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In recent years, collaboration between different companies especially global collaboration on oversea product development becomes more and more popular. Forming efficient product design team becomes an important concern for these companies. Team formation strategies not only consider team member's skills and availability, but also gender, race and cultural background. Personality traits are also increasingly considered when composing a team, based on the hypothesis that diversity in personality traits within a team will improve the team's ability to innovate (Park, 2014, Figure 6-3). Wilde released his 20-item psychological preference test together with his Teamology teaming strategy in 2008, with the assumption that its resulting reliability would be approximately 80% over time due to their similarity to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questions (Kirby et al, 2007). In this thesis, the overall test-retest reliability of Teamology instrument is proved good since consistency over time for all four Dimensions are higher than 80%. For each of the 20 items, some are considered not reliable with low consistency over time. Systematic change for consistency data over time is discussed as well, a tendency is figured out that for Dimension EI and SN, graduate participants tend to change their preference on dimension EI and SN over time, while no obvious change is shown for Dimension JP and TF. When the culture and language difference is concerned, all four dimensions have good consistency over time, which means language and culture difference will not affect the consistency of Teamology test score. Finally for Park Creativity Index and MBTI Creativity Index, the reliability over time is tested and judged acceptable with Pearson's correlation data of 0.528 and 0.516. / Master of Science

Yes / /Aims: Partial weight-bearing protocols are commonly incorporated into hospital, clinical and field-based rehabilitation to enhance recovery, particularly in patients following cartilage surgeries. Overloading can affect healing time and the stability or integrity of the healing structure, however underloading can also be detrimental, as adequate weight bearing encourages the healing process—for example, osteoblastic stimulation. Therefore, accurate reproducibility of these protocols could be considered essential to the rehabilitation process. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy with which weight-bearing protocols (20%, 50% or 80% of body weight) could be reproduced shortly after being taught. Methods: Thirty participants were taught three partial weight-bearing protocols (20%, 50% and 80% of body weight), using bathroom scales. Participants ability to reproduce their target load for each protocol was assessed statically using bathroom scales and dynamically with a force plate using a three-point elbow crutch-assisted gait. Participants were assessed 10 minutes after being taught. Errors between actual and target load during these trials was calculated. Findings: Accuracy assessed with scales was comparatively good for all target loads, however dynamic trials using the force plate showed an inverse relationship between all error measures and target loads (i.e. 20% > 50% > 80% body weight; all P<0.01). The peak error was double the intended load at 20% of body weight (95% CI: 11.9% body weight, 24.1% body weight). At 80% of body weight, the peak error was not significantly different from zero. Conclusions: The static method of instruction of partial weight-bearing protocols, using bathroom scales, does not seem to translate accurately to dynamic motion, and therefore affects adherence to medical instruction. Practitioners should be aware of the potential errors in reproducing these loads and the potential effect on rehabilitation. These results would suggest that practitioners should be cautious when using bathroom scales to teach partial weight-bearing protocols and not to rely on them to assess reproduction accuracy during gait

Yes / Partial weight bearing protocols are commonly incorporated into rehabilitation to enhance recovery. Patients are often prescribed protocols that refer to a percentage of their body weight, such as 20% weight bearing, that should be placed through the healing limb during activities such as walking (gait). In order to achieve these partial weight baring protocols patients are usually provided with walking aids such as crutches. Accurate reproducibility of and compliance with these protocols could be considered essential to the rehabilitation process, however poor reproducibility of partial weight bearing protocols during crutch assisted gait using a current method of instruction has been shown. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine whether a more dynamic method of partial weight bearing protocol instruction, was more accurately reproduced. Methods: In total, 16 participants were randomly allocated to one of two groups and were taught 20% partial weight bearing using two different methods of instruction. A participant’s ability to reproduce their target load using crutch assisted gait was assessed using a force plate. Findings: The mean error for the static method of instruction was significantly greater than the more dynamic method. Conclusion: As seen previously, the static method of instruction of partial weight bearing protocols, using bathroom scales, does not seem to translate accurately to dynamic motion; however, the more dynamic method assessed in this study appears to result in more accurate reproducibility.

Objective The purposes of the study were: (1) To evaluate the intrasession test-retest reliability of pure-tone thresholds measured in the 0.5–16 kHz frequency range for a group of otologically healthy subjects using Sennheiser HDA 200 circumaural and Etymotic Research ER-2 insert earphones and (2) to compare the data with existing criteria of significant threshold shifts related to ototoxicity and noise-induced hearing loss. Design Auditory thresholds in the frequency range from 0.5 to 6 kHz and in the extended high-frequency range from 8 to 16 kHz were measured in one ear of 138 otologically healthy subjects (77 women, 61 men; mean age, 24.4 yr; range, 12–51 yr) using HDA 200 and ER-2 earphones. For each subject, measurements of thresholds were obtained twice for both transducers during the same test session. For analysis, the extended high-frequency range from 8 to 16 kHz was subdivided into 8 to 12.5 and 14 to 16 kHz ranges. Data for each frequency and frequency range were analyzed separately. Results There were no significant differences in repeatability for the two transducer types for all frequency ranges. The intrasession variability increased slightly, but significantly, as frequency increased with the greatest amount of variability in the 14 to 16 kHz range. Analyzing each individual frequency, variability was increased particularly at 16 kHz. At each individual frequency and for both transducer types, intrasession test-retest repeatability from 0.5 to 6 kHz and 8 to 16 kHz was within 10 dB for >99% and >94% of measurements, respectively. The results indicated a false-positive rate of Conclusion Repeatability was similar for both transducer types. Intrasession test-retest repeatability from 0.5 to 12.5 kHz at each individual frequency including the frequency range susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss was excellent for both transducers. Repeatability was slightly, but significantly poorer in the frequency range from 14 to 16 kHz compared with the frequency ranges from 0.5 to 6 or 8 to 12.5 kHz. Measurements in the extended high-frequency range from 8 to 14 kHz, but not up to 16 kHz, may be recommended for monitoring purposes.

The purpose of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of digitally recorded word recognition materials. Word recognition testing is included in a complete audiological evaluation to measure an individual's ability to discriminate what they hear. A phonetically balanced list of 50 monosyllabic words was presented to each participant at four different sensation levels (SL) using the American Speech Language Hearing Association recommended protocol for word recognition score testing. Each participant took a 10 minute break before the test was readministered. Participants included 40 subjects with varying levels of hearing loss, from normal hearing to severe hearing loss. The test and retest scores of all participants were analyzed to estimate the test-retest reliability to be .65 at 10 dB SL, .87 at 20 dB SL, .88 at 30 dB SL, and .95 at 40 dB SL. It was concluded that the word lists have strong test-retest reliability at 20, 30, and 40 dB SL and that the reliability increases as the presentation level increases.

Despite the growing popularity and utilization of Curriculum-Based Measurement for assessing students’ academic skills and for progress monitoring, little attention has been devoted to the area of written expression. Very few studies have been conducted to assess test-retest reliability. Only three previous studies were identified that examined the test-retest reliability of written expression curriculum-based measures. To address this issue, the current study examined the test-retest reliability of five common scoring procedures with students in grades 2, 4, and 6. A one-week time interval was used. Results indicated that while test-retest correlations were statistically significant and often at a moderate to moderately strong level, three of the measures showed statistically significant mean differences between the two test administrations in grade 6. The implications of these results are discussed.

Tympanometry and acoustic stapedial reflex (ASR) are routinely used in audiology clinics to assess the functional integrity of the eardrum and middle ear system in humans. Conventional tympanometry (which delivers a probe tone of 226 Hz into the ear canal and measures the mobility of the eardrum as the air pressure in the ear canal is varied) and acoustic reflex testing are effective in detecting middle ear pathologies in children and adults. However, the clinical application of these two tests to infants younger than 7 months has major limitations. In recent years, high frequency tympanometry (HFT) with a probe tone of 1000 Hz has been trialled successfully in young infants (< 7 months) and research on ASRs as they apply to this age group is continuing. Although preliminary HFT data for this population are emerging, there has been no detailed study that describes the effect of age on HFT and ASR results, no clear guideline on ways to interpret the HFT results, and no investigation to measure the feasibility and reliability of the ASR findings. For these reasons, systematic investigation into the use of HFT and ASR measures for evaluating the middle ear function of young infants is warranted. This thesis aimed to: (i) investigate the feasibility of obtaining HFT and ASR findings from newborn and 6-week-old infants, and study the characteristics of the immittance findings in these two age groups; (ii) investigate methods within HFT to measure the middle ear admittance of newborn babies; (iii) establish normative HFT data from healthy newborn babies using the new component compensation method; (iv) examine the test-retest reliability of the ASR test in healthy neonates; and (v) investigate the test-retest reliability of the ASR test in 6-week-old infants. The aims of the thesis were met through five studies. In study one (Chapter 2), a pilot study was conducted to examine the feasibility of performing HFT and ASR in 42 healthy infants and study the characteristics of the immittance findings obtained from these infants using a longitudinal study design. In this pilot study, all infants were tested at birth and then re-tested approximately 6 weeks after the first test. This study confirmed the feasibility of obtaining valid immittance findings from healthy young infants. Most importantly, the findings of this pilot study revealed that the mean values of the majority of HFT parameters and acoustic stapedial reflex threshold (ASRT) obtained at 6 weeks were significantly greater than those obtained at birth, indicating the need to have separate sets of normative data for both tests for newborn and 6-week-old infants. In study 2 (Chapter 3), three different methods to measure middle ear admittance (often described as peak compensated static admittance) in 36 healthy neonates were compared. The three methods were the traditional baseline compensation method (compensated for the susceptance component at 200 daPa pressure) and two new component compensated methods (compensated for both the susceptance and conductance components at 200 daPa and -400 daPa). The results showed that the mean middle ear admittances obtained by compensating for the two components of admittance at a pressure of 200 daPa (YCC200) and -400 daPa (YCC-400) were significantly greater than that using the traditional baseline compensation method (YBC). The higher mean admittance results obtained using the new component compensated methods suggests that the two new methods have the potential to better separate normal from abnormal admittance results. The test-retest reliability of YBC, YCC200 and YCC-400 was investigated, with the result that a lower test-retest reliability was obtained for YCC-400 than for the other two measures. It was, therefore, concluded that the component compensation method compensated at 200 daPa may serve as an alternative method for estimating middle ear admittance, especially in the context of assessing neonates using HFT. In study 3 (Chapter 4), normative data were gathered using the new component compensation method (compensated at 200 daPa) on a group of 157 healthy newborn babies. In addition to the component compensated static admittance (YCC), normative data showing the 90 % ranges for tympanometric peak pressure, admittance at 200 daPa, uncompensated peak admittance, and traditional baseline compensated static admittance (YBC) were established in this study. No gender effect was found on any of the tympanometric measures. In study 4 (Chapter 5), the use of ASR to evaluate middle ear function in neonates was studied. The feasibility of obtaining ipsilateral ASR from neonates by stimulating their ears with a 2 kHz tone and broadband noise (BBN) was demonstrated. ASRs were elicited from 91.3% of 219 full-term normal neonates, while the remaining 8.7% of neonates who had flat tympanograms and no transient evoked otoacoustic emissions did not exhibit ASRs. Good test-retest reliability was demonstrated in the ASRT obtained using both the 2 kHz and BBN stimulus; there was no significant difference between test and retest conditions and intra-correlation coefficients of 0.83 for the 2 kHz tone and 0.76 for the BBN stimulus. In the last study (Chapter 6), the test-retest reliability of ASRT obtained from 70 6-week-old infants was investigated. The methodology described in Chapter 5 was followed. No significant difference in ASRT between test and retest conditions was found for the 2 kHz tone (mean ASRT = 67.3 dB HL versus 67.1 dB HL) and BBN stimulus (mean ASRT = 80.9 dB HL versus 81.6 dB HL). Good test-retest reliability of ASRT with intra-correlation coefficients of 0.78 was found for both the 2 kHz tone and the BBN stimulus. In essence, through achieving the aforementioned aims, the current research program was able to enhance the minimal literature available concerning the use of HFT and ASR testing in young infants. Ultimately, the findings presented in this thesis will inform clinicians of the recent developments in HFT and ASR testing, and assist them in evaluating the middle ear function of young infants with accuracy and confidence.

Bakgrund: Nacksmärta är ett vanligt förekommande besvär och en av de främsta orsakerna till att söka vård hos fysioterapeut. Nackbesvär kan leda till förändringar i proprioception, både medveten och omedveten, vilket kan leda till en nedsatt balans. Undersökning av omedveten proprioception har gjorts genom att mäta posturalt svaj vid stimulering av muskelspolar via lokala muskelvibratorer i tidigare studier. Ingen studie har dock undersökt reliabiliteten vid stimulering av nack- och vadmuskler hos personer med respektive utan nacksmärta   Syfte: Studiens syfte var att utvärdera inter-day reliabilitet för posturalt svaj hos personer med eller utan nacksmärta genom att mäta CoP på WBB där deltagarna ges vibrationer på vader, nacke respektive underarmar.   Metod: 50 deltagare deltog i studien, 25 deltagare med nacksmärta och 25 friska kontroller. Deltagarnas CoP mättes på en WBB där deltagarnas förändring av CoP mättes innan, under och efter att vibrationer getts på vader, underarmar respektive nacken. Deltagarna testades vid två tillfällen med 7 dagars mellanrum. ICC2,1 användes för att beräknade relativ reliabilitet. Ett ICC-värde ≥ 0,75 bedöms som god reliabilitet. Absolut reliabilitet beräknades med SEM. Beroende t-test utfördes för att undersöka eventuell systematisk bias såsom adaptioner eller inlärningseffekter mellan testtillfälle 1och 2.   Resultat: Studiens resultat uppvisade en måttlig till utmärkt relativ reliabilitet (ICC = 0,69 - 0,89) för A/P amplituden för hela gruppen och SEM-värden var mellan 0,51 - 1,17 vilket utgör ca 20 - 30% av medelvärdet för de flesta svajvariablerna. En signifikant inlärningseffekt kunde ses för både A/P och M/L amplituden vid vibration av vadmuskulaturen (p = 0,015 - 0,017).   Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på en acceptabel reliabilitet och testmetoden kan användas i såväl forskning som klinisk användning vid undersökning av posturalt svaj med eller utan vibration. / Background: Neck pain is a common occurrence and one of the main reasons for seeking care at a physiotherapist. Neck disorders can lead to changes in proprioception, both conscious and unconscious, which can lead to a reduced balance. Investigation of unconscious proprioception has been done by measuring postural sway in the stimulation of muscle spindles via local muscle vibrators in previous studies. However, no study has investigated the reliability of stimulation of neck and calf muscles in people with or without neck pain   Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate inter-day reliability on postural sway in people with or without neck pain by measuring CoP on WBB where participants receive vibration on the calf, neck and forearms.   Method: 50 participants participated in the study, 25 participants with neck pain and 25 healthy controls. Participants change of CoP was measured before, during and after vibration was given to calf, forearm and neck. Participants were tested on two occasions at 7-day intervals. ICC2,1 was used to calculate relative reliability. An ICC value ≥ 0.75 is considered to be good reliability. Absolute reliability was calculated with SEM. Dependent t-test was performed to investigate any systematic bias such as adaptations or learning effects between test 1 and 2.   Results: The results of the study showed a moderate to excellent relative reliability (ICC = 0.69 - 0.89) for the A/P amplitude and SEM values ​​were between 0.51 - 1.17 which represents about 20-30% of the mean for most sway variables. A significant learning effect could be seen for both the A/P and M/L amplitude in vibration of the calf muscles (p = 0.015-0.017).   Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrate acceptable reliability and the test method can be used in research and clinical to investigate postural sway with or without vibration.

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