Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND SCIENCE. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Mark V. Parish. / M.S.

Setting and monitoring progress on personal goals has potential advantages for helping people achieve their goals. However, it may also have disadvantages for both goal progress and personal well-being if people start to focus on progress and external outcomes (e.g. academic grades) more than internal processes (e.g. interest in the subject). Self-compassion has been suggested as a trait that may help people cope with set-backs, maintain intrinsic motivation and achieve their goals. It may therefore be particularly helpful in overcoming some of the disadvantages of setting and monitoring personal goals. Self-compassion has previously been theoretically differentiated from self-esteem, with self-esteem seen as more contingent on positive self-judgements and success, suggesting that self-compassion may have additional benefits for maintaining individuals’ intrinsic motivation. The aim of this study was therefore to test whether self-compassion exercises are more helpful than self-esteem exercises in the context of setting and monitoring goals. This was tested using a between group experimental design with two conditions: self-compassion and self-esteem. Ninety-four university students were randomly assigned to one of the conditions and followed a four-week goal setting and monitoring programme in relation to both an academic and social goal. The data showed that both inductions resulted in an increase in state self-compassion and self-esteem. There was no difference between the conditions in achievement of either goal over the four weeks. There was also no difference between conditions in the weekly association between poor progress and negative affect or change in goal commitment and autonomous motivation over the four weeks. However, the self-compassion condition was rated as more pleasant than the self-esteem condition. The results suggest that the self-compassion exercises used may be more acceptable than the self-esteem exercises used but they are not better than the self-esteem exercises for enhancing goal pursuit. The study suggests that further research is needed to distinguish the motivational effects of self-compassion and self-esteem.

Difficulty getting ready for bed and settling at bedtime, commonly referred to as bedtime resistance, are prevalent problems in early childhood (Goodlin-Jones, Tang, Liu, & Anders, 2009; Johnson, 1991). Despite an abundance of previous research, few studies have considered the role of emergent developmental process in the context of bedtime resistance. The current study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between parenting practices and bedtime resistance in early childhood from a developmental perspective. Specifically, need-supportive bedtime parenting practices (i.e., autonomy-support, structure and involvement) were examined from a self-determination theory perspective (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and children’s bedtime behaviours were conceptualized within a differentiated model of compliance and noncompliance. Two instruments were developed to capture these constructs and their psychometric properties were examined. One hundred thirty-one caregivers completed a series of online questionnaires about their parenting practices and children’s behaviours. Findings provided preliminary evidence for the validity and reliability of the two newly constructed measures. Analyses revealed that child age was associated with how children respond to caregivers at bedtime. Although parenting practices were associated with less sophisticated forms of bedtime noncompliance, child age did not significantly moderate these relationships. Findings highlight the importance of examining bedtime resistance from a developmental perspective and the need for future research in this area. / Graduate

A tese procura relacionar os conceitos de critica e autonomia na filosofia de Immanuel Kant por meio do seguinte recorte: a noção de forma legislativa, analisada à luz dos juízos determinante e reflexionante, permite vislumbrar um caráter positivo para a critica, para além do costumeiro caráter negativo a ela sempre atrelado. Com isso, é a própria idéia de autonomia que, extrapolando o seu \"lugar de origem\" na arquitetônica da razão, passa a ser a chave de interpretação de tal caráter positivo. Para isso, é necessário a este trabalho três passos argumentativos: analisar, em primeiro lugar, o próprio conceito kantiano de filosofia a partir da relação entre os conceitos acadêmico e mundano, definidos por Kant na Lógica. Em segundo lugar, trata-se de analisar uma possível vinculação entre o conceito de finalidade e as relações entre forma e reflexão, inerentes a possíveis representações da natureza. Por fim, através dos conceitos de fundamentação e aplicação, procura-se redimensionar o conceito de autonomia que se encontra na Critica da razão pratica. / This work aims to establish a relationship between the concepts of critique and autonomy in Immanuel Kant\'s philosophy, through the notion of legislative form. In regard to determining and reflecting judgments, that notion makes it possible to notice a positive aspect of the critique, going beyond the usually recognized negative aspect. Therewith, it is the idea of autonomy that, beyond its \"original place\" in the architectonic of reason, becomes the interpretive key to such a positive aspect. In order to show it, this work is divided into three steps: firstly, it must analyse Kant\'s concept of philosophy having in view the relationship between the academic and the wordly concepts of philosophy as defined by Kant in his Logic. Secondly, it must discuss a possible bond between the concept of finality and those of form and reflection which are inherent to possible representations of nature. Thirdly, it must, through the concepts of foundation and application, reconsider the concept of autonomy from the Critique of practical reason.

Lee Chi Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-121). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Objectives --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Blood Pressure --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Hypertension --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Definition of Hypertension --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Causes and Symptoms of Hypertension --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3.3 --- Complication of Hypertension --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3.4 --- Prevalence of Hypertension --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- Blood Pressure Measurement --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- History --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- Techniques and Methods --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4.3 --- Current Devices --- p.13 / Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.16 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Theory --- p.18 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2 --- Blood Rheology --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Blood Composition --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Flow Properties of Blood --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Blood Vessels --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3 --- Principle of the PTT-Based Blood Pressure Measurement --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Wave Propagation in Blood Vessels --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Pulse Transit Time (PTT) --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Blood Pressure Measurement Based on PTT --- p.31 / Chapter 2.4 --- Effects of Temperature on Blood Pressure --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Human Body Temperature Regulation --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Physiological Responses to Decreased Temperature --- p.36 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Effects of Temperature on Blood Pressure --- p.38 / Chapter 2.5 --- Possible Effects of Temperature on PTT-Based Blood Pressure Measurement --- p.47 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Windkessel Model --- p.47 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Phase Velocity --- p.49 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Effects of temperature on PTT --- p.52 / Chapter 2.5.4 --- Possible Effects of temperature on PTT-based Blood Pressure Measurement --- p.53 / Chapter 2.6 --- Conclusion --- p.54 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Algorithms in Calculating Pulse Transit Time: Wavelet-Based and Derivative-Based --- p.55 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.55 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Wavelet Transform (WT) --- p.56 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima (WTMM) --- p.58 / Chapter 3.2 --- Experiment --- p.60 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Subjects --- p.60 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Equipment and Sensors --- p.61 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Protocol --- p.61 / Chapter 3.3 --- Methods --- p.62 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Wavelet-Based Algorithm of PTT Calculation --- p.62 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Derivative-Based Algorithm of PTT Calculation --- p.65 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- PTT-Based Blood Pressure Estimation --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4 --- Results --- p.68 / Chapter 3.5 --- Discussion --- p.70 / Chapter 3.6 --- Conclusion --- p.72 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Effects of Ambient Temperature on PTT-Based Blood Pressure Estimation --- p.74 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.74 / Chapter 4.2 --- Experiment --- p.74 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Subjects --- p.74 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Equipment --- p.75 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Protocol --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3 --- Methods --- p.77 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Features of Photoplethysmographic Signals --- p.78 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Calculation of Pulse Transit Time (PTT) --- p.78 / Chapter 4.4 --- Results --- p.79 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- "Effects of Ambient Temperature on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and Finger Skin Temperature" --- p.79 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Effects of Ambient Temperature on the Features of Photoplethysmographic Signals --- p.82 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Effects of Ambient Temperature on Pulse Transit Time --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4.4 --- PTT-Based Blood Pressure Estimation --- p.85 / Chapter 4.4.6 --- Evaluation of the Modified Equations of the PTT-Based Blood Pressure Measurement Approach --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5 --- Discussion --- p.94 / Chapter 4.6 --- Conclusion --- p.98 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Effects of Local Temperature on PTT-Based Blood Pressure Estimation --- p.99 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.99 / Chapter 5.2 --- Methods --- p.99 / Chapter 5.3 --- Results --- p.100 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- "Effects of Local Temperature on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and Finger Skin Temperature" --- p.100 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Effects of Local Temperature on Pulse Transit Time --- p.102 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Effects of Local Temperature on the Features of Photoplethysmographic Signal --- p.103 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Effects of Local Temperature on PTT-Based Blood Pressure Estimation --- p.104 / Chapter 5.4 --- Discussion --- p.105 / Chapter 5.5 --- Conclusion --- p.107 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion and Future Study --- p.108 / Chapter 6.1 --- Major Contributions --- p.108 / Chapter 6.2 --- Future Study --- p.110 / References --- p.112 / Chapter Appendix A --- Motion Artifact Reduction from PPG signal Based on a Wavelet Approach --- p.122 / Chapter A.l --- Introduction --- p.122 / Chapter A.1.1 --- Motion Artifact --- p.122 / Chapter A.1.2 --- Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT) --- p.123 / Chapter A.2 --- Experiment --- p.124 / Chapter A.2.1 --- Subjects --- p.124 / Chapter A.2.2 --- Equipment --- p.124 / Chapter A.2.3 --- Protocol --- p.125 / Chapter A.3 --- Methods --- p.126 / Chapter A.3.1 --- Algorithm --- p.126 / Chapter A.3.2 --- Data Analysis --- p.128 / Chapter A.4 --- Results --- p.129 / Chapter A.5 --- Discussion --- p.131 / Chapter A.6 --- Conclusion --- p.133 / Reference --- p.133 / Appendix B Derivation of the Moens-Korteweg Equation --- p.134 / Reference --- p.136

Gu Yingying. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-164). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- IPFM Model --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Description of IPFM Model --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Background of IPFM Related Modeling --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Windkessel Model --- p.8 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Background of the Windkessel Model --- p.8 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Windkessel Related Modeling --- p.13 / Chapter 1.3 --- Photoplethysmogram (PPG) --- p.14 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Principle of PPG --- p.14 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Characteristics of PPG Signal --- p.16 / Chapter 1.4 --- A Study on the Beat-to-Beat BPV --- p.18 / Chapter 1.5 --- Main Purposes of the Study --- p.19 / Chapter 1.6 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.20 / Chapter 2 --- Spectral Analysis on the IPFM Process --- p.22 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2 --- A Theoretical Study on the Neural Firing Rate Function --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Mathematical Derivation of the Neural Firing Rate --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Spectral Analysis of the IPFM Process --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Reconstruction of Neural Firing Rate through LPF --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3 --- Effects of Neural Dynamics --- p.33 / Chapter 2.4 --- Discussion & Conclusion --- p.35 / Chapter 3 --- A New Model for the Generation of PPG --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2 --- Principles of PPG --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Relationship between Pressure and Flow --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Peripheral Pressure and Flow Curves --- p.41 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Generation of PPG signal --- p.43 / Chapter 3.3 --- Model Description --- p.44 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- IPFM model --- p.45 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Windkessel model --- p.46 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- New Model for the Generation of PPG --- p.49 / Chapter 3.4 --- Simulation --- p.51 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Generation of ECG --- p.51 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Generation of PPG --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Effects of the Modulation Depth on the Output --- p.65 / Chapter 3.4.4 --- Effects of Mean Autonomic Tone on HRV --- p.72 / Chapter 3.5 --- Discussion & Conclusion --- p.75 / Chapter 4 --- A Correlation Study on the Beat-to-Beat Features of Photoplethysmographic Signals --- p.80 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.80 / Chapter 4.2 --- Methodology --- p.81 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Experimental Conditions --- p.81 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Definition of the Parameters --- p.82 / Chapter 4.3 --- Data Analysis --- p.85 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- At Normal Relaxed State --- p.85 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- At Different Levels of Contacting Force --- p.87 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- At Different Levels of Local Skin Finger Temperature --- p.90 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- At Dynamic State --- p.93 / Chapter 4.3.5 --- Repeatability Study --- p.95 / Chapter 4.3.6 --- Spectral Analysis --- p.96 / Chapter 4.4 --- Discussion --- p.98 / Chapter 5 --- The Estimation of the Beat-to-Beat Blood Pressure Variability --- p.103 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.103 / Chapter 5.2 --- BP Estimation using FY Interval --- p.104 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Multi-Beat BP Estimation under Different Levels of Contacting Force --- p.104 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Beat-to-Beat BP Estimation --- p.108 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Repeatability Study --- p.112 / Chapter 5.3 --- A Study on the Beat-to-Beat BPV --- p.113 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Background of the Beat-to-Beat BPV --- p.113 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Analysis of the Beat-to-Beat BPV --- p.115 / Chapter 5.4 --- Improving the PPG Model with the Time-Varying BP --- p.120 / Chapter 5.4.1 --- Modification of the Model --- p.121 / Chapter 5.4.2 --- Simulation --- p.127 / Chapter 5.4.3 --- Application of the PPG Model --- p.132 / Chapter 5.5 --- Discussion & Conclusion --- p.134 / Chapter 6 --- A Novel Biometric Approach --- p.139 / Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.139 / Chapter 6.2 --- Human Verification by PPG Signal --- p.140 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Experiment --- p.141 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Feature Extraction --- p.142 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Decision-making --- p.143 / Chapter 6.2.4 --- Results --- p.146 / Chapter 6.3 --- Discussion --- p.149 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.151 / Chapter 7.1 --- Conclusions of Major Contributions --- p.151 / Chapter 7.2 --- Work to Be Done --- p.154

Teng Xiaofei. / "June 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Consequently, this study aims to develop novel technologies that can measure BP non invasively and continuously without a cuff. The proposed method estimates BP using features including pulse transit time (PTT), which is defined as the time interval from R wave of electrocardiogram to onset of photoplethysmogram within the same heart cycle. / Despite the importance of controlling blood pressure (BP) to our health, BP remains inadequately managed worldwide. Due to global ageing and change of human lifestyles, the number of hypertensives is anticipated to continue rising from approximately 1 billion in 2000 to 1.56 billion by 2025. A stumbling block to BP management is high BP usually develops without obvious symptoms. As a result, many people are unaware of their condition until severe problems such as a stroke, a heart attack or kidney failure have occurred. In China, over 100 million people do not know they have developed hypertension and are living under a potential risk to their health. In addition to high BP, variations of BP are also independent indicators of morbidity and mortality of severe diseases. Yet, sudden changes in BP are difficult to be detected by state-of-the-art BP meters, which operate on principles that require an inflatable cuff to give only a snapshot of BP. / Lastly, since the technology required information from several sensors that are placed on different body parts of a person, development of body area network (BAN) has been an important research focus. The concluding chapter of this thesis presents a new concept in this area, namely the hybrid body area network (h-BAN). In particular, the use of biological channels (bio-channels) for intra-BAN communication and securing wireless intra-BAN communication is discussed. / Nevertheless, a major challenge of this approach is its requirement of a calibration procedure. One possible solution is to calibrate against a cuff-based device, but this is inconvenient particularly when calibration has to be refreshed from time to time. Therefore, a bio-model is proposed and developed for PTT along an artery where the hydrostatic component of BP varies. The model can be applied to calibrate the cuffless PTT-based approach and estimate BP by simple movements such as hand elevation. Several experiments were conducted to validate the assumptions of this model and the results were found to be promising. / The proposed PTT-based technology was evaluated on 85 subjects (aged 57+/-29 yrs., including 39 hypertensives) whilst they were at rest in a sitting posture. A total of 999 pairs of systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) estimations were made with reference to conventional cuff-based devices (i.e. a mercury sphygmomanometer and an oscillometric device) over a period of 6.4 weeks. The results of the study show that reference and estimated BP differed by 0.4+/-9.3 mmHg and 0.8+/-5.8 mmHg for SBP and DBP respectively (AAMI required mean and SD to be less than 5 and 8 mmHg correspondingly). / The results of both studies show that the accuracy of the PTT-based technique is comparable to the cuff-based approaches. This technique is potentially useful to measure BP continuously. / To conclude, this work developed a non-invasive and cuffless approach for BP measurement and addressed several key issues of this approach, i.e. the analysis, calibration, and implementation of it. The work can help to realise new BP management schemes in mobile health (m-Health) and personalised healthcare systems, which are developed to cater for the needs of the increasing aging population world-wide and to prevent and control chronic diseases like hypertension. / To further the investigation, a second study which was to investigate in a clinical setting for post-operation condition, was carried out on 8 patients (aged 55+/-18 yrs.) using the averaged invasive arterial-line and cuff readings taken at intervals of 40.0+/-24.7 min. as reference. After calibrating the new approach on each individual, it can estimate SBP and DBP within 3.3+/-6.5 mmHg and 4.3+/-6.4 mmHg of the reference for the complete set of 89 estimations. / Poon, Chung Yan Carmen. / "December 2007." / Adviser: Yuon-Ting Zhang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: B, page: 4888. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-103). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Sjukfrånvaro till följd av sociala och organisatoriska orsaker ökar, varje år kostar den arbetsrelaterade ohälsan Sverige 70 miljarder kronor i form av förlorade arbetsinsatser och utgifter för vård och omsorg. Trots att ledarskap antas spela en central roll i anställdas sjukfrånvaromönster är tidigare forskning på området begränsad. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka det longitudinella sambandet mellan behovsfrämjande ledarskap och sjukfrånvaro, samt om tillfredsställelse av de grundläggande psykologiska behoven av autonomi, kompetens och samhörighet medierar relationen mellan ledarskap och sjukfrånvaro. Enkätdata insamlades med självskattningsformulären Need Support at Work scale och Need Satisfaction at Work scale från anställda inom en kommun i norra Sverige (N = 589, 58% kvinnor, åldersspann = 19-66 år) och relaterades till sjukfrånvaro. Resultaten visar att ett behovsfrämjande ledarskap har en indirekt effekt på anställdas sjukfrånvaro genom behovstillfredsställelse samt en direkt effekt på anställda som är sjukskrivna längre än 40 dagar. Dessa resultat bidrar med en teoretisk förståelse för hur chefer påverkar anställdas sjukfrånvaromönster och kan ligga till grund för organisatoriska interventioner. / Sickness absenteeism due to social and organisational reasons is increasing and the total cost of work-related illnesses in Sweden amounts to 70 billion krona each year in form of loss of production and health care expenses. Though leadership is assumed to play a central role in follower’s absenteeism-patterns, research exploring this relationship is scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore the longitudinal relationship between need-supportive leadership and sick leave, and to explore whether satisfaction of the basic psychological needs is related to and mediate the association between leadership and sickness absenteeism. Self-assessment data was collected with Need Support at Work scale and Need Satisfaction at Work scale from municipal employees (N = 589, 58% women, age span = 19-66 years) in a town in northern Sweden and was related to records of absence. The results show that need-supportive leadership is indirectly related to absenteeism through the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs. They also indicate a direct negative effect of need-supportive leadership on absence-spells over 40 days. These findings contribute with a theoretical understanding on how leaders affect follower’s absenteeism-patterns and can be used to guide organisational interventions.

The goal of this paper is to clarify Martin Buber's concept of guilt. To make the notion of guilt clear we will use mainly Buber's papers 'I and Thou','The Problem of Man','Images of Good and Evil' and the short essay 'Guilt and Guilt Feelings'. During our analysis we will also focus on other important notions of Buber's philosophical system and their possible development. Among other things, it will be the notion of the world, relationship and essential determination.The whole paper is intended to clarify Buber's dispute with psychoterapists, mainly with S. Freud, over the nature of guilt in the essay 'Guilt and Guilt Feelings'.