Metal oxide materials are a broad class of materials found in many current technologies due to their interesting properties such as magnetism and ferroelectricity. Material properties can be tuned and heavily influenced by disorder at the atomic level, as has been shown in the ferrimagnetic and ferroelectric Al2-x-yGaxFeyO3 materials, which adopt the non-centrosymmetric, orthorhombic GaFeO3 crystal structure-type (Pna21). The significant cation disorder and non centrosymmetric nature of the crystal structure underlie the multiferroic properties in these materials and make them one of the few chemical systems to possess multiferroic ordering near room temperature. Unfortunately, while cation site disorder is responsible for the multiferroic properties observed in these compounds, their complex crystal structure has led to inconsistent reports in the ternary Al2-xFexO3 and Ga2-xFexO3 compounds. X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) is an element specific technique, which can be used to examine cation site disorder as a function of changes in the average coordination environment around the metal, providing a means of studying these complex materials. In this thesis, XANES was used to investigate factors affecting cation site disorder in a series of Al1-xGaxFeO3 materials (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) adopting the GaFeO3 crystal structure-type. The GaFeO3 crystal structure has four cation sites, of which, the distorted octahedral Fe1 and Fe2 sites are primarily occupied by Fe3+, and the less distorted tetrahedral A1 and octahedral A2 sites are primarily occupied by Al3+ or Ga3+. These materials were initially synthesized using a high temperature ceramic method, and it was found that with increasing Ga3+ content (x) these materials show a decrease in the amount of cation site disorder between the tetrahedral site and the three octahedral sites. This decrease is attributed to the tetrahedral site preference of Ga3+, which inhibits cation site disorder at the A1 site, as opposed to the octahedral site preference observed for Al3+. Additionally, Fe3+ was found to predominantly occupy the three octahedral sites over the tetrahedral site in these materials, likely because of its large ionic size and the strong magnetic coupling between those three sites. The quaternary Al1-xGaxFeO3 materials (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were synthesized again via two other techniques: a citrate sol-gel method and a co-precipitation method. The oxide network binding the binary metal oxide precursors limits ion mobility in the high temperature ceramic method. The citrate sol-gel and co-precipitation methods were used to generate mixed-metal precursors with a more homogeneous distribution of the metal cations than the binary metal oxide precursors commonly used by the high temperature ceramic method. Mixed-metal precursors reduce the distance the ions have to diffuse, while the nature of the amorphous matrix was found to affect disorder in the resulting material. From analysis of the XANES spectra, the ceramic method showed the least amount of cation site disorder, followed by the citrate sol-gel method and co-precipitation method, respectively. Greater annealing temperatures resulted in an increase in cation site disorder, with the average coordination number of Al3+ and Ga3+ increasing while the average coordination number of Fe3+ decreased. Al1-xGaxFeO3 materials synthesized via the co-precipitation method showed the greatest amount of cation disorder, followed by the citrate sol-gel and high temperature ceramic techniques, respectively. The research presented in this thesis is among the first to examine a large number of materials from the relatively unexplored Al1-xGaxFeO3 system, and has contributed to the growing body of knowledge on the factors affecting cation site disorder in these materials and potentially other systems. Further, despite a simple rationale for understanding the features present in Al L2,3- and Ga K-edge spectra, these studies have shown how effectively XANES can be used to understand subtle changes in the atomic structure of solid-state materials.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication as well as ritualistic repetitive behaviors. Epidemiological studies suggest that maternal immune activation (MIA) during pregnancy may be a risk factor for ASD. To study MIA in a laboratory setting, we injected mouse dams (C57BL/6) with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (Poly IC) during mid-gestation to mimic a bacterial or viral infection, respectively. We also performed the same Poly IC treatment on a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome (i.e. Fmr1 knockout), a genetic disease with high incidences of ASD. We found modest female-specific impairments in social interaction and striking male-specific increases in repetitive behavior in adult MIA offspring. Moreover, prenatal Poly IC treatment caused genotype-specific deficits in sociability in addition to reduced body weight and rearing in Fmr1 knockout mice only. Therefore, ASD-related behaviors caused by MIA may be sex, treatment, and/or genotype-dependent.

This study examined three areas related to attention in primary school-aged children to answer the following questions: Are there a distinct neuropsychological differences for young children referred by teachers as lacking in attention compared to those not lacking in attention? Are there advantages to using neuropsychological measures of attention over behaviour rating scales and observations in preschool or early grade school population? Can these same neuropsychological tools evaluate the effectiveness of music with children that have attention problems? / There were 24 participants in this study, 12 children rated as having attention problems by their teacher and 12 children in the control group. Participants age ranged from 5 years 0 months to 6 years 11 months. All the children were of average intelligence, and were attending an English school or preschool within the greater Montreal Area. Participants served as their own controls for the music conditions. Participants were nested within group and order for the four treatment conditions. / Findings indicated that attention difficulties not only affect behaviour, attention, and inhibition, but also influence cognitive processes in language, memory, and visual perceptual abilities especially visual motor precision. Neuropsychological tests were useful in the assessment of children's attention difficulties and could be used to differentiate attention problems that are strictly behavioural from those that are more likely the result of neuropsychological deficits. For children with attention problems environment and music had limited effects on neuropsychological variables. Rock and roll increased children's ability to sustain visual attention if they were classified as having an attention problem. It did not have this effect for children without attention problems. Gross motor inhibition is also affected by rock and roll, but only for boys who have attention problems. Higher level interactions with gender were found in overall neuropsychological functioning and with respect to music. School based interventions must be based not only on behaviour but also on cognitive deficits; early intervention is important to this process.

Although the behavioral phenotype of disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disability (RD) are well established, to date, few studies have assessed the association between the core cognitive characteristics implicated in each disorder. And fewer yet have addressed this in a sample of typically developing preschool and young school age children when such skills are developing and maturing. The present study focused on providing a typical trajectory of attentional and inhibitory performance alongside delay aversion and their association with naming speed, a basic cognitive process involved in the acquisition of later reading skills. Alongside the developmental characteristics of these cognitive domains, the results indicate an association between rapid naming deficits and poor attentional and inhibitory control. The results further suggest distinct association between attentional control, inhibitory control, naming speed and poor attention ratings. These findings have implications for pedagogical planning for children with ADHD and RD.

For individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder or ‘ASD’ the ability to accurately process and interpret auditory information is often difficult. Here we review behavioural, neurophysiological and neuroimaging literature pertaining to the field of auditory processing in ASD, with the aim of providing a comprehensive account of auditory processing in this population and thus an effective tool to aid further research. Literature was sourced from peer-reviewed journals published over the last two decades which best represent research conducted in these areas. Findings show substantial evidence for atypical processing of auditory information in ASD. Behavioural studies provide support for widespread abnormalities ranging from atypical perception of various low-level perceptual features (i.e. pitch) to processing of more complex auditory information such as prosody. Magnetic resonance imaging studies have identified functional abnormalities to a range of auditory stimuli in ASD while structural abnormalities have been observed in several brain regions implicated in auditory processing. Electrophysiological research has found evidence for atypical auditory processing within the cortex and brainstem of individuals with ASD in a variety of experimental paradigms. Trends across studies suggest auditory processing impairments in ASD are more likely to present during processing of complex auditory information and are more severe for speech than for non-speech stimuli. Moreover, atypical auditory processing in ASD may not always be viewed as an impairment and in some cases may reflect the use of a compensatory strategy to make sense of auditory information. To this end, there is an urgent need for further research aimed at understanding the behavioural and neural basis of auditory processing in ASD.

Eating disorders are chronic, disabling illnesses associated with significant mortality rates (Crow et al., 2009). Body dissatisfaction has been demonstrated as a prominent risk factor for adolescent eating disorders. However few studies have examined psychological factors that predict body dissatisfaction. The present study examined maladaptive perfectionism and anxiety as possible risk factors for body dissatisfaction in adolescents with eating disorders and controls. Participants completed measures of body dissatisfaction, maladaptive perfectionism, and anxiety. Results demonstrated that maladaptive perfectionism and anxiety were significantly and positively associated with body dissatisfaction. However, these factors did not interact to predict elevated body dissatisfaction in eating disordered adolescents. These findings suggest that current body image treatments for adolescents with eating disorders and from nonclinical populations may be improved by including a focus on maladaptive perfectionism or anxiety. Future research should endeavour to conduct prospective, longitudinal studies that assess whether risk factors for body dissatisfaction are also causal factors. Finally, it is also important that researchers investigate whether body image treatments that target maladaptive perfectionism or anxiety effectively reduce body dissatisfaction in adolescents with and without eating disorders.

This thesis investigates the experience of agoraphobia among one hundred research participants by focusing on how social interactions contribute to the onset, the unmanaged symptoms stage, and the managed symptoms stage of this anxiety disorder. The study investigates how social interactions such as family upbringings, familial stressful events, one-off and clusters of traumatic events and accumulated stressful events can contribute to the onset of agoraphobia. It examines how research participants' social interactions during their primary and secondary school years, youth, everyday life, travel, marriage/intimate relationships, parenting, post secondary education and employment were affected during the unmanaged symptom stage of agoraphobia. Participants' experiences of the public perception of agoraphobia, stigma and discrimination, coming out experiences and family and friends' reaction to agoraphobia are also explored. The third stage of the study examines social interactions that hinder or promote the management of agoraphobia. The former are found to include hiding panic attacks, making excuses, using flawed personal coping mechanisms and alcohol. Social interactions that were found to assist in the management of agoraphobia include labelling and learning about the mental illness from others, using companions in public places and situations, and seeking help from knowledgeable health professionals. Other forms of interaction that helped with management included participants' usage of Internet chat-rooms and websites as well as the discovery of faith and spiritual experience. Finally the study investigates research participants' changed social interactions following their emergence from the shadow of agoraphobia.

The study examined the effects of multiple interpersonal traumas (incurred simultaneously) on severity of PTSD symptoms; as demonstrated by the literature on the dose-effect relationship for PTSD, greater reports of interpersonal trauma, were hypothesized to lead to more severe PTSD symptomology. The 267 participants, were all Liberian war refugees living in Ghana, West Africa. Regression analysis was utilized to examine the contributions of interpersonal traumas (posttraumatic diagnostic scale), age, gender and marital status to PTSD symptoms (Impact of Event Scale). Interpersonal trauma was the strongest predictor, (β = .21, t(138) = 2.45, p < .05) of PTSD severity, which was supportive of the hypothesis. / Department of Psychological Science

This study aimed to examine how variants in diagnostic labels might alter stigma toward Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) sufferers and secondly, to evaluate an existing scale (GASS) designed to measure that stigma. Data was collected from Swedish university students (N=447) where the impact of labeling upon stigma was measured by manipulating the presence and content of a label. Psychometric properties of the GASS were investigated and compared to the properties reported by the developers of the scale. Due to conflicting findings, further examination appears necessary. Results revealed that the presence of a general label (diagnosis cluster) reduced stigma opposed to the absence of a label. Conclusion was drawn that GAD sufferers should specify their problems with a general label to reduce stigma held toward them. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur skillnader av framställd diagnosetikett påverkar stigma mot personer med Generaliserat Ångestsyndrom, samt att utvärdera ett befintligt mätinstrument (GASS) vilken mäter detta stigma. Data samlades in från svenska universitetsstudenter (N=447) och stigmats påverkan av etiketter mättes genom manipulation av närvarande, samt typ, av etikett. Mätinstrumentet utvärderades genom jämförelse med tidigare resultat vilka presenterats av mätinstrumentets utvecklare. Med hänvisning till motstridiga resultat behövs ytterligare utvärdering av mätinstrumentet. Resultat visade att en generell etikett (diagnosens kluster) minskade stigma i jämförelse med frånvaro av en etikett. Slutsats drogs att de som lider av GAD, bör specificera sina problem på generell nivå för att minska stigma mot sig.

Bakalauro darbe analizuojamas mikčiojimas ir jo įveikimo galimybės. Taikant atvejo analizės metodą per naratyvo strategiją, atliekamas įvykusio fakto kokybinis tyrimas. Tyrimo tikslas - atskleisti mikčiojimo įveikimo galimybes. Tyrime dalyvavo 14 respondentų, 1 mikčiojantysis ir jo mama. Darbas buvo atliktas 2013 - 2014 metų gruodžio – sausio mėnesį Klaipėdos mieste. Pradžioje pateiktas tiriamojo apibūdinimas, kuris remiasi medicininės kortelės duomenimis ir mamos prisiminimais. Anketinės apklausos metodu tirta, kaip pedagogai, mikčiojančiojo draugai ir kiti aplinkiniai žmonės reagavo į mikčiojimą ir kokius pagalbos metodus ir būdus jie taikė siekiant padėti mikčiojančiajam mažinti įtampą ir kalbėjimo baimę. Interviu, tiriamuoju metodu siekta ištirti jo asmeninius išgyvenimus dėl mikčiojimo bei sužinoti, kokius metodus ir būdus jis taikydavo įveikiant savo sutrikimą. Tyrimu nustatyta, kad pats tiriamasis ir jo šeima aktyviai ieškojo galimybių įveikti mikčiojimą. Taikant įvairius medicininės, logopedinės pagalbos metodus bei sportą, jaunuoliui pavyko įveikti sutrikimą. Pedagogai, draugai ir kiti aplinkiniai žmonės palaikydavo tiriamąjį bei suteikdavo jam kompetentingą pagalbą. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad mikčiojimo įveikimą lėmė tam tikri tiriamojo charakterio bruožai, sportas, amžius bei visų aplinkinių žmonių, kaip sistemos, palaikymas ir pagalba. / Final Bachelor degree paper analyses stuttering and ways to overcome this speech disorder. Qualitative research study of accomplished fact is conducted by implementing case analysis method through narrative strategies. Aim of the research study is to distinguish possibilities of overcoming stuttering. 14 respondents, 1 stuttering person and his mother had participated in the research study which was conducted during December 2013 – January 2014 in Klaipeda. Initially, a description of the respondent based on his medical history and recollections of his mother. The survey helped analyse how pedagogues, friends of the stuttering person and surrounding people reacted to the stuttering and what ways and methods they applied in order to help the stutterer reduce tension and overcome the fear to speak. The interview with the stutterer was intended to analyse his personal experience and identify self-therapy methods he applied. The research study showed that the respondent and his family actively searched for ways to overcome stuttering. This young man was able to overcome stuttering with the help of medical and speech therapy methods and sports. His pedagogues and friends were very supportive and ready to help. Results of the research study showed that the respondent overcame stuttering due to his certain personality features, sports, age and support of people that surrounded him.