Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries / Department: Civil Engineering.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Treatment outcome research strives towards objective estimates of disorder-specific treatment efficacy and has been applied to most psychiatric disorders. However, due to shortcomings in outcome research designs, problems still remain regarding the interpretation and generalisability of treatment outcomes. This is despite the development of research methodology criteria such as the Gold Standards, currently viewed as essential criteria for well-controlled cognitive-behavioural outcome research. The objectives of this assignment are (a) to assess the Gold Standards as criteria for treatment outcome research by means of a qualitative overview and evaluation of exposure treatment studies for PTSD, and (b) to make recommendations for the expansion and/or modification of these criteria. An assessment of five selected treatment outcome trials, based on the Gold Standards, showed significant limitations in the scope of the Gold Standards regarding (a) the inclusion of target symptoms in the research hypotheses, (b) estimates of treatment adherence, (c) guidelines for statistical analyses of attrition points, (d) the ethical implementation of exposure treatment, and (e) estimates of significant clinical change. It is concluded that the Gold Standards are not sufficient to ensure valid and reliable treatment outcomes. Recommendations are made for the expansion of four of the existing Gold Standards parameters and three additional criteria are proposed. Key words: treatment outcome research, Gold Standards, post-traumatic stress disorder, exposure therapy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Navorsing oor behandelingsuitkoms streef na objektiewe resultate oor die uitkoms van behandeling vir spesifieke psigiatriese versteurings. Nogtans, weens tekortkominge in die ontwerp van uitkomsstudies, word talle probleme steeds ervaar met die interpretasie en veralgemeenbaarheid van die resultate van die studies. Dit is die geval ten spyte van die ontwikkeling van navorsingskriteria soos die "Gold Standards" wat huidig as die belangrikste kriteria vir uitkomsstudies op die gebied van die kognitiewe gedragsterapie aanvaar word. Hierdie projek het ten doelom (a) die Gold Standards as kriteria vir uitkomsnavorsing te assesseer deur middel van 'n kwalitatiewe oorsig en evaluering van vyf geselekteerde uitkomsstudies van blootstellingsterapie vir post-traumatiese stresversteuring, en (b) om aanbevelings te maak ter aanvulling enJofwysiging van die Gold Standards. Evaluasie van die studies het betekenisvolle beperkings in die Gold Standards se omvattenheid uitgelig in terme van (a) die insluiting van teikensimptome in die navorsingshipoteses, (b) die skatting van behandelingvoitrekking ("treatment adherence"), (c) riglyne vir die statistiese analise van data oor attrisie, (d) die etiese implementering van blootstellingsterapie, en (e) skattings van betekenisvolle kliniese verandering. Dit blyk dat die Gold Standards nie voldoende is om geldige en betroubare resultate oor behandelingsuitkomste te verseker nie. Aanbevelings word gemaak vir die hersiening van vier van die Gold Standards kriteria en drie addisionele kriteria word voorgestel. Sleutelwoorde: behandelingsuitkomsnavorsing. Gold Standards, post-traumatiese stresversteuring, blootstellingsterapie.

<p>Perceptions of performance management in the South African Public Sector was characterised by high levels of unfairness owing to a bias in favour of those individuals that can write essays well. The essays would provide the evaluation team with an indication of the achievement of the individual as its relates to job performance, knowledge, insight, interpersonal relations and leadership qualities. Although the Performance Management system has changed from what was called the Performance Appraisal System to the Personnel Performance Management System that involves both supervisor and employee inputs, fairness perceptions remain unchanged. This study aimed to ascertain perceptions of fairness toward performance appraisals amongst public service raters and ratees on Level 1 to 12 who are subject to use the Personnel Performance Management System in the office of a public service organisation: National Department of Land Affairs Chief Directorate : Surveys and Mapping.</p>

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 Y362 / Master of Science / Civil Engineering

D. Phil. / School based assessment (SBA) or continuous assessment (CASS) as it is often referred to, includes all forms of assessment conducted by the teacher, at the classroom level, which are then collated for summative judgment purposes to feed into the exit point assessment result. Internationally there has been a search for more authentic forms of assessment and South Africa has also explored alternative forms of assessment so that the final assessment is not dominated by a once-off external summative examination. SBA was officially introduced as part of the assessment regime for the award of the Senior Certificate, in the South African education system, in 2001 and has subsequently been included as part of the assessment requirement for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) that replaced the Senior Certificate, in 2008. As much as SBA allows for a broader form of assessment of learning, it reduces the reliability of assessment and claims have been made that it impacts on the public confidence and credibility of the certificate. This is as a result of assessment now being conducted by teachers in the classroom, who are poorly equipped to implement SBA. Umalusi, the Quality Assurance Council, responsible for the final standard and quality of exit assessment has raised concerns about the reliability of SBA and therefore, to guard the credibility of the Senior Certificate and the National Senior Certificate, the Council has statistically moderated the SBA marks using the examination marks as a benchmark. This form of moderation has been regarded as not being the most appropriate, since it undermines the essence and purpose of this form of assessment. Therefore this study attempts to review the current form of quality assurance of SBA as it is implemented across all provincial education departments (PEDS), so as to develop an improved model for the quality assurance of SBA. In order to adequately contextualise the study, two of the key components of this study, that is, school based assessment (SBA) and quality assurance, were explored in detail in chapter two of the study. This chapter also evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of SBA, and then focused on the implementation and management of SBA in South Africa, its current status and challenges. The major challenges facing the South African schooling system, with regard to SBA, relate to: (a) the lack of a clear understanding of the specific purpose of SBA; (b) the policies, structures and processes for the implementation of SBA are grossly inadequate; (c) the reliance on statistical moderation of SBA has resulted in a lack of motivation to improve the quality of SBA; and therefore there is a need for creative thinking to ensure fairness in SBA.

<p>Perceptions of performance management in the South African Public Sector was characterised by high levels of unfairness owing to a bias in favour of those individuals that can write essays well. The essays would provide the evaluation team with an indication of the achievement of the individual as its relates to job performance, knowledge, insight, interpersonal relations and leadership qualities. Although the Performance Management system has changed from what was called the Performance Appraisal System to the Personnel Performance Management System that involves both supervisor and employee inputs, fairness perceptions remain unchanged. This study aimed to ascertain perceptions of fairness toward performance appraisals amongst public service raters and ratees on Level 1 to 12 who are subject to use the Personnel Performance Management System in the office of a public service organisation: National Department of Land Affairs Chief Directorate : Surveys and Mapping.</p>

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2006. / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, instructs the Public Service Commission (PSC) to propose measures to ensure effective and efficient performance in the public service, which includes National and Provincial Departments (1996:108).Various view points on this issue have been expressed why even some hard working staff members of the Western Cape Provincial Treasury (WCPT) are found to be surprised and disappointed over the performance management process especially, when their hard work throughout the year goes unnoticed or are under-rated by their superiors.The bias scoring by certain performance evaluators also causes plenty of animosity, hostility and resentment among colleagues because "friendly" staff is prejudiced ahead of other staff.The Public Service Act 103 of 1994 states that an executive authority has powers and duties regarding the performance management of officers and employees of that office or department (1994:14). "... a head of department shall be responsible for the efficient management and administration of his or her department, including the effective utilisation and training of staff..." .

Bachelor´s thesis deals with the developments of fair value measurements rules and presentation of major changes in this field. The main objective is the international accounting standard IFRS 13 – Fair Value Measurement and its application in specific company. The analysis of long-term tangible assets is the cork of the work. A point is to show the revaluation impacts, eventually a reduction in the value of that asset in the financial statements. Subsequently, there are displayed risks to users of financial statements resulting from accounting information.

The importance of employment in our society is unmistakable. The financial outcome of employment allows us to provide for ourselves and others. Furthermore, our employment status, and the work in which we engage, play a part in defining our self-concept. For many people, however, sustained employment remains elusive. The unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is staggering, and the consequences of being without a job affects those who are unemployed, their families, and our society. There are many issues that directly challenge the employment status of people with disabilities. Some of these include funding for supported employment programs, employer bias, and the outcomes of our country's educational system. Another issue that affects the employment of individuals with disabilities is the manner in which they are prepared prior to employment and coached while on the job. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of performance feedback delivered via covert audio coaching on the job performance of supported employees. A multiple baseline design across participants and work tasks was used to evaluate the effects of the intervention on the participants' work performance (accuracy and speed of task completion). The results demonstrated that the supported employees made substantial improvements on their accuracy and speed of completing the selected work tasks. The results also showed that the improvements maintained for 4-5 weeks following the removal of the intervention. / by Kyle D. Bennett. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

D.Phil. / The problem of the research is to investigate why South Africa failed to make township schools effective despite new legislation, developmental programmes and projects, and change of personnel. Can this failure be attributed to the lack of knowledge on the ground on what constitutes an effective school in the township? A number of the characteristics of an effective school were identified through the literature review. During the review of these characteristics, a conclusion was drawn that they were developed from a context that is different from a South African township. To enable the researcher to collect "home-grown" data, the relevant stakeholders had to speak about what they consider to be the characteristics of an effective school. A qualitative method was used in collecting and analysing the data. The study was conducted in two phases: The first phase, had two components. Informants were asked to write their naive statements on what they consider to be the characteristic of effective township school and this was followed by a lengthy focus group interview with each subgroup that participated in the study. The second phase was a questionnaire developed from the analysis of the naive statements and focus group interviews that was administered to a larger audience of the informants to allow them an opportunity to confirm or refute the findings. Finally, the following list represent what the informants considered to be the characteristics of an effective township school. The reader must be reminded that these characteristics are not presented in the order of their importance, but they are all equally important: O Strong leadership Dedicated, committed and disciplined educators Dedicated and committed learners Parental support and involvement A well-developed vision and mission O Strong partnership with relevant stakeholders O A supportive environment Towards the end of the study, specific recommendations were directed to parents, learners, principals, members of teacher organizations, the departments of education and non-governmental organizations on what they could do to contribute towards school effectiveness in the township.