Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2018-09-20T12:53:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 joicydafonsecaguimaraes.pdf: 1431118 bytes, checksum: fa18a38b7895b736b2607ecf0e7b888b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-10-16T11:31:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 joicydafonsecaguimaraes.pdf: 1431118 bytes, checksum: fa18a38b7895b736b2607ecf0e7b888b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-16T11:31:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 joicydafonsecaguimaraes.pdf: 1431118 bytes, checksum: fa18a38b7895b736b2607ecf0e7b888b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-25 / A presente dissertação é desenvolvida no âmbito do Mestrado Profissional em Gestão e Avaliação da Educação (PPGP) do Centro de Políticas Públicas e Avaliação da Educação da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (CAEd/UFJF). O caso de gestão estudado discutiu os desafios do processo de implementação do Programa Multicêntrico de PósGraduação em Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular na Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora campus Governador Valadares (PMBqBM/UFJF-GV). Os objetivos definidos para este estudo foram descrever e analisar os processos de regulamentação e de funcionamento do programa e propor um Plano de Ação Educacional para o fortalecimento do PMBqBM em âmbito geral e no campus GV. Assumimos como hipótese a estruturação das responsabilidades e competências nas instâncias de decisão e no âmbito do funcionamento dos cursos como ação necessária ao fortalecimento do programa, o que compreende a melhoria da capacidade de definir e regulamentar as atribuições dos representantes de cada instância e de aperfeiçoar os sistemas de interação e comunicação entre seus membros. Utilizamos como metodologia o estudo de caso e a pesquisa qualitativa e como instrumentos a análise documental e a realização de entrevistas com roteiro semiestruturado. Os resultados nos mostraram que questões relacionadas à promoção da interação nas instâncias de decisão e de atuação, à efetividade da atividade de nucleação e à definição de responsabilidades sobre a gestão e operacionalização de trâmites acadêmico-administrativos merecem atenção. Esses temas são abordados no Plano de Ação Educacional elaborado com vistas ao fortalecimento do PMBqBM como um todo e no campus GV. / The present dissertation was developed on the Professional Master’s Degree in Educational Management and Assessment (PPGP) at the Center for Public Policies and Assessment in Education of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (CAEd/UFJF). The case study in question discussed the challenges in the process of implementation of the Multicentric Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UFJF, Governador Valadares campus (PMBqBM/UFJF-GV). The objectives defined are to describe and analyze the processes of regulating and functioning of the program and to propose an educational action plan to strengthen the PMBqBM as a whole and within the GV campus. We assume as hypothesis the structuring of responsibilities and competences in the decision-making spheres as a necessary course of action to the strengthening of the program. Such conditions comprehend the capacity of defining and regulating the attributions of the representatives of each sphere and the capacity to improve interactional and communicational systems among its members. We have applied the methodology of case study and qualitative research and, as instruments, document analysis and semi structured interviews. The results have shown that the issues related to the promotion of interaction in the instances of decision-making and operationalization of academicadministrative proceedings deserve attention. These themes are dealt with on the education action plan elaborated aiming at the strengthening of the PMBqBM as a whole and within the GV campus.

In Scania vehicles, Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) are collected while driving, later on loaded into a central database when visiting a workshop. These DTCs are statistically used to analyse vehicles’ health statuses, which is why correctness in data is desirable. In workshops DTCs can however occur due to work and tests. Nevertheless are they loaded into the database without any notification. In order to perform an accurate analysis of the vehicle health status it would be desirable if such DTCs could be found and removed. The thesis has examined if this is possible by searching for patterns in DTCs, indicating whether the DTCs are generated in a workshop or not. Due to its easy interpretable outcome an Associative Classification method was used with the aim of categorising data. The classifier was built applying well-known algorithms and then two classification algorithms were developed to fit the data structure when labelling new data. The final classifier performed with an accuracy above 80 percent where no distinctive differences between the two algorithms could be found. Hardly 50 percent of all workshop DTCs were however found. The conclusion is that either do patterns in workshop DTCs only occur in 50 percent of the cases, or the classifier can only detect 50 percent of them. The patterns found could confirm previous knowledge regarding workshop generated DTCs as well as provide Scania with new information.

Les vibrisses ou moustaches, sont représentées de façon très précise au niveau cortical. Cette représentation forme une carte qui peut varier selon l’expérience ou l’apprentissage. La plasticité corticale est parfois altérée dans des maladies. C’est le cas du syndrome de l’X-fragile où la protéine FMRP n’est plus produite. Notre hypothèse est double : 1- La plasticité opérant dans le cortex somato-sensoriel primaire lors d’un conditionnement associatif est primordiale pour l’apprentissage. 2- FMRP peut perturber cette plasticité et altérer l’acquisition de la mémoire. Mon travail de thèse s’est déroulé sous la direction du Dr Ingrid Bureau, dans l’Institut de neurobiologie de la Méditerranée UMR901, laboratoire de l’INSERM, sur le campus universitaire de Luminy (Aix-Marseille Université).Après un protocole de conditionnement, les souris ayant appris l’association présentent des réorganisations de la carte corticale sélective manifestées par une surreprésentation des vibrisses appariées au dépend des vibrisses voisines.L’étude a ensuite montré que déjà en condition naïve l’excitabilité des neurones glutamatergiques de la couche 4 est plus importante que chez les souris mutantes, dans lequel la synthèse de FMRP n’est inactivée que dans la couche 4 du cortex somato-sensoriel. Ceci est couplé à une baisse de la probabilité de libération de neurotransmetteur et une baisse de connectivité. Les cartes corticales sauvages et mutantes en condition naïve sont donc en apparence similaires. Après altération de l’expérience sensorielle, nous avons observé une forte augmentation de la force des projections ascendantes de la couche 4 vers la couche 2/3 chez les individus mutants / Whiskers representation is well defined at cortical level. This representation designs a map which can be modified with sensory experiece or learning. Cortical plasticity is sometime affected by diseases such as the fragile-X syndrome where protein FMRP is lacking. Two hypothesis : 1- Plasticity in primary somatosensory cortex play a major role in learning. 2- FMRP can disturb that plasticity and so memory acquisition.After playing an associtiative conditionning protocol, some mice learn the association and cortical map changes in a selective way with a gain of representation for the paired whiskers vs whiskers in neighbourghood.We’ve after shown that in naive conditions, layer 4 glutamatergic neurons present an increase of excitability in mutant mice, in which FMRP synthesis is inactivated only in layer 4 of somatosensory cortex. This phenotype comes with a decrease in neurotransmetor release probability and a decrease in connectivity. This way, WT and mutant cortical maps appear similar in naive conditions. But after sensory alteration we’ve seen a huge increase in strenght of ascending projections from layer 4 to layer 2/3 in mutants. We don’t know yet how to explain thoose deregulations.

This dissertation explored the way in which bumblebees' visual system helps them discover their first flower. Previous studies found bees have unlearned preferences for parts of a flower, such as its colour and shape. The first study pitted two variables against each other: pattern type: sunburst or bull's eye, versus the location of the pattern: shapes appeared peripherally or centrally. We observed free-flying bees in a flight cage using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking. The results show two distinct behavioural preferences: Pattern type predicts landing: bees prefer radial over concentric patterns, regardless of whether the radial pattern is on the perimeter or near the centre of the flower. Pattern location predicts exploration: bees were more likely to explore the inside of artificial flowers if the shapes were displayed near the centre of the flower, regardless of whether the pattern was radial or concentric. As part of the second component, we implemented a mathematical model aimed at explaining how bees come to prefer radial patterns, leafy backgrounds and symmetry. The model was based on unsupervised neural networks used to describe cognitive mechanisms. The results captured with the results of multiple behavioural experiments. The model suggests that bees choose computationally "cheaper" stimuli, those that contain less information. The third study tested the computational load hypothesis generated by the artificial neural networks. Visual properties of symmetry, and spatial frequency were tested. Studying free-flying bees in a flight cage using motion-sensitive video recordings, we found that bees preferred 4-axis symmetrical patterns in both low and high frequency displays.

La maladie d’Alzheimer (MA) est un trouble neurodégénératif qui se manifeste, entre autres, par une détérioration progressive de la mémoire. Le peptide amyloïde (Aβ), composant principal des plaques séniles retrouvées dans le cerveau des patients, a longtemps été considéré comme le principal responsable de ce dysfonctionnement mnésique. Néanmoins, les mécanismes moléculaires à l’origine du déclin de la mémoire restent à ce jour inconnus. Le peptide Aβ est produit par la protéolyse d’une protéine transmembranaire appelée Protéine Précurseur Amyloïde (APP). Il a été proposé qu’en plus de l’effet néfaste de l'accumulation d’Aβ, une perte de fonction d’APP puisse jouer un rôle dans le dysfonctionnement cognitif associé à la MA, en particulier au début de la maladie. La drosophile possède un orthologue d’APP, APP-like (APPL), soumis à deux voies de maturation similaires à celles d’APP. Le laboratoire a mis en évidence l’implication d’APPL chez la mouche adulte dans la mémoire olfactive associative (Goguel et al., 2011). Au cours de ma thèse, nous avons poursuivi deux objectifs : 1) identifier le ou les métabolites d’APPL impliqués dans la mise en place de la mémoire, et 2) analyser l’incidence de la surexpression de la voie amyloïdogénique chez le jeune adulte. Nous avons mis à jour deux types d’interaction fonctionnelle entre APPL et ses métabolites : une interaction positive entre les formes sécrétées et membranaires, qui pourrait sous-tendre la mise en place de la mémoire dans des conditions physiologiques, et une interaction négative entre APPL et dAβ, qui pourrait au contraire participer à l’aggravation des déficits mnésiques observés au cours de l’évolution de la MA. / Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive deterioration of memory. The amyloid peptide (Aβ), the principal component of senile plaques found in patients’ brains, has been considered as the main cause of memory dysfunction. However, the exact molecular mechanisms that underlie memory decline remain unknown. Aβ is produced by the proteolysis of a transmembrane protein named Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP). It has been suggested that in addition to the accumulation of Aβ, APP loss of function may play a crucial role in the cognitive dysfunction associated with AD, especially at the onset of the disease. Drosophila contains a single APP ortholog APP-like (APPL), that undergoes processing pathways similar to that of APP. We have previously highlighted in young flies the involvement of APPL in associative olfactory memory (Goguel et al., 2011). During my thesis, we sought firstly to identify which form of APPL, among its numerous metabolites, is critical for memory, and secondly, to analyze the effect of promoting the amyloidogenic pathway in the young adult brain. Our results suggest several types of functional interactions between APPL and its metabolites: a positive interaction between the full length membrane and the secreted form - which would underlie implementation of memory under physiological conditions - and a negative interaction between APPL and dAβ - which would rather participate to the progression of the memory decline observed during AD.

Résumé : Le Conditionnement Évaluatif (CE) réfère au changement évaluatif d'un Stimulus Neutre (SN) à l'issue des co-expériences relationnelles répétées de celui-ci avec un Stimulus Affectivement signifiant (SA). Les nombreuses divergences empiriques observées dans la littérature suggèrent, d'une part, que des distinctions fonctionnelles sont à faire entre les effets mis en évidence, et d'autre part, que des processus de différente nature puissent intervenir ou être impliqués selon les effets considérés. Ce travail de thèse propose de reconsidérer la variabilité fonctionnelle du CE à travers une approche à multiples processus intégrative et continue, se distinguant des approches à multiples processus du CE classiques sur plusieurs points majeurs, dont : (i) la perspective d'un continuum entre les différents effets ; (ii) la définition et la fonction conférées aux processus associatifs et élaboratifs, envisagés sous-tendre le CE ; (iii) la relation entre ces processus ; et (iv) la nature des contenus mémorisés. Afin de développer ces aspects, nous nous appuierons sur trois points du continuum envisagé (i.e., effets de CE directs, indirects « automatisés », et indirects inférentiels), sachant que chacun de ces points illustrent des effets caractérisés par une émergence plus ou moins automatique, coûteuse, consciente, et/ou contrôlée. La validité empirique de cette approche a été examinée par la mise à l'épreuve des hypothèses concernant la variabilité potentielle dans la facilité de manifestation des effets de CE indirects. À ce titre, 4 expériences ont été effectuées en vue de démontrer que l'émergence d'un CE indirect peut être plus ou moins favorisée selon le degré de propriétés partagées entre le SN et le SA d'un couple donné. Conformément à nos attentes, les résultats obtenus suggèrent que la manifestation d'un CE peut être privilégiée par le partage élevé de propriétés SN-SA. Nous discuterons de la contribution de ces résultats pour l'approche proposée, et plus largement à l'étude du CE. Par ailleurs, les limites méthodologiques et empiriques qui touchent l'ensemble des expériences réalisées, et les perspectives futures quant à l'approche « intégrative et continue » seront considérées. / Abstract: Evaluative Conditioning (EC) can be defined as an evaluative change of a neutral stimulus (i.e., the CS), resulting from the repeated relational experiences between this stimulus and a stimulus affectively significant (i.e., the US). Numerous studies conducted on EC revealed several inconsistent results. These inconsistencies underline that two important distinctions have to be considered. The first one deals with the type of EC effects obtained, either direct or indirect. The other one concerns the type of processes underlying EC effects, associative and elaborative ones. In this thesis, we propose an integrative and continuous approach of EC that takes into account these two distinctions, and offers new insight by considering a possible continuum between direct low-level associative effects and indirect high-level elaborative effects. This perspective differs notably from the multiples processes approach classically adopted in EC. The experimental validity of this “integrative and continuous” view was examined in 4 experiments, by testing the role of the specificity of the CS-US relationship on the facility for indirect EC to emerge. Precisely, we predict that CS-US relationship presenting a high level of common properties (e.g., semantic, perceptive, or lexical properties) leads to the emergence of indirect EC effect in a privileged way. As expected, we observed that CS-US relations that shared a high-level of common properties can generate stronger or exclusive EC effects compared to stimuli that showed low-level common properties. The contribution of these results for the “integrative and continuous” approach and for EC studies is discussed, along with their methodological and empirical limits. Finally, perspectives for the future of our approach are drawn.

This dissertation describes WikiRank, an unsupervised method of assigning relative values to elements of a broad coverage encyclopedic information source in order to identify those entries that may be relevant to a given piece of text. The valuation given to an entry is based not on textual similarity but instead on the links that associate entries, and an estimation of the expected frequency of visitation that would be given to each entry based on those associations in context. This estimation of relative frequency of visitation is embodied in modifications to the random walk interpretation of the PageRank algorithm. WikiRank is an effective algorithm to support natural language processing applications. It is shown to exceed the performance of previous machine learning algorithms for the task of automatic topic identification, providing results comparable to that of human annotators. Second, WikiRank is found useful for the task of recognizing text-based paraphrases on a semantic level, by comparing the distribution of attention generated by two pieces of text using the encyclopedic resource as a common reference. Finally, WikiRank is shown to have the ability to use its base of encyclopedic knowledge to recognize terms from different ontologies as describing the same thing, and thus allowing for the automatic generation of mapping links between ontologies. The conclusion of this thesis is that the "knowledge access heuristic" is valuable and that a ranking process based on a large encyclopedic resource can form the basis for an extendable general purpose mechanism capable of identifying relevant concepts by association, which in turn can be effectively utilized for enumeration and comparison at a semantic level.

Orientador: Marcos Eduardo Ribeiro do Valle Mesquita / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Matemática Estatística e Computação Científica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T12:11:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Souza_AlineCristinade_M.pdf: 2392301 bytes, checksum: 8b771e0b97302577daaf84624b0c4751 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Memórias associativas são modelos matemáticos inspirados pela capacidade do cérebro humano de armazenar e recordar informações por meio de associações. Tais modelos são projetados para armazenar um conjunto finito de associações chamado de conjunto das memórias fundamentais. Além disso, espera-se que a memória associativa seja capaz de recuperar uma informação armazenada mesmo a partir de um item incompleto ou ruidoso. As Memórias Associativas Recorrentes Exponenciais Fuzzy (REFAMs, acrônimo do termo em inglês Recurrent Exponential Fuzzy Associative Memories) podem ser efetivamente utilizadas para o armazenamento e recordação de uma família finita de conjuntos fuzzy. Em geral, uma REFAM define recursivamente uma sequência de conjuntos fuzzy obtidos usando médias ponderadas e exponenciais dos valores de medida de similaridade. Experimentos computacionais relacionados à recuperação de imagens em tons de cinza ruidosas mostraram que os novos modelos podem apresentar ótima capacidade absoluta de armazenamento bem como excelente tolerância a ruído / Abstract: Associative memories are mathematical models inspired by the human brain ability to store and recall information by means of associations. Such models are designed for the storage of a finite set of associations called the fundamental memories set. Furthermore, the associative memory is expected to be able to retrieve a stored information even from an incomplete or noisy item. The Recurrent Exponential Fuzzy Associative Memories (REFAMs) can be effectively used for storage and recall of a finite family of fuzzy sets. In general, a REFAM defines recursively a sequence of fuzzy sets obtained using weighted averages and exponentials of similarity measure values. Computational experiments concerning the retrieval of noisy gray-scale images revealed that the novel models may exhibit optimal absolute storage capacity as well as excellent noise tolerance / Mestrado / Matematica Aplicada / Mestra em Matemática Aplicada

The work deals with associative thinking and its relation to form design. In contrast to present "conceptual procedures", the creative process is based on "Ad hoc" ways of working, where the designer / engineer becomes a handyman / bricoleur. However, if the architect becomes a bricoleur, he must also get rid of the conceptualization of the work through a plan. This apparent detail inevitably leads to the reconfiguration of other parts of the profession, present since the time of Alberti, when the relationship between the architect and the client is defined by the drawing - the plan. The project simulates the probable way of organizing the work of the architect / bricoleur of the present.

The properties of the hyaluronan were investigated by using different fluorescence probes, because hyaluronan is a hopeful carrier of an active matter in medicine and cosmetics. Selected fluorescence probes were: cationic acridine orange, Nile Blue A, methylene blue, amphiphilic 4-Di-2-ASP and anionic fluorescein. Except from fluorescence and absorption spectra of the probes were observed electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions as well. The probes in solvents with different polarity (MeOH, EtOH, DMSO) showed the bathochromic shift in the emission maximum and quenching of the fluorescence with the increasing polarity of the solvents. The influence of the ionic strength on fluorescence properties of the probe acridine orange and 4-Di-2-ASP was investigated in aqueous solutions of chlorides. The formation of acridine orange dimer is inhibited with increasing ionic strength. CaCl2 increased the ionic strength the most, then prevented repulsion of carboxylate groups, so it means the expansion of hyaluronan cluster into the solution. However, the emission of the probe 4-Di-2-ASP was quenched with the addition of CaCl2 the most. The first additions of COO– groups cause the formation of dimers of AO shown as decreasing in extinction coefficient and fluorescence intensity. Next addition of the hyaluronan caused a depolymerization of formed dimers and the increase of the emission intensity. The repolymerization caused the decrease and then again the increase. In case of 4-Di-2-ASP was the pattern of the fluorescence (the intensity and the position of the emission) firstly the same, but at the concentration of 1 g dm-3 the emission intensity increased. The probes MB and F were used for spectroscopic studies of the interaction between methylene blue-fluorescein complex and anionic and cationic surfactants. The absorbance of separate MB and F changed only with the addition of surfactants with the opposite electric charge. Absorbance of the mixture MB-F changed with the addition of the CTAC surfactant, while the addition of SDS into the mixture caused only the change of MB absorption spectra.