This thesis addresses the question of who votes in Africa and why. It uses three sets of quantitative data at three different levels to test its claims: an original compilation of national level institutional and socioeconomic indicators for over 700 elections from independence until 2006 compiled by the author; the Afrobarometer survey of almost 50 000 voters in 17 multiparty African regimes; and the first ever purpose-built survey aimed at testing rational choice turnout models in an African case study, which was designed, administered and analysed by the author in 2005 in Durban, South Africa. It uses a mixture of statistical methods to test comprehensively the determinants of voting in pooled and multilevel, logistic and linear, individual and national level models. It finds that the central claims of the rational choice model do not generally apply in African elections. Both the closeness of the election and the costs of participation are not found to be central to the voting calculus of African voters. Instead those citizens who face the highest barriers to participation in the West: the rural, poor and minimally educated, are the citizens who vote most in Africa. The thesis argues that this is because turnout in Africa is mobilised turnout and these are the groups of people targeted by mobilising agents. It further finds that three central institutions of African politics; ethnicity, clientelism and regime type further structure patterns of mobilisation in ways that have been entirely neglected in studies of turnout until now. Finally, it confirms that voting is habitual and that voters are socialised by formative experiences in their youth, especially the nature of the regime that they grow up in and how democratic they think the country is.

The objectives of this investigation were to develop, implement, and determine the effects of rational behavior therapy for residents in a retirement community. The question addressed was, "Will rational behavior therapy, relative to a discussion group and control group, exhibit significant changes in level of rational thinking and depression?" Drawing upon a cognitive theory of depression relevant to the aged population and upon rational behavior therapy literature, it was hypothesized that short-term rational behavior therapy intervention would be significantly related to a modification of belief systems and a decrease in depression. The participants were residents of two retirement communities. There were 25 subjects who completed the study through posttest assessment. These subjects were randomly assigned to three groups and assessed at pretest, posttest, and follow-up. The experimental group did not experience the hypothesized significant increase in level of rational thinking and decrease in level of depression. Possible explanations are given for lack of expected effects. Overall, the discussion group had more significant increases in rational thinking than the experimental and control groups.

[pt] O trabalho se destina a elucidar os motivos pelos quais Kant postula, na Crítica da Razão Pura, a tese de que os juízos infinitos da forma S é não-P não se reduzem aos afirmativos da forma S é P e nem aos negativos da forma S não é P. A distinção não parece se sustentar na abordagem extensional que é própria da Lógica Geral, uma vez que a equivalência entre juízos infinitos e negativos se revela incontornável. O método adotado segue as advertências dadas pelo próprio Kant e consiste em localizar algum passo da argumentação desenvolvida na Dialética Transcendental onde esta forma judicativa desempenhe um papel exclusivo e imprescindível. Duas hipóteses são examinadas. A primeira é que os juízos infinitos têm papel essencial na formulação e na solução da Primeira Antinomia da Razão Pura. A segunda é que têm função na formulação do Princípio da Determinação Completa, o qual é suscitado a pretexto de se elucidar o Ideal Transcendental da Razão Pura. Esta segunda hipótese se mostrará de fato a solução do nosso problema, mas terá repercussões sérias na interpretação de toda Crítica da Razão Pura, sobretudo ao pressupor um aspecto intensional da predicação que, no geral, tem sido desconsiderado e, por vezes, até mesmo recusado pelo comentário da filosofia de Kant. / [en] The task of this work is explaining why Kant claims in Critique of Pure Reason that infinite judgments of the form S is not-P are not reducible to the affirmative ones of the form S is P nor to the negative ones of the form S is not P The distinction does not seem justifiable in the extensional approach that is proper of General Logic, since the equivalence between infinite and negative judgments ends up to be inevitable. We adopt a method that is suggested by Kant s advices, which consists in looking for some moment in the discussion of Transcendental Dialectic where this form of judgment plays an exclusive and indispensable role. Two hypotheses are examined. The first one is that infinite judgments have an essential role in the formulation and in the solution of the First Antinomy of Pure Reason. The second one is that they have function in the formulation of the Principle of Complete Determination, which is mentioned in order to explain the Transcendental Ideal of Pure Reason. Actually, this second hypothesis will show up as the solution for our problem, but also will have strong repercussions at the interpretation of the whole Critique of Pure Reason, especially for presupposing an intensional aspect of predication that generally has been ignored and sometimes denied by Kantian philosophy s commentators.

Ações que influenciam a redução do consumo de água em edifícios têm sido implementadas, de forma generalizada, principalmente nos grandes centros urbanos, onde a escassez de água é uma realidade, quer seja por causas naturais, pelo aumento da demanda provocado pelo crescimento populacional ou por ambas as causas. Com o objetivo de sistematizar um Programa de Uso Racional da Água - PURA, para ser implantado em edifícios, foi desenvolvida uma metodologia cuja premissa básica é o conhecimento das características físicas e funcionais do sistema para o planejamento de ações mais eficientes de redução do consumo de água a serem implementadas e avaliadas. Assim, a metodologia foi estruturada em quatro etapas principais:auditoria do consumo de água, diagnóstico, plano de intervenção e avaliação do impacto de redução e, ainda com a recomendação de controle permanente do consumo de água como condição de estabilizar as reduções alcançadas. Ressalta-se que o planode intervenção enfatiza as ações tecnológicas e, dentre elas, a detecção e correção de vazamentos e substituição de sistemas e componentes convencionais por economizadores de água. Finalmente, a metodologia foi aplicada a duas tipologias de edifício - um hospital e uma escola. Os resultados obtidos foram bastante satisfatórios e mostraram que os níveis de consumo de água atuais podem ser diminuídos mantendo o desempenho do sistema e o grau de satisfação dos usuários, reduzindo os valores das contas de água e, além disso, contribuindo para a conservação dos recursos hídricos. / Actions that influence the reduction of water consumption within buildings have been implemented, a general way, mainly in big urban centers, where the scarcity of water is a reality due to nature reasons, increasing of water demand or both causes. With the objective to organize a Water Conservation Program to be implanted in buildings, a methodology was developed. Its basic premise is the knowledge of physical and functional characteristics of the system in order to plan more efficient actions towards the water consumption reduction that will be implemented and evaluated. Thus, the methodology was structured in four stages: water consumption audit, diagnosis, interventioning plan and impact reduction evaluation and with the recommendation of the necessity to control the water consumption as a condition to conserve the reductions gotten. It is important to stress the technological actions, such as leak detection and correction and the replacement of conventional components for saver ones. Finally, the methodology was applied in two typologies of building - first one in a hospital and second one in a school. The results were really satisfactory. They show that the present water consumption levels can be decreased maintaining the system performance and the satisfaction of the users, the reducing of the water bills and moreover contributing to the fresh water resources conservation.T

The Ehrhart function L_P(t) of a polytope P is defined to be the number of integer points in the dilated polytope tP. Classical Ehrhart theory is mainly concerned with integer values of t; in this master thesis, we focus on how the Ehrhart function behaves when the parameter t is allowed to be an arbitrary real number. There are three main results concerning this behavior in this thesis. Some rational polytopes (like the unit cube [0, 1]^d) only gain integer points when the dilation parameter t is an integer, so that computing L_P(t) yields the same integer point count than L_P(t). We call them semi-reflexive polytopes. The first result is a characterization of these polytopes in terms of the hyperplanes that bound them. The second result is related to the Ehrhart theorem. In the classical setting, the Ehrhart theorem states that L_P(t) will be a quasipolynomial whenever P is a rational polytope. This is also known to be true with real dilation parameters; we obtained a new proof of this fact starting from the chraracterization mentioned above. The third result is about how the real Ehrhart function behaves with respect to translation in this new setting. It is known that the classical Ehrhart function is invariant under integer translations. This is far from true for the real Ehrhart function: not only there are infinitely many different functions L_{P + w}(t) (for integer w), but under certain conditions the collection of these functions identifies P uniquely. / A função de Ehrhart L_P(t) de um politopo P é definida como sendo o número de pontos com coordenadas inteiras no politopo dilatado tP. A teoria de Ehrhart clássica lida principalmente com valores inteiros de t; esta dissertação de mestrado foca em como a função de Ehrhart se comporta quando permitimos que o parâmetro t seja um número real arbitrário. São três os resultados principais desta dissertação a respeito deste comportamento. Alguns politopos racionais (como o cubo unitário [0, 1]^d) apenas ganham pontos inteiros quando o parâmetro de dilatação t é um inteiro, de tal forma que computar L_P(t) devolve a mesma contagem de pontos que L_P(t). Eles são chamados de politopos semi-reflexivos. O primeiro resultado desta dissertação é uma caracterização destes politopos em termos de suas descrições como interseção de semi-espaços. O segundo resultado é relacionado ao teorema de Ehrhart. No contexto clássico, o teorema de Ehrhart afirma que L_P(t) será um quasi-polinômio sempre que P for um politopo racional. Sabe-se que este teorema generaliza para parâmetros reais de dilatação; nesta dissertação é apresentada uma nova demonstração deste fato, baseada na caracterização mencionada acima. O terceiro resultado é sobre como a função real de Ehrhart se comporta com respeito à translação neste novo contexto. Sabe-se que a função de Ehrhart clássica é invariante sob translações por vetores com coordenadas inteiras. Por outro lado, a função real de Ehrhart está bem longe de ser invariante: não só existem infinitas funções L_{P + w}(t) distintas, mas também, sob certas condições, esta coleção de funções identifica P unicamente.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-111).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-111). Also available in print.

There is a scarcity of objective criteria upon which to select among the available therapies for those most likely to benefit specific patients. Comparative research has suggested that the outcomes of alternative and competitive therapies are equivalent. There are few facts available concerning which patients benefit most from even the more popular therapies. The purpose of this study was to find a type of patient for which differential improvement could be predicted. Neither therapy decreased checklist scores or increased speaking time significantly more than the other. Repressors and sensitizers responded equally to therapy. When dropout rates were analyzed there were also no significant differences between the therapies or between repressors and sensitizers. When posttherapy scores from both therapies were compared to pretherapy scores, no significant changes were found. The latter finding was important for understanding the absence of support for the hypotheses. Since the subjects did not improve as a result of either desensitization or rational-emotive therapy, there was no opportunity to observe the hypothesized differential changes. Given this hindsight, it was concluded that speech anxiety may not be a desirable disorder with which to study the prediction that repression-sensitization is related to the outcome of rational-emotive therapy and desensitization. It was recommended that future research of this relationship utilize a disorder for which therapeutic effectiveness is more firmly established.

Ações que influenciam a redução do consumo de água em edifícios têm sido implementadas, de forma generalizada, principalmente nos grandes centros urbanos, onde a escassez de água é uma realidade, quer seja por causas naturais, pelo aumento da demanda provocado pelo crescimento populacional ou por ambas as causas. Com o objetivo de sistematizar um Programa de Uso Racional da Água - PURA, para ser implantado em edifícios, foi desenvolvida uma metodologia cuja premissa básica é o conhecimento das características físicas e funcionais do sistema para o planejamento de ações mais eficientes de redução do consumo de água a serem implementadas e avaliadas. Assim, a metodologia foi estruturada em quatro etapas principais:auditoria do consumo de água, diagnóstico, plano de intervenção e avaliação do impacto de redução e, ainda com a recomendação de controle permanente do consumo de água como condição de estabilizar as reduções alcançadas. Ressalta-se que o planode intervenção enfatiza as ações tecnológicas e, dentre elas, a detecção e correção de vazamentos e substituição de sistemas e componentes convencionais por economizadores de água. Finalmente, a metodologia foi aplicada a duas tipologias de edifício - um hospital e uma escola. Os resultados obtidos foram bastante satisfatórios e mostraram que os níveis de consumo de água atuais podem ser diminuídos mantendo o desempenho do sistema e o grau de satisfação dos usuários, reduzindo os valores das contas de água e, além disso, contribuindo para a conservação dos recursos hídricos. / Actions that influence the reduction of water consumption within buildings have been implemented, a general way, mainly in big urban centers, where the scarcity of water is a reality due to nature reasons, increasing of water demand or both causes. With the objective to organize a Water Conservation Program to be implanted in buildings, a methodology was developed. Its basic premise is the knowledge of physical and functional characteristics of the system in order to plan more efficient actions towards the water consumption reduction that will be implemented and evaluated. Thus, the methodology was structured in four stages: water consumption audit, diagnosis, interventioning plan and impact reduction evaluation and with the recommendation of the necessity to control the water consumption as a condition to conserve the reductions gotten. It is important to stress the technological actions, such as leak detection and correction and the replacement of conventional components for saver ones. Finally, the methodology was applied in two typologies of building - first one in a hospital and second one in a school. The results were really satisfactory. They show that the present water consumption levels can be decreased maintaining the system performance and the satisfaction of the users, the reducing of the water bills and moreover contributing to the fresh water resources conservation.T