Både ospecifik akut- och kronisk ländryggssmärta (LBP) är stora problem världen över, både för den generella populationen och elitidrottare. Elitidrottare ställs för höga fysiska påfrestningar som kan påverka LBP. I studien undersöks prevalens av LBP hos elithandbollsspelare samt eventuella samband mellan enskilda variabler såsom exempelvis träningsmängd och spelpositioner och LBP hos elithandbollsspelare. Utöver detta undersöks även spelarnas bedömning av huruvida LBP påverkar deltagandet i idrotten. En webbaserad enkät skickades ut till elitklubbar i Handbollsligan, SHE och Allsvenskan. I studien deltog 91 individer, 46 män och 45 kvinnor. Frågorna i enkäten behandlade prevalens av LBP samt variabler som kan ha ett samband med LBP. Totalt hade 77% besvärats av LBP och 40% av dessa lider av kronisk LBP. En högre medianålder var signifikant associerat med LBP (p=0,044). Inga signifikanta skillnader syntes i fördelningstester mellan prevalent LBP och spelstil (kvinnor p=0,6 män p=0,4 totalt p=0,8), LBP och anfallsposition (kvinnor p=0,8 män p=0,3 totalt p=0,5), LBP och försvarsposition (kvinnor p=0,2 män p=0,8 totalt p=0,7). Logistisk regression påvisade inget signifikant samband mellan träningsmängd och LBP (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,574, CI 0,296 – 1,11). Justering för ålder påverkade inte oddsen för LBP nämnvärt (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,581, CI 0,294 – 1,14). Det syntes en stor diskrepans i huruvida spelarna missade träning och matcher jämfört med hur LBP påverkade deltagandet överlag. Inga signifikanta samband mellan spelstil, spelposition eller träningsmängd och LBP påvisades i studien. Det visas dock att LBP är vanligt förekommande inom svensk elithandboll men att deltagarantalet var för litet för att dra säkra slutsatser kring detta. / Both unspecific acute and chronic low-back pain (LBP) are global problems in the general public aswell as elite athletes. Elite-athletes are exposed to high physical demands which could affect LBP. This study investigated the prevalence of LBP in elite-handballers, associations between LBP and several variables such as handball-sessions/week and playing-position. Secondly, the study investigated if LBP impedes on players participation within sport. A web-based survey was sent to elite-clubs in Sweden’s highest divisions; Handbollsligan, SHE, Allsvenskan. A total of 91 players participated, 46 men and 45 women. The survey-questions investigated the prevalence of LBP and variables which could be associated with LBP. A total of 77% stated issues with LBP, 40% of these suffers from chronic LBP. A higher median age were associated with LBP (p=044). No statistical significance was found in Chi-2 tests between prevalent LBP and style of play (women p=0,6 men p=0,6 total p=0,8), LBP and offensive-position (women p=0,8 Men p=0,3 total p=0,5), LBP and defensive-position (women p=0,2 men p=0,8 total p=0,7). No significant association was found between handball-sessions/week and LBP (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,574, CI 0,296 – 1,11). Adjustment for age did not affect the outcome mentionably (p=0,1, odds-ratio 0,581, CI 0,294 – 1,14). Many players experienced that LBP affected their participation overall but few missed matches and training because of LBP. No significant association between style of play, playing-position or handball-sessions and LBP was found. LBP is common in swedish elite-handballers, but the number of participants were too low to state this for certain.

In New Zealand the development and promotion of sporting events is becoming increasingly popular, due in part to the role of sport in building the nation's identity, the economic benefits, and a growing awareness of the importance of health and fitness within the community. Given this increased popularity it is important that the impacts of these events upon the local 'host' communities be understood. Social impacts have been given more and more attention in recent years by event researchers, due to the recognition that the long term sustainability of such events can only be achieved with the approval and participation of residents. This research addresses these issues in the context of Taupo, New Zealand using the case of Ironman New Zealand.This thesis adopts a mixed method approach using interviews (n=7), participant observation, and a web-survey (n=111). The findings confirm that it is vital to investigate and understand impacts of events on host communities. The findings are also consistent with theories identified in the literature in terms of the nature of social impacts on host communities. The overall results indicate that residents are aware of both the positive and negative impacts of Ironman New Zealand. Respondents highlight positive impacts such as economic benefits, exposure of Taupo, community togetherness, and the encouragement of sports, yet they also recognize negative impacts such as inconvenience from traffic congestion, and road closures. Accordingly, the community was grouped into three distinct clusters with positive, negative and ambivalent perceptions, and were labelled 'Lovers', 'Pessimists' and 'Realists'. The findings further suggest that the use of web-surveying for community research is still in its infancy and needs further development enabling it to be used as an effective tool. Finally it is proposed that small to medium scale sporting event hosted in regional communities may contribute to a sense of community and to the creation of social capital. Further research is needed to confirm this proposition.

In New Zealand the development and promotion of sporting events is becoming increasingly popular, due in part to the role of sport in building the nation's identity, the economic benefits, and a growing awareness of the importance of health and fitness within the community. Given this increased popularity it is important that the impacts of these events upon the local 'host' communities be understood. Social impacts have been given more and more attention in recent years by event researchers, due to the recognition that the long term sustainability of such events can only be achieved with the approval and participation of residents. This research addresses these issues in the context of Taupo, New Zealand using the case of Ironman New Zealand.This thesis adopts a mixed method approach using interviews (n=7), participant observation, and a web-survey (n=111). The findings confirm that it is vital to investigate and understand impacts of events on host communities. The findings are also consistent with theories identified in the literature in terms of the nature of social impacts on host communities. The overall results indicate that residents are aware of both the positive and negative impacts of Ironman New Zealand. Respondents highlight positive impacts such as economic benefits, exposure of Taupo, community togetherness, and the encouragement of sports, yet they also recognize negative impacts such as inconvenience from traffic congestion, and road closures. Accordingly, the community was grouped into three distinct clusters with positive, negative and ambivalent perceptions, and were labelled 'Lovers', 'Pessimists' and 'Realists'. The findings further suggest that the use of web-surveying for community research is still in its infancy and needs further development enabling it to be used as an effective tool. Finally it is proposed that small to medium scale sporting event hosted in regional communities may contribute to a sense of community and to the creation of social capital. Further research is needed to confirm this proposition.

This study investigated teacher supervision methods in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the absence of state mandated requirements. The literature supports the use of formative and summative feedback, multiple data sources and methods, collaboration between teacher and supervisor, professional growth goals linked to school improvement, and measures of student learning.A web-based questionnaire was used to survey 229 public elementary school teachers across Virginia regarding which teacher supervision methods are used, teacher perception toward those methods, and whether teacher perceptions vary with the method, supervisor's leadership style, or teacher characteristics. The data suggest that a majority of school division supervision programs in Virginia used formative and summative methods with an emphasis on formative, and multiple data sources that measures of student learning and standardized test scores. A majority of supervision programs also emphasize collaboration between supervisor and teacher, and individual professional growth goals. Weak to moderate correlations and significant differences were found between measures of the dependent variable, teacher perceptions of supervision, and measures of the independent variable, method of supervision and aspects of the supervisor's leadership style.

Bakgrund: Primär total höftplastik utförs vanligtvis på patienter med höftledsartros när konservativ behandlings smärtlindrande effekter inte är tillräckliga. Efter ingreppet kan postoperativa rörelserestriktioner tillämpas för att minska luxationsrisken. Rörelserestriktionerna har emellertid ifrågasatts då studier visat att något samband mellan tillämpande av restriktioner och minskad risk för luxation inte föreligger. Syfte: Kartlägga tillämpande av postoperativa rörelserestriktioner vid svenska sjukhus som genomför primär total höftplastik med direktlateralt snitt samt undersöka skillnader mellan universitets-/regionsjukhus, länssjukhus, länsdelssjukhus och privatsjukhus avseende tillämpandet av restriktioner. Studien syftade även till att kartlägga icke-standardiserade restriktioner. Metod: Tvärsnittsstudie med en deskriptiv och komparativ studiedesign. Totalt svarade 42 sjukhus på en egenkonstruerad webbenkät som utgjorde underlaget för datainsamlingen. Resultat: Vilka postoperativa restriktioner som tillämpades för flexion över 90°, utåtrotation över 45°, inåtrotation över 45°, adduktion över neutralläge samt flexion över 90° kombinerat med samtidig rotation och adduktion varierade på de deltagande sjukhusen. Det förelåg inga signifikanta skillnader mellan sjukhusgrupperna gällande nämnda rörelser. Flera sjukhus tillämpade icke-standardiserade restriktioner baserade på patients individuella förutsättningar samt kunde variera beroende på protestyp. Även rekommendationer om att undvika extrema rörelser förekom. Konklusion: Det är en variation gällande vilka restriktioner som tillämpas efter primär total höftplastik. Med hänsyn till denna studies resultat samt aktuell evidens bör postoperativa restriktioner fortsatt diskuteras. / Background: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is commonly performed on patients with hip osteoarthritis when conservative treatment no longer reliefs pain sufficiently. Movement restrictions are applied to prevent hip dislocations, although those have recently been questioned since studies have shown that a liberal regimen does not increase the risk of hip dislocation. Purpose: To chart movement restrictions following THA performed with a direct lateral approach at Swedish hospitals and analyzes differences in those between university hospital, county hospitals, district hospitals and private hospitals. This study also aimed to chart non- standardized movement restrictions. Method: A cross-sectional study with a descriptive and comparative design. Data was collected from a self-made web survey, which was answered by 42 hospitals. Results: The appliance of restrictions regarding flexion beyond 90°, external rotation beyond 45°, internal rotation beyond 45°, adduction beyond centerline and flexion of 90° or beyond combined with adduction and rotation varied among the participating hospitals. There were no significant differences between participating hospital groups regarding mentioned movements. Non-standardized restrictions were influenced by the individual factors of the patient as well as the prosthesis type. Patients were also recommended to not perform any extreme movements. Conclusion: There is a variation regarding appliance of postoperative restrictions during the first six weeks postoperatively. In the light of the results of this study, together with recent evidence postoperative, restrictions should be further discussed.

Many users have such experience that after downloading or buying a software product, it does not work well as you anticipated. However, it is lucky to some extent because many other users download malicious software applications from Internet directly. Those problems cause people to think carefully and seriously about reputation of software. As it is said, the software reputation is very important for users to buy or use software applications, especially for those people who have very few knowledge of computer technologies. Many researches provided various kinds of technical methods to verify whether a software product has good reputation or not. This paper mainly focuses on software reputation research based on user experience. Nowadays, one effective way to evaluate experience of users is Web Survey, which has increased in popularity because of its convenience, ease of use, low cost, and quickness in knowing the result of a survey. Web survey is widely used to gather user opinions on various purposes. However, most such systems are too weak to keep reliability, and sometimes with a complete fallacious result. After introducing a number of methodologies, we present a concept design of more reliable web survey system based on user experience of software products that are under estimation. Development tools and some web technologies are discussed, such as PHP and JavaScript that will be used in implementing the web survey system based on concept design of this paper in the future. PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a simple and practical dynamic web page development language, and it is widely used as a multipurpose scripting language embedded in HTML (Hypertext Marked Language). JavaScript is a scripting language and is primarily used in the client-side for development of dynamic websites. Therefore, these two technologies are proper to be applied. In order to solve the defined research problems, only proposing a method of web survey is not sufficient. The more significant point is reliability of that designed system. Therefore, Digital Signature technology is introduced and described, which will be used for user verification in the system for strengthening reliability of the web survey. The digital signature is widely used in electronic commerce, and it can authenticate one user’s identity effectively. Another important technology that can increase the reliability of comments from users is Reading Registry. As the “Windows” system is the most popular operation system on personal computers today, we choose to study it in this paper. The registry is a basic database of windows system that records every software applications’ information there. So by reading the information in registry, it is easily known whether a user’s comment is valid or not. If the registry records the under estimation software, it means that user indeed used the software and his/her comments are worth consideration, otherwise the comments are too untruthful to be accepted. Although the web survey system is presented and illustrated by using concept design of this paper, a series of scenarios have been designed to test the real processes of the system. Three main series of scenarios were designed corresponding to digital signature method, registry check method and reputation calculation process respectively. After analyzing the process, those applied methods do strengthen the reliability of the web survey system. Admittedly, there are problems that are not under the control of the system. In the future work, we will carry on studies on them.

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Transportation agencies engage in extensive data collection activities in order to support their decision processes at various levels. However, not all the data collected supply transportation officials with useful information for efficient and effective decision-making. This thesis presents research aimed at formally identifying links between data collection and the supported decision processes. The research objective identifies existing relationships between Asset Management data collection and the decision processes to be supported by them, particularly in the project selection level. It also proposes a framework for effective and efficient data collection. The motivation of the project was to help transportation agencies optimize their data collection processes and cut down data collection and management costs. The methodology used entailed two parts: a comprehensive literature review that collected information from various academic and industrial sources around the world (mostly from Europe, Australia and Canada) and the development of a web survey that was e-mailed to specific expert individuals within the 50 U.S. Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and Puerto Rico. The electronic questionnaire was designed to capture state officials' experience and practice on: asset management endorsement and implementation; data collection, management and integration; decision-making levels and decision processes; and identified relations between decision processes and data collection. The responses obtained from the web survey were analyzed statistically and combined with the additional resources in order to develop the proposed framework and recommendations. The results of this research are expected to help transportation agencies and organizations not only reduce costs in their data collection but also make more effective project selection decisions. / Master of Science

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vasiliki Evangelou Calliyeris.pdf: 1496420 bytes, checksum: a342b524a305e962cb1286f267c52268 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-23 / This work has as objective analyze comparatively the respondents profile and the results obtained by two different data collection approaches: by internet (online) and face to face at home (offline). The criteria selected for this comparison were the response return rate for both methods, the answers quality obtained on the attributes evaluation questions and the results on habits and attitudes of the selected samples. The first two chosen criteria refer to a topic very discussed in the academy that is the relationship between the respondent and the electronic data collection method, on which is believed to be uncontrolled, causing low access rate and also compromising the quality of data collected. The last criteria selected refers to another theme approached by academics which is the respondents profile that both data collection methods reach, which is believed to be distinctive and in consequence, provides differences in consumption behavior of the approached targets. To reach the proposed objectives, initially some in depth exploratory interviews were conducted with executives of research institutes acting in Brazil, aiming to understand their point of view regarding the capability of the online research method. Subsequently a quantitative study was conducted through two data collection methods, electronic by internet and face to face at home, with two different samples, which results were compared. The hypotheses were confirmed once there were differences in answers return rates, bias on attributes evaluation caused by one of the targets and also differences in both social-demographic profiles that reflected in discriminant consumption habits and attitudes. This work is justified in a way that it presents a current and controversial subject in the academy and in the business world, which focus is debate the replace of the traditional date collection methods by the contemporary one by internet, or even its complementarity, in a moment that the virtual network is increasing its penetration in the relationship company-consumer / O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar comparativamente o perfil dos respondentes e os resultados advindos de duas abordagens distintas de coleta de dados: via internet (online) e via presencial face a face domiciliar (offline). Os critérios selecionados para essa comparação foram o índice de retorno das respostas de ambos os métodos, a qualidade das respostas obtidas nas baterias de avaliação de atributos e os resultados de comportamento e atitudes das amostras selecionadas. Os dois primeiros critérios escolhidos referem-se a um tema muito discutido na academia que é a relação do respondente com o método de coleta eletrônico, sobre a qual acredita-se não haver controle, o que pode ocasionar um baixo índice de adesão e também comprometer a qualidade dos dados coletados. O último critério selecionado refere-se a outro tema muito debatido que é o perfil de respondente que ambos os métodos de coleta alcançam, que acredita-se ser distinto e, em consequência, reproduz diferenças de comportamento de consumo e de atitudes entre os dois públicos abordados. Para se alcançar os objetivos propostos, em primeiro lugar foram realizadas entrevistas em profundidade exploratórias com executivos de institutos de pesquisa atuantes no Brasil, com o intuito de se entender seus pontos de vista em relação à aplicabilidade do método de coleta online. Posteriormente, conduziu-se um estudo quantitativo por meio de dois métodos de coleta, eletrônico via internet e presencial face a face, com duas amostras distintas, cujos resultados foram comparados. As hipóteses levantadas foram confirmadas, uma vez que houve divergência entre os índices de retorno das respostas obtidas, viés no preenchimento das baterias de atributos por um dos públicos, e também diferenças no perfil sociodemográfico das amostras abordadas, que refletem padrões de consumo e de comportamento distintos entre ambas. Este trabalho justifica-se na medida em que apresenta um tema atual e controverso no ambiente acadêmico e corporativo, cujo foco é debater a substituição dos métodos de coleta tradicionais pelo método contemporâneo via internet, ou sua complementaridade, em um momento no qual a rede virtual de comunicação ganha cada vez mais espaço na relação empresa-cliente

1 Abstract This diploma thesis subjects on rating scales that measure respondent's value of the agreement with given statement. Particularly it focuses on a number of scale points and usage of mid-point and option "Don't know". Due to the fact, there is not an optimal number of points that scale should contain the author focuses on comparing scales of different length. This work includes research that uses four types of the questionnaire to test differences between odd and even scales of different lengths. The thesis shows that share of extreme points is based on scale length. With the use of shorter scales, respondents are more likely to choose extreme points. Based on respondents' answers, the difficulty to choose from scale options is similar in both even and odd scales. Option "Don't know" was mostly chosen by indecisive and poorly-informed respondents when the even scale with above-mentioned option was used. In the case of using an odd scale, the mid-point was chosen also mainly by indecisive respondents, so odd scales should be combined with option "Don't know" for better detection of neutrality. Keywords Rating scale, attitude measurement, odd scale, even scale, mid-point, number of scale points, Web survey, online questionnaire