This study investigates the relationship between national institutional context andnational advantage in the biotechnology sector. It is argued that differences in nationaltechnological advantage may be traced to differences in deep-rooted, country-specificinstitutional systems which support the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge betweenthe scientific and industrial communities. The study contributes to a better understandingof the relationship between societal context and national innovative performance. Itfurther enriches theory through considering how national patterns are imprinted upon theR&D strategies which firms pursue.[...] / Cette these etudie la relation au niveau national entre le contexte institutiormel etI'avantage technologique dans I'industrie de la biotechnologie. U est suggere que lesdifferences dans les avantages technologiques peuvent etre reliees aux differences dessystemes institutionnels propres aux pays respectifs qui soutiennent la production et ladiffusion de cormaissance entre les communautes scientifique et industrielle. Cette etudepermet une meilleure comprehension de la relation entre le contexte social et laperformance d'innovation d'un pays. De plus, cette these etudie comment les tendancesnationales sont impregnees des strategies de R & D prises par les entreprises.[...]

Although attention has been given to parental attitudes regarding enrollment of their high-risk infants in research, there is a paucity of knowledge in the literature, which investigates nurses’ experiences of caring for high-risk infants involved in research. Consequently, there is little understanding of how caring for these infants impacts nursing care. The purpose of this research was to arrive at an increased understanding of neonatal nurses' experiences in caring for high-risk infants involved in research. Attention was given to exploring neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses’ perspectives towards neonatal research and the notion of risk to involving high-risk infants in research, their perceived roles and responsibilities with regards to high-risk infants in research, and the impact of research on caring for high-risk infants. This study was built on the research program of the student’s supervisor that seeks to increase the knowledge base of the nature of risk in child health research. An exploratory descriptive study within the qualitative paradigm was used. Seven semi-structured interviews, one focus group interview, and field notes were used to obtain information from seven NICU nurses. All of the qualitative data that emerged was analyzed using the constant comparative data analysis technique. Data analysis revealed that safeguarding their patients, or being a “safety net”, was the essence of nurses’ experiences of caring for high-risk infants involved in research. The nurses described their main role was the provision of a safe environment, regardless of the infants’ involvement in research. Acting as a “safety net” involved the nurses always being on guard and knowledgeable about their patients’ care. The following three themes further depicting the safeguarding experience emerged: feelings within, keeping it near and dear, and making it safer. The first theme, feelings within, uncovered nurses’ mixed emotions when caring for infants involved in research, which ranged from positive feelings to feelings of moral distress. The second theme, keeping it near and dear, referred to the uncomfortable feelings and memories that nurses held about situations in which they felt infants enrolled in research had suffered because of their inability of not being able to fully safeguard them. Some of the nurses expressed regretting their choices, such as not speaking up on a patient’s behalf, while others described it as a learning process, which eventually contributed to their abilities to safeguard infants. The third theme, making it safer, was based on the nurses’ enthusiasm about the future of neonatal research. The nurses identified many ways in which child health researchers, bedside nurses, REB members, and parents could minimize the risks of involving high-risk infants in research. This study yielded new insights about how NICU nurses care for high-risk infants involved in research that may be used to improve the protection of high-risk infants in research and ultimately contribute to the quality of care for these infants. Recommendations for nursing practice, education, and research are suggested.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive ability of specific items in the Catch-'Em Early preschool screening instrument with subsequent reading achievement as determined by SRA Achievement Series test scores at the second-, fifth-, and eighth-grade levels.The twenty selected items from the preschool screen were: walking board, jumping, body image, visual sequencing, body localization, gross space, angels-in-the-snow, eye motor coordination, visual figure ground, visual form constancy, spatial relations, reproduction in space, counting, colors, auditory sequencing, chalkboard, visual forms, visual memory, ocular pursuits, visual acuity.A Pearson Point Biserial Correlation technique was used at each grade level to determine the best predictors. The .05 level of significance was established for the non-acceptance of the null hypotheses. A regression analysis was used to determine the best combination of predictors for each grade level.Findings1. The visual form constancy screening item had a significant positive relationship with second-grade reading scores.2. The walking board and auditory sequencing screeningitems had a significant inverse relationship with second-grade reading scores3. The best predictive combination for second-grade reading was: walking board, auditory sequencing, and visual form constancy4. The body image, visual sequencing, body localization, angels-in-the-snow, visual form constancy, reproduction in space, counting, colors, auditory sequencing, chalkboard, and visual forms screening items had a significant positive relationship with fifth-grade reading scores5. The visual memory screening item had a significant inverse relationship with fifth-grade reading scores6. The best predictive combination for fifth-grade reading was: visual sequencing, color discrimination, body image, chalkboard, and visual forms7. The body image, body localization, angels-in-the-snow, eye motor coordination, reproduction in space, counting, colors, auditory sequencing, chalkboard, and visual forms screening items had a significant relationship with eighth-grade reading scores.8. The visual memory relationship with screening item had a significant inverse eight-grade reading scores9. The best predictive combination for eighth-grade reading was: visual sequencing, chalkboard, visual forms, reproduction in space, and eye motor coordination

Whereas the literature on English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction has flourished over the last thirty years, very little in the literature addresses issues concerning research with participants who are non-native speakers of English (NNSE). For this qualitative study, six researchers affiliated with a western prairie university were interviewed and asked to reflect on what ethics means to them, which ethical issues are of greatest importance to them when working with NNSE participants, and the role of research ethics boards (REBs). Issues of language, culture and power were found to be key themes as was a deep respect on the part of the researchers towards their participants. In addition, REBs were found to be lacking and in need of reconsideration. These findings suggest that there exists a distinction between institutional ethics (ethics as it pertains to REBs) and individual ethics (ethics as envisioned by researchers).

<p> This dissertation deals with the question of how to optimally execute orders for financial assets that are subject to transaction costs. We study the problem in a discrete&ndash;time model where the asset price processes of interest are subject to stochastic volatility and liquidity. </p><p> First, we consider the case for the execution of a single asset. We find predictable strategies that minimize the expectation, mean&ndash;variance and expected exponential of the implementation cost. </p><p> Second, we extend the single asset case to incorporate a dark pool where the orders can be crossed at the mid-price depending on the liquidity available. The orders submitted to the dark pool face execution uncertainty and are assumed to be subject to adverse selection risk. We find strategies that minimize the expectation and the expected exponential of the implementation shortfall and show that one can incur less costs by also making use of the dark pool. </p><p> Next chapter studies a multi asset setting in the presence of a dark pool. We find strategies that minimize the expectation and expected exponential of a cost functional that consists of the implementation shortfall and an aversion term that penalizes the orders crossed in the dark pool. In the expected exponential of the cost case, the dimensionality of the problem does not allow for the numerical computation of optimal strategies. Therefore, we first solve the expected exponential case for a second order Taylor approximation and then provide a framework via a duality argument which can be used to generate approximate strategies. </p><p> Lastly, we treat the case where the single asset execution problem exhibits ambiguity for the distribution of stochastic liquidity and volatility. We see the implementation cost as the sum of risk terms arising at each execution period. We consider the problem obtained from aggregating worst case expectations of these risk terms, by penalizing the distributions used with dynamic indicator, relative entropy and Gini indices. Next, we formulate the problem as the multi&ndash;prior first order certainty equivalent of the exponential cost and lastly we consider a second order certainty equivalence formulation.</p>

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Graduation date: 1977

Graduation date: 1970