An inquiry into the size of health charities: The case of Norwegian patient organisations

This paper analyses the extents to which variations in revenues and memberships of health charities – or patient organisations – might be explained by characteristics of the diseases that the organisations represent. After a theoretical discussion it inquires into 45 Norwegian patient organisations. The findings suggest that prevalence, followed by death risk are the most important characteristics of the disease for explaining charity size. There were indications that the status of the disease influenced memberships. Still, the most significant variables to explain revenues are the organisation’s age and its memberships. Cross-sectional comparisons gave no indications that public revenues ‘crowd out’ private donations.Health charities; disease characteristics

Kierkegaard's Concept of Despair and Alienation

Fremmedgjøring er et begrep som gjerne forbindes med Marx og hans filosofiske etterfølgere. Det er i mindre grad blitt knyttet eksplisitt til Kierkegaard. I denne teksten forsøkes det å knytte Kierkegaards teori om fortvilelse som den presenteres i Sygdommen til Døden til fremmedgjøring. Først presenteres en gjennomgang av Kierkegaards teori om selvet som struktur, etterfulgt av en gjennomgang av metoden som blir anvendt i Sygdommen til Døden. Deretter vil en del av begrepet fremmedgjøring (Entfremdung) hos Hegel kort presenteres og holdes opp mot en anvendelse hos Kierkegaard, etterfulgt av tre tilnærminger til å forstå Kierkegaard ut fra begrepet fremmedgjøring. Til slutt presenteres teorien om fortvilelse sett ut fra grad av bevissthet, og denne vil da holdes sammen med de forskjellige tilnærmingene til fremmedgjøring. Det vil så bli gjort et sammendrag av funnene i teksten, og teksten vil argumentere for at 1. Kierkegaard anvender Hegels begrep om Entfremdung på en fordoblet måte, i den forstand at fremmedgjøring både kan oppleves positivt og negativt; og 2. at Kierkegaards teori om fortvilelse også kan tolkes som en teori om fremmedgjøring av en selv.Alienation is a concept that is often considered to originate with Marx and his proponents. It has to a lesser extent been considered explicitly related to Kierkegaard. In this paper, an attempt will be made at connecting Kierkegaard's theory of despair as it is presented in the Sickness unto Death up with alienation. First, the structure of the self will be explicated as it is conceived of by Kierkegaard, followed by a presentation of the methodology employed in the Sickness unto Death. After that, a part of the concept of alienation (Entfremdung) as it is used by Hegel will be briefly introduced and held up against Kierkegaards usage of it. Following this, three approaches to understanding Kierkegaard through the concept of alienation will be presented. Lastly, the theory of despair as explicated through level of consciousness will be illuminated, and this will be held up against the different approaches to alienation. Following this, a synopsis of the findings that have been made in the paper will be presented. The paper argues that 1. Kierkegaard appropriates Hegel's concept of Entfremdung in a twofold way, in that alienation can be experienced positively and negatively, and 2. that Kierkegaards theory on despair al

Software Engineering Internship Portfolio

This document details the experiences and knowledge gained during the internship capstone course of the PSM degree in Software Engineering. The capstone was split across two separate internships at TSI Inc. and MiTek. My role with TSI was to support global production activities involving supporting legacy software, developing new software for production output improvements, and software validation. Additionally, this role involved collaboration with various trade backgrounds, global troubleshooting, database administration, and project planning. Over the course of the internship with TSI the main focus projects to highlight and discuss were CFlow, Sensor Database Annealing System, and Calibration Time Analyzer. The second half of the portfolio with MiTek discusses work done primarily on the Array software as part of a agile-scrum oriented team. In this defense, I detail my internship responsibilities, insights gained, skills developed, and practices learned. I discuss the impact and benefits of the highlight projects as part of my internship. Additionally, I discuss a supplementary project created as an addendum to the internship experience that highlights design and technical skills acquired throughout the internships. The report concludes with a reflection on internship benefits and closing thoughts

SUBAUDIBLE CUE TONES FOR DIGITAL ASSISTANT DEVICES

A system and method are disclosed for enabling digital assistant devices to distinguish human inputs from non-human voice inputs using subaudible cue tones. The system includes a home assistant device with cue tone recognition that receives cue tones from non-human assistant devices. The cue tones are used to differentiate live, in-person audio input from remote or non-human audio. For example, a television commercial may initiate a tone that communicates with the nearby device to remain non-interactive with the following audio. When devices communicate with one another, a cue tone from each device may also relay inaudibly that certain behaviors associated with a human person will not be triggered in these interactions

America Must Learn What to Eat

Leaving your dining table each morning, noon and evening with your hunger satisfied is no sure sign that you are well fed. Not even three bountiful meals a day, wellstocked pantries, and liberal grocery bills indicate that you and your family are eating enough of the right foods necessary for good health

Quark-hadron-duality in the charmonium and upsilon system

In this work we discuss the practical and conceptual issues related to quark-hadron-duality in heavy-heavy systems. Recent measurements in the charmonium region allow a direct test of quark-hadron-duality. We present a formula for non-resonant background production in e^+ e^- \to D{\bar D} and extract the resonance parameters of the \psi(3S)-\psi(6S). The obtained results are used to investigate the upsilon energy range.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, references adde

Structural and functional studies of Ectoine Synthase from Chromohalobacter salexigens DSM 3043 and Marinobacter sp. CK1

Ectoine is a compatible solute found in many microorganisms adapted to survive in saline and other extreme environments. Here, it aids microorganisms to counter osmotic stress and protect their enzymes. Ectoine exhibit many interesting properties that is potentially commercially exploitable, and it is currently produced and found in several products on the market. While ectoine is produced by whole cell synthesis, the EctABC enzymes in the biosynthesis pathway of ectoine was currently not well described structurally or functionally. Here, we present structural and biochemical characterizations of ectoine synthase from two organisms, Chromohalobacter salexigens DSM3043 and Marinobacter sp. CK1. We cloned, expressed and expression optimized both candidates, and purified them by immobilized metal affinity chromatography and gel filtration. C. salexigens EctC (CSEctC) yielded 14-18 mg/L cell culture while Marinobacter sp. CK1 (MarEctC) yielded 0.75-1.5 mg/L culture. We then produced diffracting crystals of CSEctC and obtained a data set from which the structure of CSEctC was determined. We further obtained preliminary biochemical data relating to thermostability and activity from both candidates. The crystal structure from CSEctC shows that it is adapts a typical β-sandwich fold, consistent with earlier structural investigations of other EctC type proteins. This study provides a solid foundation for further research on EctC from our model organisms, and protocols and techniques developed herein can be further optimized to obtain more biochemical data about this interesting enzyme

Synthesis of Hexagonal Yttrium and Ytterbium Manganites

I denne studien utforskes hydrotermisk syntese av heksagonale manganitter av sjeldne jordartsmetaller, h-LnMnO3 (der Ln er det sjeldne jordartsmetallet), som er en klasse blyfrie ferroelektriske materialer. De sjeldne jordartsmetallene som brukes er yttrium og ytterbium, og reaksjonsbetingelser som temperatur, hydroksidkonsentrasjon og reaksjonstid varieres. Synteser gjøres både fra oksidforløpere og fra løselige saltforløpere. Vellykket syntese av både h-YMnO3 og h-YbMnO3 gjennomføres, førstnevnte ved 240 °C og sistnevnte i et bredt spektrum av temperaturer, helt ned til 110 °C. Dermed presenteres en miljøvennlig synteserute til h-LnMnO3 -partikler som kan gjennomføres ved lave temperaturer. Partiklene har platemorfologi med typisk diameter under 1 µm når ytterbium anvendes som sjeldent jordartsmetall. Når yttrium benyttes dannes hule plater med typisk diameter omkring 10-50 µm når reaksjonstiden er 48-72 t, mens platene ikke er hule etter kortere reaksjonstid. Forskjeller som resulterer fra valg av sjeldent jordartsmetall og andre reaksjonsparametre observeres og diskuteres, og en mekanisme for manganittdannelse under hydrotermisk syntese foreslås. I den foreslåtte mekanismen går dannelsen av h-LnMnO3 via mellomproduktene Ln(OH)3 og LnOOH, og h-YMnO3 -partiklene blir etter hvert hule ved ostwaldmodning fra innsiden og ut.This study is devoted to investigating hydrothermal synthesis of hexagonal rare-earth manganites, h-LnMnO3 (Ln denoting the rare-earth element), which are a class of lead-free ferroelectric materials. Yttrium and ytterbium are used as the rare-earth elements, and reaction conditions such as temperature, hydroxide concentration, and reaction time are varied. Syntheses from both oxide precursors and soluble salt precursors are performed. Both h-YMnO3 and h-YbMnO3 are successfully synthesized, the former at 240 °C and the latter in a wide range of temperatures, including as low as 110 °C. A low-temperature, environmentally friendly route for synthesis of h-LnMnO3 particles is thus presented. The particles have platelet morphology with a typical diameter below 1 µm when ytterbium is used as the rare-earth element. When yttrium is used, hollow platelets with typical diameter around 10-50 µm form when the reaction time is 48-72 h, whereas dense platelets are seen after shorter reaction times. Differences caused by choice of rare-earth element and other reaction parameters are observed and discussed, and a mechanism for manganite formation during hydrothermal synthesis is proposed. In the proposed mechanism, h-LnMnO3 forms via the intermediate phases Ln(OH)3 and LnOOH, and the h-YMnO3 eventually turns hollow by mechanism of inside-out Ostwald ripening