This thesis investigates an informally self-organized street market, Porta Portese, in Rome, Italy. As a response to the contemporary phenomenon of migration, of people and goods, Porta Portese reflects the city’s evolving urban, cultural and social dynamics under the impact of global forces. Based on fieldwork executed from 2007-2009, this thesis builds on the idea of scoring in an attempt to establish a framework of tangible notations, using mediums ranging from time-lapse photography to pattern mapping. The language of architecture is adapted to render visible the spatial dynamics in the fabrication of the market. Despite its lack of representation, Porta Portese leaves its mark as a layer of the invisible city of Rome. One can trace its terrain through palpable memories of a collective urban and cultural experience, for it transports ideas, images and values between different worlds based on universal understandings. Ultimately, this thesis advocates for an interpretive representation of places like Porta Portese as valuable urban spaces that celebrate and satisfy the needs of direct human experience. This is achieved through enabling the neglected voice of a place that can strike a resonating chord of dialogue amongst differences - and it all begins from a story about Porta Portese.

The Instruments installation represents the superimposition of two systems. The marketed elements that comprise the hegemony exerted by commodity culture are placed on top of the occult qabalistic Tree of Life. This overlaying makes the commentary that the pursuit of identity through commodified objects usurps and drowns out the natural fundamental components of the human psyche. The artist accomplishes this by creating various expressive multimedia sculptures out of actual objects. Each one is given a title that references a particular sphere on the Tree of Life glyph, for each piece is meant to represent that sphere’s aspect of the human entity as it is expressed in the commodity realm. The artist begins by introducing the reader to the artistic contexts and the various conceptual structures that serve to inform and describe his mode of working and its results. Subsequently, a detailed description of each work is given, simultaneously functioning as a necessarily brief survey of the spheres on the qabalistic glyph.

Nos travaux de recherche s'inscrivent dans le contexte du prototypage rapide, plus particulièrement dans celui du procédé de fabrication par couches solides, la Stratoconception, Ce procédé consiste en la décomposition automatique de l'objet en une série de couches élémentaires appelées strates, dans lesquelles des inscris de positionnement sont placés. Chacune de ces strates est directement mise en panoplie, puis fabriquée par micro-fraisage rapide 2,5 axes ou par découpe 5 axes à partir de matériaux en plaques. Tous ces éléments sont ensuite assemblés afin de reconstituer la pièce finale. Si l'usinage est aujourd'hui entièrement automatisé grâce aux logiciels et aux machines dédiés, l'assemblage est une opération qui demande encore une intervention manuelle de l'utilisateur du procédé.<br />Un bilan des méthodes actuelles utilisées pour l'assemblage des strates (collage, brasage, assemblage mécanique...) montre les inconvénients et les limitations de ces techniques de fixation. L'étape d'assemblage est essentielle car elle influe sur la qualité géométrique, sur la tenue mécanique et sur le temps de réalisation de la pièce. Les techniques utilisées aujourd'hui ne garantissent pas toujours la répétabilité du système et peuvent entraîner une rupture de la chaîne numérique du procédé.<br />Notre contribution porte sur une nouvelle méthode d'assemblage, l'emboîtement. Elle permet l'intégration d'entités d'assemblage au sein des couches, elle améliore la fixation de celles-ci et elle réduit le temps de montage et surtout les coûts qu'il engendre. Pour cela, nous avons développé un système de génération automatique des entités dans le processus. Ce système permet de réduire le travail nécessaire pour réaliser l'assemblage des pièces et rend ainsi l'opération d'assemblage systématique, en minimisant les interventions manuelles et les incertitudes dues au choix de l'utilisateur. Les outils et méthodes logicielles permettent d'automatiser cette opération, en définissant les entités d'assemblage, leur forme, leur dimensionnement et surtout leur positionnement au sein des couches. Nous présentons diverses approches de localisation de ces entités au travers d'algorithmes de placement par grilles, par forces de répulsion ou par un algorithme génétique de recherche du k-gon maximum inscrit. Le développement d'un algorithme original de localisation automatique des entités par squelettisation a permis d'optimiser le placement des entités par rapport à la géométrie des couches. Ses résultats sont analysés et comparés à une localisation par grille.<br />Une seconde approche est proposée : l'emboîtement complet. La génération de l'emboîture à partir des contours de l'inter-strate induit la problématique des formes imbricables, c'est-à-dire la création de formes mâles et femelles complémentaires et réalisables par l'outil d'usinage (problème d'accessibilité de l'outil).<br />Enfin, nous concluons le mémoire en mettant en évidence les premiers résultats industriels au travers des outils implémentés dans le logiciel du procédé et des pièces réalisées par cette nouvelle méthode.

GENERALITES SUR LE PROBLEME POSE PAR L'ASSEMBLAGE AUTOMATIQUE D'OBJETS. LE PROBLEME DE LA MAITRISE DE L'ESPACE: MODELISATION DE L'UNIVERS DU MANIPULATEUR, LES DEPLACEMENTS DU ROBOT, LA REPRESENTATION GRAPHIQUE. LE PROBLEME DE LA MAITRISE DES FORCES: LE CONTACT PONCTUEL, DETERMINATION D'UNE ARETE, LES DEPLACEMENTS DE L'ORGANE TERMINAL DU ROBOT. LE MATERIEL MIS EN OEUVRE: LE MANIPULATEUR ET SA COMMANDE, LE POIGNET-CAPTEUR D'EFFORT, LE MINICALCULATEUR. LE LOGICIEL: L'INTERPRETEUR, LA GESTION DES MICROPROCESSEURS. EXPERIMENTATION: CALIBRAGE, RECONNAISSANCE DES ANGLES D'UNE PIECE, SUIVI D'UNE PAROI

ABSTRACT Micronekton and macrozooplankton were sampled from the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and eastern Ross Sea regions. Samples were collected over the course of six research cruises to the Southern Ocean. Four of those cruises were conducted in the Marguerite Bay region of the WAP during the austral fall and winter of 2001 and 2002. A fifth cruise sampled faunal assemblages at nine sites, ranging from Joinville Island at the northern tip of the WAP to Charcot Island near the southern extent of the WAP, during austral fall 2010. A sixth cruise was conducted in the pack ice within the offshore, continental slope, and continental shelf zones of the Eastern Ross Sea during austral summer 1999/2000. The purpose of this dissertation was to describe the macrozooplanktonic/ micronektonic faunal assemblages present in each of those regions and relate differences in species composition and distribution patterns to local bathymetry, hydrography, and physical conditions. A variety of multivariate techniques were used to identify unique multispecies assemblages and to quantify the contributions of both oceanic and neritic species to the assemblages within each study region. The invertebrate micronekton/macrozooplankton communities found in the Marguerite Bay region of the WAP during the 2001/2002 cruises were a mixture of oceanic and neritic fauna: a direct result of local hydrographic conditions. Near the shelf break and in the outer reaches of the Marguerite Trough, a deep canyon transecting the shelf in a south-southeast direction, the communities were more diverse, dominated by oceanic species such as the euphausiid, Euphausia triacantha, the salp, Salpa thompsoni, and, an amphipod, Themisto gaudichaudii. The assemblages present in the nearshore fjords exhibited lower diversity and were dominated by neritic species such as the euphausiid, E. crystallorophias, and the mysid, Antarctomysis ohlinii. At the mid-shelf and mid-trough locations, the assemblages were composed of a variable mixture of oceanic and neritic fauna. The faunal mixing and overall species composition in those areas is the result of episodic Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) intrusions onto the shelf via deep bathymetric features such as the Marguerite Trough. Distinct multispecies assemblages were identified at Joinville, Croker Passage, Marguerite Bay, Charcot Island, and from a region that included samples from sites near Anvers Island, Renaud Island and the Marguerite Trough. Assemblages at Joinville and Croker Passage were both dominated by E. superba and S. thompsoni, but hydrographic conditions at Joinville favored a neritic assemblage, underscored by the substantial numbers of the nototheniid fish, Pleuragramma antarcticum. The assemblage at Croker Passage was more oceanic in nature with major inputs from the myctophid fish, Electrona antarctica and the amphipod, T. gaudichaudii. Marguerite Bay and Charcot Island were well-mixed assemblages with strong representation by both neritic and oceanic fauna. The mid-peninsula assemblage was also oceanic in character, being overwhelmingly dominated by the euphausiid, Thysanoessa macrura, and T. gaudichaudii. Pleuragramma antarcticum were captured at five sites: Joinville, Croker Passage, Marguerite Bay, and the two sites near Charcot Island. They were completely absent at the two sites near Anvers Island, at Renaud Island, and in the Marguerite Trough. In the eastern Ross Sea, cluster analyses identified three primary groups, which were characterized as oceanic, mixed, and neritic assemblages due partly to their geographical location, but mostly to their faunal composition. The oceanic assemblage contained the highest number of taxa and was dominated by oceanic fauna, such as the hydrozoans Diphyes antarctica and Calycopsis borchgrevinki, and the scyphozoan Atolla wyvillei. Top contributors in the mixed assemblage included those species that dominated in the oceanic assemblage as well as substantial contributions from E. superba and the tunicate, Ihlea racovitzai. The neritic assemblage was overwhelmingly dominated by E. crystallorophias and E. superba. The physical environment strongly impacted micronektonic/ macrozooplanktonic distributions and densities in the eastern Ross Sea. Changes in faunal composition were directly related to temperature differences encountered at the shelf break and the subsequent filtering out of oceanic fauna from cold, shelf waters where endemic fauna were most prevalent.

<p>In the United States, marine aquaculture is increasingly viewed as way to offset stagnating wild fisheries production, help faltering coastal community economies, and address a growing national seafood trade deficit. The national government has outwardly supported the development of the sector through policies, plans, and other statements. However, many social and environmental questions surround prospective expansion, and actual policy development and implementation has been slow. This dissertation builds on recent work in human geography and policy studies to explore US national marine aquaculture policy processes, conceptualizing policy as a dynamic assemblage of actors, spaces, practices, and relations. It contributes to our understanding of oceans geography and policy processes by addressing three questions: (1) How do actors interact within the assemblage negotiate, construct, and develop national policies? (2) What practices are actors employing to shape aquaculture policymaking, and what views underlie them? (3) What are the practical, and often local, implications of these processes, and how do actors interact with and within policy development (or not)?</p><p>These questions are approached empirically by tracing the US national marine aquaculture policy assemblage across time, space, and scale. The dissertation draws on research conducted within and outside the US government, focusing on the internal practices of the state and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as a case of local and regional policy implementation and development in New England. It also focuses on offshore aquaculture policy, as well as marine aquaculture more generally. The dissertation uses discourse analysis, ethnography, and other approaches to conduct a geographic policy analysis that explores the processes and relationships producing national marine aquaculture policy in the United States.</p><p>Overall, this research shows that broad or monolithic conceptualization of the state, its motivations, its practices, and their implications are oversimplified. The federal government features a diversity of actors, discourses, and ideas about marine aquaculture and its policy development, which manifest in different paths to reform and conflicting efforts within the state itself. Further, national policy processes are not contained within the national government, but are co-produced by mobile and dynamic actors and policies across contexts. Actors deploy particular discourses about marine aquaculture’s risks and opportunities, government agencies and offices claim and reclaim authority over the sector, bureaucrats engage in diverse everyday policy practices and interactions, and policy ideas and policies themselves change as they are translated and deployed in new spaces and by different actors. Together, these processes suggest that rather than expecting a totalizing form of marine aquaculture development in the United State, it is important to consider the ruptures and opportunities within the assemblage that might allow for alternative forms of policy, coordination, and implementation at all scales.</p> / Dissertation

This dissertation explores the role of capacities of different sets of actors and examines some of the consequences of realization of these capacities. Specifically, the two outcomes examined in this dissertation are coopetition, which is simultaneous cooperation and competition, and innovation. This research uses different contexts and multiple methods to understand and explore the role of capacities in varied outcomes. The first essay examines the effect of actor capacities on coopetition. It looks at cosmetics salespeople in department stores that are embedded in relations with the store and the cosmetics brands among others, and examines the effect of this embeddedness on cooperative or competitive responses of these salespeople. Specifically, this research posits that actors, both human and non-human, possess capacities to interact with other actors. Unless the interaction occurs, the capacity merely remains a potential, and is only realized in interaction. Capacities represent the joint agency of interacting actors or entities. Both individual actors and collectives possess capacities to interact with others. Capacities of actors and collectives determine the processes employed by these actors that help integrate the collective or disintegrate it, thereby dynamically influencing the balance between cooperation and competition among sales people. The second essay examines the capacities of inventors in Biotechnology industry and investigates innovation as an outcome of realization of their capacities. This essay specifically focuses on actor capacities and its outcomes in the event of an acquisition. It posits that potential relational capacities of inventors prior to an acquisition determines whether integration among inventors will happen at the time of the acquisition. In addition, this research studies the effect of inventor integration at the time of acquisition on innovation outcomes of the acquiring firm, four years from the time of acquisition.

The Instruments installation represents the superimposition of two systems. The marketed elements that comprise the hegemony exerted by commodity culture are placed on top of the occult qabalistic Tree of Life. This overlaying makes the commentary that the pursuit of identity through commodified objects usurps and drowns out the natural fundamental components of the human psyche. The artist accomplishes this by creating various expressive multimedia sculptures out of actual objects. Each one is given a title that references a particular sphere on the Tree of Life glyph, for each piece is meant to represent that sphere’s aspect of the human entity as it is expressed in the commodity realm. The artist begins by introducing the reader to the artistic contexts and the various conceptual structures that serve to inform and describe his mode of working and its results. Subsequently, a detailed description of each work is given, simultaneously functioning as a necessarily brief survey of the spheres on the qabalistic glyph.

La thèse présentée est centrée sur des mesures de force appliquées à des ARN seuls ou en interaction avec une protéine. L'un des plus grands défis posé par l'ARN provient de sa structure, notamment parce que les interactions de ses bases ne se limitent pas aux paires de type Watson-Crick et que les interactions tertiaires sont courantes. Les mesures de force donnent des informations complémentaires aux mesures classiques, car elles permettent de sonder directement les interactions complexes de l'ARN et fournissent des paramètres thermodynamiques inaccessibles autrement. L'étude de l'interaction protéine-ARN par mesure de force permet également d'accéder à des caractéristiques que les autres techniques ne peuvent pas offrir. Néanmoins avant d'atteindre les promesses de ce type de mesure, il faut concevoir un montage adapté et optimisé. Une première partie de la thèse a été dédiée à la conception d'une double pince optique permettant l'étude des ARN avec une résolution proche de la paire de base, en implantant notamment des améliorations techniques jusque là absentes de la littérature. La suite de la thèse s'est attachée à des études biologiques. Nous avons commencé par sonder l'interaction de la protéine ribosomique L20 avec son ARN cible dans le ribosome. Nous avons montré que cette protéine très importante dans les premiers stades de la formation du ribosome, stabilise fortement son ARN cible. Nous avons également déterminé son site de fixation à trois bases près. Nous avons ensuite débuté une étude sur des ARN synthétisés pour l'étude d'une hélicase à motif DEAD en caractérisant leurs réponses à une sollicitation mécanique.

In 2011, Texas experienced the worst drought in recorded history. This has escalated concerns regarding environmental flows needed to sustain freshwater and estuarine systems as human needs are addressed during drought periods. In this thesis, I analyze fish assemblages and water quality variables in order to observe the effects of drought in the lower Neches River below the saltwater barrier located upstream from Beaumont, Texas. Fish and water quality samples were taken during drought conditions during fall 2011 and summer 2012, after a season of rain. During fall 2011, sites surveyed above the barrier had lower salinity but similarly low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels compared with sites surveyed below the barrier. Salinity levels during fall 2011 were relatively high (reaching up to 15 ppt), whereas salinity during summer 2012 never rose above 1.5 ppt. For gillnet samples obtained during fall 2011, fish species richness was higher in December following a series of rain events than during drought conditions in October and November. Although fish species richness was similar between fall 2011 and summer 2012, species composition varied greatly. For seine samples obtained during summer 2012, species richness was higher during May and July (when the barrier was open) than during June and August (when the barrier was closed). Species richness was lowest for sites in closest proximity to a paper mill effluent discharge pipe located below the barrier. Also, species richness was higher at sites above the barrier than at sites below the barrier regardless of whether or not the barrier was closed. Multivariate statistical analyses of gillnet samples revealed a large amount of compositional overlap among fish assemblages, regardless of time period and location; however, analyses of seine samples revealed that fish assemblages above the barrier were different than those from samples obtained below the barrier and that fish assemblages varied based on time period. Results indicate that, during periods of low flow, water quality deteriorates in the Lower Neches River below the saltwater barrier. During these periods of environmental degradation, fish assemblages have reduced diversity and sensitive freshwater species decline in abundance, with some absent from survey samples.