The arena for finding an intimate partner has changed significantly in the 21st century with online love relationships becoming more prevalent. Research indicates that individuals do experience meaningful online romantic love relationships and that these relationships often lead to face to face (FTF) relationships. However, limited research has been done on exploring the experiences of those who are/were involved in online romantic love relationships. Furthermore, research conducted on online love romantic relationships generally fails to investigate how people experience passion online, hereby ignoring this integral component of romantic love. The primary aim of the research study was to explore young adults’ experiences of romantic love relationships in virtual space. More specifically, the study explored how young adults experienced intimacy and passion as elements of romantic love online. The study was viewed from an interpretative paradigm and made use of a qualitative approach. The researcher conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven participants which were transcribed, and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four superordinate themes were identified, namely, Online Intimacy, Online Romance and Passion, Online Love, and Social Exchange Online. The participants experienced romantic love online and reported that these relationships were very significant, real and impacted on their psychological well-being. The study created a heuristic base that will provide impetus for this emerging field in research.

Mindfulness has been defined as having three core aspects: active attention which leads to awareness, a regard for the present rather than the future or the past and an approach that is non-judgemental and accepting (Hooker and Fodor, 2008). Mindfulness has been used to treat adults and children in a clinical setting with presenting issues such as anxiety and difficulties related to poor self-regulation. The current research aimed to explore the effect of mindfulness on self-regulation and the feasibility of using mindfulness in a mainstream primary setting as a preventative, universal measure.The research used an exploratory, mixed methods design and included a comparison group. The intervention was developed collaboratively by the researcher and class teacher and included mindfulness activities taken from Mindfulness for Schools (Cattley and Lavelle, 2009). The children in the intervention group took part in a mindfulness activity 3-4 times a week for 8 weeks, in 10 – 15 minute sessions, straight after lunch.The qualitative data was obtained using semi-structured interviews and researcher observations. The semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis, provided information on the pupils’ and teacher’s perceptions of the intervention. Meanwhile, the researcher observations triangulated data on participant engagement as well as providing information on the fidelity of the intervention and formative feedback for the teacher. Observations and semi-structured interviews were also completed with the comparison class to establish the comparability of the two classes. Quantitative data was gathered using a self-regulation measure developed from questionnaires cited in Bandy and Moore (2010). The questionnaire was administered to both classes before and after the 8 week intervention to explore changes in self-regulation within and between groups. The data is reported using descriptive statistics and inferential parametric statistics.Both teacher and pupil interviews highlighted increased feelings of calm and levels of attention immediately following mindfulness activities. Data from the pupil interview suggested that the children involved in the intervention enjoyed many of the activities and were able to suggest times when they might find mindfulness activities useful. Information gathered from the interviews with the class teacher suggested that the development and delivery of mindfulness activities was appropriate and feasible in a mainstream, primary setting. While changes on the self-regulation scale could be considered positive, in that there was an overall decrease in mean scores in the intervention group, the decrease was not significant and so likely to be due to chance. In summary, the qualitative data indicated that mindfulness activities had a small but positive impact on the emotional, behavioural and cognitive awareness in a group of year 3 children in a mainstream primary setting. However, adapting mindfulness activities to make delivery feasible for a teacher in a mainstream primary setting may reduce the effectiveness of the intervention. Recommendations for EPs and future research are discussed.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy has often been associated with numerous adverse outcomes for the offspring. However, its long-term effects are not well established. Given the high prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy, an understanding of these effects is essential. Therefore, the aim of the present dissertation was to shed light on the long-term neurophysiological effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on three different executive functioning processes by assessing participants in young adulthood, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants imaged were members of the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study, a longitudinal study that collected a unique body of information on participants from infancy to young adulthood, which allowed for the measurement of an unprecedented number of potentially confounding drug exposure variables. The dissertation consists of three separate original manuscripts. In manuscript 1, participants completed a response inhibition task, in manuscript 2 participants completed a verbal working memory task and in manuscript 3 participants completed a visuospatial working memory task. Taken together, results from all three manuscripts showed that prenatal nicotine exposure leads to altered neural functioning during executive functioning processing that continues into young adulthood. These significant results highlight the need for education about the repercussions of women smoking during pregnancy.

Recently, young children’s educational behavior has become a popular topic for researchers seeking to help develop their skills and abilities in a pleasurable manner. Lately, we have seen the emergence of several communicational units that include powerful and advanced technologies, such as mobile devices. In fact, according to a CISCO report, ‘in 2012 the numbers of mobile-connected devices in circulation are greater than the number of people on earth. By 2016 there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita, and there will be over 10 billion mobile-connected devices, including (M2M) modules, exceeding the world's population at that time (7.3 billion)’ [1]. In this thesis, we introduce a mobile-based edutainment system called ‘Tap and Learn’ that targets young children and aim to assist them in developing their learning abilities and social communication skills. The Tap and Learn system allows children to learn about new objects and entities in their environments by simply tapping over them with a RFID-mounted smart phone which responds by producing a set of multimedia feedback that aims to foster their learning skills in an entertaining manner. The M-learning system does not require y special tools or environments to be operated and required minimal literacy levels. In addition,, the system enable the parents to participate in their children's learning by allowing them to personalize the learning material and the media content of the games so they suit their children's cognitive level and their learning wants.

Background: The health effects of sheesha smoking are not well addressed. Objective: To assess the association between sheesha tobacco smoking and gene expression pertinent to cancer. Methodology: Three linked studies were carried out: (1) investigation of gene expression in salivary cells before and after exposure to sheesha tobacco smoke in 15 participants; (2) a systematic review of the association between sheesha and cancer; and (3) a pilot survey to collect data on factors potentially relevant to the uptake and cessation of sheesha tobacco smoking. Results: In the short-term, sheesha smoking significantly reduced the expression of both xenobiotic metabolism genes and other genes known to have altered expression in tobacco related cancers in a range between 1.7 times and 55 times. The systematic review showed that sheesha may increase the risk of lung and esophageal cancers. The pilot survey identified misperceptions about safety, in line with other studies, an approach that could be used to investigate the characteristics of sheesha smokers on a larger scale, and specific issues to probe. Conclusion: High quality epidemiological evidence on long-term effects of sheesha smoking on cancer is lacking. However, sheesha smoking has short-term effects on the expression of genes known to be involved in tobacco-related cancers. This is of major concern given widespread misperceptions about the likely safety of sheesha tobacco smoking.

Youths who attempt suicide may have many negative feelings about themselves which are manifested in a low level of self-acceptance. This factor is often overlooked in specific assessment and intervention measures while socio-economic and situational variables are treated. Nurses, because of their location in schools, are in a unique position to recognize and intervene with the potentially suicidal youth. Nurses however may have difficulty in recognizing the youth with poor self-acceptance. This exploratory study was undertaken in order to answer the question: 'is a low level of self-acceptance in youths age sixteen to twenty-five correlated with suicide attempts?' The answer was sought from information obtained from youths' self-reports on the Berger Scale of Self-Acceptance and the California Psychological Inventory. These tests were administered to thirty youths divided into three groups. Group A were suicide attempters seen in the emergency ward of a large general hospital, group B were non-suicide attempters seen in the emergency ward and group C were chosen from the community. An analysis of variance was carried out to discover if there was a significant difference in self-acceptance among the three groups. The findings supported the overall conclusion: youths between ages sixteen and twenty-five who attempted suicide had a significantly lower self-acceptance than control group youths. The variable of hospitalization did not effect self-acceptance. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

M.Cur. (Advanced Psychiatric Nursing Science) / I am a survivor of a multiple sexual traumas, some more brutal than others but the scar is just as deep. This happened in my teens and into my young adulthood years. During those years I perceived a great lack of support and mostly rejection from my mother, and saw the reoccurrence of these sexual traumas as a result of this. But through growth and education I have learned that my mother did the best that she could at that time, given her position and circumstances. I have also been able to acknowledge and accept my responsibilities in my past and, therefore, my future. It was a very difficult process to conquer, for both my mother and I, but it is worth it and it is possible. Today my mother is my best friend and my biggest fear is life without her. Understanding and overcoming this challenge has eased a lot of emotional pain that I had carried with me over the years and so I wished the same could happen for other women that might have perceived rejection from their mothers. To begin the journey, this research study was born. The purpose of my research study was to explore and describe the life stories of young women who have perceived rejection from their mothers, in order to formulate guidelines and recommendations that may help them to deal effectively with their situation. My research study also aims to stimulate interest among other role players within the academic field, communities and the health profession to assist with other meaningful interventions with regard to this challenge. My research study was implemented in two phases. I used a qualitative, explorative, and contextual research design in my approach. The first phase focused on the life stories of young women who have perceived rejection from their mothers. The second phase dealt with the findings gathered from the field work from which the guidelines and recommendations were formulated to assist the participants in coping with the challenge of their life stories. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed by means of Tesch’s method of analysis. Guba’s method of trustworthiness was used together with the services of a well-experienced independent coder, to establish validity and reliability of the data. A signed voluntary consent form was obtained from the participants beforehand for participation in the research study, as well as for the conduction and recording of the interviews. Thematic analysis was used where themes and the central storyline were identified according to the life stories told in each individual interview. The limitations of my research study were also discussed. It was found that more research studies need to be conducted into this phenomenon in order to formulate other effective intervention strategies to help address the challenges that arise from the phenomenon. Recommendations for psychiatric nursing research, psychiatric nursing education, and psychiatric nursing practice were suggested. The knowledge and expertise of a language editor was also used in the research study.

The rejection of young pastors by African culture with the old people is a serious problem and a challenge that are affecting Mulenzhe and other area within Vhembe district. The aim of this research is to equip young pastors who are experiencing this rejection by rejection by old people is to help young pastors in acquiring skills which helps them in overcoming this problem. In this research a model which has been used is the one of the shepherding of flocks. This is the Gerkin’s methodology which is on pastoral care of the flocks that belongs to God. The Word of God has been used to explore where the author wanted to show that God is the only one who call people to be a pastors out of His will. This research study explored the model of pastoral care which the affected young pastors have to be helped to receive healing after trauma councelling and guidance by pastoral care givers who are empowered through this research. The research is done by exploring the following key questions:<ul> <li> Why do some married men have extramarital sexual relationships with young women, and when faced with problems, they would not allow young people who are ministers to counsel them?</li> <li> Another problem facing young ministers is the secrecy issue, namely is it correct for a man to hide the fact that he is maintaining another child while being married?</li> <li> What is the role of a pastoral care giver within that kind of a situation?</il> <li> How can the attitude of adults refusing to be counseled by young ministers be changed?</li></ul> Conclusion and recommendations African culture is recognized to be a threat to young pastors in all its aspects. The young pastor is urged to acknowledge that African culture is a barrier to his/her duties. / Dissertation (MA(Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Mountaintop removal is an issue that has plagued Appalachia as companies harvest coal from the mountains and cause consequent environmental and community effects. By focusing on three contemporary young adult novels that feature mountaintop removal, correlations between the novels and the real environmental and community effects can be drawn. The novels examined include: Saving Wonder by Mary Knight (2016), Dig Too Deep by Amy Allgeyer (2016), and The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton (2015). Mountaintop removal is a devastating and invasive process, and the costs on the land and people are irreversible as landscapes are drastically altered, water faces pollution, and communities suffer from health issues and mining accidents. Through the problems presented in the novels and their accurate descriptions of the mountaintop removal process, the fictional stories help prove that young adult literature has a purpose, teaches lessons, takes positions on controversial environmental issues, promotes critical thinking, and helps readers better understand their world. Therefore, if these novels can impart knowledge to readers about an environmental process and its consequences, it follows that other young adult novel can hold similar lessons for readers.

This paper examines young adults’ perceptions of work, life, and the balance in between in light of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The intention of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of young adults’ world views for the benefit of organizations. 22 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 to 40 from five different colleges at a Midwestern university participated in a focus group or one-on-one interviews. The age-frame was selected to include young adults in a life stage imperative to their career development. Central themes found in regard to technology use, work, and work/life balance included: viewing technology as access, a divide in preference of integrations vs. separation, viewing technology as expectation, viewing technology as leisure, and parental impact on present-day habits. Participant recommendations for better work/life balance are discussed. Finally, the implications of these findings for organizations are explored.