Attention on beverage intake, specifically sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), has increased in recent years (1). Energy-containing beverages do not provide the same satiety as solid foods, and intake of solid food is not spontaneously reduced when energy-containing beverages are consumed (2,3). This may contribute to positive energy balance (1). Conversely, a reduction in energy intake occurs by replacing SSB with water and may facilitate weight loss (4,5). A valid, reliable and sensitive assessment tool for quantifying beverage consumption and determining its influence on weight status could help advance research on this topic. Three studies were conducted to develop the BEVQ, a self-administered quantitative beverage intake questionnaire. First study (n=105): the 19-item BEVQ's validity was examined by comparing participant's beverage intake to the "gold standard" of dietary intake assessment, food intake records; reliability was assessed by comparing two BEVQ's, administered two weeks apart. The BEVQ demonstrated acceptable validity (R2=0.53, water g; 0.46, 0.61 total beverage g, kcal; 0.49, 0.59 SSB g, kcal) as well as reliability (all correlations P<0.001) (6). Second study (n=1,596): the BEVQ underwent exploratory factor analyses (EFA) to identify the potential to reduce items. Three beverage items, which contributed <10% to total beverage intake g, kcal, were eliminated; EFA identified beer and light beer as a combined category. The refinement led to the 15-item BEVQ, which produced a lower readability score of 4.8 and shorter administration time (~2 min) (7). Third study (n=70): the ability of the BEVQ-15 to detect changes in beverage intake was evaluated by increasing participant water and fruit juice consumption and evaluating BEVQ-15 outcomes before and after the feeding period. Increases in water, juice and total beverage (g) were detected during the intervention period (P<0.001) (8). This rapid, valid, reliable and sensitive beverage intake assessment tool may determine the habitual intake of SSB and other beverages, and evaluate the effectiveness of clinical and public health interventions which aim to address national SSB recommendations. Future work is needed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the BEVQ-15 in children, as well as develop cost-effective noninvasive biomarkers that can objectively estimate intake of specific foods/dietary components (9). / Ph. D.

Surgical castration of young male piglets is an extremely common husbandry procedure in the United States swine industry, with nearly 100% of males castrated. The procedure is performed primarily to prevent the occurrence of boar taint in the meat and to reduce aggression as the animals age. No research has investigated the impact of surgical castration on the long-term mood states – also known as the affective state – of piglets, but it has been proven to cause both acute and chronic pain that can last up to 4 days, modify piglet behavior, and reduce weight gain. Because of this, feasible approaches for pain alleviation are needed. A hinderance to this is that currently no analgesics are approved for piglets. In addition, we need validated, practical methods to recognize pain in piglets in order to help researchers, veterinarians, and caretakers to identify the need for analgesics. One useful tool for this could be the Piglet Grimace Scale, which has previously been validated in this context, but is not widely applied. The current lack of analgesic use during castration may be cause for concern for consumers, however little is known about the public's knowledge on the industry's practices. Therefore, the thesis' objectives are to (1) assess the impact of surgical castration on pain and affective states, (2) determine people's ability to recognize pain expression after surgical castration, and (3) get insights into public perception of swine industry practices. In Chapter 3, we assessed the impact of surgical castration and practical pain alleviation methods during and after castration on piglets' short and long-term affective states and activity levels. Piglets were surgically castrated, castrated with analgesics, or sham-handled at 3 days of age. Data on piglets' activity (using accelerometers), tails (affective states), and grimaces (pain expression) were collected for 1, 6, and 24 hours after castration treatments while piglets were in their home pens. An attention bias test was then performed in week 1 and 12 to assess anxiety (an affective state). Home pen activity after castration treatments suggested that there was a positive impact of using analgesics. The piglets' behavior (eating) and activity during the attention bias test at week 1 suggest a negative impact of castration on affective states. The differences observed in week 1 were no longer found in week 12, suggesting that any impact of surgical castration at 3 days of age on affective states are no longer detectable at 12 weeks of age. In Chapter 4, through an online survey we investigated the validity and reliability of Piglet Grimace Scale ratings applied by swine industry professionals and the general public, to assess its potential utility in non-research settings. The survey contained a training, followed by 9 piglet images showing facial expressions immediately after castration or sham-handling. Both response groups were able to recognize pain in castrated piglets. However, both response groups overestimated pain experience compared to trained experts, suggesting more training may be necessary. Nevertheless, overall, the scale can be widely applied by veterinarians, industry professionals and even members of the public. In Chapter 5, a survey provided initial insights into public knowledge and perceptions on castration and analgesia use and compared this to industry stakeholders. The results show that knowledge on industry practices was especially lacking for public respondents, but also for a minority of industry respondents, indicating opportunities for education and further research on the topic. / Master of Science / Surgical castration is performed on nearly every male piglet in the United States swine industry. Males are castrated to prevent the occurrence of boar taint and to reduce aggression. Boar taint is the unpleasant odor produced by the skatole and androsterone in the fat when the meat is prepared. It is unclear how this practice impacts piglet's long-term mood states (affective states), but we do know it causes pain, changes in behavior, and reduced productivity. Thus, we need feasible approaches for pain relief. However, there are currently no pain relievers approved for piglets. In addition, we need validated, practical methods to quantify pain in piglets in order to identify the need for pain relief. One useful tool is the Piglet Grimace Scale, which is validated but is not widely applied. The current lack of pain relief use during castration may concern consumers, yet no data is collected on this. Therefore, the thesis' objectives are to (1) assess the impact of surgical castration on pain and affective states, (2) determine people's ability to recognize pain expression after surgical castration, and (3) get insights into public perception of swine industry practices. In Chapter 3, we assessed the impact of surgical castration and practical pain alleviation methods during and after castration on piglets' short and long-term affective states and activity levels. Piglets were surgically castrated, castrated with analgesics, or sham-handled at 3 days of age. Home pen activity after castration treatments showed a positive impact of using analgesics. The piglets' behavior and activity during an attention bias test at week 1 suggest that piglets were experiencing a negative emotional state after castration. The differences seen in week 1 were no longer found in week 12. This suggests that any potential impact of surgical castration on affective states are no longer detectable at 12 weeks of age. In Chapter 4, an online survey was used to investigate the Piglet Grimace Scale ratings applied by swine industry professionals and the general public. After training, respondents scored 9 images showing facial expressions of piglets after castration or sham-handling. Both public and industry people were able to recognize pain in castrated piglets. However, both response groups overestimated the pain experience compared to trained experts, suggesting more training may be necessary. Nevertheless, overall findings suggest that the scale can be widely applied. In Chapter 5, a survey provided insights into public knowledge and perceptions on castration and pain relief use in the industry, and compared this to industry stakeholders. The results showed that knowledge on industry practices was especially lacking for public respondents, but also for a minority of industry respondents, indicating opportunities for education and further research on the topic.

In the United States STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is increasingly being promoted as a key component of preparing students for the reality of an increasingly technology infused society and workforce. As the population of students classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) continues to grow across the United States the need for STEM educators to be prepared to effectively educate these students is of increasing concern. The task of preparing this group of learners to succeed in a STEM-infused society is a joint effort between specialized linguistic courses in the K-12 education system as well as the STEM educators outside of these specialized courses. As such, focus on creating policy and preparation models for STEM teachers to acquire the necessary skills to effectively serve the ELL population needs to be rooted in targeted analysis of the connections between STEM educators and ELLs. This dissertation is comprised of two exploratory research studies that examine STEM teachers' preparedness to educate ELLs using secondary analysis of the 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 School and Staffing Survey Teacher Questionnaire (SASS TQ) datasets. The first study focuses on national and regional analysis of how STEM teachers' degrees, state-level certification areas, and professional development participation reflect potential indicators of preparedness to educate ELLs. Concurrently, this study examines ELL participation in STEM courses nationally and regionally through the percentage of STEM teachers who had ELLs in their overall service loads of students as well as the average number of ELLs in those service loads. Quantitative analysis showed drastic differences between regions as well as differences in ELL participation and teacher credentialing between the STEM disciplines. The second study utilizes both the 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 SASS TQ datasets to make comparisons in STEM educators credentialing and ELL participation in STEM courses over the four year time span between the datasets. National analysis of ELL participation in STEM courses showed that in all of the STEM disciplines the percentage of teachers who had ELLs in their total service loads of students increased. The growth of ELL participation differed across disciplines and across regions, however, nationally by 2012 over half of all STEM educators reported having ELLs in their service loads of students. Despite the growing participation of ELLs in STEM courses, the rates of STEM teachers' participation in ELL specific professional development activities largely stagnated over the four year span. The findings of these studies provide valuable information to frame discussions of STEM teachers'preparedness to meet the needs of a growing population of ELLs. / PHD / The growing number of students classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) in the public school system within the United States has increased educational researchers’ attention on this unique group of learners. Students classified as ELL have specific language needs that must be addressed in unison with their education in other disciplines. Within the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education there has been a lack of national analysis of how teachers are prepared to meet the needs of this growing population of students. This dissertation is comprised of two complimentary studies that use a national dataset to analyze potential indicators of STEM teachers’ preparedness to work with students classified as ELLs by examining their credentials related to educating ELLs. The first of the two studies use regional and national analysis to examine how the rates of STEM teacher credentialing related to ELLs differs among the STEM disciplines and across the United States. The second study used multiple datasets to analyze changes across a four year time span in the rates of ELL participation in STEM teachers’ courses as well as STEM teachers credentialing related to ELLs.

Yes / The Self-Regulation Model (SRM) identifies that the beliefs people hold about an illness can influence their responses to that illness. Although there are generic measures of illness representations, there is a need for a brief tailored measure to use with people with dementia. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a brief measure called the Representations and Adjustment to Dementia Index (RADIX). The RADIX contains questions on the SRM elements: Identity, Cause, Timeline, Control, and Consequences. The RADIX validation was conducted with a sample of 385 community-dwelling people with mild to moderate dementia who were taking part in the IDEAL cohort study. Test-retest reliability was conducted over a 4-week period with a separate sample of 20 people with dementia. The validation process resulted in a reduction in the number of items in the Timeline, Control, and Consequences items. The resulting RADIX demonstrated good acceptability, internal reliability, and test-retest reliability. All the RADIX items had low missing data, indicating good acceptability. The factor analysis confirmed that the Consequences items formed two subscales (practical and emotional consequences) that had Cronbach's α of 8 and 0.91 respectively. Test-retest reliability indicated that the Identity, Timeline, and Control items had moderate reliability and the practical and emotional consequences scales had good reliability. The RADIX demonstrates acceptable psychometric properties, proves to be a useful measure for exploring people's beliefs about dementia, and could aid the provision of tailored information and support to people with dementia.

No description available.

Gymnasieungdomar upplever mycket stress, främst på grund av studier. Den psykiska ohälsan bland ungdomar ökar och tjejer är betydligt mer stressade än killar. Stress kan påverka studiemotivationen negativt och kan leda till studieavbrott som försenar inträdet på arbetsmarknaden. Syftet var att kartlägga aktivitetsbalans och stress hos tjejer och killar på yrkesprogram inom gymnasiet. En kvantitativ studie i form av en enkätundersökning genomfördes med 50 respondenter på olika gymnasieskolor i södra Sverige. Spearmans rangkorrelationskoefficient (rho) användes för att analysera om det fanns något samband mellan aktivitetsbalans och stress. Majoriteten av respondenterna hade medelhög aktivitetsbalans (39) eller högre, det fanns ingen statistiskt signifikant skillnad i aktivitetsbalans mellan könen. Det fanns en statistiskt signifikant skillnad i upplevd stress mellan könen, tjejer upplevde mer stress än killar. Det fanns ett statistiskt signifikant samband mellan aktivitetsbalans och upplevd stress hos tjejerna men inte hos killarna. Att möjliggöra för ungdomar att bibehålla eller förbättra aktivitetsbalans kan vara ett sätt att främja och förebygga stress och annan psykisk ohälsa. / High school youths experience a lot of stress, mainly because of studies. The mental illness among young people increases and girls are significantly more stressed than boys. Stress can affect the study motivation negatively and can lead to interruptions that delay entry into the labor market. The aim of the study was to survey occupational balance and stress among girls and boys at vocational programs in high school. A quantitative study in the form of a survey was conducted with 50 respondents at various upper secondary schools in southern Sweden. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rho)was used to analyze whether there was any relationship between occupational balance and stress. The majority of respondents had medium occupational balance (39) or higher, there was no statistically significant difference in occupational balance between the sexes. There was a statistically significant difference in perceived stress between the sexes, girls perceived more stress than boys. There was a statistically significant relationship between occupational balance and perceived stress in girls. To enable for young people to maintain or improve occupational balance can be a way to promote and prevent stress and other mental illness.

L'objectif de ce travail était de concevoir un questionnaire écrit qui examine le développement du langage oral des enfants normaux et dysphasiques du point de vue des parents. Dans cette perspective, nous avons conduit trois études auprès de deux populations (sujets normaux et dysphasiques) afin d'étudier l'impact des facteurs sociodémographiques sur le langage et de comparer le langage des enfants dysphasiques à celui des enfants normaux. Enfin, nous avons réalisé une étude des profils.Pour réaliser nos objectifs, un questionnaire a été conçu portant sur 5 axes linguistiques (praxie/articulatoire,phonologie, syntaxe, sémantique, pragmatique) destiné aux parents des enfants normaux et dysphasiques. La comparaison entre les deux échantillons a montré un niveau de langage inférieur chez les enfants dysphasiques par rapport à celui des enfants normaux au niveau de tous les axes. Les résultats ont objectivé un effet très significatif de l'âge de l'enfant sur tous les axes du questionnaire pour la population normale. De même, un effet significatif du genre sur l'axe syntaxique a été relevé. En revanche, nos données n'ont pas révélé d’effet significatif de la plupart des facteurs sociodémographiques pour la population dysphasique.L'étude des profils des enfants dysphasiques a permis d’observer des aspects langagiers déficitaires, et d'autres préservés, en fonction du type de dysphasie ainsi qu’une concordance entre l'évaluation des parents et le diagnostic posé par les spécialistes. En conclusion, le questionnaire semble être un bon outil pour fournir des indicateurs de développement du langage et pour contribuer à repérer précocement des enfants à risques pour développer les troubles spécifiques du langage oral. / The objective of this work was to design a written questionnaire that examines the oral language development of normal children and children with specific language impairment depending on the evaluation of parents. In this perspective, we conducted three studies with two groups(normal children, children with specific language impairment)to study the impact of sociodemographic factors on language and to compare the language between the normal children and children with specific language impairment (SLI) and finally to conduct a study of profile. To achieve our objectives a questionnaire was designed concerning 5 axes of language (praxis / articulation, phonology, syntax, semantics,pragmatics) designed for parents of normal children and dysphasia. The comparison between two samples showed inferior performance in SLI than in normal children at all axesThe results have objectified a highly significant effect of child's age on all axis of the questionnaire for the normal population. Similarly, a significant effect of gender of the child on the syntactic axis. However, our data did not reveal asignificant effect of most of sociodemographic factors for the SLI population. Profiling children with SLI showed performance loss, and other preserved, by the type of SLI andit proved a correspondence between the assessment of parentsand the diagnosis made by specialists. Finally, the questionnaire appears to be a good tool to provide indicators of language development and early detection of children atrisk for specific oral language disorders.

As the age increases, the physical fitness of seniors decreases. This shows the fragility of their body. Managing everyday activities becomes increasingly more difficult for them. Result of this is reduced self-sufficiency of the seniors, which leads to reduced mobility and to the greater loss of muscle mass and higher dependence on professional care. Aging is accompanied by loss of muscle mass and muscle strength - sarcopenia. This is one of the main causes of geriatric fragility. Sarcopenia presents a serious health problem with both social and economic consequences. The term sarcopenia (from Greek words sarx - meaning flesh referring to muscle and penia - loss) was first used in 1989 by Irwin Rosenberg to describe the loss of muscle mass accompanying aging. Exactly defining the term sarcopenia has helped explain this gradual loss of muscle mass. Three objectives were set in the thesis. The first objective was to find out whether sarcopenia reduces the quality of life in the elderly. The second goal was to determine, which quality of life tests are suitable for testing sarcopenia and the last one was whether the SARC - F questionnaire predicts sarcopenia.Quantitative research was used for the empirical part of this work. Data collection was performed using a method of a questionnaire. These were standardized questionnaires aimed at assessing sarcopenia and quality of life. The research was carried out with a total of 77 respondents with sarcopenia and respondents without sarcopenia. The quantitative part of the research was statistically processed using the MS Excel computer program.

Police officers deal with a variety of stresses from different sources. Organizational stresses have the most effect on police officers, often more than stressful critical incidents. Previous research has indicated that over time, the mundane organizational and operational stresses of the job can result in a variety of effects from psychological to physiological, and this stress can impact police performance and public safety. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding the impact of stress on the decision-making style of police officers. Police officers often make split-second decisions that can affect their life, the public, and other police officers. Therefore, this quantitative study utilized the General Decision-Making Styles, Operational Police Stress Questionnaire, and Organizational Police Stress Questionnaire to measure the amount of stress police officers are experiencing and if organizational stress influenced their decision-making style. Data were collected from 150 police officers employed in Iowa, and standard multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings indicated that there is a relationship between operational and organizational stresses and decision-making style. The results of this study support positive social change by identifying which stressors impact a police officer's decision-making style. Early identification of police officers who are struggling with organizational stress can help reduce burnout, turnover, citizen complaints, and use of force investigations, which might help strengthen the public's trust in their police officers and police departments.

ObjectifsL’objectif principal a été de déterminer la quantité d’activité physique chez des enfants de 8- 16 ans,scolarisés dans la ville de Bogota (Colombie) vivant à l’altitude de 2640 mètres. Cette activité, mesurée pendant les périodes scolaires et de vacances et agrégée sur une année, a été exprimée en dépensed’énergie rapportée à la journée (DEJmA, kJ.kg-1.jour-1). Cette activité DEJmA a été secondairementanalysée en fonction de l’âge, du genre, du niveau Socioéconomique (NSE), des donnéesanthropométriques individuelles incluant l’âge biologique (Tanner), la composition corporelle, lesomatotype et la condition physique (EUROFIT).MéthodesCette étude d’épidémiologie descriptive et analytique a comporté cinq phases successives : 1)Elaboration d’un questionnaire QAPACE et formation des chercheurs; 2) Test de compréhension duquestionnaire QAPACE; 3) Etude de faisabilité et reproductibilité de QAPACE; 4) Etude de validationsur un échantillon (36 sujets) des mesures de DEJ par rapport à la mesure de VO2max, selon deuxméthodes directe (cycle d’ergospirométrie) et indirecte (test de Léger); 5) Analyse générale d’unéchantillon représentatif de 1840 enfants selon un sondage en grappe randomisé à deux niveaux (écoles,classes). Le questionnaire étudiait 13 grandes catégories d’activités.Les analyses des données de reproductibilité et de validation ont reposé la méthode de Bland et Altmanet la mesure du CCI. La dépendance de la DEJ en fonction des données socio- économiques et desdonnées anthropométriques a été étudiée avec des méthodes de régression linéaire uni- et multivariée(SPSS 21).RésultatsLe questionnaire, adapté à la population d’enfants de langue hispaniauem a présenté une corrélationintra classe CCI=0.96 (CI 0.95-0.97). La validité avec la mesure de VO2max (direct et indirect) a été de0.76(0.66) (p<0.01). La DEJ moyenne sur les 1840 enfants étaient, chez les 904 garçons, 167.98±37.30kJ.kg-1.jour-1 (valeur absolue : 6.83 MJ/Jour, relative : 170.41±39.92) et, chez les 936 filles165.64±34.26 kJ/kg/jour (p<0.01) (6.59 MJ/jour, 165.64 ±34.26 kJ/kg/j). La DEJ pour la périodescolaire et de vacances fut 158.43±42.99 et 199.44±18.55 kJ/kg/jour (p<0.01) pour les garçons et lesfilles respectivement. La DEJ durant le temps libre fut de 59.86±44.16 chez les garçons et 53.81±37.11kJ/kg/jour (p<0.01) pour les filles.ConclusionsSur la base d’une bonne reproductibilité et validité du questionnaire QAPACE, la DEJ (kJ.kg-1.jour-1)rapporté au poids corporel total ou au poids maigre a donné des résultats inférieurs à ceux d’autresétudes, avec notamment 51% des garçons et 61% de filles inactifs, respectivement. Les garçons furentplus actifs que les filles dans le groupe post pubères (p<0.01). Le temps consacré à regarder la TV étaitde 4.2 heures/jour. Les sports les plus pratiqués étaient le football, le cyclisme, et la marche pour lesgarçons et la marche, le cyclisme et le patinage pour les filles. / ObjectivesThe first statement was to determine the amount of physical activity expressed in expenditure weightedaverage day of a year (DEEmY) energy during the school year and holidays (kJ.kg-1.day-1) in terms ofequivalence caloric and metabolic cost of activities most commonly performed by young people. Thesecond statement was that of defining the relationship between the DEEmY vs age, gender,socioeconomic level (SEL), height, body weight, body surface (BS), the Body Mass Index (BMI),biological age (Tanner), body composition, somatotype and fitness (EUROFIT).MethodsThis descriptive study developed five different phases: the first phase: it was the training of researchers,the second phase: understanding and final questionnaire editing QAPACE, in the third phase: feasibilityand reproducibility of QAPACE in the fourth stage: it was the validation study by direct VO2max (36subjects) by ergospirometry and indirect through the test Leger and the fifth phase cycle was developedin 1840 with the general study subjects. The questionnaire was developed by 13 categories. Forreproducibility and validation of the test-Retest method and comparison of arithmetic by the method ofBland-Altman, Pearson correlation was applied. The data is stored in Visual Fox Pro 6.0 and analyzedusing SPSS 21 statistical program IBM. Means were compared using multivariate linear model applyingtipe II.The values used as fixed variables: gender (male and female), age (8-16 years) and three SEL (six strata:1-2, 3-4 and 5-6); as dependent variables were evaluated: height, weight, leisure time, expressed inhours/day and daily energy expenditure DEE (Kj.kg-1.day-1) during leisure time (DEE-LT) during thetime school (DEE-ST) during the holidays (DEE-VT), and DEE total mean year (DEEmTY).For a post-Hoc analysis was used the minimum significant difference (MSD) with fixed factors,interaction factors descriptive statistics, tests of homogeneity with a significance level of 0.05.ResultsThe questionnaire was correct understanding of the reproducibility intra-Class correlation was r = 0.96(CI 0.95-0.97), the validity of the direct and indirect VO2 was 0.76 (0.66) (p <0.01) and for generalstudy quantifying the average of the DEE of 1840 subjects was 167.98 ± 37.30; for boys (n = 904),absolute value: 6.83 MJ/day, relative: 170.41 ± 39.92 and for girls (n = 936): 6.59 MJ/day (p <0.001)165.64 ± 34.26 (kJ.kg-1.day-1) (p <0.01). The DEE to the school holiday period and was 158.43 ± 42.99and 199.44 ± 18.55 (kJ.kg-1.day-1) (p <0.01) for boys and girls respectively. The DEE during free timewas of 59.86 ± 44.16 for males and 53.81 ± 37.11 (kJ.kg-1.day-1) (p <0.01) for girlsConclusionsOn the basis of good reproducibility and validity of the questionnaire QAPACE applied to students inthe larger study, the DEE (kJ/kg/day) with total body weight or lean weight was less compared to ofother studies giving results for 51% of boys and 61% of inactive girls. Boys were more active than girlsin the post pubertal group (p <0.01). As for the time spent watching TV, it was 4.2 hours/day, and themost popular sports was soccer, cycling, and walking for boys and walking, cycling and skating for