Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Saarbrücken. / Download lizenzpflichtig.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-65)

Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith Hutchison. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-39).

Universiẗat, Diss., 2004--Kassel.

Seeds are very complex and diverse plant organs. Seed germination is the most sensitive stage of plant life and is influenced by various environmental signals including phytohormones, salt, light, temperature and water potential. Seeds have an innate mechanism called dormancy that blocks germination, and plants have developed several dormancy-inducing strategies to optimise the timing of germination. Seed germination vigour is an important factor in crop yield. Seedling vigour is defined as the sum of the seed properties which determine the level of activity and performance during germination and seedling emergence. A poor seed lot can be improved by post-harvest treatment such as hydro-priming as it is used in the seed industry, but the biological mechanism is unknown. The aim of this study is to understand the mechanism(s) of hydro-priming in order to improve seed vigour and seed germination. I set seeds at different temperatures to produce variation in seed vigour and it showed that germination of seeds with low vigour can be improved by hydro-priming. Using LC-IT-ToF/MS I characterised compounds that leach from seeds during hydro-priming, and showed that some of these are putative germination inhibitors. Adding these compounds to the water during hydro-priming showed that the inhibitory effect of these compounds is not the main mechanism that regulates germination. Also, transcriptomic analysis showed that genes involved in OPDA pathway are expressed during hydro-priming as well as during endosperm weakening cap associated genes. I concluded that hydro-priming improves the speed of germination of low temperature set and its efficiency is dependent of activation of metabolic activity.

abstract: Numerous published studies and a meta-analysis suggest that priming religion causes an increase in prosocial behaviors. However, mediating mechanisms of this purported causal relationship have not yet been formally tested. In line with cultural evolutionary theories and their supporting evidence, I test the proposition that public self-awareness mediates the effect of priming religion on prosociality. However, other theories of religion suggest that persons may feel small when perceiving God, and these feelings have predicted prosociality in published research. In line with this, I also test whether a sense of small self and, relatedly, self-transcendent connection, are possible mediators of the religion priming effect on prosociality. In this study, I implicitly prime religion and test whether the above constructs mediate a potential effect on prosocial intentions. Although self-transcendent connection predicted prosocial intentions, the implicit prime affected neither the mediating variables nor prosocial intentions, nor were any significant indirect effects evident. Thus, no causal evidence of mediation was found. In addition, I examined whether God representations moderate the path from implicit religion priming to each proposed mediator. The results suggest that a benevolent God representation moderates the effect of religion priming on self-transcendent connection and that an ineffable God representation moderates the effect of religion priming on sense of small self. Lastly, I tested for mediation with a cross-sectional path model containing religiosity and belief in God as predictors. The results suggest that religiosity, controlling for belief in God, predicts prosociality through self-transcendent connection but belief in God, controlling for religiosity, does not predict prosociality. Implications for the religion priming literature and, more generally, the psychology of religion, are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2018

This thesis, which has been prepared in paper format, is an exploration of how memory affects pain perception. Paper 1, prepared according to guidelines for the journal Pain, is a systematic review of the literature on how memory affects pain perception. Twenty-nine articles satisfied inclusion criteria for the review. Studies were critically appraised and a narrative synthesis was used to make sense of findings. Two types of study were identified; priming and expectancy. Overall, there is good evidence that memory affects pain perception, however, methodological quality of reviewed studies was variable and this limited the conclusions that could be drawn. The findings are discussed in relation to current theoretical models of memory and pain and suggestions for the future direction of studies in the area are made. Paper 2, also prepared according to guidelines for the journal Pain, reports an experiment that was conducted in order to test a cognitive model of how memory can affect pain perception (Brown, 2004). Twenty-seven participants were subliminally presented with words that shared either a low or high degree of association with the word ‘pain’ (low versus high associates). Shortly after, randomised laser heat stimuli was delivered at one of three intensity levels (low, moderate, high). Behavioural ratings of pain were taken and physiological responses were measured using electroencephalogram. Pain ratings were higher after the presentation of a high associate than they were after a low associate for the moderate and high intensity conditions only. These effects remained when various measures of mood, anxiety and symptom reporting were controlled for. Similar effects in physiological data are reported with larger amplitudes in both stimulus preceding negativity and the N2 component of the laser evoked potential after presentation of a high associate relative to a low associate. Data are discussed in relation to activation-based theories of memory and pain. Paper 3, a critical reflection, considers additional issues that have arisen throughout Papers 1 and 2. The systematic review process, as it was applied in Paper 1 is critically appraised and methodological, theoretical and clinical implications of Paper 2 are discussed.

This diploma thesis deals with analysis and description of principles of self-priming pumps and description of physical processes, that allow self-priming. With these basements should be proposed innovation of construction for selected type of pump.

Language production is ubiquitous in everyday life. A critical component of language production is the retrieval of individual words. In this thesis, we investigated the process of lexical access across six experiments that required participants to produce words in different contexts. First, we examined whether semantic relationships between proper names lead to competition during lexical access. Participants were asked to name celebrity pictures after either reading a famous or non-famous prime name or classifying a prime name as belonging to a famous or non-famous person. Results revealed that successful name retrievals decreased with increasing trial number. Within individual trials, tip-of-the-tongue states increased only after the classification of famous prime names. These findings indicate that the effects of competition from related proper names vary based on the particular semantic context in which they are retrieved. Next, we examined how the broader semantic context of sentences affects access to object names. It is widely accepted that highly constraining contexts can facilitate lexical access through predictive processing. We examined whether prediction during language processing still confers a benefit in situations where predictions were either almost correct or completely incorrect. In three experiments that investigated both language production and comprehension, we found a clear cost to incorrect predictions which we hypothesize may be used as an error signal in language learning to fine tune the language system. Finally, we investigated function word production using a task that required individuals to read aloud short paragraphs that contained errors on function words under distracting versus silent conditions. We found that background speech did not affect the likelihood that speakers would spontaneously correct the errors, but did increase non-target function word substitution errors. Overall, these studies support a framework in which lexical access is influenced by both word-class and semantic context at the point of retrieval. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Language plays a key role in our everyday lives, including in social interactions, academic success, and overall daily functioning. The process of producing and understanding language is deceptively easy for the average person, but there are significant outstanding questions about how linguistic processes operate. The retrieval of individual words in particular has been the subject of decades of investigation. The goal of the present thesis is to investigate how we retrieve words when we speak, or the process of lexical access, by eliciting production of words across various contexts. The studies reported here demonstrate the effects of semantic context on lexical access, as well as how this process differs for words that convey syntactic versus meaningful content (i.e., words that differ in lexical class). Our findings build on theories of lexical access by demonstrating unique effects of the roles of semantic contexts and lexical class on word retrieval.