Water is all around us and is vital for all aspects of life. Studying the various compounds and life forms that inhabit natural waters lets us better understand the world around us.Remote sensing... Show moreWater is all around us and is vital for all aspects of life. Studying the various compounds and life forms that inhabit natural waters lets us better understand the world around us.Remote sensing enables global measurements with rapid response and high consistency. Citizen science provides new knowledge and greatly increases the scientific and social impact of research.In this thesis, we investigate several aspects of citizen science and remote sensing of water, with a focus on uncertainty and accessibility. We improve existing techniques and develop new methods to use smartphone cameras for accessible remote sensing of water. Show less
In this thesis, we aimed to develop and validate a patient and a physician questionnaire to measure the shared decision making (SDM) process in oncology. We identified SDM measurement challenges:... Show moreIn this thesis, we aimed to develop and validate a patient and a physician questionnaire to measure the shared decision making (SDM) process in oncology. We identified SDM measurement challenges: there is limited evidence on measurement properties, patients’ role is not assessed while it is present in SDM models, patients and healthcare professionals have been involved only to a limited extent in the development of SDM measurement instruments, and a reflective measurement model is often assumed, while a formative might be more appropriate. The aim of this thesis was therefore to develop and validate questionnaires to assess the SDM process in oncology from both the patient and the physician viewpoints. We chose the oncology setting because it is a setting in which patients often face preference-sensitive decisions, and in which most patients prefer an active or collaborative role in treatment decision making. To inform the development and validation process of our questionnaires, we used the original Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist and we wrote two reviews: one on existing SDM measurement instruments and one on existing SDM models. The iSHARE questionnaires shows adequate measurement properties Show less
To comprehend texts readers build mental representations. To establish coherence and protect these representations against inaccuracies readers routinely monitor and validate textual information... Show moreTo comprehend texts readers build mental representations. To establish coherence and protect these representations against inaccuracies readers routinely monitor and validate textual information against two main informational sources –what they just read (the text itself) and what they know (their background knowledge). This dissertation focuses on validation processes in the context of reading comprehension. Texts today vary in accuracy and trustworthiness. To better understand how readers validate (written) materials against various sources of information, the experimental studies in this dissertation employed different research methods to examine the (neuro)cognitive architecture of the processes involved in validating against prior text (i.e., text-based validation) and validating against background knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based validation) and how these processes affect readers;’ memory for text information.Results illustrate that readers validate incoming information against these two sources in dissociable, (partially) interactive, text-based and knowledge-based validation processes. Moreover, these processes seem to protect readers’ memory against inaccuracies or incongruencies. These observations deepen our understanding of validation processes, provide starting points for investigations of people’s susceptibility to false information and how inaccurate knowledge can be revised and provide insight into the complex interplay between recently acquired knowledge from the text itself and background knowledge in constructing meaning from language. Show less
