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Makhovych, Inna, and Alisa Mykolaichuk. "Google classroom for IT English: piloting experience." Thesis, Державний університет телекомунікацій, 2020. https://er.knutd.edu.ua/handle/123456789/18956.
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Naghieh, Ali. "Organisational intervention development and piloting for staff wellbeing." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:ac8b3c21-6765-40c4-b669-93971f3f7032.
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This thesis presents an empirical investigation to address the psychosocial work environment as an established social determinant of health. The focus was narrowed to a single occupation, teachers, due to high reported stress levels in national surveys and other consequential policy challenges. The focus of intervention was narrowed to tackling the causes of stress after a scoping literature review found that most effort in this area has been directed towards individual-level interventions and programmes. A systematic review was conducted to assess the evidence-base, which demonstrated availability of limited and low-quality evidence for the evaluation of organisational interventions for teacher wellbeing. It was found that organisational interventions lead to improvements in teacher wellbeing and retention rates, although most of the trials in this review were affected by methodological shortcomings. Because of the paucity of such intervention studies, and the heterogeneous nature of the interventions in the four included studies in this review, implications for practice were found to be very limited. Further well-designed research in the development and testing of organisational interventions for teacher wellbeing was recommended as a result, while outlining the requirements for a rigorous study in this area. An intervention development endeavour was subsequently undertaken, which pointed to participatory approaches. An intervention entitled Change Laboratory was identified due to its relatively robust theoretical and methodological basis. An exploratory pilot trial of the participatory organisational change intervention was conducted in four secondary schools in the UK, with 2 schools as intervention and 2 schools as control. Qualitative findings, process evaluation, and quantitative findings of the study are subsequently presented. The analysis focuses on the actions that teachers and managers collaboratively designed in the intervention schools, in order to address organisational and systemic factors generating stress. The common theme in the output of both Change Laboratory cases was their focus on the object of decision-making, and leading to an expansive learning in terms of a reconceptualization of decision-making within their respective organisations. The central contradiction was found to be between the macro perspective and priorities and agendas of the senior leadership that shape policies and processes, and the micro perspective of those having to enact and comply with the decisions made by senior leaders. The intervention outputs can be seen as mediators synthesized from this contradiction. Following the intervention impact longitudinally demonstrated a developing and evolving reconceptualization of pedagogy, which is more central to teachers' object of activity and their professional identity. The analysis demonstrates that professional identity may be a crucial dimension of wellbeing at work in tandem with work-related stress theories. The findings suggest that the Change Laboratory group initially embarked on a re-conceptualisation of decision-making, and utilised the new systems and way of working as a means to address teaching and learning which is more central to their professional identity and their object of activity. The quantitative findings suggests an indication of beneficial effects of the intervention at end-of-intervention point, also considering the limitations. The process evaluation focuses on delineating the different facets of the intervention and assuring intervention integrity, assessing feasibility and acceptability, and generating insights for scaling-up of the intervention. An implementation framework developed in this study was found to be of value in the endeavour to adopt, adapt, and develop process-oriented structural interventions.
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Krane, Magnus. "Piloting map service for navigating in punctuality analyses for trains." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for datateknikk og informasjonsvitenskap, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-27339.
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In a complex system such as the Norwegian railway network, there are much thatcan affect a trains punctuality. The undertakers strive to achieve higher and higherpunctuality, while the infrastructure owner, Jernbaneverket, strive for minimaldowntime on the railway network. There is collected much data for analysis aboutthe trains run and the infrastructure, in order to achieve higher punctuality and lessdowntime. The users are able to track down the source of delays and find possibleimprovements on the infrastructure, by analyzing and comparing the different datasets collected.There are many users across both different companies and internal divisionsin a company that need to cooperate, due to the size and complexity of a railwaynetwork. The different users have different needs when studying the data sets. Aarea director have the need to see the big picture over time, while a segment directorwants to see every detail within its segment.In this thesis we demonstrate a system that is aware of the different stakeholdersrequirements when presenting data. The system also takes into consideration thestakeholders need for analyzing different types of data, and comparing these.Finally, we conclude how users should be defined within a domain in order tobe aggregated over.
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Roznowski, Aaron. "A Structure-Function Analysis of the phiX174 DNA Piloting Protein." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13812936.
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In order to initiate an infection, bacteriophages must deliver their large, hydrophilic genomes across their host’s hydrophobic cell wall. Bacteriophage ϕX174 accomplishes this task with a set of identical DNA piloting proteins. The structure of the piloting protein’s central domain was solved to 2.4 Å resolution. In it, ten proteins are oligomerized into an α-helical barrel, or tube, that is long enough to span the host’s cell wall and wide enough for the circular, ssDNA to pass through. This structure was used as a guide to explore the mechanics of ϕX174 genome delivery. In the first study, the H-tube’s highly repetitive primary and quaternary structure made it amenable to a genetic analysis using in-frame insertions and deletions. Length-altered proteins were characterized for the ability to perform the protein’s three known functions: participation in particle assembly, genome translocation, and stimulation of viral protein synthesis.
The tube’s inner surface was altered in the second study. The surface is primarily lined with amide and guanidinium containing amino acid side chains with the exception of four sites near the tube’s C-terminal end. The four sites are conserved across microvirus clades, suggesting that they may play an important role during genome delivery. To test this hypothesis and explore the general role of the amide and guanidinium containing side chains, the amino acids at these sites were changed to glutamine. The resulting mutants had a cold-sensitive phenotype at 22 °C. Viral lifecycle steps were assayed in order to determine which step was disrupted by the mutant glutamine residues. The results support a model in which a balance of forces governs genome delivery: potential energy provided by the densely packaged viral genome and/or an osmotic gradient push the genome into the cell, while the tube’s inward facing residues exert a frictional force on the genome as it passes.
Bacteriophage must first identify a susceptible host prior to genome delivery. In the final study, biochemical and genetic analyses were conducted with two closely related bacteriophages, α3 and ST-1. Despite ~90% amino acid identity, the natural host of α3 is Escherichia coli C, whereas ST-1 is a K-12-specific phage. To determine which structural proteins conferred host range specificity, chimeric virions were generated by individually interchanging the coat, spike, or DNA pilot proteins. Interchanging the coat protein switched host range. However, host range expansion could be conferred by single point mutations in the coat protein. The expansion phenotype was recessive: mutant progeny from co-infected cells did not display the phenotype. Novel virus propagation and selection protocols were developed to isolate host range expansion mutants. The resulting genetic and structural data were consistent enough that host range expansion could be predicted, broadening the classical definition of antireceptors to include interfaces between protein complexes within the capsid.
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Warnick, Sean C. (Sean Charles). "Piloting epitaxy with ellipsometry as an in-situ sensor technology." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87907.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-113).
Epitaxial processes are deposition processes that produce crystalline films with nano-scale precision. Many compound semiconductor devices rely on epitaxy to produce high-quality crystalline films with a specified compositional profile as a function of film thickness. Although various epitaxial processes, such as molecular beam epitaxy or metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, have long been known to be capable of producing such films with mono-layer precision, doing so often requires significant calibration and many trial-and-error attempts before success is realized. Ellipsometry is an established optical characterization method that uses the polarization state of reflected light to determine the alloy composition of a grown film. As a non-invasive sensor technology, ellipsometry has more recently been deployed as an in-situ sensor to characterize films as they grow. This thesis takes a comprehensive view of the issues and impact associated with the use of ellipsometry as an in-situ sensor to control epitaxy in real time. A dynamic model of the physics associated with ellipsometry and growing films is developed from first principles, and this model is used to highlight some of the capabilities and limitations of ellipsometry as a measurement device for feedback control. A control problem is then formulated that substitutes the actual design objective with one more amenable to feedback design, and standard linear tools are used for feedback design. Simulations show that these designs look promising, even for the reliable growth of quaternary graded structures.
by Sean C. Warnick.
Ph.D.
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Young, Margaret. "Piloting a scale of social integration in South African organisations." Master's thesis, Faculty of Commerce, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/11427/31699.
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“Social integration” is a construct referred to in workgroup and organisational research, in particular in research focused on understanding workplace diversity. The present research examined how the social integration construct could be more clearly conceptualised and measured in the South African context. Guided by Hinkin’s (1998) scale development framework, the research seeks to contribute to the early stages of the development of a scale of social integration, suited for use in South African workplaces. Items were generated theoretically, leading to a final pool of 72 items. 620 usable responses were received from individuals employed in organisations in South Africa and this sample was randomly split into two samples of 310 participants each: a “calibration” and “validation” sample. On the calibration sample, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in order to examine emerging first- and higher-order latent variable structures. EFA led to the development of a first-order, seven-factor model. Exploratory extension analysis generated three possible higher-order latent variable structures. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), both the first- and higher-order models were fitted to the “validation” sample to test if the models generalised to a second sample drawn from the same population. Results indicated that the first-order model demonstrated an adequate fit, as well as two of the three higher-order models. The fit of these two higher-order models did not differ significantly. Post-hoc analyses determined that, while social integration can be considered a meaningful higherorder construct, the construct has theoretical rather than practical relevance for researchers. Responses to the proposed scale of social integration should be interpreted at the level of the identified first-order constructs rather than as a single scale representing the higher order, abstract social integration construct. The generalisability and contextual nature of the research findings, suggestions for future research, and the theoretical and practical limitations of the present research are discussed.
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Parker, Chelsey Nichole. "Mindfulness for More: Piloting a Mindfulness Program for Underserved Populations." University of Dayton / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1525109153266523.
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Vanderpuye, Irene. "Piloting inclusive education in Ghana : parental perceptions, expectations and involvement." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2013. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/4976/.
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Ghana has embarked on piloting inclusive education in 35 schools since 2003. Since then, no study has been done on parental perceptions, expectations and involvement in inclusive education. Parents’ perceptions, expectations and involvement can affect inclusion and the education of children. It was therefore imperative to investigate exactly parents’ perceptions, expectations and involvement in inclusive education in Ghana. The study was a descriptive survey and was guided by three research questions. The sample comprised 560 parents and 35 headteachers, sampled from the 35 pilot inclusive schools. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires and an interview schedule. The questionnaire had four sections which elicited information on demographic data, parental perceptions, expectations and involvement in inclusive education. All participants completed the questionnaire and 20 parents were randomly sampled and interviewed. The interview schedule elicited information on demographic data, parental expectations and involvement in the education of their child. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVAs, chi-squares and correlation were used to analyse the questionnaire data. The interview data were analysed thematically. The findings showed parents were knowledgeable about inclusive education and perceived it to be beneficial. The majority of the parents reported that inclusive education was meeting their expectations for their children. Yet 53.8% of them felt children with SEN should not be educated in inclusive schools. Parents were found to be involved in inclusive education. They, however, desired to be more involved in volunteering, decision-making, individualised educational plan development and the discipline of their children. The study established a relationship between parents’ current involvement, the knowledge parents have of inclusive education and the benefits parents perceived of inclusive education. Among the recommendations was a need for a policy on parental involvement to guide practice. Results of the study will help inform the Ministry of Education Science and Sports in planning, as they will know how parents perceived inclusive education and how they were involved or expect to be involved.
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Jeřábková, Ivana. "Strategie pro vstup kanadské franchisy do České republiky." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2009. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-77764.
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One of the ways of business activities based on selling rights to use a trademark for private enterprise is franchising. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on franchising features and everything related to this type of business such as legal framework of this business activity, the differences in comparison to other kinds of business, activities of associations supporting franchising and all specifics that franchising includes: piloting, operating manual, providing the license, fees and know how itself. The practical part deals with the model situation of a Canadian franchise entering the Czech market. The franchise is the existing Waves Coffee franchise providing Café services. We will try to answer the most important questions such as why and how to use this type of business -- accompanying advantages and disadvantages.
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Gasper, Jill Allison Ferrante. "Intensive Co-parenting Therapy: Piloting a Manualized Treatment for Divorced Families." VCU Scholars Compass, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10156/1999.
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Beaumont, Graham Kingsley, University of Western Sydney, of Arts Education and Social Sciences College, and MARCS Auditory Laboratories. "An investigation of the management of flight aspects of airline captain performance." THESIS_CAESS_MARCS_Beaumont_G.xml, 2002. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/524.
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A clear definition of pilot performance beyond manipulative skills remains a challenge. Attempts have been made to annunciate the cognitive and behavioural skill set which comprises this area of performance. Crew resource management (CRM) is one such effort which, while it has done much to identify pilot behaviours, has not translated easily into useable selection and general performance instruments. CRM has not yet identified an umbrella construct which clearly and efficiently organises management of flight aspects of the airline piloting role. Markers that are used by airline check and training personnel in a specific airline to assess suitability for command were identified. Organisational understanding of SA was explored and revealed a more strategic focus than the tactical approach adopted by preceding researchers. In a further study, this strategic focus was investigated through a series of semi-structured interviews with experienced airline Captains. Recurring activity themes were identified and were found to approximate the proposed constructs of self-regulation. This concept was explored and defined in a further study which identified actions which were considered essentials to the functionality of each of these recurring themes. These results were used as the foundation for a novel set of management of flight performance indicators for the organisation within which the research was carried out. Initial trials of an ipsative questionnaire derived from these action statements were carried out as the final study of this researchDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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Mansikka, H. P. "Fighter pilot's performance and mental workload." Thesis, Coventry University, 2016. http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/383c294a-cf35-46ba-960d-37ad7d7a1825/1.
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Human information processing consists of multiple and limited resources; some of them are shared while some are separate and non-interchangeable. High pilot mental workload (PMWL) - and the subsequent decline in performance - results from the imbalance between the mental resources available to perform the task and the amount of resources needed to perform it. When the pilot’s proficiency is evaluated, s/he should deliver an acceptable performance while being able to reserve enough mental capacity for the unexpected, additional resource demands. The task demands and cognitive stressors of air combat have potential to degrade pilot performance to an unacceptable level. Therefore, it is important to understand the amount of mental workload the pilots are experiencing and how much spare capacity they have available to cope with the possible additional resource demands. This thesis was aimed at understanding the relationship between PMWL and performance. The approach presented in this thesis was expected to support the development of reliable metrics for predicting the pilot performance under the stress of combat. In terms of practical applications, this thesis contributed to the development of the methodological principles that could help assuring the pilots’ ability to cope with the task demands higher than those experienced during training or proficiency checks. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variation (HRV) were used as indexes of PMWL. The selection was done for several reasons. HR and HRV measures were accepted by the pilots as they were non-intrusive and they appeared to be objective. In addition, the implementation requirements were by no means excessive. Considering the aims of this thesis, the low diagnosticity of HR/HRV was not an issue. Finally, HR and HRV proved to be sensitive measures of varying task demands – especially when measured together with the pilots’ awareness of the mission requirements. Simulated fighter missions were used to manipulate the pilots’ task demand and to measure their performance and HR/HR. The thesis is constructed around three studies. In the first study, the subjects were required to fly instrument approaches in a high fidelity simulator under various levels of task demand. The task demand was manipulated by increasing the load on the subjects by reducing the range at which they commenced the approach. HR and the time domain components of HRV were used as measures of PMWL. The findings indicated that HR and HRV were sensitive to varying task demands. HR and HRV were able to distinguish the level of PMWL after which the subjects were no longer able to cope with the increasing task demands and their performance fell to a sub-standard level. The major finding of the first study was the HR/HRV’s ability to differentiate the sub-standard performance approaches from the high performance approaches. In the second study, fighter pilots’ performance and PMWL were both measured during a real instrument flight rules proficiency check in an F/A-18 simulator. PMWL was measured using HR and HRV. Performance was rated using Finnish Air Force’s official rating scales. Results indicated that HR and HRV were able to differentiate varying task demands in situations where variations in performance were insignificant. It was concluded that during a proficiency check, PMWL should be measured together with the task performance measurement. In the third study, fighter pilots’ HRV and performance were examined during instrument approaches and air combat. The subjects’ performance was rated by a weapons instructor. In addition, the subjects’ HRV was measured and used as an indicator of PMWL. During the instrument approaches, low performance was associated with high PMWL as expected. However, during the combat phases of the mission, low performance was associated with low PMWL. When the subject’s awareness of the mission requirements was studied, it was found that the combination of low performance and low PMWL was associated with the subjects’ low awareness of the mission requirements. The major finding was that unless the subjects’ awareness of the mission requirements is examined, the relationship between the mental workload and performance during a complex combat mission may be difficult to explain. It is concluded that HR and HRV are sensitive measures of PMWL in a simulated fighter aviation environment. HR and HRV proved to be associated with the changes in task demands and pilots’ performance during simulated instrument approaches and air combat. However, the results of this thesis suggest that measuring just PMWL and performance is not sufficient – especially if the task of interest is complex and dynamic. To fully understand the pilot performance in such environment, the relationship between awareness of the mission requirements, workload and performance needs to be untangled. While this thesis provides encouraging results to understand this phenomena, further research is still needed before awareness of the situation requirements (or more broadly, situation awareness), performance and mental workload can be measured simultaneously, objectively and in real time.
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Sarmiento, John. "Teach Healthier: An mHealth Case Study for Piloting Pre-K Health Curriculum." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2017. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc984218/.
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This rapid ethnographic study explored how a 'mobile health education' app might impact preschool teachers and students, interact with organizational protocols and policies, and align with the preschool culture. The researcher evaluated the app's early Pre-K content and user experience. With a systems thinking approach, this study revealed the lived-experiences and processes in preschools around Austin, Texas. The outcomes of this study guided the client with more human-centered approaches to researching and designing their apps and services.
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A, Wagner Georg. "Piloting the use of a robotic wolf decoy as a law enforcement tool /." Link to full-text, 2006. http://epapers.uwsp.edu/thesis/2006/Wagner.pdf.
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Artom, Micol. "Developing and piloting an intervention for the management of inflammatory bowel disease-fatigue." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2018. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/developing-and-piloting-an-intervention-for-the-management-of-inflammatory-bowel-diseasefatigue(80cec2a4-d28b-4937-97aa-54c8582ff042).html.
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Background: Fatigue is a complex, multifactorial and multidimensional phenomenon, which has been described as a persistent overwhelming sense of tiredness, weakness, or exhaustion. It is the third most common concern for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), experienced by 44-86% of patients with active disease and 22-41% of patients in remission. Fatigue can have a significant negative impact on patients’ quality of life (QoL). The aetiology of fatigue is not well understood. Interventions for IBD-fatigue are scarce, demonstrating limited benefit, and have not been implemented into clinical practice. The development of a theoretically-driven intervention to improve fatigue is a primary need for this population. Methods: The overall aim of the study was to develop a complex intervention for the management of IBD-fatigue and test its feasibility and potential efficacy. Guided by self-regulation theory and the Medical Research Council framework for development, feasibility and piloting phases, four steps were conducted in an iterative process. A systematic review study (Paper 1), identified aetiological modifiable factors which had already been or could be targeted by health interventions to improve IBD-fatigue. A quantitative cross-sectional study (n = 182) (Paper 2), evaluated the potential relationship between the identified modifiable cognitive-behavioural factors and IBD-fatigue. Patient and public involvement activities informed the adaptation of a cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for multiple-sclerosis fatigue to IBD-fatigue. Lastly, a two-arm pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a nested qualitative study (Papers 3 and 4) assessed the feasibility and initial estimates of efficacy of a CBT manual with 8, weekly therapist telephone session (n = 15) vs. a fatigue information sheet without help (n = 16). Results: Initial estimates of efficacy with per protocol analysis showed a reduction in fatigue scores and an improvement in QoL scores at 3-months post-randomisation. The difference in change in scores between groups was significant for impact of fatigue. The intervention was acceptable to participants and feasible for therapists to deliver. Healthcare professionals working with IBD patients reported that the intervention would be broadly applicable but time, finance and training constraints may limit its implementation in routine clinical care. Conclusions: CBT for IBD-fatigue is feasible and has a potential for improvement of the impact of fatigue on daily activities. A large-scale RCT is needed to investigate the size and longevity of treatment gains and the cost-effectiveness of the therapy. Incorporating changes to the protocol and developing an online intervention may be an effective way to overcome the barriers to implementation identified by healthcare professionals and test the generalisability of the intervention to IBD-clinical practice.
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Akbar, Akhgari Parsoon. "DEVELOPING AND PILOTING A SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY AND CULTURE ASSESSMENT SURVEY FOR MIAMI UNIVERSITY." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1500998215908271.
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Morgan, Gemma. "Physical activity facilitation in older adults : developing and piloting a theory-based intervention." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2016. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.701654.
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The human right to health extends to the last few decades of life and we have a societal duty to ensure that older adults are supported to live their lives free from pain, suffering, and disability. Evidence suggests that physical activity can improve physical function and self-reported disability, therefore identifying an intervention that may be effective in changing this behaviour is imperative. This doctoral project adds to the emerging literature in this field by presenting the results of a meta-ethnography of qualitative studies and generating a theory about how physical activity can help older adults adjust to the ageing process and thus increase the chances of successful and healthy ageing. Moreover a theory-based physical activity intervention for older adults at risk of disability was tested in a feasibility study and pilot randomised controlled trial. This intervention was based upon self-determination theory and extended work undertaken in younger adults with depression. The appropriateness of the intervention and the theory is discussed in the context of the findings of the feasibility study and the meta-ethnography. It is feasible to recruit and deliver a randomised controlled trial of an intervention of this nature in this population. However, the findings of the process evaluation suggest there are elements of the programme theory that should be modified before this is undertaken. Important characteristics of the relationship between older adults and physical activity decisions, revealed by the meta-ethnography, should be used to tailor and optimise the programme theory before proceeding to further evaluation.
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Cohen, Dylan(Dylan H. ). "From research to resource piloting near-Earth asteroids Through the Valley of Death." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124592.
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Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2019Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2019
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-114).
Can the resources of near-Earth asteroids be profitably mined? Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) contain water, which can serve as a fuel in space, and platinum group metals, which are valuable on Earth. The presence of these resources has prompted high valuations of the near-Earth asteroid population, but it is not immediately apparent if those valuations are accurate or if they can be realized. This thesis developed the Valley of Death model to frame the challenges opposing the development of an asteroid mining industry. This model poses the two following questions. What is the cash flow of a water/platinum group metal asteroid mining industry? How can the Valley of Death be crossed to realize that cash flow? The first question was answered in the affirmative for water with a Monte Carlo simulation of the near-Earth asteroid population under resource content, price, and accessibility constraints.
To assess the cash flow of platinum group metals a basis of comparison was developed between large platinum-rich near-Earth asteroids and terrestrial mines. This comparison demonstrated that, while the high valuation of the asteroids is accurate, the technical challenges of mining, refining, and transporting platinum render it unlikely to have a positive cash flow without dramatic technological advances that provide no immediate benefits. To answer the second question, the twin concepts of uncertainty reduction and technological advancement, resting on a foundation of progress incentivization, were developed. Uncertainty reduction consists of clarifying the legal status of asteroid mining and identifying the precise content and location of near-Earth asteroid resources. Technological advancement is needed to mine water at scale and to accurately assess the costs of mining platinum group metals.
Incentivizing both tasks, possibly with prize competitions, will enable the industry to traverse the Valley of Death. This thesis concludes by discussing edge cases in asteroid mining which provide avenues for future research.
by Dylan Cohen.
S.M. in Technology and Policy
S.M.
S.M.inTechnologyandPolicy Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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Bonora, Stephen. "Piloting the implementation and assessment of a new first year experience at Rowan University /." Full text available online, 2006. http://www.lib.rowan.edu/find/theses.
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Okeke, Ogwulu Chidubem. "Developing and piloting approaches for the valuation of outcomes associated with sexually transmitted infections." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8648/.
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Background Eliciting health-state utility values (HSUVs) for use in cost-utility analysis (CUA) for some diseases is limited by the variation in the duration of the health-states such as it includes both temporary and chronic health-states. There is no 'gold standard' approach for valuing temporary health states (THS). Conventional time trade-off (TTO) is deemed inappropriate because it presents an unrealistic scenario to respondents and the chained TTO has been proposed to solve this problem. This thesis uses a case study, Chlamydia trachomatis (a sexually transmitted infection) to explore this challenge. The main burden of chlamydia is typically believed to be borne by women, with a paucity of studies describing the psychosocial outcomes for men, hence making it difficult to value outcomes associated with men. Objectives This thesis aimed to: develop approaches for valuing the health-states associated with chlamydia and derive utility values for the chronic and temporary health-states associated with chlamydia. An additional objective was to define the psychosocial impact of chlamydia in men via an exploration of the asymmetric nature of the disease burden. Methods The thesis elicited utilities for seven health-states (five THS and two chronic health-state) depicting the symptoms of chlamydia. The health-states were developed using evidence from the literature and interviews with clinical experts. Chained time trade-off (TTO) was applied to THSs and conventional TTO to CHSs. Ectopic pregnancy was used as a lower anchor for chained TTO. The VAS technique was also employed. The study sampled from three different population groups and the survey was administered face-to-face. A qualitative synthesis was conducted using meta-ethnography, to identify the psychosocial impact of chlamydia in men. Discussion The thesis identified appropriate approaches for valuing chlamydia health-states and showed that chained TTO is feasible. Methodological challenges arising from this study include the development of health-state description, the selection of appropriate anchor states and the duration of the anchor state. The HSUV s could potentially be used in cost-utility analyses examining the cost-effectiveness of screening. The meta-ethnography highlighted the need to broaden the focus of future evaluations.
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Elliott, Eloise. "Designing, Piloting, and Evaluating the Interdisciplinary Internet Module - Healthy Hearts for Intermediate Grade Children." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/30697.
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Two issues are prevalent today in K-6 education-- the integration of the Internet into schools, and the emphasis on guiding children to make wise and healthy lifestyle choices. These are the two themes reflected in this study. The purpose of this study was to design, pilot, and evaluate the Interdisciplinary Internet Module - Healthy Hearts (IIM-HH), an on-line four-week learning module for intermediate grade children. The module was developed to educate youngsters about cardiovascular health, and to encourage them to adopt healthy lifestyles and practice making wise health decisions. The module, delivered via the Internet, allows for interactive, self-directed student learning. It also provides intermediate grade teachers with a valuable resource for teaching important healthy lifestyle concepts, as well as a valuable resource for successful implementation of the Internet into existing curriculums.
The Module was piloted with two 5th grade classrooms (N=41) and their teachers (N=2). Qualitative findings from multiple data collection sources provided in-depth insights into the content and technical functionality of the module, and participants' recommendations for change. The formative evaluation revealed the changes that needed to be made before implementation with a large population could be successful. It also revealed that the IIM-HH has the potential to be an effective and motivational instructional unit for both students and teachers.Ph. D.
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Liggett, Amy Elaine. "Piloting auditory selective and sustained attention tasks on ADHD subtypes and a comparison group /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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McManus, Iain Andrew. "A Multidisciplinary Approach to Highly Autonomous UAV Mission Planning and Piloting for Civilian Airspace." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2005. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16130/1/Iain_McManus_Thesis.pdf.
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In the last decade, the development and deployment of Uninhabited Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) has increased dramatically. This has in turn increased the desire to operate UAVs in civilian-airspace. Current UAV platforms can be integrated into civilian-airspace, with other air traffic, however they place a high burden on their human operators in order to do so. In order to meet the competing objectives of improved integration and low operator workload it will be necessary to increase the intelligence on-board the UAV.
This thesis presents the results of the research which has been conducted into increasing the on-board intelligence of the UAV. The intent in increasing the on-board intelligence is to improve the ability of a UAV to integrate into civilian-airspace whilst also reducing the workload placed upon the UAV's operator. The research has focused upon increasing the intelligence in two key areas: mission planning; and mission piloting.
Mission planning is the process of determining how to fly from one location to another, whilst avoiding entities (eg. airspace boundaries and terrain) on the way. Currently this task is typically performed by a trained human operator. This thesis presents a novel multidisciplinary approach for enabling a UAV to perform, on-board, its own mission planning. The novel approach draws upon techniques from the 3D graphics and robotics fields in order to enable the UAV to perform its own mission planning. This enables the UAV's operator to provide the UAV with the locations (waypoints) to fly to. The UAV will then determine for itself how to reach the locations safely. This relieves the UAV's operator of the burden of performing the mission planning for the UAV.
As part of this novel approach to on-board mission planning, the UAV constructs and maintains an on-board situational awareness of the airspace environment. Through techniques drawn from the 3D graphics field the UAV becomes capable of constructing and interacting with a 3D digital representation of the civilian-airspace environment. This situational awareness is a fundamental component of enabling the UAV to perform its own mission planning and piloting.
The mission piloting research has focused upon the areas of collision avoidance and communications. These are tasks which are often handled by a human operator. The research identified how these processes can be performed on-board the UAV through increasing the on-board intelligence. A unique approach to collision avoidance was developed, which was inspired by robotics techniques. This unique approach enables the UAV to avoid collisions in a manner which adheres to the applicable Civil Aviation Regulations, as defined by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia. Furthermore, the collision avoidance algorithms prioritise avoiding collisions which would result in a loss of life or injury.
Finally, the communications research developed a natural language-based interface to the UAV. Through this interface, the UAV can be issued commands and can also be provided with updated situational awareness information. The research focused upon addressing issues related to using natural language for a civilian-airspace-integrated UAV. This area has not previously been addressed. The research led to the definition of a vocabulary targeted towards a civilian-airspace-integrated UAV. This vocabulary caters for the needs of both Air Traffic Controllers and general UAV operators. This requires that the vocabulary cater for a diverse range of skill levels. The research established that a natural language-based communications system could be applied to a civilian-airspace-integrated UAV for both command and information updates.
The end result of this research has been the development of the Intelligent Mission Planner and Pilot (IMPP). The IMPP represents the practical embodiment of the novel algorithms developed throughout the research. The IMPP was used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms which were developed. This testing process involved the execution of over 3000 hours of simulated flights. The testing demonstrated the high performance of the algorithms developed in this research.
The research has led to the successful development of novel on-board situational awareness, mission planning, collision avoidance and communications capabilities. This thesis presents the development, implementation and testing of these capabilities. The algorithms which provide these capabilities go beyond the existing body of knowledge and provide a novel contribution to the established research. These capabilities enable the UAV to perform its own mission planning, avoid collisions and receive natural language-based communications. This provides the UAV with a direct increase in the intelligence on-board the UAV, which is the core objective of this research. This increased on-board intelligence improves the integration of the UAV into civilian-airspace whilst also reducing the operator's workload.
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McManus, Iain Andrew. "A Multidisciplinary Approach to Highly Autonomous UAV Mission Planning and Piloting for Civilian Airspace." Queensland University of Technology, 2005. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16130/.
Full textAbstract:
In the last decade, the development and deployment of Uninhabited Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) has increased dramatically. This has in turn increased the desire to operate UAVs in civilian-airspace. Current UAV platforms can be integrated into civilian-airspace, with other air traffic, however they place a high burden on their human operators in order to do so. In order to meet the competing objectives of improved integration and low operator workload it will be necessary to increase the intelligence on-board the UAV. This thesis presents the results of the research which has been conducted into increasing the on-board intelligence of the UAV. The intent in increasing the on-board intelligence is to improve the ability of a UAV to integrate into civilian-airspace whilst also reducing the workload placed upon the UAV's operator. The research has focused upon increasing the intelligence in two key areas: mission planning; and mission piloting. Mission planning is the process of determining how to fly from one location to another, whilst avoiding entities (eg. airspace boundaries and terrain) on the way. Currently this task is typically performed by a trained human operator. This thesis presents a novel multidisciplinary approach for enabling a UAV to perform, on-board, its own mission planning. The novel approach draws upon techniques from the 3D graphics and robotics fields in order to enable the UAV to perform its own mission planning. This enables the UAV's operator to provide the UAV with the locations (waypoints) to fly to. The UAV will then determine for itself how to reach the locations safely. This relieves the UAV's operator of the burden of performing the mission planning for the UAV. As part of this novel approach to on-board mission planning, the UAV constructs and maintains an on-board situational awareness of the airspace environment. Through techniques drawn from the 3D graphics field the UAV becomes capable of constructing and interacting with a 3D digital representation of the civilian-airspace environment. This situational awareness is a fundamental component of enabling the UAV to perform its own mission planning and piloting. The mission piloting research has focused upon the areas of collision avoidance and communications. These are tasks which are often handled by a human operator. The research identified how these processes can be performed on-board the UAV through increasing the on-board intelligence. A unique approach to collision avoidance was developed, which was inspired by robotics techniques. This unique approach enables the UAV to avoid collisions in a manner which adheres to the applicable Civil Aviation Regulations, as defined by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia. Furthermore, the collision avoidance algorithms prioritise avoiding collisions which would result in a loss of life or injury. Finally, the communications research developed a natural language-based interface to the UAV. Through this interface, the UAV can be issued commands and can also be provided with updated situational awareness information. The research focused upon addressing issues related to using natural language for a civilian-airspace-integrated UAV. This area has not previously been addressed. The research led to the definition of a vocabulary targeted towards a civilian-airspace-integrated UAV. This vocabulary caters for the needs of both Air Traffic Controllers and general UAV operators. This requires that the vocabulary cater for a diverse range of skill levels. The research established that a natural language-based communications system could be applied to a civilian-airspace-integrated UAV for both command and information updates. The end result of this research has been the development of the Intelligent Mission Planner and Pilot (IMPP). The IMPP represents the practical embodiment of the novel algorithms developed throughout the research. The IMPP was used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms which were developed. This testing process involved the execution of over 3000 hours of simulated flights. The testing demonstrated the high performance of the algorithms developed in this research. The research has led to the successful development of novel on-board situational awareness, mission planning, collision avoidance and communications capabilities. This thesis presents the development, implementation and testing of these capabilities. The algorithms which provide these capabilities go beyond the existing body of knowledge and provide a novel contribution to the established research. These capabilities enable the UAV to perform its own mission planning, avoid collisions and receive natural language-based communications. This provides the UAV with a direct increase in the intelligence on-board the UAV, which is the core objective of this research. This increased on-board intelligence improves the integration of the UAV into civilian-airspace whilst also reducing the operator's workload.
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CULCASI, Andrea. "ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE DEVICES BASED ON pH AND SALINITY GRADIENTS: MODELLING, EXPERIMENTS AND PILOTING." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10447/478993.
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Thompson, Richard D. "A curriculum for private pilot airplane." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1990. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/764.
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Smith, Carl F. "The effect of functional display information on the acquisition and transfer of novice piloting knowledge." Fairfax, VA : George Mason University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1920/3148.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008.Vita: p. 145. Thesis director: Deborah A. Boehm-Davis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 8, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-144). Also issued in print.
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Lederman, Jonathan E. "Ethical applications of free culture applied for art education : piloting chinavine as an interactive model." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2010. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1444.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Arts and Humanities
Philosophy
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Bowen, Annie. "Creating and Piloting a Survey to Determine Readiness for Telehealth in Rural Populations in Ohio." Otterbein University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=otbn1587476978286954.
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Braehler, Christine. "Emotion regulation in psychosis : exploring psychobiological markers and piloting an attachment and compassion-focused intervention." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31013.
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“Non-affective” psychotic disorders are in fact associated with a high rate of emotional disorders. A number of attachment-based models of impairments in emotion regulation and mentalization in psychosis have been put forward. The present thesis aimed to explore psychobiological markers of emotion regulation in order to develop and pilot a novel psychological intervention. The portfolio consists of six peer-reviewed published articles. Four studies were conducted involving 167 psychosis patients and 66 community controls resulting in four original articles, a theory paper and a metaanalysis. Paper 1- 3 explored emotion regulation using different methods (self-report, hormonal, attachment-based narrative). Paper 4 lays out a compassion-focused model for promoting emotional recovery from psychosis. Paper 5 presents data from a feasibility trial of Group Compassion Focused Therapy. Paper 6 presents an updated attachment- and compassion-focused model of emotion regulation and mentalization in the context of a meta-analysis of effects of intranasal oxytocin on symptoms and social cognition in psychosis. Childhood trauma – especially emotional abuse - was strongly associated with dissociation in psychosis patients compared to non-psychotic community controls – most strongly in chronic patients (Paper 1). Psychosis patients with childhood trauma showed significantly lower basal cortisol levels indicative of impaired stress regulation than those without childhood trauma (Paper 2). Impaired emotion regulation operationalised as attachment-based mentalisation was associated with problematic adolescent development and emotional and interpersonal adaptation to a first episode of psychosis in qualitative interviews. A novel attachment-based model for improving emotion regulation in psychosis by way of strengthening the caregiving/ receiving and affiliation system through Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) was put forward (Paper 4). A feasibility trial showed that group CFT was safe, well-accepted and associated with greater clinical improvement and greater increases in compassion compared to treatment as usual. Increases in compassion in CFT were associated with reductions in shame, perceived social marginalisation, fear or relapse and depression (Paper 5). A metaanalysis of oxytocin administration as a biological way of strengthening the care-giving/receiving and affiliation system in psychosis was conducted yielding medium effects despite significant heterogeneity (Paper 6). Findings replicated the strong association between childhood trauma and dissociation in psychosis patients relative to controls highlighting the importance of emotional abuse and suggesting underlying difficulties with regulating distress related to early interpersonal trauma. Lower basal cortisol in patients with childhood trauma appeared to support the presence of emotion regulation difficulties due to early interpersonal trauma on a physiological level. Qualitative findings helped to generate hypotheses about inhibitors and facilitators of recovery and targets for intervention including the moderating role of mentalization. A novel attachment- and compassion-focused model was outlined and successfully piloted yielding important signals of change such as increases in compassion, which appear to reduce depression and social marginalisation in particular. This model helped account for inconsistencies in oxytocin studies of psychosis. In summary, findings extend existing research on emotion regulation in psychosis by supporting links to early interpersonal trauma and attachment and offer a promising novel attachment-and compassion-focused psychological intervention and a comprehensive biopsychosocial framework for further improving emotion regulation and mentalization in people with psychosis.
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Hogarth, Laura A. "Spatial localization of a goal, beacon homing versus landmark piloting by rats on the radial maze." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/mq30796.pdf.
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Thompson, Claire Amy Louise. "The impact of caregiving in Hoarding Disorder : piloting a brief psychoeducational group for relatives of hoarders." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2015. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-impact-of-caregiving-in-hoarding-disorder(0d8a769c-243e-458c-98fd-f6ad27aa0cf7).html.
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Introduction: Hoarding disorder (HD) is a newly defined, OCD-related, mental health condition. Over the last decade, researchers have developed novel specialised treatments for problematic hoarding and, since the inclusion of HD in the nomenclature, of individuals fulfilling criteria for HD. The current study aimed to systematically review the treatments designed to improve HD symptoms and associated problems including anxiety, depression and functional impairment. Method: An electronic search was conducted of PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science. Studies were included if: (i) the study evaluated an intervention for hoarding or an intervention for relatives of an individual with HD (ii) outcome measures were reported (including measures of hoarding symptoms or impact on life/distress levels, co-morbid psychiatric symptoms); and (iii) the paper was published in an indexed journal or published abstract from a professional/research conference. The quality of studies was assessed using the Clinical Trials Assessment Measure (Tarrier & Wykes, 2004). Results: 989 studies were identified through searches, from which seventeen studies met criteria and were included in the review, involving 474 participants with clinically significant hoarding symptoms or HD, and nine relatives. Treatments reviewed included cognitive-behavioural therapy, medication, cognitive remediation, and a relatives-only intervention. The majority of trials tested CBT in individual and group formats. Discussion: Most studies yielded statistically significant improvements in hoarding symptoms, although reductions were modest and many participants remained in the clinical range after treatment. Significant reductions were roughly equivalent after individual and group CBT, CBT combined with cognitive remediation, and a medication treatment. Quality assessment revealed that most studies were of poor quality and suggestions were made for future research which included: consistent measurement and diagnosis of HD, use of larger samples and randomised control designs with appropriate procedures to control for bias missing data, and inclusion of follow-up assessments.
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Al, Muljim Ensaf. "Designing, piloting and evaluating an ICT training programme for novice female primary teachers in Saudi Arabia." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/3077.
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The focus of this study is the development of an ICT training package for novice female primary teachers in Saudi Arabia. In recent years, the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia has placed a lot of importance on increasing the use of ICT within schools. Evidence suggests however that little attention has been paid to the provision of ICT training, particularly in primary education. Furthermore, in the general research literature; whilst there is much talk about the need for training, very little evidence is provided regarding what kind of training is effective. The purpose of this study therefore was to systematically design and evaluate an ICT training package that was informed by learning theory, research evidence and user needs. The study was conducted in two phases: 1) determining the ICT training needs of novice female primary teachers in Saudi Arabia; 2) designing, piloting and evaluating a training package based on identified needs and preferences, in-service teacher training literature and common learning theories in the field. In phase one, a qualitative survey that employed a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews was conducted. There were 135 participants in the questionnaire and 20 interviewees. The survey findings of revealed a great gap in both the technical and pedagogical skills of teachers. Furthermore, the data identified some factors that either limit or motivate teachers’ use of ICT. The participants’ preferences for their future ICT training were also determined. These results were used to inform the design of a training package. Key design features of the training package included: covering both technical and pedagogical content; using a blended approach that combined face-to-face and online delivery and using iv social constructivism and experiential learning to underpin its pedagogy. Twenty-two teachers participated in the pilot training. Evaluation data collected from a range of sources suggest that the teachers responded well to the design features of the training package and that the training had some positive influence on their practice. Using the literature review and the training needs data as well as the data generated from my own study I have identified five key design criteria that I believe can be applied to designing similar training packages in the future: Ownership; Shared learning; Contextualisation; Transformational potential and Evidence-based.
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Berman, Mark Alan. "Thinking beyond health to motivate dietary change : piloting a vegan healthy eating program for obesity management /." [New Haven, Conn. : s.n.], 2004. http://ymtdl.med.yale.edu/theses/available/etd-08182004-165845/.
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Massie, Rachel. "Exercise-induced energy compensation in adolescent girls : the development, piloting and evaluation of a chronic exercise intervention." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2016. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/23103.
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Considering current levels of overweight and obesity in the population and the associated adverse health consequences, engaging people with chronic exercise programmes is of heightened importance. During chronic structured exercise programmes, some adults experience adaptive compensatory behavioural responses through increased dietary intake and/or decreased free-living physical activity. These responses can negate the benefits of an exercise-induced energy deficit. However, it is unclear whether young people experience similar responses during chronic structured exercise. Therefore, the experimental research presented in this thesis examined the existence and extent of exercise-induced energy compensation in adolescent girls. To achieve this, a total of 92, 12 to 15 year old girls and 26 adults were recruited into six experimental studies. The Medical Research Council guidance for designing complex interventions was used to structure the experimental chapters into development (Chapters 4 to 7), piloting (Chapter 8) and evaluation (Chapter 9). The first experimental study (Chapter 4) demonstrated that typical daily variation of total energy expenditure (TEE) in adolescent girls is ~3% when estimated by the Actiheart. Physical activity energy expenditure (AEE) variation was found to be ~10%. In the second experimental study (Chapter 5) the agreement and variability of laboratory buffet meals test days was investigated. The results demonstrated typical daily variation of 8.7% in laboratory-based energy intake (EI) in adolescent girls aged 12 to 15 years. Furthermore, a buffet meals familiarisation day is recommended to reduce the variability in EI. Estimation of EI was further explored in Chapter 6 using a digital photography method. This study demonstrated potential for EI assessment using digital photography, but highlighted that, at present, a supplementary written record of EI is required to overcome the limitations associated with missing photographs. Chapter 7 explored themes related to recruitment and retention of adolescent girls to chronic exercise intervention studies. The seven recommendations identified were used to recruit and retain participants in a twelve week pilot exercise intervention study with adolescent girls (Chapter 8). There was no evidence of energy compensation behaviours on a group level; however, high individual variability in both EI and EE behaviours was apparent. The final experimental chapter (Chapter 9) evaluated the fidelity of the exercise intervention and compliance with the measurement of primary outcome variables. Intervention fidelity was largely upheld. On average, participants attended 94% of exercise sessions and 73% of the participants met their individual target heart rate zone. Focus groups with the participants and parents highlighted preference for school-based exercise sessions due to increased variety and convenience, and recommendations for future estimation of free-living EI and EE. Collectively, these studies suggest there is value in pursuing the investigation of energy compensation behaviours in adolescent girls using a mixed methods approach. These studies demonstrate the factors requiring attention when designing and delivering complex interventions to investigate exercise-induced energy compensation in adolescent girls. In particular, methods for estimating free-living EI and EE require further attention before attempting to conduct such research in a larger sample.
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Garris, Bill, Kwangman Ko, Bethany Novotny, and Mary R. Langenbrunner. "If It Exists, It Can Be Measured: Piloting a Major Filed Test for Human Services Academic Programs." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2019. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/5835.
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Kulakowski, Walter W. "Exploring the feasibility of the virtual environment helicopter system (VEHELO) for use as an instructional tool for military helicopter pilots." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/1394.
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The requirement for low-level navigation flight conducted between 200 and 500 feet above ground level is something unique to the military helicopter pilot. Each novice helicopter pilot is introduced to this skill early and in a limited number of flights or flight hours. A low situational awareness (SA)is historically noted among the novice pilots during their first few flights within this flight regime. To that end, this thesis continues with the work conducted earlier to develop a trainer that places the pilot in an immersive and familiar cockpit environment for training through the use of chromakeyed technology as employed in the Virtual Environment Helicopter System (VEHELO). The pilot will then be able to learn and exercise required piloting tasks and multi-place aircraft communications as authentically and as meticulously as in actual flight. The focus of this thesis is to continue validation of the ChrAVE/VEHELO system. This will be accomplished by comparison of data obtained from data collected by pilots flying the ChrAVE and flying the actual aircraft during initial navigational training flights. Additionally this thesis will attempt to show that the latest version of the system has a previously unrecognized ability to improve pilot performance. The system is capable of teaching novice pilots the important skill of Crew Resource Management (CRM) and the appropriate communication skills. The original Chromakey Augmented Virtual Environment (ChrAVE) helicopter flight simulation system was developed to substantiate the feasibility of having embedded trainers for helicopters. Both the ChrAVE and VEHELO are comprised of commercial off the shelf (COTS) equipment in a mobile wheeled box. To determine the effectiveness of the ChrAVE as an instructional tool, the opinions of pilots and pilot instructors will be collected for analysis. The subject pilots will be tasked with numerous realistic piloting tasks. Empirical data will be collected and evaluated according to the low-level navigation performance thresholds set forth by Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 164 (HMMT- 164) which is the CH-46E Model Manager.US Marine Corps (USMC) author.
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Bien, Elizabeth A. "Occupational Exposure Assessment of Home Healthcare Workers: Development, Content Validity, and Piloting the Use of an Observation Tool." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin159584568462432.
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Pullinger, J. M. "Developing and piloting an ecologically valid measure of executive function for children with autism : a function-led approach." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2017. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1556279/.
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The focus of this thesis is executive functioning in children and adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (this term is used synonymously with autism). Part one of the thesis is a systematic review of studies investigating generativity skills using fluency tasks. Specifically, it uses meta-analytic techniques to appraise whether a generativity deficit is evident across the lifespan in those with autism. It then considers variables that may moderate these effects, including participant characteristics and study quality. The empirical paper (part two) describes the development of a new measure of executive function for children with autism; the EcoTED (Ecologically valid Test of Executive Dysfunction). This measure consists of seven tasks developed using a function-led approach, with the aim of improving on the ecological validity of those measures currently available. The paper reports on the development of four tasks including initial piloting and analysis of their psychometric properties. The project was conducted jointly with another DClinPsy doctoral student who describes the three remaining tasks elsewhere (Bristow, 2016). The final part of this thesis is a critical reflection on the process of conducting the research. It discusses the origins of the study and the complexities of developing an ecologically valid measure that is psychometrically sound. It gives some suggestions relating to future directions of the Eco-TED and reflects on some of the complexities of research involving those with ASD.
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Ledger-Hardy, Laurie. "Developing and piloting a new parent-report measure of executive function for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2017. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10024992/.
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This thesis focuses on executive functioning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and is presented in three parts. Part 1 presents a systematic literature review examining the degree of executive function difficulties in children with ASD. The review focused on studies which used the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), an informant-report rating scale, with children with ASD and a typically developing (TD) control group. Using a metaanalysis, the review found large effect sizes on the BRIEF, demonstrating that children with ASD are reported to have substantial executive function difficulties when compared to TD children. Part 2, the empirical research paper, describes the development and piloting of a new parent-report measure of executive function in children with ASD. Qualitative data generated through interviews were analysed and used to develop the measure. The measure was then piloted on the internet with parents of children with ASD and parents of TD children. The psychometric properties of the measure were examined, revealing promising indications of reliability and validity. Limitations of the measure and its relationship to the BRIEF are discussed. Part 3 is a critical appraisal of the research process. Limitations of both the study and measure are presented, before discussing methodological challenges that arose throughout the project. Consideration is given to broader conceptual issues, before finally offering reflections on the research process and on my own personal development.
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Sears, R. W. "Business jet safety and accident study." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2013. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/8567.
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As world transport has grown in complexity, so has public pressure for safe
flight. The scheduled airline industry has a consistently good safety record.
Unfortunately, the business jet industry has not kept pace with the airline safety
statistics and lags far behind. During safety surveys and reports over the past 5
years there has been increasing comment and concern over the perceived
safety standards of business jets operations compared with normal scheduled
airline services. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has reported that based
on flight hours flown, the fatal accident rate for smaller jet aircraft below 15
tonnes was twice that for large passenger aircraft (CAA 2006a). The CAA also
identified that the majority of the accidents occur during the approach and
landing phase of the flight.
There is however, a lack of research concerning business jet operations. Due to
the unique and varied style of operations, business jet flights have many factors
that differentiate it from normal scheduled airline operations. Business jet
accidents have been reported but they have not been further investigated for
any overall causes. The study described in this thesis, a Grounded Theory
analysis of accident data was conducted to develop a model of the factors that
contributed to the accidents. The model that was developed demonstrated that
Pilot skills, Command and Crew Resource management are the key central
elements, with the ground organisations such as engineering and ground
operations personnel as a contributory influence.
As piloting skills were determined as a key factor in the accident statistics and
the accident model, a simulator trial was also conducted to assess the manual
flying skill levels of business jet pilots. The trial was both a challenging manual
flying task and a profile that is included as part of the Pilot Skill test prior to the
issue of a commercial pilot’s licence. The simulator trial confirmed that although
all the pilots were correctly tested and certified commercial pilots, a significant
proportion did not fly an accurate airspeed on approach within the CAA
examination tolerances.
The simulator trial data and the grounded theory model found that there are
concerns for the piloting skills of business jet pilots in their ability to fly an
accurate airspeed on approach.
The results from this investigation yield findings concerning the piloting skill and
accuracy of the business jet pilots that had not previously been identified. The
results also emphasise the need to include adequate testing and supervision
during business jet operations. It is recommended that further research be
conducted to evaluate actual piloting skill and accuracy during the licence skill
test.
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Bendtsen, Marcus. "Development and piloting of a fully automated, push based, extended session alcohol intervention on university students : a feasibility study." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-87655.
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Alcohol consumption amongst university students in Sweden has repeatedly been measured to be at risky levels for more than 50% of students. Internet based brief interventions aimed to intervene and prevent risky drinking have been developed with some success during recent years. Single session interventions have been implemented into routine practice in Sweden and other countries, however not all risky drinkers benefit from these single session brief interventions. This feasibility study attempted to develop and pilot an extended session intervention, where participants received messages with motivating content several times a week for a few weeks. All students on semester 1, 3 and 5 at Linköpings Universisty were invited to join a brief single session intervention as part of routine practice, and those who completed the single session intervention were invited to join the new extended intervention. Out of a total of 11,284 students that were invited to complete the single session intervention 4916 (%=43.6) responded. Out of these 1216 (%=24.7) decided to enrol to the extended intervention and 898 (%=77.9) completed the follow up questionnaire after the extended intervention. Participants that enrolled to the extended intervention were automatically placed in a draw for one of two iPads. Issues were found with participants that wanted to receive messages via SMS, as 28.3% didn’t activate their SMS intervention and hence didn’t enrol to the extended intervention. Furthermore there was some indication that participants exposed to more messages were more positive towards the content, as were participants receiving SMS messages over email message. This might be an indication that email may not be up to par with SMS for delivering this type of intervention. The study showed that this kind of extended intervention is worthwhile pursuing. Risky drinkers were more likely to find the intervention useful, and a majority of all participants would possibly or definitely recommend the intervention to a friend that needed help with their alcohol consumption. Future studies should focus on decreasing the number of participants not activating their SMS intervention, experimenting with enrolment without any prize and possibly detached from single session intervention, measuring the effect on alcohol consumption of the intervention as well as identifying any differences between receiving the intervention via email or SMS. The responsibility of expanding and enhancing the research of fully automated brief interventions lay upon researches from several fields. There is a need of refining the human--‐computer interaction as well as the content and design of the intervention. This cannot occur effectively from a single department but should be a joint venture in order to be cost effective and to utilize expertise.
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Lawrinson, Peter School of Public Health & Community of Medicine UNSW. "Development And Piloting Of A Treatment Outcome Monitoring system for opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy services In New South Wales, Australia." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Public Health and Community of Medicine, 2004. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/20546.
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Policy-makers, funding bodies and treatment providers need current, comparable and accurate information on the activities and outcomes of alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services to respond to the needs of the sector. If meaningful comparisons are to be made at the jurisdictional level, a standardised treatment outcome monitoring system must be developed and implemented, that takes into account differences in client characteristics, treatment settings and modes of service provision. A brief, multi-dimensional instrument, the Brief Treatment Outcome Measure (BTOM) has been developed for routine, ongoing treatment outcome monitoring with clients receiving opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy (OMP) services in New South Wales (NSW), and for use in treatment evaluation research. This is the first time in Australia that an attempt has been made to integrate outcome monitoring into routine clinical practice across an AOD treatment sector. The BTOM contains thirty-three items across the domains of dependence, blood-borne virus exposure risk, drug use, health/psychological functioning and social functioning. The internal reliability of the BTOM is satisfactory; retest reliabilities for the measures are good to excellent and concurrent validation of BTOM scales yielded acceptable agreement. Average completion times of the BTOM were 14.5 minutes when administered by researchers and 21 minutes by clinicians. A 30-month feasibility trial was conducted in selected NSW OMP treatment agencies to determine the practicability of implementing an OMS; to identify issues that would impact on the quality of the data; and identify administrative processes that could facilitate implementation whilst minimising the burden on agency staff. In addition, clinicians who had administered the BTOM were surveyed 18 months into the trial to ascertain their attitudes towards the clinical utility, acceptability of content and the level of support given to them to administer the BTOM as part of routine clinical practice. Results from the trial indicate that the BTOM measures are sensitive to change over time; that the change observed is consistent with that reported in the OMP treatment outcome literature; and that clinicians, whilst generally being positively predisposed towards using the instrument, express concerns relating to the burden of administering and the clinical utility of conducting outcome monitoring.
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Booth, Amy Rose. "Developing and piloting an intervention to increase chlamydia testing among young people living in the deprived areas of Sheffield." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2013. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/5036/.
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Yankosky, Leonard Joseph. "Investigating the role of procedures and cockpit display of traffic information in candidate air traffic management operations." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/21616.
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Ebinuma, Takuji. "Precision spacecraft rendezvous using global positioning system an integrated hardware approach /." Access restricted to users with UT Austin EID Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3031047.
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Tinkler, Kerry. "Setting up, piloting, implementing and reviewing a GP direct access service for the diagnosis of lower limb deep vein thrombosis." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.407268.
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Raidy, Peggy J. "A curriculum for a laboratory course in flight operations." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1988. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/391.
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Halliburton, Amanda E. "Piloting the Use of Acceptance, Cognitive Defusion, and Values, in Reducing Experiential Avoidance and its Consequences Among Youth Rejected by Peers." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/81404.
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Peer rejection (PR) can be damaging to cognitive and emotional well being and lead to risky behavioral consequences (e.g., violence, increased peer pressure susceptibility), particularly for adolescents (Sebastian et al., 2010; Williams, 2007). Interventions designed to minimize the impact of and repair damage related to PR in youth have been somewhat successful (e.g., Mikami et al., 2005), although the need for further research into potentially pliable mechanisms underlying adolescent peer relationships remains. One suggested mediating factor is experiential avoidance (EA), which is the major target of acceptance- and mindfulness-based interventions such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; see Hayes, 2004 for a review). The present study built on the recommendations of Biglan et al. (2008) and Theodore-Oklota et al. (2014) in designing and implementing a prevention program aimed at reducing EA of PR experiences, with the hope of minimizing cognitive, emotional and behavioral consequences of PR. For this initial pilot, selected ACT components (acceptance, cognitive defusion, and values) were presented in age-appropriate form to six participants over five individual intervention sessions. The program was successful in reducing EA and cognitive fusion and/or improving mindfulness and acceptance for most participants, with some exceptions. Additionally, results showed a decrease in existing symptomatology for several participants (e.g., anger, depression, poor self-concept, overall stress). However, value congruence was not significantly improved for any of the six completers. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications and recommendations for further research, particularly in terms of how the existing pilot intervention could be altered and augmented to maximize effectiveness.Ph. D.
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Radin, Elizabeth. "A capability approach to understanding the efficient conversion of health resources into health outcomes : piloting a mixed-methods methodology in northern Vietnam." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:46e8bc14-f5a4-4e11-b176-80e16a2dec4f.
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Achieving efficiency, or maximizing the outputs achieved per unit of resource invested, is of great interest to governments, donors and other stakeholders in the health sector. Many studies consider efficiency in public health using Cost Effectiveness Analyses which estimate the health outcomes achieved per unit of cost. Others employ Technical Efficiency Analysis to understand which health system units, usually hospitals, provide the most health services per unit of resource. However, very little is known about demand-side efficiency or how efficiently individuals convert available health resources into health outcomes. To address this gap, I developed and piloted a two-stage methodology using Amartya Sen's Capability Approach as a theoretical framework mapping the process by which individuals convert resources into outcomes. The first stage estimates conversion efficiency using Order-m Efficiency Analysis then identifies the social groups most likely to be efficient using regression analysis. The second stage undertakes focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews to investigate how and why the social groups identified in the quantitative stage were more likely to be efficient. I conducted my analysis in Ba Vi district, northern Vietnam looking specifically at how efficiently pregnant women converted maternal health resources—including health facilities and human resources for health—into both appropriate care and healthy pregnancy and delivery. I found that ethnic minorities and women in non-mountainous areas were more likely to be efficient at achieving appropriate care while ethnic minorities and less educated women are more likely to be efficient at achieving healthy pregnancy and delivery outcomes. Through qualitative feedback, women who were ethnic majorities, better educated and generally more affluent expressed stronger technology preference, greater use of the private sector, less continuity of care, tendencies towards overnutrition, less focus on mental and emotional health and more varied sources of health information including advertising and the internet. Evidence links each of these themes to adverse care and/or health outcomes. Consequently, the more affluent populations, who also have a greater endowment of public health resources, may be less likely to achieve good outcomes—explaining at least in part why they are found to be less efficient. My findings highlight that the development process and attendant epidemiological and nutrition transitions give rise to a new set of challenges not solely for public health, but also for the efficiency with which it is achieved using existing health system resources.