The leading cause of death in patients who survive subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is stroke as a result of cerebral arterial vasospasm1. Such vasospasms involve a vasoactive response, but they remain enigmatic and no clinical treatment has proven effective in prevention or reduction2. Arteries remodel in response to diverse mechanical loads and chemical factors. Following SAH, the surrounding vasculature is exposed to a radically altered chemo-mechanical environment. It is our hypothesis that chemical stimuli associated with the formation of an extravascular blood clot dominates the maladaptive growth and remodeling response early on, thus leading to important structural changes. However, it is not clear which of the many chemical factors are key players in the production of vasospasm. Before an accurate picture of the etiology of vasospasm can be produced, it is imperative to gain a better understanding of the non-pathogenic cerebral vasculature. In particular, the rabbit basilar artery is a well established model for vasospasm. However, surprisingly little is known about the mechanical properties of the rabbit basilar artery. Using an in vitro custom organ culture and mechanical testing device, acute and cultured basilar arteries from male White New Zealand specific pathogen free rabbits underwent cyclic pressurization tests at in vivo conditions and controlled levels of myogenic tone. Sections of basilar arteries were imaged for collagen fiber orientation at 0, 40 and 80 mmHg at in vivo stretch conditions using nonlinear optical microscopy. The nonlinear stress-strain curves provide baseline characteristics for acute and short-term culture basilar arteries. The active and passive testing creates a framework for interpreting the basal tone of arteries in our culture system. Nonlinear optical microscopy second harmonic generation provides unique microstructural information and allows imaging of live, intact arteries while maintaining in vivo geometries and conditions. Collagen fibers were found to be widely distributed about the axial direction in the adventitial layer and narrowly distributed about the circumferential direction in the adventitial layer. The quantified collagen fiber angles within the artery wall further support the development of accurate mathematical models.

Nanocrystalline £\-Zr condensates deposited by ion beam sputtering on the NaCl (100) surfaces and then annealed at 100 oC to 750 oC in air. The phases present were identified by transmission electron microscopy to be nanometer-size £\-Zr+ZrO¡B£\-Zr+ZrO+c-ZrO2¡Bc-ZrO2¡Bc-+t-ZrO2¡Bt-ZrO2¡Band t-+m-ZrO2 phase assemblages with increasing annealing temperature. The zirconia showed strong {100} preferred orientation due to parallel epitaxy with NaCl (100) when annealed between 150 oC and 500 oC in air. The c- and t-zirconia condensates also showed (111)-specific coalescence among themselves. The c- and/or t-ZrO2 formation can be accounted for by the small grain size, the presence of low-valence Zr cation and the lateral constraint of the neighboring grains.

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This thesis proposes a link-based approach to identify supporting and opposing groups in a Weblog community. We formulate the interaction behavior as a graph. Bloggers involved in the discussion of one specific issue are formulated as vertices. Semantic orientation is used to construct possible opposite opinion links. Bloggers with opposite stances will form an opposite link. A max-cut algorithm is used latter to obtain the optimal approximation of supporting and opposing groups. The categorization results are compared between semantic orientation classifier and simple link-based categorization. The simple link-based categorization compares then with the enhancement of link-based categorization using hypergraph.

The research aims to explore the relationships among entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and firm performance when Taiwanese SMEs are expanding their business territory in China. Apart from social capital, there would be more other moderating variables existing in the environment. However, after literature review and in-depth interviews with the SMEs owners/directors/executives, social capital has been regarded as the possible influential factor affecting the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. In the second part of the research, comprehensive literature and studies relating to entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial orientation are investigated and summarized. Later, the literature of social capital and firm performance is summarized in order to develop the hypotheses to examine the relationships among entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and firm performance. This is an empirical research, assisting with in-depth interviews with Taiwanese SMEs owners/directors/executives to outline the findings more accurately. The statistical tools applied in the thesis include SPSS and AMOS. The findings of the research have come up with some practical implications and suggestion. The implications of the results might intrigue people who are interested in the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on organizational success. Lastly, some suggestions are made accordingly for the further development.

Optical second harmonic generation (SHG) is a nonlinear process that converts two photons of frequency w to a single photon of frequency 2w. In the electricdipole approximation, this process requires a noncentrosymmetric medium. For thin films present at the interface between two centrosymmetric media¡Ðsuch as the interface between two liquids, the interface between a liquid and air, or for the surface of a variety of insulators and semiconductors¡Ðonly the molecules which participate in the asymmetry of the interface contribute to the SHG. Surface SGH from molecules which exhibit a large nonlinear optical response at a specific wavelength can be used to measure the relative surface coverage of molecules at the interface as a function of the external electrochemical parameters. The polarization dependence of the surface SHG can be used to estimate the average molecular orientation of chromophores at the liquid/liquid electrochemical interface. The potential dependence of the SHG from the interface provides important information on the position of the adsorbed chromophores with respect to the interface.

The finance industry has the highest the rate of labor concentration among the industries.The customers¡¦ satisfaction and their positive appraisal about the services they received are mainly concluded from the employees¡¦ service enthusiasm and their perception about customer significance.Therefore, the employees that have a direct contact with the customers are critical persons in terms of delivering the services to the customers. Thus, a company should treat its employees not only its most valuable assets, but also its internal customers. The concept for this is to place the employees, the internal customers, in the same position where they can experience the marketing and promotion strategies applying to their external customers, and to enhance the employees¡¦ perception of customer orientation. The company will then have the differential advantage in customer orientation in the competitive marketing environment. This research is composed through several methodologies, including quantitative methods, such as the integration of the conclusions in its related researches, thorough interviews with key groups, and questionnaire survey. The data is collected through the research of the front-line service employees in a foreign bank. The data will help to identity the relationship between the employees¡¦ perception and satisfaction of internal marketing, as well as their job satisfaction and the agreement of customer orientation. The results of this research can be described in five categories. (1)The perception of internal marketing is divided into five aspects; namely, active transportation of information, the style of direct supervisor, job compensation, competitive salary, and communication. (2)Internal marketing satisfaction is divided into six aspects; the style of direct supervisor, information delivery, compensation, competitive salary, the interaction between the company and the employees, and communication. (3)Job satisfaction is divided into three aspects; benefits from job, job contents, and the inter personal relationship from job. (4)Customer orientation is divided into three aspects; selling orientation, customer priority, and short-term selling orientation. (5)To verify both internal marketing perception and satisfaction have significantly positive relationship with job satisfaction. (6)Part of the dimensions in internal marketing perception and satisfaction have significantly positive relationship with customer orientation.

The Study of Relationship among Goal Orientation, Learning Satisfaction, and Learning Performance --Taking Kaohsiung Learning Center Of National Open University as Example Abstract Due to the prevalence of Internet and the emerging of knowledge economics, human being in the 21st century are facing rapid changing with greater impact than ever before. The trend of globalization and knowledge explosion results in significant influence imposed upon both education and learning; in particular, lifelong learning in which adult education plays an important role. This thesis presents the results of studying the inter-relationship and interaction among goal orientation, learning satisfaction, and learning performance. In this research work, the theory on the inter-relationship among goal orientation, learning satisfaction, and learning performance is first constructed. To conduct the quantitative analysis as the investigation through intersection, a questionnaire is developed to take survey on students registered to Kaohsiung Learning Center of National Open University. The objective is to explore the variance, the relationship and the effect imposed, by the goal orientation of these students, upon the learning satisfaction and the learning performance. In addition, an investigation on how the interaction between learning satisfaction and goal orientation affects learning performance is undertaken. Through the analysis, the followings are found: 1. There is significant positive inter-relationship among goal orientation, learning satisfaction, and learning performance. 2. Goal orientation and learning satisfaction impose significant positive effect upon learning performance. 3. Learning orientation was found to have significant moderating effect between learning satisfaction and learning performance. 4. For variables based on gender: female students show greater variance than male students on teaching quality, offered courses, and human relation. 5. For variables based on registration: college students show greater variance than university students of both full registration and partial registration in learning orientation. 6. For variables based on occupations: no significant variance shown in goal orientation, learning satisfaction, and performance orientation. 7. For variables based on study duration: there is considerable variance in avoidance orientation and human relation among students who have studied for 10 years or longer. 8. For variables based on the times of suspension: students who suspended 4 times or more show greater variance in human relation and social capability.

Based on a proposed input-process-output model of team goal, leader goal orientation, team cohesion, and team effectiveness, this study examined the influences of the leader trait goal orientation on the relationships between team goals and team cohesion. Results from 73 five-person teams working on an interdependent command and control simulation game indicated that team learning goal positively relates to team viability. Social cohesion mediates the effects of a team learning goal on team viability. In addition, the leader’s learning orientation moderates the effect of a team learning goal on team task cohesion. Results of supplementary analyses are also presented. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.

<p>Investigation of the entrepreneurial potential of the pharmacists of Jönköping. A quantitative case study.</p>