Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Broken homes'

The effects of marital separation or divorce on children have been widely researched, often relying on clinical samples, and the short-term and long-term consequences have been documented. Research findings are divergent: some studies suggest that adolescents are not adversely affected while other studies show that adolescents' functioning is affected in a permanent way by parental separation. Ambert and Saucier (1983) reviewed adolescents' perceptions of parents, controlling for gender and parental marital status. Their findings suggested that adolescents perceive their parents differently on the basis of marital status and gender.
Inspired by Ambert and Saucier's research, this exploratory study was based on interviews with eighteen adolescents, in an attempt to understand how family composition and gender influences adolescent perceptions of parents. The subjects were from divorced and intact families and the results were analyzed qualitatively. It was assumed that adjustment to parental separation or divorce would be reflected in the adolescents' perceptions of their parents.
Contrary to expectations, the findings of this study indicated that adolescents from both intact and divorced families perceived their parents in a similar way. These findings are attributed to several factors, including the absence of interparental hostility, the length of time since the separation and economic stability within these families.

Despite widespread interest in patterns of parenting after separation in Australia, the gaps in our knowledge remain large and fundamental. Most studies, including those overseas, have taken a quantitative tack, measuring the frequency and overall amount of face-to-face contact between children and non-resident parents (mostly fathers). But obviously there is more to parent�child contact than just time. The nature and quality of the interaction are also important � perhaps even more so. Recently there has been a push towards recognising and describing both qualitative and quantitative differences in the many ways that parental sharing of time with children can occur after divorce. This thesis attempts to identify and explore some of these differences by comparing five different patterns of care: (i) 50/50 shared care, (ii) little or no contact, (iii) holiday-only contact, (iv) daytime-only contact, and (v) �standard� contact (thought to occur every-other-weekend and half of each school holidays). A representative snapshot of parent�child contact schedules after separation is presented to provide some of the detail of arrangements within this typology. Two (complementary) types of data are used: qualitative data from a series of focus groups with separated parents, and quantitative data from three large representative samples of separated/divorced parents in Australia. Joining the dots between the various pieces of data, there is much to suggest that family dynamics in tandem with demographic factors temper the form that parent�child contact takes, with different combinations of factors clearly linked to qualitatively different patterns of postseparation parenting. While separating parents need to be encouraged to think more laterally about what arrangements might work best for their children and themselves, the data presented suggest that some parents in Australia are already being very creative and there is much diversity of arrangements. The central argument running through this dissertation is that arrangements that allow children to experience fluid, meaningful time with each parent are critical for children�s and parents� wellbeing. The ideas and data presented here � especially some of the more creative timesharing schedules developed by parents � are likely to be a useful resource for separated parents, and the family law professionals they approach for assistance, to reflect on when developing or refining parenting arrangements after divorce.

Developing an identity with self-esteem and a sense of self-worth is a child’s fundamental right (Vandenbroek, 2001). To encourage identity formation children need to ask and answer questions such as: ‘Who am I?’, ‘Where do I belong?’ and ‘Is it ok to be who I am?’ A child’s identity is shaped largely by his/her experiences with regards to relationships and belonging within communities and familial structures. However, South Africa faces a host of problems, including poverty, violence, HIV/AIDS, all of which contribute to the breakdown of these familial and community structures. Utilising a participatory action framework, this research aims to provide insight into how children living in a disadvantaged community negotiate identity and belonging. This insight into children’s perceptions of identity and belonging is useful for identifying resources within the community which promote a positive sense of identity and belonging, and also to identify areas where support and intervention are required.

This dissertation examines the relationship between social structural factors and violent crime rates in Turkey. The relationship between social structural characteristics and violent crime is worth exploring in areas that have attracted little academic attention, such as violent crime in Turkey. In order to understand and prevent the occurrence of crime, researchers have long investigated possible factors related to crime. Examining how crime varies across different regions can help us to understand underlying reasons for violent crime, which is considered one of the enduring problems in society. The findings of this research, to some extent, support the assumptions of social disorganization theory regarding the distribution of violent crime. Both the findings of multivariate and bivariate analysis indicated that poverty, unemployment, and family disruptions may have a positive effect on the distribution of violent crime in the cities of Turkey. The analysis of the effects of the social structure variables through the mediating variables, such as religious institutions, libraries and voluntary associations on the number of violent crimes and violent criminals, to some extent, support the tenets of social disorganization theory. However, all mediating variables cannot mediate all the indirect effects of social structural covariates. In brief, none of their indirect impacts on the social structural variables on the outcome variable was significant via mediating variables.

Thesis (B.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2010.
Project advisor: Chris Bickel. Title from PDF title page; viewed on Mar. 24, 2010. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on microfiche.

Lo scopo della tesi è mostrare un esempio di interfacciamento ed implementazione del broker semantico SEPA con la piattaforma di domotica Home Assistant. La seguente trattazione si comporrà di tre parti: una prima parte più didascalica e descrittiva che introdurrà brevemente i concetti generali di Internet Of Things (IoT), Web Semantico, i protocolli usati (SPARQL, RDF, RDFS), l’architettura SEPA e l’ecosistema Home Assistant; una seconda parte in cui si spiegherà quali strumenti hardware e software sono stati usati per la creazione della libreria “SEPA” in Home Assistant assieme ad una dimostrazione pratica del suo utilizzo; un’ultima parte comprendente commenti, ringraziamenti e osservazioni finali.

Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:00:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gutman.pdf: 697447 bytes, checksum: d71c90b3d439f7ec822865dda001c73d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009
This work has as main objective the development of a key factors¿ model for the quality of Home Broker systems. An explanatory research was performed, based on a quantitative approach. To achieve this goal, some theoretical models of technology acceptance (TAM, TRA, TPB and IDT), reliability and quality of service were reviewed. It was proposed an extended key factors¿ model and developed a questionnaire, which was the research instrument used in this study. The questionnaire was applied over the Internet, from which was obtained a participation of 113 valid respondents, all of them users of Home Broker system. Once performed the data collection, statistical tests were used for the Factorial Analysis in order to achieve a definitive model. The key factors found were Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Subjective Norms, Compatibility, Reliability and Relative Advantage. Some hypotheses from the model were also tested to investigate the relationship between the importance given to the factors and the resulting degree of satisfaction about quality of service. As a result of the study, a key factors¿ model for the quality of Home Broker systems was established, and identified that the factor Compatibility' has more explanatory power than the others.'
Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal a elaboração de um modelo de fatores-chave na qualidade de sistemas de Home Broker. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa de natureza explanatória por meio de abordagem quantitativa. Para atingir este objetivo, foi realizada uma revisão da literatura acadêmica relacionada aos modelos de aceitação de tecnologia (TAM, TRA, TPB e IDT), confiança e qualidade do serviço. Foi proposto um modelo estendido de fatores-chave e elaborado um questionário, sendo este o instrumento de pesquisa que foi utilizado neste estudo. Aplicado o questionário a partir da Internet, obteve-se uma participação de 113 respondentes válidos, sendo todos usuários de sistemas de Home Broker. Uma vez efetuada a coleta de dados, foram adotados testes estatísticos relativos à Análise Fatorial, com o propósito de obter-se um modelo definitivo. Foram encontrados os seguintes fatores-chave: Utilidade Percebida, Facilidade de Uso Percebida, Normas Subjetivas, Compatibilidade, Confiança e Vantagem Relativa. Foram também testadas hipóteses a partir do modelo identificado, apurando qual a relação existente entre a importância atribuída aos fatores resultantes e o grau de satisfação com a qualidade. Como resultado do estudo, estabeleceu-se um modelo de fatores-chave na qualidade de sistemas de Home Broker, e identificou-se que o fator ¿Compatibilidade¿ possui poder explicativo maior que os demais.

The changes that affected Iranian women's lives after the coming of Islam in the seventh century were similar to the changes that occurred in their lives after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. In both cases these changes were largely wrought by men.
Iranian women have been actively involved and have participated fully in diverse religious, political, and social contexts since the eighteenth century, but frequently without due acknowledgment. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the belief that education was a pillar of freedom began to gain popularity among Iranian women. The efforts of women to secure an equal place with men in the nation's educational institutions received support from a number of women writers and poets in the form of protests and petitions. It was through this process that Iranian women learned the importance of education in freeing them from patriarchal bondage. The twentieth century, however, witnessed the destruction of most of Iranian women's hopes and quests. Different Iranian governments enacted a series of important laws and regulations touching on "women's issues." Most of the time, however, these governments failed to consider the voices, positions and demands of women concerning these "issues."
In the last two decades, under the Islamic Republic, male authority figures continue to determine women's rights, identity, education, employment, and so on. Changes which affected the status of Iranian women came in the form of different religious decrees and laws that were justified by the argument that they all complied with the Quran and the hadiths.
Iranian women have refused to abandon their quests for an improved or even equal status. Among these women, there are those who still believe that equality can be achieved under the Islamic Republic. Women such as Rahnavard and Gorgi are relying on a "dynamic jurisprudence" that would lead to "Islamic justice." There are also other women who argue that in order to bring about true social justice, women's oppression and subordination in any form must be eliminated. They find such injustice ingrained in the existing culture. Women such as Kaar and Ebadi are making women and those in power aware of the need to achieve a "civil society," based on "social justice" through the process of "revealing the law." This group is hoping that a gradual cultural revolution brought about by women will lead to the establishment of "such justice."

In the present thesis, Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home, the novel by the Jamaican writer Erna Brodber, is analyzed in the context of post-colonial identity trauma. Analyzing the complex organizational and narrative structure of the novel, the essay author studies how the novel’s rhythmicity and the broken narrative portray the protagonist’s identity fragmentation. Drawing on the work’s connection to the ring game played in the Caribbean and applying the symbolism of the Caribbean folk rhythms, the essay author discusses the subversive intent of Brodber’s novel and her method of rewriting the past as a way of recovering one's identity.

The paper aims to investigate the failure of the American Dream in the novel The Grapes of Wrath and the factors that affect it. Thus, the thesis of the paper is that it is the classes and castes of Californian that prevent the Joad family from fulfilling the American Dream. The thesis will be discussed from four focal points of the American Dream: Freedom, Equality, Individualism and Family and Ideal Home. The novel takes place during the Great Depression, a time when many Americans were homeless and unemployed. An attempt will be made to define the American Dream and give a background to it. Furthermore, the binary pair of “self” and “other” will be used as an instrument of analysis.

Spinning the Plan Sideways is the story of Clara Gantz, a thirty-eight year old architect who spent her twenties getting her plans—and sections and elevations—just right. She built buildings in lieu of a family and has considered these buildings her children, but lately she’s been finding a void in wood, marble, and steel. Encouraged, with methods bordering on coercion, by Greta, her “sister” from the Gantz Home for Girls, Clara agrees to mentor Julien, a troubled twelve-year-old. Years ago, when Julien was five, his mother split their house apart, lifting it to make three-stories from one, and moved into the top level with her new husband and daughter, leaving Julien and his father, Michel on the levels below. The separation drove Michel to attempt suicide on Julien’s ninth birthday leaving him with violent aversions to homes over one-story tall. As Clara works with Julien, she discovers her life had been focused on developing the wrong types of plans and she invests in creating new plans for herself, Julien, and Michel. The story unfolds through the parallel viewpoints of Clara and Michel, with Julien’s Grim Fairytale tucked in the middle.

Brown bear is the largest mammal in Turkey and its main distribution lies in the Black Sea and Eastern Anatolia Regions. Its basic ecology is almost unknown in Turkey, except for a limited number of studies. This study aims to determine the spatio-temporal ecology and habitat use of brown bears in the Kaç
kar Mountains, and to estimate their population size in the Ö
zgü
ven Valley and Yusufeli, both firsts for Turkey. The study area is primarily covered with conifer and oak stands, but sparse mixed shrubland occurs in the Mediterranean climate influenced lower parts. GPS-GSM telemetry on seven captured bears (5 males and 2 females) was the main field technique used in this study. Other methods include monitoring via camera trapping, visual direct observations, and counting cubs of the year. Bears were fitted with GPS-GSM collars and tracked for 3 to 603 days. Mean home range size (HRS) was calculated by 95% kernel and MCP estimators for three different samples sizes.95% MCP for all positions produced a home range size of 19.91 ±
8.89 sq. km. for females, and 130.68 ±
102.95 sq.km. for males. On average, males and females move at rates of 199 m/h and 129 m/h, respectively. Males hibernate around 140 days whereas females around 150 days and at lower elevations than males. According to camera trapping results, bears are generally active at twilight whereas activity data loggers produced disparate results for tracked bears. Resting patterns showed that bears may also rest at midnight. Estimated population density per 100 km2. is 24.50 ±
1.74 individual using the Fcub method and 23.85 ±
2.51 using the mark&ndash
resight method. Captured bears indicated nonrandom distribution on habitat use and selected productive croplands and shrublands than other types of vegetation. Brown bear HRS in the Kaç
kars is smaller than reported from most countries. The large female-male HRS difference is probably due to polygamous mating system, sexual dimorphism, hard mast availability, high population density, and female&rsquo
s habitat exclusivity as a result of high tolerance by the local people in contrast with most northern countries. Although primary productivity is used to explain high population density and small HRS in other countries, the low productivity in the study area cannot explain the observed density and HRS difference. These findings will construct a scientific basis for brown bear management and conservation in Turkey.

This research investigated the impact of Education Queensland's employment policy and practices for beginning secondary teachers appointed on temporary engagement. The context was the public secondary school sector within the state of Queensland, Australia. The study was set within a context of the changing nature of work from full-time permanent employment towards casual, fixed-term contracts, temporary and part-time employment, a trend reflected in the employment patterns for teachers within Australia. Two broad categories of literature relating to the research problem of this thesis were reviewed, namely the beginning teacher and permanency or tenure. The focus in the research literature on beginning teachers was the professional experiences of teachers within the classroom and school. There was a paucity of research that considered the working and industrial conditions of temporary employment for beginning teachers or the personal and professional implications of this form of employment. The review of the context and literature was conceptualised as a Beginning Temporary Teacher Theoretical Framework which served to inform the study. Using a qualitative case study methodology, the research techniques employed for the thesis were semi-structured interview and document analysis. A simultaneously conducted research project in which the researcher participated entitled 'Winning the Lottery? Beginning Teachers on Temporary Engagement' foregrounded this thesis in terms of refining the research question, contributing to the literature and in the selection of the participants. For this case study the perspectives of four distinct yet inter-related categories of professionals were sought. These included four beginning secondary teachers, three school administrators, a Senior Personnel Officer with Education Queensland, and a representative from the Queensland Teachers' Union. The research findings indicated that none of the beginning teachers or other professionals viewed starting a career in teaching on temporary engagement as the ideal. The negative features identified were the differential treatment received and the high level of uncertainty associated with temporary employment. Differential treatment tended to indicate 'less' entitlements, in terms of access to induction and professional development, recreational and sick leave, acceptance by and expectations of other colleagues, and avenues of redress in grievance cases. Moreover, interviews indicated a high level of uncertainty in terms of starting within the teaching profession, commencing at a new school, and a regular income. In addition, frequent changes in schools and/or cohorts of students exacerbated levels of uncertainty. The beginning teachers reported significantly decreased motivation, self-esteem and sense of belonging, and increased stress levels. There was an even more marked negative impact on those beginning teachers who had experienced a higher number of temporary engagements and schools in their first year of teaching. Conversely, strong staff support and a reasonable length of time in the one school improved the quality of the beginning teachers' experiences. The overall impact of being on temporary engagement resulted in delayed permanent position appointments, decreased commitment to particular schools and to Education Queensland as the employing authority, and for two of the beginning teachers, it produced a desire to seek alternative employment. The implementation of Education Queensland's policies relating to working conditions and entitlements for these temporary beginning teachers at the school level was revealed to be less than satisfactory. There was a tendency towards 'just-in- time' management of the beginning teacher on temporary engagement. The beginning teachers received 'less-than-messages' about access to and use of departmental documentation, support through induction and professional development, and their transition from temporary to permanent employment. To ensure a more systematic, supportive and inclusive process for managing the temporary beginning teacher, a conceptual framework entitled 'Continuums of Tension' was developed. The four continuums included permanent employment - temporary employment; system perspective - individual perspective; teaching as a profession - teaching as a job; and the permanent beginning teacher - university graduate. The general principles of the human resource policies of Education Queensland were based on a commitment to permanent employment, a system's perspective, viewing teaching as a profession and a homogeneous group of permanent beginning teachers. Contrasting with this, the beginning teacher on temporary engagement tended to operate from the position of temporary employment and a perspective that was individually based. Their priorities therefore included the 'occupational' aspects of being a temporary teacher striving to become permanent. Thus there existed a tension or contradiction between the general principles of human resource policies within Education Queensland and the employment experiences of beginning teachers on temporary engagement. The study proposed three actions for resolution to address the aforementioned tensions. The actions included: (a) the effective provision and targeted communication of information; (b) support, induction and professional development; and (c) a coordinated approach between Education Queensland, Queensland Teachers' Union, the Universities and the beginning teacher. These actions are fm1her refined to include: (a) an induction kit to suppm1 the individual through the pre-employment to permanent employee phases, (b) an extrapolation of the roles and responsibilities of Education Queensland personnel charged with supporting the beginning temporary teacher, and (c) a series of recommendations to effect a coordinated approach amongst the key stakeholders. The theoretical and conceptual frameworks have provided a means of addressing the identified needs of the beginning teacher on temporary engagement. As such, this study has contributed to the research literature on teacher employment and professionalism and aims to provide a beginning temporary teacher with managed professional and occupational support.

It handles about a „Retirement home“ named project (3 floors, with a partial basement, building on a slight slope). The base structure is of reinforced concrete strips. The walls of the basement are made with the application of hidden formwork type system BEST. The bearing and non-bearing walls are of majority used silicate bricks. The staircase structure consists of monolithic reinforced concrete 2x brokem slab. For ceilings slab panels, are used Spiroll. The building is finished with a single layered flat roof.

This study investigated marital dissolution in the Tanzanian context. The study specifically focused on the potential effect of marital dissolution (both positive and negative) on early adolescents’ academic and psycho-social functioning. The primary research question directing the research is: ―How can insight into marital dissolution in Tanzania broaden our knowledge on its effect on children?‖ The conceptual framework for the study is based on attachment theory, crisis theory, family stress theory and life course theory. Epistemologically, the study utilised social constructivism as paradigm. A qualitative methodological approach was followed, implementing an instrumental case study as research design. I purposefully selected eight children from two children’s centres in Tanzania and four additional children from custodial homes. In addition, twelve parents, who had been separated from their partners, as well as twelve teachers and caregivers who have been involved with the child participants, participated in the study. For data collection I employed semi-structured interviews with the parents and children; focus group discussions with teachers and caregivers; interviews and narrations with children; and an analysis of existing documents. Field notes, a research diary and verbatim transcripts were utilised to document the data I collected. Following inductive thematic analysis four themes emerged, relating to the reasons for marital dissolution, the effect of marital dissolution on early adolescents’ functioning, trends following marital dissolution and managing marital dissolution in Tanzania. In terms of reasons for marital dissolution I identified the following subthemes: abuse, lack of commitment to the family, influence of others, and financial strain. In terms of the effect of marital dissolution on early adolescents’ functioning three subthemes emerged namely; effect on early adolescents’ academic performance, effect on early adolescents’ psycho-social well-being, and parents’ insight into the effect of marital dissolution on their children. With regard to trends following marital dissolution I identified the following three subthemes: positive effect of marital dissolution, change in living arrangements, and other related changes negatively affecting children. Finally, two subthemes emerged concerning the management of marital dissolution in Tanzania, namely minimising the effect of marital dissolution on children, and potential role of the Tanzanian government. The findings of this study indicate that the majority of Tanzanian couples merely separate, rather than following a legal divorce. Parents showed limited insight into the effect of marital dissolution on their children. Besides some children experiencing the separation of their parents as a relief, the majority of children were negatively affected in terms of their academic performance and psycho-social functioning. Children indicated the need to be involved in discussions preceding and during the separation process, yet Tanzanian parents did not value the involvement of their children during this process. Based on the findings I obtained I conclude that the effect of marital dissolution on children are not only continuous but that the effects in various areas of functioning are interrelated and cyclic in nature, and that children can experience the effects before, during and after marital dissolution.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
lk2014
Educational Psychology
PhD
Unrestricted

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
教育心理與輔導學系
104
By using narrative approach, this study aimed to explore and understand three girls’ experiences, and the text scripts were analyzed with holistic-content and categorical-content model for different purposes. The results suggest that the self-differentiation related to early life experiences. More specifically, the failure of establishing positive interaction with parents would influence the interviewees’ interpersonal relationships. Moreover, the lack of attention to their emotions in the tense relationships with their families would impact the interviewees’ abilities to express emotions. Besides, the dropout and runaway from home might be the consequence of getting more supports from the outside environments and not getting enough supports from their own families. To sum up, this study shows that the girls who dropped out of school and ran away from their families are faced with lots of problems, including atypical family structures, domestic violence, drug abuse, inappropriate sexual behaviors, pregnancy, and so on. However, the dropout and runaway can both be a crisis and a turning point at the same time. Apparently, the interviewees might have the chances to rebuild their relationships with their families if they got help from the professional helpers. For the school counselors, this study offers a perspective of cross-systematic collaboration to help the students in need.

this diploma thesis compares and contrasts the works of two different classics of the detective genre. Not only does it describe two different literary characters and their detective methods, but it also explores how the fiction is influenced by the attitudes and experiences of the very authors, i.e. A.C.Doyle and G.K.Chesterton. Besides comparing different thematic features, attention is also given to literary method and style.

Child protection manuals and literature emphasise that developing a sense of identity is one of the most important elements in achieving good outcomes for children and young people in out of home care. Yet, the very issue of identity raises questions that many child protection workers are ill equipped to answer. Current theories of identity development in children lack evidence from the children and young people themselves in informing these notions, which have been criticised as adult-centric. Essentially this research is about placing the narratives of children and young people in care to the forefront, whilst exploring what this means in practice by contextualising these narratives within the systemic paradigms that impinge upon their lived experience. The research presented in this paper surveys the formation of identity for children and young people in out of home care, using narrative art therapy, with a particular emphasis on multi-cultural and Indigenous children and young people. The research provides insight into the images created by children and young people and explores identity, culture and sense of self from their own perspective. The research was undertaken in a regional area of Queensland Australia where the majority of children in the child protection system who are identified as Indigenous come from two or more cultural backgrounds. Hence, the unique racial mix of the research site also provides insight into multi-cultural identity. Only two participants in the research were from only one culture and only one of these was Anglo Australian. Unlike other studies, which have focused on children who are from two cultures with one of these cultures being Anglo, the children in this study represented children from up to five cultures, ensuring a unique opportunity to explore how children negotiate several cultural identities simultaneously. As a consequence the research offers insights into the implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle, whilst exploring the issues that arise as both a consequence of adherence to the principle and practice that informs its implementation. The second part of the research views identity from the perspective of professionals working in child protection and out of home care. The narratives within the research highlight the depth and complexity of working with children and identity in child protection, particularly for Indigenous workers. What becomes apparent as a consequence is the disempowerment experienced by the Indigenous workers along with the disparity in belief systems between those that underpin Indigenous identity and those embedded in child protection practice. As explored in this research, Indigenous identity is linked to the spirit and the spirit is intrinsic to healing. This thesis explores this question particularly as it pertains to Indigenous children in out of home care. This research proposes a new working paradigm that acknowledges non-western notions of identity as a way forward in developing alternative ways of working with Indigenous children in out of home care.

This dissertation deals with monitoring of European brown bears behavior (Ursus arctos arctos), namely of males Pišta, Miky and Honzík and of female Eliška in zoological garden in Plzen in spring 2012. Behaviour of all European brown bears is for better clarity presented in the form of tables and graphs. The dissertation includes overview of all kinds of ursine (size, environment, food and reproduction). Key words: bear, hibernation, bears activity

In this dissertation I analyse and contextualise stereotypical notions associated with the concept of home, and what that constitutes, in the work of South African artists Antoinette Murdoch, Bronwen Findlay, Doreen Southwood and Penelope Siopis, each of whom displays a different perspective of the concept in their artwork. I further consider how these selected South African artists engage with the dichotomies surrounding issues of home and the gendered position assigned to women in this area. I address the strategies the selected artists use in bringing the realm of the private sphere into the public arena and how they transgress the boundaries of private and public spaces. In addition I consider how concepts of home are reflected in my own work and how they are informed by a feminist perspective. The choice of white female artists as the subject of this research is a conscious one, in that I wish to avoid an investigation into cross-cultural gendered subjectivities which will inevitably become entangled with questions of race, politics and culture. As western feminist thought often tends to ignore the specific experiences of ethnic groups located outside western cultural experience, my focus on artists whose context is in part shared by my own is intended to provide an insider perspective. In the context of this research, 'home' is defined as a traditionally acknowledged place where woman is identified in relation to domesticity and the family unit. The term 'home' is therefore partly applicable to a type of domestic environment regardless of its geographic and cultural associations. Home has been defined as a 'group of persons sharing a home or living space (whereas) most households consist of one person living alone, a nuclear family, an extended family or a group of unrelated people' (Scott and Marshall 2005:276). The home is regarded as a place of security where the most intimate of relationships takes place, but it is also an arena of complex human relationships associated with domestic, family, personal and cultural identity. The home is further regarded as a private space and as being somewhat inaccessible, as opposed to the public domain which is open to scrutiny. The home houses a corridor of emotion, however, and may often become a place of entrophy. A subtle shifting and subverting of the conventions which society places upon women and men to conform to particular behavioural constructs will be deconstructed to reveal the concept of home as a site where the boundaries between reality and illusion become blurred. My own artistic practice is concerned with the deconstruction of the home as an idealised space and the façade that often conceals a dystopian reality that lurks beneath such idealisation. I share assumed cultural and class values with the selected artists and will critique the subject from a personal perspective, in part as a self-narrative. Within the context of this research, the term 'middle class' is defined as 'the class of society between the upper and working classes, including business and professional people' (The Oxford English Dictionary 1994:509).
Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This study was undertaken to determine whether a disrupted family life and school climate has an impact on the self-concept of the adolescent. This problem was tackled and investigated from different angles : factors within the home, factors outside the home, intrapsychic factors, interpersonal factors and school factors. An analysis of the above factors and their impact on the self-concept of the adolescent was done by means of measuring instruments in the form of a questionnaire. The results of the empirical research indicated that the more positive the family and school climate, the more positive the academic, social and emotional self-concept of the adolescent. The educational implications of the findings of the literature and the empirical study are discussed to assist teachers and parents to identify and eliminate factors that cause adolescents from disrupted families to underachieve and have negative self-concepts.
M.Ed. (Socio Education)

Under the current scenario of human expansion and land-use change, one resource emerges as being particularly disputed between humans and other wildlife species: space. The spatiotemporally detailed and real-time nature of Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking data supports the use of tagged animals as in situ sensors of the environment, to document how ongoing changes are affecting species’ distribution and ecological function. Large carnivores are particularly susceptible to disturbance from infrastructure development, and can represent a promising case study to investigate the effects of human expansion on species spatial ecology at multiple levels, spanning from patch- to landscape scales. I investigated space-use patterns in a south-eastern European population of brown bears (Ursus arctos), whose distribution is shared among more than five countries, from Slovenia to Northern Greece, with its core area located between Slovenia and Croatia. In the first chapter, I investigated ecological and human-related effects on home range size and inner configuration of Dinaric brown bears (Ursus arctos) contrasting two areas, one located in the North (n= 5 bears, 1 females, 4 males) and one in the South (n= 5 bears, 2 females, 3 males), which differed in terms of road and human density, as well as in the availability of supplementary feeding sites. I used Brownian bridge movement models (BBMMs) to estimate circadian and seasonal home ranges and I used linear mixed-effect models (LMM) to investigate the effects of gender, time of the day, season and study area on home range size. Using an individual- based method, I also depicted seasonal core areas and used Environmental Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) to assess if the internal configuration of seasonal home ranges changed among study areas. Although we failed to find a sex effect on home range size, time of day was an important predictor of home range size, with nocturnal home ranges larger (103.3 km2 72.8) than diurnal ones (62.3 km2 16.6). Then, I detected a seasonal effect on home range size, but this was limited to areas where bears had relatively lower accessibility to artificial feeding sites. Where densities of roads, human settlements, and artificial feeding sites were the highest, selection of core areas by bears was characterized by avoidance for anthropogenic features. Overall, this study revealed that even within the same population range, bears can show behavioural plasticity and adapt to local conditions of human disturbance. Although behavioural plasticity may contribute to ensure carnivore persistence in human-dominated areas, the changes in home range patterns that we detected can also be a warning sign of environmental degradation. The aims of chapter II were i) to classify individual movement patterns of brown bears indicating frequency, period, duration and length of inter-seasonal range movements; ii) to assess the main environmental descriptors within the pre-migratory and post-migratory ranges, as compared to the average habitat conditions in our study area; iii) to identify main differences in bear habitat use during pre-migratory and post-migratory phases. I classified individual movement patterns by means of non-linear Net Squared Displacement (NSD) models. By means of canonical Overlying Mean Index analysis (OMI), I identified habitat descriptors of pre- migratory and post-migratory ranges at the landscape scale. I then quantified the strength of variation in bear habitat use at summer versus fall ranges using a latent selection difference analysis (LSD), at both the population and the individual level. My findings revealed that 6 out of 12 individuals showed facultative and partial seasonal migrations between disjointed seasonal ranges, in contrast to the other bears that remained resident or nomadic throughout the year. Migratory patterns were markedly seasonal, with all departures occurring between mid-September and mid- October (median= 19th September), and returns occurring before the wintering period (median= 18th November). Migratory movements connected seasonal ranges up to >40 km apart (mean = 28.9 km). Most bears migrated from areas characterised by coniferous and mixed forests to lower areas with high proportion of deciduous forest, forest edge and shrubs. Compared to pre-migratory ranges, within migration ranges bears increased both their distance to anthropogenic structures (i.e. paved roads, settlements, artificial feeding sites, cultivated lands) and their selection for highly productive areas (i.e. deciduous forest, forest edge and shrubs). Due to lack of data on fine-scale forest productivity and on human disturbance within bear ranges, the ultimate cause that triggered the observed bear migrations remains to be assessed. However, our findings represent a remarkable contribute that improved our understanding of the species ecology, as migration patterns such as those observed in our study have never been observed before in any other bear population in Europe. In chapter III, I investigated habitat selection on a seasonal basis for 11 individuals (4 females and 7 males), focussing the analysis on bears that did not perform seasonal migrations. In particular, I investigated seasonal changes in bear use/avoidance of human infrastructures such as highway, paved roads, railway, forest roads, human settlements and supplementary feeding sites. The general working hypothesis of this chapter was that bears might display stronger avoidance towards our proxies of human disturbance during periods of increased hunting pressure (i.e. spring and fall). To confirm my hypothesis, we focussed on non-migrating individuals to first exploring general patterns of seasonal habitat selection using k-select analysis, aimed at identifying the principal components of bear seasonal habitat preferences accounting for individuals. In a second phase, I have used resource selection functions (RSF) in a use/available design to compare habitat conditions that were available to bears within their home ranges to habitat that bears used (i.e. at GPS locations). In agreement with my hypothesis, the k-select analysis showed a common pattern of habitat selection during spring and fall for the quasi-totality of individuals, characterized by avoidance to forest roads and selection for areas more hardly reachable by humans (i.e. slopes). Conversely, during summer, bears showed more heterogeneous patterns of habitat selection, reflecting higher individual variability in habitat selection for this period of the year. The results of the RSF analysis confirmed these patterns more thoroughly, with distance to forest roads (spring= 0.33 0.01; fall = 0.30 0.04) and use of slopes (spring= 0.12 0.01; fall = 0.20 0.02) playing a major role in defining bear habitat selection during both periods when hunting was open, and a significant use of supplementary food (i.e. decreased distance from artificial feeding sites) during hyperphagia season (fall = -0.30 0.04). Overall, my findings suggest that hunting might be perceived by bears as a form of predation risk that forces them to increase their concealment, influencing within- home-range habitat use and distribution of the individuals. In chapter IV, I developed a modelling approach to simulate bear movements among suitable resource patches, integrating classical habitat selection studies and cutting-edge movement algorithms. To this aim, I have used a movement-based modelling approach to project potential corridors connecting summer and fall habitat patches. To model habitat patches associated to intensive habitat use during summer and fall, I used Resource Selection Functions (RSF) based on bear relocations representing stationary behaviour (i.e. feeding or resting). Based on bear trajectories representing bear travelling, I then studied bear response to both natural elements (e.g. terrain topography) and human structures (e.g. roads) during their movements using Step Selection Functions (SSF). After quantifying the effects of each tested landscape feature on bear movements, I modelled a map of landscape permeability to bear movement. Finally, I used a Randomised Shortest Path (RSP) algorithm to project potential bear corridors between summer and fall habitat patches within our study area. According to my findings, bears can successfully travel across sub-optimal habitat to reach suitable patches in the fall, although the presence of anthropogenic structures such as highways, main paved roads, railways, and cultivated fields strongly decreased the probability of bear traveling. Model predictions correlated moderately with the frequency of bears killed by vehicle collisions (range r=0.68-0.79). Overall the degree of inter-patch connectivity was rather high across the study area, with many potential bear paths connecting suitable summer and fall habitat patches. However, we recommend that improvement of mitigation measures should be evaluated at the intersection between modelled corridors and linear infrastructures. Our modelling approach might be applied also to other ecological contexts where habitat fragmentation represents a major threat to the long-term persistence of wide- ranging mammalian populations. Overall, this case study represented an intriguing occasion to assess how recent trends of human development might affect the life history traits of wide-ranging brown bear population.

Testing the Seams of the American Dream: Minority Literature and Film in the Early Cold War delineates the concept of the liberal tolerance agenda in early Cold War. The liberal tolerance message of the U.S. government, the Democratic Party, and others endorsed racial tolerance and envisioned the possibility of a future free from racism and inequality. Filmmakers in often disseminated a liberal message similar to that of the politicians in the form of “race problem” films. My shows how these films and the liberal tolerance agenda as a whole promises racial equality to the racial minority in exchange for hard work, patriotism, education, and a belief in the majority culture. My first chapter, “Washing White the Racial Subject: Hollywood’s First Black Problem Film,” performs a close reading of Arthur Laurents 1946 play Home of the Brave, which features a Jewish American protagonist, in conjunction with a reading of the 1949 film version, which has an African American protagonist. The differences between the two texts reveal the slippages in the liberal tolerance agenda and signal the inability of filmmakers to envision racial equality on the big screen. “The American Institution and the Racial Subject,” my second chapter, discusses the 1949 film Pinky as well as Américo Paredes’s George Washington Gómez and Monica Sone’s Nisei Daughter. All of these works suggests that the attainment of education promises entry into the mainstream by racial minorities, yet Paredes and Sone question this process by interpreting it as resulting in the dual segregation of their protagonists. My third chapter, “Earning and Cultural Capital: The Work that Determines Place,” looks at the promise that with hard work anyone can attain the American Dream. I show how the 1951 film Go for Broke!, Ann Petry’s The Street, and José Antonio Villarreal’s Pocho work to dispel this American myth. My final chapter, “The Regrets of Dissent: Blacklists and the Race Question,” examines the 1954 film Salt of the Earth alongside Chester Himes’s If He Hollers Let Him Go and John Okada’s No-No Boy to reveal the dangerous mixture of race and dissent in this era.
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