Thesis advisor: C. Patrick Proctor / During adolescence, students engage in identity-formation processes that impact motivation to learn, as well as education and career choices moving forward. Adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) face particular challenges in developing a positive identity as a learner: feelings of decreased academic competence (Gans, Kenny, & Ghany, 2003; Terras, Thompson, & Minnis, 2009), increased school dropout rates (Deshler, 2005), and decreased feelings of global self-worth (Boetsch, Green, & Pennington, 1996) as compared to non-LD peers. Literacy is an area of particular concern. Given the importance placed on literacy skills in our society, it is unsurprising that difficulties in literacy learning impact the beliefs that students with LD develop about themselves (Burden, 2008). This study presents the results of an investigation into a group of students’ identity beliefs with regard to motivation, literacy and LD; how those beliefs were related to one another; and how those beliefs both shaped, and were shaped by, literacy experiences, using data collected during the 2014-2015 school year at one of the seven schools participating in the National Center on the Use of Emerging Technologies to Improve Literacy Achievement for Students with Disabilities in Middle School (CET; CAST, Inc, 2015; PIs: David Rose and Ted Hasselbring). Data gathered for the 11 participants included a literacy motivation battery; classroom observations; student interviews; and teacher interviews, informed by the Reading Engagement Index (REI; Wigfield et al., 2008). Both directed content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) were used to analyze the data. Developing a greater awareness of the role of motivation in the literacy practices of adolescents with LD will enable educators to better understand the conditions under which these students read and write most willingly. This knowledge can be incorporated into school-based curricula, interventions, and professional development, such that these students have reason both to value the learning challenges placed before them, and to expect to succeed at meeting those challenges.

No setor elétrico brasileiro as fontes renováveis de energia têm se tornadas atrativas do ponto de vista do investidor devido não só aos incentivos de política de governo, como também por exibirem uma elevada competitividade, além da sinergia proveniente da complementariedade energética entre essas fontes. Por outro lado,a tomada de decisão de investimento em empreendimentos de geração tem se caracterizado cada vez mais como um processo complexo e arriscado, devido à potencial perda financeira decorrente de um fluxo de caixa bastante irregular, fundamentalmente em função da interação no mercado de curto prazo. Este trabalho descreve o problema e a solução para um investidor caracterizado por sua aversão ou apetite ao risco otimizando os recursos com restrição de risco (VaR, CVaR mesclado com conceito do CFaR). Os resultados mostram que para parâmetros usuais que condicionam o risco financeiro, tais como,(i) a taxa de investimento, (ii) preço de contrato de venda e (iii) custo de investimento, o modelo busca a solução para a melhor alocação de investimento, representada por um portfólio ótimo de projetos, respeitando limites fixados para o montante a ser investido e o risco financeiro correspondente. De forma geral, a conceituação da medida de aversão a risco e sua implementação no modelo de otimização desenvolvido permitiram obter resultados robustos para o tipo de problema abordado e a diversidade de situações analisada a partir de estudos de caso. / Brazilian electricity sector in renewable energy sources has become attractive from the investor point of view not only because of government policy incentives, but also to exhibit a high competitiveness beyond energy synergy from the complementarity between energy sources. However, the decision making of investments in generation capacity has come to characterize a complex and risky process, because of the potential financial loss resulting from a highly irregular cash flow, mainly due to the interaction in the short-term market. This paper describes the problem and solution for the risk averse investor optimizing financial resources constrained risk (VaR, CVaR merged with the concept CFaR). The results show that for the risk factors, as for instance, investment rate, sales price and cost of investment contract, the model responds within the limits of tax risks. In general, the concept of measure of risk aversion and its implementation in the optimization model developed is shown robust to the type of problem addressed.

Este trabalho revê e sintetiza os conceitos para definição de competitividade. Identifica os modelos usados para avaliação da competitividade de empresas e países, como também as fontes de competitividade associadas a cada modelo. Traça-se a evolução do conceito de competitividade, incorporando os avanços do conhecimento de diferentes campos do conhecimento e, mais especificamente, áreas da administração ao longo do tempo, que integrados, contribuem para desenvolvimento de abordagens iterdisciplinares mais completas e coerentes para avaliação da competitividade. Um vasto número de variáveis, estruturais, organizacionais e gerenciais vem sendo usado para explicar e avaliar a competitividade das empresas. Dentre essas variáveis, encontram-se os aspectos financeiros das empresas. Observa-se que há uma necessidade de se desenvolver modelos e teorias que combinem as diferentes abordagens de forma que se obtenha uma posição mais completa, e prática, da competitividade das empresas. Este trabalho não ignora, portanto, a necessidade de uma abordagem iterdisciplinar para avaliação de competitividade. Mas concentra-se no estudo de aspectos financeiros e sua inter-relação com outros aspectos da competitividade empresarial e dos países. Busca-se aqui compreender e avaliar a contribuição da teoria de finanças para abordagens mais completas sobre o tema competitividade. O trabalho propõe uma contribuição para o desenvolvimento de um modelo de competitividade financeira de empresas. Essa contribuição preliminar busca uma definição para a competitividade financeira e a identificação de fatores externos (país) e internos a empresa que contribuem para sua competitividade, sob a ótica financeira. / This study reviews and sumarizes the concepts related to competitiveness. It identifies the models used to evaluate the competitiveness of firms and countries, as well as the sources of competitiveness related to each model. The competitiveness concept´s evolution is traced, adding the advances of knowledge from different dields and, more specifically, from Management. Over time, the integration of these pieces of knowledge contributes to the development of more complete and coherent interdisciplinary approaches for the evaluation of competitiveness. A wide range of structural, organization and managerial variables has been used for explaining and evaluating the competitiveness of firms. Among these variables, one can find the firms´ financial aspects. It is oserved that there is a need to develop models and theories that combine the different approaches, in such a way that a more complete and practical definition of firms´competitiveness is obtained. Thus, this study does not neglect the need to have an interdisciplinary approach for the evaluation of competitiveness. Contudo, it focuses on the study of financial aspects and their interrelationship with other aspects of firms ant countries´competitiveness. This study aims to understand and to evaluate the contribution of the financial theory for more complete approaches to the competitiveness subject. This study offers a contribution to the development of a finacial competitiveness model of firm. This initial contribution seeks to a financial competitiveness´definition and to the identification of a firm´s internal and external (country) factors that contribute to its competitiveness, from a financial approach.

Este trabalho expõe a estrutura conceitual básica da economia marxista, discute sua coerência à luz do debate das principais críticas que lhe são feitas, e procura mostrar sua utilidade para a compreensão da economia capitalista atual. Isto é feito a partir de uma chave de interpretação que destaca duas questões: o duplo caráter do trabalho produtor de mercadorias, e a caracterização do trabalho abstrato como substância social do valor. Uma das idéias centrais deste trabalho é a afirmação de que esta abordagem permite tratar o dinheiro, o capital e a dinâmica da economia capitalista de modo mais realista e adequado que outras vertentes teóricas. A solução dada por Marx para a transformação dos valores em preços de produção é um dos principais exemplos do emprego da concepção do valor como substância social, e ao mesmo tempo uma das construções mais criticadas na economia marxista; por isto esta discussão tem aqui um lugar central. Este trabalho procura ainda mostrar a utilidade analítica do quadro conceitual da economia marxista para tratar diversas questões atuais da economia capitalista, como o intercâmbio desigual. Argumenta, ainda, que este quadro é um ponto de partida capaz de recolher contribuições teóricas originadas de outras abordagens. / This work exposes the basic conceptual structure of Marxian economics, discusses its coherence in the light of the main criticisms made to it, and tries to show its utility to the comprehension of today's capitalist economy. This is done taking a key that stresses two questions: the dual character of the labor that produces commodities, and the characterization of abstract labor as substance of value. One of the main ideas of this work is the statement that this approach allows us to treat money, capital and the capitalist economy's dynamics in a more realist and proper way than other theoretical approaches. Marx's solution to the transformation of commodities values into production prices is one of the main examples of value as a social substance, and also is one of the more criticized constructs of Marxian economics; for that reason, this discussion has here a central place. This work still tries to show the analytical utility of the conceptual framework of Marxian economics to treat several questions of today’s capitalist economy, as unequal exchange. It still argues that this framework is a foundation able to gather theoretical contributions from other approaches.

by Leung Tin Chi. / Bibliography: leaf 32 / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1982

Lam, Hiu Fung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-60). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in Chinese.

In recent years there has been great concern over what many are calling the “tuition bubble� in American higher education. Baumol and Bowen, in 1966, observed that personally delivered services, like a professor teaching in a university, are difficult to scale, which causes a continuing and compounded rise in real cost. Additionally, universities, in competing for students, tend to invest in expensive assets. The resulting cost of the education and the amount of student debt threatens to rise beyond the intrinsic economic value of a US college degree, especially in the face of equivalent substitutes. The overall objective of this research is not only to analyze but also to design, or re-design, some of the essential aspects of engineering education systems. A new design is proposed using principles from manufacturing, industrial engineering and axiomatic design. The proposed system is able to operate at lower costs while producing high-caliber engineers. The approach presented relies on the decomposition of the functional elements of engineering education as well as defining a quantum of learning as an inventory unit. Methods used include a value-added analysis, and value stream mapping, computer simulation and financial analysis. The results show that the net present value (NPV) for the student increases over the interval from [t start to t graduation] as the time to employment post gradation decreases for a given discount rate. This is due to receiving employment income sooner during the cash flow. Engineering schools might benefit economically from reduced costs and higher tuition revenue resulting from greater system capacity.

A critical question for government officials, managers of NGOs, and politicians is how to respond to situations in which large numbers of lives are at risk. Theories in judgment and decision making as well as economics suggest diminishing marginal utility with increasing quantities of goods. In the domain of lifesaving, this form of non-linearity implies decreasing concern for individual lives as the number of affected people increases. In this paper, we show how intuitive valuations based on prosocial emotions can lead to scope insensitivity and suboptimal responses to lives at risk. We present both normative and descriptive models of valuations of lives and discuss the underlying psychological processes as they relate to judgments and decisions made in public policy and by NGOs.

by Ma Ka Chun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-52). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.7 / Chapter 2 --- Queueing Networks --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1 --- One-queue Networks --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- Two-queue Free Networks --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3 --- Two-queue Overflow Networks --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4 --- Networks with Batch Arrivals --- p.14 / Chapter 3 --- ODE Solvers --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Initial Value Methods --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- The Linear System of Ordinary Differential Equations --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Euler's Method --- p.17 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Runge-Kutta Methods --- p.17 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- The Stability of the IVMs --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- Applications in Queueing Networks --- p.20 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Boundary Value Methods --- p.20 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- The Generalized Backward Differentiation For- mulae --- p.21 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- An example --- p.24 / Chapter 4 --- The Linear Equation Solver --- p.26 / Chapter 4.1 --- Iterative Methods --- p.26 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- The Jacobi method --- p.27 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- The Gauss-Seidel Method --- p.28 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Other Iterative Methods --- p.29 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- Preconditioning --- p.29 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Multigrid Method --- p.30 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Iterative Refinement --- p.30 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Restriction and Prolongation --- p.30 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- The Geometric Multigrid Method --- p.33 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- The Algebraic Multigrid Method --- p.38 / Chapter 4.2.5 --- Higher Dimensional Cases --- p.38 / Chapter 4.2.6 --- Applications in Queueing Networks --- p.38 / Chapter 5 --- Numerical Experiments --- p.41 / Chapter 6 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.49 / Bibliography --- p.50

Firstly, we consider the following critical elliptic Neumann problem --Deltau + muu = uN+2N-2 , u > 0 in O; 6u6n = 0 on ∂O, where O is a smooth bounded domain in RN , N ≥ 7, mu is a large positive number and nu denotes exterior unit normal vector. We show that at a positive nondegenerate local minimum point Q0 of the mean curvature function, for any fixed integer K ≥ 2, there exists a mu K > 0 such that for mu > muK, the above problem has K -- bubble solution umu concentrating at the same point Q 0. Precisely, we show that umu has K local maximum points Qm1,...,Qm K ∈ ∂O with the property that umQmj ∼mN-22 ,Qmj→Q0 , j = 1, ..., K, and mN-3N Q'1 m,...,Q'K m approaches an optimal configuration that minimizes the following functional RQ'1,...,Q 'K=c1 j=1K4Q' j+c2 i≠j1&vbm0;Q' i-Q'j&vbm0;N-2 where Qmi=Qm i,1,...,Qmi,N-1 ,Qmi,N:= Q'i m,Qmi,N , c1, c2 > 0 are two generic constants and ϕ(Q) = Q T GQ with G = (∇ijH(Q0)). / In my thesis, I will address different concentration phenomena for some second order elliptic problems. / Lastly, we consider the problem &egr;2Delta u -- u + uq = 0 in a smooth bounded domain O ⊂ R2 with Neumann boundary condition where &egr; > 0 is a small parameter and q > 1. We prove for some explicit &egr;'s the existence of positive solution u&egr; concentrating at any connected component of ∂O, exponentially small in &egr; at any positive distance from it. / Secondly, we study positive solutions of the equation &egr;2Delta u -- u + uN+2N-2 = 0, where N = 3, 4, 5, and &egr; > 0 is small, with Neumann boundary condition in a smooth bounded domain O ⊂ RN . We prove that, along some sequence {&egr;j} with &egr;j → 0, there exists a solution with an interior bubble at an innermost part of the domain and a boundary layer on the boundary ∂O. / Wang, Liping. / "June 2008." / Adviser: Jun Cheng Wei. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: B, page: 1707. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-117). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.