Rather than being randomly wired together, the components of complex network systems are recently reported to represent a scale-free architecture, in which the node degree distribution follows power-law. While social networks are scale-free, it is natural to utilize their structural properties in some social network applications. As a result, this dissertation explores social network architectures, and in turn, leverages these architectures to facilitate some influence and information propagation applications. Social network architectures are analyzed in two different aspects. The first aspect focuses on the node degree snowballing effects (i.e., degree growth effects) in social networks, which is based on an age-sensitive preferential attachment model. The impact of the initial links is explored, in terms of accelerating the node degree snowballing effects. The second aspect focuses on Nested Scale-Free Architectures (NSFAs) for social networks. The scale-free architecture is a classic concept, which means that the node degree distribution follows the power-law distribution. `Nested' indicates that the scale-free architecture is preserved when low-degree nodes and their associated connections are iteratively removed. NSFA has a bounded hierarchy. Based on the social network structure, this dissertation explores two influence propagation applications for the Social Influence Maximization Problem (SIMP). The first application is a friend recommendation strategy with the perspective of social influence maximization. For the system provider, the objective is to recommend a fixed number of new friends to a given user, such that the given user can maximize his/her social influence through making new friends. This problem is proved to be NP-hard by reduction from the SIMP. A greedy friend recommendation algorithm with an approximation ratio of $1-e^{-1}$ is proposed. The second application studies the SIMP with the crowd influence, which is NP-hard, monotone, non-submodular, and inapproximable in general graphs. However, since user connections in Online Social Networks (OSNs) are not random, approximations can be obtained by leveraging the structural properties of OSNs. The modularity, denoted by $\Delta$, is proposed to measure to what degree this problem violates the submodularity. Two approximation algorithms are proposed with ratios of $\frac{1}{\Delta+2}$ and $1-e^{-1/(\Delta+1)}$, respectively. Beside the influence propagation applications, this dissertation further explores three different information propagation applications. The first application is a social network quarantine strategy, which can eliminate epidemic outbreaks with minimal isolation costs. This problem is NP-hard. An approximation algorithm with a ratio of 2 is proposed through utilizing the problem properties of feasibility and minimality. The second application is a rating prediction scheme, called DynFluid, based on the fluid dynamics. DynFluid analogizes the rating reference among the users in OSNs to the fluid flow among containers. The third application is an information cascade prediction framework: given the social current cascade and social topology, the number of propagated users at a future time slot is predicted. To reduce prediction time complexities, the spatiotemporal cascade information (a larger size of data) is decomposed to user characteristics (a smaller size of data) for subsequent predictions. All these three applications are based on the social network structure. / Computer and Information Science

Preferential flow paths are areas of substantially higher permeability than surrounding media. Macropores and soil pipes are a type of preferential flow path where conduit-like voids in the subsurface are typically greater than three millimeters in diameter. They are known to occur in agricultural and forest soils, often as a result of biological and physical processes. Macropores also exist in stream banks and have the potential to enhance the exchange of water and solutes between the channel and riparian groundwater, yet the geographic distribution of bank macropores is unknown. Here we determined the abundance, distribution, and geometry of naturally occurring surface-connected macropores in the banks of 20 streams across five physiographic provinces in the Eastern United States. We identified a total of 1,748 macropores, which were present in all 20 streams, with 3.8 cm average width, 3.3 cm average height, 11.5 cm average depth, and 27.9 cm average height above water surface elevation. Macropore abundance, distribution and geometry were statistically different between physiographic provinces, stream orders, and soil textures, with the latter being the most important. Macropores tended to be larger and more abundant in soils with a high cohesiveness and a low hydraulic conductivity compared to soils with a low cohesiveness and high hydraulic conductivity. As a result, streams with greater longitudinal heterogeneity of soil texture also had greater heterogeneity of macropore density. However, macropore size and height above baseflow water surface elevation also increased with stream order and therefore stream size. This work represents the first attempt to characterize macropores across a variety of riverine systems and presents evidence that macropores may play an important role in hyporheic exchange within stream banks. These results may have water quality implications, where macropores may enhance hyporheic exchange yet reduce the filtering capacity of riparian buffer zones. / MS / Preferential flow paths are soil cavities or areas of highly permeable porous media surrounded by media with a significantly lower permeability. Macropores are a type of preferential flow path where conduit-like voids in the subsurface are typically greater than three millimeters in diameter. Their formation is often the result of biological processes, such as animal burrows and plant roots, erosive action in subsurface flow, or cracks in the soil, and can enable rapid movement of water. Macropores are known to exist in stream banks and have the potential to enhance the exchange of water and solutes between the stream channel and riparian groundwater, yet the geographic distribution of bank macropores is unknown. This research examines the distribution, abundance, and geometry of naturally occurring macropores in the banks of 20 streams across five physiographic provinces in the eastern United States. Macropores were present in all 20 streams despite variations in physiographic province, stream order, and soil texture. However, soil texture appeared to have the greatest influence on the distribution, abundance, and geometry of macropores. For example, soils primarily containing silt and clay had more macropores than soils consisting of sand or gravel. We suspect this is due to differences in soil cohesiveness and/or hydraulic conductivity. This work represents the first attempt to characterize macropores across a variety of riverine systems and presents evidence that macropores may play an important role in surface water and groundwater exchange within stream banks. These results may have water quality implications, for example, how macropores affect the pollutant filtering capacity of riparian buffer zones.

In this dissertation I shall give a brief historical survey of Black Theology and the African Independent Churches (AI Cs). The study focuses mainly to the developments of the two trends in South Africa. This was done after realising that Black Theologians often ignored the history of Black people, including that of the AI Cs which has in the end stymied their efforts. The immediate effects were negative in that little results were produced. ATCs and Black Theology have interesting histories which complement each another. I will present the current state of affairs and give some guidelines on how the future debate can be carried out. The two theological trends have weaknesses and strengths which are clearly identifiable. In chapter four I give guidelines for future debates and possible new developments. This study is also carried out to expand the scope of dialogue and constructive debate among the two. / Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

La libéralisation des échanges a fait augmenter les richesses, mais en réalité, elles se sont concentrées dans les pays développés. La question de la distribution plus équitable des richesses s'est rapidement posée. Le système GATT/OMC a joué un rôle décisif dans la libéralisation des échanges et dans l'articulation des rapports entre les pays développés et les pays en développement (PED). L'émergence et l'incarnation juridique dans le système GATT/OMC d'un principe de justice distributive passe par l'évolution du traitement spécial et différencié (TSD). Sous le GATT, le TSD s'est d'abord manifesté par l'article XVIII et la Partie IV du GATT de 1947, la Clause d'habilitation et le Système de préférences de 1971. Le TSD ainsi proposé appartenait essentiellement à la sof law et a échoué dans sa tentative d'intégrer les PED au système SCM. Sous l'OMC, le TSD a changé de paradigme et de mandat. Le TSD est passé d'un outil voué à mettre au développement des PED à un mécanisme employé à aider les PED à mettre en œuvre les nouvelles politiques de libéralisation découlant des accords de l'OMC. Les dispositions TSD seront alors dispersées dans l'ensemble des accords de l'OMC, mais sans jamais transcender la forme «soft law» qui les caractérisait sous le GATT. L'échec de la Conférence de Seattle, en 1999, engendrera le «Programme de Doha pour le développement», en 2001. La Déclaration de Doha était alors perçue comme l'incarnation de la transformation de l'OMC en organisation qui se préoccupe désormais de justice distributive. En observant de près le texte de la Déclaration de Doha et en analysant sa valeur juridique, on ne constate pas de progrès significatifs. Encore une fois, les mesures proposées le sont sous forme de déclarations d'intention et de promesses, voire d'engagement à négocier. Actuellement, le Cycle de Doha tarde à aboutir et tout nous porte à croire que l'avènement de l'OMC n'a pas concrétisé la volonté des PED d'une répartition plus équitable des richesses. / Developed Countries are the main beneficiaries of Economic liberalism and reductions of tariffs. The GATT/WTO System played a key role in the global economic growth and in the re1ationship between Deve10ping Countries and Developed Countries. In the GATT/WOT System, the legal translation of Distributive Justice is represented by Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) in favour of Developing Countries. During the GATT (1947-1994), the most important SDT provisions were Article XVIII and Part IV of the 1947 GATT, the Enabling Clause and the Generalized Preferential System of 1971. Notwithstanding the GATT'S efforts, the STD was not efficient enough to he1p the situation of Developing Countries and was mostly considered as Soft Law. Under the WTO, the STD evolved and his mandate was modified. In fact, the STD became a tool to he1p Deve10ping Countries adopted the new WTO obligations, rather than being a tool for deve1opment. It is true that STD Measures during the Uruguay Round were spread through all of the Uruguay Round's Acts, but they never succeeded in coming out of the Soft Law stage. Following the Seattle Conference held in 1999, the WTO Members adopted the Doha Declaration and named the new Round of negotiation the «Doha Deve10pment Round». Initially, the Doha Declaration was perceived as a transformation of the WTO in a Distributive Organization. Rapidly, after studying the Round's Texts, it became obvious that, although the WTO had shown some openness towards Developing Countries' preoccupations and Distributive Justice, the Doha Declaration was in the direct continuity of the GATT. The SDT dispositions at Doha were still part of Soft Law and were mostly undertakings to negotiate in the future. At the present time, the Doha Program for Development is indefinite1y suspended. So far, the Doha Round did not meet the Deve10ping Countries' Expectations.

The transport of nutrients in forest soils predominantly occurs along preferential flow pathways (PFP). This study investigated the composition of phosphorus (P) forms in PFPs and soil matrix in several temperate beech forests with contrasting soil P contents in Germany. The PFPs were visualized using dye tracer experiments. Stained and unstained soil was sampled from three profile cuts per plot and analyzed for P fractions. The results show that labile P concentrations were highest in the O-layer and had the same range of values at all sites (240–320 mg·kg−1), although total P (TP) differed considerably (530–2330 mg·kg−1). The ratio of labile P to TP was significantly lower in the P-rich soil compared to the medium and P-poor soils. By contrast, the ratio of moderately labile P to TP was highest at the P-rich site. The shifts in P fractions with soil depth were generally gradual in the P-rich soil, but more abrupt at the others. The contents of labile and moderately labile P clearly differed in PFPs compared to soil matrix, but not statistically significant. The studied soils are characterized by high stone contents with low potential for P sorption. However, indications were found that labile organically bound P accumulates in PFPs such as biopores.

Protein structure models obtained from X-ray crystallography are subject to radiation damage. The resulting specific alterations to protein structures can be mistaken for biological features, or may obscure actual protein mechanisms, leading to misidentification or obscuration of biological insight. The radiation chemistry behind this site-specific damage is not well understood. Radiation damage processes progress in proportion to the dose absorbed by the crystal in the diffraction experiment. Doses can be estimated using existing software, but these assume idealised experimental conditions. To simulate complex diffraction experiments, including treatment of imperfect X-ray beam profiles and inhomogeneous dose distributions, a new program, RADDOSE-3D, was developed. RADDOSE-3D can be integrated into beamline software to provide convenient, more accurate, comparative, and publishable dose figures, also facilitating informed data collection decisions. There is currently no method to automatically detect specific radiation damage in protein structure models in the absence of an 'undamaged' reference model. Radiation damage research therefore generally relies on detailed observation of a few model proteins. A new metric, B_Damage, is designed and used to identify and quantify specific radiation damage in the first large-scale statistical survey of 2,704 published protein models, which are examined for the effects of local environments on site-specific radiation damage susceptibility. A significant positive correlation between susceptibility and solvent accessibility is identified. Current understanding of radiation damage progression is mostly based on a few consecutive structure model 'snapshots' at coarse dose intervals. The low sampling rate considerably limits the ability to identify varying site susceptibility and its causes. Real space electron density data are obtained for crystals of different mutants of a RhoGDI protein with very high sequence identity, to determine sensitising and stabilising factors for radiation induced structural changes. Utilising a newly developed data collection and analysis protocol, these changes could be tracked with unprecedented time resolution.

Dans la continuité des travaux de Doney et Cannon (1997), Morgan et Hunt (1994) et Sirdeshmukh et al (2002), cette recherche se propose de tester un modèle structurel intégrateur de la confiance, de ses antécédents et conséquences, appliqué au contexte de la relation banque-client en Tunisie. Ce modèle cherche à mesurer l’effet des facettes institutionnelle et interpersonnelle de la confiance sur l’orientation long terme du client, et ce pour deux structures de gouvernance (publique et privée). Les résultats de la recherche confirment les partis pris conceptuels. Ils valident la structure de la confiance en tant que construit à deux facettes (institutionnelle et interpersonnelle) et trois dimensions (compétence, intégrité et bienveillance). Les effets anticipés sur l’engagement s’avèrent, par contre, contrastés par rapport à ceux révélés dans des recherches antérieures. Ils donnent aux aspects interpersonnels (confiance interpersonnelle et traitement préférentiel) et affectifs (satisfaction) de la relation un poids particulier par rapport aux aspects institutionnels (confiance institutionnelle et valeur perçue) dont les effets s’avèrent faibles, surtout dans la banque publique. Contrairement aux contextes européens et nord américains, la dimension sociale de l’échange s’avère déterminante en matière de construction de relations de confiance dans le contexte tunisien. Les résultats témoignent de l’encastrement de la relation bancaire dans le réseau des connaissances personnelles des individus et mettent en avant l’importance des liens faible, au sens de Granovetter, dans l’engagement du client. / In the continuity of the work of Doney and Cannon (1997), Morgan and Hunt (1994) and Sirdeshmukh and al (2002), this research tests a structural model integrating trust, its antecedents and consequences in the context of bank-client relationship in Tunisia. This model seeks to measure the effect of institutional and interpersonal facets of trust on the commitment of the client in his relationship with his bank, and this for two structures of governance (public and private). Research results confirm the conceptual bias, and validate the structure of trust as a two-facet (institutional and interpersonal) and three-dimensional (competence, integrity and benevolence) construct. The anticipated effects on commitment are, in contradiction, contrasting compared to those revealed in previous studies. They accord a particular interest to interpersonal (trust and preferential treatment) and affective (satisfaction) aspects of the relation vis–a-vis institutional aspects whose effects proved to be weak. In contrast to European and North American cultures, the social dimension of trade is crucial in building trust in the Tunisian context. The results demonstrate the embeddedness of the banking relationship in to the network of individuals and they underline the strength of weak ties, as apprehended by Granovetter, in the commitment of the client.

Pendant près d’un siècle, le problème récurant du Nigeria a été comment protéger et promouvoir les intérêts des communautés qui y sont représentées. Pour cela, plusieurs mécanismes ont été introduits. Cela inclut le Principe du Caractère Fédéral, qui constitue le fondement du système fédéral consociatif du Nigeria. Pourtant, son efficacité a constamment été remise en question par les inégalités régionales et les effets pervers qui découlent de son application. On constate les mêmes contraintes dans d’autres pays pratiquant d’autres variantes du traitement préférentiel. Malgré les différences culturelles, idéologiques ou institutionnelles, il semble que le renforcement de la politique éducative aux niveaux primaire et secondaire en faveur des bénéficiaires potentiels des politiques de traitement préférentiel soit la pièce maitresse pour assurer la réduction des inégalités horizontales. / For close to a century, the perennial problem that has bedeviled Nigeria has been how to ensure the protection and the promotion of the interests of its various communities. Successive governments have introduced several mechanisms to this end. They include the Federal Character Principle, which constitutes the bedrock of the Nigerian consociative federal arrangement. Nevertheless, persistent regional inequalities and the pervasive side effects of the various strategies have constantly cast a doubt on the efficacy the Federal Character Principle. A similar trend is visible in other countries that are practicing other versions of preferential treatment policies. It appears that to achieve a meaningful reduction of horizontal inequalities, irrespective of cultural, ideological or institutional settings, the most viable option remains sound educational policies at the primary and secondary school levels in favour of potential beneficiaries of preferential treatments.

Acquisition of shares by employees of a joint stock company This master thesis analyses the regulation of acquisition of shares by employees of a joint stock company. The purpose of this study is to introduce in detail the grounds for individual methods by which joint stock companies can in accordance with Business Corporations Act allow their employees to acquire their shares under preferential terms and to point out provisions, where Czech legislation may not be in accordance with requirements of European legislation, in case such provisions would be identified. The legal regulation is interpreted via descriptive and analytical methods. Except for the introductory part and the conclusion, the thesis is systematically divided into three chapters. The first chapter deals with acquisition of own shares, as it bases a condition for one the methods by which employees of the joint stock companies may acquire shares of these companies under preferential conditions. Acquisition of own shares can have significant impact on some of the basic principles of European joint stock companies' regulation. This is one the main reasons inflicting detailed and extensive regulation of Acquisition of own shares on European level. This is reflected by larger scope of this chapter. Second chapter represents a...

Le problème de représentation automatique de la signification logique des énoncés ambigus en langage naturel a suscité l'intérêt des chercheurs dans le domaine de la sémantique computationnelle et de la logique. L'ambiguïté dans le langage naturel peut se manifester au niveau lexical / syntaxique / sémantique de la construction de sens, ou elle peut être causée par d'autres facteurs tels que la grammaticalité et le manque de contexte dans lequel la phrase est effectivement prononcée. L'approche traditionnelle Montagovienne ainsi que ses extensions modernes ont tenté de capturer ce phénomène en fournissant quelques modèles qui permettent la génération automatique de formules logiques. Cependant, il existe un axe de recherche qui n'est pas encore profondément étudié: classer les interprétations d'énoncés ambigus en fonction des préférences réelles des utilisateurs de la langue. Ce manque suggère une nouvelle direction d'étude qui est partiellement explorée dans ce mémoire en modélisant des préférences de sens en alignement avec certaines des théories de performance préférentielles humaines bien étudiées disponibles dans la littérature linguistique et psycholinguistique.Afin d'atteindre cet objectif, nous suggérons d'utiliser / d'étendre les Grammaires catégorielles pour notre analyse syntaxique et les Réseaux catégoriels de preuve comme notre analyse syntaxique. Nous utilisons également le Lexique Génératif Montagovien pour dériver une formule logique multi-triée comme notre représentation de signification sémantique. Cela ouvrirait la voie à nos contributions à cinq volets, à savoir, (i) le classement de la portée du quantificateur multiple au moyen de l'opérateur epsilon de Hilbert sous-spécifié et des réseaux de preuve catégoriels; (ii) modéliser la gradation sémantique dans les phrases qui ont des coercitions implicites dans leurs significations. Nous utilisons un cadre appelé Montagovian Generative Lexicon. Notre tâche est d'introduire une procédure pour incorporer des types et des coercitions en utilisant des données lexicales produites par externalisation ouverte qui sont recueillies par un jeu sérieux appelé JeuxDeMots; (iii) l'introduction de nouvelles métriques sensibles au référent basées sur la localité pour mesurer la complexité linguistique au moyen de réseaux de preuve catégoriels; (iv) l'introduction d'algorithmes pour l'achèvement des phrases avec différentes mesures linguistiquement motivées pour sélectionner les meilleurs candidats; (v)l'intégration de différentes métriques de calcul pour les préférences de classement afin de faire d'elles un modèle unique. / The problem of automatic logical meaning representation for ambiguous natural language utterances has been the subject of interest among the researchers in the domain of computational and logical semantics. Ambiguity in natural language may be caused in lexical/syntactical/semantical level of the meaning construction or it may be caused by other factors such as ungrammaticality and lack of the context in which the sentence is actually uttered. The traditional Montagovian framework and the family of its modern extensions have tried to capture this phenomenon by providing some models that enable the automatic generation of logical formulas as the meaning representation. However, there is a line of research which is not profoundly investigated yet: to rank the interpretations of ambiguous utterances based on the real preferences of the language users. This gap suggests a new direction for study which is partially carried out in this dissertation by modeling meaning preferences in alignment with some of the well-studied human preferential performance theories available in the linguistics and psycholinguistics literature.In order to fulfill this goal, we suggest to use/extend Categorial Grammars for our syntactical analysis and Categorial Proof Nets as our syntactic parse. We also use Montagovian Generative Lexicon for deriving multi-sorted logical formula as our semantical meaning representation. This would pave the way for our five-folded contributions, namely, (i) ranking the multiple-quantifier scoping by means of underspecified Hilbert's epsilon operator and categorial proof nets; (ii) modeling the semantic gradience in sentences that have implicit coercions in their meanings. We use a framework called Montagovian Generative Lexicon. Our task is introducing a procedure for incorporating types and coercions using crowd-sourced lexical data that is gathered by a serious game called JeuxDeMots; (iii) introducing a new locality-based referent-sensitive metrics for measuring linguistic complexity by means of Categorial Proof Nets; (iv) introducing algorithms for sentence completions with different linguistically motivated metrics to select the best candidates; (v) and finally integration of different computational metrics for ranking preferences in order to make them a unique model.