Master of Arts / Abstract The reason why I have called this thesis a revised history for the era of king Hezekiah, and for the background to that era, is because my reconstruction of this particular period of the history of ancient Israel and of the nations associated with it will depart quite significantly from the standard text-book versions of it. My justification for blazing this unique historical trail stems from the comments made by examiners of my 1993 MA thesis, The Sothic Star Theory of the Egyptian Calendar, to the effect that: (a) I had shown the conventional chronology of ancient Egypt - to which that of the other nations (such as Assyria, Babylonia, Israel, Ethiopia and Greece) is largely tied - to be quite unsound, and that therefore, (b) the way lies open for ‘a more acceptable alternative’. Basically, this thesis is that ‘alternative’ as I see it for the era of king Hezekiah of Judah (late C8th BC), and for the background to that era (largely commencing early C9th BC). This new thesis will be an in-depth chronological analysis and realignment of the era of Hezekiah and its background with a special focus upon trying to determine, in a revised context, who were the Judaean king’s major contemporaries and what were their origins. Though Hezekiah’s era is generally quite a well-documented one, I expect to show in this thesis that it nevertheless stands in need of a substantial renovation, due especially to the over-extended Egyptian Sothic chronology and its effect upon the current version of neo-Assyrian history with which biblical historians have attempted to align the reign of king Hezekiah. The renovation to be undertaken in this thesis will reveal the era of Hezekiah to be in fact a most complex one; a meeting place for some extremely significant events in the history of Egypt/Ethiopia, Anatolia, Syro-Palestine, Greece and Mesopotamia. Introductory Section I review in Chapter 1, in a general way, the problems associated with the faulty chronology of Egypt, after having, in the Introduction, set the historical scene for Hezekiah, identifying the major nations at his time, and hinting at where the problems may lie and what sort of solutions will be proposed. A new set of chronological ‘anchors’ for the reign of king Hezekiah will be suggested. VOLUME ONE: A CHRONOLOGICAL REALIGNMENT OF KING HEZEKIAH AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES Part I: In Search of ‘A More Acceptable Alternative’ to the Conventional Background for the Era of Hezekiah In Chapter 2 I take an initial step back in time, in order to introduce a conglomerate of new peoples who appeared in the ancient Near East - ‘Indo-Europeans’ as I shall be generally calling them - amongst whom, as I shall argue, were the ancestors of some of the most important kings of Hezekiah’s day. Following on from this will be the introduction, in Chapter 3, of an early C9th BC king - arising from these immigrant peoples - whom I shall proceed to identify as a great ancestor-king, affecting major kingships contemporaneous with Hezekiah. This background analysis will continue on into Chapter 4, into the mid-late C9th BC, with the introduction of a second significant king, generally thought to have been a descendant of the first, who will be of crucial dynastic importance affecting Hezekiah’s time, especially in regard to Egypt. Part II: King Hezekiah and His Mesopotamian Contemporaries Revised In this section I consider the problems that specifically relate to the era of king Hezekiah and his connections primarily with Mesopotamia (mainly Assyria and Babylonia). In the first chapter, on Judah/Israel (Chapter 5), I examine the chronology of Hezekiah’s reign in its relation to the kingdom of Israel and the major events associated with the latter. Of special interest here will be the incident of the fall of Samaria. I shall, in regard to this incident, reconsider, and alter, the current dates for king Hezekiah himself; these, I shall argue, being based upon a faulty chronology of Assyria. Related to all of this will be Chapter 6, my lengthy revision of neo-Assyrian history, in which I shall arrive at some quite startling conclusions that will serve to shave off thirty years or more from the conventional estimate. Only as a result of these reduced dates though, shall I argue, can there be attained a proper correspondence between king Hezekiah and his Mesopotamian contemporaries, with the resulting chronological realignment becoming the very foundation stone for a new chronology of Judah/Israel. This revision will continue on into Chapter 7, with Babylonia. There I shall examine the major problems and propose solutions that I think will serve to bring a chronologico-historical harmony and alignment right across the board. Part III: King Hezekiah and His Egyptian Contemporaries Revised An even more complex task than attempting to bring into proper alignment the history of Mesopotamia for the Hezekian era will be that of grounding king Hezekiah’s Egypto-Ethiopian contemporaries. My discussion here will be dependent upon the conclusions already reached in Part I, in relation to the two seminal kings of foreign origin discussed there in detail. In Chapter 8, I shall set out in summary form all of the major Egypto-Ethiopian activity - and its agents - thought to have been concurrent with the reign of king Hezekiah. Then, in Chapter 9 and Chapter 10, respectively, I shall focus upon the influence, on the nation of Egypt, of those two seminal kings already discussed, with a view later to identifying in the fullest possible way all of Hezekiah’s major Egypto-Ethiopian contemporaries. Chapter 11 will afford me with the opportunity of bringing the revised history right to the dawn of the era of Hezekiah; whilst in Chapter 12, now fully within the Hezekian era, I shall finally be able to propose specific answers - based on my lengthy (of necessity) revision of the background Egyptian history - to what will have turned out to be two extremely difficult questions to answer: namely, Who were king Hezekiah’s main Egypto-Ethiopian contemporaries (and what were their origins)? and: To which dynasties did these particular pharaohs belong? VOLUME TWO: SENNACHERIB’S INVASIONS OF HEZEKIAH’S KINGDOM AND HIS DEFEAT Part I: Sennacherib’s Invasions of King Hezekiah’s Kingdom Having attempted to establish, in VOLUME ONE, a most comprehensive, revised alignment of king Hezekiah with all of his major contemporaries, from Egypt/Ethiopia to Mesopotamia, I now proceed to tackle vexed problems associated with the king’s reign in regard to the incursions of Assyria into the Judaean kingdom. For example: Did Sennacherib king of Assyria launch a major attack on Jerusalem once or twice? and: What actually happened to Sennacherib’s army of 185,000? My revision of neo-Assyrian history has now hopefully made it possible for me to provide a firm answer to the first question, to which I shall dedicate Chapter 1. Part II: Demise of the Assyrian Army and of Sennacherib To answer the second question, I shall be drawing also upon the pseudepigraphal Book of Judith in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. This action-packed book holds, I believe, the very key to what happened to the ill-fated Assyrian army. But I must at the same time fully integrate the Book of Judith with Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah for the era of Hezekiah so that there can be no doubt about the former’s relevance. This detailed work will simply be an extension of VOLUME ONE, in which I had sought to confirm who were king Hezekiah’s contemporaries. But it will also add a fascinating new dimension to it. The Epilogue will provide me with an opportunity to discuss the aftermath of the Assyrian defeat and what befell some of the leading characters whom we shall have encountered. It will also serve as a lead-in to my Excursus on Isaiah, whose primary purpose will be to highlight the prophet’s celebrated rôle - according to this revision - in Assyria, subsequent to Israel’s victory. A reconstructed history (chronology) needs a revised stratigraphy to underpin it all. Throughout this thesis I shall also be endeavouring to lay down a sound, basic stratigraphy for king Hezekiah and his contemporaries and for the background to Hezekiah’s era.

Master of Arts / Abstract The reason why I have called this thesis a revised history for the era of king Hezekiah, and for the background to that era, is because my reconstruction of this particular period of the history of ancient Israel and of the nations associated with it will depart quite significantly from the standard text-book versions of it. My justification for blazing this unique historical trail stems from the comments made by examiners of my 1993 MA thesis, The Sothic Star Theory of the Egyptian Calendar, to the effect that: (a) I had shown the conventional chronology of ancient Egypt - to which that of the other nations (such as Assyria, Babylonia, Israel, Ethiopia and Greece) is largely tied - to be quite unsound, and that therefore, (b) the way lies open for ‘a more acceptable alternative’. Basically, this thesis is that ‘alternative’ as I see it for the era of king Hezekiah of Judah (late C8th BC), and for the background to that era (largely commencing early C9th BC). This new thesis will be an in-depth chronological analysis and realignment of the era of Hezekiah and its background with a special focus upon trying to determine, in a revised context, who were the Judaean king’s major contemporaries and what were their origins. Though Hezekiah’s era is generally quite a well-documented one, I expect to show in this thesis that it nevertheless stands in need of a substantial renovation, due especially to the over-extended Egyptian Sothic chronology and its effect upon the current version of neo-Assyrian history with which biblical historians have attempted to align the reign of king Hezekiah. The renovation to be undertaken in this thesis will reveal the era of Hezekiah to be in fact a most complex one; a meeting place for some extremely significant events in the history of Egypt/Ethiopia, Anatolia, Syro-Palestine, Greece and Mesopotamia. Introductory Section I review in Chapter 1, in a general way, the problems associated with the faulty chronology of Egypt, after having, in the Introduction, set the historical scene for Hezekiah, identifying the major nations at his time, and hinting at where the problems may lie and what sort of solutions will be proposed. A new set of chronological ‘anchors’ for the reign of king Hezekiah will be suggested. VOLUME ONE: A CHRONOLOGICAL REALIGNMENT OF KING HEZEKIAH AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES Part I: In Search of ‘A More Acceptable Alternative’ to the Conventional Background for the Era of Hezekiah In Chapter 2 I take an initial step back in time, in order to introduce a conglomerate of new peoples who appeared in the ancient Near East - ‘Indo-Europeans’ as I shall be generally calling them - amongst whom, as I shall argue, were the ancestors of some of the most important kings of Hezekiah’s day. Following on from this will be the introduction, in Chapter 3, of an early C9th BC king - arising from these immigrant peoples - whom I shall proceed to identify as a great ancestor-king, affecting major kingships contemporaneous with Hezekiah. This background analysis will continue on into Chapter 4, into the mid-late C9th BC, with the introduction of a second significant king, generally thought to have been a descendant of the first, who will be of crucial dynastic importance affecting Hezekiah’s time, especially in regard to Egypt. Part II: King Hezekiah and His Mesopotamian Contemporaries Revised In this section I consider the problems that specifically relate to the era of king Hezekiah and his connections primarily with Mesopotamia (mainly Assyria and Babylonia). In the first chapter, on Judah/Israel (Chapter 5), I examine the chronology of Hezekiah’s reign in its relation to the kingdom of Israel and the major events associated with the latter. Of special interest here will be the incident of the fall of Samaria. I shall, in regard to this incident, reconsider, and alter, the current dates for king Hezekiah himself; these, I shall argue, being based upon a faulty chronology of Assyria. Related to all of this will be Chapter 6, my lengthy revision of neo-Assyrian history, in which I shall arrive at some quite startling conclusions that will serve to shave off thirty years or more from the conventional estimate. Only as a result of these reduced dates though, shall I argue, can there be attained a proper correspondence between king Hezekiah and his Mesopotamian contemporaries, with the resulting chronological realignment becoming the very foundation stone for a new chronology of Judah/Israel. This revision will continue on into Chapter 7, with Babylonia. There I shall examine the major problems and propose solutions that I think will serve to bring a chronologico-historical harmony and alignment right across the board. Part III: King Hezekiah and His Egyptian Contemporaries Revised An even more complex task than attempting to bring into proper alignment the history of Mesopotamia for the Hezekian era will be that of grounding king Hezekiah’s Egypto-Ethiopian contemporaries. My discussion here will be dependent upon the conclusions already reached in Part I, in relation to the two seminal kings of foreign origin discussed there in detail. In Chapter 8, I shall set out in summary form all of the major Egypto-Ethiopian activity - and its agents - thought to have been concurrent with the reign of king Hezekiah. Then, in Chapter 9 and Chapter 10, respectively, I shall focus upon the influence, on the nation of Egypt, of those two seminal kings already discussed, with a view later to identifying in the fullest possible way all of Hezekiah’s major Egypto-Ethiopian contemporaries. Chapter 11 will afford me with the opportunity of bringing the revised history right to the dawn of the era of Hezekiah; whilst in Chapter 12, now fully within the Hezekian era, I shall finally be able to propose specific answers - based on my lengthy (of necessity) revision of the background Egyptian history - to what will have turned out to be two extremely difficult questions to answer: namely, Who were king Hezekiah’s main Egypto-Ethiopian contemporaries (and what were their origins)? and: To which dynasties did these particular pharaohs belong? VOLUME TWO: SENNACHERIB’S INVASIONS OF HEZEKIAH’S KINGDOM AND HIS DEFEAT Part I: Sennacherib’s Invasions of King Hezekiah’s Kingdom Having attempted to establish, in VOLUME ONE, a most comprehensive, revised alignment of king Hezekiah with all of his major contemporaries, from Egypt/Ethiopia to Mesopotamia, I now proceed to tackle vexed problems associated with the king’s reign in regard to the incursions of Assyria into the Judaean kingdom. For example: Did Sennacherib king of Assyria launch a major attack on Jerusalem once or twice? and: What actually happened to Sennacherib’s army of 185,000? My revision of neo-Assyrian history has now hopefully made it possible for me to provide a firm answer to the first question, to which I shall dedicate Chapter 1. Part II: Demise of the Assyrian Army and of Sennacherib To answer the second question, I shall be drawing also upon the pseudepigraphal Book of Judith in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. This action-packed book holds, I believe, the very key to what happened to the ill-fated Assyrian army. But I must at the same time fully integrate the Book of Judith with Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah for the era of Hezekiah so that there can be no doubt about the former’s relevance. This detailed work will simply be an extension of VOLUME ONE, in which I had sought to confirm who were king Hezekiah’s contemporaries. But it will also add a fascinating new dimension to it. The Epilogue will provide me with an opportunity to discuss the aftermath of the Assyrian defeat and what befell some of the leading characters whom we shall have encountered. It will also serve as a lead-in to my Excursus on Isaiah, whose primary purpose will be to highlight the prophet’s celebrated rôle - according to this revision - in Assyria, subsequent to Israel’s victory. A reconstructed history (chronology) needs a revised stratigraphy to underpin it all. Throughout this thesis I shall also be endeavouring to lay down a sound, basic stratigraphy for king Hezekiah and his contemporaries and for the background to Hezekiah’s era.

The purpose of the study was to psychometrically evaluate the Revised Janis and Field Scale using the rasch model. The model is a measurement model often used to develop and improving composite measures. Quantitative content analysis was also used in the study. After the two analyses were conducted the problematic items were examined, where an interpretative perspective was applied to try to explain why some questions didn’t seem to work as intended. The other purpose of the study was to examine if emotional and cognitive components need to be treated as separate variables when studying self-esteem. The data collection was administrated at Karlstad University in April of 2014. In total 225 respondents participated in the survey, of whom 140 were women and 85 were men. Based on the rasch model, the instrument did not seem to measure self-esteem in an acceptable manner. There were also major problems with the content of the questions and how they were structured. It is concluded that the instrument should not be used for research purposes. Based on the analyses it was not possible to determine if it’s necessary to distinguish between emotional and cognitive components of self-esteem. It requires more analysis, based on more reliable instruments in the future. / Syftet med studien var att utvärdera mätinstrumentet Revised Janis and Field Scale med hjälp av psykometriska analyser baserat på raschmodellen. Raschmodellen är en mätmodell som används inom olika discipliner vid utveckling och granskning av mätinstrument. Därutöver genomfördes här även en kvantitativ innehållsanalys. När de två analyserna var genomförda granskades problematiska frågor, där ett tolkningsperspektiv anlades för att försöka förklara varför vissa frågor inte verkade fungera som avsett. Avsikten med studien var även att undersöka om emotionella och kognitiva beståndsdelar bör hanteras som separata variabler. Datainsamlingen ägde rum vid Karlstads universitet under april månad 2014. Totalt deltog 225 respondenter i undersökningen, 140 kvinnor respektive 85 män. Baserat på raschanalysen verkar inte instrumentet mäta självkänsla på ett godtagbart sätt. Därutöver finns problem med de ämnen som frågorna behandlar och hur frågorna samt svarsalternativen är formulerade. Bedömningen gjordes baserat på analyserna att instrumentet inte bör användas i vetenskapliga sammanhang. Avslutningsvis var det inte möjligt att bekräfta om det är nödvändigt att särskilja mellan emotionella och kognitiva beståndsdelar ur självkänslan utifrån de analyser som genomförts här. Det krävs att fler analyser genomförs i framtiden och att dessa bygger på mer stabila mätinstrument för att uppnå det syftet. / Self-esteem, The Self, Revised Janis and Field Scale, Rasch analysis

Submitted to the Faculty of Education in fufilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2006. / The present study examines educators' experiences in implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement in the GET Band. The first aim of the study was to ascertain the nature of educators' experiences in implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement. The second aim was to determine whether educators' biographical factors such as gender, age, teaching experience, qualification and rank have any influence on the nature of their experiences in implementing the Revised Curriculum Statement. The third aim was to ascertain the extent to which educators generally find implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement to be stressful. The last aim was to determine whether educators' biographical factors (gender, age, teaching experience, qualification and rank) have any influence on the extent to which they generally find implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement to be stressful. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample of three hundred and eight educators. The findings reveal that educators differ in terms of the nature of their experiences in implementing the Revised Curriculum Statement. A high percentage (61.04%) of educators reports a positive experience about implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement. The findings also show that age, teaching experience and qualification have an influence on the nature of educators' experiences in implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement. The findings further reveal that educators differ in the extent to which they generally find implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement to be stressful. A relatively higher percentage (38.31%) report above average level of stress, 28.90% report below average level and 32.79% report an average level The last finding shows that educators' gender, age, teaching experience, qualification and rank have no influence on the extent to which educators generally find implementing the Revised National Curriculum Statement to be stressful. On the basis of the findings of this study, a model on curriculum implementation process was proposed and recommended.

Low back disorders (LBDs) are one of the most commonly occurring injuries in industry. To attempt to reduce these work-related injuries, billions of dollars are being budgeted for formal training in the U.S. However, the outcomes of this training are below a satisfactory level. The majority of organizations utilize the Four-level Evaluation Model to evaluate their training program. However, previous studies have pointed out some limitations regarding this evaluation model. Moreover, most organizations collect only trainee reaction, the first level of the Four-level Evaluation Model, to determine the effectiveness of their training program. Many studies reveal that trainee reaction is an invalid indicator to determine the effectiveness of a training program, and further suggest multi-dimensional categorization within each level of the Four-level Evaluation. Therefore, in this study, the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy was employed to enable multidimensional categorization of learning outcomes in a lifting and lowering training program. The learning outcomes of interest in such a training program relate to procedural knowledge and the cognitive process involved are categorized as remembering, understanding, applying, and evaluating the contents of the training program. Two research questions were asked. What types of learning outcomes are most predictive of training performance? How do the learning outcomes predict training performance compared to affective and utility type reactions? The ability of different types of learning outcomes to predict training performance was tested by multiple regression analyses. The results revealed that apply-procedural learning outcomes and the interaction variable of understand-procedural and apply-procedural learning outcomes were the most predictive of training performance. Further, these learning outcomes were more predictive of training performance than the trainee reactions (affective and utility type reactions) to explain training performance. The results of this study yielded a set of recommendations that may be useful in designing and evaluating lifting and lowering training programs. Moreover, this study examined the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy as a novel method of considering the multidimensional nature of learning and provided a potential application of the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy in the training discipline. / Master of Science

As medical advances are made in the area of neonatology, more and more premature babies are surviving at younger gestational ages and lower birth weights. Growth in the survival rates of preterm infants leads to questions regarding the long term developmental trajectory of these children. The current study sought to expand on research regarding dimensions of childhood functioning and to apply it to the problem of prematurity by (a) utilizing a new instrument: the Merrill Palmer Revised edition, (b) including children of preterm and full term birth statuses from as young as 2 months of age, and (c) collecting data from parental and clinician reports. In addition to attempts to clarify the relationship between birth status and childhood dysfunction, this study also sought to augment existing literature by exploring the correlation between parental report and clinician observation of childhood dysfunction. The results of this study did not support the hypothesis that children of preterm birth will demonstrate more problems in functioning when compared to full term peers. Although there were more significant differences between preterm and full term children in the older cohort group, those differences did not consistently reflect dysfunction by the preterm children. Additionally, this study considered dimensions of dysfunction as measured by parental report and clinician observations. Notably, a lack of agreement between parent and clinician observations emerged for the young age cohort group. However, the high level of agreement for the older children suggests that parental and clinician perspectives converge with older children. Contrary to the hypothesis, birth status, gender, ethnicity, and SES did not collectively form a specific risk index for dysfunction. However, these factors did interact with each other to predict functioning on several scales. In fact, there were no significant main effects. Instead, predictors of dysfunction were interactions of variables such as birth status, age, gender, and ethnicity. This general finding illustrates the importance of taking into consideration all aspects of the childs situation when making an assessment of functioning.

This dissertation presents a methodology for the near optimal design of fixture layouts in multi-station assembly processes. An optimal fixture layout improves the robustness of a fixture system, reduces product variability and leads to manufacturing cost reduction. Three key aspects of the multi-station fixture layout design are addressed: a multi-station variation propagation model, a quantitative measure of fixture design, and an effective and efficient optimization algorithm. Multi-station design may have high dimensions of design space, which can contain a lot of local optima. In this dissertation, I investigated two algorithms for optimal fixture layout designs. The first algorithm is an exchange algorithm, which was originally developed in the research of optimal experimental designs. I revised the exchange routine so that it can remarkably reduce the computing time without sacrificing the optimal values. The second algorithm uses data-mining methods such as clustering and classification. It appears that the data-mining method can find valuable design selection rules that can in turn help to locate the optimal design efficiently. Compared with other non-linear optimization algorithms such as the simplex search method, simulated annealing, genetic algorithm, the data-mining method performs the best and the revised exchange algorithm performs comparably to simulated annealing, but better than the others. A four-station assembly process for a sport utility vehicle (SUV) side frame is used throughout the dissertation to illustrate the relevant concepts and the resulting methodology.

This dissertation presents a methodology for the near optimal design of fixture layouts in multi-station assembly processes. An optimal fixture layout improves the robustness of a fixture system, reduces product variability and leads to manufacturing cost reduction. Three key aspects of the multi-station fixture layout design are addressed: a multi-station variation propagation model, a quantitative measure of fixture design, and an effective and efficient optimization algorithm. Multi-station design may have high dimensions of design space, which can contain a lot of local optima. In this dissertation, I investigated two algorithms for optimal fixture layout designs. The first algorithm is an exchange algorithm, which was originally developed in the research of optimal experimental designs. I revised the exchange routine so that it can remarkably reduce the computing time without sacrificing the optimal values. The second algorithm uses data-mining methods such as clustering and classification. It appears that the data-mining method can find valuable design selection rules that can in turn help to locate the optimal design efficiently. Compared with other non-linear optimization algorithms such as the simplex search method, simulated annealing, genetic algorithm, the data-mining method performs the best and the revised exchange algorithm performs comparably to simulated annealing, but better than the others. A four-station assembly process for a sport utility vehicle (SUV) side frame is used throughout the dissertation to illustrate the relevant concepts and the resulting methodology.

No description available.

We examined the effect of changing from an internally prepared motor plan to a revised action which potentially differed from the original plan along two dimensions: wrist orientation (horizontal or vertical) and left/right hand. Participants were instructed to prepare a particular hand grasp action and then were cued either to execute that motor plan or cancel it and plan a new action. In Experiments I and II, if the change from the original motor plan to an alternate response implied an action different from the prepared one, there was a slowing in response time. Moreover, if there was a change, maintaining the originally planned wrist orientation produced faster responses than changing orientation, but only if the response hand remained constant between planned and alternate actions and the cue was an image of a hand depicting a goal posture. In Experiment III, when the alternate action was cued by an image of an object inviting a particular grasp action, there was transfer only of the hand feature. In a final experiment, participants switched from a prepared action to naming a manipulable object. The motor features of the object differed from the original motor plan in the same way as in previous experiments. No effect of the previously cancelled motor plan was seen on naming latencies. These results elucidate the nature of motor plans and the role of motor actions in the representation of objects. / Graduate