The purpose of this study is to identify the currently supported diet and dietary niches of the Malagasy subfossil and extant lemurs. The study was conducted partially in Tsinjoarivo and Antananarivo, Madagascar in the summer of 2013. Samples were analyzed and microwear determined that the dietary niches were aligned with current literature. Grit accumulation occurs more frequently in disturbed habitats and on lower canopy levels, which suggests that human manipulation of environment can impact the dental microwear of living primates.

Syftet med studien var att ge kunskap om hur lärare kan individanpassa undervisningen för att eleverna ska ges ökade möjligheter till kunskapsutveckling inom matematik, utifrån hur grit, motivation och kön påverkar betyget. Frågeställningen som utformades till studien är följande: “Hur korrelerar elevers grit, motivation och kön med deras matematikbetyg, och har elevernas grit något samband med deras motivation inom matematik?”. För att samla in data konstruerades en webbenkät. Länken till enkäten skickades ut till lärare, som hittades på sociala medier samt via personliga kontakter, som sedan vidarebefordrade länken till sina elever. Grit mättes med en något omformulerad gritskala, och motivation mättes med påståenden kring motivation inom matematik. Eleverna angav även uppskattad betygsnivå, kön och kommun. Totalt deltog 149 elever, varav 147 svar användes i analysen. Datan analyserades både deskriptivt och statistiskt, med Pearsons korrelationstest, hierarkisk multipel regressionsanalys samt vanlig multipel linjär stepwise regressionsanalys. Resultaten visar att motivation är den enda av de inkluderade variablerna som påverkar betyget i matematik, samt att självstyrd motivation påverkar grit i viss grad.

Currently, the California Community College system is graduating 2.83% of its first-time freshmen from these two-year institutions in a two-year period of time (CCCCO, 2017). In addition, less than 40% of this same group are graduating in a six-year period of time. This study sought to find commonalities between the students who were in the 2.83%, as well as to learn if these thriving students’ experiences centered on possessing the skill sets of grit (Duckworth, 2007), growth mindset (Dweck, 2006), and vulnerability (Brown, 2006). For this study, thriving students were defined as first-time college students during the fall of 2017, who had a GPA equal to or greater than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and who had obtained a minimum of 30 units towards graduation and/or transferring at the time of the study. A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach was used to identify skill sets obtained by thriving community college students who were on track to graduate and transfer in a two-year period of time. First, a 58-question quantitative survey was sent to thriving community college students in a three-college district in southern California. The survey combined questions on the topic of grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability. Three weeks after the online survey closed, 10 students participated in a three-hour focus group based on the same topics. The goal for the focus group was to better understand from the thriving students’ perspective the primary skill sets they possess for academic success. In addition, the participants were asked if these skills could be learned by other students. The results from the survey revealed that grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability were non-significant skill sets in the students’ journey towards graduation and transferring to a four-year school. Conversely, the focus group revealed that all three were major factors in contributing to the academic success of the participants. While the quantitative data was not statistically significant, there were four key elements within the survey which did reveal significance. These key elements aligned with the findings of the qualitative data from the focus group, which revealed eight additional elements thriving students consider significant. The contradictory results were interpreted by the researcher to mean more research on grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability needs to be done at the community college level. However, it is clear that there are key elements embedded within grit, growth mindset, and vulnerability, which could positively impact students towards achieving higher graduation and transfer rates.

Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka och bidra med kunskap om vad studiemotiverade elever med dyslexi, som går ett högskoleförberedande program, anser om självkänsla och motivation. Studien vill även undersöka vad eleverna har för strategier i sitt skolarbete. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer och ett mindre inslag av kvantitativ metod, där de intervjuade svarade på en enkät som kan kopplas till grit.Resultatet visar att elever har bra akademiskt självförtroende när det gäller att arbeta med uppgifter i matematik. De har haft lätt för problemlösningar i matematik och eleverna utger sig för att vara ”mattepersoner”. Självbilden är hög i matematik men låg då det gäller att läsa och skriva. För att skaffa sig kontroll över sina svårigheter väljer eleverna att kringgå sina problem genom att välja alternativa verktyg för att stötta i läsning och att skriva. Eleverna har höga mål både i idrottsliga sammanhang samt även när det gäller skolarbetet. Eleverna är också prestationsorienterade då de ser betygen som ett kvitto på att något går bra. Även om eleverna har god kunskap om dyslexi så är de inte trygga med att delge för andra att de har dyslexi. De har under åren som gått arbetat intensivt med sitt skolarbete för att hålla jämn takt med övriga klasskamrater.I en jämförelse med den gritforskning som gjorts av Duckworth (2016) visar elever i den här studien höga gritpoäng. Elever i den här studien vet att det går att arbeta ihärdigt för att nå sina mål samt att det också gett dem det resultat de önskat.

Conscientiousness-related personality traits are relevant predictors of many outcomes in achievement domains outside sport. They have also been associated with several outcomes in sport, however, their relative role on athletes’ deliberate practice (DP) and other criteria of expertise development has not been investigated. The overall aim of this dissertation was to examine the role of conscientiousness-related traits on sport expertise development. It had six specific purposes: (a) to examine the structural validity of conscientiousness-related measures; (b) to understand whether athletes’ DP amounts, skill level, and other criteria of expertise development could be predicted by these measures; (c) to identify the best personality predictor and combination of predictors that explained the maximal variance in different criteria of expertise development; (d) to examine whether grit facets predicted athletes’ practice engagement across a demanding sport season; (e) to explore coaches’ perspectives on the behavioural indicators of conscientious, gritty, and self-controlled athletes in training; and (f) to explore coaches’ views about how these personality traits may impact athletes’ quantity and quality of practice and development toward higher skill levels. The dissertation used a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, wherein Phase 1 (Articles 1, 2, and 3) quantitatively pursued purposes (a) to (c), Phase 2 (Article 4) addressed (d), and Phase 3 (Article 5) qualitatively addressed (e) and (f). Article 1 tested the factor structure of the Brief Self-Control Scale in sport and showed distinct associations between self-control variables and (a) sport-specific practice amounts, (b) engagement in various practice contexts, and (c) threats to commitment to one’s sport, in a diverse sport sample. Article 2 conducted factor analyses of the Grit Scale in sport and examined a full latent variable model showing associations between grit variables and several criteria of expertise development. In particular, perseverance of effort associated with athletes’ weekly amounts of DP, engagement in different practice contexts, and skill level, while consistency of interests associated with athletes’ commitment to their sport. Article 3 comprised two studies. In Study 1, path analyses were used to assess the role of conscientiousness on criteria of expertise development. At the broad level, conscientiousness predicted athletes’ engagement in practice contexts and commitment to their sport; at the facet-level, achievement-striving was the best predictor of athletes’ weekly DP and engagement in practice contexts. The systematic test of the role of self-control (Article 1), grit (Article 2), and conscientiousness (Article 3, Study1) for key criteria of expertise development culminated with Study 2 of Article 3, which reported comparative analyses of the predictive ability of self-control, grit, and conscientiousness facets—which had shown to be significant predictors when assessed separately—for the criterion measures of sport expertise. Study 2 showed that (a) perseverance of effort was the best predictor of athletes’ weekly DP, engagement in mandatory practice, and the only predictor of higher skill level, (b) achievement-striving best predicted athletes’ engagement in optional practice, and (c) consistency of interests best predicted athletes’ commitment to their sport. Article 4 tested whether athletes’ self-reported levels of grit (broad and facets) were longitudinally associated with their coach-reported practice engagement throughout one sport season. Perseverance of effort was the grit variable most related to indicators of practice engagement, the only variable related to overall practice engagement across three time points, and the only variable marginally associated with athletes’ stability of practice engagement over time. Article 5 explored coaches’ views about the behavioural indicators of athletes’ conscientiousness, grit, and self-control in the daily training environment and how these traits impacted athletes’ training and development. Coaches described (a) conscientious athletes as systematic and detail-oriented, highly considerate of others, and highly engaged in self-regulation; (b) gritty athletes as those who persevere despite adversity and work hard in practice; and (c) self-controlled athletes as those who control impulses, resist temptations, and delay gratification. Coaches believe grit, conscientiousness, and self-control play important roles on athletes’ development toward higher skill levels, but results generally highlighted the preponderance of perseverance of effort. Potential mechanisms (e.g., conscientiousness—self-regulation—practice quality and conscientiousness—self-regulation—skill level) were highlighted to help explain the personality-expertise link found in Phases 1 and 2. This dissertation contributed to the literature on sport expertise by parsimoniously identifying conscientiousness-related personality traits that were associated with measures of athletes’ practice quantity, quality, and stability, commitment to sport, and higher skill level. Although several facets (i.e., perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, achievement-striving, self-discipline, and dutifulness) showed associations with practice and performance-related outcomes, this dissertation generally highlighted the role of grit facets. In particular, while perseverance of effort was the best predictor of athletes’ amounts of DP, the only grit variable associated with quality practice engagement over time, and the only predictor of higher skill level, consistency of interests was the best predictor of commitment variables. Furthermore, results based on coaches’ descriptions (a) provided behavioural indicators of conscientiousness-related traits that serve as reference points for practitioners aiming to help athletes develop desirable traits, (b) suggested that gritty athletes ‘work hard’ and conscientious athletes ‘work smart’, and (c) proposed mechanisms to explain the personality-expertise link found in the quantitative studies. Taken together, the results of this dissertation suggest that the tendency to persevere despite adversity and mindfully use self-regulated processes seems to be a powerful predisposition for athletes’ development toward expert levels of performance.

Entrepreneurs play a vital role in the modern day economy. Knowing what causes an individual to become an entrepreneur has fostered much attention in academic literature, but not enough of the research has looked into individual level variables that could cause an individual to have an entrepreneurial intention. This study addresses this need in research by utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate entrepreneurial intention. Not all entrepreneurs are alike. Some entrepreneurs are motivated by financial gains while others are motivated by social concerns. The individual characteristics of entrepreneurs may not be identical, but it is believed that there are similarities. This current study uses a self-report survey approach to examine the potential impact that barriers to entry into entrepreneurship will have upon an individual’s commercial and social entrepreneurial intention. This study will also examine the moderating effect of gender identity, grit, and the Dark Triad of personality upon the previously established relationship of the three TPB antecedents to intention and commercial and social entrepreneurial intention.

Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra elevers uppfattning av formativ bedömning i matematik. Den riktar sig främst till lärare som önskar förbättra sin undervisning. Huvudresultatet visar på att lärare kan ha en avgörande effekt på elevers lärande med utgångspunkt i om de når eleverna med formativ bedömning eller inte.  Studiens resultat kommer från fyra fokusgruppsintervjuer med totalt 14 tredjeårselever på gymnasiet av heterogen art. Det visas på en risk för eleven att hamna i ett statiskt matematiskt mindset, med låga prestationer, när matematiklärare inte når fram till eleven med formativ bedömning. Om läraren däremot når fram så att eleven ser lärmål, upplever återkoppling och har strategier, så påvisas att chanserna tenderar öka för ett dynamiskt mindset och högre prestationer. Sambandet mellan upplevd formativ bedömning och prestation gör det viktigt hur elever upplever den formativa bedömningen.

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The current study developed a 40-item situational judgment test (SJT) to measure resilience in context. Undergraduate samples were used in the study and situational stems of the SJT consisted of both daily stressors and major life crises; each response alternative was designed to reflect one of five resilience-related factors. A crowd-sourcing method was utilized to create scoring keys for the SJT. The Resilience SJT demonstrated good psychometric properties, and showed evidence of construct and criterion-related validity. The SJT scores moderately correlated with scores from two resilience Likert scales, a hardiness scale as well as a negative affect scale. Compared to the two Likert-type resilience scales, the SJT demonstrated less overlap with hardiness, positive affect, and negative affect. Moreover, the SJT showed incremental validity in predicting global adjustment, but not academic achievement or college satisfaction, above and beyond the two other resilience measures. Lastly, the study examined different modes of resilient behavior and captured individuals’ mode choice tendencies for resilient responses to adverse situations. The Resilience SJT appears to be a viable alternative to capture resilience. Implications and limitations were discussed.

Overhead conductors used in the transmission of power in grids around the world are generally subjected to ageing, which is the time-based change of their properties. Important properties such as corona discharge, audible noise, hydrophobicity and corrosion are usually considered and investigated. On some conductors such as the aluminium conductor steel reinforced (ACSR), a reduction in audible noise over exposure time to the service environment has been noted to occur. However, the converse has been observed for the gap-type thermal resistant aluminium conductor steel reinforced (GTACSR or “Matthew” conductor), although this conductor is preferred due to its high ampacity. The relationship between conductor hydrophobicity, audible noise, surface contamination and roughness, wettability and corrosion were investigated using All Aluminium Alloy Conductor (AAAC), Aluminium Conductor Composite Core (ACCC) and GTACSR samples. Findings from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectric Spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurements revealed that carbon, hydrocarbon and silicone contamination was responsible for the hydrophobic nature of the surface. Furthermore, electrochemical investigations and electron microscopy showed that pitting or/and crevice corrosion were the predominant corrosion mechanisms on these conductors. Exposure to simulated industrial and marine environments further confirmed this finding and also showed that general corrosion also occurs on relatively uncontaminated conductors, thereby changing their surface roughness, as seen from the White Light Interferometry results. Corrosion was observed to be accelerated by the presence of surface contaminants such as oils and carbon, as these facilitated water (droplet) retention by reducing the conductor’s surface energy. Reduction/elimination of surface contamination/hydrophobicity were the desired solutions to the problem, and this was achieved by grit blasting. Partial/complete oxidation of the silicones resulted in the reduction/elimination of sample hydrophobicity – this was seen from more contact angles measurements and XPS data. Grit blasting also restored conductor cleanliness and roughened the surface sufficiently to produce surface run-off.