Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'BEENS'

In this thesis, I explored children’s experiences of role-play in relation to notions of self. The research took place in two pack-away settings in the Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) sector of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The experiences of eight children, aged between three-year-three months and four-years one month, were investigated over a period of seven months. I used an adaptation of The Mosaic Approach (Clark and Moss 2001) combined with a reflective lenses approach (Brookfield 1995) to create a three-dimensional view of the children’s experiences. The children and I used a range of tools to gather data including digital cameras, conferencing, drawing and map-making. Children were conceptualised as agentic and capable of commenting on their lives and experiences (James et al 1998, Qvortrup 2004, Cosaro 2010). The findings revealed that children engage in Wave Play, a fluid form of role-play in which they move both props and ideas from space to space. Practitioners support the children in finding the necessary props and allowing them to move from one area of the setting to another. The children displayed positive self-esteem and effective social behaviours showing an awareness of themselves as social beings. They were confident that their needs will be met when they request support. In their role-play activities, they showed their understanding of themselves as integrated selves; beings, becomings and having beens (Cross 2011). Adults in pack-away settings can support children effectively by adopting a flexible pedagogical approach.

Interference among neighbouring plants, often due to competition for limited resources, is central to subjects such as yield-density relationships, intercropping, self-thinning in dense plant stands and low reproductive yield in certain crops. An experiment was conducted to investigate plant interference in associated populations of beans {Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and beets [Beta vulgaris L.). Plants of the two species were grown at different total densities and at different mixture proportions in a randomized complete block design. Several analytical procedures were used to interpret and define treatment effects. The analysis of variance indicated that yield was significantly reduced with either increasing total population density or increasing bean proportions in mixtures. The interactions of total population density and mixture proportions were only occasionally significant. Parameters of non-linear models used to define yield-density relationships indicated that beans were the superior competitor, both against themselves and against beets. The model parameters were also used to determine differential yield responses on total dry weight, leaf dry weight, leaf number and leaf area in the bean-beet mixtures. Yield advantage was observed in leaf dry weight and leaf number when model parameters were used in calculating land equivalent ratios whereas total dry weight and leaf area showed yield disadvantage. Using observed values to calculate land equivalent ratios indicated yield advantage in all four variables. Plant size inequalities, as determined by the Gini coefficient tended to decrease in beet monocultures with increasing population density. In monocultures of beans and in the bean-beet mixtures, plant size distribution was not systematically changed by density and mixture treatments. Yield component analysis indicated that the variation in total yield due, to either population density or mixture treatments increased with age; the variation due to the population density by mixture proportions Interaction remained relatively constant throughout the growing season. Leaf number per plant was the yield component which was most frequently a significant source of yield variation both in the forward and backward yield component analysis. Plant growth analysis indicated that leaf area ratio and specific leaf weight were higher at higher population densities and at higher bean proportions. Harvest index decreased with increasing population density and with increasing proportions of the competing species in beets. Absolute growth, relative growth and unit leaf rates increased with time and declined after reaching a peak at about 68 days after planting. Both the lowest population density of 16 plants m ̄² and the mixture treatment with the least proportion of beans had the greatest increase in absolute growth, relative growth and unit leaf rates. Allometric relationships between total plant dry weight and any secondary measure per plant were influenced in different ways by density and mixture treatments and by time of harvest. The composition of models also varied considerably. The interpretation of plant interference, therefore is strongly influenced by the choice of plant characteristics which are measured, and by the time of measurement.
Land and Food Systems, Faculty of
Graduate

This is an investigation of the Combinatorial Perfect Information Game Beans and Pots. The Conway number system will be explained and used to calculate values of Beans and Pots configurations. Known theorems are included, as well as new results. The Appendices contain game trees as well as calculations for a number of configurations.

TESIS PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE MAGÍSTER EN ADMINISTRACIÓN Felipe Gutierrez Saieg [Parte I], Pedro Torres Araya [Parte II]
En los últimos años se ha visto un crecimiento sostenido de restaurants, bares y pubs, en la costa sur de Antofagasta, esta industria cuenta con cerca de 17 locales que se disputan día a día la asistencia de un público, cada vez más exigente en cuanto a la experiencia de entretención, nivel de servicio, local y la calidad de los productos. Por otra parte esta ciudad cuenta con el mayor consumo de cervezas per cápita, llegando a los 60 litros aproximadamente, con un clima que fomenta dicho consumo cada día más, sin embargo, no cuenta con ningún restaurant especializado en hamburguesas caseras y cervezas premium, lo que genera una gran oportunidad de negocio. Es por lo anterior que se ha creado “Buffalo´s Burgers & Beers”, un negocio que ofrece una propuesta de valor diferente, fusionando la venta en local de cervezas importadas y hamburguesas premium, estilo americanas, preparadas en casa, todo esto junto a un excelente ambiente de entretención y una atención de excelencia. El restaurant estará ubicado en el sector sur de Antofagasta, cercano al Balneario Municipal, cuenta con 180m2. La fuente de ingresos viene dada por la venta de hamburguesas y cervezas premium, buscando alcanzar la excelencia en la atención, un sabor inconfundible de una hamburguesa casera, con carne procesada en el mismo restaurant, y llevar a las cervezas al nivel del vino, mostrando diferentes categorías y grados alcohólicos. El mercado objetivo de Buffalo´s Burgers & Beers es de 37.800 personas que se ubican principalmente en la zona centro sur de la ciudad de Antofagasta, pertenecientes a los segmentos socio económicos AB y C1(a) con edades entre los 20 y 40 años. Uno de los puntos críticos, para cumplir con la oferta de Buffalo´s Burgers & Beers con sus clientes, es el manejo adecuado del inventario, lo que permitirá mantener la frescura y reducir la perdida de alimentos. El proyecto es rentable bajo distintos escenarios de evaluación, se propone optar por un periodo de evaluación de ocho años, considerando la apertura de un segundo local a partir del cuarto año de operación de la empresa, bajo este escenario el VAN es de CLP 451.788.388 y una recuperación al tercer año del proyecto. Buffalo´s Burgers & Beers ofrece a sus clientes una gran experiencia de atención y productos de calidad, con lo que se espera cubrir una necesidad existente hoy en la ciudad de Antofagasta.

The author presents the first detailed review of the pharmacological therapy of parkinsonism from ancient times until the near present (1980). It is not clear whether parkinsonism as it is now defined – a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the basal ganglia characterized by sharply reduced striatal dopamine levels, particularly in the striatum – has always affected a significant minority of aged persons, but suggestive evidence to this effect in the older literature is reviewed. The major discussion commences, however, with the administration of various plant alkaloids to parkinsonian patients in the second half of the 19th century. Antiparkinsonian therapy since this time may be divided into a number of phases: 1. The employment of alkaloids derived from solanaceous plants: initially hyoscyamine, then hyoscine/scopolamine and atropine. The discovery and characterization of these alkaloids, and the gradual recognition that other pharmacologically useful solanaceous alkaloids (such as duboisine) were identical with one or other of these three compounds, is discussed. 2. With the outbreak of encephalitis lethargica following the First World War, parkinsonian patient numbers increased dramatically, leading to a multiplicity of new directions, including the use of another solanaceous plant, stramonium, of extremely high atropine doses, and of harmala alkaloids. 3. The so-called “Bulgarian treatment” was popularized in western Europe in the mid-1930s. It was also a belladonna alkaloid-based therapy, but associated with greater efficacy and fewer side effects. This approach, whether as actual plant extracts or as defined combinations of belladonna alkaloids, remained internationally dominant until the end of the 1940s. 4. Synthetic antiparkinsonian agents were examined following the Second World War, with the aim of overcoming the deficiencies of belladonna alkaloid therapy. These agents fell into two major classes: synthetic anticholinergic (= antimuscarinic) agents, such as benzhexol, and antihistaminergic drugs, including diphenhydramine. These agents were regarded as more effective than plant-based remedies, but certainly not as cures for the disease. 5. A complete change in direction was heralded by the discovery in 1960 of the striatal dopamine deficit in parkinsonism. This led to the introduction of L-DOPA therapy for parkinsonism, the first approach directed against an identified physiological abnormality in the disorder. 6. Subsequent developments have thus far concentrated on refinement or supplementation of the L-DOPA effect. Recent attempts to develop neuroprotective or -restorative approaches are also briefly discussed. The thesis also discusses the mechanisms by which the various types of antiparkinsonian agent achieved their effects, and also the problems confronting workers at various periods in the design and assessment of novel agents. The impact of attitudes regarding the etiology and nature of parkinsonism, particularly with regard to symptomatology, is also considered. Finally, the history of antiparkinsonian therapy is discussed in context of the general development of both clinical neurology and fundamental anatomical, physiological and biochemical research. In particular, the deepening understanding of the neurochemical basis of central nervous system function is emphasized, for which reason the history of dopamine research is discussed in some detail. This history of antiparkinsonian therapy also illustrates the fact that the nature of experimental clinical pharmacology has markedly changed throughout this period: No longer the preserve of individual physicians, it is now based firmly on fundamental laboratory research, the clinical relevance of which is not always immediately apparent, and which is only later examined in (large scale) clinical trials. It is concluded that antiparkinsonian therapy was never irrational or without basis, but has always been necessarily rooted in current knowledge regarding neural and muscular function. The achievements of L-DOPA therapy, the first successful pharmacological treatment for a neurodegenerative disorder, derived from the fruitful union of the skills and contributions of different types by laboratory scientists, pharmacologists and clinicians
Der Autor stellt die erste detaillierte Zusammenfassung der Entwicklung der pharmakologischen Therapie des Parkinsonismus vom Altertum bis in die jüngere Vergangenheit (1980) dar. Es ist nicht klar, ob der Parkinsonismus, wie er jetzt definiert wird – eine progressive neurodegenerative Störung der Basalganglien, die durch die zum scharf verringerten Dopamininhalt des Corpus striatum führende Degeneration der nigrostriatalen Bahn gekennzeichnet wird – zu allen Zeiten eine bedeutende Minderheit älterer Personen heimgesucht hat, verlockende Hinweise darauf findet man aber in der älteren Literatur. Die Hauptdiskussion beginnt jedoch mit der Anwendung verschiedener Pflanzenalkaloide bei Parkinson-Patienten in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die Geschichte der Parkinson-Therapie seit dieser Zeit läßt sich in eine Serie von Phasen gliedern: 1. Die Anwendung von aus den Solanazeen isolierten Alkaloiden: zuerst Hyoscyamin, später Hyoscin/Skopolamin und Atropin. Die Entdeckung und die Charakterisierung dieser Alkaloide und die allmähliche Feststellung, daß andere pharmakologisch nützliche Solanazeen-Alkaloide (z.B. Duboisin) mit einem oder anderem dieser schon bekannten Mittel identisch waren, werden diskutiert. 2. Mit dem Ausbruch der Encephalitis lethargica nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg stieg die Anzahl von Parkinson-Patienten dramatisch an, was zu einer Vielfältigkeit neuer therapeutischer Richtungen führte: Der Einsatz des auch zu den Solanazeen gehörenden Stramonium, die Verabreichung von extrem hohen Atropindosen, und die Benutzung von Harmala-Alkaloiden waren insbesondere hochgeschätzt. 3. Die sogenannte “Bulgarische Kur” verbreitete sich schnell in Westeuropa in der Mitte der dreißiger Jahre. Es handelte sich dabei ebenfalls um eine auf Tollkirsche-Alkaloiden basierte Therapie, der jedoch höhere Wirksamkeit und wenige Nebenwirkungen zugemutet wurde. Diese Methode, vermittels der Verabreichung tatsächlicher Tollkirschenextrakte bzw. definierter Kombinationen von Belladonna-Alkaloiden, beherrschte die Parkinson-Therapie bis zum Ende der vierziger Jahre. 4. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg wurden synthetische Parkinson-Mittel überprüft, in der Hoffnung, die Mängel der bisherigen anticholinergen Therapien überwinden zu können. Diese Mittel teilten sich in zwei Hauptkategorien ein: synthetische anticholinerge (= antimuskarine; z.B. Benzhexol) und antihistaminerge Mittel (z.B., Diphenhydramin). Diese Arzneimittel wurden als wirkungsvoller als pflanzliche Therapien angesehen, jedoch sicherlich nicht als Heilmittel für die Krankheit. 4. Eine gründliche Richtungsänderung der Parkinson-Therapie kündigte sich mit der Entdeckung (1960) des striatalen Dopamindefizits im Parkinsonismus an. Diese führte zur Einführung der L-DOPA-Therapie, der ersten Parkinson-Therapie, die gegen eine genau definierte physiologische Abnormität gerichtet war. 5. Die darauf folgenden Entwicklungen haben sich bis heute auf Verfeinerung bzw. Ergänzung des L-DOPA-Effektes konzentriert. Neuere Ansätze, neuroprotektive bzw. -restorative Therapien zu entwickeln, werden kurz behandelt. Die Arbeit diskutiert auch die Mechanismen, die der Wirksamkeit der verschiedenen Parkinson-Mittelarten zugrunde liegen, und auch die Probleme, die Forscher bei der Entwicklung und Bewertung neuartiger Mittel konfrontiert haben. Diese Diskussion zieht auch in Betracht die Auswirkung der Haltung des jeweiligen Forschers betreffend der Ätiologie und Natur des Parkinsonismus auf die Beurteilung neuer therapeutischer Möglichkeiten. Schließlich wird die Geschichte der Parkinson-Therapie im Kontext der allgemeinen Entwicklung der klinischen Neurologie als auch der grundlegenden anatomischen, physiologischen und biochemischen Forschung während dieser Periode behandelt. Insbesondere wird das wachsende Verständnis der neurochemischen Grundlagen der Funktion des Zentralnervensystems hervorgehoben, indem die Geschichte der Dopaminforschung ausführlich behandelt wird. Die Geschichte der Parkinson-Therapie weist auch darauf hin, daß sich die Natur der experimentellen Pharmakologie während dieser Periode grundsätzlich geändert hat. Sie liegt nämlich nicht mehr im Zuständigkeitsbereich des einzelnen Arztes, sondern wird im Gegenteil auf grundlegender Laborforschung aufgebaut, deren klinische Bedeutung nicht immer sofort deutlich ist. Erst später werden die Ergebnisse dieser Grundlagenforschung in großangelegten klinischen Versuchen bei Patienten überprüft. Es wird gefolgert, daß die Parkinson-Therapie zu keiner Zeit als ohne vernünftige Grundlage bzw. irrational betrachtet werden darf. Sie ist jedoch immer dem aktuellen Wissensstand betreffend neuraler und muskulöser Funktion entsprechend geregelt worden. Der Erfolg der L-DOPA-Therapie, der ersten langfristig wirksamen pharmakologischen Behandlung einer neurodegenerativen Krankheit, ist das Ergebnis der ertragreichen Vereinigung der Fähigkeiten und verschiedenartigen Beiträge von Grundlagenforschern, Pharmakologen und Klinikern

Introduction – Insect societies are well known for cooperation. However, there is a high potential for conflict both over resources (intercolonial) and over reproduction (intracolonial). Here I present the key results of my thesis in these two areas. 1. – In our first study we show that T. angustula possesses two types of entrance guards, hovering and standing guards, and that they have different tasks. Standing guards, however, can switch to hovering if needed. 2. – Honey bee, A. m. mellifera, guards recognise allospecific intruders via “different odours” not “harmful intruder odours”. 3. – Following up on project 1 we demonstrated a relatively clear division of labour in guarding of T. angustula where guards either act as standing or hovering guards. This study also adds descriptive data on the natural history at the nest entrances of T. angustula. 4. – In our fourth project we found that worker policing in the honey bee (A. m. mellifera and A. m. carnica) has a low cost because few recognition errors are made, 9.6% and 4.1% of eggs in male and female cells were removed in error, and because these errors are easily rectified. 5. – Virgin queens of M. quadrifasciata were only elected in queenless colonies and generally only shortly after the removal of the resident queen. The virgin queens' behaviour did affect their survival or their life time, respectively. Finally, we described the election process of virgin queens by their colony. Conclusion – Mainly the finding of two different entrance guards in T. angustula generated a series of new questions. In addition, this thesis helped clarifying how social insects recognise each other, it provided the first study that did not measure the benefit but the cost of worker policing, and it shed some light on the bizarre behaviour of queen replacement and execution in Melipona.

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A eclosão da crise financeira internacional de 2008 colocou o uso da política fiscal novamente no radar dos formuladores de políticas públicas como forma de impulsionar a atividade econômica. No presente trabalho, analisamos a desoneração do IPI sobre automóveis com o objetivo de fornecer contribuições em duas direções: i) estimar e calibrar um modelo DSGE de pequena escala para o Brasil que incorpore esse aspecto e ii) analisar o impacto específico dessa política nas principais variáveis macroeconômicas à luz do modelo. Os resultados sugerem que o impacto desse estímulo fiscal foi inicialmente positivo em estimular a atividade, mas com efeitos decrescentes.
The outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis put the fiscal policy again in the spotlight as a way to boost economic activity. In this paper, we analyze the IPI tax exemption on vehicles aiming to contribute in two directions: i) estimate and calibrate a small scale DSGE model for Brazil that incorporates this aspect; and ii) evaluate the impact of this specific policy on the main macroeconomic variables through the lens of the model. Our results suggest that the impact of this fiscal stimulus was initially positive in boosting economic activity, however with diminishing effects.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005.
Theses ( Dept. of Biological Sciences) / Simon Fraser University. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

The remains of James Oliver Plunkett are dug up one night from their grave at Mount Calvary Cemetery by two college adjunct writing professors, Bob Rusher and Phil Pike. Having chopped through Plunkett's coffin with a pick, Rusher lifts Plunkett's skeleton from the coffin and pronounces his name--and in this moment Plunkett returns to consciousness as a cognitive vapor. The reason that Plunkett has been dug up is hinted at: After writing many unpublished novels and stories during his lifetime, and dying utterly anonymous, Plunkett's fiction has somehow been posthumously published, to great acclaim. Rusher is a huge fan of Plunkett's published work and is digging him up in the belief that one of his unpublished novels--The King of Portland--has been buried with him. When he does not find the novel, Rusher decides to kidnap the remains to force Plunkett's family to reveal the status of The King of Portland. Plunkett drives with Rusher and Pike to a strip club called the Serpentine, located in downtown Portland. They are not aware of Plunkett, but when they enter the club, leaving his bones behind in the car in a brown sack, Plunkett accompanies them. Rusher is courting one of the strippers, Hazel, and has given her one of Plunkett's posthumous novels to read, which she's enjoyed. Hazel's employer and perhaps boyfriend Chuck arrives at Rusher and Pike's table and, with Hazel still present, demonstrates his claim to the stripper by urinating in Rusher's beer. Rusher leaves the club humiliated. After dropping Pike off, he drives to the Hollywood District and brings the sack with Plunkett's remains into his house. His girlfriend Ava Snyder is there, reading the poet Rilke in the bathtub--fully clothed, smoking a cigarette, lying on an air mattress, and drinking an old fashioned. Plunkett is present in consciousness throughout. Rusher does not tell Ava about his grave robbing or the bone-sack he's carrying; but when he leaves Ava in the tub, taking the bones with him, Plunkett remains behind in the bathroom and is startled to find himself privy to Ava's thoughts. After Ava splits from Rusher, Plunkett remains with her, experiencing her life while wondering about the family he might have left behind at his death, nine years earlier. Ava has a scary encounter with her bullying, drug-addled sister Judy, during which she has hints of Plunkett's presence in her mind; but Ava dismisses these hints until after a disappointing visit to her mother, with whom she has long had trouble communicating. At this point Ava hears Plunkett's voice for the first time, and they begin conversing. After transitioning from disbelief to annoyance to the intimate, irresistible pull of their shared consciousness, Ava eventually helps Plunkett to discover the reason for his posthumous, unlikely literary fame and the state of his still-living family: A wife and son who have reaped the profits of his posthumous success, but do not harbor fond memories of their long lives together with him. Plunkett has a vision of his death, in which he apparently committed suicide over his decades-long literary obscurity. Ava seeks out Plunkett's son, Kyle Fleming, an artist who has established his own, prominent comic book company. Kyle is bitter toward his father for neglecting him while growing up, and has taken on his mother's maiden name; but he then reveals that it was his father's fame that propelled him to celebrity as a comic book artist and publisher. Meanwhile, Plunkett's wife Camille is suffering from dementia and lives in a managed care facility. Ava and Plunkett arrive at Camille's room; in the presence of her late husband's consciousness, Camille reveals that it was she who asked Kyle to send out one of his unpublished manuscripts for publication--a romance novel whose enormous, unexpected success led to the publication of several other best-selling works by Plunkett. In spite of this, Camille tells Plunkett that she experienced the happiest years of her life after he died. While Plunkett was never violent and rarely verbally abusive, he was always distant, neglecting his wife and son to write his fiction around a series of demanding day jobs. After this visit, in which she thought she might lose him to Camille, Ava informs Plunkett that she has fallen in love with him. Plunkett reciprocates her feelings. And yet, Plunkett's lack of physical being is causing Ava to consider a romance with Kyle, his son, in order to experience more fully the voice of the dead writer she has come to love. Ava meets Kyle at a bar on Lombard Street; Kyle informs Ava that his mother, Camille, has died. Kyle insists that Ava take him to the managed care home to help make arrangements for his mother's body. During this car ride, with Ava driving, Kyle begins to hear his father's voice and to rail against him. Kyle reveals that his father hasn't committed suicide, but that he shot him for what he considered to be Plunkett's cruelty toward his mother. Ava and Plunkett are stunned. By this time, Ava has Plunkett's remains in the trunk of her car; she insists that Kyle return the bones to their grave as penance for the murder. At the cemetery Kyle runs away; Ava cannot bring herself to let go of Plunkett's remains. Ava's sister, Judy, shows up at the cemetery and in a drug-addled haze shoots Ava, of whom she has long been jealous. Ava dies of her wounds. Plunkett is left behind--but ultimately they are reunited in the dry, dark sea beyond this life.

The purpose of this work is to determine whether the Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) distributed computing architecture, that is so widely used for business applications, can serve as a platform for a parallel processing computing cluster suitable for scientific and numerical processing. This paper describes a research project currently being undertaken to implement a parallel processing computing system using EJB and test it to determine what potential usefulness it may have for solving computationally intensive numerical problems. If an enterprise or organization that is already using EJB for its distributed business or scientific applications could also harness this computing power to solve computationally intensive problems, it could dramatically broaden the usefulness of an existing computing infrastructure. An EJB based parallel processing cluster such as this could also be used as the infrastructure for a Grid Computing Environment (GCE). Class libraries would be used to allow application programs to access grid computational resources, while the services provided by the EJB distributed computing environment would be used to provide a foundation for a computational grid.

Morphometric characters and sting pheromones of worker honeybees, Apis mellifera Linnaeus were analysed by multivariate methods to characterise selected honeybee populations along five transects in Africa at a meso-scale level of sampling distance resolution. In some, but not all, areas pheromonal clusters were found to be coincident and concordant with the morphometric clusters, thus indicating that different honeybee traits have dispersed variably among populations. All transects were found to contain areas of significantly high variance. High intracolonial variance was taken to indicate localised genetic variation coupled with out-cross matings. Centroids of high intercolonial variance occured at and between cluster boundaries and were typical of transitions between, and rainfall-temperature discontinuities within, ecological-climatological zones, hence areas of ecological instability. Principal component and stepwise discriminant analysis yielded three morphometric clusters corresponding to A. m. sahariensis and A. m. intermissa in Morocco and to A. m. iberica (with three biometric populations) in Spain, but no pheromone clusters. The combined morphometric and pheromonal variance spectra indicated regions of natural hybridisation along a Sahara-Pyrenees transect. In the Horn of Africa, discrete and statistically homogeneous populations were identified: A. m. jemenitica, A. m. bandasii, A. m. sudanensis in Ethiopia and an unclassified group in southwestern Somalia. Areas of high intercolonial variance were interpreted as zones of hybridisation between the populations. Along a transect in west central Africa, three distinct homogeneous populations and two zones of hybridisation were found. These bees were designated as A. m. adansonii whose area of distribution was intruded by an un-named mountain group of bees and a third group, A. m. jemenitica. The delineation of the hybrid zones was supported by intercolonial variance spectra and these significant asymmetries were found to be coincident with transitions between the ecological-climatological zones. In southwestern Africa, two discrete homogeneous populations and a zone of hybridisation between them were identified: A. m. scutellata in northern South Africa and southern Namibia and A. m. adansonii in northern Namibia. Along a transect in the southeastern woodland savanna of Africa, three discrete populations were classified: A. m. litorea in Mozambique, A. m. scutellata in Zimbabwe and A. m. adansonii in northwestern Zambia. A zone of introgression between the last two subspecies occured in south-central Zambia and in the Zambezi valley.

This work introduces new enhancements to the Bees Algorithm in order to improve its overall performance. These enhancements are early neighbourhood search process, efficiency based recruitment for neighbourhood search process, hybrid strategy involving tabu search, new escape mechanism to escape locals with similar fitness values and autonomy to minimise interaction between search process and the user. The proposed enhancements were applied alone or in pair to develop improved versions of the Bees Algorithm. Three Enhanced Bees Algorithms were introduced: the Early Neighbourhood Search and Efficiency Based recruitment Bees Algorithm (ENSEBRBA), the Hybrid Tabu Bees Algorithm (TBA) and the Autonomous Bees Algorithm (ABA). The ENSEBRBA with an empowered initialisation stage and extra recruitment for neighbourhood search is introduced to improve performance of the Bees Algorithms on high dimensional problems. The TBA is proposed as a new version of the Bees Algorithm which utilises the memory lists to memorise less productive patches. Moreover, the local escape strategy was also implemented to this algorithm. Proposed modifications increased the productivity of the Bees Algorithm by decreasing number of evaluations needed to converge to the global optimum. iii The ABA is developed to provide independency to the Bees Algorithm, thus it is able to self tune its control parameters in a sub-optimal manner. All enhanced Algorithms were tested on continuous type benchmark functions and additionally, statistical analysis was carried out. Observed experimental results proved that proposed enhancements improved the Bees Algorithm’s performance.

This thesis focuses on hygienic behaviour in honey bees. In beekeeping, brood diseases incur heavy economical and biological costs and are no longer effectively treated with chemicals. Previous research has shown how hygienic behaviour, a trait expressed by c. 10% of unselected colonies, can be effective in reducing the impact and presence of such diseases. Hygienic behaviour is experimentally measured using the freeze-killed brood (FKB) bioassay and can be increased by selective breeding, generating lines of hygienic colonies. Chapter 4 demonstrates that the relative rarity of hygienic behaviour in unselected colonies is not because it incurs a cost via the removal of healthy brood. Chapter 5 - 6 focus on the impact of external factors on hygienic behaviour. Specifically, we demonstrate that the presence of brood, amount of food, and strength of the colony affect hygienic levels (Chapter 5). Chapter 6 shows that hygienic behaviour does not correlate with agressiviness or agitated behaviour. When breeding honey bees, it is possible to exploit instrumental insemination to have complete control over the genetic composition of the resulting progeny. This technique is however laborious and requires particular equipment and training. In Chapter 7 we show that it is possible to obtain acceptable levels of hygienic behaviour without artificial insemination. Chapter 8 illustrates how we obtained the first breeing line of hygienic honey bees through a selective breeding program that saw its first milestone in autumn 2013 when we detected high levels of hygienic behaviour. The results obtained represent the foundation for future research projects. Chapter 9 presents a valid, minimal methodology to keep virgin queens. We tested a variety of methods and factors to determine the best, mos cost-effective way to maintain queens for the week prior their introduction into a queenless hive. The results obtained provide some insights on both basic and applied aspects of honey bee breeding for hygienic behaviour and represent the foundation of what will be an ongoing selection programme towards a disease-resistant honey bee.

Managed and feral honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) harvest immense quantities of nectar and pollen within kilometers of their nests whether they live in relatively undisturbed or agricultural habitats. Within the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, pollen collection by European honey bee colonies was monitored by the use of apicultural pollen traps. Managed colonies near Tucson, Arizona routinely collected from 20 to 50 kg of pollen each year. Flowering pulses (phenology) in the local flora was closely tracked by the colonies, and pollen influx into their nests usually occurred as three to four distinct seasonal peaks, although some pollen was actively harvested during 48 or more weeks every year. The range of flowers visited for pollen by the honey bee is likely the most diverse for any social or solitary bee yet studied, largely due to their massive food requirements, efficient scouting and recruitment to ephemeral flower patches, and persistence of their colonies as perennial units for many years. At most Sonoran Desert sites, honey bee colonies took pollen from at least 12 and as many as 40-50 dominant angiosperm taxa. Additionally, pollen diet breadth of feral honey bee colonies was determined microscopically from blackened below-nest refuse deposits known as bee middens. One such deposit from the Arizona-Mexico borderlands is thought to represent more than a half century of accumulated materials. Honey bees are dominant invertebrate herbivores in desert regions taking pollen and nectar in massive amounts from at least 25 percent of the local flora. Had this pollen remained on its host plants, it would have been available for transport by co-adapted insect, bird and bat pollinators which are often better at depositing viable pollen, effecting subsequent fertilization, fruit and seed set on native flowering plants. Sonoran Desert bees are predominantly specialist feeders and depend upon certain plants more than honey bees which can switch hosts at will and have a highly mixed diet. Thus, in direct competition with these alien social bees living in large colonies, native desert bees are often at a disadvantage in acquiring pollen and producing replacement offspring. Desert flowering plants, especially rare, threatened and endangered species are also adversely affected since honey bees remove most of the pollen and often are responsible for setting fewer seeds or dispersing pollen at different distances than their original pollinators once did.

Two species of large carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa) were studied in southern Arizona. Nesting preference of X. c. arizonensis in floral scapes of Agave palmeri was found to depend on floral scape age and status of the thermal microenvironment. Evidence suggests that females assess scape age with extreme accuracy and this ability enables them to avoid those scapes that are degraded by other biota. Females also preferentially used Agave scapes that were shaded from the afternoon sunlight. Male mating behavior and lek site selection of X. varipuncta was also investigated near a large nesting site in a topographically flat area. Behaviors analyzed indicate that males tend to display singly and that they disperse pheromonal signals. Lek site selection was in accord with that found at three other study sites and further demonstrated that males did not clump their territories near nest sites. Distribution of male territories therefore does not appear to correspond to female distributions in the environment.

Bibliography: leaves 111-120. This study investigated various aspects of genetic resistance in fava beans to Ascochta blight (A. fabae) with the objective to facilitate an efficient breeding strategy for long-term control. Pathogenic variability of A. fabae was found to be high, as was genetic variation between resistant fava bean accessions. A number of alternative resistance genes to that of Ascot cultivar were identified.

In this research, physicochemical changes that took place during roast processing of coffee beans using fluidized air roaster were studied. The results showed that high-temperature-short-time resulted in higher moisture content, higher pH value, higher titratable acidity, higher porous structure in the bean cell tissues, and also produced more aldehydes, ketones, aliphatic acids, aromatic acids, and caffeine than those processed at low-temperature-long-time process. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and chemometric analysis showed that clusters for principal components score plots of ground coffee, extracted by a mixture of equal volume of ethyl acetate and water, were well separated. The research indicated that variations in IR-active components in the coffee extracts due to different stages of roast, roasting profiles, and geographical origins can be evaluated by the FTIR technique.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NESRC) and Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Inc.

La determinación de la estereoquímica en los compuestos orgánicos ha sido un problema que la comunidad científica ha ido dando solución a lo largo de los años. Diferentes métodos han surgido, como la difracción de rayos X o los distintos tipos de Resonancia Magnética (RMN). Sin embargo, se acaba de descubrir que el método utilizado hasta ahora en la determinación de la configuración absoluta de los α-ácidos, que provienen del lúpulo utilizado en la elaboración de las cervezas bitter, parece que no era el correcto.
Determination of the stereochemistry of organic compounds has been a problem that the scientific community has been giving solution to over the years. Different methods have emerged, such as X-ray Diffraction or different types of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). However, it just has been discovered that the method used in the determination of the absolute configuration of the α-acids derived from hops used in the manufacture of bitter beers, was not the appropriate.

Allantoin and a11antoate are the major transport forms of nitrogen in many legumes such as soybean, cowpea and french bean. They are formed in the nodules of these plants by de novo pathways of purine synthesis and oxidation. The exact quantity of ureide present is dependent on environmental and developmental factors. Ureides are transported to sites of metabolism and allantoin is degraded, via allantoate and ureidoglycolate, to ultimately release ammonia, carbon dioxide and glyoxylate. The question of whether urea or ammonia and carbon dioxide are products, and the role of urease, in this catabolic pathway is the subject of debate amongst researchers. Aspects concerning the enzymology of ureide metabolism is whole developing pods of french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris [L.]) were studied in this report.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2009.
Title from title page (Digital Archive@GSU, viewed July 22, 2010) Sheri Joseph, committee chair; John Holman, Josh Russell, committee members. Includes bibliographical references (p. 38).

Resumo: A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar a construção da identidade etnocultural de um grupo de imigrantes italianos e seus descendentes instalados no município de Campo Largo (Paraná) no período de 1878 a 1937. Para isso, partimos do pressuposto de que a identidade de um um grupo étnico surge quando do contato interétnico, ou seja, da necessidade da afirmação de um nós diante dos outros. Nessa direção analisamos alguns dos signos culturais acionados pelo grupo para a construção de um sentimento de pertencimento grupal. Tais signos analisados foram as relações familiares, a religiosidade e as práticas de transmissão dos nomes de batismo. Procuramos verificar nesse trabalho como o grupo em estudo construiu sua identidade pautada pelos referenciais simbólicos e culturais da terra de partida, assim como se dá o processo de mudança tendo em vista a nova realidade e os contato culturais estabelecidos com os brasileiros. Para conduzir essa análise, utilizamos principalmente registros paroquiais (atas de batismos, casamentos e óbitos) que foram sistematizados pela metodologia de reconstituição de famílias, oriunda da demografia histórica. Através da análise da documentação foi possível perceber nos omportamentos referentes a família, as práticas religiosas e aos nomes de batismos a predominância de elementos típicos do mundo rural de origem desses imigrantes que simbolicamente os ligavam a terra de seus ancestrais.

A presente dissertação começa com a evolução histórica de dois importantes institutos jurídicos, a fidúcia e a propriedade, a partir das raízes romanas. Já no direito brasileiro analisamos o conceito de negócio fiduciário e figuras afins, então passamos a estudar o contrato de alienação fiduciária. Em seguida abordamos a propriedade fiduciária, sua evolução legislativa no direito pátrio, e seus desdobramentos envolvendo móveis e imóveis, onde estabelecemos o conceito, a natureza jurídica, seus elementos constitutivos, e as conseqüências de seu inadimplemento. Não olvidamos o aspecto processual e as questões controvertidas, como a falência, a recuperação judicial e o cabimento ou não da prisão civil, dentre outros. No decorrer deste trabalho procuramos analisar crítica e comparativamente as figuras afins ao instituto da propriedade fiduciária e estabelecer as similitudes e diferenças em cada sistema estudado, assim como individualizar estes institutos previstos no Código Civil de 2002 e na Lei n. 9.514/97. Enfim, nosso estudo não estaria completo sem pesquisar a fidúcia nos sistemas francês, italiano e anglo-americano.
This paper begins with the historical evolution of two important legal institutes, trust and ownership, since the Roman roots. However, in Brazilian law we analyze the concept of deed of trust and similar institutions, thus we will study the chattel mortgage agreement. Afterward, we will focus fiduciary ownership, its legal evolution in the Brazilian law, as well as, its divisions involving real and personal property, in which we set forth the concept, legal nature, its constitutive elements and the consequences arisen from its non-performance. We have not forgotten the procedural aspect and controversial issues as: bankruptcy, judicial recuperation and the acceptance or not of civil imprisonment, among others. During this work we tried to analyze both critically and comparatively, similar figures of the fiduciary ownership institute and establish the similarities and differences in each of the systems we studied, as well as individualize the institutes provided in the Civil Code of 2002 and in Act No. 9.514/97. Finally, our study would not be complete without researching trust in the French, Italian and Anglo-American systems.

Hygienic behaviour in the honeybee (Apis mellifera) has been shown to be an effective control mechanism against brood diseases such as chalkbrood and AFB. Chalkbrood has proven to be problematic for the Australian honey industry since it was identified here in 1993. Hygienic behaviour is a much studied trait. Rothenbuhler investigated the genetic basis of hygienic behaviour, proposing a two-gene model to explain the uncapping and removal of dead brood. His elegant experiment remains the textbook example of a behavioural genetic study. Although this model has been challenged, it is still generally agreed that a small number of unlinked genes produce a large effect on hygienic behaviour, that hygienic alleles are recessive and are inherited in a Mendelian manner. Experimental backcross colonies were produced from an inbred hygienic line and an inbred non-hygienic line, both provided by Dr. Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota. These backcross colonies were assessed for hygienic behaviour using a standard assay. Statistical analyses of the field data indicated that the genetic basis of the trait was more complex than either the simple Mendelian and widely accepted two-gene or three-gene models that have been proposed previously. Molecular techniques, linkage mapping and QTL analysis then were employed to determine how many loci directly influence hygienic behaviour and the relative level of influence and location of each locus within the genome of A. mellifera. Full multipoint linkage analysis by Mapmaker v3.0 software produced a new genetic map of the honeybee comprised of 358 marker loci ordered over 25 linkage groups spanning a total distance of 3406.2 cM. The average distance between each marker was 9.5 cM. QTL analysis of the experimental data identified seven putative genetic markers associated with hygienic behaviour. QTLs located on linkage groups 2, 4, 6 and 22 were detected for both overall hygienic behaviour and uncapping behaviour only. Individually, each QTL is of relatively small effect with each explaining only 9% � 15% of the variance in hygienic levels observed. Collectively, the putative QTLs identified here explain 79.4% of the observed variance in the expression of hygienic behaviour. These results indicate that there are many genes of low to moderate effect rather than few genes of large effect involved in this complex behavioural trait. This is typical of inherited quantitative traits which do not exhibit Mendelian phenotypic ratios. DNA extracted from the brood samples taken during testing of commercial stock, and from individual bees identified as either highly hygienic or non-hygienic in a reciprocal backcross experiment, were screened with the candidate markers associated with putative QTLs to test their diagnostic power. Unfortunately, none have produced reliably diagnostic DNA profiles. As we have now shown that hygienic behaviour is a polygenic, quantitative trait, simple diagnostic markers for Rothenbuhler's 'uncapping' and 'removal' genes are unlikely to be achieved. Our results show that the most likely way to improve disease resistance in Australian stock is via traditional methods of recurrent selection. The project was responsible for the importation of new genetic material into Australia from the United States. This hygienic stock has been well received by industry, has been widely disseminated, and incorporated into local breeding programs. We hope that it has lead to a general improvement in the level of disease resistance in Australian commercial bees.

Studying and analyzing interactions among bees requires tracking and identifying each individual among hundreds of them on a complex background. Automatic tracking and identification is challenging because of the unreliable features and appearance changes. In order to map bee’s social interactions, low computational cost algorithm needs to run for a long time and process has to be done at the same time. We present comparison among several methods and how we stabilize the features and reduce the appearance changes. We have improved much in set-ups and made a newly designed tag. Meanwhile we have developed the prototype  of this automatic algorithm to track and identify each individual bee among hundreds of bees in a beehive over time. The rate is 15 frame per second at this stage and for the global detector  it takes around 21s to process one frame and for the local detector  it takes around 11s to process one frame. The algorithm can correctly detect 89% of around 300 tagged bees over hundreds of frames on average, but there are still around 11% misdetections.

This work introduces the Bees Algorithm, a new optimisation algorithm inspired by the foraging behaviour of honey-bees. In its basic version, the Bees Algorithm performs a kind of neighbourhood search combined with global random search and can be used for both continuous and discrete optimisation problems. An improved version of the Bees Algorithm including replacing global random search with interpolation and extrapolation, shrinking neighbourhood size, and abandoning sites with no new information was developed. The improved version could solve benchmark function optimisation problems with less sampling of the search space. The Bees Algorithm has been applied to mechanical design optimisation. Two standard mechanical design problems, the design of a welded beam structure and the design of coil springs, were used to benchmark the Bees Algorithm against other optimisation techniques. Computer-aided preliminary design can be regarded as a special case of optimisation, where the goal is to generate as many solutions as possible above a predefined performance threshold. The higher the number of solutions satisfying the preliminary selection criteria, the greater is the chance to produce a good final solution. An adapted version of the Bees Algorithm for discrete function optimisation was developed and tested on a simple machine design task, preliminary gearbox design. The test consists of finding alternative gearbox configurations that approximately produce the required output speeds using one of the available input speeds. Experimental results show that the Bees Algorithm outperforms random search and a genetic optimisation algorithm. A modified version of the Bees Algorithm was used to search for multiple Pareto optimal solutions in a multi-objective optimisation design problem. Compared to two non-dominated genetic algorithms, the Bees Algorithm was able to find more trade-off solutions. Finally, the Bees Algorithm was employed to train Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural networks for two different problems. Despite the high dimensionality of the problems - each bee represented 2345 parameters in the control chart pattern recognition case and 1581 parameters in the wood defect classification case - the algorithm successfully trained very accurate classifiers. Although the accuracies achieved were marginally lower than those obtained with conventional RBF training methods, the total output errors were less than those for conventionally RBF-trained networks with same number of hidden neurons.

In this thesis, a new population-based search algorithm called the Bees Algorithm (BA) is presented. The algorithm mimics the food foraging behaviour of swarms of honey bees. In its basic version, the algorithm performs a kind of neighbourhood search combined with random search and can be used for both combinatorial and functional optimisation. In the context of this thesis both domains are considered. Following a description of the algorithm, the thesis gives the results obtained for a number of complex problems demonstrating the efficiency and robustness of the new algorithm. Enhancements of the Bees Algorithm are also presented. Several additional features are considered to improve the efficiency of the algorithm. Dynamic recruitment, proportional shrinking and site abandonment strategies are presented. An additional feature is an evaluation of several different functions and of the performance of the algorithm compared with some other well-known algorithms, including genetic algorithms and simulated annealing. The Bees Algorithm can be applied to many complex optimisations problems including multi-layer perceptrons, neural networks training for statistical process control and the identification of wood defects in wood veneer sheets. Also, the algorithm can be used to design 2D electronic recursive filters, to show its potential in electronics applications. A new structure is proposed so that the algorithm can work in combinatorial domains. In addition, several applications are presented to show the robustness of the algorithm in various conditions. Also, some minor modifications are proposed for representations of the problems since it was originally developed for continuous domains. In the final part, a new algorithm is introduced as a successor to the original algorithm. A new neighbourhood structure called Gaussian patch is proposed to reduce the complexity of the algorithm as well as increasing its efficiency. The performance of the algorithm is tested by use on several multi-model complex optimisation problems and this is compared to the performance of some well-known algorithms.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research report reviews South African and international legislation aimed at preventing insider trading and provides an overview of the successful criminal and civil proceedings taken against insiders. It highlights the possible preventative measures South African companies and legislature can take to reduce insider trading. The United States of America is one of the few countries that had successfully implemented legislation prohibiting insider trading prior to the 1990s. Most countries, including South Africa, only implemented legislation prohibiting insider trading in the late 1990s. Due to apartheid and sanctions against South Africa, the JSE has built up a legacy of being an insider's haven. The Directorate of Market Abuse has the task of transforming this legacy to restore investors' confidence in the market in order to promote economic growth. The success of the legislation is firstly measured by the knowledge the market has gained relating to insider trading since the implementation of the legislation. According to the South African market, insider trading is unethical, but 22% of the participants in the G:cnesis survey still believe that it is an acceptable practice in the South African market. South African companies therefore need to educate their employees and take preventative measures to reduce insider trading in order to erode this culture. Insider trading can only be prevented and reduced if legislation is enforced. Globally, few legal criminal proceedings have been successful, therefore legislation in most countries makes provision for civil remedies. As the burden of proof in a civil legal proceeding is only on "a balance of probabilities", civil proceedings against insiders have been successful. In South Africa, the majority of cases referred for civil legal action have been settled out of court by the alleged insider without admitting guilt to a criminal offence. The South African legislation regulating insider trading in the market is aligned with legislation globally. South Africa's future challenges are to maintain the initial success achieved in reducing insider trading. The establishment of a specific court specialising in financial crime and monitoring specific changes to legislation could increase the possibility of future success.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die projek ondersoek die Suid-Afikaanse en internasionale wetgewing teen binnehandel. Verder word die suksesvolle kriminele en siviele verrigtinge teen diegene wat hulle aan binnehandel skuldig maak onder die soeklig geplaas. Die projek beklemtoon die moontlike voorkomingsmaatreels wat Suid-Afrikaanse maatskappye en regslui kan implementeer om moontlike toekomstige binnehandel te bekamp. Die Verenigde State van Amerika is een van die min lande wat reeds voor die 1990s wetgewing teen binnehandel suksesvol geimplementeer bet. Ander lande, insluitend Suid-Afrika, het eers in die laat 1990s wetgewing teen binnehandel geproklameer. Apartheid en sanksies teen Suid-Afrika het 'n nalatenskap van vrye binnehandel op die JSE gelaat. Dit is die taak van die Direktoraat van Markmisbruik om hierdie nalatenskap uit te wis, sodat beleggersvertroue in die mark herstel kan word, wat weer tot ekonomiese groei sal lei. Een van die maatstawwe om die sukses van die wetgewing te meet, is om te bepaal hoeveel kennis die finansiele gemeenskap sedert die implementering van die nuwe wetgewing ingewin het. Volgens die finansiele gemeenskap is binnehandel oneties, maar 22% van die deelnemers aan die G:encsis-opname glo dat binnehandel wel in Suid-Afrika aanvaarbaar is. Daarom moet Suid-Afrikaanse maatskappye hulle werknemers se kennis oor binnehandel verbreed en ander voorkomende maatreels in plek stel om die kultuur van binnehandel te elimineer. Binnebandel kan slegs voorkom en verminder word indien wetgewing geimplementeer word. Relatief min kriminele sake teen binnehandel lei tot skuldigbevinding, maar plaaslike en internasionale wetgewing maak voorsiening vir siviele aksies. In 'n siviele hofsaak moet ingediende bewyse slegs na alle waarskynlikheid die skuld van die oortreder bewys, wat suksesvolle siviele vervolging moontlik maak. Die meerderheid siviele sake in Suid-Afrika word buite die bar geskik sonder dat die aangeklaagde skuld aan 'n kriminele daad erken. Die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing is in lyn met internasionale standaarde. Suid-Afrika staar verskeie uitdagings in die gesig ten opsigte van die handhawing van die huidige suksesvolle bekamping van binnehandel. Die moontlike totstandkoming van 'n spesiale hof, wat slegs finansiele verwante oortredings aanhoor en veranderings aan die wetgewing kontroleer, kan bydra tot die toekomstige sukses van die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing.

Single-machine scheduling is the process of assigning a group of jobs to a machine. The jobs are arranged so that a performance measure, such as the total processing time or the due date, may be optimised. Various swarm intelligence techniques as well as other heuristic approaches have been developed for machine scheduling. Previously, the Bees Algorithm, a heuristic optimisation procedure that mimics honeybee foraging, was successfully employed to solve many problems in continuous domains. In this thesis, the Bees Algorithm is presented to solve various single-machine scheduling benchmarks, all of which, chosen to test the performance of the algorithm, are NP-hard and cannot be solved to optimality within polynomially-bounded time. To apply the Bees Algorithm for machine scheduling, a new neighbourhood structure is defined. Several local search algorithms are combined with the Bees Algorithm. This work also introduces an enhanced Bees Algorithm. Several additional features are considered to improve the efficiency of the algorithm such as negative selection, chemotaxis, elimination and dispersal which is similar to the ‘site abandonment’ strategy used in the original algorithm, and neighbourhood change. A different way to deploy neighbourhood procedures is also presented. ii Three categories of machine scheduling problems, namely, single machine with a common due date, total weighted tardiness, and total weighted tardiness with sequence-dependent setup are used to test the enhanced Bees Algorithm’s performance. The results obtained compare well with those produced by the basic version of the algorithm and by other well-known techniques.

This thesis examines the roles of endothermy and body size in the thermal biology of solitary bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) within the species Anthophora plumipes (Anthophoridae) Amegilla sapiens (Anthophoridae) and Creightonellafrontalis (Megachilidae), within the genus Anthophora, and over the Apoidea as a whole. The effects of body size, climate and sexual interactions on the biology of Anthophora plumipes were investigated in Oxford between 1987 and 1989. Both ambient temperature and body size had a significant effect on females' ability to forage, what time they initiated foraging in the morning, and the type and mass of provisions collected. The behaviour of males was also strongly dependent on ambient temperature, which affected not only when they emerged from their nest tunnels, but also how long they spent basking, when and where they fed, and whether they showed courtship behaviour. The activity patterns and behaviour of male and female A. plumipes over time were shown to correlate with a complex array of factors. Activity patterns of females depended on the quality of floral resources available at foraging sites, body mass, ambient temperature, the position of the female in her nest-provisioning cycle, and levels of male interference at foraging sites. Male behaviour not only depended on body size and ambient temperature, but also on which other bees (particularly male and female conspecifics) were encountered while patrolling food sources and at the nest site. Endothermy in bees is much more widespread than previously thought, and warm-up before flight was present to some degree in all the species examined. Levels of thermoregulation achieved, however, varied considerably between species. Warm-up rates in bees, and thoracic temperatures in free and tethered flight, are shown to depend on ambient temperature and body mass within a species (for temperate and tropical examples), across members of the genus Anthophora and across the Apoidea as a whole. The persistence of these relationships over a range of comparative levels suggests that they are of fundamental importance. The form of these relationships differs between families in the Apoidea, and significant patterns only emerge when a comparative technique controlling for phylogeny is applied. Furthermore, body temperatures may also depend, in at least some cases, on sex and there may be differences within a group of related species between provisioning and parasitic forms. The interaction of all these factors is complex, and the predictive value of a variable such as body mass does not always emerge unless sophisticated techniques are used to control for other variables. The errors associated with two common methods in the measurement of insect body temperatures have often been loosely discussed but rarely quantified. This thesis examines (a) the magnitude and possible effects of errors in 'grab-and-stab' measurement of body temperature, and (b) the errors in measurement of body temperature using fixed sensors linked by thermally conducting leads to measuring devices. In neither case do the demonstrated errors preclude use of the technique, but care with interpretation is required. In both cases, measurement of thoracic temperature in small bees involves the largest errors, and this is the most serious obstacle to comparisons of endothermic and thermoregulatory abilities over the full range of body sizes found in the Apoidea.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Jurídicas. Programa de Pós-graduação em Direito
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Com a globalização e a ampliação da regulamentação internacional e nacional dos direitos de propriedade intelectual, foram surgindo uma série de novos bens imateriais. No Brasil, o histórico das leis regulando esses direitos é marcado pelo Alvará de 1809. Desde essa data até o período atual, especialmente após a adesão do Brasil ao Acordo sobre Aspectos dos Direitos de Propriedade Intelectual Relacionados ao Comércio, em 1994, a legislação sofreu inúmeras modificações, estendendo o escopo de proteção desses direitos. Nesse sentido, ampliou-se aos tipos de bens imateriais protegidos pelos direitos de propriedade intelectual, bem como os sujeitos que podem ser titulares desses bens. Essas mudanças não ocorreram apenas no Brasil, mas em todo o âmbito internacional. Nesse cenário, surge à indagação sobre a qual se dedica este trabalho: Quem pode ser titular dos bens imateriais? Esta questão relaciona-se à problemática crescente que norteia as relações entre sujeitos em matéria de propriedade intelectual, envolvendo os mais distintos setores, tais como empresas do setor privado, entidades do setor público, pessoas físicas, empregados e empregadores. Diante disso, como objetivo central da presente pesquisa realiza-se uma análise da titularidade sobre os bens imateriais, no âmbito da propriedade intelectual. Este estudo é desenvolvido, a partir da perspectiva do sujeito, em relação a vários bens imateriais. Em particular, ele se dedica à titularidade das obras literárias, científicas e artísticas, dos artistas intérpretes e executantes, dos fonogramas, da radiodifusão, dos programas de computador, das invenções, dos modelos de utilidade, dos desenhos industriais, das cultivares e das marcas. Con la globalización y la ampliación de la reglamentación internacional y nacional de los derechos de propiedad intelectual, han surgido una serie de nuevos bienes inmateriales. En Brasil, el histórico de las leyes reglando esos derechos es marcado por e Alvará de 1809. Desde esa fecha hasta el período actual, especialmente después de la adhesión de Brasil al Acuerdo sobre Aspectos de los Derechos de Propiedad Intelectual Relacionados al Comercio, en 1994, la legislación he pasado por muchas modificaciones, extendiendo la protección de esos derechos. En eso sentido, se ha ampliado los tipos de bienes inmateriales protegidos por los derechos de propiedad intelectual, así como los sujetos que pueden ser titulares de esos bienes. Esas mudanzas no han ocurrido solamente en Brasil pero en todo el ámbito. En eso escenario, surge la indagación sobre la cual dedicase esta investigación: ¿Quién puede ser titular de los bienes inmateriales? Esta cuestión se relaciona a la problemática creciente que nortea las relaciones entre sujetos en materia de propiedad intelectual, involucrando los más distintos sectores, tales como empresas del sector privado, entidades del sector público, personas físicas, empleados y empleadores. Ante esas consideraciones, cómo objetivo central de la presente investigación, se realiza un análisis de la titularidad sobre los bienes inmateriales, en el ámbito de la propiedad intelectual. Esto estudio se desarrolla a partir de la perspectiva del sujeto, en relación a varios bienes inmateriales. En particular, dedica-se a la titularidad de las obras literarias, científicas e artísticas, de los artistas intérpretes e ejecutantes, los fonogramas, la radiodifusión, los programas de ordenador, las invenciones, los modelos de utilidad, los diseños industriales, las obtenciones vegetales y las marcas.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia, Florianópolis, 2009.
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O presente trabalho tem como objetivo comparar duas teorias da justiça a partir de uma temática comum: a distribuição de bens nos panoramas sociais. Para isso, pretende-se mostrar inicialmente as principais proposições que determinam o conceito de justiça distributiva em cada uma das teorias. Sabe-se que tanto para John Rawls, quanto para Ronald Dworkin, a legitimação da igualdade material sustenta uma relevante problemática para uma sociedade justa no âmbito da filosofia política. A justiça como equidade apresenta no seu paradigma conceitual, a defesa da cooperação social baseada na determinação de direitos e deveres como cerne determinador da alocação dos bens primários. Por sua vez, a igualdade de recursos expõe a necessidade da igualdade inicial de recursos, posteriormente corrigida pelo mercado de seguros hipotético, para fomentar os princípios da responsabilidade individual e da igual consideração aos intentos pessoais particulares de vida boa. Buscar-se-á, inicialmente, reproduzir os argumentos sustentados por Rawls através da exegese dos textos que compõem o contexto da obra de 1971 "A Theory of Justice", e os textos da esfera de 1993, pertencentes ao panorama do "Political Liberalism". Posteriormente, far-se-á a tomada exegética da teoria política de Dworkin, efetuando a abordagem de sua filosofia do direito como fundadora das bases conceituais da discussão presente nos textos da década de 80, nomeados pela questão "What is equality?", assim como nas obras de maior repercussão: "Sovereign Virtue" publicada em 2000, e "Is possible democracy here?" datada de 2006. Finalmente, na intenção de promover um paralelo perante as duas análises expostas, será estabelecida uma contraposição das teorias apresentadas por meio do debate dos principais conflitos entre os dois paradigmas conceituais estudados.
Ce travail vise à comparer deux théories de la justice à partir d'une thématique commune: la distribution des biens sociaux. Le moyen pour ce faire est de montrer d'abord les principales propositions qui déterminent la notion de justice distributive dans chacune des théories. Il est connu que, tant pour John Rawls, par Ronald Dworkin, la légitimité de l'égalité matériel maintient un problème important pour une société juste dans le cadre de la philosophie politique. La justice comme équité présente, dans son paradigme conceptuel, la défense de la coopération sociale basée sur la détermination des droits et des devoirs comme base de la répartition des biens primaires. À son tour, l'égalité des ressources montre la nécessité de l'égalité initiale des ressources, ensuite corrigé par le marché hypothétique des assurances, pour promouvoir les principes de la responsabilité individuelle et l'égalité de considération à l'intention personnels de la vie bonne. Dans un premier temps, la recherche veux reproduire les arguments soutenus par Rawls à travers de l'exégèse des textes qui composent le cadre du travail de 1971 "A Theory of Justice", et les textes de la sphère de 1993, appartenant à la vue de" Political Liberalism" . Par la suite, l'exégèse de la théorie politique de Dworkin aura lieu, ce qui rend l'approche de sa philosophie du droit comme fondatrice de la base conceptuelle de ce débat, présente dans les textes des années 80 "What is equality?", ainsi que les ouvres de plus grand impact: "Sovereign Virtue", publiée en 2000, et "Is possible democracy here?" de 2006. Enfin, afin de promouvoir une analyse parallèle des deux exposés, il y aura une combinaison des théories présentées à travers de la discussion des principaux conflits entre les deux paradigmes théoriques étudiés.

This project is a collection of interconnected short stories all based in the Los Angeles area. Each story is able to stand on its own as a short piece, but ultimately plays a larger role of possessing a relationship with those that come before and after it. The collection is broken into three segments, each segment possessing its own theme. And while each segment, and the stories within each segment, flourishes with the theme they are placed in, each and every story still interconnects with each other in order to produce the framework of the book entirely; that being the story of two young lovers: “Leslie,” and “Thomás.” These two characters that I have produced are at the basis of this project. Their stories are peppered throughout the collection in order to better convey the sporadic nature of their relationship.

Honeybees (Apis mellifera and other species) are considered as the most economically important insect species for humans and the ecosystems, not only as honey producers but also and especially as pollinators of agricultural, horticultural crops and wild plants, contributing at the pollination of 35% of the global food production. Unfortunately, honeybee decline started about 30 years ago, with the arrival from Asia of the bee mite Varroa destructor. Since then, honeybees have been damaged by different kinds of biotic and abiotic stressor factors, cumulating any kind of damages, and posing a serious threat to the agricultural field. Many scientists agree that bee decline is a multifactorial process in which a mechanism seems to be more important in a given period of the year than in another, and different mechanisms may predominate in another period or in other environments. Of those multifactorial processes, leading factors are the new emergent pathogens, such as Nosema ceranae a gut pathogen causing serious threat to bees and the consequent death of the colony; Pesticides and other environmental stress factors are furthering enhancing the high pathogenicity on bees, weakening more and more the delicate beehive superorganism balance. The major science concern about the bees usually regards the study of the bee pathogens and their interaction with an increasingly anthropized environment (e.g.: pollution and sub lethal poisonings). Only few research projects (of high scientific importance) have been carried out using an approach aimed to fix the problems linked with it. Even less are the researches investigating probiotic microorganisms as growth promoter, in order to obtain a better wealth and wellbeing of the bees. In the light of these possibilities the aim of my research is the development of -environmental friendly- microbial technologies aimed to increase the health of the bees.