In “Money Talks: Turkey, The Kurdish Regional Government, and the Shaping of a Future Kurdish State”, I aim to explore the puzzle of why Turkey is establishing economic and diplomatic relations with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) considering its violent conflict with its Kurdish population. I was able to solve this puzzle by collecting and analyzing various works of literature surrounding Turkish foreign policy towards the KRG. Through my research, I learned about the complex and nuanced partnership between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and Ankara, and the potential effect this partnership will have on Kurdish statehood. This issue is important because it highlights a controversial debate surrounding minority groups’ right to statehood in the Middle East and points to shifting economic and political dynamics in the Middle East.

This thesis studies the political role of the Chilean military during the years 1780-1826. Beginning with the last decades of the eighteenth century and ending immediately after the last royalist contingents were expelled from the island of Chiloé, this thesis does not seek to give a full picture of the participation of military men on the battlefield but rather to interpret their involvement in local politics. The main categories deployed in this study are 1) armies, 2) politics and 3) revolution, and the three are presented with the purpose of demonstrating that, as Peggy K. Liss has claimed, after 1810 Spanish American public life ‘became militarized; and the military, privileged’. I argue that, notwithstanding the sometimes tense relationship between civilians and the armed forces, the Chilean military became privileged because the demise of the Spanish monarchy in 1808 made them protagonists of the decision-making process. In so doing, this thesis aims to make a contribution to the understanding of Chile’s revolution of independence, as well as to discuss some recent historiographical contributions on the role of the military in the creation of the Chilean republican system. Although the focus has been placed on the career and participation of Chilean revolutionary officers, this thesis also seeks to provide an overview of both the role of royalist armies and the influence of international events in Chile.

Objective: Global HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to affect people worldwide. India has approximately 2 million women living with HIV/AIDS. Women in India maintain a low status in society, with minimal autonomy. This study investigated the relationship between women's autonomy in decision-making and their AIDS knowledge (designated ‘ever heard of AIDS').Methods: This study used the 1998-2000 Demographic Health Survey with India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2). Data were collected on 90,300 ever-married women ages 15-49. Statistical analyses were conducted in SAS 9.1, including descriptive analysis, univariate analysis, and multiple logistic regression.Results: In the sample, 40,777 (45.2%) of the 90,300 women had ever heard of AIDS. Younger women (15-24 years) had the lowest prevalence of AIDS knowledge (40.9%). The highest geographic prevalence of knowledge was in South India (= 70.4%) compared to the lowest in Central India (=21.6%). Socio-economically, women in lowest level for standard of living had the lowest prevalence of AIDS knowledge (20.6%). Half of women with primary educations and 42.9% of Hindu women reported knowledge. Women were 1.71 (95% CI, 1.66-1.77) times more likely to have AIDS knowledge in the role of primary decision-makers. Even after adjusting, women in primary decision-making roles for their health care remained 16% (95% CI, 11-22) more likely to have AIDS knowledge compared to women whose husbands were primary decision-makers.Conclusion: The study allows for better understanding of the role that decision-making autonomy plays in HIV/AIDS knowledge among women in India. Intervention and education programs can integrate the findings to strengthen their effectiveness.

In the 1970's computer scientists developed the theory of computational complexity. Some problems seemed hard-to-compute, while others were easy. It turned out that many of the hard problems were equally hard in a way that could be precisely specified. They became known as the NP-complete problems. The SATISFIABILITY problem (SAT) was the first problem to be proved NP-complete in 1971. Since then numerous other hard-to-solve problems have been proved to be in NP-complete. In this paper we will examine the problem of how to find a maximum independent set of vertices for a graph. This problem is known as Maximum Independent Set (MIS) for a graph. The corresponding decision problem for MIS is the question, given an integer K, is there a independent set with at least K vertices? This decision problem is INDEPENDENT SET (IS). The intention of this paper is to show through polynomial transformation that IS is in the set of NP-complete Problems. We intend to show that 3SAT is NP-complete and then using this fact, that IS is NP-complete.

Experimental design has applications in many fields, from medicine to manufacturing. Incorporating statistics into both the planning and analysis stages of the experiment will ensure that appropriate data are collected to allow for meaningful analysis and interpretation of the results. If the number of factors of interest is very large, or if the experimental runs are very expensive, then a supersaturated design (SSD) can be used for factor screening. These designs have n runs and k > n - 1 factors, so there are not enough degrees of freedom to allow estimation of all of the main effects. This paper will first review some of the current techniques for the construction and analysis of SSDs, as well as the analysis challenges inherent to SSDs. Analysis techniques of Sure Independence Screening (SIS) and Iterative Sure Independence Screening (ISIS) are discussed, and their applications for SSDs are explored using simulation, in combination with the Smoothly Clipped Absolute Deviation (SCAD) approach for down-selecting and estimating the effects.

The following project is a compilation of three separate articles all utilizing a database extracted from the UNUM/Provident Life Insurance Company, including all consecutive short-term disability (STD) claims filed with UNUM from January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1996 from claimants who were also insured for long-term disability (LTD) by UNUM. The resulting sample includes 77,297 claims.The results of these studies are part of a larger investigation that documented the Progression of Disability Benefits (PODB) phenomenon. PODB refers to the migration of workers with work-limiting disabilities through a system of economic benefits resulting in their placement onto Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Claimant and employer demographics were found to influence the PODB. The following articles study three unique ways in which the PODB measure can be informative.The first of the articles tracts the experience of 400 individuals with neurological impairments through the PODB, and compares them with a general disability population on key demographic characteristics. In general, it is found that persons with neurological conditions have greater progression on to advanced disability levels than other types of disabilities. Individual claimants are also younger and male.The second article explores the relationship of integrated disability management(IDM) practices with PODB. It proposes that while the efficacy of IDM programs has been measured by the bottom line, that PODB can be used as an additional tool to assess effectiveness of DM programs. It finds that employers with higher levels of IDM activity will experience a reduced PODB rating.The third and final article examines one industry, Healthcare. It studies how demographics can be used to predict claimant industry as well as PODB performance. Findings reveal that men were more likely to move on to advanced disability benefits while workers in the Healthcare industry were less likely to move on to advanced statuses than employees in other industries. Furthermore, disability type is the greatest predictor of PODB, followed by age for all but one category in which employment sector was the next predictor of PODB. This finding leads to questions regarding how the workplace may contribute to disability and the PODB.

1 Abstract The thesis constructs the indices of independence, transparency and accountability of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) and European Central Bank (ECB). The results for the NBG are compared with the ECB and policy recommendations for the NBG based on ECB practice are suggested. The results of the analyses show that the ECB has achieved almost full independence and transparency in conducting the monetary policy but there are less favorable results in case of accountability. The NBG, even though revealed a gradual increase in its independence, transparency and accountability since 1998, still needs to put more effort into improving its autonomy, communication practices and responsibility.

The Central Bank, its Legal Status and Scope of Activities Central banks are very powerful institution and central banking is a very complex discipline. Monetary policy, the most important activity of central banking, has become the key instrument of macroeconomic stabilisation. The aim of my paper has been to analyse all the areas of central banks' operations, aiming especially at monetary policy and its instruments, and also to tackle the recently emerged doubts about what the main objective of central banks should be. I also provide a review and an analysis of the current legal status of the Czech National Bank from the independence and accountability point of view. The first chapter of my work is dedicated to the history of central banking. Second chapter examines the individual functions that central banks carry out, with third chapter analysing the most important of them, the monetary policy. The last chapter is dedicated to the Czech National Bank (CNB) and is subdivided into four parts: the first one is outlining the history of CNB, the second one gives us the detailed overview of the individual functions of CNB, its main target and instruments CNB uses to reach the target. The third one is devoted to CNB relations with European Union and the fourth part focuses on the legal status of CNB...

This diploma thesis concentrates on the issue of the legal position of arbitrator in international commercial arbitration proceedings. In chapter one of the first part the author concentrates on the origins and history of arbitration proceedings and international arbitration proceedings in Greek and Roman Antiquity, in the Middle Ages, in the modern age until now. Within the historical development the thesis also describes individual international agreements which govern international commercial arbitration as such. In this chapter the author also asks fundamental questions concerning the principles of the functioning of arbitration proceedings. In its second chapter the thesis first concentrates on defining ADR and arbitration proceedings with an emphasis given on the finding of nodal points between ADR and arbitration proceedings. The author tends to the opinion that the arbitration proceedings are part of ADR. In the following part of this chapter the thesis concentrates on an analysis of the international element in contractual obligations and the elementary difference between the international arbitration proceedings and the in-country arbitration proceedings. In the first chapter of the second part the author proceeds to the analysis of fundamental requirements for the person of arbitrator....

Title: Influence of Physical Activity over Self-care and Quality of Life of Elderly People Living at Home Objectives: The main objectives of this thesis are measuring the level of the physical activities of elderly people living at home and the analysis of the influence of these activities on their independence in everyday activities and on their quality of life. Methods: For research I choose a questionnaire survey as main metod. To collect data for the research I used physical activity questionnaire which I created specifically for this thesis, Barthel Index the standardized self-care test, SQUALA questionnaire measuring the quality of live. To verify my hypothesis I statistically evaluated the outcomes of the tests and questionnaires. For this purpose I used the descriptive statistics in the computer program Microsoft Office Excell. Results: The main objective was fulfiled. Results of research proved statistical important depence among age, physical activities, independence in activities of daily living and quality of individuals life Key words: elderly people, physical activities, quality of live, independence