Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Metta'

Cette these tend a etablir l'existence en metta d'une categorie grammaticale "topic" interne a la phrase. Adoptant dans une large mesure les propositions recentes de chomsky dans sa theorie du "gouvernement et liage," cette etude du metta integre cependant certaines notions de la grammaire du discours telles que "focus" "contraste" et examine les proprietes des elements: ka, ya, ka'a, et mei, analyses comme des operateurs. Il est demontre que ceux-ci ne peuvent apparaitre que dans la position "topic," et que tout deplacement en metta se fait d'une position non-topicalisee, vers la position "topic
This thesis searches to establish that in metta, there is a grammatical category called topic in the sentence. This study adopts to a large extent chomsky's position developed in "government and binding" while it integrates certain notions of discours grammar such as focus, and contrast and examines the properties of the following elements ka, ya, ka,a and mei which are analysed as operators. It is shown that these trigger elements can only occur in the "topic" position and that movement in metta is from a non-topicalised position to a topic position

The aim of Metta Vee is to explore stylistic metamorphosis in an extended cross-generic work for electroacoustic string ensemble which combines the rich vocabulary of string writing from the Western art tradition with that found in jazz, folk and rock music. In performance this is achieved by individually expressing and then fusing the associated playing styles. In a series of supporting works different aspects of cross-genre writing for strings are explored, both in scored and sonic pieces. The final composition, Metta Vee (a phonetic abbreviation of metamorphous violin) is an evolving landscape which travels through various styles whilst retaining cohesion in the overall design. It is, as expressed in the subtitle, a stylistic journey through a landscape of string. Two violin soloists, one acoustic and one electric, convey the more intricate details of stylistic fusion, exploiting the instrument’s technical capacities and broad repertoire. The electric solo part has been scored for a 5-string violin, incorporating the low viola C string in addition to the standard tuning. Opportunities for soloing and musical exchanges between the players have been designated within the main work to showcase the cross-stylistic performance aesthetic through a series of variations generated by repeated motifs. Metta Vee is a work that faces the challenge of mixing the tonal characteristics of the electric violin with the acoustic string world so the two may be not just individually showcased, but homogenized, creating a new sonority as well as stylistic fusion.

Meditation is increasingly integrated into therapeutic interventions. Metta (loving-kindness) meditation, which cultivates compassion, is relatively unstudied. Metta’s emphasis on compassion has spurred speculation that metta meditation may benefit mental health professionals at risk for compassion fatigue, a condition characterized by depression-like symptoms that results from paying witness to others’ trauma. The current study employed psychological phenomenology—a qualitative research methodology which uncovers the essential meaning of an experience—to explore mental health professionals’ lived experiences of metta meditation. Moustakas’s recommendations for phenomenology guided data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews with 17 mental health professionals, clinicians and clinical supervisors, yielded 58 invariant components clustered into eight themes regarding metta meditation experience. These themes were used to write textural descriptions for each participant, from which a textural composite was created. Structural mechanisms interwoven into the composite created the essential description of participants’ lived experience of metta meditation. Implications are discussed.

The claims of the traditional texts and teachers of Buddhist meditation include the enhancement of mental health. Twenty five meditators sitting a ten day retreat in Vipassana and Metta meditation were measured on a compassion scale and an androgyny index. The androgyny index was used to measure mental health. Compassion scores for all meditators increased slightly after the retreat. Experienced meditators had significantly higher scores than inexperienced meditators. Regardless of previous experience, meditators with high compassion scores significantly increased in androgyny after the retreat. The traditional claims for the enhancement of mental health are therefore supported by these results.

Critical work on popular American women's fiction still has not reckoned adequately with the themes of interracialism present in these novels and with interracialism's bearing on the sentimental. This thesis considers an often overlooked body of women's popular sentimental fiction, published from 1860-1865, which is interested in themes of interracial romance or reproduction, in order to provide a fuller picture of the impact that the intersection of interracialism and sentimentalism has had on American identity. By examining the literary strategy of "miscegenated narration," or the heteroglossic cacophony of narrative voices and ideological viewpoints that interracialism produces in a narrative, I argue that the hegemonic ideologies of the sentimental romance are both "deterritorialized" and "reterritorialized," a conflicted impulse that characterizes both nineteenth-century sentimental, interracial romances and the broader project of critiquing the dominant national narrative that these novels undertake.

El presente proyecto se basa en la producción y comercialización de ropa interior para las mujeres de edades entre los 19 y 49 años del nivel socioeconómico A y B de Lima metropolitana, especialmente para aquellas que presentan flujo abundante. Se realizaron encuestas que permitieron detectar una demanda insatisfecha debido a la falta de productos que brinden seguridad y comodidad al momento de usar una prenda interior en el periodo menstrual. Cuenta con un diseño especial en la zona del fundillo, el cual está compuesto por 3 tipos de tela, algodón licra, tela de bambú y algodón jersey, los mismos que permite reducir el riesgo de manchar las prendas de vestir cuando realizan actividades cotidianas. La medida es de 24 cm de largo, lo cual abarca gran parte de zona delantera y trasera de la trusa. El desarrollo del proyecto se encuentra dividido en dos puntos, los cuales son la validación del plan de negocio y desarrollo del plan de negocio. Para la ejecución del proyecto se requirió una inversión de 23,888 soles, obtenidos a base de capital propio de los accionistas, quienes estiman recuperar dicha inversión en el primer año de operación. La rentabilidad brindada a los accionistas es de 274% lo cual hace nuestro proyecto un negocio rentable.
The present project is based on the production and marketing of underwear for women between the ages of 19 and 49, with socioeconomic statuses A and B in metropolitan Lima, especially for those who have an abundant flow. Surveys were conducted that allowed us to detect an unmet demand due to the lack of products that provide safety and comfort when wearing an undergarment during the menstrual period. It has a special design in the delicate area of the underwear, which is composed of 3 types of cloths, lycra cotton, bamboo cloth and cotton jersey, the same that reduces the risk of staining garments when the users perform their daily activities. The measurement is 24 cm long, which covers much of the front and back of the delicate area of the underwear The proposal is divided into two parts, which consists of the validation and development of the business plan. For the execution of this project, an investment of 23,888 soles was required, it is obtained solely on the shareholder's own capital, with an estimated payback in the first year of operations. The profitability provided to the shareholders is 274%, which makes the project a profitable business.
Trabajo de investigación

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Meta-forms, held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City. Exhibition dates are from March 14 through March 25, 2016. The artworks on display are a series of drawings made from carving wood panels and sheet metal and are accompanied with a large scaled site-specific installation. The exhibition culminates from research of historic and contemporary figures for non-objective art. The author gives insight to the artistic process while creating his exhibition, as well as their personal connection with the artwork.

Tl;dr: Using computers to produce creative artefacts is a form of computational creativity. Using creative techniques computationally is creative computing. Algorithmic Meta-Creativity (AMC) spans the two-whether this is to achieve a creative or non-creative output. Creativity in humans needs to be interpreted differently to machines. Humans and machines differ in many ways, we have different 'brains/memory', 'thinking processes/software' and 'bodies/hardware'. Often creative output by machines is judged in human terms. Computers which are truly artificially intelligent might be capable of true artificial creativity. Until then, they are (philosophical) zombie robots: machines that behave like humans but aren't conscious. The only alternative is to see any computer creativity as a direct or indirect expression of human creativity using digital means and evaluate it as such. AMC is neither machine creativity nor human creativity-it is both. By acknowledging the undeniable link between computer creativity and its human influence (the machine is just a tool for the human) we enter a new realm of thought. How is AMC defined and evaluated? This thesis addresses this issue. First AMC is embodied in an artefact (a pataphysical search tool: pata.physics.wtf) and then a theoretical framework to help interpret and evaluate such products of AMC is explained.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia e Gestão do Conhecimento, Florianópolis, 2009
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Na gestão do conhecimento a interação face a face é considerada a forma mais propicia para compartilhar e criar conhecimento. Ênfase é dada à interação, à conectividade e ao espaço emocional que constituem um campo de relações denominado Ba, que favorece o compartilhamento do conhecimento. Entretanto não foi encontrado um conceito claro para interação, nem para conectividade no âmbito da gestão do conhecimento. Embora as emoções estejam diretamente ligadas às expressões não verbais - faciais e corporais - também foram identificados estudos sobre a importância e o impacto dessas expressões nesse mesmo âmbito. A presente tese é resultado de uma pesquisa quali-quantitativa, de natureza exploratória, que visa contribuir para a superação dessas lacunas. Explora a importância da expressão não-verbal e a relação entre as expressões verbais e não-verbais na interação das equipes de trabalho. A pesquisa foi realizada em campo, no ambiente natural de trabalho de 10 (dez) equipes, em situações reais de interação. Considerando que a conectividade e o campo emocional são elementos centrais nesse tipo de interação, este estudo mede essas duas dimensões. Para alcançar tal objetivo se utiliza como suporte teórico-metodológico o Meta Learning Model, baseado na teoria dos sistemas complexos e em dinâmica não-linear e que relaciona a taxa entre os feedbacks positivos e negativos (P/N) e a conectividade com desempenho. Dado que esse Modelo foi desenvolvido a patir de feedbacks de expressão verbal, neste trabalho as medidas das expressões verbais são comparadas com as medidas das expressões não-verbais, para estabelecer correlação entre ambas. Os resultados revelam que a expressão não-verbal tem a mesma importância que a expressão verbal na determinação da taxa P/N e da conectividade das equipes de trabalho, com um índice de forte correlação de 0,992. Revelam também que as equipes cujas taxas P/N e cuja conectividade correspondem ao alto desempenho, segundo os critérios do Meta Learning Model, usam expressões não-verbais em proporção de pelo menos 2,9 feedbacks positivos para cada negativo. Revelam ainda que emoções negativas como a raiva, o desprezo e o nojo, por exemplo, são também expressadas não-verbalmente pelas equipes cuja tava P/N corresponde ao alto desempenho. Esses resultados indicam que a expressão de emoções positivas somente não é capaz de criar um campo emocional expansivo e conectividade nas equipes de trabalho. Para que uma equipe logre expandir seu campo emocional e se conectar, o segredo é ser capaz de manter seus feedbacks verbais e não-verbais em pelo menos 2,9 positivos para cada negativo. Esses resultados permitem conceituar interação e conectividade no âmbito da gestão do conhecimento. Também oferecem uma alternativa conceitual para Ba, que poderia ser caracterizado pela construção da adequada taxa entre feedbacks positivos e negativos (P/N) e da conectividade alcançada com essa taxa.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Telemetry missions spanning multiple years of tests often require access to archived configuration data for replay and analysis purposes. The needs for versioning vary from simple file-naming conventions to advanced global database versioning based on the scale and complexity of the mission. This paper focuses on a flexible approach to allow access to current and past versions of multiple test article configurations. Specifically, this paper discusses the characteristics of a versioning system for user-friendly and feature-rich solutions. It analyzes the tradeoffs of various versioning options to meet the needs of a given mission and provides a simple framework for users to identify their versioning requirements and implementation.

A partire dagli anni ’80, la diffusione dei metodi statistici, abbinata ai progressi nelle capacità computazionali dei personal computers, ha progressivamente facilitato i ricercatori nel testare empiricamente le proprie teorie. Gli economisti sono diventati in grado di eseguire milioni di regressioni prima di pranzo senza abbandonare le proprie scrivanie. Purtroppo, ciò ha portato ad un accumulo di evidenze spesso eterogenee, quando non contradditorie se non esplicitamente in conflitto. Per affrontare il problema, questa tesi fornirà una panoramica dei metodi meta-analitici disponibili in economia. Nella prima parte verranno introdotte le intuizioni alla base dei modelli gerarchici a fattori fissi e casuali capaci di risolvere le problematicità derivanti dalla presenza di osservazioni non indipendenti. Verrà inoltre affrontato il tema dell’errore sistematico di pubblicazione in presenza di elevata eterogeneità tra gli studi. La metodologia verrà successivamente applicata, nella seconda e terza parte, a due diverse aree della letteratura economica: l’impatto del rapporto banca-impresa sulle prestazioni aziendali e il dibattito sulla relazione fra democrazia e crescita. Mentre nel primo caso la correlazione negativa non è influenzata da fattori specifici ai singoli paesi, il contrario è vero per spiegare l’impatto (statisticamente non significativo) delle istituzioni democratiche sullo sviluppo economico. Quali siano questi fattori è però meno chiaro; gli studiosi non hanno ancora individuato le co-variate – o la corretta misurazione di esse – capaci di spiegare questa discussa relazione.
Starting in the late 1980s, improved computing performances and spread knowledge of statistical methods allowed researchers to put their theories to test. Formerly constrained economists became able [to] run millions of regressions before lunch without leaving their desks. Unfortunately, this led to an accumulation of often conflicting evidences. To address such issue, this thesis will provide an overview of the meta-analysis methods available in economics. The first paper will explain the intuitions behind fixed and random effects models in such a framework. It will then detail how multilevel modelling can help overcome hierarchical dependence issues. Finally, it will address the problem of publication bias in presence of high between-studies heterogeneity. Such methods will be then applied, in the second and third papers, to two different areas of the economics literature: the effect of relationship banking on firm performances and the democracy and growth conundrum. Results are far-reaching. While in the first case the documented negative relation is not driven by country-specific characteristics the opposite is true for the (statistically insignificant) impact of democratic institutions on economic growth. What these characteristics are is, however, less clear. Scholars have not yet found the covariates - or their suitable proxies - that matter to explain such much-debated relationship.

Táto práca sa zaoberá marketingom miest, jeho nástrojmi, budovaním image mesta a nástrojom komunikačného mixu public relations. Cieľom mojej práce je poukázať na zavádzanie marketingu v riadení miest v Českej republike a na Slovensku. Práca je podložená príkladmi rôznych miest, ktoré v riadení marketingu v anglických mestách Reading a Torbay.

Classification is one of the primary tasks of data mining and aims to assign a class label to unseen examples by using a model learned from a training dataset. Most of the accepted classifiers are designed to minimize the error rate but in practice data mining involves costs such as the cost of getting the data, and cost of making an error. Hence the following question arises: Among all the available classification algorithms, and in considering a specific type of data and cost, which is the best algorithm for my problem? It is well known to the machine learning community that there is no single algorithm that performs best for all domains. This observation motivates the need to develop an “algorithm selector” which is the work of automating the process of choosing between different algorithms given a specific domain of application. Thus, this research develops a new meta-learning system for recommending cost-sensitive classification methods. The system is based on the idea of applying machine learning to discover knowledge about the performance of different data mining algorithms. It includes components that repeatedly apply different classification methods on data sets and measuring their performance. The characteristics of the data sets, combined with the algorithm and the performance provide the training examples. A decision tree algorithm is applied on the training examples to induce the knowledge which can then be applied to recommend algorithms for new data sets, and then active learning is used to automate the ability to choose the most informative data set that should enter the learning process. This thesis makes contributions to both the fields of meta-learning, and cost sensitive learning in that it develops a new meta-learning approach for recommending cost-sensitive methods. Although, meta-learning is not new, the task of accelerating the learning process remains an open problem, and the thesis develops a novel active learning strategy based on clustering that gives the learner the ability to choose which data to learn from and accordingly, speed up the meta-learning process. Both the meta-learning system and use of active learning are implemented in the WEKA system and evaluated by applying them on different datasets and comparing the results with existing studies available in the literature. The results show that the meta-learning system developed produces better results than METAL, a well-known meta-learning system and that the use of clustering and active learning has a positive effect on accelerating the meta-learning process, where all tested datasets show a decrement of error rate prediction by 75 %.

Meta-ignorance is an awareness of one’s own knowledge or lack of knowledge. The goal of this dissertation is to examine the development of children’s meta-ignorance between 14 months and 42 months. I examine the hypothesis that children have some awareness of their own epistemic states, notably states of knowledge and ignorance. In Study 1, eight children’s use of the mental verb know was examined when they were between 18 and 36 months. Children (from the Child Language Data Exchange System) used know to affirm their own knowledge and that of their interlocutor. When they used know in the context of asking a question, they typically asked about their interlocutor’s knowledge states and not their own. Conversely, they often denied their own knowledge but rarely their interlocutor’s. Finally, they rarely referred to a third party’s knowledge. In Study 2, 64 children’s production of the flip gesture (hold two hands palm up out to the side to communicate “I don’t know”) was examined when they were between 14 and 42 months. The video recordings were from the Language Development Project. Flip gestures were observed at 14 months, which is four months before a minority of children were first observed saying: “I don’t know.” Children often flipped following their interlocutors’ comments and questions, suggesting that children used flips in a dialogic fashion. When children flipped, their interlocutors often interpreted flips as an expression of ignorance and responded accordingly. Study 3 involved an experiment in which 52 children aged 16 to 37 months were presented with familiar and unfamiliar pictures and asked to label them. For familiar pictures, children mostly produced the correct name. For unfamiliar pictures, children were more likely to display signs of uncertainty, including turning to gaze at an adult, producing a filled pause such as Um, asking for help, and saying I don’t know. Children’s ability to produce I DON’T KNOW flips, to say I don’t know, and to express uncertainty when asked to name unfamiliar objects indicates that they come to express a simple understanding of knowledge and ignorance in the course of the second and third year.

Labyrinthulomycetes are a group of ubiquitous stramenopiles that inhabit a wide range of habitats and play important ecological roles as nutrient recyclers and sometimes disease causing agents. Even though they have had a long history of being studied, their diversity has not yet been fully explored. The lack of a comprehensive reference database with up-to-date phylogeny also hinders any pursuits in understanding the ecological distribution of this group. This study was designed with the purpose of constructing a curated reference database and a phylogenetic tree based on existing 18S rDNA data, and then using this database to uncover any hidden diversity and novelty among Labyrinthulomycetes and provide a reference guidance for future identification. Using the newly-created reference database, I also analyzed high-throughput environmental sequencing data from two databases. My results reveal extensive diversity within the Labyrinthulomycetes, and recover many previously unknown environmental sequences, greatly expanding our knowledge of the ecological distribution of this group. The high-throughput environmental sequencing data analysis also shows some of the newly identified environmental clades to be particularly abundant in the ocean. The phylogenetic framework I have provided in this study, together with the metadata I have compiled, will serve as a useful tool for future ecological and evolutionary studies of this widespread lineage.
Science, Faculty of
Botany, Department of
Graduate

Software Engineering progresses as improvements are made in languages and methodologies. Significant advances have been made through the use of Object- Oriented Programming, exploiting the effective support available in C++. Further evolution of OOP involving the use of design patterns and aspects requires additional language support. Increased flexibility in the declaration of objects is proposed in the form of the FOG (Flexible Object Generator) language, which is a superset of C++ implemented by a translator to C++. FOG generalises C++ syntax and supports compile-time meta-programming and reflection. The syntax generalisations provide the freedom for programmers to organise code to suit programming concerns and eliminate the need for duplication between interfaces and implementations. Further generalisations define composition policies for repeated declarations so that classes, arrays, enumerations and functions may all be extended. These composition policies support the weaving necessary for re-useable implementation of design patterns and for Aspect Oriented Programming. A declarative form of meta-programming is supported by derivation rules, which specify how a declaration specified in a base class is to be reinterpreted in derived classes. Automated generation of derived functionality is important for a number of design patterns. More general meta-programming is provided by elevating most run-time concepts to the meta-level, allowing conditional and iterated manipulation of declarations at compile-time. Compile-time execution enables subsequent run-time code to be optimised to suit application requirements. The use of meta-variables and meta-functions together with a well-disciplined lexical context for meta-programming and meta-level execution provide a complete replacement for the traditional C preprocessor functionality, satisfying Stroustrup's goal of making Cpp redundant [Stroustrup97]. The new functionality is integrated with the language, fits within an Object-Oriented framework and provides adequate support for modern Software Engineering practices. The C++ grammar is known to pose a significant parsing challenge and to require context dependent type and template knowledge. This creates considerable difficulties when meta-programming occurs in unresolved contexts. A new approach to parsing C++ has therefore been developed that defers the use of type and template information. This approach leads to a simpler grammar implementation. An extended form of regular expression is presented and used to predict known ambiguities and then show that this simpler grammar covers the C++ grammar.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
As part of the technology upgrades driven by the iNet initiative, there is a need to establish a meta-data standard to describe configuration information for the system under test. The technology identified for such a standard is XML and XSD schemas. This paper presents findings from various experiments to import and export existing telemetry configuration information to XML based on the new Meta-data model. In addition, this paper will discuss the possible conversions to and from the existing IRIG TMATS standard.

Les seqüències són una de les estructures de dades més versàtils que existeixen. De forma relativament senzilla, en una seqüència de símbols es pot emmagatzemar informació de qualsevol tipus. L'anàlisi sistemàtic de seqüències es un àrea molt rica de l'algorísmica amb numeroses aproximacions desenvolupades amb éxit. En concret, la comparació de seqüències mitjançant l'alineament d'aquestes és una de les eines més potents. Una de les aproximacions més populars i eficients per alinear dues seqüències es l'ús de la programació dinàmica. Malgrat la seva evident utilitat, un alineament de dues seqüències no és sempre la millor opció per a caracteritzar la seva funció. Moltes vegades, les seqüències codifiquen la informació en diferents nivells (meta-informació).
És llavors quan la comparació directa entre dues seqüències no es capaç de revelar aquelles estructures d'ordre superior que podrien explicar la relació establerta entre aquestes seqüències.

Amb aquest treball hem contribuït a millorar la forma en que dues seqüències poden ser comparades, desenvolupant una família d'algorismes d'alineament de la informació d'alt nivell codificada en seqüències biològiques (meta-alineaments). Inicialment, hem redissenyat un antic algorisme, basat en programació dinàmica, que és capaç d'alinear dues seqüències de meta-informació, procedint després a introduir-hi vàries millores per accelerar la seva velocitat. A continuació hem desenvolupat un algorisme de meta-aliniament capaç d'alinear un número múltiple de seqüències, combinant l'algorisme general amb un esquema de clustering jeràrquic. A més, hem estudiat les propietats dels meta-alineaments produïts, modificant l'algorisme per tal d'identificar alineaments amb una configuració no necessàriament col.lineal, el que permet llavors la detecció de permutacions en els resultats.

La vida molecular és un exemple paradigmátic de la versatilitat de les seqüències. Les comparaciones entre genomes, ara que la seva seqüència està disponible, permeten identificar numerosos elements biològicament funcionals. La seqüència de nucleòtids de molts gens, per exemple, es troba acceptablement conservada entre diferents espècies. En canvi, les seqüències que regulen la activació dels propis gens són més curtes i variables. Així l'activació simultànea d'un conjunt de gens es pot explicar només a partir de la conservació de configuracions comunes d'elements reguladors d'alt nivell i no pas a partir de la simple conservació de les seves seqüències. Per tant, hem entrenat els nostres programes de meta-alineament en una sèrie de conjunts de regions reguladores recopilades per nosaltres mateixos de la literatura i desprès, hem provat la utilitat biològica de la nostra aproximació, caracteritzant automàticament de forma exitosa les regions activadores de gens humans conservats en altres espècies.
The sequences are very versatile data structures. In a straightforward manner, a sequence of symbols can store any type of information. Systematic analysis of sequences is a very rich area of algorithmics, with lots of successful applications. The comparison by sequence alignment is a very powerful analysis tool. Dynamic programming is one of the most popular and efficient approaches to align two sequences. However, despite their utility, alignments are not always the best option for characterizing the function of two sequences. Sequences often encode information in different levels of organization (meta-information). In these cases, direct sequence comparison is not able to unveil those higher-order structures that can actually explain the relationship between the sequences.

We have contributed with the work presented here to improve the way in which two sequences can be compared, developing a new family of algorithms that align high level information encoded in biological sequences (meta-alignment). Initially, we have redesigned an existent algorithm, based in dynamic programming, to align two sequences of meta-information, introducing later several improvements for a better performance. Next, we have developed a multiple meta-alignment algorithm, by combining the general algorithm with the progressive schema. In addition, we have studied the properties of the resulting meta-alignments, modifying the algorithm to identify non-collinear or permuted configurations.

Molecular life is a great example of the sequence versatility. Comparative genomics provide the identification of numerous biologically functional elements. The nucleotide sequence of many genes, for example, is relatively well conserved between different species. In contrast, the sequences that regulate the gene expression are shorter and weaker. Thus, the simultaneous activation of a set of genes only can be explained in terms of conservation between configurations of higher-order regulatory elements, that can not be detected at the sequence level. We, therefore, have trained our meta-alignment programs in several datasets of regulatory regions collected from the literature. Then, we have tested the accuracy of our approximation to successfully characterize the promoter regions of human genes and their orthologs in other species.

Artificial Intelligence Lab, Department of MIS, University of Arizona
As in many other applications, the rapid proliferation and unrestricted Web-based publishing of health-related content have made finding pertinent and useful healthcare information increasingly difficult. Although the development of healthcare information retrieval systems such as medical search engines and peer-reviewed medical Web directories has helped alleviate this information and cognitive overload problem, the effectiveness of these systems has been limited by low search precision, poor presentation of search results, and the required user search effort. To address these challenges, we have developed a domain-specific meta-search tool called Cancer Spider. By leveraging post-retrieval document clustering techniques, this system aids users in querying multiple medical data sources to gain an overview of the retrieved documents and locating answers of high quality to a wide spectrum of health questions. The system presents the retrieved documents to users in two different views: (1) Web pages organized by a list of key phrases, and (2) Web pages clustered into regions discussing different topics on a two-dimensional map (self-organizing map). In this paper, we present the major components of the Cancer Spider system and a user evaluation study designed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach. Initial results comparing Cancer Spider with NLM Gateway, a premium medical search site, have shown that they achieved comparable performances measured by precision, recall, and F-measure. Cancer Spider required less user searching time, fewer documents that need to be browsed, and less user effort.

The continued presence of pop music as a soundtrack for people's lives suggests that youth, in particular, will continue to use music each and every day, as individuals and in groups. In this thesis I argue that the ever-lengthening history of pop music has led to the development of a meta-narrative around the way youth relates to pop music. which is now influencing the way pop music is experienced. This meta-narrative has been constructed by academics, popular sociologists and the media and is built around a number of key assumptions: an excessive importance to charts and other ranking systems a focus on the late 60s and 70s as a critical period for youth and pop an exclusion of other narratives around gender and ethnicity a focus on subculture as a way of explaining youth and pop culture. This has occurred through the actions of mediators, such as pop music distributors and the mass media. The thesis chronicles the way these processes have occurred. by developing a quasi-historical account of the relationship between youth and pop. I believe that the history of pop, and the way that it is written, will have an increasing effect on the way youth uses pop music. Meanwhile, the need for youth to develop resources to deal with this history will become greater, otherwise consumption of pop music will become nothing more than a lifestyle choice and a way of passing time. There is enough evidence to suggest that youth will continue to use pop music in a significant and meaningful way to help them make sense of their cultural existence. This thesis explores the importance of history and meta-narrative on the way youth relates to pop music.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2009.
Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed January 5, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-159).

Systematische Übersichtsarbeiten klinischer Studien spielen bei der Beurteilung der Wirksamkeit prophylaktischer und therapeutischer Interventionen eine zentrale Rolle. Übersichtsarbeiten (im folgenden synonym mit der Bezeichnung Review gebraucht) werden dann als systematisch bezeichnet, wenn sie vordefinierte und transparente Methoden bzgl. Literatursuche, Studienselektion und Studienbewertung verwenden. Systematische Übersichtsarbeiten, bei denen die einbezogenen Studien (Primärstudien) in einer integrierenden statistischen Analyse wie eine einzige große Studie ausgewertet (gepoolt) werden, bezeichnet man als Meta-Analysen. Die vorliegende Monographie präsentiert 1. zwei größere eigene systematische Übersichtsarbeiten als Anwendungsbeispiele (Kapitel 2), 2. drei empirisch-methodische Untersuchungen zum Thema Studienqualität und deren Auswirkung auf das Ergebnis (Kapitel 3) und 3. eine Analyse der vorliegenden systematischen Übersichtsarbeiten in den Bereichen Akupunktur, Phytotherapie und Homöopathie (Kapitel 4). Sie versteht sich als Beitrag zur methodischen Diskussion und Entwicklung von systematischen Übersichtsarbeiten. Im ersten Anwendungsbeispiel wurde untersucht, ob Propranolol, Metoprolol und Flunarizin bei der prophylaktischen Behandlung der Migräne wirksamer sind als Placebo, ob die einzelnen Substanzen ähnlich wirksam sind bzw. wie wirksam sie im Vergleich zu anderen Medikamenten sind. Eingeschlossen wurden randomisierte klinische Studien an erwachsenen Migränepatienten mit mindestens 4 Wochen Dauer, in denen eine oder mehrere der genannten Substanzen mit Placebo oder einem anderen Medikament verglichen wurden. Die Literatursuche erfolgte in Medline und der Cochrane Library sowie über das Durchsuchen von Literaturverzeichnissen. Informationen zu Patienten, Interventionen und Ergebnissen wurden mit Hilfe eines vorgetesteten Formulars extrahiert. Die Qualität der Studien wurde mit drei Skalen beurteilt. Soweit möglich erfolgten Effektstärkeberechnungen für Therapieerfolg, Attackenhäufigkeit und Zahl der Patienten mit Nebenwirkungen. Eine quantitative Meta-Analyse wurde aufgrund der inkonsistenten und häufig inadäquaten Ergebnispräsentation in den Primärstudien nicht durchgeführt. Insgesamt entsprachen 57 Studien zu Propranolol (mit 25 Vergleichen vs. Placebo und 46 Vergleichen mit anderen Medikamenten), 16 zu Metoprolol (mit 4 Vergleichen vs. Placebo und 17 vs. andere) und 40 zu Flunarizin (mit 10 Vergleichen vs. Placebo und 36 vs. andere) den Einschlusskriterien. Die Qualität der Studien war in vielen Fällen unbefriedigend. Hauptproblem war die unzureichende Beschreibung von Studienabbrüchen und -ausschlüssen bzw. deren Berücksichtigung in der Analyse. Alle drei Substanzen waren in Bezug auf Therapieerfolg und Attackenzahl Placebo überlegen. Langzeiteffekte über 6 Monate hinaus und nach Absetzen können nicht sicher beurteilt werden. Mit wenigen Ausnahmen ergaben sich in Vergleichen mit anderen Substanzen keine signifikanten Unterschiede; die meisten Studien hatten jedoch zu geringe Fallzahlen, um potenziell relevante Unterschiede ausschließen zu können. Insgesamt kann die Wirksamkeit von Propranolol, Metoprolol und Flunarizin in der Migräneprophylaxe aufgrund der Konsistenz der Ergebnisse trotz der häufig unbefriedigenden Studienqualität als belegt angesehen werden. Im zweiten Anwendungsbeispiel wurde untersucht, ob Hypericumextrakte (Hypericum perforatum, Johanniskraut) bei der Behandlung von Depressionen (a) wirksamer sind als Placebo, (b) ähnlich wirksam sind wie synthetische Antidepressiva und (c) nebenwirkungsärmer sind als synthetische Antidepressiva. Eingeschlossen wurden randomisierte Studien an depressiven Patienten mit einer Therapiedauer von mindestens 4 Wochen, in denen ein Hypericummonoextrakt mit Placebo oder einem anderen Antidepressivum verglichen wurde. Die Literatursuche erfolgte in verschiedenen Datenbanken, über das Prüfen von Literaturverzeichnissen und über Kontakte mit Experten und Herstellern. Hauptzielkriterium für die Beurteilung der Wirksamkeit war der Responderanteil (meist definiert als ein Rückgang um 50% oder auf einen Wert von max. 10 auf der Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression). 33 Studien (23 Vergleiche mit Placebo, 12 mit anderen Antidepressiva) entsprachen den Einschlusskriterien. Im Vergleich zu Placebo erwiesen sich die Hypericumextrakte als deutlich überlegen, allerdings war der Effekt in neueren Studien und in Studien mit schwerer depressiven Patienten geringer ausgeprägt. Im Vergleich zu älteren und neueren Antidepressiva waren Hypericumextrakte ähnlich effektiv; Nebenwirkungen waren jedoch signifikant seltener. Aufgrund der vorliegenden Daten kann die Wirksamkeit von Hypericumextrakten bei leichten bis mittleren Depressionen als nachgewiesen gelten. Die Heterogenität in den Ergebnissen der einzelnen Studien deutet jedoch darauf hin, dass verschiedene Faktoren (möglicherweise Extraktwahl, Dosierung, Patientenklientel) die Effektivität beeinflussen. Die erste der drei empirisch-methodischen Analysen in Kapitel 3 untersucht die methodische Qualität randomisierter Studien zu Akupunktur, Phytotherapie und Homöopathie. Insgesamt 207 randomisierte Studien wurden einbezogen; diese waren im Rahmen von 5 systematischen Übersichtsarbeiten gesammelt und bewertet worden. Die Beurteilung der methodischen Qualität erfolgte mithilfe einer validierten Skala (Jadadscore) und Einzelitems. Die methodische Qualität der bewerteten Studien war in hohem Maße variabel, die Mehrzahl der Studien hatte relevante Schwächen. Hauptprobleme waren die Beschreibung der Verblindung der Gruppenzuteilung sowie von Studienabbrüchen und -ausschlüssen. Phytotherapiestudien hatten im Mittel bessere Qualität als Homöopathie- und Akupunkturstudien. Publikationen in einer Medline-gelisteten Zeitschrift, in jüngerer Vergangenheit und in englischer Sprache hatten im Mittel bessere Qualität als ältere, nicht in gelisteten Zeitschriften und in anderen Sprachen veröffentlichte Arbeiten. Die Qualitätsscores der komplementärmedizinischen Studien waren im Schnitt ähnlich wie diejenigen von Studien zu konventionellen Interventionen, die in ähnlichen Analysen bewertet worden waren. In der zweiten empirisch-methodischen Untersuchung wurde geprüft, ob ein Zusammenhang zwischen methodischer Qualität und Studienergebnis in 89 placebokontrollierten Studien zur Homöopathie besteht. Die Beurteilung der methodischen Qualität erfolgte mit zwei Skalen und Einzelkriterien. Ein potenzieller Zusammenhang zwischen methodischer Qualität wurde mit drei Methoden untersucht: Prüfung eines Zusammenhangs zwischen einzelnen Qualitätskomponenten und Studienergebnis (Komponentenanalyse), Vergleich von Studien, die eine bestimmte Minimumpunktzahl auf den Qualitätsskalen erreichten bzw. nicht erreichten (Mindestscoreanalyse), und konsekutiver Einschluss von Studien in die Meta-Analyse entsprechend den erreichten Qualitätsscores (kumulative Meta-Analyse). Mit allen drei Methoden ergab sich, dass bessere Studien weniger optimistische Ergebnisse erbracht hatten. In der dritten empirisch-methodischen Untersuchung wurde am Beispiel der klinischen Studien zu Akupunktur bei Kopfschmerzen die zuletzt angesprochene Thematik auch auf nichtkontrollierte Studien ausgeweitet. Es wurde geprüft, inwieweit sich randomisierte und nichtrandomisierte Studien in Bezug auf Patienten, Interventionen, design-unabhängige Qualitätsaspekte und Ergebnisse unterscheiden. 59 Studien (24 randomisierte und 35 nichtrandomisierte) konnten in die Analyse einbezogen werden. Randomisierte und nichtrandomisierte Studien unterschieden sich bzgl. Patienten und Interventionen zum Teil deutlich. Nichtrandomisierte Studien hatten im Schnitt schlechtere Qualität, jedoch gab es unter den randomisierten Studien sehr schlechte und unter den nichtrandomisierten auch gute Studien. Ein Randomisationsdesign und bessere Qualität waren mit weniger positiven Ergebnissen assoziiert. Die nichtrandomisierten Studien nutzten potenzielle Vorteile (bzgl. Fallzahl, Langzeitbeobachtung, Repräsentativität und Untersuchung prognostischer Faktoren) kaum. Der Einbezug nichtrandomisierter Studien in einen systematischen Review zur Evidenz für die Wirksamkeit der Akupunktur bei Kopfschmerzen hätte daher die Schlussfolgerungen kaum beeinflusst. In Kapitel 4 wurden die bis Frühjahr 2001 verfügbaren systematischen Übersichtsarbeiten zu Akupunktur, Phytotherapie und Homöopathie zusammengestellt. Die Suche erfolgte primär über die Datenbank des Bereichs Komplementärmedizin der Cochrane Collaboration und in Medline. Um als systematisch klassifiziert zu werden, mußte ein Review mindestens eines der folgenden drei Kriterien erfüllen: explizite Beschreibung von Literatursuche und Einschlusskriterien und/oder formale Beurteilung der methodischen Qualität der eingeschlossenen Studien und/oder Beschreibung und Durchführung einer quantitativen Meta-Analyse. 39 Reviews zur Akupunktur, 58 zur Phytotherapie und 18 zur Homöopathie entsprachen den Einschlusskriterien. Positive Schlussfolgerungen waren im Bereich Phytotherapie am häufigsten, bei der Akupunktur am seltensten. Die Qualität der Reviews war variabel, viele hatten jedoch relevante methodische Schwächen. Siebzehn Fragestellungen wurden von mehr als einer systematischen Übersicht bearbeitet. Die Zahl der eingeschlossenen Primärstudien variierte bei 10 von 17 Vergleichen um mehr als 50%. Unterschiede in den Einschlusskriterien und der Literatursuche erschienen als wahrscheinlichste Ursache für die Diskrepanzen, Unterschiede in der methodischen Qualität der Reviews schienen dagegen eine geringe Rolle zu spielen. Die Schlussfolgerungen waren trotz der Diskrepanzen häufig ähnlich. Die vorgelegten Anwendungsbeispiele, empirisch-methodischen Untersuchungen und die Zusammenstellung zu Akupunktur, Phytotherapie und Homöopathie demonstrieren Stärken und Schwächen von systematischen Reviews. Trotz der zu erwartenden methodischen Weiterentwicklungen werden derartige Übersichtsarbeiten auch in Zukunft mit Sorgfalt und Zurückhaltung interpretiert werden müssen.
Systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials have a central role in the assessment of the effectiveness of health care interventions. Reviews are considered systematic if they describe and use adequate methods for literature search, study selection, quality assessment and summary of study results. Meta-analyses are systematic reviews if the results of the included primary studies are pooled to calculate an overall effect size measure. This monograph reports 1) two major own systematic reviews as examples (chapter 2); 2) three empirical studies on the issue of study quality and its effect on outcome (chapter 3); and 3) an analysis of the available systematic reviews on acupuncture, herbal medicines, and homeopathy (chapter 4). The reported work aims to contribute to the further development of the methodology of systematic reviews. The first systematic review in chapter 2 investigates whether there is evidence that the prophylactic treatment of migraine with propranolol, metoprolol and flunarizine is more effective than placebo and how these drugs compare to each other and to other drugs for migraine prophylaxis. To be included studies had to be randomized trials of at least 4 weeks duration in adult migraine patients comparing one of the three drugs with placebo or another drug treatment. Studies were identified through the database Medline, the Cochrane Library, and screening of bibliographies. Information on patients, interventions, methods and results was extracted in a standardized manner. Methodological quality was assessed with three checklists. As far as possible effect size estimates were calculated for single trials for the outcomes response, frequency of attacks, and number of patients with side effects. A pooled effect size estimate was not calculated due to the inconsistent and often insufficient presentation of results in the primary studies. A total of 57 trials on propranolol (with 25 comparisons vs. placebo and 46 comparisons vs. other drugs), 16 on metoprolol (4 vs. placebo and 17 vs. other drugs), and 40 on flunarizine (10 vs. placebo and 36 vs. other drugs) met the inclusion criteria. The majority of trials had relevant methodological shortcomings. The major problems were the description of drop-outs and withdrawals and the lack of intention to treat analyses. All three drugs have been shown to be superior to placebo in respect to response rates and frequency of attacks. There is insuccifient data to assess long-term effects and duration of the treatment effects after stopping prophylaxis. Apart from few exceptions there were no statistically significant differences in effectiveness in comparisons with other drugs. However, most trials had insufficient power to rule out potentially relevant differences. Overall, despite considerable methodological shortcomings the short-term effectiveness of propranolol, metoprolol and flunarizine for migraine prophylaxis has been proven beyond reasonable doubt. The second systematic review in chapter 2 investigates whether extracts from St. John s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) are a) more effective than placebo, b) similarly effective as synthetic drugs, and c) have less side effects than synthetic drugs in the treatment of patients suffering from depression. Randomized trials in depressed patients were included if treatment with a hypericum mono-preparation for at least 4 weeks was compared with placebo or a synthetic antidepressant. Trials were identified from a variety of databases, by screening bibliographies, and through contacts with manufacturers and experts in the field. Main outcomes measure to assess effectiveness was the proportion of responders (mostly defined as patients with a 50% reduction vs. baseline or less than 10 points on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression). 33 trials (with 23 comparisons with placebo, and 12 with synthetic antidepressants) met the inclusion criteria. Hypericum extracts were markedly superior to placebo; however, the effect was smaller in more recent trials and in trials with patients suffering from more severe depression. The available trials indicate that hypericum extracts are similarly effective as both older and newer synthetic antidepressants in patients with mild and moderate depression and have less side effects. The heterogeneity of the observed effects suggests that a number of variables (mainly patient characteristics and quality of trials) influences outcomes. The first of the three empirical studies on review methodology in chapter 3 investigates the quality of randomized trials of acupuncture, herbal medicines, and homeopathy. A total of 207 studies originally collected for 5 systematic reviews were included in the analyses. Methodological quality was assessed with the validated scale by Jadad et al. and a number of single quality criteria. The quality of the included trials was highly variable but the majority of trials had relevant shortcomings. Major problems were the description of concealment of randomisation, and of drop-outs and withdrawals. In average, trials on herbal remdies had better quality than acupuncture and homeopathy trials. Publication in a Medline-listed journal, in more recent years and in English language was associated with better quality ratings. Compared to a sample of studies form conventional medicine from a similar analysis the average quality of trials in the three complementary medicine areas was very similar. The second study on methodology investigates whether there is an association between methodological quality and results in 89 placebo-controlled trials on homeopathy. Methodological quality was assessed with two score systems and single quality criteria. A potential association of quality and outcome was investigated with three approaches: 1) Testing whether the fulfillment of single criteria had impact on the pooled effect estimate (component analysis); 2) whether results of trials scoring a minimal number of points were different from those of trials with lower scores (minimal score analysis); 3) entering studies consecutively into the meta-analysis depending on the number of score points achieved (cumulative meta-analysis). With all three methods trials with better methodological quality were shown to yield less optimistic results. In the third study on methodology it was investigated whether randomized and non-randomized trials of acupuncture for chronic headache differ in regard to patients, interventions, design-independent quality aspects and results. 59 studies (24 randomized and 35 non-randomized) met the inclusion criteria. Randomized and non-randomized differed significantly regarding patient characteristics and interventions. In average, non-randomized studies had lower quality; however, there were also good quality non-randomized studies and randomized trials with very low quality. Studies with random assignment and better quality in general yielded less optimistic results. The non-randomized studies rarely took advantage of the possible strengths of such designs (in respect to sample size, long-term observation, representative sampling and investigation of prognostic factors). In the case of acupuncture for chronic headache the inclusion of non-randomized studies would not have altered the conclusions of a systematic review on effectiveness. In chapter 4 the systematic reviews on acupuncture, herbal medicines and homeopathy available until spring 2001 have been summarized. Eligible reviews were identified mainly through searches in the database of the Cochrane Collaboration s Complementary Medicine Field and in Medline. To be included a review had to meet at least one of the following criteria: explicit description of literature search and inclusion criteria; formal assessment of the methodological quality of the included primary studies; performance of a quantitative meta-analysis. 39 reviews on acupuncture, 58 on herbal medicines and 18 on homeopathy met the inclusion criteria. Positive conclusions were most frequent in herbal medicine, and rare in acupuncture. The quality of reviews was variable, but many had relevant shortcomings. 17 topics were adressed by more than one systematic reviews. In 10 of these 17 topics the number of included primary studies varied by more than 50%. Differencs in selection criteria and the literature search were the most likely cause for discrepancies. Differences in methodological quality had little impact. Conclusions were often similar despite discrepanices in methods and results. The examples and empirical studies on methodology presented in this monograph demonstrate the strengths and limitations of systematic reviews. Although it can be expected that the methods of systematic reviews will be improved in the future this kind of research will still have to be interpreted with great caution.

A published meta-analysis on breast cancer and vegetables and fruit consumption was described to present a methodology used on meta-analysis in Epidemiology. Meta-analysis confirmed the association between intake of vegetables (RR=0.74; 95%CI 0.65-0.84) and, to a lesser extent, fruit and breast cancer risk (RR=0.93; 95%CI 0.79-1.09). Using this methodology, present in a peer-reviewed journal, a systematic meta-analysis on melanoma was conducted extracting RRs from published studies. Fully adjusted estimates were obtained from those studies, when available; RRs adjusted for confounders not related to sun exposure, such as naevi, were considered for sun exposure and sunburns pooled estimates. Pooled estimates were obtained for all main risk factors for melanoma: sun exposure (total, intermittent and chronic), sunburns (in childhood and in adulthood), indicators of actinic damage, family history of melanoma and phenotype characteristics. Investigation of biases and inconsistencies among studies was one of the key phases of the meta-analysis to look for patterns among studies that might explain discrepant findings. The analyses on pigmented lesions and sun exposure showed that the choice of sources of cases and controls influenced significantly the estimate. An indication of a protective effect of chronic sun exposure came from studies that did not include subjects with dermatological problems (significantly different from the other studies: p=0.01). Publication year was an important factor for total sun exposure (p=0.005). Latitude of the study seemed to be an important factor for sunburns (p=0.002) and for high density of freckles (p=0.04). Estimates for hair colour and eye colour adjusted for phenotype and/or photo-type were significantly lower than unadjusted ones (p=0.06 and p=0.06, respectively). This study highlighted how several features of study design, type of analysis, categorization of exposures, study location and populations significantly explained between-study heterogeneity.

Apresentamos neste trabalho o uso de meta-análise sob um enfoque Bayesiano. Metaanálise se refere a métodos quantitativos que combinam resultados de estudos independentes para tirar conclusões gerais. Freqüentemente resultados de diferentes estudos são combinados de forma inadequada, resultando em uma análise inferencial não confiável. Métodos Bayesianos para meta-análise são preferíveis em vista do pequeno número de estudos que prevalecem em meta-análise. Para exemplificar o uso desta técnica, utilizamos alguns conjuntos de dados disponíveis na literatura e um conjunto de dados simulado. A análise Bayesiana foi possível devido a utilização de métodos de simulação de Monte Carlo via Cadeias de Markov.
This work is concerned with the use of meta-analysis from a Bayesian point of view. Meta-analysis is a quantitative method combining independent results to obtain global conclusions. Frequently different results are combined unapropriately leading to an unreliable inferential analysis. Bayesian methods for meta-analysis are preferred due to the small number of experiments which are caracteristc of this technique. Sets of data taken from the literature, were used to illustrate the use of the technique, and a simulation set. A Bayesian analysis is made possible through the use of Monte Cano simulation methods via Marcos\' Chains.

A aplicação de simulações numéricas em problemas de confiabilidade estrutural costuma estar associada a grandes custos computacionais, dada a pequena probabilidade de falha inerente às estruturas. Ainda que diversos casos possam ser endereçados através de técnicas de redução da variância das amostras, a solução de problemas envolvendo grande número de graus de liberdade, respostas dinâmicas, não lineares e problemas de otimização na presença de incertezas são comumente ainda inviáveis de se resolver por esta abordagem. Tais problemas, porém, podem ser resolvidos através de representações analíticas que aproximam a resposta que seria obtida com a utilização de modelos computacionais mais complexos, chamadas chamados meta-modelos. O presente trabalho trata da compilação, assimilação, programação em computador e comparação de técnicas modernas de meta-modelagem no contexto da confiabilidade estrutural, utilizando representações construídas a partir de redes neurais artificiais, expansões em polinômios de caos e através de krigagem. Estas técnicas foram implementadas no programa computacional StRAnD - Structural Reliability Analysis and Design, desenvolvido junto ao Departamento de Engenharia de Estruturas, USP, resultando assim em um benefício permanente para a análise de confiabilidade estrutural junto à Universidade de São Paulo.
The application of numerical simulations to structural reliability problems is often associated with high computational costs, given the small probability of failure inherent to the structures. Although many cases can be addressed using variance reduction techniques, solving problems involving large number of degrees of freedom, nonlinear and dynamic responses, and problems of optimization in the presence of uncertainties are sometimes still infeasible to solve by this approach. Such problems, however, can be solved by analytical representations that approximate the response that would be obtained with the use of more complex computational models, called meta-models. This work deals with the collection, assimilation, computer programming and comparison of modern meta-modeling techniques in the context of structural reliability, using representations constructed from artificial neural networks, polynomial chaos expansions and Kriging. These techniques are implemented in the computer program StRAnD - Structural Reliability Analysis and Design, developed at the Department of Structural Engineering, USP; thus resulting in a permanent benefit to structural reliability analysis at the University of São Paulo.

TESIS PARA OPTAR AL GRADO DE MAGÍSTER EN GESTIÓN DE PERSONAS Y DINÁMICA ORGANIZACIONAL
Día a día, nos vemos expuestos a contextos de toma de decisiones en los cuales los consejos que recibimos juegan un rol fundamental, sobre todo ante la gran variedad de contextos en los que no contamos con los conocimientos suficientes para tomar decisiones correctas. Pese a esto, a la fecha no se cuenta con una recopilación sistemática de carácter cuantitativo que permita vislumbrar qué variables influyen en la incorporación de consejos en la toma de decisiones. En este trabajo se busca encontrar la relación entre distintas variables y la toma de consejos con la finalidad de comprender su relevancia en la toma de decisiones. Para esto, se llevaron a cabo análisis de correlaciones, regresiones y análisis de mediación para dar una segunda vuelta a la mirada superficial que generalmente se hace a variables demográficas que típicamente su usan como control. Los resultados muestran que; el advicetaking es mayor a 30%; gente inexperta toma más advice; gente mayor toma menos advice; las mujeres toman más advice que los hombres; gente con mayor Confianza toma menos advice; el advice mejora la accuracy de las estimaciones; el efecto indirecto de la Edad sobre la accuracy de la estimación final, mediado por advice-taking, es negativo; el efecto indirecto del Sexo sobre advice-taking, mediado por accuracy de la estimación inicial, es positivo y; no existe efecto indirecto significativo entre Sexo y advice-taking mediando por Confianza. Posteriormente, se discuten las implicancias que tienen los resultados de este trabajo para la gestión de personas, en términos políticos y su contribución al conocimiento científico.

As one of the most popular forms of distributed computing technology, Grid brings together different scientific communities that are able to deploy, access, and run complex applications with the help of the enormous computational and storage power offered by the Grid infrastructure. However as the number of Grid applications has been growing steadily in recent years, they are now stored on a multitude of different repositories, which remain specific to each Grid. At the time this research was carried out there were no two well-known Grid application repositories sharing the same structure, same implementation, same access technology and methods, same communication protocols, same security system or same application description language used for application descriptions. This remained a great limitation for Grid users, who were bound to work on only one specific repository, and also presented a significant limitation in terms of interoperability and inter-repository access. The research presented in this thesis provides a solution to this problem, as well as to several other related issues that have been identified while investigating these areas of Grid. Following a comprehensive review of existing Grid repository capabilities, I defined the main challenges that need to be addressed in order to make Grid repositories more versatile and I proposed a solution that addresses these challenges. To this end, I designed a new Grid repository (GAMRS – Grid Application Meta-Repository System), which includes a novel model and architecture, an improved application description language and a matchmaking system. After implementing and testing this solution, I have proved that GAMRS marks an improvement in Grid repository systems. Its new features allow for the inter-connection of different Grid repositories; make applications stored on these repositories visible on the web; allow for the discovery of similar or identical applications stored in different Grid repositories; permit the exchange and re-usage of application and applicationrelated objects between different repositories; and extend the use of applications stored on Grid repositories to other distributed environments, such as virtualized cluster-on-demand and cloud computing.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia, Florianópolis, 2017.
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Introdução: No Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, publicado em 1921 por Ludwig Wittgenstein, o autor avisa que resolveu os problemas da filosofia. Mas o que dissolveu foram os pseudoproblemas filosóficos, pois na introdução do livro o próprio Wittgenstein explica que a formulação desses problemas se dá como consequência de um mal entendimento da lógica da linguagem. Por este motivo, Wittgenstein tenta traçar os limites da expressão dos pensamentos: demarcar o campo de ação da nossa linguagem ajudaria a evitar mal-entendidos. À primeira vista, parece que Wittgenstein estava preocupado pela possibilidade de conhecimento das ciências empíricas, pois considerava que era trabalho da filosofia delimitar aquelas. Porém, nessa mesma introdução ele adianta: ?? que pouco tem se conseguido uma vez que estes problemas têm sido resolvidos?. Nas Investigações Filosóficas, publicado em 1953, Wittgenstein explicou sua vontade de reler as teses do Tractatus; incluso considerou uma boa ideia a possibilidade de realizar uma publicação conjunta de ambos livros. Ao introduzir conceitos como jogos de linguagem, formas de vida, gramática e parecidos de família, o filósofo austríaco continuou trabalhando para traçar os limites do expressável por meio da linguagem. Mas esta vez a linha que separa o expressável do nao- expressável torna-se difusa e menos exata. Em ambos casos, aonde se pode localizar a ética? Está esta área da filosofia dentro dos limites do expressável? Existe uma mudança radical respeito a postura wittgensteiniana na relação com a ética em ambas obras? Na presente tese procuro responder essas perguntas e para fazê-lo, parto da premissa de que, na primeira etapa de seu pensamento, Wittgenstein era um não-cognitivista, porém não era um cético, um subjetivista, nem um relativista respeito à ética. A hipótese do meu trabalho é que Wittgenstein não muda radicalmente esta posição na sua segunda etapa. Contrário ao que alguns autores defendem, considero que não se pode deduzir um relativismo ético a partir das Investigações Filosóficas. Defenderei que a apertura de condições de sentido, proposta na publicação de 1953, poderia ser vista como uma apertura na possibilidade de expressão do conhecimento; porém, resulta difícil a inclusão da ética dentro dos âmbitos susceptíveis de serem conhecidos e, más difícil ainda, dentro daqueles conhecidos relativamente. Objetivo geral: O objetivo geral da pesquisa é estudar a influência da filosofia wittgensteiniana no âmbito da ética. Analisar até que ponto a obra de Wittgenstein pode ser utilizada para defender o relativismo ético. Objetivos secundários: a) Analisar as principais correntes do Cognitivismo e do Não- Cognitivismo metaético, especificamente respeito às premissas da normatividade moral. b) Contrastar ambas etapas da filosofia wittgenteiniana no plano epistemológico. c) Aplicar os conceitos epistemológicos subtraídos da filosofia wittgensteiniana ao discurso moral. d) Analisar os pressupostos da normatividade desde a perspectiva wittgensteiniana. f) Determinar se é possível a existência de uma visão que seja cognitivista e também relativista. Metodologia a ser usada: O principal instrumento metodológico a utilizado foi a análise conceitual, ou seja, analisaram-se as premissas de necessidade para que a aplicação dos conceitos mais importantes da filosofia wittgensteiniana seja possível. A investigação foi baseada na interpretação bibliográfica. A partir disso, foram elaboradas algumas conclusões gerais sobre o tema pesquisado procurando atingir os objetivos apresentados acima. Resultados da pesquisa: Depois de expor os principais conceitos da primeira etapa wittgensteiniana e compará-los com os principais conceitos da segunda etapa, concluiu-se que Wittgenstein continuou sendo um não-cognitivista metaético, e de sua filosofia não se segue um relativismo ético.

Abstract : The main goal of this thesis is to analyze if an ethical relativism could follow from Ludwig Wittgenstein´s Philosophical Investigations. My hypothesis is that an ethical relativism does not follow from the opening of the conditions of meaning that Wittgenstein presented in that book. To prove my hypothesis, I will list the conditions of sense that were defended in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and then I will try to locate ethics among those conditions. Afterwards, I will enumerate the main concepts of the Philosophical Investigations to search for the changes that happened regarding the Tractatus, and also to locate those points in which the Austrian philosopher did not change his perspective. Finally, I will list the different types of relativism that could be found among the different types of ethical discourse to question if the opening that the Philosophical Investigations proposed implies the possibility of the existence of ethical language games. Finally, I will argue that if the concept of form of life is read as a limit of the possibility of language, this means, as a transcendental limit knowledge, we can conclude that there is no ethical relativism.

The following document proposes a traceability solution for model-driven development. There as been already previous work done in this area, but so far there has not been yet any standardized way for exchanging traceability information, thus the goal of this project developed and documented here is not to automatize the traceability process but to provide an approach to achieve traceability that follows OMG standards, making traceability information exchangeable between tools that follow the same standards. As such, we propose a traceability meta-model as an extension of MetaObject Facility (MOF)1. Using MetaSketch2 modeling language workbench, we present a modeling language for traceability information. This traceability information then can be used for tool cooperation. Using Meta.Tracer (our tool developed for this thesis), we enable the users to establish traceability relationships between different traceability elements and offer a visualization for the traceability information. We then demonstrate the benefits of using a traceability tool on a software development life cycle using a case study. We finalize by commenting on the work developed.
Orientador: Leonel Nóbrega

Mestrado em Matemática e Aplicações
No mundo da ciência e investigação é comum encontrar dezenas e por vezes centenas de estudos sobre a mesma questão de pesquisa. Surge, então, cada vez mais a necessidade de agregar e sintetizar toda essa informação de maneira a que se torne mais útil aos investigadores. A meta-análise utiliza métodos estatísticos de forma a combinar e sumariar os resultados de vários estudos relacionados numa única medida resumo. Neste trabalho é feita uma breve descrição dos procedimentos mais comuns de meta-análise, em contexto de revisão sistemática, com maior ênfase nos modelos de efeito fixo e de efeitos aleatórios, nos métodos usados para obter o efeito global e nas formas de avaliação de heterogeneidade. É apresentada uma revisão sistemática e meta-análise realizada com o objetivo de avaliar a evolução, ao longo do tempo, da MIC (concentração mínima inibitória) de vancomicina em infeções por methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), e a existência de tendência. Para a meta-análise foram considerados os valores médios de MIC de vancomicina e a proporção de observações com valores de MIC de vancomicina superiores ou iguais a 2 mg/l e avaliada a sua tendência. Verificou-se, por meta-análise, que não há evidência estatística de aumento da MIC de vancomicina ao longo do tempo.
In the world of science and research it is common to find dozens and sometimes hundreds of studies on the same research question. Then comes the increasing need to aggregate and synthesize all this information so that it becomes more useful to researchers. Meta-analysis uses statistical methods to combine and summarize the results of several related studies in a single summary measure. This work presents a brief description of the most common meta-analysis procedures, in a systematic review context, focusing on fixed effect and random effects models, on methods used to obtain the overall effects and ways of evaluating heterogeneity. A systematic review and meta-analysis is presented in order to evaluate the evolution of the MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of vancomycin for infections by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), and the existence of trend. For the meta-analysis, the mean MIC values of vancomycin and the proportion of observations with vancomycin MIC values greater than or equal to 2 mg / l were considered, and their trend was evaluated. It was found, by meta-analysis, that there is no statistically evidence of MIC creep phenomenon over time.

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The current medley of interoperability protocols is potentially problematic. Each protocol is designed by a different group, each provides a single service, and has its own syntax and vocabulary. Popular protocols such as RSS are designed with simple and easy to understand documentation, which is a key factor for the high adoption levels. But the majority of protocols are complex, making them relatively difficult for programmers to understand and implement. This research proposes a possible new direction for high-level interoperability protocols design.