Abstract This thesis examines the Mid-Pliocene climatic extreme ca. three million years ago (Ma) which was the latest longtime warm period. It is an important topic because the climate back then was warmer compared with the present. The bipolar regions are studied because they represent the largest areas that control the global climate. This study is based on clay mineral research that may significantly improve our knowledge of the Mid-Pliocene climate when combined with other palaeoenvironmental data. The paleoclimatological objectives of this study were: 1) to investigate how clay minerals reflect the Mid-Pliocene Global Warmth event, 2) to study ice sheet development at high latitudes, especially in East-Antarctica, and the history of ice rafting and sea ice, especially in the Arctic Ocean. This thesis deals with the clay mineral distribution and compositional analysis of the Pliocene-aged marine sediment sequences provided by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP). The first studied site, Site 1165, is located at the continental rise of Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, and the second studied site, Site 911, is located at the Yermak Plateau, north of Svalbard, in the Arctic Ocean. The Pliocene smectite clay minerals at Site 1165 were mainly derived from Antarctic continental sources and transported to the site primarly by bottom currents related to warm events during the last 5 Ma. The evidence obtained in this study shows that the East Antarctic ice sheet may have been a dynamic ice sheet during the past 5 Ma, especially during the Mid-Pliocene. The results from the Mid-Pliocene possibly suggest a general warming trend. Based on the composition of the heavy minerals and clay minerals, at Site 911, the Pliocene smectite clay minerals were mainly transported within sea ice by the Siberian branch of the Transpolar Drift. The results indicate a warming trend at approximately 3 Ma after which they indicate a shift back to glacial conditions. Based on this study, the Mid-Pliocene Global Warmth can be observed in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

Bakgrund: Under det perioperativa vårdförloppet föreligger många riskfaktorer för patienten att utveckla oavsiktlig hypotermi. Detta kan leda till flertalet operativa och postoperativa komplikationer vilket kan skapa obehag och lidande för patienten, förlänga vårdtider och generera ökade kostnader för samhället. Den perioperativa specialistsjuksköterskans omvårdnadsansvar innefattar ett flertal värmebevarande omvårdnadsåtgärder för att förebygga och behandla hypotermi hos patienten. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva anestesi-, operations- och intensivvårdssjuksköterskors värmebevarande omvårdnadsåtgärder i det perioperativa vårdförloppet. Metod: En studie med deskriptiv analys utfördes. Data samlades in genom en strukturerad intervjuguide. Sammanlagt deltog 36 specialistsjuksköterskor i studien. Resultat: Specialistsjuksköterskornas värmebevarande omvårdnadsåtgärder bestod utav både passiva och aktiva åtgärder varav tre var utmärkande; att använda luftvärmetäcke, att ge varma infusions- och spolvätskor samt att undvika onödig exponering av patienten. Rutinmässig temperaturmätning av patienten saknades i det perioperativa vårdförloppet. Dokumentering av värmebevarande omvårdnadsåtgärder utfördes i hög grad inom det perioperativa specialistsjukskötersketeamet. Slutsats: Flertalet aktiva och passiva värmebevarande omvårdnadsåtgärder utfördes perioperativt trots avsaknad av skriftliga lokala arbetsrutiner och nationella riktlinjer. Förvärmning av patienten eller operationsbädden förekom däremot inte som aktiva förebyggande omvårdnadsåtgärder. Klinisk betydelse: Studien önskar lyfta fram ett viktigt omvårdnadsområde för specialistsjuksköterskor verksamma inom perioperativ vård. Studieresultatet skulle kunna ligga till grund för utbildningsinsatser och utformandet av lokala arbetsrutiner gällande värmebevarande omvårdnadsåtgärder. / Background: During perioperative care multiple risks exist for the patient to develop accidental hypothermia. This can cause increased morbidity, unnecessary patient suffering, prolonged recovery time and subsequently increased costs for the society. Perioperative nursing care involves several warmth preserving interventions to prevent inadvertent hypothermia. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the perioperative specialist nurses warmth preserving nursing interventions in perioperative care. Method: A study with descriptive analyses has been performed. Data was collected through a structured interview guide. A total of 36 specialist nurses participated in the study. Result: The specialist nurses’ warmth preserving interventions consisted of both passive and active interventions where three were more distinctive; to use forced air warming blankets, to give warm intravenous and/or irrigation fluid and to avoid unnecessary exposure of the patient. Warmth preserving nursing interventions was well documented within the perioperative nursing team. Temperature monitoring was not routinely performed. Conclusion:. Several active and passive warmth preserving interventions were carried out, even though local and national guidelines regarding warmth preserving interentions were missing. Prewarming of patient or operating table was not implemented as active preventative measures. Clinical significance: This study wishes to aid in the ongoing work of improving perioperative care by giving focus to an important area within nursing. The study result will hopefully encourage to further education and to the development of local guidelines regarding warmth preserving interventions.

The effects of distortion has been investigated prior to this study, however most of these studies focus on the objective physicalities of a certain type of distortion or they might apply distortion in static amounts to examine effects of loudspeaker distortion. Objectively the varying types of distortion may be different, however there are little explanations on how these types subjectively might sound different. This study aimed to investigate how subjective preference and perception of the timbral attributes warmth and roughness may vary between types of distortion, and if there was a pattern between these using three different types of distortion (zero-crossing, solid state and tube), applied at two different levels (high and low) and to two different instruments (guitar and vocals). The outcome indicated that subjects most prefer tube distortion and that this distortion was considered to provide the most amounts of warmth while also the least amounts of roughness. There were also interaction effects indicating guitar being less sensitive about the level of distortion while being more sensitive about the type of distortion for the measures of preference and amounts of roughness, when compared to vocals.

During the course of human evolution, being a member of a group has been more beneficial for survival than being alone. Food gathering, protection from predators, cooperation, and care for offspring are distributed among group members, increasing the likelihood for survival. It is as if there is an interplay between agent and environment that interprets being socially cooperative as pleasurable and being left out as painful. Studies have been dedicated to examine how our social life is one of the most important aspects of health and well-being, particularly social relationships. Since this link has been demonstrated, it would be interesting to incorporate the field of neuroscience to understand the involvement of the human brain in our social experiences, specifically the experience of social connection. The current state of neuroscience does not allow researchers to examine this kind of subjective experiences, simply because of the lack of proper tools and knowledge. Research in this field has come a long way since the early stages, and studies have indicated on significant results regarding the involved neural regions. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the anterior insula (AI) are active when threats to social connection is experienced. They are also active in situations were survival is threatened. An experience of social connection evokes a feeling of (social) safety, in part because it activates regions of the brain associated with physical safety, such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). In similar fashion, a sense of social closeness ("warmth") activates the ventral striatum (VS), which is associated with physical warmth and studies have shown that social and physical warmth share overlapping neural activity in VS. Finally, Mu-opioids have been shown to be responsible for social bonding; while using an opioid antagonist such as naltrexone, decreases the feeling of social connection. Studies in this field are few; one should take their results with caution. The field continues to grow, and the studies that have been done to date give exciting hints of the influence of social relationships on physical health and mental well-being.

Guided by the limited previous literature of adolescent sexual debut and father behaviors, this study examined the influence of father warmth, involvement, and monitoring on adolescent age of sexual debut and likelihood of sexual debut before age 16. Participants and measures were drawn from the Flourishing Families Project and included 346 families and variables from measures completed by adolescents and their parents. A zero-inflated Poisson model was used to test the relationship between father variables and adolescent sexual debut. Gender differences were also analyzed. The findings indicate that an increase in father warmth correlates with a decreased age of sexual debut for adolescent sons and daughters. Results also suggest that an increase in father engagement is related to an increase in the age of debut. However, this variable was also associated with increasing the likelihood of debut for adolescent sons. No significance was found between father monitoring and the age or likelihood of debut. Findings suggest that father variables, independent of mother behaviors, uniquely influence adolescent sexual debut; these effects seem to be protective in some circumstances, while increasing risk in other instances. Implications for future research is considered.

Given potential risk factors in the lives of adolescents, parents are usually motivated to monitor and protect their adolescents. There is a need to better understand what combinations of parental dimensions and practice best influence an adolescent's propensity to disclose or conceal personal information with their parents. This paper examines how parenting dimensions (warmth, psychological control, and harsh punishment) and the parenting practice of solicitation influence an adolescent's propensity to disclose or conceal information. Adolescents in 106 families (53 females; predominantly Caucasian) reported on their mothers' and fathers' parenting dimensions as well as their parents' effort to solicit information. Factor analysis was conducted on the measure typically used for disclosure to test whether the items measured only disclosure or if two distinct adolescent outcomes of disclosure and concealment were more appropriate. Results supported our contention that disclosure and concealment might be considered separately. Other results indicated a positive association between adolescents' disclosure and the positive parenting dimension warmth and parental solicitation. There was a negative association between disclosure and harsh punishment in the father-son dyad. Psychological control was positively associated with concealment for both adolescent boys and girls. With a few exceptions, same gendered dyads (father-son, mother-daughter) showed the most associations between parenting dimensions and practices and disclosure or concealment.

Using both observational and questionnaire self-report data, this study examined preadolescent self-regulation as a potential mediator of the relationship between parental involvement, parent-child warmth and school engagement in a two wave panel design. Data was taken from two parent families in waves two and three of the Flourishing Families project which included 335 families with children between the ages of 12 and 14. Findings showed that parental, especially paternal involvement, was directly correlated to child's school engagement. Parental involvement and parent-child warmth were also shown to have an indirect effect on school engagement via child's self-regulation. Educators and therapists should be mindful of the parent-child relationship when dealing with students struggling in the academic setting.

Prior research has established that a portion of depressive symptoms in adolescents is predicted by parenting behaviors. The purpose of this study was to identify the moderating role of hope on the relationship between two parenting variables (warmth and psychological control) and adolescent depressive symptoms. Participants included 459 adolescents ages 13 to 14 years and their families from waves 3 and 4 of the Flourishing Families Project. Path analysis was utilized to answer the proposed hypotheses and research questions. Multiple group analysis was utilized to determine if results were different for boys and girls. Significant results indicated that in low-hope girls, depressive symptoms increased as maternal warmth increased but decreased as paternal warmth increased. Mother’s psychological control had a minimal effect on child’s depressive symptoms in high-hope children. Father’s psychological control predicted an increase in depressive symptoms in high-hope children. Findings suggest that father’s warmth is particularly important for low-hope girls, maternal warmth may have inadvertent negative effects among low-hope girls, and paternal psychological control is of notable concern for high-hope children. These parenting behaviors as well as hope and depressive symptoms should be assessed for and addressed in clinical practice with parents and adolescent children.

University of the Pacific 2023 This study was an attempt to better understand important mechanisms that may moderate the relationship between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and negative outcomes such as anxiety and depression in females as they are diagnosed at a much lower rate and represent an underserved population. Using archival data from the National Institute of Mental Health this study investigated whether parental warmth and social competence were associated with decreased levels of anxiety and depression in 8-year-old females with ASD with average cognitive abilities. It was found that social competence was a significant factor in decreasing anxiety and depression. Surprisingly, parental warmth was not found to be significant. This research adds to the paucity of data relevant to autistic females with average and higher cognitive functioning. Potential interventions, as well as implications for future research are discussed.

Social withdrawal is often associated with a number of indices of adjustment and maladjustment, but little research exists that attempts to uncover potential protective factors. This study longitudinally examined the moderating role of parent extraversion and parent warmth on the association between two types of social withdrawal (shyness and unsociability) and later indices of adjustment and maladjustment. Participants were 463 families from the flourishing families project. Results showed no longitudinal associations between social withdrawal and later indices of adjustment or maladjustment. However, when parent extraversion was added as a moderator, shyness was positively associated with prosocial behavior for those with introverted parents, and positively associated with shame for those with highly extraverted parents. Implications are discussed.