Submitted by Geyciane Santos (geyciane_thamires@hotmail.com) on 2015-06-01T15:05:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Jônatas de Araújo Matos.pdf: 9858370 bytes, checksum: 4b1010b2a9d0113e1efef351828b987c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-06-02T18:04:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Jônatas de Araújo Matos.pdf: 9858370 bytes, checksum: 4b1010b2a9d0113e1efef351828b987c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-06-02T18:16:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Jônatas de Araújo Matos.pdf: 9858370 bytes, checksum: 4b1010b2a9d0113e1efef351828b987c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-02T18:16:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Jônatas de Araújo Matos.pdf: 9858370 bytes, checksum: 4b1010b2a9d0113e1efef351828b987c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-15 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The research was conducted in Miracauera community, located in the Paraná of Careiro. County Careiro da Várzea, Amazonas state. The research aimed to describe the socio-cultural organization and way of life of the residents of the community Miracauera based on their the experiences lived in place. Identify changes in the floodplain environment in Miracauera community; identify and describe the mechanisms and techniques developed by residents in the floodplain environment. we seek to understand how the resident of the Miracauera community lives with the changes that occur during the year when the rivers descend and ascend (periods of ebbs and flows) and the relationship between man and the floodplain environment, where the population has established cultural ties that space which is transformed by the dynamics of the waters where there is a symbiotic relationship. We describe the impacts suffered by the community in the socioeconomic context, thus, we sought to an understanding from the concrete experiences of men and women who live in the community. Observed the social relations in the community through the perception of those who live in the place, how the community residents build their houses and develop their economic and social activities as well as the mechanisms created by residents from the perception of changes in floodplain environment. We seek theoretical and methodological contributions in phenomenology as Relph characterized phenomenology with a useful procedure in the description of the everyday world of human experience, based on the “back the same things,” so reaffirm the research in Cultural/Humanistic Geography comprising the geographical behavior people as well as feelings about the place. / A pesquisa foi realizada na comunidade Miracauera, localizada no Paraná do Careiro, município de Careiro da Várzea-AM. A pesquisa teve como objetivo descrever a organização sociocultural e o modo de vida dos moradores da comunidade Miracauera a partir de suas experiências vividas no lugar; Identificar as transformações no ambiente de várzea na comunidade Miracauera; Identificar e descrever os mecanismos e técnicas desenvolvidas pelos moradores no ambiente de várzea. Buscamos entender como o ribeirinho da comunidade Miracauera convive com as mudanças que ocorrem durante o ano quando os rios descem e sobem (período das cheias e vazantes) e a relação estabelecida entre o homem e o ambiente de várzea, lugar onde a população estabeleceu laços culturais nesse espaço que é transformado pela dinâmica das águas onde existe uma relação simbólica. Descrevemos os impactos sofridos pela comunidade no âmbito socioeconômico, dessa forma, buscou-se uma compreensão a partir das experiências concretas dos homens e mulheres que moram na comunidade. Observou-se as relações sociais estabelecidas na comunidade por meio da percepção de quem vive no lugar; a forma como os moradores da comunidade constroem suas habitações e desenvolvem suas atividades econômicas e sociais bem como os mecanismos criados pelos moradores a partir da percepção das mudanças no ambiente de várzea. Buscamos aporte teórico e metodológico na fenomenologia, pois Relph caracterizava a fenomenologia com um procedimento útil na descrição do mundo cotidiano da experiência humana, tendo como base a “volta às coisas mesmas”, por isso referendamos a pesquisa na Geografia Cultural/Humanista compreendendo o comportamento geográfico das pessoas bem como os sentimentos em relação ao lugar.

Under-acknowledged both clinically and socially as a threat to men’s health, breast cancer in men continues to be a critical health issue, with complex ramifications for those affected. Research exploring men’s breast cancer experiences and their lives beyond the diagnosis remain limited. Hence, this inquiry asks ‘How do men describe breast cancer and their experiences of the illness?’ the aim, to advance understandings about men’s meaning-making of breast cancer and masculinity, and to ‘give voice’ to this under-researched population. Embedded theoretically and methodologically within a critical qualitative health framework, the research has two parts. Part one is a qualitative synthesis of nine existing international studies exploring men’s breast cancer experiences, following Noblit and Hare’s (1988) method for synthesising interpretive qualitative data. The outcomes of this synthesis were used to inform part two: a multi-method phenomenological exploration of men’s breast cancer accounts using verbal and visual data. Thirty-One British men recruited through NHS records, Breast Cancer Care, and social media platforms, used self-authored photographs to illustrate their breast cancer experiences, which they later discussed as part of extended semi-structured interviews. All data were analysed together using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Integrating and triangulating the findings from the two study phases, the on-going marginalisation of men across the breast cancer trajectory, and how this influences men’s experiences of, and adjustment to the illness, are revealed. Findings from the qualitative synthesis suggest current approaches to breast cancer care and advocacy serve to isolate men, potentially alienating and emasculating them; while patient management practices and informational resources unequivocally marginalise men. Findings from the new inquiry corroborate those from earlier studies, further illuminating the difficulties men encounter and some of their coping strategies. Specifically, three superordinate masculinities were identified: ‘threatened and exposed’, ‘protected and asserted’, and ‘reconsidered and reconfigured’. A schematic representation is presented to show how these interconnected masculinities are encountered, performed and utilised by men from pre-diagnosis through treatment and beyond as they manage, make sense of, and live through breast cancer. How and why men encounter/perform these different masculinities at different points in time across the breast cancer trajectory, and how this aids men’s adjustment to illness, and life beyond the diagnosis, is considered. The findings are expected to have both academic and real-world impact through informing future research, and recommendations for advocacy and intervention for improved future breast cancer care and practices.

abstract: Drylands (arid and semi-arid grassland ecosystems) cover about 40% of the Earth's surface and support over 40% of the human population, most of which is in emerging economies. Human development of drylands leads to topsoil loss, and over the last 160 years, woody plants have encroached on drylands, both of which have implications for maintaining soil viability. Understanding the spatial variability in erosion and soil organic carbon and total nitrogen under varying geomorphic and biotic forcing in drylands is therefore of paramount importance. This study focuses on how two plants, palo verde (Parkinsonia microphylla, nitrogen-fixing) and jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis, non-nitrogen fixing), affect sediment transport and soil organic carbon and total nitrogen pools in a dryland environment north of Phoenix, Arizona. Bulk samples were systematically collected from the top 10 cm of soil in twelve catenae to control for the existence and type of plants, location to canopy (sub- or intercanopy, up- or downslope), aspect, and distance from the divide. Samples were measured for soil organic carbon and total nitrogen and an unmanned aerial system-derived digital elevation map of the field site was created for spatial analysis. A subset of the samples was measured for the short-lived isotopes 137Cs and 210Pbex, which serve as proxy erosion rates. Erosional soils were found to have less organic carbon and total nitrogen than depositional soils. There were clear differences in the data between the two plant types: jojoba catenae had higher short-lived isotope activity, lower carbon and nitrogen, and smaller canopies than those of palo verde, suggesting lower erosion rates and nutrient contributions from jojoba plants. This research quantifies the importance of biota on influencing hillslope and soil dynamics in a semi-arid field site in central AZ and finishes with a discussion on the global implications for soil sustainability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Geological Sciences 2018

This study used a case study approach to examine how religious culture, such as theologies and doctrines, is lived or practiced by "Pass the Salt" luncheon participants. "Pass the Salt" participants are taught the teachings of Harvest Evangelism, an interdenominational Para-church organization; these teachings are evidenced through their cultural toolkit. It was expected that the luncheon participants would practice Harvest Evangelism's religious culture in the workplace. Participant observation and personal interviews were conducted to examine participants' application of the cultural toolkit to their everyday lives, specifically in the workplace. Findings indicated that the leader of the "Pass the Salt" luncheon was more likely to practice or live the religious doctrines provided by Harvest Evangelism, while others lived religion in a different way.

Since 1986, the Catholic Our Lady of Victory (OLV) parish of Lackawanna, NY and the diocese of Buffalo have been working to secure canonization for Father Nelson H. Baker (1842-1936), founder of the North American branch of the Association of Our Lady of Victory and the OLV Basilica and Institutes, which, among other services, included a hospital, orphanage and school. Lackawanna is also the site of the Bethlehem Steel Plant closings of the early 1980s, which have come to symbolize the Buffalo region's difficult and troubled transition to a post-industrial economy. Thus, I frame my dissertation with the overall idea that the possibility of Baker's sainthood offers hope for economic recovery to the city of Lackawanna. Specifically, this work seeks to combine the study of material history with the study of lived religion by using performativity as a theoretical tool. Through a comprehensive presentation of the material history of Father Nelson H. Baker from the 1880s to 2006, I demonstrate that material history is a significant, integral and vital component of lived religion. Further, I make the case that devotional practices include creative acts that both provide evidence of Baker¹s sanctity for his cause and contribute to the performative nature of his material history. As such, this work attempts 1)to fill in a gap in the scholarship about contemporary Catholic sainthood in the U.S. by focusing on a specific cause for sainthood, 2) to further develop an understanding of the communal processes of representing sanctity,3) to offer a way of combining analyses of the built environment, material, print and visual culture with the study of lived religion, and 4) to expand the scope of scholarly approaches to Catholic devotional practices by demonstrating that in the Baker case, devotional practices involve a cooperative effort by both official and popular agents in the creation of material items to promote and further a cause. Visual materials are presented in the body of the text in JPEG format

The perspective of the caregiver is vital to understanding the experiences of raising a child with autism, including the challenges faced in accessing services. The purpose of this qualitative, transcendental phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of primary caregivers raising a school-age child with autism and to bring about an understanding of the challenges faced in accessing services. Resiliency theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants raising a child with autism in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Data were analyzed using Moustakas's descriptive approach. Results yielded 5 themes: overall experience, challenges, relationships, access to services, and stressors. Findings revealed effective ways to support caregivers through programs and services and highlighted the importance of supportive relationships and family connections. Implications for social change include opening conversations regarding the unique perspectives and needs of primary caregivers of children with autism, supporting awareness of the stressors associated in daily caregiving, and engaging in broader discussions regarding the importance of establishing supportive relationships among physicians, mental health providers, specialists, social workers and care managers in order to support the advocacy efforts of caregivers.

Creating is the highest level of intellectual functioning in the cognitive domain. As standardized testing has increased, U.S. K-12 education has shown a decline in creativity for students. Mindfulness meditation (MM) increases creativity and could serve as a solution to this dilemma. This study's purpose was to enrich findings regarding MM's role in enhanced creativity by conducting an exploration regarding lived experiences of creating for individuals who practice MM. A gap in the literature exploring the topics of MM and creativity together using qualitative methods was identified; therefore, research understanding lived experiences of creating within the experiential context of MM was necessary. The main research question, followed by 3 closely related questions, examined the subjective meaning of the experience of creating for MM practitioners. To provide lived experiences regarding creating, 3 participants colored in a mandala and were interviewed. Descriptive transcendental phenomenology was used to explore the act of creating from the perspectives of these 3 individuals. Participants' described experiences supported Sternberg's theory that creativity developed as a habit and suggested that MM actuated Csikszentmihályi's creative flow. Positive societal implications of bringing MM into U.S. K-12 schools as a conduit for creativity cannot be overrated. MM offers an integrated modality to increased creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, or the 4 Cs. Future studies regarding MM and creativity's relationship are recommended to further enrich current literature and address the existing gap.

As Vygotsky (1986) concludes in his seminal work Thought and Language, “A word relates to consciousness as a living cell relates to a whole organism, as an atom relates to the universe. A word is a microcosm of human consciousness” (p. 246). Even without an in-depth understanding of science and only the most popular appreciation of the police procedural be it Sherlock Holmes or CSI, it is easy to see how a single cell can relate to the whole organism. But how can a word be a microcosm of human consciousness? The purpose of this study was to explore exactly that: premise, whether words reflect the lived experience of not only a person, but of a group of people, by documenting the lived experience of children in the phenomena of foreign language immersion in school (FLIIS). Using corpus linguistic techniques to analyze the nature of these children’s lexical development as well as the relationship of the perceptions of their fluency on their second language (L2) production, this study found that in order to understand the essence of what it means for a child to express him/herself fluently in his/her L2, one must understand how language functions as a transparent medium for these children and shift one’s thinking from an additive idea of language (L1, L2, L3) to the idea of interlingual consciousness.

This study seeks to explore the lived experience of competitors in high school level Oregon Style Cross-Examination Policy Debate in the state of Oregon. To elucidate this experience, between fifteen former competitors, graduating between 2003 and 2010, were interviewed in order to find common themes within the interviewees' experiences. The common themes that emerged from the interviews included establishing a knowledge base, the ability to research, effective use of communication skills, the development of confidence, and political awareness.

The 2014-2016 Ebola pandemic in Sierra Leone significantly increased the orphan population and the need for social support programs, especially for student-orphans in higher education. Poorly prepared disaster response managers have little knowledge about how college student-orphans experience social services. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore how post-Ebola student-orphans enrolled in an agricultural university in rural Sierra Leone experienced post disaster specialized case management to enhance student performance. Criterion sampling techniques including specific inclusion and exclusion criteria guided the recruitment, that included 10 research participants taking part in the semi structured interviews. Ecological system theory and postpositivist ontology informed this transcendental phenomenological research. The modified van Kaam transcendental phenomenological data analysis enabled the development of themes from lived experiences of post-Ebola case management for student-orphans. The findings of the research showed that student-orphans experienced specialized case management with three characterizations: (a) sadness, (b) happiness, and (c) anger which included information helpful for crisis and disaster case management administration and staff across similar circumstances. The social change implication for the study results include information useful for human service administrators and staff in designing and employing post disaster programs for college student-orphans.