INFORMATION PRACTICES DURING LIFE TRANSITION: KOREAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S EVERYDAY LIFE INFORMATION SEEKING AND ACCULTURATION

In this dissertation, I explore information practices during life transition in the context of immigration. This study aims to understand how their unique personal, social, and life contexts shape immigration experiences, and how these diverse contexts are related to various information practices that they engage in to resolve daily information needs and achieve immigration goals. In my study I examined daily information needs and acquisition of Korean immigrant women. Data were collected through two interview sessions, diary entries on everyday information seeking up to three weeks, post-diary debriefing interviews to reveal contexts surrounding information practices, and observation sessions. My study shows that one’s accumulated experiences with information-related situations shape the person’s attitudes toward diverse information resources and habitual information practices. Both personal and social contexts surrounding immigrant women change during life transition and shape how they interpret their immigration experiences, what information they need to deal with both daily and long-term goals, and how they modify their information practices to obtain the relevant information in an unfamiliar information environment. Also, life transition of immigration entails changes in immigrant women’s social roles, which engender their daily responsibilities in the new society. These daily responsibilities motivate immigrant women’s everyday interactions with a variety of communities in order to exchange information and conduct their social roles in the new sociocultural environment. While immigrant women had common information needs around culture learning, social roles and associated responsibilities explain differences in their differing information needs and tend to direct daily information practices. The advancement of ICTs allows immigrant women to conduct their social roles in a remote city as well as to maintain multiple connections with both the heritage and host society. Limited cultural knowledge influences immigrant women’s evaluation and use of the obtained information as well as their acquisition of relevant information. This study provides understandings on the role of information during life transition as well as Korean immigrant women’s information practices.

The antecedents of post-initial adoption behavior in a S-D logic context

Repercussions of innovation adoption and diffusion studies have long been imperative to the success of novel introductions. However, perceptions and deductions of current innovation understandings have been changing over time. The paradigm shift from the goods-dominant (G-D) logic to the service-dominant (S-D) logic potentially makes the distinction between product (goods) innovation and service innovation redundant as the S-D logic lens views all innovations as service innovations (Vargo and Lusch, 2004; 2008; Lusch and Nambisan, 2015). From this perspective, product innovations are in essence service innovations, as goods serve as mere distribution mechanisms to deliver service. Nonetheless, the transition to such a broadened and transcending view of service innovation necessitates concurrently a change in the underlying models used to investigate innovation and its subsequent adoption. The present research addresses this gap by engendering a novel model for the most crucial period of service diffusion within the S-D logic context – the post-initial adoption phase, which demarcates an individual’s behavior after the initial adoption decision of a service. As a wellfounded understanding of service diffusion and the complementary innovation adoption still lingers in its infancy, the current study develops a model based on interdisciplinary domains mapping. Here fore, knowledge of the relatively established viral source domain is mapped to the comparatively undetermined target domain of service innovation adoption. To assess the model and test the importance of the explanatory variables, survey data from 750 respondents of a bank in Northern Germany is scrutinized by means of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings reveal that the continuance intention of a customer, actual usage of the service and the customer influencer value all constitute important postinitial adoption behavior that have meaningful implications for a successful service adoption. Second, the four constructs customer influencer value, organizational commitment, perceived usefulness and service customization are evidenced to have a differential impact on a iv customer’s post-initial adoption behavior. Third, this study indicates that post-initial adoption behavior further underlies the influence of a user’s age and besides that is also provoked by the internal and external environments of service adoption. Finally, this research amalgamates the broad view of service innovation by Nambisan and Lusch (2015) with the findings ensuing this enquiry’s model to arrive at a framework that it both, generalizable and practically applicable. Implications for academia and practitioners are captured along with avenues for future research.

Influence of adhesive system on quartz fiber post dislocation resistance in endodontically treated teeth

Aim: To evaluate the dislocation resistance of the quartz fiber post/cement/dentin interface after different adhesion strategies. Methods: Forty bovine lower central incisors were selected and prepared with K-files using the step-back technique, and irrigated with 3 mL of distilled water preceding the use of each instrument. Prepared teeth were stored at 37ºC and 100% humidity for 7 days. The roots were prepared and randomized into 4 groups. The quartz fiber post was cemented with an adhesion strategy according to the following groups: GBisCem- BISCEM; GOneStep±C&B- One Step ± C&B; GAllBond±C&B- AllBond3 ± C&B; GAllBondSE±C&B- AllBondSE ±C&B with a quartz fiber post. Cross-sectional root slices of 0.7 mm were produced and stored for 24 h at 37° C before being submitted to push-out bond strength. Results: The mean and standard deviation values of dislocation resistance were GBisCem: 1.12 (± 0.23) MPa, GOneStep±C&B: 0.81 (± 0.31) MPa, GAllBond±C&B: 0.98 (± 0.14) MPa, and GAllBondSE±C&B: 1.57 (± 0.04) MPa. GAllBondSE±C&B showed significantly higher values of dislocation resistance than the other groups. Conclusions: Based on this study design, it may be concluded that adhesion strategies showed different results of quartz post dislocation resistance. Simplified adhesive system with sodium benzene sulphinate incorporation provided superior dislocation resistance.

A Comparison Study of the English III/American Literature Success of African American High School Students and That of Students Whose Home Language is Haitian Creole

The purpose of the study was to compare the English III success of students whose home language is Haitian Creole (SWHLIHC) with that of the more visible African American high school students in the Miami Dade County Public Schools System, in an effort to offer insight that might assist educators in facilitating the educational success of SWHLIHC in American Literature class. The study was guided by two important theories on how students interact with and learn from literature. They are Reader Response Theory which advocates giving students the opportunity to become involved in the literature experience (Rosenblatt, 1995), and Critical Literacy, a theory developed by Paolo Freire and Henry Giroux, which espouses a critical approach to analysis of society that enables people to analyze social problems through lenses that would reveal social inequities and assist in transforming society into a more equitable entity. Data for the study: 10th grade reading FCAT scores, English III/American Literature grades, and Promotion to English IV records for the school year 2010-2011 were retrieved from the records division of the Miami Dade County Public Schools System. The study used a quantitative methods approach, the central feature of which was an ex post facto design with hypotheses (Newman, Newman, Brown, & McNeely, 2006). The ex post facto design with hypotheses was chosen because the researcher postulated hypotheses about the relationships that might exist between the performances of SWHLIHC and those of African American students on the three above mentioned variables. This type of design supported the researcher’s purpose of comparing these performances. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA), two way ANOVAs, and chi square tests were used to examine the two groups’ performances on the 10th grade reading FCAT, their English III grades, and their promotion to English IV. The study findings show that there was a significant difference in the performance of SWHLIHC and African American high school students on all three independent variables. SWHLIHC performed significantly higher on English III success and promotion to English IV. African American high school students performed significantly higher on the reading FCAT.

The Japanese History Textbook Controversy Amid Post-War Sino-Japanese Relations

The relations between China and Japan are strained and continue to foster negative emotions partly because of China’s grievances about Japan’s actions during World War II and the allegedly false historiographical accounts found in Japanese history textbooks. This study will utilize historical analysis of the events leading up to the Nanjing Massacre in December of 1937, examine the Japanese Ministry of Education’s (MEXT) critical and contentious role in the selection of textbooks, used for primary and secondary schools, and will also juxtapose the controversial 2001 Atarashii rekishi kyōkasho with current Japanese history textbooks. The study will also include a syntactical analysis of key terms through my own original translations of multiple Japanese history textbooks, which are currently used in the Japanese school curriculum, to reveal that the textbook publishers, MEXT, and regulation councils are involved in adjusting the content causing the information to reveal various degrees of whitewashing.

Gender Differences in the Influence of Protective Factors, Risk Factors, and Health Risk Behaviors on HIV Risk Behaviors Among Youth in South Florida

Adolescents engage in a range of risk behaviors during their transition from childhood to adulthood. Identifying and understanding interpersonal and socio-environmental factors that may influence risk-taking is imperative in order to meet the Healthy People 2020 goals of reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections among youth. The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behaviors among South Florida youth. More specifically, this study examined how protective factors, risk factors, and health risk behaviors, derived from a guiding framework using the Theory of Problem Behavior and Theory of Gender and Power, were associated with HIV risk behavior. A secondary analysis of 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data sets from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach school districts tested hypotheses for factors associated with HIV risk behaviors. The sample consisted of 5,869 high school students (mean age 16.1 years), with 69% identifying as Black or Hispanic. Logistic regression analyses revealed gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behavior. An increase in the health risk behaviors was related to an increase in the odds that a student would engage in HIV risk behavior. An increase in risk factors was also found to significantly predict an increase in the odds of HIV risk behavior, but only in females. Also, the probability of participation in HIV risk behavior increased with grade level. Post-hoc analyses identified recent sexual activity (past 3 months) as the strongest predictor of condom nonuse and having four or more sexual partners for both genders. The strongest predictors of having sex under the influence of drugs/alcohol were alcohol use in both genders, marijuana use in females, and physical fighting in males. Gender differences in the predictors of unprotected sex, multiple sexual partners, and having sex under the influence were also found. Additional studies are warranted to understand the gender differences in predictors of HIV risk behavior among youth in order to better inform prevention programming and policy, as well as meet the national Healthy People 2020 goals.

The Relationships between Elementary School Principals' Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Style and School Culture

The role of the principal in school settings and the principal’s perceived effect on student achievement have frequently been considered vital factors in school reform. The relationships between emotional intelligence, leadership style and school culture have been widely studied. The literature reveals agreement among scholars regarding the principal’s vital role in developing and fostering a positive school culture. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between elementary school principals’ emotional intelligence, leadership style and school culture. The researcher implemented a non-experimental ex post facto research design to investigate four specific research hypotheses. Utilizing the Qualtrics Survey Software, 57 elementary school principals within a large urban school district in southeast Florida completed the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), and 850 of their faculty members completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ Form 5X). Faculty responses to the school district’s School Climate Survey retrieved from the district’s web site were used as the measure of school culture. Linear regression analyses revealed significant positive associations between emotional intelligence and the following leadership measures: Idealized Influence-Attributes (β = .23, p = < .05), Idealized Influence-Behaviors (β = .34, p = < .01), Inspirational Motivation (β = .39, p = < .01) and Contingent Reward (β = .33, p = < .01). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed positive associations between school culture and both transformational and transactional leadership measures, and negative associations between school culture and passive-avoidant leadership measures. Significant positive associations were found between school culture and the principals’ emotional intelligence over and above leadership style. Hierarchical linear regressions to test the statistical hypothesis developed to account for alternative explanations revealed significant associations between leadership style and school culture over and above school grade. These results suggest that emotional intelligence merits consideration in the development of leadership theory. Practical implications include suggestions that principals employ both transformational and transactional leadership strategies, and focus on developing their level of emotional intelligence. The associations between emotional intelligence, transformational leadership, Contingent Reward and school culture found in this study validate the role of the principal as the leader of school reform.

Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe:post-crisis perspectives

This book examines how foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Central and Eastern Europe have changed after the Great Recession. It argues that beyond their cyclical effects, the economic crisis and the changing competitiveness of Central and Eastern European countries have had structural impacts on FDI in the region. FDI has traditionally been viewed as the key driver of national development, but the apparent structural shift means that focusing on cheap labour as a competitive advantage is no longer a viable strategy for the countries in the region. The authors argue that these countries need to move beyond the narrative of upgrading (attracting FDI inflows with increasingly higher value added), and focus on ensuring greater value capture instead. A potential way for doing this is by developing the conditions in which innovative national companies can emerge, thrive and eventually develop into lead firms of global value chains. The book provides readers with a highly informative account of the reasons why this shift is necessary, as well as diverse perspectives and extensive discussions on the dynamics and structural impacts of FDI in post-crisis Central and Eastern Europe.

EU-North Africa relations in cross-border law enforcement: new legal challenges for the EU in the post-Lisbon and post-Stockholm era

The Stockholm Programme, allied to the Lisbon Treaty, heralds a new era of development of the EU provisions on cross-border law enforcement. The focus is shifting from the ongoing internal EU developments to the external relations of the EU. Many North African countries have had long legal relationships with the EU through the Euro-Mediterranean Partnerships. A number of these partnership agreements make express references, at the political level, to the development of cross-border law enforcement provision, as is the case of Morocco and Algeria with regard to drug trafficking and manufacture, or the lengthy references by Egypt to many of the crimes of interest to the EU’s own law enforcement legal framework. Algeria is currently focusing on modernising their own police forces, with both Algeria and Tunisia, reforming their criminal judicial frameworks. Another key player, Libya, currently has no legal agreements with the EU, and at least until the recent conflict, maintained an observer status in the Euro-Mediterranean process. At a practitioner level, the European Police College (CEPOL) is currently involved in the Euromed Police II programme. Clearly momentum is developing, both within the EU and from a number of Euro-Med North African countries to develop closer law enforcement co-operation. This may well develop further with the recent changes in governments of a number of North African countries. The EU approach in the Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCCM) policy area is to develop a legal framework upon which EU cross-border law enforcement will be based. The current EU cross-border law enforcement framework is the product of many years of multi-level negotiations. Challenges will arise as new countries from different legal and policing traditions will attempt to engage with already highly detailed legal and practice frameworks. The shared European legal traditions will not necessarily be reflected in the North African countries. This chapter critically analyses, from an EU legal perspective the problems and issues that will be encountered as the EU’s North African partner countries attempt to articulate into the existing, and still developing EU cross-border law enforcement framework.

An empirical investigation of the impact of global energy transition on Nigerian oil and gas exports

18 months embargo on the thesis and check appendix for copy right materials

Playing with tension; national charisma at Euro 2012

European National football came together in the summer of 2012 for the 14th occasion. This book sets out to examine the enduring social tensions between supporters and authorities, as well as those between local, national and European identities, which formed the backdrop to the 14th staging of the European National football tournament, Euro2012. The context of the tournament was somewhat unique from those staged in previous years, being jointly hosted for the first time by two post-Communist nations still in the process of social and economic transition. In this respect, the decision to stage Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine bore its own material and symbolic legacies shaping the tournament: the unsettling of neo-liberal imaginings and emergent ‘East-West’ fears about poor infrastructure, inefficiencies and corruption jostled with moral panics about racism and fears surrounding the potentially unfulfilled consumerist expectations of west European supporters. The book seeks to explore the ideologies and practices invoked by competing national sentiments and examine the social tensions, ambiguities and social capital generating potentials surrounding national, ethnic, European identity, with respect to national football teams, supporters and supporter movements.

Synthesis and characterization of prussian blue analogue materials for post-Li ion batteries

Energy issues have always been a subject of concern to people. During the past 30 years, rechargeable Li-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely used in portable electronic devices and power tools because of their high energy density and efficiency among practical secondary batteries. While the unevenly distribution of Lithium sources and the increasing cost of lithium-raw material can not satisfy the requirement for further cost reduction, especially for the grid-scale energy storage. Post-lithium ion batteries as promising replacement for LIBs have attracted wide attention, owing to their high abundant resources and adequate insertion potential. Similar with Li-ion batteries, finding a suitable electrode material is the key for the research and application of the post-Li ion batteries. In our project, we focus our study on Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), with formula AxM[M’(CN)6]1-y□y•zH2O (0≤x≤2, 0transition metal ions, □ represents the M’(CN)6 vacancy, which are archetype of metal-organic framework, with 3D frameworks which allow for a facile insertion/ extraction of ions with negligible lattice strain. By substituting the metal sites with different transition metals, we can get a series of compounds that can be used as both cathode and anode material for both Li-ion and post-Li batteries. The most commonly studied PBAs are metal haxacyanoferrate, with the carbon-sites of -CN- ligands fix connected with Fe. Here, we synthesized three different PBAs: manganese hexacynoferrate (MnHCF), zinc hexacynoferrate (ZnHCF) and titanium hexacynoferrate (TiHCF), using co-precipitation method, and their electrochemical properties were tested in both aqueous Na+, K+, Mg2+, Zn2+ and organic Li+, Na+ electrolytes. Various X-ray techniques were employed to study their electronic and structural properties of electrodes and electrochemical reaction mechanism during cycling.

La diplomazia culturale come via di politica estera italiana tra guerra fredda e periodo post bipolare

Il soft power di uno Stato è l’immagine che questo dà di sé agli altri, ed è naturalmente riempito di suoi ideali e valori, della sua lingua e delle sue conoscenze. La cultura, nella sua più ampia declinazione, in tal senso si rivela uno strumento diplomatico rilevante nella politica estera dello Stato. Questa può affermarne la presenza, preservarne l’identità, sviluppare forme di solidarietà, favorire obiettivi politici attraverso l’influenza del pubblico internazionale. La diplomazia culturale italiana negli anni di guerra fredda si è rappresentata come “strada operativa” particolare nel più ampio ventaglio di scelte di politica estera del nostro paese, a volte precorrendo le mire e gli obiettivi della diplomazia cosiddetta “tradizionale”. La cultura ha offerto all’Italia una prospettiva aggiuntiva nei termini del dialogo internazionale, ponendosi come canale privilegiato di relazioni difficilmente concertabili altrimenti nel corso della seconda metà del Novecento, segnata dal conflitto bipolare. Nella sua tensione verso la pace e la stabilità, con il suo costante richiamo ai diritti ed ai valori della democrazia, la diplomazia culturale italiana ha potuto inoltre vantare un contributo non secondario nella transizione dalle dinamiche internazionali segnate dalla guerra fredda alla determinazione delle relazioni internazionali propriamente post-bipolari.

An Efficient Protocol For The Generation Of Monocyte Derived Dendritic Cells Using Serum-free Media For Clinical Applications In Post Remission Aml Patients.

Protocols for the generation of dendritic cells (DCs) using serum as a supplementation of culture media leads to reactions due to animal proteins and disease transmissions. Several types of serum-free media (SFM), based on good manufacture practices (GMP), have recently been used and seem to be a viable option. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of the differentiation, maturation, and function of DCs from Acute Myeloid Leukemia patients (AML), generated in SFM and medium supplemented with autologous serum (AS). DCs were analyzed by phenotype characteristics, viability, and functionality. The results showed the possibility of generating viable DCs in all the conditions tested. In patients, the X-VIVO 15 medium was more efficient than the other media tested in the generation of DCs producing IL-12p70 (p=0.05). Moreover, the presence of AS led to a significant increase of IL-10 by DCs as compared with CellGro (p=0.05) and X-Vivo15 (p=0.05) media, both in patients and donors. We concluded that SFM was efficient in the production of DCs for immunotherapy in AML patients. However, the use of AS appears to interfere with the functional capacity of the generated DCs.

The Cratylia Mollis Seed Lectin Induces Membrane Permeability Transition In Isolated Rat Liver Mitochondria And A Cyclosporine A-insensitive Permeability Transition In Trypanosoma Cruzi Mitochondria.

Previous results provided evidence that Cratylia mollis seed lectin (Cramoll 1,4) promotes Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes death by necrosis via a mechanism involving plasma membrane permeabilization to Ca(2+) and mitochondrial dysfunction due to matrix Ca(2+) overload. In order to investigate the mechanism of Ca(2+) -induced mitochondrial impairment, experiments were performed analyzing the effects of this lectin on T. cruzi mitochondrial fraction and in isolated rat liver mitochondria (RLM), as a control. Confocal microscopy of T. cruzi whole cell revealed that Cramoll 1,4 binding to the plasma membrane glycoconjugates is followed by its internalization and binding to the mitochondrion. Electrical membrane potential (∆Ψm ) of T. cruzi mitochondrial fraction suspended in a reaction medium containing 10 μM Ca(2+) was significantly decreased by 50 μg/ml Cramoll 1,4 via a mechanism insensitive to cyclosporine A (CsA, membrane permeability transition (MPT) inhibitor), but sensitive to catalase or 125 mM glucose. In RLM suspended in a medium containing 10 μM Ca(2+) this lectin, at 50 μg/ml, induced increase in the rate of hydrogen peroxide release, mitochondrial swelling, and ∆Ψm disruption. All these mitochondrial alterations were sensitive to CsA, catalase, and EGTA. These results indicate that Cramoll 1, 4 leads to inner mitochondrial membrane permeabilization through Ca(2+) dependent mechanisms in both mitochondria. The sensitivity to CsA in RLM characterizes this lectin as a MPT inducer and the lack of CsA effect identifies a CsA-insensitive MPT in T. cruzi mitochondria.