Valentinin rukous

Soitinnus: lauluääni, orkesteri.

Suitability of LiDAR technology for forest inventory in Russia

LiDAR is an advanced remote sensing technology with many applications, including forest inventory. The most common type is ALS (airborne laser scanning). The method is successfully utilized in many developed markets, where it is replacing traditional forest inventory methods. However, it is innovative for Russian market, where traditional field inventory dominates. ArboLiDAR is a forest inventory solution that engages LiDAR, color infrared imagery, GPS ground control plots and field sample plots, developed by Arbonaut Ltd. This study is an industrial market research for LiDAR technology in Russia focused on customer needs. Russian forestry market is very attractive, because of large growing stock volumes. It underwent drastic changes in 2006, but it is still in transitional stage. There are several types of forest inventory, both with public and private funding. Private forestry enterprises basically need forest inventory in two cases – while making coupe demarcation before timber harvesting and as a part of forest management planning, that is supposed to be done every ten years on the whole leased territory. The study covered 14 companies in total that include private forestry companies with timber harvesting activities, private forest inventory providers, state subordinate companies and forestry software developer. The research strategy is multiple case studies with semi-structured interviews as the main data collection technique. The study focuses on North-West Russia, as it is the most developed Russian region in forestry. The research applies the Voice of the Customer (VOC) concept to elicit customer needs of Russian forestry actors and discovers how these needs are met. It studies forest inventory methods currently applied in Russia and proposes the model of method comparison, based on Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, mainly on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Required product attributes are classified in accordance with Kano model. The answer about suitability of LiDAR technology is ambiguous, since many details should be taken into account.

Vidrörd av livet i dödens närhet - att varda som människa och vårdare i vårdandets gemenskap

The overall aim of the study is to create a theory model of “becoming” as a human being and health care provider in the caring communion at the end-of-life. The theoretical perspective of the study is caring science as it is developed at Åbo Academy University in Finland outlined in Eriksson's theory of caritative caring with focus on caring ethics. The thesis consists of four sub-studies reported as scientific articles and a summary section. The study has an overarching hermeneutic research approach. The sub-studies I-IV are reinterpreted from viewpoint of the overall question. Empirical assumptions could then be discerned from the substance of the four substudies, which raised questions. The answers to these questions were sought in dialogue with selected texts by Kierkegaard and resulted in a theory model. The theory model results in following theses: 1. To “become” as a human being is to remain in an endless guilt. Guilt is a form of love. It is guilt that give strength and willingness to act in love and mercy when caring for patients at the end-of-life. The guilt as love allows becoming as a human being to be at home in love and mercy. 2. The human being’s courage is characterized as the willingness to obtain contact with the life of fellow human beings. This courage develops over time to stand for itself, with a foundation of belief in human beings, and resulting in a selfless, loving way to help the patients grieve and reconcile at the end-of-life. 3. To be “touched” can be illustrated as an inner awakening; an inner movement towards consciousness for the examination of the love for one another, and to love unselfishly. 4. The human being’s evolution in its own understanding of life occurs in the care of another human being who is at the end-of-life, as well as to be at home in ethos, love and mercy. Becoming in this context means that the human being evolves to become responsive to the heart's inner voice; an inner strength and joy which opens to the eternal and holy. 5. To overcome external obstacles is characterized as serving human beings in a selfless love; a caring in love that has requirements that need to be expressed by what is true, beautiful and good for patients at the end-of-life. An awareness and understanding of what it means to become as a human being and health care provider in caring community can help health care providers to easily focus on the patient.

The influence of physical attractiveness and gender on perceived competence of sportscasters

The media tends to represent female athletes as women first and athletes second (Koivula, 1 999). The present study investigated whether this same trend was present for female sportscasters, using a self-presentational framework. Self-presentation is the process by which people try to control how others see them (Leary, 1995). One factor that may influence the type of image they try to project is their roles held in society, including gender roles. The gender roles for a man include dominance, assertiveness, and masculinity, while the gender roles for a woman include nurturer, femininity, and attractiveness (Deaux & Major, 1 987). By contrast, sports broadcasters are expected to be knowledgeable, assertive, and competent. Research suggests that female sports broadcasters are seen as less competent and less persuasive than male sports broadcasters (Mitrook & Dorr, 2001; Ordman & Zillmann, 1994, Toro, 2005). One reason for this difference may be that the gender roles for a man are much more similar to those of a sportscaster, compared to those of a woman. Thus, there may be a conflict between the two roles for women. The present study investigated whether the gender and perceived attractiveness of sportscasters influenced the audience's perceptions of the level of competence that a sportscaster demonstrates. Two hundred and four male (n =75) and female (n =129) undergraduate students were recruited from a southern Ontario university to participate in the study. The average age of the male participants was 21 .23 years {SD =1 .60), and the average age for female participants was 20.67 years {SD = 1 .31). The age range for all participants was from 19 to 30 years {M = 20.87 years, SD = 1 .45). Af^er providing informed consent, participants randomly received one of four possible questionnaire packages. The participants answered the demographic questionnaire, and then proceeded to view the picture and read the script of a sports newscast. Next, based on the picture and script, the participants answered the competence questionnaire, assessing the general, sport specific, and overall competence of the sportscaster. Once participants had finished, they returned the package to the researcher and were thanked for their time. Data was analyzed using an ANOVA to determine if general sport competence differs with respect to gender and attractiveness of the sportscaster. Overall, the ANOVA was non-significant (p > .05), indicating no differences on the dependent variable based on gender (F (3, 194) = .631, p = .426), attractiveness (F (3, 194) = .070, p = .791), or the interaction of the two {F (3, 194) = .043,/? = .836). Although none of the study hypotheses were supported, the study provided some insight to the perceived competence of female sportscasters. It is possible that female sportscasters are now seen as competent in the area of sports. Sample characteristics could also have influenced these results; the participants in the current study were primarily physical education and kinesiology students, who had experience participating in physical activity with both men and women. Future research should investigate this issue further by using a video sportscast. It is possible that delivery characteristics such as voice quality or eye contact may also impact perceptions of sportscasters.

Registered nurses' perceptions of factors impacting on their continuing education /

This qualitative study examined the effects of hospital restructuring on a group of nurses at a community hospital. Eleven nurses were asked questions in order to gain insight into their experience in this situation. Ten of these participants were female, and one was male. The intent was to gather information about how restructuring has affected their lives, including, their motivational factors and barriers to participation in continuing education, and their descriptions of their workplace environment. Audiotaped interviews were conducted on two occasions to obtain this data. Emergent themes included the nurses' comments about continuing education, motivational factors, barriers that included geography and time, reactions of co-workers, restructuring, the College of Nurses' Quality Assurance Program including peer feedback, and performance appraisals. The literature review compares the barriers and motivational factors to the previous research findings. Thus, this study gave voice to the experience of this group of nurses, working in a healthcare setting that is involved in restructuring. This information is important to the healthcare system, since many areas are involved in restructuring. The whole process, if it is to be successful, depends on the frontline workers, namely the nurses. Thus, if there is anything to be learned from this group of people, that could be used to improve this progression, everyone would benefit from this information, were it to be implemented. Everyone is a stakeholder in the quality of healthcare in our province. The frontline workers are the ones that hold the vantage point to be able to provide suggestions for the changes needed to successful. These nurses are not just motivated by work issues however, and educating them and motivating them will also improve the care provided through increased knowledge and enhanced self-esteem.

Academics as parents--parents as academics : a study of the integration of intellectual and child-care labours /

Discussions concerning the challenges of combining work and family are certainly not new, and still actively continue. There is, however, a silence in the related literature regarding a comprehensive description of integrating specifically university academic ~. work and family responsibilities. This silence is especially evident for men who are parents as well as academics. With the participation of 4 key informants, this qualitative research study gave voice to men and women who participate in the academic labour of a Canadian university as professors, and as graduate students, along with the parenting labour of at least 1 child under the age of7. Methodology was developed to reveal in-depth perspectives regarding the work practices employed by 4 key informants as they combined intellectual and child-care responsibilities. Multiple data collection methods included journal reflections, day time observation sessions, a focus group, and a final evaluation questionnaire. Using research findings, together with information extrapolated from Three Models of the Family (Eichler, 1997), this study also took steps toward developing a Proposed "Three Models of the University," to offer explanation for the work practices of the key informants as academics/parents, and also for future consideration in university policy formation.

Adolescent females' self-concept and physical education : a Q-sort analysis /

This research illuminates the relationship between female adolescents' self-concept and their experience of physical education. This was accomplished through three stages of interviews and a Qsort. The topics through which the research was categorized included peer support, teachers as significant others, meaningful connections to the body, and curriculum content. During stage one female physical education specialists, curriculum coordinators, and adolescents were interviewed to develop Q-items for the Q-sort. The second stage Involved two groups of females between the ages of 12 and 14 years who participated in the Q-sort. The final stage involved an insight group that consisted of four Q-sort participants who interpreted the highest ranking Q-items. Critical to this research was giving these adolescents the opportunity to voice what was important to them. The results of the research included descriptions of the elements in physical education that were deemed most important by female adolescent students. The topics of "peer support" and "meaningful connections to the body" were ranked the highest. By interpreting the rich insights of the discussion group, it was found that peers were most influential to these young girls. Perceiving and bestowing respect were imperative in this stage of their lives.

A safe place /

This study is an effort to give voice to an experience. The experience in question is the decision of a student to trust a practitioner. The study also describes the features which led the student to believe that the practitioner would provide a "safe place" for interaction around matters of a delicate or personal nature. This study is the gift oftwo coauthors, each with a unique story which offers description of critical incidents, and what made these events meaningful. At the heart of the study is the potential for education and its professionals to provide safe places for students. Analysis of the data determines that a safe place involves two parties, one seeking a safe place and another who provides the safe place-in this study, the student and the practitioner. The student, with urgency, seeks a safe place to disclose personal information. In this urgency the student is confronted with features of control, comfort, respect, felt sense, and nonjudgemental listening. These features are the constitutive elements of a Safe Place. Capacity to recognize and construct safe places is a competency which the existing school lifeworld demands of today's practitioners. Understanding what are deemed to be safe places and how practitioners might work to create them are the extended outcomes of this study.

Desire and the paths of recognation [sic] in Hegel's intersubjectivity

This thesis poses two fundamental issues regarding Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity. Firstly, it examines Kojeve's problematic interpretation of Hegelian intersubjectivity as being solely rooted in the dialectic of lordship and bondage. It is my contention that Kojeve conflates the concepts of recognition {Anerkennung) with that of desire (Begierde), thereby reducing Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity to a violent reduction of the other to the same. This is so despite the plenary of examples Hegel uses to define intersubjectivity as the mutual (reciprocal) recognition between the self and the other. Secondly, it examines Hegel's use of Sophocles' Antigone to demonstrate the notion of the individual par excellence. I contend that Hegel's use of Antigone opens a new methodological framework through which to view his philosophy of intersubjectivity. It is Antigone that demonstrates the upheaval of an economy of exchange between the self and the other, whereby the alterity of the other transcends the self Ultimately, Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity must be reexamined, not only to dismiss Kojeve's problematic interpretation, but also to pose the possibility that Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity can viably account for a philosophy of the other that has a voice in contemporary philosophical debate.

Marginal/minority popular music : the concept of the "third space" and the case for "hybridities" of cultures/identities /

The topic of this thesis is marginaVminority popular music and the question of identity; the term "marginaVminority" specifically refers to members of racial and cultural minorities who are socially and politically marginalized. The thesis argument is that popular music produced by members of cultural and racial minorities establishes cultural identity and resists racist discourse. Three marginaVminority popular music artists and their songs have been chosen for analysis in support of the argument: Gil Scott-Heron's "Gun," Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" and Robbie Robertson's "Sacrifice." The thesis will draw from two fields of study; popular music and postcolonialism. Within the area of popular music, Theodor Adorno's "Standardization" theory is the focus. Within the area of postcolonialism, this thesis concentrates on two specific topics; 1) Stuart Hall's and Homi Bhabha's overlapping perspectives that identity is a process of cultural signification, and 2) Homi Bhabha's concept of the "Third Space." For Bhabha (1995a), the Third Space defines cultures in the moment of their use, at the moment of their exchange. The idea of identities arising out of cultural struggle suggests that identity is a process as opposed to a fixed center, an enclosed totality. Cultures arise from historical memory and memory has no center. Historical memory is de-centered and thus cultures are also de-centered, they are not enclosed totalities. This is what Bhabha means by "hybridity" of culture - that cultures are not unitary totalities, they are ways of knowing and speaking about a reality that is in constant flux. In this regard, the language of "Otherness" depends on suppressing or marginalizing the productive capacity of culture in the act of enunciation. The Third Space represents a strategy of enunciation that disrupts, interrupts and dislocates the dominant discursive construction of US and THEM, (a construction explained by Hall's concept of binary oppositions, detailed in Chapter 2). Bhabha uses the term "enunciation" as a linguistic metaphor for how cultural differences are articulated through discourse and thus how differences are discursively produced. Like Hall, Bhabha views culture as a process of understanding and of signification because Bhabha sees traditional cultures' struggle against colonizing cultures as transforming them. Adorno's theory of Standardization will be understood as a theoretical position of Western authority. The thesis will argue that Adorno's theory rests on the assumption that there is an "essence" to music, an essence that Adorno rationalizes as structure/form. The thesis will demonstrate that constructing music as possessing an essence is connected to ideology and power and in this regard, Adorno's Standardization theory is a discourse of White Western power. It will be argued that "essentialism" is at the root of Western "rationalization" of music, and that the definition of what constitutes music is an extension of Western racist "discourses" of the Other. The methodological framework of the thesis entails a) applying semiotics to each of the three songs examined and b) also applying Bhabha's model of the Third Space to each of the songs. In this thesis, semiotics specifically refers to Stuart Hall's retheorized semiotics, which recognizes the dual function of semiotics in the analysis of marginal racial/cultural identities, i.e., simultaneously represent embedded racial/cultural stereotypes, and the marginal raciaVcultural first person voice that disavows and thus reinscribes stereotyped identities. (Here, and throughout this thesis, "first person voice" is used not to denote the voice of the songwriter, but rather the collective voice of a marginal racial/cultural group). This dual function fits with Hall's and Bhabha's idea that cultural identity emerges out of cultural antagonism, cultural struggle. Bhabha's Third Space is also applied to each of the songs to show that cultural "struggle" between colonizers and colonized produces cultural hybridities, musically expressed as fusions of styles/sounds. The purpose of combining semiotics and postcolonialism in the three songs to be analyzed is to show that marginal popular music, produced by members of cultural and racial minorities, establishes cultural identity and resists racist discourse by overwriting identities of racial/cultural stereotypes with identities shaped by the first person voice enunciated in the Third Space, to produce identities of cultural hybridities. Semiotic codes of embedded "Black" and "Indian" stereotypes in each song's musical and lyrical text will be read and shown to be overwritten by the semiotic codes of the first person voice, which are decoded with the aid of postcolonial concepts such as "ambivalence," "hybridity" and "enunciation."

Learning and healing: a wellness pedagogy for Aboriginal teacher education /

During the last 30 years Aboriginal peoples in Canada have made steady progress in reclaiming the responsibility for the education of their young people, especially in primary and secondary school. In comparison the education and or training of adult populations has not kept pace and many socioeconomic and sociocultural indicators demonstrate a ' , continued confinement of those populations to the margins of the dominant society of Canada. It is the adults, the mothers and the fathers, the grandmothers and grandfathers, the aunties and uncles that are the first teachers of the next generation and the nature of these relationships replicates the culture of unwellness in each subsequent generation through those teachers. There are few examples in the Aboriginal adult education literatures that give voice to the educational experience of the Learner. This study addresses that gap by exploring the perspectives embedded in the stories of a Circle of Learners who are, or were enrolled in the Bachelor of Education in Aboriginal Adult Education program at Brock University. That Circle of 1 participants included 9 women and 1 man, 6 of whom were from various i Anishinabek nations while 4 represented the Hotinonshd:ni nations in southern Ontario. They are an eclectic group, representing many professions, age groups, spiritual traditions, and backgrounds. This then is their story, the story of the heaming and Healing pedagogy and an expanded vision of Aboriginal education and research at Brock University.

Emptying the bell jar: an exploration of adolescent responses to a women's literature unit /

This study examines adolescent student responses to a women's literature unit taught within a grade 12 Writer's Craft course. Current research (Gilligan, 1989, Pipher, 1994 & Slack, 1999) suggests that there is a great under-representation of female authors in the high school literature curriculum. The use of women's literature may draw attention to important literary figures who are historically overlooked within the curriculum. It gives voice to a marginalized group and presents students with alternative subjects and heroes. It encourages students to develop a critical perspective and reevaluate assumptions about institutions, ideologies, language and culture. It also allows me, as a teacher, to reflect on my own teaching practices and explore alternate feminist pedagogical principles and teaching styles encouraging multiplicity of voices, deconstruction of power relations, and alternative assessment tools within the classroom. As an educator, it is important for me to teach curriculum that is relevant and meaningful to students and help them become critical, self-reflective thinkers. It is also important for me to assist students in their exploration of self and encourage them to expand their awareness of historical, social and global issues. Sylvia Plath's (1963) The belljar is used as the primary text taught within this unit. In this novel, the bell jar is a central image that signifies entrapment and isolation. "To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead body, the world itself is the bad dream"(p.l 54). As a metaphor, the bell jar resonates with young readers in a variety of ways.

Why I am not a teacher: a self-study examining why I made the decision to exit the teaching profession /

A good teacher was once described as being like a candle; consuming itself to light the way for others (Author unknown). But as Knox (2005) says, far too many yoimg flames flicker out before they ever get the opportvmity to bum their brightest. This self-study explores the phenomenon of teacher attrition through the stories and lived experiences of one elementary teacher. I strive throughout this self-study to delve deeper into the significance of my story and lived experiences in order to enhance our understanding of why teachers exit the profession. As a result, the guiding question throughout the study is, "Why do teachers, particularly those who have only taught for a few years, leave the classrooms they worked so hard to enter?" Through the writing of a narrative entitled Sarah 's Story, I was able to identify and give voice to a story openly sharing the feelings of despair; disappointment, frustration and disillusionment. This study has identified areas of tension that lead to dissatisfaction, discontent, and teacher disillusionment. It confronts the issues of complexity, uncertainty, and conflict that are experienced in teaching. It discusses the puzzling, powerfiil and upsetting experiences, highlighting the importance of talk between all members of the education system.

Exploring female graduate students' multifaceted and intersecting roles and identities in a complex educational milieu /

This qualitative phenomenological investigation explored six female Master of Education students' critical understandings of their identity and role negotiations, and their perceptions of environmental conditions that facilitated or impeded their identity explorations and negotiations within the institution. The interweaving of Feminist and Women's Development theories enabled the data to be examined under different, yet complementary, lenses. The data collection strategies included: four to five in-depth semistructured interviews, three take-home activities (involving identity mapping, object and metaphor identification, and strategy development), and the compilation of extensive interview notes as well as researcher reflections. The combination of a constant comparative method and a voice-centered method were used in tandem to analyze the data. Together they uncovered five emergent themes: (a) intricate understandings of key terms; (b) life-long learning and transformative pathways; (c) gender issues; (d) challenges, tensions, and possibilities; as well as (e) personal, professional, and educational implications. The findings underscored the possibility for both a singular static identity and dynamic multifaceted identities to exist in tandem, and the emergence of natural or logical identity intersections, as well as disjointed or colliding identity intersections. Ultimately, it is the continuous negotiation of internal and external spheres that contributes to the complexity and multidimensionality of graduate students' identities.

A narrative journey of teacher reflexivity and authenticity in technological environments /

This qualitative narrative inquiry was driven by my desire to further explore my personal discovery that my utilization of educational technologies in teaching and learning environments seemed to heighten a sense of creativity, which in turn increased reflective practice and authenticity in my teaching. A narrative inquiry approach was used as it offered the opportunity to uncover the deeper meanings of authenticity and reflection as participants' personal experiences were coconstructed and reconstructed in relationship with me and in relationship to a social milieu. To gain further insight into this potential phenomenon, I engaged in 2 conversational interviews with 2 other teachers from an Ontario College in a large urban centre who have utilized educational technologies in their teaching and learning communities and I maintained a research journal, constructed during the interview process, to record my own emerging narrative accounts, reflections, insights and further questions. The field texts consisted of transcriptions of the interviews and my reflective journal. Research texts were developed as field texts were listened to multiple times and texts were examined for meanings and themes. The educational technologies that both women focused on in the interview were digital video of children as they play, learn and develop and the use of an audible teacher voice in online courses. The invitation given to students to explore and discover meaning in videos of children as they watched them with the teacher seemed to be a catalyst for authenticity and a sense of synergy in the classroom. The power of the audible teacher voice came through as an essential component in online learning environments to offer students a sense of humanness and connection with the teacher. Relationships in both online and face to face classrooms emerged as a necessary and central component to all teaching and learning communities. The theme of paradox also emerged as participants recognized that educational technologies can be used in ways that enhance creativity, authenticity, reflection and relationships or in ways that hinder these qualities in the teaching and learning community. Knowledge of the common experiences of college educators who utilize educational technologies, specifically digital video of children to educate early childhood educators, might give meaning and insight to inform the practice of other teachers who seek authentic, reflexive practice in the classroom and in on line environments.