The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the work of three schools, all exempted from the national timetable, to see how they worked to help pupils in difficulty reach the goals in Swedish. The method used can be described as a qualitative case study inspired by ethnografic field work. The results are based on data which included 52 individual interviews, 5 group interviews, 54 classroom observations, and field notes. A total of six different classrooms were observed. This study schows that a categorical perspective of special education dominates the documented view of education for all pupils. Pupils' difficulties are seen as individual, but two schools register a plan and desire to achieve inclusive education. Participation in the projet of working without a national timetable would indicate such ambitions exist in all three schools. In practise these ideas provide more organisationally differentiated oppportunities for pupils in difficulty. Timetables in all six classes have a strong classification and a framing of time. This obstructs pupils' participation and dialogues. While the teaching of Swedish in the six classes was described in three different ways in the outlines, the observations and pupils' statements indicate that skills and teacher-planned activities dominated all six classes. A more detailed look at the reading and writing processes gave rise to a dominant "Literacy", which in turn meant that support was given outside the regular classroom instruction in two of the schools. This is supported by special teachers' non-engagement in the project. The conclusions are that a categorical perspective perspective, a strong classification of subject and time, teacher planned activities and skills, and a monophonic reading and writing process influence each other in marginalizing pupils whose "literacies" differ from the dominating scholl "Literacy".

Body schema is indispensable for sensorimotor control and learning, but it remains unclear whether it is associated with cognitive functions. Data from patients with spatial neglect support this view; yet observations in healthy participants are inconsistent. Here I conducted two sets of experiments examining influences of trunk position: the first probed attention and spatial working memory using a change detection task and a two-back task; the second used different versions of the Posner paradigm to examine whether head-on-trunk position governs disengagement of attention. In none of the experiments did I observe that trunk turns altered performance in the left versus right visual field in an ipsiversive fashion as reported in neglect. Nevertheless, I found that trunk-right position improved performance at eccentric locations of the visual field. The data are inconsistent with previous findings of head-on-trunk effects in normal participants. Further studies are required to clarify these discrepancies.

Body schema is indispensable for sensorimotor control and learning, but it remains unclear whether it is associated with cognitive functions. Data from patients with spatial neglect support this view; yet observations in healthy participants are inconsistent. Here I conducted two sets of experiments examining influences of trunk position: the first probed attention and spatial working memory using a change detection task and a two-back task; the second used different versions of the Posner paradigm to examine whether head-on-trunk position governs disengagement of attention. In none of the experiments did I observe that trunk turns altered performance in the left versus right visual field in an ipsiversive fashion as reported in neglect. Nevertheless, I found that trunk-right position improved performance at eccentric locations of the visual field. The data are inconsistent with previous findings of head-on-trunk effects in normal participants. Further studies are required to clarify these discrepancies.

The emergence in recent years of strong female musical artists asserting their sexuality as empowerment (Andsager & Roe, 2003; Gauntlett, 2002) has necessitated an evaluation of their depictions in music videos as perceived by contemporary target audiences. This study attempts to determine how viewers’ gender role identity, based upon gender schema theory (Bem, 1981; 1993) and measured through Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), relate to perceptions of female pop and hip hop artists’ music videos. It was hypothesized that sex-typed respondents would perceive portrayals as traditional more than other groups, whereas cross-sex typed respondents would perceive empowerment more than others groups. A convenience sample of 177 female undergraduate students was used for this cross-sectional study. Results did not support the hypotheses. Though some of the traditional items were found significant, no other significant differences emerged. Overall, gender role identity was ultimately found to have little relationship to perceptions of music video portrayals.

This is a thesis on how established brands can enhance their strength, interestingness, and vitality. A threat to contemporary established brands is that they may in fact be too well established to be interesting and stimulate curiosity among consumers. A managerial fixation in maintaining consistency in brand communications may have put a straitjacket onto advertising executions for established brands. Therefore, managers for established brands facing communication objectives of enhanced salience in memory, better top-of-mind awareness, and greater consumer interest in the brand, may need to devise communication strategies in ways which are different – and even considerably different – from what they used to execute in the past. This thesis examines one such way – communications which are incongruent with consumers' established brand associations. In this thesis, I seek to challenge the popular adage in maintaining consistency in brand communications, by examining effects of brand incongruent communications for established brands from a schema congruity theory perspective. I do this in a series of six articles, each highlighting different types of brand-incongruent communication elements and effects on consumer memory and evaluations. Whereas conventional advertising wisdom, as well as traditional literature on brand management, would discourage a conduct which goes against established brand associations, this thesis argues that – for established brands – the employment of communication executions which challenge existing brand associations may actually improve marketing communication effectiveness. The aim of this thesis is to spur insight among academics and practitioners into the advancement of established brands. I argue that methods, which are successful to build brand equity for new brands, may be less effective when the objective is to enhance brand equity and consumer interest in already well established brands. The results of the studies presented in this thesis imply that the popular tendency of embracing consistency in brand communications may have to be revisited since brand-incongruent communications can generate more attention, better memory of ads and brands, improve evaluations and purchase intentions, as well as enhance brand associations and brand interest. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009 Sammanfattning jämte 6 uppsatser</p>

We all have a body : our own body and just one body. Through it, we move, we interact with the world and other persons, we perceive, basically we live. It's a unique essential object. If it is true that we have only one physical body, we also have many representations of it in the brain. There is little agreement about the exact number of body representations in the brain, but not on the fact that we have more than one. The multi-componential models of body representation are based on the notion, supported by scientific evidence that different activities demand and rely on specifically adapted representations. In my thesis, I studied one particular body representation that is used and involved in action planning and execution, i.e. the Body Schema. I have been able to describe and measure the plasticity of the Body Schema and its level of specificity in healthy individuals. In particular, using a tool-use paradigm, I showed that the Body Schema is quickly and efficiently updated once a change in the body configuration occurs. With a series of kinematic studies, I contributed unveiling the ingredients that rule the plasticity of the BS and the sensory information that is used to this purpose. As a result of my thesis, I suggest that a clearer definition and operational description of the Body Schema, as an action-devoted repertoire of effectors representations, is possible, particularly thanks to its plastic features

Syftet med denna interventionsstudie är att belysa och analysera hur elevers förmåga att ställa frågor och göra inferenser till text utvecklas av explicit strategiundervisning. Studiens design består av två delstudier med elever från år 3 och från år 7-9 samt två kontrollgrupper. Interventionen bestod av 6-8 lektionstillfällen á 40 minuter. Utgångspunkt var att eleverna fick lyssna till korta texter och därefter träna på att ställa frågor till texten. Tillsammans tänkte lärare och elever högt kring texten. Detta för att exemplifiera förståelsestrategier och medvetandegöra eleverna om att de är medskapare till texten genom att göra inferenser. Vikt lades vid att uppmärksamma eleverna om att det finns olika typer av frågor och svar. Frågeproduktionen mättes med hjälp av ett förtest och ett eftertest. Huvudsakligen användes en innehållsanalys där inferensfrågor kategoriserades på tre nivåer. En loggbok har också använts. Resultaten visar att båda undervisningsgrupperna ökar sin frågeproduktion och framförallt har en ökning skett av inferensfrågor på högre nivå. På individnivå tyder resultaten på att elever med ett lågt utgångsläge gynnas i lika stor utsträckning som elever med ett högre utgångsläge.

Motivational changes due to individual differences and situational variations in ingroup identification can influence accessibility of memories of ingroup violence, victimization and glories. In Study 1, high identifiers recalled fewer incidents of ingroup violence and hatred than of ingroup suffering. As well, they recalled fewer incidents of ingroup violence and hatred than did low identifiers. In Study 2, a manipulation of ingroup identity produced shifts in memory. Relative to those in the low identity condition, participants in the high identity condition recalled fewer incidents of violence and hatred and more good deeds by members of their group. Participants in a control condition recalled more positive than negative group actions; this bias was exaggerated in the high identity condition and eliminated in the low identity condition. With respect to memories of ingroup tragedies, Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that experimental reminders of ingroup suffering enhanced participants' sense of connectedness to the ingroup. The findings suggest that memories of ingroup aggressions threaten ingroup identity whereas memories of ingroup suffering enhance ingroup identity. Societal implications of the findings are discussed. The present research informs the literature on reconstructive memory by extending previous findings on the flexibility of personal memories to historical memory.

Denna studie har som ansats att diskutera vad populärkulturen har för påverkan. Detta görs genom att anta ett mindre perspektiv och ta upp hur populärkulturella tv-serier om terapi kan påverka och har påverkat de bilder som finns av terapi och terapeuter. Genom att tillämpa en kvalitativ metod har semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra terapeuter och psykologer genomförts. Detta ger ytterligare ett nytt perspektiv då det är de som omfattas av mediebilden som ges möjlighet att diskutera den. Frågorna som tagits upp är huruvida de populärkulturella skildringarna är att betrakta som representativa och vad det kan ha för betydelse. Dessa resultat har sedan kopplats till medieteorier om påverkan. Genom att analysera materialet som framkommit vid intervjuerna med hjälp av medieteorierna har studien visat att populärkulturens har en konstruktionistisk påverkan. Detta innebär att tv-serierna om terapi har en påverkan men dess inverkan sker subtilt i den meningen att den hjälper till att förstärka normer som statuerats på annat håll, ur den samhälleliga inställningen till ämnet eller nyhetsskildringar. Genom att tv-serier ger en representativ skildring av terapi bidrar detta till att normalisera och förstärka terapin och terapeutens roll i samhället. Detta är möjligt och har varit nödvändigt eftersom det under de senaste 15-20 åren växt fram ett större intresse för psykisk hälsa och dess betydelse har omförhandlats. Den tidigare karikatyriska bilden av terapeuten och patienten har ersatts av en modern representation som gör bägge parter mer rättvisa.

The current study attempted to examine the roles of product functions and form in consumers¡¦ mind when they encounter a new product with state-of-the-art technology. Also, the study tried to explore and understand the moderating effects of consumption schema and using situations on technology acceptance. The research picked e-book reader as the experimental product, while used qualitative research method with phenomenological approach. There were 12 key informants participating separately in the in-depth interviews. Eleven of them are foreign graduate students in the NSYSU. The phenomenological one-to-one interviews were conducted in three phases in different days and with particular aspects of technology acceptance, that is, reading schema, technology beliefs, responses to e-book reader, and the using situations. Findings of the study revealed that positive beliefs and affective connection with the product emerge once consumers find the conformity between product functions, form and their reading schema expectations. Regarding specific situations, consumers have certain goals to be fulfilled. Questions in the survey scale of acceptance confirmed people¡¦s adoption when they see the products meet their goals.