Background Nurses complete tasks during patient care to promote the recovery, or to maintain the health, of patients. These tasks can be routine or non-routine to the nurse. Non-routine tasks are characterized by unfamiliarity, requiring nurses to seek additional information from a variety of sources to effectively complete the tasks. Nurses’ perception of their problem-solving skills, as characterized by the attributes of personal control, problem-solving confidence, and avoidance-approach style, influences how information is sought. Objectives/Research Questions Guided by the information-seeking behaviour model, this study was designed to: (1) examine how the non-routineness of the task affects nurses’ information-seeking behaviour and the use of accumulated knowledge; and, (2) explore nurses’ perception of their problem-solving abilities. Methods An exploratory cross-sectional survey design was used. A random sample of critical care nurses who worked in a hospital setting were selected from the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) research participant database. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the proposed relationships. Results Avoidance-approach style and, problem-solving confidence did not have a significant relationship with nurses’ information-seeking behaviour. None of the variables explained use of accumulated knowledge (F = 0.902, p > 0.05). Previous training (p = 0.008), Non-routineness of the task (p = 0.018), and Personal control (p = 0.040) had a positive relationship with information-seeking behaviour (Adjusted R2 = 0.136). Implications The study results provide evidence that problem-solving ability, and in particular the attribute of personal control, influences nurses’ information-seeking behaviour during the completion of nursing tasks. They reveal how information is sought from resources, and what specific information resources are necessary to promote access to, and use of, evidence-based information. The results also help direct efforts towards training nurses in issues related to problem-solving and information-seeking by targeting the development of personal control and retrieving evidence-based information.

The current research sets out to demonstrate a comprehensive approach to validate complex human performance models as applied to time-sensitive tasks. This document is divided into 4 sections. Section 1 (Chapters 1 – 3) outlines previous efforts in the literature that have attempted to validate complex human performance models in the field with an emphasis on manual control models, task network models, cognitive models and integrated architectures. Section 2 (Chapters 4 – 7) elaborates on a validation approach and applies it to a baseline model of a complex task in the air traffic control domain. Section 3 (Chapters 7-12) outlines the importance of adopting an iterative model development-model validation process and reports on the three model iterations in an attempt to improve the validity of the baseline model. Each model augmentation was validated using the same validation approach and measures that were defined in Section 2. Section 4 (Chapters 13-14) provides a discussion and interpretation of the model results and highlights contributions to the field of both model validation and the field of human performance modelling of complex systems.

In Canada, as baby boomers age, there will be an increase in the percentage of seniors within the general population (Statistics Canada, 2006). Seniors often have difficulty in performing certain everyday tasks and have greater risk of having health issues. As such, it becomes increasingly important to understand factors that pose difficulty for this group of people. As people get older, many visual functions such as visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and glare are known to deteriorate (Haegerstrom-Portnoy, 2005). However, when considering activities that aid mobility such as driving and walking, vision related variables are not the only ones that create difficulty for older individuals. A sensory variable such as attention, in conjunction with vision, has been shown in previous studies to be a good predictor of difficulties encountered by the elderly (McGwin, Owsley, & Ball, 1998; Owsley, McGwin, Sloane, Stalvey, & Wells, 2001). Moreover, inattention and distraction seem to be common causes of automobile accidents as well as falls. The work load imposed on the working memory can impact distractibility and inattention. In mobility related activities such as driving and walking, individuals perceive objects that are increasing in size. Experiments were designed to investigate the factors that affect the perception of targets that are enlarging in size. Size matching of expanding targets to a previously presented static target, was investigated in a group of younger participants with normal vision using central or peripheral vision. The results show that size estimates differ depending on whether the target appears in the central visual field or in the periphery. The participants respond faster to targets that appear in the periphery compared to those in the centre/midline. In the subsequent set of experiments we compared the performance of younger and older participants using a dual task paradigm where individuals had to perform two tasks concurrently, one of which was to match the size of an enlarging target. Attention was modulated in the dual tasks by varying the difficulty of the secondary task. It has been found that older individuals have difficulty processing multiple visual tasks or performing multiple tasks in general (Pashler, 1994a, 1994b, 1998; Verhaeghen et al., 2003). Compared to younger individuals, older individuals were found to have greater performance difficulty in the highly demanding dual tasks. These results are compared to those observed in studies of psychological refractory period effects. The differences between the young and older individuals are discussed with respect to limited capacity and bottle neck models of attention. Furthermore, eye movement measures in the dual tasks seem to provide evidence of difficulty in task switching for the older observers. The thesis also investigated the functional field of view of younger and older individuals. By assessing the functional field of view (FFOV) using a method employed earlier by Coeckelbergh et al., (2004a), significant overall age related differences were found. Multiple characteristics of what might affect the FFOV as measured by the attended field of view (AFOV) were also investigated (e.g., impact of a pop out distracter and divided attention). It was found that differences between the two age groups occurred in all conditions. The presence of irrelevant distracters had a greater impact on the older individuals compared to the younger group, whereas divided attention or the presence of the pop out distracter did not affect either age group. Attention processing seemed to be similar for both the younger and older individuals and, therefore, the differences between the age groups appear to be at a quantitative level rather than a qualitative level.

Since the mid 90s, an increasing number of researchers have adopted a sociocultural theory (SCT) of mind to investigate the social and cognitive functions of language during learner-learner interaction (Lantolf & Thorne, 2007). Researchers from an SCT perspective have identified that first languages (L1s) serve important cognitive functions (Alegría de la Colina & García Mayo, 2009; Storch & Aldosari, 2010). Swain and colleagues (Swain, 1995; Swain & Lapkin, 1995, 1998) have also illustrated that languaging, a form of verbalization, facilitates the completion of complex linguistic tasks which leads to second language (L2) development (Swain, Brooks, & Tocalli-Beller, 2002). Moreover, researchers have found that task type impacts language development (Storch & Aldosari, 2010; Storch & Wigglesworth, 2003; Swain & Lapkin, 2001). Due to the growing number of multilingual learners in the world today (Hammarberg, 2010), researchers need to expand the scope of the research to include the role(s) of native and nonnative languages on third language (L3) development. Thus, the purpose of the current multiple case study was to investigate the specific mediating functions of multilingual learners’ languages during four types of collaborative tasks and to explore the relationship between languaging and L3 development. A 16-week classroom-based study was conducted in a university French as a foreign language classroom in Mexico with four focal participants. The language produced during learner-learner interaction was examined using three types of analysis: (1) each turn was coded for language and for their specific functions; (2) each Language-Related Episode (LRE) was coded for type and for resolution; and (3) accuracy on individual tailor-made posttest items. Findings uncovered a complex picture of task type effects on the specific mediating functions of language as well as complementary functions of L1 and L3 mediation. Results from the analysis of LREs show that task type impacts the occurrence and resolution of LREs. Accuracy scores from the posttests suggest that L1 and L3 mediation promotes L3 development. Findings are in line with the focal participants’ beliefs. The findings that languages serve various social and cognitive functions during task completion are discussed in light of current ideas from an SCT perspective.

In Canada, as baby boomers age, there will be an increase in the percentage of seniors within the general population (Statistics Canada, 2006). Seniors often have difficulty in performing certain everyday tasks and have greater risk of having health issues. As such, it becomes increasingly important to understand factors that pose difficulty for this group of people. As people get older, many visual functions such as visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and glare are known to deteriorate (Haegerstrom-Portnoy, 2005). However, when considering activities that aid mobility such as driving and walking, vision related variables are not the only ones that create difficulty for older individuals. A sensory variable such as attention, in conjunction with vision, has been shown in previous studies to be a good predictor of difficulties encountered by the elderly (McGwin, Owsley, & Ball, 1998; Owsley, McGwin, Sloane, Stalvey, & Wells, 2001). Moreover, inattention and distraction seem to be common causes of automobile accidents as well as falls. The work load imposed on the working memory can impact distractibility and inattention. In mobility related activities such as driving and walking, individuals perceive objects that are increasing in size. Experiments were designed to investigate the factors that affect the perception of targets that are enlarging in size. Size matching of expanding targets to a previously presented static target, was investigated in a group of younger participants with normal vision using central or peripheral vision. The results show that size estimates differ depending on whether the target appears in the central visual field or in the periphery. The participants respond faster to targets that appear in the periphery compared to those in the centre/midline. In the subsequent set of experiments we compared the performance of younger and older participants using a dual task paradigm where individuals had to perform two tasks concurrently, one of which was to match the size of an enlarging target. Attention was modulated in the dual tasks by varying the difficulty of the secondary task. It has been found that older individuals have difficulty processing multiple visual tasks or performing multiple tasks in general (Pashler, 1994a, 1994b, 1998; Verhaeghen et al., 2003). Compared to younger individuals, older individuals were found to have greater performance difficulty in the highly demanding dual tasks. These results are compared to those observed in studies of psychological refractory period effects. The differences between the young and older individuals are discussed with respect to limited capacity and bottle neck models of attention. Furthermore, eye movement measures in the dual tasks seem to provide evidence of difficulty in task switching for the older observers. The thesis also investigated the functional field of view of younger and older individuals. By assessing the functional field of view (FFOV) using a method employed earlier by Coeckelbergh et al., (2004a), significant overall age related differences were found. Multiple characteristics of what might affect the FFOV as measured by the attended field of view (AFOV) were also investigated (e.g., impact of a pop out distracter and divided attention). It was found that differences between the two age groups occurred in all conditions. The presence of irrelevant distracters had a greater impact on the older individuals compared to the younger group, whereas divided attention or the presence of the pop out distracter did not affect either age group. Attention processing seemed to be similar for both the younger and older individuals and, therefore, the differences between the age groups appear to be at a quantitative level rather than a qualitative level.

Research shows that policing is mostly sedentary but physically and mentally demanding tasks occur and that policing includes factors like police inherent stress which may impair the health of police officers. Research has also found that physical exercise can play an important part for coping with these negative elements associated with policing. The overall purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about the importance of physical exercise for policemen. The study is based on five semi-structured interviews with police officer’s working with emergency response. The result shows that physical exercise had importance for the tasks performed during emergency responses, the police officer’s health as well as short- and longterm mental factors like reduced stress. The result also showed that the demands of policing had impacts on the officer’s exercise and it also demonstrated that the policemen didn’t exercise during work hours mostly due to regulations and organizational barriers.

In this thesis, we define a new problem area for assembly lines. In the literature, there are various studies on assembly line balancing, but none of them consider multi-manned tasks, task to which at least two operators have to be assigned. Two mathematical models and one constraint programming model are developed for both Type-I and Type-II ALB problems. The objective of Type-I problem is to minimize the number of stations whereas the objective of Type-II problem is to minimize the cycle time. In addition to this, valid inequalities are introduced to make models more efficient. Moreover, heuristic algorithms for both types are developed for large-sized problems. All formulations are applied to a real case study and then experimental analysis are conducted for all formulations to see the effects of problem parameters on performance measures. Exact models are compared each other and performance of heuristic algorithms are compared against the lower bounds.

This study mainly aimed at investigating the academic writing needs and writing self-efficacy beliefs of graduate students studying at an English-medium university, Ankara. Furthermore, such areas that have a crucial role in determining writing needs as the frequency of writing tasks, usefulness of written sources, perceived importance of academic writing, and role of Turkish while writing were explored. In this study, quantitative data via &ldquo / Academic Writing Needs Assessment Survey for Graduate Students&rdquo / were collected from 213 graduate students enrolled at Graduate School of Social Sciences. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression analyses were employed to analyze the data. The results of descriptive statistics indicated that the graduate students need a wider vocabulary repertoire in order to cope with the challenges of academic writing and they are mostly assigned longer research papers. In addition, using journal articles published in the area of specialization during writing was the most common method and more than half of the graduate students stated that when stuck with finding the right word, they first look for a Turkish word first. The exploratory factor analysis produced two factors and the regression analyses were carried out. The results yielded that the predictors accounted for 24% of the variance in productivity-related academic writing needs, and 22% of the variance in accuracy-related academic writing needs. For the productivity-related academic writing needs, writing self-efficacy and academic status made a significant contribution and for the accuracy-related academic writing needs, writing self-efficacy and English proficiency exam score were significant.

Including domain rules and generalities (principles) in instructions for procedural tasks is believed to help learners understand the task domain (or the system), and in turn make them better able to complete tasks. However, equivocal results of prior research indicate that principles are not always beneficial. The goal of the current research was to delineate the characteristics of the conditions under which principles are useful. In two studies I investigated the impact of the timing of principle use, the method used to study the principles, and the specificity of the procedural instructions accompanying the principles. The first study showed that the timing of principle use (studying the principles before, during, or after completing training tasks) did not affect declarative (knowledge of the system) or procedural learning (troubleshooting task performance). Therefore, the commonly advocated idea that principles should be provided before task engagement was not supported. Neither was the hypothesis that using principles while solving tasks would enhance procedural learning. When learners summarized the principles, they demonstrated better declarative learning compared to when they just read the principles. Better declarative learning was associated with better procedural learning, but the relationship between understanding and using a system is likely not as direct as often assumed. In the second study declarative and procedural learning were enhanced when the principles were accompanied by general rather than detailed procedural instructions. General procedural instructions appeared to encourage task engagement and the effective use of principles although this effect was reduced if leaners were required to summarize the principles rather than simply read them. Together the results of the two studies reveal how the learning situation and instructional materials can be constructed to create conditions where principles enhance learning and subsequent performance.

Includes vita. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 160 pages. / Thesis (PH.D.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: This study describes in-class and home literacy events that occur when students work in groups to create web pages as evidence of learning the academic content that was presented within a fourth grade classroom. The constructivist approach to learning was the underpinning idea examined as well as its connection to technology and group work. Data were collected in a variety of ways to obtain a picture, as comprehensive as possible, of the oral, listening, viewing, and written on-task communication and interactions that occurred. As the in-class and home literacy events emerged, the competencies and strategies that students used while interacting with traditional text were uncovered. These events encompass the strategies that the students used after they encountered the text and had to modify it for one reason or another. / ABSTRACT: These literacy events illustrate how the Internet supports reading and writing in the elementary classroom when it is utilized as a tool for promoting instruction. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.