In many applications, the dataset for classification may be highly imbalanced where most of the instances in the training set may belong to some of the classes (majority classes), while only a few instances are from the other classes (minority classes). Conventional classifiers will strongly favor the majority class and ignore the minority instances. The imbalance problem can occur in both binary data classification and also in ordinal regression. Ordinal regression is a supervised approach for learning the ordinal relationship between classes. Extensive research has been performed for addressing imbalanced datasets for binary classification; however, current methods do not address within-class imbalance and between-class imbalance at the same time. Similarly, there has been very little research work on addressing imbalanced datasets for ordinal regression. Although current standard oversampling methods can be used to improve the dataset class distribution, they do not consider the ordinal relationship between the classes. The class imbalance problem is a big challenge in classification problems. Most of the clinical datasets are highly imbalanced, which can weaken the performance of classifiers significantly. In this research, the imbalanced dataset classification problem is also examined in the context of a clinical application, particularly pelvic organ prolapse diagnosis. Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a major health problem that affects between 30-50% of women in the U.S. Although clinical examination is currently used to diagnose POP, there is still little evidence on specific risk factors that are directly related to particular types of POP and their severity or stages (Stage 0-IV). Data from dynamic MRI related to the movement of pelvic organs has the potential to improve POP prediction but it is currently analyzed manually limiting its exploration and use to small datasets. Moreover, POP is a disorder with multiple stages that are ordinal and whose distribution is highly imbalanced. The main goal of this research is two-fold. The first goal is to design new oversampling methods for imbalanced datasets for both binary classification and ordinal regression. The second goal is to automatically track, segment, and classify the trajectory of multiple organs on dynamic MRI to quantitatively describe pelvic organ movement. The extracted image-based data along with the designed oversampling methods will be used to improve the diagnosis of POP. The proposed research consists of three major objectives: 1) to design a new oversampling technique for binary imbalanced dataset classification; 2) to design a novel oversampling technique for ordinal regression with imbalanced datasets; and 3) to design a two-stage method to automatically track and segment multiple pelvic organs on dynamic MRI for improving the prediction of multi-stage POP with imbalanced datasets. The proposed research aims to provide robust oversampling techniques and image processing models that can (1) effectively handle highly imbalanced datasets for both binary classification and ordinal regression, and (2) automatically track and segment multiple deformable structures for feature extraction from low contrast and nonhomogeneous images and classify them using the resulted trajectories. This research will set the foundation towards a computer-aided decision support system that can automatically extract and analyze image and clinical data to improve the prediction of disorders where the dataset is highly imbalanced through personalized and evidence-based assessment.

A central goal of life history theory is to understand the selective factors that generate the diversity of reproductive patterns observed in nature. Within lifetime changes in reproductive investment will determine an organism's fitness; however, this area of life history theory has received less attention than comparisons among population that characterize life history traits as a single population mean. Reproductive allocation can be affected by multiple cues; the integration of these cues across an organism's lifetime generates the diversity in life history strategies observed in nature. Life history studies should examine the interacting effects of multiple cues on life history strategies to generate better predictions and generalizations of age-related changes in reproductive investment. An individual's life history strategy is inherently multivariate consisting of a coordinated suite of life history traits that, when combined across the organism's lifetime, determines its fitness. Life history strategies can therefore be described as a trajectory through multivariate space defined by life history traits. Here I describe life history trajectory analysis, a multivariate analytical approach for quantifying and comparing phenotypic change in life history strategies; this methodology is adapted from an analytical framework originally described for studies of morphological evolution. Life history trajectories have attributes (magnitude, direction, and shape) that can be quantified and statistically compared among taxa to determine if life history patterns are predictable. Using the life history trajectory analysis, I demonstrate the effect of prior experience on reproductive allocation in the burying beetle Nicrophorus orbicollis. The effect of prior experience resulted in a terminal investment or accentuated response to age-based cues, or resulted in a conservative investment strategy or reproductive restraint. In the livebearing fish Gambusia affinis, females adjust the level of reproductive investment to current reproduction based on age- or environment-based cues. Age-0 females decreased the level of reproductive investment to current reproduction in late summer prior to the onset of fall and winter months. Old females, on the other hand, increased the level of reproductive investment as the summer progressed. The reproductive restraint and terminal investment patterns exhibited by age-0 and age-1 females, respectively, were consistent with the predictions from the cost of reproduction hypothesis. These studies demonstrate how the life history trajectory analysis provides an analytical tool to test predictions of life history theory. Additionally, I provide evidence that organisms use multiple cues to determine the level of reproductive investment and that the strength of the effect of each cue will depend on the age of an individual.

We have a huge amount of video data from extensively available surveillance cameras and increasingly growing technology to record the motion of a moving object in the form of trajectory data. With proliferation of location-enabled devices and ongoing growth in smartphone penetration as well as advancements in exploiting image processing techniques, tracking moving objects is more flawlessly achievable. In this work, we explore some domain-independent qualitative and quantitative features in raw trajectory (spatio-temporal) data in videos captured by a fixed single wide-angle view camera sensor in outdoor areas. We study the efficacy of those features in classifying four basic high level actions by employing two supervised learning algorithms and show how each of the features affect the learning algorithms’ overall accuracy as a single factor or confounded with others.

Após sua morte, o interesse pela imagem e produção musical de Raul Seixas tem crescido bastante. Todos os dias 21 de agosto, o túmulo do cantor amanhece coberto de flores e manifestações públicas em sua homenagem se espalham pelo Brasil. Livros sobre ele são sucessivamente publicados enquanto projetos de filmes e discos fazem de sua imagem um bem econômico muito valorizado. Atentas a esse crescente interesse, diferentes áreas acadêmicas dedicaram a Raul Seixas uma série de teses e dissertações. No entanto, mesmo seduzindo um público considerável e pesquisas acadêmicas diversas, a trajetória de Raul Seixas ainda merece alguns cuidados analíticos. A ideia do mítico roqueiro rebelde nubla as recuperações biográficas feitas do cantor e pouco esclarece os mecanismos pelas quais Raul Seixas foi alçado a essa posição. Este trabalho vem lançar luz à trajetória do cantor e compositor Raul Seixas, analisando as posições assumidas por ele em diferentes estágios do campo musical brasileiro, para assim se entender as ferramentas com as quais ele negociou sua consagração. Para superar algumas ideias hoje encalacradas junto à imagem do cantor, realizou-se um mapeamento dos espaços sociais por onde ele transitou, das conjunturas pelas quais ele construiu sua carreira artística, a forma como ele foi avaliado pela crítica musical e a maneira como Raul Seixas se inseriu nos meios de comunicação. / After his death, interest for images and music productions of Raul Seixas has highly increased. Every year on August 21, the grave of the singer is covered of flowers and public demonstrations in his honour spread for all over the country. Books are successively published while movie projects and discs turn his image into a valued economical good. Aware of this increasing interest, different academic areas devoted to Raul Seixas lots of theses and dissertations. However, even reaching considerable fans and academic research, the trajectory of Raul Seixas still requires some extra time. The idea of mythical rebel rock star hides biographical recoveries of the singer and does not clarify why Raul Seixas was leaded to that position. This research intends to light the career paths of the singer and songwriter Raul Seixas, analyzing the positions taken by him at different stages of Brazilian music story, in order to understand the tools he used to get to his consecration. To overcome a few ideas now sticked to the singer\'s image, there is a mapping of social fields he has been through, the situations in which he built his artistic career, the way he was evaluated by music critics and how Raul Seixas was inserted by media.

Após sua morte, o interesse pela imagem e produção musical de Raul Seixas tem crescido bastante. Todos os dias 21 de agosto, o túmulo do cantor amanhece coberto de flores e manifestações públicas em sua homenagem se espalham pelo Brasil. Livros sobre ele são sucessivamente publicados enquanto projetos de filmes e discos fazem de sua imagem um bem econômico muito valorizado. Atentas a esse crescente interesse, diferentes áreas acadêmicas dedicaram a Raul Seixas uma série de teses e dissertações. No entanto, mesmo seduzindo um público considerável e pesquisas acadêmicas diversas, a trajetória de Raul Seixas ainda merece alguns cuidados analíticos. A ideia do mítico roqueiro rebelde nubla as recuperações biográficas feitas do cantor e pouco esclarece os mecanismos pelas quais Raul Seixas foi alçado a essa posição. Este trabalho vem lançar luz à trajetória do cantor e compositor Raul Seixas, analisando as posições assumidas por ele em diferentes estágios do campo musical brasileiro, para assim se entender as ferramentas com as quais ele negociou sua consagração. Para superar algumas ideias hoje encalacradas junto à imagem do cantor, realizou-se um mapeamento dos espaços sociais por onde ele transitou, das conjunturas pelas quais ele construiu sua carreira artística, a forma como ele foi avaliado pela crítica musical e a maneira como Raul Seixas se inseriu nos meios de comunicação. / After his death, interest for images and music productions of Raul Seixas has highly increased. Every year on August 21, the grave of the singer is covered of flowers and public demonstrations in his honour spread for all over the country. Books are successively published while movie projects and discs turn his image into a valued economical good. Aware of this increasing interest, different academic areas devoted to Raul Seixas lots of theses and dissertations. However, even reaching considerable fans and academic research, the trajectory of Raul Seixas still requires some extra time. The idea of mythical rebel rock star hides biographical recoveries of the singer and does not clarify why Raul Seixas was leaded to that position. This research intends to light the career paths of the singer and songwriter Raul Seixas, analyzing the positions taken by him at different stages of Brazilian music story, in order to understand the tools he used to get to his consecration. To overcome a few ideas now sticked to the singer\'s image, there is a mapping of social fields he has been through, the situations in which he built his artistic career, the way he was evaluated by music critics and how Raul Seixas was inserted by media.

Cette étude aborde le thème de l’utilisation des modèles de mélange de lois pour analyser des données de comportements et d’habiletés cognitives mesurées à plusieurs moments au cours du développement des enfants. L’estimation des mélanges de lois multinormales en utilisant l’algorithme EM est expliquée en détail. Cet algorithme simplifie beaucoup les calculs, car il permet d’estimer les paramètres de chaque groupe séparément, permettant ainsi de modéliser plus facilement la covariance des observations à travers le temps. Ce dernier point est souvent mis de côté dans les analyses de mélanges. Cette étude porte sur les conséquences d’une mauvaise spécification de la covariance sur l’estimation du nombre de groupes formant un mélange. La conséquence principale est la surestimation du nombre de groupes, c’est-à-dire qu’on estime des groupes qui n’existent pas. En particulier, l’hypothèse d’indépendance des observations à travers le temps lorsque ces dernières étaient corrélées résultait en l’estimation de plusieurs groupes qui n’existaient pas. Cette surestimation du nombre de groupes entraîne aussi une surparamétrisation, c’est-à-dire qu’on utilise plus de paramètres qu’il n’est nécessaire pour modéliser les données. Finalement, des modèles de mélanges ont été estimés sur des données de comportements et d’habiletés cognitives. Nous avons estimé les mélanges en supposant d’abord une structure de covariance puis l’indépendance. On se rend compte que dans la plupart des cas l’ajout d’une structure de covariance a pour conséquence d’estimer moins de groupes et les résultats sont plus simples et plus clairs à interpréter. / This study is about the use of mixture to model behavioral and cognitive data measured repeatedly across development in children. Estimation of multinormal mixture models using the EM algorithm is explained in detail. This algorithm simplifies computation of mixture models because the parameters in each group are estimated separately, allowing to model covariance across time more easily. This last point is often disregarded when estimating mixture models. This study focused on the consequences of a misspecified covariance matrix when estimating the number of groups in a mixture. The main consequence is an overestimation of the number of groups, i.e. we estimate groups that do not exist. In particular, the independence assumption of the observations across time when they were in fact correlated resulted in estimating many non existing groups. This overestimation of the number of groups also resulted in an overfit of the model, i.e. we used more parameters than necessary. Finally mixture models were fitted to behavioral and cognitive data. We fitted the data first assuming a covariance structure, then assuming independence. In most cases, the analyses conducted assuming a covariance structure ended up having fewer groups and the results were simpler and clearer to interpret.

No description available.

A partir do processo de redemocratização da década de 1980, a configuração política brasileira passa por importantes transformações. Uma delas diz respeito ao padrão das relações entre sociedade civil e Estado. Com a reabertura política, os movimentos sociais voltam à cena, ao passo em que o Estado abre alguns canais de interlocução e participação social. Neste sentido, amplia-se o diálogo entre Estado e sociedade e os movimentos sociais passam a reivindicar de maneira mais intensa suas demandas por políticas públicas. Os dezesseis anos em que o Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) esteve à frente da prefeitura de Porto Alegre e o período em que comandou o Governo do Estado representaram o pioneirismo na adoção de políticas públicas para a economia solidária (ES) no Brasil, posteriormente adotadas em âmbito federal. A institucionalização das demandas de diversos segmentos sociais organizados a partir da década de 1990 revela o intenso trânsito de atores entre as organizações da sociedade civil e o campo político institucional. Tal evidência é emblemática também no caso das experiências de ES. A partir da constatação de que existem espaços ocupados por atores que estão presentes tanto na esfera das organizações civis, quanto no campo político institucional, discutimos o conceito de permeabilidade do Estado brasileiro a atores externos, tendo como foco um padrão específico de permeabilidade: o trânsito institucional. O objetivo central desta dissertação é compreender as relações entre sociedade civil e Estado problematizando seus “limites”, na medida em que a presença de atores em ambas as esferas revela a fluidez destas “fronteiras”. Para a execução desta pesquisa, realizamos a análise das trajetórias de onze militantes de ES que ocuparam cargos na gestão pública. Estes entrevistados têm em comum a característica de transitarem entre entidades representativas da ES, partidos políticos, ONGs e instituições estatais. A partir da análise das trajetórias, constatamos que as transformações ocorridas após o processo de redemocratização intensificaram as relações entre Estado e sociedade, tornando mais evidentes os padrões de permeabilidade da esfera estatal a atores externos e, conseqüentemente, menos rígidas as “fronteiras” entre sociedade civil e Estado. / Since the redemocratization process in the Eighties, the political configuration in Brazil passes through important changes. One of them has to do with relational patterns between civil society and State. With the political opening, social movements come back to prominence, whereas the State opens communicational and social participation channels. It widens then the dialogue between state and society and the social movements claim more intensely their demands for public policies. The sixteen years that the Workers‟ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) was in charge of the Municipality of Porto Alegre and the period that it ran the State Government represent the leading role in adopting public policies towards solidary economy (SE) in Brazil, which were eventually applied on a nationwide basis. The institutionalization of the claims of several organized social parties since 1990s reveals the intense transit of actors that move between the civil society‟s organizations and the institutional political field. Such evidence is emblematic on the case of experiences of SE, as well. From the perception that there are positions occupied by actors present both at the civil organizations and the institutional political field, it is analyzed the concept of permeability of the Brazilian State to external actors, focusing on a specific pattern of permeability: the institutional transit. The central objective of this essay is to understand the relations between civil society and State taking into consideration its “limits”, to the extent that the presence of the actors in both spheres reveals the fluidity of these “boundaries”. To the realization of this research essay, it was made an analysis of the political trajectory of eleven SE militants that took office at the public administration. These interviewees have in common the characteristic of moving between the SE representative entities, political parties, NGOs and State institutions. Through the analysis of the trajectories, we can establish that the changes occurred after the redemocratization process intensified the relations between State and society, rendering more evident the permeability patterns of the state sphere to extraneous actors and, consequently, less strict the “boundaries” between civil society and state.

A partir do processo de redemocratização da década de 1980, a configuração política brasileira passa por importantes transformações. Uma delas diz respeito ao padrão das relações entre sociedade civil e Estado. Com a reabertura política, os movimentos sociais voltam à cena, ao passo em que o Estado abre alguns canais de interlocução e participação social. Neste sentido, amplia-se o diálogo entre Estado e sociedade e os movimentos sociais passam a reivindicar de maneira mais intensa suas demandas por políticas públicas. Os dezesseis anos em que o Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) esteve à frente da prefeitura de Porto Alegre e o período em que comandou o Governo do Estado representaram o pioneirismo na adoção de políticas públicas para a economia solidária (ES) no Brasil, posteriormente adotadas em âmbito federal. A institucionalização das demandas de diversos segmentos sociais organizados a partir da década de 1990 revela o intenso trânsito de atores entre as organizações da sociedade civil e o campo político institucional. Tal evidência é emblemática também no caso das experiências de ES. A partir da constatação de que existem espaços ocupados por atores que estão presentes tanto na esfera das organizações civis, quanto no campo político institucional, discutimos o conceito de permeabilidade do Estado brasileiro a atores externos, tendo como foco um padrão específico de permeabilidade: o trânsito institucional. O objetivo central desta dissertação é compreender as relações entre sociedade civil e Estado problematizando seus “limites”, na medida em que a presença de atores em ambas as esferas revela a fluidez destas “fronteiras”. Para a execução desta pesquisa, realizamos a análise das trajetórias de onze militantes de ES que ocuparam cargos na gestão pública. Estes entrevistados têm em comum a característica de transitarem entre entidades representativas da ES, partidos políticos, ONGs e instituições estatais. A partir da análise das trajetórias, constatamos que as transformações ocorridas após o processo de redemocratização intensificaram as relações entre Estado e sociedade, tornando mais evidentes os padrões de permeabilidade da esfera estatal a atores externos e, conseqüentemente, menos rígidas as “fronteiras” entre sociedade civil e Estado. / Since the redemocratization process in the Eighties, the political configuration in Brazil passes through important changes. One of them has to do with relational patterns between civil society and State. With the political opening, social movements come back to prominence, whereas the State opens communicational and social participation channels. It widens then the dialogue between state and society and the social movements claim more intensely their demands for public policies. The sixteen years that the Workers‟ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) was in charge of the Municipality of Porto Alegre and the period that it ran the State Government represent the leading role in adopting public policies towards solidary economy (SE) in Brazil, which were eventually applied on a nationwide basis. The institutionalization of the claims of several organized social parties since 1990s reveals the intense transit of actors that move between the civil society‟s organizations and the institutional political field. Such evidence is emblematic on the case of experiences of SE, as well. From the perception that there are positions occupied by actors present both at the civil organizations and the institutional political field, it is analyzed the concept of permeability of the Brazilian State to external actors, focusing on a specific pattern of permeability: the institutional transit. The central objective of this essay is to understand the relations between civil society and State taking into consideration its “limits”, to the extent that the presence of the actors in both spheres reveals the fluidity of these “boundaries”. To the realization of this research essay, it was made an analysis of the political trajectory of eleven SE militants that took office at the public administration. These interviewees have in common the characteristic of moving between the SE representative entities, political parties, NGOs and State institutions. Through the analysis of the trajectories, we can establish that the changes occurred after the redemocratization process intensified the relations between State and society, rendering more evident the permeability patterns of the state sphere to extraneous actors and, consequently, less strict the “boundaries” between civil society and state.

A partir do processo de redemocratização da década de 1980, a configuração política brasileira passa por importantes transformações. Uma delas diz respeito ao padrão das relações entre sociedade civil e Estado. Com a reabertura política, os movimentos sociais voltam à cena, ao passo em que o Estado abre alguns canais de interlocução e participação social. Neste sentido, amplia-se o diálogo entre Estado e sociedade e os movimentos sociais passam a reivindicar de maneira mais intensa suas demandas por políticas públicas. Os dezesseis anos em que o Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) esteve à frente da prefeitura de Porto Alegre e o período em que comandou o Governo do Estado representaram o pioneirismo na adoção de políticas públicas para a economia solidária (ES) no Brasil, posteriormente adotadas em âmbito federal. A institucionalização das demandas de diversos segmentos sociais organizados a partir da década de 1990 revela o intenso trânsito de atores entre as organizações da sociedade civil e o campo político institucional. Tal evidência é emblemática também no caso das experiências de ES. A partir da constatação de que existem espaços ocupados por atores que estão presentes tanto na esfera das organizações civis, quanto no campo político institucional, discutimos o conceito de permeabilidade do Estado brasileiro a atores externos, tendo como foco um padrão específico de permeabilidade: o trânsito institucional. O objetivo central desta dissertação é compreender as relações entre sociedade civil e Estado problematizando seus “limites”, na medida em que a presença de atores em ambas as esferas revela a fluidez destas “fronteiras”. Para a execução desta pesquisa, realizamos a análise das trajetórias de onze militantes de ES que ocuparam cargos na gestão pública. Estes entrevistados têm em comum a característica de transitarem entre entidades representativas da ES, partidos políticos, ONGs e instituições estatais. A partir da análise das trajetórias, constatamos que as transformações ocorridas após o processo de redemocratização intensificaram as relações entre Estado e sociedade, tornando mais evidentes os padrões de permeabilidade da esfera estatal a atores externos e, conseqüentemente, menos rígidas as “fronteiras” entre sociedade civil e Estado. / Since the redemocratization process in the Eighties, the political configuration in Brazil passes through important changes. One of them has to do with relational patterns between civil society and State. With the political opening, social movements come back to prominence, whereas the State opens communicational and social participation channels. It widens then the dialogue between state and society and the social movements claim more intensely their demands for public policies. The sixteen years that the Workers‟ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) was in charge of the Municipality of Porto Alegre and the period that it ran the State Government represent the leading role in adopting public policies towards solidary economy (SE) in Brazil, which were eventually applied on a nationwide basis. The institutionalization of the claims of several organized social parties since 1990s reveals the intense transit of actors that move between the civil society‟s organizations and the institutional political field. Such evidence is emblematic on the case of experiences of SE, as well. From the perception that there are positions occupied by actors present both at the civil organizations and the institutional political field, it is analyzed the concept of permeability of the Brazilian State to external actors, focusing on a specific pattern of permeability: the institutional transit. The central objective of this essay is to understand the relations between civil society and State taking into consideration its “limits”, to the extent that the presence of the actors in both spheres reveals the fluidity of these “boundaries”. To the realization of this research essay, it was made an analysis of the political trajectory of eleven SE militants that took office at the public administration. These interviewees have in common the characteristic of moving between the SE representative entities, political parties, NGOs and State institutions. Through the analysis of the trajectories, we can establish that the changes occurred after the redemocratization process intensified the relations between State and society, rendering more evident the permeability patterns of the state sphere to extraneous actors and, consequently, less strict the “boundaries” between civil society and state.