Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Expression problem'

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009.<br>Title from electronic title page (viewed Jun. 26, 2009). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Philosophy." Discipline: Philosophy; Department/School: Philosophy.

This dissertation provides the motivation for and evidence in favour of an approach to language extension via dynamic loading of plug-ins. There is a growing realisation that language features are often a superior choice to software libraries for implementing applications. Among the benefits are increased usability, safety and efficiency. Unfortunately, designing and implementing new languages is difficult and time consuming. Thus, reuse of language infrastructure is an attractive implementation avenue. The central question then becomes, what is the best method to extend languages? Much research has focussed on methods of extension based on using features of the language itself such as macros or reflection. This dissertation focuses on a complementary solution: plug-in compilers. In this approach languages are extended at run-time via dynamic extensions to compilers, called plug-ins. Plug-ins can be used to extend the expressiveness, safety and efficiency of languages. However, a plug-in compiler provides other benefits. Plug-in compilers encourage modularity, lower the barrier of entry to development, and facilitate the distribution and use of experimental language extensions. This dissertation describes how plug-in support is added, to both the front and back-end of a compiler, and demonstrates their application through a pair of case studies.

The need to analyze and closely study the gene related mechanisms motivated the research on the modeling and control of gene regulatory networks (GRN). Dierent approaches exist to model GRNs<br>they are mostly simulated as mathematical models that represent relationships between genes. Though it turns into a more challenging problem, we argue that partial observability would be a more natural and realistic method for handling the control of GRNs. Partial observability is a fundamental aspect of the problem<br>it is mostly ignored and substituted by the assumption that states of GRN are known precisely, prescribed as full observability. On the other hand, current works addressing partially observability focus on formulating algorithms for the nite horizon GRN control problem. So, in this work we explore the feasibility of realizing the problem in a partially observable setting, mainly with Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDP). We proposed a POMDP formulation for the innite horizon version of the problem. Knowing the fact that POMDP problems suer from the curse of dimensionality, we also proposed a POMDP solution method that automatically decomposes the problem by isolating dierent unrelated parts of the problem, and then solves the reduced subproblems. We also proposed a method to enrich gene expression data sets given as input to POMDP control task, because in available data sets there are thousands of genes but only tens or rarely hundreds of samples. The method is based on the idea of generating more than one model using the available data sets, and then sampling data from each of the models and nally ltering the generated samples with the help of metrics that measure compatibility, diversity and coverage of the newly generated samples.

Interested by the relation of function and fashion expression, this project choose ‘carry’ as an example function to dive in. It explores how ‘carry’ affects the expression of wearing and how it can be interpret into fashion expression. The research question - what do we carry in life - gives the foundation in the developing of an aesthetic for sustaining. Problem solving was the methodology that I adopted from Industrial design. Together with other methods, it helped me in deign rationale. During the exploration, ‘carry’ is analyzed, decomposed and translated into a conceptual collection. The interpretation of ‘carry’ is not functional oriented or literal-symbol inspired. The dynamic moment of functioning is more of the focus rather than a static expression of garment. In addition, minimized fashion expression is also discussed as the aesthetic of sustainability.<br>Program: Modedesignutbildningen

Cette thèse propose une analyse de l’expression figée en tant que signe linguistique complexe, stable, variable et dynamique et en tant que problème de traduction à partir d’un corpus composé d’œuvres littéraires contemporaines françaises et de leurs traductions serbes. Le discours met en évidence la distance entre la signification du modèle et le sens de l’expression figée sémantiquement accomplie imbriquée dans le texte, dont l’une des réalisations est le défigement qui, lui, ne consiste simplement pas à renverser les critères syntaxiques, mais à élaborer un nouveau signifié de synthèse au service des stratégies discursives de l’énonciateur. Ce travail identifie les mécanismes linguistiques propres à l’expression figée et incontournables dans l’acte de traduire, ainsi que les incompatibilités entre les problèmes de sa traduction et certaines propriétés qui lui sont attribuées. Les problèmes que pose la traduction de l’expression figée dans le texte littéraire, dont elle façonne la progression narrative, excèdent la dichotomie entre la solution éthique et la solution ethnologique. Ils relèvent de la façon dans le locuteur établit le lien entre la conceptualisation inhérente à l’expression figée, elle-même construite sur la base des concepts préexistants - d’où l’image mentale et la charge connotative -, et la réalité à laquelle il l’applique. Sa traduction, eu égard à sa complexité pragma-sémantique, exige forcément une approche sourcière dans la phase interprétative et une solution cibliste<br>This thesis proposes an analysis of a phraseme as a complex, stable, variable and dynamic linguistic sign, and as a translation problem based on a corpus of contemporary French literature and its Serbian translations. The discourse highlights the distance between the meaning of a model and the meaning of a phraseme that is semantically accomplished and embedded in a text. One of its possible realizations is a pun that does not only consist in transgressing the syntactic criteria but in developing a new global signified, serving the speaker’s discursive strategies. This work identifies linguistic mechanisms specific to lexical frozenness that are inevitable in the act of translation, and incompatibilities between the problems of translation and properties of a given phraseme. Its translation problems in a literary text, whose narrative progression it shapes, exceed the dichotomy between a domesticated translation and a foreignized translation. Translation problems result from the way in which the speaker establishes the link between the conceptualization inherent to a phraseme, built itself on the basis of pre-existing concepts - hence the mental image and the connotative surplus value - and the reality to which the speaker applies it. Its translation, given its pragma-semantic complexity, necessarily requires a source-oriented approach in the interpretative phase and a target-oriented solution

Submitted by Érica Checcucci (erica.checcucci@univasf.edu.br) on 2014-05-03T15:04:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE -final - 17_4.pdf: 5511812 bytes, checksum: 7bf4dece9310718a9ad7f50bcb5dfc7c (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2014-07-25T14:34:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE -final - 17_4.pdf: 5511812 bytes, checksum: 7bf4dece9310718a9ad7f50bcb5dfc7c (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-25T14:34:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE -final - 17_4.pdf: 5511812 bytes, checksum: 7bf4dece9310718a9ad7f50bcb5dfc7c (MD5)<br>UNIVASF - Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco. FAPESB - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia.<br>Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir para a adoção de BIM (Modelagem da Informação da Construção) nos cursos de graduação em Engenharia Civil. Para tal, é feita uma análise sobre o paradigma BIM e sobre experiências nacionais e internacionais de ensino-aprendizagem sobre o tema; são identificadas competências necessárias para se trabalhar com BIM; são investigados que elementos esta modelagem pode trazer para a configuração instrumental e cognitiva do estudante; são apresentados métodos e estratégias de ensino-aprendizagem que se mostram adequados para trabalhar com o contexto BIM. A partir dos estudos efetuados, é desenvolvido um método para identificar interfaces entre o currículo do engenheiro civil e BIM, mapeando momentos da formação do aluno nos quais esta modelagem pode ser discutida e trabalhada. Finalmente, a pesquisa volta-se para investigar a Expressão Gráfica (EG) e cria uma proposta para estruturação desta área dentro de um currículo de engenharia civil que adote o BIM. O trabalho desenvolvido é exploratório, qualitativo, de natureza fenomenológica e utilizou como pressupostos a implicação do pesquisador, o rigor da pesquisa qualitativa e o paradigma da complexidade. Dentre os seus principais resultados, pode ser ressaltado que: (a) a adoção do paradigma BIM demanda a atualização dos cursos de engenharia civil, o que envolve também a formação de docentes para se trabalhar com o tema; (b) experiências de sucesso vem sendo feitas tanto no Brasil como no exterior e mostram que não apenas é possível trabalhar BIM na graduação, como ele tem trazido diversas vantagens para o aprendizado de conteúdos de engenharia e o desenvolvimento cognitivo dos estudantes; (c) é importante planejar a implantação de BIM considerando o contexto específico de cada instituição e curso; (d) cursos que tem entre seus objetivos inserir BIM nos processos de ensino-aprendizagem devem buscar promover um alto grau de integração entre disciplinas e fomentar o trabalho colaborativo entre docentes; (e) para que aconteça um aprendizado integrado e contínuo, deve-se trabalhar BIM em diversos componentes curriculares ao longo do curso; (f) para que a área de EG possa contribuir para a formação do engenheiro civil em BIM, seu escopo deve ser ampliado, incluindo não apenas o desenho (2D) e a modelagem geométrica (3D) mas também abrangendo a compreensão de informações multidimensionais, multimodais e abstratas; (g) esta área pode trabalhar com os alunos uma pequena parte do amplo contexto BIM, no entanto fornecendo insumos para que os estudantes construam uma base sólida a partir da qual possam desenvolver as competências necessárias para trabalhar com esta modelagem, e finalmente, (h) o processo de ensino-aprendizagem de BIM será mais sólido se for continuado durante toda a formação do estudante, iniciando-se logo no seu acesso à universidade e nas disciplinas do núcleo básico.<br>Abstract: The purpose of this study is to contribute to the adoption of BIM (Building Information Modeling) in undergraduate courses in Civil Engineering. To this end, an analysis of the BIM paradigm and of national and international experiences in teaching and learning of the subject is made; necessary skills to work with BIM are identified, and the elements that this modeling can bring to the student cognition are investigated. Strategies to deploy BIM courses in civil engineering education and methods of teaching and learning that prove suitable to work with BIM context are presented. From the studies conducted, a method is developed to identify interfaces between the Civil Engineer curriculum and BIM, mapping moments of student education in which this modeling can be discussed and worked out. Finally, the research turns to investigate the Graphic Expression and creates a proposal for structuring this area within a civil engineering curriculum that adopts BIM. The work is exploratory, has a phenomenological nature and assumptions of the implication of the researcher, the rigor of qualitative research and the complexity paradigm. Among the main results, it can be noted that: (a) the adoption of BIM paradigm demand updating courses in civil engineering, which also involves the training of teachers for working with the theme; (b) some success experiences have been achieved both in Brazil and abroad and show that BIM can be studied not only in graduation course, but it has also brought several advantages for learning engineering content and cognitive development of students; (c) it is important to create a plan for implementation of BIM, considering the specific context of each institution and course; (d) courses that have among its objectives work with BIM should seek to promote a high degree of integration between disciplines and foster collaborative work among teachers; (e) to make an integrated and continuous learning, BIM should be worked in various curriculum components along the course; (f) for the GE contribute to the formation of the civil engineering in BIM, its scope should be expanded, including not only the (2D) design and (3D) geometric modeling but also encompassing the understanding of multidimensional, multimodal and abstract information; (g) GE can work with students a small part of the wider BIM context, however providing inputs for students to build a solid foundation from which they can develop the necessary skills to work with this modeling; (h) the teaching and learning of BIM will be more solid if they are continued throughout the student's education, starting already after their access to the university and as part of the basic core disciplines.<br>Resumen: El objetivo de este trabajo es contribuir a la adopción de BIM (Building Information Modeling) en los cursos de pregrado en Ingeniería Civil. Para ello, se realiza un análisis del paradigma BIM y en las experiencias nacionales e internacionales de enseñanza y aprendizaje sobre el tema; se identifican las habilidades necesarias para trabajar con BIM y cuáles son los elementos que este modelo puede aportar a la configuración instrumental y cognitiva del estudiante; se presentan métodos y estrategias de enseñanza y aprendizaje que resulten adecuados para trabajar con el contexto de BIM. A partir de los estudios realizados, se ha desarrollado un metodo para identificar las interfaces entre el currículo del Ingeniero Civil y BIM y son mapeados momentos la educación de los estudiantes en el que este modelado puede ser discutido. Finalmente, la investigación se dirige a la Expresión Gráfica y crea una propuesta de estructuración de este sector dentro de un plan de estudios de ingeniería civil para adoptar BIM. El trabajo es exploratorio, de naturaleza fenomenológica y utiliza como supuestos la implicación de la investigadora, el rigor de la investigación cualitativa y el paradigma de la complejidad. Entre los principales resultados, se puede observar que: (a) la adopción del paradigma BIM demanda de actualización en los cursos de ingeniería civil, lo que implica también la formación de los docentes para trabajar con el tema; (b) experiencias exitosas se han realizado tanto en Brasil como en el extranjero y demuestran que no sólo es posible trabajar BIM en la graduación, como él ha traído una serie de ventajas para el aprendizaje de la ingeniería y el desarrollo cognitivo de los estudiantes; (c) es importante crear un plan para la implementación de BIM, teniendo en cuenta el contexto específico de cada institución; (d) un curso que tiene entre sus objetivos tratar de BIM debe promover un alto grado de integración entre las disciplinas y el trabajo colaborativo entre los maestros; (e) para que ocurra un aprendizaje integrado y continuo, BIM debería ser trabajado en diversos componentes del plan de estudios a lo largo del curso; (f) de modo que el área de EG pueda contribuir a la formación del ingeniero civil en BIM, su alcance debe ampliarse, incluyendo no sólo el diseño (2D) y modelado geométrico (3D), pero también abarcando la comprensión de la información multidimensional, multimodal y abstracta; (g) la EG puede proporcionar insumos para que los estudiantes puedan construir una base sólida para desarrollar las habilidades necesarias para trabajar con este modelaje; (h) la enseñanza-aprendizaje de BIM será más sólida si se continúa a lo largo de la educación del estudiante, desde su acceso a la universidad y las disciplinas del núcleo básico.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EDM - Danilo S Christo.pdf: 629300 bytes, checksum: 0ef0463bceff1c7bfe0b4f7fdda99796 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-10-31<br>Students difficulties in writing and interpreting algebraic language, particularly in comprehending the meaning of variable have been discussed by such researchers as Kieran, Küchemann, Arcavi and others. In this research, we evaluate a teaching proposal in which it is aimed at explaining established relations between elements of circumstances of proportionality and generalizable arithmetic expressions. This analysis of regularity eases the algebraic language teaching through a dynamic approach in which the notion of dependence among the circumstantial variables is emphasized. This proposal was applied to a sixth grade group of a public primary school in São Paulo city. The analysis of the obtained results allows us to verify the teaching proposal s efficiency for attaining the objectives of this research and provides tools for training teachers<br>Dificuldades dos alunos na escrita e interpretação da linguagem algébrica e, em particular, na compreensão do significado de variável, têm sido discutidas por pesquisadores como Kieran, Küchemann, Arcavi, entre outros. Nesta pesquisa, avaliamos uma proposta de ensino na qual busca-se descrever as relações estabelecidas entre os elementos de situações de proporcionalidade com as expressões aritméticas generalizáveis. A análise dessas regularidades favorece o ensino da linguagem algébrica, em uma abordagem dinâmica em que se enfatiza a noção de dependência entre as variáveis envolvidas na situação. A proposta foi desenvolvida em uma sexta série do ensino fundamental de uma escola municipal da cidade de São Paulo. A análise dos resultados obtidos permite-nos constatar a eficiência da proposta de ensino para a consecução dos objetivos visados nesta investigação e fornece subsídios para a formação de professores

L'Intelligence Territoriale est un concept récemment apparu en France. Nous l'avons identifié comme la conjugaison d'actions d'Intelligence Economique et de Knowledge Management appliquées à un territoire. L'Intermédiation Territoriale en est une forme particulière, qui s'appuie sur la notion de médiation et l'utilisation d'intermédiaire(s) humain(s). Nous avons participé à la mise en place d'un tel dispositif, dans lequel les intermédiaires humains sont notamment chargés de résoudre des problèmes informationnels pour des tiers. Nos travaux ont cherché à améliorer l'efficacité de ces personnels pour répondre aux Problèmes de Recherche d'Informations (PRI) qui leurs sont posés. Dans ce but, nous avons puisé notre inspiration dans les domaines de la Communication Humaine, de la Représentation des Connaissances et de la Résolution de Problèmes. Nous en avons déduit une solution en quatre parties : (1) des Principes de bonne formulation d'un énoncé de PRI, (2) un Modèle d'aide à la génération d'un questionnement sur un PRI, (3) un Outil d'aide à la représentation de l'interprétation d'un sujet de PRI, (4) une Pertinence informationnelle orientée vers la demande.

La recerca sobre l'expressió escrita ha evolucionat de forma espectacular al llarg d'aquest segle. Si fins als anys 60 l'objectiu dels estudis es centrava exclusivament en les produccions escrites i en l'anàlisi del sistema de la llengua des d'una òptica essencialment gramatical, actualment l'interès dels investigadors s'orienta a analitzar els diversos aspectes comunicatius, lingüístics i socioculturals de l'acte d'escriure i a comprendre els diferents processos i operacions cognitius implicats en els processos redaccionals. <br/>En aquest sentit, doncs, per un costat, gràcies a les aportacions de diverses ciències del llenguatge (la lingüística del text, l'anàlisi del discurs, la pragmàtica filosòfica, la sociolingüística, etc.) el text escrit ja no s'analitza com una suma de frases que compleixen amb les regles i convencions gramaticals, el text escrit és vist com una unitat lingüística amb entitat pròpia que té una finalitat comunicativa concreta, es produeix en un context determinat i que s'estructura internament a través de l'ús de regles de gramàtica, però també, de cohesió i coincidència textuals. I, per l'altre costat, des de la dècada dels 70, un nombre de recerques, sobretot des de la psicologia cognitiva es preocupen per aprofundir en el coneixement dels subprocessos i operacions inherents al fet d'escriure, amb la intenció fonamental de plantejar quins són els principals problemes que l'escriptura pressuposa per als escriptors aprenents, i així contribuir a reorientar els processos d'ensenyament i aprenentatge de l'expressió escrita a les escoles. <br/>A partir d'aquí, queda definida la intenció última d'aquest treball: obtenir informació sobre l'ús dels coneixements, habilitats i estratègies implicats en un procés psicològic complex com és l'expressió escrita en els nois i noies de Cicle Superior d'EGB de Girona. La pretensió, doncs, és contribuir al coneixement de les característiques de l'expressió escrita, tant les que fan referència a les produccions escrites com el procés de composició, que presenten els nois i noies de Cicle Superior d'EGB a la ciutat de Girona. Entenem que aquest és un primer pas, un punt de partida, perquè posteriorment es pugui continuar treballant en desenvolupament de propostes tècnico-pràctiques que serveixin per fonamentar el procés d'ensenyament i aprenentatge de l'expressió escrita. <br/>Amb aquest propòsit, doncs, l'estudi s'estructura en tres parts: <br/>En la primera o Marc Teòric, es defineixen els elements teòrics que regeixen i basen la recerca. Per a l'establiment d'aquest marc conceptual, es presenta primerament la concepció de llengua, funcional i comunicativa, que, a finals del segle XX fonamenta tant els models lingüístics com les perspectives didàctiques. Es revisen, en un segon moment, diverses aportacions tècniques sobre el concepte d'expressió escrita i es formula la definició pròpia, que permet articular coherentment la investigació realitzada: L'expressió escrita és un procés psicològic complex, en el qual hi intervenen operacions cognitives de naturalesa diversa, i que implica l'ús de coneixements i d'habilitats variats. Coneixements i habilitats que tenen com a finalitat la comunicació d'idees per mitjà de símbols gràfics i que, d'una banda fan referència a la gramàtica i a la llengua que s'utilitza en els textos escrits (codi escrit) i, de l'altra, a les estratègies comunicativo-lingüístiques que s'empren per a produir-los (procés de composició). S'aborda després l'aproximació conceptual al codi escrit, ressaltant la noció moderna de text i de les propietats textuals, tasca que esdevé decisiva per al plantejament de la primera fase de la recerca. En l'apartat següent, s'aprofundeix en la comprensió teòrica del procés de composició escrita, la qual es configura com a punt de partida clau per al desplegament de la segona fase de la recerca. I, per últim, s'analitza el procés d'ensenyament/aprenentatge de l'expressió escrita, amb la voluntat de pressentir les principals perspectives i propostes teòrico-didàctiques actuals, per acabar contrastar-les amb les pràctiques escolars que avui es donen de forma habitual en l'ensenyament de l'expressió escrita. <br/>La segona part o La Recerca inclou tres capítols. <br/>En el primer o Capítol II, s'ofereix el plantejament general de la recerca és a dir, s'estableixen els objectius generals plantejats i es presenten les dues fases amb què aquesta recerca s'estructura. <br/>En el Capítol III es desenvolupa la que s'anomena primera fase de la recerca, un estudi descriptiu que es proposa com a objectiu general conèixer quin és el domini general de les habilitats i els coneixements de l'expressió escrita en llengua catalana, concretament en relació al text produït, al codi escrit, que presenten els nois i noies del cicle superior d'EGB de Girona. Amb aquesta intenció, s'especifiquen aquests coneixements i habilitats agrupant-los d'acord amb les cinc propietats textuals a priori establertes: adequació, coherència, cohesió, correcció gramatical i variació. <br/>Sota una perspectiva metodològica i un mètode descriptiu. es desenvolupen les diferents passes que se segueixen per a la consecució dels objectius marcats: 1) es selecciona la mostra d'estudi (388 nois i noies de tres escoles de Girona), 2) s'efectua el procés d'obtenció de la informació necessària, prèviament realitzant una àmplia revisió bibliogràfica sobre el tema de l'avaluació del producte escrit, la qual porta a elaborar dos instruments propis: el bàsic o Prova d'Expressió Escrita i el complementari o Full de Valoració de l'Expressió Escrita per part del Professor. i a recollir també d'altres dades informatives, a ressaltar, les qualificacions acadèmiques de l'hora de llengua, 3) s'apliquen els instruments ideats i es recull l'altra informació prevista. 4) s'analitza la informació obtinguda per mitjà d'una anàlisi estadística descriptiva i diferencial, més exhaustivament i completa en el cas de la Prova d'Expressió Escrita, en tant que instrument bàsic i específicament dissenyat per a respondre als objectius de l'estudi. i 5) s'analitzen i s'interpreten amb rigurositat totes les aportacions informatives obtingudes, per acabar definint les principals conclusions extretes de la realització d'aquesta primera fase de la recerca. <br/>En el Capítol IV, s'exposa l'anomenat Estudi de Casos o segona fase de la recerca, el qual es planteja com a objectiu general constatar si es presenten diferències clares pel que fa al procés de composició seguit en l'elaboració i construcció del text escrit, entre els nois i noies de Cicle Superior d'EGB que mostren un nivell elevat en el domini dels coneixements i habilitats del codi escrit, i els que en mostren un nivell de domini baix. Objectiu general que pressuposa l'establiment de dos subobjectius generals: 1) Conèixer quines són i com són utilitzades les estratègies pròpies del procés de composició, que segueixen en l'elaboració i construcció del text escrit d'aquells nois i noies de Cicle Superior d'EGB de Girona que, seleccionats a partir de l'estudi realitzat en la primera fase de la recerca, presenten un major domini general dels coneixements i habilitats del codi escrit, i 2) el mateix que l'anterior però centrat en aquells nois i noies que presenten un menor domini general dels coneixements i habilitats del codi escrit. Amb aquests propòsits, es defineix primerament el marc teòric que regula el<br/>desenvolupament d'aquesta segona fase de la recerca: es tracta de la proposta teòrica de referència que, en base al model cognitiu del procés de composició escrita proposat per Flower i Hayes, defineix els processos i subprocessos sota els quals s'estructura l'estudi: anàlisi de la situació comunicativa , planificació (generalització d'idees, organització i formulació d'objectius), textualització, revisió i control, alhora que també concreta les estratègies i habilitats específiques a través de les quals es vol obtenir la informació referida a cadascun d'aquests processos i subprocessos redaccionals. <br/>Seguidament, i en el marc d'una perspectiva metodològica qualitativa, definida i especificada a través d'un Estudi de Casos, es desplega el pla de treball marcat per a la consecució dels objectius preestablerts: 1) d'acord amb uns criteris rigurosament sistematitzats, i a partir de la informació principal obtinguda en la primera fase del a recerca, es seleccionen els 12 casos d'estudi agrupats en dos grups: el grup A o els 6 casos que presenten el nivell més baix en el domini dels coneixements i habilitats del producte escrit, i el grup B o els 6 casos que en mostren el nivell més alt; 2)es realitza el procés d'obtenció de la informació, a través de l'aplicació de dos instruments: l'observació i l'entrevista, per a l'elaboració a curada i rigurosa dels quals, prèviament s'efectua una revisió bibliogràfica sobre el tema de la complexitat de l'avaluació dels processos cognitius i sobre els requeriments metodològics derivats de la naturalesa essencialment qualitativa dels propis instruments; 3) s'apliquen els dos instruments en els 6 casos del grup B i els casos del grup A; 4) s'analitza la informació obtinguda a través de tècniques d'anàlisi de contingut, en primer lloc, establint unitats de registre que faciliten una primera aproximació a ala temàtica enregistrada a través de l'observació i de l'entrevista de cadascun dels 12 casos, i, en segon lloc, establint categories en el contingut de les unitats establertes, estructurant i classificant així la temàtica de les dades obtingudes; 5) s'elabora l'informe, és a dir, s'exposen quines són i com són utilitzades les estratègies pròpies del procés de composició escrita definides en la proposta teòrica de referència, especificant aquest informe per als casos del grup A, per als casos del grup B, i sobretot oferint un informe específic per a la comparació entre els casos del grup A i els del grup B; i 6) es revisa el desenvolupament dels diferents moments de l'Estudi de Casos i es reanalitza amb rigurositat la informació exposada en els tres informes, per finalitzar definint les principals conclusions que es deriven de la realització d'aquesta segona fase de la recerca.<br/>En la tercera i última part o capítol V, primer es sintetitzen les principals aportacions i conclusions de cadascun dels quatre capítols anteriors, per finalitzar exposant les implicacions més significatives que aquesta tesi permet establir de cares a la pràctica de l'ensenyament/aprenentatge i la recerca educatives en l'àmbit de l'expressió escrita.<br>Research about the written expression has been developing in a spectacular way all along the twentieth century. If up to the 60, the aim of the studies used to be focusing on written productions and analyzing the language system from essentially a grammatical point of view, at present, researchers interest directs towards analyzing varied communicative, linguistic and sociocultural aspects of he writing act and towards understanding the different processes and cognitive operations implied in the redactional processes.<br/>In this very line, then, the final intention of the work is to: obtain information about the use of knowledge, abilities and strategies implied in a complex psychological process as is the case with the written expression among the boys and girls of the Upper Cicie of Girona's EGB (Educación General Básica).<br/>According to this purpose, the study is then structured into three parts:<br/>In the first part or Theoretical Frame, the Theoretical elements that govern and base the research are defined.<br/>The second part or The Research includes three chapters:<br/>In the first part or Chapter II, a general expounding of the research is offered, that's to say, the general expounded aims are established and are presented the two phases with which the research is structured.<br/>In the Chapter III, what was denominated research's first phase is developed in descriptive study that, under a quantitative methodological perspective, intends to know the mastery of knowledge and abilities of the writing code of a big group of boys and girls of the Upper Cycle of Girona's EGB.<br/>In the Chapter IV, the so called examination of cases or second phase of the research has been expounded. A part in which it was intended, with a group of 12 boys and girls, to notice whether they present clear differences in the use of process of composition's own strategies in a group of cases which, in the first phase of the research, has proven having a low level of mastery of knowledge and abilities of the writing code and another group of cases which, on the other hand, has proven having a high level.<br/>In the third and final part or Chapter V, first of all are synthesized the principal<br/>contributions and conclusions of each of four previous chapters to end by displaying the most relevant implications related with practice of the teaching-learning and the research on education in the field d written expression.

The aim of the present work has been to analyze the ways of adolescents’ anger expression and to estimate the relations between emotional and behavioral problems. There was collected data about 198 11-18 years old adolescents. In the research there were used YSR 11/18: Youth self – report (Achenbach, 1991), TRI - Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980) and STAXI – C/A– State - Trait Anger Expression Inventory – 2 For Children and Adolescents (Spielberger, 1999). The results of the research show that there is a positive correlation between anger expression index and internal behavioral problems (value of p is 0.00) and external behavioral problems (value of p is 0.00). Internal behavioral problems also correlate with anger as a state (value of p is 0.00), anger as a trait (value of p is 0.00), internal (value of p is 0.00) and external (value of p is 0.00) anger expression, internal anger control (value of p is 0.02). External behavioral problems correlate with anger as a state (value of p is 0.00), anger as a trait (value of p is 0.00) and external anger expression (value of p is 0.00). There was estimated a negative correlation between adolescents’ anger as a state and their competence (value of p is 0.02). A positive correlation estimated between external anger expression and social activity (value of p is 0.01). A positive correlation also estimated between internal anger control and learning (value of p is 0.03). Anger of adolescents is also related with... [to full text]

Ruído pode ser definido como um exemplo em um conjunto de dados que aparentemente é inconsistente com o restante dos dados existentes, pois não segue o mesmo padrão dos demais. Ruídos em conjuntos de dados podem reduzir o desempenho das técnicas de Aprendizado de Máquina (AM) empregadas e aumentar o tempo de construção da hipótese induzida, assim como sua complexidade. Dados são geralmente coletados por meio de medições realizadas em um domínio de interesse. Nesse sentido, nenhum conjunto de dados é perfeito. Erros de medições, dados incompletos, errados, corrompidos ou distorcidos, falhas humanas ou dos equipamentos utilizados, dentre muitos outros fatores, contribuem para a contaminação dos dados, e isso é particularmente verdadeiro para dados com elevada dimensionalidade. Sendo assim, a detecção de ruídos é uma tarefa crítica, principalmente em ambientes que exigem segurança e confiabilidade, uma vez que a presença desses pode indicar situações que degradam o desempenho do sistema ou a segurança e confiabilidade das informações. Algoritmos para a detecção e remoção de ruídos podem aumentar a confiabilidade de conjuntos de dados ruidosos. Nesse âmbito, esse trabalho investiga técnicas de detecção de ruído baseadas em distância, em que a remoção de ruídos é feita em uma etapa de pré-processamento, aplicadas a problemas de classificação de dados de Expressão Gênica, caracterizados pela presença de ruídos, elevada dimensionalidade e complexidade. O objetivo é melhorar o desempenho das técnicas de AM empregadas para solucioná-los. Por fim, combinações de técnicas de detecção de ruído são implementadas de modo a analisar a possibilidade de melhorar, ainda mais, o desempenho obtido.<br>Noise can be defined as an example which seems to be inconsistent with the remaining ones in a data set. The presence of noise in data sets can decrease the performance of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in the problem analysis and also increase the time taken to build the induced hypothesis and its complexity. Data are collected from measurements made which represent a given domain of interest. In this sense, no data set is perfect. Measurement errors, incomplete, corrupted, wrong or distorted examples, equipment problems or human fails, besides many other related factors, help contaminating the data, and this is particularly true for data sets with high dimensionality. For this reason, noise detection is a critical task, specially in domains which demand security and trustworthiness, since the presence of noise can lead to situations which degrade the system performance or the security and trustworthiness of the involved information. Algorithms to detect and remove noise may increase trustworthiness of noisy data sets. Based on that, this work evaluates distance-based noise detection techniques, in which noise removal is done by a pre-processing phase, in gene expression classification problems, characterized by the presence of noise, high dimensionality and complexity. The objective is to improve the performance of ML techniques used to solve these problems. Next, ensembles of noise detection techniques are developed in order to analyze the possibility to further improve the performance obtained.

In the past decade, the advent of efficient genome sequencing tools and high-throughput experimental biotechnology has lead to enormous progress in the life science. Among the most important innovations is the microarray tecnology. It allows to quantify the expression for thousands of genes simultaneously by measurin the hybridization from a tissue of interest to probes on a small glass or plastic slide. The characteristics of these data include a fair amount of random noise, a predictor dimension in the thousand, and a sample noise in the dozens. One of the most exciting areas to which microarray technology has been applied is the challenge of deciphering complex disease such as cancer. In these studies, samples are taken from two or more groups of individuals with heterogeneous phenotypes, pathologies, or clinical outcomes. these samples are hybridized to microarrays in an effort to find a small number of genes which are strongly correlated with the group of individuals. Eventhough today methods to analyse the data are welle developed and close to reach a standard organization (through the effort of preposed International project like Microarray Gene Expression Data -MGED- Society [1]) it is not unfrequant to stumble in a clinician's question that do not have a compelling statistical method that could permit to answer it.The contribution of this dissertation in deciphering disease regards the development of new approaches aiming at handle open problems posed by clinicians in handle specific experimental designs. In Chapter 1 starting from a biological necessary introduction, we revise the microarray tecnologies and all the important steps that involve an experiment from the production of the array, to the quality controls ending with preprocessing steps that will be used into the data analysis in the rest of the dissertation. While in Chapter 2 a critical review of standard analysis methods are provided stressing most of problems that In Chapter 3 is introduced a method to adress the issue of unbalanced design of miacroarray experiments. In microarray experiments, experimental design is a crucial starting-point for obtaining reasonable results. In a two-class problem, an equal or similar number of samples it should be collected between the two classes. However in some cases, e.g. rare pathologies, the approach to be taken is less evident. We propose to address this issue by applying a modified version of SAM [2]. MultiSAM consists in a reiterated application of a SAM analysis, comparing the less populated class (LPC) with 1,000 random samplings of the same size from the more populated class (MPC) A list of the differentially expressed genes is generated for each SAM application. After 1,000 reiterations, each single probe given a "score" ranging from 0 to 1,000 based on its recurrence in the 1,000 lists as differentially expressed. The performance of MultiSAM was compared to the performance of SAM and LIMMA [3] over two simulated data sets via beta and exponential distribution. The results of all three algorithms over low- noise data sets seems acceptable However, on a real unbalanced two-channel data set reagardin Chronic Lymphocitic Leukemia, LIMMA finds no significant probe, SAM finds 23 significantly changed probes but cannot separate the two classes, while MultiSAM finds 122 probes with score >300 and separates the data into two clusters by hierarchical clustering. We also report extra-assay validation in terms of differentially expressed genes Although standard algorithms perform well over low-noise simulated data sets, multi-SAM seems to be the only one able to reveal subtle differences in gene expression profiles on real unbalanced data. In Chapter 4 a method to adress similarities evaluation in a three-class prblem by means of Relevance Vector Machine [4] is described. In fact, looking at microarray data in a prognostic and diagnostic clinical framework, not only differences could have a crucial role. In some cases similarities can give useful and, sometimes even more, important information. The goal, given three classes, could be to establish, with a certain level of confidence, if the third one is similar to the first or the second one. In this work we show that Relevance Vector Machine (RVM) [2] could be a possible solutions to the limitation of standard supervised classification. In fact, RVM offers many advantages compared, for example, with his well-known precursor (Support Vector Machine - SVM [3]). Among these advantages, the estimate of posterior probability of class membership represents a key feature to address the similarity issue. This is a highly important, but often overlooked, option of any practical pattern recognition system. We focused on Tumor-Grade-three-class problem, so we have 67 samples of grade I (G1), 54 samples of grade 3 (G3) and 100 samples of grade 2 (G2). The goal is to find a model able to separate G1 from G3, then evaluate the third class G2 as test-set to obtain the probability for samples of G2 to be member of class G1 or class G3. The analysis showed that breast cancer samples of grade II have a molecular profile more similar to breast cancer samples of grade I. Looking at the literature this result have been guessed, but no measure of significance was gived before.

In the past decade, the advent of efficient genome sequencing tools and high-throughput experimental biotechnology has lead to enormous progress in the life science. Among the most important innovations is the microarray tecnology. It allows to quantify the expression for thousands of genes simultaneously by measurin the hybridization from a tissue of interest to probes on a small glass or plastic slide. The characteristics of these data include a fair amount of random noise, a predictor dimension in the thousand, and a sample noise in the dozens. One of the most exciting areas to which microarray technology has been applied is the challenge of deciphering complex disease such as cancer. In these studies, samples are taken from two or more groups of individuals with heterogeneous phenotypes, pathologies, or clinical outcomes. these samples are hybridized to microarrays in an effort to find a small number of genes which are strongly correlated with the group of individuals. Eventhough today methods to analyse the data are welle developed and close to reach a standard organization (through the effort of preposed International project like Microarray Gene Expression Data -MGED- Society [1]) it is not unfrequant to stumble in a clinician's question that do not have a compelling statistical method that could permit to answer it.The contribution of this dissertation in deciphering disease regards the development of new approaches aiming at handle open problems posed by clinicians in handle specific experimental designs. In Chapter 1 starting from a biological necessary introduction, we revise the microarray tecnologies and all the important steps that involve an experiment from the production of the array, to the quality controls ending with preprocessing steps that will be used into the data analysis in the rest of the dissertation. While in Chapter 2 a critical review of standard analysis methods are provided stressing most of problems that In Chapter 3 is introduced a method to adress the issue of unbalanced design of miacroarray experiments. In microarray experiments, experimental design is a crucial starting-point for obtaining reasonable results. In a two-class problem, an equal or similar number of samples it should be collected between the two classes. However in some cases, e.g. rare pathologies, the approach to be taken is less evident. We propose to address this issue by applying a modified version of SAM [2]. MultiSAM consists in a reiterated application of a SAM analysis, comparing the less populated class (LPC) with 1,000 random samplings of the same size from the more populated class (MPC) A list of the differentially expressed genes is generated for each SAM application. After 1,000 reiterations, each single probe given a "score" ranging from 0 to 1,000 based on its recurrence in the 1,000 lists as differentially expressed. The performance of MultiSAM was compared to the performance of SAM and LIMMA [3] over two simulated data sets via beta and exponential distribution. The results of all three algorithms over low- noise data sets seems acceptable However, on a real unbalanced two-channel data set reagardin Chronic Lymphocitic Leukemia, LIMMA finds no significant probe, SAM finds 23 significantly changed probes but cannot separate the two classes, while MultiSAM finds 122 probes with score >300 and separates the data into two clusters by hierarchical clustering. We also report extra-assay validation in terms of differentially expressed genes Although standard algorithms perform well over low-noise simulated data sets, multi-SAM seems to be the only one able to reveal subtle differences in gene expression profiles on real unbalanced data. In Chapter 4 a method to adress similarities evaluation in a three-class prblem by means of Relevance Vector Machine [4] is described. In fact, looking at microarray data in a prognostic and diagnostic clinical framework, not only differences could have a crucial role. In some cases similarities can give useful and, sometimes even more, important information. The goal, given three classes, could be to establish, with a certain level of confidence, if the third one is similar to the first or the second one. In this work we show that Relevance Vector Machine (RVM) [2] could be a possible solutions to the limitation of standard supervised classification. In fact, RVM offers many advantages compared, for example, with his well-known precursor (Support Vector Machine - SVM [3]). Among these advantages, the estimate of posterior probability of class membership represents a key feature to address the similarity issue. This is a highly important, but often overlooked, option of any practical pattern recognition system. We focused on Tumor-Grade-three-class problem, so we have 67 samples of grade I (G1), 54 samples of grade 3 (G3) and 100 samples of grade 2 (G2). The goal is to find a model able to separate G1 from G3, then evaluate the third class G2 as test-set to obtain the probability for samples of G2 to be member of class G1 or class G3. The analysis showed that breast cancer samples of grade II have a molecular profile more similar to breast cancer samples of grade I. Looking at the literature this result have been guessed, but no measure of significance was gived before.

This dissertation explores how a recent set of practices III contemporary choreography in Europe (1998-2007) give rise to distinctive concepts of its own, concepts that account for processes of making, performing, and attending choreographic perfonnances. The concepts express problems that distinguish the creation of seven works examined here (Self unfinished and Untitled by Xavier Le Roy, Weak Dance Strong Questions by Jonathan Burrows and Jan Ritsema, heatre-elevision by Boris Charmatz, Nvsbl by Eszter Salamon, 50/50 by Mette Ingvartsen, and It's In The Air by Ingvartsen and Jefta van Dinther). The problems posed by these choreographers critically address the prevailing regime of representation in theatrical dance, a regime characterized by an emphasis on bodily movement, identification of the human body, and the theater's act of communication in the reception of the audience. In the works considered here, the synthesis between the body and movement-as the relation of movement to the body as its subject or of movement to the object of dance-upon which modem dance is founded is broken. Choreographing problems, in the sense explored in this dissertation, involves composing these ruptures between movement, the body and duration in perfonnance such that they engender a shock upon sensibility, one that inhibits recognition. Thus problems "force" thinking as an exercise of the limits of sensibility that can be accounted for not by representation, but by the principle of expression that Gilles Deleuze develops from Spinoza's philosophy. "Part-bodies," "part-machines," "movement-sensations," "headbox," "wired assemblings," "stutterances," "powermotion," "crisis-motion," "cut-ending," and "resonance" are proposed here as expressive concepts that account for the construction of problems and compositions that desubjectivize or disobjectivize relations between movement, body, and duration, between performing and attending (to) performance. Developed through a careful analysis of how problems structure these performances, this thesis on expressive concepts further contributes to a redefinition of performance in general by making two additional claims. The first concerns the disjunction between making, performing and attending as three distinct modes of performance that involve divergent temporalities and processes. The second regards the shift from performance as the act in the passing present towards the temporalization of perfonllance qua process, where movement and duration are equated with ongoing transformation, a process that makes the past persist in the present.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008.<br>Vita: p. 107. Thesis director: Johannes Rojahn. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Oct. 15, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-106). Also issued in print.

The aim of this thesis is to adress the problem of capability brokering. A capability-brokering agent recieves capability advertisements from problem-solving agents and problem descriptions from problem-holding agents. The amin task for the broker is to find problem-solving agents that have the capabilities to address problems described to the broker by a problem-holding agent. Capability brokering poses two problems: for advertisements, and matching problems and capabilities, to find capable problem-solvers. For the representation part of the problem, there have been a number of representations in AI that address similar issues. We review various logical representations, action representations, and representations for models of problem solving and conclude that, while all of these areas have some positive features for the representation of capabilities, they also all have serious drawbacks. We describe a new capability description language, CDL, which shares the positive features of previous languages while avoiding their drawbacks. CDL is a decoupled action representation into which arbitrary state representations can be plugged, resulting in the expressiveness and flexibility needed for capability brokering. Reasoning over capability descriptions takes place on two levels. The outer level deals with agent communication and we have devloped the Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML) here. At the inner level the main task is to decide whether a capability description subsumes a problem description. In CDL thee subsumtion relation for achievable objectives is defined in terms of the logical entailment relation betwenn sentences in the state language used within CDL. The definition of subsumption for performable tasks in turn is based on this definition for achievable objectives. We describe algoritms in this thesis which have all been implemented and incorporated into he Java Agent Template where they proved sufficient to operationalise anumber of example scenarios. The two most important featues of CDL are its expressiveness and its flexibility. By expressiveness we mean the ability to express more than is possible in other representations. By flexibility we mean the possibility to delay decisions regarding the compromises that have to be made to knowledge representation time. The scenarions we ahve implemted illustrate the importance of the features and we have shown in this thesis that CDL indeed possess thease features. Thus, CDL is an expressive and flexible capability description language that can be used to address the problem of capability brokering.

The current democratization developments and the need to adequately protect freedom of expression and media freedom in Africa have ushered in significant constitutional and legislative changes in the continent. As such, the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights constitutes significant machinery for entrenching the liberty of the individuals and a trend in the fight against human rights violations, but how effective are these changes, at the regional and local levels? This thesis critically analyses these developments with a view to finding new constitutional and legislative provisions that facilitate freedom of expression and media freedom within the context of Article 9 of the Africa Charter. While tracing the history of human rights in Africa, the thesis articulates the importance of freedom of expression and consensus democracy in Africa's political and cultural traditions, the early socio-political and ideological history, and its colonial past. Furthermore, the thesis highlights Africa's entrenched political and cultural traditions that promote human rights in general and freedom of expression in particular, although some African communitarian principles might be considered anachronistic and anti-democratic. This research is concerned about the impact of African governments' criminal penalties for defamatory statements and policies restricting the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression. These coercive measures in light of the intolerant culture in African politics are often used to deprive citizens and the media their right to freedom of expression and valuable information which merited legitimate public concern. While we acknowledge that media activities and freedom of expression may be restricted in order to protect reputation, private life, public order, public health, public morality, public safety and national security, as enshrined in Article 27 (2) of the African Charter, the thesis is, however, concerned at the broad reach of several of the restrictive measures that have been enacted by arbitrary governments in which there is a very limited basis of public debate or competitive politics to buttress the freedom of the media. On the attainment of political independence, most of the African states adopted constitutions enshrining bills of rights justiciable by the courts. Despite these bills of rights, many of the African states have been guilty of gargantuan crimes and human rights violations. Despite the ratification of international and regional instruments dealing with the right to freedom of expression and information, African political leaders continue to misapply and misinterpret Article 9 (2) of the ACHPR because of its vagueness and continue to rely on criminal defamation statutes and the like to suppress critical and dissenting views. These broadly phrased prohibitions encouraged by the poor drafting of Article 9 (2) of the Charter, criminalise the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression and have a real “chilling effect” on debate on matters of public interest. The main conclusion of the thesis is that while most recent African constitutional developments offer promises of free expression and democratic accountability, there are persistent problems that need to be addressed as part of the overall democratization process. For example, there is the need to abrogate anachronistic criminal defamation statutes and insult laws in many African countries, put an end to the use of extralegal and coercive measures in the state's relation with the media, as well as a need for opposition political parties' contribution in parliament without government interference. Judicial independence, awareness of international standards on freedom of expression and information, equitable access to government media, journalistic morality and professionalism are other problems highlighted in the thesis.

Šiandieninėje mokykloje nedaug dėmesio skiriama moksleivių erdvinio mąstymo formavimui. Nors bendrojoje programoje ir išsilavinimo standartuose yra numatyta erdvinė vizualinė raiška plokštumoje ir erdvėje, tačiau dėl tam tikrų priežasčių šiai temai skiriama per mažai dėmesio. Ši tema yra aktuali, nes erdvės suvokimas ugdo tokius gebėjimus kaip analizė, interpretavimas, kūrybingumas. Šie gebėjimai pravers ne tik mokantis dailės, bet ir kitose ugdymo srityse (geometrija, literatūra ir t.t.), taip pat studijuojant techniką, technologiją. Šią problemą nagrinėjančios lietuviškos literatūros yra mažai. Daugiau medžiagos yra nagrinėjančios technikas, bet ne pačią erdvės suvokimo ir vizualinės rai��kos problematiką. Tyrimo tikslas. Atskleisti I – IV klasių moksleivių erdvinių sprendimų problemas vizualinėje raiškoje. Tyrimo objektas. Pradinių klasių ugdytinių erdvės suvokimas ir erdvinių sprendimų taikymas praktikoje. Tyrimo hipotezė. Formuojant ugdytinių erdvinį mąstymą ir skatinant analizuoti objektus, bei supažindinant juos su įvairiom vizualinėm raiškom, turėtų pagerėti ugdytinių erdvinių sprendimų vizualinė raiška ir kūrybingumas. Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1) Apžvelgti mokslinėje ir dalykinėje literatūroje nagrinėtą erdvinių sprendimų meninę raišką ir erdvės suvokimo problematiką. 2) Ištirti dėl kokių priežasčių I – IV klasių ugdytiniai ne visada randa tinkama erdvinį sprendimą. 3) Nustatyti ryšius tarp dėstomos medžiagos būdų, įsisavinant ir pritaikant gautas žinais praktikoje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]<br>The formation of the spatial thinking isn’t the main aim of today’s school. Although the spatial visual expression in the plane and in the space is provided in General Educational Documents at school, but for some reason or other this theme isn’t in the centre. The spatial visual expression is very actual problem. Spatial perception educates such competences as analyses, interpretation or creativity. These competences will be of use not only in the learning of art, but also of other educational remits (purviews) how geometry, literature, technology and etc. This problem is analysed of a few Lithuanian literature. There we can find more material about technologies, but not about problematic of space perception or visual expression. Aim of the research is to uncover problems of spatial resolutions in the visual expression in the Primary school. The subject of the research is perception of the space and visual expression in use by children in the Primary school. Hypothesis of the research: the spatial resolution, the visual expression and creativity would be better, if we going to form child’s spatial thinking, stimulate the objects’ analysis, and present them various visual expressions. The goals of the research: 1.To survey researched spatial resolutions’ artistic expression and problematic of spatial perception in the nonfiction literature. 2. To research reasons which determine why children sometimes don’t find well-chosen spatial resolution in the 1st – 4th classes.3... [to full text]

Les manifestations spontanées de l'émotion sont étudiées durant la résolution d'un problème. Les variations de conductance cutané et les expressions faciales sont mises en correspondance avec les événements d'échec et de réussite de la résolution. La modulation de ces manifestations est ensuite examinée en fonction de la dimension sociale de la situation et de la nature stressante de la tâche. Nos résultats mettent en évidence des variations physiologiques et expressives spécifiques aux impasses et aux atteintes de sous-buts. Ils mettent en évidence le lien entre les difficultés rencontrées dans la résolution et les manifestations spontanées de l'émotion. Les résultats relatifs aux éléments modulateurs des manifestations de l'émotion rendent compte de l'effet de la dimension sociale sur les composantes physiologiques de l'émotion et de l'effet de la nature stressante de la tâche sur les composantes expressives. Ces manifestations spontanées de l'émotion durant la résolution d'un problème sont interprétées dans le cadre général des théories de l'évaluation, à la lumière des données relatives aux travaux sur la communication non-verbale et sur les liens entre émotion et résolution de problème<br>The spontaneous manifestations of emotion are studied during a problem solving. The relations between variations of skin conductance and facial expressions with the solving events of failure and success are studied. We examine the modulation of these manifestations according to the social dimension of the situation and the stressing nature of the task. Our results highlight specific physiological and expressive variations in impasse situations and sub-goals reaching. They underline the relationship between the difficulties encountered in the solving and the spontaneous manifestations of the emotion. The results relating to the modulating elements of the emotional manifestations show the effect of social dimension on the physiological components of the emotion and the effect of the stressing nature of the task on the expressive components. These spontaneous manifestations of the emotion during the problem solving are interpreted within the general framework of the appraisal theories, in the light of the data relating to works on the nonverbal communication and the relationship between emotion and problem solving

Esta Tese é uma investigação do pensamento moral de Theodor W. Adorno. Ela reconstitui as suas linhas de força a partir do confronto com três autores centrais da modernidade filosófica: Kant, Schopenhauer e Nietzsche. O exame da filosofia moral de Kant é conduzido de forma a explicitar o tratamento de Adorno ao problema da autonomia. Com a discussão da filosofia moral de Schopenhauer, o problema da alteridade é investigado em Adorno. A filosofia moral de Nietzsche é examinada a fim de trazer à luz o problema do sentido moral em Adorno. O capítulo final articula esses problemas em termos de uma dialética negativa estética, apresentando a filosofia moral de Adorno por meio dos conceitos de mímese e de expressão. Uma concepção expressiva de razão permite apreender a orientação estética da filosofia moral de Adorno.

À son arrivée à Paris, Leibniz rencontre de nombreux acteurs du paysage scientifique. À leur contact, il va se former a la pratique des mathématiques. Nous nous intéressons ici a la facette arithmétique de son travail, largement dominée dès 1672 par un problème diophantien tentaculaire appelant de solides notions d'algèbre. Alors que des études sérieuses ont été réalisées sur le problème, nous proposons une approche qui tente de dépasser la seule description des essais de résolution tous infructueux de ce problème dit des six carres. Nous avons cherché à montrer que Leibniz s'était véritablement approprié le résultat. En nous fondant sur une étude au plus près des textes mathématiques édités par l'Académie de Berlin, nous avons tracé la ligne d'une recherche parallèle sur les nombres conduite par Leibniz à partir de ces essais de résolution du problème des six carres. L'étude des correspondances savantes de la seconde moitié du XVIIe siècle a été convoquée pour venir illustrer les investigations autour du problème. Nous les avons utilisées aussi pour animer le détachement progressif du problème à mesure que Leibniz a gagné en aisance dans l'arithmétique et a découvert de nouvelles façons de travailler. Nous suggérons dans cette étude une relecture de la manière dont le problème des six carrés a été construit par son créateur, Jacques Ozanam. Nous argumentons notamment le fait que sa résolution était intimement liée à deux éléments, l'un mathématique et l'autre historique, sur lesquels Leibniz manquait de maîtrise : les techniques de quadrature algébrique et la rédaction du Diophante d'Ozanam. Dérouté par les deux à la fois, nous présentons par la suite Leibniz comme un ≪ errant à but ≫ dès le moment ou il parvient à voir dans les méthodes de factorisations et développements parfois lourdes qu'il a mises au point dans le cadre du problème, des applications aux propriétés de divisibilité dans les entiers. Nous nous sommes alors proposé de tirer le fil de l'étude sur les entiers qui en découle pour finir par montrer un Leibniz arithméticien, devisant sur les nombres premiers et leur distribution. Nous montrons donc que l'histoire de la pratique arithmétique de Leibniz a Paris est étroitement liée à sa propre histoire de mathématicien et qu'elle est un témoin de sa capacité à acquérir puis dépasser les fondamentaux de son époque, de sa capacité à devenir un chercheur<br>Upon his arrival in Paris, G. W. Leibniz met many scientists. Through discussions and debates with them, he acquired knowledge of mathematics. We have focused here on his work in arithmetic, which in 1672 is dominated to a large extent, by a branched Diophantine problem that requires a significant use of algebra to be solved. While some credible studies have been published on this problem we’ve aimed at trying to go further than a mere description of failed attempts at solving this problem, known as the “sixsquare problem”. We have sought to show that Leibniz engaged in depth with this subject. Based on mathematical studies published by the Berlin Academy of Sciences, we have conducted parallel research on numbers by Leibniz, stemming from these attempts. By studying the correspondences of scholars from the late 17th century, we have been able to illustrate advances in the resolution of the problem, and we have also used them to show the way Leibniz gradually came to neglect the problem as found new ways to work in arithmetic. As a result, this study proposes a reinterpretation of the way the six-square problem was constructed by its creator, Jacques Ozanam. We’ve also insisted on the fact that the resolution was closely linked to two elements, one mathematical, the other historical, which Leibniz did not master: algebraic squaring methods and the preparation of a book by Ozanam, Diophante. These two factors set Leibniz back, and sharpened his dedication to his goal as soon as he succeeded in finding, in the burdensome factorization and development theories he had developed for the six-square problem, some properties of the divisibility of numbers. Finally, we have endeavored to examine these works to portray Leibniz as an arithmetician who, in particular, wrote original texts on prime numbers and even on their repartition. Thus we show that the history of Leibniz’s arithmetical practice in Paris is closely linked to his own history as a mathematician, and that it bears witness to his ability to gain knowledge, and then to go further than the expertise of his time, thereby contributing to his own development as a researcher

This study used the largest and youngest cohort of hearing impaired (HI) children to investigate the effect age at implantation had on the trajectories of expressive and receptive language, and externalizing behavior problems. In addition, the temporal relationship between language and externalizing behavior problems was examined in children implanted before and after the age of 2. Univariate latent difference score analyses were conducted to test the effect of age at implantation on each trajectory and bivariate difference score analyses were conducted to test the temporal effect between language and externalizing behavior problems. Results showed that age at implantation had an effect on the initial level and growth of expressive and receptive language trajectory and an effect on the initial level of externalizing behavior problems. Expressive language was found to have an influence on the changes in externalizing behavior problems for both groups, children implanted before and after the age of 2. However, the relationship between receptive language and externalizing behavior problems differed between the two age groups. The effect was bidirectional for the younger group but unidirectional for the older group, with externalizing behavior problems influenced the change in receptive language. Future research and potential interventions to improve behavior difficulties in deaf children are discussed.

There is an emphasis in current school education on the teaching of thinking skills, yet there has been little research into the modes of thought that are appropriate for secondary school Art students. A range of qualitative methods were used in this study of eminent professional artists and secondary school Art students. Interviews and observation were used to examine the ways artists and students think in going about the art process of finding ideas, conceptualising or developing those ideas and resolving those ideas in the production of artworks. Eight modes of thought, each with numerous micro-skills, were derived from the data. The modes of thought proposed are Creative Thinking, Intuitive Thinking, Life Theme, Metaphorising, Visual Thinking, Conceptualisation, Critical Thinking and Reflective Thinking.

How should requirements be expressed to support the design process of advanced software? This is what this report contributes based on facts from qualitative research methods performed at Ericsson Software Technology. The design process studied is influenced by different ways of expressing the requirements, problem-oriented and solution-oriented. The problem-oriented way of expressing requirements supports the designers to keep the overall picture of the product and make visions possible in the requirement handling process. The study also points out that the problem-oriented way of expressing requirements facilitates distributed software projects.<br>Rapporten berör hur krav kan uttryckas problemorienterat eller lösningsorienterat och hur dessa olika uttryckssätt påverkar designprocessen.

This dissertation describes research to enhance hydrometeorological forecasts and their application towards clean energy. The secondary objective of this research is exploration of a new evolutionary algorithm as a possible statistical tool to describe some nonlinear aspects of the atmosphere. The products of this work are summarized in four chapters. Motivated by the difficulty in forecasting montane precipitation for hydroelectricity, a novel model output statistical method is introduced to improve numerical daily precipitation forecasts. The proposed method is gene expression programming (GEP). It is used to create a bias-corrected ensemble, called a deterministic ensemble forecast (DEF), which could serve as an alternative to the traditional ensemble average. Comparing the verification scores of GEP DEF vs. an equally- weighted (traditional) ensemble-average DEF, it is found that GEP DEFs were better for about half of the mountain weather stations tested. The need for an enhanced electric load forecasting model with better connections to weather variables is addressed next. GEP is used to forecast relative load minima during nighttime and mid- day, and relative load maxima in the morning and evening. A different method is introduced to use GEP to forecast electric load for the next hour. These methods are verified against independent data for a year of daily load forecasts, and are compared against the operational load forecasts archived by BC Hydro, British Columbia’s largest electric utility company. Also, GEP is used to parametrize two non-iterative approximations for saturated pseudoadiabats (also known as moist adiabats). One approximation determines which moist adiabat passes through a point of known pressure and temperature, such as through the lifting condensation level on a skew- T or tephigram. The other approximation determines the air temperature at any pressure along a known moist adiabat, such as the final temperature of a rising cloudy air parcel. This work can be used to better predict cloudy convection in the atmosphere, which can cause hazardous wind gusts at wind turbines, and can drop heavy precipitation in hydroelectric watersheds.

Cancers display heterogeneity in genetic profiles of the individual cancer cells and in the composition of different malignant and non-malignant cell populations. Such intra-tumor heterogeneity plays a role in treatment response and the emergence of resistance to cancer therapies. Approaches that address this complexity and improve stratification of patients for treatment are therefore highly warranted. Thus, the aims of this thesis were to further develop and apply in situ technologies for expression and mutation analyses of candidate cancer genes to gain a deeper understanding of cancer biology and to study intra-tumor heterogeneity. In paper I, we established and validated a procedure for scalable in situ hybridization of large gene sets in human formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues for analysis of gene expression. This method was used in paper II for large-scale expression analysis of the tyrosine kinome and phosphatome, two gene families whose members are frequently mutated in many forms of cancers. Systematic, compartment-specific expression mapping at cell type resolution enabled us to identify several novel vascular markers that have gone unnoticed in bulk transcriptomic analyses. In papers III and IV, we used padlock probes for in situ mutation detection in single cells for studies of genetic intra-tumor heterogeneity. In paper III, multiplex detection and genotyping of oncogenic point mutations was demonstrated in routinely processed tissue materials, whereas in paper IV we further the application by demonstrating multiplex detection of fusion gene transcripts. Collectively, the work presented in this thesis employs in situ-based methods to obtain spatial resolution of gene expression and mutation patterns in normal and cancer tissues, thereby broadening our understanding of the cancer genome.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008.<br>Title from electronic title page (viewed Dec. 11, 2008). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the School of Education of Educational Psychology, Measurement, and Evaluation." Discipline: Education; Department/School: Education.

The fascinating capability of cellular self-organization during tissue development and repair is a central question in developmental biology and regenerative medicine. Understanding the dynamic morphogenic and regenerative processes of biological tissues will have important implications in biology and medicine. Nevertheless, the elucidation of the cellular self-organization processes is hindered by a lack of effective tools for monitoring the spatiotemporal gene expression distribution and a lack of ability to perturb the self-organization processes in living cells and tissues. Multimodal modularities that allow both single cell perturbation and gene detection are required to enable a new paradigm in the investigation of complex tissue morphogenic processes. To address this critical challenge in the field of developmental and regenerative medicine, we are developing a multimodal gold nanorod-locked nucleic acid (GNR-LNA) composite for single cell gene expression analysis in living cells and tissues at the transcriptional level. Using antisense RNA sequences, we design LNA probes for detecting specific molecular targets in living cells. The LNA probes bind to the GNR spontaneously due to the intrinsic affinity between the GNR and LNA. In close proximity, the fluorescent probes are effectively quenched by the GNR. Therefore, a fluorescent signal is only observed when the specific target thermodynamically displaces the LNA probe from the GNR. Furthermore, the GNR also serves as a transducer for photothermal ablation. Thus, we established a novel modularity for imaging the spatiotemporal gene expression distribution in living cells and tissues. The single cell analysis capability of our techniques enables us to adopt a unique approach to study the tissue regenerative processes during normal development and diseases, and this will have a profound impact on regenerative medicine and disease treatment in future. Moreover, we applied this GNR-LNA probe to explore the endothelial cell mRNA dynamics during capillary morphogenesis. Three different types of cells were identified due to their different roles during endothelial cell capillary-like formation process. Our findings indicated that the endothelial cell behavior is directly related to the Dll4 mRNA expression, and Dll4 expression in ECs determine the cell fate. Our GNR-LNA probe enable us to investigate the correlations between Dll4 mRNA expression and cell behavior during capillary morphogenesis. Experimental results indicated that: (1) When the endothelial cells aggregate, the cells migrate with certain displacement, the Dll4 mRNA expression decreases. (2) When the endothelial cells sprout, the cells migrate with small displacement but the cell shape changes to an ellipse shape, the Dll4 mRNA expression begin to increase. (3) When the endothelial cells elongate and form cell-cell contract with adjacent cells, the Dll4 expression decreased to a certain level and keep stable until the cell activity change to another stage. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated endothelial cells compete for the leader cell position during wound healing, collective cell migration, and tip cell formation during angiogenic process. It has been demonstrated that endothelial cells compete for the tip cell formation through Notch signaling pathway. However, how the mechanical force regulates tip cell formation is still unclear, and if mechanoregulation of tip cell formation through Notch pathway still unknown. Mechanical and chemical regulations of tissue morphogenesis and angiogenesis are being investigated in both in vitro capillary-like network formation assay and in vivo mice retina angiogenesis assay. Here, we investigated the mechanoregulation of mechanotransduction of tissue morphogenesis and angiogenesis using both in vitro endothelial cell tube formation model and in vivo mice retina blood vessel development model. Our results demonstrated that (1) Notch pathway negatively regulates tip cell formation: inhibition of Notch pathway (DAPT) enhances tip cell formation, induces Dll4 and Notch1 activity, activation of Notch pathway (Jag1 peptide) inhibits tip cell formation, suppresses Dll4 and Notch1 activity. (2) Mechanical force negatively regulate tip cell formation: (a) Decrease mechanical force via Rho kinase inhibitor Y-27632, myosin II inhibitor Blebbistatin, or laser ablation, enhances tip cell formation and induces Dll4 activity through mediation of Dll4-Notch1 lateral inhibition, (b) increase mechanical force via traction force inducer Nocodazole and Calyculin A, suppresses tip cell formation and inhibits Dll4 activity through activation of Notch pathway. (3) Mechanical force negatively regulates tip cell formation partially via mediation of Notch pathway. Mechanical force is necessary for tip cell formation and negatively regulate tip/stalk selection via Dll4-Notch1 lateral inhibition. Interruption of mechanical force enhance tip cell formation via suppression of Dll4-Notch1 lateral inhibition, thus resulting the increase of Dll4 expression. Enhance of mechanical force inhibits tip cell formation via activation of Dll4-Notch1 lateral inhibition, thus resulting the decreases of Dll4 expression. All these finding wills have great significance for various biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering, cancer, and drug screening.

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Filosofia (especialidade Ontologia e Filosofia da Natureza)<br>Esta dissertação tenta fazer uma análise filosófica do problema da Identidade e da Vida no pensamento de Virginia Woolf. Situa-se no cruzamento entre as estruturas do conceito, próprias da filosofia, e as estruturas do significado, próprias da literatura. O que se procura determinar é até que ponto é possível encontrar no pensamento de Woolf qualquer coisa como uma «ontologia literária» – e, em especial, uma ontologia que leve a cabo o projecto filosófico de captação da identidade das coisas. Na introdução, desenha-se o percurso geral do problema a partir dos cortes e continuidades entre as diferentes formas de «olhar» para o problema do «território» da identidade. Começamos por analisar como é que o ponto de vista natural tem sempre já constituída uma compreensão da identidade: uma rede de identidades e diferenças das «coisas». Em seguida, considera-se o modo como o ponto de vista científico se afasta da perspectiva natural, mas ao mesmo tempo mantém a mesma estrutura fundamental de reconhecimento das coisas. Em terceiro lugar, considera-se o ponto de vista filosófico, enquanto ponto de vista crítico, que assume a tarefa de detectar os equívocos e inconsistências das outras formas de olhar para a identidade das coisas. Foca-se em especial o complexo de problemas que enfrenta e o facto de não conseguir levar inteiramente a cabo o projecto de dizer a identidade das coisas. É aqui que entra em cena o ponto de vista literário, enquanto ponto de vista que lida com significados e que pode completar o projecto filosófico. Na primeira parte, em diálogo entre a tradição filosófica sobre a questão da mónada (em especial Leibniz) e o pensamento de Woolf, procura-se traçar o «território» da identidade própria, da identidade «monádica», determinar quais são as suas fronteiras e o que fica para lá delas. O que constitui a identidade monádica é, por um lado, ser uma ínfima parte no meio de tudo o mais e, por outro, ser já esse mais de que se diferencia, de tal forma que a sua identidade própria se atravessa em tudo o mais, é omnienglobante e tem o carácter daquilo a que Leibniz chama pars totalis. Neste sentido, procura-se determinar as diferentes formas em que a identidade se atravessa no mundo, nos outros e no tempo. Na segunda parte, analisa-se a forma como se acha constituído o acesso à identidade. Estuda-se o problema da “distância da pars totalis em relação a si mesma”, a diferença woolfiana entre being e non being, o duplo carácter da experiência enquanto experiência dos factos e experiência do significado e o acontecimento da mónada como totalidade de significado em demanda de si. Na terceira parte, considera-se a forma como o nosso olhar (e tudo isso a que chamamos realidade) está constitutivamente atravessado por conteúdos de ficção. A partir daqui procura-se perceber até que ponto a nossa visão habitual é semelhante à narrativa ficcional e se é ou não possível constituir qualquer coisa como uma biografia integral, i.e., se é ou não possível dizer a vida (a totalidade da vida).

Aim' To determine whether the bronchial epithelial cells from young children with different wheezing or coughing phenotypes have increased expression of transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channel receptors compared to normal. Hypotheses to be tested: TRPV1, TRPV4, TRPA1 and TRPM8 receptors are expressed and over-expressed on the bronchial epithelium of young children with post bronchiolitis wheezing / episodic viral induced wheezing (non- asthmatic wheezers), classical atopy asthma and coughers compared to normal subjects. Methodology: Freshly isolated bronchial epithelial cells from children were tested for expression of TRP channels and their functional role by microfluorimetry, immunocytochemistry, confocal live cell imaging, patch clamping and qt- PCR. Results: The experiments conducted in the present study has aided in inferring that TRPV1, V4, A1 and M8 channels are expressed and are functional in bronchial epithelial cells. The channels are expressed in sub cellular organelles in the peri nuclear and nuclear region and are involved in calcium signaling. Our data from microfluorimetry and confocal live cell experiments strongly suggests that TRPM8, V1, V4 and A1 channels are functionally active as evidenced by their ability to 2+ contribute to PBEC Ca signaling and there were differences in response of freshly isolated bronchial epithelial cells between asthmatic and healthy children. However further tests needed to be carried out with more patient samples to analyze the significance of the differences. The analysis of responses from confocal live cell imaging suggested that the calcium whole cell responses and the peak responses in microfluorimetry experiments were increased in most asthmatic cells in comparison to Freshly isolated bronchial epithelial cells from healthy children. Despite the number of patient samples and cells analyzed this is a significant finding suggesting possible up regulation or over expression of the TRP channels in children with asthma. The present study has shown the presence of TRPV1, V4, A1 and M8 channels in bronchial epithelium with possible increased expression or upregulation of these channels in asthma compared to normal healthy children.

Le problème SAT est un cas particulier du problème de satisfaction de contraintes où les variables prennent la valeur booléenne 0 ou 1. Le problème de satisfaction de contrainte lui-même joue un rôle central dans l'intelligence artificielle (IA). L'étude du problème SAT a une forte utilité pratique car il est à la base de très nombreux problèmes d'IA, notamment la déduction automatique, le contrôle de circuits VLSI, la programmation logique, l'apprentissage, l'ordonnancement, etc. En 1962, Davis, Logemann et Loveland ont présenté leur algorithme, appelé ensuite procédure DPL, pour résoudre le problème SAT. Selon cette procédure, des systèmes complets ont été crées, par exemple, Grasp, Posit, Relsat(4), Satz, etc. Notre travail se situe précisément au sein du domaine des études empiriques pour la résolution du problème SAT en utilisant les systèmes complets. Tout d'abord, nous réalisons une étude empirique pour trouver quelques propriétés intéressantes correspondant à la difficulté de la résolution des problèmes 3-SAT aléatoires, en utilisant les systèmes différents. Puis, nous contribuons à l'amélioration du système Satz, en mettant en œuvre une série d'expérimentations utilisant heuristiques UP différentes. Nous utilisons ensuite Satz pour analyser les arbres produits par ce système, pour réaliser la comparaison avec les systèmes les plus performants de la littérature et également pour créer quelques extensions. Enfin, nous essayons d'expliquer la performance de Satz par l'hypothèse de contrainte. Nos expériences dans ce travail renforcent la conviction que l'heuristique UP est puissante pour les problèmes SAT aléatoires, et elle l'est aussi pour les problèmes SAT structures. Nous pensons également que la stratégie essentielle, pour implanter la procédure DPL dans un système, est d'essayer d'atteindre une contradiction aussi vite que possible ; d'autre part, selon nous, les heuristiques sont probablement la méthode la plus efficace pour mettre en œuvre de telles stratégies. Toutefois, si les heuristiques venaient à ne pas bien fonctionner, il faudrait recourir à d'autres méthodes. Par exemple, pour les problèmes ou la plupart des variables sont symétriques, il pourrait être judicieux d'essayer des méthodes telles que l'apprentissage ou la détection de symétrie. Satz pourrait être amélioré dans ce sens. Il n'existe a ce jour aucun système capable de résoudre tous les problèmes NP-complets et en particulier les problèmes SAT. Les systèmes qui existent actuellement ne résolvent que certaines classes du problème SAT.

The acquisition and measurement of biological data have dramatically changed in the recent years. In fact, High-Throughtput Sequencing (HTS) technologies are now able to capture almost all the "blueprints" that encode for life within a organism’s cell, in a parallel and rapid manner. This newly and cheaper data enabled a whole novel ensemble of approaches to unravel the mechanisms that regulate the processes in living cells. Unfortunately, these different sources of information can easily reach Terabytes of data for one single study. Consequently, in order to integrate and analyze systemically all the different data sources, novel methodologies, algorithms and software are needed to uncover the real benefits of this biological Big Data. Therefore, in my Ph.D studies I investigated those mathematical and Information Theory models that are well suited for the representation of biological phenomena using network concepts applied to large datasets. Moreover, the main idea that has driven my studies has been about making models understandable to elucidate the mechanisms of cell regulation, rather than using the most recent and very powerful deep learning approaches that may solve the problem but give you back a black box hard to dissect - i.e. making better inferences rather than robust predictions. Thus, whenever it was possible I chose simple models over complex ones. Ultimately, new models and software tools have been the results of these studies, and either research advances about new conceptual frameworks or their implementation have been published on several international conferences and journals. A full publication list is in the conclusions.

Recently, verification and analysis of data words have gained a lot of interest. Metric temporal logic (MTL) and timed propositional temporal logic (TPTL) are two extensions of Linear time temporal logic (LTL). In MTL, the temporal operator are indexed by a constraint interval. TPTL is a more powerful logic that is equipped with a freeze formalism. It uses register variables, which can be set to the current data value and later these register variables can be compared with the current data value. For monotonic data words, Alur and Henzinger proved that MTL and TPTL are equally expressive and the satisfiability problem is decidable. We study the expressive power, satisfiability problems and path checking problems for MLT and TPTL over all data words. We introduce Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse games for MTL and TPTL. Using the EF-game for MTL, we show that TPTL is strictly more expressive than MTL. Furthermore, we show that the MTL definability problem that whether a TPTL-formula is definable in MTL is not decidable. When restricting the number of register variables, we are able to show that TPTL with two register variables is strictly more expressive than TPTL with one register variable. For the satisfiability problem, we show that for MTL, the unary fragment of MTL and the pure fragment of MTL, SAT is not decidable. We prove the undecidability by reductions from the recurrent state problem and halting problem of two-counter machines. For the positive fragments of MTL and TPTL, we show that a positive formula is satisfiable if and only it is satisfied by a finite data word. Finitary SAT and infinitary SAT coincide for positive MTL and positive TPTL. Both of them are r.e.-complete. For existential TPTL and existential MTL, we show that SAT is NP-complete. We also investigate the complexity of path checking problems for TPTL and MTL over data words. These data words can be either finite or infinite periodic. For periodic words without data values, the complexity of LTL model checking belongs to the class AC^1(LogDCFL). For finite monotonic data words, the same complexity bound has been shown for MTL by Bundala and Ouaknine. We show that path checking for TPTL is PSPACE-complete, and for MTL is P-complete. If the number of register variables allowed is restricted, we obtain path checking for TPTL with only one register variable is P-complete over both infinite and finite data words; for TPTL with two register variables is PSPACE-complete over infinite data words. If the encoding of constraint numbers of the input TPTL-formula is in unary notation, we show that path checking for TPTL with a constant number of variables is P-complete over infinite unary encoded data words. Since the infinite data word produced by a deterministic one-counter machine is periodic, we can transfer all complexity results for the infinite periodic case to model checking over deterministic one-counter machines.

The investigation of complex biological processes, such as wound healing, cell migration, cancer cell invasion, and gene regulatory networks can be benefited tremendously by novel biosensing techniques with high stability and spatiotemporal resolution. In particular, molecular probes with qualities including high stability, sensitivity, and specificity are highly sought-after for long-term monitoring of gene expression in individual cells. Among different single-cell analysis techniques oligonucleotide optical probes is a promising detection method to monitor the dynamics of cellular responses. Herein, the design and optimization of double-stranded LNA probes are first investigated. With alternating DNA/LNA monomers for optimizing the stability and specificity, we show that the probe is highly stable in living cells and is capable of detecting changes in gene expression induced by external stimuli. Using dsLNA probes we then demonstrate the novel approaches to monitor the spatiotemporal gene expression response during cell injury. Our results also suggest a potential autoregulatory role of Nrf2 in injury induced EMT. We also show that the signaling level of dsLNA probe can serve as a molecular signature for the leader cells near the wound which allows us to track the behaviors of leader cells during collective cell migration. Finally multimodal GNR-LNA approach is proposed to map spatiotemporal gene expression profile and reveal dynamic characteristics of heat shock response in photothermal operations.

The cancer stem cell (CSC) concept is still very controversial; therefore identification and isolation of this specific population remain challenging. A variety of putative markers have been described and measurement of high aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity has been defined as a characteristic of stem cells (SCs). In this study, a library of novel small molecules (1,4-disubstituted acetalanthraquinones, AAQs), containing an acetal group as protected aldehyde functionality, was designed with the aim of probing affinity for ALDH metabolism and demonstrating their potential as molecular fluorescent probes to identify CSCs. The AAQs were shown to be subjective to acidic hydrolysis using 2M HCl at 37ºC; however compounds containing secondary or tertiary amine functionalities in their sidechain were only partly hydrolysed at 70 ºC. Metabolism studies were conducted using cytosolic fractions from rat liver enriched in ALDHs, yeast ALDH and human recombinant ALDH1A1. Some evidence was demonstrated which linked ALDH metabolism with aldehyde functionalities of hydrolysed AAQs (HAAQs). The AAQs were shown to emit far-red fluorescence (600-750 nm). A close relationship between structure modifications and alteration of cellular localisation, with gained specificity for selected sub-cellular compartments were achieved when assessed in A549 and U-2 OS cell lines. Thermal DNA denaturation and chemosensitivity assays were used to obtain information about DNA binding properties and cytotoxicity of AAQs and HAAQ congeners. All compounds were shown to be weak-to-moderately binding to DNA, and symmetrical 1,4-disubstituted compounds were shown to be non-toxic (IC50 = 100 :M) with nonsymmetrical analogues generating IC50 values in the 1-100 :M range. No fundamental variation in the biological activity was observed when comparing AAQs with HAAQs in the A549 (+ALDH) and MCF7 (-ALDH) cell lines. A pilot investigation revealed that aberrant gene methylation was cell-type dependent for three ALDH isoforms (1A1, 2, 3A1). Decitabine treatment led to enhanced protein expression for ALDH1A1 (A549), ALDH2 (MCF7) and ALDH3A1 (A549). In contrast, the protein level was reduced for ALDH1A1 in HT29 cells after decitabine treatment. ALDH1A1, ALDH2 and ALDH3A1 were highly expressed in prostate cell lines, with expression linked to promoter methylation. In contrast, low levels of DNA methylation were found in primary prostate cancer cells and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Interestingly, ALDH1A1, considered a SC marker, was found to be expressed at low levels in CD133⁺/ α₂β₁ hi stem cell fraction and upregulated in CD133⁻/ α₂β₁ lo differentiated prostate cancer cells. In summary, the results in this thesis demonstrate the complexity and tumour type specificity of ALDH expression. This creates challenges for the development of selective probes for CSC isolation, such as the AAQs discussed in this thesis. Although inconclusive results were obtained in regard to AAQs and their potential in targeting ALDHs, selected AAQs were shown to reveal interesting biological features highlighting them as potential non-invasive cytometric probes for tracking molecular interactions in live cells.

Submitted by Ricardo Kucinskas (ricardo.kucinskas@gmail.com) on 2018-01-22T23:22:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 cartabcoRicardo.pdf: 21310 bytes, checksum: fdb63965512cf2222ad8c0a892d83d4f (MD5) Dissert_RK.pdf: 28912456 bytes, checksum: b52fd80f02c5b25023a447b43e47f390 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (bco.producao.intelectual@gmail.com) on 2018-02-05T15:59:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 cartabcoRicardo.pdf: 21310 bytes, checksum: fdb63965512cf2222ad8c0a892d83d4f (MD5) Dissert_RK.pdf: 28912456 bytes, checksum: b52fd80f02c5b25023a447b43e47f390 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (bco.producao.intelectual@gmail.com) on 2018-02-05T15:59:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 cartabcoRicardo.pdf: 21310 bytes, checksum: fdb63965512cf2222ad8c0a892d83d4f (MD5) Dissert_RK.pdf: 28912456 bytes, checksum: b52fd80f02c5b25023a447b43e47f390 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-05T16:03:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 cartabcoRicardo.pdf: 21310 bytes, checksum: fdb63965512cf2222ad8c0a892d83d4f (MD5) Dissert_RK.pdf: 28912456 bytes, checksum: b52fd80f02c5b25023a447b43e47f390 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-10-11<br>Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)<br>This dissertation of professional masters proposes the introduction of the Algebra study for elementary school students. Our main objective was to develop a work outlined in didactic sequence, based on instigating problems that would challenge the independent thinking, essential for the effectiveness of the meaningful learning. For this purpose, a didactic sequence will be presented by three phases: Algebraic Thinking, Algebraic Expressions and First Degree Equations. In order to develop algebraic thinking, students were mobilized to study models and regularities. After that, problems that explored the variation of quantities and the generalization of patterns led them to read and represent some algebraic expressions as well as to calculate its numeric value in various contexts. Finally, our intention was to translate situations through first degree equations, analyzing them, finding their respective roots and validating the results found. As for the development of this research and the data analysis, we were guided by a qualitative approach, since the interactive contact of the researcher as a teacher at a municipal school provided the construction of a reality of students inserted in a particular universe of beliefs, values and several meanings. As the most important result, we realized that 7th grade students initially had only intuitive conceptual notions and had some difficulty in dealing with algebraic calculations. Therefore, problem solving proved to be an effective methodology for students to appropriate Algebra as a meaningful knowledge.<br>Esta dissertação de mestrado profissional tem como proposta a introdução do estudo da Álgebra para alunos do ensino fundamental. Nosso maior objetivo foi desenvolver um trabalho delineado em sequência didática, a partir de problemas instigantes que desafiassem o racicíonio independente, imprescindível para a efetivação da aprendizagem significativa. Para isso, será apresentada uma sequência didática composta por três fases: Pensamento Algébrico, Expressões Algébricas e Equações do 1º Grau. A fim de desenvolver o pensamento algébrico, os alunos foram mobilizados a estudar padrões e regularidades. Após isso, problemas que exploravam a variação de grandezas e a generalização de padrões os levaram a ler e representar expressões algébricas bem como calcular seu valor numérico em variados contextos. Por fim, nossa intenção foi traduzir situações por meio de equações de primeiro grau, analisando-as, encontrando suas respectivas raízes e validando os resultados encontrados. Quanto ao desenvolvimento desta pesquisa e à análise dos dados, nos pautamos numa abordagem qualitativa, uma vez que o contato interativo do pesquisador como professor de uma escola municipal proporcionou a construção de uma realidade de alunos inseridos num universo particular de crenças, valores e significados diversos. Como principal resultado, percebemos que os alunos do 7º ano tinham inicialmente apenas noções conceituais intuitivas e apresentavam certa dificuldade para lidar com cálculos algébricos. Diante disso, a resolução de problemas mostrou-se como metodologia eficaz para que os discentes se apropriassem da Álgebra como conhecimento significativo.