Neuropsychological and psychosocial aspects of chronic fatigue syndrome

This Thesis reports a full scale study of cognition and mood in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) longitudinally during recovery. Previous studies fail to cover the scope of this study and/or fail to define adequately the syndrome for subject selection. 47 CFS patients were compared with 41 normal and 26 Crohns/colitis controls in a longitudinal study of cognitive performance and depression/anxiety scores. CFS patients performed significantly worse than controls on many of the cognitive tests at first testing. Small but significant differences between CFS and normal controls were found on memory tests (Logical Memory, Word Recognition and, more significantly, Rey Complex Figure) but Crohns/colitis patients scored similarly to CFS, suggesting that this might relate to a general problem such as attention. Much larger and more significant differences between CFS and both control groups were found on tests involving a psychornotor component (e. g. Reaction Time, Finger Tapping and Digit Symbol). CFS patients' performance improved over time (above practise) on word recognition, Stroop (colours), Reaction Time (Movement) and Digit Symbol. CFS patients were significantly more depressed/anxious than the control groups and scored higher on Middlesex Health Questionnaire (Psychiatric). Depression/anxiety did not diminish significantly by second testing. Differences on depression scores accounted for some of the differences in cognitive test performance, in particular Word Fluency and Stroop; however, significant differences remained after ANCOVA removed depression: significant differences remained on Logical Memory, Word Recognition, Digit Symbol, Finger Tapping and Reaction Time. It was concluded that CFS patients were slowed on psychornotor tasks and that this was only partly accountable by depression as suggested by depressed score. CFS patients performed slightly worse on some other tests possibly dependant upon the task demand. Digit Symbol, Reaction Time, and Finger Tapping seemed to be most sensitive to CFS. Brain damage was not necessarily indicated by the results: differences in psychornotor performance could be caused by difficulties in the transmission of instructions to the muscle or slowness in the nerves and muscles themselves. CFS patients' performance significantly improved on a number of tests over time, and did not significantly deteriorate on any test; therefore, the trend of CFS patients' test performance overall was to get better not worse over time

'Visiting rights only' : the early experience of nursing in higher education, 1918-1960

This thesis explores the entry into, and early experience, of nursing in higher education, between 1918 and 1960. Because nursing education originated in the monotechnic environment of the hospital, it did not easily translate into the domain of the university. Accordingly, the status of nursing as a profession was compromised. Thus the professional status of nursing as a discipline of study is ambiguous and `in-between'. This historical survey from 1918 to 1960, has been undertaken using a three strand approach, reading documents, viewing film and conducting oral histories. The scope of the study will trace three different courses which were instituted at university colleges around the country; the Diplomas in Nursing; the sister tutor; and health visitor courses. The study will also consider the special probationer schemes, that is nurse training schemes in hospitals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for middle and occasionally upper-class, educated women; training for which these women would pay. These schemes are included by way of an introduction, in order to gauge some of the early ambiguities relating to the professional status of the nurse. This study was undertaken in order to demonstrate that although the professional status of nursing and its place in higher education were, and probably still are ambiguous, significant attempts were made in the early twentieth century to establish nursing as a discipline of study within the academy, when women's place in general within that sector was an anomaly.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Hindu class and Hindu education system in Bali : Emergence, organization, and conception in the context of Indonesian educational and religious policies

The present study focuses on specific aspects in the organization of teaching religion in Indonesia. It analyses the position of religion within the Indonesian Basic Law, consequential legislation, and educational policies. How does this framework translate into national and regional policies pertaining to the emergence, institutionalization, and organization of the Hindu class and the Hindu education system in Bali from 1945 to 2008? Muslim majority Indonesia constitutes an interesting laboratory for doing fundamental research on religious plurality and transformations of religion. The model of organizing the religion class in Indonesia is rooted in a specific historical, socio-cultural, political, and legal context, which is fundamentally different to European models of religious education. In addition, in contrast to classical Islam and modern Islamic states, Indonesia recognizes Asian religions as equal in status with the religions of the book. Besides Islam and Christianity, Hindu Dharma and Buddhism were recognized as state funded religions in 1965. This recognition had important consequences for the Indonesian model of organizing five confessional religion classes and faith-based education systems. The Balinese are a rare case of a religious and ethnic minority being simultaneously an ethnic and religious majority. Therefore, the Balinese provide an outstanding case to analyze how Indonesia’s religious and educational policies do deal with that particular ethnic and religious minority. In addition, how do the Balinese themselves use the constitutional and legal framework to establish the Hindu religion class in public schools and a private Hindu education system from the level of pre-school to higher education? A qualitative examination was conducted basing on a combination of theoretical and empirical investigations. The province of Bali and three educational institutions were chosen, because the Balinese were the reformers of Indonesian Hindu Dharma and the inventors of the Hindu education system. As the study focuses on constitutional and legal contexts of the Hindu class and the Hindu education system, teachers’ professional education, and composition of curricula and textbooks, a qualitative approach was applied combining ethnographic fieldwork and case study research. In consequence, the subject positions the study in the academic disciplines of Religious Studies and Area Studies. Data were collected through bibliographical surveys and fieldwork. The amended 1945 Basic Law and consequential legislation give the same right to state sanctioned religions. The state is based on “One Supreme Lordship” prescribing national monotheism or monism. Indonesia’s spirited statehood is based on a religious, but not confessional interpretation. In addition, the strategy to manage religious plurality is authoritarian, as positive freedom of religion is limited to six state-funded religions, whereas negative religious freedom is not provided for. Despite the equal status of the six state funded religions, discriminative practices prevail with regard to funding those Asian religions. Notwithstanding, the Muslim majority Pancasila state can serve a model function for countries with illiberal politics in the Muslim world. The first objective of strategic and educational policies is to mould a citizen who has faith in God, follows the commands of God, and has morals. The dimension of spiritual intelligence in education is a particular Indonesian dimension of education, which Indonesian educational planners added to the UNESCO standards of student-centered learning throughout life. Indonesia organizes the religion class and faith-based education systems in a confessional but pluralistic style. The citizens are required to attend the religious class in the religion they adhere to instructed by a teacher of the same belief from elementary to higher education. In addition, the religious mark is a compulsory item in the school report, and whether a pupil/student stays back or is promoted to the next level depends, amongst other factors, on how the religion teacher grades the student. Unlike the Muslim or Christian based education systems, the Hindu education system is still marginal and minuscule. Its funding is discriminative. Funding and expansion are linked to national policies, and the personal networks of Hindu agents are given the mandate to organize the Hindu administration and education system

The Realisation of syntactic principles in non-standard Afrikaans: the correspondence of Jan Jonker Afrikaner (1820-1889)

This study compares the syntax of nineteenth-century Orange River Afrikaans with Dutch and synchronic Afrikaans varieties, with particular attention to Griqua Afrikaans. It provides an account of the differences that are found between the earliest attestations of an extraterritorial variety of the Dutch language on southern African soil (the so-called Cape Dutch Vernacular) with the present-day outcome. The data collected for this study originate chiefly from an hitherto undisclosed corpus of letters kept in the Namibian State Archives by the so-called Oorlam-Nama, people of mixed descent who lived on the periphery of the nineteenth- century Cape colonial society. This thesis argues that nineteenth-century Orange River Afrikaans is a representative continuation of the earliest developments in the linguistic contact situation that existed at the Cape. The thesis advances that literacy and social class are important factors in the assessment of the written record from the Dutch colony at the Cape. The thesis centers around the letters by one author, Jan Jonker Afrikaner, written over a period of nearly twenty years in the second half of the nineteenth century. This legacy is a unique contribution to the diachronic data concerning the development of Afrikaans. From the data it is shown that this author had the command over different registers, fluctuating between a near perfect metropolitan Dutch and a Hollands that is classified as basilectal Afrikaans. The comparison of the data is set in a framework inspired by the concepts put forward in Generative Grammar. This has precipitated an exciting linguistic comparison of contemporary Afrikaans grammar with the diachronic material. This dissertation challenges the idea that the Khoesan Languages were of no or little influence in the development of Afrikaans. The linguistic analysis of the nineteenth-century data reveal that the developments which took place cannot be attributed to one single origin. It is demonstrated that the innovations and change that can be identified run parallel to regular patterns that are found in other languages generally classified as creole languages. It is argued that the syntax of the Khoesan languages is a major reinforcing factor in the development of the syntactic idiosyncrasies that are identified as un-Germanic characteristics of Afrikaans. Limited to nonstandard varieties of Afrikaans, in the concluding sections the question is raised how these findings are to be addressed in the larger context of language change

The Realisation of syntactic principles in non-standard Afrikaans: the correspondence of Jan Jonker Afrikaner (1820-1889)

This study compares the syntax of nineteenth-century Orange River Afrikaans with Dutch and synchronic Afrikaans varieties, with particular attention to Griqua Afrikaans. It provides an account of the differences that are found between the earliest attestations of an extraterritorial variety of the Dutch language on southern African soil (the so-called Cape Dutch Vernacular) with the present-day outcome. The data collected for this study originate chiefly from an hitherto undisclosed corpus of letters kept in the Namibian State Archives by the so-called Oorlam-Nama, people of mixed descent who lived on the periphery of the nineteenth- century Cape colonial society. This thesis argues that nineteenth-century Orange River Afrikaans is a representative continuation of the earliest developments in the linguistic contact situation that existed at the Cape. The thesis advances that literacy and social class are important factors in the assessment of the written record from the Dutch colony at the Cape. The thesis centers around the letters by one author, Jan Jonker Afrikaner, written over a period of nearly twenty years in the second half of the nineteenth century. This legacy is a unique contribution to the diachronic data concerning the development of Afrikaans. From the data it is shown that this author had the command over different registers, fluctuating between a near perfect metropolitan Dutch and a Hollands that is classified as basilectal Afrikaans. The comparison of the data is set in a framework inspired by the concepts put forward in Generative Grammar. This has precipitated an exciting linguistic comparison of contemporary Afrikaans grammar with the diachronic material. This dissertation challenges the idea that the Khoesan Languages were of no or little influence in the development of Afrikaans. The linguistic analysis of the nineteenth-century data reveal that the developments which took place cannot be attributed to one single origin. It is demonstrated that the innovations and change that can be identified run parallel to regular patterns that are found in other languages generally classified as creole languages. It is argued that the syntax of the Khoesan languages is a major reinforcing factor in the development of the syntactic idiosyncrasies that are identified as un-Germanic characteristics of Afrikaans. Limited to nonstandard varieties of Afrikaans, in the concluding sections the question is raised how these findings are to be addressed in the larger context of language change