It may be argued that ours is far away from a sustainable society. For all the technological wonders that we have been able to produce, some basic problems such as lack of universal access to the means to satisfy one's basic needs, human rights violations, systematic degradation of the environment, among others are still present. Not for a lack of effort, but scientific progress, political effort and economic growth appear to have real limitations in their capability to help us solve some of these problems that have endured through time. Donella Meadows, an expert in systems analysis, has developed a comprehensive list of points to intervene in a system in order to effect change. Using that framework as a basis, the present study aims to try to identify potential reasons for why most of the efforts conducted so far to solve some of the previously mentioned fundamental problems appear not to be so effective. Many of the fundamental assumptions of the mainstream economic school that heavily influence policy making and individual behavior to a large extent, have been identified as potentially important leverage points being pushed in the wrong direction! Economic powers and vested interests allow for the erosion of the self-controlling elements of the global political-economic system such as democratic institutions, what Meadows classifies as weakening of negative feedback loops. The mainstream economic models promoting "success to the successful" loops such as accumulation of resources in the hands of a few, all the while concentrating power can be pointed out as an example of a positive loop getting dangerously out of control. Uncontrolled positive loops inevitably lead to system collapse. Concentration of power is specially dangerous as it can bestow upon an elite the power to set the rules of the system, one of the most effective leverage points according to Meadows. Additionally, by curtailing biological, ideological and cultural diversity we are compromising one of the fundamental conditions for our systems to endure threatening changes, the ability to self-organize, or evolve. The most powerful leverage point is the paradigm out of which the whole system is constructed. The current mainstream economic thinking is fundamentally based on a single paradigmatic assumption of scarcity by mean of the supposed impossibility of satisfying human material wants, as 'new wants are always emerging'. In this mindset, it seems to make sense for the economic system to promote limitless growth and accumulation under the assumption of unlimited material wants. In the possibility to transcend such a paradigm lies an important potential for leverage in the efforts to solve the fundamental problems that still hold our society from attaining sustainability.

The reported study investigated temporal agency (i.e., the assignment of cause for temporal shift) in newlyweds’ courtship narratives. Transcripts of courtship narratives generated by each partner of 23 recently married couples (approximately 3 months) participating in the PAIR project (Huston, McHale, & Crouter, 1986) were analyzed for the presence of different linguistic strategies for encoding temporal shift. Statements were coded as “human agency assignments” when they assigned the cause of temporal shift to humans (e.g., we started seeing each other in June); statements that assigned temporal shift to abstract entities such as the events themselves (e.g., the summer started out well for us) or to the relationship (e.g., the relationship started to slow down) were coded as “abstract agency assignments.” The frequency with which narrators mentioned positiveand negative emotions was also coded to explore the possibility that emotional valence mediated agency assignments. The frequency of different agency assignments and emotion words were considered in the context of portions of the courtship accounts that narrators designated as describing “upturns” (episodes that increased the likelihood of marriage) or “downturns” (episodes that decreased marriage likelihood). Results indicated that the frequency of human agency assignments and positive emotion mention were higher in upturn than downturn narrative segments; in contrast, abstract agency assignments and negative emotion mention were more frequent in downturn than upturn segments. Subsequent analyses indicated that positive word mention partially mediated human agency assignments in upturns and that negative word mention partially mediated abstract agency assignments in downturns. These findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating an association between the emotional valence of an event and temporal agency assignment: In general, people assign temporal agency to themselves when describing positive events, but prefer abstract agency assignments for negative events (McGlone & Pfiester, 2009). / text

This paper studies how organizational mission influences policy implementation. Interagency conflicts and bureaucratic challenges affecting implementation are largely due to different missions and different assessment measures. The focus of this investigation is the relationship between humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) agencies and associated Department of Defense (DOD) medical components. Access point theory is important to this study, for it helps us understand how successful policy implementation is enabled in the midst of bureaucratic conflicts and challenges. The notion of access points has traditionally involved lobbyists and interest groups accessing elected officials and their staffs. I ask what is the effect of lobbyists and interest groups accessing bureaucrats directly in the policy implementation process and its subsequent evaluation. More importantly, I argue that bureaucrats take advantage of access points to other bureaucrats during policy implementation proceedings. This study offers the novel perspective that access points for HA/DR bureaucrats, to include those in the DOD, are readily available during the punctuating event (i.e., the natural disaster itself) and may be evaluated through the notions of timing, efficiency, and the information and capabilities they possess and can leverage during these punctuations. Simply stated, bureaucratic access points theory helps us understand how policies are successfully implemented in the midst of bureaucratic conflicts and challenges. / text

We construct Fuchsian groups [Gamma] of signature (0 : 2, ... ,2 ;1;0) so that the set of hyperbolic fixed points of [Gamma] will contain a given finite collection of elements in the boundary of the hyperbolic plane. We use this to establish that there are infinitely many non-commensurable non-cocompact Fuchsian groups [Delta] of finite covolume sitting in PSL₂(Q) so that the set of hyperbolic fixed points of [Delta] will contain a given finite collection of rational boundary points of the hyperbolic plane. We also give a parameterization of Fuchsian groups of signature (0:2,2,2;1;0) and investigate when particular hyperbolic elements have rational fixed points. Moreover, we include a detailed list of the group elements and their killer intervals for the known pseudomodular groups that Long and Reid found; in addition, the list contains a new list of killer intervals for a pseudomodular group not found by Long and Reid. / text

Although Tianjiu Therapy in Sanfu Days (三伏天灸) is extensively being used for the treatment of asthma in Mainland China, there is a lack of convincing evidence to support its efficacy to expand its clinical application into asthma treatment. This study incorporated two related studies, the first was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with an aim to evaluate the efficacy of Tianjiu Therapy in Sanfu Days for patients suffering from chronic asthma. The second was a self-control clinical efficacy observation study aiming to compare the efficacy of 2 courses Tianjiu Therapy with 1 course such treatment in order to find the optimal duration of Tianjiu Therapy. In the first study, 323 patients with chronic asthma were randomly assigned to Tianjiu Therapy group (n=165), and placebo group (n=158). There was no significant difference in primary and secondary outcome as compared with placebo group at the end of 3rd treatment and four times follow ups. But sub-analysis of secondary outcome in four times follow ups showed that Tianjiu Therapy significantly reduced the proportion of participants who didn’t need medical treatment during asthma attack increased from 6% to 15% at 1st follow up and 0% to 7% at 3rd follow up (P<0.05). In addition, Tianjiu Therapy was significantly superior to placebo in reducing the percentage of participants who were susceptibly waken up by asthma symptoms from 27% to 14%, and the percentage of participants who had the symptom of running nose and sneezing before onset from 18% to 8% at 2nd follow up ( P<0.05). Improvements also occurred with treatment group, it reduced the proportion of participants who were spontaneous sweating at 3rd follow up (P<0.05). In the second study, totally 102 patients received two courses of Tianjiu Therapy (3 sessions Tianjiu Therapy in a year constituted one course of treatment). After treatment, the number of symptoms which were associated with Chinese Medicine added by 1.38 points (95% CI, 0.25 to 2.51), 2.93±0.41 in the 1 course group and 4.31±0.41 in the 2 courses group (P<0.05). The number of days with asthma-related symptoms increased by 3.05 points (95% CI, 0.37 to 5.73), 1.98±0.96 in 1 course group and 5.03±0.96 in 2 courses group (P<0.05). But both 1 course and 2 courses Tianjiu Therapy as compared with baseline (didn’t receive Tianjiu Therapy at this time point) have a significant improvement in the most outcome measurements. From study 1, it was found that Tianjiu Therapy significantly decreased the need for pharmaceuticals to control asthma and improved the quality of participants’ life after one course Tianjiu Therapy. Study 2 indicated that although 2 courses Tianjiu Therapy was not as effective as 1 course Tianjiu Therapy in the treatment of asthma, both 1 course and 2 courses Tianjiu Therapy provided a significant improvement as compared with baseline. It was still unknown the optimal duration of Tianjiu Therapy, so it was worth to conduct the third course or more Sanfutianjiu Thearpy in future. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Medicine / Master / Master of Philosophy

When many people think of fractals, they think of the beautiful images created by Mandelbrot’s set or the intricate dragons of Julia’s set. However, these are just the artistic stars of the fractal community. The theory behind the fractals is not necessarily pretty, but is very important to many areas outside the world of mathematics. This paper takes a closer look at various types of fractals, the fractal dimensionality of surfaces and chaotic dynamical systems. Some of the history and introduction of creating fractals is discussed. The tools used to prevent a modified Koch’s curve from overlapping itself, finding the limit of a curves length and solving for a surfaces dimensional measurement are explored. Lastly, an investigation of the theories of chaos and how they bring order into what initially appears to be random and unpredictable is presented. The practical purposes and uses of fractals throughout are also discussed. / text

Pociene, Jurgita. Informatics Master’s Final Thesis. Elliptic Curve Points Calculation Algorithms and their Application. Work leader dr. R. Steuding. Siauliai University. Siauliai, 2006. 35 pages In the work I analyse calculation algorithms of the points on elliptic curves above a body Fp (the body is above primary numbers’ field) and their application opportunities. Basic aims, set for the master’s thesis (to analyse elliptic curve points calculation algorithms and to compare them, to review application of elliptic curve points calculation algorithms, to realize Schoof elliptic curve points calculation algorithm and to analyse their effectivization possibilities) were attained. Elliptic curve points calculation algorithms were analysed and compared. System, realizing Schoof algorithm – one of the most important of elliptic curve points calculation algorithms – was created. Main problems encountered include: standard programming system data types are insufficient to operate with large (~2150) numbers, therefore MIRACL library was employed, enabling use of large numbers in a program to find out whether the number is primary and to perform calculations with polynomials. For result output HTML was used as the form more acceptable for user (to derive polynomial equations). Also it was concluded that finding order of elliptic curves is important for cryptosystem to select a safe curve. A number of methods were created to calculate order of a curve, including one or the most... [to full text]

The problem of finding the convex hull of a set of points in the plane is one of the fundamental and well-studied problems in Computational Geometry. However, for a set of imprecise points, the convex hull problem has not been thoroughly investigated. By imprecise points, we refer to a region in the plane inside which one point may lie. We are particularly interested in finding a minimum perimeter convex hull of a set of imprecise points, where the imprecise points are modelled as line segments. Currently, the best known algorithm that solves the minimum perimeter convex hull problem has an exponential running time in the worst case. It is still unknown whether this problem is NP-hard. We explore several approximation algorithms for this problem. Finally we propose a constant factor approximation algorithm that runs in O(nlogn) time. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2008-11-28 14:47:15.169

This thesis presents information on community healthy marriage initiatives and university-community collaborations. Specifically, it examined the workings of one of those healthy marriage initiatives in the university-community collaborative context. The project explored the current process of this initiative, identifying specific challenge points and defining factors and characteristics associated with the success thereof. Rather than working in discrete categories, these challenge points exist on a success continuum. How each challenge is managed determines whether it is a success factor or a stumbling block. The project is grounded in published learning from other university-community initiatives and employs an ethnographic qualitative research strategy. Data consist of interviews with several key collaborators (n = 9) who were involved with this initiative. The findings from this ethnography support and enhance previous literature on university-community collaborations and outreach scholarship and provide useful examples and lessons that can be used by other university-community collaborations, especially those involving marriage education initiatives in a community setting.

The propagation of premixed flames in turbulent flows is a problem of wide physical and technological interest, with a significant literature on their propagation speed and front topology. While certain scalings and parametric dependencies are well understood, a variety of problems remain. One major challenge, and focus of this thesis, is to model the influence of fuel/oxidizer composition on turbulent burning rates. Classical explanations for augmentation of turbulent burning rates by turbulent velocity fluctuations rely on global arguments - i.e., the turbulent burning velocity increase is directly proportional to the increase in flame surface area and mean local burning rate along the flame. However, the development of such global approaches is complicated by the abundance of phenomena influencing the propagation of turbulent premixed flames. Emphasizing key governing processes and cutting-off interesting but marginal phenomena appears to be necessary to make further progress in understanding the subject. An alternative approach to understand turbulent augmentation of burning rates is based upon so-called "leading points", which are intrinsically local properties of the turbulent flame. Leading points concepts suggest that the key physical mechanism controlling turbulent burning velocities of premixed flames is the velocity of the points on the flame that propagate farthest out into the reactants. It is postulated that modifications in the overall turbulent combustion speed depend solely on modifications of the burning rate at the leading points since an increase (decrease) in the average propagation speed of these points causes more (less) flame area to be produced behind them. In this framework, modeling of turbulent burning rates can be thought as consisting of two sub-problems: the modeling of (1) burning rates at the leading points and of (2) the dynamics/statistics of the leading points in the turbulent flame. The main objective of this thesis is to critically address both aspects, providing validation and development of the physical description put forward by leading point concepts. To address the first sub-problem, a comparison between numerical simulations of one-dimensional laminar flames in different geometrical configurations and statistics from a database of direct numerical simulations (DNS) is detailed. In this thesis, it is shown that the leading portions of the turbulent flame front display a structure that on average can be reproduced reasonably well by results obtained from model geometries with the same curvature. However, the comparison between model laminar flame computations and highly curved flamelets is complicated by the presence of negative (i.e., compressive) strain rates, due to gas expansion. For the highest turbulent intensity investigated, local consumption speeds, curvatures, strain rates and flame thicknesses approach the maximum values obtained by the laminar model geometries, while other cases display substantially lower values. To address the second sub-problem, the dynamics of flame propagation in simplified flow geometries is studied theoretically. Utilizing results for Hamilton-Jacobi equations from the Aubry-Mather theory, it is shown how the overall flame front progation under certain conditions is controlled only by discrete points on the flame. Based on these results, definitions of leading points are proposed and their dynamics is studied. These results validate some basic ideas from leading points arguments, but also modify them appreciably. For the simple case of a front propagating in a one-dimensional shear flow, these results clearly show that the front displacement speed is controlled by velocity field characteristics at discrete points on the flame only when the amplitude of the shear flow is sufficiently large and does not vary too rapidly in time. However, these points do not generally lie on the farthest forward point of the front. On the contrary, for sufficiently weak or unsteady flow perturbations, the front displacement speed is not controlled by discrete points, but rather by the entire spatial distribution of the velocity field. For these conditions, the leading points do not have any dynamical significance in controlling the front displacement speed. Finally, these results clearly show that the effects of flame curvature sensitivity in modifying the front displacement speed can be successfully interpreted in term of leading point concepts.