In this research study three subject didactical measuring instruments were compared with regard to certain psychometric characteristics of a group of grade nine learners in the Tzaneen and Phalaborwa region, in the Northern Province. The primary goal of this study was to optimize learning competencies with regard to subject context. The SOM-, LEMOSS(II)- and LCH-questionnaires can be applied at the start or at the end of an academic year to an individual or to a group in order to identify learners who need specific help, counseling, remediation and support in the subjects mathematics, natural and domestic sciences in order to facilitate learning. The following aspects have been handled in this study, such as: In chapter 1 an attempt is made to clarify and define the title and certain relevant concepts. The research statement and questions are formulated. The research design is briefly discussed and the primary goal and objectives are set. Other aspects that enjoy attention include the types of research that were used, the method of sampling, data gathering and analysis, as well as the progress of the study. Literature on subject didactics is discussed in chapter 2 for the conceptualising of basic related aspects by means of a macro-model for the optimising of learning competencies in the context of a specific subject. This model emphasises subject content, form and competencies that should be taken into consideration when planning a learning opportunity. Other aspects concerning learning, namely relevant theories, approaches, models, styles, strategies and motives were discussed in order to facilitate learning in mathematics, natural and domestic sciences. In chapter 3 the SOM-, LEMOSS(II)- and LCH-questionnaires as diagnostic instruments are described. The diagnostic value, background, categories and psychometric aspects of the measuring instruments are briefly discussed. In chapter 4 the method of investigation used for the comparison of the SOM- LEMOSS(II)- and LCH-instruments regarding their reliability and validity is described and it includes the goal, hypothesis and method of sampling as an extension of the research design. The way in which descriptive and inferential statistics are conveyed is theoretically described In chapter 5 the results and qualitative conclusions of the empiric-analytical investigation are included. The SOM-, LEMOSS(II)- and LCH-questionnaires are compared with regard to reliability and validity of a group grade nine learners in the Tzaneen and Phalaborwa region. Reliability is discussed by means of test-retest reliability and pared observations. Pared observations include staggering, locality and pared t- and sign-rank testing. Validity refers to criteria referenced validity with regards to simultaneous and predictable validity. Simultaneous validity is described by means of the relation between the subject mark and the field, and by stepwise and multiple regression analysis. In chapter 6 the study is concluded with the brief answering of the research questions and by describing the research findings by means of the research statement. Possible limitations are shown and recommendations for future research are made. / Dissertation (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Humanities Education / Unrestricted

In 2020, several Nordic archives and museums sent out ”question lists”, questionnaires, to collect the public’s experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The collections resulted in an incomparable collection of contemporary cultural history about the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this thesis is to follow the creation of this collection. The thesis is defined through three research questions: one asking about the initial creation of the collection projects, one about the implementation, and one about what will happen to the resulting collection as an archival material. The study is based on previous research about Nordic contemporary Mass-Observation projects and question lists, as well as health narrative studies and research about Covid-19 experiences. Aspects of the previous research are used to create a theoretical framework, based around the concept of actors in accordance with Giddens structural theory (Johansson 2003:422). The three primary terms that are used in the analysis are dialogue, (immaterial) monument, and post-custodial archives, all retrieved from previous research in the field. The empirical data is collected through semi-participatory observation and documentation of the question lists, as well as interviews with responsible personnel at the institutions. The analysis is divided into three chapters, based on the three research questions. The first chapter thus concerns the initial creation of the collection projects, with regards to the design of the question lists, and the institutions’ thoughts and aims with the projects. The term dialogue is used to analyse the interaction between and within the institutions during this process. The second chapter studies the implementation of the actual project and includes an analysis of the question lists themselves as well as the digital interface through which they are made accessible to the public. Here, too, the term dialogue is used, to analyse how the answers are made in the interaction between the institutions and the public. The third chapter studies the institutions’ plans and hopes for the collected experiences, with regards to future research projects and exhibitions as well as archiving. Here, the term monument is used to illustrate the value and usage of the overall collection. Post-custodial archives are also used to highlight discussions about how digital archival collections should be archived and made accessible. The thesis closes with a final discussion chapter, which expands on the questions about what the purposes of these kinds of collections are, as well as about what role and place archiving should have in the creation and implementation of these kinds of Mass-Observation projects. This is a two years master's thesis in Archival science.

We sought to examine the concordance of two suicidal ideation items from the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), to evaluate the prevalence of suicidal ideation among pregnant women, and to assess the co-occurrence of suicidal ideation with antepartum depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,517 pregnant women attending prenatal care clinics in Lima, Peru. Item 9 of the PHQ-9 assesses suicidal ideation over the last 14 days while item 10 of the EPDS assesses suicidal ideation in the past 7 days. The two suicidal ideation items have a high concordance rate (84.2 %) but a moderate agreement (the Cohen's kappa = 0.42). Based on the PHQ-9 and the EPDS, 15.8 and 8.8 % of participants screened positive for suicidal ideation, respectively. Assessed by the PHQ-9, 51 % of participants with suicidal ideation had probable depression. In prenatal care clinics, screening for suicidal ideation is needed for women with and without depressive symptoms. Future studies are needed to identify additional predictors of antepartum suicidality, determine the appropriate duration of reporting period for suicidal ideation screening, and assess the percentage of individuals with positive responses to the two suicidal ideation items at high risk of planning and attempting suicide. / This research was supported by an award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01-HD-059835). The NIH had no further role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. The authors wish to thank the dedicated staff members of Asociacion Civil Proyectos en Salud (PROESA), Peru and Instituto Especializado Materno Perinatal, Peru for their expert technical assistance with this research. The authors would like to thank Kathy Brenner for her help with revising this manuscript. / Revisión por pares

Background: Physical activity questionnaires (PAQ) have been extensively used to determine physical activity (PA) levels. Most PAQ are derived from an energy expenditure-based perspective and assess activities with a certain intensity level. Activities with a moderate or vigorous intensity level are predominantly used to determine a person’s PA level in terms of quantity. Studies show that the time spent engaging in moderate and vigorous intensity PA does not appropriately reflect the actual PA behavior of older people because they perform more functional, everyday activities. Those functional activities are more likely to be considered low-intense and represent an important qualitative health-promoting activity. For the elderly, functional, light intensity activities are of special interest but are assessed differently in terms of quantity and quality. The aim was to analyze the content of PAQ for the elderly.

In vielen Lebenssituationen müssen Menschen auf der Grundlage von vagen Informationen Zustände analysieren, bewerten, vorhersagen und entscheiden. Vagheit ist ein zentrales Charakteristikum der menschlichen Sprache, da viele Worte keine ganz klaren Abgrenzungen haben sondern fließend ineinander übergehen. Wie alt ist z.B. ein junger Mann? Und wo liegt die Altersgrenze, die junge von alten Männern trennt? Die meisten Menschen werden auf diese Frage übereinstimmend antworten, dass man die Altersgrenze nicht präzise festlegen kann und dass jung und alt Konzepte sind, die beispielsweise vom Standpunkt oder Kontext abhängig sind und graduell ineinander übergehen. Der graduelle Übergang verhindert eine klare Unterscheidung der unscharfen Aussagen (junge versus alte Männer) und stellt Menschen vor die Aufgabe, mit dieser Ungenauigkeit umzugehen. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Vagheit sprachlicher Ausdrücke (linguistische Terme) und hat zum Ziel, eine konsistente fuzzy Methodik zur Erfassung der Begriffsbedeutungen zu entwickeln, sie empirisch zu überprüfen und die Ergebnisse auf praktische Fragestellungen (z.B. die Nutzung in verbalen Fragebogenskalen) anzuwenden. Hierbei werden die linguistischen Terme als unscharfe Mengen (fuzzy sets) konzeptualisiert und mathematisch mit fuzzy Zugehörigkeitsfunktionen beschrieben. Die Formalisierung der Terme ermöglicht eine Objektivierung und bildet die Grundlage für die Nutzung in computerbasierten Systemen (z.B. Decision Support Systemen). Folgende zentrale Punkte sind Gegenstand der Arbeit: (1) Die Vorstellung eines zweistufigen Verfahrens zur Übersetzung von linguistischen Termen in formalisierte Beschreibungen (fuzzy Zugehörigkeitsfunktionen) und dessen empirische Erprobung anhand von Wahrscheinlichkeits- und Häufigkeitsausdrücken: Die in der ersten Stufe des Verfahrens erfassten numerischen Schätzwerte für die Begriffe werden in der zweiten Stufe mit fuzzy Zugehörigkeitsfunktionen des Potentialtyps modelliert. In zwei Studien konnte gezeigt werden, dass diese Funktionen ein geeignetes Mittel zur Beschreibung der Terme sind und sich durch die Nutzung der fuzzy Methodik neue Möglichkeiten zu einer systematischen Erforschung linguistischer Terme ergeben. (2) Der Transfer der durch die fuzzy Übersetzungsprozedur gewonnenen Grundlagenergebnisse in anwendungsorientierte psychologische Forschungsbereiche: Die vorgeschlagenen Methodik wird zur Auswahl und Evaluation von sprachlichen Begriffen für Fragebogenskalen mit verbalen Antwortkategorien genutzt. Anhand der verbalen Antwortskala eines Beispielfragebogens (COPSOQ) konnte in zwei Studien gezeigt werden, dass die Abstände zwischen den Antwortkategorien der originalen Skala nicht gleich sind. Die fehlende Äquidistanz führt dazu, dass die Voraussetzung für eine parametrisch-statistische Auswertung der Daten nicht gegeben ist und beispielsweise keine Mittelwerte berechnet werden dürften. Es zeigte sich ebenso, dass die erarbeitete fuzzy Methodik die Auswahl besser geeigneter äquidistanter Terme ermöglicht. (3) Die Vorstellung und Nutzung der fuzzy Methodik für die Auswertung von unscharfen Daten, die aus den Antworten verbaler Fragebogenskalen stammen: Hierbei werden die fuzzy Auswertungsergebnisse mit den Ergebnissen der herkömmlichen statistischen Auswertungsprozedur verglichen. In einer Studie, in der ein Fragebogen zur Messung von chronischem Stress (TICS) exemplarisch untersucht wurde, konnte gezeigt werden, dass die fehlende Äquidistanz der Antwortkategorien zu einer Verzerrung der statistischen Ergebnisauswertung und damit auch zur Fehlinterpretation der Stressergebnisse führt. Die vorgestellte fuzzy Methodik hingegen beweist sich als inhaltlich konsistente Alternative. Abschließend werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit die Ergebnisse der Studien zusammenfassend diskutiert, und es erfolgt ein Ausblick auf weitere Forschungs- und Anwendungsmöglichkeiten der fuzzy Methodik.:Inhaltsverzeichnis Einführung The Role of Vagueness in the Numerical Translation of Verbal Probabilities: A Fuzzy Approach Sometimes, Often, and Always – Exploring the Vague Meanings of Frequency Expressions Vague Expressions and the Problem of Equidistance in Verbal Rating Scales Zusammenfassende Diskussion und Ausblick Literaturverzeichnis Lebenslauf Eidesstattliche Erklärung

Title: Comparison of the quality of life of persons diagnosed with intervertebral disc herniation in relation to surgical and conservative treatment. Objectives: The aim of the diploma thesis was the research and evaluation of the quality of life in patients with intervertebral disc lesion with and without surgery, assuming that both monitored groups will be treated with individual rehabilitation treatment. Methods: This research was conducted using a standardized Short Form 36 (SF - 36) questionnaire on quality of life that is conditional to health. The study was conducted at Na Homolce Hospital in a rehabilitation clinic, where appropriate respondents (n = 117) were selected for this research. The group included 59 respondents who underwent surgery and 58 treated conservatively. The survey was attended by respondents aged 27-86. The final results were divided into both health, physical and psychological dimensions in both groups. Two-choice tests were used to compare. For all domains, the assumption of the normal distribution of the two compared selections was rejected, which precluded the use of the two-t-test. For domains where there was no assumption of homogeneity of scattering, the Mann-Whitney test was used to compare. For domains where the assumption of homogeneity was rejected, a Median...

Kursutvärderingar kan ge svar på många frågor, och leda till ett väl motiverat förbättrings- och utvecklingsarbete. De kan även vara mycket svåra att genomföra. Forskning visar att utvärderingar ofta saknar tydliga mål, vilket leder till att resultaten blir svåra att använda. I detta examensarbete diskuteras kursutvärderingarna på företaget Kärnkraftsäkerhet och Utbildning. Målet är att arbetet ska leda till elevenkäter och undersökningsresultat som kan bidra till utvecklingen av kurserna vid Kärnkraftsäkerhet och Utbildning i Barsebäck. Arbetet med att skapa elevenkäterna beskrivs, och syftet bakom den nya utvärderingsmodell som enkäten är en del av undersöks.Genom intervjuer har information om avdelningens kurser, samt önskemål kring innehållet i enkäterna, samlats in. Informationen har sedan använts för att skapa relevanta enkätfrågor. Företagets utvärderingsansvariga har gett en inblick i bakgrunden till, och målen med utvärderingen. Arbetet resulterade i enkäter som ska användas för kvalitetsutveckling av kurserna vid Barsebäck. Slutsatser kunde även dras kring företagets syfte med den nya utvärderingen, samt hur synen på enkäten skiljer sig mellan de ansvariga på huvudkontoret och de kursansvariga i Barsebäck. / Course evaluations can provide answers to many different questions, and lead to informed decisions regarding the development and improvement of education. They can also be very difficult to perform. Research shows that evaluations often lack clear goals, and therefore lead to inapplicable results. In this thesis we discuss the course evaluations at Kärnkraftsäkerhet och Utbildning. We aim to produce questionnaires and findings that can be used to improve the courses at Kärnkraftsäkerhet och Utbildning in Barsebäck, Sweden. We describe the process of creating the questionnaires, and examine the purpose of the company’s new evaluation model, of which the questionnaires are an important part.Information about the courses at Barsebäck, and requests about the content of the questionnaires have been acquired through interviews. The information has been used to create relevant questions for the questionnaires. The people responsible for the evaluation have given us an understanding of its background and purpose. Questionnaires were created, that will be used to improve the quality of the courses at Barsebäck. Conclusions were made concerning the purpose of the new evaluation process, and how the view of the questionnaires differ between the people responsible and the course administrators at Barsebäck.Keywords: Course

Die Internetzugriffe über Smartphones steigen jährlich und erreichten im Jahre 2017 eine weltweite Quote von über 50% (StatCounter, 2018). Da die Mehrzahl der Google-Nutzenden von mobilen Endgeräten aus zugreift, indiziert Google seit März 2018 bei Webseiten, die mit dem „mobile-first“-Ansatz erstellt wurden, die mobile Version und nicht mehr wie zuvor in erster Linie die Desktop-Variante (Google, 2018). Bereits diese beiden Umstände verdeutlichen eindrücklich, wie wichtig es ist, Interfaces jeglicher Art für mobile Endgeräte zu optimieren, beziehungsweise erst für mobile Geräte zu entwickeln und diese im Anschluss für größere Bildschirme zu verbessern. Revilla et al. (2014) untersuchten im Jahr 2014 eine Reihe von Umfragen, die in Spanien, Portugal und Südamerika durchgeführt wurden. Sie stellten fest, dass der Großteil der Teilnehmenden, obwohl mehrere Geräte zur Durchführung der Umfrage zur Verfügung standen (z. B. PC und Smartphone), insbesondere das Smartphone für die Beantwortung wählte (Revilla et al., 2014). Tatsächlich werden Online-Fragebogen schon seit einigen Jahren nicht mehr ausschließlich auf Desktop-Computern bearbeitet (Callegaro, 2010). Es zeigt sich vielmehr eine Tendenz zur vermehrten Nutzung mobiler Geräte. Im Jahre 2011 konnten lediglich 4% Smartphone-Teilnehmende verzeichnet werden, im Jahre 2014 waren es hingegen bereits 18% (Sarraf et al., 2014) und in einer aktuellen Studie aus dem Jahr 2018 sogar 33,7% (Nissen & Janneck, 2018b). In diesem Beitrag gehen wir der Frage nach, welche Ergebnisse ein mobil eingesetztes Standard-Layout hinsichtlich der Abbruchquote, der Bearbeitungszeit, des Antwortverhaltens und der User Experience erzielt und ob sich diese Werte mit einem explizit für den mobilen Einsatz entwickelten Layout verbessern lassen. [... aus der Einleitung]

(in English) The goal of the thesis is to describe, evaluate and compare the present state of university libraries at the Charles University in Prague and Comenius University in Bratislava. The first chapter briefly describes the present state of Czech and Slovakian university libraries, their anchorage in the laws of the given state and also deals with societies associating the university libraries. The second chapter describes history, present and prospects of three selected faculties of Charles University and Comenius University (Faculty of Art, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Physical Education and Sport) and also the buildings where the faculties are located are described. The third chapter already follows up the libraries of the selected faculties, their history, services, personnel, space descriptions, and their promotion among the general public etc.. The fourth and fifth chapter presents the main body of the work. These chapters include assessment of the questionnaire survey, between to the directors of the selected libraries, and comparison of these libraries on the basis of the survey and other obtained data. [author abstract]

The objective of the thesis is to describe and evaluate services of public libraries aimed at immigrants and national minorities in the Czech Republic and programs to support them. The first part defines the principal terms related to libraries and minorities. An overview of legislation follows, focused on the same topic. The third part introduces five most common national minorities and immigrant groups living in the Czech Republic. The fourth chapter describes all regional libraries in the Czech Republic, two of municipal libraries near the national border where the percentage of minorities is higher and one specialized library with a focus on their foreign- language equipment, events, meetings or exhibitions about or for national minorities or immigrants, their cooperation with various organizations, employees' interest in minorities and a possibility of registration of foreigners at libraries. Following part is about programs and projects supporting foreigners in Czech libraries. The sixth chapter describes selected organizations working in the migration field. Next is an own survey which was made in 32 public libraries in the Czech Republic. Chapter next to last describes a situation abroad, in Sweden with a focus on their Immigrant Institute. The last part is an evaluation of data about the...