Dual-process models propose that two processes support recognition memory; familiarity, a general sense that something has been previously encountered; and recollection, the retrieval of details concerning the context in which a previous encounter occurred. Event-related potential (ERP) studies of recognition memory have identified a set of old/new effects that are thought to reflect these processes: the 300-500ms bilateral-frontal effect, thought to reflect familiarity and the 500-800ms left-parietal effect, thought to reflect recollection. Whilst the exact functional role of these effects remains unclear, they are widely viewed as reliable indices of retrieval. The ERP literature reviewed in this thesis suggests that the characteristics of these recognition effects vary with task specific details and individual participant differences, suggesting that the recognition effects purported to index retrieval may be conditional on both task and participant. This thesis examined the influence of individual differences on behavioural measures of recognition and the neural correlates of recognition memory, focusing on factors of stimulus material, task performance and participant genotype. Clear evidence of stimulus differences were found, with pictures eliciting more anteriorly distributed effects than words, and a late onsetting frontopolar old/new effect that was unique for voices. Furthermore, the pattern of ERP activity associated with successful recognition of faces appeared to vary as a function of general face recognition ability, with participants poorer at remembering faces exhibiting a 300-500ms old/new effect not present for those good at remembering faces. The data also suggested that activity over right-frontal electrodes, evident in some previous studies, may be participant specific and could reflect additional retrieval support processes. Contrary to expectations, behavioural task performance was not found to significantly modulate the ‘typical’ recognition memory effects. However, a number of genetic polymorphisms were found to significantly influence both behavioural scores and the pattern of ERP activity associated with recognition memory. These results therefore suggest that inherent participant differences influence the neural correlates of recognition memory, in a way that variations in task performance do not. Overall, the results from this thesis therefore suggest that the ‘typical’ bilateral-frontal and left-parietal effects thought to index retrieval are not universal. Furthermore the results suggest that the specific processes engaged during retrieval (as indexed by variations in ERP activity) may be dependent on specific task requirements, stimulus material and the genetic makeup of the individual.

No description available.

This paper investigates the impact of receiving microcredit on the economic conditions of urban poor. The change in household income level between the years 2009 and 2011 was measured for a group of survey participants half of whom were microcredit beneficiaries, while the other half were not. The survey was conducted in Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan. A difference-in-differences approach was used for the analysis and various other attributes that influence income such as the level of education, age and gender were taken into account in model formation. The findings indicate that microloans do not significantly affect the income level of the urbn poor in the short run.

Our exam paper is about young adults’ use of intensifiers in school papers. The theoretical background includes previous research about intensifiers in the Swedish language and above all young adults’ use of intensifiers. We have chosen to focus on all intensifying expressions which young adults’ use, because we did not want to limit our research material. We made a comparing study of 25 student papers from year 1999 and 25 student papers from year 2009 to find similarities and differences. Our result answers our four main questions: “How has the frequency of intensifiers changed from year 1999 to year 2009?”, “Which new intensifiers have been added?”, “In which contexts are intensifiers used?” and “Are there any differences in the use of intensifiers between boys and girls?”. The result shows that the number of intensifiers has increased during the 10 year period but that the selection of used intensifiers has decreased. Furthermore is a change in which intensifiers that are used and in which contexts they are used illustrated. The result also shows that boys in year 1999 use intensifiers more frequently than the girls, but in year 2009 the result was opposite.

No description available.

It is often difficult for people to understand speech when there are other ongoing conversations in the background. This dissertation investigates how different background maskers interfere with our ability to comprehend speech and the reasons why older listeners have more difficulties than younger listeners in these tasks. An ecologically valid approach was applied: instead of words or short sentences, participants were presented with two fairly lengthy lectures simultaneously, and their task was to listen to the target lecture, and ignore the competing one. Afterwards, they answered questions regarding the target lecture. Experiment 1 found that both normal-hearing and hearing-impaired older adults performed poorer than younger adults when everyone was tested in identical listening situations. However, when the listening situation was individually adjusted to compensate for age-related differences in the ability to recognize individual words in noise, age-related difference in comprehension disappeared. Experiment 2 compared the masking effects of a single-talker competing lecture to a babble of 12 voices, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was manipulated so that the masker was either of similar volume as the target, or much louder. The results showed that the competing speech was much more distracting than babble. Moreover, increasing the masker level negatively affected speech comprehension only when the masker was babble; when it was a single-talker lecture, the performance plateaued as the SNR decreased from -2 to -12 dB. Experiment 3 compared the effects of semantic content and acoustic similarity on speech comprehension by comparing a normal speech masker with a time-reversed one (to examine the effect of semantic content) and a normal speech masker with an 8-band vocoded speech (to examine the effect of acoustic similarity). The results showed that both semantic content and acoustic similarity contributed to informational masking, but the latter seemed to play a bigger role than the former. Together, the results indicated that older adults’ speech comprehension difficulties with maskers were mainly due to declines in their hearing capacities rather than their cognitive functions. The acoustic similarity between the target and competing speech may be the main reason for informational masking, with semantic interference playing a secondary role.

South African society is characterised by race, class and gender inequality. Social inequality is at the root of individual social identity formation affecting how individuals feel, think and relate to others. This study investigates the perceptions of school-going children, focusing particularly on perceived differences between boys and girls with respect to the activities, games and sport they prefer to play and who prefer to play with. It also looks at gendered expectations - of themselves, of children of the opposite sex as well as those of same sex both with respect to play and to performance in certain school subjects. This study draws on some of the data collected in the CRG Research Programme. It is based on a sample of 416 grade nine pupils, aged 15 years and older. Respondents attend at rural, farm, urban historically black, urban historically white and urban private schools, within a forty-five kilometres radius of the city of Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. This study finds that while social identity theory may be useful as a micro and middle level theory, it is not able to account adequately at the macro level. Also, and in respect to gender as an identifier, this study suggests that while it is significant, it is not always so. Other social factors, particularly race, class and locality does override or take precedence in shaping identity and expected life chances. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

This study addressed the social determinants of health with a specific focus on three factors in the social environment that either individually or collectively have an influence on health status: gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and people's social relationships. The purpose of the study was to examine whether people's social relationships mediate the effects of SES on self-rated health status and to assess whether these effects differ for women and men. The research questions were examined by formulating a theoretical model and evaluating the hypothesized relationships through the use of structural equation modelling. The analyses were conducted using LISREL on data from 1,239 non-First Nations Yukon residents who participated in the Territory's 1993 Health Promotion Survey. The results of this study suggest that household income significantly affected women's and men's health by influencing aspects of their social relationships. A higher overall rating of the quality of one's social relationships was associated with positive health ratings for both women and men while the perception that support would be available if needed significantly affected only women's self-ratings of their health. Received social support was negatively associated with women's health, but not men's, suggesting that the context in which support is received has an important influence on women's health. Relationship strain, as measured by care provided to several sources, was not significantly related to women's or men's health-ratings. The analyses also identify important interrelationships among the dimensions of social relationships studied as well as some gender differences among these relationships. For both women and men, positive evaluations of the importance of social relationships for their health and a greater number of social ties significantly influenced ratings of the overall quality of their social relationships. Having more social ties also positively influenced the perception of availability of social support for both women and men. The quality of their social relationships influenced the perceived availability of social support only for women. Given the focus of provincial and federal governments in seeking reform of their health-care systems, attention to modifiable determinants of health presents an opportunity to contribute to this reform process. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the effects of SES on health by providing support for gender interactions in a set of relationships where aspects of people's social relationships mediate the effects of income on health status. These findings provide support for gender-specific mechanisms by which income level influences perceived health status by shaping people's social relationships, the quality of those relationships and the support they offer.

Mobbning på arbetsplatser är ett växande globalt problem som förekommer i alla yrkessektorer, men där kartläggningen av fenomenet fortfarande är relativt bristfällig. Syftet med studien var att undersöka skillnader i upplevd närvaro av vuxenmobbning på mansdominerade respektive kvinnodominerade arbetsplatser i en svensk kontext. Ett annat syfte var att undersöka om det fanns något samband mellan upplevelsen av arbetsklimatet, utifrån delaktighet/medbestämmande och negativ kommunikation. För att undersöka detta användes ett självskattningsformulär. Det använda instrumentet visade på en god intern konsistens. Deltagarna i undersökningen var 23 män och 5 kvinnor från två mansdominerade arbetsplatser inom ungdomsvården, samt 32 kvinnor och 2 män från två kvinnodominerade arbetsplatser inom äldrevården. För att analysera de insamlade data användes t-test. Resultatet visade att deltagarna från de mansdominerade arbetsplatserna upplevde att mer mobbning och mer negativ kommunikation förekom jämfört med deltagarnas upplevelser från de kvinnodominerade arbetsplatserna. Samtidigt visade resultaten att deltagarna från de kvinnodominerade arbetsplatserna upplevde större delaktighet och större möjligheter att påverka sin arbetssituation jämfört med deltagarna från de mansdominerade arbetsplatserna. Trots dessa resultat kunde det påvisas att deltagarna från de mansdominerade arbetsplatserna i studien skattade sina arbetsmiljöer som generellt mer positiva än dem på de kvinnodominerade arbetsplatserna. Ingen av dessa könsskillnader var statistiskt signifikant. Det fanns negativt medelstarkt samband mellan delaktighet/medbestämmande och negativ kommunikation, negativt medelstarkt samband mellan mobbning och delaktighet/medbestämmande samt ett positivt starkt samband mellan mobbning och negativ kommunikation. Samtliga samband var statistiskt signifikanta. Vi rekommenderar användningen av samma instrument i fortsatta studier avseende vuxenmobbning på olika arbetsplatser / Bullying behaviour at workplaces is seen as a growing global problem, albeit with little research that satisfactorily covers this phenomenon. The aim of the study was to examine differences in the perceived presence of adult bullying in male-dominated and female-dominated workplaces in a Swedish context. Another aim was to investigate whether there was any connection between the experience of the working environment, based on inclusion/participation and negative communication. To examine this, a self-assessment questionnaire was utilized on 23 men and five women within two male-dominated workplaces (juvenile detention care), and on 32 women and two men working in female-dominated workplaces (elderly care). The used instrument showed good internal consistency. In order to analyse the sampled data, an independent t-test was used. Results showed that participants from the male-dominated workplaces reported a higher 1 level of bullying behaviour and higher levels of negative communication styles being present in their work environment compared to participants from the female-dominated workplaces. Furthermore, participants from the female-dominated areas reported they felt more involved and experienced a higher degree of freedom to influence their work situation compared to participants from the male-dominated workplaces. Despite these differences participants from the male-dominated places reported their work environment as more positive overall than the participants working in female-dominated places. None of these sex-differences was statistically significant. There was a negative and moderate correlation between involvement/participation and negative communication, a negative moderate correlation between bullying and inclusion/co-determination and a positive strong relationship between bullying and negative communication. All correlations were statistically significant. We recommend using the same instrument in future studies on adult bullying at workplaces

The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence of obesity and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) of girls in the age group 10-12 years of different race groups in the North-West Province. A second purpose was to determine if DCD status can be predicted effectively among 10-12 year old girls with regard to race, age, percentage body fat, body mass, length, body mass index and bent aim hang. Obesity is the cause of health risks, psychological consequences and improper development (Chantell et al., 1994:116; Marshall & Bouffard, 1994:1997; Treuth et al., 1997:1738). Children with DCD have poor motor abilities and experience problems regarding concentration and social abilities, all of which are necessary for successful schooling (Geuze & Borger, 1993:14; Piek & Edwards, 1997:55; Sugden & Chambers, 1998:139) According to research, the incidence of obesity among children has doubled over the last 20 years, and 10-30% of all children and adolescents can be classified as obese. Causes of obesity may be genetic but a lack of physical activity and an unbalanced diet can also contribute to obesity. Health risks, psycho-social risks and developmental disorders are all indicated in the literature to be consequences of obesity. The incidence of DCD is documented in the literature to be between 5% and 16%. It is also shown that it may be the cause of problems in daily living and at school, and some racial differences with regard to motor differences are indicated. It is also indicated that overweight and obese children are less mobile and that their motor achievement is poorer in movements where the shifting of body weight is required. All the subjects for this study (N=346) completed the Movement ABC (MABC) (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) to determine their DCD status. Fat percentage was determined from the subscapular and triceps skin folds according to the formula of Boileau et al. (1985:17-27), while a body mass index (BMI) (l/w2)above the 85th percentile was used as a criterion for overweight, and a BMI of above the 95th percentile for obesity. The Statistics for Windows computer package was used to determine descriptive statistics and significant differences between the groups. The results showed that the incidence of obesity and DCD were 4,93% and 59,78% respectively. 50% of the white girls, 72,73% of blacks, 0% of coloureds and 100% of Indian girls in the total group who were classified as DCD were also obese. The results indicated a higher relationship between obesity and DCD among the Indian and black girls compared to the white and coloured girls in the DCD group. Indian girls showed the highest incidence of obesity and coloured girls the least. The Indian and black girls also showed the highest incidence of DCD, while the percentages of DCD among all the race groups were higher than the levels indicated in the literature. The percentage of obesity found in the study was lower than in the literature, but higher percentages were found among the Indian and white girls, while all the obese Indian girls were also classified as suffering from DCD. With regard to the second aim of the study, no significant predictors for DCD could be found among the different body composition variables of bent arm hang, race and age, although some tendencies emerged. Results showed that the percentage fat was not a good predictor of DCD status in the group, but in the different racial groups its predictive value became higher. However, none of the variables could be considered good predictors of DCD status among girls, although it can be concluded that there are tendencies towards a relationship between obesity, DCD and race. Thus it is important for children with DCD and obesity (separate and in combination) to be identified and treated with intervention programs as early as possible, and it is essential to include physical activities as part of the treatment (Dussart, 1994:81; LeMure et al., 2000:336). The results of the study indicated that it is important to analyse the needs and characteristics of the different race groups in order to ensure the success of such programs. Indian girls especially should be encouraged to participate in physical activity programmes because of the high percentages of obesity found in the DCD group. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.