Approachability of nursing clinical instructors is largely unknown and misunderstood, yet critical for millennial students which currently comprise 82% of nursing students (National League for Nursing, 2014). Nursing education consists of both a didactic and a clinical component. Clinical education is dynamic and allows the student an experiential learning opportunity. Therefore, clinical nursing educators are vitally important. Approachability has been identified in many studies as a leading characteristic of an effective instructor. Although the importance of approachability of the instructor is established, currently no scale exists to measure this concept. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the newly developed Approachability of Nursing Clinical Instructor (ANCI) scale. Based on the results of this study, the newly developed ANCI scale meets all four aspects of validity (face, content, construct and criterion-related) and reliability is established. The confirmatory analysis indicated a one-factor scale with 56.102 of the variance explained. There are multiple future recommendations for the ANCI scale which include further psychometric testing the new scale, potential theory testing, education and screening of new clinical instructors and expanding the ANCI within nursing and to other disciplines.

Approachability of nursing clinical instructors is largely unknown and misunderstood, yet critical for millennial students which currently comprise 82% of nursing students (National League for Nursing, 2014). Nursing education consists of both a didactic and a clinical component. Clinical education is dynamic and allows the student an experiential learning opportunity. Therefore, clinical nursing educators are vitally important. Approachability has been identified in many studies as a leading characteristic of an effective instructor. Although the importance of approachability of the instructor is established, currently no scale exists to measure this concept. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the newly developed Approachability of Nursing Clinical Instructor (ANCI) scale. Based on the results of this study, the newly developed ANCI scale meets all four aspects of validity (face, content, construct and criterion-related) and reliability is established. The confirmatory analysis indicated a one-factor scale with 56.102 of the variance explained. There are multiple future recommendations for the ANCI scale which include further psychometric testing the new scale, potential theory testing, education and screening of new clinical instructors and expanding the ANCI within nursing and to other disciplines.

On présente dans le Chapitre I le problème d'online linear optimization, et on étudie les stratégies de descente miroir. Le Chapitre II se concentre sur le cas où le joueur dispose d'un ensemble fini d'actions. Le Chapitre III établit que les stratégies FTPL appartiennent à la famille de descente miroir. On construit au Chapitre IV des stratégies de descente miroir pour l'approchabilité de Blackwell. Celles-ci sont ensuite appliquées à construction de stratégies optimales pour le problème online combinatorial optimization et la minimisation du regret interne/swap. Le Chapitre V porte sur la minimisation du regret avec l'hypothèse supplémentaire que les vecteurs de paiement possèdent au plus $s$ composantes non-nulles. On met en évidence une différence fondamentale entre les gains et les pertes en établissant des bornes optimales sur le regret d'ordre différents dans chacun de ces deux cas. Le Chapitre VI porte sur l'approchabilité de Blackwell avec observations partielles. On établit que les vitesses de convergence optimales sont $O(T^{-1/2})$ pour des signaux dont les lois ne dépendent pas de l'action du joueur, et $O(T^{-1/3})$ dans le cas général. Le Chapitre VII définit les stratégies de descente miroir en temps continu. On établit pour ces derniers une propriété de non-regret. On effectue ensuite une comparaison entre le temps continu et le temps discret. Enfin, le Chapitre VIII établit une borne universelle sur les variations des fonctions convexes bornées. On obtient en corollaire que toute fonction convexe bornée est lipschitzienne par rapport à la métrique de Hilbert. / In Chapter I, we present the online linear optimization problem and study Mirror Descent strategies. Chapter II focuses on the case where the Decision Maker has a finite set of actions. We establish in Chapter III that FTPL strategies belong to the Mirror Descent family. In Chapter IV, we construct Mirror Descent strategies for Blackwell's approachability. They are then applied to the construction of optimal strategies for online combinatorial optimization and internal/swap regret minimization. Chapter V studies the regret minimization problem with the additional assumption that the payoff vectors have at most $s$ nonzero components. We show that gains and losses are fundamentally different by deriving optimal regret bounds of different orders for those two cases. Chapter VI studies Blackwell's approachability with partial monitoring. We establish that optimal convergence rates are $O(T^{-1/2})$ in the case of outcome-dependent signals, and $O(T^{-1/3})$ in the general case. Chapter VII defines Mirror Descent strategies in continuous-time for which we establish a no-regret property. A comparison between discrete and continuous-time is then conducted. Chapter VIII establish a universal bound on the variations of bounded convex functions. As a byproduct, we obtain that every bounded convex function is Lipschitz continuous with respect to the Hilbert metric.

Diegesis and Spatiality are fundamental to visualization techniques in games. The impact of integrating user interfaces into the game world is a contentious issue between minimizing the heads-up display or maximizing functionality above realism. Previous studies have shown conflicting results determining what approach is better, but these studies have focused on conventional genres like the First Person Shooter. Strategy games, or more specifically, the grand strategy genre, is different in perspective and role of the player, as the genre places a heavier emphasis on panel elements than other genres. In this paper, we created two similar prototypes that differed in their focus on integration or superimposition. We then evaluated their impact on performance and the user experiences. The results showed that strictly spatial integration attributed to negative results, but diegetic integration was better received. Additionally, we identified several areas where implementing diegetic interfacing in grand strategy games is different from other genres of games. Finally, we gave recommendations to enhance the strengths and overcome the limitations of diegetic interfacing in grand strategy games. / Datorspel är levande världar som strävar efter att spelare ska ha kul. Olika spel har olika fokus på spelupplevelse, men också olika mängd gränssnitt som finns fastsatt på skärmen kontra inuti spelvärlden. Valet mellan fastsättning och integrering beror på genre och preferens, men mycket av nutida forskning fokuserar på mer vedertagna genrer såsom förstapersonskjutare. Strategispel, och mer specifikt, “grand strategy” spel följer inte samma konventioner, då perspektivet och rollen på spelaren är annorlunda. I detta examensarbete evaluerade vi hur en förändring i fokus mellan fastsättning och integrering av spelelement förändrade spelarprestandan och användarupplevelsen. Resultatet visar att strikt placering av panelelement i världen gav dålig användarupplevelse, men att diegetisk integration gynnade upplevelsen. Till sist analyserade vi hur utveckling av integrerade användargränssnitt inom genren var annorlunda gentemot andra genrer, och gav sedan rekommendationer på styrkor och svagheter som genrenhar.

Aim: The aim of the study is to report an analysis of the concept of approachability of the instructor within the context of nursing clinical education. Background: Approachability of the instructor within the context of a nursing clinical education is a concept that is obscure and immature. Design: Concept Analysis Data Sources: A literature search between the years 1985 to present yielded 18 articles that were analyzed. Method: Rodger’s Evolutionary Method was used for the concept analysis. Results: The concept analysis identified the antecedents, attributes and consequences of approachability of the clinical nursing instructor. The antecedent was a student centered teaching philosophy. Based on the analysis, the attributes were divided in active and subtle behaviors of approachability. The active behaviors were encouraging questions, not belittling the students, showing an interest in students and being flexible. The subtle behaviors were identified as non-verbal communication and being available. The consequences include building an interpersonal relationship and creating a positive clinical experience. Using the antecedents, attributes and consequences, a theoretical definition was developed. Conclusion: The implications for future development include development of a tool that measures approachability, relational quantitative studies using the instrument and dissemination new knowledge.

<p>Environmental goals are commonly set to guide work towards ecological sustainability. The aim of this thesis is to develop a precise terminology for the description of goals in terms of properties that are important in their practical use as decision-guides and to illustrate how it can be used in evaluations of environmental policy.</p><p>Essay I (written together with Sven Ove Hansson) identifies a set of rationality criteria for individual goals and discusses them in relation to the typical function of goals. For a goal to perform its typical function, i.e., to guide and induce action, it must be precise, evaluable, approachable (attainable), and motivating.</p><p>Essay II argues that for a goal system to be rational it must not only satisfy the criteria identified in Essay I but should also be coherent. The coherence of a goal system is made up of the relations that hold among the goals, most notably relations of support and conflict, but possibly also relations of operationalization. A major part of the essay consists in a conceptual analysis of the three relations.</p><p>Essay III contains an investigation into the rationality of five Swedish environmental objectives through an application of the rationality criteria identified in Essays I-II. The paper draws the conclusion that the objectives are not sufficiently rational according to the suggested criteria. It also briefly points at some of the difficulties that are associated with the use of goals in environmental policy and managemen</p>

Environmental goals are commonly set to guide work towards ecological sustainability. The aim of this thesis is to develop a precise terminology for the description of goals in terms of properties that are important in their practical use as decision-guides and to illustrate how it can be used in evaluations of environmental policy. Essay I (written together with Sven Ove Hansson) identifies a set of rationality criteria for individual goals and discusses them in relation to the typical function of goals. For a goal to perform its typical function, i.e., to guide and induce action, it must be precise, evaluable, approachable (attainable), and motivating. Essay II argues that for a goal system to be rational it must not only satisfy the criteria identified in Essay I but should also be coherent. The coherence of a goal system is made up of the relations that hold among the goals, most notably relations of support and conflict, but possibly also relations of operationalization. A major part of the essay consists in a conceptual analysis of the three relations. Essay III contains an investigation into the rationality of five Swedish environmental objectives through an application of the rationality criteria identified in Essays I-II. The paper draws the conclusion that the objectives are not sufficiently rational according to the suggested criteria. It also briefly points at some of the difficulties that are associated with the use of goals in environmental policy and managemen / QC 20101111

This study explored how course instructional format (i.e., online, face-to-face, or hybrid) is related to the frequency and duration of out-of-class communication (OCC) between college instructors and students, to student motives for communicating with teachers, and to perceived teacher approachability for conversation outside of class. Though differences in frequency of and student motives for engaging in OCC were not significant, students enrolled in face-to-face courses reported significantly more ongoing/durative OCC with their instructors compared to students enrolled other course types (i.e., online or hybrid). Students in fully online courses reported instructors to seem less receptive to but also less discouraging of OCC than students in face-to-face or hybrid courses. Overall, this study offers a sense of how students who seek informal interaction with instructors beyond the classroom are faring amid the increased reliance on web-based learning environments in higher education.

The approachability of a game is determined by the ease of which a player may learn how to play it. Most often, the player is taught how to play a game during a specially designed first level, called the tutorial level. In order to evaluate the approachability of a game, Desurvire et al. created the Game Approachability Principles (GAP) and suggested that GAP could potentially also be used to design game tutorials. This was tested in this paper by using GAP during an iterative design process of a strategy game tutorial. Each tutorial iteration was user-tested and heuristically evaluated. This study suggested that the use of GAP during the design process had resulted in a successful game tutorial. However, as there was a difference between identifying and solving an issue, some revisions to GAP were suggested to improve the usage during design processes’. / Desto större och mer avancerat ett spel är, desto svårare kan det vara att lära sig. Moderna spel böjar ofta med att låta spelaren spela en övningsbana,  även kallad “tutorial”, för att lära spelaren spelet. För att mäta hur väl ett spel går att lära sig tog Desurvire et al. fram “speltillgänglighetsprinciperna”, eller “The Game Approachability Principles” (GAP). Det föreslogs även att GAP skulle vara användbara vid skapandet av övningsbanor. I den här rapporten utvärderades det påståendet genom att applicera GAP vid skapandet av en övningsbana till ett strategispel. Slutsatsen blev att användandet av GAP resulterat i en framgångsrik övningsbana, men att principerna är möjliga att anpassa ytterliggare för användandet vid designprocesser. Därför föreslogs en reviderad version av principerna.