This thesis is concerned with extrapolating some central issues of the so-called Kurdish Question in the Republic of Turkey by applying political anthropological theory and methodologies. It attempts to guage the political identities of five Kurdish University students and understand their perspectives on what constitutes and propogates Kurdish political discontents in the Republic. The following research questions have been addressed: How is Turkey&amp / #8223 / s Kurdish question (K&uuml / rt Meselesi) perceived and defined by Kurdish, post-graduate university students from a university in Ankara? How have individual experiences shaped the participants&amp / #8223 / political identities? What are the relevant macro-level factors informing their political identities and their perceptions of the Kurdish question? For the sample group studied, the Kurdish identity has been found to be a highly political and socially stigmatized identity in Turkey. According to the respondents, the Kurdish identity (both group and personal) and its political overtures have developed in an ongoing dialect with an everchanging official Turkish nationalist doctrine that is executed through a state outfit whose legitimacy is anchored largely in the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atat&uuml / rk. The Kurdish Question itself represents a broad range of issues. According to these university students, these issues are beginning to be addressed in line with attempts at political liberalisation and democratisation in the country that are a part of the EU-accession process as well as a product of developing education and an ever-enlightened population. Despite this, the respondents are hesitant to believe in positive political change for the Kurds in Turkey as much discussion of the &amp / #8222 / Kurdish Question&amp / #8223 / remains focused on the outlawed PKK and ongiing conflict in the South East of the country. Kurdish discontents may also be seen to present and call for the recognition of a historical narrative which is divergent from the official line of state, a narrative which remains highly taboo at state and society levels.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of gender, relationship status, romantic relationship satisfaction, and career commitment in three components of subjective well-being, namely life satisfaction, negative affect, and positive affect among senior university students. The sample of the study was composed of 400 (172 females, 228 males) fourth grade students from five faculties of Middle East Technical University. The participants were administered four instruments, namely Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS), and Commitment to Career Choices Scale (CCCS). Three separate simultaneous multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictive power of the independent variables that are relationship status, romantic relationship satisfaction, the dimensions of career commitment that are vocational exploration and commitment and tendency to foreclose on the independent variables that are positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that gender, relationship satisfaction, and vocational exploration and commitment significantly predicted life satisfaction of the students. In addition, results yielded that romantic relationship satisfaction, vocational exploration and commitment, and tendency to foreclose significantly predicted negative affect of the students. Finally, vocational exploration and commitment and relationship status were significant predictors of positive affect of students.

No description available.

- / The research presented in this master thesis is based on two complementary studies conducted in Greece, to the University of Patras, Department of Educational Science and Early Childhood Education and in France, to the University Paris 5, Department of Humain and Social Sciences. The Research question of our study is: How university students perceive mobile technology in relation with the educational process and their everyday lives? Our objectives are: · exploring the attitudes, opinions and representations, of university students concerning mobile technology in general and as an instrument for the educational process and · investigating cultural differences’ influence upon mobile technology usage by university students, The research had four phases: literature review on mobile learning and mobile devices in order to identify the most popular mobile devices and the devices the research community is more concerned with: that is personal digital assistants (PDAs). This is a research study on the attitudes, opinions and representations of second year Greek university students from the Department of Educational Science and Early Childhood Education from the University of Patras, Greece, related to mobile technology (PDAs).The findings of the study: PDAs not popular among Greek students, combined with the fact that we wanted a more diverse, abundant student population, motivated us to continue our exploration with new studies. The third phase consisted of a research study on the attitudes, opinions and representations of the French university students from the Department of Human and Social Sciences, Sorbonne related to mobile technology. The questionnaire allowed subjects to first choose the main mobile device used for learning. This study has not gathered a satisfactory amount of data, however from the gathered data we have been driven towards exploring laptops in relation with their position in the life of Parisian students regarding learning. Also to meet time constraints and the desired number of respondents we enlarged the target group to students from any Parisian university. In the fourth phase we have conducted a research study on the attitudes, opinions and representations of the students of Parisian universities (PU) related to mobile technology: laptops. The obtained results gave us a better view about what students want from mobile technology and how they understand the use of it for educational purposes.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe, analyze and compare university students’ desire to have children, when they wanted to have their first and last child and their knowledge about fecundity in relation to the background factors: age, gender and educational level. This study will also investigate differences regarding university students’ desire to have children along with when they wanted to have their first and last child and their knowledge of declining fecundity at increasing age. Method: A descriptive, comparative, cross-sectional study with quantitative method was used in the study. Five hundred university students visiting a Student Health Centre (SHC) in a Swedish town, Uppsala, participated in the study. All visitors at the SHC were asked to participate in the study. The participants answered 52 questions, of which 10 questions were selected for this study. Results: The majority of the participating students (128 men and 324 women) wanted to have children. Despite this fact they lacked knowledge about the age at which fecundity declines. Men in general had poorer knowledge of fecundity than women, and young students had poorer knowledge than older students. The study showed that women wanted children earlier than men and younger students earlier than older students. There was no difference found in educational level and knowledge in fecundity or desire to have children. The level of knowledge students had about declining fecundity at increasing age did not affect their desire to have children, or when they wanted their first and last child. Conclusion: The study confirms previous research on knowledge about fecundity and the desire to have children among students. Once again evidence is presented that women have greater knowledge than men, that young people lack adequate knowledge about fecundity, and that the majority of students want to have children. Evident is that there is a need for further education and to create better conditions for childbearing, with purpose to facilitate a secure family planning for students.

No description available.

Charakteringas šiuolaikinio pasaulio bruožas – visuomenės transformacija, sąlygojama ne tik naujų socialinių santykių, bet ir vertybių perkainojimo, vaidmeninės elgsenos ir gyvenimo stiliaus kaitos, nes sisteminės XXI amžiaus reformos paveikė visas socialinio gyvenimo sritis. / Characteristic feature of today’s world is the society’s transformation, determined not only by new social relations but also by reappraisal of values, changes in role-based behaviour and lifestyle because systemic reforms of the 21 century affected all areas of social life.

Charakteringas šiuolaikinio pasaulio bruožas – visuomenės transformacija, sąlygojama ne tik naujų socialinių santykių, bet ir vertybių perkainojimo, vaidmeninės elgsenos ir gyvenimo stiliaus kaitos, nes sisteminės XXI amžiaus reformos paveikė visas socialinio gyvenimo sritis. / Substantiation of relevance of the topic. Characteristic feature of today’s world is the society’s transformation, determined not only by new social relations but also by reappraisal of values, changes in role-based behaviour and lifestyle because systemic reforms of the 21 century affected all areas of social life.

University students have low levels of fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC). There is a paucity of research about changing FVC in this population, including the specific use of environmental cues to influence behaviour change. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of a cue (a modified plate design and/or plate size) on FVC while exploring explicit cognitions and attitudes in first year undergraduates. Methods: This study utilized an experimental pre-post randomized control group design across six weeks, with two recruitment waves. First year full-time University students living off campus and consuming less than six servings of fruits and vegetables were eligible. Participants (n=39) were randomly assigned to intervention with an 8-inch dinner plate displaying recommended portion sizes, with an 8-inch dinner plate with no design, or a control group. All participants completed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), 24-hour food recall (24Hr), demographics, anthropometry and intentions toward FVC, with intervention groups receiving a lesson on Canada’s Food Guide in addition to their plate. Results: Eight out of twelve outcome measures had meaningful time by group effect sizes (ɳ2>0.06). For fruit frequency (per day), the effect was statistically significant (p=0.03). Adherence to plate use varied (design plate: 0.69±2.38 to 4.23±5.55 times per week; plain plate 3.39±7.31 to 12.80±7.89 times per week) but was low in the designed plate condition (average 4 use: 2.46±3.88 times per week). Baseline intention, affective and instrumental attitudes, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms and automaticity did not predict FVC. Conclusion: An environmental cue in the form of a modified dinner plate may significantly influence fruit and vegetable consumption in young adults. Change occurred despite low plate use, which appears to indicate that the role of the plate was more explicit; participants may have become more consciously aware of portion size because of the plate cue. It also appeared, based on effect sizes, that affective attitudes, subjective norms and automaticity may have been influenced. This pilot study established the effect sizes needed to power a larger randomized controlled trial and fully test the impact of the environmental cue. / Graduate / 0573 / 0570 / 0680 / hmrose@uvic.ca

The cognitive models that research on conceptual change has generated have been the subject of criticism, suggesting that these reflect an unrealistic view of learning as an overly “cold” and isolated process. Accordingly, representatives of this criticism suggest that research on conceptual change should investigate to what extent the cold cognition relates to “warm” affective constructs. In the present thesis, the warmth is not considered as prior to conceptual change, but is inferred from the very process of conceptual change itself. The aim is to investigate and describe how this warmth – in terms of normativity – is expressed in conceptual change and how individuals, in these processes, emerge as subjects in their interchange with the environment. This is done by exploring what students do when they make meaning of gender and nation in interviews and exam papers. The results show that the students mainly relate to two different norm-systems, including six normative aspects of conceptual change. The first system includes the goal to challenge or emancipate, the means to problematize, and engagement in the interviews or exams. Furthermore, it includes critical theory as an ideal, social structures and power as values, and me as a social being and actions as part of a tradition as what to make meaning of. The second system includes the goal to preserve, the means to claim how it “is”, and engagement in the interviews or exams. Furthermore, it includes psychological/biological reductionism as an ideal, essences and a natural order as values, and me as an individual and actions as an outcome of intentions as what to make meaning of. By understanding what the students do as interfering with these normative aspects, it becomes possible to understand them as negotiating norms that are brought to the fore. With this, “coldness” appears to be a misleading epithet of conceptual change. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted. Paper 2: Accepted. Paper 3: Submitted.</p>