Digital Commons Network^™

Cross Generational Personality Variables And Stress Coping Resources Among Mainland Chinese, Yuehong Chen Foley

Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations

Mainland China has undergone drastic social and economic changes in the last century. Rapid social changes often transform individual values and family structures, which directly affect the personality development process and life quality of human beings. The review of English and Chinese-language publications will enhance the readers¡¯ understanding of the Mainland Chinese personality features, coping resources and social changes. The research assessed the impact of social changes on the patterns of personality traits, stress coping resources, and life satisfaction of 2359 people in Mainland China. Participants completed three surveys: 1) the Coping Resources Inventory for Stress (CRIS) (Matheny, Curlette, Aycock, …

Comparison Of The Stress Levels And Gpa Of African American College Students At Historically Black And Predominantly White Institutions., Yashica Dearcie Woods

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stress levels of African American college students attending Historically Black and Predominantly White Institutions were compared. The GPAs of the students were correlated with their stress levels. Racism and social support were explored as factors contributing to stress. Results indicated that African American students attending the Predominantly White institution had higher stress than African American students attending the Historically Black institution and White students attending the Predominantly White institution. The results also indicated that GPA and stress were negatively correlated; as stress levels decreased, GPA increased. A negative correlation was found to be significant with social support and stress; as …

The Creation And Testing Of A Mock Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility For Pain Patients, Gladstone Vincent Reid

Theses

Unfamiliarity with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) facilities leads to unwanted stress-related disturbances in the processing of fMRI data. A mock fMRI facility was developed to increase familiarization among subjects participating in fiviRI studies and to alleviate the time and cost of familiarizing each subject in an actual fMRI facility. A decommissioned Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit was remodeled to visually and aurally resemble the Siemens Magnetom Allegra 3 Telsa fMRI machine currently used at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), Newark, New Jersey. Instrumentation was developed using LabVIEW software which presented subjects with recreated sounds …

The Effects Of Social Anxiety On The Development Of Romantic Relationships In Adolescence, Karen R. Zeff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study sought to investigate the ways in which social anxiety impedes the development of romantic relationships across adolescence. Previous research has demonstrated a natural progression for romantic associations during adolescence in which teens transition from same- to mixed-sex peer groups, and finally to dyadic relationships with romantic partners (Connolly, Furman, Konarski, 2000; Dunphy, 1963). This model of development was the basis for the present investigation. Social anxiety was examined in terms of how it impacted affiliations at the same- and mixed sex peer group levels, and ultimately the formation of romantic relationships. This project involved administering a series …

Computer-Aided Self-Access Pronunciation Materials Designed To Teach Stress In American English, Ann-Marie Krueger Bott

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, increasing attention has been placed on providing pronunciation instruction that meets the communicative needs of nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English. Empirical research and pronunciation materials writers suggest that teaching suprasegmentals before segmentals to intermediate and advanced NNSs could be more beneficial in a shorter period of time. However, the majority of the materials available that emphasize suprasegmentals are textbook-based, relying principally on classroom settings and teacher feedback. The purpose of Pronunciation Progress: Stress in American English is to provide NNSs with pronunciation materials for self-access and student-directed learning environments. These materials are designed as a series of …

An Investigation Of Reactance, Coping, Quality Of Life, And Well -Being, Monique Maria Matherne

Doctoral Dissertations

Psychological reactance (reactance) is a personality variable receiving a great deal of attention. Reactance has been defined as the motivational force aroused in an individual when a behavioral freedom is lost or threatened (Brehm, 1966). The current study assessed the interrelationships among psychological reactance, coping, quality of life, and well-being. A total of 353 participants were analyzed for this study. Participants completed four self-report instruments: (1) the Therapeutic Reactance Scale, (2) the Coping Styles Questionnaire, (3) the Overall Quality of Life Scale, (4) the General Well-Being Schedule, and a demographics questionnaire. Significant gender differences existed for reactance, detachment coping, emotional …

Perceived Stress, Coping, And Adequacy Of Social Support: Implications For Subjective Well-Being In College Students, Kia Asberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stress is a widespread concept commonly associated with psychological and medical problems that may impair an individual's functioning and incur costs on society. Alarming rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and other stress-related problems have been found among college students. This study (N = 241)argues that reducing emotional and financial stress-related costs may be possible through increasing public and professional awareness of moderating variables, such as social support and coping resources. Results indicated that stress, inadequate social support, and escape-avoidance coping were related to higher levels of depression and lower life satisfaction in both males and females. Social support functioned …

Warning Compliance: Effects Of Stress And Working Memory, Jessica Helmick-Rich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of cross-modality warning presentation and retention in a dual-task paradigm in a simulated military environment under various task-induced stress levels. It was also intended to determine what role working memory played in the mode of warning presentation that resulted in the highest retention and subsequent compliance. An all within participant design was created in order to determine if scores on working memory span tasks predicted performance across the varying forms of warning presentation. Furthermore, task-induced stress levels were varied over the course of the experiment to identify if workload transitions affected performance. Results revealed that …

Ethnic Differences Among Maltreated Youths With Respect To Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Related Symptoms, Amie Marie Lemos-Miller

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Symptoms associated with the development and maintenance of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were examined in a diverse group of maltreated adolescents. The first hypothesis was that levels of PTSD symptomatology, depression, dissociation, anger, and maladaptive cognitions were expected to significantly differ among African-American, Caucasian, Hispanic, and Multiracial adolescents. The second hypothesis was that ethnicity was expected to significantly moderate a relationship between (1) severity of PTSD as measured by symptomatology, and (2) the expression of related symptoms (i.e., depression, dissociation, anger, and maladaptive cognitions). Regarding hypothesis one, African-Americans reported less depressive symptoms overall than other ethnic groups, with Caucasians and …

Residual Stress Characterization And Defects Analyses By Microscopy, Subhra Bandyopadhyay

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The structural material to contain the spallation target during transmutation of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) may develop internal stresses resulting from forming operations including plastic deformation and welDing Techniques such as pair-production, activation and life-time analysis based on classical positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) have been used to characterize residual stresses in candidate structural materials subjected to cold-reduction, plastic deformation and welDing Since the PAS techniques can only provide qualitative evaluation of residual stress, calibration curves were developed to estimate the resultant residual stress as a function of PAS line-shape parameters. Since plastic deformation can lead to the generation of defects …

Changes In The Stress Tolerance Of Two Mojave Desert Perennial Shrubs After Eight Years Of Growth In Elevated Carbon Dioxide, Allison Louise Ebbets

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Global climate change is a significant issue facing modern society. Potential changes include increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, increased temperature, altered precipitation patterns, and increased nitrogen deposition. The Nevada Desert FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) Facility (NDFF) examines the effects of increased atmospheric CO2 concentration in an arid ecosystem. The effects of elevated CO2 on plants include increased growth rates and stress tolerance. This study examined the mechanistic changes in drought tolerance of two dominant Mojave Desert shrubs ( Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa) grown in elevated (550 mumol mol-1) or ambient (380 mumol mol -1) CO2 concentrations. Previous studies …

Stability Studies Of Cdte/Cds Thin Film Solar Cells, Bhaskar Reddy Tetali

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CdTe/CdS solar cells have shown great potential for terrestrial solar power applications. To be commercially viable they need to operate efficiently for about 30 years. CdS/CdTe solar cells fabricated at USF have shown record efficiencies upto 16.5% [46]. This research involves the study of thermal stress (TS) and light soaking (LS) on the stability of high efficiency (>10%) solar cells. The change in key electrical parameters V_oc, FF, J_sc, A and J_o are quantified for more than 2000 hours of stressing.

The device degradation was found to increase with stress temperature for TS. Below …

Age At Sexual Assault And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Females Residents Of Virginia, Ahmed Gasmelseed Babiker

Theses and Dissertations

Background Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric debilitating condition that can occur in individuals who experience extremely stressful or traumatic life events. Sexual assault is considered as one of the most traumatic stressor in life. Although few studies investigated the association between history of sexual assault and PTSD, no studies have examined the impact of age at sexual assault on PTSD.Method A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted among adult female residents of Virginia from November 2002 to February 2003. A total of 1,769 women aged 18 and older were interviewed using a random digit dialing method. Detailed screening …

The Effects Of Footshock On The Reinforcing Efficacy Of Cocaine In Male Long-Evans Rats, Elizabeth S. Hendrick

Theses and Dissertations

Many links exist between cocaine abuse and stress. The literature and laboratory studies in rats suggest that this could be because stress increases the reinforcing efficacy of cocaine. Using male Long-Evans rats, experiments in this thesis tested effects of footshock on the reinforcing efficacy of cocaine using a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement. They also examined effects of footshock on the reinforcing efficacy of a half-maximal dose of cocaine. Finally, they tested the effects of footshock on cocaine self-administration in rats initially resistant to acquisition of cocaine self-administration. Footshock did not increase reinforcing efficacy of cocaine on a PR schedule …

Growth And Characterization Of Diamond And Diamond Like Carbon Films With Interlayer, Roja Gottimukkala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diamond and diamond-like carbon films, with their exceptionally good mechanical, chemical, and optical properties, are the best materials as protective hard coatings for electronic devices and cutting tools. The biocompatibility of these materials makes it suitable for bone implants. The wide range applications of these films are hindered because of the high compressive stresses developed during the deposition. Use of carbide and nitride interfacial layers has emerged as one of the methods to reduce the compressive stresses.

The present research focuses on the study of different materials as the interfacial layers for diamond and tetrahedral amorphous carbon films. For tetrahedral …

Stress Diagnostics And Crack Detection In Full-Size Silicon Wafers Using Resonance Ultrasonic Vibrations, Anton Byelyayev

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-destructive monitoring of residual elastic stress in silicon wafers is a matter of strong concern for modern photovoltaic industry. The excess stress can generate cracks within the crystalline structure, which further may lead to wafer breakage. Cracks diagnostics and reduction in multicrystalline silicon, for example, are ones of the most important issues in photovoltaics now. The industry is intent to improve the yield of solar cells fabrication. There is a number of techniques to measure residual stress in semiconductor materials today. They include Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and infrared polariscopy. None of these methods are applicable for in-line diagnostics of …

Effects Of 5-Ht2 Receptor Ligands On Tail Pinch-Induced Stress Responding And Open Field Behavior, John K. Hearn

LSU Master's Theses

Stress is known to exert an influence on neuroendocrine, autonomic, hormonal, and immune functioning. As a result of the debilitating effects of stress on numerous bodily systems, there exists a large body of research devoted to the etiology, physiological sequelae, and treatment of the condition. Further, the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) has been implicated in stress responding. Presently, there is conflict in the literature as to the precise role serotonin plays in mediating the stress response. This study was an attempt to further elucidate the role of 5-HT in mediating an organism’s response to tail pinch stress and the open field. …