Abstract available in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

No description available.

No description available.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka kunskaper som medverkat till att utveckla förmågan att analysera dockspelets användning dels som redskap, dels som hjälpmedel i den sociala praktiken och vidareutveckla engagemang för barns lärande. Forskningsfrågorna var vägledande i studien och hade följande formuleringar: - Vilka kommunikativa värden medför användningen av dockor i förskolans pedagogiska verksamhet? - Vilka kommunikativa utmaningar och kulturella situationer synliggör användningen av dockan i förskolan när barnen erbjöds delaktighet och inflytande? Via användandet av dockan skapades en möjlighet att utveckla kommunikation och samspel med barnen, dockan och pedagoger i förskoleverksamheten. I denna etnografiska fältstudie bestod datainsamlingsmetoden av film, foton, intervjuer och berättelser av pedagoger. Datainsamlingsmaterialet analyserades och sammanställdes utifrån studiens syfte och forskningsfrågor. Resultatet visade att kommunikationen med dockan i aktiviteter och samspelssituationer utvecklades i takt med att pedagogernas fokus förändrades. Då synliggjordes det att pedagogerna i sitt agerande tillsammans med dockan som medierande redskap bjöd in barnen till kommunikation som uppmuntrade till delaktighet. Därigenom utvecklade barnen förmågan att ta egna initiativ där de tillsammans med dockan tränade upp sin kommunikationsförmåga. Barnens språkliga medvetenhet och ordförråd synliggjordes i barnens identitetsutveckling då emotionella handlingar och tankar användes i vardagliga situationer, både tillsammans med pedagogernas och deras egna dockor vilket tydligt påverkade barn som tidigare inte kommunicerat i så stor utsträckning. Via analysen kunde pedagogerna se att barnen fått ett större talutrymme i samlingar och gemensamma aktiviteter. Dockan hade genom olika samspelssituationer förstärkt deras språkliga förmåga. Dockan på förskolan skapade ett lustfyllt lärande och fick därigenom ett kommunikativt värde. / The study's purpose was to investigate the knowledge that helped to develop the ability to analyze the doll performance, however, use both as tools and as aids in the social practice and further develop the commitment to children's learning. The research questions guided the study: - What communicative values, the use of dolls in the preschool educational activities? - What communication challenges and cultural situations, reveals the use of the dock in kindergarten when the children were offered participation and influence?   The use of the doll created an opportunity to develop communication and interaction with the children, doll and educators in early childhood education. This ethnographic field study consisted of data collection of video recordings, photos and interviews with educators. The data was analyzed in relation to the study objectives and research questions. The results showed that the communication with the doll in activities and interaction situations developed in pace with a change in the educators' focus. This was made visible to teachers in their performance with the doll as mediating tools which afforded the children to communicate and encouraged participation. Thereby, the children developed the ability to take initiative when they trained their communication skills together with the doll. The children's awareness of language and vocabulary was shown in the use of language. It was made visible in the children's identity development as emotional actions and thoughts used in everyday situations, both with the educators and their own dolls which clearly affected the children who did not previously communicate to a great extent. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the children have a greater opportunity to speak in groups and common activities. The use of the doll had through various interactive situations strengthened their linguistic ability. The doll on the preschool created a pleasurable learning and thus gained a communicative value.

Significant work has taken place in the development of our understanding of business dyadic relationships but much work remains to be done in determining the antecedents, particularly our understanding of cultural contexts. This research aims to add to the debate about what counts in developing a long-term orientation in channel relationships by investigating the role of the concept of market orientation; it explores the possible interface existing between the marketing concept and development of channel relationships. The context is relationships between distributors and suppliers in Taiwan. This study examines the relationship literature from a social exchange theoretical perspective and conducts multiple-case in-depth interviews at the dyadic ends to develop an integrated research model for analysing potential effects of market orientation on the relationship factors influencing long-term oriented relationship building. Quantitative mixed-mode questionnaire surveys were undertaken to test the research model and hypotheses drawn from the model. Data were collected from 158 distributors from four selected business sectors, including both commodity and noncommodity ones. The results confirm the applicability of the marketing concept to an eastern country: Taiwan, and provide empirical evidence that adoption of the marketing concept can be a strategy for stimulating and sustaining long-term oriented channel relationships while mediated by a number of relationship constructs. Communication and shared value are highlighted as the primary mediators while satisfaction signals an inclination to continue a relationship. Market orientation is found to exert significant direct effects on communication and shared value and indirect effects on the other relationship components: trust, cooperation, commitment, conflict and satisfaction, which all contribute to a continuing relationship.

This is a case study that seeks to investigate how two teachers in grade 3 work with instructions to a written assignment in Swedish. The study is grounded in a sociocultural perspective on learning, and is based on observations in a classroom setting. The results show that the two teachers use different forms of mediating tools in their instructions. It was also found that the teachers use different speech acts in the instructions and that the instructions vary depending on which speech acts are included. Neither of the teachers made any adjustments to the collective instructions, instead they made individual adaptations outside the general instruction.

No description available.

Suicide rates are higher in veterans compared to the general population, making up a disproportionate 22% of suicides reported annually in the U.S. One factor related to suicidal behavior among veterans is increased exposure to traumatic events. However, not all traumatized veterans engage in suicidal behavior, perhaps due to the presence of protective factors. One such factor, forgiveness (of self, others, and by God), conceptualized as a positive change in cognition, emotion, and behavior, toward a transgressor or transgression, may buffer against suicide risk by facilitating a “letting go” of experienced offenses, and by allowing individuals to respond to trauma in a meaningful way via posttraumatic growth (PTG). This premise has not been tested, however. We hypothesized that forgiveness and PTG would be positively related with each other, and negatively related to suicidal behaviors. We also hypothesized that PTG would mediate the association between forgiveness and suicidal behaviors, such that higher levels of forgiveness would be associated with greater PTG and, in turn, to less suicidal behavior. Participants (N=545; 70.1% male (n=382); 86.4% Caucasian (n=469), Mean Age=49.86, SD=16.78) were community-dwelling veterans who self-identified as having experienced a trauma, and completed the PTG Inventory, the forgiveness subscale from the Fetzer Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality, and Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised. Bivariate correlations and simple mediation analyses were conducted covarying age, sex, and ethnicity. Supporting bivariate hypotheses (p-values

Abandoned agricultural lands in the Intermountain West are plagued by dense, persistent non-native vegetation. Targeted restoration tools are required to remove the competitive advantage of these non-natives while also removing the soil legacies they leave behind. Activated carbon (AC) is one such tool, with the ability to disrupt the mechanisms of allelopathy, positive plant-soil feedbacks, and altered nutrient cycling commonly used by non-native species. Previous studies have shown the success of high concentrations of AC in native plant community restoration on a small scale. Here, our goals are twofold: first, to test AC effectiveness in restoring desirable plant communities on a larger scale, and secondly, to identify the primary mechanism, allelopathy versus microbial changes, through which AC impacts native and non-native species. A large scale AC treatment in Methow Valley, Washington tested the effectiveness of AC restoration at a large scale and tested five concentrations and two types of AC to determine lowest effective application. Following treatment, sites were monitored for vegetation cover for three years. The large-scale application produced similar results to the previous study at a 1000 g/m2 application rate, with a 28% increase in the ratio of desirable:undesirable species cover and a decrease to 25% undesirable species cover. However, the effectiveness of AC concentrations below 1000 g/m2 cannot yet be determined and may require a longer time scale and additional monitoring to assess restoration success. A greenhouse experiment was performed, which used native and non-native species common to the study site, grown in pairs in sterilized and live AC-treated soils to separate AC effects on allelopathy from that of microbial interactions. Both native and non-native species experienced a 25% decreased biomass in AC-treated live soils, with a minimal decrease in A- treated sterile soils for native species and no effect in AC-treated sterile soils for non-native species. Overall, AC live soils produced a positive effect on relative abundance; the ratio of native to non-native biomass was highest in AC-treated live soils. From these results, it is concluded that the primary pathway through which AC works is changes in the plant-microbial interactions of both native and non-native species.

Doctor of Philosophy / Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck (1988) demonstrated that personality type as measured by the 70-item Grossarth-Maticek Personality Stress Inventory (GMPSI), predicts mortality and its cause with remarkable accuracy. Further, various forms of autonomy training, such as bibliotherapy and short individual treatment that were designed to reduce the toxic personality features (such as emotional dependence) effectively improved long-term health outcomes. However, several aspects of their theory and research were either insufficiently explicated or require further investigation. For example, the researchers did not thoroughly investigate the psychometric properties of the inventory, and they did not sufficiently examine the mechanisms that may mediate the personality-health relationship. Further, the autonomy training was inadequately described, and perhaps could have been briefer and had the same impact. Three studies were run to investigate these issues further. Study 1 (Chapter 2) investigated the internal consistency, test-retest reliability and convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity of the GMPSI in 312 first-year students, using a variety of statistical techniques (e.g., structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis, and simple correlations). In addition, the psychometric properties of this scale were compared to those of three revised versions of the scale, which were theorised to be psychometric improvements of the original version from basic principles. The revised versions contained reverse-worded items (of different types) to monitor and disrupt acquiescence response sets, and/or an extended response scale to improve internal consistency and stability. Psychometric effects of reverse-wording and the extended response scale on scale reliability were examined via the analysis of construct reliability estimates, personality subscale model fit of congeneric measurement models (a form of structural equation modeling), and test-retest reliability estimates. The original version of the scale appeared to be the most reliable and valid scale of the four versions. This improved reliability of the original version was not an artifact of an acquiescence response set, because this form of responding was not prevalent in the reverse-worded versions. In contrast, it appeared that the incorporation of reverse-wording degraded the internal consistency of the scale as participants appeared to respond to the positive and negative-worded items as if they were measurements of independent constructs, rather than measurements of constructs on opposite ends of a particular dimension. Predicted correlations between the GMPSI and concurrent validity measures offered support for Grossarth-Maticek's theory, and suggest that the GMPSI is an effective and reliable tool for the measurement of these personality types. However, experimental evidence supporting the link between personality, mediating mechanisms and disease is required to further substantiate these findings. The second and third studies (Chapters 3 and 4, respectively) were investigations of the utility of an information pamphlet discussing stress, assertiveness and relaxation, in improving GMPSI personality type stress responses in a student and a community sample (Studies 2 and 3 respectively), and provided an opportunity to investigate the mechanisms mediating the personality-health relationship via experimental manipulation. Specifically, Study 2 investigated the effectiveness of the pamphlet in improving personality scores, mood, coping strategies, health behaviours, and salivary cortisol levels (measured at pre-treatment, 1-month post-treatment and 5-months post-treatment) in 200 first-year university students. Further, two modes of administration of the pamphlet were compared: pure selfadministration versus instruction accompanied by self-administration. Group differences in mood and cortisol reactivity to a visualisation stress task were also assessed. Very few significant differences were found between the two pamphlet administration forms. Both pamphlet forms were effective in improving mood states, some lifestyle habits (e.g., exercise), and salivary cortisol responses to the acute stress task compared to the control group. The strength of these effects ranged from small to medium, and all significant differences were between pre-treatment and the 1-month post-treatment session. The failure to observe differences at the 5-months post-treatment session may have been due to inadequacies of the treatment, or low statistical power for detecting effects from the final session due to the large attrition rate that had occurred by this session. Overall, while large treatment effect sizes were not found, the results could be construed as "clinically" significant when taking into account the low costs of implementing an information pamphlet in the larger community, and the potential benefits on individuals' stress responses and health behaviours. Study 3 aimed to investigate the treatment effects of the same self-administered pamphlet in 77 participants from the general community, who varied largely in age (19 - 77 years). Treatment and control groups were compared in terms of treatment compliance, cortisol levels, health behaviours, personality scores, perceived stress, mood, and coping styles (measured at pre-treatment, 2 weeks posttreatment, 3 months post-treatment, and 6 months post-treatment). In addition, group differences in cortisol reactivity to an acute cognitive stress task were examined. Home visits were arranged for each session to reduce sample attrition. Further, an intervention evaluation form was administered at each post-treatment session to verify and maintain treatment involvement. Several significant treatment effects were observed, including changes in personality scores and non-productive coping strategies, and the strength of these effects ranged from medium to very large. Most participants reported that they found the information pamphlet very appealing and helpful. In addition to the examination of intervention effects in the second and third studies, a path model that aimed to identify direct and mediating relationships between personality and concurrently measured disease was examined for the two samples (Chapter 5). This path model was based on a new integrative theory of personality-disease, which was developed. Eysenck's (1991) proposed personality-disease model formed the foundation of this new theory, and elements of several other generic personality-disease models were also incorporated. This theory was empirically tested using path analysis on the student and community data separately. Common pathways in the two models were then tested for invariance. Overall, most paths proposed by the integrative model were identified in one or both samples; thus, the model was generally supported. All common direct paths were statistically invariant (i.e., equivalent) in the two samples. While personality did not appear to directly predict illness, several significant indirect pathways were identified by which personality appears to affect disease incidence, such as via perceived stress, mood, coping styles, and physical risk factors. These findings appear to support Grossarth-Maticek's theory that personality affects disease incidence via stress responses, as well as other generic approaches (i.e., the personality-induced hyperreactivity model and the stress moderator model) that emphasise the stress-moderating effects of personality on health. However, support for the dangerous behaviours model was not found, which posits that certain personality dispositions seek risky behaviours (e.g., poor health behaviours such as smoking and alcohol consumption) that fit their personality. The final Chapter 6 directly compares the results of these three studies, and discusses their practical and theoretical significance in terms of Grossarth-Maticek's theory and research, views of critics, and other personality-health perspectives and research. In summary, the current studies appear to suggest that the GMPSI is a reliable and valid scale for the measurement of particular personality traits. Further, there appears to be evidence to suggest that personality traits can be changed by an intervention pamphlet. This information pamphlet also appears to be effective in significantly improving responses to stress, and these effects are more prominent in high-risk groups (i.e., subjects with extreme personality trait scores). Moreover, there is some evidence to suggest that personality may have direct effects on several mechanisms involved in the development of disease. Overall, this thesis demonstrates the importance of recognising the role of personality and stress in disease prevention and prediction by providing independent evidence for the benefits of treatment and mechanisms by which benefits may occur.