The missing heritability in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is an intriguing open scientific problem which has attracted great recent interest. The interaction effects among risk factors, both genetic and environmental, are hypothesized to be one of the main missing heritability sources. Moreover, detection of multilocus interaction effect may also have great implications for revealing disease/biological mechanisms, for accurate risk prediction, personalized clinical management, and targeted drug design. However, current analysis of GWAS largely ignores interaction effects, partly due to the lack of tools that meet the statistical and computational challenges posed by taking into account interaction effects. Here, we propose a novel statistically-based framework (Significant Conditional Association) for systematically exploring, assessing significance, and detecting interaction effect. Further, our SCA work has also revealed new theoretical results and insights on interaction detection, as well as theoretical performance bounds. Using in silico data, we show that the new approach has detection power significantly better than that of peer methods, while controlling the running time within a permissible range. More importantly, we applied our methods on several real data sets, confirming well-validated interactions with more convincing evidence (generating smaller p-values and requiring fewer samples) than those obtained through conventional methods, eliminating inconsistent results in the original reports, and observing novel discoveries that are otherwise undetectable. The proposed methods provide a useful tool to mine new knowledge from existing GWAS and generate new hypotheses for further research. Microarray gene expression studies provide new opportunities for the molecular characterization of heterogeneous diseases. Multiclass gene selection is an imperative task for identifying phenotype-associated mechanistic genes and achieving accurate diagnostic classification. Most existing multiclass gene selection methods heavily rely on the direct extension of two-class gene selection methods. However, simple extensions of binary discriminant analysis to multiclass gene selection are suboptimal and not well-matched to the unique characteristics of the multi-category classification problem. We report a simpler and yet more accurate strategy than previous works for multicategory classification of heterogeneous diseases. Our method selects the union of one-versus-everyone phenotypic up-regulated genes (OVEPUGs) and matches this gene selection with a one-versus-rest support vector machine. Our approach provides even-handed gene resources for discriminating both neighboring and well-separated classes, and intends to assure the statistical reproducibility and biological plausibility of the selected genes. We evaluated the fold changes of OVEPUGs and found that only a small number of high-ranked genes were required to achieve superior accuracy for multicategory classification. We tested the proposed OVEPUG method on six real microarray gene expression data sets (five public benchmarks and one in-house data set) and two simulation data sets, observing significantly improved performance with lower error rates, fewer marker genes, and higher performance sustainability, as compared to several widely-adopted gene selection and classification methods. / Ph. D.

The potential use of the Internet for apparel retail marketing is extremely viable (Murphy, 1998); however, most of the journal papers on apparel Internet shoppers are limited to the comparison of demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics between shoppers and non-shoppers (McKinney, 2004). Little empirical research has addressed the role of impulsiveness in online apparel shopping behavior. In the past, impulse buying was considered as something bad and consumers felt guilty after impulse buying (Ainslie 1975; Levy 1976). However, most researchers now no longer view impulse buying as a negative phenomenon because studies showed that impulse buying satisfies a number of hedonic desires (Piron 1991; Rook & Fisher 1995; Thompson, Locander, & Pollio 1990). Impulse buyers exhibited greater feelings of amusement, delight, enthusiasm, and joy (Weinberg & Gottwald, 1982) and often felt uplifted or energized after a shopping experience that involves impulse buying (Rook, 1987; Gardner & Rook, 1988; 1993) because impulse buying can provide the enjoyment of novelty and surprise, and the ability of mood alteration (i.e., breaking out of negative mood state) (Gardner & Rook, 1988; Rook, 1987). Recognizing the positive feelings generated from impulse buying and considering the increasing frequency of college students'' Internet shopping (Seock, 2003), one strategy to create competitive advantages in the apparel market of college students is to understand the variables related to impulse buying and based on the understanding provide a website that generates pleasurable shopping. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between online apparel impulse buying behavior and apparel involvement, apparel website attributes, and product category/price. The data were collected using an online survey with a structured questionnaire. To recruit participants, 37,590 e-mails were sent to six universities located in different regions of the United States. A total of 687 college students responded to the survey including 284 online apparel buyers, 194 non-online apparel buyers, and 209 non-apparel website visitors. When the impulsiveness of online apparel purchases in general was used to divide the participants into impulse buyer and non-impulse buyer groups, the Chi-square test results showed that there were significantly more female respondents in the impulse buyer group than in the non-impulse buyer group. However, when impulsiveness of last purchase was used to divide the participants into impulse purchase and non-impulse purchase groups, the results showed no significant difference between the genders. For other results, the findings were all consistent. Respondents in the impulse buyer and purchase groups than the non-impulse buyer and purchase groups had a greater amount of total monthly income and spent more money on apparel products. The impulse buyer and purchase groups visited websites that sold clothing/accessories more frequently and purchased more apparel products online over the past six months than the non-impulse buyer and purchase groups. These results suggest that impulse buyers are an important segment of the apparel online market. Four hypotheses were put forward to test the relationships among the variables. Before the proposed hypotheses could be examined, the factor analysis was first conducted to determine the constructs of apparel involvement and website attributes. The results showed that apparel involvement consisted of three factors (i.e., sign value/perceived importance, pleasure value, risk importance/probability) and website attributes consisted of four factors (i.e., website design, product presentation, promotion, product search/policy information). The results of MANOVA showed that the impulse buyer group perceived the sign value/perceived importance and the pleasure value of apparel involvement significantly higher, and perceived the risk importance/probability of apparel involvement significantly lower than the non-impulse buyer group. Based on the results, H1 was supported. Impulsive and non-impulsive online apparel buyers differed significantly in their apparel involvement. For H2, the results indicated that the impulse purchase group evaluated the website where they bought the last apparel item significantly better in website design, product presentation, promotion, and product search/policy information than the non-impulse purchase group. Based on the results, H2 was supported. The evaluations of the attributes of websites where impulse purchases and non-impulse purchases of apparel products were made were significantly different. Test of H3 showed that some product categories purchased by the respondents in the impulse purchase group were significantly different from those bought by the non-impulse purchase group. Categories such as shirt/blouse and belt were bought more frequently by the respondents in the impulse purchase group whereas shoes were bought more frequently by those in the non-impulse purchase group. The respondents in the impulse purchase group bought more items that cost less than $25 than those in the non-impulse purchase group. Based on the results H3 was supported. The product categories purchased by the impulse purchase group and non-impulse purchase group were significantly different. The multiple regression results showed that the sign value/perceived importance of apparel involvement contributed the most in explaining impulsiveness of online apparel buying behavior, followed by product price, risk importance/probability of apparel involvement, and product presentation of website attributes. Other factors, such as the pleasure value of apparel involvement and website attributes in website design, promotion, and product search/policy information, had no significant linear relationships with the impulsiveness of online apparel buying behavior. Based on the results, H4 was partially supported. From the results of the present study, it is concluded that apparel involvement, website attributes, and product price are closely related to the impulsiveness of consumers'' online apparel buying behavior. This study is beneficial to researchers and marketers by identifying possible psychological reasons for impulse buying as well as suggesting strategies to develop an apparel website that facilitate impulse buying behavior. / Ph. D.

In this work we set up a general framework for exact computations of the associativity, commutativity and duality morphisms in a quite general class of tortile categories. The source of the categories we study is the work of Gelfand and Kazhdan, Examples of tensor categories, Invent.Mlath. 109 (l992), 595-617. They proved that, associated to the quantized enveloping algebra of any simple Lie group at a primitive prime root of unity, there is a semisimple monoidal braided category with finite number of simple objects. The prime p needs to be greater than the Coxeter number of the corresponding Lie algebra. We show that each of the Gelfand-Kazhdan categories has at least two subcategories which are tortile, and offer algorithms for computing the associativity, commutativity and duality morphisms in any of those categories. A careful choice of the bases of the simple objects and of the product of two such objects rnake the exact computations possible. The algorithms have been implemented in Mathemetica and tested for the categories A₂,p=5, A₃,p=7, A₄.p=7, C₂,p=7, and G₂,p=11. This work was supported by the Center for Mathematical Computations through NSF grant DMS-9207973. / Ph. D.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第25097号 / 理博第5004号 / 新制||理||1714(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科数学・数理解析専攻 / (主査)教授 望月 新一, 教授 大木谷 耕司, 准教授 星 裕一郎 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) causes a wide range of diseases in chickens called colibacillosis, resulting a substantial economic loss to the poultry industry. This dissertation aims at addressing this disease by exploring key virulence-associated genes (VAGs), swarming motility (SM), and multi-locus sequence types (MLST) of E. coli isolates obtained from colibacillosis-infected or asymptomatic commercial hens. Secondly, by classifying the E. coli isolates into different virulence categories based on the presence of five key VAGs [iroN, ompT, hlyF, iutA, and iss]. Finally, by performing embryo lethality assays and experimental infection studies to establish the effect of these VAGs. Our findings showed a significantly higher proportion of E. coli isolates obtained from colibacillosis lesions possessed the ompT gene compared to the isolates of asymptomatic commercial hens. A trend of a higher occurrence of the iutA gene was also observed in the isolates of colibacillosis cases. Based on the presence of all five VAGs, we categorized 87.5% of the isolates obtained from colibacillosis lesions into the virulent category and 64.71% of the isolates obtained from asymptomatic commercial hens into the avirulent category. During the embryo lethality assay, we found an interaction effect of virulence categories and SM on embryo mortality. Motile and hyper-motile isolates of virulent and moderately virulent categories caused significantly higher embryo mortality than the non-motile isolates of the same categories. Isolates of the avirulent category significantly reduced the relative embryo weight of the remaining live embryos. The MLST of the isolates did not have any influence on embryo lethality, or relative embryo weight. Yolk sac retention of the remaining live embryo was unaffected by virulence category, MLST, and SM of the isolates. During the experimental infection studies, we observed higher mortality and lesion scores in layer chicks inoculated intratracheally by virulent isolates compared to avirulent isolates. These two classes of isolates also had a different colonization pattern in the extra-intestinal tissues. The avirulent isolates preferably colonized deeper respiratory tracts such as airsacs whereas, the virulent isolates colonized systemic organs such as the liver. Overall, we expect this dissertation will establish the contribution of five key VAGs on embryo and chick mortality, lesion development, and colonization pattern of E. coli isolates. These findings will facilitate the selection of VAGs for field diagnosis of APEC.

Over the past decades a considerable number of works have observed differences in the phonetic realization of nouns and verbs. The guiding question in most relevant research is whether such differences are caused by grammatical category per se, or are triggered by more general processes of phonetic implementation that impact nouns and verbs differently. Most studies argue for the latter and focus on one particular process or variable, which is advocated to be responsible for the acoustic differences observed. Among the processes mentioned are pre-boundary lengthening, accentuation, and frequency-induced reduction. Due to the focus on monofactorial explanations, an overview and contextualization of the different processes interacting with the noun-verb distinction is yet missing. The present paper aims to fill this gap. This goal is pursed by providing an in-depth discussion of how grammatical category interacts with a number of different processes that affect acoustic realization. To that end results from the literature on the topic are synthesized with new acoustic analyses of noun-verb homophones from spontaneous speech. The analysis shows that differences in acoustic realization between nouns and verbs are caused by the complex interplay of a number of different processes, defying simple, monofactorial explanations.

Les questions <EM>"Qu'est-ce qu'une preuve?"</EM> et <EM>"Quand deux preuves sont-elles identiques?"</EM> sont fondamentales pour la théorie de la preuve. Mais pour la logique classique propositionnelle --- la logique la plus répandue --- nous n'avons pas encore de réponse satisfaisante. C'est embarrassant non seulement pour la théorie de la preuve, mais aussi pour l'informatique, où la logique classique joue un rôle majeur dans le raisonnement automatique et dans la programmation logique. De même, l'architecture des processeurs est fondée sur la logique classique. Tous les domaines dans lesquels la recherche de preuve est employée peuvent bénéficier d'une meilleure compréhension de la notion de preuve en logique classique, et le célèbre problème NP-vs-coNP peut être réduit à la question de savoir s'il existe une preuve courte (c'est-à-dire, de taille polynomiale) pour chaque tautologie booléenne. Normalement, les preuves sont étudiées comme des objets syntaxiques au sein de systèmes déductifs (par exemple, les tableaux, le calcul des séquents, la résolution, ...). Ici, nous prenons le point de vue que ces objets syntaxiques (également connus sous le nom d'arbres de preuve) doivent être considérés comme des représentations concrètes des objets abstraits que sont les preuves, et qu'un tel objet abstrait peut être représenté par un arbre en résolution ou dans le calcul des séquents. Le thème principal de ce travail est d'améliorer notre compréhension des objets abstraits que sont les preuves, et cela se fera sous trois angles différents, étudiés dans les trois parties de ce mémoire: l'algèbre abstraite (chapitre 2), la combinatoire (chapitres 3 et 4), et la complexité (chapitre 5).

Submitted by Juliana Trad Verissimo (juliana.trad@gmail.com) on 2012-09-24T16:20:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTATION_JULIANA_VERISSIMO.pdf: 6958070 bytes, checksum: b8c2ba13a57f7e7c59bcc1d2b033be9c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br) on 2012-09-24T16:24:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTATION_JULIANA_VERISSIMO.pdf: 6958070 bytes, checksum: b8c2ba13a57f7e7c59bcc1d2b033be9c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-09-24T16:47:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTATION_JULIANA_VERISSIMO.pdf: 6958070 bytes, checksum: b8c2ba13a57f7e7c59bcc1d2b033be9c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-18 / In a dynamic and competitive global environment, many companies realize that continuous development and introduction of new products are key activities to their survival and growth. One of today’s biggest challenges to businesses involves knowing how to act in a world in which both the frame and the basis of competition are constantly changing, and where restructuring and portfolio shifting are central activities for capturing a fair share of global growth. Both the fast pace of technological innovation and the rising affluence of developing economies present businesses with risks and opportunities, and it is not only important that companies pay attention to the launch of top-notch products in developed markets, but also mandatory that they know how to launch old news to new markets. Using the Brazilian market as an example, this dissertation sought to study how multinational companies have been using advertising in the launch of new product categories and subcategories that are already sold elsewhere to new geographies. After reviewing the literature available, developing propositions, and evaluating those with the help of three case studies, it was possible to verify some linearity between the cases and the literature studied. These included the search for category legitimation preceding that of brand legitimation; the usage of expert sources to legitimate new categories; the usage of argument based appeals; and the advertising of more than one product feature per ad. Nevertheless, given some discrepancies noticeable between what was observed in Brazil and the literature consulted, it was also possible to verify that the way advertising cues are conducted in new geographies likewise depends on the competitive scenario faced, as well as on country specific economic and cultural variants. / Em um ambiente global dinâmico e competitivo, muitas empresas notam que constante desenvolvimento e lançamento de novos produtos são atividades-chave para seu crescimento e sobrevivência. Hoje, um dos maiores desafios enfrentados por tais empresas envolve saber como agir em um mundo em que tanto o escopo como a estrutura do ambiente competitivo estão em constante mudança, e em que reestruturações e mudanças de portfólio são centrais para as companhias que visam capitalizar com o crescimento global. Tanto o rápido ritmo de inovação tecnológica quando a crescente afluência de economias emergentes apresentam riscos e oportunidades para as empresas, o que torna importante não apenas que estas estejam atentas ao lançamento de produtos de última geração para mercados desenvolvidos: faz-se também necessário que saibam como lançar produtos antigos para novos mercados. Usando o mercado brasileiro como um exemplo, esta dissertação procurou estudar como multinacionais têm utilizado anúncios publicitários no lançamento, para novos mercados, de categorias e subcategorias de produtos já vendidas em outros países. Após uma revisão da literatura disponível, do desenvolvimento de proposições, e da avaliação destas através de três estudos de caso, foi possível verificar a existência de alguma linearidade entre os casos e a literatura estudada, incluindo: uma busca pela legitimação da categoria que precede àquela pela da marca; o uso de 'especialistas' para a legitimação da categoria; o uso de apelos baseados em argumentos; e a divulgação de mais de uma característica de produto por anúncio. No entanto, dadas algumas discrepâncias entre o que foi observado nos casos e aquilo descrito na literatura consultada, também foi possível verificar que a maneira como os anúncios são feitos em diferentes lugares depende igualmente do cenário competitivo enfrentado pela empresa, bem como de variantes econômicas e culturais específicas da localidade em questão.

Submitted by Pablo Possamai (pablopossamai@hotmail.com) on 2018-10-18T10:10:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Pablo Possamai_ Dissertacao MPA.pdf: 1765131 bytes, checksum: 4e094916d32dc4277f82617c65e9b309 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Mayara Costa de Sousa (mayara.sousa@fgv.br) on 2018-10-25T15:10:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Pablo Possamai_ Dissertacao MPA.pdf: 1765131 bytes, checksum: 4e094916d32dc4277f82617c65e9b309 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-10-26T12:47:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Pablo Possamai_ Dissertacao MPA.pdf: 1765131 bytes, checksum: 4e094916d32dc4277f82617c65e9b309 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-26T12:47:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pablo Possamai_ Dissertacao MPA.pdf: 1765131 bytes, checksum: 4e094916d32dc4277f82617c65e9b309 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-20 / A busca por eficiência e constante redução de custos tem levado muitas organizações a reestruturarem seus processos e suas atividades de compras com o objetivo de gerar maior competitividade para o negócio a partir de processos mais robustos. As compras estratégicas de bens e serviços indiretos têm ganhado espaço nas organizações, o que pode ser explicado, em parte, pela competitividade global, pressão por resultados financeiros e mudanças estruturais na indústria. O objetivo deste trabalho foi demonstrar, mediante estudos de caso centrados em serviços de marketing, jurídico e de logística internacional, como as compras indiretas podem ser gerenciadas de forma mais estratégica, para tanto, analisando como esses processos são conduzidos em uma indústria de cosméticos e como se comparam com a literatura. Este estudo abordou as diferentes situações de gastos indiretos, nesse sentido, identificando os gaps e as oportunidades existentes que possam ser explorados. Neste estudo foi abordado como o gerenciamento por categorias de compras, de acordo com a Matriz de Kraljic (1983), comparase com a classificação interna da empresa segundo as áreas clientes e compras. Demonstra-se que as compras de bens e serviços, quando realizadas de forma estratégica, com o uso de tecnologia e uma estrutura independente, geram ganhos competitivos por meio da redução de custos e permite que as áreas funcionais concentrem seus esforços na atividade principal da área. Os campos analisados foram: gerenciamento por categoria, processo de compras e como compras se relaciona com as outras áreas. Na conclusão, algumas recomendações são propostas para aumentar a efetividade da gestão de compras indiretas de serviços. / The search for efficiency and constant cost reduction has led many organizations to restructure their processes and their sourcing activities in order to generate greater competitiveness for the business thru more robust processes. Strategic sourcing of indirect goods and services have gained space in organizations, which can be partly explained by global competitiveness, pressure for financial results and structural changes in industry. The objective of this work was to demonstrate, through case studies focused on marketing, legal and international logistics services, how indirect sourcing can be managed in a more strategic way, by analyzing how these processes are conducted in a cosmetics industry and how they are compared to the literature. This study addressed the different situations of indirect costs, in this sense, identifying the existing gaps and opportunities that can be explored. In this study it was approached how the category management, according to the Kraljic Matrix (1983), compares with the internal classification of the company according to the internal customers and sourcing areas. It is demonstrated that the sourcing of goods and services, when carried out in a strategic way, using technology and an independent structure, generates competitive gains through cost reduction and allows the functional areas to concentrate their efforts on thei main activities. The fields analyzed were: category management, sourcing processes and how the sourcing interacts with the other areas in the organization. In the conclusion, some recommendations are proposed to increase the effectiveness of indirect sourcing management.

We define and study the fundamental pro-finite 2-groupoid of varieties X defined over a field k. This is a higher algebraic invariant of a scheme X, analogous to the higher fundamental path 2-groupoids as defined for topological spaces. This invariant is related to previously defined invariants, for example the absolute Galois group of a field, and Grothendieck’s étale fundamental group. The special case of Brauer-Severi varieties is considered, in which case a “sections conjecture” type theorem is proved. It is shown that a Brauer-Severi variety X has a rational point if and only if its étale fundamental 2-groupoid has a special sort of section.