Comparative analysis is the problem of predicting how a system will react to perturbations in its parameters, and why. For example, comparative analysis could be asked to explain why the period of an oscillating spring/block system would increase if the mass of the block were larger. This thesis formalizes the task of comparative analysis and presents two solution techniques: differential qualitative (DQ) analysis and exaggeration. Both techniques solve many comparative analysis problems, providing explanations suitable for use by design systems, automated diagnosis, intelligent tutoring systems, and explanation based generalization. This thesis explains the theoretical basis for each technique, describes how they are implemented, and discusses the difference between the two. DQ analysis is sound; it never generates an incorrect answer to a comparative analysis question. Although exaggeration does occasionally produce misleading answers, it solves a larger class of problems than DQ analysis and frequently results in simpler explanations.

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

hesis (M.Sc. (Nutrition))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-243).

Over the past three decades, the HIV epidemic has gained a stranglehold in sub-Saharan Africa, where 10% of the worlds population comprises more than 60% of all people living with the disease. Recent initiatives to boost prevention and treatment interventions are beginning to yield modest but promising results, as infection rates slowly start to stabilize. However, continued improvement will require aggressive and unrelenting efforts to prepare and equip a workforce for the tremendous challenges that remain. The purpose of this critical ethnography was to explore the impact of an intensive 6-month HIV/AIDS education program on the lives of 24 Ugandan registered nurses and nurse-midwives who worked at a large referral hospital. The study began following completion of the course and involved participant observation and semi-structured interviews for 18 weeks over a 2-year period. The findings are presented in this dissertation, which consists of four published or publishable manuscripts along with introductory and concluding chapters. The first paper describes the impact of education on the personal, professional, and social lives of the participants, and provides an account of their new ways of viewing themselves as nurses, leaders, and advocates. The second paper addresses ethical issues concerning the conduct of research in international settings. The third paper identifies the phenomenon of moral distress as it manifested in the participants, and the effects of education on their ability to transform practice and attitudes. The final paper examines the congruence between the critical qualitative methodology used in the study and the concept of cultural safety in the context of international nursing research. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the crucial role of continuing professional education for the development of a strong and responsive nursing workforce that is prepared to contribute leadership and vision to addressing the obstacles presented by HIV and AIDS. Dealing effectively with the epidemic requires numerous interventions at various levels; the potential synergies offered by a small investment in education may have far-reaching effects. Finally, implications for nursing practice are presented along with suggestions for further research.

The Edmonton Drug Treatment and Community Restoration Court (EDTC) diverts substance-addicted offenders from the criminal justice system and provides intensive court supervision, case management, and links to social, employment and education support. This thesis aimed to generate a grounded theory of the process of participant engagement with the EDTC, drawing on staff and participant interviews and observation of EDTC operations. Criteria of engagement included meeting expectations, communicating openly and honestly, and forming bonds. Internal engagement was described as feeling hopeful and willing, and perceiving expectations as helpful rather than controlling. Perceptions underlying internal engagement involved motivation and openness to socialization and trust; feeling engaged resulting in the act of confronting issues rather than avoiding them. The process of engagement was a positive cycle, instigated and perpetuated through interaction with expectations and discipline, realizing and experiencing specific reasons to change, forming trust and accessing internal and external resources to address barriers.

Traditional psychotherapy with transgender clients has focused on helping gender dysphoric individuals assume an "opposite" gender role. However, recently, there have been calls for trans-positive therapy focusing on the exploration and affirmation of alternative gender identifications. The majority of the research on transgender identity has been conducted with male-to-female (MTF) identified, or transfeminine, individuals. Comparatively little attention has been given to the experience of female-to-male (FTM) identified, or transmasculine, individuals. The primary goal of this study was to explore constructs and identify underlying themes that transmasculine people use in constructing their gender identities in order to develop a structural model of transmasculine identity. Broadly speaking, results showed that transmasculine identity may be conceptualized on a continuum from an essentialist binary perspective to a constructivist non-binary perspective. This is reflected in the language the individual uses to self-identify - including identity labels, proper names and pronouns. Individuals define, experience, and embody transmasculine identities differently depending on a number of inter-related constructs including: (1) current stage of identity development and past transmasculine identity development events, (2) conceptions of masculinity and femininity, (3) context, and (4) sexuality. Further, if one of these constructs shifts it usually influences the others. Implications for theory, practice, and future research directions are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-229).

This qualitative study was aimed at developing an understanding of how persons involved in the investigation or deliberation of child abuse and neglect cases think and feel about the process of weighing evidence and drawing conclusions from it. Twenty investigators, supervisors, and administrators employed by the Child Protective Services agency in Texas were asked to describe cases they had investigated or reviewed that had been particularly difficult because of conflicting or ambiguous evidence. They were also asked opinion questions about the agency's actuarial risk assessment instrument and the concept of preponderance of evidence. Finally, participants were asked to respond to two short case vignettes describing allegations of sexual abuse. Constant comparative and narrative analysis of interview data revealed that the process of case deliberation in CPS makes use of both intuitive and analytic decision-making styles, and there is a general movement from intuition to analysis as a case ascends the decision-making hierarchy. This movement entails a shift from narrative forms of thought and an outcome-oriented ethic to analytic forms of thought and a rule-based ethic. Though intuitive decision making is at least partly guided from personal experience and personal values, and does produce error because of that, it is nonetheless a form of rationality as capable of being guided by scrupulousness and fidelity to truth as analysis is. The personal value and outcome-oriented ethic that intuition brings to the decision making process not only cannot be eliminated, it is necessary to the program's achievement of its mission. It is recommended that the training of new investigators should, first, acknowledge the large role that intuitive thinking plays in CPS decision making and, second, develop ways to help decision makers discipline intuition, in the words of one participant, and to create conditions that foster its optimal functioning.

This dissertation explores how five specific intellectuals challenge hegemony in education and society, and express uncomfortable truths about hegemony faced by local communities in their academic practices. Their actions of free speech in regards to dangerous truths are similar to those of the ancient Greek parrhesiastes. This word, parrhesiastes, was used to describe the male citizen in ancient Greece, who had and used his rights to free speech or parrhesia. The activity of speaking freely, parrhesiazesthai, however, is not without its risks. Such speech is dangerous to the status quo, as well as the parrhesiastes. The activity is engaged despite the consequences and the parrhesiastes faces dangers and risks. It is argued that the five scholars who participated in this study are specific parrhesiastic scholars. They are specific intellectuals in their relations with academia, communities, and movements; and parrhesiastes in their actions to assure their rights to and exercise of freedom. While the ancient parrhesiastes served a critical and pedagogical role in transforming citizens to serve the best interests of the city, the specific parrhesiastic scholar, in the case of these five scholars, argues for changes in society for the benefit of citizens whose interests have been ignored or trampled. Foucault acknowledged that the work of specific intellectuals could benefit the state to the detriment of local communities or could work to transform the state to include the interests of specific communities. Specific parrhesiastic scholars choose the latter. The focus of this study is the intersection of technologies of the self with technologies of power. This intersection, which Foucault terms governmentality, comes closest to a utilitarian exploration of resistance to power and the formation of freedom, and understanding of how individuals negotiate their particular positions in truth games for resistance and freedom. The basic conditions necessary for parrhesiazesthai are "citizenship" and understanding the distinction between positive and negative forms of parrhesia. The parrhesiastic practices of the five scholars are explored through three analytical frames: (1) self-knowledge and resisting repression, seduction, and desire; (2) political activity and tactics; and (3) the self within systems of subjugation.