Optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) is a fundamental gaze-stabilising response in which eye movements attempt to compensate for the retinal slip caused by self-motion. The OKN response consists of a slow following movement made in the direction of stimulus motion interrupted by fast eye movements that are primarily made in the opposite direction. The timing and amplitude of these slow phases and quick phases are notably variable, but this variability is poorly understood. In this study I performed principal component analysis on OKN parameters in order to investigate how the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the underlying components contribute to the correlation between OKN parameters over time. I found three categories of principal components that could explain the variance within each cycle of OKN, and only parameters from within a single cycle contributed highly to any given component. Differences found in the correlation matrices of OKN parameters appear to reflect changes in the eigenvalues of components, while eigenvectors remain predominantly similar across participants, and trials. I have developed a linear and stochastic model of OKN based on these results and demonstrated that OKN can be described as a 1st order Markov process, with three sources of noise affecting SP velocity, QP triggering, and QP amplitude. I have used this model to make some important predictions about the optokinetic reflex: the transient response of SP velocity, the existence of signal dependent noise in the system, the target position of QPs, and the threshold at which QPs are generated. Finally, I investigate whether the significant variability within OKN may represent adaptive control of explicit and implicit parameters. iii

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Notre recherche vise à établir un cadre pour améliorer la compréhension du marché de capital-risque européen et l’appariement entre entrepreneurs et fonds de capital risque qui a lieu dans ce marché. Nous présentons quatre essais qui permettent de connaître: la littérature théorique et empirique sur le domaine, les différents types des Fonds de Capital Risque qui participent au financement des entreprises en phase de démarrage et les dimensions qui comptent le plus dans les relations entre ces participants. / Our thesis aims to improve the understanding of European Venture Capital market and the matching that takes place between entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists. We present four essays that allow us to get to know: the theoretical and empirical literature on the subject, the different types of European venture capitalists participating in the financing of early stage ventures and the dimensions that count in this relationship.

[pt] O principal objetivo desse trabalho é aplicar o arcabouço proposto por Diebold e Li (2006) para modelar o comportamento da curva de juros brasileira e gerar previsões de curto, médio e longo prazos para a sua trajetória futura. O modelo é estimado e as previsões geradas a partir dele são comparadas com as previsões de outros modelos tradicionalmente utilizados como base de comparação. Os resultados alcançados nos levam a concluir que o modelo proposto por Diebold e Li não é adequado para o caso brasileiro, pois é superado por meros modelos univariados para quaisquer horizontes de previsão e para quaisquer prazos de vencimento ao longo da curva de juros. São feitas algumas conjecturas acerca das razões desse fracasso, e essas conjecturas inspiram o desenvolvimento de duas variantes do modelo original. Os resultados obtidos indicam que as modificações propostas são animadoras, pois uma das variantes consegue gerar previsões de longo prazo de qualidade superior àquelas geradas a partir dos modelos competidores. / [en] The main objective of this dissertation is to model the Brazilian interest yield curve using Diebold and Li (2006) framework, in order to produce short, medium and long-term forecasts. We estimate the model and then compare its term-structure forecasts with forecasts based on standard benchmark models. Our results lead to the conclusion that the model proposed by Diebold and Li is not consistent with The Brazilian specific evidence, since it is outperformed by simple univariate models, for all forecast horizons, with any maturity choice. We make some theoretical conjectures to explain why the attempt has failed, which inspired the development of two new variants of the original model. The new results indicate that the model improvements proposed are promising, because one of the variants succeeds in producing long-term forecasts of greater accuracy than those based on competing models.

Com o objetivo de compreender quais fatores abióticos determinam a ocorrência das diferentes formações florestais na região de Batatais, entre as coordenadas 20038S e 20058S e 47037W e 47028W, foram escolhidas três propriedades agrícolas (Fazenda Monte Belo, em Restinga, SP e Fazenda Magnólia e Sítio Pratinha, em Batatais, SP), que apresentavam remanescentes florestais representativos da região (floresta ribeirinha paludícula, floresta estacional semidecídua ribeirinha e cerradão). Para descrever a composição florística e a estrutura da comunidade arbórea foram amostradas 05 parcelas de 10 x 10 m ao redor de cada estação tensiométrica. Para o estudo dos fatores abióticos foram determinados os parâmetros físicos e químicos dos solos e as curvas de retenção de água nos solos e piezometria. A discriminação das variáveis abióticas e de vegetação foi feita através da análise de componentes principais (PCA) e, na correlação entre a abundância de espécies e fatores abióticos, foram feitas análises diretas de gradiente por meio de Análise de Correlação Canônica (CCA). A textura dos solos (teores de argila, silte e areia) e a posição no terreno (cota), foram as variáveis ambientais mais importantes na distribuição das espécies e nas variações das fisionomias florestais, com influência na retenção hídrica e nos índices de fertilidade dos solos. Essas diferenças nos teores de argila em profundidade ao longo do declive, com influência direta na retenção de umidade dos solos ou mesmo na formação de ambientes paludículos, determinaram grupos distintos de espécies e fisionomias florestais: (i) um grupo de espécies de ocorrência típica nas fisionomias de Cerrado e fortemente associado às cotas mais elevadas (solos menos férteis, bem drenados e porcentagens mais baixas de argila e silte nas camadas mais profundas), entre as quais: Matayba juglandifolia, Trichilia pallida, Lithraea molleoides, Anadenanthera falcata, Myrcia tomentosa, Copaifera langsdorffii, Erytrhoxylum pelleteranum, Platipodium elegans, Chrysophyllum marginatum, Luehea divaricata, entre outras e (ii) um grupo com espécies indicadoras de Florestas Paludículas ou de ocorrência comum nestas fisionomias, associado aos solos das cotas mais baixas (Gleissolos), com porcentagens altas de argila e silte nas camadas superficiais, mais férteis e maior retenção hídrica: Cecropia pachystachya, Citronella gongonha, Rapanea guianensis, Talauma ovata e Tapirira guianensis. Pode-se considerar um terceiro grupo de transição entre Floresta Estacional Semidecídua e Cerradão, nas cotas intermediárias e menos úmidas (espécies amostradas em parcelas localizadas nas bordas das Florestas Paludículas), onde ocorreram espécies tanto de ambiente de Cerradão, como de Floresta Estacional Semidecídua, e algumas poucas de ambiente paludículo. As porcentagens mais elevadas de Areia nos solos do Sítio Pratinha, com influência na menor retenção hídrica e também nos índices de fertilidade (solos álicos, com maior acidez e os menos férteis), podem explicar algumas diferenças na composição e abundância das espécies entre fisionomias florestais iguais. O Cerradão da Fazenda Monte Belo, mostrou-se diferente floristicamente do Cerradão do Sítio Pratinha. Esta mesma diferença ocorreu em relação às Florestas Paludículas da Fazenda Magnólia e a do Sítio Pratinha. As poucasespécies de ocorrência comum tiveram populações diferentes. A CCA evidenciou também correlações de algumas espécies com determinadas variáveis de solo. / In order to understand what abiotic factors determine the occurrence of different forest formations in the region of Batatais, coordinated between 20038\'S and 20058\'S and 47037\'W and 47028\'W, three agricultural properties were chosen (Monte Belo, in the city of Restinga, SP and Magnolia and Pratinha in Batatais, SP, Brazil), which had forests representative of the region (swamp forest, semi-deciduous riverine forest and forested savanna). To describe the floristic composition and structure of the arboreal community, 05 plots of 10 x 10 meters around each tensiometric station were sampled. For the study of abiotic factors, the physico-chemical characteristics of the soils, the soil-water-retention curves and the groundwater fluctuation were determined. The discrimination of the environmental variables and arboreal species were made through the Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and in the correlation between the abundance of species and abiotic factors, direct analyses of gradient through Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were made. The texture of the soil (levels of clay, silt and sand) and the position on the ground (altitude) were the most important environmental variables in the distribution of species and variations of forest physiognomies, with influence in the retention rates of water and soil fertility. These differences in levels of clay in depth along the slope, with direct influence on the retention of soil moisture and even in the development of swampy environment, determined distinct groups of species and forest physiognomies: (i) a group of species of typical occurrence in physiognomies of Forested Savanna and strongly associated with higher altitude (less fertile, well-drained soil and lower percentages of clay and silt in the deeper layers), including: Matayba juglandifolia, Trichilia pallida, Lithraea molleoides, Anadenanthera falcata, Myrcia tomentosa, Copaifera langsdorffii, Erytrhoxylum pelleteranum, Platipodium elegans, Chrysophyllum marginatum, Luehea divaricata, among others, and (ii) a group with indicator species of Swamp Forests or common occurrence in these physiognomies, associated with lower altitude (Gleisoil), with high percentages of clay and silt in the upper and more fertile layers, and greater water retention: Cecropia pachystachya, Citronella gongonha, Rapanea guianensis, Talauma ovata and Tapirira guianensis. A third group of transition between Semi-deciduous Forest and Forested Savanna, in intermediate altitude and soils less humid (species sampled in plots located at the edges of Swamp Forests), occurred both in the Forested Savanna and in Semi-deciduous Forest and a few in swampy environment. The highest percentages of sand in the soil of Pratinha, with less influence on water retention and also on the rates of fertility (alic soils, with greater acidity and less fertile), may explain some differences in the composition and abundance of species of forest physiognomies equal. The forested Savanna of Monte Belo, has proved floristically different from the Forested Savanna of Pratinha. This same difference occurred in swamp forests of Magnolia and Pratinha. The few species of common occurrence had differentpopulations. The CCA also revealed correlations of some species with certain variables of soil.

Orientador: Antonio de Goes / Banca: Eduardo Sanches Stuchi / Banca: Kátia Cristina Kupper / Banca: Gener Tadeu Pereira / Banca: Marcel Bellato Spósito / Resumo: Apesar de sua importância comercial, o número de variedades de laranjas é muito restrito no Brasil. Os Bancos de Germoplasmas de citros possuem grande número de genótipos de laranjas doces para serem explorados e avaliados quanto aos aspectos botânicos, genéticos e agronômicos, visando elevar a variabilidade genética e as qualidades agronômicas das cultivares. Como parte desse trabalho, avaliou-se 58 genótipos de laranjeiras doces em relação aos caracteres físicos, visando mercado in natura por meio de 9 caracteres físicos (diâmetro, perímetro, altura e peso dos frutos, espessuras da casca, albedo e polpa e número de sementes) e 7 caracteres visando qualidade industrial (acidez total titulável, sólidos solúveis totais, "ratio", peso dos frutos, rendimento de suco, ácido ascórbico e índice tecnológico= kg sólidos solúveis/40,8kg). A análise multivariada indicou a existência de variabilidade entre os genótipos em relação aos caracteres físicos visando mercado in natura e qualidade industrial. Dois componentes principais, com autovalores > 1, representaram 66,03% da variância total para os caracteres físicos. As variáveis com maior poder discriminatório na primeira componente principal foram: diâmetro, perímetro, peso e altura dos frutos. Os escores desse componente foram designados MI-CP1 (mercado in natura), e os genótipos com os maiores valores foram os mais indicados para o mercado de fruta fresca. Na segunda componente principal, as variáveis mais discriminantes foram espessura do endocarpo e rendimento de suco, cujos escores foram nomeados (S-CP2), caracteres físicos esses ideais para a qualidade industrial. Nos escores dos dois componentes principais (MI-CP1 e S-CP2), o genótipo 22- 'Lanelate' foi destaque, seguido por 43-Telde, 39-Rotuna, 44-Torregrossa, 46-Tua Mamede e 17-Grada. Quanto às avaliações visando qualidade industrial... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Although its commercial importance, the number of you cultivate of oranges it is very restricted in Brazil. The Banks of Germoplasmas of citros possess innumerable accesses of oranges candies to be explored and evaluated how much to the botanical, genetic and agronomics aspects, aiming at to raise the genetic variability and the agronomics qualities cultivating of them. As part of that work, was sought to evaluate 58 genotypes of sweet orange trees in relation to the physical characters, seeking market in nature and industry quality, through 9 physical characters (diameter, perimeter, height and weight of the fruits, thickness of the peel, albedo and pulp and number of seeds) and 7 characters seeking industrial quality (acidity total titillate, total soluble solids, ratio ", weight of the fruits, juice revenue, ascorbic acid and technological index = kg solid solutes/40,8kg). The analysis multivariate indicated the variability existence among the genotypes in relation to the physical characters and industrial quality. Two main components, with autovalues> 1, they represented 66,03% of the total variance for the physical characters. The variables with larger power discriminate in the first main component were: diameter, perimeter, weight and height of the fruits; we named the scores of that component of MI-CP1 (market in nature), genotypes with the largest values were the most suitable to the market of fresh fruit; in the second main component the variables more discriminate were thickness of the endocarp and juice revenue, it was named (S-CP2), characters physical ideas for the industrial quality. In the scores of the two main components (MI-CP1 and S-CP2), the genotype 22-Lanelate was prominence, followed for 43-Telde, 39-Rotuna, 44- Torregrossa, 46-Tua Mamede and it 17-Grada. How much to the evaluations aiming at industrial quality (INDUST-CP1), had been distinguished: ...(Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

The optic disc is the region of the retina where the optic nerve exits the back of the eye. A number of conditions can cause the optic disc to swell. Papilledema, optic disc swelling caused by raised intracranial pressure (ICP), and nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), swelling caused by reduced blood flow to the back of the eye, are two such conditions. Rapid, accurate diagnosis of the cause of disc swelling is important, as with papilledema the underlying cause of raised ICP could potentially be life-threatening and may require immediate intervention. The current clinical standard for diagnosing and assessing papilledema is a subjective measure based on qualitative inferences drawn from fundus images. Even with the expert training required to properly perform the assessment, measurements and results can vary significantly between clinicians. As such, the need for a rapid, accurate diagnostic tool for optic disc swelling is clear. Shape analysis of the structures of the retina has emerged as a promising quantitative tool for distinguishing between causes of optic disc swelling. Optic disc swelling can cause the retinal surfaces to distort, taking on shapes that differ from their normal arrangement. Recent work has examined how changes in the shape of one of these surfaces, Bruch's membrane (BM), varies between different types of optic disc swelling, containing clinically-relevant information. The inner limiting membrane (ILM), the most anterior retinal surface and furthest from BM, can take on shapes that are distinct from the more posterior layers when the optic disc becomes swollen. These unique shape characteristics have yet to be explored for their potential clinical utility. This thesis develops new shape models of the ILM. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop noninvasive, automated diagnostic tools for clinical use. To that end, a necessary first step in establishing clinical relevance is demonstrating the utility of retinal shape information in a machine learning classifier. Retinal layer shape information and regional volume measurements acquired from spectral-domain optical coherence tomography scans from 78 patients (39 papilledema, 39 NAION) was used to train random forest classifiers to distinguish between cases of papilledema and NAION. On average, the classifiers were able to correctly distinguish between papilledema and NAION 85.7±2.0% of the time, confirming the usefulness of retinal layer shapes for determining the cause of optic disc swelling. The results of this experiment are encouraging for future studies that will include more patients and attempt to differentiate between additional causes of optic disc edema.

<p>This study investigates the most important reasons behind the rst-year students' decision to select University of the Western Cape (UWC) as higher education institution.<br /> These reasons were organized into a few factors for easy interpretation. The data to be analyzed for this project is a subsection of the data collected during the orientation period of 2008. During the orientation week of 2008, the questionnaires were completed on a voluntary basis by new rst-year students. All questionnaires were anonymously completed and therefore the data does not contain any information that could be linked to any individual. For the purpose of this study, only the black African and coloured students were considered. The other racial groups were not analyzed due to too small sample sizes. Questionnaires with missing information on the reasons for selecting UWC were not&nbsp / nalyzed. We ended up with a sample of size 600. The data were statistically analyzed, using descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, factor analysis, coefficient of congruence and bootstrap factor analysis. The results indicated that the most important reasons aecting students to choose UWC were identied as good academic reputation, family member's advice, UWC graduates are successful and UWC graduates get good jobs. The least important reasons were found to be not accepted anywhere, parents / family members graduated from UWC, recruited by UWC and wanted to study near to home. The results also indicated that there were significant differences among students according to population groups, parent's monthly income and grade 12 average. Factor analysis of 12 variables yielded three extracted factors upon which student decisions were based. Similarities of these three factors were tested, and a high similarity among demographic characteristics and grade 12 average were found. Additional analyses were conducted to measure the accuracy of factor analyses models constructed using Spearman and Polychoric correlation matrices. The results indicated that both correlation matrices were&nbsp / nbiased, with higher variance and higher loadings when the Polychoric correlation matrix was used to construct a factor analysis model for categorical data.</p>

Religion is a deeply important tradition in many people's lives, especially for those forced to leave abruptly their homes and loved ones and resettle in a foreign land. Religion not only provides spiritual guidance but also social networks, comfort, and moral standards, among many others things. I chose to study the beliefs and practices of Vietnamese American Buddhists and Catholics as well as the relationship between those two groups in the U.S. The Vietnamese present an interesting case because of their collective status as a well-publicized immigrant, formerly refugee, population that is now well-established in this country. With my research, I was able to test five hypotheses. I wanted to determine the degree of transnationality, tension between the religious groups, conversion, and ancestor worship. Secondarily, I assessed any differences regionally. In order to test my hypotheses, I conducted 60 quantitative surveys. I sampled from the Houston and Minneapolis-St. Paul Vietnamese communities. Transnationality, or ties to the homeland, was more prevalent for Buddhists than Catholics as I had hypothesized. There was a minute degree of tension present, however, generally with older members of the first generation cohort. Traditional Vietnamese ancestor worship was not more prevalent with Buddhists than with Catholics. I was unable to sample enough religious converts in order to test my conversion hypothesis. In terms of differences across regions, all variables other than national identity as well as an indicator of transnationality were statistically insignificant. This data helps fill a nearly 30-year gap in the research in this area and focuses specifically on the Vietnamese population which many studies have been unable to do. In addition to my quantitative study, I also conducted qualitative fieldwork at four primary research and three secondary research sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston metropolitan areas. Twenty-five to thirty hours were spent at each primary location observing the members, volunteers, dress, interactions, normative and deviant behaviors during services, socialization, languages spoken, attentiveness, racial diversity, and additional activities provided by the religious organization to the membership. This fieldwork gave me a better understanding of this community in a religious context.

This dissertation is an effort to adapt two classical non-parametric statistical techniques, kernel density estimation (KDE) and principal components analysis (PCA), to the Billera-Holmes-Vogtmann (BHV) metric space for phylogenetic trees. This adaption gives a more general framework for developing and testing various hypotheses about apparent differences or similarities between sets of phylogenetic trees than currently exists. For example, while the majority of gene histories found in a clade of organisms are expected to be generated by a common evolutionary process, numerous other coexisting processes (e.g. horizontal gene transfers, gene duplication and subsequent neofunctionalization) will cause some genes to exhibit a history quite distinct from the histories of the majority of genes. Such “outlying” gene trees are considered to be biologically interesting and identifying these genes has become an important problem in phylogenetics. The R sofware package kdetrees, developed in Chapter 2, contains an implementation of the kernel density estimation method. The primary theoretical difficulty involved in this adaptation concerns the normalizion of the kernel functions in the BHV metric space. This problem is addressed in Chapter 3. In both chapters, the software package is applied to both simulated and empirical datasets to demonstrate the properties of the method. A few first theoretical steps in adaption of principal components analysis to the BHV space are presented in Chapter 4. It becomes necessary to generalize the notion of a set of perpendicular vectors in Euclidean space to the BHV metric space, but there some ambiguity about how to best proceed. We show that convex hulls are one reasonable approach to the problem. The Nye-PCA- algorithm provides a method of projecting onto arbitrary convex hulls in BHV space, providing the core of a modified PCA-type method.