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.

Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / The purpose of this study was to understand the role of school leaders in supporting teachers as they build relationships with and between students in the classroom. These two important aspects of creating a positive classroom learning environment are necessary for Social Emotional Learning to be successful. This qualitative case study drew upon data from interviews with school leaders, teacher focus group interviews, and redacted teacher evaluations in one school district in Massachusetts. While the role of school leaders in the academic success of students has been explored in the literature, there is less research on the specific actions school leaders take to support teachers struggling with classroom environment issues. This study will explore the actions of school leaders through the lens of three leadership practices: setting direction, developing people, and redesigning the organization (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004). The findings highlighted the difference in school leaders’ perception of the capacity of adults versus students to learn relationship building skills. In some cases school leaders were not confident that building these skills was possible and consequently they struggled to provide clear and specific strategies to teachers. The findings also reflect the reactive versus proactive nature of the support teachers received for building relationships with and between students. Recommendations include re-organizing resources to allow for more teacher collaboration, targeted professional development in relationship building and exploration regarding the difference in how student peer relationships were viewed compared to teacher student relationships. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Research indicates a significant rise in child and adolescent mental health difficulties over the past few decades (Mental Health Foundation, 2015). Evidence-based programmes are becoming increasingly favoured as a preventative measure to address these difficulties, given that a large number of interventions delivered in schools have been shown to be effective (Domitrovich et al., 2008). While schools offer an ideal stage for the prevention of mental health difficulties, research suggests that the outcomes of evidence-based programmes are heavily moderated by implementation variability (Durlak, 2015). A key driver of effective implementation and therefore, positive outcomes, is the implementer - who in the case of school-based preventative programmes is almost exclusively the class teacher. The aim of the current study was to investigate the influence of individual level teacher characteristics on implementation variability in a universal social and emotional learning programme, using data drawn from the evaluation of the PATHS to Success trial (Humphrey et al., under review). A concurrent embedded mixed methods design was used to gain a fuller appreciation of the individual level factors that affect implementation variability. A total of 183 teachers were included in the analyses, who completed surveys regarding their professional and psychological characteristics, as well as their perceptions of and attitudes towards interventions. Data were analysed using multiple regression, including a series of interaction terms. Missing data were addressed by means of multiple imputation. There were twelve focus teachers in the qualitative strand, with interviews conducted to investigate the individual level barriers and facilitators associated with implementation variability. Teachers' interview data was analysed thematically. Results indicated that teachers' characteristics did have an influence on implementation variability, although this varied depending on the aspect of implementation. A series of multiple regression analyses indicated that implementer characteristics accounted for 9% of the variance in the fidelity model, 21% in the dosage model, and 15% in the quality model. No individual predictors were significant, although there were some marginally non-significant trends. There was also no reported increase in the variance across the three models when a series of interaction terms were added. The qualitative interviews aided the clarification of some of the quantitative findings, adding substantial depth to some of the conclusions drawn, with school leadership emerging as a significant factor in the successful implementation of the programme. There were a number of implications as a result of the findings from the current study for researchers, programme developers, and schools in understanding implementation variability at the individual level. Directions for future research are discussed in light of these findings.

acase@tulane.edu / Agencies declare the development of social and emotional skills critical to child development, and research on outcomes of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programming supports this claim. Despite the growing number of resources for educators, the day-to-day realities of individual school environments provide countless obstacles to implementation of SEL programs and initiatives. Without proper implementation, programs may not produce the desired student outcomes. Administrative support has been identified as a key factor underlying effective implementation, and while this seems to be a concrete way to increase SEL outcomes, the construct lacks a clear definition. This makes it difficult to identify which aspects of administrative support for SEL are the most important, and what mechanisms underlie the provision of support for SEL. Because there is no academic definition to guide school administrators in what supports to provide for effective implementation, it is necessary to research this construct. The current study seeks to do so by listening to the voices of those closest to the work of implementation, administrators and teachers themselves. By determining what supports stakeholders perceive necessary to successfully implement SEL in the context of a specific school site, the study aims to identify salient components of administrator support and create an emic definition to guide implementation. / 1 / Laura C. Cornell

Understanding and managing emotion in psychological therapy is a complex and challenging problem for practitioners and clients. The traditional emphasis on verbal language as the mediating process in therapy is expanding with the inclusion of multimodal creative arts, based on visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic perceptions, to better support the reaccessing of emotion. This can be followed recursively by the use of words to develop narrative and meaning. The main research emphasis in this thesis was on visual art. Studies of other art forms may follow. Philosophical understanding, neuroscience advances and developments in psychological therapy underpin and explain this therapeutic expansion. A qualitative research approach is taken, engaging several different actions from within that research paradigm. The thesis is written as a metaphorical journey and conveys the experience of art dialogue and the experience of researching, as parallel stories. Psychological learning journeys undertaken by its author and a colleague, some clients, therapists and teachers, are described in three encounters. The first encounter explored visual art dialogue as a process addition to a developing experiential phenomenological approach using multimodal creative arts (The MIECAT Process � Lett 2001). The objective was for the colleagues to experience a lengthy creative arts sequence, developing and undertaking the process of visual art dialogue. Multilevel actions and outcomes were recorded throughout the collegial engagement. The collegial encounter required that the co-researchers pursue their own personal psychological meanings and report on their experience of the process. Personal narrative meanings exposed in exploring visual art dialogue, are not discussed, the emphasis being on confirming how actions occurred and their effectiveness for application. Actions stopped where direct verbal therapeutic engagement might occur. Following collegial experience, visual art dialogue was used with clients and other therapists and teachers, to question its broader relevance. The second inquiry, involving three clients of the author, asked how the process would support professional actions in a therapeutic situation. The third encounter engaged other therapists and teachers to expand on questions of by whom and how, art dialogue could be used. Psychological therapy theory suggests process location within a humanistic framework, in an eclectic focus or supporting the development of an experiential, phenomenological psychology process approach based on the known functions of mind and body. The associated personal and professional aspects of the experience of process exploration constituted a step in authorial understanding and may contribute to increasing knowledge of the creative arts applied to psychological therapy.

The Leader in Me (Covey, 2008) is an approach to fostering social and emotional learning that has been adopted by more than 3,000 schools across the globe, but which has received relatively little empirical attention. Grounded in the seven habits from Stephen Covey’s (1989) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the school-based program The Leader in Me supports schools in fostering social and emotional learning and empowering students to take on leadership roles in their school. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examines the social and emotional learning of elementary school students attending six public elementary schools that began implementation of The Leader in Me in 2014-15 in comparison to their peers at six structurally and demographically similar comparison schools within the same school districts. The survey and interview data from participating schools are analyzed through the lens of two main conceptual frameworks: social and emotional learning and youth voice. Quantitative results indicate that Leader in Me students demonstrated a significant, negative treatment*time effect for eight of the thirteen measures, and a significant, negative treatment effect for one additional measure, as compared to students attending the matched comparison schools. Three of these measures are related to social and emotional learning, four are related to youth voice, and two are related to overall teacher and school support. Qualitative results reveal that while some students spoke of the 7 habits in ways that demonstrate awareness and application of social and emotional competencies, they also had varying levels of understanding of the habits themselves. Similarly, while some students and teachers spoke of the ways that The Leader in Me fosters youth voice and empowerment, other qualitative data suggest that the program is having the opposite effect, and that students are defining youth leadership as compliance. Findings from this study highlight the following recommendations for social emotional and youth voice reform efforts: a clearly communicated implementation framework at the classroom and school level accompanied by an aligned fidelity rubric; the adoption of an action-reflection cycle that includes both teacher and student perspectives; and the awareness of, and active preparation for, inherent power dynamics in schools.

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In recent years, leaders in school divisions across the nation have begun to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula and programs explicitly within the academic day (DePaoli et al., 2017; Graczyk et al., 2013; Oberle et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of their role, as well as the role of school leadership, in the implementation and sustainability of an SEL curriculum. To conduct the study, all elementary teachers in one school division, approximately 220 teachers, were invited to participate by completing a survey regarding their beliefs and perceptions of implementation. Respondents supplied data for the study by providing demographic information, responding to four open-ended questions, and answering 42 questions by indicating their perception on a 5-point scale. The survey received a 27% response rate. The collected data were analyzed using statistics of responses to generate response category means, compile the response rate of data for each question, and code emerging themes to inform findings. Findings indicated the teachers felt it was the responsibility of all stakeholders to teach and model SEL for students. Most respondents, 85%, highly agreed with the belief that SEL practices promoted academic success by selecting almost always or always on the scaled response. Findings also indicated the teachers felt their building leadership did nothing to support SEL implementation, and further stipulated that more time and training were necessary to implement SEL successfully. The findings led to three implications for school leadership. First, teachers should partner with all other staff members and adults in the learning community to model and deliver SEL instruction. Second, data analysis revealed school leadership should identify one SEL curriculum for the school to ensure consistency in training, monitoring, and implementation. Finally, school leaders should dedicate time in the school day for explicit SEL instruction. / Doctor of Education / In recent years, leaders in school divisions across the nation have begun to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula and programs explicitly within the academic day (DePaoli et al., 2017; Graczyk et al., 2013; Oberle et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of their role, as well as the role of school leadership, in the implementation and sustainability of an SEL curriculum. To conduct the study, all elementary teachers in one school division, approximately 220 teachers, were invited to participate by completing a survey regarding their beliefs and perceptions of implementation. Respondents supplied data for the study by providing demographic information, responding to four open-ended questions, and answering 42 questions by indicating their perception on a 5-point scale. The survey received a 27% response rate. The collected data were analyzed using statistics of responses to generate response category means, compile the response rate of data for each question, and code emerging themes to inform findings. Findings indicated the teachers felt it was the responsibility of all stakeholders to teach and model SEL for students. Most respondents, 85%, highly agreed with the belief that SEL practices promoted academic success by selecting almost always or always on the scaled response. Findings also indicated the teachers felt their building leadership did nothing to support SEL implementation, and further stipulated that more time and training were necessary to implement SEL successfully. The findings led to three implications for school leadership. First, teachers should partner with all other staff members and adults in the learning community to model and deliver SEL instruction. Second, data analysis revealed school leadership should identify one SEL curriculum for the school to ensure consistency in training, monitoring, and implementation. Finally, school leaders should dedicate time in the school day for explicit SEL instruction.