A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Recent evidence suggests that sustained consumption of a high-fat diet is associated with reduced CB1 receptor expression in some brain areas. Many of the neuromodulatory functions of endogenous cannabinoids are mediated by the CB1 receptor. The CB1 receptor also mediates the behavioral and physiological effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC), the primary psychoactive constituent of marijuana. While high-fat diets are associated with region-specific changes in CB1 receptor expression, it is not clear whether such changes are behaviorally relevant. To that end, separate groups of male and female rats were placed on either a high-fat diet or a standard diet. Cannabinoid function was determined in a triad of measures (e.g., hypothermia, gross locomotion, time on bar apparatus) at postnatal day 30 (PD30), PD44, PD68 and PD114. These age points respectively correspond to rodent models of early adolescence, late adolescence, early adulthood and full maturity in humans. Male rats were also tested at PD37 and PD61. Subsequently, the antinociceptive properties of delta-9-THC and the effect of delta-9-THC on food intake were also measured. After 38 days, female rats maintained on a high-fat diet were significantly less sensitive to the psychomotor effects of delta-9-THC than were the female rats maintained on the control diet. These diet-related differences persisted into full maturity. Female rats maintained on a high-fat diet were also less sensitive to changes in food intake caused by delta-9-THC than were female rats maintained on the control diet. In contrast, the hypothermic effects of delta-9-THC were not differentially affected by the type of diet consumed. Likewise, female rats maintained on a high-fat diet exhibited tail-flick latencies that were indistinguishable from those of female rats maintained on the control diet. With two minor exceptions, and in sharp contrast to female rats, sensitivity to the pharmacological effects of delta-9-THC was not differentially affected by the type of diet in male rats. In short, female rats maintained on a high-fat diet appeared to be cross-tolerant to the psychomotor and hyperphagic effects of delta-9-THC while male rats maintained on a high-fat diet exhibited responses to delta-9-THC that were virtually indistinguishable from control animals.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

I analyze the effect of various risks faced by commercial banks on the executive compensation in banking industry. Commercial bank executives are risk averse due to the regulatory pressure in addition to board governance mechanism. Commercial banks face various risks because of the regulatory mechanism and unique asset structure of the firm. So, it is expected that they should associate their own pay and pay-performance sensitivities (PPS) with the risks their banks face. I find that bank executives associate their performance based pay with both idiosyncratic risk and systematic risk. But they associate their fixed pay only with systematic risk. The risk based PPS is also affected by the idiosyncratic risk but not by the systematic risk. Both asset return risk and insolvency risk have significant positive effect on PPS. Bank executives put significantly higher emphasis on the fixed compensation in terms of salary and bonus, and significantly lower emphasis on the performance based compensation. They also put minimum emphasis on the risk based PPS although they put significant emphasis on return based PPS. These indicate the risk-averse nature of the bank executives due to the regulatory pressure in addition to board governance mechanism.

La gestion participative intégrée a obtenu une reconnaissance internationale en Europe avec les approches de gestion intégrée des zones côtières (GIZC). Avec le protocole GIZC de la convention de Barcelone, le mouvement a dépassé les frontières de l'Europe pour inclure tout le bassin méditerranéen. Cette recherche soulève la question de l'application de modèles standardisés de gestion environnementale dans différents contextes géopolitiques et socioculturels. L'objectif global de cette étude est d'améliorer la mise en place et l'impact des projets de conservation par une meilleure compréhension de leurs dimensions sociales, culturelles et géographiques. Cette recherche propose une analyse de la complexité des perceptions socioculturelles et des dynamiques de gouvernances dans deux sites d'étude (la Camargue en France et le Delta du Gediz en Turquie). Quatre-vingt treize entretiens qualitatifs et quantitatifs ont été menés suivant une méthode d'échantillonnage raisonné. L'application possible de la gestion participative intégrée a été envisagée à travers l'optique des réseaux sociaux, des discours environnementaux, et des valeurs et perceptions environnementales en mobilisant les outils de la géo-gouvernance. En utilisant chacun de ces points de vue, nous avons démontré que la participation est considérée, pensée et appliquée de manière différente au sein de chaque site. Ces différences soutiennent l'hypothèse dominante de ce travail : les stratégies environnementales doivent être adaptées pour s'adapter à chaque contexte local. Nos résultats rappellent qu'il ne faut pas survoler les contextes locaux si l'on veut garantir l'efficacité des institutions. / Participatory integrated management gained international recognition in Europe with integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) approaches. The movement has spread beyond the European borders and includes the entire Mediterranean basin with the ICZM Protocol under the Barcelona Convention. This research raises the question on the application of standardized environmental management models in distinct geopolitical and socio-cultural contexts. The overall objective of this analysis is to improve the implementation and impact of conservation projects through an improved understanding of social, cultural and geographical dimensions. This research analyzes the complexity of socio-cultural perceptions and dynamics of environmental governance within and between sites (the Rhone delta, France and the Gediz delta, Turkey). Base lines were established for political and administrative contexts, ecological states and socio-cultural perspectives to analyze the similarities and differences. Ninety three qualitative and quantitative interviews were conducted using a purposive sampling methodology. The potential application of integrated participatory management was studied through the lenses of social networks, environmental discourses, and environmental values and perceptions with a geo-governance approach. Using each of these views, we demonstrated that participation is considered, sought and implemented in distinct ways in each site. These differences support the dominant theme of this work: environmental strategies must be adapted to suit site specific contexts. The results are a reminder that we should not overlook local contexts if we want to promote institutional effectiveness.

To find out what differs between two versions of a file can be done with several different techniques and programs. These techniques and programs are often focusd on finding differences in text files, in documents, or in class files for programming. An example of a program is the popular git tool which focuses on displaying the difference between versions of files in a project. A common way to find these differences is to utilize an algorithm called Longest common subsequence, which focuses on finding the longest common subsequence in each file to find similarity between the files. By excluding all similarities in a file, all remaining text will be the differences between the files. The Longest Common Subsequence is often used to find the differences in an acceptable time. When two lines in a file is compared to see if they differ from each other hashing is used. The hash values for each correspondent line in both files will be compared. Hashing a line will give the content on that line a unique value. If as little as one character on a line is different between the version, the hash values for those lines will be different as well. These techniques are very useful when comparing two versions of a file with text content. With data from a database some, but not all, of these techniques can be useful. A big difference between data in a database and text in a file will be that content is not just added and delete but also updated. This thesis studies the problem on how to make use of these techniques when finding differences between large datasets, and doing this in a reasonable time, instead of finding differences in documents and files.  Three different methods are going to be studied in theory. These results will be provided in both time and space complexities. Finally, a selected one of these methods is further studied with implementation and testing. The reason only one of these three is implemented is because of time constraint. The one that got chosen had easy maintainability, an easy implementation, and maintains a good execution time.

Inledning Det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet på förskolan syftar till att utveckla arbetet genom att synliggöra vilka läroplansmål som uppnåtts samt vilka utvecklingsområden som finns att arbeta vidare med. Under utbildningen till förskollärare har vi upptäckt olikheter i hur arbetet genomförs vilket gjorde oss nyfikna på att studera det här vidare. Då det är lagstadgat att barn ska delta i det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet väcktes en nyfikenhet om hur förskollärare uppfattar att det genomförs i praktiken. Studiens syfte Studiens syfte är att undersöka i vilka moment förskollärare beskriver att barn deltar i det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet. Metod Studien bygger på en kvalitativ undersökning med self report som datainsamlingsmetod. Urvalet bestod av verksamma förskollärare, totalt har fem stycken förskollärare ingått i studien. Som sedan analyserats med hjälp av ett hermeneutiskt förhållningssätt. Resultat Förskollärarna i studien beskriver att barn deltar i det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet genom att barn tillåts vara delaktiga i främst dokumentationsarbetet men även också i reflektionen. Ofta synliggörs barns intresse i teamarbetet och i utformningen av lärmiljöer. Respondenterna poängterar att digitala hjälpmedel underlättar barns deltagande i det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet. Samtliga förskollärare uttrycker sig positivt till att barn deltar i det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet. Vidare önskar förskollärarna större möjligheter för att kunna fortsätta utveckla arbetet i samarbete med barnen.

Neste trabalho estudamos as propriedades eletrônicas de um sistema com dopagem planar ou delta. Resolvemos as equações de Schrodinger e Poisson autoconsistentemente na aproximação de Hatree para diferentes situações de interesse com ou sem campos magnéticos ou elétricos externos. O método empregado para resolvermos a equação de Schrodinger e baseado na técnica do split operator. Obtemos o potencial efetivo, os níveis de energia e a densidade eletrônica em função da temperatura, densidade e largura de difusão dos doadores. Para um campo magnético uniforme aplicado perpendicularmente ao plano de doadores mostramos que não ocorre nenhuma alteração na estrutura das sub-bandas eletrônicas no intervalo entre 0 e 20T. Para um campo magnético uniforme aplicado paralelamente ao plano de doadores os níveis eletrônicos são deslocados para energias mais elevadas provocando uma diminuição na população dos níveis mais excitados e um aumento significativo na massa efetiva do elétron. Para sistemas na presença de um campo elétrico externo calculamos a energia das sub-bandas eletrônicas, a ocupação, a polarização e a capacitância em função da voltagem externa, da densidade e da posição das impurezas doadoras. Nossos resultados para capacitância estão qualitativamente em acordo com recentes resultados experimentais. / In this work we have studied the electronic proprieties of a system with planar doping or &#948-doping. We have solved the Schrodinger and Poisson equations self-consistently in the Hatree approximation for several conditions with or without external magnetic or electric fields. In order to solve Schrodinger equation we have employed the split operator technique. The effective potential, the energy levels and the electronic density was calculated as a function of temperature, donor density and donor diffusion width. With external magnetic field applied perpendicular to the donors plane it is shown that the sub-bands energies are not altered for fields in the range of 0 to 20T. With magnetic fields applied parallel to the donors plane we have observed that the energy levels are shifted to higher energies and a depopulation of the excited levels occur, also an enhancement of the electron effective mass is found. With an electric field applied to the system we have calculated the sub-bands energy levels, the electron concentration, the polarization, and the capacitance as a function of the gate voltage, donor density and the position of the donor plane. Our results for the capacitance agree qualitatively quite well with recent experimental data.

No description available.

Zhao, Bo. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-73). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.I / Acknowledgement --- p.III / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background: PRD and YRD --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- "PRD, YRD and China" --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Simple profile of PRD and YRD: a city-level observation --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2 --- Objectives of the study --- p.13 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1 --- Overview of TFP measurement --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2 --- TFP in China --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3 --- China's inward FDI and its importance --- p.25 / Chapter 2.4 --- The relationship between FDI and TFP --- p.31 / Chapter 3. --- Methodology --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1 --- Research hypotheses --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2 --- Model --- p.35 / Chapter 3.3 --- Data and measurement --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Data and data sources --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Measurement of variables --- p.41 / Chapter 4. --- Statistical Results --- p.44 / Chapter 4.1 --- Estimation of total factor productivity: regression results from OLS and panel estimation --- p.44 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Cobb-Douglas production function: panel estimation --- p.45 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- TFP by cross sections --- p.48 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- TFP through time (1978-2004) --- p.49 / Chapter 4.2 --- Relationships of TFP and FDI and other variables: Pearson correlation analysis --- p.53 / Chapter 4.3 --- Effects on TFP: multiple regression results --- p.56 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Effects of FDI on TFP --- p.58 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Effects of R&D on TFP --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Effects of human capital on TFP --- p.60 / Chapter 5. --- Conclusion --- p.63 / References --- p.68