Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa

Cílem této práce byl vývoj programu pro automatickou detekci arousalu v signálu spánkového EEG s použitím metod časově-frekvenční analýzy. Předmětem studie bylo 13 celonočních polysomnografických nahrávek (čtyři svody EEG, EMG, EKG a EOG), tj. celkově více než 100 hodin záznamu. Jednalo se o část dat z dřívějších výzkumných prací expertní lékařky v problematice spánku Dr. Emilie Sforzy, Ženeva, Švýcarsko, která rovněž poskytla základní hodnocení těchto dat. V záznamech bylo celkem označeno 1551 arousal událostí. Pro usnadnění výběru konkrétní metody časově-frekvenční analýzy byla následně vytvořena sada nástrojů pro vizualizaci jednotlivých signálů a jejich různých časově-frekvenčních vyjádření. S ohledem na závěry vizuální analýzy, charakter signálu EEG a efektivitu výpočetních metod byla pro analýzu vybrána waveletová transformace s mateřskou vlnkou Daubechies řádu 6. Jednotlivé svody EEG byly dekomponovány do šesti frekvenčních pásem. Z takto odvozených signálů a signálu EMG byly následně stanoveny ukazatele možné přítomnosti události arousalu. Tyto ukazatele byly dále váhovány lineárním klasifikátorem, jehož hodnoty vah byly optimalizovány pomocí genetického algoritmu. Na základě hodnoty lineárního klasifikátoru bylo rozhodnuto o přítomnosti události arousalu v daném svodě EEG – arousal byl detekován, jestliže hodnota klasifikátoru překročila danou mez na dobu více než 3 a méně než 30 vteřin. V celém záznamu pak byl arousal označen, byl-li detekován alespoň v jednom ze svodů EEG. Následně byly odvozeny míry senzitivity a selektivity detekce, jež byly rovněž základem pro stanovení fitness funkce genetického algoritmu. Pro učení genetického algoritmu byly vybrány první čtyři záznamy. Na základě takto optimalizovaných vah vznikl program pro automatickou detekci, který na celém souboru 13 záznamů dosáhl ve srovnání s expertním hodnocením míry senzitivity 76,09%, selektivity 53,26% a specificity 97,66%.

Uppsatsens syfte är att öka kunskapen om lärares erfarenheter av arbetet med lågaffektivt bemötande. De frågeställningarna som ställts handlar om lärares erfarenheter av metoden lågaffektivt bemötande, vilka perspektiv på lågaffektivt bemötande som framträder i lärarnas utsagor och vilka resultat som lärare menar att metoden lågaffektivt bemötande kan ge i skolan. Uppsatsen bygger på åttaintervjuer med lärare som undervisar i förskoleklass till årskurs 6. Teori i uppsatsen är de tre specialpedagogiska perspektiven, det kritiska perspektivet, det kompensatoriska perspektivet och dilemma perspektivet (Nilholm, 2020). Resultatet visar att lärarna menar att de ska tillägna sig metoden lågaffektivt bemötande eftersom den ger dem redskap att bemöta de elever som lätt hamnar i affekt. Ett lågaffektivt bemötande leder också till att elever känner sig sedda och accepterade och relationer skapas mellan lärare och elev. Lärarna beskriver att lågaffektivt bemötande ska implementeras i deras uppdrag med hjälp av ökad kunskap som lärarna kan tillägna sig genomhandledning av specialpedagog, kollegialt lärande, föreläsningar och fortbildning. Lärarna påpekar också att det behöver avsättas tid i organisationen för detta. Lärarna påpekar att det krävs samsyn ibland kollegorna på skolan för att implementeringen av lågaffektivt bemötande i deras uppdrag ska lyckas. Lärarna beskriver också att metoden lågaffektivt bemötande leder till en ökad måluppfyllelse i skolan för elever som lätt hamnar i affekt, genom att förebygga och anpassa skolmiljön minskas affektutbrotten och det blir en lugnare tryggare studiemiljö för alla elever i skolan. Den slutsats som kan dras i uppsatsen är att lärarna anser att lågaffektivt bemötande är en användbar metod i arbetet med de elever som lätt hamnar i affekt. Lärarna i uppsatsen menar att om elever ges rätt förutsättningar minskas affektutbrotten. / The purpose of the essay is to increase the knowledge of teachers' experiences of the work with low arousal approach. The questions asked are about teachers 'experiences of the low arousal approach, what perspectives on low arousal approach appear in the teachers' statements and what results a teacher believes that the low arousal approach can give in school. The essay is based on eight interviews with teachers who teaches from preschool class to grade 6. The theory in the essay is the three perspective on special educational, the critical perspective, the compensatory perspective and the dilemma perspective (Nilholm, 2020). The result shows that the teachers believe that they should adopt the method of low arousal approach because it gives them the tools to cope with the students who are easily affected. A low arousal approach also leads to students feeling seen and accepted and a relationship is created between the teacher and the student. The teachers describe that low arousal approach should be implemented in their assignments with the help of increased knowledge through the supervision of a special educator, collegiate learning, lectures and continuing education. The teachers also point out that time needs to be set aside in the organization for this. The teachers point out that consensus is required among colleagues at the school in order for the implementation of low arousal approach in their assignment to succeed. The teachers also describe that the low arousal approach leads to increased goal achievement in the school for students who are easily affected. By preventing and adapting the school environment, the impact of the outbreak will be reduced, and the study environment becomes calmer and safer for all students in the school. The conclusion that can be drawn from the essay is that teachers consider low arousal approach as a useful method in the work with students who easily comes into effect. The teachers in the essay believe that if students are given the right conditions, the outbreaks will be reduced.

Theoretical part Currently accepted new conceptualization of women's sexual dysfunction is based on the model found in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD). These classifications are extended and combined interpersonal, contextual, personalpsychological and biological factors. Recent DSM- IV definitions have focused on absence of sexual fantasies and sexual desireprior to sexual activity and arousal, even though the frequencyof this type of desire is known to vary greatly among women without sexual complaints. DSM-IV definitions also focus on genital swelling and lubrication, entities known to correlate poorly with subjective sexual arousal and pleasure. The structure of the new classification is based on the four categories of DSM-IV: disorders of desire, arousal, orgasm and pain. However these categories are newly assigned to the subjective dimension of satisfaction, stress and the presence of disorders during other sexual activities besides intercourse. The dimension lifetime vs. acquired, generalized vs. situational were added, as well as the etiology is taking into account. For clinical work it is important that these changes highlight the significance and importance of psychological, situational...

La musique a la capacité d’induire et moduler les émotions, décomposées en deux dimensions : le niveau d’activation (relaxant-stimulant) et la valence émotionnelle (déplaisant-plaisant). Une façon de mesurer objectivement la valence musicale est par le réflexe acoustique de sursaut, une réaction de défense qui consiste en un clignement de l’oeil provoqué par un bruit fort et inattendu. Le réflexe est renforcé par la musique déplaisante et inhibée par la musique plaisante. Cependant, l’effet du niveau d’activation émotionnelle lors de l’écoute musicale demeure inconnu. Cette étude a donc pour objectif d’examiner la modulation du réflexe acoustique de sursaut par la musique stimulante et relaxante jugée plaisante. Basée sur les résultats d’études antérieures avec des images, notre hypothèse était que le réflexe serait plus faible dans la condition stimulante que dans la condition relaxante. Dans un devis intrasujet, 47 participants ont écouté de la musique relaxante et stimulante. Des bruits blancs courts et forts ont été rajoutés par-dessus les extraits afin de provoquer le réflexe de sursaut, dont son amplitude et sa latence ont été mesurées par électromyographie. Les résultats ont ensuite été comparés à ceux d’une condition non-musicale, constituée de sons environnementaux plaisants, afin d’explorer si la musique est plus efficace pour inhiber le réflexe. Finalement, des caractéristiques acoustiques, telles que la clarté de la pulsation, la densité acoustique, la dissonance et l’énergie, ont été extraites puis comparées entre les trois conditions pour explorer leur relation avec les paramètres du réflexe. Les résultats rapportent une modulation de la latence du réflexe de sursaut, dans laquelle celle-ci est plus longue dans la condition stimulante comparée à la condition relaxante. Cependant, aucune différence au niveau de l’amplitude n’a été observée. Seule la latence serait donc sensible au niveau d’activation des émotions musicales lorsque la musique est plaisante. Ensuite, la latence dans la condition non-musicale était aussi longue que celle dans la condition stimulante, suggérant que la musique n’est pas plus efficace que les sons non-musicaux pour inhiber le réflexe de sursaut. Finalement, comme l’amplitude et la latence n’ont pas le même patron de réponses, cette étude suggère que le réflexe de sursaut est aussi modulé par le traitement des caractéristiques acoustiques et que ceux-ci ont un effet différent sur ces deux paramètres. En conclusion, la latence du réflexe acoustique de sursaut est une bonne méthode pour mesurer le niveau d’activation des émotions musicales. De futures recherches pourront utiliser le paradigme de la modulation affective du réflexe de sursaut pour mesurer les effets des émotions musicales selon des facteurs individuels tels que l’âge et la dépression. / Music has the capacity to evoke and modulate emotions, divided by two dimensions: arousal (relaxing-stimulating), and valence (unpleasant-pleasant). Musical valence can be objectively measured by the acoustic startle reflex, a defensive reaction consisting of an eye blink provoked by a short and loud noise. This reflex is facilitated by unpleasant music and inhibited by pleasant music. However, the arousal effect while listening to music on the startle reflex remains unknown. This study therefore aims to explore the affective startle modulation by stimulating and relaxing music. In a within-subjects design, 47 participants listened to stimulating music, relaxing music and non-musical sounds. White noises (50 ms, 105 dB(A)) were added over the excerpts to induce startle while eyeblink magnitude and latency were measured by electromyography. Excerpts’ acoustic features were then extracted and compared through experimental conditions to explore their effect on startle modulation. Startle latency was longer in the stimulating condition compared to the relaxing one, but no differences in magnitude were found, partially confirming our predictions. Exploratory analyses suggest that startle modulation is also attributed to bottom-up processes of acoustic features, and that these latter impact differently magnitude and latency. In conclusion, this study highlights startle latency measure efficiently emotional arousal while listening to music, allowing future research to use the paradigm of affective startle reflex modulation to evaluate the effect of music on emotions considering individual factors, such as age and depression. It also paves the way for comparisons of the effect of emotions and acoustic features processes on the startle reflex modulation.

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Sleep arousal is a phenomenon that affects the sleep of a large amount of people. The process of predicting and classifying arousal events is done manually with the aid of certified technologists, although some research has been done on automation using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). This study explored how a Support Vector Machine performed(SVM) compared to an ANN on this task. Polysomnography (PSG) is a sort of sleep study which produces the data that is used in classifying sleep disorders. The PSG-data used in this thesis consists of 13 wave forms sampled at or resampled at 200Hz. There were samples from 994 patients totalling approximately 6.98 1010 data points, processing this amount of data is time consuming and presents a challenge. 2000 points of each signal was used in the construction of the data set used for the models. Extracted features included: Median, Max, Min, Skewness, Kurtosis, Power of EEG-band frequencies and more. Recursive feature elimination was used in order to select the best amount of extracted features. The extracted data set was used to train two ”out of the box” classifiers and due to memory issues the testing had to be split in four batches. When taking the mean of the four tests, the SVM scored ROC AUC of 0,575 and the ANN 0.569 respectively. As the difference in the two results was very modest it was not possible to conclude that either model was better suited for the task at hand. It could however be concluded that SVM can perform as well as ANN on PSG-data. More work has to bee done on feature extraction, feature selection and the tuning of the models for PSG-data to conclude anything else. Future thesis work could include research questions as ”Which features performs best for a SVM in the prediction of Sleep arousals on PSG-data” or ”What feature selection technique performs best for a SVM in the prediction of Sleep arousals on PSG-data”, etc. / Sömnstörningar är en samling hälsotillstånd som påverkar sömnkvaliteten hos en stor mängd människor. Ett exempel på en sömnstörning är sömnapne. Detektion av dessa händelser är idag en manuell uppgift utförd av certifierade teknologer, det har dock på senare tid gjorts studier som visar att Artificella Neurala Nätverk (ANN) klarar att detektera händelserna med stor träffsäkerhet. Denna studie undersöker hur väl en Support Vector Machine (SVM) kan detektera dessa händelser jämfört med en ANN. Datat som används för att klassificera sömnstörningar kommer från en typ av sömnstudie kallad polysomnografi (PSG). Den PSG-data som används i denna avhandling består av 13 vågformer där 12 spelats in i 200Hz och en rekonstruerats till 200Hz. Datan som används i denna avhandling innehåller inspelningar från 994 patienter, vilket ger totalt ungefär·6.98 1010 datapunkter. Att behandla en så stor mängd data var en utmaning. 2000 punkter från vare vågform användes vid konstruktionen av det dataset som användes för modellerna. De attribut som extraherades innehöll bland annat: Median, Max, Min, Skewness, Kurtosis, amplitud av EEG-bandfrekvenser m.m. Metoden Recursive Feature Elimination användes för att välja den optimala antalet av de bästa attributen. Det extraherade datasetet användes sedan för att träna två standard-konfigurerade modeller, en SVM och en ANN. På grund av en begräning av arbetsminne så var vi tvungna att dela upp träningen och testandet i fyra segment. Medelvärdet av de fyra testen blev en ROC AUC på 0,575 för en SVM, respektive 0,569 för ANN. Eftersom skillnaden i de två resultaten var väldigt marginella kunde vi inte dra slutsatsen att endera modellen var bättre lämpad för uppgiften till hands. Vi kan dock dra slutsatsen att en SVM kan prestera lika väl som ANN på PSG-data utan konfiguration. Mer arbete krävs inom extraheringen av attributen, attribut-eliminationen och justering av modellerna. Framtida avhandlingar skulle kunna göras med frågeställningarna: “Vilka attributer fungerar bäst för en SVM inom detektionen av sömnstörningar på PSG-data” eller ”Vilken teknik för attribut-elimination fungerar bäst för en SVM inom detektionen av sömnstörningar på PSG-data”, med mera.

The aim with this study was to examine how care staff in 9 § 9 p LSS residence with special services experienced and worked with challenging behaviour based on a low arousal approach. The study was conducted by qualitative research through semi-structured interviews in a bigger municipality in southern Sweden. A total of seven care staff were interviewed. The results showed that the informants agreed that challenging behaviour is considered threat and violence in various forms, both physically and mentally. It is important to have knowledge of challenging behaviour in order to prevent potentially dangerous situations that could lead to harm for those involved. In nine out of ten cases, it is the staff’s fault that a behaviour occurs. This may be due to communications difficulties or the working group not working uniformly with the user. The informants agree that a low arousal approach is a good method for working with challenging behaviours. The informants work with it by following routines, evaluating events, adapting requirements to individuals and working uniformly. Most of the informants have worked with both low arousal approach and physical restraint measures, whereby they agree that the user responds better to the first-mentioned method. By the staff acting calmly, the user will be calm.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka förskollärares förståelse och tillämpning för förhållningssättet lågaffektivt bemötande och dess möjligheter att främja en inkluderande förskolemiljö. Genom att utforska hur förskollärare tillämpar lågaffektivt bemötande i förskolans praktik och vilka effekter det kan ha, strävar studien efter att bidra till ökad kunskap om strategier för att skapa en inkluderande förskola för alla barn. För att undersöka detta har sex förskollärare intervjuats genom semistrukurerade intervjuer. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt baseras på tre olika perspektiv, som tillämpas för att analysera förskollärarnas förhållningssätt och bemötande gentemot barn vid utmanande situationer, samt hur detta kan bidra till inkluderande såväl som exkluderade strukturer i förskolan. Resultatet indikerar att förskollärare ser inkludering som en central del av sitt arbete, kopplat till begrepp som delaktighet, trygghet och gemenskap. Lågaffektivt bemötande används som en strategi för att skapa en positiv miljö, där förskollärare betonar vikten av att bevara lugnet och undvika maktkamp. Fördelarna inkluderar en minskning av konfliktsituationer och främjar en positiv och trygg inlärningsmiljö. Utmaningar identifierades, såsom anpassning till ett nytt förhållningssätt samt att balansera empati med att sätta tydliga gränser. Resultaten bidrar till förståelsen av förskollärares praktik och deras roll i inkluderingsarbetet, vilket kan vara vägledande för utvecklingen av effektiva strategier för att stödja inkludering i förskolemiljön.

Le présent mémoire de maîtrise porte sur la relation potentielle entre le trait de personnalité de recherche de sensations et le traitement des expressions faciales émotionnelles, en particulier la perception (intensité et valence perçues) et la réaction (excitation) aux expressions faciales émotionnelles des autres. Nous examinons si les différences individuelles dans la recherche de sensations sont liées aux variations dans la perception et les réactions aux émotions faciales positives, négatives et neutres chez autrui. Nous recherchons également si les différences de perception ont un rôle à jouer dans la relation entre la réaction d'excitation et la recherche de sensations. Un échantillon de jeunes adultes (N=77) a rempli le formulaire V de l'échelle de recherche de sensations (SSS-V) et a évalué l'intensité et la valence d'expressions faciales émotionnelles tirées de la banque de visages émotionnels dirigés de Karolinska (KDEF). Les participants ont également rapporté leur réponse d'excitation émotionnelle perçue à ces stimuli. En utilisant des régressions hiérarchiques, nous montrons que la recherche de sensations est liée à une réponse d'excitation perçue plus élevée aux expressions faciales émotionnelles positives, négatives et neutres. Une recherche de sensations plus élevée était également associée à une intensité perçue plus élevée, mais uniquement pour une expression faciale neutre, cette relation médiant entièrement l'association entre la recherche de sensations et la réponse d'excitation. Cette thèse de maîtrise fournit les premières données sur la relation entre le trait de personnalité de recherche de sensations et les différences individuelles dans le traitement des émotions chez les autres. Elle ouvre la porte à de futures recherches sur l'impact potentiel du trait de personnalité de recherche de sensations sur le fonctionnement social chez les jeunes adultes. / The present master’s thesis focuses on the potential relation between sensation seeking and the processing of emotional facial expressions, specifically the perception (perceived intensity and perceived valence) and reaction (arousal) to emotional facial expressions in others. We investigate whether individual differences in sensation seeking are related to the variations in perception and reactions to positive, negative, and neutral facial emotions in others. We also investigate if differences in perception have a role to play in the relationship between the self-reported arousal response and sensation seeking. A sample of young adults (N=77) completed the Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V), and rated the intensity and valence of facial emotional expressions taken from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) set. Participants also reported their perceived emotional arousal response to these stimuli. Using hierarchical regressions, we show that sensation seeking is related to higher self-reported arousal response to positive, negative, and neutral emotional facial expressions. Higher sensation seeking was also associated with higher perceived intensity but only for neutral facial expression, this relation fully mediated the association between sensation seeking and arousal response. This master’s thesis provides the first data on the relation between sensation seeking trait and individual differences in processing of emotions in others. It opens the door to future research on the potential impact of the sensation seeking personality trait on social functioning in young adults.