Use of the Instructional Hierarchy to Guide Decisions About Staff Training

Behavior support plans (BSPs) are packages of interventions used to comply with federal mandates that schools provide students with support by eliminating behavior that interferes with learning (Horner, Carr, Strain, Todd, & Reed, 2002). BSPs and other behavioral supports are often delivered by paraprofessionals, especially for special education students included in general education (Suter & Giangreco, 2009). Educational and skill requirements of entry-level paraprofessionals vary state by state but are unlikely to include formal training or experience in implementing BSPs (Breton 2010). Paraprofessionals often receive brief or limited training prior to beginning work (Giangreco & Doyle, 2007). These factors may present challenges for the treatment integrity of BSPs, which refers to the extent to which the BSPs are implemented as intended. The Instructional Hierarchy (Haring, Lovitt, Eaton, & Hansen, 1978) may provide a framework for monitoring skill development and guide the training of paraprofessionals implementing BSP components, which may result in improved treatment integrity. Four paraprofessionals assigned to support students with individualized BSPs participated in this study. They participated in an after school training series that used the IH to guide the training activities and monitor their skill development. Data were collected on their implementation behavior during training sessions and also in the classroom—before and after the introduction of the training series. Generally, exposure to the training series resulted in improvements in participants implementation scores

Comparative study of logistics services in the container liner shipping market in the U.K. and South Korea

In line with the dramatic changes of business environment, certain liner shipping companies have claimed that what they are providing is a 'logistics service' rather than a 'traditional shipping service'. It was found that there is a shortage of discussion in existing literature related to the liner shipping industry regarding the introduction of logistics service and no empirical study on how the operation of such a logistics service has been perceived by shippers. The prime objective of the research is to provide a practical clarification to understanding an operation of logistics service in the liner shipping market. The Delphi technique was used to investigate the difference between the features of traditional shipping service and those of logistics services. It also explored the driving forces, which appear to stimulate liner shipping service providers to adopt logistics service concepts into their business area. A mail questionnaire was developed to analyse shippers' perception of logistics service and measure the performance of logistics service operation with reference to the international shippers in the U. K. and South Korea. An analysis of the survey revealed that there is a significant association between years in business and the perception of logistics service. With regard to the analysis of relationship between service providers' performance and choice of service providers, the research reached an answer by analysing the correlation between service providers' performance and the behaviour of choosing service providers. A positive correlation was found for transport, payment, and cargo related factors. On the other hand, no correlation was found for the document factor. With reference to these findings, service providers could initiate the target marketing for various classes of shippers. The comparisons between the U. K. and South Korean shippers were made in terms of the level of satisfaction on the service functions. The Delphi technique indicated the exploratory findings related to the conceptualisation of logistics service in the liner shipping market. The research dealt with experts' points of view only, albeit in some depth. However, the conceptualisation would be more developed if the views of service providers and service consumers were also sought. Based upon the size of the sample, caution must be exercised when making any broad generalisation. The research makes an original contribution to knowledge by applying a service function approach to a logistics service concept in the liner shipping context for the first time. The researchf indings could help explain consumers' assessmenot f their service provided in a wider variety of industries and therefore add to the understanding of perceptions and the assessmenot f the nature of logistics service operations

A study of instance-based algorithms for supervised learning tasks : mathematical, empirical, and psychological evaluations

This dissertation introduces a framework for specifying instance-based algorithms that can solve supervised learning tasks. These algorithms input a sequence of instances and yield a partial concept description, which is represented by a set of stored instances and associated information. This description can be used to predict values for subsequently presented instances. The thesis of this framework is that extensional concept descriptions and lazy generalization strategies can support efficient supervised learning behavior.The instance-based learning framework consists of three components. The pre-processor component transforms an instance into a more palatable form for the performance component, which computes the instance's similarity with a set of stored instances and yields a prediction for its target value(s). Therefore, the similarity and prediction functions impose generalizations on the stored instances to inductively derive predictions. The learning component assesses the accuracy of these prediction(s) and updates partial concept descriptions to improve their predictive accuracy.This framework is evaluated in four ways. First, its generality is evaluated by mathematically determining the classes of symbolic concepts and numeric functions that can be closely approximated by IB_1, a simple algorithm specified by this framework. Second, this framework is empirically evaluated for its ability to specify algorithms that improve IB_1's learning efficiency. Significant efficiency improvements are obtained by instance-based algorithms that reduce storage requirements, tolerate noisy data, and learn domain-specific similarity functions respectively. Alternative component definitions for these algorithms are empirically analyzed in a set of five high-level parameter studies. Third, this framework is evaluated for its ability to specify psychologically plausible process models for categorization tasks. Results from subject experiments indicate a positive correlation between a models' ability to utilize attribute correlation information and its ability to explain psychological phenomena. Finally, this framework is evaluated for its ability to explain and relate a dozen prominent instance-based learning systems. The survey shows that this framework requires only slight modifications to fit these highly diverse systems. Relationships with edited nearest neighbor algorithms, case-based reasoners, and artificial neural networks are also described

Value co-creation intention, practices and experience in self-service technologies

The 21st century is known as the experience economy where the prime aim of businesses is to provide superior customer experiences, mainly through actively seeking mutually beneficial interactions with customers which is often labelled as ‘value co-creation’. Co- creation indicates a collaborative perspective of value creation and changes the roles of the organisation into ‘value facilitators’, and customers’ from passive to active as ‘co- creators’. Extant research suggests that businesses which acknowledge this new collective practice achieve greater organisational performance. However, success is not always guaranteed in co-creation; it is an ever-present possibility that a sub optimal implementation may result in value ‘co-destruction’ which causes to diminish wellbeing of the participants.Advances in technologies have presented many opportunities for both organisations and customers to access a multitude of technological interfaces, prompting organisations to explore how self-service technologies (SSTs) can be effectively used in value creation. Despite these advances in SSTs, scholarly work in value co-creation context is largely limited to exploring interpersonal interactions in traditional physical interfaces. To the best of the researcher’s understanding, no studies examine how customers co-create value (value co-creation practices) in SSTs. An inquiry as to whether customers would like to co-create value in SSTs (co-creation intention), what customers do while co-creating value (value co-creation practices) and how they experience their collaboration (co- creation experience) in SST is therefore important.Mixed methodology is adopted, based on the sequential exploratory strategy, where a qualitative study is followed by a quantitative study, such that the findings of the qualitative study are instrumental in designing the quantitative study. The ‘practice theory’ is used as the theoretical foundation in understanding customer value co-creation practices and ‘total customer experience’ is used in understanding customer co-creation experiences.The qualitative study explores eight determinants of co-creation intention and sixteen customer value co-creation practices which are re-classified into five groups of practices (5Cs): co-learning, co-producing, co-operating, connecting and correcting. There is also evidence on the duality of these practices resulting in co-creation and co-destruction, and interconnectivity among practices.Following a confirmatory approach in the quantitative phase, a high level of customer value co-creation intention in SSTs is recognised. ‘Technology know-how’ is found to be the strongest predictor of co-creation intention while performance, information richness and situational factors show significant direct effects. ‘Convenience’ is significant with the moderating effect of age, such that the effect is stronger for young people and ‘social influence’ is significant with the moderating effect of gender with a negative effect on males and a positive effect on females. Customer value co-creation intention shows a strong significant positive effect on co-creation practices and weak significant negative effect on value co-destruction. ‘Past experience’ displays a significant positive effect on co-creation practices and significant negative effect on co-destruction. Customer value co-creation practices show a significant positive effect on customers’ functional and emotional experiences, while co-destruction reveals a negative effect on emotional experiences, and surprisingly a positive effect on functional experiences. Finally, a significant positive effect of functional experiences is found on emotional experiences.This study adds new knowledge to marketing theory by revealing customer value co- creation practices in SSTs for the first time. It also makes some incremental contributions enriching the literature in the well-established fields of value co-creation, self-service technology and customer experience. Finally, the study develops a comprehensive conceptual model expounding co-creation intention, practices and experiences in self- service technologies, which can be extended to any technologically supported services, providing an element of scientific utility in the study. This understanding will benefit service providers in devising value enhancing self-service technological interfaces from both strategic and operational perspectives by ensuring superior customer experiences and ultimately accomplishing competitive advantages

The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry\u27s Supply Chain Management Strategies

Indian pharmaceutical companies spend one-third of their revenue from supply chain management (SCM) activities due to inherently poor transportation infrastructure. SCM is a vital function for many companies, as it is usually employed to lower expenses and increase sales for the company. SCM costs are higher in India than they are in other areas of the world, amounting to 13% of India\u27s GDP. The purpose of this study was to explore SCM strategies Indian business leaders in the pharmaceutical industry have used to reduce the high costs associated with SCM. This study used a single case study research design and semistructured interviews to collect data from 3 SCM business leaders working in Indian pharmaceutical organizations and possessing successful experience in using SCM strategies to reduce high costs. Goldratt\u27s (1990) theory of constraints was used as the conceptual framework for this study to identify challenges associated with SCM strategies. Data from semistructured interviews, observations, and company documents were processed and analyzed using data source triangulation, grouping the raw data into key themes. The following 3 themes emerged: distribution and logistics challenges, impact of SCM processes, and best practices and solutions. The implications for positive social change include the potential to reduce supply chain risk, which could lead to lower product prices for consumers, increased stakeholder satisfaction, and a higher standard of living

Mathematics in Software Reliability and Quality Assurance

This monograph concerns the mathematical aspects of software reliability and quality assurance and consists of 11 technical papers in this emerging area. Included are the latest research results related to formal methods and design, automatic software testing, software verification and validation, coalgebra theory, automata theory, hybrid system and software reliability modeling and assessment