A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Medicine, University o-f the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, ■for the degree o-f Master o-f Science. Johannesburg, 1990. / In this thesis the role of essential fatty acids (EFAs) in thermoregulation and the polyunsaturates (PUFA) in the genesis of fever is investigated. Although recognised, that metabolites of arachidonic acid are involved in the biochemical sequences leading to fever, it is also acknowledged that fever response depends on lipid mobilisation. However, the exact biochemical mechanisms involved in this event remain unknown to date. In order to investigate a relation between serum lipids and fever, rabbits were subjected to dietary manipulation (deficient, or excessive EFA diet) and their hyperthermic responses to intravenous injections of (a) human leucocyte pyrogen (HLP); (b) endotoxin (Salmonella Thyphosa); and (c) cerebroventricular injections of prostaglandin E2» were compared with rabbits fed on a normal diet / IT2018

Private healthcare financing in South Africa has undergone several regulatory reforms, the most recent of which saw the enactment of the Medical Schemes Act No. 131 of 1998. The stated reforms, most especially open enrolment and community rating, were touted by the government as necessary to address the undesirable effects of adverse selection. However, it was never questioned whether in fact adverse selection is a feature of the South African medical schemes landscape. Adverse selection is found to be absent. Thus, government’s supposition that adverse selection, as a consequence of the deregulation that took place during the late 1980s and early 1990s, is responsible for the deterioration in medical scheme coverage for the elderly, unhealthy or poor is fallacious. Since the ostensible reason for the current legislation does not stand up to scrutiny, regulatory capture is offered as the plausible alternative explanation for the promulgation of the current legislation governing medical schemes business.

Energy Regulatory Office Abstract Energy regulatory office (ERO) was established in 2001 by Act No. 458/2000 Coll., on business conditions and public administration in the energy sectors and on amendment to other laws as an independent specialized authority of the state administration for the regulation of energy sector and pricing authority in the field of energy. Among its main goals include prices regulation, licenses management, supervision performance over duties observance that licence - holders follow from law regulations and from ACER's resolution, European comittee's and ERO's, controls executions and in case of disharmony between desirable and real behavior of stowing remedy sancitons investigation performance of competition requirements concerning electricity or gas in markets, information providing and dissension decision - making like subject supporting alternative dissension on disputes in power - engineering branch. The aim of this thesis is to present the ERO as a whole with the approaching of its activities with a focus on defining its competence in relation to the environment, because humanity's depedence on energy brings with it negative effects that can lead to the disappearance of civilization. I tis therefore necessary to link the energy and environmental sectors and to direct the...

Esta dissertação explora a relevância empírica da regulação sobre o sistema bancário. O sistema bancário representa o mais importante setor e deverá sempre estar funcionando plenamente para não comprometer outros setores econômicos. O Estado pode intervir quando o sistema financeiro parecer instável. Esta instabilidade pode ser causada por quebras bancárias. A falência de um banco pode ser evitada se houver um controle sobre o risco de suas atividades. A regulação pode exigir o controle deste risco ao limitar a quantidade de captação que o banco realiza em relação aos seus recursos próprios. Esta relação é chamada de alavancagem. Portanto, altos índices de alavancagem representariam maior risco do banco. O trabalho pretende analisar o impacto da regulação sobre o perfil de alavancagem dos bancos comerciais brasileiros e verificar se a regulação é eficiente. A eficiência da regulação está relacionada com a sua real necessidade e se consegue atingir seus objetivos da maneira menos onerosa para a sociedade. Este estudo visa analisar a eficiência da regulação sobre o setor bancário brasileiro no período de 1950 a 2005. / This dissertation explores the empirical relevance of regulation on banking system. The banking system is a very important sector and it must be safe. Government can intervene when this system seems to be instable. This instability can be caused by bank failure. Financial leverage measure the degree to which a bank is utilizing borrowed money. Higher degree shows higher probability of default. We want to analyze the impact of regulation related to financial leverage on banks? risk taking and if this regulation is efficient. The regulation is efficient when its introduction is really necessary and it is not excessively costly. This dissertation analyzes the efficiency of regulation on Brazilian banking sector during 1950 to 2005.

Thesis advisor: James R. Mahalik / Epidemiological studies consistently identify markedly higher rates of depression and anxiety in women than in men. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema's (1991) response styles theory posits that women's higher use of rumination contributes to these differences in rates of depression. The purpose of this dissertation was to extend this theory with the inclusion of conformity to gender role norms as a meaningful predictor of women's and men's tendencies to use of a variety of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, including rumination. The current study also sought to examine relationships among cognitive emotion regulation strategies and both depression and anxiety. Adult women and men (N = 754) completed an online survey including measures of conformity to masculine and feminine gender role norms, 10 cognitive emotion regulation strategies (rumination, distraction, self-blame, acceptance, positive refocusing, refocus on planning, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, catastrophizing, and other-blame), depression, and anxiety. Results of regression analyses indicated that use of particular cognitive emotion regulation strategies predicted levels of depression and anxiety. Specifically, self-blame, rumination, and distraction were associated with higher levels of both depression and anxiety. Other-blame was also associated with higher levels of anxiety. In contrast, acceptance and refocusing on planning were associated with lower anxiety scores. Women were more likely, by a small margin, to endorse use of both rumination and distraction, however, significant sex differences in reported levels of depression and anxiety were not found. Further, conformity to gender role norms did not explain the sex differences that were found in the use of rumination and distraction. Finally, analysis of a structural equation model, designed to examine an extended version of response styles theory, supported the regression findings and provided additional information about the relationships among conformity to gender role norms, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and symptoms of depression. Implications for clinical practice and suggestions for future research are discussed, including the importance of exploring alternative meaningful components of within-group variability for women and men. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Evan R. Kantrowitz / For nearly 60 years the ATP activation and the CTP inhibition of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) has been the textbook example of allosteric regulation. We present kinetic data and 5 X-ray structures determined in the absence and presence of a Mg2+ concentration within the physiological range. In the presence of 2 mM divalent cations (Mg2+, Ca2+, Zn2+) CTP does not significantly inhibit the enzyme while the allosteric activation by ATP is enhanced. The data suggest that the actual allosteric inhibitor in vivo of ATCase is the combination of CTP, UTP and a M2+ cation and the actual allosteric activator is ATP and M2+ or ATP, GTP and M2+. The structural data reveals that two NTPs can bind to each allosteric site with a Mg2+ ion acting as a bridge between the triphosphates. Thus the regulation of ATCase is far more complex than previously believed and calls many previous studies into question. The X-ray structures reveal the catalytic chains undergo essentially no alternations, however, several regions of the regulatory chains undergo significant structural changes. Most significant is that the N-terminal regions of the regulatory chains exist in different conformations in the allosterically activated and inhibited forms of the enzyme. Here, a new model of allosteric regulation is proposed. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Chemistry.

Thesis advisor: Utku Unver / This dissertation consists of three theoretical and empirical essays. In all essays strategic behavior is a key factor. The first essay tries to explain certain pricing behaviors in cellular communication markets using social interactions as a basis for modeling. The second essay estimates the demand in the Turkish dishwasher market. It utilizes the complaint call rate for a firm as a new explanatory variable in the estimation process. The last essay examines the effects of market share restrictions on the cost reduction efforts of firms in a market. The first essay develops a model of competition in cellular network markets. People's choices are investigated in their social environments with differing utilities for different calls, which creates the distinctive part of this article. People get higher utilities from talking to people who are closer to them in the social environment. In the constructed market, different tariff types, per unit pricing and two part tariffs are examined for the existence of non-monopoly equilibria. In the well-known papers of the literature, different prices for in-line and between-line calls are justified with different cost structures for in-line and between-line calls. This essay is different from the literature because it is able to explain price discrimination with customer necessities and without cost differences. For per unit charging, assuming each firm has different costs which are larger than zero, the smaller cost firm gets a higher share with lower prices in the equilibrium. For two part tariffs with costs higher than zero and different from each other, a two firm equilibrium is reached in which the higher cost firm charges higher prices and a lower fixed fee, whereas the lower cost firm charges lower prices and a higher fixed fee. The second chapter is the empirical essay of this dissertation. In demand estimations, unobserved characteristics like perceived quality or after-sale service quality of products have created omitted variable bias. In the essay, the complaint call rate for a product is offered as a proxy to solve the endogeneity problem that arises from unobserved heterogeneity. Using demand and supply estimations of the Turkish dishwasher market, the complaint call rate is shown to be a valid proxy to solve the problem. Use of this proxy is possible under less restrictive assumptions than the popular instrumental variable method, which is also offered for the solution of the same problem. In addition, the model constructed in the essay has strong testable implications and is demonstrated to be consistent with a stable market of a leader firm and followers. Demand and supply elasticities of dishwashers are estimated for Turkey, which can help durable goods firms to use their investment and marketing resources more efficiently in emerging countries. The third essay studies the effects of market share restrictions on research and development effects of firms in a market. Market share of firms are closely followed by regulatory authorities and restrictions are applied in many cases around the world. This essay investigates if these restrictions affect the cost reduction efforts of the firms in a market. The theoretical model constructed shows that under the no exit assumption, market share restrictions lower the level of competition and possible rewards from R&D efforts, therefore causing smaller levels of R&D efforts both for big and small firms in the market. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Thesis advisor: Fabio Schiantarelli / In the wake of the financial crisis of 2007-2009, academics and policymakers have worked to empirically quantify macro-financial linkages. This dissertation contributes to this debate by covering two broad themes. First, substantial changes in bank regulation and supervision typically follow financial crises. Quantifying the impact of these new policies is of paramount importance to academics and policymakers. To this end, my research in this area sheds light on the ways in which changes in financial stability policy ultimately affect the economy. Bank stress testing has become a major tool of supervisory policy in the past decade. The first chapter, The Real Effects of Stress Testing, uses the introduction of annual stress testing of large U.S. banks in 2009 as a quasi-experiment to examine whether bank supervisory policies affect real economic activity. While stress-tested banks reduced their risk exposure to large corporate loans, foreign banks mostly offset this shock and enabled firms to continue borrowing after the test. However, speculative grade firms that were highly exposed to stress-tested banks borrowed on worse terms after the test, and subsequently reduced fixed investment and employment. In contrast, highly exposed investment grade firms received new loans and expanded intangible investment. This paper provides insights into the effects of stress testing on the reallocation of risks in the financial system and the consequences for real economic activity. The structure of the U.S. mortgage market has experienced dramatic changes in recent years, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the major government-sponsored enterprises or GSEs) faced substantial reforms to their business practices. An important feature of regulatory reform included changing the pricing of loan guarantees on mortgage-backed securities insured by the GSEs, in particular removing the subsidy paid by small lenders to large lenders in 2012. The second chapter of this dissertation, Lender Cross-Subsidization and Credit Supply in the Fannie Mae MBS Market (co-authored with Igor Karagodsky), shows that the removal of this subsidy resulted in a relative increase in mortgage lending by small lenders. However, states with relatively higher concentrations of large lenders experienced relative reductions in credit following the removal of these subsidies. This research underscores an important link between lender market power and credit supply. Understanding the drivers of the fluctuations in bond returns is a central question in finance. Theoretically, unexpected bond returns should reflect either changes in expectations of future short-term rates or future compensation for risk. The third chapter of this dissertation, Survey Forecasts and Bond Return Decompositions, revisits this question using survey forecasts of professional economists to measure expectations of interest rates and returns, rather than with a statistical model. Two main results emerged from this analysis: (1) News about future short-term interest rates explains relatively more of the variation in unexpected excess bond returns for short-maturity bonds relative to long-maturity bonds. (2) The share of news explained by future short-term interest rates increases with horizon for all maturities. This analysis contributes to the recent academic literature that highlights the importance of subjective expectations in understanding asset-price movements. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

University of Macau / Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences

University of Macau / Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences