The effectiveness of computer simulation in training programmers for computer numerical control machining

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of microcomputer simulation, and to compare the differences in skill mastery and in the need for a teacher\u27s assistance among students using a microcomputer with a partner, using a microcomputer alone, and those who did not use a microcomputer simulator in learning CNC programming skills;A pretest-posttest control group design was used in this study. All of the students obtaining scores in pretest were taken out from the research to assure the homogeneity of the subjects;A total of ninety students was randomly selected from five classes in National Yunlin Institute of Technology in Taiwan. These students were further randomly assigned to three groups;A Chinese microcomputer package was used for the research. The experimental process was completed in three weeks. There were a total of eighteen hours of instruction;A multiple covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. Students\u27 previous experiences in mathematics, mechanical drafting, and computer concepts were used as control variables;The findings of the study revealed that mathematics scores and mechanical drafting scores did not have a significant effect on the posttest scores. The results of further analysis showed that there is no significant difference in achievement among those three groups. However, the number of questions raised per student in each group during the programming practice period was significantly different. Group one students, those who used program simulation packages individually, had significantly more questions per student than those who used program simulation packages with a partner or those who did not use a microcomputer. It was also noticed that during the experimental period students in the groups of using computers were more motivated in learning programming skills. It was therefore concluded that computer simulation is as effective as the traditional method. The teacher in a CNC laboratory could spend less time on students when they are working on a microcomputer simulator in pairs. The teacher then could spend more time helping students who are running programs on a CNC machine tool

A study of the relationship between principals\u27 extent of participation in budgeting, locus-of-control, and job satisfaction

The importance of participation in budgeting for managers and its relevance to job satisfaction has been the subject of a number of studies over the last several decades. In addition, the belief systems of such managers appear to constitute a significant influence on the attitudes they hold in various social situations. Specifically, the personality variable, locus of control, utilized in this study and first introduced by Rotter, refers to the individual\u27s perceptions of events in his/her life as the result of his/her own actions (internal control), or the consequences of such forces as fate, luck, or powerful others (external control).;The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between principals\u27 extent of participation in budgeting, locus of control, and job satisfaction. Subjects were 191 K-12 Virginia principals from a stratified random sample of 250 who responded to a 4-part mail survey consisting of a Budgeting Participation Questionnaire, Rotter\u27s I-E Scale, the short form of the Minnesota Satisfaction (MSQ) Questionnaire, and a demographics section.;The evidence garnered from factor analysis and multiple regression analysis in this investigation supported the following conclusions: (1) that there were no relationships found in the level of job satisfaction due to the interaction of locus of control and extent of budget participation; (2) decision influence was the only budget-related variable found to have a statistically significant relationship to job satisfaction; (3) locus of control was also found to have a statistically significant relationship to job satisfaction.;The practical significance of the findings is that only the two variables associated with how a person feels about his/her ability to influence outcomes (decision influence and locus of control) were the ones which related to job satisfaction. Perceptions and beliefs may account more for how satisfied a person is than job facets. In order to confirm this, it is recommended that future researchers should replicate this study by substituting other job facets (in place of budgeting participation) which may be deemed critical to the performance of school principals

Effectiveness of computer-based education in elementary schools

A meta-analysis of 32 comparative studies showed that computer-based education has generally had positive effects on the achievement of elementary school pupils. These effects have been different, however, for programs of off-line computer-managed instruction (CMI) and for interactive computer-assisted instruction (CAI). The average effect in 28 studies of CAI programs was an increase in pupil achievement scores of 0.47 standard deviations, or from the 50th to the 68th percentile. The average effect in four studies of CMI programs, however, was an increase in scores of only 0.07 standard deviations. Study features were not significantly related to study outcomes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25814/1/0000377.pd

Monday morning and the millennium : cultural studies, scepticism and the concept of power

The thesis examines the use or the concept of power in cultural studies, offering a revisionist perspective on the history or this use. The dominant approach to questions or power in the field, it is argued, is a \u27rationalist\u27 one: the various phenomena comprehended under the concept are conceived ultimately as instances or the one phenomenon. This approach implies that positions in relation to power share a common referent allowing them to be assessed according to general criteria of \u27correctness\u27 or theoretical adequacy. It also allows developments in debates around power to be represented in terms or a narrative or enlightenment in which the \u27truth\u27 or power is progressively revealed. As an alternative to this, the thesis develops an \u27empiricist\u27 perspective on questions or power. From this perspective, the various phenomena comprehended under the concept are, in fact, distinct. Generalised uses or the singular \u27power\u27 do not share a common referent but are imaginative constructions gaining their sense from the particular contexts in which they are used. They cannot be assessed according to general criteria of theoretical adequacy, but only in terms of qualities of response to historical circumstances. The perspective is used to throw sceptical light on progressivist accounts of cultural studies as having discovered a phenomenon (power) which had not previously been recognised. It is demonstrated that the field has a history which precedes the introduction of generalised references to power. It is further argued that generalised references, when they were introduced, did not identify unrecognised phenomena but merely addressed them in a different way. The conditions for this intellectual shirt are traced to the historical circumstances of the Cold War, particularly 10 a rapid and massive expansion of tertiary education, government programs and media forms. A major sub-theme of the thesis is developed around the \u27englishness\u27 of cultural studies, where \u27englishness\u27 is used in an abstract sense to refer to a certain political response (exemplified by England as an actual polity) to the possibilities of modernity. This response is defined by a tendency to maintain a ‘pre-modern’ sense of powers as particular and a corresponding resistance to generalised references to power in the singular. It is pointed out that the tension between the tendency and European theoretical imports was very sharply articulated in the early formation of cultural studies. It is further argued that it has never entirely disappeared and has continues, at some level, to define the field. The significance of this is that cultural studies offers an intellectual resource for thinking about questions of power which is distinct from the European theoretical positions which it nonetheless cites. In the final chapters of the thesis, attention is given to the possibility of making this resource more visible in its own terms as a way of broadening options for the field in responding to changed conditions for intellectual work post-Cold War

The effect of synthesized I-E change techniques in modifying locus of control expectancies

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of synthesized I-E change techniques in modifying locus of control expectancies in an internal direction. Two hypotheses were investigated. The first research hypothesis stated: University student counselees whose individual counseling includes I-E change techniques will be more internal in locus of control expectancies following counseling than counselees whose counseling does not include I-E change techniques. The second hypothesis served as a control: The effect of counseling on locus of control expectancies for university student counselees will not vary with different counselors

Master of Science

thesis"Creating a Shared History: Serial Narratives in The Young Woman's Journal, 1889-1894" is a cultural press history and textual analysis of contemporary indigenous serial literature in a nineteenth-century Mormon young women's periodical. It tests press historian Catherine Covert's assertions that some of the functions of the press are (1) to be a conservator of values, and (2) to engender harmony and affiliation among community members. The investigator places the Journal within the historical/ cultural context from which it was written, and identifies specific messages in the serial narratives that encouraged the preservation of Mormon values and Mormon community affiliation. The author gives a brief overview of Utah press history, discusses the social and historical forces that shaped nineteenth-century Mormon women, reviews the history of the Journal and its editor, Susa Young Gates, and analyzes the text of the Journal's first five years of serial narratives. Some of the major affiliative themes were recitations of personal and group suffering and sacrifice for the religion; empathy for Mormons of other generations and nationalities; defense of Mormon theology and lifestyle; and encouragement to marry within the Church. Positive depictions of polygamy continued in the stories, even after Mormon leaders issued a public announcement that plural marriage would no longer be sanctioned. The tone of the narratives was ardently defensive of polygamy, and of plural wives, as if they had been written for the benefit of Mormon foes. Inasmuch as they were written exclusively for an audience of young Mormon women, however, many of whom were products of plurality, the defensive stance is notable. Despite recent studies that document continued Mormon participation in and allegiance to polygamy, this author suggests a disenchantment with the practice, at least among young Mormon women. As Covert's assertions would predict, the messages of the Journal's narratives sought to reduce that disenchantment and alienation and to foster bonding with the community. Covert's assertions about the functions of the press are well supported by all aspects of this study. The thesis is also evidence that contemporary indigenous literature is a rich source of cultural history

Semantic networks

AbstractA semantic network is a graph of the structure of meaning. This article introduces semantic network systems and their importance in Artificial Intelligence, followed by I. the early background; II. a summary of the basic ideas and issues including link types, frame systems, case relations, link valence, abstraction, inheritance hierarchies and logic extensions; and III. a survey of ‘world-structuring’ systems including ontologies, causal link models, continuous models, relevance, formal dictionaries, semantic primitives and intersecting inference hierarchies. Speed and practical implementation are briefly discussed. The conclusion argues for a synthesis of relational graph theory, graph-grammar theory and order theory based on semantic primitives and multiple intersecting inference hierarchies

'The language of the naked facts': Joseph Priestley on language and revealed religion

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) is usually remembered for his experiments in natural philosophy and celebrated for his isolation of the gas we now call oxygen. However, Priestley had a wide range of interests and published extensively on education, history, politics, political philosophy, language, theology and religion. He dedicated his life to elucidating a coherent set of epistemological, metaphysical and theological principles which he believed explained the human mind, the natural world and the nature of God and revelation. Recent studies of Priestley have emphasised the difficulties that arise from isolating the various aspects of his thought and the fruitful outcome of uncovering the many connections between his diverse areas of study. With this in mind, the present dissertation aims to elucidate the relationship between two aspects of Priestley’s thought that have not previously been studied together. It examines his theory of language and argument alongside his work on theology and the evidences of revelation. Chapter One provides an overview of Priestley’s epistemology, focusing on his work on induction, judgment and assent. Chapter Two looks at Priestley’s analysis of the role of the passions in our assent to propositions and the progressive generation of the personality, while paying particular attention to the origins of figurative language. Chapter Three examines Priestley’s theory of language development including the relationship between figurative language and the extension of vocabulary and the close connection between language and culture. Chapter Four demonstrates that Priestley’s discussion of the evidences of revealed religion is structured around his theory of assent and judgment. It also explains how assent to revelation is essential for the generation and transcendence of the ‘self’. Chapter Five brings all the themes of the dissertation together in a discussion of Priestley’s rational theology and examines his analysis of figurative language in scripture

'The language of the naked facts': Joseph Priestley on language and revealed religion

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) is usually remembered for his experiments in natural philosophy and celebrated for his isolation of the gas we now call oxygen. However, Priestley had a wide range of interests and published extensively on education, history, politics, political philosophy, language, theology and religion. He dedicated his life to elucidating a coherent set of epistemological, metaphysical and theological principles which he believed explained the human mind, the natural world and the nature of God and revelation. Recent studies of Priestley have emphasised the difficulties that arise from isolating the various aspects of his thought and the fruitful outcome of uncovering the many connections between his diverse areas of study. With this in mind, the present dissertation aims to elucidate the relationship between two aspects of Priestley’s thought that have not previously been studied together. It examines his theory of language and argument alongside his work on theology and the evidences of revelation. Chapter One provides an overview of Priestley’s epistemology, focusing on his work on induction, judgment and assent. Chapter Two looks at Priestley’s analysis of the role of the passions in our assent to propositions and the progressive generation of the personality, while paying particular attention to the origins of figurative language. Chapter Three examines Priestley’s theory of language development including the relationship between figurative language and the extension of vocabulary and the close connection between language and culture. Chapter Four demonstrates that Priestley’s discussion of the evidences of revealed religion is structured around his theory of assent and judgment. It also explains how assent to revelation is essential for the generation and transcendence of the ‘self’. Chapter Five brings all the themes of the dissertation together in a discussion of Priestley’s rational theology and examines his analysis of figurative language in scripture