In this paper, we establish several strong convergence results of general approximate proximal algorithm and general Bregman-function-based approximate proximal algorithm for solving the generalized variational inequality problem with pseudomonotone multifunction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of finding a common element of the set of solutions of a generalized equilibrium problem (for short, GEP) and the set of fixed points of a nonexpansive mapping in a Hilbert space. First, by using the well-known KKM technique we derive the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the auxiliary problems for the GEP. Second, on account of this result and Nadler's theorem, we introduce an iterative scheme by the viscosity approximation method for finding a common element of the set of solutions of the GEP and the set of fixed points of the nonexpansive mapping. Furthermore, it is proven that the sequences generated by this iterative scheme converge strongly to a common element of the set of solutions of the GEP and the set of fixed points of the nonexpansive mapping.

In this thesis, we extend the spectral collocation methods(SCM) (i.e., pseudo-spectral method) in Quarteroni and Valli [27] for the semilinear, parameter-dependentproblems(PDP) in the square with the Dirichlet boundary condition. The optimal error bounds are derived in this thesis for both H1 and L2 norms. For the solutions sufficiently smooth, the very high convergence rates can be obtained. The algorithms of the SCM are simple and easy to carry out. Only a few of basis functions are needed so that not only can the high accuracy of the PDP solutions be achieved, but also a great deal of CPU time may be saved. Moreover, for PDP the stability analysis of SCM is also made, to have the same growth rates of condition number as those for Poisson¡¦s equation. Numerical experiments are carried out to verify the theoretical analysis made.

Abstract Eighty percent of all black women are overweight or obese which can lead to greatly increased morbidity and mortality, increasing healthcare costs and loss of healthy years of life. While multiple factors may contribute to obesity in black women, the cultural persona of the Strong Black Woman (SBW), an ideology that promotes unflagging toughness and denial of self-needs, may be the basis for behaviors that contribute to steady state obesity in this group. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the SBW persona, depression, and emotional eating. Two predominately black churches in Florida were approached concerning this research. A total of sixty-six women consented to participate during their monthly women's fellowship meeting. Each woman was asked to complete a packet of three instruments. The Strong Black Woman Cultural Construct Scale, a 22-item instrument was scored on a 5-point Likert-like scale with possible scores on the inventory ranging from 22 to 110. The mean score for this inventory was high (M=74.62; SD= 8.700. The SBWCCS has 3 subscales, measuring Affect Regulation (7 items), Caretaking (8 items), and Self-Reliance (7 items). Affect Regulation scores may range from 7 to 35. The mean score for Affect Regulation was moderately high (M=21.35; SD = 4.39). Caretaking scores could range from 8 to 40 points. The mean score for Caretaking was moderately high (M=25.11; SD = 4.47). Self-Reliance scores could range from 7 to 35, and had the highest mean score (M= 28.17; SD = 3.31). The Emotional Eating scale, a 25 item inventory rated on a five-point Likert-like scale, has a score range of 25 to 125 points. The mean score for Emotional Eating was low (M=49.36; SD = 19.42). The Center for Epidemiological Study-Depression Scale, a 20-item inventory has scores that range from 0-60 points. The mean score for this inventory was low (M=14.06; SD = 9.05). Pearson Product Moment Correlations were run to determine if there were any relationships among the three variables and the subscales. No relationships were found between SBW and Depression, or between SBW and Emotional Eating. However the relationship between Depression and Emotional Eating was statistically significant (r=0 .27, p<.05). No relationships were found between the three subscales and emotional eating, nor was there a relationship between depression and caretaking or depression and self-reliance. However, the relationship between Depression and Affect Regulation was statistically significant (r=0.28, p<.05). The findings regarding the relationships between SBW and depression, and also SBW and Emotional Eating were inconsistent with the current literature, suggesting that either response bias or some other source of bias interfered with the relationships. However, the significant relationships between Depression and Emotional Eating, along with Depression and Affect Regulation, were consistent with previous studies. Further research is needed to determine if there is response bias due to questions on the instruments being at odds with strong identification with the SBW persona and also to determine levels of depression in this population. A more complete understanding of these relationships is needed before culturally specific interventions for psychosocial factors supporting obesity in black women may be developed.

The purpose of this study is: 1) to explore the ways in which the Internet may affect individuals’ political diversity in different strengths of social relationships; 2) to identify which of strong-tie diversity and weak-tie diversity contributes more to political tolerance; and 3) to investigate the extent to which tolerant people are different from the less tolerant in their participation decisions when exposed to political diversity. In order to examine the contribution of Internet news use to political heterogeneity, the current study examines the moderation of the negative influence of politically selective exposure on the Internet on political diversity in social networks by Internet news use. To identify the better contributor to tolerance, the two diversities are compared. To assess the consequence of exposure to political difference for political participation for tolerant and less tolerant people, the present study examines any moderating effect of tolerance between political network heterogeneity and participation. It also observes the moderating effect in different tie strengths. This study utilizes data obtained from the U.S. Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy (CID) survey conducted by a collaboration of Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University and the European Social Survey. The sample is 1,001 adults aged 18 and over and representative of the contiguous United States. The dataset contains items concerning Internet use, informal social networks, the composition and diversity of ties and associations, democratic values and tolerance under the primary themes of democracy, social capital and civic engagement. The data are analyzed by hierarchical and OLS regression. According to the findings, Internet news use contributes to individuals’ overall political diversity by reducing the negative influence of the selective exposure occurring from online interaction with homogeneous people. When examined in different strengths of interpersonal relationships, selective exposure discourages strong-tie diversity while encouraging weak-tie diversity. Internet news use positively affects strong-tie diversity but had no influence on weak-tie diversity. Weak-tie diversity is found to be a better contributor to political tolerance. Politically tolerant individuals tend to be discouraged for political participation when exposed to difference in their social relationships. Therefore, while political tolerance may increase overall political diversity, it may as well threaten the balance between deliberation and participation. Closer interpersonal associations are not found to reduce the demobilizing effect of exposure to difference for tolerant individuals. / text

We discuss two ways of measuring angular diameter distances in the Universe: (i) Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) , and (ii) strong gravitational lensing. For (i), we study the effects of survey geometry and selection functions on the 2-point correlation function of Lyman- alpha emitters in 1.9 < z < 3.5 for Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). We develop a method to extract the BAO scale (hence a volume-averaged angular diameter distance D_V, which is a combination of the angular diameter distance and the Hubble expansion rate, i.e., [cz〖(1+z)〗^2 〖D_A〗^2 H^(-1) ]^(1/3)) from a spherically averaged 1-d correlation function. We quantify the statistical errors on such measurements. By using log-normal realizations of the HETDEX dataset, we show that we can determine DV from HETDEX at 2% accuracy using the 2-point correlation function. This study is complementary to the on-going effort to characterize the power spectrum using HETDEX. For (ii), a previous study (Para ficz and Hjorth 2009) looked at the case of a spherical lens following a singular isothermal distribution of matter and an isotropic velocity distribution, and found that combining measurements of the Einstein ring radius with the time delay of a strong lens system directly leads to a measurement of the angular diameter distance, D_A. Since this is a very new method, it requires more careful investigations of various real-world eff ects such as a realistic matter density pro file, an anisotropic velocity distribution, and external convergence. In more realistic lens confi gurations we find that the velocity dispersion is the dominant source of the uncertainty ; in order for this method to achieve competitive precision on measurements of DA, we need to constrain the velocity dispersion, down to the percent level. On the other hand, external convergence and velocity dispersion anisotropy have negligible e ect on our result. However, we also claim that the dominant source of the uncertainty depends largely on the image con figuration of the system, which leads us to the conclusion that studying the angular dependence of the lens mass distribution is a necessary component. / text

When a liquid is cooled below its equilibrium freezing temperature, it becomes supercooled and the molecular motions slow down until the system becomes kinetically arrested, forming a glass, at the glass transition temperature. These amorphous materials have the mechanical properties of a solid while retaining the structural properties of a liquid, but do not exhibit the usual features of a thermodynamic phase transition. As such, they present a number of important challenges to our understanding of the dynamics and thermodynamics of condensed phases. For example, supercooled liquids are classified on the basis of the temperature dependence of their transport properties and structural relaxations times. Strong liquids display an Arrhenius behavior, with the logarithm of their viscosity growing linearly with inverse temperature. Fragile liquids behave in a super-Arrhenius manner, where the viscosity appears to diverge at temperatures above absolute zero, suggesting the possibility of an underlying thermodynamic origin to the glass transition. Some complex, network forming liquids, such as water and silica have also been shown to have a dynamical crossover from fragile to strong liquid behavior as the temperature is decreased. The potential energy landscape paradigm, combined with inherent structure formalism, provide a framework for connecting the way particles pack together with the thermodynamics and dynamics of the liquid and glassy phases. However, the complexity of this multi-dimensional surface makes it difficult to fully characterize and rigorous relationships between the nature of particle packing and glass forming properties have not been established. The goal of this thesis is to study some of the general features of glass transition and find the connection between the dynamics and the thermodynamics of glass forming liquids. To this end, the packing landscapes of quasi-one-dimensional hard discs and hard spheres are studied. A two dimensional system of hard discs with diameter σ, confined between two hard walls (lines) of length L, separated by a distance 1<Hd/σ< 1+√(3/4), is studied by using the Transfer Matrix (TM) method and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. The complete packing landscape is characterized in terms of the density distribution of inherent structures and the number of local defect states. It is shown that this model exhibits a dynamic fragile-strong liquid crossover at the maximum in the constant pressure heat capacity (Cp) for the system, similar to that observed in anomalous network forming liquids such as water and silica. Furthermore, we find that rescaling the relaxation times of systems with different channel widths by the relaxation time at the Cp maximum causes all the data to collapse on a single master curve. The Cp maximum occurs at a critical value of the defect concentration. At high defect concentrations, where the defects interact, the fluid is fragile. When the defect concentration is low, relaxation appears to occur through the hopping of isolated defects, leading to Arrhenius dynamics. This suggests the thermodynamics associated with the Cp maximum is intimately related to the dynamic crossover. A system of three-dimensional hard spheres confined in a narrow channel was used to study the effect of a more complicated landscape on the dynamics of the system. For this system, the thermodynamic and dynamic properties of the system were studied for two different channel diameters, the 1<Hd/σ<1+√(3/4) case, which only allows first neighbors contact for the spheres and, 1+√(3/4)< Hd/σ < 1.98, which allows second neighbors contact to exist. For the first case, the TM method was implemented to obtain the thermodynamic properties and MD simulation was used to measure the dynamics. For the case that the second neighbor contact is allowed 1+√(3/4)< Hd/σ < 1.98. The thermodynamic and dynamic properties were obtained using MD simulations. In this channel diameter range, the system creates chiral helical jammed packings and defect states appear where sections of helices with different local chiralities come into contact. The equation of state (EOS) shows the presence of two heat capacity maxima. The high density Cp maximum is linked to fragile strong crossover. Finite size scaling analysis shows that the low density Cp maximum is related to an orientational order transition stabilized by the presence of the defects. This type of transition has been shown to exist in bulk two-dimensional systems but this work is the first study that provides strong evidence of the existence of this transition in a quasi-one-dimensional system in a system with short-range interactions.

No description available.

ABSTRACT Title: Teenagers and their perception of fashion brands (Ungdomar och deras uppfattningar om modevarumärken) Number of pages: 42 Author: Louise Kindblom Tutor: Göran Svensson Course: Media and communication studies C Period: Autumn term 2007 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala university Purpose/Aim: To achieve a deeper level of knowledge and a better understanding of high school teenager`s perception of the three fashion brands Gucci. H&amp;M and Canada Goose and too distinguish potential gender related differences in their perceptions. Material/Method: A questionnaire about fashion brands delivered to three schools in the Stockholm area. Main results: Teenagers perceptions of the three fashion brands Gucci, H&amp;M and Canada Goose are more different than similar. This differences in teenagers perceptions are discernible in a comparison between the most usual and unusual associations that are related to each of the brands. Gucci is associated with success, wealth, excitement and uniqueness. H&amp;M is for example seen as earth-bound and has in a comparison with the other brands reached the highest level of positive associations. Canada Goose is seen as dishonest, and has the highest level of negative associations. Gucci and H&amp;M are the strongest brands. They are strong regarding different aspects. Canada Goose is the least strong fashion mark. There are differences in perceptions of gender but they are quite seldom very big even if there are exceptions from this rule. The differences are more subtle. Keywords: fashion brands, teenagers, perceptions, strong brands, associations, image, Kellers pyramid

The adiabatic approximation is a natural approach for the description of phenomena induced by low frequency laser radiation because the ratio of the laser frequency to the characteristic frequency of an atom or a molecule is a small parameter. Since the main aim of this work is the study of ionization phenomena, the version of the adiabatic approximation that can account for the transition from a bound state to the continuum must be employed. Despite much work in this topic, a universally accepted adiabatic approach of bound-free transitions is lacking. Hence, based on Savichev's modified adiabatic approximation [Sov. Phys. JETP 73, 803 (1991)], we first of all derive the most convenient form of the adiabatic approximation for the problems at hand. Connections of the obtained result with the quasiclassical approximation and other previous investigations are discussed. Then, such an adiabatic approximation is applied to single-electron ionization and non-sequential double ionization of atoms in a strong low frequency laser field. The momentum distribution of photoelectrons induced by single-electron ionization is obtained analytically without any assumptions on the momentum of the electrons. Previous known results are derived as special cases of this general momentum distribution. The correlated momentum distribution of two-electrons due to non-sequential double ionization of atoms is calculated semi-analytically. We focus on the deeply quantum regime -- the below intensity threshold regime, where the energy of the active electron driven by the laser field is insufficient to collisionally ionize the parent ion, and the assistance of the laser field is required to create a doubly charged ion. A special attention is paid to the role of Coulomb interactions in the process. The signatures of electron-electron repulsion, electron-core attraction, and electron-laser interaction are identified. The results are compared with available experimental data. Two-electron correlated spectra of non-sequential double ionization below intensity threshold are known to exhibit back-to-back scattering of the electrons, viz., the anticorrelation of the electrons. Currently, the widely accepted interpretation of the anticorrelation is recollision-induced excitation of the ion plus subsequent field ionization of the second electron. We argue that there exists another mechanism, namely simultaneous electron emission, when the time of return of the rescattered electron is equal to the time of liberation of the bounded electron (the ion has no time for excitation), that can also explain the anticorrelation of the electrons in the deep below intensity threshold regime. Finally, we study single-electron molecular ionization. Based on the geometrical approach to tunnelling by P. D. Hislop and I. M. Sigal [Memoir. AMS 78, No. 399 (1989)], we introduce the concept of a leading tunnelling trajectory. It is then proven that leading tunnelling trajectories for single active electron models of molecular tunnelling ionization (i.e., theories where a molecular potential is modelled by a single-electron multi-centre potential) are linear in the case of short range interactions and ``almost'' linear in the case of long range interactions. The results are presented on both the formal and physically intuitive levels. Physical implications of the proven statements are discussed.