<p> </p><p>The world is experiencing yet another energy- and fuel predicament as oil prices are escalating to new hights. Alternative fuels are being promoted globally as the increasing gasoline prices trigger inflation. Basic food commodities are some of the goods hit by this inflation and the purpose of this thesis is to analyse whether the higher maize and sugar prices are having any effect on the expanding ethanol production. This thesis focuses on the two major crop inputs in ethanol production: maize (in the US) and sugar cane (in Brazil). Econometric tests using cross-sectional data were carried through to find the elasticities of the variables. The crops prices were tested against ethanol output using the log-linear model in several regressions to find a relationship. In addition, the output levels of the crops were tested using the same method. It was found that maize prices and output affects ethanol production. Sugar cane prices do not have any significant impact on ethanol production while sugar cane output has a small, yet significant relationhip with ethanol. Consequently, ethanol’s rise in the fuel market could be a result of increased maize input, rather than sugar.</p><p> </p> / <p>Dagens värld upplever ännu ett energi- och bränsle predikament när oljepriser eskalerar mot nya höjder. Alternativa bränslen marknadsförs globalt samtidigt som de stigande bensinpriserna stimulerar inflationen. Några av de varor som drabbas av denna inflation är grundläggande livsmedelsprodukter och syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera huruvida de högre priserna på majs och socker påverkar den expanderande etanolproduktionen. Uppsatsen fokuserar på de två stora grödor som används som insatsvaror vid framställningen av etanol: majs (i USA) och sockerrör (i Brasilien). Ekonometriska tester genomfördes för att erhålla variablernas elasticiteter med hjälp av den cross-sectional data som behandlades. Genom log-linear modellen utfördes det ett antal regressioner för att hitta ett samband mellan grödornas priser och etanolproduktionen. Därutöver genomfördes tester för att hitta sambandet mellan grödornas utbud och etanol med hjälp av samma modell. Det upptäcktes att både pris och utbudet av majs påverkar etanolproduktionen. Sockerrörspriser har ingen signifikant inverkan på etanolproduktionen medan utbudet av sockerrör har en signifikant, om än svag, relation till etanol. Följaktligen kan etanols tillväxt i  bränslemarknaden tolkas som ett resultat av en stigande majsinsats snarare än sockerinstats vid etanolframställningen.</p>

Older patients suffer from a greater number of medical morbidities, consume a greater number of prescribed medications, and report lower levels of quality of life than their younger counterparts. The objectives of this study were to determine whether there is 1) an association between medical morbidity and symptom burden or 2) an association between medication use and symptom burden. This was a cross-sectional study of the symptoms, medical morbidities, and medications reported by 159 community-dwelling male patients 65 years of age or older. Correlations were drawn using linear regression analysis. On average, the participants in this study suffered from 2.56 +/- 1.36 medical morbidities, were prescribed 7.91+/- 2.83 medications, and reported 3.17 symptoms at any severity. The results of this study demonstrated a direct correlation between number of medical morbidities and symptom burden (R2 = 0.94). Our study did not find a significant correlation between medication use and symptom burden (R2 = 0.20). The findings of this study suggest that the number of medical morbidities has a stronger negative impact on symptom burden than the number of medications used. Thus, when attempting to improve quality of life for older patients, physicians should focus on the treatment and alleviations of symptoms associated with medical morbidity.

Water has cultural and spiritual values to indigenous people. These beliefs expose them to unsafe water sources and make them vulnerable to waterborne diseases. This background is not taken into account when countries write their water legislations, therefor imposing a management of water not readily accepted by them. The Embera group is one of the indigenous groups from the Republic of Panama, who have strong water beliefs. They live along the shore of rivers in houses built on high stilts away from urban areas. The purpose of this cross-sectional community based study is to describe through a survey the relation between the water beliefs of Embera communities living inside the Chagres National Park and the health of women and children. A house to house visit was performed in two of the five Embera communities that reside inside the Chagres National Park to enroll them and complete the survey. Sixteen Embera households with 71 family members agreed to participate. Results showed that 18.5% were children under 5 years of age and 14.1% their corresponding mothers. One hundred percent of the households rely on rural aqueduct as their source of water, with no treatment performed to this water. Women that completed elementary school or had higher education level accounted for 53.4%. Analysis of frequency of more than three diarrheal episodes in children under 5 years of age with mother's education level and months of breastfeeding had no statistical significance (X2 of 1.935, p-value of >0.05; X2 of 0.258, p-value of >0.05). When the frequency of diarrheal episodes in women and their education level was analyzed a statistically significant association was found (X2 of 6.429, p-value of 0.011). Five (38.5%) out of 13 children under 5 years of age in these communities had complete immunization calendar for their ages, but 10 (76.9%) have completed immunization for Rotavirus. No deaths due to diarrhea were reported in any member of the household. Marginalization in this type of communities is frequent since they settle in vast areas far from access to safe roads, safe water, basic sanitation and health services. A similar study can be applied to the 5 communities living in the area to have a clear view of their water beliefs, diseases and needs in order to concentrate efforts to close any gaps.

Kyoto University (京都大学) / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(農学) / 甲第19043号 / 農博第2121号 / 新制||農||1032 / 31994 / 京都大学大学院農学研究科地域環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 縄田 栄治, 教授 田中 千尋, 教授 北島 宣 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当

In recent years, increasing attention has turned toward the effect of health information or health knowledge on nutrient intake. In determining the effect of health information on nutrient demand, researchers face the estimation problem of dealing with the endogeneity of health information knowledge. The standard approach for dealing with this problem is an instrumental variables (IV) procedure. Unfortunately, recent research has demonstrated that the IV procedure may not be reliable in the types of data sets that contain health information and nutrient intakes because the instruments are not sufficiently correlated with the endogenous variables (i.e., instruments are weak). This thesis compares the reliability of the IV procedure (and the Hausman test) with a relatively new procedure, directed graphs, given weak instruments. The goal is to determine if the method of directed graphs performs better in identifying an endogenous variable and also relevant instruments. The performance of the Hausman test and directed graphs are first assessed through conducting a Monte-Carlo sampling experiment containing weak instruments. Because the structure of the model is known in the Monte-Carlo experiment, these results are used as a guideline to determine which procedure would be more reliable in a real world setting. The procedures are then applied to a real-world cross-sectional dataset on nutrient intake. This thesis provides empirical evidence that neither the IV estimator (and Hausman test) or the directed graphs are reliable when instruments are weak, as in a cross-sectional dataset.

In 2001, a population-based cross-sectional study was conducted to compare levels of total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in residents of Calcasieu Parish and Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. A demographic, lifestyle, and food consumption questionnaire was collected for each participant. Overall, weighted geometric means and medians of total serum PCB concentrations in residents of Calcasieu and Lafayette Parishes were similar among all risk subgroups. However, 15-29 year olds had higher total serum PCB weighted geometric means in Calcasieu (64.4 ppb) than did this age group in Lafayette (46.6 ppb) (p=0.0059); conversely, in the 60 and older age group, geometric means of 293.7 ppb and 392.5 ppb were observed for Calcasieu and Lafayette, respectively (p=0.0059). In general, total PCB serum levels in Calcasieu and in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana residents were similar to each other and to levels observed in the U.S. general population in this time period.

Without northern doughface Democrats, and northern states like Indiana, the South could not have held dominance in American politics during the sectional crisis. Anchoring the extreme end of the doughface North was Indiana’s slaveholding senator Jesse Bright (his holdings were in Kentucky). Yet, he was no flailing radical pushed to the margins of northern politics. Bright was the chief party boss who by the mid to late 1850s controlled the state of Indiana. He was one of the most influential leaders getting James Buchanan into the presidency. He did this, in part, because Indiana was a conservative state that disliked anti-slavery agitators. Still, most Hoosiers were not partisans in favor of slavery. Bright was able to lead Indiana politics during the 1850s because he had become a powerful political boss. American politics in the 1840s and 1850s was built around state level organizations. With elections going through constant and irregular cycles, hopeful candidates needed a strong organization capable of providing money, press literature and mobilization of voters. They needed someone with grit, savvy and energy to organize various groups, and no one was more successful at this in Indiana than Bright. Bright did this, in part, by understanding the baser motives of men, and more importantly, could satisfy these wants with graft, bribery, patronage and other inducements. If that was not enough to motivation, he used fear, bullying and good old fashioned steam rolling tactics to bludgeon his enemies into submission. Bright’s extreme doughface attitudes did not make him popular, but his organizing skills made him a powerful leader. He helped prop the slave-power in American politics through the 1850s, but his efforts also alienated a wide swath of northerners, especially in Indiana. By 1860, a northern Republican Party took control of American politics, as northerners came to reject the slave-masters and the slave-power. This dissertation argues that Bright played a pivotal role in propping the slave-power. But ultimately Bright’s political downfall was part of a larger rejection of southern politics.

Det här examensarbetet har utförts på uppdrag åt Trollhättan Energi AB (TEAB). Examensarbetet är en utredning beträffande förutsättningar för sammankoppling av TEAB:s och Hjärtum Elförenings elnät. De nuvarande ledningsnäten har radialnät och det innebär att det endast har inmatning från ena ledningsänden. En sammankoppling skulle ge möjlighet till sektionerad drift vilket innebär inmatningsmöjligheter från båda ledningsändar. Det gör att ledningsnätet blir mer säkert, tillförlitligt och effektivt. Ett förslag på ett nytt ledningsnät där delar av TEAB:s och Hjärtum Elförenings ledningsnät är sammankopplade har tagits fram. Med det nya förslaget blir ledningsnätet mer driftsäkert och uppfyller lag- och myndighetskrav. Beräkningarna som ligger till grund för arbetet är teoretiskt utförda. Därför bör en fortsatt planering och undersökning inom ämnet utföras innan ledningsnäten sammankopplas. Budgetpriset för ombyggnationen i ledningsnätet har beräknats till cirka 700 000 kronor och investeringen anses nödvändig för att kunna utföra en sammankoppling utav elnäten. / This bachelor´s thesis is conducted on behalf of Trollhättan Energi AB (TEAB). The bachelor´s thesis is an investigation of conditions for interconnection of TEAB and Hjärtum Elförenings electrical grids. The current electrical grids are radial electrical grids and means that it can only be fed from one cable end. An interconnection would allow for sectional operation of the electrical grid. This means input opportunities from both cable ends and that the electrical grid becomes more safely, reliably and efficiently. Suggestion for new electrical grids which parts of TEAB and Hjärtum Elförenings electrical grids are interconnected has been developed. With the new suggestions becomes the electrical grid more reliable and complies with legal and regulatory requirements. The calculations that are underpinning the work is theoretical. Therefore, a continued planning and research in the subject should be performed before the electrical grids are interconnected. Budget price for the reconstruction of the electrical grids have been estimated to be about 700 000 SEK and the investment is considered essential for the interconnection.

Sectional ownership has introduced several new concepts of property that differ significantly from prevailing as well as common-law concepts of property. The right of extension with regards to sectional titles is one such concept. The right entails a subtraction from the dominium of sectional owners and is widely regarded as a limited real right. It is submitted that the right cannot be categorised into any common-law category. The right is a statutory limited real right sui generis that has its own characteristics with regards to the way it is established, transferred, alienated, burdened or lapses. The right should also be recognised as constitutional property. The study concludes with an investigation into selected aspects relating to the right as an estate asset and points to problems relating to the valuation of the right for purposes of estate, capital gains and donation tax. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation between income inequality and economic growth in a cross-section of 90 countries from 2002 to 2006. The controversial Kuznets Hypothesis, the economic model that hypothesizes the relationship between inequality and per capita income is an inverted U-shaped curve, is scrutinized and investigated to consider its viability and accuracy. A multiple linear regression model is estimated and the viability of the regression model is supported by several statistical tests. Based on the estimated model, a negative correlation between growth and inequality has been found.