Myxococcus xanthus ( M. xanthus ) is a gram-negative, rod-shaped soil-dwelling predatory bacterium. It can move on solid surfaces forming cooperative single-species biofilm in which various self-organizing patterns are observed. Under distinct environmental conditions, these bacteria can swarm outward, form travelling waves or aggregate into fruiting bodies as a result of diverse intercellular interactions, signaling and coordinated cell motility. M. xanthus colony actively expands when food is plentiful, but stops this under nutritional stress and thereafter aggregates into fruiting bodies where individual cells transform into spores. When in direct contact with their prey, M. xanthus cells form traveling cell-density waves called ripples to facilitate their predation. These patterns play an important role in maximizing M. xanthus adaption to the changing environment. While these phenomena have been studied using traditional experimental microbiology and genetics, recently it is becoming clear that system biology approach greatly complements traditional laboratory work. This thesis shows my effort to deepen the understanding of self-organization in microorganisms using statistical image processing techniques and agent-based modeling. Statistical image processing results illustrate that aggregation into fruiting bodies is a highly non-monotonic yet spontaneous process without long-range signal transduction. The agent-based model of aggregation accurately reproduces the final steady states of an aggregation process but fails to reproduce the experimental dynamics. The agent-based modeling for predatory ripples quantitatively reproduces all observed patterns based on three simple experimentally observed rules: regular cellular reversals, side-to-side contact induced early reversals and refractory period after each cellular reversal. Moreover, the agent-based model predicts that predatory ripples speed up the swarm expansion into the prey region and keep individual M. xanthus cells in the prey region longer. These predictions are all quantitatively verified by experimental observations. The combination of statistical image analysis and agent-based modeling brings greater understanding of self-organizing patterns in M. xanthus and will be essential for further research on similar patterns in other microorganisms and higher organisms.

The following thesis outlines the current social and political situation surrounding organized crime violence in Mexico. Using Samuel P. Huntington’s Political Order in Changing Societies and regression analysis, the purpose is to highlight the lack of subnational data within Mexico. Political science and economic theories guide the reader to better understanding what types of policy change or reform may need to occur in Mexico’s future years.

The relationships between participation in structured leisure (SL) activities (e.g., sports, prosocial activities) and adolescent adjustment were investigated. SL activities have been associated with various developmental benefits but there has been a limited number of studies that have investigated the potential negative aspects of participation. Questionnaire data were collected from 210 boys and girls (between grades 10 and 12). Fourteen students participated in focus groups to obtain a phenomenological perspective on SL participation. Adjustment variables included a well-being composite (comprised of depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and life satisfaction), a school orientation composite (comprised of students levels of school involvement and their values regarding school), academic achievement, and self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. Three hypotheses were examined. First, it was predicted that there would be a curvilinear relationship between the extent of SL participation and the various adjustment variables. Second, aspects of play and leisure were expected to have moderating effects on the relationships between SL participation and outcomes. Third, aspects of perfectionism were hypothesized to play a moderating role on the relationship between SL and adolescent adjustment. <p>Although the present investigation yielded some insightful observations about participation in SL activities, the results provided no direct support for the hypotheses. Regression analyses indicated positive relationships between SL participation and self-oriented perfectionism, and SL participation and academic achievement. Negative relationships were found between the degree of playfulness in SL activities and socially prescribed perfectionism, and between academic achievement and global intrinsic leisure motivation. Notable focus group themes included a distinction between the fun experienced in SL activities and the fun experienced in nonstructured contexts, significant positive and negative experiences related to SL participation, and differences and similarities between the SL context and other contexts such as school. It is argued that leisure theory can contribute to a better understanding of the developmental implications of SL participation and that the relationship between SL participation and perfectionism merits further investigation.

There is no general aging process therefore should health efforts directed at elderly population based on each individual as a unique person with specific needs. When aging becomes a fact not generally decrease the lust and the desire to be active but it is perhaps more about the body's ability to keep up on what the head wants. Therefore the range of activities towards the elderly population requires some adjustment that can partly be achieved by taking some of the older people’s experiences. The purpose of this study was that by the older people’s experiences of organized activities in a social context to illustrate how they perceive their participation. A qualitative approach with narrative theory was used and the study’s empirical results are based on stories from four elderly women. The result highlights the older person’s ability to create meaning in the moment from a life course context. The results are presented in three themes, the physical, social and finite context, that together can be traced to three perspectives on the cultural learning needs of the older person. Activities can thus assume to bring further value and visibility to older peoples need for social and cultural interaction. Prominent in this study is the importance of seeing the older person as a learning individual, which places demands on the society and the development opportunities available to older people’s disposal.

The relationships between participation in structured leisure (SL) activities (e.g., sports, prosocial activities) and adolescent adjustment were investigated. SL activities have been associated with various developmental benefits but there has been a limited number of studies that have investigated the potential negative aspects of participation. Questionnaire data were collected from 210 boys and girls (between grades 10 and 12). Fourteen students participated in focus groups to obtain a phenomenological perspective on SL participation. Adjustment variables included a well-being composite (comprised of depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and life satisfaction), a school orientation composite (comprised of students levels of school involvement and their values regarding school), academic achievement, and self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. Three hypotheses were examined. First, it was predicted that there would be a curvilinear relationship between the extent of SL participation and the various adjustment variables. Second, aspects of play and leisure were expected to have moderating effects on the relationships between SL participation and outcomes. Third, aspects of perfectionism were hypothesized to play a moderating role on the relationship between SL and adolescent adjustment. <p>Although the present investigation yielded some insightful observations about participation in SL activities, the results provided no direct support for the hypotheses. Regression analyses indicated positive relationships between SL participation and self-oriented perfectionism, and SL participation and academic achievement. Negative relationships were found between the degree of playfulness in SL activities and socially prescribed perfectionism, and between academic achievement and global intrinsic leisure motivation. Notable focus group themes included a distinction between the fun experienced in SL activities and the fun experienced in nonstructured contexts, significant positive and negative experiences related to SL participation, and differences and similarities between the SL context and other contexts such as school. It is argued that leisure theory can contribute to a better understanding of the developmental implications of SL participation and that the relationship between SL participation and perfectionism merits further investigation.

A series of immiscible crystalline-crystalline diblock copolymers, poly(ethylene oxide)-b-(£`-caprolactone) (PEO-b-PCL), were synthesized through ring-opening polymerization and then blended with phenolic resin. FT-IR analyses provide that the ether group of PEO is a stronger hydrogen bond acceptor than the carbonyl group of PCL with the hydroxyl group of phenolic. Phenolic after curing with hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) results in the excluded and confined PCL phase based on differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) analyses. This effect leads to the formation of a variety of composition-dependent nanostructures, including disorder, gyroid and short cylinder. The self-organized mesoporous phenolic resin was only found at 40~60 wt% phenolic content by intriguing balance of the contents of phenolic, PEO, and PCL. In addition, the mesoporous structure was destroyed with the increasing the ratio of PCL to PEO in block copolymers by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. In addition, the large and long-range order of bicontinuous gyroid-type mesoporous carbon was obtained from mesoporous gyroid phenolic resin calcined at 800 ¢XC under nitrogen.

The objective of this thesis was to research and gain knowledge about people involved in organized crime in Sweden. By conducting interviews we were able to analyze what factors played a role in an individual's choice to become a member of a criminal gang, as well as to gain an overall picture of these people. The qualitative research was carried out in three different cities in Sweden. Three people, aged between 30 and 60, who are currently members of a gang, were interviewed. In these interviews they shared their life stories in terms of childhood, youth, gang involvement as well as their hopes for the future. The results were then further analyzed to explore any similarities and differences among the participating individuals. Furthermore, these results were then compared with previous research on the topic, as well as different theories. We were  able to conclude several common trends in the experiences of the interviewed people despite all of them being unique. Among other findings, we could see that theories regarding risk factors for criminal development were mostly coherent with that of the interviewees. Risk factors can be segregated into the individual level, family level, peer level, school level and community level. Research on risk factors were shown to match the interviewees' life stories quite well. Some of the common factors were that two of the people who were interviewed came from broken family relationships, all three described themselves as drawn to peer groups seeking excitement, and all three said that their time at school was characterized by violence. All the people interviewed are active members of a gang because it "suited their needs. They all noted, however, that a disadvantage of this lifestyle is that it comes with a lot of stress, especially the fight against the judiciary. It was clear to all three people that they find it difficult to obey the law and that it would be difficult to leave the criminal underworld completely. This means that chronic criminality, as well as other behavior, is the result of habits that are fundamentally difficult to break.

There was raised the hypothrsis in the masters work that the command work and the organized climate are well-disposed and a special manageable intervention are not required at the investigatory Enterpryse. The aim of the research is to investigate the command work and the organized climate matter at the chosen Entherprise using two standard tests: the Standard test „Team Puls“ created by Germans and the test of the organization climatecrisis which is being created by prophesors G. Merkys scientific group.

This study consists of a qualitative analysis on the subject of human trafficking in Canada. It is intended to explore the steps that have been taken to address the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementary Legislation to the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000c), also known as the Palermo Protocol, and examine Canada’s commitment to changing the international and domestic context in which human trafficking takes place. Through exploration of Canadian legislation, literature and prosecutions presented in Canadian courts between January 2005 and December 2011, this research aims to establish whether Canada has shown a commitment to ending and preventing the problem of human trafficking that is consistent with the Recommended Guidelines published by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (2002). A nominal coding scheme was used to show in basic terms the level of commitment Canada is showing toward combating the issue of human trafficking, both internationally and domestically. Results indicate that while Canada has met minimum standards by implementing anti-trafficking legislation in 2005 which is consistent with the Palermo Protocol, the country is falling short of commitments to combat human trafficking due to inadequate victim protection measures, lack of standardized data collection procedures and insufficient efforts to combat and prevent the root causes of trafficking.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-160). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.