Secure & Trusted Communication in Emergency Situations

In this paper we propose SETS, a protocol with main aim to provide secure and private communication during emergency situations. SETS achieves security of the exchanged information, attack resilience and user's privacy. In addition, SETS can be easily adapted for mobile devices, since field experimental results show the effectiveness of the protocol on actual smart-phone platforms.

What do we expect from an ombudsman? Narratives of everyday engagement with the informal justice system in Germany and the UK

This paper looks at expectations people have of informal justice mechanisms through a rich empirical dataset of 2775 recent ombudsman users in Germany and the United Kingdom. In a cross-cultural comparison the ombudsman, as a model of justice is explored. Not much is known about people’s expectations towards the ombudsman model; this paper starts to fill the gap. Four roles became apparent as cross-cultural narratives in the dataset; people who interact with ombudsmen expect them to be interpreters, advocates, allies and instruments. The identified roles are largely common to both countries, but in some aspects they show national specificities. These national specificities are seen mainly in the use of language; in Germany it is more legalistic in comparison to the UK. I argue that this might be related to what has been described as the general legal culture of each country and the institutional set-up.

Resilience and the ‘everyday’: beyond the paradox of ‘liberal peace’

Over the last decade there has been a shift towards critical understandings of ‘liberal peace’ approaches to international intervention, which argue that local culture holds the key to the effectiveness of peace interventions. In this ‘bottom-up’ approach, peace, reconciliation, and a ‘culture of law’ then become secondary effects of sociocultural norms and values. However, these liberal peace critiques have remained trapped in the paradox of liberal peace: the inability to go beyond the binaries of liberal universalism and cultural relativism. This understanding will be contrasted with the rise of ‘resilience’ approaches to intervention – which build on this attention to the particular context of application but move beyond this paradox through philosophical pragmatism and the focus on concrete social practices. This article clarifies the nature of this shift through the focus on the shifting understanding of international intervention to address the failings of the ‘war on drugs’ in the Americas.

Moral Emotions in Palliative Care: Empirical Insights from Austria and Canada

Research aims: Moral emotions as one specific group of emotions play a vital role in delivering palliative care as e.g. ethical issues and moral distress belong to daily routine.
Moral emotions are oriented to the welfare of other persons or the society as a whole. To better understand moral emotions in Palliative Care the aims of the presented study are to ana- lyze care situations from Austria and Canada in different care settings and identify families of moral emotions on one hand and describe influencing contextual factors on the other hand. Methods: Within a qualitative study design a reanalysis of Austrian narratives on ethical issues and Canadian narra- tives on moral distress were conducted. Data in Austria encompass 36 narratives that were generated through qual- itative questionnaires in nursing homes. Canadian data are based on qualitative interviews with home care palliative specialists and encompass 47 critical incidents. The reanal- ysis of data was conducted with narrative analysis. Results: Preliminary results show that moral emotions in palliative care can be found in families around “empathy and relatedness”, “sadness, isolation and bereavement”, “anger, frustration and powerlessness”, “guilt and shame” and “being touched and feel close”. Contextual factors influencing moral emotions can be summarized as “suffer- ing and decline of client”, “expectations and dynamics of family”, “structural conflicts and power issues” and “lack of resources and information”.
Conclusion: The diversity of moral emotions reflects the everyday experiences in palliative care. It became obvious that most of the moral emotions that have been expressed appear to be interconnected within a bundle of other emo- tions. Contextual factors influencing moral emotions in pal- liative care are relatively independent of care settings. In Palliative Care moral emotions and their contextual factors constitute an important source of insight for reflection in organizational ethics.

Anförande: Pressed for time : The digital transformation of everyday life

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Memory Bias for Anxiety Prior to Academic Achievement Situations: Influences of Time, Mood, Personality and Post-Event-Processing

The current thesis examines memory bias for state anxiety prior to academic achievement situations like writing an exam and giving a speech. The thesis relies on the reconstruction principle, which assumes that memories for past emotions are reconstructed rather than stored permanently and accurately. This makes them prone to memory bias, which is af-fected by several influencing factors. A major aim is to include four important influencing factors simultaneously. Early research on mood and emotional autobiographical memory found evidence for the existence of a propositional associative network (Bower, 1981; Col-lins & Loftus, 1975), leading to mood congruent recall. But empirical findings gave also strong evidence for the existence of mood incongruent recall for one’s own emotions, which was for example linked to mood regulation via mood repair (e.g. Clark & Isen, 1982), which seems to be associated to the personality traits extraversion and neuroticism (Lischetzke & Eid, 2006; Ng & Diener, 2009). Moreover, neuroticism and trait anxiety are related to rumination, which is seen as negative post-event-processing (e.g. Wells & Clark, 1997). Overall, the elapsed time since the emotional event happened should have an impact on recall of emotions. Following the affect infusion model by Robinson and Clore (2002a), the influence of personality on memory bias should increase over time. Therefore, three longitudinal studies were realized, using naturally occurring as well as laboratory settings. The used paradigm was equivalent in all studies. Subjects were asked about their actual state anxiety prior to an academic achievement situation. Directly after the situation, cur-rent mood and recall of former anxiety were assessed. The same procedure was repeated a few weeks later. Personality traits and post-event-processing were also assessed. The results suggest a need to have a differentiated view on predicting memory bias. Study 1 (N = 131) as well as study 3 (N = 53) found evidence for mood incongruent memory in the sense of mood repair and downward regulation as a function of personality. Rumination was found to cause stable overestimation of pre-event anxiety in study 2 (N = 141) as well as in study 3. Although the relevance of the influencing factors changed over time, an increasing relevance of personality could not consistently be observed. The tremendously different effects of the laboratory study 2 indicated that such settings are not appropriate to study current issues. Theoretical and psychotherapeutically relevant conclusions are drawn and several limitations are discussed.

Åldersblandning i skolan : elevers erfarenheter

Mixing ages in school classes became more and more common during the last dec-ades of the 20th century. From being a way to organise classes out of necessity they have now come to be something which is implemented on the basis of pedagogical arguments. The aim of this research has been to improve our knowledge of classes where pupils are not of the same age. A study of the pupils’ perspectives has been my main interest. (Age) homogeneous class can been looked upon as a result of the authorities’ deci-sion to have a fixed age for children to start school and their decision that certain courses should be completed within a defined period of time. Terms and the data concerning heterogeneous age groupings are ambiguous and cannot be fully understood without knowledge of national and sometimes even local contexts. Practices within age heterogeneous classes may differ greatly. A great deal of individual work takes place in age heterogeneous classes. Whether the class is non-mixed or mixed-aged does not seem to have a major im-pact on cognitive or non-cognitive abilities among the pupils, but there are suggestions that age heterogeneous classes might be disadvantageous to pupils in problematic situations. I am able to show that more than 30% of pupils in grades 1-3, close to 25% in grades 4-5, about 15% in grade 6 and a couple of percent of Swedish pupils in the later school years are taught in mixed-age groups. My own empirical research focuses on pupils’ experiences. My investigation has a ‘life-world’ oriented approach inspired by phenomenology. Pupils in grades 5 and 6 from three schools in three different socio-economic settings were interviewed. These pupils had experienced both mixed-age and single-age classes. The life-world of pupils seems to be something different from that encompassed by the philosophy about the advantages of mixing the ages in classes. Pupils find it diffi-cult to maintain or create relationships when only a few pupils of the same sex, who have started school at the same time, can be together in a class for a long time. Be-cause of the importance of social relationships almost every pupil in this investigation wished to be in a single-age class during the following year. It is the importance of common experiences rather than age that is central. Pupils stated that having things in common to study in their everyday schoolwork makes it easier to communicate and contributes to stable friendships. In my conclusion I focus on what it means to have relationships and how these are important for human identity. I also try to show how relationships are important in learning situations at school and for pupils’ opportunities to expand their knowledge.

Designing for User-facing Uncertainty in Everyday Sensing and Prediction

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-07

What happens at the gap between knowledge and practice? Spaces of encounter and misencounter between environmental scientists and local people

Researchers studying processes of global environmental change are increasingly interested in their work having impacts that go beyond academia to influence policy and management. Recent scholarship in the conservation sciences has pointed to the existence of a research-action gap and has proposed various solutions for overcoming it. However, most of these studies have been limited to the spaces of dissemination, where the science has already been done and is then to be passed over to users of the information. Much less attention has been paid to encounters that occur between scientists and nonscientists during the practice of doing scientific research, especially in situations that include everyday roles of labor and styles of communication (i.e., fieldwork). This paper builds on theories of contact that have examined encounters and relations between different groups and cultures in diverse settings. I use quantitative and qualitative evidence from Madidi National Park, Bolivia, including an analysis of past research in the protected area, as well as interviews (N = 137) and workshops and focus groups (N = 12) with local inhabitants, scientists, and park guards. The study demonstrates the significance of currently unacknowledged or undervalued components of the research-action gap, such as power, respect, and recognition, to develop a relational and reciprocal notion of impact. I explain why, within such spaces of encounter or misencounter between scientists and local people, knowledge can be exchanged or hidden away, worldviews can be expanded or further entrenched, and scientific research can be welcomed or rejected.

Negotiating Community and Nation in Chợ Lớn: Nation-building, Community-building and Transnationalism in Everyday Life during the Republic of Việt Nam, 1955-1975

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Talking everyday science to very young children: a study involving parents and practitioners within an early childhood centre

The acquisition of everyday scientific concepts by 3-6 year old children attending early childhood institutions has been widely studied. In contrast, research on science learning processes among younger children is less extensive. This paper reports on findings from an exploratory empirical study undertaken in a ‘stay and play’ service used by parents with children aged 0-3 and located within an East London early childhood centre. The research team collaborated with practitioners to deliver a programme of activities aimed at encouraging parents’ confidence in their own ability to support emergent scientific thinking among their young children. The programme generated children’s engagement and interest. Parents and practitioners reported increased confidence in their ability to promote young children’s natural curiosity at home and in early childhood provision. The authors see no reason for positing qualitative differences between the way children acquire scientific and other concepts in their earliest years.

Children with intellectual disabilities’ perceptions of their participation in activities in everyday life – a pilot study : A minor field study conducted in Ethiopia

Background: Children with disabilities living in low and middle income countries’ perceptions of participation are not shown in research. These perceptions are important for providing appropriate interventions. Aim: To describe how children aged 8-12 with an intellectual disability living in Ethiopia perceive their situation regarding participation in activities in everyday life. Method: A descriptive design with a quantitative approach was used. The sample was gathered using consecutive sampling. Fifteen structured interviews were conducted, using “Picture my participation,” an instrument under development. Analyses were made using SPSS Statistics and Microsoft Excel. Results: The children perceived that they participated in activities in everyday life. There was a broad variation in the activities the children prioritized as most important. On a group level, they were very involved in these activities. The majority did not experience any barriers to perform these activities. Conclusions: The perceptions of the majority of the children were that they were involved in daily activities. They did not experience any barriers to participation. The results should be read with caution and generalization is not possible, due to the sample characteristics and that the instrument is under development.

Favela não é o lugar, são as pessoas . Desconstruindo a relação entre lugar e violência no Sarney e no Japão, Natal/RN

The city is the privileged place construction of social and political life, and the gathering of social groups. Meeting place, the diversity and possibilities. But the urban universe which cities belong is not a homogeneous whole. There are spaces demarcated and valued ideologically creating antithetical images about places that are now recognized as violent or dangerous. Peripheral urban situations of unprivileged add to theprejudices to the origin of place within the neighborlyallotments José Sarney and Novo Horizonte (Japan Slum) / Natal-RN, which are reproduced in narratives of everyday life. Spatial divisions are exploited, mixed and repeated to maintain social distances through rites of separations and dichotomies such as neighborhood/joint housing, allotment/slum and the people of the high place/the people of the down place. Social categories such as buraco(hole) and cabras (goats) are evoked to interpret the world of violence and places regarded as dangerous. The prominence of hypermasculinity and perception of children and adolescents living on the outer elements are brought up to the interpretation of images evoked in interviews with residents and their neighbors

Élaboration d'un protocole opérationnel d'entrevue visant à diagnostiquer les situations de non-insertion socioprofessionnelle.

La situation actuelle du marché du travail fait en sorte que de plus en plus de personnes nécessitent de l'aide pour leur insertion ou leur réinsertion socioprofessionnelle. Cette demande qui continue d'accroître exige beaucoup de la part des professionnelles ou professionnels engagés pour intervenir auprès de cette clientèle. Ces ressources souvent limitées en nombre et en temps, doivent être capable de faire une évaluation fiable et rapide afin de réaliser des interventions ajustées. Une équipe de recherche actuellement en cours, a conçu un outil permettant d'établir le diagnostic de l'état d'employabilité. Le défi de cette étude est de valider l'instrument à l'aide d'un autre test. Ceci nous mène au contexte du présent essai, qui sera décrit en première partie afin de situer le problème. En deuxième partie, nous présenterons l'ensemble des étapes qui a conduit à l'élaboration du protocole d'entrevue. La troisième partie sera consacrée à la vérification de la fiabilité de ce protocole. Enfin, quelques recommandations quant à son utilisation finaliseront le présent travail.

Élaboration et standardisation d'un test d'attitudes : le QACSS (Questionnaire sur les attributions causales en situations scolaires)

Croyant que la connaissance approfondie du style attributionnel des élèves inscrits au cégep pourrait être un pas de plus vers la connaissance des processus psycho-cognitifs de l'élève en situations d'apprentissage scolaire et également une piste d'intervention pour réduire les abandons et les échecs au collégial, nous avons élaboré et validé un questionnaire étudiant les attributions causales reliées à des situations scolaires, le QACSS. La présente recherche correspond à la première étape d'une étude portant sur le style attributionnel des cégépiens. Nous basant sur la théorie des attributions de Weiner et sur l'étude expérimentale de l'ASQ (Attributionnal Style Questionnaire) de Peterson et al. (1982), nous avons élaboré et procédé à l'expérimentation du QACSS auprès de 317 élèves de niveau collégial, inscrits dans divers programmes collégiaux, au secteur régulier. Nous présentons et analysons, dans ce rapport, les résultats obtenus lors de notre étude de validité et de fidélité et nous discutons des principales questions surgies lors de cette analyse. En conclusion, nous affirmons que le QACSS peut être considéré comme un outil fiable de la mesure des attributions causales reliées aux situations scolaires.