Many animal species, including many species of bats, exhibit collective behavior where groups of individuals coordinate their motion. Most bats are unique among these animals in that they use the active sensing mechanism of echolocation as their primary means of navigation. Due to their use of echolocation in large groups, bats run the risk of signal interference from sonar jamming. However, several species of bats have developed various strategies to prevent interference which may lead to different behavior when flying with conspecifics than when flying alone. This thesis seeks to explore the role of this sensing on the behavior of bat pairs flying together. Field data from a maternity colony of gray bats (Myotis grisescens) were collected using an array of cameras and microphones. These data were analyzed using the information theoretic measure of transfer entropy in order to quantify the interaction between pairs of bats and to determine the effect echolocation calls have on this interaction. Results show that there is evidence of information transfer in both the speed of the bats and their turning behavior, and that such evidence is absent when we consider their heading directions. Unidirectional information transfer was found in some subsets of the data which could be evidence of a leader-follower interaction. / Master of Science / Manyanimalspeciesexhibitcollectivebehaviorwheregroupsofanimalscoordinatetheir motion, as in flocking or schooling. Many species of bats also demonstrate this behavior. Bats are unique among these animals in that they use echolocation as their primary means of navigation. Bats produce ultrasonic pulses or calls and listen to the returning echo to "visualize" their environment. Bats using echolocation in large groups run the risk of other bat calls interfering with their ability to hear their own calls. They have developed various waystopreventinterferencewhichmayleadtodifferentbehaviorwhenflyingwithotherbats thanwhenflyingalone. Fielddatafromamaternitycolonyofgraybatswerecollectedusing a system of cameras and microphones. These data were analyzed to quantify the interaction between pairs of bats and to determine the effect echolocation calls have on this interaction. Results show that there is evidence of information transfer about both the speed of the bats and their turning behavior. There was also evidence of a possible leader-follower interaction in some subsets of the data.

This research is inserted in the line of Currículo, Ensino e Práticas Escolares (Curriculun, Education and School Practices) from Programa de pós-Graduação em Educação da UFSM. The study had as objective to understand which the repercussion of group interaction partner in the construction of lecto-writing, investigating, therefore, the conceptual evolution about of understanding of lectowriting in children s literacy iitial process that shared conceptiones with your colleagues and of children s not that lived that same educational proposal. The studies of Ferreiro e Teberosky (1985), Piaget (1972; 1973; 1977a; 1977b; 1987; 1983; 1991; 2005), Vygotski (1984; 1988; 1993; 1998), Perret-Clermont (1996), among others, were used as theoretic contribution for the development of this investigation. The research was carried out at a institution of Education of the State of Rio Grande do Sul located at outskirts of Santa Maria. The subject participants were eight children s in literacy iitial process, being four children s each of the two classes of first grade of Ensino Fundamental chosen to be part of this study. The investigation was developed through a qualitative study, more specifically it was used from the perspective of case study ethnographic. The search of the findings was done through of the observations made in each class and registered in the inside the camp, semi structured interviews with the teachers of literacy of each class, questionnaire conducted with parents of the subjects of research and analysis of written spontaneous productions of the children. The findings the research showed that the impact of the actions of teachers of literacy of the classes A and B, themselves three types of group interaction partner, pointed in a the whole of three major categories: with a predominance of Cooperative Work (by Reciprocity; and, Conflicting), working with predominance of Traveller and with predominance of to Imitation. Each of these categories leaves emerge relevant factors to think teaching situations. So, it understood that the most significant conceptual advances in the elementary process of initial literacy happen when children have the opportunity to situations of living the group interaction partner in which prevladuje the cooperative work, both by reciprocity, as conflicting, since the understanding of how works the alphabetic system of the writing requires the sharing of chances and, mainly, the possibility of the subject to confront their conceptions with other subjects, through conflicts socio-cognitives encouraged by reflective work together. / Esta pesquisa insere-se na linha de Currículo, Ensino e Práticas Escolares do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da UFSM. O estudo teve como objetivo compreender qual a repercussão da interação grupal entre pares na construção da lecto-escrita, investigando, portanto, a evolução conceitual acerca da compreensão da lecto-escrita de crianças em processo de alfabetização inicial que compartilhavam concepções com seus colegas e de crianças que não vivenciaram essa mesma proposta pedagógica. Os estudos de Ferreiro e Teberosky (1985), Piaget (1972; 1973; 1977a; 1977b; 1987; 1983; 1991; 2005), Vygotski (1984; 1988; 1993; 1998), Perret-Clermont (1996), entre outros, foram utilizados como aportes teóricos para o desenvolvimento dessa investigação. A pesquisa foi realizada em uma Instituição de Ensino do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, localizada na zona periférica da cidade de Santa Maria. Os sujeitos participantes foram oito crianças em processo de alfabetização inicial, sendo quatro crianças de cada uma das duas turmas de primeira série do Ensino Fundamental escolhidas para fazerem parte desse estudo. A investigação desenvolveu-se através de um estudo qualitativo, mais especificamente utilizou-se da perspectiva de estudo de caso etnográfico. A busca dos dados foi realizada por meio de observações feitas em cada turma e registradas em um diário de campo, entrevistas semi-estruturadas com as professoras alfabetizadoras de cada turma, questionário realizado com os pais dos sujeitos de pesquisa e análise das produções de escritas espontâneas das crianças. Os achados da pesquisa evidenciaram que a repercussão das ações das docentes alfabetizadoras das turmas A e B, demarcam três tipos de interação grupal entre pares, apontadas em um total de três grandes categorias: com predomínio de Trabalho Cooperativo (por Reciprocidade; e, Conflitante), com predomínio de Trabalho Individual e, com predomínio de Imitação. Cada uma dessas categorias deixa emergir elementos relevantes para se pensar situações de ensino. Sendo assim, entende-se que os avanços conceituais mais significativos no processo formal de alfabetização inicial se dão quando as crianças têm a oportunidade de vivenciarem situações de interação grupal entre pares no qual predomine o trabalho cooperativo, tanto por reciprocidade, como conflitante, já que a compreensão do modo como opera o sistema alfabético de escrita requer o compartilhamento de hipóteses e, principalmente, a possibilidade do sujeito confrontar suas concepções com outros sujeitos, através dos conflitos sociocognitivos gerados pelo trabalho reflexivo conjunto.

Although it is well established that spacing of piles within a pile group influences the lateral load resistance of that group, additional research is needed to better understand trends for large pile groups (greater than three rows) and for groups in sand. A 15-pile group in a 3x5 configuration situated in sand was laterally loaded and data were collected to derive p-multipliers. A single pile separate from the 15-pile group was loaded for comparison. Results were compared to those of a similar test in clays. The load resisted by the single pile was greater than the average load resisted by each pile in the pile group. While the loads resisted by the first row of piles (i.e. the only row deflected away from all other rows of piles) were approximately equal to that resisted by the single pile, following rows resisted increasingly less load up through the fourth row. The fifth row consistently resisted more than the fourth row. The pile group in sand resisted much higher loads than did the pile group in clay. Maximum bending moments appeared largest in first row piles. For all deflection levels, first row moments seemed slightly smaller than those measured in the single pile. Maximum bending moments for the second through fifth rows appeared consistently lower than those of the first row at the same deflection. First row moments achieved in the group in sand appeared larger than those achieved in the group in clay at the same deflections, while bending moments normalized by associated loads appeared nearly equal regardless of soil type. Group effects became more influential at higher deflections, manifest by lower stiffness per pile. The single pile test was modeled using LPILE Plus, version 4.0. Soil parameters in LPILE were adjusted until a good match between measured and computed responses was obtained. This refined soil profile was then used to model the 15-pile group in GROUP, version 4.0. User-defined p-multipliers were selected to match GROUP calculated results with actual measured results. For the first loading cycle, p-multipliers were found to be 1.0, 0.5, 0.35, 0.3, and 0.4 for the first through fifth rows, respectively. For the tenth loading, p-multipliers were found to be 1.0, 0.6, 0.4, 0.37, and 0.4 for the first through fifth rows, respectively. Design curves suggested by Rollins et al. (2005) appear appropriate for Rows 1 and 2 while curves specified by AASHTO (2000) appear appropriate for subsequent rows.

There are widespread concerns about the increasing use of multiple medicines. The aims of this thesis were to identify older patients' and general practitioners' (GPs) attitudes to and experiences of multiple medicine use, as well as to describe patterns of multiple medicine use in different age groups in association with patient-related factors. An additional aim was to contribute to scientific methodological development by providing an empirical example of the application of the Lehoux, Poland, & Daudelin template for the analysis of interaction in focus groups. Data were collected via qualitative focus group discussions and from a cross-sectional community-based population survey conducted during 2001-2005. The patients revealed co-existing accounts of both immediate gratitude that medicines exist and problems with using multiple medicines such as worrying whether multiple medicine use is 'good' for the body. The patient-doctor relationship coloured their attitudes towards their treatment and care. The GPs at times felt insecure, though surrounded by treatment guidelines. Lack of communication with hospital specialists was perceived to reduce treatment quality, while influence of patient pressure was thought to contribute to the development of multiple medicine use. An interaction analysis helped in appreciating and clarifying the contexts in which results from the content analysis were created. Further discussion is needed on how to best report these results. Different cut-offs are useful in defining multiple medicine use in different age groups. Vast majorities of users of multiple medicines were found to have unique medicine combinations. Multiple medicine use was found to be associated with morbidity and poor self-rated health across all age groups.

Male youths ages 13-18 incarcerated at two minimum security detention facilities participated in a program to determine if Alfred Adler's concept of social interest could be developed through group interactions led by non-professionals. The youths answered a self-report attitudinal scale, the Sulliman Scale of Social Interest and were rated by their classroom teachers on the Behavior Dimensions Rating Scale as pre-test measures. Volunteers from a liberal arts college sociology classes were randomly assigned to work in male-female pairs over a ten week period of time with the experimental population. These pairs led their constant group of incarcerated youths in ninety minute discussion sessions once per week for the duration of the program. Structured human relations exercises specifically designed to encourage elements of social interest; belonging, cooperation, and significance were assigned for each of the sessions. At the end of ten weeks, the youths in the experimental groups and the control population were tested again on the two scales. The results of Pearson Product Moment Correlations Test indicated no relationship between attitude and behavior for either the experimental or control groups on the pre-test and the post-test. A Mann Whitney U t-test indicated a highly significant increase in the social interest of the experimental group at the end of the program. While the control group showed no change over the course of the ten weeks, those who participated in the developmental groups increased their scores on the Sulliman Scale of Social Interest by an average of 12 points. Another Mann Whitney U t-test indicated that there was no difference between the social interest of Caucasian and non-Caucasian youths.

本研究旨在了解大學生個人思考風格與團隊互動時的領導風格、組織氣氛與團隊策略之關係。本研究採混合研究法，研究工具包含量化的問卷資料及質性的學生週記與訪談資料兩部分，所使用的問卷為Sternberg的心智自我管理理論（theory of mental self-government）提出的思考風格量表（Thinking Styles Inventory，TSI），作為測量學生思考風格之工具。研究者於每週授課時段進入課堂觀察小組互動之情形，時間為一學期，期末施予問卷並另約訪談時間了解團隊互動之過程，自願參與本研究之受測者共計七名，願意受訪者共計五名。研究結果顯示： 壹、具有學習型目標的團隊，學習目標的達成比追求團隊效率更為重要。 貳、思考風格、領導風格及團隊策略相搭配，使得團隊互動更為順利。 參、不同思考風格之人在互動中可能帶來正面影響，也可能造成彼此的壓力。 / This study aims to understand the relationships between undergraduate student individual thinking styles and group interaction, with group interaction including leadership styles, organizational climate and group strategies. A mixed-method study was conducted by using the quantitative measure of a questionnaire and two qualitative measures of students’ weekly journals and interviews. Students’ thinking styles were evaluated by the Thinking Styles Inventory developed based on Sternberg’s theory of mental self-government. Student group interactions in a course lasting for one semester were observed every week. Semi-structured interviews were performed at the end of the semester to understand the process of group interaction. Results of both quantitative and qualitative data analyses revealed that: 1. A team with learning-centered goals would stress more on achieving those goals than on team efficiency. 2. Thinking styles, leadership styles and group strategies work together can make group interaction smooth. 3. People with different thinking styles can either bring positive effects or create stresses within group interaction.

Museen werden häufig von Gruppen wie z.B. Familien besucht, die ein Interesse daran haben, die Inhalte dieser Institutionen gemeinsam zu erkunden. Leider sind jedoch in vielen Museen interaktive oder gar gemeinschaftlich nutzbare Exponate weiterhin eine Seltenheit. Interaktive Tabletops können den Bedürfnissen von Besuchergruppen begegnen und kollaborative Gruppeninteraktionen ermöglichen.  Der Fokus dieser Arbeit liegt darauf, kollaborative Gruppeninteraktion an interaktiven Tischen für verschiedene Ausstellungskontexte einerseits herzustellen und andererseits detailliert zu untersuchen, um besondere Potentiale von interaktiven Tabletops für Gruppenkollaboration im Museum herauszuarbeiten.  Die Dissertation beschreibt dabei die iterative Entwicklung von zwei interaktiven Tabletop-Exponaten in ihrer physischen Gestaltung und ihren Anwendungen, die entwicklungsbegleitend durch drei In-the-wild-Studien unter realweltlichen Bedingungen weiterentwickelt wurden. In einer letzten In-the-wild-Studie wurden Gruppeninteraktionen am Tisch zum Zwecke der Interaktionsanalyse videografisch erfasst. Als Fundament für Entwicklung und Interaktionsanalyse dient eine Auseinandersetzung mit bestehenden Tabletopanwendungen in Museen hinsichtlich ihrer Potentiale für Gruppeninteraktionen. In der Interaktionsanalyse zeigte sich unter anderem, dass die Gestaltung der Anwendung als rundenbasiertes Spiel Einfluss auf die Gruppeninteraktion hat. Insbesondere konnte beobachtet werden, dass  Besucher*innen ihren Aufenthalt am Tabletopexponat sowohl mit ihrer Gruppe als auch mit dem Spielzustand koordinieren. Die Rundenbasiertheit der Anwendung motiviert Spieler*innen, ihre Gruppenmitglieder zu unterstützen und dadurch zudem das Voranschreiten des Spieles zu sichern. Aus den Ergebnissen der Interaktionsanalyse werden abschließend Implikationen für die Gestaltung von interaktiven Exponaten und ihre Anwendung für museale Kontexte abgeleitet.:Danksagung Einleitung Grundlagen Iterative Entwicklung eines Tabletopexponats Methodisches Vorgehen Interaktion am Tisch Gruppen- und Spielverpflichtung Intervention und Unterstützung Fazit Literatur / Museums are often visited by groups of people such as families, who commonly intend to explore and experience the museum space together. Unfortunately, many museums lack interactive exhibits that could facilitate such collaborative experiences. Interactive tabletops can satisfy such desires and enable collaborative group interactions. The focus of this thesis is on the facilitation and the analysis of collaborative group interactions on interactive tabletops in exhibition spaces. It identifies potentials of interactive tabletops for group collaboration in museums. The thesis describes the iterative development of two interactive tabletop exhibits in their physical form and their applications. This development was accompanied by three in-the-wild studies, which drove the evolution of hardware and software. In a final in-the-wild study group interactions on a tabletop exhibit were examined using interaction analysis. The development as well as the following analysis of group interactions on tabletop exhibits was based on the thorough analysis of existing tabletop exhibits and other studies of group interactions in museums. The detailed study of group interactions revealed among other things that the design of the application as a turn-based game had a significant influence on group interactions. Users coordinated their stay at the tabletop with their peers while considering the state of the game. The turn-based manner of the application motivated players to support their peers to advance through the game. The results of the interaction analysis lead to implications for the design of interactive exhibits and their application in museum spaces.:Danksagung Einleitung Grundlagen Iterative Entwicklung eines Tabletopexponats Methodisches Vorgehen Interaktion am Tisch Gruppen- und Spielverpflichtung Intervention und Unterstützung Fazit Literatur

Corporations spend a great deal of time and money trying to facilitate innovation in their employees. The act of introducing something new, a product or a service that is viable and innovative is often increased by enhancing or nurturing creativity.This experimental study investigated the effect of group verbally interactive brainstorming (social interaction) on creativity, not by comparing the number of ideas generated on a simple task in a brainstorming session, but by assessing creativity in the final product of a complex heuristic task. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of group interactive brainstorming to individual brainstorming on individual creativity assessed in the final product.The hypothesis which was tested in this study was that participation in group verbally interactive brainstorming prior to developing a design solution would not facilitate creativity in the final product more than individual brainstorming. Indeed, it was hypothesized that individuals brainstorming in teams.Participants were 36 interior design students in a FIDER accredited program at Virginia Tech. The Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure (MSFM) was administered before beginning the experiment in order to determine individual differences in creativity. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a treatment group than participated in group verbally interactive brainstorming prior to developing a product individually, or a control group that participated in an individual brainstorming session. All subjects then created a design project individually that was assessed for creativity by judges who were recruited from professional interior design organizations. Creativity was measures using the Consensual Assessment for Interior Design Creativity (Barnard, 1992). A post session questionnaire also was used to measure attitudes and perceptions of the subjects about the creative process.Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences when creativity scores were compared between two brainstorming groups. That is, projects developed by interior design students did not differ significantly in creativity systematically between the two brainstorming techniques. When scores on the two dependent variables of secondary interest (novelty and appropriateness) were compared between groups they also did not differ significantly.Responses to post-session questionnaires indicated that although students found it more difficult to generate ideas in a group, they still believed they would generate more ideas and preferred to generate ideas in a group rather than alone. However, when developing a project students preferred to work independently.This study supports past research which suggests that group verbally interactive brainstorming does not enhance creativity. In this study, interactive brainstorming neither enhanced nor constrained creativity in the final product. The creativity scores were higher for those in the individual brainstorming condition, although not significantly so. This study also supports findings which indicate that people still believe they will generate more ideas in a group and that they prefer to generate ideas as a group. / Ph. D.

To stay competitive, the increasingly challenging reality that digitization and globalization have led to a constant evolution of market conditions, Google and other organizations use a model called OKR, objectives and key results. Implementing a model such as OKR in an organization places high demands on the interaction of the management team, which is one reason why not everyone is successful with the implementation. To improve interaction, several management teams have applied Patrick Lenicinois' management team method the five dysfunctions in a team. The purpose of this study is to investigate how a management team's interaction is affected by applying a management team method. To answer the question, two focus group interviews have been conducted, consisting of members from two different management groups that have implemented the management group method, the five dysfunctions in a team, and the goal management model, OKR, in recent years. The empirical work has been analyzed based on Goffman's symbolic interactionism and Weber's bureaucratic structures. Application of a management group method can, according to the study, lead to changes in the interaction, in the form of increased trust within the group, that communication takes place more in the form of dialogue and a higher collective commitment to the management group's common goals and results. For a change to take place, the management team needs to invest time and energy both initially and continuously. This insight is significant for research into the impact of the management team method on norms and behaviors in social contexts and how the corporate world can meet the need for interconnected management teams for e.g. change management.