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Of the eight hundred Ball State University freshman and sophomore students surveyed to determine the incidence of those who identified themselves as test anxious, approximately thirty percent indicated that they suffered from test anxiety. The thirty-eight students who agreed to participate in the experiment and were included in the final data analysis were students at Ball State University, Winter Quarter, 1970-1971, and described themselves as test anxious to the point of suffering moderate to severe discomfort in test-taking situations.After pre-testing, subjects in Group I (traditional SD) and Group II (modified SD) received two hours' relaxation training and visual imagery training, after which they underwent SD in the following manner: Group I received SD based on Wolpe's model. That is, while in a relaxed state they were exposed to a standard hierarchy based on items from the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale. Group I did not proceed to a new hierarchy item if more than one person indicated more than minimal anxiety after four exposures the item. In the six desensitization sessions, Group I was exposed to 13 of the 17 hierarchy items. Group II proceeded through the same standard hierarchy under the same conditions, but at a predetermined rate without repeating any items. They were exposed to the 17 hierarchy items in six sessions.Group III received relaxation training only with no presentation of hierarchy items. Group IV received no to treatment.A multi-factor analysis of variance was computed for pre- and post-test scores on the three measures for the four groups. Posteriori orthogonal comparisons were made for contrasts showing significant differences. Both methods of desensitization as well as relaxation training were effective in significantly reducing test anxiety as reflected by subjects' post-treatment STABS scores. All three experimental groups experienced significately greater reduction of test anxiety than the control group: Group II, F 31.1564; Group III, F 12.0813; and Group I, 6.0133. Group I and Group III were not significantly different from each other in terms of test anxiety reduction. However, Group II experienced significantly greater reduction of test anxiety than Group I as measured by mean difference STABS scores (F 9.7996).Significant changes did. not occur in scores in the other two measures used in the study, with one exception. There were no significant differences in pre- and post-test scores on the general anxiety measure (TMAS) for any of the groups. Group I showed a significant loss on the scholastic achievement measure, and the trend for the other groups was toward loss rather than gain. The reasons for this are not clear, but some possibilities are listed in the text of the dissertation.The results of the study indicate that the three experimental techniques for treatment of test anxiety as measured by the STABS were viable treatment methods. The modified SD method (Group II) appeared to be superior to the other two treatment methods in effectiveness.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cue-controlled relaxation on reducing test anxiety of elementary school children. The major research hypothesis was as follows: There will be a statistically significant difference in posttest median scores obtained on the Test Anxiety Scale for Children among the cue-controlled relaxation treatment, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.The research was conducted at Heidelberg American Elementary School Number Two, a Department of Defense school located in West Germany. Nine fourth and fifth grade teachers volunteered their intact classes for this study. The intact classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: cue-controlled relaxation, treatment placebo or no-treatment control. All students who had parental permission received their assigned experimental conditions; however, only students who received parental permission, scored 13 or higher on the pretest and who were present for the posttest were designated as subjects. Students who did not receive parental permission were taken to the library during pretesting, posttesting and when the experimental conditions were being given.The Sarason Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC) was used to measure test anxiety before treatment and after treatment. The TASC consists of 30 items relating to test anxiety. Each item was read to the students by their teachers. The students then responded by circling "yes" or "no" on the answer sheets.An extension of the median test for k independent samples was used to test the major null hypothesis. A chi square of 2.192 was obtained from the median test, which was not significant at the .05 level. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no statistically significant difference in TASC posttest scores among the cue-controlled relaxation, the treatment placebo and the no-treatment control groups.

Load testing remains the most integral part of testing and measuring the performance of Large Scale Software Systems (LSS). During the course of a load test, a system under test is closely monitored, resulting in an extremely large amount of logging data, e.g., Performance counters logs. The performance counter log captures run-time system properties such as CPU utilization, disk I/O, queues, and network traffic. Such information is of vital interest to performance analysts. The information helps them to observe the system’s behavior under load by comparing it against the documented behavior of a system or with expected behavior. In practice, for LSS, it is impossible for an analyst to skim through the large amount of performance counters to find the required information. Instead, analysts often use ‘rules of thumb’. In a LSS, there is no single person with complete system knowledge. In this thesis, we present methodologies to help performance analysts to 1) more effectively compare load tests to detect performance deviations, which may, lead to Service Level Agreement (SLA) violations and 2) provide them with a smaller and manageable set of important performance counters to assist in the root cause analysis of the detected deviations. We demonstrate our methodologies through case studies based on load test data obtained from both a large scale industrial system and an open source benchmark system. Our proposed methodologies can provide up to 89% reduction in the set of performance counters while detecting performance deviations with few false positives (i.e., 95% average precision). / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-28 23:04:58.774

Summary A result is discussed which permits the summing of series whose terms have more complicated sign patterns than simply alternating plus and minus. The Alternating Series Test, commonly taught in beginning calculus courses, is a corollary. This result, which is not difficult to prove, widens the series summable by beginning students and paves the way for understanding more advanced questions such as convergence of Fourier series. An elementary exposition is given of Dirichlet’s Test for the convergence of a series and an elementary example suitable for a beginning calculus class and a more advanced example involving a Fourier series which is appropriate for an advanced calculus class are provided. Finally, two examples are discussed for which Dirichlet’s Test does not apply and a general procedure is given for deciding the convergence or divergence of these and similar examples.

None of today’s large scale systems could function without the reliable availability of a varied range of network communications capabilities. Whilst software, hardware and communications technologies have been advancing throughout the past two decades, the methods commonly used by industry for testing large scale systems which incorporate critical communications interfaces have not kept pace. This thesis argues for the need for a specifically tailored framework to achieve effective testing of communications-critical large scale systems (CCLSS). The thesis initially discusses how generic test approaches are leading to inefficient and costly test activities in industry. The thesis then presents the form and features of an alternative CCLSS domain-specific test framework, develops its ideas further into a detailed and structured test approach for one of its layers, and then provides a detailed example of how this framework can be applied using a real-life case study. The thesis concludes with a qualitative as well a simulation-based evaluation of the framework’s benefits observed during the case study and an evaluation by expert external participants considering whether similar benefits can be realised if the framework is adopted for the testing of other comparable systems. Requirements data from a second CCLSS is included in the evaluation by external participants as a second smaller case study.

This study was an effort to objectify and test empirically Tillich's theory. Its purpose was to investigate certain traditional aspects of religion to see whether their presence was associated with purposefulness in life. The variables used in this study were measures of participation in a faith, belief in an afterlife, belief in God, past and current doubts, religious experiences, commitment implied in the consideration of a church related vocation, and of purpose in life. Tillich would say that participation in a faith, a belief in God, and a commitment of some kind are essential elements of one's ultimate concern. The belief in an after life is a common way of avoiding the anxiety of death, which is an element of the anxiety of meaninglessness of today. Doubt concerning the Ultimate undermines ones meaning or purpose in life.

This study sought to identify a balance test or combination of tests that would efficiently predict Olympic Balance Beam performance. Of interest, too, was the effect previous experience might have on the performance of standardized and modified balance tests. In order to determine if height affected balance performance and would therefore be an element to consider in teaching methods and progressions, the Bass Stick Test and Sideward Leap Test were raised to a height of three feet and eleven inches.