No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humantities, Dramatic Arts, 2012 / This creative practice-based research report explores a phenomenological approach to the body as a sensorially, audibly, visibly and viscerally present entity. The research argues for an experience of embodiment that highlights the primacy of the body within the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in South Africa. It addresses theoretical and methodological concerns of theatre making as a creative practice for interrogating the body’s lived experience of HIV and AIDS. The study argues that theatre has tended to describe the surface experience of the trauma of HIV and AIDS and that it has failed to speak to the lived body experience of HIV and AIDS. In so doing, this report excavates the innovation of a theatre making process that helps illuminate complex human experience through performance. This research report is written in a way that allows the reader access to the process that was developed by the researcher/theatre maker/writer. Through a facilitated process of theatre making, this study focuses on the four co-researchers/performers lived experiences of HIV and AIDS and how through the use of stimuli (visual art and elements of nature) and the use of the combination of somatic play, movement and sound, they evoked and exhumed their bodies living memory. The accounts that were made in the exploration are presented in this report and in the performance and recording (DVD) of Stains Inner. This research posits the body as a knowing entity in the era of HIV and AIDS in South Africa and highlights the process of on-flow in theatre making as a fluid dynamic process through which the body can viscerally access the latent lived experiences associated with the pandemic. It is a powerful process that enhances the body aesthetic in theatre. The study concludes that this form of theatre making has the capacity to create a transformative experience for the performer and audience. The study also puts forth recommendations that would possibly shift the landscape of HIV and AIDS discourse.

This thesis in Educational Theory explores how teachers in Denmark reconfigured their practices of teaching to be conducted via digital means during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a time where people were locked away in isolation from the world they knew due to the threat of a of the deadly virus, I show the reconfiguration of teaching practices that subsequently impacted educational relations situated in, out and alongside the classroom. Accordingly, I draw from interviews I conducted with teachers, reflecting on their lived experiences during this period, that gives insight into how they responded to the sudden and forced shift of the (digital) classroom. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s concepts of ‘banking education’, ‘dialogue’ and ‘alienation’ with Nel Noddings’ notion of ‘care’, I argue for an approach oriented towards care and attention to the ways in which teachers are both limited in their efforts of caring but also find new ways of doing so within the changed, digital classroom. The teachers reconfiguring interventions certainly give hope for the future in which digitalization is expected to increasingly transform classrooms but nonetheless also show a limit to how much hardship the teaching professional ideal of care can endure in educational relations.

Sammanfattning Introduktion: Problematisk skolfrånvaro kännetecknas av att eleven inte mår bra och inte har fått rätt stöd och hjälp. Skolfrånvaro skapar stora samhällskostnader och kan få betydande konsekvenser på individnivå. Arbetsterapeuter samverkar med elever och andra aktörer för att skapa förutsättningar för aktivitet och delaktighet i vardags- och samhällsliv. Genomförd skolgång är en skyddsfaktor mot psykisk ohälsa. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa upplevelser och erfarenheter hos elever med erfarenhet av problematisk skolfrånvaro. Metod: En metasyntes av kvalitativ forskning, 15 inkluderade artiklar, genomfördes med guidning av The PRISMA 2020 statement samt Joanna Briggs Institute. Datan analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Analysen genererade ett övergripande tema; Erfarenheter påverkar framtidsvisionen. Tre huvudkategorier; Flera faktorer samverkar över tid, Att förhålla sig till och hantera skolans psykosociala miljö samt Känsla av egenmakt - den egna rösten, belyser erfarenheter av deltagarnas skolgång och skolfrånvaro. Flera orsaker till skolfrånvaro samexisterade på olika nivåer över tid och eleverna utmanades i sökandet efter att passa in och känna trygghet i skolan. Att som elev bli sedd och lyssnad på främjade skolnärvaro. Att involveras i sin skolgång skapade engagemang, motivation, aktivitetsrättvisa och en känsla av empowerment hos eleven. Slutsats: Psykisk ohälsa är en vanlig anledning till att inte ha avslutat sin skolgång samtidigt som avslutad skolgång är en skyddsfaktor mot psykisk ohälsa. Genom relationsbygge, samverkan och elevengagemang kan framgång nås i arbetet att få tillbaka eleven till skolan. Arbetsterapeuter kan med ett empowermentinriktat arbetssätt stödja eleven att nå sina livs- och framtidsmål. Elever beskrev fungerande stöd som livsomvälvande. / Abstract Introduction: Persistent absence from school is a sign that the student is not feeling well and has not received proper support. Absence from school leads to substantial societal costs and brings significant consequences on an individual level. Occupational therapists collaborate with students and others involved to enable activity and participation in everyday and community life. Completed schooling is a crucial protective factor against mental illness. Aim: The purpose of this study was to shed light on lived experiences among students with experience of problematic school absenteeism. Method: A metasynthesis of qualitative research, 15 included articles, guided by The PRISMA 2020 statement and the Joanna Briggs Institute was conducted. The data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results: The analysis generated an overall theme; Experiences influence future aspirations. Three main categories: Several factors affect school absenteeism over time; Relating to and managing the school's psychosocial environment; and A sense of empowerment - the student´s own voice, highlighting experiences of the participants' schooling and school absence. Several explanatory reasons for school absenteeism coexisted at different levels over time and the students were challenged in their attempts to fit in and feel safe in school. School attendance is promoted by feeling seen and listened to as a student. Being involved in their own schooling created student commitment and motivation, occupational justice and a sense of empowerment. Conclusion: Mental illness is a common reason for failing to complete schooling, while finishing school is a protective factor against mental illness. Relationship building, promoting collaboration and student involvement are successful tools in achieving a return to school. Using an empowerment-oriented approach, occupational therapists can support the student to achieve their future goals in life. Students described effective support as life-changing.

The focus of this thesis is Roman bird-shaped glass vessels from the 1 st and 2 nd centuries AD. The vessels were containers for cosmetics and distinguished themselves from other types of unguentaria in that once they had been filled with cosmetic powder, the vessels were reheated and sealed shut by fire. The only way to extract the content was to break the tip of the bird’s tail; only then could the powder be sprinkled out. While ancient glass is a well-established field of research, studies concerning bird-shaped vessels are scarce. The present study, situated in Roman age Greece, is concerned with the sensory experiences that these objects evoked in their users and attempts to reflect the ancient lived experience of the vessels. In order to speculate on possible sensory stimuli, contextual aspects concerning where, why, and by whom these vessels were used are explored. Based on these contextual aspects, the bird-shaped vessels are studied in hypothetical scenarios where potential multisensory experiences are explored.

This study examined women's health messages found on ten endometriosis websites. Qualitative research methods were used to investigate messages available via Internet media about causes and treatments of endometriosis, particularly as they relate to the suggestion that hysterectomy and pregnancy are effective treatments. Messages about infertility, physician-patient communication, and accessibility were also examined. Findings indicate that the websites provided similar messages regarding the symptoms, causes, and treatments of endometriosis; results pertaining to infertility were mixed. Little information was available on methods of improving physician-patient communication. Most websites provided additional low-cost information while requiring minimal technological competency or additional software of site patrons. The results of this study have implications for future research in medical science and communication and reflect the importance of research on women's health communication. A detailed discussion of findings and suggestions for further research are offered. The author's own experiences with endometriosis are incorporated into the analysis.

This thesis focuses on the food environment of Masiphumelele and seeks to understand how mixed-method approaches could be employed to facilitate an advanced understanding of food access in Masiphumelele. Masiphumelele was chosen as the case study for this research project as this work is sponsored by the IDRC-funded Nourishing Spaces project, which works in Masiphumelele. Based on the food-environment framework, this thesis embarked on the valuation of food environment literature to establish the interconnections between the four pillars of food security, food environments, and food systems in the urban context. The findings of this study endorse other work on food environments that issues of access should not only be understood through the physical and socioeconomic lens but also consider related social aspects that shape, enable or constrain food choices and behaviours in urban contexts. The findings of this thesis underscore the need for the reconceptualization of food environments beyond the simplistic physical and economic access framings which dominate earlier food environment work characterized by food deserts. Following the assessment of existing literature on food security, the discourse revealed that adopting the mixed-method approach that integrates participatory and retail mapping is an applicable conceptual framework for exposing socio-spatial dynamics influencing food utilization and food accessibility in the urban context. Building on the growing scholarly and policy interest of mixed methods approaches this thesis endeavours to establish the significance of the mixed-method approach in facilitating an improved understanding of food access in Masiphumelele.

Dark matter, the unknown matter that constitutes 85% of all matter in the universe, is one of the greatest mysteries in fundamental physics. One theory that might explain dark matter predicts that there are long-lived particles known as dark pions. If these were created in a particle accelerator, they could decay inside the detector, resulting in particles that seemingly "emerge" from nothing. This phenomenon is known as emerging jets. In this study, emerging jets are simulated with various values of the dark pion average lifetime, dark pion mass, and mediator particle mass. These simulations are compared with a search for displaced vertices conducted by the ATLAS collaboration, allowing one to reinterpret the ATLAS results to constrain the parameter values that the emerging-jets model can have. This study simulates and constrains the allowed values for the dark pion mass, dark pion average life time and mediator mass with 95% confidence level. This is the first study to use results from the ATLAS experiment to constrain the emerging-jets model, as well as the first study to exclude this region of the parameter space.

No description available.

The lived experiences of previously infertile mothers in the early postpartum period have not been previously studied. The purpose of the research was to explore the experiences of previously infertile mothers during their early postpartum period. Colaizzi’s (1978) approach to descriptive phenomenological inquiry was used to analyze the interview data obtained from twelve first-time, previously infertile mothers. These new mothers, aged 27 to 43 years, were interviewed twice. The first interview focused on eliciting descriptions of new motherhood in the early postpartum period after overcoming infertility. The second interview validated the interpretations from the first interview and provided additional information and reflection. Two main themes emerged that described the early postpartum experience of first-time, previously infertile mothers: 1) Lingering Identity as Infertile; and 2) Gratitude for the Gift of Motherhood. Participants reported that their lingering identity as infertile and immense gratitude for the gift of motherhood propelled them to establish unrealistic expectations to be the perfect mother. When they were unable to live up to being the perfect mother, they censored their feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and shame. Findings from this study sensitize healthcare providers to the difficulties faced by previously infertile women during their transition to motherhood.