The aim of this thesis was to investigate the well-being of patients in clinical neuroscience settings. Both the systematic review and research paper are being prepared for submission to the journal of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, the guidelines of which are included in the appendices (Appendix 1).Paper one is a systematic review of the literature investigating the prevalence of depression following traumatic brain injury (TBI). 26 papers were reviewed with 15 meeting quality assessment criteria and were described in further detail. The prevalence of depression following TBI, reported in the reviewed studies, varied between 19% and 46%.The quality of the methodology of the studies is evaluated and discussed.The research paper (paper two) investigated the relationship between well-being, cognitive impairment and dependency using care mapping - neurorehabilitation (DCM-NR) as a measure of well-being. This study applied DCM-NR in a range of clinical neuroscience settings. Participants considered to have severe cognitive impairment were found to have significantly lower well-being (as measured by DCM-NR), and to be more dependent than participants with moderate, mild or no cognitive impairment. Overall level of dependency and cognitive impairment accounted for 23.9% of the variance in well-being scores from the DCM-NR.Paper three is a critical appraisal of the systematic review and research paper. Pertinent issues, including methodological limitations, relevant to the two papers are discussed in addition to clinical and research considerations.

The overall goal of this research is concerned with understanding the effects of bentonite on the external corrosion of bare mild steel well casing. Na-bentonite is mainly used in enormous amounts in drilling processes, so it used as the main electrochemical environment surrounding the casing at different condition. The major part of the current study was divided into 3 stages; the first stage is constant current cathodic protection (CP) with a range of 0.0 (Open Circuit Potential) to 200mA.m-2 was applied respectively to protect bare mild steel buried vertically inside the bentonite layer contains 45% (w/w) 0.5 M NaCl Solution. This study was attempted to investigate the polarisation potential distribution over depth. The second stage is polarisation potential with a range of OCP to -1.15V/SCE was applied to protect mild steel exposed to 0.5M sodium chloride solution containing different concentration of bentonite, namely 0.0%, 1.0 and 10.0% (w/w). The third stage was concerning with the ZnCl2 added at 500ppm and 1000ppm to the bentonite as cathodic inhibitor to investigate its effects on the corrosion process of mild steel. CP at 0.0mV (OCP) and -1.15 V against saturated calomel electrode (SCE) were applied for this experiment. Weight loss, visual observation, Open Circuit Potential (OCP), cathodic protection and linear polarisation resistance (LPR) techniques were employed for this study. Optical microscope, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis are illustrated to study, examine and analyse the films that formed on the metal surface. It is demonstrated that the corrosion rate produced from LPR measurement data was fairly lower than that obtained by experimental weight loss data. Low corrosion rate was recorded for the specimens immersed in 0.5NaCl solution, containing bentonite compared to that were obtained for solution free of bentonite. Magnesium hydroxide and calcium carbonate were the main chemical compounds that detected on the metal surfaces when cathodic protection (CP) was applied at -1.15V vs. SCE. It was confirmed that, the addition of ZnCl2 at two different concentration, 500ppm and 1000ppm has reduced the current density applied to a considerable value. This was ascribed to the formation of compacted and uniform film on the protected surface. The examination of the specimens using EDX and XRD has shown the formation of zinc containing compounds. Small amount of NaCl in the form of halite for both concentrations was also detected.

No description available.

abstract: According to hedonism about happiness, all and only enjoyable experiences are the basic constituents of one’s happiness, and these experiences contribute to one’s happiness just to the extent that they have a greater intensity or duration. After defending this view, I show that it must be amended to count as an equally plausible theory of what constitutes one’s well-being. I then present two such amended versions of hedonism about well-being. The first, which I call objective hedonism, adds the claim that the objective worth of the things one enjoys also makes a difference to the extent to which an enjoyable experience contributes to one’s well-being. The second, which I call reliabilist hedonism, adds the claim that one’s evaluative intuitions about which things are good for one track which things have proven themselves to one to reliably lead to enjoyable experience. I conclude that reliabilist hedonism constitutes a revival of hedonism about well-being. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Philosophy 2020

The purpose of this study was to assess overall life satisfaction of older adult women who have not had children. The study explored the following questions: (1) What is the overall sense of life satisfaction of childfree women over 65? (2) What is the lived experience of being a childfree woman in U.S. society? (3) How does being childfree inform women’s overall life satisfaction? This study utilized a phenomenological research design. Fourteen childfree women over the age of 65 participated in semistructured interviews aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the sense of life satisfaction of childfree women in late life. The study’s purpose was to look at the lived experiences of childfree older women and further understand their abilities to live fulfilled lives despite the absence of child bearing. This research explored the experiences of women without children and hopefully will inspire future research on the topic as well as inform practice regarding the unique experiences and perspectives of childfree women. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

North Dakota’s oil boom is aided by a new technology, fracking. But this technology implies large amounts of wastewater. The methods of dealing with this wastewater are now an issue. Currently, North Dakota locks it into deep injection wells in the Bakken formation. With the development of membrane technologies to treat wastewater, it may be feasible to treat the wastewater and reuse it. This study uses a mathematical programming model to minimize the total cost of dealing with wastewater using three methods - deep well injection, on-site treatment, and off-site treatment. The model results show it is cost-effective to use on-site and large capacity off-site treatment to treat the 20% of the wastewater that flows back within the first 30-60 days after a well is drilled.

Laser Diodes (LD) have numerous applications for industry, military, medicine and communications. The first visible LD was invented in 1962 by Nick Holonyak, emitted at 710 nm (red). In 1990s, Shuji Nakamura invented the blue and green Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and later LDs. The production of LDs emitting between 532- 632 nm has been severely lagging behind the rest of the visible spectrum. Yellow and orange LDs are still not accessible due to the lack of successfully grown material with high optical efficiency. AlGaInP is the quaternary compound semiconductor used to grow green to red LEDs and red LDs. At a material composition that is supposed to lase below 630 nm, the optical efficiency becomes low due to the oxygen-related defects associated with high Al content. The quantum well intermixing (QWI) is a post-growth process that is applied to laser structure to tune the wavelength of laser. Until now, there are limited reports on successful intermixing of InGaP/InAlGaP laser structures while maintaining the crystal quality. In this work, we introduced a novel intermixing process that utilizes the high strain induced by the dielectric film during annealing to initiate the intermixing. We deposited SiO2 capping by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) onto the InGaP/InAlGaP laser structure emitting at 635 nm, and then annealed the structure up to 950 Celsius for different periods of time, resulting in an astonishing 100 nm blueshift. This blueshift allowed us to produce an unprecedented shorter wavelength orange lasers emitting at 608 nm. For low degree of intermixing, we have noticed an increase in the intensity of the photoluminescence (PL) signal. The improvement in the PL signal was translated to a reduction in threshold current. We implemented the technique on an LED structure with Al-rich QWs emitting at 590 nm. Significant increase in the PL intensity (20 folds) was observed. By analyzing the improved structure, we observed reduction in oxygen contamination. This may represent a solution to the oxygen-related defect. The thesis opens the door for major steps forward in GaInP/AlGaInP structures for manufacturing efficient optoelectronic devices in the green, yellow and orange visible range.

abstract: The present study aimed to advance the current understanding of the relation between disability and subjective well-being by examining the extent to which different facets of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) change before and after disability onset, and the extent to which age and type of disability moderate such changes. Multiphase growth-curve models to prospective longitudinal survey data from Waves 1-16 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (N = 3,795; mean age = 50.22; age range: 16-99; 51% women). On average, life satisfaction remained relatively stable across the disability transition, whereas positive affect declined and negative affect increased the year surrounding disability onset; in the years thereafter, neither positive affect nor negative affect returned to pre-onset levels. Individuals who acquired disability in old age were more likely to report sustained declines in subjective well-being than were individuals who became disabled in midlife or young adulthood. Psychological disability was associated with the strongest declines across each indicator of subjective well-being at disability onset but also greater adaptation in the years thereafter. The findings provide further evidence against the set-point theory of hedonic adaptation and for a more moderate viewpoint that allows for processes of adaptation to vary based on the outcome examined, the type of stressor, and individual characteristics. The discussion focuses on possible mechanisms underlying the moderating roles of age and type of disability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2019

Well-Child Examinations are an integral part of monitoring growth and development for children. These visits allow for establishment of a therapeutic relationship between patient and caregiver, and provide opportunities to screen for underlying conditions while simultaneously following growth and development milestones. Well-child examinations provide opportunities for parents to voice concerns and help to identify those children at risk for delays or underlying medical conditions. When these conditions are identified early, they tend to have an improvement of outcomes. Since the core items to be included in wellness examinations vary by age, insurance provider, and risk factors, our aim is to measure and improve the knowledge and comprehension of examination components among a group of Family Medicine resident physicians that provide primary care to a pediatric population. Provider knowledge and understanding was measured by means of a set of multiple-choice questions prior to an educational session. A post-educational examination was then administered to assess recruitment and retention of information. There appeared to be an overall positive trend toward increased knowledge base following the education session, indicating and improvement of understanding and medical knowledge.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The journey of self-discovery is unique to human beings, and quests to resolve any existing problem entails taking steps leading to solutions, even if one may not have a guarantee that the steps would automatically bring a solution, acting instead based on hope. The perceived incompleteness of the hand-down of Christianity to Africa from the West when it comes to the daily realities led some early African converts to discover that the Bible presented a holistic worldview that addressed their challenges better. The emergence of African indigenous/ initiated/ independent churches (AICs) to fill the gap in preaching the gospel with cultural sensitivity and integration was the consequence of the lapses of the mainline churches.