Two Inattentional Blindness type experiments involving 446 participants were performed in order to examine how unexpected objects are noticed. Perception of these unexpected objects was measured using explicit and implicit measurements. Despite initial difficulty in determining implicit perception, results showed a dissociation between implicit measurements and explicit measurements, providing strong evidence for unconscious processing. Research into attention capture often emphasizes the role of either expectations or stimulus properties in attention capture; the current research examines both. Critical objects presented were either of a colour that participants were familiar with, or of a new colour. The different patterns of results for these two categories of objects provide evidence for two separate mechanisms of attention capture: a parallel process driven by the features of objects, and a serial process, driven by the intentions of the observer. Predications of the recent theoretical work produced by Most, Scholl, Clifford & Simons, (2005) are examined, and support is obtained for their theoretical formulation.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.P.H.M. (Primary Health Care Management))--Mahidol University, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-137).

Thesis (M.S.)--Indiana University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-84).

Since the fifth century, the theatre has been a place for seeing. In spite of this, blind figures repeatedly appear on the stage, from Oedipus, Polymestor, Tiresias and the Cyclops to Shakespeare's Gloucester, Beckett's Hamm, Friel's Molly Sweeney and Kane's Ian. These blind characters have an important role to play in articulating the task of the spectator, both in their aural and imaginative construction of the fictional world in pre-naturalistic theatre, and also in their ability to see through the dramatic illusion in later drama. These scenes of blindness and blinding also have consequences for reception studies, since the relationship between them is not straightforwardly a textual reception history. Instead, these blind characters and the scenes in which they appear are read as what Deleuze and Guattari term an 'assemblage': a heterogenous multiplicity that is produced at the moment of reading / watching with reference to other scenes of blindness and blinding. This thesis sketches out a grammar for such an assemblage, and each chapter focuses on a rule in this grammar. When read as part of an assemblage of blindness, blind characters always have a special relationship with death (Chapter 2), showcase their own performance (Chapter 3), undermine the fictional setting that has been established onstage (Chapter 4), have access to a kind of superhuman knowledge (Chapter 5) and alter the position of their spectators (Chapter 6). Each chapter is structured around a particular moment when the theatre's interest in blind characters resurges, as a response to changes in the social, cultural or scientific understanding of vision and visual impairment. In each chapter, the grammar that is outlined in Chapter 1 with reference to ancient plays returns to the fore, but is refracted through the historical period back on to the grammar of the assemblage.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Onchocerciasis, caused by Onchocerca volvulus remains a major public health and socio-economic problem across the tropics, despite years of mass drug administration (MDA) with Ivermectin to reduce disease burden. Through modelling, it has been shown that elimination cannot be achieved with MDA alone and additional tools are needed, such as vaccination, which remains the most cost-effective tool for long-term disease control. The feasibility behind vaccination against O. volvulus can be demonstrated in the Litomosoides sigmodontis mouse model, which shows that vaccine induced protection can be achieved with immunisation using irradiated L3, the infective stage of L. sigmodontis and with microfilariae (Mf), the transmission stage of the parasite. There is further evidence of protective immunity in humans, with individuals living in endemic areas that show no signs of infection despite being exposed to the parasite (endemic normal). The protective efficacy of promising vaccine candidates were evaluated using an immunisation time course in the L. sigmodontis model, using either DNA plasmid or peptide vaccines. In immunisation experiments in L. sigmodontis, Mf numbers are used as a measure of protection and marks the end of an immunisation time course. However, when changes in gene expression were measured at the end of an immunisation time course, in attempts to identify gene signatures that could be used as markers of protection (correlates of protection) in the blood, no gene signatures were found to be associated with protection. This suggest that at the end of an immunisation time course, when protection is measured (change in Mf numbers), it is too late in infection to measure changes in immune pathways being triggered. Changes in gene expression were therefore measured in blood samples collected throughout an immunisation time course in the L. sigmodontis model, in order to identify the time point in an immunisation experiment which are the most indicative of protection. Two independent immunisation time courses were used, either using irradiated L3 or Mf as vaccine against L. sigmodontis, as these elicit the greatest protection. This generated a large high dimensional dataset, that was too large and complex for a differential fold-change analysis. Therefore, an analysis pipeline was created using machine learning algorithms, to detect changes in gene expression throughout the time courses to detect markers of protection. The 6 hour time point following immunisation showed the greatest change in gene expression, with the analysis pipeline identifying known pathways associated with vaccine-induced immunity. The pipeline was applied to gene expression data from human samples obtained from individuals living in endemic areas who were either infected with O. volvulus or endemic normal (naturally protected), this was to identify pathways associated with protective immunity in humans. When comparing vaccine induced immunity seen in mice and natural protective immunity in humans there was some overlap in pathways being triggered, suggesting that similar pathways are needed for protection and that if a vaccine can trigger the right pathways in mice, it is likely to be effective in humans. Overall the machine learning analysis of the gene expression data, not only shows that it is feasible to measure change in gene expression in blood during filarial infections, but that during an immunisation time course it is the early time points following immunisation that are the most predictive of vaccine efficacy (protection outcome). One of the vaccine candidates, cysteine protease inhibitor-2 (CPI), is a known immuno-modulator that inhibits MHC-II antigen presentation on antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells (DC). This candidate has consistently been shown to induce protection if its immuno-modulatory active site was modified. In in vitro studies, it was shown that modification of the active site of CPI rescues antigen presentation in DC. This shows the importance of DC activation before the onset of infection, demonstrating the importance of triggering protective responses early in infection, and provides insight on how one of the vaccine candidates achieves protection.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T14:11:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_8132_Fabiane Pimentel Silva.pdf: 789149 bytes, checksum: 5dddc5c55ab297143a4ae87b4d9d8b31 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-22 / Em 2008 o diretor Fernando Meirelles apresentou ao público o filme Blindness (Cegueira), que tem o título de Ensaio sobre a cegueira, no Brasil, foi uma realização a muito pretendida pelo cineasta brasileiro. Para realizar o filme, Meirelles recebeu o roteiro já pronto do produtor canadense Niv Fichman após ser convidado em 2006 a realizar a versão para o cinema. O cineasta considerou o convite para dirigir o filme, além de uma surpresa, uma coincidência assustadora, pois ele já havia tentado comprar os direitos do romance alguns anos antes na intenção de filmar a história, mas o autor português recusou-se a tal proposta. Desta vez após insistência de Fichman, Saramago autoriza a filmagem do romance e acompanha o desenvolvimento do trabalho de Meirelles. O filme teve o roteiro adaptado por Don McKellar, e é uma coprodução independente Canadá, Brasil, Japão. Além do roteiro, o diretor utilizou o texto do romance para o trabalho com os atores em cena, propondo que todos lessem o livro incluindo a equipe técnica. No filme, Meirelles também se preocupou em considerar as relações iconográficas ligadas às metáforas visuais tão características ao texto de Saramago, e mantidas no audiovisual. O objetivo da pesquisa centrou-se no processo de criação e direção do filme a partir da visão do realizador.

Orientador: Silvana Artioli Schellini / Banca: Marino Scarpi / Banca: Norma Helen Medina / Banca: Ivete Dalben / Banca: Carlos Roberto Padovani / Resumo: Tendo em vista que o Tracoma é causa de cegueira e que há cinco anos não havia nenhum caso notificado no Município de Bauru - São Paulo, foi realizado o presente estudo que teve por objetivo determinar a prevalência de tracoma e as características de seus portadores, assim como estabelecer um programa de controle da doença para Bauru. Material e método: foi realizado um estudo transversal, aleatorizado, nas escolas estaduais de Bauru, São Paulo. Foram examinadas 1749 crianças do ensino fundamental, de 6 a 14 anos, durante o ano de 2005. As escolas foram escolhidas por sorteio, de acordo com o número de estudantes e de acordo com a localização dentro do setor da cidade (centro, região intermediária e periferia). O diagnóstico dos casos foi clínico, seguindo as normas da Organização Mundial de Saúde, confirmado laboratorialmente em três pacientes que apresentavam o diagnóstico de Tracoma folicular, pelo método da imunofluorescência indireta para detecção de Chlamydia trachomatis. A associação entre presença de doença e características dos portadores foi feita usando o teste de Goodman, teste não-paramétrico de Kruskal-Wallis e estatística descritiva. Todos os casos foram tratados com azitromicina oral, em dose única, e foram acompanhados periodicamente. Resultados: A prevalência de Tracoma inflamatório foi de 3,77%, tendo sido diagnosticado Tracoma folicular em 3,71% e Tracoma intenso em 0,06% das crianças examinadas. As crianças com Tracoma moravam principalmente na região intermediária e periférica da cidade, áreas onde o fornecimento de água pode ser descontínuo e o tratamento do esgoto pode estar ausente. Meninos e meninas foram acometidos de forma semelhante. Prurido e ardor ocular foram sintomas que estavam relacionados com a presença da doença. Foram detectados 175 comunicantes com o diagnóstico... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Trachoma is one of cause of blindness. The last five years there were no cases detected in Bauru, São Paulo. The purpose of this study aimed to determine the prevalence of trachoma in schoolchildren in Bauru and to establish a control program of this disease in Bauru. Material and methods: A transversal random study was carried out in state schools of Bauru, São Paulo. One thousand seven hundred and forty nine children were examined at fundamental classes, between six to fourteen years old during the year 2005. The schools were chosen by random, according to the number of scholar children and the school region and it was represented by section of the city (downtown, middle and periphery). The diagnosis of the cases was clinical, it was according to the World Health Organization protocol, and three patients with clinical follicular trachoma had laboratory confirmation. The laboratory technique chosen was direct smear fluorescent antibodies cytology for Chlamydia trachomatis. The association study among trachoma and relatives variables was done by Goodman test, Kruskal-Wallis test and descriptive statistics. All cases were treated with Azitromycin orally and they had followed up periodically. Results: The sample was composed of 1749 children and the trachoma prevalence was 3,77%. Follicular trachoma was diagnosed in 3,71% of children, and intense trachoma in one child (0,06%). The children with trachoma were living mainly in the middle and periphery region of the city, regions with discontinuous water supply and absent sewerage system. Itching and burning were complains more related to trachoma. One hundred and seventy five contacts were found and were clinic diagnostic with the disease. Conclusion: The Trachoma prevalence in Bauru - São Paulo State is 3,77%. A control program is development to treat ant detect the contacts. This way, there was a bauruense community mobilization to prevent Trachoma blindness in the municipal district. / Doutor