Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Episodes'

In the current literature on Episodic Memory (EM), mental representations are often assumed to stand out as the main view that promises to explain how we experience past personal events. However, proponents of Radical Enactive Cognition (REC) have argued that this view is empirically and theoretically inadequate due to issues with misremembering - failure to recall events in the past accurately - and the Hard Problem of Content (HPC) (Hutto & Myin 2013, 2017). This thesis aims to utilise REC’s already established framework and narrative formulations of memory to provide the tools needed to characterise episodic memory. The thesis turns to Narrativist Accounts (Gallagher 2008, 2003; Gallagher & Hutto 2008; Hutto 2016, Nelson & Fivush 2004; Rudd 2012; Schechtman 1996) and takes notice of the various capacities and requirements needed under these views and how they can serve as a model that can account for EM. However, under a Narrativist Account (NA), episodic memory is always embedded within autobiographical narratives. This raises the question of whether NAs can make room for any kind of episodic memory when conditions such as coherence, temporality and achievement of specific narrative capacities are required. By drawing from research on Dementia, Alzheimer’s, PTSD and Depression, along with non-pathological scenarios, this thesis demonstrates that stronger and moderate narrativist accounts do not provide room for explaining episodic memory. l propose that episodic experiences of the personal past can be seen in a different light when understood as Micronarratives. Micronarratives are marked out by being fixed or resistant to updating while identifying with a particular event in the past, even if it is not in the form of an accurate or true description. l defend that episodic memory, in this view, is not confronted with the same problems and offers a viable alternative.

Exploring narrative driven architecture.Architecture has been used as a physical medium that goes beyond providing shelter, but also to tell stories or document historical epochs. The architectural structures of old were designed to give its visitors an experience steeped in narrative such as biblical scriptures or even engender feelings of awe as they passed through a space. This is evident in the well established culture of architecture being something you experience, not merely a thing viewed through images. A building can not speak to you without you being beside or inside it. Architecture is an experience, an adventure and it is storytelling. “ Understanding nor organising are not enough nor necessary” (John Hejduk). This project was an opportunity for me to go after my dreams and passion of exploring storytelling through architecture. My love for film and cinema, fairytales, magic and myths. To somehow connect architecture to my passion of storytelling, whilst being challenging, has taken me to places unknown and helped me rediscover architecture, space and the human itself. The project is not about creating space for purpose, or purpose out of space, it is an experimentation of how space and design can be formed solely based on a narrative and the narratives view and understanding of the world. Is it not a psychoanalysis but merely an adventure where I invite you to feel and understand a person and his feelings through the help of architecture and design. The space will tell you everything that you need to think about.

Around 3% of the general population suffers a first episode of psychosis (FEP). The population of FEPs represents a unique opportunity to study psychotic disorders in general and schizophrenia in particular, avoiding confounding variables such as antipsychotic treatment, comorbidity and chronicity. Several hypotheses that involve the immune system and neuroinflammatory processes have been proposed as etiological explanations of psychosis. Most of the available scientific evidence has been found in populations with established schizophrenia. Few studies indicate alterations, often subtle, in inflammatory/immune mediators and oxidative/nitrosative stress in FEPs. One of the main anti-inflammatory endogenous regulatory systems is the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which has been proposed as a major homeostatic system at various neuropathological scenarios, reducing both neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory damage. Several studies have linked the ECS in patients with psychotic disorders. Furthermore, exogenous cannabis is one of the major environmental risk factors related to psychosis. In a first study, 117 FEPs showed systemic inflammatory conditions compared to 106 healthy controls, identifying a significant increase in some intracellular components of the NFKB proinflammatory pathway, together with a significant reduction in the anti-inflammatory components of the 15d-PGJ2/PPARy pathway. The expression of iNOS and COX-2 in PBMC and plasma levels of Homocysteine were identified as the most reliable risk factors, and IκBα and the 15d-PGJ2 as potential protective factors. These results indicate robust phenotypic differences at cellular machinery in PBMC of patients with a FEP. Due to its soluble nature, one notable finding of this study is that the anti-inflammatory mediator 15d- PGJ2 could be used as a plasma biomarker of FEPs. A second study reinforced the evidence of systemic inflammatory changes after a 6-month follow-up of the sample of FEPs. After 6 months, most of the soluble elements analyzed were significantly altered, suggesting the existence of a greater pro/anti-inflammatory imbalance and potentially more harmful, as showed the lipid peroxidation (TBARS) found. NO2- plasma levels and TBARS and COX-2 expression were the most reliable risk factors, while plasma levels of 15d-PGJ2 functioned as a protective factor. There was an interesting correlation between antipsychotic dose and the change of PGE2 (inverse) and 15d-PGJ2 (direct).There was also an inverse association between the GAF scale and TBARS. In a third study, a peripheral ECS dysregulation in patients with a FEP was described. After controlling for age, sex, body mass index and cannabis use, the FEP group showed a significantly reduced expression of the main synthesis enzymes (NAPE and DAGL) and increased degradation enzymes (FAAH and MAGL). The subgroup of patients with a history of heavy cannabis users showed lower CB2 receptor, NAPE and DAGL expression compared with the control group. No significant differences were found with non-users/sporadic subgroup. Although more evidence is needed, this research shows how the determination of several components of the pro/anti-inflammatory pathways and the ECS has an interesting potential as biomarkers risk/protective biomarkers of suffering a FEP. Despite the limitations, the studies of this thesis have identified conditions of vulnerability to suffer a FEP related to pro/anti-inflammatory pathways and peripheral ECS components in a very well characterized sample of FEPs.
Alrededor del 3% de la población general sufre un primer episodio de psicosis (PEP) a lo largo de su vida. Esta población es única para estudiar los trastornos psicóticos y la esquizofrenia, evitándose las principales variables de confusión. Varias hipótesis que implican al sistema inmune y procesos neuroinflamatorios se han propuesto como explicaciones etiológicas de la psicosis. La mayoría de estas evidencias se han encontrado en poblaciones con esquizofrenia establecida. Uno de los principales sistemas antiinflamatorios reguladores endógenos es el sistema endocannabinoide (SEC). Varios estudios lo han relacionado con los trastornos psicóticos. Además consumir cannabis uno de los factores de riesgo ambientales de psicosis más importantes y estudiados. En un primer estudio con 117 PEPs y 106 controles se evidenciaron condiciones inflamatorias sistémicas en los PEPs, identificando un aumento significativo de componentes de la vía de proinflamatoria principal del NFKB, junto con una disminución de la vía antiinflamatoira del 15d-PGJ2/PPARγ. Un hallazgo notable fue que el mediador antiinflamatorio 15d-PGJ2 podría ser utilizado como biomarcador plasmático de los PEPs. En un segundo estudio se reforzó la evidencia de alteraciones inflamatorias sistémicas en los PEPs. Tras 6 meses, la gran mayoría de los elementos solubles analizados ya aparecieron alterados de manera significativa, sugiriendo un mayor desequilibrio pro/anti-inflamatorio, potencialmente más dañino. En un tercer estudio se describió una disregulación periférica del SEC en los PEPs. Después de controlar por factores de confusión, el grupo de PEPs mostró una expresión reducida de las principales enzimas de síntesis (NAPE y DAGL) y un aumento de la degradación (FAAH y MAGL). El subgrupo de pacientes con antecedentes de consumo de cannabis importante mostró una menor expresión del receptor CB2, NAPE y DAGL en comparación con el grupo control, sin diferenciarse del subgrupo de no usuarios/esporádicos. La determinación de varios componentes de pro/antiinflamatorios y del SEC tiene un interesante potencial como marcadores biológicos y factores de riesgo/protección del PEP. A pesar de las limitaciones, los estudios que componen esta tesis han identificado condiciones de vulnerabilidad a sufrir un PEP relacionadas con vías pro/antiinflamatorias y el SEC periférico en una muestra muy bien caracterizada.

This research focuses on cross-cultural differences in facework between English and German conversation. Specifically, the research addresses facework occurring as part and parcel of sociable conversation, as it is played out within moments of focused topic development - what I term 'sociable episodes'. Drawing on extant literature, the study identifies a range of communicative parameters along which English and German communicative style has been shown to differ, non more so than those suggesting different facework norms, and orientation to face needs as opposed to such things as ideational aspects of talk. In an attempt to address these differences, the study develops a model of facework - facework as alignment -which is posited as being appropriate to the study of essentially apolite conversational interaction. Further, although utilising the notions of ritual equilibrium (Goffman 1967) and positive - negative aspects of face (Brown and Levinson), the posited model of facework focuses specifically on aspects of sociable selfhood informing sociable conversation. It is argued that facework in sociable episodes is a matter of positive and negative alignment of sociable selves in and through the claiming of solidarity with and autonomy from other co-participants in terms of expressions of definitions, evaluations, experiences. In terms of English - German differences, these are demonstrated to be a matter of alignment of different sociable selves, ones normatively and routinely positively and negatively aligned in the achievement of sociable conversation, and ones indexing prevailing but culturally differing positive social values (Goffman 1967). The study concludes by identifying areas for future research based on the facework as alignment model developed and applied throughout the thesis.

Background. Studies that examined community samples have reported several risk factors for the development of depressive episodes. The few studies that have been performed on primary care samples were mostly cross-sectional. Most samples had originated from highly developed industrial countries. This is the first study that prospectively investigates the risk factors of depressive episodes in an international primary care sample. Methods. A stratified primary care sample of initially non-depressed subjects (N = 2445) from 15 centres from all over the world was examined for the presence or absence of a depressive episode (ICD-10) at the 12 month follow-up assessment. The initial measures addressed sociodemographic variables, psychological/psychiatric problems and social disability. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine their relationship with the development of new depressive episodes. Results. At the 12-month follow-up, 4·4% of primary care patients met ICD-10 criteria for a depressive episode. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the recognition by the general practitioner as a psychiatric case, repeated suicidal thoughts, previous depressive episodes, the number of chronic organic diseases, poor general health, and a full or subthreshold ICD-10 disorder were related to the development of new depressive episodes. Conclusions. Psychological/psychiatric problems were found to play the most important role in the prediction of depressive episodes while sociodemographic variables were of lower importance. Differences compared with other studies might be due to our prospective design and possibly also to our culturally different sample. Applied stratification procedures, which resulted in a sample at high risk of developing depression, might be a limitation of our study.

Extensive studies have been undertaking in exploring the tectonic evolution of the Himalayan Orogen. Various tectonic models were developed to explain and constraint spatially and temporally critical events including the collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasia Plate, crustal thickening in association with the indentation, crustal spreading of the Tibetan Plateau. Recent study by King et al., 2011 identified two distinct leucogranite suites which were formed by contrasting tectonic actions at Sakya. They are Equigranular Anastomosing Leucogranite (AEG) formed under prograde fluidpresent condition while the Discrete Porphyritic Pluton Leucogranite (DPP) formed with retro-grade fluid-absent environment. Based on the characteristics of AEG and DPP, this study started with the acquisition of geochemistry data of rock samples collected for researches at various locations of the Himalaya Orogen. The two leucogranite suites were characterized through the study of their geochemistry comprised major elements, trace elements and rare earth elements models. Results of the studies concluded the existence of AEGs and DPPs distributed over the eastern area of the Himalaya Orogen beyond longitude 85 degree East. DPPs are also found at the far West location of the orogen. AEGs are typically formed from around 38Ma to 23Ma, while DPPs are of young age from 23Ma to 15Ma. Based on the observation of missing, or paucity in data for AEG and DPPs available to the west of longitude 85 degree East, it is hypothesized that recent collision of the Arabia plate to the Iran Domain inhibited the northward indentation movement of the Indian plate that not only caused the anticlockwise rotation of the Indian plate but also decreased the rate of tectonic movement of the Indian plate in the West relative to Eurasia plate. The slow rate of tectonic movement may result in insufficient thickening/energy developed within the crustal layer to cause any melting. Further studies to examine and development of the hypothesis is recommended.
published_or_final_version
Applied Geosciences
Master
Master of Science

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Química Sustentável
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are top-killer chronic diseases, accounting for al-most half of the European deaths in 2010 (Eurostat data). Most recent statistics in Portuguese territory confirm this scenario, with cardiovascular diseases killing about 11 persons per 100000 inhabitants. Reducing these numbers is urgent and requires early, quick and efficient diagnostic of the specific heart condition. Thus, the main goal of this proposal is to develop a low cost sensing-devices based on newly synthesized sensory biomaterials for screening cardiac bi-omarkers in point-of-care. These were applied to screen the conventional bi-omarkers of clinical interest, all peptides in nature. These include troponin T (TnT), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) and myoglobin (Myo). This was achieved by means of novel and low cost biosensing materials that were designed to display good selectivity to each biomarker, assembled on nanostructured sens-ing units and tested on serum samples. The design of novel biosensing materials consisted on synthesizing plastic antibodies by means of novel molecular im-printing (MI) and enzymatic approaches. Nanostructured sensing units were as-sembled by modifying the surface of standard conductive materials with the pre-viously indicated biomaterials. Standard conductive supports selected for this purpose were carbon and gold. Overall, it is expected that the emerging biosensing materials and platforms out coming from this project may contribute for the development of new non-inva-sive or minimally invasive methods with clinical application in the early screen-ing of chronic diseases and fast-screening in point-of-care (POC) of acute events.

Atmospheric aerosol particles, particularly ultrafine particles (UFPs; particles with less than 100 nm in diameter), and tropospheric ozone (O3) are atmospheric pollutants highly influenced by photochemical reactions, i.e., processes initiated by the absorption of solar radiation. High concentrations of ambient UFPs and O3 have important adverse effects on human health and impact on climate. Areas with high insolation and atmospheric dynamics favoring the accumulation of pollutants by vertical recirculation of air masses, such as the Western Mediterranean and other regions of Southern Europe, often register episodes with high concentrations of UFPs and O3, especially in spring and summer. UFPs episodes might be caused by the emission and accumulation of particles or by the photochemical formation of particles from gaseous precursors (new particle formation; NPF). The objective of this thesis is to characterize the relationship between UFPs and O3 in areas and periods with important photochemical activity. More specifically, this thesis aims at (i) identifying the atmospheric patterns causing the episodes, (ii) establishing whether these pollutants are driven by the same processes or occurring in parallel and (iii) describing how UFP concentrations have evolved over the last years. Based on these objectives, we analyzed data gathered during intensive field campaigns of simultaneous surface-level and vertical measurements, as well as long-term series of continuous measurements. Combining these, we focus on evaluating the seasonality and simultaneity of UFPs and O3 episodes, identifying the key contributing atmospheric factors and providing insights on the influence of NPF on the concentration of UFPs. We found that two distinct scenarios govern the formation and transport of UFPs and O3: recirculation of air masses and venting. The occurrence of either scenario is determined by large-scale meteorology, whereas the magnitude of concentrations is modulated by the availability of precursors and local atmospheric and orographic conditions. Our results indicate that acute UFPs episodes are undoubtedly linked with O3 episodes. Yet, the episodes may or may not be simultaneous on the same day. The occurrence of an O3 episode seems to be always concurrent with an UFPs episode caused by accumulation of primary and secondary particles during recirculation periods. However, high UFPs concentrations caused by NPF are mainly occurring with lower (but relatively high in absolute values) O3 concentrations during venting periods. When considering the average annual UFPs concentrations in urban locations, primary traffic emissions have a greater contribution to the total number of particles than NPF. Yet, on days with NPF events, the contribution from NPF to UFPs might be higher than that from primary emissions. Although NPF events do not occur in most of the days, the number of days with NPF events is increasing, probably due to a decreasing trend in the anthropogenic atmospheric emissions in recent years, which caused a decline in the particle sinks. Thus, the contribution of NPF to the number concentration of UFPs is also increasing. The total concentration of UFPs may either increase or decrease, depending on the local conditions and precursor emissions. In urban environments, the decline in anthropogenic emissions causes a direct decrease in the concentration of UFPs. In rural environments, NPF becomes more favorable and the concentration of UFPs increases. This might be related to increasing local biogenic emission of precursors, as well as a reduction of sinks due to a decline in transported anthropogenic emissions. Abatement policies implemented in recent years aiming at decreasing anthropogenic emissions of atmospheric pollutants have had a major impact in the concentration of UFPs at urban environments. However, these policies have not had a significant impact in the regional background, where UFPs have increased.
Els aerosols atmosfèrics, particularment partícules ultrafines (UFPs; partícules de menys de 100 nm de diàmetre), i l'ozó troposfèric (O3) són contaminants atmosfèrics molt influenciats per reaccions fotoquímiques, processos iniciats per l'absorció de radiació solar. Concentracions elevades d'UFPs i O3 en l'ambient tenen importants afectes adversos en la salut humana i impactes en el clima. En àrees amb una alta insolació i dinàmiques atmosfèriques que afavoreixen l'acumulació de contaminants degut a recirculacions verticals de masses d¿aire, com el Mediterrani occidental i altres regions del sud d'Europa, sovint s'enregistren episodis d'altes concentracions d'UFPs i O3, especialment a la primavera i a l¿estiu. Els episodis d¿UFPs poden estar causats per l'emissió i acumulació de partícules o per la formació fotoquímica de partícules a partir de precursors gasosos (formació de partícules noves; NPF). L'objectiu d¿aquesta tesi és caracteritzar la relació entre UFPs i O3 en àrees amb una alta activitat fotoquímica. Concretament, aquesta tesi té com objectius identificar els patrons atmosfèrics que causen els episodis, determinant si aquests contaminants estan regits pels mateixos processos o bé ocorren en paral·lel, i descriure l'evolució de les concentracions d'UFP en els darrers anys. S'han analitzat dades recopilades durant campanyes intensives de mesures simultànies a nivell de superfície i en altura, així com sèries de dades de mesures contínues de llarg termini. Mitjançant la combinació d¿aquestes dades, s'ha avaluat l'estacionalitat i la simultaneïtat dels episodis d'UFPs i d'O3, identificant els factors que hi contribueixen i aportant informació sobre la influencia de la NPF en les concentracions d'UFPs. Hi ha dos escenaris que controlen la formació i el transport d'UFPs i O3: la recirculació vertical de masses d'aire i la ventilació. L'ocurrència d'un o altre escenari ve determinada per les condicions meteorològiques a escala sinòptica, mentre que la magnitud de les concentracions ve donada per la disponibilitat de precursors i les condicions atmosfèriques i orogràfiques locals. Els episodis aguts d¿UFPs estan indubtablement vinculats amb els episodis d¿O3. Tot i així, els episodis poden ser simultanis en un mateix dia o no ser-ho. Un episodi d'O3 és sempre simultani amb un episodi d'UFPs causat per acumulació de partícules primàries i secundàries durant períodes de recirculació. Tanmateix, altes concentracions d'UFPs causades per NPF es donen principalment amb concentracions relativament baixes d'O3 durant períodes de ventilació. Quan es consideren les concentracions mitjanes anuals d'UFPs en àrees urbanes, les emissions primàries del trànsit tenen una major contribució al nombre total de partícules que la NPF. No obstant, en dies amb episodis de NPF, la NPF contribueix més al nombre total d'UFPs que les emissions primàries. Tot i que en la majoria dels dies no es detecten episodis de NPF, el nombre de dies amb NPF està incrementant, probablement degut a una tendència a la baixa de les emissions atmosfèriques antropogèniques en els darrers anys, que han causat una disminució en les embornals de condensació i coagulació de partícules. En conseqüència, la contribució de NPF al nombre d'UFPs també està augmentat. La concentració total d'UFPs pot augmentar o disminuir, depenent de les condicions locals. En àrees urbanes, la disminució d'emissions antropogèniques causa una disminució directa de la concentració d¿UFPs. En canvi, en ambients rurals, la NPF esdevé més favorable fins al punt que la concentració d'UFPs creix. Això pot ser degut a un augment de les emissions biogèniques locals de precursors i a una disminució del transport d'emissions antropogèniques. Les polítiques implementades en els darrers anys amb l'objectiu de reduir les emissions antropogèniques de contaminants atmosfèrics han tingut un gran impacte en la concentració del nombre de partícules en ambients urbans. Per contra, aquestes polítiques no han tingut un impacte significatiu en el fons regional, on el nombre de partícules ha augmentat
Los aerosoles atmosféricos, en particular las partículas ultrafinas (UFPs por sus siglas en inglés; partículas de menos de 100 nanómetros de diámetro), y el ozono troposférico (O3) son contaminantes atmosféricos muy influenciados por reacciones fotoquímicas, i.e., procesos iniciados por la absorción de radiación solar. Concentraciones elevadas de UFPs y O3 en el ambiente tienen importantes efectos adversos en la salud humana e impactos en el clima. En áreas con una alta insolación y dinámicas atmosféricas que favorecen la acumulación de contaminantes debido a recirculaciones verticales de masas de aire, como en el Mediterráneo occidental y otras regiones del sur de Europa, a menudo se registran episodios de altas concentraciones de UFPs y O3, especialmente en primavera y verano. Los episodios de UFPs pueden estar causados por la emisión y acumulación de partículas o por la formación fotoquímica de partículas a partir de precursores gaseosos (formación de nuevas partículas; NPF por sus siglas en inglés). El objetivo de esta tesis es caracterizar la relación entre UFPs y O3 en áreas y períodos con una actividad fotoquímica importante. Concretamente, esta tesis tiene como objetivos identificar los patrones atmosféricos que causan los episodios, determinando si estos contaminantes están regidos por los mismos procesos o bien ocurren en paralelo, así como describir la evolución de las concentraciones de UFPs en los últimos años. Basándonos en estos objetivos, se han analizado datos recopilados durante campañas de medidas intensivas simultáneas a nivel de superficie y en altura, así como series de datos de medidas continuas a largo plazo. Mediante la combinación de estos datos, se ha evaluado la estacionalidad y la simultaneidad de los episodios de UFPs y O3, identificando los factores que contribuyen a ellos y aportando información sobre la influencia de la NPF en las concentraciones de UFPs. Hemos encontrado que hay dos escenarios que controlan la formación y el transporte de UFPs y O3: la recirculación vertical de masas de aire y la ventilación. El acontecimiento de uno u otro escenario viene determinado por las condiciones meteorológicas a escala sinóptica, mientras que la magnitud de las concentraciones viene dada por la disponibilidad de precursores y las condiciones atmosféricas y orográficas locales. Nuestros resultados indican que los episodios agudos de UFPs están indudablemente vinculados con los episodios de O3. Aun así, los episodios pueden ser simultáneos en el mismo día o no serlo. Un episodio de O3 parece ser siempre simultáneo con un episodio de UFPs causado por acumulación de partículas primarias y secundarias durante períodos de recirculación. Sin embargo, altas concentraciones de UFPs causadas por NPF tienen lugar principalmente con concentraciones relativamente bajas (pero altas en valor absoluto) de O3 durante períodos de ventilación. Cuando se considera el promedio de las concentraciones anuales de UFPs en áreas urbanas, las emisiones primarias del tráfico tienen una mayor contribución al número total de partículas que la NPF. No obstante, en días con episodios de NPF, la contribución de NPF al número total de UFPs puede ser mayor que la de las emisiones primarias. Aunque en la mayoría de días no se detectan episodios de NPF, el número de días con NPF está incrementando, probablemente debido a una tendencia a la baja en los últimos años de las emisiones atmosféricas antrópicas, que han causado una disminución en los sumideros de condensación y coagulación. En consecuencia, la contribución de la NPF al número de UFPs también va en aumento. La concentración total de UFPs puede aumentar o disminuir, dependiendo de las condiciones locales y las emisiones de precursores. En áreas urbanas, la disminución de emisiones antrópicas causa una disminución directa de la concentración de UFPs. En cambio, en ambientes rurales, la NPF se hace más favorable, hasta el punto de aumentar las concentraciones de UFPs. Esto puede ser debido a un incremento de las emisiones biogénicas locales de precursores debido al aumento de temperaturas, así como a una reducción de los sumideros de partículas debido a una disminución del transporte de emisiones antrópicas. Las políticas implementadas en los últimos años con el objetivo de reducir las emisiones antrópicas de contaminantes atmosféricos han tenido un gran impacto en las concentraciones del número de UFPs en ambientes urbanos. Por el contrario, estas políticas no han tenido un impacto significativo en el fondo regional, donde la concentración de UFPs ha aumentado.
Enginyeria ambiental

Hydrological pathways and episodic stream acidification were investigated by monitoring water quality in the Coalbum catchment during the later stage of canopy closure. Coalburn is a long-running experimental site, almost completely covered by a commercial coniferous plantation (part of the Kielder Forest in northern England). Regular sampling, event sampling and continuous monitoring were used to establish an extensive water quality data-base between 1993 and 1997. Cloud mist and precipitation at Coalburn are slightly acidic and the catchment can receive moderate levels of dry and wet acid deposition when the winds have tracked from an easterly direction. Coalburn streamwater chemistry displays well-buffered base-flows and acid episodes during high flows. Duration-frequency-magnitude analysis of the Coalburn acid episodes reveals they were less frequent than expected but had a longer duration. The acid events exceeded environment quality standards for freshwaters: pH and aluminium concentrations suggest a toxic impact on freshwater biota. However, the elevated calcium concentrations and presence of humic substances reduce the biological impact. The chemical signatures and variations in solutes were identified and used to postulate the causal mechanisms of the hydrochemical response and to produce the conceptual Coalburn runoff model. Mixing modelling was then applied to introduce a robust analysis into the process and produce the simplified Coalburn Model of acidification. Broadly, the Coalburn hydrochemical response can be explained by pre-event water sources and 'normal' catchment processes. However, during extreme events catchment conditioning and event-water can also influence the response. In improving knowledge of the likely water quality effects of coniferous plantation afforestation, the Coalburn study has contributed to calibrating the temporal and spatial variability of headwater acidification (and hence risks). This allows policy makers and environment managers to make informed decisions about land use/management and to apply the precautionary principle; the research findings were used to suggest a basic policy framework and protocols for catchment assessments to manage acidification issues through the cropping cycle within a headwater catchment.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
PROGRAMA DE SUPORTE À PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO DE INSTS. DE ENSINO
O território brasileiro vive a cada ano um aumento do fluxo de entrada de turistas estrangeiros. Tais turistas trazem consigo não apenas sua bagagem, mas inúmeras imagens acerca do país, imagens estas que nortearão seu modo de pensar e agir em território brasileiro. Alguns estereótipos tão presentes na cultura brasileira, tais como o da malandragem, do jeitinho, do carnaval e da liberdade, levam a uma interpretação errônea da cultura brasileira, dando aos turistas estrangeiros a sensação de que este é um país licencioso onde tudo é permitido. Este trabalho se propõe a mostrar como as diferenças interculturais podem ir parar nas delegacias a partir da investigação de como os turistas entendem que tipo de comportamento é adequado ou não ao Brasil. A ação metodológica central consistiu na análise de matérias jornalísticas publicadas na internet relatando casos de turistas acusados de alguma infração em território brasileiro. Recorremos, entre outros, aos estudos de Richard D. Lewis e de Geert Hofstede - autores que apresentam os conceitos de cultura e interculturalismo, e cujos modelos de categorização de culturassão utilizado como parâmetro para a pesquisa, para a escolha dos informantes e para a análise de dados - e Roberto Augusto DaMatta, antropólogo brasileiro estudioso do Brasil, de seus dilemas e de suas contradições. Através dos estudos do autor, mostramos como e porque se construiu imagens inadequadas do Brasil e como a má interpretação destas imagens pode levar a um comportamento inoportuno por parte dos estrangeiros.
Brazilian territory lives each year an increase on inflow of foreigners tourists. These tourists bring with them not only their luggage but also numerous images about the country, images that will guide their manner of thinking and acting in the Brazilian territory. Some stereotypes so observed in Brazilian culture like trickery, knack, carnival and freedom, lead to an erroneous interpretation about Brazilian culture, giving the tourists the feeling that this is a licentious country where everything is allowed. This research proposes to show how the intercultural differences can lead people to jail based on the research on how tourists understand what kind of behavior is or is not proper in Brazil. The main methodological action of this study was the analysis of news reporting cases of tourists accused of some offense in Brazilian territory published on web. We used the studies of Richard D. Lewis and Geert Hofstede, authors that present concepts about culture and multiculturalism, and whose categorization model about culture are used as a parameter to our research, to the choice of informants and to the data analysis; and Roberto Augusto DaMatta, a Brazilian anthropologist who studies Brazil, its dilemmas and contradictions. Through the studies of these authors, we show how and why were built the wrong images about Brazil and in what manner this interpretation can lead tourists to behavior improperly.

The domain with which this research is concerned is traumatic brain injury and models which attempt to predict hypotensive (low blood pressure) events occurring in a hospital intensive care unit environment. The models process anonymised, clinical, minute-byminute, physiological data from the BrainIT consortium. The research reviews three predictive modelling techniques: classic time series analysis; hidden Markov models; and classifier models, which are the main focus of this thesis. The data preparation part of this project is extensive and six applications have been developed: an event list generator, used to process a given event definition; a data set generation tool, which produces a series of base data sets that can be used to train machine learning models; a training and test set generation application, which produces randomly drawn training and test data sets; an application used to build and assess a series of logistic regression models; an application to test the statistical models on unseen data, which uses anonymised real clinical data from intensive care unit bedside monitors; and finally, an application that implements a proposed clinical warning protocol, which attempts to assess a model’s performance in terms of usefulness to a clinical team. These applications are being made available under a public domain licence to enable further research (see Appendix A for details). Six logistic regression models and two Bayesian neural network models are examined using the physiological signals heart rate and arterial blood pressure, along with the demographic variables of age and gender. Model performance is assessed using the standard ROC technique to give the AUC metric. An alternative performance metric, the H score, is also investigated. Using unseen clinical data, two of the models are assessed in a manner which mimics the ICU environment. This approach shows that models may perform better than would be suggested by standard assessment metrics. The results of the modelling experiments are compared with a recent similar project in the healthcare domain and show that logistic regression models could form the basis of a practical early warning system for use in a neuro intensive care unit.

This dissertation investigates algorithmic techniques for temporal process discovery in many domains. Many different formalisms have been proposed for modeling temporal processes such as motifs, dynamic Bayesian networks and partial orders, but the direct inference of such models from data has been computationally intensive or even intractable. In this work, we propose the mining of frequent episodes as a bridge to inferring more formal models of temporal processes. This enables us to combine the advantages of frequent episode mining, which conducts level wise search over constrained spaces, with the formal basis of process representations, such as probabilistic graphical models and partial orders. We also investigate the mining of frequent episodes in infinite data streams which further expands their applicability into many modern data mining contexts. To demonstrate the usefulness of our methods, we apply them in different problem contexts such as: sensor networks in data centers, multi-neuronal spike train analysis in neuroscience, and electronic medical records in medical informatics.
Ph. D.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) as it affects up to 10% of people over 70 years of age is the most common cardiac arrhythmias encountered in clinical practice, in spite of its relevance and incidence, the mechanisms of initiation and maintenance of AF are still quite unknown. Different strategies for AF treatment are selected with respect to the duration of AF episodes, and their efficacy may also be influenced by the degree of organization in the atrial activity (AA). The degree of organization of the AA depends in turn on the chronification of AF, and on the consequent electro-structural remodeling concerning the myocardial substrate, affecting the functioning of the atrio-ventricular node in particular. Thus, proper signal processing tools are required in order to shed some light on the electrophysiological origins of AF and on its impairing influence on the cardiac system. Particularly, the signal processing interest relies in extracting as much information as possible from non invasive recordings, in line with the general tendency in the clinical domain, in order to reduce the risks to the patient and to make clinical analysis time and cost effective. In this sense, a certain knowledge of the degree of organization in the AA may be potentially relevant in clinical decision making, as this could guide the selection of the best treatment for AF for each patient. Classical methods proposed for the extraction of an AA signal from electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings and for the non invasive estimation of the degree of organization of the atrial activations during AF do not exploit completely the spatial diversity offered by multi-lead ECG recordings. They generally focus on the analysis of the spectral content of the AF on a single lead only, with the risk of underestimating the actual complexity of the inner atrial activations. In this doctoral thesis, we exploit the spatial diversity offered by multi-lead ECG recordings to accomplish two main tasks. First, we want to enhance the quality of an AA signal extracted from ECG recordings, necessary for further detailed analysis of AF. To this end, we exploit the spatial information of the ECG to generate suitable subspaces representing each of the main cardiac activities of interest, the ventricular and the atrial, respectively, by delineating the corresponding segments in the ECG recording. These subspaces are exploited as a priori information and inserted as additional constraints into the blind source extraction algorithm. Different possibilities to exploit these subspaces as a prior information are presented, underlining their versatility in satisfactorily focusing on different characteristics of the various cardiac activities and of their relationships. Second, we want to noninvasively quantify the degree of spatio-temporal organization of the atrial activations during AF from the analysis of multi-lead ECG recordings. This is achieved looking at the spatial complexity of the recorded atrial electrical activity, prop-1 erly segmented from the ECG recordings, and the temporal stationarity of its potential field spatial pattern. As for the extraction of the AA signal, spatial complexity and temporal stationarity of the AA are measured exploiting an estimate of its subspace. The results of our study confirm the interest of using the spatial information in the ECG in order to generate different subspaces suitably describing the ventricular and atrial components of the ECG. In turn, these components reveal to be useful both to define additional constraints into the blind source extraction algorithm for the AA signal extraction and to directly analyze the AF organization in surface recordings, strongly supporting the appropriateness of signal processing approaches exploiting spatial diver-sity in AF analysis. First applications of these techniques to study the effects of catheter ablation on the reorganization of the AF by exploiting standard 12-lead ECG recordings attest their potential clinical relevance in the selection of patients who may actually benefit from the ablation therapy and suggest their widespread use in future clinical applications
La fibrillation auriculaire (FA) est l’arythmie la plus fréquente dans le domaine clinique. Malgré son importance et fréquence (10% des gens plus âgés de 70), les mécanismes de génération de la FA sont encore plutôt inconnus. Différents stratégies pour traiter la FA sont sélectionnées par rapport à la durée des épisodes de FA, et leur efficacité dépend aussi du degré d’organisation de l’activité auriculaire (AA). Le degré d’organisation de l’AA dépend à son tour du niveau de chronicité de la FA, et du conséquent remodelage électro-structurel qui concerne le substrat du myocarde, et qui affecte le fonctionnement du noeud auriculo-ventriculaire en particulier. Par conséquent, des outils de traitement du signal appropriés s’avèrent nécessaires pour éclaircir les origines électrophysiologiques de la FA et son influence sur le système cardiaque. En particulier, l’intérêt du traitement du signal repose sur l’extraction de plus d’informations possibles des enregistrements non invasifs, en accord avec la tendance générale dans le domaine clinique, pour réduire les risques chez le patient et pour réduire le temps et le coût des analyses cliniques. Dans ce sens, une certaine connaissance du degré d’organisation de l’AA peut-être potentiellement important pour aider la décision clinique. Ceci pourrait guider la sélection du meilleur traitement de la FA pour chaque patient. Les méthodes classiques pour l’extraction d’un signal de AA des enregistrements d’électrocardiogramme (ECG) et pour l’estimation non invasive du degré de l’organisation des activations auriculaires pendant FA n’exploitent pas complètement la diversité spatiale offerte par des enregistrements ECG à plusieurs dérivations. En général, ils se concentrent sur l’analyse du contenu spectral de la FA dans une seule dérivation, avec le risque de sous-estimer la complexité réelle des activations auriculaires en interne. Dans ces travaux de thèse, nous exploitons la diversité spatiale offerte par des enregistrements ECG à plusieurs dérivations pour accomplir deux objectifs principaux. Premièrement, nous voulons améliorer la qualité de l’extraction du signal de AA des enregistrements ECG, nécessaire pour des ultérieures analyses détaillées de la FA. Pour ce faire, nous exploitons l’information spatiale de l’ECG pour généré des sous-espaces appropriés qui représentent chacune des activités cardiaques d’intérêt, la ventriculaire et l’auriculaire, respectivement, en déterminant les segments correspondants dans l’ECG. Ces sous-espaces sont exploités comme information a priori et insérés en forme de contraintes supplémentaires dans l’algorithme de extraction aveugle des sources. Différentes possibilités d’exploiter ces sous-espaces comme information a priori sont présentées, mettant en évidence leur polyvalence dans leur capacité de se concentrer de façon satisfaisante sur différentes caractéristiques des différentes activités cardiaques et de leur relations. Deuxièmement, nous voulons quantifier d’une manière non invasive le degré 1 de l’organisation spatio-temporel des activations auriculaires pendant FA à partir de l’étude des enregistrements ECG à plusieurs dérivations. Ceci est accompli en regardant la complexité spatiale de l’enregistrement de l’AA des enregistrements ECG correctement segmenté, et la stationnarité de l’AA mesurés exploitant une estimation de son sous-espace. Les résultats de notre étude confirment l’intérêt d’exploiter l’information spatiale dans l’ECG pour générer différentes sous-espaces qui décrivent de façon appropriée les composants ventriculaire et auriculaire de l’ECG. A leur tour, ces composants se révèlent utiles et pour définir des contraintes supplémentaires dans l’algorithme de extraction aveugle des sources pour l’extraction de l’AA et pour analyser directement l’organisation de la FA par des enregistrements de surface, soutenant la justesse des approches de traitement du signal qui exploitent la diversité spatiale dans l’analyse de la FA. Des premières applications de ces techniques pour l’étude des effets de l’ablation par cathéter sur la réorganisation de la FA à partir de l’analyse des enregistrements ECG standards à12 dérivations montrent leur importance clinique potentielle pour la sélection des sujets qui pourraient bénéficier de la thérapie d’ablation, et aussi indiquent la possibilité de les utiliser de manière plus généralisée dans des application cliniques à venir

Class of 2012 Abstract
Specific Aims: This study was performed to assess the accuracy of the presenting signs and symptoms, diagnostic procedures, and treatments depicted in episodes one through twelve of the fifth season of House, MD. Methods: This study was a descriptive, retrospective evaluation of the accuracy of the first twelve episodes of the fifth season of House, MD. Dependent variables in this study were presenting signs and symptoms, diagnostic procedures, and treatment of the final diagnosis for the primary patient case. A rating of one to four was assigned to each variable, with one being most accurate and four being inaccurate. Statistical analysis consisted of ANOVA and Tukey HSD post-hoc test Main Results: The signs and symptoms had a mean of 2.42 ± 0.669 (95% CI 1.99 to 2.84). The diagnostic tests had a mean of 2.42 ± 1.084 (95% CI 1.73 to 3.11). The treatment had a mean of 1.42 ± 0.9 (95% CI 0.84 to 1.99). ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference among the accuracy ratings of the groups (p = 0.013). Tukey HSD did not show a significant difference between the accuracy of the signs and symptoms and diagnostic tests (p = 1). The test did reveal a statistically significant difference between accuracy of treatment and both the signs and symptoms (p = 0.027) and diagnostic tests (p = 0.027). Conclusions: The treatments shown in House, MD, season five, episodes one through twelve are significantly more accurate than both the diagnostic tests and the presenting signs and symptoms.

Les recherches sur les Trois contes, considérés comme une oeuvre secondaire, n'avancent pas tellement en comparaison avec celles qui portent sur les autres oeuvres de Flaubert. Cependant les Trois contes représentent le dernier ouvrage complet de Flaubert et ils ont deux grandes particularités. La première est relative à la forme de l'oeuvre,c'est-à-dire le conte ; la deuxième se caractérise par l'emploi des trois dénominateurs communs qui se manifestent dans les romans de Flaubert : la fiction, l'histoire sacrée et l'histoire ancienne en Orient. De plus, l'action des contes se passe à diverses époques, de l'Antiquité au XIXe siècle.Dans cette recherche, en réfléchissant sur le motif qui poussent Flaubert à écrire les Trois contes, nous analysons l'évolution du processus créatif du point de vue des interactions des personnages et des épisodes dans chaque conte ainsi que dans la totalité des Trois contes, à fin de reconsidérer la conception littéraire de Flaubert qui continue à influencer la littérature moderne. Malgré la brièveté de cette oeuvre, Flaubert laissa de nombreux manuscrits, carnets et correspondances avant de parvenir aux aboutissements des textes définitifs. Il est donc indispensable d'interpréter l'avant-texte pour analyser les Trois contes.En fait, l'analyse des manuscrits nous confirme que la méthode de création de Flaubert selon laquelle il dédouble ses personnages et ses épisodes, forme une cohérence et en même temps un univers sans fin qui transcende les frontières non seulement entre des éléments divers à l'intérieur de chaque conte, mais aussi entre des époques et entre des cultures occidentales et orientales

This study aimed to distinguish the coping efforts of athletes who endured shorter, and longer, durations of competitive suffering. Eleven male and 15 female endurance athletes (Mage= 35.8, sd= 12.1) completed a 5km competitive suffering running time-trial task. Following the task, threat perceptions and coping function use (problem focused, PFC; emotion focused, EFC; and avoidance, AvC) were measured in 200 meter intervals using video mediated recall. Control beliefs were also assessed. Those who suffered for shorter durations used more EFC during initiation and at the peak of competitive suffering, as well as less AvC during initiation, in comparison to longer duration sufferers. PFC use did not distinguish competitive suffering duration. Non-significant correlations were revealed between control beliefs and both suffering duration and coping function use. Overall, the results imply that emotion-focused coping is the most appropriate coping function to decrease competitive suffering duration, regardless of control beliefs.
xi, 106 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

Motivated by the potential danger of high air pollution concentrations (episodes) on human health and the environment, the overall aim of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding of and insight into the formation of such episodic conditions via proposing new extreme value statistical models. The modelling and prediction of air pollution episodes' occurrence, strength and dur~tion are formidable problems in the urban atmospheric media due to the combination of many complex simultaneously working physical and chemical processes involved in their formations. It has been long observed that conventional statistical methods may not be suitable for solving these problems, thus initiating the application of more flexible approaches. In the last couple of decades Extreme Value Theory (EVT) has been widely used with great success to overcome some of the aforementioned issues. However, even the most recent EVT models cannot deal with all the aspects of these problems. The objective of this research is to specify the requirements of new extreme value models by taking into account the demerits of the old ones, to develop such new models and validate their adequacy on real datasets. To place this research in relation to the wide-ranging existing literature and to identify the model requirements, a comprehensive review on EVT and its applications in air pollution modelling has been conducted. Based on the gaps identified in the literature, four extreme value models are proposed in the Peaks over Threshold context, which are either improvements on existing models or completely new ones involving new theoretical results in the background. Based on these models, and their possible amalgamations, the occurrence times, the strengths and the durations of episodes can be modelled and predicted. The relationship between these characteristics and meteorological as well as traffic conditions are identified, which are considered as the most significant contributors to these events.

In this research, I aim to present a narrative of the process of nation building in Bahrain - to further analyze it, interrogate it, and capture an aspect of its complexity. By focusing on the years following Bahrain's independence from Britain in 1971, I examine the period in which a constitution was introduced and a short-lived parliament was dissolved after two years of operation. The hypothesis underlying this thesis project is that the dominant historical account, which is provided and sponsored by the government, does not mirror the historical narratives of the various Bahraini communities. The central argument is advanced by examining the state sponsored public articulations of identity, which portray a continuum of exclusions by omitting significant historical episodes. By consulting archival material, oral narratives, and secondary sources, I aim to question the official historical narrative and show the polarized versions of history that can occur when such exclusions take place.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of North Texas, 2007.
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Accompanied by 4 recitals, recorded Sept. 20, 2004, Oct. 24, 2005, Mar. 6, 2006, and Apr. 21, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-42).

Falls in the older population have devastating consequences on the psychological and physiological health of the individual. Due to the complexity of interacting factors associated with ageing, pathology and falling episodes, determination of a primary cause or set of causes has been difficult to establish. Deficits in components of neuromuscular control have been widely studied with the coordinated interaction of sensory and motor system components being presented as a fundamental factor in the reduction of falling episodes. A causal relationship between deficits in vitamin D status and falling episodes has also been suggested. Furthermore, a relationship between poor vitamin D status, falling episodes and poor neuromuscular performance has been reported. The aims of the current study were designed to advance understanding in three aspects of the problem of falls prevention. Firstly an examination of the reliability of testing procedures commonly used in assessment of falls risk was undertaken. The Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA) testing procedure was selected as a commonly used tool and the reliability of its various components (sensory, motor and balance) was undertaken as an independent assessment of this approach to assessing falls propensity. Secondly, a case control study of fallers and non fallers was undertaken in which the neuromuscular tests evaluated in the reliability study were used to assess differences in neuromuscular control. The influence of vitamin D status on these measures was also considered. Thirdly, a 12-month randomised controlled trial of vitamin D/calcium supplementation or placebo/calcium was undertaken to identify the effect on falls outcome and individual measures of neuromuscular control.

Anxiety and depressive disorders are common mental disorders in general population, imposing tremendous burden on both affected persons and society. Moreover, comorbidity between anxiety and depressive conditions is high, leading to substantial disability and functional impairment. Findings consistently suggest that anxiety disorders are primary to depression in the majority of comorbid cases. Yet, the question of whether anxiety disorders are risk factors for depression, and potentially even causal risk factors for the first onset of depression, remains unresolved. Recent results have shown that anxiety disorders increase the risk for subsequent depression, and also affect the course of depression, resulting in a poorer prognosis. Further, some results suggest a dose–response-relationship in revealing that a higher number of anxiety disorders and more severe impairment associated with anxiety disorders additionally increase the risk for subsequent depression. The goal of this paper is to review recent literature, summarize implications of previous findings, and suggest directions for future research regarding preventive and intervention strategies.

This dissertation is a cultural history of deviance in the United States. I use a series of case studies to examine the way deviant figures have been represented and experienced within American culture. The dissertation covers four historical eras and examines a representative deviant figure in each of them. The first chapter deals with the figure of the witch in Puritan New England, the second examines the libertine in the early American republic, the third deals with freaks in Victorian America and the fourth studies the flapper in the roaring twenties. Each of these chapters is focused on a particular historical crisis, trial or scandal that produced a rich body of historical evidence for study and analysis: the Salem Witch Trial of 1692, the Apthorp-Morton Scandal of 1788, the sensational Beecher-Tilton Affair of 1875 and the Ruth Snyder Trial of 1927. My overarching thesis is that representations of deviants reveal a deep cultural preoccupation with failure and inadequacy, which are projected onto deviant figures. This interpretation is an attempt to move beyond viewing representations of deviance as simply being attempts to repress those who do not conform to societal norms, or to shore up fragile social identities by creating ‘others’ against whom the normal American could be negatively defined. Instead, I argue that representations of deviance were compelling to the Americans who created them primarily as powerful fantasies about failure, lack and inadequacy. On to the rich symbolic canvas of the deviant figure, Americans projected their anxieties about personal and social failure. In different ways at different times, deviants have been used to articulate the various possible ways in which a person could fail to meet their society’s ideals and expectations, and to imagine the consequences of such failures for both individual personhood and society as a whole. The deviant has therefore historically served as a kind of mirror to the culture which produced him or her: a mirror in which a culture might darkly glimpse its own values, distorted by the terrifying failure to achieve that which is most prized.

By engaging with Western Marxism and recent developments in social history, this thesis will explore the popular social and political responses to capitalist development and state formation in early modern England. We will analyse the role that country Tory oppositional politics played in local society, its relationship to national politics and to local economic change. This will be done through a series of case studies and episodes from Derbyshire, 1660-1760. Attention will be paid to the politics of the labouring poor, such as the tenants of Robert Hayward and the Rossell family, the Peak lead miners, opponents of the Derwent navigation and plebeian Tories in Derby. Yet the primary focus of the thesis will be on the ‘middling sort of people’ like the local gentry families, tradesmen, parish officials, shopkeepers and smallholders. Rather than studying bourgeois, polite society and London coffee house culture, we will prioritise the social relations of the middling sort of people in one county community. Special attention will be paid to their political responses to socio-economic change, and their opposition to the Whig oligarchy after 1722. Opposition to Robert Walpole and wider economic change acted as a catalyst for variegated social alignments to be formed. They were often cross-class in nature and constitutionalist in scope. These alignments will be explored throughout the thesis, using concepts from Antonio Gramsci as well as the class analysis of E. P. Thompson.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-237).
The modern intensive care unit (ICU) has become a complex, expensive, data-intensive environment. Caregivers maintain an overall assessment of their patients based on important observations and trends. If an advanced monitoring system could also reliably provide a systemic interpretation of a patient's observations it could help caregivers interpret these data more rapidly and perhaps more accurately. In this thesis I use retrospective analysis of mixed medical/surgical intensive care patients to develop predictive models. Logistic regression is applied to 7048 development patients with several hundred candidate variables. These candidate variables range from simple vitals to long term trends and baseline deviations. Final models are selected by backward elimination on top cross-validated variables and validated on 3018 additional patients. The real-time acuity score (RAS) that I develop demonstrates strong discrimination ability for patient mortality, with an ROC area (AUC) of 0.880. The final model includes a number of variables known to be associated with mortality, but also computationally intensive variables absent in other severity scores. In addition to RAS, I also develop secondary outcome models that perform well at predicting pressor weaning (AUC=0.825), intraaortic balloon pump removal (AUC=0.816), the onset of septic shock (AUC=0.843), and acute kidney injury (AUC=0.742). Real-time mortality prediction is a feasible way to provide continuous risk assessment for ICU patients. RAS offers similar discrimination ability when compared to models computed once per day, based on aggregate data over that day.
(cont.) Moreover, RAS mortality predictions are better at discrimination than a customized SAPS II score (Day 3 AUC=0.878 vs AUC=0.849, p < 0.05). The secondary outcome models also provide interesting insights into patient responses to care and patient risk profiles. While models trained for specifically recognizing secondary outcomes consistently outperform the RAS model at their specific tasks, RAS provides useful baseline risk estimates throughout these events and in some cases offers a notable level of predictive utility.
by Caleb Wayne Hug.
Ph.D.

Anxiety and depressive disorders are common mental disorders in general population, imposing tremendous burden on both affected persons and society. Moreover, comorbidity between anxiety and depressive conditions is high, leading to substantial disability and functional impairment. Findings consistently suggest that anxiety disorders are primary to depression in the majority of comorbid cases. Yet, the question of whether anxiety disorders are risk factors for depression, and potentially even causal risk factors for the first onset of depression, remains unresolved. Recent results have shown that anxiety disorders increase the risk for subsequent depression, and also affect the course of depression, resulting in a poorer prognosis. Further, some results suggest a dose–response-relationship in revealing that a higher number of anxiety disorders and more severe impairment associated with anxiety disorders additionally increase the risk for subsequent depression. The goal of this paper is to review recent literature, summarize implications of previous findings, and suggest directions for future research regarding preventive and intervention strategies.

PM10 is a notorious air pollutant that often degrades the air quality in Cape Town. Previous studies have attributed high concentrations of PM10 over Cape Town to local sources, neglecting the influence of remote sources. The present study investigates the influence of remote and local pollution sources to PM10 episodes over the city. The study analysed observations from Cape Town’s air quality monitoring stations and simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRFChem). The observation data were used to identify PM10 episodes over the city between 2008 and 2014 and WRF-Chem was applied to simulate the atmospheric conditions and PM10 transport over southern Africa a few days before, during, and after each episode. To examine the sensitivity of the simulations to chemistry parameterisation, two chemistry parameterisation schemes were used in the study. The two schemes are RADM2 chemistry scheme coupled with the MADE/SORGAM aerosol module (RMS) and RADM2 coupled with the GOCART aerosol module (RGC). While RMS accounts for aerosol feedbacks, RGC does not. The capability of the model (with each scheme) to reproduce the PM10 concentration and wind over Cape Town was quantified by comparing the simulations with the station observation data. To identify the paths of air parcels that arrived in Cape Town during each episode, the study employed back trajectory simulations from the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and from the WRF-Chem output. A third WRFChem simulation (KAYE) was performed in order to investigate the influence of idealized local emissions from Khayelitsha (one of the largest local sources of the pollutant in Cape Town) on the spatial distribution of PM10 concentration over the city. The results show that all the WRF-Chem simulations reproduce well the observed wind speed and direction over Cape Town during the episodes but struggle to reproduce the observed PM10. The simulations under-estimate the observed PM10 concentration over the city and, in most cases, reproduce peaks in PM10 concentration days earlier or later than the observations. However, the simulations agree with the HYSPLIT back-trajectory simulations that most of the air parcels over Cape Town during the episodes came from central southern Africa or the Namibian coast and travelled over the Kalahari, Namib, or both deserts before reaching Cape Town. The RMS simulations link the peaks in PM10 concentration over Cape Town with the transport of the pollutant from the north-west coast of southern Africa, featuring a coastal trough and a plume of PM10 along the coast. The study reveals that northwesterly flows provides a conducive condition for the long-range transport of PM10 to Cape Town, while south-easterly winds favour the transport of PM10 from Khayelitsha emissions to the city.

Background. Studies that examined community samples have reported several risk factors for the development of depressive episodes. The few studies that have been performed on primary care samples were mostly cross-sectional. Most samples had originated from highly developed industrial countries. This is the first study that prospectively investigates the risk factors of depressive episodes in an international primary care sample. Methods. A stratified primary care sample of initially non-depressed subjects (N = 2445) from 15 centres from all over the world was examined for the presence or absence of a depressive episode (ICD-10) at the 12 month follow-up assessment. The initial measures addressed sociodemographic variables, psychological/psychiatric problems and social disability. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine their relationship with the development of new depressive episodes. Results. At the 12-month follow-up, 4·4% of primary care patients met ICD-10 criteria for a depressive episode. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the recognition by the general practitioner as a psychiatric case, repeated suicidal thoughts, previous depressive episodes, the number of chronic organic diseases, poor general health, and a full or subthreshold ICD-10 disorder were related to the development of new depressive episodes. Conclusions. Psychological/psychiatric problems were found to play the most important role in the prediction of depressive episodes while sociodemographic variables were of lower importance. Differences compared with other studies might be due to our prospective design and possibly also to our culturally different sample. Applied stratification procedures, which resulted in a sample at high risk of developing depression, might be a limitation of our study.

Background: This article presents prospective lower bound estimations of findings on prevalence, incidence, clinical correlates, severity markers, co-morbidity and course stability of threshold and subthreshold recurrent brief depressive disorder (RBD) and other mood disorders in a community sample of 3021 adolescents. Method: Data were collected at baseline (age 14–17) and at two follow-up interviews within an observation period of 42 months. Diagnostic assessment was based on the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI). Results: Our data suggest that RBD is a prevalent (2.6%) clinical condition among depressive disorders (21.3%) being at least as prevalent as dysthymia (2.3%) in young adults over lifetime. Furthermore, RBD is associated with significant clinical impairment sharing many features with major depressive disorder (MDD). Suicide attempts were reported in 7.8% of RBD patients, which was similar to MDD (11.9%). However, other features, like gender distribution or co-morbidity patterns, differ essentially from MDD. Furthermore, the lifetime co-occurrence of MDD and RBD or combined depression represents a severe psychiatric condition. Conclusions: This study provides further independent support for RBD as a clinically significant syndrome that could not be significantly explained as a prodrome or residual of major affective disorders.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2006.
Thesis Advisor(s): Nita Lewis Miller. "September 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-83). Also available in print.

This thesis argues for the fundamental importance of the opposition between holistic and reductionistic world-views in economics. Both reductionism and holism may nevertheless underpin laissez-faire policy prescriptions. Scrutiny of the nature of the articulation between micro and macro levels in the writings of economists suggests that invisible hand theories play a key role in reconciling reductionist policy prescriptions with a holistic world. An examination of the prisoners' dilemma in game theory and Arrow's impossibility theorem in social choice theory sets the scene. The prisoners' dilemma epitomises the collective irrationality coordination problems lead to. The source of the dilemma is identified as the combination of interdependence in content and independence in form of the decision making process. Arrovian impossibility has been perceived as challenging traditional views of the relationship between micro and macro levels in economics. Conservative arguments against the possibility in principle of a social welfare function are criticised here as depending on an illicit dualism. The thesis then reviews the standpoints of Smith, Hayek and Keynes. For Smith, the social desirability of individual self-seeking activity is ensured by the 'invisible hand' of a god who has moulded us so to behave, that the quantity of happiness in the world is always maximised. Hayek seeks to re-establish the invisible hand in a secular age, replacing the agency of a deity with an evolutionary mechanism. Hayek's evolutionary theory, criticised here as being based on the exploded notion of group selection, cannot underpin the desirability of spontaneous outcomes. I conclude by arguing that Keynes shares the holistic approach of Smith and Hayek, but without their reliance on invisible hand mechanisms. If spontaneous processes cannot be relied upon to generate desirable social outcomes then we have to take responsibility for achieving this ourselves by establishing the appropriate institutional framework to eliminate macroeconomic prisoners' dilemmas.

The presence of thermo-topographic circulations in areas of complex terrain plays an important role in recirculating pollutants during periods of degraded air quality. In this modelling study, we seek to define and detect atmospheric recirculation in the Lower Fraser Valley (LFV), British Columbia, a region that frequently experiences episodes of degraded air quality despite its modest total emissions and relatively small population size. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to simulate wind fields during seven severe, three-day summertime ozone episodes occurring over a period of 20 years (1985-2006). These episodes cover the known set of synoptic and mesoscale circulation regimes conducive to ozone episodes in the LFV. A trajectory modelling study is devised where WRF model output is used to compute trajectories using the HYbrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. In order to examine pollutant transport, the starting location of trajectories is selected to coincide with the location of maximum ozone precursor (NOx and VOCs) emissions. Number density maps generated from composite trajectory fields reveal different spatial distributions of trajectories by circulation regime. A generally applicable quantitative definition and objective detection algorithm for recirculation is developed, and then applied to the modelled trajectories to identify recirculating trajectory segments (RTSs). Recirculation is detected during all episodes, though not all circulation regimes result in the same the frequency of detection. Analysis of RTSs shows that recirculation in the LFV is spatially and temporally the same regardless of mesoscale circulation conditions. There is strong evidence that pollutants may be "carried-over" from one day of an episode to the next, and that air parcels frequently return to their origin within less than 12 hours. Results suggest that recirculation is primarily driven by onshore flows and mountain-valley circulations within the main valley floor of the LFV, and secondarily by diurnal flows within tributary valleys. This research adds to our understanding of atmospheric transport during ozone episodes in the LFV, and provides a new framework for studying recirculation elsewhere. Supplementary materials:http://hdl.handle.net/2429/50964
Science, Faculty of
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
Graduate

This thesis explores the ways in which the youth from the Punjabi-Sikh community in Vancouver, Canada relate to three historical episodes associated with the community, namely, ‘Events of 1984’(The Indian Army’s 1984 attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, as well as, the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, India), ‘Events of 1985’ (The Air India bombings) and the Komagata Maru episode of 1914. Exploring the youth narratives and non-narratives on these violent episodes intrinsically connected with the Sikh diasporic community in Canada, provides for an analysis of the meaning-making processes that the youth engage with to make sense of these episodes. By emphasizing on how the youth remember, what they remember (and what they forget), I draw attention to linkages between these processes of recall and the present day realities of the youth. By juxtaposing the dominant narratives on the episodes with the youth narratives, the research also explores the relationship of these ‘grand’ narratives with the personal narratives of the youth, the space and reception of the contending forms of remembrances of these violent histories, and its effect on present day politics.
Arts, Faculty of
Geography, Department of
Graduate

6. These data illustrate that acid episodes still affect stream organisms in spite of continued recovery in air and water quality and this may be a sufficient explanation for slow biological recovery in many locations. Episodic effects may impose important controls on organisms as recovering sites reach the base-flow pH range 5.5-7. The strongest recommendation is for better understanding and monitoring of the hydrochemistry and biological effects of acid episodes as acid deposition abates.

This dissertation examines the dissolution of landscape painting as a major cultural project in the late nineteenth-century United States. As a genre aligned with the goals of nation building, landscape maintained a privileged artistic status for much of the nineteenth century. Yet as frontier development, land speculation, environmental change, and other factors slowly rendered its conventions meaningless, landscape became the site through which American artists most urgently sought to come to terms with the modern world. This argument is anchored by unorthodox artworks, from landscapes resembling banknotes to paintings made out of bird feathers—limit cases that allude to the failure of landscape in sustaining American cultural goals. Chapter One concerns Albert Bierstadt's aesthetic struggles in post-frontier America. During the 1890s, Bierstadt's anxieties about landscape surfaced in the particularities of objects that fold and unfold, from butterflies painted by chance to expanding railway cars—objects that might be considered the subconscious of a genre built upon expansionist ideology. Chapter Two argues that Martin Johnson Heade's tropical and marsh paintings of the 1870s and 1880s used “groundless” conditions to express cultural insecurities about traversable land and its representation. The pictorial blockages and interferences in Heade's paintings challenge both the compositional legibility espoused in the blockbuster canvases of his mentor and rival Frederic Church and the physical accessibility promised by the period's environmental interventions. Chapter Three proposes that Ralph Blakelock's nocturnes and money paintings—produced in the context of rampant land speculation, volatile art markets, and representational doubts surrounding paper currency—attempt but fail to overcome landscape's monetary entanglements. Blakelock's paintings theorize the value of labor and material accumulation in the increasingly abstract economic world of the last decades of the nineteenth century. Chapter Four reconsiders the trope of the "figure in the landscape" using Abbott Thayer's turn-of-the-century representations of animal camouflage. In these mixed-media artworks, Thayer's attempts to visualize invisibility demonstrate the ways in which camouflage proved irreconcilable with landscape's figure-ground principles. Together, these episodes trace pictorial attempts to resolve spatial problems arising with modernity, and in so doing, they signal a shift toward new paradigms of representation.
History of Art and Architecture