This report outlines the creation of my thesis project “The Revolutionaries: An Untold History of Freedom” from concept to completed film. The Revolutionary Movement was an underground militant movement in pre-independent India which sought to overthrow the British government by force. The film interleaves the interview of an elderly ex-Revolutionary with a high-level history of this mostly-forgotten underground movement. / text

The special role courts play in a democracy requires designers of constitutions to consider the delicate trade-offs between democratic accountability and judicial independence. This dissertation analyzes the decisional consequences of state supreme court institutional structures. States utilize several types of election and elite reconfirmation, and each method carries a systematically different risk of incumbent defeat. My theory predicts that as reappointment uncertainty increases, judicial independence decreases. I define judicial independence as decisions made by judges using only considerations that are internal to the rule of law. I measure judicial independence by quantifying the external influence of partisan, elite, popular, and economic pressures applied to judges. I conclude by considering the normative implications of the empirical findings. Because judicial independence is a problem of optimization, not maximization, constitutional designers hope to strike a balance between some form of judicial accountability, popular constitutionalism, and judicial independence. / text

The 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic and in enjoying this status it is prescribing the composition of the three different arms of government as well as each branch’s status within the new constitutional dispensation. Prior to this era of constitutional supremacy South Africa was subject to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, an era where the courts could only challenge legislation on procedural grounds, but had no general power to declare legislation unconstitutional. The Constitution further provides for a separation of powers between these arms of government, and it has vested the judicial authority in the courts and conferred strong judicial review powers upon the Constitutional Court. The head of executive has recently argued that “the powers conferred on the courts cannot be regarded as superior to the powers resulting from a mandate given by the people in a popular vote”. The preceding quote is one of many statements and claims that forms part of a national debate on the nature and scope of the Constitutional Court’s powers in South Africa. The Constitutional Court has in recent years handed down judgments that were not favourable to the legislative6 and executive arms of the South African government. / Magister Legum - LLM

Deciphering genetic determinants of tumorigenesis is the greatest challenge and promise of the present-day era of biomedical research. As extensive tumor genome characterization efforts of the past decade had revealed, tumor genomes harbor multiple point mutations and gene copy number alterations. This exquisite complexity brings forth the challenge of distinguishing numerous incidental alterations from those that are functionally relevant to tumorigenesis. During the past decade, functional genetic screens have shown their utility in identifying genetic changes that functionally contribute to tumor-specific hallmarks and thus hold a great potential for identifying promising new targets for the rational design of successful anticancer therapies. A key hallmark of cancer cells is their ability to escape signals that govern homeostasis of normal tissue. In normal epithelia, growth and survival of cells is dictated by their physical anchorage to the extracellular matrix, and disruption of proper cell-matrix anchorage triggers cell death. Tumors of epithelial origin develop ways to subvert anoikis signals, which enables both their uncontrollable expansion at the primary site as well as metastatic colonization of distant organs. Understanding the genetic determinants of matrix-independent growth of cancer cells is a promising approach to identify potent and selective anticancer targets. In the work presented in this dissertation, we use an unbiased functional genetic screening approach to test a large set of eight thousand human genes to identify those that are involved in inducing and maintaining resistance of mammary epithelial cells to matrix detachment-induced cell death. We show that a cell adhesion molecule PVRL4 promotes cell survival in the absence of matrix anchorage in normal epithelial cells and in cancer cells. Our work reveals that PVRL4 promotes anchorage-independent growth by promoting cell-to-cell attachment and matrix-independent c-Src activation. PVRL4 is focally and frequently amplified in several types of solid tumors. Growth of orthotopically implanted tumors in vivo is inhibited by blocking PVRL4-driven cell-to-cell attachment with monoclonal antibodies, demonstrating a novel strategy for targeted therapy of cancer.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματεύεται το θέμα της Παιδικής Ελευθερίας. Εξετάζει επί της ουσίας, τη δυνατότητα των μαθητών να είναι ελέυθεροι μέσα στην εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία. Αναλύει το κατά πόσο οι μαθητές μπορούν, στα πλαίσια της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας και ιδιαίτερα σε πολυπολιτισμικά περιβάλλοντα, να εκφράζονται ελεύθερα, να αναπτύσσουν την προσωπικότητά τους χωρίς περιορισμούς, να ασκούν την κριτική τους ικανότητα, να εκφράζουν την ιδιαίτερη κουλτούρα τους και να συμμετέχουν ελεύθερα σε συλλογικές διαδικασίες στην τάξη. / The present thesis focuses on the issue of children's freedom. It is studied the possibility that students have to be free in the context of the educational process. It examines students' capacity into school in multicultural environment, to express their opinion in a free way, to develop their personality without limits, to be able to criticize situations, to express their culture and be able to take part in group processes into class.

The purpose of this essay is to examine why some countries in the world decided to support Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008, while others did not. The essay is a type of case study, with Kosovo’s independence as the main focus. For the purpose of the essay, main focus will be on the United States of America, Russia, China and Serbia. The countries’ actions will be examined through the theoretical perspectives presented in the book Essence of Decision: Rational Actor Model, Organizational Behavior and Governmental Politics. The conclusion drawn is that countries put their own interests before the good of the international community, sometimes putting other countries at risk of conflict or war, to achieve their own goals. This can be seen in the cases of Russia and China especially, as they did not accept Kosovo’s independence partly because they have similar conflicts in their own states to that of Serbia’s with Kosovo.

Šio darbo tikslas – įvertinti motyvacijos įtaką ligonių savarankiškumui. Tyrimo uždaviniai: įvertinti pacientų motyvaciją ir savarankiškumą prieš taikant ergoterapiją; įvertinti motyvacijos ir savarankiškumo pokytį taikant ergoterapiją; nustatyti pacientų motyvacijos ir savaranki��kumo ryšį. Tyrimas buvo atliktas VĮ Šiaulių apskrities ligoninėje fizinės medicinos ir reabilitacijos skyriuje 2008m. Tyrime dalyvavo 30 pacientų: 20 moterų (67 proc.) ir 10 vyrų (33 proc.). Visi pacientai buvo suskirstyti į amžiaus grupes: iki 44 metų (23 proc.), 45–59 metų (50 proc.) ir 60-74 metų amžiaus (27 proc.). Pagal susirgimo pobūdį išskirti judamojo-atramos aparato pažeidimai (57 proc.) ir nervų sistemos ligos (43 proc.). Tyrimui buvo atrinkti pacientai, kuriems buvo taikyta ambulatorinė reabilitacija. Pirminis pacientų vertinimas buvo atliekamas pirmą dieną jiems atvykus į ergoterapijos procedūras. Ambulatorinės reabilitacijos pabaigoje buvo atliekamas pakartotinis pacientų vertinimas. Įvertinti pacientų motyvaciją buvo naudoti du klausimynai. Pasveikimo padėties valdymo klausimynas (PPVK) atspindi paciento motyvaciją. Platus sveikatos padėties kontroliavimo klausimynas (PSPKK) buvo taikytas vidinės motyvacijos vertinimui. Paciento funkcinė būklė buvo vertinama panaudojant funkcinio nepriklausomumą testą (FNT). Ergoterapijos taikymo kryptys buvo apsitarnavimo mokymas ir motyvacijos veiklai skatinimas. Ambulatorinės reabilitacijos pradžioje pacientams vyravo nežymūs veiklos sutrikimai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this work – to evaluate the influence of motivation upon patients‘ independence. The task: to evaluate patients‘motivation and independence before applying occupational therapy; to evaluate the change of motivation and independence while applying occupational therapy; to determine the relation of patients‘motivation and independence. The research has been carried out in VĮ Šiauliai country hospital in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation in 2008. 30 patients participated in the research: 20 women (67%) and 10 men (33%). All patients have been divided into age groups: up to 44 years (23%), 45-59 years (50%) and 60-74 years (27%). According to the character of contraction of a disease, the lesions of movable-support apparatus (57%) and disease of nervous system (43%) have been distinguished. Patients to whom out-patient rehabilitation had been applied were selected for the research. The primary patients’ evaluation was performed during the first day after their arrival to the procedures of occupational therapy. At the end of out-patient rehabilitation the second patients’ evaluation has been carried out. Two questionnaires were used to evaluate patients’ motivation. Recovery Locus of Control (RLC) reflects patients’ motivation. Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scale was applied to evaluate the internal motivation. Patients‘ functional condition was evaluated using a Functional Independence Measure (FIM). The way of application of... [to full text]

DNA microarrays are capable of measuring expression levels of thousands of genes, even the whole genome, in a single experiment. Based on this, they have been widely used to extend the studies of cancerous tissues to a genomic level. One of the main goals in DNA microarray experiments is to identify a set of relevant genes such that the desired outputs of the experiment mostly depend on this set, to the exclusion of the rest of the genes. This is motivated by the fact that the biological process in cell typically involves only a subset of genes, and not the whole genome. The task of selecting a subset of relevant genes is called feature (gene) selection. Herein, we propose a feature selection algorithm for gene expression data. It is based on the Hilbert-Schmidt independence criterion, and partly motivated by Rank-One Downdate (R1D) and the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). The algorithm is computationally very fast and scalable to large data sets, and can be applied to response variables of arbitrary type (categorical and continuous). Experimental results of the proposed technique are presented on some synthetic and well-known microarray data sets. Later, we discuss the capability of HSIC in providing a general framework which encapsulates many widely used techniques for dimensionality reduction, clustering and metric learning. We will use this framework to explain two metric learning algorithms, namely the Fisher discriminant analysis (FDA) and closed form metric learning (CFML). As a result of this framework, we are able to propose a new metric learning method. The proposed technique uses the concepts from normalized cut spectral clustering and is associated with an underlying convex optimization problem.

Bakgrund: Rådgivningstjänster utgör idag en betydande del för många revisionsbyråers verksamhet. Revisionsbyråer har på grund av sin revision en kunskapsbas som konkurrenterna ofta inte har, och ett förtroende som revisorer som ger en fördel i rådgivningsbranschen. Dock är det detta förtroende, eller oberoende, som många är rädda för ska åsidosättas när revisorn utför rådgivningstjänster. Studien tar stöd av olika ekonomiska teorier, med fokus på agentteorin. Syfte: Studien syfte är att granska forskning avseende förhållandet mellan rådgivningstjänster och revisorns oberoende. Metod: Studien har utförs genom en litteraturstudie. Fem stycken tidigare publicerade vetenskapliga artiklar har analyserats. Samtliga utvalda artiklar behandlar ett land som är medlem i EU. Resultat: Studiens resultat visar att rådgivningstjänster påverkar revisorns synbara oberoende, men hittar inga starka bevis för att det påverkar revisorns faktiska oberoende. Olika länder i EU förhåller sig olika till revision och rådgivningstjänster. Studien visar även att intressenterna i regel upplever revisorn som mer oberoende om rådgivningstjänster utförs av en annan avdelning/personal på revisionsbyrån än den som utför revisionen. Den relativa nivån mellan rådgivning- och revisionsavgifter spelar också roll, samt om man köper rådgivningen från en Big-4 byrå eller inte. Diskussion: IFACs etiska regler som EU följer nämner att revisorn måste vara synbart oberoende för sakkunniga intressenter. Vilka dessa intressenter är och huruvida de är sakkunniga eller ej diskuteras i studien, samt eventuell diskrepans mellan de analyserade artiklarnas resultat och intressenters faktiska åsikter och konkreta agerande. Studien väger företagens efterfrågan av rådgivning mot intressenters negativa syn på rådgivning och oberoende. / Background: Non-auditing services is a big part of the revenue of auditing firms. Because of auditing, auditing firms aquire a knowledge about their clients that their competitors do not, along with a trust as auditors which gives them a competitive advantage in the non-auditing services industry. However it is this trust, or independence, that is of concern. There is a fear of an auditor compromising their independence when the auditor also supplies non-auditing services to the same client. This study is supported by different economic theories and models, focusing primarily on the agency-theory. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to peruse research concerning the relationship between non-auditing services and auditor independence. Method: The study is performed through a literature review. Five previously published articles have been analyzed. All the selected articles base their research on a specific country, being a member of the EU. Results: The results of this study show that non-auditing services influences auditor independence in appearance, but find no strong evidence for influence on independence in fact. Different member states in the EU approach auditing and non-auditing services differently. The study shows that interested parties sometimes experience the auditor as more independent if the non-auditing services are performed by another division or personnel than the same auditor performing the audit itself. The relative level between non-auditing fees and auditing fees matter to some extent, as well as if the non-auditing services are bought from a Big-4 firm or not. Discussion: The EU follows IFAC’s ethical guidelines, which mentions that auditors must be both independent in fact and independent in appearance to their interested parties, which are deemed to be outside experts. The study further discusses if these interested parties are experts or not, and if there is a discrepancy between the results of the analyzed articles and the actual opinions and actions of the interested parties. The study also weighs the demand for non-auditing services by the business management against the interested parties’ reported negative opinion towards non-auditing services and independence.

Darbo tikslas: Įvertinti asmenų, patyrusių C4-C7 nugaros smegenų kaklinės dalies pažeidimą, savarankiškumo bei vežimėlio valdymo įgūdžių kaitą ir juos įtakojančius veiksnius velyvuoju reabilitacijos laikotarpiu. Metodika. Tyrime dalyvavo asmenys, patyrę kaklinės dalies nugaros smegenų pažeidimą, vėlyvuoju reabilitacijos laikotarpiu Valakupių reabilitacijos centre dalyvavę šiame centre organizuojamoje Savarankiškumo įgūdžių ugdymo programoje. Testuojant siekiama įvertinti Savarankiškumo įgūdžių ugdymo programos efektyvumą šiems asmenims. Pagal nugaros smegenų pažeidimus, asmenys suskirstyti į patyrusius: C5 ir aukštesnio segmento pažeidimus, С6 segmento pažeidimus, С7 segmento pažeidimus. Tiriamieji vertinti programos pradžioje ir pabaigoje vertinant jų funkcinį nepriklausomumą Funkcinio nepriklausomumo testu (FNT), taip pat vežimėlio valdymo įgūdžius Vežimėlio valdymo testu. Rezultatai. Programos metu asmenims, patyrusiems kaklinės dalies nugaros smegenų pažeidimą, efektyviai pagerėjo tiek funkcinio savarankiškumo, tiek vežimėlio valdymo įgūdžiai (p<0,05). Funkcinio nepriklausomumo rezultatai prieš ir po programos labai priklausė nuo pažeidimo lygio, pažeidimo gylis šiame tyrime lemiamos įtakos neturėjo. Įvertinus funkcinę būklę nustatyta, kad mažiausia problema šiems asmenims buvo pavalgymas (4,98±1,0), didžiausi sunkumai iškildavo susidūrus su laiptais (1,38±0,49), kitose srityse tiriamieji apsitarnaudavo esant vidutinei ar minimaliai pagalbai. Pagal Vežimėlio valdymo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Thesis subject: Effectiveness of Self-support skills development program in Valakupiai Reabilitation Center for persons with cervical part spinal cord injury. Thesis aim: To evaluate self-support wheelchair manipulation skills development for persons with cervical part spinal cord injury during late rehabilitation stage. Thesis methods: The participants of the study were patients with cervical part spinal cord injury, that participated in Self-support skills development program in Valakupiai Reabilitation Center. The examination was performed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this program for participants. According to spinal cord injuries, participants were grouped into groups of injured spinal cord cervical segments: C5 or higher, C6 and C7 segments. Participants were assessed using Functional Independence Measure (FIM) to assess their independecy and Wheelchair manipulation test to assess wheelchair manipulation skills in the beginning and in the end of the program. Outcomes: Functional independence and wheelchair manipulation skills statistically significantly improved for participants (p<0,05). Functional independence results were dependent on injured segment, the level of the injury did not influence the results very much. Functional independence results showed, that the least problematic domain for participants was eating (4,98±1,0), the most problematic domain was climbing staircase (1,38±0,49). The hardest task in wheelchair manipulation was safe falling out... [to full text]