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<b>Introduction:</b> Health-related websites have developed to be much more than information sites: they are used to exchange experiences and find support as well as information and advice. It is important that health professionals and website developers understand how content may impact users. This thesis documents the development and application of a tool to measure the impact of using health-related websites which contain experiential and/or factual information. <b>Methods:</b> A multi-method study with five stages. Stage 1: Questionnaire items based upon themes relating to the impact of using health-related websites were constructed following qualitative secondary analysis of 93 interviews relating to patient and carer experiences of health and a recent literature review. Items were assessed by an expert panel. Stage 2: Cognitive interviews were carried out to confirm acceptability of items. Stage 3: Item reduction steps were used to reduce the number of items. Stage 4: The validity and reliability of the remaining items were tested using traditional and modern psychometric methods. Stage 5: The new questionnaire was piloted in a randomised controlled trial. <b>Results:</b> Eighty-two items were constructed according to the key themes identified in Stage 1. Following expert and patient refinement, two independent item pools entered psychometric testing. The first item pool related to general views of using the internet in relation to health and the second item pool related to the impact of using a specific health-related website. Sub-scales and summary scores were found to have high construct validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The questionnaire showed high completion rates and low counts of missing data in a trial setting. <b>Conclusion:</b> Analysis confirmed good psychometric properties in the eHIQ-Part 1 (11 items) and the eHIQ-Part 2 (26 items). Preliminary findings of trial data demonstrate the acceptability and feasibility of including the eHIQ in randomised controlled trials. This tool will enable the measurement of the impact of health-related websites containing various styles of information and support across a range conditions and facilitate their accurate evaluation in clinical trials.

Innovative people seize the opportunity to make lives better and more comfortable, which contribute to economy growth and financial gain. Stakeholders study innovativeness of business students, in depth, to understand gender differences, and the factors affecting students' innovativeness. Literature explains how males and females differ in their proneness to guilt and shame. However, a model that explains the dynamic of guilt, shame, and gender on innovativeness will help make policies to improve students' innovativeness. This study describes factor analysis approach to examine the TOSCA-3 subscales guilt, shame, and the DNA instrument of innovativeness. It also describes the measurement invariance across gender for each construct, and for the full measurement model to identify the differences between genders. Moreover, this study examines the total effect of gender on innovativeness, which includes the direct effect, and indirect effect via guilt and shame. The results indicated that guilt is positively associated with innovativeness, and shame and gender are negatively associated with innovativeness. This dissertation can be freely accessed and downloaded from (http://etd.byu.edu/).

<p>This study is located within the theoretical framework of construct validation theory. Data for this Secondary Data Analysis study was drawn from the &ldquo / Impact of Hope and Exposure to Community Violence on children&rsquo / s perception of Well-being&rdquo / study. The primary study employed stratified interval criterion sampling to select 565 grade 9 learners, aged 14-18 from six public schools. The dataset for the current study comprised all participants (N=565) of the broader study. As the initial step in validation of the KIDSCREEN-52 within South Africa, the current study examined the factor structure of the KIDSCREEN-52 within this context by means of exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis with oblimin rotations. It also assessed the internal consistency reliability of each of the scales using Cronbach&rsquo / s alpha. Exploratory factor analysis revealed the same 10 factors as identified by previous European studies with some deviation in the last two factors, which warrants further examination. Internal consistency of the measure was shown to be acceptable, with Cronbach&rsquo / s alpha values ranging from 0.76 to 0.81 for the 10 scales.</p>

The purpose of the study was threefold: (1) to determine the factor structure of mathematical thinking at the within-classroom and at the between-classroom level / (2) to investigate the extent of variation in the relationships among different mathematical thinking constructs at the within- and between-classroom levels / and (3) to examine the cross-level interactions among different types of mathematical thinking. Previous research was extended by investigating the factor structure of mathematical thinking in derivative at the within- and between-classroom levels, and further examining the direct, indirect, and cross-level relations among different types of mathematical thinking. Multilevel analyses of a cross-sectional dataset containing two independent samples of undergraduate students nested within classrooms showed that the within-structure of mathematical thinking includes enactive, iconic, algorithmic, algebraic, formal, and axiomatic thinking, whereas the between-structure contains formal-axiomatic, proceptual-symbolic, and conceptual-embodied thinking. Major findings from the two-level mathematical thinking model revealed that: (1) enactive, iconic, algebraic, and axiomatic thinking varied primarily as a function of formal and algorithmic thinking / (2) the strongest direct effect of formal-axiomatic thinking was on proceptual-symbolic thinking / (3) the nature of the relationships was cyclic at the between-classroom level / (4) the within-classroom mathematical thinking constructs significantly moderate the relationships among conceptual-embodied, proceptual-symbolic, and formal-axiomatic thinking / and (5) the between-classroom mathematical thinking constructs moderate the relationships among enactive, iconic, algorithmic, algebraic, formal, and axiomatic thinking. The challenges when using multilevel exploratory factor analysis, multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, and multilevel structural equation modeling with categorical variables are emphasized. Methodological and educational implications of findings are discussed.

This study is intended to provide researchers with empirically derived guidelines for conducting factor analytic studies in research contexts that include dichotomous and continuous levels of measurement. This study is based on the hypotheses that ordinary least squares (OLS) factor analysis will yield more accurate parameter estimates than maximum likelihood (ML) and principal axis factor anlaysis (PAF); the level of improvement in estimates will be related to the proportion of observed variables that are dichotomized and the strength of communalities within the data sets. To achieve this study's objective, maximum likelihood, ordinary least squares, and principal axis factor extraction models were subjected to various research contexts. A Monte Carlo method was used to simulate data under 540 different conditions; specifically, this study is a four (sample size) by three (number of variables) by three (initial communality levels) by three (number of common factors) by five (ratios of categorical to continuous variables) design. Factor loading matrices derived through the tested factor extraction methods were evaluated through four measures of factor pattern agreement and three measures of congruence. To varying degrees, all of the design factors, as main effects, yielded significant differences in measures of factor loading sensitivity, agreement between sample and population, and congruence. However, in all cases, the main effects were components of interactions that yielded differences in values of these measures that were at least medium in effect size. The number of factors imbedded in the population was a component in six interactions that resulted in medium effect size differences in measures of agreement between population and sample factor loading matrices. of factor loading sensitivity, general pattern agreement, per element agreement, congruence, factor score correlations, and factor loading bias; in terms of the number of interactions that yielded at least medium effect size differences in measures of sensitivity, agreement, and congruence. The number of factors design factor exerted a larger influence than any of the other design factors. The level of communality interacted with the number of factors, number of observed variables, and sample size main effects to yield at least medium effect size differences in factor loading sensitivity, general pattern agreement, per element agreement, congruence, factor score correlations, factor loading bias, and RMSE; in terms of the number of factors that included communality as a component, this design factor exerted the second largest amount of influence on the measures of sensitivity, agreement, and congruence. The level of dichotomization, sample size, and number of observed variables were included in smaller numbers of interactions; however, these interactions yielded differences in all of the outcome variables that were at least medium in effect size. Across the majority of interactions among the manipulated research contexts, the ordinary least squares factor extraction method yielded factor loading matrices that were in better agreement with the population than either the maximum likelihood or the principal axis methods. In three of the four measures of congruence, the ordinary least squares method yielded factor loading matrices that exhibited less bias and error than the other two tested factor extraction methods. In general, the ordinary least squares method yielded factor loading matrices that correlated more strongly with the population than either of the other two tested methods. The suggested use of ordinary least squares factor analytic techniques represents the major, empirically derived recommendation derived from the results of this study. In all tested conditions, the ordinary least squares factor extraction method identified common factors with a high degree of efficacy. Suggested studies for future would incorporate the limiting constraints associated with this dissertation into methodological studies to extend the generalizability of conclusions and recommendations into areas that are beyond the scope of this dissertation.

This study introduces cultural knowledge as a central element to conceptualizing and measuring Black consciousness beliefs. Through the development and initial validation of a new measure, the Scale of Black Consciousness (SBC), the structural nature of Black consciousness as a function of cultural knowledge was determined using exploratory factor analyses. Relations between Black consciousness, self-esteem, cultural socialization and knowledge, African cultural consciousness, group-based racial identity, and impression management were also assessed to determine validity evidence for the SBC. Further, known-groups validity was determined by examining SBC score means between participants who endorsed taking Black Studies courses as compared to participants who did not endorse taking such courses. This study also provided an analysis of sources of cultural knowledge among participants. Previous research provides support for the relationship between Black consciousness and cultural knowledge. The Africentric Theory of Black Personality theoretically highlights the value of culture-centered knowledge (Baldwin, 1981, 1984; Baldwin & Bell, 1985) and the group-based theory of stratum consciousness (Gurin & Epps, 1975; Gurin, Miller, & Gurin, 1980) provides a model for examining group consciousness among historically marginalized groups. Accordingly, cultural knowledge supports the development of Black consciousness through an awareness of and connection to African descent cultural history (King, 2004; Lewis et al., 2006; Shockley, 2007). Despite theory suggesting a conceptual link between cultural knowledge and Black consciousness (Adams, 2005; Banks, 2004; King, 2004), there is limited research examining cultural knowledge in relation to Black consciousness beliefs. Results revealed the SBC as a reliable and valid measure of Black consciousness. For construct and predictive validity, the SBC exhibited significant correlations in the expected directions with African cultural consciousness, group-based Black identity, self-esteem, cultural socialization, Black history knowledge, and impression management. A comparison of SBC score means demonstrated that participants taking Black Studies courses exhibited higher consciousness beliefs as measured by the SBC than participants not taking Black Studies courses, providing evidence for known-groups validity. Additionally, the results for sources of cultural learning, revealed parents and teachers/professors as the most frequently cited sources. These findings further the literature on cultural consciousness among African descent people. / text

<p>This study is located within the theoretical framework of construct validation theory. Data for this Secondary Data Analysis study was drawn from the &ldquo / Impact of Hope and Exposure to Community Violence on children&rsquo / s perception of Well-being&rdquo / study. The primary study employed stratified interval criterion sampling to select 565 grade 9 learners, aged 14-18 from six public schools. The dataset for the current study comprised all participants (N=565) of the broader study. As the initial step in validation of the KIDSCREEN-52 within South Africa, the current study examined the factor structure of the KIDSCREEN-52 within this context by means of exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis with oblimin rotations. It also assessed the internal consistency reliability of each of the scales using Cronbach&rsquo / s alpha. Exploratory factor analysis revealed the same 10 factors as identified by previous European studies with some deviation in the last two factors, which warrants further examination. Internal consistency of the measure was shown to be acceptable, with Cronbach&rsquo / s alpha values ranging from 0.76 to 0.81 for the 10 scales.</p>

Submitted by Bruno Zucherato (bzucherato@gmail.com) on 2018-08-21T19:00:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_bruno zucherato_geografia.pdf: 26818165 bytes, checksum: 0231bee852e824aca67e9dc3f260f0fa (MD5) / Rejected by Adriana Aparecida Puerta null (dripuerta@rc.unesp.br), reason: Prezado Bruno, O documento enviado para a coleção Campus Unesp Rio Claro foi recusado pelo(s) seguinte(s) motivo(s): - Falta a capa, elemento obrigatório Em caso de dúvidas entre em contato pelo email repositoriounesp@reitoria.unesp.br. Agradecemos a compreensão e aguardamos o envio do novo arquivo. Atenciosamente, Biblioteca Campus Rio Claro Repositório Institucional UNESP https://repositorio.unesp.br on 2018-08-22T11:33:50Z (GMT) / Submitted by Bruno Zucherato (bzucherato@gmail.com) on 2018-08-22T18:40:54Z No. of bitstreams: 2 tese_bruno zucherato_geografia.pdf: 26818165 bytes, checksum: 0231bee852e824aca67e9dc3f260f0fa (MD5) tese repositorio.pdf: 26965506 bytes, checksum: 4d4ef49767fcd6425bd4f3a76eeafea8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Aparecida Puerta null (dripuerta@rc.unesp.br) on 2018-08-23T11:42:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 zucherato_b_dr_rcla.pdf: 27072267 bytes, checksum: 022c0fa95cffbc79028a421c342610e8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T11:42:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 zucherato_b_dr_rcla.pdf: 27072267 bytes, checksum: 022c0fa95cffbc79028a421c342610e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A pesquisa realizada objetivou um estudo comparativo da espacialização da vulnerabilidade socioambiental de duas áreas distintas, o município de Campos do Jordão – SP (Brasil) e o concelho da Guarda (Portugal). Os procedimentos investigativos realizados incluíram a identificação, análise e avaliação dos riscos e desastres em cada localidade, buscando assim entender melhor a sua manifestação. A identificação dos desastres das duas áreas de estudo abordadas foi realizada com base na pesquisa hemerográfica, onde foram consultadas notícias dos jornais locais entre 2001 e 2013 para estabelecer quais os desastres mais recorrentes nas áreas da pesquisa. Para a análise dos riscos foram realizadas consultas aos stakeholders - especialistas, autoridades e representantes de organizações formadores de opinião pública - para a definição de uma apreciação dos níveis finais dos riscos identificados. O processamento das respostas obtidas foi realizado com base na metodologia da matriz de probabilidades e consequências. A determinação da vulnerabilidade socioambiental teve como base a técnica estatística da Análise Fatorial Exploratória (AFE) para o estabelecimento dos fatores latentes das duas dimensões da vulnerabilidade (criticidade e a capacidade de suporte) com a utilização de dados sociais, econômicos e ambientais de origem estatística e espaciais. As representações finais da vulnerabilidade foram realizadas por duas técnicas cartográficas diferentes: por meio dos mapas coropletos e com a técnica dasimétrica que permite uma melhor localização da informação espacial. Os resultados mostraram que no período analisado foram registados mais ou menos a mesma quantidade de notícias de desastres nas duas áreas de estudo, o que mostra uma certa semelhança nos registos de ocorrência de desastres. No que diz respeito a avaliação dos riscos, com base na consulta conduzida para a Guarda houve predominância de uma opinião mais concreta e consolidada relativa a perigosidade dos riscos dos incêndios florestais, enquanto para Campos do Jordão os resultados foram mais difusos e dispersos, indicando as inundações bruscas e os escorregamentos de massa como os riscos com maiores impactos. As variáveis selecionadas para a composição da vulnerabilidade socioambiental final, assim como o método estatístico da AFE, foram aplicadas com sucesso e permitiram o estabelecimento dos valores finais da vulnerabilidade assim como das suas componentes de criticidade e de capacidade de suporte. O mapeamento dasimétrico permitiu uma localização mais precisa das áreas de vulnerabilidade tanto de Campos do Jordão quanto da Guarda uma vez que pode apresentar com maior exatidão a localização das populações vulneráveis. No que se refere as representações cartográficas, a análise dos mapas finais mostrou que em ambas as localidades houve uma tendência ao padrão centro-periferia, onde é possível observar um centro com baixa vulnerabilidade - no caso de Campos do Jordão localizado na área turística da cidade e na Guarda na área da cidade sede do concelho - e uma periferia - no caso de Campos do Jordão uma periferia urbana e na Guarda uma periferia mais rural marcada por aldeias e vilas mais afastadas. Esses resultados mostram ainda a necessidade da consideração dos aspectos históricos e dos processos de urbanização como importantes ferramentas de análise nos estudos do risco e da vulnerabilidade, assim como da importância da linguagem cartográfica como meio de visualização das diferenças territoriais decorrentes desse processo. / The main purpose of the conducted research was the comparative study of the spatial representation of the social and environmental vulnerability in two different study areas: The city of Campos do Jordão in São Paulo state (Brazil) and the municipality of Guarda (Portugal). The investigation procedures included the stages of identification, analysis and evaluation of the disaster risks in each locality, to better understand its manifestations. The disasters identification was conducted by the hemerographic technic - which consists in consulting newspapers and news published by local media - between the years 2001 and 2013 thus, it was possible to establish which disasters are the most frequent in each area studied. The risk analysis was determined with the application of stakeholder surveys to estimate the level of each observed disaster. The questionnaire replies obtained were treated with the probability and consequence matrix technique. The final values of social and environmental vulnerability were determined using the statistical method of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), which allowed the identification of the latent factors of each vulnerability component (criticality and coping capacity). For this procedure it was used social, economic and environmental data, from statistical and spatial sources. The final representations of the vulnerability were elaborated by two cartographic techniques: the coropleth map and the dasymetric map which allow a better location of spatial information. The results have shown that during the analyzed period, a similar amount of disaster news was recorded in both studied areas. The results of the risk assessment procedure based on the applied surveys showed that a more concrete and consolidated opinion regarding the risk of forest fires was predominant in Guarda, while for Campos do Jordão, the results were more diffuse and dispersed, indicating sudden floods and mass slides as the risks with the greatest impacts. The statistical method EFA as well as the selected variables for the social and environmental vulnerability composition and its components of criticality and coping capacity were adequate, allowing the establishment of the final values with success. The dasymetric mapping allowed a more accurate localization of the vulnerability values in both areas - Campos do Jordão and Guarda - presenting more accurately the location of the most vulnerable populations. The results of the final cartographic representations showed that in both localities there was a trend towards the center-periphery pattern for the topic addressed where it is possible to observe a center with low vulnerability – placed in the touristic area in Campos do Jordão and in the administrative center in Guarda – and a periphery – located in the urban fringe in Campos do Jordão and in the rural periphery such as remote villages near the border in Guarda. These results also show the need to consider historical aspects and urbanization processes as important analysis tools in risk and vulnerability studies, as well as the importance of the use of cartography in visualizing the irregular spatial distribution of these phenomena. / BEX 9537/13-9 (Bolsa de doutorado pleno no exterior)

Objetivo: Identificar principais componentes da síndrome metabólica e características associadas, bem como identificar os perfis de anormalidades e sua variabilidade étnica. Métodos: Estudo transversal envolvendo 14544 participantes da linha de base do Estudo Longitudinal de Saúde do Adulto (ELSA-Brasil). Com idade entre 35 e 74 anos de diferentes regiões do Brasil. Foi feita uma análise fatorial exploratória em variáveis associadas à síndrome metabólica, com uma análise de agrupamento dos participantes em função de seus escores fatoriais. Paralelamente, análise de classes latentes foi feita em toda a amostra, após categorização das variáveis. As proporções das classes foram avaliadas em cada estrato de raça/cor dos participantes. Resultados: Na amostra ELSA observou-se três fatores que explicam 97,7% da variabilidade das variáveis associadas à síndrome: componentes da síndrome metabólica e inflamação; hipertensão; enzimas hepáticas. Na análise de classes latentes observaram-se seis perfis de manifestação dos componentes síndrome, sendo que o perfil com maior prevalência no estudo é de pessoas com sobrepeso e hiperglicemia, mas com probabilidade menor de apresentar hipertensão. Nesta classe, a prevalência da síndrome metabólica (definida pelo critério conjunto) é de 42%. Esta classe é mais comum entre os indígenas do que nas demais categorias de raça/cor. Conclusão: A síndrome metabólica se manifesta de formas distintas na população. A investigação da associação destas manifestações com desfechos de interesse poderia aprofundar o conhecimento sobre a síndrome metabólica. / Objective: identify key components of the metabolic syndrome and associated features, as well as identify abnormalities groups and its ethnic variability. Methods: Cross-sectional study involving 14544 baseline participants of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil), aged between 35 and 74 years, from different country regions. A exploratory factorial analysis was done on selected variables associated with the metabolic syndrome, with a cluster analysis done on the participants factor scores. At the same time, a latent class analysis was done on all participants and on the subset that had metabolic syndrome diagnosis, after the variables were categorized. The proportions of classes were evaluated in each stratum of race/color of the participants. Results: We observed 3 factors on the ELSA sample. They explain 97.7% of the variability of the variables associates with the metabolic syndrome: the metabolic syndrome and inflammation components; hypertension, markers of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In the latent class analysis, we observed 6 classes of metabolic syndrome expression. The proportions of classes were evaluated in each stratum of race/color of the participants. The most prevalent class was of overweight and hiperglicemic subjects, with lower probability of having hipertension. In this class, the metabolic syndrome prevalence is of 42%. This class is more common in indians than in other groups of race/color. Conclusion: The metabolic syndrome is manifested in different ways in the population. The research of the association of these different manifestations with selected outcomes could further the current knowledge on the metabolic syndrome.