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<p>This study investigates the responses of the labour movement, social policy advocacy organizations, and feminists to the downsizing and restructuring of the welfare state in Canada. Of interest in this research is whether these constituencies are in the initial stages of 're-conceptualizing' social welfare, given that the increasing degree of economic globalization and the rightward shift in political thinking in recent years have created a need for 'paradigm shift' in approaches to social policy among equality-seeking social movements.</p> <p>It is discovered that these three social movements (labour, social policy advocates, and feminists) are at varying stages in imagining and working to achieve a progressive alternative to the postwar welfare state. Some elements of the labour movement have clearly identified the economic and political roots of growing social inequality. Some elements of the social policy advocacy community are promoting comprehensive alternative economic and social policies to the ones currently dominating political discourse. The women's movement, as represented by the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, appears to be the furthest ahead in developing a theoretically grounded critique of neoconservative I neo-liberal social welfare restructuring, and in posing progressive alternatives to it.</p> <p>Theoretical issues which arise in regard to rethinking social welfare and reformulating social policy are discussed. There is also reference made to the strategic challenges which confront social movements within Canada and internationally, in their efforts to use social policy as a means of achieving greater social equality and an environmentally sustainable set of economic and political arrangements.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Bakgrund: Det är av vikt för fysioterapeuter att adressera perioperativ ångest för att utifrån ett biopsykosocialt perspektiv så effektivt som möjligt kunna behandla patienter som genomgår kirurgi. Progressiv muskelavslappning (PMA) har visats vara en effektiv metod för att minska ångest. Ingen systematisk översikt eller metaanalys har dock ännu utförts gällande metodens effekt på ångest i samband med kirurgi. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att sammanställa evidensläget gällande vilken effekt PMA har på nivån av ångest hos vuxna som genomgår kirurgi, bedöma studiernas risk för bias samt att bedöma det sammanvägda resultatets tillförlitlighet. Metod: Den här studien var en systematisk översikt och metaanalys. Databaserna AMED, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO och PubMed inkluderades i en systematisk litteratursökning efter randomiserade kontrollerade studier. Datan om studiernas relevanta egenskaper extraherades genom läsning av fulltext. En metaanalys av tillgängliga data utfördes. De inkluderade studierna granskades gällande risk för bias med PEDro scale. Det sammanvägda resultatets tillförlitlighet bedömdes enligt GRADE.  Resultat: Åtta studier inkluderades i syntesen med totalt 582 deltagare. Fem studier inkluderades i metaanalysen. Den sammanslagna standardiserade medelvärdesskillnaden var -1.34, 95% konfidensintervall -.45 till -2.23, P= .003, vilket indikerar en stor effekt. De individuella studiernas risk för bias bedömdes låg. Det sammanvägda resultatets tillförlitlighet graderades till låg kvalitet p.g.a heterogenitet och saknade data.  Slutsats: PMA är generellt mycket effektiv för att minska ångestnivå i samband med kirurgi baserat på evidens av låg kvalitet. Den exakta effektstorleken verkar dock i hög grad vara kontextuell. / Background: Perioperative anxiety is an important factor for physiotherapists to address in order to treat patients efficiently from a biopsychosocial perspective. Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) has been established to be effective in treating anxiety. However, to date no systematic review has been conducted on its effect on perioperative anxiety. Objective: The objective was to review the literature regarding the effect of PMR on the level of  perioperative anxiety in adults, to assess the risk of bias and to assess the quality of evidence.  Methods: This study was a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Databases AMED, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and PubMed were included in a systematic literature search for randomized controlled trials. Data was extracted through reading of full text. A meta-analysis was carried out on studies providing necessary data. The included articles were assessed for risk of bias with PEDro scale. The quality of the summarized body of evidence was assessed with the GRADE approach. Results: Eight studies were included with a total of 582 participants. Five studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled standardized mean difference was -1.34, 95% confidence interval -.45 to -2.23, P= .003, indicating a large effect. The PEDro assessment showed high quality. The GRADE assessment showed low quality due to heterogeneity and missing data. Conclusion: The findings suggest based on low quality evidence that PMR generally has a large effect on perioperative anxiety. However, the exact level of effect seems to be highly contextual.

Yes / In this paper, we consider the phenomenon of “pedagogical violence” — infliction of physical, social, emotional, or psychological pains, or threat of such pains that is either the means for or non-accidental by-products of education used on a systematic basis. Pedagogical violence is often used for promoting certain desired learning in students. Alternatively, it can emerge as a violent reaction in students and teachers to particular educational settings directed against other students or teachers. In this paper, we review some of the debates and controversial issues around pedagogical violence, and we use a variety of illustrative examples to explore in more detail what pedagogical violence means in particular contexts. We argue that pedagogical violence is a natural consequence of alienated instrumental education. We will look at teachers’ desire to avoid physical and psychosocial pedagogical violence. We specifically consider diverse forms of psychosocial pedagogical violence and its issues such as: summative assessment, epistemological pedagogical violence, students’ ambivalence around pedagogical violence, rehabilitating/avoiding pedagogical violence through a carnival. We finish with a reflection about what can be done to minimize pedagogical violence. Our analysis heavily relies on the Bakhtinian theoretical framework of critical ontological dialogism.

Laminated composite structures have started to play a very significant role in today's aircraft industry. The application of composite materials has now gone beyond the borders of aircraft design and has entered into such fields as automotive, athletics and recreational equipment, etc. The light weight and high specific strength of composite material helps design vehicles with higher fuel efficiency and longevity. In order to understand the influence of design parameters related to the use of composite materials in these applications, a proper study of the laminated composite structures requires a complete failure analysis, which includes both initiation and propagation of damage. In this work a progressive failure methodology is developed and implemented in the commercial Finite Element software package, Abaqus. Out of the numerous failure criteria available in the literature to study damage initiation and propagation in unidirectional fiber reinforced composites, Puck and Schurmann's failure criteria have been chosen due to their ability to predict results close to those observed experimentally. Key features of the Puck and Schurmann's failure criteria for three-dimensional deformations of unidirectional fiber reinforced composites have been summarized. Failure modes in the matrix and the fiber are considered separately. The failure criteria are simplified for plane stress deformations. Whereas the failure plane can be analytically identified for plane stress deformations, a numerical search algorithm is needed for three-dimensional problems. Subsequent to the initiation of matrix failure, elastic moduli are degraded and values of these degradation parameters and fracture plane angles are found by using a Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) approach. It is found that the assumption that the material response remains transversely isotropic even after the matrix failure has initiated requires the degradation of the transverse Poisson's ratio. The Puck and Schurmann's failure criteria and the material degradation process have been implemented as a User Defined Field (USDFLD) subroutine in Abaqus. The implementation has been verified by analytically computing results for simple loadings and comparing them with predictions from using the USDFLD in Abaqus. Subsequently, both two- and three-dimensional problems of more realistic geometries and loadings have been analyzed and computed results compared with either experimental findings or results available in the literature. Major contributions of the work include identifying the degradation parameter for the transverse Poisson's ratio in terms of the matrix degradation parameter for the matrix failure in compression, development of the USDFLD based on Puck and Schurmann's failure criteria, implementing the USDFLD in the commercial finite element software, Abaqus, and verifying that results computing using the USDFLD for various laminates and loadings agree with those from either the analytical solution of the problem or those available in the literature. / Ph. D.

The appeal of hybrid composites is the ability to create materials with properties which normally do not coexist such as high specific strength, stiffness, and toughness. One possible application for hybrid composites is as backplate materials in layered armor. Fiber reinforced composites have been used as backplate materials due to their potential to absorb more energy than monolithic materials at similar to lower weights through microfragmentation of the fiber, matrix, and fiber-matrix interface. Composite backplates are traditionally constructed from graphite or glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites. However, continuous alumina fiber-reinforced aluminum metal matrix composites (MMCs) have superior specific transverse and specific shear properties than epoxy composites. Unlike the epoxy composites, MMCs have the ability to absorb additional energy through plastic deformation of the metal matrix. Although, these enhanced properties may make continuous alumina reinforced MMCs advantageous for use as backplate materials, they still exhibit a low failure strain and therefore have low toughness. One possible solution to improve their energy absorption capabilities while maintaining the high specific stiffness and strength properties of continuous reinforced MMCs is through hybridization. To increase the strain to failure and energy absorption capability of a continuous alumina reinforced Nextel" MMC, it is laminated with a high failure strain Saffil® discontinuous alumina fiber layer. Uniaxial tensile testing of hybrid composites with varying Nextel" to Saffil® reinforcement ratios resulted in composites with non-catastrophic tensile failures and an increased strain to failure than the single reinforcement Nextel" MMC. The tensile behavior of six hybrid continuous and discontinuous alumina fiber reinforced MMCs are reported, as well as a description of the mechanics behind their unique behavior. Additionally, a study on the effects of fiber damage induced during processing is performed to obtain accurate as-processed fiber properties and improve single reinforced laminate strength predictions. A stochastic damage evolution model is used to predict failure of the continuous Nextel" fabric composite which is then applied to a finite element model to predict the progressive failure of two of the hybrid laminates. / Ph. D.

C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman are two very popular authors of British Children's Fantasy. Their books The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and The Golden Compass straddle the period of writing that Karen Patricia Smith calls the Dynamic Stage of British Fantasy: from 1950 to the present. Both of these books are part of a larger series and both have been made into recent motion pictures by Hollywood. This paper explores these two books through the lens of their conventional and progressive authors. I discuss in detail the gifts that the heroes and heroines are given, the setting of these books, and the function of destiny and prophecy in order to explore the irony of these books: C.S. Lewis, often viewed as the more conventional author by scholars, is in fact more progressive than his contemporary counterpart. / Master of Arts

The purpose of this problem is to make a comparative study of the philosophy of the formal discipline concept of the traditional school of thought and the modern progressive movement in order to determine their relative contributions to our present educational system.