<p>This essay discusses different opinions about experimental archaeology. To start with literature was examined and a questionnaire was sent out to students and working archaeologists. The possibility for experiments to mediate archaeology to people without an education in archaeology is lifted and is also mentioned in the questionnaire. In the discussion part of the essay the results from the questionnaire and the literature are used to see what opinions are the strongest. The mediating is also discussed and the result is compiled in the conclusion. There are different opinions about experimental archaeology, but no prominent difference between what students and archaeologists answered. It is possible to see different opinions in the literature, but concerning the mediating most of the writers agree that the experimental archaeology is a good method to communicate with the laymen.</p>

While prior studies on ERP implementation have largely focused on the importance of best practices, this paper examines the impact of knowledge transfer climate and the competence of the players (i.e., the implementing firm and the consultant team). The model divides factors that influence the result of knowledge transfer during ERP implementation into three categories: those implemented by the firm, those implemented by the consultant, and those related to the impact of the knowledge transfer climate. Competence factors from the first two aspects facilitate the building of a better knowledge transfer climate. Survey results from 101 respondents were subjected to multivariate analysis. The significance of player competence factors is verified, and an understanding of the role that the knowledge transfer climate plays in the knowledge transfer process and the impact on the transfer process is developed. This paper provides a broader, richer model of knowledge transfer networks to promote insight into successful ERP implementation. In practice, the key to effective knowledge transfer is the establishment a positive knowledge transfer climate. To achieve a successful ERP implementation, practitioners should focus on possessing robust competences with ERP implementation partners. Additional research may help ERP implementation project teams more effectively promote knowledge transfer in a wider range of conditions with greater confidence and precision.

The older African American women living Texas fall into one of the most inactive population segments. Recently, the importance of socio-ecological models on human health behavior and more complex associations between variables have been discussed. Therefore, this cross-sectional study focuses on investigating the trends in physical activity among older African American women, exploring the effects of actual environmental variables that might encourage or discourage their physical activity, and discovering any plausible mediating effects between environmental factors and older African American women’s physical activity. The study sample is composed of African American women aged 55 to 84 who reside in independent housing in Bryan, Texas. A total of 282 older African American women’s addresses were systematically selected and a self-administrated survey questionnaire documenting the level of physical activity, psychological well-being, sense of community, perception of safety, physical health status, and background information was collected for each of the women. The environmental influences of natural and built environments were defined using two boundaries: 1) nearby home level (0.5 mile street distance), and 2) neighborhood level (1 mile street distance) from the participant’s house. The natural and built environments were measured using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and aerial photographs. Results showed that a) walking was the most prevalent type of physical activity and streets were the most popular places for older African American women; b) at the nearby home level, greenery and land use mixture were positively associated with older African American women’s physical activity while street pattern and access to commercial areas influenced their physical activity at the neighborhood level; and c) perceptions of crime-related neighborhood problems had significant mediating effects decreasing older African American women’s physical activity. The findings revealed that the environmental variables had a distance effects on older women’s physical activity. In addition, on a policy level, neighborhood problems should be dealt with using careful insight in order to encourage physical activity.

The growth of service industry enhances the importance of emotion issues in organizations. In the light of increasing interest in organizational emotions, previous studies focused on how front line staffs work. However, employees who play mediating role perform more emotional labor. As Arvey, Renz and Watson (1998) suggested, it is valuable to investigate the possible moderating or mediating roles valuable. By interviewing fifteen advertising account people, this article discusses the emotional labor of advertising account people who mostly play mediating role at work. Analyzing transcriptions in a qualitative approach, this research explores the emotional rules of mediating role and how they are socialized.

The main purpose of this dissertation was to relate a study within the framework of Peer Student Group Research to the basic Process-Product Paradigm for Research on Teaching. Information about previous research within this field was given in the chapter on background. A total of 287 peer students at the Department of Education, Umeå University and at the teacher training colleges at Umeå and Luleå participated in this study. Thirty-one students worked individually and constituted a control group. The remaining 256 students were divided into 64 groups. Each group consisted of four students and was videoed during the problem-solving phase (60 minutes). The task dealt with a discipline case in the Swedish compulsory school. This case was discussed on the basis of four different psychological theories. A 2(Content, Group vs. Individual Content) X 2(Cohesiveness, High vs. Low Cohesiveness) X 2(Credit, Group vs. Individual Credit) design was used. A mediating model, i.e. Contribution(Analytical vs. Structural Contribution) X Persistence(Task Persistent vs. Task Non-Persistent Contribution) was used to observe the processes. Two of the videoed groups were analysed naturalistically. The results were measured psychometrically by means of an ANOVA. The ANOVA analysed main effects and interactions between the factors for the four process variables and for the product variable. The results of this study revealed the importance of studying Educational Productivity, i.e. both the process and the product. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that interactions could be discovered with psychometric methods but not with naturalistic methods. On the other hand, the naturalistic method revealed more sensitively how the group members worked and how they attempted to solve their task. The traditional assumption of group work vs. individual work was falsified. Individuals did better than groups on this type of problem. The results were discussed in both psychometric and naturalistic terms. / <p>Diss. Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1996</p> / digitalisering@umu

The use of laptops, interactive whiteboards and the Internet is step-by-step working it’s way into Swedish schools. The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes of teachers towards using IT-related tools in their teaching. How are the tools given used as mediating tools, what new methods do the teachers find themselves discovering while using these, how do the teachers feel about digital teaching platforms and how do the IT-related tools affect students language progression? These are all questions that this study is meant to answer. Six teachers in a municipality in the north of Sweden were interviewed about how they use IT-related tools. Two worked with kids between ages 12-15 and four of the teachers worked with kids approximately between ages 16- 18. While some teachers were rather keen on using the tools it appeared that some teachers were not all that comfortable with using them. According to the Swedish curriculum, teachers are supposed to be able to guide students in using IT and digital media for several things and therefore it is important that teachers know how to use the tools themselves. According to older studies, the way to improve the use of IT-tools is by prioritizing education in using them. Teaching teachers the methods and making sure they feel safe with the new technology.

Background Inner strength has been described as an important phenomenon in association with disease management, health, and ageing. To increase the knowledge of the phenomenon of inner strength, a meta-theoretical analysis was performed which resulted in a model of Inner Strength where inner strength comprises four interrelated and interacting dimensions; connectedness, creativity, flexibility, and firmness. The model was used in this thesis as a theoretical framework. Aim The overall purpose of this thesis was to develop and validate an inner strength scale, describe inner strength among an older population, and elucidate its significance for experience of health, despite disease and adversities. Methods The studies had quantitative approaches with cross-sectional designs (I-III) and a qualitative approach with narrative interviews (IV). Studies I-IV was part of the GErontological Regional DAtabase (GERDA) Botnia project. In study I, the participants (n = 391, 19-90 years old) were mostly from northern Sweden. In studies II and III, the participants (n = 6119, 65, 70, 75 and 80 years old) were from Sweden and Finland, and in study IV the participants (n = 12, 67-82 years old) were from Västerbotten County. Data was analysed using principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), various statistics, structural equation modelling, and qualitative content analysis. Results In study I, the Inner Strength Scale (ISS) was developed and psychometrically tested. An initial 63-item ISS was reduced to a final 20-item ISS. A four-factor solution based on the four dimensions of inner strength was supported, explaining 51% of the variance, and the CFA showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit. In study II, ISS scores in relation to age, gender and culture showed the highest mean ISS score among the 65-year-olds, with a decrease in mean score for every subsequent age (70, 75, and 80 years). Women had slightly higher mean ISS scores than men, and there were minor differences between the regions in Sweden and Finland. In study III, a hypothesis was proposed and subsequently supported in the results where inner strength was found to partially mediate in the relationship between disease and self-rated health. The bias-corrected bootstrap, estimating the mediating indirect effect was significant and the test of goodness-of-fit was satisfactory. In study IV, from the narratives of inner strength it was found that inner strength comprised feelings of being connected and finding life worth living. Having faith in oneself and one’s possibilities and facing and taking an active part in the situation were also expressed. Finally, coming back and finding ways to go forward in life were found to be essential aspects of inner strength. Conclusions The newly developed ISS is a reliable and valid instrument that captures a broad perspective of inner strength. Basic data about inner strength in a large population of old people in Sweden and Finland is provided, showing the highest mean ISS score among the 65-year-olds. Inner strength among old people is a resource for experience of health, despite disease and adversities. This thesis contributes to increase knowledge of the phenomenon of inner strength and provide evidence for the importance of inner strength for old people’s wellbeing. Increased knowledge of the four dimensions of inner strength; connectedness, creativity, flexibility and firmness, is proposed to serve as an aid for health care professionals in their efforts to identify where the need of support is greatest and to find interventions that promotes and strengthen inner strength. / Bakgrund Inre styrka har beskrivits som ett viktigt fenomen associerat till att hantera sjukdom, till hälsa och åldrande. För att öka kunskapen om fenomenet inre styrka genomfördes en metateoretisk analys som resulterade i en Inre Styrka modell där inre styrka omfattar fyra samverkande dimensioner; samhörighet, kreativitet, flexibilitet och fasthet. Modellen har använts i denna avhandling som ett teoretiskt ramverk. Syfte Det övergripande syftet med denna avhandling var att utveckla och testa en skala som mäter inre styrka, beskriva inre styrka i en population av äldre, och att belysa dess betydelse för upplevelsen av hälsa, trots sjukdom 0ch motgångar. Metod Studierna som genomfördes hade kvantitativ ansats med tvärsnittsdesign (I-III) och kvalitativ ansats med narrativa intervjuer (IV).  Alla studier var en del av GErontologiska Regionala DAtabas (GERDA) Botnia projektet. Deltagarna i studie I (n= 391, 19-90 år) var mestadels från norra delarna av Sverige. I studierna II och III var deltagarna (n=6119, 65, 70, 75 och 80 år) från Sverige och Finland. I studie IV var deltagarna (n=12, 67-82 år) från Västerbotten. Data analyserades med hjälp av principalkomponentanalys och konfirmatorisk faktor analys (CFA), varierande statistik, strukturell ekvationsmodellering, och kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat I studie I utvecklades och testades Inre Styrka Skalan (ISS). En inledande 63 frågors ISS reducerades till en slutlig 20 frågors ISS. Baserad på de fyra dimensionerna av inre styrka bekräftades en fyrafaktors lösning med 51 % förklaringsgrad och CFA visade ett tillfredställande goodness-of-fit. I studie II beskrevs inre styrka i relation till ålder, kön och kultur. Det högsta totala ISS medelvärdet skattades bland 65-åringarna med lägre medelvärden för varje efterföljande ålder (70, 75 och 80 år). Kvinnor skattade ett något högre totalt ISS medelvärde än män och det var inte några större skillnader mellan regionerna i Sverige och Finland. I studie III bekräftades den hypotes som lagts fram, att inre styrka kan mediera i relationen mellan sjukdom och upplevelsen av hälsa. Bias-corrected bootstrap visade en signifikant indirekt effekt i relationen mellan sjukdom och upplevelsen av hälsa, medierad av inre styrka, och test av modellens goodness-of-fit var tillfredsställande. I studie IV, utifrån berättelserna om inre styrka visade det sig att inre styrka omfattar känslor av samhörighet och att finna livet värt att leva. Att ha tillit till sig själv och sina möjligheter, och att kunna möta och ta aktiv del i situationen beskrevs också. Slutligen, att komma igen och hitta vägar att gå vidare i livet var viktiga aspekter av inre styrka.  Slutsatser Den nyutvecklade Inre Styrka Skalan är ett reliabelt och valitt instrument som fångar ett brett perspektiv av inre styrka. Basdata om inre styrka i en stor population äldre i Sverige och Finland har presenterats, och visar det högsta ISS medelvärdet bland 65-åringarna. Inre styrka bland äldre är en resurs för upplevelsen av hälsa, trots sjukdom och motgångar. Denna avhandling bidrar till att öka kunskapen om fenomenet inre styrka och ger evidens för att inre styrka har en viktig betydelse för äldres välbefinnande. Ökad kunskap om de fyra dimensionerna av inre styrka; samhörighet, kreativitet, flexibilitet, och fasthet, föreslås kunna vara en hjälp för vårdpersonal i deras arbete att identifiera var behovet av stöd är störst och att sätta in insatser som främjar och stärker inre styrka. / GErontologiska Regionala DAtabas (GERDA) Botnia projektet

Detta examensarbete har sitt fokus på förskolebarnens lek och dess olika former med handdockan. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur barnen intregerar med handdockan och hur de använder dem som medierande redskap. Undersökningen var utförd som en observationsstudie av barnen på en förskola i åldern 3-5 år. De resultat som framkommit pekar på att en handdockas närvaro i barnens lek kan te sig på skilda sätt. Barns möte med handdockan kan både inspirerea, utmana och försvåra leken. De lekformer som synliggjorts i denna studie visade att imitation och transformation stod i centrum. En annan upptäckt som gjordes under studien var pojkars och flickors skilda sätt att leka med handdockorna. Handdockan kan fungera som ett redskap som kan återspegla tidigare händelser och i och med detta försökte barnen få en förståelse för det som de upplevt. En handdocka kan ge barnen vissa budskap som berikar deras lekar, deras utveckling och det livslånga lärandet. För dessa barn kunde handdockan tillsammans med barnens egna erfarenheter fungera som ett medierande redskap och guida dem till en förståelse av sin omvärld. Denna studie representerar även de barn som hade vissa svårigheter att ta till sig handdockor i leken. Kanske kunde detta bero på att handdockorna inte gav dem några associationer, vare sig i den faktiska eller fiktiva omvärlden.

Limit-setting in publicly funded healthcare is unavoidable, and increasingly important in the governance and management of the demand for health services. The work of limit-setting takes place in the organising of the provision of health services, where various health workers (professionals, administrators, unit managers, politicians) collectively exercise their skills. Limit-setting often creates tensions which impose the quest for legitimacy; it involves norms and values which are related to the interests of the health workers, and moreover to society at large. In that sense, limit-setting is related to internal processes of legitimacy within the healthcare organisation, i.e. internal legitimacy, and external processes of legitimacy where citizens are legitimating the activities in the healthcare organisation, i.e. external legitimacy. The purpose of this thesis was to discover, and increase the understanding of the dilemma associated with sustaining, generating and designing internal legitimacy, when working with a policy of limit-setting in healthcare, in relation to the provision of Assistive Technologies (AT). It has explored what health workers do when they are working with a policy, and in particular how they work out what they should be doing. Finally the role of mediating institutions in supporting and designing internal legitimacy, was explored in the thesis. Following a case-study design and a qualitative approach, where fifty-seven semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted, data allowed the exploration of internal legitimacy in a context of complex interaction and construction of policy work in two Swedish county councils. This research produced a number of key findings; in an environment of finite resources health workers encountered situations that were characterised by conflicting pressures, and handled these by way of interaction, sense making, presenting arguments, negotiating and seeking support for an appropriate course of action and practices. The policy work with limit-setting can therefore be regarded as a dynamic interactive process, which incorporates several actors in different situations and locations, together negotiating and institutionalising the policy. Various policy sites, which had the role of mediating institutions, were identified, and were important in the interactive processes of forming a shared collective meaning in order to reach an appropriate act. Hence, designing legitimacy has to acknowledge the interactive policy work, and its contextual character, taking place at the different levels of a healthcare system.

Background: Antenatal depression is relatively a new area of study compared to postnatal depression and the depth and sophistication of this research is yet developing. For instance, very little is reported on the specific role of the risk factors as moderators and mediators to explain the variability in the magnitude of exposure and the causal pathway for depression during pregnancy. Moderators are those variables that are not modifiable (e.g., ethnicity, and gender), or have qualitative character or nominal in nature, and could also often be antecedent to other independent variables (e.g., behavioural and psychosocial) and depression. Mediators are those variables that may be better able to describe the pathway that connects a predictor to an outcome and intervention can be designed targeting mediators as they are causally related to the outcome. This thesis will address this gap in research and provide empirical evidence to increase the understanding of the role of each identified risk factors that could potentially influence maternal mental health interventions. Methods: In this thesis, I have used the Feelings in Pregnancy and Motherhood (FIP) study. This was a longitudinal study and 649 pregnant women participated in the study. Women were interviewed three times over the course of their pregnancy and the immediate postpartum. Depression status was assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS); sociodemographic characteristics, psychosocial and behavioural information were collected at each time point. Depression status in late pregnancy and postpartum were the two outcomes of interest. Non-modifiable sociodemographic risk factors were considered as moderators. Behavioural and psychosocial variables were considered as mediators. Moderators and mediators were tested through series of regression analysis. Results: In modeling moderating effects in late pregnancy, low income women who were in poor marital relationships (β=1.54; p<0.05) and partnered women (married or common law) who reported having used recreational drugs (β= -1.62; p<0.05) were more likely to be depressed. Young mothers with low social support (β= 1.04; p=0.15) and Aboriginal mothers with low social support (β= 1.12; p=0.17) were also almost significantly noted to have depression symptoms in late pregnancy. In mediating analysis for late pregnancy, psychosocial mediators such as stress, social support, and marital satisfaction, and behavioural factors, such as smoking and recreational drug use exerted partial or full mediating effect for depressive symptoms in women in late pregnancy. In moderating analysis for postpartum, Aboriginal women who had never exercised in late pregnancy were found to be depressed at postpartum compared with non Aboriginal mothers who did not exercise. In looking at mediating effects in postpartum, smoking at late pregnancy exerted full mediating effects for ethnicity and marital satisfaction pathways, and partial mediating effects for age, education, and stress pathways in predicting depression in postpartum period among mothers. Conclusion: Depression, particularly during pregnancy and in postpartum, is a top priority for women themselves, their families, care providers, and society in general. This study found that characteristics of women or their psychosocial or behavioural experiences could have specific effects such as either a mitigating or exacerbating role, or a mediating role, in depression in late pregnancy or in postpartum. This information could be strategically used by clinicians or by health promotion professionals to either target or provide tailored programs to women who might experience depression during pregnancy and postpartum.