This thesis study analyzed the individual difference factors affecting the success of online instruction. The factors that were examined are mastery goal orientation, learning self efficacy, and conscientiousness. The success of online instruction was examined in terms of the knowledge and skill acquisition during training, the practice level, and program completion rate. To investigate the effects of the hypothesized factors, an online instruction program on time management, fast and effective reading, and memory skills was developed and administered to a sample of college students. Results showed that the developed online instruction program improved time management knowledge and fast reading skills of participants. Additionally, conscientiousness was found to predict the program completion rate. On the other hand, results failed to support the suggestions that mastery goal orientation would predict the undertaken practice level and the improvements in knowledge and skill levels. The proposed predictive relationships between learning self-efficacy and practice level as well as between conscientiousness and practice level were not supported either. Finally, the claim that completing the training program would improve the learning self efficacy of the participants was not supported.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Supervisors are the primary drivers of performance management; however, little is known about factors that influence their implementation of these systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate how a supervisor individual difference—implicit person theory (IPT)—differentially predicts supervisor behaviors during, as well as both supervisor and employee reactions to appraisal interviews. In Study 1, MBA students reported their supervisors’ behaviors during their most recent performance appraisal interview (Time 1) as well as their subsequent reactions (i.e., perceived satisfaction, utility, success, supervisor support; Time 2). Their supervisors completed a measure assessing their own IPT (Time 3). Findings suggest that supervisors’ task-oriented behaviors predicted perceived satisfaction, utility, and success of the appraisal interviews, while supervisor’ relational-oriented behaviors predicted perceived supervisor support. In Study 2, supervisors recruited via MTurk completed all measures from Study 1 except perceived success. Results suggest that IPT was positively related to task-oriented behaviors and perceived utility, task-oriented behaviors mediated the relationship between IPT and all three reaction measures (i.e., perceived satisfaction, utility, and supervisor support), and relational-oriented behaviors significantly predicted supervisors’ perceived support. Overall, findings suggest that supervisors who believe people can change (hold a more incremental IPT) display more task-oriented behaviors during and see more utility in appraisal interviews. Additionally, task-oriented behaviors emerged as the key mechanism linking supervisors’ IPT and reactions to appraisal interviews. These findings demonstrate that supervisor individual differences, such as IPT, can influence performance appraisal and management outcomes.

Differentiation concerns teachers’ strategies and methods to design teaching in response to the natural variation in heterogeneous classrooms. In this study, it is looked upon as a method of inclusion in English teaching to enhance the students’ learning regardless of their levels. The present study aims at exploring teachers’ experiences of working with differentiation in the English upper secondary classroom, in order to discuss strategies that are used, challenges that are faced, and outcomes that are noticed when applying differentiation. Six teachers of English in different schools were interviewed to obtain their experiences. The data was collected via semi-structured interviews and the participant’s answers were analysed and categorised into various themes. Although the results revealed that the participants utilized differentiated teaching to meet the students' different learning styles and interests, all participants described teaching English in heterogeneous classrooms as a challenge. They referred to the outcomes of applying differentiation and how it can have an impact on students’ individualized learning. According to all the participants in this pilot study, the most effective solution to manage heterogeneous classrooms is applying differentiation. Nevertheless, they all agreed that there is no simple way of applying it and teachers can choose different contents and methods for teaching English to help students reach their learning objectives.

Supervisors are the primary drivers of performance management; however, little is known about factors that influence their implementation of these systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate how a supervisor individual difference—implicit person theory (IPT)—differentially predicts supervisor behaviors during, as well as both supervisor and employee reactions to appraisal interviews. In Study 1, MBA students reported their supervisors’ behaviors during their most recent performance appraisal interview (Time 1) as well as their subsequent reactions (i.e., perceived satisfaction, utility, success, supervisor support; Time 2). Their supervisors completed a measure assessing their own IPT (Time 3). Findings suggest that supervisors’ task-oriented behaviors predicted perceived satisfaction, utility, and success of the appraisal interviews, while supervisor’ relational-oriented behaviors predicted perceived supervisor support. In Study 2, supervisors recruited via MTurk completed all measures from Study 1 except perceived success. Results suggest that IPT was positively related to task-oriented behaviors and perceived utility, task-oriented behaviors mediated the relationship between IPT and all three reaction measures (i.e., perceived satisfaction, utility, and supervisor support), and relational-oriented behaviors significantly predicted supervisors’ perceived support. Overall, findings suggest that supervisors who believe people can change (hold a more incremental IPT) display more task-oriented behaviors during and see more utility in appraisal interviews. Additionally, task-oriented behaviors emerged as the key mechanism linking supervisors’ IPT and reactions to appraisal interviews. These findings demonstrate that supervisor individual differences, such as IPT, can influence performance appraisal and management outcomes.

Alcohol use disorder is a worldwide public health problem and is a disorder with substantial individual variation. There are suggested links between various behavioral traits, comorbid psychiatric diseases and excessive alcohol consumption. Moreover, the endogenous opioid system is involved in alcohol reward and reinforcement, and implicated in the action of alcohol. However, less is known about the complex associations between individual differences in behavior, alcohol consumption, pharmacotherapy response and related neurochemical mechanisms. Experimental animal models are critical for understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of alcohol use disorder. The overall aims of this thesis were: i) to study the association between behavior and voluntary alcohol intake in outbred rats; ii) to study the association of voluntary alcohol intake, behavior, opioid receptor density and response to naltrexone; and iii) to obtain detailed behavioral characterizations of the animals on the basis of their voluntary alcohol intake. The results revealed that the multivariate concentric square fieldTM (MCSF) test was a complementary method for understanding mechanisms underlying various mental states. The MCSF broadened the perspective on risk-related behaviors, including aspects of risk assessment. Individual differences in alcohol intake using the modified intermittent access paradigm enabled analyses of drinking patterns in high and low alcohol-drinking rats. There was an alcohol deprivation effect in high-drinking animals only. The behavior profiling of high alcohol drinking- rats before and after alcohol access suggested that this subgroup was consuming alcohol for its anxiolytic properties. Long-lasting changes were found in the mu and the delta opioid receptors after long-term, intermittent voluntary alcohol intake; some of these changes are in line with findings in humans. The voluntary alcohol consumption and the concomitant response to naltrexone were different for Wistar rats from different suppliers. Moreover, the Rcc Wistar rats may be more suitable for studies of alcohol use disorders due to increasing alcohol intake and the presence of a high-drinking subpopulation with increasing alcohol intake over time. The high-drinking subpopulation showed pronounced effects of naltrexone on alcohol intake. In conclusion, studies of individual differences increase understanding of variability in behavior, pharmacotherapy response and factors involved in vulnerability of alcohol use disorders.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The use of dental care services has been associated with contextual factors and time-related variations. However, there is a lack of studies assessing the association between contextual variables and the use of dental care services as well as the trends of oral health care utilization in preeschoolers. This dissertation aimed to assess the association between individual and contextual socioeconomic factors with the use of dental health services in Brazilian preschool children. As well, assess the trend in the use of dental health care, type of service and reasons for dental care utilization considering time-related variations of age, period and cohort ( Age-Period- Cohort effect ). A representative sample of 1,765 preschool children from Santa Maria-RS, Brazil, was collected from 3 oral health surveys performed in 2008, 2010 and 2013. Data from these surveys were used to assess the trend in the use of dental health services among preschool children considering the influence of Age- Period-Cohort effect. A total of 639 participants from the second period of data collection (2010) were used to assess the influence of contextual factors in the use of dental care. Contextual social determinants included the presence of worker s associations and the number of dentists in thethe neighborhood in which the child was living. Data analysis used multilevel Poisson regression models to assess the association between predictors and the outcomes in both studies. The chi-square for trends was also used to assess the the prevalence of each outcome considering time-related changes. Presence of wokers association in the neighborhood favors preschool children to use dental health services. Children who lived in a neighborhood with workers association visited the dentist 65% more than their counterparts. There is a time-related vartion (Age-Period-Cohort effect) in the useof dental health services along the years of study; age influenced straightly the dental visits prevalence, and period and cohort effects influenced significantly the type of service used and the reasons for dental seek. There is a significant association between individual and contextual social determinants and the use of dental care services in preschool children. The study also found a significant age-period-cohort effect in the use of dental care service which may be considered when planning public health strategies that facilitate dental acess for this population. / O uso de serviços odontológicos pode ser influenciado por fatores contextuais e sua prevalência, por efeitos temporais. Entretanto, há pouca evidencia da associação entre diferentes fatores contextuais e uso de serviços, ademais, não existem estudos avaliando a tendência do uso de serviços odontológicos em pré-escolares brasileiros. O objetivo desta dissertação foi avaliar a associação entre fatores socioeconômicos individuais e contextuais e o uso de serviços odontológicos em pré-escolares. Como também, avaliar a tendência no uso de serviços odontológicos, tipo de serviço e motivo da consulta, levando em consideração os efeitos temporais de idade, período e coorte (Age-period-cohort effect). Uma amostra representativa de 1765 pré-escolares de Santa Maria-RS, Brasil, foi obtida a partir de 3 levantamentos realizados nos anos de 2008, 2010 e 2013. Os dados dos 3 levantamentos epidemiológicos foram utilizados para verificar a tendência na utilização de serviços odontológicos por pré-escolares considerando Age-period-cohort effect. Ademais, foram verificadas possíveis alterações nas associações de fatores individuais com o uso de serviços odontológicos por pré-escolares considerando esses efeitos temporais. Para verificar a associação de fatores contextuais com o uso de serviço, foram utilizados dados do levantamento realizado em 2010 composto por 639 pré-escolares. As variáveis contextuais consideradas foram: número de dentistas do bairro e a presença de associação de trabalhadores. Os dados foram analisados utilizando Modelos Multiníveis de Regressão de Poisson, para avaliar a associação das variáveis preditoras e os desfechos em ambos os estudos. No estudo de tendência também foi realizado o teste qui-quadrado para tendências para verificar a mudança nas prevalências de cada desfecho, de acordo com cada efeito temporal. A presença de associações de trabalhadores no bairro favoreceu o uso de serviços odontológicos por pré-escolares. Os pré escolares residentes em bairros com associação de trabalhadores tiveram uma prevalência 65% maior de terem visitado o dentista em comparação a quem não morava. No estudo de tendências, verificamos uma influência dos efeitos temporais (Age-period-cohort effect) na tendência de uso por préescolares brasileiros. O efeito idade, influenciou diretamente o uso de serviços odontológicos por pré-escolares, já o tipo de serviço e o motivo da consulta foi influenciado pelos efeitos período e coorte de forma significativa. Conclui-se que variáveis individuais e contextuais devem ser levadas em consideração, assim como os efeitos temporais que modulam o uso de serviços odontológicos, no planejamento e organização de políticas públicas de saúde bucal.

In the service economy, as markets change from offering physical products to offering service products, organizations across many industries must embrace this transformation to remain competitive. Mobile technology plays an important role in this transformation because of characteristics such as mobility. According to customer variability in service encounters, we identify several individual differences that affect the quality of the service encounter and try to determine how these factors moderate the effect of mobility in the design of the mobile service. Therefore, we argue that a fit exists between mobile service design and individual difference that increases service performance. The results of this inquiry can guide service providers in developing more attractive mobile services through mobile technology.

La présente thèse a pour objectif de clarifier la nature de la relation entre les habiletés numériques innées – le Sens du Nombre – et les compétences en arithmétique apprises à l’école. L’originalité de cette recherche consiste en l’attention particulière que je porterai au rôle que jouent les habiletés numériques innées dans les différentes manières de résoudre une addition complexe, telle que 48 + 25, c’est-à-dire les stratégies de résolution. Dans le présent travail, je m’attèlerai à déterminer si la possession de compétences numériques plus développées favorise l’utilisation de procédures de calcul qui tiennent compte des propriétés numériques des opérandes du calcul, et si, inversement, la possession d’habiletés numériques plus imprécises entrave leur application, au profit de stratégies de calcul plus basiques. <p><p>À cette fin, j’axerai la présente thèse en trois volets distincts. Dans un premier volet, je vérifierai que les habiletés numériques sont essentielles à l’implémentation de toutes les stratégies de calcul, malgré le fait qu’elles soient engagées à des degrés d’élaboration différents en fonction de la stratégie exécutée. Ensuite, dans un second volet, je confirmerai que les compétences numériques orientent les préférences stratégiques ;comme je le supposais, les calculateurs possédant les habiletés numériques les plus développées ont davantage recours à des stratégies basées sur la magnitude complète des nombres, alors que ceux qui ont des capacités plus limitées les évitent. Enfin, dans un dernier volet, je mettrai en évidence que l’application de telles stratégies qui impliquent de traiter les numérosités entières engendre au niveau cérébral une activité accrue au sein des régions intrapariétales, aires dédiées au traitement des magnitudes numériques, par rapport aux autres procédures de calcul.<p><p>Les résultats que je rapporte dans la présente thèse mettent ainsi en évidence que les habiletés numériques sont critiques dans la résolution d’additions complexes non seulement au niveau de l’exécution de la stratégie de calcul, mais aussi dans l’établissement à long terme de la préférence stratégique des individus. Outre ces observations, la présente recherche plaide plus généralement en faveur de la prise en considération des stratégies de résolution dans les tâches arithmétiques, car les compétences numériques peuvent y être associées à des degrés différents. Au-delà de la simple performance, s’intéresser plus qualitativement aux stratégies de résolution constitue selon moi une étape cruciale dans la compréhension de la nature du lien entre le Sens du Nombre inné et les compétences en arithmétique.<p><p>/<p><p>The current thesis aims at clarifying the nature of the relationship between innate numerical abilities – the Number Sense – and arithmetic skills acquired at school. I will particularly focus in this research on the role played by these innate numerical abilities in selecting and executing the different procedures that could be used to solve a complex addition such as 48 + 27. In the current thesis, I will attempt to determine whether more elaborated numerical competence favours the utilisation of solving strategies that take into account the numerical properties of the addends, and conversely, whether inaccurate numerical representations discourage from using these strategies, for the benefit of more basic solving strategies.<p><p>In the current thesis, I will more specifically cover three different aspects. First of all, I will demonstrate that numerical abilities are crucial in implementing every solving strategy, but that they are engaged to a different extent as a function of the executed strategy. Secondly, I will show that numerical competence determine strategic preference; as I hypothesized, adults who possess the best numerical abilities would use more frequently solving strategies that are based on the entire numerical magnitude of the addends, whereas adults with more limited abilities would rather avoid them and execute basic procedures. Finally, in the third section, I will emphasize that the use of such elaborated solving strategies do imply at the cerebral level a stronger activity within the intraparietal regions, which are dedicated to the numerical magnitude processing, in comparison to other basic solving strategies.<p><p>The data I report here thus highlight that numerical abilities are essential in solving complex additions, not only in the execution of the solving strategy, but also in the long-term establishment of the preferred strategy. Besides this observation, the current thesis claims more generally in favour of the consideration of solving strategies when assessing arithmetic tasks, because numerical abilities are involved to a distinct extent in these tasks. Over and above regular performance, investigating through a qualitative perspective the solving strategies constitutes, according to me, a fundamental step in understanding the nature of the relationship between the innate Number Sense and arithmetic skills.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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This presented paper is a parallel reading of two works which both connect a philosophical perception of time and memory with an actual narration. The first is one of the earliest spiritual autobiographies of late antiquity - Confessions - and the second is a modern novel - In Search of Lost Time. A distinctive (originally Neoplatonic) understanding of eternity as simultaneity opens a line of questioning which both Confessions and In Search of Lost Time have in common: What is the relation between time and eternity (extra-temporality in Proust's case) and is it possible at all for a time being to have a relation to something what is eternal? In both works, the mediating role between time succession and timeless simultaneity is played by narration and memory. Part I of the paper (Chapter 1) deals with Augustine's understanding of time which can be found not only in Book XI of Confessions but also throughout the whole work including its narrative passages; it also partly takes into consideration Book VI of De musica. It tries to answer a more general question, i.e. whether Augustine in his autobiography concentrates only on subjective time or whether he is interested in time as such (in contrast to eternity). The answer is intended to be found through the analysis of questions the author of...