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Functional analyses are the gold standard of confirming maintaining variables of problem behavior. Despite widespread support, many clinical settings instead use anecdotal assessments. These have been shown to have poor reliability when used by non-experts but can be useful for confirming maintaining variables of problem behavior when agreement has reached a certain level. We used behavior skills training to teach new staff member pairs behavior function to increase their reliability on these assessments. We found that although agreement increased slightly, this was not clinically significant. Out of the two pairs of participants one pair of participants was able to identify their client's maintaining variable of problem behavior. Future research should investigate the type of training used for non-experts for example training non-experts to state problem behavior in objective operational terms.

This thesis studies abstract stochastic differential equations on Banach spaces. The well-posedness of abstract stochastic differential equations on such spaces is a recent result of van Neerven, Veraar and Weis, based on the theory of stochastic integration of Banach space valued processes constructed by the same authors. We study existence and uniqueness for solutions of stochastic differential equations with (possibly infinite) delay in their inputs on UMD Banach spaces. Such problems are also known as functional differential equations or delay differential equations. We show that the methods of van Neerven et al. extend to such problems if the initial history of the system lies in a space of a type introduced by Hale and Kato. The results are essentially of a fixed point type, both autonomous and non-autonomous cases are discussed and an example is given. We also study some long time properties of solutions to these stochastic differential equations on general Banach spaces. We show the existence of solutions to stochastic problems with almost periodicity in a weak or distributional sense. Results are again given for both autonomous and non-autonomous cases and depend heavily on estimates for R-bounds of operator families developed by Veraar. An example is given for a second order differential operator on a domain in ℝ^d. Finally we consider the existence of invariant measures for such problems. This extends recent work of van Gaans in Hilbert spaces to Banach spaces of type 2.

Identifying positive behavioral interventions for students who display disruptive behavior in the classroom has become a critical issue for schools due to the high frequency of these behaviors and recent changes in legislative requirements. To address this issue, the present study investigated the utility of brief experimental analysis approach as a means to identify the most efficient and effective interventions for three students displaying problem behaviors in the classroom. By using a multi-element design, the brief experimental analysis was conducted by randomly applying interventions for three common functions of problem behavior in the classroom: teacher attention, peer attention, and escape from task demand. Then, the effects of the most efficient and effective intervention on on-task, disruptive, and work completion behaviors were compared relative to a baseline condition over time. There were individual differences in responses to the intervention, but all students responded to at least one treatment. Further, an extended analysis of the alternative baseline conditions using a BAB design was applied that included a treatment phase with the hypothesized efficient and effective treatment and a baseline phase. Results showed that selected interventions decreased disruptive behavior and increased on-task and work completion for all three participants over time relative to baseline.

In 1997, Congress established the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997), which required that schools conduct functional behavior assessments when a student engages in problem behavior that may lead to suspension or expulsion (Ervin et al., 2001; Yell & Katsiyanis, 2010). As a result, research has expanded to include ways to adapt the functional assessment process in school settings. The purpose of this study was to compare the correspondence between functional analysis procedures for students in a private school and validate the assessment outcomes with interventions conducted in the classroom settings. The results indicate that both assessments corresponded in 87% of all functions identified in the study. Furthermore, the interventions yielded reductions in problem behaviors for all participants.

The purpose of this dissertation was to compare two methods of assessing challenging behavior in young children in the home setting and to determine if the two methods could result in the same outcome. Results indicated that there was full correspondence between the two assessment methods for three out of five participants, and among 19 comparisons, 16 agreements were made (84%). Future research should validate latency functional analysis via treatment evaluation with this population. / text

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with a dual diagnosis often engage in challenging behavior as a means to fulfil their needs and wants. Functional behavioral assessments (FBA) are a way of evaluating these behaviors and creating effective interventions to reduce them and increase socially appropriate alternative behaviors. The present study assessed the convergent validity for three types of FBAs, including the Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF) questionnaire, trial-based functional analysis, and traditional functional analysis, for three adults with a dual diagnosis within a day program setting. Results found correspondence between two forms of assessments, the trial-based functional analysis and traditional functional analysis, for one out of the three subjects. Due to a lack of engagement in the targeted behavior for the other two subjects, results were inconclusive. Results of the QABF did not match those of the functional analyses for any of the subjects, suggesting that the assessment should be used with caution. The trial-based functional analysis may be a viable tool for assessing function for the challenging behavior of adults with a dual diagnosis, although it should not be used as a replacement for the traditional functional analysis.

Functional analysis procedures were used to assess and treat multiple topographies of self-injurious behavior exhibited by an individual. An experimental functional analysis indicated that one topography, hand biting, appeared to be maintained by social positive reinforcement in the form of delivery of tangible items. The analysis also provided evidence that a second form of self-injury, skin picking, was automatically reinforced. To treat positively reinforced hand biting, access to a preferred tangible was arranged contingent on the omission of biting for a prespecified time interval. Hand biting was nearly eliminated, and low rates were maintained as the schedule of reinforcement was thinned to 10 min. Competing stimulus assessments identified that magazines effectively suppressed all occurrences of skin picking; therefore, noncontingent access to magazines was implemented. Using a combination of multielement and multiple baseline designs, we were able to demonstrate that the two topographies of self-injury were maintained by independent reinforcement contingencies and that interventions corresponding to each topography and function effectively treated both behaviors.

We investigate properties of Koszmider spaces. We show that if K and L are compact Hausdor spaces with no isolated points, K is Koszmider and C(K) is isomorphic to C(L), then K and L are homeomorphic and, in particular, L is also Koszmider. We also analyse topological properties of Koszmider spaces and show that a connected Koszmider space is strongly rigid. In addition to Koszmider spaces, we introduce the notion of weakly Koszmider spaces. Having established an alternative characterisation thereof, we show that, while it is evident that every Koszmider space is weakly Koszmider, the reverse implication does not hold. We also prove that if C(K) and C(L) are isomorphic and K is weakly Koszmider, then so is L. However, if K is Koszmider, there always exists a non-Koszmider space L such that C(K) and C(L) are isomorphic. In the second part of the thesis we present two separable Koszmider spaces the construction of which does not use any set-theoretical assumptions except for the usual (ZFC) axioms. The first space is zero-dimensional, being the Stone space of a Boolean algebra. The second construction results in a separable connected Koszmider space.

The increase in clock rate and integration density in modem IC technology leads to complex interactions among different parts of the circuit. These interactions are poorly represented with traditional lumped circuit design methodologies. Traditional CAD tools, such as SPICE, provide very accurate models for a large variety of active devices, but their description of the passive part of the circuit is progressively becoming insuffcient, as the frequencies of the signals increase. Problems such as dispersion, crosstalk and package effects require a full electromagnetic approach in order to predict their impact on the final response of the circuit. On the other hand, the application of a full-wave numerical method for the analysis of a complete device containing nonlinear elements is not sustainable with the present computer capabilities. The spatial and time discretization steps required to accurately model the nonlinear part of the device are much smaller than those necessary to describe the distributed part of the circuit. In the present thesis, the possibility of modeling nonlinear devices with the three-dimensional TLM method has been explored; a new procedure has been successfully developed and implemented, linking the equivalent circuit representation of the nonlinear device to the transmission line model of the electromagnetic fields in the TLM network. No restrictions are applied on the size of the device, which can thus occupy more than a TLM cell. In order to model devices embedded in heterogenous media, a modification of the TLM node and relative scattering matrix has also been proposed. In view of linking the TLM field solver with a lumped element circuit CAD tool, the modified TLM scattering algorithm has remained independent of the specific device connected to the mesh. The general methodology shown in this thesis appears to be a promising approach to solve a large variety of electromagnetic problems containing nonlinear elements. / Graduate