A imobilização de membros e/ou articulações é prática utilizada na clínica no tratamento de diversas patologias, podendo variar em sua extensão e duração. Acometimentos ortopédicos comuns, como fraturas e lesões músculo-tendíneas, podem exigir como tratamento de dias a semanas de imobilização do segmento afetado. Além dos efeitos clínicos almejados, a imobilização desencadeia alterações negativas que afetam localmente o sistema musculoesquelético, mas que também trazem consequências para o sistema nervoso central (SNC) e sistema nervoso periférico. Tais consequências negativas implicam em perdas funcionais, que podem levar à dependência parcial ou completa para a realização de atividades da vida diária, como a higiene, a alimentação e a locomoção, com enormes custos individuais, familiares e sociais. É necessário, portanto, esclarecer a natureza de tais efeitos negativos e, em especial identificar o quão cedo se apresentam as alterações comportamentais e fisiológicas decorrentes do imobilismo, assim como quantificá-las e determinar a efetividade de estratégias de interferência neste processo. Neste trabalho, investigamos os efeitos de 24 horas de imobilização sobre diferentes tarefas motoras, como apertar botões, realizar a oposição do polegar em sequências variadas e fazer o alcance de alvos com o membro superior. Investigamos também, para a tarefa de oposição do polegar, o potencial terapêutico do treino motor imaginário durante o período de imobilização. Em nossos resultados, não encontramos efeitos estatísticamente significativos da imobilização sobre o comportamento motor nas tarefas pesquisadas. Adicionalmente, o treino motor imaginário na tarefa de oposição do polegar levou a uma piora no desempenho na tarefa de alcance. Esses resultados são relevantes no sentido de ressaltar que a imobilização, um recurso terapêutico importante, apresenta efeitos colaterais, mas esses não se instalam tão rapidamente quanto inicialmente hipotetizamos. É provável, ainda, que a imobilização atue de forma distinta sobre diferentes habilidades motoras, sendo umas prejudicadas com maior intensidade e precocidade do que outras. Entre as habilidades motoras afetadas pela imobilização, pode ser que encontremos, inclusive, a habilidade de imaginar cinestesicamente movimentos. O presente estudo investigou um tipo específico de treino motor imaginário, em voluntários saudáveis, submetidos a um período extremamente curto de imobilização. Possivelmente, os resultados de outros tipos de treino (variando, por exemplo, a intensidade do treino, a forma de admnistração e até mesmo a tarefa) podem ser diferentes. As sutilezas envolvidas na execução do treino motor imaginário provavelmente são a raiz da variabilidade nos resultados obtidos nos diversos experimentos da literatura. Os usos do treino motor imaginário devem, portanto, continuar a ser submetidos à experimentação, para que sua prescrição seja criteriosa e beneficie satisfatoriamente a função motora após a imobilização / The immobilization of body segments is frequently used for the treatment of orthopaedic injuries, such as fractures and soft tissue lesions. Immobilization may be as long as days or weeks, leading to several undesired side effects. The negative effects due to immobilization are felt not only in the immobilized limb, but also in the central nervous system. They lead to several functional impairments, compromising the independency of the patients in fulfilling their daily activities. Therefore, its necessary to determine the nature of such negative effects, and, specially, determine how early the functional and physiological impairments present themselves, as much as to quantify them and stabilish strategies for interference on them. In the present work, we investigated the effects of a 24-hour period of immobilization of the upper limb over several motor tasks, such as pressing buttons, oppose the thumb to the other fingers in several sequences and reaching targets. We also addressed the issue of the potential benefits of delivering a motor imagery training session, specific to the thumb opposition, during the immobilization period. Our results showed no significant effect of immobilization over the motor behavior in the evaluated tasks. Aditionally, the motor imagery training in opposing the thumb lead to an impairment on the reaching task. These results are relevant to reassure that immobilization is a safe therapeutic tool, for its side effects do not present themselves as early as hypothesized by us. Its possible, yet, that immobilization has distinct effects over different motor habilities and, in doing so, that some of the motor skills are more affected than others. It is possible that, between the motor skills affected by immobilization, we found the motor imagery hability. The present study investigated specific schedule of motor imagery training, in healthy volunteers, submited to a very short immobilization period. Its possible that other training schedules (varying the intensity, the way of administering it e even the task) might have other results then ours. The subtleties involved in motor imagery training may be the cause for the great amount of variance found in literature about it. The uses of motor imagery should be submitted to experimentation. In this way, it might be prescribed with criteria and benefit the restoration of motor function

A compreensão do processo de aprendizagem motora é de real importância para a atividade fisioterapêutica, visto que as abordagens e técnicas visam à mudança e o aperfeiçoamento de uma atividade motora ou mesmo a aquisição de uma nova habilidade. Neste processo a prática realizada tem implicação direta na aprendizagem motora. Objetivo: comparar os efeitos da prática combinada (iniciada pelo treino mental, seguido pelo treino físico, com distribuição proporcionada entre os mesmos), com os efeitos da prática mental e física isoladas, sobre aquisição, retenção, transferência inter tarefa e inter manual em crianças de 9 a 10 anos. Método: participaram do estudo 36 crianças, divididas em 3 grupos de acordo com o tipo de prática realizada: o grupo PM está composto 12 crianças, o PF por 12 crianças e o PC por 12 crianças. O treinamento foi realizado em sessão única e constituiu da repetição de 2400 movimentos de uma sequência de movimentos de oposição dos dedos. Todos os grupos foram submetidos às mesmas avaliações antes do treinamento, depois do treinamento, 4, 7, e 28 dias após o treinamento. A aquisição, a retenção e a transferência foram avaliados por meio da análise de variância (ANOVA). Para todas as interações que alcançaram nível de significância (p<0,05) foi aplicado o pós-teste de Tukey. Resultados: para o tempo de treinamento, tanto a PM quanto a PF proporcionaram melhora progressiva da velocidade ao longo dos blocos, já a PC proporcionou melhora inicial entre os dois primeiros blocos, e piora na velocidade do segundo para o terceiro que não se modificou até o final do treino. A análise da aquisição evidenciou que a PC proporcionou ao final do treino o mesmo nível de desempenho da PM, mas inferior ao obtido pela PF. Para retenção, a PC proporcionou os mesmo níveis obtidos pela PF e PM, com ganhos adicionais tardios. Para a transferência inter-sequência e intermanual, a PC permitiu a transferência do desempenho obtido por meio do treino da ST para a SR de forma similar a PM, mas superior a PF. Conclusão: a prática combinada não mostrou vantagens em comparação a prática física ou mental isoladas para a aprendizagem, retenção de uma tarefa de oposição sequencial de dedos em crianças de 9 e 10 anos. Entretanto, mostrou-se mais eficiente que a prática física isolada para a transferência inter-sequências e intermanual, alcançando a mesma eficiência da prática mental isolada. Assim, as três formas de prática foram igualmente eficientes para a aprendizagem e retenção de movimentos sequenciais e a prática mental, combinada ou não com a prática física foi mais eficiente que a prática física isolada para a transferência inter-sequências e intermanual / Understanding the process of motor learning it is important to physiotherapy so that approaches and techniques designed to change and improve motor activity or even the acquisition of a new skill. In this process the practice has held direct implication in motor learning. Purpose: To compare the effects of combined practice (initiated by mental training, followed by physical training, with distribution provided between them), with the effects of mental and physical practice isolated on acquisition, retention and transfer on the learning of sequential finger opposition movements in children 9-10 years. Methods: This study included thirty-six 9 to 10 year-old children that were randomly allocated into three groups: mental practice (MP), physical practice (PP), and combined (PC). The training was conducted in a single session and consisted repetition of 2400 movements sequence of finger opposition movements. All groups underwent the same evaluations before training, after training, 4, 7, and 28 days after training. The acquisition, retention and transfer were evaluated by analysis of variance (ANOVA). For all interactions that reached statistical significance (p <0.05) was applied post-Tukey test. Results: The training time for both the MP and FP provided progressive improvement in speed over the blocks, the CP has provided initial improvement between the first two blocks, and worsened speed from the second to the third that did not change until the end of the training. The analysis showed that acquisition of the CP at the end of the training provided the same level of performance of the MP, but lower than that obtained by the FP. For retention, the CP showed the same levels obtained by the FP and MP, with additional gains late. For inter-sequence and intermanual transfer, CP allowed to transfer performance obtained by training for the trained sequence similarly to reverse sequence by MP, but exceeding FP. Conclusion: The combined practice showed no advantages compared to physical or mental practice isolated to learning retention task of sequential finger opposition in children aged 9 and 10 years. However, proved more efficient than single physical practice to transfer inter-sequences and intermanual, achieving the same efficiency of mental practice alone. So the three forms of practice were equally efficient for learning and retention of sequential movements and mental practice, whether or not combined with physical practice was more effective than physical practice alone for transfer

This thesis analyses the gender differences in spatial orientation and mental imagery when navigating a virtual environment with only auditory cues. A prototype was developed for an iPod Touch device to evaluate possible gender difference in performance of orientation. A sketch map task was conducted to externalize the participants’ mental representation they achieved from the environment. Questionnaires were used to collect data on previous video game experience, spatial orientation self-assessment and spatial anxiety. A post-interview was conducted to gather qualitative information from the participants on how they experienced the experiment and to collect some background about them. In total, 30 participants (15 females, 15 males) with tertiary education participated in the experiment. The result indicates that there are gender differences in time to complete the tasks in the virtual environment. In the sketch map task, there were no gender differences in how well they sketch and externalize their mental representation of the environment. The post-interview showed tendencies that there are possible gender differences in vividness of mental imagery.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how Joseph Conrad has used animal imagery and religious symbolism in “Heart of Darkness,” and determine if these tools are somehow linked to the theme of the story. Close reading has been applied in order to be able to go through the entire story in search of these often well-hidden tools. Considering the fact that the story in focus of the analysis is believed by some, including myself, to be a long short story rather than a short novel, this method of approach has proved to be highly useful. First a discussion about a possible theme in “Heart of Darkness” is presented, followed by a brief comment on Conrad’s personal life philosophy and view on the use of symbolic devices in literary works. In order to determine the differences between symbols and imagery, as well as theme, subject and topic, a short discussion of terminology has been included. Much of the discussion in the analysis relies heavily upon articles and books by critics who have focused exclusively on symbolism and imagery in “Heart on Darkness” and other works by Conrad. The scholarly names worth mentioning in connection with the discussion about animal imagery are Olof Lagercrantz, John A. Palmer, and Samir Elbarbary. The critics Anthony Fothergill and Cedric Watts explore religious symbolism in general, whereas P.K. Saha and Rita A. Bergenholtz focus on particular aspects of it, such as Buddhism and Greek mythology. The analysis section is for the most part a combination between my own personal interpretations of “Heart of Darkness” and those made by others. It is divided into two major sections, Animal Imagery and Religious Symbolism. The latter, furthermore, comprises two subgroups. The conclusion suggests that Conrad used symbolism and imagery as narratological tools in order to present us with the theme of morality in the story.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative condition which results in severe motor impairment. Deterioration in multiple domains of cognition is another hallmark of PD. Together, these motor and cognitive impairments impact substantially on language and communication. Co-speech gestures are a form of action and are also part of linguistic processes, yet have rarely been explored in PD. Gestures can provide imagistic depictions of concepts described by speech and contribute to communication in healthy individuals. They rely on visual, spatial, and motor simulations and imagery, which may be impaired in PD. It is therefore of clinical importance to evaluate how co-speech gestures might be impaired to understand the extent of communicative impairment in PD. PD can also provide a useful model to understanding the cognitive basis of co-speech gesture in healthy people. In Chapter 2, participants described isolated actions. Gesture rate did not differ between the two groups, however, the groups differed in terms of the visual perspective they adopted when depicting actions in gesture. Controls preferred a “character viewpoint” or first-person perspective where their hands represented the hands of the actor, whereas PD patients preferred an “observer viewpoint” or third-person perspective, where their hand represented a whole person. This finding was replicated and extended in Chapter 3 where low-motion and high-motion actions were described in a longer narrative task. PD patients produced fewer character viewpoint gestures when describing high-motion action events, suggesting a difficulty in simulating these events from a first-person perspective. In addition, PD patients had difficult depicting “manner” (how an action is performed) features in gesture during high but not low motion. Extending the findings of Chapter 2, whilst overall rate of gesture production was not affected, PD patients produced action gestures at a significantly lower rate than controls. Chapter 4 took a different focus by investigating gesture depictions of static spatial (rather than dynamic action) features via a house description task. Gesture rate did not differ, but the groups depicted different types of spatial properties to a different extent. Whilst both groups predominantly gestured about location and relative position information, PD patients gestured more about directions whereas controls gestures more about shape and size information. This suggests that different strategies were being employed by the two groups. Finally, testing young adults’ comprehension of these spatial gestures in Chapter 5 revealed that gestures did not significantly improve comprehension of either PD patients’ or controls’ spoken messages, though there may have been ceiling effects. However, both PD patients and controls were viewed as more competent when their messages were viewed with gestures. The findings suggest a selective action-gesture deficit in PD which complements work demonstrating action-verb impairments in these patients, and supports gesture production theories which hypothesise a role for motor simulations and imagery. Overall gesture rate appears to be largely unaffected. The effects of PD can be felt beyond changes to goal-directed action, in the realms of language and social behaviour, but gestures may be able to improve listeners’ social perceptions of PD patients.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Jida Wang / Monitoring salt pans is important especially for agricultural management in arid or semi-arid regions because salt pans can negatively affect human life, wildlife, and ecology. Some of the harmful impacts of salt pans are accelerated desertification, cropland loss, economic downturn, wildlife loss, and forced migration of humans and animals due to salt storms. Spectral salt pan indices based upon remotely sensed data (using spectral properties of Landsat-8 imagery) suggested in previous studies vary by location. In other words, the spectral configuration of a salt index for a given location may not be readily applicable to another location due to spatial heterogeneity of salt components across the continental surface. Using Landsat-8 OLI imagery and climate data sets, this study aims to develop a mapping framework which can effectively extract salt pans and salt playas under various spectral conditions in different geographic locations. Based on training samples selected in eight major salt pans/playas in North America, Central Asia, Africa, and Australia, the mapping framework was designed to include the following steps: i) a conservative salt index to highlight potential salt-covered regions, ii) a calibrated support vector machine (SVM) to extract high-salinity areas in the mask regions, and iii) a posterior quality assurance/ quality control (QA/QC) with assistance of auxiliary datasets (e.g., surface slope and land covers) to eliminate commission errors and refine the extracted saltpan areas. The developed mapping framework was validated in the arid endorheic regions across the western United States, with a total area of 699 thousand square kilometers. Both qualitative and quantitative assessments of the results show reliability of the developed framework. The overall accuracy of the extracted salt pans prior to QA/QC is 97%. The final product after QA/QC achieves an overall accuracy of 99.95% and a Kappa statistic of 0.99.According to the results of salt pans areas and endorheic basins areas, it can be concluded that two aforementioned variables of this study are positively correlated to each other, and 1.10 percent of the entire case study area is covered by salt pans. The accuracy of the results suggests a potential that the mapping framework, together with the collected training sample and algorithms, may be applicable to identify salt pan and salt playa regions across the Earth’s land surface.

Water quality and wetlands represent two vital elements of a healthy coastal ecosystem. Both experienced substantial declines in the U.S. during the 20th century. Overall coastal wetland cover decreased over 50% in the 20th century due to coastal development and water pollution. Management and legislative efforts have successfully addressed some of the problems and threats, but recent research indicates that the diffuse impacts of climate change and non-point source pollution may be the primary drivers of current and future water-quality and wetland stress. In order to respond to these pervasive threats, traditional management approaches need to adopt modern technological tools for more synoptic, frequent and fine-scale monitoring and assessment. In this dissertation, I explored some of the applications possible with new, commercial satellite imagery to better assess the status of coastal ecosystems. Large-scale land-cover change influences the quality of adjacent coastal water. Satellite imagery has been used to derive land-cover maps since the 1960’s. It provides multiple data points with which to evaluate the effects of land-cover change on water quality. The objective of the first chapter of this research was to determine how 40 years of land-cover change in the Tampa Bay watershed (6,500 km2) may have affected turbidity and chlorophyll concentration – two proxies for coastal water quality. Land cover classes were evaluated along with precipitation and wind stress as explanatory variables. Results varied between analyses for the entire estuary and those of segments within the bay. Changes in developed land percent cover best explained the turbidity and chlorophyll-concentration time series for the entire bay (R2 > 0.75, p < 0.02). The paucity of official land-cover maps (i.e. five maps) restricted the temporal resolution of the assessments. Furthermore, most estuaries along the Gulf of Mexico do not have forty years of water-quality time series with which to perform evaluations against land-cover change. Ocean-color satellite imagery was used to derive proxies for coastal water with near-daily satellite observations since 2000. The goal of chapter two was to identify drivers of turbidity variability for 11 National Estuary Program water bodies along the Gulf of Mexico. Land cover assessments could not be used as an explanatory variable because of the low temporal resolution (i.e. approximately one map per five-year period). Ocean color metrics were evaluated against atmospheric, meteorological, and oceanographic variables including precipitation, wind speed, U and V wind vectors, river discharge, and water level over weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual time steps. Climate indices like the North Atlantic Oscillation and El Niño Southern Oscillation index were also examined as possible drivers of long-term changes. Extreme turbidity events were defined by the 90th and 95th percentile observations over each time step. Wind speed, river discharge and El Niño best explained variability in turbidity time-series and extreme events (R2 > 0.2, p < 0.05), but this varied substantially between time steps and estuaries. The background land cover analyses conducted for coastal water quality studies showed that there are substantial discrepancies between the wetland extent estimates mapped by local, state and federal agencies. The third chapter of my research sought to examine these differences and evaluate the accuracy and precision of wetland maps using high spatial-resolution (i.e. two-meter) WorldView-2 satellite imagery. Ground validation data showed that wetlands mapped at two study sites in Tampa Bay were more accurately identified by WorldView-2 than by Landsat imagery (30-meter resolution). When compared to maps produced separately by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Southwest Florida Water Management District, and National Wetland Inventory, we found that these historical land cover products overestimated by 2-10 times the actual extent of wetlands as identified in the WorldView-2 maps. We could find no study that had utilized more than six of these commercial images for a given project. Part of the problem is cost of the images, but there is also the cost of processing the images, which is typically done one at a time and with substantial human interaction. Chapter four explains an approach to automate the preprocessing and classification of imagery to detect wetlands within the Tampa Bay watershed (6,500 km2). Software scripts in Python, Matlab and Linux were used to ingest 130 WorldView-2 images and to generate maps that included wetlands, uplands, water, and bare and developed land. These maps proved to be more accurate at identifying forested wetland (78%) than those by NOAA, SWFWMD, and NWI (45-65%) based on ground validation data. Typical processing methods would have required 4-5 months to complete this work, but this protocol completed the 130 images in under 24 hours. Chapter five of the dissertation reviews coastal management case studies that have used satellite technologies. The objective was to illustrate the utility of this technology. The management sectors reviewed included coral reefs, wetlands, water quality, public health, and fisheries and aquaculture.

Ancrée dans une pratique personnelle de la gravure s’associant à la photographie, la vidéo et l’installation, cette thèse en arts plastiques explore l’hybridation entre arts et sciences. Elle commence par une recherche des spécificités de la gravure pour construire un point de vue singulier sur les œuvres d’artistes travaillant entre arts et sciences quels que soient leurs médiums. La première partie questionne l’hybridation de la gravure et du numérique comme voie d’accès à la contemporanéité définie par Giorgio Agamben comme «en déphasage» avec son temps. Dans une deuxième partie, l’imagerie médicale et la photographie questionnent l’altérité animale. La recherche se poursuit par l’analyse d’œuvres de Nagi Noda, Wanda Wulz et Xavier Lucchesi qui amènent la question de la référence aux mythes dans le travail personnel. Enfin dans une troisième partie, la recherche théorique et le travail plastique achèvent leur hybridation. Les mythes de Méduse, Orphée ou Épiméthée deviennent le point de départ de créations entre arts et sciences où le processus de la gravure actualise les mythes par l’empreinte qu’elle laisse dans les photographies, les vidéos ou les installations qui mettent en scène des images médicales. Notre thèse est que la gravure constitue, à l’image des archées – organismes récemment découverts par les biologistes – une pratique vivante qui se retrouve là où on ne l’attend pas. L’hybridation dans notre pratique artistique rapproche les archées de l’archè, qui signifie proche de l’origine. / Rooted in my personal practice of engraving combined with photography, video and installation art, this plastic arts thesis explores the hybridisation of arts and science; starting with research into the specificities of engraving to then construct a singular point of view on the works of artists whose practice falls between arts and science, whatever the medium. The first part questions the hybridisation of engraving and digital techniques as an access route to a contemporaneity described by Giogio Agamben as “out of phase” with its time. In the second part, medical imagery and photography question animal alterity. Then the research will be furthered through the analysis of works by Nagi Noda, Wanda Wulz, and Xavier Lucchesi which bring us to the matter of references to myths in personal work. Lastly, in a third part, theoretical research and physical art practice complete their hybridisations. The myths of Medusa, Orpheus and Epimetheus become the starting point of works between art and science where the process of engraving actualises the myths by the imprints it leaves in photographs, videos or installations which show medical imagery. Our thesis is that engraving is, like the archaea – recently discovered microorganisms –, a living practise that can sometimes be found where one least expects it. The hybridisation of our practise bring archaea closer to the arche, and thus closer to the origin.

Ce travail de recherche translationnelle a pour objectif de corréler les données de l'imagerie anatomique et fonctionnelle, aux facteurs pronostiques cliniques, biologiques, histologiques, moléculaires du cancer de prostate. Nos travaux ont permis de montrer que l'IRM prostatique permettait de détecter et de stratifier le risque de cancer de prostate dit "significatif", que l'IRM couplée aux biopsies prostatiques ciblées permettait d'identifier plus de cancers de prostate significatifs que les biopsies dites "systématiques", que l'IRM donnait des informations sur l'agressivité du cancer de prostate définie in situ par les marqueurs histologiques et moléculaires, que cette information était plus juste que celle obtenue par la stratégie diagnostique actuelle du dosage de PSA et des biopsies prostatiques qui sous estiment l'agressivité tumorale, qu'il existait cependant des formes de cancer dont l'agressivité ne pouvait être déterminée ni par l'imagerie, ni par l'analyse histologique standard mais seule par une analyse moléculaire. / This study represents a translational research with the objective to identify prognostic biomarkers in prostate cancer (PCa) by means of a radio-genomics strategy that integrates gene expression, biology, histology, and medical images. Our results show that; multiparametric MR imaging of the prostate provide clinically relevant stratification of the risk of showing prostate cancer ; that MRI/TRUS-fusion imaging protocol with limited targeted biopsies detected more men with clinically significant PCa, that we were able to confirm that functional MRI (diffusion) and morphologic MRI (Tmax) were well correlated with tumor aggressiveness as defined by Gleason score and genomic score, that the ADC values of suspicious areas on prostate MR imaging are strongly correlated with post-surgical Gleason score, that ADC values performed significantly better than TRUS biopsy Gleason scores for the prediction of prostate cancer aggressiveness as defined by prostatectomy Gleason score or by Ki-67 proliferation index.

Despite being an indicator of modernization and macro-economic growth, urbanization in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa is tightly interwoven with poverty and deprivation. This has manifested physically as slums, which represent the worst residential urban areas, marked by lack of access to good quality housing and basic services. To effectively combat the slum phenomenon, local slum conditions must be captured in quantitative and spatial terms. However, there are significant hurdles to this. Slum detection and mapping requires readily available and reliable data, as well as a proper conceptualization of measurement and scale. Using Bamenda, Cameroon, as a test case, this dissertation research was designed as a three-pronged attack on the slum mapping problematic. The overall goal was to investigate locally optimized slum mapping strategies and methods that utilize high resolution satellite image data, household survey data, simple machine learning and regionalization theory. The first major objective of the study was to tackle a "measurement" problem. The aim was to explore a multi-index approach to measure and map local slum conditions. The rationale behind this was that prior sub-Saharan slum research too often used simplified measurement techniques such as a single unweighted composite index to represent diverse local slum conditions. In this study six household indicators relevant to the United Nations criteria for defining slums were extracted from a 2013 Bamenda household survey data set and aggregated for 63 local statistical areas. The extracted variables were the percent of households having the following attributes: more than two residents per room, non-owner, occupying a single room or studio, having no flush toilet, having no piped water, having no drainage. Hierarchical variable clustering was used as a surrogate for exploratory factor analysis to determine fewer latent slum factors from these six variables. Variable groups were classified such that the most correlated variables fell in the same group while non-correlated variables fell in separate groups. Each group membership was then examined to see if the group suggested a conceptually meaningful slum factor which could quantified as a stand-alone "high" and "low" binary slum index. Results showed that the slum indicators in the study area could be replaced by at least two meaningful and statistically uncorrelated latent factors. One factor reflected the home occupancy conditions (tenancy status, overcrowded and living space conditions) and was quantified using K-means clustering of units as an ‘occupancy disadvantage index’ (Occ_D). The other reflected the state of utilities access (piped water and flush toilet) and was quantified as utilities disadvantage index (UT_D). Location attributes were used to examine/validate both indices. Independent t-tests showed that units with high Occ_D were on average closer to nearest town markets and major roads when compared with units of low Occ_D. This was consistent with theory as it is expected that typical slum residents (in this case overcrowded and non-owner households) will favor accessibility to areas of high economic activity. However, this situation was not the same with UT_D as shown by lack of such as a strong pattern. The second major objective was to tackle a "learning" problem. The purpose was to explore the potential of unsupervised machine learning to detect or "learn" slum conditions from image data. The rationale was that such an approach would be efficient, less reliant on prior knowledge and expertise. A 2012 GeoEye image scene of the study area was subjected to image classification from which the following physical settlement attributes were quantified for each of the 63 statistical areas: per cent roof area, percent open space area, per cent bare soil, per cent paved road surface, per cent dirt road surface, building shadow-roof area ratio. The shadow-roof ratio was an innovative measure used to capture the size and density attributes of buildings. In addition to the 6 image derived variables, the mean slope of each area was calculated from a digital elevation dataset. All 7 attributes were subject to principal component analysis from which the first 2 components were extracted and used for hierarchical clustering of statistical areas to derive physical types. Results show that area units could be optimally classified into 4 physical types labelled generically as Categories 1 – 4, each with at least one defining physical characteristic. Kruskal Wallis tests comparing physical types in terms of household and locations attributes showed that at least two physical types were different in terms of aggregated household slum conditions and location attributes. Category 4 areas, located on steep slopes and having high shadow-to-roof ratio, had the highest distribution of non-owner households. They were also located close to nearest town markets. They were thus the most likely candidates of slums in the city. Category 1 units on other hand located at the outskirts and having abundant open space were least likely to have slum conditions. The third major objective was to tackle the problem of "spatial scale". Neighborhoods, by their very nature of contiguity and homogeneity, represent an ideal scale for urban spatial analysis and mapping. Unfortunately, in most areas, neighborhoods are not objectively defined and slum mapping often relies in the use of arbitrary spatial units which do not capture the true extent of the phenomenon. The objective was thus to explore the use of analytic regionalization to quantitatively derive the neighborhood unit for mapping slums. Analytic neighborhoods were created by spatially constrained clustering of statistical areas using the minimum spanning tree algorithm. Unlike previous studies that relied on socio-economic and/or demographic information, this study innovatively used multiple land cover and terrain attributes as neighborhood homogenizing factors. Five analytic neighborhoods (labeled Regions 1-5) were created this way and compared using Kruskal Wallis tests for differences in household slum attributes. This was to determine largest possible contiguous areas that could be labeled as slum or non-slum neighborhoods. The results revealed that at least two analytic regions were significantly different in terms of aggregated household indicators. Region 1 stood apart as having significantly higher distributions of overcrowded and non-owner households. It could thus be viewed as the largest potential slum neighborhood in the city. In contrast, regions 3 (located at higher elevation and separated from rest of city by a steep escarpment) was generally associated with low distribution of household slum attributes and could be considered the strongest model of a non-slum or formal neighborhood. Both Regions 1 and 3 were also qualitatively correlated with two locally recognized (vernacular) neighborhoods. These neighborhoods, "Sisia" (for Region 1) and "Up Station" (for Region 3), are commonly perceived by local folk as occupying opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum. The results obtained by successfully carrying the three major objectives have major implication for future research and policy. In the case of multi-index analysis of slum conditions, it affirms the notion the that slum phenomenon is diverse in the local context and that remediation efforts must be compartmentalized to be effective. The results of image based unsupervised mapping of slums from imagery show that it is a tool with high potential for rapid slum assessment even when there is no supporting field data. Finally, the results of analytic regionalization showed that the true extent of contiguous slum neighborhoods can be delineated objectively using land cover and terrain attributes. It thus presents an opportunity for local planning and policy actors to consider redesigning the city neighborhood districts as analytic units. Quantitively derived neighborhoods are likely to be more useful in the long term, be it for spatial sampling, mapping or planning purposes.