Für komplexe Entwicklungsaufgaben von Großserienanwendungen mit hohem Reifegrad haben sich standardisierte Entwicklungsprozesse erfolgreich etabliert. Existieren diese für eine Aufgabenstellung nicht, kann bei überschaubarem Projektumfang gepaart mit hohem Neuheitsgrad ein Generalist den gesamten Entwicklungsprozess mit hoher Dynamik situativ und iterativ ohne Vorgegebene Ablaufstruktur erfolgreich leiten. Zur raschen und ganzheitlichen Erfassung von unbekanntem oder nicht hinreichend erfasstem (Teil-)Systemverhalten sowie der relevanten Interdependenzen und Einflussgrößen kann die menschliche Wahrnehmung bei der Testung von Spielmodellen und Prototypen einen wertvollen Beitrag leisten. Zur allgemeinen Nutzung des so erworbenen Wissens ist jedoch deren explizite Darstellung von zentraler Bedeutung. Anhand von zwei ausgewählten Praxisbeispielen wird dies verdeutlicht.

The standardized testing regime begun under No Child Left Behind and continued with the Common Core is being challenged. Opt Out is a national movement in which parents refuse to have their children partake in state mandated tests. This case study examines the Opt Out movement through the lens of political spectacle which suggests public policy is largely formed through dramatic public acts that reinforce existing inequalities. Arguing that Opting Out is inherently a dramatic public act, the study examines the Opt Out movement’s impact on legislative educational policy formation in the State of Arizona. Opt Out legislation and texts formed from the accompanying legislative debate, relevant media, and interviews with legislators are critically analyzed to further explain the mechanics of political spectacle. Theoretical aspects of political spectacle such as the current political spectacle framework and current methodological issues involved with the theory are also critiqued with possible solutions proposed.

Research points out the many complex problems of the disadvantaged child. The purpose of establishing many preschool programs throughout this country has been to seek the most effective ways of educating the culturally deprived and to utilize the standardized measurements to assess various programs. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the intellectual functioning and sensory-motor abilities of the disadvantaged child at the preschool level, to determine his growth in these areas during his participation in the program, and to determine whether or not four different teaching models are instrumental in bringing about intellectual and sensory-motor improvements.

This study was conducted using a quantitative, non-experimental, correlation design to explore the relationships between student-patient encounters with Diabetes Mellitus and the scores on the Diabetes Mellitus OSCE during Family Medicine clerkship. The focus of the research was to explore relationships between various methods of competency measures of third-year medical students during their Family Medicine clerkship as they encountered patients diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). A paradigm shift in medical education is taking place and driven by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME). These changes are fueled by the public outcry demanding verification of competency of our physicians. The study's focus is on the competency outcome measures from a new educational design, moving away from patient-centered education to competency-based, student-centered education and away from a norm-referenced assessment to a criterion-referenced assessment. Relevant literature on the need for competency-based medical education and various methods for implementation informed this study, including Miller (1990); Barman (2005); Barrows (1993), De Champlain, Margolis, Macmillan, and Klass (2001); Harden and Gleeson (1979); and Howley and Wilson (2004). More direct observation of student performance must be instituted with documentation of student clinical skills. Findings revealed no differences are seen in medical student competency acquisition during encounters of patients diagnosed with DM, in terms of cognitive, psychomotor, neck exam or affective measures, during the VCU SOM Family Medicine Clerkship. Significant differences are noted in the psychomotor subscale scores of the DM OSCE as the result of suburban clerkship site placement, as opposed to rural or urban sites. Finally, students at non-residencies see more patients with DM than at residency clerkship sites. Implications for further research were discussed focusing on 1) why differences were found only found in suburban clerkship sites; 2) the possibility that cultural competency understanding may play a role in these differences; 3) how do students learn about DM prior to the FM clerkship; 4) the possibility that the OSCE does not reflect community FM practice models.

Professional physical therapist education programs use a variety of measures of academic performance, aptitude, and interpersonal skills when selecting students for admission. Grade point averages (GPA) and scores on standardized tests, such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), are commonly used quantitative measures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of these measures in predicting which physical therapist students will encounter difficulty in the academic program or in passing the National Physical Therapist Examination (NPTE). This study used a retrospective longitudinal design. A nationally representative sample of 20 programs was drawn from the population of physical therapist education programs that utilize the GRE and enroll 30 or more students per year. The sample programs provided data regarding student demographic characteristics and undergraduate GPA and GRE scores for each student admitted to the cohorts graduating in 2000 through 2004. Programs also provided data regarding academic difficulty for each student. Data provided by the programs were matched to data provided by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy regarding whether the student encountered difficulty passing the NPTE. Data were analyzed using logistic regression, receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and diagnostic likelihood ratios. The final sample included data on 3,585 students from 20 programs. When controlling for program, cohort, ethnicity, and age, undergraduate GPA (O.R. = 0.851 ±0.031), verbal GRE score (O.R. = 0.970 ±0.017), and quantitative GRE score (O.R. = 0.963 ±0.015) were independently predictive of academic difficulty. Within programs, undergraduate GPA was the most consistent predictor of academic difficulty, contributing to prediction of difficulty for 12 of the programs in the sample. When controlling for program, cohort, and NPTE test version, undergraduate GPA (O.R. = 0.882 ±0.031) , verbal GRE score (O.R = 0.935 ±0.016), and quantitative GRE score (O.R. = 0.965 ± 0.014) were independently predictive of NPTE difficulty. Within programs, verbal GRE score was the most consistent predictor of difficulty on the NPTE, contributing to prediction of difficulty in 11 of the sample programs. The results support the use of undergraduate GPA and GRE scores for making admissions and academic decisions in physical therapist education.

Globalization is here to stay, and with an increasing number of brands deciding to test their fortune abroad, the importance of branding increases alike. The choice of globalizing a brand comes with potential financial benefits but it is not done without considerable effort. According to Kotler and Keller, the choice regarding differentiation to competitors is one of the main factors a brand must consider when expanding abroad (2009). One key factor that determines the level of success of international companies is the amount of brand knowledge (Guedes & da Costa Soares, 2005). Consumer brand knowledge and its importance for financial success has been extensively studied by researchers (Fill & Turnbull, 2016) and it has been found that solid brands continuously outperform their markets (Pirrie, 2006). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether demographic factors such as age, gender and nationality significantly affect consumer brand knowledge. The chosen brand for the study was Razer that practices a standardized global targeting strategy. Razer is a company that produces gaming equipment for gamers. Gamers constituted the desired sample of the study due to their belonging within the brands target segment. A survey based on and constructed using the “Dimensions of Brand Knowledge” by Keller (1993) was issued online in Sweden and Lithuania on social media within groups that share the common interest of gaming. 540 responses were collected, and 8 hypotheses were tested using SPSS linear regression tests. Findings showed that brand recognition differed in regard to demographic factors of the respondents, supporting H2.  However, the remaining aspects of brand knowledge did not differ regarding the combined demographic factors, therefore, the remaining hypotheses were rejected. These results may aid marketers and scholars in the comprehension of factors that may affect their global marketing efforts within the gaming industry and contribute to the current research done within the field of gaming equipment, which is quite understudied given its economic potential.

Thesis advisor: Dr. Marilyn Cochran-Smith / A healthy democratic society requires citizens with both the knowledge to understand the problems it faces and the dispositions to solve them. Yet recent studies have shown that citizens in the United States are losing the democratic habits required to solve social problems. Moreover, results on standardized assessments in United States history including the National Assessment of Educational Progress bear out the fact that the historical knowledge of typical American high school graduates is woefully lacking (Gaudelli, 2002; Shenkman, 2008). Some blame teachers for failing to teach students meaningful content, and others counter that students' poor performance signals a problem with the test's construction rather than with teachers. This dissertation was designed to inform the debate through a systematic study of the orientations of history and social studies teachers in Massachusetts, the skills and constructs measured by the MCAS-US history test, and the relationship between the two. This study considered the complex relationship between teachers' orientations and the skills and constructs measured on the MCAS-US test via two research designs. First, a survey of Massachusetts history and social studies teachers was conducted to analyze the orientations from which teachers approach the subject. Second, a content analysis of the MCAS-US test was conducted to identify the skills and constructs assessed on the test. Both the survey and the content analysis were carried out through the theoretical lens of democratic pragmatism, and both employed the same framework for understanding the varied ways that history and social studies is taught. Findings point to a very clear misalignment between orientations of history and social studies teachers and the skills and constructs measured by the MCAS-US test. This conjures up an image of a three-legged race where the two participants appear to work against one another. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study, including ways that test developers and history and social studies teachers can make progress toward the shared goal of improving civic knowledge and participation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

A seca que assola o norte de Minas Gerais é um desencadeante de severos impactos socioambientais. Mudanças na distribuição das precipitações, ou mesmo a redução no volume de chuvas é fator suficiente para a desorganização da atividade econômica regional. Neste contexto, este trabalho analisou a distribuição espaço-temporal da seca/estiagem no norte de Minas Gerais, entre 2003 a 2014. A metodologia consistiu na elaboração de série temporal de anomalia padronizada de NDWI utilizando imagens de reflectância MOD13Q1/MODIS. Para a realização das análises utilizou-se como base: os decretos de anormalidade por motivo de seca/estiagem, dados de perdas e danos, de precipitação e de variação de água da subsuperfície das soluções GRACE. Foram realizadas correlações entre NDWI e precipitação e entre anomalia padronizada de NDWI e anomalia de precipitação, considerando dados sem e com 30 dias de defasagem. Foi aplicado teste de médias, teste t de Student, para a anomalia padronizada de NDWI e a anomalia de precipitação, em um intervalo de confiança de 95%. Os resultados demonstraram que a anomalia padronizada de NDWI identificou de forma satisfatória três períodos de seca/estiagem na região. Estes corroboram com os dados de decretos de emergência e calamidade pública, sendo observado um maior número de decretos, principalmente, nestes períodos. Dois períodos identificados como de seca/estiagem foram noticiados como de estiagem severa no norte de Minas Gerais. Esse fato corrobora os dados de anomalia padronizada de NDWI com a situação ocorrida na região. O quantitativo de áreas afetadas por seca também evidencia o mesmo período de maiores números de ocorrências de seca/estiagem e deficiência na distribuição da precipitação. No entanto, o emprego de anomalia padronizada de NDWI na identificação seca/estiagem, por si só, pode não ser suficiente para essa identificação, uma vez que, o fenômeno pode ocorrer e causar danos e prejuízos, em meio a uma paisagem verde, como constatado para 2010. As análises estatísticas mostraram que existem correlações com graus de intensidade melhores entre o NDWI e a precipitação com uma defasagem de 30 dias. Fato também observado para os dados de anomalia padronizada de NDWI e anomalia de precipitação, todavia, foram observadas correlações de fraca a moderada. O teste de médias apresentou diferenças entre as médias apenas para o ano de 2014. Apesar de em todos os outros períodos as médias não serem estatisticamente diferentes entre si, foram verificados baixos valores de p-value, com excessão do período entre 2008 e 2011, onde são verificados p-value entre 0,4 a 0,9. Ainda que os testes estatísticos não apresentaram uma ótima significância, a variação temporal dos dados de anomalia padronizada de NDWI e de anomalia de precipitação evidencia uma relação similar entre esses dados. Por fim, a comparação com dados das soluções GRACE, identificou os mesmos períodos verificados com a anomalia padronizada de NDWI, sendo então, observado que estes dados corroboram entre si na identificação de seca/estiagem no norte de Minas Gerais. / The drought that affects the north of Minas Gerais State causes severe socio-environment impacts. Changes on the precipitation distribution or even the reduction of the raining amount is enough reason for regional disorganization. In this context, this work analyzed the drought spatial-temporal distribution in the north of Minas Gerais State, between 2003 and 2014. The methodology consisted on the elaboration of time series of standardized anomaly NDWI using images of reflectance MOD13Q1/MODIS. For the analysis it was used the following basis: the abnormality decrees caused by drought, damage and losses data, precipitation and the water subsurface range on GRACE solution. Correlations were conducted between NDWI and precipitation, as well as between standardized anomaly NDWI and precipitation anomaly, considering data with and without 30 days of gap. It was applied average test, the Student t-test, for the standardized anomaly NDWI and precipitation anomaly, with a confidence range of 95%. Results demonstrated that standardized anomaly NDWI satisfactorily identified three seasons of drought in this region. It corroborates with emergency decrees and public calamity data, in what it was observed a higher number of decrees, especially in these periods. Two seasons identified as drought were reported as severe drought in the north of Minas Gerais State. This fact validates the standardized anomaly NDWI data with the situation occurred in the region. The quantity of affected areas drought, also evidences the same period of larger numbers of occurrences drought and disability in the distribution of precipitation. However, the use of standardized anomaly NDWI by itself on the identification of drought may not be enough evidence for this association, since the phenomenon can occur and cause damages and losses among a green landscape, as seen in 2010. Statistical analysis demonstrated that there are correlations with better intensity degrees between the NDWI and the precipitation with a gap of 30 days. This fact was also observed for the standardized anomaly NDWI and precipitation anomaly data, however, mild to moderate correlations were observed. Student t-test demonstrated differences between the averages only for the year of 2014. Despite for all other periods averages were not statistically different, they were observed p-value low values, with the exception of the period between 2008 and 2011, which are verified p-value between 0.4 and 0.9. Although statistical tests did not demonstrated a great significance, the temporal variation of standardized anomaly NDWI data and precipitation anomaly evidenciate a similar relationship between these data. Lastly, the comparison with data from GRACE solutions, identified the same periods verified with the standardized anomaly NDWI, being then observed that these data corroborates between them in the identification of draught in the north of Minas Gerais State.

In the era of accountability in our nation‘s public schools, high-stakes standardized testing is the primary methodology for determining academic achievement; results from end-of-grade standardized testing are published annually in state and national report cards that are used as an instrument for determining school and teacher quality. What standardized tests do not take into consideration, however, are external environmental factors that have an impact on academic achievement; this research project focuses upon the effects of socioeconomic status on academic achievement on the middle grade student in North Carolina in 2012 and 2013. These years were chosen to comparatively analyze student achievement during the transition from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study to the Common Core curriculum. Only public schools configured in grades 6-8 that operate on a traditional school calendar were considered for this study. One way analyses of variance and paired samples t tests were performed to determine whether significant differences exist between student achievement in each grade level, academic year, and tested subject area (mathematics and reading) based on various levels of socioeconomic status levels within the school. Socioeconomic status levels were determined by the percentage of student population within the middle school that received free or reduced cost lunch during that school year. Significant differences existed between every socioeconomic level, subject area, and grade level, and significant differences also existed between each academic year as well as the number of economically disadvantaged students passing both the reading and mathematics assessments in each academic year. Schools with higher poverty levels scored significantly lower on both subject areas in both academic years than their wealthier counterparts. Test scores were also significantly lower in 2013 than in 2012, and fewer economically disadvantaged students passed both reading and mathematics in 2013 than in 2012. Further research is suggested to determine whether the trend of higher poverty schools performing significantly lower on standardized assessments than wealthier schools will continue with the ongoing implementation of the Common Core curriculum.

Written at a time when the number of students taking standardized tests in U.S. public schools is at an all-time high, this dissertation presents and analyzes the contribution of standardized testing to intellectual identity formation as portrayed within the oral histories of four adults from the post-"A Nation at Risk" (1983) and pre-"No Child Left Behind" (2001) eras. The study uses methods from discourse analysis and oral history research to find stories that serve as artifacts of the history of standardized testing and related educational and testing policies. Each oral history is unique and has a connection to the University of Iowa and its role in the history of testing. The five participants share stories exploring their experiences with the SAT, ACT, Iowa Test of Basic Skills, intelligence tests, and tests for Attention Deficit Disorder and placement exams. Each story explores what can happen to a person's intellectual identity when standardized testing forms relationships with that individual's history with trauma, race, class, gender, hetero-normativity and self-esteem. By design, this study is less focused on providing broad extrapolations than in placing individual oral histories in conversation with one another and contextualizing them within the history of intelligence testing and achievement testing. It does so with the goal of conveying the long-term effects of standardized testing on each of the four storytellers, and suggests researchers have not given enough attention to examining ways standardized tests interact with how individuals shape their intellectual identity. In doing so, it complicates the arguments of standardized testing advocates who claim the tests can achieve cultural neutrality even though they have sprung from norms and methods and measures deemed valuable by a culture. This study invites future research on similar questions, including how a belief in the objectivity of standardized testing imbues it with credibility and shapes the expectations we have of others and ourselves.