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Young stars are surrounded by massive, rotating disks of dust and gas, which supply a reservoir of material that may be incorporated into planets or accreted onto the central star. In this dissertation, I use high angular resolution observations at a range of wavelengths to understand the structure, ubiquity, and evolutionary timescales of protoplanetary disks.First, I describe a study of Class I protostars, objects believed to be at an evolutionary stage between collapsing spherical clouds and fully-assembled young stars surrounded by protoplanetary disks. I use a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to model new 0.9 micron scattered light images, 1.3 mm continuum images, and broadband spectral energy distributions. This modeling shows that Class I sources are probably surrounded by massive protoplanetary disks embedded in massive infalling envelopes. For the best-fitting models of the circumstellar dust distributions, I determine several important properties, including envelope and disk masses, mass infall rates, and system inclinations, and I use these results to constrain the evolutionary stage of these objects.Second, I discuss observations of the innermost regions of more evolved disks around T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars, obtained with the Palomar Testbed and Keck Interferometers. I constrain the spatial and temperature structure of the circumstellar material at sub-AU radii, and demonstrate that lower-mass stars are surrounded by inclined disks with puffed-up inner edges 0.1-1 AU from the star. In contrast, the truncated inner disks around more massive stars may not puff-up, indicating that disk structure depends on stellar properties. I discuss the implications of these results for disk accretion, terrestrial planet formation and giant planet migration.Finally, I put these detailed studies of disk structure into a broader context by constraining the mass distribution and evolutionary timescales of circumstellar disks. Using the Owens Valley Millimeter Array, I mapped the millimeter continuum emission toward >300 low-mass stars in the NGC 2024 and Orion Nebula clusters. These observations demonstrate that the average disk mass in each cluster is comparable to the "minimum-mass protosolar nebula," and that there may be disk evolution on one million year timescales.

The purpose of business is to employ capital factors in such a manner as to generate value for its customers and profits for its owners. To achieve these ends, management must make at least three distinct decisions - the operating, investment, and financing decisions. The purpose of this study is to formulate a modeling methodology that harmonically analyzes and explains how the investment decision and capital elasticity influence competitive advantage. The research explores the descriptive literature for the current states of computational modeling, accounting theory and practice, managerial finance, macroeconomics, capital theory, and harmonic analysis in order to provide evidence supporting the content validity of a proposed modeling framework, which encodes, modulates, and transforms raw financial data into waveforms suitable for harmonic analysis. The framework is operationalized algebraically, translated into a high-level computational language, and subsequently tested using simulation methods in order to analyze the computational robustness of the implementation. Finally, empirical testing shows a significant correlation exists between the model's reported results and the profitability of sole proprietorships in the U.S. providing initial evidence of the framework's construct validity. Additional empirical testing shows that the relationship between the model's reported results and net profitability is stronger than results returned from the use of raw capital magnitudes providing evidence of the model's positive capacity for recommending decisions. The study uses extant financial data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which maintains and releases Federal tax information extracted from its archives into the public domain through its Statistics of Income (SOI) programs.

This dissertation proposes a computational technique for automated "invention" of conceptual schemes of thermal systems. The input provided to the automated problem solver is a description of the streams entering and leaving the system. The output is a network of elementary processes: compression, expansion, heating, cooling, and chemical processes. The problem solver seeks a network that is feasible, and offers an optimal (or at least favorable) combination of energy and capital costs. The synthesis process is modeled as a heuristic search conducted in a state-space of all possible design versions. The main ideas of the dissertation have been implemented in a computer program called TED, which invented a number of nontrivial schemes.TED starts with an initial state (or states), which may be either proposed by the user or generated automatically. TED evaluates each state using a special technique of exergy analysis applied to an infinitesimal temperature interval. This allows us to describe the thermal system by several integral characteristics which are functions of temperature. One particularly important integral characteristic - a measure of system's Second Law infeasibility - is introduced in this work; it allows a uniform treatment of both feasible and infeasible design states.TED then selects the most promising of the available designs. This selection is guided by a specialized search algorithm BP* which is shown to be probabilistically admissible. The results of the exergy analysis are used to perform a look-ahead evaluation of the design states. BP* also uses backpropagation of the state evaluation function to reduce the amount of backtracking.TED then improves the selected design by applying one of the transforming operators and thereby generating a new design. Each transformation involves addition of an incremental network of thermal processes to the original state and reduces either irreversibility (exergy loss) or infeasibility of the thermal system. The application of the transformations is controlled by a heuristic move generation function that selects the most promising transformations. The new design is added to the database of the available design states.The search continues with these evaluate-select-transform iterations until an (approximately) optimal design is found.

The purpose of this book was to describe the variables that contributed to the establishment of a charter school in an urban Arizona and rural California school district, noting the similarities and dissimilarities and disclosing the factors used to justify implementation of the Montessori theory of education. The secondary purpose of this book was to describe the guidelines for maintaining a charter school, the evaluation methods and factors used in the school's unique experience with staff development. The two schools experienced many similarities when the same variables were applied to both schools. As a result, the stakeholders of both schools used the principles of the organizational theory area of empowerment to implement choices in curriculum. This book provides an insight for parents, teachers, and community leaders to develop strategies by utilizing the same principles to meet the educational needs of children.

This study attempts to develop a conceptual frame work to deal with operations and management in a foreign business environment. The study develops a measure for business financial performance by employing factor analysis methods to integrate three profit-related ratios, derived from Modified DuPont Model, utilizing financial performance data from 630 multinational companies ranked in Business Week's Global 1000 report between years 1994-1997. In the analysis of multinational companies cases, approximately 400 sets of financial data (Return/Assets, Return/Revenues, Return/Equity), were categorized and computed for intercorrelations and development of the financial performance index. A new financial performance measure was derived and termed the Financial Performance Index or FPI. Indices trends for 4 years were generated and compared among four parent countries (France, Germany, Japan, and U.S.), across four selected industry groups, i.e., automobile, pharmaceuticals, electric and electronic equipments and banking. In the analysis of the multinational companies data, the financial performance index exhibited patterns and trends which varied by country and across industry groups; moreover, they added analytical depth when interpreted along with market shares and sales mode. To test the hypothesis that a multinational company's financial performance in foreign business environment is linearly related to the host country's political conditions. Twelve political uncertainties indicators (independent variable) in thirteen host countries were chosen to test for linear relationship with the level of financial performance index (dependent variables). Five equations were formulated to predict the Financial Performance Indices of the four selected industries and the country composite. A step-wise method of multiple regression analysis was employed to measure and determine a predication equation with most favorable financial performance in thirteen host countries of four major industries, i.e., automobile, pharmaceuticals, electric and electronic equipments, and banking. The combination of political risk indicators in the host country can explain the variations of the country composite FPI and the FPI across four selected industries. Results of multiple regression analysis support the hypothesis, enabling prediction of the FPI as well as analysis of the differential importance of the political risk indicators. A model of international business operations was fully developed to be applied as a conceptual framework for further research and practical applications in the field of international business operations.

A careful examination of the evolutions of Curriculum as Political Text and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1973 disclosed certain contributory facets to teacher disillusionment in an inclusive high school environment. A diminishing sense of professional self-efficacy, self-empowerment, and optimism stemmed primarily from the political machinations of a hidden curriculum and a misapplication of an inclusive classroom practice.The process used to arrive at these conclusions was heuristic research, wherein outward perceptions and realties assumed meaning vis-a-vis inward reflection and introspection,disclosing an unequivocal new awareness, illumination, and enlightenment. Such personal enrichment, however, arrived only after a journey-of-self unfolded through the three phases of heuristic research--Immersion, Acquisition, and Realization.First and foremost, this was a human study that examined specific elements contributing to teacher disillusionment. During Immersion, disquieting professional life experiences formed the preliminary data through which and from which was extrapolated an essence or meaning that ultimately assumed form through autobiographical narrative.The second phase, Acquisition, included input from a variety of sources, ranging from texts, literature, and discourses to federal legislation and law review to human subjects'studies. What was "acquired," then scrutinized, was new knowledge relative to disillusionment in the inclusive classroom, especially with regard to curriculum as political text.Finally, the Realization Phase aggregated and synthesized the components disclosed in Immersion and Acquisition, which led to a dynamic "coming together" of seemingly disparate elements, ultimately affirming a sense of professionalism and validating search-of-self.

Karl Mannheim, and Karl Marx suggested that there is a relationship between economic and political institutions and that behaviors and attitudes are influenced by this. Viewing this postulate as a conception which posits the economic mode of production as the locus of causality for culture, this examination of capitalism as culture, investigates how education and its pedagogical techniques, as a means of "enculturation," reflects the capitalist economic mode of production. Building on the theoretical notions in the Sociology of knowledge and Structuralism, this hermeneutical analysis discusses how pedagogical techniques and curriculum arrangements of public schools in capitalist societies correlate with the organization of labor (for it is that role of the self which is dominant in capitalist societies). Data for this research was gathered through the content analysis of pedagogical techniques and curriculum arrangements adopted by The School Board of Broward County, Florida. Results show that the current shift in the organization of labor (from industrial to post-industrial) parallels, and therefore correlates with, the shift in curriculum and pedagogical arrangements of The School Board of Broward County, Florida; as such, it is a legitimate claim to suggest that the socialization of the self is determined by its relation to the mode of production.

There has been a lot of interest among marketing practitioners and researchers in the concept of marketing communications as related to computer-mediated marketing environments as a result of the commercialization of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a marketing and communication medium. Despite growing interest, there is a dearth of research on the processual nature of communication between marketers and consumers. The overall aim of this study, therefore, is to expand our understanding of marketing communication within the computer-mediated marketing environments. This understanding is achieved in the thesis by incorporating ideas from traditional marketing communication models those based on a one-way, general outbound, linear model in which marketers deliver communication to customers and prospects and contemporary marketing communications theory within a contextualist framework, to examine the evolving marketing communication medium. Given the growing empowerment of customers through information technology that has created the interactive marketplace, the study aims to illuminate concretely that Internet exerts a mediating influence on the relationship between marketers and consumers. Following this articulation, the study considers computer-mediated marketing environments as a technological development that increases the options for marketing communications. Placing marketing communication and computer-mediated marketing environments within a historical context of technology as consistent with social constructivist framework rather than thinking about the medium as an isolated phenomenon, builds the base for understanding the opportunities and difficulties associated with marketing communications and the Internet in contrast to capabilities for marketing prior to the Internet. The current study indicates that marketing communication in the computer-mediated marketing environments possess some fundamental uniqueness, which are ancillary and augment the consumption processes. The study proposed a conceptual framework for understanding marketing communication trajectory in the evolving interactive marketplace. The framework proposed provides a new base for developing a wide range of marketing communication programmes for practitioners and academic researchers.

American, African, European, and Middle Eastern (N = 420) technical professional employees of a multinational organization were surveyed to explore the relationship between perceived values congruence (PVC) and organizational commitment (OC). PVC was looked at as a function of fit between: (a) person s and organization s actual values and (b) organization s espoused and actual values. Four dimensions of values (ethics, people, change, and bottom line) and three components of OC (affective, continuance, and normative) were considered. The key findings of the study were: (a) PVC was related to OC; (b) the relationship was different for each component of OC and socio-cultural group; and (c) the regression models that described these relationships showed that each socio-cultural group was most strongly associated with a different dimension of values: change for Americans, bottom line for Africans, people for Europeans, and ethics for Middle Easterners.

Modality is a grammatical, or semantic-grammatical, category. It is an important component of human languages. This is at least the case in most European languages. To what extent is it a near-universal? This thesis is to contribute to the question. It focuses on modal verbs in English and Chinese, two genetically and geographically unrelated languages, and analyzes what these two languages have in common and how they differ in their systems of modality. To achieve the aim, the thesis adopts the theoretical framework proposed by van der Auwera (1996, 1998 with Plungian, 2001) for the typological study of modality. Its language-specific descriptions involve the morphosyntactic features, notional functions, modal logic, and diachronic development. With these descriptions, it constructs a cross-linguistic database in a uniform, parallel structure. Then on the basis of this database, it deals with the cross-linguistic issues about modality in English and Chinese. Like many of the studies in this area, this research makes use of the well-sampled data in the relevant literature, thereby assuring the same degree of representativeness. When the data do not meet this need, it resorts to computer-based corpora. In the diachronic study of Chinese modality, quantitative analysis is adopted in proposing a development path for the senses of a modal. English translation is given particular attention in the description of Chinese modality and cross-linguistic analyses. One can only know one's own language only if one compares it with other languages. The present study is conducive to a better understanding of English and Chinese. It contributes not only to the investigation of language universals, but also to the study of human cognition and other linguistic or applied linguistic issues.

Innovation has a more and more important role in all industries, leading to a growing interest on the efficient management of the innovation process. For a better understanding of this process, it has been organised in 5 stages: idea generation, idea selection, idea development, idea implementation and revision.This work provides a short review for each one of these 5 stages of the innovation process, its tools, methodologies and processes.The AutoEuropa case study, described in this work, illustrates an innovation process in which a large number of tools and methodologies have been used with excellent results. In this case, a prototype idea management system has been used with a strong impact on the results, specially, at the organisation and productivity level of the idea management team.For a better understanding of the current practices of innovation management, a survey has been developed, distributed and analysed. The survey results provided information on which are the tools and methodologies more used and graded the organisations as active, watcher or passive. From the analysis of the results, it was possible to detect significant correlations between the use of the different tools and confirm that the organisation described in the case study had made a strongly innovative initiative.

We have experienced different theories of software construction paradigms in the last few decades; such as ``structured programming'' in the 1970's and "object-oriented programming" in the 1980's. The object-oriented paradigm is considered a standard for many software development activities, from the analysis phase to various support phases. There is little quantitative research, however, regarding the question whether object-oriented programming improves productivity. Many assume that object-oriented programming is more productive than traditional structured programming. This assumption lacks concrete, empirical data that support such belief. This dissertation identifies problems in the current object-oriented programming practice, and then presents an alternative paradigm to help overcome these problems. This paradigm separates the declaration of data structures from program executable instructions. We call this paradigm {\it the separation principle}. We first tried to understand what this paradigm means in practice. We developed example programs in a variety of application areas. We found that the separation principle is a viable paradigm for practical program construction. In order to demonstrate the validity of this paradigm, we have conducted both theoretical and empirical studies. The theoretical study consists of complexity measurements. The empirical study constitutes human understanding measurement; its purpose is to show statistical significance. The results give evidence of the effectiveness of the separation principle for practical software construction.

Hermeneutic-phenomenological interviews were conducted to explore community-based extension workers' (CBEWs') previous work and training experiences and how such experiences contributed to their present working relationships as partners in community development. CBEWs' responses foreshadowed challenges and problems of coordination that could have otherwise been addressed had they been considered integral elements of previous training curricula. The findings throw light on how government policies, though explicitly formulated to enhance conditions of service coordination, can be in variance with realities of coordination at the village level. Awareness of the fissure of policies and actual coordination does not refute the importance of government intervention in community development, given CBEWs' status as government employees. Rather, it is only with understanding of and familiarity with CBEWs' circumstances that such policies would truly address the challenges, problems, and possibilities of effective coordination.

Culture is dynamic. But in cultural (ethnic) groups certain elements of culture such as cultural values relating to the family are regarded indispensable for social order, and therefore for the survival of the society. Accordingly those concerned strive to maintain social order by rediscovering what they regard as traditional cultural values. The thesis of this study is: the process of the development of cultural values relating to the family can be defined as "Spiral Involution"; namely a development through interparticipative stages, each stage (past or present) participating in the other, as impulse to further development. Therefore the proposition of this study is: dialogal-value-system-concordance, a conscious intervention by those concerned through dialogue towards optimal social order.