Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-111). Also available in print.

There is a scarcity of objective criteria upon which to select among the available therapies for those most likely to benefit specific patients. Comparative research has suggested that the outcomes of alternative and competitive therapies are equivalent. There are few facts available concerning which patients benefit most from even the more popular therapies. The purpose of this study was to find a type of patient for which differential improvement could be predicted. Neither therapy decreased checklist scores or increased speaking time significantly more than the other. Repressors and sensitizers responded equally to therapy. When dropout rates were analyzed there were also no significant differences between the therapies or between repressors and sensitizers. When posttherapy scores from both therapies were compared to pretherapy scores, no significant changes were found. The latter finding was important for understanding the absence of support for the hypotheses. Since the subjects did not improve as a result of either desensitization or rational-emotive therapy, there was no opportunity to observe the hypothesized differential changes. Given this hindsight, it was concluded that speech anxiety may not be a desirable disorder with which to study the prediction that repression-sensitization is related to the outcome of rational-emotive therapy and desensitization. It was recommended that future research of this relationship utilize a disorder for which therapeutic effectiveness is more firmly established.

Ações que influenciam a redução do consumo de água em edifícios têm sido implementadas, de forma generalizada, principalmente nos grandes centros urbanos, onde a escassez de água é uma realidade, quer seja por causas naturais, pelo aumento da demanda provocado pelo crescimento populacional ou por ambas as causas. Com o objetivo de sistematizar um Programa de Uso Racional da Água - PURA, para ser implantado em edifícios, foi desenvolvida uma metodologia cuja premissa básica é o conhecimento das características físicas e funcionais do sistema para o planejamento de ações mais eficientes de redução do consumo de água a serem implementadas e avaliadas. Assim, a metodologia foi estruturada em quatro etapas principais:auditoria do consumo de água, diagnóstico, plano de intervenção e avaliação do impacto de redução e, ainda com a recomendação de controle permanente do consumo de água como condição de estabilizar as reduções alcançadas. Ressalta-se que o planode intervenção enfatiza as ações tecnológicas e, dentre elas, a detecção e correção de vazamentos e substituição de sistemas e componentes convencionais por economizadores de água. Finalmente, a metodologia foi aplicada a duas tipologias de edifício - um hospital e uma escola. Os resultados obtidos foram bastante satisfatórios e mostraram que os níveis de consumo de água atuais podem ser diminuídos mantendo o desempenho do sistema e o grau de satisfação dos usuários, reduzindo os valores das contas de água e, além disso, contribuindo para a conservação dos recursos hídricos. / Actions that influence the reduction of water consumption within buildings have been implemented, a general way, mainly in big urban centers, where the scarcity of water is a reality due to nature reasons, increasing of water demand or both causes. With the objective to organize a Water Conservation Program to be implanted in buildings, a methodology was developed. Its basic premise is the knowledge of physical and functional characteristics of the system in order to plan more efficient actions towards the water consumption reduction that will be implemented and evaluated. Thus, the methodology was structured in four stages: water consumption audit, diagnosis, interventioning plan and impact reduction evaluation and with the recommendation of the necessity to control the water consumption as a condition to conserve the reductions gotten. It is important to stress the technological actions, such as leak detection and correction and the replacement of conventional components for saver ones. Finally, the methodology was applied in two typologies of building - first one in a hospital and second one in a school. The results were really satisfactory. They show that the present water consumption levels can be decreased maintaining the system performance and the satisfaction of the users, the reducing of the water bills and moreover contributing to the fresh water resources conservation.T

The Ehrhart function L_P(t) of a polytope P is defined to be the number of integer points in the dilated polytope tP. Classical Ehrhart theory is mainly concerned with integer values of t; in this master thesis, we focus on how the Ehrhart function behaves when the parameter t is allowed to be an arbitrary real number. There are three main results concerning this behavior in this thesis. Some rational polytopes (like the unit cube [0, 1]^d) only gain integer points when the dilation parameter t is an integer, so that computing L_P(t) yields the same integer point count than L_P(t). We call them semi-reflexive polytopes. The first result is a characterization of these polytopes in terms of the hyperplanes that bound them. The second result is related to the Ehrhart theorem. In the classical setting, the Ehrhart theorem states that L_P(t) will be a quasipolynomial whenever P is a rational polytope. This is also known to be true with real dilation parameters; we obtained a new proof of this fact starting from the chraracterization mentioned above. The third result is about how the real Ehrhart function behaves with respect to translation in this new setting. It is known that the classical Ehrhart function is invariant under integer translations. This is far from true for the real Ehrhart function: not only there are infinitely many different functions L_{P + w}(t) (for integer w), but under certain conditions the collection of these functions identifies P uniquely. / A função de Ehrhart L_P(t) de um politopo P é definida como sendo o número de pontos com coordenadas inteiras no politopo dilatado tP. A teoria de Ehrhart clássica lida principalmente com valores inteiros de t; esta dissertação de mestrado foca em como a função de Ehrhart se comporta quando permitimos que o parâmetro t seja um número real arbitrário. São três os resultados principais desta dissertação a respeito deste comportamento. Alguns politopos racionais (como o cubo unitário [0, 1]^d) apenas ganham pontos inteiros quando o parâmetro de dilatação t é um inteiro, de tal forma que computar L_P(t) devolve a mesma contagem de pontos que L_P(t). Eles são chamados de politopos semi-reflexivos. O primeiro resultado desta dissertação é uma caracterização destes politopos em termos de suas descrições como interseção de semi-espaços. O segundo resultado é relacionado ao teorema de Ehrhart. No contexto clássico, o teorema de Ehrhart afirma que L_P(t) será um quasi-polinômio sempre que P for um politopo racional. Sabe-se que este teorema generaliza para parâmetros reais de dilatação; nesta dissertação é apresentada uma nova demonstração deste fato, baseada na caracterização mencionada acima. O terceiro resultado é sobre como a função real de Ehrhart se comporta com respeito à translação neste novo contexto. Sabe-se que a função de Ehrhart clássica é invariante sob translações por vetores com coordenadas inteiras. Por outro lado, a função real de Ehrhart está bem longe de ser invariante: não só existem infinitas funções L_{P + w}(t) distintas, mas também, sob certas condições, esta coleção de funções identifica P unicamente.

No description available.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) continues to be the most accepted approach for the treatment of addictions in the United States. However, due to recent evidence questioning the effectiveness of AA, the need for alternative approaches to the treatment of addictions has become clear. The following research addresses the efficacy of one such alternative, Rational Recovery (RR). Node-Link Mapping (NLM), a graphic communication technique which uses links and nodes as building blocs to facilitate and enhance communication of information as well as awareness in a counseling environment, was implemented to enhance the recovery process. Three groups of ten (10), chemically dependent, adjudicated subjects were exposed to three different treatment approaches at an outpatient counseling center. The Experimental group received RR with NLM, the Comparison group was exposed only to RR, and the Control group continued in treatment according to the protocol of the counseling agency. All subjects were given the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-2 (SASSI-2) as a measurement of symptoms associated with chemical dependency. The subjects were also administered the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale (Rotter I-E Scale) to determine locus of control prior to treatment and any change after treatment.

The Rational Covariance Extension Problem is a problemin applied mathematics where one tries to find a rational spectral density thatmatches a finite covariance sequence. Applications of this can be used in areaslike speech- and image-processing. This problem has been studied intensivelyover the last decades and recently a related problem, the Circulant RationalCovariance Extension Problem, was solved. This version of the problem dealswith periodic stochastic sequences, and was shown to be a natural way toapproximate the solution to the original problem. Here we look at the specialcase when the process in question is skew-periodic, and show that also in thiscase a unique solution to the problem exists. Moreover we develop numerical solversfor both the periodic and the skew-periodic problem, and use these algorithms toapproximate the spectrum from a speech signal. / Det Rationella Kovariansutvidgningsproblemet är ett problem inom tillämpad matematik där man försöker hitta en rationell spektraltäthet som matchar en given sekvens av kovarianser. Tillämpningar av problemet finns inom områden som tal- och bildbehandling. Problemet har studerats intensivt under de senaste decennierna, och nyligen har ett relaterat problem lösts - nämligen det Cirkulära Rationella Kovariansutvidgningsproblemet. I detta problem arbetar man med periodiska stokastiska processer, och lösningen visade sig vara ett naturligt sätt att approximera lösningen till det första problemet. I denna uppsats tittar vi på specialfallet när processen är skev-periodisk, och visar att det även i detta fall finns en unik lösning. Dessutom utvecklas numeriska lösare för både det periodiska och skev-periodiska problemet, och dessa algoritmer används tillslut för att approximera spektrumet för en talsignal.

CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Sociological Studies Pavla Procházková How people buy on internet Abstract of the Diploma Thesis This thesis describes the basic principles of human behavior in shopping on the Internet. The aim was to tell whether shopping on the Internet is rational. The work deals with theories of rationality and bounded rationality theories from the perspective of sociological, economic and psychological approaches. All theories agree that the man is rational, selects the most efficient option of possible behavior. Whether the benefits gained are economic, social or psychological. From this broad perspective, it is clear that people in most cases their actions are rational, because even the deepest emotions have some rational basis, however, that over the centuries They lost its effectiveness. Perhaps it may be irrational today due to too rapid growth of technology, information overload (information is becoming more and more widely available, but their understanding is worse, a man must decide which of them to follow). Internet for shopping feature brings greater rationality in their instruments. It also restricts such perceptions, which reduces the rationality of choice. The conclusion is that people act rationally on the Internet, buying in order to...

In a time characterized by new libertarianism, where more and more critical infrastructure is in the hands of private ownership, it is important to secure vital flows of essential products and services. In Sweden the concept of total defense is supposed to embody the whole of society. But how do we understand incentives for trade and industry to engage in total defense and crisis preparedness? This study's aim is to add to the literature of private public partnerships and understand underlying dynamics. The theoretical framework this study usesis rational choice theory, rational choice institutionalism and logic of appropriateness. By examining public documents from government agencies and applying the framework, conclusions can be made about incentives for the private sector to engage in crisis preparedness. Even though the private sector seems to have good incentives for good crisis preparedness onthe surface, there seems to be a discrepancy between objectives in crisis management and what can be reasonably expected from the private sector. In accordance with rational choicevinstitutionalism and logic of appropriateness the state establishes institutions to control business behavior. By using policy instruments the state can affect private actors' utilitycal culations, goals and preferences. According to government agencies it is essential to use economics, partnerships and laws to ensure a satisfactory level of preparedness by the privatesector.

The aim with this thesis is to find out how one can understand the exceptions not to introduce the euro as the currency of Denmark and the United Kingdom, as well as their attitude to European integration. It has been implemented in a comparative case study using theories in which the case has been the central focus of the investigation. The theories being used is rational actor model that emphasizes rational decision-making and self-interest. In comparison to that theory has a historical institutional perspective been used, which emphasizes path-dependency and critical events. The focus of the study is the time when the countries became members of the European Economic Community in 1973 to the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 where these exceptions not to introduce the euro as the currency was ratified. In the analysis section, one can see portions of both theories to a varying degree. The conclusions of the study is that both countries show a skeptical attitude to European integration and that the exceptions to not introduce the euro as a currency is based on this critical view of moving power to centralized institutions.