Perspectives of Chinese couples on their experience of assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment

The aim of this study is to explore the way in which Chinese couples experience and make sense of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment. An understanding of how infertile couples experience their infertility and ART treatment is essential if the development of supportive infertility care is to be effective. Experiential accounts of infertile Hong Kong Chinese couples have received little attention in the literature. This study is a phenomenological one, using the Husserlian philosophical approach. A purposive sample of 15 Hong Kong Chinese couples was selected for interview. Each of the participant couples were followed through one treatment cycle and interviewed separately on one, and jointly on two occasions; a total of 60 interviews were obtained. Data was generated from taped interviews and the researcher's field notes. Data was analyzed by using a modified Colaizzi (1978) method. By using a couple-centred approach, rich experiential data was obtained.Five mega themes emerged from the data: uncertainty posed by infertility, ART as a means to achieve biological parenthood, normalising the ART treatment process, dealing with the treatment outcome and making sense of ART treatment. The data demonstrated that infertility posed uncertainty for the couples and that their intentions for parenthood were shaped by personal, social and cultural factors. The ART process revealed the stressful nature of the treatment and how the couples attempted to normalise this by engaging in cognitive, affective and behavioural strategies to deal with the process. When the treatment failed, the couples used selective disclosure and spiritual faith to help them to process and accept their sense of loss. They developed a greater emotional awareness during the course of the treatment and afterwards, found they had gained a better sense of understanding of its complexities and its impact on them. Consequently, the couples began to reffame their lives and reproductive goals. The findings of this thesis will add to existing knowledge of Hong Kong Chinese couples' experiences of infertility and the ART treatment process. The implications for clinical practice, nursing education and research are discussed

Sir John Jordan and the Afffairs of China, 1906-1916, With Special Reference to the 1911 Revolution and Yuan Shih-k'ai.

Apart from several journalistic articles there is no major work on Sir John Jordan who was the British minister to Peking from 1906 to 1920. This can probably be explained by the fifty years' rule which had until recently prevented the opening to the public of Foreign Office materials pertaining to the later years of Jordan's service. This thesis is a study of his work as British minister in Peking between 1906 and 1916. However, as the title indicates, not every aspect of Jordan's ministry nor every major event in China in these ten years is dealt with in the thesis. The emphasis is on those which have a direct bearing on his role in the 1911 revolution and his relationship with Yiian Shih-k'ai. This also accounts for choosing 1916, when Ytlan died, as the closing year of the study. Jordan's ministry between 1906 and 1916 is worthy of study in that it throws light on a vital period of Chinese internal history which was crammed with dramatic changes. Institutionally, China changed from being a dynasty to a republic and then almost to a dynasty again; militarily, she suffered from three civil wars; and politically, she was to reap from these ten years decades of internal chaos and strife which was only brought to a temporary end with the institution of the communist regime in the middle of the century. Jordan, as the British representative, as a senior diplomat with great knowledge of China and as a friend of Yiian Shih-k'ai, played an important part in these events. The primary purpose of the thesis is to identify and assess his role. It is also hoped that the thesis will throw light on British policy towards China and, to a lesser extent, Japan during these years. In this respect, it is important to bear in mind that it was during this period that Britain's predominance in China, and the Far East, was for the first time being seriously challenged. Finally, Jordan himself is an interesting person to study. His activities during these ten years serve as a case study of the place of personal influence in policy-making in the peculiar political and international setting of the time

Noise propagation through open windows of finite depth into an enclosure

Predicting the insertion loss of an opening backed with an enclosed space is important for building noise control. Recent research in sound transmission through apertures of finite depth in infinite rigid baffles has included the effects of propagating and evanescent modes within the aperture in order to extend models to higher frequencies. The present study extends the model to the case of the aperture backed by a cavity as opposed to sound radiating into half-space. The role of coupling between the aperture modes, radiation modes, and cavity modes in the transmission was investigated. The results were compared to those of previous models which neglected the depth of the aperture and finite element modeling using COMSOL Multiphysics. Comparisons show that the current model is effective at predicting the sound transmission loss through the aperture and the acoustic field within the cavity for an obliquely incident plane wave. By changing impedance conditions on the half-space side of the aperture and within the aperture, the model has been used to evaluate passive noise control techniques

Effects of inclusion shapes within rigid porous materials on acoustic performance

The present study investigates the influence of various shapes of inclusions having same volume embedded in a porous rigid material. Previous studies showed improvement of the broadband sound absorption with particular shapes of inclusions. However, different volumes of the inclusions have been considered; therefore, the bulk densities are not the same for comparison. The present study extends the investigations of inclusions in porous materials with same volume (or bulk density) to eliminate the influence by the change of bulk density. The effects of shape will be discussed. Finite element modeling will be used for this study. Total four different shapes: circle, square, ellipse, and triangle, have been studied at various orientations. It has been found that specific configurations can be able to improve the broadband sound absorption compared with reference (no inclusion). It is being expected that a better control of sound absorption of porous materials at desired frequency range can be achieved with the results of the present study

Active noise barrier minimizing pressure gradient

Minimization of the sound pressure field within the shadow zone of a noise barrier is achieved by reducing the pressure gradient along a line, at the top of a barrier, via active noise control. The noise control effectiveness of a barrier is increased by this strategy, especially for specific system configurations. The proposed method was evaluated by numerical simulation. Results indicate that system orientation has little effect on minimizing the pressure gradient at the top of the barrier when the error sensors are invisible to the primary noise disturbance. Highly effective control within the shadow zone and close to the barrier is possible when the system is oriented at an angle where two or more error sensors are in line with the first diffracting edge and the primary noise disturbance. Increasing the spatial extent of the quiet zone is possible by increasing the number of control sources, where the error sensors have a line of sight with the primary noise disturbance

Noise propagation through open windows of finite depth into an enclosure

Predicting the insertion loss of an opening backed with an enclosed space is important for building noise control. Recent research in sound transmission through apertures of finite depth in infinite rigid baffles has included the effects of propagating and evanescent modes within the aperture in order to extend models to higher frequencies. The present study extends the model to the case of the aperture backed by a cavity as opposed to sound radiating into half-space. The role of coupling between the aperture modes, radiation modes, and cavity modes in the transmission was investigated. The results were compared to those of previous models which neglected the depth of the aperture and finite element modeling using COMSOL Multiphysics. Comparisons show that the current model is effective at predicting the sound transmission loss through the aperture and the acoustic field within the cavity for an obliquely incident plane wave. By changing impedance conditions on the half-space side of the aperture and within the aperture, the model has been used to evaluate passive noise control techniques