This thesis examines information-processing in chronic pain. "Schematic" processing is investigated selective memory for pain-related information is explored in depressed and non-depressed chronic pain patients, depressed non pain-patients and controls. A memory bias for sensory adjectives is found in the non depressed chronic pain group, while a tendency to over-recall both sensory and affective compared to neutral information is found in the depressed chronic pain group. No memory bias is observed in an acute pain group, and the implications of this are discussed. A possible cognitive avoidance mechanism is identified in depression. A questionnaire assessing beliefs about pain ("conceptual" processing) is developed and validated, and shown to differentiate between chronic pain patients and controls. The impact of two interventions for chronic pain (surgery and cognitive-behavioural management) on schematic and conceptual processing is investigated prospectively. In general the endorsement of organic beliefs decreases while the emphasis on psychological beliefs increases post-intervention. Evidence is found to suggest that surgery, but not cognitive-behavioural treatment, reverses pain-related memory biases. This is discussed in relation to changes in pain intensity. Evidence is provided to suggest that beliefs are causally related to several pain-related measures including anxiety, depression, health locus of control, cognitive coping strategies and activity levels. A word completion paradigm is employed to explore further the role of schematic processing in chronic pain, and finally, a lexical decision task is used to assess the role of word frequency effects in information-processing in chronic pain. These results suggest that memory biases in chronic pain cannot be explained by frequency effects, hence addressing the validity of the memory biases described earlier in the thesis.

Thesis (D. Sc.)--University of Adelaide, Faculty of Science, 1985. / Consists mainly of offprints of articles by the author. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 146 p. : ill. (some col.) + computer files. Includes supplementary version computer files in java applets, txt, and MS Word. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-91).

Thesis--University of California, Berkeley. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-250).

Millimeter wave (mmWave) radar systems are a leading technology in autonomous vehicle object sensing. The radar’s ability to detect surrounding objects is critical to its performance. One method of increasing object detection performance is to enhance object visibility. Frequency selective reflectors can increase object visibility. This work examines the performance of a mmWave 77 GHz radar system developed by Texas Instruments in conjunction with frequency selective surfaces. Two bandpass frequency selective surfaces are designed and fabricated using a loaded cross aperture configuration to analyze their application to object detection. The chosen design frequencies are 8 GHz and 79 GHz. The frequency selective surfaces are designed and simulated in 3-D electromagnetic simulation software, High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). The frequency selective surfaces are fabricated on 127μm thick FR4 dielectric. The 8 GHz frequency selective surface demonstrates bandpass center frequency at 8.12 GHz. The 8 GHz and 79 GHz frequency selective surface reflection characteristics are compared to a copper sheets with the same physical cross section as each respective design. Although different testing methodology is used for each design, both frequency selective surfaces demonstrate bandpass characteristics at their respective design frequencies.

Thesis advisor: Chia-kuang Tsung / Thesis advisor: Dunwei Wang / Coating porous materials is a potential pathway to improve Catalytic performance of heterogeneous catalysts. The unique properties of Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) like huge surface area, long range order and high tenability make them promising coating materials. However, two traditional MOF encapsulation methods have their own issues. Herein, we synthesized Pt/Pd metal nanoparticles @UiO-66-NH2 via a one-pot in situ method which has good control of nanoparticles size while avoids the introduction of capping agent. The catalytic performance of synthesized Pt@UiO-66-NH2 is tested via selective hydrogenation of Crotonaldehyde. And the selectivity of our desired product achieves 70.42% which is much higher than merchant Pt catalysts. A step further, we used linker exchange to replace the original NH2-BDC linker of which amine group plays an important role in the coating process. After linker exchanging, the significant decreasing in selectivity of our target product demonstrates that the interaction between Pt and amine group does have some positive impacts on their catalytic performance. We hope our research could provide some insights of the MOFs and nanoparticles interface and help rational design of catalysts with high performance. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Chemistry.

archives@tulane.edu / Learning environments are complex, dynamic settings that contain multiple sources of information that compete for our attention resources. Researchers and practitioners argue that selective attention control is critical for effective learning, as selective attention allows individuals to stay focused on primary task goals and ignore task-irrelevant competing information. However, research with older adults has shown that increased attention to competing information can also benefit learning when this competing information is relevant to ongoing learning tasks. We examined the extent to which individual differences in selective attention skills influenced individuals’ learning from task-relevant competing information. Across three experiments we examined these effects at multiple developmental time points in the context of an experimental learning task and in computer-based learning environments. In Experiment 1, 4- to 8-year-old children completed a selective attention task that included competing information that was relevant for an ongoing learning and memory task. Children with better selective attention skills showed enhanced learning from the task-relevant competing information when they could efficiently complete the attention task and visually sample the relevant information. Experiment 2 examined 3- to 5-year-old children’s learning from science video lessons that varied in the amount of lesson-relevant vs. -irrelevant competing information available. Children with better selective attention skills preferentially attended to lesson-relevant competing information when both relevant and irrelevant information was present during the lessons, which promoted enhanced learning of lesson content. Finally, Experiment 3 examined the impact of multiple competing visual features (i.e., instructor videos, visual cues) on young adults’ learning from pre-recorded video lessons. Adults’ learning depended on both their selective attention skills and their perception about the relevance of these visuals for their learning. Individuals with better selective attention showed enhanced learning from lessons that included multiple competing visual features considered task-relevant by the learner. Attention control is typically equated with the ability to focus on primary target information while ignoring competing information. However, the current results suggest that selective attention control also involves the ability to efficiently shift across multiple relevant inputs in the environment, allowing for effective learning from both target material and task-relevant competing information. / 1 / Jill L King

The aim of this dissertation is to examine selective exposure theory on Twitter among student users at Kuwait University, and to revisit selective exposure theory’s assumptions in the social media era. Two studies for this dissertation have been conducted among a total of 1391 participants to examine the selective exposure theory among student Twitter users. In both studies, the researcher conducted an online experiment by developing simulated Twitter interface pages and a simulated news app to study selective exposure theory among Kuwait University students. The first study aimed to examine whether the students at Kuwait University tend to be exposed to politicians in Kuwait’s parliament who share the same political ideologies. The second study aimed to examine to what extent student users selectively expose themselves to specific content on Twitter, or more specifically to their like-minded group, and what drives them to do so. Moreover, the effect of Twitter’s social endorsement features on users' news selection has been examined. Each study sample has been drawn from different classes of students at Kuwait University. This study also looked at the role of incidental exposure as a means of encouraging cross-ideological exposure. One noticeable trend in the two experiments conducted for this dissertation is that partisan selective exposure was clear among students participating in both studies, but at different levels. Also, data showed that there was no clear role for the social endorsements on Twitter among students in this experiment to reduce selectivity. Moreover, a person's political leaning is more likely to surpass the impact of the social endorsements when users are browsing Twitter on a daily basis. Results showed that students in the second study read tweets from accounts they did not follow in real life and they asserted that they experienced that on a high basis. Implications of these two online experiment studies are discussed.

The experiment was designed to study the effect of conditionality on the growth and decline of expectancy scores during acquisition and extinction. The results revealed that conditionality affects the growth of expectation during acquisition for both direct and vicarious tasks but has no effect on variation scores. Percentage of reinforcement is also effective, the expectancy scores for the 100% reward groups rising to a higher level in acquisition and dropping off more rapidly in extinction than for the 50% reward groups. Problems arising from the differential effect of conditionality on expectancy scores and variation indices, and from differential expectancy levels at the end of acquisition were discussed. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The experiment was designed to study the effect of conditionality on the growth and decline of expectancy scores during acquisition and extinction The results revealed that conditionality affects the growth of expectation during acquisition for both direct and vicarious tasks but has no effect on variation scores, Percentage of reinforcement is also effective, the expectancy scores for the 100% reward groups rising to a higher level in acquisition and dropping off more rapidly in extinction than for the 50% reward groups, Problems arising from the differential effect of conditionality on expectancy scores and variation indices, and from differential expectancy levels at the end of acquisition were discussed, / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)