Esta pesquisa teve dois objetivos: 1) Comparar as características craniofaciais entre crianças portadoras de perfil tegumentar do terço facial inferior equilibrado com tendência reta com crianças portadoras de perfil tegumentar do terço facial inferior equilibrado com tendêcia convexa; 2) Verificar a variabilidade entre as combinações dos componentes morfológicos na conformação craniofacial deste indivíduos. A amostra constou de 48 telerradiografias em norma lateral, de crianças leucodermas brasileiras, 24 do gênero feminino e 24 do masculino, portadoras de oclusão dentária normal, face equilibrada, lábios competentes,sem tratamento ortodôntico prévio, com dentadura mista, abrangendo faixa etária dos 7 aos 10 anos de idade. A amostra foi dividida em 2 grupos de 24 indivíduos, com igual número de componentes entre os gêneros feminino e masculino. O grupo I foi composto por indivíduos que exibiram perfil tegumentar do terço facial inferior equilibrado com tendência reta, enquanto o grupo II foi constituído por indivíduos que apresentaram perfil tegumentar do terço facial inferior equilibrado com tendência convexa. Foram utilizadas grandezas cefalométricas angulares e proporcionais para a descrição das características craniofaciais. Após a análise estatística e a interpretação dos resultados obtidos, concluiu-se que existem semelhanças morfológicas entre os grupos I e II na inclinação da base craniana posterior, ângulo goníaco; altura facial anterior, altura do ramo mandibular, altura alveolar superior e no posicionamento ântero-posterior da região posterior da maxila. Ocorreram diferenças morfológicas estatisticamente significativas nas inclinações do ramo mandibular, corpo mandibular, incisivos superiores, incisivos inferiores e, ainda, na altura facial posterior total, altura craniana posterior, altura total da face média, altura orbitária, altura maxilar basal, altura dentoalveolar inferior, largura do ramo mandibular, comprimento do corpo mandibular, posição ântero-posterior do primeiro molar superior na face média e espessura de tecidos moles na região do mento. A elevada variabilidade nas combinações entre os componentes craniofaciais, evidenciou a inexistência de padrões morfológicos específicos, tanto para o grupo de indivíduos portadores de perfil tegumentar reto como para o grupo de perfil tegumentar convexo. A hipótese de obtenção de grupos homogêneos, utilizando-se como critério de seleção a convexidade do perfil tegumentar, foi rejeitada. / This study had 2 different purposes: 1) Compare the craniofacial characteristics among children with soft tissue profile with a balanced inferior third and a straight tendency with children with a soft tissue profile with a balanced inferior third and a convex tendency; 2) verify the variability among the combinations of the morphologic components in the craniofacial conformation of those individuals. The sample was composed of 48 telerradiographs in lateral position of Caucasian Brazilian children, 24 boys and 24 girls, with normal dental occlusion, balanced face, competent lips, without previous orthodontic treatment, with a mixed dentition and age between 7 to 10 years old. The sample was divided in 2 groups of 24 individuals with equal number of both genders. Group I was composed of individuals that showed a soft tissue profile with a balanced inferior third and a straight tendency, and group II was composed of individuals with a soft tissue profile with balanced inferior third and a convex tendency. For this work, angular and proportional cephalometric variables to describe the craniofacial characteristics were used. After the statistical analysis and interpretation of the results, it was concluded that morphologic similarity was found between the groups I and II in the inclination of the posterior cranial base, gonial angle, anterior facial height, mandibular ramus height, alveolar superior height, and in the anteroposterior placement of the posterior region of the maxilla. Significant morphologic differences were found in the inclination of the mandibular ramus, mandibular body, upper and lower incisors, and in the total posterior facial height, cranial posterior height, total height of the medium face, orbital height, maxilla basal height, inferior dentoalveolar height, mandibular ramus wideness, mandibular ramus length, anteroposterior position of the first upper molar in the medium face and the thickness of the soft tissue in the pogoniun region. The high variability of combinations among the craniofacial components showed the nonexistence of specific morphological patterns for the children with a soft tissue profile with a balanced inferior third and a straight tendency and those with a convex tendency. The hypothesis to obtain homogeneous groups using the convexity of the soft tissue profile as selection criteria was rejected.

Many children experience symptoms of mental health problems and a significant proportion reach clinical thresholds of psychological disorder. It has been argued that the rising incidence of these problems and widespread failure to scale effective treatments for those in need means that prevention and early intervention in the development of emotional and behavioural problems is a public health priority. Child development is shaped by many forces, including for example parenting and peer relationships, this PhD is very specifically interested in the consequences of stress for children’s emotions and behaviour. Although the effects of stress are largely deemed negative, striking individual differences are almost universally observed. In the context of equivalent stressors, some children experience poorer outcomes, some remain relatively unaffected and others appear to experience better outcomes. Understanding what causes these differences is important for advancing our knowledge of the stress process, and is also key to designing services to improve children’s emotions and behaviour. This PhD has four aims. Firstly, it examines the relationship between two routine, school- based stressors and children’s emotional and behavioural outcomes. Secondly, it investigates the role of the cognitive appraisal process in accounting for individual differences in those outcomes. Thirdly, it examines the conditions under which cognitive appraisal operates, both in terms of its role as an organiser of coping efforts and cortisol (a stress hormone) as well as the extent to which children display consistency in their appraisals across contexts. Fourthly, it outlines the implications of the study for policy and practice efforts to improve children’s emotions and behaviour. The empirical study was designed as a prospective longitudinal study, following 66 children over the course of one year in which they experienced two routine, school-based stressors (KS2 exams and transition). Participants were recruited via opportunity sampling methods, and a combination of psychological and physiological data were collected at four time points.

Existing computational theories of collaboration explain some of the important concepts underlying collaboration, e.g., the collaborators' commitments and communication. However, the underlying processes required to dynamically maintain the elements of the collaboration structure are largely unexplained. Our main insight is that in many collaborative situations acknowledging or ignoring a collaborator's affective state can facilitate or impede the progress of the collaboration. This implies that collaborative agents need to employ affect-related processes that (1) use the collaboration structure to evaluate the status of the collaboration, and (2) influence the collaboration structure when required. This thesis develops a new affect-driven computational framework to achieve these objectives and thus empower agents to be better collaborators. Contributions of this thesis are: (1) Affective Motivational Collaboration (AMC) theory, which incorporates appraisal processes into SharedPlans theory. (2) New computational appraisal algorithms based on collaboration structure. (3) Algorithms such as goal management, that use the output of appraisal to maintain collaboration structures. (4) Implementation of a computational system based on AMC theory. (5) Evaluation of AMC theory via two user studies to a) validate our appraisal algorithms, and b) investigate the overall functionality of our framework within an end-to-end system with a human and a robot.

How does cultural and linguistic background influence communication style? This topic is examined through the [I + verb] belief construct before the expression of an opinion. Since opinions carry inherent notions of speaker belief, these constructions may at first appear superfluous. However, [I + verb] forms may actually fulfill various pragmatic functions depending on prosodic variation. Unfortunately, there is little congruent data on universality vs. cross-linguistic variability of pragmatic-prosodic mappings (prosodic variation as a cue to pragmatic interpretation) of [I + verb] belief constructs before an opinion. Thus, a Proof of Concept perception test was first implemented, followed by a production task investigating the effect of sociolinguistic background on a speaker's frequency of usage for various [I + verb] forms in expressing opinions, and how this relates to perceived speaker confidence. Usage of various forms and functions of this construct was analyzed and compared between native Mandarin (CHI) and English (US) speakers, as well as EFL Mandarin speakers. The Proof of Concept task supported hypotheses overall, suggesting a possible universal pragmatic-prosodic mapping for [I + verb]. In addition, while as predicted sociolinguistic background did not have a significant effect on universality of pragmatic-prosodic mapping in terms of confidence rating, it did have an observable effect on semantic interpretation of 'speaker confidence', thus indicating that sociolinguistic background may play a role in influencing these interpretations. Results from the production task supported predictions that frequency of functional [I + verb] usage corresponded to culturally specific attitudes of each culture. Based on confidence rating calculations for each [I + verb] variation from pragmatic-prosodic mapping of the perception task, it was determined that Native US individuals were most confident in expressing self-opinions but least confident in expressing opinions of others whilst Native CHI individuals were most confident in expressing opinions of others and least confident in expressing self-opinion, with the EFL group in the US more closely mirroring the Native US group and the EFL group in China more closely mirroring the Native CHI group. Additionally, going against theories of previous research, Time immersed in a new L2 environment and L2 proficiency did not significantly influence performance. Through investigating pragmatic-prosodic mappings of [I + verb] forms vs. functions, this study aimed to demonstrate the bi-directional link between language, thought and culture. By understanding and familiarizing oneself with the root of pragmatic differences, there is hope to better understand the cause of cross-cultural miscommunications between native and foreign speakers in conversation and to minimize any such discrepancies in pragmatic knowledge and sociocultural norms.

Provision of information has been used as a strategy to relive travel-related anxiety. This study is motivated by the successful attempts for reducing the anxiety. Although, passengers' anxiety about using public transport (PT) has already been discussed, the London Underground passengers' anxiety has rarely been a target of investigation in the academic literature. Anxiety associated with the Underground use is reported to be greater than other PT modes. Although the existing studies discussing PT passengers' anxiety have attempted to provide solutions for anxiety reduction, few endeavours have been made to offer them based on the investigated causality between determinants of anxiety and its arousal. Thus, this study fills the gap by identifying antecedents, and verifying their effects on anxiety about the Underground use. This, in turn, furnishes theoretical grounds for designing content of information with an aim to relieve the anxiety in the circumstance that little data exists, which can be utilised for developing information for the purpose. To achieve the goal, two sets of phases have been engaged. First, a questionnaire (N=81) was conducted to identify anxiety triggers. The results revealed that they were other people's anti-social behaviour, overcrowding, noise, and late-night travel. An expert group interview was carried out to investigate what efforts are made to support passengers in the anxiety inducing situations. Second, examination was performed to understand about the passengers' anxiety based on theoretical knowledge about anxiety, and to determine its antecedents. A research model was formulated including six factors, perceived invulnerability, perceived physical ability, trust in other passengers (informal social control), confidence in the authorities, safety knowledge, and perceived uncontrollability. The effects were assessed through structural equation modelling, using questionnaire data (N=269). The results uncovered that perceived invulnerability, perceived physical ability, and confidence in the authorities have negative indirect effects on anxiety through perceived uncontrollability, and safety knowledge has a negative direct effect on anxiety. The confirmed anxiety buffering effects of the factors will be suggested to be used for developing content of information to help relieve the arousal. The study contributes to knowledge by identifying the determinants of the passengers' anxiety, and testing their effects on anxiety, and to produce theoretical support to create service information environment which helps relieve the anxiety.

Why is it that some athletes are able to withstand the pressures of competitive sport and attain peak performances, whereas others succumb to the demands and under-perform? It is the study of psychological resilience that aims to address this question. To significantly advance psychologists' knowledge and understanding of this area, there exists an urgent need to develop a sport-specific measure of resilience (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2012; Galli & Vealey, 2008; Gucciardi, Jackson, Coulter, & Mallett, 2011). The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to investigate the assessment of psychological resilience in sport performers. To this end, the thesis is split into five chapters. Chapter one reviews and critiques the various definitions, concepts, and theories of resilience, and provides an overview of the research that has specifically examined psychological resilience in sport performers. Chapter two reviews psychometric issues in resilience research and its implications for sport psychology (part one), and discusses psychological resilience in sport performers via a review of the stressors athletes encounter and the protective factors that help them withstand these demands (part two). Drawing on these reviews of resilience in sport, Chapter three (studies one-three) describes the development and validation of the Sport Resilience Scale (SRS). More specifically, Study 1 explores the content validity of a pool of items designed to reflect psychological resilience in athletes, Study 2 examines the factorial structure of the SRS using exploratory factor analysis, and Study 3 tests the factorial structure of the SRS via confirmatory factor analysis, investigates whether the components of the measurement model are invariant across different groups, and examines the relationship between the SRS and other relevant concepts. Using the SRS, and based on Fletcher and Sarkar's (2012) grounded theory of psychological resilience, Chapter four (studies 4 and 5) investigates resilience in sport performers via an examination of moderation and mediation hypotheses. Specifically, Study 4 tests whether the association between the stressors athletes encounter and athletes' positive adaptation is moderated by the protective factors that athletes possess and Study 5 tests whether the association between the stressors athletes encounter and athletes' positive adaptation is mediated by their cognitive appraisal processes. Lastly, Chapter five offers a summary, discussion, and conclusion of the thesis. Overall, the research reported in this thesis has developed the first valid and reliable measure of psychological resilience in sport performers and has provided quantitative support for Fletcher and Sarkar's (2012) theoretical model of sport resilience by illustrating the moderating role of protective factors and the mediating role of cognitive appraisal.

This paper aims to examine which form of examination that influence the students stress-level the most and if there’s a significant difference between genders. In relation to recent studies, hypotheses were formed that the oral exam should have the highest scores of stress, that students with better score on coping should have lower stress and that girls would score higher than boys. The study was conducted through a self-created survey that measured the students stress-levels in three different forms of examination, oral exam, written home-assignment and written classroom exams. The study was made at a school in southern Sweden with 95 respondents. The results showed that the oral examination caused highest scores in stress and that girls had significantly higher scores than boys. This study can be an enlightenment and guidance for teachers in their planning for examinations to ease the students raising stress-levels. / Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka vilken typ av examination som framkallar mest stress hos gymnasieelever samt om det finns någon signifikant skillnad mellan könen. I relation till tidigare studier formades hypoteser att muntlig examination genererade högst poäng på stress, att elever med högre poäng på stresshantering har lägre nivåer av stress, samt att tjejer påvisar högre stressvärden än killar. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av ett egenskapat enkätformulär som mätte elevernas stressnivåer i tre olika examinationsformer, muntlig examination, skriftlig hemuppgift samt salsprov. Studien genomfördes på en skola i södra Sverige och antalet respondenter var 95. Resultatet visade att muntlig examination genererade högst poäng av stress samt att tjejer hade markant högre resultat än killar. Studien ämnar till att ge lärare en insyn i elevernas situation och upplevelse av olika examinationer så att de har möjlighet att anpassa sin undervisning efter det.

[pt] O objetivo inicial do presente trabalho é caracterizar a existência das tradicionais anomalias de apreçamento observadas em relação ao CAPM (efeitos Tamanho, Valor e Momento) para o mercado brasileiro de ações, para o período de junho de 1994 a dezembro de 2001. As evidências obtidas mostram a ocorrência do efeito Tamanho, bem como a existência de um forte poder explanatório do Risco de Mercado (Rm-Rf). Subseqüentemente, são realizados testes de apreçamento de ativos utilizando a abordagem de regressões de séries temporais, através da metodologia SUR (Seemingly Unrelated Regressions) e do teste de Gibbons, Ross e Shanken (1989). Os resultados demonstram superioridade do modelo trifatorial de Fama e French tanto quando comparado com o CAPM como em comparação com o modelo de quatro fatores. / [en] The initial aim of the present study is to characterize the existence of the traditional CAPM pricing anomalies (Size, Value and Momentum effects) for the Brazilian stock market for the period from June, 1994 to December, 2001. Evidences obtained show the occurrence of Size effect accompanied by the existence of a strong market-risk premium (Rm-Rf) explanatory power. Subsequently, asset pricing tests are carried out using the time-series regression framework, through SUR (Seemingly Unrelated Regressions) methodology and Gibbons, Ross e Shanken (1989) test. The results demonstrate the Fama and French three-factor pricing model superiority both when compared to the CAPM and to the four- factor pricing model.

Self-assessment as a placement measure or accurate assessment of skill has been scrutinized in previous research. Findings have shown a general human tendency towards overconfidence in performance (Kruger & Dunning, 1999). This study looks at performance self-appraisals in an ESL population, with participants from varying cultural backgrounds. Performance self-appraisal calibration is a measure of the relationship between an examinee's perceived skill (or confidence) and their actual skill (or ability) on a given exam item (Phakiti, 2016). Being well-calibrated is an indication that test takers know their strengths and weaknesses and thus the difference between confidence and ability is minimal, whereas poorly calibrated examinees may be oblivious to their weaknesses. While some research has explored self-appraisal calibration in first language (Hassmén & Hunt, 1994; Gutierrez & Schraw, 2015; Stankov & Lee, 2014) and foreign language contexts (Bastola, 2016; Phakiti, 2016), the language research has been limited to the performance of native language speakers on norm-referenced tests. It still needs to be determined how test takers would perform on a criterion-referenced exam with items of differing difficulty parameters administered to examinees from different language backgrounds. To that end, a proficiency-based criterion-referenced reading comprehension test was administered to 96 ESL students with 8 different language backgrounds. To measure confidence, a pre- and post-test questionnaire was administered in addition to a confidence slider bar that was embedded into each test item. We investigated correlations between cultural background and item difficulty on the students' self-appraisal calibrations. Our results showed that ESL students were overconfident in their self-calibrations, and their overconfidence was more pronounced as item difficulty increased. There were significant differences based on native language background. Implications will be discussed.

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