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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1984. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [73]-82.

Women at the completion of treatment for breast cancer experience relief along with continued physical and psychological distress. This study explored the effectiveness of two forms of a Relaxation Intervention in providing psychosocial support to women at the completion of treatment for breast cancer. The two conditions included (1) Music-Assisted Relaxation (MAR), in which contemporary, sedative music was paired with standard, spoken relaxation directives, and (2) Relaxation Alone (RA), in which only spoken relaxation directives were used. Individual sessions were held once each week for four weeks. This study included a mixed method design. Quantitative measures included The Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale, The Profile of Mood States - Short Form, and The Benefit Finding Scale, a measure of psychological growth. Qualitative measures included Participant Diaries and a Semi-Structured Interview. A total of 20 women participated in this study, with 10 women in each of the two intervention conditions. Results revealed a statistically significant reduction in Depression for all participants over the course of the intervention. In addition, participants receiving MAR showed a statistically significantly greater improvement in Positive Affect during Week Three of the intervention when compared with participants receiving RA. Review of effect size calculations indicated that MAR had a stronger influence on Total Distress, Positive Affect, and Negative Affect than RA. Results from the qualitative analyses supported the quantitative findings, showing that the both forms of the Relaxation Intervention promoted reductions in Depression, seen in improved energy levels and better sleep. The Relaxation Intervention also led to improvements in Positive Affect, seen in greater focus of attention and elicitation of positive images and memories, especially for those participants in the MAR condition. In summary, the Relaxation Intervention used in this study was effective in reducing Depression among all participants. During specific weeks, all participants reported a decrease in Total Distress and Negative Affect and an increase in Positive Affect. MAR enhanced the effectiveness of the intervention, primarily through the promotion of positive mood states.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Progressive Relaxation Training on self-reported self-disclosure and anticipated willingness to self-disclose in the future by male subjects. Self-disclosure has been identified in theory and research as a significant factor in self-development and the development of intimate relationships. Theory and research supported the general concept that an individual's physiological status has an effect on disposition to self-disclose. Empirical data appeared to be lacking concerning the potential effects of relaxation training on self-disclosure. Relaxation training is a method commonly used to assist an individual to achieve a more relaxed physiological state. Research results have indicated that males in the western culture tend to be less likely to self-disclose than females.Subjects were 40 males who were active duty military personnel with a mean age of 32.59 years and a mean is educational level of 13.74 years. Each subject volunteered to receive two sessions of Progressive Relaxation Training. The instrument used in this study was Jourard and Jaffee's Self-Disclosure Questionnaire, which required the subjects to rate 40 items in terms of past self-disclosure and anticipated willingness to self-disclose in the future to a stranger of the same sex. Each of the 40 items had been designated by Jourard as having either a high or low intimacy value.A posttest-only control group design was used. The treatment group participated in two sessions of relaxation training one week apart. The questionnaire was administered immediately following the second training session. The control group was administered the questionnaire at the same time.Five null hypotheses were tested in an attempt to examine the subjects' past and potential self-disclosing behavior. The statistical analyses were accomplished by using a three-way analysis of variance, followed by either a Scheffe' or a pooled Scheffe. Significance was established at the .05 level.Analysis of the data indicated that the Progressive Relaxation Training had a significant effect on subjects' anticipated willingness to self-disclose, regardless of intimacy level. Indications from the analysis of the remaining data also suggested that the treatment had a partial effect on anticipated willingness to self-disclose at a high intimacy level; however, a .05 level of significance was not obtained. Length of treatment was questioned as being adequate for the subjects to fully learn the relaxation response.Recommendations for future research included longer treatment involving more than two sessions of Progressive Relaxation Training, assessment of actual self-disclosing behavior, consideration of the appropriateness of the self-disclosure, and investigation of other types of populations.

This thesis consists of two distinct components: (1) Spin-polarized electron transport through aluminum array nanoparticles, (2) A single electric relaxation process in Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) nanoparticles. In the first chapter, we summarize our main results and new finding, and we also present our motivation. For the first component (chapters 2-5), we studied electron spin transport in nanometer scale aluminum grains as embedded in a ferromagnet tunneling junction. We observed tunnelling-magnetoresistance (TMR) and spin valve effects. From the TMR strong asymmetry with bias voltage, we explored spin relaxation effects. Additionally we also obtained the spin-coherence time on the order of nanoseconds by using the Hanle effect. For the second component (chapters 6-9), we investigated the dielectric response of BST and Barium Titanate (BTA) (high dielectric constant ferroelectrics) nanoparticles. The results were found to be quite unusual when compared with the dielectric response of film or bulk. The dielectric response is Debye relaxation with only a single relaxation time, and the relaxation time exhibits the Arrhenius Law at temperatures below 200 Kelvin.

The clustered water and interfacial water in Nafion 117 membrane have been quantified by NMR deuterium and proton experiments. The oscillation of intensity profile in 2H CPMG sequence with large duration time is induced by the residual quadrupolar interaction in clustered water. While the intensity profile of 2H CPMG sequence at short duration time followed the rule of exponential decay which is the consequence of the profile-overlapping between clustered water with residual quadrupolar interaction and interfacial water with susceptibility effect. The populations of clustered water and interfacial water in fully hydrated membrane are estimated by quadrupolar echo sequence. The population of former and latter is 70% and 30%,respectively. At an elevated temperature, water in cluster region can transport to the interfacial region and result in change of intensity for proton spectrum. The activation energy of translational diffusion of interfacial water is lower than that of clustered water due to the strong binding energy between sulfonate group and water molecule. The rf-heating effect on the proton spectrum of clustered water also has been explored by 1H CPMG and rotating-frame-relaxation-dispersion experiments. The dielectric response to a time-dependent external electric field provides a source of heat which causes a drift in chemical shift and interfere with transverse relaxation .

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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