Universiẗat, Diss.--Marburg, 1996.

The Principal Stratification method estimates a causal intervention effect by taking account of subjects' differences in participation, adherence or compliance. The current Principal Stratification method has been mostly used in randomized intervention trials with randomization at a single (individual) level with subjects who were randomly assigned to either intervention or control condition. However, randomized intervention trials have been conducted at group level instead of individual level in many scientific fields. This is so called "two-level randomization", where randomization is conducted at a group (second) level, above an individual level but outcome is often observed at individual level within each group. The incorrect inferences may result from the causal modeling if one only considers the compliance from individual level, but ignores it or be determine it from group level for a two-level randomized trial. The Principal Stratification method thus needs to be further developed to address this issue. To extend application of the Principal Stratification method, this research developed a new methodology for causal inferences in two-level intervention trials which principal stratification can be formed by both group level and individual level compliance. Built on the original Principal Stratification method, the new method incorporates a range of alternative methods to assess causal effects on a population when data on exposure at the group level are incomplete or limited, and are data at individual level. We use the Gatekeeper Training Trial, as a motivating example as well as for illustration. This study is focused on how to examine the intervention causal effect for schools that varied by level of adoption of the intervention program (Early-adopter vs. Later-adopter). In our case, the traditional Exclusion Restriction Assumption for Principal Stratification method is no longer hold. The results show that the intervention had a stronger impact on Later-Adopter group than Early-Adopter group for all participated schools. These impacts were larger for later trained schools than earlier trained schools. The study also shows that the intervention has a different impact on middle and high schools.

Dans cette thèse, on construit des systèmes d’Euler à partir des unités (conjecturales) de Stark et celles de Rubin-Stark d’un corps de nombres K, pour décrire l’idéal caractéristique du X-quotient du module d’Iwasawa standard X∞ pour certains caractères p-adiques irréductibles X. Ici X∞ est le groupe de Galois de la pro-p-extension abélienne non ramifiée maximale de K∞, où K∞ est une Zp-extension adéquate de K. Plus précisément, on démontre des résultats de divisibilité formulée par la conjecture principale de la théorie d’Iwasawa. Nos démonstrations reposent essentiellement sur la théorie des systèmes d’Euler. / In this thesis, we construct Euler systems coming from the (conjectural) Stark units and those of Rubin-Stark of a number field K, to describe the characteristic ideal of the X-quotient of the standard Iwasawa module X∞, for some p-adic irreducible characters X. Here X∞ is the Galois group of the maximal unramified abelian pro-p-extension of K∞, where K∞ is an adequate Zp-extension of K. Precisely, we demonstrate a divisibility results formulated by the main conjecture of Iwasawa theory. Our demonstrations essentially are based on the theory of Euler systems.

This essay aims to examine how RFSL (the swedish national association for sexual orientations) is constructing sexsellers by looking at how sexsellers are described in one of RFSL’s texts. The method used in this paper is Fairclough's discourse analysis which will be applied on one text from the website of RFSL. With this method it is possible to study the textual, the discursive and the social practices of the chosen text. The theoretical framework will be Foucault's power theory, the normalization principle and Gayle Rubin’s charmed circle. The result of this study shows that RFSL is forming discourses which construct sexsellers as either voluntary or involuntary. A voluntary sexseller includes sexsellers who see themselves as sexworkers or people who sell sexual services. By speaking of sexsellers as voluntary, RFSL is forming both a liberal feminist point of view but also a postfeminist point of view, and by speaking of sexsellers as involuntary a radical feminist point of view is formed. Therefore RFSL allows three kinds of sexsellers to be heard in their text: a working, a voluntary and an exposed sexseller.

In den Anfängen der Cultural Studies in der Birmingham School spielte Geschlecht eine eher untergeordnete Rolle. Bald wurden jedoch auch feministische Positionen herangezogen, um Ungleichheiten der Alltagspraxis zu erklären, die nicht klassentheoretisch zu fassen waren. In den Arbeiten von Rubin und Mulvey beispielsweise werden Geschlecht bzw. Geschlechtsunterscheidungen und -ungleichheiten durch makrosoziale Wissensstrukturen und kollektive Praktiken reproduziert.

In this thesis we present solutions of spontaneous compactifications of D=11, N=1 supergravity on parallelizable manifolds S^1, S^3 and S^7. In Freund-Rubin compactifications one usually obtains AdS vacua in 4D, these solutions usually sets the fermionic VEV's to zero. However giving them non zero VEV's allows us to define torsion given by the fermionic bilinears that essentially flattens the geometry giving us a vanishing cosmological constant on M_4. We further give an analysis of the consistent truncation of the bosonic sector of D=11 supergravity on a S^3 manifold and relate this to other known consistent truncation compactifications. We also consider the squashed S^7 where we check for surviving supersymmetries by analyzing the generalised holonomy, this compactification is of interest in phenomenology.

Communicating bits over a network is expensive. Therefore, cryptosystems that transmit as little data as possible are valuable. This thesis studies several cryptosystems that require significantly less bandwidth than conventional analogues. The systems we study, called torus-based cryptosystems, were analyzed by Karl Rubin and Alice Silverberg in 2003 [RS03]. They interpreted the XTR [LV00] and LUC [SL93] cryptosystems in terms of quotients of algebraic tori and birational parameterizations, and they also presented CEILIDH, a new torus-based cryptosystem. This thesis introduces the geometry of algebraic tori, uses it to explain the XTR, LUC, and CEILIDH cryptosystems, and presents torus-based extensions of van Dijk, Woodruff, et al. [vDW04, vDGP⁺05] that require even less bandwidth. In addition, a new algorithm of Granger and Vercauteren [GV05] that attacks the security of torus-based cryptosystems is presented. Finally, we list some open research problems.

Communicating bits over a network is expensive. Therefore, cryptosystems that transmit as little data as possible are valuable. This thesis studies several cryptosystems that require significantly less bandwidth than conventional analogues. The systems we study, called torus-based cryptosystems, were analyzed by Karl Rubin and Alice Silverberg in 2003 [RS03]. They interpreted the XTR [LV00] and LUC [SL93] cryptosystems in terms of quotients of algebraic tori and birational parameterizations, and they also presented CEILIDH, a new torus-based cryptosystem. This thesis introduces the geometry of algebraic tori, uses it to explain the XTR, LUC, and CEILIDH cryptosystems, and presents torus-based extensions of van Dijk, Woodruff, et al. [vDW04, vDGP⁺05] that require even less bandwidth. In addition, a new algorithm of Granger and Vercauteren [GV05] that attacks the security of torus-based cryptosystems is presented. Finally, we list some open research problems.

Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood (1987) veers from his favored detective-fiction genre by offering readers a 1960s coming-of-age romance, a story whose plot nonetheless spins around the protagonist seeking out his personal identity. The conflicts between Japanese tradition and modern, global perspectives are illustrated through the inclusion of popular culture elements such as music, literature and films. This thesis seeks to show how the novel's references to popular culture of the 1960s combine to help the protagonist establish an identity for himself as well as his place within the universal community. First, though, the project explores the impact of the translatability issues that arise with each of the novel's two English translations, variations dictated by the needs of differing audiences. The introduction provides an overview of the study, as well as historical background pertinent to the understanding of the Sixties-era popular culture iconography privileged by Murakami. My methodology favors a cultural studies approach and utilizes reader response and reception theories. Separate chapters then compare specifics between the two translations and examine the functionality and significance of music, literature and film within the novel. The conclusion justifies the subsequent deviations between the translations and argues for the necessity and value of both English versions, but claims Rubin's as the definitive English translation. Likewise, the study of the novel's many popular culture references exemplifies the roles that music, books, and film play in the creation of the protagonist's individual identity in Norwegian Wood while simultaneously illustrating the effectiveness of using globally recognizable media as a bridge between cultures.

In den Anfängen der Cultural Studies in der Birmingham School spielte Geschlecht eine eher untergeordnete Rolle. Bald wurden jedoch auch feministische Positionen herangezogen, um Ungleichheiten der Alltagspraxis zu erklären, die nicht klassentheoretisch zu fassen waren. In den Arbeiten von Rubin und Mulvey beispielsweise werden Geschlecht bzw. Geschlechtsunterscheidungen und -ungleichheiten durch makrosoziale Wissensstrukturen und kollektive Praktiken reproduziert.