This study aimed at investigating learners&rsquo / attitudes towards English language and English speaking societies. The study also explored the historical and sociopolitical factors that might have influenced learners&rsquo / attitudes. In order to collect data, a language attitude questionnaire was designed adapting several questionnaires which were prepared with the goal of collecting information about learners&rsquo / attitudinal predispositions towards language and language learning in various countries around the world. The study sampled 219 students studying at the preparatory schools of two state and three private universities in Ankara. In addition to the quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire, qualitative data were obtained from the open ended items in the questionnaire and the interview sessions. Interview sessions were conducted at the sampled universities, and 10 students (5 male 5 female) were asked their opinions about their reasons to learn English, their opinions regarding the current status of English in Turkey and their feelings towards English and towards their native language. After the data collection procedure, inferences were made according to the data obtained from the questionnaire and interviews so as to make quantitative and qualitative analysis. While the quantitative findings of the data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS 11.0 (Statistical Package of Social Sciences), qualitative data were analyzed through the content analysis. According to the factor analysis of the responses in the pilot and the actual study, the parallel statements were categorized into a factor. Consequently, five factors which ultimately formed five &lsquo / themes&rsquo / were obtained. The research findings were interpreted with reference to these five themes-native language loyalty, instrumental orientation, cultural interest, appreciation of intercultural contact and attitudes towards British and American people respectively. According to the research findings, Turkish learners of English at sampled universities have favorable attitudes towards the English language due to their interest in the cultural products of the English speaking societies and the instrumental value of English as a global language. On the other hand, they have developed ambivalent attitudes towards the target societies due to the intercultural contact with these societies throughout Turkish history, current sociopolitical concerns regarding the British and American state policies and finally their perceptions regarding their native language and culture. Alternative solutions at individual and institutional levels have been proposed in order to change negative attitudes into favorable ones, and prevent the generalization of stereotypes and attitudes into individual levels. In order to achieve the acquisition of favorable attitudes at individual level, intercultural contact should be promoted so that learners will have personal experiences and personal contacts rather than relying on indirect sources such as press and cultural products which might generate biased assumptions.

The term &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / has different meanings and is open to many interpretations. This thesis aims to highlight and further elaborate some definitions of &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / in which it is mainly characterized as architecture in the urban context. The Second Volume of Harvard Architecture Review on &ldquo / Urban Architecture&rdquo / is referred as a main source in discussing the content of the term. The concept of &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / can be identified in several theoretical contributions to the field of architecture. In this context, the themes &ldquo / urban artifact&rdquo / developed by Aldo Rossi and &ldquo / urbatecture&rdquo / developed by Bruno Zevi, are discussed in relation to &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / . In order to further clarify the concept, its relation to the fields of urban design, urbanism, and landscape urbanism is investigated. While it is distinguished from these fields, &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / is defined as an alternative architectural design approach and not as a new field. As an approach to architectural design that operates in an expanded field including landscape design and urbanism, &ldquo / urban architecture&rdquo / points to some strategies that allow to integrate works of architecture into their urban settings. Following this conceptual elaboration, the thesis aims at exploring the design strategies that characterize urban architecture. In this context, strategies related with landscape, infrastructure, and urban field are identified. The strategies based on these themes and their tools of operation are discussed through three case studies that cover Olympic Sculpture Park for the Seattle Art Museum, Kunsthal, and Borneo and Sporenburg.

This thesis examines the ineliminable status of pluralism in contemporary sciences, especially in biology. Pluralism in science is endorsed to avoid loss of knowledge, unproductive debates and explanatory inflexibility while the plurality indicates the disunited nature of knowledge in some areas. The pluralist stance approach, as an epistemological stance, argues that it is possible to reduce modest forms of pluralism to sophisticated forms of monism. However, the pluralist stance is vulnerable to the monist challenge that today&rsquo / s science is incomplete and brings a sort of epistemological disorder to scientific territory. This thesis tries to answer the following question: is it more beneficial if a modest form of pluralism is adopted for a better scientific practice? Integrative pluralism as a type of modest pluralism can be as pragmatic as the pluralist stance, without seeking theoretical unification but advocating explanatory resolution for a better scientific conduct.

Abstract Because of the globalization tendency and high information technology applied, the enterprises, pursuing their expanding, surviving, or reach the synergy, tend to adopt M&A strategy with the other firms, integrate all the resources and acquire the leading high technology or management systems in the rapid movements of the business environment. In recent years, the number and the scale of M&A events are boosting and increasing. More and more international enterprises conduct M&A strategy and change their market sharing and standing by doing so. No doubt, M&A has become the important main strategy of worldwide firms. In fact, mergers and acquisitions same as marriage ceremony, it's not so difficult to deal with transaction. But the key point is how to put two or more different firms together and work well. Unfortunately, during the traditional procedure of due diligence, it's only emphasized forms, price, values, finance, and lawful parts, but undervalued the importance of organizational culture, talents and human resources. M&A is so important to corporations in all categories that the key integrative elements, differ from different field of industry, should be focused with more attentions. The development of worldwide internet industry is one of the momentum to improve the globalization and happening of M&A. There are many M&A cases which concerning about internet firms meanwhile. As we know, portal sites play great roles in internet world, that¡¦s the reason why the shifting of the portal site leading status is too important to ignore. This study is aimed to base on few components of strategy highly involve in internet, and two of companies (Yahoo! and Kimo) were selected for case research sample. Through reviewing the theories of connecting field information and the interview of the high rank staffs of case company and others, we find out the procedure of merge between Yahoo! and Kimo are smooth due to the motives and bilateral benefits of both are high level matched. Yahoo! want to capture Taiwan¡¦s most market share in short time in order to get the leading position of China, even the whole Asia , in the near future .Simultaneously, Kimo are seeking plenty of capitals form the world capital market. Also, Kimo try to concrete the portal site No.1 title in Taiwan and make more efforts to dance in the global stage. Both of them can give each other what they want easily, so Kimo become one part of Yahoo! Family smoothly. Finally, this study summarized their comments, and generated the suggestions of key factors of successful M&A for other study reference.

Background and Aim: Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. The stage of the disease at diagnosis is a core determinant of its health outcome. In low to middle-income countries like Nigeria, advanced stage of disease presentation for medical care represents a significant problem. While mortality rates from breast cancer are declining in developed countries like Canada, they are increasing in developing countries like Nigeria. It is well documented that presentation for medical care at the early stages of the disease improves outcome. Knowledge of the factors that impact seeking medical care after breast cancer symptom discovery in women and knowledge of the factors that impact participation in breast health activities by women is important in reducing breast cancer-related mortality. Methods and Design: This integrative review critically examined the determinants of health outcomes of women living with breast cancer in Canada and Nigeria from 1990-2014. Specifically, it examined the factors that impact seeking medical care after breast cancer symptom discovery in women. It also explored the factors that impact participation in breast health activities by women in the two countries from 1990 to 2014. A total of 303 articles were identified and retrieved by searching the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE. Grey literature from relevant organizations websites were identified using Google Scholar. Among the 303 articles identified, 55 met the inclusion criteria. Results and Conclusion: Findings from the articles that met the inclusion criteria showed that Canadians have a high level of breast health awareness. The findings also suggest that women in Nigeria have rather poor knowledge of breast health awareness and breast cancer. In Nigeria, presentation with an advanced stage of the disease made survival very low. This also compromises the quality of life of the patients. The major factors responsible for the late presentations were a lack of breast cancer awareness and education. Other social factors that mitigate against early presentations for medical care include misconceptions about breast cancer treatment and outcomes. In line with the findings of this study, it is recommended that wide spread culturally sensitive, linguistically appropriate, health education programs to teach breast health awareness should be developed and disseminated. Such health awareness programs should be targeted at women through various channels such as the media, the television, and radio. Also, within the hospital, the developed education programs should be integrated into the existing women health education programs. Non-government and other charitable organizations can also make significant contributions to breast health awareness through sponsoring health talks and workshops targeted at relevant segments of the population. Key search words: Breast cancer, breast neoplasm, diagnosis, prevention and control, health knowledge, patient attitude and practice, breast self-examination, awareness, patient education as topic, mass screening, early detection of cancer, Nigeria, Canada.

Since the completion of the sequencing of the human genome at the turn of the century, genomics has revolutionized the study of biology and medicine by providing high-throughput and quantitative methods for measuring molecular activities. Microarray and next generation sequencing emerged as important inflection points where the rate of data generation skyrocketed. The high dimensionality nature and the rapid growth in the volume of data precipitated a unique computational challenge in massive data analysis and interpretation. Noise and signal structure in the data varies significantly across types of data and technologies; thus, the context of the data generation process itself plays an important role in detecting key and oftentimes subtle signals. In this dissertation, we discuss four areas where contextualizing the data aids discoveries of disease-causing variants, complex relationships in the human microecology, interplay between gene and environment, and genetic regulation of gene expression. These studies, each in its own unique way, have helped made possible discoveries and expanded the horizon of our understanding of the human body, in health and disease.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the principal cause of morbidity and mortality among feedlot cattle. Mannheimia haemolytica is consistently implicated in this condition, but treatment options are diminishing with the rise of antimicrobial resistance and intensifying consumer pressure to reduce reliance on conventional therapies. Thus, sustainable alternatives like vaccination are required. In this study, the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of BRD pathogens were examined with the objective to identify vaccine targets using reverse vaccinology, an innovative approach to identify antigens via genomic sequence. Preliminary surveillance confirmed M. haemolytica serotype 2 isolates were predominant in healthy animals (75.5%) while serotypes 1 (70.7%) and 6 (19.5%) were common in diseased animals. Pathogens of BRD, including M. haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida and Histophilus somni were also isolated from North American BRD mortalities, and compared using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and antimicrobial susceptibility. Concurrently, polymerase chain reaction detection of bacterial and viral agents confirmed that M. haemolytica with bovine viral diarrhea virus were the most prevalent. Whereas isolates from live cattle were found to have a relatively low level of resistance, several pathogens from the mortalities were found to contain integrative conjugative elements (ICE) conferring resistance to seven antimicrobial classes. These ICEs were transferred via conjugation to other bacterial species, emphasizing the need for alternative antimicrobial therapies. Collectively, data from these investigations informed the selection of 11 diverse M. haemolytica strains for whole genome sequencing and comparative analyses. Several bacteriophage associated genes and CRISPR-Cas regulated gene expression systems were identified and are likely contributing to virulence in M. haemolytica. Coding sequences across all genomes were screened using pan-genome analysis, identifying 291 candidates with cell-surface associated signatures. Using a cell-free translation system and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay the candidates were screened against serum from cattle challenged with serovar 1, 2 or 6 of M. haemolytica, and ranked according to immunogenicity. The top five vaccine candidates included Ssa1, ComE, a solute binding protein, an outer membrane protein, and the periplasmic component of an ABC transporter. With further characterization, these unique antigenic candidates could be developed into a vaccine to effectively reduce the dependence on antimicrobial therapies.

One of every 166 children born today could be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (CDC 2006). Growing bodies of evidence show sensory integration issues may be at the root of many of the symptoms children with ASD exhibit. Sensory integration is defined as the ability to feel, understand, and organize sensory information from the body and environment. The issues surrounding sensory integration are reflected in both hypersensitive and hyposensitive reactions by children with ASD to the vestibular, proprioception, visual, audio, tactile, and olfactory senses.The goal of this paper is to address the sensory integration issues of children with ASD by creating a sensory garden which would allow them to focus on therapeutic and diagnostic interventions. By using the principles and elements of design, guidelines for this garden focused on producing calming effects for hyper reactive children with ASD and stimulating effects for hypo reactions.

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