published_or_final_version / abstract / Anatomy / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

<p>The aim of this study was to examine the relations between sense of coherence (SOC), perceived social support and mood, the study also included gender and civil status in the analysis. In the analysis mood was the dependent variable. The study included 81 respondents, all students from Växjö university, who answered a survey with three parts: SOC 13, Mood Adjective Checklist (MACL), and an own constructed instrument that measured perceived social support. The result showed that those with a high SOC tended to have a greater mood. High scores on perceived social support also were related to a greater mood. No significant interaction effects was found between SOC and perceived social support. In the whole sample SOC was the strongest predictor for MACL. Women reported higher social support from friends than men, but this variable had no effect on women’s MACL. Among men the perceived social support from friends was the strongest predictor for MACL.</p>

This study aims to explore how four Syrians, involved as case managers in Questscope’s mentoring program, describe and experience their lives in Zaatari Refugee Camp. The participants were asked to describe their experiences through qualitative interviews. The results were analyzed through the lens of Antonovsky’s salutogenic theory to examine each participant’s sense of coherence and what activities or people contribute towards a strong SOC. The results show that the participants face many challenges in Zaatari Camp, most notably the feeling that their lives have been reduced to a simple existence in which they are expected to be content with food and shelter. They express the feeling that their hopes and aspirations have come to a standstill and that camp conditions do not allow them to move forward in their lives, such as by completing university. However, their stories also include indications of strong SOC in that the participants make sense of their situation, perceive that there are resources available to deal with their situation, and have incentive to persevere in spite of their circumstances. They describe their work with Questscope, through which they are encouraged to take initiative and responsibility, as helpful and motivating because it builds their confidence, gives them purpose and allows them to hope and move forward.

Tyrimo objektas – moksleivių agresyvumas ir vidinė darna. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti Kauno miesto 12-13 ir 15-16 metų paauglių agresyvumo raišką ir vidinę darną. Uždaviniai: 1. Nustatyti paauglių agresyvumą ir vidinę darną, jų ryšį. 2. Išanalizuoti paauglių agresyvumą ir vidinę darną pagal lytį. Hipotezė: agresyvių paauglių vidinė darna yra mažesnė. Išvados 1. Atlikus tyrimą nustatyta, jog Kauno miesto mokyklų paaugliai pasižymi vidutiniškai išreikšta agresija (p<0,001). Manoma, jog agresyvus elgesys yra dažnas reiškinys mokymosi įstaigoje. Kauno miesto mokymosi įstaigų paaugliams buvo nustatyta vidutinė vidinės darnos reikšmė (p<0,001). Atlikus tyrimą, pastebėta, jog tie paaugliai kurie surinko aukštus agresijos klausimyno balus, pas juos vidinė darna buvo ženkliai mažesnė, negu tų paauglių kurie buvo surinkę žemesnius balus. 2. Išanalizavus, agresyvų elgesį pagal lytį, nustatyta, jog vaikinai surinko aukštesnius balus, nei merginos (P<0,05). Analizuojant vidinę darną, skirtumas tarp lyčių buvo statistiškai nereikšmingas (p>0.05). Rekomendacijos, pasiūlymai 1. Būtina skirti daugiau lėšų ir priežiūros, agresijos prevencinių priemonių, įgyvendinimui mokymosi įstaigose. 2. Neužtenka įrengti kameras mokymosi įstaigų kiemuose ar viduje, turi būti atsakingas už tai žmogus, ir visa tai stebėti. 3. Reikėtų skatinti mokinių bendradarbiavimą tarpusavyje pamokų metu, taip stiprinant mokinių ryšį tarpusavyje ir kartu mažinant mokinių atsiskyrimą, izoliaciją nuo klasės draugų. 4... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object of research - students aggressiveness and sense of coherence . The aim – to identify connection between agression and internal coherence at Kaunas city in 12-13 and 15-16 years old adolescents. Objectives: 1. To indetify adolescent aggression and internal coherence. 2. To analyze adolescent aggression and internal coherence by gender; Hypothesis: The aggressive adolescent sense of coherence is lower. Findings 1. Research showed that aggressive behavior is a common phenomenon in the school. Descending the internal consistency of increased aggression, adolescents noted a lower level of internal coherence . 2. Analyzed the aggressive behavior by gender it‘s seen that both girls and boys average aggression occurs. Sense of coherence with the boys was slightly higher. 3. The connection between aggressive behavior and internal coherence is that adolescents are often more aggressive behavior if sense of coherence is lower. Recommendations, suggestions: 1. Necessary to devote more resources and maintenance to aggression prevention in learning institutions. 2. It is not enough to install cameras at learning institutions yards or inside, responsible worker should be to watch records. 3. Cooperation among the students during the lessons should be promoted to enhance student‘s relationship with each other and to reduce separation and isolation from classmates . 4. It is recommended to perform regular aggression prevention research and to draw conclusions.

The history of HIV/AIDS dates back to 1985, when it was thought to be a disease affecting animals. Later, HIV/AIDS was regarded as an illness which affected gay individuals. However, research world-wide has shown that HIV/AIDS is a disease that affects everyone irrespective of race, gender, social status and sexual orientation. Research regarding the psychological well-being (coping, sense of coherence, locus of control and general health) of HIV infected persons in the workplace seems appropriate and relevant. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between sense of coherence, locus of control, coping, and general health. A cross-sectional survey design was used to achieve research objectives. For the purpose of this study, an availability sample of (n = 91) HIV infected individuals in the workplace was used. Four questionnaires were employed in the empirical study, namely the General Health Questionnaire, the Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced Questionnaire, the Work Locus of Control Scale, and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis) were used to analyse the data. Pearson correlations and canonical analysis were used to assess the relationships between sense of coherence, locus of control, coping strategies and general health. Approach coping strategies such as active coping, planning, seeking support for instrumental reasons, seeking support for emotional reasons, positive reinterpretation and growth, and acceptance were positively related to a strong sense of coherence and a low external locus of control. Avoidance coping strategies, such as focus on and ventilation of emotions, denial, behavioural disengagement, and mental disengagement were negatively related to sense of coherence and positively related to an external locus of control. HIV infected employees who measured high on planning, low on focus on and venting of emotions, and low on mental disengagement, experienced less anxiety and fewer somatic problems. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Sentimentalism as an ethical view makes a particular claim about moral judgment: to judge that something is right/wrong is to have a sentiment/emotion of approbation/disapprobation, or some kind of positive/negative feeling, toward that thing. However, several sentimentalists have argued that moral judgments involve not only having a specific kind of feelings or emotional responses, but judging that one would be <em>justified</em> in having that feeling or emotional response. In the literature, some authors have taken up the former position because the empirical data on moral judgment seems to suggest that justification is not a necessary prerequisite for making a moral judgment. Even if this is true, however, I argue that justifying moral judgments is still an important philosophic endeavour, and that developing an empirically constrained account of how a person might go about justifying his feelings/emotional responses as reasons for rendering (normative) moral judgments by using a coherentist method of justification is both plausible and desirable.

This thesis is concerned with describing a novel technique for characterizing the (spectrally resolved) spatial properties of light. The new approach, known as Scanning Interference Method for Integrated Transverse Analysis of Radiation (SCIMITAR), is a specific implementation of a variable-separation two-pinhole interferometer. Evaluation of the series of interference patterns produced by a SCIMITAR measurement allows the transverse profiles of intensity and spatial phase to be retrieved, while at the same time characterizing the spatial coherence of light. Including a diffraction grating in the simple experimental arrangement permits the spectral dependence of the aforementioned quantities to be measured. The SCIMITAR technique was demonstrated by characterizing the spatial properties of high harmonic generation (HHG). Excellent agreement with an alternate characterization technique known as SWORD was observed. The spectral dependence of the harmonic spatial properties was also investigated. Evidence suggesting absorption may play a role in shaping the harmonic intensity and spatial coherence was presented. Treating the harmonic radiation as either a fully coherent or partially coherent beam allowed the intensity width, spatial phase curvature and coherence width of the harmonic radiation source to be deduced. Measurement of the fine variation of the harmonic complex coherence factor (CCF) with pinhole separation revealed distinctive modulations. The Van Cittert-Zernike theorem was modified by including a Gerchberg-Saxton inspired improvement, allowing data missing from the SCIMITAR measurement to be inferred. The harmonic equivalent incoherent source intensity profile was found to be asymmetric with low intensity features isolated away from the optical axis. Calculations of the diffraction pattern produced by illumination of a non-redundant array of pinholes showed that the modulated harmonic properties could adversely influence lensless imaging-type experiments.

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a coherence-gated, micrometer-resolution imaging technique that focuses a broadband near-infrared laser beam to penetrate into optical scattering media, e.g. biological tissues. The OCT resolution is split into two parts, with the axial resolution defined by half the coherence length, and the depth-dependent lateral resolution determined by the beam geometry, which is well described by a Gaussian beam model. The depth dependence of lateral resolution directly results in the defocusing effect outside the confocal region and restricts current OCT probes to small numerical aperture (NA) at the expense of lateral resolution near the focus. Another limitation on OCT development is the presence of a mixture of speckles due to multiple scatterers within the coherence length, and other random noise. Motivated by the above two challenges, a multiple scattering model based on Rytov approximation and Gaussian beam optics is proposed for the OCT setup. Some previous papers have adopted the first Born approximation with the assumption of small perturbation of the incident field in inhomogeneous media. The Rytov method of the same order with smooth phase perturbation assumption benefits from a wider spatial range of validity. A deconvolution method for solving the inverse problem associated with the first Rytov approximation is developed, significantly reducing the defocusing effect through depth and therefore extending the feasible range of NA.

Psykisk ohälsa förekommer i yrkeslivet. Att ha en hög grad av psykisk ohälsa kan leda till otrivsel på arbetet. Studien avsåg att undersöka sambandet mellan psykisk ohälsa och KASAM och arbetsrelaterad KASAM samt ålder, kön, etnicitet, anställningstid, anställningsform och befattning som kan antas vara relaterad till psykisk ohälsa. Detta undersöktes genom nio hypoteser och en frågeställning. 95 individer som arbetade inom hemtjänsten deltog i undersökningen och besvarade en enkät bestående av KASAM-skalan, arbetsrelaterade KASAM-skalan samt General Health Questionnarie 12. Via korrelationer och regressionsanalyser undersöktes materialet. Resultatet visade att hemtjänstpersonal med hög grad av psykisk hälsa hade en hög grad av KASAM och arbetsrelaterad KASAM, samt att andra faktorer såsom anställningsform och ålder relaterar till viss del med psykisk ohälsa. Studien gav en indikation på att höga värden på KASAM och arbetsrelaterad KASAM ger förutsättningar för individerna att klara av stressorer bättre, som också påverkar psykisk ohälsa

This thesis proposes novel, efficient execution-paradigms for parallel heterogeneous architectures. The end of Dennard scaling is threatening the effectiveness of DVFS in future nodes; therefore, new execution paradigms are required to exploit the non-linear relationship between performance and energy efficiency of memory-bound application-regions. To attack this problem, we propose the decoupled access-execute (DAE) paradigm. DAE transforms regions of interest (at program-level) in two coarse-grain phases: the access-phase and the execute-phase, which we can independently DVFS. The access-phase is intended to prefetch the data in the cache, and is therefore expected to be predominantly memory-bound, while the execute-phase runs immediately after the access-phase (that has warmed-up the cache) and is therefore expected to be compute-bound. DAE, achieves good energy savings (on average 25% lower EDP) without performance degradation, as opposed to other DVFS techniques. Furthermore, DAE increases the memory level parallelism (MLP) of memory-bound regions, which results in performance improvements of memory-bound applications. To automatically transform application-regions to DAE, we propose compiler techniques to automatically generate and incorporate the access-phase(s) in the application. Our work targets affine, non-affine, and even complex, general-purpose codes. Furthermore, we explore the benefits of software multi-versioning to optimize DAE in dynamic environments, and handle codes with statically unknown access-phase overheads. In general, applications automatically-transformed to DAE by our compiler, maintain (or even exceed in some cases) the good performance and energy efficiency of manually-optimized DAE codes. Finally, to ease the programming environment of heterogeneous systems (with integrated GPUs), we propose a novel system-architecture that provides unified virtual memory with low overhead. The underlying insight behind our work is that existing data-parallel programming models are a good fit for relaxed memory consistency models (e.g., the heterogeneous race-free model). This allows us to simplify the coherency protocol between the CPU – GPU, as well as the GPU memory management unit. On average, we achieve 45% speedup and 45% lower EDP over the corresponding SC implementation.