Cette thèse se compose de trois chapitres distincts. Le premier chapitre examine le lien de causalité entre l’offre de prêts syndiqués par des banques et les contributions de campagnes électorales par des entreprises non-financières aux États-Unis au cours de la crise financière de 2007–2008. Les résultats indiquent qu’une diminution de 10% de l’offre de prêt à une entreprise donnée par ses prêteurs pré-crise pendant la première période de crise entraîne une augmentation de 9% des contributions de campagne par cette entreprise en 2008. De plus, le niveau de contributions de campagne par des entreprises dans le passé est positivement associé à des conditions de prêt favorables dans l’avenir. Les résultats appuient l’idée que les contributions de campagne sont un investissement dans le capital politique plutôt qu’une simple forme de bien de consommation. Le deuxième chapitre identifie l’effet d’exposition industrielle de banques avant leur entrée sur le marché sur la croissance de production des secteurs de fabrication. Les résultats indiquent que plus grande est la différence de spécialisation dans un secteur entre deux états, plus grand est l’impact d’intégration bancaire sur la croissance de ce secteur dans l’état qui est moins spécialisé. Le dernier chapitre examine si l’intégration bancaire dans plusieurs régions a un impact sur le marché de contrôle des entreprises entre elles. Les résultats indiquent qu’il y a plus de fusions, acquisitions et cessions dans les paires d’états dont les systèmes bancaires ont connu une plus grande intégration, par rapport à des paires d’états sans une telle intégration. Les résultats dans les deux derniers chapitres indiquent un canal bancaire qui façonne le paysage industriel d’états. / This dissertation is made of three distinct chapters. The first chapter examines the causal link between banks’ syndicated loan supply and non-financial firms’ campaign contributions for US elections during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The results indicate that a 10% decrease in loan supply of a given firm by its pre-crisis relationship lenders during the early crisis period leads to a 9% increase in firm’s campaign contributions in 2008. Further, firms’ level of past campaign contributions is positively associated with favorable loan terms for the future. The findings lend support to the idea that campaign contributions are an investment in political capital rather than merely a form of consumption good. The second chapter identifies the effect of banks’ industry exposures prior to market-entry on the output growth of manufacturing sectors through US bank-entry deregulations. The findings indicate that the larger the discrepancy in specialization in an industry between a state-pair, the higher the impact of banking integration on the growth of that sector in the state that is less-specialized. The last chapter examines whether banking integration across regions has any impact on the market for corporate control between them. The results show that there are more M&As and divestitures across state-pairs whose banking systems have experienced a higher integration, compared to state-pairs with no such integration. The findings in the last two chapters indicate a banking channel that shapes the states’ industrial landscape.

Interdisciplinary Project Work (PW) was introduced as an educational initiative in Singapore schools from primary to pre-university levels in 2000. PW was posited to (a) enhance perceptions and use of inter-subject connections in real-world problems, (b) promote knowledge application, and (c) provide a platform for the use of thinking skills. The main goal of this thesis is to explore how these objectives are inter-related with factors influencing the quality of group collaborative mathematical thinking processes and mathematical outcomes during a mathematically-based interdisciplinary project. In this study, high quality mathematical thinking processes occur when the flow of group interactions is purposefully directed towards the enhancement of mathematically accurate, logical, and reasonable outcomes. / A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Design consisting of consecutive quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis procedures was used to answer the seven research questions in the study. A researcher-designed mathematically-based interdisciplinary project was implemented over 14-15 weeks with 16 classes of students (aged 13-14) belonging to two educational streams (higher and average-ability) in three Singapore government secondary schools. No teaching intervention was administered. Six scales were developed for pre- and post-project measurements of students’ mathematical confidence, perception of the value of mathematics, and perception of the interconnectedness of mathematics (N = 398). Ten student-group cases (n = 38) were selected for further in-depth qualitative data collection procedures pertaining to the nature of mathematical knowledge application, use of metacognitive monitoring and regulatory strategies, and core thinking skills application during three tasks in the interdisciplinary project. / The findings of this study clearly demonstrate the complexities of using PW to promote holistic and connected use of knowledge. Five substantial contributions to research on interdisciplinary learning arise from the thesis:1. An empirical framework synthesising factors influencing the quality of group collaborative mathematical knowledge application processes and outcomes was developed.2. The social influence of the group member activating applications of core thinking skills and metacognitive monitoring and regulatory strategies is a mediating factor influencing the flow of cognitive-metacognitive group interactions, and therefore, the quality of collaborative mathematical knowledge application processes and outcomes.3. Leaders of high-stream groups who were socially non-dominant but mathematically active were more likely to apply a higher frequency of core thinking skills than group members in other roles (i.e., questioner, recorder, and encourager) during a mathematically-based interdisciplinary project.4. The types and complexities of mathematical knowledge and skills applied during a mathematically-based interdisciplinary project did not correspond with stream.5. Whilst students were more able to appreciate the use of mathematics for inter-subject learning after participating in a mathematically-based interdisciplinary project, their beliefs about inter-subject connections and efforts at making these connections only marginally changed.These outcomes enhance our understanding of the challenges involved in the successful use of interdisciplinary tasks with middle school students and provide focuses for future teacher facilitation of mathematical learning during interdisciplinary education.

One deals in this work with the existence and the uniqueness of natural projectively equivariant quantizations by means of the theory of Cartan connections. One shows that a natural projectively equivariant quantization exists for differential operators acting between $lambda$ and $mu$-densities if and only if the corresponding $sl(m+1,mathbb{R})$-equivariant quantization on $mathbb{R}^{m}$ exists. With this end in view, one writes the quantization by means of a formula in terms of the normal Cartan connection associated to the projective structure of a connection. One deduces next an explicit formula for the natural projectively equivariant quantization. One shows the non-uniqueness of such a quantization by means of the curvature of the normal Cartan connection. Finally, one shows the existence of natural and projectively equivariant quantizations for differential operators acting between sections of other natural fiber bundles transposing the method used in $mathbb{R}^{m}$ to analyse the existence of $sl(m+1,mathbb{R})$-equivariant quantizations, this method being linked to the Casimir operator./ On traite dans cet ouvrage de l'existence et de l'unicité de quantifications naturelles projectivement équivariantes au moyen de la théorie des connexions de Cartan. On démontre qu'une quantification naturelle projectivement équivariante existe pour des opérateurs différentiels agissant entre $lambda$ et $mu$-densités si et seulement si la quantification $sl(m+1,mathbb{R})$- équivariante correspondante sur $mathbb{R}^{m}$ existe. Pour cela, on exprime la quantification au moyen d'une formule en termes de la connexion de Cartan normale associée à la structure projective d'une connexion. On en déduit ensuite une formule explicite pour la quantification naturelle projectivement invariante. On démontre après la non-unicité d'une telle quantification par le biais de la courbure de la connexion de Cartan normale. Enfin, on démontre l'existence de quantifications naturelles projectivement équivariantes pour des opérateurs différentiels agissant entre sections d'autres fibrés naturels en transposant la méthode utilisée dans $mathbb{R}^{m}$ pour analyser l'existence de quantifications $sl(m+1,mathbb{R})$-équivariantes, méthode liée à l'opérateur de Casimir.

We construct a deformation quantization on an infinite-dimensional symplectic space of regular connections on an SU(2)-bundle over a Riemannian surface of genus g ≥ 2. The construction is based on the normal form thoerem representing the space of connections as a fibration over a finite-dimensional moduli space of flat connections whose fibre is a cotangent bundle of the infinite-dimensional gauge group. We study the reduction with respect to the gauge groupe both for classical and quantum cases and show that our quantization commutes with reduction.

The derivation of the standard model from a higher-dimensional action suggests a further study of the fibre bundle formulation of gauge theories to determine the variations in the choice of structure group that are allowed in this geometrical setting. The action of transformations on the projection of fibres to their submanifolds are characteristic of theories with fewer gauge vector bosons, and specific examples are given, which may have phenomenological relevance. The spinor space for the three generations of fermions in the standard model is described algebraically.

Researchers have demonstrated that students who had a strong sense of school belonging exhibited greater academic motivation and performance (E. Anderman, 2002; Faircloth & Hamm, 2005), had fewer emotional and behavioral difficulties (Furrer & Skinner, 2003; McMahon, Singh, Garner, & Benhorin; 2004), and were less likely to dropout of school (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; Knesting, 2008). Limited attention has been given to the potential factors that promote school belonging, especially in high school students. The purpose of this research was to examine the unique influence of adult connections on high school students’ sense of school belonging utilizing the framework of self-determination theory. The role of adult connections was examined as a moderator of the relations between five student risk factors (behavior problems, peer problems, minority ethnicity, male gender, and poverty) and school belonging. This cross-sectional study analyzed data from a survey completed by 368 ninth grade students. The survey consisted of items from existing instruments, including the Psychological Sense of School Membership (Goodenow, 1993a), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, Meltzer, & Bailey, 2003), and the Basic Need Satisfaction in Relationships Scale (La Guardia, Ryan, Couchman, & Deci, 2000). Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed study hypotheses by indicating that adult connections was a significant predictor of the students’ sense of school belonging and significantly moderated the relationship between school belonging and behavior problems (p < .05). Additional analyses indicated that adult connections accounted for more of the variance in school belonging for males than for females. These findings supported the importance of adult connections in high school students’ sense of school belonging. Future research should address the relationship between adult connections and school belonging as it evolves over students’ high school careers.

This collection of work explores conflict and connection. The poems are shorter, but they are no less conflicted about human nature and our own desires to be good, while struggling with less-good desires. My construction of progressive imagery has changed from Confessional to a sensory connectivity of situation and feel. Breaking the collection into parts allows for grouping according to speaker relationship and voice.

Aquesta tesi doctoral està emmarcada en el camp de l'astrodinàmica. Presenta solucions a problemes identificats en el disseny de missions que utilitzen òrbites entorn dels punts de libració, fent servir la teoria de sistemes dinàmics.El problema restringit de tres cossos és un model per estudiar el moviment d'un cos de massa infinitessimal sota l'atracció gravitatòria de dos cossos molt massius. Els cinc punts d'equilibri d'aquest model, en especial L1 i L2, han estat motiu de nombrosos estudis per aplicacions pràctiques en les últimes dècades (SOHO, Genesis...). Genèricament, qualsevol missió en òrbita al voltant del punt L2 del sistema Terra-Sol es veu afectat per ocultacions degudes a l'ombra de la Terra. Si l'òrbita és al voltant de L1, els eclipsis són deguts a la forta influència electromagnètica del Sol. D'entre els diferents tipus d'òrbites de libració, les òrbites de Lissajous resulten de la combinació de dues oscil.lacions perpendiculars. El seu principal avantatge és que les amplituds de les oscil.lacions poden ser escollides independentment i això les fa adapatables als requeriments de cada missió. La necessitat d'estratègies per evitar eclipsis en òrbites de Lissajous entorn dels punts L1 i L2 motivaren la primera part de la tesi. En aquesta part es presenta una eina per la planificació de maniobres en òrbites de Lissajous que no només serveix per solucionar el problema d'evitar els eclipsis, sinó també per trobar trajectòries de transferència entre òrbites d'amplituds diferents i planificar rendez-vous. Per altra banda, existeixen canals de baix cost que uneixen els punts L1 i L2 d'un sistema donat i representen una manera natural de transferir d'una regió de libració a l'altra. Gràcies al seu caràcter hiperbòlic, una òrbita de libració té uns objectes invariants associats: les varietats estable i inestable. Si tenim present que la varietat estable està formada per trajectòries que tendeixen cap a l'òrbita a la qual estan associades quan el temps avança, i que la varietat inestable fa el mateix però enrera en el temps, una intersecció entre una varietat estable i una d'inestable proporciona un camí asimptòtic entre les òrbites corresponents. Un mètode per trobar connexions d'aquest tipus entre òrbites planes entorn de L1 i L2 es presenta a la segona part de la tesi, i s'hi inclouen els resultats d'aplicar aquest mètode als casos dels problemes restringits Sol Terra i Terra-Lluna.La idea d'intersecar varietats hiperbòliques es pot aplicar també en la cerca de camins de baix cost entre les regions de libració del sistema Sol-Terra i Terra-Lluna. Si existissin camins naturals de les òrbites de libració solars cap a les lunars, s'obtindria una manera barata d'anar a la Lluna fent servir varietats invariants, cosa que no es pot fer de manera directa. I a l'inversa, un camí de les regions de libració lunars cap a les solars permetria, per exemple, que una estació fos col.locada en òrbita entorn del punt L2 lunar i servís com a base per donar servei a les missions que operen en òrbites de libració del sistema Sol-Terra. A la tercera part de la tesi es presenten mètodes per trobar trajectòries de baix cost que uneixen la regió L2 del sistema Terra-Lluna amb la regió L2 del sistema Sol-Terra, primer per òrbites planes i més endavant per òrbites de Lissajous, fent servir dos problemes de tres cossos acoblats. Un cop trobades les trajectòries en aquest model simplificat, convé refinar-les per fer-les més realistes. Una metodologia per obtenir trajectòries en efemèrides reals JPL a partir de les trobades entre òrbites de Lissajous en el model acoblat es presenta a la part final de la tesi. Aquestes trajectòries necessiten una maniobra en el punt d'acoblament, que és reduïda en el procés de refinat, arribant a obtenir trajectòries de cost zero quan això és possible. / This PhD. thesis lies within the field of astrodynamics. It provides solutions to problems which have been identified in mission design near libration points, by using dynamical systems theory. The restricted three body problem is a well known model to study the motion of an infinitesimal mass under the gravitational attraction of two massive bodies. Its five equilibrium points, specially L1 and L2, have been the object of several studies aimed at practical applications in the last decades (SOHO, Genesis...). In general, any mission in orbit around L2 of the Sun-Earth system is affected by occultations due to the shadow of the Earth. When the orbit is around L1, the eclipses are caused by the strong electromagnetic influence of the Sun. Among all different types of libration orbits, Lissajous type ones are the combination of two perpendicular oscillations. Its main advantage is that the amplitudes of the oscillations can be chosen independently and this fact makes Lissajous orbits more adaptable to the requirements of each particular mission than other kinds of libration motions. The need for eclipse avoidance strategies in Lissajous orbits around L1 and L2 motivated the first part of the thesis. It is in this part where a tool for planning maneuvers in Lissajous orbits is presented, which not only solves the eclipse avoidance problem, but can also be used for transferring between orbits having different amplitudes and for planning rendez-vous strategies.On the other hand, there exist low cost channels joining the L1 and L2 points of a given sistem, which represent a natural way of transferring from one libration region to the other one. Furthermore, there exist hyperbolic invariant objects, called stable and unstable manifolds, which are associated with libration orbits due to their hyperbolic character. If we bear in mind that the stable manifold of a libration orbit consists of trajectories which tend to the orbit as time goes by, and that the unstable manifold does so but backwards in time, any intersection between a stable and an unstable manifold will provide an asymptotic path between the corresponding libration orbits. A methodology for finding such asymptotic connecting paths between planar orbits around L1 and L2 is presented in the second part of the dissertation, including results for the particular cases of the Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon problems. Moreover, the idea of intersecting hyperbolic manifolds can be applied in the search for low cost paths joining the libration regions of different problems, such as the Sun-Earth and the Earth-Moon ones. If natural paths from the solar libration regions to the lunar ones was found, it would provide a cheap way of transferring to the Moon from the vicinity of the Earth, which is not possible in a direct way using invariant manifolds. And the other way round, paths from the lunar libration regions to the solar ones would allow for the placement of a station in orbit around the lunar L2, providing services to solar libration missions, for instance. In the third part of the thesis, a methodology for finding low cost trajectories joining the lunar L2 region and the solar L2 region is presented. This methodology was developed in a first step for planar orbits and in a further step for Lissajous type orbits, using in both cases two coupled restricted three body problems to model the Sun-Earth-Moon spacecraft four body problem. Once trajectories have been found in this simplified model, it is convenient to refine them to more realistic models. A methodology for obtaining JPL real ephemeris trajectories from the initial ones found in the coupled models is presented in the last part of the dissertation. These trajectories need a maneuver at the coupling point, which can be reduced in the refinement process until low cost connecting trajectories in real ephemeris are obtained (even zero cost, when possible).

The doctoral dissertation “Waterbirth and Russian-American Exchange: From the Iron Curtain to Facebook” presents the social history of the Russian waterbirth movement, from the Cold War epoch to the present. One of the first ethnographies to examine Russian-American cultural exchange, this study fills a number of gaps in both Russian and American cultural history, bringing together the issues of religion, science, gender, body politics and the state. By drawing on interviews with Russian and American birth practitioners, as well as participant observation of the birthing practices on both continents, I seek to define their agendas for the development of alternative ideologies and practices, as well as their specific effects, experienced on both global and local scales. In particular, I attempt to problematize the conventional narratives of globalization and biomedicalization, presenting “local” cultures either as passive victims of the dominant Western agent or rebels exercising futile resistance. Despite the turbulent effects of Western intervention into the Russian value system and everyday practices, the local culture of Russia proved capable of producing, promoting, and communicating to the world particular models and schemes that proved to be viable, went global, and affected the vision of the body and self in the Western world. By examining the case of the waterbirth movement, the project seeks to enrich current understanding of the information flows between Russia and the West. By looking at Russian and American utopian projects, which center on science, nature, tradition and globalization, and carefully tracing their sources, origins, mutual impacts and conflicts, we can get a better understanding of the formation and distribution of authoritative knowledge on global and local levels. An empirical study of this specific set of problems is expected to stimulate a valuable insight into the mechanisms governing the relationships between social orders, complex transnational identity formation, and global/local knowledge production in late modern societies.

Wireless channels are vulnerable to interception. In some applications an end-to-end secure data transfer is required. However the use of cryptographic functions in communication over a wireless channel increases sensitivity to channel errors. As a result, the connection characteristics in terms of delay, throughput, and transmission energy worsen. Transmission energy is a key issue in some secure end-to-end wireless applications especially if they are running on mobile handheld devices with a limited source of energy such as batteries. That is why in most secure end-to-end wireless connections, the connection is dropped in poor channel conditions. In this thesis, models are proposed by which the performance is improved and transmission energy is lowered. A combination of a cross-layer controller, K Best Likelihood (K-BL) channel decoder, and a keyed error detection algorithm in the novel model supports the authorized receivers by a higher throughput, lower delay mean, and less transmission energy in a certain range of the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). This is done at the expense of additional computation at the receiving end. Ttradeoffs are examined and the simulation results of the new model are compared with those of conventional wireless communication systems. Another model is devised to mitigate the energy consumption of the Turbo Code channel decoder. The overall decoding energy consumption for each packet can be lowered by reducing the average number of iterations in the Turbo Code channel decoder. The proposed models achieve better energy consumption by reducing the number of iterations in a channel decoder that uses the Turbo decoder and by reducing the number of retransmissions in a trellis channel decoder. Furthermore, the security enhancement of the novel models is assessed in terms of the extent to which the enhancement is fully achieved.