The Girl without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel By Melissa Jane Ashley Abstract The major component of the thesis is an extract from the manuscript, The Girl without Hands, a novelised interpretation of the folktale and fairy tale, The Maiden without Hands. The novel is composed of three books, with point of view structured as shifting third person; most of the story is narrated by the central character, Marina Fischer. The manuscript deploys a variety of fairy tale and folktale related literary techniques, including magic realism, intertextuality, framing, and fantasy. Events span a period of eight years, the action set in rural and urban parts of Queensland and Victoria. On an unsupervised picnic with friends, fourteen year old Marina Fischer’s twin sister Sonia suffers a fatal head injury. Grief-stricken and self-blaming, Marina reacts to the trauma by losing all feeling and movement in her hands. Six months following the accident, Marina seems on the verge of recovery; she attends regular therapy and is protected by her loyal friends, siblings Amelia and Sammy Jones. However, the patina of stability begins to crack when Marina is confronted at the year ten formal by Sonia’s former associates, Kylie Bates and Jody Cutter, also present at her death. Distraught and upset, Marina flees the dance in Jody’s older brother’s car. Seven years later Marina meets Matt Soverign, a gifted hypnotist, who tries to help her regain movement in her hands. They sleep together and Marina unexpectedly falls pregnant. Their son Tristram is born while Matt attends an interstate conference. Thinking a child would help her hands to heal, Marina becomes depressed when she continues to suffer from paralysis. She begins to dwell on memories of her sexual assault the night of the school dance, slowly losing touch with reality. But a phone call from her estranged friend, Amelia Jones, shakes Marina out of her stasis. Her close mate Sammy, who now lives in Melbourne, has fallen dangerously ill. With her relationship in pieces, Marina purchases train tickets for herself and Tristram and embarks upon a spontaneous—though much delayed—journey to reconcile the past. The critical component of the thesis is an essay entitled “The Maiden without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel”. Chapter one, “The Tale is Not Beautiful if Nothing is Added to It,” is a literary survey of cross-cultural folktale and fairy tale variants of the 1200 year old narrative, The Maiden without Hands. I explore academic debate regarding the literary fairy tale’s indebtedness to the oral folktale, discussing Susan Stewart’s notion of the ‘distressed text’ and Lewis Seifert’s theory of ‘nostalgic recuperation.’ Chapter two, “Then the Devil Will Take Me Away,” undertakes a close reading of the Grimm Brothers’ influential but controversial 1857 re-write of The Maiden without Hands narrative. I suggest that Wilhelm Grimm’s suppression of the ‘unnatural father’ episode, found in the traditional folktale, aided the story’s survival in and beyond the nineteenth century, when such themes became taboo. I explore how the Grimms’ aesthetic revisions of folk material—to make them appeal to a middle class audience, including children—helped proliferate stereotyped representations of females and femininity in classic fairy tales. These depictions, I argue, often cause ambivalence in contemporary female readers, however they also instigate creative revisionary projects (such as my own), which seek to explore the residual energy contained in fairy tale texts, while at the same time destabilising their sexual stereotyping. In the last chapter, “The Only Thing She Doesn’t Have is Arms,” I discuss how extensive research into the many incarnations of The Maiden without Hands altered my understanding of the narrative’s symbols, tropes and metaphors, leading to significant changes to the plot of my novel. Citing examples from my text, The Girl without Hands, and comparing and contrasting them with excerpts from variants of the folktale and fairy tale, I analyse my creative interpretation of The Maiden without Hands’ major themes: loss and lack; sexual assault and violation; creativity and writing; and, finally, healing and wholeness.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-152).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-152).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-152).

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:14:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2002-02-26T00:00:00Z / This work presents basic concepts about investment funds, its history and evolution in Brazil and in the world, the Brazilian institutional context and the main performance ratings. Its empirical part focuses on the exam of the performance persistence phenomenon for actively managed funds from July 1996 to June 2001. The active equity funds (whose benchmark is the Ibovespa Index) presented superior returns relative to the Ibovespa Index and to the indexed Ibovespa funds (passive funds). The study presents confirming evidence of the performance persistence phenomenon for the entire sample, for the high volatility and the low volatility groups. Strategies of investing in the top performance funds proved to be efficient during the entire period (except for investment in the 10% and 20% lower performance funds considering annual holding periods). The fixed income funds achieved lower return in relation to the COI (Brazilian fixed income benchmark) and to the COI indexed funds. However, that category of funds presented the greatest degree of performance persistence. Ali strategies of investing in the top performance funds returned better than the investment in the lower performance funds. The multimarket funds (hedge funds) achieved superior return relative to the COI but presented the weaker indication of performance persistence in the period. The investment strategy to buy bottom performers yielded better results than the investment in the top funds. The strategy of investing in the top 20% funds rated according to the Generalized Sharpe Index achieved superior return than those based on a strategy of investing according to a raw return ranking unadjusted for risk. / O presente trabalho apresenta um resumo não só dos conceitos básicos sobre fundos de investimento, como também seu histórico e evolução no Brasil e no mundo, o contexto institucional nacional e os principais ratings de classificação de performance. Sua parte empírica foca-se no exame do fenômeno de persistência de performance para os fundos de investimentos ativos brasileiros entre julho de 1996 e junho de 2001. O estudo empírico dividiu-se em três partes: a comparação do retomo das categorias de fundos de ações ativos, de renda fixa e multimercados com os respectivos benchmarks e fundos passivos; a verificação do fenômeno de persistência baseando-se em Malkiel (1995); e a análise dos resultados de investimentos em portfólios formados pelos grupos de uma mesma categoria pertencentes a um mesmo percentil de retomo não ajustado ao risco. Os fundos de ações ativos com benchmark no Ibovespa apresentaram retornos médios superiores ao Ibovespa e aos fundos indexados ao Ibovespa (fundos passivos). Verificaram-se o fenômeno de persistência de performance para a amostra total, grupos de alta volatilidade e baixa volatilidade para períodos de investimento semestrais, anuais e de 2,5 anos. Estratégias de investimento em grupos dos melhores fundos apresentaram, de maneira geral, retornos simples (líquidos de taxa de administração) superiores à média do retomo de todos os fundos de ações ativos analisados. Entretanto houve exceções para as médias dos 10% e 20% piores fundos (quando analisados para períodos de investimento de 1 ano). Os fundos de renda fixa obtiveram retornos inferiores ao CDI e aos fundos referenciados DI. Entretanto, verificou-se, nessa categoria, a maior evidência estatística de persistência de performance. Todas as estratégias de investimentos, nos melhores fundos do período anterior, mostraram-se eficientes. Os fundos multimercados conseguiram superar o retomo do CDI e apresentaram o menor grau de evidência de persistência de performance. A estratégia de investimento em vencedores do período anterior obteve retornos inferiores ao investimento nos grupos de pior desempenho anterior, em todos os períodos analisados. A estratégia de investimento baseada nos melhores fundos classificados de acordo com o Índice de Sharpe Generalizado, mostrou-se mais eficiente que a baseada, exclusivamente, na classificação dos fundos por retomo bruto não ajustado para risco.

A lavagem das mãos é reconhecida como uma das medidas mais importantes para prevenir as Infecções Hospitalares. Este estudo teve como objetivo comparar a execução e verificar a adesão aos passos da técnica de lavagem das mãos por alunos dos 2º, 3º e 4º anos de um Curso de Graduação em Enfermagem. A amostra constituiu-se de 113 alunos que estavam cumprindo estágio em instituições de saúde do município de São Paulo. Os dados foram coletados por meio de observação direta para a qual foi utilizado um instrumento em forma de “check-list” com os passos da técnica de lavagem das mãos, conforme recomendação do Ministério da Saúde do Brasil. Os resultados foram estatisticamente trabalhados, permitindo constatar que: a) os alunos dos 2º e dos 3º anos obtiveram melhor desempenho na execução da técnica de lavagem das mãos, com diferença estatisticamente significante, quando comparados ao 4º ano nos passos da técnica: “retirou jóias”, “esfregou palma com dorso”, “esfregou espaços interdigitais”, “esfregou polegar” e “esfregou unhas”. Apenas no item “fechou a torneira com papel toalha” o 4º ano apresentou-se melhor que os 2º e 3º anos; b) a adesão aos passos da técnica de lavagem das mãos dos alunos de todos os anos do curso foi muito baixa, pois na metade dos passos que compõe a técnica, os alunos apresentaram adesão menor que 50%; c) A porcentagem de alunos que executou TODOS OS PASSOS da técnica de lavagem das mãos CORRETAMENTE foi muito baixa, apenas 8,8%. Concluiu-se que os alunos do 4º ano obtiveram o pior desempenho e adesão muito baixa em quase todos os passos da técnica de lavagem das mãos, quando comparados aos dos 2º e 3º anos / Handwashing is known as one of the most important measures in preventing hospital-acquired Infections. This study had the objective of comparing the performance and verifying the adhesion of students from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of the Graduation nursing course to the steps of this technique. The sample was made of 113 students who were under the internship program in health institutions in the city of Sao Paulo. The data were collected through unobtrusive observation based on an instrument in a check-list form with all the steps of the hands-washing technique, as suggested by the Brazilian Health Ministry. The results were statistically treated showing that: a) the students from the 2nd and 3rd years had better results in the execution of the handwashing technique, with a significant statistical difference, when compared to the students from the 4th year considering the steps: “jewelry-removing”, “rubbed the palm of the hand with its back”, ”rubbed spaces between fingers”, “rubbed thumb” and “rubbed nails”. Considering the item “closing the faucet with a paper towel” the students from the 4th year were better than the ones from the second and third years; b) the students from all years of graduation the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years showed low adhesion to the hands-washing technique steps, once they presented the adhesion to less than 50% of the steps; c) The percentage of students who performed ALL THE STEPS of the handwashing technique CORRECTLY was very low, only 8.8%. It was concluded that the students from the 4th years in almost all had the worst performance and the lowest adhesion to the hands-washing technique when compared to the students from the 2nd and 3rd years

The purpose of this study was to explore how students described the curriculum in the Introduction to Food Production class and how they perceived the curriculum prepared them for their future in the hospitality industry. The exploratory questions that guided the study were how do students describe the experiential learning curriculum in the Introduction to Food Production course, what ways do students perceive the curriculum in the Introduction to Food Production course prepares them for their future in hospitality industry, and what changes in the curriculum do students think might improve the Introduction to Food Production course and why? The theoretical framework for this study was based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory model (1984). Data collection methods were semi-structured interviews, student journals, and a researcher reflection journal. The cross-case analysis generated nine major themes: hands-on basics taught by professionals, memorable curriculum with useful application, challenging group work forced students to develop diverse insights, well designed facility for learning, gained confidence through memorable moments, observed industry best practices for success, connected to real world with hands-on methods, managerial skills needed for success in the future, and students desire more educational elements to the course and program. These nine themes summarize the students’ experiences in a hands-on teaching facility at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. Implications for practitioners and policy makers were described. Results of this study contributed empirical research on experiential learning theory and hospitality program curriculum. These results also add to the body of literature related to hands-on teaching activities, group work assignments, and industry-based projects.

Orientador: Aparecido Augusto de Carvalho / Banca: Alexandre César Rodrigues da Silva / Banca: Josivaldo Godoy da Silva / Resumo: O teste de força de aperto das mãos tem como finalidade detectar eventuais patologias nos membros superiores e avaliar a força exercida pelas mãos de pacientes. Neste trabalho é descrito o desenvolvimento de um dinamômetro biomédico projetado para efetuar a avaliação funcional das mãos, através da utilização de moldes específicos. O equipamento é constituído basicamente por sensores com extensômetros metálicos, um circuito de condicionamento de sinais, um circuito de interfaceamento e por um display digital. O circuito de condicionamento de sinais foi implementado com um amplificador de instrumentação, um amplificador com ganho programável e por um filtro passa-baixas. O principal componente do circuito de interfaceamento é o microcontrolador ATMEGA8. O equipamento é robusto, apresenta resposta linear na faixa de 0 a 500 N, precisão de 0,54%, resolução de 0,70 N e histerese desprezível. O valor da força pode ser lida em um display e também na tela de um computador. Pode ser útil em Engenharia de Reabilitação, Fisioterapia e Terapia Ocupacional / Abstract: In this work we describe the development of a biomedical dynamometer. It was designed with the goal of performing the functional evaluation of hands with specific shapes. The equipment is constituted by force sensors, a signal conditioning circuit, an interface circuit and a digital display. Metallic strain gages were used as sensors. The signal conditioning circuit is constituted by an instrumentation amplifier, a programmable gain amplifier and a low-pass filter. The main component of the interface circuit is an ATMEGA8 microcontroller. The instrument can measure forces with resolution of 0.70 N and precision of 0.54% in the range of 0 to 500 N. It is rugged, presents linear response and very small hysteresis. The value of the force can be read in a display and in a computer screen. The device can be useful in Rehabilitation Engineering, Physiotherapy and Ocupational Therapy / Mestre

No description available.

This masters thesis describes possibilities and principles of gesture-based computer interface. The work describes general approaches for gesture control.  It also deals with implementation of the selected detection method of the hands and fingers using depth maps loaded form Kinect sensor. The implementation also deals with gesture recognition using hidden Markov models. For demonstration purposes there is also described implementation of a simple photo viewer that uses developed gesture-based computer interface. The work also focuses on quality testing and accuracy evaluation for selected gesture recognizer.