This multiple case study examined the self-regulation strategies used by 6 preschool-aged boys. The participants in this study were selected based on criterion of an undercontrolled behavior style. The researcher gained this description of the children via parental perceptions and naturalistic videotaped observations. Using these videotaped observations of natural play in the preschool environment, the researcher gained insights into the self-regulatory behaviors of these boys within their solitary play, and their peer and adult interactions. The across-case patterns revealed that the boys' behavior included a large proportion of prosocial and constructive coping responses. The data also suggested that the boys demonstrated deficits in their language strategies, especially within distressing or challenging peer situations where their negative emotion seemed to disrupt their use of skilled responses. Similarly, the boys were only observed using aggressive and negatively emotional responses subsequent to their failed attempts at peer interactions. The findings of this study can assist educators and parents in providing early education practices and play experiences that promote the development of socially competent language, emotional regulation, and peer initiation strategies.

Automated analysis of temporal data is a task of utmost importance for intelligent machines. For example, ubiquitous computing systems need to understand the intention of humans from the stream of sensory information, and health-care monitoring systems can assist patients and doctors by providing automatically annotated daily health reports. We present a set of extensions of switching linear dynamic systems (SLDSs) which provide the ability to capture the higher-order temporal structures within data and to produce more accurate results for the tasks such as labeling and estimation of global variations within data. The presented models are formulated within a dynamic Bayesian network formulation along with the inference and learning methods thereof. First, segmental SLDSs (S-SLDSs) produce superior labeling results by capturing the descriptive duration patterns within each LDS segment. The encoded duration models describe data more descriptively and allow us to avoid the severe problem of over-segmented labels, which leads to superior accuracy. Second, parametric SLDSs (P-SLDSs) allows us to encode the temporal data with global variations. In particular, we have identified two types of global systematic variations : temporal and spatial variations. The P-SLDS model assumes that there is an underlying canonical model which is globally transformed in time and space by the two associated global parameters respectively. Third, we present hierarchical SLDSs (H-SLDSs), a generalization of standard SLDSs with hierarchic Markov chains. H-SLDSs are able to encode temporal data which exhibits hierarchic structure where the underlying low-level temporal patterns repeatedly appear among different higher-level contexts. The developed SLDS extensions have been applied to two real-world problems. The first problem is to automatically decode the dance messages of honey bee dances where the goal is to correctly segment the dance sequences into different regimes and parse the messages about the location of food sources embedded in the data. The second problem is to analyze wearable exercise data where we aim to provide an automatically generated exercise record at multiple temporal and semantic resolutions. It is demonstrated that the H-SLDS model with multiple layers can be learned from data, and can be successfully applied to interpret the exercise data at multiple granularities.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experience of front-line practitioners working with suicidal children and youth. Five front-line practitioners who had experienced working with children or youth who were suicidal participated in the semi-structured interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed and summarized under the following three areas of experience: Participants' Descriptions of Working with Suicidal Children and Youth, Knowledge Valued by Participants' to Inform their Practice with Suicidal Children and Youth, and Participants' Physical and Emotional Responses to Suicidal Children and Youth. There were a total of sixteen emergent theme clusters. The themes related to the experience of practice with suicidal children and youth provided a rich context for understanding the nature of meaning of the suicidal behaviors for participants. The emergent themes relating to the knowledge valued by participants to guide their approach provided a specific understanding of the multiple sources of knowledge participants were drawing from in the encounters. The emergent themes relating to the physical and emotional responses participants experienced in relation to their encounters with a suicidal child or youth provided an awareness of the impact the encounters had on participants. The major findings included the participants' broad scope of knowledge they used to guide their approach, as well as that encounters with suicidal children and youth did evoke strong physical and emotional responses amongst participants. The study concludes by describing the implications of these findings for Child and Youth Care practice and for future directions in research.

The impact of transportation concerning older adults is under scrutiny as the number of older adults is expected to significantly increase in the coming years. The World Health Organization (WHO) spearheaded a world wide initiative that sought to examine what contributed to an “age-friendly community” in both developed and underdeveloped nations. This paper examines, in particular, the role that transportation plays in relation and contribution to an “age-friendly” community in Saanich, British Columbia, as an addition to the WHO initiative. Focus groups were conducted to ensure that information received was the lived experience of the individual. Results suggested that transportation was more than the ability to operate a vehicle, but in the ability to move safely within an environment. Additional information provided by participants spoke to the necessity of increasing awareness of licensing systems and improvements that could be implemented to ensure safety for older adult drivers and the community.

Orientador: Ana Cláudia Bortolozzi Maia / Banca: Rinaldo Correr / Banca: Sandro Caramaschi / Resumo: A sexualidade é um fenômeno complexo e até o momento não existe uma teoria que explique, por si só, como ocorre o desenvolvimento da sexualidade, uma vez que o estudo da sexualidade necessita de uma visão multidisciplinar, envolvendo os aspectos biológicos, sociais e psicológicos do desenvolvimento. Partindo de um referencial teórico da análise do comportamento, pode-se considerar que o comportamento sexual, assim como qualquer outro comportamento, é determinado pelos três níveis de seleção, ou seja, é resultante de uma carga genética, somado a um histórico de aprendizagem e ao contexto onde o indivíduo está inserido. Este estudo descritivo teve como objetivo investigar, por meio de relatos de jovens homossexuais e heterossexuais, as opiniões pessoais sobre o desenvolvimento da sexualidade e da orientação afetivo-sexual na infância e adolescência. Participaram oito pessoas com idades entre 22 e 28 anos, sendo quatro homens e quatro mulheres. A coleta de dados ocorreu por meio de entrevistas e os relatos obtidos foram analisados em conteúdo resultando nas seguintes categorias: Categoria 1 - relatos sobre o período da infância e adolescência, evidenciando a influência dos modelos comportamentais no desenvolvimento das relações sociais afetivas; Categoria 2 - relatos sobre a relação com familiares, marcada por conflitos, com vínculos afetivos estabelecidos tanto com a figura da mãe quanto a do pai, além da relação com os demais familiares; Categoria 3 - educação sexual: relatos sobre a educação familiar e escolar e a influência na sexualidade, destacando a influência dos aspectos culturais, além das contingências de reforçamento no desenvolvimento humano, além de levantar a participação da escola quanto influência no processo do desenvolvimento humano e, consecutivamente, no desenvolvimento sexual; Categoria 4 - relatos sobre sexualidade... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Sexuality is a complex phenomenon, and there isn't a theory that explains, in itself, as is the development of sexuality, simnce the study of sexuality requires a development. From a analysis of behavior view, it can be considered that sexual behavior, as well as any other behavior, is determined by the three levels of selection, or is the result of a genetic load, coupled with a history of learning and the context in which the individual belongs. This descriptive study aimed to investigate, through reports of young homesexuals and heterosexuals, personal opinions on the development of sexuality and sexual-affective orientation in childhood and adolescence. Eight people participated, aged between 22 and 28 years, four men and four women. The data was collected through interviews and reports were evaluated in content resulting in the following categories: Category 1 - Reports on the period of childhood and adolescence, highlighting the influence of behavior models in the development of affefctive social relations; Category 2 - Reports on the relationship with family, market by conflict, with established emotional ties with mother and father, addressing the relation with the family; Category 3 - Sex education: report on education and family and school influences on sexuality, highlighting the influence of cultural aspects, besides the reinforcement contingencies in human development, besides raising the characteristics of the school on the process of human development and consecutively in sexual development; Category 4 - Reports about sexuality in human development, raising the participants' understanding about sexuality, and the reports related to the early episodes of sexuality; Category 5 - Reports of sexuality current and future expectations, which demonstrated the importance of family, friends and loving couples in the development of sexual identy. At the end of the study, concluded... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Des projections réalisées sur les perspectives démographiques et financières de la dépendance prévoient, en France, une nette augmentation de la population des plus de 80 ans, accompagnée d'une multiplication par 2 du nombre de personnes âgées dépendantes entre 2010 et 2060. Afin de gérer l'augmentation du nombre de personnes âgées dépendantes, les EHPAD (Etablissement d'Hébergement pour Personne Agées Dépendantes) sont appelés à améliorer la prise en charge des résidents et à améliorer les conditions de travail du personnel soignant. C'est dans ce contexte, que nous avons développé un système de supervision permettant de détecter, via un ensemble de capteurs, des évolutions du comportement ou encore, le comportement anormal d'une personne âgée. La détection des comportements anormaux dans le cadre de la supervision est un sujet de recherche qui a été largement étudié dans la littérature ; ce qui n'est tout de même pas le cas de l'analyse des variations des activités de la vie de tous les jours, prenant en compte les spécificités du comportement de la personne au cours du temps. Ainsi, nous avons proposé un modèle de Markov, permettant d'apprendre, avec le moins d'a priori possible, le modèle de comportement habituel au sein de la chambre. Le modèle proposé a été testé sur des données acquises en Living Lab (GIS-Madonah). Nous avons également proposé une nouvelle approche pour calculer la distance entre deux modèles de Markov, afin d'évaluer l'évolution du comportement au cours du temps. Ces méthodes devront permettre, non seulement de déterminer la probabilité du comportement actuel de la personne par rapport à son comportement habituel ; mais également, de détecter des évolutions lentes du comportement de la personne. / Due to demographic changes, it is expected that the number of French having over 80 years will increase drastically and the number of dependent elderly people will grow twice between 2010 and 2060. To manage this increasing number of dependent elderly person, nursing homes are required to improve the care of residents and to improve the working conditions of health workers. In this context, we plan to develop a monitoring system, based on a set of sensors, to detect modifications in the behavior of a person, and unusual behavior. Detection of abnormal activities in smart homes is an important topic of research, unlike the detection of the evolutions of behavior, which take into account the specifics activities of the person in time. Thus, we proposed a Markov model which allow to learn the usual behavior in the room, with a reduced number of a priori. The model is try on data acquired on a Living Lab (GIS Madonah). We proposed a new method to compute the distance between two Markov models, to estimate the evolution of the behavior. These methods allow to compute the probability of the current activities with the usual behavior, and the slow evolutions of the behavior.

La performance énergétique des bâtiments peut être estimée grâce à la réalisation de simulations de thermique dynamique qui prennent en compte différentes hypothèses conventionnelles telles que celles définies dans la réglementation thermique 2012 (météo, occupation, consignes de température, usages de la fenêtre et du volet par les occupants, etc.). Les retours d’expériences dans les bâtiments énergétiquement performants mettent en évidence des écarts importants de consommations énergétiques entre les prévisions et les mesures in situ ainsi que des surchauffes estivales. D’après la communauté scientifique, même s’il existe de multiples facteurs pouvant expliquer ces écarts, l’occupant semble être l’élément le plus impactant. En effet, son action sur la fenêtre et le volet modifie le renouvellement d’air et la gestion des apports solaires. L’usage mais aussi la typologie de la fenêtre et du volet affectent donc les consommations énergétiques et le confort. L’objectif de notre étude est l’analyse de l’évolution thermique d’appartements occupés afin d'établir un modèle comportemental de l’occupant réel permettant de quantifier l’impact des modifications architecturales sur le confort thermique et les performances énergétiques des bâtiments. L’objet d’étude est un ensemble de deux résidences situées sur la commune de Vauvert (Gard, France) construites en 1969. De caractéristiques constructives identiques et suite à des rénovations similaires (V.M.C., chaudières, fenêtres), l’une d’entre elles a été récemment isolée thermiquement par l’extérieur. Une analyse sur une année des conditions thermiques réelles, du comportement individuel de l’occupant et des consommations d’énergie est menée sur la base d’enquêtes et par une instrumentation in situ dans les séjours de 13 appartements occupés. Elle nous permet de définir un modèle comportemental de l’occupant soit 32 combinaisons d’usage de la fenêtre et du volet qui peuvent être regroupées selon trois profils d’occupants (l’occupant « expert », l’occupant « actif » et l’occupant « contre-productif »). La modélisation fine des paramètres nécessaires pour les simulations de thermique dynamique réalisées avec Pléiades+COMFIE, aide à la compréhension de l’impact des stratégies architecturales sur le confort et les consommations énergétiques des bâtiments en milieu méditerranéen. L’analyse thermique des deux résidences (isolée et non isolée) montre, en hiver, des niveaux similaires de consommation pour un confort réduit dans la résidence non isolée. Cependant, en été, lors de pics de température, des surchauffes apparaissent dans la résidence isolée. Le comportement de l’individu a ainsi un rôle essentiel dans la limitation de l’inconfort d’été. Les analyses des mesures in situ montrent que des stratégies permettant le rafraîchissement des appartements ne sont pas toujours mises en place par les occupants. Des solutions architecturales atténuant le comportement contre-productif de l’individu sont finalement évaluées. / The current design of energy-efficient buildings used to be performed by dynamic thermal simulations using conventional hypotheses like those of the 2012 French thermal regulations (weather reports, occupancy, temperature set, operations of windows and shutters by occupants, etc...). However, feedback highlights a great difference in energy consumption between forecasts on the one hand and in situ measurements in winter as well as overheating in summer on the other hand. According to the scientific community, even if many factors can account for this gap, the inhabitants seem to play a major role in it as well. Indeed, by acting on their windows and shutters, they modify the renewal rate of fresh air and the management of solar contributions. As the matter of fact, the use and the type of windows and shutters affect the energy consumptions and the comfort. The aim of this study is to analyse the thermal evolution of occupied apartments in order to establish a behavioral model of the occupants. This will allow us to quantify the impact of architectural modifications on the thermal comfort and the energy performances of buildings.Two residential buildings are investigated in Vauvert (a city in southern of France). Both of them were built in 1969 using the same constructive techniques and have lately been renovated in a similar way (CMV, boilers, windows). The only difference is that on the facade of one of them an external thermal insulation has recently been installed. The analysis of the real thermal conditions, of the actual human behavior and of the amount of energy consumed is built on surveys and on an extensive year-round in situ instrumentation in the living rooms of 13 apartments. It allows us to define a behavioral model of occupants based on 32 different combinations in the operations of windows and shutters. We can divide them into three occupants' profiles (the “expert” occupant, the “active” occupant and the “counterproductive” occupant). Digital Pléiades+COMFIE simulations are made in order to validate this model. The refined modeling of the dynamic thermal simulation parameters helps to understand the impact on the thermal comfort and the energy consumption of different architectural strategies in the Mediterranean area.In winter the thermal analysis of the two residential buildings (insulated and non insulated) shows similar levels of consumption, but a lower level of thermal comfort in the non insulated case. However during temperature peaks in summer, overheating appears in the insulated dwellings, but human behavior is the key to limit occupants’ discomfort. The analysis of in situ measurements shows that strategies to cool down the apartments are not always implemented by occupants. Architectural solutions mitigating “counterproductive” occupants’ behavior are finally examined.

A motivação para realizar a presente pesquisa decorre da necessidade de uma melhor compreensão sobre a relação entre a Família e a Escola, no que diz respeito ao estabelecimento de limites à criança. Os limites aqui estão sendo tomados como sinônimo de disciplina. Durante muito tempo, atuando em uma instituição particular de ensino, observou-se a existência de muitos conflitos entre pais e professores quando o tema em foco é disciplina. Isso implica que os pais argumentam, com a maior naturalidade, que não sabem mais que procedimentos adotar para disciplinar seus filhos e os professores, na maioria das vezes, não sabem o que fazer ou que atitude tomar ao verem um aluno agitando na sala-deaula. Em decorrência das inquietações relatadas anteriormente, cresceu a necessidade de investigar a concepção que os pais e os professores têm acerca dos limites que poderão ser aplicados às crianças, especialmente em decorrência de seus comportamentos inadequados. Nesse sentido, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, com 15 educadores (sendo cinco professores, cinco mães e cinco pais) que tinham seus filhos ou alunos matriculados regularmente no Ensino Fundamental-I de escolas particulares. Através das entrevistas realizadas, foi possível observar a dificuldade que os pais e os professores vêm sentindo quando o tema em pauta é disciplina. Por outro lado, nota-se uma convergência acerca da concepção de limites, bem como das repercussões que sua falta pode acarretar. Pode-se também constatar a influência das concepções de gênero, da mídia e das pressões às quais as pessoas são submetidas na sociedade atual: os pais sendo absorvidos pelo trabalho e outras preocupações do dia-a-dia; os professores sendo obrigados a tratar os alunos como clientes, devido à competitividade entre as escolas particulares, que precisam dos alunos, e queixosos da falta de sua educação doméstica. Acredita-se que esta pesquisa possa oferecer uma contribuição aos profissionais e estudiosos interessados nos temas família e escola. Tem-se a certeza de que ela não é conclusiva e ainda haverá muito que pesquisar e aprender ante a complexidade do assunto, sua abrangência e importância nos dias atuais / The motivation to carry through to present research elapses of the necessity of one better understanding on the accomplishment between the Family and the School, in what it says respect to the establishment of limits to the child. During much time, acting in a private institution of education, it of many conflicts between parents was observed existence and professors when the subject in focus is discipline. This implies that the parent argue, with the biggest naturalness, who do not know than procedure more to accept to discipline its. children and professors, in the majority of the times, they do not know what to make or that attitude to take when seeing a pupil agitating in the classroom. Succeeding the told fidgets previously, the necessity increased to investigate the conception that the parents and the professors have concerning the limits that could be applied the children, especially succeeding its inadequate behaviors. In this direction, a qualitative research was carried through, with 15 educators (being five professors, five mothers and five fathers) that had its children or pupils registered the basic education of private schools regularly. Because of the carried through interviews, was possible to observe the difficulty that the parents and professors come feeling when the subject in guideline discipline. On the other hand, a convergence concerning the conception of limits is noticed, as well as of the repercussions that its lack of limits can cause. The influence of the conceptions a sort can also be evidenced, of the media and of the pressures to which they are submitted in the current society. The parents bring absorbed by the work and other concerns of day-by-day; the professors bring obliged to treat the pupils as customers, had the competitiveness between the private schools that they need the complaining pupils and of the lack of domestic education give credit that this research can offer a contribution to the studious professional and interested in the subjects family and school. It is had certainty of that it is not conclusive, and still will have very what to search and to learn it enters the complexity of the subject, its extension and the importance of the current days

abstract: Behavioral health problems such as physical inactivity are among the main causes of mortality around the world. Mobile and wireless health (mHealth) interventions offer the opportunity for applying control engineering concepts in behavioral change settings. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) is among the most influential theories of health behavior and has been used as the conceptual basis of many behavioral interventions. This dissertation examines adaptive behavioral interventions for physical inactivity problems based on SCT using system identification and control engineering principles. First, a dynamical model of SCT using fluid analogies is developed. The model is used throughout the dissertation to evaluate system identification approaches and to develop control strategies based on Hybrid Model Predictive Control (HMPC). An initial system identification informative experiment is designed to obtain basic insights about the system. Based on the informative experimental results, a second optimized experiment is developed as the solution of a formal constrained optimization problem. The concept of Identification Test Monitoring (ITM) is developed for determining experimental duration and adjustments to the input signals in real time. ITM relies on deterministic signals, such as multisines, and uncertainty regions resulting from frequency domain transfer function estimation that is performed during experimental execution. ITM is motivated by practical considerations in behavioral interventions; however, a generalized approach is presented for broad-based multivariable application settings such as process control. Stopping criteria for the experimental test utilizing ITM are developed using both open-loop and robust control considerations. A closed-loop intensively adaptive intervention for physical activity is proposed relying on a controller formulation based on HMPC. The discrete and logical features of HMPC naturally address the categorical nature of the intervention components that include behavioral goals and reward points. The intervention incorporates online controller reconfiguration to manage the transition between the behavioral initiation and maintenance training stages. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance of the system using a model for a hypothetical participant under realistic conditions that include uncertainty. The contributions of this dissertation can ultimately impact novel applications of cyberphysical system in medical applications. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2016

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:37:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CatianeKDS_DISSERT.pdf: 1265888 bytes, checksum: c49a11fa200b7c8a1e4318a81e04203f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-18 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / Child facial cues evoke attention, parental care behaviors and modulate for infant- caretaker interactions. Lorenz described the baby schema ( Kindchenschema ) as a set of infantile physical features such as the large head, round face, high and protruding forehead, big eyes, chubby cheeks, small nose and mouth. Previous work on this fundamental concept was restricted to positive perception to infant face, and did not show consistent results about the development individuals perceptions, regarding the physical attributes that worked as markers of cuteness. Here, we experimentally tested the effects of baby schema on the perception of cuteness of infant faces by children and adults. We used 60 none graphically manipulated photos of different stimulus children faces from 4 to 9 years old. In the first task for the adults experimental subjects, ten stimulus photos were shown, whereas for children experimental subjects, four stimulus photos were shown at a time, with a total of six rounds. The second task involved only adults, who indicated the motivation of affective behaviors and care directed to children through a Likert scale. Our results suggest that both participants judged similarly the cuteness of children's faces, and the physical features markers of this perception were observed only for younger stimulus children. Adults have attributed more motivations of positive behaviors to cuter stimulus children. The recognition of the baby schema by individuals of different ages and genders confers the universality and power of children's physical attributes. From the evolutionary perspective the responsiveness to baby schema is significant to ensure aloparental and parental investment, and the consequent children survival / As informa??es da face infantil evocam aten??o, comportamentos de cuidado parental e modulam as intera??es entre adultos e crian?as. Lorenz descreveu o esquema infantil ( Kindchenschema ) como um conjunto de caracter?sticas f?sicas da face, tais como: grande cabe?a, face arredondada, testa proeminente e alta, olhos grandes, bochechas arredondadas e salientes, e nariz e boca pequenos. Trabalhos pr?vios tiveram uma concep??o fundamental restrita as percep??es positivas ?s faces infantis, e n?o apresentaram resultados consistentes sobre o desenvolvimento da percep??o dos indiv?duos quanto aos atributos f?sicos que funcionavam como marcadores de fofura. N?s testamos experimentalmente o efeito do esquema infantil sobre a percep??o de fofura das faces infantis por adultos e crian?as. Para isso, utilizamos 60 fotos das faces n?o manipuladas graficamente de diferentes crian?as-est?mulo de 4 a 9 anos de idade. Para isso, utilizamos 60 fotos das faces n?o manipuladas graficamente de diferentes crian?as-est?mulo de 4 a 9 anos de idade. Na primeira tarefa para os sujeitos experimentais adultos eram mostrados dez fotos-est?mulo e para os sujeitos experimentais crian?as quatro fotos-est?mulo por vez, num total de seis rodadas. Na segunda tarefa participaram apenas os adultos, que por meio de uma escala likert indicavam a motiva??o de comportamentos afetivos e de cuidado direcionado para as crian?as. Nossos resultados apontam que ambos os participantes julgaram de forma similar a fofura das faces infantis, e as caracter?sticas f?sicas marcadoras dessa percep??o foi verificada apenas para as crian?as-est?mulo mais novas. Os adultos atribu?ram maiores motiva??es de comportamentos positivos as crian?as-est?mulo mais fofas. O reconhecimento do esquema infantil por indiv?duos de diferentes idades e g?neros confere a universalidade e pot?ncia dos atributos f?sicos infantis. Sob a perspectiva evolutiva a responsividade ao esquema infantil ? significante por assegurar investimento parental e aloparental, e a consequente sobreviv?ncia das crian?as