No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to conduct a qualitative inquiry into the teacher-child caring relationship in order to portray a picture of caring possibilities by describing interactions in one public school classroom. Participant observation, interviews, a dialogic journal and artifact analysis was conducted with a public school preschool class. Through qualitative inquiry, thematic analysis, and interpretation of the data gathered, along with my reflections, review of the literature, and based on my experiences as a teacher for 10 years, I have gained a deeper understanding of the caring teacher-child relationship. It is my desire that as I relate this understanding it may inform other teachers about the caring aspect of teaching. The following question helped guide the study. How is the teacher-child caring relationship manifested through actions, words, thoughts, and feelings? In keeping with the philosophy, caring engenders care, it is thought that the caring teacher will help children become caring members of their classroom. It can be assumed that when a teacher makes moral decisions in the context of teaching and learning, regarding the child, she creates a culture of care in the classroom in which the child may learn how to be a caring member (Garrison, 1997). The teacher's daily moral decisions, made in the classroom, are "hands on" lessons in caring for children (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Noddings, 1984, 1992). As children engage in caring interactions with their teacher they may in turn learn to care for their fellow classmates and their teachers. "The teacher and student interaction can be reciprocally transformative" (Garrison, 1997, p. 45) renewing the caring teacher's sense of hope and feeling of success in the possibility of creating a community in her classroom (Noddings, 1984). The study of Sidney's classroom was an inquiry into the process of how, what, why and when Sidney made teaching decisions within the context of her caring relationship with the children in her classroom. Through examining a particular instance (Sidney's classroom), the whole (all classrooms), are illuminated. This study will present Sidney's caring through an examination of her classroom environment, "atmosphere," relationships, teacher practice, advocacy, professional development, and teachers and children saying good-bye at the end of the year. / Ph. D.

In this thesis I examine the debate surrounding Therapeutic Touch, a controversial energetic healing modality being practiced by registered nurses in biomedical institutions across North America. The debate surrounding the therapy takes place within medical journals, popular media articles, and on the internet. Within the debate, definitions of illness etiology, appropriate treatment, patient management, and alternative therapy use are contested by Therapeutic Touch proponents and critics. Through discursive analysis, interviews with local participants in the debate, and participant observation within the TT community, I present an analysis of the issues being contested and of the discursive strategies used by proponents and critics within the debate. The debate is contextualized in two ways: first, as an instance of medical heresy, in which an alternative healing group arises within the orthodox medical community and struggles to maintain itself within biomedical discourse and institutions; second, I contextualize the debate as an example of the wider trend towards integrative medicine in North America. Integrative medicine sees alternative therapies being increasingly used within health care delivery systems, either by alternative practitioners, or by biomedical practitioners who have co-opted alternative techniques. I argue that Therapeutic Touch proponents have utilized several discursive strategies in presenting and arguing for their alternative healing model. These strategies surround the issues of professional legitimacy, scientific validity, and TT’s perception as religious or spiritual. Therapeutic Touch proponents manage their discourse by conforming it to orthodox biomedical discourse and by pursuing a strategy of professionalization. Through this management process, they have been able to maintain a marginal presence within biomedicine. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Klassisk mus-interaktion har begränsningen att bara en punkt kan aktiveras på skärmen i taget. Interaktionen med de flesta applikationer blir, på grund av detta, sekventiell vilket kan vara en begränsning eftersom människan är van att utforska problem simultant med båda händerna. Flerpunktspekskärmar är en relativt ny teknik som möjliggör nya interaktionsmöjligheter där flera pekpunkter kan vara aktiva simultant. Det här examensarbetet fokuserar på problemen kring att skapa en applikation med användargränssnitt för flerpunktspekskärmar. Applikationen som utvecklats har en grundstruktur vilken är möjlig att vidareutveckla och på så sätt anpassas för att passa nya behov, till skillnad från de implementationer som granskats vid förstudien vilka fokuserar på att lösa specifika problem. Under examensarbetet har också en flerpunktspekskärm byggts av komponenter som kunnat köpas i detaljhandeln.</p> / <p>Classical mouse interaction is limited in that only a single screen point at a time can be activated. Most application interaction is, due to this, performed in a sequential manner. This may be a limiting factor as humans by nature explore problems with both hands simultaneously. Multi-touch screens are a relatively new type of technology that enables new ways of interaction where multiple touch points can exist simultaneously. This thesis focuses on the problem with developing an application with a user interface designed for multi-touch screens. The application that has been developed defines a base structure from which future applications can be developed, unlike implementations examined in the feasibility study which mainly focus on solving specific problems. A multi-touch screen is also built using standard off the shelf components.</p>

Klassisk mus-interaktion har begränsningen att bara en punkt kan aktiveras på skärmen i taget. Interaktionen med de flesta applikationer blir, på grund av detta, sekventiell vilket kan vara en begränsning eftersom människan är van att utforska problem simultant med båda händerna. Flerpunktspekskärmar är en relativt ny teknik som möjliggör nya interaktionsmöjligheter där flera pekpunkter kan vara aktiva simultant. Det här examensarbetet fokuserar på problemen kring att skapa en applikation med användargränssnitt för flerpunktspekskärmar. Applikationen som utvecklats har en grundstruktur vilken är möjlig att vidareutveckla och på så sätt anpassas för att passa nya behov, till skillnad från de implementationer som granskats vid förstudien vilka fokuserar på att lösa specifika problem. Under examensarbetet har också en flerpunktspekskärm byggts av komponenter som kunnat köpas i detaljhandeln. / Classical mouse interaction is limited in that only a single screen point at a time can be activated. Most application interaction is, due to this, performed in a sequential manner. This may be a limiting factor as humans by nature explore problems with both hands simultaneously. Multi-touch screens are a relatively new type of technology that enables new ways of interaction where multiple touch points can exist simultaneously. This thesis focuses on the problem with developing an application with a user interface designed for multi-touch screens. The application that has been developed defines a base structure from which future applications can be developed, unlike implementations examined in the feasibility study which mainly focus on solving specific problems. A multi-touch screen is also built using standard off the shelf components.

published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

This study was conducted to determine whether or not a significant difference exists in pregnant women among those receiving therapeutic touch, mock therapeutic touch, or no touch on measurements of anxiety and well-being. Thirty third trimester primigravida subjects were tested pre- and postintervention using the State-Anxiety Inventory and a Well-Being Visual Analog; heart and respiratory rates were monitored before, during, and after the treatment. No significant differences were found using analysis of covariance with the pre-test scores as the covariate. The findings indicate that therapeutic touch may not be useful in reducing state anxiety or enhancing subjective well-being in pregnancy. Study limitations include a small sample size, use of an instrument without established reliability and validity, and a study environment that may have increased anxiety.

No description available.

Functional MRI was used to detect brain activations in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) in response to a vibrotactile stimulus applied to the thumb (D1) and little finger (D5) of the right (R) and left (L) hands. Four studies were carried out with healthy subjects in order to determine the scanning and stimulation protocols that resulted in consistent and robust SI activity. It was found that a strong stimulus, compared to a weak stimulus, led to the SI activity being detected more frequently and at a more statistically significant level. Also, extending the scanning duration per digit further increased the T-scores. The SI activations for each digit showed multiple foci and were distributed throughout the SI area. However, a clustering occurred in separate centres for stimulation to RD1 and RD5 near the Brodmann area 1/Brodmann area 3 boundary. The Euclidean separations of the cortical digit representations for LD1-D5 and RD1-D5 were calculated on the basis of the `centre of mass' of the multiple activations. Observed separations ranged between 1.2 mm to 22.8 mm. A further vibrotactile fMRI study was carried out involving patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). It has been suggested an altered central processing mechanism is involved in the disease, possibly due to cortical reorganisation in the sensory/motor cortices. The most efficient experimental protocols from the healthy subject studies were used to determine if these cortical differences were present in four patients. Data were acquired over two scanning sessions, approximately four months apart. The study revealed multiple SI foci and overlapping between the digits in both the healthy and CRPS hands, similar to those observed in the first studies. Larger SI activations were detected in one patient, smaller SI activations were detected in another patient and two patients demonstrated cluster sizes in the normal range. The cluster sizes and the changes in size between the two scans suggest a correlation with the amount of pain experienced by the patients. A general lack of consistency in the results from all the studies may be attributed to the difficulty of reliably detecting SI activity at a field strength of 1.5 T.