The problem addressed in this research was to develop an approach for the simultaneous green design of products and associated manufacturing processes including demanufacturing concerns. We propose a generic approach called Integrated Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing (IECDM) which can be applied to address problems in the ECDM domain. IECDM incorporates environmental considerations into the engineering design process, thereby increasing a product's total life-cycle value (including its end-of-life value) as experienced by the customer, manufacturer, and society, while simultaneously reducing impacts on the environment caused by that product and its manufacturing processes. IECDM is a novel integration of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), and Cost-Benefit Assessment (CBA). The focus is on process, based on modification of the traditional QFD methodology to incorporate environmental issues and green product-design decisions through the life cycle design activities of synthesis, analysis, and evaluation. This dissertation presents a QFD-based IECDM approach, a mathematical CBA model, and an IDDS (Integrated Design Decision-Support) framework with a design-flow-chart application for incorporating environmental criteria into product and process eco-design. The IECDM problem is defined as: given the customer and environmental requirements, develop an integrated approach for green product design that results in maximization of the product's total life-cycle value (TLCV). Initially. through investigation in the field of ECDM, we specified a clear ECDM domain within Industrial Ecology. Then. we proposed various state-of-the-art techniques that were used to implement ECDM in the literature. After we defined the IECDM problem. we developed an integrated approach that led to a generic QFD-IECDM methodology for dealing with problems in the ECDM domain. Finally, for implementing the proposed methodology, we developed a tentative IODS framework to encourage long-term development followed by an example. / Ph. D.

В статье анализируется необходимость формирования осознанного отношения у молодежи к смерти. Было выяснено, что сегодня молодёжь живёт в благополучной среде и в основном довольна жизнью, но есть факторы, провоцирующие рост риска суицидального поведения. Результатом представляется проект «Развитие осознанного отношения к смерти у молодёжи». / The article analyzes the necessity of forming an informed attitude to death among young people. It was found out that today young people live in a prosperous environment and are mostly satisfied with life, but there are factors provoking the growth of risk of suicidal behavior. The result is the project "Development of conscious attitude to death in youth".

This research is focused on a group of vegan and vegan-curious individuals who are creating, building and maintaining a vegan community of practice in Houston, Texas. Through ethnographic methods, including participant observation, in-depth semi-structured interviews, surveys, quantitative analysis, and use of geographic information systems (GIS), this thesis considers motivations, group hierarchies, core and peripheral membership, practices, beliefs and construction of identity within the vegan community of practice. Further, concepts from the anthropology of religion are utilized in discourse analysis around conversion to ethical veganism, preaching, and religious-ethical beliefs around enlightenment and the principle of ahimsa. Utilizing subcultural studies and social movement theory, this thesis also shows how the vegan community of practice fits into vegan subcultures and the greater vegan lifestyle movement. Finally, as an applied project, deliverables to the client Vegan Society of PEACE includes both personal and structural barriers to veganism which are understood with respect to a race-conscious approach to veganism, and with special consideration given to the capitalist commodification of animals. Suggestions are given and strategies for growth of the community are highlighted at the end of this paper.

Zahlreiche Untersuchungen belegen, dass räumlich selektive Aufmerksamkeit visuelle und auditive Reizverarbeitung beeinflusst. Bestehende Modellvorstellungen sind, aufgrund der geringen Kenntnisse vergleichbarer somatosensorischer Effekte, schwer zu einem allgemeinen Mechanismus generalisieren. Mittels zeitlich-räumlich hoch aufgelöster Messmethoden wurde in dieser Dissertation Effekte räumlich selektiver Aufmerksamkeit auf die bewusste Wahr-nehmung und kortikale Verarbeitung somatosensorischer Reize untersucht. Im Einzelnen wurde gezeigt, dass die räumlich selektive Aufmerksamkeit die Maskierung eines überschwelli-gen Reizes an einer Hand durch einen starken Reiz an der anderen Hand moduliert. Mittels Elektroenzephalografie (EEG) wurde nachgewiesen, dass nach der Stimulation die Verarbei-tung in einem fronto-parietalen Netzwerk den Zugang ins Bewusstsein signalisiert. Der Be-fund einer der bewussten Wahrnehmung zeitlich vorausgehenden neuronalen Desynchronisa-tion im frontalen Kortex und in S1 erlaubt eine Erweiterung bestehender Modellvorstellun-gen. In einer simultanen EEG-funktionelle Magnetresonanztomografie (fMRT) -Studie wurde gezeigt, dass räumlich selektive Aufmerksamkeit die Signalverarbeitung während einer frühen sensorischen Phase der Reizverarbeitung beeinflusst (50 ms). Dieser Effekt korrelierte mit den Blutflußveränderungen in S1. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Studien, dass räumlich selektive Aufmerksamkeit zwar frühe somatosensorische Aktivität in S1 sowie die Wahrnehmung so-matosensorischer Reize moduliert, dies jedoch keine hinreichende Bedingung für die bewusste Wahrnehmung ist. Hingegen ist die attentional kontrollierte Desynchronisation somatosenso-rischer Rhythmen vor der Stimulation, die eine verstärkte fronto-parietale Reizverarbeitung nach sich zieht, hierfür entscheidend. / Numerous studies have shown that selective orientation of attention to a stimulus location modulates visual and auditory stimulus processing. Due to the relatively little knowledge about comparable effects of attention in the somatosensory system, existing models can barely be assigned to general cortical mechanisms. The studies conducted in this dissertation should therefore contribute to this knowledge. Effects of spatial selective attention on conscious per-ception and cortical processing of somatosensory stimuli have been investigated by applying recording methods with high temporal and spatial resolutions. Specifically, it was shown that spatial selective attention modulates masking of supra-threshold stimulus on one hand by a strong stimulus applied to the other hand. Using electroencephalography (EEG), it was dem-onstrated that processing in a fronto-parietal network but not early S1-activation signals the entry into conscious perception. The finding of neuronal desynchronisation in the frontal cor-tex and S1 preceding conscious stimulus perception permits the extension of the existing models. With the aim of localizing the temporal effects of spatial selective attention, a simul-taneous EEG-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-study was conducted. In con-trast to findings of visual attention, it was shown that orientation of attention enhances soma-tosensory processing at an early stage of stimulus processing (50 ms). This effect correlated with the changes of cortical blood flow in S1. Together, these studies show that spatial-selective attention modulates early activity in S1 as well as conscious perception of somatosen-sory stimuli. Nevertheless, this is not sufficient for an entrance into conscious perception. Instead, attentionally controlled pre-stimulus desynchronisation of somatosensory rhythmic activity, followed by an increased fronto-parietal stimulus processing are necessary prerequi-sites for conscious perception.

Critical care nurses experience stressful situations in their daily working environments. The question arises for nurses: are there adequate support systems in the critical care environment and what are critical care nurses doing to mantain their own health and well-being. Facilitating conscious awareness among critical care nurses could enhance their resiliency and their hardiness, strengthening their coping capacities in stressful working situations. The contextual framework adopted for this research was the Neuman Systems Model. A qualitative research approach (exploratory, descriptive and contextual) was used to explore and describe the stress experienced by critical care nurses. Focus group interviews were conducted with critical care nurses and individual interviews with nurse managers. The results revealed their perceptions and experiences about the effects of stress in the critical care environment, as well as some of their coping strategies. Raising critical care nurses' levels of conscious awareness about their coping strategies with stressful events in their daily working lives, could enhance their resiliency and hardiness, enabling them to continue working effectively in stressful environments. This could enhance the general well-being of individual critical care nurses, the nursing care rendered to critically ill patients, and save money for the health care services by reducing turnover rates among critical care nurses. / Health Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Imago relationship therapy was originally applied to couples counselling by Dr Hendrix (1992, 1993). This model was applied to a group of senior managers from the Lonmin Platinum Mine to create an understanding of intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics to reduce the conflict levels they experienced in the workplace. Imago theory is applicable to the workplace because of the influence of intrapersonal processes on interpersonal dynamics, which is the same influence that causes conflict in romantic relationships. Love relationships consist of three stages, namely romantic love, the power struggle stage, and the real love stage. In the organisational context, these stages are the initial excitement phase, the power struggle stage, and the conscious relating stage. The study aimed to obtain quantitative and qualitative data on the effects of the Imago theory programme presented to the group of managers. The study thus aimed to determine whether the managers experienced a shift in their consciousness after the programme had been presented. Furthermore, the study aimed to determine whether such a shift in consciousness would have an effect on the individuals’ overall emotional wellbeing and if it would increase their overall life satisfaction. Furthermore, the study investigates if the programme had a positive effect on their interpersonal relationships (particularly with their subordinates). Twenty-two senior managers and 22 subordinates participated in the study. Certain pre-tests were conducted, followed by the seven-module intervention. The same post-tests were conducted after the training had taken place. Quantitative and qualitative results were obtained. The quantitative results showed that the participants’ problem solving abilities improved and that they experienced marginally higher levels of life satisfaction. The reactivity levels experienced by the participants during conflict situations decreased, and their levels of marital satisfaction improved. The results also showed that the managers responded more positively to their subordinates after the intervention. Furthermore, the subordinates experienced their managers as being more flexible after the intervention. The qualitative results indicated that a shift in consciousness did take place as envisaged. The group understood both intrapersonal and interpersonal psychodynamics. They also willingly applied Imago concepts to improve their functioning in the organisational context. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

儘管民主政治是一種不夠完美的制度，但仍係人類社會迄今為止最能尊重與保障個人平等自由生活方式的一種政治制度，故而在廿世紀下半葉廣獲世界各國青睞。透過政治文化的觀點，我們瞭解到民主政治的建立與發展，一般人民是否具有民主的精神與素養，往往要比政治制度或典則是否完善，更具有決定性的影響。因此，本研究將「民主」定義為一種生活方式，希望從人們對民主內涵之覺察與認識，從蘊含於其日常行為價值觀中的表現，探討民主價值成為個人生活方式的可能影響。 東亞大陸上的華人社會，不論是中國大陸或台灣都肯定民主的價值，也都朝民主的方向邁進，然而二者選擇之路徑不同，歷經之階段亦不相同。台灣已成功地從威權體制轉型為民主政治，大陸則在改革開放的驅動下，著手施行有中國特色的社會主義民主建設。民主轉型能否成為兩岸未來和平對話的契機？值得我們關注。 兩岸青年雖然生活於不同的教育環境，但是資訊時代為他（她）們的成長提供了日益趨同的國際舞台。在現代化民主潮流的衝激下，他（她）們習得怎樣的民主內涵，對兩岸關係未來的發展，勢必會有重要的影響。因而本研究關切兩岸大學生政治學習的內容如何，其民主意識的內涵有何異同，兩岸大學生會有怎樣的政治參與意向，以及社會化媒介對其民主意識和政治參與意向所可能的影響。 經由內容分析法比較兩岸大學生高中時期政治學習的內容，發現兩岸的教育重心都在強化政治知識和政治策略，但本質意涵仍有顯著差異：其中各自對「政治社群」的認同對象不同、「政治知識」的來源不同、「政治策略」的性質不同，猶有甚者，彼此教科書對「民主價值」的認知與詮釋差異甚大。大陸方面的政治教科書對意識形態的強調與堅持比台灣遠甚。 本研究同時以態度量表進行經驗調查，以立意取樣的方式，在兩岸選取政治大學、成功大學、東吳大學和北京大學、人民大學、（廣州）中山大學等六所學校共1100餘位學生作為對比分析。經過冗長的統計分析與論證，本研究所提出的各項假設獲得了部分的驗證。 根據本研究發現，兩岸大學生影響其民主意識與政治參與意向的原因容或有所不同，但從調查結果可知，雖然兩岸在政治、經濟體制上分離了五十餘年，但本研究所調查的兩岸大學生在許多方面都呈現了相同之處，並且對於民主仍充滿了肯定，甚至大陸大學生對於民主的渴望猶勝生活在自由風氣中的台灣大學生。筆者認為，這樣的共識讓兩岸有了對話的平台，在未來的兩岸關係中，這群政治與社會的菁英勢必能由此發展出新的出路。 / Democratic political system which has been widely accepted in the second half of the 20th century all over the world has played the best role in respecting and guaranteeing individuals’ equal and liberal lifestyle so far, though it might not be the most perfect. Though the view of political culture, we acknowledge that in the establishment and development of democratic politics, whether the ordinary people have democratic spirits usually has more crucial effects than whether the political regimes and norms are flawless. Therefore in this research, the writer defines ‘democracy’ as ‘a lifestyle’ and tries to discuss the possible effect of democratic lifestyle through people’s awareness and understanding of democratic connotation and their daily behavior reflecting their values. In the Chinese society on the Eastern Asia continent, both the Mainland China and Taiwan approve the democratic value and move toward the democracy. But they chose different ways, either the developing stages. Taiwan has successfully changed from the authoritarian system to democratic politics while the Mainland China has been performing the China Style Socialist Democracy Construction in the motivation of the market-oriented Reformation. Can the democratic transition create a peacefully conversational opportunity? It’s worth paying attention. The youth of both sides are living in the different educational environment, but the Information Age provides them an international stage more and more similar. By the wash of democratic wave, what democratic connotation they have learned will make a big impact on the cross-straight relationship in the future. So this research concerns on the undergraduates’ political study contents, the differences between their democratic connotation, their political participation wills and the probably effects of socialization media on their democratic conscious and political participation wills. After comparing the political study contents in high school by content analysis method, it is found that the educational cores of both sides are political knowledge and political policy, but they have distinct essences in who the political community identifies, where the political knowledge comes, what the political policy means, and the most different, how the democratic value is explained. The political textbook of the Mainland China enhances the ideology more often than Taiwan. Meanwhile, in this research the scaling method was adopted to execute the experience survey. With the purpose-sampling method, more than 1100 students of National Cheng Chi University, National Cheng Kung University and Soochow University in Taiwan and Peking University, Renmin University and Sun Yet-san University in the Mainland China are chosen. Through the tough statistic analysis and demonstration, the hypotheses of this research have been large partly proved. According to the research founds, in both sides the factors which effect the undergraduates’ democratic conscious and political participation wills are different. This survey also tells us that the undergraduates in both sides has a lot in common although have been politically and economically separated for more than 50 years. They both feel very positive towards democracy, further more, the Mainland China undergraduates are more eager to democracy than Taiwan undergraduates who are living the liberal atmosphere. The author believes that this common opinion constructs the talk bridge between the Straights. In the future, these political and social elites will develop a new peaceful path to change the present vague relationship between both sides through the democratic way.

The work is focusing on children personality development in the sense of developing ability to live meaningful life, positive thinking and programming of own goals. Theoreti- cally are described key laws of life that children learn through the completed project. This projecttakesintoaccountandusesthepsychologicalassumptionsofrelevantagegroup.The project also applies methods and techniques of dramatic education.The result of the project is evaluation of the successfulness and effectiveness from the long term perspective and thereforeitscontributioninrelationtochildrenandtheirabilitytolivetheirlivesmeaningfully. Keywords: Dramatic education, positive thinking, programming of own goals, personality develo- pment, self-perception, conscious intentions, the power of thoughts

[pt] Apesar do aumento da consciência e do interesse do consumidor por produtos verdes e de uma pré-disposição para compra de produtos e serviços mais ecologicamente corretos, pode-se notar muitas vezes a falta de correspondência nos consumidores entre seu discurso e suas ações, isto é, uma incoerência entre atitudes e comportamento, também chamada hiato. Pode-se dizer que muitas vezes há uma pré-disposição (atitude) ecológica, porém esta não se transforma em ação (comportamento) de compra favorável ao meio ambiente. Dessa forma, apesar de vários estudos terem sido realizados sobre o comportamento do consumidor, nenhuma explicação definitiva sobre o fenômeno do hiato e nenhum modelo comportamental preciso para sua compreensão foi encontrado. O presente estudo visa contribuir com a literatura para uma compreensão mais profunda deste fenômeno, sob um novo prisma, analisando os fatores influentes no hiato sob a perspectiva de contraste de gerações. O estudo busca compreender os principais fatores influentes que contribuem para aumentar ou reduzir este hiato entre atitude e comportamento ecologicamente consciente que ocorrem nas Gerações Baby Boomers (BB) e Y, bem como suas principais diferenças e semelhanças. Para o desenvolvimento da tese foram realizadas trinta entrevistas em profundidade com consumidores residentes no Rio de Janeiro, sendo quinze pertencentes à Geração Baby Boomers e quinze pertencentes à Geração Y. Para realização da análise de conteúdo das entrevistas se utilizou o software Atlas.ti para facilitar a interpretação dos dados e organização dos resultados. Buscou-se identificar os principais fatores influentes no hiato em ambas as gerações analisando cinco atividades de consumo: produtos ecologicamente corretos, energia, água, transporte e reciclagem/descarte. Os resultados apontam as principais semelhanças e diferenças encontradas entre os comportamentos das gerações Baby Boomers e Y e demonstram uma maior preocupação e comportamento mais consciente por parte dos indivíduos da Geração Y no que tange algumas atividades de consumo. Ao final é proposto um modelo de comportamento ecologicamente consciente para melhor compreensão deste hiato e no qual são evidenciados os principais fatores que contribuem para aumentar ou reduzir o hiato em ambas as gerações. / [en] Despite increased awareness and consumer interest in green products and a pre-disposition to purchase more environmentally friendly products and services, we can often notice the lack of correspondence between consumers speech and their actions. Therefore, there is an inconsistency between attitudes and behavior, also called gap. It can be said that there is often an environmentally friendly pre-disposition (attitude) which does not often turn into action (behavior). Thus, although several studies have been conducted on consumer behavior, not a definitive explanation of the gap phenomenon and not a precise behavioral model for its compreehension was found so far. The present study aims to contribute to the literature for a deeper understanding of this phenomenon in a new light by analyzing the influential factors on the gap from the perspective of different generations. The study seeks to understand the main influential factors that contribute to increase or reduce this gap between attitude and environmentally conscious behavior that occur in members of Baby Boomers (BB) generation and Y generation, as well as their similarities and differences. For the development of the thesis thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with consumers residing in Rio de Janeiro; fifteen belonged to the Baby Boomers generation and fifteen to the Y generation. The analysis of the results used the Atlas ti software in order to facilitate interpretation and data organization. The results show the main influential factors on the gap on both generations (BB and Y), by analyzing five consumption activities: environmentally friendly products, energy, water, transportation and recycling / disposal. The results show the main similarities and differences between the behavior of the BB and the Y generations indicate greater concern and more conscious behavior by individuals of generation Y in terms of some consumption activities. At the end, a model of ecologically conscious behavior is proposed to better understand the phenomenon called gap. The main factors that contribute to increase or reduce this gap in both generations are highlighted.

Nous décrivons le phénomène d’engagement à travers des expériences transmédia coconstruites avec les bénéficiaires dans le contexte de la formation pour adultes. Nous abordons ce terrain en faisant l’hypothèse qu’un transmédia à valeur expérientielle permet d’accroitre la participation des sujets pour consolider l’engagement en formation. Cette hypothèse ouvre la perspective d’une médiation de type transmédia capable, d’intégrer des objectifs d’exploitation scientifique de l’engagement et de valorisation de la participation et de l’attention qui pourraient être intéressants pour d’autres corpus.À partir d’un cadre d’analyse centré sur les bénéficiaires des transactions, notre enquête met en exergue différentes formes d’engagement suivant des transmédia hybrides aux caractéristiques spécifiques. La complémentarité de ces transmédia a favorisé divers régimes d’engagement observés de façon ponctuelle, pour un engagement sur la durée. / We describe the phenomenon of engagement through co-constructed transmedia experiences with the beneficiaries in the context of adult education. We approach this ground on the assumption that a transmedia with experiential value makes it possible to increase the participation of subjects to consolidate the commitment in training. This hypothesis opens up the prospect of a transmedia type of mediation capable of integrating the objectives of scientific exploitation for the commitment and enhancement of participation and the attention that could be interesting for other corpuses. Based on an analysis framework focused on the beneficiaries of transactions, our survey highlighted different forms of hybrid transmedia engagement with specific characteristics. The complementarity of these transmedia has favoured various commitment regimes observed on an ad hoc basis for a long-term commitment.