A expressão emocional é um dos meios de comunicação primordiais do bebê humano, sendo sua manifestação um recurso que lhe garante a própria sobrevivência. Esta temática tem sido bastante estudada, usualmente, na relação do bebê com adultos, mais particularmente com a mãe, em condições de laboratório e ambiente doméstico. No entanto, novas configurações sociais emergiram, em que o cuidado da criança pequena tem sido cada vez mais compartilhado com instituições de educação infantil, onde os pares de idade são os parceiros mais frequentes. A revisão da literatura relacionada à expressividade emocional entre pares de bebês evidencia lacunas nesse campo, e há autores que afirmam o não reconhecimento da ocorrência mesmo da interação, já que a interação entre coetâneos nos dois primeiros anos de vida não é vista como viável. Com isso, traçamos o objetivo de verificar se ocorrem manifestações de expressividade emocional de sorriso e choro em interações de pares de bebês, no ambiente do berçário de uma creche. E, em ocorrendo, investigar como se dão. Com embasamento teórico-metodológico na Rede de Significações, realizamos um estudo longitudinal de casos múltiplos, com análise qualitativa. Participaram da pesquisa dezoito bebês de uma creche pública localizada no interior do Estado de São Paulo, e três educadoras responsáveis pela turma. Dentre os bebês, Tiago (cinco a dez meses de idade) e Bruno (oito meses a um ano e um mês de idade) foram sujeitos focais, sendo acompanhados durante cinco meses, através de videogravações semanais de trinta minutos para cada bebê. A análise do material empírico se dividiu em duas etapas: 1) mapeamento das ocorrências de sorriso e choro, discriminando os parceiros com os quais os bebês interagiram ao se expressar; e, 2) análise qualitativa dos episódios interativos nos quais Bruno e Tiago se expressaram emocionalmente com os pares. A partir das diferentes formas de expressão do bebê, tanto com base na literatura como no material empírico analisado, foram criadas as categorias de riso, sorriso, choramingo, choro e choro prolongado. Realizada a análise, não se verificou a ocorrência de risos nas interações dos bebês, pelo menos nos dias em que foram feitas as gravações. Com relação aos sorrisos de Tiago, observamos que se manifestaram em situações lúdicas, e se modificaram ao longo do tempo. Por volta dos oito / nove meses do bebê, os sorrisos passaram a ter repercussão nos parceiros, que brevemente reagiram à expressão. No caso de Bruno, também aos nove meses ele passou a manifestar alguns sorrisos que repercutiram e contagiavam os pares de idade. Os sorrisos de Bruno se manifestaram com uma riqueza de sentidos identificáveis nas interações, não sorrindo apenas aos pares, mas também dos pares e com os pares. Apesar das mudanças nos sorrisos dos bebês ao longo do tempo, o processo não se manifestou de modo linear. Nas expressões de choro dos bebês não se observou mudanças nas interações com os pares, apenas diferenças na qualidade e duração de tempo. As interações de pares em que Tiago chorou estavam relacionadas, em sua maioria, ao incômodo decorrente de invasões físicas sobre o bebê. Já no caso de Bruno, na maior parte das vezes, as interações compreendiam incômodo por situações de competição ou perda de brinquedos. Em ambas as expressões estudadas, observamos que sorrisos, apesar de menos frequentes entre os pares, contagiaram mais do que os choros, no sentido de haver alguma reação por parte dos pares. É oportuno apontar, neste momento, a relevância de estudos futuros sobre esta temática investigativa, haja vista a importância e a riqueza das manifestações de expressividade emocional nas interações de bebês que convivem em ambiente coletivo. / Emotional expression is a primary means of human infant communication and its manifestation is a resource that guarantees their survival. This theme has been extensively studied, usually in the infant\'s relationship with adults, more particularly with the mother, in laboratory conditions and home environment. However, new social configurations have emerged in which the care of young children has been increasingly shared with educational institutions, where infant peers are the most frequent partners. A literature review related to emotional expressiveness among infant peers highlights gaps in this field, and there are authors who do not recognize the occurrence infant peer interaction, since such phenomenon in the first two years of life is not seen as feasible. Thus, this work aims to verify if there are manifestations of smiling and crying emotional expressions in infant peer interactions in a day care nursery environment. And, if affirmative, well seek to investigate how do these manifestations occur. With theoretical and methodological basis in the Network of Meanings perspective, we conducted a longitudinal a multiple case study cases with qualitative analysis. The participants were eighteen infants from a public day care center in the state of São Paulo, with three teachers responsible for the class. Among all the babies, Tiago (five to ten months old) and Bruno (eight months to one year and one month of age) were the focal subjects. Weekly thirty-minute (per participant) video recordings were conducted for five months. The analysis of the empirical material was developed in two stages: 1) mapping of smiling and crying expressions in peer-interaction, identifying the peer involved; and, 2) qualitative analysis of interactive episodes in which the focal subjects emotionally expressed themselves with peers. Based on different forms of infant expression, both based on the literature and empirical data, the following emotional expression, categories were created: laughter, smiling, whimpering, crying and prolonged crying. In the analysis, there was no occurrence of laughter in infant peer interactions, at least in the scenes recorded. Regarding Tiago, smiles were first manifested in play situations and changed over time. Around eight / nine months both subjects` smiling began to impact partners, who would briefly respond to the expression. Bruno smiling episodes demonstrated a variety of senses identifiable in the interactions, smiling not only toward peers, but also with and due to peers. Despite the changes in the subjects` smiling over time, the process were not expressed in a linear fashion. In crying expressions, change concerning quality and length of expressions was observed, but there were no differences in peer interactions. Peer interactions in which Tiago cried were related mostly to the discomfort arising from intrusive physical contact with other babies. In Bruno`s case, crying occurred mostly in interactions involving annoyance by competition situations or loss of toys. For both expressions studied, we found that smiles, although less frequent among peers, have caused more reaction in peers. Future studies investigating this theme are needed, given the importance and great variety of the emotional expressiveness manifestations in infants peer interactions in collective environments.

In this thesis, we describe two approaches to automatically synthesize the emotional speech of a target speaker based on the hidden Markov model for his/her neutral speech. In the interpolation based method, the basic idea is the model interpolation between the neutral model of the target speaker and an emotional model selected from a candidate pool. Both the interpolation model selection and the interpolation weight computation are determined based on a model-distance measure. We propose a monophone-based Mahalanobis distance (MBMD). In the parallel model combination (PMC) based method, our basic idea is to model the mismatch between neutral model and emotional model. We train linear regression model to describe this mismatch. And then we combine the target speaker neutral model with the linear regression model. We evaluate our approach on the synthesized emotional speech of angriness, happiness, and sadness with several subjective tests. Experimental results show that the implemented system is able to synthesize speech with emotional expressiveness of the target speaker.

Prostate cancer (PC) affects one in eight men in North America and continues to be the most common site of cancer in males, especially among older men in Europe and the United States, and the second most common cancer worldwide. Prostate cancer is, after lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related deaths among men with an estimated 27,540 deaths in 2015. The well-being of patients diagnosed with PC is a largely unexplored research area. Numerous factors likely impact men’s psychological well-being as they progress through the experience of managing PC. Among the various factors that may predict psychological well-being for these men, social support, marital adjustment, and emotional expressiveness seem to warrant investigation based on the research literature. “Psychological well-being” as described by Ryff offers a unique way of measuring psychological functioning of men diagnosed with PC and appears to be a multidimensional view of positive psychological functioning. Little research has been conducted to examine how various factors influence psychological well-being in men with PC. The purpose of the study was to examine correlates and predictors of overall psychological well-being in a sample of men diagnosed with PC. Independent variables included three psychological factors-social support, marital adjustment, and emotional expressiveness. The design of the study was descriptive and cross-sectional. Measures used included: a demographic questionnaire, Scales of Psychological Well-Being, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Expression of Emotion Scale, and a Visual Analog Scale of Social Support. Data analyses examined three predictors and the dependent variable–total psychological well-being. Findings show that marital adjustment significantly predicts total psychosocial well-being scores in men diagnosed with cancer in a positive direction. Implications for therapeutic practice and future research are discussed. Lack of support may place men diagnosed with prostate cancer at risk for poorer psychological well-being. Identification of at-risk men and referral to support services may improve overall psychological well-being

A expressão emocional é um dos meios de comunicação primordiais do bebê humano, sendo sua manifestação um recurso que lhe garante a própria sobrevivência. Esta temática tem sido bastante estudada, usualmente, na relação do bebê com adultos, mais particularmente com a mãe, em condições de laboratório e ambiente doméstico. No entanto, novas configurações sociais emergiram, em que o cuidado da criança pequena tem sido cada vez mais compartilhado com instituições de educação infantil, onde os pares de idade são os parceiros mais frequentes. A revisão da literatura relacionada à expressividade emocional entre pares de bebês evidencia lacunas nesse campo, e há autores que afirmam o não reconhecimento da ocorrência mesmo da interação, já que a interação entre coetâneos nos dois primeiros anos de vida não é vista como viável. Com isso, traçamos o objetivo de verificar se ocorrem manifestações de expressividade emocional de sorriso e choro em interações de pares de bebês, no ambiente do berçário de uma creche. E, em ocorrendo, investigar como se dão. Com embasamento teórico-metodológico na Rede de Significações, realizamos um estudo longitudinal de casos múltiplos, com análise qualitativa. Participaram da pesquisa dezoito bebês de uma creche pública localizada no interior do Estado de São Paulo, e três educadoras responsáveis pela turma. Dentre os bebês, Tiago (cinco a dez meses de idade) e Bruno (oito meses a um ano e um mês de idade) foram sujeitos focais, sendo acompanhados durante cinco meses, através de videogravações semanais de trinta minutos para cada bebê. A análise do material empírico se dividiu em duas etapas: 1) mapeamento das ocorrências de sorriso e choro, discriminando os parceiros com os quais os bebês interagiram ao se expressar; e, 2) análise qualitativa dos episódios interativos nos quais Bruno e Tiago se expressaram emocionalmente com os pares. A partir das diferentes formas de expressão do bebê, tanto com base na literatura como no material empírico analisado, foram criadas as categorias de riso, sorriso, choramingo, choro e choro prolongado. Realizada a análise, não se verificou a ocorrência de risos nas interações dos bebês, pelo menos nos dias em que foram feitas as gravações. Com relação aos sorrisos de Tiago, observamos que se manifestaram em situações lúdicas, e se modificaram ao longo do tempo. Por volta dos oito / nove meses do bebê, os sorrisos passaram a ter repercussão nos parceiros, que brevemente reagiram à expressão. No caso de Bruno, também aos nove meses ele passou a manifestar alguns sorrisos que repercutiram e contagiavam os pares de idade. Os sorrisos de Bruno se manifestaram com uma riqueza de sentidos identificáveis nas interações, não sorrindo apenas aos pares, mas também dos pares e com os pares. Apesar das mudanças nos sorrisos dos bebês ao longo do tempo, o processo não se manifestou de modo linear. Nas expressões de choro dos bebês não se observou mudanças nas interações com os pares, apenas diferenças na qualidade e duração de tempo. As interações de pares em que Tiago chorou estavam relacionadas, em sua maioria, ao incômodo decorrente de invasões físicas sobre o bebê. Já no caso de Bruno, na maior parte das vezes, as interações compreendiam incômodo por situações de competição ou perda de brinquedos. Em ambas as expressões estudadas, observamos que sorrisos, apesar de menos frequentes entre os pares, contagiaram mais do que os choros, no sentido de haver alguma reação por parte dos pares. É oportuno apontar, neste momento, a relevância de estudos futuros sobre esta temática investigativa, haja vista a importância e a riqueza das manifestações de expressividade emocional nas interações de bebês que convivem em ambiente coletivo. / Emotional expression is a primary means of human infant communication and its manifestation is a resource that guarantees their survival. This theme has been extensively studied, usually in the infant\'s relationship with adults, more particularly with the mother, in laboratory conditions and home environment. However, new social configurations have emerged in which the care of young children has been increasingly shared with educational institutions, where infant peers are the most frequent partners. A literature review related to emotional expressiveness among infant peers highlights gaps in this field, and there are authors who do not recognize the occurrence infant peer interaction, since such phenomenon in the first two years of life is not seen as feasible. Thus, this work aims to verify if there are manifestations of smiling and crying emotional expressions in infant peer interactions in a day care nursery environment. And, if affirmative, well seek to investigate how do these manifestations occur. With theoretical and methodological basis in the Network of Meanings perspective, we conducted a longitudinal a multiple case study cases with qualitative analysis. The participants were eighteen infants from a public day care center in the state of São Paulo, with three teachers responsible for the class. Among all the babies, Tiago (five to ten months old) and Bruno (eight months to one year and one month of age) were the focal subjects. Weekly thirty-minute (per participant) video recordings were conducted for five months. The analysis of the empirical material was developed in two stages: 1) mapping of smiling and crying expressions in peer-interaction, identifying the peer involved; and, 2) qualitative analysis of interactive episodes in which the focal subjects emotionally expressed themselves with peers. Based on different forms of infant expression, both based on the literature and empirical data, the following emotional expression, categories were created: laughter, smiling, whimpering, crying and prolonged crying. In the analysis, there was no occurrence of laughter in infant peer interactions, at least in the scenes recorded. Regarding Tiago, smiles were first manifested in play situations and changed over time. Around eight / nine months both subjects` smiling began to impact partners, who would briefly respond to the expression. Bruno smiling episodes demonstrated a variety of senses identifiable in the interactions, smiling not only toward peers, but also with and due to peers. Despite the changes in the subjects` smiling over time, the process were not expressed in a linear fashion. In crying expressions, change concerning quality and length of expressions was observed, but there were no differences in peer interactions. Peer interactions in which Tiago cried were related mostly to the discomfort arising from intrusive physical contact with other babies. In Bruno`s case, crying occurred mostly in interactions involving annoyance by competition situations or loss of toys. For both expressions studied, we found that smiles, although less frequent among peers, have caused more reaction in peers. Future studies investigating this theme are needed, given the importance and great variety of the emotional expressiveness manifestations in infants peer interactions in collective environments.

Death is a sensitive topic, and discussing death with children may be difficult for parents, especially parents who are uncomfortable with emotional expression. Many factors are associated with parents' decision to discuss death; however, a dearth of recent literature existed examining the role of parental emotional expressiveness and discussing death with children. Using Jackson's communications theory within the broader family systems theory, this exploratory non-experimental quantitative study examined if one or more of the selected variables of parents' emotional expressiveness, parents' gender, and any previous discussions about death with a child adequately predicted the age of a child when parents felt it was appropriate to discuss death with a child. Prospective participants were parents recruited from a national online university (n = 175). Multiple linear regression analysis using enter selection was conducted on the data from the instruments that included the Attitudes towards Emotional Expression Measure and the demographics questionnaire. Results indicated no significance between the predictor and criterion variables. Despite the non-significant results, this study has the opportunity to impact positive social change by encouraging further research to understand the association, if any, between emotional expressiveness and death conversations, de-stigmatizing discussions of death and bereavement, and informing parents and professionals regarding discussing death with children to help children cope with their emotions in bereavement.

No description available.

Research has shown that the caregiving environment and the type of parent-child interactions that occur during development can have significant impact on future child outcomes for positive as well as negative outcomes (Ruffman, Slade, Devitt, & Crowe, 2006; Fonagy, Gergely, & Target, 2007). Language and emotional expressiveness are common themes that past research suggest are aspects of healthy and open parent-child interactions, and which may have associations with positive child outcomes (Carlson, Mandell, & Williams, 2004). Participants included 1359 children from the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care—variables were measured at 54 months, 3 rd , 4 th , and 6 th grades and at age 15. The early caregiving environment was found to predict 4 th grade language skills, but this relationship was not mediated by family emotional expressiveness in 3 rd grade. Family emotional expressiveness was found to predict 6 th grade social skills, but this was not mediated by 4 th grade language skills. Evidence of an indirect effect of language skills on social skills was found. Fifth grade language skills were not found to predict adolescent problem behavior, however, an overall significant indirect effect was found. Finally, family emotional expressiveness was found to predict adolescent problem behavior, and this relationship was partially mediated by 6th grade social skills. Direct, indirect, and total effects of the various predictors of adolescent problem behavior are discussed in the final chapter.