Wearables som teknologi inom träning är ett etablerat koncept och många använder sig av dessa bärbara enheter. Statistik från Världshälsoorganisationen (WHO) visar att 23% av alla vuxna inte är tillräckligt fysiskt aktiva och forskning visar även på att många slutar använda sina wearables. Samtidigt har det gjorts få studier som undersöker dem faktorer som får användarna att acceptera teknologin. Denna studie kommer med utgångspunkt i UTAUT-modellens konstrukt och demografiska variabler, studera svenskatalande användares acceptans av deras wearable i träning. Den data som studien bygger på samlades in genom en surveyundersökning och analyserades med statistiska metoder. Resultatet av den kvantitativa studien påvisade att intentionen till att använda en wearable i träning har störst påverkan på den faktiska användningen. Intentionen påverkas främst av förväntad prestanda. / Wearable fitness technology is a well known concept, with plenty of users. Statististics from the WorldHealthOrganization show that 23% of all adults do not exercise enough. Other studies have shown that many users stop using their wearable devices, as well as the fact that earlier studies have not focused on explaining acceptance and intention to use wearables in fitness. Following study is based on the constructs and moderating variables of the UTAUT-model and implies to investigate wearables acceptance in fitness of swedish speaking people. The data was gathered by a survey and was analysed using statistical methods. We found that Behavioral intention explained Use behaviour, and the intention to use wearable in fitness was mostly affected by Performance Expectancy.

This dissertation allowed the researcher to analyze 171 pieces of youth-created artwork and narratives by children aged six to nine who took part in the peace education, mentorship, and literacy program, READING PEACE PALS, implemented with an underserved population at a Boys and Girls Club in the U.S. Qualitative content analysis (Krippendorf, 1980; 2004) was used to analyze the artwork and narratives to gain insight into children’s conceptualization of peace, violence, and bullying and their strategies for addressing bullying and violence. The findings uncovered the myriad of unique ways youth conceptualize and define peace and the strategies they employ to combat the bullying and violence in their lives. Youth artwork demonstrated conceptions of positive peace. However, youth narratives included more descriptions of negative peace. Youth also addressed connection, empowerment, and their responsibility for creating peace. Strategies to combat bullying and violence included bringing in an adult, power in numbers, and ways to address the bully. In addition, the findings of this dissertation, when triangulated with the findings previously found in Georgakopoulos, Duckworth, Silverman, and Redfering (2017) in terms of student perceptions of affective, cognitive, and behavioral learning and the social impact that the learning in the peace education program had on them show similarities in terms of youth conceptions of peace and the strategies they employ to combat violence and bullying in their lives. Conversely, the artwork and narratives offered a unique lens and captured more vivid and detailed expressions than the surveys were able to convey.

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The Online Clothing Reselling Platforms (OCRPs) industry foresees ongoing significant market growth, building upon the expansion it has achieved in recent years. This trend makes it essential to understand how website usability factors affect consumer behaviour and identify practical opportunities for optimization in this specific context of e-commerce. Through empirical research, this study aims to contribute to the existing gap in the literature by analyzing the effect of usability factors on purchase intention and developing a practical usability framework that can guide designers and developers towards the successful implementation of usability factors that facilitates consumer decision-making and purchase intention.  To address the research gap, a mixed-methods multiple case study approach was utilized, combining a heuristic evaluation, a survey of 186 participants, and usability testing with six participants augmented by eye-tracking software and semi-structured interviews. The research was conducted on two key OCRPs, building upon existing knowledge of website usability factors as well as empirical findings.  The results indicate that navigability, content relevance, credibility, and simplicity are positively correlated with increased purchase intention in OCRPs. The study suggests that these four website usability factors should be prioritized when designing and developing these platforms. Based on these findings, a practical usability framework was created to provide designers and developers with actionable insights that can assist them in prioritizing and optimizing website usability to increase purchase intention. The framework lists practical guidelines per usability factor and demonstrates the factors’ interdependence. The framework is designed to further enable the growth of OCRPs by increasing purchase intention through website usability.

Years of psychotherapy practice at university, state, and military hospitals developed the author's interest in the presentation of love relationship problems. Mood and anxiety disorders, as the most prevalent pathologies, were often co-morbid with or secondary to partner relationship issues. Most vexing for clients was a situation of repeated dysfunctional partner selections in which similar problems arose each time. This incubated the idea of a process, probably outside of awareness, that functioned to perpetuate self-defeating partner selection patterns. The author was introduced to Money's `lovemap' concept during studies and identified readily with its principles and mechanisms. The lovemap is defined as a highly individualised, developed, mental template or cognitive blueprint of the ideal lover. It is assumed that every person has a lovemap, and would be able to describe it if asked the right questions. The concept promised to be a useful vehicle for studying self-defeating partner selection patterns, as `errors' might be coded into the lovemap that are expressed in such a presentation. The author identified the need to ground the lovemap concept in recognised psychological theory in order to motivate for its relevance. Kelly's theory of cognitive constructs provided robust links for lovemap as a sophisticated construction system, and the developmental theories of Freud and Erikson situated lovemap genesis within recognised periods of emerging human capacities to love and relate sexually; the stages of puberty to young adulthood. Lovemaps are assumed to function optimally when love and lust co-operate in pairbonding, or the capacity to couple. Extensive literature reviews cover the research fields of romantic love, human sexuality, and pairbonding, affording hypotheses as to lovemap pathology. A qualitative, Phenomenological research design of case studies with six adult persons, who had experienced radical contradictions of original lovemaps, identified when and how lovemap change took place. Thematic analysis of the attributions for change distilled a number of implications for therapy that would encourage certain indicated change processes. An integrative psychotherapy model recognises the cognitively- and socially constructed nature of lovemaps and proposes intervention components that blend cognitive-behavioural and narrative approaches. This model will be tested extensively with a suitable client population. / Psychology / D. Litt. ET Phil. (Psychology)

Four core themes characterised this study: (a) adult friendship, particularly across the gender line, (b) the association between friendship and psychological well-being, (c) the role of attachment in friendship processes, and (d) the influence of the boundaries of marriage on friendship. Twenty six individuals were included in the initial research and 19 subjects participated in the main study. Theoretical principles of social cognition, constructive alternativism and attachment guided the collection and interpretation of data, which was collated, interpreted and then presented in case-study format. Self-with-other representation played a major role in data interpretation. Investigation into the structure and processes of friendship revealed it to be a complex and fragile relationship, defined both idiosyncratically and existentially, as well as by specific distinguishing features, such as trust, loyalty and intimacy . Attachment orientation and positive friendship experiences were noted as being contributory to the sense of interpersonal intimacy associated with feelings of well-being. Positive association was registered between 'secure' attachment orientation and self-ratings of well-being and happiness. Opposite-sex friendship emerged as an exclusive relational type, both similar to, and different from, samesex friendship and romantic love relationships. Its ambiguous role is evidently compounded by the latent sexuality in heterosocial relationships. Respondents reported cases of opposite-sex friendships metamorphosing into romantic love relationships and, less frequently, vice versa. Manifest in attachment and relational mental models, marital boundaries can facilitate or inhibit friendship. On both direct- and meta-perspective levels, securely-attached respondents were relatively accepting of opposite-sex friendships within a marital context. Insecurely-attached subjects tended to construe them as threatening to the marital reality. Responses to this threat varied: avoidantly-attached individuals used ego-protective mechanisms such as denial and repression, whereas · the anxious-ambivalent attachment orientation seemed more closely associated with feelings of mistrust and jealousy, expressed through anger and anxiety. Personal boundary structure plays an incisive role ln adult friendship. Thick-boundaried personalities seemed particularly conscious of preserving marital identity. They were more territorial with regard to friendships within the marital context, and more conscious of social rules pertaining thereto. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This work is comprised of an Introduction and two Parts. Part One treats, by way of historical review and evaluation, the disestablishment of the Christian worldview in a postmodern age. Part Two proposes the means by whichthe Christian worldview might be reestablished. The reestablishment includes the use of some of the benefits of postmodernism by Christians as well as a return to the responsible reading of texts, especially the biblical text. Part One, The Disestablishment of the Christian Worldview, is composed ofthree chapters. Chapter 1chronicles the change that has occurred in Western culture because of the ascendency of postmodernism. It isbest described as a change in authorityfrom the logocentric metanarrative which has characterized Christianity to the deconstructionist rejection of worldviews by postmodern literary critics. Chapter 2 reviews the paradigm shifts that have occurred in belief systemsthat have occurred in the West as a result of this change,and Chapter 3 shows the effects of all this in the culture's principal institutions. Part Two, The Reestablishment of the Christian Worldview, is also composed of three chapters. Chapter 4 shows the impact that postmodernity has had on the efforts now being made on behalf of reestablishing the Christian worldview as a viable intellectual position in Western culture. Chapter 5 is occupied with the negative and positive responses of certain Christian scholars to the challenge of postmodernism, and Chapter 6 closes the study with an extended treatment of the factors that must be in play for a reestablishment of the Christian worldview to occur in Western civilization. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Theology)

Text in Afrikaans, abstract in Afrikaans and English / Die doel van hierdie navorsingstudie was om te bepaal of daar 'n verwantskap tussen stres en die persoonlikheidsweerstandsbronne koherensiesin, gehardheid en lokus van beheer is. Middelvlakbestuurders (n=103) het selfbeoordelingsvraelyste oor stres, sin vir koherensie, gehardheid en lokus van beheer voltooi. Die resultate van die Pearson produkmoment korrelasie en chi-kwadraattoetse toon dat daar 'n statisties beduidende verwantskap tussen stres en koherensiesin, gehardheid en lokus van beheer is. Dit blyk dat middelvlakbestuurders met 'n sterk koherensiesin beter in staat is om stres te hanteer as bestuurders met 'n lae koherensiesin. Hierdie bestuurders maak dus sin uit werkstressors en beskou lewenseise as betekenisvol en uitdagend. Die resultate dui aan dat bestuurders met 'n hoe inteme lokus van beheer en outonomie minder stres ervaar en beter toegerus is om die negatiewe invloed van stres teen te werk as bestuurders met 'n lae lokus van beheer en outonomie. Volgens hierdie navorsing het gehardheid nie 'n invloed op die ervaring van stress. / The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between stress and the resiliency sources of sense of coherence, hardiness and locus of control. Managers (N=l 03) at middle management level completed self-report questionnaires on stress, sense of coherence, hardiness and locus of control. Results from the Pearson product moment correlation and chisquare tests, indicate a statistical significant relationship between stress and sense of coherence, hardiness and locus of control. It seems as if managers at middle management level with a strong sense of coherence experience lower levels of stress than managers with a low sense of coherence. These managers derive sense from work stressors and view life's demands as meaningful and challenging. These results indicate that managers with a strong internal locus of control and autonomy will be better equipped to cope with stress than managers with a low locus of control and autonomy. According to this study hardiness does not have an effects on stress. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

Cette thèse a été faite sous la tutelle de Jean Proulx et R. Karl Hanson. Elle a évaluée par un jury composé de Franca Cortoni, Jean Proulx, R. Karl Hanson, Jean-Pierre Guay et Howard E. Barbaree. Suite à la soutenance, la thèse a reçu la mention "exceptionnelle", a été recommandée à la liste d'honneur du doyen et a été soumise pour le prix de la meilleure thèse de la FESP 2017. / Les outils actuariels servant à évaluer le risque de récidive criminelle des agresseurs sexuels ont souvent été critiqués pour leurs fondements « athéoriques ». En effet, ces derniers ont été constitués en rassemblant les caractéristiques les plus fortement associées à la récidive, sans qu’une théorie ne les unisse à priori. Si cette méthode a assuré une bonne validité prédictive à ces instruments, elle leur a insufflé très peu de résonnance clinique; plusieurs professionnels n’y voient qu’une liste de corrélats statistiques vides de sens. La présente thèse a entrepris de relativiser ces critiques en appliquant des modèles de facteurs latents aux différents items des outils actuariels. Les modèles de facteurs latents postulent que les comportements manifestes (observables) d’un individu renseignent sur ses caractéristiques psychologiques latentes (non observables) – de la même manière que les symptômes d’une maladie permettent d’inférer sa présence chez un patient. Puisque les items des outils actuariels correspondent à divers comportements ou caractéristiques criminogènes manifestes, il devrait être possible de les rassembler en dimensions pour identifier les principaux construits psychologiques latents associés à la récidive des agresseurs sexuels. Les articles de la présente thèse ont donc proposé d’identifier les dimensions de la Statique-99R et de la Statique-2002R, la famille d’outils actuariels pour agresseurs sexuels la plus utilisée mondialement. Trois dimensions ont été extraites par analyse factorielle : 1) la persistance dans les délits sexuels/paraphilies sexuelles, 2) la délinquance générale et 3) le jeune âge/victimes sexuelles non familières. La première dimension était exclusivement associée à la récidive sexuelle, tandis que les deux dernières étaient associées à tous les types de récidives. Leur validité convergente a ensuite été explorée afin d’évaluer à quelles caractéristiques psychologiques ces dernières référaient. La persistance/paraphilie a convergé avec des indicateurs d’intérêts sexuels déviants non coercitifs, alors que la délinquance générale a convergé avec une constellation de traits antisociaux. Finalement, le jeune âge/victimes sexuelles non familières a convergé avec l’intention claire de blesser ses victimes. Ces résultats ont mené au développement d’un modèle tridimensionnel du risque de récidive des agresseurs sexuels ayant plusieurs implications pratiques pour le domaine. D’une part, les outils actuariels gagneraient à utiliser des scores dimensionnels plutôt que des scores totaux. Par exemple, en retirant la dimension de persistance/paraphilie de la Statique-99R/2002R, il est possible de prédire efficacement la récidive violente non sexuelle et non sexuelle non violente des agresseurs sexuels, ce que l’instrument ne permettait pas précédemment. D’autre part, la connaissance des grandes dimensions de facteurs de risque est susceptible d’aider les évaluateurs à choisir et intégrer plusieurs mesures actuarielles. Cela se révèle particulièrement pertinent lorsque deux mesures du risque divergent, malgré qu’elles aient été conçues pour la même population. Finalement, nos résultats indiquent que les facteurs de risque statiques sont susceptibles de renseigner (imparfaitement) la pratique clinique quant aux besoins criminogènes des agresseurs sexuels. Bien que nous ne suggérions aucunement de substituer cette pratique à la cotation d’outils actuariels de troisième génération, elle pourrait se révéler pertinente pour les établissements n’ayant pas les ressources nécessaires pour coter de tels instruments. Au plan théorique, le modèle tridimensionnel comporte plusieurs avantages par rapport aux modèles à deux dimensions, traditionnellement constitués de la déviance sexuelle et de la délinquance générale/psychopathie (ex. : Doren, 2004). D’une part, les données empiriques supportent clairement la présence de trois dimensions du risque de récidive des agresseurs sexuels, et non deux. D’autre part, la troisième dimension permet d’intégrer une nuance importante au modèle, soit la distinction entre les intérêts sexuels déviants par leur objet de désir (ex. : pédophilie) et les intérêts sexuels déviants par leur aspect coercitif (ex. : sadisme sexuel). Cette distinction est primordiale, dans la mesure où ces intérêts sexuels ne prédisent pas les mêmes types de récidives. Finalement, notre modèle s’intègre au modèle étiologique du risque de Beech et Ward (2004), qui, lorsque complètement validé, pourra donner lieu à des efforts de prévention – une denrée rare dans le domaine. / Actuarial scales for the prediction of sexual violence have been criticised because they are purely based on atheoretical correlates. Therefore, they are unlikely to provide clinical and theoretical insight on the psychological traits and mechanisms that underlie criminal recidivism. However, according to latent variable models commonly used in psychology, patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion are caused by latent psychological constructs, such as extraversion and neuroticism. Because static and stable risk factors in actuarial scales are mostly behavioral, it should be possible to use them to infer the major psychological constructs responsible for recidivism risk. The current thesis applied latent variable models to nonredundant items from the Static-99R and Static-2002R, the two most commonly used risk tools for sexual offenders. Three dimensions were identified: 1) persistence in sexual crimes/paraphilia, 2) general criminality, and 3) youthful stranger aggression. To understand the psychological meaning of these dimensions, convergent and predictive validity analyses were conducted. Results indicated that persistence/paraphilia was related to dysregulation of sexuality towards atypical objects, without intent to harm, while general criminality was related to antisocial traits. Finally, youthful stranger aggression was related to a clear intent to harm victims. All three constructs predicted sexual recidivism with similar accuracy, but only general criminality and youthful stranger aggression predicted nonsexual recidivism. These results suggest that a tridimensional model of sexual offender risk is viable. That model has numerous practical implications. First, actuarial scales should sort items by constructs rather than rely on total scores. Total scores focus the predictive utility of risk scales to the specific outcome for which they were developed (usually sexual recidivism). When constructs are known, it is possible to improve the prediction of other outcomes by removing constructs unrelated to each of these new outcomes (e.g., removing sexual criminality items to improve the prediction of nonsexual recidivism). Second, construct-level approaches facilitate the integration of potentially conflicting risk scales. By understanding the constructs assessed by each scale, an evaluator can deduce which measures should be combined, and which should not. Finally, static risk constructs significantly correlate with psychological features that are found in dynamic risk scales. Consequently, scales composed entirely of static risk factors could – albeit imperfectly – inform the treatment needs of sexual offenders. These results could assist settings lacking the resources to implement dynamic risk tools. The tridimensional model also has theoretical implications. First, our model showed better statistical fit than classical two factor models based on sexual deviance and psychopathy (e.g., Doren, 2004), suggesting that there are more than two substantive dimensions related to sexual offender recidivism risk. Second, the presence of a third factor enabled an important distinction between noncoercive (e.g., fixated pedophilia) and coercive (e.g., sexual sadism) deviant sexual interests. Such a distinction is particularly relevant in the field of risk assessment, because they do not predict the same types of recidivism. Finally, our model can be integrated in Beech and Ward’s (2004) etiological model of risk, which, once fully validated, could enable primary and secondary prevention efforts.

The study of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) will allow for increased understanding of regulation and lead to insight regarding the mechanisms governing growth, development, health, and disease. The aim of this study was to characterize the de novo in silico predictions of Arabidopsis CREs. Eight synthetic and 30 native promoter-constructs containing an eGFP/GUS reporter protein were generated for cold, genotoxic, heat, osmotic, and salt stress; the circadian clock; ABA signaling; root and epidermis tissue. Constructs were stably transformed into A. thaliana Col-0 and the effects of the CREs were evaluated by in planta stress or tissue assays using GUS expression levels. Results reveal a novel genotoxic element that specifically directs GUS expression in rosette leaves during genotoxic stress. Results also look promising for novel epidermis and root-specific elements. Results of these assays validate the de novo prediction pipeline's ability to identify novel and known CREs related to abiotic stress.