This study investigated cultural bias in the 46 Verbal items of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA). Two separate approaches to the examination of item bias were utilized. The first approach examined item bias empirically by comparing performance differences in terms of correct item responses given by examinees from Anglo and Mexican-American cultures. The second approach addressed the issue of face validity by obtaining the opinion of Anglo-American (AA) and Mexican-American (MA) judges regarding their perception of item bias for AA and MA examinees. The two criteria used to judge item bias were examinee opportunity to learn item content and examinee familiarity with the language used in the items. The Verbal items of the McCarthy Scales were administered to 59 Anglo-American and 59 Mexican-American examinees matched for age and sex. Ability differences were controlled by generating common ability intervals for both groups based on overall Verbal scale score. The obtained data was tested utilizing procedures for the analysis of contingency tables. Two statistical analyses applied to the data were Scheuneman's modified chi-square and the log-linear technique using the likelihood ratio chi-square statistic. Statistically significant performance differences between the two groups, identified by both analyses, were found for only two items of the Word Knowledge II subtest which measures vocabulary comprehension. The differences in perception of the two groups of judges in terms of opportunity to learn item content and familiarity with item language across AA and MA examinees was examined. The obtained ratings of item bias were tested with the chi-square statistic. Significant differences in ratings of two groups of judges on the opportunity to learn dimension were found for 16 items. It was revealed that more AA judges perceived 14 of these items to be fair for both groups of examinees in terms of opportunity to learn, while more MA judges perceived the AA child as having more opportunity to learn the content of these items. However for two of the 16 items the statistically significant difference between the two groups reflected the perception of MA judges that bias favored the MA examinees. There was a high degree of agreement between the two groups of judges in their rating on the familiarity dimension, with both groups indicating more familiarity with item language for AA subjects for most items. Significant differences in the ratings of the two groups were identified for four items. These items were from the Word Knowledge and Verbal Memory subtests. For three of these items the obtained data indicated that the greater number of MA judges perceived these items as favoring AA subjects. For the remaining item the results pointed out that more MA judges perceived that MA subjects seemed to have greater familiarity with the item language as compared with their Anglo counterpart. There was no discernible pattern of judgment in terms of item difficulty, with easier items perceived as more biased than more difficult ones in some cases. Judge responses appear more related to specific item content than level of difficulty or verbal complexity. The findings from both studies led to the conclusion that the majority of the verbal items in the McCarthy Scales seemed to be fair for Anglo and Mexican-American subjects. Implications of these findings were discussed and recommendations were made for future studies intended to examine item bias.

No description available.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att utarbeta och prova EAS-T (Emotional Availability Scales – Therapy), en manual för att mäta emotionell tillgänglighet mellan terapeut och patient i en psykoterapi. Arbetet ingår som en del i projektet LURIPP (Linköping University Relational and Interpersonal Psychotherapy Project). Våra frågeställningar var: * Kan man mäta den emotionella tillgängligheten i en psykoterapi med EAS-T? * Finns det någon korrelation mellan EAS-T och patientskattade processmått?   För att svara på frågorna har vi arbetat med att modifiera EAS (Emotional Availability Scales), ett instrument som används för att mäta kvalitén på relationen mellan förälder och barn, så att den ska passa terapeut-patient-relationen. Vi har skattat videoinspelade sessioner av IPT-terapier (interpersonell psykoterapi) med hjälp av detta instrument. I ett andra steg har vi jämfört vår skattning med patientskattade processmått, som varit tillgängliga via LURIPP: WAI-S (Working Alliance Inventory - Short), Känsloord och med PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire), där patienten skattar sin depressionsgrad före varje samtal.   Resultatet visade att manualen hade god användbarhet, men att det också fanns behov av revidering inom vissa dimensioner. Jämförelsen mellan EAS-T och patientskattade processmått visade att det fanns vissa signifikanta korrelationer och vissa som inte var signifikanta, men ändå intresseväckande. Mest intressant fann vi EAS-T-variabeln icke-invaderande, som visade en negativ korrelation till de andra processmåtten. En mer invaderande terapeutstil resulterade i att patienten upplevde en bättre terapeutisk allians och skattade mer positiva känsloord efter sessionen. Patienten skattade också symptomförbättring till nästa session. Det finns många intressanta frågor som ännu är obesvarade vad gäller emotionell tillgänglighet i terapisituationen, där vi hoppas på vidare forskning!

The impact on human health caused by lead release has resulted in stringent lead regulations, which limit the drinking water concentration of lead to 10µg/L. In order to meet regulation guidelines, sources of lead are being removed from the distribution system and premise plumbing. Lead service lines (LSLs) are replaced to minimize the effect of lead release, with LSL contributing as much as 50-75% of total lead at the tap. Adsorption of lead on galvanized iron corrosion scales have been shown to increase lead release in LSL replacements, which is very concerning for utilities considering replacing the LSLs. Adsorption of lead on to iron minerals has been hypothesized as a mechanism for lead exposure. With the significant presence of unlined cast iron pipes in Halifax, the objective of this thesis was to determine the relationship between the iron particles found in cast iron pipes and lead release at the tap.

No description available.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Sugarcane hauliers in South Africa have high variations in vehicle payloads, which influence both transport economics and the legitimacy of their operations. Increasing economic pressure due to declining sugar prices and ever increasing fuel prices has invoked interest to improve vehicle utilisation and reduce costs, while complying with the local traffic legislation. On-board weighing technologies, such as on-board load cells, could assist operators to control their payloads more accurately and hence reduce the frequency of both over and under loaded consignments. In this study, an investigation is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of on-board weighing systems in the South African sugarcane transport industry. An overview of on-board weighing systems is presented. The overview gives insight into the technical composition of an on-board weighing system as well as presenting various benefits and drawbacks that are associated with an on-board weighing system. Earlier studies conducted on the use of on-board weighing systems are scrutinised and evaluated and it is concluded from these that vehicle utilisation could be improved, while concurrently reducing the overloading of vehicles. Field research was conducted to evaluate the accuracy and consistency of on-board weighing systems currently being utilised in the sugarcane transport industry as well as to determine the critical factors that influence the effectiveness of the system while assessing if overloading of vehicles was reduced when on-board weighing systems were employed. It was concluded that the systems evaluated were reasonably accurate with mean error being 0.4 tons. The consistency of the systems was good with 75% of all measurement being within 0.5 tons of each other. The critical factors determining the effectiveness of the on-board weighing systems were established as being management of the system as well as cane variety and quality. Overloading was reduced by 9% in one field evaluation and 5% in another. Further reduction can be realised through tighter management of the on-board weighing systems. An economic evaluation of an on-board weighing system was performed using the capital budget method. This method was used to determine the pay off period required to realise the investment into an on-board weighing system for scenarios where the payload is increased by 2, 3 and 4 tons and transport lead distance is 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 km. The shortest pay off period occurred when the lead distance was 60 km and the time was 1, 2 and 3 years for payload increases of 2, 3 and 4 tons respectively. For lead distances of 40, 60 and 80 km the investment is worthwhile and considerable returns in investment can be realised, however, for the other lead distances the pay off period could be deemed to be too long. From the observation made during the field evaluation together with the literature studied, guidelines for the use of on-board weighing systems under various transport scenarios were formulated and are presented in chapter six. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Educational Psychology

Talentingų jaunųjų krepšininkų atranka – viena svarbiausių šiuolaikinio rengimo problemų. 9-16 metų amžius yra vienas jautriausių, kuomet atsiskleidžia įgimti fiziniai gebėjimai bei įgyjama naujų mokėjimų, leidžiančių siekti gerų sportinių rezultatų. Vis dėlto objektyvios fizinio ir techninio pajėgumo vertinimo sistemos Lietuvoje dar nėra. Žaidimų sporte vyraujantis kriterinis vertinimas kartais stokoja objektyvumo, todėl ieškodami tikslesnio vertinimo būdų, kėlėme probleminį klausimą: Kokios gi yra jaunųjų krepšininkų fizinio išsivystymo ir fizinio bei techninio parengtumo vertinimo normos, galinčios padėti vykdyti rengimo kontrolę bei atranką? Remiantis probleminiu klausimu buvo apibrėžtas tyrimo objektas – jaunųjų krepšininkų fizinis išsivystymas, funkcinis pajėgumas bei lokomociniai gebėjimai. Atsižvelgiant į pasirinktos temos aktualumą bei mokslinę problemą buvo siekiama šio tikslo – įvertinti jaunųjų krepšininkų fizinį išsivystymą, funkcinį pajėgumą bei lokomocinius gebėjimus, pateikiant normines vertinimo skales. Siekiant užsibrėžto tikslo, magistro darbe buvo keliami šie pagrindiniai tyrimo uždaviniai: ištirti 9-16 metų amžiaus žaidėjų fizinį išsivystymą, funkcinį pajėgumą ir lokomocinius gebėjimus. Sudaryti santykinės padėties matų – procentilių ranginę skalę, kuri leistų vertinti 9-16 metų amžiaus krepšininkų fizinį išsivystymą bei lokomocinių gebėjimų lygį. Modifikuoti metimų į krepšį testo rezultatų skaičiavimą, pateikiant norminio vertinimo skales... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / One of the most important problems in modern athletes training is the selection process of talented young basketball players. The age of 9-16 is one of the most sensitive periods when innate physical abilities are revealing and new skills are gained for achievement of high sport results in the future. However, Lithuania does not have an objective system for physical and technical capacity evaluation yet. Evaluation under certain criteria in sports games lacks objectivity at times that is why to seek for more precise evaluation methods we have raised the question: what are the evaluation norms of young basketball players’ physical development and physical as well as technical preparedness that will help to develop athletes’ training control and selection? Considering the problem, research object was settled as follows – young basketball players’ physical development, functional capacity, and locomotor skills. In view of relevance of chosen topic and scientific problem, it was aimed to evaluate young basketball players’ physical development, functional capacity, and locomotor skills when introducing rating scales. To follow the aim those were the main tasks in this master thesis: to research physical development, functional capacity, and locomotor skills of young basketball players of age 9-16; to form ratio position measurements-percentile ranking scale that allows evaluating the level of physical development and locomotor skills of basketball players of age 9-16; to modify... [to full text]

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the construct validity of the Differential Ability Scales (DAS) with a mentally handicapped population. The DAS is an individually administered, standardized test of intelligence. The stated purposes of the DAS are to provide a composite measure of conceptual reasoning abilities for classification and placement decisions and to provide a reliable profile of relative strengths and weaknesses for diagnostic purposes. With these goals in mind, it follows that this cognitive measure would be used often with mentally handicapped students. The DAS was developed using an hierarchical model based upon exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The model assumes that ability measures or subtests will load on a general factor g and will form subfactors at a lower level. The model also assumes that as children get older, the number of subfactors will increase because of development and differentiation of abilities. How mentally handicapped children would fit into this model was the subject of the current research.Using a sample of 100 mildly and moderately handicapped children ages 8 years, 0 months to 17 years, 5 months, confirmatory factor analysis was used to explore the factor structure of the DAS with this population. Three separate models were investigated: Model I, in which a one factor solution was proposed, Model II, in which two factors, Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Ability, were proposed, and Model III, in which three factors, Verbal Ability, Nonverbal Reasoning Ability, and Spatial Ability, as proposed by the test's authors, were investigated. Results of the analyses support the use of a one factor interpretation when using the DAS with mentally handicapped students. In practice, only the broadest score, the General Conceptual Ability Score (GCA), can be interpreted with confidence. Further, case study investigation illustrates the inconsistencies encountered in scoring at the lower end of the norms, as well as in using the outof-level procedure proposed by the test's authors. / Department of Educational Psychology