This study mainly deals with the various aspects of modeling the learning processes within the brain limbic system and studying the various aspects of using it for different applications in control engineering. The current study is a multi-aspect research effort which not only requires a background of control engineering, but also a basic knowledge of some biomorphic systems. The main focus of this study is on biological systems which are involved in emotional processes. In mammalians, a part of the brain called the limbic system is mainly responsible for emotional processes. Therefore, general brain emotional processes and specific aspects of the limbic system are reviewed in the early parts of this study. Next, we describe developing a computational model of the limbic system based on these concepts. Since the focus of this study is on the application of the model in engineering systems and not on the biological concepts, the model established is not a very complicated model and does not include all the components of the limbic system. In fact, we are trying to develop a model which captures the minimal and basic properties of the limbic system which are mainly known as the Amygdala-Orbitofrontal Cortex system. The main chapter of this thesis, Chapter IV, shows the utilization of the Brain Emotional Learning (BEL) model in different applications of control and signal fusion systems. The main effort is focused on applying the model to control systems where the model acts as the controller block. Furthermore, the application of the model in signal fusion is also considered where simulation results support the applicability of the model. Finally, we studied different analytical aspects of the model including the behavior of the system during the adaptation phase and the stability of the system. For the first issue, we simplify the model, e.g. remove the nonlinearities, to develop mathematical formulations for behavior of the system. To study the stability of the system, we use the cell-to-cell mapping algorithm which reveals the stability conditions of the system in different representations. This thesis finishes with some concluding remarks and some topics for future research on this field.

This study mainly deals with the various aspects of modeling the learning processes within the brain limbic system and studying the various aspects of using it for different applications in control engineering. The current study is a multi-aspect research effort which not only requires a background of control engineering, but also a basic knowledge of some biomorphic systems. The main focus of this study is on biological systems which are involved in emotional processes. In mammalians, a part of the brain called the limbic system is mainly responsible for emotional processes. Therefore, general brain emotional processes and specific aspects of the limbic system are reviewed in the early parts of this study. Next, we describe developing a computational model of the limbic system based on these concepts. Since the focus of this study is on the application of the model in engineering systems and not on the biological concepts, the model established is not a very complicated model and does not include all the components of the limbic system. In fact, we are trying to develop a model which captures the minimal and basic properties of the limbic system which are mainly known as the Amygdala-Orbitofrontal Cortex system. The main chapter of this thesis, Chapter IV, shows the utilization of the Brain Emotional Learning (BEL) model in different applications of control and signal fusion systems. The main effort is focused on applying the model to control systems where the model acts as the controller block. Furthermore, the application of the model in signal fusion is also considered where simulation results support the applicability of the model. Finally, we studied different analytical aspects of the model including the behavior of the system during the adaptation phase and the stability of the system. For the first issue, we simplify the model, e.g. remove the nonlinearities, to develop mathematical formulations for behavior of the system. To study the stability of the system, we use the cell-to-cell mapping algorithm which reveals the stability conditions of the system in different representations. This thesis finishes with some concluding remarks and some topics for future research on this field.

Dissertation (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Counseling, 2007. / "May, 2007." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 04/02/2008) Advisor, Cynthia Reynolds; Committee members, Isadore Newman, Carole Newman, Sandra Perosa, Fred Ziegler; Interim Department Chair, Sajit Zachariah; Dean of the College, Patricia A. Nelson; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe nurse managers’ perceptions and use of emotional intelligence (EI) in their daily practice in two community hospitals in western Canada. Emotional intelligence can be defined as the “ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 189; Mayer & Salovey, 1997). Mayer and Salovey’s (1997) Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence was used as a conceptual framework to examine ten nurse managers experiences of how they perceive and use EI in daily practice. Data were collected over a 12 week period using interviews and analyzed using open coding to categorize and develop themes. Three major themes and several subthemes emerged from the data as important to nurse managers’ perceptions and use of EI. The two themes, Perceiving Emotional Intelligence and Managing Emotions were more evident than the third theme, Managing Relationships. This study demonstrates that nurse managers have the ability to perceive and use emotions in themselves and others. This is an important finding as nurse managers are expected to be leaders within the organization. The ability to develop relationships evolved from the data and was an important theme for participants in order to understand the interaction and relationship between self and other. This finding was important to participants yet the concept of relationships is missing in the Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence. Although there are nursing studies which explore emotional intelligence, there are no studies which examine nurse managers’ perceptions of EI and how they use EI in their daily practice. The findings of this exploratory, qualitative study contribute to a beginning understanding of nurse managers’ perceptions and use of EI in their daily practices.

Purpose: Determine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and to examine the influence of patient adherence and patient-provider goal-setting and decision support on factors related to cardiovascular disease risk among veterans receiving outpatient care. Design: Secondary data analysis of de-identified medical records of 1,865 veterans, aged 18-89 years old, who received outpatient primary care services at least twice over a twoyear time period between 2003-2007 at a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. The association among patient adherence and patient-provider goal setting and decision support on body mass index, HbAlc, and LDL cholesterol was examined using generalized estimating equations with exponential regression. Findings: 1,579 (84.7%) veterans were 50 years or older in 2007,22.9% had an existing diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, 26.2% had diabetes, and 6.6% had both cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Nearly 40% of the sample was considered obese with a BMI >30. Twenty-eight percent had an LDL higher than recommended but risk levels declined from 42.9% high risk cases in 2003 to 24.2% high risk cases in 2007. Over three-quarters of the sample reported a smoking history. Patient-provider goal setting was not a predictor of BMI, however, cholesterol medication prescribed, age, and number of visits was significant. Patient-provider goal setting was a significant predictor of HbAlc and LDL along with educational class attendance, cholesterol medication prescribed, age, and type of health care provider. Conclusions: Veterans in this study were at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Patientprovider goal setting, educational class attendance, cholesterol medication prescribed, age, and type of health care provider were significant predictors of HbAlc and LDL. BMI levels remained steady as weight loss requires a great deal more effort. The gap between behavioral intention and action is a challenge in obesity management. Future prospective studies are needed to further define the relationship between patient adherence and patient-provider goal-setting and decision support and develop culturally sensitive and innovative programs among this population.

Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 8, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

The care and welfare of laboratory animals born, nurtured and experimented upon within a research facility is the primary function for animal technologists. While discharging these responsibilities the emotional needs of the carers require consideration, balancing their perceptions of animal care against the purpose for which the animals exist. As little published information is available on the emotional challenges faced by UK animal technologists, this thesis redresses the balance, exploring the subject in detail through qualitative and quantitative methods. Emotional dissonance, often expressed as felt emotion versus enacted emotion, is a negative output from Emotional Labour. Animal technologists operate in a service environment and the results demonstrate that they ‘act’ under duress and self-regulate which emotions to display. Using exploratory factor analysis the results illustrate two key drivers on felt and enacted emotions. These include internal elements associated with daily tasks elements such as euthanasia and external factors such as budgets over which they have little or no control. Emotional dissonance is shown to occur within various employment grades. Resultant emotions include, guilt, shame and sadness. These can lead to affects upon job satisfaction propagating feelings of workplace alienation, isolation and fear, particularly from antivivisectionist organisations. When organisational support was not forthcoming or lacked empathy, individuals deployed various coping methods. This demonstrates both management and organisational implications including gender, educational attainment and whether a person has staff supervision responsibilities. Observations drawn through both qualitative and quantitative research clearly signpost a spectrum of indicators of emotional dissonance leading to individual, managerial and organisational theoretical implications. In doing so, emotion knowledge has been increased on a previously under researched occupational sector existing within a largely secretive environment. The research on a hitherto largely unknown employment grouping provides insights that had previously existed only mainly in anecdotal ways. The results provide strong evidence to further support existing research demonstrating how roles with significant emotional components directly impact upon individuals and the organisations that employ them.

« .Les émotions sont une partie intégrante et inséparable de la vie organisationnelle de tous les jours. Depuis les moments d’anéantissement ou de joie, de peine ou de peur, jusqu’à la sensation permanente d’insatisfaction ou d’emprisonnement, l’expérience au travail est saturée de sentiments. » (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995, p.97). Certaines professions sont particulièrement exigeantes sur le plan émotionnel, par exemple les professions d’aide (Mann, 2005). Notre recherche a pour objectif d’analyser les exigences émotionnelles de la profession d’infirmières. En particulier, il s’agit de considérer la relation émotionnelle avec les patients comme un aspect essentiel de la charge de travail :devoir gérer et personnaliser les interactions et les communications, en vue de mettre en œuvre la compréhension interpersonnelle nécessaire. De manière à explorer cette fonction professionnelle, nous utiliserons le concept de « travail émotionnel », proposé par Hochschild en 1983. L’hypothèse centrale de son étude considère que le travail émotionnel consiste en l’effort, la planification et le contrôle exigé pour exprimer les émotions désirées par l’organisation durant les transactions (Morris & Feldman, 1996). Il demande au travailleur de supprimer l’expression de certaines émotions ou au contraire d’exprimer des émotions non ressenties afin que les émotions exprimées soient en accord avec les règles émotionnelles propres à l’institution. Les émotions au travail ont un caractère ambivalent. Ces résultats mixtes suggèrent de ne pas se focaliser sur les émotions négatives ou positives, mais plutôt de se concentrer sur le comment les infirmiers peuvent réguler leurs émotions pendant les interactions avec les patients. On a choisi comme indicateurs du travail émotionnel deux états personnels différents: l’empathie (Eisenberg, 2002, 2004 – Bonino et al. 2003) et la dissonance émotionnelle (Zapf, 2002), qui peuvent être utilisées par les infirmiers dans la relation avec leurs patients. Le concept d'empathie désigne la capacité à comprendre les états affectifs d'autrui et la capacité à partager les émotions avec autrui. L’empathie présente un attribut plutôt cognitif. Cette précision est importante pour différencier l’empathie de la sympathie :quand les infirmiers montrent de l’empathie, ils sont capables de se dégager des émotions du patient, préservant leur propre espace personnel sans perdre de vue leur rôle et leurs responsabilités professionnelles. Utiliser l’empathie dans les relations avec les patients va s’avérer avantageux pour les infirmiers parce que l’empathie permet d’instaurer un rapport authentique, établissant un juste milieu entre compassion et retrait (Hojat, 2007). La dissonance émotionnelle surgit quand un employé doit montrer une émotion qu’il ne ressent pas sincèrement dans une situation particulière :soit le sujet ne ressent rien quand on attend de lui qu’il ressente un sentiment précis, soit au contraire la règle émotionnelle lui impose de supprimer une émotion non désirée (par ex la colère). La dissonance émotionnelle a été considérée depuis le début des recherches comme le cœur du problème du travail émotionnel. Elle peut amener le travailleur à se sentir hypocrite, menteur, et à long terme elle peut entraîner une aliénation de ses propres émotions, une perte d’estime de soi et de la dépression (Zapf, 2002). Cette contribution vise à vérifier le rôle de l’empathie et de la dissonance émotionnelle sur la qualité de vie au travail (satisfaction au travail, l’engagement et les comportements de citoyenneté) dans le nursing. Un questionnaire a été complété par 222 infirmier(e)s, travaillant dans différents hôpitaux d’une région du Nord de l’Italie. L’échelle d’empathie a été soumise à une analyse factorielle confirmatoire, en utilisant le logiciel EQS. Les résultats montrent que la solution à deux facteurs présente des indices d’ajustement corrects. (RMSEA = 0.108 CFI = 0.829 GFI = 0.874 AGFI = 0.821). Cette analyse factorielle confirme les deux composantes de l’empathie telle que définie par Hojat (2007). La composante cognitive consiste en la prise de perspective et donc en la capacité de comprendre le point de vue de l’autre. La composante affective définit la compassion. Les résultats de l’étude 1 (modèle 1) confirment que :l’empathie a une forte composante cognitive. L’analyse factorielle souligne que le facteur dominant est la prise de perspective (perspective taking; Hojat, 2009) et donc la capacité de comprendre le point de vue de l’autre. De plus les analyses montrent que la prise de perspective explique le work engagement, les comportements de citoyenneté et la satisfaction professionnelle. On peut penser que la compréhension empathique génère un feedback dynamique où tant l’infirmier que le patient jouent un rôle actif et satisfaisant. Ces résultats confirment que l’empathie peut être une ressource émotionnelle utile tant pour les infirmiers que pour les structures de santé. La plupart des études se sont concentrées sur les effets nuisibles de la dissonance sur la santé des employés. Actuellement, les études tendent à considérer la dissonance émotionnelle comme un état psychologique (Pugh, 2011), qui a des liens avec la dissonance cognitive (Festinger, 1973). Ces études soulignent que la dissonance n’est pas négative en soi, mais l’est seulement dans certaines conditions. La plupart des études se sont concentrées sur les effets nuisibles de la dissonance sur la santé des employés. Actuellement, les études tendent à considérer la dissonance émotionnelle comme un état psychologique (Pugh, 2011), qui a des liens avec la dissonance cognitive (Festinger, 1973). Ces études soulignent que la dissonance n’est pas négative en soi, mais l’est seulement dans certaines conditions.Le cadre théorique du paradigme de l’Effort-Justification (Harman-Jones & Mills, 1999), a suscité l’hypothèse que la dissonance émotionnelle peut être modérée à différents niveaux. Les résultats confirment que les effets nuisibles de la dissonance peuvent être réduits. On pose l’hypothèse que l’engagement affectif protège de la sensation d’aliénation, causée de la dissonance émotionnnelle, en fournissant un sens d’appartenance et d’affiliation.On pose l’hypothèse que la signification accordée au travail réduit les effets nuisibles de la dissonance émotionnelle, parce que l’individu peut mieux accepter se sentir menteur et hypocrite s’il y a une motivation et une raison. L’absence d’effet de modération entre empathie et dissonance émotionnelle a des implications pour les études futures: par exemple de vérifier si empathie et dissonance émotionnelle sont des stratégies de régulation des émotions totalement différentes. / Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished