Дисертації з теми "1086"

This thesis examines one labourer group within developing urban society in England during the tenth and eleventh centuries in order to address both its status and whether the internal workplace organisation of this group might reflect on the complexity of an Anglo-Saxon 'state'. In reviewing the minting operation of late Anglo-Saxon England, and the men in charge of those mints, a better picture of the social history of pre-Conquest England is realised. These men, the moneyers responsible for producing the king's coinage, were likely part of the thegnly or burgess class and how they organised themselves might reflect broader trends in how those outside of the artistocracy acted in response to royal directives. In order to address this, a database combining information from multiple catalogues, coin cabinets, and online repositories was developed in Part I and is presented in Part II. The Moneyers of England Database, 973-1086 consists of 3,646 periods of moneyer activity, derived from 28,576 individual coins produced at ninety-nine geographic locations. Parts III and IV provide potential uses for the database through two different types of study. Part III argues that the mints were primarily controlled and operated by families. Pointing to the repetition of the protothemes amongst the moneyers on a large scale across nearly all the mint locations known from the 970s to 1086, I argue that the mints were dominated by a few select families that maintained authority through wars and conquests. Part IV presents two new theories on late Anglo-Saxon mint organisation. The first theory is that groups of moneyers would begin and end activity within the mints together, most often within family units, but regularly in conjunction with other minting families in the same location. The second theory is that these groups would operate in rotation. The moneyers would operate for a set period of time, then withdraw in favour of another member of their dynasty before returning to activity at a later date. I conclude that this was potentially, if not likely, in response to royal imposition on the mints restricting the number of coinages that a moneyer could be responsible for, and take profit on, consecutively. The thesis is structured with a brief introduction and literature review, inclusive of discussion on the status of the moneyers and the concept of an Anglo-Saxon 'state', followed by a methodological section that outlines the creation of the Moneyers of England Database, 973-1086, as well as limitations in the source material. This is followed by the database, two analysis sections, and the conclusion. There are two appendices. The first appendix is an insert diagram of all 425 moneyers in operation in London between 973 and 1086. The second is the coinage record from which this work is derived.

Thesis ( MSc ( Physics) ) -- University of Limpopo, 2013.
Background and Objectives: To establish whether the profiler 2 scanning system can be used as a substitute for the 3D-water phantom, by comparing the percentage depth doses and beam profiles for both the photons and electron beams, and validating the results using CMS XiO treatment planning system. Methods: Beam data (profiles, percentage depth doses and absolute dosimetry) were acquired for the two systems: (3D-water phantom and profiler 2 scanning system) for beam energies 6 MV and 15 MV photon beams, and 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 15 MeV electron beams generated by the Elekta Synergy linear accelerator (linac) for the field sizes of 6 × 6 cm2, 10 × 10 cm2, 14 × 14 cm2, 20 × 20 cm2, and 25 × 25 cm2 at depths of 0.5 cm, 1.0 cm, 2.0 cm, and 5.0 cm respectively. These measurements were acquired using ionization chambers in water and diode detectors in Perspex. The acquired data was sent to CMS XiO treatment planning system for validation. Results: In general, the dose distributions for both systems compared very well with uncertainties within recommended limits. The largest maximum difference in symmetry was 1.6 % for a 6 MV photon beam defined at 25 × 25 cm2 field size. The largest maximum difference in flatness was 2.77 % for a 4 MeV electron beam defined at 10 × 10 cm2 applicator size. The penumbra largest maximum difference was 1.708 cm for 8 MeV electron beam defined at 25 × 25 cm2 applicator size, which was outside the recommended limit of 1.2 cm. The largest maximum difference in field size was 2.388 cm for a 6 MeV electron beam defined at 20 × 20 cm2 applicator size, which was outside the recommended limit of 0.4 cm. The largest maximum difference in percentage depth dose at 10 cm depth was 1.69 % for the 6 MV photon beam. The absolute dose output measurements showed a very good agreement between the two systems to a maximum percentage difference and highest standard deviation of -0.99 % and 0.69 % respectively for the 6 MV photon beam. Validation measurements showed an agreement to less than 1 % and 2 mm for percentage depth doses and beam profiles respectively. Conclusion and recommendation: From the results obtained, it is evident that the profiler 2 scanning system can be used as a substitute for the 3D-water phantom beam data acquisitions during linear accelerator commissioning. The future work based on this study could be to study the limitations involved with the profiler 2 scanning system when used during measurements for commissioning of a linear accelerator. Limitations like field size (maximum field size of 20 × 30 cm2 at SSD = 100 cm), number of Perspex slabs to be used on top of the profiler 2 scanning system and diagonal profile measurements.

This thesis brings together a wealth of evidence, from very scattered sources, to examine the history of a village and township in the Yorkshire Dales. At first sight Carlton in Coverdale appeared to be poorly documented, and in the past it has been written off as uninteresting; but a rich and varied history is here brought to light. The study takes a long view, from the first documentary record in Domesday Book to the 'New Domesday', the valuation which resulted from the Budget of 1909-10. Main themes considered are land ownership, land use, prosperity and poverty, and religion. Findings from fieldwork are combined with documentary evidence to demonstrate the development of the village and the landscape. Topics studied in detail include the consequences for Carlton of the dissolution of Coverharn Abbey; the fight by the tenants of the Lordship of Middleharn and Richmond to preserve their tenure by 'tenant right'; the transfer of the Lordship by the Crown to the City of London, and its eventual sale to the tenants. From monastic times, the parish church at Coverham was an impropriated living. The thesis considers the harmful consequences for the parish of its status as a perpetual curacy, and traces these through to a low point at the end of the eighteenth century. It goes on to examine the eventual recovery, and new energy, in the nineteenth century. Other religious groups, Roman Catholic, Quaker, and Methodist, each played a distinctive part in village history. The thesis charts the ways in which they contributed to a varied pattern of religious belief. The parliamentary enclosure of the West Pasture and the Moor is a major topic, and particular attention is paid to the fortunes of small landowners. The predictions of agricultural reformers were not fulfilled; the thesis demonstrates that there was very little increase in the amount of arable land being cultivated in the township after the enclosure. Arable later disappeared entirely. Other aspects of landownership are investigated: the balance between large and small owners, and resident and non-resident owners, and the numbers of owner-occupiers. For the second half of the nineteenth century census material is used to analyse the agricultural workforce, with due emphasis given to the role Of farmers' wives in the survival of family farms. Census material is also presented for the craftsmen and tradesmen, who served the surrounding area, as well as Carlton itself In the later nineteenth century there was large-scale outward migration, and some old yeoman families were lost. The study puts this in context as part of the general rural exodus, and demonstrates that enclosure cannot be put forward as the cause. The thesis examines the numbers who left the village, with evidence about their destinations, and about some who returned. The population which remained in Carlton was depleted, but was not out of balance in terms of age or gender. The thesis presents a community at the end of the period of study that was socially cohesive, with mixed housing, strong inter-personal links, and a well-developed sense of village identity.

Our current understanding of the medieval local environment is largely based on scholarly writings focusing on the policies towards the landscape pursued by the social elite. This presents us with some obvious problems if we want to understand local places through the eyes of the lower orders. But that is exactly what this study aims to do. By re-examining a variety of sources this research seeks to reconstruct the physical—and in some respects, metaphorical—environment of three contrasting English villages, using this as the basis for determining how peasants perceived their natural surroundings, and how this led to the development of the local economic strategies and social structures that can be pieced together from the records of the medieval manor. Since the emphasis here is largely on attitudes toward local environment, the intellectual approach moves beyond more traditional English historical spheres regarding the peasantry to consider mentalities. This has rarely been a consideration for historians concerned with English medieval peasants. Indeed, one might ask just how we can hope to uncover the thoughts of those who left little documentary evidence behind? Reconsidering the records that survive, it is clear that peasants left a great quantity of material waiting to be uncovered. Hidden within seigneurial documents can be found direct peasant testimony, notably their personal names, and those they bestowed upon the landscape. Through these documents—alongside the physical environment—we find further signposts indicating how they felt, thought about, and commemorated their local landscape. This study reveals that some peasants used the landscape to set themselves apart from their neighbours. It shows that, although uneducated in the formal sense, some nevertheless had a strong grasp of contemporary scientific thought. It outlines the means through which locally important folk stories were embedded within the landscape itself. And it sees beyond the officially endorsed local village landscape, with its authorized roads and footpaths, to reclaim the real environment inhabited and traversed by English people over 700 years ago.

Rapidly growing internet traffic volume is the major driving force behind the development of optically-transparent and ultrahigh-capacity photonic packet-switching networks. In such networks, the packet routing decision at each router is made by sequentially correlating an incoming packet header address with addresses in all entries of the router's look-up routing table. The routing task is achieved in the optical domain using all-optical logic gates and optical correlator technologies which have been predominantly replacing the existing low-speed electronic processing devices. Nevertheless when a network is expanded, a larger routing table is required thus exponentially increasing header processing time, which results in the increases in routing latency and complexity. This research aims to significantly reduce the size of the routing table and the number of optical devices required in a router by mapping both the packet header address and the look-up routing table entries into the pulse-position-modulation format, where more than one address could be located in a single entry of a new pulse-position routing table. By simply carrying out a single correlation of the packet header address with pulse- position routing table entries, the router can instantly obtain the routing decision, thus significantly reducing the processing time and neglecting the gain recovery time in existing optical logic gates. The structure of the pulse-position routing table also offers flexibility in the transmission mode including unicast, multicast or broadcast embedded in the optical (physical) layer. In the thesis, a new router based on the pulse-position¬modulation scheme will be introduced. Essential router modules including high on-off contrast-ratio clock extraction, pulse position routing table, header processing and optical switch are proposed and analysed. In addition, the thesis investigates and improves the switching window profile and residual crosstalk performance of the all- optical Mach-Zelmder switches as a building block for the implementation of the above router modules. A number of new variants of Mach-Zehnder-based switches are also introduced to enhance switching inter-output contrast ratio and reduce the complexity in multiple-channel OTDM demultiplexing.

Between 1949 and 1955 the supreme authority in the newly established Federal Republic of Germany did not lie in the hands of the elected representatives, but in the hands of the representatives of the three Western Occupying Powers, the Allied High Commissioners. Surprisingly quickly the character and the role of the Allied High Commission changed and it devolved more and more of its power to the German Government. This thesis recounts the history of the Allied High Commission from the perspective of the British High Commissioner. Three men consecutively held this position: Sir Brian Robertson, Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick, and Sir Frederick Hoyer Millar. They were three very different men, who had different perceptions of their role, different tasks to accomplish, and different degrees of influence on events in Germany and British policy on Germany. The three men are given epithets, which either describe their perception of their role as British High Commissioner in Germany or the role itself, and which serve as themes for the three main parts of the thesis. Sir Brian Robertson was called a "Benevolent and Sympathetic Viceroy" by his biographer, which not only describes Robertson's own perception of his role in Germany, but also is the best indication of the vast powers of the Allied High Commissioners at the beginning. His successor, Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick, was charged with negotiating the end of the Allied High Commission and for this act of self-eradication is given the epithet "The Negotiator". If it had not been for the French delay of the ratification of the 1952 treaties, Sir Frederick Hoyer Millar would have been the first British Ambassador to Germany. Instead he held the title fo British High Commissioner for his first two years in Germany, although for all intents and purposes he was an "Ambassador in Waiting".

My doctoral thesis conducts an analysis of post-imperial Paris and London, as represented in the cinema. More specifically, this study develops a narrative of the intimate connection between the cinema and the city that parts ways from the founding story of the filmic city, which revolves around the birth of the modern metropolis and mobilities of the flâneur. This thesis engages in the exploration of the largely untold story of the relationship between empire and the cinematic city in Michael Haneke’s Code inconnu (2000) and Caché (2005), Claire Denis’ J’ai pas sommeil (1994) Stephen Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Michael Winterbottom’s In This World (2002) and Tony Gatlif’s Exils (2004). This study investigates the lingering traces of imperial histories, spatialities, narratives and figures that can be located in more contemporary cinema. The first chapter of the dissertation entitled ‘Post-Imperial Paris’ is divided into two sections. The first investigates the construction of ‘post-imperial topographies’ in J’ai pas sommeil and Code inconnu, while the second posits dwelling spaces and their interiors as a form of city space specifically in relation to Caché. The second chapter, called ‘Post-Imperial London’, situates Dirty Pretty Things within a wider historical continuum of ‘migrant London’. This film is examined in relation to filmic depictions of Caribbean migration and settlement, in order to ascertain the way in which an older historical imaginary of the cinematic London can be detected in Dirty Pretty Things but also some of the salient differences between this film and its predecessors as related to the representation of space and place. The final chapter, titled ‘On the Road: The Journey to the City Narrative’ posits another narrative of the cinematic city concerning the depiction of migrant journeys to the city as represented in In This World and Exils.

Introduction: Primary caregivers provide essential care and support to people with psychosis and are often key players within recovery. The recovery model and an expanding research literature suggest that the concept of hope is an important factor in adaptively coping with psychosis and also serves a critical role within recovery. The present study sought to explore how hope featured within the experiences of six primary caregivers of young people with first episode psychosis within the context of two UK early intervention services. Method: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was adopted as the methodological framework with which to approach the research and analyse the data. Primary caregivers were interviewed about their experiences of supporting and caring for a young person with first episode psychosis. Results: Five major themes were identified as characterising the experiences of participants. Caregivers experienced a maelstrom of distressing change and loss following the young person’s psychosis and struggled to make sense of what was happening. A range of experiences were also described during the young person’s recovery and receiving help from services. Hope was described as an important factor in sustaining and motivating caregivers through the demands of care giving and in their efforts to support the young person towards recovery. Discussion: Having experienced a range of distressing and often traumatising experiences, the findings of the present study suggest that caregivers have a range of parallel support and recovery needs. In particular, the findings highlight the need for caregivers and their families to jointly making sense of the young person’s psychosis from a very early stage. The findings also indicate that service providers should seek to nurture the hopes of carers and a range of possible interventions are suggested. The experiences described by caregivers within the present study may also have implications for understanding the development of expressed emotion within the context of first episode psychosis.

En 1997 se aisló en Japón la primera cepa de S. aureus con resistencia intermedia a glucopéptidos (GISA o VISA, glycopeptide o vancomycin -intermediate S. aureus). Hasta hoy se han descrito unos 25 casos de infecciones por GISA. Además de estos casos, y quizás como un fenómeno de mayor relevancia, se ha detectado la presencia de heterorresistencia a vancomicina (hVISA o hGISA) con una frecuencia mucho mayor. La heterorresistencia se entiende como la presencia de cepas con CMIs a vancomicina en el rango sensible (hasta 4 microgrs./ml) pero que, con frecuencias variables, contienen subpoblaciones con CMIs elevadas que podrían seleccionarse al ser expuestas a tratamientos prolongados. Las cepas con heterorresistencia serían precursoras de las cepas con resistencia intermedia (con CMIs mayor o igual que 8 microgrs./ml).

El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar si las infecciones producidas por cepas guisa presentan una dificultad terapéutica añadida al ser tratadas con glucopéptidos (GP), y, por otro, si existe diferencia entre la eficacia in vivo del tratamiento con GPs en monoterapia y una combinación entre GPs y beta-lactámicos (beta-L).

Para ello se desarrolló un modelo de peritonitis en el ratón, en el que se estudió el
tratamiento de la infección producida por cuatro cepas de S. aureus con diferente sensibilidad a GPs (cepas MSSA, MRSA, hGISA y GISA, CMIs a vancomicina: 1, 2, 4 y 8 microgrs./ml respectivamente). Se estudiaron los antibióticos vancomicina, teicoplanina, cloxacilina y cefotaxima, solos y en combinación frente a la infección producida por cada una de las cuatro cepas. Previamente, se llevó a cabo un estudio in vitro mediante curvas de letalidad para evaluar las combinaciones de estudio y un estudio farmacocinético previo en los ratones con los antibióticos de estudio para determinar las dosis que más se aproximaran a los valores farmacocinéticos/farmacodinámicos (PK/PD) que se dan en humanos. El modelo de peritonitis en el ratón consistió en la inoculación intraperitoneal de una suspensión de S. aureus y, posteriormente, el tratamiento con diferentes pautas terapéuticas (monoterapias y combinaciones con GP +beta-L). Los animales fueron sacrificados al finalizar el tratamiento para obtener muestras de sangre y líquido peritoneal (LP). El recuento de ufc/ml en LP fue el parámetro utilizado como medida de eficacia terapéutica.

La eficacia de la monoterapia con vancomicina o teicoplanina decreció progresivamente para cada una de las cuatro infecciones en estudio (producidas respectivamente por las cepas MSSA, MRSA, hGISA y GISA), siendo significativamente menor en las cepas hGISA y GISA que en las cepas MSSA y MRSA. La eficacia se correlacionó significativamente con la sensibilidad de las cepas a vancomicina. A pesar de que in vitro se observó sinergia para las combinaciones entre GPs y beta-L frente a las cuatro cepas de estudio, éstas no mejoraron significativamente la eficacia in vivo de las monoterapias. La eficacia de la monoterapia con vancomicina fue equivalente a la combinación de vancomicina con cloxacilina.

Existe una pérdida significativa de eficacia en el tratamiento con glucopéptidos de la peritonitis experimental por S. aureus producida por cepas hGISA y GISA respecto a la infección producida por cepas MRSA sensibles a vancomicina. Aunque existe cierta base microbiológica que describe el efecto sinérgico in vitro de las combinaciones entre glucopéptidos y beta-lactámicos, los estudios in vivo no confirman un papel decisivo de éstas en el tratamiento de las infecciones por GISA en la clínica.

An existing water channel facility at Texas A&M University is used to experimentally study a stratified, buoyant wake. A cylindrical obstruction placed at the centerline of a developing Rayleigh-Taylor mixing layer serves to disturb the equilibrium of the Rayleigh-Taylor mixing layer. The development of the near wake in the presence of unstable stratification is examined, in addition to the recovery of the buoyancy driven mixing layer. Planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) is used to visualize the mixing layer / wake interactions, and qualitative observations of the behavior have been made. Also, quantitative measurements of velocity fluctuations and density fluctuations in the near wake have been obtained using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and a high resolution thermocouple system. These experimental measurements were used to investigate how the wake and buoyancy driven mixing layer interact. Finally, a mathematical model has been used to describe the decay of vertical velocity fluctuations in the near wake due to the effects of buoyancy.

The hippocampus is one of the most intensely studied brain structures and the oscillatory activity of the hippocampal neurons is believed to be involved in learning and memory consolidation. Therefore, studying rhythm generation and modulation in this structure is an important step in understanding its function. In this thesis, these phenomena are studied via mathematical models of networks of hippocampal interneurons. The two types of neural networks considered here are homogenous and heterogenous networks. In homogenous networks, the input current to each neuron is equal, while in heterogenous networks, this assumption is relaxed and there is a specified degree of heterogeneity in the input stimuli. A phase reduction technique is applied to the neural network model of the hippocampal interneurons and attempts are made to understand the implications of heterogeneity to the existence and stability of the synchronized oscillations. The Existence of a critical level of heterogeneity above which the synchronized rhythms are not stable is established, and linear analysis is applied to derive expressions for estimating the perturbations in the network frequency and timing of the neural spikes. The mathematical techniques developed in this thesis are general enough to be applied to models describing other types of neurons not considered here. Possible biological implications include the application of high frequency local stimulation to alleviate the synchronous neural oscillations in pathological conditions such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease and the possible role of heterogeneity in controlling the rhythm frequency and switching between various cognitive states.

The intent of this study was to identify the issues that impact the retention of African-American, Black males in college. The study was of two small focus groups comprised of African-American students of various grade classifications from a regional comprehensive university in the southeast. These focus groups were comprised of up to but no more than six students. The decision on the group size was made to allow all of the students’ ample opportunity to respond to the eight questions used in the focus groups. The student groups attended the university main campus as well as the university South Campus where developmental courses are taught. The students were from both rural and urban backgrounds, as well as single parent and traditional family backgrounds. Various themes emerged as a result of this study which includes: importance of family support prior to college and during the student’s college career. Additionally, the role of mentors was identified as affecting the student’s retention in college. There was also discussion of how Black males are viewed on campus by other Black students, as well as other students and the faculty and staff. It can be concluded that several factors have affected the retention of this small group of African-American males in higher education. The information gathered shows that family support is a key cog in the retention of this group; in addition, the role of mentors in their education was very important to this group of students.

From the broad overview of the cluster literature, the proposition emerges that the manipulation of regional economic structural and cluster factor conditions within a geographically proximate region can translate into sustainable regional economic growth outcomes. As a first step in exploring this research, a theoretical framework for the conceptualisation of industry clusters was established and a methodological framework applied to statistically identify major manufacturing value chain clusters in the Eastern Cape Province. This methodology combines a strength-of-linkage measure for all pairs of supply and use sectors (as revealed in the systematic analysis of intermediate purchasing and sales patterns in the South African Final Supply and Use Tables: 2002) with the application of Ward’s hierarchical cluster algorithm to map the national benchmark value chain clusters in the South African national economy. The ensuing national value chain benchmark cluster framework was then transposed to the Eastern Cape Province to reveal cluster concentrations and gaps that exist in the value chain clusters in the province. The methodology applied in this study provides an objective and clear perspective of inter-industry linkages in the South African economy and produces more detailed and evenly distributed clusters than traditional cluster identification methodologies. Secondary linkages were determined for each of the twenty-six core value chain clusters to depict the diversity of sectors linked to the respective core clusters. In transposing the national benchmark value chain cluster framework onto the Eastern Cape Province economy, a number of distinct advantages emerge. Firstly, it reveals gaps in value chain cluster groupings that may be filled through industry recruiting or regional business development strategies. However, not all industries absent from value chain clusters in the region are equally attractive for recruitment. Henceforth, the number of direct and indirect linkages to industries absent from the Eastern Cape Province serves as a measure of their relative attractiveness when considering their recruitment into the region. vi The benchmark value chain cluster framework alone does not explain which agglomeration externalities are generated and exploited within each cluster, but it served as the overarching framework for the remainder of the research. Accordingly, the value chain cluster framework was applied to evidence whether specialisation, competition or diversity (represented by MAR, Porter and Jacobs economies respectively) is the operative mechanism in generating cluster growth in the Eastern Cape Province. Since agglomeration externalities are not directly observable, construct-valid indicators for the various externalities, as well as appropriate mechanisms to empirically assess the statistical relevance of MAR-, Porter and Jacobs economies in stimulating cluster growth, were established. This thesis added to agglomeration literature by disaggregating the standard measure of diversity externalities into two unique diversity indicators, namely supply diversity (SDiv) and use diversity (UDiv). The SDiv- and UDiv coefficients measure the degree to which a value chain cluster’s supplying/user sectoral mix at provincial level differs from that of the cluster grouping at the national level. This distinction between supply-and use diversity developed in this study firstly provides a clearer insight into the relative regional presence of supplying- and using sectors to the various value chain clusters, and secondly, serves as a useful mechanism to regional policymakers in identifying industries that may be targeted for investment into a region. Therefore, by separating the diversity into its two components, a clear distinction can be drawn between the impact of supplying- and using sectors on value chain cluster growth in a particular region. From a narrow perspective, the empirical findings validate both the Marshall Arrow Romer- (small positive impact of regional cluster concentration) and the Jacobs theory (significant positive impact of cluster supply- and use diversity on cluster growth), while it invalidates Porter’s theory (no correlation between competition and cluster performance). The positive effect size recorded between the level of value chain cluster concentration and differential growth indicates that policy makers in the Eastern Cape Province will be well advised to direct growth interventions towards larger concentrated clusters, than towards smaller, incipient value chain clusters. Additionally, vii the effectiveness of targeted inward FDI to the Eastern Cape Province may be raised by evaluating the economic impact against current value chain cluster structure, as well as the effect on the supply- and use diversities of existing value chain clusters in the province. This thesis has also illustrated that value chain clusters that are concentrated in the region, show a positive effect size with the level of supply diversity in the region. Conversely, value chain clusters that reflect high levels of competitiveness record a positive effect size with use diversity. Policy interventions aimed at raising the performance of value chain clusters typified by smaller players in a competitive environment, should therefore consider raising the respective levels of use diversity in the region. This research awakens the proposition that a reliance on a serendipitous approach to generate dynamic externalities is not sufficient, and that certain factor conditions favour the transfer of tacit knowledge between cluster members. Accordingly, this research empirically explored whether statistically significant relationships can be detected between the common cluster elements, or factor conditions, that serve as conduits for the transfer of dynamic externalities and value chain cluster growth in the Eastern Cape Province. The findings indicate that linkages with knowledge generating institutions in the Eastern Cape Province do, albeit to a relatively small extent, have an impact on value chain cluster growth, and validates the assertion that cognitive enhancing institutions contribute to cluster growth. The importance of backward and forward linkages in nurturing regional growth is signified by the moderate effect size recorded by the level of vertical linkages and total value chain cluster growth. Similarly, a moderate effect size was recorded between the level of horizontal linkages and value chain cluster growth, which shows that cooperation amongst competing firms do stimulate cluster and regional growth in the Eastern Cape Province and affirms the proposition that inter-firm linkages on both vertical- and horizontal levels stimulate cluster growth. An expectation was that the institutional framework conditions would have a significant impact on value chain cluster growth in the Eastern Cape Province. However, the empirical findings reflect that the institutional framework conditions have no statistical impact on value chain cluster growth. The study also found a moderate, positive effect size between value chain cluster size (number of employees) and growth, which shows viii that size matters in regional growth. In other words, in contrast to their European counterparts, the larger the number of employees per value chain cluster, the greater the impact on value chain cluster growth in the Eastern Cape Province.

The proposed studies will examine how higher education courses that include components from the discipline of ethnic studies may modify implicit stereotypic associations associated with race. In two studies, participants will complete a Race Implicit Association Test at different time points to measure how they associate Black and White people with either positive or negative qualities. The first study will focus on two methods of presenting information to participants. Participants will learn about a moment in American history either in factual or personal narrative form. The second study will examine if what participants learn from ethnic studies courses from different departments such as Africana, Chicanx/Latinx, and Asian American Studies can be generalized to stereotyping of Black and White people. Both studies will confirm that participants will start at the same level of stereotypic associations. However, the motivations behind the studies predict that implicit stereotyping will change after participants engage narrative, first person portrayals about a moment in history involving people of African descent. In addition, while some level of generalization is expected, participants in Africana studies course will show the greatest change. Keywords: Stereotype, Conceptual Associations, Education, Ethnic Studies

Using Dorothy Smith’s institutional ethnographic approach to doing research, I explore through interviews with disabled workers how workplace accommodation policies, such as the New Policy on the Duty to Accommodate Employees with Disabilities in the Federal Public Service and the Department of Fearless Advice’s Workplace Accommodation policy, work. Starting from the standpoint of disabled employees, I map out what happens when a disabled federal public service employee activates one of these policies. I also show that the audit-based compliance evaluation process developed by the Canadian Human Rights Commission to safeguard government Departments/Agencies against systemic discrimination actually facilitates discrimination. These textually-mediated ruling relations situate the problems that disabled workers encounter in the workplace in their biological makeup, rather than in the Government of Canada’s unwillingness to transform their workplaces to meet the needs of all types of workers, as legislated by the Eldridge and Meiorin Supreme Court of Canada decisions. I show, further, that the on-line recruitment process used to select employees into the federal public service encodes normality, thereby discriminating against disabled workers. I also demonstrate that, although federal public service accommodation policies accomplish the legal obligation of the employer not to discriminate against disabled workers, the individualization of accommodations forces disabled workers to take it upon themselves to find ways and means in which to fit into workplaces that have not been designed to meet their needs. I conclude by proposing that in order to change this situation and to counteract the unprecedented number of human rights complaints that have been brought against the Government of Canada for discrimination on the prohibited ground of disability, disabled workers need to follow in the militant footsteps of Canadian First Nations peoples.
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies

The human blood consists of many different kinds of blood cells. There are the red blood cells (erythrocytes) and the white blood cells (leukocytes), further subdivided into blood cells like lymphocytes, granulocytes, monocytes etc. Those cell types have all different purposes ranging from transportation, wound healing or support of the immune system. The erythrocytes are for transportation and carry the oxygen or carbon dioxide through the blood stream. White blood cells or leukocytes include various cell types divided into four sub groups. Group one are the granulocytes containing neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils which destroy invading bacteria or parasites, secrete histamine and play a role in modulating allergic inflammation reactions. Group two consists of the monocytes which infiltrate the blood vessel surrounding tissue and differentiate to macrophages to fight pathogens or destroy damaged cells. The third group are the lymphocytes which consist of B-cells, mainly antibody producers, T-cells which play an important role in inflammation and regulating other immune cells. The last cell type in this group is the natural killer cell (NK-cell). NK cells kill virus infected cells and have been reported to kill gastric tumour cells (Miller, 2001). There are also thrombocytes in the blood which are small cell fragments produced by megakaryocytes in the bone marrow. On the other hand they support wound healing and coagulation. All of these blood cells are derived from pluripotent haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in the bone marrow. Pluripotent stem cells create progenitor cells with a predetermined fate (Figure 1-1). HSCs are generated by a process called haematopoiesis and have been classified depending on their capacity to self-renew. In the beginning there are long-term self renewing HSCs which generate then other more short living HSCs resulting in pluripotent progenitors without self-renewal capacity (Reya et al., 2001). HSCs occupy niches in the bone marrow. A niche is a microenvironment which consists of supporting cells providing necessary cytokines for self renewal and differentiation ability (Yin and Li, 2006). 3 The differentiation process of a HSC can result in a myeloid or a lymphoid progenitor cell. Following the lineage determination a series of differentiation steps leads first to the progenitor cell and then to a precursor cell. Progenitor cells still divide at a high rate, although numbers of cell divisions are limited. Continued differentiation of the precursors finally produces the fully differentiated and mature blood cell (Alberts, 2002). In summary it can be stated that the haematopoiesis of HSCs is a delicate and a critical sequence of incidents with highly and tightly regulated processes. These processes are proliferation, maturation and differentiation. The tight regulation is necessary as for example many leukocytes are very short living and need to be replaced constantly. The half life of neutrophils in the peripheral blood for example lies between 8 and 10 hours which means there have to be ensured strictly controlled mechanisms for proper differentiation during the 10 to 14 days of their maturation. This maintains a constant level of neutrophils in the peripheral blood (Speck, 2001). Disruption of this process can lead to a disordered form of haematopoiesis called leukaemia, the cancer of the blood.

Squeeze casting is the practise of solidifying metals under mechanically applied pressure via a slow displacement of a die volume. It has been shown that squeeze casting enhances the mechanical properties of cast metals. Research into other high integrity casting processes has shown that using techniques that enhance melt quality can further increase the mechanical properties. Therefore a bottom-tapped, bottom-fed squeeze casting machine was designed and built around a pre-existing squeeze casting die designed for uniaxial pressure application. This was used to obtain quantitative metallurgical and microstructural information on the squeeze castings produced, including the effects of common micro-alloying additions of strontium modifier and titanium modifier on the microstructure and hardness of a commercial aluminium silicon eutectic alloy. These were examined using a Taguchi design of experiments approach. It was found that squeeze casting reduced porosity and secondary dendrite arm spacing and increased hardness, and reduced or eliminated increases in porosity and secondary dendrite arm spacing associated with micro-alloying addition. The size of possibly deleterious iron-rich precipitates was reduced, and the morphology of such precipitates changed to a possibly less deleterious form without further alloy additions of manganese. It was also found that melt control and handling is essential for consistent quality of castings in the production of small volume squeeze castings, such as the ones produced in this experimental work.

The ongoing debate over welfare in the United States is rooted in the long-standing tension between the nation’s commitment to providing for its most vulnerable and a deep-seated belief that such support can corrupt its recipients. Social Security has struck this balance and appeals to the masses with its pay-as-you-go system and universally distributed benefits. Yet, the solvency of Social Security is threatening the program that has attempted to guard against old age and disability for the last eighty years. This paper examines how the perception of poverty in the United States is a hindrance when tackling social welfare policies. Further, the failure of the Supreme Court to recognize economic security as a fundamental constitutional right and a lack of public support to contribute funds are added challenges in the implementation of social insurance and public assistance programs. The most promising solution to restore the short and long-term solvency of Social Security ultimately involves relaxing immigration laws to highly skilled workers and raising the retirement age for the rising generation.

The Mzansi bank account, launched in the latter part of October 2004, arose out of the financial services charter and is aimed at low income, previously unbanked individuals and households. Since its inception, it has been supported by the following financial institutions: Amalgamated banks of South Africa (ABSA), Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA), First National Bank (FNB), Nedbank (essentially the four major retail banks in South Africa) and the Postbank (a subsidiary of the Post Office).This study investigates the performance of the Mzansi account from both the customer and supporting financial institutions' perspective The investigation's primary objectives focused on determining how accessibility to financial services (and to the account itself) may be improved for customers, determining what Mzansi customers needs are, and how the account may be expanded or enhanced to meet these needs. The secondary objectives concentrated on problems the supporting financial institutions faced: improving accessibility for customers (without too costly an investment in supporting infrastructure), differentiating the product and service significantly from other competing institutions, limiting product cannibalisation (where the Mzansi account is chosen over higher order retail bank products) and limiting overall costs of the account to ensure profitability. The research methodology consisted of a literature study and empirical research that in turn encompassed administering survey questionnaires to current Mzansi customers. The literature study focused on both national and international attempts at banking the unbanked, distilled common learnings from these attempts and ultimately described best practices with particular reference to improving accessibility to financial services and tailoring financial services options to meet the most critical needs of the unbanked market. The literature study also found that a definite business case exists for financial institutions - vii - willing to pursue this market, provided that the core value proposition was adequately adapted. Previous findings on how to avoid product cannibalisation, as well as how to differentiate products and services to entrench greater customer appeal completed the literature study. The empirical research encompassed the development of a survey questionnaire aimed at understanding five core research areas: the Mzansi customer profile (for a sample of one hundred and forty seven existing customers and transacting at Gauteng branches and outlets and evenly distributed across each of the supporting financial institutions), gauging how well customers understood their accounts, determining the service customers had received, understanding customer transaction and the value they attach to these transactions, and finally affording customers the opportunity to suggest ways in which the account may be improved. The questionnaire comprised both open and closed ended question (the latter questions used a five point Likert-type scale to determine scoring). The results, apart from compiling an overall demographic profile of the customer, showed that significant work still needs to be accomplished by the financial institutions to ensure customers understand their accounts and the various transactions and channels available to customers. AIM transaction for instance caused customers problems; to the extent that customers were willing to pay almost twice as much for branch transactions instead. The service received by customers also proved to be average, with more customer orientated demonstrations and a greater amount of time spent during the account opening procedure being seen as valuable ways to improve the overall service received. Customers valued cash withdrawal transactions the most, favouring the use of the branch channel. Customer needs were identified to be primarily credit based; with different credit facilities being required. Customer motivated improvements also extended to a greater range of free transactions on the account, improved - viii - interest rates on credit balances and some form of loyalty based discount on certain transactions. Practical ways suggested to improve access to the account included account proliferation techniques (where third parties may initiate the opening of an Mzansi account on behalf of a customer) and the use of mobile banking facilities. The product functionality was also recommended to be expanded to include limited numbers of debit and stop orders for the retail banks' offering, while a strong emphasis was placed on approaches to improving customer financial literacy by way of education programs that are community based. The later aspects were also seen as strong departure points that the supporting financial institutions could leverage to significantly differentiate their service and product offering. The objectives of the study were deemed to have been met, despite the fact that the study's geographical bias, customers possibly misrepresenting their income and possible translation bias.
Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

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Esta dissertação aborda a utilização de atividades experimentais vinculadas às simulações computacionais como recurso para a aprendizagem significativa da transferência de energia térmica. O problema que embasou a pesquisa foi: Quais as implicações da integração das atividades experimentais e simulações computacionais na aprendizagem significativa dos estudantes no conteúdo de transferência de energia térmica? O estudo foi realizado em uma escola privada do município de Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul, tendo, como participantes, trinta e cinco estudantes do 2º ano do Ensino Médio. Os objetivos específicos elencados para esta pesquisa foram: Verificar os conhecimentos prévios dos estudantes relacionados à transferência de energia térmica, bem como suas aplicações em situações do cotidiano; Desenvolver o conteúdo de transferência de energia térmica por meio da integração entre atividades experimentais e simulações computacionais durante as aulas de Física no 2º ano do Ensino Médio; Investigar se as atividades desenvolvidas são potencialmente significativas para a aprendizagem dos alunos sobre elementos importantes da Termologia (formas de propagação da energia térmica). A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa. Para levantamento dos dados foi utilizado um questionário semiestruturado, questionamentos durante as atividades propostas, além de observações feitas em um diário de campo, fotos, filmagens e, por fim, a elaboração de um mapa conceitual. Os dados analisados apontaram que: a) os estudantes evidenciaram, no questionário semiestruturado dos conhecimentos prévios, antes da intervenção pedagógica, a falta de alguns subsunçores relacionados aos conceitos de propagação da energia térmica, pois não diferenciavam calor e temperatura, o que para muitos significavam sinônimos; b) o material elaborado e proposto nesta prática mostrou ser potencialmente significativo, pois contribuiu para que houvesse modificação, enriquecimento e elaboração de subsunçores presentes nas estruturas cognitivas de alguns alunos, possibilitando a verificação dos fenômenos que muitas vezes são observados no cotidiano, bem como a diferenciação entre as três formas de transferência de energia térmica e, a existência concomitante delas; c) os estudantes, diante da proposta apresentada, estavam motivados e predispostos para trabalhar com as atividades experimentais e as simulações, realizando estas com entusiasmo e demonstrando interesse, favorecendo a ocorrência da aprendizagem significativa; d) a elaboração dos mapas conceituais e sua apresentação (ao término das atividades propostas) evidenciaram alterações nos subsunçores dos estudantes, bem como apontaram que as atividades experimentais vinculadas às simulações computacionais podem ser uma ferramenta para auxiliar na aprendizagem de alguns conceitos de transferência de energia térmica.
This essay approaches the application of experimental activities linked with computational simulations as a resource for the significant knowledge of the thermal energy transfer. The problem in which the research was based on was: what are the implications at the integration of experimental activities and computational simulations for the students significant learning at the subject of thermal energy transfer? The study was settled in a private school from the city of Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul, having as participants thirty five students from the second year of high school. The specific aims listed for this research were: to check previous knowledge from the students, related to thermal energy transfer, as well as its applications in daily situations; to develop the subject of thermal energy transfer by the integration between the experimental activities and computational simulations during the second year‟s high school Physics classes; to investigate whether the developed activities are potentially significant for students‟ well learning about main points of Thermology (ways of thermal energy propagation). The research has a qualitative nature. For data collection, a semi structured questionnaire was used, as well as questions during the proposed activities, besides observations done in a field diary, photographs, filming, and, in the final analysis, the elaboration of a conceptual map. The data analysis inferred that: a) students realized,at the semistructured questionary of previous knowledge before pedagogical intervention, the lack of some subsumers related to the concepts of thermal energy transfer, since they had not distinguished heat from temperature, what for the most of students, they were synonyms; b) the material created and proposed in this practice turned to be potentially significant, because it has contributed to have modification, enrichment and elaboration of subsumers presented in students‟ cognitive structures, providing the verification of phenomena which mostly were observed in daily life, as well as the differentiation among the three forms of thermal energy transfer and their concomitant existence; c) students, in face of the required proposal, showed to be motivated and predisposed to work with the experimental activities and simulations, doing it with enthusiasm and showing interest, making the significant learning possible; d) the elaboration of the field maps and its presentation have evidenced changings in students‟ subsumers, as well as it has pointed that experimental activities combined with computational simulations can be a tool to help the learning of some concepts of thermal energy transfer.

Thesis (PhD(Agric) (Agronomy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The use of capacitance water sensors for the scheduling of irrigation for hydroponic tomato and cucumber crops grown in coir was investigated in a series of laboratory and glasshouse experiments in the Free State province of South Africa. Laboratory experiments in a climate controlled chamber were conducted to accurately calibrate ECH2O capacitance sensors, models EC-10 and EC-20, in coir with an improved calibration procedure. Water content predictions by the coir-specific calibration and manufacturer’s calibration equations were compared to actual water content measured from mass loss of the coir sample. The manufacturer’s calibration equation indicated a poor accuracy of prediction, which mostly underestimated the volumetric water content, compared to the near perfect prediction of the coir-specific calibration of individual sensors. A rapid calibration procedure for EC-10 and EC-20 sensors was proposed to reduce the calibration time of the sensors and promote their commercial use for irrigation management in coir. The accuracy of prediction by the rapid calibration procedure for the plant available water content range was high for both EC-10 and EC-20 sensors and allowed for the compensation for variation between sensors. Glasshouse studies aimed to characterise the water retention and ability of coir to supply water to greenhouse tomato and cucumber crops through the continuous monitoring of medium water content in small and large growing bags with the EC-10 and EC-20 capacitance sensors during a drying cycle, compared to well-watered plants. Stages of crop water stress were identified and, based only on the plant’s response to the drying cycle, it was suggested that water depletion can be allowed to the point of mild water stress for both greenhouse tomato and cucumber crops, which can be detected by soil water sensors. In a second series of glasshouse experiments, the identified stages of crop water stress were used to determine and apply depletion levels in coir and compare this irrigation strategy to a well-watered treatment for greenhouse cucumber and tomato plants, with regard to the water balance components, yield and water use efficiency for different bag sizes. Results indicated that irrigation was successfully managed to the pre-determined water depletion levels for cucumber and tomato plants in coir, through the use of in situ calibrated capacitance sensors. For both crops the depletion of water varied between bag sizes, indicating that various bag sizes require different irrigation management strategies. Scheduling to the highest pre-determined by 124 L m-2 in the small and 240 L m-2 in the large bags for cucumbers and 427 L m-2 in the small and 487 L m-2 in the large bags for tomato plants, compared to the well-watered treatments. Yields achieved by the greenhouse tomato plants in the large growing bags and cucumber plants in the small and large bags were maintained or improved when scheduled to the highest depletion level (approximately 60% available water content) compared to the well-watered treatment. The combination of reduced irrigation and improved or maintained yields resulted in improved water use efficiencies (based on irrigation and transpiration) for the highest depletion level compared to the well-watered treatments. In all glasshouse experiments the well-watered treatment resulted in luxury water use by the plants. Finally, a study was conducted in order to compare crop water stress of greenhouse cucumber and tomato plants under luxury water supply and cyclic water deficit conditions. The comparison was based on the transpiration ratio and yield, while the use of capacitance sensors was evaluated for irrigation scheduling in coir for both crops. Transpiration data indicated that cucumber and tomato plants subjected to luxury water supply experience water stress earlier than plants subjected to cyclic water deficit conditions, irrespective of bag size. Results also indicated that irrigation scheduling according to water depletion levels in small bags is not yet recommended for greenhouse tomato and cucumber plants grown in coir, until further research is conducted. Scheduling to water depletion levels in large bags is, however, justified by the improved or maintained yields of the greenhouse cucumber and tomato plants. The estimated depletion levels for large bags beyond which yield are reduced was at 85% for tomatoes and 70% for cucumbers. In conclusion, the results clearly indicated that the use of capacitance sensors in large growing bags improves irrigation management of hydroponic cucumbers and tomatoes in coir by eliminating over-irrigation and improving water use efficiency. More research is needed before a conclusion can be made regarding irrigation scheduling with capacitance sensors in small growing bags.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die gebruik van kapasitansie water sensors vir besproeiingskedulering van tamatie en komkommer plante wat hidroponies in kokosveen gegroei is, is ondersoek in ‘n reeks laboratorium en glashuis eksperimente in die Vrystaat provinsie van Suid Afrika. Laboratorium eksperimente is uitgevoer in ‘n klimaat beheerde kas om ECH2O kapasitansie sensors, modelle EC-10 en EC-20, akkuraat te kalibreer vir kokosveen deur ’n verbeterde kalibrasie prosedure. Waterinhoud voorspellings deur die kokosveen spesifieke kalibrasie en die vervaardiger se kalibrasie vergelykings is vergelyk met die werklike waterinhoud wat gemeet is deur die kokosveen monster se massaverlies te monitor. Akkuraatheid van voorspelling deur die vervaardiger se kalibrasie vergelykings was swak en het meestal die volumetriese waterinhoud onderskat in vergelyking met die byna perfekte voorspelling deur die kokosveen spesifieke kalibrasie van individuele sensors. ’n Vinnige kalibrasie prosedure vir die EC-10 en EC-20 sensors is voorgestel om die kalibrasie tyd te verkort en die kommersiële gebruik van die sensors vir besproeiingsbestuur in kokosveen aan te moedig. Die akkuraatheid van voorspelling deur die vinnige kalibrasie prosedure, binne die grense van plant beskikbare waterinhoud, was hoog vir beide EC-10 en EC-20 sensors, terwyl die prosedure ook voorsiening maak vir variasie tussen sensors. Glashuis studies is uitgevoer om die water retensie en vermoë van kokosveen om water te voorsien aan tamatie en komkommer gewasse in kweekhuise, te karakteriseer. Dit is bereik deur die mediumwaterinhoud van klein en groot plantsakke deurlopend te monitor met behulp van die EC-10 en EC-20 kapasitansie sensors gedurende ’n uitdroging siklus, en dit te vergelyk met ’n waterryke behandeling vir elke gewas waarvolgens die plante agt keer per dag besproei is. Fases van gewas waterstremming is geïdentifiseer en, volgens die reaksie van die plant tot die drogingsiklus, is dit voorgestel dat wateronttrekking toegelaat kan word tot die punt van matige waterstremming wat aangewys kan word deur kapasitansie water sensors vir beide kweekhuis tamatie en komkommer gewasse. In ’n tweede reeks glashuis eksperimente is die geïdentifiseerde fases van gewas waterstremming gebruik om onttrekkingsvlakke vir kokosveen te bepaal en toe te pas as besproeiingskeduleringstrategie vir kweekhuis komkommer en tamatie plante. Toegepaste vlakke is vir elke gewas vergelyk met ’n waterryke behandeling ten opsigte van die waterbalans komponente, opbrengs en watergebruiksdoeltreffendheid in verskillede sakgroottes. Resultate het aangedui dat besproeiing suksesvol bestuur is tot die voorafbepaalde wateronttrekkingsvlakke vir komkommer entamatie plante in kokosveen, deur gebruik te maak van in situ gekalibreerde kapasitansie sensors. Die onttrekking van water deur beide gewasse het verskil tussen klein en groot sakke, wat aangedui het dat verskillende sakgroottes verskillende besproeiingsbestuur strategieë vereis. Skedulering tot die hoogste voorafbepaalde onttrekkingsvlak het, in vergelyking met die waterryke behandelings, besproeiing verminder met 124 L m-2 in die klein en 240 L m-2 in die groot sakke vir komkommers, en 427 L m-2 in die klein en 487 L m-2 in die groot sakke vir tamatie plante. Opbrengste van kweekhuis tamatie plante in die groot plantsakke en komkommer plante in die klein en groot sakke is gehandhaaf of verbeter deur skedulering tot die hoogste onttrekkingsvlak (ongeveer 60% van beskikbare water inhoud), in vergelyking met die waterryke behandeling. Die kombinasie van verminderde besproeiing en verbeterde of gehandhaafde opbrengste het gelei tot verbeterde watergebruiksdoeltreffendheid (besproeiing en transpirasie) vir die hoogste onttrekkingsvlak, in vergelyking met die waterryke behandelings. In al die glashuis eksperimente het die waterryke behandeling gelei tot oorvloedige watergebruik deur plante. ’n Finale studie is uitgevoer om gewas waterstremming van kweekhuis komkommer en tamatie plante wat onderwerp is aan oorvloedige watervoorsiening deur agt keer per dag te besproei en sikliese watertekorttoestande, te vergelyk. Die vergelyking is gebaseer op die transpirasie verhouding en opbrengs, terwyl die gebruik van kapasitansie sensors vir besproeiingskedulering in kokosveen vir beide gewasse geëvalueer is. Transpirasie data het aangedui dat komkommer en tamatie plante wat onderwerp is aan oorvloedige watervoorsiening vroeër waterstremming ervaar as plante wat onderwerp is aan sikliese watertekorttoestande, ongeag van die sakgrootte. Resultate het aangedui dat besproeiingskedulering volgens wateronttrekkingsvlakke vir klein sakke nog nie aanbeveel kan word vir kweekhuis tamatie en komkommer plante alvorens verdere navorsing gedoen is nie. Skedulering tot wateronttrekkingsvlakke vir groot sakke word egter geregverdig deur die verbeterde of gehandhaafde opbrengste van kweekhuis komkommers en tamaties. Die beraamde laagste onttrekkingsvlakke vir groot sakke wat nie opbrengs betekenisvol sal beïnvloed nie is 85% vir tamaties en 70% vir komkommers. Ten slotte dui die resultate duidelik daarop dat die gebruik van kapasitansie sensors in groot plantsakke besproeiingsbestuur van hidroponiese komkommers en tamaties in kokosveen verbeter deur oorbesproeiing uit te skakel en die watergebruiksdoeltreffendheid te verbeter. Meer navorsing is nodig alvorens ’n gevolgtrekking gemaak kan word ten opsigte van besproeiingskedulering met kapasitansie sensors in klein plantsakke.

Government began legislating abortion in the mid nineteenth century and has controlled access to this service for women ever since. With the creation of hospital boards after WWII, state control over access became further entrenched. Regulations and restrictions since Roe v. Wade limit the availability of abortion services for women served by Medicaid and other social assistance programs. The existence of a class bias around access can be seen throughout the topic's history and legislation has unfairly targeted and therefore disproportionately affects poor women. The data show that these restrictions have no impact on the number of unintended pregnancies over the last 20 plus years. Without the ability to personally fund the procedure, poor women do not enjoy the same choices as women in other social classes. In the next decade, we are likely to experience more of the same without having a realistic conversation about Medicaid funding of abortion.

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Qualidade.
O presente trabalho de investigação aborda a importância da implementação do controlo da qualidade da imagem radiológica digital no processo da melhoria contínua da qualidade do Serviço de Imagiologia do Hospital Fernando Fonseca. O objectivo geral deste estudo consistiu em implementar um referencial de controlo da qualidade da imagem radiológica digital no Serviço de Imagiologia do Hospital Fernando da Fonseca. Formulou-se a seguinte questão de investigação: Qual o referencial de controlo da qualidade da imagem radiológica digital no Serviço de Imagiologia do HFF e, em que medida contribui para a melhoria contínua da qualidade da imagem radiológica digital? A parte empírica desta investigação decorreu em meio natural nas instalações do Serviço de Imagiologia – Urgência do Hospital Fernando da Fonseca no período compreendido entre 15 de Janeiro e 30 de Setembro de 2008. A população foi constituída pelo conjunto de exames radiológicos digitais realizados nos períodos de 15 de Janeiro a 20 de Fevereiro de 2008, de 1 a 31 de Maio de 2008, de 7 de Junho a 7 de Julho e de 1 a 30 de Setembro do mesmo ano. A amostra foi retirada da população recorrendo a uma selecção aleatória simples. Como instrumento de colheita de dados recorreu-se à elaboração de uma folha de verificação. Os resultados foram apresentados em cartas de controlo, gráficos de barras, tabelas de Pareto e de frequências. Os resultados obtidos concluíram que a implementação do controlo da qualidade da imagem radiológica digital contribuiu para a melhoria contínua da qualidade da imagem radiológica digital obtendo-se uma redução de cerca de 39,78% do número de exames radiológicos não conformes. The present research work is about the importance of the implementation of the digital radiologic image quality control in the process of a continuous improvement of the Imagiology Service quality at Fernando Fonseca Hospital. The main purpose of this study consisted in implementing a referential of the digital radiologic image control quality in the Imagiology Service of Fernando Fonseca Hospital. The following research question was set: Which is the referential of the digital radiologic image quality control in the Imagiology Service of Fernando Fonseca Hospital and in what way did it contribute to a continuous improvement of the digital radiologic image quality? The empirical part of this research took place in the natural environment of the Imagiology Service facilities - Emergency Services of Fernando Fonseca Hospital from 15ht January to 30th September 2008. The population was formed by the whole of the digital radiologic exams held from 15th January to 20th February 2008, from 1st to 31st May 2008, from 7th June to 7th July and from 1st to 30th September of the same year. The sample was got from the population using a simple random selection. As a tool for the data collection we applied a check list. The results were presented in control charts, bar charts, Pareto tables and frequency tables. The final results concluded that the implementation of the digital radiologic image quality control contributed to a continuous improvement of the digital radiologic image and a reduction of 39.78% was obtained in the number of non compliant radiologic exams. Ce travail de recherche c’est à propos de l’importance de l’implémentation du contrôle de la qualité de l’image radiologique digital dans le procédé de l’amélioration continue de la qualité au Service d’Imagiologie de l’ Hôpital Fernando Fonseca. L’objectif général de cette étude a consisté à implémenter un référentiel de contrôle de la qualité de l’image radiologique digital au Service d’Imagiologie de l’Hôpital Fernando Fonseca. On a formulé la question suivante : Quel est le référentiel de contrôle de la qualité de l’image radiologique digital au Service de l’Imagiologie du HFF et, comme a contribué à améliorer continuellement la qualité de l’image radiologique digital ? La partie empirique de cette recherche s’est passée en ambiance naturel dans les installations au Service d’Imagiologie – Urgence de l’Hôpital Fernando Fonseca au période contenu entre le 15 janvier et le 30 septembre 2008. La population a été formé par ensemble d’examens radiologiques digitales réalisés entre le 15 janvier et le 20 février 2008, le 1 jusqu’à 31 mai 2008, le 7 juin jusqu’à 7 juillet et le 1 jusqu’à 30 septembre du même année. L'essai a été donné par la population en recourant à une sélection aléatoire simple. Comme outil de récolte de donnés on a recouru á l’élaboration d’une feuille de vérification. Les résultats ont été présentés en cartes de contrôle, de graphiques à barres, de tables de Pareto et de fréquences. Les résultats obtenus ont conclu comme l’implémentation du contrôle de la qualité de l’image radiologique digital a contribué pour une amélioration continue de la qualité de l’image radiologique digitale, en obtenant une réduction près de 39,78% du nombre d’examens radiologiques non conformes.

Doutoramento em Sociologia Económica e das Organizações
Situando o contexto das grandes transformações contemporâneas nos planos epistemológicos, econômico-organizacionais e civilizacionais, o presente trabalho discute a emergência da economia solidária (ES) dentro da América Latina (AL). Entendendo que a ES nas terras da América Ibérica também reflete a presença da matriz latino-afro-ameríndia que configura a forma de ser latino-americana, ou seja, seu ethos barroco, este trabalho também discute as raízes histórico-culturais da ES na AL. Em seguida, para melhor situar a contemporânea emergência da ES na América Ibérica, analisa-se a forma com a qual esta se inseriu no padrão de desenvolvimento capitalista hegemônico. Na sequência, após a descrição das suas principais experiências, procede-se uma conceituação da mesma, confrontando-á, particularmente, com as categorias de Economia Social, Terceiro Setor e Economia Popular. Posteriormente, discute-se algumas das suas principais características, e se analisa as relações entre, a ES e o sistema cooperativista, bem como com o movimento sindical. Finalmente, aprofunda-se a reflexão sobre as implicações éticas e comunitárias da ES, para encerrar com um breve panorama sobre o significado da solidariedade nos tempos atuais.
The present writing is about the solidary economy that is surfacing in Latin America. It situates the context of great transformation by epistemological, economic- organizational and civilizational views. Understanding that solidary economy in the Iberic America also reflects the presence of the side latin-afro-american, which is, its barroc ethos, this work discusses the cultural-historic roots of Solidary Economy in Latin America. To better situate the actual rise of Solidary Economy in Iberic America, this article also analises the form in which this has inserted in developing hegeminic capitalist pattern. After describing its main experiences, it defines Solidary Econony comparing it to social-economics categories, Popular Economy and Third Sector. After all it discusses some of the Solidary Economy's features and analises the relation between Solidary Economy and the cooperative system. It discusses its relations to the sindical movement as well. Finally. it goes deeper on the reflection of ethical and comunitarian implications of Solidary Economy, and the understanding of the significance of solidary nowadays.

O documento apresentado é o culminar de um percurso académico de 5 anos, e que pretende descrever a experiência profissionalizante na vertente de farmácia comunitária e investigação. Assim, este trabalho encontra-se dividido em dois capítulos. No capítulo I encontra-se descrita toda a experiência profissional e humana vivida durante o estágio na farmácia comunitária. O capítulo II descreve o trabalho de investigação desenvolvido em parceria com o Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira. A farmácia comunitária é uma das áreas onde o farmacêutico pode desenvolver a sua atividade e, por excelência, é a área onde este tem um maior contacto com o público. Hoje em dia, e cada vez mais, assiste-se à crescente vocação das farmácias como espaço de saúde moderno, que permite um contacto facilitado, personalizado e disponível com um profissional de saúde, que tem uma obrigatoriedade de permanente atualização de conhecimentos. Neste capítulo são abordados diversos temas, nomeadamente, a organização da farmácia, a informação e documentação científica nela existente, os medicamentos e produtos de saúde, o seu aprovisionamento e armazenamento, a interação farmacêutico-utente-medicamento, a dispensa e aconselhamento de medicamentos e outros produtos de saúde, outros cuidados de saúde prestados na farmácia, além da temática da automedicação, da preparação de medicamentos e a parte de contabilidade e gestão, também muito importantes numa farmácia. O estágio realizado na Farmácia Pedroso, na Covilhã, permitiu concluir que o farmacêutico é um profissional de saúde especialista do medicamento, habilitado para a sua dispensa e aconselhamento, além de estar também habilitado para o esclarecimento de todas as dúvidas e prestação das mais variadas informações sobre medicamentos ou outros produtos de saúde. O farmacêutico, para além das suas competências profissionais e científicas, é também um gestor, uma vez que a gestão é cada vez mais um elemento necessário e uma mais-valia na prática farmacêutica, de forma a garantir sempre o bom funcionamento da farmácia. Desde modo, para atingir todas estas competências é necessária, para além da formação teórica académica, muita prática e uma formação contínua, permitindo ao farmacêutico ter uma vasta experiência e um leque de conhecimentos científicos indispensáveis para responder eficazmente aos novos desafios que lhe são colocados diariamente. A experiência profissionalizante na vertente de investigação foi realizada no âmbito da toxicologia clínica e intitula-se como “Perfil das intoxicações em crianças e jovens num serviço de urgência hospitalar”. As intoxicações são um sério problema de saúde pública, particularmente em idade pediátrica. Assim sendo, o principal objetivo deste estudo foi a caracterização e análise das intoxicações ocorridas em crianças e jovens que chegam ao Serviço de Urgência Pediátrica (SUP) do Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira (CHCB), com necessidade de internamento. Neste estudo retrospetivo procedeu-se à recolha de todas as informações clínicas necessárias de crianças e jovens internados por suspeita de intoxicação no período compreendido de 1 de janeiro de 2006 a 31 de dezembro de 2011. As intoxicações pediátricas representaram cerca de 0,04% de todos os casos que deram entrada no SUP do CHCB, durante o período de estudo. Dos 54 casos estudados, 70,04% envolveram indivíduos do sexo feminino, sendo a média das idades de, aproximadamente, 9 anos. No entanto, as intoxicações foram mais frequentes nas crianças com menos de 5 anos. Maioritariamente, as intoxicações estudadas ocorreram acidentalmente e a principal via de contacto com o tóxico foi a oral (90,74%). Nos casos em que foi possível determinar o local onde ocorreu a intoxicação, verificou-se que a maioria (33%) ocorreu no domicílio, sendo que, este foi também o local onde, preferencialmente, o tóxico foi obtido (48,15%). As intoxicações medicamentosas estiveram envolvidas em 68,52% dos casos, as bebidas alcoólicas em 12,96%, os pesticidas em 5,56%, assim como os gases/vapores, as drogas de abuso em 3,70%, e os compostos químicos em 1,85%, assim como os venenos animais. Particularmente nas intoxicações medicamentosas, o grupo dos ansiolíticos, sedativos e hipnóticos foi o mais comum (40,53%), devido às intoxicações por benzodiazepinas. Os antipsicóticos (27,01%) foram o segundo grupo de fármacos mais frequente. Cerca de 57,89% das intoxicações medicamentosas envolveram apenas um princípio ativo, e a ingestão de múltiplos princípios ativos foi mais frequente no grupo dos adolescentes. Verificou-se que cerca de 3/4 dos doentes intoxicados apresentavam sintomas neurológicos. Antes da instituição do tratamento, foram requeridos, a cerca de 50% dos doentes, testes laboratoriais para determinação da presença ou da quantidade de tóxico. As medidas de descontaminação gastrointestinal foram aplicadas a 57,38% dos indivíduos, cerca de 55,54% dos doentes recebeu tratamento de suporte, e a 12,95% das intoxicações foi administrado um antídoto, maioritariamente o flumazenilo. Em média, os intoxicados permaneceram 3 dias no internamento, sendo a maioria (70,37%) encaminhada para o domicílio, acompanhados de uma carta para o médico de família. Na amostra estudada não ocorreu nenhum caso de óbito.
O documento apresentado é o culminar de um percurso académico de 5 anos, e que pretende descrever a experiência profissionalizante na vertente de farmácia comunitária e investigação. Assim, este trabalho encontra-se dividido em dois capítulos. No capítulo I encontra-se descrita toda a experiência profissional e humana vivida durante o estágio na farmácia comunitária. O capítulo II descreve o trabalho de investigação desenvolvido em parceria com o Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira. A farmácia comunitária é uma das áreas onde o farmacêutico pode desenvolver a sua atividade e, por excelência, é a área onde este tem um maior contacto com o público. Hoje em dia, e cada vez mais, assiste-se à crescente vocação das farmácias como espaço de saúde moderno, que permite um contacto facilitado, personalizado e disponível com um profissional de saúde, que tem uma obrigatoriedade de permanente atualização de conhecimentos. Neste capítulo são abordados diversos temas, nomeadamente, a organização da farmácia, a informação e documentação científica nela existente, os medicamentos e produtos de saúde, o seu aprovisionamento e armazenamento, a interação farmacêutico-utente-medicamento, a dispensa e aconselhamento de medicamentos e outros produtos de saúde, outros cuidados de saúde prestados na farmácia, além da temática da automedicação, da preparação de medicamentos e a parte de contabilidade e gestão, também muito importantes numa farmácia. O estágio realizado na Farmácia Pedroso, na Covilhã, permitiu concluir que o farmacêutico é um profissional de saúde especialista do medicamento, habilitado para a sua dispensa e aconselhamento, além de estar também habilitado para o esclarecimento de todas as dúvidas e prestação das mais variadas informações sobre medicamentos ou outros produtos de saúde. O farmacêutico, para além das suas competências profissionais e científicas, é também um gestor, uma vez que a gestão é cada vez mais um elemento necessário e uma mais-valia na prática farmacêutica, de forma a garantir sempre o bom funcionamento da farmácia. Desde modo, para atingir todas estas competências é necessária, para além da formação teórica académica, muita prática e uma formação contínua, permitindo ao farmacêutico ter uma vasta experiência e um leque de conhecimentos científicos indispensáveis para responder eficazmente aos novos desafios que lhe são colocados diariamente. A experiência profissionalizante na vertente de investigação foi realizada no âmbito da toxicologia clínica e intitula-se como “Perfil das intoxicações em crianças e jovens num serviço de urgência hospitalar”. As intoxicações são um sério problema de saúde pública, particularmente em idade pediátrica. Assim sendo, o principal objetivo deste estudo foi a caracterização e análise das intoxicações ocorridas em crianças e jovens que chegam ao Serviço de Urgência Pediátrica (SUP) do Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira (CHCB), com necessidade de internamento. Neste estudo retrospetivo procedeu-se à recolha de todas as informações clínicas necessárias de crianças e jovens internados por suspeita de intoxicação no período compreendido de 1 de janeiro de 2006 a 31 de dezembro de 2011. As intoxicações pediátricas representaram cerca de 0,04% de todos os casos que deram entrada no SUP do CHCB, durante o período de estudo. Dos 54 casos estudados, 70,04% envolveram indivíduos do sexo feminino, sendo a média das idades de, aproximadamente, 9 anos. No entanto, as intoxicações foram mais frequentes nas crianças com menos de 5 anos. Maioritariamente, as intoxicações estudadas ocorreram acidentalmente e a principal via de contacto com o tóxico foi a oral (90,74%). Nos casos em que foi possível determinar o local onde ocorreu a intoxicação, verificou-se que a maioria (33%) ocorreu no domicílio, sendo que, este foi também o local onde, preferencialmente, o tóxico foi obtido (48,15%). As intoxicações medicamentosas estiveram envolvidas em 68,52% dos casos, as bebidas alcoólicas em 12,96%, os pesticidas em 5,56%, assim como os gases/vapores, as drogas de abuso em 3,70%, e os compostos químicos em 1,85%, assim como os venenos animais. Particularmente nas intoxicações medicamentosas, o grupo dos ansiolíticos, sedativos e hipnóticos foi o mais comum (40,53%), devido às intoxicações por benzodiazepinas. Os antipsicóticos (27,01%) foram o segundo grupo de fármacos mais frequente. Cerca de 57,89% das intoxicações medicamentosas envolveram apenas um princípio ativo, e a ingestão de múltiplos princípios ativos foi mais frequente no grupo dos adolescentes. Verificou-se que cerca de 3/4 dos doentes intoxicados apresentavam sintomas neurológicos. Antes da instituição do tratamento, foram requeridos, a cerca de 50% dos doentes, testes laboratoriais para determinação da presença ou da quantidade de tóxico. As medidas de descontaminação gastrointestinal foram aplicadas a 57,38% dos indivíduos, cerca de 55,54% dos doentes recebeu tratamento de suporte, e a 12,95% das intoxicações foi administrado um antídoto, maioritariamente o flumazenilo. Em média, os intoxicados permaneceram 3 dias no internamento, sendo a maioria (70,37%) encaminhada para o domicílio, acompanhados de uma carta para o médico de família. Na amostra estudada não ocorreu nenhum caso de óbito.

La validación del proceso de fabricación de las tabletas de glibenclamida 5mg, fue realizado en un laboratorio farmacéutico, durante los meses de marzo a octubre del 2005. En este período se llevó a cabo la fabricación de tres lotes consecutivos, los cuales fueron utilizados para la validación. El estudio nos permitió demostrar que la validación del proceso de fabricación de las tabletas de glibenclamida 5mg cumplió con los parámetros establecidos. Demostrándose que los equipos, etapas y las áreas estaban adecuadamente instaladas, documentadas y operativas tal como se evidenció de manera consistente y repetitiva durante todo el proceso de validación. Adicionalmente los datos obtenidos del proceso de fabricación de las tabletas de glibenclamida 5 mg; fueron procesados con el paquete estadístico SPSS 11.10; demostrándose que existe diferencia significativa con un p < 0,05 entre el inicio, medio y final de los tres lotes. Por tanto se concluye que el proceso cumplió con las especificaciones establecidas, pero no asegura que estadísticamente este bajo control; porque las herramientas estadísticas nos permitieron evaluar con un alto grado de confiabilidad el comportamiento real del proceso.
-- The validation of the manufacturing process of the tablets glybenclamide 5mg, was carried out in a pharmaceutical laboratory, during the months of March to October of the 2005. In this period was carried out the production of three serial lots, which were used for the validation. The study allowed us to demonstrate that the validation of the manufacturing process of the tablets glybenclamide 5mg completed the established parameters. Being demonstrated that the equipment, stages and the areas were appropriately installed, documented and operative just as it was evidenced in a consistent and repetitive way during the whole validation process. Additionally the obtained data of the manufacturing process of the tablets of glybenclamide 5 mg; they were processed with the statistical package SPSS 11.10; being demonstrated that significant difference exists with a p < 0,05 among the beginning, means and end of the three lots. Therefore you concludes that the process completed the established specifications, but it doesn't assure that statistically this low control; because the statistical tools allowed us to evaluate with a high grade of dependability the real behavior of the process.
Tesis

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Os materiais de preenchimento dermatológicos tem sido amplamente utilizados na região da face, com finalidade de reparo estético ou funcional. O uso inadvertido desses produtos pode promover efeitos adversos variados envolvendo, muitas vezes, a área anatômica de atuação do cirurgião-dentista. Ocasionalmente as complicações presentes sugerem um diagnóstico clínico incorreto, uma vez que podem simular outras patologias. Estes produtos são distintos e apresentam-se de formas variadas, podendo ter na sua composição, por exemplo, fragmentos biológicos, suspensões de partículas ou microesferas. A técnica de implantação tecidual e os resultados possíveis são específicos para cada tipo de material. Quando inseridos nos planos tissulares ou de forma acidental, no interior dos vasos sanguíneos, podem favorecer respectivamente a migração local e/ou sistêmica da substância. O polimetilmetacrilato (PMMA) é um dos materiais de preenchimento estético de maior emprego no Brasil, sendo francamente utilizado na região facial e perioral. O seu baixo custo, duração permanente nos tecidos, além da fácil técnica de aplicação, favorecem esta escolha. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi verificar em modelo murino a presença de reação local e toxicidade sistêmica, causadas pela injeção intravascular de PMMA em duas concentrações extremas regularmente utilizadas nos pacientes (2 e 30%). Os animais foram divididos randomicamente em 3 grupos contendo 10 animais cada (PMMA 2%, PMMA 30% e controle) e 2 tempos de observação (7 e 90 dias). O material (0,05mL) foi aplicado na veia ranina do lado direito, localizada no ventre lingual. Durante a avaliação clínica realizada nos respectivos tempos do estudo, não foram observadas lesões na área da língua onde o produto foi aplicado. Na análise microscópica dos órgãos distantes (fígado, pulmão e rim direito) não foi constatada a presença de microesferas do produto ou inflamação. Os resultados da análise sérica dos níveis de aspartato aminotransferase (AST) e creatinina entre os grupos não demonstraram diferença estatisticamente significativa nos tempos do estudo. Aos 90 dias do experimento, o grupo 2 (PMMA 30%) apresentou níveis mais elevados de alanina aminotransferase (ALT) quando comparado aos demais grupos. Podemos constatar que na sua maior concentração, o PMMA induziu alteração estatisticamente significativa (P = 0.047) nos níveis de ALT quando comparado com o grupo controle ao longo do tempo. A análise da variação do peso dos órgãos não demonstrou que as mudanças verificadas estavam relacionadas a sinais de toxicidade oriundos do PMMA. Frente aos inúmeros relatos de efeitos adversos decorrentes de injeções de PMMA no terço inferior da face, principalmente em região nasolabial, é de suma importância que os cirurgiões-dentistas estejam aptos a identificar e manejar suas possíveis complicações. A deficiência de informações científicas sobre eventuais manifestações locais e sistêmicas relacionadas a utilização de produtos de preenchimento estético facial contendo PMMA motivou a realização desta pesquisa e deverá estimular outros estudos favorecendo uma melhor compreensão sobre o tema. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo não confirmam que os preenchedores faciais contendo PMMA possuam potencial efeito tóxico, nas concentrações utilizadas.
Dermal fillers are being vastly applied at the face region in an attempt to achieve aesthetic or functional repair. When used inadvertently those products may promote a variety of adverse effects, sometimes involving the dentists’ anatomical area of expertise. Occasionally these complications suggest an incorrect clinical diagnosis since it can simulate other types of pathologies. These materials are distinct and may contain in its composition biological fragments, suspensions of particles or microspheres, for example. The technique of implantation and the possible outcomes are specific of the type of substance. Once these products are inserted into the tissues or accidentally inside of a blood vessel, local and/or systemic migration of the particles may occur. The polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is one of aesthetic filling materials of greater employment in Brazil, being broadly used in tissues of the facial and perioral region. The choice to use these products is encouraged by its low financial cost, long time of duration and simple technique of implantation. This research aimed to evaluate, in a murine model, the local reaction and possible systemic toxicity caused by intravascular injection of PMMA in two extreme concentrations (2 and 30%) that are often applied. The animals were randomly divided into 3 groups (2%PMMA, 30%PMMA and control) and 2 observation times (7 and 90 days). The material (0.05 mL) was applied into the ranine vein located at the ventral surface of the tongue on the right side. Lesions were not observed during clinical evaluation of the tongues at any time of the study. There was no presence of microspheres or inflammation in distant organs (liver, right lung and kidney) during microscopic evaluation. The levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and creatinine were not significantly different between groups at any time of the study. Group 2 (30% PMMA) showed higher levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) at day 90 when compared to the other groups. It could be assumed that PMMA's higher concentration induced statistically significant change in ALT levels compared with the control group over time (P = 0.047). The variation in the weight of the organs has not demonstrated that the changes were related to signs of toxicity to PMMA. Faced with several reports of adverse effects from injections of PMMA in the lower face, especially nasolabial region it is of great importance that dentists are able to identify and manage possible complications. The lack of scientific data regarding local and systemic adverse effects related to cosmetic fillers containing PMMA, motivated this study and should be a stimulus for this issue to be addressed in further research in order to achieve a better comprehension about this subject. The data obtained in this study do not confirm that PMMA fillers have a potential toxic effect, after an intravascular injection, at the concentrations studied.

Thesis (Masters Diploma (Electrical Engineering)--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 1988
The subject of this thesis is the development of ahighly ruggedised, reliable electronic circuit. The circuit is to be used for the initiation of fuze heads and to charge a capacitor for later use in apyrotechnic chain. This circuit and its associated packaging will be called the firing unit. The thesis can be broadly divided into the following facets. I. The definition study, which defines what is needed and proposed means of achieving the customer requirements. 11. The design of the electronic circuitry in the system. Ii!. The design of the packaging containing the electronics. Iv. Adaptation of environmental testing, to verify system design. V. Implementation of environmental testing. Vi. Reliability analysis. Vii. Failure analysis and the determination of the effect of the supposed failure. Actions vto vii were used as inputs to improve 11 and ill, so achieving optimum performance and safety. The whole system was designed with the overriding objective of reliability and safety of personnel and equipment.

Most studies of language minority students' performance focus on students' characteristics. This study uses qualitative methodology to examine instead how educational policies and practices affect the tracking of language minority students who are classified as limited English proficient (LEP). The placement of LEP students in core courses (English, Math, Social Studies, and Science) is seen as resulting from the interaction between school context and student characteristics. The school context includes factors such as equity policy requirements, overcrowding, attitudes regarding immigrants' academic potential, tracking, and testing practices. Interaction among these factors frequently leads to placement in lower track courses. It was found that the absence of formal tracks could be misleading to immigrant students, particularly those with high aspirations who do not understand the implications of the informal tracking system. Findings are discussed in relation to current theoretical explanations for minority student performance.

Dopamine (DA) governs movement, sleep, reward, and cognition. The presynaptic dopamine transporter (DAT), clears released DA, controlling DA signaling and homeostasis. Genetic DAT ablation causes hyperactivity, sleep reduction, and altered psychostimulant response. DAT surface expression is dynamic; DAT constitutively internalizes and recycles to and from the plasma membrane, and acute PKC activation stimulates DAT endocytosis. Cell line experiments demonstrated that PKC-stimulated DAT endocytosis requires Ack1 inactivation and the GTPase, Rit2. How Rit2 controls PKC-dependent DAT internalization, or whether regulated DAT endocytosis impacts behavior, is unknown. Here, I present data supporting that PKC activation stimulates Rit2/DAT dissociation, mediated by the DAT N-terminus. Further, Ack1 and Rit2 function independently to facilitate PKC-stimulated DAT internalization. Moreover, PKC-stimulated DAT endocytosis was limited to ventral striatum in ex vivo slice preparations, and required Rit2. Our lab previously demonstrated that certain DA-dependent behaviors required DAergic Rit2 in mice, however whether this was due to perturbed PKC-stimulated DAT internalization, or DAT-independent Rit2 function(s) remains untested. To address this, I turned to Drosophila and its Rit2 homolog Ric. I found that Ric and dDAT proteins interact in cell lines, and that constitutively active Ric (RicQ117L) increased dDAT function in cultured cells and ex vivo whole fly brains. However, neither DAergic Ric knockdown nor RicQ117L altered overall locomotion or sleep, suggesting that these fundamental behaviors do not require DAergic Ric. Together, these results expand our understanding of intrinsic mechanisms controlling DAT endocytosis, and their impact on behavior.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (le pneumocoque) est une bactérie commensale, présente de façon asymptomatique dans le rhinopharynx de 20 % d'adultes et 50 % d'enfants. Cette bactérie peut devenir un pathogène majeur responsable de pneumonies, de méningites et de septicémies, et cause 1,5 million de morts chaque année dans le monde. Il existe deux méthodes de lutte : l'antibiothérapie et la vaccination. Ces deux stratégies se heurtent à la grande variabilité génétique du pneumocoque, essentiellement due à sa capacité à transformer naturellement. La transformation requiert le développement d'un état physiologique transitoire appelé compétence. Sa régulation met en jeu une boucle autocatalytique conduisant à l'expression des gènes de compétence. Mon travail de thèse a porté sur l'étude des mécanismes moléculaires responsables de l'initiation de la compétence. Des études menées au laboratoire ont montré l'implication indirecte de Ami (transport d'oligopeptides) dans la répression de la compétence. Les acides aminés transportés par Ami pourraient servir de jauge métabolique sentie par RelA (réponse stringente) ou par CodY. Nos résultats montrent que le ppGpp est un activateur de la compétence, mais cette molécule n'est pas le seul signal aboutissant au développement de la compétence, et que CodY pourrait être un répresseur de la compétence. De plus, nous avons montré que codY est essentiel et que son inactivation peut aboutir à la formation de structures mérodiploïdes. De plus, l'absence de CodY peut être compensée par la présence de 2 mutations, fatC et amiC, ou par d'autres mutations qui n'ont pas encore été identifiées
Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is found in the nasopharynx of 20% of adults and 50% of children. The pneumococcus is a major pathogen, causing pneumonia, otitis media, meningitis and bacteriema. Every year, pneumococcal infections kill 1. 5 million people worldwide. The two methods used to fight this pathogen (vaccination and antibiotherapy) can be bypassed by the high genetic variability of the pneumococcus. Natural genetic transformation is responsible for this variability and requires the pneumococcus to enter a transitory physiological state called competence. This state is based on an autocatalytic loop that induces the expression of the genes involved in competence. This thesis focusses on molecular mecanisms that lead to competence initiation in the pneumococcus. Studies carried out in our lab have shown that the Ami transporter is involved in competence regulation. Amino acids (intrenaliszed throught Ami) may be a metabolic gauge for competence regulation. Results show that ppGpp is involved in competence development activation but that other regulatory signals are also involved. The regulator CodY might be a competence repressor. On the other hand, this study has shown that codY is an essential gene and that its inactivation can lead to merodiploid formation. Furthermore, the absence of CodY can be compensated by the presence of two mutations, in the fatC and amiC genes, or by the presence of other mutations not yet characterized

Mestrado em Ciências da Educação - Administração e Políticas Educativas
A administração dos sistemas educativos têm uma história, de centralização ou de descentralização, durante a qual são criadas estruturas que podem prevalecer ou ser alteradas de acordo com as reformas levadas a cabo para adequar o sistema às condições socioeconómicas e políticas e às exigências que essas transformações sempre apresentam. Tais mudanças podem ter origem nos factores internos (sistemas económico, social e político) ou nos factores externos (pressão dos organismos internacionais, agências de ajuda externa, governos dos chamados países centrais), ou ainda na conjugação de ambos. Considerando que a administração dos sistemas educativos é feita tendo em conta determinados modelos teóricos, espera-se que a análise do Sistema Educativo moçambicano saliente a(s) tendência(s) que se têm seguido ao longo das reformas levadas a cabo desde a sua criação em 1983 de modo a, por um lado, determinar o grau de controlo da Administração Central relativamente a outros órgãos (Direcção Provincial, Distrital e Escolas) e, por outro, descrever as tendências (crescente, decrescente, estacionária) da centralização ou descentralização ao longo do tempo. Dentro da abordagem qualitativa com especial enfoque para a análise de conteúdo de documentos normativos, e incidindo em três áreas de decisão, nomeadamente, currículo e avaliação, organização pedagógica da escola e direcção e gestão administrativa, o estudo conclui que a centralização é um processo constante e abrangente para todas as áreas de administração; que a administração do sistema educativo é altamente centralizada com carácter burocrático; que o controlo burocrático e o controlo ideológico embora tenham uma incidência variada de acordo com as condições sócio-políticas são ambos reveladores da máquina centralizadora dos Serviços Centrais. ABSTRACT: Education systems have a history of administration in which structures are created under centralization or decentralization can remain or be reformed to adapt the system to the socio-economic conditions and / or policies and the requirements that these transformations always have. Such changes may be caused by internal factors (such as economic, social and political) or external factors (pressure from international organizations, foreign aid agencies, governments of so-called core countries), or a combination of both. Whereas a educational systems are administered with respect to certain theoretical models, it is expected that the analysis of the Mozambican education system will emphasize the tendencies that have followed over the reforms undertaken since its creation in 1983 to, firstly, determine the degree of control the central government has in relation to other levels of administration (Provincial, District and Schools) and, secondly, to describe the trends (increasing, decreasing, stationary) in centralization or decentralization over time. Through a qualitative approach with special focus on the content analysis of the normative documents and focusing on three decision areas, namely curriculum and evaluation, school organization and educational management and administration, the study concludes that centralization is a constant and comprehensive process for all areas of administration; that the administration of the education system is highly centralized bureaucratic nature; that the bureaucratic control and ideological control, although the incidence varied according to socio-political conditions, are both telling about centralized machine of Central Services.

The Beaut-Ease product line consists of several machines that are a hybrid between beauty products and infomercial products. Both industries flourish on a level of falsehood that teeters on the brink of hilarity.

"Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) were born out of the policies of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They were introduced 'in the wake of the failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) to reduce the incidence of poverty'. PRSPs have been linked with the IMF and WB Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative. In order to have access to debt relief, countries have had to draw up PRSPs and start moving towards their effective implementation. PRSPs are now meant to be the national guide informing almost every facet of the human development framework. They are being used as benchmarks for the prioritization of the use of public and external resources for poverty reduction. Further, multilateral as well as bilateral donors and lending institutions are using them as an overarching framework from which policies and actions of developing countries are to be gauged and decisions on further assistance or loans made. In that light, PRSPs have become pivotal to the social fabric of the countries concerned as they affect the daily undertakings of the people through, among other things, their allocative and redistributive roles. ... The PRSPs of Malawi and Uganda are not premised on the human rights based approach to poverty reduction. They largely address issues of economic and social rights from a benefactor and beneficiary perspective rather than from a claim-holder and duty-bearer perspective. Further to that, these policies are largely premised on the requirements of the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) that have received heavy criticism for not factoring in human rights considerations, when implementing their policies towards developing countries. This problem thus calls for a harmonisation of PRSPs with the obligations of the states as well as the BWIs to ensure the full realisation of these rights. ... This study is divided into six chapters. Chapter two is a concise analysis of the PRSP processes in Malawi and Uganda. It addresses issues of participation and national ownership, among others, and locates the role of the BWIs in the process. Chapter 3 is a general overview of the international legal obligations that the two governments have in the area of economic and social rights. Chapter four provides an overview of the scope of the rights to health and housing. Chapter five is a critical analysis of the extent to which the PRSPs of the two countries act as effective tools for advancing the rights to health and housing in the two countries. Chapter six concludes the discussion. It makes necessary recommendations in order to strengthen the human rights based approach to poverty reduction within the framework of the PRSPs, with a view to ensuring the progressive realisation of economic and social rights." -- Introduction.
Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004.
Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Baker G. Wairama at the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/llm1.html
Centre for Human Rights
LLM

Older adults often engage in few activities, for short periods of time, and typically engage with one item without switching to other items. The purposes of this study were (a) to further evaluate the MSWO preference assessment as well as the utility of the brief free-operant presentation method with older adults with dementia to identify preferred activities, (b) to determine if non-variable selection during a free operant preference assessment was due to repetitive behavior through concurrent engagement analyses, and (c) to determine the reinforcing effectiveness of stimuli identified via the single-array MSWO and free operant preference assessments through a reinforcer assessment. The results suggest that for 6 of the 7 participants the free operant was a better predictor for time allocation and engagement with a preferred activity. The results suggest that the single array MSWO was not as predictive of time allocation or engagement as the free operant, resulting in false positives. The results also suggest that individuals not switching items may be a result of the environment rather than a symptom of dementia (repetitive behavior), showing that it was not that the participants could not switch, but rather that they chose not to switch.

Low dimensional semiconductors are promising materials with diverse range of applications in a variety of fields. Specifically, in recent times low dimensional oxide and sulfide based semiconductors are regarded as materials that can have potential applications in chemical gas sensor, optoelectronic devices and memristor. How ever, in some cases it is envisioned that appropriate doping as well as phase stabilization is important in enhancing their material properties. This work presents the synthesis, characterization and application of various (pristine and doped) quasi-one dimensional metal oxides (TiO2, VO2) and two-dimensional materials (CuO thin film, MoS2). Some practical protocols for stabilization of specific phases at ambient conditions via a new method of doping in VO2 nanostructures with aluminum, is demonstrated. Similarly, a temperature-doping level phase diagram for the free-standing nanostructures in the temperature range close to the ambient conditions was presented. TiO2 nanowire was doped during growth and electrical measurements on individual TiO2 single crystal nanowires indicate that light in visible range can induce electron-hole pair formation. Furthermore, gas sensing (CO, H2) measurements taken under visible light irradiation imply that photo-activated chemical oxidization on the surface of TiO2 nanowires occurs, which is responsible for the observed measurements. Further, the effect of self heating in some nanostructures was also explored. Since self-heating is a prospective power-efficient energy delivery channel to the conductometric chemical sensors that require elevated temperatures for their operation, the unprecedentedly low power consumption can be achieved via minimizing the heat dissipation in the optimized device architecture. By investigating the heat dissipation in these devices we show that the thermal, electrical and chemical properties of the self-heated semiconducting nanowires appear to be strongly coupled with each other at nanoscale. This opens up unique opportunity to fabricate low power nanoscopic sensing leading to an ultra-small and power efficient single nanostructure gas recognition system. The CuO film based lateral devices were fabricated and studied for its resistive switching behavior. A good, stable and reproducible threshold RS performance of CuO film was obtained by electrical measurement. Finally, the micro-flake MoS2 based FET photoelectronic device was fabricated (using mechanically exfoliated MoS2) and its electronic and photoelectronic properties were investigated. We show that though the FET mobility values of MoS2 microflake is in the average range, but the photo-responsivity is much higher compared to most of others similar sulfide based 2D layered materials.

Police executives must be responsive to the needs of the citizens in order to receive their cooperation. This study used survey responses from 190 residents of the unincorporated part of Washington County, Tennessee, to measure citizens' satisfaction with the services provided by the Washington County TN Sheriff's Office, and to determine what services and special components of the Sheriff's Office were important to them. A significant difference was found in satisfaction with police services when compared by race, polite treatment by the police, type of contact with police, and night walking safety. However, no significant difference was found in satisfaction with police services when compared by socioeconomic status, fair treatment by the police, visibility of patrol cars in neighborhoods, and prior victimization. It was also found that the citizens felt the greatest needs of their Sheriff's Office were more officers and more jail and administrative office space.