Conflict resolution style was examined with 191 married Latino couples residing in Houston and Dallas, Texas, representing 21 different nationalities. The purpose of this research study was to examine conflict resolution styles most predominant among the Latino couples in the sample and to examine if various demographic data correlated with the couples conflict resolution style. The dependent variables were conflict resolution style (avoidance, volatile, and validator) using Gottman's MSI (Marital Conflict Scale, 1994). Using the same items on the MSI, and direct statements about Latino's communication from the Marriage and Family Therapy literature, other dependent variables were identified (unity, harmony, autonomy, conservatism and passion) with factor analysis and content analysis. The statistically significant independent variables were religion, language, education, and country of birth. The majority of this sample identified them selves as having a validating style of conflict resolution. Clinical implications for family therapists are discussed. / Ph. D.

Numerous research studies have documented the benefits of a conflict mediation program as one component of a school-based violence prevention program. The major purpose of this study was to determine the possible effects of participation in a conflict mediation training program and serving as a peer mediator on the attitude a student has toward conflict and the interpersonal problem-solving strategies employed by a student. Secondly, this study sought to determine if students trained in conflict mediation skills assimilate the skills into their daily lives by examining attitudes and behaviors of students when faced with conflict outside the school environment. The population in this study were 40 students enrolled in three grade levels in a middle school located in a suburban southwestern Virginia county . These students were named as possible mediators by the school faculty during the 1995-96 school term. The independent variable in this study was training in conflict mediation skills. The dependent variables were attitude toward conflict as measured by the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument and interpersonal problem-solving skills as measured by the Alternative Solutions Test. Parents and teachers of all participants documented observed behavior by completing the problem scales of the Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher's Response Form. Qualitative data were collected through the use of a focus group. Measures of central tendency and standard deviations were calculated for the experimental and control groups for each dependent variable tested. Analysis of variance and t-tests were conducted to determine if significant effects were present following the treatment. All test results were analyzed at the p< .05 level. Based on the data analysis, it was concluded that students trained in conflict mediation chose to utilize collaboration and compromise when faced with situations of conflict whenever possible. The students receiving no training chose avoiding or accommodating most frequently. In addition, it was concluded that training affected the problem-solving skills of students by empowering them and encouraging the development of confidence in their abilities to solve problems. Students trained in conflict mediation generated a significantly greater number of solutions to problems presented than did the untrained students. / Ed. D.

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection, which may ultimately lead to multi-organ failure. Sepsis causes millions of deaths each year and creates tremendous financial burdens on the health care system, yet there is no effective cure for sepsis. Even years after the onset of sepsis, patients who have clinically recovered still die from sepsis-related complications due to chronic immune dysfunction. Neutrophils, the most dominant leukocytes in human circulatory systems, play a critical role in not only promoting inflammation to fight against microbe invasion but also facilitating inflammation resolution to restore immune homeostasis. While dysfunctional/exhausted neutrophils have been implicated in the long-term morbidity and mortality of sepsis, the cause of neutrophil exhaustion and the system to rejuvenate the dysregulated immunity are understudied. To fill in the missing piece here, we conducted our trilogy-like projects. First, we established an in vitro culture system to mimic sepsis-like conditions: murine neutrophils prolonged-stimulated with LPS exhibit exhaustion-related phenotype with the elevated expression of both proinflammatory and immunosuppressive makers on the cell surface as well as dysregulated swarming patterns. We found that by knocking out TRAM (TICAM2), an adaptive molecule regulating TLR4 downstream MyD88-independent signaling pathway, neutrophils exhibit attenuated exhaustion on both phenotypic and functional levels. Of note, TRAM contributes to the development of exhausted neutrophils through activating Src family kinases (SFKs)-STAT1 cascade, and deficiency in TRAM provides protective effects on systemic inflammation, reduces tissue injury, and improves survival in a murine colitis-induced sepsis model. Next, in my second project, we reported that neutrophils can be clustered into three subpopulations even at their naïve state based on the single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) analyses. Of note, neutrophils in one of the clusters are more mature but less apoptotic with the elevated expression of resolving-associated markers Cd86 and Cd200r, hence we termed these neutrophils as 'resolving neutrophils'. We found that the resolving neutrophil population can be expanded via pharmacologically reprogramming with sodium 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) or genetic deletion of TRAM. Resolving neutrophils not only secrete more pro-resolving mediators, such as ResolvinD1 and SerpinB1, but also exert enhanced phagocytic and bactericidal capacities. Mechanistically, we discovered that the development of resolving phenotype in neutrophils is mediated by the PPARγ/LMO4/STAT3 signaling circuitry, which is constitutively suppressed by TRAM. To explore the translational applications of resolving neutrophils, in my third and final project, we conducted adoptive transfer experiments to examine the effects of TRAM-deficient resolving neutrophils in cecal slurry (CS)-induced septic mice. We found that TRAM-deficient mice are more resilient to severe sepsis with reduced tissue injury and less compromised lung integrity as compared to wild-type (WT) mice, and splenic neutrophils from TRAM deficient septic mice better preserve resolving-related features. Moreover, transfusing TRAM deficient neutrophils in WT septic mice renders therapeutic effects with alleviated lung and kidney damage. We also observed TRAM-deficient neutrophil-mediated resolving memory propagation in vitro to promote resolving features of neutrophils, monocytes, and T cells, as well as to strengthen endothelial cell barrier function. In terms of the mechanism, we reported that TRAM is critical for the secretion of neutrophil elastase, a potent protein to compromise endothelium; hence, endothelial cells cocultured with TRAM deficient neutrophils maintain higher levels of adhesion/tight junction markers than cocultured with WT neutrophils. Taken together, our trilogy projects better define exhausted and resolving neutrophils. And most importantly, our works demonstrate that TRAM, an underappreciated molecule, is responsible for inducing neutrophil exhaustion and suppressing resolving neutrophil generation. / Doctor of Philosophy / A 'good' inflammation upon the infection should include two steps: the initial proinflammatory response to combat invading pathogens followed by the later resolution process to repair damage and restore the balance of the host's immune system. The harmony of these reactions is essential to maintain immune homeostasis, and the disruption of immune homeostasis may lead to different pathogenic conditions, including sepsis. Neutrophils are the most dominant white blood cells in human circulation, and they play a critical role in both promoting proinflammatory response and facilitating inflammation resolution. While the dysfunction of neutrophils is associated with the pathogenesis of sepsis and implicated in long-term sepsis-related death, approaches to rejuvenate dysregulated/exhausted neutrophils to restore immune homeostasis in septic patients are still lacking. In our projects, we better defined the characteristics of exhausted neutrophils in a sepsis-mimicking condition and unveiled the underlying mechanisms of neutrophil exhaustion. In addition, we demonstrated that neutrophils with pro-resolving features can be expanded concurrently with the decrease of exhausted neutrophils by a genetic modification approach. Finally, we showed that neutrophils with pro-resolving features can offer therapeutic effects in sepsis mice to alleviate tissue injury and organ dysfunction.

Yes

Yes / The March 2023 bank failures of SVB, Signature and Credit Suisse, which caused turmoil in financial markets and led to regulatory and central bank intervention, revived the debate about the effectiveness of the bank crisis management, resolution and deposit insurance legal framework established after the Great Financial Crisis (GFC). Although the March 2023 events did not escalate into a full-blown financial crisis, they drew attention to certain areas of the current framework where improvements may be needed. These areas include the need of financial regulation and supervision to focus more on small and medium size banks as potential sources of systemic market events; to review the adequacy of the current deposit insurance regime and the treatment of uninsured deposits; and to provide more clarity about the order of creditor claims in case of bank resolution/insolvency. The article reviews the events of March 2023, the key lessons from these events and discusses how these lessons could shape the frameworks for Bank crisis management and resolution in India and the European Union. The two jurisdictions are in the process of updating their laws in this area and the March 2023 events could influence the relevant decisions.

No / A hybrid molecular mechanics and quantum mechanics solid state DFT method is used to re-rank the stability of racemic and enantiopure crystal structures of four molecules; 4-hydroxymethyl-2-oxazolidinone, 5-hydroxymethyl-2-oxazolidinone, 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2,5,5-trimethylpyrrolidine-1-oxy and 2-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-2,5,5-trimethylpyrrolidine-1-oxy. Previous work using a force field based method to predict these crystal structures indicated that the lattice energy may be a suitable criterion for predicting whether a chiral molecule will resolve spontaneously on crystallisation. However, in some cases, the method had predicted an unrealistically high lattice energy for the structure corresponding to the experimentally observed one. The Hybrid DFT method successfully predicts those molecules which resolve spontaneously and furthermore predicts satisfactory lattice energies for all experimentally observed structures. Based on a comparison of the predicted lattice energies from the two methods it is concluded that the force fields used were not sufficiently accurate to predict spontaneous resolution with any confidence. However, the Hybrid DFT method is shown to be sufficiently accurate for making such predictions.

The changing nature of today’s wars, shows that civilians have been involved in these wars as both victims and perpetrators. Since these are internal wars, many civilians are often displaced, and they end up becoming refugees. In the midst of all this, women and children suffer most in this transition, with women suffering from sexual violence. In this context of armed conflict, it is observed that women, men, girls and boys experience conflict differently and they also respond differently in times of peacekeeping, peacebuilding and also in post-conflict reconstruction. Women are not only the victims of war; they are also denied full participation in decision-making in areas of peace and security. Furthermore, their vital roles in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding are rarely acknowledged. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 in October 2000, with the theme “Women, Peace and Security”. Although there are other forums that have addressed women in peace and security, there is none that has been more vocal, unanimous and holistic than Resolution 1325. The Resolution recognizes the need for women to be involved in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. It also calls for the participation of women in decision making and peace processes. It further calls for the integration of gender perspectives in peacekeeping operations and the protection of women and girls from gender based violence in conflict zones. Resolution 1325 refers to other various previously adopted resolutions and other policies and gives mandates to the different role players like the United Nations, member countries and all parties involved in conflicts. In its efforts to implement the Resolution, the United Nations developed a System-Wide Action Plan for 2005- 2006 which was later reviewed and updated for 2008-2009 with performance indicators, monitoring and accountability procedures. The member states are under the obligation to ensure that the policy on peace and security is incorporated in their national policies. This study has cited Liberia being a country that has emerged from civil war and how the Resolution has been applicable in the reconstruction of that country. Though progress has been recorded in the implementation of the Resolution, there are still gaps and great challenges in the use of the action plans. However, the United Nations entities are working on the revised action plans and their report will only be given in 2010. This study has compared Resolution 1325 with the landmines campaign which has been referred to as the most successful humanitarian advocacy ever in history. There are various lessons learnt from the landmines campaign which could be used for the successful implementation of Resolution 1325. This study has assessed the impact of Resolution 1325 since its adoption to date and found out that there has been little progress. The gender perspective in preventing armed conflict has not made it any easier for women to participate in decision making and peace processes. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

For many digital image/video processing applications increasing the spatial resolution is highly beneficial. At higher resolution, TV pictures look more natural and pleasing to the eye, computer vision tasks such as object detection and tracking can be performed with higher precision, medical diagnoses can be made with a higher confidence, security cameras can offer better identification, and satellite imagery can be interpreted with higher accuracy. As such, spatial resolution is an influential parameter in many mainstream imaging applications, and resolution enhancement task naturally arises as a means of increasing the effectiveness of any imaging system used in the mentioned applications. In this thesis, we concentrate on two enhancement problems of practical importance, namely, low-complexity resolution enhancement for customer grade flat panel televisions, and resolution enhancement of noisy high-dimensional hyperspectral imagery. For TV resolution enhancement our main concern is keeping computational complexity at a minimum. The hardware limitations of average customer grade televisions effectively rule out a multi-frame approach. Hence, we take a low-complexity single-frame approach based on exploiting natural image characteristics. For hyperspectral imagery we take advantage of multiple observations in a modified superresolution framework. Here the main challenges are the high dimensionality of hyperspectral data and the noise present in all spectral bands. We design a physical model of the hyperspectral image acquisition process, and based on this model we formulate an iterative resolution enhancement algorithm.

This thesis deals with out-of-court dispute resolution within international business transactions. Its goal is an analysis of those methods of dispute resolution that may be encountered both in practice and specialized literature and determination of their basic characteristics that allow comparison. The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first two chapters are of general nature and specify the content of the given topic. The third chapter establishes the framework of relevant law and the subsequent chapters are concerned with the online dispute resolution with the help of modern technology. The first chapter is composed of three parts. The first part defines the notions of out-of-court dispute resolution and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and explains the relation between those two notions that are not considered synonymous. The second part describes the common features of the out-of-court dispute resolution methods. To the contrary, the third part points out the differences between them and groups the particular methods based on various criteria. The second chapter defines the international business transactions and focuses on international or foreign element and its determination. The third chapter provides an overview of the legal framework relevant to the topic. In its four parts...

Finding the way in known and unknown city environments is a task that all pedestrians carry out regularly. Current technology allows the use of smart devices as aids that can give automatic verbal route directions on the basis of the pedestrian's current position. Many such systems only give route directions, but are unable to interact with the user to answer clarifications or understand other verbal input. Furthermore, they rely mainly on conveying the quantitative information that can be derived directly from geographic map representations: 'In 300 meters, turn into High Street'. However, humans are reasoning about space predominantly in a qualitative manner, and it is less cognitively demanding for them to understand route directions that express such qualitative information, such as 'At the church, turn left' or 'You will see a café'. This thesis addresses three challenges that an interactive wayfinding system faces in the context of natural language generation and understanding: in a given situation, it must decide on whether it is appropriate to give an instruction based on a relative direction, it must be able to select salient landmarks, and it must be able to resolve the user's references to objects. In order to address these challenges, this thesis takes a data-driven approach: data was collected in a large-scale city environment to derive decision-making models from pedestrians' behavior. As a representation for the geographical environment, all studies use the crowd-sourced Openstreetmap database. The thesis presents methodologies on how the geographical and language data can be utilized to derive models that can be incorporated into an automatic route direction system. / <p>QC 20160516</p>