The cognitive model of obsessions (Rachman, 1997, 1998) proposes the escalation from normal intrusive thought into clinical obsession begins with the appraisal of thoughts as being significant or dangerous. The cognitive theory of obsessions also posits through targeting and dismantling maladaptive thought related beliefs and thought control strategies, one can reduce the frequency of and discomfort associated with obsessive thoughts. The current study first set out to obtain additional empirical support for the proposed relationship between maladaptive thought related beliefs, thought management strategies, and obsessive thinking. Next, this study explored the potential impact of targeting and altering maladaptive thought related beliefs and thought management strategies, through mindfulness-based training (thought acceptance), in comparison to relaxation-based training (thought control). Finally, this study assessed which, if any, participant characteristics were associated with positively responding to mindfulness training. Results highlighted the strong relationship between maladaptive thought related beliefs, thought management strategies and obsessive thinking, with mindfulness mediating the relationship between maladaptive thought related beliefs and obsessive thinking. Research results also lend support for the potential efficacy of both mindfulness as well as relaxation based training, for the treatment of obsessive thinking. Participants assigned to both conditions exhibited decreased obsessive thinking as well increased positive mood state and decreased maladaptive thought related beliefs. Process related analysis uncovered a significant relationship between decreased maladaptive thought related beliefs and decreased obsessive thinking for the mindfulness condition, providing initial evidence for changes in meta-cognitive beliefs as an active ingredient in mindfulness training. In contrast, a significant relationship between decreased maladaptive thought related beliefs and decreased obsessive thinking was not found for the relaxation condition. Finally, when assessing participant characteristics associated with positively responding to mindfulness training, level of obsessive thinking predicted self reporting to have obtained a significant benefit from engaging in mindfulness training, with study participants experiencing higher levels of obsessive thinking interpreting the mindfulness intervention as more beneficial than study participants who experienced lower levels of obsessive thinking. These findings offer initial evidence that mindfulness training may be a useful treatment approach, in targeting and altering maladaptive thought related beliefs, for the treatment of obsessive thinking. / text

The objective of drinking water treatment is to provide water which is free of pathogens, is chemically and biologically stable, and is of good aesthetic quality. Natural organic matter (NOM) is present in all natural waters and can make meeting these goals more challenging. Not only does it undergo adverse reactions with disinfectants such as chlorine, it also impacts the biological stability of water within the distribution system and contributes to undesirable aesthetic qualities such as taste and odour. NOM has also been implicated in membrane fouling, which continues to be a significant operational problem preventing wider implementation of this process. Due to its highly variable heterogeneous nature, NOM can be difficult to characterize in terms of its specific composition, however recent analytical advancements are allowing for a better understanding of its behaviour in water treatment. Two promising tools for NOM characterization include Liquid Chromatography Organic Carbon Detection (LC-OCD) and Fluorescence Excitation Emission Matrix (FEEM) analyses. In this research both techniques were applied to samples taken from five full scale facilities in Ontario, Canada over all four seasons. The source waters for these treatment locations consisted of both river (Grand River, Ottawa River) and Great Lake waters (Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario), and an additional raw source (Saugeen River) was also monitored. The plants all employed granular media filtration, but had differences including enhanced coagulation, ozonation, biofiltration and sand ballasted flocculation. Other relevant water quality parameters were also monitored (TOC, DOC, UV254, pH, conductivity etc.) as well as plant operating conditions (dosages, flows, filter run times etc.) to investigate their impact on removal of specific NOM fractions. Four of the waters (Grand River, Ottawa River, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario) were selected based on the initial survey due to their NOM composition, for bench scale ultrafiltration (UF) membrane fouling experiments. The experiments were run at constant flux for a period of five days, with an automated permeation cycle and backwash. The impact of biopolymers on hydraulically reversible and irreversible fouling was of specific interest. Important seasonal trends were identified for all waters, with biopolymer content increasing at higher temperatures. Useful comparisons could also be made between different treatment processes including conventional and enhanced coagulation. The enhanced process while significantly improving the removal of humic substances, was not beneficial in terms of biopolymer removal, suggesting a different removal mechanism for these two fractions. The removal of low molecular weight ozonation by-products during full scale biofiltration was well demonstrated, and other fractions (building blocks, biopolymers) had varying degrees of removal, which was more dependent on temperature. Principle component analysis (PCA), an advanced multivariate statistical method, was successfully applied to a FEEM data set containing five different waters at varying degrees of treatment. Three principle components related to humic-like, protein-like and particulate/colloidal material were identified, and served as useful complementary information to the LC-OCD results. The humic-like component was found to have relatively good correlation to the humic fraction from LC-OCD analysis, with some deviation in the post-ozonation samples (which underwent greater structural changes not captured by LC-OCD). The biopolymer fraction was shown to have good correlation to hydraulically reversible membrane fouling across all four waters. The same could not be said for hydraulically irreversible fouling for which a combined fouling layer (with particulate and colloidal material) is hypothesized. This research provides those working in the water treatment sector with greater insight into NOM behaviour during various levels of treatment. As biopolymers were demonstrated to impact hydraulically reversible fouling (relatively independent of water quality), their removal prior to membrane filtration could significantly extend operational cycles by extending time between backwashes, thereby reducing energy requirements. As biopolymers are also suspected in forming a combined fouling layer, their removal can potentially minimize chemical cleaning requirements (and extend the life cycle of the membranes). The removal of biopolymers through coagulation was well demonstrated. Biofiltration is also expected to perform well as a membrane pre-treatment due its ability to remove biopolymers and particulate/colloidal matter. The ability of biofiltration to control biological re-growth in the distribution system (by removing low molecular weight biodegradable products) was also shown using LC-OCD and FEEM analysis.

Standard methods of assessment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involve retrospective report of symptoms over a prior period of interest (e.g., a week, a month, etc.). However, such accounts may be subject to recall biases, leading to inaccurate assessments of symptoms. Recall biases present in two domains of symptom severity (distress and interference) were examined. The following study applied experience-sampling methods (ESM) to OCD symptom assessment. Using a modified form of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, twenty-one adults with a primary diagnosis of OCD rated distress and interference of their principle obsession and compulsion four times daily for approximately one week. At the end of the experience-sampling period, participants provided retrospective estimates of distress and interference of principle obsessions and compulsions experienced during the course of the ESM period. Results found that participants retrospectively overestimated OCD ratings, compared to their real-time ratings. Two proposed reasons for such overestimates (peak-end evaluation and symptom variability) were examined though not supported based on current study results. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Low-pressure membrane systems such as Microfiltration (MF) and Ultrafiltration (UF) have been presented as viable option to pre-treatment systems in potable water applications. UF membranes are sporadically backwashed with ultra-filtered water to remove deposited matter from the membrane and restore it. Several factors that may cause permeability and selectivity decrease are involved and numerous procedures are applicable to achieve this objective. Membrane cleaning is the most important step required to maintain the characteristics of the membrane. This research was made with the purpose of investigating the effects of acid cleaning during chemically enhanced backwashing (CEB) on the performance of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes in seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) pretreatment. To accomplish this, the questions made were: Does the acid addition (before or after the alkali CEB) influence the overall CEB cleaning effectiveness on Dow UF membrane? Does the CEB order of alkali (NaOCl) and acid (H2SO4) affect the overall CEB cleaning effectiveness? If yes, which order is better/worse? What is the optimal acid CEB frequency that will ensure the most reliable performance of the UF?. To answer this queries, a series of sequences were carried out with different types of chemical treatments: Only NaOCl, daily NaOCl plus weekly acid, daily NaOCl plus daily acid, and weekly acid plus daily NaOCl. To investigate the consequence of acid by studying the effect of operational data like the trans-pressure membrane, resistance or permeability and support that by the analytical experiments (organic, inorganic and microbial characterization). Microorganisms were removed almost completely at hydraulic cleaning and showed no difference with addition of acid. As a conclusion of the operational data the organic and inorganic chatacterization resulted in the elimination of the first sequence due to the acummulation of fouling over time, which produces that the cleaning increases downtime, productivity diminishes, Increases water cost, shortens membrane lifespan and the frequency of cleaning in place (CIP). The elimination of the third sequence, NaOCl followed by daily acid, resulted in excessive dosing of acid which affects fibers and increases the water cost. The removal of organic carbon and inorganic fractions for the second and third sequence were investigated. The better removal of Iron was in the last sequence with value of 11.52 mg/l due to acid was dose first which target inorganic foulants. The better removal of bio polymers was obtained at the second sequence with a value of 0.95 mg/l owed to the influence of chorine CEB to acid which oxidized biopolymers with higher molecular weight to smaller, then when the acid CEB removed it in a larger amount. While the last sequence was 0.57 mg/l. It can be concluded that second sequence provided a better removal that the last sequence. To support this conclusion, the operational data was compared to the second sequence is operationally sustainable, therefore in this revision the best sequence was the second.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is an illness that significantly reduces the quality of life of those affected by the disorder. Current and past research has established a relationship between an authoritarian parenting style and the development of OCD. There is an absence of research regarding the influence of parenting styles on the development of different subtypes of OCD. This study examined the relationship of Baumrind's parenting styles (permissive, authoritarian, and restrictive) as gathered from participant answers on the Parenting Behavior Questionnaire and the OCD subtypes (contamination, harm, unwanted thoughts, and symmetry) as gathered from participant answers to the Dimensional Obsessive Compulsive Scale. Participants were 140 members of OCD Foundations within the United States, between the ages of 18 and 69, who self-selected to take the online survey that was linked to them by an e-mail from the foundations. A one-way between subjects ANOVA showed no significant difference between the 3 parenting styles and the 4 subtypes of OCD. Future studies should use a clinical sample that isolates participants for the specific diagnosed OCD subtypes. This isolation would eliminate the limitation of this study that had participants answering questions across all subtypes, regardless of their diagnosis. This study may impact social change by furthering the discussion of how parenting and OCD may be related, thus helping scholars, educators, and other professionals to be more proactive in guiding parents when raising their children.

Self-Efficacy (SE) has been explored extensively within the field of psychology. Despite a rich literature demonstrating its positive effect on various behavioral outcomes, including psychological treatment outcomes, little is known about the impact of SE on outcomes related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To fill this critical gap in the literature, the aim of the present study was to determine whether increasing SE may improve engagement in exposure-based interventions for contamination fears. Nonclinical participants (N = 120) were randomly assigned to complete a contamination-related behavioral approach task (CR-BAT) immediately following either a SE-boosting exercise or a non-SE related control. Results demonstrated that there were no differences between conditions in contamination-related SE or approach behavior during the CRBAT, indicating that the manipulation was ineffective in boosting SE. Interestingly, however, participants in the SE-boosting condition reported lower levels of anxiety during certain phases of the CR-BAT than did those in the control condition, suggesting that the manipulation was effective in reducing subjective distress. Furthermore, SE was positively correlated with approach behavior during the CR-BAT, thus corroborating past research linking SE to behavioral outcomes. Future research, using more effective methods to manipulate SE, is required to examine the causality of this relationship.

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In 2012, mandatory effluent quality standards were established in Canada as part of the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER) with compliance deadlines starting in 2020. Maintaining the treatment process efficacy to meet these new stringent discharge regulations is extremely challenging at treatment facilities that treat wastewater from multiple industries due to the high variation in the composition of the incoming feed to the process. In this work, application of two new analytical tools, PeCOD® and Liquid Chromatography-Organic Carbon Detection (LC-OCD), for measurement and characterization of industrial wastewater organic pollution respectively, has been investigated. Organic pollution is commonly measured as Chemical Oxygen Demand via the dichromate method (CODCr) which requires 2-3 hours to complete. Thus this method is not suitable for applications that require rapid and frequent pollution monitoring. The Photoelectrochemical Oxygen Demand (peCOD) is an alternative parameter of organic pollution that can be measured in approximately 15 minutes via a method that utilizes the high oxidation potential of UV-irradiated TiO2 nano-particulates. Herein peCOD suitability to replace CODCr for analysis of industrial wastewater was investigated. The results indicated that for both untreated (i.e. incoming) and treated (i.e. effluent) industrial wastewater samples, peCOD results are lower than CODCr results. However, for the effluent samples, the two methods’ results are strongly correlated. Containing hard to oxidize materials (i.e. macromolecules) and high concentrations of chloride and nitrogenous compounds were identified as potential causes of difference between the results of the two methods. When there is variation in the composition of the incoming wastewater to a treatment process, information about the wastewater composition is required for process optimization. Thus optimization cannot be based solely on bulk measurements of organic pollution (e.g. COD). In this study, a novel combination of LC-OCD analysis with Design-Of-Experiments (DOE) methods was used to optimize the Fenton Advanced Oxidation (AO) treatment conditions in terms of chemical reagent concentrations, to develop statistical models of the process, and to identify potential mechanisms of COD removal. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / Many industrial facilities do not treat their wastewater on-site and instead ship it to specialized treatment facilities. Ensuring that the treated effluent meets the stringent discharge regulations is a challenging task for such facilities as the composition of the incoming feed to the treatment process changes with each shipment. In this work, application of two new analytical tools, PeCOD® and Liquid Chromatography-Organic Carbon Detection (LC-OCD), for measurement and characterization of industrial wastewater organic pollution respectively, has been investigated. The conventional method of measuring organic pollution, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), requires 2-3 hours to complete. Herein the suitability of an alternative parameter, Photoelectrochemical Oxygen Demand (peCOD), that can be measured in approximately 15 minutes for replacing COD analysis in industrial wastewater plants was investigated. Implementation of effective treatment processes that are operated at their optimum conditions is required to meet the stringent discharge regulations. Advanced Oxidation (AO) is an effective method of industrial wastewater treatment. Herein, optimum AO treatment conditions were studied via application of the LC-OCD analysis for organic pollution characterization.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects 2 % of the population and leads to restrictions in many occupations, in many life domains and environments. In half of the cases the existing treatment is not enough and leads to emotional and physical exhaustion. The underlying causes behind the diagnosis is not fully clarified but methods in occupational therapy has the potential for evaluation and development in symptom management. Purpose: To identify and describe the experiences in persons with OCD regarding supporting and hindering factors in occupational performance. Method: A literature review with data from three personal blogs and one self-biography was analyzed using a qualitative content analysis leading to five categories. Result: The five categories are: Occupations are restricted or can’t be performed as preferred; Strategies are used to control occupational performance but could trigger compulsions; Meaningful occupation bridges difficult tasks and promotes occupation. The degree of anticipation controls if external stimuli inspires activity or triggers compulsions; Social support increases the ability to carry out activity. The result depicts both hindering and supporting factors affecting occupational performance. Still factors are too complex to divide because supporting strategies also are self-destructive or only work in some situations. Conclusion: Persons with OCD have supporting, hindering and paradoxical strategies and there were factors to facilitate occupational performance in preferred and necessary activities. The social support was the most prominent supporting factor for quality of life and occupational performance.