Syftet med studien är att få en ökad förståelse för några bakomliggande orsaker till varför människor begår kriminella handlingar. Studiens övergripande frågeställningar är följande; På vilket sätt påverkar umgängeskretsen en individs förutsättningar för att utveckla en kriminell livsstil? Hur kan dessa bakomliggande orsaker till kriminalitet förklaras och förstås? Frågeställningarna besvaras genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem individer med tidigare kriminell bakgrund. Med hjälp av en tematisk analysmetod struktureras intervjumaterialet upp i tre teman vilka har formulerats med utgångspunkt i det datamaterial som har samlats in. Analysen görs med hjälp av tidigare forskning och teorier om differentiella associationer och förstärkningar, symbolisk interaktionism, stämpling och sociala band. Studien visar att de intervjuade hamnade i kriminalitet till följd av att deras uppväxt, skolsituation och umgänge interagerade negativt med varandra. Gemensamt för samtliga intervjuade informanter är att de hade bristfällig kontakt med båda föräldrarna under uppväxten. Den uteblivna tryggheten från föräldrarna var något de istället sökte i sin umgängeskrets. Informanternas skolgång kantades av dåliga skolprestationer där de ofta umgicks med personer som misskötte sig. / The purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of some underlying causes of why people commit criminal acts. The general questions of the study are; in what way does the social circle of friends affect the individual’s prerequisites for developing a criminal lifestyle? How can these underlying causes of crime be explained and understood? The questions are answered by semi-structured interviews with five individuals with previous criminal background. With the use of a thematic analysis method the interview material was structured into three themes that have been formulated based on the datasets that have been collected. The analysis is done with the use of previous research and theories of differential association and reinforcements, symbolic interactionism, labeling and social bond. The study shows that the interview participants end up in crime as a result of their growth, school situation and their circle of friends interacted in a negative way. Common to all those interviewed informants is that they had insufficient contact with both parents during childhood. The lack of assurance from the parents was something they instead searched for in their social circle of friends. The informants schooling was consisted of poor school performances, and they often socialized with friends who also misbehaved.

Penalized methods are becoming more and more popular in statistical research. This dissertation research covers two major aspects of applications of penalized methods: variable selection and nonparametric function estimation. The following two paragraphs give brief introductions to each of the two topics. Infinite variance autoregressive models are important for modeling heavy-tailed time series. We use a penalty method to conduct model selection for autoregressive models with innovations in the domain of attraction of a stable law indexed by alpha is an element of (0, 2). We show that by combining the least absolute deviation loss function and the adaptive lasso penalty, we can consistently identify the true model. At the same time, the resulting coefficient estimator converges at a rate of n^(?1/alpha) . The proposed approach gives a unified variable selection procedure for both the finite and infinite variance autoregressive models. While automatic smoothing parameter selection for nonparametric function estimation has been extensively researched for independent data, it is much less so for clustered and longitudinal data. Although leave-subject-out cross-validation (CV) has been widely used, its theoretical property is unknown and its minimization is computationally expensive, especially when there are multiple smoothing parameters. By focusing on penalized modeling methods, we show that leave-subject-out CV is optimal in that its minimization is asymptotically equivalent to the minimization of the true loss function. We develop an efficient Newton-type algorithm to compute the smoothing parameters that minimize the CV criterion. Furthermore, we derive one simplification of the leave-subject-out CV, which leads to a more efficient algorithm for selecting the smoothing parameters. We show that the simplified version of CV criteria is asymptotically equivalent to the unsimplified one and thus enjoys the same optimality property. This CV criterion also provides a completely data driven approach to select working covariance structure using generalized estimating equations in longitudinal data analysis. Our results are applicable to additive, linear varying-coefficient, nonlinear models with data from exponential families.

There are some new challenges in system administration and design to optimize the resource management for a cloud based application. Some applications demand stringent performance requirements (e.g. delay and jitter bounds), while some applications exhibit bursty (volatile) workloads. This thesis proposes an epidemic model inspired (and continuous time Markov Chain based) framework, which can reproduce workload volatility namely the "buzz effects" (when there is a sudden increase of a content popularity) of a Video on Demand (VoD) system. Two estimation procedures (heuristic and a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) based approach) have also been proposed in this work to calibrate the model against workload traces. Obtained model parameters from the calibration procedures reveal some interesting property of the model. Based on numerical simulations, precisions of both procedures have been analyzed, which show that both of them perform reasonably. However, the MCMC procedure outperforms the heuristic approach. This thesis also compares the proposed model with other existing models examining the goodness-of-fit of some statistical properties of real workload traces. Finally this work suggests a probabilistic resource provisioning approach based on a Large Deviation Principle (LDP). LDP statistically characterizes the buzz effects that causeextreme workload volatility. This analysis exploits the information obtained using the LDP of the VoD system for defining resource management policies. These policies may be of some interest to all stakeholders in the emerging context of cloud networking.

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A insuficiente definição conceitual das contribuições, seja a nível constitucional, seja a nível do Código Tributário Nacional, tem possibilitado a instituição de contribuições especiais pela União Federal sem quase nenhum parâmetro de controle, exceto pelas exigências de afetação do produto da arrecadação a uma finalidade específica (social, econômica ou profissional) e de referibilidade dos benefícios ao grupo de contribuintes. Ocorre que o primeiro requisito (da afetação) é de dificílimo controle e tem sido pouco observado, enquanto que o segundo (da referibilidade) é um conceito ainda muito aberto e sujeito a uma interpretação elástica pelos tribunais, que tem reconhecido a sua existência mesmo nos casos em que a atuação estatal não se refere direta e imediatamente ao grupo de contribuintes. Isso, na prática, abriu à União Federal um campo de incidência quase ilimitado a explorar por meio da criação de contribuições que muitas vezes não passam de meros impostos com destinação especial, agravando os problemas de escalada da carga tributária, concentração das receitas tributárias na União Federal, crescente dependência de Estados e Municípios de transferências federais e perda da racionalidade do já precário Sistema Tributário Nacional. Em vista disso, o presente trabalho visa contribuir para o desenvolvimento da teoria das contribuições, identificando novos parâmetros jurídicos para a sua classificação, estruturação e controle. Por meio desses aportes teóricos, busca-se também conferir maior racionalidade e coerência ao Sistema Tributário Nacional, o que de maneira indireta também tende a contribuir para o desenvolvimento institucional do País. / The insufficient conceptual definition of contributions, both in the Constitution and in the National Tax Code, has enabled the establishment of special contributions by the Federal Government without almost any control parameter, except for the requirements of earmarking of the proceeds from the collection for a particular purpose (social, economic or professional) and linkage of the benefits to the group of taxpayers. However, the first requirement (earmarking) is very difficult to control and is rarely observed, while the second (linkage) is still a too open concept, subject to an elastic interpretation by the courts, which have recognized its existence even in cases where the state action does not directly refer to the group of taxpayers. This, in effect, ppened to the Federal Government an almost unlimited field of taxation to explore through the creation of contributions that often are nothing more than simple "taxes with preestablished allocation", making even worse the problems of escalating tax burden, concentration of tax revenues on the Federal Government, growing dependence of states and municipalities on federal transfers and loss of rationality of the already precarious National Tax System. In view of this, the present work aims to contribute to the development of the theory of contributions, identifying new legal standards for its classification, structure and control. Through these theoretical inputs, it also seeks to bring greater rationality and coherence to the National Tax System, what indirectly also tends to promote the institucional development of the country.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:32:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 688077 bytes, checksum: 369ec0145d58b4c3f2d93ab69403df95 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-01-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Many times, the interpretation of the results in cluster analysis is done subjectively, that is, through inspection on dendograms, since there are no objective criteria to identify the formed clusters. In face of such a problem, the present study aimed to: (1) find out an objective way to achieve the cut-point (optimal number of clusters) in a dendogram in order to help on taking the right decision; (2) work out index concepts such as Root Mean Square Standard Deviation (RMSSTD) and R Squared (RS), explaining the contribution of each one of them in determining the optimal number of cluster; (3) method application, aiming to identify divergent accessions that will be used on improvement programs. An alternative solution for this problem is to use the RMSSTD and RS which are calculated according to the number of variables among and within the clusters formed, characterizing an objective way to determine the optimal number. Another solution is achieved by using the RS. Some morphological characteristics of the forty nine accessions of the species Capsicum chinense Jacq. from the Germplasm Bank of Vegetables of the Federal University of Viçosa (Banco de Germoplasma de Hortaliças da Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais Brazil) were analyzed by means of cluster analysis. The accessions were clustered based on the proposed techniques and an optimal number of clusters was achieved. The 49 accessions analyzed were classified into only seven clusters according to the graph of the RMSSTD versus the number of clusters and the graph of the RS versus the number of clusters. / Muitas vezes, a interpretação dos resultados em análise de agrupamentos é feita de forma subjetiva, isto é, através da inspeção de dendrogramas. Isto se deve ao fato de haver dificuldade em se encontrar na literatura um critério objetivo de fácil aplicação para identificar o número ideal de grupos formados. Diante deste problema, o presente trabalho teve por objetivos: 1) Avaliar a aplicabilidade de critério objetivo de se obter o ponto de corte (número ótimo de clusters) num dendrograma para a tomada de decisão; 2) trabalhar os conceitos de índices como RMSSTD (root mean square standard deviation) e RS (R-Squared), discutindo a contribuição de cada um destes na obtenção do número ótimo de clusters em acessos de Capsicum chinense; 3) aplicação do método, visando a identificar acessos divergentes de Capsicum chinense para serem utilizados em programas de melhoramento. Os índices RMSSTD e RS são calculados de acordo com as variáveis entre e dentro dos grupos formados, caracterizando uma forma objetiva para determinar o número ótimo. Para se obter o ponto de máxima curvatura da trajetória dos índices RMSSTD e RS em função do aumento do número de grupos (X), utilizou-se o Método da Máxima Curvatura Modificado. Foram analisadas, por meio da análise de agrupamentos, algumas características morfológicas de quarenta e nove acessos da espécie Capsicum chinense Jacq. do Banco de Germoplasma de Hortaliças da Universidade Federal de Viçosa. A partir das técnicas propostas agrupou-se os acessos, obtendo um número ótimo de grupos. Os resultados classificam os 49 acessos avaliados em apenas sete grupos de acordo com o gráfico do RMSSTD versus o número de grupos e o gráfico do RS versus o número de grupos.

The towed streamer controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) system collects data faster than the conventional static node-based CSEM system. However, the towed streamer CSEM is typically much noisier than the conventional static node-based CSEM. Identifying and quantifying various sources of noise is important for the development of future robust electromagnetic streamer system. This is the problem I address in this thesis. I achieve this in three parts. First, I examine the idea that the towed streamer suffers from noise induced by its motion through the Earth’s magnetic field according to Faraday’s law of induction. I derive expressions for the motionally-induced noise for the cases of a horizontal streamer parallel to the acquisition vessel’s path and a curved streamer caused by a constant cross-current. These expressions demonstrate that the motionally-induced noise is sensitive to the magnitude of the feather angle at the head and at the tail of the streamer, and to the vertical and lateral motion of the streamer. The key finding is that no motionally-induced noise is generated when the streamer is horizontal and moving in a constant magnetic field. By contrast, when the streamer shape is curved because of cross-currents, motionally-induced noise is generated if the velocity of the streamer varies over time. Second, I analyse and compare the noise recorded using the first generation of towed streamer with the noise recorded using a static ocean bottom cable (OBC) CSEM. I find out that within the frequency range of interest, 0.01–1 Hz the towed streamer noise is 20 dB greater (factor of 10) than the noise recorded with the OBC CSEM. I show also that the motion of the telluric cable between the pair of electrodes in the towed streamer is responsible for this difference in amplitude between the two systems. In the frequency ranges, 0.03–0.1 Hz and 0.03–0.2 Hz, the motionally-induced noise is shown to be uncorrelated across all channels. However, within the frequency band 0.1–0.3 Hz, the motionally-induced noise correlation gradually increases and becomes well correlated at about 0.2 Hz. This correlated noise could be caused by ocean swell from surface waves, water flowing around the streamer or cross-currents. Finally, to identify and quantify the contribution of several distinct sources of noise, and to describe the mechanisms generating each source of noise, I co-designed a prototype towed streamer CSEM. I carried out an experiment with the prototype streamer suspended 1 m below the water surface in the controlled environment of the Edinburgh wave tank located in King’s building campus (the University of Edinburgh). I then subjected the streamer to flow running at velocities of 0–1ms−1 along its length and to waves propagating in the same direction, at 45°, and perpendicular relative to the streamer direction.

[pt] Este trabalho investiga os processos de negociação identitária no curso de entrevistas de pesquisa com ocupantes de terrenos e prédios na cidade do Rio de Janeiro nos últimos dois anos. A premissa central para a organização desta investigação se baseia nos conceitos de neutralização do desvio e das técnicas de controle da informação, concebidos por H. Becker e E. Goffman, respectivamente. Tais conceitos referem-se às técnicas interacionais através das quais os indivíduos negociam rótulos e identidades em interação, de forma a se alinharem preferentemente com as expectativas sociais canônicas de normalidade, ao passo em que se afastam discursivamente de estigmas sociais. Nosso arcabouço teórico baseia-se em autores que consideram nossas identidades não como substância fixa ou concebida aprioristicamente, mas como fluidas, fragmentadas e passíveis de negociação no curso das interações. Os dados foram analisados através de dois recortes, com base em Biar (2012): no primeiro, utilizamos a sociolinguística interacional, prioritariamente os conceitos de enquadre e proteção da face concebidos por Goffman (1959; 1974). Identificamos o uso nas entrevistas de recursos linguísticos que incluem hesitações, vagueza no fornecimento de determinadas informações, não nomeação de atos desviantes, dentre outros. Identificamos ainda um esforço discursivo por parte dos entrevistados no sentido de alterar os enquadres propostos inicialmente pelos entrevistadores. O segundo recorte analisa as narrativas geradas por estes participantes com base nas categorias de causalidade e sistemas de coerência de Linde (1993). Argumentamos que estas relações podem igualmente ser usadas pelos falantes para construir aproximação ou afastamento das atividades tidas como desviantes e, consequentemente, fazem parte do processo de negociação identitária. / [en] The present investigation aims at analyzing the identity construction processes that emerge in the course of research interviews with homeless activists who have been occupying lands and buildings in Rio de Janeiro over the last two years. The central premise for the organization of this research is based on the concepts of deviance neutralization and information control techniques, designed by Becker and Goffman, respectively. These concepts relate to interactional techniques by which stigmatized individuals negotiate their identities in interaction, so as to preferably align themselves with the canonical societal expectations of normality, while they deviate discursively from stigma. Our theoretical framework is based on authors who consider our identities not as a fixed substance nor as designed outside discourse, but as fluid, fragmented and subject to negotiation in the course of real interactions. Data were analyzed through two layers based on Biar (2012): the first applies the interactional sociolinguistics perspective, primarily the concepts of framing and face work as conceived by Goffman. We have identified the use of several linguistic resources including hesitations, vagueness in the supply of certain information, non- naming of deviant acts, among others strategies employed by our interviewees in order to present themselves in a positive light. This investigation also has identified a discursive effort on the part of respondents to amend the framings initially proposed by the interviewers. The second analytical layer considers narratives generated by these participants in accordance with causality relations and systems of coherence as designed by Linde (1993). We argue that these relations have been used by interviewees to either denote association with or distance from the activities regarded as deviant, and therefore they form part of the identity negotiation processes.

Les co-cristaux représentent une classe de composés offrant de grandes opportunités pour l'industrie pharmaceutique. La plupart des études présentées dans la littérature porte sur le diagramme thermodynamique et sur l'ingénierie cristalline. Ce travail y ajoute l'aspect cinétique qui est essentiel à prendre en compte pour la mise en place d'un procédé de cristallisation à l'échelle industrielle. Différentes techniques d'analyse en ligne ont été mises en oeuvre pour suivre le procédé de co-cristallisation. Le système modèle carbamazépine / nicotinamide a été sélectionné. Dans un premier temps, l'utilisation d'une sonde de visualisation in-situ a permis la construction d'un diagramme de phase pour le système modèle étudié. Par la suite, les chemins cinétiques du procédé de co-cristallisation ont été mesurés en solution grâce au suivi des concentrations en soluté par spectroscopie InfraRouge à Transformée de Fourier. Enfin, la transition entre les phases solides (carbamazépine et cocristaux) a été suivie in-situ par spectroscopie IR et en couplant la sonde de visualisation avec la sonde Lasentec FBRM. Les essais ont permis de vérifier qu'une dérive de procédé conduisant à une autre phase cristalline que les co-cristaux peut être corrigée pour obtenir au final uniquement des co-cristaux / Co-crystals represent a class of compounds, which offers huge opportunities for the pharmaceutical industry. Most studies presented in the literature deals with the thermodynamic diagram and crystal engineering. This work adds the kinetic aspect that must imperatively be taken into account in the establishment of a crystallization process at an industrial case. Different in-line process analytical techniques were carried out to monitor the co-crystallization process. The model system carbamazepine / nicotinamide was selected. The use of an in-situ visualization probe allowed us to build the phase diagram of the model system studied. Afterwards, the kinetic pathways of the co-crystallization process were highlighted thanks to the following of the solute concentrations by Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy. Finally, the phase transition between carbamazepine and co-crystals was monitored by IR spectroscopy, and by using simultaneously the visualization probe with the Lasentec FBRM probe. In order to finally obtain the only co-crystal phase, we subsequently verified that it was possible to correct a situation of process deviation, for which another crystalline phase remained in suspension

A investigação proposta no trabalho foi estimulada pela reduzida preocupação doutrinária e jurisprudencial em compreender o efetivo papel e o atual significado do “interesse público” no âmbito do Direito Administrativo Brasileiro, dúplice escopo do presente estudo. Estabelece-se, em um primeiro momento, breve análise dos fundamentos político-normativos que legitimam a atuação dos agentes públicos, reforçando a relevância das normas jurídicas produzidas por autoridades democraticamente investidas na construção das finalidades estatais que acabam por configurar o interesse público em perspectiva constitucional ou política. Como decorrência, aborda-se a necessária vinculação da atuação administrativa à lei e ao Direito no âmbito do Estado Democrático, condição imposta pelo princípio da legalidade para que a Administração Pública tenha sua atuação delimitada juridicamente, o que indica que no processo de concreção do interesse público (passando para uma perspectiva administrativa ou jurídica do conceito) a função da autoridade pública é integrativa, condicionada à concessão de certa margem de liberdade pelas normas jurídicas, por meio do emprego de conceitos indeterminados ou mediante asseguramento de discricionariedade. O trabalho ocupa-se, ainda, em ressaltar que o Direito Administrativo teve sua origem na busca pela regulação do conflito dialético entre as prerrogativas assecuratórias do exercício da autoridade estatal e as garantias de liberdade e direitos individuais dos cidadãos, o que acaba levando à abordagem do aventado caráter “supremo” do interesse público e sua contraposição aos interesses privados. Dessa forma, é feita a interpretação do polêmico “princípio da supremacia do interesse público sobre o interesse privado” em conformidade com a Constituição Federal de 1988, de modo a evidenciar que a função dessa norma-princípio acabou sendo incorporada na ordem constitucional atual por meio dos princípios apresentados no caput do art. 37, especialmente da legalidade e da impessoalidade, os quais atuam como parâmetros para o controle jurisidicional do interesse público, já que condicionam a atividade administrativa ao respeito dos limites formais impostos pela regra de competêcia (legalidade na forma da reserva legal) e à observância da espécie e grau de interesse público incorporado na previsão legal, evitando-se um possível desvio de finalidade (impessoalidade) no agir dos agentes da Administração Pública, imbricação que, inclusive, vem reconhecida no direito positivo pátrio, conforme se constata na redação dos arts. 1º e 2º da Lei nº 9.784/99. / The research was stimulated by the reduced concern of doctrine and jurisprudence in understanding the actual role and the current meaning of "public interest" under the Brazilian Administrative Law, wich is the twofold scope of this study. It’s established, at first, a brief analysis of the political-normative elements that legitimize the actions of public servants, reinforcing the relevance of the legal standards produced by democratically invested authorities on the State’s purposes definition that shapes the public interest in constitutional or political perspective. In consequence, it’s analized the necessary linkage of administrative action to the rules and the Law in a Democratic State, condition imposed by the principle of legality to juridically limitate Public Administration’s activities, indicating that the fuction of administrative staff in the concretion of public interest (in administrative or legal perspective) is posterior and integrative, especially in situations wich the rules allows a certain margin of freedom, like when there is an indeterminate concept to interpretate or the administrative discretion needs to be use. The dissertation seeks, furthermore, to emphasize that the Administrative Law had its origin by searching for the regulation to pacify the dialectical conflict between the prerogatives that ensure the authority’s exercise and the guarantees of freedom and individual rights, imposing the analisis of the alleged “supreme” character of the public interest and its opposition to private interests. So, it’s enphasized the controversial “principle of the supremacy of public interest over private interest” and its normative interpretation under the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 in order to show that the function of this principle was incorporated in the current constitutional order through the principles presented in the chapeau of article 37, specially the legality and impersonality, which act as parameters for the public interest’s judicial review, since they affect the administrative activities to respect the formal limits imposed by the rule that delegates power (legality in the legal reserve form) and the observance of the kind and degree of public interest incorporated into the legal provision, avoiding a possible deviation of objective (impersonality), overlapping that comes recognized in national positive law, as noted in articles 1 and 2 of Brazilian Statute Law n 9.784/99.