Obesity is a complex and increasingly prevalent health disorder that is associated with a wide range of medical, social, and psychological difficulties. People are more likely to be obese if they consume an energy dense diet but do not engage in physical activity. Research has indicated that interventions, when implemented during childhood, have long-term outcomes that are superior to interventions implemented in adulthood. This research piloted a behaviourally based intervention programme, with parents as the agents of change, to promote a lifestyle change for inactive children. The programme focussed on increasing physical play (lifestyle activity) and on decreasing sedentary behaviour (an obesity promoting behaviour) during children's after school leisure time. The intervention was investigated using three case studies. Although no conclusive evidence was gained regarding the effectiveness of the pilot programme there was some evidence that children participating reduced their amount of sedentary behaviour and increased the amount of time they spent in physical play. There was also evidence that parents were able to administer the programme and that they found it useful. The results from the present study suggest that the development and application of parent administered behavioural programmes, in the form of packaged interventions to prevent child obesity, warrant further investigation both in terms of the benefits and costeffectiveness it could offer parents and practitioners alike.

Individuals may develop symptoms in response to inhaled odors, chemicals, and irritants. This may affect their quality of life. Little is known about the prevalence and severity of symptoms that result from exposure to odors, chemicals and irritants. This study demonstrates the development of a new respiratory questionnaire to detect the prevalence and severity of symptoms experienced upon exposure to chemicals, odors, and irritants, and relates these symptoms to quality of life. This questionnaire was submitted to 96 volunteers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health who responded to items regarding symptoms developed in response to exposure to automobile exhaust, cigarette smoke, strong smells, cologne, perfumes or scented candles, or fresh paint vapors or fumes. Health-related quality of life was assessed using a subscale included with the questionnaire. The number and severity of symptoms developed in response to exposure to odors, chemicals, and irritants showed a strong negative correlation with health-related quality of life, consistent with intuitive estimates of the direction of this relationship. Also, it was shown that in normal populations, males and females develop statistically similar prevalence and severity of symptoms in response to exposure to odors, chemicals, and irritants.

Are computer-administered versions of a multiple choice paper-pencil test equivalent? This study determined whether there were any significant differences between taking a traditional pencil-paper test and taking the same test using a computer. The literature has shown that there are intervening variables that have caused differences when not controlled. To prove equivalency between test modes, scores have to have similar means, dispersions, and shapes; the ranked-order of the scores must also be similar. Four tests were given over the course of a 16-week semester. The sample was divided, half taking paper-pencil tests and half taking the same test administered by a computer. The mode of administration was switched with each test administration. The analysis showed that, when the intervening variables were controlled, the two modes of administration were equivalent. The analysis used a 2x4 ANOVA, which showed no difference between test modes, but showed that each test administration was significantly different. The Levene statistic was used to test whether dispersions were equivalent and confidence intervals were established to test the kurtosis and skewness statistics. Finally, each of the test scores were transformed into their Normal Curve Equivalents so that Pearson's coefficient could be used to determine the equivalency of the ranked-orders.

A presente dissertação de mestrado é um estudo teórico fundamentado na Teoria Crítica da Sociedade e alguns conceitos da Psicanálise freudiana acerca da questão da dominação que recaí sobre os indivíduos da Sociedade Administrada. Com o objetivo de investigar o fenômeno de apropriação do inconsciente na Sociedade Administrada, o estudo se centrou em três obras principais dos autores T. W. Adorno e M. Horkheimer; Excurso I Ulisses - ou Mito e Esclarecimento, Teoria Freudiana e o padrão da propaganda fascista e Sobre a relação entre Sociologia e Psicologia. Além dessas obras principais, outros textos dos autores, bem como uma vasta seleção de escritos de S. Freud, e de autores contemporâneos, complementaram os materiais teóricos investigados. Cada uma dessas obras protagoniza, respectivamente, um dos três capítulos que organizam o trabalho e as articulações teóricas partiram dos elementos principais presentes nesses textos. Os resultados demonstram que parte do inconsciente se constitui a partir do processo de sedimentação de conteúdos conflituosos no decorrer do desenvolvimento contraditório da civilização; um depositário de conteúdos negados pela história. Embora a sociedade não possua um inconsciente, ela carrega consigo, em suas diversas instituições, a marca das contradições do progresso, influenciando assim, o desenvolvimento de seus integrantes de forma estrutural. A pesquisa ainda revelou que devido aos diferentes processos de enfraquecimento do indivíduo, as pessoas tornam-se mais suscetíveis a integrar movimentos de massa, nos quais conteúdos de seu inconsciente são manipulados pelos agitadores e discursos ideológicos para fins de dominação. A Sociedade Administrada demonstrou possuir uma complexa rede de controle sobre as pessoas, escamoteando as possibilidades emancipatórias de seus membros, que ficam aprisionados e incapacitados de perceber os mecanismos de controle que regem suas vidas. O nível de controle que a sociedade administrada exerce sobre seus membros, regularmente depende de níveis de influência que atingem seu psiquismo também na dimensão inconsciente para garantir o seu sucesso. Dessa forma, também foi possível investigar como existem diversos níveis de controle diferentes operando nas pessoas, podendo culminar na mais alta expressão dessa dominação, o sujeito reflexo, cujas determinações psíquicas inconscientes estariam completamente integradas às sociais / This dissertation is a theoretical study based on the Critical Theory of Society and some concepts of Freudian Psychoanalysis about the question of domination that falls on the individuals of the Administered World. With the objective of investigating the phenomenon of appropriation of the unconscious in the Administered World, the study focused on three main works by the authors T. W. Adorno and M. Horkheimer; \" Excerpt I Ulysses - or Myth and Enlightenment \", \"Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda\" and \"On the Relationship between Sociology and Psychology\". In addition to these major works, other authors\' texts, as well as a wide selection of writings by S. Freud and contemporary writers, complemented the theoretical materials investigated. Each of these works receives the central spot in one of the three chapters that organize the work and the theoretical articulations of the main elements present in these texts. The results demonstrate that part of the unconscious is constituted from the sedimentation process of conflicting contents in the course of the contradictory development of civilization; a depository of contents denied by history. Although society does not possess an unconscious, it carries with it, in its various institutions, the mark of the contradictions of progress, thus influencing the development of its members in a structural way. This research has further revealed that because of the different processes of weakening the individual, people become more susceptible to integrate mass movements, in which contents of their unconscious are manipulated by agitators and ideological discourses for the purpose of domination. The Administered World has demonstrated that it has a complex network of control over the people, by concealing the emancipatory possibilities of its members, who are imprisoned and unable to perceive the control mechanisms that govern their lives. The level of control that the administered world exerts on its members regularly depends on levels of influence that reach its psyche also in the unconscious dimension to ensure its success. In this way, it was also possible to investigate how there are different levels of control operating in people, and can culminate in the highest expression of this domination, the reflex subject, whose unconscious psychic determinations would be completely integrated with the social ones

Esta pesquisa teórica investiga a deterioração da experiência do brincar infantil no contexto do mundo administrado e suas possíveis implicações. A pesquisa é realizada a partir de autores da Teoria Crítica, com ênfase em Walter Benjamin e Theodor Adorno. A investigação realizada aponta para a deterioração da experiência do brincar na infância como um brincar administrado - caracterizado pela submissão do brincar à razão instrumental. No âmbito da educação, o brincar sem finalidade produtiva é preterido pelo brincar como recurso de aprendizagem, de modo que se torna um instrumento da racionalidade produtiva. No âmbito da indústria cultural, o brincar é submetido ao princípio de dominação da organização social moderna e se torna atividade de consumo. O brincar administrado implica na expropriação da capacidade mimética de reconhecer e criar de semelhanças, prerrogativa do próprio brincar, e de suas possibilidades imaginativas. A ação imaginativa do brincar propicia as expressões de alteridade na cultura e relaciona-se com a dimensão estética da vida humana. Porém, ao atender às pressões adaptativas da organização social, o brincar administrado compromete a dimensão estética e submete os indivíduos à frieza. Deste modo, ele ameaça as expressões das diferenças e orienta os sujeitos às tendências regressivas da barbárie / This theoretical research investigates the deterioration of the playing experience in childhood in the context of the administered world, as well as its possible implications. The research is oriented by the Critical Theory, especially from the perspective of Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno. The survey points out to deterioration of the playing experience in childhood as a administered activity, characterized by its submission to the instrumental rationality. In the field of education, playing without any productive purpose is substituted by playing as a learning resource, leading to the transformation of the act of playing into instrument of productive rationality. Within the cultural industry, the playing experience in childhood is subject to the principle of domination of the modern social organization and becomes a consumer activity. The administered playing implies the expropriation of mimetic faculty to recognize and create similarities, which are prerogatives of the activity of playing, as well as of its imaginative possibilities. The imaginative action underlying the act of playing provides the expressions of cultural otherness and relates to the aesthetic dimension of human life. However, in order to attend the adaptive pressures of social organization, the administered playing compromises the aesthetic dimension and subjects individuals to the coldness. Thus, the administered playing threatens the expression of diferences in the society and leads the individuals to regressive tendencies to barbarism

People living with heart failure (PLHF) should be screened for symptoms at every healthcare visit since they are 3 times more likely to experience ventricular arrhythmias. This quality improvement project (QIP) compared 3 self-administered HF symptoms questionnaires to determine the best screening tool for a tertiary hospital arrhythmia devices clinic. The instruments included the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ), the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), and the Self-Reported Heart Failure Symptoms (SHEFS) questionnaire. For a 30-day period, 76 people were eligible to participate in the QIP, with 55 participants included in the final analysis (72.5% participation). The questionnaires were compared and assessed with the gold standard laboratory test for HF (NT-proBNP) for sensitivity and specificity. For HF, the SHEFS was the most sensitive (83%) compared to the NT-proBNP, but the MLHFQ was most specific (89%). When compared to the MLHFQ as the standard, SHEFS was 71% sensitive, and 73% specific for HF. Similarly, when compared to the KCCQ, the SHEFS was both, 75% specific and sensitive in identifying HF. However, the rate of correlation to a positive or negative NT-proBNP test results was the highest for the SHEFS (87%). All 3 questionnaires were statistically significant in predicting admission to hospital for HF in the past 6 months (p = 0.02 to 0.03). Finally, given the shortest length and simplicity of use, the SHEFS was selected by the stakeholders to be the standard screening tool for the clinic. This project contributes to positive social change by providing the first reported comparison in the literature to implement questionnaires in a clinic to assess symptoms for PLHF attending an arrhythmia devices clinic.

The purpose of this study was to test whether the computer-administered College Level Examination Program (CLEP) General Examination in English Composition produced scores equivalent to those obtained from the traditional paper-and-pencil version. The CLEP examination and its adaptation for computer administration and the results of a pilot study are presented. The subjects in this study were volunteers who took the CLEP English Composition Examination in order to earn college credit and were randomly assigned to either the computer-first or paper-and-pencil-first groups. Each subject took both forms of the examination with approximately one half of the subjects taking each version first. Analysis of variance failed to detect a significant effect for test form or an interaction of test form and order of administration. Equivalence reliability coefficients and internal consistency coefficients also indicated that the computer administration did not significantly alter the results of the examination. In general, the results of this study support the hypothesis that the computer-administered version of the CLEP General Examination in English Composition produces results equivalent to those obtained from the traditional paper-and-pencil version.

Subjects for this study were 40 women (N= 40) with subclinical bulimia nervosa who were randomly assigned to either a Cognitive Behavioral Treatment group (CBT) or to a waiting list control group. Treatment was provided for 8 weeks in an individual, self-administered format, using an audio-taped treatment package for Body Image Dissatisfaction (BID). Cognitive behavioral treatment focused on changing negative thoughts and feelings about one's body. No specific treatment focused on changing eating symptomatology or concomitant symptoms, although these were assessed. The waiting list control condition received assessment, followed by 8 weeks of no treatment. Treatment outcome measures were three self-report scales that assessed BID and two measures that assessed eating symptomatology and concomitant symptoms. At posttest, treated subjects showed improvement on two of three measures of BID, with a trend towards improvement on the third measure, when compared to waiting list control subjects. Treated subjects also showed a trend towards improved eating symptomatology and concomitant symptoms such as depression and anxiety, relative to waiting list control subjects. The results indicated that CBT is effective for decreasing BID in women with subclinical bulimia nervosa when administered in a self-directed manner.

Background: Despite their potential as low-threshold, low-cost and high-flexibility treatments of depression, behavioural activation and physical exercise have not yet been directly compared. This study will examine the effects of these interventions, administered via the Internet. The added effect of providing a treatment rationale will also be studied, as well as a relapse prevention program featuring cognitive behavioural therapy components. Methods/Design: This randomised controlled trial will include 500 participants meeting the diagnostic criteria for major depression, recruited in multiple cycles and randomised to either a waiting list control group with delayed treatment, or one of the four treatment groups: (1) physical exercise without a clear treatment rationale; (2) physical exercise with treatment rationale; (3) behavioural activation with treatment rationale; or (4) behavioural activation without a clear treatment rationale. Post treatment, half of the participants will be offered a relapse prevention program. Primary outcome measure will be the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item. Secondary measures include diagnostic criteria for depression, as well as self-reported anxiety, physical activity and quality of life. Measurements done via telephone and the Internet -will be collected pre-treatment, weekly during treatment period, immediately post treatment and then monthly during a 24-month follow-up period. Discussion: The results of this study will constitute an important contribution to the body of knowledge of the respective interventions. Limitations are discussed.

Virtual servers are being increasingly utilized in higher education forclient computers, this thesis investigates if virtualization could also bebeneficial for servers. By providing three general models (the first beingthe current situation and the two latter leveraging virtualization) andevaluating each, a broad sense of the applicability, possibilities andremaining problems of introducing server virtualization is provided.For one specific course, TDDD27 - Advanced web programming, amore concrete analysis is done and specific recommendations are pro-vided.The conclusion is that there are still more work to be done, butboth of the proposed models are possible and suitable for some courses.Their introduction should have several positive effects, for instancefairer courses and more focus on the subject at hand.