Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Botany, 2004. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p.70-79).

Thesis (MSc (Logistics)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / There exists, for any connected graph G, a minimum set of vertices that, when removed, disconnects G. Such a set of vertices is known as a minimum cut-set, the cardinality of which is known as the connectivity number k(G) of G. A connectivity preserving [connectivity reducing, respectively] spanning subgraph G0 ? G may be constructed by removing certain edges of G in such a way that k(G0) = k(G) [k(G0) < k(G), respectively]. The problem of constructing such a connectivity preserving or reducing spanning subgraph of minimum weight is known to be NP–complete. This thesis contains a summary of the most recent results (as in 2006) from a comprehensive survey of literature on topics related to the connectivity of graphs. Secondly, the computational problems of constructing a minimum weight connectivity preserving or connectivity reducing spanning subgraph for a given graph G are considered in this thesis. In particular, three algorithms are developed for constructing such spanning subgraphs. The theoretical basis for each algorithm is established and discussed in detail. The practicality of the algorithms are compared in terms of their worst-case running times as well as their solution qualities. The fastest of these three algorithms has a worst-case running time that compares favourably with the fastest algorithm in the literature. Finally, a computerised decision support system, called Connectivity Algorithms, is developed which is capable of implementing the three algorithms described above for a user-specified input graph.

Submitted by Aelson Maciera (aelsoncm@terra.com.br) on 2017-08-30T18:07:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLCCD.pdf: 4056126 bytes, checksum: ed6319985f95cfa7a1084a7fd08bef23 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-09-25T18:11:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLCCD.pdf: 4056126 bytes, checksum: ed6319985f95cfa7a1084a7fd08bef23 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-09-25T18:11:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLCCD.pdf: 4056126 bytes, checksum: ed6319985f95cfa7a1084a7fd08bef23 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-25T18:15:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLCCD.pdf: 4056126 bytes, checksum: ed6319985f95cfa7a1084a7fd08bef23 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-20 / Outra / The advancement of human occupation and the evolution of its many activities have put many ecosystems at risk. The loss of native vegetation to agricultural practices has resulted in the fragmentation of habitats, which has serious consequences for biodiversity. Protected areas exist to try to avoid these interferences, but enforcement is not always effective and can avoid impacts. This scenario makes fundamental the analysis of the landscape of protected areas in macro-scale in order to try to predict and to reverse the impacts resulting from the expansion of the anthropic occupation. In view of these considerations, this dissertation aimed to obtain information about the landscape of the State Environmental Protection Area Rio Pandeiros (PSA Pandeiros), through the use of structural indexes of the landscape. The information was inserted and analyzed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The landscape structure was evaluated through the land use and land cover dynamics of PSA Pandeiros in 1995 and 2015. The evaluation of priority areas for PSA conservation was evaluated through the application of landscape metrics based on the results of the use and coverage evaluation from the land. And the evaluation of the location of ecological corridors for the PSA area was carried out based on the analysis of PSA connectivity potential from the results of the landscape metrics. The results showed that agricultural activities have strong influence structure of the landscape, mainly the pasture. The advancement of agricultural practices has made the landscape of the PSA suffer some degree of fragmentation which if not controlled will have serious consequences for the local biodiversity. The PSA still presents some fragments that have been considered high conservation areas due to their size and shape, are essential areas for actions that encourage the protection of the PSA. The analysis of the location of the ecological corridors showed that the proposed corridors are located in conservation priority areas and, therefore, their consolidation is necessary so that the fragmentation process of the PSA begins to be reversed and that the PSA may in the near future have A more connected landscape to ensure the 26 species of medium and large mammals found in the PSA and all the biodiversity that is interconnected. / O avanço da ocupação humana e a evolução de suas inúmeras atividades têm colocado diversos ecossistemas em perigo. A perda de vegetação nativa para práticas agrícolas tem resultado na fragmentação dos habitats o que gera graves consequências para a biodiversidade. As áreas Protegidas existem para tentar evitar estas interferências, mas nem sempre a fiscalização é efetiva e consegue evitar os impactos. Esse cenário torna fundamental a análise da paisagem de áreas protegidas em macro escala de forma a tentar prever e reverter os impactos resultantes da expansão da ocupação antrópica. Diante dessas considerações, esta dissertação teve como objetivo a obtenção de informações sobre a paisagem da Área de Proteção Ambiental Estadual do Rio Pandeiros (APA Pandeiros), por meio da utilização de índices estruturais da paisagem. As informações foram inseridas e analisadas em Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIG). A estrutura da paisagem foi avaliada através da dinâmica de uso e cobertura da terra da APA Pandeiros em 1995 e 2015. A avaliação de áreas prioritárias para conservação da APA foi avaliada através da aplicação de métricas da paisagem baseadas nos resultados da avaliação do uso e cobertura da terra. E a avaliação da localização de corredores ecológicos para a área da APA foi realizada baseada na análise do potencial de conectividade da APA a partir dos resultados das métricas da paisagem. Os resultados mostraram que as atividades agrícolas têm forte influência estrutura da paisagem, principalmente a pastagem. O avanço das práticas agrícolas fez com que a paisagem da APA sofresse certo grau de fragmentação que caso não seja controlado trará sérias consequências para a biodiversidade local. A APA ainda apresenta alguns fragmentos que foram considerados como áreas de alta prioridade para a conservação devido ao seu formato e tamanho, são áreas essenciais para ações que incentivem a proteção da APA. A análise da localização dos corredores ecológicos mostrou que os corredores propostos estão localizados em áreas prioritárias para a conservação e dessa forma, a sua consolidação é necessária para que o processo de fragmentação da APA comece a ser revertido e que a APA possa num futuro próximo ter uma paisagem mais conectada a fim de assegurar as 26 espécies de mamíferos de médio e grande porte encontrada na APA e toda a biodiversidade que está interligada.

Orientador: Sergio Nascimento Stampar / Resumo: O estudo da conectividade entre as populações é de grande relevância para entender como variantes ambientais podem afetar estes eventos, reconhecendo os padrões de estrutura genética e filogeográficos. Grande parte das espécies marinhas possuem, ao menos, uma fase larval com alto potencial de dispersão, onde possivelmente possa resultar numa população homogênea e com maior conectividade, comparado a outros grupos de animais. Para a compreensão dos padrões variáveis, as análises moleculares trazem informações importantes sobre a variabilidade genética, evolução e mudanças demográficas na história. Por este motivo torna-se cada vez mais importante o uso destes dados em pesquisas que abordam conceitos populacionais. Os acompanhamentos dos cenários em organismos planctônicos ainda são escassos, mesmo com sua grande abundância no ambiente marinho. Sob o cenário da representativa espécie de medusa, endêmica do Atlântico Sul Ocidental, Lychnorhiza lucerna Haeckel 1880 (Scyphozoa; Rhizostomeae) diante de lacunas ainda existentes sobre a estrutura populacional foi analisado como as populações estão se comportando geneticamente ao longo de toda sua distribuição e para isto foram utilizados os marcadores COI, ITS-1 e 2 para inferir a divergência intra e inter-populacional. Os resultados obtidos indicaram um padrão histórico de alta conectividade entre as subpopulações de Lychnorhiza lucerna evidenciando a existência de uma Metapopulação em grande escala. / Abstract: The study of connectivity between populations is relevant to understand the environmental diversity impact on the populations, acknowledging both genetic structural and phylogeographic patterns. Most of the marine species exhibit at least one larval stage with a high dispersal potential that possibly results in a homogeneous population with a wide connectivity when compared to other groups of animals. Molecular analysis provide essential informations concerning the genetic variability, evolution and demographic changes along the history supporting the recognition of variable patterns. Thus, it is essential the use of these data in researches approaching population concepts. Even though planktonic organisms are very abundant in the marine environment, studies regarding the scenario comprising these organisms are scarce. Owing to existing gaps about that, populations of the remarkable medusa specie endemic in the South Western Atlantic, Lychnorhiza lucerna Haeckel 1880 (Scyphozoa; Rhizostomeae), were genetically assessed along the geographic distribution known . For this were used COI and ITS 1-2 molecular markers to conclude about intrapopulation/ interpopulation divergence. The results obteined indicated a historic pattern of high connectivity between subpopulations of Lychnorhiza lucerna evidencing a metapopulation existence on a large scale. / Mestre

abstract: This study addresses the landscape connectivity pattern at two different scales. The county-level analysis aims to understand how urban ecosystem structure is likely to evolve in response to the proposed development plans in Maricopa County, Arizona. To identify the spatio-temporal land pattern change, six key landscape metrics were quantified in relative to the urban development scenarios based on the certainty of the proposed urban plans with different level of urban footprints. The effects of future development plans from municipalities on landscape connectivity were then analyzed in the scaled temporal and spatial frame to identify in which urban condition the connectivity value would most likely to decrease. The results demonstrated that tremendous amount of lands will be dedicated to future urbanization, and especially urban agricultural lands will be likely to be vulnerable. The metro-level analysis focuses on a group of species that represent urban desert landscape and have different degrees of fragmentation sensitivity and habitat type requirement. It hypothesizes that the urban habitat patch connectivity is impacted upon by urban density. Two underlying propositions were set: first, lower connectivity is predominant in areas with high urbanization cover; second, landscape connectivity will be impacted largely on the interfaces between urban, suburban, and rural areas. To test this, a GIS-based connectivity modeling was employed. The resultant change in connectivity values was examined for exploring the spatial relation to predefined spatial frames, such as urban, suburban, and rural zones of which boundaries were delineated by buffering method with two criteria of human population density and urban cover proportion. The study outcomes provide a practical guidance to minimize connectivity loss and degradation by informing planners with more optimal alternatives among various policy decisions and implementation. It also gives an inspiration for ecological landscape planning in urbanized or urbanizing regions which can ultimately leads urban landscape sustainability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Environmental Design and Planning 2011

The expected increase in precipitation and temperature in Scandinavia, and especially short-time heavy precipitation, will increase the frequency of flooding. Urban areas are the most vulnerable, and specifically, the road infrastructure. The accumulation of large volumes of water and sediments on road-stream intersections gets severe consequences for the road drainage structures. The need for a tool to identify characteristics that impacts the occurrence of flooding, and to predict future event is thus essential. This study integrates the spatial and temporal soil moisture properties into the research about flood prediction methods. Soil moisture data is derived from remote sensing techniques, with focus on the soil moisture specific satellites ASCAT and SMOS. Furthermore, several physical catchments descriptors (PCDs) are used to identify catchment characteristics that are prone to flooding and an inventory of current road drainage facilities are conducted. Finally, the index of sediment connectivity (IC) by Cavalli, Trevisani, Comiti, and Marchi (2013) is implemented to assess the flow of water and sediment within the catchment. A case study of two areas in Sweden, Västra Götaland and Värmland, that was affected by severe flooding in August 2014 are included. The results show that the method with using soil moisture satellite data is promising for the inclusion of soil moisture data into estimations of flooding and the index of sediment connectivity. / De förväntade ökningarna i nederbörd och temperatur i Skandinavien, och speciellt extrem korttidsnederbörd, kommer att öka frekvensen av översvämningar. Urbana områden är de mest sårbara, och speciellt väginfrastrukturen. Ackumuleringen av stora volymer av vatten och sediment där väg och vattendrag möts leder till allvarliga konsekvenser för dräneringskonstruktionerna. Behovet av ett verktyg för att identifiera egenskaper som påverkar förekomsten av översvämningar, och för att förutsäga framtida händelser är väsentligt. Studien integrerar markfuktighet både rumsligt och tidsmässigt i forskningen om metoder för översvämningsrisker. Markfuktighetsdata är inkluderat från fjärranalysteknik, med fokus på de specifika satelliterna för markfuktighet, ASCAT och SMOS. Vidare är flertalet faktorer (PCDs) inkluderade för att identifiera egenskaper i avrinningsområden som är benägna till översvämning samt en inventering av nuvarande vägdräneringskonstruktioner. Slutligen är ett index med sediment connectivity (Cavalli et al., 2013) implementerat för att se flödet av vatten och sediment inom avrinningsområdet. En fallstudie med två områden i Sverige, Västra Götaland och Värmland, som drabbades av allvarliga översvämningar i augusti 2014 är inkluderat. Resultaten visar att metoden att använda markfuktighet från satellitdata är lovande för inkludering i uppskattningar av översvämningsrisk och i indexet med sediment connectivity.

Sous l'effet de la pêche, de nombreuses espèces de raies des eaux européennes ont décliné au cours du 20ème siècle. La conservation de ces espèces est un objectif majeur quant à la gestion des ressources marines. La raie bouclée (Raja clavata) est l'espèce de raie la plus répandue d'Atlantique Nord-Est. Sa gestion, basée sur un quota non spécifique, repose principalement sur les observations scientifiques et professionnelles et non sur des méthodes d'évaluations d'abondance. Les objectifs de cette thèse consistent ainsi à comparer les méthodes d'évaluations d'abondances disponibles pour cette espèce et à les appliquer aux données disponiblesDeux grands axes sont creusés : l'utilisation de méthodes basées sur la démographie de l'espèce et de méthodes basées sur la génétique. / During the 20th century, several skates and rays species in European waters declined because of fishing. Conservation of these species is a major objective of the management of marine resources. The thornback ray (Raja clavata) is the most widespread species of the North-Est Atlantic. Its management is based on a nonspecific quota and lay on observations only as no stock assessment is available.Thus this thesis aims to compare the available stock assessments methods for this species and to apply them to empiric data. Two types of methods are investigated: methods based on population demography and methods based on population genetics.

BACKGROUND: A number of epilepsy syndromes are characterized by sleep-activated epileptiform discharges, however drivers of this process are not well understood. Previous research has found that thalamic injury in early life may increase the odds of sleep-activated spikes. Benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is among the most common pediatric-onset epilepsy syndromes, characterized by sleep-potentiated spike activity, a focal sensorimotor seizure semiology, and deficits in language, attention, and behavioral functioning. Though ictal and interictal electro-clinical activity resolves during mid-adolescence, adverse psychosocial outcomes may persist. Previous findings from monozygotic twin and neuroimaging studies suggest a multifactorial pattern of disease and raise suspicion for structural changes in thalamocortical connectivity focal to the seizure onset zone, though this has not been explored. OBJECTIVE: This research aims to (1) assess white matter differences in focal thalamocortical connectivity between BECTS cases and healthy controls using validated probabilistic tractography methods, (2) assess the association between spike burden and white matter connectivity focal to the seizure onset zone, and (3) evaluate longitudinal changes in thalamocortical connectivity across four cases. METHODS: 42 subjects ages 6-15 years were recruited between November 2015 and February 2018, including 23 BECTS cases and 19 healthy controls. Subjects underwent 3 Tesla structural and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (2mm x 2mm x 2mm) with 64 gradient directions (b-value=2000) and 72 electrode sleep-deprived electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. Seed and target regions of interest (ROIs) were created within each hemisphere using the Desikan-Killiany atlas, with the thalamus set as a seed ROI, and SOZ cortex and non-SOZ (NSOZ) cortex as target ROIs. Probabilistic tractography was executed using PROBTRACKX2 with 500 streamlines per seed voxel, 0.5 millimeter steps, and a curvature threshold of 0.2. All streamlines reaching the target ROI were summed and normalized by seed voxel count. Results for BECTS and healthy controls were plotted by age. The slope of thalamocortical connectivity versus age was computed for each group and compared between groups using nonparametric bootstrap analysis. Additionally, the association between SOZ connectivity and spike burden was assessed in a subgroup analysis using a linear regression model, controlling for age. RESULTS: A significant difference in the developmental trajectory of thalamocortical connectivity to the SOZ in BECTS cases compared to healthy controls was found (p=0.014), where the increase in connectivity with age observed in healthy controls was not present in BECTS children. These results did not extend to NSOZ thalamocortical connections (p=0.192). Longitudinal results support these observations, where all BECTS cases who underwent repeat imaging (N=4) showed a decrease in thalamocortical connectivity to the SOZ over the follow-up period. No relationship was found between thalamocortical connectivity and spike burden (p=0.840). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that children with BECTS show subtle alterations in thalamocortical white matter development focal to the seizure onset zone. Thalamocortical connectivity to the SOZ does not appear to directly mediate non-REM sleep spike potentiation in BECTS. Limitations of this study include the potential for selection bias and limited power to detect sample differences. Additional research is needed to further characterize thalamocortical network changes and electrographic and neuropsychological correlates.

Preterm birth (defined as birth before 37 weeks) is a leading cause of neurocognitive impairment in childhood, including difficulties in social cognition and executive function. Microstructural divergence from typical brain development in the preterm brain can be quantified using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) tractography during the neonatal period. The relationship between dMRI tractography metrics and later cognitive difficulties remains inconclusive. A general measure of white matter microstructure (gWM) offers a neural basis for cognitive processes in adults, however it remains unclear when gWM is first detectable in the developmental trajectory. Eye-tracking is a technique which assesses eye-gaze behaviour in response to visual stimuli, which permits inference about underlying cognitive processes, such as social cognition and executive function in infancy. The primary aims of this thesis were to test the hypotheses: dMRI tractography reveals significant differences in tract-average fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) between preterm and term infants, and variance in tract-average FA and MD is shared across major tracts. Secondly, infants born preterm have altered social cognition and executive function compared to term born peers, assessed by eye-tracking and finally, neonatal MRI gWM is associated with cognitive function in infancy. Preterm (birth weight ≤ 1500g) and term infants (born ≥ 37 weeks’ post-menstrual age [PMA]) were recruited and underwent a MRI scan at term equivalent age (between 38 - 42 weeks’ PMA) and an eye-tracking assessment six to nine months later. Preterm infants were assessed at two years using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III). dMRI tractography metrics were generated using probabilistic neighbourhood tractography (PNT) in eight pre-defined tracts-of-interest. Principal component analyses (PCA) were used to determine the correlations between the eight tracts-of-interest for four tract-averaged water diffusion parameters. dMRI metrics were compared to the eye-tracking performance and two year outcome data. Quantitative microstructural changes were identifiable within the preterm brain when compared to infants born at term. PCA revealed a single variable that accounts for nearly 50% of shared variance between tracts-of-interest, and all tracts showed positive loadings. Eye-tracking revealed group-wise differences in infant social cognition, attributable to preterm birth, but executive functions inferred from eye-tracking did not differ between groups. dMRI tractography metrics within the neonatal period did not relate to later outcome measures. This thesis shows that variance in dMRI parameters is substantially shared across white matter tracts of the developing brain and suggests that anatomical foundations of later intelligence are present by term equivalent age. Social cognition is altered by preterm birth, however social cognitive ability in infancy is independent of gWM.

We investigate the structure of trees that have minimal algebraic connectivity among all trees with a given degree sequence. We show that such trees are caterpillars and that the vertex degrees are non-decreasing on every path on non-pendant vertices starting at the characteristic set of the Fiedler vector. (author´s abstract) / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics