Tools to Support Professional Couples Counseling and Help Maintain Healthy and Robust Relationships

Given the high divorce rate in America, the purpose of this thesis is to explore and design tools for newlyweds, unmarried, and married couples which focus on how to maintain a healthy and stable relationship by receiving professional counseling; all the while increasing the awareness of damaging unnoticed variables and issues that lead to an unhealthy relationship between couples. Through a literature review, Dr. Gottman’s The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work method and other research has shown that relationship satisfaction has a massive impact on health and happiness between the partners, and their relationship can be strengthened. Moreover, when people have relationship issues, the best choice is to seek professional help at the very beginning. Timing is an essential aspect of couples counseling. Content analysis indicates there are few if any existing tools that combine both professional counseling and relationship coaching for couples. By conducting consultations with experts, focus groups, and user testing, this paper demonstrates that professional counseling is necessary for maintaining stable and healthy relationships, especially in the early stages of issues and conflicts amongst couples

Chinese Ceramic Exchange in the Maldives and the Indian Ocean, AD 900-1900

As one of the major nodes in the maritime route between ancient China and the Islamic world, the Maldives have drawn the interest of numerous archaeologists and historians due to their strategic importance in the commerce of the Indian Ocean. Archaeological surveys and excavations have found Chinese ceramics dated from the Tang through Qing dynasties in the Maldives since the 1970s. This paper first introduces the Maldives sites and uses aoristic analysis to examine changing trends in the trade of Chinese ceramics imported from the Buddhist Period to the Islamic Period. Second, it discusses the changing roles that the Maldives played in long-distance maritime trade of the Indian Ocean during 900-1900 AD