In this project I investigate university students orientations to learning statistics. The students who participated in my research were studying statistics as a compulsory component of their psychology course. My central thesis is that learning develops in the relationship between the thinking, feeling and acting person and the social, institutional and cultural contexts surrounding him or her. How students orient themselves or position themselves to learn statistics is reflected in their engagement with the learning task and their activities. These activities determine the quality of their learning and emerging knowledge. To understand student learning I draw on the powerful theories of Vygotsky (1962, 1978) and Leontev (1978, 1981). In particular, I extend and apply Leontev's construct of activity (Leontev, 1981). This suggests that individuals act in accordance with their purposes and needs which are shaped by and reflect histories and resources, both personal and cultural. My investigation consists of two studies. Study One is a qualitative exploration of the orientations to learning statistics of five older students. These students sought help with statistics at the Mathematics Learning Centre where I work. My case studies of these students are inseparable from my efforts to help them learn statistics. Study Two is grounded in Study One. The main source of data for this broader study is a survey which was completed by 279 psychology students studying statistics. In keeping with the theoretical framework, my methodology involves a holistic analysis of students and the milieu in which they act. My findings suggest relationships among students affective appraisals; their conceptions of statistics; their approaches to learning it; their evaluations and the outcomes of their actions. In Study One the relationships emerged from the students' descriptions. In Study Two I quantified the ways in which variables related to each other. Structure for the data was provided by means of correlations, factor analysis and cluster analysis. For this study I also interviewed students and teachers of statistics. My data support the systemic view of teaching and learning in context afforded by my theoretical perspective. Learning statistics involves the whole person (Semenov, 1978) and is inseparable from the arena of his or her actions. The goal of statistics education is surely to enable students to develop useful, meaningful knowledge. My findings suggest that for many of the participants in my project this goal was not being met. Most of these students reported their reluctance to learn statistics and described adopting primarily surface approaches to learning it. A range of conceptions of the subject was expressed, but for many of the students statistical meaning was evidently reduced to performance on assessment tasks. Such orientations to learning statistics may lead to it becoming irrelevant and inert information. For a few students, however, the experience of learning statistics led to self development and enhanced perspectives on the world in which we live. My project indicates the diversity of students' experiences. It raises issues as to why we teach statistics today and how the teaching and learning of statistics is being supported at university. //REFERENCES Leontev, A. N. (1978). Activity, Consciousness, and Personality. (M. J. Hall, Trans.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Leontev, A. N. (1981). The problem of activity in psychology. In J. V. Wertsch (Ed.), The Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology, (pp. 37-71). New York: M. E. Sharpe. Semenov, N. (1978). An empirical psychological study of thought processes in creative problem-solving from the perspective of the theory of activity. Soviet Psychology, 16(1), 3-46. Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The M.I.T. Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a child-focused, school-delivered physical activity program on daily steps of children and their paternal parent, and to evaluate the acceptability to teachers of the 'Walk your Dad' program. A pre-test, post-test experimental/control groups design was used. The sample, recruited from Eltham College of Education, consisted of 60 children aged 10- to 13-years and 48 paternal parents aged 35- to 64-years. Physical activity levels were assessed over a 6-day period using New Lifestyles pedometers, 1-week prior to and 1-week after the intervention. The 12-week intervention consisted of two cross curriculum homework activities per week delivered to children by their classroom teacher, focusing on increasing physical activity behaviours of children and their paternal parent. Following cleaning and imputation, data were analysed using descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVA. Teachers (n=2) of intervention group participants independently completed a survey on the acceptability of the program in the week following its completion. Mean weekend steps for children in the intervention group increased from 15,436 +/- 7,680 at pre-test to 19,575 +/- 10,537 at post-test, while among control group children steps decreased from 17,981 +/- 6,552 to 17,278 +/- 6,769. On weekdays (4-days), mean steps for children in the intervention group increased from 46,090 +/- 16,001 to 48,760 +/- 13,648, while among control group children, steps decreased from 46,907 +/- 9,912 to 43,717 +/- 10,255. Mean weekend steps for paternal parents in the intervention group increased from 15,116 +/- 5,640 to 17,473 +/- 6,836, while among control group paternal parents steps decreased from 18,239 +/- 8,345 to 17,836 +/- 6,855. On weekdays (four days) mean steps for paternal parents in the intervention group increased from 31,141 +/- 13,246 to 31,507 +/- 13,132 while among control group paternal parents steps decreased from 34,942 +/- 11,109 to 32,502 +/- 12,602. Repeated measures ANOVA analyses revealed that on weekends for children there were significant differenc es between pre- and post-test (p less than.000), between pre- and post-test for boys and girls (p less than.000), and between boys, girls, intervention and control class (p =.01) at post-test. On weekdays for children there was a significant difference between intervention and control class at post-test (p =.01). Results for paternal parents indicated that there was a significant difference on weekends between pre- and post-test (p less than.000) and on weekdays there was a significant difference between intervention and control class at post-test (p =.05). Both intervention class teachers had consistent views about the program. The findings suggest that during the period of research and among this group, the intervention had a positive effect on weekend step behaviour of girls and weekday step behaviour of girls, boys and their paternal parents. The process evaluation revealed some aspects of the program may require modification.

<p>Parkinsons sjukdom är en neurologisk sjukdom, som främst drabbar motorik, men även kan påverka psykosociala och kognitiva funktioner. Studiens syfte var att kartlägga aktiviteter och upplevd delaktighet hos en grupp personer med Parkinsons sjukdom (n = 10). En semistrukturerad intervju gjordes med genomgång av aktiviteter under ett dygn. Data analyserades utifrån aktivitets- och delaktighetsdomänerna i ICF. Jämförelse med tidigare forskningsresultat visade att personerna i den aktuella undersökningsgruppen ägnade mer tid åt personlig vård, men mindre tid åt vila och TV-tittande. Upplevd delaktighet i aktiviteterna skattades generellt som hög, men en negativ korrelation sågs mellan tid sedan diagnos och delaktighet inom domänen Viktiga livsområden. En stor spridning i materialet indikerar att exempelvis rehabiliteringsinsatser bör baseras på individuell aktivitetsanalys.</p>

Recent concern over the potential environmental impact of highway construction and repair materials on surface and ground waters has lead to extensive laboratory screening and subsequent testing of a set of new materials and waste amended mixes. As part of Phase II of a three-phase project for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, a fate and transport model for the assessment of this impact has been written. The model predicts concentrations and loads of contaminants as well as toxicities for the leachates in both surface and subsurface environments. The model addresses four specific "reference environments": an impermeable highway surface, a permeable highway surface, a vertical piling, and a filled borehole. Six materials are examined in detail: crumb rubber asphalt concrete. SEMASS asphalt concrete, foundry sand asphalt concrete, ammonical copper zinc arsenate treated wood, and methyl methacrylate deck sealer. A statistical approach to relating toxicity to the concentration of a chemical "surrogate" forms the basis for prediction of toxicity in the leachates. All fate and transport prediction methods are based on physical and mathematical descriptions of the near-highway environment. Surface runoff is calculated using kinematic wave theory coupled with leaching, photolysis and volatilization, flow through pavement cracks is based on continuity, and subsurface transport is based on a plug flow model with linear or Freundlich sorption and biodegradation. Explicit finite difference numerical methods are used for both surface leaching and subsurface transport. A search engine is provided for examination of all laboratory results. / Graduation date: 1999

The acquisition and elimination of products and the resources needed to create them constitutes an important part of the business decision-making process. Activity-based costing (ABC) supports this process by providing a tool for evaluating the relative profitability of various products. It accomplishes this by allocating costs to products based on the activities, and in turn the resources demanded by those activities, required to produce them. In allocating indirect costs traditionally considered "fixed," such as equipment, administrative overhead, and support staff salaries, ABC treats all costs as variable in the long-run. However, many costs can only vary in discrete steps. For example, one usually cannot purchase a fractional piece of equipment; one chooses either to buy it or not to buy it. Also, in adding support staff, one will typically find that people demand full-time positions, so increments will come in discrete amounts. This stairstep semivariable nature of many costs runs counter to ABC's treatment of all costs as variable. In addition, different products often draw upon the same resources. This creates complex interactions, making it difficult to predict the ultimate consequences of adding or eliminating a particular product. Mixed integer programming (MIP) provides another tool for making these product/resource mix decisions. Unlike ABC, however, it can handle variables that take on integer values, and hence deal appropriately with stairstep semivariable costs. It also ensures that the decision recommended by the model will optimize profitability, given that a solution exists and the underlying assumptions hold true. In doing this, MIP automatically adjusts for all of the complex interactions that exist among the various products and resources. Using a simplified two product/two resource model, one can detail the mathematics behind ABC and MIP, and then link the two approaches through a common variable. This allows one to establish the conditions under which ABC and MIP will yield the same results, and those under which they will differ. Since MW produces an optimal solution, the fact that ABC yields a different result under specific circumstances underscores the danger of relying solely on the product margins generated by an ABC model. / Graduation date: 1998

Thesis (M.Sc. (Menslike Bewegingskunde))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-112).

Background: Over 80% of people who experience stroke survive, but for half, their level of activity drops significantly. Even survivors with mild disability become disengaged. Research Question: Based on an ecological model, what perceived facilitators and barriers do stroke survivors encounter in their choice of everyday activities 1 to 6 years after stroke? Methods: Situational analysis grounded theory. Results: Disability changed participants social position regarding their ability to control their own situation to dependence on other people to facilitate choice. Re-negotiating identity and position in society was an iterative process of scaffolding small tasks into activities through bargaining for access to practical support and inclusion into social situations. Conclusions: Stroke survivors who experienced inclusion in their communities resumed some level of meaningful activities more successfully. However, some with mild disability had difficulty resuming activities as they were expected to system navigate and adapt on their own.

Highly structured school-based interventions have shown promise in reducing risk factors for obesity in children. However, challenges exist with the sustainability of these kinds of programs and little is known about the potential for less structured interventions to effect change on behaviours that underpin overweight and obesity in children. We utilized an experimental design to test the effects of a semi-structured intervention on the lifestyle behaviours of grade 4 to 6 students at four schools. We also assessed stakeholder satisfaction with the intervention. ANOVA found no significant differences in vegetable and fruit intake or steps taken per day between conditions (control versus intervention); suggesting that impact of the intervention on these behaviours was inconsequential. Narrative accounts provided by the stakeholders expressed satisfaction with the intervention. This pilot study contributes to our understanding of the types of strategies likely to be efficacious in reducing the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. / Nutrition and Metabolism

The Healthy Start Summer Program (HSSP) is a seven-week summer program that strives to provide health and wellness education in a manner that is applicable to everyday living. The primary goal of the HSSP is to improve physical fitness levels and the psychosocial variables associated with exercise in a minority adolescent population, while providing the tools necessary for students to maintain these changes for four months after the program. Participants and control subjects were evaluated at the beginning and end of their respective summer programs, then followed up four months post-program to evaluate the maintenance of these changes. The students who participated in both the HSSP and the control summer programs were primarily of Hispanic, African-American, or Haitian descent and were recruited from high schools that serve low socioeconomic areas. Participation in the HSSP was associated with improved physical fitness levels that remained elevated at the follow-up evaluation; however, physical fitness improvement during the program was negatively associated with maintenance after the program. In general, the expected associations between physical fitness and psychosocial variables were not found in our population, nor did psychosocial variables change significantly during or following the program. Findings indicate that the expected associations between physical and psychosocial variables are either not present or that the tools used to measure them were not sufficiently sensitive in this minority population. However, the fact that cardiovascular fitness remained elevated above baseline four months after the program represents an improvement from interventions previously reported in the literature. Future research should be conducted to more fully understand the factors related to the maintenance of physical fitness.