A factor analysis was performed on eleven variables derived from scores on the McGill Pain Questionnaire, Oswestry Activity Rating Scale, graphic rating scales designed to assess the average pain intensity, frequency of leg pain, back pain, numbness and tingling in legs, and weakness in legs, as well as bothersomeness of back pain, leg pain, numbness and tingling in legs and weakness of legs. A composite Pain Index was created on the basis of three factors: leg pain, back pain, and overall pain complaints. Extraclassificatory variables, such as negative affect including depression and anxiety, cognitions regarding health status and expectation of recovery, bodily awareness/somatization and demographic variables such as smoking or non-smoking, compensation status, litigation status, use of narcotic and non-narcotic medication, use of alcohol, and time off of work were analyzed in combination and independently in relationship to the Pain Index.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Despite calls for the consideration of future time perspective (FTP) as a multidimensional construct, mostly unidimensional measurement instruments have been used. This study had two objectives: (a) to develop a brief multidimensional questionnaire for assessing FTP in adulthood and evaluate its psychometric properties; and (b) to examine age associations and age-group differences of the dimensions of FTP. DESIGN AND METHODS: Data were collected from 625 community-residing adults between the ages of 18 and 93, representing young, middle-aged, and older adults. The psychometric evaluation involved exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and confirmatory FA (CFA), reliability and validity analyses, and measurement invariance testing. Zero-order and partial correlations were used to examine the association of the dimensions of FTP with age, and multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine age-group differences. RESULTS: EFA and CFA supported a three-factor solution: Future as Open, Future as Limited, and Future as Ambiguous. Metric measurement invariance for this factor structure was confirmed across the three age groups. Reliability and validity analyses provided evidence of sound psychometric properties of the brief questionnaire. Age was negatively associated with Future as Open and positively associated with Future as Limited. Young adults exhibited significantly greater ambiguity toward the future than middle-aged or older adults. IMPLICATIONS: This study provides evidence in support of the psychometric properties of a new brief multidimensional FTP scale. It also provides evidence for a pattern of age associations and age-group differences consistent with life-span developmental theory.

Syfte Att utvärdera om ålder, kön och tidigare kroppsbehandling i form av massage har betydelse för skattad upplevelse av kroppsmedvetenhet. Bakgrund Kroppsmedvetenhet beskrivs som en uppmärksamhet av inre kroppsförnimmelser. Det finns idag studier kring kroppsmedvetenhet och olika sjukdomstillstånd men det finns få studier om upplevelsen av kroppsmedvetenhet gällande ålder, kön och tidigare kroppsbehandling i form av massage. Design Pilotstudie i tvärsnittsdesign. Metod För att mäta kroppsmedvetenhet hos en normal population användes instrumentet Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness. Data insamlades våren 2014 genom utskick av webbenkät. Data från 45 personer bestående av 3 åldersgrupper bearbetades och analyserades med Mann-Whitney U test. Resultat Resultatet i denna pilotstudie visade ingen signifikant skillnad i upplevelsen av kroppsmedvetenhet beträffande ålder och kön. Det fanns dock en signifikant skillnad i varseblivningmellan personer som hade erfarenhet respektive inte hade erfarenhet av tidigare kroppsbehandling i form av massage. Varseblivning i formuläret handlade om frågor som gällde medvetenhet om obehagliga, behagliga och neutrala kroppssignaler Slutsats Kroppsbehandling i form av massage kan ha en positiv effekt på kroppsmedvetenhet.

Disertaciniame darbe ištirti gerklų ligomis sergantys ir sveiki asmenys, naudojant įvairiapusius metodus – klausimynus, akustinę analizę, balso lauko tyrimą, vaizdo laringostroboskopiją (VLS). Sukurta informaty¬viausia įvairialypių požymių sistema, padedanti spręsti apie tikimybę, kuriai gerklų ligų grupei priskirtinas tiriamasis asmuo. Sukurta originali VLS vaizdų matavimo metodika bei nustatyti svarbiausi parametrai, kurie tiksliausiai apibūdina klasifikuojamas gerklų ligų grupes. Disertacinio darbo uždaviniai: (1) nustatyti informatyviausius anamne¬zės bei demografinius faktorius, kurie leistų tiriamuosius klasifikuoti į sveiko ir patologinio balso, taip pat į gerklų ligų grupes; įvertinti šių faktorių efektyvumą pirminei gerklų ligų atrankai; (2) atlikti subjektyvią ir kompiuterinę akustinę balso analizę bei sudaryti informatyviausių balso parametrų sistemą gerklų ligų grupėms klasifikuoti; (3) atlikti ir kiekybiškai įvertinti VLS bei nustatyti kiekybinių VLS vertinimo parametrų patikimumą bei reikšmingumą klasifikuojant tiriamuosius į gerklų ligų grupes; (4) sukurti VLS paveikslų objektyvaus kiekybinio matavimo sistemą bei nustatyti VLS matavimo parametrų reikšmingumą klasifikuojant į atitinkamas gerklų ligų grupes; (5) jungiant anketinius duomenis, akustinę balso analizę, VLS vertinimo ir VLS matavimo parametrus, įvertinti gerklų ligų pirminės atrankos sistemos efektyvumą. / In this dissertation were determined the most important questionnaire statements, parameters of perceptive and acoustic voice analysis and quantitatively evaluated and measured parameters of video laryngo-stroboscopy for classification tasks of laryngeal disorders. It was established the most sensitive and specific laryngeal and voice features system discriminating normal, pathological and other voice disorders groups. It was established the original VLS measurement methodic with original parameters. The objectives of the study: (1) to determine the most important questionnaire statements, discriminating normal and pathological voice, glottal cancer and other mass lesions, nodular, diffuse, paralysis and healthy classes and to evaluate their classification efficiency for screening of laryngeal diseases; (2) to perform perceptual, acoustic, aerodynamic vocal function measurements and to determine the most sensitive and specific parameters discriminating voice groups; (3) to evaluate quantitatively parameters of VLS and to determine the sensitivity and specificity of these parameters discriminating groups of laryngeal diseases; (4) to establish the system of quantitative objective VLS measurements revealing their reliability discriminating normal and pathological voice groups; (5) to establish the most sensitive and specific laryngeal and voice features system for laryngeal diseases screening purposes.

No description available.

Submitted by Lucienne Costa (lucienneferreira@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-09-13T20:25:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ALANA MARQUES DE MORAIS – TESE (PPGCC) 2018.pdf: 2316851 bytes, checksum: 52b3ebbbd6f1053b4978446f0a18d143 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-13T20:25:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ALANA MARQUES DE MORAIS – TESE (PPGCC) 2018.pdf: 2316851 bytes, checksum: 52b3ebbbd6f1053b4978446f0a18d143 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-20 / Capes / A evasão discente foi apontada, por grande parte das instituições brasileiras de Educação a Distância (EaD), como um dos maiores obstáculos enfrentados pelos cursos online da atualidade. Reflexo disto, foram as taxas de evasão elevadas, entre 25 e 50% em todos os tipos de curso online, em relação à educação presencial em 2015 no Brasil. Além disto, a problemática não se restringe ao contexto brasileiro, pois diversas organizações internacionais relataram índices tão alarmantes quando os nacionais. É possível afirmar, de acordo com a literatura, que as estratégias adotadas na minimização dos índices de desistência do discente muitas vezes se limitam à avaliação pontual de um recurso pedagógico (fórum, bate-papo, etc). Há ainda uma carência de estudos que discutam sobre as interações educacionais do aluno evadido e considerem as incertezas avaliativas envolvidas no processo. Diversas metodologias podem ser utilizadas pelo docente para lidar com a subjetividade e incerteza associadas ao processo avaliativo, tais como: lógica fuzzy, redes bayesianas, etc. O presente estudo destacou a lógica fuzzy (ou difusa), pois esta técnica lida com a ambiguidade encontrada na avaliação presente na EaD. Esta modelagem permite que estados indeterminados possam ser tratados por dispositivos de controle e conceitos não quantificáveis possam ser avaliados pelo especialista. Assim, o presente estudo propôs uma abordagem avaliativa (FuzzySD) voltada ao docente para monitorar as turmas virtuais na predição e combate à evasão discente em cursos online. Para tanto, a pesquisa se subsidiou nas informações relacionadas às ações dos alunos durante o processo de ensino-aprendizagem. A análise realizada envolve fatores comportamentais do estudante com base em múltiplos critérios. Estes critérios comportamentais foram fundamentais na descrição das três métricas principais ao entendimento da evasão do aluno no contexto estudado, a saber: Autorregulação, Interação e Motivação do aluno. A avaliação com a FuzzySD foi realizada por meio da análise de precisão em recortes da amostra com base em dados de cursos online do IFPB Virtual. A precisão da abordagem, analisando as amostras teste, proporciona valores entre 65% e 95% de acertos. Por fim, a partir dos resultados, foram discutidos os desafios da aplicação de um módulo avaliativo multidimensional diante do contexto de cursos online brasileiros. / The student’s dropout in online courses was pointed out as one of the biggest issue in the area according to the educational organizations. The main result was the high dropout rates in these courses compared to face-to-face courses in 2015 in Brazil (between 25% and 50%). Moreover, this challenge belongs to the virtual learning worldwide. In this sense, the literature review showed that several approaches are adopted to minimize the student’s dropout rates. However, they limited their focus on a learning unique resource (forum, chat, upload, download, submissions). Regarding these approaches, the current research detected an insufficiency of studies about the educational interactions of the dropout student and uncertainties in the assessment. Many methodologies are used by teachers to manage a subjectivity and uncertainty associated to the evaluation process, such as: fuzzy logic, Bayesian networks, Markov chains, etc. This thesis emphasized the fuzzy logic, because this technique solves the ambiguity found in the learning evaluation by the expert. We present an assessment framework (FuzzySD) to track the virtual classroom and to support the teacher to make a prediction of students’ dropout in online courses. In this sense, we analyzed the information related to the students’ actions during the teaching-learning process in online courses. It can be denominated as multidimensional analysis because we assessed multiple variables related to the student’s behavior. Such behavioral variables were fundamental in the definition of three main metrics to the understanding of student avoidance, they are: Self-regulation, Interaction and Motivation. It is important to consider a presence of fuzzy logic to deal with the input metrics of the FuzzySD framework. The evaluation of FuzzySD was performed by means of precision analysis on sample cut-outs based on dataset from courses of “IFPB Virtual”. The accuracy of the approach is analyzed as results of its own indicators between 65% and 95% of hits. Finally, the results discussed about the challenges of applying a multidimensional evaluative module to the context of Brazilian online courses.

Human health is multidimensional: apart from physical, mental, and social aspects, it also incorporates subjective perceptions of health, and functional status (FS). Given that elderly persons have very distinctive health and social needs, multidimensional assessment (MA) of health proves particularly useful in this age group.¶ Aboriginal populations suffer poor health, and there are relatively few studies addressing the health problems of older Aboriginal Australians, mainly because of their distinctive demographic structure, and the low proportion of their elderly. Also, there is no prior information available on MA of health in this Australian population group.¶ This thesis offers a MA of health in older Aboriginal persons from two, urban and rural/isolated, locations in the NT, Katherine and Lajamanu (the NT survey).¶ This thesis specifically addresses the following questions: - what is the physical health, FS, subjective perception of health, and social functioning amongst the NT survey participants? - what are the possible similarities and differences in various dimensions of health between the two major survey locations, what age and gender patterns are observed, and what are the reasons for these patterns, similarities and differences? - how do various dimensions of health relate to each other, and why? - how do current findings relate to broader Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations, and why? - what can MA add to a better understanding of various aspects of morbidity and health care use? - what are its possible implications for health planning?¶ Findings from this work indicate poor physical health amongst participants in almost all investigated aspects, comparable to information available from other Aboriginal populations. These are accompanied by low levels of ability for physical functioning. Despite this, subjective perception of health is rather optimistic amongst participants, and levels of social functioning high. Use of health services is mainly related to available health infrastructure. Important health differences exist between Katherine and Lajamanu, and they became particularly visible when all dimensions of health are considered together.¶ The Main conclusions from the current work are that 1) poor physical health is not necessarily accompanied by similar level of deterioration in other dimensions of health: even though participants from the isolated community of Lajamanu experience most chronic diseases, their ability for physical functioning is better, self-perceived health (SPH) more optimistic and levels of social functioning highest 2) institutionalised participants from Katherine suffer by far the worst health of all sample segments in this study; at least some of the poor health outcomes are potentially avoidable, and could be improved by more appropriate residential choices for Aboriginal elderly 3) better health infrastructure does not necessarily bring better health in all its dimensions, suggesting that other factors (primarily socio-economic and cultural) should be addressed in conjunction with this in solving complex health problems of Aboriginal Australians, and 4) it provides strong support that MA can become a useful tool in comprehensive health assessment of older Aboriginals.

Der Karosseriebau stellt einen der bedeutendsten Schritte in der Wertschöpfungskette moderner Fahrzeuge dar. Der Einsatz unterschiedlicher Werkstoffe sowie Ausführungen derzeitiger Fahrzeugkarosserien führt zu neuen Karosseriekonzepten wie dem Multi-Material-Design. Die spezifischen Eigenschaften einzelner Werkstoffe stellen jedoch insbesondere für die Fügetechnik neue Herausforderungen dar. Dementsprechend steigt die Vielfalt der zur Auswahl stehenden Fügetechnologien zum Verbinden der Werkstoffkombinationen. Die Auswahl der einzusetzenden Fügetechnologie basiert grundsätzlich auf den Erfahrungen der Produktentwicklung. Wissenschaftliche Ansätze beschränken sich im Rahmen des Auswahlprozesses von Fügetechnologien oftmals auf die ökonomische Bewertung für einzelne Fügepunkte. Ein integrierter Bewertungsansatz, welcher bereits während der Festlegung von Werkstoff und Konstruktion die Aspekte der Fügetechnik hinsichtlich ökonomischer, ökologischer sowie technologischer Faktoren für eine gesamte Baugruppe umfasst, existiert bisher nicht. Aufgrund der Intransparenz hinsichtlich monetärer und nicht-monetärer Eigenschaften der jeweiligen Fügetechnologie sowie der zunehmenden Entscheidungskomplexität leitet sich der Bedarf nach einer methodischen Unterstützung des Auswahlprozesses ab. Ziel der Forschung ist es, durch die Entwicklung einer multidimensionalen Auswahlmethodik eine optimierte Entscheidungsfindung in der Karosserieentwicklung zu ermöglichen. / The car body shop has become one of the most significant steps in the automobile value chain nowadays. The usage of a variety of different materials and configurations of current vehicle bodies in lightweight construction leads to new body concepts such as the multi-material design. However, the specific properties of individual materials lead to new challenges, especially in the joining technology where existing technologies face numerous restrictions. Therefore, new joining processes are required, which also results in an increased diversity of joining technologies and complexity of the decision-making. To date, the selection of a joining technology for a component is mostly based on the experience of the product development. The selection process of extant scientific approaches, however, is often limited to the economic assessment of joining technologies for individual joints. An integrated assessment approach, which already includes the aspects of joining technologies with regards to economic, ecological and technological factors for an entire assembly during the definition of material and design, does not exist. Due to the non-transparency of the overall monetary and non-monetary impact of the respective joining technology, the need for a methodological support for the selection process is derived. An essential part of this research work is the development of a multidimensional selection methodology to allow an optimized decision-making in the early stage of car body development.