Employee training is designed to help ensure successful achievement of business goals. Training's expense encourages the investigation of behavioral changes. The present study evaluated behavioral changes that occurred as a result of a Business Process training course. A performance rating measure was designed to assess the behaviors addressed in the course. A group of 52 people took the training. Performance was measured using a pretest, and then posttest three months later. A control group of 52 people also responded to the performance measure twice, without training. A second control group of 52 took a posttest only. MANOVA results showed a significant difference between change scores at the .001 level, indicating that the training did change behavior. The control group posttest scores differed somewhat between the two control groups, indicating a possible pretest effect.

Background: Recently across the United States, chronic diseases have been becoming more prevalent and compliance rates to recommendations have been declining. Non-adherence to health professionals recommendations creates a greater risk of complications for the patient. Objective: The objective of this study is to discover which populations have the highest prevalence of chronic disease and compare adherence to physicians’ recommendations throughout those populations. If a physician tells a patient to complete a certain behavioral change to improve health, a physician would assume that the adherence level should be nearly 100%, but it is clear adherence levels do not reach those levels. Different demographic factors play a role in adherence: gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, education status, marital status, medical insurance coverage, and comorbidity of chronic diseases. Methods: The 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a secondary data source, was used for data collection. The total number of people who participated in the 2007-2008 NHANES study was 5,687. Data analysis was performed with the statistical software program SPSS 19.0. A number of descriptive analyses, cross tabulations, correlations, and binary logistic regression were used to conduct a univariate and multivariate analysis of the subjects. The chronic diseases chosen to assess were hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and diabetes. The different recommendations were made to all the patients included: eating less fat, control weight, increase exercise, and take a prescription medication for each specific condition Results: The 5,687 participants were included in the study. The prevalence of hypertension was 21.2%, hypercholesterolemia was 19.3%, and diabetes was 8.7% among those who were surveyed. Among those who were told to eat less fat, control weight, increase exercise and take prescription to control their chronic disease condition, adherence levels ranged greatly. The significance of a physician recommending a behavioral change had the biggest impact on whether a patient would adhere. No significance was seen between any of the demographic variables except for marital status for those who were told to take a prescription to control hypercholesterolemia. Discussion: The study has proven physician recommendations to control chronic disease are usually to take a medication. An individual’s demographics have a small impact on whether he or she will adhere to the advice of the physician. Additional research needs to be completed to understand the patient to physician relationship, which seems to have the biggest impact on behavioral change. Furthermore, new interventions are needed to increase adherence to 100%. Increasing chronic disease adherence across the United States will result in decrease spending in health care costs in the United States.

Little research has been done on the personality of internal auditors. However, there does exist a negative stereotype. They are seen as hostile and unsympathetic. The purpose of this research was to see if the negative stereotype was indeed true and to see if undesirable behavior could be changed through training.

In the last decade, several epidemiological studies have found a high prevalence of occupational burnout in both western and developing countries. Burnout is a global concern and has the potential to negatively affect the individual’s psychological and physical health, as well as an organization’s and a country’s effectiveness and economy.   The goal of this project was to create a stress management and prevention system that opens up for reflection and discussion on an individual, corporate and societal level. To achieve this the student investigated how stress could be quantified, visualized and communicated in a constructive way.   The final concept assists the individual to recognize their stress and relaxation patterns and make constructive behavioral changes. In the workplace the system indicates stress levels and aims to enable real life communication regarding stress. Exposing stress data to the public empowers society to value and demand stress management.

This study was conducted to investigate whether cognitive variables (as measured by six self-report inventories) covaried with changes in behavior following group assertiveness training as postulated by several assertiveness training theorists and practitioners. Statistical analysis of the data did not support any of the hypotheses. No significant differences were found between the groups on any of the self-report measures or the behavioral ratings, although experimental group subjects consistently scored higher (in the predicted direction) on all self-report measures or were rated higher than placebo group subjects. The hypotheses that experimental group subjects would exhibit significantly higher levels of self-reported assertiveness, self-acceptance, self-esteem, and self-confidence than placebo group subjects were rejected. The hypothesis that the experimental group would exhibit a significantly greater shift toward self-reported internal locus of control than the placebo group was rejected. The hypothesis that the experimental group would exhibit significantly larger decreases in levels of self-reported anxiety than the placebo group was also rejected. Furthermore, no support was found for the hypothesis that experimental group subjects would exhibit significantly higher levels of objectively-rated assertive behavior than placebo group subjects. An examination of the data revealed substantial improvements on each of the six self-report measures for subjects in both groups. These data were treated statistically with a one-tailed t-test for correlated means. The t-test data indicated that both groups improved significantly on all cognitive variable measures from pretest to posttest.

The complex and unpredictable nature of cultural behavioral changes has posed multiple challenges for marketing practitioners during recent years. These challenges include, but are not limited to, inaccurate market forecasts, market failures, wasted resources etc.This study attempts to tackle that problem by exploring cultural dimensional interactions and their potential role in consumers’ cultural behavioral change process. Due to both fields of cultural behavioral change and cultural dimensional interactions being under researched, having insufficient theoretical basis, this study adapted an abductive research approach. Additionally, this study conducted its data gathering process abroad and within the restaurant industry, so as to capture the necessary aspects of the studied phenomenon.The research was conducted by identifying two separate research subgroups: “culturally unaffected” Swedes, living in Sweden, and “culturally affected” Swedes, living in Spain. The two subgroups were interviewed on their preferred consumer behaviors in a restaurant setting. Consequently, their answers were matched against each other, in order to locate any differences in consumer behavioral preferences, indicating potential cultural behavioral changes. When provided with the participants’ rationale for the potential cultural behavioral changes, the study analyzed it through the lens of Hofstede model, looking for possible interactions between its cultural dimensions.The findings of this study suggest that cultural dimensional interactions are, in fact, existent and have a role in consumers’ cultural behavioral change process. The assumption is that the cultural dimensional interactions are regulatory in their nature and are used by the consumers to create desirable consumer situations, in order to maintain their preferred consumer behaviors in a culturally unfamiliar environment. Additionally, the findings suggest a much bigger role of consumer´s core values in the process of cultural behavioral change, than previously thought. Core values are speculated to serve as a trigger that starts the cultural dimensional interactions, due to the consumers’ adamant unwillingness to alter their core values and consumer behaviors linked to them. Due to this study´s abductive research approach, as well as insufficient theoretical basis in the fields of cultural dimensional interactions and cultural behavioral changes, these findings don´t provide any definitive conclusions. As of that, numerous prospects for future research are discussed and recommended.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att ta reda på vilka lärdomar Linköpings kommun och boende i området Hållbara kvarteren i Lambohov, Linköping hade kring projektet som innefattat kommunala beteendeinsatser i form av nudging och aktiviteter. Vi har även ämnat ta reda på hur boende ställer sig till beteendeförändringar. För att besvara våra frågeställningar har nio enskilda intervjuer genomförts, med slumpmässigt utvalda boende i Hållbara kvarteren och en projektledare vid Linköpings kommun. Flera boende har intervjuats oberoende på delaktighet i projektet för att få en bild av projektets effekter genom ett opåverkat urval av boende. Resultatet visade att många av de intervjuade boende inte hade uppfattat syftet med projektet eller varit aktiva i det. Resultatet visade även att majoriteten av intervjupersonerna hade en positiv syn på projekt som ämnar främja en mer hållbar livsstil även om det finns olika engagemang kring hållbarhetsfrågor hos de boende. Det finns skilda åsikter kring vilka tillvägagångssätt som de boende föredrar för att förändra sitt beteende i en mer klimatsmart riktning. Alla boende är dock överens om att smidighet är en nödvändig aspekt för att vilja ta del av en beteendeinsats. / The purpose of this paper was to investigate the experiences among the municipality of Linköping and the residents in the district of “the Sustainable quarters” of Lambohov, Linköping, regarding the project that included municipal behavioural interventions in terms of nudges and activities. We also aimed to investigate how the residents adjust to behavioural changes. Nine individual interviews have been conducted to answer our questions. The interviews have been done with randomly chosen residents of “the Sustainable quarters” as well as with a project leader at the municipality of Linköping. The residents have been interviewed regardless of the extent they have been participating, this was done to create a picture of the effects that the project has led to, by having an unaffected selection of residents. The result showed that many of the interviewees had not perceived the aim of the project or participated in it. The result also showed that most interviewees had a positive attitude towards projects that aims on promoting sustainable lifestyles, even though the extent of engagement differs regarding questions on sustainability. There are different opinions among the residents on what approach that is preferable for them to change their behaviour towards a more climate smart way of living. However, all the interviewees agree on it having to be easy to adjust to, to be interested in taking part of such a change.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T18:55:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4432.pdf: 1388434 bytes, checksum: d65f99bf92f697e1cf8e1d2b5a5fc2f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-09 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Melipona scutellaris bee, known as "uruçu" belong to the tribe Meliponini, popularly called stingless bees. This bee is endemic in northeastern Brazil and is distinguished by its ease of domestication and management, significant honey production and potential for pollination in greenhouses and open field. The insecticide fipronil acts on the insect nervous system by blocking the chloride channels through of the receptors gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (GluCl). Widely used in Brazil and more than 70 countries is considered highly toxic to bees, which is why its use was banned in France in 2004. Toxicological studies of pesticides to bees use mostly as a model species A. mellifera bee, which sublethal doses of fipronil can cause behavioral changes related to core tasks for the colony, such as feeding and foraging. However, differences in susceptibility between species of bees to insecticides may expose native bees there is a greater risk. The aim of this study was to determine the topical LD50 and oral LC50 of insecticide fipronil for stingless bee M. scutellaris and evaluate the effects of fipronil sublethal doses and concentrations in the locomotor activity and in the Proboscis Extension Reflex (PER) these bees. Foragers were collected in the output of three different colonies, consisting of three repetitions with ten bees each and they were placed in plastic pots of 250 mL. Bees subjected to topical treatments were anesthetized with CO2 and received 1.0 μL insecticide solution on pronotum with previously established doses (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 5.0 ng of fipronil / μL solution), applied with a repetitive automatic micropipette. Bees subjected to oral contamination received sucrose solution contaminated with concentrations of fipronil determined previously (0.0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.5 ng a.i./ μL sucrose solution) for 24 hours. The insecticide fipronil was considered highly toxic to these bees, both topically and orally. The topical intoxication resulted in a LD50 (48 hours) was 0.41 ng / bee (4.1 ng / g bee). The oral contamination resulted in a LC50 (48 hours) was 0.011 ng / μL of sucrose solution or, considering the amount of food they forage M. scutellaris consume daily in an oral LD50 of 0.6 ng a.i. / bee. The topic sublethal dose 0.05 ng a.i./bee and oral sublethal concentration 0.0011 ng a.i./ μL sucrose solution were cause significant changes for the locomotor activity these bees. The PER don't was a functional methodology for M. scutellaris bees. Results show that the bee M. scutellaris is more sensitive to fipronil than A. mellifera and that fipronil sublethal dose and concentrations affected the locomotor activity these bees. / A abelha Melipona scutellaris, conhecida como uruçu , pertencem à tribo Meliponini, popularmente chamadas de abelhas sem ferrão. Essa abelha é endêmica do nordeste brasileiro e se destaca por sua fácil domesticação e manejo, expressiva produção de mel e potencial para polinização em ambientes protegidos e campo aberto. O inseticida fipronil atua no sistema nervoso dos insetos bloqueando os canais de cloro através dos receptores ácido gama-aminobutírico (GABA) e glutamato (GluCl). Amplamente usado no Brasil e em mais de 70 países é considerado altamente tóxico para abelhas, motivo pelo qual seu uso foi proibido na França em 2004. Estudos toxicológicos de inseticidas para abelhas utilizam em sua grande maioria como espécie modelo a abelha A. mellifera, na qual doses subletais de fipronil causam alterações comportamentais relacionadas a tarefas fundamentais para a colônia, como alimentação e forrageamento. No entanto, diferenças quanto à suscetibilidade entre as espécies de abelhas aos inseticidas poderiam estar expondo as abelhas nativas a um maior risco. O objetivo desse trabalho foi determinar a DL50 tópica e a CL50 oral do inseticida fipronil para abelhas sem ferrão M. scutellaris e avaliar os efeitos das doses e concentrações subletais desse inseticida na atividade locomotora e no Reflexo de Extensão da Probóscide (REP) dessas abelhas. As forrageiras foram coletadas na saída de três colmeias diferentes, consistindo em três repetições formadas por dez abelhas cada e colocadas em potes plásticos de 250 mL. Abelhas submetidas aos tratamentos tópicos foram anestesiadas com CO2 e receberam 1.0 μL de solução de inseticida no pronoto com doses previamente estabelecidas (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 e 5.0 ng de fipronil/μL de solução), aplicadas com uma micropipeta automática repetitiva. Abelhas submetidas aos tratamentos de contaminação oral receberam solução de sacarose com as concentrações de fipronil determinadas anteriormente (0.0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, e 0.5) durante 24 horas. O inseticida fipronil foi considerado altamente tóxico para essas abelhas, tanto por via tópica como oral. A intoxicação tópica resultou em uma DL50 (48 horas) de 0.41 ng i.a./abelha (4.1 ng i.a./g de abelha). A contaminação oral resultou em uma CL50 (48 horas) de 0.011 ng i.a./μL de solução de sacarose ou, considerando a quantidade de alimento que as forrageiras de M. scutellaris consomem por dia, em uma DL50 oral de 0.6 ng i.a./abelha. A dose subletal tópica de 0.05 ng i.a./abelha e a concentração subletal oral de 0.0011 ng i.a. /μL de solução de sacarose causaram alterações significativas para a atividade locomotora dessas abelhas. O REP não foi uma metodologia funcional para abelhas M. scutellaris. Os resultados mostram que a abelha M. scutellaris é mais sensível ao fipronil que A. mellifera e que doses e concentrações subletais desse inseticida afetam a atividade locomotora dessas abelhas.

This essay describes a qualitative study of how a smartwatch used in everyday training can contribute to behavioral changes in everyday exercisers. Semi-structured interviews have formed the basis for the results of this study. The respondents' experiences and stories of self-tracking are varied and are what have created an understanding of different uses of the smartwatch during training. The users and smartwatches have contributed to various behavior change factors that then have been categorized based on a behavioral model to determine how the smartwatch communicates with the user about its collected data. Above all, the study showed that the smartwatch's training services are a way for the user to know how they can plan future training sessions by unpacking the past and how digital nudging influences the behavior. / Denna uppsats presenterar resultaten från en kvalitativ studie av hur en smartklocka som används inom vardagsträning kan bidra till beteendeförändringar som kan stötta användarnas mål att ha en mer aktiv livsstil. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med smartklocksanvändare har legat som grund för resultaten i denna studie. Respondenternas upplevelser och berättelser inom självspårning är varierande och är det som har skapat förståelse för olika användningsområden med smartklockan vid träning. Olika beteendeförändringsfaktorer som användarna och smartklockan bidragit med har kategoriserats utifrån en beteendemodell för att avgöra hur smartklockan kommunicerar med användaren om dess insamlade data. Studien visar bland annat att smartklockans träningstjänster är ett sätt för användaren att veta hur de kan planera framtida träningspass genom att packa upp det förflutna och vilka digitala puffningar som fungerar eller ej för att påverka beteendet.

Attention is a key mental function in everyday life, but unfortunately we easily get distracted. The brain correlates underlying sustained attention, the so-called sustained attention network (SAN), have been well identified, as have the brain correlates underlying mind-wandering, the so-called default mode network (DMN). Nevertheless, even though we know about the underlying brain processes, this knowledge has not yet been translated in advanced brain-based attention training protocols. Here we proposed to use a novel brain imaging technique based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to provide individuals with information about ongoing levels of activity in the attention and the default mode networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that, with the help of that fMRI-neurofeedback, individuals can learn how to improve controlling of, at the same time, SAN activation and DMN deactivation. This learning process was explained mainly in terms of DMN deactivation. Behavioral effects were observed when separating a group with the best learners in an overall measure of attention and specifically in the task-switching ability, controlled by a test-retest group performing the same behavioral tests battery. Neurofeedback-induced functional connectivity changes were also observed in multiple brain regions positively and negatively related to attention. Although the behavioral effects were no longer present two months after training, participants still held the learned ability of controlling self-regulation of the concerned networks. This approach potentially provides a non-invasive and non-pharmacological tool to deliver general enhancements in the attention ability for healthy subjects and it can be potentially beneficial to many neurological and psychiatric patients. We also show in this thesis compelling evidence that brain regions definition and other experimental parameters are crucial for inducing learning of self-regulation via fMRI-neurofeedback, in a similar study also considering differential signal of attention-related competitive networks. We finally present Personode, a useful, easy to use, and open access toolbox to neuroimaging researchers, for independent component analysis maps classification into canonical resting-state networks and regions-of--interest definition in individual and group levels. We also show that the toolbox leads to better results for task-induced activation and functional connectivity analyses. / A atenção é uma função mental crucial na vida cotidiana, mas infelizmente distrai-se facilmente. Os fundamentos cerebrais que sustentam a atenção, a chamada rede de atenção, foram satisfatoriamente identificados, assim como os fundamentos cerebrais que sustentam a divagação, a chamada rede de modo padrão. Entretanto, embora tais processos sejam conhecidos, este conhecimento ainda não foi transformado em protocolos avançados de treinamento de atenção baseado na atividade cerebral. Portanto, é proposto o uso de uma nova técnica baseada em imageamento por ressonância funcional (fMRI) em tempo real para proporcionar aos indivíduos informação sobre os níveis de atividade cerebral atuais nas redes de atenção e de modo padrão. Segundo nosso conhecimento atual, esse é o primeiro estudo a mostrar que, com o auxílio do neurofeedback baseado em fMRI, indivíduos podem aprender como melhorar o controle da ativação da rede de atenção e da desativação da rede de modo padrão ao mesmo tempo. Este processo de treinamento poderia ser explicado principalmente em termos da desativação da rede de modo padrão. Efeitos comportamentais foram observados, ao separar um grupo com os melhores aprendizes, em uma medida de atenção geral e, especificamente, na habilidade de alternação de tarefas, controlado por um grupo teste-reteste realizando a mesma bateria de testes comportamentais. Alterações em conectividade funcional induzidas por neurofeedback foram também reveladas em múltiplas regiões cerebrais positiva e negativamente relacionadas à atenção. Embora os efeitos comportamentais não puderam ser constatados depois de dois meses após o treinamento, os participantes ainda mantiveram a habilidade de controlar a autorregulação das redes em questão. Esse método provê uma ferramenta não-invasiva e não-farmacológica para proporcionar melhorias gerais na habilidade de atenção para sujeitos saudáveis, o que pode ser potencialmente benéfico para muitos pacientes de desordens neurológicas e psiquiátricas. Nesta tese, são mostradas evidências convincentes de que a definição de redes cerebrais e outros parâmetros experimentais de neurofeedback baseado em fMRI são decisivos para a indução do aprendizado de autorregulação, em um estudo similar, também considerando o sinal diferencial de redes competitivas relacionadas à atenção. Finalmente, é apresentado Personode, uma ferramenta útil, de fácil utilização e de livre acesso direcionado a pesquisadores em neuroimagem, para classificação de mapas produzidos por uma análise de componentes independentes em redes de repouso canônicas e definições de regiões de interesse em níveis individuais e de grupo. É também mostrado que a ferramenta conduz a melhores resultados para análises de ativação induzida à tarefa e conectividade funcional.