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<img src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/staff/LOCALS~1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" />In this minithesis I attempt to explain what could be meant by an objective and democratic teacher evaluation system. The central question which I address is whether the current South African teacher evaluation system could lay claim to the kind of objectivity and democracy I develop in my minithesis.

The purpose of the research was to treat immunodeficient mice, implanted with colon-25 tumors, with continuous and interrupted electrochemical therapy (ECT). ECT involves the placement of two electrodes, an anode near the center of the tumor and a cathode into the tumor periphery. A constant voltage is applied across the electrodes for a given period of time. The data showed that the interrupted and continuous ECT resulted in a decrease in mean tumor growth as compared to that of the sham controls. The histology of both ECT groups showed an increase presence of large vacuoles, randomly distributed tumor cells as well as the presence of "crevicing" in the medullary tissue. The differential leukocyte counts showed a distinct neutrophilia and lymphopenia in all groups at day 20 post tumor implantation. The results from the experimental groups appeared to support the findings of previous investigators.

Although performance appraisals exist in most organisations, they are not implemented correctly. In many organisations the link between the performance appraisal ratings and the outcome is not so obvious. This has led to mistrust of the performance appraisal process by the users and the total process does not command the credibility it deserves. A summary of problems with performance appraisals systems and processes are as follows: Preparations prior to appraisal with staff are not adequate. Users of the system are not formally trained. Performance appraisal processes are often considered to be unpleasant and time consuming. The performance appraisal processes are subject to subjectivity. The rating scales and performance dimensions used in the systems are open to different interpretations due to lack of clear guidelines. / Prof. W. Backer

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / The purpose of this study is to determine which characteristics and outcomes that are measured/determined at the Naval Academy serve as the best predictors of attrition from naval pilot training before or during the Primary phase, as well as performance in the first two stages of training: the academic portion of Aviation Preflight Indoctrination (API) and the flying portion of Primary phase. The reason for this is twofold; 1.) to examine the current aviation assignment policy at the Naval Academy (predominantly based on ASTB and OOM) to determine if it is significantly related to pilot performance (academic, flying and attrition) in flight school, and 2.) to examine alternative criteria to determine the possibility of developing a more effective model for predicting performance. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

M.Ed. / Met die bekendstelling van die nuwe Ontwikkelingstakseringstelsel (OTS) het ‘n donker era (van inspeksie en ‘n soeke na foute) tot ‘n einde gekom. Die nuwe deursigtige proses se fokus is op ontwikkeling en die daarstel van ‘n persoonlike groeiplan vir alle opvoeders. ‘n Siening dat daar by elke onderwyser nog areas van ontwikkeling moontlik is lê moontlike tekortkominge bloot maar fokus hoofsaaklik op die positiewe. Verslae sal eerder erkenning gee as dit vermag is en so ‘n positiewe gesindheid help kweek. Met die ou sisteem wat bloot foute gesoek het , het die proses ‘n vrees laat ontstaan vir die proses van assessering. Die nuwe sisteem sal kredietwaardigheid moet toon voordat die oorgrote meerderheid dit sal vertrou. Die ontwikkelaars van die stelsel glo dat as personeel die proses deurgegaan het, hulle meer vertroue daarin sal ontwikkel. ‘n Gestruktureerde vraelys is uitgestuur na openbare skole met die fokus op “Leerlinge met spesiale onderwysbehoeftes”(LSOB). Hierdie navorsingsinstrument fokus op aspekte wat bydrae tot die suksesvolle implementering van die Ontwikkelingstakseringstelsel (OTS). Opvoeders se gesindheid word dan heens die OTS geanaliseer. Hierdie ontleding word dan deur ‘n verskeidenheid van toetse bestudeer en beskryf. Die vraelyste wat aan “LSOB” skole gestuur is, is gebruik om afleidings te maak hoe opvoeders oor die implementering van die nuwe sisteem voel. ‘n Verskeidenheid van bevindinge en aanbevelings word uit die literatuur en empiriese studie gemaak. Onderwerpe vir moontlike verdere studie en navorsing sluit die studie af.

Les agences de notation n'ont pu anticiper la faillite de plusieurs entreprises. Des recherches se sont intéressées à la qualité des notations et à leurs impacts sur les cours boursiers et les spreads de taux. Elles se sont focalisées, davantage, sur l’utilisation des notations par les investisseurs et dans les réglementations bancaires. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le prolongement de ces travaux. Néanmoins, elle s’intéresse, particulièrement, aux conséquences des surévaluations sur les émetteurs. La principale contribution théorique attendue de ce travail est de fournir un éclairage sur ces notations, leur exactitude, et leur contribution dans la création de valeur de l’entreprise émettrice. Nous étudierons si la notation d’une entreprise peut être considérée comme un facteur explicatif de son recours excessif au marché de la dette, et nous analyserons les répercussions sur sa situation financière. / Rating agencies could not anticipate the collapse of several companies. Researches have focused on ratings impacts on stock prices and yield spreads. They investigated, more on the use of ratings by investors and banking regulators. This thesis is an extension of this work. Nevertheless, it investigates, particularly, the impacts of rating overvaluation on issuers. The main expected theoretical contribution of this work is to analyze ratings accuracy, and rating contribution to the value creation for the issuing company. We will study whether the rating of a company can be considered as a factor behind its excessive reliance on debt market, and we will analyze the impact on its financial situation.

Typescript, etc. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This study discusses how the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, which adopts an open source model, affects its readers¡¦ trust and related behaviors. The open editing format that every internet users can be an editor on the Wikipeidia arouse contiguous criticism for the knowledge accuracy and authority. The purpose of this research is to study the attitudes and usage intention of general Internet users for an online encyclopedia such as Wikipedia. We integrate trust, technology acceptance model (TAM), and content rating as the theory framework. It is of interest to approach why people would adopt Wikipedia as a knowledge resource and how they trust in it. In addition, we add the content rating as a moderator in the research model in order to verify whether the rating system on the Wikipedia would enhance trust or usage intention for readers. This study proposes a quasi-experiment with college students as the subjects. Those students have to complete a task before they answer a questionnaire that is to reflect their attitudes and usage intention for the Wikipedia. After the statistic analysis and research discussion, we are able to verify the proposed theory framework and provide the interpretation for the results. The results show that there are relationships between trust and TAM. Among the constructs, the Perceved Usefulness has more direct influence toward use intention. This appears people would consider the Perceved Usefulness for first important element judging for adopting Wikipedia or not. The content rating of Wikipedia would effectively moderate the relatonships between trust and use intention. When the content rating situation exists, readers of Wikipedia would increase their intention through trust of Wikipedia. For the managerial implication, the research findings can provide a reason why internet users trust the web site and how they will use it. The web site designers or operators should emphasize on enhancing features that would improve its accountability and credibility.