Cost-utility analysis is one method of determining the cost effectiveness of nursing interventions. It is heralded by the World Health Organization as the measure to determine allocation of resources. This method of measurement includes calculation of both the cost of quality-adjusted life years (QALY) and the cost of disability-adjusted life years (DALY). The purpose of this article is to present cost-utility analysis as a relevant measure for describing the value of registered nurses. First the article will present a short overview of cost effectiveness, along with a discussion of two cost-effectiveness measures, cost-effective analysis and cost-utility analysis. Then the measurement of quality-adjusted life years and disability-adjusted life years will be presented. The article will conclude by challenging nurses to develop cost-utility analyses into a meaningful and useful methodology that can provide nursing with a process to measure the economic outcomes of our nursing interventions.

Assessing the feminist belief that women have a perspective dramatically differing from the patriarchal perspective, and that this viewpoint is, or could be, couched in a language differing from the norm, this researcher addressed the following three questions: (1) is there a definition of a women's language? (2) does a women's language exist? and (3) if a women's language does exist, in what form does it exist? These questions engendered feminist rhetorical criticism on the work of two radical feminists well known for their interest in, and attention to, the issue of a women's language.

Cost-utility analysis is one method of determining the cost effectiveness of nursing interventions. It is heralded by the World Health Organization as the measure to determine allocation of resources. This method of measurement includes calculation of both the cost of quality-adjusted life years (QALY) and the cost of disability-adjusted life years (DALY). The purpose of this article is to present cost-utility analysis as a relevant measure for describing the value of registered nurses. First the article will present a short overview of cost effectiveness, along with a discussion of two cost-effectiveness measures, cost-effective analysis and cost-utility analysis. Then the measurement of quality-adjusted life years and disability-adjusted life years will be presented. The article will conclude by challenging nurses to develop cost-utility analyses into a meaningful and useful methodology that can provide nursing with a process to measure the economic outcomes of our nursing interventions.

In Pure Lust, Mary Daly claims that the Virgin Mary is an “image of total subservience, the dethroned and sapped Goddess who was converted into a vessel.” Daly perceives Mary primarily through Christian scripture and other orthodox texts, ignoring her role as part of a religion lived and experienced outside of Church doctrine and dogma. This thesis explores how Mary is perceived and utilized by the laity, as opposed to the theological Mary, by specifically looking at how the Virgin Mary is imagined and experienced at the Our Lady of Ephesus Shrine in Western Turkey. Utilizing Robert Orsi’s lived religion approach and ethnographic research, this examination of the Virgin Mary will test Daly’s theologically based theory.

This diploma thesis compares the profits and costs of the prohibition adopted in the Czech Republic during September 2012. The prohibition that lasted two weeks was a reaction of the Czech government on series of intoxication due to the proof of toxic methanol. The thesis detects, based on the comparison of the value of saved lives and costs that the prohibition cause, the effectivity of the government interference on the market oriented economy. The profits of the prohibition are defined as a value of saved lives of people, who would die because of the intoxication if the prohibition would not be adopted. The value of the human life is defined by DALY (disability-adjusted life years), the willingness to pay for prolongation of own life and the amount of potential juridical refunds. The costs of the prohibition are formulated as a value of unsold goods and services. Diploma thesis considers also impact of prohibition on tax collection. We can state that, based on the cost-benefit analysis, the adopted prohibition was economically effective.

As the US population ages, public health agencies must examine better ways to measure the impact of adverse health outcome on a population. Many reports have asserted that more adverse health events occur in Appalachia. However, few studies have assessed the quality of life and burden of disease on those residing in Appalachia. Therefore, the overall aim of this dissertation was to assess the health status, burden of disease, and quality of life in Appalachia using available data and improved health outcome assessment measures. For this dissertation, 3 secondary data sources collected by the State of Tennessee and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) were used. These data were used to calculate the index of disparity and absolute and relative disparity measures within the study area of 8 Appalachian counties in upper east Tennessee. Vital statistics data for the selected area were also used to calculate Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) by gender for all cause mortality and stroke mortality. The Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data were used for prevalence data and to determine what factors impact Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) within the study area. The Index of disparity (ID) for all cause mortality for the study area found that disparity is greatest in stroke mortality for the study area and TN and the least for all cause mortality and the US. The highest numbers of DALYs was found in the 45-59 age group for the Appalachian study population. Finally, the mean general health status did not vary significantly by gender; however, predictors of reporting excellent to good health status did vary based on gender. Predictors of fair to poor general health status were found to be low income, having diabetes, or having had a stroke or heart attack. The results within this dissertation are intended to assist health professionals with the creation of health interventions and policy development within the Appalachian area. This dissertation proposes a more comprehensive health status monitoring system for assessing health disparity at a regional level.

Cette thèse en Histoire et sémiologie porte sur les représentations de l’unité du peuple chinois (1949-2009) et le traitement médiatique des conflits au Tibet (2008) et au Xinjiang (2009). Dans le cadre d'une approche sémiotique, l'analyse des images et des textes nous permet de considérer comment les discours d'information, les discours institutionnels et ceux des industries culturelles font la promotion de l'unité du peuple chinois. Ce travail se concentre sur les écritures portées par le gouvernement chinois soucieux de proposer le récit collectif d'une société harmonieuse, de maintenir une nation solidaire au moment de deux crises sociales entre les Hans et les ethnies minoritaires. L'année 2008 aurait dû, grâce aux Jeux Olympiques, être l'année favorisant le nation-branding d'une Chine victorieuse. Or, cinq mois avant l’ouverture des JO de Pékin, les événements de Lhassa, capitale de la région autonome du Tibet, mettent sous tension le gouvernement chinois et soulignent une fracture profonde entre les Hans et les Tibétains. Un an après, des émeutes surviennent dans la Région autonome ouïghoure du Xinjiang. Pour traiter les récits médiatiques, nous comparons à la fois les différents points de vue portés par des journalistes chinois et français sur ces événements, nous observons aussi comment un certain nombre d’Ouïghours ont participé à un mouvement de réhabilitation des Xinjiangrens (habitants du Xinjiang) à la suite de la publication d’un livre Je viens du Xinjiang, ouvrage qui fait partie de notre corpus. Cette thèse observe donc comment les médias d'information, les séries télévisées, les écritures de l'histoire officielle promue par le gouvernement chinois, les productions des industries culturelles (cinéma, émissions de plateau, projets d'éditions imprimées...) finissent par former la légende collective de l'unité du peuple chinois. / The present thesis in History and Semiology concentrates on the representations of the unity of Chinese people (1949-2009) and the media coverage of conflicts in Tibet (2008) and Xinjiang (2009). From a semiotic approach, the analysis of images and texts give us an overview of how the information discourse, political discourse and cultural industry discourse, promote the unity of the Chinese people. This current research focuses on the writings of the Chinese government whose main concerns are to construct a collective narrative of a harmonious society and to maintain a united nation at the time of two social crises between the Han Chinese and other Chinese ethnic minorities. The year of 2008 should, thanks to the Olympic Games, be the year in favor of the nation-branding of a victorious in China. However, five months before the opening of the Beijing Olympics, the events in Lhasa -the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region- put the Chinese government under pressure and brought to light the great divide between the Han and the Tibetans. A year later, riots occurred in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In order to analyze the media narrative, we compare different points of view of both Chinese and French journalists on these events. We also observe how a number of Uyghurs participated in a rehabilitation movement of Xinjiangrens (people of Xinjiang) after the publication of the book I come from Xinjiang - a work that is a part of our corpus. As a result, this thesis observes how, in 21st centry, the news, the television series, the official writings of the history promoted by the Chinese government, a diverse range of productions of cultural industries (new technology of information and communication, social network, cinema, TV program and the traditional media...) contribute to re-write a new collective legend of the unity of Chinese people.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Injuries, and head injuries in particular, are a common cause of childhood, adolescent and young adulthood morbidity and mortality. The risk factors for injuries in general have been well researched. But it remains uncertain whether these factors are similar for specific injuries, such as head injuries. The inter-relationships between individual and environmental risk factors are difficult to study. Whilst much is know of the short-term consequences of head injuries, relatively little information is available on their long-term conseque~ces. The follow-up period in most research is short (often less than 1 year) and studies are weak in terms of design. Studies generally find a variety of social, cognitive and psychological consequences in children and young adults experiencing head injuries. This study assessed in two large, nationally representative samples, a 1946 birth cohort and a 1997 cross-sectional health survey: 1) the occurrence and risk factors for childhood, adolescent and early adulthood head and other injuries, and 2) the long-term cognitive and psychiatric effects of skull injuries. The overall findings for the risk factors across the two data sets and over 5 decades of data collection were strikingly similar. Maleness was a major risk factor for the head and other injuries. Some of the behaviour and personality factors such as hyperactivity and being neurotic, even after adjusting for sex, socioeconomic status and family type, remained significantly related to injuries, particularly those affecting the head region. A clustering of demographic, socioeconomic, family and behavioural risk factors significantly increased the likelihood of injuries, particularly recurring injuries with at least one being a head injury. In the unadjusted analyses socioeconomic status and family type were less consistently related to injuries. The long-term psychiatric and cognitive consequences of skull injuries causing concussion and skull fractures in childhood and early adulthood were negligible. Other childhood factors such as educational ability, behaviour and personality, and level of education achieved were more predictive of psychiatric symptoms and cognitive problems in adulthood. This study suggests that children and adolescents with behavioural and personality problems were at greater risk of head and other injuries in childhood, adolescence and later in adulthood. Children and adolescents with behavioural and personality problems were more likely to live in manual social class families and families with a single parent or stepparent. This combination of behavioural problems and deprived socioeconomic and family circumstances may increase tendencies for violent behaviour, alcohol dependence and manual occupations later in adulthood, which all increase the risk of injuries. There is therefore a need to identify children and adolescents with behavioural and personality problems as early as possible to prevent the impact in the short- and longterm. This will not only reduce the burden of injuries but also the many other consequence of behavioural and personality problems, particularly when located within deprived socioeconomic and family circumstances.

No description available.

This dissertation uses a feminist cultural materialist approach that draws on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Luce Irigaray to examine the neglected genre of postwar-Cold War American teen girl romance novels, which I call female junior novels. Written between 1942 and the late 1960s by authors such as Betty Cavanna, Maureen Daly, Anne Emery, Rosamond du Jardin, and Mary Stolz, these texts create a kind of hieroglyphic world, where possession of the right dress or the proper seat in the malt shop determines a girls place within an entrenched adolescent social hierarchy. Thus in the first chapter, I argue that girls adherence to consumer-based social codes ultimately constructs a semi-autonomous female society, still under the umbrella of patriarchy, but based on female desire and possessing its own logic. This adolescent female society parallels the network of women who produced (authors, illustrators, editors) and distributed (librarians, critics) these texts to teenaged girls. Invisible because of its all-female composition, middlebrow status, and feminine control, yet self-governing for the same reasons, the network established a semi-autonomous space into which left-leaning authors could safely (if subtly) critique American social and foreign policies during the Cold War. Chapter Two examines the first generation of the network, including Anne Carroll Moore, Bertha Mahony, Louise Seaman, and May Massee, who helped to create the childrens publishing industry in America, while Chapter Three investigates the second generation, including Mabel Williams, Margaret Scoggin, and Ursula Nordstrom, who entrenched childrens and adolescent literature in publishing houses and library services. In Chapter Four I explore the shifting concept of what constitutes quality within these texts, with an emphasis on the role of authors, illustrators, and critics in defining such value. Chapter Five investigates the use of female junior novels within the classroom, paying particular attention to the role of bibliotherapy, in which these texts were used to help teenagers solve their developmental tasks, as suggested by psychologist Robert J. Havighurst. A brief conclusion discusses the fall of the female junior novels and their network, while a coda addresses the republication of these texts today through the nostalgia press.