological forms) are associated with the morphosyntactic properties via the application of rules of exponence, appealed by paradigm functions (Stump 2001) and ordered into rule blocks (Anderson 1992). In particular, I applied the paradigm linkage theory proposed and fully developed by Stump (2002 and 2016) to account for Laki verbal paradigms. In this study, it is claimed that alignment pattern and the syntagmatic combination of some of the inflectional exponents such as agreement markers are sensitive to preterite property. Hence, I argue in favor of considering two distinct morphotactic patternings in Laki. As the result of this assumption, depending on whether the inflectional markers attach to a preterite or a non-preterite stem, we should define two separate sets of affix position in this language. Moreover, I examine Laki polyfunctional agreement markers through the consideration of the morphotactics of this language. Applying Stump's analysis (to appear) of Swahili verbal concords, I consider two distinct types of content for these agreement markers: intrinsic content, and positional content. Their positional content is what the morphotactics of the language determines.

Commitment to a single, inclusive education system has been the aspiration of reform in education in a democratic South Africa. The dilemma facing the democratically elected government was to write educational policy which, when translated into practice, would improve the educational standards offered to students in impoverished schools while at the same time allow the maintenance of the high standards achieved in schools which had been privileged under the apartheid system. There was, furthermore, the challenge of providing a curriculum that would be meaningful to students from diverse backgrounds bearing in mind the socio-historical moment within which education found itself.Research on inclusive education in the developed world has been extensive. There has been less research completed in developing world countries. Situated in the Pietermaritzburg area of KwaZulu‐Natal (KZN), South Africa, a developing world country, participants in the current study were parents of children with disabilities, aide workers, regular and special educators, managers who made decisions affecting the education of these children, and the children themselves. The research is positioned in the theory of interpretivism which provided the opportunity to give a voice to the participants, to interpret how they made sense of their world. The methodology used was qualitative description with an evaluation component. Qualitative description allowed the discovery and understanding of "a phenomenon, a process, or the perspectives and worldviews of the people involved" (Merriam, 1998, p. 11). Data are presented so that the participants' point of view could be understood and made explicit (Artinian, 1988). Using qualitative description, this current study explored the beliefs about disability and inclusive education specifically of stakeholders in the education of disabled children. The evaluation component provided the means of ascertaining the extent to which disabled students were having their educational needs met, and the extent to which the policy ideals of inclusive education, as articulated in White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001), were being achieved.Inclusive education in this present study is viewed as a multifaceted construct which shares a reciprocal relationship with various theoretical determinants. The determinants considered in the present study are (a) concept of other, (b) disability discourse, (c) equity, (d) reconceptualist/incrementalist approaches to inclusive education, and (e) prerequisites for regular and special educator buy-in.Findings revealed that there was evidence of inclusive education beginning to be implemented in KZN in that barriers to learning for many students were being addressed and removed. The specific provision in policy documents directed towards children with disabilities was behind schedule, however, and there was little evidence of full inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education. Reasons for this were multiple and were explored in relation to criteria at a macro- and micro-level, distilled from the literature, which seem to be necessary for the successful inclusion of students with disabilities.The most significant macro-level factors were (i) the legacy of apartheid and the democratic process, moving towards a liberal democracy, still being in progress; (ii) the discourse around disability espoused by the majority of the population resulting in high levels of ostracism of the disabled; and (iii) the disabled becoming lost in the wide definition of need in the barriers to learning approach to inclusive education.The most significant micro-level factors were (i) regular educators being reluctant to embrace the inclusive education initiative because of problems they had encountered with another recent initiative, the implementation of Outcomes Based Education; (ii) special educators fearing for their students if they were to be included without the requisite preparation and support; and (iii) some parents lacking the efficacy to access education of any sort for their disabled children.These macro- and micro-level findings exist within a multifaceted array of factors, an intricate web of nuances and complexity.

This thesis examines the risk and internationalisation practices of International New Ventures (INVs) in the environmental sector. The purpose of the research is to make observations regarding the manner in which environmental INVs manage risk when internationalising.The literature review focuses upon the published literature that relates to INVs, risk and risk management, mode of entry and the environmental sector. Section one of the literature review provides the characteristics of what constitutes an INV. Section 2 provides a review of the risk literature, this allows the differences between Multi National Enterprise (MNE) and INV risk and risk management to be reviewed. Section 3 takes the international business risks mentioned in section 2 and relates them to the mode of entry literature (i.e. the internationalisation of firms). The final section of the literature review is used to justify the investigation into the water pollution and control sector of the environmental industry. The research question is 'What strategies do environmental INVs use when entering new international markets?' The research question is broken into five specific research questions and addressed using the Repertory Grid process. The Repertory Grid process is used as it can turn the tacit knowledge held by the participants into explicit knowledge. The results show areas of convergence and divergence between practice and academia. The results also suggest new issues that need to be considered when firms internationalise. This culminates in the observations made in regard to the way environmental INVs manage risk when internationalising.

In this philosophical and practical-critical inquiry, I address two significant and closely related problems - whether and how those involved in the enterprise of education conceptualise a need for educational change, and the observed resistance of school cultures to change efforts. I address the apparent lack of a clear, coherent and viable theory of learning, agency and change, capable of making explicit the need, substantive nature and means of educational change. Based on a meta-analysis of numerous theories and perspectives on human knowing, learning, intelligence, agency and change, I synthesise a 'Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change', characterised by fifteen Constructs. I argue that this more viable Paradigm is capable of informing both design and critique of systemic curriculum and assessment policies, school organisation and planning models, professional learning and pedagogical practice, and student learning and action. The Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change contrasts with the assumptions reflected in the prevailing culture of institutionalised education, and I argue that dominant views of knowledge and human agency are both theoretically and practically non-viable and unsustainable. I argue that the prevailing culture and experience of schooling contributes to the formation of assumptions, identities, dispositions and orientations to the world characterised by alienation. The Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change also contrasts with the assumptions reflected in some educational reform efforts recently promoted at system level in Queensland, Australia. I use the Dynamic Paradigm as the reference point for a formal critique of two influential reform programs, Authentic Pedagogy and the New Basics Project, identifying significant limitations in both the conceptualisation of educational ends and means, and the implementation of these reform agendas. Within the Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change, knowledge and learning serve the individual's need for more adaptive or viable functioning in the world. I argue that students' attainment of knowledge of major ways in which others in our culture organise experience (interpret the world) is a legitimate goal of schooling. However, it is more viable to think of the primary function of schooling as providing for the young inspiration, opportunities and support for purposeful doing, and for assisting them in understanding the processes of 'action scheme' change to make such doing more viable. Through the practical-critical components of the inquiry, undertaken in the context of the ferment of pedagogical and curricular discussion and exploration in Queensland between 1999 and 2003, I develop the Key Abilities Model and associated guidelines and resources relating to forms of pedagogy, curriculum organisation and assessment consistent with the Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change. I argue the importance of showing teachers why and how their existing visions and conceptions of learning and teaching may be inadequate, and of emphasising teachers' conceptions of learning, knowing, agency and teaching, and their identities, dispositions and orientations to the world, as things that might need to change, in order to realise the intent of educational change focused on transformational student outcomes serving both the individual and collective good. A recommendation is made for implementation and research of a school-based trial of the Key Abilities Model, informed by and reflecting the Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change, as an important investment in the development and expression of ‘authentic' human intelligence.

<p>We study the problem of scheduling applications composed of a large number of tasks on heterogeneous clusters. Tasks are identical, independent from each other, and can hence be computed in any order. The goal is to execute all the tasks as quickly as possible. We use the Master-Worker paradigm, where tasks are maintained by the master which will hand out batches of a variable amount of tasks to requesting workers. We introduce a new scheduling strategy, the Monitor strategy, and compare it to other strategies suggested in the literature. An image filtering application, known as matched filtering, has been used to compare the different strategies. Our implementation involves datastaging techniques in order to circumvent the possible bottleneck incurred by the master, and multi-threading to prevent possible processor idleness.</p>

This project examines the communicative structure of the contemporary rhetoric of crisis and reform narrative dominating public conversation about education, as a post-industrial body of discourse deeply embedded in historical ideals for a mass system of public education. In challenging the crisis-centered narrative, this work seeks to identify historical discourse strands that have shaped thinking and action in the construction of educational policy, legislation, administration and pedagogy. This work evaluates the misalignment in the assumptions which guide the perception that an academic relationship exists between higher education and secondary school which is in contrast to the original purpose for a mass system of public education. In part, this research is a response to discourse that applies responsibility to colleges and universities in the ongoing rhetoric of crisis and reform calls for greater accountability and assessments as a means by which the problems of education may be reversed. It is the position of this research that these systems are not aligned yet increasingly, public discussions about educational failures assume that secondary school is the preparatory ground for the transition to higher learning. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD / Dissertation

Research in our laboratory has demonstrated blocked and recovered memories within the context of a controlled experiment. The comparative memory paradigm allows for comparisons of recovered memories, continuous memories, and false memories. Additional research in our laboratory has shown two distinct types of memory errors; semantic based errors which occur due to pre-existing category knowledge, and episodic based errors in which the source of details (list members) are misattributed. Independently, these two lines of research have illuminated basic memory processes, however, they have not been combined previously. That is, the experiments in the present study explore the susceptibility of recovered memories to semantic and episodic based errors relative to continuous memories. Experiment 1 replicated the large blocking and recovery effects previously found by our laboratory. Additionally, it demonstrated that recovered memories were no more prone to semantic based errors than were continuous memories. These errors occurred very infrequently despite the use of materials chosen specifically to induce such errors. Experiment 2 again replicated the large blocking and recovery effects. The equivalent low rate of semantic based errors was also replicated. However, Experiment 2 also revealed that recovered memories were more susceptible to episodic based errors than were continuous memories. This was especially true when the memory block occurred in an interference treatment condition. Finally, post-recall source recognition tests failed to improve memory accuracy. In fact, numerically both semantic based and episodic based errors increased on the source recognition test relative to the cued recall test. Findings are discussed in relation to the source monitoring and fuzzy-trace theories of memory as well as the legal and clinical recovered memory controversy.