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Epidemiological trends in mental disorders are shown against a background governed by medical aid health policy. The study quantitatively analyzed a dataset of mental disorders for South Africa’s leading medical aid scheme. South Africa’s leading medical aid scheme has been in operation for almost three decades. This degree of longevity allows for a reliable longitudinal analysis of diagnostic trends. Through consent of the Scheme, a database was provided, which lists mental disorder diagnoses over seven years from 2008 to mid-way through 2015. Data from this source were analyzed and interpreted. Data fields provided and made use of from the raw medical scheme database are: Date of admission (Year, Month); Patient gender; Database population per year; Patient diagnosis (DEG Description); Total per DEG Description. Each diagnosis (mental disorder) is presented in the following ways: 1. Bar charts showing the volume of specific mental illnesses each year. 2. Bar charts showing fluctuations of occurrence of a specific mental illness over time. 3. Frequency of specific mental illnesses over time, relative to the entire database population. 4. Male:Female ratio per mental disorder. 5. Female Outpatient vs. Inpatient volumes across each mental disorder and across all years (2008 – 2015).v 6. Male Outpatient vs. Inpatient volumes across each mental disorder and across all years (2008 – 2015). 7. Total number of patients per mental disorder across time (2008 – 2015). 8. Frequency polygons showing the fluctuation of a selected mental disorder over time as compared to other selected mental disorders. It is found that there are changes in prevalence rates of mental disorders over time and that these fluctuations are attributed to an economic factor within medical aid scheme cost-driven policy. The effect of cost-driven policy is that members diagnosed with a mental disorder may not be granted provision of adequate treatment because diagnosis is in part, determined by economic structures. Costs for mental illness treatment programmes are curtailed by keeping patient numbers significantly low, by radically over-diagnosing certain mental illnesses treated with comparably cheaper pharmaceuticals or by drastically curbing time spent in a mental health facility. Some members of the medical aid scheme have been deliberately misdiagnosed. Alternatively, those, correctly diagnosed, do not receive the treatment required of such an illness. The scenario then is of thousands of mentally ill people, who are not treated effectively. Members continue to pay fees, paying under the illusion that medical cover ensures effective treatment / Psychology / M.A. Psychology

Ce travail de doctorat s'inscrit dans le cadre des techniques adaptées à la résolution du problème à N corps nucléaire. Il a été motivé par la perspective d'utiliser des méthodes allant au-delà de l'approximation de champ moyen pour améliorer la description des spectres d'excitation des noyaux stables et exotiques, notamment les états de basse énergie et les résonances géantes. À cette fin, l'approche choisie est le développement de modèles basés sur la second random-phase approximation (SRPA) utilisée avec une procédure de soustraction. Ces développements ont pour but d'étendre le champ d'applicabilité du modèle initial et d'inclure des corrélations dans l'état fondamental.Une première partie consiste en l'application de la SRPA avec une méthode de soustraction à l'étude de la réponse dipolaire (comprenant la polarisabilité électrique dipolaire) et quadrupolaire de noyaux de masse moyenne à lourds. Nous vérifions que la SRPA avec soustraction corrige les problèmes observés avec la SRPA standard et améliore la description des spectres d'excitation, comparativement à la random-phase approximation (RPA). Nous étudions également les effets au-delà du champ moyen dûs à la SSRPA avec soustraction, en exploitant la relation entre les modes de respiration axiaux des noyaux et la masse effective de la matière nucléaire.Une seconde partie est dédiée à des extensions.Premièrement, nous étendons les outils numérique initiaux en utilisant l'approximation equal-filling (EFA) afin de permettre les applications aux noyaux ayant une orbitale partiellement occupée. Nous proposons ensuite une méthode d'estimation partielle des effets d'appariement en utilisant des nombres d'occupation corrélés.Une étude des moyens de renormaliser la SRPA avec soustraction est menée en employant un modèle allant au-delà de l'approximation de quasiboson. Cette extension est également basée sur l'utilisation de nombres d'occupation comme moyen d'inclure des corrélations dans l'état fondamental. Nous montrons que les corrélations obtenues par le calcul itératif en RPA des nombres d'occupation ne sont pas suffisantes pour corriger les problèmes de la SRPA standard. / This Ph.D. work falls within the scope of theoretical techniques tailored to the solution of the nuclear many-body problem. It was motivated by the perspective of using beyond-mean-field methods to improve the description of excitation spectra of stable and exotic nuclei, especially the low-energy states and the giant resonances. The chosen path in this direction is the development of models based on the second random-phase approximation (SRPA) used with a subtraction procedure. These developments aim to extend the range of applicability of the initial model and to include correlations in the ground state.A first part consists in applying the SRPA used with a subtraction method to the study of the dipole and quadrupole response in medium to heavy-mass nuclei, including the electric dipole polarizability. We verify that the subtracted SRPA corrects the problems observed with the standard SRPA model and improves the description of excitation spectra compared to the random-phase approximation (RPA). We also study beyond-mean-field effects that arise in the subtracted SRPA by exploiting the relation between the axial breathing modes in nuclei and the effective mass in nuclear matter.A second part is dedicated to extensions.As a first step, we extend the initial numerical tools by employing the equal-filling approximation (EFA), to enable the applications to nuclei with partially-occupied orbitals. We next propose a method to estimate part of the pairing effects using correlated occupation numbers.A study of possible ways to renormalize the subtracted SRPA is carried out by employing a model which goes beyond the quasiboson approximation. This extension also relies on the use of occupation numbers as a means to include ground state correlations. We show that correlations obtained from the computation of occupation numbers in iterative RPA calculations are not sufficient to address the standard SRPA drawbacks.

In the first two chapters we presented the basics of density functional theory and semiempirical LSD+U approximation, which was implemented in the full-potential local-orbital (FPLO) minimal-basis calculation scheme. In the third chapter we tested the implemented version of LSDA+U on 3d transitional metal monoxides. Essential improvement of the spectroscopic properties was obtained. A simple model describing the value and direction of the magnetic moment of a transition metal ion was presented. The model visualizes the interplay of the spin-orbit coupling and crystal field splitting. In the fourth chapter we calculated the electronic spectrum of the single Zn impurity in CuO2 plane considered as a vacancy in Cu 3d states. The analytic solution for the states of different symmetry was obtained. Depending on the strength of perturbation induced by the impurity on the neighboring Cu ions, the states are either resonant or localized. The critical values of the perturbation were computed. In the fifth chapter we presented the calculations for three novel vanadates: MgVO3, Sb2O2VO3 and VOMoO4. The tight-binding parameters and the exchange integrals were computed. The magnesium and antimony vanadates appeared to be spin-½ one-dimensional systems, the latter having much stronger one-dimensional character and being probably the best realization of inorganic spin-Peierls system. The molybdenum vanadate was found to be two-dimensional spin-½ system. The Mo 4d orbitals play an important role in the electronic transfer.

The undrained shear strength and preconsolidation pressure are key parameters in describing the characteristics of soft clays. The two parameters both reflect the clay’s structure and state of stress, and hence empirical correlations for undrained shear strength normalized with respect to preconsolidation pressure are widely used to assess soil behavior. The empirical correlations given in the literature are typically dependent on liquid limit, or plasticity index, but some studies have questioned the dependency and proposed correlations constant for consistency limits. Data from geotechnical projects often display a considerable scatter and deviate from established empirical correlations. In this thesis, statistical analyses are performed and evaluated qualitatively on direct simple shear, constant rate of strain and fall cone test data from 146 sampling points with a total of 596 soil samples from Stockholm, Gothenburg and Uppsala. The aim is to investigate the correlation between shear strength and the preconsolidation pressure. The thesis evaluates the normalized shear strength’s dependency on liquid limit, how the data corresponds to Hansbo’s (1957) and Swedish Geotechnical Institute’s (2007) linear empirical correlations, and the correction factor applied to shear strength measured by the fall cone test. The results of the study show that the correction factor typically reduces the shear strength from fall cone tests too much with respect to shear strength from direct simple shear tests. The normalized shear strength’s dependency on liquid limit may be rejected for the fall cone test data. The results for direct simple shear test data however, indicates a correlation with liquid limit. The data scatter is considerable, especially for fall cone test data, and the relevance of describing the normalized shear strength from fall cone test with a linear empirical correlation to liquid limit may conclusively be questioned. / Skjuvhållfasthet och förkonsolideringstryck är två viktiga jordparametrar för lösa leror. Båda parametrar reflekterar lerans struktur och spänningstillstånd, och empiriska korrelationer för odränerad skjuvhållfasthet, normaliserad mot förkonsolideringstrycket, används därför ofta för att bedöma en leras egenskaper. De empiriska korrelationerna är vanligen kopplade till flytgräns eller plasticitetsindex. Dessa korrelationer har däremot ifrågasatts av studier som i vissa fall istället föreslagit ett konstant förhållande mellan normaliserad odränerad skjuvhållfasthet och plasticitetsgränser. Mätvärden från geotekniska projekt i Sverige visar allmänt stor spridning avseende dessa parametrar och data avviker ofta från etablerade empiriska korrelationer. I examensarbetet har data från direkta skjuvförsök, ödometerförsök och fallkonförsök utvärderats statistiskt och kvalitativt. Totalt omfattar studien 596 jordprover från 146 provtagningspunkter från Stockholm, Göteborg och Uppsala. Syftet med studien är att undersöka korrelationen mellan odränerad skjuvhållfasthet och förkonsolideringstryck. Studien behandlar den normaliserade skjuvhållfashetens flytgränsberoende, Hansbos (1957) och Statens Geotekniska Instituts (2007) empiriska korrelationer, samt den korrektionsfaktor som ska tillämpas på skjuvhållfastheter från fallkonförsök. Resultatet visar att korrektionsfaktorn reducerar skjuvhållfastheten för mycket och att korrigerade skjuvhållfastheter är i sämre samstämmighet med skjuvhållfastheter från direkta skjuvförsök än okorrigerade. Data från fallkonförsök uppvisar inget tydligt flytgränsberoende, medan resultaten från direkta skjuvförsök indikerar ett beroende. Spridningen i data är dock påfallande, särskilt för fallkonförsöket. Relevansen i att tillämpa en linjär empirisk korrelation för odränerad normaliserad från fallkonförsök mot förkonsolideringstryck beroende av flytgräns bör ifrågasättas.

Many relational databases exhibit complex dependencies between data attributes, caused either by the nature of the underlying data or by explicitly denormalized schemas. In data warehouse scenarios, calculated key figures may be materialized or hierarchy levels may be held within a single dimension table. Such column correlations and the resulting data redundancy may result in additional storage requirements. They may also result in bad query performance if inappropriate independence assumptions are made during query compilation. In this paper, we tackle the specific problem of detecting functional dependencies between columns to improve the compression rate for column-based database systems, which both reduces main memory consumption and improves query performance. Although a huge variety of algorithms have been proposed for detecting column dependencies in databases, we maintain that increased data volumes and recent developments in hardware architectures demand novel algorithms with much lower runtime overhead and smaller memory footprint. Our novel approach is based on entropy estimations and exploits a combination of sampling and multiple heuristics to render it applicable for a wide range of use cases. We demonstrate the quality of our approach by means of an implementation within the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator. Our experiments indicate that our approach scales well with the number of columns and produces reliable dependence structure information. This both reduces memory consumption and improves performance for nontrivial queries.

Organic semiconducting polymers are widely employed in organic electronics such as organic photovoltaics (OPVs), organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Their remarkable mechanical and charge transport properties as well as solution processability allow low-cost fabrication of light-weight and flexible devices. Among them indacenodithiophene (IDT)-based materials are promising candidates for application in organic electronics. Due to their low energetic disorder, extended conjugation and high electron density the IDT-based polymers show high field-effect mobilities and high absorption coefficients. However, their synthesis suffers from long reaction sequences and is often accomplished using toxic materials. Commercialization requires development of more efficient and sustainable reaction pathways to ease tailoring of structures and to limit molecular defects. Herein, the development of new synthetic pathways towards IDT-based polymers is presented in which all C-C coupling steps are achieved by C-H activation – an atom-economic alternative to conventional transition-metal catalyzed cross couplings. Two different strategies were established to synthesize a series of well-defined IDT-based homo- and copolymers with different side chain patterns and varied molecular weights. The first way starts by synthesis of a precursor polymer and subsequent cyclization affording IDT homopolymers. In the second approach, cyclized IDT monomers were prepared first and then polymerized using direct arylation polycondensation (DAP) yielding IDT homo- and copolymers. The synthetic pathways were optimized in terms of maximizing molecular weights and limiting defect structures. While the first pathway enables synthesis of well-defined homopolymers, the latter is the method of choice for preparation of IDT-based copolymers in high yields and adjustable molecular weights. The polymers were further characterized in detail by optical, thermal, electrical and morphological analyses. OFETs as well as all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) were fabricated to investigate the influence of structural modifications and molecular weight on their optoelectronic performance. Thus, this thesis provides a comprehensive study of the structure-property correlations of IDT-based polymers and simplified synthetic protocols for the design and preparation of donor-acceptor copolymers in the future.

Объектом данного исследования является феррожидкость. В работе определено влияние полидисперсности на термодинамические и магнитные свойства феррожидкостей. В первой главе данной работы построена теория, описывающая термодинамические свойства бидисперсной системы дипольных твердых сфер. Разработан программный комплекс, позволяющий численно определить ряд термодинамических характеристик бидисперсной феррожидкости. Проведено сравнение теории и результатов компьютерного моделирования. Во второй главе рассмотрена полидисперсная модель дипольных твердых сфер. Вычислено дополнительное слагаемое в существующем приближении начальной магнитной восприимчивости полидисперсных феррожидкостей. Проведено сравнение теории и результатов компьютерного моделирования, известных в литературе. Определены условия работоспособности нового приближения начальной магнитной восприимчивости. / The object of this study is ferrofluid. In the study the effect of polydispersity on the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of ferrofluids was investigated. In the first chapter of this paper we construct theory describing the thermodynamic properties of the bidisperse system of dipolar hard spheres. Computer program was developed that allows numerically to identify the thermodynamic characteristics of bidisperse ferrofluid. A comparison between theory and computer simulation was performed. In the second chapter the polydisperse model of dipolar hard spheres was considered. Additional new term in the existing approximation of the initial magnetic susceptibility of polydisperse ferrofluid was calculated. A comparison between theory and computer simulations was performed. The conditions for the availability of the new approach were defined.

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