For many years, accounting discourse has been concerned with the measurement of attributes of accounting events. The concept of measurement forms one of the central pillars on which the preparation of financial statements is based. For example, financial statements can only be prepared if economic events meet the definition of an element of the financial statements and have a cost or value that can be measured with reliability. This has created the belief that accounting practices are practices of measurement. The principles of measurement require that every process of measurement be based on an appropriate theory of measurement. Given the belief in the accounting discipline that accounting practices are synonymous with practices of measurement, it is to be assumed that acceptable theories of measurement exist in the discipline. However, over the decades, researchers in this field have been unsuccessful in creating an acceptable theory of accounting measurement. This suggests that there is a gap between the accounting concept of measurement and the scientific principles of measurement. The main goals of this thesis are to determine whether the concept of measurement in accounting is in harmony with the principles of the representational theory of measurement and to develop a conceptual model of the accounting measurement problem. Representational theory establishes measurement in the social sciences. Accounting is regarded as a social science. This study applies the principles of the representational theory of measurement to determine the nature of the gap between the accounting concept of measurement and the principles of this theory. The very fact of referring to accounting as a measurement discipline implies the presence of an established and well-known theory of measurement in that discipline: a discipline cannot be referred to as a measurement discipline without the existence of such a theory. Therefore, the lack of success of researchers in creating a theory of accounting measurement suggests that accounting is not a measurement discipline and that accountants are currently unaware of this. To test this hypothesis: 1. A critical literature analysis was conducted, investigating whether the accounting concept of measurement is in harmony with the principles of the representational theory of measurement. The results of this analysis indicated that the accounting concept of measurement is not in harmony with the principles of the representational theory of measurement. 2. A questionnaire was sent to accountants, testing whether they were familiar with the principles of the representational theory of measurement and their application to the accounting discipline. The results of the survey indicated that accountants are not familiar with the principles of the representational theory of measurement or their application to the accounting discipline. The main contributions of this study lie in the fact that it reveals that current accounting practices are not in harmony with the principles of representational measurement. Accountants should be educated in the purpose of the principles of measurement in the social sciences in order to ensure their proper application during accounting measurement. / Thesis (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Financial Management / unrestricted

Within the Philosophy of Mind two features of our mental life have been acknowledged as the most perplexing - consciousness, the phenomenal "what it is likeness" of our mental states, and intentionality, the aboutness or directedness of our mental states. As such, it has become commonplace to develop theories about these phenomena which seek to explain them naturalistically, that is, without resort to magic or miracles. Traditionally this has been done by analyzing consciousness and intentionality apart from one another. However, in more recent years the tide has turned. In contemporary theories these phenomena are typically analyzed in terms of the other. This results in two competing views: Representationalism, which seeks to ground consciousness in intentionality, and Phenomenalism, which seeks to ground intentionality in consciousness. David Chalmers has proposed an alternative view to these which takes consciousness and intentionality as essentially interdependent, neither more fundamental than the other. This thesis explores the motivations for Representationalism and Phenomenalism, outlines their extraneous commitments, and analyzes their merits - as well as assessing whether Chalmers' view is a defensible middle ground. This involves an analysis of the metaphysical doctrine of physicalism, phenomenal consciousness, intentionality, and the nature of mental content. I argue that the view which Chalmers advocates is the best supported. Yet, I argue, it could benefit by adopting a thoroughgoing externalism of mental content.

<div>Information security practitioners and researchers who possess sufficient depth of conceptual understanding to reconstitute systems after attacks or adapt information security concepts to novel situations are in short supply. Education of new information security professionals with sufficient conceptual depth is one method by which this shortage can be reduced. This study reports research that instructed two groups of ten undergraduate, pre-cryptography students majoring in Computer Science in cryptography concepts using representational understanding first and representational fluency first instructional treatment methods. This study compared learning results between the treatment groups using traditional paper-based measures of cognitions and fMRI scans of brain activity during cryptography problem solving. Analysis found no statistical difference in measures of cognitions or in cognitive processing, but did build a statistical model describing the relationships between explanatory variables and cryptography learning, and found common areas of cognitive processing of cryptography among the study’s twenty subjects.</div>

This thesis widens the application of intersectionality into the study of visual media. This study examines representational patterns on GQ magazine covers issued in the US with specific regards to gender-race-sexuality intersections. Also, this study seeks to grasp what meaning is conveyed via those representational patterns in conjunction with the visual and linguistic modes, and what social effect it imparts. The study employs a mixed-method approach combining the quantitative content analysis with the social semiotics, and the inter-categorical methodological approach to intersectionality. The findings show that GQ magazine employs the same representational patterns acknowledged in culture and the magazines’ market. Those patterns manifest in the sexual objectification of women, racial exclusion, and emphasis on white heterosexual maleness. Additionally, the intersectional analysis revealed that women of colour and sexual minorities are in the least favourable position regarding representational patterns on GQ magazine.

With the rise of mobile devices claiming a greater and greater portion of internet traffic, optimizing performance of data fetching becomes more important. A common technique of communicating between subsystems of online applications is through web services using the REpresentational State Transfer (REST) architectural style. However, REST is imposing restrictions in flexibility when creating APIs that are potentially introducing suboptimal performance and implementation difficulties. One proposed solution for increasing efficiency in data fetching is through the use of frameworks for declarative data fetching. During 2015 two open source frameworks for declarative data fetching, Falcor and Relay+ GraphQL, were released. Because of their recency, no information of how they impact performance could be found. Using the experimental approach, the frameworks were evaluated in terms of latency, data volume and number of requests using test cases based on a real world news application. The test cases were designed to test single requests, parallel and sequential data flows. Also the filtering abilities of the frameworks were tested. The results showed that Falcor introduced an increase in response time for all test cases and an increased transfer size for all test cases but one, a case where the data was filtered extensively. The results for Relay+GraphQL showed a decrease in response time for parallel and sequential data flows, but an increase for data fetching corresponding to a single REST API access. The results for transfer size were also inconclusive, but the majority showed an increase. Only when extensive data filtering was applied the transfer size could be decreased. Both frameworks could reduce the number of requests to a single request independent of how many requests the corresponding REST API needed. These results led to a conclusion that whenever it is possible, best performance can be achieved by creating custom REST endpoints. However, if this is not feasible or there are other implementation benefits and the alternative is to resort to a "one-size-fits-all" API, Relay+GraphQL can be used to reduce response times for parallel and sequential data flows but not for single request-response interactions. Data transfer size can only be reduced if filtering offered by the frameworks can reduce the response size more than the increased request size introduced by the frameworks. / Alteftersom användningen av mobila enheter ökar och står för en allt större andel av trafiken på internet blir det viktigare att optimera prestandan vid datahämtning. En vanlig teknologi för kommunikation mellan delar internet-applikationer är webbtjänster användande REpresentational State Transfer (REST)-arkitekturen. Dock introducerar REST restriktioner som minskar flexibiliteten i hur API:er bör konstrueras, vilka kan leda till försämrad prestanda och implementations-svårigheter. En möjlig lösning för ökad effektivitet vid data-hämtning är användningen av ramverk som implementerar deklarativ data-hämtning. Under 2015 släpptes två sådana ramverk med öppen källkod, Falcor och Relay+GraphQL. Eftersom de nyligen introducerades kunde ingen information om dess prestanda hittas. Med hjälp av den experimentella metoden utvärderades ramverken beträffande svarstider, datavolym och antalet anrop mellan klient och server. Testerna utformades utifrån en verklig nyhetsapplikation med fokus på att skapa testfall för enstaka anrop och anrop utförda både parallellt och sekventiellt. Även ramverkens förmåga att filtrera svarens data-fält testades. Vid användning av Falcor visade resultaten på en ökad svarstid i alla testfall och en ökad datavolym för alla testfall utom ett. I testfallet som utgjorde undantaget utfördes en mycket omfattande filtrering av datafälten. Resultaten för Relay+GraphQL visade på minskad svarstid vid parallella och sekventiella anrop, medan ökade svarstider observerades för hämtningar som motsvarades av ett enda anrop till REST API:et. Även resultaten gällande datavolym var tvetydiga, men majoriteten visade på en ökning. Endast vid en mer omfattande filtrering av datafälten kunde datavolymen minskas. Antalet anrop kunde med hjälp av båda ramverken minskas till ett enda oavsett hur många som krävdes vid användning av motsvarande REST API. Dessa resultat ledde till slutsatsen att när det är möjligt att skräddarsy REST API:er kommer det att ge den bästa prestandan. När det inte är möjligt eller det finns andra implementations-fördelar och alternativet är att använda ett icke optimerat REST API kan användande av Relay+ GraphQL minska svarstiden för parallella och sekventiella anrop. Däremot leder det i regel inte till någon förbättring för enstaka interaktioner. Den totala datavolymen kan endast minskas om filtreringen tar bort mer data från svaret än vad som introduceras genom den ökade anrops-storleken som användningen av ett frågespråk innebär.

REST and GraphQL are the two dominant Application Programming Interface (API) architectures being used for communication with databases. They differ in a lot of aspects, and as such it is not immediately obvious which architecture is preferable. This thesis aims to shed some light onto this problem by exploring two aspects, developer experience, and performance. The method used to measure the developer experience was a case study, in which participants had to write code that communicates with a REST API and a GraphQL API and then answer questions that describe their experience communicating with both. To test the performance, a case study was done in which 5 different benchmarks were ran comparing the two. The results of the first case study show that GraphQL solutions were perceived to give a more overall picture of what is happening than REST solutions. REST was, however, viewed as easier to complete the tasks with. The results of the second case study show that a server that implements REST architecture has better performance during normal circumstances, but GraphQL shows better performance if data is being requested with specified fields. / REST och GraphQL är de två dominerande applikationsprogrammeringsgränssnitten (API) arkitekturerna som används för att kommunincera med databaser. De skiljer sig i många aspekter och därav är det inte uppenbart vilken arkitektur som föredras. Denna avhandling har som mål att reda ut detta problem genopm att utforska två aspekter, utvecklarupplevelsen och prestandan. Metoderna som användes för att mäta utvecklarupplevelsen var en fallstudie, där deltagarna fick skriva kod som kommunicerar med en REST server och en GraphQL server och sedan besvara frågor som beskriver deras upplevelse med att kommunicera med dessa. För att testa prestandan gjordes en fallstudie där 5 olika benchmarks kördes för att jämföra de två servrarna. Resultatet från våran första fallstudien visar på att GraphQL ansågs ha en bättre helhetbild av vad som händer gentemot REST, men när det kom till själva implementaionen av uppgifterna, ansågs REST vara lättare. Resultaten av den andra fallstudien visar att REST arkitekturen har bättre prestanda under normala omständigheter, men att GraphQL har bättre prestanda när datan efterfrågas med enbart specifika fält.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Mitchell L. Neilsen / The mobile world is rapidly changing: Smartphones have gone from portable messaging and email devices to streaming-video machines that surf the Web at blazing speed. Now-a-days a smartphone can provide computing capabilities, wireless communication capabilities, run software and perform other tasks just like any traditional computer. These amazing features of a smartphone and Open Source Android market helped in the development of this project. The purpose of this project is to develop an Android application for controlling various elements of user environment. User Controlled Environment is an Android application for home. The environment consists of smart lights, an Android mobile devices for playing music and a display. The application sends the user’s preferred settings to the environment and the respective settings are applied. The preferences are displayed on the screen. The user will be able to view and adjust a variety of environmental preferences. The preferences include the light’s color, light intensity, and the music. When the user exits the application the environment goes to a default state. The users can set preferences which include moods, seven colors of light, three levels of light intensity and songs that the users can select.

This dissertation examines the role of the spatial in four works of digital interactive literature. These works are Dreamaphage by Jason Nelson (2003), Last Meal Requested by Sachiko Hayashi (2003), Façade by Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern (2005) and Egypt: The Book of Going Forth by Day by M. D. Coverley (2006). The study employs an original analytical method based on close reading and spatial analysis, which combines narrative, design and interaction theories. The resulting critique argues that the spatial components of the digital works define reader interaction and the narratives that result from it. This is one of very few in-depth studies grounded in the close reading of the spatial in digital interactive literature. Over five chapters, the dissertation analyzes the four digital works according to three common areas. Firstly, the prefaces, design and addressivity are present in each. Secondly, each of the works relies on the spatial for both interaction and the meanings that result. Thirdly, the anticipation of responses from a reader is evaluated within the interactive properties of each work. This anticipation is coordinated across the written text, moving and still images, representations of places, characters, audio and navigable spaces. The similar divisions of form, the role of the spatial and the anticipation of responses provide the basic structure for analysis. As a result, the analytical chapters open with an investigation of the prefaces, move on to the design and conclude with how the spaces of the digital works can be addressive or anticipate responses. In each chapter representations of space and representational space are described in relation to the influence they have upon the potentials for reader interaction as spatial practice. This interaction includes interpretation, as well as those elements associated with the ergodic, or the effort that defines the reception of the digital interactive texts. The opening chapter sets out the relevant theory related to space, interaction and narrative in digital literature. Chapter two presents the methodology for close reading the spatial components of the digital texts in relation to their role in interaction and narrative development. Chapter three assesses the prefaces as paratextual thresholds to the digital works and how they set up the spaces for reader engagement. The next chapter takes up the design of the digital works and its part in the formation of space and how this controls interaction. The fifth chapter looks at the addressivity of the spatial and how it contributes to the possibilities for interaction and narrative. The dissertation argues for the dominance of the spatial as a factor within the formation of narrative through interaction in digital literature, with implications across contemporary storytelling and narrative theory.

The purpose of this dissertation was to study how teachers and school leaders perceived a specific set of classroom math innovations, and how those innovations impacted instruction in relation to the Georgia Vision Project (GVP) standards and recommendations. This was a qualitative study conducted in two GVP districts. The participants in the study were five elementary teachers, two school administrators, and two district leaders. The participants were interviewed to gain an understanding of their perceptions of recent math innovations. The innovations included (a) math instruction using manipulatives (such as counting objects and puzzles) that utilize the Concrete Representational Abstract (CRA) model, which engages students to conceive from the concrete to the abstract; (b) differentiation through flexible student grouping; (c) information about how different subgroups of students learn mathematics; and (d) math professional learning. Previous research had focused on these innovations separately. However, no research study had grouped these innovations together to see how teachers perceived them within the context of a math classroom, and how teachers implemented them in their classrooms in order to increase student achievement. This qualitative case study included schoolteacher and educational leader interviews, observations, and artifacts. The two districts in the study were high performing in the area of mathematics. The results indicated that schoolteachers and educational leaders could not directly relate the math innovations to student success and, moreover, to the GVP standards and recommendations. During the study all GVP standards were analyzed at varying levels. The study primarily focused on the teaching and learning standard, which was a significant initiative for both districts. Both districts had varying levels of implementation concerning the innovations in the study: (a) use of manipulatives, (b) differentiation in classrooms, and (c) professional learning. All participants referenced the innovations as a part of their instruction, but could not directly relate the innovations beneficial to the success of the students.

Introduction: There remains a lack of theoretical models which can adequately account for the key features of bipolar disorders (Power, 2005). Objectives: Firstly, to test the predictions made by the SPAARS model that mania is predominantly characterised by the coupling of happiness with anger, while depression (unipolar and bipolar) primarily comprises of a coupling between sadness and disgust. Secondly, to investigate and compare the coping strategies employed to regulate positive and negative emotion between bipolar, unipolar and control groups. Design: A cross sectional design was employed to examine the differences within and between the bipolar, unipolar and control groups in the emotions experienced and the strategies used to regulate emotion. Data were analysed using ANOVAs. Method: Psychiatric diagnoses in the clinical groups were confirmed using the SCID. Current mood state was measured using the BDI-II, STAI and the MAS. The Basic Emotion Scale was used to explore the emotional profiles and the Regulation of Emotion Questionnaire was used to measure coping strategies. Results: The results confirmed the predictions made by the SPAARS model about the emotions in mania and depression. Elevated levels of disgust were also found in the bipolar group generally. The clinical groups used internal dysfunctional strategies more often than the controls for negative emotion. The bipolar group used external dysfunctional strategies more frequently than the controls for positive emotion. Conclusion: The results support the predictions made by the SPAARS model and suggest that disgust plays a key role in bipolar disorder. Strengths and limitations are discussed and suggestions for future research are explored.