<p>Early life stress is something that animals used in production often have to experience. What we do not know is if there are any consequences of this treatment later on in life. Zebra finches postnatal treated with the stress hormone corticosterone showed an exaggerated and prolonged stress response later on. To examine the effects of early life stress 77 White Leghorn chicks were used, half of them was stressed from postnatal day 1-14 and then tested between 47-63 days of age. The tonic immobility (TI) test is a commonly used test to evaluate the fearfulness and stress reaction in fowl. The chicks were placed on their back in a V-shaped wooden cradle and TI was induced by applying light pressure on the breast and neck. The number of inductions required to induce TI was recorded as well as the time until the first alert head movement and the total duration of the TI. The birds were tested in a calm environment but also after a stressful situation. There were no differences in the total duration of the TI reactions. However, stressed animals tended to need more induction attempts than the control animals. While looking at the time elapsed until the first head movement stressed chicks had a significantly lower duration. This indicates a dullness or shift in the stress response of the treated birds and there seem to be a more exaggerated response in the males.</p>

Early life stress is something that animals used in production often have to experience. What we do not know is if there are any consequences of this treatment later on in life. Zebra finches postnatal treated with the stress hormone corticosterone showed an exaggerated and prolonged stress response later on. To examine the effects of early life stress 77 White Leghorn chicks were used, half of them was stressed from postnatal day 1-14 and then tested between 47-63 days of age. The tonic immobility (TI) test is a commonly used test to evaluate the fearfulness and stress reaction in fowl. The chicks were placed on their back in a V-shaped wooden cradle and TI was induced by applying light pressure on the breast and neck. The number of inductions required to induce TI was recorded as well as the time until the first alert head movement and the total duration of the TI. The birds were tested in a calm environment but also after a stressful situation. There were no differences in the total duration of the TI reactions. However, stressed animals tended to need more induction attempts than the control animals. While looking at the time elapsed until the first head movement stressed chicks had a significantly lower duration. This indicates a dullness or shift in the stress response of the treated birds and there seem to be a more exaggerated response in the males.

Magister Scientiae (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology) - MSc (Biodiv and Cons Biol) / Tonic immobility (TI) can be defined as an unlearned behavioural response described by a physical state of immobility. This behaviour can last from a few seconds up to several hours. Tonic immobility in sharks has not been investigated extensively, despite being observed and used widely. Due to this limited research, there is still uncertainty about the significance of this response, especially in smaller shark species. Anecdotal evidence suggests that females may enter a tonic state during courtship, but this has never been scientifically investigated. Alternatively, tonic immobility may function as an anti-predator response. The aim of this study was thus to examine the behaviour and physiology associated with tonic immobility in two closely related species of catshark, Haploblepharus edwardsii and Haploblepharus pictus, and to test for differences between males and females (if the evolutionary significance of TI was related to courtship), and between the two species (if TI evolved in response to species-specific drivers).

Moral injury (MI) is associated with severe blame-related emotion and the development of psychopathology including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Little is known about how MI events are neurally processed when PTSD is comorbid, limiting the development of tailored interventions. Thus, this thesis sought to provide a novel, multi-method examination of the biological underpinnings of moral injury and relevant behavioural correlates. Study one provides the first investigation into the neural activation patterns elicited during MI event recall in military members and public safety personnel with PTSD, relative to MI-exposed civilian controls. In PTSD, emotional processing is challenged by heightened sensory information. Here, we provide evidence of heightened viscerosensory information processing (i.e. internal gnawing or gastrointestinal constriction related to blame-based emotion) during MI event recall, which appears to exert a strong influence over cortical regions facilitating moral cognitive processes including emotion regulation, autobiographical memory integration, and social cognition. Overwhelming visceral sensations can elicit defensive behaviour including tonic immobility (TI), a defensive response that facilitates viscerosensory dampening. Interestingly, more severe negative alterations in cognition and mood were associated with viscerosensory dampening in our PTSD group, pointing towards a compensatory pattern of emotional numbing. Studies two and three explore two posttraumatic symptoms consistent with emotional numbing: alexithymia and posttraumatic TI. In study two, we explore posttraumatic TI as a survival-based dissociative response and test a new measure of posttraumatic TI. In study three, we provide evidence that alexithymia is associated with an altered (muted) pattern of emotion-specific bodily sensation. This thesis provides a framework for embodied MI event processing in PTSD and highlights the importance of assessing the somatic experience of MI and screening for TI responses and emotional numbing as part of PTSD symptomatology. The evidence presented here suggests sensorimotor-based approaches and bottom-up regulatory strategies may be useful adjuncts to MI event processing. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Moral injury (MI) is a psychosocial-spiritual injury that can occur when deeply held values are violated either by oneself or a trusted other; it produces considerable pain and social alienation. MI has been linked to suicide and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental health condition associated with distressing symptoms and reduced functioning in important areas of life, including social relationships. This thesis focuses on how MI events are processed by military members and public safety personnel, who are both at risk for MI and PTSD. We investigate how shame is experienced in the brain and body, and explore how intensified visceral sensations may become overwhelming (e.g., pit in stomach, vomiting) prompting emotional numbing or difficulties remaining embodied in the present moment (e.g., zoning out, freezing up). By understanding MI event processing when PTSD is present, we hope to gain insight into more effective treatments for these individuals.

There is a risk of skilled labour shortages in rural areas in Sweden due to demographic change. Distance education is one manner to meet those challenges. This study focuses on people's experiences of distance education in a rural municipality and what it meant to them. The study is based on interviews with people who have completed higher education through distance learning in the Vilhelmina municipality and is compared with previous studies. The results show that career opportunities and personal development within the municipality are highlighted as valuable outcomes of distance education.

Os romances Maps, Gifts e Secrets, pertencentes à trilogia Blood in the sun do escritor somali Nuruddin Farah, apresentam duas camadas narrativas em suas composições: uma dada pelos eventos ficcionais que ocorrem quando os personagens estão despertos e a outra pelos inúmeros sonhos inseridos neles. No espaço da vida de vigília, os protagonistas dessas obras experimentam uma grande imobilidade, estando impossibilitados de alterar a realidade política de seu país, a Somália, e de efetivamente transformar suas próprias vidas. O objetivo deste trabalho é demonstrar que a experiência onírica proporciona, então, uma compensação para a inatividade a que estão condenados. Os sonhos são considerados como lugares especiais de experiência, como cronotopos diferenciados que contestam e invertem o que os personagens vivenciam no mundo dito real. As narrativas oníricas presentes nesses romances operam em dissonância em relação ao restante do que é narrado, oferecendo soluções ficcionais que ainda não parecem possíveis nas outras partes da narração. Dessa forma, o foco da análise se volta para o estudo da estrutura dessas narrativas oníricas, concomitantemente com o procedimento de conferir aos seus signos significados que condigam com o contexto cultural, social e político em que vivem os seus personagens. / The novels Maps, Gifts and Secrets, which belong to the trilogy Blood in the sun by Somali writer Nuruddin Farah, present two narrative levels: one given by the fictional events that take place when the characters are fully awake and the other by the numerous dreams inserted in them. In the space of vigil, the protagonists in these works experience great immobility, being unable to change the political reality of their country, Somalia, and effectively transform their own lives. The aim of this work is to demonstrate that the dream experience provides, then, a form of compensation for the inactivity to which they are doomed. Dreams are considered special places of experience, as different chronotopoi that contest and invert what the characters undergo in the so called real world. The dream narratives that are present in these novels operate in dissonance with the rest of what is being narrated, offering fictional solutions that still do not seem to be possible in other parts of the narrative. Thus, the focus of the analysis turns to the study of the structure of these dream narratives, together with the procedure of giving meanings to their signs that match with the cultural, social and political context in which their characters live.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta pesquisa aborda as estÃtuas vivas de Fortaleza-Ce em dois espaÃos de atuaÃÃo: a PraÃa do Ferreira e a Avenida Beira-Mar. Durante o ano de 2013 e 2014 os performers foram observados, escolhidos e entrevistados tomando como base das entrevistas as narrativas de suas vidas/trajetÃrias. Esse recurso foi utilizado para a compreensÃo dos sujeitos e de suas opiniÃes sobre o trabalho que fazem e como norteador/inspirador do caminho teÃrico e analÃtico a seguir. Partindo das observaÃÃes e entrevistas a anÃlise teÃrica se alicerÃa na mimese, entendendo-a como a base do fazer e do conhecer desses performers cujas estÃtuas vivas sÃo resultados de um processo de colagem/(re)criaÃÃo de diversas influÃncias e imagens advindas do que circula em seu meio sociocultural, uma imitaÃÃo do estatuÃrio material (morto) cujo suporte à o corpo prÃprio dos performers (vivo). Sobre este par de termos opostos essenciais (morto x vivo) se desdobra outro fundamental para prÃtica e seu fim estÃtico: imobilidade x mobilidade. O jogo entre estes opostos complementares està na performance de estÃtua viva e no seu comunicar-se silencioso com o pÃblico (na relaÃÃo entre ambos) pautado em certa teatralidade. As estÃtuas vivas tambÃm evocam uma tensÃo entre o legitimado e seu lugar marginal tanto no que se refere à arte como ao trabalho formal, tensÃo entre outros termos tambÃm opostos que definem o fazer desses performers como um gesto social. Pesquisa desenvolvida junto ao LaboratÃrio de InvestigaÃÃo em Corpo, ComunicaÃÃo e Arte â LICCA-CNPq. / This research deals with the living statues of Fortaleza-Ce in two spaces of acting: Ferreira Square (PraÃa do Ferreira) and Beira-Mar Avenue. During the years of 2013 and 2014 the performers were observed, chosen and interviewed, having as the bases of the interviews the narratives of their lives/trajectories. This resource was used for the comprehension of the individuals and their opinions about the work they do and as guide/inspiration for the theoretical and analytical path to follow. Departing from the observations and interviews the theoretical analysis founds itself on mimesis, understanding it as the base of the work and knowledge of these performers whose living statues are the result of a process of collage/(re)creation of diverse influences and images coming from what circulates in their sociocultural environment, an imitation of the material statuary (dead) whose base is the performersâ own bodies (alive). Upon this essential pair of opposed terms (dead x alive) unfolds another fundamental one for the practice and its esthetical end: immobility x mobility. The game between these complementary opposed is in the performance of the living statue and in its silence communication with the audience (in the relation between both) guided in certain theatricality. The living statues also evoke a tension between the legitimate and their marginal place as regards the art and formal work, tension between other and also opposed terms that define the doing of these performers as a social gestus. Research developed with the Laboratory of Investigation in Body Communication and Art (LaboratÃrio de InvestigaÃÃo em Corpo ComunicaÃÃo e Arte) â LICCA-CNPq.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the physical and psychological responses to the combination of major trauma (Injury Severity Score [ISS] > 15) and variable periods of immobility. Specific aims were to: 1) develop a conceptual model that illustrates physiological and psychological alterations that occur after injury and subsequent immobility, and their association with skeletal muscle responses and recovery; 2) evaluate daily measures of skeletal muscle strength (bicep and quadricep) using dynamometry and skeletal muscle (rectus femoris and biceps brachii) muscle thickness measured with ultrasound in patients after major trauma; and 3) assess the predictive ability of anxiety and depressive symptoms after traumatic injury on delayed ambulation (> 48 hours) following hospital admission. Specific Aim 1 was addressed by development of a conceptual model to describe the association between injury responses, immobility and skeletal muscle after trauma based on a comprehensive review of the state of the science. This model guided the research reported in Aims 2 and 3. The second specific aim was addressed with the conduct of an observational study in which we evaluated daily skeletal muscle strength with dynamometry and muscle thickness with ultrasound to evaluate the impact of trauma and immobility on skeletal muscle in patients after major trauma (n = 19). Participants with delayed ambulation after trauma (more than 48 hours immobility) demonstrated significantly less muscle strength compared with those who had early ambulation (bicep: delayed ambulation 12.9 ± 3.8, early ambulation 17.7 ± 4.7, p = 0.004; quadriceps: delayed ambulation 9.9 ± 3.1, early ambulation 17.1 ± 4.6, p = 0.001). Muscle thickness was unchanged over time in those with delayed ambulation; however, in those who ambulated early, muscle thickness significantly increased by 0.17 cm (p = 0.008) from baseline to day 5. The third specific aim was addressed with data collected during the same observational study of patients after trauma (n = 19). Participants provided measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms at baseline. Anxiety was not a predictor of delayed ambulation; however, depressive symptoms increased the likelihood of delayed ambulation by 67% (Odds Ratio [OR]: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.02 – 2.72, p = 0.041). Early ambulation was associated with significantly greater muscle strength and thickness as determined by dynamometry and muscle ultrasound, and depressive symptoms significantly increased the likelihood of delayed ambulation. Systematic evaluation of the association between trauma injury, immobility, skeletal muscle function and structure, and psychological state will provide an opportunity for the appropriate evaluation after injury and development of effective, tailored interventions to improve short- and long-term physiological and psychological recovery.

Tonic immobility, TI, is an innate fear response in many vertebrate animals, induced by brief physical restraint. It is a widespread theory that chickens (Gallus gallus) reared under stressful conditions react stronger in tonic immobility tests, i.e. stay still and lay still for a longer period of time, than individuals reared under more stress-free conditions. In our study we attempted to see if stressful conditions early in life (temporary isolation from the flock on a daily basis) had any effect on how the individuals handled the stressful and fear-evoking experience of tonic immobility tests. A total of 77 chickens of the HyLine strain of White Leghorn were used. Three sets of tests were performed; first at the hatchery facility at Linköpings universitet; second after a stressful experience – the moving to the Wood-Gush facility at Vreta jordbruksgymnasium; and a random sample with about half of the birds the third time, also at Vreta. The results were inconclusive, but pointed more in the direction of the early-in-life stress having no effect on TI tests rather than the other way around.

Animals can show different responses to fear for example by playing dead when there is no possibility to escape. This response is called tonic immobility (TI) and is a well-established test of fear to evaluate fearfulness. Long durations of TI are generally considered as high levels of fearfulness. Physiological changes observed during tonic immobility suggest that there are changes in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) strongly involved in this process. The main objective for this study was to analyse duration of tonic immobility and heart and ventilation rate during tonic immobility in three different species; domesticated High Andean chickens (Gallus gallus), wild-caught Ornate Tinamous (Nothoprocta ornata) and Chilean Tinamous born in captivity (Nothoprocta perdicaria). In this study needle electrodes were used to measure heart and ventilation rate. The time following induction of tonic immobility (i.e. after holding the bird on its back for 15 s) was characterized by a large increase in heart and ventilation rate. During tonic immobility a progressive decrease in heart and ventilation rate was observed in all species, significant in all cases except for heart rate between start and end of TI in chickens. The duration of TI was significantly longer in Ornate Tinamou compared to Chilean Tinamou and chickens. The same was observed in latency to first head movement. TI is probably controlled by the autonomic nervous system, but a heart rate variability analysis has to be done in order to determine the different relative contributions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems in these species.