During the 1960s and 1970s an increased interest in Native Americans can be seen in Sweden, e.g. through the establishment of organizations such as the Indian Club of Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to study the portrayal of Native Americans and its role through Albin Widén, a Swedish author, ethnologist and member of the Indian Club, and his non-fictional works on the Swedish migration to America, Swedish-America and Swedish contacts with Native Americans. The study is divided into four parts. The first part looks at the portrayal of the Native Americans in Widén’s writings, in comparison with Euro-Americans’ and Europeans’ traditional stereotypic images of a good and a bad Indian. The second part examines how Widén represents the contacts between Swedes in America and the Native Americans. The purpose of the third part of the analysis is to investigate Widén’s interest in Native Americans. Finally, the thesis focuses on the possible role of the portrayals of Indians as a counterpart in the creation and upholding of a Swedish identity.

M. tuberculosis copper-sensitive operon repressor (Mtb CsoR) is the founding member of a new metalloregulatory protein family in prokaryotes that regulates the transcription of the cso operon in response to copper toxicity. Mtb CsoR tetramer binds 1 monomer mol equiv of Cu(I) with very high affinity (log KCu=18.0) via three conserved residues, Cys36, His61' and Cys65'. Binding of Cu(I) allosterically inhibits the CsoR binding to the DNA operator (CsoO) overlapping the cso promoter (DeltaGc=+3.6 kcal/mol, pH 7.0, 25 oC). These findings are consistent with a role of CsoR as a transcriptional repressor with Cu(I) binding inducing transcriptional derepression. To explore the mechanism of this regulation, His61 was substituted with 1-methylhistidine (MeH) or Beta- (2-thiazolyl)-alanine (Thz) using a native chemical ligation strategy. The CsoO binding affinities of the resultant H61MeH and H61Thz CsoRs are both refractory to inhibition by Cu(I) binding despite the fact that each forms a high affinity 3-coordinate complex with Cu(I). This suggests that while Cu(I) is coordinated by the N?11 atom of His61, the N?22 atom plays an critical role in driving this allosteric switch. Evidence in support of a formation of a hydrogen bonding network involving the N?1 face of His61 and two conserved "second coordination shell" residues, Glu81' and Tyr35, is presented. Remarkably, this mechanism is analogous to that proposed for the Zn(II) sensor CzrA from S. aureus. To test this, we employed the same native chemical ligation approach to substitute the key Zn(II) ligand His97 with 1-methylhistidine; with the preliminary findings fully consistent with an intersubunit allosteric switch involving the N?2 face of this key His97 residue in CzrA. Two predicted homologs of Mtb CsoR were also biochemically characterized to obtain additional support for the hypothesis that CsoR is a key Cu(I) regulatory protein in many bacterial species. B. subtilis CsoR, known to regulate the transcription of the copZA operon, was found to have biochemical properties similar to those of Mtb CsoR as to Cu(I) binding, DNA binding and Cu(I)-dependent allosteric regulation. Interestingly, Bsu CsoR also binds other divalent metal ions (Zn, Ni) with high affinity but with metal coordination geometries distinct from that of Cu(I). Binding of these divalent metal ions only weakly regulates copZA operator binding in vitro, suggesting that coordination number and geometry are most closely related to the allosteric regulation. Finally, a putative CsoR from the pathogenic S. aureus Newman strain was identified and characterized, and was found to exhibit biochemical properties similar to those of Mtb and Bsu CsoRs. Parallels between Cu(I)-sensing CsoRs and functional orthologs in the CsoR/RcnR family are further discussed in the context of the mechanism and evolutionary divergence of this new family of regulatory proteins.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Learning words have shown to be a very crucial part of learning a second language and the one most important factor to make pupils with Swedish as a second language succeed in school. To make sure that all pupils get the right conditions to learn from all subjects and their entire content a wide vocabulary is necessary. Even so it is found that there are shortcomings regarding this kind of teaching in Swedish schools. Through interviews and observations of two teachers that teach pupils with Swedish as a second language, and also with a short reading test for the pupils, the possible strategies that these teachers use for learning words have been studied. The result shows that the teachers are using several strategies and that they are actively working with transmitting these to the pupils, but there are some areas that need developing.

American Indian and Alaska Native youth have the highest rate of suicide in the nation. The following report outlines the factors that contribute to these rates. These factors include barriers to mental health care and the unique risk factors. Barriers to mental health care that American Indians and Alaska Natives face include isolation of tribes, cultural values, limitations of Indian Health Services, and a lack of qualified providers. Unique risk factors faced by these groups include isolation, oppression, tribal characteristics, and high rates of alcohol abuse. Two prominent theories in suicide research are examined to help explain the epidemic of American Indian and Alaska Native youth suicide. These theories include the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide as well as Strain Theory of Suicide. A close look at current interventions is also provided. Limitations of these interventions are discussed. Implications for community and college counselors are given, which include being sensitive to the unique needs of these clients and designing interventions targeted specifically at these groups. Suggestions for future research are also included. / text

The increasing number of proficient, non-native English speakers, both in U.S. academic institutions and around the globe, warrants considerable investigation into possible norms developing within non-native to non-native interactions. This report analyzes attitudes toward accent, a prominent indicator of foreignness, within non-native English speaker interactions. It presents relevant research on this topic, and it summarizes some of the major findings of an online survey that examined what attitudes, if any, non-native listeners may form on the basis of accent alone when listening to other non-native English speakers. The results suggest that listeners base attitude judgments more on native-likeness than on intelligibility. Also, speakers’ perceptions of their own non-native accent are more negative than how they actually rate themselves as compared to others. / text

The internet is a vast and ever-changing medium, and with that comes much discussion of its users and their capabilities to adopt and use the internet. This study aims to advance the digital native vs. digital immigrant discussion and present a theoretically-driven understanding of the adoption process by evaluating individuals on their internet usage behaviors over that of mere demographics. This study found that by looking at users' breadth of use, ease of use and internet self-efficacy, online participation in various forms is more accurately predicted. Through the Diffusion of Innovation Theory and the Social Cognitive Theory researchers can better understand this process as it relates to changing digital media and thus harness tools that will enable users to adopt more quickly. / text

The purpose of this study was to identify micro, mezzo, and macro level factors which may be contributing to disparities in the removal decision among Latino and Native Americans in the Idaho child welfare system. Additionally, this study explored what factors contribute to the decision to investigate a referral or substantiate a claim of child abuse or neglect. This study used a secondary data analysis of all families (n = 4547) referred for abuse or neglect to the Idaho public child welfare system between April 1 and September 30, 2009. It was found that children were more likely to be removed if they had previously been a victim of abuse or neglect. Native American children were 4.39 times more likely to be removed than White children and Latino children were 1.78 times more likely to be removed than White children. Additional positive predictors of removal were domestic violence, being on public assistance, being referred for "other" maltreatment type rather than neglect, and the county poverty rate. The only negative predictor of placement was being referred for physical abuse rather than neglect. The R2 for these variables was 17.09%. Additional significant results indicated that county variables, such as the presence of a field office in a given county and level of rurality, were factors in the investigation decision. Referrals for physical abuse were also more likely to result in an investigation than referrals for neglect. The child's age and a referral for "other" maltreatment type were negatively related to the disposition of a case. Finally, an assessment was conducted of disparity at various decision points in the child welfare process. It was determined that Native Americans, Latinos, and Blacks/African Americans all experience disparity at some point in the early decision-making process of a child welfare case. For Black/African American children, the greatest disparity occurs at the referral to child welfare. For Latino children, the greatest disparity occurs at the removal decision. Native American children also have the greatest disparity at the removal decision, although they experience disparity at nearly every explored point in the child welfare process. / text

The Jumano Indians of Texas have long been an enigma in Texas history and archeology. Many researchers from both disciplines have sought to connect the historic accounts with those of archeological assemblages, but have largely been unsuccessful. Part of the problem has been that the records tend to present problematic issues and very little information in the way of material culture. Another problem has been the tendency among archaeologists in the state to continue to lump site assemblages into larger analytical units, which in effect acts to homogenize any variability that would lend a better understanding of behavioral aspects. Recent efforts in the area of identity and social fields have opened new possibilities. Along these lines this report uses the ethnohistoric data on the Jumano to construct a frame of reference to define the Jumano identity and social field. Using the variability embedded in the Cielo Complex as a model, several sites within the Jumano range were identified for further investigation. / text

Globally, human modification of land and the human-aided introduction of exotic species are considered to be the main drivers behind species decline and extinction. Human colonisation of New Zealand and subsequent development resulted in the conversion of native forests and shrublands into productive land, which together with the introduction of invasive species has caused the decline of many species, and many more are now threatened with extinction. This issue is particularly prevalent in the lowland eastern areas of the South Island, in which there has been intensive land development. One strongly affected group are species within the genus Olearia, in which several species are threatened with extinction, including nationally declining Olearia lineata. In contrast, other species in this genus, such as non-threatened O. bullata, are seemingly not as strongly impacted. My study investigated the mechanisms behind why O. lineata is nationally declining in comparison to the non-threatened congener O. bullata. To do this, I investigated two main research questions; one question investigated the demographic structure of populations to determine if regeneration is occurring and the vegetation composition of the surrounding community. Sampled populations indicated regeneration failure in O. lineata populations but also in O. bullata populations, despite its non-threatened status. I found that a high proportion communities contained exotic grasses, therefore, the second question was how the presence of the exotic grass- Agrostis capillaris, affected recruitment of O. lineata and O. bullata. Two glasshouse experiments investigated how the presence or absence of grass affected germination and growth of seedlings. Both Olearia species were found to germinate in the presence of grass, but seedlings grew significantly better in the absence of grass. Olearia are also important native Lepidoptera hosts as a suite of native moths feed exclusively on this genus. Therefore, a third research question investigated the abundance of larvae and the community composition of Lepidoptera on O. lineata and O. bullata in comparison to another Lepidoptera host Coprosma propinqua. Moth larvae were collected and some species successfully reared to find there was higher larvae abundance on O. lineata and high species overlap between O. lineata and O. bullata with little species overlap between the two Olearia species and C. propinqua. Overall, my research found that exotic invasive grasses potentially cause regeneration failure in both O. bullata and O. lineata. However, the largest impact in the difference of threat status is due to O. lineata populations occurring in the most developed lowland areas of the eastern South Island, whereas O. bullata populations occur in less human modified, higher altitude areas. The further development of these areas through human activity threatens the future persistence of these Olearia species and the future of the Olearia Lepidoptera specialists.