This thesis investigates the relationship between creative potential and the rhetorical structure of children&rsquo / s narratives. 44 middle school children (aged 12-15) were given a set of paper-pen activities including one divergent thinking test, one convergent thinking test and a story to be completed. Results of the divergent and convergent thinking tests were taken as the predictors to estimate the potential for creative thinking. Children were examined in terms of how they encode rhetorical relations in their writings. Whether a creative potential made a difference in children&rsquo / s writings in terms of rhetorical relations they used, and whether children within the same creative potential group used the same rhetorical relations in common were investigated. Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) (Marcu, 2000 and Carlson and Marcu, 2001) was used in coding children&rsquo / s writings. It was found that children in the study interpreted story writing as an act of attribution. This result is contrary to Marcu et.al (1999b), who found the elaboration-additional relation as the most frequent relation in their corpora. The study also found that there was an inverse relationship between the convergent thinking scores and the number of satellites (an EDU (elementary discourse unit) playing an auxilliary role for a text in question) for the 7th graders. Finally, it was found that high quartile (highest scorers in the study, top 25%) convergent thinkers were able to construct a narrative element with few number of EDUs and few number of discourse relation types.

This thesis aims to explore the challenges of Medical Devices sector in their innovative activities with the use of qualitative and quantitative methods. The specific subject of analysis is the Turkish Medical Device industry. Throughout the thesis the convergence of Medical Devices with pharmacy and its role in healthcare is mentioned in addition to the institutional regulations of the sector due to their effect on the firms innovative activities. The main focus of this thesis is the innovation in medical devices as vital components of healthcare supply with an important share in health expenditures. Even though Medical Devices are considered to be heterogeneous and classified in many other sectors such as chemicals, textiles and electronics, they have common features sufficient to be considered as a special product group and being an important part of the healthcare system, they are subject to common regulations. Sectoral Systems of Innovation approach is used to investigate Medical Devices Sector in Turkey. Medical devices sector also suffer from regulations that put cost on innovative activities, reimbursement policies that aim at cost containment, lower degrees of consumer support (in terms of user-producer relationship), high marketing costs due to the specific market they act in, in addition to the general obstacles such as scarce finance and human resources. Nonetheless, the ambiguity in entrance and allowance to reimbursement lists is also found to be a blocking factor on innovation.The studies on this aspect of the medical devices sector are limited and this thesis aims to fulfil the gap in this respect.

The group of pleurocarpous mosses comprises approximately 5000 species, which corresponds to about half of all mosses. The pleurocarpous mosses (i.e. “the Core Pleurocarps”) form a monophylum, which consists typically of perennial mosses with creeping stems and abundant lateral branches. In pleurocarpous mosses the archegonium and thus also sporophyte development is restricted to the apices of short, specialized lateral branches, in contrast to most other mosses, where archegonia and sporophytes develop terminally on the main axis (acrocarpous) or on major branches (cladocarpous). Traditionally, pleurocarpous mosses have been divided into three orders based mainly on their sporophytic characters. Brotherus described the Neckeraceae in 1925 and placed it into the Leucodontales, later the family has alternatively been divided into two or three separate families: the Thamnobryaceae, the Neckeraceae and the Leptodontaceae. These families have been placed even in different orders (Neckeraceae and Leptodontaceae among the leucodontalean mosses and Thamnobryaceae among hypnalean mosses) according to their peristome structure and the grade of peristome reduction. A growing amount of evidence indicates that a grouping based on sporophytic characters is artificial and based on convergent evolution. According to the latest phylogenetic studies of pleurocarpous mosses, based on molecular data, the Neckeraceae belong to the order Hypnales and share a sister group relationship with the Lembophyllaceae. In the most recent comprehensive classification 28 genera were included in the Neckeraceae family. This classification was based on both morphological and molecular data, but done with limited taxon sampling that did not cover all species of the family. Some previous studies based on molecular data have challenged the family concept of the Neckeraceae, indicating the need for a revision of the family. Here the family concept of the Neckeraceae is revisited, the closest relatives of the family are resolved and its position within pleurocarpous mosses is shown. In addition, new insights into the morphological evolution of the family are provided. Previous phylogenetic studies indicated that branch lengths among pleurocarpous mosses are usually extremely short. Therefore we chose to use mainly non-coding DNA sequences from rapidly evolving DNA regions. The phylogenetic reconstructions are based on extensive sequence data from all genomes: plastid trnS-trnF and rpl16, nuclear ITS1 & 2 and mitochondrial nad5. Both parsimony (PAUP and PRAP2) and Bayesian statistics (MrBayes) were employed for phylogenetic reconstructions. In order to use the information provided by length mutations indels were included in the analyses as binary data using a simple indel coding approach. No severe conflicts appeared between the different methods used, but the indel coding affected the support values of the inferred topologies. Therefore, all support values resulting from different methods are shown along the phylogenetic trees. The morphological features are studied and synapomorphies for each clade formed in the phylogenetic analyses are interpreted. A new delimitation of the family makes it necessary to reconsider the relevance of the morphological description and the morphological features characteristic of the family need to be reconsidered. Due to new groupings, some changes in the morphological circumscriptions of the genera are necessary, resulting in two new genera and several new combinations. Chapter 1 gives a broad overview of the relationships of the pleurocarpous mosses and shows the need for changes in the definition of genera, families and the corresponding nomenclature in this group. Chapter 2 is a population genetic study on the genus Thamnobryum. The main aim of this chapter is to test the species concept in Thamnobryum that are endemic to strictly restricted regions showing only minor differences in the morphological features in comparison to some more common species. In Chapter 3 the monophyly of the Neckeraceae is tested. In addition, in this chapter the ancestral character states of some morphological characters within the Neckeraceae are reconstructed. Chapters 4 and 5 resolve the genus composition and the relationships within the family in more detail. The results of this thesis show that the Neckeraceae need re-circumscription; this includes changes in the genus composition. The Lembophyllaceae is confirmed to be the sister group of the Neckeraceae. In addition to the new phylogeny, the potential evolution of several characters as a result of environmental selection pressures is analyzed. From the ancestral state reconstructions made (using BayesTraits) for both the habitat and a selection of morphological characters, character state distributions and habitat shift appear congruent, peristome reduction being a good example. However, some character states do not correlate with the habitat, suggesting very complex evolutionary patterns underlying these morphological characters. Many widely distributed genera that are composed of several species and seem to be morphologically coherent (Echinodium, Homalia, Thamnobryum, partly Neckera), are shown in this thesis to be polyphyletic. They are replaced by smaller, geographically more restricted genera that at least in some cases (e.g. Thamnomalia, Homalia s.str., Neckera s.str.) seem to form morphologically heterogeneous genera. In other words, morphology can be misleading in the family Neckeraceae even at the genus level and convergent evolution in both morphological and sequence level characters are common within the family. Special habitat conditions have been shown to result in similar morphological structures also in several other moss groups. This kind of convergent evolution occurs in aquatic mosses, and seems to have occurred among the neckeraceous species Thamnobryum alopecurum and its allies. However, similar morphological structure in similar aquatic habitats can also be due to true phylogenetic relationships as is the case within the Neckeraceae for Handeliobryum sikkimense and Hydrocryphae wardii, or the members of Touwia. The geographical grouping seems to be more strongly correlated with the phylogenetic grouping than thought before.

No description available.

Optical Confocal Holography is a combination of two well known concepts: confocal microscopy and optical (laser) holography. Confocal microscopy places an aperture at a conjugate focus to the specimen focus. This filters any rays that are not on the focus plane, allowing a 3-dimensional image of the specimen to be built up over a set of planes. Holography is the measurement of both the amplitude and phase characteristics of light. Typically most methods only measure the amplitude of the image. The phenomenon of interference allows the determination of the phase shift for a coherent source as well. The phase information is directly related to the index of refraction of a material, which in turn is a function of the temperature and composition. As a technique, confocal holography holds promise to better characterize many physical processes in materials science, such as combustion and convection. It also may contribute to the biological sciences by imaging low-contrast, weak-phase objects. Thanks to the ongoing, continued improvement in computer processing speed, it has recently become practical to interpret data from confocal holography microscopy with a computer. The objective of the microscope is to non-invasively measure the three-dimensional, internal temperatures and compositions (e.g. solute/solvent gradient) of a specimen. My contributions over the course of two years to the project were: generation and optimization of an optical design with a software package known as Zemax; sourcing and purchasing all components; formation of a CAD model of the microscope; experiments to characterize building vibrations and air currents; and the development of software in Visual Basic to simulate holograms and execute reconstruction algorithms for the specific application of confocal holography.

Burnout is a psychological concept that have got much attention since it was first defined in the middle of the 1970s. Although the definition of burnout differ there is consensus about exhaustion as the most important part of the concept. Burnout have also been in focus in sport psychology research. Mostly athletes have been studied but interest the coach profession have also been of interest. Research on coach burnout have mostly been directed towards demographic variables, organizational issues, behaviors and emotions and more holistic perspectives covering larger models or theories. The aims with this thesis was to try to fill some of the knowledge gaps from earlier coach burnout research with three studies. Study 1 aimed to study subjective experiences associated with perceived causes and symptoms of burnout and the subsequent recovery process. Eight elite soccer coaches who previously had been troubled with high scores of the exhaustion was interviewed. We found two burnout profiles that matched the coaches’ perceived causes of burnout. The first was associatedwith problems in handling the performance culture itself and the second had to do with the overall situation, including workload, family and health. Our findings describe coach burnout as stemming from a combination of issues, related to both home and work. When combined with work overload, coaches who have problems handling the performance culture in elite sports, and who lack the tools to enhance recovery, are particularly vulnerable to burnout. Study 2 focused on evaluating three self-report burnout measures that are available for researchers to use. Our analysis included Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and Coach Burnout Questionnaire (CBQ). The main findings were that there are psychometric problems with all three measures and that MBI and OLBI cover similar definitions of burnout and CBQ cover somewhat different dimensions. Of the three methods that were tested CBQ seem to be most suitable for the coaching context. However, CBQ also have several problems and other burnout measures need to be evaluated in the coach context. Study 3 focused on the associations between workaholic tendencies and combining coaching job with having a family or a spouse, which can be a stressor since the work situation and family situation can be hard to combine. The main findings were that work seem to interfere more with family life than family life interfere with working live. Further workaholic tendencies and exhaustion was not associated. When interpreting the aggregated results from the thesis there are two main findings. First, the way coach burnout has been measured until now is unsatisfying. Although the development of a coach specific measure (CBQ) is promising, further development is needed, both when it comes to the theoretical aspects of the burnout construct and psychometric issues. Second, the symptoms and perceived causes in coach burnout is highly individual and makes burnout a very personal experience. Future research should focus on both the origins as well as the measurement of thisdetrimental concept. / Utbrändhet är ett psykologiskt begrepp som har fått mycket uppmärksamhet sedan den först introducerades i mitten av 1970-talet. Även om synen på vad utbrändhet är skiljer sig åt finns en enighet om att utmattning är huvudsymptomet. Utbrändhet har studerats inom idrottspsykologisk forskning sedan början av 1980-talet. Mestadels har intresset legat på idrottare men intresse har också riktats mot tränaryrket. Forskning om tränares utbrändhet har främst intresserat sig för demografiska variabler, organisationens påverkan, beteenden och känslor samt mer övergripande modeller eller teorier som täcker flera områden. Syftet med denna avhandling var att försöka fylla en del av de kunskapsluckor som funnits i tidigare forskning med tre studier. Studie 1 syftade till att studera tränares subjektiva upplevelser av utmattning kopplat till upplevda orsaker och symptom av utbrändhet samt vägen tillbaka från utbrändhet. Åtta elitfotbollstränare som tidigare hade haft problem med utmattning intervjuades. Huvudresultatet i studien var att det fanns två sätt att uppfatta utbrändhetsprocessen. Antingen såg man miljön runt elitfotbollen som den stora orsaken eller så upplevdes hela livssituationen med små stressande händelser kopplade till arbetsbelastning, familj och hälsa som problematiska. Studie 2 fokuserade på att utvärdera tre frågeformulär som är lämpliga i en tränarkontext. I analysen ingår Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), som oftast använts, Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) och Coach Burnout Questionnaire (CBQ). De viktigaste resultaten var att det dels finns problem med alla tre samt att MBI och OLBI täcker liknande definitioner av utbrändhet medan CBQ mäter lite andra aspekter. Slutsatsen från studien är att CBQ verkar passa bäst för den kontext där idrottstränare arbetar även om CBQ också har en del problematiska inslag. Studie 3 fokuserade på arbetsnarkomani och att kombinera tränarjobb med familjeliv har ett samband med utmattning. Huvudresultaten i studie 3 var att det framförallt verkar vara arbetet som störa familjelivet än familjelivet som stör arbetslivet. Ytterligare fanns inget statistiskt stöd att arbetsnarkomani skulle ha ett samband med utmattning. När det sammanlagda resultatet från hela avhandlingen tolkas utifrån vilken ny kunskap denna avhandling tillför finns två huvudbidrag. Det första är att problemen med de frågeformulär som hittills använts för att mäta utbrändhet har lyfts upp. Även om det är lovande att det utvecklats ett idrottsspecifikt formulär finns tillgängligt så finns det både teoretiska och mättekniska aspekter som behöver utvecklas. Det andra bidraget är att de symptom som ingår i upplevelsen av utbrändhet verkar vara olika för olika individer. Framtida forskning bör fokusera både på hur teoretiska och mättekninska aspekter av utbrändhetsbegreppet.

Current research in the field of emotions has demonstrated a strong causal correlation between stressful life events and clinical depression. The conceptual framework of this scientific study is taking into consideration the theoretical ideas developed by the laboratories of Alex Zautra, and Susan Folkman about the co-existence of positive and negative emotions during the experience of stress and depression. The principal purpose of this study is to report the convergent validity of the Multicultural State-Trait Depression Inventory, which supports the new direction in the psychometric assessment of clinical depression. Responses to the items of the state and trait scales were analyzed on a multicultural sample to determine the convergent validity and item analysis of the instrument. The results present empirical evidence that demonstrates a high degree of concurrent validity of the IMUDER subscalesand the reference instruments as shown by Pearson correlations. / Los estudios científicos de las emociones han demostrado concluyentemente una robusta relación causal entre eventos estresantes de la vida diaria y la depresión clínica. El marco conceptual del presente estudio toma en consideración los marcos teóricos de Alex Zautra y de Susan Folkman acerca de la coexistencia de emociones positivas y negativas en el proceso de estrés y depresión. El propósito de este estudio es reportar el análisis de ítems y la validez convergente del Inventario Multicultural de la Depresión, Estado-Rasgo (IMUDER). En base a una muestra multicultural, se realizó los análisis psicométricos en base al coeficiente de correlación de Pearson, a fin de determinar la validez convergente. Los resultados de dichos análisis realizados en forma separada para la escala estado y para la escala rasgo, nos indican un elevado nivel de asociación y validez convergente entre las escalas estado y rasgo del IMUDER, dimensiones de distres y eustres, y las pruebas de depresión utilizadas en este estudio. Estos datos indican que el IMUDER es un instrumento psicométrico que presentauna sólida validez convergente y propiedades psicométricas adecuadas.

As a field, Behavior Analysis lacks an evidence based solution to assessing and treating language deficits in individuals with brain injuries. Research suggests that using direct instruction with persons with brain injuries is the most effective approach for teaching skills. Research on the PEAK Relational Training System suggests it may be applicable to adults with brain injuries because it does not have an age maximum and it assesses and trains complex language skills. The purpose of the current research is to determine the PEAK Relational Training System's potential applicability in assessing language and cognition functioning in adults with brain injury. 20 adults with brain injuries served as the participants for this study. Using a Pearson Correlation, the relationship between performance on the PEAK assessment and the Ross Information Processing Assessment (RIPA-2), pre-morbid education levels, Glasgow Coma Scale scores, and the location of injury in the brain was analyzed. Significant relationships between PEAK and RIPA-2 scores and PEAK and number of years since injury were shown. Furthermore, implementation of the PEAK was shown to be highly reliable. The current research has shown the effectiveness of the PEAK Relational Training System Direct Training Assessment for adults with brain injury.

O comportamento do escoamento supersônico no interior de bocais convergente-divergente retangulares é investigado numericamente, comparando-se quatro bocais com diferentes seções divergentes, com a mesma razão de aspecto AR=1.14 e mesma relação áreas da saída e da garganta dos bocais NAR=1.43. Os bocais são submetidos a diferentes pressões de admissão do fluido de trabalho, mantendo-se a relação entre a pressão de admissão e de descarga constante NPR=5. As simulações consideram o escoamento em regime permanente, compressível, viscoso, com abordagem baseada na massa específica (abordagem acoplada) , juntamente com o modelo de turbulência − /SST. A qualidade dos resultados é medida empregando-se três níveis de refino da discretização do domínio computacional, observandose a ordem de convergência e o índice de convergência de malhas GCI. Os resultados numéricos mostram que o número de Mach e a temperatura do fluido de trabalho independem da pressão de admissão, ao contrário do comportamento da pressão local e da massa específica. As propriedades do escoamento são fortemente dependentes da variação da geometria, e a variação do ângulo da seção divergente provoca uma mudança direta do número de Mach e inversa da pressão, da temperatura e da massa específica do escoamento no interior dessa seção. As simulações são comparadas com os resultados da teoria isentrópica e mostram que a linha sônica é deslocada do centro geométrico da garganta dos bocais para cada geometria simulada. A comparação com a teoria e com dados experimentais mostra desvios inferiores a 6x10-3 %. O uso do modelo de turbulência − / SST é capaz de resolver o escoamento com boa precisão, prevendo bem seu perfil de velocidades, as ondas de expansão de Prandtl-Meyer, juntamente com as interações dessas ondas com a camada limite. / The behavior of the supersonic flow inside rectangular convergent-divergent nozzle is investigated numerically by comparing four nozzles with different divergent sections, with a common aspect ratio AR=1.14, and the same nozzle exit-to-throat area ratios NAR=1.43. Nozzles are subject to several working fluid inlet pressures, maintaining a constant pressure ratio NPR=5. Simulations assume the flow in steady state, compressible, viscous, using a coupled approach with the turbulence model − /SST. The quality of results is measured by employing three refining levels of the computational domain discretization, observing the order of convergence and the grid convergence index GCI. Numerical results show that the Mach number and the temperature of the working fluid are independent of the inlet pressure, unlike the behavior of local pressure and the density. Flow properties are strongly dependent on the geometry variation, and the change on the angle of divergent section causes a direct effect on the Mach number and inverse on the pressure, the temperature and the density of the flow in this section. Simulations are compared to the results of the isentropic theory and show that the sonic line is offset from the geometric center of the throat nozzle, for each simulated geometry. Results from this work are compared to experimental and theoretical data and show deviations below 6x10-3 %. The − / SST turbulence model is able to solve the flow with good accuracy, and predicts its velocity profile, Prandtl-Meyer expansion waves, and their interactions with the boundary layer.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:12:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LuizRAS_TESE.pdf: 1325717 bytes, checksum: 2f8c5c06b3469d3f4c644f8e13bf4fbc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-17 / This work starts from the principle that the word humanism has been currently used to advocate certain behaviors or ways of acting which had been constituted for more than 2500 years, mainly in what refers to the most basic human values, which are clearly validated without any questioning. Humanism has been seen continually as a stone of civility touch. Thus, in 1999, the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk presented a conference in Baviera entitled Rules for the Human Zoo, whose subtitle was clear that it dealt with an answer to Martin Heidegger s text Letter on Humanism, basically showing that civility is necessarily bound to human domestication. So, the present work is split in three chapters. The first one aims to set the cultural and metaphysical bases of humanism. The second one will adopt an approach about what we will call epistolary humanism and its corollaries. Besides, in the third chapter, we will compose theoretical statements to the Heideggerian criticism against humanism and the post humanist contemporary proposition, as well as about the anthropotechnics. We can state that these two elements are considered as anthropological fundamentals of humanism and post humanism, and by understanding their mentioned historical relationship from their biological and ontological assumptions. Therefore, this work, which has been presented here, when it tries to map humanism under the theoretical influence of Sloterdijk, it distinguishes itself precisely by realizing the coherence with which he aims at diagnosing the directions of the contemporary humanism / O labor aqui apresentado parte do princ?pio de que o termo humanismo ? usado hodiernamente para salvaguardar certos comportamentos ou formas de agir constitu?das h? mais de 2500 anos, sobretudo no que tange aos valores humanos mais b?sicos, os quais s?o axiomaticamente validados, sem quaisquer contesta??es. O humanismo ? visto continuamente como pedra de toque da civilidade. Destarte, em 1999, o fil?sofo Peter Sloterdijk apresentou uma confer?ncia na Baviera, intitulada Regras para o Parque Humano, cujo subt?tulo deixava claro que se tratava de uma resposta ao texto de Martin Heidegger, Carta sobre o Humanismo, basicamente mostrando que a civilidade est? estritamente vinculada ? domestica??o humana. Nestes termos, o presente trabalho ? dividido em tr?s cap?tulos. No primeiro, pretende estabelecer os fundamentos culturais e metaf?sicos do humanismo. No segundo cap?tulo, far? uma abordagem sobre aquilo que chamaremos de humanismo epistolar e seus corol?rios. Por fim, no terceiro cap?tulo, teceremos asser??es te?ricas ? cr?tica heideggeriana ao humanismo e ? proposta p?s-humanista contempor?nea; assim como a respeito da rela??o entre converg?ncia midi?tica e antropot?cnicas, esses dois elementos tomados como fundamentos antropol?gicos do humanismo e do p?s-humanismo e entendendo a citada rela??o historicamente, a partir de seus pressupostos biol?gicos e ontol?gicos. Portanto, o trabalho aqui apresentado, ao tentar mapear o humanismo sob a influ?ncia te?rica de Sloterdijk, distingue-se precisamente por conseguir perceber a coer?ncia com que ele pretende diagnosticar os rumos do humanismo contempor?neo