Women are at a high risk of having their ADHD diagnosis overlooked. Research suggests that women employ different coping strategies than men, resulting in their ADHD not being recognized, and thus they are at risk of being misdiagnosed. The purpose of the study is to examine women's experiences of being diagnosed with ADHD as adults and the potential challenges they have faced. By analyzing women's own experiences and perspectives, the study aims to illuminate how an ADHD diagnosis can impact women's identity and self image. A qualitative research method was used in the study, with data conducted through interviews with women diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. The empirical data was analyzed based on the stigma theory, autistic masking, and the concept of resilience. The results of the study revealed four themes: childhood - a sense of something being off, highlighting women's earlier experiences of growing up with the feeling of being different. Everyday challenges addressed daily difficulties and difficulties in relationships. Getting to know oneself showed how women changed their approach towards themselves after the diagnosis. Making it work anyway is the last theme that presents positive aspects that have proven to be empowering factors for the women.

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<p>This thesis aims to investigate how one fundamental component of the inner-ear (cochlear) response to all sounds, the temporal fine structure (TFS), is used by the auditory system in everyday hearing. Although it is well known that neurons in the cochlea encode the TFS through exquisite phase locking, how this initial/peripheral temporal code contributes to everyday hearing and how its degradation contributes to perceptual deficits are foundational questions in auditory neuroscience and clinical audiology that remain unresolved despite extensive prior research. This is largely because the conventional approach to studying the role of TFS involves performing perceptual experiments with acoustic manipulations of stimuli (such as sub-band vocoding), rather than direct physiological or behavioral measurements of TFS coding, and hence is intrinsically limited. The present thesis addresses these gaps in three parts: 1) developing assays that can quantify TFS coding at the individual level 2) comparing individual differences in TFS coding to differences in speech-in-noise perception across a range of real-world listening conditions, and 3) developing deep neural network (DNN) models of speech separation/enhancement to complement the individual-difference approach. By comparing behavioral and electroencephalogram (EEG)-based measures, Part 1 of this work identified a robust test battery that measures TFS processing in individual humans. Using this battery, Part 2 subdivided a large sample of listeners (N=200) into groups with “good” and “poor” TFS sensitivity. A comparison of speech-in-noise scores under a range of listening conditions between the groups revealed that good TFS coding reduces the negative impact of reverberation on speech intelligibility, and leads to reduced reaction times suggesting lessened listening effort. These results raise the possibility that cochlear implant (CI) sound coding strategies could be improved by attempting to provide usable TFS information, and that these individualized TFS assays can also help predict listening outcomes in reverberant, real-world listening environments. Finally, the DNN models (Part 3) introduced significant improvements in speech quality and intelligibility, as evidenced by all acoustic evaluation metrics and test results from CI listeners (N=8). These models can be incorporated as “front-end” noise-reduction algorithms in hearing assistive devices, as well as complement other approaches by serving as a research tool to help generate and rapidly sub-select the most viable hypotheses about the role of TFS coding in complex listening scenarios.</p>

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Antibody responses can be up- or down-regulated by passive administration of specific antibody together with antigen. Depending on the structure of the antigen and the antibody isotype, responses can be completely suppressed or enhanced up to a 1000-fold of what is seen in animals immunized with antigen alone. IgG suppresses primary antibody responses against erythrocytes. Suppression works well in mice lacking Fc-receptors for IgG, C1q, C3, or complement receptor 1 and 2 (CR1/2). Here, we demonstrate that IgG anti-NP given to mice together with NP-conjugated sheep erythrocytes, suppresses the generation of NP-specific extra-follicular antibody-secreting cells, NP-specific germinal center B cells, induction of memory and long-lived plasma cells. IgG increases antigen clearance but this does not explain the suppressed antibody response. It is demonstrated that IgG-mediated suppression of IgG responses is epitope specific, suggesting that epitope masking is the dominant explanation for IgG-mediated suppression of antibody responses. Both IgE and IgG3 can enhance antibody responses against soluble antigens. IgE-antigen complexes bind to recirculating B cells expressing CD23, an Fc-receptor for IgE.  Thirty minutes after intravenous administration, IgE-antigen is found in splenic follicles. Subsequently, germinal center responses, antigen-specific T cell proliferation, and antibody responses are enhanced. We show that also antigen conjugated to anti-CD23 can bind to CD23+ B cells and be transported to splenic follicles. CD11+ spleen cells, rather than CD23+ B cells, present IgE-antigen complexes to T cells. Here, it is demonstrated that CD8α− conventional dendritic cells is the CD11c+ cell population presenting IgE-antigen to T cells. IgG3-mediated enhancement is dependent on CR1/2. We find that IgG3-antigen complexes, administered intravenously to mice, bind to marginal zone B cells via CR1/2. These cells then transport IgG3-antigen into splenic follicles and deposit antigen onto follicular dendritic cells. Mice treated with FTY720, a drug which dislocates marginal zone B cells from the marginal zone, impairs this transport. Studies in bone marrow chimeric mice show that CR1/2 on both B cells and follicular dendritic cells are crucial for IgG3-mediated enhancement. In summary, these observations suggest that antibodies can feedback regulate antibody responses by modulating the access of antigen to the immune system.

An analysis of the names and violence in Richard Wright's The Outsider reveals Wright's aesthetic program for the novel. Wright's recurring themes and the meanings of the name and aliases of his protagonist are indicative of African American vernacular tradition. Despite Wright's physical distance from African American life in the United States at the time of the novel's writing, he still conveys a strong connection to the African American experience, linking that experience with the suffering of all oppressed people. By using the idea of double-consciousness and various forms of signification, including masking, naming, and improvisation, Wright locates his work within the African American folk tradition and celebrates the freedom and subversive nature of African American expression.

Dans notre vie quotidienne, nous recueillons et intégrons constamment un grand nombre d’informations sensorielles (Calvert & Thesen, 2004). Tout au long de nos activités perceptives, les connaissances que nous avons sur l’environnement sont continuellement "récupérées" en mémoire. Le cadre de la cognition incarnée et située proposent que les processus cognitifs (i.e. processus mnésiques, processus langagiers) sont ancrés dans les mêmes systèmes sensorimoteurs que ceux engagés dans les processus perceptivo-moteurs (Glenberg, 1997 ; Slotnick, 2004 ; Pecher & Zwaan, 2005).La mémoire contient des traces sensori-motrices encodées lors des multiples expériences de l’individu dans son environnement (Versace, Labeye, Badard, & Rose, 2009). De nombreux travaux en psychologie cognitive et en neurosciences démontrent que les connaissances sont construites et (re)émergent à partir de l’activation des systèmes neuronaux typiquement associés aux mécanismes perceptivo-moteurs. Le contenu et le fonctionnement de notre mémoire sont intrinsèquement liés à nos activités sensori-motrices passées et présentes. Pour être efficace, les connaissances impliquées dans nos activités cognitives doivent être étroitement liées à la situation présente. Cette capacité à s’adapter à des situations spécifiques ne serait pas possible à moins que les connaissances, y compris les connaissances conceptuelles, soientissues de la réactivation de traces mnésiques d’expériences passées (Barsalou, 2008 ; Versace et al., 2014). Réciproquement, les activités sensori-motrices sont totalement dépendantes des traces mnésiques d’expériences sensori-motrices passées. Ainsi, la différence entre perception et mémoire réside dans le fait que, dans le premier cas, les propriétés sont perceptivement présentes, tandis que, dans le deuxième cas, celles-ci sont absentes mais réactivées.Ce travail de thèse avait pour objectif d’étudier les liens entre mémoire et perception et, plus précisément, d’apporter des arguments en faveur de la similarité entre les processus mnésiques et perceptifs qui résultent de l’activation de composants de même nature sensorimotrice.Nous avons testé l’hypothèse selon laquelle des effets perceptifs devraient pouvoir être obtenus avec des composants réactivés en mémoire. Pour cela, nous avons utilisé des effets perceptifs - tels que l’effet de masquage ou les biais de jugement perceptif - afin d’explorer la possibilité de répliquer ce type d’effets avec l’intervention des dimensions mnésiques. / In everyday life, each of us is constantly processing perceptual input from the environment, we collect and then integrate numerous items of sensory information (Calvert & Thesen, 2004). Alongside these perceptual activities, knowledge related to our environment is continually "recovered" from memory. Embodied cognition and grounded cognition theories suggest that cognitive processes (e.g., memory processes, language processes) are grounded in the same sensory-motor systems as those used in perceptual and motor processes (Glenberg, 1997 ; Slotnick, 2004 ; Pecher & Zwaan, 2005).Memory is composed of sensorimotor traces encoded during the several experiences of an individual in his environment (Versace et al., 2009). A large number of studies in cognitive psychology and neurosciences demonstrated that knowledge is constructed and (re)emerged from the activation of neural systems typically associated with perceptual-motor mechanisms. The contents and the functioning of our memory are intrinsically linked to our past and present sensorimotor activities. To be effective, knowledge involved in our cognitive activities must be closely linked to the actual situation. This ability to adapt to specific situations would not be possible unless knowledge, including conceptual knowledge, is derived from the reactivation of memory traces of past experiences (Barsalou, 2008 ; Versace et al., 2014). Conversely, sensorimotor activities are totally dependent on memory traces of past sensorimotor experiences. Thus, the difference between perception and memory is that, in the former, properties are perceptually present, whereas, in the latter, they are absent but reactivated. This PhD research focused on the link between memory and perception and, more precisely, aims to provide arguments in favor of the similarity of memory and perceptual processes that result from the activation of components of same sensorimotor nature. We tested the hypothesis that perceptual effects should be observed with reactivated components in memory. We used well-known perceptual effects (such as masking effect or perceptual bias invisual illusion) to investigate the possibility to replicate these effects by replacing the sensorial present components by reactivated components in memory.

Estudos sobre a orientação da atenção que utilizam o procedimento de Posner têm demonstrado dois efeitos: uma facilitação inicial no processamento do estímulo que aparece no lugar para onde dirigiu-se a atenção e subsequentemente um prejuízo no processamento deste estímulo, neste local. Em um trabalho anterior não evidenciamos o efeito facilitador da orientação da atenção em uma tarefa de tempo de reação simples. Levantamos algumas hipóteses para explicar este efeito oposto. Para testarmos tais hipóteses realizamos 6 experimentos. Nos dois primeiros, examinamos em que medida a presença de tentativas de pegada influenciava a expressão do efeito negativo do estímulo precedente. No terceiro examinamos a possibilidade do estímulo precedente ser capaz de reduzir a responsividade. No quarto equalizamos a intensidade efetiva do estímulo alvo nas duas posições em que ele podia ser apresentado (mesma e oposta). No quinto e no sexto avaliamos a evolução temporal do efeito negativo do estímulo precedente, na tentativa de determinar até que ponto ela teria alguma relação com a evolução temporal esperada para um mascaramento anterógrado. O sexto experimento poderia adicionalmente fornecer alguma pista de uma contribuição de uma inibição de retorno, neste caso precoce, para o efeito negativo encontrado. Em todos esses casos a influência atencional do estímulo precedente presumivelmente continuaria a ocorrer, mas seria suplantada pela influência contrária coexistente. Em conjunto, nossos resultados sugerem que o efeito negativo do estímulo precedente em uma tarefa de tempo de reação simples, se deve a uma interferência com o processamento do estímulo alvo, caracterizando uma inibição de natureza sensorial. / Studies about attention orienting that use Posner?s procedure have demonstrated two effects: an initial facilitation of responsivit when the target stimulus appears in the same location as the prime stimulus and a subsequent inhibition of this responsvity. In a previous work we could not find the early facilitatory effect of attention orienting in a simple reaction time task. The hypotheses that we raised to explain this unexpected finding were tested in six experiments. In the first two ones, we examined whether the presence of catch trials influenced the expression of the negative effect of the prime stimulus. In the third experiment we examined the possibility that the prime stimulus reduced responsivity. In the fourth experiment we equalized the intensity of the target stimulus in the two locations where it could be presented (same and opposite). In the fifth and in sixth experiments we evaluated the time course of the negative effect of the prime stimulus, as an attempt to verify whether it would be compatible with a forward masking process. The sixth experiment could additionally give some clue about a contribution of inhibition of return, in this case precocious, to the found negative effect. In all these cases the attentional influence of the prime stimulus would presumably continue to occur, but would be supplanted by the contrary negative of this stimulus influence. Overall, our results suggest that the negative effect of the prime stimulus in a simple reaction time task is due to an interference with the processing of the target stimulus, characterizing a kind of sensory inhibition.

A pesquisa sobre as figurações do Carnaval fundamenta uma das estratégias textuais dos escritores no primeiro tempo modernista, motivados pelo desejo de minimizar o sentimento de inautenticidade oriundo da emulação sistemática de matrizes estéticas europeias. A adoção da festividade momesca, por parte dessa geração, ocorre após a leitura dos poemas coligidos por Manuel Bandeira no volume Carnaval, em 1919, o que motiva significativas enunciações em poemas e manifestos literários de Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade e outros escritores e artistas iconográficos coetâneos. Essa visada nacionalista crítica assegura-se numa permeabilidade com as manifestações culturais desvinculadas das abordagens academicistas, entre as quais estão os registros do cancioneiro popular, poesiacantada em que as figurações carnavalescas são profusas. Na análise desse conjunto de poemas, constatamos a emergência de uma poética do mascaramento, em que três constantes o corpo, o tempo e os humores (a melancolia e a alegria) são submetidas a outramentos, o que suscita a hipótese de que esses poetas inventam uma tradição objetivando a positivação da originalidade nativa, tendo a festa de Carnaval e suas variantes míticas como motivação literária. No decênio de 1930, as figurações carnavalescas tornam-se rarefeitas na poesia escrita para livros, estabelecendo a palavra cantada como espaço de permanência. Com Orfeu da Conceição, em 1956, Vinicius de Moraes faz convergir ambas as vertentes, fragilizando a fronteira que as separava . Nesse percurso, constatamos que as figurações momescas obedecem a uma gramática do mascaramento, o que, por analogia, favoreceu o delineamento das singularidades da categoria brasilidade. / The research about the images of Carnaval founds one of the textual strategies of the early modernist writers, who were driven by the desire of minimizing the feeling of inauthenticity originated from the systematic emulation of the European aesthetical matrices. The adoption of the Carnaval-related festivity by this generation occurs after the reading of the poems assembled by Manuel Bandeira in the book Carnaval, in 1919, which motivates significant enunciations in poems and literary works of Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, amongst other poets and contemporary iconographic artists. This nationalist critique assures itself in permeability with the cultural manifestations that were unlinked from the academic approaches, among which are the registers of popular songbook, sung-poems in which Carnaval-related images become plentiful. In the analysis of this set of poems, we can notice the emerging of a poetry of masking, where three recurrences body, time and mood (melancholy and joy) are exposed to otherness, raising the hypothesis that these poets had invented a tradition, which aimed for a native originality, having the celebration of Carnaval and its mythical variants as its literary motivation. During the 1930s, the Carnaval-related images became rare in the poetry written for books, stablishing the sung poems as a permanent ground. With Orfeu da Conceição, in 1956, Vinicius de Moraes converges these two elements, making fragile the remaining of the boundaries that set them apart. In this way, we have noted that the images of Carnaval follow a grammar of masking in analogy to an attempt of outlining the singularities of Brazilianity.