The purpose of this investigation was to critically examine differences in the perceived levels of marital satisfaction among Nigerians living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A realistic appraisal of this group's perceived levels of marital satisfaction provided the basis for this pragmatic and academically useful study which is especially valuable to professionals involved in cross-cultural counseling.

This study investigated factors influencing the selection of apparel worn to work by women who attended fashion and wardrobe seminars in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Clothing selection factors were analyzed by computer according to age, marital status, work status and education. The majority most frequently wore suits and separates to work. Single participants preferred separates. Most wore sizes considered average. Respondents most frequently purchased apparel from department stores. Brand name and designer apparel were occasionally purchased. Though interested, few respondents had taken advantage of personal consultant services. It was recommended that retailers make wardrobe services known to the public.

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the skills and knowledge required of employees in the plastics industry in the Dallas Metropolitan area. An instrument was utilized to obtain data in order to identify various skills and knowledge. This study was limited to fifteen instruments returned by fifteen participating firms in the Dallas Metropolitan area. A comparison was made of the industrial arts plastics course offerings in the Dallas Metropolitan area schools with the requirements of the plastic industry in order to ascertain the degree of importance the course offerings were to the plastics industry.

Teniendo en cuenta la importancia de la información día a día y su exponencial crecimiento que hace cada vez más difícil su ordenamiento y compilación, se hace necesario que las bibliotecas universitarias públicas implementen servicios más especializados que brinden a sus usuarios valor agregado a la información recibida, es decir, las bibliotecas deben brindar no sólo la información en bruto, sino productos donde vaya intrínseco al servicio un proceso de análisis, diseminación y compilación de información, ya que el usuario actualmente no cuenta con el tiempo necesario para asistir físicamente a una biblioteca y pasarse horas buscando información, cuando existen dentro de las bibliotecas personal capacitado para esta labor. Para que en las bibliotecas universitarias públicas existan esta clase de servicios especializados, teniendo en cuenta que no cuentan con los recursos suficientes por su condición, es necesario buscar las estrategias que permitan un correcto aprovechamiento de los recursos humanos, infraestructura y tecnología, buscando la generación de recursos propios para su autofinanciamiento. La presente investigación presenta el diseño de un modelo de gestión estratégica que transforme las bibliotecas universitarias públicas de Lima Metropolitana en Centros de Gestión de la Información, entendiéndose a este como aquel centro que brinda al usuario información ya diseminada en función de un pedido específico del usuario a través de una gama de servicios especializados. / Having in counts the importance of the information day to day and his exponential growth that makes increasingly his classification and compilation difficult, it becomes necessary that public the university libraries implement services more specializing that they offer to his users value added to the information received, that is to say the libraries they should offer not only the information in brute, but products where there goes intrinsically to the service a process of analysis, dissemination and compilation of information, since the user nowadays does not possess the necessary time to be present physically at a library and hours to pass looking for information, when they exist inside the libraries personnel qualified for this labor. In order that in the public the university libraries they exist this class of specializing services, bearing in mind that do not possess the sufficient resources for his condition, it is necessary to look for the strategies that allow a correct utilization of the human resources, infrastructure and technology, searching the generation of own resources for his self-financing. The present investigation presents the design of a model of strategic management that transforms the university public libraries of Metropolitan Lima into Centers of Management of the Information, this one being understood as that center that offers to the user information already spread depending on a specific request of the user across a scale of specializing services.

El hacerse persona adulta mayor en el Perú, es un proceso que se produce con características diferenciadas en el caso de varones y mujeres. Las diferencias de género en el envejecimiento, se evidencian en diversos aspectos, así, las mujeres viven más tiempo que los varones, pero con inferior calidad de vida. Asimismo, las mujeres registran tasas más altas de discapacidad en edades más avanzadas, lo cual refleja las mayores cargas acumuladas a lo largo de su ciclo vital. El aumento de la expectativa de vida ha modificado el concepto de vejez, ya que la tercera parte de la vida femenina transcurre después del cese de la menstruación. La asociación de menopausia y vejez proviene de una época en que la esperanza de vida era mucho menor y el fin de la vida coincidía con el cese de la etapa reproductiva. Hoy día son dos conceptos separados, aunque no deja de ser cierto y un objetivo a combatir, que la mujer, durante esta etapa, tiene sensaciones de envejecimiento, dada la alta presión de la familia, sociedad y los medios de comunicación, sobre la importancia de ser joven ... aunque tenga una larga perspectiva de vida posterior. El objetivo del presente estudio es contribuir al conocimiento de la sexualidad en mujeres adultas mayores, a través de un acercamiento cualitativo a sus significados y a sus prácticas en lo referente a su sexualidad. Cabe señalar, que este tema al haberse mantenido casi exclusivamente en la esfera privada, requiere un tratamiento con mucho tacto y con amplio criterio. Finalmente, se tiene el propósito ulterior de generar una corriente de opinión favorable al respecto y ubicar el tema en la agenda pública.

El presente estudio busca demostrar cómo el financiamiento constituye el factor crítico y estratégico para el desarrollo de las medianas empresas de Lima Metropolitana. En nuestro escenario socioeconómico se considera mediana empresa a aquellas unidades productivas que poseen activos fijos entre los US$ 20,000 y US$ 300,000 dólares americanos; ingresos por ventas anuales entre los US$ 40,000 y US$ 750,000 dólares americanos, una población laboral de 25 a 250 trabajadores, una administración independiente, el capital social es aportado por los propietarios, y el tamaño es relativamente pequeño en relación al sector en el que actúan.

This thesis concerns the current ruling party, the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi - Justice and Development Party) in Turkey. Its aim is to examine the emergence and consolidation of the AKP, as well as to determine whether or not this has shaped the evolution of the party system in Turkey. This research draws on a qualitative research approach, through interviews with 36 key informants from political parties, NGOs, grassroots organizations and through gathering data in the literature produced by parties and other statutory and voluntary agencies, as well as through the collection of descriptive statististics related to socio-economic structures, migration, occupational categories, macroeconomic indicators and collections of election surveys. The finding reveal that the AKP did not emerge as an Islamist party, but because of its promises of economic stability and growth, and of further integration into the EU and USA-led global order. The thesis shows that more so than its religious discourse, the AKP’s electoral success was based on the party’s adapting a hybrid, progressive and pro-EU position during its first tenure in government. Second, this research demonstrates how the political conjuncture up to 2002 and long-term economic factors provided favourable circumstances for the AKP’s emergence. The study’s findings also reveal that the consolidation of the AKP is mainly attributable to its economic and social agenda, and the utilization of the public purse and other state resources (e.g. social and health care benefits) as a means of catering for its target constituencies. In addition, they demonstrate that once AKP’s consolidation was completed (2010) the party’s discourse gradually became more conservative and nationalist, giving way to more authoritarian policies. Nonetheless, as long as economic performance and conditions remain unchanged, the AKP continues to appeal to its social base. Consequently, this thesis demonstrates that the gradual drift in Turkish society towards moderate Islamic and traditional values was not the main factor in the AKP’s rise to power. Rather, this shift can be viewed as the feedback effect of the consolidation of the AKP process into societal structures and norms. Hence, this work highlights the AKP’s impact on the structure of the party-system and the role of its policies in transforming Turkish society. Lastly, this study contributes to the foundation upon which further research on Turkish politics and the party system can continue, by exploring the dual effect of the AKP’s ruling tenure: factors leading to the AKP’s emergence and its feedback into Turkish society and politics.

The purpose of this study was to further develop a multi-tier model of the vocal tract area function in which the modulations of shape to produce speech are generated by the product of a vowel substrate and a consonant superposition function. The new approach consists of specifying input parameters for a target consonant as a set of directional changes in the resonance frequencies of the vowel substrate. Using calculations of acoustic sensitivity functions, these "resonance deflection patterns" are transformed into time-varying deformations of the vocal tract shape without any direct specification of location or extent of the consonant constriction along the vocal tract. The configuration of the constrictions and expansions that are generated by this process were shown to be physiologically-realistic and produce speech sounds that are easily identifiable as the target consonants. This model is a useful enhancement for area function-based synthesis and can serve as a tool for understanding how the vocal tract is shaped by a talker during speech production. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

of Mgr. Martin Valent doctoral thesis Hyoliths of the Barrandian Area The submitted Ph.D. thesis summarizes recent information on comparatively poorly known group of invertebrates - the hyoliths. The first part of the thesis is composed by six main chapters focussed in detail on various aspects of hyoliths; major characteristics and ecology of hyoliths, progress in systematic of hyoliths, principles of hyolith classification, stratigraphical and palaeogeographical distribution of hyoliths, hyoliths within the Bohemian Massif and morphology of hyoliths. Up-to-date information has been included in all chapters. New data were published in five author's papers on hyolith colour patterns, systematics of hyoliths, pattern of palaeogeographic distribution and palaeoecologic interactions between hyoliths and various elements of the Cambrian invertebrate fauna. Short appendage consists of the Czech-English-Chinese terminological dictionary, simplifying study of Chinese literature.

Dès le IIIe millénaire av. J.-C., l'ornementation d'objets en or se développe parallèlement au contrôle de la production dite de prestige et à travers des échanges et des contacts au sein de la Méditerranée orientale.L'emploi de procédés complexes, tels que la soudure et la décoration à chaud, facilite la fabrication et le rendu plastique d'oeuvres composites. Ma thèse vise à la reconstitution des techniques de décoration fine de filigrane et de granulation, utilisées par les artisans à l'âge du Bronze, au Levant nord et en Crête particulièrement. Cette étude s'est essentiellement fondée sur l'observation macro- et microscopique des objets et sur l'expérimentation pour définir des critères d'identification des procédés techniques et caractériser le savoir-faire des artisans. Ainsi, les chaînes opératoires ont pu être reconstituées, les gestes spécifiés et des « mains » reconnues.La démarche a également conduit à appréhender le travail à l'atelier, l'aménagement de son espace et l'outillage nécessaire au spécialiste du filigrane et de la granulation pour produire des pièces uniques ou en série, former ses apprentis à des compétences techniques spécifiques et transmettre son savoir-faire sur de longues distances. Les orfèvres-bijoutiers ont eu un rôle majeur dans la diffusion des savoirs en Méditerranée orientale, ce qui a entraîné la création d'objets hybrides aux influences artistiques levantines, crétoises, égyptiennes, mycéennes... Mais l'étude technique a aussi montré que l'apparition des techniques de filigrane et de granulation au Levant nord et en Crête pouvait résulter d'une création locale, indépendante ou stimulée. / Goldwork decoration has been developed since the 3rt millenium BC, sumultaneously with the control over the production of prestigious items, and through exchange networks and contacts within the Eastern Mediterranean.The use of complex processes such as the soldering and decoration using heat facilitate the production and enable the plasticity of composite items. My dissertation aims to reconstruct the techniques of fine decoration as filigree and granulation that were employed throughout the Bronze Age by craftsmen namely in Northern Levant and Crete. This study has been essentially based on macro- and microscopic examination of artifacts and experimental golden works I made in order to define the identification evidences of the technical processes, and the characterization of the craftsmen's know-how. In addition, the chaînes opératoires might be also reconstruct in order to specify the movement of the body and recognize « the hands ».On the other hand, the technical approach has lead me to explore the workshop's organization : how was it fitted out the work space and what were the tools of the filigree and granulation the experts has used to produce unique or similar items, to train apprenties to specific qualities, and expand their know-how through different places of the Eastern Mediterranean ? Gold worker-jeweller had a major rôle in the spreading of knowledge in that connected region, which has provoked the creation of hybrid objects with artistic influences such as Levantine, Minoan, Egyptian, and Mycenaean... The analyse has also insight into the importance of discussing the possibility of local creation, independently or by external stimulation, about the apparition of filigree and granulation techniques in Northern Levant and Crete.