Exploring teachers' perspectives about executive functions in the primary school context in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Cognitive psychology research has suggested that executive functions (EFs), a set of cognitive skills that facilitate goal-directed behaviour, play an important role in learning and academic success. EFs, comprised of the three core cognitive components of inhibitory skills, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, are also associated with social-emotional learning and competency. Research has also shown that targeted teaching and practice can improve EFs, with far reaching benefits. However, there is currently little evidence about whether teachers are aware of these skills, or of their importance. This study, therefore, explored New Zealand primary teachers’ perspectives about EFs as a necessary first step to understanding teachers’ knowledge, values and practice in New Zealand. The study used a mixed methods design to obtain quantitative and qualitative data through an online survey. Results indicated that teachers were generally aware that there is a set of non subject-specific skills that are important to learning, but their knowledge and understanding of EFs themselves, prior to completion of the survey, was limited. Teachers rated all EFs as very important to learning and the majority of teachers were already attempting to support development of EFs within their classroom practice. Knowledge of and use of specific activities or teaching strategies to target development of specific EFs was limited, however many teachers were providing learning environments conducive to using and practicing EFs. This research highlights the need for professional development and support for teachers to develop their understanding of EFs. It also demonstrated a need to provide teachers with a range of teaching strategies and activities to integrate within their current learning environments in order to better support development of EFs within their students

Density forecasting and momentum

We fit 800 time series models to daily momentum returns in an out-of-sample exercise. We apply the Akaike Information Criterion for model selection and forecast the one day-ahead probability density function. Our findings show that a skewed and heavy-tailed density performs best, while a simple GARCH(1,1) specification for the conditional variance is picked most often. We also report the usefulness of low order ARMA models for the conditional mean. Our trading algorithms demonstrate that targeting downside risk substantially outperforms volatility scaling. Furthermore, a strategy designed to have an exposure to momentum which is linear in the one day-ahead Sortino ratio forecast generates an annualized Carhart four-factor alpha of 107.38%, in the absence of transaction costs.São estimados 800 modelos de análise temporal, aplicados aos retornos diários da estratégia de momentum, num contexto de previsão. É utilizado o critério de informação de Akaike, de modo a encontrar o modelo econométrico mais apropriado e procede-se à previsão a um dia da função de densidade de probabilidade. Os resultados mostram que uma distribuição assimétrica e leptocúrtica obtem a melhor performance, enquanto que o modelo GARCH(1,1) para a variância condicional é escolhido com maior frequência. Os modelos ARMA de pequena dimensão revelam-se também úteis. Os nossos algoritmos de transacção demonstram que controlar o risco ligado a retornos negativos é substancialmente melhor que controlar o nível de volatilidade. Adicionalmente, uma estratégia cuja exposição a momentum é linear na previsão a um dia do rácio de Sortino atinge, com base numa regressão com os quatro factores de Carhart, um alpha annualizado de 107.38%, ignorando custos de transacção

Testing for volatility persistence change: the effect of the credit crisis on the Portuguese banks

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsIn this work project I propose to study the effect of the 2008 credit crisis on the Portuguese banking system. I will analyze the volatility of stock-returns of seven representative banks in two distinct periods, before (2001-2007) and during (2008-2012) the credit crisis. The purpose is the analysis of possible persistence changes in the structure of conditional volatility after the shock caused by the spread of the crisis. I will test for nonstationarity within a stochastic volatility model, using modified unit root tests, and also in a fractional integration context, in order to detect possible changes in the memory parameter

Development and initial validation of the Northwick Park Therapy Dependency Assessment

Objectives: To describe the development and initial validation of the Northwick Park Therapy Dependency Assessment (NPTDA) as a measure of therapy interventions in neurorehabilitation

Bilingual Education and the Law

A public hearing was held before the Joint Committee on Education, Arts and Humanities on May 13, 1999 at the Massachusetts State House. It was Chaired by House Representative Harold Lane and Senator Robert Antonioni. Two House Bills, H3444 sponsored by Representative Mary S. Rogeness and H3441 Sponsored by Ronald Mariano, proposed changes to the Bilingual Education Laws, and one House Bill H3037, sponsored by Antonio F. D. Cabral, Marc Pacheco and Jarret Barrios, prohibited the Board of Education from making certain changes to the Bilingual Education Law. We testified in favor of HB3037 and against HB3444 and HB3441