Musikaffären är inte enbart en marknadsplats, utan fungerar som en levande mötesplats för musikentusiaster. Studien visar på hur gitarrer och gitarr-relaterade föremål i en musikaffär bildar ett nätverk av både mänskliga och icke-mänskliga aktörer, där gitarren, i synnerhet, som bärare av betydelser, berättelser och symboler framträder som en central aktör. Syftet med denna studie är att visa på vilket sätt gitarren påverkar interaktioner och relationer i musikaffärsmiljön. Mitt empiriska material består av fem observationer och sju kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer med medarbetare och kunder jag träffat i en musikaffär i Stockholm. Som grund för min analys, där jag argumenterar att gitarren i musikaffärsmiljön kan betraktas som en central aktör i ett omfattande nätverk som omger gitarrer i egenskap av köpare, säljare, tillverkare och andra musikinstrument, använder jag det aktör-nätverksteoretiska ramverket (ANT), som betonar att icke- mänsklig materia också kan inneha sociala egenskaper och på så vis har makt att påverka och förändra sin omgivning. För att få en djupare förståelse för hur gitarrer – och andra materialiteter i musikaffärsmiljön – inverkar på interaktioner och relationer, kompletteras analysen med begreppet affordance, som betonar hur objekt och miljöer möjliggör specifika handlingar och interaktioner. / The music store is not just a marketplace but functions as a vibrant meeting place for music enthusiasts. This study illustrates how guitars and guitar-related items in a music store form a network of both human and non-human actors, with the guitar, in particular, emerging as a central actor bearing meanings, stories, and symbols. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how the guitar influences interactions and relationships within the music store environment. My empirical material consists of five observations and seven qualitative interviews with employees and customers I met in a music store in Stockholm. As the basis for my analysis, where I argue that the guitar in the music store environment can be considered a central actor in an extensive network surrounding guitars as buyers, sellers, manufacturers, and other musical instruments, I use the actor-network theory (ANT) framework, which emphasizes that non-human actors can also possess social properties and thus have the power to influence and change their surroundings. To gain a deeper understanding of how guitars—and other materialities in the music store environment—affect interactions and relationships, the analysis is supplemented with the concept of affordance, which emphasizes how objects and environments enable specific actions and interactions.

Roteamento por colônia de formigas é um método de roteamento em redes de comunicação, e diversos algoritmos foram propostos nos últimos anos baseado nessa estrutura. Todos esses algoritmos produzem excelentes resultados, provando a sua eficiência e eficácia. Este trabalho apresenta os resultados de desempenho dos principais algoritmos encontrados na literatura, e com base nesses resultados, propõe um novo algoritmo com desempenho equivalente e com uma complexidade computacional menor. O trabalho é focalizado em redes tipo datagrama com topologia irregular, descrevendo suas propriedades e características e realizando uma análise e comparação de seus desempenhos em um ambiente de simulação. / Ant Colony Routing is an adaptive method for routing in communication networks, and several algorithms have been proposed in the last years based on this framework. All these algorithms show excellent results, proving their efficiency and efficacy. This work presents the results of the performance of the main algorithms found in the literature, and based on these results, it proposes a novel algorithm that has a similar performance but with a lower computational complexity. The work is focused in datagram like networks with irregular topology, describing its characteristics and properties. The performances in an simulation environment are analysed and compared.

La ricerca propone un quadro di sintesi sull'economia africana tardoantica. Si analizzano le strutture di produzione delle derrate alimentari liquide - olio, vino, garum – e le officine ceramiche funzionali alla produzione di sigillata africana e anfore quali strumenti per una migliore definizione del paesaggio economico africano. Lo studio della produzione rurale e urbana e l’esame dei percorsi delle merci permettono di comprendere così le trasformazioni economiche e sociali delle province di Zeugitana e Bizacena tra il IV e il VII secolo d.C. / The research is a synthesis of the Late Antique economy in North Africa. The analysis focus on foodstuff production – oil, wine, garum – and pottery production, especially on ARS ware and african amphorae, as tools for defining the economic landscape. The study of the rural and urban landscape and the study of the trade routes allow us to understand the economic and social transformations of the provinces of Zeugitana and Byzacena between the 4th and the 7th century AD.

Invasive species often threaten biodiversity and environmental processes in their introduced range by extirpating native species due to competition for resources. Nylanderia fulva (formerly N. (=Paratrechina) sp. nr. pubens) is an ecologically dominant and economically important invasive species in the United States. This dissertation addresses aspects of the biology, behavior, management, and collection techniques for N. fulva. Specifically, topics investigated include a modified drip technique for extracting ants from their substrate, the effectiveness of a broadcast ant bait as a stand-alone treatment, the foraging preference and peak activity of workers, the reproductive potential of queens, and the ability of this species to translocate pathogenic microorganisms. The primary goal of these works was to better understand the biological idiosyncrasies of this species that may ultimately lead to the mitigation N. fulva populations. A modified drip technique was developed to quickly and efficiently extract N. fulva from their nesting substrates. Ants and their associated substrates were collected in 18.9 L buckets lined with talcum powder and transported to the laboratory. Substrates were weighted down and a cardboard tower was provided for the immigration of ants as they were forced out of substrates with a slow influx of water. Three applications of Advance Carpenter Ant Bait (ACAB) were applied to a N. fulva population in East Columbia, TX. A series of GIS interpolated maps depict achieved management and subsequent rebound of N. fulva populations. As great as 77% population reduction was achieved by 1 week post treatment, but N. fulva populations rebounded within 3-4 weeks. As a stand-alone treatment, this bait did not provide adequate ant management in treatment plots. Diet preference experiments were performed using artificial diets and food lures. These results of these trials indicated that N. fulva preferred the most carbohydrate rich diet offered through all seasons and that mint apple jelly or hot dog slices were the favored food lures. Diel foraging behavior was observed when temperatures were between 9.95 and 37.26 degrees C. Peak foraging activity occurred at 28.24 +/- 3.12 degrees C. A laboratory investigation of N. fulva suggested that as the number of queens increased, individual queen fecundity increased. This phenomenon is a novel observation among ants and suggests an alternative mechanism for intracolony dominance. Hexagyne colony fecundity of 0.25 +/- 0.12 eggs/queen/hr was the maximum fecundity observed. Results of laboratory experiments showed that N. fulva were capable of transferring E. coli up to 4.5 m in 6 hrs after acquisition from a contaminated source. Pyrosequencing of ectomicrobial assemblages revealed a suite of 518 bacteria and 135 fungi species associated with N. fulva, many of which are known pathogens of plants and animals, including humans. These results suggested that N. fulva should be regarded as both a medically and agriculturally important species.

Verbbenämning innebär förmågan att benämna en bild utifrån den aktivitet som bilden illustrerar. I tidigare studier har det visat sig att barn tidigt i språkutvecklingen har svårare för verbbenämning än substantivbenämning (Gentner, 1982; Kauschke, Lee & Pae, 2007). Detta förklaras delvis av att verb är mer lingvistiskt komplexa än vad som är fallet för substantiv (Gentner & Boroditsky, 2001), samt att de är svårare att illustrera (Masterson, Druks & Gallienne, 2008). För att undersöka benämningsförmåga används oftast bildbenämningstest och för verb saknas ett svenskt test för barn. Föreliggande studie syftade till att undersöka verbbenämningsförmågan hos svenska barn samt att utröna om den svenska översättningen av Action Naming Test (ANT) är tillämplig på svenska barn. Deltagarna testades både med ANT samt Boston Naming test (BNT), för att få ett mått på de deltagande barnens benämningsförmåga av såväl verb som substantiv, och för att möjliggöra en jämförelse dem emellan. I den föreliggande studien deltog 116 barn i åldern 3;6 till 5;5 år uppdelade i fyra åldersgrupper. Resultaten på ANT visade att barnen fick högre testpoäng med stigande ålder. En felsvarsansalys visade att de vanligaste felsvaren var semantiskt relaterade (ord tillhörande samma eller en överordnad semantisk kategori) eller perceptuellt relaterade (visuell feltolkning) till målordet. En jämförelse av resultaten på ANT och BNT visade genomgående högre andel rätta svar på ANT. Det finns flera tänkbara förklaringar till detta. En förklaring är att barnen har passerat den ålder då substantiv är lättare att benämna än verb. En annan förklaring är att de helt enkelt har lättare att benämna verb än substantiv. Mer troligt är att testresultaten inte är jämförbara med varandra. Med några ändringar kan ANT bli ett användbart verbbenämningstest för svenska förskolebarn. / Verb naming comprises the ability to name an activity illustrated in a picture. Previous studies have shown that pre-school children have more difficulties in the naming of verbs than in naming of nouns (Gentner, 1982; Kauschke, Lee & Pae, 2007). This is explained as being partly due to the greater linguistical complexity of verbs compared to nouns (Gentner & Boroditsky, 2001) and that verbs are more difficult to illustrate (Masterson, Druks & Gallienne, 2008). Picture naming tests are frequently used in order to investigate naming ability but today a verb naming test is not available for Swedish children. The present study aimed to investigate naming ability of verbs in Swedish children, and to evaluate if the Swedish translation of the Action Naming Test (ANT) is applicable on children. In addition, all participants were tested with both ANT and the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in order to evaluate the participating children’s naming ability of verbs and nouns in order to make a comparison between the two of them. In the present study 116 children aged 3;6 to 5;5 years divided into four age groups participated. The results on the ANT showed continuously higher scores with increasing age. The error analysis showed that the most frequently occurring error categories were either semantically related (words within the same or superordinate category) or perceptually related (misinterpretation of the picture). When comparing the results between the ANT and the BNT higher scores were shown on the ANT in all age groups. This could imply that the participating children are beyond the age when nouns are easier to name than verbs, or that unlike previous studies, verbs are easier to learn. More likely, the test results are not comparable with each other. With some adjustments, the ANT is considered applicable for Swedish pre-school children.

This dissertation presents the development of a new concept and technology exploration methodology for aerospace architectures. The methodology is based on modeling the design space by a graph, and optimizing the graph using Ant Colony Optimization. The results show that the proposed design methodology can explore more efficiently the concept and technology space of a launch vehicle architecture than traditional optimization approaches such as Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing. The purpose of the method is to introduce quantitative and simultaneous exploration of concept and technology alternatives during the early phases of conceptual design. To achieve this goal, technical challenges such as expanding the size of the design space, exploring more efficiently the design options, and simultaneously considering technologies and concepts are overcome. The total number of design alternatives grows factorially with the number of concepts in the design space. Under these circumstances, the design space is difficult to explore in its totality. Considering more alternatives has been the focus of several researchers, using Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing. The large number of incompatibilities between alternatives, however, limits these optimization algorithms and reduces the number of concepts or technologies that can be considered. To address these problems, a concept and technology selection methodology is developed. The methodology proposes a way to automatically generate aerospace architectures, and to model concept and technology incompatibilities by means of a graph. In conjunction with this new modeling approach, a graph-based stochastic optimization algorithm is used to efficiently explore the design space. This design methodology is applied to the simultaneous concept and technology exploration of an expendable launch vehicle architecture. This study demonstrates that the consideration of more design alternatives can help design engineers to make more informed decisions during the concept and technology selection process. Moreover, the simultaneous exploration of concepts and technologies has the potential to identify a different set of solutions than the standard approach where the technologies are explored after the concepts have initially been selected.

Il progetto di ricerca ha come scopo lo sviluppo e l’applicazione di tecnologie informatiche, come il GIS, su una specifica porzione di territorio rappresentata dall’area delle Murge Meridionali. L’oggetto di questa ricerca non è circoscrivibile in un territorio definito da confini amministrativi precisi ma, piuttosto, è identificabile in un a comprensorio geografico e geomorfologico unitario, le Murge Meridionali. La zona, non è oggetto di indagini archeologiche sistematiche, è compresa tra le province di Bari, Taranto e Brindisi. Il progetto implica una ricerca che rientri nell’ambito dell’archeologia del paesaggio, perciò procedere alla documentazione di quanto resta degli insediamenti dei diversi periodi storici e comprenderne le relazioni e le dinamiche degli stessi. L’applicazione delle tecnologie GIS è fondamentale nello studio dei sistemi insediativi e di popolamento antichi dell’area e nella realizzazione di modelli predittivi, come strumento per potenziare le strategia di ricerca. / The research project has as its goal the development and application of computer technology , such as GIS , on a specific portion of the territory represented by the area of the Southern Murgia . The object of this research is not limited in a territory defined by administrative boundaries precise but , rather , is identifiable in a geographic territory and geomorphological unit , the Southern Murgia . The area is not the subject of systematic archaeological investigations , is between the provinces of Bari , Taranto and Brindisi . The project involves research that falls within the archeology of the landscape , so proceed to the documentation of what remains of the settlements of the different historical periods and understand the relationships and the dynamics of the same. The application of GIS technology is fundamental in the study of settlement patterns and population of the old and construction of predictive models , as a tool to enhance the search strategy .

La tesi si propone di analizzare le produzioni, la circolazione e il consumo della ceramica di uso comune in età altomedievale in Italia settentrionale alla luce di alcuni contesti lombardi ritenuti particolarmente significativi. Questa classe di manufatti è ormai da alcuni decenni al centro dell’interesse degli studiosi che si occupano di cultura materiale e, più in generale, di aspetti relativi alle dinamiche socio-economiche del periodo; un primo aspetto che si è dunque reso necessario analizzare riguarda lo stato degli studi, le differenti modalità di approccio adottate nei diversi ambiti di ricerca così da ricostruire l’evoluzione degli orientamenti e i progressi della disciplina, sia da un punto di vista metodologico, sia per quanto attiene alla lettura che gli specialisti hanno dato di determinati fenomeni. La seconda parte è dedicata all’analisi dei casi di studio lombardi, scelti per l’alto valore del contesto: Cornate d’Adda (MB), Castelseprio (VA), Bellinzona (CH), Milano, Pavia. Per ciascuno di essi lo studio del materiale ceramico è stato preceduto da un’attenta disamina del contesto, così da valorizzare appieno il suo valore sociale di luogo di consumo. Le ceramiche sono state analizzate cercando di ricostruire tutte le fasi del processo di lavorazione (impiego delle materie prime, tecnologia di lavorazione e cottura, tipologia del prodotto finito), in modo da ricostruire i quadri produttivi di riferimento. I risultati ottenuti hanno consentito di esaminare i differenti livelli di accesso al consumo della ceramica in rapporto ai contesti sociali di consumo e raffrontarli ad altri casi noti in letteratura. È stato così possibile riconsiderare alcuni fenomeni ritenuti peculiari del periodo, quali il riaffiorare/comparire di tecniche di lavorazione a mano o al tornio lento e il diffondersi di alcune forme peculiari come i fornetti-coperchio e i boccali. / The thesis means to evaluate production, trade and consumption of coarse ware in Northern Italy during the Early Middle Ages, through the analysis of several assemblages found in Lombardy deemed to be particularly representative. For the last decades the attention of scholars has been focusing on coarse ware: this is an engaging subject not only for those interested in material culture, but also for wider researches regarding socio-economic dynamics. Therefore, the first step has been the assessment of the state of research, taking into account the different approaches proper to each research field. This led us to retrace developments and improvements of the discipline, both from a methodological point of view and with regard to the ways specialists have been interpreting specific phenomena. The second part of the work is devoted to the analysis of the case studies, chosen in consideration of their high scientific value: Cornate d’Adda (MB), Castelseprio (VA), Bellinzona (CH), Milano, Pavia. For each one, the archaeological context has been thoroughly reviewed before studying the pottery assemblage, so that the social features of the consumption site could be adequately highlighted. Pottery has subsequently been analysed trying to retrace every step of the production process (use of raw materials, making and firing techniques, typology of finished objects), in order to recreate the reference productive context. In the light of the results achieved, the different levels of access to pottery consumption in connection with the social context have been studied and compared with other published case studies. Thanks to this research, several phenomena deemed to be typical of the Early Middle Ages, such as the appearance/resurfacing of hand- or slow-wheel-making techniques or the spreading of distinctive shapes (e.g. cooking bells or jugs) have been reassessed.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:16:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DalianaMBOS_DISSERT.pdf: 1178965 bytes, checksum: a8c57235d95835138c537bc774c7af70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-27 / The expression of human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) and human leukocyte antigen E (HLA-E) in physiological and pathological processes remains unknown, it is believed that these molecules play a fundamental role in the establishment and maintenance of immune tolerance by inhibiting the functions of immunocompetent cells. In literature we found no published study involving the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) with expression of HLA-G and HLA-E. The objective this study is investigated the expression of this protein in gastric biopsies of patients with the bacterium H. pylori. Sixty-four biopsies of the patients with diagnosis of infection by H. pylori were evaluated to expression of HLA-G and HLA-E. The samples were stratified according to the presence of carcinoma or peptic ulcers. Patients without H. pylori were used to control. To investigate the expression of this protein were used immunohistochemistry technique with monoclonal antibody anti-HLA-G and anti-HLA-E. Other criteria such as analysis of the inflammatory infiltrate (hematoxylin-eosin) and identification of H. pylori (Giemsa) were analyzed. We detected HLA-G and HLA-E molecules in the most samples containing ulcer and gastric carcinoma. In negative control group was not detected the presence of HLA-G and HLA-E. The presence of H. pylori seems modulate the expression of HLA-G and HLA-E, favoring the evolution of infection, giving different degrees of gastric lesion in epithelium of these patients / A express?o do ant?geno leucocit?rio humano G (HLA-G) e do ant?geno leucocit?rio humano E (HLA-E) em processos fisiol?gicos e patol?gicos permanece pouco conhecida. Acredita-se que essas mol?culas desempenham papel fundamental no estabelecimento e manuten??o da toler?ncia imunol?gica, inibindo as fun??es das c?lulas imunocompetentes. Na literatura internacional, at? o momento, n?o foi encontrado nenhum estudo publicado correlacionando Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) com express?o de HLA-G e HLA-E. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo correlacionar a express?o dessas prote?nas em bi?psias g?stricas de pacientes acometidos com H. pylori. Sessenta e quatro esp?cimes g?stricas de pacientes acometidos com H. pylori foram avaliados para express?o de HLA-G e HLA-E. As amostras foram estratificadas de acordo com a presen?a de carcinoma ou de ?lcera p?ptica. Como controle foram analisados esp?cimes g?stricas de pacientes vivos sem H. pylori. Para detectar a express?o dessas mol?culas utilizou-se a t?cnica de imunohistoqu?mica com os anticorpos monoclonais anti-HLA-G e anti-HLA-E. Outros crit?rios como an?lise do infiltrado inflamat?rio (hematoxilina-eosina) e identifica??o do H. pylori (Giemsa) foram analisados. As mol?culas de HLA-G e HLA-E foram detectadas em grande parte das amostras contendo ?lcera e carcinoma g?strico. No grupo controle n?o foi detectada a presen?a de HLA-G e HLA-E, indicando que a bact?ria H. pylori modula a express?o dessas mol?culas no grupo dos pacientes que apresentaram ?lcera ou carcinoma g?strico. A presen?a da bact?ria H. pylori parece modular a express?o do HLA-G e do HLA-E, favorecendo assim a evolu??o da infec??o, o que confere diferentes graus de les?o do epit?lio g?strico desses pacientes

In the last decades there has been a lot of interest in computational models and metaheuristics algorithms capable to solve combinatorial optimization problems. The recent trend is to define these algorithms taking inspiration by the observation of natural systems. In this thesis the Ant Colony System (ACS) is presented which has been inspired by the observation of real ant colonies. ACS is initially proposed to solve the symmetric and asymmetric travelling salesman problems where it is shown to be competitive with other metaheuristics. Although this is an interesting and promising result, it was immediately clear that ACS, as well as other metaheuristics, in many cases cannot compete with specialized local search methods. An interesting trend is therefore to couple metaheuristics with a local optimizer, giving birth to so-called hybrid methods. Along this line, the thesis investigates MACS-VRPTW (Multiple ACS for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows) and HAS-SOP: Hybrid Ant System for the Sequential Ordering Problem (SOP). In the second part the thesis introduces some modifications of the original ACS algorithm. These modifications are able to speed up the method and to make it more competitive in case of large problem instances. The resulting framework, called Enhanced Ant Colony System is tested for the SOP. Finally the thesis presents the application of ACS to solve real-life vehicle routing problems where additional constraints and stochastic information are included. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished