The present study addresses some of the problems in human handedness studies by noting the manual choices of one hundred twenty elementary pupils in the first through fifth grades. It discusses the value of the Van Riper critical angle board, the correlation indices of handedness based upon different types of activities, and the divergence with respect to degree and pattern of hand preference in the children.

A large body of research has depicted relative arousal of the left and right cerebral hemispheres as related to utilization of particular defensive coping styles, level of anxiety, and perceptual styles. The right and left hemispheres are also presented in the literature as differing in visual-spatial and verbal-auditory short term memory abilities. The present research studied 127 right handed undergraduates' relative performance on forward spatial and digits memory spans in relation to hemispheric lateralization and other perceptual and personality variables hypothesized in the literature to be related to hemispheric arousal. It was hypothesized that the forward spatial and digit memory spans would display asymmetrical sensitivity to hemispheric arousal. That is, in a series of successive factor analyses, a hemispheric balance factor, a trait anxiety factor, and a short term memory factor would emerge. The three factors were hypothesized to be unrelated to each other. During an initial group pretesting, subjects were given pencil and paper measures of handedness, trait anxiety, and several defensive coping styles. During a second individual testing, subjects were administered measures of short term memory, field independence, and a computerized presentation of geometric designs which measured the subjects ability to detect differences which occurred at either the global or analytic level (Navon task). The factor analyses revealed only the hypothesized trait anxiety factor. The hypothesized short term memory and hemispheric balance of arousal factors did not emerge. Instead, a. defensive coping style factor and separate verbal—auditory and visual-spatial short term memory factors emerged. Several methodological difficulties of the present study which possibly contributed to the failure of the two hypothesized factors to emerge were discussed. Several additional findings, including sex differences in hemispheric lateralization, were presented. Also, signal detection analysis revealed a pattern such that trait anxious subjects were biased toward over-reporting differences on the Navon task. Implications for further research were presented.

Este trabalho propõe uma análise sistemática das demandas mecânicas instrumentais básicas do violão, visando, assim, uma aquisição consciente de determinadas movimentações. A base teórica foi composta por autores que abordam questões essencialmente práticas do fazer instrumental do violão, destacando-se Abel Carlevaro e Eduardo Fernandez; este último diferencia claramente os termos mecânica e técnica, aspecto fundamental neste trabalho. As movimentações de cada mão são divididas entre horizontais (no sentido das cordas) e verticais (entre as cordas) e entre os aspectos mecânicos relacionados à localização das mãos no instrumento (chamados por nós de parâmetros e suas expansões) e os relacionados às referências ou movimentações auxiliares na mudança entre duas localizações (chamados de recursos). A partir da ordenação proposta e das notações desenvolvidas, concebemos uma sistemática de estudo, visando à aquisição de tais movimentos, aplicada nos 25 Etudes Mélodiques et Progressives Op.60, de Matteo Carcassi. Foram realizadas propostas de caráter vocabular e elementos pouco ou não debatidos foram tratados, fornecendo material para discussões futuras dentro do amplo campo temático da mecânica instrumental. A organização sistemática dos elementos mecânicos proposta, aplicados na obra de Carcassi, procurou uma maior eficiência no processo de aprendizagem, buscando melhorias em relação à efetividade técnica e à maior consciência das demandas instrumentais. / This project proposes a systematic analysis of the basic mechanical demands of the guitar to assist a conscious development of certain gestures. The theoretical basis in this work is compound mainly by the ideas of authors that dealt with practical issues of the instrumental making of the guitar, such as Abel Carlevaro and Eduardo Fernandez; the last one clearly differentiates the terms mechanical and technical, fundamental aspects in this work. The gestures of each hand are divided between horizontal (in the direction of the strings) and vertical (between the strings) and between the mechanical aspects related to the location of the hands in the instrument (called by us of parameters and their expansions) and those related to the reference or auxiliary gestures in the change between two locations (called resources). From the proposed ordering and the developed notations, we designed a systematic study aimed at the developing of such gestures, applied in the 25 Etudes Mélodiques et Progressives Op.60, by Matteo Carcassi. The proposal of a vocabulary was made and often ignored elements were approached, providing content for future discussions within the wide topic of instrumental mechanics. The systematic organization of the mechanical elements proposed, applied in Carcassi\'s music, sought greater efficiency in the learning process, seeking improvements in relation to the technical effectiveness and awareness of the instrumental demands.

Este trabalho propõe uma análise sistemática das demandas mecânicas instrumentais básicas do violão, visando, assim, uma aquisição consciente de determinadas movimentações. A base teórica foi composta por autores que abordam questões essencialmente práticas do fazer instrumental do violão, destacando-se Abel Carlevaro e Eduardo Fernandez; este último diferencia claramente os termos mecânica e técnica, aspecto fundamental neste trabalho. As movimentações de cada mão são divididas entre horizontais (no sentido das cordas) e verticais (entre as cordas) e entre os aspectos mecânicos relacionados à localização das mãos no instrumento (chamados por nós de parâmetros e suas expansões) e os relacionados às referências ou movimentações auxiliares na mudança entre duas localizações (chamados de recursos). A partir da ordenação proposta e das notações desenvolvidas, concebemos uma sistemática de estudo, visando à aquisição de tais movimentos, aplicada nos 25 Etudes Mélodiques et Progressives Op.60, de Matteo Carcassi. Foram realizadas propostas de caráter vocabular e elementos pouco ou não debatidos foram tratados, fornecendo material para discussões futuras dentro do amplo campo temático da mecânica instrumental. A organização sistemática dos elementos mecânicos proposta, aplicados na obra de Carcassi, procurou uma maior eficiência no processo de aprendizagem, buscando melhorias em relação à efetividade técnica e à maior consciência das demandas instrumentais. / This project proposes a systematic analysis of the basic mechanical demands of the guitar to assist a conscious development of certain gestures. The theoretical basis in this work is compound mainly by the ideas of authors that dealt with practical issues of the instrumental making of the guitar, such as Abel Carlevaro and Eduardo Fernandez; the last one clearly differentiates the terms mechanical and technical, fundamental aspects in this work. The gestures of each hand are divided between horizontal (in the direction of the strings) and vertical (between the strings) and between the mechanical aspects related to the location of the hands in the instrument (called by us of parameters and their expansions) and those related to the reference or auxiliary gestures in the change between two locations (called resources). From the proposed ordering and the developed notations, we designed a systematic study aimed at the developing of such gestures, applied in the 25 Etudes Mélodiques et Progressives Op.60, by Matteo Carcassi. The proposal of a vocabulary was made and often ignored elements were approached, providing content for future discussions within the wide topic of instrumental mechanics. The systematic organization of the mechanical elements proposed, applied in Carcassi\'s music, sought greater efficiency in the learning process, seeking improvements in relation to the technical effectiveness and awareness of the instrumental demands.

This thesis presents an eclectic mix of studies which consider laterality in the context of previous findings of increased prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in male combat veterans with non-consistent right hand preference. Two studies extend these findings not just to civilian populations and women, but to left handers and find that left, rather than mixed, handedness is associated with increased prevalence of PTSD in both general population and clinical samples, and to severity of symptoms in the former. To examine issues relevant to the fear response in healthy populations, a movie excerpt is shown to be theoretically likely to target the emotion of fear and to generate subjective and physiological (skin conductance) responses of fear. The film is used as a laboratory analogue of fear to examine possible differences in left and right handers in memory (for events of the film) and in an emotional Stroop paradigm known to produce a robust and large effect specifically in PTSD. According to predictions based on lateralisation of functions in the brain relevant to the fear response, left handers show a pattern of enhanced memory for visual items and poorer memory for verbal material compared to right handers. Immediately after viewing the film, left handers show an interference effect on the Stroop paradigm to general threat and film words and increased response latency compared to right handers, approaching performance of previously reported clinical samples with PTSD. A novel non-word Stroop task fails to show these effects, consistent both with accounts of interference as language processing effects and compromised verbal processing in PTSD. Unexpected inferior performance of females in memory for the film, contrary to previous literature, may also be amenable to explanations invoking compromised left hemisphere language functions in fear situations. In testing one theory of left handedness as due to increased levels of in utero testosterone, the 2D:4D (second to fourth digit ratio) provides mixed evidence in two samples. A possible association of more female-like digit ratios in males with PTSD is a tentative finding possibly relevant to sex differences in prevalence of PTSD. A critique of existing and inadequate theoretical accounts of handedness concludes the thesis and proposes a modification of the birth stress hypothesis to one specifically considering peri-natal trauma to account for the above findings. This hypothesis remains to be empirically tested.

Notre travail de thèse s’oriente vers l’analyse des caractéristiques et des conditions d’émergence et de développement de la dislocation à gauche (DG) et à droite (DD) en français, au sein des productions langagières chez des locuteurs hispanophones vivant en France (Lyon). S’inscrivant dans une perspective acquisitionnelle donc diachronique, peu explorée jusqu’à présent, notre recherche étudie le phénomène de la dislocation dans le cadre de différents types d’interactions entre locuteurs francophones et hispanophones et révèle ainsi ses caractéristiques formelles et fonctionnelles de même que les comportements des locuteurs dans l’agencement de l’asymétrie linguistique et culturelle. Ces aspects analytiques montrent que la dislocation apparaît progressivement dans le répertoire linguistique des alloglottes et manifeste une fréquence constante et une structure qui se diversifie au fil du temps. / In this study, we analyse development and occurrence characteristics of left and right dislocation in French, in language productions of Spanish speakers living in France (Lyon). By an acquisitional - and off course diachronical - approach, unexplored up to now, our research aims at studying dislocation’s formal and functional properties and speakers’ behaviours in their linguistic and cultural asymmetry regulation, within the framework of different kinds of interactions between native French speakers and native Spanish speakers. These analytic aspects show that left and right dislocation appears progressively in hispanophone speakers’ repertoire and displays a constant frequency and a diversified structure as time goes by.

Currently, the whole globe is faced with serious problems which negatively affect people around the world: increased pollution, excessive waste, and weather pattern changes. ‘Left’ and ‘right’ wing political parties alike have embraced ‘green’ politics and for many of these parties, environmental issues have become a top priority that is very much reflected in their manifestos. This study examines the environmental goals of two of Sweden’s largest political parties and how these ambitions are reflected at a local level. The conclusions I have drawn in the study have been achieved by analysing official documents and by the comparison between two Swedish municipalities. As a result of my research, I have learned that the political leanings of a party are substantial in determining the goals and works for long-term sustainability at a local level. However, whether the prevailing parties are of the ‘left’ or ‘right’ political orientation does not seem to be of big importance because both ‘wings’ in Sweden are very liberal and have very similar environmental goals.

This thesis has attempted to determine if there are differences, concerning adverbial placement, between the sentences of left- and right-handed writers. To make this determination, I have statistically analyzed compositions of eight graduate students (four left-handed and four right-), and two left-handed published authors' (Lewis Carroll's and Mark Twains) private correspondence.

The study investigated the impact of computer simulations on the teaching and learning of electromagnetism in grade 11. Electromagnetism is a section of the Physical Science curriculum. Two grade 11 classes in the Mgwenya circuit in Mpumalanga province of South Africa were used as a case study. Using a pre-test, post-test non-equivalent control group design, it was found that learners in the experimental group (n = 30) who were taught using the simulations achieved significantly higher scores on the post-test than learners in the control group (n = 35) who were taught using traditional teacher-centred teaching method; (t statistic = 3.582, df = 56, p<0.05). Learners were more active during the lessons, predicting, observing, discussing and explaining concepts. The use of simulations also provided support (scaffolding) that the learners need to enhance learning. The Hake’s normalized gain for the experimental group <g> = 0.32 compared to <g> = 0.18 for the control group confirmed conceptual improvement. Both teachers and learners indicated that they accept the use of computer simulations in teaching and learning of electromagnetism. / Science and Technology Education / M. Sc. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)

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