Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία σκοπεύει στην παρουσίαση και ανάλυση της μεθόδου της Περιβάλλουσας Ανάλυσης Δεδομένων, η οποία δημιουργήθηκε για την αξιολόγηση της αποδοτικότητας οργανωτικών μονάδων όπως τα τραπεζικά υποκαταστήματα, σχολεία, νοσοκομεία ή εστιατόρια. Το κλειδί που μας επιτρέπει την σύγκριση αυτών των μονάδων βρίσκετε στους πόρους που χρησιμοποιούν για την παραγωγή έργου. Η Περιβάλλουσα Ανάλυση Δεδομένων (Data Envelopment Analysis) πρωτοπαρουσιάστηκε το 1978 από τους Charnes Cooper και Rhodes σε μία μελέτη τους (Charnes, et al.1978; Cooper 1978; Rhodes 1978). Η μελέτη αναφερόταν σε εκτιμήσεις της αποδοτικότητας μη κερδοσκοπικών οργανισμών και μπορεί δε να θεωρηθεί επέκταση της τεχνικής αποδοτικότητας, δοσμένης από τον Farell το 1957. Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζεται το θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο της μεθόδου, τα μοντέλα που κρύβονται πίσω από την μέθοδο, τον τρόπο υπολογισμού της αποδοτικότητας, τις παραδοχές πίσω από το σύνολο δυνατοτήτων παραγωγής, γραφική αναπαράσταση της μεθόδου και ένα παράδειγμα το οποίο είναι συνδιασμός των πιο πάνω. Στο 2ο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζουμε εναλλακτικά μοντέλα τα οποία είναι προεκτάσεις των βασικών μοντέλων της μεθόδου, αναδεικνύοντας την προσαρμοστικότητα της μεθόδου. Αρκετά από αυτά τα μοντέλα προέκυψαν από την ανάγκη αντιμετώπισης αρκετών ασυνεπειών. Μερικά απο τα μοντέλα που παρουσιάζουμε είναι το προσθετικό μοντέλο, το πολλαπλαστικό μοντέλο και μοντέλα με εξωγενείς και κατηγορικές μεταβλητές. Το προσθετικό μοντέλο σε αντίθεση με τα μοντέλα CCR και BCC έχει την ικανότητα ελαχιστοποίηση των εισροών και μεγιστοποίησης των εκροών ταυτόχρονα. Αυτό ήταν αδύνατο στα μοντέλο CCR και BCC καθώς αυτά μπορούσαν είτε να ελαχιστοποιήσουν της εισροές είτε στην μεγιστοποίηση των εκροών αλλά όχι και τα 2 ταυτόχρονα. Επίσης στο 2ο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζεται η χρήση απολύτων φραγμάτων στους συντελεστές βαρύτητας ιδιομορφίες των συντελεστών βαρύτητας οι οποίοι συντελούν στην ασυνέπεια της μεθόδου με την ιδιόμορφη συμπεριφορά τους. / This thesis aims at presenting and analyzing the method of Data Envelopment Analysis, which was created to assess the efficiency of organizational units such as bank branches, schools, hospitals and restaurants. The key that enables us to compare these units is the kind of resources they used to produce results. Data Envelopment Analysis was introduced in 1978 by Charnes Cooper and Rhodes in their seminar study (Charnes, et al.1978; Cooper 1978; Rhodes 1978). The paper refers to estimations of the efficiency, of non-profit organizations and may be considered as an extension of technical efficiency, given by Farell 1957. In the first chapter we are presenting the theoretical background of the method, the linear models behind the method, methods for calculating the efficiency, assumptions needed for production possibility set, graphical representations of the process and an example which is a combination all of the above. The second chapter presents alternative models that are extensions of the basic models of the process, highlighting the versatility of the method. Several of those models arose from the need to address a number of inconsistencies. The models we are presenting in these section are the additive model, the extended additive model, the multiplicative model and models with exogenous and categorical variables. The additive model in contrast with the CCR and BCC models have the ability to minimize inputs and maximize outputs simultaneously. This was impossible in the CCR and BCC model as they could either minimize or maximize inputs outputs but not the two simultaneously. Also we present the use of absolute limits on the weight coefficients whose peculiar behavior contribute to some of the inconsistencies observed in the method.

La présente thèse a pour objectif la découverte de pistes pour faciliter la sélection de l’aide à la communication avec sortie vocale (ACSV) et la programmation de son vocabulaire pour les jeunes enfants âgés de 4 à 6 ans qui ont des besoins complexes en communication (BCC). Cette étude a premièrement examiné le vocabulaire de base qui doit être programmé dans les ACSV des jeunes enfants francophones et bilingues qui vivent en situation minoritaire. Cinquante-sept enfants qui fréquentent une école de langue française ont participé aux enregistrements libres en salle de classe. L’analyse du corpus a révélé que 216 mots représentent 80,15% du vocabulaire utilisé par les enfants francophones de la maternelle et du jardin. L’analyse du corpus des enfants bilingues et des enfants qui ont un trouble du langage a donné des résultats comparables. Une seule liste de 200 mots a été produite en combinant le vocabulaire à fréquence et similitude élevée de trois groupes : les francophones, les bilingues et un ensemble d’enfants présentant des troubles du langage. Ces mots devraient être programmés dans les ACSV des jeunes enfants francophones et bilingues qui fréquentent une école de lange française dans un milieu minoritaire, quelle que soit leur habileté linguistique. Ces nombres sont semblables à ceux des études qui ont été effectuées en anglais aux États-Unis et en Australie, sauf que les mots ne sont pas les mêmes. D’ailleurs, seulement 61,50 % des mots de base de notre étude se trouvent sur la liste anglaise la plus récente. Une traduction n’aurait donc pas suffi et, dans cette perspective, notre étude s’avère importante. En outre, seulement 44,50 % des mots de base de notre étude se trouvent sur la liste de sélection de vocabulaire présentement utilisée chez la population francophone au Nord de l’Ontario. L’impact des facteurs cognitifs et linguistiques sur la navigation dans les ACSV a ensuite été analysé. Soixante-cinq enfants âgés de 48 à 77 mois ont participé aux évaluations cognitives, linguistiques et à une épreuve de navigation à l’aide du iPad2™. Bien que des corrélations significatives aient été trouvées entre la navigation et plusieurs facteurs cognitifs et linguistiques, il appert, en fin de compte, que le sous-ensemble pragmatique de facteurs permettant le mieux de prédire la capacité de navigation chez les jeunes enfants inclut l’attention, la catégorisation et le raisonnement. Lors de l’évaluation en suppléance à la communication (SC), les compétences d’attention, de catégorisation et de raisonnement devraient être prises en considération afin de mieux assurer la bonne sélection de l’ACSV. Les résultats de cette étude permettent d’établir les mots nécessaires lors de la programmation des ACSV pour les jeunes enfants francophones et bilingues en milieu minoritaire, et ils suggèrent que trois sous-tests du Leiter-R pourraient être utilisés pour déterminer l’habileté de naviguer dans une ACSV qui a une pagination dynamique.

This thesis examines the qualitative and quantitative variation in local plastic deformation and surface roughening due to crystallographic texture in body-centered cubic materials, specifically interstitial-free steel sheet and molybdenum foil and sheet. Complex forming operations currently used in industrial manufacturing lead to high material failure rates, due in part to the severity of the applied strain path. A multi-scale model was developed to examine the contribution of mesoscopic and local microscopic behaviour to the macroscopic constitutive response of bcc metals during deformation. The model integrated a dislocation-based hardening scheme and a Taylor-based crystal-plasticity formulation into the subroutine of an explicit dynamic FEM code, LS-DYNA. Numerical analyses using this model were able to predict not only correct grain rotation during deformation, but variations in plastic anisotropy due to initial crystallographic orientation. Simulations of molybdenum foil under uniaxial tension supported the existence of bending due to local variations in plastic anisotropy, confirmed with good quantitative agreement by experimental measurements of surface roughening. A series of two-stage strain-path tests were performed, revealing a prestrain-dependent softening of both the steel and molybdenum samples when an orthogonal secondary strain path is applied. Numerical analyses of these tests overestimate macroscopic hardening during complex loading, due in part to the dynamic nature of the FEM code used. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2009-04-15 11:51:04.518

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is a secreted morphogen involved in patterning a wide range of structures in the developing embryo. When cells receive the Shh signal a cascade of effects begin which in turn regulate downstream target genes. The genes controlled by Sonic hedgehog provide messages instructing cells how to differentiate or when to divide. Disruption of the hedgehog signalling cascade leads to a number of developmental disorders and plays a key role in the formation of a range of human cancers. Patched, the receptor for Shh, acts as a tumour suppressor and is mutated in naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS). NBCCS patients display a susceptibility to tumour formation, particularly for basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The discovery of Patched mutations in sporadic BCCs and other tumour types further highlights the importance of this pathway to human cancer. The identification of genes regulated by hedgehog is crucial for understanding how disruption of this pathway leads to neoplastic transformation. It is assumed that the abnormal expression of such genes plays a large role in directing cells to divide at inappropriate times. Only a small number of genes controlled by Shh have been described in vertebrate tissues. In the work presented in this thesis a Sonic hedgehog responsive embryonic mouse cell line, C3H/10T1/2, was used as a model system for hedgehog target gene discovery. Known downstream target genes were profiled to determine their induction kinetics, building up a body of knowledge on the response to Shh for this cell type. During this work, it was discovered that C3H/10T1/2 cells do not become fully competent to respond to Shh stimulation until the cells reach a critical density, a factor that had to be taken into account when determining timepoints of interest for further investigation. Several techniques were employed to identify genes that show expression changes between Shh stimulated and control cells. In one of these techniques, RNA from cell cultures activated with Shh was used to interrogate cDNA microarrays, and this provided many insights into the downstream transcriptional consequences of hedgehog stimulation. Microarrays consist of thousands of spots of DNA of known sequence gridded onto glass slides. Experiments using this technology allow the expression level of thousands of genes to be measured simultaneously. Independent stimulation methods combined with northern blotting were used to investigate individual genes of interest, allowing genuine targets to be confirmed and false positives eliminated. This resulted in the identification of eleven target genes. Seven of these are induced by Sonic hedgehog (Thrombomodulin (Thbd), Glucocorticoid induced leucine zipper (Gilz), Brain factor 2 (Bf2), Nuclear receptor subfamily 4, group A, member 1 (Nr4a1), Insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2), Peripheral myelin protein 22 (Pmp22), Lim and SH3 Protein 1 (Lasp1)), and four are repressed (Secreted frizzled related proteins 1 and 2 (Sfrp1 and Sfrp2), Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 gamma (Mip-1?), and Anti-mullerian hormone (Amh)). The majority of these represent novel downstream genes not previously reported as targets of Shh. The new target genes have a diverse range of functions, and include transcriptional regulators and molecules known to be involved in regulating cell growth or apoptosis. The corroboration of genes previously implicated in hedgehog signalling, along with the finding of novel targets, demonstrates both the validity and power of the C3H/10T1/2 system for Shh target gene discovery. The identification of novel Sonic hedgehog responsive genes provides candidates whose abnormal expression may be decisive in initiating tumour formation and future studies will investigate their role in development and disease. It is expected that such findings will provide vital clues to the aetiology of various human cancers, and that an understanding of their roles may ultimately provide greater opportunities in the future design of anti-tumour therapies.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is a secreted morphogen involved in patterning a wide range of structures in the developing embryo. When cells receive the Shh signal a cascade of effects begin which in turn regulate downstream target genes. The genes controlled by Sonic hedgehog provide messages instructing cells how to differentiate or when to divide. Disruption of the hedgehog signalling cascade leads to a number of developmental disorders and plays a key role in the formation of a range of human cancers. Patched, the receptor for Shh, acts as a tumour suppressor and is mutated in naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS). NBCCS patients display a susceptibility to tumour formation, particularly for basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The discovery of Patched mutations in sporadic BCCs and other tumour types further highlights the importance of this pathway to human cancer. The identification of genes regulated by hedgehog is crucial for understanding how disruption of this pathway leads to neoplastic transformation. It is assumed that the abnormal expression of such genes plays a large role in directing cells to divide at inappropriate times. Only a small number of genes controlled by Shh have been described in vertebrate tissues. In the work presented in this thesis a Sonic hedgehog responsive embryonic mouse cell line, C3H/10T1/2, was used as a model system for hedgehog target gene discovery. Known downstream target genes were profiled to determine their induction kinetics, building up a body of knowledge on the response to Shh for this cell type. During this work, it was discovered that C3H/10T1/2 cells do not become fully competent to respond to Shh stimulation until the cells reach a critical density, a factor that had to be taken into account when determining timepoints of interest for further investigation. Several techniques were employed to identify genes that show expression changes between Shh stimulated and control cells. In one of these techniques, RNA from cell cultures activated with Shh was used to interrogate cDNA microarrays, and this provided many insights into the downstream transcriptional consequences of hedgehog stimulation. Microarrays consist of thousands of spots of DNA of known sequence gridded onto glass slides. Experiments using this technology allow the expression level of thousands of genes to be measured simultaneously. Independent stimulation methods combined with northern blotting were used to investigate individual genes of interest, allowing genuine targets to be confirmed and false positives eliminated. This resulted in the identification of eleven target genes. Seven of these are induced by Sonic hedgehog (Thrombomodulin (Thbd), Glucocorticoid induced leucine zipper (Gilz), Brain factor 2 (Bf2), Nuclear receptor subfamily 4, group A, member 1 (Nr4a1), Insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2), Peripheral myelin protein 22 (Pmp22), Lim and SH3 Protein 1 (Lasp1)), and four are repressed (Secreted frizzled related proteins 1 and 2 (Sfrp1 and Sfrp2), Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 gamma (Mip-1?), and Anti-mullerian hormone (Amh)). The majority of these represent novel downstream genes not previously reported as targets of Shh. The new target genes have a diverse range of functions, and include transcriptional regulators and molecules known to be involved in regulating cell growth or apoptosis. The corroboration of genes previously implicated in hedgehog signalling, along with the finding of novel targets, demonstrates both the validity and power of the C3H/10T1/2 system for Shh target gene discovery. The identification of novel Sonic hedgehog responsive genes provides candidates whose abnormal expression may be decisive in initiating tumour formation and future studies will investigate their role in development and disease. It is expected that such findings will provide vital clues to the aetiology of various human cancers, and that an understanding of their roles may ultimately provide greater opportunities in the future design of anti-tumour therapies.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is a secreted morphogen involved in patterning a wide range of structures in the developing embryo. When cells receive the Shh signal a cascade of effects begin which in turn regulate downstream target genes. The genes controlled by Sonic hedgehog provide messages instructing cells how to differentiate or when to divide. Disruption of the hedgehog signalling cascade leads to a number of developmental disorders and plays a key role in the formation of a range of human cancers. Patched, the receptor for Shh, acts as a tumour suppressor and is mutated in naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS). NBCCS patients display a susceptibility to tumour formation, particularly for basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The discovery of Patched mutations in sporadic BCCs and other tumour types further highlights the importance of this pathway to human cancer. The identification of genes regulated by hedgehog is crucial for understanding how disruption of this pathway leads to neoplastic transformation. It is assumed that the abnormal expression of such genes plays a large role in directing cells to divide at inappropriate times. Only a small number of genes controlled by Shh have been described in vertebrate tissues. In the work presented in this thesis a Sonic hedgehog responsive embryonic mouse cell line, C3H/10T1/2, was used as a model system for hedgehog target gene discovery. Known downstream target genes were profiled to determine their induction kinetics, building up a body of knowledge on the response to Shh for this cell type. During this work, it was discovered that C3H/10T1/2 cells do not become fully competent to respond to Shh stimulation until the cells reach a critical density, a factor that had to be taken into account when determining timepoints of interest for further investigation. Several techniques were employed to identify genes that show expression changes between Shh stimulated and control cells. In one of these techniques, RNA from cell cultures activated with Shh was used to interrogate cDNA microarrays, and this provided many insights into the downstream transcriptional consequences of hedgehog stimulation. Microarrays consist of thousands of spots of DNA of known sequence gridded onto glass slides. Experiments using this technology allow the expression level of thousands of genes to be measured simultaneously. Independent stimulation methods combined with northern blotting were used to investigate individual genes of interest, allowing genuine targets to be confirmed and false positives eliminated. This resulted in the identification of eleven target genes. Seven of these are induced by Sonic hedgehog (Thrombomodulin (Thbd), Glucocorticoid induced leucine zipper (Gilz), Brain factor 2 (Bf2), Nuclear receptor subfamily 4, group A, member 1 (Nr4a1), Insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2), Peripheral myelin protein 22 (Pmp22), Lim and SH3 Protein 1 (Lasp1)), and four are repressed (Secreted frizzled related proteins 1 and 2 (Sfrp1 and Sfrp2), Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 gamma (Mip-1?), and Anti-mullerian hormone (Amh)). The majority of these represent novel downstream genes not previously reported as targets of Shh. The new target genes have a diverse range of functions, and include transcriptional regulators and molecules known to be involved in regulating cell growth or apoptosis. The corroboration of genes previously implicated in hedgehog signalling, along with the finding of novel targets, demonstrates both the validity and power of the C3H/10T1/2 system for Shh target gene discovery. The identification of novel Sonic hedgehog responsive genes provides candidates whose abnormal expression may be decisive in initiating tumour formation and future studies will investigate their role in development and disease. It is expected that such findings will provide vital clues to the aetiology of various human cancers, and that an understanding of their roles may ultimately provide greater opportunities in the future design of anti-tumour therapies.

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Title: Evaluating of efficiency of Football Clubs in Premier League by Data Envelopment Analysis. Goals: The aim of the thesis is to identify the effectiveness of football clubs in the Premier League in the season 2016/2017. In the post optimization analysis evaluate, which observed clubs have been effective in transforming inputs into outputs, and which clubs have some deficiencies in this transformation. Methods: In the thesis for efficiency research, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) data analysis method is used to evaluate the effectiveness of individual clubs in the Premier League. DEA determines which units are effective and what are the deviations from the effective frontier for the units that are inefficient. The measurements are made by an input- oriented CCR model and a BCC model. The CCR model assumes constant returns to scale and BCC considers variable returns to scale. Results: The result section identifies the productive efficiency of individual football clubs in the Premier League in the season 2016/2017. The effective frontier reached a total of 7 clubs in both CCR and BCC models. The average efficiency in the CCR model is 87 %. In the BCC model, the average efficiency is 91 %. As a result, the Premier League as a competition is highly efficient. Key words: data envelopment...

The body centered cubic grid (BCC) and face centered cubic grid (FCC) offer improved sampling properties when compared to the cartesian grid. Despite this there is little software and hardware support for volume rendering of data stored in one of these grids. This project is a continuation of a project adding support for such grids to the volume rendering engine Voreen. This project has three aims. Firstly, to implement new interpolation methods capable of rendering at interactive frame rates. Secondly, to improve the software by adding an alternate volume storage format offering improved frame rates for BCC methods. And thirdly, because of the issues when comparing image quality between different grid types due to aliasing, to implement a method unbiased in terms of post-aliasing. The existing methods are compared to the newly implemented ones in terms of frame rate and image quality and the results show that the new volume format improve the frame rate significantly, that the new BCC interpolation method offers similar image quality at better performance compared to existing methods and that the unbiased method produces images of good quality at the expense of speed.

La présence de l’hélium induite par le fonctionnement des futurs réacteurs à neutrons rapides et à fusion dans les matériaux de cœur peut entrainer une dégradation de leurs propriétés mécaniques (durcissement, gonflement, fragilisation). Pour poursuivre le développement des alliages de structure, il est nécessaire d’acquérir une meilleure compréhension de l’interaction entre l’He et les structures métalliques donc le point en commun est de comporter comme métal de base un élément de cristallographie cubique centrée (CC), notamment le fer et le vanadium.L’implantation ionique d’ions 4He a été utilisée pour simuler les effets d’endommagement liés à l’insertion d’He, la création des défauts ponctuels (lacunes, interstitiels) et la formation des amas hélium-lacunes dans les futurs réacteurs. L’évolution du comportement de l’He dans le fer et le vanadium purs a été mise en évidence tant du point de vue de la nature des sites de piégeage que du point de vue des mécanismes de migration de l’He et de germination et croissance de bulles associés, en s'appuyant sur un couplage original de techniques. Les résultats obtenus mettent en avant une différence de comportement entre les deux métaux CC, bien que certains mécanismes impliqués soient similaires. Les défauts microstructuraux, notamment les joints de grains, et la concentration d’He implantée (fluence) joueront des rôles clés sur le comportement de l’He à haute température.Les données expérimentales acquises couplées avec des méthodes de simulation serviront de point de départ pour développer une approche cinétique et thermodynamique du comportement de l’He dans les éléments constitutifs des alliages d’intérêt nucléaire. / The presence of helium produced during the operation of future fast reactors and fusion reactors in core structural materials induces a deterioration of their mechanical properties (hardening, swelling, embrittlement).In order to pursue the development of the metallic structural alloys, it is necessary to comprehend the He interaction with the metal lattice thus the point in common is the study of the metallic components with body-centered cubic structure (bcc) of future alloys, such as iron and/or vanadium.Ion implantation of ions 4He was employed with the aim of simulating the damaging effects associated with the helium accumulation, the point defects’ creation (vacancies, self-interstitials) and the He cluster formation in future reactors. Helium evolution in pure iron and pure vanadium has been revealed from the point of view of the trapping sites’ nature and well as the helium migration mechanisms and the nucleation/growth of bubbles. These phenomena were studied by coupling different complementary techniques. Despite of the fact that some mechanisms involved seem to be similar for both bcc metals, the comparison between the helium behavior in iron and vanadium shows certain differences. Microstructural defects, including grain boundaries and implanted helium concentration (dose) in both bcc metals will play significant roles on the helium behavior at high temperature.The acquired experimental data coupled with simulation methods contribute to the future development in terms of kinetic and thermodynamic data management of helium behavior in the metal components of the alloys of nuclear interest.