Task has been recognized as an influential factor in information seeking behavior. An increasing number of studies are concentrating on the specific characteristics of the task as independent variables to explain associated information-seeking activities. This paper examines the relationships between operational measures of information search behavior, subjectively perceived post-task difficulty and objective task complexity in the context of factual information-seeking tasks on the web. A questiondriven, web-based information-finding study was conducted in a controlled experimental setting. The study participants performed nine search tasks of varying complexity. Subjective task difficulty was found to be correlated with many measures that characterize the searcherâ s activities. Four of those measures, the number of the unique web pages visited, the time spent on each page, the degree of deviation from the optimal path and the degree of the navigation pathâ s linearity, were found to be good predictors of subjective task difficulty. Objective task complexity was found to affect the relative importance of those predictors and to affect subjective assessment of task difficulty.

==Background== In most academic disciplines journals play an important role in disseminating findings of research among the disciplinary community members. Understanding a discipline's body of journals is therefore of grave importance when looking for previous research, compiling an overview of previous research and and in order to make a decision regarding the best place for publishing research results. Furthermore, based on Bradford's Law of scattering, one can assume that in order to be able to compile a satisfying overview of previous research a wide range of journals has to be scanned, but also that there are some 'core' journals which are of more importance to specific disciplines than others. ==Aim== This thesis aims to compile a comprehensive master list of journals which publish articles of relevance to Library and Information Science (LIS). A method to rank journals by their importance is introduced and some key characteristics of the disciplines body of journals are discussed. Databases indexing the disciplines journals are also compared. ==Method== The master list of LIS journals was created by combining the journal listings of secondary sources indexing the field's literature. These sources were six databases focusing on LIS literature: INFODATA, Current Contents, Library and Information Science Abstracts, Library Information Science Technology Abstracts, Information Science and Technology Abstracts, and Library Literature and Information Science, the LIS subsection in three databases with a general focus: Social Science Citation Index, Academic Search Premier, and Expanded Academic ASAP, and the listing of LIS journals from the Elektronische Zeitschriften Bibliothek. Problems related to editorial policies and technical shortcomings are discussed, before comparing: predominant publication languages, places of publication, open access, peer review, and the ISI Journal Impact Factors (JIF). Journals were also ranked by the number of occurrences in multiple databases in order to identify 'core' publications. The number of journals overlapping between databases are estimated and a matrix giving the overlap is visualized using multi dimensional scaling. Lastly, the degree of journals overlapping with other disciplines is measured. ==Results== A comprehensive master list of 1,205 journals publishing articles of relevance to LIS was compiled. The 968 active journals are mostly published in English, with one third of the journals coming from the US and another third from the UK and Germany. Nearly 16% of all journals are open access, 11% have a ISIJIF, and 42% are peer reviewed. Fifteen core journal could be identified and a list of the top fourteen journals published in Germany is introduced. Databases have between five to 318 journals in common and the journal collection shows an substantial overlap with a wide range of subjects, with the biggest journal overlap with Computing Studies, and Business and Economics. ==Conclusion== The aim of compiling a comprehensive list of LIS journal was achieved. The list will contribute to our understanding of scholarly communication within the LIS discipline and provide academics and practitioners with a better understanding of journals within the discipline. The ranking approach proved to be sufficient, showing good similarity with other studies over the last 40 years. The master list of LIS journals has also potential use to further research.

This study has been conducted in the context of the master program in Outdoor Environmental Education and Outdoor Life, of Linköping University. It aspires to investigate a specific part of outdoor environments: the schoolyards. Particularly, the aim of the study is to investigate how the use of the school grounds as an educational resource is influenced by their environments -rural or urban. The research compares the school communities’ (principals’, teachers’ and students’) perceptions about the use of their school grounds during the educational process. The research sample consists of 10 Swedish elementary schools, from which the five are in rural and five are in urban environments. The participants are in total 10 principals, 51 teachers and 295 students. Alongside, an observation recorded in a list and photographs enhance the comparison between the rural and urban schools’ infrastructures. From the 1268 photos taken, a selection is included in the study and constitutes the observation part. The study negotiates four controversial issues about school grounds’ capacities: space or place; good or bad; rural or urban; grounds of a school or grounds of a curriculum. The results, after all, reject the contradictions and the sections become respectively: a place for all seasons; neither good nor bad, just unique! ; Ideality stands for ideas; grounds for cooperation. It also becomes visible that even though the analysis of the responses confirms that the urban teachers hold the stereotypical idea that there are differences between rural and urban environments; the infrastructures of both environments do not appear different. However, the teachers’ different opinions and beliefs have a significant impact on the students’ responses. Specifically, significant differences are reported by students which align with the teachers’ differences. The rural and urban principals do not report significant differences, and in the great majority their opinions also align with their teachers’ opinions. Finally, a model which is unfolded through this study has central role, namely the schoolyard circle. This model aims to facilitate a process that I introduce as schoolisization, in which school grounds are used to extend the stereotypical learning environment by adapting the curriculum to a school’s needs. Consequently, the schoolyards’ transformation from a space to our place can be finally proved an outdoor education approach that “bridges contradictions” and promises better educational results.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by Steven M. Boker for the Department of Psychology. "December 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-102).

Despite a constant rise in the attainment of Sats results year on year, the perception remains that British primary school children are underachieving and that they are reluctant readers and writers. In order to motivate their students, some teachers use films as a visual stimulus to provide students with ideas and create a personal and emotion connection with the written text. In the school years of 2013/14 I followed 21 primary classes which were taking part in a ‘film literacy’ scheme run by Bradford UNESCO City of Film. This initiative saw the training of teachers in the use of film as a tool in literacy lesson with the hope to raise attainment and motivation. Students and teachers completed questionnaires and interviews which were analysed in conjunction with observations and the students’ literacy grades. The research showed that both students and teachers recorded an increase in motivation. Further, significant progress in attainment also became evident: film literacy students raised their grades by 23.3% beyond the expected year-on-year increase. Improvements in inference, comprehension and vocabulary were especially praised. Students from schools with a low-income environment benefitted in particular. The research discusses six potential reasons for these changes, two of which are based on the belief that film is a particularly suitable medium for teaching as it engages students emotionally. Although the thesis acknowledges that Bradford involved a unique group of schools in the film literacy training and research, it nevertheless argues that film could be useful addition to primary classrooms due to its potential ability to raise standards and engage reluctant young writers.

abstract: The discussion board is a facet of online education that continues to confound students, educators, and researchers alike. Currently, the majority of research insists that instructors should structure and control online discussions as well as evaluate such discussions. However, the existing literature has yet to compare the various strategies that instructors have identified and employed to facilitate discussion board participation. How should instructors communicate their expectations online? Should instructors create detailed instructions that outline and model exactly how students should participate, or should generalized instructions be communicated? An experiment was conducted in an online course for undergraduate students at Arizona State University. Three variations of instructional conditions were developed for use in the experiment: (1) detailed, (2) general, and (3) limited. The results of the experiment indentified a pedagogically valuable finding that should positively influence the design of future online courses that utilize discussion boards. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Communication Studies 2012

O intuito deste estudo foi o de realizar uma pesquisa qualiquantitativa, documental e exploratória sobre a produção científica nacional no tema \"pescado: alimento para consumo humano\" compreendendo o período entre 2002 e 2012. Os trabalhos foram classificados em duas grandes áreas: Saúde Pública, e Processamento do Pescado. Objetivou-se identificar a participação das regiões brasileiras; o pescado mais estudado; as entidades que mais pesquisam sobre o tema (públicas ou privadas); os aspectos em que a pesquisa sobre o tema contribui para o desenvolvimento do setor, e os principais avanços identificados nesse período de estudo. O estudo concluiu que houve um aumento do número de trabalhos produzidos no tema \"pescado: alimento para consumo humano\", entre 2002 a 2012; as pesquisas desenvolvidas vem contribuindo com um grande número de trabalhos voltados à Saúde Pública, sendo que estes apresentaram principalmente pesquisas de análises microbiológicas e físico-químicas; as instituições públicas foram as que mais apresentaram pesquisas dentro do período estudado; a região que mais realizou estudos foi a Sudeste; o pescado mais estudado foi origem marinha e a espécie de pescado mais encontrada nos estudos foi a tilápia (Oreochromis niloticus); o maior número de trabalhos foi apresentado no Congresso de Higienistas de Alimentos, seguido pelo SIMCOPE e base Capes, respectivamente. Os trabalhos, no geral, foram muito semelhantes e voltados à Saúde Pública, porém o SIMCOPE demonstrou maior número de trabalhos referentes ao Processamento do Pescado. A criação do Ministério da Pesca e Aquicultura gerou um aumento de investimento, por parte do governo no setor, incentivando a produção de peixes de cativeiro, como a tilápia. / The purpose of this study was to create a qualitative, quantitative, documentary and exploratory research on scientific productions with the theme \" fish : food for human consumption.\" published between 2002 and 2012 These studies were classified into two areas: Public Health, and Fish Processing. This study aimed to identify the participation of Brazilian regions; the most studied fish; entities with more research on the topic (public or private); aspects in which research on the subject contributes to the sector development, and major advances. The study concluded that the studies on this theme are increasing ; most of the of research were related to public health , and these studies had mainly microbiological and physico- chemical analysis; public institutions were the most productive researching on this theme within the study period; the region that most studies were conducted was the Southeast; the most studied fish and seafood species of fish was tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus); the largest number of papers were presented at the Congress of Food Hygienists, followed by Capes SIMCOPE and base, respectively. The work, in general, were very similar and focused on public health, but SIMCOPE demonstrated a greater number of jobs related to fish processing. The creation of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture has generated increased investment by the government in the sector, encouraging the production of captive fish, such as tilapia.

Orientadores: Leonardo de Souza Mendes, Bruno Bogaz Zarpelão / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T07:05:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miani_RodrigoSanches_D.pdf: 2910742 bytes, checksum: e722dcc4c3bc0741a15ed5ec79cfa1ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Com o aumento da frequência e diversidade de ataques, uma preocupação crescente das organizações é garantir a segurança da rede. Para compreender as ações que conduziram os incidentes e como eles podem ser mitigados, pesquisadores devem identificar e medir os fatores que influenciam os atacantes e também as vítimas. A quantificação de segurança é, em particular, importante na construção de métricas relevantes para apoiar as decisões que devem ser tomadas para a proteção de sistemas e redes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi propor soluções para auxiliar o desenvolvimento de modelos de quantificação de segurança aplicados em ambientes reais. Três diferentes abordagens foram usadas para a investigação do problema: identificação de limitações nos métodos existentes na literatura, investigação de fatores que influenciam a segurança de uma organização e a criação e aplicação de um questionário para investigar o uso de métricas na prática. Os estudos foram conduzidos usando dados fornecidos pela University of Maryland e pelo Centro de Atendimento a Incidentes de Segurança (CAIS) vinculado a Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP). Os resultados mostraram que as organizações podem se beneficiar de análises mais rigorosas e eficientes a partir do uso de métricas de segurança e que a continuidade das pesquisas nessa área está intimamente ligada ao desenvolvimento de estudos em sistemas reais / Abstract: With the increase in the number and diversity of attacks, a critical concern for organizations is to keep their network secure. To understand the actions that lead to successful attacks and also how they can be mitigated, researchers should identify and measure the factors that influence both attackers and victims. Quantifying security is particularly important to construct relevant metrics that support the decisions that need to be made to protect systems and networks. In this work, we aimed at proposing solutions to support the development of security quantification models applied in real environments. Three different approaches were used to investigate the problem: identifying issues on existing methods, evaluating metrics using empirical analysis and conducting a survey to investigate metrics in practice. Studies were conducted using data provided by the University of Maryland and also by the Security Incident Response Team (CAIS) from the National Education and Research Network (RNP). Our results showed that organizations could better manage security by employing security metrics and also that future directions in this field are related to the development of studies on real systems / Doutorado / Telecomunicações e Telemática / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

Undesirable leadership behaviours such as workplace bullying, destructive or toxic leadership are reportedly on the increase with negative effects on both the well-being of employees and the organisation (Salin, 2003). Since there is limited empirical evidence regarding the relationship between destructive leadership and psychological distress, the purpose of this study was to determine whether such a relationship exists among employees in South African organisations. Furthermore, the study intended to investigate whether gender has a moderating effect on this relationship. Destructive leadership behaviour is defined as the systematic and repeated behaviour by a leader, supervisor or manager that violates the legitimate interest of the organisation by undermining and/or sabotaging the organisation's goals, tasks, resources, and effectiveness and/or the motivation, well-being or job satisfaction of his/her subordinates (Einarsen, Aasland & Skogstad, 2007). With a sample (n = 200) of South African employees, the study adopted a correlational design and used the Destructive Leadership Behaviour Scale developed by Aasland, Skogstad and Einarsen (2008) as well as the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-45 developed by Derogatis, Lipman, Richels, Uhlenhuth and Covi (1974) to assess the relationship between destructive leadership behaviour and psychological distress as well as the moderating effect of gender. The results indicated that two of the six hypotheses were accepted. H2, there is a relationship between overall destructive leadership and psychological distress, has been accepted. Furthermore H5, there is a significant correlation between the participants’ overall destructive leadership scores and overall psychological distress, was also accepted. Finally H6, gender has a moderating effect on the relationship between participants overall destructive leadership scores and overall psychological distress scores, was rejected. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

This project is part of a larger study of the Serithi project in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with three hundred and seventeen HIV positive women from disadvantaged locations of Tshwane. In this study, the focus is on women’s experiences of an HIV positive diagnosis and the stigma associated with HIV and their level of disclosure. An analysis was made to whom they disclose, why they choose to disclose and the reaction of the people disclosed to, as well as reasons some people decided not to disclose. Theoretically, the Social Psychology approach was used to provide a theoretical framework as it attempts to understand the relationship between individuals, groups, and behaviour, invariably understanding the relationship between HIV related stigma experienced and the levels of disclosure of the women. As the aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of HIV related stigma and disclosure encountered by South African HIV positive women, a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures was used. It was established from the research results that upon diagnosis, most women experience negative emotions and thoughts including shock, fear of death, sadness, anger, self-blame and denial. These reactions, however, over time seem to fluctuate and positive reactions such as acceptance of the HIV positive diagnosis and positive thinking come to the fore. Of the three hundred and seventeen respondents used in this study, only one hundred and ninety three women (61%) disclosed their HIV status to at least one person, being either partners (44%), family members (16%), parents (12%), friends (11%), in-laws (1,5%), and or people at work of which less than one percent of the women disclosed to, while 124 (39%) of the women did not disclose to anyone with the exception of the research assistants involved in this study. The issue of disclosure was analysed, and the most people disclosed to were partners, family members and parents. The women stated that it was easy for them to disclose to these people because they knew that they would not be judged and ridiculed. Instead, they felt assured that they would receive unconditional acceptance and support upon disclosure. Reasons for not disclosing included the fear of discrimination, rejection and blame, lack of trust and a supportive relationship. HIV related stigma was assessed through three different types of stigma, namely; 1) Experienced personal stigma (expectations of stigmatised individuals of how others will react to their condition), 2) Perceived community stigma (how the respondents think most people in the community feel and react towards HIV) and 3) Enacted stigma (the actual experiences of discriminatory acts due to their HIV positive status). From these assessments, it was established that respondents perceive community stigma to be the most prevalent and more negative than felt or personal stigma and enacted stigma, which was the least negative. Correlations between the various measures of stigma and disclosure showed that the women’s decision to disclose their HIV status is not only related to their stigma scores. Levels of personal stigma only played a role in disclosure to family members and friends and not in disclosure to partners. Perceived community stigma, which was high, did not have an impact on the level of disclosure. Therefore, the decision to disclose one’s HIV status is not totally influenced or dependent on HIV related stigma because other variables such as the quality of relationships also play a role. This raises the opportunity for further research as to what other aspects may have an impact on the issue of disclosure of one’s HIV positive status. / Dissertation (MA (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted