The Canadas, as they at present commend themselves to the enterprize of emigrants, colonists, and capitalists. Comprehending a variety of topographical reports concerning the quality of the land, etc., in different districts; and the fullest general information:

Mode of access: Internet.

Nonpoint-source discharges and water quality of the Elk Creek basin, west-central Wisconsin /

Mode of access: Internet.

Environmental and nature conservation : a facet study of concern for the quality of the natural environment

A multi-variate descriptive model of environmental and nature conservation attitudes and values is proposed and empirically supported. A mapping sentence is developed out of analysis of data from a series of Repertory Grid interviews addressing conservation employees' attitudes towards their profession's activities. The research is carried out within the meta-theoretical framework of Facet Theory. A mapping sentence is developed consisting of 9 facets. From the mapping sentence 3 questionnaires were constructed viewing the selective orientations towards environmental concern. A mapping sentence and facet model is developed for each study. Once the internal structure of this model had been established using Similarity Structure Analysis, the elements of the facets are subjected to Partial Order Scalogram Analysis with base coordinates. A questionnaire was statistically analysed to assess the relationship between facet elements and 4 measures of attitudes towards, and involvement with, conservation. This enabled the comparison of the relative strengths of attitudes associated with each facet element and each measure of conservation attitude. In general, the relationship between the social value of conservation and involvement pledges to conservation were monotonic; perceived importance of a conservation issue appearing predictive of personal involvement. Furthermore, the elements of the life area and scale facets were differentially related to attitude measures. The multi-variate descriptive model of environmental conservation values and attitudes is discussed in relation to its implications for psychological research into environmental concern and for environmental and nature conservation.

The challenges of developing an online tool to measure the quality of the passenger experience in a PanEuropean context

METPEX is a 3 year, FP7 project which aims to develop a PanEuropean tool to measure the quality of the passenger's experience of multimodal transport. Initial work has led to the development of a comprehensive set of variables relating to different passenger groups, forms of transport and journey stages. This paper addresses the main challenges in transforming the variables into usable, accessible computer based tools allowing for the real time collection of information, across multiple journey stages in different EU countries. Non-computer based measurement instruments will be used to gather information from those who may not have or be familiar with mobile technology. Smartphone-based measurement instruments will also be used, hosted in two applications. The mobile applications need to be easy to use, configurable and adaptable according to the context of use. They should also be inherently interesting and rewarding for the participant, whilst allowing for the collection of high quality, valid and reliable data from all journey types and stages (from planning, through to entry into and egress from different transport modes, travel on public and personal vehicles and support of active forms of transport (e.g. cycling and walking). During all phases of the data collection and processing, the privacy of the participant is highly regarded and is ensured. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.

Quality of the written information about suicide attempters

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to assess the quality of the clinical records of the patients who are seen in public hospitals in Madrid after a suicide attempt in a blind observation. METHODS: Observational, descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at four general public hospitals in Madrid (Spain). Analyses of the presence of seven indicators of information quality (previous psychiatric treatment, recent suicidal ideation, recent suicide planning behaviour, medical lethality of suicide attempt, previous suicide attempts, attitude towards the attempt, and social or family support) in 993 clinical records of 907 patients (64.5% women), ages ranging from 6 to 92 years (mean 37.1±15), admitted to hospital after a suicide attempt or who committed an attempt whilst in hospital. RESULTS: Of patients who attempted suicide, 94.9% received a psychosocial assessment. All seven indicators were documented in 22.5% of the records, whilst 23.6% recorded four or less than four indicators. Previous suicide attempts and medical lethality of current attempt were the indicators most often missed in the records. The study found no difference between the records of men and women (z=0.296; p=0.767, two tailed Mann-Whitney U test), although clinical records of patients discharged after an emergency unit intervention were more incomplete than the ones from hospitalised patients (z=2.731; p=0.006), and clinical records of repeaters were also more incomplete than the ones from non-repeaters (z=3.511; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical records of patients who have attempted suicide are not complete. The use of semi-structured screening instruments may improve the evaluation of patients who have self- harmed.

Does Fumigation of Durum Wheat and Semolina with Sulfuryl Fluoride affect Quality of the Grain, Semolina and derived Spaghetti and Bread?

There is no information on the effect of sulfuryl fluoride (SF) on durum wheat technological properties and products made from fumigated durum wheat. Durum wheat and semolina were exposed to a range of SF applications under conditions that might be typically encountered in bulk storage facilities used in many countries. SF greatly reduced the germination percentage of fumigated durum wheat with increasing impact under higher SF concentration, grain moisture content, and fumigation temperature. SF greatly reduced seed germination percentage impacting more the higher the SF concentration. SF had little to no effects on grain test weight, 1000 grain weight, hardness, protein content, semolina ash content and mixograph properties. At the highest SF concentration (31.25 mg/L for 48 h) there was a tendency for pasta cooking loss to be increased but still acceptable while other pasta properties were largely unaffected. Fumigation with SF did not have any impact on the baking properties of a wholemeal durum flour-commercial flour mix. Therefore, SF is not recommended if the grains are to be used as seeds for agricultural production but for the production of semolina, pasta and bread, SF used under typical fumigation conditions has little to no impact on technological properties of durum wheat.

Does fumigation of durum wheat and semolina with sulfuryl fluoride affect quality of the grain, semolina, and derived spaghetti and bread?

There is no information on the effect of sulfuryl fluoride (SF) on durum wheat technological properties and products made from fumigated durum wheat. Durum wheat and semolina were exposed to a range of SF applications under conditions that might be typically encountered in bulk storage facilities used in many countries. SF greatly reduced the germination percentage of fumigated durum wheat, with increasing impact under higher SF concentration, grain moisture content, and fumigation temperature. SF greatly reduced seed germination percentage, impacting more the higher the SF concentration. SF had little to no effect on grain test weight, 1,000-grain weight, hardness, protein content, semolina ash content, and mixograph properties. At the highest SF concentration (31.25 mg/L for 48 h) there was a tendency for pasta cooking loss to be increased but still acceptable, and other pasta properties were largely unaffected. Fumigation with SF did not have any impact on the baking properties of a wholemeal durum flour-commercial flour mix. Therefore, SF is not recommended if the grains are to be used as seeds for agricultural production, but for the production of semolina, pasta, and bread, SF used under typical fumigation conditions has little to no impact on technological properties of durum wheat. © 2016 AACC International, Inc.

Oral health quality of the workers of a telemarketing company and their satisfaction with the treatments provided by the corporative dental insurance plan

Aim: To evaluate the oral health quality of the workers of a telemarketing company and their satisfaction with the dental treatments provided by the corporative dental insurance plan. Methods: Data collection was by an online intranet questionnaire on dental service providers from Uberlândia/MG and Campinas/SP. It was addressed to 6000 associates, with objective and subjective questions, comprising the level of the telemarketing operators’ oral health, dental needs, satisfaction with dental care providers and the importance of having the laboral dental services provided by the company. Results: After analysis of the results, we observed that: 57.52% of the workers required improvement in their oral health and 56.03% mentioned prevention as the largest need, 66.70% use the dental providers’ services, but only 31.34% were satisfied with them. Conclusions: The results underscore that the workers have an intermediate level of dental needs, with prevention as top importance. Additionally, establishment of a basic attention program inside the company would increase the satisfaction and adhesion indexes of providers and the workers’ oral health.

Evaluation of the quality of the teaching-learning process in undergraduate courses in Nursing

Objective: to identify aspects of improvement of the quality of the teaching-learning process through the analysis of tools that evaluated the acquisition of skills by undergraduate students of Nursing. Method: prospective longitudinal study conducted in a population of 60 second-year Nursing students based on registration data, from which quality indicators that evaluate the acquisition of skills were obtained, with descriptive and inferential analysis. Results: nine items were identified and nine learning activities included in the assessment tools that did not reach the established quality indicators (p<0.05). There are statistically significant differences depending on the hospital and clinical practices unit (p<0.05). Conclusion: the analysis of the evaluation tools used in the article "Nursing Care in Welfare Processes" of the analyzed university undergraduate course enabled the detection of the areas for improvement in the teaching-learning process. The challenge of education in nursing is to reach the best clinical research and educational results, in order to provide improvements to the quality of education and health care.

The quality of the physical environment and its association with activities and well-being among older people in residential care facilities

The physical environment can influence older people’s health and well-being, and is often mentioned as being an important factor for person-centred care. Due to high levels of frail health, many older people spend a majority of their time within care facilities and depend on the physical environment for support in their daily life. However, the quality of the physical environment is rarely evaluated, and knowledge is sparse in terms of how well the environment meets the needs of older people. This is partly due to the lack of valid and reliable instruments that could provide important information on environmental quality. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to study the quality of the physical environment in Swedish care facilities for older people, and how it relates to residents’ activities and well-being. Methods: The thesis comprises four papers where both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Study I involved the translation and adaptation of the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix (SCEAM) into a Swedish version (S-SCEAM). Several methods were used including forward and backward translation, test of validity via expert consultation and reliability tests. In Study II, S-SCEAM was used to assess the quality of the environment, and descriptive data were collected from 20 purposively sampled residential care facilities (RCFs). Study III was a comparative case study conducted at two RCFs using observations, interviews and S-SCEAM to examine how the physical environment relates to older people’s activities and interactions. In study IV, multilevel modeling was used to determine the association between the quality of the physical environment and the psychological and social well-being of older people living in RCFs. The data in the thesis were analysed using qualitative content analysis, and descriptive, bivariate and multilevel statistics. Results: A specific result was the production of the Swedish version of SCEAM. The instrument contains 210 items structured into eight domains reflecting the needs of older people. When using S-SCEAM, the results showed a substantial variation in the quality of the physical environment between and within RCFs. In general, private apartments and dining areas had high quality, whereas overall building layout and outdoor areas had lower quality. Also, older people’s safety was supported in the majority of facilities, whereas cognitive support and privacy had lower quality. Further, the results showed that environmental quality in terms of cognitive support was associated with residents’ social well-being. Specific environmental features, such as building design and space size, were also noted, through observation, as influencing residents’ activities, and several barriers were found that seemed to restrict residents’ full use of the environment. Conclusions: This thesis contributes to the growing evidence-based design field. The S-SCEAM can be used in future research on the association between the environment and people’s health and well-being. The instrument could also serve as a guide in the planning and design process of new RCFs.

Effects of the orientation of the mountainside, altitude and varieties on the quality of the coffee beverage from the "Matas de Minas" region, brazilian Southeast.

Based upon qualitative parameters experiments, this study aims to investigate how the elements of the environment, where the coffee is produced, contribute to the final quality of the product. For the analyses, it was used approximately one kilogram of coffee cherry samples collected in 14municipalities previously chosen on the East side of the Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The coffee cherry samples were collected and analyzed for each of the two varieties in four levels of altitude for each exposure side of the mountain in relation to the Sun. The quality of the coffee was evaluated through the analysis of its physical characteristics and sensory analysis, popularly known as "Test of drink or Cupping" carried out by three tasters that belonging to the group of Q -Graders, according to the rules of national and international competitions of the Brazilian Association of Special Coffees (BSCA). Were performed analysis by means descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and multivariate analysis, all of them aiming to study the individual sensor y characteristics of quality of the coffee beverage from the ?Matas de Minas? region. Path coefficient analysis also was carried out for the partition of the phenotypic correlation coefficients into measures of direct and indirect effects, in order to determine the individual sensory characteristics that playeda major role in the beverage final score. The results demonstrat e that it is not possible to concl usively establish the differences among coffees evaluated with basis on varieties and environmental factors previously cited. It can be concluded that it is not recommended to associate the quality of coffee only to a specific factor whether from the environment or being it a specific of the culture of coffee. However, the cafes that were evaluated had intrinsic quality, which were derived from the specific characteristics of the ?Matas de Minas? region where they were grown.

Emotion as a boost to metacognition : how worry enhances the quality of confidence

Emotion and cognition are known to interact during human decision processes. In this study we focus on a specific kind of cognition, namely metacognition. Our experiment induces a negative emotion, worry, during a perceptual task. In a numerosity task subjects have to make a two alternative forced choice and then reveal their confidence in this decision. We measure metacognition in terms of discrimination and calibration abilities. Our results show that metacognition, but not choice, is affected by the level of worry anticipatedbefore the decision. Under worry individuals tend to have better metacognition in terms of the two measures. Furthermore understanding the formation of confidence is better explained with taking into account the level of worry in the model. This study shows the importance of an emotional component in the formation and the quality of the subjective probabilities.

Development of a method to assess the quality of ankle joint reduction in 3D

This project developed a quantitative method for determining the quality of the surgical alignment of the bone fragments after an ankle fracture. The research examined the feasibility of utilising MRI-based bone models versus the gold standard CT-based bone models in order to reduce the amount of ionising radiation the patient is exposed to. In doing so, the thesis reports that there is potential for MRI to be used instead of CT depending on the scanning parameters used to obtain the medical images, the distance of the implant relative to the joint surface, and the implant material.