The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of video self-modeling and behavior skills training to teach social skills to children with Asperger’s and high functioning autism. The targeted social skills were social initiations and social responses. The video self-modeling alone condition was implemented first using a video feedforward approach. A behavior skills training (BST) procedure was implemented following the video self-modeling alone condition for each participant. BST consisted of instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. The frequency of each target behavior was scored from videotapes using 10-second frequency within interval recording. After the video self-modeling was introduced, a mean increase was demonstrated in the target behaviors for 3 of the 4 participants. However, following the video self-modeling plus behavior skills training procedures, the social skills increased further for each participant. Follow up measures showed that the social interactions for each participant remained higher than baseline, however slightly lower than levels during BST+VSM.

Hensikt: Formålet med dette MPH-arbeidet var å få innsikt i deltagernes erfaringer fra prosjektet ”Treningskompis”. Prosjektets hensikt var å utvikle, prøve ut og evaluere en ordning med frivillige hjelpere som treningskompiser for kreftpasienter. Målet var å hjelpe pasientene i gang med fysisk aktivitet gjennom eksisterende, egnede treningstilbud i nærmiljøet. Metode: Det ble gjennomført fire fokusgruppeintervju med til sammen 14 informanter. Det var to fokusintervju medkreftpasienter(n=5) og to medfrivillige treningskompiser(n=9). Datamaterialet ble analysert med fenomenografisk metode. Resultat: Fire kategorier ble identifisert: (i) opplæring i å bli treningskompis, (ii) opplevelser med ”Treningskompisprosjektet”, (iii) fysiske og psykiske aspekter ved å ha en treningskompis og (iv) tro på fortsatt å være fysisk aktiv. Påvirkningsfaktorer ble identifisert internt, mellom brukerne og treningskompisene og fra sentrale myndigheter. Konklusjon: Forpliktende avtaler, sosial støtte og hjelp til å finne aktiviteter man trives med, er viktig for å øke aktivitetsnivået og etablere varige aktivitetsvaner hos kreftpasienter. En treningskompis kan derfor være en tjeneste som tilbyskreftpasienteri ulike faser i pasientforløpet, og somkan ”treffe” de som ikke klarer å komme seg ut på egenhånd. En viktig forutsetning for en god ”Treningskompistjeneste” er imidlertid at organisasjoner og dedikerte personerveilederog følgeropp treningskompiser, brukere og avtaler. / Purpose “The Training Buddy Project”develops, tests and evaluates a system that provides volunteer training buddies to assist post-treatment cancer patients increase physical activity. This thesis aimed to provide new insight into participant’s experiences with the project. Method: Four focus groupsinterviews with 14 informantswereconducted. Two focusgroups withcancer patients(n=5)and two with volunteer buddies(n=9). Data was analysed using phenomenography. Result: Four categories were identified: (i) volunteer training, (ii) experiences with the"Training Buddy Project", (iii) physical and psychological aspects of having a workoutbuddy and (iv) confidence to continuephysically activity. Influencing factors were identified internally, between users and training buddies and central authorities. Conclusion:  Binding agreements, social support,andassistance infindingpleasurable activities contribute importantly to cancer patient’s ability to re-establish physical activity and develop lasting activity habits after diagnose. Training buddies can help cancer patients in different phases of patient care, particularly for patients who lack the abilityto re-establish physical activityby themselves. A good training buddy service requires dedicated supervisors and individuals to track the appointments and activity of training buddies and their clients / <p>ISBN 978-91-86739-74-4</p>

Casual sexual relationships are common forms of modern sexual relationships. Researchers are paying increased attention to these relationship types, but have been remiss in ensuring that the definitions of the relationships under investigation match participants’ conceptualizations. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to determine whether definitions and behavioural scripts for casual sexual relationships can be identified. In Study 1, 23 young adults discussed initiation, maintenance, and termination components of various casual sexual relationships in focus groups and developed consensus definitions for each relationship. Each focus group independently identified four casual sexual relationships: One Night Stand, Booty Call, Fuck Buddies, and Friends with Benefits. These four relationships were the focus of subsequent exploration. Building on the qualitative descriptions created in the focus groups, an online survey was used to determine whether relationship definitions and associated script behaviours could be confirmed in a larger sample (N = 885). In Study 2, a restricted age subsample (i.e., 18-29 years) was used to determine if emerging adults endorsed the proposed definitions. A majority of the sample endorsed the definitions for One Night Stand (96%), Booty Call (93%), Fuck Buddies (83%), and Friends with Benefits (87%). A larger proportion of individuals with sexual intercourse experience endorsed the definitions compared to those without sexual intercourse experience, while previous casual sex experience did not affect definition endorsements. Women demonstrated greater precision in identifying the definitions. In Study 3, the full sample of 885 participants was used to identify the specific script behaviours associated with each relationship. Using behaviourally descriptive items (N = 62) derived from Study 1, participants identified 12 script items for One Night Stand, Booty Call, and Friends with Benefits and 10 script items for Fuck Buddies. Individuals with previous sexual intercourse experience were more adept at identifying the specific behavioural script items, while previous casual sex experience did not affect script endorsements. Again, women were particularly adept at identifying the specific script items. Overall, these findings suggest that specific definitions and respective scripts exist for the One Night Stand, Booty Call, Fuck Buddies, and Friends with Benefits relationships. This knowledge appears broad and may be considered as socio-cultural knowledge of young adults. Numerous implications flow from the understanding that young adults implicitly know what behaviours are associated with these popular forms of casual sexual relationships. Researchers need to ensure they use scientifically sound definitions in order to develop a more sophisticated lexicon of (casual sex) relationships and understand how modern sexual relationships fit within the scope of potential relationship options.

Student organisations offer many opportunities to try out numbers of real projects with real budgets and deadlines. However, the high turnover of members in these organizations and imperfect knowledge transfer between the generations slow down the improvements and realization of different projects. This diploma thesis describes planning, preparation, implementation and evaluation of a specific project within the Erasmus Student Network Czech Republic (ESN CZ) which aims to meet representatives of all student organizations involved in ESN CZ. Through the description of the event, introduction to project management and their interconnection reader gets a comprehensive view on the issue of organizing the ESN CZ National Platform (ESN CZ NP). A following review of the IT tools available on the market, their evaluation and selection of a few specific applications offer options in IT project management support. Selected IT tools are demonstrated in real situations, including the recommendation for other useful functionalities. The diploma thesis is dedicated to project management from the perspective of a student organization dealing with the preparation of specific event in the context of the general phases of project management, creating manual for future coordinators ESN CZ NP.

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Diploma thesis is about business process reengineering (BPR) and its business processes in student organization ESN VSE Prague -- Buddy System. Main goal is business process reengineering and their support by information system BuddyIS, which helps to meet stu-dent's requirements. First chapter debates about processes theirs modelling and reengineer-ing. It discusses methodologies of BPR in general and then it chooses own methodology for this thesis. Next part is practical and starts with characteristic and analysis of student organization ESN VSE Prague -- Buddy System. It describes cultural environment, current status of IS/ICT and global process model. Global process model is core for next chapter, which identifies processes in organization and chooses those ones for reengineering. Those chosen processes are analysed more in detailed in detailed process diagram based on BPMN. Next part is considering process redesign based on awareness and understanding their workflow. According to redesign, proposed changes are implemented to information system BuddyIS based on principles of OpenUP. Last chapter analyses aftereffects caused by business process reengineering according to process audit made by M. Hammer (PEMM) and chosen factor measuring process performance. Fact that, chosen business processes are supported by information system BuddyIS is main benefit of this thesis.

Master of Science / Department of Computer Science / Daniel A. Andresen / New to K-State??? No worries!!! This app will be your first friend and help you with everything you may need. Every new incoming student to K-State has to do a set of mandatory activities before they start their classes. Many times they use a pamphlet or word of mouth by students or faculty around, on what to do and whom to visit. But, this information may not be reliable or could have been expired/updated, and students miss on certain crucial things which delays their work. The same follows with various events organized by the college to welcome new students. This app will be a solution for all these problems. It will provide students with all the details they need before they actually become familiar with the school and even after that. Each student gets to see the To-Do's which are a set of mandatory activities, he/she has to do before they enroll for the classes and also, he can know about various events happening around the university. Students can also suggest new events if they are not already updated in the events list. All these activities are monitored and controlled by the Admin.

Despite South African forensic psychiatric institutions operating well over capacity, the urgent need for rehabilitation guidelines is neglected through lack of research in this area. This is further compounded by the constrained financial and professional resources available to the sector. The Fort England Hospital Buddy Programme (FEHBP) is a voluntary social and activity-based initiative involving 2 hourly visits between students and male forensic psychiatric patient volunteers. Through the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1996), the participants’ experience of the programme was further contextualised within their lives pre and post admission. While further exploration through research is required, it appeared that within institutional confines the FEHBP acted in a substitutionary and surrogacy capacity, as a space for the development of social competence. While participants appeared to experience a sense of protectiveness from the programme, the limitations and restrictions are acknowledged as an increased number and variety of social network links would be required for a more sustainable sense of subjective wellbeing to develop. The FEHBP demonstrates the use of non-professional (community involved) interventions within a forensic psychiatric context.

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of virtual character design on user emotional experience and user behavior in a simulated environment. With simulation training increasing in popularity as a tool for teaching social skills, it is essential that social interactions in virtual environments provide authentic opportunities for practice (Swartout et al., 2006). This study used Interactive Performance Theory (Wirth, 2012) to examine the effect of designing a virtual buddy character with ineffective traits instead of effective or expert traits. The sample population for this study (n = 145) consisted of first year university students enrolled in courses in the fall of 2013 at the University of Central Florida. Data on participant emotional experience and behavior were collected through questionnaires, researcher observations, and physiological signal recording that included participant heart rate and galvanic skin response. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance, and qualitative thematic coding of participant verbal behavior and written responses. Results of the analysis revealed that participants who interacted with an ineffective virtual buddy character had statistically significant higher averages of verbal statements to the antagonist in the simulated environment and statistically significant lower perceptions of antagonist amiability than participants who interacted with an effective virtual buddy. Additionally, participants who interacted with a virtual buddy of the opposite gender gave statistically significant higher ecological validity scores to the simulated environment than participants who interacted with a virtual buddy of the same gender. Qualitative analysis also revealed that participants tended to describe the female buddy character with more ineffective traits than the male buddy character even though effective and ineffective design conditions were equally divided for both groups. Further research should be conducted on the effect of virtual buddy character design in different types of simulation environments and with different target audiences.

This dissertation sought to determine the effects of a buddy system on a student's self-concept, academic achievement, attrition rate, and congruence levels. The buddy system treatment randomly paired two students for the purposes of sharing ideas, working on assignments, getting to know each other, and supporting one another. The study included three randomly selected sections of pre-college level, developmental writing classes from the Brookhaven College of the Dallas County Community College District. Three other classes served as the control group, and one instructor taught all six sections of the course. Three instruments were used as measures of change: the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS), designed by William H. Fitts, measured self-concept levels; the Personality and Educational Environment Scale (PEES), created by Roger Boshier, measured congruence levels; and a written paragraph measured achievement levels in English. Attrition percentages were based on the number of students enrolled during the second week of class who were not present during the sixteenth week of class. To test for significance, an analysis of covariance procedure was used on the TSCS, PEES, and written paragraph results, and a test for the difference between proportions for independent groups was used on the attrition percentages. The class sections were nested under either the experimental or the control group to identify significant differences between class sections. On the TSCS, a significance of .96 among sections and .48 between groups indicated no significant change had occurred in self-concept levels. For the PEES, a significance of .30 among sections and .75 between groups indicated no change had occurred in congruence levels. Finally, on the paragraph assessment, a significance of .87 among sections and .31 between groups showed no change had occurred in achievement levels. However, the test for significance of the difference between attrition percentages revealed that the buddy system treatment was an effective method of retention.