A análise de microartefatos não é rotineiramente realizada no Brasil. Porém, devido às particularidades envolvidas em seu transporte e deposição geológica, os microartefatos podem fornecer informações específicas e complementares para a compreensão do contexto pedogeomorfológico dos sítios arqueológicos estudados, permitindo uma melhor compreensão da gênese, cronologia e processos de formação desses sítios, justificando, deste modo, a necessidade de sua análise. A presente pesquisa realizou a análise de microartefatos em três sítios arqueológicos localizados no município de Rio Claro e municípios vizinhos, o sítio Lagoa do Camargo (Rio Claro), o sítio Abrigo do Alvo (Analândia) e o sítio Alice Boer (Rio Claro), de forma a auxiliar nas pesquisas arqueológicas destes, com dados novos e complementares. Cada um dos sítios arqueológicos propostos como estudo de caso apresenta um contexto pedogeomorfológico muito distinto. O primeiro encontra-se próximo ao divisor de águas, o segundo encontra-se dentro de um abrigo e, por fim, o terceiro encontra-se em uma área de baixo terraço fluvial. Os dados coletados na análise de microartefatos auxiliam para uma melhor compreensão dos processos pedogeomorfológicos de formação e de como ocorrem os processos de transporte e deposição de cada sítio. Dunnel e Stein (1989) definem microartefatos como vestígios de atividade humana que apresentam tamanho reduzido, com limite entre 2 mm e 0,25 mm. Segundo os autores, um artefato é qualquer objeto que apresente atributos artificiais. Podem ter suas propriedades alteradas pela ação humana, sua localização alterada pela ação humana ou ainda podem ocorrer as duas situações. Foram testadas diferentes formas de processar os sedimentos, como elutriação com utilização de agitador mecânica, agitador de Wagner (rotativo) e aparelho de ultrassom, e depois comparados os resultados com o intuito de buscar o melhor método de elutriação para processar os sedimentos. Também foi feita uma experiência com microesferas de polietileno como amostra implantada para procurar estabelecer um número de grãos suficiente à contagem para detectar com eficácia o número de microartefatos de um local. Foi possível observar que a elutriação não afetou o resultado final e que a contagem por peso é muito mais eficaz do que por quantidade de grãos. / In Brazil, micro artifacts analysis is not common. Nevertheless, due to the micro artifacts\' transportation and geological deposition particularities, they can provide specific and complementary information to understand the pedomorphological context of the studied archeological sites. These informations allow us to better understand the genesis, chronology and formation processes of these sites, justifying the need for its analysis. This study analyzed micro artifacts from three archeological sites - Lagoa do Camargo site (Rio Claro), Abrigo do Alvo site (Analândia), and Alice Boer site (Rio Claro) - localized in Rio Claro region. Our goal is to provide new subsidiary data to these sites\' archeological research. Each one of these sites presents a distinct pedomorphological context. The first site is found next to the water divisor, the second site is inside a shelter, and de third site is found in a low river terrace area. The data collected in the micro artifact analysis help understanding the pedomorphological formation processes and how the deposition and transport processes occur in each site. Dunnel e Stein (1989) define micro artifacts as human activity traces with reduced size, limited between 2 mm and 0.25 mm. According to the authors, artifacts are any objects that present artificial attributes. They can have their properties or location, or even both of them, altered by human action. Different ways of sediments processing were tested, such as elutriation using mechanical stirrer, Wagner\'s stirrer (rotative), and ultrasonic device. Then, the results were compared so we could select the best elutriation method for processing the sediments. We also tried to establish a sufficient grain number to the counting experimenting polyethylene microspheres as implanted sample so we could detect efficiently a site\'s micro artifacts number. We observed that elutriation did not affect the final result, and that counting by weight is way more effective than counting by grains\' quantity.

Radiation therapy (RT) is commonly used to treat patients with lung cancer. One of the limitations of RT is that irradiation of the surrounding healthy lung tissues during RT may cause damage to the lungs. Radiation-induced pulmonary toxicity may be mitigated by minimizing doses to high-function lung tissues, which we refer to as functional avoidance RT. Lung function can be computed by image registration of treatment planning four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT), which we refer to as CT ventilation imaging. However, the accuracy of functional avoidance RT is limited by lung function imaging accuracy and artifacts in 4DCT. The goal of this dissertation is to improve the accuracy of functional avoidance RT by overcoming those two limitations. A common method for estimating lung ventilation uses image registration to align the peak exhale and inhale 3DCT images. This approach called the 2-phase local expansion ratio is limited because it assumes no out-of-phase lung ventilation and may underestimate local lung ventilation. Out-of-phase ventilation occurs when regions of the lung reach their maximum (minimum) local volume in a phase other than the peak of inhalation (end of exhalation). This dissertation presents a new method called the N-phase local expansion ratio for detecting and characterizing locations of the lung that experience out-of-phase ventilation. The N-phase LER measure uses all 4DCT phases instead of two peak phases to estimate lung ventilation. Results show that out-of-phase breathing was common in the lungs and that the spatial distribution of out-of-phase ventilation varied from subject to subject. On average, 49% of the out-of-phase regions were mislabeled as low-function by the 2-phase LER. 4DCT and Xenon-enhanced CT (Xe-CT) of four sheep were used to evaluate the accuracy of 2-phase LER and N-phase LER. Results show that the N-phase LER measure was more correlated with the Xe-CT than the 2-phase LER measure. These results suggest that it may be better to use all 4DCT phases instead of the two peak phases to estimate lung function. The accuracy of functional avoidance RT may also be improved by reducing the impact of artifacts in 4DCT. In this dissertation, we propose a a geodesic density regression (GDR) algorithm to correct artifacts in one breathing phase by using artifact-free data in corresponding regions of the other breathing phases. Local tissue density change associated with CT intensity change during respiration is accommodated in the GDR algorithm. Binary artifact masks are used to exclude regions of artifacts from the regression, i.e., the GDR algorithm only uses artifact-free data. The GDR algorithm estimates an artifact-free CT template image and its time flow through a respiratory cycle. Evaluation of the GDR algorithm was performed using both 2D CT time-series images with simulated known motion artifacts and treatment planning 4DCT with real motion artifacts. The 2D results show that there is no significant difference (p-value = 0.95) between GDR regression of artifact data using artifact masks and regression of artifact-free data. In contrast, significant errors (p-value = 0.005) were present in the estimated Jacobian images when artifact masks were not used. We also demonstrated the effectiveness of the GDR algorithm for removing real duplication, misalignment, and interpolation artifacts in 4DCT. Overall this dissertation proposes methods that have the potential to improve functional avoidance RT by accommodating out-of-phase ventilation, and removing motion artifacts in 4DCT using geodesic image regression.

Metabolomics is the study of metabolomes, the sets of metabolites observed in living systems. Metabolism interconverts these metabolites to provide the molecules and energy necessary for life processes. Many disease processes, including cancer, have a significant metabolic component that manifests as differences in what metabolites are present and in what quantities they are produced and utilized. Thus, using metabolomics, differences between metabolomes in disease and non-disease states can be detected and these differences improve our understanding of disease processes at the molecular level. Despite the potential benefits of metabolomics, the comprehensive investigation of metabolomes remains difficult. A popular analytical technique for metabolomics is mass spectrometry. Advances in Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FT-MS) instrumentation have yielded simultaneous improvements in mass resolution, mass accuracy, and detection sensitivity. In the metabolomics field, these advantages permit more complicated, but more informative experimental designs such as the use of multiple isotope-labeled precursors in stable isotope-resolved metabolomics (SIRM) experiments. However, despite these potential applications, several outstanding problems hamper the use of FT-MS for metabolomics studies. First, artifacts and data quality problems in FT-MS spectra can confound downstream data analyses, confuse machine learning models, and complicate the robust detection and assignment of metabolite features. Second, the assignment of observed spectral features to metabolites remains difficult. Existing targeted approaches for assignment often employ databases of known metabolites; however, metabolite databases are incomplete, thus limiting or biasing assignment results. Additionally, FT-MS provides limited structural information for observed metabolites, which complicates the determination of metabolite class (e.g. lipid, sugar, etc. ) for observed metabolite spectral features, a necessary step for many metabolomics experiments. To address these problems, a set of tools were developed. The first tool identifies artifacts with high peak density observed in many FT-MS spectra and removes them safely. Using this tool, two previously unreported types of high peak density artifact were identified in FT-MS spectra: fuzzy sites and partial ringing. Fuzzy sites were particularly problematic as they confused and reduced the accuracy of machine learning models trained on datasets containing these artifacts. Second, a tool called SMIRFE was developed to assign isotope-resolved molecular formulas to observed spectral features in an untargeted manner without a database of expected metabolites. This new untargeted method was validated on a gold-standard dataset containing both unlabeled and 15N-labeled compounds and was able to identify 18 of 18 expected spectral features. Third, a collection of machine learning models was constructed to predict if a molecular formula corresponds to one or more lipid categories. These models accurately predict the correct one of eight lipid categories on our training dataset of known lipid and non-lipid molecular formulas with precisions and accuracies over 90% for most categories. These models were used to predict lipid categories for untargeted SMIRFE-derived assignments in a non-small cell lung cancer dataset. Subsequent differential abundance analysis revealed a sub-population of non-small cell lung cancer samples with a significantly increased abundance in sterol lipids. This finding implies a possible therapeutic role of statins in the treatment and/or prevention of non-small cell lung cancer. Collectively these tools represent a pipeline for FT-MS metabolomics datasets that is compatible with isotope labeling experiments. With these tools, more robust and untargeted metabolic analyses of disease will be possible.

With this thesis, I aim to fill a gap in our knowledge of shell artifacts from the northwest part of the state of Florida. It represents a first look at the range of shell artifacts in the collections of the University of South Florida (USF) obtained during the ongoing program of archaeological investigations in the Apalachicola Valley and surrounding region. There are 46 sites in the study area that have been identified as yielding shell artifacts, of which samples from 27 sites are curated in the USF Archaeology Laboratory. The proposed typology is based on an analysis of over 2300 specimens collected from archaeological sites in northwest Florida, including the Gulf Coast, barrier islands, St. Joseph Bay, and the Apalachicola River drainage. Shell artifacts represent one informative set of strategies that pre- and proto-historic Native Americans used to make a living. Despite this recognition, shell artifacts from northwest Florida have thus far received very little attention when compared with collections from south Florida. The paucity of available chert or other stone raw materials probably helped encourage south Florida peoples to utilize marine shell resources more extensively (White, Fitts, Rodriguez, and Smith 2002:16). The USF Apalachicola collection clearly demonstrates that marine shell played an important role in the lives of prehistoric native peoples from the north Gulf Coast as well. Twenty-two artifact types, including adzes, hammers, and dishes have been identified at 46 sites extending as far as 70 river miles inland. It is hoped that the research here presented will provide an opportunity to expand our knowledge of how past peoples lived in their everyday settings and help anthropologists categorize material culture in a more organized fashion. The provisional typology of shell tools is intended as a foundation for future work in the Apalachicola River area and in neighboring regions.

This study examines and demonstrates the value of a matrix approach in the discipline of conservation and the concerns specific to the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic objects. The chapters identify the relevance of the matrix to current conservation practices through a history of artifact conservation and a discussion of the factors that compromise the conservators' role in the study and preservation of material culture. The discussion evaluates the nature of systematic research collections, the impact of legal issues, and the ethics of including cultural context as important aspects in the development of the matrix approach. The matrix approach provides the conservator with a number of variables or categories of information that may assist in the determination of an appropriate conservation process. In this study, the matrix approach was tested on a number of artifact objects. To provide a common link, all of the objects were characterized by paint on some form of cellulose (wood or a wood-like substrate). The object cases were from both ethnographic and archaeological contexts, and the work involved both laboratory procedures and consideration of non-laboratory (i.e. legal, cultural, ethical) aspects. The specific objects included (1) a probable tiponi of archaeological (Anasazi culture) context, (2) a group of coiled baskets of archaeological (Mogollon culture) context, (3) a kachina doll of ethnographic (Hopi culture) context, (4) a group of prayer sticks of archaeological (Puebloan and Tohono O'Odham) context, and (5) a fiddle of ethnographic (Apache culture) context. By recognizing the unique and diverse aspects of anthropology collections, the conservator who uses a matrix approach is better equipped to work with archaeologists on sites, with curators and exhibit designers in museums, and with claimants (or the descendants of an object's maker) in carrying out the multiple activities frequently involved in the conservation of objects as they exist in an ever broadening and more political context.

During 1984 I carried out an Internship in Materials Conservation under the supervision of Mrs. Patricia Johnson, the Conservator of the Nicholson Museum of Antiquities, the University of Sydney. My area of specialization was in the conservation of artifacts. The majority of artifacts examined and treated during the Internship were from archaeological excavations in the Middle East, at the site of Pella, in Jordan. The site of Pella has produced artifacts from a wide chronological range ; Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic (Greek), Roman, and Arabic historical periods. A selection of these artifacts has been granted to the University of Sydney by the Jordanian government, and constitute the present Pella Collection. Most of the materials are inorganic, i.e. ceramics, metals, glass, and stone, although bone and ivory artifacts, as well as skeletal material, form a part of the collection. Upon an initial examination of the collection, conservation problems were identified and a program of conservation work for the collection was formulated. Priority treatment was given to the metals in the collection, particularly to the small bronzes which were found to be suffering from "bronze disease" (active corrosion), to ceramics needed for study and display, and to glass with unstable surfaces. Improvements in storage conditions for the Pella Collection, particularly in the packing of small finds and the storage of metals, were also given a high priority. Taken altogether, the Pella Collection has proved to be a wellbalanced collection, covering almost every period of Kiddle Eastern Archaeology, and containing artifacts representative of most types of materials and of ancient technology. Planned as a research and teaching collection for the students of the Department of Archaeology, the University of Sydney, it also proved to be an excellent teaching collection for a student of materials conservation. The following, therefore, is a report on my Internship in Archaeological Conservation, and includes a description of the institution which sponsored the Internship, a description of both the program of work and the program of instruction for the Internship, detailed descriptions of all conservation work and other activities which were undertaken as part of the: Internship, and a final evaluation of the Internship.

<p>The role of information technology within health care is getting more central and prominent. The purpose of this change is both to make the health care more efficient and to heighten patient safety. This exploratory case study of four care units aims to provide a glimpse into the clinical work of nurses, and to indentify and describe their communication and information needs. The analytical framework used in this study is distributed cognition and the research method used is cognitive ethnography. The study provides a peek into the complex system of health care, and how the central artifacts such as patient records, whiteboards and different alarm systems are used in this context. The result of the study describes the current work practices and information flows in the studied care units. From these results general system design implications are made.</p>

<p>Cardiac catheterization has for a long time been a valuable way to evaluate the hemodynamics of a patient. One of the benefits is that the entire blood pressure waveform can be recorded and visualized to the cardiologist. These measurements are however disturbed by different phenomenon, such as respiration and the dynamics of the fluid filled catheter, which introduces artifacts in the blood pressure waveform. If these disturbances could be removed, the measurement would be more accurate. This report focuses on the effects of respiratory artifacts in blood pressure signals during cardiac catheterization. </p><p>Four methods, a standard bandpass filter, two adaptive filters and one wavelet based method are considered. The difference between respiratory artifacts in systolic and diastolic pressure is studied and dealt with during compensation. All investigated methods are implemented in Matlab and validated against blood pressure signals from catheterized patients. </p><p>The results are algorithms that try to correct for respiratory artifacts. The rate of success is hard to determine since only a few measured blood pressure signals have been available and since the size and appearance of the actual artifacts are unknown.</p>

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