In this paper, optimal control problems for semilinear parabolic equations with distributed and boundary controls are considered. Pointwise constraints on the control and on the state are given. Main emphasis is laid on the discussion of second order sufficient optimality conditions. Sufficiency for local optimality is verified under different assumptions imposed on the dimension of the domain and on the smoothness of the given data.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the ward manager in creating a conducive clinical learning environment for nursing students. An explorative descriptive research method was employed. Findings reveal that the ward managers are generally satisfied with the way in which they handled the important role they play in facilitating teaching and learning for nursing students. They feel strongly, however, that the nursing students themselves need to be active in the learning process. While acknowledging the efforts of the ward managers in creating and maintaining the learning environment, nursing students were dissatisfied about several aspects that appeared to be lacking in the clinical environment, such as good interpersonal relations, support, exposure to practice administrative skills (for example, problem-solving and decision-making) and lack of feedback about their performance. There appears to be a need to develop more effective support structures within the learning environment so that nursing students can obtain sufficient exposure to learning opportunities. / Health Studies / M.A. (Advanced Nursing Sciences)

The Swedish magazine Åter, which offers a forum for people with an interest in making a self-sufficient household, constitutes the material for this study. The magazine is exemined with an interest in finding outspoken and unspoken ideological values that may be considered as the motivation to actively choose an alternative lifestyle such as the one a self-sufficient household represents. The main interest for doing so is to elucidate any views on modernity from the many voices in the magazine. Previous studies of similar lifestyle choices have had a focus on them being a part of a social movement or a result of an enviromental awareness. This study increases the understanding of this lifestyle as being a reaction against a modernity that does not agree with their individual experiences of a meaningful existence. Several complementary theoretical perspectives have been regarded in order to examine the ample material, with main emphasis on Ulrich Beck and his notion of subpolitics and reflexive modernity. As a result, the study suggests that the magazine offers an intellectural fellowship for people interested in creating a self-sufficient household. Within that community spirit several issues are raised against the industrial modernity, as well as numerous suggestions for how to create a new, reflexive, modernity.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In soils containing minerals with potassium in non-exchangeable forms, crops uptake a larger amount of this nutrient than that the chemical method can extract, making more difficult the establishment of availability classes and sufficiency levels for potassium. The aims of this study were: a) investigate crop response with potassic fertilization in an Ultisol; b) estimate the capacity of potassium supply in Ultisol and Oxisol, with a long report of addition of potassic fertilization; and c) verify mineralogical alterations of the clay fraction in these soils submitted to successive crop cultivations. The study was based on two experiments: The first one was installed in 1991 in an Ultisol with addition of 0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha-1, evaluating crop yield and potassium levels in soil using Mehlich-1. The second one consisted in a succession of plant cultivation in two types of soil with long history of potassic fertilization. The first experiment was located in the experimental field of the Federal University of Santa Maria, RS, a typical Ultisol, and the second one, classified as Oxisol, in the experimental field of Embrapa Soja, Londrina-PR. The soil samples were collected in the experiments with less and higher concentration of potassium combined with an addition of 0, 30 and 90 mg kg-1 of potassium for every cultivation. There were 11 cultivations in the Ultisol and 8 in the Oxisol. From every cultivation soil samples were collected and the amount of potassium extracted by Mehlich-1 after the 5° and 11° cultivation in the Oxisol 4° and 8° cultivation in the Oxisol was determined. The samples were submitted at extraction with NaTPB, HNO3 and HF. The mineralogy of the clay fraction of the treatments with less and higher concentration of potassium was characterized. Crops respond to the potassium fertilization when the concentration in soil was lower then 50 mg kg-1. This result shows that the doses to maintain potassium concentration do not need to be larger than the amount exported by crops and that the fertilization of correction is only necessary when exhaustion of potassium occurs. The chemical extractor Mehlich-1 was sensitive to evaluate the availability of potassium in short time, while the chemical extractors NaTPB and HNO3 can estimate satisfactorily the depletion of potassium with successive cultivations. The Ultisol showed a greater ability to supply the plant needs than the Oxisol. The crop cultivation in the Ultisol, without the addition of potassium, has altered the soil mineralogy, as detected by X-ray diffraction. On the other hand, in the Oxisol, after successive cultivations, none mineralogy alteration was perceptible by X-ray diffraction. / Em solos contendo minerais portadores de potássio em formas não trocáveis, as culturas absorvem maiores quantidades do elemento que o método químico de rotina consegue extrair, dificultando o estabelecimento do nível de suficiência e das classes de disponibilidade. O presente trabalho tem por objetivos: a) investigar a resposta de culturas à adubação potássica em um Argissolo Vermelho distrófico típico; b) estimar a capacidade de suprimento de potássio em um Argissolo e Latossolo com longo histórico de adições de fertilizantes potássicos; e c) verificar as alterações mineralógicas dos argilominerais desses solos pelo cultivo sucessivo com plantas. Conduziram-se dois experimentos: o primeiro foi instalado em 1991 em um Argissolo Vermelho distrófico com a adição de 0, 30, 60 e 90 kg ha-1 de K2O, avaliando o rendimento das culturas e os teores de potássio no solo por Mehlich-1. O segundo experimento consistiu no cultivo sucessivo de plantas em casa de vegetação utilizando-se amostras de dois solos com longo histórico de fertilização potássica. O primeiro experimento estava localizado no campo experimental da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS, um Argissolo Vermelho distrófico típico e o segundo, no campo experimental da Embrapa-Soja em Londrina PR, correspondendo a um Latossolo Vermelho distrófico. As amostras de solo foram coletadas nos tratamentos testemunha e de maior dose, combinadas com a adição de 0, 30 e 90 mg kg-1 de potássio a cada cultivo. Realizou-se 11 cultivos no Argissolo e 8 no Latossolo. Amostras do solo foram coletadas a cada cultivo e nelas foram determinados os teores de potássio extraído por Mehlich-1, sendo que as amostras coletadas após o 5° e 11° cultivo no Argissolo e após o 4° e 8° no Latossolo foram submetidas também à extração com NaTPB, HNO3 e HF. A fração argila dos tratamentos com a menor e maior dose de fertilizante potássico foi caracterizada mineralogicamente. Os maiores rendimentos foram obtidos quando o nível de suficiência foi próximo ao valor original do solo que foi de 50 mg kg-1 de potássio. As doses de manutenção não necessitam ser superiores às quantidades exportadas pelas culturas e a adubação de correção só é necessária quando há esgotamento de potássio, mas apenas em doses adequadas para retornar aos níveis de suficiência. O extrator de potássio Mehlich-1 foi sensível para a avaliação do potássio disponível em curto prazo, enquanto que os extratores do potássio denominado de não trocável , NaTPB e HNO3, estimaram satisfatoriamente a depleção no decorrer de cultivos sucessivos. O Argissolo apresentou maior capacidade de suprimento de potássio que o Latossolo. O cultivo de plantas no Argissolo sem adição de potássio mostrou alteração na mineralogia do solo, detectável por difratometria de raios X. Já no Latossolo, após os cultivos sucessivos, não houve alteração na mineralogia do solo que fosse perceptível por difratometria de raios X.

De la confrontation problématique d’un projet de jeu vidéo aux conditions plurielles desa création, ce travail de thèse tente de mettre à jour les contraintes et les interrogationsqu’elles suscitent. Le jeu vidéo, contemporain de la société de l’information est un témoinde l’évolution complexe du paradigme postmoderne, né avec la cybernétique. De la genèsedu jeu vidéo au temps présent, les technologies, les façons de jouer et les productions serévèlent significatives de visions du monde opposées. La thèse montre que derrière l’imaged’un divertissement et d’une industrie consensuelle, une résistance peut s’exprimer d’unpoint de vue technique, artistique et politique. A travers l’histoire et le devenir du jeuvidéo peuvent se lire certains enjeux de société en lien avec de nouvelles formes de pouvoir.C’est dans un interstice contre culturel que se développe une oeuvre résistante, nourrie d’unexamen critique préalable. Une création originale se construit progressivement en contreculturedu modèle libéral dominant, dans un mouvement d’opposition à l’action irréfléchie,l’accélération et la dématérialisation... Du point de vue plastique, la thèse interroge le retourdes technologies de réalité virtuelle, et élabore deux nouvelles notions, le véhicule expérientielet le leurre suffisant. Profitant de ce nouveau champ d’investigation de création, la thèseinvite le joueur à laisser l’usage pour le faire. / From the problematic confrontation of a video game project with the multiple conditions ofits creation, the present thesis tries to highlight the constraints and the interrogations whichthey arouse. Contemporary to the information society, the video game is a witness of thecomplex evolution of the postmodern paradigm born from cybernetics. From the genesis ofthe video game to present time, technologies, the ways of playing and the productions revealthe significant oppositions in their visions of the world. The thesis shows that behind theimage of entertainment and of a consensual industry, a form of resistance can express/voiceitself from a technological, artistic and political point of view. Through the history of videogame and its future, one can read some of society’s stakes/challenges linked to new formsof power. It is within a counter cultural interstice, and fed by a prior critical exam, thata resistant work/piece is developed. An original creation is progressively built in reflexivecounter cultural opposition to the mainstream dominant liberal world and its accelerationand dematerialization... From a plastic point of view, the thesis questions the return of thevirtual reality technologies, and elaborates two new notions: the experiential vehicle and thesufficient decoy. Taking advantage of this new field of investigation of creation, the thesisinvites the player to let it be used so as to do so. Keywords: Video games. Counter culture.Experiential vehicle. Counter dematerialization. Sufficient decoy.

Självförsörjande småhus gör att beroendet av de kommunala näten försvinner ochflexibiliteten ökar. Det finns fortfarande stor potential till utveckling av tekniska lösningaräven om mycket teknik redan finns på marknaden för exempelvis elproduktion,säsongslagring, uppvärmning, vatten och avlopps samt ventilation. Helt förnybaraenergikällor behöver prioriteras och en övergång till dessa kräver en förändring ibeteendemönster och mer energieffektivt byggande för att minska energianvändningen.Vid utformning av självförsörjande hus kan med fördel solen användas vilket kan påverkaorientering och taklutning. Ytterligare aspekter som kan tas hänsyn till är valet avbyggnadsmaterial, teknikutrymme, klimatskalets uppbyggnad och dispositionen avplanlösningen. / Self-sufficient small housing makes the dependence of the municipal sustentation to minimizeand the flexibility increases. There is still a high potential for developing technical solutionseven though a lot of the technology already exists on the market regarding for examplesolutions for energy production, seasonal storage, heating, water supply, draining system andventilation. Renewable energy sources need to priorities and a transition to 100 % renewableenergy require a change in pattern of behavior and more energy efficient buildings to lowerthe consumption. When designing self-sufficient houses, the sun is a good source for both energy and heatingwhich can have an impact on the orientation of the building and the slope of the roof. Otheraspects to consider can be the choice of building material, technical space, the climate shelland the disposition of the plan.

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<p>There is longstanding interpretive dispute between commentators over Spinoza’s commitment to <i>necessitarianism</i>, the doctrine that all things are metaphysically necessary and none are contingent. Those who affirm Spinoza’s commitment to the doctrine adhere to <i>the necessitarian interpretation</i> whereas those who deny it adhere to what I call <i>the semi-necessitarian interpretation</i>. As things stand, the disagreement between commentators appears to have reached an impasse. Notwithstanding, there seems to be no disagreement among commentators on the question of necessitarianism’s philosophical plausibility as a metaphysical view: the doctrine is wildly untenable. This consensus view is more relevant to the interpretive debate than few have recognized, since leading semi-necessitarian commentators take the doctrine’s alleged absurdity to be one of the most compelling reasons (if not <i>the</i> most compelling reason) to prefer their reading over the necessitarian interpretation: for, as a matter of methodological principle, great philosophers like Spinoza should not be ascribed ridiculous views in the absence of better evidence. </p> <p>This dissertation seeks to defend Spinoza’s commitment to necessitarianism on both the interpretive and philosophical fronts. I argue not only that the necessitarian interpretation of Spinoza is more plausible than the semi-necessitarian interpretation on textual grounds, but that Spinoza’s necessitarianism is a serviceable philosophical view whose tenability has been almost entirely overlooked and perfunctorily rejected. The principal basis upon which I build this defense is Spinoza’s rich and fascinating view of essences—what I simply refer to as his <i>essentialism</i>. Spinoza’s essentialism forms the bedrock of his metaphysics and is significant not least because it underlies and informs doctrines like his necessitarianism. Spinoza’s essentialism supplies resources to answer not just interpretive problems associated with necessitarianism, but philosophical challenges to the plausibility of the doctrine. My defense of Spinoza’s necessitarianism on philosophical grounds also offers a novel way of getting past much of the current interpretive impasse among commentators by effectively undercutting the methodological motivation for the semi-necessitarian reading. In addition to my defense on the interpretive front, then, my defense on the philosophical front provides supplementary reason to <i>a fortiori</i> favor the necessitarian reading of Spinoza.</p>

In this dissertation we introduce two variable selection procedures for multivariate responses. Our procedures are based on sufficient dimension reduction concepts and are model-free. In the first procedure we consider the dual marginal coordinate hypotheses, where the role of the predictor and the response is not important. Motivated by canonical correlation analysis (CCA), we propose a CCA-based test for the dual marginal coordinate hypotheses, and devise a joint backward selection algorithm for dual model-free variable selection. The second procedure is based on ordinary least squares (OLS). We derive and study the asymptotic properties of the OLS-based test under the normality assumption of the predictors as well as an asymmetry assumption. When these assumptions are violated, the asymptotic test with elliptical trimming and clustering is still valid with desirable numerical performances. A backward selection algorithm for the predictor is also provided for the OLS-based test. The performances of the proposed tests and the variable selection procedures are evaluated through synthetic examples and a real data analysis. / Statistics

High-dimensional data are becoming increasingly available as data collection technology advances. Over the last decade, significant developments have been taking place in high-dimensional data analysis, driven primarily by a wide range of applications in many fields such as genomics, signal processing, and environmental studies. Statistical techniques such as dimension reduction and variable selection play important roles in high dimensional data analysis. Sufficient dimension reduction provides a way to find the reduced space of the original space without a parametric model. This method has been widely applied in many scientific fields such as genetics, brain imaging analysis, econometrics, environmental sciences, etc. in recent years. In this dissertation, we worked on three projects. The first one combines local modal regression and Minimum Average Variance Estimation (MAVE) to introduce a robust dimension reduction approach. In addition to being robust to outliers or heavy-tailed distribution, our proposed method has the same convergence rate as the original MAVE. Furthermore, we combine local modal base MAVE with a $L_1$ penalty to select informative covariates in a regression setting. This new approach can exhaustively estimate directions in the regression mean function and select informative covariates simultaneously, while being robust to the existence of possible outliers in the dependent variable. The second project develops sparse adaptive MAVE (saMAVE). SaMAVE has advantages over adaptive LASSO because it extends adaptive LASSO to multi-dimensional and nonlinear settings, without any model assumption, and has advantages over sparse inverse dimension reduction methods in that it does not require any particular probability distribution on \textbf{X}. In addition, saMAVE can exhaustively estimate the dimensions in the conditional mean function. The third project extends the envelope method to multivariate spatial data. The envelope technique is a new version of the classical multivariate linear model. The estimator from envelope asymptotically has less variation compare to the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE). The current envelope methodology is for independent observations. While the assumption of independence is convenient, this does not address the additional complication associated with a spatial correlation. This work extends the idea of the envelope method to cases where independence is an unreasonable assumption, specifically multivariate data from spatially correlated process. This novel approach provides estimates for the parameters of interest with smaller variance compared to maximum likelihood estimator while still being able to capture the spatial structure in the data.