Degradation of transistor parameter values due to Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) has emerged as a major reliability problem in current and future technology generations. NBTI Aging of a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cell leads to a lower noise margin, thereby increasing the failure rate. The register file, which consists of an array of SRAM cells, can suffer from data loss, leading to a system failure. In this work, we study the source of NBTI stress in an architecture and physical register file. Based on our study, we modified the register file structure to reduce the NBTI degradation and improve the overall system reliability. Having evaluated new register file structures, we find that our techniques substantially improve reliability of the register files. The new register files have small overhead, while in some cases they provide saving in area and power.

Criticism of discrete classification systems for mental disorders has led to a focus on identification of mechanisms that cut across symptom clusters, known as transdiagnostic factors. One such proposed factor is negative repetitive thought (NRT), or a perseverative, often uncontrollable, focus on negative information, experiences, or expectations. Worry and rumination are two major constructs thought to compose NRT. No confirmatory factor analyses have investigated whether worry and rumination might compose a general NRT factor, discrete factors, or some combination of the two. The first purpose of the current study was to use confirmatory factor analyses to uncover whether worry and rumination are best characterized as separate or common constructs. In addition to this purpose, the study investigated NRT as a transdiagnostic factor for psychopathology. Finally, it examined incremental associations of NRT with mental illness symptoms, after controlling for negative emotionality, the most well established transdiagnostic risk factor. A bi-factor conceptualization of worry and rumination, in which there was a common NRT factor and specific worry and rumination factors, yielded the best fit to the data across three separate samples. The NRT factor was associated with both internalizing and externalizing psychopathology; however, it demonstrated significant overlap with negative emotionality. Further exploration of this overlap using bi-factor modeling demonstrated that NRT and negative emotionality are likely best thought of as a unidimensional general negative affect construct, and this structure was replicated across samples. Importantly, evidence was found that this tendency to experience negative affect was also a common liability for mental illness symptoms.

A dual-factor model of mental health conceptualizes mental health status as a combination of both psychopathology and subjective well-being. Current literature indicates that complete mental health (i.e., low psychopathology, high subjective well-being) is associated with the best academic and social functioning among youth. Thus, the absence of psychopathology alone is not sufficient for student success. While research on interventions for improving subjective well-being, termed positive psychology interventions (PPIs), is increasing, PPIs for youth in particular lag behind similar interventions for adults. Additionally, a majority of youth-focused PPIs have targeted singular constructs (e.g., gratitude, character strengths), have neglected to include relevant stakeholders in youth's lives, and have not examined the impact of booster sessions on maintaining gains in subjective well-being. Research questions answered in the current study pertain to: (a) the impact of a comprehensive, multi-target, multi-component, small-group youth-focused PPI on students' subjective well-being and symptoms of psychopathology, and (b) the extent to which booster sessions can prevent students from experiencing post-intervention declines in subjective well-being and symptoms of psychopathology. To answer these questions, 42 seventh grade students were randomly assigned to either immediately receive the PPI or to a wait-list control group; all participants' subjective well-being and symptoms of psychopathology were analyzed across time. At immediate post-intervention, students who participated in the PPI made significant gains in all components of subjective well-being, and there was a trend for them to report less internalizing and externalizing symptoms of psychopathology relative to students in the wait-list control group. By seven-week follow-up, students who participated in the PPI exhibited sustained high levels of positive affect, and there was a trend for them to report sustained low levels of negative affect and internalizing symptoms of psychopathology relative to students in the wait-list control group. Thus, findings from the current study support this multi-component PPI as an evidence-based method for making long-lasting improvements in early adolescents' positive affect, a primary indicator of subjective well-being. Implications for school psychologists, contributions to the literature, and future directions are discussed.

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate that online complainants' reactions to a company's service recovery attempts (webcare) can significantly vary across two different types of dissatisfied customers ("vindictives" vs "constructives"), who have dramatically diverging complaint Goal orientations. Design/methodology/Approach: Online multi-country survey among 812 adult consumers who recently had a dissatisfying brand experience and turned to a marketer-generated social media site to voice an online complaint for achieving their ultimate complaining goals. Scenario-based online experiment for cross-validating the survey findings. Findings: Results suggest that "vindictive complainants" - driven dominantly by brand-adverse motives - are immune to any form of webcare, while "constructive complainants" - interested in restoring the customer-brand relationship - react more sensitively. For the latter, "no-responses" often trigger detrimental brand-related reactions (e.g. unfavorable brand image), whereas "defensive Responses" are likely to stimulate postwebcare negative word-of-mouth. Research limitations/implications: This research identifies the gains and harms of (un-)desired webcare. By doing so, it not only sheds light on the circumstances when marketers have to fear negative effects (e.g. negative word-of-mouth) but also provides insights into the conditions when such effects are unlikely. While the findings of the cross-sectional survey are validated with an online experiment, findings should be interpreted with care as other complaining contexts should be further investigated. Practical implications: Marketers have to expect a serious "backfiring effect" from an unexpected source, namely, consumers who were initially benevolent toward the involved brand but who received an inappropriate response.

In this thesis I argue that negative attributions mediate between attachment insecurity and relationship outcomes. Using a sample of 59 couples the well-documented association between attachment insecurity and relationship satisfaction was replicated. I then tested whether this association was mediated by attributions for hypothetical behaviour for a real partner and a hypothetical potential partner. Attributions for real partner behaviour did mediate between insecure attachment and relationship satisfaction, but not attributions for a potential partner. It was further hypothesised that an association would exist between couple communication and attachment insecurity, which would be mediated by negative attributions. Couples completed two ten-minute problem-solving discussions and participated in a video-mediated recall process, providing a measure of attributions for real events with their current partner. Results supported the hypotheses for self-reported, but not observed, communication. It was concluded that the association between attachment and attributions does not represent a consistent cognitive processing bias, but rather a relationship-specific phenomena. Future research directions were proposed to investigate mediation from a long-term perspective and the therapeutic implications of these findings were discussed.

<p> </p><p>Millions of dollars change hands daily through online auction markets. Online trading communities like eBay and Amazon.com are emerging as increasingly important factors of the economy. Various Reputation systems are important components in such electronic markets. Existing evidence suggests that there are a number of problems with such systems. This paper presents an empirical exploration of reputation systems. Two studies of Tradera’s discussion forums are reported. The result of the first, pilot study suggests that both sellers and buyers are worried about getting a retaliatory negative feedback if they leave a negative feedback for an unsatisfactory transaction from their trading parties. Retaliation from the non-paying bidders seems to be the most severe threat and trouble for sellers. A set of negative feedbacks were then gathered from Tradera and data were manually analyzed in order to verify the results from the preliminary study. The results from the second study confirmed the result of the pilot study. A general evaluation of Tradera’s current reputation system is made based on the results of the second study. This paper aims to make a contribution to the literature on online reputation system by developing a typology of seller complaints about Tradera buyers and providing a tentative definition of retaliatory negative feedback based on the findings of both studies. Proposed solutions to the problems of non-payment and feedback retaliation are also presented.</p><p> </p>

<p>Syftet med uppsatsen är att försöka förklara vad det är som påverkar tiden som en mamma ammar. För att undersöka vad det är som påverkar tiden som en mamma ammar, har en Zero inflated negative binomial-modell (ZINB-modell) tagits fram. Resultaten visar att det som avgör hur länge en mamma kommer att amma är: Graviditetens längd, mammans ålder, mammans rökvanor under graviditetens sista månader, mammans rökvanor samt mammans nationella ursprung.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-185).

Abstract The use of celebrity endorsement strategy is nowadays more frequently used by marketers in order to increase their sales and thereby extend their market shares. Many celebrities are used in various marketing campaigns and in most cases; the use of celebrities as endorsers is seen from mainly positive aspects. This made the authors curious whether the negative aspects, that also exists when using celebrities as endorsers, affects consumers in their purchasing decisions when a celebrity gets associated with negative publicity. Another cause of interest is which factors of a certain celebrity are most important and crucial in consumers’ perceptions, in the case of negative publicity. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study which factors consumers find important for a company to consider when a celebrity gets negative publicity, to maintain successful brand recognition. Literature review: The use of previous studies within the field of celebrity endorsement clarifies many important aspects when it comes to celebrity endorsement and this chapter is elaborated from 4 different perspectives; Company, Celebrity, Brand and Consumer. Based on previous studies, the authors identified 6 crucial attributes when using celebrities as endorsers and this can also be seen as a pre-study that the research process has been based upon. Furthermore, the 6 attributes are chosen from the three first mentioned perspectives in order to be able to fulfil the purpose. Hence, this thesis is conducted from a consumer’s point of view. Method: A quantitative method is used in this thesis since the authors want to base the results on collected data that is expressed in numbers and also to generate a general apprehension in this phenomenon. Moreover, the combinations containing the 6 attributes are used in the conjoint experiment. Conclusions: It was proven in this study that consumers do get affected by celebrities as endorser, when the attributes from the literature review are in a combination. But, the consumers’ perception of the attributes differs in different cases. However, the main finding was that there are two crucial attributes, trustworthiness and expertise that companies should take into account when using celebrities in their advertising campaign.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att försöka förklara vad det är som påverkar tiden som en mamma ammar. För att undersöka vad det är som påverkar tiden som en mamma ammar, har en Zero inflated negative binomial-modell (ZINB-modell) tagits fram. Resultaten visar att det som avgör hur länge en mamma kommer att amma är: Graviditetens längd, mammans ålder, mammans rökvanor under graviditetens sista månader, mammans rökvanor samt mammans nationella ursprung.