Thesis advisor: Kevin J. Mahoney / Thesis advisor: Ce Shen / For young adults with disabilities, who face barriers in achieving markers of adulthood, a service gap has been identified during the transition to adulthood. Preliminary qualitative evidence suggests that participant-directed home and community-based services (PD-HCBS), which can be easily modified to meet an individual’s needs, might aid these young adults as they transition into adulthood and provide an option to fill the service gap. However, research was needed to determine if young adults are significantly affected by having the option to develop an individualized spending plan and manage their own budget. In this study, secondary data analysis was employed in evaluating the effectiveness of the Cash and Counseling budget authority model of PD-HCBS for young adults aged 18 to 35 with long-term care disabilities and eligible for Medicaid who were enrolled in the Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation randomized control trial (n = 831). Using a theoretical framework based on the developmental life stage of young adulthood, theories of self-determination and consumer direction, and past research on PD-HCBS, I examined young adults’ outcomes on community involvement, satisfaction ratings, unmet needs for assistance, and health status compared to peers through self-reports or through proxy respondents. Multivariate logistic regression results showed that Cash and Counseling significantly increased the likelihood of young adults attending school or college at a preferred level, being very satisfied with when care was received, care arrangement, transportation, help around the house and community, personal care, and getting along with paid attendants, and having fewer unmet needs with health care at home and with transportation than controls receiving agency-based care. Bivariate logistic regression models also showed Cash and Counseling members were significantly more likely to attend activities at a preferred level, be very satisfied with life, and have lower likelihoods of unmet personal care needs. These findings support the effectiveness of the Cash and Counseling model with young adults with disabilities and as an option to help fill the service gap for this population. Future research and intervention could address how other influential factors identified affect outcomes and test PD-HCBS during different aspects of the transition to adulthood. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Real-world human visual perception is superb, despite pervasive attentional capacity limitations that can severely impact behavioral performance. Long-term memory (LTM) is suggested to play a key role in efficiently deploying attentional resources; however, the nature of LTM-attention interactions remains poorly understood. Here, I present a series of behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations of the mechanisms of LTM-guided visual attention in 139 healthy participants (18-34 years). In Experiment 1, I hypothesized that humans can use memory to guide spatial attention to multiple discrete locations that have been previously studied. Participants were able to simultaneously attend to more than one spatial location using an LTM cue in a novel change-detection behavioral paradigm also used in fMRI Experiments 2 and 4. Cortical networks associated with LTM and attention often interact competitively. In Experiment 2, I hypothesized that the cognitive control network supports cooperation between LTM and attention. Three posterior regions involved with cognitive control were more strongly recruited for LTM-guided attention than stimulus-guided attention: the posterior precuneus, posterior callosal sulcus, and lateral intraparietal sulcus. In Experiment 3, I hypothesized that regions identified in Experiment 2 are specifically activated for LTM-guided attention, not for LTM retrieval or stimulus-guided attention alone. This hypothesis was supported. Taken together, the results of Experiments 2 and 3 identify a cognitive control subnetwork specifically recruited for LTM-guided attention. Experiment 4 tested how LTM-guided attention affected spatial responsivity of maps within intraparietal sulcus. I hypothesized that left parietal maps would change their spatial responsivity due to the left lateralized effects of memory retrieval. During stimulus-guided attention, contralateral visuotopic maps in the right but not left intraparietal sulcus responded to the full visual field. In contrast, during LTM-guided attention, maps in both the left and right intraparietal sulcus responded to the full visual field, providing evidence for complementary forms of dynamic recruitment under different attentional conditions. Together, these results demonstrate that LTM-guided attention is supported by a parietal subnetwork within the cognitive control network and that internal attentional states influence the spatial specificity of visuotopically mapped regions in parietal cortex.

Com a forte competitividade característica do setor bancário e a crescente qualificação do mercado consumidor, as instituições financeiras vêm investindo grandes quantias em desenvolvimento de produtos, análise de mercado, posicionamento estratégico e marketing. Para garantir uma aplicação adequada dos seus recursos financeiros as políticas de desenvolvimento de produtos, análise de mercado, posicionamento estratégico e marketing devem estar alinhadas com os objetivos de longo prazo da instituição. Este trabalho apresenta um modelo de seleção de políticas de marketing para maximização do resultado de uma instituição financeira no longo prazo. São utilizadas ferramentas tradicionais da Engenharia de Produção como Pesquisa Operacional, Gestão Estratégica, Análise de Mercado e Modelos de Decisão para o desenvolvimento de um modelo que otimiza a alocação dos recursos de marketing da instituição em função do perfil de seus clientes, determinado pela carteira de produtos que eles possuem. Com base em dados históricos de vendas, a instituição avalia a intenção de compra dos diversos perfis de clientes para cada um de seus produtos. O modelo determina quais produtos, em cada período do horizonte de tempo em análise, melhor atendem às necessidades do mercado como um todo, fortalecendo o vínculo de relacionamento entre a instituição e seus clientes e, consequentemente, é capaz de maximizar os resultados do banco no longo prazo. A aplicação do modelo indica que a melhor política de marketing é promover produtos que apresentam resultado elevado, potencial / The competitiveness of financial sector and the increasing qualification of banking products market made financial institutions invest great amounts of resources in new product development, market analysis, strategic management and marketing. To guarantee the adequate application of its marketing resources, all these policies must be aligned with the long-term objectives of the institution. This paper presents a model to select the best marketing policy for financial institutions. Traditional tools of the Industrial Engineering such as Operational Research, Strategic Planning, Market Analysis and Decision Models are used to develop a model that optimizes the allocation of marketing budget according to the financial institution\'s clients\' profile, which is determined by its products portfolio. Sale\'s history allows the analysis of the different groups of clients\' propensity to consume each of the institutions\' products. The model determines what products in each period of the analysis time range would better fulfill the requirements of the market as a whole, strengthening client-bank relationship and, thus, improving the institutions\' outcomes in the long term. The application of the model indicates that the best marketing policy is to promote products that presents high results and market potential and helps with client retention.

O câncer de mama é a neoplasia mundialmente mais incidente em mulheres, representando a causa mais frequente de morte feminina por câncer, excetuando-se os tumores de pele não melanoma. O conhecimento da dinâmica de óbitos ao logo do tempo em pacientes com tal neoplasia é de grande importância para auxílio na definição de tratamentos e de políticas de prevenção. Modelos de risco que contemplem parâmetros com referência a situações de longa duração e diferentes funções de risco podem ser úteis nesse contexto. O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar as propriedades de um particular modelo, o modelo Weibull Modificado Exponenciado de Longa Duração (WMELD), para aplicação na avaliação de risco e sobrevida de mulheres diagnosticadas com câncer de mama atendidas no Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. As propriedades avaliadas neste estudo consideraram métodos de estimação pontual de Máxima Verossimilhança e estimação intervalar via teoria assintótica, reamostragem bootstrap e verossimilhança perlada. Critérios de seleção de modelos foram considerados: Teste de Razão de Verossimilhanças (TRV), critério de Akaike (AIC) e critério de Informação de Bayes (BIC), bem como métodos gráficos para avaliar a qualidade do ajuste do modelo: gráfico TTT na presença de censuras com intervalo de confiança bootstrap paramétrico. Foram realizados estudos de simulação de Monte Carlo em diferentes cenários do modelo WMELD, considerando Vício, Erro Quadrático Médio (EQM) e Custo dos estimadores pontuais, Probabilidade de Cobertura e Amplitude Média dos intervalos de confiança. Em relação ao estudo das propriedades do modelo, as estimativas pontuais de máxima verossimilhança apresentaram vício e EQM baixos e mais próximos de zero quanto maior o tamanho amostral e menor a proporção de pacientes imunes. Os intervalos construídos com base em reamostragem bootstrap mostraram-se mais adequados em relação à probabilidade de cobertura e amplitude média, com vantagem para o bootstrap paramétrico. AIC e TRV alcançaram poder discriminativo superior ao BIC, porém os três métodos apresentam-se defasados para pequenos tamanhos amostrais e valores dos parâmetros próximos do valor de nulidade. Os métodos de inferência com melhor desempenho nesse estudo foram considerados para avaliar os fatores associados ao risco e sobrevida de pacientes com câncer de mama atendidas no HCFMRP. Com o ajuste do modelo WMELD, mostraram-se associados à sobrevida os fatores: Estadiamento, Faixa Etária e Quantidade de tratamentos. A sobrevida em oito anos ou mais foi maior quanto menor o estadiamento e os óbitos ocorreram de forma mais acelerada ao longo do tempo em estadiamentos avançados. Pacientes com menos de 35 anos de idade nos estadiamentos II e III e com mais de 75 anos no estadiamento III têm menor sobrevida do que as pacientes com 35 a 75 anos. Pacientes que realizaram menos tratamentos nos estadiamentos III ou IV vão a óbito mais rapidamente do que pacientes que zeram mais tratamentos, porém a sobrevida após oito ou mais anos é igual nos dois grupos. Adicionalmente, e fundamental no contexto da clínica médica, o modelo WMELD apresenta interpretações relevantes em relação a seus parâmetros na dinâmica do processo de ocorrência de óbitos ao longo do tempo. Verificamos que os parâmetros , e p levam informações sobre o tempo de vida, já os parâmetros, e descrevem o comportamento do risco de óbito. / Breast cancer is the world\'s most common cancer in women, representing the most frequent cause of female death from cancer, except for non-melanoma skin tumors. Knowledge of the death dynamics over time in patients with such cancer is very important to support definition of treatments and prevention policies. Hazard models that include parameters with reference to long-term situations and dierent hazard functions can be useful in this context. This paper aims to investigate the properties of a particular model, Exponentiated Modified Weibull Model for long-term survivors (EMWLT), for use in risk of death and survival assessment of women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated at Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto (HCFMRP), São Paulo. The properties evaluated in this study considered point estimation methods of Maximum Likelihood and interval estimation through asymptotic theory, bootstrap resampling and profile likelihood. Model selection criteria were considered: Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT), Akaike Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), as well graphical methods to assess the quality of the model fit: TTT plot in the presence of censorship with an parametric bootstrap confidence interval. Monte Carlo simulation studies were performed in diferent model\'s scenarios considering Bias, Mean Square Error (MSE) and Cost of point estimators, Coverage Probability and Average Size of confidence intervals. Regarding the study of model properties, the point estimates of maximum likelihood showed lower and closer to zero bias and MSE the larger the sample size and the lower the proportion of immune patients. The intervals constructed based on bootstrap resampling seemed more appropriated in relation to the coverage probability and average size, advantageously the parametric bootstrap. AIC and LRT reached a higher discriminative power than BIC; however, all of these three methods seemed lagged for small sample sizes and close to null values of parameters. The inference methods with better performance in this study were considered to evaluate the factors associated with risk of death and survival in patients with breast cancer treated at HCFMRP. By adjusting the EMWLT model, the following were associated to survival: Staging, Age Group and Number of treatments. The survival of eight years or more was higher as the lower the staging was; and the deaths occurred more rapidly over time in advanced staging. Patients under 35 years old in stages II and III and older than 75 years in staging III had lower survival than patients aged 35 to 75 years. Patients who underwent fewer treatments in staging III or IV die earlier than patients who underwent more treatments, but survival after eight years or more is equal in both groups. In addition, the EMWLT model showed to be fundamental in clinical medicine presenting relevant interpretations regarding its parameters in the dynamics of the process of occurrence of deaths over time. We verified that the parameters , and p have information about the lifetime, on the other hand the parameters, and describe the risk of death behavior.

Projetos de monitoramento de longo prazo estão sendo desenvolvidos internacionalmente a fim de monitorar continuamente os impactos que as mudanças climáticas globais vêm gerando nas comunidades marinhas bentônicas, entretanto, no âmbito nacional, há uma carência desse tipo de estudo e dados para a costa brasileira. O objetivo do presente estudo foi a instalação de uma estação de monitoramento de longo prazo, bem como a caracterização da comunidade bentônica presente no médiolitoral do costão rochoso à direita da Enseada de Palmas, no Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta (Ubatuba, SP) seguindo as diretrizes do \"Protocolo de Médiolitoral para Monitoramento de Comunidades de Costão Rochoso\" da ReBentos (Rede de Monitoramento de Habitats Bentônicos Costeiros). As amostragens dependentes semestrais (n = 3) foram realizadas no período de um ano, compreendendo o inverno de 2014 e o verão de 2015, utilizando fotoquadrados de 10x10 cm na faixa superior e 25x25 cm nas faixas intermediária e inferior. A análise variância ANOVA two way para dados repetidos revelou variação sazonal na largura das faixas das unidades operacionais (UO) Tetraclita (39,1 cm) e Macroalgas (27 cm) e no recobrimento percentual médio (RPM) das UO Cianobactéria (12,6%) na faixa superior, T. stalactifera (16,6%), Espaço vazio (38,4%) e Algas Calcárias Articuladas (55,7%) na faixa intermediária. As análises multivariadas (Cluster, nMDS e PCA) revelaram alta similaridade para as faixas superior (80%) e inferior (85%) e baixa (65%) para a faixa intermediaria, indicando que as maiores diferenças entre verão e inverno foram encontradas nesta faixa. Como o médiolitoral apresenta UO bioindicadoras de monitoramento, como T. stalactifera, A. beauvoisii e Sargassum vulgare, e de variação sazonal, então eleva-se a importância da realização, integração e continuidade de projetos de monitoramento de longo prazo em costões rochosos a fim de gerar dados históricos ao longo do litoral brasileiro / The development of long-term monitoring projects around the world aims to monitor continuously the impacts that global environmental changes (GEC) have been causing in the benthic marine communities. However, nationally, there are few monitoring studies and data for the Brazilian coast. In this study, we aimed to install a long-term monitoring station and characterize the benthic community located in the intertidal zone of the rocky shore in the right of the Cove of Palmas at the Anchieta Island State Park (Ubatuba, São Paulo state). We intended to do that by following the guidelines of the \"Intertidal Protocol for the Monitoring of Rocky Shore Communities\" (Rocky Shores Working group, ReBentos). We studied the rocky shore for a year and collected the dependent samples every semester (n = 3), encompassing the winter of 2014 and the summer of 2015. We used photoquadrats in the intertidal zone (10x10 cm in the upper band and 25x25 cm in the intermediate and lower bands). Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures reveled seasonal variation in the bandwidth of Tetraclita (39,1 cm) and Macroalgae (27 cm) operational units (OU) and in the average percentage overlap for Cyanobacteria (12,6%) at upper band, T. stalactifera (16,6%), Empty space (38,4%) and Articulated Calcareous Algae (55,7%) at intermediate band. Multivariate analysis (Cluster, nMDS and PCA) revealed high similarity for upper (80%) and lower (85%) bands and low similarity for intermediate band (65%), suggesting major differences between summer and winter in the intermediate band. As the intertidal zone has monitoring bioindicators operational units, like T. stalactifera, A. beauvoisii and Sargassum vulgare, and seasonal variation, it is of great importance to implement, integrate and continue long-term monitoring projects in rocky shores in order to generate Brazilian coast historical data

A formação de atletas é um fenômeno multidimensional e dinâmico. O objetivo do trabalho foi identificar, em atletas de voleibol feminino, fatores relevantes nesse processo. Para tal foi realizado um estudo retrospectivo, com a combinação de métodos quantitativos (análises descritivas, de variância e discriminantes) e qualitativos (entrevistas). Foram utilizados dados de 187 jovens atletas, coletados em 2003. 21 dessas atletas foram entrevistadas em 2012. Desse grupo 10 atletas (grupo SL) permaneciam atuando no alto nível (Superliga Nacional 2011/2012) e 11 atletas não estavam mais atuando na Superliga ou haviam abandonado o esporte (grupo nSL). Comparando as atletas SL com as nSL (em 2003), houve diferença significativa (respectivamente) na estatura (180,2 ± 6,9 e 172,1± 5,6 cm), no alcance de bloqueio (270 e 252 cm), alcance de ataque (277,7 e 261,9 cm) e idade de início no voleibol (11,6 e 10,8 anos). Em 2012 a estatura também foi significativamente maior no grupo SL (184,5 ± 6,9 cm) do que no grupo nSL (175,9 ± 4,6 cm). Na análise de função discriminante stepwise realizada, as variáveis alcance de bloqueio e dobra cutânea abdominal, foram capazes de discriminar as atletas do grupo SL das demais, classificando corretamente 84,7% dos casos do grupo nSL e 90% do grupo SL. Na análise das entrevistas observou-se que há muitas semelhanças entre os grupos, como: praticaram outras modalidades; a maioria das \"peneiras\" de que participaram foi realizada com bate-bola e jogo; jogaram na categoria acima e se sentiam valorizadas por isso, apesar de cansadas; apontaram a família como principal fonte de apoio; sentiram dificuldades em conciliar o estudo com as obrigações da vida de atleta. As atletas do grupo SL foram mais influenciadas pela família na escolha da modalidade; participaram de vários Campeonatos Brasileiros e algumas seleções brasileiras de base; estão defasadas quanto à escolaridade. Os fatores mais apontados para a permanência das atletas SL no processo foram o retorno financeiro (100%) e o prazer pela prática esportiva (60%). Elas desistiriam da prática caso houvesse problemas com a família (30%), se não tivessem uma boa proposta (20%), e outras, não desistiriam por nada (20%). Os motivos de desistência mais apontados pelas atletas nSL foram os estudos (36,7%) e dificuldades financeiras (27,3%). As atletas valorizam mais os técnicos pelo ensino do voleibol e pelo apoio, no entanto, 30% das atletas SL e 36,4% das nSL, relataram sérios conflitos com estes, a ponto de desistirem. É esperado que a estatura, e variáveis altamente relacionadas a esta, discriminem atletas de níveis diferentes no voleibol, assim como variáveis relacionadas à gordura corporal. No entanto, outros aspectos podem contribuir para o desenvolvimento de atletas de talento, como a formação adequada dos técnicos para lidarem com os diferentes aspectos do desenvolvimento das atletas. Manter o prazer pela prática é muito importante e essa condição pode ser favorecida com uma carga de treino e competição adequada. Além disso, a atleta deve ter a oportunidade de estudar e de manter contato com a família, pois é aquela que proporciona o suporte principal / The development of athletes is a dynamic multi-dimensional phenomenon. The purpose of this study was identify among female volleyball athletes, relevant factors in this development process. A retrospective study was performed, combining quantitative methods (descriptive, variance and discriminant analysis) with qualitative ones (interviews). Were utilized data from a sample of 187 young athletes, collected in 2003. 21 of these athletes were interviewed in 2012. From this group 10 (SL group) participated in high-level competition on the Brazilian National Championship (season 2011/2012), and 11 (nSL group) were not at Brazilian National Championship or had abandoned the sport. Comparing the athletes from groups SL and nSL (in 2003), there was a significant difference on height, respectively: 180.2 cm and 172.1 cm; on blocking reach: 270 cm and 252 cm; attacking reach: 277.7 and 262.9 cm; and age of start practicing volleyball, respectively 11,6 e 10,8 years old. In 2012 the height was significantly higher too in the SL group (184,5 ± 6,9 cm) than in the nSL group (175,9 ± 4,6 cm). The stepwise discriminant analysis performed, indicated that the blocking reach and subcutaneous abdominal fold were capable of differentiating between SL and nSL groups, correctly labeling 84.7% of nSL cases and 90% of SL ones. Interview analysis showed that are many similarities across the two groups, such as: practice of another sport before volleyball, the majority of selection processes they passed, happened through ball exercises and game, have played with theirs and older teams and felt recognized by it (despite being tired), have family as main support, have difficulties in conciliating studies and practice. SL group athletes had choice volleyball influenced by family; they participated in several Brazilian Young Championships and some played in the young national team; they also fell behind in terms of school/college degrees. SL athletes appointed financial returns (100%) and the volleyball practice joy (60%) as the main factors to continue the practice. They would gave up practicing due to conflicts with family (30%), lack of good contracts (20%), and others said that would never stop (20%). Some nSL athletes had quit due to studies (36.7%) and financial difficulties (27.3%). Athletes value coaches the most for the volleyball knowledge and support. However, the athletes SL (30%) and nSL (36.4%) also reported serious conflicts with coaches, to the point that made them consider quitting. It is expected that height, and all its correlated variables, can identify volleyball athletes of different levels, as well as variables related to body fat. However, other factors can also contribute to the development of talented athletes such as a proper coach training to deal with the different aspects of the development of athletes. It is important that the athlete keep joy in playing, condition that will be favored by adequate level of training and competition. In addition the athlete should have the opportunity to study and keep in touch with family, which is the one that provides the main support

Smärta är en subjektiv upplevelse som kan drabba och begränsa individen på olika sätt. Det är viktigt att använda sig av ett helhetsperspektiv, då en bibehållen smärta kan bero på andra faktorer än just de fysiologiska. Det är viktigt att som vårdgivare bemöta, framför allt unga smärtpatienter, med ett patientcentrerat och holistiskt synsätt. Detta för att tidigt fånga upp och identifiera smärtan för att undvika att smärtan kommer bli något långvarigt. Rätt behandling och ett bra bemötande kan även vara av värde gällande individens syn på sin egen smärta och framtiden. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur unga mellan 18-30 år med långvarig icke-specifik smärta upplever sin smärta i relation till sin vardag, arbetsliv och bemötandet från vården. Metoden är en kvalitativ intervjustudie, med tre deltagare som lever med långvarig smärta. Efter gjorda intervjuer bearbetades materialet via en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatetav studien resulterade i fyra huvudkategorier; långvarig smärta, att bli bemött som ung smärtpatient, betydelsen av en diagnos och framtiden.  Det visade sig att smärtan har en stor påverkan i informanternas vardag. En bekräftelse från vården hade kunnat bidra till en ökad acceptans hos informanterna gällande sitt tillstånd. Konklusionen i denna studieär att smärtan påverkar livet i stort och är en subjektiv upplevelse som alltid är sann och den ska alltid tas på allvar trots att det inte finns någon fysiologisk förklaring till den. / Pain is a subjective experience that affects and limits the individual in different ways. It is important to make use of a holistic perspective, as a sustained pain may be due to factors other than the physiological ones. It is important as a caregiver to respond, especially to young pain patients, with a patient-centered and holistic approach. This is to early identify the pain in order to avoid the pain becoming chronic. The right treatment can also be of value for the individual's view of their pain and the future. The aim of this study was to investigate how young people between 18-30 years with long-term, non-specific pain experience their pain in relation to their everyday life, working life and the treatment from the care. The method is a qualitative interview study, with three participants living with long-term pain. After interviews, the material was processed with a qualitative content analysis. The result of the study resulted in four main categories; long-term pain, be treated as young patients, the importance of a diagnosis, the future and a number of sub-categories. It turned out that the pain has a great impact on the informants' everyday life. A confirmation from the health service could have contributed to an increased acceptance of the informants condition. The conclusion is that the pain is always true and have a great impact on life in general and should always be taken seriously, even though there is no physiological explanation for it.

Le vieillissement de la population et la forte prévalence des incapacités qui lui est associée invitent à s’interroger sur les modes d’accompagnement de la perte d’autonomie. Tandis que l’aide reçue par les personnes âgées dépendantes provient majoritairement de leurs proches, les politiques publiques françaises favorisent le recours à l’aide professionnelle, dite aide formelle, pour les personnes résidant à domicile. Cette thèse se propose d’étudier les configurations d’aides formelles et informelles pour les personnes âgées en perte d’autonomie. Sous quelles conditions les individus ont-ils recours à l’aide professionnelle, et comment se détermine leur niveau de consommation ? Comment les producteurs d’aide familiale et professionnelle s’adaptent-t-ils aux contraintes de production qui leur sont propres ? Les quatre chapitres de cette thèse étudient empiriquement ces questions dans le contexte français. Mobilisant le cadre micro-économique et les outils économétriques, ils s’appuient sur des données d’enquête, des données administratives et des fichiers de gestion d’un service d’aide à domicile. Le premier chapitre porte sur l’aide apportée par les enfants à un parent âgé dépendant. Le deuxième chapitre étudie l’élasticité-prix de la demande d’aide formelle. Le troisième chapitre analyse comment le financement public de la demande et la régulation de l’offre affectent la décision de consommer de l’aide professionnelle. Le quatrième chapitre s’intéresse enfin aux coûts de transport des services d’aide professionnelle, comme contrainte de production pesant sur l’organisation de l’offre. Les résultats montrent que la demande d’aide est relativement peu sensible au prix de l’aide professionnelle, tandis que la régulation de l’offre affecte plus notablement les configurations d’aide. / In a context of population ageing, the demand for long-term care is rising. While relatives remain the major source of care provision for disabled elderly, most OECD countries tend to foster the use of professional care, also called formal care, when individuals live at home. This thesis studies the determinants of home care arrangements for the disabled elderly in the context of France. What are the determinants of formal care consumption, at both the extensive and intensive margins? How do formal and informal care providers adjust to their provision constraints? The four chapters present original empirical evidence on these questions in the French context. They build on micro-econometric frameworks and use national survey data, administrative data or management files from a professional provider. The first Chapter studies the care provided by children to a disabled elderly parent. The second Chapter estimates the price-elasticity of the demand for formal care. The third Chapter analyzes how the decision to consume formal care is affected by the generosity of the public financing and the regulation of home care providers. The fourth Chapter focuses on the travel costs borne by home-care providers and their effect on the home care provision. The demand for formal care is found to be fairly little sensitive to its price, while the regulation of the supply is more likely to affect care arrangements.

There is an emerging class of applications that require long-term tracking and monitoring of mobile entities for characterising their contexts and behaviours using data from wireless sensors. Examples include monitoring animals in their natural habitat over the annual cycle; tracking shipping containers and their handling during transit; and monitoring air quality using sensors attached to bicycles used in public sharing schemes. All applications within this class require the acquisition of sensor data tagged with spatio-temporal information and uploaded wirelessly. Currently there is no solution targeting the entire class of applications, only point solutions focused on specific scenarios. This thesis presents a complete solution (firmware and hardware) for applications within this class that consists of attaching mobile sensor nodes to the entities for tracking and monitoring their behaviour, and deploying an infrastructure of base-stations for collecting the data wirelessly. The proposed solution is more energy efficient compared to the existing solutions that target specific scenarios, offering a longer deployment lifetime with a reduced size and weight of the devices. This is achieved mainly by using the VB-TDMA low-power data upload protocol proposed in this thesis. The mobile sensor nodes, consisting of the GPS and radio modules among others, and the base-stations are powered by batteries, and the optimisation of their energy usage is of primary concern. The presence of the GPS module, in particular its acquisition of accurate time, is used by the VB-TDMA protocol to synchronise the communication between nodes at no additional energy costs, resulting in an energy-efficient data upload protocol for sparse networks of mobile nodes, that can potentially be out of range of base-stations for extended periods of time. The VB-TDMA and an asynchronous data upload protocol were implemented on the custom-designed Prospeckz-5-based wireless sensor nodes. The protocols’ performances were simulated in the SpeckSim simulator and validated in real-world deployments of tracking and monitoring thirty-two Retuerta wild horses in the Doñana National Park in Spain, and a herd of domesticated horses in Edinburgh. The chosen test scenario of long-term wildlife tracking and monitoring is representative for the targeted class of applications. The VB-TDMA protocol showed a significantly lower power consumption than other comparable MAC protocols, effectively doubling the battery lifetime. The main contributions of the thesis are the development of the VB-TDMA data upload protocol and its performance evaluation, along with the development of simulation models for performance analysis of wireless sensor networks, validated using data from the two real-world deployments.

One of the most common goals of political theory is to inform just choice; with ‘just choice’ referring to the class of practical, political decisions that result in society becoming more just. However, important questions can be asked about the best way political theory can perform this informing function. In this thesis I look to answer some of these questions through my defence of an ideal theory approach to just choice. This approach claims that ideals, that is, conceptions of the rules that would govern a fully just society, are necessary in order to arrive at just choices. I look to show the conditions ideal theory and ideals have to satisfy in order to perform this just choice informing role. In doing this this thesis underlabours for ideal theory by providing theoretical support for future substantive work in this area. This thesis proceeds as follows. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the structure of the thesis, the main areas of debate, and the implications of my research. Chapter 2 addresses the fundamental question discussed above, seeking to demonstrate that it is only when our choices are informed by ideals that we are consistently able to make just choices. Chapter 3 considers the distinction between short-term choice, which aims to make society immediately more similar to an ideal, and long-term choice, which aims to ultimately realise an ideal in full. I look to show the conditions that ideals have to satisfy in order to inform each type of just choice. Particularly important here are the feasibility conditions that have to be met by ideals that are to inform long-term choice. Chapter 4 considers a conundrum confronting those aiming to make just choices. All other things being equal long-term choice offers greater rewards than short-term choice does; however short-term choice is lower risk, requiring less investment of political resources such as time, labour, and money, and promising more likely returns on these investments. In this chapter I look to show the conditions that have to hold for it to be defensible to favour a long-term approach over a short-term approach. Chapter 5 considers whether the methods required of ideal theory, particularly the feasible ideal theory required of long-term choice, may be inherently contradictory. This is due to possible tensions between fact-sensitive and fact-insensitive aspects of the theorising process. In this chapter I look to show that this is not the case and that the ideal theory process is not contradictory. Chapter 6 summarises my key arguments and reflects on some of the main themes of this thesis.