Background: Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. It is considered anappalling disease with its high mortality, demanding treatment and major impact on selfimageand body perception. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe women's experiences of being diagnosed and treatedfor breast cancer and how the breast cancer affects their life situation. Method: The method used was a literature study based on qualitative research. Eleven studieswere analysed according to the five-step model by Friberg. Results: The analysis resulted in three main themes and sex subthemes. The main themeswere: The life is threatened, Suffer from disease and Life continues. Conclusion: Suffering from breast cancer imposes changes on all aspects of the women's life,both physically, mentally and socially and evokes various individual coping strategies. In thisprocess it is vital that the nurse, which is closest to the patient, has a good understanding ofthe various patterns of crisis reaction to be able to deliver a good professional care andindividual support to the women.

<p>The increasing amounts of vehicle emissions and vehicle energy consumption are major problems for the environment and energy conservation. Hybrid vehicles, which have less emissions and energy consumption, play more and more important roles in energy efficiency and sustainable development.</p> <p> </p> <p>The power management strategies of a parallel-through-the-road hybrid architecture vehicle are different from traditional hybrid electric vehicles since one additional dimension is added. To study power management strategies, a simplified model of the vehicle is developed. Four types of power management strategies have been discovered previously based on the simplified model, including dynamic programming model, equivalent consumption minimization strategy, proportional state-of-charge algorithm, and regression model. A new power management strategy, which is artificial neural network model, is developed. All these five power management strategies are compared, and the artificial neural network model is proven to have the best results among the implementable strategies.</p>

This thesis presents an investigation into the experience of ESL Higher Education young writers when composing three online genres: academic text, diary texts, and blog texts. Central to this investigation is the authenticity of audience and directing texts to ‘real’ readers. Hence, technological tools are utilised in order to approximate such experience of writing for real readers. A qualitative case study was employed over three months of an academic semester at an Omani Higher Education College. Two cases participated in the study of overall 17 students across both cases: 5 males and 12 females and 10 students in case 1 and 7 students in case 2. To attain an in-depth understanding of the cases; different tools of data collection were deployed, including: interviews, classroom observation, reflective diary for recording student perceptions and experiences, and three forms of written texts were collected from the participating students: academic essay, diary, and blog. Thus the reflective diary was both a genre of writing and a data collection method. The study findings highlight that having only a teacher as an ‘audience’ restricted students’ attempts to focus on content, and most of this focus was given to shaping texts in accordance with student perceptions of teacher approved organisation and representation of text. Whereas blogging provided an opportunity to think of a wider range of readers and therefore a greater tendency to author personally selected texts. Also, diary was mostly associated with teacher-audience; though some writers enjoyed writing diary for personal use, the fact that these diary texts vary in accordance with these different understandings of audience offers further credence to claims about the role of real and assumed readers in shaping texts. The significance of the current study is that it offers practical and pedagogical thinking for teaching writing in ESL exploiting the affordances of technology in teaching process writing. It suggests that varying both audience and genres in relation to classroom writing tasks can have benefits for student writers in terms of their understanding of audience, their shaping of text for an audience and increased investment in the content of what they write. It offers insights into problems and issues felt by young writers that are usually unknown to the teachers. Based on those insights, differing issues such as collaboration, process writing and grading are re-evaluated.

Central bank communication has become an important monetary policy tool. This is because it helps to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy by sharing information, which reduces uncertainty. Previous research on the topic has concentrated on central banks in developed economies, such as the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Federal Reserve. This research contributes to the literature by providing insights from the perspective of emerging economies, where communications of Chinese and Indian central banks are examined. The first empirical chapter investigates the effectiveness of communication of People s Bank of China (PBOC) on Chinese financial markets: the interbank money market, the equity market, and foreign exchange markets, are analysed using time-series models. The main focus of the chapter includes an analysis of PBOC s credibility, construction of a new communication index on global economic outlook, more detailed communication indexes, and addressing how-to-communicate questions in the PBOC s communication strategies. The results indicate that the PBOC has credibility and its communication generally reduces volatility in these markets. The second empirical chapter looks at the role of the PBOC s communication in predicting policy rates, using an ordered probit model. The communication indexes constructed in the chapter cover both formal and informal communications of PBOC for 2009 to 2015 and a new communication index on money supply was also constructed. The main finding is that PBOC s communications (particularly on inflation) are useful for predicting PBOC s monetary policy stance. The money supply communication index has some, but not much predictability powers. Finally, the third empirical chapter compares central bank communications in China and India. The contribution of the chapter lies in the comparative analysis of two central banks communications of developing economies, which were overlooked in the extant literature. It shows that the communications on the countries monetary policy inclination have influence on macroeconomic variables of the countries, particularly, the short-term inflation expectations. The findings, therefore, suggest the effectiveness of communications as an unconventional monetary policy tool in emerging economies.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the two instructional strategies for six phonic word-attack skills objectives and to focus on the following specific questions: (a) When student teachers use a basal-reader-oriented strategy (Treatment I) for teaching phonic word-attack skills, what will be the effects on elementary pupil achievement of these skills? (b) When student teachers use a systematic instructional strategy (Treatment II) for teaching phonic word-attack skills, what will be the effects on elementary pupil achievement of these skills? (c) How will the effects of these strategies compare? Written criterion-referenced phonic word-attack skills pre-tests were administered to approximately 110 third and fourth grade pupils. The validity of the criterion-referenced tests was judged by a team of reading specialists from North Texas State University. The reliability coefficients of the tests ranged from .57 to .93 and all were significant at the .01 level. This report concludes that when elementary pupil achievement of phonic word-attack skills is used as the criterion for student teacher effectiveness then training in the conscientious application of systematic instructional procedures incorporating research validated learning principles is a more effective procedure than requiring student teachers to follow the recommended procedures in basal readers. It also concludes that the ability of student teachers to affect the learning of phonic word attack skills by elementary students increases with practice; however, this ability appears to increase at a greater rate for those trained in systematic instructional procedures than for those who are trained to use the basal reader.

Orientador: Marcos Tadeu Del Roio / Banca: Antônio Carlos Mazzeo / Banca: Antônio Ozai da Silva / Resumo: O presente trabalho é um estudo sobre as transformações na Igreja Católica e seus reflexos no Brasil com as publicações das encíclicas sociais que vão possibilitar o surgimento de movimentos de esquerda na Igreja. Verificam-se, inicialmente, os acontecimentos políticos e as ações católicas que nos levam a uma compreensão das características do catolicismo e seus processos na Igreja Romana e que influenciarão as estratégias políticas e pastorais da Igreja do Brasil, gerando um choque entre clérigos tradicionalistas e reformadores, tendo um reflexo em âmbito mundial durante as discussões por ocasião do Concílio Vaticano II e em nível nacional nas ações sociais da Igreja com a Teologia da Libertação. A Igreja, no afã de evitar a expansão do comunismo e de reafirmar seu poder de influência na sociedade, pautou-se pela Doutrina Social Católica e arregimentou a ação social do laicato. Futuramente os vários grupos e tendências da esquerda católica darão as bases para a formação do Partido dos Trabalhadores. / Abstract: The work present is a study on the transformations in the Catholic Church and your reflexes in Brazil with the publications of social encyclics that go to possibilite the appearing of left's moviment in the Church. Verify itself initially, the political events and the catholic actions that us take the a comprehension of catholicism's characteristics and your processes in the Roman's Church and that will influence the political strategies and Church's pastoral from Brazil, producing a shock between traditionalist clergymen and reformers, having a reflex in world extent during the discussions by occasions of Vatican II Concil in national level in the social actions of Church with the Relief's Theology. The church in the enthusiasm of to avoid the expansion of communism and of reaffirm your power of influence in the society, lined itself in the Catholic Social Doctrine and Lined up the social action of layman. Futurely the various groups and tendencies of cathollic left, will give the bases to the formation of Workers Party. / Mestre

The gross domestic product (GDP), as a basic measure of a country's domestic economic output is a product of the size of the labour force and its efficiency. Its result is a combination of two immediate factors: utilization of labour and productivity of labour. Productivity is the most relevant in the long run and the key to sustainable economic growth, while innovation is the central factor of productivity growth. Assessing the innovative performance of a country, as well as explaining it, goes a long way in understanding the dynamics of its productivity, hence its prospects for long term economic growth. The aim of this dissertation thesis is to confirm the importance of innovations' influence on the GDP growth in the chosen developed countries. Another aim of this thesis is to point at innovation as a source of competitive advantages for companies that allows further market share gains and thus revenue and margin increase as well as other strategic advantages. The main aim of this thesis is to provide a complete picture of a successful innovation launch in the market and its management during its life cycle, while considering various influences impacting the success of innovation strategies. The focus will be mainly on high-tech product innovations.

L'allocation peu optimale de l'Aide Publique au Développement, la performance avérée de certaines des Petites Économies Insulaires en Développement ainsi que le problème de définition de ce groupe de pays nous amènent à nous poser la question suivante : le traitement spécifique des PEID de la part des institutions internationales est-il justifié ? Nous nous sommes de prime abord focalisés sur les caractéristiques intrinsèques de ces petites économies, qui les rendent a priori plus exposées aux chocs externes. La première partie de notre analyse a ainsi eu pour but d'évaluer la vulnérabilité économique de ces territoires. Certaines des économies étant reconnues comme vulnérables affichent des résultats de performance économique et sociale remarquables. Afin de tenir compte de ce paradoxe, nous nous sommes attachés à quantifier cette performance de développement, de manière à aborder notre second thème : la performance de résilience de ces territoires. Notre analyse nous permet quelques constats intéressants. Premièrement, la définition des concepts est un réel problème. Deuxièmement, bien qu'avérée, la vulnérabilité des PEID se trouve nuancée par le changement de construction de l'Indicateur de Vulnérabilité Économique que nous proposons. Troisièmement, la performance économique et sociale de certaines économies insulaires est indéniable. Quatrièmement, bien que le caractère résilient des PEID soit confirmé par notre analyse, cette résilience est particulièrement hétérogène au sein de ce groupe de pays. Enfin, l'étude des stratégies de développement de ces îles nous a conduits au constat suivant : il ne peut exister de stratégie commune à ces territoires différents. / The non-optimal allocation of Official Development Assistance, the performance of some Small Island Developing Economies and the problem of definition of this group of countries lead us to ask the question : is the special treatment of SIDE from international institutions justified? First, we focused on the intrinsic characteristics of these small economies, which are a priori more exposed to external shocks. The first part of our analysis consists to assess the economic vulnerability of these territories. Some economies, recognized as vulnerable, are economically and socially efficient. To account for this paradox, we devoted to quantify the development performance to address our second topic: the resilience performance of these territories.Our analysis allows some interesting findings. First, the definition of concepts is a real problem. Second, the vulnerability of SIDE is nuanced by the construction change of the Economic Vulnerability Indicator that we propose. Third, the economic and social performance of some island economies is undeniable. Fourth, although the resilient nature of SIDE is confirmed by our analysis, this resilience is especially heterogeneous within this group of countries. Finally, the study of the development strategies of these islands allows the following conclusion: there can be no common strategy in these territories.

nÃo hà / Esta dissertaÃÃo tem como intuito desenvolver uma anÃlise sobre o fenÃmeno do trÃfico de drogas a partir da compreensÃo etnogrÃfica sobre as significaÃÃes das situaÃÃes vivenciadas por indivÃduos que praticam o comÃrcio de/crack/, maconha e cocaÃna em Fortaleza, CearÃ. Pretende-se analisar as informaÃÃes obtidas durante oito meses de /interaÃÃo/ com jovens envolvidos em diversas prÃticas /desviantes/ (Becker, 2008). Baseado nos registros etnogrÃficos sobre o cotidiano de ruas, praÃas, becos e terrenos perifÃricos da cidade busca-se entender as lÃgicas que permeiam os conflitos inerentes à dinÃmica do comÃrcio de drogas. Para isso, serÃo apresentadas situaÃÃes que ajudam a compreender os pontos de vista dos praticantes do comÃrcio varejista de drogas. Ressalta-se os relatos de traficantes sobre os ganhos, ameaÃas e dilemas vivenciados no contexto de prÃticas socialmente condenÃveis. Os dados etnogrÃficos expressam e traduzem as maneiras como se relacionam diferentes lÃgicas de atuaÃÃo na paisagem do trÃfico. Neste sentido, serÃo apresentadas algumas das estratÃgias do trÃfico, como acobertamento de investidas e negociaÃÃes com a polÃcia, que tiveram como objetivo o drible das medidas punitivas e o fortalecimento das prÃticas/desviantes/. / This dissertation is to develop an objective analysis of the phenomenon of drug trafficking from the ethnographic understanding of the meanings of situations experienced by individuals who practice the trade / crack /, marijuana and cocaine in Fortaleza, CearÃ. We intend to analyze the information obtained during eight months of / interaction / with youth involved in various practices / deviant / (Becker, 2008). Based on ethnographic records on everyday streets, squares, alleys and peripheral land the city we seek to understand the logic that permeate the inherent dynamics of the drug trade conflicts. For this, situations that help to understand the views of practitioners of retail drug will be presented. It is noteworthy reports of traffickers on gains, threats and dilemmas experienced in the context of socially reprehensible practices. The ethnographic data express and reflect the ways they relate different logics of action in the landscape of trafficking. In this sense, we present some of the strategies of trafficking, such as assaults and cover-up of negotiations with the police, which were aimed at the dribble of punitive measures and strengthening / deviant / practices.

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are an important economic consideration but remain an understudied phenomenon. In particular, research emphasising the role of the entrepreneur within entrepreneurial ecosystems is scant. Entrepreneurial universities, particularly the commercialisation activities by academic entrepreneurs, contribute to both the emergence and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the university-industry (U-I) boundary. Yet, an understanding of the links between university characteristics and micro-level cognition on entrepreneurial ecosystems remains limited. Furthermore, it is not clear how the dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems differ across different national geographies. Venture development at the U-I boundary is difficult and uncertain. Entrepreneurs must make decisions under intense ambiguity and make sense of the highly uncertain situation. Nowhere is this more evident than in knowledge and technology-intensive sectors, where venturing relies on entrepreneurial coping responses to uncertainty. However, little is known about how entrepreneurs cope with uncertainty, especially when uncertainty is irreducible. To progress understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour amidst uncertainty, and the emergence and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the U-I boundary, this PhD thesis investigates venturing in the field of regenerative medicine (regenmed). This is a particularly suited study context since regenmed commercialisation activities, which are driven by university-based stem cell research, are highly uncertain and the industry is still in a formative stage. This PhD thesis explores entrepreneurial behaviour amidst uncertainty and the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the U-I boundary. The thesis comprises of three empirical studies (essays) that can be read independently, however, together the essays provide an enhanced understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour and the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the U-I boundary. Essay 1 reveals how ecosystem participants make sense of venturing processes in a highly uncertain, technology-intensive field. It highlights the development of coping strategies during the sensemaking process, and illustrates an association between university entrepreneurial culture and coping strategies. A model of sensemaking process under uncertainty is presented and a typology of sensemaking types in uncertain ecosystems is proposed. Essay 2 is a cross-national study of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Edinburgh (UK) and Madison (USA). The study investigates the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems around two research-intensive universities, which have a long history in stem cell innovation. The essay highlights the effects of cultural artefacts on microlevel behaviours. The influence of behaviour and cognition on the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems is modelled. This reveals different development paths for similar ecosystems. Essay 3 explores the emergence and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems, and considers how these help drive technology-based economies. More specifically, the study explores technology transfer and contextual factors across three regenmed ecosystems (Edinburgh, Madison, and Moscow) to reveal the emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the U-I boundary. Findings show that ecosystem and venture characteristics emerge from institutional characteristics, micro-level cognition and regional context. Additionally, university culture and entrepreneurial coping strategies generate a typology for spinouts within the ecosystem. Collectively, these three essays reveal novel phenomena explaining how ecosystem actors make sense of uncertainty and how this influences the emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the U-I boundary. Additionally, they reveal the importance of context in the venturing process and in entrepreneurial ecosystem dynamics. This provides important contributions to theories of entrepreneurial behaviour, entrepreneurial ecosystems and technology transfer. These scholarly contributions impart important practical implications.