Purpose: To accurately and precisely evaluate the validity and reliability of the English-language Pelvic Floor Inventories (PelFIs) administered questionnaire. Participants: Fifty female patient volunteers (ages 24 to 82 years) plus fifty female control volunteers (ages 21 to 83 years) completed the 149-item questionnaire. Results: Construct validity of the English-language PelFIs was established by quantifying the differences in prevalence of pfm dysfunction between the patient population and the control population. Very significant findings of F=10.83, p<0.0001 were found for the document as a whole. Content validity was attained by experts, and additional information gathered for further improvement of this tool. Test-retest reliability for all domains was established with ICC=0.905 and no significant differences were found between time-one and time-two. Internal consistency was obtained with significant Pearson's Correlation noted between the domains. The prevalence of co-occurrence of pfm disorders with patients presenting for treatment of a single pfm dysfunction was quantified and 100% of the patients reported symptoms in domains additional to the domain they sought treatment for. The presence of pfm dysfunction was also quantified in the control population and 94% were found to display symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. Conclusions: The English-language PelFIs was shown to be valid and reliable. Co-occurrence of pfm dysfunction was found to be highly prevalent.

Dialekter jämnas allt mer ut och utpräglade dialekter är sällsynta i dagens samhälle. I denna utjämning har skolan spelat en stor roll då det under 1800-talet förespråkades en utrotningspedagogik på grund av språkliga fördomar. Trots att det idag finns en större medvetenhet om dialektens betydelse för den enskilda individen är skolans språknorm ännu rikssvenska. Denna studie har för avsikt att undersöka hur lärare hanterar motsättningen mellan skolans språknorm och elevers identitetsutveckling i sin yrkesroll. Deras egna dialektbruk och dialektattityder studerades för att få en uppfattning om hur de förhåller sig till dialekter i klassrummet. För att undersöka hur verksamma lärare i de lägre årskurserna på Gotland förhåller sig till dialekter genomfördes en enkätundersökning och en intervjuundersökning. Resultatet visar att trots en positiv attityd till den egna dialekten och dialekter generellt väljer respondenterna i sin yrkesroll bort den egna dialekten. Respondenterna har generellt en positiv inställning till elevers dialekter i klassrummet, men eftersom dialekten dels anses ha en negativ inverkan på skriftspråket och dels inte anses höra hemma i skriftspråket prioriteras dialekten bort. Elevers dialektala drag i skriftspråket korrigeras istället för att eleverna ges de förutsättningar som krävs för att kunna anpassa språkform till mottagare, oavsett om det är i tal eller skrift. Slutsatserna är att elevers identitetsutveckling tenderar att prioriteras bort samt att det finns en risk att elever väljer bort den egna dialekten för att undvika den förödmjukelse som en språkkorrigering innebär. Utifrån studiens slutsatser kan skolan fortfarande anses bidra till dialektutjämningen. / Dialects currently lose their distinct features, and linguistic characteristics have been neglected in modern society. A large contributor to the phenomenon of disappearing dialects can arguably be the school system. In the 19th century schools placed emphasis on the language at schools, at the cost of the personal development of not tolerating and accepting the use of dialects. Despite a current understanding and appreciation of the influence of dialects on identity on an individual level, the school system implemented the national Swedish language as the standard form, which continues to this day. The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers cope with the contradiction between written language development, and continuously strengthening pupils’ self-esteem. Teachers’ attitudes towards dialects have been studied with the intention to an understanding of how they relate to dialects in academic settings. To investigate how teachers in primary education on Gotland handle dialects, a questionnaire was created along with a procedure of interviews. The results show a positive attitude towards the native dialect on Gotland, and other dialects in general. Among the results, there was an indication that the respondents have dropped their native dialects. Among the student population, dialects are generally received in a positive manner. However, due to a perceived negative impact on the written the use of dialects has been more and more disliked and treated as language usage in written assignments. Students’ individual dialects are corrected when used in the written form instead of being given the proper condition to adapt their language to the recievers, regardless if it´s in spoken or written form. One of the conclusions is that the students can experience a significantly decreased focus on the development of their feeling of self-esteem and identity. Another conclusion is that students may choose to avoid using dialects to hinder the risk of humiliation. Based on these conclusions, the school system still can be considered to contribute to dialect equalization.

No description available.

Most LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings are commercial office buildings and multi-use buildings. As of October 2009, 35,000 projects were registered in the LEED system, "comprising over 4.5 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 91 countries." However, as of April 30, 2009, only 43 healthcare projects had achieved LEED certification. Currently, most studies focus on the economic benefits and energy consumption of LEED certified buildings, rather than human factors. A small gain in productivity can result in a heftier financial gain. Even modest improvements in productivity and absenteeism can substantially outweigh the energy cost. This study surveyed 164 staff in the two healthcare settings for case study, and 146 staff in the six LEED certified healthcare settings for the main study in climate zone 2 and 3. Telephone interviews with the six facility managers were used to verify the survey results and further examine the healthcare facilities? performance and the effectiveness of the LEED strategies from facility managers' perspectives. Independent t-test was used to examine the difference between the LEED and Non-LEED hospitals in one healthcare system and results showed that building performance were rated higher by staff in LEED certified hospital than Non-LEED hospital. MANOVA was conducted to compare the staff's ratings between Silver and Gold certification levels, male and female, and also explore the possibility of interaction effect. Multilevel regression modeling was used to test how the building performance variables affect the overall comfort and productivity. Study results showed that staff in the Gold certified hospital had significant higher ratings in most the performance variables. Gold certified healthcare settings were significant better in rated building overall, overall comfort and controllability than Silver certified healthcare settings. And males felt more comfortable in temperature than females in healthcare facilities. Regarding the overall comfort and productivity, building design, efficiency of the space use, temperature comfort and controllability over building system were significant predictors for staff overall comfort; and lighting comfort, temperature comfort and controllability over building system had significant positive relationship with perceived productivity. LEED certified healthcare settings appear to have a good environment and building performance for occupants. Controllability, lighting, temperature, use of space, building design were important factors in staff comfort and productivity.

The effects of the public sector reform impacted on all aspects of public services including the performance of the economy. Central to this argument was the re-organization of the operations of the public service from the traditional administration system to the new public management (NPM). Education, a critical service in any economy was not spared. Literatures around the application of NPM (a derivative of market principles and practices) to education (which was value based) suggested that NPM was dangerous for education and could deplete the value system of education and replace that with a focus on accounting for money by individuals who were self-interested and who would seek to maximize their benefit with guile. Arguments against NPM suggested that the human factor was neglected and that education had led to chaos among professionals, stakeholders and students. However, those who argued for the introduction of NPM suggested that it had made the provision of education more efficient, effective and relevant to the needs to the clients. It held those working in the education sector accountable for the resources used and made the system more responsive to the needs of the clients of education. Education in the Cook Islands experienced many changes since western type education was introduced by the Missionaries in the late 1800s. Cook Islands people have always regarded education as a right and also believed their participation in education would improve their lives as well as positively contribute to economic growth. As the public sector reform was a global phenomenon, the currents of NPM also converged on the Cook Islands and affected the delivery of education. Those changes revolutionalized education in ways that was not commonplace in the Cook Islands. However, professionals and stakeholders within education made the most of the system and diverged some of the practices to suit the need, the environment and the culture of the Cook Islands people. Change also refocused education from teachers teaching to student learning reinforcing the dedication of many teachers and education administrators to ensure NPM served the best interest of their clients; the students, despite the workload placed on them. The challenge in this thesis was to understand how the NPM system affected education and how the Cook Islands education professionals worked within the system in their favour. The stories of teachers and Ministry of Education professionals demonstrated that there was no resistance to the application of NPM system in the Cook Islands. In fact, the system was embraced by the education sector suggesting it was a positive change from their previous system of traditional administration. Much of their system was inherited from New Zealand where the environment, layers of bureaucracy and economic status of the country was different. Instead, it appeared the Cook Islands took much of what others deemed as dangerous for education and turned it into a positive opportunity for the Cook Islands education. This thesis presents the story of the revolution in the Cook Island education system.

To date, very few studies have been conducted focusing on ratings of music and music listening experience of hearing aid (HA) users. This study aimed to collect more detailed and descriptive information via a questionnaire, on the music listening experience and ratings of musical sounds from postlingually deafened adults. The following hypotheses were posed: (i) ratings for music from HA users who have been assessed for a cochlear implant (HA-CI group) will be worse than those who have not been assessed for a CI (HA-NCI group); and (ii) HA users with a moderate or worse hearing loss (Moderate+ subgroup) will provide lower ratings for music than those with a mild hearing loss (Mild subgroup). A questionnaire by She (2008), was modified for this study, and subsequently called the University of Canterbury Music Listening Questionnaire – HA version (UCMLQ_HA). The questionnaire was divided into the following seven sections: music listening and music background, sound quality ratings, music styles, music preferences, music recognition, factors affecting music listening enjoyment, and a music training programme. Thirteen HA-CI recipients and 98 HA-NCI recipients returned the questionnaire. The HA-NCI group was divided into two subgroups: mild hearing loss (n = 51), and moderate or worse hearing loss (Moderate+; n = 47). Essentially findings were consistent with hypothesis one, but only partially consistent with hypothesis two. The HA-CI group provided lower ratings for ‘pleasantness’ and ‘naturalness’ of instruments (p = 0.007), and found music styles to be less ‘pleasant’ (p < 0.001) than the HA-NCI group. For musical styles, the HA-CI group preferred solo performers whereas the HA-NCI group preferred groups of performers. In addition to ratings of music, the HA-CI group provided significantly lower ratings for music listening (p = 0.001), and overall music enjoyment (p = 0.021) than the HA-NCI group. For the comparisons between the Mild and Moderate+ subgroups, the Mild subgroup found Instruments to sound significantly ‘less noisy’ (p < 0.001) and ‘less sharp’ (p < 0.001) than the Moderate+ subgroup. The Moderate+ subgroup provided higher ratings for overall enjoyment of listening to music with HAs than the Mild subgroup (p = 0.044). Both subgroups rated the drum kit (the lowest rated Instrument) to be significantly less pleasant and less natural than all other Instruments. It was also found that all musical styles were significantly more pleasant than Pop/Rock. There were similarities between the groups for music preferences; the male singer was significantly preferred over female singers (p = 0.021), and low-pitched instruments were significantly preferred over high-pitched instruments (p = 0.04). Classical music was also selected as the style that sounded the best with their HAs and listened to the most often. Almost all of the respondents indicated that they would like music in general to sound it would to those with normal hearing (97.1%). Close to 30% indicated that they would be interested in an MTP and would like it to focus on a wide range of music and feature commonly known tunes. In addition, training sessions should consist of two 30 minute sessions per week. Overall this study indicates that ratings of music differ with level of hearing loss to some degree. The general consensus was that music did not sound as they would expect it to sound to a person with normal hearing, and that respondents would like to enjoy listening to music more.

Thesis--Wisconsin. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-44).

Thèse (Ph. D.)--Université Laval, 2003. / Bibliogr.: f. 134-153. Publié aussi en version électronique.

The thesis deals with an evaluation of Faculty of Agriculture at University of South Bohemia (FA) website, and FA and Agribusiness study programme Facebook sites. In the process of evaluation, I used the method of a questionnaire. Questions related to the graphics, clarity and up-to-dateness were included in the survey. The answers were statistically evaluated by Google forms and suggestions how to improve the websites were laid on their basis. The answers show the fact that nearly a half of the respondents is not satisfied with those websites so some changes should be implemented. I have suggested the change of the heading and the homepage. The answers related to FA Facebook site were mostly positive so there´s no need for a change. The last site that was evaluated was the Facebook site of Agribusiness study programme. Regarding this part of the survey, the aim was not to analyze their visual aspect and content but rather to find out about general awareness of its existence which was proved to be below the average. According to the respondents, their visual aspect and content is alright so there was no need to suggest any changes.

This thesis is focused on finding how korfball is integrated in the process of sport education at secondary schools in the region of České Budějovice. The survey was carried out by questionnaire and interview methods. A school was chosen where korfball was experimentally taught. The theoretical part of this thesis includes general information about korfball: rules description and clarification, the system of the game, the history and subsequent development, the club and national achievements. In the survey, issues were investigated such as korfball development in the region of České Budějovice, pitch types at schools, possible interest from student´s side and why korfball is not regularly played at schools. It was then looked into how students as well as their teachers evaluate korfball from different points of view. For example interest in collective lessons for girls and boys and its effectiveness. All results are graphically expressed and mentioned in the discussion and conclusion of this thesis.