The thesis is focused on the functional analysis of the organization. The theoretical part of the thesis is aimed at the concept of formal organizations in terms of the main sociological paradigms, with an emphasis on the structural functional paradigm and AGIL paradigm defining the four major subsystems of the organization. The research part of the thesis deals with the indentification and analysis of these subsystems. For data collection were used three research methods - questionnaire, interview and study of documents. The output is the analysis of subsystems in order to determine their functionality. On the basis of its results the socio-technical recommendations are determined for the organization.

The current investigation replicated and extended previous research on training of behavior professionals to implement functional assessment and analysis procedures. Specifically, the study extended procedures described by Metras to train board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) to administer two components of the Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analyses (IISCA) by: (1) conducting the study in the context of a large residential/training facility for adults with ID, (2) including a participant who served as a behavior analyst for a caseload of individuals who lived and received services at the facility, and (3) adjusting the vignettes and interview scripts to reflect the change in context. This current study shows that, following a brief training sequence, the participant was able to accurately administer the open-ended interview and construct a synthesized test and control condition.

The thesis is concerned with group theoretical properties of unitary groups, mainly of II_1 factors. The author gives a new and elementary proof of an result on extreme amenability, defines the bounded normal generation property and invariant automatic continuity property and proves these for various unitary groups of functional analytic types.

The present study utilized multiple-baseline and multi-probe across participants designs to measure both fidelity and efficacy of caregivers as primary interventionists when using trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) procedures. Participants included any caregiver of a child with a medical or educational diagnosis of autism and challenging behavior. Caregiver fidelity of implementation of TBFA procedures was measured across three phases: baseline, training, and independent implementation or generalization. Within the implementation phase, caregivers independently conducted TBFAs on their respective children within the home setting. Fidelity, efficacy, and social validity across each participant were measured. Each caregiver was able to reach fidelity during the training phase, and three out of five caregivers were able to identify a clear behavior function for their child's behavior within the implementation phase of the study. Social validity was evaluated. Results indicate that caregivers may be able to supplement traditional interventionists during the TBFA process. Implications for future practice are reviewed.

Cette recherche se base sur l’établissement de différents critères de flexibilité professionnelle lors du changement de prescription en 2011 par les enseignants de Sciences Industrielles de l’Ingénieur et sur la comparaison des méthodes de modélisation de l’énergie entre la Technologie et les Sciences Physiques. La méthodologie utilisée dans la thèse est basée sur l’analyse de cinq types de données d’analyse : le recueil des difficultés à enseigner des savoirs spécifiques, le recueil des difficultés spécifiques à l’enseignement de l’ETT et les raisons de ces difficultés, des enregistrements des interactions entre les enseignants et les modélisations des enseignants lors d’une simulation de séance, le recueil des difficultés de compréhension des savoirs relatifs à l’énergie des élèves et le recueil des difficultés potentielles en ETT des élèves. Les résultats montrent que les enseignants ne déclarent pas les mêmes niveaux de difficultés pour enseigner l’énergie en fonction de leur spécialité. Les élèves de STI2D déclarent des niveaux de difficultés variables vis-à-vis de l’apprentissage de l’énergie en ETT / This research focuses on the setting of different flexibility’s criteria established by engineering science teachers (task’s acceptation, motivation, utility perceived …) and on the comparison of methods of modeling energy between Technology and Physics. The methodology used is based on the analysis of five types of data: the collection of difficulties to teach some knowledge, the collection of difficulties specific to energy teaching, some records of interactions between teachers during a classroom simulation, the collection of students' difficulties in terms of energy concepts and the collection of potential difficulties in technological education. The results show that the teachers don’t report the same levels of difficulty for teaching energy according to their specialty as the students who report varying levels of difficulty to understand energy

This study investigated a process for identifying the reasons why a person with an intellectual disability has problem behaviors. This process is called a trial-based functional analysis (TBFA). The researchers wanted to know if a person who was not an expert behavior analyst could be trained to perform the TBFA and if the results obtained from the TBFA could be used to create a program to reduce the problem behavior of a person with an intellectual disability living in a community-based group home for persons with disabilities. The results of this study show that a person who is not an expert behavior analyst can be trained to perform a TBFA and that the results obtained from the TBFA were useful in creating a program to reduce the problem behavior of an adult male person living in a rural area in Utah.

Mental and emotional health concerns among college students are prevalent and diverse in their symptom presentations. With increasing demands on counseling centers to provide efficient care and to address students with higher acuity or risk for harm, there has been an increased focus on identifying therapeutic targets that underlie a wide breadth of concerns to broaden the scope and impact of mental health services. Psychological inflexibility is one such target and refers to a combination of excessive avoidance of internal experiences coupled with a lack of actions that align with a person’s values. Interventions for psychological inflexibility aim to support people in reducing actions that are mostly about avoiding unwanted thoughts and feelings and actions that involve moving towards chosen values. Such interventions may produce changes in people’s actions in part through helping people notice and label the different roles their actions play in relation to thoughts, feelings, and personal values. However, the skill of noticing and labeling the purposes of one’s actions has not been studied in interventions for psychological inflexibility despite being discussed in theoretical writings. Training this skill may serve as a direct means of reducing psychological inflexibility and as a foundation for other interventions, thus it may be a relevant target in interventions for psychological inflexibility among college students. Given this, the present study developed and tested an intervention focused on noticing and labeling one’s actions as an intervention for psychological inflexibility in a college student sample, as delivered through web and app-based media. The study recruited 106 students with symptoms of depression and anxiety from a medium sized university in the Mountain West of the United States, and then randomly assigned them to either wait for eight weeks or receive a three-week online and app-based training for noticing and labeling avoidant and values-consistent actions. The results of the study indicated short-term effects on symptoms of depression and anxiety for participants who received the online and app-based training as compared with participants who were asked to wait, although both groups showed reductions in symptoms by the end of the study period. Participants did not report changes in the target skill of noticing and labeling their actions although the study did find larger reductions in psychological inflexibility among participants who received the training as compared with those asked to wait. Further, changes in psychological flexibility were related to changes in behavioral activity and life satisfaction, but not life quality. The results raise questions about the necessity of training the ability to notice and label one’s actions as a direct intervention mechanism for psychological inflexibility. The findings also suggest that changing inflexible patterns of behavior may be more important than the capacity to notice such changes. These results are further interpreted in relation to interventions for college student mental and emotional health.

Low levels of physical activity are correlated with negative health outcomes such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. This is concerning given the current rise in obesity and physical inactivity, especially in young children. Developing assessments that can readily identify variables related to unhealthy patterns of activity might be useful in informing interventions that aim to increase physical activity. The current study extended previous research in the functional analysis of physical activity by Hustyi, Normand, and Larson (2012) by evaluating the utility of a choice assessment procedure to identify participant preference to several common outdoor activity contexts, typically available during school recess. Together, the two assessments strategies were able to identify both healthy and less healthy patterns of responding in four preschool-age children. The information obtained from these assessments could be used to inform behavioral interventions that aim to increase physical activity in young children.

Functional analyses (FAs) are an important component of treatment and the data gathered from FAs are often graphed in an aggregate or summary format, such as mean rate per session. Given the prevalence of undifferentiated analyses, it may be that this common method of data depiction is incomplete. In this paper, we compare the traditional aggregate method to a comprehensive second-by-second demonstration of the data including all appropriate and inappropriate responses emitted, as well as programmed and accidental antecedent and consequent variables, which may help further clarify the results of a functional analysis. We compared the functional analysis results of two participants when the data were depicted using the traditional rate aggregate method and depicted using a comprehensive second-by-second method. Although both rate and comprehensive second-by-second data depiction resulted in similar conclusions regarding the maintaining variables for the participants, comprehensive second-by-second data depiction allowed us to draw the conclusions in less time. Additional advantages and disadvantages of each method as it relates to efficiency, therapeutic risk and safety, and practicality are also discussed. Keywords: efficiency, functional analysis, problem behavior, safety, within-session second-by-second analysis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend children engage in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for 60 minutes every day, however, most children in the United States do not meet this recommendation. Previous research has demonstrated MVPA is functionally related to activity contexts. Moreover, the presence of peers may influence MVPA, however this has not been experimentally demonstrated. The purpose of the current study was to experimentally manipulate group composition and assess its influence on children’s MVPA. A second purpose was to assess the influence of activity contexts on MVPA. Results indicated no differences between group and solitary conditions. However, responding did vary within activity contexts. Additionally, MVPA was highest during the fixed-equipment phase.