Consumers form consideration sets by screening from all available alternatives. Consumers typically utilize one of two types of screening strategies: an exclusion screening strategy wherein alternatives not worthy of further consideration are rejected or an inclusion strategy wherein worthy alternatives are selected for further evaluation. Extant literature has documented the important role played by screening strategies in decision making. However, there is very limited understanding of when and why consumers may employ one screening strategy over the other as well the impact of the screening strategy for decision accuracy. This dissertation attempts to study the antecedent and consequence of screening strategies. Essay 1 in this dissertation, investigates the role of consumers' perceived uncertainty on the choice of screening strategy. Four studies in this essay show that when consumers are highly uncertain they are more likely to choose exclusion screening strategy; whereas when they are less uncertain they are more likely to use inclusion screening. Mediation analyses in Studies 1 and 2 show that the choice of screening strategy is primarily driven by perceived accuracy of the strategy. Study 3 demonstrates that the effect of uncertainty on the choice of screening strategy is moderated by consideration set size. When uncertain consumers form smaller sets they are more likely to use exclusion screening, but this relationship flips when they form larger consideration sets. Finally, external validity for the relationship between uncertainty and choice of screening strategy is demonstrated in Study 4 using the popular TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Essay two in this dissertation, investigates the role of perceived uncertainty and consideration set size on the relationship between screening strategy and objective accuracy of the decision. Utilizing an experimental study with an actual choice task, I demonstrate that perceived uncertainty moderates the screening strategy-decision accuracy relationship. Further, this interactive relationship is contingent on consideration set sizes. Whereas consumers with high perceived uncertainty make higher quality decisions with inclusion while forming smaller consideration sets, their decision quality is higher with exclusion when forming larger sets. Likewise, while consumers with low perceived uncertainty make more accurate decisions with exclusion when forming smaller sets, the accuracy of their decisions increases with inclusion when forming larger sets. This dissertation contributes to literature on screening strategies by explicating perceived uncertainty as a critical factor that leads to consumers preferring one screening strategy versus the other. Furthermore, it adds to our understanding of an important consequence of using screening strategies--decision accuracy.

Efficient passenger flow is a crucial objective at both small and larger airports. One central part of this is the handling of checked luggage which is influenced by necessary security screening. Within this thesis, these processes are studied at San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. The underlying problem of the airport is its outbound luggage system which was already suffering from delays prior to Covid-19. Delays were never measured and the bottleneck responsible for them was never identified. However, expected growth in passenger and flight volume necessitates to predict when customer dissatisfaction and extensive luggage delays are inevitable, given that the airport does not plan to change the baggage screening system in the near future. In order to understand the dependencies within said system, process flowcharts for baggage-related activities are defined and translated into a simulation model. After model verification and validation, scenarios of expanding the flight schedule during different times of the day are tested while monitoring the number of bags failing to be loaded into the respective aircraft in time. Further scenarios of model adjustments are used to monitor how the number of missed bags changes while maintaining an expanded flight schedule. Model adjustments were made by changing single parameters such as the scan time or single resources each. Simulation experiments have shown that the number of additional flights that can be added to the flight schedule of February 2020 depend on the time of the day. For instance, the current outbound luggage conveyor system’s capacity is sufficient to cover 1 additional early morning flight, and up to 3 afternoon flights. Experiments with model parameter adjustments led to identifying the luggage scanner as the bottleneck of the luggage system, whereas other tested parameter adjustments showed to have minimal impact on the number of missed bags. Since the model’s flight plan can be conveniently adjusted in the connected Excel database, the model could be used as a tactical decision tool for capacity analysis.

Bakgrund: Cervixcancer (livmoderhalscancer) är den fjärde vanligaste cancersjukdomen bland kvinnor globalt, där drygt 600 000 personer diagnosticeras årligen. WHO har lanserat en global strategi för att utrota cervixcancer, genom preventiva åtgärder såsom vaccination och screening. Dock finns det fortfarande kvinnor som inte deltar i screeningprogram och har därmed större risk att utveckla cervixcancer. Syftet: Syftet med litteraturöversikten var att beskriva faktorer som hindrar kvinnors deltagande i screeningprogram för cervixcancer.Metod: En allmän litteraturöversikt där arton vetenskapliga originalartiklar med kvalitativ ansats granskades och analyserades. Resultat: Tre kategorier identifierades: sociokulturella faktorer, individuella faktorer samt strukturella faktorer. Sociokulturella faktorer beskrivs genom subkategorierna Familj, kultur och tro samt Skam, stigma och tabu. Individuella faktorer beskrivs genom subkategorierna Språk och kommunikation, Bristfällig kunskap om cervixcancer och prevention samt Obehag, rädsla och smärta. I strukturella faktorer återfinns subkategorierna Bristande information från vårdgivare, Bemötande i vården samt Logistiska och ekonomiska orsaker. Slutsats: Vårdgivare kan förbättra kvinnors kunskap om livmoderhalscancerscreening genom gott bemötande, god kommunikation och relevant information. Således kan kvinnor få en bättre förståelse för sjukdomen, övervinna rädslor och därigenom möjliggörs ökat deltagande i screeningprogram. / Background: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women globally, with approximately 600,000 people diagnosed annually. WHO recently launched a global strategy to eradicate cervical cancer, through preventive measures such as vaccination and screening. However, there are still women who do not participate in screening programs and thus have a greater risk of developing cervical cancer. Aim: The aim of the literature review was to describe factors that hinder women's participation in screening programmes for cervical cancer. Method: A literature review where eighteen original scientific articles with a qualitative approach were analysed.  Results: Three categories and eight subcategories were identified: Socio-cultural factors include subcategories Family, culture and faith, and Shame, stigma and taboo. Individual factors contain subcategories Language and communication, Insufficient knowledge about cervical cancer and prevention, and Discomfort, fear and pain. Structural factors include subcategories Lack of information from care providers, Attitudes, and Logistical and financial reasons. Conclusion: Healthcare providers can improve women's knowledge about cervical cancer screening through respectful attitude, good communication and relevant information. Thus, women can gain a better understanding of the disease, overcome fears and thereby enable increased participation in screening programme.

El valor nutricional, la característica sensorial y la seguridad higiénica de los alimentos son campos de gran repercusión social y elevado interés científico por los cuales, tanto las industrias alimentarias como los organismos nacionales e internacionales de regulación, juegan un papel fundamental a la hora de garantizar la calidad y seguridad de los alimentos que llegan a los consumidores. El control de calidad de los alimentos y el cumplimiento de regulaciones establecidas hacen necesario el desarrollo de métodos analíticos para detectar, entre otras cosas, la presencia de aditivos alimentarios en concentraciones superiores a las establecidas, como también el agregado de sustancias no autorizadas, para poder asegurar la inocuidad de los alimentos. El objetivo principal de esta tesis es proponer herramientas analíticas para determinar la adulteración de alimentos de alto valor comercial como quesos rallados de pasta dura, susceptibles de prácticas fraudulentas para obtener beneficios comerciales. Para ello, se realizaron los siguientes trabajos. - Se desarrolló una nueva metodología basada en el uso de la espectroscopía NIR junto con clasificación multivariante, que permite identificar adulteraciones. - Se diseñó y fabricó, en colaboración con el Laboratorio de Ciencias de las Imágenes (LCI) del Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Eléctrica de la UNS, un novedoso dispositivo portátil de toma de imágenes basado en LEDs y sensores específicos, que permite efectuar determinaciones in-situ. - Se implementó una metodología original basada en el análisis de imágenes digitales, junto con técnicas de aprendizaje automático, y empleando el dispositivo portátil diseñado. - Se llevó a cabo una nueva metodología basada en la espectroscopía NIR y regresión multivariante, que permite cuantificar adulteraciones. Los métodos analíticos propuestos son fiables, rápidos, simples y económicos, y representan una excelente alternativa para su aplicación por organismos de regulación y laboratorios de control de calidad de alimentos, con potencial de poder aplicarse in-situ debido a su ventaja de portabilidad. / Nutritional value, sensory characteristics and hygienic safety of foods are fields of significant social impact and high scientific interest. In this context, both food industries and national and international regulatory authorities play a fundamental role in ensuring the quality and safety of foods destined to consumers. Food quality control and the compliance with established regulations require the development of analytical methods to detect the presence of food additives in concentrations higher than those established as well as the addition of unauthorized substances, in order to ensure food safety. The main objective of this Thesis is to propose analytical tools to determine the adulteration of high-commercial value foods such as grated-hard cheeses, which are susceptible to fraud for commercial benefits. For this purpose, the following work was performed. - A new methodology based on the use of NIR spectroscopy together with multivariate classification was developed to identify adulterations. - A novel portable imaging device based on LEDs and specific sensors was designed and manufactured to perform in-situ determinations, in collaboration with the Imaging Sciences Laboratory (LCI) of the Electrical Engineering Research Institute of the National South University (UNS). - A novel methodology based on digital-image analysis together with machine learning techniques was performed by using the designed device. - A new methodology based on NIR spectroscopy and multivariate regression was used to quantify adulterations. The proposed methods are reliable, fast, simple and economic, and represent an excellent alternative for regulatory agencies and food quality control laboratories, with potential to be applied in any stage of the analytical problem because they have the advantage of being portable.

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, commonly affecting sexually active college-aged adults. Presently, opportunistic testing, self-testing, and information campaigns are methods to screen vulnerable populations and raise awareness about chlamydia. Chlamydia remains underdiagnosed and undertested due to a lack of participation by individuals who may have been exposed to it. Wastewater-based epidemiology is a rising biomonitoring tool that detects the presence of disease- and drug-specific biomarkers in a community's wastewater. In this study, wastewater-based epidemiology was used to detect the presence of C. trachomatis on the University of Central Florida campus. Wastewater samples were collected from two locations on campus from January 2022 to December 2022. The samples were pasteurized and filtered. DNA was extracted from the filters and was subsequently quantified using qPCR. C. trachomatis was detected at both sites of the UCF campus, with peaks corresponding to periods of the academic semester at which students arrived on campus or had fewer academic responsibilities. It was concluded that wastewater-based epidemiology provided a low-cost and non-invasive tool to notify the public of potential chlamydia outbreaks and encourage testing. Exploration in wastewater-based epidemiology should continue in research of C. trachomatis detection.

Ongoing antibiotic drug discovery is vital as antimicrobial resistance continues to be a significant issue faced in the clinic. Natural products have long been a highly productive source to mine for new antimicrobials. While it has been challenging to discover new and unique antimicrobial natural products, numerous drugs have been derived from studying how natural products function as secondary metabolites. Previous studies suggested that screening natural product extract fraction libraries for antimicrobials can be more productive than screening crude extracts alone. These studies from large industrial enterprises are generally not directly portable to an academic setting due to significant infrastructure costs. We developed a screening platform consisting of low pressure reversed-phase chromatographic separation of methanolic extracts of bacteria and fungi to generate a prefractionated natural product library. This platform is suitable for academic labs to screen for antimicrobial compounds. A large growth inhibitor screen against multiple pathogens and lab strains of microbes was conducted to assess the validity of the advantages of screening fraction libraries versus crude extract libraries and to search for potential new drug-like compounds. Hits were investigated for reproducibility, isolated, and purified. One compound was discovered in an antifungal screen which may be a novel lipopeptide. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / To combat the growing antibiotic resistance crisis, new strategies for drug discovery must be investigated and implemented. Natural products from bacteria and fungi have long been a source of critically important drugs. Prior research suggests that looking for vital natural products in fraction libraries can be more productive than screening crude extracts. Here the development and assessment of a fractionation library suitable for an academic lab's ingrained limitations are described. Assessing the library indicates an increased hit rate on screening fractions compared to crude extract. Furthermore, pursuing these hits may have revealed a novel antifungal lipopeptide.

Studies have consistently shown that teachers’ ratings of behavior were predictive of academic difficulties. While research has clearly indicated that behavior has a reciprocal relationship with academic achievement, there is a scarcity of research on the relationship between outcomes on high stakes tests and student behavior. Early identification of children at risk for academic difficulties is vital for successful intervention and remediation. Therefore, this researcher investigated use of a brief behavior screener as a predictor of students at risk for failing a high stakes test. Results from the Behavior Assessment System for Children–Teacher Rating Scale–Child Screener (BASC-TRS-C Screener) provided an assessment of behavior. Georgia’s Criterion Referenced Test – Reading and Math scores provided achievement in reading and math. An analysis of data on 636 second through fifth grade participants revealed a significant inverse relationship between teacher ratings of student behavior and achievement. Thirteen of the fifteen models suggested that teachers’ ratings of behavior indicated with greater accuracy students at risk for academic difficulties than did the model without the behavior ratings. While two models were not significant, they clearly suggested an inverse relationship between behavior and achievement. Logistic Regression analyses suggested that the BASC-TRS-C Screener predicted with 90% accuracy the pass fail classification group associated with the score. The odds ratio suggested that with each point decrease on the BASC-TRS-C Screener score, (in which high scores equal greater behavior concerns) the chances of passing the Criterion Referenced Competency Test reading high stakes test increased by 5%. In the area of math, the odds of passing increased by 6% with each point decrease on the BASC-TRS-C Screener. Other findings suggested that minorities have a significantly greater risk (p < .05) of failing the Criterion Reference Competency Test in the areas of reading, math, or both reading and math than do their same age peers.

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