Background: Attention and vigilance is highlighted as an adaptive function which facilitates a faster response to threat. It is also proposed as a maintenance factor in problems with anxiety, and more recently within physical health conditions. Researchers have hypothesised that due to the role of attention in anxiety, modifying this attention will result in a reduction of anxiety levels. In addition, research is now emerging in relation to the role of attention in paediatric health conditions. Due to the importance of early targeting in interventions for both anxiety and physical health conditions, further research is needed in this area. Aims: The research aims were twofold. The first aim was to review the literature and evidence related to the anxiolytic effect of Attention Bias Modification (ABM) in child and adolescent populations. The second aim was to investigate if children with asthma show an attentional bias to different threat related stimuli (asthma, anxiety or general negative emotion) and the relationship between this and other health related factors. Method: A systematic review of the current literature was carried out to address the first aim. This included 10 quantitative studies which all examined the effect of ABM on either child or adolescent anxiety levels. To address the second aim, 36 children aged nine to twelve participated in an empirical study. 18 of the participants had asthma, and 18 were asthma free and both groups were asked to complete a computer task designed to measure attentional bias to the different threat related stimuli. In addition, caregivers completed a questionnaire to measure their own anxiety levels, and the children with asthma completed measures focused on quality of life, coping strategies and inhaler use. Results: Research regarding the effectiveness of ABM for youth anxiety is in its early stages. However, preliminary conclusions can be drawn suggesting that it may be an effective intervention to reduce anxiety levels. Additional, rigorous research is required to standardise treatment protocols and answer further questions. Within the empirical study, repeated measures ANOVA revealed that children with asthma show an attentional bias to asthma cues whereas children without asthma do not. Furthermore, there was no selective attention to general negative words, suggesting that attentional bias was not due to general sensitivity to emotional stimuli. A Pearson’s correlation showed that vigilance to asthma cues was associated with parental anxiety. There was no attentional bias to anxiety symptom words and no significant correlations between bias scores and the measured health related factors. Conclusion: The results from the systematic review provide further evidence for the role of attention in paediatric anxiety problems. In addition, the outcome of the empirical study suggests an unconscious threat association in childhood asthma. Further research may yield a viable computerised treatment for paediatric anxiety. Regardless of this, it will be important to consider the role of attention in clinical practice, both in the treatment of anxiety and complex chronic health problems such as asthma.

Class of 2011 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: To design a tool to assess for bias in studies for pharmacy services. METHODS: This study will involve reviewing published reports of studies comparing pharmacists’ services to usual services to identify the key study design components and methods for addressing study design limitations. We will then design a tool to assess further such studies for bias. RESULTS: The aspects of a good pharmacy services study that can be controlled include: large study population, equivalence of population at baseline, experimental mortality, multi-centered study, adequate adherence to treatment, and independence from study staff/manufacturer influence. If these things are controlled and/or accounted for it increases the strength of the study. CONCLUSION: The tool we have designed can successfully evaluate the quality of studies of pharmacy services.

This thesis presents the development and application of methods to assess cognitive markers of emotion and psychological wellbeing in a species of nonhuman primate, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). In humans, vulnerability to emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression is characterized by particular cognitive profiles, known as cognitive biases. For example, anxious people automatically attend to threat-relevant information, interpret ambiguous information negatively, and have negative expectations of future events. In this thesis, I first describe two treatments that were used prior to cognitive testing to induce positive and negative shifts in inferred affective state in the monkeys (enrichment and a health-check, respectively) and discuss the impact of these treatments on the monkeys’ behaviour and physiology (Chapters 2 and 3). In the first cognitive study (Chapter 4), I present a method that uses eye-gaze to assess the extent to which threatening (versus non-threatening) stimuli capture visual spatial attention when two stimuli are presented at different locations. In the second study (Chapter 5), I present a simple operant touch-screen task to assess the extent to which a threatening distractor stimulus captures attention and impairs performance on an ongoing task when presented at the same location as the taskrelevant stimulus. In the third study (Chapter 6), I present a Go/NoGo touchscreen task to assess judgements about the reward value of ambiguous stimuli. In all of these studies, the two treatments led to different cognitive profiles in the monkeys. Monkeys showed a) automatic capture of attention by threatening stimuli, which was followed by avoidance following the health-check, but not Post-enrichment; b) impaired task performance when a threatening distractor stimulus was presented Post-health-check, and improved performance on these trials Post-enrichment; and c) a more negative judgement about the reward value of ambiguous stimuli Post-health-check versus Post-enrichment. I discuss these cognitive biases in light of available data from humans, and recent work with nonhuman animals. These data indicate that furthering our understanding of primate and other animal psychological wellbeing, may be achieved through the development of measures of cognitive bias, such as those presented here.

Basic research on expectancy effects suggests that investigative interviewers with pre-conceived notions about a crime may negatively influence the interview process in meaningful ways, yet many interviewing protocols recommend that interviewers review all available information prior to conducting their interviews. Previous research suggests that interviewers with no pre-interview knowledge elicit more detailed and accurate accounts than their informed counterparts (Cantlon, et al., 1996; Rivard et al., under review). The current study investigated whether (a) the benefit of blind versus informed interviewing is moderated by cautionary interviewer instructions to avoid suggestive questions and (b) whether any possible effects of pre-interview information extend beyond the immediate context of the forensic interview. Paired participants (N = 584) were assigned randomly either to the role of interviewer or witness. Witnesses viewed a mock crime video and were interviewed one week later by an interviewer who received either correct, incorrect, or no information about the crime event. Half of the interviewers were assigned randomly to receive additional instructions to avoid suggestive questions. All participants returned 1 week after the interview to recall the crime video (for the witness) or the information recalled by the witness during the interview (for the interviewer). All interviews and delayed recall measures were scored for the quantity and accuracy of information reported. Results replicate earlier findings that blind interviewers elicit more information from witnesses, without a decrease in accuracy rate. However instructions to avoid suggestive questions did not moderate the effect of blind versus informed interviewing on witness recall during the interview. Results further demonstrate that the effects of blind versus non-blind interviewing may extend beyond the immediate context of the interview to a later recall attempt. With instructions to avoid suggestive questions, witnesses of blind interviewers were more accurate than witnesses of incorrectly informed interviewers when recalling the event 1 week later. In addition, blind interviewers had more accurate memories for the witnesses’ account of the event during the interview compared to non-blind interviewers.

Buying a home is among the most important choices that any individual is likely to make in their lifetime. It has lasting consequences for happiness, well-being and personal finances. Yet, given the infrequency with which such decisions are made; the difficulty getting information from an opaque and decentralised marketplace; and the high transactions costs involved, there is a significant risk that decision making may depart from the high standard imposed by the normative economic concept of 'rational choice'. This thesis uses the insights of the economic theory of choice - from behavioural economics in particular - to examine housing choice from a new perspective. It considers the potential for estate agents, knowingly or otherwise, to exploit behavioural biases in decision making to influence preference and, ultimately, choices over housing. This naturally is of interest to estate agents and policy makers involved in housing markets; but most importantly to individuals as decision makers: making better decisions relies on understanding when and where vulnerability to manipulation may lie. Using evidence from a series of classroom experiments with 280 student volunteers and from two online surveys with over 4,000 adult respondents, significant areas where individuals may be consistently vulnerable to manipulation of judgement are found and recorded. In particular, both student and adult respondents are susceptible to biases involving manipulation of the decision making context, known as the choice frame. Students also tend to rely on arbitrary 'anchor' points to make value estimates, which results in significantly impaired judgements, even in the presence of incentives for accuracy. Finally, evidence of a significant new form of behavioural bias is found, in which elements of the choice frame have an unexpectedly negative impact on perceptions. This new bias is persistent across several experimental scenarios and is labelled the 'choice pollution effect'.

Students’ evaluations of teaching (SETs) have been used as a primary means of evaluating the teaching quality at postsecondary institutions for a number of years. The research in this area has been consistently expanding in an effort to validate its use and efficacy. To date, there has been little consensus regarding the validity of these evaluations, especially with regards to the possible impact of extraneous factors. Researchers have previously found evidence of a link between the self-serving bias and grade expectations. The present study used an experimental design to examine the validity of SETs in the context of the self-serving bias. According to the self-serving bias, individuals will be more likely to attribute success internally but attribute failure externally. Specifically, the present study examined whether there were differences in the presence of the self-serving bias in relation to self-reported narcissism and shyness. Students at a large university aged 17 - 46 (N = 563) were asked to write a short essay on euthanasia and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the first condition, students were assigned a low grade; in the second condition, they were assigned a high grade. When they were given their essay grade back, students had an opportunity to rate their evaluator. Results indicated that students were more likely to externalize their essay grade when in the negative condition whereby they attributed their grade to reasons outside their control versus the positive condition, irrespective of their level of self-reported narcissism or shyness. These results suggest that the self-serving bias does exist within SETs and calls into question the validity of these evaluations. The findings from this study highlight the need for further research into the role that student characteristics play with regards to SETs.

Forskning inom beteendeekonomi visar att det finns flera psykologiska faktorer som leder till att investerare inte agerar rationellt vid viktiga beslut kring deras investeringar. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka ”Home bias” (HB) som innebär att investerare tenderar till att investera majoriteten av sitt kapital i den lokala aktiemarknaden samt de möjligheter som finns med internationella investeringar i aktiemarknaden från 2000 fram till 2020.  Resultatet av analysen visar att detta fenomen fortfarande existerar sedan de tidigare studierna utförts men att det har minskat med 7,25 procent från år 2000 till 2019. Vid undersökning av avkastning för aktieindex bestående av Mid-Cap och Large-Cap bolag för: Australien, Hong Kong, Nederländerna, Sverige, Danmark, Indien, Norge, Sydafrika, England, Italien, Portugal, Tyskland, Finland, Japan, Ryssland, USA, Frankrike, Kanada och Spanien, visade resultatet att Ryssland, Danmark och Indien har haft högst avkastning under den utvalda tidsperioden på 20 år. Den svenska aktiemarknaden har haft högst korrelation mot den franska och tyska aktiemarknaden och lägst korrelation mot den japanska och indiska aktiemarknaden. Vid undersökning av internationella investeringar styrkte teorin, historisk data och Monte Carlo simulering att det är lönsamt att diversifiera sin portfölj och investera i fler länder för att uppnå högsta avkastning sett till risken och prestera bättre än den svenska aktiemarknaden. / Research within behavioral economics have proven that there exist several kinds of biases that makes the investors act irrational when deciding for important decisions regarding their investments. This thesis examines the phenomena called “Home bias” (HB) which means that investors tend to invest most of their capital into the local stock market, the thesis also analyze the opportunity of international investments on the stock market from year 2000 to 2020. The results of the analyze proved that this phenomenon still exists since the last research about it had been done, however this home bias have decreased with 7,25 percent from 2000 to 2019. When analysing the return based on index from stocks on the Mid-Cap and Large-Cap list for: Australia, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, India, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Finland, Japan, Russia, Unites States, France, Canada and Spain,  the results showed that Russia, Denmark and India have had the highest return during the chosen time period of 20 years. The Swedish stock market have had the highest correlation with the French and German stock market, the lowest correlation was against the Japanese and Indian stock market. When analysing the return of international investments both theory, historical data and the Monte Carlo simulation proved it’s a benefit to diversify the stock portfolio and invest in more countries to achieve a higher rate of return given the risk and perform better than the Swedish stock market.

No description available.

Architecture can be described as a medium of communication; it is a physical, malleable fabric that can be manipulated and adjusted to convey meaning or an idea. According to theories by Fredrich Kitler, communication is the transferal of a digital signal (in our minds) to an analogue transmitter (our mouths). This analogue signal propagates through our environment and is received by an analogue receptor (our ears) which is then transferred back into a digital signal (or thought) wtthin the other party's mind. Kitler, 1996 p722 [2] Using the theories of communication to explicate architecture through human experience will form the basis of this dissertation. This particular application will take place at a school for the blind located in Silverton, Pretoria. The programme will include the necessary facilities required to educate and develop the blind people of Pretoria in a manner where they can become independent. as well as engaging members of society. Design and architecture should understand the following concepts more than that of any other profession; yet the current paradigm of architecture is geared towards the consumption of seductive images. This is possibly one of the greatest threats facing architecture in the continuum of the discourse. This project proposes a transformation in perception of interpretation. The way we experience potential spaces is biased towards visual elements; without ever fully understanding or realising acoustic properties or navigation devoid of sight. This deeper understanding of a body in space is best described by a German term 'umwelt'. The word denves from a biological field of examining an organism's immediate environment. Through evolutionary understanding the organism is a product of the context around it, and it in turn influences the surrounds. Each organism in question has its own perceptible world through the tools it evolved to make sense of its surrounds. Umwelt is a noun and in ethological terms refers to the world as expertenced by a particular organism / Mini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Architecture / MArch (Prof) / Unrestricted

Due to their ability to provide high data rates, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless communication systems have become increasingly popular. Decoding of these systems with acceptable error performance is computationally very demanding. In the case of large overdetermined MIMO systems, we employ the Sequential Decoder using the Fano Algorithm. A parameter called the bias is varied to attain different performance-complexity trade-offs. Low values of the bias result in excellent performance but at the expense of high complexity and vice versa for higher bias values. We attempt to bound the error by bounding the bias, using the minimum distance of a lattice. Also, a particular trend is observed with increasing SNR: a region of low complexity and high error, followed by a region of high complexity and error falling, and finally a region of low complexity and low error. For lower bias values, the stages of the trend are incurred at lower SNR than for higher bias values. This has the important implication that a low enough bias value, at low to moderate SNR, can result in low error and low complexity even for large MIMO systems. Our work is compared against Lattice Reduction (LR) aided Linear Decoders (LDs). Another impressive observation for low bias values that satisfy the error bound is that the Sequential Decoder's error is seen to fall with increasing system size, while it grows for the LR-aided LDs. For the case of large underdetermined MIMO systems, Sequential Decoding with two preprocessing schemes is proposed – 1) Minimum Mean Square Error Generalized Decision Feedback Equalization (MMSE-GDFE) preprocessing 2) MMSE-GDFE preprocessing, followed by Lattice Reduction and Greedy Ordering. Our work is compared against previous work which employs Sphere Decoding preprocessed using MMSE-GDFE, Lattice Reduction and Greedy Ordering. For the case of large systems, this results in high complexity and difficulty in choosing the sphere radius. Our schemes, particularly 2), perform better in terms of complexity and are able to achieve almost the same error curves, depending on the bias used.