The aim of this study is to investigate how four West African cultural practitioners living in Stockholm view the cultural sector in Sweden. How they reflect on themselves as cultural operators, and their opinions on other West Africans participation in the cultural life in Sweden is the main focus of this study. Interviews were carried out, which were analyzed within the theoretical framework of Bourdieu’s terms, “field” and “capital”. Through analyzing the interviews different barriers within the sector were identified. I have chosen to name them the inner and outer barriers. The outer barriers are the rules and formalities one have to adapt to, as well as the informal codes within the Swedish culture. The inner barrier is the blockade from within that accepts stereotypical portraits and not breaking repetitive habits such as sticking to national unions and gatherings. This tends to close one into certain groups and therefore have an excluding effect. However, the inner barrier can be a consequence of the outer. One could argue that society must work towards appealing not only to the majority, so that more minorities can relate to the cultural sector as a space of freedom and diversity.

The aim of the master’s work is to analyze theoretical sources and to create a four-part cycle of textile objects of spatial form “Transformation”. In the theoretical part the concepts related to the phenomenon of transformation in the essence of human being and nature has been discussed. Human development, historical development, psychological and physical transformations have been analyzed in more detail. The attitudes of famous philosophers and scientists towards the phenomenon of transformation have been presented; their theories have been referred to in the creation of the conception of the present work. Visual art works by different authors related to transformation forms – the existence of the universe, the development of human life – have been analyzed. The chosen subject of transformation has been interpreted through the phenomenon of the symbiosis manifesting in nature, where living organisms coexist together strengthening one another’s existence or gradually destroying it. Human interrelations, the relation between nature and human being may also be considered as the reflection of the phenomenon of symbiosis. “Transformation” is a four-part cycle of textile objects which is visualized through abstract forms encoded in the problems of human essence. Each part of the cycle symbolizes a certain period of human relations during which transformation occurs. The first part is related to the beginning of transformation. The second part of the cycle reveals the... [to full text]

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Aim: This thesis reports the outcomes of a study designed to explore whether and how ethical and responsive interviewing of children in care with varying levels of sensitivity to topics that may threaten their felt security can be achieved. Background: Children come into care with a complex array of developmental challenges. They have often experienced maltreatment, loss and disrupted attachment relationships. Little is known about the effects of interviewing children in care with varying sensitivity to questioning strategies designed to measure felt security and their perceptions of being in care. Methods: The present study was iteratively designed using an exploratory mixed qualitative design. Children’s reports (N= 12) were collected using a series of iteratively designed interview methodologies supplemented by information provided by their kinship carers. Results: The following factors influence the comfort experiences of children in care: interviewer skill, interviewer and child role, child competence (perceived and real), child characteristics, external factors, ethical factors and the interview methods. The potential influence of mental health status and age were less clear. Factors related to felt insecurity were: relational, self-perceived competence and confidentiality related factors. The maintenance of the comfort experience of children in care when interviewing, cuts across many dimensions of the research context including relational, performance and methodological aspects. Children engaged in strategies to mediate their comfort, this was somewhat reliant on the methodologies and interviewer competency. Overall acceptable levels of comfort were reported to be maintained over the span of the research process. Conclusions: Children in care have vulnerabilities that need to be addressed when including them in research. Careful consideration to the design of studies and interview methodologies will ensure children in care can participate in protective research environments. The benefits to this are reflected in the gathering of quality data which can contribute to the timely provision of the appropriate services for children in care. The present study findings provide guidance for future research involving children in various types of alternate care.

According to organizational support theory (OST), the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is driven by social exchange mechanisms and mediated by felt obligation (Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch, & Rhoades, 2001). This explanation may be incomplete or limited as well-established motivational concepts are omitted. A new conceptual model is described that extends OST by incorporating the several cognitive motivational concepts (e.g., behavioral intentions, self-efficacy) with the felt obligation concept. The proposed model is tested in two separate studies an experimental study of undergraduate students (N = 191) and a field study of nurses (N = 171). In the experiment, induced organizational support was found to significantly affect all the dependent variables, including POS, felt obligation, self-efficacy, and intentions. Results of structural equation modeling were generally supportive of the proposed model. POS was found to be positively and indirectly related to both self-efficacy and intentions, through felt obligation. Consistent with expectations, felt obligation was positively related to both self-efficacy and intentions, while self-efficacy was positively related to intentions. The felt obligation-OCB relation was fully mediated by self-efficacy and intentions. As predicted, a positive relationship between intention and OCB was observed. Contrary to expectations, POS was not directly related to self-efficacy. POS-felt obligation was significantly moderated by exchange ideology significantly in the experimental study only. These findings suggest that employees who feel obligated to the organization as a result of high perceived organizational support consider both their ability and form intentions to engage in OCBs before reciprocating. The results suggest that variance in felt obligation is associated with efficacy and goal states. The experimental study presented here successfully pioneers the use of vignettes to experimentally induce variance in POS. This research offers two contributions to theory. First, the present findings extend goal theory by demonstrating that felt obligation influences goal choice. Second, this research extends OST by integrating well-established motivational concepts with social exchange mechanisms to provide more detailed understanding of how POS is translated into OCB, and by demonstrating that reciprocation for POS is more conscious and deliberate than previously recognized. / Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations

The present thesis deals with the concept of empathy for pain, its neurobiological underpinnings and modulations of the phenomenon. Empathy for pain is understood as the empathic response that occurs when recognising another in pain and entails at least the affective processes of actually felt pain in oneself. Cortical areas of importance for empathy for pain are the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, the phenomenon is correlated with high levels of empathy, as established by behavioural self-reports. Further, empathy for pain has been shown to be highly susceptible to modulatory factors giving rise to changes in the empathic response. Perceived fairness, perspective taking, intent and out-groups are all factors that can evoke change in the subsequent empathy for pain responses in humans. These modulatory factors provide insight into in- and out-group mechanisms. Cognitive strategies can regulate a diminished empathy for pain response, although further research is needed on how to cultivate and strengthen our ability to have empathy for another’s pain.

O presente estudo parte da análise de uma amostra de 100 redações produzidas no exame de Vestibular da UERJ/2002. Tem por objetivo estabelecer critérios para o reconhecimento dos problemas de progressão argumentativa. Com base nas teorias propostas em Lingüística Textual e Análise do Discurso discutiram-se as noções de Cognição, Textualidade, Argumentação e coerência. Apresentou-se uma proposta metodológica de Produção Textual no Ensino Médio e exercícios didáticos. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam para a necessidade de que os recentes estudos sobre Cognição, Textualidade, Argumentação, Progressão e Métodos de Produção Textual sejam divulgados, debatidos e absorvidos pelos profissionais que exercem o ensino da disciplina / The present study results from the analysis of one hundred compositions written by students taking the The Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro UERJ entrance examination in 2002. These students were considered to have been above average. The purpose of the present study is to establish criteria to recognize problems in argumentative progression. Notions of Cognition, Textuality, Argumentation and Coherence were analyzed. The analysis was based upon the theories proposed in Textual Linguistics and Discourse Analysis. A methodological proposal of Textual Production and didactic exercises for senior high school students have been presented

Este trabalho descreve os resultados do estudo de materiais como óxido de manganês, nanotubos de carbono e feltro de carbono (puro e recoberto com nanotubos ou polianilina-Pani), assim como do desenvolvimento de dispositivos. Os dispositivos estudados estão relacionados a sensores de pH, utilizando esses materiais como membranas seletivas de H+ . Essas membranas funcionam como parte de dispositivos denominados EGFETs, cujo princípio de funcionamento é semelhante ao ISFET. Inicialmente utilizamos o óxido de manganês produzido através do método hidrotérmico com posterior fabricação de filmes finos desse material através da técnica de spray-pyrolysis. Esses filmes foram depositados variando a temperatura de deposição, a concentração da solução e o tipo de superfície do substrato de vidro, com o objetivo de investigar a resposta elétrica do EGFET em função da concentração de íons de H+ . As melhores sensibilidades foram de 50,1 mV/pH e 75 mV/pH no filmes produzidos no substrato de vidro rugoso e vidro liso, respectivamente, com 2g/l de concentração e temperatura de 80o C em ambos os filmes. Num segundo momento, trabalhamos com a produção de nanotubos de carbono e posterior fabricação de filmes finos também pela técnica de spray-pyrolysis, tendo como parâmetros, os mesmos utilizados na primeira parte. Os filmes finos que melhor responderam foram aqueles produzidos a 80o C no vidro rugoso e 100o C no vidro liso, com sensibilidades de 51,6 mV/pH e 53,1 mV/pH, respectivamente, ambos com 3g/l de concentração. Finalmente, utilizamos os feltros de carbono (FC) como membrana seletiva e também como substrato para os nanotubos de carbono (NTC) e a polianilina (Pani). Como membrana, os feltros tiveram uma sensibilidade de 65,47 mV/pH. NTC purificados e não purificados foram também depositados utilizando FC como substrato. NTC não purificados apresentaram pior resposta, enquanto que a parte que foi purificada teve um ligeiro aumento na sensibilidade, sendo de 67,7 mV/pH. Houve ainda o recobrimento dos FC e dos FC/NTC com a Pani. As membranas que contém Pani, são mais estáveis do que as outras amostras, sendo que a Pani no estado deprotonado tem melhor sensibilidade e estabilidade do a Pani no estado protonado. A melhor sensibilidade obtida com a participação da Pani foi de 46,4 mV/pH, que mesmo assim não supera a das demais amostras. Esses materiais se mostram como potenciais para uso de sensores de pH e posteriormente para uso como biossensores. / This work presents the results related to the study of materials such as manganese oxide, carbon nanotubes and carbon felt (pure and with deposition of nanotubes and polyaniline-Pani). The development of devices related to pH sensors is also presented. The materials are used as H+ selective membranes in sensors based on the EGFET configuration, almost similar to the ISFET. We produced manganese oxide by the hydrothermal method with subsequent deposition of thin films using spray pyrolysis. We varied the deposition temperature, concentration of solution and glass substrates surface with the aim of studying the electrical response of the EGFET as a function of the concentration of H+ ions. The best sensitivities were 50.1 mV/pH and 75 mV/pH for films grown on rough and flat substrates, respectively, with a concentration of 2g/l and substrate temperature of 80o C for both films. In the sequence, carbon nanotubes were investigated with the production of thin films also using the spray pyrolysis technique with the same deposition parameters. Films produced at 80o C on rough substrates and at 100o C on flat substrates presented sensitivities of 51.6 mV/pH and 53.1 mV/pH, respectively. Both were produced with a concentration of 3g/l. Finally, carbon felts (FC) were used as selective membranes and also as substrates for the deposition of NTC and Pani. As single membrane FC presented a sensitivity of 65.47 mV/pH. Purified and non-purified NTC were deposited on FC. Non-purified NTC presented the worst response, while purified NTC presented an increase in sensitivity to about 67.7 mV/pH. Pani was then deposited over FC and FC/NTC. Membranes that contain Pani were more stable than other samples. Pani was used either protonated or deprotonated. Deprotonated samples presented a better response. The best response with Pani was about 46.4 mV/pH, which is not as good as the one corresponding to other samples. These materials are promising candidates for a future use as H+ sensors, and also as biosensors.

Deep Throat is one of the most famous anonymous newspaper sources in American journalism. He is known for helping Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's impeachment and resignation in 1974. Deep Throat's identity was a source of curiosity until he was revealed in 2005 as the former number two figure at the FBI, William Mark Felt. This thesis will show that, despite Felt's notoriety, Deep Throat was not an indispensable part of Woodward and Bernstein's Watergate coverage, speaking with Woodward 16 times about Watergate during the reporters' coverage. Deep Throat was important to the Watergate story because he kept it alive. Deep Throat inspired numerous publications, which all served to create his mythic status. Many attempted to guess his true identity, although Woodward and Bernstein refused to confirm most guesses. An enduring Deep Throat legacy is that his nickname has become synonymous with deep background - a source that cannot be quoted or named. There was no clear consensus as to how people felt about Felt's role as Deep Throat. There were many negative and positive reactions when he revealed himself. His family sided with him; Nixon associates were unhappy with him. However, more than 30 years after the Watergate scandal, Deep Throat was still big news. No matter what people thought about him, they paid attention and they knew the story.

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