This research is a Case Study of the experiences of two groups of gifted children, including two preschoolers (3-5 years old) and three primary age children (6 - 9 years old), and their families in Victoria. The children were selected utilising a multi-faceted approach to identification appropriate to their ages and stages of development. That is, both objective and subjective procedures were used which included teacher nomination, parent nomination and checklists for the identification of the children for the case study. The focus of the study was on the personal and educational experiences of these children, with a particular emphasis on recording the

The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of social support in helping adolescent Māori mothers cope with pregnancy, birth and motherhood, with a particular emphasis on its role in enabling them to continue at school. The aim of this research is to understand and make sense of these experiences and to perhaps identify gaps within an individual's social network. The analysis and methodology of the research was underpinned by a community psychology framework. Nine interviews were conducted with young Māori women who had become pregnant and continued with their pregnancy, all before the age of 20. The in depth interviews included questions focusing on the young women learning of pregnancy, the pregnancy, birth, caring for their child and their experiences with education and future plans. Negative experiences were usually those which involved unsupportive people. Positive interactions were those where support, of all types, was offered and useful to my participants and their children. Education was highlighted as the most effective way of providing a better life for adolescent mothers and their children. The research highlights the importance of social support and the continuation of education. Combining the efforts of positive social networks and social support services can improve the lives of adolescent Māori mothers and their children.

Support provided by non-professional family members is generally believed to be beneficial to the recovery of critically ill patients. Nursing researchers have conducted a number of studies about the experiences of critically ill patients and the needs of their families. However, few have investigated the experiences and interactions of both this group of patients and their main informal carers (principal lay support persons) simultaneously. This study has sought to rectify this situation by capturing and undertaking a theoretical analysis of the perceptions and experiences of both critically ill patients and their principal lay support persons. As a result a substantive theory has been developed through the use of grounded theory method in the Study. This theory identifies and explains the actions and interactions between critically ill patients and their principal lay support persons who participated in the Study, whom the researcher observed and interviewed during the data collection period. Data were collected during the critically ill participant¡¦s hospitalisation and three months following his/her discharge from hospital. Implications of the study concern nursing practice as well as outcomes of the Study as these are described and explained through the substantive theory developed from it. Testing of this theory in the context of critically ill patients and their lay support persons provides opportunities for further research, as does the overall phenomenon of lay person support for critically ill patients. Grounded theory was the method used in the Study. Data for the Study were collected by participant observation of, and face-to-face interviews with patients who had a critical illness and their principal lay support persons. Two interviews were conducted with each of these participants. Patients and their principal lay support persons were initially interviewed separately to obtain information about their individual perspectives of what support meant to them during an episode of critical illness. A second interview was conducted three months later to facilitate the researcher¡¦s understanding of both patients¡¦ and principal lay support persons¡¦ experiences during the recovery process. A total of sixteen (16) interviews were conducted in this study from eleven (11) participants before data saturation occurred. The data collected were analysed by constant comparative analysis integral to the grounded theory approach. Data analysis was also facilitated by a computer-aided qualitative data analysis software NUD*IST 4 (Non-numerical Unstructured Data Indexing, Searching, and Theorizing Version 4). This software aided the analysis to the extent that it provided an efficient data management system. Three categories, 1) being-there-with, 2) independing, and 3) coping were discovered from the data. Being-there-with is an essential and mutual need between the patients and their principal lay support persons during the episode of critical illness and later recovery. Independing on the other hand is the process through which these patients experiment with regaining their independence. It involves their experiences of making decisions and re-building confidence. Coping is the process whereby the principal lay support persons and patients manage their stress during the critical illness and later recovery. During the coping process, there is an uncertainty in principal lay support persons about their loved ones¡¦ situation. They experience ¡¥coping with each day as it comes¡¦ and ¡¥learn to adjust¡¦ to the stress arising from the changing and unpredictable condition of the patients. Being-there-with is also a major coping strategy for both the principal lay support persons and patients to manage their stress. The three categories of being-there-with, independing, and coping arising from this Study provided the basis from which to identify its core category, ¡¥mutually being-there-with each other¡¦, and to theorize the core process that represents the substantive theory about experiences and interactions of principal lay support persons and their loved ones during a critical illness situation. The core process that represents the developed substantive theory is ¡¥surviving a critical illness through mutually being-there-with each other¡¦. This theory explains the complex, dynamic, and interactive nature of principal lay person support which both patients and principal lay support persons experienced during an episode of critical illness and later recovery. An understanding of this dynamic, complex and interdependent relationship between patients and lay support persons will better enable nurses to consider both these parties as the focus of their care. Furthermore, because the substantive theory emerging from this Study captures the process of patients¡¦ and lay support persons¡¦ recovery from an episode of critical illness it provides a conceptual map of how this process may progress. In this Study the theory enables nurses to gauge both patients¡¦ and lay support persons¡¦ progress along the road to recovery and to consider this in their plan of care. Several implications for nursing practice emerged from this study. These relate to the needs of critically ill patients and their principal lay support persons during the process of being critically ill and recovering which they experienced together. Because this Study identified the importance to both patients and principal lay support persons being-there-with each other, a key implication of the study is the need for intensive care units to adopt flexible visiting hours to maximise opportunities for this to occur. Nevertheless, at the same time nurses need to be vigilant that flexible visiting does not prove onerous and overtire patients or their principal lay support persons. A further implication of the Study for nursing practice closely related to its finding of the importance of the core category ¡¥mutually being-there-with each other¡¦ to patients and their lay support persons in the context of critical illness and recovery, is the need for nurses (and other health professionals) to be willing to care for both parties as an inseparable dyadic unit. This Study also has implications relating to the care of critically ill patients following their discharge home. The experience of participants in this Study revealed the importance of careful discharge planning, post-ICU follow-up, and continuity of care in the community to enhance recovery of the patients and to address the special needs of their principal lay support persons. From a researcher¡¦s perspective the process of recruitment for this study demonstrated that recruitment of vulnerable populations (like ICU patients) is a challenge to the researcher in terms of ethical considerations, particularly when the researcher is attempting to meet the expectation of primary selection for theoretical sampling in grounded theory method. Suggestions are made in this thesis about how to tackle this challenge in future studies. At the conclusion of the Study, a number of suggestions for further research are made relating to the findings. These include the recommendation that the substantive theory developed in this Study be tested with a larger population. It is also suggested that a longitudinal follow-up study, which extends beyond a three months recovery period, be conducted to further understand the experiences and support needs of post-ICU patients and their principal lay support persons. In addition, more research is required to identify best practice regarding discharge planning, post-ICU follow-up care, and continuity of care in the community for critically ill patients and their principal lay carers. / PhD Doctorate

The research reported in this thesis explored the perceived value of transition support programs for newly registered nurses in New South Wales and the health care facilities offering such programs. Although transition support programs have been designed and implemented in various forms since the transfer of nurse education to the tertiary sector, there remains little evaluative evidence of the value of such programs. Two groups of registered nurses formed the participants in this study. The first were new graduate nurses who completed a transition support program within the past 12 months. The second comprised experienced nurses who worked with new graduate nurses during their transition support program. The study was carried out in seven hospitals in area health services across and around Sydney, representing both small and large facilities with bed numbers ranging from 195 to 530. Data were collected from four sources including the printed materials made available by sample hospitals. Questionnaires, interviews and observations were used to determine the purposes, outcomes and strengths and weaknesses of transition support programs. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and theme extraction. The themes described the ways in which the transition support programs were used to facilitate the transition of the newly registered nurse to confident beginning practitioner. There was widespread belief from the study participants that some aspects of nurse education at university were inadequate. As a result, various structures and policies were required to support the new graduate nurses as they entered the workplace. The transition support programs were used to increase nursing staff for the study hospitals and to provide new learning opportunities for new graduate nurses to enable them to develop the clinical and professional skills required of competent registered nurses. The rotational aspect of the transition support programs were used to provide staff for the less popular areas of the hospital as well as a variety of experiences and skill development opportunities that were considered lacking in the current undergraduate education of nurses. The work environment where the programs operate were described as difficult with nurses exposed to violence and bullying practices from fellow staff and frequently required to work with a less than ideal number or appropriate skill mix of nursing staff. The hospitals also used the transition support program to exert a controlling influence over the new graduate nurse by way of roster management, assessment of skills and the expectation that each nurse would complete a transition support program before being offered full time work. The thesis concludes with recommendations and future research avenues. It would be useful for hospitals to conduct formal evaluations of the transition support program they offer to provide the most effective program possible. One source of information could be sought from the new graduate nurses regarding their needs during the first six months of employment. It is also suggested that a study be commenced that investigates the reasons behind the perception that nurse education at universities in New South Wales is inadequate.

Bangladesh introduced open and distance learning as a means of providing education for people in isolated and remote locations through the establishment of the Bangladesh Open University (BOU). The broad aim of the BOU is to provide flexible and needs-based education to those unable or not wishing to enter conventional educational institutions. The BOU is presently the only university in Bangladesh to provide mass education and also to provide continuing education and professional and technical education to support the existing educational system. The BOU has a mission that encompasses secondary and higher levels of education. BOU operates its programs through a centralised academic and administrative staff, and regional and local offices throughout Bangladesh that organise local tutorials and distribute information and materials. BOU has adult students in all parts of the country, and most of the students live in rural areas. They need support that is appropriate to their local circumstances. Using an interpretive approach, this research examines the support needs of students studying for the Secondary School Certificate and the Bachelor of Education, assesses the effectiveness of current support services and explores alternatives to the current system. The underlying assumption is that support needs to be appropriate to the country’s culture and circumstances, and useful and feasible from the perspectives of students, staff, administrators and senior university officials. To investigate the appropriate support for distance education students, this research was conducted in four sample regions. Two were selected from areas of sparse population where the terrain makes transport difficult and two from areas that are more densely populated and where transport is easier. A questionnaire survey and focus groups were conducted with students, focus groups with local staff and interviews with Regional Directors within the four sample regions. Interviews were also undertaken with central University senior staff to get their perspectives on current and future policies for student support.

<p>Face detection is a preprocessing step for face recognition algorithms. It is the localization of face/faces in an image or image sequence. Once the face(s) are localized, other computer vision algorithms such as face recognition, image compression, camera auto focusing etc are </p><p>applied. Because of the multiple usage areas, there are many research efforts in face processing. Face detection is a challenging computer vision problem because of lighting conditions, a high degree of variability in size, shape, background, color, etc. To build fully </p><p>automated systems, robust and efficient face detection algorithms are required. </p><p> </p><p>Numerous techniques have been developed to detect faces in a single image; in this project we have used a classification-based face detection method using Gabor filter features. We have designed five frequencies corresponding to eight orientations channels for extracting facial features from local images. The feature vector based on Gabor filter is used as the input of the face/non-face classifier, which is a Support Vector Machine (SVM) on a reduced feature </p><p>subspace extracted by using principal component analysis (PCA). </p><p> </p><p>Experimental results show promising performance especially on single face images where 78% accuracy is achieved with 0 false acceptances.</p>

<p>The treatment that women get from health care staff can influence the experience of the abortion and how women manage to coping the experience emotionally. The aim of this study was to illuminate women’s experiences in connection with an abortion. The findings show that the women’s social situation led them to the decision of abortion. When the women had the pregnancy confirmed many felt unreality. Several women experienced the situation as a crisis. After the abortion most of the women experienced relief, but also guilt towards the abortion. Some knew that they had made the right decision, while others felt regret. Most of the women experienced that the nursing staff treated them well, but some women experienced that the staff was negative, insensitive and ignoring. Most of the women was satisfied with the total support from significant others. To make a satisfying nursing care possible for each woman who seeks abortion, more research is needed about women’s experiences of nursing staff’s treatment.</p>

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p>Parental support is needed because it promotes a positive development in children, because parents ask for it and because it has positive effects on the public economy. Those responsible in Sweden for Child health care have shown an increased interest in supporting parenthood.</p><p><em>Aim:</em> The overall purpose of this study was to investigate what kind of support parents today desire from child health care. An additional purpose was to investigate if they feel their needs and wishes are met.</p><p><em>Method:</em> The study has a descriptive and qualitative design. The selection was eight parents of children under eighteen months of age: four mothers and four fathers. None of the participants were couples. Data collection was performed with semi structured interviews. Collected data were analyzed according to qualitative content analyses.</p><p><em>Results: </em>Two themes appeared: desired support –<em> </em>the child in focus and organisation – no place for fathers. Seven categories emerged: expectations before the child was born – the health of the child in focus and someone to call, expectations today – the health of the child and support in parenthood, seeking support from others than the Child health care, accessibility is important, continuity creates safety, the purpose of parent education group satisfactory & home visits – from ambivalent to positive experience. The study shows that the informants wants that Child health care focuses on the growth and development of the child, supports parents in their new role as parents and is accessible if the parents have questions. The informants were to great extent content with the support from the child health centre.</p><p><em>Conclusion:</em> According to parents wishes Child health care should focus on the child and it’s health along with strengthening the parents in their new role. The accessibility must improve to make the child health care centre a place even for fathers.</p><p><strong>Key words</strong></p><p>Child health centre, parents, support, desire, expectations.</p>

An Engineering Decision Support System, EDSS, was developed using Bayesian mathematics which incorporates knowledge and confidence components observed in alternative-criterion pair decision making. The separation of knowledge and confidence has been previously unaccounted for in decision-making methods. EDSS provides decision support to individuals or teams which must make choices between alternatives using alternative-criterion pair evaluations. Further, EDSS was instanciated into computer software. The EDSS decision support system was statistically tested using two variables, mechanical experience of the participants and the use of a decision method, at two different levels and in a replicated factorial experiment. The experiment consisted of teams of subjects solving a simple mechanical design problem. Data from the experiment was collected for eighteen different metrics in four categories. This research reports on each of eighteen metrics using the hypothesis that the use of EDSS will show improvements in, or positive impact on, the following four categories: the decision making productivity of idea processing, the decision-making process, the perception of the decisions made by the decision makers, and the ease of use of a computer decision support tool. Statistical results of the experiment showed that EDSS successfully matched ad-hoc and Pugh's decision matrix performance for sixteen of the eighteen metrics and statistically exceeded the remaining two. These two metrics are, the conduction of more evaluations of alternative-criterion pairs ,and increased problem understanding. This research also shows that a new alternative-criterion pair evaluation method has been successfully created that provides for: - A separation of knowledge and confidence in the Belief Model of decision making. - Decision results without complete evaluation of all alternative-criterion pairs. - Aggregation of preferences from team members. - A convenient means for investigating decision improvements. / Graduation date: 1997

Immediately following public offerings, underwriters often repurchase shares of poorly performing IPOs in an apparent attempt to stabilize the price. Using proprietary Nasdaq data for a large sample of IPOs, I study the price effects and cross-sectional determinants of price support. Some of the key findings are: (1) Price stabilization is substantial, inducing significant price rigidity at and below the offer price. Stabilization appears, at least in the short run, to raise the equilibrium stock price. (2) Many studies suggest that stabilization helps to mitigate information asymmetry problems in the IPO market. I find no evidence that stocks with larger ex-ante information asymmetries are stabilized more strongly. (3) The characteristics of the lead underwriter emerge as the strongest determinants of price support. Larger and more reputable investment banks stabilize more, perhaps to protect their reputations with investors. But there are substantial differences in price support even among the largest underwriters (after controlling for IPO characteristics and underwriter size). (4) Investment banks with retail brokerage operations stabilize much more than other large investment banks. This puzzling result seems inconsistent with the common view that stabilization benefits primarily institutional investors, and I outline and examine several alternative explanation