The essence of a tacit intersection : a heuristic inquiry into nature-based leisure and personal transformation

There are a considerable number of programs and agencies that count on the existence of a unique relationship between nature and human development. In addition, there are significant bodies of literature dedicated to understanding developmentally focused nature-based experiences. This research project was designed to flirther the understanding of this phenomenon. Consequently, the purpose of this research endeavour was to discover the essence ofthe intersection ofpersonal transformation and nature-based leisure, culminating in a rich and detailed account of this otherwise tacit phenomenon. As such, this research built on the assumption of this beneficial intersection of nature and personal transformation and contributes to the understanding ofhow this context is supporting or generating of selfactualization and positive development. Heuristic methods were employed because heuristics is concerned with the quality and essence of an experience, not causal relationships (Moustakas, 1990). Heuristic inquiry begins with the primary researcher and her personal experience and knowledge of the phenomenon. This study also involved four other coresearchers who had also experienced this phenomenon intensely. Co-researchers were found through purposeful and snowball sampling. Rich narrative descriptions of their experiences were gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and artifact elicitation was employed as a means to get at co-researchers' tacit knowledge. Each coresearcher was interviewed twice (the first interview focused on personal transformation, the second on nature) for approximately four and a half hours in total. Transcripts were read repeatedly to discern patterns that emerged from the study of the narratives and were coded accordingly. Individual narratives were consolidated to create a composite narrative of the experience. Finally, a creative synthesis was developed to represent the essence of this tacit experience. In conclusion the essence of the intersection of nature-based leisure and personal transformation was found to lie in the convergence of the lived experience of authenticity. The physical environment of nature was perceived and experienced to be a space and context of authenticity, leisure experiences were experienced as an engagement of authenticity, and individuals themselves encountered a true or authentic self that emanated from within. The implications of these findings are many, offering suggestions, considerations and implications from reconsidered approaches to environmental education to support for selfdirected human development.

An investigation of the nature and role of historicality in the thought of Dilthey and Heidegger

Introduction The question of the meaning, methods and philosophical manifestations of history is currently rife with contention. The problem that I will address in an exposition of the thought of Wilhelm Dilthey and Martin Heidegger, centers around the intersubjectivity of an historical world. Specifically, there are two interconnected issues. First, since all knowledge occurs to a person from within his or her historical age how can any person in any age make truth claims? In order to answer this concern we must understand the essence and role of history. Yet how can we come to an individual understanding ofwhat history is when the meanings that we use are themselves historically enveloped? But can we, we who are well aware of the knowledge that archaeology has dredged up from old texts or even from 'living' monuments of past ages, really neglect to notice these artifacts that exist within and enrich our world? Charges of wilful blindness would arise if any attempt were made to suggest that certain things of our world did not come down to us from the past. Thus it appears more important 2 to determine what this 'past' is and therefore how history operates than to simply derail the possibility for historical understanding. Wilhelm Dilthey, the great German historicist from the 19th century, did not question the existence of historical artifacts as from the past, but in treating knowledge as one such artifact placed the onus on knowledge to show itself as true, or meaningful, in light ofthe fact that other historical periods relied on different facts and generated different truths or meanings. The problem for him was not just determining what the role of history is, but moreover to discover how knowledge could make any claim as true knowledge. As he stated, there is a problem of "historical anarchy"!' Martin Heidegger picked up these two strands of Dilthey's thought and wanted to answer the problem of truth and meaning in order to solve the problem of historicism. This problem underscored, perhaps for the first time, that societal presuppositions about the past and present oftheir era are not immutable. Penetrating to the core of the raison d'etre of the age was an historical reflection about the past which was now conceived as separated both temporally and attitudinally from the present. But further than this, Heidegger's focus on asking the question of the meaning of Being meant that history must be ontologically explicated not merely ontically treated. Heidegger hopes to remove barriers to a genuine ontology by II 1 3 including history into an assessment ofprevious philosophical systems. He does this in order that the question of Being be more fully explicated, which necessarily for him includes the question of the Being of history. One approach to the question ofwhat history is, given the information that we get from historical knowledge, is whether such knowledge can be formalized into a science. Additionally, we can approach the question of what the essence and role of history is by revealing its underlying characteristics, that is, by focussing on historicality. Thus we will begin with an expository look at Dilthey's conception of history and historicality. We will then explore these issues first in Heidegger's Being and Time, then in the third chapter his middle and later works. Finally, we shall examine how Heidegger's conception may reflect a development in the conception of historicality over Dilthey's historicism, and what such a conception means for a contemporary historical understanding. The problem of existing in a common world which is perceived only individually has been philosophically addressed in many forms. Escaping a pure subjectivist interpretation of 'reality' has occupied Western thinkers not only in order to discover metaphysical truths, but also to provide a foundation for politics and ethics. Many thinkers accept a solipsistic view as inevitable and reject attempts at justifying truth in an intersubjective world. The problem ofhistoricality raises similar problems. We 4 -. - - - - exist in a common historical age, presumably, yet are only aware ofthe historicity of the age through our own individual thoughts. Thus the question arises, do we actually exist within a common history or do we merely individually interpret this as communal? What is the reality of history, individual or communal? Dilthey answers this question by asserting a 'reality' to the historical age thus overcoming solipsism by encasing individual human experience within the historical horizon of the age. This however does nothing to address the epistemological concern over the discoverablity of truth. Heidegger, on the other hand, rejects a metaphysical construel of history and seeks to ground history first within the ontology ofDasein, and second, within the so called "sending" of Being. Thus there can be no solipsism for Heidegger because Dasein's Being is necessarily "cohistorical", Being-with-Others, and furthermore, this historical-Being-in-the-worldwith- Others is the horizon of Being over which truth can appear. Heidegger's solution to the problem of solipsism appears to satisfy that the world is not just a subjective idealist creation and also that one need not appeal to any universal measures of truth or presumed eternal verities. Thus in elucidating Heidegger's notion of history I will also confront the issues ofDasein's Being-alongside-things as well as the Being of Dasein as Being-in-the-world so that Dasein's historicality is explicated vis-a-vis the "sending of Being" (die Schicken des S eins).

Non-invasive measurement of trigeminal nerve somatosensory evoked potentials

Whiplash injuries are common yet enigmatic to substantiate clinically. Trigeminal somatosensory evoked potentials (TSEPs) were posited as an indicator of trigeminal nerve conduction damage resulting from whiplash. Alternating polarity square-wave current stimuli were applied transcutaneously in the facial region. 379 recorded pilot trials from 27 participants (8 male and 19 female) were utilized to develop a non-invasive recording capability for TSEPs. Stimulus intensity and artifact, cortical recording sites, stimulation electrode design and placement were explored. Statistically significant differences in amplitude of TSEP waveform components at 13, 19 and 27 ms between uninjured and whiplashed participants were noted. Increased stimulus intensity in whiplashed participants was observed to increase TSEP amplitude. The present methodology and hardware are discussed and directions for future advancement of the current process are outlined.

Paleoindicators of meromixis

This study was undertaken to ascertain whether meromictic lakes could be differentiated from holomictic lakes on the basis of their surficial profundal sediments. Surface sediment cores (15 cm long) were collected from both the littoral and profundal zones of four meromictic and six holomictic lakes and analyzed for total number of fossil chironomid headcapsu~es, chlorophyll and carotenoid degradation products as well as \ iron and manganese concentrations. Littoral and profundal comparisons of the surface sediments were made between the two lake types using the Mann-Whitney U test. Iron, manganese and the iron to manganese ratio in the littoral sediments of meromictic lakes were significantly lower than those found in the littoral sediments of holomictic lakes. The observed differences are believed to represent an artifact of the significantly higher carbonate concentrations found in three of the four meromictic lakes studied. Profundal and littoral to profundal ratio comparison between holomictic and meromictic lakes suggest that the significantly lower iron and higher carotenoid concentrations in meromictic profundal sediments were a con~equence of meromixis. However, the overlap in distribution exhibited by both iron and carotenoid degradation products between the two lake types was sufficiently large in this study to nullify their use as a means of differentiating meromictic from holomictic lakes. A long core (4.25 m) was removed from the deepest part of the meromictic Crawford Lake (Ontario), sectioned at 5 cm intervals, and analyzed to assess when meromixis occurred, based on its fossil record. Temporal changes in the total number of chironomid headcapsules, and chlorophyll and carotenoid sediment degradation products were closely correlated with organic matter, indicating in my opinion that extensive redeposition of littoral chironomid headcapsules in the profundal zone has occurred. Temporal variations in carotenoid degradation products, in response to changes in organic matter, obscured increased preservation that may have occurred as a consequence of meromixis. Temporal variations in iron and manganese suggest that relatively stable redox conditions have existed throughout most of the lake's history. Therefore it would appear that Crawford Lake has been meromictic since its inception.

The effects of simple procedural, cognitive procedural and declarative learning on sleep /

Sleep spindles have been found to increase following an intense period of learning on a combination of motor tasks. It is not clear whether these changes are task specific, or a result of learning in general. The current study investigated changes in sleep spindles and spectral power following learning on cognitive procedural (C-PM), simple procedural (S-PM) or declarative (DM) learning tasks. It was hypothesized that S-PM learning would result in increases in Sigma power during Non-REM sleep, whereas C-PM and DM learning would not affect Sigma power. It was also hypothesized that DM learning would increase Theta power during REM sleep, whereas S-PM and C-PM learning would not affect Theta power. Thirty-six participants spent three consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory. Baseline polysomnographic recordings were collected on night 2. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: C-PM, S-PM, DM or control (C). Memory task training occurred on night 3 followed by polysomnographic recording. Re-testing on respective memory tasks occurred one-week following training. EEG was sampled at 256Hz from 16 sites during sleep. Artifact-free EEG from each sleep stage was submitted to power spectral analysis. The C-PM group made significantly fewer errors, the DM group recalled more, and the S-PM improved on performance from test to re-test. There was a significant night by group interaction for the duration of Stage 2 sleep. Independent t-tests revealed that the S-PM group had significantly more Stage 2 sleep on the test night than the C group. The C-PM and the DM group did not differ from controls in the duration of Stage 2 sleep on test night. There was no significant change in the duration of slow wave sleep (SWS) or REM sleep. Sleep spindle density (spindles/minute) increased significantly from baseline to test night following S-PM learning, but not for C-PM, DM or C groups. This is the first study to have shown that the same pattern of results was found for spindles in SWS. Low Sigma power (12-14Hz) increased significantly during SWS following S-PM learning but not for C-PM, DM or C groups. This effect was maximal at Cz, and the largest increase in Sigma power was at Oz. It was also found that Theta power increased significantly during REM sleep following DM learning, but not for S-PM, C-PM or C groups. This effect was maximal at Cz and the largest change in Theta power was observed at Cz. These findings are consistent with the previous research that simple procedural learning is consolidated during Stage 2 sleep, and provide additional data to suggest that sleep spindles across all non-REM stages and not just Stage 2 sleep may be a mechanism for brain plasticity. This study also provides the first evidence to suggest that Theta activity during REM sleep is involved in memory consolidation.

The journey towards comprehensive school health within an aboriginal community

The purpose of this research is to describe the journey towards Comprehensive School Health at two Aboriginal elementary schools. An advocate and a healthy schools committee were identified at both schools and were responsible for developing initiatives to create a healthy school community. A case study was used to gather an in-depth understanding of Comprehensive School Health for the two schools involved. As a researcher, I functioned within the role of a participantobserver, as I was actively involved in the programs and initiatives completed in both schools. The research process included: the pilot study, ethics clearance and distribution of letters of invitation and consent forms. Data collection included 16 semi-structured, guided interviews with principals, teachers, and stupents. Participant observations included sites of the gymnasium, classroom, playgrounds, school environments, bulletin boards as well as artifact analysis of decuments such as school newsletters, physical education schedules and school handbooks. The interviews were transcribed and coded using an inductive approach which involves finding patterns, themes and categories from the data (patton, 2002). Research questions guided the findings as physical activity, physical education, nutrition and transportation were discussed. Themes developed t~rough coding were teacherstudent interactions, cultural traditions, time constraints and professional development and were discussed using a Comprehensive School Health framework.

An examination of outdoor experience in the development of character in young adults with Type 1 Diabetes

Connected in Motion is a not for profit organization serving young adults with Type 1 diabetes. The organization hosted outdoor and experiential Type 1 diabetes education programs in January of2009 and 2010. The weekends provided non-clinical alternative Type 1 diabetes education to the underserved population of young adults within Canada. Six women living with Type I diabetes and between the ages of 22 and 30 participated in the Winter Slipstream weekends participated in this phenomenological research study. Through semi-structured interviews and artifact-elicitation interviews, ,{ the lived experiences of the participants were examined. Data analysis indicated that the sense of community created through outdoor programming and experiential education for young adults with Type I diabetes stimulated the development of self-efficacy and participant-perceived improvement in Type 1 diabetes self-management. There was no indication that outdoor and experiential Type I diabetes education had any impact on the development of autonomy among participants. Recommendations are made to encourage the successful implementation of further alternative (non-clinical) Type 1 diabetes education programs for young adults living with Type 1 diabetes.