VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Becoming attached: the emerging attachment relationship between newly adopted previously institutionalized Chinese infant girls and their adoptive mothers
Keywords: Attachment behavior in infants
Adopted children, Psychology
Inmates of institutions, Psychology
Inmates of institutions, China
Intercountry adoption, Psychological aspects
Mother and infant

The findings indicate that children adopted from China begin to show signs of forming an attachment with their adoptive mothers from early on in the relationship. Initially, Chinese adoptees exhibit few attachment concerns and do not significantly differ from comparison children with respect to attachment security, behaviours related to disturbances of attachment, displays of insecure attachment behaviours or activation of the attachment behavioural system during times of distress. However, subtle qualitative differences were found. Specially, some Chinese adoptees do not actively seek comfort from parents, do not react to pain when hurt, exhibit more extreme behaviours in response to distress, and exhibit high levels of attachment behaviour in non-stressful situations. Over the first 6 months, Chinese adoptees exhibit an increase in attachment security and display more secure attachment behaviour during times of distress. While a handful of Chinese adoptees show subtle signs of atypical attachment behaviours initially, for the most part, these dissipate by 6 months postadoption. In particular, they actively seek comfort from parents, react to pain when hurt, exhibit developmentally appropriate clingy behaviour with mothers, and are better able to regulate emotions. This study explored how a new, and possibly first, attachment relationship between adoptive mothers and their Chinese daughters develops over the first 6 months following institutional care. Thirty-three, 14-month-old infants adopted from China were matched with 33 nonadopted Canadian comparison infants. The process of the emerging attachment relationship and short-term outcomes of attachment development were examined using parent reports and direct observation of attachment behaviours. Attachment security, behaviours related to disturbances of attachment, attachment behaviours in response to everyday attachment-related situations (i.e., when the child is hurt, frightened or separated), and behavioural systems evoked during times of distress were explored over time. In general, the increased risk for attachment concerns, often associated with internationally adopted children, is not characteristic of most Chinese adoptees. The moderate emotional deprivation experienced by children adopted from Chinese institutions does not appear to hinder their ability to readily form a mother-child attachment relationship. Attachment appears open to rapid change, even after an age when attachment relationships have typically been established.
Flame surface density of turbulent premixed flames at medium to high turbulence intensities
Keywords: Turbulence
Flame

Flame speed evaluations in turbulent premixed flame models often use the flamelet assumption. The principal aspect of the flamelet description for turbulent premixed flames is that the effect of turbulence is to wrinkle the flame front causing an enhancement in flame speed and local burning rate. One approach to find the local burning rate is to use the flame surface density to evaluate local burning rate. A 2-D method was used in this thesis to find the flame surface density from premixed propane/air flame front images, obtained previously on a Bunsen type burner. The results show that the integrated flame surface density and the maximum flame surface density do not show any significant variation with increasing turbulence intensity at higher turbulence intensities, which is contrary to what is expected. The assumption that flame geometry alone is responsible for flame speed enhancement for higher levels of turbulence has to be re-evaluated.
The effect of animal presence on perceptions of psychotherapists and disclosure in therapy
Keywords: Pets, Therapeutic use
Psychotherapy patients, Attitudes

This study examined the impact of animal presence on perceptions of therapists and willingness to self-disclose in therapy. Participants (N = 85) viewed a video clip of a psychotherapist alone or in the presence of a dog and then completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of the therapist, willingness to disclose and attitude toward animals. Results indicated that participants rated the psychotherapists more favourable on several interpersonal characteristics and were more willing to disclose when the animal was present. Refuting past critiques, the presence of an animal had a beneficial impact on perceptions and willingness to disclose regardless of an individual's overall attitude toward animals. These results demonstrate that the presence of a dog, and perhaps other animals, can enhance the way psychotherapists are perceived and may also have a role in strengthening the therapeutic alliance.
Creating a knowledge-building writing environment using computer-mediated communication technology: EFL students taking control of their learning
Keywords: English language, Written English
Persuasion (Rhetoric), Study and teaching

This dissertation reports on efforts of a teacher-researcher to transform a second-year university EFL class (N = 19), over a two-semester period, from a traditional pedagogy model to a knowledge-building community model. Three "design experiment" (Bereiter, 2002a; Brown, 1994) iterations were carried out to assess how the epistemology, curriculum, technology, new forms of interactivity, knowledge-building environment, and educational innovations shaped the transition. Five kinds of data were collected at the end of the iterations: (1) quantity of participation; (2) quality of discussion; (3) quality of writing sample; (4) questionnaire; and (5) formal/informal interviews. The results suggest the quantity of students' participation increased and their essay-writing quality improved. Furthermore, results demonstrate that the students moved from a knowledge telling to a knowledge building approach in their essays, as revealed by a significant increase in the rating scores on students' knowledge attribute from the essays at stage 1 (M = .95; SD = .62) to stage 3 (M = 3.62; SD = .56), p
Building bridges: the nature and implications of student-teacher relations in a Canadian urban high school
Keywords: Urban high schools, Ontario
Teenagers with social disabilities, Education
Teenagers with social disabilities, Ontario
Teacher-student relationships, Ontario
High school students, Attitudes
High school students, Ontario

In this thesis Evelyn Paris poses the question: what are the nature and implications of student-teacher relations in a Canadian urban high school where students are predominantly from low income, cultural minority backgrounds, and teachers are predominantly white and middle class? She seeks to answer this question by using a narrative inquiry approach, beginning with her own experiences of student-teacher connections in a relatively homogenous high school setting in the late 1980s, and juxtaposing this reality with the experiences of eight current students who attend the same Canadian high school. Paris suggests that positive, pro-social student-teacher relations are a key element to urban students' academic success, and that there are salient teacher traits that distinguish teachers who are able to "connect" with their students making them effective urban school educators. She concludes by suggesting that a more holistic approach to teacher-training be adopted in order to better prepare new teachers for the unique and often challenging experiences involved in teaching in Canadian urban high schools today.
Lessons from North American telecommunications for developing nations in the new information era: case studies of India, South Africa and Chile
Keywords: Telecommunication, Law and legislation
Telecommunication, India
Telecommunication, Law and legislation
Telecommunication, South Africa
Telecommunication, Law and legislation
Telecommunication, Chile

With the globalization of economies and convergence of technologies, a major challenge facing developing nations like India, South Africa and Chile, is the need to upgrade their telecommunications systems. This requires them to move from a closed centralized policy model to a pro-competitive decentralized regime as proposed in the WTO's Basic Telecommunications Service Agreement and its Reference Paper. These international agreements do not expressly require developing nations to follow North American telecommunication developments. However, the role of North America in framing the Agreement and its Reference Paper was profound. This thesis examines North American telecommunications developments and in particular the theories of Gerald Brock, Milton Mueller and Alan Stone. It seeks to show that the developing nations chosen for study, in upgrading their telecommunications systems by reforming their legal and regulatory regimes and complying with new international obligations, while seeking to achieve their diverse domestic goals, may learn much from theoretical insights drawn from North American experience. Thus the historical experience of North America may be used to assist in meeting the contemporary needs of developing nations in their reforms.
Poetic licence: Invention and intentions in historical novels
Keywords: Comparative literature

There are two ways of mixing history and invention. In one, poetry fills out a set of historical facts. In the other, historical particulars circumstantiate a myth. The first generalizes a historical action by motivation. The second specifies a general action by historical definition. The former approach, that of epic and historical drama, has dominated the poetics of the mixed genres. Given a condition of uncertainty about the past, invention is conceived as an inference from well-known or documented effects to hypothetical causes. Here invented particulars, including the discourse, demeanour and psychological states of agents, disclose an internal aspect of brute facts. However, there are truths about the past apart from what happened. Modern historical novels, by inverting the structure of historical subject and invented episodes, turn programmatically from the issue of conjecture to define, evaluate, and reflect on the judgement of human action. Since the Waverley novels of Walter Scott, historical novels have been derided for their formulaic application of invented subjects or general actions to diverse settings and national traditions. This apology identifies the general actions of historical novels as devices that pick out expressive meanings or intentions in the past. Intention is a significant description of action rather than its subjective complement. It is intrinsic to action rather than a meaning attributed to action by thought or character. There are common descriptions of discontinuous phenomena: the dispersed acts of the members of collectives, for example, or the acts of exemplars and of their belated followers. So the historical field must be invented. In this sense, historical invention is neither a gross fabrication nor a treatment of inert material. It is a topically oriented activity of recognizing something significant in past action that may have been lacking since the action was done. This study scrutinizes conventional oppositions between history and poetry, between behaviour and thought. With particular reference to Cinq-Mars by Alfred de Vigny and The Captain's Daughter by Aleksandr Pushkin, it explores parabolic relations between distinct modes of expression in the inventions of historical plots.
The antinomy of the text form: dialogical-meaning vs. communicative-meaning
Keywords: Discourse analysis
Meaning (Philosophy)

This thesis explores a historically specific human activity, reading/writing-activity, expended on the production of texts that have become the repositories of objectified meanings. Michel Foucault in a series of books delineates the sphere of discursive practices as an independent phenomenon and places Karl Marx's work, which provides an analysis and explication of the social organization of production, among other strands of discursive practices. While Foucault engages in a descriptive account of discursive practices, which have their own law of formation, Dorothy Smith provides a sociological analysis that employs a Marxist-feminist methodology to explicate their workings. Smith's inquiries into the text-mediated and text-constituted practices of contemporary societies discover text as the ‘cell’ of the social organization of discursive practices. Drawing on Smith's observation that texts are necessarily read and written in actual sites and in time, I further specify how reading/writing-activity becomes the sole source of meaning production in contemporary societies.
China's telecommunications reforms: from monopoly towards competition
Keywords: Telecommunication, Law and legislation
Telecommunication, China
Competition, China

Although general economic reforms had been initiated in China in 1978, for more than a decade China's telecommunications industry was largely untouched and remained an administrative monopoly. As a result of ongoing overall reforms, as well as interactions between internal and external forces, China started to reform its telecommunications regime in the early 1990s. In a relatively short period, fundamental changes have taken place in a number of key areas, including regulation, market access, competition, foreign investment and the like. As a milestone in the reforms, the Chinese government in 2000 promulgated the Telecommunications Regulations, which went a long way to meet WTO standards, set out fundamental competition rules and cleared away obstacles that barred foreign and private investment from entering the telecommunications sector. In the past few years, a number of important rules covering various regulatory issues have also been made, including the long awaited Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Invested Telecommunications Enterprises . In the mean time, the Chinese government continues the process of drafting a comprehensive Telecommunications Law, which is expected to be passed by the People's Congress in 2003. In studying China's telecommunications reforms, this thesis applied a Public Choice Plus theory, which analyzes interactions between various discrete factors or forces in policy-making, and in particular, the roles of interests, ideology, technology, ideas, institutions and the internationalization of markets. Chapter One outlines the analytical framework to be applied in subsequent chapters. Chapter Two studies the development of competition over the past decade, including the emergence of new competitors, institutional restructuring and the two rounds of break-up of China Telecom. Starting with a general discussion of the relationship between the WTO and telecommunications services, Chapter Three examines the decisive role of the WTO in gradually lifting China's restrictions on foreign direct investment and its impact on telecommunications regulation. Chapter Four discusses how to establish an effective, pro-competitive regulatory system in China. Chapter Five concludes the thesis by weighing all the factors discussed in the Public Choice Plus theory in the policy-making process of China's telecommunications reforms, an understanding of which is key to the success of further reforms.
Examining comorbid anxiety and depression in a child and adolescent clinical population
Keywords: Anxiety in adolescence
Anxiety in children
Depression in adolescence
Depression in children
Comorbidity

Objectives. Examined whether youths with pure anxiety (PUR ANX), pure depression (PUR DEP), or co-occurring anxiety and depression (ANX + DEP), differed on measures of internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and family functioning. Method. 193 youths, aged 4 to 18 years (M = 12.4, SD = 3.1), and maternal caregivers completed measures (i.e., CBCL, YSR, SCARED, CDI, Brief FAM, Frustration Questionnaire). Results. Compared to PUR ANX and PUR DEP, ANX + DEP was associated with significantly more severe scores on various indices of internalizing symptoms and family functioning, but not externalizing symptoms. More differences, however, were found between ANX + DEP and PUR ANX than between ANX + DEP and PUR DEP. Conclusions. Past findings indicating that comorbidity is related to more severe reports of internalizing symptoms and family dysfunction were replicated. Results suggest comorbid subthreshold anxiety and depression symptoms in youths are clinically relevant and merit further research.
The experience and practice of adult educators in addressing the spiritual dimensions of their workplace
Keywords: Work environment, Psychological aspects
Organizational behavior, Psychological aspects
Spirituality
Adult education educators, Attitudes

This thesis reports on the life history research with 5 adult educators who work in a variety of workplace contexts. Its purpose was to examine the experience and practice of these adult educators, as they were involved in the growing phenomenon of addressing spirituality within their workplace settings. More specifically this research explores (a) how their spirituality impacts them in their roles as adult educators within their work and (b) how their workplaces' commitment and ability to address the spiritual dimensions of the organization impact their roles. As the participants in this study explored their personal spirituality, religion was subsumed under the broader context of spirituality and they connected their spirituality with a higher being, listening to their inner voice and the importance of maintaining a close community. As they reflected on incorporating their spirituality into their practice as adult educators within their workplaces, a central theme that emerged was their role as a social advocate for the individual, for the group and for ethical and just business practices within their organization. Within the broader context of social advocacy, the participants also reflected upon specific “soulful spaces” within their workplace; ascribing the characteristics of connectedness, transformation and authenticity to these experiences. As they looked back on these moments, there were certain types of sessions that seemed to cultivate these moments such as change management, leadership development and the identification of organizational values because these events often require deep reflection and the full engagement of individuals and groups. As the participants guided these events, they cited the importance of establishing a trusting atmosphere, asking open-ended questions and using the processes of storytelling and open and honest dialogue.
Efficiency of market mechanisms in mutual fund trusts
Keywords: Mutual funds, Law and legislation
Mutual funds, Canada

Mutual fund governance has received a lot of attention lately, and the Canadian Securities Administrators have put forward a proposal that would implement independent governance agencies to monitor fund managers. It is argued that managers face conflicts of interests that are not solved by traditional market mechanisms. This thesis proposes to review the types of conflicts supposedly inherent to the legal structure of mutual fund trusts, and to examine whether investors can rely on market mechanisms for their protection. I will suggest that common sale practices of the industry are not necessarily impediments to market mechanisms. Rather, the problem faced by the mutual fund industry is not one of investor protection, but one of competitiveness with other financial sectors. The proposed reform will be relevant only to the extent that it deals with this latter problem.
Work, care and belonging: A feminist critique of the 'duties discourse' in Israel
Keywords: Law
Women's studies
Political science

Like many other countries, Israel has recently reformed its welfare system and introduced its citizens to the requirement to enter the labour market. I refer to this requirement as the 'duty to work'. Israeli citizens are required to become economically independent rather than a burden on society, and only those who fulfill this requirement and find a paid job, are entitled to welfare benefits. This development signalled an important change in the interplay between rights and obligations of citizenship. If in the past, social citizenship was built upon holding social rights, today, social citizenship is conditioned upon fulfilling a social obligation: the duty to work. In practice, however, not everyone can easily enter the labour market and find a paid job that meets all their needs. Women, especially single mothers, usually face significant difficulties in balancing family responsibilities and labour market participation. In light of these difficulties, many of them might not be able to fulfill the duty to work, and therefore might not reach full membership in the Israeli society. How do we understand the duty to work? How do women, and in particular single mothers, cope with the new requirement? What are the sanctions they face if they do not work? How does the duty affect the practice of motherhood and care? My thesis is aimed to answer these questions. The central argument that runs through the thesis is that the 'duty to work' is structured according to gendered norms that do not allow all women, especially single mothers, to fulfill the new duty thus limiting their ability to contribute to society and establish their belonging to the national collective. This new duty adds to women's problematic position in society as their previous main citizenship duty was that of motherhood--a practice that paved their route into the collective but was structured in a way that provided them with merely second-class citizenship. A possible solution to this gendered structure of citizenship duties is recognizing care as an active citizenship responsibility and allowing women to stay outside the labour market without marginalizing their standing in society.
Mothers' mental state language and emotional availability in clinical vs. nonclinical populations
Keywords: Mothers, Psychology
Mothers, Language
Mother and child
Sensitivity (Personality trait)

This study examined emotional availability and mothers' mental state language, and the relationship between the two in the clinical and nonclinical groups. The effect of context on mothers' mental state language also was considered. The participants included 78 mothers and their children aged 12 to 30 months old. Emotional availability and mothers' mental state language were coded from videotaped samples of spontaneously occurring interactions between mother-child dyads. Results indicated that mother-child dyads in both groups did not differ in emotional availability toward each other. However, the clinical and nonclinical groups differed in the use of mothers' mental state language. More specifically, they differed in mothers' use of cognition terms referring to themselves. Additionally, before controlling the effect of children's age, language competence and mothers' language on mothers' mental state language, there was a trend for group differences in mothers' use of cognition terms referring to their children. Moreover, mothers' use of cognition terms referring to their children was moderately associated with emotional availability. Findings also indicated a significant context effect on most of the mothers' use of mental state language terms. The results demonstrate the importance of considering mothers' use of mental state language when examining the quality of the relationship between mother-child dyads.