Although mindfulness interventions with college students have yield positive results, many students are not continuing to engage after the interventions. This may be because very little research has been done to investigate the health behavior beliefs of college students in regard to mindfulness for stress reduction. The purpose of this investigation was to identify the most influential components of the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) that potentially assist with predicting college student participation in mindfulness activities for stress reduction. Interviews, informed by the IBM, were conducted with 20 current college students and 5 current mindfulness instructors working with college students. The attitudes and perceived control constructs were most prominent for both samples with less participant reference to perceived norms. The most common engagement barriers for the college students, mentioned by both samples, were the lack of time and demands of school. The college student participants most often focused on the benefits of the practice whereas the instructor participants focused on the discomfort the students experience when engaging in mindfulness. Inconsistencies emerged when comparing the mindfulness definitions from the college student participants. Overall, the college student participants displayed positive health beliefs towards mindfulness for stress reduction. These findings could support future mindfulness research utilizing the IBM to further investigate college student participation in mindfulness activities.

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Low back and neck pain are frequent reasons for adults to seek healthcare. Three types of practitioners are commonly used in the United States: physicians, chiropractors and physical therapists. In this study, Andersen's "Behavioral Model of Health Services Utilization" is used to examine care seeking and provider selection. Estimates of back and neck pain prevalence in the United States are presented as well as care seeking rates and care consumption estimates for patients who used the three providers of interest. Multivariate regression analyses are presented that model the variables that most influence care seeking and provider selection.Cases with the conditions of low back pain and neck pain were drawn from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Panel 6 participants. Episodes of care and non-care were defined and the provider used during an episode was identified.Determinants of care seeking for low back pain included MSA status, insurance coverage, perceived health status, number of comorbidities and number of episodes. Determinants of care seeking for neck pain included insurance coverage and number of episodes. When condition was included in the analysis, it was a determinant of care seeking. All of these variables are enabling factors or need factors in Andersen's model.In the analysis of provider selection for low back pain, variables that determined the provider from whom care was sought included patient age, gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, MSA status, insurance coverage, perceived health status, if the condition was disabling and number of episodes. In the analysis of provider selection for neck pain, variables that determined the provider from whom care was sought included patient ethnicity, marital status, and if the condition was disabling.Andersen's Behavioral Model adequately predicts care seeking in LBP and NP with enabling and need factors playing a predominant role. In terms of equity of access this finding indicates a problem of access to care for persons who were uninsured. In the case of provider selection, all the constructs from the model were found to have a role in prediction indicating that access may be inequitable in the case of some providers.

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) provides HIV-related medical and support services for uninsured and underinsured people living with HIV (PLWH) in the United States. In addition to HIV-related medical care, the program provides medical nutrition therapy and food assistance. The role of nutrition in the health of PLWH is well-documented, especially in resource poor areas; however, the role of medical nutrition therapy and food assistance provided through the RWHAP in resource rich areas is not well documented. This study addressed the association between the nutrition services of food assistance and medical nutrition therapy and the HIV-related health outcomes of viral suppression, retention in care, and CD4 counts. The behavioral model for vulnerable populations was used as the theoretical foundation for this quantitative cross-sectional study. A sample of 428 RWHAP clients was used from the Ryan White Services Report data. Pearson's chi-square was used to examine the association between medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and viral suppression. Findings indicated statistically significant associations between MNT and viral suppression, retention in care and any nutrition service (food assistance, MNT, or both), and MNT and retention in care. Implications for social change include emphasizing the role of nutrition services in HIV-related health outcomes for PLWH in resource rich areas.

Since the war on drugs in the 1980s, the United States has seen an exponential rise in the number of imprisoned individuals. This increase has been particularly dramatic for women. Nationwide, the population of women in prison has grown by 834% over the past 40 years, more than double the growth rate of men. Compared with incarcerated men, women in prison have higher rates of substance abuse, histories of physical and sexual abuse, mental illness, infectious disease and chronic illness. Most women in prison are defined by a challenging intersection of lower socioeconomic status and largely racial, ethnic, and minority gender status. This combination of identity factors both contributes to their health disparities and influences their experiences with health care. Given that the majority of women in prison are of reproductive age, gynecological care is a central aspect of women’s overall health care. However, women in prison are a small minority of the overall incarcerated population, and because of this, their gender-specific health needs are frequently unacknowledged. Using a feminist epistemology, this qualitative multiple case study provides an examination of the experiences of women before prison and in prison with gynecological care and prison staff’s experiences providing this care. The Gelberg Andersen Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations is adapted here for the study of women in prison. The model explains factors enabling and impeding women’s utilization of health care services, including previous health care experiences, prison infrastructure, and personal autonomy. Women in contact with the criminal justice system face difficulties accessing health care both outside and inside prison. Barriers on the outside included lack of health insurance, being addicted to drugs, and prioritizing children’s needs first. On the inside women cited a lack of confidentiality, the absence of trust in providers, and the inability to participate in treatment decision-making. In the case of women in prison, multiple external oppressions result in internalized negative beliefs. Such feelings of powerlessness, lack of control, curtailed agency, and threatened self-worth ultimately influence how women experience gynecological care in prison. Policy, practice and research implications are provided to meet the gender specific health needs of women in prison.

An IGBT/diode model with more accurate characteristics than simple switchis required to serve for EMC issues from converter valve. The purpose of thismaster thesis is to develop an IGBT and diode model to achieve both accuratetransient behavior and fast simulation time during single pulse switchingtest circuit for the 4:5 kV and 2:0 kA StakPakTM IGBT module. A gate unitwhich resembles the ABB gate unit is implemented to obtain a good agreementbetween simulation and measurement. For demonstration and verication, theIGBT/diode model is applied in a simplied arm simulation of full scale ABBGeneration 4 HVDC-VSC converter station and capable of a half cell consistingof 8 series-connected IGBTs and their anti-paralleled diodes. The arm simulationresults are analyzed further for converter station EMC studies.Convergence issue is the most important problem in the whole process of modelimplementation and application. To guarantee the convergence in simulationsome characteristics such as the tail voltage at the end of turn-o is disregarded.But overall, the model is validated and adopted successfully. / En IGBT-/diodmodell med mer exakta egenskaper an en enkel switch kravs foratt hantera EMC-problem fran omvandlarventilen. Syftet med denna magisteruppsatsar att utveckla en IGBT- och diodmodell for att uppna bade noggrantovergaende beteende och snabb simuleringstid under enkelpulsomkopplingstestkretsfor 4,5 kV och 2,0 kA-StakPak IGBT-modulen. En grindenhetsom liknar ABB-grindenheten implementeras for att fa god overensstammelsemellan simulering och matning. For demonstration och veriering, tillampasIGBT-/diodmodellen i en forenklad armsimulering av en fullskalig ABB Generation4 HVDC-VSC-omvandlarstation och med kapacitet for en halvcell bestaendeav 8 seriekopplade IGBT och deras anti-parallellkopplade dioder. Resultatenfran armsimuleringen analyseras vidare for EMC-studier av omvandlarstationen.Konvergensfragan ar det viktigaste problemet i hela processen for modellimplementeringoch -tillampning. For att garantera konvergensen i simulering ignorerasvissa egenskaper sasom svansspanningen vid slutet av avstangning. Mentotalt sett, valideras och antas modellen framgangsrikt.

The purpose of this master thesis was to create a model of an IGBT in a single pulse test circuit and connect this model to a model of a Gate Unit. The IGBT model and the single pulse test circuit were both implemented in MATLAB and the Gate Unit was implemented in Simulink. The purpose of this model was to test the actions of the gate unit, so that the initial tuning could be done before going to the lab. Since no tests were performed in the lab, it was not possible to see how much of the testing that could have been done by simulations. However, the actions of the IGBT model much resembled the actions of the real component, even though some drawbacks were clear, such as the lack of tail current and tail voltage. These comparisons could be made between simulated characteristics and recordings from a previous test with the same component.

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