Dissertations / Theses: 'Problem of Change'

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Shevtsov, Serhii Valeriiovych, Сергей Валерьевич Шевцов, and Сергій Валерійович Шевцов. "Actuality of climate change problem." Thesis, Вид-во СумДУ, 2010. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/8294.

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Lee, Chwee Beng. "Capturing and assessing conceptual change in problem solving." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/5886.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (May 2, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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Ebule, Micheal. "Climate change: the problem and the ways out." Thesis, Видавництво СумДУ, 2012. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/26570.

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Балацький, Олег Федорович, Олег Федорович Балацкий, Oleh Fedorovych Balatskyi, and T. M. Ovcharova. "The scope of the global climate change problem." Thesis, Видавництво СумДУ, 2004. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/22929.

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5

Aue, Alexander. "Sequential change point analysis based on invariance principles." [S.l. : s.n.], 2003. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=970678223.

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Stowell, Franklyn Arthur. "Change, organisational power and the metaphor 'commodity'." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.330051.

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7

Collingwood, Jesse. "Application of martingale methods to a change set problem." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/28053.

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A collection of random points in a bounded rectangle [0, R] 2 of the positive quadrant changes its intensity on an unobservable random set xi. The goal is to detect the random change set in an optimal way, according to some reward function. Given the change set, the random points are assumed to be distributed according to a Poisson process N with intensities mu0 on xic and mu1 on xi. Optimal solutions are found for various reward functions and applied to some examples.

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Harwood, Philip Andrew. "Software development and continual change : a programmer's attitude problem." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/21883.

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Software forms around a requirement. Defining this requirement is often regarded as the hardest part of software engineering. The requirement however has an additional complexity as, once defined, it will change with time. This change of requirement can come either from the user, or from the rapid advances in 'computer' technology. How then can software succeed to continue to remain 'current' both in terms of requirements and technology in this forever changing environment? This thesis examines the issues surrounding 'change' as applied to software and software engineering. Changing requirements are often deemed a 'curse' placed upon software engineers. It has been suggested, however, that the problems associated with change exist only in the attitude of software engineers. This is perhaps understandable considering the training methods and tools available to supposedly 'help' them. The evidence shows that quality of management and experience of personnel involved in development contribute more significantly to the success of a development project than any technical aspect. This unfortunately means that the process is highly susceptible to staff turnover which, if uncontrolled, can lead to pending disaster for the users. This suggests a 'better' system would be developed if 'experience' was maintained at a process level, rather that at an individual level. Conventional methods of software engineering are based upon a defined set of requirements which are determined at the beginning of the software process. This thesis presents an alternative paradigm which requires only a minimal set of requirements at the outset and actively encourages changes and additional requirements, even with a mature software product. The basis of this alternative approach is the fonn of the 'requirements specification' and the capturing and re-use of the 'experience' maintained by the software process itself.

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Alghamdi, Amani Saeed. "Study of Generalized Lomax Distribution and Change Point Problem." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1526387579759835.

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Giese, Jochen Friedrich. "Changepoint-Analyse für Kenngrössen der Telekommunikation Theorie und Simulationen /." [S.l. : s.n.], 2003. http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/diss/z2003/0079/.

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Maximin, Brent M. "Cognitive Competence and Life Course Change in Multi-Problem Adolescents." FIU Digital Commons, 2012. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/731.

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The dissertation reports on two studies. The purpose of Study I was to develop and evaluate a measure of cognitive competence (the Critical Problem Solving Skills Scale – Qualitative Extension) using Relational Data Analysis (RDA) with a multi-ethnic, adolescent sample. My study builds on previous work that has been conducted to provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the RDA framework in evaluating youth development programs (Kurtines et al., 2008). Inter-coder percent agreement among the TOC and TCC coders for each of the category levels was moderate to high, with a range of .76 to .94. The Fleiss’ kappa across all category levels was from substantial agreement to almost perfect agreement, with a range of .72 to .91. The correlation between the TOC and the TCC demonstrated medium to high correlation, with a range of r(40)=.68, p Study II reports an investigation of a positive youth development program using an Outcome Mediation Cascade (OMC) evaluation model, an integrated model for evaluating the empirical intersection between intervention and developmental processes. The Changing Lives Program (CLP) is a community supported positive youth development intervention implemented in a practice setting as a selective/indicated program for multi-ethnic, multi-problem at risk youth in urban alternative high schools in the Miami Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS). The 259 participants for this study were drawn from the CLP’s archival data file. The study used a structural equation modeling approach to construct and evaluate the hypothesized model. Findings indicated that the hypothesized model fit the data (χ2 (7) = 5.651, p = .83; RMSEA = .00; CFI = 1.00; WRMR = .319). My study built on previous research using the OMC evaluation model (Eichas, 2010), and the findings are consistent with the hypothesis that in addition to having effects on targeted positive outcomes, PYD interventions are likely to have progressive cascading effects on untargeted problem outcomes that operate through effects on positive outcomes.

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Holl, Rachel. "Attributional change in mothers of children with conduct problem behaviours." Thesis, University of Leicester, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/31289.

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This study examines the spontaneous causal attributions made by mothers about their child's behaviour, before and after they attended a Behaviour Management Group for the management of their child's conduct problem behaviours. The attributions of eight mothers were extracted and coded from discourse using the Leeds Attributional Coding System. It was found that mothers made more attributions to positive child behaviours, and fewer to negative child behaviours following the intervention. As predicted there were some changes from pre- to post-intervention in the nature of attributions made. For all types of child behaviour mothers shifted towards causal attributions which were universal, specific and internal to themselves post-intervention. Negative child behaviours were attributed to causes which were more unstable and specific following the intervention, suggesting mothers explanations were more benign post-intervention. Positive child behaviours were more often attributed to causes which were controllable to the mothers post-intervention, suggesting they were taking some credit for the emergence of such behaviours. Methodological issues, proposals for further research and clinical implications are discussed.

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Heath, Georgina. "Investigating mechanisms of change in the collaborative problem solving model." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2016. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/812294/.

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Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS; Greene & Ablon, 2006) is a treatment model designed to reduce behavioural difficulties among children and adolescents by developing their cognitive, emotional and social skills. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the CPS approach in an outpatient setting and to explore whether child executive functioning (EF), increased parental empathy, and/or reduced parental stress are possible mechanisms of change within the CPS model. Forty-two families of children aged 3-12 years with behavioural difficulties completed a 12-week in-home CPS treatment programme. Caregiver report measures were completed pre and post-treatment. The results suggest that post CPS there were significant reduction in child behavioural difficulties, improved child executive functioning, increased parental empathy, reduced parental stress, and an improvement in caregiver-child relationships. Regression analyses indicated that improvements in child EF appeared to be the primary mechanism of change within the CPS model, predicting approximately 22% of variance in child behavioural outcomes. Reduced parental stress also accounted for a small amount of variance, however changes in parental empathy were not a predictor of child behavioural outcomes. Child behaviour pre-intervention was not associated with the amount of change produced in child executive functioning, parental empathy or parental stress, which indicates that positive changes can occur through CPS, regardless of the severity of behavioural difficulties at outset. These results suggest that child EF and low parental stress are critical for healthy child and adolescent development, and should be a focus for interventions aimed at reducing child behavioural difficulties.

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Yildiz, Veysel. "Investigation Of The Change In Sixth Grade Students." Master's thesis, METU, 2008. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12610255/index.pdf.

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Teaching mathematics is now gaining more importance, as the new elementary mathematics school curriculum has been adapted to Turkish Educational System. One of the main goals of the curriculum reform is to increase elementary school students&rsquo
problem solving abilities in mathematics (Koç
, ISiksal &
Bulut
2007). In this study, the aim is to investigate the change in sixth grade students&rsquo
problem solving abilities, attitude towards problem solving and attitude toward mathematics after mathematics instruction based on Polya&rsquo
s problem solving steps. The sample of this study consisted of 53 sixth grade students from an elementary school in Istanbul. The participants consist of a class selected conveniently among all the sixth grade classes in the school. In these selected classes, mathematical problems are solved according to the Polya&rsquo
s problem solving steps by following different problem solution techniques during the semester.At the end of this study, the three main results were found: 1) Instruction based on Polya&rsquo
s step has significantly affected students&rsquo
problem solving abilities in a positive way, 2) students&rsquo
attitudes towards problem solving has changed in a positive way, 3) students&rsquo
attitudes towards mathematics is enhanced by the instruction based on Polya&rsquo
s problem solving steps.

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Pratt, Marcelle. "Stage of change and treatment approach selection for women problem gamblers." access full-text online access from Digital Dissertation Consortium, 2006. http://libweb.cityu.edu.hk/cgi-bin/er/db/ddcdiss.pl?3262879.

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Menozzi, Oliva. "Cultural change and the problem of Romanization in the Central Apennines." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.288974.

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Frost, Caitlin Emma Linden. "The management dynamics of problem solving during complex sociotechnical change implementations." Thesis, London Business School (University of London), 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.401209.

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Kao, Chung-Feng. "Some contributions to divergence weighted independence graphs and change point problem." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.524739.

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Littlefield, Joanne. "Trees, Grasslands and Global Change: New Perspectives on an Old Problem." College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622199.

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D'Silva, Karl. "Two Approaches to the Isotonic Change-Point Problem: Nonparametric and Minimax." Diss., North Dakota State University, 2014. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/27402.

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A change in model parameters over time often characterizes major events. Situations in which this may arise include observing increasing temperatures, intense rainfall, and the valuation of a stock. The question is whether these observations are simply the result of natural variation, or rather are indicative of an underlying monotonic trend. This is known as the isotonic change-point problem. Two approaches to this problem are considered: Firstly, for correlated data with short-range dependence, we prove that a particular U-statistic based on a modified version of the Jonckheere-Terpstra test statistic is asymptotically equivalent to a more complex U-statistic discussed by Shen and Xu (2013); one that has been shown to outperform other existing tests in a variety of situations. Secondly, we shall justify and utilize the minimax criterion in order to identify the optimal test statistic within a specified class. We shall see that, as motivated by the projection method, the aforementioned class is the class of contrasts. It shall be proven that the set of coefficients originally proposed by Abelson and Tukey (1963), and utilized by Brillinger (1989) in the isotonic change-point setting, are in fact minimax in the independent data case. For correlated data with shortrange dependence, we shall demonstrate a sufficient condition for minimaxity to hold.

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21

Burch, Michael Eddie. "Climate Change, Situational Theory of Problem Solving, and Issue Framing Effects." Scholar Commons, 2014. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5449.

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This is an exploratory study of the Situational Theory of Problem Solving applied to the context of climate change communication. Selective exposure to politically slanted media is explored as a referent criterion and framing effects are also tested. Relationships between consumption of media characterized as conservative or liberal with referent criterion, Situational Motivation in Problem Solving, problem recognition, involvement recognition, and constraint recognition are tested.

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Thompson, Lester. "The indigenous living conditions problem : 'need', policy construction, and potential for change /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2004. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe18414.pdf.

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Wright, Rebecca Danielle. "An exploration into how collaborative problem solving groups can change teachers' practice." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/2992.

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This thesis includes three related documents. The first, the Systematic Review, includes a review of literature relevant to the area. In the second, the Bridging Document, there is a discussion about the conceptual framework which links the Systematic Review with the Empirical Research. It also explores ethical and methodological issues. The final document discusses findings from the Empirical Research, as well as future implications for educational psychologists’ practice. There are many Continuing Professional Development (CPD) models for teachers. This Systematic Review focuses specifically on the under researched area of ‘collaborative problem solving groups’. Synthesis of findings from five articles about ‘collaborative problem solving groups’ suggested that benefits for teachers existed within the context of some challenges. Teachers benefited from the time and space to reflect, be with others and problem solve; thinking differently about a situation and changing their practice. Teachers also benefited from decreased stress levels. Challenges related to demands on their time, difficulties putting changes into practice and concerns that participation was judged by colleagues. This empirical study outlines an action research project carried out with three teachers, on how the process of being in a collaborative problem solving group promoted changes to their practice. Tape recorded review sessions with participants took place before and after three collaborative problem solving groups, during which participants discussed the thinking and associated changes that occurred for them throughout the process. A second research focus considered how a facilitator could promote changes to teachers’ practice during collaborative problem solving. Constructionist grounded theory was used to analyse the data. General factors that supported changes to teachers’ practice included: an acknowledgement that participants think differently, appreciating that problems and classrooms are complex, being open minded and recognising perceived impacts of social and political pressures. A facilitator can promote vii changes to teachers’ practice by acknowledging these areas, whilst also applying psychology to facilitate a democratic process and attend to relational factors. A constructed grounded theory outlines that the roles of the facilitator and participants are interrelated and dynamic, thus requiring ongoing attention. Implications for educational psychologists are considered.

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Janlert, Lars-Erik. "Studies in knowledge representation : modeling change - the frame problem : pictures and words." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 1985. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-65865.

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In two studies, the author attempts to develop a general symbol theoretical approach to knowledge representation. The first study, Modeling change - the frame problem, critically examines the - so far unsuccessful - attempts to solve the notorious frame problem. By discussing and analyzing a number of related problems - the prediction problem, the revision problem, the qualification problem, and the book-keeping problem - the frame problem is distinguished as the problem of finding a representational form permitting a changing, complex world to be efficiently and adequately represented. This form, it is argued, is dictated by the metaphysics of the problem world, the fundamental form of the symbol system we humans use in rightly characterizing the world. In the second study, Pictures and words, the symbol theoretical approach is made more explicit. The subject Is the distinction between pictorial (non-linguistic, non-propositional, analogical, "direct") representation and verbal (linguistic, propositional) representation, and the further implications of this distinction. The study focuses on pictorial representation, which has received little attention compared to verbal representation. Observations, ideas, and theories in AI, cognitive psychology, and philosophy are critically examined. The general conclusion is that there is as yet no cogent and mature theory of pictorial representation that gives good support to computer applications. The philosophical symbol theory of Nelson Goodman is found to be the most thoroughly developed and most congenial with the aims and methods of AI. Goodman's theory of pictorial representation, however, in effect excludes computers from the use of pictures. In the final chapter, an attempt is made to develop Goodman's analysis of pictures further turning it into a theory useful to AI. The theory outlined builds on Goodman's concept of exemplification. The key idea is that a picture is a model of a description that has the depicted object as its standard model. One consequence Is that pictorial and verbal forms of representation are seen less as competing alternatives than as complementary forms of representation mutually supporting and depending on each other.
digitalisering@umu

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Hausknost, Daniel. "The limits to change : liberal democracy and the problem of political agency." Thesis, Keele University, 2011. http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/3832/.

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This thesis explores the limits to purposive change in liberal democracies. Its aim is to provide new analytical tools and concepts to understand better the basis of liberal democracy’s legitimacy, the mechanisms and limitations of political agency at work in it, and the ways in which societal change is delimited and channelled in what is today the most dominant form of political order. The thesis contains three conceptual innovations. The first concerns the nature of liberal democracy, which is shown to involve an ‘epistemic’ dimension of legitimacy on which the system’s stability relies. This explanatory account of legitimacy argues that in a modern democracy the paradoxical relation of the people to itself as both ruler and ruled can only be stabilised when both sides of the equation refer to the same ‘independent’ reality – a reality that has to be generated outside their precarious relationship and hence (for example) in the capitalist market economy. The second innovation regards an analytical distinction between three fundamental ‘modes’ of political agency – decision, choice and solution – whose deployment is strictly controlled by the systemic requirements of ‘epistemic legitimacy’. The result is shown to be an ‘agentic deadlock’ in liberal democracy, which inhibits purposive societal change. The third innovation concerns the very idea of ‘change’ itself. Based on Wittgenstein’s notion of grammar a concept of transformation is developed, which allows us to account for the subtle and long-term changes in the discursive structure of liberal-democratic societies. After comparing these conceptual innovations with the dominant aggregative, deliberative and radical approaches to democratic theory, the thesis concludes with a suggestion for an institutional innovation that might help break the agentic deadlock in liberal democracy.

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Guo, Xiamei. "Therapeutic Effect on Mother-Adolescent Communication and How the Change in Communication Relates to Change in Individual Problem Behaviors." The Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1371819260.

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27

Hanks, Sarah. "Catalyzing organizational learning: Social, environmental, and cognitive factors promoting effective change management." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/86520.

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Diversity in the workplace remains a priority for leaders and managers as the dynamic nature of the global marketplace necessitates that organizations develop and maintain a competitive advantage in their field. Learning has long been touted as the key to leveraging limited resources to gain a corner in the market. However, organizations continue to struggle with the management of diversity, as well as systems and processes that promote learning at an organizational level. This study sought to explore a theorized relationship between individual problem-solving style, an aspect of cognitive diversity, and organizational learning capability. Two Midwestern companies participated in this sequential explanatory mixed methods study that aimed to: (a) examine the influence of cognitive style on organizational learning; (b) explore the differences between more adaptive and more innovative individuals, with respect to their organization's cognitive climate, in terms of their development and modification of learning frameworks and shared mental models; (c) determine what role more adaptive and more innovative individuals play in catalyzing organizational learning, namely double-loop and deutero-learning; and (d) identify inhibitors of double-loop and deutero-learning, distinguishing differences for more adaptive and more innovative problem solvers. Findings indicate that there was no relationship between problem-solving style, measured by KAI total scores, and organizational learning capability total scores in one organization and a small correlation between the scales of a second organization. This finding supports Kirton's (2011) assertions that problem-solving style is independent of learning, but some organizations may have small relationships between individual's problem-solving style and organizational learning based on various organizational dynamics. Five themes emerged as cultural mediators of cognitive diversity in the context of catalyzing organizational learning: 1) corporate expectations that create a clear, concise shared mental model for employee behavior and decision making (produced and promoted via an organizational guidebook); 2) the use of agreed-upon structures and methodologies for solving problems; 3) the employment of former military officers (due to the specific skills and experiences needed to successfully fulfill specific roles); 4) the development and nurturing of healthy teams; and, 5) an expectation of boundary-less collaboration. These themes, collectively, assert the importance of a culture that puts culture first. In practice, leaders and managers may find that a clearly defined culture that supports and promotes the use of systems and procedures to collaboratively solve problems and extend learning from individual to organizational is essential to mitigating the challenges that may result from exploiting cognitive diversity in the workplace.
Ph. D.

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28

Armah, Prince Hamidu. "Teaching mathematical problem solving in Ghana : teacher beliefs, intentions and behaviour." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2015. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=228052.

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Recent curriculum reform agendas appear to exert pressure on teachers to incorporate Mathematical Problem Solving (MPS) meaningfully into their lessons, with the view to engaging pupils with real life problems, guessing, discovering, and making sense of mathematics. However, a comprehensive review of both government and academic literature indicate that understanding teachers' reform implementation decisions is largely unexplored, particularly within the Ghanaian context. The purpose of this mixed-methods sequential explanatory study was to identify factors contributing to teacher intentions to teach MPS by obtaining quantitative results from a survey of 375 primary teachers and then following up with six purposefully selected teachers to explore those results in more depth through interviews. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the quantitative phase of the study explored how certain different but interrelated belief variables such as attitudes towards the behaviour (AB), perceived norms (PN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) lead to an explanation of teacher intentions to teach MPS, and an understanding of the contributions of relevant socio-demographic factors in defining these intentions in this context. In the follow up, qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews with six teachers were conducted to explore in depth the results from the statistical analyses. Results indicated that several beliefs about teaching MPS significantly contributed to AB, PN and PBC. Two factors, AB and PBC were found to have significant influences and accounted for 80% of the variance in the teachers' intent to teach MPS. Differences appeared to exist between private and public school teachers' for both intent and the three constructs (AB, PN, and PBC), whilst familiarity with the curriculum had an effect on teachers intentions only. In the qualitative phase, the study addressed some factors found to potentially influence teachers' intentions including MPS conceptions, past experience in mathematics, availability of resources, adequate classroom spaces and professional development opportunities. The quantitative and qualitative findings from the two phases of the study are discussed with reference to prior research. The results provide an understanding of the relevant social-cognitive processes which may influence a teacher's reform decisions, and in particular suggest strong implications for developing the capacity of schools to support teachers' intentions to implement curriculum reform policies.

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Soskuthy, Marton. "Phonetic biases and systemic effects in the actuation of sound change." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8946.

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This thesis investigates the role of phonetic biases and systemic effects in the actuation of sound change through computer simulations and experimental methods. Phonetic biases are physiological and psychoacoustic constraints on speech. One example is vowel undershoot: vowels sometimes fail to reach their phonetic targets due to limitations on the speed of the articulators. Phonetic biases are often paralleled by phonological patterns. For instance, many languages exhibit vowel reduction, a phonologised version of undershoot. To account for these parallels, a number of researchers have proposed that phonetic biases are the causal drive behind sound change. Although this proposal seems to solve the problem of actuation, its success is only apparent: while it might be able to explain situations where sound change occurs, it cannot easily explain the lack of sound change, that is, stasis. Since stability in sound systems seems to be the rule rather than the exception, the bias-based approach cannot provide an adequate account of their diachronic development on its own. The problem of bias-based accounts stems from their focus on changes affecting individual sound categories, and their neglect of system-wide interactions. The factors that affect speech production and perception define an adaptive landscape. The development of sound systems follows the topology of this landscape. When only a single category is investigated, it is easy to take an overly simplistic view of this landscape, and assume that phonetic biases are the only relevant factor. It is natural that the predicted outcomes will be simple and deterministic if such an approach is adopted. However, when we look at an entire sound system, other pressures such as contrast maintenance also become relevant, and the range of possible outcomes is much more diverse. Phonetic biases can still skew the adaptive landscape towards themselves, making phonetically natural outcomes more likely. However, their effects will often be countered by other pressures, which means that they will not be satisfied in every case. Sound systems move towards peaks in the adaptive landscape, or local optima, where the different pressures balance each other out. As a result, the system-based approach predicts stability. This stability can be broken by changes in the pressures that define the adaptive landscape. For instance, an increase or a decrease in functional load or a change in lexical distributions can create a situation where the sound system is knocked out of an equilibrium and starts evolving towards a new stable state. In essence, the adaptive landscape can create a moving target for the sound system. This ensures that both stability and change are observed. Therefore, this account makes realistic predictions with respect to the actuation problem. This argument is developed through a series of computer simulations that follow changes in artificial sound systems. All of these simulations are based on four theoretical assumptions: (i) speech production and perception are based on probabilistic category representations; (ii) these category representations are subject to continuous update throughout the lifetime of an individual; (iii) speech production and perception are affected by low-level universal phonetic biases; and (iv) category update is inhibited in cases where too many ambiguous tokens are produced due to category overlap. Special care is taken to anchor each of these assumptions in empirical results from a variety of fields including phonetics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. Moreover, in order to show that the results described above follow directly from these theoretical assumptions and not other aspects of these models, the thesis demonstrates that exemplar and prototype models produce the same dynamics with respect to the observations above, and that the number of speakers in the model also does not have a significant influence on the outcomes. Much of the thesis focuses on rather abstract properties of simulated systems, which are difficult to test in a systematic way. The last chapter complements this by presenting a concrete example, which shows how the simulations can be linked to empirical data. Specifically, I look at the effect of lexical factors on the strength of contextual effects in sound categories, using the example of the voicing effect, whereby vowels are longer before voiced obstruents than they are before voiceless ones. The simulations implemented in this chapter predict a larger effect in cases where a given vowel category occurs equally frequently in voiced and voiceless environments, and a smaller difference where one of the environments dominates the lexical distribution of the vowel. This prediction is borne out in a small cross-linguistic production experiment looking at voicingconditioned vowel length patterns in French, Hungarian and English. Although this is only one of many predictions that fall out of the theory of sound change developed in this thesis, the success of this experiment is a strong indication that the research questions it brings into focus are worth investigating.

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30

Schwartz, Elizabeth. "Local solutions to a global problem? : Canadian municipal policy responses to climate change." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/57737.

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Urbanization and global warming are two of the most pressing issues facing humanity over the next 50 years. Why do some local governments enact more climate change mitigation policies than others? What makes some cities leaders in urban sustainability, while others lag far behind? Over the past decade, global climate change negotiations have repeatedly failed to produce binding commitments and robust responses by national governments. These failures have led academics and practitioners to put increasing emphasis on the potential for sub-national governments, including cities, to undertake commitments that might substitute for national action on climate change. Applying concepts from the comparative public policy literature to the study of urban politics, this dissertation puts forward and tests a new theory to explain variation in Canadian cities’ climate change policy. I find that political economy factors reduce the likelihood that cities will adopt climate change policy that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the presence of independent municipal environment departments makes the adoption of such policy more likely. This dissertation employs a systematic and explicit process tracing methodology. It examines the decision-making of four Canadian cities (Brampton, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver) across four policy areas (landfill gas management, fleet services, cycling infrastructure and building standards). The analysis is based on data gathered from primary and secondary sources and expert interviews with over 70 local politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, and NGO and business representatives. This dissertation argues that cities cannot solve the climate change challenge on their own, but knowledge of the dynamics of climate change mitigation policy adoption at the local level may permit scholars and practitioners to increase the effectiveness of municipal governments’ climate change policy choices.
Arts, Faculty of
Political Science, Department of
Graduate

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31

Maddox, Christopher Guy. "The Frankfurt School : the crisis of subjectivity and the problem of social change." Thesis, University of Hull, 1989. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:8035.

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The crisis of subjectivity and the problem of social change is the underground history of the European Revolution of 1917-23. Its final signal in the inter-war years came with the defeat of the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War in the years preceding the Second World War. The defeats of progressive social forces in the inter-war years, leading to the catastrophe of the Second World War and the Holocaust brought the original Western Marxists into a socio-political terrain involving new developments and unexpected setbacks in the struggle for a rational society (socialism). Stalinism and Fascism blocked the route to socialist democracy on an international scale. In the dialectic of hope and despair the Second World War can be understood as representing the great terminus of accumulated defeats of the working class internationally in the inter-war period. For the Frankfurt School the Second World War was not only the lowest point humanity had reached at the height of technical progress, the sheer technological efficiency of the destructiveness it unleashed seemed to foreclose any impetus for optimism. Hope and despair, progress and reaction, became increasingly intertwined and at times impossible to distinguish in the succession of events. For Horkheimer and Adorno this was the dialectic of Enlightenment, the apotheosis of Western rationality dominating and consuming its own progress in an orgy of regression leading to barbarism. Midnight in the twentieth century became, for Horkheimer and Adorno at least, the eclipse of reason itself. The Frankfurt School, it has been argued here, expresses a tendency of Western Marxism and has to be analysed in this context. The notion that Western Marxism and thus the Frankfurt School were a simple product of defeat has been shown to be mistaken and ultimately dismissive of the complex interplay between theory, politics, and history. For the events in the inter-war years did not 'give rise to' the Frankfurt School as if thought were merely a reflection of historical events. The critique of orthodox Marxism must be applied to the sociology of the Frankfurt School: in other words, thought is not an 'affect' propelled by historical laws. The examination of the role of philosophy in the restoration of the subjective factor in ideology critique and the analysis of social change - and hence the reconstruction of the Marxian project - has shown that the Frankfurt School's major contribution to such a reconstruction was in restoring the dynamic concept of subjectivity as pioneered by Marx and Engels in The German Ideology [1845/46]. This study has attempted to show the continued relevance of this School of Western Marxism in terms of its contribution to solving the crisis of subjectivity and the problem of social change, and as an important guide in the struggle for a humanist renaissance of Marxian socialism which, it has been argued, forms the essential dimension of this solution.

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Amini, Richard, Lori A. Stolz, Nicholas C. Hernandez, Kevin Gaskin, Nicola Baker, Arthur Barry Sanders, and Srikar Adhikari. "Sonography and hypotension: a change to critical problem solving in undergraduate medical education." Dove Press, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/617204.

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UA Open Access Publishing Fund
Study objectives: Multiple curricula have been designed to teach medical students the basics of ultrasound; however, few focus on critical problem-solving. The objective of this study is to determine whether a theme-based ultrasound teaching session, dedicated to the use of ultrasound in the management of the hypotensive patient, can impact medical students’ ultrasound education and provide critical problem-solving exercises. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using an innovative approach to train 3rd year medical students during a 1-day ultrasound training session. The students received a 1-hour didactic session on basic ultrasound physics and knobology and were also provided with YouTube hyperlinks, and links to smart phone educational applications, which demonstrated a variety of bedside ultrasound techniques. In small group sessions, students learned how to evaluate patients for pathology associated with hypotension. A knowledge assessment questionnaire was administered at the end of the session and again 3 months later. Student knowledge was also assessed using different clinical scenarios with multiple-choice questions. Results: One hundred and three 3rd year medical students participated in this study. Appropriate type of ultrasound was selected and accurate diagnosis was made in different hypotension clinical scenarios: pulmonary embolism, 81% (95% CI, 73%–89%); abdominal aortic aneurysm, 100%; and pneumothorax, 89% (95% CI, 82%–95%). The average confidence level in performing ultrasound-guided central line placement was 7/10, focused assessment with sonography for trauma was 8/10, inferior vena cava assessment was 8/10, evaluation for abdominal aortic aneurysm was 8/10, assessment for deep vein thrombus was 8/10, and cardiac ultrasound for contractility and overall function was 7/10. Student performance in the knowledge assessment portion of the questionnaire was an average of 74% (SD =11%) at the end of workshop and 74% (SD =12%) 3 months later (P=0.00). Conclusion: At our institution, we successfully integrated ultrasound and critical problemsolving instruction, as part of a 1-day workshop for undergraduate medical education

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Grencavage, Lisa Maria. "Demand-withdraw couple interaction, disease-model beliefs, and readiness to change problem drinking." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/284216.

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This study examined relationships among couple demand-withdraw interaction (DWI), alcoholics' and partners' beliefs in the disease model of alcoholism, and alcoholics' readiness to change problem drinking. A secondary purpose was to further investigate the construct validity of the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale (URICA; McConnaughy, Prochaska, & Velicer, 1983), a frequently used measure of readiness to change. A sample of 63 male alcoholics and their female partners received up to 20 sessions of cognitive-behavioral or family-systems therapy for alcoholism as part of a larger treatment project. The three main construct variables were assessed at baseline (T1) and after the first 12 sessions of therapy (T2) by observational ratings (DWI) and self-report questionnaires (disease-model beliefs and readiness to change). Due to a high rate of attrition from measurement at T2, analyses involving data, collected at this point must be interpreted with caution. As predicted, T1 ratings of DWI were negatively associated with alcoholics' readiness to change measured concurrently at T1 and also longitudinally at T2. Also as predicted, this relationship was found primarily with the wife-demand/husband-withdraw DWI role pattern; the opposite husband-demand/wife-withdraw role pattern was largely unrelated to readiness to change. Multiple regression analyses in a panel design indicated no clear causal direction in the lagged correlations between DWI and readiness to change. Although female partners believed more strongly in the disease model of alcoholism than did alcoholics both at T1 and at T2, neither partners' nor alcoholics' disease-model beliefs were related to readiness to change or to DWI. Finally, regarding the construct validity of the URICA, while mean levels of readiness to change increased significantly over the course of treatment, T1 and T2 measures of readiness to change were only mildly---and somewhat inconsistently---associated with treatment outcome. In all, the findings of the current study offer moderate support for the idea that an individual's readiness to change is related to interpersonal factors in his environment but only limited support for the construct validity of the URICA as a measure of readiness to change problem drinking.

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Friman, Mathias. "Historical Responsibility : The Concept’s History in Climate Change Negotiations and its Problem-solving Potential." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Water and Environmental Studies, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-7140.

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The thesis primarily tracks the history of historical responsibility in negotiations to and under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The concept aims at attributing individual country burdens in mitigating climate change based on the relative levels of past emissions. A hermeneutic approach and discursive theory has been applied to the empirical material consisting of documents form UNFCCC’s main bodies. Even though the concept was part of the discursive struggle over the content of the UNFCCC, it has been more central in the struggle to operationalise the Convention’s principles on equity. Historical responsibility has been most elaborated in a proposal by Brazil to the 1997 pre-Kyoto negotiations. This proposal combined a biophysical approach (preferred by the North) with that of a political economic approach (preferred by the South). However, the proposal was soon pushed of the central agenda and discussions on the topic turned technical and centred on scientific uncertainties. The biophysical framing excluded equity. At the same time as the proposal was marginalised within UNFCCC as a whole, it was central in discussions on comprehensive approaches to historical responsibility. Any that wanted to discuss comprehensive approaches were referred to this forum wherein talks on equity were excluded from the rules of discussion. This echoes a world system of a periphery, the global South, dependent upon core countries, the global North. The last mentioned have the capacity to set the agenda. The argument for marginalising the Brazilian proposal has been compared to the accepted Kyoto protocol with the result that the official arguments for marginalisation do not hold. The thesis also investigates historical responsibility’s problem solving potential as a concept that could create much needed dialogue across the North/South divide.

Uppsatsen söker främst följa konceptet ”historisk skuld” i klimatförhandlingarna som ledde till, och som senare fördes under, FNs ramkonvention om klimatförändringar (FCCC). Historisk skuld tillskriver länder eller regioner ett ansvar för klimatförändringar som baseras på dess historiska utsläppsnivåer av växthusgaser. Ansvarsberäkningarna ligger sedan till grund för bördefördelning. Empirin, beståendes av dokument från FCCCs organ, har analyserats genom hermeneutik och diskursteori. Historisk skuld fanns med i den diskursiva kampen över FCCC men blev centralt först i kampen över hur FCCCs rättviseprinciper skulle operationaliseras. Som mest genomarbetat har konceptet varit i det så kallade brasilianska förslaget vilket lades fram inför Kyotoförhandlingarna. Förslaget kombinerade en naturvetenskaplig gestaltning, som föredras av länder i nord, med en politisk ekonomisk dito, vilken föredras av syd. Det exkluderades emellertid fort från den beslutsfattande agendan och hänvisades till rådgivande organ där frågan teknifierades med fokus på vetenskapliga osäkerheter. Den naturvetenskapliga gestaltningen exkluderade samtal om rättvisa. Samtidigt som förslaget marginaliserades inom FCCC som helhet så blev det centralt i detaljerade diskussioner om historisk skuld. Om någon ville diskutera operationaliserade varianter av historisk skuld inom FN så hänvisade de till detta forum, ett forum där samtal om rättvisa exkluderats genom de tysta regler som styr diskussionen. Detta speglar ett världssystem där en periferi, det global syd, är beroende av centrala länder, det globala nord. De sistnämnda har kapaciteten att styra dagordningen. Argumenten bakom marginaliseringen av det brasilianska förslaget har sedan jämförts med det accepterade Kyotoprotokollet. Det visar sig då att de officiella argumenten för marginalisering inte håller. Uppsatsen undersöker också konceptets potential till att initiera välbehövlig dialog mellan nord och syd.

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Willams, Thea. ""Plus ca change ... state versus civil society and the problem of governance in Africa" /." Title page, contents and synopsis only, 1992. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AR/09arw727.pdf.

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Mackenzie, Alison M. "Prescription for change : medical undergraduates' perceptions of learning in traditional and problem-based courses." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1999. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1458/.

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Kahlbom, Ulf. "Säkerhetsvärdering av organisationsförändringar vid storskalig kärnteknisk verksamhet : Problem, utmaningar och förslag på lösning." Doctoral thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för innovation, design och teknik, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-13145.

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This study addresses safety issues related to organizational change within safety critical operations, focusing on large-scale nuclear technology operations. Failures in safety critical operations can lead to unacceptable consequences for both man and environment. Given this, a decreased safety level due to organizational change is undesirable. It is, however, estimated that about 75 % of all general organizational changes fail to achieve the goals that are set up for the change (Boonstra, 2004). It is thus important to evaluate the safety impact of a proposed organizational change before it can be accepted for implementation. There is, however, a lack of methods for evaluating the safety impact due to organizational change, and there is also a need for developing knowledge in this field. The dissertation hence concerns safety evaluation of organizational change, with the general aim to develop knowledge in the area of safety evaluation of organizational change, and also to develop a method for safety evaluation of organizational change. In the thesis, a literature review is presented which deals with significant parts of three areas relevant for the above aim: organizational change, decision theory, and safety science. The empirical parts of the study can be divided into two parts. The first part is concerned with the identification of the dynamic aspects of organizational change in nuclear technology organizations. This part was performed by collecting and analyzing data from an already implemented organizational change. The data sources were primarily interviews, internal organizational documentation, and one survey. The second part is concerned with the development and application of a method for evaluating the safety impact due to organizational change. This part was performed by departing from an action research framework, and the developed method was applied to two different but related organizational changes in nuclear technology organizations. The results from the second part primarily concerned experiences related to applying the method for safety evaluation. In the light of the answers to the research questions that were set up for the study some important results are presented. One important result is the developed method, validated from an action research perspective. Other important results are the identification of situations that affect the rational decision making process when performing a safety evaluation, and the presentation of some reasons that explains why these situations occur. Other important tentative conclusions, primarily drawn from the literature review of the study, are that there might be an inherent contradiction between common routines for organizational change processes versus risk- and safety analysis, and that there might also be a contradiction between safety culture and the management literature encouragement of risk taking.
I avhandlingen studeras säkerhet i samband med organisationsförändringar inom säkerhetskritiska verksamheter, med särskilt fokus på de kärntekniska verksamheterna kraftproduktion samt lagring av använt kärnbränsle. Brister inom säkerhetskritiska verksamheter kan leda till oacceptabla konsekvenser för både människa och miljö, vilket naturligtvis innebär att en minskad säkerhetsnivå på grund av till exempel en organisationsförändring är oönskad. Undersökningar har dock visat att rent generellt så misslyckas organisationsförändringar i cirka 75 % av fallen med att nå de mål som satts upp för förändringen (Boonstra, 2004). Det är därför viktigt att värdera hur säkerheten påverkas innan den föreslagna organisationsförändringen implementeras. Avhandlingen fokuserar sålunda på säkerhetsvärdering av organisations-förändringar, och har som övergripande syfte att utveckla kunskap inom området säkerhetsvärdering av organisationsförändringar. I avhandlingen redovisas en litteraturgenomgång som spänner över tre för syftet relevanta områden; organisationsförändring, beslutsteori samt säkerhetsvetenskap. De empiriska delarna av arbete kan delas upp i två övergripande moment. Det första momentet avser de dynamiska aspekterna av organisationsförändringar vid kärntekniska organisationer. Denna del genomfördes genom att data samlandes in från en redan genomförd organisationsförändring. Detta gjordes framförallt genom att analysera och sammanställa resultaten från flera intervjuer, en stor mängd dokument samt en enkätundersökning. Det andra momentet avser utveckling och tillämpning av en metod för att genomföra säkerhetsvärdering av organisationsförändring. Denna del tog sin utgångspunkt i aktionsforskning, och den utvecklade metoden tillämpades vid två olika men sammanhängande förändringar vid storskaliga kärntekniska organisationer. Mot bakgrund av svaren på de forskningsfrågor som sattes upp för arbetet redovisas ett antal resultat. Ett resultat avser den utvecklade metoden för säkerhetsvärdering, vilken validerats ur ett aktionsforskningsperspektiv. Andra resultat avser identifiering av situationer som påverkar den rationella beslutsprocessen vid säkerhetsvärderingar, samt redovisning av orsaker som kan förklara varför dessa situationer uppstår. En annan intressant tentativ slutsats som kan dras från arbetet är att det kan finnas en inneboende motsägelse mellan vanliga rutiner for organisationsförändringsprocesser samt risk- och säkerhetsanalyser.

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Manuvie, Ritumbra. "Governance of climate change related migrations in Assam (India)." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31147.

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The thesis asks two crucial questions, (a) what are the normative frameworks available for protecting the rights and status of a person migrating due to climate change related hydro-metrological changes? (b) why is there a non-uniformity and inadequacy in the deliverance of assistance from the state? To address these questions, I have analysed the perception, framing and assistance a climate change migrant receives from the state of Assam in India, while also explaining the reasons for the differential nature and deficits in protection. Based on interviews with senior bureaucratic officials (elite actors), group-discussions, field surveys, and engagements at the block and village level, the thesis makes three critical arguments. First, the sub-national government perceive climate-induced migrations as a developmental issue. Second, the way in which climate change migration is framed as a developmental issue by elite actors does not correspond with how the issue is understood by street-level bureaucratic actors. Instead, the routine judgements and discretions exercised by street-level actors are complexly tied to the political and social circumstances of local areas. Finally, while it is known that socio-political and demographic factors (such as gender, membership of a social group, and religion) contribute to forced forms of migration, the thesis argues that these demographic factors also adversely affect the performance of the programs meant to reduce climate vulnerabilities.

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Ring, Natalie J. "The problem South : region, race, and "southern readjustment," 1880-1930 /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2003. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3091317.

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Knopes, David Ryan. "Motivating change in high-risk adolescents : an intervention focus on the deviant friendship process /." view abstract or download file of text, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3120626.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-121). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

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Andersson, Jonas. "Effects of parent training on parenting: : Associated Change between Parental Behaviors and Preadolescent Problem Behaviors." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Akademin för juridik, psykologi och socialt arbete, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-26385.

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The aim of this study was to find out if change in parent behavior is associated with change in preadolescent problem behavior during parent training programs. A total of 561 single parents or couples of mainly Swedish origin were randomized into one out of four parent training programs with different theoretical bases. Parents’ self-reports of their own behavior and of their children’s intensity as well as impact of problem behavior, lack of attention, and hyperactivity showed that effects were equal across interventions for both children and parents. 12 parent constructs were measured. All of them except positive parent behavior constructs correlated with all four outcomes for children on significant levels. Negative parent behavior predicted change in all child outcomes on a highly significant level.

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Pearlman, Barbara. "State Change from Symbolic to Concrete Functioning; the Problem for Eating Disorder Patients and Therapists." Thesis, University of Essex, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.520108.

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Callison, Candis L. "More information is not the problem : spinning climate change, vernaculars, and emergent forms of life." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65321.

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Thesis (Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 312-340).
This dissertation argues that alongside the dominant discourse occurring in and through media in the midst of immense transformation, social networks and affiliations provide a vital translation of science in varied vernaculars such that climate change is becoming invested with diverse meanings, ethics, and/or morality. Based on ethnographic research, this dissertation analyzes such processes of translation and articulation occurring among five different discursive communities actively enunciating the fact and meaning of climate change through their own vernaculars. The five groups are: 1) Arctic indigenous representatives that are part of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, 2) corporate social responsibility activists working with Ceres 3) American evangelical Christians active in the nascent movement known as Creation Care, 4) leading science journalists, and 5) scientists who often act as science-policy experts. This dissertation tracks the formation by which evidence comes to matter and have meaning for groups, and the ways in which this process transforms the definition of and questions posed by climate change. It posits that climate change constitutes an emergent form of life replete with multiple, competing instantiations that feed into, configure, and continually revise definitions of and models of/for climate change. Such articulations and attempts at defining climate change are full of friction as epistemologies, forms of life, advocacy, and expertise evolve and bump up against one another in a process of socialization, negotiation, and meaning-making. In this framework, climate change is a simultaneous intellectual, scientific, and moral challenge - it is both a problem of assessing what is happening, what might happen, and how to act in the world. The presentation and circulation of information provide only partial answers. Partnering facts with multiple codes for meaning, ethics, and morality delineate what the stakes and risks entail, articulating rationales to act. These diverse partnerships produce attendant translations, assemblages, modes of speech, and material forms of training and disciplining that enroll scientific findings and policy aspirations.
by Candis L. Callison.
Ph.D.in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS

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Han, Sung Won. "Efficient change detection methods for bio and healthcare surveillance." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/34828.

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For the last several decades, sequential change point problems have been studied in both the theoretical area (sequential analysis) and the application area (industrial SPC). In the conventional application, the baseline process is assumed to be stationary, and the shift pattern is a step function that is sustained after the shift. However, in biosurveillance, the underlying assumptions of problems are more complicated. This thesis investigates several issues in biosurveillance such as non-homogeneous populations, spatiotemporal surveillance methods, and correlated structures in regional data. The first part of the thesis discusses popular surveillance methods in sequential change point problems and off-line problems based on count data. For sequential change point problems, the CUSUM and the EWMA have been used in healthcare and public health surveillance to detect increases in the rates of diseases or symptoms. On the other hand, for off-line problems, scan statistics are widely used. In this chapter, we link the method for off-line problems to those for sequential change point problems. We investigate three methods--the CUSUM, the EWMA, and scan statistics--and compare them by conditional expected delay (CED). The second part of the thesis pertains to the on-line monitoring problem of detecting a change in the mean of Poisson count data with a non-homogeneous population size. The most common detection schemes are based on generalized likelihood ratio statistics, known as an optimal method under Lodern's criteria. We propose alternative detection schemes based on the weighted likelihood ratios and the adaptive threshold method, which perform better than generalized likelihood ratio statistics in an increasing population. The properties of these three detection schemes are investigated by both a theoretical approach and numerical simulation. The third part of the thesis investigates spatiotemporal surveillance based on likelihood ratios. This chapter proposes a general framework for spatiotemporal surveillance based on likelihood ratio statistics over time windows. We show that the CUSUM and other popular likelihood ratio statistics are the special cases under such a general framework. We compare the efficiency of these surveillance methods in spatiotemporal cases for detecting clusters of incidence using both Monte Carlo simulations and a real example. The fourth part proposes multivariate surveillance methods based on likelihood ratio tests in the presence of spatial correlations. By taking advantage of spatial correlations, the proposed methods can perform better than existing surveillance methods by providing the faster and more accurate detection. We illustrate the application of these methods with a breast cancer case in New Hampshire when observations are spatially correlated.

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Valon, Leslie. "Behind the PBL mask : narratives of identity change amongst clinical psychologists engaged in problem-based learning." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2299/10627.

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Clinical psychologists’ experiences of training are under-represented in the research area, particularly in the field of transformational and experiential learning and its influence on trainees during their training. Yet, it is a growing topic of interest for training providers and commissioners. Understanding whether the current method of training, using problem-based learning at the University of Hertfordshire (UH), is effective in preparing trainees to work in the NHS as clinical psychologists may have wider implications for clinical psychology training and practice. This thesis aimed at exploring clinical psychologists’ narratives of identity changes through problem-based learning (PBL). For this purpose, I chose to explore their reflective PBL written accounts using a narrative analysis to identify plots and sub-plots of identity changes within their PBL stories. I knowingly took a social constructionist stance to frame this project as it reflects my constructions of clinical psychology and the epistemological choice of the UH course. This means that this research situates itself within a particular context and does not claim any truth, but proposes a constructed view on identity changes during training and their implications for clinical practice. The analysis enabled me to identity three main plots: ‘identity changes through the PBL group’, ‘experimenting with alternative roles and identities’ and ‘Identity changes through PBL & training’. The first plot was characterised by anxiety, vulnerability, tensions between individualism and collectivism and the impact of differences. The second plot was characterised by trainee psychologists finding the balance between process, task and reflections, sharing and connecting with others, changing their relationship with theories; and working to empower themselves. The third plot highlighted the demands of PBL and training and PBL’s place in training. These factors seemed to have influenced and contributed to identity changes in clinical psychologists engaged in PBL during their training at UH. The discussion highlighted which aspects of PBL relate to identity changes and their implications for training and clinical practice. To conclude, I shared my growing interest for further exploration. I also highlighted the ever-evolving nature of PBL and the importance of exploring its use in training and its implications for the professional development of trainee clinical psychologists. Finally, the project ends with reflections about the research process and epistemological considerations.

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Bungartz, Beate. "Understanding change in the Deutsche Telekom Group : the problem of organisational learning at top management level." Thesis, Open University, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.497386.

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Performance and sustainability of a company are often viewed as being strongly influenced by its top management. And yet, despite a rich literature in the field of organisational learning, little is known about how the top management of a company acquires and maintains the knowledge of "how to run the business", especially in fastchanging environments. This study focuses on Deutsche Telekom as it sought to transform itself during a turbulent period from a traditional operator into an international, diverse business player This work seeks to extend the theory and understanding of organisational learning to this particular group of people at the apex of the organisation and contributes to the debate of top4level organisational learning (TLOL) as a dynamic capability. The study, which is based upon longitudinal, qualitative research, featuring separate cases embedded within a single, large organisation, explores the methods and outcomes of TLOL. Comparative cases in different organisational settings and business contexts, at corporate and at divisional level, were used in this diversified organisation to empirically investigate the deployed initiatives and methods as well as drivers of and barriers to TLOL.

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Rohloff, Amanda. "Climate change, moral panic, and civilization : on the development of global warming as a social problem." Thesis, Brunel University, 2012. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/6973.

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This study combines moral panic with the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias to explore how climate change has developed as a social problem. The central argument is that,through combining the short-term focus of moral panic with the long-term focus of Elias, we can examine the interplay between planned and unplanned developments in both the perception and reality of climate change. The first part of the research consisted of discourse analysis of a variety of different texts from 1800 to the present. These were used to explore the long-term development of climatechange as emerging from an ecological civilizing process. The second stage of the research related these developments to moral panics, arguing that the emergence of climate change can only be understood by exploring the interplay between long-term processes and short-term campaigns. The third part of the research explored these historical developments at the individual level, examining the notion of individual ecological civilizing processes. 15 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with climate change ‘activists’ and ‘non-activists’, comparing how their biographical developments related to ecological civilizing processes and moral panics. The final part of the research compared climate change with five other empirical examples of moral panics, to explore the civilizing and decivilizing processes and civilizing offensives that occur before, during, and after the panics. The central aim was to demonstrate the complexity of moral panics, and to aid in the reformulation of the concepts of moral panic and decivilization. Through a synthesis of Elias and moral panic, as applied to the example of climate change, this study aimed to: critically assess the development of climate change; to reassess the concept of decivilization and the relation between civilizing processes and offensives; and to reformulate the concept of moral panic, including suggesting how moral panic research ought to be undertaken.

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Ganiatsas, Vassilios. "Permanence and change : a philosophical inquiry into the problem of relating new architecture to existing settings." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/18900.

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Bowman, Andrew John. "Disruptive technologies, divided experts : scientific knowledge, development, and the problem of stabilising change, Zambia 1945-2010." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2012. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/disruptive-technologies-divided-experts-scientific-knowledge-development-and-the-problem-of-stabilising-change-zambia-19452010(06483265-f72b-4866-94e3-f1314ce5ab5e).html.

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This thesis investigates the changing forms and roles of science, technology, and expert knowledge in agricultural development in Zambia from 1945 to the present day. The main focus is on the changing ideologies, polices, and technologies that different development agencies have used to transform agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, and the persistent concerns about rural hunger and low agricultural productivity. My central argument is that contests over expert knowledge and technology have played a key role in the formulation and implementation of agricultural development policies in colonial Northern Rhodesia and then independent Zambia. Another argument is intertwined with this, namely that a historical approach is essential to understanding the origins, operation, and outcomes of development policies. The argument is developed in five chronologically sequenced case studies of particularly significant and innovative agricultural development projects, technologies, and research programmes. These studies in part stand alone, each filling a gap in the history of development in Zambia and sub-Saharan Africa more generally. By focusing upon common issues and questions through the studies, however, I explore broader themes in the history of development knowledge and practice, and the history of science and technology. I have framed my approach in two linked areas. The first concerns development experts, those who are responsible for creating new knowledge about peasant society and deploying new technologies and programmes to transform it. The thesis investigates how and why it is that certain people and institutions gain influence and acquire the status of 'development experts', and how the category of 'development expert' is subject to historical change. My main argument in this area is that development experts were more divided than is commonly acknowledged in histories of development which rely upon a more abstract and unitary notion of expertise. The second area of focus concerns how these 'divided experts' attempt to manage the peasantry's integration with capitalist social relations through the manipulation of the 'productive forces': technologies, production techniques, environmental resources, and methods of organising labour. My argument here is that technology has been used as a disruptive force; development programs have revolved around the introduction of new technologies as a means of reworking socio-ecological relations.

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Larsson, Emma. "Science and Policy in the International Framing och the Climate Change Issue." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2527.

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The IPCCand the FCCC are both central institutions in the international handling of the climate change issue. How these institutions frame and define the climate change issue is decisive for the action taken in response. The aim of this thesis was to analyze and describe how the climate change problem is framed and defined within the FCCC and the IPCC. Furthermore, the aim was also to examine if there are any differences between the IPCC’s and the FCCC’s framings and definitions of the climate change problem, and if so, what those differences consist of. The analysis was based on a line of documents from the IPCC and the FCCC, which were analyzed through a qualitative textual analysis.

The results of the analysis indicate that there are both similarities and dissimilarities between the institutions. The definitions of the term climate change differ in the sense that the FCCC only regards human-induced changes in climate, as climate change. The IPCC, on the other hand, includes both natural variability and human-induced changes in its definition of climate change. In the practical usage the definitions are similar, and the results indicate that the IPCC in practice has adopted the FCCC’s definition and only focuses on anthropogenic climate change. The climate change issue is by both of the institutions perceived as a greenhouse gas question, and the consequences are described as very extensive and serious. The FCCC gives advantages to mitigative responses in relation to adaptive, and also the IPCC describes mitigative responses as advantageous. Finally, the study indicates that there is a linking between the scientific and political spheres, which is extended by the fact that the FCCC’s definition of climate change creates a demand for scientific input in the decision-making process. The science and policy relationship builds upon mutual expectations of what the respective spheres can contribute with in terms of useful knowledge and policy-relevant questions.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Problem of Change'

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