Research has indicated that there is a worldwide increase in the numbers of sexual offenders brought before court in the last two decades as well as an increase in recidivism after imprisonment of sexual offenders. It was found that imprisonment is not the only effective sentence option for sexual offenders and that there are certain categories of sexual offenders that can be rehabilitated more effectively within the community while serving a community-based sentence like correctional supervision. Research has also shown that the risk of re-offending can be decreased by such a sentence. In order for courts to consider correctional supervision as sentence for certain sexual offenders they request pre-sentence assessment reports from social workers to assist them to determine the suitable offenders for this sentence option. The court has certain expectations from social workers in terms of these pre-sentence assessments that are not always met. Amongst other factors, this is caused by the difference in approach between social workers and judicial officials as well as the different goals each profession has in terms of sexual offenders. The problems and needs of social workers with the pre-sentence assessment of sexual offenders were explored in this study as well as the expectations and problems of judicial officials in this regard. Social workers indicated that they lack certain skills, knowledge and confidence as well as professional support and resources to compile effective pre-sentence reports. Judicial officials expect more intensive and comprehensive assessments that focus on the determination of risk of re-offending and the risk to the community. In order to address the problems and needs of both the social workers and judicial officials, suggestions for the improvement of co-operation and understanding of the two different approaches were made as well as guidelines for social workers, trainers and supervisors to enable social workers to present more effective pre-sentence assessments to courts. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

This thesis examines how consumers value promotions for delayed consumption depending on the time of redemption, the types of benefits offered, and the scope of the offering. The specific focus is on promotions that are redeemed in the future at the time of consumption, which we label "advance promotions". In the first essay, results from three studies demonstrate that consumers value hedonic advance promotions differently from delayed consumption of stand-alone goods or delayed incentives (rebates). Hedonic advance promotions are consistently overvalued, unless they are incongruent with consumers' consumption goals (e.g., when consumers regulate their consumption of the hedonic benefits). In contrast, advance utilitarian promotions are overvalued only when they are congruent with the consumption context of the target product (e.g., when the target consumption is also utilitarian). In general, we find that valuation of future utilitarian promotions depends on the consumption context but valuation of future hedonic promotions depends on when the target product is consumed. These findings are explained by the focalism bias that was originally suggested by affective forecasting and Construal Level Theory and are further expanded in this dissertation. / The second essay explores the shape of the value function for hedonic advance promotions. It addresses the issue of what is the optimal depth of a promotion in an advance consumption setting. Drawing from the focalism framework presented in the first essay and on recent research on the valuation of hedonic goods, we argue that the shape of the function is more convex or step-like for advance promotions than for immediate ones. We then demonstrate that this finding has implications for the common variety-seeking behaviour that is generally associated with delayed consumption.

Each parent, while sending their child to nursery school, seeks for coordination of the family and nursery interests, justification of his/her expectations, i.e. for the training to go entirely by the family culture, for the child to be properly trained for school. Exclusively establishing of general values, considering of the family culture and that of training authority, collegial decision taking may secure the harmony, continuity and quality of the child training. The master’s work deals with the analysis of the management model principles and actions of the coordination for the training of the expectations the preschool training authorities and parental community. Theoretical fundamentals of educational services management of different Lithuanian and foreign authors have been analyzed and systemized. Essential, general preschool training authority and parental community expectations for the training have been established. The analysis of management measures that affect the assurance of the training quality and justification of the parental expectations, has been performed. A comparable analysis of the questionnaire survey results among the preschool training schools of Molėtai region, has been performed. A hypothesis has been confirmed that a proper selection of the management model helps realize the parental and employee expectations at the institution.

Improved insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance may be attributable to vitamin D sufficiency. An experimental design was created to investigate the use of phototherapy to increase serum vitamin D levels and improve circulating blood glucose levels in pre-diabetics. Seven participants with a pre-diabetic condition were randomly allocated to either 3 months of phototherapy or no therapy. OGTT, HbA1c, and serum vitamin D levels were assessed before and after treatment. In 2 treatment participants, pre-diabetes status was reduced from combined IFG/IGT to iIFG in one and iIGT in the second, while 1 control participant developed combined IFG/IGT and another, type 2 diabetes. HbA1c values improved in the phototherapy group but not in the controls. Phototherapy also increased serum vitamin D levels in the treatment group but not in the controls. This pilot study suggests that the experimental protocol was effective and it should be implemented in a larger sample size to confirm those trends.

The ultimate goal of this project was to improve the sensitivity and detection limits of inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ICP-TOFMS) and then apply it to the speciation analysis of As. To this end, two approaches were taken: the use of organic modifiers and that of a pre-evaporation interface between the spray chamber and the plasma torch. The radial profiles of some background ions and analytes in three different matrices (1% HNO3, 1% HNO3 with 2% v/v methanol, 1% HNO3 with 0.2% m/v sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS)) were investigated in ICP-TOFMS. Although these concentrations of methanol and SDS induced the same increase (37%) in sample introduction efficiency, the change in analyte signal as a function of m/z followed opposite trends in these two matrices. The results show that matrix effects arising from different organic modifiers affected the distribution of ions in the plasma differently as a result of changes induced in the predominant ionisation mechanisms in the plasma. The effect of a pre-evaporation interface on the distribution of ions in ICP-TOFMS was also investigated by spatial profiling, which showed that the optimal axial position of all elements shifted closer to the load coil. Furthermore, the radial profiles became significantly narrower and Gaussian. The decrease of droplet size thus improved the sensitivity and detection limits for multi-elemental analysis. A further investigation of the effect of the pre-evaporation interface revealed that, for cationic analytes, the signal enhancement had an inverse dependency on analyte mass upon heating the interface. In the case of As, a signal enhancement upon heating the interface only resulted when concomitant ionic analytes were present or with a 0.01 M NaOH matrix. All these observations could be rationalised by changes in the number of Coulomb fission events occurring during pre-evaporation, which depend on the size and charge of droplets, as well as the identity and concentration of the matrix. Finally, the baseline separation of four As species by ion exchange liquid chromatography with detection by ICP-TOFMS and application of the pre-evaporation interface tube to As speciation were achieved using a mobile phase of NH4NO3, following an investigation of its matrix effects. / Thesis (Ph.D, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2007-07-12 13:51:55.115

This dissertation seeks to show that the figure of the female letter-writer in English Renaissance literature, rather than reflecting the culture’s desire to contain, undermine, or destroy the notion of women’s textual production, in fact represents the culture’s desire to imagine and see women as writers. The image of the female letter-writer was sufficiently pervasive both to normalize the idea that real women might properly engage in textual production, and to function as a literary trope which was used to investigate issues beyond gender ideology. “Author of Prodigies” explores representations of women’s epistolary creation in a broad selection of fictional texts, primarily drama. Based on these representations, I argue that the figure of the female letter-writer functioned as a means through which the fragile and epistemologically fraught relationship between the subject and the writing in which she engages was explored. In Chapter One, I focus primarily on the history of early feminist criticism, issues of how letters are related to non-epistolary texts, Renaissance notions of subjectivity and its relationship to gender, and how subjectivity was understood to adhere in epistolary writing. In Chapter Two, I examine texts in which female characters pen letters in their own blood. Blood letters figure the fragility, marginality, and vulnerability associated with self revelation in a context in which female subjectivity was not comfortably acknowledged. Chapter Three features texts that contemplate the fantasy of female characters wooing their beaux by merging epistolary production and metadramatic performances of femininity. These characters use gendered social constraints to their advantage, revealing themselves to be sufficiently skillful to manipulate social and material signs of their marginalized position in order to achieve their personal desires. Chapter Four focuses on male fetishization of women’s intellectual labour through letter-writing, and the ways in which women writers anticipate and manipulate this response. These depictions of women’s mental work are infused with mystery, which is integral to the pleasure of imagining women engaged in letter-writing. However, as the terms of the fetish are being established in these texts they are also in the process of being normalized. / Thesis (Ph.D, English) -- Queen's University, 2008-12-15 21:08:25.539

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy disorder that affects roughly 5-7% of all pregnancies and is a leading cause of both maternal and fetal/neonatal morbidity and mortality. With no present cure for the disease, researchers are interested in the lower incidence of PE observed among the cigarette smoking pregnant population. However, women who use smokeless tobacco do not experience the same decreased incidence of PE, leading to hypothesis of protection against PE from the largest combustible product of cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide (CO). Studies evaluated levels of CO in PE women and found that they were statistically lower than those of healthy pregnancy. Researchers have found CO to possess many cytoprotective and regulatory properties and specifically within the placenta, it has been found to increase perfusion pressure, decrease oxidative stress, decreases ischemia/reperfusion induced apoptosis and maintain endothelial functioning. The idea for use of CO as a possible therapeutic for PE has thus become a real possibility. This study determined CO levels in pregnant women ± smoking as well as in PE women±smoking, as to discover a possible therapeutic range for future treatments. The best correlated automated CO measurement device with blood CO levels was determined, for use in future clinical studies. This thesis also sought a possible CO delivery concentration, in order to achieve the CO levels observed in the human correlation study. A threshold level of maternal CO exposure in a murine animal model was found, for which fetal and maternal negative toxicities were not observed. The results of this thesis lend a few more pieces to the complicated puzzle involving CO and PE and offer another step toward the possibility of a therapeutic treatment/prevention using this gaseous molecule. / Thesis (Master, Anatomy & Cell Biology) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-19 08:55:06.548

Narrowband optical filtering and chromatic dispersion are two important issues that affect optical fiber transmission performance. Recent technological developments in high-speed digital signal processors, digital-to-analog converters and analog-to-digital converters have enabled the implementation of electronic signal processing (ESP) in optical transmission systems leading to adaptive and cost efficient integrated solutions. This thesis focuses on applying ESP at the transmitter to pre-compensate for narrowband optical filtering and chromatic dispersion. A novel electronic pre-compensation approach was proposed to deal with narrowband optical filtering. The effectiveness was demonstrated by a straight-line experiment and a recirculating loop experiment for 10 Gb/s non-return-to-zero on-off-keying (NRZ-OOK). Moreover, the work was extended to NRZ differential-phase-shift-keying as well as 20 Gb/s NRZ differential-quadrature-phase-shift-keying. Experimental results demonstrate that electronic pre-compensation effectively reduces the degradation in system performance induced by narrowband optical filtering. Electronic dispersion pre-compensation was investigated using a semiconductor InP Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) for the NRZ-OOK modulation format at 10.709 Gb/s aiming at providing a cost efficient implementation for core and metro transmission networks. A brute-force method was developed to determine the requisite drive i voltages due to the nonlinear voltage dependent attenuation and phase constants of the InP MZM. The transmission results for the recirculating loop and straightline experiments demonstrate that an InP MZM provides comparable dispersion precompensation performance with a conventional LiNbO3 MZM. Use of the NRZ-OOK modulation format and InP MZM provides a simple and cost-efficient solution for core and metro transmission network. Dispersion pre-compensation was also performed for a 85.672 Gb/s polarization multiplexed 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (PM-16QAM) modulation format with digital coherent detection and offline digital signal processing. The transmitter was characterized to ensure the quality of the 16QAM signal generation. Simulation results indicate the impact of the modulator bias voltage error on system performance. Recirculating loop experimental results demonstrate that the performance of dispersion pre-compensation is comparable with dispersion post-compensation, thus providing the possibility to combine dispersion pre- and post-compensation for PM- 16QAM coherent transmission for further performance improvement. / Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2011-10-29 13:01:01.347

The objective of this thesis was to investigate pre-service teachers and student misconceptions of the equal sign, and then offer suggestions to pre-service teachers, teachers, university programs, and schools to prevent common misconceptions from occurring in classrooms. Some students do not realize the equal sign can have two different functions, operational and relational. There are several different reasons for this misconception, beginning with the lack of defining what the equal sign is and what it means in the classroom. In the first study, eighteen participants were interviewed to explain their responses when evaluating student work to gain an in-depth knowledge of pre-service teachers' perceptions of the equal sign and their ability to evaluate a students' response to a specific math task. Results showed that pre-service teachers have a better understanding of the equal sign and may be ready to teach the equal sign as a relationship between numbers. Furthermore, pre-service teachers would benefit greatly from evaluating students' work and looking for common misperceptions that students may have. In the second study, six fifth grade classes were studied to determine if there was a positive relationship for teaching atypical type equivalence statements to students and performing better on equivalence questions. Three classes from Spring 2011, were administered a test; two of the test items were used to analyze their understanding of the equal sign. In Fall 2011, another three fifth grade classes participated in lessons, which required students to analyze atypical type equivalence statements, and then they were given the same two test items. Results from this study supported the use of atypical type equivalence statements because more students in the experimental group correctly responded to the two items and were also able to justify their responses with work that exemplified good understanding of the equal sign as being a relationship. Both of these studies support increasing student and pre-service teachers understanding of the equal sign and the misconceptions students have regarding the equal sign. University programs and schools should utilize these results to require preservice teachers and teachers to evaluate student work to identify common misconceptions and teach the equal sign as a relationship between both sides and not as an operation.

In the cutting tool industry, replaceable cutting edge (insert) is often used. As insert support,steel nets are used which are pre-coated before use, since the iron will affect the coatingquality of the inserts. Titanium carbide (TiC) is an ideal material for pre-coating purposes andthe deposition of TiC is performed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using a gaseousmixture of TiCl4, CH4 and H2. In order to optimize both the process time and to ensure goodquality, in this master thesis a series of experiments were designed to investigate the influenceof gas flow rates, the CH4/TiCl4 ratio, and the total pressure. The measured parameters werethe coating thickness and the coating quality. The experimental results showed that increasingthe TiCl4 flow rate resulted in an increased coating thickness, but generated HCl has aretarding effect by adsorption. Increasing the CH4/TiCl4 mole ratio led to higher depositionrates, but outgrowth was observed at high ratios. Increasing the total pressure resulted in anincreased deposition rate, but hazardous TiO2 white smoke was observed.The optimal receipt with higher gas flow, CH4/TiCl4 mole ratio, and depositiontemperatures gave a 3.4 μm thick TiC coating after 12.5 h. Compared with the originalprocess, the optimal process obtained in this thesis saved 47 % process time.Surface morphology and grain size were examined using an optical microscope and ascanning electron microscope, and deposited TiC had a grain size of 1-2 μm. Line profileanalysis using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed that the coated TiC layerprevented the diffusion of iron and there was no iron on the surface of the coated steel nets.