The purpose of this essay is to examine the Swedish people’s level of knowledge about crowdfunding and their incentives and deterrents to crowdfunding investments. Early on crowdfunding was divided into two objectives: reward based and equity based crowdfunding. The division of objectives is logical due to the differencing conditions of the motivation for investors to invest. Supported by theories in crowdfunding incentives, commitment-trust, the prospect theory, and the diffusion of innovations, we aim to establish a comprehensive line of reasoning to support our model of motivation in the conclusive chapter. The results of this essay were achieved by a combined method. A quantitative survey tended to give us a sense of how well known the crowdfunding phenomenon is amongst the Swedish people. It was followed by a qualitative study consisting of interviews with crowdfunding investors with aim to understand their incentives and deterrents. The interviews served as the basis for our analysis. Our analysis reveals that the incentives to invest differ between equity based and reward based crowdfunding. The major common incitement was trusting the entrepreneur behind the project, rather than a neat investment prospectus. The seminal crowdfunding deterrent is ignorance. Today, the Swedish people are unknowing of the phenomenon and its significance.

Au départ, l'approche traditionnelle de la question de l'effet dissuasif de la peine n'avait pas de spécificité propre au mineur. Il nous est apparu intéressant de rechercher si l'effet dissuasif de la peine trouvait une identité propre en droit pénal des mineurs. L'idée d'une transposition de cette question à la délinquance des mineurs va mettre en évidence les difficultés de l'évaluation de l'effet dissuasif des mesures applicables aux mineurs, et montrer que malgré ces difficultés, il est possible de dégager les conditions d'une efficacité de la réponse pénale applicable aux mineurs délinquants. Toutefois, c'est le résultat effectif produit par l'effet de la dissuasion sur la réponse pénale qui nous intéressera. De l'efficacité à l'efficience de la mesure, il sera question de comprendre comment le législateur, la jurisprudence et la doctrine pénale vont adapter le concept de dissuasion en droit des mineurs, le transposer, et lui donner une coloration particulière, spécifique aux mineurs délinquants. En s'émancipant des notions de dissuasion générale et de dissuasion spéciale qui constituent les fonctions préventives de la peine, nous tenterons de vérifier si une effectivité dissuasive de la réponse pénale peut être dégagée, c'est-à-dire quelle réponse dissuade le plus efficacement le mineur de passer à l'acte. Mots-clés : Dissuasion, effet dissuasif, peine, délinquance des mineurs, efficacité, efficience / First, the traditional approach of deterrence did not have specificity to minors.It seemed interesting to evaluate if deterrence had an equivalence in criminal law applicable to juvenile delinquents. The idea of a transposition of juvenile deterrence will highlight the difficulties of the evaluation of the dissuasive effect of penalties applicable to minors, and will show that in spite of these difficulties, it is possible to draw the conditions of an effectiveness of the criminal law applicable to the juvenile delinquency. However, it is the effective result produced by deterrence on the criminal answer that will interest us. The matter will be to understand how the legislator, jurisprudence and penal doctrines will adapt the concept of deterrence to juvenile delinquency, transpose it, and to put it in perspective specific to juvenile delinquents. While being detached from concepts of general deterrence and specific deterrence, which constitute the preventive functions of minors criminal law, we will try to examine if the criminal answer to juvenile delinquents is effective and which answer is the most efficient at preventing minors from breaching the law.

<p>Opioid addiction has become a global epidemic and a national health crisis in recent years. In 2016, approximately 64,000 Americans under 50 years old were killed because of opioid overdoses. The aim of developing an abuse deterrent opioid is to render any form of manipulation that encourages abuse challenging and therefore, non-profitable. With this goal, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is extensively supporting research into the development of abuse deterrent technologies and prioritizing their production as a public health necessity. Abuse deterrent approaches include but are not limited to the following: (1) using a physical barrier (e.g., Polyethylene oxide PEO) that basically limit the release of the drugs in the blood or the digestive tract and prevent mechanical alteration of the drugs by crushing, grating, grinding, chewing etc, (2) using chemical barriers that employ gelling agents that prevent the aqueous or organic extraction of the drugs, and (3) combining the drug with an antagonist that blocks the post-abuse euphoria.</p> <p>PEO is a popular polymer used as a matrix in these complex opioid products. The polymer is responsible for the abuse deterrent properties as well as extended release behavior of opioid drugs. PEO hinders the extraction of Opioid drugs from Abuse Deterrent Formulations (ADF), makes it challenging to be injected, and resists mechanical stress and pulverization when crushed. PEO can be subjected to thermal processing such as thermal curing, compression molding, melt extrusion, and injection molding owing to its thermoplasticity.</p> <p>Assessment of the impact of using various manufacturing processes to develop ADFs and the effect of using various grades of this polymer is essential to improve upon the next generation of ADFs. There are three main categories of premarket studies: Category 1 – laboratory based (in-vitro manipulations and drug extractions), category 2 – pharmacokinetic and category 3 –clinical. These studies are required by the FDA to demonstrate that a given formulation exhibit abuse deterrent properties before a drug product is released to the market. In vitro laboratory based manipulation and extraction studies which are used to assess AD properties of these products are challenging, but essential for product development and generic abuse deterrent product approvals. It is important to realize that there is a great correlation between the laboratory based in vitro manipulation and extraction studies and the expectations of potential abuse and misuse of opioid drugs. The ability of these studies to mimic the manipulation techniques applied by abusers to defeat the abuse deterrent properties of a given formulation optimizes predictions on post-market abuse and misuse potential of ADFs. These studies should also correlate well with <i>in-vivo</i> studies since there is a direct correlation with the concentration (mg/mL in water) and the “high” obtained by an abuser. </p> <p>This research aimed to conduct laboratory based in vitro manipulation and extraction studies to investigate failure modes of PEO-based prescription opioids and Promethazine Hydrochloride PMZ HCl tablets. It highlighted the formulation components and the manufacturing parameters that might affect the dose dumping of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). Furthermore, this research identified model compounds that can be used as surrogates for Oxycodone and the best experimental setup that can be used to conduct smoking simulation experiments. Moreover, it provided an overview of the societal impacts of the opioid crisis in the state of Indiana.</p> <p>Investigations of the failure modes of the PEO-based prescription opioids and PMZ HCL tablets showed that physical manipulation techniques via chopping or grinding are much more effective in the destruction of the PEO matrix than thermal manipulation via the application of heat thus promoting the fast release. The factor with the most significant effect on the failure modes of PMZ HCL tablets was the application of physical manipulation, while the one with the lowest impact was the polymer grade. Moreover, producing PEO-based matrix tablets via Direct Compression DC significantly affected dose dumping behavior of the API from the drug products. The production of the PEO-based matrix tablets via DC was found to be favored over the usage of the melt extrusion method and molding techniques. It was clear that DC kept the integrity of the polymer, allowed for slow and controlled release fashion of the API, and rendered the extraction process relatively hard compared to the Hot Melt Extrusion HME and Molding techniques.</p> <p>Furthermore, the release profile of the investigated PMZ HCL products consisted of various phases of polymer swelling and API release. Thermal manipulations via the application of heat were found to accelerate the dose dumping behavior (90% release) of the APIs from the compressed, extruded, and molded PEO-based matrix formulations similarly. On the other hand, heating was much more effective in the extraction of APIs than chopping or grinding thus promoting the ability to<b> </b>draw a solution containing the API into a syringe for injection relatively easy and facilitate higher % API recovery.</p> <p>Among the formulation components that might have an impact on the AD properties of the PEO-based drug products are; the choice of the antioxidant, the use of complexing agents, chelating agents, and plasticizers. On the other hand, manufacturing process variables that might have a critical impact on AD properties of the PEO-based drug products include but are not limited to; processing temperature compared to the melting point of the polymer and time of exposure</p> <p>PMZ HCl was used as a model drug for Oxycodone in dissolution and extractability studies, while Caffeine and L-Nicotine were used as model drugs in smoking simulation experiments. The combination of the propane torch and Kugelrohr apparatus mimic the real-world scenario for smoking Opioids; however, this experimental setup caused thermal degradation rather than vaporization of some model drugs.</p> <p>According to the National Center for Health Statistics; a statistically significant increase in drug overdose death rates was reported in 2016 in the state of Indiana among other states. The number of deaths related to opioid pain relievers increased by 3732 folds in 2017 compared to the number of deaths in 2014. Moreover, Males were more affected by the opioid crisis than females. On the other hand, the age group 25-44 years, and white people were the most affected by the opioid crisis in Indiana. </p>

The large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis L., is a major insect pest on conifer seedlings in northern Europe. Due to its feeding newly planted trees get girdled, resulting in high seedling mortality (up to 80%). As a consequence great financial losses to the forest industry occur. Today the seedlings are protected with the pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin. This insecticide is toxic to aquatic organisms and is, from 2010, prohibited for use in Sweden by the Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate. An alternative to insecticides is to protect the seedlings with antifeedants, compounds that, either through taste or smell or both, deter the weevils from feeding. This thesis describes the search for and the synthesis of such antifeedant compounds. Bark extracts of several woody species, known to be non-palatable to the weevil, were prepared and found to display antifeedant activity against H. abietis. The major chemical constituents of the extracts were tested for antifeedant activity. Antifeedants such as eugenol, 2-phenylethanol and benzylalcohol, but also feeding stimulants such as β-sitosterol and linoleic acid, were identified. An extract of linden bark, Tilia cordata, was shown to contain nonanoic acid, a highly active antifeedant. Other aliphatic carboxylic acids were also found to display high antifeedant activities against the weevil, both in laboratory and in field tests. The enantiomers of dihydropinidine, a piperidine alkaloid present in several conifer species, were prepared by dimethylzinc mediated allylation of 2- methyltetrahydropyridine-N-oxide. When tested in micro feeding assays, no difference in antifeedant activity was found for the enantiomers. In a field test high antifeedant activity, comparable with that of the presently used insecticide cypermethrin, was found for (±)-dihydropindine. Other naturally occurring piperidine alkaloids were synthesised and also found to display high antifeedant activities in laboratory tests. Structure-activity relationships were evaluated for methoxy substituted benzaldehydes, benzoic acids and cinnamic aldehydes, -acids, -esters and -alcohols. While the carboxylic acids were inactive or even feeding stimulants, the aldehydes were the most active antifeedants / QC 20110124

<p>The large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis L., is a major insect pest on conifer seedlings in northern Europe. Due to its feeding newly planted trees get girdled, resulting in high seedling mortality (up to 80%). As a consequence great financial losses to the forest industry occur. Today the seedlings are protected with the pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin. This insecticide is toxic to aquatic organisms and is, from 2010, prohibited for use in Sweden by the Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate. An alternative to insecticides is to protect the seedlings with antifeedants, compounds that, either through taste or smell or both, deter the weevils from feeding. This thesis describes the search for and the synthesis of such antifeedant compounds.</p><p>Bark extracts of several woody species, known to be non-palatable to the weevil, were prepared and found to display antifeedant activity against H. abietis. The major chemical constituents of the extracts were tested for antifeedant activity. Antifeedants such as eugenol, 2-phenylethanol and benzylalcohol, but also feeding stimulants such as β-sitosterol and linoleic acid, were identified. An extract of linden bark, Tilia cordata, was shown to contain nonanoic acid, a highly active antifeedant. Other aliphatic carboxylic acids were also found to display high antifeedant activities against the weevil, both in laboratory and in field tests.</p><p>The enantiomers of dihydropinidine, a piperidine alkaloid present in several conifer species, were prepared by dimethylzinc mediated allylation of 2- methyltetrahydropyridine-N-oxide. When tested in micro feeding assays, no difference in antifeedant activity was found for the enantiomers. In a field test high antifeedant activity, comparable with that of the presently used insecticide cypermethrin, was found for (±)-dihydropindine. Other naturally occurring piperidine alkaloids were synthesised and also found to display high antifeedant activities in laboratory tests.</p><p>Structure-activity relationships were evaluated for methoxy substituted benzaldehydes, benzoic acids and cinnamic aldehydes, -acids, -esters and -alcohols. While the carboxylic acids were inactive or even feeding stimulants, the aldehydes were the most active antifeedants</p>

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá problematikou plašení ptáků a jejich humánního plašení pomocí laserů. Práce také pojednává o bezpečnosti laserů, problému řídicího obvodu laserových diod, kolimaci svazku a jeho rozšíření tak, aby výstupní výkon paprsku nepřekročil maximální hodnotu výstupního výkonu laseru třídy 2M.

Incidental bycatch in gillnets is a substantial threat to small cetaceans. Using Acoustic Deterrent Devices, “pingers”, have successfully reduced bycatch of harbour porpoises in gillnets. However, seals can use pingers as “dinner-bells” to easier find gillnets in order to raid and destroy them, further aggravating the existing conflicts between seals and coastal fisheries. Therefore, in the present study, the efficiency of two alleged “seal-safe” pingers, an experimental Banana pinger “SSB” and a Future Oceans F70 pinger “FO”, in deterring harbour porpoises from the vicinity of gillnets and thereby reducing bycatch in commercial gillnet fisheries, was tested. This was done by deploying click detectors, “C-PODs”, recording Detection Positive Minutes per hour, at each end of gillnets, provided with the two pinger types or no pingers at all. Bycatch instances were recorded into logbooks by participating fishermen and verified using video footage from on-board video cameras. Results showed that video monitoring was a reliable method for verifying the number of bycatches of porpoises and seals, but not seabirds, recorded in the fishermen’s logbooks. The experimental SSB pingers and the FO pingers significantly reduced porpoise presence, measured as Detection Positive Minutes per hour in the vicinity of the nets, compared to gillnets without pingers. However, the sample size was too small to yield a significant result regarding the bycatch reducing efficiency and dinner bell effect of the experimental pingers. Nevertheless, bycatch trends suggest that pingers did in fact reduce porpoise bycatch. Although both successful, FO pingers were slightly more efficient in deterring porpoises than SSB pingers. The SSB pinger sounds had bigger directionality variations than the FO pinger, which may have affected its deterrent effects. Therefore, additional trials are needed to further investigate this aspect.

「中國崛起」是國際社會在討論中共1990年代以來的變化所使用的概念。影響臺灣國家安全的因素雖然很多，但中共政權始終是臺灣國家安全的最大威脅，「中共崛起」後，伴隨其綜合國力的成長，及其擴張的戰略企圖，臺灣問題已經從以往民族情感的統一需求，提升為中共向外擴張的戰略需求，而造成臺灣在安全方面的更大挑戰。 雖然世人對「中國崛起」是否成為威脅的看法分歧，現實主義者認為他是潛在的威脅，主張藉由赫阻等手段維持權力平衡；自由主義者認為讓中國接受國際機制規範，可降低與之發生軍事衝突的可能；建構主義者認為與中國正面的互動會走向和平，但負面的互動會走向衝突；但就臺灣的安全而言，在中共不放棄以武力犯臺的原則下，中共的和平宣示、現實主義、自由主義、乃至建構主義對「中國崛起」的看法與主張，只能當作臺灣在策定國家安全戰略的分析與參考，畢竟中國是否為「和平崛起」需要經過諸多檢驗，臺海安全只能當作國際上對中共行為與和平宣示的驗證；就臺灣本身而言，我們必須堅信中共是我們最大的安全威脅來源。 本文的論述主要從中共崛起的戰略意涵及中共對於未來的戰略企圖，從軍事、經濟、政治、文化層面，解構中共崛起後，臺灣安全威脅的變化，分析臺灣如何在「中共崛起」、「國際、區域」局勢更迭中，從國際、兩岸關係、臺灣內部的軍事、經濟、政治、文化層面，建立臺灣應有的認知共識，與具體的戰略思考。以選擇臺灣「避戰爭之兇、趨和平之吉」的最好方法。 / Many of the ideas of the rise of the PRC come from the new security concept, which was formulated by thinktanks in the international comunnity in the mid-1990s. Concerning unification, China is the single most threat to Taiwan’s survival. Spatial expansion, a result of rising China, is gathering momentum to impact Taiwan security. There are controversial arguments. Rationalist argues that China need to be contained through deterrence. Liberalist argues that in order to reduce potential conflict, China can be tampered through international norms. Constructionist argues that China could be bad or behaving boy. Regarding Taiwan security, these arguments are irrelevant to contemporary Taiwan security. As long as China not to exclude the possibility to use force in the unification, China is the single most threat against Taiwan. Regarding Rising China, this paper exams its implications and her strategic intentions. Finally, facing the threat this article tries to find the most feasible strategy in the regional/global environment with economic, political, military, cultural considerations.

<div>This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter, Inertia and Switching in Health Insurance Plans, seeks to examine health insurance choice of families and individuals employed by a large Midwestern public university during the years 2012-2016. A growing number of studies indicate that consumers do not understand the basics of health insurance, make inefficient plan choices, and may hesitate to switch plans even when it is optimal to do so. In this study, I identify what are later defined as unanticipated, exogenous health shocks in the health insurance claims data, in order to examine their effect on families' plan choice and switching behavior. Observing switches into relatively generous plans after a shock is indicative of adverse selection. Adverse retention and inertia, on the other hand, may be present if people remain in the relatively less generous plans after experiencing a shock. The results could help inform the policy-makers about consumer cost-effectiveness in plan choice over time.</div><div> Physicians’ relationships with the pharmaceutical industry have recently come under public scrutiny, particularly in the context of opioid drug prescribing. The second chapter, Pharmaceutical Opioid Marketing and Physician Prescribing Behavior, examines the effect of doctor-industry marketing interactions on subsequent prescribing patterns of opioids using linked Medicare Part D and Open Payments data for the years 2014-2017. Results indicate that both the number and the dollar value of marketing visits increase physicians’ patented opioid claims. Furthermore, direct-to-physician marketing of safer abuse-deterrent formulations of opioids is the primary driver of positive and persistent spillovers on the prescribing of less safe generic opioids - a result that may be driven by insurance coverage policies. These findings suggest that pharmaceutical marketing efforts may have unintended public health implications.</div><div> The third chapter, Accountable Care Organizations and Physician Antibiotic Prescribing Behavior, examines the effects of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Physician accountable care organization affiliation has been found to reduce cost and improve quality across metrics that are directly measured by the ACO shared savings program. However, little is known about potential spillover effects from this program onto non-measured physician behavior such as antibiotic over-prescribing. Using a two-part structural selection model that accounts for selection into treatment (ACO group), and non-treatment (control group), this chapter compares physician/nurse antibiotic prescribing across these groups with adjustment for geographic, physician, patient and institutional characteristics. Heterogeneous treatment responses across specialties are also estimated. The findings indicate that ACO affiliation helps reduce antibiotic prescribing by 23.9 prescriptions (about 19.4 percent) per year. The treatment effects are found to vary with specialty with internal medicine physicians experiencing an average decrease of 19 percent, family and general practice physicians a decrease of 16 percent, and nurse practitioners a reduction of 12.5 percent in their antibiotic prescribing per year. In terms of selection into treatment, the failure to account for selection on physician unobservable characteristics results in an understating of the average treatment effects. In assessing the impact of programs, such as the ACO Shared Savings Program, which act to augment how physicians interact with each other and their patients, it is important to account for spillover effects. As an example of such spillover effect - this study finds that ACO affiliation has had a measurable impact on physician antibiotic prescribing.</div>