Greater trochanteric pain (GTP) is a regional pain syndrome characterized by lateral hip pain and tenderness. Its incidence after total hip arthroplasty (THA) is variable. Bursal inflammation, degenerative changes of the attachment of the gluteal muscles, direct operative trauma and biomechanical disturbance of the operated hip have been discussed as being related to GTP. The diagnosis is purely clinical because radiological and laboratory investigations show no definite pathology. Although most treatment modalities are conservative, some patients may develop refractory complaints leading to surgical intervention. In study I we studied the incidence of GTP in 172 consecutive patients who underwent THA during 2002 at Sundsvall Hospital. Patients with GTP (n=21, incidence 12%) were matched with controls from the same cohort. The THA outcome was assessed using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthrosis (WOMAC) Index. Trochanteric tenderness was studied using an electronic pressure algometer. We found an association between the occurrence of GTP and postoperative uncorrected lengthening of the operated limb of ≥ one centimetre. The WOMAC index revealed a reduction of the clinical outcome in the GTP group. In Study II we tested the value of using an algometer in the diagnosis of GTP after THA. We measured the pressure-pain threshold (PPT) over the greater trochanter and ilio-tibial band in 18 patients and 18 matched controls. Both groups were evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS). We found the algometer to have a good predictive validity and reproducibility. However, there was large inter-individual variability across subjects. The PPT ratio of 0.8 (affected vs. unaffected side) can be used as a cutoff ratio to establish GTP. There was no correlation between PPT measurements and VAS. Because of a low positive predictive value and large inter-individual variability, the pressure algometer has a limited value as a screening tool. In study III we proposed a new surgical treatment for refractory GTP after THA consisting of distal lengthening of the ilio-tibial band (ITB) by Z-plasty under local anaesthesia. This method was used in 12 women between March 2004 and June 2006. The patients were followed up by phone interview 3-4 months postoperatively and by an EQ-5D questionnaire and clinical examination including evaluation with the algometer at 1-3 years postoperatively. We found that the patients‘ quality of life was markedly improved following the operation (EQ-5D = 0.26 preoperatively vs. 0.67 postoperatively; p <0.005). There were no postoperative complications. In study IV we evaluated the accuracy of a commonly used clinical method of LLD measurement (anterior superior iliac spine-medial malleolus) by comparing it to a reliable radiological method (tear drop-lesser trochanter) in 139 patients before and after THA. We found the correlation between the clinical and radiological methods to be weak preoperatively (r=0.21, ICC= 0.33) while the correlation was moderate postoperatively (r= 0.45, ICC=0.62). It is therefore recommended that the radiological method be used to measure leg length discrepancy in patients who undergo THA.

The societal benefits of new technology and electronic products can hardly be underestimated. However, new technological achievements bring problems as well since obsolete products, due to ever-growing amounts and complex composition, are difficult to handle in a sound manner. Currently electronic waste constitutes the single fastest growing waste stream in society. It is also common that e-waste is exported to low-income countries where it generally is recycled under rudimentary conditions, leading to large-scale environmental and health effects. The political handling of the issue has enjoyed moderate success internationally as well as nationally. The shaping of environmental politics is however, according to many researchers, a complex process involving many actors, something that generally is not reflected inofficial politics. The purpose of this thesis is to map out the different discourses inherent in the public debates on e-waste in Sweden and the USA respectively, and compare how they might influence the political management of the e-waste issue. A number of newspaper articles, reports and press releases from NGOs and trade organizations have been analyzed with a discourse analysis method, influenced by John Dryzek and Michel Foucault. The term “order of discourse” has been borrowed by Norman Fairclough as an analytical tool. In the U.S. material a conflictual, unclear order of discourse appeared where most of the actors were portrayed as equal political players. However there was an apparent red thread as the question was framed as an economic issue by the majority of actors. In the Swedish material a very clear order of discourse was identified, where mainly two discourses were dominant. Drawing on the analysis it could be concluded that there were several probable explanations for the contemporary political handling. The perspective of the key actors El-Kretsen and the U.S. EPA was concluded to impair the political handling, while the framing of the issue as a question for experts in the Swedish material was considered another explanation. / Samhällsnyttan med ny teknik och elektroniska produkter kan knappast underskattas. Nya tekniska landvinningar medför dock problematik då elektronikavfall är svåromhändertaget på grund av dess komplexa sammansättning. Numera är dessutom elektronikavfall det enskilt snabbast växande avfallsflödet i samhället. Ytterligare problematik uppstår då det är vanligt att avfallet exporteras till låginkomstländer där det ofta återvinns med primitiva metoder, vilket leder till att avfallet utgör stora miljö- och hälsorisker. Sammantaget innebär detta att elektronikavfall utgör en av de största miljöpolitiska utmaningarna, men den politiska hanteringen av frågan har hittills rönt blandad framgång internationellt såväl som nationellt. Skapandet av miljöpolitik är dock enligt många teoretiker en komplex process som involverar många aktörer, något som generellt inte avspeglas i officiell politik. Syftet med denna uppsats är att försöka urskilja vilka diskurser som finns i den offentliga debatten om elektronikavfall i USA och Sverige, och jämföra hur de kan tänkas påverka den politiska hanteringen av elektronikavfallsfrågan. Ett antal tidningsartiklar, rapporter och pressreleaser från NGO:s och branschsammanslutningar har analyserats med en diskursanalytisk metod, influerad av John Dryzek och Michel Foucault. Begreppet ”diskursordning” har lånats av Norman Fairclough för att som analytiskt verktyg koppla diskursanalysen till den politiska hanteringen i respektive land. I det amerikanska materialet framträdde en konfliktfylld, otydlig diskursordning där flertalet aktörer framställdes som likvärdiga politiska spelare. Det fanns en tydlig röd tråd i det faktum att samtliga aktörer diskuterade frågan utifrån ett ekonomiskt perspektiv. I det svenska materialet fanns istället en tydlig diskursordning, där framförallt två diskurser var förhärskande. Utifrån analysen kunde konstateras att det fanns ett antal troliga skäl till den nuvarande politiska hanteringen. Nyckelaktörerna El-Kretsen och det amerikanska Naturvårdsverkets perspektiv lyftes som två troliga anledningar, medan inramningen som en expertfråga i det svenska materialet framhålls som ytterligare en orsak.

This study examines and compares farmers' succession plans and actual succession behaviour and finds that the farm operator's age and regional variables influence both. We also find a discrepancy between intention and actual behaviour which is significantly related to the farm operator's age. Whereas the likelihood of planned succession is overestimated significantly for younger farm operators, the opposite is observed once the farm operator's age exceeds 65 years. Therefore, stated plans have only a negligible value in predicting the observed behaviour and farm operator's statements on the timing of succession may not provide enough information on the grounds of designing structural policies in agriculture. (author's abstract) / Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordination

Higgins (1987) argued that perceived discrepancies between actual-self and ideal-self increase vulnerability to depression. Ogilvie (1987) argued that discrepancies between actual-self and undesired-self are more powerful determinants of depression. To test these claims, and to assess the effects of mood on reported discrepancies, 190 psychology undergraduates completed measures of their actual, ideal, and undesired selves, along with measures of depression (Depression Adjective Checklist and Beck Depression Inventory) and depression proneness (Depression Proneness Rating Scale). Approximately 3 weeks later, 147 of these participants were assigned to either a positive, negative, or no mood induction procedure, and again completed measures of actual, ideal, and undesired selves. Actual-ideal discrepancies were associated with current depression (' r' =.19, 'p' =.008) and with depression proneness ('r' =.28, 'p' =.001). More importantly, the relationship between actual-ideal discrepancies and depression proneness was, to some extent, independent of current mood, as measured by the DACL (partial ' r' =.19, 'p' =.008). <p>Nevertheless, induced moods also affected the reporting of actual-ideal discrepancies, with negative mood induction increasing discrepancy scores and positive mood induction decreasing discrepancy scores (<math> <f> <g>b</g></f> </math> =.49, 'p' <.0005). The above results are qualified by finding that when induced into a negative mood, high depression-prone participants (those with a history of depression) showed greater increases in actual-ideal discrepancies than low depression-prone participants, suggesting that self-discrepancies are cognitive structures that can be made accessible (primed) by mood. Lastly, no support was found for Ogilvie's claim that actual-undesired self discrepancies can be more powerful determinants of depressive vulnerability than actual-ideal self-discrepancies.

Tanenbaum, Trenk, and Fishburn introduced the concept of linear discrepancy in 2001, proposing it as a way to measure a partially ordered set's distance from being a linear order. In addition to proving a number of results about linear discrepancy, they posed eight challenges and questions for future work. This dissertation completely resolves one of those challenges and makes contributions on two others. This dissertation has three principal components: 3-discrepancy irreducible posets of width 3, degree bounds, and online algorithms for linear discrepancy. The first principal component of this dissertation provides a forbidden subposet characterization of the posets with linear discrepancy equal to 2 by completing the determination of the posets that are 3-irreducible with respect to linear discrepancy. The second principal component concerns degree bounds for linear discrepancy and weak discrepancy, a parameter similar to linear discrepancy. Specifically, if every point of a poset is incomparable to at most D other points of the poset, we prove three bounds: the linear discrepancy of an interval order is at most D, with equality if and only if it contains an antichain of size D; the linear discrepancy of a disconnected poset is at most the greatest integer less than or equal to (3D-1)/2; and the weak discrepancy of a poset is at most D. The third principal component of this dissertation incorporates another large area of research, that of online algorithms. We show that no online algorithm for linear discrepancy can be better than 3-competitive, even for the class of interval orders. We also give a 2-competitive online algorithm for linear discrepancy on semiorders and show that this algorithm is optimal.

Integer Programming (IP) is a powerful and widely-used formulation for combinatorial problems. The study of IP over the past several decades has led to fascinating theoretical developments, and has improved our ability to solve discrete optimization problems arising in practice. This thesis makes progress on algorithmic solutions for IP by building on combinatorial, geometric and Linear Programming (LP) approaches. We use a combinatorial approach to give an approximation algorithm for the feedback vertex set problem (FVS) in a recently developed Implicit Hitting Set framework. Our algorithm is a simple online algorithm which finds a nearly optimal FVS in random graphs. We also propose a planted model for FVS and show that an optimal hitting set for a polynomial number of subsets is sufficient to recover the planted subset. Next, we present an unexplored geometric connection between integer feasibility and the classical notion of discrepancy of matrices. We exploit this connection to show a phase transition from infeasibility to feasibility in random IP instances. A recent algorithm for small discrepancy solutions leads to an efficient algorithm to find an integer point for random IP instances that are feasible with high probability. Finally, we give a provably efficient implementation of a cutting-plane algorithm for perfect matchings. In our algorithm, cuts separating the current optimum are easy to derive while a small LP is solved to identify the cuts that are to be retained for later iterations. Our result gives a rigorous theoretical explanation for the practical efficiency of the cutting plane approach for perfect matching evident from implementations. In summary, this thesis contributes to new models and connections, new algorithms and rigorous analysis of well-known approaches for IP.

The goal of this research is to better understand the gap between the consumer's actual self image versus their perceived ideal image; in which, could help an online retail company to respond more effectively and provide a better service to its target customer with an added goal of reducing the rate of returns. A two-phased mixed methods approach was applied to this research to test for participants perceived and actual ideas of themselves, as well as their attitudes towards ideals. The first phase consisted of manual measurements taken and recorded, following a semi-structured interviewed. The second phase consisted of a 3D scan (digital measurements) taken and recorded followed by a four question survey comprising of three Likert questions, and one open ended question, concluding with researcher observations noted. The results showed that while the participants were mostly congruent with regards to size, they were mostly incongruent with regards to shape, and had zero congruence between the actual and the ideal self. All participants also experienced varying levels of fit issues with several areas mentioned, though pants/bottoms being the number one fit struggle. All participants expressed interested in the 3D scanning technology, felt it was easy to use, but there was a lack of continuity between participant self-reported survey answers, and their verbal answers as well as research observations.

The stable solution of ill-posed non-linear operator equations in Banach space requires regularization. One important approach is based on Tikhonov regularization, in which case a one-parameter family of regularized solutions is obtained. It is crucial to choose the parameter appropriately. Here, a variant of the discrepancy principle is analyzed. In many cases such parameter choice exhibits the feature, called regularization property below, that the chosen parameter tends to zero as the noise tends to zero, but slower than the noise level. Here we shall show such regularization property under two natural assumptions. First, exact penalization must be excluded, and secondly, the discrepancy principle must stop after a finite number of iterations. We conclude this study with a discussion of some consequences for convergence rates obtained by the discrepancy principle under the validity of some kind of variational inequality, a recent tool for the analysis of inverse problems.

abstract: This simulation study compared the utility of various discrepancy measures within a posterior predictive model checking (PPMC) framework for detecting different types of data-model misfit in multidimensional Bayesian network (BN) models. The investigated conditions were motivated by an applied research program utilizing an operational complex performance assessment within a digital-simulation educational context grounded in theories of cognition and learning. BN models were manipulated along two factors: latent variable dependency structure and number of latent classes. Distributions of posterior predicted p-values (PPP-values) served as the primary outcome measure and were summarized in graphical presentations, by median values across replications, and by proportions of replications in which the PPP-values were extreme. An effect size measure for PPMC was introduced as a supplemental numerical summary to the PPP-value. Consistent with previous PPMC research, all investigated fit functions tended to perform conservatively, but Standardized Generalized Dimensionality Discrepancy Measure (SGDDM), Yen's Q3, and Hierarchy Consistency Index (HCI) only mildly so. Adequate power to detect at least some types of misfit was demonstrated by SGDDM, Q3, HCI, Item Consistency Index (ICI), and to a lesser extent Deviance, while proportion correct (PC), a chi-square-type item-fit measure, Ranked Probability Score (RPS), and Good's Logarithmic Scale (GLS) were powerless across all investigated factors. Bivariate SGDDM and Q3 were found to provide powerful and detailed feedback for all investigated types of misfit. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Psychology 2014

Diplomová práce zkoumá jednotlivé kapitoly knihy Církevní Dějiny napsané Eusebiem Cézarejským, jež je označován jako "otec církevních dějin", přesto kniha obsahuje velké množství nejasností, rozporů, nepřesností a její celkový obsah vyznívá jako snaha o apologii raděj nežli seriózní historické dílo. V diplomové práci vycházím z velkého množství pramenných zdrojů od respektovaných učenců v oblasti teologie rané církve a historie. Cílem práce je důkladně prozkoumat jednotlivé kapitoly, které vykazují největší množství problematických částí stejně tak jako závěr, zda Eusebius se pokoušel cíleně "ohnout" pravdu ve své upřímné víře či zda jeho cílem bylo sepsat obranu křesťanství, která se pouze tváří jako seriózní historické dílo. Annotation The master thesis focus on a particular chapter of Historia Ecclesiastica written by Eusebius of Caesarea, who is renowned as "father of church history" although the book contains a number of serious mistakes, interpolations, discrepancies and exaggerations. In its complexity could be perceived as an apologetic writing rather than historical writing. I used a great amount of sources by respected scholars in my master thesis while its aim is research of particular chapters which demonstrate the most controversies. In the conclusion I expect the biggest challenge will...