The projected increase of population in the United States and particularly in the state of Florida shows a clear need of improvement in mass transportation systems. To provide outstanding service to rides, well maintained fleet that ensures safety for riders and other people on the streets is imperative. This research presents an information support system that assists maintenance managers to review and analyze data and evaluate alternatives in order to make better decisions that maximize efficiency in operations at transportation organizations. A system that consists of a mathematical scheduling model that interacts with a forecasting model and repair time standards has been designed to allocate resources in maintenance departments. The output from the mathematical models provides the data required for the database to work. Although the literature presents several studies in the field of maintenance scheduling and time standards, it stops short in combining these approaches. In this research, mathematical methods are used to forecast repair jobs occurrence to react to increments in service demand. Furthermore, an integer programming scheduling model that uses the data from both, the developed time standards and the forecasting model is presented. The information resulting from the models is entered to a database to create the information support system for transit organizations. The database gives the scenarios that facilitate optimizing the allocation of jobs in the facility and determines the best workforce for each required task. Information was obtained from observations at three transit facilities in the Central Florida area; the model developed is tested in their scenario by using historical data of the maintenance jobs currently performed.

Prozessstandardisierungen stellen einen vielversprechenden Ansatz zur Steigerung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Organisationen dar. Im Gegensatz zur praktischen Relevanz werden Prozessstandardisierungen in der Wissenschaft aktuell jedoch nur sehr fragmentiert betrachtet. Auf Basis einer systemtheoretischen Perspektive wird ein ganzheitlicher Ansatz zur Standardisierung von Geschäftsprozessen entwickelt, um auf diese Weise Organisationen in die Lage zu versetzen, von den Vorteilen einer Prozessstandardisierung vollständig profitieren zu können und somit ihre Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zu stärken.

Prozessstandardisierungen stellen einen vielversprechenden Ansatz zur Steigerung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Organisationen dar. Im Gegensatz zur praktischen Relevanz werden Prozessstandardisierungen in der Wissenschaft aktuell jedoch nur sehr fragmentiert betrachtet. Auf Basis einer systemtheoretischen Perspektive wird ein ganzheitlicher Ansatz zur Standardisierung von Geschäftsprozessen entwickelt, um auf diese Weise Organisationen in die Lage zu versetzen, von den Vorteilen einer Prozessstandardisierung vollständig profitieren zu können und somit ihre Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zu stärken.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Secondary Education / Jacqueline D. Spears / Moses & Cobb (2001) argue that algebra is a “civil right” and assert that limited algebraic understanding has an unfavorable impact on African American students’ entry into post-secondary education. Gay (2000) outlines six pedagogical methods, known as culturally responsive teaching (CRT), which emphasize the importance of teachers creating learning environments that relate to the personal experiences and cultural perspectives of minority students. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) prescribes five process standards (communication, problem solving, connections, representation, and reasoning and proof) and the Equity Principle (includes setting high expectations, responding to the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students, and providing support) for effective mathematics instruction. CRT, the NCTM Process Standards, and the NCTM Equity Principle served as the conceptual framework for this mixed-method study. Thirty-four teachers from two elementary and two middle schools in one school district in the Midwest responded to The Powell Teaching Mathematics Index (PTMI), a five-option Likert survey that explored teachers’ current “use” and “desire” to use CRT methods, NCTM process standards, NCTM Equity Principle, and teachers’ personal efficacy in learning and teaching mathematics in general and in algebra. Results from the PTMI revealed that teachers had a “desire” to use CRT in mathematics with AA students (M=4.41, SD=0.70); and although there was more variance among respondents, teachers also reported a “desire” to use process standards in algebra with AA students (M=3.94, SD=1.03). One bivariate correlation revealed a relationship between “use” of process standards in general and “efficacy” (r =0.681, p[less than or equal to]0.01). Eight volunteer teachers participated in a professional development workshop on CRT and integrated one of the six pedagogical methods into their classrooms for one month. Teachers reported “strengths” from the implementation phase as: increased student engagement, transition from teacher-directed to student-directed learning and an increase in student confidence in mathematics. Implementation “strains” were reported as: a time consuming process, difficulty in providing individual attention and an increase in classroom noise level. Findings have implications for teacher education programs, local school district and teacher networks.

Les flux, le droit et les politiques du commerce mondial, et les standards consensuels non étatiques applicables aux domaines tels que l’environnement, la santé, la sécurité, etc. s’influencent mutuellement. Ils affectent également les processus identifiés comme « gouvernance globale ». L’interface de ces trois thèmes a constitué le principal point d’intérêt de ma recherche. Dans cette thèse, mon objectif général était non seulement de décrire l’interface, les pratiques et les diverses conjonctures pertinentes du droit et des standards dans le contexte de la globalisation du commerce transfrontalier, mais aussi, et même surtout, de les évaluer d’une façon critique. L’idée-clé de ma thèse était d’inclure différents types de normativités non-juridiques globales dans le droit, et ensuite de les soumettre à une analyse de légitimité plus juste et plus cohérente. Les ambitions susmentionnées ont émergé car aujourd’hui, dans le désordre juridique global, les normativités hybrides échappent tout simplement à la plupart des approches traditionnelles de droit et de légitimité, ces derniers étant principalement construits sur les prémisses liées, directement ou indirectement, à la souveraineté de l’État moderne. Un résultat méthodologique général de cette réorientation se situe dans l’argument que le droit, ainsi réorienté, pourrait alors effectuer une tâche fondamentalement différente de celle qu’il aurait eu sur la base d’une théorie juridique plus traditionnelle (positiviste), plus descriptive (sociologique), ou plus normative (critique), si utilisées à elles seules. Le message principal des ambitions précitées est que le droit peut et doit être repensé de manière que tout type de normativités globales dotées d’impressionnante force normative et régulatrice, mais avec une légitimité sociale douteuse, puisse être inclut dans le droit, exactement aux fins d’évaluer leur légitimité vis-à-vis du public global. / World trade flows, law and policies and non-state voluntary standards relating to social imperatives, such as environment, health, safety, etc. influence each other. They also affect processes identified as ‘global governance’. These three themes constituted the major crossing point of interest of my research. In this thesis, my general aim was to not only describe the interface, practices, and various relevant occurrences of cross-border trade law and standards in the globalisation context, but also, and indeed especially, to critically assess them. The pivotal idea of my thesis was to include different kinds of global quasi-legal normativities into law, and to submit them to a more just and coherent legitimacy analysis. The abovementioned ambitions emerged because today, hybrid normativities in the global legal disorder simply escape most of more traditional approaches to law and legitimacy, which mainly draw on state sovereignty-related premises. A general methodological outcome of this re-orientation was that law might then carry a fundamentally different task than the one that it would have had on the basis of a traditional jurisprudential (positivist), a descriptive (sociological), or a normative (critical), account alone. The main normative message of the aforesaid ambitions was that law could and should be re-thought in a way that any kind of normativities with impressive global normative and regulatory force, yet with dubious social legitimacy, can be included in it exactly for the purposes of assessing their legitimacy vis-à-vis the global public.

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Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree in Masters of Technology in Nursing, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Background The current health care system in South Africa and its diverse settings of health care delivery system require a nurse who can make decisions, think critically, solve problems and work effectively in a team. Traditional nursing education teaching strategies have over the years relied on didactic and often passive approaches to learning. In pursuit of quality, academics and students must be continually engaged in a process of finding opportunities for improving the teaching and learning process. Purpose of the study The purpose of this study was to evaluate the structure and the process in case based learning at the University of Technology. Methodology This study is qualitative in nature, governed by an interpretive paradigm. This is a case study, which enabled the researcher to merge student interview data with records in order to gain insight into the activities and details of case based learning as practised at the University of Technology under study. Most importantly, the case study method was deemed appropriate for the current study, since case-based learning as a pedagogical approach (and a case) cannot be abstracted from its context for the purposes of study. Case based learning is evaluated in its context namely, the undergraduate nursing programme, using the Donabedian framework of structure, process and product. Results The study recorded that students were positive towards case based learning though some identified dynamics of working in groups as demerits of case based learning. The structures that are in place in the programme and the CBL processes are adequate and support CBL. There are however areas that need attention such as the qualification of the programme coordinator, the size of the class-rooms and the service of the computer laboratory. Conclusion The study found that apart from a few minor discrepancies, case based learning is sufficiently implemented, and experienced as invaluable by students, at the University of Technology under study.