Numerical information is ubiquitous in modern life. The prevalence of numerical information in the marketplace necessitates understanding how consumers handle and interpret that information, for both theoretical and practical reasons. Past research has largely focused on consumers’ encoding of numbers, calculative limitations, and usage of heuristics. This dissertation will contribute to this burgeoning literature in several ways. First, I identify a general tendency in how consumers calculate ratios based on an intuitive model of division. Specifically, consumers tend to divide larger numbers by smaller numbers. The intuitive model of division has marketing implications for both consumers’ evaluations of quantity offers and sensitivities to promotions. Next, I examine how consumers draw inferences from distributional information. In contrast to the assumption that consumers utilize means to assess central tendency, I demonstrate that consumers use the modal response to judge what is typical, with implications for consumers’ inferences about product ratings and other social distributions. / PHD / Numerical information is ubiquitous in modern life. The prevalence of numerical information in the marketplace necessitates understanding how consumers handle and interpret that information, for both theoretical and practical reasons. Past research has largely focused on how consumers’ mentally perceive numbers, how difficult it is to engage in calculation, and usage of mental shortcuts. This dissertation will contribute to this burgeoning literature in several ways. First, I identify a general tendency in how consumers calculate ratios based on an intuitive model of division. Specifically, consumers tend to divide larger numbers by smaller numbers. The intuitive model of division has marketing implications for both consumers’ evaluations of quantity offers and sensitivities to promotions. Next, I examine how consumers draw inferences from distributional information. In contrast to the assumption that consumers utilize means to assess central tendency, I demonstrate that consumers use the modal response to judge what is typical, with implications for consumers’ inferences about product ratings and other social distributions.

The loss of central vision subsequent to macular disease is often extremely debilitating. People with central field loss (CFL) must use other peripheral areas of the retina in order to see; areas with inferior resolution capacity, which are also affected by off-axis optical errors. The overall aim of the work encompassed by this thesis was to identify and evaluate methods of improving vision for people with CFL; with focus on the effects of off-axis optical correction and stimulus motion on resolution acuity and contrast sensitivity. Off-axis optical errors were measured using a commercially-available COAS-HD VR open-view aberrometer. We used adaptive psychophysical methods to evaluate grating resolution acuity and contrast sensitivity in the peripheral visual field; drifting gratings were employed to   measure the effect of motion on these two measures of visual performance. The effect of sphero-cylindrical correction and stimulus motion on visual performance in healthy eyes and in subjects with CFL was also studied; in addition, the effect of adaptive optics aberration correction was examined in one subject with CFL. The COAS-HD aberrometer provided rapid and reliable measurements of off-axis refractive errors. Correction of these errors gave improvements in low-contrast resolution acuity in subjects with higher amounts of oblique astigmatism. Optical correction also improved high-contrast resolution acuity in most subjects with CFL, but not for healthy subjects. Adaptive optics correction improved both high and low contrast resolution acuity in the preferred retinal locus of a subject with CFL. The effect of stimulus motion depended on spatial frequency; motion of 7.5 Hz improved contrast sensitivity for stimuli of low spatial frequency in healthy and CFL subjects. Motion of 15 Hz had little effect on contrast sensitivity for low spatial frequency but resulted in reduced contrast sensitivity for higher spatial frequencies in healthy subjects. Finally, high-contrast resolution acuity was relatively insensitive to stimulus motion in the periphery. This thesis has served to broaden the knowledge regarding peripheral optical errors, stimulus motion and their effects on visual function, both in healthy subjects and in people with CFL. Overall it has shown that correction of off-axis refractive errors is important for optimizing peripheral vision in subjects with CFL; the use of an open-view aberrometer simplifies the determination of these errors. In addition, moderate stimulus motion can have a beneficial effect on contrast sensitivity for objects of predominantly low spatial frequency.

Water infrastructures have been implemented to support the vital activities of human society. The infrastructure developments at the same time have interrupted the natural catchment response characteristics, challenging society to implement effective water resources planning and management strategies. The Telemark area in southern Norway has seen a large number of water infrastructure developments, particularly hydropower, over more than a century. Recent developments in decision support tools for flood control and reservoir operation has raised the need to compute inflows from local catchments, most of which are regulated or have no observed data. This has contributed for the motivation of this PhD thesis work, with an aim of improving runoff estimation at ungauged catchments, and the research results are presented in four manuscript scientific papers.  The inverse distance weighting, inverse distance squared weighting, ordinary kriging, universal kriging and kriging with external drift were applied to analyse precipitation variability and estimate daily precipitation in the study area. The geostatistical based univariate and multivariate map-correlation concepts were applied to analyse and physically understand regional hydrological response patterns. The Sobol variance based sensitivity analysis (VBSA) method was used to investigate the HBV hydrological model parameterization significances on the model response variations and evaluate the model’s reliability as a prediction tool. The HBV hydrological model space transferability into ungauged catchments was also studied.  The analyses results showed that the inverse distance weighting variants are the preferred spatial data interpolation methods in areas where relatively dense precipitation station network can be found.  In mountainous areas and in areas where the precipitation station network is relatively sparse, the kriging variants are the preferred methods. The regional hydrological response correlation analyses suggested that geographic proximity alone cannot explain the entire hydrological response correlations in the study area. Besides, when the multivariate map-correlation analysis was applied, two distinct regional hydrological response patterns - the radial and elliptical-types were identified. The presence of these hydrological response patterns influenced the location of the best-correlated reference streamgauges to the ungauged catchments. As a result, the nearest streamgauge was found the best-correlated in areas where the radial-type hydrological response pattern is the dominant. In area where the elliptical-type hydrological response pattern is the dominant, the nearest reference streamgauge was not necessarily the best-correlated. The VBSA verified that varying up to a minimum of four to six influential HBV model parameters can sufficiently simulate the catchments' responses characteristics when emphasis is given to fit the high flows. Varying up to a minimum of six influential model parameters is necessary to sufficiently simulate the catchments’ responses and maintain the model performance when emphasis is given to fit the low flows. However, varying more than nine out of the fifteen HBV model parameters will not make any significant change on the model performance.  The hydrological model space transfer study indicated that estimation of representative runoff at ungauged catchments cannot be guaranteed by transferring model parameter sets from a single donor catchment. On the other hand, applying the ensemble based model space transferring approach and utilizing model parameter sets from multiple donor catchments improved the model performance at the ungauged catchments. The result also suggested that high model performance can be achieved by integrating model parameter sets from two to six donor catchments. Objectively minimizing the HBV model parametric dimensionality and only sampling the sensitive model parameters, maintained the model performance and limited the model prediction uncertainty.

Since the start of the Syrian war, Jordan has received many Syrian refugees with around 650,000 Syrians now residing in the country. As the state has received a lot of help from the international community, funding refugee camps and providing basic necessities, a lot of international humanitarian practitioners have come to Jordan to work alongside Jordanian and Middle Eastern practitioners. The situation therefore has brought practitioners from different academic, professional and geographical backgrounds together to work with people of a different cultural background than their own. Syrians represent a vast diversity in terms of ethnic, religious, linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds. Research have addressed that practitioners’ sensitivity to how cultural complexities may influence social problems can facilitate a better understanding of the client’s path to recovery. The purpose of our study was to increase the knowledge of mental health and psychosocial support practitioners’ understanding and experience of a culturally sensitive social work in Amman, Jordan and discuss how this affects their practice with Syrian refugees. Through qualitative interviews we found that the practitioners’ perception of Arab culture as one and the same makes culture a non-issue in terms of cultural diversity, and that this perception influence the practice with Syrian refugees in a number of ways.

This study examined the orientations to cultural difference of sojourner educators in the Foundation Program at Qatar University to determine if orientations were correlated with select demographic and experiential variables, including gender, age, time overseas, education level, formative region, ethnic minority status, job position, length of time in Qatar, intercultural marriage, default language, formal teacher training, and overseas development organization experience. This study used a sequential mixed-method design. Perceived and Developmental Orientations were measured using the Intercultural Development Inventory© (V.3), which produced a measure of each respondent’s orientation to cultural difference. Focus group interviews were conducted to engage participants in explaining and interpreting the findings. Five focus groups of three to six participants each were conducted. Most of the teachers were found to operate from within the transitional orientation of Minimization, although individual scores ranged from Denial to Adaptation. On average, the educators were found to overestimate their orientations by 31 points. A positive correlation between orientation and formative region was found, with participants from North America showing the highest orientation. Statistically significant differences emerged for orientations when comparing Middle East and North African (MENA) and North American formative regions. Formative region was found to account for 4.8% of the variance in orientation and is a significant fit of the data. Focus groups participants speculated that (a) core differences regarding multiculturalism in MENA and North American cultures help explain the results, (b) aspects of the workplace culture and both the broader MENA and local Qatari culture encourage a sense of exclusion, and (c) external events further complicate cross-cultural relations. The study findings add to the literature by providing baseline orientation data on sojourner educators in post-secondary education in the GCC region, and by confirming some of the findings of similar studies. The study provides practitioners with suggestions for staffing and professional development. Future research should focus on the measurement of orientations in broader samples of educators, changes in orientation over time in Qatar and other cultural contexts, differences in orientation among short-term vs. long-term expatriates, the impact of employment systems and societal structures on orientations in sojourner educators, the impact of educator orientation to cultural difference on student achievement, and the design of effective cross-cultural professional development for educators.

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Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T18:50:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Apresentacao.pdf: 103220 bytes, checksum: c76acce6b0debd619e9db9533aa20f11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003-02-13 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico / The Topological Sensitivity Analysis results in a scalar function, denoted as Topological Derivative, that supplies for each point of the domain of definition of the problem the sensitivity of a given cost function when a small hole is created. However, when a hole is introduced, it is no longer possible to stablish a homeomorphism between the domains. Due to this mathematical difficulty the Topological Derivative may become restrictive, nevertheless be extremely general. Thus, in the present work it is proposed a new method to calculte the Topological Derivative via Shape Sensitivity Analysis. This result, formally proved through a theorem, leads to a simpler and more general methodology than the others found in the literature. The Topological Sensitivity Analysis is performed for several Engineering problems, and the obtained results are used to improve the design of mechanical devices by introducing holes. The same theory developed to calculate the Topological Derivative is used to determine the sensitivity of the cost function when a small incrustation is introduced in each position of the domain, resulting in a novel concept denoted as Configurational Sensitivity Analysis, being discussed some possible applications in the context of Inverse Problems and modelling of phenomena that experiment changes in the physical properties of the medium. Thus, the methodology developed in the present work results in a framework with potential applications in Topology Optimization, Inverse Problems and Mechanical Modelling, which may be seen, from now on, not only as a method to calculate the Topological Derivative, but as a promising research area in Computational Modelling. / A análise de Sensibilidade Topológica resulta em uma função escalar, denominada Derivada Topológica, que fornece para cada ponto do domínio de definição do problema a sensibilidade de uma dada função custo quando um pequeno furo é criado. No entanto, ao introduzir um furo, não é mais possível estabelecer um homeomorfismo entre os domínios envolvidos. Devido a essa dificuldade matemática a Derivada Topológica pode se tornar restritiva, não obstante seja extremamente geral. No presente trabalho, portanto, é proposto um novo método de cálculo da Derivada Topológica via Análise de Sensibilidade à Mudança de Forma. Este resultado, formalmente demonstrado através de um teorema, conduz a uma metodologia mais simples e geral do que as demais encontradas na literatura. A Análise de Sensibilidade Topológica é então realizada em diversos problemas da Engenharia e os resultados obtidos são empregados para melhorar o projeto de componentes mecânicos mediante a introdução de furos. A mesma teoria desenvolvida para calcular a Derivada Topológica é utilizada para determinar a sensibilidade da função custo ao introduzir uma pequena incrustação numa dada posição do domínio, resultando em um novo conceito denominado Análise de Sensibilidade Configuracional, sendo discutidas suas possíveis aplicações no contexto de Problemas Inversos e de modelagem de fenômenos que experimentam mudanças nas propriedades físicas do meio. Assim, a metodologia aqui desenvolvida é uma ferramenta em potencial tanto de Otimização Topológica quanto de Problemas Inversos e de Modelagem Mecânica, podendo ser vista, a partir de agora, não somente como um método de cálculo da Derivada Topológica, mas como uma promissora área de pesquisa em Modelagem Computacional.

Physical activity is a useful tool in the prevention of many diseases. Hospitalization after strenuous exercise from cardiac or noncardiac causes, even in young athletes without previous symptoms, can occur. These situations are not uncommon and e.g. after completing a half- marathon clinical symptoms suspicious from cardiac etiology can be present. Limitations of biomarkers used in daily clinical practice can lead to misinterpretation with additional consequences to the patient's outcome. Our goal was to describe changes of markers used in daily clinical practice after extreme physical activity and after exercise under laboratory conditions. We performed two studies in cooperation with Department of cardiology and Department of sports medicine. The goal of our first study was to examine high sensitivity troponin I (hsTnI), galectin-3, cystatin C, NGAL and ultrasensitive CRP (uCRP) after extremely long run during the competition in long distance running. The goal of our second study was to examine high- sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) and hsTnI, creatinine and cystatin C, and urine albumin and NGAL after a standardized two-hour treadmill run under laboratory conditions and to find possible connection with echocardiographic, laboratory and other assessed parameters. The second goal of study under laboratory...

The problem addressed in this project is the high attrition rate among English as Second Language (ESL) students in a local community college associate degree nursing program. If the retention problem is addressed, the increase in the number of ESL nursing student graduates could result in a more diverse nursing workforce, reflecting the diversity of the community. The purpose of this study was to examine student and faculty views regarding factors that contribute to the academic success and retention of ESL students. To that end, a qualitative case study approach was used, guided by the theoretical frameworks of Cummins's contextual interaction theory and Freire's and Mezirow's transformational learning theory. By using purposeful sampling, 8 ESL students and 5 faculty members were interviewed in both structured and unstructured interviews. The data were decoded using Nvivo computer software to establish themes and categories for analysis. The themes pointed to faculty lacking: (a) cultural awareness and sensitivity, (b) knowledge of the academic needs of ESL students, (c) knowledge of teaching strategies to accommodate the learning of ESL students, and (d) skills to prepare ESL students for what to expect. The findings led to creating a professional development workshop for faculty and led to recommending that the director and dean of the nursing program make it mandatory for faculty to continue their education on skills to improve academic success of ESL students. The findings suggest administrators should make cultural awareness competency compulsory. These efforts and faculty training may result in broader positive social change for ESL students and faculty, administrators, and the community, improving the number of graduating nurses to serve a diverse patient population.

Die vorliegende Arbeit umfaßt drei Abhandlungen, welche allgemein mit einer stochastischen Theorie für die Lyapunov-Exponenten befaßt sind. Mit Hilfe dieser Theorie werden universelle Skalengesetze untersucht, die in gekoppelten chaotischen und ungeordneten Systemen auftreten. <br /> <br /> Zunächst werden zwei zeitkontinuierliche stochastische Modelle für schwach gekoppelte chaotische Systeme eingeführt, um die Skalierung der Lyapunov-Exponenten mit der Kopplungsstärke ('coupling sensitivity of chaos') zu untersuchen. Mit Hilfe des Fokker-Planck-Formalismus werden Skalengesetze hergeleitet, die von Ergebnissen numerischer Simulationen bestätigt werden. <br /> <br /> Anschließend wird gezeigt, daß 'coupling sensitivity' im Fall gekoppelter ungeordneter Ketten auftritt, wobei der Effekt sich durch ein singuläres Anwachsen der Lokalisierungslänge äußert. Numerische Ergebnisse für gekoppelte Anderson-Modelle werden bekräftigt durch analytische Resultate für gekoppelte raumkontinuierliche Schrödinger-Gleichungen. Das resultierende Skalengesetz für die Lokalisierungslänge ähnelt der Skalierung der Lyapunov-Exponenten gekoppelter chaotischer Systeme. <br /> <br /> Schließlich wird die Statistik der exponentiellen Wachstumsrate des linearen Oszillators mit parametrischem Rauschen studiert. Es wird gezeigt, daß die Verteilung des zeitabhängigen Lyapunov-Exponenten von der Normalverteilung abweicht. Mittels der verallgemeinerten Lyapunov-Exponenten wird der Parameterbereich bestimmt, in welchem die Abweichungen von der Normalverteilung signifikant sind und Multiskalierung wesentlich wird. / This work incorporates three treatises which are commonly concerned with a stochastic theory of the Lyapunov exponents. With the help of this theory universal scaling laws are investigated which appear in coupled chaotic and disordered systems. <br /> <br /> First, two continuous-time stochastic models for weakly coupled chaotic systems are introduced to study the scaling of the Lyapunov exponents with the coupling strength (coupling sensitivity of chaos). By means of the the Fokker-Planck formalism scaling relations are derived, which are confirmed by results of numerical simulations. <br /> <br /> Next, coupling sensitivity is shown to exist for coupled disordered chains, where it appears as a singular increase of the localization length. Numerical findings for coupled Anderson models are confirmed by analytic results for coupled continuous-space Schrödinger equations. The resulting scaling relation of the localization length resembles the scaling of the Lyapunov exponent of coupled chaotic systems. <br /> <br /> Finally, the statistics of the exponential growth rate of the linear oscillator with parametric noise are studied. It is shown that the distribution of the finite-time Lyapunov exponent deviates from a Gaussian one. By means of the generalized Lyapunov exponents the parameter range is determined where the non-Gaussian part of the distribution is significant and multiscaling becomes essential.