Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Additive variance'

This thesis deals with the estimation of unobserved variables or states from a time series of noisy observations. Approximate minimum variance filters for a class of discrete time systems with both additive and multiplicative noise, where the measurement might be delayed randomly by one or more sample times, are investigated. The delayed observations are modelled by up to N sample times by using N Bernoulli random variables with values of 0 or 1. We seek to minimize variance over a class of filters which are linear in the current measurement (although potentially nonlinear in past measurements) and present a closed-form solution. An interpretation of the multiplicative noise in both transition and measurement equations in terms of filtering under additive noise and stochastic perturbations in the parameters of the state space system is also provided. This filtering algorithm extends to the case when the system has continuous time state dynamics and discrete time state measurements. The Euler scheme is used to transform the process into a discrete time state space system in which the state dynamics have a smaller sampling time than the measurement sampling time. The number of sample times by which the observation is delayed is considered to be uncertain and a fraction of the measurement sample time. The same problem is considered for nonlinear state space models of discrete time systems, where the measurement might be delayed randomly by one sample time. The linearisation error is modelled as an additional source of noise which is multiplicative in nature. The algorithms developed are demonstrated throughout with simulated examples.

Ce travail fait état de deux applications concrètes de la culture d'embryons immatures à l'amélioration du tournesol, l'objectif sous-jacent étant d'évaluer la variabilité génétique du matériel sur lequel ont été appliquées ces techniques. 1-L'une permet de créer des contraintes hydriques durant la culture "in vitro" au stade juvénile (embryon ou plantule), afin de sélectionner le matériel plus résistant au déficit hydrique. 2-L'autre se réfère à la culture "in vitro" des embryons immatures dans la fixation de lignées pures par la méthode de filiation monograine (SSD), afin d'accélérer la sélection. Pour la première approche, un hybride interspécifique entre H. Annuus et H. Anomalus a été fabriqué, dans le but d'obtenir du matériel possédant une base génétique élargie. Ceci pour faciliter la sélection "in vitro" des génotypes plus résistants au déficit hydrique. Nous avons constaté qu'au fur et à mesure que la concentration du mannitol augmente, le développement des embryons et des plantules diminue. Le potentiel hydrique foliaire aussi tend à diminuer avec l'augmentation de la concentration en mannitol. Les plantes adultes provenant de descendances sélectionnées par mannitol au stade "jeunes plantules", sont plus proches du phénotype H. Anomalus que celles qui proviennent des descendances témoins ou sélectionnées sur mannitol au stade "embryons". Le test sécheresse sur descendances F5 montre que le matériel qui a subi une sélection sur mannitol "in vitro", présente des réponses différentes par rapport au témoin vis-à-vis du stress. La méthode de sélection précoce sur "mannitol in vitro'' pourrait permettre, de façon relativement simple de sélectionner des plantes présentant certaines caractéristiques foliaires plus adaptées à supporter les conditions de sécheresse au champ. La deuxième approche nous a permis d'obtenir des semences F5 en 375 jours à partir du croisement diallèle initial de 7 parents. Les effets de la culture "in vitro" se traduisent par une série de modifications morphovégétatives et physiologiques sur les plantes qui ont été limitées par réduction de la durée du séjour "in vitro". L'évaluation de la variabilité génétique des lignées pures (F6) issues de la culture d'embryons immatures a été réalisée dans un délai de 890 jours. Les résultats montrent un élargissement de la variabilité au niveau des lignées issues du croisement diallèle par rapport aux parents. En outre le dispositif a permis de tester la présence d'épistasie (homozygote x homozygote) chez les lignées F6. L'analyse factorielle discriminante de l'aptitude à la combinaison, qui reflète une divergence génétique, a permis de détecter le rapport de parenté entre les géniteurs. D'autre part, entre les descendances F3 et F5, des corrélations phénotypiques significatives ont été mises en évidence pour 6 des caractères étudiés. Par contre une assez forte variation de ces deux types de corrélations a été constatée sur 3 familles entre les lignées F6 et la valeur hybride en F4
This work uses 2 concrete applications of the culture of young embryos for the Sunflower improvement, the principal aim being to evaluate the genetic variability of the material on which the technique was applied. 1-One application makes possible the induction of drought stress during "in vitro" culture to the young stage (embryos or plantlets) in order to select materials resistant to drought. 2-The other application is concerned with the "in vitro" culture of immature embryos in the production of imbred lines by single seeds descend method (SSd) in order to accelerate this selection. For the first approach an interspecific hybrid between H. Annuus and H. Anomalus was made in order to get some material possessing a larger genetic basis. This was to make possible the selection "in vitro" of genotypes that are more resistant to drought stress. We observed that, as the concentration of mannitol increased, the development of the embryos and the plantlets decreased, the leaf water potential also tended to decrease with the enhancement of mannitol concentration. The adult plants coming from progenies selected by mannitol at the young plantlet stage present nearer H. Anomalus phenotype, compared with controls or with mannitol selected embryons. The drought test on F5 progenies shows that the material which followed a mannitol "in vitro" culture reveals different reponses from the control or the drought stress. The early selection method involving "mannitol" application "in vitro" would make possible in a relatively simple way to select plants with specific foliage characteristics that would be advantageous adaptated to drought stress. With the second approach we obtained F5 seeds in 375 days from the initial diallel cross of 7 parents. The "in vitro" culture effects were expressed in a serie of morphovegetative and physiological modification in the plant which were limited by the reduction of the duration of the "in vitro" stage. The evaluation of the genetic variability of the imbreed lines (F6) issuing from the culture of young embryos was possible in a period of 890 days. The results show a growth in the variability of the lines got from the diallel crossing as compared to that of the parents. In addition the desing allowed estimations of the epistasis (homozygous * homozygous) in lines F6. The factor discriminant analysis of the combining abilities, which are the indicators of genetic divergence, gave us the relationships of the progeny. Furthermore, between the descendants F3 and F5 significative and positive phenotypic correlations were found evident for 6 of the characters studied. On the ether hand, a rather strong variation of the 2 types of correlations was recorded between 3 families of the lines F6 and their hybrids F4

O conhecimento da base genética dos caracteres é muito importante para orientar os melhoristas quanto às estratégias a serem utilizadas visando uma maior eficiência dos programas de seleção. Para os caracteres quantitativos, o estudo da base genética dos mesmos é geralmente feito através de estimativas de componentes de variância. A maioria dos delineamentos genéticos disponíveis permite estimar a variância genética aditiva e a variância genética dominante. Poucos delineamentos permitem detectar a ocorrência de epistasia e, consequentemente o componente epistático da variância genética. O objetivo deste trabalho foi detectar a ocorrência da epistasia em soja utilizando o Delineamento Trialélico Modificado (\"Modified triple test cross). O material genético utilizado compreendeu uma amostra de 30 linhas puras derivadas do cruzamento entre os genitores PI-123439 e PI-239235. As 30 linhas puras foram cruzadas com dois testadores contrastantes para a produção de grãos, denominados L1 e L2, gerando, portanto, 60 cruzamentos. Os cruzamentos foram autofecundados, a fim de multiplicar as sementes para a realização dos experimentos, obtendo-se, portanto, a geração F2 dos 60 cruzamentos. No ano agrícola de 2003/2004 os tratamentos foram avaliados em um experimento em blocos ao acaso com 15 repetições, contendo 90 tratamentos, isto é, os 60 cruzamentos, e as 30 linhagens. No ano agrícola de 2004/2005 foi feita uma nova avaliação experimental, de maneira semelhante ao ano anterior, utilizando como tratamentos os \"bulks\" de cada tratamento da geração anterior (geração F3). Em todos os casos as parcelas experimentais foram constituídas de uma linha de dois metros, com espaçamento entre linhas de 0,50 metros, contendo 35 plantas no estande ideal. Foram avaliados os seguintes caracteres: produção de grãos (PG), altura da planta no florescimento (AF), altura da planta na maturação (AM), dias para o florescimento (DF) e dias para a maturação (DM). Os dados experimentais foram submetidos às análises de variância e em seguida a uma análise genética, segundo o Delineamento Trialélico Modificado, que foi adaptado para as gerações F2 e F3. Os resultados indicaram a ocorrência de epistasia para PG, DF e DM, mas não para AF. Quanto ao caráter AM, não foi possível tirar conclusões, sendo necessário mais estudos. Estes resultados indicam que as estimativas de variâncias genéticas aditivas e dominantes para caracteres como PG, DF e DM em soja podem ser viesadas, quando não se considera a epistasia no modelo.
The understanding of the nature of genetic traits is very important in guiding plant breeders in designing strategies aiming to increase efficiency of selection programmes. The study of the genetic basis of quantitative traits is generally done through estimates of variance. The majority of genetic tests currently available permit the estimate of both additive and dominant genetic variance. Few tests detect the occurrence of epistasis and consequently the epistatic component of genetic variance. The objective of this work was to detect the occurrence of epistatis in soybean by using the \"Modified triple test cross\". The genetic material utilized consisted of a sample of 30 pure lines derived from a cross between the genitors PI-123439 and PI239235. The 30 pure lines were crossed with two contrasting test individuals to produce seed, which was denominated L1 and L2, generated from a total of 60 crosses. The progeny were self-crossed to multiply the seeds in order to carry out the experiments, producing an F2 generation of the 60 crosses. In the agricultural year 2003-2004 the measurements were carried out in an experiment of random plots with 15 repetitions, totalling 90 sets. In the agricultural year 2004-2005 further experiments were carried out, and measurements were taken using plants from the bulked F3 seed. In all cases the experimental plots consisted of a line of two metres, with a space between lines of 0.5 metres, totalling an average of 35 plants. The following traits were evaluated: grain yield, inflorescence height, plant height at maturation, age at flowering and maturation. The experimental data was subjected to analyses of genetic variance, followed by genetic analysis and the \"Modified triple test cross\" that was adapted for the F2 and F3 generations. The results indicate the occurrence of epistasis for grain yield, age at flowering and maturation, but not for plant height at flowering. It was not possible to determine if the trait for plant height at maturation showed epistasis, further experiments need to be carried out. These results suggest that the estimates of genetic additive and dominant variance for the grain yield, age at flowering and maturation traits in soybean may be incorrect when epistasis is not considered in the model.

In most breeding programmes breeders use phenotypic data obtained in breeding trials to rank the performance of the parents or progeny on pre-selected performance criteria. Through this ranking the best candidates are identified and selected for breeding or production purposes. Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP), is an efficient selection method to use, combining information into a single index. Unbalanced or messy data is frequently found in tree breeding trial data. Trial individuals are related and a degree of correlation is expected between individuals over sites, which can lead to collinearity in the data which may lead to instability in certain selection models. A high degree of collinearity may cause problems and adversely affect the prediction of the breeding values in a BLUP selection index. Simulation studies have highlighted that instability is a concern and needs to be investigated in experimental data. The occurrence of instability, relating to collinearity, in BLUP of tree breeding data and possible methods to deal with it were investigated in this study. Case study data from 39 forestry breeding trials (three generations) of Eucalyptus grandis and 20 trials of Pinus patula (two generations) were used. A series of BLUP predictions (rankings) using three selection traits and 10 economic weighting sets were made. Backward and forward prediction models with three different matrix inversion techniques (singular value decomposition, Gaussian elimination - partial and full pivoting) and an adapted ridge regression technique were used in calculating BLUP indices. A Delphi and Clipper version of the same BLUP programme which run with different computational numerical precision were used and compared. Predicted breeding values (forward prediction) were determined in the F1 and F2 E. grandis trials and F1 P. patula trials and realised breeding performance (backward prediction) was determined in the F2 and F3 E. grandis trials and F2 P. patula trials. The accuracy (correlation between the predicted breeding values and realised breeding performance) was estimated in order to assess the efficiency of the predictions and evaluate the different matrix inversion methods. The magnitude of the accuracy (correlations) was found to mostly be of acceptable magnitude when compared to the heritability of the compound weighted trait in the F1F2 E. grandis scenarios. Realised genetic gains were also calculated for each method used. Instability was observed in both E. grandis and P. patula breeding data in the study, and this may cause a significant loss in realised genetic gains. Instability can be identified by examining the matrix calculated from the product of the phenotypic covariance matrix with its inverse, for deviations from the expected identity pattern. Results of this study indicate that it may not always be optimal to use a higher numerical precision programme when there is collinearity in the data and instability in the matrix calculations. In some cases, where there is a large amount of collinearity, the use of a higher precision programme for BLUP calculations can significantly increase or decrease the accuracy of the rankings. The different matrix inversion techniques particularly SVD and adapted ridge regression did not perform much better than the full pivoting technique. The study found that it is beneficial to use the full pivoting Gaussian elimination matrix inversion technique in preference to the partial pivoting Gaussian elimination matrix inversion technique for both high and lower numerical precision programmes.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2014
Genetics
unrestricted

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The study aimed to estimate genetic parameters and genetic variability, as well as to determine the correlations among fruit variables associated with production and pulp quality attributes in pumpkin progenies. In 2013, the parameters and prediction of progeny gains allowed the ranking of the best individuals in 10 progenies from self pollination. In 2015 the divergence was determined, selecting genotypes for qualitative and quantitative characteristics, and studying the correlations among fruit variables associated with production and pulp quality attributes in 11 evaluated genotypes. In 2013, the REML/BLUP analysis allowed the ranking considering all variables evaluated indicating the individuals 10/1/1, 10/2/12 and 6/1/3 as more promising, being the first two of ?piriform? format, and the third of "moranga" format. In 2015, it was found great variability in the progenies evaluated and similarity among progenies C. moschata 1, C. moschata 3, C. moschata 4 and C. moschata 8. The promising progenies for fruit mass and ?-carotene were C. Moschata 4 and C. moschata 7 for advances aiming to increase of production and the nutritional characteristics of the fruit. Estimates of carotenoid contents generated by the Hue angle are only valid for contrasting genotypes due to the grouping of genotypes with carotenoid content four times higher than ?Jacarezinho? cultivar. The variables explained 98% of the variation in the basic variable in the path analysis and four variables can be used for direct selection aiming to increase of fruit mass.
O estudo objetivou obter estimativas de par?metros gen?ticos e de variabilidade gen?tica, bem como determinar as correla??es entre vari?veis do fruto associadas ? produ??o e atributos de qualidade da polpa em prog?nies de ab?bora. Em 2013, os par?metros e a predi??o de ganhos gen?ticos permitiram o ranqueamento dos melhores indiv?duos em 10 prog?nies provenientes de autofecunda??es. Em 2015 determinou-se a diverg?ncia, sendo feita a sele??o de gen?tipos para caracteres qualitativos e quantitativos, al?m de estudar as correla??es entre vari?veis do fruto associadas ? produ??o e atributos de qualidade da polpa em 11 gen?tipos avaliados. Em 2013, a an?lise via REML/BLUP possibilitou o ranqueamento considerando todas as vari?veis avaliadas indicando os indiv?duos 10/1/1, 10/2/12 e 6/1/3 como mais promissores, sendo os dois primeiros de formato ?piriforme? e o terceiro de formato ?moranga?. Em 2015, constatou-se grande variabilidade nas prog?nies avaliadas e similaridade entre as prog?nies C. moschata 1, C. moschata 3, C. moschata 4 e C. moschata 8. As prog?nies promissoras para massa do fruto e ?-caroteno foram C. moschata 4 e C. moschata 7 para avan?os visando aumento da produ??o e das caracter?sticas nutricionais do fruto. As estimativas dos teores de carotenoides geradas pelo ?ngulo Hue somente s?o v?lidas para gen?tipos contrastantes devido ao agrupamento de gen?tipos com teores de carotenoides quatro vezes maiores em rela??o a cultivar Jacarezinho. As vari?veis explicaram 98% da varia??o ocorrida na vari?vel b?sica na an?lise de trilha e quatro vari?veis podem ser utilizadas para a sele??o direta visando aumento da massa do fruto.

Orientador: Fernando Roberto Martins
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia
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Resumo: Apesar da importância que as trepadeiras apresentam em florestas tropicais, estudos sobre a montagem da comunidade de lianas (trepadeiras lenhosas e sublenhosas) que investiguem desde a contribuição dos fatores abióticos e bióticos até fatores intrínsecos (coexistência entre indivíduos) são escassos. O objetivo geral desta tese é pesquisar a estruturação da comunidade das espécies de lianas em uma Floresta Estacional Semidecídua (FES), investigando (1) a importância relativa dos fatores ambientais e espaciais para diferentes espécies de lianas, (2) a estruturação filogenética da comunidade de trepadeiras em diferentes ambientes, e (3) os efeitos diretos ou mediados das árvores e arbustos para o número de espécies e indivíduos de trepadeiras. Mostramos que (1) grande parte da variação na composição de espécies de lianas em uma FES é devido a fatores não investigados (fatores estocásticos) e o espaço (autocorrelação espacial). Portanto, concluímos que os maiores determinantes na variação da composição de espécies de lianas em uma FES é a aleatoriedade (sendo reflexo da variação estocástica das populações) e a limitação por dispersão (demonstrada pela alta autocorrelação espacial). No segundo capítulo (2), encontramos que uma maioria discreta das parcelas apresentou maior aproximação filogenética do que o esperado ao acaso na comunidade de trepadeiras amostrada. Houve pouca influência de variáveis relacionadas à dinâmica florestal na variação da aproximação filogenética, sendo que áreas com árvores mais altas e maior proporção de árvores do presente apresentavam maior aproximação filogenética que outras áreas. Concluímos que em áreas de dossel mais baixo e menor proporção de árvores do presente (clareiras) não apresentam menor sinal filogenético, pois todas as espécies de lianas apresentariam potencial de existirem nestas áreas, enquanto que nas áreas de floresta madura haveria a existência de filtros ambientais para a existência de poucos ramos filogenéticos. Por último (3), encontramos que os atributos da comunidade de árvores e arbustos são fatores importantes na variação dos atributos da comunidade de lianas, sendo parte dele decorrente do distúrbio no dossel. Mas o distúrbio no dossel como fator direto é mais importante na variação da abundância e número de espécies de lianas em uma Floresta Estacional Semidecídua
Abstract: Despite the fact that climbing plants present in tropical forests, studies which investigate the contribution of abiotic and biotic factors or intrinsic factors (coexistence between individuals) on community assembly of lianas (woody and sub-woody climbers) are scarce. The overall objective of this thesis is to research the community structure of liana species in a Seasonal Semideciduous Forest (SSF), investigating (1) the relative importance of environmental and spatial factors on community assembly of lianas, (2) the phylogenetic structure of climbing plants community along the forest development (treefall gaps to old-growth forest), and (3) the direct or indirect effects of trees and shrubs for the number of species and individuals of climbing plants. We show that (1) much of the variation in species composition of lianas in a SSF is due to stochastic factors and space. Therefore, we conclude that the major determinants of variation in lianas' species composition in a TSF are stochastic variance of populations, shown by the unexplained factors, and dispersion limitation, shown by spatial autocorrelation. In the second chapter (2), we found that a slight majority of the sample plots showed cluster phylogenetic structure in the climbing plants community. There was a slight influence of variables related to forest dynamics in the variation of the phylogenetic structure, and areas with tall trees and higher proportion of present trees had higher values of clustering in phylogenetic structure than other areas. We conclude that in areas of lower canopy and smaller proportion of present trees (treefall gaps) showed few phylogenetic branches, since all species of climbing plants would be existing in these areas, while areas of old-growth forest would demonstrate environmental filters for the climbing plants. Finally, we also found (3) that the community of trees and shrubs' attributes (abundance and species richness) are important factors in the variation of attributes liana community (species richness and abundance), being part of it due to the canopy disturbance. But canopy disturbance was the more important direct factor in variance of abundance and species richness of lianas in a Seasonal Semideciduous Forest
Doutorado
Doutor em Biologia Vegetal

Regression models describingthe dependence between a univariate response and a set of covariates play a fundamental role in statistics. In the last two decades, a tremendous effort has been made in developing flexible regression techniques such as generalized additive models(GAMs) with the aim of modelling the expected value of a response variable as a sum of smooth unspecified functions of predictors. Many nonparametric regression methodologies exist includinglocal-weighted regressionand smoothing splines. Here the focus is on penalized regression spline methods which can be viewed as a generalization of smoothing splines with a more flexible choice of bases and penalties. This thesis addresses three issues. First, the problem of model misspecification is treated by extending the instrumental variable approach to the GAM context. Second, we study the theoretical and empirical properties of the confidence intervals for the smooth component functions of a GAM. Third, we consider the problem of variable selection within this flexible class of models. All results are supported by theoretical arguments and extensive simulation experiments which shed light on the practical performance of the methods discussed in this thesis.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Statistics
Haiyan Wang
The advance in technologies has enabled many fields to collect datasets where the number of covariates (p) tends to be much bigger than the number of observations (n), the so-called ultrahigh dimensionality. In this setting, classical regression methodologies are invalid. There is a great need to develop methods that can explain the variations of the response variable using only a parsimonious set of covariates. In the recent years, there have been significant developments of variable selection procedures. However, these available procedures usually result in the selection of too many false variables. In addition, most of the available procedures are appropriate only when the response variable is linearly associated with the covariates. Motivated by these concerns, we propose another procedure for variable selection in ultrahigh dimensional setting which has the ability to reduce the number of false positive variables. Moreover, this procedure can be applied when the response variable is continuous or binary, and when the response variable is linearly or non-linearly related to the covariates. Inspired by the Least Angle Regression approach, we develop two multi-step algorithms to select variables in sparse ultrahigh dimensional additive models. The variables go through a series of nonlinear dependence evaluation following a Most Significant Regression (MSR) algorithm. In addition, the MSR algorithm is also designed to implement prediction of the response variable. The first algorithm called MSR-continuous (MSRc) is appropriate for a dataset with a response variable that is continuous. Simulation results demonstrate that this algorithm works well. Comparisons with other methods such as greedy-INIS by Fan et al. (2011) and generalized correlation procedure by Hall and Miller (2009) showed that MSRc not only has false positive rate that is significantly less than both methods, but also has accuracy and true positive rate comparable with greedy-INIS. The second algorithm called MSR-binary (MSRb) is appropriate when the response variable is binary. Simulations demonstrate that MSRb is competitive in terms of prediction accuracy and true positive rate, and better than GLMNET in terms of false positive rate. Application of MSRb to real datasets is also presented. In general, MSR algorithm usually selects fewer variables while preserving the accuracy of predictions.

This report presents the hydrophobic (90<Ѳ<150) and superhydrophobic (150<Ѳ<180) behaviors of electrospun fibers in the presence and absence of various inclusions. The research on superhydrohobicity has accelerated around the globe and many researchers have been taking keen interests in fabrication of superhydrophobic materials, using several methods, such as sol-gel, vapor deposition, plasma treatment, surface etching and layer by layer assembly. In the present research, polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fibers with diameters between 200 nm and 7.60 µm were fabricated by electrospinning technique, and then surface morphology and superhydrohobicity of these electrospun nanofibers were investigated. The results indicate that the water contact angle of the nanofiber surfaces goes up to 165° based on the fiber diameter, type of materials and surface porosity/roughness. Additives such as graphene, surfactant and titanium dioxide (2TiO) nanoparticles (nano powders) ranging from 10-25 nm were added into the same polymers (PVC, PS) and investigated to determine their performances. Both heat treatment and surface treatment were also applied to the fabricated fibers. The results with the additives indicate that the water contact angle is even further increased up to 178°. This may be because of the nanoscale voids (entrapped air) in the pores and surface energy of the nanofiber surface. These higher contact angle nanomaterials can have various industrial applications, such as non-wettable fabric, antibacterial surface, low friction devices, MEMS, NEMS, microfluidics and nanofluidics.
Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

In the analysis of survival outcome supplemented with both clinical information and high-dimensional gene expression data, traditional Cox proportional hazard model fails to meet some emerging needs in biological research. First, the number of covariates is generally much larger the sample size. Secondly, predicting an outcome with individual gene expressions is inadequate because a gene's expression is regulated by multiple biological processes and functional units. There is a need to understand the impact of changes at a higher level such as molecular function, cellular component, biological process, or pathway. The change at a higher level is usually measured with a set of gene expressions related to the biological process. That is, we need to model the outcome with gene sets as variable groups and the gene sets could be partially overlapped also. In this thesis work, we investigate the impact of a penalized Cox regression procedure on regularization, parameter estimation, variable group selection, and nonparametric modeling of nonlinear eects with a time-to-event outcome. We formulate the problem as a partially linear additive Cox model with high-dimensional data. We group genes into gene sets and approximate the nonparametric components by truncated series expansions with B-spline bases. After grouping and approximation, the problem of variable selection becomes that of selecting groups of coecients in a gene set or in an approximation. We apply the group Lasso to obtain an initial solution path and reduce the dimension of the problem and then update the whole solution path with the adaptive group Lasso. We also propose a generalized group lasso method to provide more freedom in specifying the penalty and excluding covariates from being penalized. A modied Newton-Raphson method is designed for stable and rapid computation. The core programs are written in the C language. An user-friendly R interface is implemented to perform all the calculations by calling the core programs. We demonstrate the asymptotic properties of the proposed methods. Simulation studies are carried out to evaluate the finite sample performance of the proposed procedure using several tuning parameter selection methods for choosing the point on the solution path as the nal estimator. We also apply the proposed approach on two real data examples.

The dissertation thesis deals with a study of an influence of a simultaneous incidence of an additive thermal noise and a multiplicative phase noise on the useful signal transmission in narrowband satellite communication systems. While the additive thermal noise affects the useful signal only on the receiver side of the communication system, the multiplicative phase noise is produced in all system oscillators. One investigates how the receiver filter bandwidth reduction takes effect on the influence of individual noise types. The thesis is divided into four units. The first one (chapters 4 and 5) solves the ways of modeling of both noise types. In the second part (chapter 6), on the simple example, the primary analysis of the phase noise influence is made. Basic modulation schemes used in the satellite communication are also discussed (chapter 7). Third part (chapter 8) is devoted to the modeling of a general digital system with a M PSK modulation made directly on the main carrier wave. The last part (chapter 9) describes the modeling of a digital system with a BPSK modulation on the auxiliary subcarrier wave followed by an SSB modulation on the main carrier wave. General conclusions are deduced from obtained simulation results.

In this thesis we propose a novel modification to Bayesian decision tree methods. We provide a historical survey of the statistics and computer science research in decision trees. Our approach facilitates covariate selection explicitly in the model, something not present in previous research. We define a transformation that allows us to use priors from linear models to facilitate covariate selection in decision trees. Using this transform, we modify many common approaches to variable selection in the linear model and bring these methods to bear on the problem of explicit covariate selection in decision tree models. We also provide theoretical guidelines, including a theorem, which gives necessary and sufficient conditions for consistency of decision trees in infinite dimensional spaces. Our examples and case studies use both simulated and real data cases with moderate to large numbers of covariates. The examples support the claim that our approach is to be preferred in large dimensional datasets. Moreover, our approach shown here has, as a special case, the model known as Bayesian CART.
Ph. D.

In order to personalize or tailor treatments to maximize impact among different subgroups, there is need to model not only the main effects of intervention but also the variation in intervention impact by baseline individual level risk characteristics. To this end a suitable statistical model will allow researchers to answer a major research question: who benefits or is harmed by this intervention program? Commonly in social and psychological research, the baseline risk may be unobservable and have to be estimated from observed indicators that are measured with errors; also it may have nonlinear relationship with the outcome. Most of the existing nonlinear structural equation models (SEM’s) developed to address such problems employ polynomial or fully parametric nonlinear functions to define the structural equations. These methods are limited because they require functional forms to be specified beforehand and even if the models include higher order polynomials there may be problems when the focus of interest relates to the function over its whole domain. To develop a more flexible statistical modeling technique for assessing complex relationships between a proximal/distal outcome and 1) baseline characteristics measured with errors, and 2) baseline-treatment interaction; such that the shapes of these relationships are data driven and there is no need for the shapes to be determined a priori. In the ALV model structure the nonlinear components of the regression equations are represented as generalized additive model (GAM), or generalized additive mixed-effects model (GAMM). Replication study results show that the ALV model estimates of underlying relationships in the data are sufficiently close to the true pattern. The ALV modeling technique allows researchers to assess how an intervention affects individuals differently as a function of baseline risk that is itself measured with error, and uncover complex relationships in the data that might otherwise be missed. Although the ALV approach is computationally intensive, it relieves its users from the need to decide functional forms before the model is run. It can be extended to examine complex nonlinearity between growth factors and distal outcomes in a longitudinal study.

Energimyndigheten har drivit ett projekt kallat ”Förbättrad energistatistik i bebyggelsen” för att få mer kunskap om energianvändningen i byggnader.  Denna rapport fokuserar på ”Mätning av hushållsel på apparatnivå” som var ett delprojekt. Diverse regressionsmodeller används i denna rapport för att undersöka sambandet mellan elanvändningen och de olika förklarande variablerna, som exempelvis hushållens bakgrundsvariabler, hushållstyp och geografiska läge, elförbrukningen av olika elapparater samt antalet elapparater. Datamaterialet innefattar 389 hushåll där de flesta är spridda runt om i Mälardalen. Ett fåtal mätningar gjordes på hushåll i Kiruna och Malmö. Slutsatsen vi kan dra från denna uppsats är att hushållens bakgrund, hustyp, geografiska läge och antal elapparater samt dessa apparaters typ har relevans för elförbrukningen i ett hushåll.
The Swedish Energy Agency conducted a project which is called “Improved energy statistics for settlements”. This report focuses on one field of the project: “households’ electricity use on device level”. Various regression models are used in the analysis to analyze the relationship between electricity usage and different explanatory variables, for instance: background variables for the household, type of household, geographical setting, usage of different electrical devices and quantity of electrical devices used.  The data material consists of 389 households which are spread around the region of Märlardalen except for a few households from the communities of Kiruna and Malmö. The conclusion we can draw from this thesis shows that the background variables for a household, its type, its geographical setting and the amount and type of devices it contains all have a contribution to the electricity usage in the household.
Förbättrad energistatistik i bebyggelsen

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an innovative manufacturing process which offers near-net shape fabrication of complex components, directly from CAD models, without dies or substantial machining, resulting in a reduction in lead-time, waste, and cost. For example, the buy-to-fly ratio for a titanium component machined from forged billet is typically 10-20:1 compared to 5-7:1 when manufactured by AM. However, the production rates for most AM processes are relatively slow and AM is consequently largely of interest to the aerospace, automotive and biomedical industries. In addition, the solidification conditions in AM with the Ti alloy commonly lead to undesirable coarse columnar primary β grain structures in components. The present research is focused on developing a fundamental understanding of the influence of the processing conditions on microstructure and texture evolution and their resulting effect on the mechanical properties during additive manufacturing with a Ti6Al4V alloy, using three different techniques, namely; 1) Selective laser melting (SLM) process, 2) Electron beam selective melting (EBSM) process and, 3) Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process. The most important finding in this work was that all the AM processes produced columnar β-grain structures which grow by epitaxial re-growth up through each melted layer. By thermal modelling using TS4D (Thermal Simulation in 4 Dimensions), it has been shown that the melt pool size increased and the cooling rate decreased from SLM to EBSM and to the WAAM process. The prior β grain size also increased with melt pool size from a finer size in the SLM to a moderate size in EBSM and to huge grains in WAAM that can be seen by eye. However, despite the large difference in power density between the processes, they all had similar G/R (thermal gradient/growth rate) ratios, which were predicted to lie in the columnar growth region in the solidification diagram. The EBSM process showed a pronounced local heterogeneity in the microstructure in local transition areas, when there was a change in geometry; for e.g. change in wall thickness, thin to thick capping section, cross-over’s, V-transitions, etc. By reconstruction of the high temperature β microstructure, it has been shown that all the AM platforms showed primary columnar β grains with a <001>β.

Since the middle of the 20th century, significant interest has evolved from the scientific community towards the polypropionate family of marine natural products. A number of these compounds have been shown to possess significant biological activity, and this property, as well as their structural complexity, has driven numerous efforts towards their synthesis. The first chapter provides an introduction into the world of polypropionates, with a discussion on synthetic studies into a number of members of the tridachiapyrone family. Fundamental synthetic concepts utilised in this thesis towards the preparation of polyketides are also described, with a focus on their application towards the synthesis of 9,10-deoxytridachione, anti tridachiahydropyrone and syn tridachiahydropyrone. Chapter 2 describes the work undertaken towards the total synthesis of 9,10-deoxytridachione. The novel tandem conjugate addition-Dieckmann condensation of complex enones developed previously in the Perkins group was used to generate anti methylated cyclohexenones as key synthetic intermediates. The conversion of the cyclohexenones into the corresponding cyclohexadienes via allylic alcohols was attempted, utilising a Grignard-mediated reaction to achieve the selective 1,2-reduction. Studies into the Grignard-mediated reduction were also undertaken on seven additional cyclohexenones, in order to investigate the utility and scope of the reaction. The extension of the methodology previously developed for the synthesis of cyclohexenones is the subject of Chapter 3. This section describes investigations into the synthesis of stereochemically-diverse cyclohexenones from complex enones. The conjugate addition-Dieckmann condensation strategy was extended successfully towards the synthesis of a syn methylated cyclohexenone, which allowed the synthesis of the proposed true structure of tridachiahydropyrone to be pursued. The methodology developed in Chapter 3 was utilised in Chapter 4 to synthesise a model system of syn tridachiahydropyrone. A comparative analysis of the NMR data of the syn model, an anti model and anti tridachiahydropyrone with the natural product indicated that the true structure of tridachiahydropyrone may indeed have syn stereochemistry. The synthesis of syn tridachiahydropyrone was attempted, and to this end a suitable cyclohexanone was successfully synthesised. However, the subsequent methylation-elimination cascade failed to furnish the desired syn methylated cyclohexenone, producing only an anti methylated cyclohexanone. The stereochemistry of the methylation was deduced using high and low variable temperature NMR coupled with selective irradiation NOESY.

Thesis (M.S. in Electrical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2004.
Thesis Advisor(s): David C. Jenn, Phillip E. Pace. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70). Also available online.

La cristallisation des hydrates pendant la production de pétrole est une source de risques, surtout liés au bouchage des lignes de production dû à l’agglomération des hydrates. Pendant l'extraction de pétrole, l'huile et l'eau circulent dans le pipeline et forment une émulsion instable. La phase eau se combine avec les composants d'hydrocarbures légers et peut former des hydrates. La cristallisation des hydrates a été intensivement étudiée, principalement à faible fraction d’eau. Cependant, lorsque le champ de pétrole devient mature, la fraction d’eau augmente et peut devenir la phase dominante, un système peu étudié concernant à la formation d'hydrates. Plusieurs techniques peuvent être combinées pour éviter ou remédier la formation d'hydrates. Récemment, une nouvelle classe d'additifs a commencé à être étudiée : Inhibiteurs d'Hydrates à Bas Dosage (LDHI), divisés en Inhibiteurs Cinétiques (KHI-LDHI) et anti-agglomérants (AA-LDHI).Ce travail est une étude paramétrique de la formation d'hydrates à partir de l'émulsion, en variant la fraction d’eau, le débit, en absence et en présence d’AA-LDHI. Les expériences ont été réalisées sur la boucle d'écoulement Archimède, qui est en mesure de reproduire les conditions de la mer profonde. L'objectif de cette étude est d'améliorer la compréhension de la formation d'hydrate et de comprendre comment l'additif dispersant évite l'agglomération. Pour ce faire, un modèle comportemental de la cristallisation pour les systèmes sans et avec additif a été développé. Il a également été proposé une technique pour déterminer la phase continue du système et un mécanisme d'action pour l'anti-agglomérant a été suggéré
Crystallization of hydrates during oil production is a major source of hazards, mainly related to flow lines plugging after hydrate agglomeration. During the petroleum extraction, oil and water circulate in the flow line, forming an unstable emulsion. The water phase in combination with light hydrocarbon components can form hydrates. The crystallization of hydrates has been extensively studied, mainly at low water content systems. However, as the oil field matures, the water fraction increases and can become the dominant phase, a system less known in what concerns hydrate formation. Actually, several techniques can be combined to avoid or remediate hydrate formation. Recently, a new class of additives called Low Dosage Hydrate Inhibitor (LDHI) started to be studied, they are classified as Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitors (KHI-LDHI) and Anti-Agglomerants (AA-LDHI).This work is a parametric study about hydrate formation from emulsion systems ranging from low to high water content, where different flow rates and the anti-agglomerant presence were investigated. The experiments were performed at the Archimède flow loop, which is able to reproduce deep sea conditions. The goal of this study is enhancing the knowledge in hydrate formation and comprehending how the dispersant additive acts to avoid agglomeration. For this matter, it was developed a crystallization topological model for the systems without and with additive. A technique to determine the system continuous phase and a mechanism of the anti-agglomerant action from the chord length measurements were also proposed

La conception et l'étude des performances statistiques d'algorithmes du second ordre de type sous espace dans le cas de sources complexes non circulaires affectées par un bruit additif blanc uniforme gaussien complexe circulaire. * le calcul d'expressions analytiques interprétables de la borne de Cramer Rao stochastique du paramètre de DOA seul de signaux gaussiens complexes non circulaires sous différents modèles de corrélations spatiales de bruits gaussiens complexes circulaires. * le calcul d'expressions analytiques interprétables de la borne de Cramer Rao stochastique du paramètre de DOA seul pour des signaux de modulations BPSK, MSK et QPSK dans le cas de bruit additif blanc uniforme ou non uniforme gaussien complexe circulaire. Des expressions de limites de résolution ont été comparées à celles du cas gaussien. * l'extension des résultats standards sur l'estimateur asymptotiquement de variance minimale (AMV) au cas singulier (première matrice de covariance singulière). Application à des statistiques composées de différents projecteurs orthogonaux estimés associés à différents sous espaces bruit. * l'efficacité enfin des estimateurs AMV basés sur des statistiques formées par des projecteurs orthogonaux estimés associés à des sous espaces du modèle gaussien général où le paramètre est identifiable par différents projecteurs orthogonaux.

Classical planning is the problem of nding a sequence of actions that take an agent from an initial state to a desired goal situation, assuming deter- ministic outcomes for actions and perfect information. Satis cing planning seeks to quickly nd low-cost solutions with no guarantees of optimality. The most e ective approach for satis cing planning has proved to be heuristic search using non-admissible heuristics. In this thesis, we introduce several such heuristics that are able to take into account costs on actions, and there- fore try to minimize the more general metric of cost, rather than length, of plans, and investigate their properties and performance. In addition, we show how the problem of planning with soft goals can be compiled into a classical planning problem with costs, a setting in which cost-sensitive heuristics such as those presented here are essential.
La plani caci on cl asica es el problema que consiste en hallar una secuencia de acciones que lleven a un agente desde un estado inicial a un objetivo, asum- iendo resultados determin sticos e informaci on completa. La plani caci on \satis cing" busca encontrar una soluci on de bajo coste, sin garant as de op- timalidad. La b usqueda heur stica guiada por heur sticas no admisibles es el enfoque que ha tenido mas exito. Esta tesis presenta varias heur sticas de ese g enero que consideran costes en las acciones, y por lo tanto encuentran soluciones que minimizan el coste, en lugar de la longitud del plan. Adem as, demostramos que el problema de plani caci on con \soft goals", u objetivos opcionales, se puede reducir a un problema de plani caci on clasica con costes en las acciones, escenario en el que heur sticas sensibles a costes, tal como las aqu presentadas, son esenciales.

Model and variable selection have attracted considerable attention in areas of application where datasets usually contain thousands of variables. Variable selection is a critical step to reduce the dimension of high dimensional data by eliminating irrelevant variables. The general objective of variable selection is not only to obtain a set of cost-effective predictors selected but also to improve prediction and prediction variance. We have made several contributions to this issue through a range of advanced topics: providing a graphical view of Bayesian Variable Selection (BVS), recovering sparsity in multivariate nonparametric models and proposing a testing procedure for evaluating nonlinear interaction effect in a semiparametric model. To address the first topic, we propose a new Bayesian variable selection approach via the graphical model and the Ising model, which we refer to the ``Bayesian Ising Graphical Model'' (BIGM). There are several advantages of our BIGM: it is easy to (1) employ the single-site updating and cluster updating algorithm, both of which are suitable for problems with small sample sizes and a larger number of variables, (2) extend this approach to nonparametric regression models, and (3) incorporate graphical prior information. In the second topic, we propose a Nonnegative Garrote on a Kernel machine (NGK) to recover sparsity of input variables in smoothing functions. We model the smoothing function by a least squares kernel machine and construct a nonnegative garrote on the kernel model as the function of the similarity matrix. An efficient coordinate descent/backfitting algorithm is developed. The third topic involves a specific genetic pathway dataset in which the pathways interact with the environmental variables. We propose a semiparametric method to model the pathway-environment interaction. We then employ a restricted likelihood ratio test and a score test to evaluate the main pathway effect and the pathway-environment interaction.
Ph. D.

O Vírus da Imunodeficiência Humana (HIV) é o agente etiológico da Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida (AIDS). A AIDS é uma doença de distribuição mundial, e estima-se que existam atualmente pelo menos 36,9 milhões de pessoas infectadas com o vírus. Durante o seu ciclo replicativo, o HIV promove diversas alterações na fisiologia da célula hospedeira a fim de promover sua sobrevivência e potencializar a replicação. A rápida progressão da infecção pelo HIV-1 em humanos e em modelos animais está intimamente ligada à função da proteína acessória Nef. Dentre as diversas ações de Nef está a regulação negativa de proteínas importantes na resposta imunológica, como o receptor CD4. Sabe-se que esta ação resulta da indução da degradação de CD4 em lisossomos, mas os mecanismos moleculares envolvidos ainda são totalmente elucidados. Nef forma um complexo tripartite com a cauda citosólica de CD4 e a proteína adaptadora 2 (AP-2), em vesículas revestidas por clatrina nascentes, induzindo a internalização e degradação lisossomal de CD4. Pesquisas anteriores demonstraram que o direcionamento de CD4 aos lisossomos por Nef envolve a entrada do receptor na via dos corpos multivesiculares (MVBs), por um mecanismo atípico, pois, embora não necessite da ubiquitinação de carga, depende da ação de proteínas que compõem os ESCRTs (Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport) e da ação de Alix, uma proteína acessória da maquinaria ESCRT. Já foi reportado que Nef interage com subunidades dos complexos AP-1, AP-2, AP-3 e Nef não parece interagir com subunidades de AP-4 e AP-5. Entretanto, o papel da interação de Nef com AP-1 e AP-3 na regulação negativa de CD4 ainda não está totalmente elucidado. Ademais, AP-1, AP-2 e AP-3 são potencialmente heterogêneos devido à existência de isoformas múltiplas das subunidades codificadas por diferentes genes. Todavia, existem poucos estudos para demonstrar se as diferentes combinações de isoformas dos APs são formadas e se possuem propriedades funcionais distintas. O presente trabalho procurou identificar e caracterizar fatores celulares envolvidos na regulação do tráfego intracelular de proteínas no processo de regulação negativa de CD4 induzido por Nef. Mais especificamente, este estudo buscou caracterizar a participação do complexo AP-1 na modulação negativa de CD4 por Nef de HIV-1, através do estudo funcional das duas isoformas de ?-adaptina, subunidades de AP-1. Utilizando a técnica de Pull-down demonstramos que Nef é capaz de interagir com ?2. Além disso, nossos dados de Imunoblot indicaram que a proteína ?2-adaptina, e não ?1-adaptina, é necessária no processo de degradação lisossomal de CD4 por Nef e que esta participação é conservada para degradação de CD4 por Nef de diferentes cepas virais. Ademais, por citometria de fluxo, o silenciamento de ?2, e não de ?1, compromete a diminuição dos níveis de CD4 por Nef da membrana plasmática. A análise por imunofluorêsncia indireta também revelou que a diminuição dos níveis de ?2 impede a redistribuição de CD4 por Nef para regiões perinucleares, acarretando no acúmulo de CD4, retirados por Nef da membrana plasmática, em endossomos primários. A depleção de ?1A, outra subunidade de AP-1, acarretou na diminuição dos níveis celulares de ?2 e ?1, bem como, no comprometimento da eficiente degradação de CD4 por Nef. Além disso, foi possível observar que, ao perturbar a maquinaria ESCRT via super-expressão de HRS (uma subunidade do complexo ESCRT-0), ocorreu um acumulo de ?2 em endossomos dilatados contendo HRS-GFP, nos quais também detectou-se CD4 que foi internalizado por Nef. Em conjunto, os resultados indicam que ?2-adaptina é uma importante molécula para o direcionamento de CD4 por Nef para a via ESCRT/MVB, mostrando ser uma proteína relevante no sistema endo-lisossomal. Ademais, os resultados indicaram que as isoformas ?-adaptinas não só possuem funções distintas, mas também parecem compor complexos AP-1 com diferentes funções celulares, já que apenas a variante AP-1 contendo ?2, mas não ?1, participa da regulação negativa de CD4 por Nef. Estes estudos contribuem para o melhor entendimento dos mecanismos moleculares envolvidos na atividade de Nef, que poderão também ajudar na melhor compreensão da patogênese do HIV e da síndrome relacionada. Em adição, este trabalho contribui para o entendimento de processos fundamentais da regulação do tráfego de proteínas transmembrana no sistema endo-lisossomal.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the etiologic agent of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is a disease which has a global distribution, and it is estimated that there are currently at least 36.9 million people infected with the virus. During the replication cycle, HIV promotes several changes in the physiology of the host cell to promote their survival and enhance replication. The fast progression of HIV-1 in humans and animal models is closely linked to the function of an accessory protein Nef. Among several actions of Nef, one is the most important is the down-regulation of proteins from the immune response, such as the CD4 receptor. It is known that this action causes CD4 degradation in lysosome, but the molecular mechanisms are still incompletely understood. Nef forms a tripartite complex with the cytosolic tail of the CD4 and adapter protein 2 (AP-2) in clathrin-coated vesicles, inducing CD4 internalization and lysosome degradation. Previous research has demonstrated that CD4 target to lysosomes by Nef involves targeting of this receptor to multivesicular bodies (MVBs) pathway by an atypical mechanism because, although not need charging ubiquitination, depends on the proteins from ESCRTs (Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport) machinery and the action of Alix, an accessory protein ESCRT machinery. It has been reported that Nef interacts with subunits of AP- 1, AP-2, AP-3 complexes and Nef does not appear to interact with AP-4 and AP-5 subunits. However, the role of Nef interaction with AP-1 or AP-3 in CD4 down-regulation is poorly understood. Furthermore, AP-1, AP-2 and AP-3 are potentially heterogeneous due to the existence of multiple subunits isoforms encoded by different genes. However, there are few studies to demonstrate if the different combinations of APs isoforms are form and if they have distinct functional properties. This study aim to identify and characterize cellular factors involved on CD4 down-modulation induced by Nef from HIV-1. More specifically, this study aimed to characterize the involvement of AP-1 complex in the down-regulation of CD4 by Nef HIV-1 through the functional study of the two isoforms of ?-adaptins, AP-1 subunits. By pull-down technique, we showed that Nef is able to interact with ?2. In addition, our data from immunoblots indicated that ?2- adaptin, not ?1-adaptin, is required in Nef-mediated targeting of CD4 to lysosomes and the ?2 participation in this process is conserved by Nef from different viral strains. Furthermore, by flow cytometry assay, ?2 depletion, but not ?1 depletion, compromises the reduction of surface CD4 levels induced by Nef. Immunofluorescence microscopy analysis also revealed that ?2 depletion impairs the redistribution of CD4 by Nef to juxtanuclear region, resulting in CD4 accumulation in primary endosomes. Knockdown of ?1A, another subunit of AP-1, resulted in decreased cellular levels of ?1 and ?2 and, compromising the efficient CD4 degradation by Nef. Moreover, upon artificially stabilizing ESCRT-I in early endosomes, via overexpression of HRS, internalized CD4 accumulates in enlarged HRS-GFP positive endosomes, where co-localize with ?2. Together, the results indicate that ?2-adaptin is a molecule that is essential for CD4 targeting by Nef to ESCRT/MVB pathway, being an important protein in the endo-lysosomal system. Furthermore, the results indicate that ?-adaptins isoforms not only have different functions, but also seem to compose AP-1 complex with distinct cell functions, and only the AP-1 variant comprising ?2, but not ?1, acts in the CD4 down-regulation induced by Nef. These studies contribute to a better understanding on the molecular mechanisms involved in Nef activities, which may also help to improve the understanding of the HIV pathogenesis and the related syndrome. In addition, this work contributes with the understanding of primordial process regulation on intracellular trafficking of transmembrane proteins.

Doutoramento em Bioquímica
Os polissacarídeos são os componentes maioritários dos grãos de café verde e torrado e da bebida de café. Os mais abundantes são as galactomananas, seguindo-se as arabinogalactanas. Durante o processo de torra, as galactomananas e arabinogalactanas sofrem modificações estruturais, as quais estão longe de estar completamente elucidadas devido à sua diversidade e à complexidade estrutural dos compostos formados. Durante o processo de torra, as galactomananas e arabinogalactanas reagem com proteínas, ácidos clorogénicos e sacarose, originando compostos castanhos de alto peso molecular contendo nitrogénio, designados de melanoidinas. As melanoidinas do café apresentam diversas atividades biológicas e efeitos benéficos para a saúde. No entanto, a sua estrutura exata e os mecanismos envolvidos na sua formação permanecem desconhecidos, bem como a relação estrutura-atividade biológica. A utilização de sistemas modelo e a análise por espectrometria de massa permitem obter uma visão global e, simultaneamente, detalhada das modificações estruturais nos polissacarídeos do café promovidas pela torra, contribuindo para a elucidação das estruturas e mecanismos de formação das melanoidinas. Com base nesta tese, oligossacarídeos estruturalmente relacionados com a cadeia principal das galactomananas, (β1→4)-Dmanotriose (Man3), e as cadeias laterais das arabinogalactanas, (α1→5)-Larabinotriose (Ara3), isoladamente ou em misturas com ácido 5-Ocafeoilquínico (5-CQA), o ácido clorogénico mais abundante nos grãos de café verde, e péptidos compostos por tirosina e leucina, usados como modelos das proteínas, foram sujeitos a tratamento térmico a seco, mimetizando o processo de torra. A oxidação induzida por radicais hidroxilo (HO•) foi também estudada, uma vez que estes radicais parecem estar envolvidos na modificação dos polissacarídeos durante a torra. A identificação das modificações estruturais induzidas por tratamento térmico e oxidativo dos compostos modelo foi feita por estratégias analíticas baseadas principalmente em espectrometria de massa, mas também em cromatografia líquida. A cromatografia de gás foi usada na análise de açúcares neutros e ligações glicosídicas. Para validar as conclusões obtidas com os compostos modelo, foram também analisadas amostras de polissacarídeos do café obtidas a partir de resíduo de café e café instantâneo. Os resultados obtidos a partir dos oligossacarídeos modelo quando submetidos a tratamento térmico (seco), assim como à oxidação induzida por HO• (em solução), indicam a ocorrência de despolimerização, o que está de acordo com estudos anteriores que reportam a despolimerização das galactomananas e arabinogalactanas do café durante a torra. Foram ainda identificados outros compostos resultantes da quebra do anel de açúcares formados durante o tratamento térmico e oxidativo da Ara3. Por outro lado, o tratamento térmico a seco dos oligossacarídeos modelo (individualmente ou quando misturados) promoveu a formação de oligossacarídeos com um maior grau de polimerização, e também polissacarídeos com novos tipos de ligações glicosídicas, evidenciando a ocorrência de polimerização através reações de transglicosilação não enzimática induzidas por tratamento térmico a seco. As reações de transglicosilação induzidas por tratamento térmico a seco podem ocorrer entre resíduos de açúcares provenientes da mesma origem, mas também de origens diferentes com formação de estruturas híbridas, contendo arabinose e manose como observado nos casos dos compostos modelo usados. Os resultados obtidos a partir de amostras do resíduo de café e de café instantâneo sugerem a presença de polissacarídeos híbridos nestas amostras de café processado, corroborando a ocorrência de transglicosilação durante o processo de torra. Além disso, o estudo de misturas contendo diferentes proporções de cada oligossacarídeo modelo, mimetizando regiões do grão de café com composição distinta em polissacarídeos, sujeitos a diferentes períodos de tratamento térmico, permitiu inferir que diferentes estruturas híbridas e não híbridas podem ser formadas a partir das arabinogalactanas e galactomananas, dependendo da sua distribuição nas paredes celulares do grão e das condições de torra. Estes resultados podem explicar a heterogeneidade de estruturas de melanoidinas formadas durante a torra do café. Os resultados obtidos a partir de misturas modelo contendo um oligossacarídeo (Ara3 ou Man3) e 5-CQA sujeitas a tratamento térmico a seco, assim como de amostras provenientes do resíduo de café, mostraram a formação de compostos híbridos compostos por moléculas de CQA ligadas covalentemente a um número variável de resíduos de açúcar. Além disso, os resultados obtidos a partir da mistura contendo Man3 e 5-CQA mostraram que o CQA atua como catalisador das reações de transglicosilação. Por outro lado, nas misturas modelo contendo um péptido, mesmo contendo também 5-CQA e sujeitas ao mesmo tratamento, observou-se uma diminuição na extensão das reações transglicosilação. Este resultado pode explicar a baixa extensão das reações de transglicosilação não enzimáticas durante a torra nas regiões do grão de café mais ricas em proteínas, apesar dos polissacarídeos serem os componentes maioritários dos grãos de café. A diminuição das reações de transglicosilação na presença de péptidos/proteínas pode dever-se ao facto de os resíduos de açúcares redutores reagirem preferencialmente com os grupos amina de péptidos/proteínas por reação de Maillard, diminuindo o número de resíduos de açúcares redutores disponíveis para as reações de transglicosilação. Além dos compostos já descritos, uma diversidade de outros compostos foram formados a partir dos sistemas modelo, nomeadamente derivados de desidratação formados durante o tratamento térmico a seco. Em conclusão, a tipificação das modificações estruturais promovidas pela torra nos polissacarídeos do café abre o caminho para a compreensão dos mecanismos de formação das melanoidinas e da relação estrutura-atividade destes compostos.
Polysaccharides are the major components of green and roasted coffee beans, and coffee brew. The most abundant ones are galactomannans, followed by arabinogalactans. During the roasting process, galactomannans and arabinogalactans undergo structural modifications that are far to be completely elucidated due to their diversity and complexity of the compounds formed. During the roasting process, galactomannans and arabinogalactans react with proteins, chlorogenic acids, and sucrose, originating high molecular weight brown compounds containing nitrogen, known as melanoidins. Several biological activities and beneficial health effects have been attributed to coffee melanoidins. However, their exact structures and the mechanisms involved in their formation remain unknown, as well as the structure-biological activity relationship. The use of model systems and mass spectrometry analysis allow to obtain an overall view and, simultaneously, detailed, of the structural modifications in coffee polysaccharides promoted by roasting, contributing to the elucidation of the structures and formation mechanisms of melanoidins. Based on this thesis, oligosaccharides structurally related to the backbone of galactomannans, (β1→4)-D-mannotriose, and the side chains of arabinogalactans, (α1→5)-Larabinotriose, alone or in mixtures with 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid, the most abundant chlorogenic acid in green coffee beans, and dipeptides composed by tyrosine and leucine, used as models of proteins, were submitted to dry thermal treatments, mimicking the coffee roasting process. The oxidation induced by hydroxyl radicals (HO•) was also studied, since these radicals seem to be involved in the modification of the polysaccharides during roasting. The identification of the structural modifications induced by thermal and oxidative treatment of the model compounds was performed mostly by mass spectrometry-based analytical strategies, but also using liquid chromatography. Gas chromatography was used in the analysis of neutral sugars and glycosidic linkages. To validate the conclusions achieved with the model compounds, coffee polysaccharide samples obtained from spent coffee grounds and instant coffee were also analysed. The results obtained from the model oligosaccharides when submitted to thermal treatment (dry) or oxidation induced by HO• (in solution) indicate the occurrence of depolymerization, which is in line with previous studies reporting the depolymerization of coffee galactomannans and arabinogalactans during roasting. Compounds resulting from sugar ring cleavage were also formed during thermal treatment and oxidative treatment of Ara3. On the other hand, the dry thermal treatment of the model oligosaccharides (alone or when mixed) promoted the formation of oligosaccharides with a higher degree of polymerization, and also polysaccharides with new type of glycosidic linkages, evidencing the occurrence of polymerization via non-enzymatic transglycosylation reactions induced by dry thermal treatment. The transglycosylation reactions induced by dry thermal treatment can occur between sugar residues from the same origin, but also of different origins, with formation of hybrid structures, containing arabinose and mannose in the case of the model compounds used. The results obtained from spent coffee grounds and instant coffee samples suggest the presence of hybrid polysaccharides in these processed coffee samples, corroborating the occurrence of transglycosylation during the roasting process. Furthermore, the study of mixtures containing different proportions of each model oligosaccharide, mimicking coffee bean regions with distinct polysaccharide composition, subjected to different periods of thermal treatment, allowed to infer that different hybrid and non-hybrid structures may be formed from arabinogalactans and galactomannans, depending on their distribution in the bean cell walls and on roasting conditions. These results may explain the heterogeneity of melanoidins structures formed during coffee roasting. The results obtained from model mixtures containing an oligosaccharide (Ara3 or Man3) and 5-CQA and subjected to dry thermal treatment, as well as samples derived from spent coffee grounds, showed the formation of hybrid compounds composed by CQA molecules covalently linked to a variable number of sugar residues. Moreover, the results obtained from the mixture containing Man3 and 5-CQA showed that CQA acts as catalyst of transglycosylation reactions. On the other hand, in the model mixtures containing a peptide, even if containing 5-CQA and subjected to the same treatment, it was observed a decrease in the extent of transglycosylation reactions. This outcome can explain the low extent of non-enzymatic transglycosylation reactions during roasting in coffee bean regions enriched in proteins, although polysaccharides are the major components of the coffee beans. The decrease of transglycosylation reactions in the presence of peptides/proteins can be related with the preferential reactivity of reducing residues with the amino groups of peptides/proteins by Maillard reaction, decreasing the number of reducing residues available to be directly involved in the transglycosylation reactions. In addition to the compounds already described, a diversity of other compounds were formed from model systems, namely dehydrated derivatives formed during dry thermal treatment. In conclusion, the identification of the structural modifications in coffee polysaccharides promoted by roasting pave the way to the understanding of the mechanisms of formation of melanoidins and structure-activity relationship of these compounds.

A trait must genetically correlate with fitness in order to evolve, however, theory suggests that strong directional selection should erode additive genetic variance (Va) in fitness and limit future evolutionary potential. Sexual antagonism and temporal fluctuations in selection are mechanisms that could maintain Va in fitness. Maternal genetic effects could be an additional source of adaptive genetic variation. I used ‘animal models’ to examine a long-term population of red squirrels to determine 1) if either sexual antagonism or temporal fluctuations in selection were maintaining direct Va in fitness or 2) if maternal genetic effects were a source of indirect Va in fitness. While there were environmental trade-offs on juvenile survival, neither sexual antagonism nor temporal fluctuations in selection maintained Va in fitness. Maternal genetic effects on fitness were significant and provide the Va in fitness needed for rapid microevolution. This is the first instance of maternal genetic effects demonstrated as the only genetic variance available for microevolution.
Northern Scientific Training Program, the Arctic Institute of North America, American Society of Mammologists, Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology, NSERC Discovery (to Andrew McAdam), NSF (to Andrew McAdam)

In dieser Dissertation wurde untersucht, inwieweit die Kombination von Mikrofluidik mit elektrophoretischer Formgebung zur additiven Herstellung von Keramikbauteilen genutzt werden kann. Mit Verfahren der Mikrofluidik sollten räumliche Strukturierung und Materialdifferenzierung erfolgen, während die elektrophoretische Abscheidung für die Ausbildung einer homogenen Mikrostruktur sorgt. Es wurde eine Versuchsanlage aufgebaut, die eine kontrollierte elektrophoretische Abscheidung von Keramikpartikeln, die durch eine Hohlelektrode zugeführt werden, auf porösen Membranen ermöglicht. Die Anlage bietet – im Unterschied zu bereits beschriebenen Verfahren – das Potenzial für eine hochgradige Parallelisierung und Multimaterialdruck. Schließlich wurden Finite-Elemente-Modelle zur Feldverteilung und zur Partikelbewegung entwickelt, mit denen die experimentellen Ergebnisse verglichen wurden. Bei den Versuchen traten viele in ihrem Ausmaß nicht erwartete Phänomene auf: elektrohydrodynamische Effekte und nichtelektrisch verursachte Strömungen des Lösungsmittels, die die Ausbeute und Reproduzierbarkeit sowie die Eigenschaften der abgeschiedenen Strukturen verschlechterten, was zusätzlichen Untersuchungen notwendig machte. In Ethanol wurden relevante Abscheideparameter systematisch variiert und die Struktur und das Gefüge der abgeschiedenen Al2O3-Partikel methodisch analysiert. Die Arbeit war Teil eines von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft geförderten Sachbeihilfe-Projekts (KU 1327/10-1 | RA 614/7-1).:Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 7 2 Stand der Forschung 8 2.1 Stand der Forschung additive Fertigung keramischer Bauteile 8 2.1.1 Feedstockbasierte additive Fertigungsverfahren 9 2.1.2 Pulverbasierte additive Fertigungsverfahren: 10 2.1.3 Schlickerbasierte additive Fertigungsverfahren 11 2.2 Stand der Forschung elektrophoretische Abscheidung 12 2.3 Stand der Forschung Dielektrophorese 15 2.4 Stand der Forschung EHD-Effekt 16 3 Methodisches Vorgehen 19 3.1 Allgemeiner Aufbau 19 3.2 Elektroden 22 3.3 Lösungsmittel 24 3.4 Abscheidemembranen 25 3.5 Partikel und Suspensionen 27 3.6 Durchführung der Depositionsexperimente 30 3.7 Analyse der abgeschiedenen Strukturen 32 3.7.1 Konfokale 3D Laserscanningmikroskopie (CLSM) 32 3.7.2 Dynamische Differenzkalorimetrie und Thermogravimetrie (DSC/TGA) 33 3.7.3 Rasterelektronenmikroskopie (REM) und Varianzanalyse 33 4 Computersimulationen 35 5 Experimentelle Ergebnisse 41 5.1 Untersuchung des EHD-Effekts 41 5.2 Abscheidung mit verschiedenen Lösungsmitteln und Partikeln 45 5.3 Abscheidung von PEI-Aluminiumoxidpartikeln in Ethanol 51 5.4 DSC-TGA einer bedruckten Membran 60 5.5 Varianzanalyse der Gefügehomogenität elektrophoretisch abgeschiedener Proben 63 6 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick 66 7 Quellenverzeichnis 69 8 Formelverzeichnis 78 9 Tabellenverzeichnis 78 10 Abbildungsverzeichnis 79 11 Anhang 83
In this dissertation it was examined to what extent the combination of microfluidics with electrophoretic shaping can be used for the additive manufacturing of ceramic components. The spatial structuring and material differentiation should take place using microfluidic methods, while the electrophoretic deposition ensures the formation of a homogeneous microstructure. A test facility was set up that enables controlled electrophoretic deposition of ceramic particles, which are fed through a hollow electrode, onto porous membranes. In contrast to known processes, the system offers the potential for high-quality parallelization and multi-material printing. Finally, finite element models for field distribution and particle movement were developed, with which the experimental results were compared. During the experiments, many phenomena that were not expected occurred: electrohydrodynamic effects and non-electrically induced solvent flows, which reduced the yield and reproducibility as well as the properties of the deposited structures, that made additional studies necessary. We systematically varied relevant deposition parameters in the solvent ethanol and the microstructure of the deposited Al2O3 particles was methodically analyzed. The work was part of a research grant project funded by the German Research Foundation (KU 1327 / 10-1 | RA 614 / 7-1).:Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 7 2 Stand der Forschung 8 2.1 Stand der Forschung additive Fertigung keramischer Bauteile 8 2.1.1 Feedstockbasierte additive Fertigungsverfahren 9 2.1.2 Pulverbasierte additive Fertigungsverfahren: 10 2.1.3 Schlickerbasierte additive Fertigungsverfahren 11 2.2 Stand der Forschung elektrophoretische Abscheidung 12 2.3 Stand der Forschung Dielektrophorese 15 2.4 Stand der Forschung EHD-Effekt 16 3 Methodisches Vorgehen 19 3.1 Allgemeiner Aufbau 19 3.2 Elektroden 22 3.3 Lösungsmittel 24 3.4 Abscheidemembranen 25 3.5 Partikel und Suspensionen 27 3.6 Durchführung der Depositionsexperimente 30 3.7 Analyse der abgeschiedenen Strukturen 32 3.7.1 Konfokale 3D Laserscanningmikroskopie (CLSM) 32 3.7.2 Dynamische Differenzkalorimetrie und Thermogravimetrie (DSC/TGA) 33 3.7.3 Rasterelektronenmikroskopie (REM) und Varianzanalyse 33 4 Computersimulationen 35 5 Experimentelle Ergebnisse 41 5.1 Untersuchung des EHD-Effekts 41 5.2 Abscheidung mit verschiedenen Lösungsmitteln und Partikeln 45 5.3 Abscheidung von PEI-Aluminiumoxidpartikeln in Ethanol 51 5.4 DSC-TGA einer bedruckten Membran 60 5.5 Varianzanalyse der Gefügehomogenität elektrophoretisch abgeschiedener Proben 63 6 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick 66 7 Quellenverzeichnis 69 8 Formelverzeichnis 78 9 Tabellenverzeichnis 78 10 Abbildungsverzeichnis 79 11 Anhang 83

碩士
國立東華大學
應用數學系
106
When observations come from the mixture of additive quantile regression models, some unreasonable results of variable selection could happen if the existing quantile approaches are applied directly. In this work, we attempt to develop an algorithm to cluster data, select relevant variables, and identify the related structures simultaneously. In the proposed algorithm, B-spline function is utilized to approximate the additive model and the quantile regression with the Lasso-type penalty is employed for the variable selection and structure detection. The performance of the suggested algorithm is discussed through simulation problems.

This thesis describes the design and the optimization of a low overhead, high performance variable latency carry select adder. Previous researchers believed that the traditional adder has reached the theoretical speed bound. However, a considerable portion of hardware resources of the traditional adder is only used in the worst case. Based on this observation, variable latency adders have been proposed to improve on the theoretical limit, but such adders incur significant area overhead. By combining previous variable latency adders with carry select addition, this work describes a novel variable latency carry select adder. Applying carry select addition in the variable latency adder design significantly reduces the area overhead and increases its performance. This variable latency adder is faster and smaller than previous variable latency adders. Furthermore, this variable latency adder can be optimized to be faster and smaller than the fastest adder generated by the Synopsys DesignWare building block IP.

碩士
國立成功大學
資訊工程學系碩博士班
101
Adders are one of the most critical arithmetic functional units in many applications. The overall performance of these arithmetic circuits depends on the throughput of the adder. Therefore, the execution time can be reduced by improving the performance of adder. In order to provide 100% accurate results, the traditional adders have the delay lower bound Ω(logn). Thus, the performance of those adders cannot be improved significantly. To effectively improve the performance of the traditional adder, many approximate adders have been proposed. These approximate adders decrease the circuit delay and power consumption by sacrificing the computing accuracy. In this paper, we propose a high-performance and low-power carry speculative adder (CSPA) which can reduce the delay and power consumption compared with another speculative adder. In addition, to provide correct results, we also propose an error detection and recovery circuit constructing a CSPA-based variable latency addition (VLCSPA) to recover the results when an error occurs. The experimental results show our proposed CSPA has up to 26.59% performance improvement, 14.06% area reduction and 19.03% power saving compared with the speculative carry-select adder that was proposed in previous research work. Further, the average latency of the VLCSPA is close to that of the CSPA.

碩士
國立虎尾科技大學
機械設計工程研究所
99
The main purpose of this study is the use of nano-gold, nano-carbon ball and nano-molybdenum lubricant additive in order to understand its anti-scuffing performance. uses multi-function tribological tester apparatus including by the pure sliding design of Block-on-ring experiment and constant or variable slide to roll design Two-roller test, separately in the different pure sliding speed, the different surface roughness and different slide-roll ratio, measuring the scuffing load, contact temperature, resistance and vibration frequency signals by full understanding anti-scuffing lubricant lubrication mechanism at different nano-additives, and observes lubricating oil of the nanometer additive contact characteristic by the bubble experiment. The experimental results show that although the nano-gold and nano carbon ball contact angle of lubricant additives are similar, but the anti-scuffing performance of nano-chemical effects are significant differences, nano-Molybdenum additives significantly larger than the contact angle of nano-gold and nano carbon ball, and found that the tendency to spread more slowly shows the characteristics of high viscosity, can be effectively coated the surface of the specimen. Next, nano-gold and molybdenum compared to nano-carbon ball additives obviously has a good anti-scuffing lubricant performance, In the scuffing test, constant slide to roll transmission occur sizer more quickly variable slide to roll lubrication phenomena. Finally, the scuffing surface that take place during wear were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy and EDS

碩士
雲林科技大學
電子與資訊工程研究所
98
In the present error correction technology for digital data, Low-Density Parity-Check Code (LDPC) is with the bit-error-rate performance closest to Shannon limit. The earliest LDPC decoding algorithm is Sum-Product algorithm (SPA), which is mainly consisted of Check Nodes and Variable Nodes. Since the decoding algorithm utilizes large amount of multipliers, causing enormous operating complexity and hardware area, recent studies on LDPC decoders focus on reducing hardware area. With the skill of replacing multiplicantion by addition in logarithm domain algorithm and the widely discussed Minimum Sum Algorithm (MSA), which further reduces additive operations with the characteristics of comparators, the hardware complexity can effectively be reduced. However, these works focus more on the algorithm of Check Nodes in LDPC decoders. Besides, fewer literatures are about the Variable Nodes which occupy over a half of the LDPC decoder and whose primary algorithm, with small reduction capacity, is to implement simple additive operations. This thesis proposes to apply the addition technology in thermalcode to the Variable Nodes in the LDPC decoder so as to replace the traditional binary adder in Variable Nodes. In this thesis, the irregular quantization of thermalcode generates regular values which can be operated with simple combinational logic circuits in the additive operation in Variable Nodes. In comparison with conventional MSA, applying the decoding skill in this thesis to 802.11n digital wireless communication standard of code rate 1/2 and irregular matrix (1296,648) and fixing the iternation times, the simulation results show that the bit error rate, after decoding, can remain the same standard as MSA when SNR is 2.5dB. Besides, the logic synthesis results of the hardware also show that the hardwear measurement has been save 34% comparing with MSA, which is traditionally considered with small measurement, of the entire LDPC decoder hardware measurement.

Collections of large volumes of rich and complex data has become ubiquitous in recent years, posing new challenges in methodological and theoretical statistics alike. Today, statisticians are tasked with developing flexible methods capable of adapting to the degree of complexity and noise in increasingly rich data gathered across a variety of disciplines and settings. This has spurred the need for novel multivariate regression techniques that can efficiently capture a wide range of naturally occurring predictor-response relations, identify important predictors and their interactions and do so even when the number of predictors is large but the sample size remains limited.

Meanwhile, efficient model fitting tools must evolve quickly to keep pace with the rapidly growing dimension and complexity of data they are applied to. Aided by the tremendous success of modern computing, Bayesian methods have gained tremendous popularity in recent years. These methods provide a natural probabilistic characterization of uncertainty in the parameters and in predictions. In addition, they provide a practical way of encoding model structure that can lead to large gains in statistical estimation and more interpretable results. However, this flexibility is often hindered in applications to modern data which are increasingly high dimensional, both in the number of observations $n$ and the number of predictors $p$. Here, computational complexity and the curse of dimensionality typically render posterior computation inefficient. In particular, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods which remain the workhorse for Bayesian computation (owing to their generality and asymptotic accuracy guarantee), typically suffer data processing and computational bottlenecks as a consequence of (i) the need to hold the entire dataset (or available sufficient statistics) in memory at once; and (ii) having to evaluate of the (often expensive to compute) data likelihood at each sampling iteration.

This thesis divides into two parts. The first part concerns itself with developing efficient MCMC methods for posterior computation in the high dimensional {\em large-n large-p} setting. In particular, we develop an efficient and widely applicable approximate inference algorithm that extends MCMC to the online data setting, and separately propose a novel stochastic search sampling scheme for variable selection in high dimensional predictor settings. The second part of this thesis develops novel methods for structured sparsity in the high-dimensional {\em large-p small-n} regression setting. Here, statistical methods should scale well with the predictor dimension and be able to efficiently identify low dimensional structure so as to facilitate optimal statistical estimation in the presence of limited data. Importantly, these methods must be flexible to accommodate potentially complex relationships between the response and its associated explanatory variables. The first work proposes a nonparametric additive Gaussian process model to learn predictor-response relations that may be highly nonlinear and include numerous lower order interaction effects, possibly in different parts of the predictor space. A second work proposes a novel class of Bayesian shrinkage priors for multivariate regression with a tensor valued predictor. Dimension reduction is achieved using a low-rank additive decomposition for the latter, enabling a highly flexible and rich structure within which excellent cell-estimation and region selection may be obtained through state-of-the-art shrinkage methods. In addition, the methods developed in these works come with strong theoretical guarantees.

Dissertation