The k-LCS problem is to find the longest common subsequence (LCS) of k input sequences. It is difficult while the number of input sequences is large. In the past, researchers focused on finding the LCS of two sequences (2-LCS). However, there is no good algorithm for finding the optimal solution of k-LCS up to now. For solving the k-LCS problem, in this thesis, we first propose a mixed algorithm, which is a combination of a heuristic algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA) and ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. Then, we propose an enhanced ACO (EACO) algorithm, composed of the heuristic algorithm and matching pair algorithm (MPA). In our experiments, we compare our algorithms with expansion algorithm, best next for maximal available symbol algorithm, GA and ACO algorithm. The experimental results on several sets of DNA and protein sequences show that our EACO algorithm outperforms other algorithms in the lengths of solutions.

Thesis (M.A.) in History--University of Maine, 2002. / Includes vita. Bibliography: leaves 102-105.

2004 ir 2006 m. birželio – rugpjūčio mėn. buvo tiriama medunešių bičių (Apis mellifera L.) tranų skraidymo pradžia, tranų skraidymo dinamika dienos metu ir kokią įtaką jai daro aplinkos temperatūra. Įvertintas išskrendančių ir atskrendančių į tą pačią bičių šeimą tranų skaičius bei tranų skridimas į svetimas bi��ių šeimas. Ištirta 6 stipresnės ir 5 silpnesnės bičių šeimos. Buvo skaičiuojami per 2 min. iš avilio išskridę, po to per 2 min. į avilį atskridę tranai. Kiekvienos bičių šeimos tranai buvo pažymėti skirtinga spalva. Žymėti tranai turėjo savo individualius numerius. Tyrimų rezultatai parodė, tranai pradeda skraidyti 5 parų amžiaus. Tranų skraidymas dieną prasideda nuo 12 val., o baigiasi 18 val. Jų išskridimas iš bičių šeimų pasiekia maksimumą apie 15 val., o sugrįžimas po skraidymo – apie 17 val. Esant daugiau nei 25ºC šilumos tranų skridimas iš šeimų pasiekia maksimumą apie 15 – 16 val., o sugrįžimas į jas – apie 17val. Kiekvienoje bičių šeimoje yra pusiausvyra tarp išskrendančių ir atskrendančių į ją tranų skaičiaus. Po skraidymo sugrįžtantys į bičių šeimą tranai yra dviejų rūšių: pasirenkantys tik savo šeimą ir pasirenkantys ne tik savo, bet ir kitas bičių šeimas (daugiau nei vieną šeimą). / During 2004 and 2006 June – August research was made to ascertain honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) drones starting to fly, their flying dynamic during the day and how it depends on surroundings temperature. Were counted numbers of drones flying in and out the same honeybees colonies and number of drones flying to the other honeybees colonies. For research were taken 6 stronger and 5 weaker honeybees colonies. Were counted number of drones flying out of the hive in 2 minutes period, after - were counted number flying in drones for the same period. Each colony drones were marked in different color and every marked drone had individual number. Researches showed that drones start to fly at the age of 5 days. During the day they begin to fly from 12 p.m. and stop flying at around 6 p.m. Highest number of drones flying out of hive is around 3 p.m., flying in - around 5 p.m. Each honeybees colony keeps balance between flying in and out of hive drones. Here are two kinds of drones, returning back to honeybees colony after flying: the ones, who choose only their own colony, and the others, that choose not only own colony, but others too (more than one colony).

In 2005 and 2010, high sea surface temperatures caused widespread coral bleaching on Jamaica’s north coast reefs. Three shallow (9m) reef sites were surveyed during each event to quantify the prevalence and intensity of coral bleaching. In October 2005, 29-57% of the colonies surveyed were bleached. By April 2006, 10% of the corals remained pale/partially bleached. Similarly, in October 2010, 23-51% of corals surveyed at the same sites were bleached. By April 2011, 12% of the colonies remained pale/partially bleached. Follow-up surveys revealed low coral mortality following both events, with an overall mean of 4% partial colony mortality across all species and sites observed in April 2006, and 2% in April 2011. Mixed effects models were used to quantify the relationship between colony size and (a) bleaching intensity, and (b) bleaching related mortality among coral species. The bleaching intensity model explained 51% of the variance in the bleaching response observed during the two events. Of this 51%, fixed effects accounted for ~26% of the variance, 17% of which was attributed to species-specific susceptibility to bleaching , 5% to colony size, <1% colony morphology and 4% to the difference in bleaching intensity between the two events. The random factor (site) accounted for the remaining ~25% of the variance. The mortality model explained 16% of the variance in post bleaching mortality with fixed effects, including colony size, morphology and species explaining ~11% of the variance, and the random effect (site) explaining 5%. On average, there was a twofold difference in bleaching intensity between the smallest and the largest size classes. Modelling the relationship between colony level characteristics and site-specific environmental factors on coral species’ susceptibility to thermal stress can shed light on community level responses to future disturbances.

The colony formation assay (CFA) is the gold standard for measuring cytotoxic effects on cells. To increase efficiency, the CFA was converted to a 96-well format using an automated colony counting algorithm. The 96-well CFA was validated using ionizing radiation (IR) on the FaDu and A549 cancer cell lines. Its ability to evaluate combination therapies was investigated using cisplatin and IR. The 96-well CFA was transferred to a robotic platform for evaluation as a high-throughput screen (HTS) readout for the discovery of novel anti-cancer compounds, and radiosensitizers. Screening yielded eight putative anti-cancer hits, and five putative radiosensitizing hits. Secondary screening confirmed 6/8 anti-cancer compounds, and 0/5 radiosensitizing compounds. Thus, the 96-well CFA can be adopted as an alternative assay to the 6-well CFA in the evaluation of cytotoxicity in vitro, providing a possible readout to be utilized in HTS for discovering anti-cancer compounds, but with limited applicability in discovering radiosensitizers.

Pre-clinical studies suggest that granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) holds promise for the treatment of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). However, its safety and efficacy in this setting, and in particular in patients with chronic refractory 'no-option' IHD, is unclear. Therefore, a clinical study was initiated in 20 such 'no-option' patients, with the aim of assessing the safety and efficacy of both G-CSF administration, and also, that of an intracoronary infusion of G-CSF mobilised CD133+ cells. The study involved initial baseline cardiac ischaemia assessment (symptom based questionnaire, exercise stress test (EST), nuclear Sestamibi (MIBI) and dobutamine stress echocardiographic (DSE) imaging). Stable 'no-option' IHD patients then received open-label G-CSF commencing at 10μg/kg s/c for five days, with an EST on days four and six (to facilitate myocardial cytokine generation and stem cell trafficking). After three months, cardiac ischaemia assessment and the same regimen of G-CSF and ESTs were repeated, but in addition, leukapheresis and then a randomised double-blinded intracoronary infusion of CD133+ or unselected cells were performed. Final cardiac ischaemia assessment was three months thereafter. Eighteen male and two female subjects (mean age 62.4) were enrolled. Eight events occurred that fulfilled pre-specified 'adverse event' criteria: four ischaemic (troponin positive) episodes, two episodes of transient thrombocytopaenia (one profound), one episode of gout and one unscheduled hospitalisation for exhaustion. Troponin was positive on 17 further occasions (all CK-MB negative), however, at these instances angina severity was identical to baseline. Importantly, no adverse event(s) resulted in any detectable long-term adverse sequelae for any subject. From baseline to final follow-up, the administration of two cycles of G-CSF was associated with statistically significant improvements in a range of subjective outcomes, including anginal symptoms, quality of life and EST performance (all p < 0.005). However, the objective MIBI and DSE scans showed only trends towards improvement (all p > 0.1). Compared to unselected cells, an intracoronary infusion of CD133+ cells did not improve either subjective or objective outcomes. In conclusion, administering G-CSF to patients with refractory 'no-option' IHD warrants careful monitoring, but may be performed with safety. A larger, randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of G-CSF in these patients appears warranted.

Amendments to thesis in pocket on back cover. / Copy of author's previously published article in pocket on back cover. / Bibliography: leaves 124-172. / viii, 172, [101] leaves, [22] leaves of plates : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Studies the biological effects and leukaemic potential of h[beta]c mutants using murine models. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Medicine, 1999?

Errata posted inside back end-paper (leaf 250). / Bibliography: leaves 204-249. / xxiv, 250 leaves, [8] leaves of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Investigates the nature of the seminal vesicle-derived trigger(s) that stimulate the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor release from the murine uterine epithelium. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 1999

By the beginning of the nineteenth century a wide cross-section of British society had strongly correlated the notions of ‘civilization’ and ‘true religion’ with the accurate measurement and profitable use of time. Their specific experience of time, however, was not a human universal but a cultural construct, deeply embedded within the clock-governed milieu of industrial-capitalist and Christian society. Consequently, in the British colonies, the portrayal of indigenous societies as being ‘time-less’ (i.e.: culturally lacking regularity, order and uniformity) came to operate as a means of constructing an inferior, ‘irregular other’. By way of two case-studies – located in the 19th-century British settler-colonies of Victoria (Australia) and the Cape Colony (South Africa) – this thesis documents the manner in which nineteenth-century British missionary and settler-colonial discourse constructed the notion of ‘time-less’ indigenous cultures. Such apparent inferiority, this thesis argues, bolstered the depiction of indigenous societies as culturally inadequate – a representation that helped to rationalize and justify settler-colonialism’s claims upon indigenous land. / The negative portrayals of ‘Aboriginal time’ and ‘African time’ also helped to cast these societies as particularly in need of temporal reform. Indeed the latter were considered to be not only out of place but also ‘out of time’ within the timescape of Christian/capitalist rituals and routines. This study highlights some of the everyday means by which British settler-colonists and Protestant missionaries sought to reform the time-orientation and rhythms of indigenous societies. The evidence provided suggests that cultural colonization in the British settler-colonies was configured – to a greater extent than previous understandings allow – by an attack on non-capitalist and non-Christian attitudes to time. Christianizing and ‘civilizing’ meant imposing – coercively and ideologically – the temporal rituals and routines of British middle-class society. / Although the universalizing will of nineteenth-century European cultural expansion was reflected in its attempt to impose a specifically western view of time upon the world, the process of temporal colonization was neither homogeneous throughout the colonies, nor uncontested by indigenous societies. On the one hand, settler-colonialism’s diverging economic objectives in the Cape and Victoria – shaped as they were by economic land/labour requirements, demographics, and localized visions of race – defined the various manners in which Europeans viewed, and sought to colonize ‘indigenous time’. On the other hand, indigenous people in both settings often successfully managed either to defy the imposition of clock-governed culture, to establish compromises between the new and old rhythms, or to exploit the temporal discourses of their self-styled reformers. This suggests that time in the colonial context may be seen as a two-edged sword: not only as an instrument of colonial power, but also as a medium for anti-colonial resistance. / By analysing the discursive constructions of a temporal other, and by documenting the everyday struggles over the dominant tempo of society, this thesis highlights time’s central role in the colonial encounter and seeks to further our understandings of the process and implications of settler-colonization and Christianization.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.