Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Life in the Qurʼan'

This thesis addresses the idea of purpose and meaning in life and how it can be intentionally fostered across the lifespan. Purpose and meaning in life, as it relates to well-being, is considered by some scholars to be the highest-level construct from which all other lower-level constructs of well-being flow (Kashdan & McKnight, 2009). As this thesis will demonstrate, purpose is highly correlated with many other desirable outcomes that are vital for living a life of flourishing, thriving and wellness. Given the importance of purpose in life as it relates to wellness, health and psychological wellbeing, this thesis is concerned with whether purpose in life can be intentionally fostered within the human condition, especially for those who have a deficit of it. To achieve this, my thesis contains three studies: I. A psychometric study that seeks to validate well-known purpose in life instruments and then create a new purpose in life instrument that is a common core that covers areas of the construct of purpose/meaning in life that exist in disparate meaning and purpose scales. II. Test a purpose in life fostering intervention in a youth/ school based sample using a quasi-experimental design. III. Test a purpose in life fostering instrument in an adult sample of people fifty years old and above using a randomized control trial. Considering this my thesis seeks to satisfy the following four aims: 1. To arrive at a well-founded theoretical definition of the construct of meaning and purpose in life. 2. To find a way that purpose in life and meaning in life can be adequately and empirically measured. 3. To test whether purpose in life can be fostered in youth using an evidence based purpose-fostering coaching curriculum within a high school setting. 4. To study whether, using an evidence based intervention, purpose in life can be intentionally fostered in an adult sample. The first two aims, a) establishing a definition for the construct of interest and b) establishing a valid instrument with which the construct of interest can be measured, were prerequisites for being able to test whether purpose in life could be intentionally fostered. Aims three and four used the first two aims as a predicate to test the main hypothesis of whether purpose in life can be intentionally fostered in the human condition across the lifespan. To accomplish these goals, the literature, as it relates to the definition of purpose in life, was analyzed and a novel approach to defining purpose was suggested. This approach takes meaning and purpose into consideration and argues that meaning and purpose are two elements that are intrinsic to the domain space of meaning in life and purpose in life. As I argue in the thesis from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective, meaning and purpose are, in fact, two inseparable aspects of one construct. One cannot have meaning without purpose and one cannot have purpose without meaning. To test the efficacy of any treatment on a dependent variable, it is vital to have valid instruments that can measure any potential change in the construct of interest. To accomplish this, data were collected to carry out a full scale psychometric evaluation of four well-known purpose in life survey instruments. I discovered that some of the instruments performed better than others. In addition, since youth were a primary population of interest in these studies, it was important to know whether instruments created for adults would work well on a youth sample. Thus, psychometric analysis was carried out on data that were collected from a youth sample. Out of the four instruments that were analyzed, I was able to extract a number of items that together had solid psychometric properties, and, as a group, represented a common core of construct of purpose in life found in the individual instruments analyzed. The resulting measure is apparently the first purpose in life instrument created for, and tested on, a youth population. In addition, this new instrument apparently is the first short-form purpose in life survey designed specifically to cover full conceptual space of the domain space that makes up the construct of purpose in life. To test whether purpose in life can be fostered across the lifespan, a specially created and internet-based purpose-fostering treatment was formulated and tested. One version of this purpose-fostering treatment was created for youth and another was created for adults. Both treatments were similar to each other in key ways. Studies to test the efficacy of this purpose-fostering intervention were then carried out with both youth populations in schools and with adults ages 50+. For the youth study, a three group quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest design was conducted in two high achieving secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. This study was able to test my hypothesis that a purpose in life intervention can intentionally foster purpose in youth within a high school educational environment. The results of the study supported this hypothesis. For the adult study, a full randomized controlled trial with adults over 50 years of age was conducted to assess whether purpose in life can be intentionally fostered in an adult sample. The adult study had three data collection points: pretest, posttest, and long-term follow-up, which occurred twelve weeks following the conclusion of the treatment. Key to my hypothesis was that there would be an Aptitude Treatment Interaction (ATI), where those who started lower on the construct of purpose in life would gain more from the treatment than those who already tested high on purpose in life at baseline. This hypothesis was supported in both studies. In the adult study, however, even those who started high on purpose in life benefitted from the treatment. In addition, I hypothesized that participants would gain in other areas of well-being as they gained in purpose in life. This hypothesis was supported amongst participants in the adult study but, surprisingly, was weakly supported in the youth study. Results of the adult study similarly supported the hypothesis that purpose in life can be intentionally fostered in adults using a purpose in life treatment. In addition, it demonstrated that those who started lower on the construct of purpose in life benefited more than those who started off higher. The longitudinal nature of the data collection also allowed me to demonstrate that the treatment effect lasted well beyond the end of the treatment and was still discernable three months post-treatment. The implications of this research from both a theoretical and practical point of view are far-ranging and impactful. From a theoretical perspective, I have shown that meaning and purpose in life are actually one construct. This finding adds weight to the argument that for one to have purpose, one must also have a sense of coherence and meaning in life. From a practical perspective, this finding will inform the work of policy makers, practitioners and educators who want to create measures to test for purpose in life. It should also inform the work of those creating interventions, workshops and treatments to foster purpose in life within the human condition. In addition, the finding that an intervention can be used to foster purpose in life, especially within those who are low on purpose, will have significant implications for educators, mental health workers and policy makers. The knowledge that an evidence based intervention can intentionally foster purpose in those who lack it should lead to the creation and implementation of purpose interventions in schools, senior centers and in mental healthcare workers’ offices and practices the world over. Given the huge deficits associated with not having purpose in life, this finding has the potential of making a practical difference in the field of mental health and positive psychology.

When thinking about architecture, I cannot help but think about my life and the things that have affected my life. How does the environment around us effect the daily decisions we make? How do the experiences throughout our life impact who we are and who we become? The people and surroundings we choose will ultimately decide the type of people we become. When we select our surroundings we are in turn selecting our ideal community. Everyone is trying to achieve community in some sense, from individuals to city planners. Council members, politicians, city officials... make decisions everyday based on their idea of what community is to them and their citizens. <p> In the following pages I will design a community and put in place the elements for it to prosper and grow...<br>Master of Architecture

This doctoral thesis describes, critically evaluates and reflects on the development and evaluation of an innovative approach to supporting individuals after a stroke. This approach consists of; a once-weekly, twelve week, stroke self-management programme consisting of interactive information provision, rehabilitation and exercise in an environment of peer and caregiver support called ‘ASPIRE’ – an acronym for Acute stroke, Self-management support, secondary Prevention, Information, Rehabilitation and Exercise. The development of the ASPIRE programme was influenced by interviews with those involved in the ASPIRE programme and the process and results of a primary research evaluation using mixed methods. The aim of this two phase evaluation was to 1) identify participants’ views as to the outcomes of attending the ASPIRE programme, using a grounded theory approach and 2) identify whether those outcomes could be assessed using currently existing standardised validated tools. Three key themes were identified; A life I like – the confidence to do the everyday activities important to a person after a stroke; Changing hearts and minds – the confidence, knowledge and health behaviour change to reduce vascular risk after stroke and In the same boat – the benefits of peer support for stroke survivors and caregivers. These themes were used to select relevant standardised validated tools; the Stroke Knowledge Test (SKT), Stroke Self Efficacy Questionnaire (SSEQ), Cerebrovascular Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (CABS-R), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Caregiver Strain Index (CSI). Statistically significant gains were identified in the SKT and HADS – depression score. The tools were useful and sensitive to change; however, the SSEQ had a ceiling effect with this cohort and the CABS-R was found difficult to use. Although existing outcome tools may not adequately measure new multi-factorial post-stroke interventions such as the ASPIRE programme, the unique contributions of this doctoral thesis to the body of knowledge are that; • An enabling culture, that includes peer support for stroke survivors and caregivers, helps individuals to move forward after stroke. • Support for self-generated goal planning, based on a ‘life-thread’ approach, may improve outcomes from stroke survivors’ perspectives. • Supporting individuals to develop the confidence, knowledge and health behaviours to reduce vascular risk can be an integral and complementary part of rehabilitation after stroke. A multi-factorial programme to enable life after stroke should therefore include both rehabilitation “A life I like” and secondary prevention “A life to live”. • Individually tailored exercise programmes to support rehabilitation and secondary prevention can be used with groups of stroke survivors with a wide range of deficits.

TESIS PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE MAGÍSTER EN ADMINISTRACIÓN<br>Tomás Chávarri Salazar [Parte I], Francisco Pérez Kenchington [Parte II]<br>Esta nueva empresa se caracteriza por su orientación al servicio tecnológico de gestión de capital humano aportando a otras compañías a mejorar su rentabilidad en relación a dos aspectos: 1) Gestión de la información en tiempo real; y 2) búsqueda constante de una adecuada experiencia al cliente. Con ello se pretende consolidar el área de los recursos humanos como un agente importante en el manejo administrativo que permita agregar valor a las empresas. Estas intenciones surgen de la necesidad que hoy tienen las empresas, las cua-les cada vez más invierten en RRHH, se estima que casi el 60% de las empresas ha aumentado su presupuesto en esta línea en los últimos 12 meses (Fuente: Tendencias Globales en Capital Humano 2015, Deloitte University). Y que la adopción de la tecnolo-gía es cada vez más rápida, lo cual permite estar más al tanto de las situaciones y con-textos requeridos un mundo cada vez más conectado. Para poder hacer frente a estos desafíos es que Employee Life busca por medio de su plataforma web de gestión un aliado para las empresas en donde podrán gestionar todo el ambiente de recursos humanos de una simple y mejor manera. Potenciándose como una herramienta social, sacando provecho de sus modelos predictivos, la bús-queda constante de co-creación con el cliente, buscando constantemente la satisfacción del cliente por medio de un buen trabajo de post venta y alta gestión de la información en tiempo real. Esta esta idea se desarrollará por intermedio de dos fuentes de financiamiento: 1) Licenciamiento y 2) Reportería Business Intelligence, buscando apalancar el mo-delo de negocios. Dentro del análisis, tanto de oportunidad de negocios como financiero, se podrá observar la factibilidad del desarrollo tecnológico con un VAN positivo del modelo, utili-zando una TIR de 39,28% (desprendida de Damodaran), evaluado a 6 años. Se pretende ofrecer al nuevo socio inversionista el 48% de la sociedad invirtiendo la suma de 2.523,96 UF, para efectos de equipos y etapa de pre-operación, lo cual eva-luado a 6 año se proyecta una rentabilidad promedio anual de un 37%, lo cual se espe-rará un Future Value de la empresa de un 38.379 UF al final del periodo. Implicando una gran oportunidad de negocios para cualquier inversor.

Resumo: O estudo da cosmovisão de Hughes, inspirada em Lawrence e remontando a Bergson, abre novas perspectivas não exploradas pelos críticos, evidenciando aspectos inéditos em sua poesia. Da mesma maneira que Lawrence, Hughes procura ir alem das aparências exteriores, revelando o próprio processo vital, que e captado somente em raros momentos de percepção intuitiva. 0 objetivo principal de sua poesia e salientar como real idades 'outras ' as criaturas do mundo rião-humano, destacando-as como receptáculos da poderosa força vital existente no uni verso. Insiste em celebrar a vitalidade dos pássaros, animais e plantas, porque considera o homem demasiadamente auto matizado,fato que o impede de viver. Os indícios de degeneração que vê no homem moderno, Hughes os atribui a excessiva mecanização, que reduziu o homem a um autômato, interrompendo o contacto vital com as outras criaturas vivas. Estas ideias, que Lawrence expõe nas obras em prosa, i .e., ensaios, cartas, relatos de viagens, especulações filosóficas, romances e contos são retomadas por Hughes em sua poesia, constituindo não apenas a principal fonte de inspiração, como também a base de sua visão do mundo. Na primeira parte desta dissertação e colocada em relevo a filosofia de Bergson, que foi assimiladas reinterpretada por Lawrence e Hughes, servindo de fundamentação metafísica para a obra de ambos. Na segunda parte traçamos o paralelo existente entre o simbolismo animal de ambos os autores, demonstrando que as metáforas animais de Lawrence, que representam forças instintivas e intuitivas, estão também aparentes em Hughes, evidenciando sua habi1 idade em dar nova forma ao material em que se inspirou, bem como provando que maior compreensão do pensamento de Lawrence possibilita novos enfoques na poemática de Hughes.

Projektet är en stad som ligger mellan Umeå och Vasa (Finland), det är den smalaste delen av Bottniska viken med bara ca 60 km öppet hav. Jag ville undersöka vad det fanns för möjligheter med en stad som utnyttjar sitt läge. Så jag planerade en offshore hamnstad som bygger sig själv och sprider sig. Varför? 60-talets men även samtida megastrukturer planerades ofta för att ge en teknisk lösning på ett visst problem. De här problemen vare sig det är bostadsbrist eller klimatförändring är fortfarande aktuella och lösningarna likaså. Därför ville jag använda min struktur som ett redskap för att testa och reflektera kring dessa idéer för boende. En jurymedlem jämförde mig kritiskt vid en skata som plockat silvret från mina referenser, men det han inte förstod var att jag plockade silvret just för att i min fiktiva värld analysera det. Analysen gjorde jag genom att hitta på invånare som med sinne och själ fick reflektera kring livet i en modul och etc.<br>The project is a city located between Umeå and Vasa, it is the most narrow part of the Gulf of Bothnia with only 60 km of open waters. I wanted to investigate existing possibilities with a city that exploits its location. So I designed an offshore port city that builds itself and grows. Why? The megastructures of the 60’s but also contemporary ones were often planned to give a technical solution to a certain problem. These problems whether it’s housing shortage or climate change are still current and the solutions as well. This is why I wanted to use my structure as a tool to test and reflect about these concepts of living. A member of the jury critically compared me to a magpie that had picked the silver of my references, but what he didn’t understand was that I had picked the silver to analyze it in my fictional world. I made the analysis by imagining inhabitants that through their mind and soul reflected on life in a module and etc.

El presente proyecto tiene como objetivo diseñar y analizar la idea de negocio BEAUTIFUL LIFE, una plataforma web y aplicación que permitirá a los centros estéticos brindar los servicios de belleza a los usuarios según la ubicación más cercana en el menor tiempo posible. Nuestro objetivo es satisfacer las necesidades de frustración e incomodidad de los traslados por el alto nivel de congestión vehicular, tiempos de espera, la poca privacidad de los establecimientos de belleza, poca flexibilidad de horarios y las actividades imprevistas o no programadas generando urgencias de último momento. Según la investigación cualitativa realizada en Lima Metropolitana, los principales servicios utilizados son corte de cabello, depilación, laceado, manicure y pedicure se cubrirá la demanda con nuestra principal ventaja competitiva ser una red interactiva entre los socios estratégicos que conectarán directamente con los usuarios, no tendrán que movilizarse al salón de belleza ni hacer largas colas de espera. El servicio se brindará en la comodidad de tu hogar, oficina u otros lugares apropiados a conveniencia.<br>The objective of this project is to design and analyze the business idea BEAUTIFUL LIFE, a web platform and application that will allow aesthetic centers to offer beauty services to users according to the closest location in the shortest possible time. Our principal objective is to satisfy the needs of frustration and discomfort of the transfers due to the high level of traffic congestion, waiting times, poor privacy of beauty establishments, little flexibility of schedules and unforeseen or unscheduled activities, generating last-minute urgencies moment. According to the qualitative research conducted in Metropolitan Lima, the main services used are hair cutting, waxing, ironing of hair, manicure and pedicure. The demand will be covered with our main competitive advantage being an interactive network between the strategic partners that will connect directly with the users dont move to the beauty salon or make long waiting lines. The service will be provided in the comfort of your home, office or other appropriate places at your convenience.<br>Tesis

Life Forms is an examination of organic shapes in textile material and garments. The clothes deals with questions of tactile and emotional attraction in fashion, while the project as a whole is an attempt to constantly let creativity and curiosity be a part of the process.By using a method of letting go of the control and see what chance and the properties of the material might lead to, this work has become a growing organism of its own.The end result is a group of unique pieces, all in different materials and colour shades. They’re held together by concept as well as relations in tone and cuts. The collection could be viewed as a visual statement or worn with lots of care and love.<br>Program: Modedesignutbildningen

During this time of interest and uncertainty in immigration, a foreigner seeking an education, home, and career wonders how welcoming America really is. This documentary film focuses on how the organization known as World Life is involved in helping international students in terms of language, accommodation, and religion. It follows an organization that is willing to open up and welcome them into the community.

Life Organic es una propuesta de negocio con sentido ético ya que contribuye con la buena alimentación de las personas ofreciendo un portal digital móvil y web donde el target pueda obtener información transparente para adquirir alimentos orgánicos de una manera rápida, fácil y confiable; esta aplicación está dirigida para todas las personas que deseen llevar una vida saludable a través del consumo orgánico.<br>Life Organic is a business proposal with ethical sense given that it contributes to the good nutrition of people by offering a mobile and web digital portal where the target can obtain transparent information to acquire organic food in a fast, easy and reliable way; this application is aimed at all people who wish to lead a healthy life through organic consumption.<br>Trabajo de investigación

Using a diagram, glossary, anecdotes, and first-person narrative histories, I explain how I use sculptural installation, image making, and serendipity to exploit the illogical to the point of being meaningful.

When someone walks into an insurance company and wants to purchase life insurance, the insurance company has to consider an important question: How long will this client live? His date of death is not exactly predictable, so the insurer does not know exactly when the life insurance benefits will be payable. However, the insurer can use a model that can calculate human mortality. With this mortality model, probabilities of deaths at particular ages can be calculated. Rather than trying to figure out when a client dies, the convention in actuarial science is to phrase things in terms of survival models. There are popular survival functions that enable insurers to perform this calculation. With these functions, insurers are able to efficiently provide this service and ensure that life insurance will continue to be a thriving field of work. After we define basic notation and terms, we look at standard survival models. Then we consider a recently proposed model by Chi Heem Wong and Albert K. Tsui.

Almost 40% of the Canadian workforce shows signs of progressive burnout. For a variety of reasons, stress within the workplace appears to be increasing. The popular press and academic journals suggest that chronic job stres, burnout, will be most significant workplace issue in the new millennium. Although both men and women suffer from stress and burnout, it appears that women are at a greater risk than men. Unfortunately, research on the relationship between women's stress and their heatlh has not kept pace with the popularization of the problem. We could understand this relationship better if we had more information about women, their health history (including phases of development over the life span), and occupational history. Relatedly, as the baby-boomer generation ages to mid-life, there appears to be a sea change on the horizon: one in which women are demanding answers and knowledge about the process of menopause and its effect on their lives, inside and outside the home. To fill this void, the proposed research will address the life change of women, and specifically, how their stages of development and occupational and health histories relate to the experience of burnout.<br>xv, 126 leaves ; 29 cm.

This work develops an aircraft end of life management framework applicable to an executive airplane manufacturer. Usually, end of life operations are outsourced and the original airplane manufacturers do not get directly involved in whatever decisions and tasks are done in this field. However, after considering the possibility of managing the aircraft';s end of life through the manufacturer';s customer support department, a new approach emerges for managing reusable systems and making disposal of non reusable systems and carcasses. It tends to elevate end of life operations from an obligation to become an enhancement in customer satisfaction and possibly revenue, somewhat similar to what happened to maintenance procedures in the recent past of the aeronautical sector. For the development of the proposed system (approach), a process mapping is made for better understanding of operations needed to be done and a strategic approach to these operations is reached, leading to a new maintenance program called Life Monitoring. Therefore, a linkage among environmental management, customer support and aircraft salvaging is established in a way that both the company and the customer be benefited. Although the program is elaborated and applied in a simulated case, the results may be transferred to the manufacturing of any real executive aircraft and, less directly, any product. .

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool specifically developed for quantifying and assessing the environmental burden of a product across its entire life cycle, thus providing powerful support for sustainable product design. There exists a geographical imbalance in the adoption and distribution of LCA studies, with a notably poor penetration into developing countries, resulting from a lack of technical expertise, reliable data, and an inability to engage with the key issues of developing countries. These challenges are particularly prevalent in waste management. The limitations in current LCA capacity for representing product end-of-life, coupled to the disparity in waste management practices between developed and developing countries means that LCA is currently unable to accurately model product end-of-life in South Africa. This means that, for imported products designed on the basis of LCA, the upstream impacts may be accurate, while the end-of-life is not. Therefore, to improve the use of LCA as a tool to support sustainable product design, there is a need to develop life cycle datasets and methods that accurately reflect the realities of waste management in developing countries. The objectives of this dissertation are to (i) identify the current shortcomings of existing LCA datasets in representing the end-of-life stage of general waste in a South African context, and (ii) propose modifications to existing datasets to better reflect the realities of waste management in a South African context and extract lessons from this for use elsewhere. To meet these objectives, research was undertaken in three main stages, with the outcome of each stage used to inform the development of each subsequent stage. The first stage aimed to establish the status quo with regards to general waste management in South Africa. This investigation was informed through a desktop review of government and other publicly available reports, supplemented by field work and stakeholder engagements. These results formed the basis for the second stage: a review of LCA capacity for representing product end-of-life in the South African context. The review of datasets was limited to those contained within SimaPro v8.3 and was undertaken with the aim of understanding the extent to which current datasets are capable of representing South African waste management practices. Finally, three cases of existing LCA datasets were explored. This included testing modifications that could be made in an attempt to improve their applicability to the South African reality. In South Africa, a major limitation in developing a quantified mapping of waste flows lies in the paucity of reliable waste data and the exclusion of the contribution of the informal sector in existing waste data repositories. It was estimated that South Africa generates approximately 12.7 million tonnes of domestic waste per annum, of which an estimated 29% is not collected or treated via formal management options. For both formal and informal general waste, disposal to land (landfill and dumping) represents the most utilised waste management option. Landfill conditions in South Africa range from well-managed sanitary landfills to open dumps. Considering only licensed landfill facilities, it is estimated that large and medium landfill sites accept the majority of South Africa’s general waste (54% and 31% respectively), while the balance is managed in small (12%) and communal (3%) sites. Considering the quantity of informal domestic waste enables a crude estimation of household waste distribution between different landfill classes. In this instance, while the majority of waste (40%) is still managed in large formal landfill sites, an appreciable quantity (26%) is managed in private dumps. Within SimaPro v8.3 landfill disposal is best represented by the sanitary landfill datasets contained within the ecoinvent v3.3 database. SimaPro preserves the modular construction of the ecoinvent dataset, meaning that various generic modifications to these datasets can be made, such as the elimination or addition of burdens, redefinition of the value of a burden, or substitution of a linked dataset. Practically, such modifications are limited to process-specific burdens. However, wastespecific burdens are of greater significance in the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) result of a landfill process. Waste-specific emissions are generated using the underlying ecoinvent landfill emission model. The current model structure allows for the parametrisation of waste composition in addition to landfill gas (LFG) capture and utilisation efficiencies. However, besides the incorporation of a methane correction factor to account for the effect that various site conditions have on the waste degradation environment, the extent to which the existing model can be adapted to represent alternative landfill conditions is limited. This is particularly true in the case of leachate generation and release. Although adaptation that incorporates the effect of climatic conditions on waste degradability and emission release is possible, this requires a high level of country-specific data and modelling expertise. Thus, the practicality of such a modification within the skills set of most LCA practitioners is questionable. Further limitations in the existing modelling framework include its inability to quantify the potential impacts of practices characteristic of unmanaged sites such as open-burning, waste scavenging, and the presence of vermin and other animal vectors for disease. Analysis of the LCIA results for different landfill scenarios showed that regardless of either the deposited material or the specific landfill conditions modelled, the time frame considered had the most pronounced effect on the normalised potential impacts. Regardless of landfill conditions, when long-term leachate emissions are considered, freshwater and marine ecotoxicity impacts dominate the overall potential impacts of the site. This result implies that if landfill disposal is modelled over the long-term, the potential impacts of the process has less to do with site-specific conditions than it does to do with the intrinsic properties of the material itself. Given the ensuing extent of degradation that occurs over the time frame considered, the practise of very long-term modelling can equalise landfills that differ strongly in the short-term. In terms of product design on the basis of LCA, the choice of material can be more strongly influenced by the time frame considered than the specific landfill scenario. From a short-term perspective, for fast degrading materials the impacts incurred from leachate emissions and their subsequent treatment are of lesser importance than those arising from LFG. From a long-term perspective by contrast, leachate emissions have a significant effect on the LCIA result. Investigation into the effect of reduced precipitation on the LCIA result showed that the exclusion of leachate emissions lowers the potential impacts of a number of impact categories, with the most substantial quantified reduction observed in the freshwater and marine ecotoxicity impact categories. This result implies that for dry climates, the long-term impacts of landfilling could be significantly lower than when compared to landfill under temperate conditions, with the potential impacts of the waste remaining locked-up in the landfill. Given quantified findings on South Africa’s dependence on both formal and informal disposal, and the variation in landfill conditions across the country, it can be concluded that LCA results for the impacts of products originating from global supply chains, but consumed and disposed of in South Africa, will be inaccurate for the end-of-life stage if modifications to end-of-life modelling are not made. The findings from this dissertation provide the basis for i) a crude estimate of ‘market shares’ of different disposal practises and ii) guidelines for parameterisation of material specific emission factors, in particular for shorter term emissions, focused on LFG and leachate emissions.

The application of Qur'ān and Hadith in the teaching of life skills in Muslim schools in South Africa. This study explores the application of Qur‟ān and Hadith in the teaching of life skills, as part of the Islamic Studies curriculum, at Muslim schools. The study further discusses the need to equip learners at Muslim schools with the necessary skills, values, attitudes and orientations that are conducive to greater participation in adulthood. The study is aimed at examining the potential of an Islamic perspective to meet these needs. The discussion focuses on five areas: health development, personal development, social development, physical development and orientation to the world of work. The research reveals that the Islamic Studies curriculum can be holistically integrated with life skills development, and the Qur‟ān and Hadith can make a significant contribution for the optimal implementation of this learning area. Muslim schools are urged to implement the recommendations made in this study. The sustained training of educators and the continuous development of learning support materials is needed to ensure that this learning area achieves its objectives.<br>Religious Studies and Arabic<br>M.A. (Islamic Studies)

This study finds its origins in a crime. At least, that is if today's strict Egyptian antiquities legislation, prohibiting the illicit excavation and trade in ancient Egyptian artefacts, were applied to the rich tomb discovered around 1871 by the brothers Muhammad and Ahmad cAbd ar-Rasul in the cliffs above al-Hurubat, al-Qurna. When the discovery was made public in 1881, it became obvious that the cAbd ar­ Rasul family had used their find as a 'bank' account, selling off antiquities as and when in need of funds. Al-Hurubat and the other component hamlets which make up the village of al-Qurna on the Luxor west bank are in part located in the World Heritage-listed archaeological area of the Theban Necropolis. Located in the foothills of the Theban Mountain, mud-brick houses are situated in between and on top of a Pharaonic cemetery of international renown. Due to their presence within the archaeological precinct, foreign archaeological missions in the area for the past 190 years have recruited their labourers from the 'Qurna' community. As a consequence, references about al-Qurna in the main come from, and are coloured by, the professional reports and popularised accounts which result from archaeological fieldwork practice and from the popular fiction it has inspired. Although damage to the archaeological monuments; antiquities' thefts; or the illicit excavation and trade in antiquities feature in all these literary forms, no other incident has contributed more to the common understanding that the people who live here are 'tomb-robbers' than has the 1881 cAbd ar-Rasul discovery. Using a 1960s Egyptological publication which popularised the interest in ancient Egypt but which in doing so also perpetuated for a mass-audience the characterisation that Qurnawi are 'tomb-robbers', this study argues that the archaeological literature and its attendant negative views concerning populations inhabiting archaeological sites, has largely been responsible for the denial of any form of contemporary sociality which may also be found in the Theban Necropolis

The issue of a Muslim woman‟s dress code has been debated for centuries. This is of great importance as it is widely used as a criterion to measure the extent of a woman‟s piety or devotion to Allah. A study of the religious texts on the issue is essential. Therefore, Qur‟anic text, Prophetic Traditions and Qur‟anic exegesis of both classical and modern scholars would have been used in determining the correct dress code for Muslim women. While all research indicates that women dress conservatively, in order not to attract the attention of the opposite sex. The extent to which a woman must be covered has not been agreed upon. Even if what has to be covered is established by scholars, the manner in which this is to be done and the type of colours and fabric to be used needs further clarification. The issue of the female dress code needs to be presented from a female perspective.<br>Religious Studies and Arabic<br>M.A. (Islamic Studies)

Arabic text. Arabic summary and keywords cannot be copied into meta data fields<br>The importance of this research is evident from the field related to it; namely, that of reports about circumstances for Qur’anic revelations. Without a comprehensive knowledge of it, many of the subtleties and nuances of Qur’anic discourse remain concealed from us. For this purpose, I used al-Suyuti’s "Lubab al-Nuqul fi Asbab al-Nuzul" for the pivotal and comprehensive role it occupies among works dealing with this discipline. Briefly, my methodology was the following: I first presented a summary of the author’s biography. Secondly, I edited the manuscript I had obtained of this book from the King Faisal Library in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Thirdly, I made comparisons between this version and numerous printed versions of this book in order to verify the authenticity of textual information I presented in this thesis by categorising Prophetic and other reports at the levels of their soundness and weakness so that the reader may obtain a firm insight into their status levels. Fourthly, I amended reports that al-Suyuti had omitted in relation to verses he had cited. Fifthly, I graded different reports on a topic according to established criteria in this subject; often reconciling them where it was possible. I interpreted verses in their general purport by indicating that the report/s relating to the circumstances for revelation was/were already embodied in their signification. I only deviated from this norm where I found that a body of reliable scholars had given preference to a particular report vis-à-vis a certain verse; in which case I adopted their opinion. Sixthly, I attached brief commentaries to relevant verses to enable the reader to gain a more comprehensive grasp of text within its context. Finally, I defined some peculiar terminology found in this book for the benefit of unfamiliar researchers.<br>Religious Studies and Arabic<br>D. Litt. et Phil. (Islamic Studies)

碩士<br>逢甲大學<br>經營管理碩士在職專班<br>105<br>This study is about one entrepreneur thinking about sustainable operation after starting from scratch. There are two ways to keep sustainable operation: 1. Pass down the business to the succeeding generation. 2. Find a professional manager and keep them administering independently. For the younger generation of family, only keep them as shareholders without managing the company. Prevent the enterprise in chaos because of laymen leading. And the training of successors makes the enterprise become better rather than bigger. Besides, let the children live independently rather than be a NEET. In this way, they can be successor, entrepreneur or salaryman. I’d like to say this is a book of family instruction rather than thesis. I hope this can bring some alerts to next generation even only one sentence is helpful.

碩士<br>國立臺灣師範大學<br>人類發展與家庭學系<br>98<br>The study discuss the Elderly farmer’s perception of the subjective quality of life though the elderly farmer’s life style. By analysis of life events as the focus of discussing the changing of life style and life events and Subjective quality of life. Consider regional, gender, retirement or not at the same time as the sampling standard. In-depth interviews were conducted with six elderly farmers. Analysis of the interviews found: 1.Elderly farmer’s lifestyle shows three principal axis (1)”Family Life “ is a important life axis common to all kinds of life style, especially marital interaction and intergenerational interaction. (2)“Agricultural Life” in a different life style demonstrate the importance of different forms To the professional elderly farmer’s life style, agricultural life is the main economic avtivities in daily life. Retired elderly farmer’s life style show on the transformation of agricultural activities as leisure activities , and sharing with their family. The largest characteristics of their life style are retired without leaving agricultural. (1)"Social life" interweaving by the properties of Social participation and social networks is the most diverse of the three axes. 2. The elements and changes of Subjective quality of life. The subjective quality of life increase with age, and Health, economic stability, Marital status of their children , the interaction between the their grandchildren are the important elements of the subjective quality of life. Changing role and losses in later life due to widowhood reduced the subjective quality of life.

The elimination of certain cancers with light, known as photodynamic therapy, is a relatively new technique that has mainly been used in Russia, the USA and some parts of Europe, but with remarkable effectiveness. Professor Tebello Nyokong of the Department of Chemistry , at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, is collaborating with Professor David Phillips of the Imperial College, London, as part of the AtlantIC Alliance which also involves Emory University, Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology, both in Atlanta, SA.

博士<br>中國文化大學<br>哲學系<br>104<br>This thesis essays to argue that the essence of Zhuangzi’s Philosophy of Life is Xiaoyao(The Absolute Freedom) and that this philosophy can be practically applied to the Education of Life. In the beginning, with the realm of research concentrated on the Text of Zhuangzi, and the use of the traditional Chinese hermeneutics, our thesis proves via the free interpretation of Zhuxi upon Zhuangzi that the common misunderstanding of the philosophy of Zhuangzi as a kind of selfish escapism is unfounded. In contrast to such kind of misunderstanding, Zhuangzi has positive meaning in the achievement of individual freedom in the visages of Perfect Man, Spirit-like Man, and Sage, via the Dao of Laozi. Xiaoyao is not external determined, but inner freedom: acquiescence to the occasion and let nature take its course, in order to solve the natural difficulty of life and death; take what is doomed to be what is natural, in order to solve the social difficulty of conflicting public duty and private security; to settle the spiritual nature in tranquility, in order to solve the subjective difficulty of internal affection and desire, restoring the internal peace and harmony, further toward the heavenly peace and harmony. These self-cultivations fulfill the value and meaning of individual life, let individuals attain the harmony in nature and in human world, till he reaches to the absolute freedom beyond the internal and the external plight, arriving at the ideal realm of man: the Sage enjoys his freedom within heaven and earth; the Spirit-like Man enjoys his freedom beyond the world; the Perfect Man enjoys his freedom in the action of non-action. The philosophy of life for absolute freedom comes from the moral cultivation of non-action, with the spiritual freedom as its ideal. The Daoist vision of life emphasizes the inner original power of lifeexerting itsvitalityin the not-yet-formed non-teleological free action. As for education: spiritual education nourishes the vitality for the growth, accomplishment and fulfillment of life, avoiding the implementation of reward and punishment that damages the vitality, instead by non-action to restore them back to the source of life-Tao; the adaptive physical education to help each child to find her or his own spiritual endowment, allowing each unique life to fulfill, achieving heavenly peace and harmony in harmonious life; the environmental education to help them to use their own endowment to treat every sentient being without discrimination; the education of life and death to help them to face life and death as naturally equal; the Daoist moral education to let their nature develop freely without depression or pretension, but staying in the harmonious balance or degree zero; the crafts education that bring them to the direct experience of Dao through the concentration in bodily practice. All these are proper ways to respect the spiritual freedom of life, and none of these can work without the cultivation of non-action by the teachers. Only the non-action in education can let the free nature of each one involved in it blossom. the education of freedom of life not only raise individuals with their freedom, but on the foundation of that, it prepares for the modern democratic society the internal way of the sage and the external way of the kingship toward the truly equal and peaceful world.

碩士<br>國立高雄第一科技大學<br>風險管理與保險所<br>94<br>ABSTRACT The purpose to establish the general life table lies in finding out the level of the national average life span, and can present the situations of the people''s health, life growth and decline. The life table is divided into the national life table and experience life table of life insurance in accordance with working out the sources of the materials used differently. The life insurance industries in the two sides (mainland China and Taiwan) published the latest experience life table of life insurance in 2002 and 2005 separately, and the application of life table has already been developed to all trades and professions. Nowadays in 2006, the life pattern and social structure in Taiwan have been changed, progress of medical quality and improvement of environmental sanitation, make the death rate in Taiwan drop year by year, the life expectancy is lengthened year by year, and the fast increase with number of population at advanced age, have an influence that can''t be ignored to the government''s every welfare policies. So, to analyze the structure of every life table for reference to the welfare policies and the insurance goods, really has its research value. This thesis will discuss three main topics. First of all, we analyze the procedure of the establishment of the life table, explain how to set up the life table and introduce some different life tables. Secondly, we analyze iii experience life tables of life insurance in two sides (mainland China and Taiwan), and expatiate the historical evolution about the experience life tables. Thirdly, we analyze the life expectancy based on the government''s abridged life table of 2004 and experience life tables of life insurance in these two sides. We present the personal opinions about the extension of the life expectancy and give the suggestion on the problem that individual and country may face to. The characteristics of this thesis lie in consolidating the same theory and viewpoints of the life table. Furthermore, I present some complements and suggestions for the development that follow-up can in the future.