Locally generated content comprises nearly 80% of front page content for most American newspapers, with Associated Press and other wire service content comprising between 15% and 20% across various circulation categories. However, newspapers with daily circulation between 30,000 and 50,000 provide a sharp distinction – a “curve” or “groove” – publishing an average of barely 60% locally generated content on their front page, pulling nearly 40% from wire services. The anomaly declines somewhat for publications with daily circulation between 50,000 and 100,000. This statistical content analysis of 42 American newspapers of diverse circulation sizes also reveals a universal focus on domestic politics, which comprises nearly a third of all locally generated and wire content, and reveals key commonalities across circulation categories and regional boundaries. / text

Bakgrund Den svenska dagligvaruhandeln blir alltmer koncentrerad med större och färre livsmedelskedjor. Detta har resulterat i en maktobalans mellan livsmedelskedjorna och dess leverantörer. Trots livsmedelskedjornas uppenbara maktövertag ser aktörerna många anledningar till att samarbeta med varandra. Det har blivit allt viktigare för aktörer inom distributionskanaler för färska livsmedel att samarbeta för att bland annat kunna erbjuda konsumenten högkvalitativa produkter. Som följd av detta har det skett en utveckling av relationerna inom dessa distributionskanaler med ökad interaktion mellan aktörerna. För leverantörer som erbjuder närodlade produkter har det visat sig vara av stor vikt med interaktion för att bygga en förtroendefull relation till det köpande företaget. Den svenska konsumtionen av både närodlad och ekologisk frukt och grönt har ökat markant under de senaste åren och har blivit viktiga produktkategorier för dagligvaruhandeln. Med utgångspunkt i den kunskapslucka som finns inom svenska distributionskanaler för ekologisk och närodlad frukt och grönt, avser studien att undersöka dessa produktkategorier närmare. Studien har främst fokuserat på hur odlare som erbjuder ekologisk respektive närodlad frukt och grönt kan stärka sin position på marknaden. Studien vill även påvisa skillnader mellan närodlat respektive ekologiskt och om leverantörer som erbjuder någon av dessa produktkategorier har en starkare position på marknaden än den andra. Syfte Syftet med studien är att analysera relationer och maktbalansen mellan aktörer i distributionskanaler för ekologisk respektive närodlad frukt och grönt, där fokus är att komparera dessa två produktkategorier. MetodFör att svara på syftet med studien genomfördes totalt 11 intervjuer  med fem olika företag inom distributionskanalen för frukt och grönt. Dessa företag var detaljisten och grossisten ICA, grossisten Östgöta Trädgårdshall och tre olika producenter (odlare). Slutsats Studien visar på att det finns en tendens till att leverantörer för närodlade produkter har en starkare maktposition på den studerade marknaden än ekologiska leverantörer. Det kan även fastställas att relationerna är viktiga i distributionskanalen för frukt och grönt, inte minst mellan aktörer som har ett utbyte av närodlade produkter. Relationer kan även konstateras ha en inverkan på maktförhållandet mellan aktörer, då det har visats att den enskilda leverantören kan stärka sin maktposition gentemot livsmedelskedjan genom att investera i en nära relation. / Background The Swedish food distribution industry is becoming increasingly concentrated with fewer and larger supermarket chains. This has resulted in power imbalance between supermarkets and their suppliers. Despite the power of the supermarkets, the channel members recognise the need to cooperate with each other. It has become increasingly important for members of the distribution channels for fresh food to cooperate in order to offer the consumers high-quality products. The outcome of this is an elaborated relationship and a higher interaction between channel members. For suppliers that offer local products, it has proved to be of even greater importance with interaction in order to gain trust from the purchasing companies. Consumption of both local and organic fruit and vegetables has increased significantly in the recent years in Sweden. Therefore these product categories have become important to the supermarkets. Based on the lack of research of the Swedish distribution channels for organic and local fruit and vegetables, this study intends to analyse these product categories further. The study has mainly focused on how growers, who offer local or organic fruits and vegetables, can strengthen their position in the market. The study also intends to demonstrate possible differences between suppliers offering local and organic products, to see if one of these categories has a stronger market position than the other. Purpose The purpose of the study is to analyse the relationships and the power balance between members in the distribution channels for organic and local fruits and vegetables, where the focus is to compare these two product categories. Execution To answer the purpose of the study, a total of 11 interviews with five different companies in the distribution channel for fruit and vegetables were conducted. These companies were the retailer and wholesaler ICA, the wholesaler Östgöta Trädgårdshall and three producers (growers). Conclusion The study implies that suppliers for local products may have a greater power position within the studied market than suppliers for organic products. Furthermore, the study confirms that relationships are important between actors in the distribution channel of fruits and vegetables, especially in channels that involve an exchange of local products. Relationships also have an impact on the power balance between the actors thus it appeared that individual suppliers strengthen their power position towards the supermarkets by intimate relationships.

Chordal graphs are an important class of perfect graphs. The beautiful theory surrounding their study varies from natural applications to elegant characterizations in terms of forbidden subgraphs, subtree representations, vertex orderings, and to linear time recognition algorithms. Haskins and Rose introduced the class of chordal digraphs as a digraph analogue of chordal graphs. Chordal digraphs can be defined in terms of vertex orderings and several results about chordal graphs can be extended to chordal digraphs. However, a forbidden subdigraph characterization of chordal digraphs is not known and finding such a characterization seems to be a difficult problem. Meister and Telle studied semi-complete chordal digraphs and gave a forbidden subdigraph characterization of this class of digraphs. In this thesis, we study chordal digraphs within the classes of quasi-transitive, extended semi-complete, and locally semi-complete digraphs. For each of these classes we obtain a forbidden subdigraph characterization of digraphs which are chordal. We also introduce in this thesis a new variant of chordal digraphs called semi-strict chordal digraphs. We obtain a forbidden subdigraph characterization of semi-strict chordal digraphs for each of the classes of semi-complete, quasi-transitive, extended semi-complete, and locally semi-complete digraphs. / Graduate

Student Number : 9904953T - PhD thesis - School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Science - Faculty of Science / This study seeks to combine the knowledge of science and society to elicit the relationship between the harvesting of woody plant species and the local availability of woody species in South African savannas. Ten villages located in the former communal areas and homelands within three broad vegetation types (i.e., Mixed lowveld bushveld, Eastern thorn bushveld, and Natal lowveld bushveld) were studied. The study, conducted in the framework of the coupled human-environment system poses challenges to both scientists and managers (e.g., setting common goals). Data were collected using modified Whittaker plots (MWP) and focus group discussions (FGD), denoting ecology and society, respectively. There were nine 1000m² MWP plots sampled per village, each having nested 1m², 10m² and 100m² subplots. The FGD involved six groups of local people based on gender and age. The study revealed that the harvesting of woody plant species is a source of local disturbance to woody vegetation. Generally, there were more woody species in locations farther from settlements, having a mean of 41.97 ± 3.9, than for the intermediate (38.27 ± 5.6) and near locations (19.9 ± 4.2) within the 1000m² plots, the result of the reduction in species closer to settlements from higher harvesting levels. The larger sampling plot size of 1000m² of the MWP had the highest diversity, decreasing sequentially to the smallest scale (1m²). The density of the woody species was highest in the intermediate locations (517 ± 80 plants/ha), followed by the far and near, relative to the settlements. The Natal lowveld bushveld broad vegetation type had the highest mean density of trees (573 ± 71 trees/ha) compared to the Mixed lowveld bushveld (366 ± 64 trees/ha) and the Eastern thorn bushveld (312 ± 40 trees/ha). The stem diameters of trees were generally higher in the villages of the Mixed lowveld bushveld than the other two vegetation types. The study reaffirmed that anthropogenic disturbances within savannas impact vegetation and need to be studied concurrently with other disturbance factors (e.g., biotic and abiotic or environmental). The mean total coppice shoots of stumps within the 1000m² plots was relatively higher in the near locations (38.4%), than the far (33.0%) and intermediate (28.7%). This difference in coppicing shows that although near locations were less species rich, which is a result of disturbance, the growth of shoots may nevertheless be greater. Harvesting disturbance will possibly favour the regeneration of some species, as well as the maintenance of biodiversity. Whilst 135 woody species (from a total 191 from 42 plant families) sampled in the field were used by the local people, the community knowledge yielded almost twice as many (267 species, from 69 plant families). The ratio of mean useful woody species to total woody species remained relatively constant at about 1.0:1.1 from the near to far locations around the villages and accompanied by increased woody species diversity with distance from village. The MWP sampling yielded eight broad use categories (i.e., medicinal, wild edible fruits, fuelwood, housing and fencing poles, craft (e.g., carving), cultural, local beverages (e.g., alcohol)), and nine for the FGD (the eight for the MWP plus indigenous furniture). According to the local people, the highest number of species was used for medicine (27.8% of species), followed by fuelwood (19.2%) and wild edible fruits/seeds (19.1%). Over half of the species had multiple uses (i.e., three to eight uses), raising questions of possible threats to their persistence. Useful woody species were not restricted to any particular location or vegetation type. Large sized trees were subjected to even more uses than smaller trees, another source of conservation concern. Fifteen of the woody plant species are presently protected by law in South Africa (e.g., Adansonia digitata, Podocarpus latifolius, Mimusops caffra, Philenoptera violacea), while others are facing various forms of regional threats (e.g., Alberta magna, Catha edulis, Ocotea bullata). There is the need to popularise and make people (both local and outsiders) aware of the state of NTFP species, using local and village level information as an additional criterion for describing conservation threat (e.g., proposed “Locally Brown List” – Chapter 4). The older generation of local people were highly knowledgeable in terms of the woody species used for medicine, craft, fencing and housing poles, the middle aged in beverage making species, and the younger generation in fuelwood species. Overall, older males were highly knowledgeable of the useful species. The generally strong correlation (r = 0.99, p <0.0001) between the cumulative woody species diversity from field and community knowledge suggests the need to integrate data using multi-disciplinary approach and also to manage NTFP species. Although threat reduction assessments (TRA) and monitoring have previously been suggested, the participation of local people, harvesters and users will be crucial in making TRAs effective. In conclusion, the harvesting of NTFPs, and the impacts of the changes in the NTFP species on total diversity in savannas need to be understood in order to move towards a more holistic approach to conserving the woody species that may be at risk of extinction through harvesting. Disturbance criteria that describe harvesting levels should be set to guide research and management protocols. Finally, when discussing NTFPs and the species from which they are harvested, management should aim at incorporating all the factors that affect sustainability, such as land and resource tenure and local participation, the political economy, appropriate production and development cycles.

Determinar o valor prognóstico e preditivo do VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) e do HIF-1? (Hypoxia-inducible factor-1) em relação à sobrevida livre de doença (SLD) e sobrevida global (SG) em pacientes com carcinoma de mama localmente avançado (CMLA) tratadas primariamente pela quimioterapia neoadjuvante. MATERIAIS E METODOS: VEGF e HIF foram quantificados consecutivamente em plasma de 36 pacientes com CMLA pelo método de ELISA (enzyme labeling immunoassay absorbant) para o VEGF165 e o HIF-1?. O tratamento neoadjuvante foi realizado em todas as pacientes com docetaxel e epirrubicina. O tempo médio de seguimento foi de 56 meses. RESULTADOS: Uma análise univariada demonstrou que o HIF-1? está significantemente relacionado à SLD (P =.0238) e à SG (P = .0121) com as pacientes HER-2 positivas. Não houve diferença significante para a SLD ou SG no que diz respeito aos receptores de hormônio, comprometimento axilar ou grau tumoral. Os valores de VEGF foram maiores no grupo de pacientes RE+ do que no grupo RE negativo (P =.01). Inversamente os valores de HIF-1? foram menores no grupo RE+ comparados ao grupo RE - (P =.02). Pacientes com recorrência óssea apresentaram uma tendência a apresentarem valores de VEGF menores (media, 175.7 pg/ml) do que aquelas com recorrência visceral (441 pg/ml). Uma análise multivariada demonstrou o comprometimento axilar (P =.0004), receptores de estrógeno (ER) (P < .0001), e tamanho do tumor (P = .0085) como fatores independentes de SLD. O HIF-1? foi tido como um fator independente preditivo de SG (P =.0180). Não houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre os valores plasmáticos de HIF-1? ou VEGF nos períodos pré e pós quimioterapia. CONCLUSÕES: Os resultados sugerem que o nível plasmático do HIF-1? é preditivo de SLD e SG nas pacientes com CMLA apresentando uma sobreposição as pacientes HER-2 positivas. As dosagens de VEGF podem ser preditivas de resposta e prognóstico no tratamento neoadjuvante, mas são necessários novos estudos prospectivos comparados ao HIF-1? para conclusões mais consistentes. / To determine the predictive and prognostic value of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1?) for relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) primarily submitted to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: VEGF and HIF were quantitatively measured in plasma sample from 36 consecutive patients with LABC using an enzyme immunoassay for human VEGF165 and HIF-1?. Neoadjuvant treatment was given to all patients as docetaxel and epirrubicin. The follow-up median time was 56 months. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed that HIF-1? is a significant predictor of RFS ( P = .0238) and OS (P = 0121) in HER-2 positive patients. No significant difference was seen in RFS or OS related to hormonal receptor, axillary status or tumoral grade. The VEGF level was higher in the group of patients who ER was positive than ER negative (P = .01). On the other hand, the HIF-1? level is higher in ER negative patients than ER positive ( P=.02). Patients with bone recurrences tended to have lower VEGF plasma level (median, 175.7 pg/ml) than patients with visceral metastasis (441 pg/ml). Multivariate analysis showed nodal status (P = .0004), estrogen receptor (ER) status (P < .0001), and tumor size (P = .0085) to be independent predictors of RFS. HIF-1? was found to be an independent predictor of OS (P = .0180). No statistically differences were observed related to pre and post chemotherapy period in HIF-1? or VEGF measurements. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that high level of plasma HIF-1? is associated to HER-2 over expression and they are major predictive factors of RFS and OS in LABC. VEGF content might also predict outcome after neoadjuvant treatment, however further studies in a prospective setting with HIF-1? homologous treatments are required.

Biocultural approaches to Environmental Management (EM) and monitoring are an emerging strategy in sustainability planning. Unlike functional ecological approaches to EM, which exclude humans from ecological systems, biocultural EM approaches incorporate humans, communities and their values as integral part of ecological systems, and are grounded in collaborative processes that develop locally relevant management objectives and monitoring practices. Biocultural indicators are a key aspect of biocultural EM, providing links between worldviews, knowledge systems, agencies and institutions at various scales to guide and streamline implementation of management objectives. Although many Indigenous Peoples have been continually practicing biocultural approaches to EM for thousands of years, challenges exist in contemporary EM scenarios where multiple worldviews, political boundaries and knowledge systems collide. Some of the challenges or gaps in contemporary biocultural approaches are based in theory, and others are in practice. In Chapter One I highlight one of these gaps – the lack of guiding criteria to develop biocultural indicators in contemporary biocultural EM and monitoring. To address this gap, I propose a novel suite of six criteria (culturally salient, supportive of place-based relationships, inclusive, sensitive to impacts, perceptible, linked to human well-being) drawn from a case study in Kitasoo/Xai’xais Territory in the area now referred to as the North and Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. In Chapter Two, I highlight a challenge in practice—the development of spatial models that incorporate a community-led approach. I show how this community-engaged approach benefitted the development and application of a landscape scale suitability model for culturally modified trees, a priority biocultural indicator. In conclusion, this theoretical and practical work identifies opportunities to amend existing Provincial and Federal legislation in order to support biocultural approaches to EM in Canada and shows how biocultural approaches may be applied in other social-ecological systems near and abroad. / Graduate

This  thesis  consists  of two papers  and  a summary.  The  papers  both  deal with  affine algebraic complex  varieties,  and  in particular such  varieties  in dimension  three  that have a non-trivial action  of one of the  one-dimensional  algebraic  groups  Ga   :=  (C, +) and  Gm  :=  (C*, ·).  The methods  used  involve  blowing up  of subvarieties, the correspondances between  Ga - and  Gm - actions  on an affine variety  X with locally nilpotent derivations  and Z-gradings  respectively  on O(X) and passing from a filtered algebra  A to its associated graded  algebra  gr(A). In Paper  I, we study  Russell’s hypersurface  X , i.e. the affine variety  in the affine space A4 given by the equation  x + x2y + z3 + t2 = 0. We reprove by geometric means Makar-Limanov’s result which states  that X is not isomorphic to A3 – a result which was crucial to Koras-Russell’s proof of the linearization conjecture  for Gm -actions on A3. Our method consist in realizing X as an open part  of a blowup M  −→ A3 and to show that each Ga -action on X descends to A3 . This follows from considerations of the graded  algebra  associated to O(X ) with respect  to a certain filtration. In Paper  II, we study  Ga-threefolds X  which have  as their  algebraic  quotient  the  affine plane  A2  = Sp(C[x, y]) and  are a principal  bundle  above the  punctured plane  A2  :=  A2 \ {0}. Equivalently, we study  affine Ga -varieties  Pˆ  that extend  a principal  bundle  P over A2, being P together  with an extra  fiber over the origin in A2. First  the trivial  bundle  is studied,  and some examples of extensions  are given (including  smooth  ones which are not isomorphic  to A2 × A). The  most  basic among  the  non-trivial  principal  bundles  over A2 is SL2 (C)  −→ A2, A  1→  Ae1 where e1  denotes  the first unit  vector,  and we show that any non-trivial  bundle  can be realized as a pullback  of this  bundle  with  respect  to  a morphism  A2  −→ A2. Therefore  the  attention is then  restricted to extensions  of SL2(C)  and  find two families of such extensions  via a study of the  graded  algebras  associated  with  the  coordinate  rings  O(Pˆ)  '→ O(P ) with  respect  to  a filtration  which is defined in terms  of the Ga -actions  on P and Pˆ  respectively.

The main theme of this thesis is to study the isometric algebra isomorphisms and the bipositive algebra isomorphisms between various Banach algebras associated with locally compact groups. Let $LUC(G)$ denote the $C^*$-algebra of left uniformly continuous functions with the uniform norm and let $C_0(G)^{\perp}$ denote the annihilator of $C_0(G)$ in $LUC(G)^*$. In Chapter 2 of this thesis, among other results, we show that if $G$ is a locally compact group and $H$ is a discrete group then whenever there exists a weak-star continuous isometric isomorphism between $C_0(G)^{\perp}$ and $C_0(H)^{\perp}$, $G$ is isomorphic to $H$ as a topological group. In particular, when $H$ is discrete $C_0(H)^{\perp}$ determines $H$ within the class of locally compact topological groups. In Chapter 3 of this thesis, we show that if $M(G,\omega_1)$ (the weighted measure algebra on $G$) is isometrically algebra isomorphic to $M(H,\omega_2)$, then the underlying weighted groups are isomorphic, i.e. there exists an isomorphism of topological groups $\phi:G\to H$ such that $\small{\displaystyle{\frac{\omega_1}{\omega_2\circ\phi}}}$ is multiplicative. Similarly, we show that any weighted locally compact group $(G,\omega)$ is completely determined by its Beurling group algebra $L^1(G,\omega)$, $LUC(G,\omega^{-1})^*$ and $L^1(G,\omega)^{**}$, when the two last algebras are equipped with an Arens product. Here, $LUC(G,\omega^{-1})$ is the weighted analogue of $LUC(G)$, for weighted locally compact groups. In Chapter 4 of this thesis, we show that the order structure combined with the algebra structure of each of the Banach algebras $L^1(G,\omega)$, $M(G,\omega)$, $LUC(G,\omega^{-1})^*$ and $L^1(G,\omega)^{**}$ completely determines the underlying topological group structure together with a constraint on the weight. In particular, we obtain new proofs for a previously known result of Kawada and results of Farhadi as special cases of our results. Finally, we provide an example of a bipositive algebra isomorphism between Beurling measure algebras that is not an isometry. We conclude this thesis with a selective list of open problems. / February 2016

This study examined the factors superintendents consider when making the decision between commercially developed curriculum or locally developed curriculum. This study was guided by three research questions: (a) What factors does the superintendent consider in selecting a curriculum? (b) How do these factors impact the decision to use a commercially developed curriculum or to use a locally developed curriculum? and (c) How does the decision-making process regarding curriculum selection correlate with other functions of the superintendent and the school district? This qualitative multiple-case study intended to describe the experiences of six school superintendents who have served in this capacity for ample time to have developed a perspective in relation to curriculum choice for their respective districts. During semi-structured interviews, questions posed to the participants were organized around the following themes: (a) importance of curriculum along with time devoted to overseeing curriculum and how this relates to other responsibilities of the superintendent; (b) the factors considered when deciding curriculum choice; (c) the pros and cons of commercially developed curriculum and locally developed curriculum; and (d) the challenges associated with curriculum. This questioning along with the review of documents relating to curriculum guided the development of the findings and provided structure for the reporting of data and analysis. The data collected through the interviews and document reviews were coded according to first-level coding and pattern coding. This research study revealed that overseeing and maintaining a guaranteed and viable curriculum is very time and cost intensive, but the essential piece for student achievement. In addition, in regards to deciding between commercially developed or locally developed curriculum, the superintendents in this study were adamant advocates for their curriculum choice and had justifiable reasons for their choice. The final finding disclosed in this study was that with the role of the superintendent being very taxing, the function of Curriculum and Instruction does not always take priority. In conclusion, with such emphasis placed on having a guaranteed and viable curriculum, as the chief instructional leader, superintendents must put forth a concentrated effort to select a curriculum that will promote and support student learning and success. / text

We characterize the structure of the domain of a pure jump-type Dirichlet form which is given by a Beurling–Deny formula. In particular, we obtain su cient conditions in terms of the jumping kernel guaranteeing that the test functions are a core for the Dirichlet form and that the form is a Silverstein extension. As an application we show that for recurrent Dirichlet forms the extended Dirichlet space can be interpreted in a natural way as a homogeneous Dirichlet space. For reflected Dirichlet spaces this leads to a simple purely analytic proof that the active reflected Dirichlet space (in the sense of Chen, Fukushima and Kuwae) coincides with the extended active reflected Dirichlet space. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.