Background: Every year the number of young and middle-aged persons who receive stroke are increasing. Stroke is often considered as a disease of old people. A stroke often leads to changes in life. The consequences can be cognitive impairments and movement disabilities. These consequences can have a high impact of the person's life. Aim: The aim was to describe experiences of daily life after a stroke from the perspective of adults younger than 65 years old. Method: To analyze data, Friberg's (2012) method aimed to contribute to evidence-based care based on analyzing qualitative research, was used. Ten scientific articles were chosen and analyzed. Results: The result showed that adults younger than 65 who suffered from a stroke experiences a lot of difficulties in life afterwards. The analyze process generated four categories and nine subcategories. The four categories are "an altered work situation", "lack in rehabilitation", "to loose myself", "difficulties in social meetings". Conclusion: The study showed that rehabilitation is very important for adults younger than 65 who suffered from a stroke. Their experiences showed a lack in rehabilitation when it comes to their age category. To go back to work, live family life and participate in other social events is important. It's different to suffer from a stroke at younger age when it comes to their needs. Health staff should be aware of these needs.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University / Vaccines have been one of the greatest modern achievements within the fields of medicine and public health. Since their development they have prevented millions. from becoming infected and saved countless lives. Over the years though there have been various instances of anti-vaccinationist movements, which will raise concerns about vaccine safety but then eventually fade away once the virtues of the vaccine are proven greater than the possible opposed reaction or side effect. These movements have create significant drops in vaccination rates regionally and have put many at unnecessary risk of infection. However, over the last decade there has been a general increasing public distrust of vaccinations, which has continued to propagate even after the initial concerns were addressed. This paper aims to evaluate if there is significant justification for the current anti-vaccinationist movement within modernized societies by examining the proposed and eventually discredited link between autism and the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that was initially suggested in the 1998 Wakefield et al. paper in The Lancet. This study will also evaluate opposing studies on the same to determine if any remaining concerns of a link between autism and the vaccine are justified while also evaluating the anti-vaccinationist rationale even though researchers have presented an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence showing the safety and efficiency of the vaccinations. Finally this study will look into how public health organizations can attempt to better efficiently deal with such movements in the future. The research for this paper is based on the analyzation of multiple recent research articles, as well as the evaluating trends obtained from public health records. [TRUNCATED]

The purpose of this series of studies was to evaluate the effects of schedule thinning and delay-to-reinforcement following intervention for individuals diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Study one was a systematic review of the available literature on schedule thinning, and study two evaluated the effects of a novel approach to delay-to-reinforcement following functional communication training. Results of both studies found that schedule thinning and delay-to-reinforcement are efficacious procedures for continued reductions in challenging behavior following intervention.

MSc (Med), Faculty of Health Sciences, University ofthe Witwatersrand, 2007 / Background Mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection is the primary cause of paediatric HIV infections worldwide. High HIV infection rates in women of childbearing age (15-49 years) and efficiency of PMTCT have resulted in the high rate of HIV incidence and prevalence in children of sub-Saharan Africa. The stark contrast in the success of PMTCT interventions between the western countries and less developed countries indicates the need for further research to develop alternative, easier, and more effective population-based interventions. Methodology This was a retrospective cohort study of the medical records of approximately 300 HIV infected women enrolled in the Nevirapine Resistance study between May 2002 and February 2003. An assessment of the significance of changes in immunological parameters (CD4 counts, CD4 percentages, CD4/CD8 ratios) and HIV RNA from 3rd trimester to 6 weeks postpartum and causal associations vi between these changes and increased risk of PMTCT was then conducted using logistic regression models. Results Mothers with CD4 counts above 200cells/μL were approximately exhibited onethird the likelihood of transmitting HIV-1 to their infants than mothers with CD4 counts below 200 cells/μL [OR 0.35 (0.13, 0.95)]. High maternal HIV RNA levels demonstrated a stronger association with increased risk of PMTCT with women with postpartum viral loads greater than 100 000 copies/μL exhibiting ten times the likelihood [OR 10.15 (2.17-47.55)]. Statistically significant mean increases in CD4 and CD8 cell counts from 3rd trimester to postpartum were observed. Mean increases in CD4 and CD8 counts demonstrated no association with PMTCT. Conclusion CD4 cell counts and CD8 cell counts underwent statistically significant changes from 3rd trimester to postpartum. These changes seem not to represent any clinically significant change in maternal disease progression during this time period and were found not to be associated with PMTCT.

ABSTRACT Under apartheid, the South African intelligence services operated in secrecy and without the framework of a Constitution upholding basic human rights. The situation changed drastically with the introduction of a democratic political dispensation in 1994, and with the adoption of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1996. One of the fundamental rights contained in the Bill of Rights (Chapter 2 of the Constitution) was the right of access to information. The subsequent passage of legislation to give effect to this right, required all state structures - including the civilian intelligence services, the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Secret Service - to actively disclose information about themselves, and to receive and respond to requests for access to records that were made in terms of the enabling legislation. The main issue with which the study is concerned - the balance between secrecy and transparency in a democracy - is one of a wider set of concerns related to democratic control and accountability of the intelligence and security services. The study explores policy options for reconciling the public’s right to information with the intelligence services’ need for a degree of secrecy with which to conduct their work. Inter alia, it compares the policy choices of three countries about how their intelligence services should function in relation to access to information legislation. The research reveals that there was uneven and erratic compliance by the intelligence services with key provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000, up to and including August 2005. The weaknesses arose because of the absence of clear policy on how to implement the Act in relation to the intelligence services, and in relation to information held by the intelligence and security services. The study therefore argues the need for a comprehensive policy package, which sets criteria for the conditions under which information should be protected from disclosure, and the criteria for determining when information no longer requires such protection. Finally, it argues for strict oversight of the intelligence services’ choices around secrecy and transparency.

Structurée autour de trois chapitres, cette thèse contribue à enrichir la perception et la compréhension des modes de consommation et des modes d'accès au livre a l'ère numérique. Nous abordons trois principales questions que sont les effets de longue traîne dans la demande de livres, la substituabilité e entre les modes d'accès au livre et l'articulation des prix des livres papier et numériques. Notre démarche est de considérer la multiplicité du marché e du livre, en tenant compte de sa sphère marchande et non marchande, et de la dualité de format du livre, papier et numérique. Nous avons dans un premier chapitre analysé la distribution des emprunts en bibliothèques publiques et étudié de la sorte des modes de consommation différents du star système. Pour expliquer cette diversité consommée en bibliothèques, le deuxième chapitre questionne l'articulation des modes d'accès au livre. Nos résultats montrent une complémentarité des pratiques d'emprunt et d'achat de livres et une indépendance des pratiques de téléchargement de livres numériques. La question du prix des livres numériques pouvant en partie expliquer cette indépendance, le troisième chapitre analyse la tarification des livres numériques. Nous avons montré qu'elle se structure principalement en miroir des prix des livres papier. Notre analyse se fonde sur trois bases de données originales, a savoir : les emprunts de fiction en bibliothèques parisiennes réalisés entre janvier et avril 2012 ; une large enquête réalisée auprès des usagers des bibliothèques parisiennes en 2014 ; et une étude des prix des meilleures ventes de 2011 de livres numériques en France et aux Etats-Unis. A partir de ces données empiriques, ce travail de recherche montre des modes de consommation et une offre du marché du livre papier et numérique qui s'articulent davantage qu'ils ne s'opposent. / This thesis enlightens the understanding of consumer behavior and access to cultural goods in the digital age. We discuss three main issues : the impact of the long tail effect on the book demand, the substitutability between books from different access points, and the articulation between the price of paper books and digital books. Our approach is to consider the diversity of the book market through its trade and non-trade spheres and the duality between book formats - digital or not. In the _rst chapter of this dissertation, we analyze demand for fiction books in public lending libraries. Our results reveal that book consumption is unrelated to the star system. In order to explain the diversity of book borrowing in libraries, the second chapter questions the articulation between the different access points. Our analysis reveals the complementarity between borrowing practices and purchase of books and the independence of the downloading of digital books practices. The price of digital books can be an explanation of this independence, that's why the third chapter analyses the structuration of digital books prices. Our results show that the pricing system of digital books mainly mirrors the pricing system of paper books. Our analysis of these three chapters are based on three original databases : the borrowing of fiction books in Parisian libraries between January and April 2012 ; a survey made in Parisian libraries in 2014 ; and a study of the prices of best-seller digital books in France and in the United States. Based on this empirical data collection, the present research demonstrates that consumer behavior and the paper book and digital book market are more often correlated than opposed.

Thesis advisor: Diana C. Pullin / As district- and school-level leaders face increasing pressure from federal, state, and local accountability mandates there has been increased dependence on using and analyzing student data to help improve student performance. While the reporting of disaggregated data by student subgroup confirms that achievement gaps exist, it does not provide district- and school-level leaders with the diagnostic data needed to identify key factors inhibiting student performance. Identifying and understanding factors hindering student performance is critical knowledge for leaders to cultivate as they work to address elements within their school or district that may need to change if student learning is to improve. This research study examined specific ways district- and school-level leaders go about challenging and helping their community to face the problem of student performance disparities, as well as specific aspects of the situation that may be contributing to the community's collective capacity, to address student performance disparities. Without proper district-level leadership, effectively addressing operational conditions that may lead to disparities in student learning is unlikely. Yet, little is known about which structures and routines district- and school-level leaders perceive to be important when analyzing student data. This single case study presents the results of an examination of student data analysis structures and routines within a small diverse urban Massachusetts district designated by the state as low-performing based on state indicators. In order to further understand structures and routines, interview and document data were reviewed. Four primary findings identified the district leadership's response to educational inequities: (1) a mandate for using data war-rooms and student data walls; (2) a traveling cabinet to ensure uniform review of student data across the schools in the district; (3) a mandate for individual school improvement plans; and (4) the use of school-based instructional coaches. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

In the past three decades, more than two dozen civil conflicts have ended in a long-term truce between the government and rebels. In these agreements, neither side disarms or makes any substantial concessions. Instead, rebel forces are permitted to recruit, fund themselves, and patrol territory without punishment so long as they leave government forces alone. Governments typically offer these agreements when they have few domestic or political interests in the conflict (as in remote separatist regions) or when they face short-run international pressure to reduce violence (as in high-profile conflicts). What happens to rebel organizations when the government permits them to operate and recruit freely? Governments and scholars believe that forbearance benefits rebel organizations, allowing them to gather new funds and new members who will empower them on the battlefield and at the bargaining table. This book argues instead that these periods of truce undermine rebel organizations by changing the types of recruits they attract. Truces do indeed make life safer and easier for rebel soldiers, attracting an influx of new rebel recruits. But they also undermine a key screening process in rebel recruitment. Rebel leaders need rebel soldiers to sacrifice their own desires (safety, pleasure, and profit) for the movement’s goals (battlefield victory, territorial control, and bargaining credibility). The safety and material benefits of truce disproportionately attract selfish opportunists who are prone to desert, defect, and disobey in the long run. Constrained by recruitment competition and bureaucratic incapacity, rebel leaders struggle to screen or control these new soldiers. I lay out this argument in a formal model of rebel recruitment, competition, and screening, validated with dozens of interviews of current and former rebels in Northeast India and Sri Lanka. I examine the effects of long-term truces on rebel organizations using three forms of evidence. First, I test how truces affect the behavior and motivations of rebel recruits with an innovative recruitment experiment in three separatist regions in Northeast India. By mimicking local rebel recruiting strategies in civic organizations and public gathering places, I gather nearly 400 likely rebel recruits. These recruits then evaluated randomly-generated hypothetical rebel groups, testing what factors make them more willing to join. The results shows that the safety and material benefits of truce disproportionately attract recruits who are less community-oriented, both in past behavior and self-assessments. Second, I explore the broader impacts of these recruit-side motivations on rebel organizations with 76 in-depth case interviews in Northeast India and Sri Lanka. These interviewees include rebel leaders, current and former rebel soldiers, and civilians interacting with rebel groups. By comparing over time (before and after truce agreements) and between movements, I track how truces shape rebel recruitment and control. Third, I construct an original worldwide dataset of civil conflict endings since 1946. This exercise shows just how common long-term truces are: since the end of the Cold War, more civil conflicts have ended in a truce than in a rebel victory or peace agreement. I also combine this data with existing conflict data, demonstrating that after a truce rebel groups are more likely to fragment, struggle in clashes with the government, and abuse civilians. This book challenges several key assumptions that scholars and policymakers hold about conflict resolution, rebel organizations, and state development. By shining a light on the largely ignored phenomenon of long-term truces in civil conflicts, it demonstrates what happens when reducing violence does not resolve a conflict. With innovative experimental evidence of rebel recruits’ motivations, it shows how changing resources can shift the quantity and quality of recruits rebels attract. By tracking rebel organizations before and after truce, it shows how a government can more effectively undermine a rebel movement in the long run with forbearance than with violent crackdown.

Finally, this thesis also identifies the antecedents, moderators and mediators that affect the role of anticipated regret on purchase intention. The results of the experimental study indicate the gender effect that female consumers generate more anticipated regret than males when confronting with price discount promotions. The results of comparison analysis demonstrate the sequence effect that, the effect of anticipated regret on purchase intention is larger if consumers are asked to anticipate regret of not purchasing the promotional item before their final purchase decision rather than if they are asked in the reverse sequence. The analysis results on the relationship between perceived value and anticipated regret indicate that anticipated regret is the mediator in the effect of perceived value on purchase intention. / Fourth, this thesis then studies the effect of price discount frequency on consumers' behavioral response with focusing on the affective stage of consumers' response and proposes a model that simultaneously considers consumers' attitude and anticipated regret. The results of an experimental study demonstrate that price promotion frequency negatively affects consumers' anticipated regret and purchase intention, and that the effect of promotion frequency on consumers' purchase intention is fully mediated by consumers' attitude towards the purchasing behavior together with consumers' anticipated regret. / Second, this thesis examines the effect of price discount framing on consumers' response, and proposes a price-value model to account for the effect of price discount framing on consumers' purchase intention. Results of two experiments indicate that price discount framing affects consumers' purchase intention through the full mediation of perceived value. The framing of dollar-based discount leads to higher perceived value and higher purchase intention than the framing of percentage-based discount; however, these effects are moderated by the degree of discount calculation difficulty and the price level of the promotional products. / The findings of this thesis have both potentially important theoretical significance for a better understanding of price discount promotion and practical implications for directing marketers to more effectively design their price discount promotion schemes. The research limitations of this thesis and future research directions are also discussed. / Third, the thesis investigates the effect of price discount depths on consumers' behavioral response. Under the means-end framework, this thesis extends the price-value model by including anticipated regret and proposes an integrated model to account for the mechanism that underlies consumers' behavioral response towards price discount promotion. The results of a survey study indicate that the proposed integrated model fits the data well, and that consumers' purchase intention is better explained and predicted by including consumers' anticipated regret in the model. / This thesis investigates how price discount promotion affects consumers' purchase decision making process with emphasis on the role of consumers' anticipated regret. Specifically, this thesis examines how the three important characteristics of price discount promotion (i.e., discount framing, promotion depth, and promotion frequency) affect consumers' behavioral response. First, this thesis provides a comprehensive review for the research literature regarding how price promotion affects consumers' response, making an in-depth discussion of the concept of anticipated regret, and then empirically identifying the effects of promotion framing, promotion depth, and promotion frequency on consumers' behavioral response. / Hao, Liaogang. / Advisers: Jianmin Jia; Samart Powpaka. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-06, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-159). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.

Standard models of cosmology use inflation as a mechanism to resolve the isotropy and homogeneity problem of the universe as well as the flatness problem. However, due to various well known problems with the inflationary paradigm, there has been an ongoing search for alternatives. Perhaps the most famous among these are the cyclic universe scenarios which incorporate bounces. As these scenarios have a contracting phase in the evolution of the universe, anisotropies and inhomogeneities would be expected to blow up on approach to the bounce. Thus, it is reasonable to ask whether the problems of homogeneity and isotropy can still be resolved in these scenarios. In this thesis, I will focus on the problem of the resolution of the isotropy problem. I begin with a brief review of anisotropic, spatially homogeneous geometries of cosmological interest. Next, I review the existing literature on bouncing cosmologies, and discuss the mechanism of bounce studied in previously proposed models, as well as their theoretical and observational advantages and disadvantages. I then discuss the process of isotropisation in the contracting phase of each bounce. In this phase of the evolution, the mechanism of ekpyrosis is used in most cosmological scenarios which incorporate a contracting phase to mitigate the problem of anisotropies blowing up on approaching the bounce. I start by studying anisotropic universes and I then examine the effect of the addition of ultra-stiff anisotropic pressures on the ekpyrotic phase. I then consider evolving such anisotropic universes through several cycles with increasing expansion maxima at each successive bounce. This eventually leads to flatness in the isotropic case. My aim is to see if the resolution of the flatness problem also leads to a simultaneous resolution of the isotropy problem. In the next chapter, I consider the effect of non comoving velocities on the shape of this anisotropic bouncing universe. In the final section of my thesis, I consider anisotropic cosmological models within the context of canonical quantum cosmology and investigate the quantum behaviour of anisotropies.