Supply Chain Management (SCM) aims to synchronize the requirements of customers with the flow of materials from suppliers, in order to satisfy the needs of the customers as costefficiently as possible. This has become a difficult task due to several developments in the market, such as increased competition, increased demand variability, increased product variety, increased amounts of customer-specific products, and shortening product life cycles. These developments, due in part to globalization, provide additional management challenges and new practices in which supply chains are designed and managed, and can eventually make the difference between companies staying competitive or not. The overall purpose of this thesis is to investigate how complexity and globalization affect supply chain design and operations. The main emphasis has been on producing descriptive results of the studied phenomenon. This research involves five case studies covering international transportation structures used in SCM, the selection of supply chain strategies in different business environments, and the role of information systems and technology in achieving the objective of SCM. In this thesis it has been concluded that in order to cope with increasingly complex and fragmented markets companies need more differentiated transportation structures, modes, and supply chains. Furthermore, to effectively manage this, information systems and advanced decision support tools are required. In addition, this thesis has shown that current taxonomies for supply chain strategy selection are too simplistic due to three major problems: they mediate that it is a question of choosing one supply chain strategy for the entire company, they regard markets as rather homogeneous, and they link each supply chain strategy to a specific business context. Instead, it has been concluded that in order to better satisfy differing customer needs in various markets it is increasingly necessary to develop a differentiated supply chain strategy by utilizing different manufacturing and delivery strategies concurrently. Thus, a need exists for new taxonomies for supply chain strategy selection which recognize that the markets are becoming more fragmented and complex, that customer preferences differ across customer/market segments, and that there is a need to differentiate the supply chain strategy. This thesis also highlights several requirements of a differentiated supply chain strategy. Firstly, extended supply chain collaboration is required, since a differentiated supply chain strategy will involve more supply chain partners than a traditional supply chain strategy. Secondly, there is a need for more transportation mode alternatives, particularly intermodal, both in supply and distribution operations, due to the fact that differentiation requires diversity. In this thesis, intermodal landbridge freight services are highlighted as one interesting avenue, which could potentially facilitate a more differentiated supply chain strategy. Thirdly, more integrated information systems are needed along with decision support tools. This study illustrates that agent based modeling appears to be an interesting method for developing realistic decision support tools in the context of complex supply chains. An interesting aspect for further research is to investigate how different manufacturing and delivery strategies can be used concurrently in international supply chains. Moreover, there are several requirements and opportunities of a differentiated supply chain strategy, and these have to be investigated further

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund På grund av prestationskrav kan elitidrottare utsätta sig för att träna trots hög smärtintensitet. Flertalet kvantitativa studier har undersökt vilka copingstrategier som används av idrottare med smärta. Däremot är elitidrottares egna upplevelser av smärta ännu ett outforskat område.   Syfte Att undersöka en grupp elitidrottares upplevelser av smärta och deras strategier för att träna i närvaro av smärta.    Metod Fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med elitidrottare har utförts. Databearbetningen har skett med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys.   Resultat Det framkom tio kategorier. Smärta beskrevs som uppmärksamhetskrävande och något som kunde ge negativa konsekvenser. Yttre faktorer såsom omgivningens utformning samt inre faktorer såsom förväntningar och fokus tycktes påverka smärtupplevelsen under träning. Hanteringen av smärta skedde genom sätt att tänka och agera, såsom positivt självprat och uppvärmning.   Konklusion Smärta upplevdes som ett hinder som kunde påverkas av yttre och inre faktorer. Inom träning kunde smärta hanteras genom olika sätt att tänka och agera. Vidare forskning kan leda till klinisk nytta för fysioterapeuter i kontakt med elitidrottare. / ABSTRACT   Background Because of demands of performance elite athletes can expose themselves to train regardless of pain intensity. Several quantitative studies have examined coping strategies used by athletes with pain. However, the elite athlete's own experiences of pain is still an unexplored area.   Aim To investigate a group of elite athletes' experiences of pain and their strategies for training in the presence of pain.   Methods Four semi-structured interviews with elite athletes have been conducted. Data processing has been done by using qualitative content analysis.   Results Ten categories emerged. Pain was described as attention-consuming and something that could have negative consequences. External factors such as environment and internal factors such as expectations and focus seemed to affect the pain experience during training. The pain was managed through ways of thinking and acting, like positive self talk and warming up.   Conclusion Pain was perceived as an obstacle that may be affected by factors in the environment and within themselves. Within training pain could be managed through different ways of thinking and acting. Further research can lead to clinical benefit for professionals in contact with elite athletes.

Class of 2010 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: To determine the perceived level of stress pharmacy students experience related to academics and the methods they use to relieve that stress. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-­‐sectional study. Questionnaires were administered to first, second, and third year University of Arizona College of Pharmacy students during regularly scheduled class time. Data on perceived level of stress, sources of stress, and methods of relieving stress were collected and analyzed. Data on average hours worked per week, marital status, number of children, age, gender, and number of professional organizations involved in were also collected. RESULTS: The stress survey was completed by a total of 182 students at the College of Pharmacy. The overall stress score was highest in the second year students, although the total score was relatively low (total score 18.7; p=0.04). The four items that resulted in the highest stress scores were exams and/or grades (stress score ≥ 2.1), amount of class material (stress score ≥ 1.8), financial responsibilities (stress score ≥ 1.8) and lack of free time (stress score ≥ 1.6). Stressful situations that the students felt the most during the semester were thinking about the things that they had to accomplish (score ≥ 3.2) and having to control the way they spend their time (score ≥ 2.6). Common stress relievers were spending time with family, friends and pets ( ≥ 27%), watching television or movies ( ≥ 22%) and exercising ( ≥ 17%). Of those students who exercised, >44% felt it helped relieve stress very much. CONCLUSIONS: Little difference in levels of stress was observed between the classes. Based on the results, pharmacy students at the University of Arizona do not appear to be excessively stressed. Spending time with family/friends/pets, watching TV/DVDs, and exercising were the most common ways of relieving stress.

Stress is well known to go hand in hand with registered nurses and the nursing field. The aim was to examine stress related coping strategies experienced and used by registered nurses from different countries all over the world. This qualitative study was done by analyzing the results from 10 different articles. The findings showed that there was multiple coping strategies that is being used by nurses to cope with the stress they experience at work. Some of the coping strategies were done after work; For instance, different physical activities including yoga and sports. Other coping strategies that were found are more work related. For example, the importance of knowing yourself in your nursing role, knowing your limits, and the importance of having a good relationship with your colleagues. Employers can use these strategies on a daily basis both and registered nurses to cope with work related stress.

The prospect of using the Internet and other Big Data methods to construct event data promises to transform the field but is stymied by the lack of a coherent strategy for addressing the problem of selection. Past studies have shown that event data have significant selection problems. In terms of conventional standards of representativeness, all event data have some unknown level of selection no matter how many sources are included. We summarize recent studies of news selection and outline a strategy for reducing the risks of possible selection bias, including techniques for generating multisource event inventories, estimating larger populations, and controlling for nonrandomness. These build on a relativistic strategy for addressing event selection and the recognition that no event data set can ever be declared completely free of selection bias.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The demand for study places in Honours courses in Psychology far exceeds the available places in courses at government-funded universities. Private institutions are increasingly offering such courses to address the need for enrolment and to capitalize on a market niche. Students who are unsuccessful at mainstream universities might apply for courses at private institutions, even those offered at faith-based universities regardless of their personal spiritual beliefs and values. There is a clear gap in the literature exploring the experiences of students enrolled at faith-based private institutions. The study attempted to gain insight into the subjective experiences of students enrolled in a Psychology Honours programme at a faith-based institution in the Western Cape. The proposed study incorporated an exploratory research design and employed qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. Semi-structured individual interviews were used to collect data from a purposively selected sample and transcripts were subjected to a content analysis. Data collection and analysis occurred in parallel until reaching the threshold number. Ethics clearance and project registration was obtained from the UWC Senate Research committee and all relevant ethics principles were upheld. The findings indicated that faith based institutions are not homogenous and that students enrolled at faith based institutions are respectively not homogenous. Findings further indicate that alignment does exist between the core values of participants and their discipline choice, and not that participants‘ faith beliefs were necessarily aligned with that of the institution.

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Abstract This dissertation explores four key questions within the HIV/AIDS paradigm1 and the impact it is having on orphans and vulnerable children in the district of Quthing, Lesotho. These questions are: What is the status of social safety nets? How are communities surviving with the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children? What might be the early warning signs of community breaking points as a new category of child-headed household emerges? What are the human drivers of the pandemic in terms of behaviour and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, and sex; and in terms of reasons why people are not heeding the warning signs and adopting behaviour change? The findings of the dissertation reveal that communities are overwhelmed with the demands placed on them to support orphans and vulnerable children to the point where culture, traditions, and society at large are showing early warning signs of irreversible strain. Despite the efforts of government, donors, the humanitarian sector and the communities themselves, awareness of HIV/AIDS is not translating into behavioural change and as such the spread of the virus continues unabated among the youngest and most vulnerable groups. 1 The set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline. ii

Thesis advisor: Audrey Friedman / This mixed-method study, combining both qualitative and quantitative procedures, aimed at investigating the impact of Palestinian EFL teachers' attitudes toward oral errors on their students' attitudes and choice of oral error correction strategies. The study sample consisted of (151) high elementary and secondary school Palestinian EFL teachers and (774) of their students, distributed proportionately between males and females. Both groups responded to a teacher and a student questionnaire respectively. The sample also included (12) teacher participants, each of whom was observed and interviewed twice in the course of the study, and (12) student participants, each of whom took part in two focus group interviews. Data obtained from different sources (i.e. case study vignettes, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and observations) provided significant evidence that the majority of both Palestinian EFL teachers and students had positive attitudes toward oral errors and their correction as they generally agreed that error correction was necessary for the enhancement of language teaching and learning. However, the data also revealed some discrepancy between students and teachers regarding what, how often, when, how, and by whom errors should be corrected. The study also showed that although students wanted to improve their accuracy in English to be well prepared for accuracy-oriented formal tests, the majority of them preferred not to be marked down on every error they made. Further, the study revealed that different error correction strategies had different cognitive, affective, and behavioral impacts on different students. The study recommends that both EFL teachers and learners develop more positive attitudes toward oral errors and their correction. In addition, teachers should have at their disposal a wide variety of error correction strategies to be able to deal more appropriately and effectively with student oral errors. The study also recommends that teachers get the right amount and timing of error correction for each individual student preferences, language proficiency, personality type, and learning styles, which cannot be achieved without the teachers having a dialogic interaction with their students and students being able to voice up what their perceptions of and preferences for oral error correction strategies are, what errors they want to be corrected, and who should correct them. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Celeste Wells / It has been identified that academic stress is an issue plaguing college undergraduates across the country. A significant amount of academic stress can have a negative impact on both the physical and mental state of the individual. Six elements were identified as contributing to the make up of an individual’s stress profile and as a result, influenced the subsequent impact that academic stress may have on their daily life. Those elements included the following; definitions of stress, reactions to stress, timing, organizational strategies, support group and peer opinions. While the abundance of academic stress observed throughout colleges and universities is discouraging, its prevalence provides a large amount of data. By identifying the factors that contribute to the severity of academic stress, the avenues to a solution were identified as well. This study surveyed 16 participants at a large, private institution known for its academic rigor and competitive undergraduate environment thus rendering it an ideal setting for a study focused on academic stress. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Communication.