In this thesis I describe fine-scale spatial patterns in rain forest termites, from the colony to the assemblage level, sampled from one hectare plots in Central African and South East Asian lowland rain forest. By so doing the ecological interactions that structure this functionally important and abundant soil community were identified. The African termite assemblage, dominated by soil-feeding termites, saturated the upper soil profile (collected from 90% of soil pits). In contrast termites were collected from <50% of soil pits in Asia, with this difference reflecting the lower species densities and abundances of soil-feeding termites in Asian forests. Territoriality and inter-specific competition was shown to be important between colonies of soil-feeding species in the African plot. The termite assemblages were spatially associated with several environmental properties. However these could not explain the spatial patterns in the functional components of the assemblages. Wood-feeding termites were highly patchily distributed, due to the heterogeneous nature of their food material, but also due to possible competitive interactions for this. Humus-feeding termites were homogenously structured, due to the continuous nature of soil as their feeding and nesting material. True soil-feeding termites, unique to the African assemblage, were heterogeneously distributed despite the equally continuous nature of their feeding and nesting material. This structure may arise from facilitative interactions, such as co-operative defence against ant predation which may be intense in African systems, or through the transfer of soil material at different stages of decomposition. Competition for space is apparent in both regions, both at the colony level among soil-feeding genera, and between aggregations of functional groups. Positive and negative biotic interactions, operating at various spatial and functional scales, appear to be important in influencing how assemblage composition is spatially structured. If indeed facilitation is important in maintaining the taxonomic and functional diversity in termite assemblages, it would be valuable to confirm the mechanism(s) that drives this (i.e. predation and/or food transfer), as these may then influence ecosystem stability.

In 2015, South Africa withdrew from the International Criminal Court asserting United Nation’s Security Council bias in referring only African cases (Strydom October 15, 2015; Duggard 2013) and the United Kingdom reiterated a pledge to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights, asserting that the court impinges on British sovereignty (Watt 2015). Both are examples of extraterritorial courts which are an important part of regional and global jurisprudence. To contribute to our understanding of the relationship between states and extraterritorial courts, I examine arguably the first and best example of an extraterritorial court, namely the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC). Drawing on 50 British Commonwealth states, this dissertation explores the factors influencing the decision to accede to an extraterritorial court and why some states subsequently opt to sever ties. I build on Dahl’s theory (1957) that the nation’s highest court interacts with the governing coalition and, for the most part, serves as an ally and uphold its policies. I argue that that governing coalition wants the final appellate court that they most expect to be an ally and extend this expectation to extraterritorial courts. As a result, the governing coalition looks at the court more critically. States may change or abolish the jurisdiction of the court if it undermines or seems likely to undermine state policy. Examining this phenomenon across the British Commonwealth provides comparative insights into how governing coalitions may view extraterritorial courts.

Traditional clustering algorithms have different criteria and biases, and there is no single algorithm that can be the best solution for a wide range of data sets. This problem often presents a significant obstacle to analysts in revealing meaningful information buried among the huge amount of data. Ensemble Clustering has been proposed as a way to avoid the biases and improve the accuracy of clustering. The difficulty in developing Ensemble Clustering methods is to combine external information (provided by input clusterings) with internal information (i.e. characteristics of given data) effectively to improve the accuracy of clustering. The work presented in this thesis focuses on enhancing the clustering accuracy of Ensemble Clustering by employing heuristic optimisation techniques to achieve a robust combination of relevant information during the consensus clustering stage. Two novel heuristic optimisation-based Ensemble Clustering methods, Multi-Optimisation Consensus Clustering (MOCC) and K-Ants Consensus Clustering (KACC), are developed and introduced in this thesis. These methods utilise two heuristic optimisation algorithms (Simulated Annealing and Ant Colony Optimisation) for their Ensemble Clustering frameworks, and have been proved to outperform other methods in the area. The extensive experimental results, together with a detailed analysis, will be presented in this thesis.

The concept of emergent behavior is difficult to define, but can be considered as higher-level activity created by the individual actions of a population of simple agents. A potential means to model such behavior has been previously developed using Alfred North Whitehead's concept of Actual Entities. In computational form, actual entities are agents which evolve over time in response to interactions with their environment via the process of prehension. This occurs within the context of a Colony of Prehending Entities, a framework for implementation of AE concepts. This thesis explores the practical application of this framework in analysis of medical images, with specific focus on Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. Specialized Slice COPEs are developed for analysis of individual image slices from these scans, focusing on the detection and segmentation of structures of interest (such as bone matter, ventricular tissue, and tumors). These structures exist in 3D and can be extracted across multiple consecutive scan slices. Therefore, a specialized Scan COPE is also proposed which aims to render the structure's volume via interpolation between previously analyzed slice images. The software developed for the specified application also provides visualization of a COPE's evolution toward its goal. This has additional value in general study of the COPE framework and the emergent behavior it generates.

All wildlife populations harbour parasites. However, seabirds are likely to play a particularly important role in the maintenance and dispersal of infectious agents as a result of their colonial breeding habits. Seabird colonies are also known to be highly spatially structured, but little is known about the effects of this spatial structuring on seabird parasite dynamics. In this thesis, I use a tick-borne virus, Great Island virus (GIV), found in a large common guillemot (Uria aalge) colony bordering the North Sea as a model system to explore this relationship. I use a multidisciplinary approach, framed by a simple epidemiological model of the guillemot-tick-virus system. In Chapter 2, I describe a novel epidemiological model and parameterise it using the existing literature. The model suggests the importance of spatial structure within the guillemot colony, but also identifies a key missing parameter, the rate of virus transmission between pre-breeding and breeding areas. In Chapter 3, I go on to test the potential role of independent tick movement in driving transmission between these two areas, by quantifying the mobility of host-seeking seabird ticks, Ixodes uriae. I show the potential for ticks to walk ranges described anecdotally in the literature, in just a few minutes, but stress the importance of further experiments in the field. Chapter 4, I test the potential role of guillemot-mediated tick movement between pre-breeding and breeding areas. I show that pre-breeding guillemots spend a limited proportion of time ashore during daylight hours, which increases significantly as the season progresses and varies between individuals. A similar pattern is observed when considering how often they enter breeding areas when ashore; generally infrequently but varying spatiotemporally and between individuals. In Chapter 5, I apply finite mixture modelling techniques to improve existing estimates of age- and strain-specific GIV seroprevalence and force of infection in the guillemot colony. I also provide the first estimates of these parameters for eight strains, and highlight the importance of understanding strain-specific differences in GIV dynamics in future studies. Finally, I bring all four data chapters together in Chapter 6, by inputting my new parameter estimates (Chapters 3-5) into my existing model (Chapter 2). Taken together, my results suggest that GIV transmission within the guillemot colony may increase in the future as a result of declining breeding abundance and success, with more frequent or extreme disruption leading to a higher risk of infection within the colony. More generally, my results suggest that seabird colonies can be highly sensitive to changes in their spatial structure, and that endemic parasites have the potential to substantially impact, and hence to be an added threat to, their seabird hosts.

Production of ammonia by the colonies of mutants and aging of wrinkled colonies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae The aim of this diploma thesis is to observe the development, respectively the aging of cells in yeast colonies Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast cells S. cerevisiea form multicellular organized structures on a solid substrate, i.e. colonies, which the intercellular interactions occur in. These interactions influence forming, morphology and aging of yeast colonies. This diploma thesis is focused partly on the changes in ammonia production by giant colonies of deletion mutants and partly on the aging of colonies with the wrinkled morphology. I characterized mutant strains of S. cerevisiae with the deletion in RTG1, RTG2, RTG3, FIS1, CIT2 genes. Their products play an important role in the colony development. The transcription of these genes changes during the transition from the acidic to alkali phase during developmental process of the colonies. I have found out that the ammonium production rate was in accordance with the results of the alkalization in giant colonies surroundings and mentioned mutants derived from the BY strain has been producing ammonia since the 15th day. The rate of the ammonia production by rtg3∆ strain was comparable to the parental strain. Compared to parental strain, lower...

Depuis les années 90, on constate une augmentation mondiale des nuisances par punaises de lits (Cimex lectularius). En 2008 en France, peu d'observations et de recherche sont recensés. Cette thèse a eu pour objectif de mettre en place un groupe de recherche multirégional (Nice, Marseille, Toulon, Montpellier, Bobigny, Créteil) via un Projet Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique (PHRC 09-API-01). Sur le plan entomologique nous avons décrit 81 cas d'infestations, et nous avons récolté sur le terrain 2891 punaises Nous avons mis en place un élevage pérenne en laboratoire de Cimex lectularius nourries sur membrane par sang humain. Des investigations microbiologiques on été mené a partir de 339 punaises collectés précédemment, l'ADN et l'ARN ont été extrait pour évaluer leur portage virologique et bactériologique. En virologie, avec les sondes virales : Flavivirus, Arenavirus, Hantavirus, Phlebovirus aucune positivité a été observée. En bactériologie, 32 punaises ont été positives pour un agent infectieux soit 9.4% des punaises, 29 punaises ont été positives pour Acinetobacter, 3 pour Wolbachia, 3 pour Ehrlichia et 2 pour Coxiella. La sensibilité aux insecticides a été testée lors d'une collecte de 192 appartements de St Ouen (93). Au total 564 punaises ont été recueillies. L'ADN extrait pour 124 spécimens étaient homozygote pour le gène de résistance aux pyréthrinoïdes L925I kdr-gène. Ce taux élevé indique que le phénomène résistance est déjà bien établi. La pertinence de l'utilisation des pyréthrinoïdes pour contrôler les punaises de lit en France doit être discutée. / Since 90's, bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) infestations are increasing all over the world. Upon 2008, in France, very rare informations and researches on bedbugs are investigated. The objectives of this thesis work were to organise and manage a research project (PHRC 09-API-01) with french research laboratories (Nice, Marseille, Toulon, Montpellier, Bobigny, Créteil). About entomological project, we describe 81 infestations and collected 2891 bed bugs. A bed bugs maintenance of laboratory colony has been established without any animals, only on an artificial membrane with human blood. About Infectious research, 339 bedbugs have been studies for their virological and bacteriological pathogens. In virology, with the molecular probes targeted for Flavivirus, Arenavirus, Hantavirus, Phlebovirus no postivity has been observed. In bacteriology, 32 bedbugs have been positive for a bacteria dispatched as follow: 29 bed bugs for Acinetobacter, 3 for Wolbachia, 3 for Ehrlichia and 2 for Coxiella. Resistance to insecticide has been evaluated for 192 apartments in Saint Ouen City (France-93). 534 bed bugs have been collected. A total of 564 bed bugs were collected in the infested units. Bioassays and DNA sequencing showed a high frequency of resistance to pyrethroids; all bed bugs tested (n= 124) had homozygous L925I kdr-like gene mutation. The high levels of pyrethroid resistance indicate that this phenomenon is already established and prompt the need to reevaluate the wide use of pyrethroids to control bed bugs in France. Genetic analysis of french bed bug populations are still ongoing. First steps for biomolecular markers validations are finish.

On solid surfaces wild strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae form biofilm-like, structured colonies enabling them to survive long-term in hostile environments in the wild. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the spatio-temporal development of colonies and their resistance to hostile conditions are still largely unknown. In this study, we analyzed the effect of the HAC1 gene on the colony morphology of wild strains of S. cerevisiae. The transcription factor Hac1p activates the unfolded protein response (UPR), which leads to activation of the expression of genes encoding components of the protein secretory pathway, and genes involved in stress responses in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The impact of HAC1 deletion is significant even under non-stress conditions and causes a radical reduction of structured colony architecture in hac1∆ strains derived from two wild S. cerevisiae strains (PORT and BR-F-Flo11p-GFP) and one laboratory ΣSh strain forming semi-fluffy or fluffy colonies. The hac1∆ strains exhibit a decreased vegetative growth rate, reduced cell attachment to the agar and an ineffective cell-cell adhesion resulting in decreased flocculation. The hac1∆ strains derived from BR-F-Flo11p-GFP contain a low level of Flo11p surface adhesin which is considered very important for the proper...

In this thesis, I introduce two new algorithms: Ant Brood Clustering-Intelligent Ants (ABC-INTE) and Ant Brood Clustering-Polymorphic Ants (ABC-POLY) for the graph clustering problem. ABC-INTE uses techniques such as hopping ants, relaxed drop function, ants with memories, stagnation control, and addition of k-means cluster retrieval process, as an improvement of the basic ABC-KLS algorithm. ABC-POLY uses two types of ants, inspired by the division of labour between the major and minor ants in Pheidole genus, as an improvement of ABC-INTE. For comparison purpose, I also implement MMAS, an ACO clustering algorithm. When tested on the benchmark networks, ABC-POLY outperforms or achieves the same modularity values as MMAS and ABC-INTE on 7 out of 10 networks and is robust against different graphs. In practice, the speed of ABC-POLY is at least 10 times faster than MMAS, making it a scalable algorithm compared to MMAS. ABC-POLY also outputs a direct visual representation of the natural clusters on the graph that is appealing to human observation. This thesis opens an interesting research topic to apply polymorphic ants for graph clustering in the ABC-POLY algorithm. The distributive and self-organization nature of ABC-POLY makes it a candidate for analyzing clusters in more complex and dynamic graphs. / May 2016

The Restinga explores dysfunctional sexual relationships in the familiar context of a love triangle, but it is set in the exotic African landscape of pre-war colonial Angola in 1960, where the author spent her childhood. The Restinga evolved from a short story presented at a graduate fiction workshop led by Joseph and Amanda Boyden at the University of New Orleans’ Madrid campus in the summer of 2007. Research for this project included: Many interviews with the author’s parents Compilation and review of family home movies made at the time Interview with Richard J. Houk, author of the article: “The Hotel Terminus: A Farce without an Ending” (The Journal of African Travel-Writing, Number 1, September 1996 (pp. 42-51) Interview with Nancy Henderson-James, author of: “At Home Abroad: An American Girl in Africa” (http://nancyhendersonjames.com/) The Lover, a novel by Marguerite Duras, influenced the author in her writing of The Restinga. This ex-pat novel maps the sexual affair of a very young girl and a much older Chinese man in colonial Vietnam of the late 1920s. Both works look into the sexuality of a “tck” (third culture kid) in an exotic landscape.