Open Access Theses - Social Sciences and Humanities - 2010 and earlier

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  • Publication
    Germanic Women: Mundium and Property, 400-1000
    ( 1900)
    Dunn, Kimberlee Harper
    Abstract Many historians would like to discover a time of relative freedom, security and independence for women of the past. The Germanic era, from 400-1000 AD, was a time of stability, and security due to limitations the law placed upon the mundwald and the legal ability of women to possess property. The system of compensations that the Germans initiated in an effort to stop the blood feuds between Germanic families, served as a deterrent to men that might physically or sexually abuse women. The majority of the sources used in this work were the Germanic Codes generally dated from 498-1024 AD. Ancient Roman and Germanic sources provide background information about the individual tribes. Secondary sources provide a contrast to the ideas of this thesis, and information.
  • Publication
    Perceptions of Social Support among Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Pre- and Post-Parent Training
    ( 1900)
    Askins, Martha Ann
    The literature demonstrates that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often experience peer rejection as a result of their difficulties with interpersonal interactions. The manner in which children with ADHD process social information and the extent to which social difficulties may adversely impact these children has remained unclear. In the first part of the study, the perceptions of social support between boys (ages 7 to 11 years) with and without ADHD were compared. An analysis of variance procedure (ANOVA) was performed and children with ADHD were found to perceive significantly lower levels of social support from their classmates than normal peers at pretreatment. The groups did not differ significantly with regard to perceptions of parent, teacher, and close friend support. In the second part of the study, the role of ADHD parent training and its effectiveness in decreasing problem-behaviors, ameliorating social problems, and enhancing perceptions of social support was examined. Repeated measures MANOVAs revealed a significant rater (mother and teacher) by time (pretreatment and posttreatment) interaction effect for total behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, internalizing behavior problems, and social problems. On each scale, mothers reported more behavior problems than teachers at pretreatment, but fewer problems than teachers at posttreatment assessment. Main effects were not detected. ANOVAs performed on social support ratings by children with ADHD demonstrated a significant increase in their perceptions of parental support between pretreatment and posttreatment. Children's ratings of teacher, close friend, and classmate support did not differ significantly between pretreatment and posttreatment. The findings suggest that children with ADHD are socially perspicacious and sensitive to subtle changes within their social support systems. The parent training program appeared to help with the amelioration of problem behaviors in the home, but results did not indicate generalization of improvements to the classroom. Implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions were made for providing assistance to children with ADHD.
  • Publication
    Frontal Lobe Functions in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from Children to Young Adults
    ( 1900)
    Kramer-Stutts, Traci A.
    Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with and without a learning disorder (LD) and a control group of clinically referred individuals with behavioral problems were compared on four neuropsychological tests of frontal lobe functioning. Test results were collected to examine if ADHD individuals with and without LD have deficits in frontal lobe functioning. Two age groups were used to examine developmental differences. In the six to ten age group there were 27 ADHD, 17 ADHD/LD and seven other clinically referred individuals. In the 11 -20 age group there were 12 ADHD, 23 ADHD/LD and 24 other clinically referred individuals. The ADHD and ADHD/LD groups performed at a lower level than the other diagnostic group on the freedom from distractibility factor of the WISC-R and the omission and commission errors of the Gordon Diagnostic system. Differences for the ADHD and ADHD/LD groups were also found on the number of correct responses for the Gordon Diagnostic system, the Speech Sounds test and the Seashore Rhythm test. The developmental differences that were found were not influenced by diagnosis. The deficits that the ADHD individuals with and without LD demonstrated were not affected by age.
  • Publication
    Differentiation of Central Auditory Processing Disorder and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents
    ( 1900)
    ustin, Laura J.
    The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) can be distinguished from one another on the basis of both objective and subjective assessment of attention and behavior. First, children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD, CAPD, and concomitant ADHD/CAPD were compared to participants with emotional problems on measures of attention/concentration, depression, anxiety, and parental reports of internalzing and externalizing behaviors. Overall, statistical analyses did not reveal significant differences between performances of children diagnosed with ADHD and those diagnosed with CAPD. However, clinical comparisons across groups of children diagnosed with ADHD, CAPD, comorbid ADHD/CAPD and Affective Disorders revealed condition-specific clinical profiles, thus providing some support for CAPD as a distinct clinical entity. Second, exploratory cluster analysis was performed to further investigate the relationship between ADHD and CAPD. This procedure lead to the identification of four distinct clusters. However, analyses of these clusters revealed no distinct pattern of performance for children diagnosed with either ADHD or CAPD. Rather, participants with these diagnoses were evenly distributed throughout the clusters. Additionally, no cluster clearly represented the expected clinical profile for a diagnosis of CAPD- namely, significant auditory attentional/processing problems in the absence of other attentional difficulties. Implications for the assessment and treatment of childhood attentional disorders are discussed and recommendations for future research provided.
  • Publication
    Miscegenated Narration: The Effects of Interracialism in Women's Popular Sentimental Romances from the Civil War Years
    ( 1900)
    Beeler, Connie
    Critical work on popular American women's fiction still has not reckoned adequately with the themes of interracialism present in these novels and with interracialism's bearing on the sentimental. This thesis considers an often overlooked body of women's popular sentimental fiction, published from 1860-1865, which is interested in themes of interracial romance or reproduction, in order to provide a fuller picture of the impact that the intersection of interracialism and sentimentalism has had on American identity. By examining the literary strategy of "miscegenated narration," or the heteroglossic cacophony of narrative voices and ideological viewpoints that interracialism produces in a narrative, I argue that the hegemonic ideologies of the sentimental romance are both "deterritorialized" and "reterritorialized," a conflicted impulse that characterizes both nineteenth-century sentimental, interracial romances and the broader project of critiquing the dominant national narrative that these novels undertake.
  • Publication
    MMPI-2 Patterns of Adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
    ( 1900)
    Campbell, Catherine Elaine
    Recent literature suggests that not only does Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD) persist into adulthood, but it can also be accompanied by personality characteristics which cause emotional difficulties. In fact, adults diagnosed with ADHD can present with a profusion of difficulties. Several constructs appear to accumulate dynamically throughout development to place the adult with ADHD at risk for multiple emotional problems. These interwoven influences include familial characteristics, childhood emotional and academic difficulties, and inadequate coping skills to respond to adulthood pressures. This document, first, describes a developmental model for conceptualizing negative trajectories leading to nonadaptive coping and psychopathology and identifies personality factors of adults diagnosed with ADHD. This model provides clinicians and researchers with a better understanding of the complexity and challenges of adulthood ADHD in order to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The purpose of this study is to examine personality factors common to adults diagnosed with ADHD and compares these characteristics with a group of adults diagnosed with a depressive disorder. Adults responding to a community advertisement who provided documentation of the diagnosis of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder were administered the MMPI-2. This ADHD group was compared with MMPI-2 profiles of a group of adults diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder or Dysthymic Disorder. A cluster analysis procedure was performed and results are discussed.
  • Publication
    Parenting Stress in Mexican American and Caucasian Parents of Children with ADHD
    ( 1900)
    Cleveland, Jennifer
    The purpose of the present study was to examine whether differences exist between reports of parental stress in Mexican American and Caucasian mothers of children with ADHD. A second purpose was to examine whether there were child and family characteristics that made unique contributions to levels of parenting stress in Mexican American parents of children with ADHD. A third purpose was to examine the role that level of acculturation plays in the Mexican American mothers' reports of stress. Dependent measures used in this study include the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)
  • Publication
    A Catalog of Reusable Design Decisions for Developing UML/MOF-based Domain-specific Modeling Languages
    ( 1900)
    Hoisl, Bernhard, Sobernig, Stefan, Strembeck, Mark
    In model-driven development (MDD), domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) act as a communication vehicle for aligning the requirements of domain experts with the needs of software engineers. With the rise of the UML as a de facto standard, UML/MOF-based DSMLs are now widely used for MDD. This paper documents design decisions collected from 90 UML/MOF-based DSML projects. These recurring design decisions were gained, on the one hand, by performing a systematic literature review (SLR) on the development of UML/MOF-based DSMLs. Via the SLR, we retrieved 80 related DSML projects for review. On the other hand, we collected decisions from developing ten DSML projects by ourselves. The design decisions are presented in the form of reusable decision records, with each decision record corresponding to a decision point in DSML development processes. Furthermore, we also report on frequently observed (combinations of) decision options as well as on associations between options which may occur within a single decision point or between two decision points. This collection of decision-record documents targets decision makers in DSML development (e.g., DSML engineers, software architects, domain experts). (authors' abstract) / Series: Technical Reports / Institute for Information Systems and New Media
  • Publication
    Perception of Foreign Accented Speech: the Roles of Familiarity and Linguistic Training
    ( 1900)
    Sales, Rachel
    This paper seeks to address the issue by examining two factors that potentially affect a listener’s perception of foreign accented speech: degree of familiarity (as acquired through a work or personal environment) and amount of ESL or linguistic training. Speech samples were recorded from 18 international students from Hispanic, Asian, and Middle-eastern backgrounds and across all proficiency levels as designated by their academic English program. Six native English speakers were also recorded to serve as a basis for comparison. Listeners were drawn from two pools: people with ESL and/or linguistic training (n=42) and laypersons with no such specialist training (n=36). After completing a background questionnaire to assess familiarity with foreign accented speech, each listener rated all 24 speech samples on the dimensions of comprehensibility, degree of accent, and communicative ability. Results indicate that participants with ESL/linguistic training rate foreign accented speech more positively on all three dimensions than laypersons with no such training. Additionally, degree of familiarity with foreign accented speech is positively correlated with how participants rated the accented speech samples. a number of highly significant interactions between these and other factors including sex of the speaker, proficiency level of the speaker, and L1 family of the speaker were found as well.
  • Publication
    Effects of Board Training on the Relationship Between Board Members and CEOs
    ( 1900)
    Riley, Beth A.
    The purpose of this study is to ascertain the opinions of chief executive officers (CEOs) and school board chairs of Texas private schools in educational service center (ESC) Regions 10 and 11 toward board training and the potential benefits for the success of their respective roles. Literature regarding private school board training is limited. As a result, most private school boards face challenges regarding school board training expectations, which could affect their roles and the roles of CEOs. The quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional research design examined Texas private school CEOs’ and school board chairs’ perceptions about school board training and the working relationships between Texas school CEOs and school boards. The researcher developed the survey and interview questions used in this study. Responses to a 4-point Likert-type scale instrument, short answer questions, and interviews were solicited from a population of private school CEO and school board chairs within ESC Regions 10 and 11 from schools with an enrollment of at least 100 students and that contained Grades 9 through 12. In-depth Interviews were conducted with 12 private school CEOs and 12 school board chairs with varying levels of school board training. The research findings indicate that board training does make a significant difference in the working relationships between CEOs and private school boards. The findings of this study may assist private school boards in addressing school board training and the components of such training, which would benefit the working relationships between CEOs and school boards, as well as the success of private schools.
  • Publication
    The Effect of Relationship Support and Parenting Style on Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors of Children with ADHD
    ( 1900)
    Walker, Frances
    Influences between quality of intimate heterosexual relationships, parenting style, and externalizing and internalizing behavior problems of children with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were examined in a sample of intact and single parent families. The perspective on marital quality was expanded to include an examination of intimate adult relationships within single parent households. Associations between the quality of custodial parents' serious dating and/or cohabiting relationships, parenting style and the behavior problems of children with ADHD were studied. Results from this study found tentative support for previous findings that family functioning may mediate the development of conduct disorders among children with ADHD.
  • Publication
    Work-sharing for a sustainable economy
    ( 1900)
    Zwickl, Klara, Disslbacher, Franziska, Stagl, Sigrid
    "Achieving low unemployment in an environment of weak growth is a major policy challenge; a more egalitarian distribution of hours worked could be the key to solving it. Whether worksharing actually increases employment, however, has been debated controversially. In this article we present stylized facts on the distribution of hours worked and discuss the role of work-sharing for a sustainable economy. Building on recent developments in labor market theory we review the determinants of working long hours and its effect on well-being. Finally, we survey work-sharing reforms in the past. While there seems to be a consensus that worksharing in the Great Depression in the U.S. and in the Great Recession in Europe was successful in reducing employment losses, perceptions of the work-sharing reforms implemented between the 1980s and early 2000s are more ambivalent. However, even the most critical evaluations of these reforms provide no credible evidence of negative employment effects; instead, the overall success of the policy seems to depend on the economic and institutional setting, as well as the specific details of its implementation."
  • Publication
    The orientation of the American foreign policy establishment toward Communism in the Third World
    ( 1973)
    Vorkink, LeGrand Stuart
    "This study has been an attempt to describe and project trends in the perceptions of key American foreign policy-makers with respect to ""Communism"" in the Third World. In order to expedite matters, it focuses specifically on the verbalized concerns of the Presidency and the State Department with various Communist agents operating in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The period covered by the study spans from 1960 to 1971. An overriding purpose has been to measure as objectively and systematically as possible what in the past has generally been left to subjective impression. The questions guiding the research are listed as follows: (1) During the past decade what changes have occurred in American assessments of the Communist threat to the Third World? (2) Which agents of Communism (e.g., Communist China, International Communism or the Viet Cong) are perceived to be the most threatening to American and Third World interests? (3) Which Third World targets of Communism (e.g., Latin America, Asia or Africa) are most strongly threatened? (4) What are the projected or feasible directions of these American preoccupations for the early 1970s? (5) How closely do Presidential and State Department assessments of the agents and targets resemble each other? In order to respond to these questions thereby analyzing the perceptions or verbal preoccupations of the designated decisional units regarding Third World Communism, a manual form of content analysis was utilized. Indicators were developed by means of a procedure based on the Stanford Political Dictionary developed by Holsti, and associates. This tool is designed to investigate psycho-political factors of state behavior incorporating the normative (good-bad), potency (strong-weak) and behavior (active-passive) dimensions of the semantic differential. The data was gathered from (1) Public papers of the President, 1960-1968; (2) Weekly Compilations of Presidential Documents, 1968-1971; and (3) The Department of State Bulletin, 1960-1968. From a general perspective, the data reveals that the perceived Communist threat to the Third World gains intensity beginning in 1960 and continuing until 1967 or 1968. At this point an overall decline in concern emerges. In some cases this change in perception occurred as early as 1963. The study analyzed American preoccupation with what was termed general manifestations of Communism: International (Communism perceived as an international, monolithic conspiracy), National (embracing national based agents such as the Soviet Union or Cuba) and the Internal Communism (Communist phenomena emerging and operating within nations). It showed that International Communism has almost been erased as a threat in the eyes of the Presidents and State Department. Their greatest concern is directed toward national Communist entities. Concern with Internal Communism increased during the period. However until 1964, American preoccupation with the international manifestation had been greater than it had been with the internal or national aspects. With the exception of North Vietnam, the Communist nations (the Soviet Union, Communist Chine, Cuba, and North Korea) gave rise to relatively inconsistent, less intense preoccupations from the decisional units. As the period (1960 to 1971) closes, the ranking of Communist nations from the most threatening to the least is (1) North Vietnam, (2) Communist China, (3) the Soviet Union, (4) North Korea and (5) Cuba. But which Third World continents do Americans feel are most threatened by Communist agents? The data indicates that the concern is greatest for Asia and least for Africa, with Latin America ranking in the middle. In comparing the decisional unit preoccupations with Communist agents, the Presidency tends to view them as more threatening to American and Third World interests. However, relative to the Third World targets, the Presidency and the State Department display very little difference."
  • Publication
    Daily living and coping strategies in insulin-dependent diabetics : diagnostic reasoning in nursing
    ( 1990)
    Lundman, Berit
    Within a defined geographical area, all patients, 192 in total, with insulin- dependent diabetes of at least 2 years' duration and free from long-term diabetic complications were identified. Their experiences of the influence of the disease on daily living, tedium, and smoking habits were evaluated using a questionnaire and related to metabolic control. A case-referent study concerning smoking habits among 25 patients with good, and 25 with poor metabolic control was performed. The influence of mentruation on metabolic control was studied among 20 diabetic women and 20 healthy controls. Coping strategies and their outcomes were studied among 20 patients, using the interview technique. Among those with unsatifactory metabolic and/or emotional outcomes, plans for nursing intervention were agreed on, using diagnostic reasoning. Only a minority of the patients reported that the disease caused them considerable problems in their daily lives. The greatest problems occurred in connection with regularity in daily life, diet management, and exercise. Patients with good metabolic control (HbAic<6.7) had a higher number of hypo-glycemic cornata (7 vs 1, p<0.001). Patients with poor metabolic control (HbAic>9.0) reported more often that they were smokers (pcO.Ol) and the women fertile aged in this group more often reported problems with metabolic control during menstruation (p<0.05). Twenty-nine (18%) were defined as suffering from tedium. There was a higher proportion (NS) of high tedium scores among patients in both good and poor metabolic control groups than in those with intermediate metabolic control. Sixty (31%) of the patients were smokers, prevalence of smoking increased significantly with increasing HbAic- levels (17.5% among patients with the best metabolic control, 47.5% among those with the worst metabolic control). In the case referent study exposure to smoking was found to be significantly more common among those with poor control (odds ratio 6.0). No systematic change in metabolic control during the menstrual cycle could be found. Problem-solving coping strategy based on the monitoring of blood glucose in combination with sensitivity to signs of actual blood glucose level and logical reasoning, was found to have the best coping outcome, both regarding metabolic control and well-being. The results are summarized in a model for diagnostic reasoning in nursing
  • Publication
    Integrity promoting care of demented patients
    ( 1992)
    Kihlgren, Mona
    The purpose of the thesis was to investigate if integrity promoting care improves functions in demented patients over time. The Erikson (1982) theory of ”eight stages of man” was used as a basis for training of staff in a three-month intervention study (I-VI) at a nursing home ward. A collective living unit where staff had had support in the performance of the delivery of care was also evaluated and compared with a nursing home in a long-term study (VII). Patients, relatives, staff, and the environments were investigated. Cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of somatostatin increased, and reduction of distractability, anxiety and confusion was seen in the intervention group (I) in contrast to controls. In the collective living group (VII) EEG activities indicated a reduction of supposed dementia induced changes. Better motor and social ability, some improved intellectual ability, more alertness and reduced signs of depression were seen (I, II, VII). Patients expressed more autonomy (IV, VII) and initiatives (II-VII) and showed a lot of competence (V) in conversations. Five patients (V) showed patterns of behaviour which seemed to reflect life-long characteristics in spite of their severe dementia. The improvement in the patients' functions can be attributed to the physical environment and the integrity promoting care, since the medical treatment of the patients remained unchanged. In the thesis medical, psychological, and nursing sciences were connected in a complementary process. The results were congruent, and indicate that patients in the care of staff who had had training and support, declined less than controls. /

    S. 1-61: sammanfattning, s. 63-184: 7 uppsatser

    / digitalisering@umu
  • Publication
    Miniprojects and Context Rich Problems : Case studies with qualitative analysis of motivation, learner ownership and competence in small group work in physics
    ( 2004)
    Enghag, Margareta
    This thesis reports case studies of students working with context rich problems (CRP) and mini projects (MP) in physics in an upper secondary school class and in a physics teacher education class at university. The students report a big shift from physics in secondary school as fun and easy, to physics in upper secondary school as boring, difficult and with lack of time for reflections and physics talking, but they also found physics as interesting in itself. In order to study how group discussions in physics influence the students learning and to study the phenomena of students’ ownership of learning (SOL) we introduced CRP and MP. We video recorded five groups with 14 teacher students at university in the end of 2002, and five group with 15 students at upper secondary school during the beginning of their second physics course in the spring term in 2003. MP and CRP in physics were used as instructional settings in order to give students possibility to strengthen their holistic understanding and their possibilities to ownership. When students get the opportunity to manage their own learning and studying by open-ended tasks in physics, without the teacher determining all details of the performance, this gives more ownership of learning. The advantage of MPs and CRPs from the student’s point of view is more freedom to act, think and discuss and from the teacher’s view, to get insights of the students’ ability and how they really think in physics. The ownership is found to be crucial for motivation and development of competence. Students’ ownership of learning (SOL) is the students’ influence/impact to affect tasks and the learning environment in such a way that the students have a real opportunity to achieve learning of physics. Students’ ownership of learning (SOL) is found at two levels: Group level: At the start of a task the SOL is determined by the design of the task. The choice of task, the performance (when, how, where), the level of result and presentatio n and report have to be determined by the students themselves. Individual level: A person’s experiences and anomalies of understanding have created unique questions that can create certain aspects of the task that drive this person to be very active and highly motivated. This gives the person a high individual ownership. We developed hypotheses concerning the relation between ownership, motivation and competence and we see some evidence in the cases reported in this thesis. The importance of exploratory talks to enhance learning, and to see aspects of communication as part of the motivation are discussed in the model of ownership, motivation and competence that is proposed.
  • Publication
    Corporal punishment and externalizing behaviors in toddlers: positive and harsh parenting as moderators
    ( 2013)
    Mendez, Marcos D.
    Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Sandra Stith and Jared Durtschi / Controversy still exists in whether parents should or should not use corporal punishment to discipline their young children. The aim of this study was to investigate whether corporal punishment when the child was two years old predicted child externalizing behaviors a year later, and whether or not this association was moderated by parents’ observed positivity and harshness towards their child. A total of 218 couples and their first born child were selected for this study from the Family Transition Project (FTP) data set. Findings indicated that frequency of fathers’ corporal punishment when the child was two years old predicted child externalizing behaviors a year later, while controlling for initial levels of child externalizing behavior. Also, it was found that observed positive parenting and observed harsh parenting moderated the relationship between corporal punishment and child externalizing behaviors. These results highlight the importance of continuing to examine the efficacy of a commonly used form of discipline (i.e., corporal punishment). Furthermore, this study suggests that the parental climate in which corporal punishment is used may also be important to consider because parental positivity and harshness attenuate and amplify, respectively, the association of corporal punishment with child externalizing. Implications for family therapy are offered.