Asthma is one of the most frequently reported types of chronic illness in children. In an attempt to increase our understanding of childhood asthma in general, and of the individual variations in its clinical severity and the epidemiological variations in its prevalence, a series of social psychological investigations were conducted. Thirty children with asthma and their mothers were interviewed about various facets of the illness. Content analysis of their replies showed that the children with the more mild clinical symptoms, and their mothers, had the more optimistic and sophisticated views of the nature of, and treatment for, asthma. It is suggested that such views may actually help diminish the clinical severity of the children's asthma. The thirty children with asthma and thirty others without asthma answered a test designed to examine how 'responsible' they considered children with and without asthma to be. The children without asthma praised children with asthma more than they blamed them, whereas they blamed children without asthma more than they praised them. This attributional tendency would discourage children without asthma from interacting with children who they perceived as having asthma. The children with asthma, themselves,praised both children with and without asthma more than they blamed them. This attributional tendency would enduce a feeling of helplessness, a sensitivity to adverse comments, and a desire for frequent praise among children with asthma. Both groups of children described their friends and their families. The children with asthma were less able to differentiate their friends and their siblings from themselves and their environment. These children would be awkward in their interaction with their peers and siblings and would find it difficult to establish stable relationships with them. Their reported lack of participation in physical games would exaggerate these problems. The children with more severe clinical asthma reported certain peculiarities in their homelife which may be a reaction to the illness. Teachers answered a questionnaire about the children's classroom behaviour. The children with asthma were more often described as withdrawn and lacking in confidence. The children with more clinically severe asthma were more dissatisfied with school. In conclusion, the different findings are drawn together to provide a social psychological explanation of the different characteristics of childhood asthma. As a result, certain therapeutic strategies are suggested which might help diminish both the extent of the psychological problems of children with asthma and the clinical severity of their illness.

This research examines the development of the EU higher education policy under the theoretical lenses of historical institutionalism. Starting from the assumption that institutions matter, this thesis follows the evolution of higher education policy in the EU premises from its emergence in the early 1970s to date. Unfolding in four phases, this case study focuses on the institutional parameters of the policy and the polity context in order to explain the critical factors that shaped the policy outcomes and the scope of higher education. In a story development full of unanticipated consequences and normative building, this thesis critically examines the relation between the levels of governance to assess their impact on the policy outcome. The main finding is that higher education has been developed as a `market-supporting' policy. The human capital role of higher education has been the main attribute identified in the EU level. As such, higher education gradually evolved from being a policy field aimed at battling unemployment to becoming one of the driving forces behind the knowledge driven society. At the same time higher education moved from the doldrums of EU competence and activity to the centre of policy action to become a policy example of applying the new modes of EU governance. In between the formal EU settings and the Bologna process, institutions and actors have withheld the idea that academic and professional mobility, recognition, comparability are the main areas for the future European workforce.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are complex and comprehensive software packages designed to integrate business processes and functions. Despite the difficulties and risks of implementing such a system, the last decade has seen a remarkable global diffusion of such systems. To cope with technical developments, the Saudi Arabian government is starting to implement them in both private and public organisations, including the higher education (HE). HE in Saudi Arabia applies integrated solutions to replace existing systems, supporting all its business functions and improving effectiveness and efficiency. Evaluating the impact of ERP adoption on stakeholders’ performance is complex and no single existing model was considered adequate. To overcome their various weaknesses, this study integrates three models (Task Technology Fit, the Information Systems Success Model and End User Computing Satisfaction) to produce a new model which offers a comprehensive view of the most important factors affecting stakeholders’ performance. This integration results in a theoretical framework that is used as model for empirical investigations of the impact of ERP systems on HE stakeholders. The aim of this research is to assess the impact of ERP systems on Saudi academic institutions, focusing on stakeholders’ post-implementation performance. Three case studies are examined, using mixed methods of interviews and questionnaires to collect quantitative and qualitative data. SPSS 20 and analytical techniques were undertaken to analyse case studies data. While the results varied according to the circumstances of each case, the overall quantitative findings were that there were six significant factors in the system quality dimension (timeliness, flexibility, ease of use, content, currency and authorisation) and two (reliability and responsiveness) in the service quality dimension. These results were consistent with those of the qualitative phase, which identified a number of other factors having a significant impact on stakeholder performance: resistance to change, continuous training and education, appropriate systems customisation and top management support. In general, it was found that ERP systems had a significant of positive and negative nature impact on HE stakeholders’ performance and productivity in Saudi Arabia.

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PROEFSKRIF VOORGELe TER VERVULLING VAN DIE VEREISTES VIR DIE GRAAD PHlLOSOPHIAE DOCTOR IN AFRIKAANS EN NEDERLANDS IN DIE FAKULTEIT VAN LETTERE AAN DIE UNlVERSITEIT VAN DIE WlTWATERSRAND / The aim of this study is to investigate marked linguistic phenomena in the spoken language of a group of (elderly) white Afrikaans-speaking men and women who were economically active in Johannesburg and surrounding areas between 1920 and 1940. For this purpose, tape recordings of twelve male railway workers and twelve female factory workers who fall into a lower socio-economic group were transcribed and analysed as faithfully as possible. Tape recordings of five white male and five white female Afrikaans-speaking teachers of more or less the same age as the first group, but belonging to a higher socio-economic category, were also analysed and transcribed as a basis for comparison. Distinct phonological, syntactical and lexical phenomena indicating signs of language contact were observed in the language of the speakers in the various groups under investigation. Significant differences may also be observed in the language of the men and women in the different socio-economic groups, with the language of the men and women in the lower socio-economic group and that of those in the higher socio-economic group clearly exhibiting gradual differences. Contrary to what was initially expected, men do not necessarily adhere more strictly to standardised language in speech than do women, and few significant characteristics typify the language of men and women in this period. The original expectation of finding relics of spoken Afrikaans from the pre-standardisation phase amongst the speakers selected was not fulfilled since the linguistic phenomena recorded are generally still heard in colloquial Afrikaans today. Furthermore, no traces of Dutchification were to be found in the case of the speakers selected. Dutchification apparently did not take place at lower socio-economic levels. From this study it is clear that the interaction between social stratification and language variation plays an important role, as do the problems surrounding language norms and social norms. In this study of variation, attention is also paid to language normalisation and standardisation, and to language variation and social stratification prior to a discussion of the language of men and women. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Community Based-Counselling Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / This investigation explored how fathers and sons perceive what it means to be a father. A review of current literature revealed that there has been extensive work on the theme of fatherhood. Though extensive, the literature has not included both fathers and sons within a single investigation. Thus, this study has included both fathers and their sons in order to explore their perceptions of fatherhood. The findings revealed that both fathers and sons believed that being a father meant that one had to be the moral guide and primary breadwinner of the family. Some sons experienced their fathers as being emotionally absent and demonstrated a desire to have more present father figures. This desire, along with the notion that “the father is the primary role model of the son” is in line with ideas pertaining to “New Fatherhood”. With these definitions of fatherhood in mind, it was noted that all fathers believed that they still had some work to do before they could consider themselves the ‘perfect’ father. Despite this, the main findings of this investigation indicated that many sons continued to aspire to be like their fathers. While aspiring to be more like their fathers, the men in this investigation also felt that they needed to perform certain paternal functions better than their own fathers.

Translation is enjoying growing recognition in today’s globalised world. It plays an important role in all spheres of human activities and is fundamental to intercultural communication, particularly in international organisations. This empirical research therefore explores how the profession is practised at the African Union, particularly at the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). More specifically, it establishes the profile of translators in both institutions, assesses the quality of translations, and determines if translations are source or target-oriented. To this end, this study uses statistical and documentary research as well as quantitative and qualitative data gathering through personal interviews with translators and a supervisor. Further, it critically evaluates four original texts and their translations using House’s (1997) model of translation quality assessment. Except for the Solemn Declaration of Oath of Allegiance, the evaluated texts displayed ideational features purposefully aimed at informing the readership. These result in a covert translation strategy being employed by translators and a cultural filter being applied in order to achieve a functional equivalence. A critical analysis of questionnaires and personal interviews with translators and one supervisor through purposive sampling shows that translation plays a strategic role in the smooth running of the two institutions. Translators mostly adhered to original texts, while ensuring that the translation was natural and fluent.

This paper provides a brief historical outline of wrestling, some mention of the form's vast popularity in current American culture, and a discussion of the theoretical bases of myth and ritual which give wrestling its basic form and account for much of its durability of appeal. It relates wrestling to two of its closest cousins, theater and sports, and attempts to touch on a few of the most important connections and diversions. The paper also provides a brief overview of American cultural heritage which provides a more contemporary context for wrestling's current appeal, and discusses certain particulars of form, process, and production as they express wrestling's purpose, appeal, and uniqueness. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a subject from a broad cultural, artistic, and historical perspective, and determin the origins, appeals, and significances inherent in the form. / Typescript. / "August, 1982." / "Submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Douglas R. Fowler, Professor Directing Thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-69).

This dissertation makes the connection between the human drive, as described by psychoanalysis, to construct God and the construction of the technological entity, Google. Google constitutes the extension of the early Christian period God to the twenty-first century. From the examination of significant religious and theological texts by significant theologians (Augustine, Thomas, Luther, Calvin, etc.) that explain the nature of God, the analogous relationship of God to Google will open a psychoanalytic discourse that answers questions on the current state of human mediation with the world. Freud and, more significantly, Lacan’s work connects the human creation of God, ex nihilio, to Google’s godly qualities and behaviors (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omnibenevolence). This illustrates the powerful motivation behind the creation of an all-encompassing physical / earthly entity that includes the immaterial properties of God. Essentially, Google operates as the extension or replacement of the long reigning God in Western culture. Furthermore, the advent of science and technology through rationalism (as outlined by Nietzsche) results in the death of the metaphysical God and the ascension of the technological God. Google offers an appropriate example for study. Moreover, the work of Jean Baudrillard and Marshall McLuhan will further comment on Google as the technological manifestation of God, particularly in its media formulations. Finally, this dissertation concludes with a review that highlights future research with an exploration that foresees the death of Google from the same rational method of inquiry by which the death of God occurred at the end of the nineteenth century. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Communication