The relationship of adult attachment to emotion, catastrophizing, control, threshold and tolerance, in experimentally-induced pain

Although insecure attachment has been associated with a range of variables linked with problematic adjustment to chronic pain, the causal direction of these relationships remains unclear. Adult attachment style is, theoretically, developmentally antecedent to cognitions, emotions and behaviours (and might therefore be expected to contribute to maladjustment). It can also be argued, however, that the experience of chronic pain increases attachment insecurity. This project examined this issue by determining associations between adult attachment characteristics, collected prior to an acute (coldpressor) pain experience, and a range of emotional, cognitive, pain tolerance, intensity and threshold variables collected during and after the coldpressor task. A convenience sample of 58 participants with no history of chronic pain was recruited. Results demonstrated that attachment anxiety was associated with lower pain thresholds; more stress, depression, and catastrophizing; diminished perceptions of control over pain; and diminished ability to decrease pain. Conversely, secure attachment was linked with lower levels of depression and catastrophizing, and more control over pain. Of particular interest were findings that attachment style moderated the effects of pain intensity on the tendency to catastrophize, such that insecurely attached individuals were more likely to catastrophize when reporting high pain intensity. This is the first study to link attachment with perceptions of pain in a pain-free sample. These findings cast anxious attachment as a vulnerability factor for chronic pain following acute episodes of pain, while secure attachment may provide more resilience. (c) 2006 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

O IMPACTO DE BEM-ESTAR NO TRABALHO E DE CAPITAL PSICOLÓGICO SOBRE INTENÇÃO DE ROTATIVIDADE: UM ESTUDO COM PROFESSORES

A dinâmica acelerada dos negócios, as mudanças constantes nas políticas de gestão de pessoas aplicadas por organizações e as complexas interações empresariais em rede parecem ter mudado visivelmente as ênfases dadas por pesquisadores às facetas do comportamento de profissionais que atuam em organizações. Desse modo, dentre tantos outros temas, o planejamento que cada profissional faz acerca de sua saída da organização, denominado intenção de rotatividade, tornou-se novamente um fenômeno de interesse no campo do comportamento organizacional. Atualmente, a alternativa mais aplicada aos estudos do comportamento organizacional tem sido a elaboração de modelos para representar o escopo de uma investigação científica. O objetivo geral deste estudo foi testar um modelo teórico para intenção de rotatividade, analisando-se sua relação com três dimensões de bem-estar no trabalho (satisfação no trabalho, envolvimento com o trabalho e comprometimento organizacional afetivo), moderada por capital psicológico, conceito composto por quatro capacidades psicológicas (eficácia, otimismo, esperança e resiliência). Para análise do modelo foram testadas quatro hipóteses relativas às interações das variáveis nele contidas. Participaram do estudo 85 professores, escolhidos por conveniência, que atuavam em uma universidade na Região do ABCD Paulista. A idade média dos participantes era de 45 anos (DP=11,49), sendo a maioria do sexo masculino, casada, com mestrado concluído e tempo de trabalho variando de 1 a 5 anos. Foi utilizado um questionário de auto preenchimento contendo cinco medidas brasileiras validadas e precisas, as quais aferiram as variáveis do modelo teórico. Os resultados descritivos indicaram que os docentes detêm um quadro de bem-estar no trabalho composto por satisfações maiores com colegas, chefias e tarefas e menores com salários e promoções; desse quadro fazem parte também índices medianos de envolvimento com o trabalho e medianos de compromisso afetivo com a universidade em que atuavam. Entretanto, observou-se que, apesar dos índices medianos das dimensões de bem-estar no trabalho, foi revelada baixa intenção de rotatividade por parte dos docentes. O capital psicológico observado entre os docentes situa-se alto. Análises de correlação pelo r de Pearson informaram índices negativos e significativos entre as três dimensões de bem-estar no trabalho e intenção de rotatividade. Capital psicológico também se mostrou negativa e significativamente correlacionado à intenção de rotatividade. Tais resultados informam que o plano de deixar a universidade onde atuam é inversamente proporcional ao bem-estar vivenciado no trabalho e ao nível de capital psicológico retido pelos docentes. Parece que docentes com elevado capital psicológico e que se sentem bem no trabalho planejam menos deixar a universidade onde atuam, sendo possível interpretar como plausível o inverso. Análises de regressão linear múltipla hierárquica, executadas pelo método enter, informaram que capital psicológico atua como moderador na relação entre bem-estar no trabalho e intenção de rotatividade: foram observadas aumento na predição de intenção de rotatividade quando se adicionou capital psicológico a dois modelos compostos, respectivamente, por satisfação no trabalho e envolvimento com o trabalho. Portanto, o alto nível de capital psicológico poderia potencializar o impacto de satisfação no trabalho e envolvimento com o trabalho sobre a intenção de rotatividade. Por outro lado, no modelo integrado por comprometimento organizacional afetivo o qual revelou maior força de predição sobre intenção de rotatividade, capital psicológico conseguiu reduzir levemente o impacto. Parece que docentes com alto nível de capital psicológico agem sob menos influência do seu compromisso afetivo com a organização quando fazem planos de sair da universidade empregadora. Portanto, os resultados deste trabalho permitem reconhecer que o estado positivo e saudável representado por bem-estar no trabalho poderia ter seu impacto sobre intenção de rotatividade moderado levemente por capital psicológico. Além disso, os resultados descritivos foram discutidos, comparando-os com outros estudos empíricos com professores. Por fim, foi proposta uma pauta para investigações futuras e sugerido criar uma nova linha de pesquisa no Brasil na investigação do papel moderador do conceito integral de capital psicológico nas relações entre constructos do campo do comportamento organizacional, baseada nas lacunas da literatura nacional apontadas nesse estudo.

Modeling communication services for rapid realization

The availability and pervasiveness of new communication services, such as mobile networks and multimedia communication over digital networks, has resulted in strong demands for approaches to modeling and realizing customized communication systems. The stovepipe approach used to develop today's communication applications is no longer effective because it results in a lengthy and expensive development cycle. To address this need, the Communication Virtual Machine (CVM) technology has been developed by researchers at Florida International University. The CVM technology includes the Communication Modeling Language (CML) and the platform, CVM, to model and rapidly realize communication models. ^ In this dissertation, we investigate the basic communication primitives needed to capture and specify an end-user's requirements for communication-intensive applications, and how these specifications can be automatically realized. To identify the basic communication primitives, we perform a feature analysis on a set of communication-intensive scenarios from the healthcare domain. Based on the feature analysis, we define a new version of CML that includes the meta-model definition (abstract syntax and static semantics) and a partial behavior model (operational semantics). To validate our CML definition, we present a case study that shows how one of the scenarios from the healthcare domain is modeled and automatically realized. ^

Design of a dynamic e-commerce system with engineering applications

The primary purpose of this thesis was to design and develop a prototype e-commerce system where dynamic parameters are included in the decision-making process and execution of an online transaction. The system developed and implemented takes into account previous usage history, priority and associated engineering capabilities. The system was developed using three-tiered client server architecture. The interface was the Internet browser. The middle tiered web server was implemented using Active Server Pages, which form a link between the client system and other servers. A relational database management system formed the data component of the three-tiered architecture. It includes a capability for data warehousing which extracts needed information from the stored data of the customers as well as their orders. The system organizes and analyzes the data that is generated during a transaction to formulate a client's behavior model during and after a transaction. This is used for making decisions like pricing, order rescheduling during a client's forthcoming transaction. The system helps among other things to bring about predictability to a transaction execution process, which could be highly desirable in the current competitive scenario.

A mãe nas ações de acompanhamento do crescimento e desenvolvimento infantil

ARAÚJO, Marluce Oliveira de; ENDERS, Bertha Cruz. A mãe nas ações de acompanhamento do crescimento e desenvolvimento infantil. Revista Baiana de enfermagem, Salvador, v.19,n.1/2/3,p.93-103, jan./dez. 2004, jann./dez.2005.

A mãe nas ações de acompanhamento do crescimento e desenvolvimento infantil

ARAÚJO, Marluce Oliveira de; ENDERS, Bertha Cruz. A mãe nas ações de acompanhamento do crescimento e desenvolvimento infantil. Revista Baiana de enfermagem, Salvador, v.19,n.1/2/3,p.93-103, jan./dez. 2004, jann./dez.2005.

Fatalism, Attributions of Failure and Academic Performance in Mapuche and Non-Mapuche Chilean Students

This study investigated the role of fatalism as a cultural value orientation and causal attributions for past failure in the academic performance of high school students in the Araucania Region of Chile. Three thousand three hundred and fourty eight Mapuche and Non-Mapuche students participated in the study. Consistent with the Culture and Behavior model that guided the research, the test of causal models based on the analysis of structural equations show that academic performance is in part a function of variations in the level of fatalism, directly as well as indirectly through its influence in the attribution processes and failure-related emotions. In general, the model representing the proposed structure of relations among fatalism, attributions, and emotions as determinants of academic performance fit the data for both Mapuche and non-Mapuche students. However, results show that some of the relations in the model are different for students from these two ethnic groups. Finally, according to the results from the analysis of causal models, family SES appear to be the most important determinant of fatalism.

Formalizing operator task analysis

Human operators are unique in their decision making capability, judgment and nondeterminism. Their sense of judgment, unpredictable decision procedures, susceptibility to environmental elements can cause them to erroneously execute a given task description to operate a computer system. Usually, a computer system is protected against some erroneous human behaviors by having necessary safeguard mechanisms in place. But some erroneous human operator behaviors can lead to severe or even fatal consequences especially in safety critical systems. A generalized methodology that can allow modeling and analyzing the interactions between computer systems and human operators where the operators are allowed to deviate from their prescribed behaviors will provide a formal understanding of the robustness of a computer system against possible aberrant behaviors by its human operators. We provide several methodology for assisting in modeling and analyzing human behaviors exhibited while operating computer systems. Every human operator is usually given a specific recommended set of guidelines for operating a system. We first present process algebraic methodology for modeling and verifying recommended human task execution behavior. We present how one can perform runtime monitoring of a computer system being operated by a human operator for checking violation of temporal safety properties. We consider the concept of a protection envelope giving a wider class of behaviors than those strictly prescribed by a human task that can be tolerated by a system. We then provide a framework for determining whether a computer system can maintain its guarantees if the human operators operate within their protection envelopes. This framework also helps to determine the robustness of the computer system under weakening of the protection envelopes. In this regard, we present a tool called Tutela that assists in implementing the framework. We then examine the ability of a system to remain safe under broad classes of variations of the prescribed human task. We develop a framework for addressing two issues. The first issue is: given a human task specification and a protection envelope, will the protection envelope properties still hold under standard erroneous executions of that task by the human operators? In other words how robust is the protection envelope? The second issue is: in the absence of a protection envelope, can we approximate a protection envelope encompassing those standard erroneous human behaviors that can be safely endured by the system? We present an extension of Tutela that implements this framework. The two frameworks mentioned above use Concurrent Game Structures (CGS) as models for both computer systems and their human operators. However, there are some shortcomings of this formalism for our uses. We add incomplete information concepts in CGSs to achieve better modularity for the players. We introduce nondeterminism in both the transition system and strategies of players and in the modeling of human operators and computer systems. Nondeterministic action strategies for players in \emph{i}ncomplete information \emph{N}ondeterministic CGS (iNCGS) is a more precise formalism for modeling human behaviors exhibited while operating a computer system. We show how we can reason about a human behavior satisfying a guarantee by providing a semantics of Alternating Time Temporal Logic based on iNCGS player strategies. In a nutshell this dissertation provides formal methodology for modeling and analyzing system robustness against both expected and erroneous human operator behaviors.

Intervenção do professor titular da sala de aula do primeiro ano do primeiro ciclo perante a inclusão de crianças com Perturbação de Hiperatividade e Défice de Atenção

A Perturbação de Hiperatividade e Défice de Atenção possui três características essenciais: Défice de Atenção, Impulsividade e Hiperatividade. Ou seja, é uma problemática neuro-comportamental, manifestada na infância onde as crianças ostentam um modelo comportamental assente no excesso de atividade motora (hiperatividade), de falta de atenção e de impulsividade. Torna-se necessário então que, o professor adopte estratégias de trabalho com estas crianças facilitando assim a sua inclusão. Este estudo tem como principais objetivos: Identificar as opiniões do professor titular da sala de aula do primeiro ano do primeiro ciclo perante a inclusão de crianças com PHDA; Descrever as estratégias do professor titular da sala de aula do primeiro ano do primeiro ciclo perante a inclusão de crianças com PHDA. A orientação metodológica adotada relaciona-se com uma abordagem qualitativa. Este estudo é constituído por 10 professores a quem foi feita uma entrevista para se recolherem os dados. Foi feito o tratamento dos dados, os quais foram analisados e discutidos. As conclusões indicam que, ao nível da formação inicial, as Escolas de Ensino Superior e as Universidades devem incorporar nos seus cursos de Professores do Primeiro Ciclo uma disciplina que aborde exaustivamente, em cada semestre, as Necessidades Educativas Especiais, abrangendo não só a teoria, como também a prática. Sugere-se ainda que exista formação contínua no âmbito das NEE, a começar pelo professor logo após o término do curso superior, independentemente da sua situação profissional, e em cada área escolar, antes do início do ano letivo, depois das turmas estarem formadas, por forma a cada docente participar naquela onde se abordará a NEE ou as NEEs que existirão na sua sala, sendo focadas estratégias de trabalho com estas crianças visando o sucesso escolar. Constatou-se também que a maioria dos entrevistados leva a cabo práticas de integração e de inclusão, embora se perceba alguma confusão entre integração e inclusão.

Changes In Motor Behavior During Pregnancy In Rats: The Basis For A Possible Animal Model Of Restless Legs Syndrome.

Pregnant women have a 2-3 fold higher probability of developing restless legs syndrome (RLS - sleep-related movement disorders) than general population. This study aims to evaluate the behavior and locomotion of rats during pregnancy in order to verify if part of these animals exhibit some RLS-like features. We used 14 female 80-day-old Wistar rats that weighed between 200 and 250 g. The rats were distributed into control (CTRL) and pregnant (PN) groups. After a baseline evaluation of their behavior and locomotor activity in an open-field environment, the PN group was inducted into pregnancy, and their behavior and locomotor activity were evaluated on days 3, 10 and 19 of pregnancy and in the post-lactation period in parallel with the CTRL group. The serum iron and transferrin levels in the CTRL and PN groups were analyzed in blood collected after euthanasia by decapitation. There were no significant differences in the total ambulation, grooming events, fecal boli or urine pools between the CTRL and PN groups. However, the PN group exhibited fewer rearing events, increased grooming time and reduced immobilization time than the CTRL group (ANOVA, p<0.05). These results suggest that pregnant rats show behavioral and locomotor alterations similar to those observed in animal models of RLS, demonstrating to be a possible animal model of this sleep disorder.

Multistable behavior above synchronization in a locally coupled Kuramoto model

A system of nearest neighbors Kuramoto-like coupled oscillators placed in a ring is studied above the critical synchronization transition. We find a richness of solutions when the coupling increases, which exists only within a solvability region (SR). We also find that the solutions possess different characteristics, depending on the section of the boundary of the SR where they appear. We study the birth of these solutions and how they evolve when the coupling strength increases, and determine the diagram of solutions in phase space.

Critical behavior of the susceptible-infected-recovered model on a square lattice

By means of numerical simulations and epidemic analysis, the transition point of the stochastic asynchronous susceptible-infected-recovered model on a square lattice is found to be c(0)=0.176 500 5(10), where c is the probability a chosen infected site spontaneously recovers rather than tries to infect one neighbor. This point corresponds to an infection/recovery rate of lambda(c)=(1-c(0))/c(0)=4.665 71(3) and a net transmissibility of (1-c(0))/(1+3c(0))=0.538 410(2), which falls between the rigorous bounds of the site and bond thresholds. The critical behavior of the model is consistent with the two-dimensional percolation universality class, but local growth probabilities differ from those of dynamic percolation cluster growth, as is demonstrated explicitly.

Liquid polymorphism, order-disorder transitions and anomalous behavior: A Monte Carlo study of the Bell-Lavis model for water

The Bell-Lavis model for liquid water is investigated through numerical simulations. The lattice-gas model on a triangular lattice presents orientational states and is known to present a highly bonded low density phase and a loosely bonded high density phase. We show that the model liquid-liquid transition is continuous, in contradiction with mean-field results on the Husimi cactus and from the cluster variational method. We define an order parameter which allows interpretation of the transition as an order-disorder transition of the bond network. Our results indicate that the order-disorder transition is in the Ising universality class. Previous proposal of an Ehrenfest second order transition is discarded. A detailed investigation of anomalous properties has also been undertaken. The line of density maxima in the HDL phase is stabilized by fluctuations, absent in the mean-field solution. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3253297]

Frustration and anomalous behavior in the Bell-Lavis model of liquid water

We have reconsidered the Bell-Lavis model of liquid water and investigated its relation to its isotropic version, the antiferromagnetic Blume-Emery-Griffiths model on the triangular lattice. Our study was carried out by means of an exact solution on the sequential Husimi cactus. We show that the ground states of both models share the same topology and that fluid phases (gas and low- and high-density liquids) can be mapped onto magnetic phases (paramagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and dense paramagnetic, respectively). Both models present liquid-liquid coexistence and several thermodynamic anomalies. This result suggests that anisotropy introduced through orientational variables play no specific role in producing the density anomaly, in agreement with a similar conclusion discussed previously following results for continuous soft core,models. We propose that the presence of liquid anomalies may be related to energetic frustration, a feature common to both models.