Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2010. / Thesis Advisor(s): Buttrey, Samuel E. Second Reader: Koyak, Robert A. "March 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 23, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Grade Point Average (GPA), Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD), Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC), Hosmer-Lemeshow test Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-55). Also available in print.

Thesis (M App Sci in Physiotherpy) -- University of South Australia, 1992

Thesis (B.A.(Hons.))-- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1980.

The purpose of this study was to identify the executive skills employed by County Extension Directors (CEDs), Trade Association Directors (TADs) and Team Leaders/Chiefs-of-party (TL/COPs), to determine which frequently used executive skills were common to all three positions and to identify the major source of executive skill acquisition. Analysis of the executive skills employed by CEDs and TL/COPs (the TADs were excluded from this analysis for statistical reasons) revealed 34 frequently used executive skills common to both groups. These were in the areas of problem-solving, group dynamics, decision-making, coordinating, communication and organization. Most respondents acquired their executive skills on the job, but 85% held Bachelor's degrees and over half of those were in agricultural disciplines. Study results indicated an opportunity for Colleges of Agriculture to develop executive skill curricula in addition to technical curricula at the undergraduate level. Internships and experiential classroom activities were recommended to facilitate executive skill development.

In the past decade, mobile communication services such as cell phones and other types of hand-held devices have become relatively cheap, affordable and accessible, especially in developing countries, including Peru. The applications of mobile devices in health, or mHealth, are surfacing and have the potential to improve the delivery and quality of health by eliminating the distance barriers; permitting the availability and retrieval of data in a timely manner; educating the public on prevention; supporting the management of diseases, and promoting patient empowerment to the population, including those that are socially stigmatized. Equally important, in conjunction with technology, training is another important factor to build a critical mass of professionals to develop and evaluate mHealth strategies. In order to take advantage of the technology at hand, health professionals must be able to know how to use these tools that are available to them. The purpose of the study is to explore the research and training, and mHealth strategies being developed in Peru. The study has the following aims: • To examine the process, progress and lessons learned of a) the mobile health initiatives of Peru through the lens of the Cell-POS project, and b) the training initiatives on mHealth in Peru through the lens of the QUIPU project; • To discover how people with HIV can achieve patient empowerment and involvement in managing their own health through the use of cell phones. For the mobile health project (Cell-POS) both quantitative and qualitative data collection was gathered, which resulted in an in-depth research analysis evaluating the efforts and initiatives of mHealth solutions in Peru, with a focus on how the use of mobile technology can help people with HIV feel empowered. In addition, it was explored how mobile health is being positioned in the area of training through the lens of the QUIPU project. A two-day expert meeting which took place on March 26 and March 27, 2010 in Lima, Peru resulted in insightful discussions of the problems and necessities regarding training in Biomedical and Health Informatics; specific issues about the curricula and the level of multidisciplinary were also discussed. Through the QUIPU project it was found that the challenges and needs are very similar across Latin America; however, through collaboration and partnerships, global health initiatives are on a rise. The Cell-POS project examined the feasibility, acceptability, perceived ease of use, and usefulness towards mHealth in relation with patient empowerment. The primary finding was that participants were satisfied and accepted the Cell-POS platform quickly and without difficulty. After six months of use, the results demonstrated that the participants perceived that the messages were clear, effective, and understandable and it was easy to incorporate the Cell-POS system to their daily activities. Most participants perceived that Cell-POS enhanced their knowledge related to HIV treatment and improved their ability to take their medications correctly and on time. Through proper planning, research initiatives and collaborative work, a successful project can be achieved. Peru has great potential, which is already starting to show through the research and work that is currently taken place. This study examines selected mHealth initiatives in the context of research and training of mHealth in Peru. / Graduate

Magister Commercii - MCom (Business and Finance) / This master's thesis report is a record of my action research study conducted at a traditional bank in South Africa. The report follows a narrative writing style. It contains my personal learnings and reflections. In it I record my practices aimed at promoting Islamic banking products of a traditional bank. In undertaking this action research, I employed interventions whereby I improved my own learning and behaviour through practice. This action research took place within the customer facing division of a national traditional bank in the Western Cape. While conducting my situational analysis, I found that front-line employees lacked knowledge and awareness about Islamic banking products, which negatively impacted their attitude and willingness to promote the Islamic banking offering. As the action research progressed, another concern was identified, namely, the lack of awareness of Islamic banking by customers. In order to guide activities that are directed at improving the behaviour of front-line employees and customers, I drew insights from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by Icek Ajzen (1991) for my theoretical framework. Observations, interviews and interview schedules were used to collect data and continuously analysed using content analysis and univariate analysis for the respective data types. Evidence was generated by measuring the data against a standard of judgments as required for an action research project. This resulted in the identification of key factors that influence front-line employees' willingness to promote the Islamic banking products. These factors were their attitudes and perceived behavioural control. It was further identified that the lack of awareness by customers had a negative impact on their attitudes towards using the Islamic banking offering. Both issues were addressed, by following the cyclical approach of action research. In order to influence front-line employees' behaviour, with the support of the necessary stakeholders, I implemented internal marketing programmes such as training and development. To increase the level of customer awareness, I implemented activities directed at external customers such as brochures and poster displays within branches. The study finds that through my ethical and political practices, front-line employees were motivated and stakeholders actively participated in planning and executing interventions designed to improve the performance of Islamic banking sales. The practices implemented by myself, as an Islamic banking product champion, were identified as a key influence in the promotion of Islamic banking. I also identified that senior management and middle management influenced front-line employees' acceptance and implementation of internal marketing practices.

This study is a qualitative analysis and a quantitative analysis of all peripheral biofeedback client data files of the University of North Texas Biofeedback Research and Training Laboratory since its establishment in 1991 and through the year of 2002. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical and educational efficacy of the BRTL. Clients' electromyography and temperature measures, self-report of homework relaxation exercises and progress, and the pre- and post-Stress Signal Checklist were reviewed and analyzed. In regard to clinical efficacy, results indicate statistically significant changes in both temperature training and muscle tension training as a whole group. When divided into subtypes based on the clients' primary presenting problem, findings indicate statistical significance in chronic pain, tension headache, and temporomandibular jaw pain on temperature training, and show statistical significance in chronic pain, tension headache, hypertension, migraine headache, stress, and temporomandibular jaw pain on muscle tension training. When analyzing the Stress Signal Checklist, only 25% of clients had complete information on both pre- and post-Stress Signal Checklist. For these 25%, 87.5% reported symptoms decreased. When reviewing the clients' self-reported progress in therapist's session notes, there is no procedure for computing a treatment success to failure ratio due to the inconsistency of therapists in recording clients' statements. This study also identifies three basic biofeedback learning curves that show how people learn self-regulation skills in biofeedback therapy: 1) steady state and trainable (low variability), 2) phasic state and trainable (high variability), and 3) phasic state and low trainable (high variability).

Orientador: Maria José Rodrigues Faria Coracini / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T06:07:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DaRosa_MarluzaTerezinha_D.pdf: 1466140 bytes, checksum: fbd12183a7f886f7fb31f2fe03555410 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Nesta pesquisa, colocamos em discussão o discurso em formulação e circulação no âmbito universitário, compreendido não apenas como um lócus de observação, mas também de problematização e de possível transformação de sentidos já-dados, naturalizados ou reafirmados. Ancoramo-nos nos estudos discursivos, em sua relação constitutiva com a psicanálise lacaniana e com a desconstrução, viés que implica um gesto constante de reformulação teórico-conceitual. Nosso olhar se dirige ao processo de formação para a pesquisa científica - processo no qual não apenas o conhecimento, mas também os pesquisadores estão em (trans) formação -, por entendermos que, no domínio universitário em que tal processo ocorre, a ciência não é dada como pronta, diferentemente do modo como é veiculada nos discursos de divulgação científica, por exemplo. Em outros termos, tomamos como lugar de observação e problematização não o produto, mas o processo de produção e a transmissão de conhecimentos (a ciência em desenvolvimento). Nesse âmbito, mais do que os resultados, importa a inscrição do pesquisador em formação, sua constituição identitária, inevitavelmente atravessada pela heterogeneidade discursiva que permeia essa outra cena e que presentifica uma memória de dizeres. Importa "o drama subjetivo do cientista", seus conflitos, que, como fios, enodam-se, servindo como condição para esta reflexão. Com base na articulação teórico conceitual empreendida, defendemos a hipótese de que a identidade do pesquisador em formação se constitui em um movimento tenso de aproximação-afastamento com relação a uma imagem ideal e espectral, a figura do cientista, definida e reafirmada a partir de uma matriz de sentidos que pode ser compreendida pela referência à designação ciência moderna, a qual é, também, passível de questionamento, principalmente, por seu caráter idealista. Tomamos como objeto de estudo o dizer de pesquisadores em formação de diferentes disciplinas, inscritos em três grandes áreas: ciências humanas, biológicas e exatas. A análise do corpus incidiu prioritariamente sobre regularidades linguísticodiscursivas (como a recorrência da relação com o outro, de uma imagem do conhecimento científico como forma de se chegar à almejada completude, da expressão de uma revolta resignada frente aos modos de produção desse conhecimento, submetido aos discursos da universidade, da ciência e do capitalismo), presentes em segmentos recortados dos dizeres, os quais obedeceram, em sua maioria, a uma estrutura narrativa linear, com passado e presente, organizados pelo olhar retroativo de um eu-narrador. Trata-se de um modo de interpretar (-se) (n) a produção de conhecimentos, que se ancora em uma "estrutura de ficção". Ao olhar para esses dizeres, não buscamos empreender uma metaciência, que viria lançar luz sobre certo lado obscuro dos domínios teóricos em questão, mas possibilitar a compreensão dos modos de funcionamento do(s) discurso(s) nesses domínios, potencializando o conflito e o desequilíbrio dentro das muralhas de nossa própria torre / Abstract: This research study opens up a discussion of the discourse that is being formulated and disseminated in the academic world, understood both as a place where observation occurs and that involves the problematization and possible change of senses that have already been expressed, naturalized or restated. This research is grounded on discursive studies in its constitutive ties with Lacanian psychoanalysis and with deconstruction, a standpoint that involves a constant gesture of theoretical-conceptual reformulation. In our approach, the study addresses the question of training in scientific research - a process in which not only knowledge, but also the researchers themselves undergo changes. By this we mean that in the university domain where this process occurs, science is not regarded as readymade, unlike the way that it is expressed in discourses in scientific publications, for example. Expressed in another way, it is not the product that is taken as the place of observation and problematization, but the production process and transmission of knowledge (i.e. science in development). What matters more than the results in this area, is the inscription of the researcher in training, and his/her identity constitution (which is inevitably characterized by the discursive heterogeneity which pervades this other scene and which embodies a "memory of sayings"). What is also of importance is that the "subjective drama of the scientist" and his conflicts, which are like threads that become entangled, can provide the right conditions for this kind of reflection. On the basis of this implicit theoretical-conceptual correlation, we support the hypothesis that the identity of the researcher in training represents a tense moment of withdrawal-approximation with regard to the ideal and spectral image of the figure of the scientist. This can be defined and restated on the basis of a range of senses, which can be understood by reference to the term "modern science" which is also open to question, mainly because of its idealistic character. The object of this study is what is said by the researchers in training who are from different subjects but mainly enrolled in three areas: the human, biological and exact sciences. The analysis of the corpus largely focused on linguistic-discursive regularities (such as the adoption of a relationship with another, of an image of scientific knowledge as a means of arriving at a desired completeness, and of the reaction of a backlash which is accepted in light of the modes of production of this knowledge when subjected to the discourses of the university, science and capitalism) that can be found in the extracts of their comments, most of which follow a linear design from past to present and are arranged in terms of a retrospective hindsight by a first person narrator. It is a question of a mode of interpreting (or being interpreted in) the production of knowledge that is grounded in a "framework of fiction". In looking for these remarks, we do not seek to understand a metascience that can throw light on a particularly obscure area of the theoretical domains in question, but to allow an understanding of the way discourse(s) operate(s) within these domains through a potential conflict and an imbalance within the walls of our own tower / Doutorado / Lingua Estrangeira / Doutora em Lingüística Aplicada

(in English) This thesis deals with the choice of the Czech secondary vocational schools. Through a description of important theoretical approaches connected to the education and a study of the Czech educational system, the paper is getting to the analysis based on qualitative interviews analysed in compliance with the grounded theory approach. Through these interviews the process of choosing the secondary school and the relationship to the chosen school is described. In this part also the data from OECD PISA 2012 are used to provide an additional context. It is argued that the choice done by the apprentices is significantly limited and that the main source of such limits is social. These conclusions are connected with overall context of the Czech highly differentiated educational system. Keywords (in English) education, qualitative research, apprenticeship training, vocational education, choice of a secondary school, relationship to the school

Im Beitrag werden die Erfahrungen mit dem Forschungstagebuch als Prüfungsleistung im Rahmen eines kultursoziologischen Seminars dargestellt. Es wird gezeigt, wie und warum sich diese Lern- und Prüfungsform für die Vermittlung von qualitativen Methoden in der Sozialforschung besonders eignet und welche Potenziale sich damit verbinden. Zudem wird ein Vorschlag für die Gestaltung eines Forschungstagebuches gemacht. Schließlich wird darauf eingegangen, wie das Forschungstagebuch als „dramaturgische Klammer“ den Seminarablauf mitgestaltet und wie es das gemeinsame Arbeiten mit den Studierenden beeinflusst.