Assessing the effectiveness of five-year mechanical engineering technology programs of junior colleges in Taiwan, R.O.C.: An application of the CIPP evaluation model

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mechanical engineering technology curriculum effectiveness at the junior college in Taiwan by using the CIPP evaluation model. The study concerned the areas of the curriculum, curriculum materials, individualized instruction, support services, teaching effectiveness, student achievement, and job performance. A descriptive survey method was used with questionnaires for data collection from faculty, students, graduates, and employers.^ All categories of respondents tended to agree that the curriculum provides appropriate occupational knowledge and skills. Students, graduates, and faculty tended to be satisfied with the curriculum; faculty tended to be satisfied with student achievement; graduates tended to be satisfied with their job preparation; and employers were most satisfied with graduates' job performance.^ Conclusions were drawn in the context, input, process, and product of the CIPP model. In Context area: Students were dissatisfied with curriculum flexibility in students characteristics. Graduates were dissatisfied with curriculum design for student's adaptability in new economic and industrial conditions; practicum flexibility in student characteristics; and course overlap. Both students and graduates were dissatisfied with practicum credit hours. Both faculty and students were dissatisfied with the number of required courses.^ In Input area: Students, faculty, and graduates perceived audiovisuals and manipulative aids positively. Faculty and students perceive CAI implementation positively. Students perceived textbooks negatively.^ In Process area: Faculty, students, and graduates perceived all support service negatively. Faculty tended to perceive the ratios of graduates who enter advanced study and related occupation, and who passed the professional skills certification, negatively. Students tended to perceive teaching effectiveness in terms of instructional strategies, the quality of instruction, overall suitability, and receivable, negatively. Graduates also tended to identify the instructional strategies as a negative perception. Faculty and students perceived curriculum objectives and practicum negatively. Both faculty and students felt that instructors should be more interested in making the courses a useful learning experience.^ In Product area: Employers were satisfied with graduates' academic preparation and job performance, adaptability, punctuality, and their ability to communicate, cooperate, and meet organization needs. Graduates were weak in terms of equipment familiarity and supervisory ability.^ In sum, the curriculum of the five-year mechanical engineering technology programs of junior college in Taiwan has served adequately up to this time in preparing a work force to enter industry. It is now time to look toward the future and adapt the curriculum and instruction for the future needs of this high-tech society. ^

Comparative analysis of a moderating and mediating model of stress, appraisal, and coping in Hispanic and non-Hispanic Alzheimer's disease caregivers

This dissertation utilizes a cross-sectional study to examine the phenomenon of caregiving within a theoretically grounded stress, appraisal, and coping model. Hispanic and non-Hispanic caregivers were studied to examine the factors associated with variance in caregiver appraisal, coping, and outcomes of caregiving strain (depression and somatic complaints) and caregiving gain (life satisfaction, mastery, and personal gain). A purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit 204 Alzheimer's disease caregivers in South Florida. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect demographic data, and to measure stress, appraisal, coping, and psychological well-being of caregivers. Regression equations were developed to compare moderating and mediating models of appraisal and coping. Emotion-focused coping skills were found to significantly moderate the effects of stress (F [1,195] = 4.62, p < .05), explaining approximately 21% of the variance in satisfaction was found to moderate the effects of stress (F [1,195] = 7.09; p < .05), explaining approximately 27% of the variance in personal gain and approximately 8% of the variance in life satisfaction (F [1,195] = 4.14; p < .05). Appraisal of Burden was found to significantly mediate the effects of stress, explaining approximately 30% of the variance in somatic complaints (F [1,196] = 31.60; p < .001) and 32% of the variance in depression (F [1,196] = 38.18; p < .001). The results of the analyses indicate that appraisal and coping skills are important variables in the stress process. The results of this study underscore the importance of accounting for positive and negative outcomes in providing a fuller understanding of the stress, appraisal and coping process of Alzheimer's Disease caregivers. ^

A computer simulation model for single -lane roundabouts

During the past three decades, the use of roundabouts has increased throughout the world due to their greater benefits in comparison with intersections controlled by traditional means. Roundabouts are often chosen because they are widely associated with low accident rates, lower construction and operating costs, and reasonable capacities and delay. ^ In the planning and design of roundabouts, special attention should be given to the movement of pedestrians and bicycles. As a result, there are several guidelines for the design of pedestrian and bicycle treatments at roundabouts that increase the safety of both pedestrians and bicyclists at existing and proposed roundabout locations. Different design guidelines have differing criteria for handling pedestrians and bicyclists at roundabout locations. Although all of the investigated guidelines provide better safety (depending on the traffic conditions at a specific location), their effects on the performance of the roundabout have not been examined yet. ^ Existing roundabout analysis software packages provide estimates of capacity and performance characteristics. This includes characteristics such as delay, queue lengths, stop rates, effects of heavy vehicles, crash frequencies, and geometric delays, as well as fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and operating costs for roundabouts. None of these software packages, however, are capable of determining the effects of various pedestrian crossing locations, nor the effect of different bicycle treatments on the performance of roundabouts. ^ The objective of this research is to develop simulation models capable of determining the effect of various pedestrian and bicycle treatments at single-lane roundabouts. To achieve this, four models were developed. The first model simulates a single-lane roundabout without bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The second model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a pedestrian crossing and mixed flow bicyclists. The third model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a combined pedestrian and bicycle crossing, while the fourth model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a pedestrian crossing and a bicycle lane at the outer perimeter of the roundabout for the bicycles. Traffic data was collected at a modern roundabout in Boca Raton, Florida. ^ The results of this effort show that installing a pedestrian crossing on the roundabout approach will have a negative impact on the entry flow, while the downstream approach will benefit from the newly created gaps by pedestrians. Also, it was concluded that a bicycle lane configuration is more beneficial for all users of the roundabout instead of the mixed flow or combined crossing. Installing the pedestrian crossing at one-car length is more beneficial for pedestrians than two- and three-car lengths. Finally, it was concluded that the effect of the pedestrian crossing on the vehicle queues diminishes as the distance between the crossing and the roundabout increases. ^

A model of self -transformative identity development in troubled adolescent youth

Within the Stage II program evaluation of the Miami Youth Development Project's (YDP) Changing Lives Program (CLP), this study evaluated CLP intervention effectiveness in promoting positive change in emotion-focused identity exploration (i.e. feelings of personal expressiveness; PE) and a "negative" symptom of identity development (i.e. identity distress; ID) as a first step toward the investigation of a self-transformative model of identity development in adolescent youth. Using structural equation modeling techniques, this study found that participation in the CLP is associated with positive changes in PE (path = .841, p < .002), but not changes in ID. Increase in ID scores was found to be associated with increases in PE (path = .229, p < .002), as well. Intervention effects were not moderated by age/stage, gender, or ethnicity, though differences were found in the degree to which participating subgroups (African-American/Hispanic, male/female, 14-16 years old/17-19 years old) experience change in PE and ID. Findings also suggest that moderate levels of ID may not be deleterious to identity exploration and may be associated with active exploration. ^

Evaluating Effects of Everglades Restoration on American Crocodile Populations in South Florida Using a Spatially-Explicit, Stage-Based Population Model

The distribution and abundance of the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in the Florida Everglades is dependent on the timing, amount, and location of freshwater flow. One of the goals of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is to restore historic freshwater flows to American crocodile habitat throughout the Everglades. To predict the impacts on the crocodile population from planned restoration activities, we created a stage-based spatially explicit crocodile population model that incorporated regional hydrology models and American crocodile research and monitoring data. Growth and survival were influenced by salinity, water depth, and density-dependent interactions. A stage-structured spatial model was used with discrete spatial convolution to direct crocodiles toward attractive sources where conditions were favorable. The model predicted that CERP would have both positive and negative impacts on American crocodile growth, survival, and distribution. Overall, crocodile populations across south Florida were predicted to decrease approximately 3 % with the implementation of CERP compared to future conditions without restoration, but local increases up to 30 % occurred in the Joe Bay area near Taylor Slough, and local decreases up to 30 % occurred in the vicinity of Buttonwood Canal due to changes in salinity and freshwater flows.

A model of self-transformative identity development in troubled adolescent youth

Within the Stage II program evaluation of the Miami Youth Development Project's (YDP) Changing Lives Program (CLP), this study evaluated CLP intervention effectiveness in promoting positive change in emotion-focused identity exploration (i.e. feelings of personal expressiveness; PE) and a "negative" symptom of identity development (i.e. identity distress; ID) as a first step toward the investigation of a self-transformative model of identity development in adolescent youth. Using structural equation modeling techniques, this study found that participation in the CLP is associated with positive changes in PE (path = .841, p < .002), but not changes in ID. Increase in ID scores was found to be associated with increases in PE (path = .229, p < .002), as well. Intervention effects were not moderated by age/stage, gender, or ethnicity, though differences were found in the degree to which participating subgroups (African- American/Hispanic, male/female, 14-16 years old/17-19 years old) experience change in PE and ID. Findings also suggest that moderate levels of ID may not be deleterious to identity exploration and may be associated with active exploration.

Alkenone stable carbon isotopes, carbonate stable carbon and oxygen isotopes, planktic foraminifera boron isotopes and atmospheric CO2 calculations and box model results from Ras il-Pellegrin section, Malta

The development of a permanent, stable ice sheet in East Antarctica happened during the middle Miocene, about 14 million years (Myr) ago. The middle Miocene therefore represents one of the distinct phases of rapid change in the transition from the "greenhouse" of the early Eocene to the "icehouse" of the present day. Carbonate carbon isotope records of the period immediately following the main stage of ice sheet development reveal a major perturbation in the carbon system, represented by the positive d13C excursion known as carbon maximum 6 ("M6"), which has traditionally been interpreted as reflecting increased burial of organic matter and atmospheric pCO2 drawdown. More recently, it has been suggested that the d13C excursion records a negative feedback resulting from the reduction of silicate weathering and an increase in atmospheric pCO2. Here we present high-resolution multi-proxy (alkenone carbon and foraminiferal boron isotope) records of atmospheric carbon dioxide and sea surface temperature across CM6. Similar to previously published records spanning this interval, our records document a world of generally low (~300 ppm) atmospheric pCO2 at a time generally accepted to be much warmer than today. Crucially, they also reveal a pCO2 decrease with associated cooling, which demonstrates that the carbon burial hypothesis for CM6 is feasible and could have acted as a positive feedback on global cooling.

Development of Effortful Control as a Moderator of the Longitudinal Relations of Negative Reactivity and Symptoms in Preschool

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

ICTM: an interval tessellation-based model for reliable topographic segmentation

This work introduces a tessellation-based model for the declivity analysis of geographic regions. The analysis of the relief declivity, which is embedded in the rules of the model, categorizes each tessellation cell, with respect to the whole considered region, according to the (positive, negative, null) sign of the declivity of the cell. Such information is represented in the states assumed by the cells of the model. The overall configuration of such cells allows the division of the region into subregions of cells belonging to a same category, that is, presenting the same declivity sign. In order to control the errors coming from the discretization of the region into tessellation cells, or resulting from numerical computations, interval techniques are used. The implementation of the model is naturally parallel since the analysis is performed on the basis of local rules. An immediate application is in geophysics, where an adequate subdivision of geographic areas into segments presenting similar topographic characteristics is often convenient.

Parameter Identification in a Tuberculosis Model for Cameroon

A deterministic model of tuberculosis in Cameroon is designed and analyzed with respect to its transmission dynamics. The model includes lack of access to treatment and weak diagnosis capacity as well as both frequency-and density-dependent transmissions. It is shown that the model is mathematically well-posed and epidemiologically reasonable. Solutions are non-negative and bounded whenever the initial values are non-negative. A sensitivity analysis of model parameters is performed and the most sensitive ones are identified by means of a state-of-the-art Gauss-Newton method. In particular, parameters representing the proportion of individuals having access to medical facilities are seen to have a large impact on the dynamics of the disease. The model predicts that a gradual increase of these parameters could significantly reduce the disease burden on the population within the next 15 years.

Future Bloom and Blossom Frost Risk for Malus domestica Considering Climate Model and Impact Model Uncertainties

The future bloom and risk of blossom frosts for Malus domestica were projected using regional climate realizations and phenological (= impact) models. As climate impact projections are susceptible to uncertainties of climate and impact models and model concatenation, the significant horizon of the climate impact signal was analyzed by applying 7 impact models, including two new developments, on 13 climate realizations of the IPCC emission scenario A1B. Advancement of phenophases and a decrease in blossom frost risk for Lower Saxony (Germany) for early and late ripeners was determined by six out of seven phenological models. Single model/single grid point time series of bloom showed significant trends by 2021-2050 compared to 1971-2000, whereas the joint signal of all climate and impact models did not stabilize until 2043. Regarding blossom frost risk, joint projection variability exceeded the projected signal. Thus, blossom frost risk cannot be stated to be lower by the end of the 21st century despite a negative trend. As a consequence it is however unlikely to increase. Uncertainty of temperature, blooming date and blossom frost risk projection reached a minimum at 2078-2087. The projected phenophases advanced by 5.5 d K-1, showing partial compensation of delayed fulfillment of the winter chill requirement and faster completion of the following forcing phase in spring. Finally, phenological model performance was improved by considering the length of day.

Why Does Employment Discrimination Persist against People with Mental Illness? Effects of Negative Stereotypes, Power, and Differential Discrimination

Mental illness affects a sizable minority of Americans at any given time, yet many people with mental illness (hereafter PWMI) remain unemployed or underemployed relative to the general population. Research has suggested that part of the reason for this is discrimination toward PWMI. This research investigated mechanisms that affect employment discrimination against PWMI. Drawing from theories on stigma and power, three studies assessed 1) the stereotyping of workers with mental illness as unfit for workplace success, 2) the impact of positive information on countering these negative stereotypes, and whether negatively-stereotyped conditions elicited discrimination; and 3) the effects of power on mental illness stigma components. I made a series of predictions related to theories on the Stereotype Content Model, illness attribution, the contact hypothesis, gender and mental health, and power. Studies tested predictions using, 1) an online vignette survey measuring attitudes, 2) an online survey measuring responses to fictitious applications for a middle management position, and 3) a laboratory experiment in which some participants were primed to feel powerful and some were not. Results of Study 1 demonstrated that PWMI were routinely stigmatized as incompetent, dangerous, and lacking valued employment attributes, relative to a control condition. This was especially evident for workers presented as having PTSD from wartime service and workers with schizophrenia, and when the worker was a woman. Study 2 showed that, although both war-related PTSD and schizophrenia evoke negative stereotypes, only schizophrenia evoked hiring discrimination. Finally, Study 3 found no effect of being primed to feel powerful on stigmatizing attitudes toward a person with symptoms of schizophrenia. Taken together, findings suggest that employment discrimination towards PWMI is driven by negative stereotypes; but, stereotypes might not lead to actual hiring discrimination for some labeled individuals.

High-temperature superconductivity in the two-dimensional t-J model: Gutzwiller wavefunction solution

A systematic diagrammatic expansion for Gutzwiller wavefunctions (DE-GWFs) proposed very recently is used for the description of the superconducting (SC) ground state in the two-dimensional square-lattice t-J model with the hopping electron amplitudes t (and t') between nearest (and next-nearest) neighbors. For the example of the SC state analysis we provide a detailed comparison of the method's results with those of other approaches. Namely, (i) the truncated DE-GWF method reproduces the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) results and (ii) in the lowest (zeroth) order of the expansion the method can reproduce the analytical results of the standard Gutzwiller approximation (GA), as well as of the recently proposed 'grand-canonical Gutzwiller approximation' (called either GCGA or SGA). We obtain important features of the SC state. First, the SC gap at the Fermi surface resembles a d(x2-y2) wave only for optimally and overdoped systems, being diminished in the antinodal regions for the underdoped case in a qualitative agreement with experiment. Corrections to the gap structure are shown to arise from the longer range of the real-space pairing. Second, the nodal Fermi velocity is almost constant as a function of doping and agrees semi-quantitatively with experimental results. Third, we compare the

The role of psychological inflexibility in Beck's cognitive model of depression in a sample of undergraduates

Beck's cognitive model of depression proposes that depressogenic schemas have an effect on depressive symptoms by increasing the frequency of negative automatic thoughts in response to negative life events. We aimed to test a moderated, serial mediation model where psychological inflexibility, a core concept of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) model of psychopathology, both mediates and moderates the relationship between depressogenic schemas and the frequency of negative automatic thoughts. A cross-sectional design was used in which 210 undergraduates responded to questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest. Results supported the proposed moderated mediation model. Both psychological inflexibility and negative automatic thoughts were significant mediators of the relationship between depressogenic schemas and depressive symptoms, and psychological inflexibility also moderated the effect of depressogenic schemas on negative automatic thoughts. We conclude that the role of psychological inflexibility in the cognitive model of depression deserves more attention.

Multi-class sentiment analysis using a hierarchical logistic model tree approach

En este trabajo se propone un nuevo sistema híbrido para el análisis de sentimientos en clase múltiple basado en el uso del diccionario General Inquirer (GI) y un enfoque jerárquico del clasificador Logistic Model Tree (LMT). Este nuevo sistema se compone de tres capas, la capa bipolar (BL) que consta de un LMT (LMT-1) para la clasificación de la polaridad de sentimientos, mientras que la segunda capa es la capa de la Intensidad (IL) y comprende dos LMTs (LMT-2 y LMT3) para detectar por separado tres intensidades de sentimientos positivos y tres intensidades de sentimientos negativos. Sólo en la fase de construcción, la capa de Agrupación (GL) se utiliza para agrupar las instancias positivas y negativas mediante el empleo de 2 k-means, respectivamente. En la fase de Pre-procesamiento, los textos son segmentados por palabras que son etiquetadas, reducidas a sus raíces y sometidas finalmente al diccionario GI con el objetivo de contar y etiquetar sólo los verbos, los sustantivos, los adjetivos y los adverbios con 24 marcadores que se utilizan luego para calcular los vectores de características. En la fase de Clasificación de Sentimientos, los vectores de características se introducen primero al LMT-1, a continuación, se agrupan en GL según la etiqueta de clase, después se etiquetan estos grupos de forma manual, y finalmente las instancias positivas son introducidas a LMT-2 y las instancias negativas a LMT-3. Los tres árboles están entrenados y evaluados usando las bases de datos Movie Review y SenTube con validación cruzada estratificada de 10-pliegues. LMT-1 produce un árbol de 48 hojas y 95 de tamaño, con 90,88% de exactitud, mientras que tanto LMT-2 y LMT-3 proporcionan dos árboles de una hoja y uno de tamaño, con 99,28% y 99,37% de exactitud,respectivamente. Los experimentos muestran que la metodología de clasificación jerárquica propuesta da un mejor rendimiento en comparación con otros enfoques prevalecientes.