International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1992 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) algorithm is a popular data compaction technique that has been adopted by CCITT in its V.42bis recommendation and is often implemented in association with the V.32 standard for 9600 bps modems. It has also been implemented as Microcom Networking Protocol (MNP) Level 7, where it goes by the name of Enhanced Data Compression. LZW compacts data by encoding frequently occurring input strings with a single output symbol. The algorithm automatically generates a string dictionary for each symbol at each end of the transmission path. The amount of compaction that can be derived with the LZW algorithm varies with the type of data being transmitted and the efficiency by which table entries can be indexed. Table indexing is usually implemented by use of a hashing table. Although some manufacturers advertise a 4-to-1 gain in throughput, this seems to be an extreme case. This paper documents a implementation of the exact ZLW algorithm. The results presented in this paper are significantly less, typically on the order of 1-to-2 for ASCII text, with substantially less compaction for pre-compacted files or files containing random bit patterns. The efficiency of the LZW algorith on ASCII text is shown to be a function of dictionary size and block size. Although fewer transmitted symbols are required for larger dictionary tables, the additional bits required for the symbol index is marginally greater than the efficiency that is gained. The net effect is that dictionary sizes beyond 2K in size are increasingly less efficient for input data block sizes of 10K or more. The author concludes that the algorithm could be implemented as a direct table look-up rather than through a hashing algorithm. This would allow the LZW to be implemented with very simple firmware and with a maximum of hardware efficiency.

Once considered managers of school buildings, principals have moved into the role of instructional leaders, charged with putting student learning first in their realm of daily responsibilities. The concept of transformational leadership helps foster the development of a school culture that includes student-centered interactions, an underlying sense of social stability, and student learning at its core. Principals lead their staffs in a multitude of ways. The extent of principal effectiveness as it relates to retaining teachers in school buildings is in need of exploration. Four issues related to principal effectiveness are addressed as supported by the literature: (a) educational leadership theory, (b) organizational culture in schools, (c) teacher mobility, and (d) effects of teacher mobility on school culture. Teacher retention at the local school builds stronger communities simply by fostering relationships that enable problem solving among colleagues, students, and parents. This dissertation looks at the role of the principal in developing a healthy school culture in order to provide descriptions of leadership practices, so their value can be assessed and debated. Data collection consisted of sixteen semi-structured interviews that constitute the source of this instrumental case study. By interviewing system leaders in two distinctly different districts and examining the perceptions of teachers in those districts, the researcher was able to understand the effects of the Georgia Vision Project and teacher retention at the local school level. Data analysis resulted in the central categories: respect, support, relationships, recognition, open door policy, and encouragement as ways in which principals can influence retention.

I april år 2016 upprättades den första svenska versionen av en Social Impact Bond, då ett avtal ingicks mellan Norrköpings kommun och den privata investeraren Leksell Social Ventures AB. Avtalet är ett utfallskontrakt och är en ny form av investeringsinstrument med ursprung i impact investments. Målet med utfallskontraktet är att förbättra situationen för barn och ungdomar som placerats i vårdboenden i Norrköpings kommun. Uppsatsens syfte är att öka förståelsen för utfallskontraktet som instrument genom att undersöka förutsättningarna, samt vilka eventuella målkonflikter som kan föreligga mellan parterna. Analysen skall behandla parternas inbördes ställning och hur parternas intressen tillvaratas och regleras i kontraktet. Slutligen ämnar uppsatsen att utvärdera huruvida utfallskontraktet är ett effektivt instrument för att genomföra sociala investeringar. Uppsatsens tillvägagångssätt är en deskriptiv fallstudie av det sociala utfallskontraktet. Vi har genomfört semistrukturella djupintervjuer som kompletterar vårt empiriska material som huvudsak består av utfallskontraktet. Analysen är uppdelad i kontraktets förutsättningar, den sociala insatsen, kontraktet och ingående aktörer. Varje del av kontraktet analyseras utifrån en analysmodell som innehåller principal agent-teorin och transaktionskostnads-teori. Förutsättningarna som föreligger i realiteten gör att utfallskontraktet kan anses vara ett bra finansieringsverktyg, som kontrollerar parternas beteende och samtidigt tillåter flexibilitet. De målkonflikter som eventuellt kan uppstå kan minskas genom att utfallskontraktet har en anpassad styrningsstruktur och tydligt preciserade mål för utfallet. Ersättningsmodellen för utfallskontraktet är baserat på ekonomiska incitament, som står i proportion till insatsens måluppfyllelse. Kontraktets villkor beskriver och reglerar hur insatsens utförare skall rekryteras och indirekt hur dessa aktörer skall styras av reglering, information och ekonomiska incitament. För att utfallskontraktet skall vara effektivt krävs tydliga mål med mätbara kriterier för insatsen. Med kontraktet i Norrköping som utgångspunkt kan man generellt säga att fördelarna med ett utfallskontrakt ökar i takt med insatsens specialiseringsgrad. Men för enklare åtgärder eller insatser så är utfallskontraktet en kostsam lösning.

Many research studies have investigated the role of the principal in implementing change. Despite the information gleaned from those investigations, principals continue to struggle with initiating, implementing, and sustaining change in their schools. Guiding this narrative inquiry study were theories related to principal leadership, educational change theory, and the theories associated with school culture, with the intent to understand the experiences of principals as they initiated, implemented, and sustained change in their schools. This study explored the challenges and successes principals experienced along with the specific actions that contributed to successful implementation. Five principals from southern Idaho were interviewed. Narratives were co-constructed based on each of the principal's experiences. Polyvocal analysis was used to analyze the data and co-construct the narratives with the participants. Common themes were examined and compared to recent research related to principals implementing change. A cross narrative analysis was used to compare the common themes and actions attributed to the successful implementation of change. Analysis of the data revealed that, among these 5 principals, successful implementation of change was created by obtaining buy-in from staff, building trust, distributing leadership, providing structured time for teachers to learn and collaborate, building capacity through targeted professional development, and seeking input from all stakeholders. These findings will promote social change by helping principals to understand the experiences of other principals with initiating, implementing, and sustaining change. Also, the common themes identified will inform principals on how to successfully implement change that will positively affect students.

In our study we identify dominant hydroclimatic variables and large-scale patterns that lead to high streamflow events in the Santa Cruz, Salt, and Verde River in Arizona for the period 1979-2009 using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We used winter (Nov - March) data from the USGS daily streamflow database and 11 variables from the North American Reanalysis (NARR) database, in addition to weather maps from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC). Using streamflow data, we identify precipitation events that led to the highest 98th percentile of daily streamflow events and find dominant hydroclimatic variables associated with these events. We find that upper level winds and moisture fluxes are dominant variables that characterize events. The dominant mode for all three basins is associated with frontal systems, while the second mode is associated with cut-off upper level low pressure systems. Our goal is to provide forecasting agencies with tools to improve flood forecasting practices.

Research on principals' perceptions and responses to school bullying is scarce. This study investigated the perceptions of seven middle school principals and their responses to six hypothetical vignettes depicting incidents of physical, verbal, or relational bullying. During interviews, respondents were asked to rate the seriousness of each incident and describe how they would respond. Respondents rated all the incidents, regardless of the form of bullying, as moderately serious, serious, or very serious. When asked to describe how they would respond to incidents, all responded they would take action (e.g., consequences for the instigator, interventions to change the behavior of the instigator, support for the target). State statute on bullying, school anti-bullying policies, past experience with bullying, and a belief that students deserve to feel safe were key to guiding their responses. The principals recognized that bullying occurred on their campuses but indicated that incidents were minimized as a result of their strong school anti-bullying polices and a belief that no form of bullying was to be tolerated on their campuses.

The principal nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTp) is an integral component of the mouse accessory olfactory system, and plays a key role in pheromonal processing. In males, this region is not only larger and contains more neurons than in females, but the cells are also larger. The present study examined the relationship between preference for opposite-sex odour and regional volume, cell number and cell size within the BNSTp of both male and female mice. No correlations were found between olfactory preferences and any of the three morphological BNSTp parameters. However, the olfactory preference task results were not congruent with previous research. Therefore, it remains inconclusive whether relationships exist between olfactory preference behaviour and morphology of the BNSTp.

Projektinis valdymas, tai moderniųjų viešojo administravimo paradigmų instrumentas, kuriuo siekiama tobulinti viešųjų institucijų veiklą ir tai daryti apjungiant geriausias verslo bei viešojo sektoriaus praktikas. Lietuvoje projektinis valdymas intensyviau pradėtas taikyti tik atsiradus galimybei įsisavinti Europos Sąjungos paramą, todėl šis instrumentas yra ganėtinai naujas mūsų šalyje. Šiuo metu Lietuvoje populiarėja stambūs investiciniai projektai, kurių metu siekiant konkretaus tikslo yra sudaromos įvairaus tipo bendradarbiavimo sutartys tarp viešųjų institucijų ir privačių atstovų ir tokiu būdu sukuriami užsakovo ir vykdytojo santykiai. Darbo eigoje bus nagrinėjamas investicinis projektas, kaip instrumentas, o taip pat analizuojamas jo įgyvendinimo procesas. Be to, remiantis dvejomis teorijomis bus pristatytas koncepcinis tyrimo modelis, kurio pagalba galima analizuoti sąveikas tarp užsakovo (viešosios institucijos) bei vykdytojo (privataus sektoriaus atstovo). Trečiojoje dalyje bus aiškinamasi, kokie veiksniai lemia nesklandumus investicinio projekto valdyme. Darbo tikslas yra išnagrinėti investicinių projektų įgyvendinimo problematiką Lietuvoje, santykių tarp užsakovo ir rangovo bei projekto darbų priežiūros aspektu. Tikslui pasiekti bus nagrinėjamas Kauno pramogų ir sporto rūmų Nemuno saloje investicinis projektas. Pasitelkus surinktą informaciją bus nustatytos pagrindinės priežastys, kurios lemia investicinio projekto įgyvendinimo nesklandumus. Galiausiai darbo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Project management is an instrument of modern Public administration paradigms. It is used in order to make public institutions more efficient. This instrument is quite new in Lithuania and was started to use intensively when European Union gave opportunity soak up support from EU funds. Now in Lithuania big investment projects are becoming more and more popular. The main purpose of these projects is to create efficient relations between principal (public organization) and agent (private organization). Both participants are maximizing their efforts in order to reach some particular purpose with less money and more quality. In this paper it will be analysed the concept of investment project and implementation of investment project. Besides, there will be presented the model of research, which can help to analyse the interactions between principal and agent. This model is based on two theories – Principal agent ant Contract theory. In third part of this paper there will be research of principal and agent interactions. This research should reveal, which factors cause problems in investment project implementation. The main purposes of this paper are to analyse the implementation of investment projects in Lithuania, to investigate interactions in investment projects and to reveal the way of control in projects implementation. The base of research will be the analyse of investment project “Kauno pramogų ir sporto rūmai Nemuno saloje“. At the end of this paper will be revealed why... [to full text]

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Over the years there has been significant discussion of the connection between principal's leadership qualities and teacher efficacy. Students come to the classroom from stable, traditional, supportive home environments as well as from unstable, broken, and homeless situations. Teachers are asked to teach a classroom full of students with a wide range of learning abilities as well as a varied range of learning disabilities. The confidence to do this for the measure of a teacher's career takes a strong sense of efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' sense of efficacy and teachers' perceptions of their principals' leadership qualities that enhance and/or diminish the teachers' sense of efficacy. This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methods to study the effects of leadership qualities on teacher efficacy. Quantitative data was acquired utilizing the teacher sense of efficacy scale and the principal leadership questionnaire. Qualitative data was gathered through a focus group meeting of teachers with measurably strong efficacy to identify principal practices that affect teachers' efficacy. The study's outcomes reported that total respondent data indicates a generally positive relationship between these two variables. Subgroup analysis revealed varying results with diminishing relationships measured from elementary to secondary teachers. Qualitative information gathered from teachers with strong efficacy reported strategies that foster teacher efficacy, make teachers feel good about teaching and inhibit the development of teacher efficacy. The study recommends that principals and school administrators be especially knowledgeable of the six components of transformational leadership as well as the three aspects of teacher efficacy examined in this study. Being mindful of how daily leadership decisions not only fit within the transformational leadership constructs, but more importantly, how they affect good classroom teaching practices, should help principals plan and initiate strategies and programs that create a campus atmosphere more conducive to comprehensive learning.