Radiotherapy is one method of treating di erent diseases like cancer. It requires a treatment plan that clearly delineates target and non-target volumes, and the beams and their intensities to deliver the prescribed dose. Historical treatment plans often contain volume names that are unaccounted for. An approach is applied where desired volumes are detected and renamed to conform to current search standards. The mapped names provide an avenue for searching historical plans when performing outcomes analysis in the future to help improve quality in radiation therapy. A specific form known as intensity modulated radiation therapy is applied to total marrow irradiation, a method to remove all marrow in the body prior to bone marrow transplant. A set-covering approach is used, solved using heuristics and commercial packages to compare outcomes. Constraint programming is used in an attempt to better and to improve on the heuristic solutions.

Diss. Alnarp : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2005.

This thesis investigates the systematics and biology of Neotropical Cassidinae and summarizes available knowledge of all tribes occurring in the Neotropics. This study uses a multidisciplinary framework to evaluate various issues in the taxonomy of this diverse group of beetles as a result of extensive field research.

Carrageenans are sulfated polysaccharides found in the cell walls of red algae with 20 – 30 % of the dry weight coming from sulfate esters. The understanding of how heterotrophic bacteria desulfate and depolymerize carrageenan has become a rather arduous endeavor as there are 15 different classes of carrageenan distinguished by the degree of sulfation and the presence or absence of a unique galactose derivative, the 3,6-anhydro-D-galactose. The depolymerization of carrageenan requires the removal of the sulfate substituents, a role fulfilled by sulfatases, which hydrolyze sulfate esters playing a key role in the regulation of sulfation states that determine the function of sulfated biomolecules. Through structural, mechanistic, and sequence-based studies a highly conserved sulfate-binding motif has been identified among sulfatases; however, the molecular determinants for substrate specificity remain largely speculative. Additionally, the largest sulfatase family S1, requires a unique catalytic residue resulting from a post-translationally modified cysteine in order to be functional thus making them difficult to study in vitro. Using a strain of Pseudoalteromonas sp. PS47 isolated in the Boraston Lab I show that the depolymerization of carrageenan is dependent on the degree of sulfation and that recognition of the leaving group is the driving force behind S1 specificity. With little information on the recognition of sulfated biomolecules, the X-ray crystal structures of the three sulfatases from PS47; PsS1_19A, PsS1_19B, and PsS1_NC in complex with their biological substrates provides a deeper understanding of how carbohydrate specific sulfatases recognize their cognate substrate and how this recognition of the leaving group can be extended to other S1 sulfatase families. Furthermore, I show that an exo-acting glycoside hydrolase (PsGH42) requires desulfation of carrageenan oligosaccharides before it can hydrolyze the β-glycosidic linkage, a new specificity of family 42. This research demonstrates how carrageenan depolymerization is entirely dependent on the functionality and specificity of the sulfatases found within the carrageenan utilization locus. / Graduate / 2019-12-07

A lo largo de la historia, no todas las moléculas se llamaban como las conocemos hoy. Es interesante recordar algunos de estos nombres olvidados y, quizás, intentar rastrear sus orígenes. Existen también moléculas poco conocidas con nombre extraño, aunque para aprovechar mejor el asombro o la sonrisa que inducen sus nombres, hay que ser un poco angloparlantes (o incluso conocedor de jerga anglosajona), aunque tampoco hay necesidad de ser un aficionado a la obra de Shakespeare en versión original. / Through history, the names of many molecules have changed. It is interesting to remember those forgotten names and to try to track their origin. There are also molecules that are not so well known and which have peculiar names which are able to induce smiles or astonishment to English speaking people (especially those who understand the slang). Nevertheless, it’s not necessary to be a Shakespeare’s fan to understand and appreciate this funny nomenclature.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Worldwide, a greater and more diverse student population participates in higher education now more than ever before as the literature suggests an increase in 'nontraditional' students commonly regarded as adult students, part-time students, working college students, widening participation students, new wave students, millenial students and undocumented students, as examples. Policy imperatives, such as widening participation and flexible provision, have influenced new kinds of student identities beyond the familiar and fixed student categories, of 'traditional' and 'nontraditional', conventionally in use. Problems of 'nontraditional' student identity are compounded when the language and nomenclature in higher education perpetuate only certain kinds of 'nontraditional' student constructs, denoting mainly an increased numerical presence for certain student groups while underarticulating blended student identities and corresponding educational needs for what is arguably a new and growing segment of 'nontraditional' students in higher education today. While 'nontraditional' students are widely reported in the literature as having both an increasing and prevailing presence in higher education internationally, scholarly interest in students constructed in this way appear to be relatively recent and disproportionate when compared with the literature pertaining to higher education students regarded as 'traditional'. But who are these 'nontraditional' students in higher education currently, and are their identities by definition distinct from each other? What is currently denoted by this 'nontraditionalising' nomenclature when the literature progressively regards 'nontraditional' students as the 'new majority', the 'new traditionals' and the 'new normals' in higher education presently? And how different are they from students who may still be conventionally categorised as 'traditional'? This study’s central research question led to the beginnings and continuities of 'nontraditional' students at one South African university, and probed the reasons for what comes into view as varied and uneven institutional portrayals of students historically constructed as adult learners, lifelong learners, recognition of prior learning (RPL), after-hours and part-time students. Recommendations from this study, therefore, encourage awareness and possibly a review of the use of all student nomenclature at the University towards better understanding the 'traditional-nontraditional' range of student. For higher education ecologies worldwide, this study suggests that generalisations about 'traditional' and 'nontraditional' higher education students provide a window only on two main 'types' of student participating in higher education. However, new and transitioning student constructs must also be reflected in the language of higher education presently. When this is not done, the educational identities of all students in higher education are only partially understood and their educational experiences may be compromised. Re-imagining nontraditional student constructs is recommended alongside discourses that make possible teaching and learning arrangements for all higher education students, who find themselves shaping their studenthood along an increasingly blended 'traditional'-'nontraditional' continuum in higher education presently. Finally this study puts forward that perpetuation of jaded nomenclature and misnomers for 'nontraditional' students in higher education may be an indication that the more fundamental and necessary re-imagining of the higher education curriculum for current times is not yet underway.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Genetics / Unrestricted

The contents of the application to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, case 3017, are presented with an explanation of how its publication fell between the third and fourth editions of the Code. In so doing, the genus Pseudobiotus Nelson, 1980 (In: Schuster, Nelson, Grigarick & Christenberry, 1980) was left without a type species, which is hereby designated under article 70 of the fourth edition of the code.

This thesis examines classification in relation to colonialism and cultural imbalances. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a facility located in Longyearbyen in Norway and houses seeds from most of the countries in the world. The Seed Vault is used in this study as a focal point around which questions of classification and global hierarchies are posed. The thesis entails a section that examines classification and colonialism from a historical point of view. The concept of documentality is also problematised in relation to The Seed Vault and its contents, and some examples of libraries that house similar entities are juxtaposed with the Seed Vault. The thesis uses discourse analysis as derived from Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben in order to examine the contents of the official website of the Seed Vault, which is issued by the Norwegian Government. An initial examination of the texts in relation to concepts developed by Foucault and Agamben led to three overriding themes which divides the analytical part of the thesis into three sections: Governmentality Through Security and Facilitation, The Other and Biopolitics and Safeguarding Seeds. The Seed Portal, which is the cataloguing system for the Vault, is examined in relation to a few of the crops stored (as seeds), but mainly the Linnaean classification system is discussed in regards to the themes of the study. The concepts of zoe and bios, which is bare and politicised life respectively, is applied as a possible method of understanding the seeds or plants in relation to classification.

Advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have resulted in significant reduction of cost per sequenced base pair and increase in sequence data volume. On the other hand, most currently used NGS technologies produce relatively short sequence reads (50 - 150 bp) compared to Sanger sequencing (~700 bp). This represents an additional challenge in data analysis, because shorter reads are more difficult to assemble. At this point, production of sequencing data outpaces our capacity to analyze them. Newer NGS technologies capable of producing longer reads are emerging, which should simplify and speed up genome assembly. However, this will only increase the number of sequenced genomes without structural and functional annotation. In addition to multiple scientific initiatives to sequence thousands of genomes, personalized medicine centered on sequencing and analysis of individual human genomes will become more available. This poses a challenge for computer science and emphasizes the importance of developing new computational algorithms, methodology, tools, and pipelines. This dissertation focuses on development of these software tools, methodologies, and resources to help address the need for processing of volumes of data generated by new sequencing technologies. The research concentrated on genome structure analysis, individual variation, and comparative biology. This dissertation presents: (1) the Short Read Classification Pipeline (SRCP) for preliminary genome characterization of unsequenced genomes; (2) a novel methodology for phylogenetic analysis of closely related organisms or strains of the same organism without a sequenced genome; (3) a centralized online resource for standardized gene nomenclature. Utilizing the SRCP and the methodology for initial phylogenetic analysis developed in this dissertation enables positioning the organism in the evolutionary context. This should facilitate identification of orthologs between the species and paralogs within the species even in the initial stage of the analysis when only exome is sequenced and, thus, enable functional annotation by transferring gene nomenclature from well-annotated 1:1 orthologs, as required by the online standardized gene nomenclature resource developed in this dissertation. Thus, the tools, methodology, and resources presented here are tied together in following the initial analysis workflow for structural and functional annotation.