Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are regarded as clonal disorders of haematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Recent evidence demonstrates that stromal microenvironment, in addition to HSC defects, plays a particular role via its direct contact with haematopoietic precursor cells (HPC). This thesis aims at evaluating the putative growth deficiencies of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) from MDS individuals compared with normal controls, exploring their adhesion profile, assessing the adhesion process-involved molecular substrates, and establishing correlations with their growth patterns and HPC dysfunctions. Functional assays revealed that MSC from MDS are intrinsically pathological, show a continuous decline of proliferation over a 14-day culture and a reduced clonogenic capacity in the absence of signals from HPC. MSC growth defects significantly correlate with decreased CD44 and CD49e expression. Moreover, stroma-dependent adhesion mechanisms control HPC clonogenic potential and CD49e might be one of the molecules involved in this process. Qualitative and quantitative abnormalities of focal adhesion (FA) proteins paxillin and pFAK [Y397] and of two regulatory proteins, HSP90αβ and p130CAS were identified via immunofluorescence analysis. Paxillin, pFAK [Y397] and HSP90αβ increased expression, besides its stronger nuclear colocalization in MSC from RAEB correlates with a consistent proliferative advantage and has a negative impact on HPC clonogenic capacity. These results open interesting opportunities, e.g. HPC-to-MSC interactions involve FA proteins signalling, and, as FAK is an HSP90αβ-client protein, it may enhance the utility of HSP90αβ inhibitors as adjuvant therapy in MDS

資本適足率（capital adequacy ratio，即實業界所稱之BIS比率）為金融界評估商銀風險之重要指標，在反映資本結構以至於倒閉風險的意義上，相較於財務分析常用的權益值對總資產比率，BIS比率應是一個更精確的指標。本研究先藉資本市場銀行股長天期窗口超額報酬率反映投資人所要求報酬中之風險貼水，探討投資人是否可以引用資本適足率衡量國內商銀的倒閉風險與流動性風險。此外，本研究亦針對壞帳費用與票券買賣損益兩項富裁量空間之科目，分析國內商業銀行策略性操縱帳面盈餘與資本問題。最後，就現行我國資本適足率規定之缺失，作進一步之檢討，並檢測調整部份風險性資產之風險權數後，對資本適足率解釋投資人所要求必要報酬間關係之影響。 實證結果發現，不論是商銀呈報金融主管機關之資本適足率，或是就銀行所發布資料，儘可能比照公訂資本適足率核算辦法所自行設算、不含資產負債表外風險性資產所計算之比值，甚至自行設算、僅考慮自有資本中之第一類資本（Tier 1 Capital）估算值，均與商銀股市超額報酬有顯著之負血關係，顯示資本適足率對投資人而言，屬攸關資訊，能幫助評估銀行倒閉風險，進而決定其所要求之必要報酬率。又國內商銀中，民營銀行股超額報酬對資本適足率之迴歸係數，較公營銀行更具負向關係，而民國八十一年後新成立之銀行對資本適足率之迴歸係數，亦較八十一年前成立之舊銀行更具負向關係，而景氣較蕭條時，資本適足率與報酬間之關係並未較繁榮期敏感。 在盈餘與資本調控部份，或因使用不同調控工具之成本差異，致使商業銀行在帳面資本不足時，傾向于增加提列壞帳費用；另一方面，銀行似乎為了損益平穩化之目的，而以多實現或少實現票券買賣損益作為調控當期盈餘之工具，此兩項潛在之盈餘調控工具，彼此間有著相互替代代，惟因實現票券買賣損益之成本因時而異，國內商業銀行引用此兩項工具相互替補的程度實隨資本市場榮枯而改變。在估算國內商銀壞帳費用不可裁量部份時，本研究發現以上期壞帳、本期逾催收款、應收匯兌承兌款及無擔保放款餘額估計壞帳，比過動國外文獻所採變數組更恰當。 / This thesis empirically examines the explanatory power of capital adequacy ratio (BIS ratio) to Taiwan's commercial bank long-windowed returns minus risk-free rates (hereafter excess return), investigating whether the ratio serves to measure the level of risk of these banks equity securities. Findings indicate the followings: (1) ceteris paribus, long-windowed bank returns negatively correlate with each and every measure of BIS ratio in this study. These results are consistent with the notion that capital adequacy ratio conveys relevant information regarding the bank shareholders risk; (2) required rate of security returns appears to be more (less) sensitive to the BIS ratio for banks founded after (prior to) 1992 and for non-state-owned (state-owned) commercial banks; (3) there is not corroborative evidence that macro-economic variables have incremental explanatory power to the regression coefficient for the BIS ratio. Further, by identifying and examining the potential discretionary components of Taiwan's commercial bank loan loss provisions (LLPs) and securities gains and losses (RSGs), this study aims at exploring these banks' accruals management practices. Robust against various sensitivity tests, empirical findings support the notion that commercial banks strategically increase their LLPs to avoid unfavorable capital adequacy ratios. On the other hand, this study finds these banks smooth reported earnings via RSGs. Moreover, our evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that LLPs and RSGs serve as substitutes for each other in commercial bank accruals management. However, the extent these banks exercise discretion via either measure varies with domestic capital market performance. For tests in this study, the specification of simultaneous equations outperforms the competing ordinary least square regression models. This study also provides an innovative design for estimating bank loan loss provisions. As compared with competing designs, our model, which relates commercial bank LLPs to non-performing assets, unsecured loans, accrued acceptances and prior-period loan loss provisions, produce a more efficient predictor for Taiwan's commercial bank LLPs.

Au cours de la dernière décennie, les chercheurs se sont intéressés au comportement de l'investisseur sur les marchés boursiers. Nombreuses théories en psychologie et sociologie sont mobilisées en finance comportementale pour dépasser les limites de l'hypothèse de l’efficience des marchés et expliquer la fragilité des marchés financiers. En analysant le comportement grégaire (mimétisme), les chercheurs tentent d'expliquer les anomalies et les grands mouvements du marché. Le comportement grégaire peut être décrit comme la tendance d'un investisseur ou d’un groupe d'investisseurs, à imiter les actions des autres acteurs du marché, ou à suivre la tendance du marché. Notre première étude examine la présence du comportement grégaire, en se concentrant sur le marché boursier français, au niveau du marché et au niveau des secteurs. Nous étudions le mimétisme selon différentes conditions macroéconomiques. Nous testons aussi l'existence du mimétisme au cours de la dernière période de crise financière et pendant les périodes caractérisées par des volumes (élevés ou faibles) de volatilité et de volume de transaction. En utilisant le modèle de CH 95, nous ne détectons pas de comportement grégaire, à la fois au niveau du marché qu’au niveau des secteurs, pendant les mouvements de marché extrêmes. Les modèles de CCK 2000 et Hwang et Salmon 2004 montrent des résultats mitigés. Même lorsque le comportement grégaire est détecté au niveau du marché, les secteurs se comportent différemment. La mesure que nous extrayons du state-space model montre différents niveaux de mimétisme dans les secteurs. La deuxième étude examine le mimétisme, sur les marchés boursiers américains et chinois, en introduisant une nouvelle dimension : l'asymétrie d'information. Nous utilisons plusieurs mesures de la disponibilité de l'information : la politique de dividende, le bid-ask spread, la taille de l'entreprise, la sophistication du marché, ainsi que l'état du marché (pré, post et pendant la période de crise). Cette étude nous permet d’analyser le mimétisme dans différents contextes selon la disponibilité de l'information. Elle permet de vérifier si le mimétisme est plus prononcé dans un contexte d'asymétrie d'information élevée. D’une part, les résultats du modèle de CH 95 ne montrent aucune preuve de mimétisme quel que soit le niveau d'asymétrie d'information entre les entreprises et les investisseurs, à la fois pour les marchés américain et chinois. D'autre part, le modèle CCK 2000 détecte des différences de niveau de mimétisme dans le marché boursier chinois en fonction du niveau d'asymétrie d'information. Les résultats suggèrent que les marchés émergents sont touchés par le mimétisme pendant la période de crise, quelle que soit la taille de l'entreprise. Enfin, le modèle de Hwang et Salmon 2004 montre différents niveaux de mimétisme dans les marchés américain et chinois, en fonction du niveau d'asymétrie d'information. Il est intéressant pour la recherche sur la modélisation des marchés boursiers d’examiner le comportement grégaire des investisseurs. De la même façon, les décideurs politiques pourraient être intéressés par les effets perturbateurs potentiels du mimétisme sur les marchés financiers. / Over the last decade, the academic research has highly focused on examining the investor’s behavior in stock markets. Many theories in psychology and sociology are used in the so called “Behavioral Finance” in order to explain the limits of the efficient market hypothesis and the financial market fragility. By analyzing the herding behavior, the researchers try to explain the market anomalies and the large market movements. Herding behavior can be described as the tendency of an investor, or a group of investors, to imitate the actions of other market participants, or to follow the market movement. Our first study examines the presence of herding behavior, focusing on the French stock market, at both market and sector levels. We investigate herding during different macroeconomic conditions. We also test the existence of herding during the last financial crisis period, and during the periods characterized by high or low volatility and transaction volumes. Using the CH 95 model, we do not observe herding behavior, both in market and sector levels, during extreme market movements. The CCK 2000 and Hwang and Salmon 2004 models show mixed results. Even when herding exists in the market level, various sectors behave differently. The measure we extract from the state-space model shows different patterns of herding at the sector level. The second study examines the investors’ incentives behind herding, in the US and Chinese stock markets, by introducing a new dimension, which is the information asymmetry. Using several proxies for information availability, such as dividend policy, bid ask spread, firm size and market sophistication along with considering the market condition (pre, post and during crisis period), this study allows us to investigate herding in different contexts of information availability, and to examine if herding is more pronounced in a high information asymmetry context. Findings of CH 95 model show no evidence of herding regardless of the level of information asymmetry between firms and investors in both the US and Chinese stock markets. On the other hand, the CCK 2000 model detects herding differences in the Chinese stock market depending on the information asymmetry level. The findings suggest that the emerging markets are affected by herding during the crisis period, regardless of the firm size. Finally, the Hwang and Salmon 2004 model shows different herding patterns in the US and Chinese stock markets depending on the information asymmetry level. Examining the herding behavior is interesting for the research in the market modeling field along with policymakers who may be interested in investigating the potential disturbing effects of herding on stock markets.

Le processus d'accrétion joue un rôle crucial dans le scénario de formation stellaire. Il régit l'interaction des étoiles jeunes avec leurs disques, en régulant l'échange de masse et de moment cinétique; ainsi, il a un impact durable sur leur évolution. De plus, l'accrétion est un ingrédient essentiel de la physique des systèmes étoile-disque à l'époque de formation planétaire. Selon le modèle d'accrétion magnétosphérique, une cavité de quelques rayons stellaires s'étend de la surface de l'étoile au bord interne du disque. L'interaction se produit donc par le champ magnétique stellaire, qui pénètre le disque interne et l'attèle à l'objet central. Des colonnes d'accrétion se développent du disque interne suivant les lignes de champ, et atteignent l'étoile à des vitesses presque de chute libre. L'impact à la surface crée des chocs localisés, qui sont responsables de l'excès de luminosité UV distinctif des systèmes accrétants par rapport aux objets non-accrétants. L'évolution temporelle intrinsèque et l'effet d'alternance du côté visible des objets au cours de leur rotation se mélangent dans la variabilité photométrique typique des étoiles jeunes, révélée par les campagnes de suivi.Durant ma thèse, j'ai mené une étude statistique du processus d'accrétion et de sa variabilité dans la région NGC 2264 (3 Myr). Cet amas contient plus de 700 membres, repartis entre étoiles avec disque (45%) et sans disque. J'ai qualifié l'accrétion par la diagnostique de l'excès UV; les étoiles de l'amas privées de disque définissent le niveau d'émission de référence au-dessus duquel l'excès UV provenant du choc d'accrétion est décelé et mesuré. Mon étude se base sur un jeu de données photométriques obtenues au télescope Canada-France-Hawaii (CFHT), comprenant un relevé profond en 4 filtres (u,g,r,i) et un suivi simultané de variabilité optique (bande r) et UV (bande u) d'une durée de 2 semaines et avec échantillonnage de l'ordre des heures. Dans une première étape de cette étude, je convertis les excès UV en taux d'accrétion pour obtenir une image globale du processus à travers l'amas et examiner sa dépendance envers les paramètres stellaires. Le taux d'accrétion moyen corrèle avec la masse de l'étoile, bien qu'une dispersion significative autour de cette tendance moyenne soit observée à chaque masse. Je montre que cet étalement ne peut pas être justifié par la variabilité des objets; une diversité de mécanismes d'accrétion et de stades évolutifs dans l'amas pourrait contribuer à la vaste gamme de régimes d'accrétion décelés. Ensuite, j'explore les signatures dans l'UV propres à des types distincts d'étoiles jeunes variables. Je montre que les étoiles accrétantes présentent en général une variabilité plus prononcée que les objets sans disque, et que les respectives variations de couleur sont cohérentes avec une origine différente de la variabilité associée aux deux groupes. Pour le premier groupe, ce sont les chocs d'accrétion à dominer, alors que le deuxième est dominé par des taches froides à la surface, dérivant de l'activité magnétique stellaire. Je compare les variations photométriques mesurées sur bases de quelques heures, quelques jours et quelques années, afin de déterminer quelles soient les composantes de variabilité les plus importantes. L'échelle de temps de quelques jours prévaut sur les autres délais investigués dans la variabilité enregistrée pour ces étoiles jeunes, avec une contribution majeure provenant de l'effet de modulation rotationnelle. Enfin, j'analyse les propriétés de rotation des étoiles de l'amas à partir d'un jeu de courbes de lumière optiques, d'une durée de 38 jours, obtenues avec le satellite CoRoT près de la campagne d'observation au CFHT. Je reconstruis la distribution de périodes de l'amas et montre que les objets sans disque tournent statistiquement plus vite que les objets accrétants. Cette connexion entre les propriétés d'accrétion et celles de rotation peut être interprétée dans le scénario de disk-locking. / Disk accretion plays a most important role in the star formation scenario. It governs the interaction of young stars with their disks, with a long-lasting impact on stellar evolution, by providing both mass and angular momentum regulation. Accretion is also a central ingredient in the physics of star-disk systems at the epoch when planets start to form. In the picture of magnetospheric accretion, a cavity of a few stellar radii extends from the star surface to the inner disk rim. The star-disk interaction is then mediated by the stellar magnetic field, whose lines thread the inner disk and couple it to the central object. Material from the inner disk is channeled along the field lines in accretion columns that reach the star at near free-fall velocities. The impact produces localized hot shocks at the stellar surface, which determine the distinctive UV excess emission of accreting objects relative to non-accreting sources. Intrinsic time evolution, and varying visibility of surface features during stellar rotation, combine in the characteristic photometric variability of young stars, revealed by monitoring surveys.In this thesis, I investigate the statistical properties of disk accretion and of its variability in the young open cluster NGC 2264 (3 Myr). This comprises a population of over 700 objects, about similarly distributed between disk-bearing (45%) and disk-free sources. I characterize accretion from the UV excess diagnostics; disk-free cluster members define the reference emission level over which the UV excess linked to accretion is detected and measured. The study is based on a homogeneous photometric dataset obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), composed of a deep mapping of the region in four different bands (u,g,r,i) and of simultaneous optical (r-band) and UV (u-band) monitoring on timescales from hours to days for a period of 2 weeks. In the first part of the study, UV excesses are converted to accretion luminosities and mass accretion rates to derive a global picture of the accretion process across the cluster, and to investigate the dependence of the typical accretion properties on stellar parameters such as mass and age. A robust correlation is detected between the average accretion rate and stellar mass, but a significant dispersion in accretion rates is observed around this average trend at any given mass. I show that the extent of this spread cannot be accounted for by typical variability on week timescales; I discuss several aspects, including a diversity in accretion mechanisms and a non-negligible evolutionary spread among cluster members, which may contribute to the broad range of accretion regimes detected. In the second part of the study, I explore the variability signatures in the UV that pertain to different types of variable young stars. I show that accreting objects typically exhibit stronger variability than non-accreting objects, and that the color properties associated with the two groups are consistent with a statistically distinct origin of the variability features in the two cases. These are dominated, in the first case, by hot accretion spots, and in the second, by cold spots linked to magnetic activity. I compare the amounts of variability on timescales of hours, days and years, to assess the dominant components. The mid term (days) appears to be the leading timescale for variability in young stars up to years, with a major contribution from rotational modulation. In the third part of the study, I use a set of 38 day-long optical light curves obtained with the CoRoT satellite, close to the epoch of the CFHT survey, to investigate periodicity and rotation properties in NGC 2264. I derive the period distribution for the cluster and show that accreting and non-accreting objects exhibit statistically distinct properties: the second rotate on average faster than the first. I then illustrate the connection between accretion and rotation properties in the disk-locking scenario.

Abstract Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder affecting 5–15% of women of reproductive age. The syndrome is characterized by menstrual irregularities, hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovaries. Infertility is a major problem in PCOS and it can be explained partially by chronic anovulatory cycles. Excess body weight and insulin resistance are common among women with PCOS, exposing them to the most common pregnancy complication, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and, later in life, to a higher risk of developing glucose metabolism disorders eventually leading to outbreak of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the respective roles of the syndrome per se, excess body weight and hyperandrogenism regarding the aforementioned complications are still to be clarified. The objectives were first to determine the risks of PCOS, infertility problems and decreased fertility at age 26 in women with a history of menstrual irregularity or elevated androgen levels in adolescence (at age 16). We also aimed to clarify whether PCOS per se is associated with decreased fertility and increased incidence of miscarriage, GDM, prediabetes and T2DM. Lastly, we focused on the respective roles of excess body weight and hyperandrogenism as regards the development of GDM and impaired glucose metabolism. The study populations were derived from the prospective Northern Finland Birth Cohorts 1966 and 1986, comprising all expected births in 1966 (n = 5889 females) and 1986 (n = 4567) in the two northernmost provinces of Finland. The data was complemented with fertility rates and diagnoses of GDM and T2DM from registers held by the National Institute for Health and Welfare and The Social Insurance Institution of Finland. Menstrual irregularity or elevated androgen levels in adolescence were associated at age 26 with increased risks of PCOS and infertility problems, but not with decreased fertility rates. At the end of their reproductive life women with symptoms of PCOS were not more often childless, had had a similar incidence of miscarriages but had a smaller family size compared with healthy women, and obesity further decreased family size in this group. Excess body weight and elevated androgen levels, but not PCOS per se, were independent risk factors of GDM. The increased risk of T2DM in PCOS was mainly due to excess body weight, although both factors had a synergistic effect on the development of T2DM. / Tiivistelmä Monirakkulainen munasarjaoireyhtymä (PCOS) on yleinen naisilla esiintyvä hormonaalinen häiriö, josta kärsii 5-15% lisääntymisikäisistä naisista. Kuukautiskierron häiriöt, mieshormoniylimäärä ja monirakkulaiset munasarjat ovat ominaisia oireyhtymälle. Lapsettomuus on keskeinen ongelma oireyhtymässä, mikä johtuu osittain kroonisesta ovulaatioiden epäsäännöllisyydestä tai niiden puuttumisesta. Ylipainoa ja insuliiniresistenssiä esiintyy usein oireyhtymää sairastavilla naisilla ja ne altistavat raskausajan diabeteksen puhkeamiselle. Myöhemmällä iällä PCOS-naisilla on suurentunut riski sairastua sokeriaineenvaihdunnan häiriöihin, jotka lisäävät riskiä tyypin 2 diabeteksen (T2DM) puhkeamiselle. PCOS:n, ylipainon ja mieshormoniylimäärän itsenäiset roolit edellä mainittujen häiriöiden kehittymisessä ovat kuitenkin edelleen epäselviä. Ensimmäisenä tavoitteena oli selvittää PCOS:n, lapsettomuusongelmien ja alentuneen hedelmällisyyden riskiä 26-vuotiaana naisilla, joilla todettiin kuukautiskierron häiriö tai kohonneet mieshormonipitoisuudet nuoruusiällä (16-vuotiaana). Toiseksi selvitimme, liittyykö PCOS itsessään alentuneeseen hedelmällisyyteen sekä kohonneeseen keskenmenojen, raskausdiabeteksen, diabeteksen esiasteiden ja T2DM esiintyvyyteen. Lisäksi selvitimme ylipainon ja mieshormoniylimäärän itsenäisiä rooleja raskausdiabeteksen ja muiden sokeriaineenvaihdunnan häiriöiden kehittymisessä. Tutkimusaineistoina olivat Pohjois-Suomen syntymäkohortit 1966 (n = 5889 naista) ja 1986 (n = 4567 naista), joihin sisältyivät kaikki elävänä syntyneet lapset vuosina 1966 ja 1986 kahdesta Suomen pohjoisimmasta läänistä. Tutkimusaineistoja täydennettiin hedelmällisyyslukujen ja GDM- sekä T2DM-diagnoosien osalta Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitoksen ja Kansaneläkelaitoksen ylläpitämistä rekistereistä. Nuoruusiän kuukautiskierron häiriöt ja mieshormoniylimäärä olivat yhteydessä suurentuneeseen riskiin kehittää PCOS ja kärsiä lapsettomuusongelmista, mutta näiden yhteyttä alentuneisiin hedelmällisyyslukuihin 26-vuotiaana ei todettu. PCOS-oireiset naiset eivät kärsineet lapsettomuudesta lisääntymisiän aikana verrokkinaisia enemmän ja keskenmenojen esiintyvyys ei eronnut oireisten ja terveiden naisten välillä. Oireisilla naisilla oli kuitenkin pienempi perhekoko kuin verrokeilla, ja lihavuus entisestään pienensi perhekokoa oireisilla naisilla. Ylipaino ja mieshormoniylimäärä olivat itsenäisiä riskitekijöitä raskausdiabeteksen kehittymiselle. PCOS ei ollut riskitekijä raskausdiabeteksen kehittymiselle. Kohonnut T2DM-riski PCOS:ssa johtui lähinnä ylipainosta, vaikkakin molemmat tekijät olivat itsenäisiä riskitekijöitä T2DM:n kehittymiselle.

Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-08-20T19:03:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_CAROLINA RIBEIRO VERONESE MARINHO.pdf: 751914 bytes, checksum: ca939f859bd1eccec552deb6102fbf7a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel (gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-08-22T12:09:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_CAROLINA RIBEIRO VERONESE MARINHO.pdf: 751914 bytes, checksum: ca939f859bd1eccec552deb6102fbf7a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel (gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-08-22T12:14:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_CAROLINA RIBEIRO VERONESE MARINHO.pdf: 751914 bytes, checksum: ca939f859bd1eccec552deb6102fbf7a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-08-22T12:21:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_CAROLINA RIBEIRO VERONESE MARINHO.pdf: 751914 bytes, checksum: ca939f859bd1eccec552deb6102fbf7a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-19 / This paper’s proposal is to analyze how bond supply is likely to affect yields and the excess return of government bonds. Thus, the study is based on a model built around three agents: the government, preferred habitat investors and arbitrageurs. Consistent with the model, when the government changes the relative maturity of its debt, the entire term structure is affected and the result is intensified for long-term maturities. In addition, results were stronger for almost all maturities when excess return is analyzed. / O presente trabalho tem o objetivo analisar como a oferta de dívida pública é capaz de afetar os yields e o excesso de retorno de títulos públicos. Para tanto, o estudo é baseado em um modelo construído em torno de três agentes, sendo eles o Governo, os investidores com preferência por maturidades específicas e os arbitradores. Consistente com o modelo, observamos que quando o Governo altera a maturidade relativa de sua dívida, toda a estrutura a termo é afetada e esse resultado se intensifica para títulos mais longos. Além disso, os resultados se mostraram mais fortes para quase todas as maturidades quando o excesso de retorno é analisado.

Ill health, accident and death are themes common to all of Jane Austen's novels. Some illnesses are physical, whereas some of her heroines experience excessive psychological, emotional and spiritual traumas. These references are too numerous to be either coincidental, glossed over or ignored. Austen expressed an interest in the mind/body relationship, believing that illness could be brought upon in certain personalities by the sufferer herself, and it seems that she might have held theories similar to those advocated by Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and even have anticipated those on feminine hysteria, and the effects of unconscious motives on behaviour, which were advanced by Freud in works such as The Interpretation of Dreams. This study examines Austen's novels, and the origin and purpose of physical and psychological illness in these, and looks at how Austen uses illness, accident and death, and more particularly how their roles progressively change and develop. For Austen's handling of these common issues appears to vary and to develop in line with the order of composition of her novels. She places increasing emphasis on them, not just to further plot, but also to reflect character change and development. Many of the parents or guardians of Austen's heroines are inadequate. And so Austen's heroines are often deprived of commendable models, left to find their own way, alone and in need of emotional support, to confront their youthful excesses, to work their way through these and to find their own destiny despite their handicaps. Self-improvement is neither pleasant nor easy, especially where one is young, inexperienced and alone. And, where heroines exhibit unhealthy or excessive interests in anything that diverts them from their paths of virtue or usefulness, the correction may frequently be painful. Thus most of the novels are, to a greater or lesser degree, filled with references to both physical and psychological ill health. This thesis examines how Austen used these illnesses, accidents and deaths in the various novels, both in the development of plot, as well as in the development of the character of the heroine in each instance. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

abstract: The integration of passive optical networks (PONs) and wireless mesh networks (WMNs) into Fiber-Wireless (FiWi) networks has recently emerged as a promising strategy for providing flexible network services at relative high transmission rates. This work investigates the effectiveness of localized routing that prioritizes transmissions over the local gateway to the optical network and avoids wireless packet transmissions in radio zones that do not contain the packet source or destination. Existing routing schemes for FiWi networks consider mainly hop-count and delay metrics over a flat WMN node topology and do not specifically prioritize the local network structure. The combination of clustered and localized routing (CluLoR) performs better in terms of throughput-delay compared to routing schemes that are based on minimum hop-count which do not consider traffic localization. Subsequently, this work also investigates the packet delays when relatively low-rate traffic that has traversed a wireless network is mixed with conventional high-rate PON-only traffic. A range of different FiWi network architectures with different dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) mechanisms is considered. The grouping of the optical network units (ONUs) in the double-phase polling (DPP) DBA mechanism in long-range (order of 100~Km) FiWi networks is closely examined, and a novel grouping by cycle length (GCL) strategy that achieves favorable packet delay performance is introduced. At the end, this work proposes a novel backhaul network architecture based on a Smart Gateway (Sm-GW) between the small cell base stations (e.g., LTE eNBs) and the conventional backhaul gateways, e.g., LTE Servicing/Packet Gateway (S/P-GW). The Sm-GW accommodates flexible number of small cells while reducing the infrastructure requirements at the S-GW of LTE backhaul. In contrast to existing methods, the proposed Sm-GW incorporates the scheduling mechanisms to achieve the network fairness while sharing the resources among all the connected small cells base stations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2016

Orientador: Augusto Martinez Perez / Resumo: No presente trabalho foi abordado o estudo da prática de atos legislativos próprios- lei em sentido formal- com desvio ou excesso de poder, procurou-se definir como e quando o Estado é obrigado a reparar os danos, material e moral, causados ao particular nessa situação, bem como discutir acerca da responsabilidade pessoal do legislador que tenha concorrido para a elaboração de leis nesse sentido. Sabe-se que o Direito Positivo é todo baseado na elaboração das leis, as quais são realizadas pelo Poder Legislativo. Dessa forma, o Direito se apóia em muito no conjunto de leis vigentes, as quais devem ser cumpridas por toda a sociedade e aplicadas pelos operadores do Direito em geral, notadamente pelo Poder Judiciário. Como a lei é uma fonte do Direito, inspiradora da forma de comportamento da sociedade em geral, é de suma importância estudarmos quando a lei em geral possui algum vício insanável decorrente do excesso ou desvio de poder na atuação dos parlamentares que a elaboraram. Muito embora o exercício da atividade legislativa seja uma das formas de o Estado expressar a sua soberania, hodiernamente em muitas oportunidades temos nos deparado com a elaboração de leis que não atendem os interesses da coletividade em geral. Assim, a atividade parlamentar, que deveria ser exercida em nome do povo e para representar os legítimos interesses do próprio povo, muitas vezes é realizada de forma distorcida para privilegiar os interesses de somente uma pessoa, uma classe ou categoria de pessoas em detrimento do interesse público e do interesse social. As leis elaboradas com o fito de beneficiarem somente uma ou algumas pessoas em detrimento do interesse popular, da sociedade em geral, devem ser reconhecidas como viciadas pelo desvio ou excesso de poder na sua elaboração. O parlamentar desvia-se de suas funções para as quais recebeu poderes da população e age visando...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the present thesis it was approached the study of the practice of proper legislative acts - law in formal sense - with diversion or excess of power, it was tried to define how and when the State is obligated to remedy the material and moral damages, caused to the individual in such situation, as well as discuss about the legislator's personal responsibility, who has contributed for the elaboration of laws in this sense. It's known that the Positive Law is all based in elaboration of laws, which are carried out by the Legislative Power. In this way, the Law is highly supported on the set of valid laws, which must be obeyed by the society in a whole and enforced by the Law operators in general, mainly by the judiciary. As the law is a source of the Law, which inspires the society's behavior in general, it is extremely important to study when the law, in general, possesses some irremediable failing resulting from the excess or deviation of power in the members of parliament's performance, who had elaborate it. Even though the legislative activity exercise is one of the ways that the State has to express its sovereignty, currently we have faced, in many opportunities, law's elaboration, which doesn't fit the society's interests in general. Thus the parliamentary activity, which was supposed to be exerted in the people's name and to represent people's legitimate interests, many times has been accomplished in a deviated way in order to privilege only one person, class or category of people's interests to the detriment of public and social's interests. The laws, which are elaborated with the intent of benefit only one or some few people to the detriment of the public interest, of the society in general, should be recognized as corrupted by the diversion or excess of power in its elaboration. The member of the parliament deviates from the duties which he received power...(Complete abstract click elctronic access below) / Mestre

All legislative acts shall have continuity in time. However, sometimes these acts contain defects that cause their unconstitutionality and the subsequent expulsion from the legal order. The important  question that arises is: When can a legislative act be declared unconstitutional? Whichare the defects that cause the expulsion of a law from the legal system?In this article, the author seeks to address these questions through a presentation of the legal defects that cause the invalidity of an act. The author pays special attention to the discussed legislative power excess defect, contrasting foreign case law with jurisprudence from the Peruvian Constitutional Court to determine if it is enough for  an  act  to  have  this  defect to be declared unconstitutional. / Los actos legislativos deben tener continuidad enel tiempo. Sin embargo, muchas veces estos actos contienen vicios que ocasionan su inconstitucionalidad y consecuente expulsión del ordenamientojurídico. La gran pregunta que surge entonces es: ¿Cuándo un acto legislativo puede ser declaradoinconstitucional? ¿Cuáles son los vicios que causanla expulsión de una ley del sistema normativo?En el presente artículo, el autor busca responder estas interrogantes mediante la presentación de los vicios de la ley que ocasionan la invalidez de ésta. El autor presta especial atención al discutido vicio de exceso de poder legislativo, contrastando jurisprudencia extranjera con aquella del Tribunal Constitucional peruano para determinar si basta que una ley tenga este vicio para que pueda ser declarada inconstitucional.