Frequently evidentiary items contain an insufficient quantity of DNA to obtain complete or even partial DNA profiles using standard forensic gentotyping techniques. Here, various methods of post PCR purification were evaluated for their effects on the sensitivity of fluophore-based allelic detection. A method of post PCR purification is described which increases the sensitivity of standard 28 cycle PCR such that low copy number DNA templates (<100 pg DNA) can be analyzed. Full profiles were consistently obtained with as little as 20 pg template DNA without increased cycle number. In mock case type samples with dermal ridge fingerprints, genetic profiles were obtained by amplification with 28 cycles followed by post-PCR purification whereas no profiles were obtained without purification of the PCR product. Allele drop-out, increased stutter, and contamination (allele drop-in) typical of LCN analysis were observed. A single incident of contamination was observed in a reagent blank (not duplicated upon re-amplification) however, no contamination was observed in negative amplification controls.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The hard equation of railway safety versus the high commercial profits can only be achieved through the use of new inspection methods supported by modern technologies. The track and its components can have different types of troubles, such as rail surface defects, broken sleepers, missing fasteners, and irregular ballast levels. Each component of the track infrastructure plays a significant role, where the failure or the absence of any of them can pave the way to undesired situations. The rail is designed to carry and direct the train, the sleepers are meant to maintain the level of the rail, and the ballast mission is to keep all components floating on the surface of the ground. The fasteners are used to fasten the rail to the sleepers, and therefore too many missing fasteners can lead to sever unsteady tracks, which can, in turn, result in derailment. Therefore, there is a high demand for advanced inspection methods to monitor the railway track and its components continuously. The presence of such advanced inspection models would help the railway industry avoid obstacles such as high operation and maintenance costs, dangerous accidents, and uncomfortable passenger's experience.   This master thesis aims to present an efficient method to classify the track and its components by combining image processing techniques and deep learning algorithms. This method was able to detect the missing fasteners in the set of images captured by a line camera, continuously monitoring the rail and its associated fasteners. The experimental results obtained in this thesis showed that the proposed method is efficient and robust for detecting the track and its components in complex environments. The thesis also discusses the idea of building one complete model that can process and classify all track components at once. The image processing technique was employed to extract different components of the track, individually: fasteners, rail, ballast, and sleepers. The model was trained and used to classify the state of the fasteners. Classification of other components of the track will be a part of the future work.

This study will examine how globalization has affected German football and if it has caused the 50+1 rule to lose its value. Background to this study is the ongoing debate within German elite football to abolish the 50+1 rule and fully commercialize the league and associations. The rule was added in the early 2000s so that the associations would more easily have the opportunity to control their finances. The method used is a qualitative method based on semi-structured interviews. The informants who participate in this study are selected according to a strategic sampling. The theory that will be used is Nixon's "The Golden Triangle", which is used to analyze different ways that the DFL has been affected by globalization and how it has created more power for itself. The analysis method used is a thematic analysis, where patterns and themes are to be found in the interviews. What could be discerned in the result is that German elite football has come to a crossroads, they need to make a change to the 50+1 rule that is adapted to today's football society. The analysis of the material we have acquired ended in two fairly clear answers. The impact of globalization on German elite football is noticeable, but it has not affected to the extent that the values and traditions within it have been lost.

This thesis stems from the need to implement the existing technology in the rehabilitation. Smartphones, touch screen technology, apps, which are a common part of our daily life don’t find an application in clinical practice. The aim of this work is to verify the effectiveness of using this technology both in the hospital and outside. The exergames we developed can be played on usual touchscreen devices, on personal computers and on the custom device built in our laboratory. The device used during our experimentation is now installed in a medical facility with other latest generation medical devices like the Armeo and two different types of exoskeletons. In the first part of this project we focused on developing some exergames oriented to the rehabilitation of persons affected by strokes and in the characterization of people affected by Parkinson. In the second part, because of the strong correlation between physical activity and neurocognitive functions we decided to use the device since the very beginning of the rehabilitation process, developing some kind of exergames used also to monitor patients during this phase. Thanks to the collaboration with the medical staff we analysed and summarized the macro areas and the neurocognitive functions involved during the rehabilitation process. After that, we analysed some of the usual exercises given to the patients highlighting the neurocognitive functions involved, and for each exercise we defined some indicators, like touch precision and its standard deviation, mean of force and its standard deviation, total time to execute the test, number of errors, etc... To develop the exergames based on what we decided with the medical staff we used the game engine called Unity3D and we wrote the code of the exergames in C#. After a first test phase in which the medical staff tried the exergames and gave us a feedback, we fixed the bugs and decided to integrate all the exergames in a common platform. Then, we defined an official procedure for the rehabilitation program based on this new method in order to submit it to the ethics committee. In a second phase, the medical staff selected the group of patients to be assigned to the test program, and defined some useful indicators about the neurocognitive functions involved. Finally, to validate the efficiency of this protocol, patients need to executed the exergames for a certain time, after which the medical staff measured the indicators. In this way we were able to validate the efficiency of the exergames and of the device installed. By working in the European project NoTremor we developed two different type of test with the aim of characterize a model of people affected by Parkinson.

No description available.

This study examined the demographic characteristics and education-related experiences of adults age 50 and beyond enrolled in graduate degree programs on the academic campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. The major focus for this study was to identify and examine the experiences of adults age 50 and older enrolled in graduate degree programs. The population for the study included 113 adults age 50 and older who were enrolled in graduate degree programs on the academic campus of Virginia Commonwealth University between fall 1995 and fall 1996. Surveys were mailed to these potential participants with a total of96 individuals responding. A focus group interview was also conducted in the fall semester of 1996 to gain further insight regarding their experiences; the respondents were eager to share their responses during this session. The findings in this study revealed that older adults in graduate degree programs at Virginia Commonwealth University were between the ages of 50 to 62, were more often married than not, had no children under the age of eighteen in the household, and most completed their last degree in 1979. The results of the survey revealed that most of the adults did not have negative feelings about their experiences. Overall, these students felt very positive about their educational-related experiences. There were, however, several administrative concerns associated with the selected demographics of gender, occupation, income, marital status, age and major field of study, and .the education-related experiences of these adults. While most respondents agreed that it was very difficult to maintain their family, work and personal life while earning this degree, they were overall satisfied with their experiences and felt challenged even though their socializing time was significantly reduced. The respondents were not as satisfied with the administration and staff because they were not available for support after work hours when they had concerns that needed addressing. They also felt their classrooms were not adequately prepared to accommodate the older learners, especially in regard to having appropriate visual equipment and adequately designed desks for older students. The data obtained will be useful to Virginia Commonwealth University in making decisions relative to improving existing services, developing innovative programs, designing policies and procedures that will improve recruitment, retention, and completion of adults age 50 and beyond in graduate programs. Further study is needed from this population of students to ascertain whether there are additional experiences that should be examined and explored. A replication of the study may reveal additional information not addressed in this study. / Ph. D.

Ever since the discovery of seafloor hydrothermal systems at mid ocean ridges, scientists have been trying to understand the complex dynamic processes by which thermal energy is transported advectively by chemically reactive aqueous fluids from Earth's interior to the surface. Hydrothermal systems are generally assumed to consist of a heat source and a fluid circulation system. Understanding the interconnected physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes at oceanic spreading centers is important because these processes affect the global energy and biogeochemical budgets of the Earth system. Despite two decades of focused study of hydrothermal systems, several key questions remain concerning the behavior and evolution of hydrothermal vent systems. Among these are: (a) the partitioning of heat transport between focused and diffuse flow, and (b) the spatial extent and distribution of hydrothermal recharge. These are the main topics of investigation in this thesis. To address these issues, I first use a single-pass modeling approach using a variety of observational data in a simple parametric scale analysis of a hydrothermal vent field to determine fundamental parameters associated with the circulation and magmatic heat transfer for a number of seafloor hydrothermal systems for which the constraining data are available. To investigate the partitioning of heat flux between focused high temperature and diffuse flow I extend the one-limb single pass model to incorporate two single-pass limbs to represent deep and shallow circulation pathways. As a result, I find that 90% of the heat output is from high temperature fluid circulating in the deep limb even though much of the heat loss appears at the seafloor as low-temperature diffuse flow. Next, I use the parametric description of hydrothermal circulation to investigate hydrothermal recharge at the East Pacific Rise 9°50′ N hydrothermal site. Using a 1-D model of recharge through an area of 10⁵ m² elucidated by microseismicity in the oceanic crust I find that anhydrite precipitation is likely to result in rapid sealing of pore space in the recharge zone. This would lead to rapid decay of hydrothermal venting, which is contrary to observations. Then I consider two-dimensional numerical models of hydrothermal circulation in a porous box heated from below. The preliminary results of these models suggests that the anhydrite precipitation zone will be more diffuse, but additional work is needed to test whether anhydrite precipitation will seal the pore space. / Master of Science

本文以摩根台指與台灣50指數成分股調整的股價效應做比較，兩者對於成分股調整的宣告及生效是否存在異常報酬，而異常報酬的不同是否與其指數編制方式有關。實證結果發現摩根台指新增股具有 顯著正報酬、剔除股具有顯著負報酬，且在宣告日二十天後價格呈現反轉，符合價格壓力假說。而台灣50指數新增股異常報酬則不顯著異於零，兩種指數的新增股在宣告成份股調整後皆有超額成交量、流動性持續增加。再者摩根台指的宣告效果比台灣50指數強，且透過加權的方式較能表現出指數成份股調整所帶來的現貨價格影響。 / The study examines both the price and volume effect of stock additions or deletions on both the MSCI Taiwan index and Taiwan50 index. We document significant abnormal returns of stock additions and deletions for the MSCI Taiwan Index both on the announced period or on the effective period. In addition, we also find a significant abnormal return of stock deletions for Taiwan 50 Index either announced period or the effective period. While we do not find any significant abnormal return of stock additions. Further more, both the announced date effect and the effective date effect for MSCI Taiwan Index are stronger than those for Taiwan 50 Index. Our results support the price pressure hypothesis.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:32:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ricardo Correia Marcondes.pdf: 749873 bytes, checksum: 3edbdd823b6113e23c0fb83203921916 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-08 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work has as objective to analyze the ideological mechanisms of domination that had been created and lived deeply daily through the relations of work and leisure between the employee and the employer of the Nitro Química Brasileira (1953-57) extending it to the quarter of São Miguel Paulista. To understand this passage better historical, it made necessary the deepening in the relations politics and economics of the directors of the company with the representatives of the power of this time, as Getúlio Vargas; with the religiosity, with the welfare policy, the construction of the harmonious spirit manufacter, with the reproduction of the moral and civic education, with the practiced sports inside of the Regattas´s Club, at last, strategies that had tried to organize an ideal construction of Nitrina Family . With the necessities of many laborers and inhabitants being satisfied by the dream of the progress and the modern civilization to the utopian construction of a new nation that represented the development bourgeois-industrial, the propaganda was one of the instruments of being able to the ideological maintenance of the directors of the company through the Nitro Periodical and its some used languages. The ideological control suffered the consequences of the proper domain with passing of the years and its me the preparation of the heads and its laborers, of the old and exceeded machinery, the low wages, the explosions and some accidents, at last, the daily reality started to break the fancy of fast growth for the lived deeply exploration, thus causing a fight of classrooms, as much in the material direction as well as in the cultural direction / Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os mecanismos ideológicos de dominação que foram criados e vivenciados cotidianamente através das relações de trabalho e de lazer entre o empregado e o empregador da fábrica Nitro Química Brasileira (1953-57) estendendose ao bairro de São Miguel Paulista. No intuito de entendermos melhor esse percurso histórico, se fez necessário o aprofundamento nas relações políticas e econômicas dos diretores da empresa com os representantes do poder da época, como Getúlio Vargas; com a religiosidade, com a política assistencialista, com a construção do espírito harmonioso fabril, com a reprodução da educação moral e cívica, com os esportes praticados dentro do Clube de Regatas, enfim, estratégias que tentaram organizar uma construção ideal de Família Nitrina . Com as necessidades de muitos operários e moradores sendo saciadas pelo sonho do progresso e da civilização moderna à construção utópica de uma nova nação que representava o desenvolvimento burguês-industrial, a propaganda foi um dos instrumentos de poder à manutenção ideológica dos diretores da empresa através do Nitro Jornal e suas várias linguagens utilizadas. O controle ideológico sofreu as conseqüências do próprio domínio com o passar dos anos e sua má preparação dos chefes e dos seus operários, do maquinário velho e ultrapassado, dos baixos salários, das explosões e dos vários acidentes, enfim, a realidade cotidiana começou a quebrar a fantasia de crescimento rápido pela exploração vivenciada, ocasionando assim uma luta de classes, tanto no sentido material como também no sentido cultural