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1
Haase, Kenneth W. "Invention and exploration in discovery." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14257.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1990.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-161).
by Kenneth William Haase Jr.
Ph.D.
2
Riembau, Marc. "Exploration of the higgs sector after its discovery." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/663947.
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El descobriment del bosó de Higgs és la culminació d’una recerca que ha
durat 40 anys, i completa un marc teòric sota el qual gairebé totes del
dades obtingudes de col·lisionadors de partícules poden ser explicades consistentment.
Simultàniament, i paradoxalment, l’aparent con rmació d’una
separacó d’escales entre l’electrofeble i la que suposadament estabilitza la
masa del bosó de Higgs posa el relleu el problema de la jerarquia. En la
recerca d’una descripció del món que simpli qui els patrons i simetries del
Model Estàndard, l’exploració de l’escala dels TeVs i en particular l’estudi
del bosó de Higgs tindran un paper central. En aquesta tesi presentem les
possibilitats que el LHC i futurs col·lisionadors proveiran, amb énfasi en la
determinació de l’auto-acoblament del bosó de Higgs. També considerarem
l’estudi de la producció de bosons electrofebles com a eina per entendre les
interaccions dels bosons de Golstone que formen part del doblet de Higgs,
mostrant la seva rellevància al combinar-ho amb les dades del pol de la Z
i altres cerques al LHC. Finalment, ens centrem en com el moment dipolar
elèctric de l’electró posa fortes restriccions en models on el bosó de Higgs
és descrit com un estat compost.The discovery of the Higgs boson culminates a 40-year long hunt and completes a theoretical framework under which almost all collider data can be consistently explained. At the same time, paradoxically, the con rmation of an apparent mass gap above the electroweak scale exacerbates the problem of the electroweak hierarchy. In the search of a description of the world that simpli es the patterns and symmetries of the Standard Model, the exploration of the TeV scale and in particular the study of the Higgs boson will play a central role. In this thesis we explore the possibilities that the LHC and future colliders will bring, with particular emphasis on the determination of the Higgs self-coupling. We also consider the pair production of electroweak bosons as a probe of the Goldstone interactions in the Higgs doublet, and show its relevance as a way to improve the Z pole measurements and its interplay with other LHC searches. Finally, we focus on how the electron’s electric dipole moment can set strong constraints on models where the Higgs arises as a composite state.
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O'Neill, Dawn. "Exploration of high-performing, high-poverty California elementary schools /." La Verne, Calif. : University of La Verne, 2003. http://0-wwwlib.umi.com.garfield.ulv.edu/dissertations/fullcit/3096260.
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Savovic, Jelena. "Exploration of dynamic combinatorial chemistry in enzyme-inhibitor discovery." Thesis, University of Bath, 2003. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.760840.
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Ross, Karen C. "“Awake:” An Animated Exploration of Self-Discovery Through Mindfulness." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471826821.
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Hedden, Chet. "A guided exploration model of problem-solving discovery learning /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7683.
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Wu, Fei. "Knowledge discovery in time-series databases." Versailles-St Quentin en Yvelines, 2001. http://www.theses.fr/2001VERS0023.
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@Aborde trois problématiques dans le contexte de la base de données temporelles. Ils sont le problème de regroupement, la similarité et l'extraction des stratégies. Il reste encore des problèmes pour les travaux futurs. Par exemple, comment réaliser le regroupement graduel pour d'autres algorithmes. Il sera intéressant de grouper des séquences en se basant sur notre nouveau modèle. Mais les questions posées sont le choix d'un algorithme, ou il faut un nouvel algorithme carrément ? Pour construire une stratégie, ce sera aussi possible de pré-définir nos actions. Puis trouver les relations entre les actions et les indicateurs correspondants afin de générer des stratégies. . .
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Sutler-Cohen, Sara C. "'Spirit guides me' : an exploration into neoshamanism in northern California /." Diss., Digital Dissertations Database. Restricted to UC campuses, 2005. http://uclibs.org/PID/11984.
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St, Onge Joseph. "The Geography of Exploration: A Study in the Process of Physical Exploration and Geographical Discovery." DigitalCommons@USU, 2000. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6581.
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Exploration has been a common literary topic throughout the history of humans. However, much of this historical tradition bas possessed a fairly narrow Ill focus, emphasizing the drama and heroics of an individual explorer or concentrating on a description of a particular exploration. There has been little attempt at understanding the process of exploration and placing this important process in context with the historic and geographic phenomena that both affect and are affected by it. In this thesis, the author has broken the process of exploration down into a theoretical structure that is presented in a holistic model. This model has then been applied to the history of 15th century Portuguese exploration to test its applicability and usefulness.
10
Burlington, Michael Scott. "Search & exploration, efficient planar search for automated robotic discovery." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape3/PQDD_0031/MQ64328.pdf.
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Burlington, Scott M. Sc. "Search & exploration : efficient planar search for automated robotic discovery." Thesis, McGill University, 1999. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=30352.
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An agent is placed in an unknown environment and charged with the task of locating a lost object. What can the agent use as an efficient technique to find the object?We propose a new algorithm for planar search. The algorithm stems from theoretical work on search games, in particular provably optimal search techniques on restricted domains. This thesis addresses the problem of efficiency in robotic search: having a mobile robot find a target object in an unknown environment with obstacles in an efficient manner. As a side-effect, the robot explores the environment.
Based on previous results, a formal description of the problem is presented along with an algorithm to solve it. This algorithm has good worst-case performance, in terms of its competitive ratio. We show experimental data validating the feasibility of our approach and typical results. Quantitative results are demonstrated showing the advantage of modified spiral search versus traditional approaches.
12
Huffman, Ashley. "Discovery of Movement: An Exploration of Physical Activity through Architecture." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin149130367713521.
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El, Sayed Ahmed. "Contributions in knowledge discovery from textual data." Lyon 2, 2008. http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/documents/lyon2/2008/el-sayed_a.
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This dissertation focuses on two key issues in text mining, namely unsupervised learning and knowledge acquisition. In spite of their relative maturity, both issues still present some major challenges that need to be addressed. First, for unsupervised learning, a well-known, unresolved challenge is to perform clustering with minimal input parameters. One natural way to reach this is to involve validity indices in the clustering process. Although of great interest, validity indices were not extensively explored in the literature, especially when dealing with high-dimensional data like text. Hence, we make three main contributions: (1) an experimental study comparing extensively 8 validity indices; (2) a context-aware method enhancing validity indices usage as stopping criteria; (3) I-CBC, an Incremental version of the CBC (Clustering By Committee) algorithm. Contributions were validated in two real-world applications: document and word clustering. Second, for knowledge acquisition, we face major issues related to ontology learning from text: low recall of the pattern-based approach, low precision of the distributional approach, context-dependency, and ontology evolution. Thus, we propose a new framework for taxonomy learning from text. The proposal is a hybrid approach which has the following advantages over the other approaches: (1) ability to capture more “flexibly” relations in text; (2) concepts better reflecting the context of the target corpus; (3) more reliable decisions during the learning process; (4) and finally evolution of the learned taxonomy without any manual effort, after its incorporation in a core of an information retrieval systemCette thèse se focalise sur deux problématiques clés liées à la fouille de texte, à savoir : la classification et l'acquisition des connaissances. En dépit de leur relative maturité, ces deux problématiques présentent encore certains défis majeurs qui doivent être soulevés. En premier lieu, pour la classification, un défi bien connu et non résolu consiste à effectuer des classifications avec un minimum de paramètres en entrée. Une façon naturelle de parvenir à cette fin, est d'utiliser les indices de validité dans le processus de classification. Bien qu'ils soient d'un grand intérêt, les indices de validité n'ont pas été largement explorés dans la littérature, en particulier lorsqu'il s'agit de données de grande dimension, comme c'est le cas des données textuelles. Ainsi, concernant ce volet, nous proposons trois principales contributions : (1) une large étude expérimentale comparant huit indices de validité, (2) une méthode basée sur le contexte améliorant l'utilisation des indices de validité en tant que critère d'arrêt, (3) I-CBC, une version incrémentale de l'algorithme flou CBC (classification par comités). Ces contributions ont été validées sur deux applications du monde réel : la classification de documents et de mots. En deuxième lieu, pour l’acquisition des connaissances, nous nous sommes intéressés à des problématiques importantes liées à la construction d’ontologies à partir de texte : le faible rappel des approches basées sur les patrons, la faible précision de l’approche distributionnelle, la dépendance au contexte et l’évolution des ontologies. Nous proposons ainsi, un nouveau cadre pour l’apprentissage d’ontologies à partir du texte. Notre proposition est une approche hybride qui combine les avantages suivants par rapport aux autres approches : (1) la capacité de capturer avec plus de flexibilité des relations dans le texte, (2) des concepts qui traduisent mieux le contexte du corpus considéré, (3) des décisions plus fiables prises durant le processus d’apprentissage à travers la considération et l’inclusion de plusieurs relations sémantiques, et, enfin, (4) l’évolution de l’ontologie apprise sans aucun effort manuel considérable, après son inclusion au coeurd’un système de recherche d’information
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El, Sayed Ahmed Zighed Djamel Abdelkader. "Contributions in knowledge discovery from textual data." Lyon : Université Lumière Lyon 2, 2008. http://theses.univ-lyon2.fr/sdx/theses/lyon2/2008/el-sayed_a.
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Jowitt, Claire Elaine. "Old Worlds and New Worlds : Renaissance voyages of discovery." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.296146.
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Montano-Rivas, Omar. "Scheme-based theorem discovery and concept invention." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6269.
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In this thesis we describe an approach to automatically invent/explore new mathematical theories, with the goal of producing results comparable to those produced by humans, as represented, for example, in the libraries of the Isabelle proof assistant. Our approach is based on ‘schemes’, which are formulae in higher-order logic. We show that it is possible to automate the instantiation process of schemes to generate conjectures and definitions. We also show how the new definitions and the lemmata discovered during the exploration of a theory can be used, not only to help with the proof obligations during the exploration, but also to reduce redundancies inherent in most theory-formation systems. We exploit associative-commutative (AC) operators using ordered rewriting to avoid AC variations of the same instantiation. We implemented our ideas in an automated tool, called IsaScheme, which employs Knuth-Bendix completion and recent automatic inductive proof tools. We have evaluated our system in a theory of natural numbers and a theory of lists.
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Broderick, Jane Tingle, and Seong Bock Hong. "Phases of Discovery with Materials Exploration: Properties, Aesthetics, Conceptual Links and More." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/4214.
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Campbell, Alexander B. "Spatio-temporal pattern discovery and hypothesis exploration using a delay reconstruction approach." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2008. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/17676/1/Alexander_Campbell_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis investigates the computer-based modelling and simulation of complex geospatial phenomena. Geospatial systems are real world processes which extend over some meaningful extent of the Earth's surface, such as cities and fisheries. There are many problems that require urgent attention in this domain (for example relating to sustainability) but despite increasing amounts of data and computational power there is a significant gap between the potential for model-based analyses and their actual impact on real world policy and planning. Analytical methods are confounded by the high dimensionality and nonlinearity of spatio-temporal systems and/or are hard to relate to meaningful policy decisions. Simulation-based approaches on the other hand are more heuristic and policy oriented in nature, but they are difficult to validate and almost always over-fit the data: although a given model can be calibrated on a given set of data, it usually performs very poorly on new unseen data sets. The central contribution of this thesis is a framework which is formally grounded and able to be rigourously validated, yet at the same time is interpretable in terms of real world phenomena and thus has a strong connection to domain knowledge. The scope of the thesis spans both theory and practice, and three specific contributions range along this span. Starting at the theoretical end, the first contribution concerns the conceptual and theoretical basis of the framework, which is a technique known as delay reconstruction. The underlying theory is rooted in the rather technical field of dynamical systems (itself largely based on differential topology), which has hindered its wider application and the formation of strong links with other areas. Therefore, the first contribution is an exposition of delay reconstruction in non-technical language, with a focus on explaining how some recent extensions to this theory make the concept far more widely applicable than is often assumed. The second contribution uses this theoretical foundation to develop a practical, unified framework for pattern discovery and hypothesis exploration in geo-spatial data. The central aspect of this framework is the linking of delay reconstruction with domain knowledge. This is done via the notion that determinism is not an on-off quantity, but rather that a given data set may be ascribed a particular 'degree' of determinism, and that that degree may be increased through manipulation of the data set using domain knowledge. This leads to a framework which can handle spatiotemporally complex (including multi-scale) data sets, is sensitive to the amount of data that is available, and is naturally geared to be used interactively with qualitative feedback conveyed to the user via geometry. The framework is complementary to other techniques in that it forms a scaffold within which almost all modelling approaches - including agent-based modelling - can be cast as particular kinds of 'manipulations' of the data, and as such are easily integrated. The third contribution examines the practical efficacy of the framework in a real world case study. This involves a high resolution spatio-temporal record of fishcatch data from trawlers operating in a large fishery. The study is used to test two fundamental capabilities of the framework: (i) whether real world spatio-temporal phenomena can be identified in the degree-of-determinism signature of the data set, (ii) whether the determinism-level can then be increased by manipulating the data in response to this phenomena. One of the main outcomes of this study is a clear identification of the influence of the lunar cycle on the behaviour of Tiger and Endeavour prawns. The framework allows for this to be 'non-destructively subtracted', increasing the detect-ability of further phenomena.
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Campbell, Alexander B. "Spatio-temporal pattern discovery and hypothesis exploration using a delay reconstruction approach." Queensland University of Technology, 2008. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17676/.
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This thesis investigates the computer-based modelling and simulation of complex geospatial phenomena. Geospatial systems are real world processes which extend over some meaningful extent of the Earth's surface, such as cities and fisheries. There are many problems that require urgent attention in this domain (for example relating to sustainability) but despite increasing amounts of data and computational power there is a significant gap between the potential for model-based analyses and their actual impact on real world policy and planning. Analytical methods are confounded by the high dimensionality and nonlinearity of spatio-temporal systems and/or are hard to relate to meaningful policy decisions. Simulation-based approaches on the other hand are more heuristic and policy oriented in nature, but they are difficult to validate and almost always over-fit the data: although a given model can be calibrated on a given set of data, it usually performs very poorly on new unseen data sets. The central contribution of this thesis is a framework which is formally grounded and able to be rigourously validated, yet at the same time is interpretable in terms of real world phenomena and thus has a strong connection to domain knowledge. The scope of the thesis spans both theory and practice, and three specific contributions range along this span. Starting at the theoretical end, the first contribution concerns the conceptual and theoretical basis of the framework, which is a technique known as delay reconstruction. The underlying theory is rooted in the rather technical field of dynamical systems (itself largely based on differential topology), which has hindered its wider application and the formation of strong links with other areas. Therefore, the first contribution is an exposition of delay reconstruction in non-technical language, with a focus on explaining how some recent extensions to this theory make the concept far more widely applicable than is often assumed. The second contribution uses this theoretical foundation to develop a practical, unified framework for pattern discovery and hypothesis exploration in geo-spatial data. The central aspect of this framework is the linking of delay reconstruction with domain knowledge. This is done via the notion that determinism is not an on-off quantity, but rather that a given data set may be ascribed a particular 'degree' of determinism, and that that degree may be increased through manipulation of the data set using domain knowledge. This leads to a framework which can handle spatiotemporally complex (including multi-scale) data sets, is sensitive to the amount of data that is available, and is naturally geared to be used interactively with qualitative feedback conveyed to the user via geometry. The framework is complementary to other techniques in that it forms a scaffold within which almost all modelling approaches - including agent-based modelling - can be cast as particular kinds of 'manipulations' of the data, and as such are easily integrated. The third contribution examines the practical efficacy of the framework in a real world case study. This involves a high resolution spatio-temporal record of fishcatch data from trawlers operating in a large fishery. The study is used to test two fundamental capabilities of the framework: (i) whether real world spatio-temporal phenomena can be identified in the degree-of-determinism signature of the data set, (ii) whether the determinism-level can then be increased by manipulating the data in response to this phenomena. One of the main outcomes of this study is a clear identification of the influence of the lunar cycle on the behaviour of Tiger and Endeavour prawns. The framework allows for this to be 'non-destructively subtracted', increasing the detect-ability of further phenomena.
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Bykowski, Artur. "Condensed representations of frequent sets : application to descriptive pattern discovery." Lyon, INSA, 2002. http://theses.insa-lyon.fr/publication/2002ISAL0053/these.pdf.
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L'extraction de motifs intéressants a connu récemment un développement impressionnant dû à une pression accrue des propriétaires de données sous-exploitées et à la réponse des chercheurs par de nombreux résultats théoriques et pratiques. A l'origine, les données analysées provenaient du domaine de la vente et les motifs intéressants se présentaient sous forme de règles d'association. Des solutions performantes à ce problème pratique ont été élaborées (ex. APRIORI). Puis, les propriétaires d'autres types de données se sont interrogés sur l'utilité de ces premières solutions pour analyser leurs données. Malheureusement, ces données étaient différentes. Souvent, dans ces cas-là, APRIORI était inefficace voire intractable. Nous avons étudié les problèmes liés à l'extraction de motifs intéressants dans des collections de données d'origine différentes, en particulier les problèmes liés au grand nombre de motifs valides dans les données non similaires aux données de ventes. Nos méthodes extraient une collection de motifs qui peut être différente de la collection cible de motifs, en estimant qu'elle sera plus efficace à calculer dans certains types de données. De plus, cette collection, différente de la collection cible de motifs, doit permettre une régénération efficace de la collection cible. Comme la représentation intermédiaire est souvent beaucoup plus petite que la collection cible, nous la désignons sous le terme représentation condensée. Nous avons obtenu des améliorations significatives des performances. L'utilisation de représentations condensées est relativement novatrice dans le domaine. La contribution principale de cette thèse est la proposition de nouvelles représentations condensées pour des motifs élémentaires, ainsi que les algorithmes pour extraire ces représentations condensées et régénérer, à partir d'elles, les collections de motifs cibles. Nous montrons les avantages de ces représentations condensées par rapport aux méthodes existantesInteresting pattern discovery has recently seen an impressive progress, due to an increasing pressure from owners of large data sets and to the response of scientists by numerous theoretical and practical results. The most of data sets addressed in the beginning of the surge were sales data and the interesting patterns were in form of association rules. Very efficient solutions to this practical problem were elaborated, the root of them was the so-called APRIORI algorithm. Then, the owners of other types of data wondered if these basic methods could help them. Unfortunately, their data were different. Often, these applications could not take advantage of APRIORI. The research following the elaboration of the basic solution addressed the important application areas, where the basic solution could not be used. We addressed the problems with mining frequent patterns in different applicative contexts, especially the problems related to the large number of interesting frequent patterns present in data that are not similar to the sales data. Our methods mine a collection of patterns that may be quite different from the target pattern collection, and hopefully much more efficient to be mined in some types of data. Moreover, that different pattern collection must allow a subsequent "regeneration" of the target collection in a very efficient manner. Since the intermediate representation will be often smaller than the target collection, we call it a condensed representation. We obtained a significant improvement of the performances. The use of condensed representations is relatively novel in the field. Then new major condensed representations of simple frequent patterns are proposed, the algorithms to mine them and derive the target pattern collections. We show the practical advantages of the proposed condensed representations over the past methods, and provide an abstract view of the proposed representations in the unified structure for condensed representations
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Clarke, Christopher Angus Leo. "A Geochemical Exploration of the Sagehen Volcanic Centre, Truckee-Tahoe Region, California, U.S.A." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/22899.
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The assemblage of ca. 6–4 Ma volcanic rocks exposed at the Sagehen Research station in the Truckee-Tahoe region of the northern Sierra Nevada, United States, is interpreted to be, within the Ancestral Cascades volcanic arc, a Lassen-type stratovolcano complex. Sagehen is of particular importance because it is one of the few Tertiary arc volcanic centres in California which has not been heavily glaciated during the Pleistocene. The volcanic rocks are variably porphyritic or aphanitic, including abundant plagioclase with clinopyroxene and amphibole. The rocks range from basalt to basaltic-andesite to andesite in composition. Basalts are olivineand clinopyroxene-bearing with minor phenocrysts of plagioclase. The basaltic-andesites are primarily pyroxene bearing while the andesites contain pyroxene-, plagioclase- and hornblende porphyritic phases. Sagehen arc lavas are calc-alkaline and enriched in the large ion lithophile elements and depleted in High Field Strength Elements. The basalts are depleted in Zr and Hf while the andesites are enriched with Zr and Hf relative to the middle rare earth elements. Compared to previously studied Ancestral Cascade arc samples, Sagehen region basalts have lower 143Nd/144Nd isotopic values that do not correspond to proposed mantle-lithosphere mixing lines, while the andesite samples appear to represent the interplay of these two components on a 87Sr/86Sr vs. 143Nd/144Nd. The trace element data and isotopic plots suggest that the melts that produced the basalts are from subduction modified mantle wedge peridotites that ponded near the base of the lithosphere similar to the generation of other subduction related calc-alkaline lavas along convergent continental margins. The andesitic samples appear to be the result of further modification through crustal assimilation as seen in the higher isotopic Sr contents in the andesites and Ce/Smpmn vs. Tb/Ybpmn plots. Finally, the proposed map units from Sylvester & Raines (2007) were found to contain various geochemical facies based on the samples collected indicating that some map units may have to be redefined or sub-divided.
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Merana, Lorneneth. "A Qualitative Exploration of Health Beliefs among Midlife Filipino American Women in California." DigitalCommons@CalPoly, 2008. https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/11.
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Research pertaining to Filipino American health issues is growing but most remain delimited to children, college students, and older adults. The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first was to define the health beliefs of four Filipino American women who were in midlife through in-depth one-on-one interviews regarding cardiovascular diseases and in utilizing health care to prevent, diagnose, or treat those diseases. The second purpose was to conceptualize potential links between the health beliefs of those Filipino American women and their attitudes or choices about health care utilization.
Conclusively, the health beliefs of the four midlife Filipino-American women in this study were firmly established in their self-efficacy in recognizing their risks of cardiovascular disease and in making the best choices to decrease their risk of developing one. In contrast to the assumptions of this study, I found that these women a) were very aware of the resources available to them when they had health issues and b) their health beliefs regarding cardiovascular diseases did not hinder utilization of the health care services to which they had access. In fact, they were more receptive to utilizing health care resources to garner a medical perspective as long as they gained a clearer understanding of the health issue and that the treatment options were as natural as possible.
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Yang, Di. "Analysis guided visual exploration of multivariate data." Worcester, Mass. : Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2007. http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/ETD/Available/etd-050407-005925/.
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Bykowski, Artur Boulicaut Jean-François. "Condensed representations of frequent sets application to descriptive pattern discovery /." Villeurbanne : Doc'INSA, 2004. http://docinsa.insa-lyon.fr/these/pont.php?id=bykowski.
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Thèse doctorat : Informatique : Villeurbanne, INSA : 2002.Thèse rédigée en anglais. En annexe, résumé étendu en français. Le titre en français "Représentations condensées d'ensembles fréquents : application à la découverte de motifs descriptifs" n'apparait pas sur la thèse. Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. p. 142-150.
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Patel, Riyaz. "Beyond genome wide discovery : an exploration of novel genetic variants for coronary heart disease." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2012. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/38470/.
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Recent developments spurred on by the Human Genome Project have for the first time permitted genome wide association studies leading to identification of multiple novel variants for complex diseases. This thesis consists of a series of studies exploring recent genetic findings for coronary heart disease (CHD) within the broader context of the promises of the genomic era that new findings would ultimately lead to 1) Identification of new disease mechanisms 2) Permit genotype based risk prediction and 3) Promote development of novel and targeted therapies based on genotype. We sought to address these questions, using the Emory Genebank, a collection of angiographically phenotyped subjects with stored blood samples and long-term follow up. We first refined the phenotype for CHD to help understand underlying mechanism and demonstrated differential associations between 8 novel risk variants including 9p21, and sub-phenotypes of CHD and thereby proposed differing mechanisms of risk for these loci. With two non-CHD cohorts we then demonstrated further association between one particular risk variant at 6p24 and the intermediate phenotype of arterial elasticity and related this to a potential novel mechanism of risk. Despite significant association with first events in population cohorts, we showed that these risk variants including 9p21 have limited value in secondary risk prediction, failing to demonstrate any association with prospective events in our cohort as single markers or when combined into a cumulative genetic risk score. Finally in subjects carrying leukotriene pathway CHD risk variants, we administered an oral leukotriene synthesis inhibitor and after just 4 week of therapy observed significant improvement in their endothelial function. In summary, these studies demonstrate the value of refining the phenotype to understand potential mechanisms, the complexities of genetic risk prediction and the feasibility and benefit of targeting therapy based on risk genotype.
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Voser, Tanja M. "Marine Biodiscovery - An Exploration of Chemical Diversity, Antibiotic Discovery, and Invertebrate Natural Product Chemistry." Thesis, Griffith University, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/414294.
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This thesis covers a wide range of research on marine natural products with a focus on their role in drug discovery. Chapter 1 starts with a general introduction to marine natural product chemistry, describing current trends and problems. It gives an insight into the importance of the discovery of new antibiotics in this pressing time where multidrug-resistant bacteria are on the rise. Chapter 2 is a meta-analysis of current trends in marine microbial natural product research and an analysis of how much of their chemistry overlaps with the chemistry of terrestrial microbial natural products. Over the past decade, research has greatly shifted to focus on marine microbial natural products, at the expense of marine macro-organism studies. An assessment of the structural overlap between 55,817 published marine and terrestrial microbe and marine macroorganism natural products, using structural fingerprints and scaffold clustering, was enlightening. The results showed that currently 76.7% of the chemistry found in marine microbes is vastly similar to the chemistry isolated from terrestrial microbes. This overlap is mainly due to the use of terrestrial isolation and culturing methods that select for the growth of terrestrial-like bacteria instead of unique marine bacteria. As a result, the unique chemistry associated with truly marine microbe species that are in close symbiotic relationships with marine macro-organisms is being missed. Chapter 3 describes the antimicrobial assay development and screening of a large collection of Australian marine invertebrate specimens for activity against four different strains of bacteria. It resulted in 12.5% of all the specimens tested, showing activity against the drugresistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) but lower bioactivity rates against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0.76%) and Escherichia coli (0.76%). This illustrates how much harder it is to find activity against Gram-negative bacteria such as P. aeruginosa and E. coli. To investigate this challenge further, drug combination screening was undertaken to assess the potential of resurrecting antibiotics, for the use against bacterial strains that have developed resistance, by combining the antibiotic with marine invertebrate extracts. The combinatorial assays were unsuccessful, thus for further investigations I concentrated on the specimens that exhibited activity in the main assay. Analysis of the sponge specimen Aaptos aaptos that showed activity against S. aureus resulted in the isolation of demethylaaptamine as the bioactive component. Small quantities of a series of peptides with molecular weights in the range of 3,000- 4,000 Da were also isolated from the sponge. Unfortunately, a detailed structure determination could not be undertaken due to COVID-19 state border restrictions, which prevented recollection of the sponge. The subsequent two chapters report on the chemistry of antimicrobial bioactive marine invertebrate extracts. Chapter 4 describes the structures of two new betaine molecules isolated from the bryozoan Amathia lamourouxi. Their structures were determined through analysis of 1D and 2D NMR and mass spectrometric data. Crude extracts of the specimen showed antimicrobial activity at 2.5 mg/mL. Although the yield of active compounds was too small to be completely isolated and identified they were associated with brominated alkaloids. Unfortunately, recollection of this species was also hindered by state border closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapter 5 describes the isolation and identification of two new amphiphilic polyamines that together with a mixture of relatives were extracted from the marine sponge Aaptos lobata. The two pure compounds and the mixture of amphiphilic compounds showed moderate bioactivity against both drug sensitive and resistant S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa. Chapter 6 describes a multiplatform investigation of the chemistry of the ascidian B. leachii. This species was targeted because it had a similar chemical profile to Aaptos aaptos, small alkaloid and large (>3500 Da) peptide and was more accessible after the COVID-19 state border closures. The investigation used different analytical tools like LC-MS and advanced NMR techniques, including DOSY to characterise the diversity of compounds found in the mixture, while MALDITOF imaging was used to identify the specific locations of these metabolites within the ascidian tissue. This study demonstrated the power of MALDI imaging to provide an insight into the chemical ecology of marine species and helped to establish relationships between marine invertebrates and their associated microorganisms. This finding will aid future specific targeting of tissue regions within marine invertebrates for symbiotic microbe isolation and identification of natural products. Finally, Chapter 7 combines and discusses all the findings of this thesis and examines the future of marine drug discovery. The research reported here has explored the chemical diversity of microbial natural products, discovered new compounds, some with antimicrobial activity, and investigated the chemistry of marine invertebrates and their interesting symbiotic relationship with microorganisms.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Environment and Sc
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
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Dallon, Emma Kay. "Exploration of Antimicrobial Activity in Natural Peptides and High-Throughput Discovery of Synthetic Peptides." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2018. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7468.
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Despite many medical advances, antibiotic resistant bacteria increasingly plague the modern world, necessitating discovery of new antibiotics. One area of nature that can provide inspiration for antibiotics is antimicrobial peptides. Many of these peptides exist in nature, with some classes that have not been studied or characterized well. One such class is the defensin-like peptides generated by the plant Medicago truncatula as part of their symbiotic relationship with Sinorhizobium meliloti. Nodule-specific Cysteine Rich (NCR) peptides are defined by the presence of multiple cysteines, and regulate the growth of S. meliloti within plant cells. While some of these NCR peptides have been shown to have antimicrobial properties, hundreds of peptides remain uncharacterized. We have developed an assay for further characterization of these peptides in E. coli. Of the seven peptides that have been tested using this assay, three have exhibited definitive antimicrobial properties against both E. coli and S. meliloti. Additionally, we have developed a system for discovering novel antimicrobial peptides. This platform, called PepSeq, uses the expression of random peptides in E. coli combined with deep sequencing to detect antimicrobial activity. This technology is capable of screening through millions of peptide molecules simultaneously. Using this platform, we have discovered and confirmed six novel antimicrobial peptides, with hundreds of additional predicted antimicrobial peptides. In addition to the peptides we have analyzed using PepSeq, additional peptide scaffolds could be used to discover more potent antimicrobial peptides.
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McClaren, Mersiha Spahic. "Energy Efficiency and Conservation Attitudes| An Exploration of a Landscape of Choices." Thesis, Portland State University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3687548.
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This study explored energy-related attitudes and energy-saving behaviors that are no- or low-cost and relatively simple to perform. This study relied on two data sources: a longitudinal but cross-sectional survey of 4,102 U.S. residents (five biennial waves of this survey were conducted from 2002 to 2010) and a 2010 cross-sectional survey of 2,000 California residents. These two surveys contained data on two no- and low-cost behaviors: changing thermostat setting to save energy (no-cost behavior) and CFL installation behavior (low-cost behavior). In terms of attitudes, two attitudinal measures emerged from these data following a Cronbach's alpha and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): the pro-environmental attitude and concern for the energy use in the U.S. society. These two attitudes, along with other socio-demographic and external factors (home ownership, weather, price of energy, etc.), were examined to assess whether attitude-behavior relationships persisted over time, were more prominent across certain groups, or were constrained by income or other socio-demographic factors. Three theoretical viewpoints of how attitudes may relate to behavior guided the analysis on how attitudes and contextual factors may inter-relate either directly or through a moderator variable to affect thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior.
Results from these analyses revealed four important patterns. First, a relationship between the pro-environmental attitude and the two behaviors (thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior) was weak but persistent across time. Second, financial factors such as income moderated the pro-environmental attitude and CFL installation relationship, indicating that the pro-environmental attitude could influence the behavior in those situations where financial resources are sufficient to comfortably allow the consumer to participate. Third, this study documented that most people reported changing thermostat settings to save energy or having one or more CFLs in their homes. This finding suggests that organizations, policy makers, or energy efficiency program administrators may want to assess whether they should pursue these two behaviors further, since they appear to be very common in the U.S. population. Last, this study showed that thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior have multi-factorial influences; many factors in addition to attitudes were significantly associated with these behaviors, and all these factors together explained no more than 16% of behavioral variance. This suggested that if energy-saving behaviors are a function of many different variables, of which none appear to be the "silver bullet" in explaining the behaviors (as noted in this study), then policy analysis should explore a broader number of causal pathways and entertain a wider range of interventions to influence consumers to save energy.
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Rausch, Kimberly B. "An exploration into complementary and alternative medicine at home and abroad." Virtual Press, 2006. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1349767.
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The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy (WHCCAMP) suggests that CAM may be useful in contributing to the achievement of the nation's health objectives listed in Healthy People 2010 (Chapter 8: CAM and wellness in health promotion, 2002). The purpose of this study was to compare CAM practitioners and practices in Australia, where CAM has been embraced, to those in the United States. Overall there were many similarities and few differences between the two country's results. The themes that resulted from analyzing the transcripts of 5 in-depth interviews with practitioners included; collaboration and integration, community descriptions, general characteristics of practice, general characteristics of practitioner, growth and life purpose, holism, need for health culture change, personalized attention/tailored intervention, and technology use. The implications that resulted may inform users of CAM, students of medicine, and American citizens who desire safe alternative ways to improve their health.Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology
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Wilkins, Paul. "What does it mean to be person centred? : a personal journey of exploration and discovery." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.327713.
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This dissertation comprises an introduction, seven previously published papers dealing with aspects of psychodrama and the person-centred approach, criticisms of the person-centred approach, an assessment of my contribution to person-centred theory and practice and an 'afterword' which brings my exploration up to date. Although each of the papers draws on my practical experience as a therapist, researcher and educator, two of them are accounts of research, the others are broadly 'conceptual'. They are presented in the context of an heuristic journey which demonstrates my development as a person-centred thinker and practitioner. The introduction establishes this over-arching heuristic framework and gives my rationale for including these papers. The papers are followed by a consideration of the criticisms of the person-centred approach in which I show (with reference to the literature) how, if I can, I answer these criticisms. In the penultimate chapter I examine my papers in the light of some of the 'critical issues' with respect to the person-centred approach.
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Merana, Lorneneth E. O'Bryant Camille P. "A qualitative exploration of health beliefs among midlife Filipino American women in California : a master's thesis /." [San Luis Obispo, Calif. : California Polytechnic State University], 2008. http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/11/.
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Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2008."May 1, 2008." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Kinesiology." "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." Major professor: Camille O'Bryant, Ph.D. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-77). Also available online and on microfiche (2 sheets).
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Wang, Keqin. "Knowledge discovery in manufacturing quality data to support product design decision making." Troyes, 2010. http://www.theses.fr/2010TROY0005.
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La conception des produits implique de grandes quantités de décisions (MQD). Le soutien pertinent et efficace des connaissances est important pour les décisions. La plupart des travaux ont été réalisées sur les connaissances de conception comme support à la conception. Cependant la connaissance de fabrication sur la qualité des produits est également une caractéristique qui n'est pas jugé suffisant. Entre-temps, de grands volumes de données de fabrication sont générés et enregistrés. Des connaissances nécessaires à la production sont implicites dans ces données. Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse se concentre sur l'extraction de connaissances de fabrication de qualité dans ces données en utilisant des méthodes d'exploration de données et de retour d’expérience utiles pour les concepteurs de produits (une ontologie regroupant les éléments importants à la prise de décision a été définie). Des techniques de Data Mining sont ensuite exploitées afin de répondre aux problèmes de qualité de la connaissance en production. Un prototype support à la prise de décision en conception de produits a été défini. Il considère les critères de qualité dans l’extraction et la recherche des connaissancesThis work studies knowledge extraction in manufacturing quality data (MQD) for support-ing design decisions. Firstly, an ontological approach for analyzing design decisions and identifying designer’s needs for manufacturing quality knowledge is proposed. The decisions are analyzed ranging from task clarification, conceptual design, embodiment design to detail design. A decision model is proposed in which decisions and its knowledge elements are illustrated. An ontology is constructed to represent the decisions and their knowledge needs. Secondly, MQD preparation for further knowledge discovery is described. The nature of data in manufacturing is described. A GT (group technology) and QBOM (Quality Bill of Material)-based method is proposed to classify and organize MQD. As an important factor, the data quality (DQ) issues related with MQD is also analyzed for data mining (DM) application. A QFD (quality function deployment) based approach is proposed for translating data consumers’ DQ needs into specific DQ dimensions and initiatives. Thirdly, a DM-based manufacturing quality knowledge discovery method is proposed and validated through two popular DM functions and related algorithms. The two DM functions are illustrated through real world data sets from two different production lines. Fourthly, a MQD-based design support proto-type is developed. The prototype includes three major functions such as data input, knowledge extraction and input, knowledge search
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DiCesare, Christopher A. "A computational framework for the discovery, modeling, and exploration of task-specific human motor coordination strategies." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1583998641422141.
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Khajeh, Nassiri Armita. "Expressive Rule Discovery for Knowledge Graph Refinement." Electronic Thesis or Diss., université Paris-Saclay, 2023. http://www.theses.fr/2023UPASG045.
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Les graphes de connaissances (KG) sont des structures de graphes hétérogènes représentant des faits dans un format lisible par une machine. Ils trouvent des applications dans des tâches telles que la réponse automatique aux questions, la désambiguïsation et liaison d'entités. Cependant, les graphes de connaissances sont intrinsèquement incomplets et il est essentiel de les raffiner pour améliorer leur qualité. Pour compléter le graphe de connaissances, il est possible de prédire les liens manquants dans un graphe de connaissances ou d'intégrer des sources externes. En extrayant des règles du graphe de connaissances, nous pouvons les exploiter pour compléter le graphe tout en fournissant des explications. Plusieurs approches ont été proposées pour extraire efficacement des règles. Or, la littérature manque de méthodes efficaces pour incorporer des prédicats numériques dans les règles. Pour répondre à cette lacune, nous proposons REGNUM, qui permet d'extraire des règles numériques avec des contraintes d'intervalle. REGNUM s'appuie sur les règles générées par un système d'extraction de règles existant et les enrichit en incorporant des prédicats numériques guidés par des mesures de qualité. En outre, la nature interconnectée des données web offre un potentiel significatif pour compléter et raffiner les KG, par exemple, par le liage des données, qui consiste à trouver des liens d'identité entre des entités de KG différents. Nous présentons RE-miner, une approche qui extrait des expressions référentielles (RE) pour une classe dans un graphe de connaissances.Les REs sont des règles qui ne s'appliquent qu'à une seule entité. Elles facilitent la découverte de connaissances et permettent de lier les données de manière explicable. De plus, nous visons à explorer les avantages et les opportunités de l'affinage des modèles linguistiques pour combler le fossé entre les KG et les données textuelles. Nous présentons GilBERT, qui exploite le fine-tuning sur des modèles linguistiques tels que BERT en optimisant une fonction de coût par triplet pour les tâches de prédiction de relation et de classification de triple. En prenant en compte ces défis et en proposant des approches novatrices, cette thèse contribue au raffinement des KG, en mettant particulièrement l'accent sur l'explicabilité et la découverte de connaissances. Les résultats de cette recherche ouvrent la voie à de nouvelles questions de recherche qui font progresser vers des KG de meilleure qualitéKnowledge graphs (KGs) are heterogeneous graph structures representing facts in a machine-readable format. They find applications in tasks such as question answering, disambiguation, and entity linking. However, KGs are inherently incomplete, and refining them is crucial to improve their effectiveness in downstream tasks. It's possible to complete the KGs by predicting missing links within a knowledge graph or integrating external sources and KGs. By extracting rules from the KG, we can leverage them to complete the graph while providing explainability. Various approaches have been proposed to mine rules efficiently. Yet, the literature lacks effective methods for effectively incorporating numerical predicates in rules. To address this gap, we propose REGNUM, which mines numerical rules with interval constraints. REGNUM builds upon the rules generated by an existing rule mining system and enriches them by incorporating numerical predicates guided by quality measures. Additionally, the interconnected nature of web data offers significant potential for completing and refining KGs, for instance, by data linking, which is the task of finding sameAs links between entities of different KGs. We introduce RE-miner, an approach that mines referring expressions (REs) for a class in a knowledge graph and uses them for data linking. REs are rules that are only applied to one entity. They support knowledge discovery and serve as an explainable way to link data. We employ pruning strategies to explore the search space efficiently, and we define characteristics to generate REs that are more relevant for data linking. Furthermore, we aim to explore the advantages and opportunities of fine-tuning language models to bridge the gap between KGs and textual data. We propose GilBERT, which leverages fine-tuning techniques on language models like BERT using a triplet loss. GilBERT demonstrates promising results for refinement tasks of relation prediction and triple classification tasks. By considering these challenges and proposing novel approaches, this thesis contributes to KG refinement, particularly emphasizing explainability and knowledge discovery. The outcomes of this research open doors to more research questions and pave the way for advancing towards more accurate and comprehensive KGs
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Whitaker, Christine Curlee. "The exploration of teacher methods in student engagement." Scholarly Commons, 2010. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2416.
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This dissertation is an analysis of reports from selected K-8 teachers, who received their Multiple Subject teaching credentials from 1997 to 2009, regarding their classroom implementation of the California Teaching Standard for Engaging and Supporting all Students in Learning. This study also examined selected teachers' personal strategies and obstacles encountered when implementing this standard. Student engagement research at the elementary and high school levels has increased since the 1980s in an effort to reform student achievement and negate trends towards student mediocrity and dropout rates, yet research suggests student engagement continues to decline. Using survey methodology, this exploratory study sought to analyze selected teachers' reports in order to gain understanding of student engagement methods from their perspective. Using quantitative analysis, respondents reported that 28 of the 31 areas in the standard were implemented in the classroom with a 73.8% or higher response rate. Using qualitative thematic coding, 42 strategies and obstacles were identified in the respondents' reports. Results also indicated over 75% had received some type of training in student engagement. These findings can provide teachers, teacher preparation programs, district administrators, site administrators, educational leaders, policy makers, institutions, and researchers with information from K-8 teachers' reports regarding strategies used, obstacles faced, and classroom implementation of the California Teaching Standard for Engaging and Supporting all Students in Learning. These findings may be useful for researchers seeking to understand teachers' reported methods in increasing student engagement levels and possibly fostering greater student achievement.
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Harrigan, Mary Elizabeth. "The art of self-discovery: Integrative opportunities for alternative settings." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2004. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2682.
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This study examines the literature on identifying alternative methods of coming to a deeper understanding of one's physical, mental, and spiritual self. It provides information on one particular alternative program, and presents lesson ideas and options that demonstrate how an art-based emphasis in elective coursework can allow for the next step in each student's journey of personal growth and development.
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Koorn, Margareth L. "An exploration of the latchkey phenomena: Its reasons, victims and options." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1995. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1062.
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Bereal, Zenobia. "Who am I? a discovery of identity formation in preachers kids in West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Los Angeles, California /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2008. http://www.tren.com/search.cfm?p028-0292.
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Fraas, Arthur Mitchell. "Henry Beaufoy MP and the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa." Thesis, Boston College, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/453.
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Thesis advisor: David NorthrupHenry Beaufoy MP (1750-1795) was one of the primary founders and first secretary of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa. The Association sponsored several expeditions to the Western Sudan and North Africa during the late 1780's and 1790's including the famous Mungo Park expedition of 1795-97. Beaufoy, as a Member of Parliament, was a key figure in the nonconformist movement as well as an ardent supporter of abolition. His work in recruiting and directing the Association's explorers helped set the stage for nineteenth century British involvement in Africa. The history of the Association's early expeditions and Beaufoy's mix of humanitarian and commercial motivations in founding the Association provide revealing witness to the nature of British interest in Africa at the end of the eighteenth century
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: History
Discipline: College Honors Program
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Díaz, Varela Míriam. "Exploration of Extracellular Vesicles as a Novel Approach for Antigen Discovery and Vaccine Development against Plasmodium vivax Malaria." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668981.
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Plasmodium vivax is the most geographically widespread human malaria parasite. Research on this parasite needs to be expanded in order to develop adequate tools for its control such as a highly effective vaccine. One particular feature of P. vivax is its preference to invade immature red blood cells, also known as reticulocytes. Interestingly, ultrastructural studies performed on
reticulocytes enabled the discovery of exosomes, extracellular vesicles (EVs) of endocytic origin. These vesicles were initially seen as a selective cargo-disposal pathway, but later works showed the involvement of exosomes, and other extracellular vesicles, in a variety of biological processes. Importantly, exosomes derived from reticulocytes infected with P. yoelii, a murine reticulocyte-prone parasite that resembles P. vivax, contained parasite proteins. When used in CpG-adjuvanted immunizations, exosomes were able to elicit long-lasting protective responses. This thesis hypothesizes that exosomes derived from P. vivax-infected reticulocytes contain parasite antigens and stimulate immune responses. We evaluated the potential of circulating extracellular vesicles from P. vivax infections as a source of antigens and as activators of T-cell responses, and explored human reticulocyte-derived exosomes as a vaccine platform against P. vivax malaria.
We isolated EVs from plasma of P. vivax-infected patients and determined their protein composition by mass spectrometry-based proteomics in order to unveil their potential use in antigen discovery. We found parasite proteins associated to these vesicles that could serve as antigens. Indeed, two of the identified vivax proteins present promising cytotoxic T-cell epitopes as evidenced by in silico analysis. Moreover, we detected HLA class I molecules and observed an altered protein cargo in vesicles from vivax patients compared to healthy donors, thus suggesting that circulating EVs might affect the course of P. vivax infection. Next, we evaluated the in vitro interaction of these vesicles with leukocyte populations from the human spleen, given the importance of this organ in the induction of adaptative immune responses. Remarkably, we observed a significant interaction of monocytes, B-cells and T-cells with vesicles from patients compared to healthy individuals. We studied the capacity of these vesicles to activate T-cells, and preliminary results indicate that circulating vesicles from infections might stimulate CD8+ T-cell responses. Recent studies highlighted the role of cytotoxic CD8+ T-cell responses against P. vivax blood-stage parasites. In parallel, we studied the proteomic composition of exosomes derived from human reticulocytes and analyzed their ability to interact with antigen-presenting cells. We identified over 300 proteins in these vesicles, including HLA class I molecules, and found that these exosomes could be taken up by antigen-presenting cells, thus suggesting their contribution to the presentation of antigens. Collectively, our results indicate that EVs from vivax infections can be used in antigen discovery and might contribute to cell-mediated immune responses that could be critical for vivax control. In particular, reticulocyte-derived exosomes represent a potential vaccine platform to be furtherly explored. We believe this work has provided novel insights for vaccine development against P. vivax malaria.Plasmodium vivax es el parásito que causa malaria humana más extendido geográficamente. Se ha de ampliar la investigación sobre este parásito para desarrollar herramientas adecuadas para su control, entre ellas, una vacuna altamente efectiva. Una característica particular de P. vivax es su preferencia por invadir glóbulos rojos inmaduros, también conocidos como reticulocitos. Curiosamente, estudios ultraestructurales realizados en reticulocitos permitieron el descubrimiento de exosomas, vesículas extracelulares (VEs) de origen endocítico. Los exosomas y otras vesículas extracelulares, fueron vistos inicialmente como una vía selectiva de eliminación de proteínas obsoletas, pero en la actualidad, se sabe que participan en una gran variedad de procesos biológicos. Los exosomas derivados de reticulocitos infectados con P. yoelii, un parásito propenso a invadir reticulocitos murinos que se asemeja a P. vivax, contienen proteínas parasitarias. Cuando estos exosomas se usan en inmunizaciones con adyuvante de CpG son capaces de provocar respuestas protectoras duraderas. Esta tesis plantea la hipótesis de que los exosomas derivados de reticulocitos infectados con P. vivax contienen antígenos del parásito y pueden estimular respuestas inmunes. Evaluamos el potencial de las VEs circulantes en infecciones de P. vivax como fuente de antígenos y como activadoras de respuestas de células T. Además, exploramos los exosomas derivados de reticulocitos humanos como una plataforma de vacunación contra la malaria vivax. Aislamos VEs del plasma de pacientes infectados con P. vivax y determinamos su composición proteica mediante proteómica basada en espectrometría de masas para investigar su potencial uso en el descubrimiento de antígenos. Encontramos proteínas del parásito asociadas a estas vesículas, las cuales podrían actuar como antígenos. De hecho, el análisis in silico de dos de estas proteínas reveló prometedores epítopos citotóxicos de células T. Además, detectamos moléculas HLA clase I y observamos un alterado contenido de proteínas en las vesículas de pacientes con vivax en comparación con donantes sanos, lo que sugiere que los VEs circulantes podrían afectar el curso de la infección por P. vivax. A continuación, evaluamos la interacción in vitro de estas vesículas con poblaciones leucocitarias del bazo humano, dada la importancia de este órgano en la inducción de respuestas inmunes adaptativas. Observamos una interacción significativamente elevada de monocitos, células B y células T con vesículas de pacientes en comparación con VEs de individuos sanos. Estudiamos la capacidad de estas vesículas para activar las células T, y los resultados preliminares indican que las vesículas circulantes de infecciones de vivax podrían estimular las respuestas de las células T CD8+. Recientes estudios han destacado el posible papel de las respuestas citotóxicas de las células T contra los parásitos de la etapa sanguínea de P. vivax. Paralelamente, analizamos la composición proteómica de los exosomas derivados de reticulocitos humanos y determinamos su capacidad para interactuar con células presentadoras de antígenos. Identificamos más de 300 proteínas en estas vesículas, incluidas las moléculas HLA de clase I, y descubrimos que estos exosomas podían ser internalizados por células presentadoras de antígenos, lo que sugiere su contribución a la presentación antigénica. En conjunto, nuestros resultados indican que las VEs de las infecciones por vivax pueden usarse en el descubrimiento de antígenos y pueden contribuir a respuestas inmunes mediadas por células que podrían ser críticas para el control de vivax. En particular, los exosomas derivados de reticulocitos representan una potencial plataforma de vacuna. Creemos que este trabajo ha proporcionado nuevas ideas para el desarrollo de vacunas contra la malaria por P. vivax.
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Riley, Helen Joyce. "Identity and genetic origins : an ethical exploration of the late discovery of adoptive and donor-insemination offspring status." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2012. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/51537/1/Helen_Riley_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis is an ethical and empirical exploration of the late discovery of genetic origins in two contexts, adoption and sperm donor-assisted conception.
This exploration has two interlinked strands of concern. The first is the identification of ‘late discovery’ as a significant issue of concern, deserving of recognition and acknowledgment. The second concerns the ethical implications of late discovery experiences for the welfare of the child.
The apparently simple act of recognition of a phenomenon is a precondition to any analysis and critique of it. This is especially important when the phenomenon arises out of social practices that arouse significant debate in ethical and legal contexts.
As the new reproductive technologies and some adoption practices remain highly contested, an ethical exploration of this long neglected experience has the potential to offer new insights and perspectives in a range of contexts. It provides an opportunity to revisit developmental debate on the relative merit or otherwise of biological versus social influences, from the perspective of those who have lived this dichotomy in practise. Their experiences are the human face of the effects arising from decisions taken by others to intentionally separate their biological and social worlds, an action which has then been compounded by family and institutional secrecy from birth. This has been accompanied by a failure to ensure that normative standards and values are upheld for them. Following discovery, these factors can be exacerbated by a lack of recognition and acknowledgement of their concerns by family, friends, community and institutions.
Late discovery experiences offer valuable insights to inform discussions on the ethical meanings of child welfare, best interests, parental responsibility, duty of care and child identity rights in this and other contexts. They can strengthen understandings of what factors are necessary for a child to be able to live a reasonably happy or worthwhile life.
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De, Klerk Charlotte. "The place beyond the bent pines - designing through exploration, making and discovery: an alternative design methodology through an exploration in timber for an imagining of its use." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7510.
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This dissertation demonstrates an experiment in an alternative design methodology, beginning with structural and material exploration rather than conventional design processes where detailing plays less of a role in the design process. The dissertation project is driven by informants discovered through technical research in timber construction through tactile experimentation and the 'act of making'. Timber remains the material of choice for the length of the dissertation. Timber's particular inherent properties, capabilities and hindrances therefore form the parameters for creative design potential. The dissertation thus aims to demonstrate the importance of understanding materials and tests whether an alternative design process can lead to a more tectonically expressive form. The dissertation focuses on the use of standardised building components to demonstrate the way in which a timber compilation of standard components can be used to create an extremely varied building form. Additionally, it emphasises the use of localised technologies in order to show that craft still has a place within the context of contemporary South Africa where high unemployment rates and unskilled labour is experienced. The dissertation further demonstrates the way in which a designed structural timber system, designed purely through informants learnt through the 'act of making', can be applied in a contextualised setting with an appropriate site and programme in accordance with the structure's spatial potential. The final design aims to form perceptual structure through its tectonic expression in perceiving it as meaningful. Ultimately, the project strives towards depicting an architectural tectonic story where the building is contextualised, Hout Bay, South Africa, and seeks to express a narrative in which one can construe one's own tale as to the mystery of its making.
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Marenco, Alicia Rodriguez. "AN EXPLORATION OF BARRIERS AMONG GAMBLERS WHO SEEK RECOVERY PROGRAMS IN SPANISH." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/212.
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Gambling in the United States has been in existence since the 1800’s. For over two hundred years, gambling has brought in revenue and entertainment for consumers in the United States. As the population has diversified and the technology has advanced, the access to gambling has grown to be convenient and accessible for the consumer to enjoy. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the barriers and motivators from gamblers who sought recovery programs in Spanish. Fourteen current members of Spanish Gamblers Anonymous group were interviewed in small focus groups. The findings indicated that those who sought Spanish recovery programs underwent obstacles that where beyond finding and attending a program. Many barriers stood in their way including struggle with emotional feelings, language barriers, expectations of program, and inadequate support and resources. The majority of those interviewed did not seek the program entirely on their own behalf and the primary reason was not due to loss of money alone. This study reveals the emotional loss and personal gain from each participant. The lack of resources and poor public relations for problem gamblers who wish to attend meetings in Spanish continues to be a problem in the Inland Empire of Southern California, home of an ever growing population of Spanish speaking individuals and also home to some of the most visited casinos in Southern California.
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Guimaraes, Braga da Silva Pedro Ivo. "Discovery of a Novel Microalgal Strain Scenedesmus Sp. A6 and Exploration of Its Potential as a Microbial Cell Factory." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/84549.
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Microalgae are photosynthetic organisms considered to be one of the most promising high-value chemicals and biofuel-producing organisms. However, there are several challenges for the widespread implementation of industrial processes using microalgae. The work presented in this dissertation proposes solutions to the different challenges involving the use of microalgae as microbial cell factories. To investigate the application of anaerobic digestion as a way to generate nutrients for microbial growth, salmon offal was used as substrate for anaerobic digestion, and soil from a flooded run-off pond on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA. A fast reduction in volatile solids and the short-chain fatty acid production profile is favorable for the growth of microalgae. A novel algae strain Scenedesmus sp. A6 was isolated from a decorative waterfountain in a hotel in Madison, IN. Mixotrophic growth trials were conducted using wastewater from the salmon offal digestion, that demostrated the A6 isolate grows six times faster in the wastewater then autotrophically. Bioassays of ethanolic cell extracts of A6 cultures demonstrated antimicrobial activity against E. coli cells at concentrations above 50 µg/ml. Genome sequencing and assembly revealed multiple copies of genes involved with acetate and ammonia metabolism, and several genes involved with secondary metabolite synthesis. An alternative to the high capital investment of photobioreactors for the cultivation of microalgae is the use of open-source and open-hardware bioreactor controller. Here, the concept of an open-hardwate bioreactor control called ``BioBrain'' is introduced. The BioBrain device is based on the Arduino Mega micro-controller board, and is capable of monitoring and controlling culture conditions during simple strain characterization studies, with an estimated construction cost of less than $800 USD. Finally, a new primer design tool for the ligation-independant cloning technique 𝜆-PCR was developed called lambdaPrimeR. The contributions of this work are the discovery and development of different tools that can overcome the challenges of the use of microalgae as microbial cell factories in industrial processes.Ph. D.
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Provest, Ian S., of Western Sydney Nepean University, of Performance Fine Arts and Design Faculty, and School of Design. "Concepts of viewpoint and erasure: Botany Bay." THESIS_FPFAD_SD_Provest_I.xml, 1996. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/790.
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When Captain James Cook sailed into Botany Bay in Australia for the first time in 1770, his botanist Joseph Banks described the behaviour of the Aboriginals to be 'totally unmovd' and 'totally engagd'.During this same few days Cook named the place Stingray Bay. Within eight days the name was changed by Cook to Botany Bay. Banks' phrases generate oscillating perceptions and Cook's name change poses questions. The perceptions documented in Banks' journal, refer to an invisibility of the Aboriginals themselves. The name 'Stingray' and its change to 'Botany' raises political questions about the necessity for the change. The change also sheds light on a viewpoint at odds with its subject. The events that occurred during the eight days Cook was anchored in Botany Bay will be discussed firstly in the framework of an analysis of the implications of the terms 'totally unmovd' and 'totally engagd' in Banks' journal, and secondly in a discussion about the various historical notions concerning the name change. Did these curly histories and viewpoints render the indigenous culture invisible? Can these inscriptions made by Cook and Banks and the subsequent mythologies surrounding them, including those about the actual place, be a metaphor for 'further understanding'?Master of Arts (Hons) (Visual Arts)
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Thrond, Matthew Dale. "Center of the periphery." Thesis, [Austin, Tex. : University of Texas Libraries, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2009-05-165.
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Al, Jlailaty Diana. "Mining Business Process Information from Emails Logs for Process Models Discovery." Thesis, Paris Sciences et Lettres (ComUE), 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019PSLED028.
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Les informations échangées dans les textes des courriels sont généralement concernées par des événements complexes ou des processus métier dans lesquels les entités qui échangent des courriels collaborent pour atteindre les objectifs finaux des processus. Ainsi, le flux d’informations dans les courriels envoyés et reçus constitue une partie essentielle, les activités métier de l’entreprise. L’extraction d’informations sur les processus métier à partir des courriels peut aider à améliorer la gestion des courriels pour les utilisateurs. Il peut également être utilisé pour trouver des réponses riches à plusieurs questions analytiques sur les employés et les organisations. Aucun des travaux précédents n’a résolu le problème de la transformation automatique des journaux de courriels en journaux d’événements pour éventuellement en déduire les processus métier non documentés. Dans ce but, nous travaillons dans cette thèse sur un framework qui induit des informations de processus métier à partir d’emails. Nous introduisons des approches qui contribuent à ce qui suit : (1) découvrir pour chaque courriel le sujet de processus qui le concerne, (2) découvrir l’instance de processus métier à laquelle appartient chaque courriel, (3) extraire les activités de processus métier des courriels et associer ces activités aux métadonnées qui les décrivent, (4) améliorer la performance de la découverte des instances de processus métier et des activités métier en utilisant la relation entre ces deux problèmes, et enfin (5) estimer au préalable la date/heure réelle d’un activité métier. En utilisant les résultats des approches mentionnées, un journal d’événements est généré qui peut être utilisé pour déduire les modèles de processus métier d’un journal de courriels. L’efficacité de toutes les approches ci-dessus est prouvée par l’application de plusieurs expériences sur l’ensemble de données de courriel ouvert d’EnronExchanged information in emails’ texts is usually concerned by complex events or business processes in which the entities exchanging emails are collaborating to achieve the processes’ final goals. Thus, the flow of information in the sent and received emails constitutes an essential part of such processes i.e. the tasks or the business activities. Extracting information about business processes from emails can help in enhancing the email management for users. It can be also used in finding rich answers for several analytical queries about the employees and the organizations enacting these business processes. None of the previous works have fully dealt with the problem of automatically transforming email logs into event logs to eventually deduce the undocumented business processes. Towards this aim, we work in this thesis on a framework that induces business process information from emails. We introduce approaches that contribute in the following: (1) discovering for each email the process topic it is concerned by, (2) finding out the business process instance that each email belongs to, (3) extracting business process activities from emails and associating these activities with metadata describing them, (4) improving the performance of business process instances discovery and business activities discovery from emails by making use of the relation between these two problems, and finally (5) preliminary estimating the real timestamp of a business process activity instead of using the email timestamp. Using the results of the mentioned approaches, an event log is generated which can be used for deducing the business process models of an email log. The efficiency of all of the above approaches is proven by applying several experiments on the open Enron email dataset
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Hale, Ryan Nathan. "INTIMATE CINEMA: AVANT-GARDE FILM INFLUENCING A BIOGRAPHICAL STORY OF DISCOVERY IN COMPUTER ANIMATION." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306950792.
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Semet, Paul. "Taxonomy, Biogeography and Pest Status of Marmara sp. in Northern Mexico and California Citrus Production." DigitalCommons@CalPoly, 2010. https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/338.
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A novel lepidopteran sex pheromone lure which was thought to be species-specific to the citrus pest Marmara gulosa (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) Guillén (McElfresh et al. 2009) has attracted male moths exhibiting two distinct morphologies. The morphological features examined were the sclerotized parts that make up the male genitalia; which include the valvular lobes, costal lobes, cucullar lobes, and the aedeagus. The sclerotized parts were methodically dissected and mounted on microscope slides. Digital images captured of the slide-mounted specimens proved to be inconsistent with the illustrations provided in the original Marmara gulosa species description (Guillén et al. 2001).
The morphologies of all specimens from both the San Joaquin and Coachella valley show remarkable consistency; regardless of host plant origin, collection method, and collection date. Two specimen groups (one from an orchard in Northern Mexico and the other from backyard citrus in Riverside, California) exhibited entirely different morphological features in which the three lobes mentioned above are fused together. This difference in morphology can only be noticed when examining the sclerotized parts of the male genitalia under a microscope; it is otherwise indistinguishable from M. gulosa via macroscopic features such as antennae shape and wing pattern. These two specimen groups with fused lobes are considered a new species belonging to the genus Marmara and currently remain undescribed.
A genetic study conducted at UC Riverside, which concentrated on the CO1 region of mitochondrial DNA, reported significant differences in genetics based on the geographic origins of specimens (Vickerman and Stouthammer 2006). Geographically, the genetic distribution described in the 2006 study does not coincide with the distribution of morphologies described in this paper. The species description of Marmara gulosa is in need of revision. In addition, further collection and research is required in order to describe and name the newly discovered Marmara species.
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Omidvar, Tehrani Behrooz. "Optimization-based User Group Management : Discovery, Analysis, Recommendation." Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE), 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015GREAM038/document.
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Les donn ́ees utilisateurs sont devenue de plus en plus disponibles dans plusieurs do- maines tels que les traces d'usage des smartphones et le Web social. Les donn ́ees util- isateurs, sont un type particulier de donn ́ees qui sont d ́ecrites par des informations socio-d ́emographiques (ex., ˆage, sexe, m ́etier, etc.) et leurs activit ́es (ex., donner un avis sur un restaurant, voter, critiquer un film, etc.). L'analyse des donn ́ees utilisa- teurs int ́eresse beaucoup les scientifiques qui travaillent sur les ́etudes de la population, le marketing en-ligne, les recommandations et l'analyse des donn ́ees `a grande ́echelle. Cependant, les outils d'analyse des donn ́ees utilisateurs sont encore tr`es limit ́es.Dans cette th`ese, nous exploitons cette opportunit ́e et proposons d'analyser les donn ́ees utilisateurs en formant des groupes d'utilisateurs. Cela diff`ere de l'analyse des util- isateurs individuels et aussi des analyses statistiques sur une population enti`ere. Un groupe utilisateur est d ́efini par un ensemble des utilisateurs dont les membres parta- gent des donn ́ees socio-d ́emographiques et ont des activit ́es en commun. L'analyse au niveau d'un groupe a pour objectif de mieux g ́erer les donn ́ees creuses et le bruit dans les donn ́ees. Dans cette th`ese, nous proposons un cadre de gestion de groupes d'utilisateurs qui contient les composantes suivantes: d ́ecouverte de groupes, analyse de groupes, et recommandation aux groupes.La premi`ere composante concerne la d ́ecouverte des groupes d'utilisateurs, c.- `a-d., compte tenu des donn ́ees utilisateurs brutes, obtenir les groupes d'utilisateurs en op- timisantuneouplusieursdimensionsdequalit ́e. Ledeuxi`emecomposant(c.-`a-d., l'analyse) est n ́ecessaire pour aborder le probl`eme de la surcharge de l'information: le r ́esultat d'une ́etape d ́ecouverte des groupes d'utilisateurs peut contenir des millions de groupes. C'est une tache fastidieuse pour un analyste `a ́ecumer tous les groupes trouv ́es. Nous proposons une approche interactive pour faciliter cette analyse. La question finale est comment utiliser les groupes trouv ́es. Dans cette th`ese, nous ́etudions une applica- tion particuli`ere qui est la recommandation aux groupes d'utilisateurs, en consid ́erant les affinit ́es entre les membres du groupe et son ́evolution dans le temps.Toutes nos contributions sont ́evalu ́ees au travers d'un grand nombre d'exp ́erimentations `a la fois pour tester la qualit ́e et la performance (le temps de r ́eponse)User data is becoming increasingly available in multiple domains ranging from phone usage traces to data on the social Web. User data is a special type of data that is described by user demographics (e.g., age, gender, occupation, etc.) and user activities (e.g., rating, voting, watching a movie, etc.) The analysis of user data is appealing to scientists who work on population studies, online marketing, recommendations, and large-scale data analytics. However, analysis tools for user data is still lacking.In this thesis, we believe there exists a unique opportunity to analyze user data in the form of user groups. This is in contrast with individual user analysis and also statistical analysis on the whole population. A group is defined as set of users whose members have either common demographics or common activities. Group-level analysis reduces the amount of sparsity and noise in data and leads to new insights. In this thesis, we propose a user group management framework consisting of following components: user group discovery, analysis and recommendation.The very first step in our framework is group discovery, i.e., given raw user data, obtain user groups by optimizing one or more quality dimensions. The second component (i.e., analysis) is necessary to tackle the problem of information overload: the output of a user group discovery step often contains millions of user groups. It is a tedious task for an analyst to skim over all produced groups. Thus we need analysis tools to provide valuable insights in this huge space of user groups. The final question in the framework is how to use the found groups. In this thesis, we investigate one of these applications, i.e., user group recommendation, by considering affinities between group members.All our contributions of the proposed framework are evaluated using an extensive set of experiments both for quality and performance