Independence in Europe: Secession, Sovereignty, and the European Union

The aim of this thesis is to explore the experiences of four cohorts of students from their first semester until one year after graduation, with the focus on how they perceive their opportunities to influence their study conditions transition to work. The study has a longitudinal design. Data collected from students in a MSc programme in engineering started in the first semester and continued yearly until one year after graduation and consisted of questionnaires and interviews. Results indicate that students’ perceptions of their opportunities to influence their study conditions is related to their self-efficacy and motivation; strategies they use and approaches to studying they adopt. Students adopt an adaptive approach, based on the perception that the programme is supposed to be demanding and that students should accept and adapt to the conditions of the programme; a critical approach, based on the perception that difficult conditions are negative because they make it hard to reflect on what is studied; or a cooperative approach, based on the perception that cooperation with peers is important. Quantitative results show that cohorts who studied project-based courses cooperate significantly more with peer students than cohorts who study in conventional courses. Students with most project based courses experienced workload and social support in different ways than other students. The final study on students’ transition to work show that students who study in many project-based courses are more prepared to work than students who study conventional courses. The overall findings indicate that it is important to integrate psychological, social and individual ways of interpreting the student experiences of their studies and transition to work.Syftet med avhandlingen är att utforska fyra studentkohorters erfarenheter frånderas första termin till ett år efter deras examen, med fokus på hur de uppleversina möjligheter att påverka sina studieförhållanden samt erfarenheter av att blianställningsbara. Avhandlingen baserar sig på en longitudinell studie.Datainsamlingen från studenter på Civilingenjörsprogrammet för Teknisk fysikoch elektroteknik påbörjades första terminen och pågick årligen till ett år efter attde tagit examen och bestod av frågeformulär och intervjuer. Resultaten visar attstudenternas upplevelser av sina möjligheter att påverka sina studieförhållanden ärrelaterade till deras självtillit (self-efficacy) och motivation; de strategier som deanvänder och de studieansatser som de antar. Studenter antar en adaptivstudieansats, baserad på uppfattningen att programmet ska vara krävande och attstudenter ska acceptera och anpassa sig till programmets förhållanden; en kritiskstudieansats, baseras på uppfattningen att svåra studieförhållanden är negativaeftersom de gör det svårt för studenten att reflektera över det som studeras; elleren kooperativ studieansats, baserad på uppfattningen att samarbete medstudiekamrater är viktigt. Kvantitativa resultat visar att årskullar som läserprojektbaserade kurser samarbetar mer med studiekamrater än årskullar som läserkonventionella kurser. Vidare upplevde studenter med flest projektbaserade kurserarbetsbelastningen och det sociala stödet på andra vis än övriga studenter. Densista studien om studenters övergång till arbetsliv visade att årskullar som läserprojektbaserade kurser känner sig mer redo att börja arbeta än årskullar som läserkonventionella kurser. De övergripande resultaten visar att det är viktigt attintegrera psykologiska, sociala och individuella sätt att tolka studenterserfarenheter av sina studier och övergång till arbetslivet

A study to determine the degree to which student nurses identify scientific principles and apply them in the bed bath procedure

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Inter-cluster filaments in a Λ\LambdaCDM Universe

The large--scale structure (LSS) in the Universe comprises a complicated filamentary network of matter. We study this network using a high--resolution simulation of structure formation of a $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter cosmology. We investigate the distribution of matter between neighbouring large haloes whose masses are comparable to massive clusters of galaxies. We identify a total of 228 filaments between neighbouring clusters. Roughly half of the filaments are either warped or lie off the cluster--cluster axis. We find that straight filaments on the average are shorter than warped ones. More massive clusters are connected to more filaments than less massive ones on average. This finding indicates that the most massive clusters form at the intersections of the filamentary backbone of LSS. For straight filaments, we compute mass profiles. Radial profiles show a fairly well--defined radius, $r_s$, beyond which the profiles follow an $r^{-2}$ power law fairly closely. For the majority of filaments, $r_s$ lies between 1.5 $h^{-1}$ Mpc and 2.0 $h^{-1}$ Mpc. The enclosed overdensity inside $r_s$ varies between a few times up to 25 times mean density, independent of the length of the filaments. Along the filaments' axes, material is not distributed uniformly. Towards the clusters, the density rises, indicating the presence of the cluster infall regions. In addition, we also find some sheet--like connections between clusters. In roughly a fifth of all cluster--cluster connections where we could not identify a filament or sheet, projection effects lead to filamentary structures in the projected mass distribution. (abridged)Comment: 10 pages, 18 figures; submitted to MNRAS; updated: final version, accepted for publicatio

A plasmid-based lacZα gene assay for DNA polymerase fidelity measurement

A significantly improved DNA polymerase fidelity assay, based on a gapped plasmid containing the lacZα reporter gene in a single-stranded region, is described. Nicking at two sites flanking lacZα, and removing the excised strand by thermocycling in the presence of complementary competitor DNA, is used to generate the gap. Simple methods are presented for preparing the single-stranded competitor. The gapped plasmid can be purified, in high amounts and in a very pure state, using benzoylated-naphthoylated DEAE-cellulose, resulting in a low background mutation frequency (~1 × 10(-4)). Two key parameters, the number of detectable sites and the expression frequency, necessary for measuring polymerase error rates have been determined. DNA polymerase fidelity is measured by gap filling in vitro, followed by transformation into Escherichia coli and scoring of blue/white colonies and converting the ratio to error rate. Several DNA polymerases have been used to fully validate this straightforward and highly sensitive system

Seeking the Final Court of Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Accountability for State Violence in Northern Ireland

This article examines the impact of the European Court\u27s right to life jurisprudence on the issue of accountability for state violence in Northern Ireland. To date, the initiatives undertaken by the United Kingdom to comply with the European Court\u27s rulings are largely unsatisfactory. Piecemeal institutional reforms aimed at preventing future breaches of Article 2 have failed to fully address the underlying concerns identified by the Court, and domestic right to life jurisprudence has placed significant limitations on the extent to which past violations of the right to life can be dealt with effectively in British courts. The United Kingdom\u27s response therefore calls into question both the government\u27s commitment to honoring the Jordan et al. decisions and the capability of ordinary domestic criminal law to deal with systematic human rights abuses of the kind that occurred during the Northern Ireland conflict

Living on the Past: The Role of Truth Commissions in Post-Conflict Societies and the Case Study of Northern Ireland

Examines the possibility of applying the truth commission model in Northern Ireland where the past plays a significant role in shaping daily lives & worldviews. A review of the theory & practice of truth commissions is followed by a description of Northern Ireland\u27s long & complex conflicts that point to the need for some form of truth-seeking. Attention is given to the difficulties such a process would face. Three recent truth-seeking initiatives are critiqued: the Northern Ireland Victims\u27 Commissioner; the Bloody Sunday Inquiry; & a series of decisions by the European Court of Human Rights. A framework is presented for the basic shape of a future truth commission in Northern Ireland in light of its particular historical & political situation. Limitations & benefits of the truth commission model are pointed out for both its implementation in Northern Ireland & other post-conflict societies. It is concluded that a truth commission in Northern Ireland offers hope of allowing the past to help build a more peaceful future. Adapted from the source document