The study of excess thermodynamic properties of liquid mixtures is very important for designing the thermal separation processes, developing solution theory models and to have a better understanding of molecular structure and interactions involved in the fluid mixtures. In particular, heat of mixing or excess molar enthalpy data of binary and ternary fluid mixtures have great industrial and theoretical significance. In this connection, the experimental excess molar enthalpies for seventeen binary and nine ternary systems involving hydrocarbons, ethers and alcohol have been measured at 298.15K and atmospheric conditions for a wide range of composition by means of a flow microcalorimeter (LKB 10700-1). The binary experimental excess molar enthalpy values are correlated by means of the Redlich-Kister polynomial equations and the Liebermann - Fried solution theory model. The ternary excess molar enthalpy values are represented by means of the Tsao-Smith equation with an added ternary term and the Liebermann-Fried model was used to predict ternary excess molar enthalpy values. The Liebermann-Fried solution theory model was able to closely represent the experimental excess enthalpy data for most of the binary and ternary systems with reasonable accuracy. The correlated and predicted excess molar enthalpy data for the ternary systems are plotted in Roozeboom diagrams

Glucocorticoid excess as a result of Cushing’s syndrome or pharmacological treatment can result in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The reactivation of cortisone to cortisol is catalysed by 11βHSD1 which is expressed widely but notably in adipose tissue and liver. Studies have shown dysregulation of cortisol in these tissues with obesity potentially promoting the development of T2DM. Inhibition of 11βHSD1 has been attempted as a novel treatment for T2DM with observed improvement in glycaemic control, body weight and blood pressure. The efficacy of such agents has been disappointing with few reaching phase 2 trials. With recent evidence of bidirectional activity of 11βHSD1 in vivo it becomes apparent that dysregulation may occur at an intracellular rather than tissue level. In this thesis I address several key outstanding questions concerning the physiology and regulation of 11βHSD1 including: 1. Whether combined therapy with metformin alters 11βHSD1 activity and obscures the efficacy of 11βHSD1inhibitors; 2. Whether the contribution of 11βHSD1 to local cortisol concentrations has been under-estimated by considering total rather than free cortisol turnover; and 3. Whether recycling between cortisol and cortisone in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle in obesity is a neglected feature of 11βHSD1 biochemistry and function. Eight obese healthy men with and without type 2 diabetes were recruited to a randomised placebo controlled cross over trial. They received 4 weeks treatment with metformin and placebo. Participants with T2DM additionally received gliclazide as a further control. Using the deuterated tracer D4-cortisol 11βHSD1 activity was measured. Metformin treatment increased whole body 11βHSD1 in both groups postulated as a result of improved insulin sensitivity. 11βHSD1 is located within cells and so contributes to free tissue cortisol concentrations but perhaps less so to total (protein-bound) cortisol in plasma. It has been shown that 11βHSD1 contributes almost half of total circulating cortisol concentrations at rest. This measurement relied upon blood sampling during steady state deuterated cortisol (D4-cortisol) infusion with measurements of total (free plus protein bound) cortisol which may have underestimated true 11βHSD1 activity. This was therefore investigated by comparing 11βHSD1 activity as calculated using total compared with free cortisol tracer enrichments. Equilibrium dialysis was performed separating free from bound portions in plasma samples taken from healthy volunteers who received D4-cortisol infusion. Analysis revealed similar measurements of 11βHSD1 activity using free compared with total cortisol implicating rapid turnover of glucocorticoids between the free and bound pools. On first discovery 11βHSD1 was seen to be a dehydrogenase enzyme in vitro. Later work recognised reductase activity in vivo and up until recently 11βHSD1 has been viewed as a predominantly reductase enzyme. As with other enzymes in the same family, the ability to catalyse both reductase and dehydrogenase depends upon the availability of substrate and co substrate. Whether dysregulation of 11βHSD1 in the settings of obesity and T2DM is the result of alteration in directionality at a cellular level is not known. Firstly bidirectional activity of 11βHSD1 was confirmed in vitro using HEK-293 cells stably transfected with 11βHSD1. The influence of obesity and acute perturbation with hyperinsulinaemia was subsequently investigated in vivo in a random order cross over single blinded case control study involving ten normal weight and ten obese healthy male volunteers. D4-cortisol and deuterated cortisone (D2-cortisone) were infused for the measurement of reductase and dehydrogenase activity of 11βHSD1 respectively with measurements taken across forearm muscle and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue. Across whole body, lean and obese individuals displayed similar 11β-reductase and 11β-dehydrogenase activity. Across tissue, 11β-reductase and 11β-dehydrogenase activity was different from zero across adipose tissue in obese individuals and across skeletal muscle in lean individuals providing further evidence of tissue specific differences in 11βHSD1 with obesity. With the addition of hyperinsulinaemia, reductase and dehydrogenase activity was somewhat increased in lean individuals although there was no statistically significant difference between lean and obese individuals. Across tissue there was a trend for obese individuals to display increased 11β-reductase activity across adipose tissue with hyperinsulinaemia. Comparing the rates of reductase and dehydrogenase activity revealed predominantly reductase activity across tissue in obese and dehydrogenase activity in lean individuals. The development of direction specific inhibitors targeting reductase activity by 11βHSD1 may prove efficacious for the treatment of obesity. In conclusion, 11βHSD1 acts as a bidirectional enzyme in vitro and in vivo. Overall directionality of enzyme activity is altered in a tissue specific manner in the setting of obesity. We have shown that this intracellular regulation of cortisol is reflected equally in the metabolically active free pool and total plasma pool. The efficacy of 11βHSD1 inhibitors as novel agents for the treatment of T2DM and coexisting obesity is not diminished by co-prescription with metformin but may prove more efficacious through the development of reductase specific inhibitors.

Em linhas gerais o projeto consiste numa abordagem do pensamento do escritor francês Georges Bataille, no viés de sua crítica à razão ocidental, tendo por base a noção de experiência, através da qual o autor desenvolve uma teoria do excesso e do impossível, colocando-se num horizonte de indagação de fenômenos que escapam à normalidade do discurso racional construído sob a égide do logocentrismo. Assim, a tese em questão pretende confrontar-se com fenômenos como o do erotismo, do êxtase, da mística, da poesia e da violência que constituem, propriamente, uma dobra do real pela via do excesso. Interessa analisar o modo pelo qual estes fenômenos de exceção são interpretados pela linguagem e criticados no campo textual. O louvor do excesso a que alude o título da pesquisa diz respeito ao entendimento da noção de transgressão no pensamento e na obra batailleana. Nesse universo a transgressão é vista como um dispositivo acionado pela proibição, que lhe serve de complemento fundamental. A transgressão assim põe em funcionamento as forças heterogêneas da experiência que excedem o pensamento e o discurso. A obra de Bataille não deixa de ser um esforço geral no sentido de trazer à luz da inteligência os fenômenos da experiência, como o erotismo, a violência, a poesia, o riso, o êxtase, já que, via de regra, não são contemplados pela razão ocidental. / In general terms, the project consists in an overview of the work of the French writer Georges Bataille, in regards to his critique of the Western reasoning, having as a base the notion of experience, through which the author develops a theory of the excess and of the impossible, that is, a horizon of questioning phenomena which escape the normality of rational discourse constructed under the aegis of logocentrism. Thus, the thesis in question intends to confront phenomena like eroticism, ecstasy, mysticism, poetry and violence that are, properly, a fold of the real through the way of excess. It seeks to analyze the way in which these phenomena of exception are interpreted through the language and criticized in the textual field. The praise of excess referred to in the title of the research relates to the understanding of the notion of transgression in the batailleanas thought and work. In this universe transgression is seen as a device triggered by prohibition, which serves as its essential complement. Transgression thus sets in motion the heterogeneous forces of experience which exceed the thought and speech. Batailles work does not cease to be a general effort in the sense of bringing to the light of intelligence the phenomena of experience, like eroticism, violence, poetry, laughter, ecstasy, since, as a rule, these are not covered by Western reasoning.

of my Master's degree thesis in English TERM AND LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF EXCEEDING THE PRIVATE DEFENCE AND NECESSITY LIMITS (EXCESS) The thesis examines the legal concept and legal implications of transgression of (acting outside of) private defense and necessity. It is based on the new Criminal Code, Act N. 40/2009 Coll. In some of the comparative passages the older legal regulation is mentioned, Act N. 140/1961 Coll., the Criminal Code in particular, as well as preceding penal codes. For illustration of examined concepts and definitions every charter includes case law that deals with the legal institute of private defense and necessity. The thesis is based on the Czech legal regulation and doesn't include comparison with foreign legislation. It's been caused by the short time of effectiveness of the new Criminal code which brought several substantial changes in circumstances precluding wrongfulness of an act. Significant part of the thesis is dedicated to these innovations, e.g. new privileged the fact of criminal offence of manslaughter (§ 141 CC) and infliction of bodily harm with a justifiable motive (§ 146a CC) , new legal regulation of extraordinary reduction of the term of imprisonment (§ 58 CC) and extenuating circumstances (§ 41 CC). Essentially, the new Criminal Code as a whole brought a...

Trinidad and Tobago is a small open economy that faces macroeconomic policy challenges which are related to imperfections in the financial sector and volatility of energy sector revenues. Specifically, two of the key issues policymakers are grappling with are high levels of excess reserves and the optimal management of the economy's resource revenues—in the face of domestic and external shocks to the energy sector. This thesis uses a general equilibrium modeling approach to examine the dynamic effects of these policy challenges on the Trinidad and Tobago economy. In the first case, this study examines the financial and real effects of excess reserves in a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model with monopoly banking, credit market imperfections and a cost channel. The model explicitly accounts for the fact that banks in Trinidad and Tobago hold excess reserves and they incur costs in holding these assets. Simulations of a shock to required reserves show that although raising reserve requirements is successful in sterilizing excess reserves, it creates a procyclical effect for real economic activity. This result implies that financial stability may come at a cost of macroeconomic stability. The findings also indicate that using an augmented Taylor rule in which the policy interest rate is adjusted in response to changes in excess reserves reduces volatility in output and inflation but increases fluctuations in financial variables. To the contrary, using a countercyclical reserve requirement rule helps to mitigate fluctuations in excess reserves, but increases volatility in real variables. Moreover, this research uses an open economy Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model to analyze the transmission of resource price shocks and a shock to resource production in the Trinidad and Tobago economy. It also applies alternative fiscal rules to determine the optimal allocation of resource windfalls between spending today and saving in a sovereign wealth fund. The results show that spending all the resource windfall on consumption and investment creates more volatility and amplifies Dutch disease effects, when compared to the case where all the excess revenues are saved. Also, neither a policy of full spending nor full saving of the surplus revenue inflows is optimal if the government is concerned about both household welfare and fiscal stability. In order to minimize deviations from both objectives, the optimal fiscal response suggests that a larger fraction of the resource windfalls should be saved, than what the government is presently saving.

Estimates suggest that international reserves of the Eurosystem could be reduced by one third to half ($130-$170 bill.) of its existing level after the introduction of the Euro. While the ultimate decision, whether and how to use these excessive reserves (public debt repayment, financing of a fund, financing of a tax cut) is a political one, some general results can be stated: First, since reserves earn interest revenue, a large part of which is transferred to the government anyway, moderate (but still positive) economic gains can be expected from a reserve reduction. Second, reserve reductions exceeding a certain threshold require the ECB's approval, which could, however, only be rejected if the envisaged measures were inconsistent with the ECB's monetary and exchange rate policy. Given that unintended macroeconomic effects can easily be avoided by a carefully planned and coordinated reserve reduction, such a rejection by the ECB - which is subject to the review by the European Court of Justice - is only hard to justify. Equally important from a legal point of view is that reserve reductions, effected as transfer of an extraordinary gain to the government, do not constitute monetary financing as prohibited under Art. 101 EC Treaty. Finally, reducing reserves to an adequate level would also eliminate incompatibilities and conflicts of interest between monetary and investment policy by the central banks and reduce their field of operation to their core task: the conduct of monetary policy. Thus, a carefully planned and coordinated reserve reduction can be supported from both an economic as well as legal point of view. / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

INTRODUCTION: The Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant increases in mortality in the United States, and nursing homes were particularly impacted early in the pandemic. With questions around underreporting, limited testing, and indirect effects, it is difficult to understand the true impact of the pandemic on US mortality while only examining the deaths attributed to Covid-19. Prior analyses have looked at excess mortality, the increase in mortality over what would have been expected in 2020 if the Covid-19 pandemic had not occurred, focusing on temporal and spatial relationships between excess mortality and direct Covid-19 attributed mortality. The true impact of Covid-19 by place of death remains to be understood. Recent historical trends in mortality by place of death have shown a decreasing share of deaths occurring in hospitals while deaths in homes have increased and deaths in nursing homes have not changed significantly. OBJECTIVE: This observational study aims to characterize the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on nursing homes in the US by examining direct Covid-19 mortality, excess mortality, and the relationship between direct and excess mortality by place of death at a state level. METHODS: Vital statistics data around mortality by place of death from CDC WONDER and the NVSS Provisional Covid-19 Deaths dataset were used along with US Census data to create a time series for US mortality by place of death from 2013 to 2020. The analysis was restricted to individuals above the age of 65 to limit fields with missing or suppressed data and stratified by 10-year age category. 2020 mortality in the absence of Covid-19 was estimated using the historical average mortality and the simple linear extrapolation of historical mortality within each age group, place of death, and state. Excess deaths were divided into those assigned to Covid-19 and those not assigned to Covid-19 and compared by place of death, age category, and state. RESULTS: 26.2% of direct Covid-19 deaths were found to occur in nursing homes, while 63.1% of Covid-19 deaths occurred in hospitals and 5.3% occurred at home. The excess mortality rate was found to be the highest at home, with 1.78 more deaths per thousand person-years occurring in 2020 in the US than would have been expected in the absence of Covid-19, despite a low direct Covid-19 mortality rate of only 0.162 deaths per thousand person-years. Excess mortality rates in nursing homes across the US were relatively low at 0.296 deaths per thousand person-years, with a direct Covid-19 mortality rate (1.29 deaths per thousand person-years) that was higher than the estimated excess mortality. Despite the high direct Covid-19 mortality compared to excess mortality in nursing homes, a regression model examining the extent to which Covid-19 mortality and historical mortality predicted 2020 mortality in nursing homes suggested that for every 100 deaths assigned to Covid-19, there were 107 more all-cause deaths in 2020. Nursing home excess mortality was found to be highest in Utah, and lowest in North Carolina and New York. CONCLUSION: This work suggests that direct Covid-19 mortality captures most of the impact of Covid-19 on mortality in US nursing homes in individuals over the age of 65. A significant difference was discovered between direct Covid-19 mortality and excess mortality in decedent’s homes, which warrants additional study. / 2022-11-23T00:00:00Z

This thesis concerns the topic of exceeding the limits of self-defence and necessity and related legal consequences. Although the concepts of self-defence and necessity exist also in other legal branches, this thesis is focused primarily on criminal law. The aim is to define the concept of excess of the limits of self-defence and necessity, including the individual types of excess, and to provide a comprehensive overview of both general and special legal consequences that can arise in case of an excess. Furthermore, this thesis strives to answer the question whether the current Criminal Code allows for all the specific circumstances of cases in which the defendant fulfils an offence definition while exceeding the limits of self-defence or necessity to be duly taken into account. First, this thesis deals generally with the topic of defences and the concept of self-defence and necessity and then analyses in detail the limits and conditions of these concepts as this matter is closely connected with the topic of excess. The crucial parts of the thesis are part three and four. The third part focuses on defining the concept of excess and its characteristics, analysing the fault element of an excess and describing the individual types of excess of self- defence and necessity limits. The fourth part deals...

A multivariate generalization of mutual information, multi-information, is defined in the thermodynamic limit. The definition takes phase coexistence into account by taking the infimum over the translation-invariant Gibbs measures of an interaction potential. It is shown that this infimum is attained in a pure state. An explicit formula can be found for the Ising square lattice, where the quantity is proved to be maximized at the phase-transition point. By this, phase coexis-tence is linked to high model complexity in a rigorous way.

Abstract Objectives: To identify a simple and effective means for public health professionals in rural communities to identify excess mortality using publicly available data. Methods: Online data from four rural funeral homes, and obituary data from the most widely circulated newspaper in the same region were collected from January 2017 through December 2020. A three-year monthly average of death listings was created for 2017-2019 and compared, month-by-month with the amount of 2020 death listings. Results: The four funeral homes reported a total of 3,957 deaths, and there were 7,623 newspaper obituaries published between January 2017 and December 2020. In the five-month period following the first COVID-19 death in the region on July 28, 2020, funeral home reports and newspaper obituaries reported a 20.2% and a 14.5% increase in deaths, respectively, for 2020 compared to the prior three-year average. Conclusion: During the five months following the first death attributed to COVID-19, funeral home reports and newspaper obituaries both identified a significant increase in deaths over the monthly average death listings of the three years prior. Policy Implications: Local public health officials may be able to use a multi-year, month-by-month summary of deaths, as reported by funeral homes and/or newspaper obituaries, to provide an “early indicator” of excess mortality in rural areas.