<p>The aim of our study has been to examine the care managers’ attitude to in- service training.<em> </em>We also wanted to see which factors the care managers and a member of the administrative head think influences this. The question formulations in the study were; what does in- service training mean for care managers and the administrative head, what was their attitude against it and which assumptions does the administrative head give to care managers for in- service training. The study is based on qualitative interviews with care managers and with a member of the administrative head. To interpret the material we have been using earlier studies, Senges theory of learning organization and Marsick and Watkins theory about informal and incidental learning. A main result is that the care managers obtain a great deal of possibilities to in- service training, for example meetings, educations and courses. The study also shows that the organization priorities formal learning while the care managers emphasise learning through interaction with other people, for example cohorts, contributors and users. Both care managers and a member of the administrative head says that there is a weakness in terms of follow- up and assessment. One recurrent topic in these discussions is responsibility, but the informants is not united of who’s the responsibility actually is.  </p><p> </p>

Universiẗat, Diss., 2001--Tübingen.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2004--Darmstadt.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from screen. Michael Bruner, committee chair; Marian Meyers, Mary Stuckey, committee members. Electronic text (120 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 17, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-139).

Diss.--Åbo akademi, 1997. / Bibliogr. p. 317-329.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of this study was to investigate expectations of collegiate head coaches about sport psychology consulting. There were two null hypotheses in this study: first, there will be no difference in expectations of sport psychology consulting between male and female collegiate head coaches of NCAA Division I, II, and III athletic programs; second, there will be no difference in expectations of sport psychology consulting between head coaches of male and female athletic programs at Division I, II, and III level. Items from the Expectations About Spmt Psychology Consulting (EASPC) questionnaire (Martinet al, 2001) were revised to reflect a head coaches' perspective. The revised instrument, Coaches' Expectations About Sport Psychology Consulting (CESPC) questionnaire, was administered to 404 collegiate head coaches (244 male coaches and 160 female coaches) of both male and female team sports (248 female teams and 156 male teams) from NCAA Division I, II, and III athletic teams. Results of a 2 (Gender of the Sport) X 3 (NCAA Level of Competition) MANOVA indicated a significant main effect for gender of the sport. Univariate ANOVAs indicated a significant effect for personal commitment. In addition, results of the 2 (Gender of the Coach) X 3 (NCAA Level of Competition) MANOV A indicated a significant main effect for gender of the head coach. Univariate ANOV As indicated a significant effect for personal commitment. Subsequent univariate A VOV As also revealed a significant interaction between the level of sport (e.g. , CAA Division I, Division II, and Division III) and gender with respect to SPC expertise. Results indicated that the CESPC instrument might be a valuable tool for determining head coaches ' expectations about sport psychology consulting. Interpretations of the results for each hypothesis are included and implications for sport psychology consultants are discussed based on these findings. Finally, study limitations are identified and suggestions for future research are made. / 2031-01-01

Structural changes in the frontal and temporal lobes and in subcortical white matter tracts often occur following closed head injury (CHI). In contrast to this well delineated structural pathology, the post-traumatic cognitively-related functional changes in these and other brain regions have not been adequately described. To characterize the long-term functional neuroanatomy of CHI, the present study compared regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) patterns in 13 severely-injured, well-recovered, unmedicated patients to those from 13 well-matched healthy controls. rCBF was measured using oxygen-15 water intravenous bolus positron emission tomography (PET) while subjects performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), an indicator of prefrontal lobe functioning that involves matching stimuli to a changing sorting principle based on external feedback, and a Cued Recall Memory Test (CRMT), which involves remembering semantically-related word pairs. The neuropsychological tasks were used to provoke specific neural systems believed to be important in task performance (the prefrontal cortex in the former, the hippocampus in the latter). Subjects also performed two specially designed sensorimotor control tasks to provide measures of baseline rCBF. Given the controversy regarding the statistical analysis of PET data, a two-pronged method was utilized: 1) Statistical Parametric Mapping, the state-of-the-art technique that examines rCBF throughout the entire brain, and 2) region of interest analysis, an anatomically-based method for examining rCBF in a limited set of brain regions. Between-group rCBF differences were tested in the four tasks separately and also in the two neuropsychological tasks after subtracting baseline rCBF (i.e., rCBF activation). To characterize the relationship between cerebral perfusion and behavior, correlations were performed between performance and rCBF activation (i.e., task-control) for each group separately, and between rCBF activation and an index of current neuropsychological functioning for the CHI patients. Analyses of each task separately revealed that, compared to controls, CHI patients showed lower rCBF in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and subcortical areas. Analyses of rCBF activation data revealed: 1) increases in left inferior frontal gyrus (including Broca's area) and left hippocampus of CHI patients relative to control subjects during the WCST, 2) a negative correlation between task performance and the right hippocampus during the WCST in CHI patients, and 3) correlations between the hippocampus and performance during the CRMT in the CHI patients that were in the opposite direction to those found in the control subjects. These neurofunctional changes are compatible with the structural and cognitive sequelae of CHI First, given a hypothesized role of the ACC in attentional processes, reduced rCBF in this region of CHI patients may relate to the persistent and often subtle difficulties in attention after CHI, whereas rCBF diminutions in subcortical regions may relate to diffuse damage to or deafferentation of subcortical regions in this CHI sample. Second, given similar (although slightly, but not significantly, poorer) performance on the WCST by the CHI patients, increased left prefrontal cortical activity may partially reflect behavioral compensation (e.g., subvocalization to aid memory during the task) and also physiological compensation for inefficiencies in other brain areas (e.g., subcortical regions). Finally, in light of the relatively poorer task performance of CHI patients (non-significant tendency in the WCST but highly significant in the CRMT), differences between the groups in the direction of the correlations between performance/cognition and hippocampal activation may suggest disorganization of hippocampal functioning in CHI patients. This exploratory and descriptive investigation identifies brain structures with post-traumatic changes that may be important to cognition. These results may provide evidence of both behavioral and neurophysiological compensation in patients with severe CHI. / Graduate

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Tumores malignos de origem nÃo epitelial sÃo considerados raros na regiÃo de cabeÃa e pescoÃo e podem apresentar grande morbidade e mortalidade. Este estudo teve o objetivo de fazer um levantamento dos casos de sarcomas e melanomas em regiÃo de cabeÃa e pescoÃo no perÃodo de 1999 a 2008, em trÃs centros especializados no MunicÃpio de Fortaleza, CearÃ. A coleta de dados foi feita com base nos livros de registros das cirurgias de cabeÃa e pescoÃo e dos prontuÃrios dos centros avaliados. Foram observados 54 casos, sendo 36 sarcomas e 18 melanomas. Quanto à avaliaÃÃo dos sarcomas, observamos que os indivÃduos mais acometidos foram homens adultos, da raÃa parda, na faixa etÃria de 20 a 59 anos, com idade mÃdia de 39,7. A relaÃÃo homem/mulher foi de 1,76:1. O tipo histolÃgico mais prevalente foi o rabdomiossarcoma, e as localizaÃÃes mais acometidas foram face e regiÃo cervical. Em relaÃÃo aos melanomas, homens adultos tambÃm foram predominantes, na faixa etÃria de 20 a 59 anos, com idade mÃdia de 54,6. Verificou-se igual acometimento nas raÃas parda e branca, com 33,3%, cada uma. A relaÃÃo homem/mulher foi de 1,25:1. O tipo histolÃgico mais prevalente foi o melanoma de disseminaÃÃo superficial, e a pele da face foi a localizaÃÃo mais frequente. Na avaliaÃÃo da procedÃncia, houve semelhanÃa em ambas as doenÃas, sendo aproximadamente metade dos pacientes da capital e metade do interior do estado. Quanto ao acompanhamento, a maior parte da amostra foi de pacientes vivos sem evidÃncia de doenÃa na Ãltima consulta, correspondendo a 41,6% nos sarcomas e 44,5% entre os melanomas. A variaÃÃo de terapia tambÃm foi observada em ambos os grupos, sendo os tipos mais comuns de tratamento a associaÃÃo de cirurgia, radioterapia e quimioterapia e cirurgia e radioterapia para sarcomas, e cirurgia, seguida da associaÃÃo de cirurgia e radioterapia para melanomas. Apesar de os tumores malignos de origem nÃo epitelial em cabeÃa e pescoÃo serem lesÃes raras, eles apresentam grande morbidade e mortalidade e dessa forma, necessita-se de que seus aspectos clinicopatolÃgicos sejam estudados e conhecidos, sempre com o objetivo de melhorar as formas de tratamento dessas lesÃes, garantindo assim maiores chances de cura e melhor qualidade de vida para os pacientes acometidos. / Malignant tumors of non-epithelial origin are considered rare in the head and neck region and they can show great morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the cases of sarcomas and melanomas in the head and neck region over the period from 1999 to 2008, in specialized centers located in the Municipality of Fortaleza. The data were collected from the register books of surgery of the head and neck and patient reports at the evaluated centers. Fifty-four cases were observed, being 36 sarcomas and 18 melanomas. As per the evaluation of the sarcomas, we have observed that the most assailed individuals were men with brown skin, ranging from 20 to 59 years old, with median age of 39.7. The relation man/woman was 1.7:1. The most prevailing histological type was the rhabdomyosarcoma, and the most attacked areas were the face and the cervical region. And as per the melanomas, adult men were also prevailing, ranging from 20 to 59 years old, with median age of 54.6. It has also been verified equal assailment in the brown and white races, with 33.3% in each one. The relation man/woman was 1.25:1. The most prevailing histological type was the superficial spreading melanoma, and the face skin was the most frequent location. In the evaluation of the origin, there was similarity in both diseases, being approximately half the patients in the capital city, and half in the stateÂs hinterland. As concerning the monitoring, the greatest part of the sample came from patients alive without evidence of the disease from the last consultation, corresponding to 41.6% in sarcomas and 44.5% in melanomas. The variation of therapy has also been observed in both groups, being the most common types of treatments, the association of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy and surgery and radiotherapy for sarcomas and surgery, followed by surgery and radiotherapy for melanomas. Although malignant tumors of non-epithelial origin are rare in the head and neck region, they can show great morbidity and mortality and it is necessary the better understanding of their clinicalpatological aspects, in order to establish better treatment and life quality to these patients.

Falls and collisions are the most common types of events leading to sports-related concussions where impacts to the head play an important role on the onset of traumatic brain injury. Each event can be described by impact parameters that define the loading conditions on the head and brain and are necessary for accurate accident reconstruction employing physical impact tests, anthropometric headforms, and finite element (FE) modelling. It was the purpose of this research to describe the effects and interactions of impact velocity, compliance, mass and impact location on head acceleration and brain tissue strain measures associated with risk of concussions in sports. Impact parameters were varied to capture responses from no-injury up to concussive levels. Study one examined the effect of impact parameters on fall events simulated using a monorail drop tower. Impact mass was varied using three different headforms representing child, adolescent, and adult sizes measuring peak linear and angular acceleration and maximum principal strain. Regression analysis revealed that impact compliance was the most influential on peak linear and angular acceleration measures, meanwhile FE strain was most affected by changes in impact velocity. Smaller headforms tend to produce higher acceleration and strain values, supporting the need for age and size related mechanical definitions of risk. Study two examined the effect of impact parameters for collision events simulated using a multi-mass pendulum to represent common striking masses in sport measuring peak linear and angular acceleration and strain. Study three provided further insight into collision impacts by evaluating the distribution of peak strains in different brain lobes and the volume of the brain experiencing strains passed a critical level. Results show that compliance was similarly the most influential on peak head acceleration whereas peak strain and volume were most affected by impact velocity. Mass-velocity interactions had effects where a 9 kg mass had greater response than 15 kg, but similar to 21 kg. The temporal lobe consistently contained the highest strains with the rear boss non-centric impact location producing the largest values. Interacting impact parameters illustrate the challenges with predicting associated risk of concussion from head collisions in sport and supports the need to identify effective performance ranges of protective materials.

When people interact with each other, they not only listen to what the other says, they react to facial expressions, gaze direction, and head movement. Human-computer interaction would be enhanced in a friendly and non-intrusive way if computers could understand and respond to users’ body language in the same way. This thesis aims to investigate new methods for human computer interaction by combining information from the body language of the head to recognize the emotional and cognitive states. We concentrated on the integration of facial expression, eye gaze and head movement using soft computing techniques. The whole procedure is done in two-stage. The first stage focuses on the extraction of explicit information from the modalities of facial expression, head movement, and eye gaze. In the second stage, all these information are fused by soft computing techniques to infer the implicit emotional states. In this thesis, the frequency of head movement (high frequency movement or low frequency movement) is taken into consideration as well as head nods and head shakes. A very high frequency head movement may show much more arousal and active property than the low frequency head movement which differs on the emotion dimensional space. The head movement frequency is acquired by analyzing the tracking results of the coordinates from the detected nostril points. Eye gaze also plays an important role in emotion detection. An eye gaze detector was proposed to analyze whether the subject's gaze direction was direct or averted. We proposed a geometrical relationship of human organs between nostrils and two pupils to achieve this task. Four parameters are defined according to the changes in angles and the changes in the proportion of length of the four feature points to distinguish avert gaze from direct gaze. The sum of these parameters is considered as an evaluation parameter that can be analyzed to quantify gaze level. The multimodal fusion is done by hybridizing the decision level fusion and the soft computing techniques for classification. This could avoid the disadvantages of the decision level fusion technique, while retaining its advantages of adaptation and flexibility. We introduced fuzzification strategies which can successfully quantify the extracted parameters of each modality into a fuzzified value between 0 and 1. These fuzzified values are the inputs for the fuzzy inference systems which map the fuzzy values into emotional states.