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Brophy, Jennifer Ann Noelani. "Synthetic biology approaches for engineering diverse bacterial species." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115449.
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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biological Engineering, June 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "May 2016."
Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-134).
When engineers control gene expression, cells can be re-programmed to create living therapeutics or materials by initiating expression of biosynthetic pathways in response to specific signals. In this thesis, two new genetic tools were developed to aid the construction of genetic circuits and facilitate their delivery to bacteria isolated from diverse environments. First, antisense transcription was explored as a new tool for tuning gene expression in Escherichia coli. Antisense transcription was found to reliably repress gene expression and was applied tune simple genetic circuits. Second, an integrative conjugative element from Bacillus subtilis, ICEBsJ, was engineered to deliver exogenous DNA to diverse strains of undomesticated Gram-positive bacteria. Engineered ICEBsI conjugation was demonstrated in twenty different bacterial strains, spanning sixteen species and five genera. To demonstrate ICE's utility in creating new probiotics, the element was used to deliver functional nitrogen fixation pathways (nif clusters) to bacteria isolated from agricultural soils. Collectively, the tools presented here in provide a platform for programing bacteria from diverse environments for advanced applications.
by Jennifer Ann Noelani Brophy.
Ph. D.
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Moolhuijzen, Paula. "Bioinformatics approaches for functional predictions in diverse informatics environments." Thesis, Moolhuijzen, Paula (2011) Bioinformatics approaches for functional predictions in diverse informatics environments. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2011. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/5804/.
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Bioinformatics is the scientific discipline that collates, integrates and analyses data and information sets for the life sciences. Critically important in agricultural and biomedical fields, there is a pressing need to integrate large and diverse data sets into biologically significant information. This places major challenges on research strategies and resources (data repositories, computer infrastructure and software) required to integrate relevant data and analysis workflows. These challenges include:
The construction of processes to integrate data from disparate and diverse resources and legacy systems that have variable data formats, qualities, availability and accessibility constraints.
Substantially contributing to hypothesis driven research for biologically significant information.
The hypothesis proposed in this thesis is that in organisms from divergent origins, with differing data availability and analysis resources, in silico approaches can identify genomic targets in a range of disease systems. The particular aims were to:
1. Overcome data constraints that impact analysis of different organisms.
2. Make functional genomic predictions in diverse biological systems.
3. Identify specific genomic targets for diagnostics and therapeutics in diverse disease mechanisms.
In order to test the hypothesis three case studies in human cancer, pathogenic bacteria, and parasitic arthropod were selected, the results are as follows.
In case study 1 sequence information was integrated to make novel predictions, and generate novel findings for the role of the Alu repeat element in cancer. An under representation of Alu was found in cancerous transcript and most noncancerous Alu transcript found were of an unknown function. These findings led to an Alu-mediated siRNA model for the down regulation of Alu containing mRNA in cancer.
Case study 2, comparative genomic analyses identified venereal diagnostic targets that discriminated Campylobacter fetus subspecies venerealis from other Campylobacter species and subspecies. Plasmid borne virulence Type IV secretory pathway genes specificity however varied for biovars, compromising their use for diagnostics. These findings resulted in the targeted sequencing of Campylobacter fetus subspecies venerealis biovar genomes.
Case study 3, in cattle tick ectoparasite (Rhipicephalus microplus), a large highly complex and under researched genome, transcript sequence was analysed and tick vaccination targets identified. These vaccine candidates successfully imparted immunity in the bovine host. The developed high throughput vaccine target identification system is now being applied to other disease systems.
Through the shared bioinformatics approaches, novel functional targets and models in disease were determined.
This thesis has developed and demonstrated in silico approaches for:
1. The collation, annotation and integration of data from divergent organisms with variable data constraints.
2. Novel functional predictions in diverse biological systems.
3. Novel vaccine and diagnostic candidate identification, in diverse disease mechanisms, substantially contributing to hypothesis driven research.
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Wang, Yongqiang. "Model-based approaches to robust speech recognition in diverse environments." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709461.
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Malone, Clare Felicity. "Diverse Approaches to Developing Combination Therapies for NF1-Mutant Cancers." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467360.
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The NF1 tumor suppressor is lost or mutated in a variety of sporadic cancers, as well as in the hereditary cancer predisposition syndrome neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). NF1 patients have an 8–13% risk of developing a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST), which are lethal when they cannot be surgically resected. There are currently no effective therapies for NF1-mutant cancers. As such, developing treatments for NF1-mutant malignancies represents a huge unmet clinical need. This dissertation focuses on the development of combination therapies using two distinct approaches: inhibiting specific oncogenic signaling pathways activated by NF1 mutation (or loss), and exploiting cellular stresses in cancer cells.
NF1 encodes a RAS GTPase activating protein. Therefore, when NF1 is lost, RAS pathway signaling is hyper-activated. However, the signaling node or nodes most critical for tumor growth were not known. Here, we report that p110α and mTORC1 are essential for NF1-deficient proliferation, while AKT and mTORC2 are dispensable. Moreover, we demonstrate that sustained inhibition of both the mTORC1 and MEK/ERK pathways promotes MPNST regression. To identify molecular biomarkers of combined target inhibition we performed transcriptional profiling. GLUT1, which encodes a glucose transporter, is significantly repressed when both mTORC1 and MEK are inhibited. 18F-FDG uptake is also suppressed, indicating that FDG-PET imaging could be a useful biomarker. A clinical trial based on these findings is being developed.
We have previously found that the combination of ER-stress inducing agents and the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin causes MPNST regression. Here, we show that the combination of the histone deacetylase inhibitor vorinostat with rapamycin exploits this same vulnerability and promotes tumor regression. This therapeutic effect is dependent on activation of the unfolded protein response and production of reactive oxygen species. Expression profiling identified that the gene encoding thioredoxin interacting protein, TXNIP, is transcriptionally upregulated by combined treatment and TXNIP appears to be a driver of cell death in this context. Regardless, these studies suggest that the combination of two FDA-approved drugs, rapamycin and vorinostat, could be rapidly translated to clinical trials.
In summary, we have identified two promising combination therapies for NF1-mutant cancers. These studies highlight the therapeutic utility of exploiting both signaling and stress vulnerabilities in cancer. These findings have promising clinical applications, and provide a framework for future therapeutic and mechanistic exploration.Medical Sciences
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Collins, Danielle. "Diverse approaches to developing a nontraditional ensemble in a secondary school." Thesis, California State University, Long Beach, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10102586.
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The purpose of this research is to examine the approaches used when developing nontraditional ensembles in secondary public schools. Topics include class offerings, curricula, music enrollment, administrative and community support, preparation time, teaching strategies, and financial costs to purchase and maintain equipment and instruments.
The participating subjects are secondary music teachers from school districts in the Los Angeles area teaching nontraditional ensembles during the school day. Subjects were surveyed with Google Forms and received follow-up questions via email.
Subject responses show that most teachers initially operated outside of their “comfort zone” when developing nontraditional courses. The majority developed new programs with a teacher-driven classroom model, relied on teacher-created arrangements, and spent similar amounts of time with both their traditional and nontraditional ensembles. The startup and maintenance costs for instruments and equipment varied from program to program.
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Groenewald, Wilma. "Diverse approaches to modelling conformations of mycolic acids from Myobactrium tuberculosis." Thesis, Bangor University, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.664506.
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Tuberculosis (TB) has plagued the human race for centuries. Despite being largely a curable disease, over 3500 people die from the disease each day. Mycobaeterium . tuberculosis, that causes TB, is particularly resilient. This is due, in part, to its lipid-rich cell wall, containing mycolic acids (MAs) as a major component. MAs are long fatty acids with functional groups of precise stereochemistry. The MA composition in the cell wall has been shown to affect properties such as cell wall permeability and virulence. The functional group stereochemistry is key in the interaction with different components of the host immune system. It has been shown that MA structure determines its conformational preference. In this work, a selection of diverse computational methods is employed to study different aspects of MA conformation. The precise stereochemical effects of the cyclopropane functional groups in model compounds with short alkyl chains were investigated, through quantum chemistry. Whole MAs were simulated using molecular dynamics in the gas phase and in polar and nonpolar solvents, in order to investigate folding patterns of MAs as a function of their structure together with the external environment. Lastly, a coarse grained (CG) model of an Alpha-MA was produced and used to simulate a MA monolayer. The monolayer is a good representation of the cell wall packing of MAs and could be correlated with existing monolayer experimental data. Together, the results presented here confirm the functional groups as folding points in MAs. Larger systems that are closer to the natural MA environment are essential as they can be compared with experimental data and will be useful as a tool in combating TB. However, the integrity of the larger CG system relies on the flow of information from the smaller, more accurate computational methods through to the CG model, and hence these approaches should be continued in parallel in future work.
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Ghazanfar, Shila. "Statistical approaches to harness high throughput sequencing data in diverse biological systems." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/17268.
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The development of novel statistical approaches to questions specific to biological systems of interest is becoming more valuable as we tackle increasingly complex problems. This thesis explores three distinct biological systems in which high throughput sequencing data is utilised, varying in research area, organism, number of sequencing platforms and datasets integrated, and structure such as matched samples; showcasing the variety of study designs and thus the need for tailored statistical approaches. First, we characterise allelic imbalance from RNA-Seq data including stringent filtering criteria and a count based likelihood ratio test. This work identified genes of particular importance in livestock genomics such as those related to energy use. Second, we outline a novel methodology to identify highly expressed genes and cells for single cell RNA-Seq data. We derive a gamma-normal mixture model to identify lowly and highly expressed components, and use this to identify novel markers for olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) maturity across publicly available mouse neuron datasets. In addition we estimate single cell networks and find that mature OSN single cell networks are more centralised than immature OSN single cell networks. Third, we develop two novel frameworks for relating information from Whole Exome DNA-Seq and RNA-Seq data when i) samples are matched and when ii) samples are not necessary matched between platforms. In the latter case, we relate functional somatic mutation driver gene scores to transcriptional network correlation disturbance using a permutation testing framework, identifying potential candidate genes for targeted therapies. In the former case, we estimate directed mutation-expression networks for each cancer using linear models, providing a useful exploratory tool for identifying novel relationships among genes. This thesis demonstrates the importance of tailored statistical approaches to further understanding across many biological systems.
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Dutta, Ashutosh. "Exploration of diversified interactions of some significant compounds prevalent in several environments by physicochemical contrivance." Thesis, University of North Bengal, 2018. http://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/2787.
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Borsetto, Chiara. "Study and exploitation of diverse soil environments for novel natural product discovery using metagenomic approaches." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2017. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/97341/.
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Natural products with antimicrobial activity have played an important role in the treatment of infection since their discovery. The increasing emergence of pathogens resistant to multiple antibiotics has raised awareness of the urgent need for novel antibiotics. Soil microorganisms are the major source of antibiotics and Actinobacteria in particular have an impressive capacity for production of diverse bioactive secondary metabolites. However, culture-independent studies have shown a greater microbial diversity present in soil with potential for novel chemical structures and these can be explored further using metagenomic approaches capturing genes without the need to cultivate the host. Different metagenomic tools were used to study and explore microbial secondary metabolite diversity in soil. In particular, amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA gene, NRPS and PKS biosynthetic genes allowed the identification of novel potential phylogenetic drivers of secondary metabolite diversity in the less characterized phyla Verrucomicrobia and Bacteroidetes and potential geographic hotspots harbouring unique biosynthetic diversity such as Antarctica and Cuba. The exploitation of these hotspots presented some bottlenecks in the form of DNA extraction efficiency, library creation, screening and heterologous expression. These were overcome by comparative analysis of different eDNA extraction methods to optimise fragment size and purity combined with development of new cloning tools for both DNA capture and expression. Modification of the microbial community through the amendment of the soil with chitin, highlighted the beneficial effect of microbial enrichment allowing a higher recovery of eDNA and higher detection of the biosynthetic gene of interest related to secondary metabolite production. Further additions were made to the metagenomic molecular toolbox in the form of BAC vectors (pBCaBAC and pBCkBAC) which were tested with suitable heterologous host systems (Streptomyces sp. and the engineered Pseudomonas putida species) potentially facilitating heterologous expression. In conclusion this is the first study to identify the drivers of microbial secondary metabolite diversity in situ and provided a comparative analysis of a range of diverse soil types. This approach paired with new developments in metagenomic technologies will make a substantial contribution to improving the likelihood for discovery and exploitation of new drugs for treating multi-resistant pathogenic bacteria.
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Luong, Thi Ngan. "Reconciling the diverse approaches to entrepreneurial marketing research : evidence from the independent hospitality industry in Vietnam." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/7944/.
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Entrepreneurial marketing (EM) has been studied from diverse approaches over the past three decades. One common approach to studying EM focuses on exploring EM adoption from a firm capability perspective. Another view emphasises the role of the business context to understand EM. These diverse approaches have led to rich, yet fragmented views of EM. This thesis is built upon these debates and proposes to reconcile the dichotomy of EM research. In doing so, both the business context and firm are taken into account to provide a holistic approach to study EM. The research employed an interpretive philosophical position and qualitative research design in examining EM in the Vietnamese independent hospitality industry. A combination of purposive and snowball sampling methods was used to recruit 30 participants for in-depth interviews. Data triangulation was achieved by using observations and fieldnotes. This thesis contributes to the EM literature by applying a comprehensive approach to understand EM from a structuration perspective. The findings reveal the enabling and constraining role of business structures which results in different tactics firms use to facilitate EM; a typology of four EM scripts is developed to conceptualise various EM adoption which represent the reciprocal relationship between firms and business structures.
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Santamaria, Dávila Jordi. "The methodologies in psychology of gender and health: An integrative journey from different approaches to diverse realities." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Jaume I, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/667328.
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This thesis is a methodological exploration to achieve the integration of methods through psychological research on gender, exploring different controversial topics currently reflected by psychology of gender using diverse methodological approximations. Six studies has been made in response to some current needs of the psychology of gender.Esta tesis es una exploración metodológica para lograr la integración de métodos a través de la investigación psicológica sobre el género, explorando diferentes temas controvertidos de actualidad para la psicología del género utilizando diversas aproximaciones metodológicas. Se han realizado seis estudios en respuesta a algunas necesidades actuales de la psicología del género.
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Antalova, Livia. "Contemporary Flat-Tax Reforms in Eastern Europe. Causes of Diverse Approaches : A comparison of Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany." SFB International Tax Coordination, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2010. http://epub.wu.ac.at/1626/1/document.pdf.
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The paper deals with the issue of contemporary flat-tax reforms in Eastern Europe and aims to account for the different approaches that various European countries adopted towards the idea of a flat-tax. Empirically, the work is based on detailed studies of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. The analysis considers three factors being decisive for the flat-tax feasibility: 1./ party system institutionalization, 2./ coalition/opposition cohesiveness, 3./ labor union institutionalization. First, the study is concerned with each of the factor's influence on the political decision-making process in the three country cases. Secondly, on country paired comparisons the findings for each of the countries are mutually contrasted. Although all identified factors seem to be at play with regard to flat-tax feasibility, I argue that it is either the strength or the weakness of labor unions' institutionalization and welfare identity that underlie the political decision-making in the East and the West and as a result determine the flat-tax (un-)feasibility. The absence of welfare identity in the East allows for higher coalition cohesion in favor and weaker opposition against the flattax adoption in contrast to the West.Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordination
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Pope, Julia. "Indonesian Gamelan in Australian and New Zealand Schools: Towards a Vitality and Sustainability Framework for School-Based Culturally Diverse Music Programs." Thesis, Griffith University, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/414912.
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Increases in the cultural and ethnic diversity of many societies since the mid-twentieth century and the reality of the multicultural classrooms within which school teachers work today have led many educators to believe there is a need for students to develop greater intercultural understanding (Draisey-Collishaw, 2004; Hayden & Thompson, 1998). Many music education policies and curricula have changed to incorporate a broader view of what types of music should be studied in schools (Volk, 2004). One approach to developing more culturally responsive and diverse programs for music learning and teaching has been to introduce into schools a range of musics and ensembles, such as Indonesian gamelan. Gamelan are traditional instrumental ensembles from Indonesia and Malaysia consisting largely of bronze or iron metallophones, gongs of various shapes and sizes, and drums. This thesis explores the attitudes, beliefs, approaches and experiences of teachers in the context of teaching and learning Indonesian gamelan in schools in Australia and New Zealand.
Gamelan in schools in Australia and New Zealand exist in a range of contexts. Some form the basis of vibrant and innovative educational programs with wide-reaching effects. Others, after an initial period of activity, spend years in school storerooms and are rarely, if ever, used again. Considering the rarity and cost of a set of these instruments, and their significant potential for teaching intercultural understanding in addition to a wide range of musical skills, why are some of these gamelan so underused? What factors affect the vitality and sustainability of school-based gamelan programs? This project examines teachers’ perspectives on school-based gamelan programs and, in particular, investigates the myriad influences on the sustainability and vitality of such programs. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with teachers and representatives of school management in 23 schools in Australia and New Zealand with gamelan programs. I modified the Music Vitality and Endangerment Framework (Grant, 2014, p. 111) for use as an instrument to initiate discussion with interviewees about their specific programs and contexts, explore and describe these school-based gamelan programs and compare programs across schools.
The Introduction (Chapter 1) to this thesis presents the context and rationale for my research, the research question and aims. Chapters 2 and 3 comprise a review of relevant scholarly literature, publications and curriculum documents relating to cultural diversity in music education and literature concerning teaching and learning gamelan. Chapter 4 details the study’s methodology and theoretical and conceptual frameworks, as well as the research design, data collection and analysis methods. Chapter 5 presents the findings from the data analysis. Chapters 6 and 7 describe and examine the stages involved in my development of a theoretical framework for gauging the vitality and sustainability of culturally diverse music (CDM) programs in schools. Chapter 8 concludes the thesis, discusses the research outcomes and provides recommendations for action and future research.
This study aims to shed light on a little-explored aspect of CDM education in Australia and New Zealand and to contribute to scholarly understanding of the role that CDM programs can and do play in school-based education in Western countries. The insights gained from this research project may help educators, school management, policymakers and community stakeholders better support the vitality and sustainability of gamelan and other CDM programs in schools, and thus help students reap the many potential benefits of these programs.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Queensland Conservatorium
Arts, Education and Law
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Kozinska, Katarzyna Aldona. "Supporting lifelong learning with Open Educational Resources (OER) among diverse users : motivations for, and approaches to, learning with different OER." Thesis, Open University, 2013. http://oro.open.ac.uk/40290/.
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This thesis presents a study which aimed to understand: 1) What motivates and influences learning with Open Educational Resources (OER) among different users, and 2) What role OER play in supporting lifelong learning among different users. The activities of key international organisations promoting lifelong learning as significant in the context of globalisation, combined with the innovative character of OER as high-quality open learning resources, were the reasons for the focus. The aim was to understand the function of OER through exploring motivational aspects, approaches to and contexts of individual learning among users of five different OER: penLearn, OpenSpires, OpenStudy, METU OpenCourseWare and Wolne Lektury. A case study approach allowed the focus on the uniqueness of specific OER. Semi-structured interviews and virtual output collection were triangulated as data gathering methods. Interviews were analysed using the Miles and Huberman’s (1994) qualitative framework and output - using Preece et al.’s (2002) thematic analysis guidelines. Results show OER as not only resources but learning environments supporting ‘expansion of human learning’ (COL, 2011:2) through being accessible free-of-charge, openly, without registrations, exams; providing various subjects, levels and formats suitable for users with different needs, disabilities, interests and resources. OER support wider access to and inclusion in learning, empowering individuals in directing their learning, especially 9 during transitions or ‘critical periods’ (Knowles, 1973). OER users emerged as motivated by various online and offline factors related to supporting formal education or non-formal learning, and exchanging expertise or support. Even if linked to supporting formal goals, learning, participation and communication within OER are motivated intrinsically, by interest, knowledge, curiosity, enjoyment and appreciation of learning, subject or interactions. OER help foster positive attitudes to learning and teaching as flexible and innovative possibilities of skills development and re-using OER are valued by learners, educators and organisations using OER to promote their missions.
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Penton, Jennifer. "A Creative Approach to Community Building: Theatre Making with Culturally Diverse Young People." Thesis, Griffith University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/371915.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution that community-based theatre makes to community building with culturally diverse young people. The study also examines how community-based theatre, as part of the wider field of applied theatre, engages with and operates in the context of community. This is important due to an increasing need to build stronger culturally diverse communities. Certain global events threaten the stability of culturally diverse communities and in a time of high migration levels and increasingly diverse communities, approaches are needed that can respond to these tensions and that can also work to build inclusion. This thesis focuses on a practice-based research project that was conducted with culturally diverse young people in Melbourne, Australia throughout 2012. The project was established and delivered by the author and involved young people of refugee and migrant backgrounds participating in theatre workshops, devising and performing a theatre piece, and facilitating a peer-led theatre workshop. Action research and reflective practice were engaged as the methodology for the research as this approach provided a framework that corresponded to the participatory, youth-led nature of the practice. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with the participants, video footage of the theatre workshops, a reflective journal maintained by the author, and various materials that emerged through the project such as scripts, notes, and discussions. The data were analysed through a process of coding and categorising with patterns emerging to determine key areas of interest. These areas provided the foundation for the arguments within the thesis, resulting in three chapters which examine and discuss the findings from the research. In summary, these chapters can be described as examining the topics of “relationships”, “representation,” and “risk”. The first of these chapters considers the area of relationships in connection to community building by examining the research findings through a psychology framework. Key findings are that community-based theatre has the potential to reduce discrimination and build inclusive communities through several core areas including cooperation and interaction. It is also noted that the theatrical elements of narrative and embodied engagement enhanced these outcomes, by creating significant opportunities for participants to share information about culture, build trust, and develop connections among group members. The psychology framework offers explicit avenues for these results to be articulated, thus moving the topic of relationships away from the anecdotal and defining the ways in which community-based theatre can contribute to community building. The following chapter focuses on the concept of representation, examining the finding that the research project offered dialogical opportunities for participants to speak “about” and “to” community. In particular the study finds that the theatre-making process created a representational space whereby participants could explore and communicate issues relating to community and self. Furthermore, this led to moments of self-reflection and community dialogue, with the participants using theatrical elements such as narrative and character to define, interrogate, and reflect their reality. The final chapter of the three considers the nature of risk within community-based theatre practice. This chapter asks questions about the ethical considerations that emerged within the project relating to storytelling and the use of participants’ personal narratives that contain elements of trauma. The chapter discusses the risk associated with participants contributing personal narratives to a theatre-making process and notes that this risk must be carefully considered by practitioners. Within the specifics of this research there is also further risk around performing community narratives to community, particularly when community is portrayed in a negative light. The chapter considers the decisions made by the author within the context of the research project and further examines the steps that can be taken when approaching the concept of risk. It is hoped that this study will contribute to a greater understanding of community-based theatre as a community-building tool and that this in turn will assist in building and supporting healthy communities.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School Educ & Professional St
Arts, Education and Law
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Wales, Raymond. "A transformative approach to teaching adults in a culturally diverse context." University of Western Cape, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/8496.
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Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL)The post-modem society is described as a society on the move, a phenomenon the anthropologist, (Vigouroux, 2005) describes as 'flows'. These flows are mostly manifested by people moving in and towards countries with better economic prospects. In most African countries there is a large-scale migration from rural to urban areas and a lot of trans-national migration across countries, due to recent socio-economic and socio-political trends. Democracy in South Africa became a powerful drawing card on the African continent for those nations plagued by poverty, unemployment and civil wars and migration to South Africa became increasingly popular. Therefore, democracy in South Africa is also a spatial process, which transcends local and national geographical spaces.
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Piola, Lorenzo. "A multi-diverse approach to catalysis : ruthenium, gold and FLP catalysis." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13270.
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Ruthenium-based homogenous catalysis is a broad and extremely useful branch of transition metal catalysis. Surely, the most famous example is olefin metathesis, for which Yves Chauvin, Robert Grubbs and Richard Schrock were awarded the 2005 Chemistry Nobel Prize. Although some of the most well-known catalysts are widely used and considered benchmark catalysts, the research around this topic has not stopped. The modification of known systems to achieve better performance and better understanding of the catalytic mechanism is very important and an example of such modification is reported in this thesis. The newly synthesised catalysts were compared to the parent commercially available catalyst showing better reactivity. Ruthenium catalysis, though, is not limited to olefin metathesis and C-H activation, for example, it has become a useful approach to the functionalisation of organic molecules. In this field, the deuteration of C-H bonds is an interesting transformation, which has many applications. The synthesis of new hydridosilylruthenium complexes and their application in the deuteration of a variety of substrates is reported in this manuscript. The unprecedented synthesis of tetradeuterated Ketoprofene is also reported. Recently, ruthenium-based catalysts have found application in the dehydrogenation of suitable compounds, such as formic acid, ammonia-borane and other hydrogen-rich substances. The driving force behind these discoveries is the use of H2 as an energy vector in place of fossil fuels. A hydrido-ruthenium catalyst was shown to catalyse the decomposition of formic acid in CO2 and H2 and to catalyse the reduction of olefinic substrates. The released CO2 from the reaction did not interfere with the fuel cell due to its inertness. This property makes its employment as C1 source very challenging, although its use would also be extremely attractive because of the abundance of this gas. In these regards, both frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) and gold catalysts have shown interesting reactivity in the activation of CO2. A new FLP and a silica supported gold catalyst were synthesised to test them in CO2 activation and the results are reported in this manuscript.
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Floe, Christina E. "Contact and self-segregation in ethnically diverse schools : a multi-methodological approach." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:030ab091-b6e6-4042-85b7-6b5e85f6c3b3.
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This thesis investigates 'self-segregation,' the voluntary separation and clustering of ethnic groups within a diverse environment that ostensibly provides opportunities for intergroup contact. While previous research has demonstrated self-segregation within such settings, using either self-reports, observations of behaviour, or social network analysis (SNA), such studies tend to be mono-methodological and cross-sectional. I review this literature in Chapter 1. I then present three empirical chapters which provide both longitudinal data and comparisons between observations, surveys, and SNA: Chapter 2, with two observational studies of seating patterns in a diverse sixth form cafeteria (Studies 1 and 2), and a third observational study in a diverse secondary school (Study 3); Chapter 3, where I report an SNA study collected from the first-year students at the same secondary school (Study 4); and Chapter 4, where I report the results from a self-report survey in the sixth form college, where students indicate their cafeteria seating preferences (Study 5). In Chapter 5, I discuss these findings, summarising 1) the strong self-segregation, and inclination towards self-segregation, found in all studies; 2) the comparisons between the two educational settings, where younger students were both more likely to be gender segregated, and to increase in ethnic integration over time; 3) the greater inclination of Asian British students than White British students to ethnically integrate; and 4) the need for further research triangulating multiple methods. From these conclusions, I suggest implications for targeted interventions, and argue the continued (and indeed, heightened) need for the contributions of social psychologists in public and policy discourse on ethnic integration.
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Bost, Pierre. "Decoding cellular communications and interactions between immune cells by using single-cell approaches." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Sorbonne université, 2020. https://accesdistant.sorbonne-universite.fr/login?url=https://theses-intra.sorbonne-universite.fr/2020SORUS020.pdf.
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Les communications cellulaires sont indispensables au bon fonctionnement des organismes multicellulaires, notamment pour s’adapter à un environnement changeant en permanence. Les cellules du système immunitaire n’échappent pas à cette règle mais les interactions entre cellules immunitaires restent peu connues et compliquée à étudier. La récente apparition des technologies de séquençage dites ‘cellules uniques’ représente une opportunité unique pour étudier ces communications. Dans cette thèse, différentes approches expérimentales et analytiques ont été développées pour étudier ces communications à une échelle de cellules uniques. Ces stratégies ont ensuite été appliquées à différents contextes pathologiques, incluant le COVID-19, la maladie d’Alzheimer ou une immunisation par des pathogènes inactivés, et ont permis d’identifier des voies de communications cellulaires jusqu’ici inconnues ou mal comprises. Néanmoins, l’efficacité de ces approches est limitée par l’absence d’informations sur la localisation des cellules et des travaux supplémentaires intégrant ce genre de données est essentiel pour aller plus loin dans la dissection des communications entre cellules immunitairesCellular communications are essential to the proper functioning of multi-cellular organisms, particularly in order to adapt to a constantly changing environment. The cells of the immune system are no exception to this rule, but the interactions between immune cells remain little known and complicated to study. The recent emergence of 'single cell' sequencing technologies represents a unique opportunity to study these communications. In this thesis, different experimental and analytical approaches have been developed to study these communications on a single cell scale. These strategies were then applied to different disease contexts, including COVID-19, Alzheimer's disease or immunisation with inactivated pathogens, and identified previously unknown or poorly understood cellular communication pathways. However, the effectiveness of these approaches is limited by the lack of information on cell location and further work integrating such data will be essential to go further in the dissection of immune cell communications
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Jenkins, Joseph Jacob. "Community as Metaphor: Dialectical Tensions of a Racially Diverse Organization." Scholar Commons, 2012. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4341.
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In recent years, a sense of community has declined throughout the United States. Common Point Community Church has responded to this trend by prioritizing "community" as an organizational metaphor. The present study explores how this metaphor is co-constructed through the communication practices of current organizational leaders and members. I begin this process, first, by positioning the study within existing literature on institutional theory, institutional legitimacy, community, community of practice, social construction of race, sensemaking, organizational metaphor, tension-centered approach, and dialectic theory. Building upon more than three years of ethnographic field work, I then outline the study's context and methodology. Next, I discuss (a) specific ways in which "community" is understood by the organization's racially diverse leaders and members, (b) potential limitations that result from this metaphor, and (c) ways in which dialectical tensions are managed in order to maintain the organizational metaphor of community. I then offer three theoretical implications - collectively referred to as the diversity paradox - as well as three practical implications: (a) Common Point "Voices," (b) Congregational Videos, and (c) Creative Arts Team. I conclude by reflecting on the research process itself.
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Volk, Stefan. "The evolution of trust and cooperation in diverse groups : a game experimental approach." kostenfrei, 2009. http://www.biblio.unisg.ch/www/edis.nsf/wwwDisplayIdentifier/3579.
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Shea, Geoffrey Yu Kai Surveying & Spatial Information Systems Faculty of Engineering UNSW. "A Web-Based Approach to the Integration of Diverse Data Sources for GIS." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, 2001. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/17855.
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The rigorous developments of GIS over the past decades have enabled application developers to create powerful systems that are used to facilitate the management of spatial data. Unfortunately, each one of these systems is specific to a local service, with little or no interconnection with services in other locales. This makes it virtually impossible to perform dynamic and interactive GIS operations across multiple locales which have similar or dissimilar system configurations. The Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) resolved the problems partially by offering excellent conceptual and logical abstraction model for data exchange. Recent advancements of the Internet enlightened the GIS community as to the realization of an ideal concept of information interchange. A suite of new technologies that embraces Extensible Markup Language (XML), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Portable Network Graphics (PNG) and Java creates a powerful and new perspective that can be applied to all phases of online GIS system development. The online GIS is a Web-based approach to integrating diverse spatial data sources for GIS applications. To address the spatial data integration options and implications related to the Web-based approach the investigation was undertaken in 5 phases: (1) Determine the mapping requirements of graphic and non-graphic spatial data for online GIS application; (2) Analyze the requirements of spatial data integration for online environments; (3) Investigate a suitable method for integrating different formats of spatial data; (4) Study the feasibility and applicability of setting up the online GIS; and (5) Develop a prototype for online sharing of teaching resources. Resulting from the critical review on current Internet technology, a conceptual framework for spatial data integration was proposed. This framework was based on the emerging Internet technology on XML, SVG, PNG, and Java. It was comprised of four loosely coupled modules, namely, Application Interface, Presentation, Integrator, and Data module. This loosely coupled framework provides an environment that will be independent of the underlying GIS data structure and makes it easy to change or update the system as a new task or knowledge is acquired. A feasibility study was conducted to test the applicability for the proposed conceptual framework. A detailed user requirements and system specification was thus devised from the feasibility study. These user requirements and system specification provided some guidelines for online GIS application development. They were expressed specifically in terms of six aspects: (1) User; (2) Teaching resources management; (3) Data; (4) Cartography; (5) Functions; and (6) Software development configuration. A prototype system based on some of the devised system specifications was developed. In the prototype software design, the architecture of a Three-Tier Client-Server computing model was adopted. Due to the inadequacy of native support for SVG and PNG in all currently available Web browsers, the prototype was thus implemented in HTML, Java and vendor specific vector format. The prototype demonstrated how teaching resources from a variety of sources and format (including map data and non-map resources) were integrated and shared. The implementation of the prototype revealed that the Web is still an ideal medium for providing wider accessibility of geographical information to a larger number of users through a corporate intranet or the Internet cost-effectively. The investigation concluded that current WWW technology is limited in its capability for spatial data integration and delivering online functionality. However, developing of XML-based GIS data model and graphic standards SVG and PNG for structuring and transferring spatial data on the Internet appear to be providing solutions to the current limitations. It is believed that the ideal world where everyone retrieving spatial information contextually through a Web browser disregarding the information format and location will eventually become true.
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Shea, Geoffrey Yu Kai. "A web-based approach to the integration of diverse data sources for GIS /." Sydney : School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, University of New South Wales, 2001. http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-NUN/public/adt-NUN20011018.170350/index.html.
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Mu, Shaohua Carolyn. "Subsidiary Innovation and Diffusion: An Integrated Approach on Learning of Subsidiaries from Diverse Local Environments." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/28754.
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This dissertation investigates the factors that influence the learning of subsidiaries from their local environment and the sequential knowledge outflow from the subsidiaries. Scholars have recognized the ability to learn from diverse local environments as a critical source of competitive advantage for multinational corporations (MNCs). However, the factors influencing the extent to which MNCs learn from local environments in order to develop innovative capabilities have not been well understood.
Considering the complexity of institutional environments faced by subsidiaries, this dissertation explores cross-level factors that influence subsidiary learning from diverse local environments. At interface levels, a subsidiary's local embeddedness and its learning strategy influence the awareness of local strategic knowledge by the subsidiary. At context levels, local market competition and corporate entrepreneurial culture affect the motivation of a subsidiary to learn from diverse local environments. Finally at subsidiary level, top management team heterogeneity impacts the capability of a subsidiary to learn.
This dissertation applies both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Multiple-case studies provide rich details, while survey research tests the generalizability of the proposed conceptual model. Overall, the empirical evidence supports the impact of local embeddedness, learning strategy and corporate entrepreneurial culture on subsidiary learning, and in turn, on knowledge outflow. The impact of top management team heterogeneity turns insignificant upon the simultaneous inclusion of all other factors. The influence of local competition is absent. The control variables include size, technology resources, and internationalization.
This dissertation contributes to both MNC and organizational learning literature. The major contribution to MNC literature is the advancement of the understanding of knowledge acquisition and creation of MNCs by learning from the local environment. The cross-level approach with subsidiary as the unit of analysis provides a unique perspective. The major contribution of this dissertation to organizational learning literature lies in the development of a learning framework, and its application to MNC context with empirical tests. This dissertation presents potentials to advance the local responsiveness-global integration framework with a knowledge-based view.Ph. D.
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Mishra, M. "Interactions between diverse proteinase inhibitors from Capsicum annuum and insects pests : biochemical & molecular approach." Thesis(Ph.D.), CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, 2012. http://dspace.ncl.res.in:8080/xmlui/handle/20.500.12252/2130.
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Morris, Margaret. "Competing realities, diverse needs : an inter-disciplinary approach to religious engagement with HIV prevention and care." Thesis, University of Derby, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10545/596893.
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The World Health Organisation/ UNAIDS and the UK's HIV-related public health policies are premised on universal access to information, treatment and care. With a focus on wider determinants of health, such rights-based approaches and their associated commitment to consistent HIV prevention messages and effective care include also a requirement to be respectful of and sensitive to religio-cultural beliefs and practices. There is evidence that access to HIV information and care can be restricted by the moral codes, beliefs and teachings which determine some religious responses to HIV, those, for example, which address issues of sexuality and gender, identity and belonging, authority and power. With a particular interest in a UK context of religio-cultural diversity, this study asks whether existing strategic public health responses to HIV prevention and care are adequate to the multiplicity of psychosocial realities and needs of a diverse community. The study follows comparative interpretative approaches and draws on a range of theoretical perspectives, primarily those of sociology, anthropology and psychology. It identifies the potential for dialogical compatabilities between public health practice and practical theology. Gathering and analysing data and discourse this interdisciplinary, qualitative investigation examines religion-informed responses to HIV prevention and care. With a small-scale localised study positioning the content and authority of religious belief on responses to HIV prevention and care in a UK Midlands city of high religio- cultural diversity, the primary and secondary data are 'grounded' in the experience of a local community. In its tracing of the multiple realities of HIV in contexts of global and local religio - cultural diversity, the study finds that global dimensions of HIV touch the local in unavoidable and diverse ways Religion-defined identity and belonging are valued by people affected by HIV and the communities of which they are part, but the stigmatizing impact of HIV, often reinforced by religious beliefs and teachings, generates anxieties about the disclosure of a diagnosis, the initiation of open discussion and access to HIV information and care. Constraints on the access of sexual minorities, young people and women can raise particular concern. In situations of diverse need and contested reality quests for coherent meaning, identity and belonging confront a public health preference for consistent HIV health messages and for accessible and effective programmes of HIV information, support and care. The study evidences diverse and often competing perspectives on HIV and highlights the need for health and social care services and religious groups to have greater awareness of the extensive complexities which the realities of diversity bring to HIV prevention policy design and service delivery. Complexity theory and practical theology inform a new and integrative model for theological, epidemiological and public health partnering through which the inadequacies in both religion-informed responses to HIV and public health HIV prevention and care policy and service delivery can be addressed.
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Vink, Mandy Kyung Shim. "From nitriles to nitrogen heterocycles chemoenzymatic approaches toward diversely substituted enantiopure building blocks /." [S.l. : Amsterdam : s.n.] ; Universiteit van Amsterdam [Host], 2003. http://dare.uva.nl/document/68739.
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PANCANI, LUCA. "Il comportamento di fumo nei giovani adulti: fattori psicologici, motivazionali e contestuali nella individuazione di diverse tipologie di fumatori." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/102750.
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The World Health Organization (WHO, 2015) considers tobacco consumption as one of the major health threats which kills 6 million individuals every year. For the purpose of prevention, it is important to better understand how to stop the tobacco epidemic especially among young people.
The first part of the present dissertation presents the tobacco epidemiology, an overview of psychological research on tobacco addiction, and a review of the main behavioral change theories concerning the adoption of healthy behaviors.
The second part of the dissertation presents four studies conducted within this PhD project which aims at deepen the knowledge of smoking behavior among young people.
Studies 1 and 2 show how motives behind tobacco use allow to identify different typologies of smokers. Study 1 highlights the good psychometric properties of a recent scale that measures 11 smoking motives (B-WISDM; Smith et al., 2010) on which five motivational profiles have been identified. The profiles are further classified in two macro-categories: social smokers, who show a higher level of secondary extrinsic motives than primary motives, and highly motivated smokers, for whom the levels of the different motives are similar. Adopting a longitudinal design with two follow-up assessments (at 3 and 9 months from the baseline), Study 2 validates the results of the previous study, exactly replicating three out of five profiles, showing their strong temporal stability, and highlighting the same macro-categories previously found. Tobacco consumption, dependence level, and social-cognitive factors that predicts behavioral change are different among the profiles and these differences are consistent across the two studies and in line with the literature.
Study 3 shows that the development of an intention to quit smoking is influenced by the Big Five personality profile as well as by the social-cognitive factors theorized by the Health Action Process Approach (Schwazer, 1992, 2008). Generally speaking, the more adaptive the profile is, the higher the intention level. Furthermore, the effect of risk perception on intention is positive for all the profiles except for the less adaptive ones.
Adopting an experience sampling method, Study 4 points out the interactive effect of emotional state, social context, and activity type on the craving for smoking. Among factory-made cigarette smokers, as the positive emotions increase the craving decreases, regardless from social context and activity type. A similar relationship is observed for handmade cigarette smokers too, except during social interactions in which craving and positive emotions are positively related.
The knowledge originated from these studies could be useful in identifying important factors and strategies on which develop personalized and more effective interventions to help people stop smoking.
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Casazza, Krista. "A computer based approach to improve the dietary and physical activity patterns of a diverse group of adolescents." FIU Digital Commons, 2006. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2022.
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Diet and physical activity patterns have been implicated as major factors in the increasing prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity. It is estimated that between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight (CDC, 2000). Moreover, the CDC estimates that less than 50% of adolescents are physically active on a regular basis (CDC, 2003). Interventions must be focused to modify these behaviors. Facilitating the understanding of proper nutrition and need for physical activity among adolescents is the first step in preventing overweight and obesity and delaying the development of chronic diseases later in life (Dwyer, 2000). The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of students receiving one of two forms of education (both emphasizing diet and physical activity), to determine whether a computer based intervention (CBI) program using an interactive, animated CD-ROM would elicit a greater behavior change in comparison to a traditional didactic intervention (TDI) program. A convenience sample of 254 high school students aged 14-19 participated in the 6-month program. A pre-test post-test design was used, with follow-up measures taken at three months post-intervention.
No change was noted in total fat, saturated fat, fruit/vegetables, or fiber intake for any of the groups. There was also no change in perceived self-efficacy or perceived social support. Results did, however, indicate an increase in nutrition knowledge for both intervention groups (p<0.001). In addition, the CBI group demonstrated more positive and sustained behavior changes throughout the course of the study. These changes included a decrease in BMI (ppre/post <0.001, ppost/follow-up<0.001), number of meals skipped (ppre/post <0.001), and soda consumption (ppre/post =0.003, ppost/follow-up =0.03) and an increase in nutrition knowledge (ppre/post <0.001, ppost/follow-up<0.001), physical activity (ppre/post <0.05, ppost/follow-up<0.01), frequency of label reading (ppre/post <0.01) and in dairy consumption (ppre/post <0.03). The TDI group did show positive gains in some areas post intervention, however a return to baseline behavior was shown at follow-up. Findings of this study suggest that compared to traditional didactic teaching, computer-based nutrition and health education has greater potential to elicit change in knowledge and behavior as well as promote maintenance of the behavior change over time.
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Brost, Missy M. (Missy Marie). "An effective approach to choosing project, program and portfolio management software at a large and geographically diverse company." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49788.
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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-77).
Selecting and deploying an IT tool can be very complicated and expensive. This paper studies a particular approach to choosing project, program and portfolio management software at one large and geographically diverse company in the Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, Voltaform. Though there are many ways to approach this task, significant thought should go into which one is chosen for each particular company and its situation. This document addresses the approach taken at VoltaForm as well as the reasoning behind it. It describes developing a business case focused on end user needs for the new software, including the detailed data analysis techniques used to evaluate the end user needs. It also describes certain aspects of the deployment of the software once chosen. The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance and examples for anyone faced with a similar task.
by Missy M. Brost.
S.M.
M.B.A.
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Smith, Brian G. "Two Highly Diverse Studies In Computing: A Vitruvian Framework For Distribution And A Search Approach To Cancer Therapies." DigitalCommons@USU, 2008. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/136.
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Solid cancer tumors must recruit new blood vessels for growth and maintenance. Discovering drugs that block this tumor-induced development of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) is an important approach in cancer treatment. However, the complexity of angiogenesis and the difficulty in implementing and evaluating medical changes prevent the discovery of novel and effective new therapies. This paper presents a massively parallel computational search-based approach for the discovery of novel potential cancer treatments, using a high fidelity simulation of angiogenesis. Discovering new therapies is viewed as multi-objective combinatorial optimization over two competing objectives: minimizing the medical cost of the intervention while minimizing the oxygen provided to the cancer tumor by angiogenesis. Results show the effectiveness of the search process in finding simple interventions that are currently in use and more interestingly, discovering some new approaches that are counterintuitive yet effective.
Distributed systems are becoming more prevalent as the demand for connectivity increases. Developers are faced with the challenge of creating software systems that meet these demands and adhere to good software practices. Technologies of today aid developers in this, but they may cause applications to suffer performance problems and require developers to abandon basic software concepts, such as modularization, performance, and maintainability. This work presents the Vitruvian framework that provides solutions to common distribution goals, and distributes applications using replication and transparency at varying stages of application development.
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Marshall, Antonio Devon. "A Prototypical Approach to Developing a Junior Golf Facility for Diverse Participants Using Survey Instruments and Advanced Computer Visualization Tools." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35673.
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Can a prototypical process involving literature reviews, interviews, questionnaires, design charrettes, and advanced computer visualization tools, be applied to create golf facilities valid to the subjects involved in the process? The research attempts to create a prototypical process by exploring and applying various research schemes that attempts to solve a selected design issue.
Thus, the issue selected: How can the golf course be designed to attract, accommodate, and educate today's youth? Children should be introduced to activities at an early age to build character and self worth. The golf course acts as a place for today's youth to build relationships, test and enhance their character, and expand their education. This research is a result of these ideals. It focused on creating a prototypical process to create a junior golf facility, using data collection methods inclusive to: literature reviews, interviews, questionnaires, and design charrettes. As an addendum to this prototypical process, these methods of data collection were validated through computer visualization. These preceding methods, along with the basic ideals of youths in golf, were the main focus in researching golf course design catered to the youth.
The First Tee junior golf program was the model used to compare the conceptual golf facility prototype, because it is the leader in making golf accessible to the youth. The First Tee Program, established in 1997 by the World Golf Foundation, teaches kids of all backgrounds the game of golf, including fundamentals, etiquette, and sportsmanship: elements that are of value to our society. It also educates them on how to become a valuable member of his/her community. The goals of The First Tee are in two phases: to create one hundred golf facilities by the year 2000, and to reach 500,000 youths by the year 2005. While the First Tee program is successful, this research attempts to improve upon junior golf facility development by addressing the youths' interest in a customized, conceptual golf facility built upon the principles of a state-of-the-art facility created by programs like The First Tee. The results of this research could potentially serve as an addendum to junior golf development, and also act as a resource for future designers, by assisting to acquire user needs and demands for buildings, interiors, landscapes, and products.
The conceptual golf facility was created from two major resources. Students in Montgomery County, Virginia, were the subject resources, while the available literature, designers, and superintendents were the professional resources. A research strategy was created to serve as a guide for better organization. As a result, the Conceptual Research Diagram was implemented to serve as the prototypical process of the research. The subjects were Montgomery County students of various ages, skills, physical dependants, and also of various cultural backgrounds. Although the subjects were randomly selected, it was necessary to have an adequate amount of subjects to each subject group for a well-formed response to the research. The subjects were given a questionnaire, asked to participate in a design charrette, and given the option to participate in the C.A.V.E. (Cave Automated Virtual Environments) experiment. The CAVE is a three-wall cell, each wall with a dimension of 10x10x9 feet in diameter, which uses a Silicon Graphics Machine, plus projection devices, to project three-dimensional computer images onto its walls and floor. As a result, life size, three-dimensional computer models are created for an experience in virtual reality. All of the data was complied to obtain requests and demands to create a custom golf facility in virtual reality. The youth input and site location was limited to the town of Blacksburg, Virginia, with an attempt of creating a prototypical process that can possibly be applied to any town or city around the world.Master of Science
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Desmedt, Christine. "Multi-marker detection approach for improving breast cancer treatment tailoring." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210415.
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the majority of patients with early breast cancer receive some form of systemic adjuvant therapy (chemo-, endocrine, and/or targeted therapy). Despite the increase in adjuvant therapy prescription, little progress has been made with respect to assisting oncologists to determine which breast cancer patients, particularly those deemed at “lower risk” of relapse, require chemotherapy or other systemic therapy and which women can safely be treated with loco-regional treatment alone. For these reasons, the identification of prognostic and predictive markers that will assist the clinician in selecting the most suitable form of medical therapy has become very high priority as well as a real challenge in translational research. \
Doctorat en Sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Almalki, Nourah. "L'autisme en Arabie Saoudite : étude de l'évolution des diverses approches de l'autisme notamment en psychanalyse et leur application en Arabie Saoudite." Thesis, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017USPCC328.
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De nos jours, dans le monde arabe et plus particulièrement en Arabie saoudite, la prise en charge de l’autisme constitue un sujet pour lequel l’intérêt va croissant, suscitant de nombreux débats chez les spécialistes qui se soucient de proposer des méthodes thérapeutiques appropriées. Dans ce contexte, nos objectifs de recherche ont été définis à l’occasion d’une expérience clinique menée auprès d’enfants autistes saoudiens. En effet, nous nous sommes interrogés sur l’intérêt d’une prise en charge psychanalytique de ces enfants autistes, issus et vivant dans la société saoudienne. Partant de là, deux voies de réflexion se sont imposées prenant naissance dans un fil conducteur commun, à savoir : la tentative de croisement de l’anthropologie et du domaine de l’autisme tel qu’envisagé par la psychanalyse. Pour ce faire, nous avons cerné les évolutions profondes ayant marqué jusqu’à nos jours, la compréhension mais aussi la prise en charge de l’autisme. Précisons que pour porter un regard de nature anthropologique sur le trouble de l’autisme en Arabie saoudite, nous avons dû établir un rapprochement analogique entre l’autisme culturel et l’autisme pathologique, en prenant en considération les caractéristiques socio-culturelles de la société saoudienne. En effet, un tel angle d’approche a été rendu nécessaire du fait que dans la société saoudienne, les pratiques thérapeutiques liées à l’autisme oscillent toujours entre remèdes traditionnels et méthodes psychothérapeutiques, lesquelles se bornent encore à la démarche comportementaliste. Au-delà, nous sommes partis de l’hypothèse selon laquelle la prise en charge de l’autisme fondée sur l’approche psychanalytique multidimensionnelle pouvait s’avérer bénéfique pour les enfants autistes saoudiens. De là, pour valider cette hypothèse, une étude empirique a été menée ayant mobilisé différents outils à la fois conceptuels et cliniques, dont notamment une étude de casToday, in the Arab world and particularly in Saudi Arabia, there is widespread interest in the treatment for autism and consequently this subject engenders numerous debates involving specialists wishing to offer appropriate therapeutic treatment methods. Within this context, our research objectives were developed during a clinical experience carried out with autistic Saudi children. And we duly questioned the interest of a psychoanalytic monitoring of these autistic children, born and living in the Saudi society. Starting from this, two paths of reflection were imposed, both having a common thread. An attempt to connect anthropology and the field of autism by applying a psychoanalytic approach. To do this, we firstly identified the profound changes which have been brought about up to the present day and have marked not only our understanding but also the monitoring of autism. In order to be able to obtain an anthropological view of the Autistic spectrum Disorder in Saudi Arabia, we made an analogical rapprochement between cultural autism and pathological autism bearing in mind the socio-cultural characteristics of Saudi society. Indeed, such an approach was necessary because in Saudi society, the therapeutic practices linked to autism forever oscillate between traditional remedies and psychotherapeutic methods, which are still limited to the behaviourist approach. Consequently, we began with the hypothesis that autism monitoring based on the multidimensional psychoanalytic approach could prove beneficial to autistic children in Saudi Arabia. And so, to confirm this theory an empirical study was carried out involving various conceptual and clinical tools, including a case study
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Valladarez, Nicholas D. "An adaptive approach for precise underwater vehicle control in combined robot-diver operations." Thesis, Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/45268.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedJoint robot-human operations potentially increase the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of the tasks they perform. The utilization of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) as a robotic diver’s assistant demands joint, dynamic operations involving precise physical interactions between an AUV, human divers, and the environment, which, in turn, requires a robust, accurate control system. A robot acting as a dive assistant would perform tasks such as tool carrying, worksite illumination, or other general assistance jobs that a dive buddy might perform. Such precise control of the AUV normally requires accurate knowledge of the vehicle’s dynamics; however, this high level of accuracy is difficult to obtain without the employment of extensive system identification efforts. Additionally, the utility of the resulting model is greatly diminished if environmental conditions or vehicle configuration change frequently or unexpectedly. An ideal control system allows the AUV to switch between operational modes and objectives while accounting for uncertain environmental conditions, payload configurations, and possible failures of onboard actuators. Adaptive control has many applications in the underwater domain and can give a robotic diver’s assistant the flexibility required to enable joint robot-diver operations. Therefore, two adaptive control system approaches, Model Reference Adaptive Control and L1 Adaptive Control, are investigated here for heave control of the Tethered, Hovering Autonomous Underwater System.
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Taffarel, Sabrina. "Metodi speditivi per la valutazione della vulnerabilità sismica del costruito storico: approccio all'incertezza nelle forme di aggregazione complessa a diversa scala." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3421936.
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The prediction of the impact an earthquake could have on existing buildings requires the knowledge of their dynamic behaviour. The procedure to be adopted for this purpose is quite complex and onerous in terms of costs, time and implementation, especially if the study concerns territorial areas rather than single buildings. The definition of methodologies aimed at respecting the principles of economic sustainability and preserving human life and architectural heritage is of paramount importance to assess seismic vulnerability using available resources.
This work aims at developing useful procedures for uncertainties reduction and reliability assessment of available information, a key phase in the study of aggregate buildings at different scales and particularly of existing masonry structures.
For this purpose, vulnerability studies cannot ignore building knowledge and the consequent achieved level of information, which is closely related to the scale of analysis. The increase of the latter entails the decrease of accuracy and quality (reliability) of available data, which are often uncertain. At the same time, it is not economically viable to fill these gaps using traditional approaches which require the execution of complete on-site surveys. The aims of this research thesis are to maximize the benefits deriving from the analysis of available building information and to give a contribution to the advancement of existing seismic vulnerability approaches, adopting either parametric or probabilistic procedures. Data collection and analysis are implemented in databases and geographic information systems aimed at processing already available data, recorded for different purposes. Procedures for assessing seismic vulnerability on an urban scale are defined adopting mechanical approaches on an analytical basis (fragility curves), in which data uncertainty is overcome through the use of deterministic (parametric) or probabilistic (definition of unknown data from certain ones) approaches. An in-depth analysis at a more detailed scale is also provided: the aim, in this case, is to identify suitable methods to represent the boundary conditions of aggregate building portions to be adopted in seismic analysis in a simplified way. The whole methodological process is then applied to several case studies characterized by different morphology, typology and seismicity (Timisoara (RO) historical centre, small historical centres in L’Aquila province –IT-, listed buildings in Verona, Vicenza and Rovigo provinces –IT-, churches damaged by the 2012 earthquakes in Emilia Romagna and Veneto regions –IT-) selected in order to validate and calibrate the implemented procedures on heterogeneous contexts.La previsione dell’impatto causato da un evento sismico in termini di effetti sulle costruzioni esistenti in una data area richiede la conoscenza del comportamento dinamico che tali strutture possono manifestare. La procedura da adottare risulta particolarmente complessa e ancor più onerosa in termini economici, di tempo e operativi, se lo studio è riferito a interi complessi costruttivi e non a singoli edifici. La definizione di percorsi metodologici che mirino al rispetto del principio di sostenibilità economica, oltre a quello di salvaguardia della vita umana e di preservazione nonché tutela del patrimonio è prerogativa necessaria per uno studio di vulnerabilità sismica adeguato alle risorse disponibili. Il presente lavoro di tesi si pone l’obiettivo di sviluppare procedure utili alla riduzione e gestione dell’incertezza, oltre alla valutazione dell’affidabilità dell’informazione insita nello studio di forme di aggregazione complessa a diversa scala, con particolare riferimento alle costruzioni esistenti in aggregato in muratura. A tal fine, lo studio della vulnerabilità non può prescindere dalla conoscenza del costruito, in cui il livello di informazione è strettamente legato all’estensione della scala di analisi. L’aumento della scala si traduce in una diminuzione nel dettaglio e qualità (attendibilità) dei dati disponibili allo studio, che risultano spesso caratterizzati da incertezza. Al contempo, non è economicamente sostenibile perseguire azioni finalizzate a colmare tali lacune attraverso l’adozione di approcci tradizionali, che richiedano l’esecuzione di completi rilievi in sito. L’elaborato di tesi si propone quindi di trarre il massimo profitto dallo studio e dalla messa a sistema di informazioni sul costruito già disponibili, e al contempo di individuare strategie finalizzate a colmare approcci metodologici lacunosi affrontando lo studio da un punto di vista parametrico o probabilistico. Si persegue quindi l’adozione di procedure di analisi dei dati in forma aggregata e di utilizzo di strumenti informativi geografici e database finalizzate all’analisi di informazioni già a disposizione sul costruito ma raccolte con finalità diverse dallo studio di vulnerabilità su scala territoriale. Viene posta l’attenzione alla definizione di procedure per la valutazione della vulnerabilità su ampia scala che adottino approcci meccanici di tipo analitico attraverso curve di fragilità del costruito, in cui l’attenzione sia posta in primis alla gestione dell’incertezza insita nei dati allo studio, superata attraverso l’utilizzo di approcci deterministici (parametrici) o probabilistici (definizione di dati non noti a partire da altri noti). Un approfondimento ad una scala di maggior dettaglio viene inoltre fornito al fine di individuare idonee modalità di rappresentazione semplificata delle condizioni al contorno nell’analisi sismica di porzioni di edificio in contesto aggregato. L’intero percorso proposto è integrato con applicazioni a casi studio diversi per morfologia, tipologia e sismicità (centro storico di Timisoara –RO-, borghi minori in provincia de L’Aquila, beni tutelati presso le provincie di Verona, Vicenza e Rovigo, chiese colpite dagli eventi sismici del 2012 in Emilia Romagna e Veneto) appositamente selezionati al fine di validare e calibrare le procedure adottate su contesti eterogenei.
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Shand, Meagan. "Understanding and building resilience with art: A socio-ecological approach." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2014. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1402.
Full textAbstract:
Resilience is a widely researched phenomenon, it means different things to different people and is perceived and measured according to the theoretical lens being applied. The following thesis reviews the theoretical development of resilience that has led to contemporary understandings, to establish a platform for the research topic - understanding and building resilience with Art. Narrative research methods are combined with art processes to illuminate the stories of eight culturally diverse women participating in a community based mental health art program, in Western Australia. Fifteen resilience themes emerged from the collective experience, and are presented in a socio-ecological framework to understand the complex interplay between the individual and their environment. Six key learnings that illustrate the unique contribution art has to make to building individual, social and community resilience in the Australian policy context are explored and discussed.
The discussion revisits a strengths approach to resilience, and through metaphor and symbol it reminds us that resilience in its most basic form is strength during difficult time. Social, cultural and spiritual aspects of strength and resilience are highlighted; and the concept of resilient places is introduced and the crucial role they have to play in social inclusion and social support is discussed. It brings to light evidence that not all people in Australia have equal access to social networks and the need to bridge the gap to community for people who live with complex needs and are separated from family, friends and other natural support systems. By presenting resilience within a socio-ecological framework, the social and community aspects of resilience cannot be ignored.
The strength of this research is the creative use of art and narrative to illuminate the lived experience and communicate findings to a wider audience. The use of a public exhibition and the publication of a colourful resource book and its wide dissemination via the World Wide Web; projected the science in the lime light, inviting a broader and more diverse audience to engage with the stories of resilience, enhancing the potential of the findings to influence community attitudes as well as policy and practice. This research demonstrates that art is much more than ‘a means to an end’, it is valuable research tool that can be used to explore, embody and express complex and challenging social phenomenon, such as resilience.
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Reboul, Guillaume. "Metabarcoding and metagenomic approaches to decipher microbial communities in suboxic environments Microbial eukaryotes in the suboxic chemosyn- thetic ecosystem of Movile Cave, Romania Hyper- diverse archaea near life limits at the polyextreme geothermal Dallol area Performance of the melting seawater-ice elution method on the metabarcoding characterization of benthic protist communities Core microbial communities of lacustrine microbialites sampled along an alkalinity gradient Environmental drivers of plankton protist communities along latitudinal and vertical gradients in the oldest and deepest freshwater lake Ancient Adaptive Lateral Gene Transfers in the Symbiotic Opalina-Blastocystis Stramenopile Lineage Marine signature taxa and microbial community stability along latitudinal and vertical gradients in sediments of the deepest freshwater lake." Thesis, université Paris-Saclay, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020UPASL041.
Full textAbstract:
L’écologie microbienne concerne l’étude des microorganismes et de leurs interactions biotiques et abiotiques dans un écosystème donné. Ces vingt dernières années, l’avancement des techniques moléculaires pour analyser la diversité microbienne et, notamment, les nouvelles technologies de séquençages (NGS) ont permis de surmonter les limitations associées aux approches traditionnelles basées sur la culture et la microscopie. Ces approches moléculaires ont conduit à une accumulation des données de diversité microbienne et de potentiel métabolique dans des communautés microbiennes des écosystèmes variés.Cependant, ces efforts ont été principalement appliqués sur des environnements facilement accessibles ou liés à l’humain, comme le plancton (marin principalement) et la flore intestinale. Néanmoins, ceci a conduit à une très forte augmentation de données environnementales et au développement de la bioinformatique par le biais de nombreux outils. Parmi les environnements délaissés des études, les environnements faibles en oxygène sont probablement également porteurs de nouveautés phylogénique ou métaboliques.Afin de palier à cela, nous avons choisi d’explorer deux environnements suboxiques relativement peu étudiés : la cave Movile (Roumanie) et les sédiments du lac Baikal (Sibérie, Russie). Notre but étant de montrer les diversités phylogénétiques et fonctionnelles des microbes de ces biotopes.Pour cela, j’ai d'abord développé un pipeline d’analyse de données métabarcoding (petite sous-unités ribosomique). Ensuite, j’ai appliqué cet outil sur des données de métabarcoding de protistes provenant d’échantillons d’eau et de tapis microbiens de la cave de Movile, un écosystème chemosynthétique pratiquement fermé. Nous avons montré que la diversité des protistes de la cave s’étendait à quasiment tous les grands groupes eucaryotes et provenait à la fois d’origine d’eaux douces et marines. De plus, la plupart ont été affiliées à des groupes d’organismes typiquement anaérobies, ce qui est concordant avec les paramètres abiotiques de la cave. Écologiquement, ces protistes sont des prédateurs mais aussi vraisemblablement des partenaires symbiotiques avec des espèces procaryotes de la cave.Dans une deuxième étude, j’ai eu l’opportunité d’appliquer ce pipeline de métabarcoding sur des données procaryotes et eucaryotes provenant des couches superficielles des sédiments du lac d’eau douce Baikal. Comme attendu, les communautés microbiennes dans ces sédiments sont particulièrement diverses et relativement enrichis en archées. Nous avons aussi pu mettre en évidence des lignées que l’on pensait exclusivement marines dans ces sédiments. Ces lignées sont probablement planctoniques mais s’accumulent au fond par sédimentation. Enfin, les échantillons ont été prélevés dans le but de tester les influences de la profondeur, du bassin et de la latitude sur les communautés. Aucune d’elles ne s’est révélée significative.Dans une troisième étude, j'ai utilisé une approche métagénomique afin de révéler les acteurs écologiquement majeurs dans les sédiments, leurs rôles et de reconstruire leurs génomes. Cela nous a permis notamment de mettre en évidence le rôle primordial des Thaumarchaeota dans le cycle de l’azote et la production primaire de molécules de carbone. Les chloroflexi et les protéobacteries ont aussi un rôle important dans la surface des sédiments du lac Baikal. Ce travail de thèse participe à la connaissance globale de la diversité microbienne sur la planète en mettant en lumière des environnements peu étudiés. De plus, l’étude de la surface des sédiments du lac Baikal apporte de nouvelles données sur le sujet de la transition eau douces/eau marines des microbes. Enfin, la métagénomique a permis de révéler le cycle des nutriments et les microorganismes y participant dans ces échantillons de sédiment. En résumé, ce travail vient mettre en lumière l’écologie microbienne d’écosystèmes suboxiques, notamment la surface des sédiments du lac BaikalMicrobial ecology is the science of micro-organisms and their biotic and abiotic interactions in a given ecosystem. As technology has advanced, molecular techniques have been widely used to overcome the limitations of classical approaches such as culturing and microscopy. Indeed, the development of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies in the past twenty years has largely helped to unravel the phylogenetic diversity and functional potential of microbial communities across ecosystems.Nonetheless, most of the environments studied through these techniques concentrated on relatively easily accessible, tractable and host-related ecosystems such as plankton (especially in marine ecosystems), soils and gut microbiomes. This has contributed to the rapid accumulation of a wealth of environmental diversity and metagenomic data along with advances in bioinformatics leading to the development of myriads of tools. Oxygen-depleted environments and especially their microbial eukaryote components are less studied and may lead to future phylogenetic and metabolic discoveries.In order to address this, we conducted analyses on two poorly studied suboxic ecosystems: Movile Cave (Romania) and lake Baikal sediments (Siberia, Russia). In this task, we aimed at unveiling the taxonomic and functional diversity of microorganims in these environments.To do so, I first evaluated the available bioinformatics tools and implemented a bioinformatics pipeline for 16S/18S rRNA gene-based metabarcoding analysis, making reasoned methodological choices. Then, as a case study, I carried out metabarcoding analyses of the water and floating microbial mats found in Movile Cave in order to investigate its protist diversity. Our study showed that Movile Cave, a sealed off chemosynthetic ecosystem, harbored a substantial protist diversity with species spanning most of the major eukaryotic super groups. The majority if these protists were related to species of freshwater and marine origins. Most of them were putatively anaerobic, in line with the cave environment, and suggesting that in addition to their predatory role, they might participate in prokaryote-protist symbioses.In a second study, I applied my metabarcoding pipeline to explore unique and relatively unexplored environment of Lake Baikal sediments. I first applied a metabarcoding approach using 16S and 18S rRNA genes to describe prokaryotic as well as protist diversity. Overall, the communities within these ecosystems were very diverse and enriched in ammonia-oxidizing Thaumarchaeota. We also identified several typical marine taxa which are likely planktonic but accumulate in sediments. Finally, our sampling plan allowed us to test whether differences across depth, basin or latitude affected microbial community structure. Our results showed that the composition of sediment microbial communities remained relatively stable across the samples regardless of depth or latitude.In a third study, we applied metagenomics to study the metabolic potential of communities associated to Baikal sediments and to reconstruct metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of dominant organisms. This revealed the considerable ecological importance of Thaumarchaeota lineages in lake Baikal sediments, which were found to be the major autotrophic phyla and also very implicated in the nitrogen cycle. Chloroflexi and Proteobacteria-related species also appeared ecologically important.This PhD thesis reveals the taxonomic diversity of poorly studied suboxic ecosystems and therefore contributes to our knowledge of microbial diversity on Earth. Additionally, the analyses of surface sediment samples in lake Baikal adds new light on freshwater-marine transitions. The metagenomic analyses reported here allowed us to postulate a model of nutrient cycle carried out by microorganismsin these sediments. Overall, this work sheds light on the microbial ecology of oxygen-depleted environments, and most notably lake Baikal surface sediments
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O'Neill, Kevin. "Reading the shape-shifting text : the context and impact of the diverse strategies of the McSweeney's periodical, with particular attention to its status as a new approach to literature, as represented both by commentators and its creators." Thesis, Goldsmiths College (University of London), 2013. http://research.gold.ac.uk/10361/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis interrogates the cultural impact and literary significance of the McSweeney’s periodical. It argues for a particular approach to the study of the periodical form that focuses on the unusual textuality that results from a serially produced text; one of its objectives is to understand the implications of making a representation of a periodical as a whole text. The complications that result from representing a serial text composed of multiple individually authored texts are taken as productive for this thesis, as it attempts to uncover what this process reveals about how periodicals differ from the traditional objects of literary criticism. This thesis considers the McSweeney’s periodical from several perspectives at different points in its publication history, moving from its founding statements to its anthologies, and looks at it through various lenses, including an analysis of its form/style and a consideration of its politics. The intention of this thesis is to identify and describe the particular strategies of the periodical and locate them in their appropriate context.
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Stephenson, Karmen Melissa. "Educators' Perspectives and Approaches to Teaching in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms." 2010. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/751.
Full textAbstract:
In recent years the Midway School System in Midway, Tennessee (pseudonyms are used for the town, the school, and the participants in this research), has experienced a significant demographic change that has had both social and academic impacts. An influx of Hispanic students, primarily from Mexico, has brought students who are culturally different and for whom English is not the first language into a school that has traditionally been comprised of almost all white English speaking students. In the era of No Child Left Behind and other large scale educational reforms, this demographic change presents many new challenges to educators in this environment and although standardized test scores are available to track student achievement across certain population groups, rarely do reports or studies focus on the perspectives of teachers. This ethnographic study of teachers at Midway High School focused on teacher perspectives on the population change, how it has impacted their work as educators, and the positive and negative effects of educational reforms in multicultural classroom settings. This study involved observations and interviews of teachers in various content areas and of the school principal. The results highlight many social and academic concerns that are in many ways disregarded by No Child Left Behind and by state-imposed reform efforts implemented in recent years.
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Koeller, Rebecca. "Towards holistic approaches in participatory planning : exploring community cultural development in Vancouver’s diverse communities." Thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/16249.
Full textAbstract:
In an urban world of increasing diversity, uncertainty, isolation and fear, creative and
compassionate planning approaches are called for more than ever before. A concern of
many planning theorists and practitioners today is how to create more inclusive
participatory democratic processes and ensure that planner's work contributes to the
development of greater social and environmental justice. This research follows planning
theorists like Leonie Sandercock, John Forester and John Friedmann in a search for a
new planning paradigm, a new praxis of inclusive engagement. It brings art, story,
emotions, spirit, body, intuition, culture, identity, and other such taboo notions in the
"mainstream" planning world front and centre in imagining a professional revolution.
This research is motivated by theorists and practitioners who identify the need for a
more holistic planning approach, rooted in an expanded view of the interconnected,
relationship-centred and multi-faceted nature of people, communities, and planning
issues and the recognition that who and how we are as practitioners is as important as
what we do. It is also driven by the argument that culture not only matters, but that
understanding and working with its varied and creative expressions in community and
participatory processes holds uniquely insightful and transformative opportunities for
communication, connection, and action. Finally, it is guided by John Forester's idea that
there is a wealth of invaluable knowledge about what's going on and what works in
authentic, daily, messy, discreet practice situations contained within the experience
stories of practitioners and community members. Learning how to truly listen to and
work with stories - in the many forms in which they are told - and tell our own, is a vital
planning capacity in need of enhancement.
Despite current theoretical debates and an increasingly recognised need for new (or
perhaps re-imagined or re-awakened) capacities and tools for planning in cities of
difference, little has been written about community cultural development (CCD) as a
useful avenue of consideration. Meanwhile, cultural and arts-based participatory
processes are becoming increasingly accepted in other fields of literature as uniquely
effective in building community, transforming consciousness, resolving conflict, bridging
difference, and engaging individuals and groups (especially the most marginalised) in
learning, decision-making and action.
The empirical research for this thesis is based in urban Vancouver, a multicultural city
known for its community cultural development activity. Here, through listening to their
stories and observing and experiencing their approaches myself, I explore the goals,
capacities, skills, and impacts of various practitioners incorporating creative and cultural
expression in their work. I also look at two case studies: the creative cultural work of the
Kalayaan Centre, a Filipino community centre, and the Renfrew-Collingwood Arts Pow
Wow, an arts-based community development program in an exceptionally diverse
neighbourhood. I explore what is going on in these processes and consider what
planners might learn from the experiences of these practitioners and participants
towards creating more equitable, more appropriate, more pluralist, and more inspiring
places to live and ways of living. I investigate what unique and essential functions and
roles artists and creative/cultural activity play in society and planning and argue that a
movement towards more inclusive participatory democratic processes will necessarily
involve incorporating aspects of a community cultural development approach.Applied Science, Faculty of
Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of
Graduate
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Ugwu, Patricia Ifeoma Roueche John E. "Houston Community College faculty experience with diverse students in the classrooms a search for effective instructional approaches /." 2005. http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/1744/ugwup03937.pdf.
Full text
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Ugwu, Patricia Ifeoma. "Houston Community College faculty experience with diverse students in the classrooms: a search for effective instructional approaches." Thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/1744.
Full text
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Petromichelakis, Ioannis. "Path integral techniques and Gröbner basis approaches for stochastic response analysis and optimization of diverse nonlinear dynamic systems." Thesis, 2020. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-6p2s-hr09.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis focuses primarily on generalizations and enhancements of the Wiener path integral (WPI) technique for stochastic response analysis and optimization of diverse nonlinear dynamic systems of engineering interest. Concisely, the WPI technique, which has proven to be a potent mathematical tool in theoretical physics, has been recently extended to address problems in stochastic engineering dynamics. Herein, the WPI technique has been significantly enhanced in terms of computational efficiency and versatility; these results are presented in Chapters 2-5.
Specifically, in Chapter 2 a brief introduction to the standard WPI solution approach is outlined. In Chapter 3, a novel methodology is presented, which utilizes theoretical results from calculus of variations to extend the WPI for determining marginalized response PDFs of n-degree-of-freedom (n-DOF) nonlinear systems. The associated computational cost relates to the dimension of the PDF and is essentially independent from the dimension n of the system. In several commonly encountered cases, the aforementioned methodology improves the computational efficiency of the WPI by orders of magnitude, and exhibits a significant advantage over the commonly utilized Monte-Carlo-simulation (MCS). Moreover, in Chapter 4, an extension of the WPI technique is presented for addressing the challenge of determining the stochastic response of nonlinear dynamical systems under the presence of singularities in the diffusion matrix. The key idea behind this approach is to partition the original system into an underdetermined system of SDEs corresponding to a nonsingular diffusion matrix and an underdetermined system of homogeneous differential equations; the latter is treated as a dynamic constraint that allows for employing constrained variational/optimization solution methods. In Chapter 5, this approach is applied for the stochastic response analysis and optimization of electromechanical vibratory energy harvesters.
Next, in Chapter 6, a technique from computational algebraic geometry has been developed, which is based on the concept of Gröbner basis and is capable of determining the entire solution set of systems of polynomial equations. This technique has been utilized to address diverse challenging problems in engineering mechanics. First, after formulating the WPI as a minimization problem, it is shown in Chapter 7 that the corresponding objective function is convex, and thus, convergence of numerical schemes to the global optimum is guaranteed. Second, in Chapter 8, the computational algebraic geometry technique has been applied to the challenging problem of determining nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) corresponding to multi-degree-of-freedom dynamical systems as defined in [1], and has been shown to yield improvements in accuracy compared to the standard treatment in the literature.
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Shao, Yu. "Loss of NMP4 improves diverse osteoporosis therapies in a pre-clinical model : skeletal, cellular, genomic and transcriptomic approaches." Diss., 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1805/13857.
Full textAbstract:
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)We have previously demonstrated that disabling the transcription factor Nuclear Matrix Protein 4 (NMP4) improved parathyroid hormone (PTH)-induced trabecular bone gain in ovariectomized (OVX) and healthy mice. Here we evaluated whether loss of Nmp4 enhanced bone restoration in OVX mice under concurrent PTH combination therapies and anti-catabolic mono-therapies. Wild type (WT) and Nmp4-/- mice were OVX at 12wks of age followed by therapy regimens, administered from 16wks-24wks, and included individually or combined PTH, alendronate (ALN), zoledronate (ZOL), and raloxifene (RAL). Generally the PTH+RAL and PTH+ZOL therapies were more effective in restoring bone than the PTH mono-therapy. Loss of Nmp4 further improved the restoration of femoral trabecular bone under these treatments. RAL and ZOL mono-therapies moderately increased bone volume but unexpectedly the Nmp4-/- mice showed an enhanced RAL-induced increase in femoral trabecular bone. Immunohistochemical and flow cytometry analyses of the bone marrow and serum profiling for markers of bone formation and resorption indicated that the heightened osteoanabolism of the Nmp4-/- mice under these diverse osteoporosis treatments was partially attributed to an expansion of the osteoprogenitor pool. To address whether the enhanced bone formation observed in Nmp4-/- mice produced structurally sound tissue, mechanical testing was conducted on the femurs of healthy mice treated with intermittent PTH, RAL mono-therapy, or PTH+RAL. Nmp4-/- femurs showed modestly improved mechanical and material properties. At the cellular level, loss of Nmp4 accelerated mineralization in differentiating mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSPCs). Transcriptomic and biochemical analyses indicated that loss of Nmp4 elevated ribosome biogenesis and expanded the capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum for processing protein. Preliminary data showed that disabling Nmp4 increased both aerobic glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation in osteoprogenitors, which is an emerging hallmark of anabolic osteogenic cells. Transcriptomic analysis also suggested NMP4 targeted pathways driving bone formation. These included but not limited to BMP, IGF1, TGFβ and Wnt signaling pathways. Finally, transcriptomic profiling revealed that Nmp4-/- MSPCs showed a significant perturbation in numerous immunomodulatory pathways, particularly in the interleukin system. The heightened osteoanabolism of the Nmp4-/- skeleton enhances the effectiveness of diverse osteoporosis treatments, providing a promising target pathway for identifying barriers to pharmacologically-induced bone formation.
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CHEN, PEI-CHUN, and 陳佩君. "The Effects of Diverse Instructional Approaches on EFL Learners' Grammar Acquisition: A Comparison among GTM, CLT, and Flipped Classrooms." Thesis, 2017. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/28945472772684526231.
Full textAbstract:
碩士靜宜大學
英國語文學系
105
Grammar acquisition in English as foreign language (EFL) setting has been a challenging task for language learners, including Taiwan. Various pedagogies are utilized to explore EFL students’ grammar learning; for example, the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) among three instructional approaches, featuring drills as lecture-based instruction on grammar usages, has a longest teaching history and is still being extensively practiced. Afterwards, the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach has shed light on the significance of interaction in order to boost communicative competence, even in grammar learning. More recently, the prevalence of computer assisted language learning (CALL) promoted the Flipped Classroom (FC) to become an innovative, effective teaching mode, where learners preview on-line instructional materials before class and then are engaged to interactive learning activities during face-to-face meetings. While previous studies have asserted the effects of respective pedagogy on language learning, research comparing the abovementioned three instructional approaches in language learning remains scarce, not to mention such a comparison in grammar acquisition among EFL learners. The present study, hence, aimed to investigate EFL junior high school students in central Taiwan on their grammar learning effects of diverse instructional approaches. Three groups of students received the same English grammar content including infinitive verbs, gerunds, indirect speech, causative verbs, verbs of the senses, linking verbs, and relative pronouns of distinct methods (GTM, CLT, and FC respectively) for a six-week teaching period. Multiple sources of data were collected, comprising grammar written and speaking pre-tests, three different ranges of achievement tests, grammar written and speaking post-tests, and semi-structured interviews. Based on the outcome of the written and speaking pre-tests, the three groups demonstrated similar grammar competence, and the results of the written post-tests indicated that the FC group performed significantly better than the other two groups; yet the significant difference was not found between the GTM group and CLT group. As for the speaking tests, both the GTM and FC groups improved significantly, with much more improvement in the FC class. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how FC produces the paramount learning impact than GTM and CLT. The analysis of the interview suggested that the students found the You-tube videos of FC approach particularly practical in facilitating them to learn grammar, thus promoting the following acquisition. Ultimately, pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are provided in the conclusion.
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Chiu, Po-Shih, and 邱博詩. "Rethinking Universalism in a Diverse World: Amartya Sen's Capability Approach." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/54937214941113226660.
Full textAbstract:
碩士東吳大學
政治學系
100
In this thesis, I will attempt to investigate how Amartya Sen’s capability approach, as a universal metric of interpersonal comparison, overcomes the challenges derived from pervasive human diversities. How does it provide us with a universal framework to evaluate and compare individual advantages while still respecting the values of pluralism and human diversity? My work will begin with an analysis of Sen’s capability approach, and then with an analysis of the debate between Sen and John Rawls who argues that the social primary goods are the better metrics of interpersonal comparison. These analyses can help us to clarify the concerns of universalism and pluralism in the context of the capability approach and to review the potential shortfalls and advantages of the approach. This research found that Sen’s capability approach uses substantial freedom as the base of individual advantage. Through this way, the capability approach can leave room for value pluralism to develop and allow human diversities to be fully considered during the process of interpersonal comparison. However, due to the way that Sen justified the value of freedom of choice, the lake of statement and justification of public reasoning and the limits derived from the nature of capability metric, Sen’s capability approach as a universal metric still faces challenges.
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Wright, F. "Enhancing an understanding of the pedagogical needs of culturally and linguistically diverse adult TAFE students." Thesis, 2014. https://eprints.utas.edu.au/18660/1/Whole-Wright-thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The Australian education system has a recent history of recruiting significant numbers of international and migrant students whose first language is not English to study in Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges. Many of these international and migrant students have come from Asian countries with different learning styles and cultural expectations associated with study and education. Although TAFE administrators have been keen to encourage Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) full-fee paying students and local migrant students to study at Australian TAFEs, there is some evidence that often only limited classroom based pedagogy adaptations are made for these students. The expectation is that CALD students will assimilate into the educational teaching and learning practices offered by TAFE. These TAFE courses have typically been designed for Australian students with proficient English language skills in writing, listening and comprehension. At the core of this research are two issues: (1) What are the learning styles of CALD students? and (2) How can TAFE teachers adapt their pedagogical practices to more effectively accommodate CALD students in their classrooms? The current study has been informed by Vygotsky's (1978) socio-cultural theory of cognitive development. The participants were CALD students who attended two large urban TAFE colleges and their teachers. The research is made up of three connected studies that investigated; (1) the perceptions CALD TAFE students have of their learning styles and problem-solving techniques; (2) the perceptions TAFE teachers have of their CALD students as learners and problem-solvers; and, (3) the effectiveness of Marion Blank's (2002) dialogue and cognitive processing strategies as a pedagogical intervention to enhance the learning of CALD TAFE students. The underlying theoretical linkage across these three studies is the notion that cognition, thinking, memory and language are closely related and interact in a dynamic interchange. This notion draws on Vygotsky's (1978) theory of cognitive development and Baddeley's (2004) memory research. In a second-language learning and communication environment, there are more memory capacity demands placed on the CALD individual. This can influence the person's speed of memory processing into the long-term memory as the person's first language interferes with the individual's ability to think and operate easily within the second language context. In these situations TAFE teachers need to adapt their language of instruction to better accommodate the CALD students who typically have more limited vocabulary knowledge, working in the second language context and are less likely initially to link quickly new information and concepts to their established conceptual knowledge of the topic being taught. In terms of the first study a cohort of 81 (52 female and 29 males) TAFE CALD students were administered the Preferred Learning Style Questionnaire (PLSQ) (Singelis, Triandis, Bhawuk & Gelford, 1995), and the Preferred Way of Problem Solving survey (PWPS) (Güss & Wiley, 2007). Based on a Rasch analysis of the students' surveyed responses it was identified that CALD students' perceptions of themselves as problem-solvers showed similar patterns for dealing with practical and interpersonal tasks and problems in an Australian setting, but it was also demonstrated that these students were not able to endorse the usefulness of their problem-solving strategies in study conditions in an Australian educational setting. It was also shown that the students preferred a collectivist approach to study, but were also interested in their individual performance as students. The length of time in living in another country also contributed to the CALD students' confidence to problem-solve in a culture and language different from their home one. The second study investigated the perceptions TAFE teachers had of their CALD students as learners and problem-solvers. This investigation was completed using an eight item survey based on Marion Blank's (2002) four levels of dialogue and cognitive processing. The four levels are: Level 1 – description, Level 2 – comparison, Level 3 – self-reflection and generalisation, and Level 4 – abstract reasoning. The TAFE teachers identified that the CALD students they had taught typically operated more at the lower levels and that these students had more difficulty with self-reflection, generalisation and abstract reasoning in an Australian educational setting. Overall, the TAFE CALD students' responses and the TAFE teachers' perceptions of CALD students' supported the argument that language proficiency and cultural knowledge influenced the potential of individuals to function effectively with higher order cognitive issues when they operated in a different cultural and language environment to that which they had come from. In study 3 the aim was to investigate an intervention to ameliorate the problems identified in studies 1 and 2. This intervention involved "teaching" three TAFE teachers who taught classes involving significant numbers of CALD students, how to adapt their teaching so that their instructional interactions used all four of Marion Blank's Levels of Questioning (2002). Teachers reported that the CALD students' behaviour in class changed after the intervention, with the students being more active in the classroom activities, asking questions, and clarifying assessment tasks. It was reported that there were significant differences in CALD students' understanding of what was required of them to complete assessment tasks successfully and structure their written material. In addition, interview feedback from the participating teachers and a survey of the CALD students indicated that they were supportive of the intervention. The findings are discussed in terms of the need for TAFE to develop a stronger pedagogy of instruction for CALD students, and the implications of the findings to socio-cultural theories of cognitive development and educational practice, particularly in the adult learning domain and with students from diverse backgrounds.
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Bell, Melissa Catherine. "A multidisciplinary approach to assessing changes in the soil quality of diverse farming systems." 2002. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-01102003-113753/unrestricted/etd.pdf.
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Chen, Liang-tang, and 陳亮棠. "A Simplified Approach for Analyzing, Designing, and Producing LED Power Distribution Lenses for Diverse Applications." Thesis, 2015. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/31781033986589682618.
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博士國立臺灣科技大學
電子工程系
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Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are highly attractive for many new green technology illumination applications. A key reason for this interest results from the low power consumption with high light output of LEDs, and the additional advantages of good reliability, long lifetimes, and a variety of color selections. However, because LEDs emit light into a hemisphere, some type of lens is needed for collection and distribution of the emitted light into a specific pattern for various applications. Devising an efficient optical method for distributing high-radiance LED emissions onto target surfaces is a continuing challenge. Most current design methods are mathematically complex and require intricate optimizations. In this thesis, a simple and highly accurate geometric optics analysis is described for creating a free-form total internal reflection collimator lens and a Fresnel exit lens. Once the design is completed, these lenses can be fabricated easily for producing specific intensity distributions desired by customers. To show some practical implementations, design examples are given for improvements in two widely used lighting applications. The first is a versatile lens that can simply be placed at the exit surface of standard MR16 bulbs for creating customer-desired illumination patterns. The second example is a lens for improving the illumination distribution of LED-based aircraft reading lights.