Parent-Child Interaction and Children's Self-Concept

This study is designed to investigate the relationships between marital communication, the quality of parents' ability to assist their children in joint problem-solving, and children's independent mastery attempts and perceived competence at problem-solving, and behavioral indicators of self-esteem. Couples' skill at regulating their own and their children's negative affect within the marital and parent-child family subsystems is hypothesized to predict the quality of their assistance, or scaffolding behavior, to their children during joint problem-solving. Further, the quality of parental scaffolding behavior is expected to predict children's independent mastery attempts, levels of perceived competence at problemsolving, and behavioral indicators of self-esteem. Families for the study will be those with children between 3 1/2 to six years of age recruited from subjects participating in a longitudinal study of communication in marriage being conducted at the Denver Center for Marital and Family Studies. Families will participate in three interaction tasks designed to tap parental scaffolding behavior during problemsolving with their children. Children will be administered self-report measures to tap their perceived competence at such problem-solving as those in the interaction tasks and parents will complete a questionnaire tapping the behavioral indicators of their child's self-esteem. Family interaction data will be coded with the use of a microanalytic coding system developed by this study, the Parent-Child Interaction Coding System. Marital communication data at three time points, premaritally, during the transition to parenthood , and concurrently, will be obtained from couples' interactions from the longitudinal study. The clinical significance of this study includes implications for training couples how to effectively regulate negative affect and offer their children sensitive assistance during joint problem-solving.

Dyadic coping e comunicação conjugal: Estudo comparativo de casais com e sem cancro

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no ISPA – Instituto Universitário para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Clínica

La communication de la douleur et de l'incapacité au sein des couples dont l'un des partenaires souffre de douleur persistante

Au cours des dernières années, il a été démontré que la façon dont la douleur est communiquée, par l’entremise de comportements de douleur, est associée à l’incapacité auto-rapportée et à la trajectoire de chronicité des individus souffrant de douleur persistante. Cependant, très peu de recherches ont investigué le lien entre la perception de la douleur dans le couple et la trajectoire de chronicité des individus souffrant de douleur persistante. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, trois études ont été réalisées afin de mieux comprendre les facteurs impliqués dans la communication de la douleur au sein de couples dont l’un des partenaires souffrait de douleur persistante. Une première étude a été réalisée afin de valider une version francophone du « Pain Disability Index (PDI) », un questionnaire développé pour évaluer l’incapacité reliée à la douleur persistante. Comme attendu, les résultats indiquent que cette version du PDI reproduit la structure factorielle de la version originale du PDI et présente une bonne fidélité et validité. Une autre étude a été réalisée auprès de couples dont l’un des partenaires souffre de douleur persistante afin d’évaluer les corrélats de la justesse empathique, d’explorer la relation entre la justesse empathique reliée à la douleur et différentes variables associées à l’adaptation du patient et du conjoint et enfin d’explorer la relation entre la justesse empathique reliée à la douleur et des variables relationnelles. Les résultats suggèrent que de façon générale, la justesse empathique est associée à des résultats négatifs chez les patients souffrant de douleur persistante et ne semble pas un corrélat important de la satisfaction conjugale. Enfin, une dernière étude a été réalisée afin de comprendre l’influence de la concordance des pensées catastrophiques dans le couple sur l’émission de comportements de douleur et sur la perception de la douleur et de l’incapacité lors d’une tâche physiquement exigeante. Il a été trouvé que les participants ayant un niveau élevé de pensées catastrophiques, qui étaient en relation avec un conjoint ayant un faible niveau de pensées catastrophiques, ont émis plus de comportements de douleur que tous les autres groupes. Ces résultats suggèrent que les personnes souffrant de douleur persistante ayant un niveau élevé de pensées catastrophiques peuvent avoir besoin d’augmenter le « volume » de la communication de la douleur afin de compenser pour la tendance des conjoints ayant un faible niveau de pensées catastrophiques à sous-estimer les signaux de douleur. En résumé, puisque l’émission de comportements de douleur est associée à l’incapacité auto-rapportée des individus souffrant de douleur persistante, il est possible que toute situation qui contribue à une augmentation des comportements de douleur, contribuera également à un niveau d’incapacité plus élevé. Ainsi, d’un point de vue clinique, les interventions qui amènent le conjoint à faire de l’écoute active et à valider la personne souffrante, pourraient réduire la présence des comportements de douleur et potentiellement avoir un impact sur le niveau d’incapacité des personnes souffrant de douleur persistante.

Validation of the couples' cancer communication scale

Un diagnostic de cancer du sein met la relation d’un couple à l'épreuve. La communication à propos du cancer peut aider les conjoints à s’appuyer mutuellement afin de mieux s’adapter à la maladie. Cependant, dans la documentation existante, peu d’échelles mesurent explicitement cette forme de communication. Ce projet avait pour but de valider l’échelle de communication des couples aux prises avec le cancer (CCC). Les patientes (N = 120) et leurs conjoints (N = 109) ont été interrogés au sujet de leur expérience avec le cancer du sein. Une analyse factorielle performé sur l’ensemble des données a permis de retenir deux facteurs pour l’échelle CCC, l’évitement et l’ouverture à la communication. L’échelle a démontré une bonne validité convergente avec le Primary Communication Inventory (r = .54, p <.01 patientes; r = .55, p <.01 partenaires). Finalement, l’échelle CCC prédit la dépression (Δr² = 0.029) et l’ajustement marital (Δr² = 0.032) au-delà de la communication générale. Avec plus ample développement, l'échelle actuelle pourrait servir à des fins de recherche ainsi que dans des contextes cliniques où une évaluation après un diagnostic de cancer permettrait, au besoin, la mise en oeuvre précoce d’interventions sur la communication conjugale au propos de la maladie.

Post-Conflict Maternal Communication, Children's Understandings, and Child Functioning in Violent and Non-Violent Families

The last two decades have been marked by a growing public awareness of family violence. Research by social scientists has suggested that family violence is widespread (Gelles and Straus, 1988). It is estimated that every year 1.8 to 4 million women are physically abused by their partners (Novello, 1992). In fact, more women are abused by their husbands or boyfriends than are injured in car accidents, muggings, or rapes (Jaffe, Wolfe, and Wilson, 1990). A recent prevalence study by Fantuzzo, Boruch, Beriama, Atkins, and Marcus (1997) found that children were disproportionately present in households where there was a substantial incident of adult female assault. Experts estimate that 3.3 to 10 million children are exposed to marital violence each year (Carlson, 1984; Straus, 1991). Until recently, most researchers did not consider the impact of parental conflict on the children who witness this violence. The early literature in this field primarily focused on the incidence of violence against women and the inadequate response of community agencies (Jaffe et al, 1990). The needs of children were rarely considered. However, researchers have become increasingly aware that children exposed to marital violence are victims of a range of psychological maltreatment (e.g., terrorizing, isolation;Hart, Brassared & Karlson, 1996) and are at serious risk for the development of psychological problems (Fantuzzo, DePaola, Lambert, Martino, Anderson, and Sutton, 1991). Jouriles, Murphy and O'Leary (1989) found that children of battered women were four times more likely to exhibit psychopathology as were children living in non-violent homes. Further, researchers have found associations between childhood exposure to parental violence and the expression of violence in adulthood (Carlson, 1990). Existing research suggests that children who have witnessed marital violence manifest numerous emotional, social, and behavioral problems (Sternberg et al., 1993; Fantuzzo et al., 1991; Jaffe et al, 1990). Studies have found that children of battered women exhibit more internalizing and externalizing behavior problems than non-witnesschildren (Hughes and Fantuzzo, 1994; McCloskey, Figueredo, and Koss, 1995). In addition, children exposed to marital violence have been found to exhibit difficulties with social problem-solving, and have lower levels of social competence than nonwitnesses (Rosenberg, 1987; Moore, Pepler, Weinberg, Hammond, Waddell, & Weiser, 1990). Other reported difficulties include low self esteem (Hughes, 1988), poor school performance (Moore et al., 1990) and problems with aggression (Holden & Ritchie, 1991; Jaffe, Wolfe, Wilson, & Zak, 1986). Further, within the last decade, researchers have found that some children are traumatized by the witnessing experience, showing elevated levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (Devoe & Graham-Bermann, 1997; Rossman, Bingham, & Emde, 1996; Kilpatrick, Litt, & Williams, 1997). These findings corroborate clinical reports that describe many exposed children as experiencing trauma reactions. It appears that the negative effects of witnessing marital violence are numerous and varied, ranging from mild emotional and behavioral problems to clinically significant levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms. These incidence figures and research findings indicate that children's exposure to violence is a significant problem in our nation today and has serious implications for the future.

Communication: Transient Anion States Of Phenol…(h₂o)n (n = 1, 2) Complexes: Search For Microsolvation Signatures.

We report on the shape resonance spectra of phenol-water clusters, as obtained from elastic electron scattering calculations. Our results, along with virtual orbital analysis, indicate that the well-known indirect mechanism for hydrogen elimination in the gas phase is significantly impacted on by microsolvation, due to the competition between vibronic couplings on the solute and solvent molecules. This fact suggests how relevant the solvation effects could be for the electron-driven damage of biomolecules and the biomass delignification [E. M. de Oliveira et al., Phys. Rev. A 86, 020701(R) (2012)]. We also discuss microsolvation signatures in the differential cross sections that could help to identify the solvated complexes and access the composition of gaseous admixtures of these species.

[temporomandibular Disorders In Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Short-communication.]

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic painful syndrome and the coexistence of a painful condition caused by Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) and FMS has been frequently raised for several studies, however, more likely hypothesis is that a set of FMS characteristics may lead to the onset of TMD symptoms and they are not merely coexisting conditions. Therefore, our aim is presenting a review of literature about the relation between fibromyalgia and the signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders. For this purpose, a bibliographic search was performed of the period of 1990-2013, in the Medline, Pubmed, Lilacs and Scielo databases, using the keywords fibromyalgia, temporomandibular disorders and facial pain. Here we present a set of findings in the literature showing that fibromyalgia can lead to TMD symptoms. These studies demonstrated greater involvement of the stomatognathic system in FMS and myogenic disorders of masticatory system are the most commonly found in those patients. FMS appears to have a series of characteristics that constitute predisposing and triggering factors for TMD.

Candida albicans in patients with oronasal communication and obturator prostheses

Patients using obturator prostheses often present denture-induced stomatitis. In order to detect the presence of oral Candida albicans in patients with oronasal communications and to evaluate the effectiveness of a topical antifungal treatment, cytological smears obtained from the buccal and palatal mucosa of 10 adult patients, and from the nasal acrylic surface of their obturator prostheses were examined. A therapeutic protocol comprising the use of oral nystatin (Mycostatin®) and prosthesis disinfection with sodium hypochlorite was prescribed for all patients. Seven patients were positive for C. albicans in the mucosa, with 1 negative result for the prosthetic surface in this group of patients. Post-treatment evaluation revealed the absence of C. albicans on prosthesis surface and on the oral mucosa of all patients. The severity of the candidal infection was significantly higher in the palatal mucosa than in the buccal mucosa, but similar in the palatal mucosa and prosthesis surface, indicating that the mucosa underlying the prosthesis is more susceptible to infection. The therapeutic protocol was effective in all cases, which emphasizes the need for denture disinfection in order to avoid reinfection of the mucosa.

Communication structure of cortical networks

Large-scale cortical networks exhibit characteristic topological properties that shape communication between brain regions and global cortical dynamics. Analysis of complex networks allows the description of connectedness, distance, clustering, and centrality that reveal different aspects of how the network's nodes communicate. Here, we focus on a novel analysis of complex walks in a series of mammalian cortical networks that model potential dynamics of information flow between individual brain regions. We introduce two new measures called absorption and driftness. Absorption is the average length of random walks between any two nodes, and takes into account all paths that may diffuse activity throughout the network. Driftness is the ratio between absorption and the corresponding shortest path length. For a given node of the network, we also define four related measurements, namely in-and out-absorption as well as in-and out-driftness, as the averages of the corresponding measures from all nodes to that node, and from that node to all nodes, respectively. We find that the cat thalamo-cortical system incorporates features of two classic network topologies, Erdos-Renyi graphs with respect to in-absorption and in-driftness, and configuration models with respect to out-absorption and out-driftness. Moreover, taken together these four measures separate the network nodes based on broad functional roles (visual, auditory, somatomotor, and frontolimbic).

Organized Crime and Terrorism: From the Cells Towards Political Communication, A Case Study

During the first half of 2006 the city of Sao Paulo suffered three series of violent attacks against the security forces, civilians, and the government. The violent campaign also included a massive rebellion in prisons and culminated in the kidnapping of a journalist and the broadcast of a manifesto from the criminal organization PCC threatening the police and the government. Right after, the main device used to contain organized crime in the prisons was declared unconstitutional. This episode represents a prototypical example of the use of media-focused terrorism by organized crime for projection into the political communication arena.

A Cost-Benefit Analysis on Modulation Formats for 40-Gb/s Optical Communication Systems

This article discusses possible approaches for optical network capacity upgrade by considering the use of different modulation formats at 40 Gb/s. First, a performance evaluation is carried out regarding tolerance to three impairments: spectral narrowing due to filter cascading, chromatic dispersion, and self-phase modulation. Next, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted, considering the specific optoelectronic components required for the optical transmitter/receiver configuration of each format.

Chaotic communication based on the particle-in-a-box electronic circuit

A secure communication system based on the error-feedback synchronization of the electronic model of the particle-in-a-box system is proposed. This circuit allows a robust and simple electronic emulation of the mechanical behavior of the collisions of a particle inside a box, exhibiting rich chaotic behavior. The required nonlinearity to emulate the box walls is implemented in a simple way when compared with other analog electronic chaotic circuits. A master/slave synchronization of two circuits exhibiting a rich chaotic behavior demonstrates the potentiality of this system to secure communication. In this system, binary data stream information modulates the bifurcation parameter of the particle-in-a-box electronic circuit in the transmitter. In the receiver circuit, this parameter is estimated using Pecora-Carroll synchronization and error-feedback synchronization. The performance of the demodulation process is verified through the eye pattern technique applied on the recovered bit stream. During the demodulation process, the error-feedback synchronization presented better performance compared with the Pecora-Carroll synchronization. The application of the particle-in-a-box electronic circuit in a secure communication system is demonstrated.

Remote control of CNC machines using the CyberOPC communication system over public networks

During the last few years, the evolution of fieldbus and computers networks allowed the integration of different communication systems involving both production single cells and production cells, as well as other systems for business intelligence, supervision and control. Several well-adopted communication technologies exist today for public and non-public networks. Since most of the industrial applications are time-critical, the requirements of communication systems for remote control differ from common applications for computer networks accessing the Internet, such as Web, e-mail and file transfer. The solution proposed and outlined in this work is called CyberOPC. It includes the study and the implementation of a new open communication system for remote control of industrial CNC machines, making the transmission delay for time-critical control data shorter than other OPC-based solutions, and fulfilling cyber security requirements.