Bipolar disorder is characterised by intense fluctuations in mood, including the experience of severe episodes of depression, mania and hypomania. The experience of bipolar disorder can also be associated with biases in various cognitive processes, including rumination in response to positive and negative mood states and tendencies to make dysfunctional self-appraisals. Preliminary research has also suggested that bipolar disorder may be associated with deficits in the recall of specifically detailed autobiographical memories. The lack of specificity in the recall of autobiographical memories, known as the 'overgeneral' recall bias, refers to tendencies to generate generalised memory representations as the memory recall process is terminated prior to the activation of specifically detailed memories. This overgeneral recall of autobiographical memories can also contribute to ruminative thought patterns, impair the generation of effective solutions to problems, and is associated with poor illness outcomes. The overgeneral bias has been extensively researched within major depressive disorder and suicidality, but has been comparatively under-researched in bipolar disorder and in vulnerable individuals. A series of eight studies were designed to: (i) investigate the cross-sectional associations across measures of positive and negative rumination and self-appraisal with the vulnerability to hypomania, and investigate the associations of these cognitive styles with prospective mood symptoms in an at-risk sample; (ii) investigate the cognitive vulnerability to hypomania in relation to rumination, problem-solving and autobiographical memory specificity; (iii) conduct a preliminary investigation into the associations between goal-related memory processes and extreme goal-pursuit in relation to hypomania vulnerability; (iv) investigate whether the vulnerability to hypomania and future bipolar disorders is associated with similar patterns of overgeneral memory recall on a standardised cue memory task; and (v) investigate the patterns of autobiographical memory specificity within a remitted bipolar sample. The heightened vulnerability to future bipolar disorders was associated with tendencies to engage in both positive and negative forms of ruminative thought processes, and with poorer psychosocial problem-solving, however, this relationship with problem-solving was not independent of current mood symptoms. The results of two studies indicated that the heightened vulnerability to hypomania was associated with an overgeneral memory bias across two different assessments of memory specificity, in direct contrast to previous research. Individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder also reported more extreme overgenerality during memory recall than a sample of age and gender-matched healthy controls, but were able to recall some specifically detailed negative memories in short response latencies compared to non-bipolar control participants. The research presented within this thesis supports the notion of a continuum of increasing overgenerality in the bipolar disorder spectrum, inclusive of at-risk individuals to people formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Although bipolar disorder appears to be associated with a trait-based overgeneral memory bias, bipolar individuals appear to have ready access to some specific negative memories even during remission from symptoms. The clinical implications of this research, methodological considerations in the assessment of memory specificity, and directions for further investigations into the nature of autobiographical memory recall in bipolar spectrum disorders are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to review the evidence linking maternal and paternal lifestyle habits in the preconception and prenatal period to adverse reproductive outcomes; to determine either the proportion of reproductive casualties which could be attributed to lifestyle risk, thus be amenable to prevention, or the information required to estimate the preventable portion of lifestyle-related reproductive casualties; and to examine a method for surveillance of reproductive health in the community which would provide the basis for a comprehensive information system suited to the needs of the research, planning, preventive medicine and health promotion communities. As a means of managing the size of the study report, only a representative set of lifestyles (smoking, alcohol consumption and nutrition) and research literature (major cohort and case-control studies in human populations) was reported in detail. A method was developed to review and describe the degree to which the evidence meets established criteria for causal association. The most recently available prevalence data for determining smoking, alcohol and nutritional risk, and incidence data for seven reproductive outcomes (infertility, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, infant mortality, congenital anomalies, fetal growth and morbidity) in the British Columbia population were used to calculate the preventable portion of reproductive casualties in this community. A review of the variables required, compared with the data available, provided the basis for recommendations regarding a reproductive health information system to support community surveillance, evaluation and research. The study supports the conclusion that there is evidence of a causal link between exposure to lifestyle risks and the majority of adverse reproductive outcomes selected as indicators of reproductive health. The calculation of the preventable portion (etiologic fraction) of lifestyle-related reproductive casualties in British Columbia suggests the preventable portion associated with single lifestyle risk variables may be in the range of 10-50 percent. A more extensive and up-to-date set of population data for British Columbia is required to determine an accurate estimate. The benefits to be derived from an improved information system were detailed in the study. Reproductive health data collected for British Columbia is primarily outcome oriented with very little input data on which to base rational planning decisions for the improvement of reproductive health outcomes. The study recommends that a more comprehensive reproductive health information system, with an integrated, linked data base, be considered a high priority by government and all institutions, agencies and individuals working to improve reproductive health outcomes in British Columbia. The potential to improve reproductive health is significant enough to warrant action at the clinical and community level, but additional data are required to plan cost-effective intervention strategies, to monitor improvements in reproductive health, and to support applied research initiatives. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

This work deals with the managerial style a leader applies by managing. The aim of this thesis is to determine the managerial style asserted by leading managers of an engineering oraganization, assessment of satisfaction of their subordinates with this style of management, compared with other managers surveyed and drafting of measures to increase employee satisfaction with the manager and the company itself. Theoretical section summarizes the basic knowledge of the issue, practical part analysis of the results of the qustionnaire survey and the plan to improve the current situation.

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No description available.

American-style football participation is associated with high risks to a spectrum of sports-related brain injury involving acute reactions and chronic manifestations. Traditional methods of identifying injury have proven ineffective at protecting athletes and mitigating risk as they rely on the presence and recognition of inconsistent symptom expression. This is, in part, due to the lack of an objective measure of quantifying exposure. Brain trauma profiling was defined to capture a spectrum of exposure by incorporating the primary characteristics that associate with risk of neurological injury. This profile includes strain magnitude associated with impact, frequency at which impacts are experienced, time interval between impacts, over the duration of exposure. Trauma profiling methods differentiated player field position in professional American-style football where three unique trauma profiles were identified based on similarities among the characteristics of trauma. Regional strain from common head impacts showed that distribution was independent of field position regardless of variation in impact conditions. Rather, brain regions vulnerable to strains were dictated by the frequency and magnitude that govern the position profile. The extent of tissue volume involved in common head impacts was field position dependent. Skill positions tended to experience impacts involving greater tissue volumes reaching deeper white matter structures, but were infrequent. Impacts common to line positions typically involved less brain tissue of predominately superficial cortical gray matter, but were experienced at high frequency counts. The primary findings from this research show that brain trauma profiling may be used as an objective measurement tool to define exposure. The results indicate that exposure is not uniform and that brain trauma and injury risk can be described using unique combinations of these characteristics. Regional areas vulnerable to strain are dictated by the frequency and magnitude of impact and therefore in order to effectively protect against brain injury, both characteristics need to be managed. Lastly, this research demonstrates that either few impacts involving high brain volume or frequent impacts with little brain volume involvement may both result in brain dysfunction. Brain trauma profiling methods has broad application in future research. This measurement tool will be useful in identifying how injury occurs in various sports, military units, and particularly important for vulnerable populations and the developing brain. This knowledge is instrumental in establishing risk prevention strategies and public health policies for specific environments.

<p>U dana&scaron;nje vreme sve vi&scaron;e obrazovnih institucija kao &scaron;to su fakulteti koji nude e-obrazovanje. U nekim slučajevima učenje na daljinu je ukombinovano sa tradicionalnim oblicima učenja, dok se u drugim ono odvija u potpunosti samostalno putem internata. U svakom slučaju da bi učenje na daljinu moglo da se realizuje i da bi njime moglo da se upravlja potrebno je da postoji posebno okruženje u kom će se ono organizovati. U većini slučajeva Sistemi za obrazovanje na daljinu &ndash; (Learning management system &ndash; LMS) obavljaju ovaj zadatak. LMS obezbeđuje raznovrsne alate za podr&scaron;ku profesorima u kreiranju, administriraju i upravljanju online kursevima. S druge strane oni uglavnom ne uzimaju u obzir individualne razlike studenata i tretiraju sve studente na isti način bez obzira na njihove lične potrebe i karakteristike. U na&scaron;oj literaturi ne postoji puno radova koji se bave temom adaptivnog elektronskog obrazovanja, naročito ne sa aspekta izrade i implementacije modela adaptivnog elektronskog obrazovanja. Predmet ove doktorske disertacije je implementacija sistema za elektronsko obrazovanje koji je kreiran po modelu adaptivnog elektronskog obrazovanja i koji obezbeđuje za isto vreme veće neposredno znanje korisnika i pozitivno utiče na trajnost znanja, nego standardni neadaptivni sistem za elektronsko obrazovanje. U radu su kombinovane prednosti LMS-a sa adaptivnim sistemima i na taj način je pro&scaron;irena funkcija LMS-a tako &scaron;to su integrisani stilovi učenja i obezbeđena je adaptivnost sistema. Adaptivni model elektronskog obrazovanja koji je razvijen u radu je implementiran i procenjivan kori&scaron;ćenjem Moodle sistema. Ova doktorska disertacija imala je za cilj da na osnovu kreiranja, implementacije i kori&scaron;ćenja modela adaptivnog elektronskog obrazovanja ukaže na statistički značajnu mogućnost podizanja sveobuhvatnog nivoa i kvaliteta obrazovnog procesa.</p> / <p>Nowadays the majority of universities offer e-learning to their students. Sometimes distance learning is combined with traditional education, while in other cases it functions on its own by using the Internet. However, distance learning requires special surroundings where it can be organized. Learning management systems &ndash; LMSs are used in most of the cases for distance learning. LMS provides professors with various tools for creation, administration, and management of online courses. On the other hand, LMSs don&rsquo;t usually consider individual differences of students and treat all students in the same way, disregarding their personal needs and characteristics. In our literature, there are very few studies that analyze adaptive e-learning systems, especially the creation and implementation of adaptive e-learning models. The goal of this doctoral thesis has been creation and implementation of an adaptive model of the e-learning system which provides students with wider knowledge that lasts a longer period of time comparing to the knowledge acquired with standard (non-adaptive) systems of e-learning. The thesis has expanded the function of LMS by combining LMS with adaptive systems and incorporating students&rsquo; learning styles into it. The adaptive model that is developed in the thesis has been implemented and evaluated by using Moodle system. The aim of the doctoral thesis has been to point out at statistically significant probability of improving the level and quality of the educational process by creating, implementing and using the adaptive model of e-learning.</p>

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit definitional impairments in social relatedness; a phenomenon that can be explained, in part, by their deficits in empathy. Despite the extent of these deficits, relatively little is known about which factors promote or impede empathic functioning within this group. To date, studies of neurotypical children and adolescents suggest the explanatory power of temperament, parenting style, and parenting stress; associations which have yet to be adequately explored with ASD. Thus, the overarching aim of this investigation was to test whether the aforementioned intra- and interindividual features would predict empathy amongst children and adolescents with ASD. To account for some of the heterogeneity in ASD, two groups of parent-child dyads were recruited: one comprising male children and adolescents with intact receptive and expressive language (n = 40, M = 7.68 years); the other, males with little to no language use in either domain (n = 40, M = 9.09 years). A third group of parent-child pairs comprising male neurotypical children and adolescents with age-appropriate language functioning was included as a comparison sample (n = 40, M = 9.53 years). Parents completed wellestablished questionnaires pertaining to child/adolescent temperament and empathy, as well as parenting style and parenting stress, primarily via telephonic interviews. Results showed that temperamental regulation and negative affectivity were linked to empathy within the neurotypical group in positive and inverse directions, respectively. Only regulatory processes were positively associated with empathy within the non-verbal ASD group, whilst only negative affectivity was inversely associated to empathy within the verbal ASD group. Further, warm, responsive, autonomy-promoting parenting was positively associated with empathy within the neurotypical group, whilst punitive and lax parenting were inversely associated with empathy. Positive forms of parenting were also found to predict empathy within both ASD groups – though somewhat less so within the verbal ASD group. Perhaps a consequence of the severity of their empathic deficits, lax and permissive parenting techniques were not tied to empathy within the ASD groups. Finally, parenting stress was inversely linked to empathy within the non-verbal ASD and neurotypical groups only. Results highlight that findings obtained within neurotypical samples cannot always be extrapolated to ASD. Results further underscore the need for ASD interventions to adopt a family systems perspective, teaching parents how to perceive and respond to their children in adaptive ways.

Harold Shapero’s Sonata for Trumpet in C and Piano is a significant work that it is rarely performed and studied. Shapero’s composition contains musical attributes that demand artistically accurate choices if the style of this jazz-influenced sonata is to be achieved. Written in 1940 in dedication to Aaron Copland, the Sonata for C Trumpet and Piano makes use of a variety of stylistic influences, blending those of early 20th century jazz with Stravinsky-influenced neo-classicism. The intent of this study is to examine the unique performance practice implications and musical considerations of Harold Shapero’s Sonata for C Trumpet and Piano in correlation to the composer’s implementation of jazz idiomatic elements within the constructs of neo-classicism. The first section of this study examines the historical context necessary for understanding the social and musical conditions of the early to mid 1940s. The second section addresses the musical elements that characterize this work; the primary focus of this section is an exploration of Harold Shapero’s implementation of jazz idioms into his first composition for trumpet. The final section of the study interprets the utilization of idiomatic jazz elements within the work so as to allow the trumpet player with little jazz experience to accurately perform the piece.

No description available.