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To differentiate pyogenic brain abscess from other brain diseases such as necrotic glioblastomas is very important for clinic treatment. Cytosolic animo acids, lactate, alanine, succinate and acetate have been recognized as potential abscess markers. LCModel is a well-known tool to analyze the MRS data, as it provides opportunity of quantitative of metabolite concentration. Using MRS with LCModel to identify and quantitate these metabolites would benefit more precisely noninvasive diagnosis and treatment of pyogenic brain abscess. However, to differentiate the MR spectra of strongly overlapping metabolites are not easy. In this study, we validate the accuracy of LCModel on detecting these overlapping metabolites. We use some GAVA-simulated resonance spectra as our input signals and figure out the performance of LCModel analysis in different conditions. Our goal is to find an optimal analysis method to help the clinic diagnosis of abscess patients. Our result shows that the determination of basis sets is very important since the analyzed result might be different due to the improper selection of basis sets.

The current study uses a combination of quantitative and spatial analysis to examine the impact of affordable housing administered by the Texas Department of Housing Affairs on the neighborhood crime rate, in Dallas, Texas. Pre and post construction period analysis, for duration of five years from 2000 to 2004 provided an in-depth view on the direct impact of affordable housing at the neighborhood level. The crime rates were measured alongside with the sociodemographic characteristics of the area to see any association between the two. The findings suggest that the affordable housing were mostly located in areas with higher concentration of minority population and low median household income. The results of this study showed negligible increase in crime rates but a through analysis could provide an in-depth analysis of the issue. / text

The face is an integral part of one’s self-concept and unquestionably the most important attribute used to distinguish one's identity. A growing body of literature demonstrates that any condition that results in facial disfigurement can have a profound adverse impact on one's psychological and social functioning. In this respect, patients with facial disfigurements are at higher risk to experience psychosocial difficulties than others. Owing to injuries or illnesses such as cancer, patients undergo reconstructive surgeries both to recover their facial function and to reduce the adverse impact of facial disfigurements on their psychosocial functioning. However, since surgical planning and evaluation of reconstructive outcomes still relies heavily on surgeons' qualitative assessments, it is challenging to measure surgery outcomes and, therefore, difficult to improve surgical practice. Thus, this dissertation research aims to help patients suffering from facial disfigurement by developing quantitative measures that are 1) related to human perception of faces, and 2) that account for patient's internal status (i.e., psychosocial functioning). Such measures can be used to improve surgical practice and assist patients with disfigurement to be psychosocially adjusted. Specifically, this dissertation proposes quantitative measures of facial morphology and expression that are closely related to overall facial attractiveness and a patient's psychosocial functioning. Such measures will allow surgeons to quantitatively plan and evaluate reconstructive surgeries. In addition, this dissertation introduces a modeling technique to simulate disfigurement on novel faces with control on the type, location, and severity of disfigurement. This modeling technique is important since it can help patients with facial disfigurement gain a more accurate understanding of how they are viewed in society, which has a strong potential to facilitate their psychosocial adjustment. This dissertation provides a new perspective on how to help patients with facial disfigurement address challenging problems in facial reconstruction, aesthetic understanding, and psychosocial actualization. It is hoped that this work has shown that multiple benefits could be realized from future studies utilizing the modeling technique to understand human perception of facial disfigurement and thereby to develop quantitative measures that are closely associated with human perception. / text

Lymphocyte migration is crucial for adaptive immunity. CCR7 and its ligands mediate the migration and positioning of T cells in lymph nodes but the underlying mechanism is complex. The research in this thesis investigated CCR7-mediated T cell migration using a microfluidics-based approach. A microfluidic method suitable for quantitative migration analysis of genetically modified lymphocyte transfectants was developed. Using this method, I demonstrated chemotaxis of Jurkat transfectants expressing wild-type or C-terminal mutated CCR7 to a CCL19 gradient, and characterized the difference in transfectant migration mediated by wild-type and mutant CCR7. The fluorescent tag allows identification of CCR7-expressing transfectants in cell migration analysis, and microscopy assessment of CCR7 dynamics in migrating cells. Furthermore, my results also showed interesting migratory behaviours of CCR7 Jurkat transfectants in a specific co-existing CCL19 and CCL21 fields. This developed method will be broadly useful for studying cell migration signalling.

Ma thèse porte sur l'émergence et l'évolution de la RSE au niveau mondial et local dans une perspective institutionnelle. Elle aborde le mécanisme dynamique du champ de la RSE à partir d'une perspective à plusieurs niveaux en trois modes: (1) en tant que gouvernance transnationale, (2) en tant que pratique d'entreprise mondiale évoluée à partir d'une idée ou d'une pratique localement incorporée et (3) en tant que un domaine (quasi-) professionnel. Plus précisément, le premier essai explore les façons dont un État-nation réinvente ses relations avec d'autres acteurs dans le processus de gouvernance transnationale de la RSE. Mon deuxième essai étudie la coévolution des attentes en Corée du Sud en ce qui concerne la responsabilité des entreprises et du système d'affaires national. Mon troisième essai porte sur les mécanismes de micro-professionnalisation du domaine de la RSE en Corée du Sud. D'un point de vue méthodologique, j'utilise des études de cas et des analyses qualitatives pour examiner des ensembles de données composés d'entretiens, d'observations sur le terrain et de données archivistiques. Pour ma thèse, j'ai principalement porté sur 81 interviews de professionnels dans le domaine de la RSE et plus de 200 articles de journaux parlant de la responsabilité des entreprises (ou des riches quand un type moderne d'entreprise n'existait pas en Corée du Sud avant 1960) et “CSR”, qui ont été publiés en Corée du Sud depuis les années 1920, afin de comprendre le champ lui-même et de reconstruire une histoire de l'émergence et de l'évolution du champ. Avec les données que j'ai recueillies, ces trois modes donnent des lignes directrices fondamentales pour mes recherches actuelles et futures. / Going back to the disagreement of Wilensky (1964) in the beginning of this paper, I have some concluding thoughts with respect to my findings. Wilensky (1974) made his stance quite clear by arguing that everyone cannot be professionalized because of quasi-professionals or semi-professionals do not possess tentative knowledge and skills and other conditions as the functionalist approach in the sociology of profession generally argue. Current researchers have argue that contemporary professional fields have lost the essence of professionalism, which is a broad sense of serving societal missions, and have become more interest groups to do their businesses (R. Greenwood, 2007; Saks, 2012). Hence, current established professional organizations are being under de-legitimization and de-institutionalization (Ackroyd, 1996; Brock, 2006). My findings showed that many of CSR professionals, one of emerging quasi-professional groups, tended to share a strong sense of serving societal missions. Some of them (with the strategic corporate giving and the sustainability transition frame) emphasized even more than their business missions, commercial values, and self-interests. Just like any other professionals, some of CSR professionals, especially those within the social innovation and the risk management frame, also underscored the importance of business-like and commercial values to vitalize the CSR field and to grow themselves as stronger professionals. However, they were clearly aware of that what they were doing ultimately generated social benefits, and they appreciated the fact that their professional lives satisfied both their economic interests and societal interests. Hence, their professionalism was actually quite stronger than any other contemporary professionals, which have been criticized for lack of such professionalism. In this regard, why cannot we call CSR professionals, professionals ?

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