"Software Engineering represents a structured, disciplined approach to the design and implementation of software systems. Adhering to such an approach enables greater planning for and management of systemic complexity. By augmenting the process to emphasize desired features that are to be present in the final software system, we can ensure that the final system will be modular, extensible, and testable with respect to individual features. Moreover, an existing system can be characterized according to its features and refactored in the same way. This thesis investigates feature-oriented augmentation to the standard software engineering approach. We employ logic-based feature models to characterize the features in the product family of an existing system. We use the characterized features to refactor a case study to reflect the approach using aspects. We demonstrate using the AspectJ Eclipse plugin how to publish different frameworks in a framework product line. Our results show that the refactoring efforts produce a modular, extensible, and testable system in which individual behavioral features selected from a product family of features can be added to or subtracted from the system with ease."

Background: Continuing professional education (CPE) for nurses is deemed an essential component to develop, maintain and update professional skills and practice in order to ensure that nurses respond effectively to care requirements and provide a high standard of patient care. However, there is little empirical evidence of its effectiveness or factors which may influence its application into practice. This thesis explores a continuing professional education programme on the safe administration of medication and how new knowledge and skills are transferred into clinical practice. Design: Realist evaluation provides the framework for this research study. Realist evaluation stresses the need to evaluate programmes within "context," and to ask what "mechanisms" are acting to produce which "outcomes." The realist evaluation cycle for this study had four distinct stages. Firstly, I built initial theories as conjectured CMO configurations (Stage 1 and 2), then these CMO conjectures were tested (Stage 3) and then they were refined (Stage 4). Methods: Data was collected and analysed separately for each of Stages 1, 2 and 3. However, as realist evaluation is iterative, I often returned to a previous stage to clarify meaning or understanding. Document analysis and interviews were used in Stage 1 to commence the process of building CMO conjectures. Realist interviews took place in Stage 2 to refine the conjectured CMO configurations. Stage 3 involved the testing of the conjectured CMO configurations through three embedded case studies which involved interview, clinical observation, analysis of further documents and analysis of data from reported critical incidents and nursing care metric measurements. Findings: This study has shown the significant role of the ward manager in the application of new learning from the safe medication administration education programme to practice. Local leadership was found to enable a patient safety culture and the adoption of a quality improvement approach in the local clinical area. The multi-disciplinary team at both organisation and local level was also found to be a significant context for the application of the safe medication administration education programme into practice. Reasoning skills, patient identification and receptivity to change were identified to be key mechanisms which were enabled within the described contexts. The exploration of the context and mechanisms and their relationship allowed for further exploration of outcomes associated with the context and mechanism constructs. Recommendations: The conjectured CMO configurations put forward at the end of the thesis should be further tested utilising a different CPE programme. These theoretical propositions could inform policy and practice on the factors required to ensure learning from CPE is applied in practice. The realist evaluation framework should be applied when evaluating CPE programmes as the rationale for providing CPE programmes is to maintain and improve patient care.

Though continuing education is often a vibrant and thriving function in modern universities, paradoxically, little is known about the content and organization of the knowledge structures that continuing educators employ as they go about creating continuing education programs in university settings. Drawing upon the entrepreneurship literature (Mitchell and Chesteen, 1995; Mitchell, 2001), (Vesper, 1996) and the adult education program planning literature (Caffarella, 2002), this inquiry assesses the robustness and applicability of scripting as a method of examining this aspect of practice. / Graduate

The goal of this Master`s Thesis is to clarify issues and significancy of association bridging between parent brand and its extension. By analysing secondary and primary data and by using free association method I researched five brands (Michelin, Cosmopolitan, Duracell, BIC and Aquila) and their interesting extension. Within the analysis is highlighted the dominance of associations, their internal meaning and connection of associations between the extension and the parent brand. In conclusion, in response to found bottlenecks of researched brands are some recommandations about the internal meaning of associations, hidden meaning of category, artificiality of associations, fake success of extension and minor meaning of a product category.

Typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The Jacobson radical of a ring was first formally studied in 1945 by Nathan Jacobson and is an important object in modern abstract algebra. The analogous notion of the Jacobson radical for a module is referred to as the radical of a module. The radical of a module is the intersection of all its maximal submodules. In general, the radical of a module is simpler than the module itself and contains important information about the module. The study of the radical of a module often appears as an incidental to other investigations. This thesis represents work towards understanding the radical of a module extension. Given a ring $R$ and $R$-modules $A,B,X$ such that $X$ is an extension of $B$ by $A$ as in the short exact sequence $$0 rightarrow A rightarrow X rightarrow B rightarrow 0 ,$$ we seek to determine properties of the radical of $X$, denoted $rad{X}$. These properties are dependent on the ring $R$ and properties of the modules $A$ and $B$. In this thesis we examine several different types of extensions and discuss a phenomenon in which a non-zero radical implies a split sequence. We work in the context of rings and their ideals. Extensions of abelian groups provide motivation for the results we prove about injectivity of radicals of extensions involving divisible modules and torsion modules. We are able to prove such properties of the radical for extensions of modules over principal ideal domains and Dedekind domains. Expanding upon these cases, we explore a more general construction of an extension and use it to explain our motivating abelian group results. We use the theorems proven about this construction to remark on possible generalizations to other types of rings and modules. We conclude with plans to generalize our statements by translating into terms of infinite matrices and $h$-local rings.

The purpose of this study was to determine the consistency with which Extension workers in Utah interpret data elements for reporting Extension activities into State Extension Management Information System (SEMIS). Subsequent insight into the areas of greatest inconsistencies and in-service training needs were gained. Extension workers in Utah were asked to report a predetermined list of hypothetical activities on the SEMIS weekly report form. These together with other report forms of previously submitted reports of common activities were studied in detail. It was found that the consistency for various activities reported ranged from 53 percent to 96 percent. It was also found that there were certain types of activities that were more often inconsistently reported than others. It was concluded that in-service training was needed to improve the consistency with which Utah Extension workers reported their weekly activities into SEMIS.

Eine der seltensten Formen thorakolumbaler Wirbelsäulenverletzungen stellen Hyperextensionsläsionen dar. In dieser retrospektiven Studie wurden 27 Fälle thorakolumbaler Hyperextensionsverletzungen, die zwischen 1997 und 2010 in der Universitätsklinik Würzburg behandelt wurden, analysiert und die Besonderheiten dieser Verletzungen verdeutlicht. Ergebnisse: In dem untersuchten Patientenkollektiv waren zu 74 % Männer von den Hyperextensionsverletzungen betroffen. Das Durchschnittsalter aller Patienten lag bei 70,6 Jahren (25 – 92 Jahre, SD 15,8). 22 Patienten litten zum Unfallzeitpunkt an Vorerkrankungen der Wirbelsäule: in 17 Fällen (63 %) lag eine diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) vor, bei 4 Patienten (14,8 %) ein M. Bechterew und bei einer Patientin (3,7 %) ausschließlich degenerative Veränderungen im Sinne einer Osteoporose. In 29,6 % der Fälle war ein leichtes Trauma ursächlich, bei 70,4 % führte ein hochenergetischer Unfall zu der Hyperextensionsverletzung. Bei 14 Patienten verliefen die Verletzungen der vorderen Säule transdiskal (52 %) und bei 13 transossär (48 %). Bei allen Patienten ohne Vorschäden der Wirbelsäule kam es dabei zu einer transdiskalen Läsion. 6 Patienten (22,2 %) erlitten initial durch die Hyperextensionsverletzung ein neurologisches Defizit. Alle Patienten wurden operativ mittels Implantation eines Fixateur interne von dorsal stabilisiert. Schlussfolgerung: Im Vergleich mit der Literatur zeigte sich anhand der Daten dieser Studie, dass Hyperextensionsverletzungen der thorakolumbalen Wirbelsäule mit einem höheren Risiko für neurologische Defizite einhergingen als andere thorakolumbale Verletzungen der Gruppe B. Dabei traten neurologische Defizite nur bei hochenergetischen Unfällen auf. Ein durch M. Bechterew oder DISH versteiftes Achsenskelett erhöhte das Risiko für eine Hyperextensionsverletzung. Im Vergleich zu anderen Verletzungsformen der thorakolumbalen Wirbelsäule traten Hyperextensionsverletzungen verhältnismäßig häufiger bei vorgeschädigten Wirbelsäulen und somit bei älteren Menschen auf. Nur im Falle einer Vorerkrankung der Wirbelsäule konnte bereits ein niederenergetisches Trauma zu einer Hyperextensionsverletzung führen. Dabei war dann vor allem der thorakolumbale Übergang und weniger die thorakale Wirbelsäule betroffen, bei der es hauptsächlich durch hochenergetische Unfälle zu Verletzungen kam. Transossäre Hyperextensionsverletzungen der vorderen und der hinteren Säule traten nur bei alterierten Wirbelsäulen auf. Bei wirbelsäulengesunden Patienten verlief die Verletzung jeweils transdiskal und durch die hintere Säule ligamentär. / Rare forms of thoracolumbar spine injuries are hyperextension dislocations. We analyzed in this retrospective study 27 cases of hyperextension injuries, which occurred between 1997 and 2010 and were treated in the university hospital of Wuerzburg, Germany. Results: 74 % of the patients were men. The average age of all patients was 70,6 years (25 – 92 years, SD: 15,8). 22 patients had a pre-existing illness of the thoracolumbar spine: in 17 cases (63 %) a diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), 4 patients (3,7 %) with an ankylosing spondylitis and 1 case with an osteoporosis. In 29,6 % of cases the causal trauma was light and in 70,6 % there was an high-energy accident. In 14 patients (52 %) the anterior column of the spine was injured through the disc and in 13 cases (48 %) the lesion was osseous. All patients without a pre-existing illness of the spine had an injury through the disc. 6 patients (22,2 %) got a neurological deficit because of the hyperextension injury. All patients were treated operatively by implantation of a fixateur interne. Conclusion: Compared with literature the results of our study showed that hyperextension injuries of the thoracolumbar spine had a higher risk for neurological deficits than other group-B-lesions. Neurological deficits only occurred after high-energy traumas. Ankylosing spondylitis and DISH increased the incidence for thoracolumbar hyperextension injuries. Hyperextension lesions more frequently occurred to spines with a pre-existing illness and thus to older people. Only in presence of a pre-existing spine-illness a light trauma could cause a hyperextension injury. In these cases the thoracolumbar junction was mainly affected, thoracic spine injuries mostly occurred after a high-energy trauma. Osseous hyperextension lesions of the anterior and posterior column only appeared in spines with a pre-existing illness, in an intact spine the lesion always occurred through the disc and was ligamentous.

The study on different extension approaches was undertaken in the Bathurst area of New South Wales, Australia. One hundred farmers were surveyed in random pairs according to those who belong to the formal group, ???Landcare???, and those who did not. The survey included questions on personal, physical resources, ecological and economic factors, farm practices and management (including actual practice, use of extension methods and information sources) Focussing on behavioural change over time, attitudes, perceptions and intentions. The impact of extension approach on different levels of innovation was considered: simple (e.g. tree planting), medium (e.g. pasture development) and complex (soil erosion control) on behavioural change. It was hypothesised that the ???group??? extension approach should be more effective with complex innovations, but the main significant differences found were in level of tree planting (higher in government funded Landcare), money spent on erosion control (including tree planting) and attitudes to the severity of local erosion (all higher in Landcare members). There were no other differences in attitudes, intentions or change in farming practice except that non-Landcare farmers planted more pasture and applied more lime. The outcomes did not support the hypothesis, and it was not possible to distinguish the differences that did occur in performance from extension approach versus access to funds. Field days are an important extension method for the adoption of cropping by landholders. Among the different extension methods, those who conducted erosion control through pastures, preferred government officers and meetings. Those who adopted tree planting and were in Landcare preferred magazines as the extension method. This added further weight to the argument that the formal group extension approach may not be perceived by its members to have any influence on adoption at this level. Generally, mass media was more important in the early stages of adoption and personal influence more important in the evaluation stage. This also applied to simple versus complex innovations. Surprisingly all farmers placed a very high reliance on government officers for information and decision-making, particularly those in Landcare, compared to neighbours or family. Formal group extension still needs assessing but using models other than Landcare.

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