This thesis deals with machine learning techniques for the extraction of structure and the analysis of the vertebrate olfactory pathway based on related methods. Some of its main contributions are summarized below. We have performed a systematic investigation for classification in biomedical images with the goal of recognizing a material in these images by its texture. This investigation included (i) different measures for evaluating the importance of image descriptors (features), (ii) methods to select a feature set based on these evaluations, and (iii) classification algorithms. Image features were evaluated according to their estimated relevance for the classification task and their redundancy with other features. For this purpose, we proposed a framework for relevance and redundancy measures and, within this framework, we proposed two new measures. These were the value difference metric and the fit criterion. Both measures performed well in comparison with other previously used ones for evaluating features. We also proposed a Hopfield network as a method for feature selection, which in experiments gave one of the best results relative to other previously used approaches. We proposed a genetic algorithm for clustering and tested it on several realworld datasets. This genetic algorithm was novel in several ways, including (i) the use of intra-cluster distance as additional optimization criterion, (ii) an annealing procedure, and (iii) adaptation of mutation rates. As opposed to many conventional clustering algorithms, our optimization framework allowed us to use different cluster validation measures including those which do not rely on cluster centroids. We demonstrated the use of the clustering algorithm experimentally with several cluster validity measures as optimization criteria. We compared the performance of our clustering algorithm to that of the often-used fuzzy c-means algorithm on several standard machine learning datasets from the University of California/Urvine (UCI) and obtained good results. The organization of representations in the brain has been observed at several stages of processing to spatially decompose input from the environment into features that are somehow relevant from a behavioral or perceptual standpoint. For the perception of smells, the analysis of such an organization, however, is not as straightforward because of the missing metric. Some studies report spatial clusters for several combinations of physico-chemical properties in the olfactory bulb at the level of the glomeruli. We performed a systematic study of representations based on a dataset of activity-related images comprising more than 350 odorants and covering the whole spatial array of the first synaptic level in the olfactory system. We found clustered representations for several physico-chemical properties. We compared the relevance of these properties to activations and estimated the size of the coding zones. The results confirmed and extended previous studies on olfactory coding for physico-chemical properties. Particularly of interest was the spatial progression by carbon chain that we found. We discussed our estimates of relevance and coding size in the context of processing strategies. We think that the results obtained in this study could guide the search into olfactory coding primitives and the understanding of the stimulus space. In a second study on representations in the olfactory bulb, we grouped odorants together by perceptual categories, such as floral and fruity. By the application of the same statistical methods as in the previous study, we found clustered zones for these categories. Furthermore, we found that distances between spatial representations were related to perceptual differences in humans as reported in the literature. This was possibly the first time that such an analysis had been done. Apart from pointing towards a spatial decomposition by perceptual dimensions, results indicate that distance relationships between representations could be perceptually meaningful. In a third study, we modeled axon convergence from olfactory receptor neurons to the olfactory bulb. Sensory neurons were stimulated by a set of biologically-relevant odors, which were described by a set of physico-chemical properties that covaried with the neural and glomerular population activity in the olfactory bulb. Convergence was mediated by the covariance between olfactory neurons. In our model, we could replicate the formation of glomeruli and concentration coding as reported in the literature, and further, we found that the spatial relationships between representational zones resulting from our model correlated with reported perceptual differences between odor categories. This shows that natural statistics, including similarity of physico-chemical structure of odorants, can give rise to an ordered arrangement of representations at the olfactory bulb level where the distances between representations are perceptually relevant. / <p>QC 20120224</p>

L'efecte hipnòtic en el cinema postmodern desenvolupa una aproximació al discurs postmodern a través de la categoria estètica d'allò sinistre (das unheimliche), com el camí que senyala l'ombra i el fantasma, el desplaçament del subjecte i la representació de l'inconscient, el real del desig, per mitjà de la metàfora de la hipnosi aplicada al cinema.Hypnotic effect in postmodern cinema develops an approach to postmoden theories throught the sinister aesthetic category (das unheimliche), understood as the way that shows the shadow and the ghost, the subject displacement and the unconsciousness representation, the real of the desire, by the metaphor of hypnosis applied to cinema.

Many Climate Scientists believe that global warming will produce more extreme weather events such as tropical storms, hurricanes, intense rainfall, and flooding. These events are considered to be the most catastrophic natural events for transportation systems especially in coastal areas. Due to the severe damage from storm surge and flooding. Evaluating the magnitude of possible storm surges and their impacts on transportation systems in coastal areas is fundamental to developing adaptation plans and impact assessments to mitigate the damage. This thesis focuses on existing transportation systems in the Georgia coastal area that could be affected by several storm surges. An existing storm surge model is used to estimate the storm surges and the surge heights based on the category, direction, and forward speed of a storm. The ground elevation of the ports, interstates, state roads, railroads, and the principal airports on the Georgia coast are identified through a GIS analysis using the national elevation data set. Having the storm surge elevation and the elevation of the existing infrastructure, a GIS study is performed to identify those parts of the transportation system that will be affected by each type of storm giving results such as the length or sections of transportation assets under or above the surge elevation. A literature review of storm surge, rising sea levels, and their impacts on coastal bridges, roads, airports, ports, and railroads is presented in the thesis. Also, a description of the software used to analyze and estimate the impacts of climate change on transportation systems is described.

本研究以原產品與延伸產品之「認知產品類別相似度」為中介變數，探討「品牌延伸」及「品牌傘」兩種新產品品牌策略對於消費者評價反向延伸之影響。反向延伸意指「當原屬於品類A（以下稱原品類）的廠商1（以下稱原廠商）品牌延伸至另一個品類B（以下稱延伸品類）後，原屬於品類B的廠商2（以下稱反向延伸廠商）亦反向延伸至品類A。」研究中並探討「消費者產品知識」與「原廠商品牌寬度」兩者對於新產品品牌策略的調節效果，進而影響消費者認知品類相似度及反向延伸評價。 本研究採2（新產品成功之品牌策略：品牌延伸策略、品牌傘策略）x2（原廠商品牌寬度：窄品牌Nokia、寬品牌LG）x2（消費者產品知識：產品知識高、產品知識低）之實驗設計，並設計無提供先前延伸成功經驗之控制組。根據前測結果，選定手機為原品牌之原產品、數為相機為延伸產品。推出新產品之原手機廠商之窄品牌為Nokia、寬品牌為LG，而數位相機廠商進行反向延伸的品牌則為Canon。 研究結果發現，原產品與延伸產品類別之認知品類相似度為新產品品牌策略與反向延伸評價之中介變數，且當原廠商跨產品類別推出新產品成功，相較於品牌傘策略，品牌延伸策略將使消費者對於認知產品品類相似度提升效果較大、反向延伸之評價也較好。調節效果方面，當消費者產品知識低時，消費者之認知產品類別相似度被提昇的程度較高，且有較佳之反向延伸評價，然其於不同品牌策略間所產生的差異較小；原廠商認知品牌寬度方面，當品牌寬度窄時，消費者之認知產品類別相似度被提昇的程度亦較高，且亦有較佳的反向延伸評價，然品牌寬度較窄的廠商於不同品牌策略間所造成的認知產品類別相似度及反向延伸評價之提升效果差異皆較大。

Die Dissertation besteht aus einem Einleitungsteil und drei empirischen Beiträgen. Die Einleitung gibt eine Einführung in das Themengebiet der Selbstwertschätzung und deren Erfassung mit indirekten Verfahren. Vor allem aber dient sie dazu, die empirischen Befunde der Beiträge zu integrieren. Die ersten beiden Artikel widmen sich der Überprüfung der psychometrischen Qualität indirekter Verfahren. Das Augenmerk des ersten Beitrags liegt auf der Prüfung, ob verschiedene indirekte Verfahren konvergieren und ob explizite und implizite Selbstwertschätzung korrespondieren, wenn implizite Selbstwertschätzung reliabel erfasst wird. Außerdem werden strukturelle Ähnlichkeiten der indirekten Verfahren in die Betrachtungen mit einbezogen. Der zweite Beitrag komplettiert die Untersuchungen zur Güte der Verfahren. Der Fokus dieses Beitrags liegt im Nachweis der prädiktiven Validität verschiedener indirekter Verfahren. Dabei werden Kriterien herangezogen, die nicht im Selbstbericht erhoben werden. Im Detail wird eine doppelte Dissoziation zwischen expliziter und impliziter Selbstwertschätzung geprüft. Der dritte Beitrag rundet diese Arbeit ab, da er sich auch einem anwendungsbezogenen Aspekt der Persönlichkeitspsychologie widmet. Untersucht wird der Zusammenhang zwischen defensiven Verhaltensweisen und Selbstwertdiskrepanzen, also der Kombination expliziter und impliziter Selbstwertschätzung. / The dissertation consists of an introduction and three empirical journal articles. The introduction gives the theoretical background about self-esteem and its assessment with indirect measures, and primarily, integrates the three journal articles. The first article investigates the reliability and convergent and discriminant validity of indirect measures of self-esteem. The second article complements the examination of the psychometric properties. It contributes evidence to the predictive validity of indirect self-esteem measures. With using non-self-reported criteria, a double dissociation between explicit and implicit self-esteem is tested. The third article brings into focus an applied aspect of personality psychology. It is analyzed how defensive reactions are related to self-esteem discrepancies, that are different combinations of explicit and implicit self-esteem.

No description available.

Объект исследования: дискурс элитарных средств информации (от англ. elite media ― термин, зафиксированный в англоязычной специальной литературе (Jamieson 1992). В работе исследуются три «отдельных случая» (case studies), три разных по объему содержательных пространства таких языковых знаков как статья газетного издания, рубрика журнала и отдельный выпуск издания. А именно: одна из статей, опубликованных в воскресном приложении «Domenica» к газетному итальянскому изданию «Il Sole 24 Ore»); одна из рубрик англоязычного журнала «Harvard Business Review»); один из выпусков англоязычного журнала «The Lion»). "Harvard Business Review" — самое авторитетное англоязычное журнальное издание по менеджменту [www.harvardbusinessreview.com]. "Il Sole 24 Ore" — влиятельное политико-финансово-правовое газетное издание Италии [www.giornalilocali.it/quotidiani/il-sole-24-ore.htm]. Выбор журнала "The Lion" дополняет выборку исследования и является международным клубным журнальным изданием закрытого типа, распространяемое по подписке исключительно среди членов клуба (Lions Club International – самая крупная элитарная благотворительная организация в мире). Методологическая основа исследования: каузально-генетическая теория, репрезентирующая белорусскую школу дискурс-анализа (см. работы Ухвановой-Шмыговой, Поповой, Маркович, Савич, Курчак). Каузально-генетическая теория ориентирована на изучение функционального многопланового содержания сложных языковых знаков; включает в ядро содержания... [полный текст, см. далее] / Tyrimo objektas: elitinės žiniasklaidos diskursas (elite media – terminas, vartojamas anglų literatūroje (Jamieson 1992)). Darbe nagrinėjami trys „atskiri atvejai“ (case studies), trys skirtingo dydžio turiningos kalbos ženklų erdvės – laikraštinio leidinio straipsnis, žurnalo rubrika ir atskiras leidinio leidimas. Tai yra: vienas iš straipsnių, išspausdintų italų leidinio „Il Sole 24 Ore“ sekmadieniniame priede „Domenica“; viena iš angliško žurnalo „Harvard Business Review“ rubrikų; vienas iš angliško žurnalo „The Lion“ leidimų. „Harvard Business Review” – pats autoritetingiausias angliškas žurnalas apie vadybą [www.harvardbusinessreview.com]. „Il Sole 24 Ore“ – įtakingas politinis, finansinis ir teisinis Italijos laikraštis [www.giornalilocali.it/quotidiani/il-sole-24-ore.htm]. Pasirenkant žurnalą „The Lion” buvo papildyta tyrimo medžiaga – tai klubinis uždaro tipo žurnalinis leidinys, platinamas pagal prenumeratą tik klubo nariams (Lions Club International – didžiausia pasaulio elitinė labdaros organizacija). Tyrimo metodologinis pagrindas: kauzalinė-genetinė teorija, reprezentuojanti baltarusių diskurso analizės mokyklą (žr. Uchvanovos-Šmygovos, Popovos, Markovič, Savič, Kurčiak darbus). Kauzalinė-genetinė teorija skirta tyrinėti sudėtingų kalbos ženklų daugiaplanį funkcinį turinį; pagal ją turinio branduoliui priklauso referentinė (informacija apie bendravimo dalyką) ir kortežinė (informacija apie komunikacijos dalyvius – bendravimo kortežą), ženklinė-referentinė ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Discourse of elite media is my research field. Elite media define outlets or programmes having a (inter)national impact, although their audience may be relatively small and geographically limited; these media are opinion leaders; they are an elite group that affects the decisions made in other media (Jamieson, Kathleen Hall 1992). There are three case studies covered in the research paper. The case studies are based on different in size and volume printed elite media texts, and they are: one of the articles published in the Sunday Supplement Domenica to Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore; one of the sections published in the Harvard Business Review magazine; one of the issues of The Lion magazine. The Harvard Business Review is pre-eminent in the financial and top-management community [www.harvardbusinessreview.com]. The Il Sole 24 Ore is considered to be a professional setter of standards in Italy; it is trusted, respected, and used by other journalists [www.giornalilocali.it/quotidiani/il-sole-24-ore.htm]. The Lion magazine is an international club magazine and is distributed on subscription basis exclusively among members of the Lions Club International which is the largest elite charity organization in the world. Causal-genetic theory representing Belarusian school of discourse-analysis is a core methodology used in my research (Oukhvanova, Popova, Markovich, Savich, Kurchak). Causal-genetic theory (hereinafter CGTh) is a contribution to the study of functional and... [to full text]

Discourse of elite media is my research field. Elite media define outlets or programmes having a (inter)national impact, although their audience may be relatively small and geographically limited; these media are opinion leaders; they are an elite group that affects the decisions made in other media (Jamieson, Kathleen Hall 1992). There are three case studies covered in the research paper. The case studies are based on different in size and volume printed elite media texts, and they are: one of the articles published in the Sunday Supplement Domenica to Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore; one of the sections published in the Harvard Business Review magazine; one of the issues of The Lion magazine. The Harvard Business Review is pre-eminent in the financial and top-management community [www.harvardbusinessreview.com]. The Il Sole 24 Ore is considered to be a professional setter of standards in Italy; it is trusted, respected, and used by other journalists [www.giornalilocali.it/quotidiani/il-sole-24-ore.htm]. The Lion magazine is an international club magazine and is distributed on subscription basis exclusively among members of the Lions Club International which is the largest elite charity organization in the world. Causal-genetic theory representing Belarusian school of discourse-analysis is a core methodology used in my research (Oukhvanova, Popova, Markovich, Savich, Kurchak). Causal-genetic theory (hereinafter CGTh) is a contribution to the study of functional and... [to full text] / Tyrimo objektas: elitinės žiniasklaidos diskursas (elite media – terminas, vartojamas anglų literatūroje (Jamieson 1992)). Darbe nagrinėjami trys „atskiri atvejai“ (case studies), trys skirtingo dydžio turiningos kalbos ženklų erdvės – laikraštinio leidinio straipsnis, žurnalo rubrika ir atskiras leidinio leidimas. Tai yra: vienas iš straipsnių, išspausdintų italų leidinio „Il Sole 24 Ore“ sekmadieniniame priede „Domenica“; viena iš angliško žurnalo „Harvard Business Review“ rubrikų; vienas iš angliško žurnalo „The Lion“ leidimų. „Harvard Business Review” – pats autoritetingiausias angliškas žurnalas apie vadybą [www.harvardbusinessreview.com]. „Il Sole 24 Ore“ – įtakingas politinis, finansinis ir teisinis Italijos laikraštis [www.giornalilocali.it/quotidiani/il-sole-24-ore.htm]. Pasirenkant žurnalą „The Lion” buvo papildyta tyrimo medžiaga – tai klubinis uždaro tipo žurnalinis leidinys, platinamas pagal prenumeratą tik klubo nariams (Lions Club International – didžiausia pasaulio elitinė labdaros organizacija). Tyrimo metodologinis pagrindas: kauzalinė-genetinė teorija, reprezentuojanti baltarusių diskurso analizės mokyklą (žr. Uchvanovos-Šmygovos, Popovos, Markovič, Savič, Kurčiak darbus). Kauzalinė-genetinė teorija skirta tyrinėti sudėtingų kalbos ženklų daugiaplanį funkcinį turinį; pagal ją turinio branduoliui priklauso referentinė (informacija apie bendravimo dalyką) ir kortežinė (informacija apie komunikacijos dalyvius – bendravimo kortežą), ženklinė-referentinė ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Объект исследования: дискурс элитарных средств информации (от англ. elite media ― термин, зафиксированный в англоязычной специальной литературе (Jamieson 1992). В работе исследуются три «отдельных случая» (case studies), три разных по объему содержательных пространства таких языковых знаков как статья газетного издания, рубрика журнала и отдельный выпуск издания. А именно: одна из статей, опубликованных в воскресном приложении «Domenica» к газетному итальянскому изданию «Il Sole 24 Ore»); одна из рубрик англоязычного журнала «Harvard Business Review»); один из выпусков англоязычного журнала «The Lion»). "Harvard Business Review" — самое авторитетное англоязычное журнальное издание по менеджменту [www.harvardbusinessreview.com]. "Il Sole 24 Ore" — влиятельное политико-финансово-правовое газетное издание Италии [www.giornalilocali.it/quotidiani/il-sole-24-ore.htm]. Выбор журнала "The Lion" дополняет выборку исследования и является международным клубным журнальным изданием закрытого типа, распространяемое по подписке исключительно среди членов клуба (Lions Club International – самая крупная элитарная благотворительная организация в мире). Методологическая основа исследования: каузально-генетическая теория, репрезентирующая белорусскую школу дискурс-анализа (см. работы Ухвановой-Шмыговой, Поповой, Маркович, Савич, Курчак). Каузально-генетическая теория ориентирована на изучение функционального многопланового содержания сложных языковых знаков; включает в ядро содержания... [полный текст, см. далее]

La capture contingente de l’attention est un phénomène dans lequel les mécanismes d’orientation endogène et exogène de l’attention interagissent, de sorte qu’une propriété qui est pertinente à la tâche en cours, et donc qui fait l’objet de contrôles attentionnels descendants, endogènes, capture l’attention de façon involontaire, exogène, vers sa position spatiale. Dans cette thèse, trois aspects de ce phénomène ont été étudiés. Premièrement, en explorant le décours temporel de la capture contingente de l’attention et la réponse électrophysiologique à des distracteurs capturant ainsi l’attention, il a été établi que le déficit comportemental symptomatique de cette forme de capture était lié à un déploiement de l’attention visuospatiale vers la position du distracteur, et que ce traitement spatialement sélectif pouvait être modulé par le partage d’autres propriétés entre le distracteur et la cible. Deuxièmement, l’utilisation des potentiels liés aux événements a permis de dissocier l’hypothèse de capture contingente de l’attention et l’hypothèse de capture pure de l’attention. Selon cette interprétation, un stimulus ne peut capturer l’attention aux stades préattentifs de traitement que s’il présente le plus fort signal ascendant parmi tous les stimuli présents. Les contrôles attentionnels descendants ne serviraient donc qu’à désengager l’attention d’un tel stimulus. Les résultats présentés ici vont à l’encontre d’une telle interprétation, puisqu’un déploiement de l’attention visuospatiale, indexé par la présence d’une N2pc, n’a été observé que lorsqu’un distracteur périphérique possédait une caractéristique pertinente à la tâche en cours, même lorsque ses propriétés de bas niveau n’étaient pas plus saillantes que celles des autres items présents. Finalement, en utilisant un paradigme où la cible était définie en fonction de son appartenance à une catégorie alphanumérique, il a été démontré que des contrôles attentionnels en faveur d’un attribut conceptuel pouvaient guider l’attention visuospatiale de façon involontaire, rejetant une nouvelle fois l’hypothèse de la capture pure de l’attention. / Contingent involuntary orienting is a phenomenon in which endogenous and exogenous attentional mechanisms interact, such that an item captures attention only if it shares an attribute that is relevant for the task at hand. Hence, top-down attentional control settings are established endogenously in favour of the relevant attribute, but stimuli sharing this attribute draw attention to their location involuntarily. The present thesis explores three aspects of this phenomenon. First, by studying the time course of this contingent capture effect, and by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) to capturing distractors, it has been established that the performance deficits linked to contingent capture are in fact due to a deployment of visuospatial attention to the location of the distractor. Moreover, this spatially selective processing of the capturing distractor can be modulated if the distractor shares another target attribute, beside the target defining attribute. The ERP technique also permitted the dissociation of the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis and the pure capture with brief attentional dwell time hypothesis. According to the latter interpretation, only salient singletons have the ability to capture attention at preattentive stages of processing. Therefore, top-down attentional control settings serve only to disengage attention from the location of such singletons when they do not share target features. The present results argue against this interpretation, because a deployment of visuospatial attention, indexed by the presence of the N2pc, was observed only in response to peripheral distractors sharing the target-defining attribute, even when all items in the stimulus displays were equated in terms of bottom-up salience. Lastly, when alphanumeric category was used to define the target, it was shown that top-down attentional control settings in favour of such conceptual attributes could be successfully implemented and used to guide visuospatial attention in an exogenous fashion, providing further evidence against the pure capture hypothesis.

Dans cette thèse nous développons une théorie de catégories faiblement enrichies . Par 'faiblement' on comprendra ici une catégorie dont la composition de morphismes est associative à homotopie près; à l'inverse d'une catégorie enrichie classique où la composition est strictement associative. Il s'agit donc de notions qui apparaissent dans un contexte homotopique. Nous donnons une notion de catégorie enrichie de Segal et une notion de catégorie enrichie co-Segal; chacune de ces notions donnant lieu à une structure de catégorie supérieure. L'une des motivations de ce travail était de fournir une théorie de catégories linéaires supérieures, connues pour leur importance dans des différents domaines des mathématiques, notamment dans les géométries algébriques commutative et non-commutative. La première partie de la thèse est consacrée à la notion de catégorie enrichie de Segal. Nous définissons une telle catégorie enrichie comme morphisme (colax) de 2-catégories satisfaisant certaines conditions dites conditions de Segal . Le fil rouge de notre démarche est la définition de monoïde à homotopie près donnée par Leinster. Les monoïdes de Leinster correspondent précisément aux catégories enrichies de Segal avec un seul objet; ici on suit la coutume en théorie des catégories qui consiste à identifier un monoïde avec l'espace des endomorphismes d'un objet. Notre contribution ici est donc une généralisation des travaux de Leinster. Nous montrons comment notre formalisme couvre le cas des catégories de Segal classique, les monoïdes de Leinster et surtout apporte une définition de DG-catégorie de Segal. Les catégories enrichies 'classiques' sont des catégorie enrichies sur une catégorie monoïdale. L'École australienne a étudié la notion plus générale de catégorie enrichie lorsqu'on remplace 'monoïdale' par '2-catégorie'. Notre formalisme généralise de manière naturelle le cas australien en ajoutant de l'homotopie dans la 2-catégorie sur laquelle on enrichit. Les principaux résultats de la thèse sont dans la deuxième partie qui porte sur les catégories enrichies co-Segal. Nous avons introduit ces nouvelles structures lorsqu'on s'est aperçu que les catégories enrichies de Segal ne sont pas faciles à manipuler pour faire une théorie de l'homotopie. En effet il semble devoir imposer une condition supplémentaire qui est trop restrictive dans beaucoup de cas. Ces nouvelles catégories s'obtiennent en 'renversant' la situation du cas Segal, d'où le préfixe 'co' dans 'co-Segal'. Nous définissons une catégorie co-Segal comme morphisme (lax) de 2-catégories satisfaisant des conditions co-Segal . Ces structures se révèlent plus souples à manipuler et notamment pour faire de l'homotopie. Notre résultat principal est l'existence d'une structure de modèles au sens de Quillen sur la catégorie des précatégories co-Segal; avec comme particularité que les objets fibrants sont des catégories co-Segal. Cette structure de modèle s'obtient comme localisation de Bousfield et repose sur des méthodes initialement développées par Jardine et Joyal.