The present study investigated the effect of anticipated feedback proximity (immediately after completing the task or one week later) on performance and the moderating role of self-efficacy and task types (analytical or creative). I hypothesized that expecting rapid feedback should yield better performance than expecting delayed feedback, for people with high self-efficacy or those who receive analytical tasks. For those who receive creative tasks or have low self-efficacy, expecting rapid feedback may produce negative impact on performance. The results indicated a trend of main effect of anticipated feedback proximity. Specifically, participants performed better when they expected immediate feedback relative to expecting delayed feedback, regardless of the task type. There was also a main effect of task type. Performance on the analytical tasks was better than performance on the creative tasks. However, neither self-efficacy nor task type moderated the effects of anticipated feedback proximity. The implications for these findings are discussed herein.

Emotional cues within the environment capture our attention and influence how we perceive our surroundings. Past research has shown that emotional cues presented before the detection of a perceptual gap can actually impair the perception of elementary visual features (e.g., the lack of detail creating a spatial gap) while simultaneously improving the perception of fast temporal features of vision (e.g., the rapid onset, offset, and re-emergence of a stimulus). This effect has been attributed to amygdalar enhancements of visual inputs conveying emotional features along magnocellular channels. The current study compared participants’ ability to detect spatial and temporal gaps in simple stimuli (a Landolt Circle) after first being exposed to a facial cue in the periphery. The study was an attempt to replicate past research using younger adult samples while also extending these findings to an older adult sample. Unlike younger adults, older adults generally display an attentional bias toward positive instead of negative emotional facial expressions. It is not clear if this positivity bias is strictly driven by cognitive control processes or if there is a change in the human visual system with age that reduces the amplification of negative emotive expressions by the amygdala. The current study used psychophysical data to determine if the rapid presentation of an emotional cue and subsequent perceptual target to older adults leads to the same benefit to temporal vision evinced by younger adults or if amygdalocortical enhancements to perception degrade with age. The current study was only able to partly replicate findings from past research. The negative facial cues that were presented in the periphery did not lead to an enhancement in temporal gap detection for the younger adult sample nor a reduction in spatial gap detection. In fact, the opposite was found. Younger adults’ spatial gap detection benefited from the negative emotional cues. The negative and neutral emotional cues had no effect on the older adult sample. The older adults’ performance on both gap detection tasks was not impacted by the emotional cues

Energetic materials encompass a wide range of chemical compounds all associated with a significant risk of fire and explosion. They include explosives, fireworks, pyrotechnics, powders, propellants and other unsteady chemicals. These materials store a high level of chemical energy and are able to release it rapidly without external contribution of oxygen or any other oxidizer. The behaviour of these materials in case of explosive detonations is relatively wellknown from empirical and practical points of view. However, fundamental scientific questions remain unanswered related to the mechanisms of heat release. The current understanding of these mechanisms lacks appropriate thermochemical characterisation. The aim of the study is the analysis of thermal and chemical characteristics of energetic materials under conditions that exclude detonations. Detonation is excluded in order to better isolate the thermal and chemical mechanisms involved in the burning process. The experimental work has been conducted using the FM Global Fire Propagation Apparatus (FPA) [ASTM E2058‐03]. One of the benefits of using this experimental apparatus rather than the Cone Calorimeter is that it allows controlling the feed of heat and oxidizer to the reaction zone. The material chosen to conduct experiments on is a ternary smoke powder based on a mixture of starch and lactose as fuel components and potassium nitrate as oxidizer. This product is currently used by fire brigades to assess smoke venting systems efficiency of buildings. The kinetics associated with the combustion of the material was assessed slow enough to allow measuring instruments to capture the thermal and chemical evolution during combustion reaction. Thermal analysis has first been carried out by means of DSC, TGA, DTA, MS and FTIR data in order to understand the decomposition of the material and its energetic evolution when undergoing heating. However, if the latter methods help defining the decomposing path of the material, they do not provide an integral view of its combustion behaviour, in particular, the emissions of toxics which are kinetic path dependent. Subsequently, combustion tests have been carried out using the FPA. Its ability to capture the evolution of gases emissions formed during the reaction has been proved. The influence of two configuration parameters on the combustion behaviour and on the gaseous emissions of the material has been investigated. The proportion fuel/oxidizer has been varied as well as the composition of the reacting atmosphere. Results shows that the quantity of oxidizer in the material affects the kinetics of the reactions taking place in the condense phase. Increasing the concentration of potassium nitrate in the mixture enhanced the reaction rate of the smouldering combustion. Higher quantity of volatiles is released which favoured the initiation of a diffusion flame regime in the gaseous phase, above the sample. While the kinetics of the condense phase is governed by the oxidizer concentration, experiments show that the flaming regime is influenced by the concentration of oxygen (O2) in the reacting atmosphere. A transition from diffusion to premixed flame is found when the concentration of O2 surrounding the sample is reduced below 18%. An analytical model has been used to explain the existence of a transition for a critical O2 concentration. Finally, thermal and combustion analyses have allowed to characterise the behaviour of the material under critical conditions, in terms of decomposition taking place in the condense phase but also potential toxic emissions that can be released. Toxicity, kinetics, temperature evolution do not provide a complete view of the combustion phenomenon. Beside these elements that characterise the behaviour of a material for given conditions as well as also the degree of fire hazard encountered, the energetic issue holds as an essential feature that cannot be neglected. The heat release rate (HRR) is a critical parameter that defines a fire. It does not constitute an intrinsic material property but it describes the energetic response of the couple formed by the material and its environment. Oxygen Consumption calorimetry (OC) and Carbon Dioxide Generation calorimetry (CDG) are widespread methods to calculate the HRR resulting from a combustion reaction. Apparatuses such as the FPA or the cone calorimeter have already proved their potential to qualify the burning behaviour of common fuels in addition to polymers when their data are combined with an adapted calorimetric procedure. The same approach has been applied to energetic materials. However, prior to using these techniques, it is fundamental to have identified their restrictions. These techniques provide approximate estimations of the HRR. Results are affected by the propagation of uncertainties. Several sources of uncertainties can be found. One can cite: 1. Uncertainties associated with the sample material; 2. Uncertainties associated with the test conditions; 3. Uncertainties associated with the measurements; 4. Uncertainties associated with calculation assumptions. If uncertainties cannot always be estimated, the three first sources cited have received attention in the past from the scientific community, alike the last one. The restrictions associated with the assumptions developed for using the OC and CDG principles have to be clarified. The limits of validity of the hypotheses have to be clearly defined. In particular, the present dissertation questions the relevance of the energy constants that have been specified for OC and CDG as well as their related uncertainties. One of the purposes of the research deals with the ability to estimate accurate error bars for the calculation of the HRR. Once uncertainties related to the calorimetric methods are assessed, a method adapted from the basic OC and CDG principles is introduced that allows estimating the HRR of energetic materials. The approach is based on considering the chemical decomposition of the burning compound and defining a fictitious molecule for which energy coefficients can be calculated. Nevertheless, it requires the material to be known. Finally, the question of the advantage brought by these techniques over others, in terms of accuracy, is discussed within the framework of unconventional products, such as energetic materials or compounds whose composition is ignored. The results from this work will contribute to the development of fireanalysis methodologies and validate their use with energetic materials.

Extensive research on the development of self-regulation has demonstrated that better executive functioning and effortful control during the preschool years are associated with greater kindergarten and early school achievement. Recent findings suggest that self-regulation tasks differ in their assessment of “hot” and “cool” regulation, how these processes map onto effortful control and executive functioning, and may predict school readiness. However, only a few studies have examined the validity of hot and cool regulation tasks (Allan & Lonigan, 2014; Di Norcia, Pecora, Bombi, Baumgartner, & Laghi, 2015; Willoughby, Kupersmidt, Voegler-Lee, & Bryant, 2011), and how they predict socio-emotional competence (Di Norcia et al., 2015) and academic performance (Kim, Nordling, Yoon, Boldt, & Kochanska, 2013). The current study examined the validity of hot and cool tasks as measures of self-regulation and predictive measures of school readiness within a low-income sample. The sample consisted of 64 preschoolers between the ages of three (n= 38) and four (n= 26) who were enrolled in a blended Head Start program. The Preschooler Self-Regulation Assessment, Woodcock Johnson subtests (Letter Word, Applied Problem, and Picture Vocabulary), and teacher ratings of social competence (Social Competence and Behavioral Evaluation) and emotional competence (Emotion Regulation Checklist) were collected in the fall and spring of the school year. Results indicated that performance on the Cool and Hot tasks was moderate to highly correlated with academic performance and teacher ratings of socio-emotional competence respectively. Developmental differences in selfregulation performance suggested that cool regulation begins to develop later in the preschool period and may depend on earlier development of hot regulatory processes. There were also gains in academic achievement and socio-emotional competence from fall to spring. Regression analyses indicated that Hot and Cool tasks did not predict socio-emotional competence and academic achievement as distinctively as expected. Hot and cool regulation seemed to predict socio-emotional competence and academic achievement in parallel, with the exception of math performance, which was strongly predicted by Cool task performance above and beyond Hot tasks. Results suggest that hot and cool regulation overlap in predicting school readiness.

Research findings to the present have indicated the responsive and initiative dimensions to be important in the therapeutic process in influencing positive outcome; yet, investigators of current therapeutic approaches have not discussed how these dimensions might be integrated into their particular orientation. Therefore, a review of the literature investigating emphasis on the responsive and initiative dimensions in the major theoretical approaches seems warranted. This procedure involves superimposing Carkhuff’s theoretical model, developed for facilitation of therapeutic outcome, upon certain of the therapeutic approaches.

The neural mechanisms that support learning and memory are still poorly understood. Much work has focused on changes in neurotransmitter receptor expression, while changes in voltage-gated ion channel expression have been largely unexplored, despite the fact that voltage-gated ion channels govern neuronal excitability. Here we used eyeblink conditioning (EBC) in rats, a model of learning and memory with a well-understood neural circuit, to examine regulation of voltage-gated ion channels as a consequence of learning. EBC is a form of classical conditioning that involves pairings of a behaviorally neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) and an eyeblink eliciting unconditioned stimulus (US) over many trials to produce an eyeblink conditioned response (CR) to the CS in anticipation of the US. The acquisition and generation of the eyeblink CR is governed by plasticity at various sites in the cerebellum, both in the cerebellar cortex and the interpositus nucleus (IPN). Purkinje cells (PCs) are the primary neuron in the cerebellar cortex and these cells represent the sole output of the cerebellar cortex. PCs tonically inhibit the neurons of the IPN; the IPN is the start of the eyeblink pathway. In order for a CR to be generated, the inhibition of the IPN by PCs must be lifted. Basket cells (BCs) are small inhibitory interneurons that form synapses near the PC soma. These neurons are strategically located to strongly regulate PC output through inhibitory input near the axon hillock. BC axon terminals have the highest expression of Kv1.2, an alpha subunit of the Kv1 (Shaker) family of voltage-gated potassium channels, in the cerebellum. In addition, significant Kv1.2 expression is found on PC dendrites. Blocking Kv1.2 leads to increased GABAergic input to PCs and facilitates EBC. In the current work, we addressed the question of whether EBC itself regulates surface expression of Kv1.2 in cerebellar cortex. Rats received three days of either EBC, explicitly unpaired stimulus presentations, or no stimuli, and cerebellar tissue was harvested and analyzed via biotinylation/western blot (WB) and multiphoton microscopy (MP) techniques. In the first experiment, the Unpaired group showed significantly reduced surface Kv1.2 expression at BC axon terminals as measured by MP, but no changes observed with the WB measure, which measures expression at both BC axon terminals and PC dendrites. The second experiment used the same procedures but examined cerebellar tissue following a shorter training procedure. We hypothesized that the Paired and Unpaired groups would show similar Kv1.2 surface expression earlier in training. The Unpaired group showed increased surface Kv1.2 compared to the other two groups in the WB measures, but no differences were observed in the MP measure. Paired group rats that did not exhibit CRs showed the same pattern as the Unpaired group. Overall, we observed training and location specific changes in surface Kv1.2 expression, suggesting that learning does appear to regulate voltage-gated ion channel expression in the mammalian brain. Increased surface Kv1.2 early in training before CR expression emerges may set the stage for other mechanisms to govern the expression of the learned response. Prolonged stimulus input that is unmodulated by expression of a learned response, such as in the Unpaired group in the first experiment, leads to long-term changes in surface Kv1.2 expression exclusively at BC axon terminals.

Although romantic relationships are an important source of self-esteem, individuals vary in the degree to which romantic relationships determine their self-esteem. For individuals with relationship-contingent self-esteem (RCSE), self-esteem is based on the quality of perceived romantic relationship functioning. In contrast, global self-esteem is derived from a variety of domains, not specifically relationship quality. The present study investigated the moderating effects of RCSE and global self-esteem on the effects of relationship specific or relationship-unrelated threats and self-affirmations. Individuals with low global self-esteem react to threats by distancing themselves from their romantic partners. For those low in RCSE, this should occur only when the threats are relationship specific, whereas those low in global self-esteem distance themselves regardless of what type of threat they experience. Exposure to self-affirmations limits this defensive distancing in individuals with low global self-esteem. Prior studies examining the effects of induced self-threats and self-affirmations on perceived relationship functioning have been limited by reliance on college student samples, whose relationships are often shorter in duration than older adults. The current studies examined self-esteem and RCSE within the context of older participants in longer romantic relationships. Specifically, Study 1 examined how self-threats and self-affirmations interacted with dispositional levels of RCSE and self-esteem to predict romantic relationship outcomes. Participants wrote about past experiences to induce self-affirmations or self-threats, which were either relational (i.e., about their current relationship) or non-relational (i.e., about their personal lives), and then completed measures of relationship functioning. Contrary to predictions, there were no significant interactions between either RCSE or self-esteem and the experimental conditions. There was a significant main effect for self-esteem, such that participants with low self-esteem reported less commitment, closeness, and satisfaction as compared to participants with high self-esteem. In Study 2, participants completed one of two writing prompts: a prompt to induce high RCSE, or a control prompt. Participants then wrote about past experiences to induce self-threats that were either relational or non-relational. Contrary to hypotheses, inducing high levels of RCSE and exposing participants to a relational self-threat did not result in decreased relationship commitment, closeness, or satisfaction. The results of both Study 1 and Study 2 are contrary to previous research; potential explanations for this discrepancy and implications are discussed.

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) aerosolize an often nicotine-containing solution for user inhalation. ECIG nicotine delivery may depend on liquid nicotine concentration and user puffing behavior (topography). This study examined the relationship among liquid nicotine concentration, puff topography, and plasma nicotine concentration. Thirty-three ECIG-experienced and 31 ECIG-naïve individuals completed four laboratory sessions that differed by ECIG liquid nicotine concentration (0, 8, 18, or 36 mg/ml). A 3.3 volt “eGo” ECIG battery attached to a 1.5 Ohm dual coil “cartomizer” filled with 1 ml of 70% propylene glycol/30% vegetable glycerin nicotine liquid was used in two ECIG-bouts (10 puffs; 30 s IPI). Plasma nicotine concentration, puff topography, and HR were evaluated. Some ECIG/liquid combinations can deliver physiologically active doses of nicotine to users, and nicotine delivery depends on liquid nicotine concentration and user puffing behavior. Liquid contents, device characteristics, and user behavior should be considered when regulating ECIGs.

The goal of the thesis is to analyze the behaviour of Faculty of Management website users and to formulate on its grounds the recommendations leading to increase of website usability and conversion statistics. The tool used in the thesis for this purpose are the heatmaps, in particular these two variants - mouse-tracking heatmaps and predictive heatmaps. The theoretical part describes the different types of heatmaps, their position within the framework of the web analytics and the principles of working with them. The content of the practical part is formed by the analysis of seven specific web pages and a recommendation for their optimization.

Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs known to man, yet it has limited reinforcing effects in humans and non-human animals when it is not self-administered in tobacco products. One hypothesis for these paradoxical effects of nicotine is that the effects of the drug in the brain alter acquisition of incentive learning. The hypothesis for this study is that nicotine will increase the value of cues paired with a reward. To test this hypothesis, 26 Sprague Dawley Male rats were randomly assigned to one of three groups Pre-NIC (the critical experimental group), Post-NIC and SAL. Each group received a subcutaneous injection 15 min prior to testing and another injection 1-3 h after testing. For the Pre-NIC group, nicotine (0.4 mg/kg base) was injected 15 min before test sessions; placebo was administered after testing. For the Post-NIC group the order of injections was reversed, and this manipulation controls for total exposure to nicotine. The SAL groups received placebo injections before and after testing. Rats were shaped to respond for 10% sucrose for pressing an illuminated nose-key (Experiment 1) or 0.2% saccharin for pressing a lever (Experiment 2). Responding in the Pre-NIC group was higher than all other groups in Experiment 2 (saccharin reward); however, responding in the three groups was similar in Experiment 1 (sucrose reward). This paradigm highlights how nicotine can increase motivation for rewards, but that the facility of operant behaviors and caloric value of the reward may mask this effect.