The effect of exposure to parodies of thin-ideal images on women’s body image, body shame and mood

This item is only available electronically.Social networking sites are abundant with thin-ideal beauty standards for women. As a result, some users are challenging these unrealistic ideals in creative, humorous ways. The aim of the present study was to experimentally investigate the effect of exposure to humorous, parody images on women’s body dissatisfaction, body shame and mood. Participants were 173 women aged between 18 and 61 years, who were randomly assigned to view either one of three sets of Instagram images: thin-ideal celebrity posts; humorous parody images of the celebrity post paired with the thin-ideal; or the humorous parody post alone. Results indicated that exposure to the parody images alone decreased body dissatisfaction, body shame and negative mood, relative to exposure of thin-ideal images alone. Moreover, exposure to the parody images alone resulted in less body dissatisfaction than exposure to parody images paired with the thin-ideal image. The findings were moderated by trait thin-ideal internalisation, whereby individuals with high thin-ideal internalisation experienced less body dissatisfaction after viewing parody images alone, compared to the paired parody and thinideal images. Overall, the findings contribute to existing literature by providing support for the use of humorous parody images for decreasing body dissatisfaction, body shame and negative mood in women.Thesis (M.Psych(Clinical)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 202

Treatments and predictors of violent behaviour: the role of fantasy and schizotypal personality traits

This research project primarily investigated the relationship between fantasy, schizotypal personality traits, psychological distress, criminal thinking styles and violent offending behaviour. A number of studies have explored the relationship between fantasy life and sexual offending, but few have investigated this in relation to non -sexual violence. This is the first of its kind to do so with a forensic sample, where violent behaviour is corroborated, rather than self-reported. Firstly a systematic review of the literature around the impact of psychological therapies on reducing violent behaviour was completed. Ten papers were identified and critically reviewed. The resulting synthesis of these studies indicated that psychological intervention, at least in the short term, can reduce violent behaviour. However, there was little evidence of a long -term impact of psychological therapies on reducing violent behaviour. The second part of the research project was a survey of 138 male prisoners which investigated the relationships between psychological distress, schizotypal personality traits and criminal thinking styles. In addition, differences in fantasy styles: negative, positive and narcissistic, and schizotypal personality according to level of violent behaviour were explored, as were differences in fantasy styles between criminal thinking style groups. Kendall's Tau -b correlation analyses, Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc specific comparison tests indicated no significant differences in fantasy style scores between the violent behaviour groups or thinking style categories, but revealed that many of the variables explored were strongly correlated. The findings differed from those of a previous general population study, by finding that fantasy style did not differ according to level of violence, but provided new findings in terms of relationships between criminal thinking styles and fantasy style. In an area with little existing research this warrants further exploration

Use of wearable technology in the treatment of mental health difficulties and chronic pain

This portfolio thesis has three parts: a Systematic Literature Review followed by an empirical research study and finally, a set of appendices. This thesis explored the potential uses of wearable technology in the treatment of mental health difficulties and in the management of chronic pain.The systematic literature review explored recent mental health care research that utilised wearable technology. From this body of literature, three potential areas of use for wearable technology in mental health care were synthesised. Consideration is given to the clinical implications and limitations of the research. Potential areas of future research are also discussed.The empirical section describes a study aimed to investigate the utility of incorporating activity tracking technology into a pain management programme (PMP). This pilot study employed mixed methodology in order to investigate both whether being provided with an activity tracker is beneficial to individuals experiencing chronic pain. No significant improvements on outcome measures for various domains (including sleep, pain levels and mental wellbeing) were found for a group with trackers compared to a group without. However those in the tracker group provided positive feedback about benefits of the trackers. The implications for the findings of this study and avenues for future research are discussed.The appendices section contains a set of appendices for both the preceding sections. It also contains an epistemological statement and reflective statement in order to provide context about the researcher’s experience of conducting the research and the philosophical position from which the design of the research was approached

Extraction versus non-extraction orthodontic treatment:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: To compare four first premolar extraction and non-extraction treatment effects on intraarch width, profile, treatment duration, occlusal outcomes, smile aesthetics and stability.Materials and Methods: Electronic search of literature to June 2nd, 2023 was conducted, using health science databases with additional search of grey literature, unpublished material and hand searching, for studies reporting non-surgical patients with fixed appliances regarding sixteen sub outcomes. Data extraction utilized customized forms, quality assessed with ROBINS-I and Cochrane RoB 2. GRADE assessed certainty of evidence.Results: Thirty (29 RS, 1 RCT) studies were included. Random effect meta-analysis (95%CI) demonstrated maxillary (MD -2.03mm;[-2.97, -1.09];P<0.0001) and mandibular inter-first molar width decrease (MD -2.00mm;[-2.71, -1.30];P<0.00001) with four first premolar extraction. Mandibular intercanine width increase (MD 0.68mm;[0.36, 0.99];P<0.0001) and shorter treatment duration (MD 0.36years;[0.10, 0.62];P=0.007) in non-extraction group. Narrative synthesis included three and five studies for upper and lower lips-E plane, respectively. For ABO-OGS and maxillary/mandibular anterior alignment (Little’s Irregularity Index) each included two studies with inconclusive evidence. No eligible studies for UK PAR score. Class I subgroup/sensitivity analyses favoured same results. Prediction interval indicated no significant difference for all outcomes.Conclusions: Four first premolar extraction results in maxillary and mandibular inter-first molar width decrease and retraction of upper/lower lips. Non-extraction treatment results in mandibular intercanine width increase and shorter treatment duration. No significant difference between the two groups regarding maxillary intercanine width, US PAR score and posttreatment smile aesthetics. Further high-quality focused research recommended

Studies and simulations of the DigiCipher system

During this period the development of simulators for the various high definition television (HDTV) systems proposed to the FCC was continued. The FCC has indicated that it wants the various proposers to collaborate on a single system. Based on all available information this system will look very much like the advanced digital television (ADTV) system with major contributions only from the DigiCipher system. The results of our simulations of the DigiCipher system are described. This simulator was tested using test sequences from the MPEG committee. The results are extrapolated to HDTV video sequences. Once again, some caveats are in order. The sequences used for testing the simulator and generating the results are those used for testing the MPEG algorithm. The sequences are of much lower resolution than the HDTV sequences would be, and therefore the extrapolations are not totally accurate. One would expect to get significantly higher compression in terms of bits per pixel with sequences that are of higher resolution. However, the simulator itself is a valid one, and should HDTV sequences become available, they could be used directly with the simulator. A brief overview of the DigiCipher system is given. Some coding results obtained using the simulator are looked at. These results are compared to those obtained using the ADTV system. These results are evaluated in the context of the CCSDS specifications and make some suggestions as to how the DigiCipher system could be implemented in the NASA network. Simulations such as the ones reported can be biased depending on the particular source sequence used. In order to get more complete information about the system one needs to obtain a reasonable set of models which mirror the various kinds of sources encountered during video coding. A set of models which can be used to effectively model the various possible scenarios is provided. As this is somewhat tangential to the other work reported, the results are included as an appendix

Inverted Fluorescence Microscope

Team F13 is composed of Trevor Blythe, Spencer Hann, Matthew Pfeiffer, and Thomas Eggenberger. We are all majoring in mechanical engineering and in our final year of study here at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. This project is a continuation of a 2019-2020 senior project. The previous team designed and built a functioning inverted fluorescence microscope (IFM) from scratch. This device was created as a lab tool for undergraduate students to be able to perform experiments on microfluidic devices constructed in Cal Poly’s Microfabrication Laboratory. Although substantially functional, several design constraints had not yet been met. Our team has improved microscope robustness and functionality for practical undergraduate lab use. To do this, we set overarching goals including decreasing microscope footprint, increasing the accuracy of microscope positional repeatability, and improving user-friendliness. Within this Final Design Review report, the full design, manufacturing, and testing processes of this project are explicitly detailed, as well as project logistics, future suggestions, and project management

Une méthode de mesure du mouvement humain pour la programmation par démonstration

Programming by demonstration (PbD) is an intuitive approach to impart a task to a robot from one or several demonstrations by the human teacher. The acquisition of the demonstrations involves the solution of the correspondence problem when the teacher and the learner differ in sensing and actuation. Kinesthetic guidance is widely used to perform demonstrations. With such a method, the robot is manipulated by the teacher and the demonstrations are recorded by the robot's encoders. In this way, the correspondence problem is trivial but the teacher dexterity is afflicted which may impact the PbD process. Methods that are more practical for the teacher usually require the identification of some mappings to solve the correspondence problem. The demonstration acquisition method is based on a compromise between the difficulty of identifying these mappings, the level of accuracy of the recorded elements and the user-friendliness and convenience for the teacher. This thesis proposes an inertial human motion tracking method based on inertial measurement units (IMUs) for PbD for pick-and-place tasks. Compared to kinesthetic guidance, IMUs are convenient and easy to use but can present a limited accuracy. Their potential for PbD applications is investigated. To estimate the trajectory of the teacher's hand, 3 IMUs are placed on her/his arm segments (arm, forearm and hand) to estimate their orientations. A specific method is proposed to partially compensate the well-known drift of the sensor orientation estimation around the gravity direction by exploiting the particular configuration of the demonstration. This method, called heading reset, is based on the assumption that the sensor passes through its original heading with stationary phases several times during the demonstration. The heading reset is implemented in an integration and vector observation algorithm. Several experiments illustrate the advantages of this heading reset. A comprehensive inertial human hand motion tracking (IHMT) method for PbD is then developed. It includes an initialization procedure to estimate the orientation of each sensor with respect to the human arm segment and the initial orientation of the sensor with respect to the teacher attached frame. The procedure involves a rotation and a static position of the extended arm. The measurement system is thus robust with respect to the positioning of the sensors on the segments. A procedure for estimating the position of the human teacher relative to the robot and a calibration procedure for the parameters of the method are also proposed. At the end, the error of the human hand trajectory is measured experimentally and is found in an interval between $28.5$ mm and $61.8$ mm. The mappings to solve the correspondence problem are identified. Unfortunately, the observed level of accuracy of this IHMT method is not sufficient for a PbD process. In order to reach the necessary level of accuracy, a method is proposed to correct the hand trajectory obtained by IHMT using vision data. A vision system presents a certain complementarity with inertial sensors. For the sake of simplicity and robustness, the vision system only tracks the objects but not the teacher. The correction is based on so-called Positions Of Interest (POIs) and involves 3 steps: the identification of the POIs in the inertial and vision data, the pairing of the hand POIs to objects POIs that correspond to the same action in the task, and finally, the correction of the hand trajectory based on the pairs of POIs. The complete method for demonstration acquisition is experimentally evaluated in a full PbD process. This experiment reveals the advantages of the proposed method over kinesthesy in the context of this work.La programmation par démonstration est une approche intuitive permettant de transmettre une tâche à un robot à partir d'une ou plusieurs démonstrations faites par un enseignant humain. L'acquisition des démonstrations nécessite cependant la résolution d'un problème de correspondance quand les systèmes sensitifs et moteurs de l'enseignant et de l'apprenant diffèrent. De nombreux travaux utilisent des démonstrations faites par kinesthésie, i.e., l'enseignant manipule directement le robot pour lui faire faire la tâche. Ce dernier enregistre ses mouvements grâce à ses propres encodeurs. De cette façon, le problème de correspondance est trivial. Lors de telles démonstrations, la dextérité de l'enseignant peut être altérée et impacter tout le processus de programmation par démonstration. Les méthodes d'acquisition de démonstration moins invalidantes pour l'enseignant nécessitent souvent des procédures spécifiques pour résoudre le problème de correspondance. Ainsi l'acquisition des démonstrations se base sur un compromis entre complexité de ces procédures, le niveau de précision des éléments enregistrés et la commodité pour l'enseignant. Cette thèse propose ainsi une méthode de mesure du mouvement humain par capteurs inertiels pour la programmation par démonstration de tâches de ``pick-and-place''. Les capteurs inertiels sont en effet pratiques et faciles à utiliser, mais sont d'une précision limitée. Nous étudions leur potentiel pour la programmation par démonstration. Pour estimer la trajectoire de la main de l'enseignant, des capteurs inertiels sont placés sur son bras, son avant-bras et sa main afin d'estimer leurs orientations. Une méthode est proposée afin de compenser partiellement la dérive de l'estimation de l'orientation des capteurs autour de la direction de la gravité. Cette méthode, appelée ``heading reset'', est basée sur l'hypothèse que le capteur passe plusieurs fois par son azimut initial avec des phases stationnaires lors d'une démonstration. Cette méthode est implémentée dans un algorithme d'intégration et d'observation de vecteur. Des expériences illustrent les avantages du ``heading reset''. Cette thèse développe ensuite une méthode complète de mesure des mouvements de la main humaine par capteurs inertiels (IHMT). Elle comprend une première procédure d'initialisation pour estimer l'orientation des capteurs par rapport aux segments du bras humain ainsi que l'orientation initiale des capteurs par rapport au repère de référence de l'humain. Cette procédure, consistant en une rotation et une position statique du bras tendu, est robuste au positionnement des capteurs. Une seconde procédure est proposée pour estimer la position de l'humain par rapport au robot et pour calibrer les paramètres de la méthode. Finalement, l'erreur moyenne sur la trajectoire de la main humaine est mesurée expérimentalement entre 28.5 mm et 61.8 mm, ce qui n'est cependant pas suffisant pour la programmation par démonstration. Afin d'atteindre le niveau de précision nécessaire, une nouvelle méthode est développée afin de corriger la trajectoire de la main par IHMT à partir de données issues d'un système de vision, complémentaire des capteurs inertiels. Pour maintenir une certaine simplicité et robustesse, le système de vision ne suit que les objets et pas l'enseignant. La méthode de correction, basée sur des ``Positions Of Interest (POIs)'', est constituée de 3 étapes: l'identification des POIs dans les données issues des capteurs inertiels et du système de vision, puis l'association de POIs liées à la main et de POIs liées aux objets correspondant à la même action, et enfin, la correction de la trajectoire de la main à partir des paires de POIs. Finalement, la méthode IHMT corrigée est expérimentalement évaluée dans un processus complet de programmation par démonstration. Cette expérience montre l'avantage de la méthode proposée sur la kinesthésie dans le contexte de ce travail