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1
Hoppitt, W. J. E. "Social processes influencing learning : combining theoretical and empirical approaches." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.604231.
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There are a number of processes which can result in social transmission of behaviour patterns; so much effort in social learning research has gone into devising experimental procedures that can isolate imitation from other social learning processes. In this thesis I develop method for distinguishing “simple” social learning processes and test these methods using the domestic fowl as a model organism. Strong evidence is presented for a response facilitation effect on a number of behaviour patterns, a process which might function to the same ends as imitation in animal populations. Recent models have suggested that an ability to imitate might be dependent on prior experience rather than specialised learning mechanisms. A neural network model is used to investigate these hypotheses, and generate predictions as to the conditions under which a capacity for imitation should arise. The model predicts that processes such as behavioural synchrony between individuals might result in the formation of appropriate neural links for an imitative ability. These predictions are tested using experimental and observational data on the domestic fowl. The model also suggests that similar mechanisms and developmental processes might underlie imitation and simpler social learning processes, such as response facilitation and observational conditioning. This suggests that a process of positive feedback might operate, with social learning promoting behavioural synchrony, which in turn promotes the development of social learning mechanisms.
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Smith, Jane Rebecca. "Psychological approaches to understanding and influencing outcomes in severe asthma." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.501115.
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Evidence suggests that psychosocial factors are important in severe asthma. Wider research and theory highlight complex, bi-directional pathways by which interactions may occur. This thesis took a psychological perspective to investigating these. A systematic review including 17 interventions targetting psychosocial factors in adults with severe asthma highlighted that most do not explicitly consider the multiple pathways by which psychosocial factors and asthma interact. This may explain their limited effectiveness and suggests scope for their improvement, informed by further research. Such research requires adequate measures of important constructs. This thesis therefore identified, compiled and, where necessary, developed suitable measures of clinical outcomes, self-management behaviours, and key emotional and cognitive factors (perceived control, readiness to change). These were used, and in the case of a measure of readiness to change self-management also subjected to detailed testing, in an observational study of 132 adults with severe asthma. This investigated cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between psychological factors and outcomes (asthma control, asthma-specific quality of life and severe attacks).
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Dalton-Brits, E., and M. Viljoen. "Personality traits and learning approaches : are they influencing the learning process?" Journal for New Generation Sciences, Vol 8, Issue 3: Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11462/565.
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Published ArticleThe relationship between the big five personality traits, Extraversion, Agreeableness Neuroticism, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience and deep and surface approaches to learning forms the basis of this article. The findings of a research study in this milieu will be presented to prove that earlier studies in this field have been upheld, but that an important deviation has occurred on certain levels of personality. A students way of learning implies the type of learning that is taking place. Ultimately we as lecturers want to encourage deep learning as this stimulates retention of information, important in production of students that are ready for employment.
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GIUBERTI, GIANLUCA. "Understanding factors influencing starch degradation dynamics in monogastrics: in vitro and in vivo approaches." Doctoral thesis, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10280/1310.
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Lo scopo del presente lavoro è stato quello di esaminare il potenziale di idrolisi e degradabilità dell’amido dei cereali e co-prodotti e di valutare gli aspetti collegati. L’approccio utilizzato comprende sia test in vitro che in vivo. In particolare:
- Una serie d’indagini in vitro ha fornito dati sul potenziale di degradabilità enzimatica dell’amido dei cereali e co-prodotti considerando sia l’influenza della struttura dell’amido, del tipo di cereale, del rapporto amilosio:amilopectina, del processo termico, dell’insilamento, dello stadio di maturazione e delle pratiche agronomiche.
- Una valutazione funzionale basata sul calcolo del potenziale di degradabilità enzimatica dell’amido tramite la stima dell’indice glicemico in vitro, combinata con un approccio matematico di modellizzazione dei dati ottenuti, è stata proposta per fornire un metodo efficace di screening dei materiali amidacei utilizzati comunamente nella formulazione per diete destinate ai suini.
- Un esperimento in vitro è stato condotto per investigare la risposta glicemica post-prandiale in suini alimentati con diete che differivano nel potenziale di idrolisi enzimatica.
Infine, considerando la crescente attenzione dei nutrizionisti sulla matrice proteica dei cereali (con particolare importanza data alle prolammine), i metodi comunemente utilizzati per le tecniche di estrazione delle prolammine sono stati confrontati e ri-investigati.In the present work, it has been attempted to examine the variability in starch hydrolysis and digestion from cereal grains and co-products and to study aspects related, in order to give a better understand of the science behind the differences in grains/feeds starch digestion potential. The general approach was to use a combination of in vitro and in vivo techniques. In particular: - A series of in vitro investigations has provided data on the degradation potential of starch from cereal grains and co-products considering the influence of starch structure, cereal type, amylose-amylopectin ratio, heat processing, ensiling, stage of maturity and of agricultural practices. - A laboratory-based functional evaluation of starch value of cereal grains based on a predicted glycemic index approach, combined with a mathematical first-order exponential model, has been proposed in order to allow an efficient screening of starchy-materials entering in the pig diet formulation. - An in vivo experiment has been undertaken to investigate the postprandial plasma glucose response in pigs fed diets containing starch with a wide range in in vitro digestion patterns. Lastly, taking into account the increasing attention of swine nutritionists on prolamin proteins, the most commonly used prolamin extraction procedures were compared and reinvestigated, in order to get useful information for routine lab analysis.
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Eltweri, Ahmed Mohamed El Hadi. "An investigation into the Auditing Profession Regulatory Framework and the factors influencing the adoption of ISAs in the Libyan context." Thesis, Liverpool John Moores University, 2015. http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/4438/.
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Accounting information for decision making needs to be reliable, unless the information is audited, it cannot be regarded as reliable. Therefore, although extensive research in the area of accounting in general, and auditing in particular, has been conducted in the developed countries, similar investigations within developing countries have so far been relatively limited. Moreover, global financial crises, the most recent in 2007/8, have increased the pressures for better regulations with the aim of harmonising the auditing profession globally. This study therefore aims to help fill the gap in research and to provide recommendations to the governing body of the Libyan auditing profession, in order to address the difficulties faced by the profession, and advance and improve the quality of professional auditing practice. This study is predominantly positivist in essence, but, based on the nature of the problem and research questions, a mixed methods approach to gathering data from stakeholders in the auditing profession is adopted. A questionnaire (196 respondents), and a set of semi-structured interviews (nine participants), represent the quantitative and qualitative instruments of the study respectively. The research sample for both empirical exercises is comprised of individuals from five different groups representing the Libyan auditing profession stakeholders. This wide spread of participants is selected in order to generate valid, reliable, generalizable, and meaningful data, and conclusions. The overall conclusion drawn from the analysis is that the Libyan audit profession regulations are considered inadequate by the profession itself, since they fall short of meeting international standards, as supported by the fact that many foreign companies invest in Libya, and they insist on their auditing using ISAs as a guarantee of transparent and high quality auditing. The Libyan audit profession is unwilling to implement these international standards, and this weakness needs to be addressed. Furthermore, issues relating to licensing, accounting and auditing education, examination for entry to the profession, and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) must all be reviewed. In addition, a new regulatory framework, that involves government supervision, and the use of internationally-recognised standards in the performance of auditing duties, must be introduced. In terms of the most appropriate regulatory approach, the results indicated that the independent regulator model is preferred; and with respect to auditing standards, the study finds that the preferred approach is to harmonise all auditing standards used in Libya, and to adopt the ISAs with certain modifications that suit the Libyan context. Furthermore, the study sample identified six factors that impact positively on the adoption of the ISAs, and a further six factors that had negative influences. This research contributes to the body of literature by filling the gap regarding the Libyan auditing profession in general, and identifying factors that have an impact on the adoption of ISAs in particular. Recommendations are provided to the authority responsible for supervising the Libyan auditing profession that essentially require the upgrading of all professionals, and perseverance to ensure national and international development of the profession in particular, and to other countries with similar characteristics in general.
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Sherley, Richard Brian. "Factors influencing the demography of endangered seabirds at Robben Island, South Africa : implications and approaches for management and conservation." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.528091.
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Huang, Mei-hui. "Factors influencing self-directed learning readiness amongst Taiwanese nursing students." Queensland University of Technology, 2008. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/20709/.
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Rapid scientific and technological advances in health care mean that nurses need to keep learning and engage in professional education so that they can continue to provide safe and quality care. Education programs which prepare nurses for practice as a registered nurse have a vital role to play in ensuring that graduates are self-directed in responding to the need for ongoing learning throughout their professional career. In many countries, improving students’ readiness for self-directed learning has thus gained increasing recognition as being an important goal of nursing education programs. This level of interest in developing self-directedness in learning is evident in many policy documents and research in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to investigate factors influencing self-directed learning readiness amongst Taiwanese nursing students. A conceptual framework adopted from Biggs’s ‘3P model of teaching and learning’ was constructed to guide this study’s investigation. This study employed a two-staged mixed-method design to obtain a better understanding of Taiwanese students’ experience of SDL in undergraduate nursing programs. Stage one of the present study was a qualitative approach using semi-structured interview to explore students’ experiences with learning activities which they perceived to be self-directed in their undergraduate programs. Eight students were interviewed. Findings from this stage reveal that participants perceived a shift in teaching and learning styles between their previous nursing programs and the university. The more frequent use of student-directed learning activities, in which students were encouraged to be active and to take responsibility for their learning tasks, was one of the changes in teaching and learning approaches perceived by participants. Participants further suggested a number of factors that influenced the outcomes of these learning activities, including teacher-student interaction, facilitation process and learning resources. Stage two of this study used a quantitative approach consisting of two phases: instrument pilot testing and a cross-sectional survey. In the first phase, the instruments were translated into Chinese through a rigorous translation process and tested with a convenience sample of nursing students in Taiwan. Results indicated the translated instruments were reliable and stable. The second phase, a cross-sectional survey, was conducted to examine the conceptual framework of this study. A total of 369 undergraduate nursing students completed the questionnaire. Results of data analysis provides support for the conceptual framework proposed for this study, suggesting that students’ achievement goals and their perceptions of the learning environment significantly influence their adoption of learning approaches and the development of SDL readiness. Based on the results, this study provides practical implications that nurse educators may adopt to enhance students’ SDL readiness. This study also provides theoretical implications and recommendations for future research. It is envisaged that these recommendations may help future researchers focus their research design and further understandings of how to help students develop their ability to become self-directed learners.
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Arango, Terán Diego Emilio, Terán Jorge Ernesto Arango, and Pearl Bitanihirwe. "The use of language as an influencing tool in leadership : a way of understanding Brexit." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för organisation och entreprenörskap (OE), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-95632.
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Abstract New nationalist ideologies have permeated politics for the last decade. New leaders, followers, and conducive environments have emerged to cause the most controversial and unique episodes in recent politics. Brexit was selected by having a set of exclusive characteristics, factors, and social elements which resulted in the UK leaving the EU after 47 years. Additionally, two academic attributes were considered to be politically researched, which were leadership and communication techniques. The former established the relationship between two parts of society (leaders and followers) and how their roles developed during the Brexit referendum campaign, and the latter examined political language by extracting the most representative rhetorical means used by the British leaders to run it. The set of rhetorical techniques was thoroughly investigated using a specially adopted analysis. Several examples were included in how they were performed politically and strategically to create that democratic result. To execute this study, we developed qualitative research based on a study case strategy, descriptive purpose, and by having an inductive approach. Consequently, we selected a sampling method which met specific research criteria and allowed us to analyse this political phenomenon rhetorically. Besides, our empirical data was formed by using interactive and visual material which provided a credible source of study to approach, identify, and answer our research questions. Finally, Brexit’s outcome was viewed as the end of an era in terms of faith in the benefits of globalisation, open labour markets, European integration (Norris and Inglehart, 2019), loss of identity from British individuals, and the reflection of a fractured society (Gherghina and O’Malley, 2019).
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Mardhiah, Ulfah [Verfasser]. "Determination of biotic and abiotic factors influencing soil structure development in a riparian system based on observational and experimental approaches / Ulfah Mardhiah." Berlin : Freie Universität Berlin, 2015. http://d-nb.info/1068504838/34.
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Mucavele, Simao. "Factors influencing the implementation of the new basic education curriculum in Mozambican schools." Thesis, Pretoria : [s.n.], 2008. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04272009-095504.
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Jiao, Xiaomin. "Factors influencing students' approaches to learning a case study of postgraduate students at a New Zealand university : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education, Auckland University of Technology 2005." Full thesis. Abstract, 2005.
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Wessels, Arie. "The development of complex systems : an integrated approach to design influencing." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25461.
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The aim of this research is to identify and analyze the impact of design changes to a system in a concurrent engineering environment and the development project, and to make proposals how to minimize the impact on the development project performance. A further objective is also to determine the effect of design changes as a result of design influencing. In a concurrent engineering environment system components are being developed in parallel. Any change to one component of the system may impact on other system components under development. Design as part of the systems engineering process is an iterative and dynamic process. Although the systems engineering process has been very well structured and refined over the years, it still remains to a certain extent an unpredictable process. A consequence of this is that changes to a design of a subsystem or component comprising the system can occur at any stage of the process. The systems engineering process is a “static” process since there are no time constraints or management of consumption of resources on the different systems engineering processes and steps. As such system engineering cannot function in isolation. To bring a system into being, systems engineering must function within a project management environment to provide the management of schedule and the consumption of resources. The interaction between project management and system engineering processes can have a distinct influence on the systems engineering process and must be taken into account when studying the performance of system development projects. This research investigates the project management/systems engineering interface with specific focus on cost and schedule. Since project management is the encompassing process wherein a system is being developed, its influence on the system engineering process will also be investigated. This research has the following research objectives: - Optimization of design influencing by dividing the design teams into two different complementary but opposing mindset groups.
- Evaluate the impact of design changes in terms of cost and schedule overruns in a concurrent engineering development environment.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM)
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Tjosevik, Ragnhild, and Birgitte Refsland. "Factors influencing International Entry Strategies : A Born Global approach." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for industriell økonomi og teknologiledelse, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-20955.
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This study considers small Norwegian high-technology firms, with characteristics similar to those of Born Global firms. These types of firms have received an increasing amount of attention in research the last decade, but the specific field of how different factors affect their international entry strategies is scattered. With a basis of a multiple-case study, this thesis contributes with an assessment of how founder-, market- and product characteristics influence the international entry strategies. The dimensions of the strategies that we have considered are market selection dimensions, entry mode and pace of internationalization. This study finds that the founder teams are the most influential factor on the international entry strategies as they take the product and the market into consideration and set the path for the strategies. The market and product are important underlying factors for the strategies. The product is especially important for the choice of entry mode, while the market is highly influential on the pace of internationalization and for which markets the firms choose to target. The firms’ rapid pace of internationalization is enabled by all the factors identified, with founder experience as the most prominent factor. Industry specific experience that the founder team brings with them from earlier work places is especially prominent and crucial for the fast pace of internationalization seen in this study. The dimensions of market selection have fewer affects from the identified factors, but the market in itself does influence the specific choice of which markets and segments to target. Implications of this study are that it is important to continuously attain market knowledge and adapt to market changes. Further, when planning which entry mode to use, it should be taken into account that the product may appeal for a specific entry mode, and use that mode to improve distribution. The characteristics of the founders should be acknowledged to increase awareness of capabilities in the establishment of new start-up companies, in order to fully utilize their capabilities. It could also be beneficial for those who gather founder teams to extensively consider the founder characteristics for the composition of the team.
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Nagpal, Seema. "Factors Influencing Outcomes of Heart Failure: A Population Health Approach." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/20242.
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Background: Symptomatic heart failure is a chronic and disabling condition that affects over 350 000 Canadians and is characterized by inevitable progression. Historically, research on the ways to increase survival has focused on biomedical factors. However, the continued poor prognosis of heart failure has prompted the search for other ways to improve the lives of these patients. Research in other chronic conditions demonstrates that social circumstances, described collectively as individual social interactions (e.g. social support, social participation) and community social factors (e.g. social capital, social norms), can influence health outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to describe and assess the impact of selected social circumstances potentially related to heart failure outcomes. Methods: Two literature reviews and one empirical study were performed. Conceptual models were proposed to describe the hypothesized pathways between selected social circumstances and heart failure outcomes. The first review was a systematic review of quantitative studies evaluating the relationship between social support and both rehospitalization and death. The review included a critical analysis of the methods employed by previous studies. The second review integrated the qualitative and quantitative literature describing the relationship between individual social interactions (including support, roles and participation) and the quality of life of patients or experience of living with heart failure. A narrative summary was provided and an integration of findings from both qualitative and quantitative study designs was performed. In the empirical study, patients‘ demographic and clinical information was examined simultaneously with selected community factors in a multilevel analysis. Outcomes of interest included rehospitalization or death of heart failure patients. Results: The systematic review shows that previous quantitative research has linked social support to reduced rehospitalization, but there is little evidence to link it with prolonged survival. The critique of the methods describes an inadequate conceptualization and inconsistent measurement of social support. A conceptual model showing how social support can influence rehospitalization is proposed. The integrative review presents qualitative research that identified the following social interactions as important components of the heart failure experience: social support, social participation and role fulfillment. However, no quantitative relationship between social support and quality of life was found. The potential reasons for the discrepant findings between the qualitative and quantitative studies include: the focus on social support as the only component of social interactions assessed in the quantitative literature; and the inconsistent measurement of social support. A conceptual model is presented to describe the multiple components of social interactions and the theoretical basis for their effects. The multilevel analysis demonstrates that individual factors exerted the strongest effect on heart failure outcomes in most models. Community characteristics had little influence on rehospitalization or death. Study design and analysis issues are proposed to explain these findings. Conclusion: The literature reviews and the empirical study provide a contribution to the population health literature, offering a broad approach to assessing the determinants of disease progression in heart failure patients. This thesis research advances the discussion about which social circumstances may influence heart failure outcomes and their pathways. The use of the proposed conceptual models in future research will help clarify the role of social circumstances in the prognosis of heart failure.
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Nel, Petrus. "Factors influencing persistence of aspiring chartered accountants : a fortigenic approach." Thesis, Link to the online version, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/450.
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Brooks, Audrey Jessica. "Factors influencing women's recovery from substance abuse: A grounded theory approach." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/187254.
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The study of female substance use has traditionally been neglected. Yet female substance abusers differ from their male counterparts in the areas of economic resources, vulnerability to impaired family relations, abuse and victimization, social isolation, shame and stigma when entering treatment, and treatment resources to meet their needs as women and mothers. Despite this, females do as well, or better, than males in treatment, However, the number who actually complete treatment is still very low. A grounded theory approach was used to identify conditions influencing treatment retention and to develop a model of women's recovery from substance use. Miller's mutual empowerment model was used to generate preliminary hypotheses. Miller's model states that women's psychological development occurs in the context of their relationships and connection to others. It was hypothesized that the relationship with the treatment provider would be the critical variable influencing treatment retention. It was further hypothesized that supportive, empowering relationships are a crucial aspect of recovery, as well as the emergence of a new identity. These hypotheses were supported. A model, recovery through connections, was developed. A woman's recovery is dependent upon the connections she forms with treatment and herself. The importance of these connections is derived from the woman's need to fill a void, or state of deficit. The recovery process consists of two stages: connection with treatment and connection with self. Connection with treatment represents a positive connection with treatment. This connection is facilitated or hindered by positive and negative treatment characteristics. Positive treatment characteristics facilitate the formation of supportive relationships and lead to treatment completion. Negative treatment characteristics impede their formation and lead to quitting treatment. In the connection with self stage the woman is learning to meet her own needs and access power within herself. Personal qualities facilitating this connection are will, resourcefulness, spirituality and trusting others. Qualities hindering this connection are shame and self-doubt. Two contextual factors influencing the model are external forces and mothering. The final outcome is transformation. In transforming her life the woman transfers her connections from a using lifestyle and culture to a non-using, prosocial lifestyle.
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Hanssen, Christina Wår. "Representations of Scale : Influencing EU policy through transnational networks." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for historie og klassiske fag, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-21481.
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All Norwegian regions are represented with permanent offices and are engaged in different activities in the EU capital. This thesis investigates the regional and network level of EU policy-making, and asks the questions of what Norwegian regions are doing in Brussels; if are they are able to influence EU policy; and what effect participation in transnational policy networks have on their abilities to influence EU policy. To answer this, it applies a theoretical framework comprised of multi-level governance and the policy network approach to conduct an analysis of empirical data collected through interviews with different actors in Brussels. The present thesis argues that participation in transnational policy networks improve Norwegian regions' abilities to influence EU policy through being 'representations of scale'.
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Ajmera, Beena Danny. "Factors Influencing the Post-Earthquake Shear Strength." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/56605.
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Although clays are generally considered stable materials under seismic conditions, recent failures initiated in clay layers after earthquakes have emphasized the need to study the cyclic and post-cyclic behavior of these materials. Moreover, if strength loss as a result of cyclic loading were to occur in the material comprising the dam and/or dam foundation, the consequences of failure could be substantial. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of plasticity characteristics, mineralogical composition, and accumulated energy on the cyclic behavior, post-cyclic shear strength and the degradation in shear strength due to cyclic loading in normally consolidated clays. Seventeen soil samples prepared in the laboratory from kaolinite, montmorillonite, and quartz were tested using static and cyclic simple shear apparatuses. In addition, the results of cyclic simple shear tests on twelve natural samples were provided by Fugro Consultants, Inc. in Houston, TX. Using the results, cyclic strength curves were developed to represent 2.5%, 5% and 10% double amplitude shear strains. These curves were used to examine the influences of mineralogical composition, plasticity characteristics and shear strain on the cyclic resistance of soil samples. A power function was used to represent the cyclic strength curves. The samples were found to become increasingly resistant to cyclic loading as the plasticity index increased. Moreover, the soils with montmorillonite as the clay mineral were noted to have consistently higher cyclic resistances than the soils with kaolinite as the clay mineral. By examining the power functions, it was found that the cyclic strength curve approaches linearity as the plasticity index increases in soils having kaolinite as the clay mineral. However, the opposite trend is observed in soils having montmorillonite as the clay mineral. The study shows that the post-cyclic shear strength increases with increasing plasticity index. Moreover, the post-cyclic shear strengths of soils with montmorillonite as the clay mineral were significantly higher than the post-cyclic shear strengths of soils with kaolinite as the clay mineral. The degradation in shear strength due to cyclic loading appeared unaffected by mineralogy, but a greater reduction in strength was noted with decreasing plasticity index. The post-cyclic shear strength was also found to reduce as the number of cycles required to cause 10% double amplitude shear strain increased. The energy approach considering the accumulated energy per unit volume in the soil mass as a result of cyclic loading was also utilized in this study. The results from the energy approach were independent of the cyclic wave form, but were still dependent on the amplitude of the cyclic load used during the testing. An increase in the amplitude of the cyclic loading function results in a decrease in the accumulated energy per unit volume. Furthermore, an increase in the liquid limit and/or plasticity index of the soils containing kaolinite as the clay mineral shows an increase in the accumulated energy, whereas an increase in plasticity of the soils containing montmorillonite as the clay mineral results in a decrease in the amount of accumulated energy. In both types of materials, the amount of accumulated energy per unit volume is found to increase with increasing double amplitude shear strain. Relationship between the ratio of post-cyclic undrained shear strength to the baseline undrained shear strength and the accumulated energy is also determined.Ph. D.
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Logue, Jürg Brendan. "Factors influencing the biogeography of bacteria in fresh waters - a metacommunity approach." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Limnologi, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-130009.
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One of ecology’s primary goals is to comprehend biodiversity and its patterns of distribution over space and time. Since microorganisms play a pivotal role in key ecological processes, the diversity of microbial communities may have important implications for the stability and functioning of Earth’s ecosystems. Thus, it is of utmost importance to develop a theoretical foundation but also a conceptual understanding for the mechanisms that generate and maintain microbial diversity. The aim of this thesis is to investigate to what extent local freshwater bacterioplankton diversity, i.e. richness and community composition, is structured by local environmental interactions and/or regional processes. The key objective is to identify ecological linkages between lake bacterioplankton and bacterial communities in connected streams and the surrounding terrestrial landscape, thereby applying a metacommunity approach. To do so, I studied several natural lake bacterioplankton assemblies within different regions of Sweden and assessed both local environmental properties and regional parameters (e.g. dispersal, landscape position). The genetic composition of freshwater bacterioplankton diversity was determined by means of terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism or 454 pyrosequencing. From the review on the biogeography of bacterioplankton in inland waters it became clear that microbial diversity and its spatial distribution are governed by a complex interplay of both local and regional drivers. In one case, freshwater bacterioplankton communities were structured by local environmental conditions rather than by regional dispersal processes. These local environmental conditions seemed to be equally important in controlling both the total bacterioplankton community and its active fraction. In a study of bacterioplankton communities from five different regions, locally abundant aquatic bacteria were shown to be also regionally widespread, a pattern predicted by neutral theory. Yet, this degree of similarity decreased with increasing environmental heterogeneity. In another study, bacterioplankton richness was controlled mostly by nutrient content, indicating that productivity exerted influence on bacterioplankton richness. However, landscape position and productivity covaried, suggesting that the landscape dictates environmental properties, which then directly structure local bacterioplankton richness. Finally, a review synthesising results from empirical metacommunity approaches and comparing these to theory showed that yet a gap between empirics and theory exists. To conclude, local bacterioplankton diversity appeared to be mainly structured by local environmental properties. However, signatures of neutral processes driving local bacterioplankton community assembly were also recorded.
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Alateeq, Ziyad. "Understanding the factors influencing Saudi primary students' reading engagement : a mixed methods approach." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2016. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/13796/.
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This thesis presents research on Saudi primary students’ reading engagement. It is an exploration of the factors influencing Saudi primary students’ reading engagement, concentrating on reading for pleasure. The reading for pleasure literature argues that the significance of engagement with reading or reading for pleasure in children’s lives in terms of their educational and personal development is unarguably immense. Different studies indicate the important role that reading for pleasure plays in promoting children’s literacy skills. However, some Saudi authors claim that most Saudi children are reluctant to read for pleasure, with the few studies that have investigated this issue suggesting that most children in Saudi Arabia are motivated to read but do not necessarily enjoy reading. This research aims to understand the factors influencing Saudi primary children’s engagement with reading. A mixed methods approach was applied in an exploratory, sequential mixed methods design. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with 12 boys from grades four, five and six (aged nine, ten and eleven). Q methodology and a ‘reading materials’ questionnaire (RMQ) were also used with a total of 37 primary students from the same age group as the interview participants but from different schools. All the participants were from a mid-sized city in the north of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The results indicate that students’ reading engagement is strongly influenced by different factors and that their religion, Islam, plays a major role. The study also suggests that while Saudi children do get pleasure from reading, this pleasure differs substantially from the Western concept of ‘reading for pleasure’, as their enjoyment is related to ‘doing well’ in reading, rather than gaining pleasure from accessing the content of reading material. Given that there is evidence to suggest that parents and teachers in Saudi want their children to benefit from greater engagement with reading, the research’s findings have significant implications for both Saudi children’s in-school and out of school reading experience and literacy education. It is argued that in order to promote engagement with reading in Saudi it is necessary to build on children’s existing construction of reading for enjoyment that is shaped by cultural and religious factors.
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Brooke, Sarah. "Factors influencing urban on-street parking search time using a multilevel modelling approach." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2016. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/20180.
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Vehicles searching for on-street parking create environmental and economic externalities through increasing network traffic flow and congestion, heightening pollutant emission levels, creating additional noise, giving rise to time delays for through vehicles, and leading to potential safety hazards caused by vehicles manoeuvring into or out of on-street spaces. Despite extensive negative impacts on individual drivers and on society, parking search is an under-researched area, particularly in more recent years and within the UK. Furthermore, current statistical modelling techniques applied to parking search time have not utilised a more comprehensive analysis in which hierarchically structured data on multiple levels could be addressed. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to investigate and compare the factors that influence drivers urban on-street parking search time and its policy implications. A mixed methods approach was applied that comprised qualitative interviews conducted with local government authority Council Officers and a quantitative revealed preference on-street parking survey (sample size, 1,002 observations) undertaken in four cities in the East Midlands region of the UK in order to obtain individual driver-level socio-economic and other parking related factors that may influence parking search time. Statistically significant variables for each of the cities were identified by employing separate linear regression models. A multilevel mixed-effects model in which drivers (Level 1) are nested within streets (Level 2) was then applied to the pooled dataset. Significant factors in the multilevel (street level) model were identified as: time of arrival at a parking place (for which every time period after the 07:00-07:59 reference case indicated increased search time); parking habit; parking tariff; the number of parking places previously visited (on the same trip); trip time from origin to parking place; area type; trip purpose; weather; vehicle type; and walking time from a parking place to a destination. Comparison of the factors that influence parking search time revealed important differences in statistically significant variables and coefficient values between the single-level and multilevel regression modelling approaches. Policy recommendations based upon the findings of the parking survey, modelling analysis, and further interviews conducted with local authority Council Officers, focus around time of arrival at a parking place, area type, parking charges and the potential technological advances that, if implemented, could have a considerable effect on parking search times within urban areas. Robust data collection and subsequent monitoring of parking search activity within each city should be undertaken in order to provide an evidence base which would support the introduction of future policy measures to reduce parking search activity.
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VanT, Wout Carien. "Factors influencing career maturity in the South African National Defence Force : a diagnostic approach." Thesis, Stellenbosch -- Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/95811.
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Thesis (MCom)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Military Skills Development System (MSDS) of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is the military contribution towards the South African National Skills Development Strategy. The purpose of this study was to determine if the SANDF is succeeding in contributing towards youth development, by investigating the career maturity (CM) of MSDS members. The adolescent years are a critical time for youth to explore and confirm their career choices, and to make major decisions at what can be perceived as a turning point in their lives. The factors that influence CM were investigated in order to determine the most suitable focus for possible career guidance programmes or interventions within the MSDS. A sample of 310 MSDS members was used to gather information on CM and the most prominent factors that have an impact on CM were identified from the literature review. Data was collected by means of administering five questionnaires; The Career Maturity Inventory- Revised short form (CMI-R), The Career Decision Self-Efficacy scale short form (CDSE), The Military Hardiness Scale (MHS), the Seven Habits Profile (SHP) and a Biographical Information Form (BIF). The CM of the MSDS members was found to be moderate. MSDS members seem to have high levels of confidence in their abilities to make career decisions (self-efficacy) and they perceive themselves as being hardy and having very good life skills. Moderate and weak, positive relationships were discovered between all twenty of the factors (scales and subscales of independent variables) and CM (dependent variable); however, they were not all significant. Multiple regression analysis resulted in a set of predictor variables (factors) which were used as the focus for recommendation on how CM may be improved for MSDS in the SANDF. These factors include: self-efficacy, seeking occupational information, self-appraisal, commitment, challenge, conscientiousness and continuous improvement.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
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Gregg, Judy. "Influencing Policy to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crashes in a Rural Community| A Multiple Streams Approach." Thesis, Carlow University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10257349.
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The purpose of this project was to implement and examine the role of a Nurse Policy Entrepreneur in reducing Motor Vehicle Crashes (MVC) in a rural community. Applying the Multiple Streams Approach, the action research study concentrated on the role of a Nurse Policy Entrepreneur to gather data to explore specific local contributing factors and issues related to motor vehicle crashes; review current policies and best practices; and meet with stakeholders/ decision makers to create a window for policy change to reduce injury and fatalities from MVC.
The Nurse Policy Entrepreneur analyzed public MVC data from 2013–2015. Teen injury crash prevention was selected as the issue to be addressed with a local policy. Policy analysis included comparison with peer counties and current literature to identify best practice. Results found top preforming peer counties all utilized a Carteens Program for juvenile traffic offenders.
Briefings to stakeholders by the Nurse Policy Entrepreneur created an open policy window through sharing a framed message to support the Carteens Program. At the conclusion of the public stakeholder meeting, in addition to verbal support, a modified Organizational Change Recipient’s Belief Scale tool was used for assessment. Results revealed the coalition’s belief that teen injury MVC’s in the county was a problem (discrepancy), Carteens was the appropriate solution (appropriateness), along with principle support for the project. More neutral results were found for both efficacy which measured their own power to change the problem and personal impact from the change.
With support for ongoing program oversight fr county juvenile judge. After reviewing the data, and consulting advisors, the judge approved the policy change for teen traffic offenders, signifying success of the Nurse Policy Entrepreneur to effect policy.
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Degerli, Mustafa. "Identifying Factors Influencing The Acceptance Of Processes: An Empirical Investigation Using The Structural Equation Modeling Approach." Master's thesis, METU, 2012. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12614321/index.pdf.
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In this research, it was mainly aimed to develop an acceptance model for processes, namely the process acceptance model (PAM). For this purpose, a questionnaire, comprising 3-part and 81-question, was developed to collect quantitative and qualitative data from people having relationships with certain process-focused models and/or standards (CMMI, ISO 15504, ISO 9001, ISO 27001, AQAP-160, AQAP-2110, and/or AS 9100). To revise and refine the questionnaire, expert reviews were ensured, and a pilot study was conducted with 60 usable responses. After reviews, refinements and piloting, the questionnaire was deployed to collect data and in-total 368 usable responses were collected from the people. Here, collected data were screened concerning incorrectly entered data, missing data, outliers and normality, and reliability and validity of the questionnaire were ensured. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS SEM) was applied to develop the PAM. In this context, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were applied, and the initial model was estimated and evaluated. The initial model was modified as required by PLS SEM, and confirmatory factor analysis was repeated, and the modified final model was estimated and evaluated. Consequently, the PAM, with 18 factors and their statistically significant relationships, was developed. Furthermore, descriptive statistics and t-tests were applied to discover some interesting, meaningful, and important points to be taken into account regarding the acceptance of processes. Moreover, collected quantitative data were analyzed, and three additional factors were discovered regarding the acceptance of processes. Besides, a checklist to test and/or promote the acceptance of processes was established.
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Greenwood, Paul S. "Polymeric bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells : experimental and modeling approach to assess factors influencing performance." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2010. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/7249.
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Fuel cells are widely researched and have applications in residential, automotive, marine craft and space. Their efficiencies are typically 60 % as a result of their electrochemical conversion and due to this they are considered beneficial to the reduction of CO2 which accounts for 77 % of all greenhouse gasses. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are the most suited to automotive applications for their low operating temperatures, high power densities and fast start up times. Currently there are many problems still to be rectified before commercialisation takes place, one of which is the performance and manufacture of bipolar plates. The elimination of corrosion, reduction of mass and the improvement of mechanical, electrical and thermal conductivity properties are the main aims to progress bipolar plate technology. In addition, the large numbers of bipolar plates required in automotive fuel cell stacks is in the order of 400 plates and so mass production will be necessary to meet future demands as well as reduce costs through cheap production processes. In order to meet these requirements polymeric based bipolar plates with conductive fillers have been pursued. The use of highly conductive, low density, low cost and corrosion resistant materials that can be utilised in production processes such as injection and compression moulding are ideal candidates for bipolar plates. However, balance of electrical/thermal conductivity and mechanical strength becomes the major task as highly conductive composites result in low mechanical strength. Therefore three conductive powders, a carbon black, graphite and magnetite (iron II,III oxide) were used as fillers in a polyethylene matrix to study the balance just mentioned for the two manufacturing processes stated above. The composites were tested for their electrical and thermal conductivities and mechanical properties and compared to the US Department of Energy targets for 2015. The carbon black composites exhibited better electrical conductivity than the other fillers where at 65 wt% the conductivity was ~24 S/cm for through plane conductivity and had a flexural strength of ~32 MPa. Injection moulding produced composites with more material stability and greater mechanical strength than compression mouldings although compression mouldings produced composites with higher thermal conductivities where graphite displayed the highest thermal conductivity of ~2 W/mK. Modeling of the experimental results using Mamunya models for electrical and thermal conductivities and a modified Kerner s equation for mechanical moduli were conducted. Models showed reasonable agreement with the experimental data where parameter tuning and deviations from the model were used to describe microstructural behaviour with regards to electrical tunnelling effects, link, node and blob structures and stress transfer at the filler-matrix interface.
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Sonsona, Jocelyn B. "Factors Influencing Diabetes Self-Management of Filipino Americans with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Holistic Approach." ScholarWorks, 2014. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1.
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There is an increasing prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus among Filipino Americans. However, how well Filipino Americans with diabetes self-manage their disease and what factors influence their diabetes self-management behaviors remain unknown. Based on a holistic approach, this quantitative study was designed to investigate the diabetes self-management behaviors of this population and the factors influencing their self-management behaviors. The combined roles of diabetes knowledge, diabetes self-efficacy, spirituality, and social support were examined in predicting diabetes self-care behaviors. A convenience sample of 113 Filipino Americans with Type 2 diabetes mellitus completed the Diabetes Knowledge Test, Self-Efficacy for Diabetes Test, Daily Spiritual Experience Scale, Diabetes Social Support Questionnaire-Family Version, Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (Expanded), and a researcher-designed sociodemographic survey. A single samplet -test determined that the participants engaged well in diabetes self-management practices. Multiple regression analyses revealed self-efficacy, spirituality, and social support were predictive of diabetes self-management behaviors, even after controlling for the effect of the confounding variables (e.g., acculturation, socioeconomic status, health-related data, immigration status, education). Diabetes knowledge did not have a significant relationship to self-management. The implications for positive social change include the potential impact of educating clients with diabetes and their family members about the connections between self-efficacy, spirituality, and family social support in the self-management of diabetes. Furthermore, the use of a holistic approach by health professionals would improve diabetes self-management practices of Filipino American population with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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Villalón, Oliger Ignacio José. "Lithological controls influencing the geochemistry of geothermal systems north of the Villarrica Volcano, an experimental approach." Tesis, Universidad de Chile, 2015. http://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/137685.
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GeólogoEn la zona norte del volcán Villarrica las unidades más relevantes en términos de dimensiones y de poder albergar sistemas hidrotermales son: 1) El Batolito Norpatagónico compuesto principalmente por granitoides del Cretácico y Mioceno 2) Las unidades volcánicas y volcanoclásticas del Cenozoico tales como las que se encuentran en la cuenca de Curamallín (Oligoceno-Mioceno), las cuales prácticamente desaparecen al sur del volcán. Por otro lado hay distintos procesos que pueden afectar la composición de las aguas termales: mezcla, ebullición, interacción con vapores o fluidos de origen magmático, distintas fuentes del fluido que compone el reservorio, cambios de temperatura, entre otros, pero uno de los procesos más importantes que determina dicha composición es la interacción química con las unidades de roca que albergan al reservorio hidrotermal. En este trabajo se plantea que la composición de los fluidos hidrotermales está importantemente controlada por procesos de interacción calor-fluido-roca con las unidades volcánicas y volcanoclásticas anteriormente mencionadas, por esto, con el objetivo de determinar la relevancia de los procesos de interacción con dichas rocas, se han realizado experimentos de alteración en sistemas cerrados a temperatura constante en un reactor químico. Junto con esto, se realizaron modelos geoquímicos con el fin de predecir los resultados de la alteración geotermal en las muestras seleccionadas. Los resultados de los experimentos con reactor químico muestran similitudes con las aguas termales del área de estudio. Además, los modelos geoquímicos son consistentes con los resultados del reactor. De esta forma, la metodología experimental utilizada en este trabajo permite un mayor entendimiento de los procesos de alteración geotermal que actúan en la zona estudiada confirmando de alguna forma la relevancia de los procesos de interacción calor-fluido-roca y en particular de la interacción con las unidades volcánicas y volcanoclásticas al norte del volcán Villarrica.
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Cheng, Bo, and 成波. "Investigating the effects of online collaborative concept mapping in influencing college students' interactional processes and learning in small groups." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/206651.
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Small group learning is widely advocated in educational institutions around the world and has drawn constant attention in research. Group interaction is a key component of group-based learning. However, its implementation in existing learning practices is inefficient. Previous studies discussed the use of concept mapping in group learning. Concept mapping as an external representation affords a communicative function that triggers shared cognition in collaborative learning. Empirical work reported the pedagogical usefulness of collaborative concept mapping in supporting group learning processes. However, there lacks an effort in systematically examining the effects of collaborative concept mapping in influencing students’ interactional processes according to frame works of group learning activities. This study in the first part examines the effects of collaborative concept mapping on interactional processes at the cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions in group learning guided by frameworks of group learning activities. An experimental design method (i.e., concept mapping vs. no concept mapping) is used to examine the effects. Beyond, since task condition is a key issue in determining the effectiveness of intervention elements for shaping interaction, and concept mapping is used for pursuing different types of tasks in educational applications, this study takes task condition into account in the experimental design.
A salient problem in collaborative use of concept mapping in distance groups is that participants need to put special efforts into coordination of group activities. Prior studies proposed designing roles functioning at different aspects to structure group activities in collaborative concept mapping. Using roles was found to facilitate task-focused and reflective interaction. However, there is a lack of a systematic view in the design of roles to assist interaction considering the multidimensionality of group interaction. There also lacks empirical investigations into the effectiveness of assigning roles in concept mapping mediated group learning. To address these issues, this study in the second part proposes a role-based approach, i.e., assigning the roles including cognitive leader, metacognitive leader, and socio-emotional leader to participants, in collaborative concept mapping to facilitate group learning processes. An experimental study is implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.
The study finds that concept mapping has different effects on group learning in different task conditions. Concept mapping effectively mediates learning processes and leads to superior task performances for conceptual tasks, while functions deficiently neither in mediating group learning processes nor in producing superior task performances for design tasks. Assigning roles in collaborative concept mapping is evidenced to be feasible and useful in improving socio-emotional experiences in group learning.published_or_final_version
Education
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy
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Wayne, Melissa Kezis. "Factors influencing intention to obtain a genetic test for prostate cancer risk : a structural equation modeling approach /." Philadelphia, Pa. : Drexel University, 2004. http://dspace.library.drexel.edu/handle/1860/298.
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Menendez, Anthony L. "An inquiry into the factors influencing the development of the field of Behavior Disorders: A qualitative approach." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2000. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2563/.
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This dissertation has explored the origins of the field of Behavioral Disorders via a qualitative approach. In order to collect data, interviews were conducted with respondents who were selected via purposeful sampling. All respondents have had a significant impact on the field of special education as evidenced by scholarship and leadership throughout their careers. Data analysis of the interview transcriptions was accomplished through the utilization of computer software. The data indicated six areas/topics that were seen among respondents as being significant to the development of the field of Behavioral Disorders.
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Zafeiriou, Georgia. "Students' perceptions of issues arising from, and factors influencing, group interaction in computer conferencing : a grounded theory approach." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2001. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/3513/.
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The present study aimed to identify students' perceptions of issues arising from and factors influencing on-line group interaction and dynamics in computer conferencing in higher education by recording the perceptions of a group of students who acted as members of on- line groups. The emergent objectives were to develop recommendations and guidelines for the effective deployment of on-line group interaction and elements of a possible model. The research has taken an inductive interpretative approach applying qualitative methods. Interviews were the main tool of data collection and the grounded theory approach, as developed by Strauss and Corbin in 1990, adopted for the analysis of the interview data. The analysis was also assisted by the use of the Atlas. ti software, specially designed for analysis of qualitative data. Issues of validity of qualitative research, following Lincoln and Guba's (1985) proposed criteria of establishing "trustworthiness" such as credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were addressed and discussed in connection to the current study. Findings of the study were placed around five main categories addressing ways group participants utilised in order to express themselves in the computer conferencing environment, issues of participation, decision-making procedures, conflicts and disagreements, and finally co-ordination issues. A number of factors affected the categories arose were identified. Relationships between the categories proposed and the code named lack of communication cues were also identified. Conclusions drawn from the study formulated guidelines and recommendations on computer conferencing issues and factors found to affect interaction among the group participants in the text-based on-line environment and proposed elements of a theory following the grounded theory procedures. Suggestions and points for further research along with implications for practice were also included.
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Panyik, Emese. "A governance approach to integrated rural tourism: factors influencing organisational performance and tourism support of local development organisations." Doctoral thesis, Universidade de Aveiro, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/10309.
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Doutoramento em Gestão em TurismoAo longo das últimas três décadas, o envolvimento das comunidades na formulação de políticas locais tem vindo a ganhar cada vez mais atenção como uma abordagem sustentável para o desenvolvimento rural na União Europeia (UE) e no mundo. Emergendo da globalização, novas estruturas de governação têm desafiado a base territorial restricta da autoridade do Estado soberano através do envolvimento de uma rede complexa e de autoorganização de atores governamentais e não-governamentais na tomada de decisões coletivas. A reestruturação territorial e institucional das zonas rurais, associada à expansão da governança rural, ganhou atenção considerável na literatura. No entanto, o potencial de empregar princípios de governança como fatores que determinam as direções de desenvolvimento rural através de desempenho organizacional e apoio no turismo não tem sido amplamente explorado na literatura. Deste modo, o principal objetivo desta tese consiste no emprego de ‘integração’, ‘participação’ e ‘empowerment’ como fatores críticos que influenciam os rumos do desenvolvimento rural (1) através do desempenho organizacional das organizações de governança rural e (2) apoio no turismo de organizações de desenvolvimento rural tendo em vista a validação da abordagem de governança para o turismo integrado. Ao longo deste duplo objectivo geral, a tese é dividida numa componente qualitativa de ‘desempenho’ e numa componente quantitativa de ‘apoio’. Seguindo uma abordagem sistemática baseada num sistema conceptual, foram realizadas 38 entrevistas em profundidade com pessoas chave envolvendo gestores do programa LEADER da UE na Hungria (34% do número total de Grupos de Ação Local [GAL]), seguido por um levantamento de campo transversal realizado através de um sistema de recolha de dados na Internet, tendo resultado em 662 questionários válidos para uma taxa de resposta de 63.6%. Os resultados da componente “desempenho” revelaram padrões na implementação dos princípios de governança, que por sua vez permitiram a identificação de fatores que permitem e restringem o desempenho organizacional. Os resultados da componente “apoio” permitiram destacar que o ponto de vista de redes de desenvolvimento local nos princípios de governança não é homogéneo. Diferenças significativas foram encontradas entre organizações responsáveis pelo planeamento e os grupos de aconselhamento. Contudo, os resultados sugeriram que a dimensão sustentável de turismo rural integrado é um prognosticador da contribuição do turismo para o desenvolvimento global da comunicade e para o apoio do turismo ao longo das redes de desenvolvimento local. Este estudo responde a uma necessidade crescente de investigação, que resulta da proliferação à escala mundial de formações de governança em sistemas de administração pública, tanto no lado dos investigadores como no lado dos praticantes.
Over the past three decades, community involvement in local policy-making has gained increasing attention as a sustainable approach to rural development in the European Union (EU) and worldwide. Emerging from globalisation, new governance structures have challenged the strict territorial base of sovereign state authority by involving a complex, self-organising network of governmental and non-governmental actors in collective decisionmaking. The territorial and institutional restructuring of rural areas associated with the expansion of rural governance has gained considerable attention in the literature. However, the potential of employing governance principles as factors determining the directions of rural development through organisational performance and tourism support has not been the focus of analyses. Thus, the main objective of this thesis is to employ ‘integration’, ‘participation’ and ‘empowerment’ as critical factors influencing the directions of rural development through (1) organisational performance and (2) tourism support of rural governance organisations in order to validate a governance approach to integrated tourism. Along this two-fold general objective, the thesis is divided into a qualitative ‘performance’ component, and a quantitative ‘support’ component. Following a systematic approach based on a conceptual framework, 38 indepth, key-informant interviews were conducted with programme managers of the EU LEADER initiative for participatory rural development in Hungary (34% of the overall number of LEADER Local Action Groups [LAGs]), followed by a cross-sectional field survey undertaken by Internet-based data collection from four local development networks including the LAGs, resulting in 662 usable questionnaires for a 63.6% response rate. Findings of the ‘performance’ component revealed patterns in the implementation of governance principles, which in turn allowed for the identification of enabling and restricting factors of organisational performance. Results of the ‘support’ component highlighted that the view of local development networks on governance principles is not homogenous. Significant differences have been found between organisations with a planning competence and the advisory offices. However, the results suggest that the sustainable dimension of integrated rural tourism is a predictor of the contribution of tourism to overall community development and tourism support across local development networks. This investigation responds to an increasing need of research resulting from the worldwide proliferation of governance formations in public administration systems on both the researchers and the practitioners’ side.
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Al-Jumaili, Ali Azeez Ali. "A systems approach to identify factors influencing prevention, detection and management of adverse drug events in nursing homes." Diss., University of Iowa, 2017. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/5905.
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This was the first study to quantitatively test the use of SEIPS (Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety) model to identify factors influencing a medication safety outcome. By using a SEIPS model, our study developed a comprehensive approach to identifying potential factors influencing adverse drug events (ADEs). The SEIPS work system is composed of five components which include person, organization, technologies and tools, tasks, and environment. SEIPS model successfully explained the work system factors influencing ADEs and falls in nursing homes (NHs). The second important contribution of our study is that it used the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) ADE Trigger Tool not only to detect actual ADEs, but also to identify specific potential ADEs in NHs.
This study had five objectives: 1) calculate actual ADE incidence rate (number of incidents per 100 residents per month) in NHs using the ADE trigger tool, 2) measure potential ADE incidence rate based on abnormal lab data, vital signs and non-harmful falls, 3) identify the classes of medications most likely to cause ADEs, 4) evaluate the relationships between work system characteristics and the incidence of ADEs, and 5) assess the relationships between work system characteristics and resident fall incidents.
This study was an observational quantitative study. It included two quantitative methods: retrospective resident medical chart extraction and survey four types of healthcare practitioners. The staff surveys included four categories of NH practitioners at each facility to ensure comprehensive assessment of the work system: Director of nursing (DON), registered nurse (RN), certified nurse assistant (CNA) and consultant pharmacist. The surveys included questions about the facility conditions, environment, technology, task, and staff/practitioners. Both methods were conducted within the same facilities and during the same period. The study was conducted in 11 NHs in nine cities in Iowa. Data collection was conducted over fall 2016 and spring 2017. Binary logistic regression with Generalized Estimated Equation (GEE) was used to measure the association between the ADE incidence (Yes/No) and characteristics of residents and facilities. The secondary outcome was the incidence of falls.
We reviewed 755 medical charts and conducted 44 staff surveys. The rate of ADEs was 6.13 incidents per 100 residents per month. Approximately (64.1%) of the ADEs were preventable. More than half of the ADEs were fall-related (51.1%) and half of those harmful falls were due to hypotension. We considered all the harmful falls as ADEs in residents with one or more psychotropic, antihypertensive, opioid and/or anti-diabetic medications, which can cause fall. The most common ADEs included medication (opioid)-induced constipation (24.6%), psychotropic induced confusion, dizziness or drowsiness (6.5%), antibiotic-induced Clostridium difficile diarrhea (4.2%), anticoagulant induced bleeding (3.9%) and antidiabetic induced hypoglycemia (3.2%). The most common fall-related ADEs were bruise (9.7%) and abrasion or laceration (9.4%). Psychotropic medications (74.9%), antidepressants (61.3%), antihypertensive agents (58.7%), and opioids (51.9%) were the most common medications associated with ADEs. The rate of potential ADEs was 48.6 per 100 residents per month. The rate of falls was 23.38 per 100 residents per month.
The regression analysis revealed significant associations between the ADEs and opioid analgesics, psychotropic medications, warfarin, skilled care, consultant pharmacist accessibility, nurse-physician collaboration, CNA skills in taking vital signs, number of physician visits to the facility, nurse workload and the use of electronic health records. On the other hand, the regression analysis showed non-significant relationships between ADEs and cardiac arrhythmia (AFib), DON years in the facility and distracting noise during medication administration. The six significant facility characteristics represent five concepts of the SEIPS model: organization, task, environment, person and technology. In the fall regression analysis, twelve of the resident and the facility SEIPS variables had significant relationships with the incidence of resident falls. The significant variables represent four concepts of the SEIPS model: organization, task, environment, and person. Longer DON years in the facility and more nurse time per resident per day were associated with lower number of fall incidents. The CNA skills in taking vital signs have significant negative association with both ADEs and falls. Finally, the variable “CNAs work fast” and the nurse workload also have positive association with the incidence of falls
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Boase, Nicholas James. "Understanding, assessing and influencing UK consumer perceptions of the risks and benefits of shellfish : a mental models approach." Thesis, Exeter and Plymouth Peninsula Medical School, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.699436.
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Shellfish provide a range of environmental, nutritional, economic and cultural benefits to consumers, but also pose risks such as exposure to norovirus and harmful algal toxins. In the United Kingdom, despite an active industry, shellfish is a niche food with much exported abroad. The current thesis applied the Mental Models Approach to Risk Communication to understand this disparity. This involved three methodological steps, firstly semi-structured interviews which elicited and compared mental models of industry stakeholders (n=12) and the public (n=14). Secondly, a national online survey (n=1 ,568) established the prevalence of these perceptions amongst the general public, and multiple hierarchical linear regression was used to identify consumption antecedents. Finally, a novel communication was developed and compared to three conditions in a longitudinal randomised between-subjects trial, aimed at younger lower income consumers (the group identified in the second stage as having relatively high misconceptions and knowledge gaps, and low intentions to consume shellfish). Interview results identified rich and varied mental models amongst both the public and stakeholders, which included some misconceptions and knowledge gaps. Additionally, behavioural and cultural factors (e.g. perception as a treat food) also strongly influenced consumption. National survey results indicated that participants' factual uncertainty was significantly negatively associated with intentions to consume shellfish, and path analysis indicated this effect was fully mediated via attitudes. Evaluation results revealed that participants who read the novel communication scored, compared to alternative conditions (including currently available information), significantly higher for knowledge, lower for uncertainty, had more positive attitudes towards mussels, and greater intentions to consume this food. Knowledge differences remained significant after one week. Effects appeared to be driven by participants who consumed shellfish rarely, or never, but were willing to try (compared to both unwilling and frequent consumers). Methodological and practical implications for the shellfish industry and consumers are discussed. My original contribution to knowledge was uncovering how UK consumers and stakeholders perceive the risks and benefits of shellfish, and how a carefully constructed communication about risks and benefits could be developed and used to influence their attitudes and intentions.
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Mulet, Forteza Carlos. "Four papers about the development, market concentration, mobility, profitability and factors influencing choice of entry mode in the hotel chains." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Jaume I, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/10363.
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La tesis doctoral se compone de cuatro partes perfectamente diferenciadas y a su vez totalmente conexionadas. La primera parte analiza las vías de expansión de las cadenas hoteleras, su concentración y movilidad así como los factores que han propiciado que los contratos de franquicia se hayan convertido en la estrategia de crecimiento preferida por parte de las cadenas hoteleras con mayor número de habitaciones del mundo.La segunda parte se centra en analizar como afecta a las rentabilidades que obtienen las cadenas hoteleras la utilización de las distintas estrategias de crecimiento.
En la tercera parte de la tesis doctoral valoramos a los activos hoteleros no sólo por la rentabilidad que ofrecen sino también por las distintas opciones que tiene un establecimiento hotelero a la hora de elegir su estrategia de crecimiento actual y los cambios que en un futuro puede realizar en dicha estrategia de crecimiento.
Finalmente, en la cuarta parte tratan de determinarse cuáles son los factores clave que influyen en el proceso de decisión utilizado por las cadenas hoteleras de Baleares a la hora de elegir su estrategia de crecimiento para llevar a cabo su expansión en la región del Caribe y el golfo de México.
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Steinfeldt, Michael. "Nanotechnologies, hazards and resource efficiency : a three-tiered approach to assessing the implications of nanotechnology and influencing its development /." Berlin ; Heidelberg ; New York : Springer, 2007. http://swbplus.bsz-bw.de/bsz277170834cov.htm.
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Araujo, Marcelo Henrique de. "Análise de fatores que influenciam o uso de serviços de governo eletrônico no Brasil." Universidade de São Paulo, 2013. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12139/tde-05122013-185015/.
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A presente investigação científica tem como objetivo compreender de que maneira o uso de serviços de governo eletrônico (e-gov) é influenciado pelos diferentes \"locais de acesso à internet\" e pelas competências de uso do internauta. Para tanto, foram utilizados os microdados da pesquisa TIC Domicílios (desenvolvida pelo Centro de Estudos sobre as Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação) referente aos anos de 2007, 2009 e 2011, se caracterizado um estudo longitudinal. Os procedimentos referentes ao tratamento e análise dos dados se deram por meio da aplicação de técnicas estatísticas de cunho descritivo (mediana, distribuição de frequência) e multivariado (Análise de Correspondência, Análise Fatorial Binária e Regressão Logística Binária). O eixo teórico deste trabalho se fundamenta na abordagem das Capacidades desenvolvida pelo economista Amartya Sen. Os resultados desta investigação demonstram que para todas as classes socioeconômicas o uso dos serviços de governo eletrônico está fortemente relacionado às seguintes competências de uso: e-mail, e-commerce (busca de produtos e serviços) e serviços financeiros (consultas). Tais competências são favorecidas pelo acesso à internet preferencialmente em \"casa\" e no \"trabalho\", sobre as demais alternativas de acesso como as lan houses (centros públicos de acesso pago) e os telecentros (centros públicos de acesso gratuito). Esses resultados oferecem indícios de que as políticas públicas que promovem o acesso à internet preferencialmente do ambiente domiciliar (em consonância a ações que auxiliem o desenvolvimento de competências de uso da internet) são mais eficazes para promover um aumento no uso do e-gov, do que os esforços de se redefinir o papel dos centros públicos de acesso (telecentro e lan house), a fim de que estes se tornem ponto de acesso aos serviços de e-gov.This scientific research aims to understand how the individuals\' use of e-government services (e-gov) is influenced by different \"location of access to the internet\" and their usage capabilities. For this purpose, the microdata from ICT Households Survey (developed by Center of Studies on Information and Communication Technologies - CETIC.br) for the years of 2007, 2009 and 2011 was used, featuring a longitudinal study. For the processing and analysis of the data, descriptive (median, frequency distribution) and multivariate (Correspondence Analysis, Binary Factor Analysis and Binary Logistic Regression) statistical techniques were applied. The theoretical basis of this research is based on the Capability Approach developed by the economist Amartya Sen. The results of this investigation states that for all social classes the use of e-government services is strongly related to the following usage competencies: e-mail, e-commerce (search for products and services) and financial services (consultations). These capabilities are favored by the Internet access preferably at \"home\" and \"work\", more than on the other location of access to the internet alternatives such as lan houses (paid public access centers) and public telecenters (free public access centers). These results provide evidence that public policies that promote access to the internet preferably at home environment (with other actions that encourage the development of internet usage competencies) are more effective in promoting an increase in the use of e-gov, than efforts to redefine the role of public access centers (telecenters and lan houses), so that they become a point of access to e-government services.
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Hader, Khaled Farag Imhemed. "Influencing attitudes, changing behaviours and embedding a pro-sustainability mindset in the workplace : an innovation diffusion approach to persuasive communications." Thesis, University of Derby, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10545/622838.
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Although several sustainability implementation frameworks have been proposed, researchers have not yet proposed theories or models to help organisations speed up the rate of sustainability diffusion and narrow the gap between what is known and what is put into use. This study sought to fill this gap by proposing a sustainability diffusion model. The model was developed from an exhaustive review of the corresponding literature. It uses Rogers' (1962) diffusion of innovations theory and Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical foundation. The model was tested and its structural architecture was validated in three different sustainability contexts; namely, duplex printing in UK universities; sustainable computing in service-based businesses; and sustainability culture in UK universities. The primary data was analysed statistically using SPSS, and structural equation modelling (SEM) in particular was used to validate the structural architecture of the proposed model. The SEM results indicate that the structural architecture of the theory of planned behaviour is well-founded. All the hypotheses that underline the theory's paths were supported. In contrast, the structural architecture of the diffusion of innovations theory was weakly supported. Some of the paths were rejected in at least two occasions. For example, the relationship between pro-sustainability knowledge and attitude was neither statistically significant nor directional. Moreover, several components of the 'verified' model turned out to be statistically insignificant or were rejected altogether. These were knowledge, perceived self interest, perceived persuader legitimacy, perceived consequences, perceived argument quality, trialability and perceived source credibility. Accordingly, once these constructs were removed and the model was restructured in accordance with the results of SEM analysis, an entirely new version of the 'sustainability diffusion model' emerged (See Figure IX-2). The architecture of the new model suggests that in order to speed up the rate of sustainability diffusion, change agents must emphasise the relative advantage, compatibility, subjective norm and the urgency of the pro-sustainability initiative under implementation and de-emphasise any complexities or risks associated with its operationalisation. Unexpectedly, the new version of the proposed model relies more on Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical foundation than on Rogers' (1983) innovation-decision process model. In other words, the new model maintained almost all the features of the theory of planned behaviour, but it only absorbed some, but not all, of the components of Rogers' innovation-decision process model. Nevertheless, the new model maintained its holistic nature. It still takes into account both the person-specific and innovation-specific factors that influence the diffusion, adoption and actualisation of pro-sustainability behaviours/initiatives.
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Ngalo-Morrison, Lulama. "Factors influencing the academic attainment of undergraduate sponsored students at the University of the Western Cape: a strength-based approach." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/5553.
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Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Education)Deficit models dominate current research on academic retention and success in South African higher education and internationally. Most studies focus on students who are at risk of exiting higher education prematurely or those who fail academically because of their socio-economic conditions. Dropout and failure in existing research is often correlated to class and lack of access to financial resources. The prevailing philosophy based on needs assessment, deficit intervention and problem-solving does not sufficiently facilitate the academic success of diverse learners. Yet, surveys in most countries show that addressing weakness does not necessarily help people improve in their performance more than will highlighting their strengths (Hodges & Clifton, 2004). In contrast, this study adopts a strength-based approach, drawing largely on ‘ecological’ perspectives which recognize the importance of people’s surroundings and the multifaceted variables constantly at play, impacting the lives of students throughout the world. A strength-based model is posited as a pragmatic approach to pedagogy in the 21st century. This perspective recognizes the resilience of individuals and focuses on potential, strengths, interests, abilities, determination and capabilities rather than limits. This study accepts that there are persistent challenges to widening participation in South African universities, and leakages in the education pipeline continue with little improvement in graduation rates. However, there are numerous undocumented examples of academically successful students from working-class backgrounds whose academic attainment is not accounted for. Empirical data is required to establish the relationship between academic success and the resilience of undergraduate sponsored students from working class backgrounds. The case study examines factors that influence the academic attainment of undergraduate sponsored students and the institutional practices that enhance their performance at the University of the Western Cape. Factors motivating sponsored students from poor communities to succeed were explored. Furthermore, institutional influences that are relevant to, and inform students’ academic attainment are investigated. The study utilized a variety of data including relevant institutional documents, interviews with sponsored students and secondary data sourced from the Institutional Quality Assurance and Planning department. Findings of the study show that affordability through funding for equitable access to higher education is a motivating factor in academic attainment for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Also, participants in this study attributed their success to nurtured resilience across the institution, and the supportive relationships established through structured intervention programmes in and out of class. It is important to note, contrary to findings in other studies, that low socio economic background was more of a motivational factor and being resourceful for social mobility. This study adds to the limited understanding of the academic attainment of students from poor backgrounds who succeed against all odds. This provides direction to universities for adopting different approaches and offers insights for the University of the Western Cape into the experiences of its graduates. Based on the findings, the study highlights recommendations and opportunities for future investigation.
Ngalo-Morrison, L. (2017). Factors influencing the academic attainment of undergraduate sponsored students at the University of the Western Cape: A strength-based approach. PhD thesis. University of the Western Cape
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Metz, Tasha Lynn. "Factors influencing Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) distribution in nearshore waters and implications for management." Texas A&M University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/1247.
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Post-pelagic juvenile and subadult Kemp's ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) (20-40 cm straight carapace length) utilize nearshore waters of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico as nursery or developmental feeding grounds. This study utilizes 10 years of entanglement netting data to characterize long-term abundance and distribution of Kemp's ridley sea turtles at index habitats in this region. Netting surveys were conducted during April-October 1993-2002, primarily at Sabine Pass, Texas and Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana. Additionally, this study takes an ecosystem-based approach to understanding factors influencing Kemp's ridley in-water abundance and distribution via the development of a conceptual model incorporating data on nesting dynamics, environmental conditions, prey availability, and predation pressure.
Overall monthly mean ridley catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) peaked in the beginning of summer (April-June), probably in response to rising water temperatures and seasonal occurrence of blue crab prey. Annual mean ridley CPUE across all study areas peaked in 1994, 1997, 1999 and 2002, suggesting a 2-3 year cycle in abundance that may be related to patterns in clutch size or hatch success at the Rancho Nuevo, Mexico nesting beach. However, ridley CPUE in nearshore waters remained relatively constant or decreased slightly even as number of hatchlings released from Rancho Nuevo increased exponentially. Annual declines in Texas strandings since 1994 and subsequent increases in Florida counterparts since 1995 suggest a shift in ridley distribution from the western to eastern Gulf in recent years.
Significant declines in ridley CPUE at Sabine Pass since 1997 coincided with a concurrent reduction in blue crab size, but a similar trend was not detected at Calcasieu Pass. Kemp's ridley occurrence at study sites was not significantly related to shrimping activity/by-catch. There also were no biologically significant relationships between Kemp's ridley CPUE and abiotic factors, nor were ridleys deterred from utilizing areas frequented by bull sharks. Overall, nesting dynamics and prey availability were conceptual model components appearing to have the greatest influence on nearshore ridley occurrence.
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Cervera, Torres Sergio [Verfasser], and Peter [Akademischer Betreuer] Gerjets. "Influencing appraisals of emotional valence with spatial touchscreen interactions : An embodied approach to Positive Technology / Sergio Cervera Torres ; Betreuer: Peter Gerjets." Tübingen : Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, 2017. http://d-nb.info/116823249X/34.
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Mohammd, Alaa. "Factors influencing the duration of orthodontic treatment for patients with a class II malocclusion treated with a functional/fixed appliance approach." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2015. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2033579/.
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Background: Information regarding the various factors that can influence the duration of orthodontic treatment has been investigated before; however, despite the increasing amount of evidence becoming available, controversy still exists. Therefore, this investigation was considered to be useful as additional information to the orthodontic literature. Aim: To determine factors associated with the duration of orthodontic treatment for patients with a Class II malocclusion treated with a functional/fixed appliance approach to treatment. Design: Retrospective, observational study. Setting: Orthodontic Department, Liverpool University Dental Hospital, UK. Method: Data were collected from the records of eligible patients. Inclusion criteria: Patients were included if they had: 1) Undergone a course of orthodontic treatment involving a first phase of treatment with the Twin-Block appliance between the 1st of January 2005 and 31st of December 2008; 2) A Class II dental malocclusion; 3) Required a functional/fixed orthodontic approach to orthodontic treatment; 4) Completed two phases of orthodontic treatment; 5) Records available in a satisfactory condition. Outcome measures: • Duration of the functional appliance phase of orthodontic treatment • Total duration of orthodontic treatment Results: The pre-treatment overjet was the only factor that had a statistically significant influence on the duration of the functional phase of the treatment (p= 0.016). The factors that were statistically significant predictors for the duration of the full course of orthodontic treatment were: the number of treating clinicians (p=0.001), the number of failed appointments (p=0.001), the chronological age of the patient (p=0.002) and whether the patient had extractions or not (p=0.021). Conclusions: 1. The only factor that had a statistically significantly influence on the duration of the functional phase of treatment was the overjet at the start of treatment (positive association). 2. The factors that had a statistically significantly influence on the total treatment duration were the: a) Number of the treating clinicians (positive association); b) Number of appointments the patients failed to attend (positive association); c) Chronological age of the patient (negative association); d) Presence or absence of dental extractions (positive association).
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Haindongo, Priscilla Nauwanga. "An investigation of the factors influencing vegetation stress in a part of the Keiskamma catchment, Eastern Cape : a remote sensing and GIS approach." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/975.
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Vegetation stress as a form of degradation is a widespread problem in many catchments in the Eastern Cape province. The Keiskamma is one of the catchments where considerable parts of the thicket biome are stressed. This necessitates an assessment of the status of the thicket biome by way of detecting vegetation stress in the area. The underpinnings of vegetation stress are investigated in this study. As a basic method to evaluate the thicket condition, remotely sensed data were acquired. High resolution ASTER imagery for the Keiskamma area at two different dates (2001 and 2005) was used to compute SVI and NDVI as indicators of vegetation stress conditions. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used to derive slope angle and aspect. By way of digitizing from ortho-photo maps, various land-use types were mapped using Arc View GIS. The relationship between land use, terrain, soil erosion and vegetation stress was established. Field based techniques comprising stomatal conductance measurements were used and compared to remotely sensed data. The SVI and NDVI resultant images expressed similarities in areas depicting vegetation stress conditions at both epochs. A strong linear regression between NDVI and stomatal conductance measurements (mmol/m²) serve to confirm that the NDVI is a reliable indicator of vegetation stress condition. Slope angle and aspect were found to have a significant influence on vegetation stress conditions. Similarly variations in soil moisture and soil surface condition have strong implications for vegetation stress. Amongst other land-use types, abandoned lands were found to have the lowest NDVI values implying an association with the worst vegetation stress scenarios. It was concluded that an element of persistent stress conditions exists amongst the thicket vegetation of the Keiskamma catchment. This was mainly due to land use activities in the area.
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López, Soto Marino Alfredo. "La aplicación del método “Communicative Approach” y su influencia en el aprendizaje del idioma inglés en adultos profesionales." Master's thesis, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12672/16382.
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El método comunicativo fue empleado en la presente investigación científica, el cual fue
cuasi experimental, para lograr que los alumnos del grupo experimental incrementen
significativamente su nivel de conversación en inglés y a la vez mejorar su nivel de
Inglés en las otras áreas: lectura, escritura, gramática y vocabulario.
El Cambridge Dictionary (2018) define conversación de la siguiente manera:
“es hablar entre dos personas o más en los cuales los pensamientos, sentimientos e ideas
son expresados, las preguntas son elaboradas y respondidas, o noticias e información son
intercambiados”. En otras palabras, una conversación involucra las áreas de habla
(‘Speaking’ en Ingles), y escucha (‘Listening’ en Ingles).
La población fue conformado en dos grupos control y experimental. Cada uno estuvo
conformado de 10 Alumnos, todos adultos profesionales de postgrado de maestría en
Gerencia de Proyectos y Programas Sociales Ciclo III 2018-I de la Universidad Nacional
Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo – UNASAM, Huaraz, 2018.
El objetivo principal de la investigación científica, indicado líneas arriba, fue que el grupo
experimental incremente significativamente su nivel de conversación del inglés, es decir
habla y escucha, y a la vez mejorar en las otras áreas.
Si bien es cierto que el método comunicativo mejora distintas habilidades en inglés como
lectura, escritura, habla, escucha, además vocabulario y gramática, dicho método
enfatiza el significado en vez de la forma, es decir no es un método memorístico, sino que enfatiza la Comunicación de distintas formas ya sea hablando o escribiendo, pero en esta
Investigación se priorizo especialmente el habla y escucha de forma significativa.
Esto es debido a que los alumnos del grupo experimental requieren de comunicarse
oralmente, es decir habla, y a la vez comprender, escucha, para interactuar con
profesionales extranjeros los cuales utilizan estas dos habilidades del Inglés en sus centros
laborales. Por otro lado, el grupo de control necesitan lograr aprobar el examen de
suficiencia de inglés de su Universidad. Por las razones explicadas líneas arriba, se diseñó un programa de 16 sesiones el cual fue suficiente para lograr el objetivo esperado, es decir, aprender el idioma de ingles básico
para que al final lograr una diferencia significativa en habla y escucha en el grupo
experimental. Los instrumentos de medición, los cuales cumplieron en sus particularidades de validez y
confiabilidad, fueron pre-test y post-test. Al inicio del curso, todos los alumnos fueron
evaluados utilizando el pre-test, ambos grupos tenían un nivel de Inglés de prealfabetización (‘pre-literacy’, en Ingles), es decir sus niveles eran menos que básico, al final del curso se les evaluó nuevamente, post-test, el cual fue exactamente el mismo que el pre-test, el resultado fue que los alumnos del grupo experimental mejoraron en todas las áreas escritura, lectura, habla, escucha, vocabulario y gramática, pero principalmente
habla y escucha incrementaron significativamente con respecto al pre-test y el grupo de control. Estadística inferencial (en las áreas de habla y escucha) fue utilizado por las razones explicadas líneas arriba, es decir, que los alumnos del grupo experimental necesitaban incrementar significativamente estas dos habilidades del inglés.
Para las otras áreas del inglés (escritura, lectura, vocabulario, gramática) se utilizó estadística descriptiva, los cuales, al final de las sesiones, se logró incrementar el nivel inglés en las demás áreas. Finalmente, el resultado fue exitoso, el estudio logro el objetivo de acuerdo a la hipótesis.
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McCann, Melissa. "Social marketing : a theory based approach to influencing attitude and behavior change toward mental health among African American students at the University of Texas at Austin." The University of Texas at Austin, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/4018.
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Kelly, Michael. "An exploration of the factors influencing the local implementation of the Care Programme Approach in the provision of mental health services for clients with learning disabilities." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2012. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/an-exploration-of-the-factors-influencing-the-local-implementation-of-the-care-programme-approach-in-the-provision-of-mental-health-services-for-clients-with-learning-disabilities(0c55ba07-c7cd-4f4c-bcb1-57a28c203a80).html.
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Background: The Care Programme Approach (CPA) was introduced in 1990 by the Department of Health as an approach to provide care to people with mental health problems in secondary mental health services. It aimed to improve partnership working across health and social services. However CPA faced problems from early on in its introduction to front-line services. These issues were not confronted and the policy frequently struggled at the implementation stage. Although never clearly indicated, clients with learning disabilities and concurrent mental health problems were meant to have their care provided through CPA. (For the purpose of this study the term ’dual diagnosis’ is used to refer to this client group). However as they were under the care of social services they were managed through care management models instead. More recently policy statements have made it clear that these clients should have their care provided through CPA. Meanwhile, CPA has become established practice in mental health care and care management has become the standard model of care in learning disability services. Service providers are now expected to work in partnership to integrate these entrenched modes of care delivery into a single approach, namely CPA. Study aim: This study aimed to explore the factors shaping the local implementation of the adoption of the Care Programme Approach for clients with a dual diagnosis from a meso-level perspective. Methods: The study was carried out using a case-study approach in a Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust which was working across five separate localities to implement CPA. A total of 26 semi-structured interviews were carried out with key stakeholders and members of local Steering Groups responsible for CPA implementation across the five localities. Documentary analysis of relevant Trust documents and Steering Group minutes was also undertaken.
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Doidge, Megan Caroline. "Factors influencing Grade 7 teachers' implementation of outcomes-based approaches in the national curriculum when teaching 'human reproduction'." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15337.
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A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2014.Outcomes-based education was introduced into South Africa almost 20 years ago amidst much controversy. During the period of my study, a modified version of the outcomes-based curriculum was in use, i.e. the Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9. In this curriculum, critical and learning outcomes were described and a learner-centred approach advocated which would enable learners to achieve the outcomes. Human reproduction was introduced as one of the content areas in the senior phase of the Natural Sciences. Human reproduction is a sensitive but very relevant topic in South Africa where HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy and child abuse are prevalent and so was selected as a Grade 7 topic in one educational district of Gauteng. In my study, I was interested in finding out what factors influenced Grade 7 teachers' implementation of outcomes-based approaches when teaching Human Reproduction. I explored the use of learner-centred approaches and the extent to which the critical and Natural Sciences learning outcomes could be achieved through these approaches. Firstly I wanted to know to what extent Grade 7 teachers used outcomes-based and learner-centred approaches when teaching human reproduction. Secondly I was interested in the factors that influenced the teaching of human reproduction. Thirdly I set out to find which factors affected the use of outcomes-based and learner-centred approaches during the teaching of human reproduction. Lastly the influence of teachers' behavioural, normative and control beliefs on their teaching of human reproduction in outcomes-based and learner-centred ways were of interest. My theoretical framework took into account the above-mentioned factors and beliefs about the influence of these factors and their possible impact on teaching human reproduction in outcomes-based and learner-centred ways. My research involved a workshop for Natural Sciences teachers on the teaching of human reproduction to Grade 7's, followed by a survey. Forty teachers completed the survey questionnaire in which they recorded their perceptions of the expected influence of the learners, the learning environment and support structures, as well as teachers' beliefs, on the teaching of human reproduction. Ten of these teachers participated as the case studies in my multiple case study, forming a convenience sample. I used a mixed methods approach in my investigation, starting with the survey questionnaire and then narrowing my focus to the ten case study teachers and becoming a participant observer in their classes. I recorded my data in field notes and as digital recordings of class discussions and when teachers had completed teaching human reproduction, I interviewed them. The data from the questionnaires, interview and lesson transcripts and field notes were analysed and conclusions drawn. I used profiles to assess the achievement of the critical and learning outcomes by each teacher and to assess the extent to which each teacher used learner-centred approaches when teaching human reproduction. A cross case analysis enabled me to compare the teachers with regard to each outcome and learner-centred feature. Some quantitative data from my surveys and mostly qualitative data from my observations and interviews were used to explore the influence of factors internal to the teacher, i.e. personal and professional factors, and those external to the teacher such as the learners, the iii learning environment and support structures. I also used the qualitative data to identify the influence of behavioural, normative and control beliefs about teaching human reproduction in outcomes-based ways on practice. My findings were that all teachers taught towards some outcomes and used some learner-centred approaches and these differed amongst teachers. The profiles enabled me to identify overall strengths of each teacher as an outcomes-based and learner-centred teacher, and the cross-case analysis indicated which outcomes were being met by learners through the teaching and learning approaches used. I found that the learning environment, and in particular the provision of or lack of learning support materials and other resources, impacted on the achievement of the outcomes. The school principals, colleagues, parents and friends proved to be mostly very supportive of the teaching of human reproduction and the need for strong communities of practice became evident. The choice of language was seen as a dilemma but my findings pointed to the use of home language or preferably code-switching to promote conceptual development and the development of English language skills. Cultural beliefs of learners contributed to their prior knowledge, and religious beliefs influenced some teachers who promoted more conservative values amongst their learners regarding sexuality. The need for clear boundaries on what could be discussed in class became evident, to protect both the teacher and learner from intrusion into their personal lives. Group work was seen as an important approach for this sensitive topic, and the need for workshops to strengthen teacher's subject content knowledge and thus their self efficacy when teaching human reproduction and to build strong communities of practice in which ideas and experiences could be shared amongst teachers, was a finding of this study. In conclusion, some teachers were more outcomes-based and learner-centred than others. Subject content knowledge, choice of an appropriate language or language mix for teaching and learning, suitable learning environments with adequate learning support materials, school, district and parental support for the teaching of human reproduction all promoted a teachers sense of self-efficacy and made a difference to their teaching of human reproduction using outcomes-based approaches.
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Fernandes, Sofia. "Endolysins as antibacterial agents : from engineering approaches to the uncovering of holin as a key factor influencing lytic activity." Doctoral thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10451/26318.
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Tese de doutoramento, Farmácia (Microbiologia), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2016Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that strictly infect bacteria. Double-stranded DNA phages use the holin-endolysin system to lyse host cells, thus ensuring the release of the viral progeny and the realization of new infection cycles. The endolysin is an enzyme that degrades the peptidoglycan (PG), the main constituent of the bacteria cell wall (CW). The holin is a transmembrane protein that forms pores in the cytoplasmic membrane (CM), leading to dissipation of the proton motive force (pmf) and consequently to the cell death. The pmf is created by the electrochemical gradient across the CM and is responsible for driving many energy-requiring functions in the cell. According to the way how endolysins reach the CW, these can be classified into two types: i) canonical endolysins (c-endolysins), when access occurs through the holin pores, or ii) exported endolysins (e-endolysins), when transport is performed in a holin-independent pathway. It is considered that once synthesized c-endolysins immediately acquire their active conformation in the cytoplasm, thus having the capacity to effectively degrade the PG if the contact with the CW is allowed. Although exported to the CW by the host cell machinery, all e-endolysins described so far need to be activated by mechanisms that depend on the holin action. Due to their lytic activity, c-endolysins have gained great attention as potential antimicrobial agents for the elimination of pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria, especially in the actual context of increasing resistance to antibiotics. This approach relies on the observation that, at least under certain conditions, c-endolysins are able to efficiently lyse target bacteria when the enzymes are exogenously added in the form of recombinant proteins (enzybiotics). The main objective of the work here presented was to contribute with knowledge for increasing the potential of endolysins as antibacterial agents, namely by developing strategies to improve their production, solubility and lytic performance, and by deepening our understanding of factors and mechanisms that influence their enzymatic activity. This work began with the construction of chimerical endolysins with lytic activity against Staphylococcus aureus (Chapter 2). In addition to obtain enzymes displaying a broad lytic spectrum on clinical strains of this species, we also intended to overcome the problem of low solubility that is commonly observed when overproducing endolysins of S. aureus phages in Escherichia coli. We produced and purified two chimerical proteins (Lys168-87 and Lys170-87) by fusing the same cell wall binding domain (CWBD) of endolysin Lys87, produced by S. aureus phage F87s/06, to the catalytic domain (CD) of endolysins Lys168 or Lys170, produced by Enterococcus faecalis phages F168/08 and F170/08, respectively. This fusion between the CD of highly soluble endolysins and the CWBD of an endolysin with poor solubility, combined with optimized expression conditions, allowed the efficient production of chimerical enzymes in the soluble form. The lytic activity of the chimeras was initially assessed qualitatively by the "spot assay", using bacterial isolates from Portuguese community and hospital settings (n = 100). The endolysins showed high lytic potential, lysing more than 90% of the tested S. aureus isolates, including a high fraction that was methicillin-resistant (MRSA, n = 42). This lytic capacity was also observed in a collection of genetically characterized and typed S. aureus strains, which included representatives of the most relevant MRSA pandemic clones from different parts of the world (n = 30), and representative clones of the dominant methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA; n = 13). In semi-quantitative assays (lysis curves), Lys168-87 and Lys170-87 were effective in eliminating MRSA strain USA200 suspended in a physiological buffer, being observed a synergistic effect when the chimeras were simultaneously used. Interestingly, unlike the parental endolysins, the chimeras showed a wide lytic spectrum, being also active against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, E. faecalis, Enterococcus faecium and Streptococcus pyogenes. Globally, Lys168-87 presented superior lytic performance than Lys170-87, being this result only inverted when the chimeras were tested on the enterococcal isolates. The results of our research and from many other laboratories support the lytic capacity of c-endolysins and chimeric derivatives when tested in vitro, particularly when the enzymes are added to cells previously suspended in physiological buffers. Nevertheless, we have found that lytic efficacy is often lost or greatly lessened when target bacteria are kept in nutritious media, i.e., in conditions that guarantee maintenance of the pmf and active cell growth. Thus, in a second part of this work we aimed at uncovering factors and mechanisms that underlie this phenomenon. Accordingly, we were led by the fact that in the phage infection context both c- and e-endolysins always act after cells have been killed by the holin. Based on this observation, we decided to study how maintenance or dissipation of the pmf could influence the activity of c-endolysins, either when they reach the CW from the cell inside or when applied externally. The c-endolysin of Bacillus subtilis phage SPP1 (LysSPP1) was chosen as study model, being in a first step transformed into an artificial e-endolysin. For this, the signal sequence (SP) of bacillopeptidase F of B. subtilis (Bpr protein) was fused to the N-terminal end of LysSPP1. The recombinant gene of the artificial e-endolysin SP-LysSPP1 was cloned in a B. subtilis replicative plasmid under the control of an inducible promoter. Surprisingly, the continued production and export of SP-LysSPP1 to the CW, through the secretion system (Sec system) of B. subtilis, produced no obvious effects on the viability and cell growth when compared with a strain that produced the native and not exported LysSPP1. The extracytoplasmic localization and lytic character of the mature form of SP-LysSPP1 was evidenced when cultures were treated with a pmf-dissipating ionophore, gramicidin D. As expected, the addition of the ionophore resulted in immediate growth interruption. However, only the culture producing SP-LysSPP1 showed quick cell lysis after addition of gramicidin D. Similarly, the prior sensitization of B. subtilis with gramicidin D or the maintenance of cells in a buffered medium without energy sources significantly enhanced the lytic activity of the endolysin when added exogenously. It was estimated that the amount of LysSPP1 necessary to lyse cells previously killed by the SPP1 holin action, or by a pmf-dissipating agent, was about 60 times lower than the amount needed to lyse exponentially growing cells. The results followed the same trend when the c-endolysin Lys11, of S. aureus phage 11, was tested in conditions promoting or decreasing the pmf/cell growth. Therefore, the results demonstrate that dissipation of the pmf, which in the context of phage infection occurs by the holin action, can have an activating or potentiating effect on the lytic action of c-endolysins, similarly to what was previously described for e-endolysins. Interestingly, this feature has also been observed with other PG hydrolases, such as autolysins, whose regulation is dependent on the maintenance of the pmf. These results may have implications on the selection and design of endolysins intended for enzybiotic therapy (see Chapter 3). Finally, in a third part of this work we aimed to identify and characterize the holin function of phage SPP1, a necessary condition to perform some of the studies presented in Chapter 3. It was previously proposed that the holin of SPP1 would be encoded by orf 26. Its deduced product (gp26) shares homology and hydrophobic characteristics with the XhlB protein, which was implicated in the holin function of the cryptic phage PBSX of B. subtilis. However, our analysis revealed the upstream orf 24.1 that encodes a holin-like protein analogous to XhlA, also involved in PBSX-mediated lysis. Therefore, we decided to study the role of gp24.1 and gp26 as possible SPP1 holins. Because of its potential toxicity, holins of Gram-positive systems are often studied in heterologous systems, typically E. coli. However, despite some advantages, it is sometimes difficult to extrapolate the results obtained to the native systems. Thus, to understand the contribution of gp24.1 and gp26 to the SPP1holin function, the corresponding orfs were cloned separately and as a transcriptional fusion in a B. subtilis replicative plasmid, under the control of an inducible promoter. The results showed that in the assay conditions the individual production of these proteins did not produce significant impact on B. subtilis cell growth, despite their insertion and accumulation in the CM. Growth cessation and cell death typical of the holin action were only observed after co-production of gp24.1 and gp26, suggesting that in SPP1 the holin function may involve the production of these two proteins. Surprisingly, a constitutive promoter was identified within orf 24.1, which we believe should correspond to the previously described early promoter PE5. The presence of this promoter raises questions regarding lysis regulation in phage SPP1 (see Chapter 4).
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Lin, Jia-Pin, and 林嘉品. "Approach to the Influencing Factors of Information Project Outsourcing." Thesis, 2015. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/66248118146947053670.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立屏東大學
資訊管理學系碩士班
103
With the rapid development of information technology, one of the major issues to information industry is the affecting factors for information outsourcing agents to find outsourcing companies and contractual contractors for information projects. After making literary review and collecting opinions of experts, the study scanned and selected some significant affecting factors for outsourcing of information projects. The study took the outsourcing and contractual experts of information industry in Taiwan as the tested targets. After making snowball sampling, the study collected 131 effective samples from outsourcing experts and 85 effective samples from contractual experts. Through factor analysis, the study took out the factors from the various facets of outsourcing experts and contractual experts respectively. According to the research results, outsourcing experts think that the factors influencing information project outsourcing are information comprehensibility, information usability, information reliability, ease of use of software, project member satisfaction and project goal achievement. Contractual experts think that the factors influencing information project outsourcing are customer satisfaction, system correctness, teamwork ability and project goal achievement.
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O, Elba Ruiz, and 陸艾巴. "Factor influencing Agricultural Labor productivity in Nicaragua: An empirical approach." Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/02127722995091417756.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立臺灣大學
農業經濟學研究所
101
This study examines the relationship of different factors that might influence labor productivity in Nicaragua, a time series economic regression model was utilized in two separate stages, owing the number of observations varied according with availability of data. First stage is based of 28 observation where the implicated factors were; Agricultural land per-capita, Net Stock machinery, Economy environment and government regime. The second one, studied 15 observations whereas economic variables were include as foreign direct investment, health and education expenditure. Positive and negative effects were obtained on Agricultural Productivity Labor ratio. Agricultural Land Per-capita and socialist government regime showed a positive relationship on APL ratio, while Net stock machinery and the Economic context affects negatively Labor productivity. In the second stage health expenditure was the only with positive relation on APL ratio.